Local Renewable Energy Initiatives in Germany and Japan in a Changing National Policy Environment

Clarifying the relationship between green investment, technological innovation, financial openness, and renewable energy consumption in MINT

The importance of Renewable energy has been well documented in the literature, especially in the nexus of renewable energy-led environmental sustainability. The purpose of the study is to gauge the effects of green investment (GI), technological innovation (TI), and financial Openness (FO) on Renewable Energy Consumption (REC) in MINT for the period 1996-2019. Several econometric tools have been considered in documenting the target nexus, including the panel unit root test following CADF and CIPS, Error correction Cointegration test, CS-ARDL, nonlinear ARDL, and directional causality test by employing the D-H Causality test. The panel unit root test revealed that all the variables become stationary after the first difference. The long-run association in the target model is unveiled with the panel cointegration test. A positive and statistically significant connection regarding FO, TI, and GI coefficients on REC has been exposed. It suggests that the progress in RE development and inclusion in economic activities could be amplified through FO, TI, and GI. Inferring the results of asymmetric valuation, the test statistics of a standard Wald test document asymmetric association in the long run and short run. Furthermore, the coefficients of positive and negative innovation in explanatory variables, i.e., TI, GI, & FO, divulge a positive statistically significant tie to REC, which is valid in long-run and short-run assessment.

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

Community energy is seen as a helping hand for local, decentralized energy transition. Besides the main goal of supporting the community-friendly and socially acceptable development of renewable energies, the hope is also that a pro-environmental influence on sustainability behavior will be triggered when joining a community energy project. An analysis of a survey among 16 community energy projects in Germany, with 565 completed questionnaires, shows that a certain part of the members pays more attention to their energy behavior and develop a more positive attitude towards a decentralized energy transition and citizen participation after joining the community energy project. Therefore, we can empirically support that climate protection projects, such as community energy, influence pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but this does not apply equally to all population groups. Members with higher income and stronger interest in returns are less likely to change their behavior. Based on these findings, we recommend the development of community energy policies that are more responsive to differences in social structure and address both privileged and underprivileged groups in a sophisticated way using specific offers and modes of involvement within the associations.

Factors Influencing the Willingness of Dairy Farmers to Adopt Biogas Plants: A Case Study in Hokkaido, Japan

Intensification of the livestock industry has become environmentally problematic due to the uncontrolled treatment of large amounts of watery manure. One solution is the adoption of biogas plants (BGPs). Hokkaido, Japan, has significant potential for BGP adoption, however, the large financial investments and lack of grid space for selling electricity are barriers. We investigated the relationship between the willingness of farmers to adopt BGPs and their current farming situations. Using a questionnaire survey and multivariate analyses, the results showed that large-scale farmers, particularly those with more than 100 mature cows, were clearly willing to adopt BGPs and expand their businesses in the future, while farmers who planned to downsize their businesses did not exhibit strong willingness to adopt BGPs. In addition, farmers willing to adopt BGPs thought the plants would help solve problems with manure treatment. BGPs might be more accepted by dairy farmers if there were greater incentives for installation given the role BGPs can play in providing stable energy and revitalizing local economies.