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CenSES annual report 2011
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results are amongst the early findings, and present
hypotheses relate to roles played by the grid power
operator, who must balance wind power produc-
tion with grid considerations in mind.
Electrification – and our cars as example
In a recent paper in Samfunnsøkonomen, Gunnar S.
Eskeland claims that a carbon lean Europe will be
an electrified Europe. He builds this conclusion on
a result from his earlier projects (EUs ADAM, NFR’s
ICEPS and CELECT). In the article ‘Which emissions
are ours’ (Samfunnsøkonomen, October, 2012) he
takes issue with the traditional position taken by
policymakers and academics in Norway (that elec-
tricity in Norway is not emission free), to argue that
electricity should be considered emission free.
His argument has three steps: First, we shall keep in
mind the textbook prescription that society is best
weaned from emissions if responsibility is placed at
the emitter. This means tailpipe emissions are the
responsibility of the car driver or owner, but emis-
sions from electricity generation are the responsi-
bility of the power generator. So if my car runs on
electricity from your power plant, the emissions
from the generation is not my concern, irrespective
of whether you are a hydropower owner in Norway
or a coalfired power plant in Svalbard, Denmark or
Poland.
Second, Eskeland admits that in a world of nonglob-
al cooperation on climate, we have to think about
carbon leakage. But for electricity in Europe, we
need not, since electricity generators in Europe op-
erate under ETS, so there is no leakage of emissions
anywhere, if my car runs on Polish electricity.
Finally, Eskeland’s argument is that Europe is head-
ed for carbon-lean electricity, and that electricity in
general is an energy efficient and emission efficient
way of getting cars ahead. Eskeland concludes that
electric and plug-in-hybrids in Norway will do well
for local and global problems, can live with less sup-
port than electric cars in Norway have received un-
til now, and believes Norway’s example in pushing
electricity in transport will bemeaningfully watched
in Europe.
Transition to a more sustainable energy system will
require systematic long term planning on regional,
national and international level. So far the major-
ity of research has addressed the national and in-
ternational level. This research activity in CenSES
is supported by a new project (RegPol) funded by
RENERGI. The research focuses on the need to bet-
ter understand how policy affects local decisions
and how local advantages can be used actively in
regional policy.
The researchers want to find out how we should
deal with long term energy system decisions in the
interface between government policy and regional
interests. The project is placed in the interface be-
tween the energy system and the economic system:
• Improving geographical representation of
transport links, production and demand in en-
ergy system models
• Recognizing the spatial aspects of the energy
systems in the representation of the energy sec-
tor in regional economic models
• Strengthening the link between policy, energy
system models and regional economic models
to avoid sub-optimization in the energy system
Regional effects of energy policy (RegPol)