Microgrids & District Energy: Pathways To Sustainable Urban Development

A microgrid is an energy system specifically designed to meet some of the energy needs of a group of buildings, a campus, or an entire community. It can include local facilities that generate electricity, heating, and/or cooling; store energy; distribute the energy generated; and manage energy consumption intelligently and in real time. Microgrids enable economies of scale that facilitate local production of energy in ways that can advance cost reduction, sustainability, economic development, and resilience goals. As they often involve multiple stakeholders, and may encompass numerous distinct property boundaries, municipal involvement is often a key factor for successful implementation. This report provides an introduction to microgrid concepts, identifies the benefits and most common road blocks to implementation, and discusses proactive steps municipalities can take to advance economically viable and environmentally superior microgrids. It also offers advocacy suggestions for municipal leaders and officials to pursue at the state and regional level. The contents are targeted to municipal government staff but anyone looking for introductory material on microgrids should find it useful

Capturing Energy Waste in Ohio: Using Combined Heat and Power to Upgrade Our Electric System

Assesses the state's potential for capturing heat generated during electricity production or industrial processes to meet thermal needs, cut fossil fuel use, and reduce emissions. Recommends ways to remove barriers to combined heat and power adoption

Energy Utilities and Competitiveness. ESRI Policy Series No. 24. April 1995

The importance of energy utilities, bath electricity and gas, in a mode economy is often underestimated. It is only when a problem occurs that public attention is, perforce, focused on their operations. However, their central economic role merits more constant and focused interest from policy makers. Throughout Europe there is a new interest in the operation of energy utilities and close attention is being paid to how they are structured, to the role of competition in ensuring efficient operation, to security of supply, and to the environmental consequences of the way they are operated. The Commission of the European Communities has made some of the running in recent years. However, as in so many other areas, the need to re-examine policy in Ireland stems primarily from our own requirements rather than from any external imperative

Social cost considerations and legal constraints in implementing modular integrated utility systems

Social costs associated with the design, demonstration, and implementation of the Modular Integrated Utility System are considered including the social climate of communities, leadership patterns, conflicts and cleavages, specific developmental values, MIUS utility goal assessment, and the suitability of certian alternative options for use in a program of implementation. General considerations are discussed in the field of socio-technological planning. These include guidelines for understanding the conflict and diversity; some relevant goal choices and ideas useful to planners of the MIUS facility

Energy efficiency in buildings in China: Policies, barriers and opportunities

"China's rising energy demands that are required for its booming economy have made the country one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. The Chinese building sector substantially contributes to the country's CO2emissions. Chinese policy makers have realized that enhancing energy efficiency in buildings (EEB) is a promising approach with regard to combining further economic growth with less energy consumption and environmental impact. They have enacted a wide range of policies to foster energy efficiency within the building sector. While the policies can theoretically unfold a great energy saving potential, their implementation has been weak so far. This study analyzes the existing policies and measures in place in order to promote EEB and examines promoting factors as well as barriers for the implementation of EEB policies. The study comes to the conclusion that the determinants of successful EEB policy implementation in China arise in the fields: legal environment and enforcement, economic parameters for investment, informational and lifestyle aspects as well as the specific organization of the value chain in the housing sector." (author's abstract

Programme of Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s Government 6 June 2019: Inclusive and competent Finland – A socially, economically and ecologically sustainable society

Climate change, globalisation, urbanisation, the ageing of the population and technological development may be transforming Finland and the world faster than ever before. This transformation offers great opportunities for the development of our country, but it also creates insecurity and concerns about what lies ahead. To face this transformation, we need policy measures that offer people a sense of security and hope for a better future. The aim of the first Government of the new decade is a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable Finland by 2030. The Nordic welfare state and its key pillars, income security, well-functioning health and social services and solid education as well as high expertise create a robust and just platform for the work on reforms. In the socially, economically and ecologically sustainable Finland the economy is managed for the people, not the other way round. Sustainable economic growth is built on a high rate of employment and strong public finances. The Government of Antti Rinne aims to create 60,000 new jobs, which will be achieved by measures that boost the demand and supply of work. Besides a higher employment rate, sustainable growth also builds on more robust work productivity. The new Government rates education and research very highly. Education and culture are an important part of our value system and are considered to be a means of guaranteeing individual freedom. In the 2020s, wellbeing will continue to draw on knowledge and skills and on work and entrepreneurship. We must bring Finland’s level of education and competence back up to the top of the world league. We aim to boast the best working life in the world; to be a nation with happy and competent professionals where every person’s knowledge and skills are put to good use. Social responsibility means that we take responsibility for each other and our common future. This means a sense of trust that we will all be looked after when we are no longer able to do so ourselves. It means taking care of the whole of the nation and ensuring that our country develops equitably. Not a single senior citizen should be afraid of getting old; not a single young person should be at risk of exclusion. We will build a Finland that is child-friendly, a country where families and their opportunities to make choices are supported and where parents contribute equally to caring for their children. The world of the 2020s needs trailblazers. An ecologically sustainable Finland shows the way in mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity. The Government is drawing a roadmap for an emissions-free Finland. The Nordic welfare model, combined with responsible and decreasing use of natural resources, is a model that will guarantee the future competitiveness of our country

Federal Government Initiatives to Reduce the Price Level

macroeconomics, income policy, U.S. government, price level, federal government

The political economy of decarbonisation: exploring the dynamics of South Africa’s electricity sector

South Africa’s coal-dominated electricity sector, a key feature of the country’s minerals-energy complex, is in crisis and subject to change. This offers potential opportunities for decarbonisation. Despite positive examples of decarbonisation in South Africa’s electricity sector, such as a procurement programme for renewable energy, there are structural path dependencies linked to coal-fired generation and security of supply. Decarbonisation goes far beyond what is technologically or even economically feasible, to encompass a complexity of political, social and economic factors. Meanwhile, decision-making in electricity is highly politicised and lack of transparency and power struggles in the policy sphere pose key challenges. Such power struggles are reflected in national debates over which technologies should be prioritised and the institutional arrangements that should facilitate them

Who Benefits from Hydropower in the 21st Century? Analyzing Local Benefit Sharing of Hydropower Projects in Nepal and Developing Countries

This dissertation addresses three significant research questions on hydropower energy and development geography. The first research question develops a new framework for evaluating hydropower benefit-sharing arrangements (HBSAs). Specifically, this chapter argues that the current forms of HBSAs need to focus on spatial scales of development to fit within the broader dialogues of equity and rural development across in the countries of Global South. The second and third research questions deal with the experience of different stakeholders with a particular type of HBSA practiced in Nepal, known as local equity sharing (LES). Community leaders’ experiences with and perspectives about local equity sharing (LES) and rural development in Nepal are the theme of the second research question. The results from semi-structured interviews with the chairpersons of the rural municipalities are used to investigate the impact of LES on socio-economic condition of the local community. To my knowledge, it is one of the first studies to review the impacts of LES, which is currently confined to Nepal. The final research question concerns how LES has been evaluated by hydropower developers as they make decisions about domestic capital mobilization within Nepal and mitigating conflicts. The work on these three research questions contributes to expanding our knowledge of hydropower benefit-sharing as it shapes rural development strategies in countries of the Global South