Silvia Banfi

Energy Efficiency Investments in the Home: Swiss Homeowners and Expectations about Future Energy Prices

Using conjoint choice experiments, we surveyed 473 Swiss homeowners about their preferences for energy efficiency home renovations. We find that homeowners are responsive to the upfront costs of the renovation projects, government-offered rebates, savings in energy expenses, time horizon over which such savings would be realized, and thermal comfort improvement. The implicit discount rate is low, ranging from 1.5 to 3%, depending on model specification. This is consistent with Hassett and Metcalf (1993) and Metcalf and Rosenthal (1995), and with the fact that our scenarios contain no uncertainty. Respondents who feel completely uncertain about future energy prices are more likely to select the status quo (no renovations) in any given choice task and weight the costs of the investments more heavily than the financial gains (subsidies and savings on the energy bills). Renovations are more likely when respondents believe that climate change considerations are important determinants of home renovations.

Estimating the benefits of low flow alleviation in rivers: the case of the Ticino River

In Switzerland 60% of electricity is produced by hydropower plants. The construction and operation of these plants determine some negative environmental externalities, such as diminishing groundwater levels and spring flows, and a reduction in river flow, which can severely curtail recreational and fishing activities. This study concentrates on an ex-ante appraisal of the monetary benefits resulting from an enhancement of river flow for recreational fishing purposes. A comparison of estimates of these benefits to the corresponding costs, in terms of loss of electricity production, incurred by hydropower plants to alleviate low flows may be useful for policy makers. For this analysis, as suggested by Layman et al. (Land Economics 72, pp. 113-128, 1996), the Travel Cost Method (TCM) is extended to estimate the economic value of recreational fishing in the Ticino River (the most important river of the Canton Ticino) under existing and hypothetical river flow conditions. Anglers were asked to state how the number of trips they took to the Ticino River would change if an increase in the river flow was imposed on the hydropower plants. The empirical results show that an enhancement of river flow increases the annual consumer surplus for a typical angler by approximately 440 SFr.

Valuation of Environmental Goods in Profit and Non-Profit Housing Sectors: Evidence from the Rental Market in the City of Zurich

SummaryThis paper analyses the impact of electromagnetic pollution, noise and air pollution on the rent level for the aggregated and disaggregated market in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. Although there is no conclusive assessment about the health impacts of electromagnetic radiation people are nonetheless concerned about possible long term risks associated with the exposure. This risk perception may affect the price of dwellings located close to antenna. The regression results show that the environmental variables considered have the expected sign and are highly significant, with exception of the presence of an antenna and the air pollution for the non-profit submarket. However, the greatest part of the variation is explained by the structural variables.

Using a Choice Experiment to Estimate the Benefits of a Reduction of Externalities in Urban Areas with Special Focus on Electrosmog

Traffic noise, air pollution and electromagnetic pollution (i.e. nonionizing radiation, also called electrosmog) are typical negative local externalities in urban areas. They are side effects of human and economic activities (e.g. road transport, telecommunication) and they affect individuals’ well being negatively without compensation. In recent years, the increased number of mobile phone antennas in residential areas, and thus the increased intensity of radiated power, has aroused public concern, discussions and protests. The view of an antenna is annoying an increasing number of inhabitants. In this article, the stated Choice Experiment (CE) is used to estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) residents in the cities of Zurich and Lugano place on the reduction of these three environmental loads. Estimation results reveal that there is a positive and significant WTP for a reduction of air pollution and traffic noise levels to those limit values fixed by the government. Respondents also show WTP for reducing electrosmog and removing mobile phone antennas from their view, however to a lesser extent. In addition, this is the first study that estimates the benefit of a reduction of electrosmog using a CE.

Deregulation of the Swiss Electricity Industry: Short-Run Implications for the Hydropower Sector

Abstract Despite fears to the contrary, an analysis of the cost structure of hydropower plants suggests that only a few Swiss hydropower plants will encounter financial difficulties in the short run if the Electricity Market Law (EML) is signed into law.

Il valore ricreativo del fiume Ticino per i pescatori

In Svizzera, piu del 60% della produzione d’energia elettrica deriva dal settore idroelettrico. La costruzione e l’utilizzo delle centrali idroelettriche ha determinato importanti modifiche ambientali lungo alcune tratte dei fiumi, limitando l’utilizzo per attivita ricreative quali la pesca o altre forme di svago. In tale contesto la conoscenza del valore economico attribuito a questo tipo di attivita puo favorire un dimensionamento piu puntuale degli interventi, atti a migliorare la situazione ambientale attuale. Per questa ragione, con il presente studio si e voluto condurre una prima analisi empirica tramite il metodo del costo di viaggio sul valore economico del fiume Ticino per i pescatori.