Innovative Activity in Wind and Solar Technology: Empirical Evidence on Knowledge Spillovers Using Patent Data

Braun, Frauke G.; Schmidt-Ehmcke, Jens; Zloczysti, Petra

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1633875

Cited by 67 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Johnstone et al (2010) found that technology-specific R&D subsidies had a significant and sizable effect on innovation (measured by patent data) in wind, solar, and geothermal RE. Braun et al (2010) also found that public R&D funding stimulates innovation in RE technologies, particularly for solar technologies. Veugelers (2012) presented firm-level evidence confirming that firms introducing clean innovations are responsive to eco-policy interventions.…”

Section: Exogenous Technology-push Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Does Economic Growth Matter? Technology-Push, Demand-Pull and Endogenous Drivers of Innovation in the Renewable Energy Industry

2014

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This paper aims to contribute to the longstanding technology-push vs. demand-pull debate and to the literature on renewable energy policy assessment. We argue that in addition to the traditional push-pull dichotomy, the drivers of technological change must be differentiated by whether they are exogenous or endogenous to the economic system and must be assessed with respect to their contribution to both the creation and the diffusion of innovation. We apply this perspective to study innovation in the renewable energy (RE) industry in 15 European Union countries from 1990 to 2012. Using different panel data estimators, we find that public R&D investments, policies supporting RE and per capita income all have a positive effect on either innovation creation or diffusion, whereas the variability of policy support has a negative impact on diffusion. However, impacts are heterogeneous and differ depending on the innovation dimension considered. Most importantly, we find that economic growth is a stronger driver of RE diffusion than technology-push or exogenous demand-pull mechanisms, whereas it is relatively ineffective at stimulating innovation creation. The effect of economic growth on RE diffusion exhibits a nonlinear, U-shaped pattern that resonates with the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. RE penetration remains negligible at low levels of growth whereas it increases sharply only after income per capita has reached a given threshold. This effect has both a direct cause (with increased affluence demand for environmental quality rises) and an indirect cause (with increased affluence expensive RE policies become more affordable and get implemented more extensively). Our findings have implications for policy making. They suggest that for RE diffusion to increase, innovation policies should be carefully balanced. Government action should be directed not only at shielding renewables from competition with fossil fuel technologies, but also at stimulating aggregated demand and economic growth.

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Section: Exogenous Technology-push Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Does Economic Growth Matter? Technology-Push, Demand-Pull and Endogenous Drivers of Innovation in the Renewable Energy Industry

2014

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“…reserved auction prices) are expressly introduced to do so. Since carbon tax revenues are commonly used to fund R & D programmes or provide subsidies and tax reductions for the adoption of low-carbon technologies (Braun et al, 2010;Lanzi and Sue Wing, 2011), the interaction of the ETS and carbon taxes may have positive impacts on innovation and thus incentivize long-term abatement. On the other hand, different effects may arise when a 'carbon tax' imposes 'abatement obligations' on the non-ETS-covered entities.…”

Section: Y Zengmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the context of an ETS, different double regulation issues may bring varied effects since different co-existing policies give rise to similar, complementary or in some cases opposite incentive structures in terms of carbon abatement. Some co-existing instruments may incentivize 'long-term investment in low-carbon technology' (Braun et al, 2010;Lanzi and Sue Wing, 2011;Rey et al, 2014) and thus improve dynamic efficiency of an ETS 3 ; others may raise aggregate compliance costs while not contributing additionally to abatement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…tax or the ETS) has been extensively discussed, but -after the introduction of a second instrument -the 'economic incidence' of double regulation in terms of carbon abatement has not yet been sufficiently discussed. Moreover, despite the extensive literature on the climate policy interactions in the EU context (see, e.g., Río, 2009;Braun et al, 2010;Egenhofer et al, 2011;Lanzi and Sue Wing, 2011;Capozza and Curtin, 2012;Lecuyer and Quirion, 2013;Lehmann and Gawel, 2013;Gawel et al, 2014;Rey et al, 2014;Böhringer et al, 2016), scarce study has examined the climate policy mix in China, let alone its intricate policy interactions. Besides, few studies on double regulation within the context of the ETS barely raise the complications when the ETSs are to be linked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indirect double regulation and the carbon ETSs linking: The case of coal-fired generation in the EU and China

Zeng

2017

Energy Policy

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A B S T R A C TDouble regulation of carbon emissions is a key policy concern in the context of climate change mitigation. The existing literature on double regulation in an emissions trading system (ETS) context has largely focused on the direct type (when, e.g., an ETS and a carbon tax cover the same entity) and has not yet discussed the indirect type (when, e.g., the ETS and carbon tax cover two related entities in the same production-consumption chain). This paper seeks to contribute to the literature by identifying 'indirect double regulation' (ETS & tax) on the coalfired generation in the EU and China. Specifically, we scrutinized legal documents associated with the coal-fired power and further presented the quantitative evidence of 'double carbon costs'. From the Law & Economics analysis of 'indirect double regulation', we derived implications of 'indirect double regulation' for the abatement of coal-fired power sector in its own jurisdiction and -after a hypothetic linkage between the EU ETS and Chinese national ETS -for its linked partner. In response, policy suggestions are provided to mitigate potential competitive distortions but should differentiate distortions by sources.

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“…However, the authors note that this is 2 Most of the regulation-induced literature deals rather with environmental innovation in general, see Jaffe et al (2002) and Popp et al (2010) for comprehensive reviews of this literature. Policy stimulated demand for renewable energy technologies (feed-in-tariffs), however, is not found to be a significant driver of related innovation; see Braun et al (2010) and especially Böhringer et al (2014) for German evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invention in energy technologies: Comparing energy efficiency and renewable energy inventions at the firm level

Rexhäuser

Löschel

2015

Energy Policy

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Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Abstract -Many countries, especially in Europe, have ambitious goals to transform their national energy systems towards renewable energies. Technological change in both renewable production and efficient use of energy can help to make these targets come true. Using a panel of German firms linked to the PATSTAT patent data, we study invention in both types of energy technologies and how their inventors differ in terms of central firm-specific characteristics. More importantly, we study the relation between conventional (i.e. non-energy) invention and energy invention within the firms. The results from dynamic count data models point to a stimulating effect of conventional inventions for energy efficiency technologies but have no effect on inventions in renewable energies. Invention in Energy Technologies

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Innovative Activity in Wind and Solar Technology: Empirical Evidence on Knowledge Spillovers Using Patent Data

Cited by 67 publications

References 36 publications

Does Economic Growth Matter? Technology-Push, Demand-Pull and Endogenous Drivers of Innovation in the Renewable Energy Industry

Does Economic Growth Matter? Technology-Push, Demand-Pull and Endogenous Drivers of Innovation in the Renewable Energy Industry

Indirect double regulation and the carbon ETSs linking: The case of coal-fired generation in the EU and China

Invention in energy technologies: Comparing energy efficiency and renewable energy inventions at the firm level

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