The Ghana cocoa market has been extensively liberalised over the period since the mid 1980s. Three issues have been prominent in microeconomic research on the effects of liberalisation on agriculture. The first has been the size of any supply response, the second has been the effect on producers...

Smart meters are being rolled out in large numbers throughout the world, with proponents claiming they are a critical step in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Yet there are significant unresolved negative reactions to smart meters, principally based on the concern that smart meters might...

Increasing the shares of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is one of the most important levers in many countries to cope with the environmental, political, and economic challenges of future energy supply. The underlying research question of this thesis is...

Increasing the shares of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is one of the most important levers in many countries to cope with the environmental, political, and economic challenges of future energy supply. The underlying research question of this thesis is...

Master of Science

When prices are set properly, they serve as important signals to guide customers to consume the efficient quantity of a good. However, in electricity markets many consumers do not pay prices that reflect the scarcity of power. The true social cost of power varies throughout a typical day; power...

In recent years intelligent Building Automation Systems, based on best practice open technology, have succeeded in helping facilities reduce their infrastructure, installation and operating costs. The idea was - 'the less the human intervention and the more automated the system then the more...

This thesis identifies the conditions under which and quantifies how much society gains from integrating demand response directly into wholesale electricity markets and the level of participation that will bring about these improvements. Furthermore, it identifies the conditions under which the...

Driven by a variety of factors including falling costs, environmental impacts, and state mandates, the integration of renewable energy on the U. S. electrical grid is increasing. While studies have shown that the existing electric grid system can absorb this load with the addition of...

Despite temporal changes in wholesale electricity prices, retail prices are typically constant throughout the day. To address this economic inefficiency, Detroit Edison, a subsidiary of DTE Energy (DTE), can introduce residential dynamic pricing rates to incent customers to shift load away from...