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Energy quality

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  • Stern, David I.

Abstract

This paper develops economic definitions of energy quality for individual fuels and energy aggregates. There are use- and exchange-value concepts, as well as marginal and total measures, of energy quality. A factor augmentation or quality coefficients approach corresponds to the use-value definition while indicators based on distance functions and relative prices are exchange-value based definitions. These indicators are identical when the elasticity of substitution between fuels is infinity but diverge or cannot be computed for other interfuel elasticities of substitution. When the elasticity of substitution is zero only the quality coefficients approach is defined. I also show that 1) the ratio of an energy volume index to aggregate joules cannot be considered a complete indicator of aggregate energy quality as it does not account for quality changes in the component fuels 2) demand curve integrals do not provide information on relative use-values or fuel qualities when the elasticity of substitution is unity or less.

Suggested Citation

  • Stern, David I., 2010. "Energy quality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1471-1478, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:69:y:2010:i:7:p:1471-1478
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    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. 3. Energy Intensity is not Correlated with GDP per Capita
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2011-11-04 12:09:00
    2. Annual Review 2020
      by noreply@blogger.com (David Stern) in Stochastic Trend on 2020-12-19 07:18:00
    3. Typo in Directed Technical Change and the British Industrial Revolution
      by noreply@blogger.com (David Stern) in Stochastic Trend on 2022-01-25 22:58:00
    4. Energy Quality
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2009-08-19 17:43:00
    5. Energy Quality
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2010-02-01 03:32:00
    6. Energy Mix and Energy Intensity
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2010-04-17 09:49:00
    7. The Role of Energy in the Industrial Revolution and Modern Economic Growth
      by David Stern in Stochastic Trend on 2011-04-23 11:02:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    3. Jack Gregory & David I. Stern, 2012. "Fuel Choices in Rural Maharashtra," CCEP Working Papers 1207, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    4. Stern, David I. & Jotzo, Frank, 2010. "How ambitious are China and India's emissions intensity targets?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6776-6783, November.
    5. Kander, Astrid & Stern, David I., 2014. "Economic growth and the transition from traditional to modern energy in Sweden," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-65.
    6. Stern, David I. & Enflo, Kerstin, 2013. "Causality between energy and output in the long-run," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 135-146.
    7. Stern, David I., 2012. "Modeling international trends in energy efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2200-2208.
    8. Richard Green and Nicholas Vasilakos, 2012. "Storing Wind for a Rainy Day: What Kind of Electricity Does Denmark Export?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    9. King, Carey W., 2014. "Matrix method for comparing system and individual energy return ratios when considering an energy transition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 254-265.
    10. Kander, Astrid & Warde, Paul & Teives Henriques, Sofia & Nielsen, Hana & Kulionis, Viktoras & Hagen, Sven, 2017. "International Trade and Energy Intensity During European Industrialization, 1870–1935," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 33-44.
    11. David I. Stern, 2010. "The Role of Energy in Economic Growth," CCEP Working Papers 0310, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
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    14. Matthew K. Heun & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Randall Pruim & Tiago Domingos & Marco Sakai, 2017. "From Theory to Econometrics to Energy Policy: Cautionary Tales for Policymaking Using Aggregate Production Functions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-44, February.
    15. Serrenho, André Cabrera & Warr, Benjamin & Sousa, Tânia & Ayres, Robert U. & Domingos, Tiago, 2016. "Structure and dynamics of useful work along the agriculture-industry-services transition: Portugal from 1856 to 2009," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-21.
    16. Elena Ketteni & Theofanis Mamuneas & Panos Pashardes, 2013. "ICT and Energy Use: Patterns of Substitutability and Complementarity in Production," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 7(1), pages 63-86, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy Quality Productivity;

    JEL classification:

    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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