Romeo Danielis is professor of Applied Economics at the University of Trieste. He has taught Regional Economics, Transport Economics and Logistics, Industrial Economics and Policy and Applied Microeconomics. He chaired the Italian Economics Society of Transportation and Logistics (SIET), directed the la Rivista di economia e politica dei trasporti, has been Managing Editor of the international Journal Trasporti Europei\European Transport. He is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Lecture: DECARBONISING TRANSPORT: TRENDS AND POLICIES
Decarbonising transport is the accepted goal at European and national level. It is still under debate whether and how it could be achieved. The presentation will review the classical Avoid-Shift-Improve policies, with a focus on vehicle electrification (i.e., an Improve policy) given its potential to drastically reduce global and local emissions. In order to spur vehicle electrification four strategies are promising: the research, the industrial, the transport users’ and the policy strategy. The main elements of each strategy will be illustrated with special attention to the available policy tools (i.e. mandates, standards, fiscal policies, emissions trading schemes, tariffs), identifying their pros and cons.
Lecture: THE ELECTRICITY MARKET: DESIGN AND EFFICIENCY
Electric power is a cornerstone of our daily life, and it will be increasingly so as electric vehicles and heat pumps gain market acceptance. Yet, it is highly problematic to produce and manage it efficiently, given its characteristics such as the need to constantly balance supply and demand, the difficulty to store it, the high infrastructural costs of the transmission lines and the existence of alternative energy sources (i.e., hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, coal, oil, gas, etc.). Moreover, the electric power sector is the one contributing the most to CO2 emissions. The presentation will illustrate how the electric market works with a focus on two main issues: how the alternative electric power sources are selected and priced and how the electricity markets are designed to efficiently provide a constant balance between supply and demand. The discussion of the topic necessitates an understanding of the electric power industry (i.e., the integrated vs the decentralized model), of the role of public bodies (the transmission system operator, the electric market manager and the regulator), and the impact of the public policies.