Given the importance of renewable energy in the discussion of a reliable and sustainable energy future, it is imperative to understand its main determinants and to draw result implications for energy policy. This study analyses these determinants for Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a panel data technique, namely the panel-ARDL model for a period covering 1990-2014, the results suggest that economic development (per capita GDP) and an increased use of energy aid renewable energy development while population growth impedes it. Furthermore, the study investigates the potentials and current status of renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. This article shows that although the region has great potential for developing renewable energy such as wind, biomass, solar and hydropower, dispersed throughout the continent, this potential has not been fully explored, even though many resources are plentifully available, and evidence good economic potential.

Purpose-This paper proposes an energy efficiency plan (with technical and behavioural improvement measures) for a Portuguese higher education building-the Teaching Building of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC). Design/methodology/approach-The study was developed in the context of both the "Green Campus-Challenge for Energy Efficiency in Higher Education" and the Energy for Sustainability Initiative of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. An energy audit was conducted based on the analysis of the energy consumption profiles. A monitoring campaign was carried out to measure and disaggregate the electricity consumption. The consumption of natural gas and water were also assessed. The building envelope and the heating and lighting systems were also evaluated. Some patterns of energy-environmental behaviours of the academic community were investigated through a web-based survey. Findings-The energy efficiency plan contemplates short-term tangible/intangible actions. It also considers the investment and payback period of the tangible measures. The implementation of three improvement measures in the lighting system would lead to a consumption reduction of about 26123 kWh/year, avoiding the emission of 3704 KgCO 2 /year, for an initial cost of 9920 € (payback period of 3.7 years).

a b s t r a c tEuropean Union (EU) regulations aim to ensure that the energy performance of buildings meets the cost-optimality criteria for energy efficiency measures. The methodological framework proposed in EU Delegated Regulation 244 is addressed to national authorities (not investors); the optimal cost level is calculated to develop regulations applicable at domestic level. Despite the complexity and the large number of possible combinations of economically viable efficiency measures, the real options for improving energy performance available to decision makers in building retrofit can be established. Our study considers a multi-objective optimization approach to identify the minimum global cost and primary energy needs of 154,000 combinations of energy efficiency measures. The proposed model is solved by the NSGA-II multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. As a result, the cost-optimal levels and a return on investment approach are compared for a set of suitable solutions for a reference building. Eighteen combinations of retrofit measures are selected and an analysis of the influence of real options on investments is proposed. We show that a sound methodological approach to determining the advantages of this type of investment should be offered so that Member States can provide valuable information and ensure that the minimum requirements are profitable to most investors.

h i g h l i g h t sOil obtained by SE has the lowest energy and CO 2 values per MJ prod . Oil obtained by SFE proved to be more economically viable, with a cost of 365 €/kg oil . Biorefinery 2 (biodiesel SFE + bioH 2 ) has the best energy/CO 2 /economy compromise. The bioH 2 as co-product may be advantageous in terms of product yield or profit. High-value pigments can be produced by SFE which is a clean technology. Are microalgae a potential energy source for biofuel production? This paper presents the laboratory results from a Nannochloropsis sp. microalga biorefinery for the production of oil, high-value pigments, and biohydrogen (bioH 2 ). The energy consumption and CO 2 emissions involved in the whole process (microalgae cultivation, harvest, dewater, mill, extraction and leftover biomass fermentation) were evaluated. An economic evaluation was also performed. Oil was obtained by soxhlet (SE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). The bioH 2 was produced by fermentation of the leftover biomass. The oil production pathway by SE shows the lowest value of energy consumption, 177-245 MJ/MJ prod, and CO 2 emissions, 13-15 kgCO 2 /MJ prod . Despite consuming and emitting c.a. 20% more than the SE pathway, the oil obtained by SFE, proved to be more economically viable, with a cost of 365€/kg oil produced and simultaneously extracting high-value pigments. The bioH 2 as co-product may be advantageous in terms of product yield or profit.

EU ETS impacts on stock market returns of Spanish power sector. Long-run positive effect of EU ETS on market returns is found only in Phase II. No short-run effects were found. EUA price effect is company-specific. a r t i c l e i n f o b s t r a c tEuropean Union carbon emissions allowances (EUA) price fluctuations can affect electricity companies' stock market values as these oscillations may change firms' profitability and thus investors' decisions. This outcome can differ not only contingent on the EU ETS Phase, but also on firms' generation mix. Moreover, stock markets may react differently to EUA increases in comparison to decreases, thus asymmetrically.By using daily data from January 2008 to July 2014, this article analyses long-run equilibrium relations and short-run interactions between the aggregated electricity industry stock market returns and EUA price changes. Moreover, we test if the relationship between EUA price variations and electricity stock returns is asymmetric and if the carbon price effect and the asymmetry are power firm-specific.Adding to earlier studies, we initially provide an inspection of the individual impact of EU ETS Phase II and on-going Phase III; followed by a comparative analysis between power firms which core activity relies on renewable energy sources and those whose sources are fundamentally non-renewable ones.A statistically significant positive long-run impact of EU ETS on the aggregated power sector stock market return is found concerning Phase II and works asymmetrically. Moreover, evidence is provided demonstrating that asymmetry and EUA effects are power firm-specific.

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Nesta pesquisa procurou-se estimar a qualidade da governança praticada por uma amostra significativa de companhias abertas brasileiras, por meio de um índice composto por 20 perguntas de respostas binárias, no período entre 2002 e 2006, e relacioná-la a alguns indicadores de risco e desempenho das companhias abertas brasileiras. Foram utilizados como indicadores para o desempenho o ebit-to-sales, o market-to-sales, o return on assets e o return on equity.. Como indicadores para o risco foram usados o beta local, o beta obtido com o uso do S&P 500, a volatilidade das ações das empresas, o risco idiossincrático, e o custo implícito do capital. Confirmou-se a hipótese inicial de que melhores níveis de governança estão associados a melhores desempenhos das empresas e menores riscos das empresas. Verificou-se que as empresas com maiores índices de governança têm maiores margens e valor e menores rentabilidades. Contudo, variações do índice de governança estiveram positivamente relacionadas com rentabilidade e margem. Constatou-se, também, a existência de indícios de que a relação entre governança e valor existe mesmo na presença das variáveis mediadoras de risco e desempenho. Os resultados conseguidos com a aplicação do método das regressões lineares foram confirmados pelos resultados obtidos com a utilização das equações estruturais. A endogeneidade verificada em diversos testes realizados, não invalidou os resultados obtidos com o uso das regressões lineares. Encontraram-se evidências de relação de causalidade da governança para o risco e o desempenho. Palavras-chave: Governança, risco, desempenho, regressões lineares e equações estruturais.

Advanced biofuels, such as those obtained from microalgae, are widely accepted as better choices for achieving goals of incorporating renewables and non-food fuel sources into the transportation sector, and for overcoming land use issues due to biofuel crops. Main challenges are currently the feasibility of large-scale commercialization of microalgae biofuels, since there are still some technical problems to overcome (e.g. the high energy consumption associated with biomass processing) and the majority of economic and financial analyses are based on pilot-scale projects. Therefore, this article presents the results of a Delphi study aiming to identify the main obstacles and most critical issues affecting the potential of large-scale commercialization of microalgae biodiesel and its incorporation into the fuel market. According to the authors' knowledge, this is the first Delphi study with this objective. The respondents are worldwide market specialists in the survey themes that ranged from biofuels economics to their environmental sustainability. One of the key findings is that most of the experts believe that production of microalgae biofuels will achieve its full commercial scale until 2020, and that from 2021 till 2030 it could represent from 1% to 5% of the worldwide fuel consumption. The study results also showed that environmental issues are where expert opinion differs more.