scholarly journals Industry Leaders’ Perceptions of Residential Wood Pellet Technology Diffusion in the Northeastern U.S.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4178
Author(s):  
Casey Olechnowicz ◽  
Jessica Leahy ◽  
Tian Guo ◽  
Emily Silver Huff ◽  
Cecilia Danks ◽  
...  

Within a shifting climate of renewable energy options, technology innovations in the energy sector are vital in combating fossil-fuel-driven climate change and economic growth. To enter this market dominated by fossil fuels, renewable energy innovations need to overcome significant barriers related to cost, relative advantages compared to fossil fuels, and policy incentive programs. A better understanding of the innovation diffusion of new technologies in establishing the renewable energy industry can aid policy makers in designing and implementing other renewable energy support programs and improving adoption rates within existing programs. This study assessed industry leaders’ perceptions through semi-structured interviews. We explored the innovation diffusion process of wood pellet residential heating technology, as well as policy needs and barriers within this industry that are hindering successful long-term diffusion and sustainability. We show that while there is high potential to the wood pellet industry in terms of local resources and overall advantages to fossil fuels, it can be difficult to achieve sustainable economic growth with current cost barriers and further policy programs and incentives are needed in addition to improved communication to reduce adoption barriers for wood pellet technology.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7328
Author(s):  
Saeed Solaymani

Iran, endowed with abundant renewable and non-renewable energy resources, particularly non-renewable resources, faces challenges such as air pollution, climate change and energy security. As a leading exporter and consumer of fossil fuels, it is also attempting to use renewable energy as part of its energy mix toward energy security and sustainability. Due to its favorable geographic characteristics, Iran has diverse and accessible renewable sources, which provide appropriate substitutes to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Therefore, this study aims to examine trends in energy demand, policies and development of renewable energies and the causal relationship between renewable and non-renewable energies and economic growth using two methodologies. This study first reviews the current state of energy and energy policies and then employs Granger causality analysis to test the relationships between the variables considered. Results showed that renewable energy technologies currently do not have a significant and adequate role in the energy supply of Iran. To encourage the use of renewable energy, especially in electricity production, fuel diversification policies and development program goals were introduced in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Diversifying energy resources is a key pillar of Iran’s new plan. In addition to solar and hydropower, biomass from the municipal waste from large cities and other agricultural products, including fruits, can be used to generate energy and renewable sources. While present policies indicate the incorporation of sustainable energy sources, further efforts are needed to offset the use of fossil fuels. Moreover, the study predicts that with the production capacity of agricultural products in 2018, approximately 4.8 billion liters of bioethanol can be obtained from crop residues and about 526 thousand tons of biodiesel from oilseeds annually. Granger’s causality analysis also shows that there is a unidirectional causal relationship between economic growth to renewable and non-renewable energy use. Labor force and gross fixed capital formation cause renewable energy consumption, and nonrenewable energy consumption causes renewable energy consumption.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Dilek Temiz Dinç ◽  
Aytaç Gökmen ◽  
Zehra Burçin Kanık

Energy is the source of development of the mankind and an indispensable input for economic growth. Currently, most of the energy consumed in the world is composed of fossil fuels which are not environmentally friendly and reliable since their prices are volatile and their supply compels importing countries dependent on energy exporting countries. Thus, a good remedy to reduce fossil fuel dependency is to utilize more renewable energy resources. Renewable resources can be replenished quickly, are almost infinite and would lead a country to sustainable development. The Republic of Turkey is a net importer of energy. The diversification of energy sources and supply security is of great importance for it. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between renewable energy production and economic growth in Turkey by using Johansen Cointegration Test, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), Granger Causality Test and the Augmented Dickey-Fuller Test (ADF). Consequently, both long run and short run a casualty running from GDP growth to renewable energy production is determined in the study.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0958305X2094403
Author(s):  
Emrah Ismail Cevik ◽  
Durmuş Çağrı Yıldırım ◽  
Sel Dibooglu

We examine the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth in the United States. While the regime-dependent Granger causality test results for the non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth suggest bi-directional causality in both regimes, we cannot validate any causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. The US meets its energy demand from non-renewable sources; as such, renewable energy consumption does not seem to affect economic growth. Given the efficiency and productivity of renewable energy investments, we conclude that it is worthwhile to consider renewable energy inputs to replace fossil fuels given potential benefits in terms of global warming and climate change concerns. In this regard, increasing the R&D investments in the renewable energy sectors, increases in productivity and profitability of renewable energy investments are likely to accrue benefits in the long run.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isak Karabegović

It is well-known that, in the past decades, the burning of fossil fuels was identified as the major cause of climate change. Climate change mitigation is becoming a central concern of global society. Limiting global warming to below 2 °C above the temperature of the pre-industrial period is the key to preserving global ecosystems and providing a secure basis for human activities, as well as reducing excessive environmental change. The ambitions increased at an accelerated pace with a dramatic expansion of net zero-emission targets. Increasing pressure from citizens and society has forced countries to intensify their climate plans, while the private sector has bought a record amount of renewable energy. An energy system based on fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable energy with low carbon emissions with improved energy efficiency. That applies to all consumers of fossil energy: cities, villages, building sectors, industry, transport, agriculture, and forestry. The paper explores and presents the strategy of energy development of renewable energy sources in the world. The application of new technologies that have led to developing renewable energy sources is presented in detail: wind energy, solar energy, small hydropower plants, biomass, and their increase in the total share of energy production, i.e., reduced fossil fuel use in energy production. Investments in new technologies used in renewable energy sources have led to increases in employment worldwide. Analysis of the trend of increased energy production from RES (Renewable Energy Sources) with investment plans, the employment rate for each energy source, and the development of renewable energy sources in the coming period are provided.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund Ntom Udemba ◽  
Lucy Davou Philip

Abstract This is an expository study towards ascertaining the ability of Indonesia in mitigating carbon emission. Indonesia is positioned as among the best performing economies in Southeast Asia because of its vigorous fiscal management and sustained economic growth over the years. The country’s foreign investment inflow increased to 14% in 2019, largely in gas, electricity, water, and transportation because of the viability of its macroeconomic reforms. To test the environmental implication of this macroeconomic performance of Indonesia and to see its ability to achieve carbon neutrality, we adopt Indonesian quarterly data of 1990Q1- 2018Q4 for empirical analysis. Relevance Instruments in the economic performance of Indonesia such as urbanization, foreign direct investment (FDI) and renewable energy source are all adopted for accurate estimations and analysis of this topic. Different approaches such as structural break test, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing and granger causality are all adopted in this study. Our analysis and policy recommendations are based on short run and long run ARDL dynamics and granger causality. Findings from ARDL confirmed, negative relationship between carbon emission and renewable energy source, FDI and urbanization. Also, a U-shape instead of inverted U-shape EKC is found confirming the impeding implication of Indonesian economic growth to its environmental performance if not checkmate. From granger causality analysis, all the variables are seen transmitting to urbanization in a one-way causal relationship. Also, FDI and renewable energy prove to be essential determinants of the country’s environment development, hence, FDI is seen transmitting to both energy source (fossil fuels and renewables) in a one- way causal relationship. Renewable energy is as well seen having two ways causal relationship with both carbon emission and fossil fuels. This result has equally exposed the significant position of the three instruments (urbanization, FDI and renewable energy source) in Indonesia environment development.


2022 ◽  
pp. 267-276
Author(s):  
Harpreet Kaur Channi

Power is a significant cause of economic growth and crucial to the sustainability of the economy. Energy consumption is an indicator of a nation's economic growth. Economic growth is focused, among other aspects, on the long-term acquisition of affordable, existing resources, and their use does not pollute the environment. Industrialization serves economic growth and consumes energy. In 2018, 68% of total capital power was consumed by largest energy-intensive areas. When fossil fuel is the primary source of energy, energy consumption is positively correlated with ecosystem cleanliness. Fossil fuels account for more than 70% of the decent energy expectations of India and other economies. In this chapter, problems related to non-renewable energy sources are discussed, and emphasis is given to use more renewable sources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukáš Režný ◽  
Vladimír Bureš

Introduction: Energy return on energy invested (EROEI) of fossil fuels has been declining sharply, while modern renewable energy sources generally have even lower EROEI than fossil fuels. It has been repeatedly proven that economic growth expressed in the form of growth of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is closely related to intensified energy consumption and escalated usage of natural resources in general. This problem remains scarcely explored in pure economic modelling. Objectives: This study presents a novel model titled Energy Extended Neoclassical Growth Model (EENGM), which focuses on the consequences of declining quantity and quality of extractable fossil fuels and lower quality of the succeeding renewable energy technology for economic growth. Method: The Neoclassical growth model is translated into a system dynamics format and is extended by important feedback mechanisms, which are identified as important from the literature and mostly missing from the analyzed system dynamics models with a similar scope. Two scenarios assess the EENGM performance: business as usual (BAU) and the sustainability strategy (SUS). Results: Sensitivity analysis is performed for the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) parameter and results in the investment share in GDP varying between 27 and 40%, while the energy sector investment largely displaces investment in other economic sectors. The EENGM is associated with new behavior whereby the underperforming energy sector limits GDP growth and seizes most of the available investment. The adoption of the SUS strategy causes 28% lower cumulative fossil fuel aggregate consumption which still corresponds to higher than 1.5 °C global warming compared to the preindustrial levels. Conclusion: The share of consumption in the GDP of an economy undergoing energy transition can approach levels previously seen only in totally war-oriented economies. Even omitting other negative environmental feedback, the feasibility of the successful energy transition of the system in its contemporary form, with the currently available renewable energy technology, seems to be highly uncertain.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund Ntom Udemba ◽  
Lucy Davou Philip

Abstract This is an expository study towards ascertaining the ability of Indonesia in mitigating carbon emission. Indonesia is positioned as among the best performing economies in Southeast Asia because of its vigorous fiscal management and sustained economic growth over the years. The country’s foreign investment inflow increased to 14% in 2019, largely in gas, electricity, water, and transportation because of the viability of its macroeconomic reforms. To test the environmental implication of this macroeconomic performance of Indonesia and to see its ability to achieve carbon neutrality, we adopt Indonesian quarterly data of 1990Q1- 2018Q4 for empirical analysis. Relevance Instruments in the economic performance of Indonesia such as urbanization, foreign direct investment (FDI) and renewable energy source are all adopted for accurate estimations and analysis of this topic. Different approaches such as structural break test, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing and granger causality are all adopted in this study. Our analysis and policy recommendations are based on short run and long run ARDL dynamics and granger causality. Findings from ARDL confirmed, negative relationship between carbon emission and renewable energy source, FDI and urbanization. Also, a U-shape instead of inverted U-shape EKC is found confirming the impeding implication of Indonesian economic growth to its environmental performance if not checkmate. From granger causality analysis, all the variables are seen transmitting to urbanization in a one-way causal relationship. Also, FDI and renewable energy prove to be essential determinants of the country’s environment development, hence, FDI is seen transmitting to both energy source (fossil fuels and renewables) in a one- way causal relationship. Renewable energy is as well seen having two ways causal relationship with both carbon emission and fossil fuels. This result has equally exposed the significant position of the three instruments (urbanization, FDI and renewable energy source) in Indonesia environment development.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangming Xie ◽  
Yali Liu ◽  
Fangyuan Guan ◽  
Ning Wang

Abstract Background: Green economic development refers to reducing pollution emissions and increasing production efficiency while promoting economic growth. Although the transformation of energy consumption’s structure is “green," it may not promote green economic development due to the constraints of existing technical conditions. Thus, the development and use of renewable energy may be detrimental to production efficiency and economic growth. Therefore, the technological advancement approach that can help coordinate the relationship between energy consumption structural transformation and green growth should be identified. In addition, we should determine whether to develop new technologies or improve existing ones. Results: This paper uses the Global-Malmquist-Luenberger approach based on Slacks-Based Measure method to measure the levels of green economic development among the 27 member states of the European Union (excluding the Republic of Malta). Moreover, this study focuses on the impact of energy consumption’s structure transformation on green economic development through the threshold regression method. Empirical results reveal (1) the inverted N-shaped relationship between energy consumption’s structure transformation and green economic development under the existing technical conditions. The degree of energy consumption’s structure transformation can merely promote green economic development in the interval of 0.67–10.87. That is, the renewable energy consumption (% of total energy consumption) is less than 0.67% or greater than 10.87%, which is not conducive to green economic development. (2) Developing new technologies can stimulate the positive effect of energy consumption’s structure transformation on green economic development. However, the improvement of existing technologies fail to exhibit an effective impact on the relationship between energy consumption’s structure transformation and green economic development. (3) Coordinating the relationship between energy consumption’s structure transformation and green economic development can also be achieved by reducing the dependence of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on fossil fuels. Conclusions: With the existing technical conditions, the blind development and use of renewable energy may not be conducive to green economic development. When the degree of energy consumption’s structure transformation exceeds an appropriate range, it will adversely affect green economic development. Therefore, in order to better coordinate the relationship between energy consumption’s structure transformation and green economic development, European Union member states, especially those with a high degree of energy consumption’s structure transformation, should paid more attention to develop new energy technologies rather than improve existing ones. In addition, to mediate the transformation of energy consumption’s structure that promotes green economic development, we must prioritize and adjust the industrial structure and rationally allocate resources to reduce the GDP’s on fossil energy prior to increasing the intensity of renewable energy consumption.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Marcos Dos Santos ◽  
Bruna Russo Bahiana ◽  
Marcone Freitas dos Reis ◽  
Ernesto Rademaker Martins ◽  
Fabrício da Costa Dias

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a prototype vehicle that uses a reversible fuel cell capable of producing and storing hydrogen and oxygen by breaking the water molecule - the electrolysis process, made possible with the use of solar panels. The vehicle shown only uses two main sources of energy: solar and hydrogen cells, both clean and renewable energy sources. Water is the only residue generated. The Fuzzy Logic was used in the establishment of linguistic variables and on the composition of inference rules based on power, solar panel area and solar irradiation. The Fuzzy Logic provides a method of translating verbal, vague, imprecise and qualitative expressions, common in human communication in numeric values. This enables the conversion of the human experience in a way understandable by computers. Thus, the technology made possible by the fuzzy approach has a practical value. In view of the severe environmental degradation in which the planet is going through and the scarcity of energy sources, especially fossil fuels, one of the great challenges of the scientific community is to develop new technologies that use clean and renewable energy sources, that are economically viable and promote sustainable technologies and processes.


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