Essays on the Costs and Benefits of Cleaner Energy
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2018-08
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Undertaking a major clean energy transition in both developing countries and developed countries is challenging. Well-designed policies weigh the cost and benet of every alternative. My dissertation considers dierent aspects of such transitions in two very dierent contexts: a nationwide transition from kerosene to cleaner burning propane in Indonesia, and a transition from a fossil fuel to 100 percent renewable electric system in Hawaii. As for the benets of cleaner energy, it helps us to understand to what extent a cleaner fuel transition could improve people's health and their well-being, and sheds light on some possible channels through which better health arises. As for the cost of cleaner energy, it also demonstrates how ecient variable pricing can lower the cost of clean renewable energy. To assess how ecient pricing aects the cost of renewable power, I introduce a new computational modeling tool that can simultaneously consider key features of a real-time power system and a realistic characterization of demand with potentially exible end uses. The model is generalizable and can be easily adapted to other settings. Chapter 2 studies the impact of a household fuel conversion program on infant mortality by examining a kerosene to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) conversion program in Indonesia, one of the largest household energy transition projects ever attempted in the developing world. Chapter 3 examines the extent to which variable pricing can make renewable energy more cost eective in the state of Hawaii. It uses a novel model of power supply and demand that simultaneously optimizes investment in generation capacity, storage capacity, and real-time operation of the system, a demand system that accounts for interhour elasticity and overall demand elasticity. Lastly, chapter 4 investigates on the extent to which the switching improves households well-being. Using a nationwide transition from kerosene to cleaner burning propane in Indonesia, the same program as in chapter 2, I investigate households consumption response to fuel switching.
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Clean Energy, Fuel Switching, Renewable energy, Electricity
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