Dr. Albert Roger

Articles in Refereed Journals

Huber, Matthias; Roger, Albert; Hamacher, Thomas (2015). Optimizing Long-Term Investments for a Sustainable Development of the ASEAN Power System, Energy: The International Journal, 88, 180-193. DOI

• The electricity consumption in the ASEAN (Association of East Asian Nations) region is one of the fastest growing in the world and will lead to a dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the next decades. A decarbonization of the region's electricity supply is thus a very important measure when taking action on global climate change. This paper defines cost-optimal pathways towards a sustainable power system in the region by employing linear optimization. The proposed model simultaneously optimizes the required capacities and the hourly operation of generation, transmission, and storage. The obtained results show that all different kinds of renewable sources will have to be utilized, while none of them should have a share of more than one third. The findings give reason for setting up an ASEAN power grid, as it enables the transportation of electricity from the best sites to load centers and leads to a balancing of the fluctuations from wind and solar generation. We suggest fostering a diversified extension of renewables and to elaborate on political and technical solutions that enable the build up an transnational supergrid.

Contributions to Collected Editions

Roger, Albert (2018). Outlook: Can Environmental Product Standards Enable Eco-Innovation?, in: Jens Horbach, Christiane Reif (eds.), New Developments in Eco-Innovation Research. Sustainability and Innovation (Sustainability and Innovation), 95-122. Cham: Springer. DOI

• Environmental product standards (EPS) certifying environmental product attributes are key for fostering sustainable consumption, which is an essential measure for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations. EPS, also called environmental labels or eco-labels, are intended to describe environmental features of consumer goods and raise consumers’ awareness about sustainability. By fostering sustainable consumption they can become one of the main policy instruments for tackling climate change. They can be mandatory, where the provision of information is compulsory, or voluntary. In both cases EPS aim at correcting the information asymmetry between consumers and providers. Evidence shows that demand-pull is a decisive factor for firms’ to voluntarily provide environmental quality. Thus, by enhancing consumers’ awareness, it can spur eco-innovation. Nevertheless, EPS have also raised some concerns about barriers to trade and “greenwashing”. Furthermore, the recent multiplication of EPS has fostered a label competition, confusing prospective consumers, and thus endangering potential sustainability benefits resulting from EPS. The aim of this chapter is to provide policymakers with an overview on how EPS can support eco-innovation. For this purpose we first describe the different types of labels and review evidence on the different impacts of EPS. Later on, we analyze drivers, benefits and barriers of adoption of EPS and their relation to eco-innovation and environmental performance. Finally, we provide an overview on new behavioral insights to EPS.

Monographies

Roger, Albert (2022). Essays on the Economics of Competition and Innovation under Environmental Regulation. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University.

• https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/32416/