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An Empirical Analysis of Urban Form, Transport, and Global Warming

Fabio Grazi, Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, and Jos N. van Ommeren

Year: 2008
Volume: Volume 29
Number: Number 4
DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No4-5
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Abstract:
Does urban form affect travel choices and thus CO2 emissions by individuals? If this is the case, then urban form and policies that influence it deserve serious attention in the context of long-term climate policy. To address this issue, we examine the impact of urban density on commuting behavior, and the consequences for CO2 emissions. The empirical investigation is based on an instrumental variable approach (IV), so as to take account of endogeneity of residence location. We decompose travel demand into components related to modal split and commuting distance by each mode.



Measuring Productivity Gains from Deregulation of the Japanese Urban Gas Industry

Kenta Tanaka and Shunsuke Managi

Year: 2013
Volume: Volume 34
Number: Number 4
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.34.4.9
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Abstract:
The Japanese government initiated a series of regulatory reforms in the mid-1990s. The Japanese urban gas industry consists of various sized private and non-private firms. Numerous previous studies find that deregulation leads to productivity improvements. We extend the literature by analyzing deregulation, privatization, and other aspects of a regulated industry using unique firm level data. This study measures productivity to evaluate the effect of the deregulation reform. Using data from 205 firms from 1993 to 2004, we find that the deregulation effect differs depending on firm size. Competitive pressure contributes to advanced productivity. The deregulation of gas sales to commercial customers is the most important factor for advancing productivity.



Economy-wide Estimates of Rebound Effects: Evidence from Panel Data

Morakinyo O. Adetutu, Anthony J. Glass, and Thomas G. Weyman-Jones

Year: 2016
Volume: Volume 37
Number: Number 3
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.37.3.made
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Abstract:
Energy consumption and greenhouse emissions across many countries have increased overtime despite widespread energy efficiency improvements. One explanation offered in the literature is the rebound effect (RE), however there is a debate about its magnitude and the appropriate model for estimating it. Using a combined stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and two-stage dynamic panel data approach, we explore these two issues of magnitude and model for 55 countries over the period 1980 to 2010. Our central estimates indicate that in the short-run, 100% energy efficiency improvement is followed by 90% rebound in energy consumption, but in the long-run it leads to a 136% decrease in energy consumption. Overall, our estimated cross-country RE magnitudes indicate the need to consider or account for RE when energy forecasts and policy measures are derived from potential energy efficiency savings.



The Marginal Abatement Cost of Carbon Emissions in China

Chunbo Ma and Atakelty Hailu

Year: 2016
Volume: Volume 37
Number: China Special Issue
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.37.SI1.cma
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Abstract:
There is an emerging literature estimating the marginal cost of carbon mitigation in China using distance function approaches; however, empirical estimates vary widely in magnitude and variation, which undermines support for policies to curb carbon emission. Applying three commonly used distance functions to China's provincial data from 2001 to 2010, we show that the variability can be partially explained by the difference in the input/output coverage and whether the estimated marginal abatement cost (MAC) is conditional on the abatement of other correlated pollutants. We also argue that the substantial heterogeneity in abatement cost estimates could be related to an economic interpretation that radial measures reflect the short-run MACs while non-radial measures reflect the long-run MACs. Our mean short-run MAC for carbon is 20 US$ per tonne, an amount that is very close to the carbon prices observed in China's recently launched pilot markets.



Integration in Gasoline and Ethanol Markets in Brazil over Time and Space under the Flex-fuel Technology

Hector M. Nuñez and Jesús Otero

Year: 2017
Volume: Volume 38
Number: Number 2
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.38.2.hnun
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Abstract:
We employ a pair-wise approach to analyse regional integration in the gasoline and ethanol markets in Brazil. Using weekly price data for these two fuels at the state level over a period of almost ten years, we find that more than half of the fuel price differentials are stationary, which reveals the importance of allowing for spatial considerations when testing for market integration. We also find that the speed at which prices converge to the long-run equilibrium depends upon the distance between states, the differential in sugarcane mills density between states, and the similarity between tax regimes. Other demand and supply factors such as population density, gas stations density, sugarcane mills density and GDP per capita are not statistically significant.



Yardstick Regulation of Electricity Distribution – Disentangling Short-run and Long-run Inefficiencies

Subal C. Kumbhakar and Gudbrand Lien

Year: 2017
Volume: Volume 38
Number: Number 5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.38.5.skum
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Abstract:
In this paper we estimate the short-run, long-run and overall efficiency of Norwegian electricity distribution companies for the period 2000-2013 controlling for both noise and company effects. Short-run inefficiency is the part of inefficiency that is allowed to adjust freely over time for each company, but long-run (persistent) inefficiency remains constant over time, although it is allowed to vary across companies. For robustness check we also consider two additional models in which either company effects are not controlled or these are treated as inefficiency. The production technology is represented by a translog input distance function in all three models. We find that technical change and returns to scale are quite robust across the models. However, the efficiency scores across the three models we consider are not correlated strongly. We conclude that the regulators and practitioners should take extra caution in using the proper model in practice, especially when the efficiency measures are used to reward/punish companies through incentives for better performance.



Impact of High-Powered Incentive Regulations on Efficiency and Productivity Growth of Norwegian Electricity Utilities

Livingstone Senyonga and Olvar Bergland

Year: 2018
Volume: Volume 39
Number: Number 5
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.39.5.lsen
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Abstract:
This study examines the hypothesis that changes to high-powered incentive regulations have a positive efficiency and productivity growth effects in a regulated electricity distribution industry. We estimate an input distance function using the stochastic frontier analysis method to compute technical efficiency scores for 121 Norwegian utilities over the period 2004-2012. We explore sources of productivity growth by parametrically decomposing the Malmquist productivity index into efficiency change, technical change, and scale change. Unlike previous studies, we examine the difference in performance across two regulatory regimes: yardstick competition (2007-2012) and RPI-X incentive regulation (2004-2006). Results show significant efficiency and productivity growth improvements with embodied technical change as the main driver.Keywords: Yardstick competition, Productivity growth, Efficiency, Input distance function, Stochastic frontier analysis, Electricity distribution, True fixed effects model



Consumer Preferences for Solar Energy: A Choice Experiment Study

Jamal Mamkhezri, Jennifer A. Thacher, and Janie M. Chermak

Year: 2020
Volume: Volume 41
Number: Number 5
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.41.5.jmam
View Abstract

Abstract:
Electricity generation in the United States is rapidly moving towards integrating more renewables into the system due to several factors, including cost competitiveness, consumer preferences, and state and federal policies, such as production and income tax incentives, renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), and state level subsidies for solar energy. While these policies have been researched comprehensively, in this paper we investigate consumer preference and willingness to pay toward renewable energy. Consumer preferences may impact the type of renewable energy utilized, as well as state-determined RPS requirements. We implement a choice experiment survey to gain understanding of consumer preferences and their preference heterogeneity. We conduct the survey in New Mexico, a state with RPS and great potential for renewables, particularly in solar where it ranks third in the U.S. for that potential. Focusing on the consumers of the state�s major utility, our choice experiment considers an increase in renewable energy and preference for different types of solar energy (rooftop solar and solar farm). We control for location heterogeneity (i.e., rural vs. urban), as well as exposure to solar installations. Utilizing multinomial logit and random parameter logit our results suggest respondents support an increased RPS solar requirement and they have a positive marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for rooftop solar and smart meter installation. These values are impacted by several factors, including location and exposure to solar. We also observe a distance decay effect on respondents� MWTP for different solar plans. For regulators considering additional RPS levels, or utilities considering solar installations, the results provide improved information on consumer preferences, heterogeneity of response, and MWTP for solar energy.



European Industries’ Energy Efficiency under Different Technological Regimes: The Role of CO2 Emissions, Climate, Path Dependence and Energy Mix

Eirini Stergiou and Kostas Kounetas

Year: 2021
Volume: Volume 42
Number: Number 1
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.42.1.este
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Abstract:
The assessment of industrial-level energy efficiency's (EE) development is a critical research topic that has entrenched in the global battle against climate change. Under the Energy Efficiency Directives 2012/27/EU and 2018/2002/EU, European Commission sets specific industrial energy efficiency targets, rules and obligations for the 2020-2030 period aiming, among others, at specific energy intensity reduction and energy efficiency improvements. In this paper we use a balanced panel of fourteen European industries from twenty-seven countries for the period 1995-2011 under a metatechnology framework. The aim of this study is to evaluate, at a first stage, the industrial total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) at a national and European level by incorporating technological heterogeneity through a nonparametric approach. Reflecting the divergent views on the importance of desirable and undesirable outcomes in the pursuit of TFEE, we additionally estimate industrial performance by prioritizing either economic or environmental aspects. At the second stage of our analysis, econometric models are applied to investigate the main factors of industrial TFEE using sector specific and country characteristics while we further proceed with a β and σ-convergence analysis for our TFEE measures. The results of this study reveal that small-scale economies exhibit persistent high TFEE scores. At the same time, TFEE determinants suggest that path dependence phenomena have a strong presence, climatic characteristics occur while energy mix displays both linear and non-linear relationship. Either considering one desirable output or consolidating the undesirable output in the production function our results indicate a strong evidence of conditional and unconditional convergence in TFEE scores.



Endogenous Bad Outputs and Technical Inefficiency in U.S. Electric Utilities

Mike Tsionas and Subal C. Kumbhakar

Year: 2024
Volume: Volume 45
Number: Number 1
DOI: 10.5547/01956574.45.1.mtsi
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Abstract:
In this paper, we consider a simultaneous modeling of good and bad outputs. We use an input distance function (IDF) with endogenous inputs as well as endogenous bad outputs, which is novel in the literature. Moreover, we model input efficiency to depend on the production of bad outputs which allows us to investigate whether emissions of pollutants (bad outputs) are related to technological performance (technical efficiency). We also model production of each bad output with a spatial structure separately, each depending on production of good outputs, inputs and other exogenous variables. These bad output production functions allow us to estimate both direct and indirect effects of good output on the production of bad outputs, which may be of special interest because they show the cost (to the society) in terms of releasing pollutants to the environment in order to increase production of good outputs. We apply the new technique to a data set on U.S. electric utilities with four bad outputs, three inputs and two good outputs. We used a Bayesian technique to estimate the model which is a system consisting of the input distance function, reduced form equations for each input, dynamics of inefficiency and bad output production technology—separately for each. Empirically, bad outputs are found to affect inefficiency positively. Percentage increases in inefficiency due to a percentage increase in each bad output are found to vary from 0.225% to 0.42%. Energy prices are found to be positively related to inefficiency. From the spatial specifications of bad outputs, we find that the spillover effects of increasing production of good outputs account for the majority of the total effect, indicating that neighborhood effects are more important than own effects. This means, the neighboring utilities played a crucial role indicating "contagion" of practices.




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