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Energy efficiency market report 2016. International Energy Agency, October 2016, 142 p. https://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2016/october/energy-efficiency-gains-ground-despite-lower-energy-prices-new-iea-report-says.htmlAs governments focus on implementing their commitments to save energy and reduce carbon emissions under the recently ratified Paris agreement, a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights the progress made by energy efficiency policies around the world over the past year, particularly in China and other emerging economies. The role of energy efficiency in the global energy transition is examined in the IEA’s Energy Efficiency Market Report 2016, which finds that its importance cannot be overstated. Simply put, there are no realistic or affordable energy and climate change policy without a sizeable and vigorous energy efficiency component...Oil and macroeconomic (in)stability / Hilde C. Bjørnland, Vegard H. Larsen and Junior Maih. Norges Bank, Sept. 2016, 50 p. (working paper ; 12/2016) http://www.norges-bank.no/en/Published/Papers/Working-Papers/2016/122016/We analyze the role of oil price volatility in reducing U.S. macroeconomic instability. Using a Markov Switching Rational Expectation New-Keynesian model we revisit the timing of the Great Moderation and the sources of changes in the volatility of macroeconomic variables. We find that smaller or fewer oil price shocks did not play a major role in explaining the Great Moderation. Instead oil price shocks are recurrent sources of economic fluctuations. The most important factor reducing overall variability is a decline in the volatility of structural macroeconomic shocks. A change to a more responsive(hawkish) monetary policy regime also played a role.Unconventional Gas in Argentina: Will it become a Game Changer? / Ieda Gomes &#38; Roberto Brandt. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, October 2016, 104 p. https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/unconventional-gas-argentina-will-become-game-changer/Argentina clearly has a world-class shale gas resource and its ‘crown jewel’ is the Vaca Muerta play. How such a resource might be developed and linked to global gas trade flows in terms, for example, of reducing Argentina’s LNG import requirements is a complex multi-vector issue.  This paper by Ieda Gomes and Roberto Brandt provides a comprehensive analysis of Argentina’s gas prospects based on a deep contextual understanding of the country’s hydrocarbon history, the changing regulatory and political framework of oil and gas production and its changing attractiveness, or otherwise, for IOC investment, and the outlook for the future.Transforming the EU power sector: avoiding a carbon lock-in. European Environment Agency, 2016, 84 p. (EEA Report No 22/2016) http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/transforming-the-eu-power-sectorWith fossil fuels still contributing to roughly half of the electricity generated in Europe, moving away from a carbon-intensive power supply over the next few decades will require a commitment to increase investment in clean technology, restructure the fossil fuel energy infrastructure and ensure a secure and affordable power supply. In this context, this report fills an important information gap by looking at: • the theoretical evolution of fossil fuel capacity by 2030 in the absence of strong drivers to counter present trends; • how this hypothetical evolution would fit in with the need to create a qualitatively different EU power sector by 2030 and beyond, in line with EU climate goals.Renewable Energy Research and Development: A Political Economy Perspective / David J. Hess and Rachel G. McKane.  In : David Tyfield, Rebecca Lave, Samuel Randalls, and Charles Thorpe, Handbook of the Political Economy of Science. Routledge (à paraître) http://www.davidjhess.org/uploads/3/4/8/1/34811322/routledgehandbpolieconsci.draft.pdfThere are many benefits associated with shifting from an energy system based primarily on fossil fuels to one based on renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) and other low-carbon sources. In addition to the reduction in greenhouse gases, countries and subnational regions can benefit from reduced air pollution, from a more secure energy supply, and from economic development if the new energy sources displace imported energy...