Submitted by Sergey Kolesnikov on Mon, 20/02/2023 - 17:02
Two new working papers published today in C-EENRG Research Series discuss future business opportunities for hydrogen technologies and area-based hedonic pricing of urban green amenities.
The first working paper by Sinan Küfeoğlu from the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, presents the results of a horizon scanning exercise for the future business opportunities for hydrogen technologies. Find the full reference, abstract and a PDF download link below.
Reference: S. Küfeoğlu, 2023. “From Hydrogen Hype to Hydrogen Reality: A Horizon Scanning for the Business Opportunities”. C-EENRG Working Papers, 2023-1. pp.1-94. Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance, University of Cambridge. Download PDF.
Abstract: There is growing interest in the hydrogen economy and businesses that deploy hydrogen worldwide. The desire to tackle the adverse effects of climate change, achieve a green transition and deep decarbonisation, ambitious future net-zero targets of numerous countries, increasing pressure for energy security, and being self-reliant are reasons behind this interest. However, hydrogen is not a new phenomenon. Nowadays, many people ask if the hydrogen economy has a future. The answer is not straightforward, as the hydrogen economy has numerous different application areas. The main question is which hydrogen applications can be deployed commercially and which business cases are not viable. This paper investigates 20 prominent hydrogen-related business opportunities and reviews a sample of 64 companies' business models from 18 countries worldwide. The paper aims to highlight which cases are viable now and which ones are likely to be viable in the future. Our aim is to present a broad horizon scanning along the value chain for the global use of hydrogen as a commercial entity. Figure A shows 20 business opportunities directly and indirectly related to the wider hydrogen economy and their viability assessment in the market, where grey indicates high carbon hydrogen, and the rest is low carbon hydrogen. Our initial horizon scanning reveals that majority of the business opportunities lack generating self-sustaining revenues, hence they are away from being mature businesses. In this paper, we listed several observations and remarks specific for each business and their viability.
The second working paper, led by C-EENRG Fellow Zhaoyang Liu and his colleagues Heqing Huang, Dr Juha Siikamäki, and Prof Jintao Xu, discusses area-based hedonic pricing of urban green amenities in Beijing. Find the full reference, abstract and a PDF download link below.
Reference: Z. Liu, H. Huang, J. Siikamäki, J. Xu, 2023, ‘Area-Based Hedonic Pricing of Urban Green Amenities in Beijing: A Spatial Piecewise Approach’. C-EENRG Working Papers, 2023-2. pp.1-43. Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance, University of Cambridge. Download PDF.
Abstract: This study explores a spatial piecewise approach as a means to facilitate the hedonic valuation of per unit area of urban green spaces at different distances from a property. In particular, we adapted the step function and regression spline estimation methods to statistically and visually identify the spatial boundary where green spaces cease to be capitalised into house prices. In comparison, existing literature on the hedonic prices of green spaces, despite being extensive, has mostly focused on the proximity to and views of urban green spaces, instead of the area of green spaces. Yet arguably, the hedonic price of the area of green spaces can be more relevant to cost-benefit analysis for urban land use decision making, which typically concerns a particular area of land. The empirical approach proposed in this study was applied to a rich census dataset collected from Beijing. Our hedonic price estimates are robust to an instrumental variable estimator and a novel matching algorithm that minimises covariate imbalance for a continuous treatment variable (the area of green spaces).
