Moving towards sustainable development: environmental valuation and policies in Chile

智利正在执行有关能源和环境的新政策。2050年的主要目标之一是至少70%的能源是可再生能源（Ministerio de Energia，2015）。为了实现这一目标，一项新的法律规定，用户可以将可再生能源发电机接入电网，并以规定的价格将多余的电力出售给能源分配公司。减少空气污染的努力，比如为节能取暖器提供补贴，几乎没有取得进展。环境舒适度的评估有助于决策者的决策过程。最近，环境经济学文献中出现了一种新的环境舒适度评估方法：生活满意度方法（LSA）。LSA使用个人对生活满意度的数据作为主观幸福感水平的衡量标准，以评估环境设施。有限数量的论文应用LSA来评估空气污染水平的降低。这些研究都没有只关注发展中国家，也没有对LSA产生的结果进行广泛的理论分析，也没有对所做的假设以及它们如何影响所获得的结果进行广泛的理论分析。智利的幸福与空气污染研究问题：在发展中国家，人们愿意为较低水平的空气污染买单吗？方法学：主观幸福感，空气污染，气候和个人层面的调查数据将被用来估计支付意愿使用LSA和纳入计量经济学分析的空间成分。该项目将对文献中以往的估计进行比较分析，重点是发达国家。预期结果：智利不同地区和气候带之间的支付意愿可能不同，与发达国家相比，支付意愿较小。环境评估方法的比较：智利北方洪水案例RQ：在理论和经验层面上，LSA产生的结果与传统环境评估方法相比如何？M：该项目将详细描述和比较LSA和显示和陈述偏好模型所依据的理论基础，重点是为获得每种方法的支付意愿表达而做出的假设。实证研究将评估最近洪水对智利北方一个城市的影响。该项目将使用每种方法在可比样本中估计为减少洪水风险而支付的平均意愿3.ER：LSA在理论和经验层面上与陈述偏好和揭示偏好的模型相比，产生了不同的支付意愿估计，因为它基于与传统环境评估方法不同的假设。连接到电网：智利净计费的经济效益RQ：家庭采用并网可再生能源系统的短期和中期经济效益是什么？M：智利净计费的经济效益分析，从Pillai等人（2014）提出的方法开始，该方法使用温度和太阳辐射数据来获得发电潜力，以估计光伏板的经济效益。该项目将通过包括风力、大气压力、涡轮机位置的海拔以及其他因素对风力涡轮机潜在能量产生的影响来扩展这一点。这将迫使采用高度详细的地理参考数据来分析国内风力涡轮机潜在经济效益的新方法。ER：由于初始成本，并网可再生能源系统在短期内的经济效益很小或为零，但从长远来看，这些成本被超过，对家庭有积极的经济效益。

New policies are being implemented in Chile regarding energy and environment. One of the main goals for year 2050 is that at least 70% of energy is renewable (Ministerio de Energia, 2015). To reach this, a new law states that customers can connect their renewable energy generators to the grid and sell surplus to the energy distribution company at a regulated price.Efforts to reduce air pollution, such as subsidies for energy-efficient heaters, have made little headway. The valuation of environmental amenities can contribute to the decision-making process of policymaker. A new method for the valuation of environmental amenities has recently appeared in the environmental economics literature: the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA). LSA uses data on an individual's satisfaction with life in general as a measure of subjective wellbeing levels to value environmental amenities. A limited number of papers have applied LSA to value reductions in air pollution levels. None of these solely focused on developing countries, and there has not been an extensive theoretical analysis of the results LSA yields nor of the assumptions made and how they shape the results obtained.1. Happiness and air pollution in ChileResearch question: What is the willingness to pay for lower levels of air pollution in a developing country?Methodology: Data of subjective wellbeing, air pollution, climate, and individual-level survey data will be used to estimate the willingness to pay using LSA and incorporating spatial components into the econometric analysis. The project will perform a comparative analysis with respect to previous estimations available in the literature, which focus on developed countries.Expected results: The willingness to pay likely to be heterogeneous between different regions and climate zones of Chile, and smaller in comparison to developed countries.2. Comparing methods of environmental valuation: the case of floods in northern ChileRQ: How do the results yielded by LSA compare to those of traditional environmental valuation methods at a theoretical and empirical level?M: This project will meticulously describe and compare the theoretical basis on which LSA and models of revealed and stated preferences are based, with an emphasis on the assumptions made to get a willingness-to-pay expression on each approach. Empirical research will evaluate the effects that recent floods have had in a city in northern Chile. The project will estimate the average willingness to pay for a reduction on the risk of floods using each method in a comparable sample3.ER: LSA yields different estimations of willingness to pay in comparison to models of stated preferences and revealed preferences both at a theoretical and empirical level, because it is based on a different set of assumptions than the traditional environmental valuation methods.3. Connected to the grid: the economic benefits of net billing in ChileRQ: What are the short-term and middle-term economic benefits of adopting a grid-connected renewable energy system for a household?M: Analysis of the economic benefits of net billing in Chile, starting from the methodology proposed by Pillai et al. (2014), which uses temperature and solar radiation data to get the potential of energy generation, in order to estimate the economic benefits of photovoltaic panels. The project will expand this by including the effect that wind, atmospheric pressure, elevation of the location of the turbine and other factors have on potential energy generation of wind turbines.This will compel a new methodology for the analysis of the potential economic benefits of domestic wind turbines with the use of highly-detailed geo-referenced data.ER: Having grid-connected renewable energy systems have a small or null economic benefit on the short term, due to the initial costs, but on a longer term these costs are surpassed and there are positive economic benefits for the household.