The impact of firm membership in an Independent System Operator (ISO) on production cost and cost efficiency in the generation sector of the U.S. electric utility industry

This paper examines how ISO membership impacts cost efficiency. Utilities joining ISOs can face more competition in selling electric power, possibly leading to lower profits, which can incentivize utilities to operate more cost efficiently to maintain a specified level of profits. The empirical model involves estimating a Probit model, then OLS regression, then a stochastic cost frontier. Using a 1992 to 2000 panel of 34 investor‐owned electric utilities, empirical results indicate that ISO membership contributed to higher production cost, lower cost efficiency, and ISO members subject to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments operated more cost efficiently than ISO members not subject to the Amendments.     

Relative Performance of U.S. and Japanese Electricity Distribution: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis

This paper estimates and compares the technical efficiency of the U.S. and Japanese electric utilities during the period 1982–1997 using a stochastic frontier analysis. Our focus is on electricity distribution services of major investor-owned utilities. We employ translog input distance functions to represent the technology of electricity distribution. Empirical results show that after controlling for environmental variables, on average, the Japanese electric utilities are more efficient. It is shown, however, that some U.S. utilities are as efficient as the most efficient Japanese utilities, indicating that the estimated frontier is not necessarily dominated by Japanese utilities.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Designing a preferred bidding procedure for securing electric generating capacity

The use of competitive bidding by electric utilities to solicit new generating capacity from nonutility power producers is increasingly viewed as a promising alternative to traditional cost-based regulation. If economic efficiency is the criterion in setting up a bidding procedure and existing characteristics of competitive and diversified bidders remain, a second-price sealed bidding procedure with a fixed-price power purchase contract containing energy cost-sharing provisions appears to work best.     

Regional forecasting of the demand for fossil fuels by electric utilities in the United States

The possibility of interfuel substitution in the generation of electrical energy exists. Given this fact, a demand model for various fossil fuels by electric utilities in the United States is developed. Using regional data, the results suggest that the responsiveness of the demand for coal, residual fuel oil, distillate fuel oil, and natural gas by electric utilities to relative price changes is significant. In a forecasting setting, the demand model performs remarkably well when actual and forecast values for 1979 are compared.     

Global Warming Policy and the Pennsylvania Economy: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

Most studies of the impacts of global warming policy have been performed at the national level. However, national averages obscure the fact that some regions may be affected much more than others. We formulated a regional computable general equilibrium model to analyze the impact of a carbon tax on the Pennsylvania economy. The model incorporates special features relating to labor mobility, trade and energy substitution for this purpose. Our results indicate significant negative overall impacts on the Pennsylvania economy, primarily because it is a major producer and user of fossil fuels, especially coal, and because it is highly industrialized. Sensitivity analyses on key parameters and model assumptions indicate that our results are robust.     

Environmental Management in Japan: Applications of Input–Output Analysis to the Emission of Global Warming Gases

Environmental management requires, among other things, the incorporation of environmentally friendly technologies into production processes of environmentally friendly technologies into production processes at the producer level and the adoption of energy consumption patterns which save energy use at the household level. The systemwide approach involving both technology choice and consumer preference seems particularly essential for controlling the total emission of global warming gases. CO₂ and other global warming gases, as well as certain pollution causing gases, are produced when fossil fuels are burnt; and the consumption of fossil fuels occurs in both the production and consumption of goods and services. In this paper we discuss how input–output analysis can be used to estimate the entire production and consumption of global warming gases conditional on production technology and consumer preferences. We also present estimation results and their application to some environmental management issues in Japan. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关于发展低碳经济的思考

发展低碳经济,是应对全球气候变暖,实现可持续发展的必然要求。电力行业作为CO2减排的主力军,在低碳经济条件下必须转变发展思路。本文简述了我国当前低碳经济发展状况,对当前我国电源结构进行了分析,采用层析分析法分析了建立了一套影响发电企业发展低碳经济因素的指标体系,并利用AHP确定确定权重,然后对权重结果进行关联性分析。阐述了我国电力低碳化发展的重要意义,对低碳经济背景下的电力发展进行了展望。     

WHAT ELUDES INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE? THE ECONOMICS OF GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS

This paper provides an analysis of global warming policy as the provision of a global public good. Using a regional model composed of thirteen world regions, the paper shows how disparate incentives among the regions hinder a shift from a Business As Usual (BAU) policy to a Globally Optimal Policy (GOP). In the BAU scenario, there will be large variations in impacts from warming across the regions, meaning some countries have little incentive to participate in collective agreements. Under the GOP scenario, negative impacts from global warming will be significantly reduced in some regions resulting in strong incentives for these regions to press for action. The paper finds that an optimal regulation could save Europe, India, and Africa hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of this century, but would cause additional costs to China, Russia, Canada and the USA. Under the optimal regulatory framework, higher levels of abatement are required for developing countries, worsening the existing climate equity problem.     

Analysis of electric distribution utilities efficiency levels by stochastic frontier in Brazilian power sector

The regulatory power sector model in several countries determines tariff review forms based, among other things, on sharing efficiency gains with consumers. As these reviews have an important impact on consumers and distribution utilities, it is necessary that the adopted methodologies always be improved. To this end, this article assessed a Bayesian inference application in order to estimate a stochastic cost frontier considering temporal efficiency dynamics. Taking this point into consideration is essential, since studies carried out to assess power sector efficiency have neglected the fact that part of efficiency increases originate from scale gain due to market expansion, which occurs over time. The sample assessed herein is composed of panel data from 61 electric power utilities between 2003 and 2016. The results demonstrate that the tariff review is positively affected by distributor efficiency.     

电力工业绿色和谐发展路径研究

本文从电源结构和火电行业发展两方面研究资源与环境双重压力下的电力工业发展路径。结果表明:①电源结构优化效果明显,可通过区域协调发展有效保障;②火电主导地位牢不可破,考虑资源效率和环境影响是电力工业评价的必经之路。     

THE ‘REST OF THE WORLD’ – ESTIMATING THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF MISSING REGIONS IN GLOBAL MULTI-REGIONAL INPUT–OUTPUT TABLES

Incomplete data for the economic structure of numerous countries hamper the compilation of global multi-regional input–output (MRIO) tables. By themselves, most of these countries are of only limited importance for the global economy and incumbent environmental issues. Hence, in most recent global MRIO tables these countries are either roughly estimated or summarised in one rest of the world (RoW) region. Combining a wide range of countries, this RoW region may play a significant role in global economic and environmental accounts. We conceptualise the importance of RoW in several environmental footprint accounts and present algorithms to estimate the structure of RoW. The approach utilises the information of the economic structure within known parts of the MRIO table to estimate the unknown structure. Using this method, global warming potential and employment footprints remain stable irrespective of the chosen initial estimates, whereas natural land use footprints and individual product impacts vary significantly.     

智能电网与电力包容性可持续发展战略

概括了我国智能电网的内容及其主要特征,初步界定了电力包容性可持续发展的概念和内涵,探讨了发电与生态环境的关系,在此基础上,从经济社会效益、电力市场发展、能源资源的节约和环境保护等方面,分析评价了智能电网对电力包容性可持续发展的贡献,从而得出,智能电网是我国电力包容性可持续发展的物理平台和基础性支撑,是促进电力包容性可持续发展的战略途径之一。     

中压电力智能发展及应用

中压配电设备和电力线是电网系统中涉及面广的基础设备。由于使用量极大,且在电网系统中作为主电网沟通用户的桥梁,因此,其技术发展趋势也让用户及制造企业极为关注。随着电网规模的扩大以及智能电网的建设,中压配电设备和电力线的技术发展出现很多新趋势,智能电网产业是全球应对环境变化、提高能源使用效率、减少碳排放而发展起来的新兴产业,发展智能电网产业对实施我国新兴产业发展战略,抢占新一轮产业发展的制高点,具有积极作用。     

Disentangling the influence of internationalization on sustainability development: Evidence from the energy sector

This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the relationship between firms' internationalization and their sustainability development. We expected firms with a higher level of internationalization to exhibit better environmental management and performance. A sample of 287 publicly traded firms in the energy and energy‐related utilities sector was used to test these relationships. We focused on the energy sector, as energy production and supply have historically accounted for the lion's share of global greenhouse gas emissions. We found that firms' level of internationalization had a positive effect on their environmental management, whereas its effect on environmental performance was not found to be significant. We also tested whether these relationships change when firms' internationalization is oriented towards developing countries. Upon a closer look, the relationship was found to be significant between internationalization towards developing countries and better environmental management, thus contributing to the line of literature that does not support the pollution haven hypothesis.     

Linear Programming Models for the Measurement of Environmental Performance of Firms—Concepts and Empirical Results

I use linear programming models to define standardised, aggregate environmental performance indicators for firms. The best practice frontier obtained corresponds to decision making units showing the best environmental behaviour. Results are obtained with data from U.S. fossil fuel-fired electric utilities, starting from four alternative models, among which are three linear programming models that differ in the way they account for undesirable outputs (pollutants) and resources used as inputs. The results indicate important discrepancies in the rankings obtained by the four models. Rather than contradictory, these results are interpreted as giving different, complementary kinds of information, that should all be taken into account by public decision-makers.     

智能电网与负荷调度

在现代经济社会发展中,离不开电网的支持,电网系统的安全运行已经是这个会前进中必须要保障的,虽然现在电网系统越来越完善,但是在巨大的客观环境中,随着电网负荷的不断加大,电网系统还是面临着巨大的挑战,比如说全球气候变暖的影响、恶劣环境的影响、电力市场运行等原因都给电网安全稳定运行的工作带来了一定的困难。本文主要是针对智能电网与负荷调度两个方面来分析解决电力系统中的问题。     

火力发电厂燃料运输设备的检修与维护分析

新世纪,我国经济结构开始进行不断优化,而作为我国重要能源行业的电力行业开始愈发重要,电力行业在各行业发展过程起到的推动作用十分关键,所以在电力行业为各行业发展提供推动作用的过程中,必须要把各环节维护检修工作做好,为各行业生产经营活动顺利开展提供基本保障。目前,在我国电力能源体系中,重要的构成部分就是火力发电厂,而对火力发电厂整体输电质量具有直接影响的因素就是燃料运输设备优劣,因此对于火力发电厂来说,必须要在燃料运输设备维护检修方面提高重视程度,将维护检修工作的各环节分工充分明确,促使火力发电厂输送服务水平有效提升,使电力行业稳健长远发展的基础逐渐夯实。     

Environmental Accounting of Eco-innovations through Environmental Input–Output Analysis: The Case of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Buses

The introduction of environmentally friendly innovations in both transport and energy sectors are included in the list of priorities of the European Union political agenda. This paper investigates the environmental consequences of the introduction of hydrogen and fuel cells technology in the European economic system by applying environmental input–output analysis and life cycle assessment tools. Hydrogen is produced through the reforming of natural gas and it is employed in fuel cells buses that offer transport services to final consumers. We have built three scenarios based on different assumptions on the final demand. We have shown the results for three impact categories: global warming, photochemical oxidation and acidification. The results suggest that the use of hydrogen in fuel cells buses is only environmentally desirable if accompanied either by the employment of renewable sources or by carbon dioxide capture, or both.     

纯电动汽车发展前景探讨

石油能源短缺和环境污染问题越来越严重,石油价格日益高涨,全球汽车产业结构不得不重新调整,随着世界各国汽车生产技术、消费市场的不断完善,纯电动汽车正在以自身的优势,将会大面积的推广应用,新能源纯电动动力汽车将会被消费者广泛接受,前景光明。     

A close look at second stage data envelopment analysis using compound error models and the Tobit model

In 2014 the Brazilian Electricity Regulator (ANEEL) evaluated the efficiency of power distribution utilities using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Estimated efficiencies range from 22.46% to 100%. Although environmental information is available in the data set, corrected efficiencies were not investigated. Different second stage models can be applied to adjust for environmental heterogeneity. Although statistical correlation among efficiencies and environmental variables can be easily estimated, corrected efficiencies are subject to the underlying structure of the second stage model. Therefore, different second stage models may achieve different corrected efficiencies. We provide a detailed statistical analysis of the Tobit model and compound error models for second stage analysis. Limitations are described and the corrected efficiencies using these models are evaluated. Potentially, Brazilian power distribution utilities may achieve substantial changes in estimated efficiencies if second stage analysis is used.