Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

This chapter introduces a visualization method specifically tailored to the class of tensor fields with properties similar to stress and strain tensors. Such tensor fields play an important role in many application areas such as structure mechanics or solid state physics. The presented technique is a global method that represents the physical meaning of these tensor fields with their central features: regions of compression or expansion. The method consists of two steps: first, the tensor field is interpreted as a distortion of a flat metric with the same topological structure; second, the resulting metric is visualized using a texture-based approach. The method supports an intuitive distinction between positive and negative eigenvalues.

Greenhouse gas emissions trading has become increasingly important in the context of climate change. Recently, a discussion on trading at the entity, i.e. company, level has started. Emitters obliged to participate have argued for an initial allocation of the emission rights free of charge. In this paper, the implication of such an allocation based on historical emissions and on benchmarks in multi-period emissions trading is analysed. Different allocation rules for successive periods are applied, namely allocations with reference figures that are either constant or that change over time. The analysis is carried out using a two-player, two-period model. I find that, depending on their marginal abatement cost, participants have different preferences with regard to the allocation method over time, as individual compliance costs can change as well. Total costs remain, however, unaffected by the individual allocations, as emissions are reduced where abatement is cheapest.

Admitting banking in emissions trading systems reduces overall compliance costs by allowing for intertemporal flexibility: cost savings can be traded over time. However most, EU Member States prohibit the transfer of unused allowances from the period of 2005–2007 into the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, i.e. 2008–2012. At the same time, allowances appear to be allocated fairly generously to the emissions trading sector. In this paper, we first explore the implications of such a ban on banking when initial emission targets are lenient. This analysis is based on a simulation which was recently carried out in Germany with companies and with a student control group. The findings suggest that an EU-wide ban on banking would lead to efficiency losses in addition to those losses which arise from the lack of intertemporal flexibility.

The paper examines what impact different design options of emissions trading have on the innovation process in the electric power industry. Recent concepts of innovation research in evolutionary economics are reviewed and investment cycles in the German power sector are examined before taking a closer look at different emissions trading design options and their respective impact on power generation costs.

In this paper we investigate how the interaction between the product and the emission permit markets may affect firms’ propensity to adopt less polluting technologies in a non perfectly competitive industry. We develop a model of duopoly, in which firms engage in quantity competition in the output market, behave as price takers in the permit market and can switch to a cleaner production technology at some cost. We set up a dynamic game over an infinite horizon in order to investigate firms’ strategic decisions. Technology diffusion is one of the possible stationary equilibria of the game, depending on both the investment cost and the emission cap. We replicate the game in a laboratory experiment. The experimental results suggest that firms’ behaviour will eventually lead to innovation diffusion.

Fundamental innovations are needed in order to achieve sustainable development. The actors who implement sustainability innovations are called sustainability entrepreneurs. In the first part of this paper, a conceptual framework for sustainability entrepreneurship is developed. It is suggested to take a view of power and politics in order to identify crucial actors and barriers within sustainability innovation processes. In the second part, this conceptual framework is applied to the context of emissions trading. The findings suggest that organisations that want to gain advantage from innovative emissions reductions have to foster sustainability entrepreneurship.

In December 2002, the European Union decided to set up a carbon dioxide trading system to meet the goals of the Kyoto protocol. The trading system applies to energy producing companies and to firms with high energy usage. Firms will obtain the allowance to emit a given amount of carbon dioxide which will be reduced step by step on a yearly basis. The firms will have to buy additional allowances if the given amount does not satisfy their actual needs and they can sell allowances if they have excess allowances. In order to improve their market position, companies may invest in technical progress leading to fewer emissions.

The article examines which strategy companies should choose to adjust optimally to the trading system. The theoretical background builds Solow’s hypothesis that technical progress is embodied in capital goods which leads to different production functions in each period (Vintage Production Functions). In combination with the Putty-Clay Model, it is shown that technical progress rates, timing of investment and prices of allowances play an important role in defining the optimal strategy of firms in order to cope with emissions trading.

The European greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme will result in a new input factor for CO emission intensive companies. Therefore, it is the first objective of this paper to characterise this new input factor. The second objective of this paper is to present different analysis tools for certificate trading issues. First a European energy model for the quantification of the impacts that emissions trading may have on electricity prices, technology choices, allowance prices and interregional power exchanges is developed. Furthermore, a model for the economic assessment of CO emission reduction technologies and strategies on a detailed company level is presented. Accounting for the fact that emission reduction measures in industrial production companies are rather limited, inter-company energy supply concepts are integrated into the energy planning process of these production companies. Finally, it is shown how project-based flexibility mechanisms (JI/CDM) can be considered in investment strategies of companies affected by emissions trading.

In this paper a stochastic optimization model for decision making in the emissions market under uncertain boundary conditions is presented. This model aims at finding a strategy for profit optimal emissions trading/emissions reduction. The uncertainties in the emissions market are modelled via a scenario approach considering the price risk in the emissions market as well as the project risk of a potential emissions reduction project.

Climate policy has become a major source of uncertainty in energy investments. This paper explores how different instruments of climate policy, such as emissions trading and taxes, affect heat and power capacity investment decisions. I start here with an analysis on the role of climate policy instruments in an investment decision process. Secondly, I examine how climate policy instruments affect the key components of a quantitative investment appraisal and how flexibility can help to cope with those impacts. Flexibility characteristics of some existing heat and power generation technologies are discussed. I find that climate policy increases the value of flexibility in energy investments. There are structural differences in flexibility between heat and power generation technologies. Whereas some technologies provide managerial flexibility through the options to alter operating scale and through the option to switch between fuels or products, others provide passive flexibility (robustness).