The Demand for Environmental Quality in Driving Transitions to Low Polluting Energy Sources

The purpose of this paper is to understand the long run demand for energy-related environmental quality, its influence on legislation and on transitions to low polluting energy sources. It starts by presenting a simple framework of the relationship between the demand for and supply of environmental quality, environmental legislation and energy. This forms the structure for presenting a series of episodes in British history where a demand for improvements in energy-related environmental quality existed. This analysis proposes that markets can drive transitions to low polluting energy sources, in specific economic conditions. However, most probably, governments will need to push them, and this cannot be expected without strong and sustained demand for environmental improvements. Yet, while demand is a prerequisite, it is not enough. It must also be spearheaded by strong, creative and sustained pressure groups (i.e., powerful lobbying and the weakening of the counter-lobby) to introduce legislation, to enforce it and to avoid it being over-turned by future governments.Energy Transitions, Historical, Environmental Quality, Air Pollution.

Long Run Trends in Energy-Related External Costs

This paper considers how energy-related external costs change through time. It focuses on one of the key periods in the history of energy. After a period of declining coal prices and soaring consumption which fuelled the Second Industrial Revolution, the nineteenth century British economy was externalising the social costs of energy production and consumption on a massive scale. Rising from 25% in the 1820s, an estimated 60%-70% of the average social costs of coal were externalised in the 1880s, imposing damages close to 20% of GDP. The eventual decline in air pollution concentration (around 1900) occurred fifty years later than was broadly socially optimal. This experience highlights the evolution of the demand for and supply of environmental quality in the context of economic growth, and the nature of related market and government failures, implying the necessity for adaptation rather than encouraging mitigation. This experience may offer lessons for climate analysis and policy-making.External costs; Energy; Coal; Historical; Long Run; Air Pollution; Mining

Divergences in the Long Run Trends in the Price of Energy and of Energy Services

This paper presents new evidence on the very long run trends in the price of energy and energy services, such as heat, power, transport and light. The paper has two purposes. First, it shows that, in general, there was an upward trend in average energy prices leading up to the Industrial Revolution and a decline afterwards, associated with the shift from traditional energy sources to fossil fuels. At the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, average energy prices did rise, reflecting (not rising resource scarcity but) greater value to consumers, as they shifted to energy sources that provided the desired services more efficiently. Second, the paper highlights the dangers of focussing on the price of energy, rather than the price of energy services, when considering the long run. The price of energy ignores the major technological improvements that have occurred and that benefit the consumer. This failure to focus on the services is likely to lead to incorrect estimates of consumer responsiveness to changes in price and income. This paper suggests that the inclusion of service prices and consumption variables would lead to more reliable models of long run energy demand and forecasts of carbon dioxide emissions.energy prices; long run; technological innovation, climate change

The Sustainability of `Sustainable´ Energy Use: Historical Evidence on the Relationship between Economic Growth and Renewable Energy

Understandably, focus on a transition to a low carbon economy has overshadowed what happens when the transition has been completed. This paper tries to offer lessons about the very long run aspects of a future economy reliant predominantly on renewable energy sources. The evidence is based on past economies and civilizations and their experiences of economic expansion driven by renewable energy resources. The paper proposes that economies around the world, since antiquity, have managed to survive, and even develop and grow driven by renewable energy sources. Successful long run economic growth depended on sound management of demand, supply and trade of woodfuel. Where governments failed to develop appropriate policies, growth and development was severely constrained. Despite the uncertainty about the future, this paper proposes that researchers start to consider the nature of long run economic growth and appropriate policies within renewable energy systems.renewable energy; economic growth; low carbon economy; economic history

Hydrogen Stark broadened Brackett lines

Stark broadened lines of the hydrogen Brackett series are computed for the conditions of stellar atmospheres and circumstellar envelopes. The computation is performed within the Model Microfield Method, which includes the ion dynamic effects and makes the bridge between the impact limit at low density and the static limit at high density and in the line wings. The computation gives the area normalized line shape, from the line core up to the static line wings.Comment: 13 pages - 7 figures, to be published in International Journal of Spectroscopy (IJS