1. |
- Hellmer, Stefan, 1954-
(author)
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Switching costs, switching benefits and lock-in effects : the reregulated Swedish heat market
- 2010
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In: Energy and Environment. - Essex : Multi-Science Publishing. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 21:6, s. 563-575
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper argues for and defines a locked-in consumer as a consumer that is involuntary locked into one system in spite of an economic incentive to change. A locked-in consumer is therefore not seen as a loyal consumer but instead is assumed to be loyal to a system in spite an obvious economic gain of switching. Being defined as a natural monopoly in its technique, district heating has long been criticized for its eventual abuse of this monopoly position. Therefore, assuming well functioning ex-ante competition, the study calculates switching costs for switching from district heating to pellet burners or heat pumps. The analysis show that there exist relatively substantial benefits of switching from district heating to pellet burning or heat pumps, especially in residential urban areas. With limited available relevant markets, district heating being the only alternative, this negative switching cost cannot be capitalized and represents, in the assumed absence of loyal customers, a lock-in effect. The result indicates that we cannot reject the idea that the district heating plants serving residential areas inStockholm misuse their dominant position resulting in a reduction of the social welfare.
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2. |
- Hellmer, Stefan
(author)
-
Switching costs, switching benefits and lock-in effects : the reregulated Swedish heat market
- 2010
-
In: Energy and Environment. - : SAGE Publications Inc.. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 21:6, s. 563-575
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper argues for and defines a locked-in consumer as a consumer that is involuntary locked into one system in spite of an economic incentive to change. A locked-in consumer is therefore not seen as a loyal consumer but instead is assumed to be loyal to a system in spite an obvious economic gain of switching. Being defined as a natural monopoly in its technique, district heating has long been criticized for its eventual abuse of this monopoly position. Therefore, assuming well functioning ex-ante competition, the study calculates switching costs for switching from district heating to pellet burners or heat pumps. The analysis show that there exist relatively substantial benefits of switching from district heating to pellet burning or heat pumps, especially in residential urban areas. With limited available relevant markets, district heating being the only alternative, this negative switching cost cannot be capitalized and represents, in the assumed absence of loyal customers, a lock-in effect. The result indicates that we cannot reject the idea that the district heating plants serving residential areas inStockholm misuse their dominant position resulting in a reduction of the social welfare.
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3. |
- Höök, Mikael, 1982-
(author)
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Future coal production outlooks in the IPCC Emission Scenarios : Are they plausible?
- 2011
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In: Energy and Environment. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 22:7, s. 837-858
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Anthropogenic climate change caused by CO2 emissions is strongly linked to the future energy production, specifically coal. The Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) contains 40 scenarios for future fossil fuel production and is used by the IPCC to assess future climate change. This study examines the SRES coal production outlooks. Fundamental assumptions regarding coal availability and production in SRES was also compared with recent studies on reasonable future production outlooks. It was found that SRES puts unreasonable expectation on just a few countries. Is it reasonable to expect that China, already accounting for 46% of the global output, would increase their production by a factor of 8 over the next 90 years, as implied by certain SRES scenarios? It is concluded that SRES is underpinned by a paradigm of perpetual growth and technological optimism as well as old and outdated resource estimates. This has resulted in overoptimistic production outlooks.
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4. |
- Mörner, Nils-Axel, 1938-
(author)
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ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT BY THE MIDDLE OF THIS CENTURY
- 2011
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In: Energy and Environment. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 22:3, s. 207-218
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- At around 2040-2050 we will be in a new major Solar Minimum. It is to be expected that we will then have a new "Little Ice Age" over the Arctic and NW Europe. The past Solar Minima were linked to a general speeding-up of the Earth's rate of rotation. This affected the surface currents and southward penetration of Arctic water in the North Atlantic causing "Little Ice Ages" over northwestern Europe and the Arctic.
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5. |
- Mörner, Nils-Axel, 1938-
(author)
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SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN BANGLADESH NEW OBSERVATIONAL FACTS
- 2010
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In: Energy and Environment. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 21:3, s. 235-249
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Morphological and stratigraphical observational facts in the Sundarban delta provide data for a novel sea level reconstruction of the area. This sea level documentation lacks traces of a global sea level rise. This implies totally new perspectives for the future of Bangladesh. No longer are there any reasons to fear an extensive sea level inundation in the near future. Sea level estimates based on linear trend analyses of tide gauge data should be avoided and seem often to be directly misleading, as was the case with previous, divergent, claims of a strong global sea level rise component.
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6. |
- Sriwannawit, Pranpreya, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Determinants of the diffusion of solar home systems : Case study among low-income inhabitants in Bangladesh
- 2015
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In: Energy and Environment. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 26:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article discusses the determinants of technology diffusion among the low-income adopters, i.e. those belonging to the bottom of the pyramid market. Our aim is to analyse the variables that determine the adoption rate of Solar Home Systems. The analysis is drawn from a qualitative case study in Bangladesh based on interviews, observation and documents. We re-conceptualize diffusion process into three basic components: source, innovation and adopter. In particular, we focus on the characteristics of the source that are specific to the low-income market. In our case, the source is a social entrepreneur who seeks social wealth rather than economic wealth. Our empirical study may help to illuminate diffusion processes conducted by social entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid because it contributes to a more comprehensive list of variables that affect the innovation adoption rate.
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7. |
- Abaravicius, Juozas, et al.
(author)
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Load Management from an Environmental Perspective
- 2006
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In: Energy & Environment. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 17:4, s. 583-601
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The key objective of this study is to discuss the possible environmental benefits of load management and evaluate their significance, primarily focusing on CO2 emissions reduction. The analysis is carried out on two levels: National – the Swedish electricity market, and local – one electric utility in southern Sweden. The results show the importance of considering the influence of site-specific or level-specific conditions on the environmental effects of load management. On the national level, load management measures can hardly provide significant environmental benefits in Sweden, due to the high hydropower production, which is the demand following production source. Emission reductions will rather be the result of energy efficiency measures, which will lower the load demand as well as the energy demand. However, when it comes to a local (utility) level, where load management is considered as an alternative to an installation of a peak diesel power plant, the benefits are clear.
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8. |
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9. |
- Kåberger, Tomas, et al.
(author)
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Economic Efficiency of Compulsory Green electricity Quotas In Sweden
- 2004
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In: Energy and Environment. - : Multi-Science Publishing. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 15:4, s. 675-697
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Green certificates are not an efficient as a measure to correct for the effect of environmental external costs of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Nor are they efficient as a measure to create markets for new electricity supply technologies.Removing subsidies and introducing environmental taxes on energy sources with undesired external effects more efficiently corrects for incurred environmental costs. It appears that guaranteed feed-in tariffs are a more efficient policy instrument to promote the industrialisation of technologies for new sustainable sources of electricity.Alternatively, the certificate scheme could be reformed in a number of ways to improve performance. However decisions to change or abolish the instrument cannot be taken lightly since instrument stability is very important for the credibility of future policy.
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10. |
- Liu, Tao, et al.
(author)
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Current status of global warming potential reduction by cleaner composting
- 2021
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In: Energy and Environment. - : SAGE Publications Inc.. - 0958-305X .- 2048-4070. ; 32:6, s. 1002-1028
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The global living standards are currently undergoing a stage of growth; however, such improvement also brings some challenges. Global warming is the greatest threat to all living things and attracts more and more attention on a global scale due to the rapid development of economy. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the common components of greenhouse gases, which contribute to the global warming. Mitigation technologies for these gas emissions are urgently needed in every industry for the aim of cleaner production. Traditional agriculture also contributes significantly to enhance the greenhouse gases emission. Composting is a novel and economic greenhouse gases mitigation strategy compared to other technologies in terms of the organic waste disposal. Some of the European countries showed an increase of more than 50% in the composting rate. The microbial respiration, nitrification and denitrification processes, and the generation of anaerobic condition makes the emission of greenhouse gases inevitable during composting. However, although there have been a lot of papers that focused on the reduction of greenhouse gases emission in composting, none of these has summarized the methods of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases during the composting. This review discusses the benefit of composting in greenhouse gases mitigation in the organic waste management and the current methods to improve mitigation efficiency during cleaner composting. Key physical, chemical, and biological parameters related to greenhouse gases mitigation strategies were precisely studied to give a deep understanding about the emission of greenhouse gases during cleaner composting. Furthermore, the mechanism of greenhouse gases emission mitigation strategies for cleaner composting based on various external measures would be helpful for the exploration of novel and effective mitigation strategies. © The Author(s) 2019.
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