It has been argued that a well-balanced set of focused, transparent and stable policies may be preferable for the successful deployment of renewable electricity, transport and heat technologies. The success of an individual policy depends on its design and the supporting levels of enforcement. In order to promote strong, substantial growth in each renewable sector, […]

Different applications for which geothermal direct heat is used include ground heat pumps, bathing/ swimming, space heating (mostly provided by district heating), greenhouse and open-ground heating, industrial process heating, aquaculture pond heating and agricultural drying. There is also a very wide range of capacity factors (18 to >70%) for these uses. Consequently, the range in […]

Substantial energy taxes have been employed in Sweden since 1973 when the first tax was levied on oil following the first oil crisis. Through the 1980s there was a reduction in oil consumption and an accompanying increase in the use of coal, electricity and biomass, to a limited extent, as a result. Carbon dioxide (CO2) […]

Instruments In 1993 the Japanese government gave the responsibility of promoting new energy and energy conservation technology to the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)[73]. In June of 1997 a New Energy Law was introduced defining “New Energy” as an oil-alternative energy resource including hydrogen fuel-cells, renewables, waste power, and CHP facilities. The […]

Financial assistance in the form of low-interest or no-interest loans, long-term loans, and/or loan guarantees effectively lowers the cost of capital. Since the high up-front cost is often an important   consideration for potential REHC investors, lowering it can effectively bring down the average cost per unit and hence reduce the investment risk. Loans offered […]

The plantation forest estate of New Zealand (excluding the indigenous forests) covers around 1.6 Mha or 17% of total land area. To process the wood products a relatively large industry has developedsince the 1930s including sawmills, pulp and paper mills, panel board manufacturers and log exporters. Forest products are now the third largest export earner. […]

A lesson can be drawn from the German Market Incentive Program (MAP) and its fluctuating budget for renewable heating (Annex B4). The policy was successful in stimulating the market for solar thermal and was supported by the majority of the financial subsidies available under the programme. However, fluctuations in the available budget were reflected in […]

The applications for advanced deep geothermal systems are also very diverse, but costs are more widely spread than for conventional heat energy systems. All data in the overview (Table A9) are based on estimates by GIA (Mongillo, 2007). Costs in the year 2030 might have come down to €0.5 to 20 /GJ (average €2.3 /GJ) […]