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Electricity generated by renewable energies (RES-E) already accounts for 25% of Germany’s electricity supply. This has led to recent discussions for a better market integration of RES-E. The paper examines how competing actors and their ideas on market integration developed new services for direct marketing according to their respective origins and tried to shape the regulatory framework. The paper analyses this process and explains the current shape of the field of direct marketing. Medium-sized structured actors, who favoured RES-E integration via the conventional wholesale power markets, and who formed early close coalitions with RES-E power producers at the same time, have been most successful in terms of market shares. Moreover, they have been very successful for different reasons in building-up coalitions with governance units and influencing the field rules and routines. Based on those findings, the paper will conclude with some policy advices for the future adjustment of the current regulative frameworks. As long as there is no evidence of how RES-E can be integrated most effectively and efficiently, policies should maintain a competition between different direct marketing strategies to find out which strategies serve the best in terms of achieving a successful energy transition.

In recent years, linear Fresnel (LF) collector systems have been developed as a technical alternative to parabolic trough (PT) collector systems. While in the past, LF systems focused on low- and medium-temperature applications, today, LF systems are equipped with vacuum receivers and, therefore, can be operated with similar operating parameters as PT systems. Papers about the technical and economical comparison of specific PT and LF systems have already been published (Dersch et al., 2009, "Comparison of Linear Fresnel and Parabolic Trough Collecor Systems—System Analysis to Determine Break-Even Costs of Linear Fresnel Collectors," Proceedings of the 15th International SolarPACES Symposium, Berlin; Giostri et al. 2011, "Comparison of Two Linear Collectors in Solar Thermal Plants: Parabolic Trough vs. Fresnel," ASME 2011 5th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Washington, DC; and Morin et al., 2012, "Comparison of Linear Fresnel and Parabolic Trough Collector Power Plants," Sol. Energy, 86(1), pp. 1–12). However, the present paper focuses on the systematic differences in optical and thermodynamic performance and the impact on the economic figures. In a first step the optical performance of typical PT and LF solar fields (SFs) has been examined, showing the differences during the course of the day and annually. Furthermore, the thermodynamic performance, depending on the operating temperature, has been compared. In a second step, the annual electricity yield of typical PT and LF plants has been examined. Solar Salt has been chosen as the heat transfer fluid. Both systems utilize the same power block (PB) and storage type. Solar field size, storage capacity, and PB electrical power are variable, while all examined configurations achieve the same annual electricity yield. As expected for molten salt systems, both systems are the most cost-effective with large storage capacities. The lower thermodynamic performance of the LF system requires a larger SF and lower specific SF costs in order to be competitive. Assuming specific PT field costs of 300 e/m2 aperture, the break-even costs of the LF system with Solar Salt range between 202 and 235 e/m2, depending on the site and storage capacity. In order to confirm the major statements, within a sensitivity analysis, it is shown that a variation of SF and storage costs does not have a significant impact on the relative break-even costs of the LF system. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4027766]

In dem Paper wird untersucht, wann ein vertikal integrierter Netzbetreiber einen Anreiz hat, durch Fordern hoher Netznutzungsentgelte Wettbewerber vom Strommarkt fernzuhalten (Preisstrukturmißbrauch). Es wird als kontraintuitives Ergebnis abgeleitet, daß ein Kostennachteil des Netzbetreibers diesen nicht zu Abschreckungsmaßnahmen veranlaßt, sondern ihn zur Förderung des Markteintritts eines Rivalen und zum Rückzug aus dem Markt bewegt. Im Falle eines Kostenvorteils des vertikal integrierten Netzbetreibers oder bei Kostengleichheit bestimmt die Preisdynamik im Strommarkt, ob der Netzbetreiber den Marktzutritt abschreckt oder sich aus der Versorgung des Marktes zurückzieht. Das Paper enthält auch eine Wohlfahrtsanalyse der Marktergebnisse ohne und mit Regulierung von Netzzugangsentgelten, und es zeigt, daß eine Regulierung des Netzzutrittsentgelts den Netzbetreiber zur Sabotage (Nicht-Preisdiskriminierung) anregt. The purpose of the paper is (1) to analyze the potential and the incentives for a vertically integrated input monopolist to engage in price-discrimination when there is downstream entry, and (2) to examine the question, whether a cost-based regulation of access charges for electricity grids enhances competition in the downstream-market. The paper shows that the incumbent will never block entry if the entrant is more efficient than the incumbent. The reason is that the input-monopolist can make more profit through input sales than it could generate by producing the downstream product itself. If the entrant does not have a cost advantage either the incumbent or the entrant gets a monopoly position. Providing for a level playing field by means of a cost-based regulation of access charges always creates competition in the downstream-market. The paper also derives the welfare effects of both the liberalization of the downstream-market and the cost-based regulation.

Der Energiesektor ist sowohl für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung eines Landes als auch für die Bewältigung des Treibhauseffekts von zentraler Bedeutung: etwa 75% der globalen, vom Menschen verursachten Treibhausgasemissionen entstehen bei der Energienutzung. Dies gilt auch - und immer mehr - für die Entwicklungs-, Schwellen- und Transformationsländer, deren jährliche Treibhausgasemissionen die der Industrieländer bald übersteigen werden. Aus diesem Grund wird verstärkt eine globale 'Energiewende' gefordert. Ziel einer solchen Wende ist die Abkehr von der Nutzung fossiler Energieträger und der Aufbau einer auf erneuerbaren Energien basierenden Energieversorgung. Anhand des Fallbeispiels Mosambik wird untersucht, ob die Energieprojekte der Weltbank einen Beitrag zu nachhaltiger Entwicklung leisten. Dabei wird das Engagement der Weltbank im Elektrizitäts-, Kohle- und Gassektor mit Hilfe von ökologischen, sozialen und ökonomischen Nachhaltigkeitskriterien analysiert. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung können u.U. als Anzeichen der Reform(un)fähigkeit der Weltbank gewertet werden. Mosambik wird als Fallstudie gewählt, weil die Weltbank dort sehr aktiv ist und auch im Energiesektor mehrere Projekte durchgeführt hat bzw. noch durchführt. Darüber hinaus spielt das Land eine wichtige Rolle für die Energieversorgung der Region, da es Kohle, Elektrizität und Gas in die Nachbarländer exportiert. Als Voraussetzung für die Entwicklung von Kriterien zur Analyse der Energieprojekte der Weltbank wird zunächst auf das Leitbild der nachhaltigen Entwicklung eingegangen. Durch die Anwendung des Leitbilds auf den Energiesektor wird der Begriff 'nachhaltige Energieversorgung' näher bestimmt. In einem zweiten Schritt gilt es dann zu präzisieren, was nachhaltige Energieversorgung im Kontext eines Entwicklungslandes bedeutet. Diese Begriffsklärung bildet die Basis für die Herausarbeitung der Kriterien zur Bewertung des Beitrags, den die Energieprojekte der Weltbank zur Verwirklichung des Leitbilds der nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Mosambik leisten. Im dritten Schritt werden dann die energiepolitischen Strategien behandelt, die die Weltbank in ihren Partnerländern verfolgt. Auf dieser Grundlage werden die Energieprojekte der Weltbank in Mosambik in den größeren Zusammenhang der Reformanstrengungen der Weltbank gestellt. Nach einer Beschreibung der Struktur des Elektrizitäts-, Kohle- und Gassektors in Mosambik in einem vierten Schritt werden abschließend die Energieprojekte der Weltbank mit Hilfe der zuvor entwickelten Kriterien untersucht. (ICG2) "In the debate about a global transformation of energy systems, technology transfer and financial aid are seen as crucial factors for the promotion of sustainable energy in developing countries. As the single most important aid agency, the World Bank claims to fight both energy poverty and climate change in its partner countries. This paper analyzes the World Bank's involvement in the Mozambican energy sector by applying environmental, social and economic criteria for sustainable development. The analysis is based on interviews conducted with World Bank staff, Mozambican officials, representatives of bilateral donor organisations, NGO activists, and energy experts. It focuses on completed and on-going World Bank projects in Mozambique's electricity, coal and gas sectors. The study shows that the World Bank's involvement in each sector has both positive and negative impacts. While the World Bank claims to have stopped funding new coal development projects, it is still promoting the large-scale resumption of coal production by a private investor. It is also promoting a radical reform of the Mozambican electricity sector that might produce a decrease in energy access, especially in rural areas. At the same time the Bank is advancing the off-grid use of renewable energy and the improvement of access to electricity in peri-urban areas. By facilitating the export of natural gas to Mozambique's highly coal-dependent neighbouring country South Africa, it contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in that country. The gas exports will generate considerable additional revenues for the Mozambican government. The future quality of governance in Mozambique will determine whether these revenues will be used for poverty alleviation or not. The case study further shows that the World Bank increasingly respects its safeguard policies in specific investment projects and integrates environmental concerns in its sector projects. At the same time it seems to keep on missing its mandate to alleviate poverty by over-emphasising liberal market reforms. Since the World Bank is both promoting fossil fuel projects and renewable energy (with GEF funds) it does not consistently incorporate climate change concerns in its energy policy choices." (author's abstract)

Gas is an energy carrier, which fundamentally changed the way we consume�� energy. This paper will describe its history with focus on the development of town gas at Switzerland and its biggest city Zurich. The problems and the challenges, the gas industry had to face during its existence ��� especially concerning the establishment of electricity as a�� ������ competitor on the energy market ��� will thoroughly be discussed., historia.scribere, iss. 8, p. 391

This paper provides a brief overview of water resources in the Alps from an economic, social and historical point of view. Based on these considerations, the paper looks into the future use of water under conditions of changing climate and a liberalization of economic markets. A particular focus here is the liberalization of the electricity sector in Switzerland. The examples given here provide material to reflect upon the potential conflicting and convergent issues linking globalization and global change.

In this paper we analyze the economic effects of implementing EPA’s newly proposed regulations for carbon dioxide (CO2) on existing U.S. coal-fired power plants using nonparametric methods on a sample of 144 electricity generating units. Moreover, we develop an approach for evaluating the economic gains from averaging emission intensities among the utilities’ generating units, compared to implementing unit-specific performance standards. Our results show that the implementation of flexible standards leads to up to 2.7 billion dollars larger profits compared to the uniform standards. Moreover, we find that by adopting best practices, current profits can be maintained even if an intensity standard of 0.88 tons of CO2 per MWh is implemented. However, our results also indicate a trade-off between environmental and profit gains, since aggregate CO2 emissions are higher with emission intensity averaging than with uniform standards.

There are ambitious greenhouse gas emission (GHG) targets for the manufacturers of light duty vehicles. To reduce the GHG emissions, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and extended range electric vehicle (EREV) are promising powertrain technologies. However, the battery is still a very critical component due to the high production cost and heavy weight. This paper introduces a holistic approach for the optimization of the battery size of PHEVs and EREVs under German market conditions. The assessment focuses on the heterogeneity across drivers, by analyzing the impact of different driving profiles on the optimal battery setup from total cost of ownership (TCO) perspective. The results show that the battery size has a significant effect on the TCO. For an average German driver (15,000 km/a), battery capacities of 4 kWh (PHEV) and 6 kWh (EREV) would be cost optimal by 2020. However, these values vary strongly with the driving profile of the user. Moreover, the optimal battery size is also affected by external factors, e.g. electricity and fuel prices or battery production cost. Therefore, car manufacturers should develop a modular design for their batteries, which allows adapting the storage capacity to meet the individual customer requirements instead of “one size fits all”.

The potential for transferring a larger share of our energy supply toward renewable energy is a widely discussed goal in society, economics, environment, and climate-related programs. For a larger share of electricity to come from fluctuating solar and wind energy-based electricity, production forecasts are required to ensure successful grid integration. Concentrating solar power holds the potential to make the fluctuating solar electricity a dispatchable resource by using both heat storage systems and solar production forecasts based on a reliable weather prediction. These solar technologies exploit the direct irradiance at the surface, which is a quantity very dependent on the aerosol extinction with values up to 100%. Results from present-day numerical weather forecasts are inadequate, as they generally use climatologies for dealing with aerosol extinction. Therefore, meteorological forecasts have to be extended by chemical weather forecasts. The paper aims at quantifying on a global scale the question of whether and where daily mean or hourly forecasts are required, or if persistence is sufficient in some regions. It assesses the performance of recently introduced NWP aerosol schemes by using the ECMWF/Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) forecast, which is a preparatory activity for the upcoming European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Atmosphere Service.

Experiment kits, such as physical cabinets, chemistry sets, and electricity kits designed for amateurs and children, gained huge popularity in Germany around 1900. These home laboratories connected themselves to the things of everyday life as objects of investigation and everyday knowledge as their framework of reference. In the previous centuries, portable laboratories had already accompanied travelling scientists and intellectuals. Experiment kits however, while still portable, were designed to serve as extensions of classrooms and lecture halls. The kits--available through teaching materials catalogues and early forms of mail-order catalogues--illustrate the increased attention that was given to experimental practices in general education between 1870 and 1930. An examination of these objects, which consisted of instruments, substances, and supplementary contents arranged in wooden, metal, or paper boxes, together with an analysis of their instruction manuals, shows how the miniature laboratories structured the spaces within which experiments were supposed to take place.

The direct steam generation (DSG) in parabolic trough collectors is a promising option to improve the mature parabolic trough solar thermal power plant technology of the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) in California. According to previous studies [1-3], the cost reduction of the DSG process compared to the SEGS technology is expected to be 8 to 25%. All these studies were more or less preliminary since they lacked detailed information on the design of collector fields, absorber tubes required for steam temperatures higher than 400°C and power blocks adapted to the specific needs of the direct steam generation. To bridge this gap, a detailed system analysis was performed within the German R&D project DIVA. Power blocks and collector fields were designed for four different capacities (5, 10, 50 and 100 MWel) and different live steam parameters. The live steam temperature was varied between saturation temperature and 500°C, and live steam pressures of 40, 64 and 100 bar were investigated. To assess the different cases, detailed yield analyses of the overall system were performed using hourly data for the direct normal irradiation and the ambient temperature for typical years. Based on these results the levelized costs of electricity were determined for all cases and compared to a reference system using synthetic oil as heat transfer fluid (HTF). This paper focuses on two main project findings. First, the 50 MWel DSG system parameter comparisons are presented. Second, the detailed comparison between a DSG and a SEGSlike 100 MWel system is given. The main result of the investigation is that the benefit of the DSG process depends on the project site and can reach an 11% reduction of the levelized electricity cost (LEC).

The central obstacle for a widespread use of renewables are the relative prices of these forms of energy not their availability. The paper shows that the present prices of non-renewable energy sources are heavily subsidized by not including the costs of health and environmental damages as well as costs handed on to future generations. If these costs are taken into account the relative costs of renewables look far more favourable than present market prices show.

In a recent study, we showed that the Soxhlet extraction with toluene and pretreatment with diluted HCl is the best suitable method to remove organic compounds from particles collected by electrostatic precipitation in municipal waste incinerators. In the present paper, the mutagenic activity of the extracts from particulate samples were studied, using strain TA 100 as a tester strain. A small if any mutagenic activity was observed from most of the samples. The highest mutagenic effects were observed at different extract concentrations and without metabolic activation. A fractionation technique was developed and subfractions (dichlormethane and dichlormethane/methanol) were tested for their mutagenic potential and PAH-content. Small amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were found, which were concentrated to an extent of 90% on the dichlormethane fraction. The results showed a tendency of reactivity to concentrate in the polar fraction.