john a. mathews | Macquarie University (original) (raw)

Papers by john a. mathews

Research paper thumbnail of The Evolving Nature of Taiwan's National Innovation System: The Case of Biotechnology Innovation Networks

Research Policy, Jan 1, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of The Greening of China’s Black Electric Power System? Insights from 2014 Data

While China’s energy system is still largely a “black” system depending on fossil fuel inputs, th... more While China’s energy system is still largely a “black” system depending on fossil fuel inputs, the electric power system is greening at the margins. We demonstrate, using 2014 data on additions to China’s electric power system, that the system is greening at the point of change – with powerful implications for the future of the country’s energy profile. We utilize three lines of argument: first, utilizing data for electric energy generated, where we show that China actually generated less energy from thermal sources in 2014 than in 2013, while increasing generation from water, wind and solar; second, examining capacity additions, we show that new capacity in water, wind and solar (WWS) exceeded new capacity for thermal; and third, in terms of investment. We argue that such data rebut claims made that China is getting blacker while its greening efforts remain small and insubstantial, or that China will become dependent on nuclear power rather than hydro, wind and solar as it cleans its energy system.

Research paper thumbnail of Are the land and other resources required for total substitution of fossil fuel power systems impossibly large? Evidence from concentrating solar power and China

The task of substituting the entire global fossil-fuelled energy system by renewables is increasi... more The task of substituting the entire global fossil-fuelled energy system by renewables is increasingly discussed in the energy literature, but in the social sciences academy it is widely viewed as impossibly large within any meaningful timeframe. In this article we argue that such pessimism is ill-founded. Taking as our starting point the material and energy requirements of existing operating systems such as the Shams1 Concentrating Solar Power plant, we scale these up to generate the real resource demands of a renewable energy system to supply the entire planet -- and find these to be feasible, particularly if it is China that takes on the manufacturing challenge. We argue that such results need to be promoted more vigorously by energy and carbon management scholars.

Research paper thumbnail of Exempt green tech from trade rules

Research paper thumbnail of Manufacture renewables to build energy security

Research paper thumbnail of A 10 trillion "Big Push' to decarbonize the world's electric power

There is increasing interest in mapping out how the world can move to a low-carbon energy system.... more There is increasing interest in mapping out how the world can move to a low-carbon energy system. We take the water, wind and solar (WWS) program of Jacobson and Delucchi as our starting point and examine in detail the technology and resource commitments needed to implement a WWS strategy. We recharacterize the approach as one that sees the world making a 10 TW 'Big Push' between 2010 and 2030, culminating in a global electric power system rated at 11.5 TW, where additions are 100% renewable. Our specifi c proposals are for a global power system to be constructed by 2030 consisting of 3 million wind turbines rated at an average of 6.5 MW each, 12,500 solar PV installations rated at 400 MW each. 14,000 CSP installations rated at 400 MW each and 1000 hydroelectric installations rated at 1.3 GW each. This gives a theoretical capacity of 10 TW of extra power needed (and an installed capacity of just over 30 TW), all achieved through manufacturing. We sketch the land and physical resources required to reach such a goal and a plausible pathway by which this could be achieved.

Research paper thumbnail of China’s Continuing Renewable Energy Revolution: Global Implications  邁進する再生可能エネルギー革命 世界的意味合い

The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 12, No. 3, March 24, 2014, Mar 24, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Germany's Energierwende: What have we learned so far?

Research paper thumbnail of The renewable energies technology surge: A new techno-economic paradigm in the making?

Futures, Feb 13, 2013

Despite discussion of a ‘carbon lock-in’ and techno-institutional barriers to change, energy stud... more Despite discussion of a ‘carbon lock-in’ and techno-institutional barriers to change, energy studies have had little serious contact with neo-Schumpeterian theorizing on technological ‘surges’ of creative destruction, which have characterized the entire industrial era from the 1770s on. In this paper a way is offered to link the current surge in renewable energy investment to the theorizing over long (Kondratiev) waves and techno-economic paradigm shifts. The paper argues that the current renewable energy surge can be best comprehended as a secondary surge in the fifth long K-wave, coinciding with the shift from gestation to installation of a new sixth techno-economic paradigm within the matrix of the fifth. It is argued that this emergent 6th paradigm is a continuation and fulfilment of the 5th, where IT and ICT are applied to the electric power grid, and that both are in conflict with the still-incumbent 4th paradigm based on fossil fuels and centralized power generation. The emergent 6th paradigm is driven by the technology surge associated with renewable energies, particularly in China where the investment is most intense and the falling costs are driving market expansion. It portends a renewable energy speculative financial boom and bubble which could burst sometime in the period 2015 to 2020, ushering in a period of sustained development of renewables and energy-efficiency services by productive rather than financial capital.

Research paper thumbnail of Green growth strategy: Korean initiatives

Research paper thumbnail of Green growth strategies: Korean and Chinese initiatives

Research paper thumbnail of Design of industrial organizational architectures: Economic growth and sustainability

Journal of Organizational design, 2012

Abstract: The scope of organization design has expanded steadily from work-flow issues and job sp... more Abstract: The scope of organization design has expanded steadily from work-flow issues and job specifications to firm-level considerations and now to supra-firm industrial structures, where such issues as modularity and clustering loom large. Economic analysis has made little headway in analyzing how increasing returns may be generated through supra-firm structures such as networks and clusters, nor in the question of how their industrial architecture (modular vs. integral, open vs. closed) affects economic performance. The focus here is on the supra-firm industrial architectures that have arisen, either spontaneously through the evolution of capitalism or through purposeful design, involving both state and private actors. Striking cases such as the Chinese automotive industry, which started with the production of conventional automobiles and motorcycles, and now encompasses both two-wheeled and four-wheeled electric vehicles, provide testimony to the power of some industrial configurations to outperform others. My analyses and arguments are placed in the global context of the urgent need to find ways to accelerate the uptake of green technologies (such as electric vehicles) in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time promote the industrialization of countries still at lower levels of income and wealth.

Keywords: Industry architecture; organization design; modularity; industrial clusters; integrality; Chinese automotive industry; electric vehicles; electric two-wheeled vehicles

Research paper thumbnail of The Asian Super Grid

Asia pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Nov 2012

Research paper thumbnail of China's energy industrial revolution (Part 1)

Asia pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Dec 2012

Research paper thumbnail of China’s Energy Industrial Revolution (Part II)

Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Jan 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The transformation of the electric power sector in China

Energy policy, 2013

China’s industrial transformation of the past thirty years, when its GDP has been increasing by a... more China’s industrial transformation of the past thirty years, when its GDP has been increasing by an average of 10% per year, has been underpinned by an energy industrial revolution. Electrical energy is the driver of this transformation, with China utilizing latecomer advantages in building an electrical energy generation machine of prodigious size. In terms of electrical energy generated, China’s system has expanded twelvefold in 30 years, from 280 TWh in 1980 to over 3,500 TWh in 2010. In this paper we describe the principal features of this remarkable transformation, examining the official projections to 2020, the semi-official projections to 2050, and offering our own projections based on observed logistic industrial dynamics for the uptake of renewable energies as well as the continuing role to be played by fossil fuels, particularly coal. We emphasize the role to be played by China’s construction of a ‘strong and smart’ electric power grid, as envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan released in March 2011, and the complementary proposals to build a national high speed rail system. We see China as on track to phase out fossil fuels altogether in its power production system by the end of the century. We develop an argument as to why it might be expected that fossil fuel utilization will decline while renewable energy utilization might increase in China, constituting a genuine energy industrial revolution.

Keywords: China; electric power; logistic industrial dynamics; smart grid

Research paper thumbnail of Enhancing the role of universities in building national innovative capacity in Asia: the case of Taiwan

World Development, Jan 1, 2007

Taiwan has already demonstrated how a Newly Industrializing Economy can build an export-oriented ... more Taiwan has already demonstrated how a Newly Industrializing Economy can build an export-oriented manufacturing system driven by catch-up strategies linked to knowledge leverage via public institutions. In the 1990s, Taiwan moved toward building its innovative capacity, and in the 2000s it is drastically upgrading the role of universities in providing fundamental R&D, in acting as incubators of new, knowledge-based firms, and in building the country's innovative potential through IP protection and commercializing activities. This study examines how these new approaches are being implemented in three universities, in National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU)-both located in the Hsinchu high-tech belt-and National Taiwan University (NTU) located in the Taipei metropolitan area, as well as in the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). ITRI has been the engine that drives Taiwan's technological upgrading, and continues its role through new emphases on patenting and entrepreneurial technology transfer.

Research paper thumbnail of The evolving nature of Taiwan's national innovation system: The case of biotechnology innovation networks

Research Policy, Jan 1, 2008

The dynamics of national innovation systems (NISs) are a source of considerable academic and poli... more The dynamics of national innovation systems (NISs) are a source of considerable academic and policy interest, especially when to address new competitive challenges they involve changing institutions and relationships within successful systems. This paper examines the case of Taiwan which is embarking on a new phase in its approach to building its national innovative capacity through creating the infrastructure for a biotechnology industry. By examining the process and mechanisms by which new biotechnology innovation networks are being created, and contrasting their development with existing networks, we analyse the dynamics of Taiwan's NIS. The paper reviews the prospects for this new phase in Taiwan's transition from 'imitation' to 'innovation'. The paper aims to add to the understanding of how innovation systems evolve. It is concerned with the contributors, processes and challenges of NIS evolution and the form and meaning of its dynamic changes.

Research paper thumbnail of Biofuels and indirect land use change effects: the debate continues

Biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining, Jan 1, 2009

While debate on biofuels and bioenergy generally has sparked controversy over claimed greenhouse ... more While debate on biofuels and bioenergy generally has sparked controversy over claimed greenhouse gas emissions benefi ts available with a switch to biomass, these claims have generally not taken into account indirect land use changes. Carbon emissions from land that is newly planted with biocrops, after land use changes such as deforestation, are certainly real -but efforts to measure them have been presented subject to severe qualifi cations. No such qualifi cations accompanied the paper by Searchinger et al. published in Science in February 2008, where the claim was made that a spike of ethanol consumption in the USA up to the year 2016 would divert corn grown in the USA and lead to new plantings of grain crops around the world to make up the shortfall, resulting in land use changes covering 10.8 million hectares and leading to the release of 3.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating private transport into renewable energy policy: The strategy of creating intelligent recharging grids for electric vehicles

Energy Policy, Jan 1, 2009

... 3.1. Grid management II: electric vehicles as mobile generating devices (vehicle-to ... many ... more ... 3.1. Grid management II: electric vehicles as mobile generating devices (vehicle-to ... many other advantages, including catalyzing the introduction of intelligent power grids more ... power plants as part of a decentralized and distributed power generation system; the experimentation ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Evolving Nature of Taiwan's National Innovation System: The Case of Biotechnology Innovation Networks

Research Policy, Jan 1, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of The Greening of China’s Black Electric Power System? Insights from 2014 Data

While China’s energy system is still largely a “black” system depending on fossil fuel inputs, th... more While China’s energy system is still largely a “black” system depending on fossil fuel inputs, the electric power system is greening at the margins. We demonstrate, using 2014 data on additions to China’s electric power system, that the system is greening at the point of change – with powerful implications for the future of the country’s energy profile. We utilize three lines of argument: first, utilizing data for electric energy generated, where we show that China actually generated less energy from thermal sources in 2014 than in 2013, while increasing generation from water, wind and solar; second, examining capacity additions, we show that new capacity in water, wind and solar (WWS) exceeded new capacity for thermal; and third, in terms of investment. We argue that such data rebut claims made that China is getting blacker while its greening efforts remain small and insubstantial, or that China will become dependent on nuclear power rather than hydro, wind and solar as it cleans its energy system.

Research paper thumbnail of Are the land and other resources required for total substitution of fossil fuel power systems impossibly large? Evidence from concentrating solar power and China

The task of substituting the entire global fossil-fuelled energy system by renewables is increasi... more The task of substituting the entire global fossil-fuelled energy system by renewables is increasingly discussed in the energy literature, but in the social sciences academy it is widely viewed as impossibly large within any meaningful timeframe. In this article we argue that such pessimism is ill-founded. Taking as our starting point the material and energy requirements of existing operating systems such as the Shams1 Concentrating Solar Power plant, we scale these up to generate the real resource demands of a renewable energy system to supply the entire planet -- and find these to be feasible, particularly if it is China that takes on the manufacturing challenge. We argue that such results need to be promoted more vigorously by energy and carbon management scholars.

Research paper thumbnail of Exempt green tech from trade rules

Research paper thumbnail of Manufacture renewables to build energy security

Research paper thumbnail of A 10 trillion "Big Push' to decarbonize the world's electric power

There is increasing interest in mapping out how the world can move to a low-carbon energy system.... more There is increasing interest in mapping out how the world can move to a low-carbon energy system. We take the water, wind and solar (WWS) program of Jacobson and Delucchi as our starting point and examine in detail the technology and resource commitments needed to implement a WWS strategy. We recharacterize the approach as one that sees the world making a 10 TW 'Big Push' between 2010 and 2030, culminating in a global electric power system rated at 11.5 TW, where additions are 100% renewable. Our specifi c proposals are for a global power system to be constructed by 2030 consisting of 3 million wind turbines rated at an average of 6.5 MW each, 12,500 solar PV installations rated at 400 MW each. 14,000 CSP installations rated at 400 MW each and 1000 hydroelectric installations rated at 1.3 GW each. This gives a theoretical capacity of 10 TW of extra power needed (and an installed capacity of just over 30 TW), all achieved through manufacturing. We sketch the land and physical resources required to reach such a goal and a plausible pathway by which this could be achieved.

Research paper thumbnail of China’s Continuing Renewable Energy Revolution: Global Implications  邁進する再生可能エネルギー革命 世界的意味合い

The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 12, No. 3, March 24, 2014, Mar 24, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Germany's Energierwende: What have we learned so far?

Research paper thumbnail of The renewable energies technology surge: A new techno-economic paradigm in the making?

Futures, Feb 13, 2013

Despite discussion of a ‘carbon lock-in’ and techno-institutional barriers to change, energy stud... more Despite discussion of a ‘carbon lock-in’ and techno-institutional barriers to change, energy studies have had little serious contact with neo-Schumpeterian theorizing on technological ‘surges’ of creative destruction, which have characterized the entire industrial era from the 1770s on. In this paper a way is offered to link the current surge in renewable energy investment to the theorizing over long (Kondratiev) waves and techno-economic paradigm shifts. The paper argues that the current renewable energy surge can be best comprehended as a secondary surge in the fifth long K-wave, coinciding with the shift from gestation to installation of a new sixth techno-economic paradigm within the matrix of the fifth. It is argued that this emergent 6th paradigm is a continuation and fulfilment of the 5th, where IT and ICT are applied to the electric power grid, and that both are in conflict with the still-incumbent 4th paradigm based on fossil fuels and centralized power generation. The emergent 6th paradigm is driven by the technology surge associated with renewable energies, particularly in China where the investment is most intense and the falling costs are driving market expansion. It portends a renewable energy speculative financial boom and bubble which could burst sometime in the period 2015 to 2020, ushering in a period of sustained development of renewables and energy-efficiency services by productive rather than financial capital.

Research paper thumbnail of Green growth strategy: Korean initiatives

Research paper thumbnail of Green growth strategies: Korean and Chinese initiatives

Research paper thumbnail of Design of industrial organizational architectures: Economic growth and sustainability

Journal of Organizational design, 2012

Abstract: The scope of organization design has expanded steadily from work-flow issues and job sp... more Abstract: The scope of organization design has expanded steadily from work-flow issues and job specifications to firm-level considerations and now to supra-firm industrial structures, where such issues as modularity and clustering loom large. Economic analysis has made little headway in analyzing how increasing returns may be generated through supra-firm structures such as networks and clusters, nor in the question of how their industrial architecture (modular vs. integral, open vs. closed) affects economic performance. The focus here is on the supra-firm industrial architectures that have arisen, either spontaneously through the evolution of capitalism or through purposeful design, involving both state and private actors. Striking cases such as the Chinese automotive industry, which started with the production of conventional automobiles and motorcycles, and now encompasses both two-wheeled and four-wheeled electric vehicles, provide testimony to the power of some industrial configurations to outperform others. My analyses and arguments are placed in the global context of the urgent need to find ways to accelerate the uptake of green technologies (such as electric vehicles) in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time promote the industrialization of countries still at lower levels of income and wealth.

Keywords: Industry architecture; organization design; modularity; industrial clusters; integrality; Chinese automotive industry; electric vehicles; electric two-wheeled vehicles

Research paper thumbnail of The Asian Super Grid

Asia pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Nov 2012

Research paper thumbnail of China's energy industrial revolution (Part 1)

Asia pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Dec 2012

Research paper thumbnail of China’s Energy Industrial Revolution (Part II)

Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, Jan 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The transformation of the electric power sector in China

Energy policy, 2013

China’s industrial transformation of the past thirty years, when its GDP has been increasing by a... more China’s industrial transformation of the past thirty years, when its GDP has been increasing by an average of 10% per year, has been underpinned by an energy industrial revolution. Electrical energy is the driver of this transformation, with China utilizing latecomer advantages in building an electrical energy generation machine of prodigious size. In terms of electrical energy generated, China’s system has expanded twelvefold in 30 years, from 280 TWh in 1980 to over 3,500 TWh in 2010. In this paper we describe the principal features of this remarkable transformation, examining the official projections to 2020, the semi-official projections to 2050, and offering our own projections based on observed logistic industrial dynamics for the uptake of renewable energies as well as the continuing role to be played by fossil fuels, particularly coal. We emphasize the role to be played by China’s construction of a ‘strong and smart’ electric power grid, as envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan released in March 2011, and the complementary proposals to build a national high speed rail system. We see China as on track to phase out fossil fuels altogether in its power production system by the end of the century. We develop an argument as to why it might be expected that fossil fuel utilization will decline while renewable energy utilization might increase in China, constituting a genuine energy industrial revolution.

Keywords: China; electric power; logistic industrial dynamics; smart grid

Research paper thumbnail of Enhancing the role of universities in building national innovative capacity in Asia: the case of Taiwan

World Development, Jan 1, 2007

Taiwan has already demonstrated how a Newly Industrializing Economy can build an export-oriented ... more Taiwan has already demonstrated how a Newly Industrializing Economy can build an export-oriented manufacturing system driven by catch-up strategies linked to knowledge leverage via public institutions. In the 1990s, Taiwan moved toward building its innovative capacity, and in the 2000s it is drastically upgrading the role of universities in providing fundamental R&D, in acting as incubators of new, knowledge-based firms, and in building the country's innovative potential through IP protection and commercializing activities. This study examines how these new approaches are being implemented in three universities, in National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU)-both located in the Hsinchu high-tech belt-and National Taiwan University (NTU) located in the Taipei metropolitan area, as well as in the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). ITRI has been the engine that drives Taiwan's technological upgrading, and continues its role through new emphases on patenting and entrepreneurial technology transfer.

Research paper thumbnail of The evolving nature of Taiwan's national innovation system: The case of biotechnology innovation networks

Research Policy, Jan 1, 2008

The dynamics of national innovation systems (NISs) are a source of considerable academic and poli... more The dynamics of national innovation systems (NISs) are a source of considerable academic and policy interest, especially when to address new competitive challenges they involve changing institutions and relationships within successful systems. This paper examines the case of Taiwan which is embarking on a new phase in its approach to building its national innovative capacity through creating the infrastructure for a biotechnology industry. By examining the process and mechanisms by which new biotechnology innovation networks are being created, and contrasting their development with existing networks, we analyse the dynamics of Taiwan's NIS. The paper reviews the prospects for this new phase in Taiwan's transition from 'imitation' to 'innovation'. The paper aims to add to the understanding of how innovation systems evolve. It is concerned with the contributors, processes and challenges of NIS evolution and the form and meaning of its dynamic changes.

Research paper thumbnail of Biofuels and indirect land use change effects: the debate continues

Biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining, Jan 1, 2009

While debate on biofuels and bioenergy generally has sparked controversy over claimed greenhouse ... more While debate on biofuels and bioenergy generally has sparked controversy over claimed greenhouse gas emissions benefi ts available with a switch to biomass, these claims have generally not taken into account indirect land use changes. Carbon emissions from land that is newly planted with biocrops, after land use changes such as deforestation, are certainly real -but efforts to measure them have been presented subject to severe qualifi cations. No such qualifi cations accompanied the paper by Searchinger et al. published in Science in February 2008, where the claim was made that a spike of ethanol consumption in the USA up to the year 2016 would divert corn grown in the USA and lead to new plantings of grain crops around the world to make up the shortfall, resulting in land use changes covering 10.8 million hectares and leading to the release of 3.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating private transport into renewable energy policy: The strategy of creating intelligent recharging grids for electric vehicles

Energy Policy, Jan 1, 2009

... 3.1. Grid management II: electric vehicles as mobile generating devices (vehicle-to ... many ... more ... 3.1. Grid management II: electric vehicles as mobile generating devices (vehicle-to ... many other advantages, including catalyzing the introduction of intelligent power grids more ... power plants as part of a decentralized and distributed power generation system; the experimentation ...