Green exports and the global product space: Prospects for EU industrial policy

We test if and where industrial policy to promote â??greenâ?? industry development can improve competitiveness in export markets. Proponents of â??green growthâ?? have argued that domestic promotion of â??greenâ?? energy will generate improved comparative advantage in export markets for high-technology goods such as wind turbines or solar cells. If this holds depends on if domestic market expansion can, on its own, support firm competitiveness abroad. We find evidence that industrial policy may work for wind turbines, but we find no evidence that it works for solar cells. Furthermore, domestic renewable energy promotion is more likely to translate into improved international competitiveness if a country already possesses skills, technologies, and industrial sectors closely related to the sector in question. By locating the wind turbine and solar cell sectors in the global product space of traded goods, we are able to show that, net of historical competitiveness and domestic market size, green industrial policy functions best when capitalising on pre-existing industrial capacities, rather than trying to create them. Finally, our finding that policy appears to work for wind turbines but not solar cells may reflect the greater tradeability of solar cells, which may mean that expansion of domestic demand leads to more imports rather than expanded domestic production. While this paper suggests conditions under which green industrial policy might prove effective in economic development, it makes no claims about whether this represents an efficient approach to either growth or emissions reduction. This evidence recommends caution in using economic growth and competitiveness arguments as the primary justification for investments in renewable energy.

Green exports and the global product space: Prospects for EU industrial policy

We test if and where industrial policy to promote ‘green’ industry development can improve competitiveness in export markets. Proponents of ‘green growth’ have argued that domestic promotion of ‘green’ energy will generate improved comparative advantage in export markets for high-technology goods such as wind turbines or solar cells. If this holds depends on if domestic market expansion can, on its own, support firm competitiveness abroad. We find evidence that industrial policy may work for wind turbines, but we find no evidence that it works for solar cells. Furthermore, domestic renewable energy promotion is more likely to translate into improved international competitiveness if a country already possesses skills, technologies, and industrial sectors closely related to the sector in question. By locating the wind turbine and solar cell sectors in the global product space of traded goods, we are able to show that, net of historical competitiveness and domestic market size, green industrial policy functions best when capitalising on pre-existing industrial capacities, rather than trying to create them. Finally, our finding that policy appears to work for wind turbines but not solar cells may reflect the greater tradeability of solar cells, which may mean that expansion of domestic demand leads to more imports rather than expanded domestic production. While this paper suggests conditions under which green industrial policy might prove effective in economic development, it makes no claims about whether this represents an efficient approach to either growth or emissions reduction. This evidence recommends caution in using economic growth and competitiveness arguments as the primary justification for investments in renewable energy

A flexible, scaleable approach to the international patent 'name game'

This paper reports a new approach to disambiguation of large patent databases. Available international patent databases do not identify unique innovators. Record disambiguation poses a significant barrier to subsequent research. Present methods for overcoming this barrier couple ad-hoc rules for name harmonisation with labourintensive manual checking. We present instead a computational approach that requires minimal and easily automated data cleaning, learns appropriate record-matching criteria from minimal human coding, and dynamically addresses both computational and data-quality issues that have impeded progress. We show that these methods yield accurate results at rates comparable to outcomes from more resource-intensive hand coding

A scaleable approach to emissions-innovation record linkage

This paper reports an approach to linking data on European emitters to data on their innovation practices. We illustrate a straightforward approach to record linkage between the European Union Community Integrated Transaction Log (CITL) and the PATSTAT international patent database. We show how that record linkage can be maintained with relatively minimal human input

A flexible, scaleable approach to the international patent 'name game'. Bruegel Working Paper 2014/10i, September 2014

The inventors in PATSTAT are often duplicates: the same person or company may be split into multiple entries in PATSTAT, each associated to different patents. In this paper, we address this problem with an algorithm that efficiently de-duplicates the data. It needs minimal manual input and works well even on consumer-grade computers. Comparisons between entries are not limited to their names, and thus this algorithm is an improvement over earlier ones that required extensive manual work or overly cautious clean-up of the names

The great transformation: decarbonising Europeâ??s energy and transport systems

The euro-area crisis dominates the economic news. Yet, the world and Europe may face even more important challenges that will shape our lives and the lives of our children.World population is projected to increase to 9 billion or more by 2050. At the same time, current trends indicate an increase in living standards and a growing middle class around the world. These two mega-trends will have profound implications, and the way they are managed will be one of the key determinants of prosperity and peace in the decades or even centuries to come. A number of factors are important in this respect. More people and more income will increase the global demand for energy. Choosing the right sources of this energy will be one of the determining factors of global temperature. The continued reliance on fossil-fuel energy sources is one of the main factors behind the risk of significant global temperature increases. The internationally agreed goal of limiting the temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels appears increasingly illusory. Currently, fossil energy sources dominate many economic areas. For instance, our transport infrastructure is largely based on fossil fuels, and is thereby one of the main contributor of the carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to global temperature. Thinking about a decarbonisation strategy is therefore a key challenge with a global dimension. Economic growth in Europe will be affected by the costs of this transition from the current energy and transport system. A smooth transition towards a low-carbon energy and transport system could come at comparatively modest cost. Furthermore, identifying the most economically beneficial solutions early on and becoming a global technology leader and standard setter offers vast opportunities for exports and economic growth. Hence, our decarbonisation strategy may eventually have a greater impact on long-term European growth than the current economic crisis. Bruegel is contributing to this debate with this report, which is based on research that received funding from the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The authors argue carefully that to make decarbonisation growth friendly, a consistent policy approach is needed. Policy intervention appears indispensable as the energy and transport system is so based around and locked-in into an incumbent technology. Overcoming this lock-in is crucial. The report makes three main proposals. First, the scope, geographical coverage and duration of carbon pricing should be extended. By setting a higher carbon price, incentives for developing and investing in new low-carbon technologies are created. Second, temporary consortia for new infrastructure to solve early-phase market failures could be put in place. This is discussed using the example of hydrogen vehicles. Lastly and importantly, an open and public transition model is needed so that second-best transport solutions do not get a head start that afterwardscannot be reversed. The technological, economic and political challenge ahead is vast. But choosing the right decarbonisaton strategy offers huge economic, environmental and societal benefits. We should not overlook this debate because of the euro crisis.

The great transformation: decarbonising Europe’s energy and transport systems. Bruegel Blueprint 16, February 2012

Foreword. The euro-area crisis dominates the economic news. Yet, the world and Europe may face even more important challenges that will shape our lives and the lives of our children.World population is projected to increase to 9 billion or more by 2050. At the same time, current trends indicate an increase in living standards and a growing middle class around the world. These two mega-trends will have profound implications, and the way they are managed will be one of the key determinants of prosperity and peace in the decades or even centuries to come. A number of factors are important in this respect. More people and more income will increase the global demand for energy. Choosing the right sources of this energy will be one of the determining factors of global temperature. The continued reliance on fossil-fuel energy sources is one of the main factors behind the risk of significant global temperature increases. The internationally agreed goal of limiting the temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels appears increasingly illusory. Currently, fossil energy sources dominate many economic areas. For instance, our transport infrastructure is largely based on fossil fuels, and is thereby one of the main contributor of the carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to global temperature. Thinking about a decarbonisation strategy is therefore a key challenge with a global dimension. Economic growth in Europe will be affected by the costs of this transition from the current energy and transport system. A smooth transition towards a low-carbon energy and transport system could come at comparatively modest cost. Furthermore, identifying the most economically beneficial solutions early on and becoming a global technology leader and standard setter offers vast opportunities for exports and economic growth. Hence, our decarbonisation strategy may eventually have a greater impact on long-term European growth than the current economic crisis. Bruegel is contributing to this debate with this report, which is based on research that received funding from the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The authors argue carefully that to make decarbonisation growth friendly, a consistent policy approach is needed. Policy intervention appears indispensable as the energy and transport system is so based around and locked-in into an incumbent technology. Overcoming this lock-in is crucial. The report makes three main proposals. First, the scope, geographical coverage and duration of carbon pricing should be extended. By setting a higher carbon price, incentives for developing and investing in new low-carbon technologies are created. Second, temporary consortia for new infrastructure to solve early-phase market failures could be put in place. This is discussed using the example of hydrogen vehicles. Lastly and importantly, an open and public transition model is needed so that second-best transport solutions do not get a head start that afterwards cannot be reversed. The technological, economic and political challenge ahead is vast. But choosing the right decarbonisaton strategy offers huge economic, environmental and societal benefits. We should not overlook this debate because of the euro crisis

Quantifying ecological variation across jurisdictional boundaries in a management mosaic landscape

Context Large landscapes exhibit natural heterogeneity. Land management can impose additional variation, altering ecosystem patterns. Habitat characteristics may reflect these management factors, potentially resulting in habitat differences that manifest along jurisdictional boundaries. Objectives We characterized the patchwork of habitats across a case study landscape, the Grand Canyon Protected Area-Centered Ecosystem. We asked: how do ecological conditions vary across different types of jurisdictional boundaries on public lands? We hypothesized that differences in fire and grazing, because they respond to differences in management over time, contribute to ecological differences by jurisdiction. Methods We collected plot-scale vegetation and soils data along boundaries between public lands units surrounding the Grand Canyon. We compared locations across boundaries of units managed differently, accounting for vegetation type and elevation differences that pre-date management unit designations. We used generalized mixed effects models to evaluate differences in disturbance and ecology across boundaries. Results Jurisdictions varied in evidence of grazing and fire. After accounting for these differences, some measured vegetation and soil properties also differed among jurisdictions. The greatest differences were between US Forest Service wilderness and Bureau of Land Management units. For most measured variables, US Forest Service non-wilderness units and National Park Service units were intermediate. Conclusions In this study, several ecological properties tracked jurisdictional boundaries, forming a predictable patchwork of habitats. These patterns likely reflect site differences that pre-date jurisdictions as well as those resulting from different management histories. Understanding how ecosystem differences manifest at jurisdictional boundaries can inform resource management, conservation, and cross-boundary collaborations

Barriers to evidence use for sustainability: Insights from pesticide policy and practice.

Calls for supporting sustainability through more and better research rest on an incomplete understanding of scientific evidence use. We argue that a variety of barriers to a transformative impact of evidence arises from diverse actor motivations within different stages of evidence use. We abductively specify this variety in policy and practice arenas for three actor motivations (truth-seeking, sense-making, and utility-maximizing) and five stages (evidence production, uptake, influence on decisions, effects on sustainability outcomes, and feedback from outcome evaluations). Our interdisciplinary synthesis focuses on the sustainability challenge of reducing environmental and human health risks of agricultural pesticides. It identifies barriers resulting from (1) truth-seekers' desire to reduce uncertainty that is complicated by evidence gaps, (2) sense-makers' evidence needs that differ from the type of evidence available, and (3) utility-maximizers' interests that guide strategic evidence use. We outline context-specific research-policy-practice measures to increase evidence use for sustainable transformation in pesticides and beyond

Comparative Kinetic Study and Microwaves Non-Thermal Effects on the Formation of Poly(amic acid) 4,4′-(Hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic Anhydride (6FDA) and 4,4′-(Hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(p-phenyleneoxy)dianiline (BAPHF). Reaction Activated by Microwave, Ultrasound and Conventional Heating

Green chemistry is the design of chemical processes that reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. The use and production of chemicals involve the reduction of waste products, non-toxic components, and improved efficiency. Green chemistry applies innovative scientific solutions in the use of new reagents, catalysts and non-classical modes of activation such as ultrasounds or microwaves. Kinetic behavior and non-thermal effect of poly(amic acid) synthesized from (6FDA) dianhydride and (BAPHF) diamine in a low microwave absorbing p-dioxane solvent at low temperature of 30, 50, 70 °C were studied, under conventional heating (CH), microwave (MW) and ultrasound irradiation (US). Results show that the polycondensation rate decreases (MW > US > CH) and that the increased rates observed with US and MW are due to decreased activation energies of the Arrhenius equation. Rate constant for a chemical process activated by conventional heating declines proportionally as the induction time increases, however, this behavior is not observed under microwave and ultrasound activation. We can say that in addition to the thermal microwave effect, a non-thermal microwave effect is present in the system