Narrow Results

This paper investigates determinants of energy and emission intensities of manufacturing firms in India, from 2000 to 2014. Given that Indian manufacturing sector is one of the world’s most polluting sectors in terms of CO₂ emissions; we arrive at firm level determinants of energy and carbon dioxide emission intensities from consumption of three primary sources of energy, namely (1) Coal, (2) Natural Gas and (3) Petroleum. The results of the regression analysis suggest that there are inter-firm differences in energy and emission intensity. The results indicate that smaller and larger firms are both energy and emission intensive compared to medium sized firms. Similarly, firms spending more in research and development activities are found to be energy and emission efficient, compare to others. Hence, in the global competitive business environment, Government of India should carefully formulate policies suitable for the medium sized firms to make them energy and emission efficient.

In this paper, we examine the role of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa’s (BRICS) currency in energy market by using vine copula method. The value-at-risk (VaR) and expected shortfall of two portfolios are calculated. One is a benchmark portfolio which is consisted of only energy prices, the other is a portfolio which adding the BRICS’s exchange rate into the benchmark portfolio. The data period is from 24 August 2010 to 29 November 2019. Our results show the BRICS’s currency can reduce the risk in energy investment.

The electronic structure of S adsorption on goethite (110) surface has been studied by ASED-MO cluster calculations. For S location, the most exposed surface atoms of goethite surface were selected. The calculations show that the surface offers several places for S adsorption. The most energetically stable system corresponds to S location above H atom.

We studied in detail the configurations that correspond to the higher OP values. For these configurations, the H-S and Fe-S computed distances are 2.1 and 3.7 Å, respectively. The H-S and Fe-S are mainly bonding interaction with OP values of 0.156 and 0.034, respectively. The Fe-S interaction mainly involves Fe 3d_x2-y2 atomic orbitals with lesser participation of Fe 4p_y and Fe 3d_yz atomic orbitals. The O-S interaction shows the same bonding and antibonding contributions giving a small OP value. The O-S interaction involves O 2p orbitals. There is an electron transfer to the Fe atom from the S atom. On the other hand, there is an electron transfer to S atom from the H and O atoms, respectively.

The electronic structure of H₂S adsorbed on the goethite (110) surface has been studied by ASED-MO cluster calculations. We have studied both the perpendicular and the parallel H₂S molecular adsorption on the FeOOH(110) surface. We have analyzed the adsorption configuration energies including rotation. The parallel species does not rotate during adsorption and corresponds to the most stable configuration. We have also studied the bonding contributions for the minimum energy configuration and the density of states plots.

This paper summarizes the approaches to and the implications of bottom–up infrastructure modeling in the framework of the EMF28 model comparison "Europe 2050: The Effects of Technology Choices on EU Climate Policy". It includes models covering all the sectors currently under scrutiny by the European Infrastructure Priorities: Electricity, natural gas, and CO₂. Results suggest that some infrastructure enhancement is required to achieve the decarbonization, and that the network development needs can be attained in a reasonable timeframe. In the electricity sector, additional cross-border interconnection is required, but generation and the development of low-cost renewables is a more challenging task. For natural gas, the falling total consumption could be satisfied by the current infrastructure in place, and even in a high-gas scenario the infrastructure implications remain manageable. Model results on the future role of Carbon Capture, Transport, and Sequestration (CCTS) vary, and suggest that most of the transportation infrastructure might be required in and around the North Sea.

China is currently attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase natural gas consumption as a part of broader national strategies to reduce the air pollution impacts of the nation’s energy system. To assess the scenarios of natural gas development up to 2050, we employ a global energy-economic model — the MIT Economic Projection and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model. The results show that a cap-and-trade policy will enable China to achieve its climate mitigation goals, but will also reduce natural gas consumption. An integrated policy that uses a part of the carbon revenue obtained from the cap-and-trade system to subsidize natural gas use promotes natural gas consumption, resulting in a further reduction in coal use relative to the cap-and-trade policy case. The integrated policy has a very moderate welfare cost; however, it reduces air pollution and allows China to achieve both the climate objective and the natural gas promotion objective.

The US power system is one of the largest, most complicated, and most expensive machines in the world, but the grid’s core infrastructure is old and is not aging gracefully. Nearly 500 gigawatts (GW), or about half of the existing thermal generator fleet (i.e., coal-, nuclear-, and gas-fired power plants) is likely to retire by 2030, leading to a gap in capacity that will need to be addressed with new investment — as much as $1 trillion through 2030 as utilities may rush to build new gas-fired power plants. Yet advances in renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DERs) offer lower rates and emissions-free energy while delivering all the grid reliability services that new power plants can…

This chapter describes how economic models are used to answer questions about policy changes, specifically in the context of a carbon fee-and-dividend system. A carbon fee-and-dividend is a price on carbon dioxide emissions that returns the revenues gained to ordinary households in the form of a monthly check. The chapter describes, in nontechnical terms, the economic models and modeling processes involved and how they are similar and different from climate models…

The COVID-19 pandemic raised global warming issues, and particularly the effect of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. This is a matter of great concern especially in the aftermath of the forced confinement period, that reorganized the dices. Within this context, this chapter handles the relationship between CO₂ emissions, crude oil, and natural gas prices in the time of the critical epidemic. The results show that any decline in the natural gas and lagged crude oil prices downgrades carbon emissions. Equally, as the number of infected people by the disease increases, these emissions tend to decrease. This chapter provides implications for policymakers and governments.

By using the structural VAR model with time-varying coefficients, this chapter aims to assess the impact of COVID-19 shocks on crude oil and natural gas S&P GSCI during the first wave and to compare it to that during the second wave. The findings confirm that S&P GS indices’ responses to COVID-19 shock are varying over time. This variation in responses can be explained by the unstable behavior of investors in an extremely uncertain environment. We find that the energy market remains vulnerable to the surge in coronavirus deaths, during the second wave, even though the damage on oil prices is less than that of the first wave. Our results show that the negative effect on the natural gas index worsens over time and becomes substantial with the arrival of the second wave.

This paper introduces an information-based model for the pricing of storable commodities such as crude oil and natural gas. The model uses the concept of market information about future supply and demand as a basis for valuation. Physical ownership of a commodity is taken to provide a stream of convenience dividends equivalent to a continuous cash flow. The market filtration is assumed to be generated jointly by the following: (i) current and past levels of the dividend rate, and (ii) partial information concerning the future of the dividend flow. The price of a commodity is the expectation under a suitable pricing measure of the totality of the discounted risk-adjusted future convenience dividend, conditional on the information provided by the market filtration. In the situation where the dividend rate is modelled by an Ornstein—Uhlenbeck process, the prices of options on commodities can be derived in closed form. The approach that we present can be applied to other assets that yield potentially negative effective cash flows, such as real estate, factories, refineries, mines, and power generating plants.

The paper clarifies the importance of energy against the background of the development of China’s modern economic situation. It also aims to analyze the current situation and problems of China’s energy development from the aspects of energy production, consumption, impact on social economy and ecological environment, etc. Through the analysis of the development of the superiority of hydropower resources, the paper puts forward the necessity of the development of hydropower resources in the future development of society and the economy.

Membrane reactors offer a promising approach towards achieving green and sustainable gas recovery, separation and conversion with minimal fouling, and minimal energy consumption. In this work, the use of a composite alumina/zeolite membrane for the separation of C₃H₈, N₂, O₂, and CO₂ from CH₄ has been studied. The physical properties of the membrane were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM micrographs confirm that the zeolite is distributed homogeneously in the alumina support matrix. Single gas permeation tests were carried out in the pressure range of 0.01 to 0.1 MPa. The Fickian model was applied for evaluating the separation of propane and methane from nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. The Fickian approach assumes that the transport diffusivity of gases through the zeolite membrane is dependent on the operating temperature. Therefore, the flux of CO₂, N₂, CH₄, C₃H₈, and O₂ was determined at 372, 473, and 573 K, and the activation energy of these gases was also determined. Experimental results indicated that the temperature indeed affects the flux of gases in the zeolite membrane, and therefore, the Fick’s model can be used to analyse the transport of gases through the zeolite layer.

Natural gas plays an important role in Europe. During the last 10 years, the European gas market has undergone significant changes. While the share of oil-indexed gas in markets has declined, gas-on-gas competition has grown significantly. This chapter investigates gas prices at the trading hub NetConnect Germany (NCG) under various oil price scenarios in the period 2017 to 2023. This is done by performing sensitivity analyses using the worldwide gas market model WEGA. The results reveal that the NCG prices are very sensitive to the changes of oil prices throughout this period. However, NCG prices are smoothed and delayed due to the price formula of oil-indexed contracts as well as the decline of the share of oil-indexed gas.

Energy-based assets are showing increased susceptibility to volatility arising out of geo-political, economic, climate and technological events. Given the economic importance of energy products, their market participants need to be able to access efficient strategies to effectively manage their exposures and reduce price risk. This chapter will outline the key futures-based hedging approaches that have been developed for managing energy price risk and evaluate their effectiveness. A key element of this analysis will be the breadth of assets considered. These include Crude and Refined Oil products, Natural Gas and wholesale Electricity markets. We find significant differences in the hedging effectiveness of the different energy markets. A key finding is that, Natural Gas and particularly Electricity futures are relatively ineffective as a risk management tool when compared with other energy assets.