{"word_count": 786, "character_count": 5574}
An Assessment of Gazprom’s Proposed Commitments Concerning Central and Eastern European Gas Markets Using a Global Gas Market Simulation Model / Chi Kong Chyong. Energy Policy Research Group, 2017, 33 p. http://www.eprg.group.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/An-Assessment-of-Gazproms-commitments_CHYONG.pdfIn April 2015, the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) began a formal investigation into Gazprom’s suspected violations of EU antitrust rules by issuing its statement of objections3. In the statement, the Commission was concerned that Gazprom was impeding competition in the gas supply markets of Central and Eastern European Member States (MS) – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia – by implementing abusive strategies...Identification of the information gap in residential energy efficiency: How information asymmetry can be mitigated to induce energy efficiency renovations / Matthew Collins and John Curtis. Economic and Social Research Institute, April 2017, 22 p. (Working Paper No. 558) https://www.esri.ie/publications/identification-of-the-information-gap-in-residential-energy-efficiency-how-information-asymmetry-can-be-mitigated-to-induce-energy-efficiency-renovations/Improving the energy efficiency of residential dwellings is seen by policy-makers as an important contributor to the mitigation of climate change, a topic of ever increasing interest. Many countries have put in place policies aimed at stimulating the adoption of energy efficiency retrofit measures in private households. These policies generally focus on reducing costs to home owners, which in turn increases the net benefit of retrofitting, making a retrofit more attractive. We examine the drivers of retrofitting from an information point of view, looking mainly at how expected gross benefits can be increased as a means of inducing retrofitting activities. Using survey data, we examine how perceived effects of retrofitting impact on the likelihood that a home owner possesses an expressed interest in engaging in certain retrofit measures. We find the existence of information asymmetries in many cases between those who have and have not engaged in retrofit measures, while asymmetries are present in almost all instances between those who possess an expressed interest in retrofitting and those who do not. The most effective information that can be used to bridge this asymmetry and could lead to a greater interest in retrofitting among home owners are centred around energy costs and comfort. Perceived impacts of retrofitting on occupant health, property value and mould growth are not found to be significant drivers of interest in retrofitting.L’électricité au Sénégal. Lettre Géopolitique de l'énergie, n° 74, avril 2017, 9 p. http://www.geopolitique-electricite.fr/documents/ene-223.pdfLe Sénégal a désormais plus de quinze millions d’habitants. Ils sont très pauvres et leur nombre continue d’augmenter rapidement.Le Gouvernement se donne comme objectif de devenir un « pays émergent » d’ici 2035. Il faut pour cela qu’il résolve le problème de l’électricité. Or, suivant les normes internationales la moitié des habitants n’y ont pas accès. Pour ceux qui en bénéficient, les tarifs sont élevés et les coupures fréquentes. Beaucoup d’entreprises et de ménages doivent avoir recours à des groupes électrogènes polluants produisant du courant hors de prix.La question de l’électricité est devenue un problème politique. Les Sénégalais aspirent à un accès à tous les services que procure cette énergie moderne et l’ont fait savoir par des manifestations violentes. Les pouvoirs publics partagent cette volonté et les capacités de production ont augmenté notablement ces toutes dernières années.Le Sénégal a une besoin vital de moyens de production de base à bon marché et souhaite, dans un premier temps, construire des centrales à charbon. Parallèlement, il s’est lancé dans un programme de développement des énergies renouvelables.Faire pression sur son Gouvernement pour qu’il renonce à ses projets sans offrir de solutions équivalentes est une option irréaliste. L’Accord de Paris permet de telles solutions.Des initiatives pour freiner ou annuler le grand programme éthiopien d’hydroélectricité ne l’a en rien ralenti. La Chine a remplacé l’Occident et aujourd’hui l’Ethiopie structure le réseau interconnecté d’électricité de toute l’Afrique du Centre Est.A Belated Boom: Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, and prospects and risks for oil in East Africa / Luke Patey. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, May 2017, 22 p. (OIES paper : WPM 71) https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/belated-boom-uganda-kenya-south-sudan-prospects-risks-oil-east-africa/East Africa has followed a long road of highs and lows in developing its oil resources. On the back of high global oil prices between 2004 and 2014, a rush of new exploration put the region on the map as a new frontier for African oil. But it did not take long for the momentum of East Africa’s oil rush to lose steam. Long regulatory delays, security risks, and the fall of global oil prices, all served to deflate expectations for the region’s potential.This paper examines the development, potential, and main risks facing oil industries in Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan, as well as plans for regional pipelines in East Africa. It finds that beyond the impact of domestic political and security conditions, what defines the emergence of East Africa as a new African energy centre is the growing influence of regional politics.