Energy and Environment

Preempting Possibility: Critical Assessment of the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2010

by Mazen Labban

Development and Change 43(1), pp. 375–393

email me if you'd like a pdf copy

Carbon Lock-Out: Advancing Renewable Energy Policy in Europe

by Melf-Hinrich Ehlers

co-authored with Paul Lehmann, Felix Creutzig, Nele Friedrichsen, Clemens Heuson, Lion Hirth and Robert Pietzcker

As part of its climate strategy, the EU aims at increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources... more As part of its climate strategy, the EU aims at increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) in overall electricity generation. Attaining this target poses a considerable challenge as the electricity sector is “locked” into a carbon-intensive system, which hampers the adoption of RES-E technologies. Electricity generation, transmission and distribution grids as well as storage and demand response are subject to important path dependences, which put existing, non-renewable energy sources at an advantage. This paper examines how an EU framework for RES-E support policies should be designed to facilitate a carbon lock-out. For this purpose, we specify the major technological, economic and institutional barriers to RES-E. For each of the barriers, a policy review is carried out which assesses the performance of existing policy instruments and identifies needs for reform. The review reveals several shortcomings: while policies targeting generation are widely in place, measures to address barriers associated with electricity grids, storage and demand are still in their infancy and have to be extended. Moreover, the implementation of policies has been fragmented across EU Member States. In this respect, national policies should be embedded into an integrated EU-wide planning of the RES-E system with overarching energy scenarios and partially harmonized policy rules.

I linguaggi della sostenibilità. Evoluzione di una cultura progettuale consapevole.

by carola clemente

Negli ultimi anni abbiamo assistito ad un consolidamento, molto lento e graduale dell’evoluzione della cultura... more Negli ultimi anni abbiamo assistito ad un consolidamento, molto lento e graduale dell’evoluzione della cultura progettuale energicamente consapevole grazie ad alcuni drivers particolarmente stringenti ed efficaci. Questo fenomeno è stato più o meno fisiologico e spontaneo al variare dei contesti regionali e produttivi da cui si è sviluppato, ma i fenomeni che lo hanno sostenuto e incentivato sono generalmente gli stessi a livello continentale. Sicuramente hanno contribuito l’aumento del costo dell’energia prodotta da fonti non rinnovabili e il conseguente impoverimento degli utenti finali tenuti a sostenerne gli oneri, lo sviluppo di tecnologie per la migliore e maggiore integrazione dei sistemi per la produzione di energia negli elementi tecnici degli edifici, il miglioramento prestazionale in termini energetici di materiali, prodotti componenti edilizi. In questo contesto si sono affiancati negli ultimi anni numerosi provvedimenti di indirizzo sia a scala continentale che nazionale, che hanno portato allo sviluppo di un corpus normativo, articolato a livello territoriale in modo assolutamente capillare, che ha provocato una drastica revisione delle prassi progettuali e realizzative del sistema edificio/impianto nel suo complesso.

Creating sustainable identities: the significance of the financially affluent self

by Victoria Hurth

Averting catastrophic climate change: confronting wealth

by Victoria Hurth

Rules, language and energy

by carola clemente

CLEMENTE C. (2010). Rules, language and energy. In: CLEMENTE C., DE MATTEIS F.(a cura di), Housing for Europe. Strategies for Quality in Urban Space, Excellence in Design, Performance in Building. p. 79-100, ROMA: DEI - Tipografia del Genio Civile, ISBN: 978-88-496-2511-0

In recent years have we have witnessed a consolidation, a very slow and gradual evolution of design culture which is... more In recent years have we have witnessed a consolidation, a very slow and gradual evolution of design culture which is energetically conscious thanks to certain particularly stringent and effective drivers. This phenomenon has been more or less physiological and spontaneous differing from the regional and productive contexts from which it developed, but the phenomena that have supported and promoted it are usually the same at the continental level. Certainly, the increased cost of energy from renewable sources contributed to it and the resulting impoverishment of the end users who must bear the burden, the development of technologies for better and more integrated systems for energy production in the technical elements of buildings, the improvement of performance in energy terms of materials and building product components. In this context, in recent years several addressing measures used both on a continental and national scale, which led to the development of a body of law, articulated on local level in a very widespread way, causing a drastic review of the standard procedures of planning/design and construction practices of the building/facility system as a whole.

Living off the Grid in BC: Clayoquot Sound

by Phillip Vannini

A magazine article, rather than a paper, on people living off grids.

Report prepared for “One Tonne Life project” - Method for estimation of a families’ greenhouse gas emissions

by Fredrik Hedenus

Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams: controversies provide a springboard for rethinking a supposedly 'clean'energy source. An editorial comment

by Philip Fearnside

China's Three Gorges Dam

by Philip Fearnside

Transitioning to a Greener Fleet: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Vehicle Fleet Program at the Texas General Land Office in Austin, Texas

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Kosub, Jeffry, "Transitioning to a Greener Fleet: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Vehicle Fleet Program at the Texas General Land Office in Austin, Texas" (2010). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 329.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/329

This study will accomplish three things. First, the study will provide a detailed discussion on cost-benefit analysis... more This study will accomplish three things. First, the study will provide a detailed discussion on cost-benefit analysis and how this type of analysis is used in the decision making process. Second, the study will provide background information on hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels their effect on the environment and the benefit these technologies can have on state and local fleets. Finally, the study will apply the technique of cost-benefit analysis of incorporating hybrid vehicles into the vehicle fleet program at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in Austin, Texas. A discussion of the scholarly literature defines the costs and benefits associated with a program and offers uses for a cost-benefit analysis. The conceptual framework links the benefits and costs of hybrid vehicles introduced into the vehicle fleet program to the existing literature. The operationalization of the costs and benefit variables are identified, showing how each is measured. Additionally, the decision criteria of present value and net present value are used to determine the viability of the new fleet program. A sound cost-benefit analysis can help decision makers evaluate choices and assure the chosen project will provide the best return on investment. The findings of this study show that the Texas General Land Office can save approximately 100,000 each fiscal year for a three year period by introducing hybrid vehicles into the fleet. Additionally establishing motor pools at each field office with present on-going fuel savings each year.

SuperGen research helps to answer long standing problem of shoreline 'exposure' - Poster

by Robert Beharie

1st Prize Winner of the SuperGen Assembly 2011 Poster Competition.

A relevant quantitative measurement of shoreline wave action, required to determine shoreline ecological impacts from... more A relevant quantitative measurement of shoreline wave action, required to determine shoreline ecological impacts from localised wave energy reduction by WEC arrays, has been the main aim of this research.

Current qualitative methods for estimating shoreline wave action are been based upon wave propagation models and ecological surveys that have been found to be inadequate. Many commentators have expressed doubts that it would ever be possible to make progress in this field…

MDESRAP: a model for understanding the dynamics of electricity supply, resources and pollution

by Hassan Qudrat-Ullah

An Ideal Sustainable Energy Model for Local Utilities: An Assessment of the City of San Marcos, Texas

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Harkins, James S., "An Ideal Sustainable Energy Model for Local Utilities: An Assessment of the City of San Marcos, Texas" (2010). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 330.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/330

THIS PAPER WAS THE WINNER OF THE 2010 MCGREW AWARD FOR RESEARCH Central Texas Chapter American Society for Public Administration (Capstone category)

The purpose of this research is to develop an ideal sustainable energy policy for the San Marcos Electric Utility. The... more The purpose of this research is to develop an ideal sustainable energy policy for the San Marcos Electric Utility. The utility of the 21st century should focus on doing more with less, rather than always producing more, which was the 20th century model. The San Marcos Electric Utility is uniquely positioned to become an energy utility for the 21st century by focusing on the five key components of the practical ideal model, known as the Sustainable Energy Utility. The five key elements are:


* Central Coordination
* Comprehensive Programs
* Flexible Incentives
* Financial Self-Sufficiency
* Setting a Standard

Key literature is reviewed on effective green policies for electric utilities, and applies them to policies in San Marcos, Texas. The research examines the historical context of renewable energy policies in the United States, and the lack of a comprehensive and consistent federal plan going back to the 1973 Arab oil embargo. By exploring how local governments acted in the absence of federal action, the research shows how local action is key to driving change. A case study of the San Marcos Electric Utility occurred, using document analysis, direct observation, and structured interviews to gauge certain policies in San Marcos to determine how close the policies of the San Marcos Electric Utility reflect the ideal policies established by the Sustainable Energy Utility. For the most part, San Marcos mostly meets the standards of the Sustainable Energy Utility. The research helped develop 23 recommendations to improve the policies of the San Marcos Electric Utility.

Energy Policy and Climate Mitigation in China: The Ideas Motivating Change

by Olivia Boyd

Unpublished thesis

Since the 11th Five Year Plan of 2006-2010 China has pursued a number of ambitious climate-related energy reforms.... more Since the 11th Five Year Plan of 2006-2010 China has pursued a number of ambitious climate-related energy reforms. While a consensus is now emerging over the importance of these reforms, the motivations behind China’s recent shift towards reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency remain unclear. To date most analyses of China’s motivations for emissions reductions have primarily sought to analyse the costs and benefits of emissions reductions, the bureaucratic politics driving climate-related policy-making, and the incentives shaping China’s engagement with international climate negotiations. Largely absent from existing literature is an emphasis on the role of ideas in redefining the main concerns and policy priorities that have led to climate-related energy reform. The central research question of this thesis addresses this issue: What are the key domestic ideas that have motivated China’s recent climate-related energy reforms, and how are these ideas likely to shape China’s engagement with international climate governance? From a survey of key government energy documents and the writings of China’s leading energy academics, this thesis finds that three new ideas have been particularly influential. One idea is new energy security that stresses domestic, rather than international, sources of energy insecurity. A second influential idea is green development and growing concern over the environmental and resource constraints on economic growth. A third important new idea is low-carbon leadership, which posits a vision of China’s international political and economic influence based on climate leadership and low-carbon markets. The influence that these three ideas have had on China’s domestic reforms have important implications for the wider debate over international climate governance. This analysis of China’s motivations for emissions reductions suggests that a combination of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches may offer the best means of deepening China’s engagement with climate governance at the international level.

From Czarnobyl to Żarnobyl: The impact of Chernobyl on the Polish green opposition until 1989 (and beyond)

by Kacper Szulecki

in: Arndt, Melanie (ed.) "After Chernobyl", ZZF/Böhlau Verlag, forthcoming in German in February 2012.

“Are you crazy? You wanna protest for the damn white mice, is that what you want?” – the prominent opposition leader... more “Are you crazy? You wanna protest for the damn white mice, is that what you want?” – the prominent opposition leader Jacek Kuroń supposedly exclaimed in 1981, when ap-proached by some young activists with the idea of the “Solidarity” trade union actions for environmental protection. One of the youngsters, since then and until this day an activist in Warsaw, Jarosław “Jarema” Dubiel, explains that “it was not yet the time for environmental concerns”. That time had come only after the Chernobyl catastrophe, and in Poland too, it was largely, although not exclusively, about nuclear energy and its dangers. The attitudes soon changed so that several thousand protesters were gathered at a march condemning the state’s notorious information policy on Chernobyl’s fallout risks in June of 1986. With time methods too changed and green activism became an example of the best and most spectacular non-violent actions that Polish dissent had to offer in the second half of the 1980s. To give a hint of the direction the protests took – in October 1987, in a manner as unbelievable as the spelling of the place where it took place – Gdańsk district of Wrzeszcz – four followers of the “Freedom and Peace” (Wolność i Pokój – WiP) Movement, climbed the rooftop of a local pharmacy dressed up as animals (a fox, a hare, a hedgehog and a fish). Following one of the key principles of the Movement’s non-violent strategy: “it takes only a single cop to arrest a standing protester, but up to four to arrest a sitting one” (and a whole platoon if you climb a rooftop and pull the ladder up), they remained atop the pharmacy for some time, displaying their banners and scattering fliers. Their colleagues on the same day in different points of the city distributed some ten thousand leaflets altogether. The human-animals were arrested eventually, but only once they stumbled down from the roof after peaceful negotiations and a long “performance” for quite a large audience of sympathetic bystanders.

The creation of Ruskaya Arktika: environmental project hiding Arctic strategy in Russia

by Camille Hamm

Co-authored with Sébastien Maffione (Arctic Studies March 2011).

Energy Efficiency in Building Installations using Thermal Insulating Materials in BRAZIL NORTHEAST

by Miguel Melo

Miguel O. Melo (PhD)
Luiz Bueno da Silva (PhD)
Antonio S. Coutinho (PhD)
Normando Perazzo (PhD)
Vivian Sousa

Federal University of Paraiba
Joao Pessoa – PB, Brazil, 58051-970
mobcmelo@ct.ufpb.br

ENERGY and BUILDING Journal

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a solution for improvement of energy efficiency in buildings by using thermal... more ABSTRACT
This paper presents a solution for improvement of energy efficiency in buildings by using thermal insulation materials. The application was tested in areas of northeast Brazil where the average temperature reaches 34°C. The research considered building materials from the region such as: (a) gypsum, that is abundant in nature and found in several deposits in Brazil and it is absorbent of water; (b) vermiculite, a mineral composed of hydrated silicates of aluminum and magnesium; (c) EVA, an ethylene-vinyl acetate produced in large quantities as residue from expanded sheet cuttings in the shoe industry. The thermal conductivity of each material was measured but the comparison of the thermal behaviour of the two walls is based on calculation only. The application of these materials in plates coated with a layer of air showed, compared to conventional walls, 38% reduction in heat load per square meter when using vermiculite-composed plaster and 41% reduction when using gypsum or EVA composition.

Keywords: Energy efficiency in building; Thermal insulating; Thermal non-conventional materials

Greening Affordable Housing: An Assessment of Housing under the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Programs

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Sparks, Chance W., "Greening Affordable Housing: An Assessment of Housing under the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership Programs" (2007). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 251.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/251

WINNER MCGREW AWARD (2007). CenTex Chapter of American Society for Public Administration (Practitioner category)

Affordable housing programs constitute a significant expense for many local Community Development Block Grant and HOME... more Affordable housing programs constitute a significant expense for many local Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership program local government recipients. According to literature, it is sound public policy to use Green building methods in affordable housing programs. The research develops a model affordable Green building program to assess Texas local government Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnership recipients’ housing construction programs using administrators’ perceptions. Following the assessment, the research provides recommendations for improving Green building practice under those programs. The simple, straightforward model is designed for administrators lacking technical expertise in Green building. The model developed could be used as a template for Federal Green building standards under the two programs.

Data collected from a Web-based survey of local government program administrators is used. The administrators were asked specific questions about their housing construction programs. Survey results are compared to the model affordable Green building program in order to assess how well local government programs have implemented Green building practices in their affordable housing programs.

The data reveals local government programs do not align with the model affordable Green building program. Even so, data reveals the programs are capable of meeting the model requirements given that on most survey responses, a few administrators indicated they followed a particular standard at least most of the time. By following recommendations presented, local government recipients can bring their affordable housing programs closer to the model.

An Assessment of Service Delivery Plans Submitted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Garcia, Mary Lou, "An Assessment of Service Delivery Plans Submitted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program" (2000). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 151.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/151

The paper begins by discussing issues related to poverty including the definition of poverty, the nature and causes of... more The paper begins by discussing issues related to poverty including the definition of poverty, the nature and causes of poverty, the effects of poverty, and the public perceptions about the poor. The discussion then focuses on recent changes to welfare legislation particularly those resulting from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWOR A) of 1996. The paper then focuses on general issues related to program planning and then turns to a discussion of the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), a program designed to address the issue of poverty and administered by a state agency, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). The conceptual framework for the research is developed from the requirements of the Service Delivery Plan (SDP) for CEAP, issued by TDHCA. Service delivery plans submitted for Fiscal Year 1999 and 2000 are analyzed to see if they conform to the requirements promulgated by the department. The methodology and results of the research are described in the latter half' of the paper. Results show that the majority of SDPs submitted to TDHCA for CEAP do not have all the required elements. Recommendations are, therefore, developed in response to the results.