Italian consumers’ willingness to pay for renewable energy sources

EU Directive 2009/72/CE imposes to the European Countries environmental and energy targets. The Italian goal is to attain a 17% share in electricity production from renewable energy sources (RES) by 2020. To make investment in renewables attractive, market prices must be profitable and the gap between the private and social costs of renewables must be filled using “persuasive” tools. The acceptance of such a burden may be controversial because it results in an increase in prices. It is interesting to estimate the consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) for green electricity. We based our research on a national survey conducted in November 2007 in Italy. We used a stochastic payment card (SPC) including a “certainty correction” and proposing five degrees of acceptance. An empirical analysis shows that there is a substantial willingness among Italian consumers to partially cover the cost of achieving the RES goal.contingent valuation; interval data; stochastic payment card; renewable energy sources

The willingness to pay for Renewable Energy Sources (RES): the case of Italy with different survey approaches and under different EU “climate vision”. First results.

In reference to the “Renewable Sources” EU Directive 2001/77/CE the Italian goal, for 2010, is to attain the share of 22% in RES electricity production. In such context it becomes crucial to explore the existence of consumer’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) in order to use green energy in the electricity production. This study is founded on a national survey with 1601 phone interviews made, in Italy, at the end of November 2006. This paper focus much on three issues. First one, how the different elicitation affects respondents choices, second one on the relationship between a “single point value” and “a valuation distribution” and finally on the gaps between different formats as: bidding game and dichotomous referendum (single bounded) contingent valuation method. In all the elicitations formats we make a “certainty correction” proposing five degree of acceptance: definitely yes and no (DY, DN), probably yes and no (PY, PN) and don’t know (DK). In order to apply the quantitative analysis, the original dataset has been appropriately treated, recoding DK, PN and PY responses. With regard to the results we found a significant path dependences in respondents answers due to the elicitation formats. Another important result is that also in “conservative” way we found a substantial willingness of consumers to partially cover the cost of Italian RES goal.bidding game, contingent valuation, renewable energy sources, descending and ascending elicitation format

L’analisi delle determinanti della domanda di trasporto pubblico nella città di Perugia.

Nell’ambito della promozione del trasporto pubblico locale la città di Perugia si è mossa, in periodi storici diversi, nelle direzioni di promuovere un sistema integrato di trasporto, inclusivo degli ascensori e delle scale mobili, e di realizzare la riforma tariffaria. Il risultato di queste scelte è stato il raggiungimento, negli ultimi dieci anni, di una posizione di preminenza nel panorama nazionale del trasporto pubblico dato che dal 1996 la domanda di viaggi è in costante aumento, e da allora la domanda è complessivamente aumentata del 48%. L’obiettivo del presente lavoro è duplice. Il primo obiettivo è quello di individuare i fattori sottostanti alla prestazione del trasporto pubblico locale a Perugia e conseguentemente si è stimato un sistema di equazioni esplicativo delle funzione di domanda aggregata per i bus e per il sistema ferroviario urbano. L’intento è di stimare le elasticità della domanda rispetto ai principali attributi del trasporto pubblico locale ed alle principali caratteristiche socio-demografiche. Il secondo obiettivo è quello di valutare l'impatto della riforma tariffaria e le conseguenze della introduzione dei biglietti multi corsa attraverso la stima di un sistema di equazioni relative alle domande di viaggi per le diverse tipologie di biglietto al fine di stimare sia le elasticità dirette che quelle incrociate.Trasporto pubblico, funzione di domanda, tipologie titoli di viaggio

Ambiente operativo ed efficienza nel settore del Trasporto Pubblico Locale in Italia

This paper assesses the impact of environmental factors on the efficiency of public transit system within a DEAbased mixed framework. Using a sample of 100 Italian companies, we implement a two-stage method in order to investigate the impact of environmental effects into DEA inefficiency measures. The results point out the relevance of environmental effects and consequently the bias of deterministic DEA approach.DEA, two-stage, environmental effects, local public tranpsort

Assessing the Determinants of Renewable Electricity Acceptance Integrating Meta-Analysis Regression and a Local Comprehensive Survey

In dealing with renewable electricity (RE), individuals are involved both as end-consumers on the demand side and as stakeholders (citizens) in the local production process on the supply side. Empirical evidence shows that in many countries, consumers are willing to pay a significant amount to facilitate adoption of RE. By contrast, environmental externalities are often the cause of strong opposition to RE adoption if local communities are involved as stakeholders in wind, solar or biomass investment projects. Looking at the literature on willingness to pay and on willingness to accept, we have investigated RE acceptance mechanisms. First, we have used the meta-analysis to assess the major determinants of RE acceptance on both demand and supply sides. Meta-analysis has provided some insights useful for managing field research on an onshore wind farm enlargement project located in the Umbria region. Meta-analysis and survey results confirm that the local community plays a central role in local RE acceptance. Furthermore, people who have previous experience with windmills require less compensation, or are willing to pay more, for RE development. Results suggest that these attributes should be included in future research to improve understanding of determinants of RE acceptance

The Question of Sustainability of Green Electricity Policy Intervention

In this paper, we analyse the financial viability and economic sustainability implications of government programs for the development of renewable energy sources, explicitly considering that consumers take environmental issues into account. We envisage a broad policy strategy for the future, which we label the "World Sustainable Scenario", and we quantify the inter-temporal resource requirement in terms of investment necessary to achieve it. We perform an empirical meta-analysis to quantify the willingness to pay for green electricity worldwide. Subsequently, we compare the amount of resources required according to policy programs and the populations' willingness to sacrifice current resources for future benefits ( i.e. , willingness to finance future investments) to assess the plausibility of current policies. The main empirical findings show that the population's attitude toward green electricity will support, on average, 50% of the total investment required. We conclude that this is a positive result, which will make possible the success of the renewable energy sources development policy

Balancing energy security priorities: portfolio optimization approach to oil imports

The notion of energy security in most interpretations includes the physical supply and price affordability components, making financial risks a crucial part of energy security strategies. Mainstrea..

Italian consumers’ willingness to pay for renewable energy sources

EU Directive 2009/72/CE imposes to the European Countries environmental and energy targets. The Italian goal is to attain a 17% share in electricity production from renewable energy sources (RES) by 2020. To make investment in renewables attractive, market prices must be profitable and the gap between the private and social costs of renewables must be filled using “persuasive” tools. The acceptance of such a burden may be controversial because it results in an increase in prices. It is interesting to estimate the consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) for green electricity. We based our research on a national survey conducted in November 2007 in Italy. We used a stochastic payment card (SPC) including a “certainty correction” and proposing five degrees of acceptance. An empirical analysis shows that there is a substantial willingness among Italian consumers to partially cover the cost of achieving the RES goal

estimating the household consumption function in saudi arabia an error correction approach

ABSTRACTWe estimate a micro-founded life-cycle consumption model for Saudi Arabia over the period 1970–2017 using error correction model procedures. Dynamic adjustments are significant, and both in..

estimating the learning curve of solar pv balance of system for over 20 countries implications and policy recommendations

Abstract Solar photovoltaic systems installed on homes and commercial building rooftops are deemed central for a low-carbon future. As capital costs of photovoltaics continue to fall, its role towards making buildings more sustainable and environmentally-friendly will continue to grow. Capital costs of a photovoltaic system comprise the module and balance-of-system costs. The latter refers to everything-else needed to make the photovoltaic system functional including cables, mounts, labor, etc. While modules are priced internationally, the balance-of-system cost is country-specific. Price developments of modules, which have been thoroughly studied in literature, followed an 80% learning curve. Research on the balance-of-system learning curve however, has not been as extensive. In this paper, we estimate for the first time the learning curve of balance-of-system costs in photovoltaics for more than 20 countries via an extensive dataset. Our calculations yield a global learning curve for the balance-of-system of 89%, which corresponds to a progress ratio of 11% compared with 20% for modules. Understanding the rate at which capital costs of photovoltaics are falling with such detail will aid in more effective renewable energy policy planning and budgeting. Finally, some steps requiring no financial commitment but can bring down balance-of-system costs are discussed, which greatly contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable future