Factors influencing early electric vehicle adoption in Ireland

The 5th French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Annual Conference (FAERE 2018), Aix-en-Provence, France, 30-31 August 2018The objective of this work is to analyse the key determinants of electric vehicle uptake amongst early adopters. Transport accounts for about a quarter of Europe’s total greenhouse gas emissions and has not achieved similar reductions in emissions as other sectors. However, there is an opportunity to achieve lower emissions through the widespread use of electric vehicles. Due to the rising awareness of the link between emissions and global warming, the European Union has set serious targets for renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions that member states must achieve by 2020 and 2030. Although considerable progress has been made in reaching targets, efforts in the transport sector have been lagging in many countries, with a significant boost required in electric vehicle roll-out if transport-specific targets are to be met. One reason for this lack of progress is possibly an incomplete understanding of the motivations behind consumer uptake, which in turn, hampers policy design to encourage adoption. Here, for the first time, the case study of Ireland is used to analyse socio-demographic and neighbourhood characteristics such as charging infrastructure, dealers and other EV adopters, to identify the key determinants of electric vehicle adoption in the early phase of technology diffusion. From our exploratory data analysis, social class which represents whether the population consists of skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled workers, appears to be the principal factor affecting EV uptake in Ireland. This variable may proxy for income effects, implying that the average wealth of a neighbourhood matters for EV ownership. There also appears to be clustering in EV adopters, possibly due to unobserved peer effects. The OLS model performs poorly for our dataset. Our future work will help determine the significant predictors of adoption based on a spatial econometric approach that explicitly models relationships between agents in the model such that the restrictive assumptions of OLS models can be relaxed to allow for interdependence between individual actors

The landlord-tenant problem and energy efficiency in the residential rental market

The aim of this paper is to test for the persistence of the landlord-tenant energy efficiency problem in the residential rental property market in the presence of information on property energy performance. To do this, we compare the efficiency of rental and non-rental properties using a combination of Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) and parametric regression. We use a sample of 585,578 residential properties in the Republic of Ireland - a region that legally requires rental properties to display energy performance certificates when advertised. The findings suggest that the landlord-tenant problem is present in the Irish rental market but that it is not uniform across locations, indicating the influence of other factors. To explore this further, we exploit the regional variation in rental property prices. We find a larger difference between rental and non-rental properties’ energy efficiency in markets with scarcity in rental property supply. In addition, we are able to take advantage of a unique trait in building design to compare rental and non-rental properties which were identical at the time of their construction. The findings from this sub-group mirror our finding for the sample as a whole.Science Foundation IrelandESIPP UC

Integrating European Electricity Markets – what impact for consumers and producers?

The 13th International Workshop on Empirical Methods in Energy Economics, Zurich, Switzerland, 13-14 January 2020The objective of this paper is to examine the impact on prices and electricity trading of integrating a small market into a larger electricity market. Economic theory would suggest that eliminating barriers to trade across a regional market will decrease consumer costs and producer profits in areas that increase imports, while increasing producer profits and consumer costs in areas that increase exports. Electricity market design is evolving with the increase in electricity generated from renewable sources. Interconnection of electricity systems should facilitate increased trade between markets and provide the flexibility needed to accommodate rising shares of renewable electricity in the system. Trade through interconnectors can exploit differences in wind and sun conditions across regions and so reduce supply variability and hence price volatility. The integration of the European regions electricity markets should therefore increase trade, reduce prices and reduce price volatility. Using a case study of Ireland we examine using econometric methods the integration of the all-island Irish electricity market into the European electricity market. Our preliminary results show that there has been little impact on day ahead prices so far but that electricity trading is operating more efficiently since the integration to the new market.Science Foundation IrelandEnergy Systems Integration Partnership Programme, UCDDepartment of the Environment, Climate and Communication

Integrating European Electricity Markets – what impact for consumers and producers?

The 1st IAEE Online Conference, Online Event, 7-9 June 2021Electricity market design is evolving with the increase in electricity generated from renewable sources. The market system was originally designed for dispatchable fossil fuel electricity generation with high marginal costs rather than renewable electricity generation with nearly zero marginal costs and high upfront capital costs. When short term prices no longer cover long term investment costs, new market design is needed.Science Foundation IrelandESIPP UCDDepartment of Environment, Climate and CommunicationsEnter two RePEc numbers if the item appears in more than one collection or series. Manually edit the resulting ReDIF file to include only one number and handle

Strategies to increase grid flexibility for an isolated system with over 80% renewable electricity in 2030

As renewable electricity targets rise around the world, relatively isolated systems reliant on variable renewables, such as wind and solar power, are rapidly facing unresolved issues regarding system security, flexibility costs and remuneration structures for market participants. Although system service payments exist in some electricity markets, there is often insufficient incentive to invest in greater flexibility, either in the demand or supply side. Here, the economic benefits of various flexibility options are considered, leading towards a discussion of market incentives and strategies for reform. In addition to a range of traditional sources of flexibility from conventional generation, interconnection, and short duration batteries, the importance of system stability is emphasised, including synchronous condensers to supplement inertia, as well as medium-duration storage, and a more active balancing role for heat, transport and industrial loads. Each strategy alleviates the use of fossil fuel based gas plants during periods of system stress and enables the absorption of excess renewables. With over 80% of annual energy to be provided mostly by wind and solar power by 2030, Ireland provides a pertinent case for analysis.Irish Department of Environment, Climate and Communication (DECC)2023-08-11 JG: PDF replaced with correct version at author's reques

Use of an Integrated Pest Management Assessment Administered Through TurningPoint as an Educational, Needs Assessment, and Evaluation Tool

University of Minnesota educators use an integrated pest management (IPM) survey conducted during private pesticide applicator training as an educational, needs assessment, and evaluation tool. By incorporating the IPM Assessment, as the survey is called, into a widely attended program and using TurningPoint audience response devices, Extension educators can gather information from a significant number of farmers in a timely and efficient manner. Interspersing TurningPoint questions throughout presentations also increases audience engagement and overall quality of the training. For example, weed management programming efforts around herbicide-resistance management have been significantly influenced and enhanced by results of the IPM Assessment

The Energy Transition Process in a Rural Area: an Irish Case Study of becoming a Sustainable Energy Community

The 12th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES 2017), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 4-8 October 2017Most commentators will agree that the net benefit of carbon is over. A paradigm shift is underway to retire the current carbon based energy system, and this energy transition to a low carbon world will be the most difficult challenge that this generation will face. In this paper the Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) Programme is introduced; this new network of Irish communities will become a driver in the current energy transition and is being championed by the Irish national energy agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. An SEC is a community in which everyone works together to develop a sustainable energy system for the benefit of the community. This is achieved by aiming, as far as possible, to be energy efficient; using renewable energy where feasible and also to embrace smart energy technologies. This research reports on the establishment of Erris, Co. Mayo as an SEC, and presents three years of data since their energy transition began in 2014. The literature highlights several SEC barriers. The SEC model addresses each of the barriers and directly addresses the problem that communities face due to the lack of sufficient capacity at the start of the energy transition process.Irish Research CouncilSustainable Energy Authority of IrelandPagination (dc.identifier.start/endpage): Optiona

Dynamic clonal progression in xenografts of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21

Intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 is a heterogeneous chromosomal rearrangement occurring in 2% of childhood precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. There are no cell lines with iAMP21 and these abnormalities are too complex to faithfully engineer in animal models. As a resource for future functional and pre-clinical studies, we have created xenografts from intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 leukemia patient blasts and characterised them by in-vivo and ex-vivo luminescent imaging, FLOW immunophenotyping, and histological and ultrastructural analysis of bone marrow and the central nervous system. Investigation of up to three generations of xenografts revealed phenotypic evolution, branching genomic architecture and, compared with other B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia genetic subtypes, greater clonal diversity of leukemia initiating cells. In support of intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 as a primary genetic abnormality, it was always retained through generations of xenografts, although we also observed the first example of structural evolution of this rearrangement. Clonal segregation in xenografts revealed convergent evolution of different secondary genomic abnormalities implicating several known tumour suppressor genes and a region, containing the B-cell adaptor, PIK3AP1, and nuclear receptor co-repressor, LCOR, in the progression of B-ALL. Tracking of mutations in patients and derived xenografts provided evidence for co-operation between abnormalities activating the RAS pathway in B-ALL and for their aggressive clonal expansion in the xeno-environment. Bi-allelic loss of the CDKN2A/B locus was recurrently maintained or emergent in xenografts and also strongly selected as RNA sequencing demonstrated a complete absence of reads for genes associated with the deletions

Harnessing electricity retail tariffs to support climate change policy

The 6th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE 2018), Gothenburg, Sweden, 25-29 June 2018Legacy electricity retail tariffs are ill-adapted to future electricity systems and markets, particularly with regard to accommodating the multi-faceted shift toward decarbonisation. We examine how retail tariffs need to be reformed to not only meet the future revenue requirements of energy-suppliers and networks but also to help achieve the environmental objectives of the energy transition. While existing literature has explored the link between retail tariff structure design, wholesale markets and/or network cost recovery, there is less recognition of the impact of tariff structure design on environmental objectives. This paper reviews the demand responsiveness of household customers to electricity prices and implications of retail tariff structure and design for the policy targets of CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, and renewable electricity generation, in addition to electricity system. A review of the literature provides a theoretical basis for price elasticity of demand and electricity retail tariff design, and we explore the environmental implications for future retail tariff design options via examples of various tariff structures in the EU and US. The research links the topics of emissions mitigation policy and market design, and should add empirical insights to the body of academic literature on future electricity markets. It should also be of interest to policy makers wishing to consider retail tariff structures that promote decarbonisation of the electricity system through multiple objectives of improved energy efficiency and increased shares of renewable electricity within future electricity markets.Science Foundation IrelandEnergy Systems Integration Partnership Programme (ESIPP) UCDDepartment of the Environment, Climate and CommunicationsEnter two RePEc numbers if the item appears in more than one collection or series. Manually edit the resulting ReDIF file to include only one number and handle