“Intermittent power can by now stand on its own two feet even if it would be forced to bear its socio-economic costs. The electricity certificates that is de facto a subsidy have in practice played out its part with a price that currently amounts to a few pennies per kilowatt hour, kWh. Profitable production should of course not be subsidized and unprofitable production should be phased out."
The SvD debate article "Introduce fees for solar and wind power" by Per-Olov Johansson and Bengt Kriström was published online March 10, 2021. Only available in Swedish
The magazine Resources interviews Francisco X. Aguilar where he discusses his recent co-authored study that takes a closer look at how the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive helped shape the health of forests across the southeastern United States and contributed to the growth of the US wood pellet industry.
“A major takeaway is that energy from biomass can be renewable, but it must be tested. We must have data, and we must have information to validate the renewable characteristic of the energy and whether it can reduce carbon emissions or not, compared to other alternative sources … From a policy perspective, I think monitoring, being dynamic, and being open to make sure that we’re balancing economic objectives with conservation objectives, are key.” (23:03)
With the arrival of 2021, the CERE management have taken on a new look with two new secretaries and one new Deputy.
Runar Brännlund, UMU continues as the Research Director but now with the newly appointed SLU Professor Tommy Lundgren at his side as Deputy Director. Mattias Vesterberg, UMU and Adan L. Martinez-Cruz, SLU as scientific secretaries. Thank you to the fantastic work of former Deputy Francisco X. Aguilar and secretaries Jurate Jaraite now also at Vilnius University and Thomas Broberg, UMU who will continue working with issues related to the environment, but outside academia.
Shyamani D. Siriwardena, Kelly M. Cobourn, Gregory S. Amacher and Robert G. Haight, for their article Cooperative bargaining to manage invasive species in jurisdictions with public and private lands. JFE 32 (2018): 72-83.
And the motivation: Climate change is rapidly changing conditions for forest management all over the world. Increasing temperatures affect forest growth conditions in many ways. Extreme weather conditions, such as storms and snow damages, cause direct damage in forests, causing losses of revenue. Climate change also increases domestic pests and pathogens and promotes invasion of new species. These developments require changes in management regimes and design for new pre-emptive and reactive controls with spatial coordination of actions over larger landscapes. Coordination of actions between forest landowners is crucial for success. How to create incentives for coordination and how to establish efficient strategies, is the most policy relevant question. (click on headline to read the full motivation)
CERE and USBE together with Övik Energi, Umeå Energi and Skellefteå Kraft are in the process of starting a new competence center that will focus on solving energy issues that could arise in a future sustainable energy landscape as well as facilitating for policy-makers how to best move us into a sustainable future. Join the online discussions on Tomorrows energy landscape – what it looks like and how do we get there? On January 26th at 13.00. (Click on headline to learn more)
