Energy System Planning towards Renewable Power System: Energy Matrix Change in Cuba by 2030

Since 2013, the biggest Caribbean island, Cuba, has been undertaking an energy matrix change. There is a strong political intention to replace fossil fuels by renewable energy and improve efficiency and security of the national energy system. By 2030, 24% of electric power shall be produced from renewable sources. Transition from centralized fossil fuel fired power system towards distributed renewable generation based system requires changes to conventional energy planning and system design procedures as well as physical structures of the national energy system. This paper introduces three analysis axis: Scenario building for future supply-demand balance, scenario for a 100% renewable energy system for Cuba, and a roadmap from existing power system to the system with high share of distributed renewable generation. This work is a part of European Union funded Erasmus+ project "Capacity Building for Renewable Energy Planning in Cuban Higher Education Institutions", CRECE.<br /

Total costs and benefits of biomass in selected regions of the European Union

The paper describes results of the BioCosts project in which a comprehensive analysis of the economic and environmental performance of the energy use of biomass was carried out for selected existing facilities throughout the European Union. It is demonstrated that the appropriately organized use of biofuels has significant environmental advantages compared to the use of fossil fuels. Mitigation of global warming is the largest single incentive to use biofuels. However, only a few technologies are economically competitive under prevailing conditions, while others lead to up to 100% higher energy production costs than fossil fuels. Employment effects of using biofuels are small but positive.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V2S-41JM99D-4/1/514a3253589af4590f84544e2966bcb

Soziale Kosten des Energieverbrauchs. Externe Effekte des Elektrizitätsverbrauchs in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

In diesem Buch werden in systematischer Weise verschiedene Arten von externen Kosten und Nutzen konkurrierender Technologien zur Elektrizitätserzeugung verglichen. Behandelt werden verschiedene Umwelteffekte, Beschäftigungs- und Produktionseffekte, die Ausbeutung erschöpfbarer Ressourcen wie auch die unterschiedlichen Arten öffentlicher Subventionen. Die konventionelle Elektrizitätserzeugung auf der Basis fossiler und nuklearer Brennstoffe wird mit der Nutzung der Wind- und Sonnenenergie(photovaltisch) verglichen. Der Einfluß der Berücksichtigung der erheblichen externen Effekte auf die relativen Elektrizitätspreise und die Wettbewerbsposition der konkurrierenden Bereitstellungstechnologien wird untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, daß der derzeitige Allokationsprozeß durch die Abwälzung sozialer Kosten erheblich verzerrt wird und zu suboptimalen Investitionsentscheidungen bezüglich konkurrierender Energietechnologien führt

Social costs of energy consumption. External effects of electricity generation in the Federal Republic of Germany

This report systematically compares all kinds of external costs and benefits of different electricity generating technologies. Environmental effects, employment and production effects, the depletion of natural resources and different kinds of public subsidies are all considered. Electricity production based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy is compared to electricity production with wind energy and photovoltaic systems. The impact of including the substantial external effects in the electricity prices on the competitive position of different energy technologies is analyzed. It is shown that the present allocation process is seriously distortet resulting in suboptimal investment decisions concerning competing energy technologies. For the first time this book carries through the theoretically discussed idea of external effects of energy systems not only to the quantification of different kinds of external effects but analyzes the consequences for the choice of competing electricity gene rating technologies. The analysis shows that renewable energy sources are at a serious competitive disadvantage as long as external costs are not taken into consideration. The introduction of wind energy systems on a broad scale may be delayed up to fifteen years. This results in considerable costs to society. The book suggests possible corrective actions

Technological standards for research-intensive product groups and international competitiveness

The paper presents a quantitative model for the assessment of technological standards, which is applied to a sample of data compiled in 1986 comparing technical specifications of R and D intensive product groups of US, Japanese and West-German origin. The merits and the limitations of this model as well as of comparable concepts and approaches published within the last few years are discussed in a systematic manner. It is found that few of the previously published concepts aim at a quantitative comparison of solely technological specifications on the level of national economies. The "Technometric" model introduced in this paper therefore attempts to fill an analytical gap. Technological disparities and national technological standards are presented in the fields of lasers, industrial robots, sensors, photovoltaic modules, immobilized biocatalysts, and genetically engineered drugs. Time series up to 1985 for the relative-import indicator RCA (revealed comparative advantage) for West-Ger many versus the United States, Japan and several other countries are discussed and the quantitative findings are characterized by the different competitive positions held by countries. For the six technological fields indicated above shortcomings and classification problems are discussed, and hence the requirements for future data bases and future scientific work in the field of technical and economic indicators