Using stated preference methods to assess environmental impacts of forest biomass power plants in Portugal

As a renewable energy source, the use of forest biomass for electricity generation is advantageous in comparison with fossil fuels; however, the activity of forest biomass power plants causes adverse impacts, affecting particularly neighbouring communities. The main objective of this study is to estimate the effects of the activity of forest biomass power plants on the welfare of two groups of stakeholders, namely local residents and the general population. To this end, we apply two stated preference methods: contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments, respectively. The former method was applied to estimate the minimum compensation residents of neighbouring communities of two forest biomass power plants in Portugal would be willing to accept. The latter method was applied among the general population to estimate their willingness to pay to avoid specific environmental impacts. The results show that the presence of the selected facilities affects individuals’ well-being. On the other hand, in the discrete choice experiments conducted among the general population all impacts considered were valued, in particular odour and fauna and flora impacts. The results of this study stress the importance of performing an equity analysis of the welfare effects on different groups of stakeholders from the installation of forest biomass power plants, as their effects on welfare are location and impact specific. Policy makers should take into account the views of all stakeholders either directly or indirectly involved when deciding crucial issues regarding the sitting of new forest biomass power plants, in order to achieve an efficient and equitable outcome.     

不同返还情景下碳税对中国经济影响及减排效果——基于动态CGE的模拟分析

本文构建了多部门递归动态可计算一般均衡模型,考虑中国经济发展和碳减排的现实情况,以征收40元/吨碳税且无税收返还为基准情景,分析了碳税对中国经济和碳强度的影响;在此基础上,本文探讨六种税收返还情景(返还清洁能源部门部分碳税、返还服务业部分碳税、返还农村和城镇居民全部碳税、减免企业所得税、减免居民所得税、减免生产税)对碳税负效应的缓解作用,同时探讨税收返还政策下碳税对中国经济增长、社会福利、农村和城镇居民收入消费、各部门产出的影响差异,并从实现2020年和2030年减排目标的角度,比较不同返还情景下碳税对碳排放量、碳强度,以及对非化石能源占一次能源消费结构变化的长期影响。研究结果表明:基准情景下,碳税对经济确实存在负效应;六种返还政策均不同程度地降低碳税负效应,同时也能够保证实现2020年的减排目标且有利于实现2030年的目标;对单一部门(清洁能源部门或服务业)部分返还碳税能够促进相应部门的产出,但力度较小,与其他政策相比影响微弱,但都能够有效地促进这两大部门的发展,因此在制定补贴政策时应当考虑行业差异性,重点扶持符合绿色发展要求的行业;对农村和城镇居民的直接返还均能增加农村和城镇居民收入,刺激了消费进而带动社会经济发展,相比部门返还政策,这一政策更为有效的提高了社会福利,但也会进一步拉大农村与城镇居民之间的收入消费差距;减免企业所得税促进企业投资和产业结构调整;减免居民所得税极大的刺激居民消费;减免生产税促进进口、拉动就业率,降低化石能源部门产出,综合来看,相对于其他返还政策,减免生产税更有效可行。     

The EU sustainable energy policy indicators framework

The article deals with indicators framework to monitor implementation of the main EU (European Union) directives and other policy documents targeting sustainable energy development. The main EU directives which have impact on sustainable energy development are directives promoting energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, directives implementing greenhouse gas mitigation and atmospheric pollution reduction policies and other policy documents and strategies targeting energy sector. Promotion of use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements are among priorities of EU energy policy because the use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements has positive impact on energy security and climate change mitigation. The framework of indicators can be developed to establish the main targets set by EU energy and environmental policies allowing to connect indicators via chain of mutual impacts and to define policies and measures necessary to achieve established targets based on assessment of their impact on the targeted indicators representing sustainable energy development aims. The article discusses the application of indicators framework for EU sustainable energy policy analysis and presents the case study of this policy tool application for Baltic States. The article also discusses the use of biomass in Baltic States and future considerations in this field.     

基于问卷调查的上海市大气环境质量改善的支付意愿研究

上海近年来以O₃和PM_2.5为代表的复合型污染问题较为突出，合理评估大气环境对居民产生的影响对于环境政策决策具有重要意义。利用条件价值评估法，对上海500位居民开展了关于改善大气环境质量的支付意愿的调查研究。结果表明:上海居民对大气环境质量的关注和重视程度较高，并采取了积极的应对措施，全市在购买和使用空气净化器和防雾霾口罩方面的开支约为23亿元/a；在所有受访者中，有56%对改善大气环境质量有支付意愿，且收入、学历和患病程度与愿意支付的概率呈正相关，年龄则表现为负相关；从支付金额来看，有支付意愿的受访者对于减少一天雾霾的平均支付意愿为74元/户，推算至2016年全市整体的支付意愿在200亿元左右。其中，学历、收入、家庭人口数、患相关疾病的严重程度及防护意识与支付金额大小呈显著正相关，年龄则表现为负相关。进一步比较上海主要污染物的减排成本和居民支付意愿，从全社会成本角度，进一步开展污染减排具有成本有效性。     

The bottle bill: Perceptions of inconvenience,litter and willingness to pay in Western New York

Returnable container legislation in New York requires that all carbonated soft drink and beer containers carry a minimum five-cent deposit and bans detachable metal tabs and nonbiodegradable plastic loops. A continuing environmental policy issue is whether the benefits of a less-littered environment and reduction of solid waste are greater than the increase in retail prices and inconvenience costs to the consumer. This paper reports consumer estimates of the inconvenience of returning beverage containers to a store, perceptions of the litter problem, and willingness to pay to reduce litter in Wellsville, NY. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents believe that litter is a major problem. Most important, 76% of those interviewed reported they were willing to pay 10 cents, and 42% thought they were willing to pay 15 cents to reduce litter. Nearly one-half of the respondents did not think returning containers to the store would be inconvenient, but 22% stated that the process would be inconvenient. Correlations between the attitudes and income, education, and age are reported. These findings will be of interest to New Yorkers as they evaluate the bottle bill, as well as to individuals in other states considering returnable container legislation.     

Carbon and energy taxation for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> mitigation: a CGE model of the Malaysia

Malaysia has made a pledge to reduce voluntarily her carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO₂-e) gas emission’s intensity of gross domestic product by up to 40 % based on 2005 levels by 2020. The country is considering implementing economic instruments, among others, to assist the achievement of emission reduction targets while contributing towards the nation’s energy security and sustainable development goals. This paper develops a computable general equilibrium model with explicit energy-emission linkages to appraise the economy-wide and welfare impacts of carbon and energy tax policies to reduce CO₂ emissions in Malaysia. Results indicate that the negative macroeconomic impacts of carbon and energy taxes are small relative to the quantum of emission reduction. A Hicksian welfare criterion is utilized to determine the impact of revenue natural shifts in carbon and energy taxes. Revenue neutrality assumptions show that carbon taxation is the best choice when it can provide a double dividend if the generated revenue is used for the purpose of consumption subsidy on household purchases. The notion of the double dividend is confirmed when the change in the consumption structure will result in a welfare improvement, while CO₂ emission is decreased effectively. The study also found that carbon tax policy results in greater emission reductions relative to energy taxes, while the use of renewable energy will increase more substantially.     

榆林煤炭矿区生态环境改善支付意愿分析

运用榆林煤炭矿区居民为改善当地生态环境支付意愿(WTP)的调研资料,得出每户每年平均的支出金额介于229.56-347.92元之间,由此推断出榆林煤炭矿区每年因煤炭开发而造成的生态环境破坏价值损失大约在13 822.09万-20 948.69万元之间。通过运用D-H模型和Tobit模型对调研资料分别进行分析,发现,D-H模型对被调查者支付意愿影响因素的分析明显优于Tobit模型。D-H模型的结果显示,被调查者"决定是否参与支付"与"决定支出多少金额"两个行为的影响因素不完全相同。被调查者对当地生态环境状况的满意程度对其"决定是否参与支付"呈负向影响;反映被调查者所在行政区域对其"决定是否参与支付"呈正向影响。被调查者的家庭年收入、受教育状况、年龄、职业状况、对当地生态环境状况的满意程度均对其"决定支出多少金额"具有显著的正向影响;被调查者的家庭人口数、对环境保护政策的了解程度对其"决定支出多少金额"有显著的负向影响。最后,提出了提高当地居民参与生态环境改善活动积极性的一些措施。     

A test of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon emission and potential of renewable energy to reduce green house gases (GHG) in Malaysia

This study investigates the presence of environmental kuznets curve (EKC) for green house gases (GHG) measured by CO₂ emission in Malaysia for the period 1970 to 2011. The study also examines the potential of the renewable source of energy to contain GHG. The long-run significant positive coefficient of GDP indicates that the GHG are increasing with economic growth while the insignificant coefficient on GDP square rejects the EKC transition. These results indicate a high GDP level for the EKC turning point for Malaysia. Therefore, it can be stated that only economic growth cannot reverse the environmental degradation in Malaysia. The government should have to come up with some policy measures to achieve CO₂ emission reduction targets that Malaysia has pledged to achieve in Paris Submit (2015). The renewable energy production is found to have significant negative effect on CO₂ emission. So government should focus on the renewable source of energy production and should frame a special policy for renewable energy production.     

Policy innovation for technology diffusion: a case-study of Japanese renewable energy public support programs

Due to local scarcity of fossil fuel reserves, deployment of renewable energy has been on the Japanese government energy policy agenda for decades. While a significant amount of government budget was being allocated to renewables Research and Development, in contrast very little attention was paid to public support for renewable energy deployment. Against this background, in 2003, the Japanese government enacted legislation based on the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) scheme, which requires electricity retailers to supply a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources to grid consumers. The RPS legislation had been expected to ensure market efficiency, as well as bringing a steady increase in renewable capacity. Later, in 2009, the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme was introduced to let electricity utilities purchase electricity generated from renewable energy sources with regulated prices. This paper aims to use the choice of renewable policy as a case-study to understand barriers for policy transfer and innovation, mainly through comparative studies between RPS and FIT in Japan. The result of this study shows that, in Japan, most policy-makers face the ‘lock-in’ of existing technology, which frustrates the deployment of renewable energy. For this reason, there is reluctance to allow experimentation that could promote a shift to other energy sources. In order to achieve the rapid change towards green industry, innovation policy needs to be implemented through effective and efficient methods, such as a carbon tax for fossil fuels; enlargement of renewable energy deployment to sources such as wind, geothermal and solar; and conducting further studies toward public preference and willingness to pay for the new clean energy sources.     

Social acceptance of wind and solar power in the Brazilian electricity system

Renewable energy is often associated with the production of clean electricity and free of significant adverse impacts. However, several studies have been highlighting the importance of the assessment of social impacts of these technologies, including not only the benefits but also the potential negative aspects most frequently affecting local population. The energy matrix in Brazil is already built up on a renewable system largely supported on hydropower but other technologies with special emphasis on wind power start to have a major role, with a strong growth forecasted for this sector in the coming years. This article discusses the integration of solar and wind power in the Brazilian electricity system focusing on the social awareness and acceptance for the population living in high potential regions. For this, a questionnaire was proposed with the aim of evaluating the level of knowledge of wind and solar power, their social acceptance and perceptions towards cost, local development and environmental impacts. The questionnaire was implemented in an academic institution in the State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) including students and professors as key actors for the present and future energy policy decision making. The implementation process and the obtained results are described allowing to conclude on the high level of acceptance of solar and wind power in the country and the region, with low evidence of not in my backyard syndrome.     

水源地生态补偿标准估算——以贵阳鱼洞峡水库为例

鱼洞河是乌江水系的一个小支流,为下游贵阳市提供饮用水水源。在鱼洞河上下游之间建立生态补偿机制,理论上需要知道上游治理污染和维护生态环境的费用,以及下游对上游提供的生态环境服务的支付意愿。只有下游的支付意愿大于上游的费用,上下游之间的生态补偿机制才有理论可能性。在对上游龙里县汇水区进行实地调研后,重点评估了当地安装沼气系统、坡耕地(≥25°)退耕还林、其他地区的土壤侵蚀防治以及点源污染治理费用,得出上游治理投资费用为199万元,年度费用每年89.2万元-168万元。采用意愿调查法(CVM)对贵阳市自来水用户对上游环境服务的支付意愿进行了评估。采用简单随机抽样方法在贵阳3个区内选取了900户作为样本,结果表明,有62.7%的人愿意为生态补偿付费。采用PROBIT模型,可以计算出为避免鱼洞河水质恶化的支付意愿均值为0.37元/m3,贵阳市自来水用户总的支付意愿每年达847万元。结果表明在鱼洞河水源地进行上下游生态补偿理论上是可能的,补偿标准介于上游费用与下游支付意愿之间。     

More dams,more violence? A global analysis on resistances and repression around conflictive dams through co-produced knowledge

The present article analyses a unique database of 220 dam-related environmental conflicts, retrieved from the Global Atlas on Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), and based on knowledge co-production between academics and activists. Despite well-known controversial, social, and environmental impacts of dams, efforts to increase renewable energy generation have reinstated the interest into hydropower development globally. People affected by dams have largely denounced such ‘unsustainabilities’ through collective non-violent actions. Nevertheless, we found that repression, criminalization, violent targeting of activists and assassinations are recurrent features of conflictive dams. Violent repression is particularly high when indigenous people are involved. Indirect forms of violence are also analysed through socio-economic, environmental, and health impacts. We argue that increasing repression of the opposition against unwanted energy infrastructures does not only serve to curb specific protest actions, but also aims to delegitimize and undermine differing understanding of sustainability, epistemologies, and world views. This analysis cautions that allegedly sustainable renewables such as hydropower often replicates patterns of violence within a frame of an ‘extractivism of renewables’. We finally suggest that co-production of knowledge between scientists, activists, and communities should be largely encouraged to investigate sensitive and contentious topics in sustainability studies.     

The valuation of wetland conservation in an urban/peri urban watershed

This study estimates the social benefits of wetland conservation in the Credit River watershed, located in an urban/peri urban area in Southern Ontario, Canada. A stated preference approach was employed to value wetland conservation programs which ranged from retaining the existing wetlands to restoring various levels of acres of wetlands over the 2009–2020 period. A total of 1,407 households completed an internet-based survey which presented trade-offs in binary choice scenarios framed as referenda. Responses were analyzed using various models, one of which was a latent class analysis which segmented respondents into three classes. This econometric approach uncovered significant preference heterogeneity for wetland conservation. Assignment of respondents to the classes suggested that about one-third of the sample was willing to pay small amounts to retain the existing wetlands. An additional third was willing to pay several hundred dollars a year for retention and small positive amounts for additional restoration. The final third were apparently willing to pay considerable sums for retention, but lesser amounts for additional restoration. However, further analysis revealed that respondents in this third class largely constituted yea-sayers. These results suggest caution in interpreting associated economic valuation estimates and highlight the importance of attempting to understand hypothetical bias in wetland and other such valuation studies.     

基于CVM的武进港水环境综合整治工程环境价值支付/受偿意愿评估

引入了目前环境价值评估领域运用广泛的条件价值评估法(CVM)对武进港小流域水环境治理工程居民的支付/受偿意愿（WTP/WAP）进行调查研究。305份有效调查问卷的结果表明：（1）64%的受访者有支付意愿，用中位值法和平均支付意愿法计算得出武进区居民的支付意愿为40~555元/年，武进区2010年人口为1003万余人，居民的总支付意愿范围是4 012~5 56665万元/年，支付意愿与受教育水平呈显著正相关，与其他各变量在5%的显著性水平下均无相关关系；（2）62%的受访者有受偿意愿，平均受偿意愿为3462元/年，约为支付意愿的63倍，受偿意愿与受教育水平呈显著正相关，与年龄呈显著负相关，与职业存在负的弱相关性。对造成WTP与WTA巨大差异的原因进行了探讨，并综合考虑评估结果，对武进港流域的水环境改善提出建议，促进决策者更好的平衡当地的经济发展和水环境保护     

Framing Renewable Energy: A Comparative Study of Newspapers in Australia and Sweden

Australia and Sweden display very different institutional settings and contexts for the production of environmental journalism. This empirical study examined how two major quality newspapers in Sweden and Australia have framed renewable energy as an environmental, political, scientific, economic and civil society issue. A deductive, quantitative methodological approach was used to identify dominant frames and actors in articles in The Australian (Australia) and Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) between October 2010 and June 2011 2010/2011. The findings suggest that the attention given to different types of renewable energy in the two newspapers and how issues were framed was contingent on the domestication of the discussion of renewable energy in the two countries. Reporting on renewable energy in both newspapers was characterized by a focus on “elite” actors and economic frames, the absence of civil society frames and negative (The Australian) or ambiguous (Dagens Nyheter) environmental frames. The study extends our understanding of the contextual conditions that enable and limit journalists when reporting environmental issues.     

三峡工程的环境与移民问题

三峡水利枢纽是在长江上修建的世界第一大水电站，它规模宏大，举世属目，具有巨大的防洪，发电，航运等综合效益，是开发治理长江的骨干工程。三峡工程建设将对生态与环境产生广泛而深远的影响，为国内外所关注。它的有利影响主要在长江中下游，能有效地抗御洪水和提供巨量的清洁洁能源；不利影响主要是在库区，将形成库区淹没和大量移民。     

The association between rural–urban migration flows and urban air quality in China

In light of the rapid urbanization of the world’s population over the past decades, there is a growing concern about the environmental impacts of urban population growth. Rural–urban migration is a particularly important component of the urbanization process in developing countries and is often considered to be detrimental to urban environmental conditions. However, few studies have explicitly examined the presumed negative impacts of in-migration on the natural environment of cities. The continuously increasing volume of rural–urban labor migration in China since the early 1980s has formed the largest population flow in world history. This study links the existing literature on population–environment and urbanization–environment interactions by empirically assessing the relationship between rural–urban migration and urban air conditions in China. A two-period (2004 and 2010) longitudinal dataset for the 113 key environmental protection cities of China was constructed based on multiple data sources. We applied the STIRPAT equation using conventional and spatial panel regression models to examine whether rural–urban migration flows were associated with air pollution in cities. Results show a strong negative association of in-migration with urban air quality even after controlling for the effects of other population, affluence, and technology factors. Findings from this research can contribute to a better understanding of the environmental consequences of rural–urban migration in China, with broader implications for sustainable development research and policies.     

Economic growth and energy consumption in Iran: an ARDL approach including renewable and non-renewable energies

Iran experiences a high level of energy consumption which is threatening not only economically but also politically and environmentally. This study aims to estimate the relationship between the economic growth with the various kinds of energies, non-hydroelectric, renewable, non-renewable, and total energies in Iran during 1967–2012, using an autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) model. The results show the ineffective relationship between the economic growth and energy consumption in Iran, considering non-hydroelectric energy, renewable energy, non-renewable energy, and total energy, one by one as the energy proxy. It implies the ineffectiveness of both the quantitative and qualitative deflationary policies over the energy sector. In another word, neither decreasing energy consumption nor changing energy portfolio affects the economic growth. Therefore, the policy makers are advised to formulate those policies which reduce the quantity of energy consumption or increase the segment of renewable energies in the portfolio of energy consumption because they do not lead to the considerable negative consequence on the economic growth, while they increase both the environmental quality and energy security.     

Conditions for the development of anaerobic digestion technologies using the organic fraction of municipal solid waste: perspectives for Poland

This article outlines problems related to the location of facilities designed to treat the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). Anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities are investigated as a treatment option, while taking into account the aspects of renewable energy generation. This research has been spurred on by the relationship between waste management, energy generation issues and spatial planning procedures. The analysis is focused on urban and semi-urban areas of medium and large cities. One of the most difficult issues associated with siting of waste processing plants is its integration with local infrastructures, avoiding conflicts and negative environmental impacts at the same time. This research aims to analyse possible locations for AD plants fuelled by OFMSW in Poland. Based on the experience gained from other countries and lessons learnt from the analysis of existing facilities in Europe, conditions for the location of this type of waste treatment plants have been defined, with the focus on economic, environmental and social issues. Most likely, the results of the multicriteria decision analysis for siting of municipal solid waste AD plants (M-BIST tool) could be transferred to other countries, especially those with a comparable GDP level and a similar framework for a waste management system.     

Best Practices in Environmental Communication: A Case Study of Louisiana's Coastal Crisis

This mixed-method case study of environmental communication best practices in Louisiana, USA, identifies trends and approaches as informed by environmental psychology. The results provide key insights for environmental communicators, especially communicators in coastal regions. In-depth interviews with both environmental psychologists and environmental communicators showed that both groups emphasized knowing the audience, telling local stories, building relationships with target audiences and targeted messaging. Both psychologists and communicators also frequently mentioned general messaging concerns of source credibility, avoiding controversial terms and talking about issues, impacts and solutions to which the target audience can relate. A representative survey revealed that Louisiana residents are most interested in hearing about how environmental issues such as climate change, coastal land loss and flooding are affecting their own communities. This finding supports the idea that environmental communicators could do a better job tapping into strong place attachment and sense of community among coastal residents to promote action.