Energy-Based Economic Development


Book Description

Energy is becoming a prominent driver of economic development. Each year, billions of dollars are invested around the world by the public and private sectors in low-emissions energy development and energy efficiency planning. Energy-based economic development (EBED) is a domain that seizes the opportunities inherent in clean energy development to drive innovation and generate economic growth. Energy-based economic development: How clean energy can drive development and stimulate economic growth delivers working definitions, common approaches, descriptions of supportive policy mechanisms, and suggested metrics for evaluation. The book offers a unified framework for EBED that is supported by examples and leaves readers better equipped to design, plan, and implement EBED initiatives. Case studies illustrate how national and subnational initiatives adopt to a locale’s energy asset base, energy and economic development needs, and the context in which the initiative operates. Descriptions of the energy projects supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act offer insights about what worked and what did not and suggest ways in which governments can be better prepared to manage EBED projects in the future. This book provides the tools necessary to work toward simultaneous energy and economic development goals and facilitates discussion for an advanced policy agenda of energy efficiency, energy diversification, innovation-led economic growth, and job creation.




Energy


Book Description

Energy Global energy demand has more than doubled since 1970. The use of energy is strongly related to almost every conceivable aspect of development: wealth, health, nutrition, water, infrastructure, education and even life expectancy itself are strongly and significantly related to the consumption of energy per capita. Many development indicators are strongly related to per-capita energy consumption. Fossil fuel is the most conventional source of energy but also increases greenhouse gas emissions. The economic development of many countries has come at the cost of the environment. However, it should not be presumed that a reconciliation of the two is not possible. The nexus concept is the interconnection between the resource energy, water, food, land, and climate. Such interconnections enable us to address trade-offs and seek synergies among them. Energy, water, food, land, and climate are essential resources of our natural environment and support our quality of life. Competition between these resources is increasing globally and is exacerbated by climate change. Improving resilience and securing resource availability would require improving resource efficiency. Many policies and programs are announced nationally and internationally for replacing the conventional mode and also emphasizing on conservation of fossil fuels and reuse of exhausted energy, so a gap in implications and outcomes can be broadly traced by comparing the data. This book aims to highlight problems and solutions related to conventional energy utilization, formation, and multitudes of ecological impacts and tools for the conservation of fossil fuels. The book also discusses modern energy services as one of the sustainable development goals and how the pressure on resource energy disturbs the natural flows. The recent advances in alternative energy sources and their possible future growth are discussed and on how conventional energy leads to greenhouse gas formation, which reduces energy use efficiency. The different policies and models operating is also addressed, and the gaps that remained between them. Climate change poses a challenge for renewable energy, and thus it is essential to identify the factors that would reduce the possibility of relying on sustainable energy sources. This book will be of interest to researchers and stakeholders, students, industries, NGOs, and governmental agencies directly or indirectly associated with energy research.




A Question of Power


Book Description

An acclaimed author and celebrated journalist breaks down the history of electricity and the impact of global energy use on the world and the environment.​ Global demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and do so reliably. Today, some three billion people live in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what's used by an average American refrigerator. How we close the colossal gap between the electricity rich and the electricity poor will determine our success in addressing issues like women's rights, inequality, and climate change. In A Question of Power, veteran journalist Robert Bryce tells the human story of electricity, the world's most important form of energy. Through onsite reporting from India, Iceland, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, New York, and Colorado, he shows how our cities, our money--our very lives--depend on reliable flows of electricity. He highlights the factors needed for successful electrification and explains why so many people are still stuck in the dark. With vivid writing and incisive analysis, he powerfully debunks the notion that our energy needs can be met solely with renewables and demonstrates why--if we are serious about addressing climate change--nuclear energy must play a much bigger role. Electricity has fueled a new epoch in the history of civilization. A Question of Power explains how that happened and what it means for our future.




Energy-Growth Nexus in an Era of Globalization


Book Description

Energy Growth Nexus in an era of Globalization reviews current research and practical policy considerations reflective of the ongoing transformation, covering four broad globalization themes from existing research literature: energy consumption, renewable energy consumption, financial markets and energy markets. Within these themes, contributors evaluate transformations in the energy-growth association relating to economic slowdowns, trade patterns, impacts of globalization, cross-border technological spillovers, changes in the risk profile of the countries, advent of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), changes in the pattern of cross-border labor force migration, and rising environmental awareness, among many other considerations. Policymakers, energy economists, and energy researchers in a range of connected disciplines will find this to be a great resource on the energy growth sector. - Addresses globalization relating to energy consumption, environmental quality, econometrics and energy markets - Demonstrates how to design effective energy and environmental policies in a rapidly globalizing world within a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework - Reviews open research questions relevant to energy-growth nexus so policymakers can bring forth socioeconomic stability




Electricity Economics: Production Functions with Electricity


Book Description

Electricity Economics: Production Functions with Electricity studies the production output from analyzing patterns of electricity consumption. Since electricity data can be used to measure scenarios of economic performance due to its accuracy and reliability, it could therefore also be used to help scholars explore new research frontiers that directly and indirectly benefits human society. Our research initially explores a similar pattern to substitute the Cobb–Douglas function with the production function with electricity to track and forecast economic activities. The book systematically introduces the theoretical frameworks and mathematical models of economics from the perspective of electricity consumption. The E-GDP functions are presented for case studies of more than 20 developed and developing countries. These functions also demonstrate substantial similarities between human DNA and production functions with electricity in terms of four major characteristics, namely replication, mutation, uniqueness, and evolution. Furthermore, the book includes extensive data and case studies on the U.S., China, Japan, etc. It is intended for scientists, engineers, financial professionals, policy makers, consultants, and anyone else with a desire to study electricity economics as well as related applications. Dr. Zhaoguang Hu is the vice president and chief energy specialist at the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China. Zheng Hu is a PhD candidate at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware, USA.




Electricity in Economic Development


Book Description

This landmark study is the result of a collaborative research effort among the East-West Center and a group of institutions in China (Taipei), Japan, and Korea, in consultation with experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Electric Power Research Institute of California. The first project of its kind to mobilize senior power experts in the three major countries of Northeast Asia for cooperative electric future assessment, Electricity in Economic Development highlights the critical role of the electric power sector in influencing a nation's future industrial development and its energy supply-demand pattern in the post-oil-crisis era.




Power to the People


Book Description

Power to the People examines the varied but interconnected relationships between energy consumption and economic development in Europe over the last five centuries. It describes how the traditional energy economy of medieval and early modern Europe was marked by stable or falling per capita energy consumption, and how the First Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century--fueled by coal and steam engines--redrew the economic, social, and geopolitical map of Europe and the world. The Second Industrial Revolution continued this energy expansion and social transformation through the use of oil and electricity, but after 1970 Europe entered a new stage in which energy consumption has stabilized. This book challenges the view that the outsourcing of heavy industry overseas is the cause, arguing that a Third Industrial Revolution driven by new information and communication technologies has played a major stabilizing role. Power to the People offers new perspectives on the challenges posed today by climate change and peak oil, demonstrating that although the path of modern economic development has vastly increased our energy use, it has not been a story of ever-rising and continuous consumption. The book sheds light on the often lengthy and complex changes needed for new energy systems to emerge, the role of energy resources in economic growth, and the importance of energy efficiency in promoting growth and reducing future energy demand.




The Power of Change


Book Description

Electricity, supplied reliably and affordably, is foundational to the U.S. economy and is utterly indispensable to modern society. However, emissions resulting from many forms of electricity generation create environmental risks that could have significant negative economic, security, and human health consequences. Large-scale installation of cleaner power generation has been generally hampered because greener technologies are more expensive than the technologies that currently produce most of our power. Rather than trade affordability and reliability for low emissions, is there a way to balance all three? The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies considers how to speed up innovations that would dramatically improve the performance and lower the cost of currently available technologies while also developing new advanced cleaner energy technologies. According to this report, there is an opportunity for the United States to continue to lead in the pursuit of increasingly clean, more efficient electricity through innovation in advanced technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies makes the case that America's advantagesâ€"world-class universities and national laboratories, a vibrant private sector, and innovative states, cities, and regions that are free to experiment with a variety of public policy approachesâ€"position the United States to create and lead a new clean energy revolution. This study focuses on five paths to accelerate the market adoption of increasing clean energy and efficiency technologies: (1) expanding the portfolio of cleaner energy technology options; (2) leveraging the advantages of energy efficiency; (3) facilitating the development of increasing clean technologies, including renewables, nuclear, and cleaner fossil; (4) improving the existing technologies, systems, and infrastructure; and (5) leveling the playing field for cleaner energy technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies is a call for leadership to transform the United States energy sector in order to both mitigate the risks of greenhouse gas and other pollutants and to spur future economic growth. This study's focus on science, technology, and economic policy makes it a valuable resource to guide support that produces innovation to meet energy challenges now and for the future.




Electricity from Renewable Resources


Book Description

A component in the America's Energy Future study, Electricity from Renewable Resources examines the technical potential for electric power generation with alternative sources such as wind, solar-photovoltaic, geothermal, solar-thermal, hydroelectric, and other renewable sources. The book focuses on those renewable sources that show the most promise for initial commercial deployment within 10 years and will lead to a substantial impact on the U.S. energy system. A quantitative characterization of technologies, this book lays out expectations of costs, performance, and impacts, as well as barriers and research and development needs. In addition to a principal focus on renewable energy technologies for power generation, the book addresses the challenges of incorporating such technologies into the power grid, as well as potential improvements in the national electricity grid that could enable better and more extensive utilization of wind, solar-thermal, solar photovoltaics, and other renewable technologies.




Economics of Electricity


Book Description

Explains the economics of electricity at each step of the supply chain: production, transportation and distribution, and retail.