Universität zu Köln

Kruse, Jürgen (2016). Empirical Essays on Energy, the Environment, and Innovation. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

The thesis at hand aims to improve the understanding of green energy innovation. In three interrelated essays it applies empirical methods to analyze two main aspects of green energy innovation: its determinants and its impact on firm performance. The first essay empirically investigates the effect of energy prices and technological knowledge on innovation in green energy technologies. The analysis is conducted using patent data from the European Patent Office on a panel of 26 OECD countries over the 1978 to 2009 period. The results indicate that the existing stock of knowledge is the main determinant of innovation in green energy technologies. Furthermore, the results reveal significant differences across technologies in that energy prices have a positive impact on innovation for some but not all green energy technologies. The second essay empirically examines the determinants of clean coal innovation. The analysis builds on a panel of 3,648 firms that filed 7,894 clean coal patents across 55 patent offices over the 1978 to 2009 period. The results indicate that energy prices have a negative impact on innovation in after pollution control technologies, but do not affect innovation in efficiency improving combustion technologies. Moreover, evidence of a strong relationship between environmental regulation of emissions from coal-fired power plants and clean coal innovation is found. The third essay empirically analyzes and compares the impact of innovation in green and non-green energy technologies on the economic performance of firms. The analysis is based on a panel of 8,619 patenting firms including 968 green energy patenters from 22 European countries over an estimation period from 2003 to 2010. The results show that green energy innovation has a statistically significant negative impact on economic firm performance. In contrast, non-green energy innovation is found to have a statistically significant positive impact on economic firm performance.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Kruse, Jürgen juergen.kruse@icloud.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-68508
Date:	30 June 2016
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Weitere Institute, Arbeits- und Forschungsgruppen > Staatswissenschaftliches Seminar
Subjects:	Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language green energy technologies English innovation English technological change English patents English performance English
Date of oral exam:	16 June 2016
Referee:	Name Academic Title Bettzüge, Marc Oliver Prof. Dr. Growitsch, Christian PD Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/6850