Young-Doo Wang

An equity- and sustainability-based policy response to global climate change

Proposition and operationalization of a worlwide protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Based on sustainability and equity, it proceeds from the asumption that no human being and no society is entitled to use the biosphere more intensively than another to pursue its development aims

Evaluating the economics of photovoltaics in a demand-side management role

This paper examines current efforts to assess the economic viability of photovoltaics (PV) from a demand-side management (DSM) perspective. The benefits associated with dispatchable peak shaving PV DSM systems are discussed along with recent modelling efforts. Preliminary analysis, conducted at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) together with Delmarva Power and Light, indicates that PV is closer to cost effectiveness, when assessed as a DSM option, than previously thought. PV DSM systems under investigation by CEEP include rooftop, non-dispatchable PV DSM and the integration of PV arrays and storage to provide dispatchable peak shaving capabilities. Analysis to date, on five case study utilities, shows that PV DSM systems can offer substantial value to utilities and their customers. Several policy options for promoting PV DSM are described along with a unique utility-customer partnership for the purpose of purchasing PV DSM systems.

Can Cities Sustain Life in the Greenhouse

Data from the Global Environmental Monitoring System indicate that pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and total suspended particulate routinely appear in the lower atmosphere of major cities at concentrations well above health guidelines set by the World Health Organization. As well, cities are major contributors to the build-up of greenhouse gases which now threaten climate change. These findings underscore the detrimental relation that has evolved between urban industrial society and the atmosphere. If this peculiar civilization is to be changed, three principles—equity, sustainability and peaceful development—must guide the reevolution of urban life. The paradigm of commodification needs to be replaced with a model of a commons of life. The article provides a theoretical framework and strategy for reforming global climate policy and urban sustainability planning in a manner consistent with life in the commons.

The Postmodern Greenhouse: Creating Virtual Carbon Reductions From Business-as-Usual Energy Politics

Climate change presents a fundamental challenge to the current global energy regime. Under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international community is developing the architecture of a policy response. Three serious flaws are examined: (a) the potential sacrifice of small island states, (b) the use of market-based policy measures to commodify the atmospheric commons, and (c) the substitution of carbon sequestration for meaningful reductions in energy use. The authors’ analysis of the politics of climate change, based on these issues, suggests a new understanding of ecology is emerging—what they term postmodern ecology—in which a global environmental crisis is risked to secure the future of the world energy regime. An alternative, based on principles of sustainability and equity, is proposed that would require abandoning the global energy status quo.

Less Energy, a Better Economy, and a Sustainable South Korea: An Energy Efficiency Scenario Analysis

An energy efficiency scenario (Joint Institute for a Sustainable Energy and Environmental Future) demonstrates that an energy future built on the use of cost-effective, high-efficiency technologies is clearly within the grasp of South Korea and would justify a nuclear power moratorium with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions. This is a promising result, especially because applications of other sustainable energy options, such as renewables, decentralized technologies, material recycling/reuse, ecologically based land use planning, forest conservation, sustainable agriculture, and redirection of economic development toward an environment-friendly industrial base, are not included in the analysis. Here lies one of the most fundamental policy choices of the newcentury: Will we build a sustainable energy and environmental future, or will we send forward the burdens and risks of a policy regime that is unwilling to value the future beyond the satisfaction of short-term interests and convenience? It is a critical time for South Korean policy making.

Deployment of a dispatchable photovoltaic system: technical and economic results

This paper discusses the incorporation of PV as a demand-side management (DSM) tool. The valuation of the benefits provided by PV in a DSM role indicates that it is much closer to commercial viability than was thought from economic analyses focusing exclusively on this technology as a supply-side option. However, in order to realize PVs potential, this technology must be deployed in high-value DSM applications; in particular, applications that promise dispatchable peak-shaving capability. Our analysis of the performance of a prototype system installed by Delmarva Power, indicates that small-scale, commercial customer-sited DSM systems incorporating this technology are approaching competitive cost levels.

Sustainable urban development strategies for China

Sustainable urban development strategies for China considers the transition that needs to be made in China to achieve sustainable urban development. After outlining the links between economic growth and energy use, a conceptual framework is developed to contrast the major economic, technological, energy and environmental assumptions between conventional and sustainable development strategies. Using five of Chinas cities (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Xian) as examples, the authors demonstrate that urban environmental degradation in China, as in many Asian countries, is attributable to the pursuit of economic growth under the conventional development model.

The role of PV in demand‐site management: Policy and industry challenges

Most electric utility planners consider photovoltaics to be a frontier technology which is not yet mature enough to contribute to the U.S. electric generation market. Over the past decade, utilities and their regulators have begun to emphasize demand‐side management (DMS) to meet an increasing proportion of their service needs. For PV to be a valued technology in the electricity sector, DSM applications need to be identified that can provide a significant market for this technology. DSM programs of 20 of the most active utilities in the DSM market are analyzed in this research to determine the size, prices, demand, and impact of policy. Target PV‐DSM markets are identified and the policy and industry challenges that must be met are defined.