Clean energy innovation is central to the fight against climate change. To rise to this challenge, the United States should launch a National Energy Innovation Mission. Led by the president and authorized by Congress, this mission should harness the nation's unmatched innovative capabilities-at research universities, federal laboratories, and private firms (both large and small), in all regions of the country-to speed the progress of clean energy technologies. To jumpstart this mission and unlock a virtuous cycle of public and private investment, the US federal government should triple its funding for energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) over the next five years to $25 billion by 2025. "Energizing America" offers policymakers a strategic framework to build a growing RD&D portfolio over the next five years, detailed fundingproposals across the full spectrum of critical energy technologies, and recommendations for immediate action.
Inadequate electricity services pose a major impediment to reducing extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Simply put, Africa does not have enough power. Despite the abundant low-carbon and low-cost energy resources available to Sub-Saharan Africa, the region s entire installed electricity capacity, at a little over 80 GW, is equivalent to that of the Republic of Korea. Looking ahead, Sub-Saharan Africa will need to ramp-up its power generation capacity substantially. The investment needed to meet this goal largely exceeds African countries already stretched public finances. Increasing private investment is critical to help expand and improve electricity supply. Historically, most private sector finance has been channeled through privately financed independent power projects (IPP), supported by nonrecourse or limited recourse loans, with long-term power purchase agreements with the state utility or another off-taker. Between 1990 and 2014, IPPs have spread across Sub-Saharan Africa and are now present in 17 countries. Currently, there are 125 IPPs, with an overall installed capacity of 10.7 GW and investments of $24.6 billion. However, private investment could be much greater and less concentrated. South Africa alone accounts for 67 IPPs, 4.3 GW of capacity and $14.4 billion of investments; the remaining projects are concentrated in a handful of countries. The objective of this study is to evaluate the experience of IPPs and identify lessons that can help African countries attract more and better private investment. At the core of this analysis is a reflection on whether IPPs have in fact benefited Sub-Saharan Africa, and how they might be improved. The analysis is based primarily on in depth case studies, carried out in five countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, which not only have the most numerous but also among the most extensive experience with IPPs.
Economic liberalization has been contested and defeated in France to an unparalleled extent in comparison to other leading political economies in Western Europe. Levy offers a historical explanation, centered on the legacies of France's postwar statist or dirigiste economic model. Although this model was dismantled decades ago, its policy, party-political, and institutional legacies continue to fuel the contestation of liberalizing reforms today. Contested Liberalization offers a comprehensive analysis of French economic and social policy since the 1980s, including the Macron administration. It also traces the implications of the French case for contestation in East Asia and Latin America. Levy concludes by identifying ways that French liberalizers could diminish contestation, notably by adopting a more inclusive process and more equitable allocation of the costs and benefits of liberalizing reform. This book will interest scholars and students of political economy and comparative politics, especially those working on economic liberalization, French politics, and the welfare state.
The subject of sustainability transitions has, in the past decade or so, become an established research field for academics, policy makers and practitioners alike. Conceptual and theoretical developments in the filed have gradually advanced from the perspectives of socio-technical systems and business models. Scholars contend that it is the interactions of the networks of actors, technologies, and institutions that drive transition processes toward sustainability. In this volume we further advance this line of inquiry with a special reference to strategic management of sustainability transitions, in both theory and practice. In theoretical development, we have selected three chapters to encompass the themes of (1) the interactions between ecological systems and human systems; (2) a critique on the continuous expansion of large multinational companies and their strategic control of key resource inputs through the lenses of circular economy and natural resource-based view; and (3) a multi-stakeholder ecosystems framework for the management of sustainability transitions with structural alignment of focal value propositions. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are critically addressed and empirically examined. It will become an essential reader and a reference book for researchers and postgraduate students interested in strategic management, international business, innovation studies, consumer behavior, and public administration.
People's well-being, industrial competitiveness and the overall functioning of society are dependent on safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy. The energy infrastructure which will power citizens' homes, industry and services in 2050, as well as the buildings which people will use, are being designed and built now. The pattern of energy production and use in 2050 is already being set.
Indonesia has achieved an impressive 84% electrification ratio, but faces significant challenges in reaching the remaining 16% of its households. This report describes Indonesia’s electrification environment and identifies barriers to achieving universal electricity access. Principles drawn from international best practices such as government commitment, enabling institutional environments, adequate and sustainable financing, and stakeholder coordination are discussed in the context of Indonesia’s energy sector. The report gives recommendations for establishing service standards, streamlining financing, setting appropriate targets, and monitoring and evaluation, as well as near-term steps to help achieve universal electricity access.
The Economics of Electric Vehicles for Passenger Transportation provides answers to three critical questions: Why should developing countries pursue e-mobility? When does an accelerated transition to electric vehicles (EVs) make sense for developing countries? How can governments make this transition happen? A key finding from the research is that there is a strong economic case for EVs in many developing countries. This is news because, despite growing momentum and interest in the sector, 90 percent of EV sales are still concentrated in major markets such as China, Europe, and the United States. According to original models developed by the report’s authors, developing countries can look to electric buses as well as to two- and three-wheeled vehicles as entry points to this critical transition. Readers will find many examples of countries already benefiting from e-mobility solutions. For example, Brazil, Chile, and India are leaders in electric bus fleets. Their progress, made possible by innovative financing and procurement practices,is improving mobility in cities, reducing local air pollution, and reducing congestion in fast-growing downtowns. Readers will also see examples from Asian and East African countries, which are embarking on battery-swapping schemes to lower upfront costs of ownership for two- and three-wheeled vehicles. Based on the unique modeling, analysis, and benchmarking of results across 20 developing countries—complemented by a compilation of actual organic and diverse experiences of developing countries with electric mobility adoption—this report provides policy guidance on how governments can accelerate EV adoption, and when and where it makes economic sense to adopt electric mobility more quickly. This report is a critical read for anyone interested in the future of transport and its links with development progress.
The Accelerating Transport Innovation Revolution: A Global, Case Study-based Assessment of Current Experience, Cross-sectorial Effects and Socioeconomic Transformations, offers a comprehensive view of current state-of-the-art and practices around the world to create innovation on a revolutionary scale and connect research to commercial exploitation of its results. It offers a fascinating new model of the innovation process based on theories of biological ecosystems, general systems theory and basins of attraction (represented through space-time graphs well known in mathematics). Furthermore, it considers - through a number of dedicated chapters - key issues and elements of innovation ecosystems, such as: Causal Factors and system constraints affecting the development and sustainability of innovation ecosystems (Chapter 4); Review of innovation organization and governance in key countries and regions (Chapter 5); the role of technological "Spillovers" (Chapter 6); Collection and use of data for innovation monitoring and benchmarking (Chapter 7); Intellectual Property protection between competing ecosystems (Chapter 8); Economics of innovation (Chapter 9); Public and private sector involvement in Transport innovation creation (Chapter 10); the role of the individual entrepreneur - innovator in energizing change (Chapter 11). Finally, in Chapter 12, there is a thorough summary of key findings. This book uses a paradigmatic approach to augment the innovation ecosystem model of innovation that integrates beliefs and learning into the innovation ecosystems model. It therefore includes ten case studies from the U.S., Europe and Asia, detailing how innovation is created across continents and different ecosystems and what are the critical lessons to be learned. It does this, effectively, at five different levels of analysis i.e. the individual innovator / entrepreneur level, the organization level (government agency or company), the regional ecosystem level, the nation-state level and the global - systemic or international level. Each level of analysis, reveals unique features of the innovation landscape and the ten case studies allow the reader to assess when and where specific "enablers" are facilitating innovation especially on a revolutionary scale. The need for the book came from the realization that despite the billions of dollars spent on various research programs over the past 20 years (especially in the public sector), there have been few clear and tangible efforts directed at exploring how innovation production increasingly occurs and the critical factors necessary to sustain large-scale, revolutionary change as the future unfolds. Thus, a primary theme of the book is that understanding how research results translate into market innovation and implementation, especially understanding the nature of revolutionary innovation, is as important as the creation of innovations themselves. While the focus of the book is on Transportation, the concepts and recommendations presented apply to other fields too.
For a century, almost all light-duty vehicles (LDVs) have been powered by internal combustion engines operating on petroleum fuels. Energy security concerns about petroleum imports and the effect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on global climate are driving interest in alternatives. Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels assesses the potential for reducing petroleum consumption and GHG emissions by 80 percent across the U.S. LDV fleet by 2050, relative to 2005. This report examines the current capability and estimated future performance and costs for each vehicle type and non-petroleum-based fuel technology as options that could significantly contribute to these goals. By analyzing scenarios that combine various fuel and vehicle pathways, the report also identifies barriers to implementation of these technologies and suggests policies to achieve the desired reductions. Several scenarios are promising, but strong, and effective policies such as research and development, subsidies, energy taxes, or regulations will be necessary to overcome barriers, such as cost and consumer choice.
