| 1. |
- Gustavsson, Leif, et al.
(författare)
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Framework conditions and market potentials for the diffusion of innovative small-scale wood pellet systems
- 2003
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Ingår i: Bioenergy 2003, Proceedings.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- More than 85% of all dwellings in the European Union are currently being heated by single-house systems. At the same time significant technological progress, cost reductions and increasing consumer awareness related to modern small-scale bioenergy systems (SSBS) have occurred in recent years. Taken together, SSBS could make a substantial contribution to the heat and electricity requirements in the not-too-distant future and, by substituting for less benign energy technologies and fuels, also to a more sustainable energy supply system. Despite the remarkably increased levels of comfort and reduced environmental impact offered by today´s SSBS, however, their widespread diffusion is still at its very beginning. Framework and market conditions and the overall merits of SSBS systems need to be properly understood by policy-makers for a suc-cessful promotion policy addressing these technologies. Technology diffusion models can help to better understand the diffusion dynamics and long-term market potentials, and the effectiveness of drivers and barriers that influence the adoption decision process. This paper first summarises recent technological, socio-economic and institutional trends relevant for SSBS adoption, and reflects on research results from other studies in this field regarding perceived image, comfort levels, reliability, and ways of use of modern small-scale bioenergy technologies in Europe. Second, it contains a limited compara-tive analysis of the direct and indirect external costs and benefits of modern bioenergy-based versus other heating technolo-gies at the small scale. Third, the usefulness of various economic diffusion modelling approaches is discussed, also with a perspective on studying modern SSBS in the light of data availability restrictions
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| 2. |
- Mahapatra, Krushna, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Economics of diffusion of pellet heating systems - system boundaries, alternative model specifications, and policy issues
- 2004
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Ingår i: 2nd World Conference and Technology Exhibition on Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, 10-14 May, Rome, Italy.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we introduce a microeconomic modelling framework for the analysis of the adoption and diffusion of wood pellet heating systems that explicitly takes into account the cost of competing systems, differences in service and maintenance costs, and system switching costs. We also introduce an aggregate technology diffusion model that allows for the inclusion of economic explanatory variables and a limited degree of heterogeneity among adopters. Furthermore, we touch upon the issue of system boundaries in the context of technology adoption decisions, how alternative environmental and energy policies may affect the adoption and diffusion of pellet heating systems, and what guidelines welfare economics theory proposes regarding the optimal speed of technological diffusion.
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| 3. |
- Mahapatra, Krushna, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Some reflections on the diffusion of pellet heating systems in Sweden
- 2004
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Ingår i: 3<sup>rd</sup> European Congress on the “Economics and Management of Energy in Industry” (ECEMEI 2004), 6-9 April, Estoril-Lisbon, Portugal.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the context of global warming and dependence on fossil fuels, modern bioenergy systems have appeared as important sustainable energy solutions with a large untapped potential in Sweden and the rest of the European Union. Small-scale pellet heating systems for space heating of small houses is one of these solutions. In Sweden, such systems have relative advantages over oil- or electricity boiler systems both in terms of greenhouse gas emission reduction and total lifetime cost of equipment and fuel. However, so far the market diffusion process of this technology has been rather slow. This paper, by employing concepts and insights from the literature of evolutionary economics and sociology, studies the factors involved in the diffusion of such systems.
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