This report discusses the opportunities presented by the Amapá State government’s intention to make the transition to a green economy.
This paper explores innovation in wind energy in Denmark and Germany. It examines the key features and similarities of, and differences in each country’s technological and organizational innovation paths and sheds light on their main determinants. It finds that common features have roots in similar social and political priorities and decisions at the national level. The differences, on the other hand, tend to have roots in geographical conditions and company-level technology choices.
In the end, the paper briefly addresses the increasing global interconnectedness of wind technology markets and the role of emerging new players, such as China and India.
Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a promising technology for low-carbon power generation. Thanks to abundant solar resources in the world’s sun belt and its ability to provide flexible and reliable power supply when combined with thermal storage, CSP could play an important role in maintaining a steady power supply in future low-carbon energy systems with high penetrations of fluctuating renewable power from solar photovoltaic and wind. With findings drawn from four case studies and background paper, this policy brief offers recommendations for international finance institutions (IFIs) and developing country policymakers on how to deploy concentrated solar power (CSP) while achieving cost reductions.
Electricity systems across the U.S. and Europe face significant challenges in the transition to low-carbon energy. While the transition provides plenty of opportunities for investors, businesses, and consumers alike, the current business and regulatory models of investor owned utilities (IOUs) and independent power producers (IPPs), which have mainly developed around competitive markets for fossil fuel generation, are particularly ill-suited to take advantage of these new opportunities. This paper outlines the some major challenges each business segment will face and sets out a roadmap for addressing the challenges.
This Global Challenges Report analyzes the patent landscapes of four Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMTs) to inform policy discussions by providing empirical evidence of innovation trends and technology ownership. The four CCMTs are biofuels, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy. A broad market analysis of renewables and their policy frameworks are discussed in Section 2, followed by a scope and methodology section. The individual patent landscape analysis for each of the CCMTs is given in Sections 4 to 7, identifying and analyzing the range of patent activity, patent filings trends, top technology owners, patent concentrations, and market trends.
Each of these sections also includes anecdotal case studies to illustrate various features of the technology marketplaces and to situate the patent data into the context of market activity and business strategies. The report includes data from 1975-2011 and compares the 1975-2005 period to the 2006-2011 period.
A companion Global Challenges Brief also discusses key implications and considerations for policy and policymakers.
2013 Report of the State of the Environment in China states that the overall environmental quality was average in 2013. The focus areas in 2013 were atmospheric pollution, ecological conservation, reduction of major pollutants and energy and transport sector.