• Energy Research

This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of economic growth and trade liberalization in India. The empirical strategy in this paper is to estimate the scale, technique and trade-induced composition effects of trade liberalization on pollution. We collect data across major industrial states of India over the time period 1991-2003 and use panel regression techniques for such estimation. The results establish that the impact of growth and trade liberalization on environmental pollution is not unique across the pollutants. It rather depends upon the specific indicator that is examined. Finally, we conclude that trade promotion in the presence of a dynamic pollution regulatory framework can yield sustainable trade.

In this note, using the VEC model we attempt to empirically investigate the effects of oil price and monetary shocks on the Russian economy covering the period between 1997:Q1 and 2007:Q4. The analysis leads to the finding that a 1% increase in oil prices contributes to real GDP growth by 0.25% over the next 12 quarters, whereas that to inflation by 0.36% over the corresponding periods. We also find that the monetary shock through interest rate channel immediately affects real GDP and inflation as predicted by theory.

This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of economic growth and trade liberalization in India. The empirical strategy in this paper is to estimate the scale, technique and trade-induced composition effects of trade liberalization on pollution. We collect data across major industrial states of India over the time period 1991-2003 and use panel regression techniques for such estimation. The results establish that the impact of growth and trade liberalization on environmental pollution is not unique across the pollutants. It rather depends upon the specific indicator that is examined. Finally, we conclude that trade promotion in the presence of a dynamic pollution regulatory framework can yield sustainable trade.

Efforts to reduce carbon emissions significantly will require considerable improvements in energy intensity, the ratio of energy consumption to economic activity. Improvements in energy intensity over the past thirty years suggest great possibilities for energy conservation: current annual energy consumption avoided due to declines in energy intensity since 1970 substantially exceed current annual domestic energy supply. While historic improvements in energy intensity suggest great scope for energy conservation in the future, I argue that optimistic estimates of avoided energy costs due to energy conservation are likely biased downward. I then analyze a data set on energy intensity in the United States at the state level between 1970 and 2001 to disentangle the key elements of energy efficiency and economic activity that drive changes in energy intensity.

In this memorandum the optimal capacity of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is derived, using a simple model with an analytical solution. The solution is expressed as the fraction of the time during which the heat demand exceeds the optimal CHP heat production capacity.

This paper presents estimates of the customer-level demand for electricity by industrial and commercial customers purchasing electricity according to the half-hourly energy prices from the England and Wales (E&W) electricity market. These customers also face the possibility of a demand charge on their electricity consumption during the three half-hour periods that are coincident with E&W system peaks. Although energy charges are largely known by 4 PM the day prior to consumption, a fraction of the energy charge and the identity of the half-hour periods when demand charges occur are only known with certainty ex post of consumption. Four years of data from a Regional Electricity Company (REC) in the United Kingdom is used to quantify the half-hourly customer-level demands under this real-time pricing program. The econometric model developed and estimated here quantifies the extent of intertemporal substitution in electricity consumption across pricing periods within the day due to changes in all components of day-ahead E&W electricity prices, the level of the demand charge and the probability that a demand charge will be imposed. The results of this modeling framework can be used by distribution companies supplying consumers purchasing electricity according to real-time market prices to construct demand-side bids into a competitive electricity market. The paper closes with several examples of how this might be done.

This document provides a case study of policies aiming to foster technological innovations for ‘green’ buildings in the Netherlands. The study aims to provide 1) a detailed overview of the policy framework over the last thirty years, and 2) a picture of the level of innovations related to energy efficiency in buildings in the Netherlands. The analysis shows an intensification of environmental policy in the Dutch building sector in the mid-1990s, followed by a slight decline after 2001. A striking feature of environmental policy in this sector is the large number of policy programs implemented successively for short periods of time. This might affect the stability and continuity of the policy framework and be damaging for innovation. Faced with high levels of uncertainty about future policies, firms may prefer to postpone risky investments in innovative activities. Finally, governmental R&D support for green innovations in general remains very low in the Netherlands. Descriptive data on patenting activities show that Dutch firms file nowadays about 150 patents annually in the field of energy efficiency in buildings. The Netherlands have a clear comparative advantage in the field of energy-saving lighting technologies, mainly due to intensive patenting activities by Philips. High-efficiency boilers also represent a substantial share of Dutch innovation activities in this domain over the last decades. In many other fields (such as insulation, heat-pumps and co-generation, solar boilers, etc), however, Germany, Austria and Scandinavian countries rank much higher than the Netherlands.

When compared to the previous literature which analyzes oil price changes and real economic activity for countries influencing world demand and/or supply, this study is first of its kind in investigating the relation within the context of a small open economy, Turkey. Parallel to the results of Blanchard and Gali (2007) for developed economies, we first report for Turkey that the negative response of real output to oil price increases have diminished since the early 2000s. Other than using different versions of oil price changes and real output growth, which are the standard variables used in the empirical literature, in our next set of estimations we also include variables to account for global liquidity conditions. Once these variables are incorporated, we unveil that the negative impact of oil price changes on aggregate economic activity is significant even in the post-2000 period.

This chapter examines the tradeoffs of regulating upstream (e.g., coal, natural gas, and refined petroleum product producers) versus regulating downstream (e.g., direct sources of greenhouse gases (GHG)). In general, regulating at the source provides polluters with incentives to choose among more opportunities to abate pollution. This chapter develops a simple theoretical model that shows why this added flexibility achieves the lowest overall costs. I broaden the theory to incorporate several reasons why these potential gains from trade may not be realized--transactions costs, leakage, and offsets--in the context of selecting the vertical segment of regulation.

Improving end-use energy efficiency—that is, the energy-efficiency of individuals, households, and firms as they consume energy—is often cited as an important element in efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Arguments for improving energy efficiency usually rely on the idea that energy-efficient technologies will save end users money over time and thereby provide low-cost or no-cost options for reducing GHG emissions. However, some research suggests that energy-efficient technologies appear not to be adopted by consumers and businesses to the degree that would seem justified, even on a purely financial basis. We review in this paper the evidence for a range of explanations for this apparent “energy-efficiency gap.” We find most explanations are grounded in sound economic theory, but the strength of empirical support for these explanations varies widely. Retrospective program evaluations suggest the cost of GHG abatement varies considerably across different energy-efficiency investments and can diverge substantially from the predictions of prospective models. Findings from research on the energy-efficiency gap could help policy makers generate social and private benefits from accelerating the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies—including reduction of GHG emissions.