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Energy equity and justice have become priority considerations for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars alike. To ensure that energy equity is incorporated into actual decisions and analysis, it is necessary to design, use, and continually improve energy equity metrics. In this article, we review the literature and practices surrounding such metrics. We present a working definition for energy justice and equity, and connect them to both criteria for and frameworks of metrics. We then present a large sampling of energy equity metrics, including those focused on vulnerability, wealth creation, energy poverty, life cycle, and comparative country-level dynamics.We conclude with a discussion of the limitations, gaps, and trade-offs associated with these various metrics and their interactions thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy transition toward lower-carbon energy sources will inevitably result in socioeconomic impacts on certain communities, particularly those that have historically produced fossil fuel resources and electricity generation using fossil fuels. Such communities stand to lose jobs, tax revenues, and support for public services. Which communities are most likely to be affected, which are more susceptible to being harmed, and how to target adaptive capacity programs—such as economic development and workforce training—accordingly are pressing scholarly and policy questions. In this study, we apply a vulnerability framework to calculate, rank, and map exposure and sensitivity scores for fossil fuel producing regions in the US. We find that, while counties in most regions of the United States will be affected by the transition away from fossil fuels, counties in Appalachia, Texas and the Gulf Coast region, and the Intermountain West are likely to experience the most significant impacts, and some regions experience overlapping and significant incidence of vulnerability. These results can be used to target future adaptive capacity programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When households face conditions of energy insecurity, they may qualify and receive assistance from the federal government through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) program. This program, however, has traditionally been underfunded, leaving a large percentage of potentially eligible households without assistance. Even households that do receive assistance may still have excessive utility bills and energy burden and need other supports that help them address these conditions. Utilities and state utility commissions frequently offer complementary programs through bill assistance, bill adjustments, and debt forgiveness. This review article synthesizes the literature on alternative rate and pricing structures and arrearage management meant to provide energy insecure households in the United States with relief from utility bills and accumulated utility bill debt. We identify beneficial strategies for program design to complement LIHEAP in mitigating energy burdens, as well as how application may lead to unintended and potentially negative consequences. We evaluate these programs along several dimensions to characterize their benefits and drawbacks, including how they address key criteria toward alleviation of energy insecurity. We conclude with a discussion of potential future research topics that can advance our understanding of program design and use for utility bill and debt relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decision makers may emulate policies used in similar countries to reduce political risk of untested policies. • Countries' actual use of these strategies to reduce political risk can vary by policy or country type. • Countries tend to emulate renewable energy policies of countries with similar electric sector conditions. • Countries reduce political risk by emulating policies of politically similar countries for some policies but not others. • Developing countries are more likely to adopt the policies of donors who provide aid for development. The international environmental community and many donor countries have encouraged developing countries to adopt renewable energy (RE) policies that will encourage low-carbon energy development. While the drivers of RE policy adoption have been well-studied in the U.S. and Europe, we know little about the factors that drive RE policy adoption in developing countries. Both theory and anecdotal evidence suggest that policies often spread when one country emulates another's policy, but scholars of policy diffusion have tended to focus on emulation of political and ideological peers, overlooking other factors that may be particularly critical for driving RE policy adoption, including emulation of peers with similar electric sector conditions and emulation that is driven by coercive donor-recipient aid relationships. We use a directed dyadic analysis to assess the factors that prompt a country to emulate another's policies and to determine whether emulation patterns differ across developed and developing countries. We find that both sets of countries tend to emulate the policies of their political peers, and that developing countries tend to emulate the policies of donors. The effect of electric sector similarities varies by policy type. Countries emulate feed-in tariffs of countries with similar electric sector conditions, but they emulate quota policies of countries with dissimilar levels of reliance on renewable energy. Results suggest that different policies may diffuse via different emulation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crucial factor in U.S. energy infrastructure development is the degree to which citizens that reside near a development support or oppose the project. While the literature offers several explanations about what shapes individuals’ perceptions of energy projects, few have considered the importance of cognitive heuristics and the law of contagion. Here, we employ a survey experiment on a nationally-representative sample of 2,000 respondents to test whether knowing which energy resources connect to a high-voltage transmission line dictate support for the line. Results reveal that information about the source of electricity is fundamentally important. If a transmission line is said to carry electricity from a solar and wind development, a respondent is significantly more likely to support development of the line. If the line instead is said to carry electricity from a natural gas or coal plant, respectively, respondents are significantly less likely to support it. This study has implications for energy infrastructure development, messaging, and public acceptance of energy projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article documents and analyzes trends within the environmental policy literature published between 2014 and 2017. We find that environmental policy scholarship has recently shifted its focus from more traditional topics, such as watershed and ecosystem management, to other modern issues, such as climate change and energy. The environmental policy literature has increased in complexity and become more interdisciplinary in nature, which we illustrate with a discussion of the energy justice literature. The methodological approaches used by environmental policy scholars have also become increasingly diverse, with a notable uptick in statistical and modeling approaches. We find that some topics, such as policy failure, gender issues, and energy welfare policies are under‐explored, and certain regions within the world, such as developing countries, are less frequently studied. We encourage scholars to consider these gaps in the literature when developing future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study how to intent to purchase plug-in electric vehicles has changed over time, from 2011 to 2017. • Evaluate the importance of benefits and barriers, trialability, and observability over time. • Use two national surveys of potential car buyers in the 21 largest American cities. • Find that intent to purchase has increased, driven by changes in perceptions about relative advantages. • Other important factors include previous ownership, social influence, and charging infrastructure. The diffusion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) is a topic that has received substantial attention in recent years. In part, this heightened interest reflects rapid concurrent developments in policy, technology, and industry strategies designed to spur the uptake of this radical, emerging technology. Governments from all levels are enacting various monetary and non-monetary incentives to encourage PEV adoption; developments in battery technology are likening the performance of PEVs to conventional vehicles; and all major vehicle manufacturers now have a PEV offering. Ultimately, however, the effect of these developments is contingent upon consumer interest. Thus, in this paper we study whether, alongside technology and market developments, consumer interest in PEVs has changed over time. To answer this question, we evaluate the degree to which intent to purchase or lease a battery electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, respectively, has changed between 2011 and 2017, and how the factors that explain variation in such intent have also changed over time. Our data come from two national surveys of potential car buyers in the 21 largest American cities. Among the key findings that we derive from the analysis are that, among survey respondents, intent to purchase a PEV has increased between 2011 and 2017, and perceptions about the trialability, observability, network effects, and policies explain an increasing share of the variation in intent to purchase as time evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breweries across the country are investing in energy efficient and low-carbon brewing practices. Drawing insights from the sustainable consumption and ecological economics literature, this analysis evaluates whether consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable beer and what predicts the value of the premium. Based on a survey of beer consumers from across the U.S. that contained one of two willingness-to-pay exercises, we evaluate what respondent attributes are associated with a higher willingness-to-pay for sustainably brewed beer. We find that the majority of beer consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable beer. Consumers who are prepared to pay a premium tend to already pay more per unit of beer, are more aware of their purchasing behavior and the manner in which their consumption patterns may affect the environment, and pursue lifestyles based on professional advancement, helping the environment, and helping other causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the drivers of renewable electricity (RE) are well-established among Western high-income countries, little is known about the factors that encourage RE development elsewhere. This paper analyzes an unprecedented, original dataset of 149 countries from 1990 to 2010 to compare the policy instruments and other factors that influence RE adoption across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. We find the factors driving RE development vary both across income group and between hydroelectric and non-hydro generation. Most notably for environmental concerns, non-hydroelectric RE generation is driven by feed-in-tariffs and renewable portfolio standards in high-income countries, feed-in tariffs alone in middle-income countries, and by subsidies in low-income countries. Non-policy drivers of RE also vary by country income level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nevada’s recent overhaul of its net energy metering policy, which instituted a new net billing program in its place, underscores two key insights. First, decisions about whether net metering should continue separate from the design of a given program. From an institutional perspective, legislatures are best equipped to answer the first question; PUCs have comparative expertise on the second. Further, as net metering policies are likely to become more diverse across states over time, it is critical to maximize policy stability by using—rather than abdicating—grandfathering for existing customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act injected approximately $840 billion into the U.S. economy to provide both short-term economic stimulus and longer term technological advancement and infrastructure development. One of the primary recipients of stimulus funds in the United States and elsewhere around the world was the energy sector. This analysis reviews states' experiences with Recovery Act energy programs, and highlights the perceived challenges and accomplishments that state officials encountered with these programs. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted with state officials involved in Recovery Act implementation, the analysis focuses on the following main themes: compliance difficulties, spending preparedness, degree and quality of federal guidance, timing, efficiency, and perceptions of success and lasting benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which various topics within the issue are discussed which includes American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, economic stimulus and economic development policy of U.S.

Despite the potential environmental and economic benefits of carbon capture and storage (CCS), many factors limit its prospects for implementation, including economic feasibility, geologic and legal constraints, risk uncertainties, and public acceptance. This study focuses on the challenge of public acceptance and support by analyzing survey data on publis attitudes toward CCS implementation in the coal-intensive state of Indiana. It was determined that specific information that defined individuals’ general world views can be used to predict support or opposition for CCS implementation. However, additional analysis found that specific attitudes about potential CCS risks and benefits are also significantly correlated with support or opposition to CCS implementation. These variables include: the respondents’ impressions of the potential dangers associated with CCS; attitudes about the potential for CCS implementation to bring jobs to the local economy; and the amount of fear of a CCS facility near their home or community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper examines consumer stated intent to purchase plug-in electric vehicles and assesses the factors that increase or decrease interest. We surveyed adult drivers in large US cities in early fall 2011, before vehicle manufacturers and dealers began marketing campaigns. The survey responses thus document early impressions of this transport technology. We find that, given current battery technology and public perceptions, overall stated intent to purchase or lease electric vehicles is low. Interest in plug-in hybrid technology is somewhat greater than interest in all-electric technology. Consumers who express early interest in adopting electric vehicles are typically highly educated, previous owners of conventional hybrids, environmentally sensitive, and concerned about dependence on foreign oil. Enhanced fuel economy, the primary tangible advantage of plug-in technology, is recognized as favorable by respondents but fails to exert a strong influence on purchasing intentions. Interest in plug-in electric vehicles is shaped primarily by consumers’ perceptions of electric vehicle disadvantages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Renewable energy policy has far-reaching implications for national and international economic, environmental, and political sustainability, but thus far within the United States it has been almost entirely the province of state governments. This article examines the factors motivating state-level policymakers to adopt different forms of a renewable portfolio standard ( RPS), highlighting the distinction between degrees of policy stringency, ranging from entirely voluntary participation to rigorous and strictly enforced targets. In the process we introduce a new metric for assessing stringency, more precise and reliable than the various proxies used previously, and analyze its relationship to drivers of policy adoption. We find that policies of different stringencies are motivated by systematically different underlying factors. State-level citizen political ideology is a significant predictor of RPS policy adoption, particularly for 'voluntary' and 'weak' policy designs. 'Strong' policy designs, on the other hand, are best predicted by ideology at the government level, i.e., the degree of institutional liberalism. These findings may inform current implementation and program evaluation efforts, and potentially point the way toward more effective policy choices if and when an RPS moves forward on the national policy agenda, while the stringency metric central to this analysis can be of use to other policy scholars concerned with topics both within and beyond the realm of energy policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paradigm for providing affordable electricity for the world's poor-power for development-has begun to change. Historically, centralized governments built large consolidated power plants and distribution and transmission lines with the ultimate goal of providing electricity to all of their citizens. It has become increasingly common in recent decades, however, for donors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), firms, and communities to collaborate with governments to develop small-scale localized energy systems known as distributed generation (DG) either as complements or alternatives to centralized operations. DG programs have been implemented around the world but with a mixed record of success. Based on an analysis of the existing case study literature, we examine DG program goals and outcomes, identifying major factors that affect these outcomes, including appropriately chosen technology, adequate financing and payment arrangements, ongoing end users' involvement, and supportive national policies. We highlight the importance of institutions for collaborative governance in the pursuit of these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered to be critical to achieving long-term climate-protection goals, public concerns about the CCS practice could pose significant obstacles to its deployment. This study reports findings from the first state-wide survey of public perceptions of CCS in a coal-intensive state, with an analysis of which factors predict early attitudes toward CCS. Nearly three-quarters of an Indiana sample (N = 1001) agree that storing carbon underground is a good approach to protecting the environment, despite 80% of the sample being unaware of CCS prior to participation in the two-wave survey. The majority of respondents do not hold strong opinions about CCS technology. Multivariate analyses indicate that support for CCS is predicted by a belief that humankind contributes to climate change, a preference for increased use of renewable energy, and egalitarian and individualistic worldviews, while opposition to CCS is predicted by self-identified political conservatism and by selective attitudes regarding energy and climate change. Knowledge about early impressions of CCS can help inform near-term technology decisions at state regulatory agencies, utilities, and pipeline companies, but follow-up surveys are necessary to assess how public sentiments evolve in response to image-building efforts with different positions on coal and CCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. electricity market, like electricity markets in most countries, is heavily dependent on fossil-fuel generation from centralized power applications. This paper reviews the factors that led to the sector's reliance on fossil fuels and presents a future vision of the U.S. electricity sector based on a varied spectrum of sustainable energy resources ranging in scale from large, centralized facilities to small, localized energy systems. This spectrum includes low-emissions energy and energy efficiency, as well as macro-generation, micro-grids, distributed generation, micro-generation and end-user conservation. We discuss the evidence that each element of this spectrum is a viable and proven technology, the balanced integration of which could shape an electricity sector that adheres to sustainability principles. This paper concludes with a discussion of the institutional barriers that need to be addressed to successfully achieve a transition toward a more future sustainable electricity sector based on the variations in scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents discussion regarding the 2011 call by U.S. President Barack Obama to establish a clean energy standard (CES) policy for the nation's federal energy policy. Details are then given examining how multiple U.S. states have already adopted CES policies, known as renewable portfolio standards (RPS) since 1995. An overview of various RPS frameworks is then provided, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Issues addressed include cross-state policy relations and the policy's lack of incentive to reduce energy demand and use. Conclusions are given suggesting that further study and application of lessons from state RPS policies could positively affect national energy policy.

U.S. energy and climate policy has evolved from the bottom-up, led by state governments, and internationally recognized for the use of unconventional and innovative policy instruments. This study focuses on policy instruments adopted throughout the era of state energy policy innovation that aim to diversify, decentralize, and decarbonize the electricity sector. Specific attention is devoted to the renewable portfolio standard, net metering, interconnection standards, tax incentives, public benefit funds, and energy efficiency resource standards. This analysis synthesizes the findings from the energy policy literature and provides a summary of the current state of understanding about the effects of various state energy policy instruments, and concludes with a discussion of broader trends that have emerged from the use of policy instruments in the state energy policy innovation era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The fields of economic development and energy policy and planning have converged in recent years to form an emerging discipline, which we term “energy-based economic development” (EBED). Despite the significant amount of stimulus funds, as well as state and local funding, that are being allocated to EBED initiatives in the United States, the emerging discipline has received scant attention in the energy, policy, and development literature. The link between energy and economic development in the literature is still theoretical, mostly focused on the need for and the potential benefits of EBED, and rarely applied. Furthermore, funding for EBED has outpaced understanding of the discipline, development of rigorous technical approaches, and meaningful ways to measure impact. Such information would not only help practitioners and policymakers more thoroughly understand the confines of the discipline and shape goals and approaches accordingly, but also help researchers identify, track, and evaluate a variety of activities in the field. With national and international attention focused on the convergence of these fields, researchers and practitioners have a rare opportunity to develop and implement the tools necessary to evaluate and communicate the potentially broader impacts that EBED may hold for society. If ways to leverage and sustain the injection of funds in this discipline are not identified, the opportunity may end before we can achieve either energy policy or economic development goals. In an attempt to respond to this need, this analysis explores the connection between energy and economic development, beginning with a review of the trends in each field and the goals that each seeks to achieve. On the basis of this information, we define the discipline of EBED, review the existing literature on it, and offer insights and perspectives on its emergence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

When a household is energy burdened, its members may struggle to pay its energy bills and face the potential of service disconnection. While such conditions can inflict mental and physical harm on household members, more significant consequences include death from exposure to excessive heat or cold. State utility disconnection policies have the potential to protect vulnerable populations from such outcomes. In this article, we examine disconnection policies, and the immense variation that they exhibit across states. We discuss how different policy protections interact and how seemingly minor differences in policy design produce significant differences in levels of protection. We further show how a changing climate is leading to increased exposure to extreme temperatures, and discuss how policy reforms could address these risks. We conclude with a set of recommendations for how to improve the design of such protections, expand their reach, and monitor and track utility connections and disconnections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) policies currently implemented across the U.S. and the potential for these policies to facilitate widespread PEV diffusion. We examine the relationship between overlapping regulatory and fiscal policies at the federal and state levels of government. We argue that the current suite of policies is not as effective as it could be, and potentially more expensive. Our analysis suggests the existence of a tradeoff between the goals of increasing the market penetration of PEVs and that of limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the light-duty vehicle fleet. The way federal and state policies interact puts those two goals at odds, at least in the short-term. Drawing from the policy and economics literatures, we summarize a series of recommendations and incentives that could deliver a more balanced approach to the achievement of those two policy goals. We conclude with some research suggestions. • We examine four main PEV deployment policies currently in place in the U.S. • Policy objectives are to accelerate deployment of PEVs and reduce greenhouse gases. • We identify the conflicting incentives those policies offer. • We address the implications from the lack of their coordination. • We propose ways to better integrate the policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trump administration pursued eighty-four energy reversal actions between 2017 and 2020, the majority of which through executive action. In this article, we evaluate the effectiveness of such an administrative presidency in its ability to withstand political and legal challenges. We first set the context of U.S. energy policy predating the Trump administration, and then synthesize the administration's reversal actions according to the mechanisms, the beneficiaries, and the legal process through which each evolved. We then analyze four reversal case studies that highlight how stakeholders responded to such actions, and the resulting variation in outcomes: the rollback of coal ash standards; the proposed coastal oil and gas auctions; the revocation of California's vehicle emissions waiver; and the replacement of the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. We find that the administration's executive approach was regularly checked through litigation by states, interest groups, and industry, or had limited impact due to the high level of regulatory uncertainty that it fostered. We draw implications for ongoing state and federal dynamics and for the lasting durability of the Trump administration's energy reversal legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity is core to sustainability, but current interventions to enhance sustainability often fall short in adequately addressing this linkage. Models are important tools for informing action, and their development and use present opportunities to center equity in process and outcomes. This Perspective highlights progress in integrating equity into systems modeling in sustainability science, as well as key challenges, tensions, and future directions. We present a conceptual framework for equity in systems modeling, focused on its distributional, procedural, and recognitional dimensions. We discuss examples of how modelers engage with these different dimensions throughout the modeling process and from across a range of modeling approaches and topics, including water resources, energy systems, air quality, and conservation. Synthesizing across these examples, we identify significant advances in enhancing procedural and recognitional equity by reframing models as tools to explore pluralism in worldviews and knowledge systems; enabling models to better represent distributional inequity through new computational techniques and data sources; investigating the dynamics that can drive inequities by linking different modeling approaches; and developing more nuanced metrics for assessing equity outcomes. We also identify important future directions, such as an increased focus on using models to identify pathways to transform underlying conditions that lead to inequities and move toward desired futures. By looking at examples across the diverse fields within sustainability science, we argue that there are valuable opportunities for mutual learning on how to use models more effectively as tools to support sustainable and equitable futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public opinion literature examining the role of proximity and not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitudes in people's judgments about energy projects has come to inconclusive findings. We argue that these mixed results are due to vast differences and significant limitations in research designs, which we mitigate through a large study (n  = 16,200) of Americans' attitudes toward energy projects. Our approach examines a diverse set of energy projects in development, explicitly compares the attitudes of individuals living in the vicinity of projects with those farther away, and includes the careful measurement of the NIMBY concept. The analyses show little evidence that proximity in general or NIMBY objections in particular are important determinants of project support. Instead, other factors are more important, including perceptions of local environmental quality, risk orientation, concern about climate change, and trust in energy companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We conduct a Total Cost of Ownership analysis to estimate the impacts that the 2017–2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will have on sales of light duty vehicles (cars and light trucks). Vehicle sales are an important macroeconomic indicator that can impact both the economic outlook of the automobile industry as well as the efficacy of the CAFE standards. Our analysis focuses on the relative impacts of three determinants of the net premium consumers' face when deciding whether to purchase a new vehicle, namely: 1) consumers' valuation of fuel savings, 2) fuel price variation over time, and 3) gross price premium of the vehicle due to the Federal Standards. We find that uncertainty about consumers' valuation of fuel savings leads to greater variation in estimated vehicle sales impacts than uncertainty about the gross price premium or fuel prices. Specifically, the estimated sales impacts for model year 2025 range from −7% to +3% and −4% to +5% for cars and light trucks, respectively, when we vary assumptions about valuation of fuel savings. The range of estimates is −6% to −2% and −2% to 0.5% for cars and light trucks, respectively, when we vary the gross price premium and −4% to +1% and −1% to +3% for cars and light trucks, respectively, when we vary fuel prices for model year 2025. These percentages are computed relative to a baseline scenario where CAFE standards remain fixed at 2016 levels. Our findings highlight the importance of more carefully examining the uncertainty introduced through consumer valuation of fuel economy in the mid-term reviews of the CAFE standards. Highlights • Consumer valuation of fuel economy greatly affects the sales of new vehicles. • Fuel price variation and technology costs also matter but to a lesser extent. • CAFE standards should more carefully consider the impacts of fuel valuation uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Survey of adult drivers in US cities on intent to purchase an electric vehicle. • Distinct profiles of respondents preferring different types of electric vehicles. • Plug-in hybrid vehicle interest is grounded in economic utility. • Image and perceived environmental impact drive battery electric vehicle interest. Abstract This study analyzes data from a survey of drivers (n = 1080) administered in late 2013 to assess factors that influence potential car buyers to consider two different types of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the United States: plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The results indicate distinct profiles of respondents preferring PHEVs, which have a gasoline backup engine, versus battery BEVs, which rely solely on a battery for power. Respondents interested in selecting a PHEV consider it more for its economic benefits, such as reduced gasoline and maintenance expenditures. Respondents preferring a BEV are drawn to its environmental and technological appeal. The absence of range anxiety for PHEV is a major factor influencing potential PEV buyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are not currently being sold in the United States at rates sufficient to meet the stated goals of vehicle manufacturers or the federal government. Although touted as able to help mitigate a range of public problems—including climate change, oil insecurity, and urban air pollution—PEVs face numerous barriers to commercialization. Research and development activities are under way that may overcome some of the key disadvantages of the current generation of PEVs. This analysis employs a survey-based discrete-choice exercise with 961 potential new vehicle purchasers in large US cities to assess how consumer demand might change with various breakthroughs in PEV technology. Respondents are presented with different price and technology scenarios and are asked to choose which of four powertrains they are most likely to purchase: a gasoline vehicle, a conventional hybrid, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), or a battery electric vehicle (BEV). A multinomial logit is used to assess the relative impact that improvements in different attributes have on demand for each vehicle powertrain. When vehicles were presented with their current attributes, the conventional hybrid is the favored option. Under the breakthrough technology scenario that brings all vehicle powertrains into parity with gasoline vehicles along dimensions of cost, driving range, and recharging times, 44% of respondents state intent to purchase a BEV, which makes it the most frequently selected option. Public policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), many municipalities, along with their parent states, offer a variety of benefits to owners and operators of PEVs to make PEV adoption easier and more affordable. Example benefits include financial incentives, infrastructure perks, such as access to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, and streamlined processes for installing charging equipment. Additionally, some cities are making investments in PEVs and PEV infrastructure for both municipal and public use. However, the policies of states and cities are by no means uniform, and some jurisdictions are doing more than others to promote PEVs. This study presents an index that identifies and ranks the “readiness” of 36 major U.S. cities to deploy electric vehicles. Readiness is the degree to which adoption of electric vehicles is supported, as reflected in the presence of various types of policy instruments, infrastructure development, municipal investments in PEV technology, and participation in relevant stakeholder coalitions. The study also compares cities within states that participate in the Zero Emission Vehicle program, with those that do not, with the objective to understand whether participation in that program has a meaningful impact on PEV readiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of individual and interactive risks associated with use of natural gas and renewable resources for electricity suggests that development-related issues such as construction of power plants and transmission systems have risks that may compound, whereas other types of risks such as planning, costs and policy decisions all have the potential to be offset when four key source categories are all deployed at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roughly 60 per cent of Africans lack access to electricity, negatively impacting development opportunities. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have started promoting distributed generation – small-scale, localised electricity generation – to change this situation. Despite widespread need, however, the dispersion of these distributed generation NGOs (DG-NGOs) is uneven, with high concentrations in a few African countries. Drawing on an original database and field research, we analyse location variation among DG-NGOs across the continent. We find that DG-NGOs are likely to operate in democratic settings with large populations that lack access to electricity. International DG-NGOs are also likely to operate where aid allocation levels are relatively high. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Energy-saving technologies have a difficult time being widely accepted in the marketplace when they have a high initial purchase price and deferred financial benefits. Consumers might not realize that, in the long-run, the financial benefits from reduced energy consumption offset much or all of the initial price premium. One strategy to address consumer misconception of this advantage is to supply information on the “total cost of ownership”, a metric which accounts for the purchase price, the cost of the fuel, and other costs over the ownership period. In this article, we investigate how providing information on five-year fuel cost savings and total cost of ownership affects the stated preferences of consumers to purchase a gasoline, conventional hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric vehicle. Through an online survey with an embedded experimental design using distinct labels, we find that respondent rankings of vehicles are unaffected by information on five-year fuel cost savings. However, adding information about total cost of ownership increases the probability that small/mid-sized car consumers express a preference to acquire a conventional hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or a battery-electric vehicle. No such effect is found for consumers of small sport utility vehicles. Our results are consistent with other findings in the behavioral economics literature and suggest that further evaluation of the effects of providing consumers with information on the total cost of vehicle ownership is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How individuals respond to innovative technologies depends on how motivated they are by an array of internal and external factors and the informational and cost barriers they face. To better understand technology adoption decision making we (i) assess changes in intent to purchase plug-in vehicles in response to reductions in their price and (ii) identify motivators that incline new car buyers toward plug-ins under status quo and reduced vehicle cost scenarios. We find that individuals already inclined toward alternative vehicles have a higher interest in plug-ins under a reduced-cost scenario than individuals who favor conventional vehicles. We also find that individuals who shift their vehicle preference from conventional gasoline to plug-in vehicles are motivated by material factors and fears relating to the innovative technology, whereas those shifting preferences between less to more innovative technologies are likely to be motivated by a mix of material and nonmaterial factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the efforts of the government to promote electric vehicles (EV) in Great Britain. It mentions that the EVs help in reducing environmental and security risks related to oil dependence. It mentions that risk management focuses on decreasing societal risks including emissions of greenhouse gases and dependence on petroleum sector.