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| 1 |
ID:
192731
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| Summary/Abstract |
Many countries have implemented policies to encourage higher Energy Efficiency (EE) implementation, but they seem insufficient and significant EE opportunities are unrealized. It is thus important to understand which internal strategic drivers can help further improve EE implementation by a firm. We develop a theoretical framework and empirically investigating how corporate strategy influences firms' EE implementation on top of EE policies. Drawing from the literature on Natural-resource-based view and Proactive Environmental Strategy, we hypothesize the impacts of several strategic capabilities, including shared vision, top management support and stakeholder integration on a firm's EE implementation. We test our hypotheses using combined secondary data of 572 publicly traded firms from the CDP report, COMPUSTAT Fundamentals North America and Global, and the World Economic Forum. Our study enriches the literature on firms' perceived EE drivers by dissecting the nuanced impacts of different strategic capabilities and exploring new dimensions. Our findings also suggest important policy insights in encouraging higher industrial EE implementation. It remains important to strengthen EE policies and regulation. However, to make further leaps in EE implementation, policy efforts could be spent in information campaigns helping redirect interpretation of EE improvements toward opportunities and away from risks/threats.
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| 2 |
ID:
171471
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The PBE program made the adoption of energy labels mandatory in the Brazilian refrigerator market. In this paper, we examine the effects of PBE using data from a nationally representative sample of households and a structural model of appliance choice. We document a modest increase in the valuation of energy costs by Brazilian consumers. However, the program is unable to eliminate the energy efficiency gap, in that consumers undervalue energy costs both pre-and post-PBE. Moreover, our policy simulation documents little product switching and heterogeneity in responses. All in all, while the PBE program aimed to both reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency, we can only claim robust evidence of the latter.
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| 3 |
ID:
150069
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| Summary/Abstract |
We investigate lower than expected capacity factors of Combined Heat and Power plants using a publicly available dataset of hourly performance for plants in the state of New York. Low utilization of a CHP indicates underperformance. We examine possible causes of this underperformance including economic arbitrage, poor maintenance and operational practices, oversizing of plants, and reliability and resiliency needs. Based on seasonal and weekday/weekend capacity factor averages, we find that there is not enough evidence to support the economic arbitrage cause. Out of 99 plants in the dataset, 64 plants have average capacity factor below 60%, indicating they are either oversized and/or poorly maintained. This suggests that the current practice of one-time fixed incentive ($/kW) favors investment in capacity with no incentive for utilization (unlike a production credit which incentivizes generation $/kW h). From a policy perspective, this paper recommends better pre-engineering assessment for correct sizing, as well as revision of incentives based on performance. Additional information should be collected so that a more accurate ongoing analysis of the societal benefits of CHP projects can be made. Lastly, the energy efficiency gap may be smaller than is commonly assumed and other options should be explored to meet energy efficiency goals.
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| 4 |
ID:
150901
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper develops a model that explains the delay of decisions to adopt profitable energy-saving investments. This problem is known as the energy paradox. The model rationalizes the profitability requirements raised by the irreversibility, the uncertainty and the decrease of costs as a result of learning by doing. In this context, the wait gives investors more visibility and more lower investment costs, which gives them an option value. The representative agent has an interest to postpone its energy saving decision until future benefits increase and equalize its required option value. Formally, we internalize these explanatory factors in a stochastic model where the updated energy saving benefits follows a geometric Brownian motion. To affirm the capacity of the model, we generate simulation results for two equipments for electrical uses. Beyond that, we extend the model to simulate the effects of energy policy instruments to promote adoption of such equipments. Simulations prove that the taxation of energy prices is likely to be more effective than the subsidy for energy-saving equipments. It is also found that the combination of these instruments amplifies the adoption of energy-saving equipments and generates very favorable economic and environmental externalities.
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| 5 |
ID:
124448
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| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Improving energy efficiency in dwellings is generally seen as the low-hanging fruit of climate change mitigation. In particular decreased heat loss through better insulation is suggested as one of the most cost-effective means to achieve the ambitious national and international goals of climate gas reduction. However, the literature shows that a profitable technological solution is not sufficient to reach the energy goals. Aspects such as a lack of information, unobserved costs, and heterogeneity among users can compromise the success of technical innovation. Still, there are successful concepts that drive the technological development in the construction sector. The Passive House is an example for such innovations that manage to bridge the energy efficiency gap. This paper addresses the Passive House concept and standard as a success story of technological innovation. With Bruno Latour's Science in Action (1987) as a starting point, we describe the conditions under which the standard was created, the role of the network built around the Passive House Institute, and the consequences of exporting the standard. We identify success factors that have supported the diffusion of the Passive House standard and concept and discuss its possible development in the current situation which is characterized by its wide-spread adoption.
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| 6 |
ID:
149855
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| Summary/Abstract |
The benefit-cost analysis of standards to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) displays large net benefits from fuel savings for new vehicle buyers. This finding points to an energy efficiency gap: the energy-saving technology provided in private markets appears not to include all the technologies that produce net private benefits. The gap exists if the costs of energy-saving technologies are lower than the present value of fuel reductions, and “hidden costs” – undesirable aspects of the new technologies – do not exceed the net financial benefits. This study examines the existence of hidden costs in energy-saving technologies through a content analysis of auto reviews of model-year 2014 vehicles.
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