| 1. |
- Jaraite, Jurate, et al.
(författare)
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Renewable energy policy, economic growth and employment in EU countries : gain without pain?
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Given the intensifying debates whether governments should use industrial policies to promote particular renewable energy technologies, the main objective of this study is to investigate the long-run effects of renewable energy support policies on economic growth and employment in 15 European Union (EU) member states for the 1990-2012 time period by using panel-data time-series econometric techniques. The first hypothesis is that the EU’s renewable energy support policies lead to technological advancement, followed by economy growth, in the long-run. The second hypothesis states that these policies at least generate an increase in output and employment in the short-run. In summary, our results provide some evidence in support of the second hypothesis, but, in contrary to the similar studies, our findings do not support the first hypothesis that these policies promote growth in the long-run.
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| 2. |
- Asmare, Fissha, et al.
(författare)
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Climate change adaptation and productive efficiency of subsistence farming : a bias-corrected panel data stochastic frontier approach
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Agricultural Economics. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-857X .- 1477-9552. ; 73:3, s. 739-760
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We explore the impact of climate change adaptation on the technical efficiency of Ethiopian farmers using panel data collected from 6820 farm plots. We employ Green's (2010) stochastic frontier approach and propensity score matching to address selection bias. Our results reveal that climate change adaptation improves the efficiency of maize, wheat and barley production. We also show that failure to account for selection bias underestimates the average efficiency level. Our findings imply that the expansion of climate change adaptation at larger scales will provide a double benefit by curbing climate-related risks and increasing the efficiency of farmers. Moreover, increasing credit access and introducing mechanisms that allow farmers to get enough water during the main growing season will enhance the efficiency of subsistence farmers.
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| 3. |
- Broberg, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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An electricity market in transition : demand flexibility and preference heterogeneity
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a recent report to the Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate (Broberg et al., 2014) consumer behavior and consumer flexibility concerning energy use were analyzed. Two main conclusions were drawn. First, electricity consumption follows a regular pattern over the day, week, and year, which to a large extent reflects household living patterns and climate variations over the year. Second, the average household needs a substantial economic compensation to voluntarily reschedule its electricity use away from peak demand hours. The required compensations were found to be far higher than the economic incentives households face today when exposed to real-time pricing. In addition, it was found that households are more flexible in the use of electricity for heating than in the use of electrical appliances. Finally, households were found to be more flexible during the morning peak hours than during the evening hours. These findings led to the overall conclusion that both the possibilities and incentives are such that we cannot expect any substantial change in energy use patterns from technical reforms that creates incentives for demand response in line with the current price variation on the wholesale market for electricity.In the above-mentioned report we also analyzed people’s attitudes towards information dissemination. We concluded that many households do not wish to have their electricity use scrutinized by experts and other households. We found that people, on average, required a compensation to allow such information sharing. Again, new technologies open for various demand response policies, although it does not necessarily imply substantially higher demand flexibility. New technologies need to be combined with consumer interest to be successful in a market economy.The overall objective of the current report is to further scrutinize consumer behavior and flexibility. The first part focuses on Swedish households’ choice of electricity supplier contracts. Specifically, we analyze what types of households choose a fixed price contract. 1 The choice of contract implicitly reveals a consumer’s flexibility since a fixed price contract works as an insurance against price variation. So, by studying what type of households chose a fixed price contract we are able to infer on which type of households are relatively inflexible. This part of the analysis is policy relevant since it touches on the question of what to expect from real-time pricing reforms. A central question is whether a household who uses relatively more electricity is more likely to have a fixed price contract. If this is the case, future access to real-time pricing and a greater price variation may not be a guarantee for a substantial increase in demand response as important consumers (from a policy perspective) are more likely to insure against such circumstances. From this perspective the market for price insurances (fixed price contracts) is a market for inflexibility.While the analysis above considers the effectiveness of future energy policies to promote demand response, it is also relevant to study the question of how the peak demand problem may develop over time. This question is explicitly addressed in the current report by studying how consumer behavior varies across income levels. The existing literature suggests that electricity consumption is positively related to income, although the income elasticity 2 is fairly small. However, almost all studies concerning income effects have studied aggregate electricity use on monthly or yearly basis. The present study departs from the existing literature by studying how daily household electricity use patterns vary across income levels. This approach is novel since it allows us to analyze how the peak load problem may develop in the future as a result of higher income levels, which is commonly expected.By studying the choice of electricity contracts and by estimating hourly income elasticities, the report approach demand flexibility in an indirect way. In the third analysis of the report we address these issues again, although with a somewhat more direct approach. The choice experiment part in Broberg et al. (2014), which focused on the economic incentives needed in order to change people’s energy consumption in a predefined way, is now deepened. The focus is on how socio-economic factors such as e.g. age, gender, education and income may explain preference heterogeneity among the Swedish population. Energy related factors such as living conditions and heating systems are also considered in the analysis. This analysis will inform us about what types of households are inclined to reschedule their energy use when given relatively small economic incentives, and what household’s that are relatively inflexible and thus require large compensations to change their behavior. We also study preference heterogeneity regarding information dissemination in purpose of anonymous peer comparisons.In the final part of the report we deepen our analysis of households’ demand for information about their own and others electricity use. Besides creating incentives for demand response, new technologies included in the smart grid concept also make it possible for policy makers to use tailored information to help consumers to use energy more efficiently. A number of studies highlight inefficiencies in the households’ use of energy (see e.g. Broberg and Kazukauskas, 2014). One highlighted reality is that people seem to pay little attention to energy issues. Of course, if people pay little attention to the price of electricity, the effectiveness of policy measures that work through the pricechannel is limited. In this part of the report we address four basic questions of great relevance for energy efficiency policies worldwide. The questions are (1) What knowledge do people have about the marginal cost of electricity use in terms of everyday electrical appliances? (2) Are the cost perceptions biased and in what direction? (3) Do inattention to energy issues play a significant role in this bias? (4) Do households want information that may help them de-bias their perceptions about energy costs and use?The report is structured such that section 2 gives a brief background on the issues analyzed in the report. The following sections correspond to the issues outlined in the introduction. Section 7 works to tie the analyses together and conclude our results
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| 4. |
- Broberg, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of energy performance certificates on investment : A quasi-natural experiment approach
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 84
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Incomplete information may be one reason why some households do not invest in energy efficiency even though it would benefit them to do so. Energy performance certificates (EPCs) have been promoted to overcome such information shortages. In this paper, we investigate whether EPCs together with mandatory home energy audits make households more likely to invest in energy efficiency. Our study takes advantage of the mandatory nature of the EPCs to avoid the potential selection bias problem that typically applies to studies using voluntary energy audits as the treatment. Our treatment group consists of single-household houses in Sweden sold from 2008, i.e., when EPCs became legally required in connection with sales of residential buildings, to 2015; while the control group consists of houses sold between 2002 and 2008, i.e., without an EPC. The results show that there is no statistically significant treatment effect for most of the measures that a household can take to improve the energy performance of their house. The significant treatment effect that we do find concerns a few heating system-related measures.
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| 5. |
- Broberg, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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En elmarknad i förändring : är kundernas flexibilitet till salu eller ens verklig?
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I rapporten ”En elmarknad i förändring – Är kundernas flexibilitet till salu eller ens verklig?” tittar en forskargrupp vid Centrum för Miljö- och Naturresursekonomi (CERE) vid Handelshögskolan, Umeå Universitet på konsumenternas nuvarande och framtida roll på elmarknaden. Rapporten är beställd av Energimarknadsinspektionen.
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| 6. |
- Broberg, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Inefficiencies in Residential Use of Energy : A Critical Overview of Literature and Energy Efficiency Policies in the EU
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics. - : Now Publishers Inc.. - 1932-1465 .- 1932-1473. ; 8:2, s. 225-279
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A rather large literature argues that firms and households do not always improve energy efficiency by investing in new technology even if it would be cost-effective to do so. In this paper, we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the so-called energy efficiency gap and provide a rationale for policymakers to act to improve energy efficiency. By eliminating market failures, welfare can be improved in a broad sense, including both environmental quality and material welfare. We also discuss social 'nudges' as examples of policy instruments that do not directly target any market failure in energy markets but that still may have a significant impact on energy use. Although we acknowledge the existence of the energy efficiency gap, we argue that the gap in general is overestimated as parts of it can be explained by heterogeneity in preferences and thus explained by rational choices.
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| 7. |
- Broberg, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Information policies and biased cost perceptions : The case of Swedish residential energy consumption
- 2021
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 149
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Households typically receive utility bills where all electricity use during a fixed period is lumped together. The lack of direct feedback in the form of marginal costs of using specific electric appliances potentially leads to mistakes in households' decision-making because of biased cost perceptions. In this paper, we test the commonly held notion that lack of relevant energy-related knowledge results in cost underestimation of using electric appliances that may lead to over-consumption of energy. Contrary to this notion, our results show that less knowledgeable energy consumers tend to have higher cost perceptions than others. This finding implies that less knowledgeable energy consumers may consume too little of energy. We also find that a substantial share of the sampled households, in particular less knowledgeable energy consumers, are less willing to receive relevant cost-free information about their energy use and costs. This finding suggests that poor energy-related knowledge may not only be a matter of high information search and processing costs, but also a matter of consumers’ limited attention capacity.
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| 8. |
- Hu, Xiao, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of wind power on electricity markets : A case study of the Swedish intraday market
- 2021
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Ingår i: Energy Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 96
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the process of electricity price formation in the Swedish intraday market, given a large share of wind power in the Swedish electricity system. According to Karanfil and Li's (2017) approach, if the intraday market is efficient, with large shares of intermittent electricity in the entire electricity system, intraday prices should send signals based on scarcity pricing for balancing power. Based on this theory, we analyze Swedish electricity market data for the period 2015–2018 and find that the Swedish intraday market, despite its small trading volumes, is functioning properly. In particular, our results show that intraday price premia mostly respond to wind power forecast errors and other imbalances resulting from either supply or demand sides of the electricity market, as they should if the intraday market is efficient. The results of wind power forecast errors hold for central and southern Sweden, but not for northern Sweden where the share of wind power production is still very small. However, we find no effect of unplanned nuclear power plant outages on intraday price premia.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Jaraite, Jurate, et al.
(författare)
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Policy-induced expansion of solar and wind power capacity : economic growth and employment in EU countries
- 2017
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Ingår i: Energy Journal. - : International Association for Energy Economics. - 0195-6574 .- 1944-9089. ; 38:5, s. 197-222
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Given the intensifying debates on whether governments should promote particular renewable energy technologies, the main objective of this study is to investigate the long-and short-run effects of policy-induced expansion of renewable solar and wind technologies on economic growth and employment in 15 European Union (EU) member states during 1990-2013 by using panel-data time-series econometric techniques. Instead of relying on renewable energy consumption or generation as commonly done in the literature, we focus on the capacity for solar and wind power generation, which is largely a consequence of the EU's renewable energy policies. In summary, we find that, to date, renewable energy policy-induced wind and solar power capacity promotes growth and/or employment in the short run, but these capacity increases do not stimulate economic growth in the long run in the EU-15 region. In fact, our results tend to support the opposite relationship: increases in wind and solar power capacity are associated with negative economic growth, at least at the total economy level.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Jaraite, Jurate, et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of Mandatory Agro-Environmental Policy on Farm Fertiliser and Pesticide Expenditure
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Agricultural Economics. - Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0021-857X .- 1477-9552. ; 63:3, s. 656-676
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- EU farmers are subject to mandatory cross-compliance measures, requiring them to meet environmental conditions to be eligible for public support. These obligations reinforce incentives for farmers to change their behaviour towards the environment. We apply quasi-experimental methods to measure the causal relationship between cross-compliance and some specific farm environmental performance. We find that cross-compliance reduced farm fertiliser and pesticide expenditure. This result also holds for farmers who participated in other voluntary agro-environmental schemes. However, the results do not support our expectations that farmers who relied on larger shares of public payments had a stronger motivation to improve their environmental performance.
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| 14. |
- Jaraite, Jurate, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of climate policy on environmental expenditure and investments : evidence from Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2160-6544 .- 2160-6552. ; 3:2, s. 148-166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study provides new evidence on the determinants of environmental expenditure and investment. In particular, it investigates how environmental expenditure and investment of Swedish industrial firms responded to climate policies, such as the European Union's Emission Trading System (EU ETS) and the Swedish CO2 tax, directed to mitigate air pollution. Overall, an important conclusion of this analysis is that climate policies, both on the national and international levels, were highly relevant motivations for firm environmental expenditure. However, the findings do not support the expectations that the EU ETS and the Swedish CO2 tax encouraged investment in air pollution abatement.
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| 15. |
- Jaraite, Jurate, et al.
(författare)
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The profitability of electricity generating firms and policies promoting renewable energy
- 2013
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Ingår i: Energy Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 40, s. 858-865
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using a cross-country firm-level dataset this study empirically analyses how the implemented renewable electricity promotion systems Tradable Green Certificates vs. Feed-in-Tariffs affected the profitability of the electricity production sector in Europe during the 2002-2010 period. In particular, it tests the hypothesis that due to market imperfections, namely because of higher investment risk, higher capital constraints and higher transaction costs, TGC schemes will be associated with excess profits for renewable electricity generating firms. The results somewhat support this hypothesis, showing that electricity generating firms, operating in EU countries that implemented TGC, were more profitable compared to FIT firms.
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| 16. |
- Jaraite-Kazukauske, Jurate, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Do transaction costs influence firm trading behaviourin the European emissions trading system?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environmental and Resource Economics. - : Springer-Verlag New York. - 0924-6460 .- 1573-1502. ; 62:3, s. 583-613
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study is one of the first to empirically investigate firm trading behaviour and the importance of permit trading transaction costs, such as information costs and search costs, in the first phase of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The signs and significance of our constructed transaction costs proxy variables indicate for a presence of these costs in the initial years of the EU ETS. In particular, this paper shows that ETS firms with the smaller number of installations and with less trading experience were less likely to participate in the European emissions trading market and traded the lower quantities of permits. Furthermore, these firms chose to trade permits indirectly via third parties. This study also supports the concerns that transaction costs could be excessive for smaller participants and firms operating in the new EU member states.
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| 17. |
- Kazukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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Disinvestment, farm size, and gradual farm exit : the impact of subsidy decoupling in a European context
- 2013
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Ingår i: American Journal of Agricultural Economics. - : Oxford University Press. - 0002-9092 .- 1467-8276. ; 95:5, s. 1068-1087
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, which decouples farm subsidies from production, is expected to impact on farmers' production decisions. We perform a cross-country farm-level empirical analysis of farmers' production responses to these reforms using a panel dataset for the EU15 countries for the period 2001-2007. We apply quasi-experimental empirical methods and find that the probability of a farm disinvesting decreased due to the policy change for most farms. However, the policy change facilitated exit for farms engaged in livestock production and those that were already in the process of leaving the sector.
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| 18. |
- Kažukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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Realized dynamic effect of retrofits on energy consumption in Soviet-era multi-apartment buildings
- 2024
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Ingår i: Energy Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 134
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Retrofit programs for old and highly energy-inefficient housing stock from the Soviet era are widely believed to offer a rare win-win opportunity for mitigating climate change and addressing acute energy poverty issues in Eastern European urban neighborhoods. However, despite government subsidies and a push for greater energy efficiency, many people do not undertake retrofits. This raises the question: do these retrofits truly deliver the promised returns? This paper aims to examine the effects of retrofit programs on old Soviet-era multi-apartment buildings' realized dynamic energy savings in Lithuania by analyzing monthly energy bills. Our findings suggest that retrofits are associated with a 50% to 59% reduction in average space heating consumption across various post-retrofit periods. Additionally, retrofits have a short-term effect on electricity savings of 3% to 3.6%. However, our cost-benefit analysis indicates that the energy savings were not sufficiently large to cover the initial investment costs.
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| 19. |
- Kažukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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Social Comparisons in Real Time : A Field Experiment of Residential Electricity and Water Use
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Economics. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0347-0520 .- 1467-9442. ; 123:2, s. 558-592
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we carry out a field experiment that contributes to the literature on how social comparisons affect residential energy and water use in two important ways. First, we study a social comparison treatment that is continuous and communicated via pre‐installed in‐home displays, which are salient and updated in real time. Second, we estimate the effects of provision of social comparisons on two distinguished resources – electricity and water – in the same experimental setting. We find that, on average, our social comparison reduces daily residential energy consumption by 6.7 percent but has no effect on overall residential water use.
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| 20. |
- Kazukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of decoupled subsidies on productivity in agriculture : a cross-country analysis using microdata
- 2014
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Ingår i: Agricultural Economics. - : Wiley. - 0169-5150 .- 1574-0862. ; 45:3, s. 327-336
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The decoupling of direct payments from production introduced in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is expected to make production decisions more market-oriented and farmers more productive. However, ex-post analyses of the productivity of farms have yet to uncover any evidence of a positive impact of the decoupling policy on farm productivity. Using Irish, Danish, and Dutch farm-level data, we identify whether the decoupling policy has contributed to productivity growth in agriculture and farm product adjustment behavior. We find some evidence that the decoupling policy had significant positive effects on farm productivity and behavioral changes related to farm specialization.
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| 21. |
- Kazukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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The peer comparison in real time : a field experiment of water and electricity consumption
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A large body of literature shows that the provision of social comparisons can cause households to reduce residential energy and water use. In this paper, we carry out a field experiment that contributes to this literature in two important ways. First, we study a social comparison treatment that is continuous and communicated via pre-installed in-home displays, which are salient and updated in real time. Second, we estimate the effects of provision of social comparisons on two distinguished resources – electricity and water – in the same experimental setting. We find that, on average, our social comparison reduces daily residential energy consumption by 6.7 percent but has no effect on overall residential water use. The electricity savings are impersistent and occur in the evening hours, which only slightly overlap with peak hours. We argue that electricity conservation due to social comparisons is driven by short-run changes in households’ electricity saving behavior
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| 22. |
- Kazukauskas, Andrius, et al.
(författare)
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The Profitability of Power Generating Firms and Policies Promoting Renewable Energy
- 2012
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Ingår i: 2012 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EUROPEAN ENERGY MARKET (EEM). - 9781467308328
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- With policies to promote power generation from renewable energy sources (RES) becoming important part of climate and energy policy worldwide, there is now considerable interest in understanding how these different market-based mechanisms affect power generating firms in practice. The existing theory provides conflicting guidance regarding profitability of Tradable Green Certificates (TGC) over Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) based policies. Thus, the main goal of this study is to empirically assess the performance of power generating firms operating in the TGC scheme environment relative to the performance of power generating firms operating under alternatives RES support mechanisms. The main finding of this study is that, in Europe, TGC schemes are associated with higher returns for power generating firms. This supports the hypothesis that higher investment uncertainty induced by the TGC policy nature coupled with some market imperfections lead to higher profits for electricity producers operating in TGC schemes.
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| 23. |
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