Takanori Ida | Searcharxiv

arXiv2024

Net-Zero Energy House-oriented Linear Programming for the Sizing Problem of Photovoltaic Panels and Batteries

The global drive towards carbon neutrality has led to a significant increase in the number of power plants based on renewable energy sources (RES). Concurrently, numerous households are adopting RES to generate their own energy, aiming to decrease both electricity costs and carbon footprints. To support these users, many papers have been devoted to developing optimal investment strategies for residential energy systems. However, there is still a significant gap as these studies often neglect important aspects like carbon neutrality. For this reason, in this paper, we explore the concept of net-zero energy houses (ZEHs) -- houses designed to have an annual net energy consumption around zero -- by presenting a constrained optimization problem to find the optimal number of photovoltaic panels and the optimal size of the battery system for home integration. Solving this constrained optimization problem is difficult due to its nonconvex constraints. Nevertheless, by applying a series of transformations, we reveal that it is possible to find an equivalent linear programming (LP) problem which is computationally tractable. The attainment of ZEH can be tackled by introducing a single constraint in the optimization problem. Additionally, we propose a sharing economy approach to the investment problem, offering a strategy that could potentially reduce investment costs and facilitate the attainment of ZEH more efficiently. Finally, we apply the proposed frameworks to a neighborhood in Japan as a case study, demonstrating the potential for long-term ZEH attainment. The results show that, under the right incentive, users can achieve ZEH, reduce their electricity costs and have a minimal impact on the main grid.

math.OC↗

arXiv2021

Paternalism, Autonomy, or Both? Experimental Evidence from Energy Saving Programs

Identifying who should be treated is a central question in economics. There are two competing approaches to targeting - paternalistic and autonomous. In the paternalistic approach, policymakers optimally target the policy given observable individual characteristics. In contrast, the autonomous approach acknowledges that individuals may possess key unobservable information on heterogeneous policy impacts, and allows them to self-select into treatment. In this paper, we propose a new approach that mixes paternalistic assignment and autonomous choice. Our approach uses individual characteristics and empirical welfare maximization to identify who should be treated, untreated, and decide whether to be treated themselves. We apply this method to design a targeting policy for an energy saving programs using data collected in a randomized field experiment. We show that optimally mixing paternalistic assignments and autonomous choice significantly improves the social welfare gain of the policy. Exploiting random variation generated by the field experiment, we develop a method to estimate average treatment effects for each subgroup of individuals who would make the same autonomous treatment choice. Our estimates confirm that the estimated assignment policy optimally allocates individuals to be treated, untreated, or choose themselves based on the relative merits of paternalistic assignments and autonomous choice for individuals types.

econ.GN↗