Search

Time-of-use pricing in retail electricity markets implies that wholesale market scarcity becomes easily communicated to end consumers. Yet, it is not well-understood if and how the price formation process in retail electricity markets will help to reward the demand for operational flexibility due to growth in intermittent generation. To contribute to this discussion, this paper develops a partial equilibrium model of the retail electricity market calibrated to Chinese data. The paper finds that tariffs in this market may not be significantly suppressed by growth in near-zero costs renewable sources when controlling for flexibility restrictions on thermal generation assets and when a significant curtailment of variable renewable resources exists in the market. In addition, it shows that the price formation process in retail electricity markets which controls for flexibility restrictions on thermal generation while allowing for consumers to respond slowly to price changes is a feasible strategy to reward the demand for operational flexibility. Finally, the paper reveals that while integrating intermittent generation beyond levels which the available storage capacities can accommodate may result in losses to producers, benefits to consumers may offset these losses, leading to overall welfare gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) and SDG 13 together requires a holistic and integrated approach to simultaneously address the challenges of clean energy and climate action. In order to find integrated policy strategies, this study offers a comparative analysis using the case of China and the world regarding energy access, energy intensity, clean cooking, renewable energy, global warming gases, and investment in energy by the private sector to advance SDGs 7 and 13, applying a principal component regression (PCR) and forecasting models for the period 1990 to 2021. Overall, these findings indicate that China is making significant progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. This progress is evident in the notable variations observed in key variables such as access to clean cooking solutions, private sector investments in energy, renewable energy generation, and enhanced energy efficiency. In contrast, the global landscape exhibits only minimal fluctuations in these aspects within its framework. The PCR proves that all the components are significant regarding China, whereas, for the world, seven components are significant out of eight. Furthermore, the global temperature projection indicates that the world is nearing the 1-degree Celsius threshold, with the current temperature standing at 0.558 degrees Celsius. This suggests that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 remains attainable. Notably, China's projected average temperature for 2030 is 7.2 degrees Celsius, marking a 12% decrease from the 2021 temperature level. This trajectory aligns with China's commitment to achieving the 1.5-degree Celsius target by 2030. This study makes a valuable contribution to the field of energy transition, offering insights into the path to maintaining global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius as stipulated by the Paris Agreement by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acceptability and perception of the COVID-19 vaccine among different social groups have been the subject of several studies. However, little is known about foreign medical students in Chinese universities., Aim: This study, therefore, fills the literature gap using a focus group technique to assess the acceptance and perception of the COVID-19 vaccine among foreign medical students in China., Methods: The study adopted an online cross-sectional survey method following the Chinese universities' lockdowns to collect the data between March and April 2022. A data collection questionnaire was developed, and then the link was shared with the respondents through key informants in different universities in China to obtain the data. The data collection process only included foreign medical students who were in China from May 2021 to April 2022. The authors received a total of 403 responses from the respondents. During data processing, we excluded 17 respondents since they were not in China while administering the questionnaire to enhance the data validity. The authors then coded the remaining 386 respondents for the estimation process. We finally applied the multilinear logistics regression technique to model the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance with the response or influencing factors, including the mediating factors among the foreign medical students in China., Results: The data statistics show that 4.9% of the respondents were younger than 20 years, 91.5% were 20-40 years old, and 3.6% were older than 40 years; 36.3% of respondents were female subjects and 63.7% were male subjects. The results also show that the respondents are from six continents, including the African continent, 72.4%, Asia 17.4%, 3.1% from Europe, 2.8% from North America, 1.6% from Australia, and 2.3% from South America. The mediation analysis for the gender variable (β = 0.235, p = 0.002) suggests that gender is a significant channel in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and perception among foreign medical students in China. Also, the main analysis shows that opinion on the safety of the vaccine (β = 0.081, p = 0.043), doses of the vaccine to receive (β = 0.175, p = 0.001), vaccine safety with some side effects (β = 0.15, p = 0.000), and the possibility of acquiring COVID-19 after vaccination (β = 0.062, p = 0.040) are all positive factors influencing vaccine acceptability and perception. Also, the home continent (β = -0.062, p = 0.071) is a negative factor influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and perception. Furthermore, the finding shows that fear perceptions has affected 200 (51.81%) respondents. The medical students feared that the vaccines might result in future implications such as infertility, impotence, and systemic health conditions such as cardiovascular, respiratory, or deep vein thrombosis. In addition, 186 (48.19%) students feared that the vaccines were intended to shorten life expectancy., Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination acceptability and perception among medical students in China is high, most predominantly due to their knowledge of medicine composition formulation. Despite widespread acceptance by the general public and private stakeholders, we concluded that vaccination resistance remains a significant factor among medical students and trainees. The study further adds that in considering the COVID-19 vaccine, the factor of the home continent plays a significant role in vaccine hesitancy among foreign medical students. Also, knowledge, information, and education are important pillars confronting new medicine administered among medical trainees. Finally, there is a low rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among foreign medical students in China. The study, therefore, recommends targeted policy strategies, including sensitization, detailed public information, and education, especially for medical colleges and institutions on the COVID-19 vaccination, to achieve 100%. Furthermore, the study recommends that future researchers explore other factors influencing accurate information and education for successful COVID-19 vaccination implementation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Arthur, Dong, Abudu, Li, Munthali, Zhang, Zhang, Han, Ogbordjor, Dormocara, Ja, Zhang, Zhang and Huangfu.)