Residential buildings strongly contribute to global CO2 emissions due to the high energy demand for electricity and heating, particularly in industrialised countries. Within the EU, decentralised heat generation is of particular relevance for future climate policy, as its emissions are not...

In this paper, we identify key drivers and barriers for the adoption of building energy retro fits in Germany, which is promoted by public policy as an important measure to address the future challenges of climate change and energy security. We analyze data from a 2009 survey of more than 400...

In this paper, we apply a spread-based real options approach to analyze the decision-making problem of an investor who has the choice between an irreversible investment in a condensing power plant without heat utilization and a plant with combined heat-and-power (CHP) generation. Our...

The Integrated Energy and Climate Protection Program of the German government includes the political target of doubling the share of combined heat and power generation (CHP) in Germany from currently about 12% to 25% by 2020. In order to reach this goal, a new CHP law was enacted to improve the...

The EU Directive 2004/8/EC, concerning the promotion of cogeneration, established principles on how EU member states can support combined heat and power generation (CHP). Up to now, the implementation of these principles into national law has not been uniform, and has led to the adoption of...

In this paper we investigate the economic viability of geothermal district heating networks using both net present value (NPV) and real options analysis (ROA). We give an introduction to geothermal energy technologies and review the relevant ROA literature focusing on applications in similar...