March 28th, 2012
The megawatts invested in capacity to produce electricity from renewable energy and the megawatts/hours produced from this capacity are growing faster than expected within the European Union. That is definitely good news for climate change mitigation. However, what about the cost of such policy? Evaluating the cost of renewable sources within the energy mix is not an easy task. A key ingredient that needs to be considered is the intermittency of renewable energy sources. It affects the financial balancing of the electricity industry where fossil fuel plants are to be built and operated to replace intermittent sources at dates they are not producing.
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Posted in Climate Change, Electricity | 3 Comments »
October 30th, 2009
The pump-storage technology allows the transformation of low-altitude water into high-altitude water using off-peak electricity, and then the production of electricity at peak periods releasing water through turbines like in any hydroelectric plant. Because of large energy losses in the transformation of electricity into water and then of water into electricity (the cycle efficiency is of the order of 80%), this process is not generically good at saving energy but it can be profitable on economic grounds, both by decreasing production costs and by increasing consumers’ surplus.
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Posted in Electricity | 2 Comments »
May 29th, 2007
In October 2006, the European Commission has presented its Energy Efficiency Action Plan aimed at making energy appliances, buildings, transports and energy generation more efficient. In January 2007, it has released a Renewable Energy Roadmap to fix legally binding targets for the share of renewable fuels in the overall energy mix and for biofuels in transport. Are this plan and this roadmap the results of sound economics or are they pure media gesticulating? Continue reading »
Posted in Energy Policy, English | 3 Comments »
