Legal Regulations on Renewable Energy Sources Abstract Submitted thesis presents issues of legal regulations on renewable energy sources emphasizing mainly legal regulations concerning electricity generation of alternative sources. This thesis offers a review of international documents and instruments of international law within a scope of the support of renewable energy sources. Regarding the Czech and Slovak Republic as members of European Union, this thesis also concerns an overview of the European legislation as a tool of integration of energetic markets of single member states and setting binding targets on quota of energy produced from renewable energy sources in the EU member states. Based on the set scientific methods, the thesis describes historical development and basic resources used by creation of legal regulations for renewable energy sources. Using comparative method it summarizes and compares legal regulations on the renewable sources of energy as used in Czech and Slovak legal system. The objective of the thesis is to provide a complex overview of the legal regulation on the renewable sources of energy as the part of environmental law and energy law in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Keywords: renewable energy sources, environment, energy policy, legal support

This thesis investigates three major aspects of energy consumption rebound effects (RE) in three papers. More specifically, the issues addressed are (i) the magnitude of economy-wide rebound effect (ii) the role of energy policy instruments in mitigating it and (iii) its channels of impact. The research begins with the estimation of cross-country economy-wide rebound effects for a panel of 55 countries over the period 1980 to 2010. A two-stage approach is utilized in which energy efficiency is first estimated from a stochastic input distance frontier (SIDF). The estimated energy efficiency is then used in a second stage dynamic panel model to derive short-run and long-run RE for an array of developing and developed countries. The cross-country point estimates indicate substantial RE magnitudes across sampled countries during the period under consideration, although a positive and encouraging finding is the declining RE trend across most of the sampled countries during the study period. The second paper contains an RE benchmark for 19 EU countries, as well as an investigation of the effects of two energy policy instruments (energy taxes and ener-gy R&D) on RE performance over the period 1995 to 2010. The results indicate that RE performance improved over the sample period, reinforcing the results from paper one. In addition, there is also some evidence suggesting that binding market-based instruments such as energy taxes have been more effective in restricting RE than in-direct instruments such as energy R&D during the period under consideration. This is consistent across both estimated model specifications. An important observation from the first essay is the slightly larger average RE across the non-OECD countries. For this reason, the last empirical chapter evaluated the channels through which RE stimulated energy use across productive sectors of major developing/emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and China. To achieve this, the essay relied on duality theory to decompose changes in energy demand into substitution and output effects through the estimation of a trans-log cost function using data spanning 1995-2009. Findings reveal that energy use elasticities across sampled sectors/countries are dominated by substitution effects. One intriguing result that also emerges from this analysis is the role of economies of scale and factor accumulation, rather than technical progress, in giving rise to eco-nomic growth and energy consumption in these countries during the period under consideration.

Diploma thesis deals with current priorities of energy policy within EU region, where is a substantial emphasis placed on exploitation of renewable energy sources (RES). There is mentioned historical development in the first part as well as an actual approach to energy policy by EU. Further is evaluated exploitation of RES and their proprotion on electricity generation. I also provide analysis whether current energy objectives can be met. In the last part I deal with photovoltaic industry both in EU and Czechia. Energy extraction from sunshine is currently the most growing field industry all over the world and especially in EU.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture (Sustainable Energy Efficient Cities) / Whereas the escalation of energy costs in South Africa over the past 5-years has been systematically reported, the extent to which low-income urban households are coping with the escalation has not been studied. Based on ethnographic data from Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni and secondary data from the Department of Energy and Statistics South Africa, the study evaluates the extent to which ongoing energy poverty mitigation programmes under FBE (Free Basic Electricity) and FBAE (Free Basic Alternative Energy) are facilitating how such households cope with the escalating costs. One of the key findings of the study is that FBE is not only inadequate for beneficiary household needs but also fails to accommodate large family sizes whose consumption goes beyond the set threshold of 450kWh/month. Since FBAE is only available for households not yet connected to the grid, the programme would not serve as a complementary intervention for households not benefiting from FBE due to consumption beyond the threshold. Based on the key finding of inadequacy of existing mitigation interventions (declining affordability of electricity, unresponsiveness of FBE to large-family size and the barrier to accessing FBAE while connected to grid) the study finds that energy poverty among low-income households and communities is deepening. As coping strategies, households resort to switching to alternative combustible fuels like paraffin, wood, coal, and solid waste which leads to indoor and outdoor air-pollution with related respiratory illnesses and under severe situations they resort to suppressing demand through options such foregoing cooked meals, irregular bathing/cleaning and space-heating in winter. The findings also allowed the study to critique the energy ladder model on its assumptions on linear energy carrier transitions in line with improved incomes of low-income households. In particular, the study finds that even as incomes of affected households improve, an ever increasing share of the income goes towards covering the escalating energy costs but still never managing to close the affordability gap for clean energy thus reinforcing a vicious cascade in energy poverty In order to systematically mitigate these escalating patterns of energy poverty, the study recommends the distribution of renewable technology through a more innovative FBAE policy which would allow municipalities, national government and other stakeholders to commit to more equitable long-term investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions for such households. Key words: escalating energy costs, coping mechanism, energy poverty, Free Basic Electricity, Free Basic Alternative Energy

Energy has always been an essential commodity, vital for a well-functioning society. Since, the industrialization has fossil fuels been used as man’s main energy source. Consequently, vast amounts of emissions have spread into earth’s atmosphere and lead to an unprecedently quick global warming. Governments are today reacting to climate change, and energy policies to limit the effects are developed. Sweden has since year 2008 established energy policy targets to reduce its emissions. This report looks into outcomes of Swedish energy policy by forecasting scenarios to measure target achievement and effects on Swedish energy security. Energy security has historically been dominated by geopolitical issues and oil, however, today the term has grown to encompass secure access to energy services at a sufficiently low and stable price, in a way that is socially and environmentally acceptable compared to other energy options. Thus, energy security in this report is understood as ‘Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’. From this definition are forecasted scenarios developed and analyzed towards an energy security framework consisting of three subcategorize, affordability, reliability and sustainability. The scenarios are made by linear, exponential and logistic trendlines, to cover different expansion patterns. The general outcome of the scenarios suggests that energy security as defined will become more sustainable and reliable at the cost of affordability for energy consumers. However, even though sustainability is increasing are some of the energy policy targets not likely to succeed if business continues as usual.

Existe uma relação fundamental entre políticas públicas e produtividade (Georgescu-Roetgens, 1976). \"Produtividade ambiental de uma fonte de energia\" é definida pela relação existente entre a energia fornecida por determinada fonte e a extensão da atmosfera e da biosfera utilizadas na respectiva produção. É um indicador prático, formulado a partir de parâmetros comumente usados em decisões de novas fontes de geração de energia elétrica do Sistema Interligado Nacional (SIN) no Brasil. Esse indicador pode auxiliar os formuladores de políticas públicas a estabelecerem requisitos mínimos e incentivos para fontes de energia que produzam menores impactos ambientais. Cálculos realizados mostram um aumento significativo da \"produtividade ambiental\" da hidreletricidade e da cana-de-açúcar, e relativa estabilidade no caso do petróleo. Sua aplicação a várias fontes de energia do SIN indica um aumento vertiginoso da produtividade ambiental a partir da introdução da fonte eólica na matriz energética brasileira, e espera-se um outro aumento maior ainda, com a introdução da fonte solar. A \"produtividade ambiental das fontes de energia\" em uma perspectiva global pode ajudar o planeta em uma virtuosa transição da matriz energética global, de sua composição atual, com preponderância de fontes energéticas convencionais fósseis, para sistemas de energia renováveis, se os formuladores de políticas puderem alinhar políticas energéticas a requisitos mínimos de \"produtividade ambiental\". Prioridades e transições adequadas devem ser incentivadas, de modo a permitir que os países possam substituir energias geradas, a partir de combustíveis fósseis, por fontes de energia renováveis (Wang, 2011). É importante que se auxilie decisores e usuários de energia, a entenderem o senso geral de pegadas ecológicas e limites do planeta na regeneração de ecossistemas. A fim de reduzir a pressão sobre a atmosfera e a biosfera é também essencial que os preços públicos de energia reflitam os reais custos incorridos. A razão pela qual a produtividade ambiental das fontes de energia pode ser utilizada de forma a reduzir pressões sobre a atmosfera e sobre a biosfera é a comparabilidade entre fontes, que se pode estabelecer a partir da metodologia de seu cálculo, aplicada a um conjunto de fontes, ou de alternativas de fontes. Os processos decisórios de implantação, ou mesmo de descomissionamento, de fontes de energia em geral se fundamentam em ordenamentos sequenciais de fontes de energia no tempo, ou em alternativas de fontes capazes de atenderem a necessidades de oferta de energia, em função de seus custos, da necessidade do sistema de potência ao qual se conectam, e de avaliações sobre a qualidade e a magnitude de seus impactos ambientais. Entretanto, as avaliações de impactos ambientais consistem em estudos cujos termos de referência e resultados explicam impactos locais, e embasam decisões de licenciamento ambiental individualizadas, não diretamente comparáveis entre si ou com requisitos gerais comuns. Finalmente, considera-se que não há impactos negativos associados às políticas que incentivam a utilização de energias renováveis para os usuários de energia, e isso torna legítima a criação de um ambiente estimulante para agentes do mercado de energia em uma busca continua por maior produtividade ambiental na utilização de fontes de energia. / There exist a fundamental relationship between public policies and productivity (Georgescu-Roetgens, 1976). Environmental productivity of an energy source is defined as the ratio between the energy generated by that given source, and, the extent of atmosphere and biosphere that is used for that production. It is a practical indicator, formulated with basis on parameters commonly used in decision processes of new plants to the National Interconnected System (SIN) in Brazil. This indicator can help policy makers to establish minimum requirements and incentives for energy sources that produce less environmental impact. Calculations show significant increases of environmental productivity of hydroelectricity and sugar cane, and relatively stable from petroleum. Applied to a number of specific energy sources, that make up the portfolio of power plants listed in the official file of plants that feed the National Interconnected System (SIN) in Brazil, indicate a steep increase in environmental productivity of energy sources from the introduction of wind energy source in the energy mix, and it is expected another major increase with the introduction of solar source. Environmental productivity of energy sources in a global perspective can help a virtuous transition, from conventional to renewable energy systems, if policy makers can align energy policies based on thresholds of environmental productivity. Priority and proper transition should be encouraged so as to enable countries replace the fossil fuels and the renewable sources of energy (Wang, 2011). It is important to help decision makers to understand the overall sense of environmental footprints and limits of the planet to regenerate ecosystems. In order to reduce unnecessary pressures on the atmosphere and the biosphere it is also essential that public energy prices reflect actual costs incurred. The reason why the environmental productivity of energy sources can be used to reduce pressure on the atmosphere and the biosphere is comparability between sources, which can be established from the method of its calculation, applied to a set of sources, or alternative sources. The decision-making processes of implementation, or decommissioning of energy sources in general are based on energy sources sequential orderings in time, or alternative sources able to meet the power supply needs, due to their cost, the need of the power system to which are connected, and reviews of the quality and magnitude of environmental impact and underlie environmental licensing individual decisions, not directly comparable with each other or with common general requirements. Finally, it has been established that there are no particular enactments or policies that are put in place that help in energy utilization that can cause negative impacts to these organizations and this could help create a conductive environment for energy market players fin search for higher environmental productivity of energy sources.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:20:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariano Rua Lamarca Junior.pdf: 2418858 bytes, checksum: 6ea8fd2c9013941f884e45a73db0c21d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / We will analyze in this work public policies to promote the use of renewable energy sources within a group of selected countries, which are the industrialized countries in the Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol, the emerging BRICS group of countries (Brasil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the USA, focusing on solar energy for electricity generation. Comparing the main energy policies that are being designed in this representative group of countries, we find that is currently under construction, supported by a portfolio of policies that we will identify in the research, revolutionary technological innovation systems as a means of generating electricity from solar energy. We will demonstrate that the changes underway in energy policies of the most diverse Nation-States, setting goals for the participation of renewables in their energy mix, represent a global process of policy convergence, and that societies are moving towards a new paradigm where the pursuit of sustainability plays a key role in the policy building process / Analisaremos neste trabalho as políticas públicas de incentivo ao uso de fontes de energia renováveis dentro de um grupo de países selecionados, que são os países industrializados do Anexo B do Protocolo de Kyoto, os países emergentes do bloco BRICS (Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul) e os EUA, com foco na energia solar para geração de eletricidade. Comparando as principais políticas públicas de energia que vêm sendo desenhadas neste representativo grupo de países, verificaremos que encontram-se atualmente em construção, apoiados por um portfólio de políticas que iremos identificar na pesquisa, revolucionários sistemas de inovação tecnológica como meio de produção de eletricidade por energia solar. Iremos demonstrar que as mudanças em curso nas políticas de energia dos mais diversos Estados-Nação, estabelecendo objetivos de participação de energias renováveis em suas matrizes energéticas, representam um processo global de convergência de políticas, e que as sociedades estão avançando em direção a um novo paradigma onde a busca da sustentabilidade assume um papel fundamental no processo de construção de políticas

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:53:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariano Rua Lamarca Junior.pdf: 2418858 bytes, checksum: 6ea8fd2c9013941f884e45a73db0c21d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / We will analyze in this work public policies to promote the use of renewable energy sources within a group of selected countries, which are the industrialized countries in the Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol, the emerging BRICS group of countries (Brasil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the USA, focusing on solar energy for electricity generation. Comparing the main energy policies that are being designed in this representative group of countries, we find that is currently under construction, supported by a portfolio of policies that we will identify in the research, revolutionary technological innovation systems as a means of generating electricity from solar energy. We will demonstrate that the changes underway in energy policies of the most diverse Nation-States, setting goals for the participation of renewables in their energy mix, represent a global process of policy convergence, and that societies are moving towards a new paradigm where the pursuit of sustainability plays a key role in the policy building process / Analisaremos neste trabalho as políticas públicas de incentivo ao uso de fontes de energia renováveis dentro de um grupo de países selecionados, que são os países industrializados do Anexo B do Protocolo de Kyoto, os países emergentes do bloco BRICS (Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul) e os EUA, com foco na energia solar para geração de eletricidade. Comparando as principais políticas públicas de energia que vêm sendo desenhadas neste representativo grupo de países, verificaremos que encontram-se atualmente em construção, apoiados por um portfólio de políticas que iremos identificar na pesquisa, revolucionários sistemas de inovação tecnológica como meio de produção de eletricidade por energia solar. Iremos demonstrar que as mudanças em curso nas políticas de energia dos mais diversos Estados-Nação, estabelecendo objetivos de participação de energias renováveis em suas matrizes energéticas, representam um processo global de convergência de políticas, e que as sociedades estão avançando em direção a um novo paradigma onde a busca da sustentabilidade assume um papel fundamental no processo de construção de políticas

Cette thèse étudie l’intégration des enjeux environnementaux aux politiques énergétiques française et allemande entre 1973 et 2000. Alors que les deux pays sont généralement analysés à l’aune de leurs divergences, il s’agit ici au contraire de déterminer si le développement de la protection de l’environnement n’a pas contribué à des phénomènes de convergence. Pour ce faire, les systèmes énergétiques des deux pays sont étudiés dans leur globalité et à travers une perspective historique longue. Au-delà de la question nucléaire, c’est bien l’intégralité du mix énergétique et de l’évolution des consommations qui sont ici questionnées, depuis le premier choc pétrolier et le lancement des programmes nucléaires, jusqu’au début des années 2000, qui marquent le début d’un nouveau cycle pour le secteur de l’énergie à la faveur de la transition énergétique et du 3ème choc pétrolier. Sur l’ensemble de la période, la protection de l’environnement voit son rôle se renforcer jusqu’à devenir un enjeu clef et structurant, à travers notamment l’élaboration de normes et d’engagements aux échelles internationales et communautaires. Si la question nucléaire reste un élément de différenciation certain, il ressort qu’elle répond à des contraintes initiales différentes entre les deux pays et qui se résorbent progressivement. S’observe au final une certaine convergence de l’ensemble des indicateurs français et allemands entre 1973 et 2000, à laquelle la protection de l’environnement a contribué de façon certaine. / This thesis studies the integration of environmental issues into French and German energy policies between 1973 and 2000. While the two countries are generally analyzed in terms of their divergences, the question here is whether the development of protection of the environment has not contributed to the phenomena of convergence. To do this, the energy systems of the two countries are studied in their entirety and through a long historical perspective. Beyond the nuclear question, it is indeed the entire energy mix and the evolution of consumption that are questioned here, from the first oil shock and the launch of nuclear programs, until the early 2000s, Which mark the beginning of a new cycle for the energy sector. Over the period as a whole, environmental protection has become a key and structuring issue, particularly through the development of standards and commitments at international and community levels. While the nuclear issue remains a definite element of differentiation, it appears that it responds to different initial constraints between the two countries and is gradually being resolved. In the end, there is a certain degree of convergence of all French and German indicators between 1973 and 2000, to which the protection of the environment contributed with certainty.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-96). / by Barbara Marie Brennan. / M.C.P.