Alexandros Flamos

Measurement of EU27 oil vulnerability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the security of oil supply of the 27 European Union (EU27) member countries throughout the measurement of the vulnerability that their economies have exhibited to oil during the period from 1995 to 2007. Additionally, the EU27 future oil vulnerability is to be estimated for two indicative scenarios: a low oil price projection and a high price one. The two projections are going up to 2030.Design/methodology/approach – Six indicators that quantify the core concepts that affect the security of supply of a country have been integrated in a synthetic index that measures the vulnerability of the case study countries for the time period under consideration. For the development of the synthetic index the principal component analysis (PCA) has been applied.Findings – The results of this paper are illustrative of the existing vulnerabilities in the oil supply that may signal for a common EU policy addressing the energy availability risk issue.Research limitations/im...

Risks on the Security of Oil and Gas Supply

Abstract European energy demand and import dependence continues to increase and primary energy sources are mainly used to cover European energy needs, making clear that the risks of energy security of supply and their minimization is a critical issue. The aim of this article is to address the energy supply status, considering the energy supply corridors to the European Union, in order to underline the importance of risk analysis and risk minimization. The aim of this article is to present an overview of possible risks to smooth energy supply. The emphasis is given on oil and natural gass categorization of most important risks, as well as the presentation and analysis of collection of incidents that justify the categorization itself.

The impact of clean development mechanism in achieving sustainable development

The flexible mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, the clean development mechanism (CDM), should fulfil a twin objective: cost-effective greenhouse gas mitigation and enhancement of sustainable development in developing countries. As most host CDM countries have not established the proper institutional capacity to approve CDM projects and, at the same time, are prerogative to define sustainable development criteria for CDM projects, there is a clear need for a single set of guidelines or one evaluation system that accounts both climate and sustainable development considerations in the approval process of CDM projects. This paper proposes a set of sustainability criteria and indicators for CDM projects screening, reflecting the environmental, social, economic and technological dimension of sustainable development. Sufficient attention has been paid to determine globally relevant criteria and indicators. Priority has been given to energy sector CDM projects.

Using Biomass to Achieve European Union Energy Targets—A Review of Biomass Status, Potential, and Supporting Policies

In an effort to monitor its ambitious energy targets toward a “green Europe,” the European Commission has set up a project to enhance the availability, completeness, and quality of data regarding Green Energy Technologies. The Scientific Reference System (SRS) established in the framework of this project intends to support better-informed decisions. In this paper, we discuss the information gathered regarding energy from biomass by using the SRS methodology. First, the SRS approach is summarized and following that we present the findings of the research conducted by analyzing the data regarding biomass, with focus on energy policy frameworks.

A Qualitative Assessment of EU Energy Policy Interactions

Abstract The aim of this article is the presentation of the Energy and Climate Policy Interactions decision support tool for assessing qualitatively ex-ante combinations of various energy and climate policy instruments. This tool integrates six methodological steps, wherein a policymaker can intervene and set preferences that affect the outcome of policy interactions. The advantage of this approach is that it demonstrates to some extent the qualitative effects of interacting policy instruments, depending on the current policy goals and preferences of users.

Bioenergy Options in the Industrialized and Developing World and Opportunities for the Clean Development Mechanism

Bioenergy is considered an option of significant potential for both industrialized and developing countries and its exploitation can strive toward more sustainable energy systems. In this framework, the main scope of this paper is an analysis of three bioenergy options, namely biomass combustion, biomass gasification, and production of biofuels for the transport sector, in terms of their status, benefits, and possible barriers, as well as their future potential. Special attention is given to the perspectives for deployment in the developing world in the context of emerging opportunities provided by the clean development mechanism for sustainable technology transfer.

GCC Economies Diversification: Still a Myth?

Although Gulf economic development has drawn much attention from international banks and consultancies, there is limited integrated research into the regions long-term institutional and sectoral development and hence its long term geoeconomic significance. The aim of this article, is to point out the limited diversification of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies. For this purpose, six indicators that quantify core concepts of GCC hydrocarbon-based economies have been integrated in a synthetic index that signalize the high concentration of GCC economies and compares them with the economies of Germany, France, and Norway.

Combination of Energy Policy Instruments: Creation of Added Value or Overlapping?

In this article we present an application of the energy and climate policy Interactions (ECPI) decision support tool for qualitative ex-ante assessment of 21 combinations of energy policy instruments. Considering the weight given to each criterion of ECPI, we reached an overall result that policy instruments are considered quite fungible as regards their integration to an overall energy policy mix. Interactions of policy instruments for increasing renewable energy sources utilization with energy efficiency improvement and climate change mitigation instruments present a substantial added value compared to their stand-alone implementation.

The challenge of an EU-GCC clean energy network

The enhancement of EU-GCC cooperation on energy issues could be significantly facilitated from the establishment and operation of an EU GGC clean energy network (EU-GCC CLEANERGY.NET). CLEANERGY.NET would have to act as a catalyst and a coordinator for EU-GCC energy cooperation on different levels: research, technology and industry, but also on the level of energy policy, through dissemination of information regarding EU policies and practices in fields such as renewable energy (RE), electricity interconnections, tariffs for electricity and gas, climate change, energy efficiency and DSM, etc. The smooth cooperation of EU and GCC key energy players is considered a necessity for the success of such a challenging undertake. In this respect, the aim of this paper is to provide recommendations for an applicable organisation of the CLEANERGY.NET that would be able to act as an important driver to foster EU-GCC cooperation.

White certificates and domestic offset schemes: possible synergies

Next to energy efficiency, in the context of GHG reductions, additional policy mechanisms to the incumbent EU Emissions Trading scheme (EU ETS) are discussed. Such is the case of Non-ETS Domestic Offset (DO) schemes, which can reduce CO2-eq.emissions in the non-ETS sectors and trade these as CO2 credits on the ETS market. Taking into account that the EU’s “Linking Directive” (EC 2004) creates the conditions to use credits generated by emission reduction projects certified by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Kyoto Protocol (KP) within the EU ETS market, in this paper we employ the institutional analysis method of interactions in order to provide insight of a combined White Certificates (WhC) and DOs cheme. Special attention is paid to the parameters that seem to hamper harmonization of WhC and DO. Aim of this paper is to discuss whether smart market- based instruments, such as WhC, can be complementary to the effectiveness of mechanisms fostering energy efficiency such as DOs projects and vice versa. In this respect, the potential combined scheme is assessed (ex-ante) with the help of standard criteria that refer to the triptych energy, environment & society. Given the outcome of the study made, it is fair to say that such a DO/WhC combined scheme could be selected if the additionality concern is to minimize short term social costs of reaching a certain goal. However recent information and research conducted so far cannot yet uphold an ambition that a WhC/DO scheme of this kind could also drive technical change, keep consumer costs down and be equitable.