半開放型地中熱利用システムの開発と評価

博士（工学）秋田大

Energy challenges for clean cooking in Asia, the background, and possible policy solutions

The approximate number of people without access to clean cooking facilities is 2.8 billion, primarily in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Among those, 2.5 billion people cook with biomass in inefficient and polluting stoves. The health impacts are severe: it is estimated that household air pollution from solid fuel use results in more than a million premature deaths each year in the People's Republic of China and 2.8 million deaths worldwide. In addition, the biomass often comes from unsustainable sources. In spite of intensifying efforts, programs and policies to address the clean cooking challenge have so far had limited impact, and more effective policies are needed. Clean cooking technologies and tools include improved and advanced biomass cookstoves that meet World Health Organization standards for exposure to indoor air pollution, biogas digesters based on wastes, solar cookers, electricity for cooking based on small solar home systems and mini-grids, and switching to liquefied petroleum gas, which, while not renewable, is an important option for reducing the health impacts of solid fuel cooking. The current work aims to bring together the experiences of promoting clean cooking policies and programs in Asian countries. The quantitative results of this study will be helpful for policy and decision makers to find out the challenges, issues, and possible solutions for providing clean cooking technologies in Asia

Role of energy finance in geothermal power development in Japan

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 drastically changed the energy consumption pattern of Japan. Not being able to rely on nuclear energy, the country turned to fossil fuels and attempted to increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity generation mix. This paper will explore why geothermal energy is stagnating in Japan, despite the availability of resources and technologies. The paper first analyzes the various barriers to geothermal energy deployment in Japan from social, legal, economic, financial and technical viewpoints. The major contribution of this study is the quantification of the magnitude each barrier and supportive policy has on the development of geothermal power, with a special focus given to energy finance measures. The analysis is performed using a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) using data from 1974 to 2017 and identifies the existence of a long-term relationship between variables, public research and development expenditures and the Feed-in-Tariff scheme. The latter appears to be the most efficient stimuli to foster geothermal power generation. Subsidies in their current form, on the other hand, have mixed results both in the long and short term. Environmental concerns and social opposition appear to be among the major barriers in both the short and long term