In this paper we investigate the location-specific attractiveness of small wind turbines (SWT) for private households. In order to assess the economic viability of an investment in SWT, we analyze a set of scenarios that incorporate different types of SWT, various storage system options, support...

The economic evaluation of ultra-long-lived investment projects is not only challenging due to the choice of the planning horizon but also due to the discounting of future uncertain cash flows. Thus, for real world investment decisions a better understanding of the project’s risks and their...

In Germany, the mitigation of CO2 emissions as well as the nuclear power phase-out are important political goals in the course of the sustainable energy transformation process (so-called “Energiewende”). The reduction in fossil- and nuclear-based energy supply has to be compensated by new...

The inverse relationship between economic growth and labor market developments in the form of changes in the unemployment rate is known in economic literature as Okun’s law. The objectives of this paper are to estimate a regionalized Okun coefficient and its associated (regional) unemployment...

We carry out a meta-analysis of the very large literature on testing for Granger causality between energy use and economic output to determine if there is a genuine effect in this literature or whether the large number of apparently significant results is due to publication or misspecification...

The existence of non-linear dynamics in the prices of financial commodities is an endemic feature and one of the most fundamental stylized facts in the literature. This study, conditioning on weather shocks, investigates the nature of the existing predictive power between natural gas spot and...

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...

The rise in the usage of sustainable energy conversion technologies has been remarkable. However, the growth of these technologies poses several problems, mainly concerning the net integration of intermittent energy sources, like wind and solar power, by means of advanced storage systems and the...

In this paper we develop an auction mechanism that is designed for a local energy market. It aims to enable regionally or virtually restricted trading of ancillary services, which enhances the position of the balance group responsible party beyond that of simple accounting. Furthermore, it makes...

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...