Browsing by Subject "Energy policy"
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Item An analysis for promoting residential-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) in Bangkok, Thailand(2015-12) Chaianong, Aksornchan; King, Carey Wayne, 1974; Beach, Fred C; Pharino, ChanathipSolar Photovoltaic (PV) has a significant potential for distributed energy in the urban environment of Bangkok, Thailand in order to decrease the country’s reliance on imported conventional energy and enhance the country’s energy security. This research analyzes the technical, economic and policy analysis of installing 3,000 MW (Thailand’s solar PV goal) of residential solar PV in Bangkok using System Advisor Model (SAM) and also compares each analysis to large-scale load (e.g. manufacturing). In technical analysis, the relationship of distributed solar energy and electric load from the grid is analyzed. While the residential load and peak solar irradiance are not correspondent for residential scale, generating electricity from 3,000 MW of solar PV can still decrease residential daily load consumption from the grid by 38 percent. On the other hand, the distributed of solar energy and large-scale load are well matched. As a result, the large-scale peak load can be reduced by 16.7 percent from 3,000 MW solar installation. Regarding to economic analysis, the levelized cost of energy of residential scale is higher than large scale. Without tariff, costs of solar electricity are higher than grid price. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce solar tariff to encourage people to install solar PV. Throughout solar project’s lifetime, with current Thailand’s solar incentives (Feed-in Tariff; FIT), solar project investments of both scales seem feasible from financial perspectives under Thai’s government cost assumptions. In addition, due to the increasing urbanization rate and typical land use of Bangkok, residential solar PV seems to be the better candidate. However, some technical and policy barriers remain, such as the lacks of skilled manpower, policy mix, and financing options as well as the inconsistence of governmental support. It is essential for Thai government to overcome these barriers in order to create sustainable growth of solar PV in the country.Item Barriers to a biofuels transition in the U.S. liquid fuels sector(2009-12) O'Donnell, Michael Joseph; Webber, Michael E., 1971-; Allen, David T.Demand for liquid fuels (i.e., petroleum products) has burdened the U.S. with major challenges, including national security and economic concerns stemming from rising petroleum imports; impacts of global climate change from rising emissions of CO2; and continued public health concerns from criteria and hazardous (i.e., toxic) air pollutants. Over the last decade or so, biofuels have been touted as a supply-side solution to several of these problems. Biofuels can be produced from domestic biomass feedstocks (e.g., corn, soybeans), they have the potential to reduce GHG emissions when compared to petroleum products on a lifecycle basis, and some biofuels have been shown to reduce criteria air pollutants. Today, there are numerous policy incentives—existing and proposed—aimed at supporting the biofuels industry in the U.S. However, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program stands as perhaps the most significant mandate imposed to date to promote the use of biofuels. Overall, the RFS stands as the key driver in a transition to biofuels in the near term. By mandating annual consumption of biofuels, increasing to 36 bgy by 2022, the program has the potential to significantly alter the state of the U.S. liquid fuels sector. Fuel transitions in the transportation sector are the focus of this thesis. More specifically, the increasing consumption of biofuels in the transportation sector, as mandated by the RFS, is examined. With a well-developed, efficient, and expensive, petroleum-based infrastructure in place, many barriers must be overcome for biofuels to play a significant role in the transportation sector. Identifying and understanding the barriers to a biofuels transition is the objective of this thesis. Although fuel transitions may seem daunting and unfamiliar, the U.S. transportation sector has undergone numerous transitions in the past. Chapter 2 reviews major fuel transitions that have occurred in the U.S. liquid fuels sector over the last half century, including the phasing out of lead additives in gasoline, the transition from MTBE to ethanol as the predominant oxygenate additive in gasoline, and the recent introduction of ULSD. These historical transitions represent the uncertainty and diversity of fuel transition pathways, and illustrate the range of impacts that can occur across the fuel supply chain infrastructure. Many pertinent lessons can be derived from these historical transitions and used to identify and assess barriers facing the adoption of alternative fuels (i.e., biofuels) and to understand how such a transition might unfold. Computer models can also help to explore the implications of fuel transitions. In order to better understand the barriers associated with fuel transitions, and to identify options for overcoming these barriers, many recent research efforts have used sophisticated modeling techniques to analyze energy transitions. Chapter 3 reviews a number of these recent modeling efforts with a focus on understanding how these methodologies have been applied, or may be adapted, to analyzing a transition to biofuels. Four general categories of models are reviewed: system dynamics, complex adaptive systems, infrastructure optimization, and economic models. In chapter 4, scenarios created from a high-level model of the liquid fuels sector (the Liquid Fuels Transition model) are presented to explore potential pathways and barriers to a biofuels transition. The scenarios illustrate different pathways to meeting the requirements of the RFS mandate, and differ based on the overall demand of liquid fuels, how the biofuels mandate is met (i.e., the mix of biofuels), and the status of the ethanol blend limit in the motor gasoline sector. The scenarios are used to evaluate the infrastructure implications associated with a biofuels transition, and illustrate the uncertainty that exists in assessing such a transition.Item Essays on fuel efficiency and vehicle demand dynamics(2011-05) Liu, Yizao; Miravete, E. J. (Eugenio J.); Abrevaya, Jason; Corbae, Philip D.; Donald, Stephen; Hendricks, Kenneth; Rysman, MarcReducing automobile-based gasoline consumption has been a major U.S. public policy issue recently. A key driving force behind policymakers' desire is the concern of environmental externalities and national security. Currently, there are three public policies towards reducing automobile gasoline consumption: raising federal gasoline tax, raising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards and vehicle scrappage subsidies of government to retirement of old vehicles. My research studies the effectiveness of these policies in the United States. Among all polices, economists often argue that higher gasoline tax would be more effective in improving fuel economy efficiency. In my first chapter, I ask how gasoline prices influence households' automobile replacement decisions and thus market fuel economy efficiency, which is measured by average mileage per gallon in a city. I specify and estimate a structural dynamic model of consumer preference for new and used vehicles following the methodology proposed by Gowrisankaran and Rysman (2009). Since gasoline costs accounts for 65% of total operating costs, the current and future gasoline price must need to be taken into consideration for rational forward-looking consumers when they are making vehicle choices. Besides, the replacement decision for vehicles is dynamic as well: facing depreciation as the automobile ages and the improving features for new products, consumers need to decide whether to replace the vehicle in the current period or later. Therefore, a dynamic model of consumer choice would be crucial to correct policy evaluation of fuel economy efficiency, while previous literature fails to consider the dynamics. By taking dynamics into consideration, I am able to capture the inherent dynamic nature of a forward-looking consumer's decision, with rational expectation on the evolution of vehicle attributes and retail gasoline prices. I estimate the model using a rich dataset combing vehicle registration data on different cities, vehicle characteristic data, average gasoline price, etc. Although a high gasoline tax is never put in practice in the U.S. and may not be political feasible, I further conduct an experiment of raising gasoline tax to test how fuel economy efficiency is affected based on my model estimates. Experiments suggest that keeping a $4 gasoline price would result in a steady trend for a city's fleet fuel efficiency increase, while doubling current rate will only increase fuel efficiency in the first several years, but experience drops over time. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) are regulations in the United States that intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks sold in the US. However, it is long been realized that with a more fuel efficiency car, consumers may be induced to drive more which partially offsets the original energy saving by the policy. Therefore, to assess the effectiveness of CAFE standards, it is crucial to ask: how fuel economy efficiency, which is measured by mileage per gallon (MPG), affects households' vehicle mileage traveled and its distribution. In my second chapter, I answer the question by estimating a structural model for joint determination of vehicle fuel efficiency choice and vehicle mileage traveled each year with a detailed micro-level data of National Household Travel Survey 2001. I further study the distributional effects on vehicle miles of fuel efficiency using instrumental quantile regression. Comparison on results and tests of weak instruments between my method and literature suggest that my model and choice of instruments provide consistent estimates, while using choice probabilities as instruments is not valid. My results support some earlier findings of rebound effects with a more precise quantitative estimation. In addition, I find new evidence that costs associated with raising CAFE standards vary across different quantiles of annual mileage driven and are especially high for those with below-average vehicle mileage driven. These findings also provide rationale in support of a tax on mileage, which is more effective in reducing gasoline consumptions, comparing to the costs of CAFE standards. My third chapter focus on 2009 CARS Program (Cash-for-Clunker). The 2009 CARS program attempted to boost the sale of new fuel efficient vehicles to replace old gas guzzlers. The program established a two-tier incentive system depending on whether buyers purchased a passenger vehicle or an SUV. The result is that many of the new purchased vehicles are indeed SUVs. The CARS program collected information about the old scrapped vehicles and linked it to the actual purchase of the new vehicles. It is thus possible to analyze the effect of preference inertia in choices by comparing the characteristics of old and new vehicles. The fact that effective prices that consumers face are determined by the mileage class of the old car also allows us to evaluate the distribution of valuation trade-offs between mileage and other characteristics such as size, performance, and vehicle class. My findings suggest that the 2009 Cash-for-Clunker is not very effective in terms of affecting consumers' choice of SUVs and big cars. For transactions under the program, consumers still prefer SUVs and large cars. The extra $1000 rebates actually increase consumers' tastes towards SUVs.Item Going solar in paradise : solar water heaters on the island of Hawaii(2006-05) Murray, Julie Marie; Oden, MichaelEnergy efficient technologies and renewable energy technologies are becoming less of a novelty in the American energy mix. These technologies offer the promise of a decreased dependence on foreign oil, considerable savings of energy bills, and protections for the environment. Despite the many potential benefits, these technologies face many barriers to adoption. The lack of renewable energy technologies and energy efficient technologies is particularly damaging in the State of Hawaii, where 90% of energy needs are met with imported fossil fuels. This report focuses on the current energy policies in Hawaii and the barriers to the incorporation of renewable energy technologies and energy efficient technologies, specifically solar water heaters.Item The role of the smart grid in renewable energy progress : Abu Dhabi(2012-12) Krishnan, Anirudh; Oden, Michael; Rai, VarunSince the inception of the Masdar Initiative in 2006, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has invested a considerable amount of resources to promote renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. With an aim of achieving 7% of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020, there is much that the emirate needs to do in order to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons while still planning capacity for future electricity demand. This report explores the effectiveness of a smart grid infrastructure as a mechanism to afford the flexibility and functionality required to incorporate renewable energy sources into the electric grid, as well as leveraging a real-time data network to attain reductions in peak demand consumption. Specific regulatory structures that exist in Abu Dhabi's electric and telecommunications markets are evaluated to understand the role they will play in dealing with interoperability standards, privacy concerns, and consumer participation issues that influence the effective integration of smart grid into Abu Dhabi's energy future.Item San Antonio's energy future(2006-08) Pearson, Eli Richard; Butler, Kent S.As demand for electricity increases, utilities turn to demand-side or supply-side responses in order to reduce demand or add supply to their energy portfolio. CPS Energy, a municipal utility owned by the City of San Antonio, Texas, recently broke ground on a new coal plant to meet rising demand for electricity. This report examines the public debate that accompanied the proposal and investigates the possibilities of other solutions for utilities to meet demand. Two case studies, overviews of the utilities in Austin, Texas, and Sacramento, California, provide insight into the considerations for utilities with renewable energy and demand-side management (DSM) in their energy portfolio. This professional report will evaluate these case studies and apply lessons learned to the case of CPS Energy in San Antonio, and report on the options available to utilities considering conventional supply-side additions and demand-side management.Item A spatial decision support framework for web-based, multi-stakeholder engagement : case study of geothermal power project siting in Idaho(2013-12) Noll, Daniel John; Pierce, Suzanne Alise, 1969-; Eaton, David J.; Butler, JohnMulti-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) represents an emerging decision aid tool in the field of natural resource decision-making. This thesis involves research into the application of a multi-criteria spatial decisions support system (MC-SDSS) to support favorability mapping of geothermal resource potential. The main goal is to provide proof of concept of a tool that can facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement during site selection of a potential power generation facility. It presents information on the history and development of spatial decision support systems in the field of environmental and natural resource decision-making, as well as a case study of a MC-SDSS tool--entitled the "Heatseeker" application-- developed and applied to geothermal resource potential in the Eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho. This research was first conducted under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy National Geothermal Student Competition. The Heatseeker application and supporting infrastructure utilizes a client/server system architecture that provides users with access to spatial and tabular data with low bandwidth requirements. Client-side scripting is used to execute a weighted linear combination (WLC) model and provide users with display and report functionality. Additionally, the tool is optimized for use with a gesture-enabled touch device that serves as a boundary object to facilitate participatory stakeholder engagement. The result of this research is a proof of concept in supporting future MC-SDSS design that can be applied both to geothermal favorability mapping and other natural resource management processes. This work draws upon the research traditions of multiple academic disciplines, including operations research, computer science, cognitive and behavioral psychology, economics, and public policy. The initial development and application of the MC-SDSS tool involved a team of graduate and undergraduate students from geoscience and social science disciplines. Transdisciplinary approaches to problem structuring and decision-making such as this are an increasingly common approach to natural resource issues.Item Texas at a nuclear crossroads(2009-12) Gest, William Hardy; Alves, Rosental C.; Gil De Zuniga, HomeroThis report is a journalistic work, a long-form magazine style article representing in-depth reporting on a single topic. With the planned expansion of coal facilities, and increasing acknowledgement of the reality of climate change, some environmentalists are reversing their stance on nuclear energy. The industry itself promises a new kind of nuke, with none of the safety shortcomings and budget overruns that halted expansion in the 1970s. The planned expansion of the South Texas nuclear facility in Bay City has brought Texas to the forefront of a national debate about the viability of a nuclear future for America’s energy policy, especially as cost overruns threaten to seriously interfere with the project. Austin itself, burned once by the South Texas Project, has sworn not to be involved, but the city's green image could be tarnished by its continued reliance on coal power. Many other environmental groups continue to insist that solar and wind power are better alternatives. Once politically untouchable, nuclear power is again a contentious issue and Texas, with its long history of fortunes made and lost in energy, is again at the head of a potential revolution in the field.Item The future of electricity prices in Mexico(2016-05) Piazzesi di Vallimosa Zorrilla, Paolo; Spence, David B.; Pierce, Suzanne; Fisher, William L.Mexico passed an historic energy reform in 2014. In the electric sector, the previously vertically integrated state-owned company is now open to competition from private companies in the generation and commercialization of electricity, and a new wholesale electricity market was created. The reform was passed by the PRI administration shortly after returning to power, and its stated goal is to guarantee Mexico’s energy security. The administration predicts that competition and restructuring will result in a more efficient market and lower overall electricity prices for consumer. However, the final outcome is not yet clear. Factors including plummeting oil prices, rushed restructuring of state companies and regulators, a new wholesale market with little initial private participation, and high risks in new electricity contracts create an uncertain future for the price of electricity in Mexico. This document begins with an overview of the energy reform as it relates to the electric sector, describing the restructuring of state actors and their new responsibilities, the newly created wholesale electricity market, and important features of the reform including distributed generation and clean energy certificates. It also includes the relevant legal changes for new private investment in the electric sector. It then analyzes historical trends on the price of electricity, focusing on medium and high voltage rates which do not benefit from government subsidies. It also analyzes trends in the price of natural gas, the main indicator for generation costs in Mexico. These analyses attempt to make a prediction on the medium-term price of electricity in the new wholesale market. Case studies are included for reforms in Argentina and Chile, drawing political and technological lessons to be applied to the Mexican case. The thesis concludes that the energy reform was much needed and long overdue, although the political pressure to enact it before the presidential term is over has led to an imperfect implementation. While there has been no private investment in large capacity plants, investment in renewable energy has been an unexpected success of the reform.Item Whirlpools of information: information processing in policy subsystems 1995-2010(2015-12) Shafran, JoBeth Surface; Jones, Bryan D.; Workman, Samuel; Theriault, Sean; Moser, Scott; McDaniel, EricThis project focuses on information processing in policy subsystems, specifically how congressional committees in the domestic commerce, energy, and health care policy areas prioritize available information, with an extended analysis of information supply and prioritization in energy policy. I examine the conditions under which federal bureaucrats are most likely to supply information to Congress in these three policy areas. I seek to determine whether and to what extent the bureaucratic supply of information changes by issue area, presiding congressional committee, and in response to problem uncertainty. My findings suggest that the number of bureaucrats testifying varies by both policy area and committee type. Furthermore, as the problem uncertainty for a committee increases, so too does the number of federal bureaucrats invited to testify. These findings are especially true for careerist bureaucrats. Within energy policy, my findings show that the subsystem actors most likely to supply information at a hearing varies across committees, over time, and by specific issue area. By examining who supplies information, this project will provide a better understanding of how subsystem actors are prioritized by congressional committees as information suppliers. This study is important because the information supplied by these non-elected policy elites can then influence the problem definition process, structure policy debates, and impact policy formulation.