Search

Evidence is lacking on how inequality in homeowner uptake of solar panels has changed over time. This paper assesses changes in inequality over time using four Australian household surveys from 2012 to 2020. There is evidence of an intuitive transition where average uptake for homeowners with net-wealth just below the median (the fourth and fifth deciles) improved first, with subsequent gains for homeowners in the third net-wealth decile. However, there were still some significant shortfalls by 2020, especially for the first (i.e. lowest) net-wealth decile. In particular, the lowest net-wealth decile had lower uptake by 9.4 percentage points in 2012 and there was a similar gap below the highest decile of 10.6 percentage points in 2019–20. With control variables these corresponding gaps were 8.0 and 8.3 percentage points respectively. Inequality and changes have been less pronounced based on other aspects like education, income, and welfare status. A new policy implication is that Australian support should primarily target the bottom two net-wealth deciles among homeowners. Australia's experience can inform policies for other countries and clean energy technologies. The general implication is that policy approaches should be dynamic and detailed to address inequality changes over time in each context. • We assess the changes in solar-uptake distributions for Australian homeowners. • Changes in solar uptake inequality are most pronounced with respect to net wealth. • Persistent inequality exists for the lowest net-wealth decile from 2012 to 2020. • Deciles 3 to 5 had higher solar uptake following 2012, relative to other deciles. • Policies should be dynamic to account for distributional changes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Optimization model for the integrated assessment of the green ammonia value chain. • Case study for ammonia trade between Australia and Germany in 2030. • Sensitivity analysis on ammonia prices for technical and economic parameters. • Cost comparison of conventional and green ammonia production. This paper contributes to understanding the transformation of global energy trade to green energy carriers, focusing on green ammonia as the foreseeable first green hydrogen carrier. We provide a comprehensive overview of today's ammonia trade and assess scaling options for the trade of green ammonia. To that aim, we develop an optimization model for the integrated assessment of the green ammonia value chain that covers all steps from green ammonia production in an exporting country, up to delivery to a harbor in an importing country. The model endogenously chooses among different technology options and determines cost minimal operation. In a case study, we apply the model to the large-scale import of ammonia from Australia to Germany in a scenario for 2030. The results show that green ammonia can reach cost parity with gray ammonia even for moderate gas prices (but not necessarily with blue ammonia) if CO 2 prices are high enough. We also provide a sensitivity analysis with respect to the interest rate and other key technical and economic parameters and show that cracking ammonia to provide pure hydrogen comes at a 45 % cost markup per MWh at the destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]