Scientific publications Archives - Page 4 of 5

2023/08/16

Material Requirements, Circularity Potential and Embodied Emissions Associated with Wind Energy

Wind energy, which is often posited as a key decarbonisation option, represents one of the fastest-growing energy sources globally in recent years. Research on the material requirements for transitioning to a low-carbon electricity system at national levels, as well as research exploring the potential of the electricity system to serve as a source of secondary materials remains underexplored.

2023/08/12

Coal phase-out pledges follow peak coal: evidence from 60 years of growth and decline in coal power capacity worldwide

Transitioning to net-zero carbon emissions requires phasing-out unabated coal power; however, recently it has only been declining in some countries, while it stagnated or even increased in others. Where and under what circumstances, has coal capacity reached its peak and begun to decline? We address this question with an empirical analysis of coal capacity in 56 countries, accounting for 99% of coal generation in the world. The peaks in national coal power have been equally spread per decade since 1970.

2023/08/12

Intensity-Based Rebating of Emission Pricing Revenues

Carbon-pricing policies worldwide are increasingly coupled with direct or indirect subsidies where emissions pricing revenues are rebated to the regulated entities. This study analyzes the incentives created by two novel forms of rebating that reward additional emission intensity reductions: one given in proportion to output (intensity-based output rebating) and another that rebates a share of emission payments (intensity-based emission rebating). These forms are contrasted with output-based rebating, abatement-based rebating, and lump-sum rebating.

2023/08/10

Historical diffusion of nuclear, wind and solar power in different national contexts: implications for climate mitigation pathways

Climate change mitigation requires rapid expansion of low-carbon electricity but there is a disagreement on whether available technologies such as renewables and nuclear power can be scaled up sufficiently fast. Here we analyze the diffusion of nuclear (from the 1960s), as well as wind and solar (from the 1980-90s) power. We show that all these technologies have been adopted in most large economies except major energy exporters, but solar and wind have diffused across countries faster and wider than nuclear. After the initial adoption, the maximum annual growth for nuclear power has been 2.6% of national electricity supply (IQR 1.3%-6%), for wind − 1.1% (0.6%-1.7%), and for solar − 0.8% (0.5%-1.3%).

2023/01/11

Phasing out coal for 2 °C target requires worldwide replication of most ambitious national plans despite security and fairness concerns

Användningen av kolkraft minskar inte tillräckligt snabbt. Parisavtalets mål om maximalt 2 graders uppvärmning ser ut att kraftigt överskridas och världen går mot en temperaturökning på 2,5–3 grader. Det visar en ny studie från Mistra Electrification som forskare från Chalmers och Lunds universitet står bakom.

2022/11/02

Paying a Premium for ‘Green Steel’: Paying for an Illusion?

Produktion av fossilfritt stål med hjälp av vätgas i norra Sverige riskerar att leda till ökade elpriser. I så fall är det osannolikt att fossilfri stålproduktion blir samhällsekonomiskt lönsamt. Det är slutsatsen i studien Paying a Premium for ‘Green Steel’: Paying for an Illusion?

2022/10/31

Historical wind deployment and implications for energy system models

Vindparker har inte alltid byggts där vindförhållanden är bäst. Snarare verkar slumpen spela stor roll för var de placeras. Dessutom är det betydligt glesare mellan vindparkerna i svenska kommuner än i många andra regioner, enligt en studie som tittat på vindparkers etablering i närmare 30 länder och stater.

2022/08/17

Europe beyond coal – An economic and climate impact assessment

Several European countries have decided to phase out coal power generation. Emissions from electricity generation are already regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), and in some countries like Germany the phaseout of coal will be accompanied with cancellation of emissions allowances. In this paper we examine the consequences of phasing out coal, for CO2 emissions, the electricity sector, and the broader economy. We show analytically how the welfare impacts for a phaseout region depend on i) whether and how allowances are canceled, ii) whether other countries join phaseout policies, and iii) terms-of-trade effects in the ETS market.

2022/08/09

Balancing cost and justice concerns in the energy transition: comparing coal phase-out policies in Germany and the UK

Europe’s two largest economies – Germany and the UK – are phasing out coal from electricity production as part of European efforts to fulfil increased climate policy ambitions that require comprehensive energy system transitions. German and UK governments varied in the ways they sought support from diverse societal interests to make the transition socially acceptable and politically feasible. Drawing on 22 expert interviews and process-tracing methods, this paper compares and explains how political and economic institutional differences influenced efforts to balance energy transition concerns, like speed and cost-effectiveness with justice for companies, workers and communities most adversely affected by the transition.

2022/08/08

Who bears the burden of greening electricity?

Faced with the threat of climate change many countries are promoting renewable energies to decarbonize their energy system. A common policy to foster electricity from renewable energy sources are feed-in tariffs which are financed by surcharges on electricity prices. Higher electricity prices in turn raise concerns on regressive distributional impacts. In this paper, we investigate the distributional impacts of three alternative policies to subsidize renewable energy production in Spain: (i) exemptions from the electricity surcharge for residential consumers, (ii) an increase in mineral oil taxes, and (iii) an increase in value-added taxes.