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Three essays in energy and environmental economics
Rečka, Lukáš ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Knápek, Jaroslav (referee) ; Van Koten, Silvester (referee) ; Muchapondwa, Edwin (referee)
Three Essays in Energy and Environmental Economics Author: Mgr. Lukáš Rečka Supervisor: Mgr. Milan Ščasný, Ph.D. Academic Year: 2018/2019 Abstract This thesis consists of three articles that share the main theme - energy and environment. The dissertation aims mainly at the Czech energy system and analyses it development after the Velvet Revolution and its possible future development. The first article applies Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition to analyses the main driving forces of significant reduction in air quality pollutants during the transition of the Czech economy towards market economy in the 1990s. It continues then to investigate how the driving forces affected the emissions volumes during succeeding the post-transition period up to 2016. The second article reacts on the 2015 governmental decision to lift brown coal mining limits in the North Bohemia coal basin. The paper analyses the impacts of maintaining the ban on mining coal reserves and compares them with three alternative options that would each weaken the environmental protections of the ban. The impacts of each of these alternative governmental propostions are analysed on the Czech energy system, the fuel- and the technology-mix, the costs of generating energy, related emissions and external costs associated with the emissions....
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Postoje veřejnosti k politikám mitigace změny klimatu
Kyselá, Eva ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Vávra, Jan (referee) ; Kalvas, František (referee)
Research on public responses to climate change mitigation policies is proliferating. Therefore, a need to critically review the existing research practice arises. Studies published over the last 15 years (n=164) and focusing on public attitudes and responses to climate policies are reviewed in this thesis with respect to a) measures and operational definitions of policy support, acceptability, acceptance, and other types of responses and b) factors related to such responses. A great diversity of measures and measured constructs, frequent lack of theoretical embedding, and conceptual vagueness are currently pervasive in the field. Such state leads to uncertainty of what is being measured, ambiguity, and greater diversity and lower comparability of results. In response to this state, the thesis proposes a construct of policy attitudes and responses as an overarching concept comprising the diversity of measures and constructs already in use, and a theoretical framework, based on the Value- Belief-Norm theory, as a heuristic tool for measurement, analysis, and interpretation of survey results. Additionally, the thesis discusses the interlinkage of public opinion on climate policies and policy-making process to argue the relevance and the role of the reviewed research. Three original studies are part of...
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New Ecological Paradigm as a research approach in the Czech Republic: An analysis of environmental attitudes of Czechs
Vaněk, Jiří ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Soukup, Petr (referee)
This thesis focus on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and its measurement instrument New Ecological Paradigm scale. Thesis introduces the New Ecological Paradigm as opposite type of thinking to the Human Exemptionalism Paradigm and provides historical context of the creation of the revised version of the New Ecological Paradigm scale. We carried out a secondary analysis of the data from survey about the European climate change policy acceptance conducted by Ščasný et al in year 2015. Thesis then examined the extent to which people from the Czech Republic, the Great Britain and the Poland endorse the New Ecological Paradigm and found out that the Czechs have the higher environmental concern than people from the Great Britain and the Poland. Furthermore, this thesis use Cronbach`s and factor analysis to discover, that the New ecological paradigm scale is internally consistent yet multidimensional instrument in case of the three surveyed countries. Regression analysis discovered that not only gender and age are significant socio-demographic predictors for the NEP results as income, education, size of municipality and current occupation are also relevant across the three surveyed countries. Lastly, regression analysis verified that the direct correlation between the general environmental values measured by the...
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Willingness to pay for electricity-driven passenger vehicles
Horváthová, Inés ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Kukačka, Jiří (referee)
This thesis analyses stated preferences for 4 different types of passenger ve- hicles (conventional, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehi- cles). The discrete choice experiment survey was conducted in Poland in 2014. With the use of latent class model it was possible to identify and describe dis- tinct segments in the population with varying preferences for the propulsion technologies: groups with strong and weak preferences for conventional vehi- cles, segments preferring pure hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and a class in favour of battery electric vehicles. Even though it was found that on average consumers would require compensation up to 22,200zł (e5,311) to switch to using an electric vehicle, respective segments in the population would be willing to pay around 10,100zł (e2,417) for this change in case of pure hy- brid, around 21,400zł (e5,128) in case of plug-in hybrid, and around 92,800zł (e22,199) in case of battery electric vehicles.
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The Economic Value of Crop Diversity in the Czech Republic
Tyack, Nicholas ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Šťastná, Lenka (referee)
We estimate the willingness-to-pay for conserving crop diversity in the Czech Republic. Discrete choice experiments are used to elicit preferences for the conservation of wine, hop, and fruit tree varieties, while a double-bounded dichotomous choice approach is used to elicit preferences for the conservation of unspecified, "general" crop diversity. The WTP values are derived for both of these contingent products from a sample representative of the general Czech population (n=731) and a sample of respondents living in the South Moravian region that is characterized by agriculture and wine production (n=418). We demonstrate a strong preference for conserving fruit trees over hops and wine varieties, and derive positive mean WTP of the general Czech population (ages 18-69) of 56 Kč ($2.26). Mean WTP for the conservation of general crop diversity is 167 Kč ($6.80). On average, residents of South Moravia have a greater WTP for "general" crop as well as fruit tree conservation. In total, the Czech adult population (ages 18-69) has an aggregate WTP of ~1.25 billion Kč ($50.5 million) for the conservation of general crop diversity, and ~410 million Kč ($16.8 million) for the conservation of fruit trees, revealing the previously unmeasured social welfare benefits of these activities. The estimated benefits...
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Willingness to pay for green electricity
Novák, Jan ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Gutiérrez Chvalkovská, Jana (referee)
We estimate the willingness to pay for electricity generated from renewable energy in the Czech Republic. Discrete choice experiment is used to elicit preferences for various attributes of renewable electricity support scheme (PM emission, GHG emission, size of RE power plant, revenue distribution, and costs). Original survey is carried with 404 respondents living in two regions - Ustecky (polluted area) and Southern Bohemia (cleaner area). We find that respondents prefer decentralized renewable electricity sources over centralized, local air quality improvements over reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Estimated marginal willingness to pay for 1% reduction in emission of particulate matter equals to 49 CZK, respectively 3.7 % of average monthly electricity bill. In total, WTP for green electricity is larger than current compulsory contributions to renewable energy support scheme. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Thermal Insulation of Apartment Buildings: Decision-making Process and Effect on Energy Savings
Častorálová, Lucie ; Ščasný, Milan (advisor) ; Chytilová, Julie (referee)
Thermal Insulation of Apartment Buildings: Decision-making Process and Effect on Energy Savings Abstract In order to lower the emissions of green-house gases it is necessary to explore the wide range of the energy efficiency options. This thesis attempts to analyse the effect of thermal insulation installed in the multi-family apartment buildings during the period of 2006-2012 in the Czech Republic. We also investigate whether providing governmental funding further improves energy performance of the insulated apartment buildings. In addition, we examine the collective decision-making processes of members of the multi-family apartment building associations, including their attitudes towards thermal insulation of their houses. The basis of this thesis is the econometric panel data model (with 45 apartment buildings and their energy consumption before and after the insulation) evaluated by the fixed effects method with cluster confirming that the insulation, investments and public funding had all significant and negative impact on the energy consumption in the buildings, when energy consumption was adjusted for weather conditions. After the analysis it was concluded that the more the owners invest in thermal insulation, the more they will save in the long run. The governmental funding led to even greater...
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