Financial Risk, Innovation and Alternative Pathways to Decarbonising the Energy System in 2050

There is a lot of forward looking work attempting to envisage the decarbonised energy system of the future as reflected with current interest in 'smart grids'. A central tenet behind most visions of the 'smart grids' of the future are the price signals that financial and commodity markets will deliver to facilitate effective and efficient resource allocation. Most of these visions take stylised and static views of financial and commodity markets despite the fact that these markets are experiencing dramatic change due to innovation and regulation. Accordingly, the paper maps the risks associated in the fusion of financial innovation with innovation in the energy system through a theoretical framework that draws on evolutionary models of paradigm shift. Risks to both the financial and energy systems are characterised as either emanating from primary or secondary markets and these are explored in terms of alternative visions of the energy system in the long run

Reconciling WTP to actual adoption of green energy tariffs: A diffusion model of an induced environmental marke

This paper develops a formal model that links the willingness to pay (WTP) literature with the established innovation diffusion literature. This concern arises from an attempt to reconcile the large disparities that have been observed between actual adoption of green energy tariffs and WTP for such tariffs. These disparities have often been attributed to upward response bias and the free rider problem. However, empirical research indicates that other factors have hindered the development of green energy markets, including supply side problems and poor regulation. Using an epidemic diffusion framework our model shows how increasing consumer environmental concern driven by word of mouth and mass media communication channels results in a growing number of people who state they are WTP for green energy. The presence of upward response bias and the free rider problem result in 'feasible adoption' being below stated WTP. Feasible adoption is, in turn, differentiated from actual adoption by the extent of market imperfections. It is concluded that; (1) the potential of such markets may take time to reap and that the low penetration rates of today may reflect a conventional diffusion trajectory and (2); low and stable energy prices appear to be a precondition if consumers are to contribute substantively to the funding of renewables investments through green tariffs.Willingness-to-pay, innovation diffusion, green energy, environmental valuation

Philosophical Approach to Engineering Education Under the Introduction of the Smart Grid Concept in Russia

The development of power industry in the world today is driven by two main trends: the search for renewable energy sources and their use and the energy efficiency which require the development of smart grids. This paper brings up the issue of staff training for professional development of the Smart Grid technology and for use of its elements by customers in households. The problem of consumer readiness for the use of smart meters was studied. It was revealed that the considerable part of the respondents was not familiar with the definition of Smart Grid. That required the development of communication skills by energy engineering students and their social activity as well. The reasons mentioned make actual the following elements of engineering education: social responsibility, stress resistance, ability to forecast the future

Update on the electrolytic IVC model for pre‐clinical studies of venous thrombosis

EssentialsThree key updates are provided on the electrolytic inferior vena cava model (EIM).The originally described stimulator equipment has been discontinued; we developed an alternative.The fibrinolytic system and the current and time dependency of the EIM was characterized.EIM allows the investigation of the fibrinolytic system, critical for endovascular therapies.BackgroundThe electrolytic inferior vena cava model (EIM) is a murine venous thrombosis (VT) model that produces a non‐occlusive thrombus. The thrombus forms in the direction of blood flow, as observed in patients. The EIM is valuable for investigations of therapeutics due to the presence of continuous blood flow. However, the equipment used to induce thrombosis in the original model description was expensive and has since been discontinued. Further, the fibrinolytic system had not been previously studied in the EIM.ObjectivesWe aimed to provide an equipment alternative. Additionally, we further characterized the model through mapping the current and time dependency of thrombus resolution dynamics, and investigated the fibrinolytic system from acute to chronic VT.ResultsA voltage to current converter powered by a direct current power supply was constructed and validated, providing an added benefit of significantly reducing costs. The current and time dependency of thrombus volume dynamics was assessed by MRI, demonstrating the flexibility of the EIM to investigate both pro‐thrombotic and anti‐thrombotic conditions. Additionally, the fibrinolytic system was characterized in EIM. Centripetal distribution of plasminogen was observed over time, with peak staining at day 6 post thrombus induction. Both active circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) and vein wall gene expression of PAI‐1 peaked at day 2, coinciding with a relative decrease in tissue plasminogen activator and urokinase plasminogen activator.ConclusionsThe EIM is a valuable model of VT that can now be performed at low cost and may be beneficial in investigations of the fibrinolytic system.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143801/1/rth212074.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143801/2/rth212074_am.pd

Stranded research? Leading finance journals are silent on climate change

Finance research has shaped the modern financial system, influencing investors and market participants directly through research findings and indirectly through teaching and training programmes. Climate change presents major risks to the global financial system as well as new opportunities for investors. Is climate finance an important topic in finance research? We systematically analyse the content of 20,725 articles published in the leading 21 finance journals between January 1998 and June 2015. We find that only 12 articles (0.06%) are related in some way to climate finance. The three elite finance journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies) did not publish a single article related to climate finance over the 17.5-year period. We repeat our analysis across a sample of 29 elite business journals spanning accounting, economics, management, marketing and operations research, as well as finance. We find a similar dearth of published climate finance research. We consider four possible explanations for this failure of top finance and business journals to engage with climate finance as a research topic. These include methodological constraints and editorial policies. We conclude by arguing why it is critical for climate-related research to be given greater attention and prominence in finance journals

A Scoping Review of Barriers to Investment in Climate Change Solutions

The finance sector has engaged with policy development processes associated with climate solutions for well over a decade, with the aim of overcoming barriers to investment. In this paper we analyse 31 practice-based policy reports which highlight key barriers to such investing. We use those practice-based policy reports to identify themes associated with barriers to investment to conduct a scoping literature review of academic research. We identify 91 relevant papers and use content analysis to summarise the barriers identified in a structured way to help inform the research landscape in a timely manner. Given the urgency of this issue, we call on the academic community to focus more effort in this new and emerging discipline and, in particular, on the need for an independent view on the validity of some of the claims made in these practice-based policy reports