Prosumers are households that are both producers and consumers of electricity. A prosumer has a grid-connected decentralized production unit and makes two types of exchanges with the grid: energy imports when the local production is insufficient to match the local consumption and energy exports when local production exceeds it. There exists two systems to measure the exchanges: a net metering system that uses a single meter to measure the balance between exports and imports and a net purchasing system that uses two meters to measure separately power exports and imports. Both systems are currently used for residential consumption. We build a model to compare the two metering systems. Under net metering, the price of exports paid to prosumers is implicitly set at the price of the electricity that they import. WeThe authors thank the FNRS and the Walloon Region (Grant TECR) for its financial support. They also thank P. Agrell and participants at the Mannheim Energy Conference, the BAAE conference held at CORE/Louvain-la-Neuve, the 65th congress of AFSE Nancy, the Energy Symposium at University of Barcelona, the third FAERE Conference in Bordeaux, the EARIE conference in Lisbon, the IIOC conference in Boston and the workshop on electricity demand at Université Paris-Dauphine for comments and I. Peere for English editing.
We start by using various economic and pedagogical concepts to understand the specificities of MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) platforms. We then discuss how the private provision of MOOCs, seen as pure public goods, can be sustained. Based on the theory of multisided platforms, we analyse five ways to monetize the MOOC business. Our conclusion is that the most sustainable approach is what we call the 'subcontractor model', flavored by touches of the other four models. We then claim that MOOC platforms can play a key transformative role in the higher education sector by making teaching practices evolve, rather than by replacing incumbent institutions. Finally, we derive a number of directions for public policy: governments should act to foster the cooperation between MOOC platforms and other higher education institutions, so as to improve the benefits that can arise from these technological innovations; a particular focus should also be given to professors in order to encourage them to innovate in their teaching practices.
This paper studies the links between non-renewable and intermittent renewable energy sources in the production of electricity. We argue that the relationship between the price of natural gas and investments in solar and wind capacity is represented by a bell-shaped curve, as opposed to being linear. Hence, for relatively low natural gas prices, the two modes of production are substitutes. After a price threshold is reached, the two are complementary. A theoretical model explains this as the trade-o↵ resulting from two forces: the input price di↵erential of these two modes of production and the risks related to the unpredictable nature of renewable energy. Using U.S. state-level data from 1998 to 2012, we find that this relationship is robust to various empirical specifications.
This paper studies the decision to synchronize household electricity consumption and production. While this behavior is beneficial for the energy system as a whole, it is not encouraged by a net-metering system. Relying on a large-scale survey conducted among households with solar PV in Wallonia, we investigate the factors impacting their decision to self-consume. As many as forty percent of our respondents declare to do so, notwithstanding the lack of incentives. The multivariate regression analysis shows that female and older residents, who tend to spend more time at home during daytime, are more likely to adapt their electricity usage by displacing their load. Prosumers with high environmental motives tend to synchronize more no matter the size of their installation. We conclude that prosumers will be further encouraged to self-consume by (1) setting monetary incentives to make consumption at the time of production more attractive, by (2) providing information to prosumers relative to their consumption/production profile and (3) by encouraging the adoption of smart devices that facilitate load shifting. These policies would lead to a higher degree of synchronization that would be beneficial for the energy system.
We start by using various economic and pedagogical concepts to understand the specificities of MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) platforms. We then discuss how the private provision of MOOCs, seen as pure public goods, can be sustained. Based on the theory of multisided platforms, we analyse five ways to monetize the MOOC business. Our conclusion is that the most sustainable approach is what we call the 'subcontractor model', flavored by touches of the other four models. We then claim that MOOC platforms can play a key transformative role in the higher education sector by making teaching practices evolve, rather than by replacing incumbent institutions. Finally, we derive a number of directions for public policy: governments should act to foster the cooperation between MOOC platforms and other higher education institutions, so as to improve the benefits that can arise from these technological innovations; a particular focus should also be given to professors in order to encourage them to innovate in their teaching practices.
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