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Smart Grids and Intelligent Energy Systems: A European Perspective

Anita Rønne

in Energy Networks and the Law: Innovative Solutions in Changing Markets

To achieve the goals set up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of holding the increase in global temperature below two degrees Celsius, to meet the challenges of an ageing ... More

To achieve the goals set up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of holding the increase in global temperature below two degrees Celsius, to meet the challenges of an ageing infrastructure and increasing demand for electricity, and to achieve the CO2 and green energy targets set by the European Union (EU) and many national governments, there is a need for developing energy systems that are based on more flexible, innovative, and interactive solutions. This chapter analyses ‘smart grids’ or ‘intelligent energy systems’ from an EU perspective. Smart grids can play a large role in balancing energy supply and demand and thus in the envisaged large-scale introduction of renewable energy sources.Less

Regulating the Extension of Electricity Networks: A German Perspective

Gunther Kühne

in Energy Networks and the Law: Innovative Solutions in Changing Markets

This chapter analyses the pivotal role that energy (electricity) infrastructure, with particular emphasis on electricity networks, has assumed within the German energy system over the past decade. ... More

This chapter analyses the pivotal role that energy (electricity) infrastructure, with particular emphasis on electricity networks, has assumed within the German energy system over the past decade. For several years this development was of a ‘creeping’ character, but foreseeable since the beginning of this century as a result of the changing pattern of electricity generation (reduction of bulk electricity production from fossil and nuclear installations and expansion of electricity generation from smaller and volatile renewable sources). This change was dramatically speeded up in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in March 2011. The chapter discusses the stages of this development, taking into account the most recent legislative measures in response to the Fukushima events and the legal concepts underlying these measures — concepts that even reach into constitutional and European spheres. As a matter of statutory law, the norms on construction and maintenance of energy facilities at first appear to be of a rather technical character. But the German example shows that they are deeply interwoven with basic tenets of energy law, such as security of supply and affordability of energy. Beyond this, the reshaping of energy infrastructure, especially grid infrastructure, has turned out to be one of the testing grounds for the viability of established decision-making procedures within the traditional democratic- representative political system.Less

Introduction

Max H. Boisot

in Knowledge Assets: Securing Competitive Advantage in the Information Economy

Knowledge has come to be viewed as an advantage in its own right and not simply as an improvement of other kinds of assets. Prompted by the rapid spread of the information economy, knowledge assets ... More

Knowledge has come to be viewed as an advantage in its own right and not simply as an improvement of other kinds of assets. Prompted by the rapid spread of the information economy, knowledge assets have only begun to be thought of as economic goods. In contrast to physical assets, knowledge assets could in theory last forever. This chapter briefly summarizes the working hypothesis that will be established in the rest of the book, namely that a firm's distinctive competences, its capabilities, and its technologies can be observed as emerging from the discontinuous effect of its knowledge assets on the spatio-temporal and energy systems that make up its physical assets. Technologies, competences, and capabilities, each in their own system, are manifestations of a firm's knowledge assets operating at diverse levels of organization.Less

Energy Systems Transformation: State Choices at the Intersection of Sustainability and Growth

Mark Huberty

in The Third Globalization: Can Wealthy Nations Stay Rich in the Twenty-First Century?

This chapter focuses on the comparative political economy of energy systems transformation and growth. It explores what choices states face in pursuing transformative change in their energy systems, ... More

This chapter focuses on the comparative political economy of energy systems transformation and growth. It explores what choices states face in pursuing transformative change in their energy systems, what factors—political, economic, technological, and social—constrain those choices, and what opportunities exist for exploitation. It argues that national variation in those constraints and opportunities means that states faced with theoretically similar choices will in fact choose very different strategies. A diversity of national choices will generate new patterns of national economic competition, and in doing so affect state responses to the broader problems of technological change and international competition. The chapter begins by treating energy as a systems problem. The energy system is composed of separate domains of production, distribution, and use. Each of these domains is structured by the interaction of technology, politics and regulation, and economic incentives and constraints.Less

Motivating Green Growth: The Political Economy of Energy Systems Transformation

Mark Huberty

in Can Green Sustain Growth?: From the Religion to the Reality of Sustainable Prosperity

Climate change mitigation requires a transformation of modern energy systems. That transformation carries with it serious and intertwined technical, political, and economic consequences. The ... More

Climate change mitigation requires a transformation of modern energy systems. That transformation carries with it serious and intertwined technical, political, and economic consequences. The technical shift from today’s fossil fuel-based energy system to some low-emissions alternative faces an array of technical uncertainties, will require a very long time, and provides few obvious economic advantages. Along the way, however, it will impose acute economic costs. This implies that political the opposition to change will be—and has been—well-organized and powerful compared to relatively weak, if ardent, proponents. Therefore, successful climate change mitigation will require policymakers to design policy that can discover potential economic advantages from systems transformation, and capitalize on those advantages to build supportive coalitions. Many mainstream policies—including carbon pricing—do not do so. Absent coalitions sustained by acute economic interests in long-term climate change mitigation, serious emissions reduction will prove difficult.Less

The European Union: Green Growth without Borders: Transnational Energy Systems and the Politics of Transformation

Mark Huberty

in Can Green Sustain Growth?: From the Religion to the Reality of Sustainable Prosperity

The European Union’s success in emissions trading is held up as a template for climate policymaking elsewhere. This chapter argues that this view is incorrect. The EU’s climate change policies ... More

The European Union’s success in emissions trading is held up as a template for climate policymaking elsewhere. This chapter argues that this view is incorrect. The EU’s climate change policies originate not out of some altruistic willingness to accept higher taxes to save the planet; but rather out of a carefully crafted deal that seeks economic gains from investment in low-emissions infrastructure. Those gains fulfill two important functions: offsetting the costs of climate change mitigation; and building the political coalitions necessary to counter opposition from economic sectors rooted in high emissions. Moreover, the particular dimensions of the EU bargain are deeply rooted in the specific characteristics of Europe’s legacy energy systems. Hence Europe’s success with climate change mitigation suggests the need for economic gains to underpin a climate policy consensus. But EU policy is unlikely to be replicated verbatim in other national contexts with different economic and political configurations.Less

Policies and conclusions

Paul Ekins

in Global Energy: Issues, Potentials, and Policy Implications

There are a number of global imperatives which policymakers and their citizens need to address if they want their societies to have, or gain, secure access to modern energy services. These ... More

There are a number of global imperatives which policymakers and their citizens need to address if they want their societies to have, or gain, secure access to modern energy services. These imperatives include a functional relationship between energy markets and their regulation, widening energy access, and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts of energy systems on ecosystems. This final chapter summarizes the major issues that have been raised by earlier chapters in the book in relation to how energy systems might develop through to 2050 and beyond. The chapter concludes that there are no easy resolutions to these issues, but some outcomes, involving improvements in technological performance, reductions in cost, increases in investment, growth in awareness of climate change, and understanding of the public policy complexities of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will be very much better than others for human health, welfare, and development.Less

China’s Energy and Climate Challenge

Joanna I. Lewis

in Green Innovation in China: China's Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

This chapter describes China's overall energy system in order to understand the many challenges in its transition to a low-carbon economy. Over the past three decades, the unprecedented growth of ... More

This chapter describes China's overall energy system in order to understand the many challenges in its transition to a low-carbon economy. Over the past three decades, the unprecedented growth of China's economy has resulted in a tenfold increase in per capita income and it has also lifted an estimated 400 million people out of poverty. However, alongside these developments is the rapid rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels and land use—the main causes of climate change. China's increased emissions have been driven primarily by demand from its booming industrial sector, with the country boasting the world's largest manufacturing workforce. Taking all of these into consideration, the chapter examines how China's political leadership addresses climate change, both at home, through domestic energy efficiency and renewable energy policies, and abroad, through participation in global climate change negotiations.Less

Deepening globalization: economies, trade, and energy systems

Gavin Bridge and Michael Bradshaw

in Global Energy: Issues, Potentials, and Policy Implications

This chapter considers the relationship between energy systems and the spatial integration of economies through trade and investment. It examines the ways in which the current energy system—based on ... More

This chapter considers the relationship between energy systems and the spatial integration of economies through trade and investment. It examines the ways in which the current energy system—based on fossil fuels—and the globalization of trade and investment are closely intertwined. The chapter considers the role of energy systems as a driver of globalization. It then focuses on the liberalization of energy trade and investment and the increasing spatial integration of energy markets. The final section of the chapter examines the implications of the low-carbon economy for a further deepening of globalization.Less

The Green Spiral

Nina Kelsey and John Zysman

in Can Green Sustain Growth?: From the Religion to the Reality of Sustainable Prosperity

Viable green growth strategies will require experimentation. Conventional approaches to green growth all rely on specific national conditions, limiting their potential economic gains. Real green ... More

Viable green growth strategies will require experimentation. Conventional approaches to green growth all rely on specific national conditions, limiting their potential economic gains. Real green growth requires that nations identify and capitalize on economic advantages from transitioning to low-emissions energy. Doing so poses a complex political challenge—how to create the space for experimentation before we know if and where gains are possible? We show that many regions have found strategies that helped them succeed despite disincentives for climate action. All follow a pattern of using near-term successes to build coalitions for further action. In many cases, those coalitions formed over problems only tangentially related to climate change. But all ultimately contributed to coalitions of industry and environmentalists willing to take on climate challenges. These cumulative “green spirals” suggest how policymakers can experiment to find sources of economic gain that will stabilize long-term climate action.Less

The Energy Innovation System: A Historical Perspective

Richard G. Newell

in Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors

This chapter reviews the record of innovation in energy technology. Innovation policy has been most efficient in the energy arena when it has complemented rather than attempted to directly substitute ... More

This chapter reviews the record of innovation in energy technology. Innovation policy has been most efficient in the energy arena when it has complemented rather than attempted to directly substitute for market demand. By eliciting technological innovation through policies and regulations, governments in the developed world have been quite effective. Very substantial improvements in efficiency and environmental performance have been achieved across a wide array of energy production and end-use technologies in response to various standards and other requirements. A number of studies over the past several years have also evaluated the performance of federal energy research and development (R&D) programs. The scale of the climate technology problem and other energy challenges suggests a solution that maximizes the impact of the scarce resources available for addressing these and other critical societal goals. Evidences indicate that an emissions price and R&D approach could provide the basic framework for such a solution. The energy sector is vast and highly complex, but the chapter nonetheless sketches out some “central tendencies” that provide important background.Less

Smart Cities and Smart Regulation: Accelerating Innovative Renewable Technologies in Energy Systems to Mitigate Climate Change

Anita Rønne

in Innovation in Energy Law and Technology: Dynamic Solutions for Energy Transitions

Increasing focus on sustainable societies and ‘smart cities’ due to emphasis on mitigation of climate change is simultaneous with ‘smart regulation’ reaching the forefront of the political agenda. ... More

Increasing focus on sustainable societies and ‘smart cities’ due to emphasis on mitigation of climate change is simultaneous with ‘smart regulation’ reaching the forefront of the political agenda. Consequently, the energy sector and its regulation are undergoing significant innovation and change. Energy innovations include transition from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources and application of new computer technology, interactively matching production with consumer demand. Smart cities are growing and projects are being initiated for development of urban areas and energy systems. Analysis from ‘Smart Cities Accelerator’, developed under the EU Interreg funding programme that includes Climate-KIC,——provides background for the focus on a smart energy system. Analysis ensures the energy supply systems support the integration of renewables with the need for new technologies and investments. ‘Smart’ is trendy, but when becoming ‘smart’ leads to motivation that is an important step towards mitigating climate change.Less

Do No Harm: The Challenge of Climate Change

Betty Sue Flowers

in Fourteen Points for the Twenty-First Century: A Renewed Appeal for Cooperative Internationalism

This chapter identifies four shifts that must take place to overcome the challenges of climate change and better preserve what remains of the inhabitable natural environment. Globally, climate change ... More

This chapter identifies four shifts that must take place to overcome the challenges of climate change and better preserve what remains of the inhabitable natural environment. Globally, climate change must be accepted as fact, not fiction, and each nation must take responsibility and commit to sustainable development. The global energy system must rely on renewable sources, rather than fossil fuels. The focus must shift from economic growth to health and well-being. None of these ideas are new, but the author calls for a global strategic conversation about the shape of our collective future. The chapter concludes with the idea that climate change is an opportunity for global collaboration and the development of relationships to better the future.Less

Smart Infrastructure: Innovative Energy Technology, Climate Mitigation, and Consumer Protection in Australia and Germany

Lee Godden and Anne Kallies

in Innovation in Energy Law and Technology: Dynamic Solutions for Energy Transitions

‘Smart infrastructure’, such as smart meters, are innovative, information-based energy technologies designed to promote systemic energy efficiency, cost savings, and to transition energy markets ... More

‘Smart infrastructure’, such as smart meters, are innovative, information-based energy technologies designed to promote systemic energy efficiency, cost savings, and to transition energy markets toward sustainable outcomes, including reducing climate change impacts. Smart meters promise innovation in electricity markets–as an enabler of demand-side services and a more distributed energy system. The chapter examines three case studies of legal reform for smart meter introduction in Australia and Germany. It concludes that the realization of the innovation promise of smart infrastructure requires the legal system to address consumer-oriented social and economic changes. While legal responses are growing in sophistication, significant questions around consumer protection remain, although Germany emphasizes consumer privacy more than Australian case studies. Finally, Germany most closely links innovation to climate change and electricity system transitions, whereas, increasingly, Australian policies emphasize the consumer benefits and innovation in the business models for electricity distribution.Less

Introduction and Summary

Rebecca M. Henderson and Richard G. Newell

in Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors

Reorienting current energy systems toward a far greater reliance on technologies with low or no carbon dioxide emissions is an immense challenge. This book explores how the U.S. energy innovation ... More

Reorienting current energy systems toward a far greater reliance on technologies with low or no carbon dioxide emissions is an immense challenge. This book explores how the U.S. energy innovation system could be improved using a complementary approach. Instead of focusing on the history of the energy industry to draw lessons for the future of energy innovation, it outlines the history of innovation in several industries that have already seen extraordinary rates of technological progress: agriculture, chemicals, semiconductors, computers, the Internet, and biopharmaceuticals. The chapters examine the complex role that public policy and private markets have played in triggering rapid innovation in the industry and in sustaining it once in motion. In four of the industries discussed in the book—agriculture, semiconductors, computers, and the Internet—the federal government played an important role in funding deployment of the new technology. The book suggests that greatly increasing rates of energy innovation requires creating significant demand for low-carbon technologies, substantially increased federal funding for well-managed research, and support for the initial deployment of new technologies.Less

Geometrical Scaling

in Technology Change and the Rise of New Industries

Geometrical scaling refers to the relationship between the geometry of a technology, its scale, and the physical laws that govern it. This chapter, which focuses on geometrical scaling as a method of ... More

Geometrical scaling refers to the relationship between the geometry of a technology, its scale, and the physical laws that govern it. This chapter, which focuses on geometrical scaling as a method of achieving improvements in a technology's cost and performance, uses data on cost versus scale, and the fact that the scales of some technologies were dramatically increased or decreased over time to show the potential benefits from geometrical scaling. It details these benefits for four types of technologies: (1) production equipment; (2) energy systems; (3) transportation equipment; and (4) electronics.Less

Thermodynamics and Thought

Dorion Sagan

in Chimeras and Consciousness: Evolution of the Sensory Self

This chapter discusses the relationship of purposeful choice-making behavior to the directional bias of naturally occurring complex systems ruled by thermodynamics. It argues that the sensitivities ... More

This chapter discusses the relationship of purposeful choice-making behavior to the directional bias of naturally occurring complex systems ruled by thermodynamics. It argues that the sensitivities and responses of consciousness in humans and others emerge from naturally complex energy-driven systems. It illustrates that the purpose of life and other naturally organized complex systems is integrally linked to time’s arrow as defined by the second law of thermodynamics and energy’s spread. This chapter hypothesizes that consciousness is an outgrowth or variation of the naturally complex behavior of self-maintaining thermodynamic systems.Less

 Architecture and the Sun

Daniel A. Barber

in A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War

The Association for Applied Solar Energy seemed to be an ideal place for the incubation of solar technology, especially after the excitement that had been generated by its 1955 World Symposium. This ... More

The Association for Applied Solar Energy seemed to be an ideal place for the incubation of solar technology, especially after the excitement that had been generated by its 1955 World Symposium. This was particularly the case in demonstrating the potential of modern architecture to negotiate economic, political, and cultural issues relative to energy systems. The Association attempted to provide both an economic base and a technological knowledge bank that would foster new ideas and encourage developments in existing technology to mature, with hopes that they could then attain influence in the marketplace. An international competition for a solar house was held, re-engaging directly with new ideas in modern architecture. Entries, almost all distinctly modern, flowed in, and prominent architects such as Pietro Belluschi served as jurors. The winning house was built, but didn’t work very well, and its disappointing realization led to the near-dissolution of the Association. Publications and advocacy persisted.Less

OTEC Economics

William H. Avery and Chih Wu

in Renewable Energy from the Ocean: A Guide to OTEC

The economic contribution that OTEC will make to the solution of the nation’s energy problems depends on its perceived merits relative to existing and alternative ... More

The economic contribution that OTEC will make to the solution of the nation’s energy problems depends on its perceived merits relative to existing and alternative sources of energy and fuels. The previous chapters have shown that OTEC technology is ready for large-scale demonstrations that will provide a firm basis for commercial development. OTEC can have a large impact on U.S. energy needs by supplying liquid fuels for direct use in transportation, or for electric power production via fuel cells. Its commercial development will depend finally on political and other factors that cannot be assessed quantitatively. The national security and environmental impacts of continuing dependence on oil should receive major emphasis in decisions to implement new processes for fuel production. In this chapter we review the estimated sales prices of fuels and electric power from existing and proposed sources and compare them with OTEC prices. Actual manufacturing costs are generally unavailable and are highly dependent on the financing methods and resources of the individual producer. However, an objective comparison of the sales prices of fuels produced by proposed processes can be made by using the Mossman financial analysis method to estimate the sales price of fuel or electric power that must be charged for profitable operation. This requires only information on the plant investment, input fuel costs, and operation and maintenance costs. The sensitivity of the product costs to changes in the estimates in plant investment can then be displayed in a suitable graph. With this procedure the alternatives can be equitably compared from a uniform point of view. This includes costs of related facilities as well as the plant investment. See the discussion in Section 7.3. These costs vary with time in an unpredictable manner. Past forecasts have been in error by large factors. These costs are a small part of the total, typically a few percent of plant investment for capital-intensive projects. Environmental impact costs have usually been ignored. These items are a few percent of plant investment. State and local property taxes will be zero for sea-based OTEC systems. Less