This paper investigates the adverse effects of oil price volatility on economic activity and the extent to which countries can hedge against such effects by using renewable energy. By considering the Realized Volatility of oil prices, rather than following the standard approach of considering...

This paper considers the design and performance of auction mechanisms used to deploy renewable energy in three emerging economies: Brazil, China, and India. The analysis focuses on the countries' experience in various dimensions, including price reductions, bidding dynamics, coordination with...

Morocco has set an ambitious target of supplying 42 percent of electricity through renewable sources, 14 percent each through hydro, wind, and solar, by 2020. To analyze the economic and environmental implications of implementing this target, this study uses a dynamic computable general...

Transaction costs are major challenge to moving forward toward low-carbon economic growth, as new technologies or policies tend to have higher transaction costs compared with those in the business as usual situation. However, neither a well-developed theoretical foundation nor a consensus...

This paper presents new global evidence on the key determinants of public-private partnership investment in electricity generated by fossil fuels and renewable energy based on a panel data analysis for 105 developing countries over a period of 16 years from 1993 to 2008. It aims to identify the...

Skeptics point out, with some justification, that the nuclear industry's prospects were dimmed by escalating costs long before Fukushima. If history is any guide, one direct consequence of the calamity in Japan will be more stringent safety requirements and regulatory delays that will inevitably...

Accelerating development in Sub-Saharan Africa will require massive expansion of access to electricity -- currently reaching only about one-third of households. This paper explores how essential economic development might be reconciled with the need to keep carbon emissions in check. The authors...

Many countries have introduced policy measures, such as carbon pricing, greenhouse gas offsetting mechanisms, renewable energy standards, and energy efficiency improvements, to achieve their climate change mitigation targets. However, in many instances, these measures overlap in ways that may...

Integration of large-scale variable renewable energy (VRE) generation resources -- wind and solar -- into national grids has been gaining importance as costs of these technologies, especially that of solar, continues to fall rapidly. However, there continues to be a lack of a framework to...