Engines for sustainability. Horsepower prices, capital substitution and energy transition in the long run
Research project
The main goal of this project is to estimate how machinery & equipment in the long run affected energy transitions.
The project focus on former and contemporary peripheral economies, were macro analysis are linked to a historical analysis of the energy transition in the Swedish iron industry.
Project overview
Project period:
2017-07-01 –
2019-12-31
Funding
Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius Stiftelse, Tore Browaldhs Stiftelse, Handelsbanken
Cristian Ducoing Ruiz, Department of Economic History, Lund University
Project description
The aim of this two and half years project is to estimate the influence of capital stock in machinery & equipment on energy transitions pace, extracting useful insights for our current environmental challenges. The research will focus in three specific and interconnected areas: a) machinery and horsepower prices in Sweden and their relation with modern energy carriers (1850 - 1939), b) the iron and steel sector in Sweden and the role played by capital stocks in the shift from organic fuels (wood, water, charcoal) to fossil fuels (mainly coal) and then to hydroelectricity and c) a macro level analysis on the interdependence between capital stocks and energy in the former and current periphery (Scandinavia, Japan, Latin America and South Africa). For the analysis of these three issues we will use official statistics and unexplored archive material.
