The conceptual design and economic evaluation of utility scale SMES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masuda, M.

1986-01-01

The paper reports the result of current Japanese activities in designing and evaluating the economic feasibility of utility Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES). The 5 GWh/1 GW is proposed as a relevant unit of SMES in the year 2000. More than 20 companies, several universities and two national laboratories joined in a task force to study this technology. After three year's assessment, the conclusion on utility scale SMES is that no unresolvable technologies have been found and commercialization potential exists

CO2 emissions and economic development: China's 12th five-year plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meng Ming; Niu Dongxiao; Shang Wei

2012-01-01

For the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), the Chinese government has decided to reconsider and adjust its policies on economic development because of the pressures of CO 2 emissions and fossil energy consumption. The current paper adopts the logarithmic Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model to simulate the relationship between CO 2 emissions and other economic development factors in China. Three groups of outliers are found using samples from 1989 to 2008 and the Partial Least Square (PLS) regularity test method. The outlier analysis reveals three important areas for CO 2 reduction: (a) decreasing the share of coal to the total energy consumption and replacing it with non-fossil energies; (b) controlling vehicles used in the cities as well as (c) adjusting industrial structure. Furthermore, based on the social and economic realities of China, the current paper designs six feasible development scenarios for the period covered by the 12th Five-Year Plan and predicts the values of each factor in each scenario. The values can test the implementation of China's CO 2 control development concept. The experiences obtained by outlier analysis can be of significant reference value for realizing the predicted scenarios. - Highlights: ► Using STIRPAT to analyze China's CO 2 emissions and economic development factors. ► Using the PLS outlier test method, three groups of outliers are found. ► Outlier analysis reveals three important areas on reducing CO 2 emissions. ► We design six feasible scenarios for the period covered by the 12th Five-Year Plan. ► We predict the values of each factor in each scenario.

Utilities' nuclear fuel economic evaluation methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonz, L.A.

1987-01-01

This paper presents the typical perceptions, methods, considerations, and procedures used by an operating electric utility in the economic evaluation of nuclear fuel preparation and utilization scenarios. The means given are probably not an exclusive review of those available, but are the author's recollection of systems employed to select and recommend preferable courses of action. Economic evaluation of proposed nuclear fuel scenarios is an important, but not exclusive, means of deciding on corporate action. If the economic evaluation is performed and coordinated with the other corporate considerations, such as technical and operational ability, electrical system operations management, tax effects, capital management, rates impact, etc., then the resultant recommendation may be employed to the benefit of the customers and, consequently, to the corporation

A case study of utility PV economics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wenger, H.; Hoff, T.; Osborn, D.E.

1997-01-01

This paper presents selected results from a detailed study of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) applications within the service area of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The intent is to better understand the economics and markets for grid-connected PV systems in a utility setting. Research results include: Benefits calculations for utility-owned PV systems at transmission and distribution voltages; How the QuickScreen software package can help utilities investigate the viability of distributed PV; Energy production and capacity credit estimates for fixed and tracking PV systems; Economics and rate impacts of net metering residential PV systems; Market potential estimates for residential rooftop PV systems; and Viability and timing of grid-connected PV commercialization paths

Economic effects on taxing CO{sub 2} emissions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haaparanta, P [Helsinki School of Economics (Finland); Jerkkola, J; Pohjola, J [The Research Inst. of the Finnish Economy, Helsinki (Finland)

1997-12-31

The CO{sub 2} emissions can be reduced by using economic instruments, like carbon tax. This project included two specific questions related to CO{sub 2} taxation. First one was the economic effects of increasing CO{sub 2} tax and decreasing other taxes. Second was the economic adjustment costs of reducing net emissions instead of gross emissions. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was used in this analysis. The study was taken place in Helsinki School of Economics

Economic effects on taxing CO{sub 2} emissions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haaparanta, P. [Helsinki School of Economics (Finland); Jerkkola, J.; Pohjola, J. [The Research Inst. of the Finnish Economy, Helsinki (Finland)

1996-12-31

The CO{sub 2} emissions can be reduced by using economic instruments, like carbon tax. This project included two specific questions related to CO{sub 2} taxation. First one was the economic effects of increasing CO{sub 2} tax and decreasing other taxes. Second was the economic adjustment costs of reducing net emissions instead of gross emissions. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was used in this analysis. The study was taken place in Helsinki School of Economics

Economics of Utility Scale Photovoltaics at Purdue University

Science.gov (United States)

Arnett, William

The research for this case study shows that utility scale solar photovoltaics has become a competitive energy investment option, even when a campus operates a power plant at low electricity rates. To evaluate this an economic model called SEEMS (Solar Economic Evaluation Modelling Spreadsheets) was developed to evaluate a number of financial scenarios in Real Time Pricing for universities. The three main financing structures considered are 1) land leasing, 2) university direct purchase, and 3) third party purchase. Unlike other commercially available models SEEMS specifically accounts for real time pricing, where the local utility provides electricity at an hourly rate that changes with the expected demand. In addition, SEEMS also includes a random simulation that allows the model to predict the likelihood of success for a given solar installation strategy. The research showed that there are several options for utility scale solar that are financially attractive. The most practical financing structure is with a third party partnership because of the opportunity to take advantage of tax incentives. Other options could become more attractive if non-financial benefits are considered. The case study for this research, Purdue University, has a unique opportunity to integrate utility-scale solar electricity into its strategic planning. Currently Purdue is updating its master plan which will define how land is developed. Purdue is also developing a sustainability plan that will define long term environmental goals. In addition, the university is developing over 500 acres of land west of campus as part of its Aerospace Innovation District. This research helps make the case for including utility-scale solar electricity as part of the university's strategic planning.

Economic growth and CO2 emissions in Malaysia: A cointegration analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saboori, Behnaz; Sulaiman, Jamalludin; Mohd, Saidatulakmal

2012-01-01

This paper attempts to establish a long-run as well as causal relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions for Malaysia. Using data for the years from 1980 to 2009, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis was tested utilizing the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) methodology. The empirical results suggest the existence of a long-run relationship between per capita CO 2 emissions and real per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when the CO 2 emissions level is the dependent variable. We found an inverted-U shape relationship between CO 2 emissions and GDP in both short and long-run, thus supporting the EKC hypothesis. The Granger Causality test based on the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) presents an absence of causality between CO 2 emissions and economic growth in the short-run while demonstrating uni-directional causality from economic growth to CO 2 emissions in the long-run. - Highlights: ► We tested the dynamic relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions. ► The Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis was tested using bounds testing approach. ► The empirical analysis confirms the existence of EKC for Malaysia. ► Causality results in an absence of causality between CO 2 and income in the short-run. ► There is uni-directional causality from income to CO 2 emissions in the long-run.

Secure and sustainable energy infrastructure: The case of CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Middleton, Richard S. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2014-03-18

This report is a presentation that covers the significant potential for CO₂ emissions reduction; CCUS requires comprehensive understanding of CO₂ capturetransport- storage/utilization individually and together; Multidisciplinary approach $-$ combination of engineering (civil/environmental/chemical), economics, policy, decision optimization, etc.; SimCCS flexible energy infrastructure approach; can and has been applied to wind energy, hydrogen economy, biofuels, shale gas, etc.

Co-opetition - local utilities between competition and co-opetition; Co-opetition - Stadtwerke zwischen Wettbewerb und Kooperation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reichel, O.; Haller, S. [Horvath und Partners, Duesseldorf (Germany). Competence Center Utilities

2008-05-05

Competition and co-operation - two issues constituting a natural area of conflict especially for local utility companies facing the challenges of liberalization. Where competition seems to be the direct result of the politically driven process towards open energy markets, co-operation is a possible strategic answer for utilities that are not capable to compete successfully in individual stages of their value chain. The consequences are clear: Utilities have to align their strategies and their internal cultural settings with a basically conflicting approach: To compete via co-operation. (orig.)

[Valuation of health-related quality of life and utilities in health economics].

Science.gov (United States)

Greiner, Wolfgang; Klose, Kristina

2014-01-01

Measuring health-related quality of life is an important aspect in economic evaluation of health programmes. The development of utility-based (preference-based) measures is advanced by the discipline of health economics. Different preference measures are applied for valuing health states to produce a weighted health state index. Those preference weights should be derived from a general population sample in case of resource allocation on a collective level (as in current valuation studies of the EuroQol group). Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Current utilization of research reactor on radioisotopes production in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Yishu

2000-01-01

The main technical parameters of the four research reactors and their current utilization status in radioisotope manufacture and labeling compounds preparation are described. The radioisotopes, such as Co-60 sealed source, Ir-192 sealed source, γ-knife source, I-131, I-125, Sm-153, P-32 series products, In-113m generator, Tc-99m gel generator, Re-188 gel generator, C-14, Ba-131, Sr-89, 90 Y, etc., and their labeling compounds prepared from the reactor produced radionuclides, such as I-131-MIBG, I-131-Hippure, I-131-capsul, Sm-153-EDTMP, Re-186-HEDP, Re-186-HA, C-14-urea, and radioimmunoassay kits etc. are presented as well. Future development plan of radioisotopes and labeling compounds in China is also given. Simultaneously, the possibility and methods of bilateral or multilateral co-operation in utilization of research reactor, personnel and technology exchange of radioisotope production and labeling compounds is also discussed. (author)

Current utilization of research reactor on radioisotopes production in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu Yishu [Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu (China)

2000-10-01

The main technical parameters of the four research reactors and their current utilization status in radioisotope manufacture and labeling compounds preparation are described. The radioisotopes, such as Co-60 sealed source, Ir-192 sealed source, {gamma}-knife source, I-131, I-125, Sm-153, P-32 series products, In-113m generator, Tc-99m gel generator, Re-188 gel generator, C-14, Ba-131, Sr-89, {sup 90}Y, etc., and their labeling compounds prepared from the reactor produced radionuclides, such as I-131-MIBG, I-131-Hippure, I-131-capsul, Sm-153-EDTMP, Re-186-HEDP, Re-186-HA, C-14-urea, and radioimmunoassay kits etc. are presented as well. Future development plan of radioisotopes and labeling compounds in China is also given. Simultaneously, the possibility and methods of bilateral or multilateral co-operation in utilization of research reactor, personnel and technology exchange of radioisotope production and labeling compounds is also discussed. (author)

The German R&D Program for CO2 Utilization-Innovations for a Green Economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mennicken, Lothar; Janz, Alexander; Roth, Stefanie

2016-06-01

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is a field of key emerging technologies. CCU can support the economy to decrease the dependency on fossil carbon raw materials, to stabilize electricity grids and markets with respect to a growing share of fluctuating renewable energy. Furthermore, it can contribute to mitigate anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has provided substantial financial support for research and development projects, stimulating research, development, and innovations in the field of CO2 utilization. This review provides an overview over the most relevant funding measures in this field. Examples of successful projects demonstrate that CCU technologies are already economically viable or technologically ready for industrial application. CCU technologies as elements of a future "green economy" can contribute to reach the ambitious German sustainability targets with regard to climate protection as well as raw material productivity.

The economic and social significance of RCA regional co-operative projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fowler, E.E.

1979-01-01

The regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA) is an established and valuable instrument between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Member States in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific or Far East for assisting in the transfer of modern technology to areas having economic and social importance to the region. The purpose of this review is to identify on-going or planned work which is designed to help achieve this goal. Currently approved RCA Regional Co-operative Research Projects are listed

Techno-economic prospects for CO2 capture from distributed energy systems, , 19(March 2013), 2013, pp. 328-347

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuramochi, T.; Ramirez, C.A.; Turkenburg, W.C.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2013-01-01

CO2 emissions from distributed energy systems are expected to become increasingly significant, accounting for about 20% for current global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2030. This article reviews, assesses and compares the techno-economic performance of CO2 capture from distributed energy systems

Opportunities for Decarbonizing Existing U.S. Coal-Fired Power Plants via CO2 Capture, Utilization and Storage.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Haibo; Ou, Yang; Rubin, Edward S

2015-07-07

This study employs a power plant modeling tool to explore the feasibility of reducing unit-level emission rates of CO2 by 30% by retrofitting carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to existing U.S. coal-fired electric generating units (EGUs). Our goal is to identify feasible EGUs and their key attributes. The results indicate that for about 60 gigawatts of the existing coal-fired capacity, the implementation of partial CO2 capture appears feasible, though its cost is highly dependent on the unit characteristics and fuel prices. Auxiliary gas-fired boilers can be employed to power a carbon capture process without significant increases in the cost of electricity generation. A complementary CO2 emission trading program can provide additional economic incentives for the deployment of CCS with 90% CO2 capture. Selling and utilizing the captured CO2 product for enhanced oil recovery can further accelerate CCUS deployment and also help reinforce a CO2 emission trading market. These efforts would allow existing coal-fired EGUs to continue to provide a significant share of the U.S. electricity demand.

Integrated CO{sub 2} Capture and Utilization Using Non-Thermal Plasmolysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moss, Matthew, E-mail: mmoss1@sheffield.ac.uk; Reed, Daniel G.; Allen, Ray W. K.; Styring, Peter [UK Centre for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom)

2017-08-02

In this work, two simple processes for carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) such as capture and utilization have been combined to form a whole systems approach to carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The first stage utilizes a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system, which offers many benefits over current amine technologies. It was found that high selectivity can be achieved with rapid adsorption/desorption times while employing a cheap, durable sorbent that exhibits no sorbent losses and is easily regenerated by simple pressure drops. The PSA system is capable of capturing and upgrading the CO{sub 2} concentration of a waste gas stream from 12.5% to a range of higher purities. As many CCU end processes have some tolerance toward impurities in the feed, in the form of nitrogen (N{sub 2}), for example, this is highly advantageous for this PSA system since CO{sub 2} purities in excess of 80% can be achieved with only a few steps and minimal energy input. Non-thermal plasma is one such technology that can tolerate, and even benefit from, small N{sub 2} impurities in the feed, therefore a 100% pure CO{sub 2} stream is not required. The second stage of this process deploys a nanosecond pulsed corona discharge reactor to split the captured CO{sub 2} into carbon monoxide (CO), which can then be used as a chemical feedstock for other syntheses. Corona discharge has proven industrial applications for gas cleaning and the benefit of pulsed power reduces the energy consumption of the system. The wire-in-cylinder geometry concentrates the volume of gas treated into the area of high electric field. Previous work has suggested that moderate conversions can be achieved (9%), compared to other non-thermal plasma methods, but with higher energy efficiencies (>60%).

Current and Future United States Light-Duty Vehicle Pathways: Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elgowainy, Amgad [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Han, Jeongwoo [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Ward, Jacob [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Joseck, Fred [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Gohlke, David [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Lindauer, Alicia [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Ramsden, Todd [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States; Biddy, Mary [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States; Alexander, Mark [Electric Power Research Institute, Palo; Barnhart, Steven [FCA US LLC, Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326, United States; Sutherland, Ian [General Motors, Pontiac, Michigan 48340, United States; Verduzco, Laura [Chevron Corporation, Richmond, California 94802, United States; Wallington, Timothy J. [Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan 48121, United States

2018-01-30

This article presents a cradle-to-grave (C2G) assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and costs for current (2015) and future (2025-2030) light-duty vehicles. The analysis addressed both fuel cycle and vehicle manufacturing cycle for the following vehicle types: gasoline and diesel internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flex fuel vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Gasoline ICEVs using current technology have C2G emissions of ~450 gCO2e/mi (grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per mile), while C2G emissions from HEVs, PHEVs, H2 FCEVs, and BEVs range from 300-350 gCO2e/mi. Future vehicle efficiency gains are expected to reduce emissions to ~350 gCO2/mi for ICEVs and ~250 gCO2e/mi for HEVs, PHEVs, FCEVs, and BEVs. Utilizing low-carbon fuel pathways yields GHG reductions more than double those achieved by vehicle efficiency gains alone. Levelized costs of driving (LCDs) are in the range $0.25-$1.00/mi depending on time frame and vehicle-fuel technology. In all cases, vehicle cost represents the major (60-90%) contribution to LCDs. Currently, HEV and PHEV petroleum-fueled vehicles provide the most attractive cost in terms of avoided carbon emissions, although they offer lower potential GHG reductions. The ranges of LCD and cost of avoided carbon are narrower for the future technology pathways, reflecting the expected economic competitiveness of these alternative vehicles and fuels.

Economics and utilization of thorium in nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-05-01

Information on thorium utilization in power reactors is presented concerning the potential demand for nuclear power, the potential supply for nuclear power, economic performance of thorium under different recycle policies, ease of commercialization of the economically preferred cases, policy options to overcome institutional barriers, and policy options to overcome technological and regulatory barriers

Utilization of oil wells for electricity generation: Performance and economics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kharseh, Mohamad; Al-Khawaja, Mohammed; Hassani, Ferri

2015-01-01

There is a general agreement that the climate change, which is the most important challenge facing humanity, is anthropogenic and attributed to fossil fuel consumption. Therefore, deploying more renewable energy resources is an urgent issue to be addressed. Geothermal refers to existing heat energy in deep rock and sedimentary basins. Traditionally, geothermal energy has been exploited in places with plentiful hot water at relatively shallow depth. Unfortunately, the high exploration and drilling costs of boreholes is the main barrier to the commerciality of geothermal worldwide. In oil producing countries, such problems can be overcome by utilizing oil or gas wells. The current study presents thermodynamic and economic analyses of a binary geothermal power generation system for commercial electricity generation. Two different source temperatures (100 and 120 °C) and constant sink temperature (29 °C) were considered. The optimal working fluid and optimal design that improve the performance of the plant are determined. For the current costs in Qatar, the economical analysis of 5 MW geothermal plant shows that the levelized cost of electricity for the plant varies from 5.6 to 5.2 ¢/kW. Whereas, the payback period of such plants lies between 5.8 and 4.8 years. - Highlights: • Utilizing oil well makes geothermal plant competitive with other resources. • R32 seems to be the best working fluid. • The levelized cost of electricity for geothermal plant is less than 5.6 ¢/kWh. • The payback time of geothermal plant is less than 6 years.

CO2 Mineralization and Utilization using Steel Slag for Establishing a Waste-to-Resource Supply Chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Shu-Yuan; Chung, Tai-Chun; Ho, Chang-Ching; Hou, Chin-Jen; Chen, Yi-Hung; Chiang, Pen-Chi

2017-12-08

Both steelmaking via an electric arc furnace and manufacturing of portland cement are energy-intensive and resource-exploiting processes, with great amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission and alkaline solid waste generation. In fact, most CO 2 capture and storage technologies are currently too expensive to be widely applied in industries. Moreover, proper stabilization prior to utilization of electric arc furnace slag are still challenging due to its high alkalinity, heavy metal leaching potentials and volume instability. Here we deploy an integrated approach to mineralizing flue gas CO 2 using electric arc furnace slag while utilizing the reacted product as supplementary cementitious materials to establish a waste-to-resource supply chain toward a circular economy. We found that the flue gas CO 2 was rapidly mineralized into calcite precipitates using electric arc furnace slag. The carbonated slag can be successfully utilized as green construction materials in blended cement mortar. By this modulus, the global CO 2 reduction potential using iron and steel slags was estimated to be ~138 million tons per year.

New indicator for comparing the energy performance of CO2 utilization concepts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schakel, Wouter; Fernández-Dacosta, Cora; Van Der Spek, Mijndert; Ramírez, Andrea

2017-01-01

CO2 utilization is increasingly considered a greenhouse gas abatement strategy alternatively to CO2 storage. Existing indicators that assess the performance of CO2 utilization options often provide an incomplete perspective and are unsuitable to compare different utilization options with different

Energy economics: impacts on electric utilities' future decisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.H.

1983-01-01

Despite financial and regulatory pressures that have led electric utilities to slow construction and minimize capital expenditures, Carolina Power and Light Company is proceeding with two new nuclear and two new coal facilities because it believes the commitment to expand must be made in the 1980s. The economic slowdown has given utilities a breathing period, but not enough to allow a complete stop in expansion if the utilities are to be ready for the expected economic growth of the 1990s. Financing this expansion is a slower process for regulated industries and leads to strained relations between customers and suppliers. The two can work together to promote conservation and load management, but higher rates must finance new construction to avoid a shortfall later. The costs of environmentally sound coal combustion and nuclear plant construction must both be reduced to help keep the recovery from being inflationary

The relationship between CO2 emission, energy consumption and economic growth in Malaysia: a three-way linkage approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Sulaiman, Chindo; Abdul-Rahim, A S

2017-11-01

This study examines the three-way linkage relationships between CO 2 emission, energy consumption and economic growth in Malaysia, covering the 1975-2015 period. An autoregressive distributed lag approach was employed to achieve the objective of the study and gauged by dynamic ordinary least squares. Additionally, vector error correction model, variance decompositions and impulse response functions were employed to further examine the relationship between the interest variables. The findings show that economic growth is neither influenced by energy consumption nor by CO 2 emission. Energy consumption is revealed to be an increasing function of CO 2 emission. Whereas, CO 2 emission positively and significantly depends on energy consumption and economic growth. This implies that CO 2 emission increases with an increase in both energy consumption and economic growth. Conclusively, the main drivers of CO 2 emission in Malaysia are proven to be energy consumption and economic growth. Therefore, renewable energy sources ought to be considered by policy makers to curb emission from the current non-renewable sources. Wind and biomass can be explored as they are viable sources. Energy efficiency and savings should equally be emphasised and encouraged by policy makers. Lastly, growth-related policies that target emission reduction are also recommended.

Socio-economic inequalities in health services utilization: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranjbar Ezzatabadi, Mohammad; Khosravi, Ameneh; Bahrami, Mohammad Amin; Rafiei, Sima

2018-02-12

Purpose Developing country workers mainly face important challenges when examining equality in health services utilization among the population and identifying influential factors. The purpose of this paper us to: understand health service use among households with different socio-economic status in Isfahan province; and to investigate probable inequality determinants in service utilization. Design/methodology/approach Almost 1,040 households living in Isfahan province participated in this cross-sectional study in 2013. Data were collected by a questionnaire with three sections: demographic characteristics; socio-economic status; and health services utilization. The concentration index was applied to measure inequality. Analysts used STATA 11. Findings Economic status, educational level, insurance coverage and household gender were the most influential factors on health services utilization. Those with a high socio-economic level were more likely to demand and use such services; although self-medication patterns showed an opposite trend. Practical implications Female-headed families face with more difficulties in access to basic human needs including health. Supportive policies are needed to meet their demands. Originality/value The authors used principle component analysis to assess households' economic situation, which reduced the variables into a single index.

Current and Future United States Light-Duty Vehicle Pathways: Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Elgowainy, Amgad; Han, Jeongwoo; Ward, Jacob; Joseck, Fred; Gohlke, David; Lindauer, Alicia; Ramsden, Todd; Biddy, Mary; Alexander, Mark; Barnhart, Steven; Sutherland, Ian; Verduzco, Laura; Wallington, Timothy J

2018-02-20

This article presents a cradle-to-grave (C2G) assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and costs for current (2015) and future (2025-2030) light-duty vehicles. The analysis addressed both fuel cycle and vehicle manufacturing cycle for the following vehicle types: gasoline and diesel internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flex fuel vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Gasoline ICEVs using current technology have C2G emissions of ∼450 gCO 2 e/mi (grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per mile), while C2G emissions from HEVs, PHEVs, H 2 FCEVs, and BEVs range from 300-350 gCO 2 e/mi. Future vehicle efficiency gains are expected to reduce emissions to ∼350 gCO 2 /mi for ICEVs and ∼250 gCO 2e /mi for HEVs, PHEVs, FCEVs, and BEVs. Utilizing low-carbon fuel pathways yields GHG reductions more than double those achieved by vehicle efficiency gains alone. Levelized costs of driving (LCDs) are in the range $0.25-$1.00/mi depending on time frame and vehicle-fuel technology. In all cases, vehicle cost represents the major (60-90%) contribution to LCDs. Currently, HEV and PHEV petroleum-fueled vehicles provide the most attractive cost in terms of avoided carbon emissions, although they offer lower potential GHG reductions. The ranges of LCD and cost of avoided carbon are narrower for the future technology pathways, reflecting the expected economic competitiveness of these alternative vehicles and fuels.

Current and Future United States Light-Duty Vehicle Pathways: Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elgowainy, Amgad [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Han, Jeongwoo [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Ward, Jacob [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Joseck, Fred [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Gohlke, David [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States; Lindauer, Alicia [United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585, United States; Ramsden, Todd [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States; Biddy, Mary [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States; Alexander, Mark [Electric Power Research Institute, Palo; Barnhart, Steven [FCA US LLC, Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326, United States; Sutherland, Ian [General Motors, Pontiac, Michigan 48340, United States; Verduzco, Laura [Chevron Corporation, Richmond, California 94802, United States; Wallington, Timothy J. [Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan 48121, United States

2018-01-30

This article presents a cradle-to-grave (C2G) assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and costs for current (2015) and future (2025–2030) light-duty vehicles. The analysis addressed both fuel cycle and vehicle manufacturing cycle for the following vehicle types: gasoline and diesel internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flex fuel vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Gasoline ICEVs using current technology have C2G emissions of ~450 gCO2e/mi (grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per mile), while C2G emissions from HEVs, PHEVs, H2 FCEVs, and BEVs range from 300–350 gCO2e/mi. Future vehicle efficiency gains are expected to reduce emissions to ~350 gCO2/mi for ICEVs and ~250 gCO2e/mi for HEVs, PHEVs, FCEVs and BEVs. Utilizing low-carbon fuel pathways yields GHG reductions more than double those achieved by vehicle efficiency gains alone. Levelized costs of driving (LCDs) are in the range $0.25–$1.00/mi depending on timeframe and vehicle-fuel technology. In all cases, vehicle cost represents the major (60–90%) contribution to LCDs. Currently, HEV and PHEV petroleum-fueled vehicles provide the most attractive cost in terms of avoided carbon emissions, although they offer lower potential GHG reductions The ranges of LCD and cost of avoided carbon are narrower for the future technology pathways, reflecting the expected economic competitiveness of these alternative vehicles and fuels.

Systematic methods and tools for design of sustainable chemical processes for CO2 utilization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kongpanna, Pichayapan; Babi, Deenesh K.; Pavarajarn, Varong

2016-01-01

A systematic computer-aided framework for sustainable process design is presented together with its application to the synthesis and generation of processing networks for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) production with CO2 utilization. The framework integrated with various methods, tools, algorithms......-stage involves selection and analysis of the identified networks as a base case design in terms of operational feasibility, economics, life cycle assessment factors and sustainability measures, which are employed to establish targets for improvement in the next-stage. The innovation-stage involves generation...

Design and Implementation of a CO2 Flood Utilizing Advanced Reservoir Characterization and Horizontal Injection Wells In a Shallow Shelf Carbonate Approaching Waterflood Depletion, Class II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wier, Don R. Chimanhusky, John S.; Czirr, Kirk L.; Hallenbeck, Larry; Gerard, Matthew G.; Dollens, Kim B.; Owen, Rex; Gaddis, Maurice; Moshell, M.K.

2002-11-18

The purpose of this project was to economically design an optimum carbon dioxide (CO2) flood for a mature waterflood nearing its economic abandonment. The original project utilized advanced reservoir characterization and CO2 horizontal injection wells as the primary methods to redevelop the South Cowden Unit (SCU). The development plans; project implementation and reservoir management techniques were to be transferred to the public domain to assist in preventing premature abandonment of similar fields.

CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China: A panel data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, S.S.; Zhou, D.Q.; Zhou, P.; Wang, Q.W.

2011-01-01

This paper examines the causal relationships between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and real economic output using panel cointegration and panel vector error correction modeling techniques based on the panel data for 28 provinces in China over the period 1995-2007. Our empirical results show that CO 2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth have appeared to be cointegrated. Moreover, there exists bidirectional causality between CO 2 emissions and energy consumption, and also between energy consumption and economic growth. It has also been found that energy consumption and economic growth are the long-run causes for CO 2 emissions and CO 2 emissions and economic growth are the long-run causes for energy consumption. The results indicate that China's CO 2 emissions will not decrease in a long period of time and reducing CO 2 emissions may handicap China's economic growth to some degree. Some policy implications of the empirical results have finally been proposed. - Highlights: → We conduct a panel data analysis of the energy-CO 2 -economy nexus in China. → CO 2 emissions, energy use and economic growth appear to be cointegrated. → There exists bidirectional causality between energy consumption and economic growth. → Energy consumption and economic growth are the long-run causes for CO 2 emissions.

Co-firing straw and coal in a 150-MWe utility boiler: in situ measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, P. F.B.; Andersen, Karin Hedebo; Wieck-Hansen, K.

1998-01-01

A 2-year demonstration program is carried out by the Danish utility I/S Midtkraft at a 150-MWe PF-boiler unit reconstructed for co-firing straw and coal. As a part of the demonstration program, a comprehensive in situ measurement campaign was conducted during the spring of 1996 in collaboration...... with the Technical University of Denmark. Six sample positions have been established between the upper part of the furnace and the economizer. The campaign included in situ sampling of deposits on water/air-cooled probes, sampling of fly ash, flue gas and gas phase alkali metal compounds, and aerosols as well...... deposition propensities and high temperature corrosion during co-combustion of straw and coal in PF-boilers. Danish full scale results from co-firing straw and coal, the test facility and test program, and the potential theoretical support from the Technical University of Denmark are presented in this paper...

Economic utility resulting from CERN contracts (second study)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bianchi-Streit, M.; Blackburne, N.; Budde, R.; Reitz, H.; Sagnell, B.; Schorr, B.; Schmied, H.

1985-01-01

The study attempts to quantify the economic benefit to high technology manufacturing industries involved in CERN contracts, in relation to their sales to CERN. It covers the period 1973-87 and complements an earlier study made in 1973-75 (see CERN Report 75-5). Interviews were carried out in 160 European firms, who supplied estimates of increased sales and cost savings due to CERN contracts. This economic utility totals 3107 million Swiss francs (up to the year 1987), compared to sales to CERN amounting to 748 million Swiss francs in 1982 prices. It is estimated that, by 1987, CERN's high technology purchases made in 1973-82 will have generated Economic high technology purchases made in 1973-82 will have generated Economic Utility amounting to about 60% of the overall cost of the Organization during the same period. In 1982, about 75% of the increased turnover due to CERN resulted from sales to markets outside high energy particle physics, for example, railways, shipbuilding, refrigeration, power generation and distribution, and health care. The quantification model used is discussed in detail and some specific cases are presented as examples. The industrial managers interviewed during both studies have confirmed that the forecasts made ten years ago were, on average, accurate. (orig.)

A study of economic utility resulting from CERN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmied, H.

1975-01-01

The study attempts to quantify the technical and economic benefit to the manufacturing industries involved in CERN contracts, in relation to the expenditures on CERN by its Member States. Interviews were carried out in some 130 European firms, who supplied data on estimates of increased sales and decreased costs due to CERN contracts. This 'economic utility' totals 1,665 million Swiss francs (up to the year 1978), compared with a sales value to CERN of 394 MSF. Utility/sales ratios range from 0.9 to 7.3 for application fields of cables, magnets, cooling systems, vacuum equipment, electronics, and steels; they are as high as 17.3 for computers and 31.6 for precision mechanics. Some 80 per cent of the total reported utility results from sales to markets outside high-energy and nuclear physics, for example, railways, ship-building, refrigeration, power generation and power distribution. For the 877 MSF spent by CERN in European industry from its over-all budget of 3,500 MSF during 1955 to 1973, the total utility is estimated to be nearly 5,000 MSF. The method and procedure of analysis and quantification are discussed in detail and some specific cases are presented as examples. (author)

The Assessment of Biofuel Utilization Policy on the Total Output and CO2 Emissions in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suthathip Suanmali

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The transport sector is the largest energy-consuming sector in Thailand. Its primary energy supply is heavily depended on imported oil. Since 2005, world crude oil price has been rising and had reached a record of 147 $/barrel. Therefore the policy on promotion of biofuel utilization was initiated in 2005 by the Ministry of Energy; however, the economy-wide impacts have been rarely assessed. This paper presents the energy Input-Output Analysis (IO of the economy-wide impacts on the promotion policy, in particular, the change in Greenhouse Gas (GHG emissions. In order to measure the total GHG emission from different economic sectors, the contribution of emissions has to be considered. In this paper, the focus is placed on CO2 emissions. To calculate the amount of CO2 emissions, the emission amount of various final consumptions in the economy evaluated by the IO must be applied. The direct CO2 emissions in final energy consumptions in Thailand are evaluated by using conversion factors from Guidelines to Defra's GHG conversion factors, Annexes updated in June 2007. The CO2 emissions in various economic sectors will be calculated and compared with the figures in 2015 when the policy is fully implemented.

Economic and financial aspects of geothermal energy utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gazo, F.M.; Datuin, R.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on the historical development of geothermal energy in the Philippines, its present status and future possibilities. It also illustrates the average power generation and utilization from primary energy sources (hydro, oil, coal, and geothermal energy) in the country from 1981 to 1988. A comparison is made between electricity generating costs and results of operations from these power sources, showing that geothermal energy utilization is very competitive. Moreover, it also discusses the economic viability of geothermal energy utilization as a result of separate studies conducted by World Bank and an Italian energy consulting firm

Coke oven gas to methanol process integrated with CO_2 recycle for high energy efficiency, economic benefits and low emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong, Min-hui; Yi, Qun; Huang, Yi; Wu, Guo-sheng; Hao, Yan-hong; Feng, Jie; Li, Wen-ying

2017-01-01

Highlights: • CO_2 recycle assistance with COG to CH_3OH with dry reforming is proposed. • New process with dry reforming improves H_2 utilization and energy saving. • Process with H_2 separation (CWHS) is more preferable to CH_3OH output. • CWHS shows an excellent performance in energy, economy and CO_2 emission reduction. - Abstract: A process of CO_2 recycle to supply carbon for assisting with coke oven gas to methanol process is proposed to realize clean and efficient coke oven gas utilization. Two CO_2 recycle schemes with respect to coke oven gas, namely with and without H_2 separation before reforming, are developed. It is revealed that the process with H_2 separation is more beneficial to element and energy efficiency improvement, and it also presents a better techno-economic performance in comparison with the conventional coke oven gas to methanol process. The exergy efficiency, direct CO_2 emission, and internal rate of return of the process with H_2 separation are 73.9%, 0.69 t/t-methanol, and 35.1%, respectively. This excellent performance implies that reforming technology selection, H_2 utilization efficiency, and CO_2 recycle ways have important influences on the performance of the coke oven gas to methanol process. The findings of this study represent significant progress for future improvements of the coke oven gas to methanol process, especially CO_2 conversion integrated with coke oven gas utilization in the coking industry.

Oil Consumption, CO2 Emission, and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyoung-Min Lim

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper attempts to investigate the short- and long-run causality issues among oil consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in the Philippines by using time series techniques and annual data for the period 1965–2012. Tests for unit root, co-integration, and Granger-causality tests based on an error-correction model are presented. Three important findings emerge from the investigation. First, there is bi-directional causality between oil consumption and economic growth, which suggests that the Philippines should endeavor to overcome the constraints on oil consumption to achieve economic growth. Second, bi-directional causality between oil consumption and CO2 emissions is found, which implies that the Philippines needs to improve efficiency in oil consumption in order not to increase CO2 emissions. Third, uni-directional causality running from CO2 emissions to economic growth is detected, which means that growth can continue without increasing CO2 emissions.

Economic and legal aspects of utility consortiums for heliostat purchase

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cole, R.J.; Sommers, P.; Sheppard, W.J.; Nesse, R.J.

1982-07-01

A preliminary exploration is given of the legal and economic considerations surrounding the formation and operation of some form of utility-sponsored collective buying arrangement for heliostats. Particular attention is focused on considerations of federal antitrust law surrounding collective buying and other joint operations by electric utilities. Attention is also given to considerations suggested by the economic theory of monopsony (markets with a single buyer) and oligopsony (markets with a small number of buyers). The advantages and disadvantages of such arrangements are examined from the viewpoints of the buyer and the seller. (LEW)

Economic utility resulting from CERN contracts (second study)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bianchi-Streit, M.; Blackburne, N.; Budde, R.; Reitz, H.; Sagnell, B.; Schorr, B.; Schmied, H.

1984-01-01

The study attempts to quantify the economic benefit to high technology manufacturing industries involved in CERN contracts, in relation to their sales to CERN. It covers the period 1973-87 and complements an earlier study made in 1973-75 (see CERN Report 75-5). Interviews were carried out in 160 European firms, who supplied estimates of increased sales and cost savings due to CERN contracts. This ''economic utility'' totals 3107 million Swiss francs (up to the year 1987), compared to sales to CERN amounting to 748 million Swiss francs in 1982 prices. It is estimated that, by 1987, CERN's high technology purchases made in 1973-82 will have generated Economic Utility amounting to about 60% of the overall cost of the Organization during the same period. In 1982, about 75% of the increased turnover due to CERN resulted from sales to markets outside high energy particle physics, for example, railways, shipbuilding, refrigeration, power generation and distribution, and health care. The quantification model used is discussed in detail and some specific cases are presented as examples. The industrial managers interviewed during both studies have confirmed that the forecasts made ten years ago were, on average, accurate. (orig.)

Methods of determining incremental energy costs for economic dispatch and inter-utility interchange in Canadian utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Hawary, M.E.; El-Hawary, F.; Mbamalu, G.A.N.

1991-01-01

A questionnaire was mailed to ten Canadian utilities to determine the methods the utilities use in determining the incremental cost of delivering energy at any time. The questionnaire was divided into three parts: generation, transmission and general. The generation section dealt with heat rates, fuel, operation and maintenance, startup and shutdown, and method of prioritizing and economic evaluation of interchange transactions. Transmission dealt with inclusion of transmission system incremental maintenance costs, and transmission losses determination. The general section dealt with incremental costs aspects, and various other economic considerations. A summary is presented of responses to the questionnaire

Coal use in the People`s Republic of China, Volume 2: The economic effects of constraining coal utilization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rose, A.; Lim, D.; Frias, O.; Benavides, J. [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Mineral Economics; Tompkins, M.M. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

1994-12-01

The People`s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. The dominance of coal in China`s energy balance has come at a high price to the environment. With the recent attention given to global warming issues, China`s energy consumption and production practices have become the subject of much concern. Of particular concern is China`s ability to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions by constraining coal use and the impact such policies will likely have on the Chinese economy. The study is divided into two reports. Volume 1 focuses on the full coal fuel cycle, emissions, and environmental effects. This report (Volume 2) analyzes various CO{sub 2} mitigation strategies and determines their effect on economic growth. Contrary to what some analysts have claimed, the current work suggests that it would not be costly for the Chinese to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions. In fact, some strategies were accompanied by increases in China`s energy and economic efficiency, which actually stimulated economic growth.

Economical electricity supply and utilization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Madsen, K

1980-05-01

During the first oil crisis in 1973, hundreds of millions of D-marks have been wasted by medium-sized businesses in the FRG due to avoidable losses and increased electricity costs. Serious attempts towards excluding such losses have to be initiated by an analysis of the individual technical conditions of an enterprise and by consultations 'on site'. Problems relating to an economical electricity supply and utilization in medium-sized industrial enterprises are discussed in this article from the point of view of an industrial consultant being an expert in this field. Practical examples are also given.

THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION DURING THE CURRENT GLOBAL CRISIS

OpenAIRE

Sabina Tuca

2013-01-01

The current economic crisis constitutes a serious test for the process of globalization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the current global crisis on economic globalization. To assess the impact of the current crisis on economic globalization, this paper examines the KOF Index of Globalization, before and during the crisis. The findings generally support the idea that economic globalization has been, in fact, weakened, after the onset of the current crisis. However, t...

Economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)'s transport sector: A fully modified bi-directional relationship approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saboori, Behnaz; Sapri, Maimunah; Baba, Maizan bin

2014-01-01

This paper explores the bi-directional long-run relationship between energy consumption in the road transport sector with CO 2 emissions and economic growth in OECD countries. Using time series data from 1960 to 2008 and employing the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares cointegration approach, the paper shows positive significant long-run bi-directional relationship between CO 2 emissions and economic growth, road sector energy consumption and economic growth and CO 2 emissions and road sector energy consumption in all the OECD countries. To examine the response of each of the variables to shocks in the value of other variables, the generalized impulse response approach is employed. The response of CO 2 emissions to economic growth is initially positive in most cases but it is relatively shorter when compared to its initial response to the road transport sector energy consumption. Moreover, in most cases, the response of carbon emissions to the road transport sector energy consumption lasts longer than its response to economic growth. This implies that most of the CO 2 emissions from transport come from energy consumption, thus long-run policies related to the efficient use of energy and shifting to biofuel, renewable and nuclear energy can bring major benefits in mitigating GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions. - Highlights: • The relationship between GDP, energy and CO 2 in OECD's transport is investigated. • The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares cointegration approach was employed. • There is positive long-run bi-directional relationship between the variables. • The response of CO 2 to GDP is shorter than its response to the energy consumption

Techno-economic study of CO2 capture from an existing coal-fired power plant: MEA scrubbing vs. O2/CO2 recycle combustion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, D.; Croiset, E.; Douglas, P.L.; Douglas, M.A.

2003-01-01

The existing fleet of modern pulverised coal fired power plants represents an opportunity to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years providing that efficient and economical CO 2 capture technologies are available for retrofit. One option is to separate CO 2 from the products of combustion using conventional approaches such as amine scrubbing. An emerging alternative, commonly known as O 2 /CO 2 recycle combustion, involves burning the coal with oxygen in an atmosphere of recycled flue gas. Both approaches can be retrofitted to existing units, however they consume significant amounts of energy to capture, purify and compress the CO 2 for subsequent sequestration. This paper presents a techno-economic comparison of the performance of the two approaches. The comparison was developed using the commercial process simulation packages, Hysys and Aspen Plus. The results show that both processes are expensive options to capture CO 2 from coal power plants, however O 2 /CO 2 appears to be a more attractive retrofit than MEA scrubbing. The CO 2 capture cost for the MEA case is USD 53/ton of CO 2 avoided, which translates into 3.3 cents/kW h. For the O 2 /CO 2 case the CO 2 capture cost is lower at USD 35/ton of CO 2 avoided, which translates into 2.4 cents/kW h. These capture costs represent an approximate increase of 20-30% in current electricity prices

Energy-, environmental and economic evaluation of energy crops utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-06-01

This preliminary project is prepared in order to clarify the economic possibilities and rentability of energy crops. Examples of energy crop resource potential, environmental and economic consequences are calculated on the basis of existing data. Utilization of annual and perennial crops is evaluated with regard to the usual following of agricultural areas, and to the traditional power generation in a coal-fueled plant. Two technological options are discussed: one based on energy crop fuels supplementing the conventional coal fuel, and the other based on a separate biomass-fueled boiler, connected to the conventional coal-fueled unit. Implementation of the main project,following the preliminary one will permit to estimate the future prospects and strategies of energy crop utilization as a profitable energy resource. (EG)

Biofuels and Their Co-Products as Livestock Feed: Global Economic and Environmental Implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Popp, József; Harangi-Rákos, Mónika; Gabnai, Zoltán; Balogh, Péter; Antal, Gabriella; Bai, Attila

2016-02-29

This review studies biofuel expansion in terms of competition between conventional and advanced biofuels based on bioenergy potential. Production of advanced biofuels is generally more expensive than current biofuels because products are not yet cost competitive. What is overlooked in the discussion about biofuel is the contribution the industry makes to the global animal feed supply and land use for cultivation of feedstocks. The global ethanol industry produces 44 million metric tonnes of high-quality feed, however, the co-products of biodiesel production have a moderate impact on the feed market contributing to just 8-9 million tonnes of protein meal output a year. By economically displacing traditional feed ingredients co-products from biofuel production are an important and valuable component of the biofuels sector and the global feed market. The return of co-products to the feed market has agricultural land use (and GHG emissions) implications as well. The use of co-products generated from grains and oilseeds can reduce net land use by 11% to 40%. The proportion of global cropland used for biofuels is currently some 2% (30-35 million hectares). By adding co-products substituted for grains and oilseeds the land required for cultivation of feedstocks declines to 1.5% of the global crop area.

Charcoal injection in blast furnaces (Bio-PCI: CO2 reduction potential and economic prospects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristobal Feliciano-Bruzual

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The steel industry is under pressure to reduce its CO2 emissions, which arise from the use of coal. In the long-term, the injection of pulverized particles of charcoal from biomass through blast furnace tuyeres, in this case called Bio-PCI, is an attractive method from both an environmental and metallurgical viewpoint. The potential of Bio-PCI has been assessed in terms of its CO2 abatement potential and economic viewpoint. A cost objective function has been used to measure the impact of biochar substitution in highly fuel-efficient BF among the top nine hot metal producers; estimations are based on the relevant cost determinants of ironmaking. This contribution aims to shed light on two strategic questions: Under what conditions is the implementation of Bio-PCI economically attractive? Additionally, where is such a techno-economic innovation likely to be taken up the earliest? The results indicate the potential for an 18–40% mitigation of CO2. Findings from the economic assessment show that biochar cannot compete with fossil coal on price alone; therefore, a lower cost of biochar or the introduction of carbon taxes will be necessary to increase the competitiveness of Bio-PCI. Based on the current prices of raw materials, electricity and carbon taxes, biochar should be between 130.1 and 236.4 USD/t and carbon taxes should be between 47.1 and 198.7 USD/t CO2 to facilitate the substitution of Bio-PCI in the examined countries. In regard to implementation, Brazil, followed by India, China and the USA appeared to be in a better position to deploy Bio-PCI.

CO2 reduction through energy conservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-05-01

A study was carried out of the potential to economically reduce carbon dioxide emissions through energy conservation in the petroleum and natural gas industry. The study examined current and projected emissions levels, cogeneration at gas plants, flaring, economics, regulation, reporting requirements, implementation, and research and development. Economically attractive energy conservation measures can reduce oil and gas industry, exclusive of Athabasca oil sands operations, CO 2 emissions by 6-7%. The energy conservation options identified range from field energy awareness committees through to equipment retrofits and replacement. At ca 3 million tonnes/y, these reductions will not offset the increases in oil and gas related CO 2 emissions anticipated by producers and Alberta government agencies. There will be increasing emphasis on in-situ bitumen production, more energy intensive light crude oil production and increasing natural gas sales, increasing energy inputs in excess of reductions. Cogeneration of electricity for utility company distribution and for internally required steam at gas plants and in-situ production sites is not economic due to low electricity prices. 8 tabs

A GIS based national assessment of algal bio-oil production potential through flue gas and wastewater co-utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orfield, Nolan D.; Keoleian, Gregory A.; Love, Nancy G.

2014-01-01

The high theoretical productivity of microalgae makes it a promising energy crop, but economically viable large-scale production facilities have yet to emerge. Coupling algae cultivation ponds with flue gas emissions from power utilities to provide carbon dioxide and municipal wastewater to provide nutrients has been recommended as a solution. This flue gas and wastewater co-utilization (FWC) strategy not only reduces the upstream impacts and costs associated with providing inputs, but also provides a credit for wastewater treatment, a service currently required to reduce production costs to a viable level. This study provides the first national assessment of the potential for producing algal bio-oil in the United States using FWC. Spatial-temporal algae growth was simulated using solar radiation and temperature data to calculate the average annual algae yield for any location, which significantly impacts feasibility. The results of this model were integrated into a geospatial analysis which establishes the economically viable bio-oil production potential of FWC by accounting for the relative abundance of the input resources and their proximity. At most, 1.7 billion liters of bio-oil could be produced annually in a manner economically competitive with crude oil prices of $80 per barrel. The amount of nutrients in wastewater limits yields to 20.5 L of bio-oil per capita annually, and climatic constraints further reduce this potential by nearly 60%. Carbon dioxide constraints play a negligible role. Although the bio-oil production potential of FWC is relatively small, it does provide an opportunity to increase national biofuel output while providing a needed service. - Highlights: • Spatial-temporal algae growth was simulated using historical climate data. • A geospatial overlay analysis was used to assess national production potential. • Nutrient availability in wastewater is most limiting. • At most, 1.7 billion liters of algal biofuel per year could be

Review of utility values for economic modeling in type 2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Beaudet, Amélie; Clegg, John; Thuresson, Per-Olof; Lloyd, Adam; McEwan, Phil

2014-06-01

Economic analysis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) requires an assessment of the effect of a wide range of complications. The objective of this article was to identify a set of utility values consistent with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reference case and to critically discuss and illustrate challenges in creating such a utility set. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify studies reporting utility values for relevant complications. The methodology of each study was assessed for consistency with the NICE reference case. A suggested set of utility values applicable to modeling was derived, giving preference to studies reporting multiple complications and correcting for comorbidity. The review considered 21 relevant diabetes complications. A total of 16,574 articles were identified; after screening, 61 articles were assessed for methodological quality. Nineteen articles met NICE criteria, reporting utility values for 20 of 21 relevant complications. For renal transplant, because no articles meeting NICE criteria were identified, two articles using other methodologies were included. Index value estimates for T2DM without complication ranged from 0.711 to 0.940. Utility decrement associated with complications ranged from 0.014 (minor hypoglycemia) to 0.28 (amputation). Limitations associated with the selection of a utility value for use in economic modeling included variability in patient recruitment, heterogeneity in statistical analysis, large variability around some point estimates, and lack of recent data. A reference set of utility values for T2DM and its complications in line with NICE requirements was identified. This research illustrates the challenges associated with systematically selecting utility data for economic evaluations. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Co-production of electricity and ethanol, process economics of value prior combustion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treasure, T.; Gonzalez, R.; Venditti, R.; Pu, Y.; Jameel, H.; Kelley, S.; Prestemon, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Economics of producing cellulosic ethanol and bio-power in the same facility using an autohydrolysis process. ► Feedstock considerably affect the economics of the biorefinery facility. ► Lower moisture content improves financial performance of the bio-power business. - Abstract: A process economic analysis of co-producing bioethanol and electricity (value prior to combustion) from mixed southern hardwood and southern yellow pine is presented. Bioethanol is produced by extracting carbohydrates from wood via autohydrolysis, membrane separation of byproducts, enzymatic hydrolysis of extracted oligomers and fermentation to ethanol. The residual solids after autohydrolysis are pressed and burned in a power boiler to generate steam and electricity. A base case scenario of biomass combustion to produce electricity is presented as a reference to understand the basics of bio-power generation economics. For the base case, minimum electricity revenue of $70–$96/MWh must be realized to achieve a 6–12% internal rate of return. In the alternative co-production cases, the ethanol facility is treated as a separate business entity that purchases power and steam from the biomass power plant. Minimum ethanol revenue required to achieve a 12% internal rate of return was estimated to be $0.84–$1.05/l for hardwood and $0.74–$0.85/l for softwood. Based on current market conditions and an assumed future ethanol selling price of $0.65/l, the co-production of cellulosic bioethanol and power does not produce financeable returns. A risk analysis indicates that there is a probability of 26.6% to achieve an internal rate of return equal or higher than 12%. It is suggested that focus be placed on improving yield and reducing CAPEX before this technology can be applied commercially. This modeling approach is a robust method to evaluate economic feasibility of integrated production of bio-power and other products based on extracted hemicellulose.

Economics versus psychology.Risk, uncertainty and the expected utility theory

OpenAIRE

Schilirò, Daniele

2017-01-01

The present contribution examines the emergence of expected utility theory by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, the subjective the expected utility theory by Savage, and the problem of choice under risk and uncertainty, focusing in particular on the seminal work “The Utility Analysis of Choices involving Risk" (1948) by Milton Friedman and Leonard Savage to show how the evolution of the theory of choice has determined a separation of economics from psychology.

Economic assessment of flash co-pyrolysis of short rotation coppice and biopolymer waste streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuppens, T; Cornelissen, T; Carleer, R; Yperman, J; Schreurs, S; Jans, M; Thewys, T

2010-12-01

The disposal problem associated with phytoextraction of farmland polluted with heavy metals by means of willow requires a biomass conversion technique which meets both ecological and economical needs. Combustion and gasification of willow require special and costly flue gas treatment to avoid re-emission of the metals in the atmosphere, whereas flash pyrolysis mainly results in the production of (almost) metal free bio-oil with a relatively high water content. Flash co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste of biopolymers synergistically improves the characteristics of the pyrolysis process: e.g. reduction of the water content of the bio-oil, more bio-oil and less char production and an increase of the HHV of the oil. This research paper investigates the economic consequences of the synergistic effects of flash co-pyrolysis of 1:1 w/w ratio blends of willow and different biopolymer waste streams via cost-benefit analysis and Monte Carlo simulations taking into account uncertainties. In all cases economic opportunities of flash co-pyrolysis of biomass with biopolymer waste are improved compared to flash pyrolysis of pure willow. Of all the biopolymers under investigation, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is the most promising, followed by Eastar, Biopearls, potato starch, polylactic acid (PLA), corn starch and Solanyl in order of decreasing profits. Taking into account uncertainties, flash co-pyrolysis is expected to be cheaper than composting biopolymer waste streams, except for corn starch. If uncertainty increases, composting also becomes more interesting than flash co-pyrolysis for waste of Solanyl. If the investment expenditure is 15% higher in practice than estimated, the preference for flash co-pyrolysis compared to composting biopolymer waste becomes less clear. Only when the system of green current certificates is dismissed, composting clearly is a much cheaper processing technique for disposing of biopolymer waste. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Possibilities of utilization of co-products from corn grain ethanol and starch production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Semenčenko Valentina V.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, the expansion of alternative fuels production from crops traditionally used for food and animal feed has led to significant changes in the field of energy production, agriculture and food industry. Starch and sugar feedstocks for ethanol production (corn, wheat, sugar beet, sugar cane, etc. require increasing arable land to meet market demands for the biofuel production. Although intensive studies are being carried out in order to identify improved and more cost-effective methods for the utilization of lignocellulosic and communal waste in the production of alcohol fuel, the possibility of using dry distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS, by-product of bioethanol production from corn and wheat as well as alcoholic beverages industry, is now in focus. Application of DDGS in livestock and poultry diets in concentrations greater than traditional could positively affect the economic viability of this biofuel production, but also stabilize the current imbalance in the food and animal feed market. However, DDGS feedstuff should not be treated as a perfect substitute for corn because the complexity of ration formulation determined at the farm or feedlot level is driven by energy and protein and other nutrient requirements, as well as their relative costs in the ration. Nevertheless, processing of corn by wet milling provides a multitude of co-products suitable for feedstuffs, food industry, pharmaceuticals, chemistry etc. Some of the most important wet milling co-products that have their use in feedstuffs are corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. The use of DDGS as a substitute for traditional feed could prevent indirect land-use changes associated with biofuel production, and therefore preserve the environmental destruction by saving the forests and permanent pastures. The use of distiller’s grains can be beneficial to biofuel growth as this is an additional, the second largest, source of income accounting of 10-20% total

A study of economic utility resulting from CERN contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmied, H.

1975-01-01

The study attempts to quantify the technical and economic benefit to the manufacturing industries involved in CERN contracts, in relation to the expenditures on CERN by its Member States. Interviews were carried out in some 130 European firms, who supplied data on estimates of increased sales and decreased costs due to CERN contracts. This 'economic utility' totals 1,665 million Swiss francs (up to the year 1978), compared with a sales value to CERN of 394 MSF. Utility/sales ratios range from 0.9 to 7.3 for application fields of cables, magnets, cooling systems, vacuum equipment, electronics, and steels; they are as high as 17.3 for computers and 31.6 for precision mechanics. Some 80 per cent of the total reported utility results from sales to markets outside high-energy and nuclear physics, for example, railways, ship-building, refrigeration, power generation and power distribution. For the 877 MSF spent by CERN in European industry from its over-all budget of 3,500 MSF during 1955 to 1973, the total utility is estimated to be nearly 5,000 MSF. The method and procedure of analysis and quantification are discussed in detail and some specific cases are presented as examples. (author) [fr

BRAZILIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE EMISSION OF CO2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cleyzer Adrian Cunha

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of paper is verifying empirically the relationship between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions in Brazil in the period 1980-2006. The scope of work was limited to this natural resource due to its role in economic activity, as an important input in the production process in the Brazilian energy matrix. Among the main results is that there is a long-term relationship and simultaneous causality between variables and GDP per capita CO2 emissions. This evidence, coupled with the fact that the series used were not stationary in level, impossible to estimate the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC, which is the main theoretical basis used in empirical work related to the theme. The VAR / VEC has been estimated and found elasticity between economic growth and CO2 emission was 7.32, ie, in the long run, we can infer that an increase of 1% in GDP per capita increases by 7, 32% CO2 emissions.

76 FR 321 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2012 Economic Census Covering the Utilities...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-04

... Economic Census Covering the Utilities, Transportation and Warehousing, Finance and Insurance, and Real... nondecennial census years. The 2012 Economic Census covering Utilities, Transportation and Warehousing, Finance... basic statistics by kind of business on the number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment...

Energy economics. CO{sub 2} emissions in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Yiming [Beijing Institute of Technology (China). Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research; Liu, Lancui [Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People' s Republic of China, Beijing (China). Center for Climate and Environmental Policy; Wu, Gang; Zou, Lele [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). Inst. of Policy and Management

2011-07-01

''Energy Economics: CO{sub 2} Emissions in China'' presents a collection of the researches on China's CO{sub 2} emissions as studied by the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEP). Based on the analysis of factors related to global climate change and CO{sub 2} emissions, it discusses China's CO{sub 2} emissions originating from various sectors, diverse impact factors, as well as proposed policies for reducing carbon emissions. Featuring empirical research and policy analysis on focused and critical issues involving different stages of CO{sub 2} emissions in China, the book provides scientific supports for researchers and policy makers in dealing with global climate change. (orig.)

Utilization of Spent Resources in Support of Eco-Economic Decoupling in Central Java

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuril Fikri Aulia

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Implementation of the development is often cause adverse environmental impacts. Adverse effects are environmental degradation and decreasing availability of resources. To overcome this, it is necessary that the development can still continue, the environment is not damaged, and the availability of resources is maintained. One effort is through eco - economic decoupling activities with the use of spent resources. The aim of study to determine the potential of spent resources in Central Java, knows the problems in the utilization of spent resources in Central Java, and to determine the impact of the utilization of spent resources in Central Java by a qualitative descriptive method. The results show that in the study have the potential of eco-economic decoupling indicated by the availability of spent resources and had done utilization of spent resources. However, this potential has not been optimally developed, because there are still some problems in its utilization. Problems in the use of spent resources are the lack of knowledge about eco-economic decoupling and spent resources among stakeholder, there is no specific policy on eco - economic decoupling, the lack of Local Government 's role in the utilization of spent resource, and the lack of synergy programs and activities in supporting the utilization of spent resources. Utilization of spent resources have positive impact to reduce pressure on the environment and natural resources, create a new job, and increase incomes for society.

An approach to optimize economics in a west Texas CO2 flood

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pariani, G.J.; McColloch, K.A.; Warden, S.L.; Edens, D.R.

1992-01-01

Enhanced oil recovery projects, most notably CO 2 floods, are the next generation of recovery methods in the more mature West Texas waterfloods. The cost of installing and operating a CO 2 flood can be extremely high. In this paper, the authors will discuss the methods the authors used to make several active CO 2 floods more profitable by reducing operating costs and deferring investments. This paper reports that the author's goals in studying several active West Texas CO 2 floods were to determine the optimum near term cash flow, overall project economics (rate of return, present worth etc.) and oil recoveries. Using a reservoir simulator, various CO 2 flood designs were developed by altering specific operating parameters including the half-cycle slug size, gas-water ratio (GWR) injection schemes and total CO 2 slug sizes. The resulting injection and production rates were then entered into an economic simulator to determine the most economic set of operating conditions

Aspen Plus® and economic modeling of equine waste utilization for localized hot water heating via fast pyrolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Nicole L; Boateng, Akwasi A; Mullen, Charles A; Wheeler, M Clayton

2013-10-15

Aspen Plus(®) based simulation models have been developed to design a pyrolysis process for on-site production and utilization of pyrolysis oil from equine waste at the Equine Rehabilitation Center at Morrisville State College (MSC). The results indicate that utilization of all the available waste from the site's 41 horses requires a 6 oven dry metric ton per day (ODMTPD) pyrolysis system but it will require a 15 ODMTPD system for waste generated by an additional 150 horses at the expanded area including the College and its vicinity. For this a dual fluidized bed combustion reduction integrated pyrolysis system (CRIPS) developed at USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) was identified as the technology of choice for pyrolysis oil production. The Aspen Plus(®) model was further used to consider the combustion of the produced pyrolysis oil (bio-oil) in the existing boilers that generate hot water for space heating at the Equine Center. The model results show the potential for both the equine facility and the College to displace diesel fuel (fossil) with renewable pyrolysis oil and alleviate a costly waste disposal problem. We predict that all the heat required to operate the pyrolyzer could be supplied by non-condensable gas and about 40% of the biochar co-produced with bio-oil. Techno-economic Analysis shows neither design is economical at current market conditions; however the 15 ODMTPD CRIPS design would break even when diesel prices reach $11.40/gal. This can be further improved to $7.50/gal if the design capacity is maintained at 6 ODMTPD but operated at 4950 h per annum. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Applications of utility theory in the economic evaluation of health care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H. Bleichrodt (Han)

1996-01-01

textabstractThis thesis studies the applicability of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and other utility based outcome measures in medical decision making and health economics. The main conclusion will be that utility based measures are more useful to model health related behaviour than has

ENGINEERING FEASIBILITY AND ECONOMICS OF CO2 SEQUESTRATION/USE ON AN EXISTING COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carl R. Bozzuto; Nsakala ya Nsakala

2000-01-31

The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the technical feasibility and the economics of alternate CO{sub 2} capture and sequestration/use technologies for retrofitting an existing pulverized coal-fired power plant. To accomplish this objective three alternative CO{sub 2} capture and sequestration systems will be evaluated to identify their impact on an existing boiler, associated boiler auxiliary components, overall plant operation and performance and power plant cost, including the cost of electricity. The three retrofit technologies that will be evaluated are as follows: (1) Coal combustion in air, followed by CO{sub 2} separation from flue gas with Kerr-McGee/ABB Lummus Global's commercial MEA-based absorption/stripping process. (2) Coal combustion in an O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} environment with CO{sub 2} recycle. (3) Coal combustion in air with oxygen removal and CO{sub 2} captured by tertiary amines In support of this objective and execution of the evaluation of the three retrofit technologies a literature survey was conducted. It is presented in an ''annotated'' form, consistent with the following five sections: (1) Coal Combustion in O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} Media; (2) Oxygen Separation Technologies; (3) Post Combustion CO{sub 2} Separation Technologies; (4) Potential Utilization of CO{sub 2}; and (5) CO{sub 2} Sequestration. The objective of the literature search was to determine if the three retrofit technologies proposed for this project continue to be sound choices. Additionally, a review of the literature would afford the opportunity to determine if other researchers have made significant progress in developing similar process technologies and, in that context, to revisit the current state-of-the-art. Results from this literature survey are summarized in the report.

The impact of CO2 emissions on economic growth: evidence from selected higher CO2 emissions economies.

Science.gov (United States)

Azam, Muhammad; Khan, Abdul Qayyum; Bin Abdullah, Hussin; Qureshi, Muhammad Ejaz

2016-04-01

The main purpose of this work is to analyze the impact of environmental degradation proxied by CO2 emissions per capita along with some other explanatory variables namely energy use, trade, and human capital on economic growth in selected higher CO2 emissions economies namely China, the USA, India, and Japan. For empirical analysis, annual data over the period spanning between 1971 and 2013 are used. After using relevant and suitable tests for checking data properties, the panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method is employed as an analytical technique for parameter estimation. The panel group FMOLS results reveal that almost all variables are statistically significant, whereby test rejects the null hypotheses of non cointegration, demonstrating that all variables play an important role in affecting the economic growth role across countries. Where two regressors namely CO2 emissions and energy use show significantly negative impacts on economic growth, for trade and human capital, they tend to show the significantly positive impact on economic growth. However, for the individual analysis across countries, the panel estimate suggests that CO2 emissions have a significant positive relationship with economic growth for China, Japan, and the USA, while it is found significantly negative in case of India. The empirical findings of the study suggest that appropriate and prudent policies are required in order to control pollution emerging from areas other than liquefied fuel consumption. The ultimate impact of shrinking pollution will help in supporting sustainable economic growth and maturation as well as largely improve society welfare.

Analysis of economic and energy utilization aspects for waste heat aquaculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olszewski, M.; Wilson, J. V.

1978-01-01

A waste heat aquaculture system using extensive culture techniques to produce fin and shellfish is currently under investigation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The system uses nutrients in waste water streams to grow algae and zooplankton which are fed to fish and clams. A tilapia polyculture association and the freshwater clam Corbicula are the animals cultured in the system. The investigations were performed to determine the economic feasibility of the system and examine energy utilization in the system. A net energy analysis was performed to identify the energy saving potential for the system. This analysis includes all energy costs (both direct and indirect) associated with building and operating the system. The results of the economic study indicated that fish production costs of $0.55/kg ($0.25/lb) were possible. This cost, however, depends upon the fish production rate and food conversion efficiency and could rise to as much as $1.65/kg ($0.75/lb). Clam production costs were found to be in the neighborhood of $0.37/kg of clam meat ($1.24/bushel). The energy utilization study results indicated that, when all energy costs are included, fish from the aquaculture system may require only 35% of the net energy now required for fish products from the ocean. However, the energy requirements also depend on system parameters and could be as large as the energy required for ocean caught products. Clams can be produced in the aquaculture system using only about 25% of the net energy required by traditional means. The results of the analysis indicate that the system appears to be economically feasible. They also indicate that significant energy savings are possible if waste heat aquaculture products replace ocean caught products.

Project of CO{sub 2} fixation and utilization using catalytic hydrogenation reaction for coping with the global environment issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

Discussions were given on a carbon dioxide fixing and utilizing project utilizing hydrogenating reaction by means of a catalytic method. In the discussions, development was made on such foundation technologies as CO2 separation by using Cardo type CO2 membrane, a technology to synthesize methanol through hydrogen addition by means of the catalytic method, and an electrolytic technology of membrane-electrode mixed type, as well as a methanol synthesis bench test of 50 kg/d scale. In order to develop this result into specific applications, demonstration tests are required that use methanol synthesizing pilot plants of 4 t/d and 80 t/d capacities. In addition, for the electric power to produce a huge amount of hydrogen, development is necessary on a solar energy utilizing technology of large scale and low cost. Furthermore, from the economic and social viewpoints, the achievements of this project are regarded to depend on understanding of the necessity of a policy of putting a large number of methanol fuel cell automobiles into use, and dealing with the global warming problem. Energy required to change CO2 into useful chemical substance requires five times as much energy as has been produced, hence prevention of the global warming through this channel is difficult. (NEDO)

Development of radiation utilization for economic growth in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Yanxiao

1994-01-01

The program of radiation utilization in China was initiated with the development of nuclear industry in the late 1950s. From then on, the establishment of relatively comprehensive nuclear industrial system and a fair number of talent technical personnel have laid the foundation for radiation utilization in industry, agriculture, medicine and so on. Radioisotopes and radiation become one of the most effective means for acquiring data and information and changing material properties in modern techniques. They are, in many respects, unique and cannot replaced by other techniques. In recent years the considerable progress in the development, commercialization and large-scale utilization of radioisotopes and radiation has been creating economic and social benefits for Chinese modernization. The applications in agriculture have mainly embodied in mutation breeding of crops and so on through radiation or in combination with other methods to provide excellent mutant varieties. The important applications in medicine are the medical diagnosis with radioimmunoassay (RIA) and radiopharmaceutical imaging, and cancer therapy with radioisotopes and electron beam. Well-established methods have bee offered for routine clinic applications to help to heal the patients and rescue the lives. The industrial applications are of key importance in economic growth in China. In fact, radiation processing and nucleonic control systems (NCS) for industrial utilization are very useful to technological transformation of Chinese traditional industries. The radiation utilization in industries can be emerging as new high-tech industries. A fuller exploitation of radiation utilization is expected to meet the requirements of high growth of national economy and to bridge the gap between China and the developed countries in the world in nuclear application. (author)

Development of radiation utilization for economic growth in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yanxiao, Lu [China Nuclear Information Center, Beijing, BJ (China)

1994-01-01

The program of radiation utilization in China was initiated with the development of nuclear industry in the late 1950s. From then on, the establishment of relatively comprehensive nuclear industrial system and a fair number of talent technical personnel have laid the foundation for radiation utilization in industry, agriculture, medicine and so on. Radioisotopes and radiation become one of the most effective means for acquiring data and information and changing material properties in modern techniques. They are, in many respects, unique and cannot replaced by other techniques. In recent years the considerable progress in the development, commercialization and large-scale utilization of radioisotopes and radiation has been creating economic and social benefits for Chinese modernization. The applications in agriculture have mainly embodied in mutation breeding of crops and so on through radiation or in combination with other methods to provide excellent mutant varieties. The important applications in medicine are the medical diagnosis with radioimmunoassay (RIA) and radiopharmaceutical imaging, and cancer therapy with radioisotopes and electron beam. Well-established methods have bee offered for routine clinic applications to help to heal the patients and rescue the lives. The industrial applications are of key importance in economic growth in China. In fact, radiation processing and nucleonic control systems (NCS) for industrial utilization are very useful to technological transformation of Chinese traditional industries. The radiation utilization in industries can be emerging as new high-tech industries. A fuller exploitation of radiation utilization is expected to meet the requirements of high growth of national economy and to bridge the gap between China and the developed countries in the world in nuclear application. (author).

Economic scale of utilization of radiation in medicine in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yanagisawa, K; Inoue, T; Hayakawa, K; Shiotari, H; Nakamura, Y; Matsuyama, K; Nagasawa, K

2009-01-01

Economic scale of radioisotopes (RI) in Japan is studied in the field of medicine, agriculture and a part of industry. (1) RI is used during medical examination with economic scale by 1.7M$ (million dollars) in 1997 and 0.4M$ in 2005. (2) Economic scale of RI utilization in agriculture is 4M$ for R&D, 127M$ for environmental protection and 1M$ for chronology. RI usage in agriculture is increased five times due to needs at environmental technology lasted after the Kyoto protocol. (3) Indirect economic scale of RI ((85)Kr, (147)Pm, (90)Cr) usage in paper fabrication field in Japan for 2006 is 8432M$.

Current Economic Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Mirascic

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This article provides an overview of the current economic situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Beginning in the second half of 2008, macroeconomic conditions in B&H began precipitating a decline in economic activity. While the global financial crisis was among the factors contributing to this decline, it was far from the only factor. Problematic macroeconomic conditions were also a result of B&H’s own structural and political problems, caused largely by the shortcomings of a political entity comprising two autonomous entities. Due to such problems, the governments of B&H turned to the International Monetary Fund for assistance. This article analyzes the effects of the first two “stand by” arrangements made between the IMF and B&H and discusses implications for further, ongoing stand by arrangements made between the IMF and B&H. This paper also examines the lack of unified economic space between The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Republic of Srpska, which has resulted not only in ineffective monetary policy but also in different fiscal and taxation systems between the two entities. While various existing analyses claim that B&H has little hope of resolving its economic woes due to its current political and economic structure, this article offers solutions and measures that, if successfully implemented, would lead to more efficient recovery and self-sustainable economic growth.

The Potential for Electrofuels Production in Sweden Utilizing Fossil and Biogenic CO2 Point Sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansson, Julia; Hackl, Roman; Taljegard, Maria; Brynolf, Selma; Grahn, Maria

2017-01-01

This paper maps, categorizes, and quantifies all major point sources of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from industrial and combustion processes in Sweden. The paper also estimates the Swedish technical potential for electrofuels (power-to-gas/fuels) based on carbon capture and utilization. With our bottom-up approach using European databases, we find that Sweden emits approximately 50 million metric tons of CO 2 per year from different types of point sources, with 65% (or about 32 million tons) from biogenic sources. The major sources are the pulp and paper industry (46%), heat and power production (23%), and waste treatment and incineration (8%). Most of the CO 2 is emitted at low concentrations (<15%) from sources in the southern part of Sweden where power demand generally exceeds in-region supply. The potentially recoverable emissions from all the included point sources amount to 45 million tons. If all the recoverable CO 2 were used to produce electrofuels, the yield would correspond to 2–3 times the current Swedish demand for transportation fuels. The electricity required would correspond to about 3 times the current Swedish electricity supply. The current relatively few emission sources with high concentrations of CO 2 (>90%, biofuel operations) would yield electrofuels corresponding to approximately 2% of the current demand for transportation fuels (corresponding to 1.5–2 TWh/year). In a 2030 scenario with large-scale biofuels operations based on lignocellulosic feedstocks, the potential for electrofuels production from high-concentration sources increases to 8–11 TWh/year. Finally, renewable electricity and production costs, rather than CO 2 supply, limit the potential for production of electrofuels in Sweden.

International Comparison of Water Resources Utilization Efficiency in the Silk Road Economic Belt

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Long; Ma, Jing; Deng, Wei; Wang, Yong

2018-03-01

In order to get knowledge of the standard of water utilization of the Silk Road Economic Belt from international point of view, the paper analyzes the annual variation of water resources utilization in the Silk Road Economic Belt, and compares with other typical countries. The study shows that Water resources utilization efficiency has been greatly improved in recent 20 years and the water consumption per USD 10000 of GDP has been declined 87.97%. the improvement of industrial water consumption efficiency is the key driving factors for substantial decrease in water consumption.The comparison of water utilization and human development shows that the higher HDI the country is, the more efficient water utilization the country has. water consumption per USD 10000 of GDP in country with HDI>0.9 is 194m³, being 8.5% of that in country with HDI from 0.5 to 0.6. On the premise of maintaining the stable economic and social development of the Silk Road Economic Belt, the realization of the control target of total water consumption must depend on the strict control over the disorderly expansion of irrigated area, the change in the mode of economic growth, the implementation of the development strategy for new industrialization and urbanization, vigorous development of the processing industry with low water consumption as well as the high-tech and high value-added industry. Only in this way, the control target of total water consumption can be realized in the process of completing the industrialization task.

Implementing energy efficiency: Challenges and opportunities for rural electric co-operatives and small municipal utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, Elizabeth J.; Plummer, Joseph; Fischlein, Miriam; Smith, Timothy M.

2008-01-01

Challenges in implementing demand side management (DSM) programs in rural electric co-operatives and small municipal utilities are not well understood, yet these organizations sell roughly 15% of electricity in the US, many are more coal-intensive than investor-owned utilities (IOUs), and they are politically important-rural electric co-operatives cover about 75% of the US land area and municipal utilities are found in every state except Hawaii. We provide a background on rural co-operatives and municipal utilities in the context of the US electric sector and highlight the challenges and opportunities of implementing DSM programs in these institutions. Where past studies of utility DSM have mostly focused on IOUs or consisted of qualitative case studies of municipal utilities with exemplary DSM performance, this study makes a unique contribution to the DSM literature by systematically analyzing an entire co-operative and municipal utility population in Minnesota through the use of a survey. In doing so, we provide policy recommendations relevant to energy planners and policy makers to support DSM in rural electric co-operatives and municipal utilities

Potential Mississippi oil recovery and economic impact from CO2 miscible flooding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moring, J.A.; Rogers, R.E.

1991-01-01

Maturing of Mississippi oil reservoirs has resulted in a steady decline in crude oil production in the state. This paper reports that, to evaluate the potential of enhanced recovery processes, particularly in the use of the state's large CO 2 reserves, for arresting this trend, the subject study was performed. A computer data base of over 1315 Mississippi reservoirs was established. All reservoirs were screened for applicability of the carbon dioxide miscible process. With models developed by the National Petroleum Council and DOE, incremental oil that could be produced from the carbon dioxide miscible process was calculated. Under selected economic conditions, carbon dioxide miscible flooding with utilization of carbon dioxide from the state's Norphlet formation (3-7 tcf reserves of high-purity CO 2 ) could produce 120 million barrels of incremental oil in Mississippi. Incremental state revenues as a consequence of this production were calculated to be $45 million of severance taxes, $50 million of corporate income taxes, and $60 million of royalty payments, expressed as present values

An economic and legal perspective on electric utility transition costs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rose, K.

1996-07-01

The issue of possibly unrecoverable cost incurred by a utility, or `stranded costs,` has emerged as a major obstacle to developing a competitive generation market. Stranded or transition costs are defined as costs incurred by a utility to serve its customers that were being recovered in rates but are no longer due to availability of lower-priced alternative suppliers. The idea of `stranded cost,` and more importantly arguments for its recovery, is a concept with little basis in economic theory, legal precedence, or precedence in other deregulated industries. The main argument recovery is that the ``regulatory compact`` requires it. This is based on the misconception that the regulator compact is simply: the utility incurs costs on behalf of its customers because of the ``obligation to serve`` so, therefore, customers are obligated to pay. This is a mischaracterization of what the compact was and how it developed. Another argument is that recovery is required for economic efficiency. This presumes, however, a very narrow definition of efficiency based on preventing ``uneconomic`` bypass of the utility and that utilities minimize costs. A broader definition of efficiency and the likelihood of cost inefficiencies in the industry suggest that the cost imposed on customers from inhibiting competition could exceed the gains from preventing uneconomic bypass. Both these issues are examined in this paper.

Global Economy under the Current Economic Crisis Effects

OpenAIRE

Voicu Ioana-Iulica; Talmaciu Iuliana

2010-01-01

In the current context in which countries in the world search new solutions and strategies to counteract the negative effects generated by the worst economic crisis in the last 80 years, the globalisation rises polemics and controversies regarding the causes that lead to the expansion of the crisis. May it be, the current economic crisis, a consequence of the globalisation? Beyond the contradictory answers, the globalisation must be seen in essence as a stimulating and expansion factor of the...

Economic utility resulting from CERN contracts (second study)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bianchi-Streit, M.; Blackburne, N.; Budde, R.; Reitz, H.; Sagnell, B.; Schorr, B.; Schmied, H.

1985-01-01

The study attempts to quantify the economic benefit to high technology manufacturing industries involved in CERN contracts, in relation to their sales to CERN. It covers the period 1973-87 and complements an earlier study made in 1973-75 (see CERN Report 75-5). Interviews were carried out in 160 European firms, who supplied estimates of increased sales and cost savings due to CERN contracts. This 'economy utility' totals 3107 million Swiss francs (up to the year 1987), compared to sales to CERN amounting to 748 million Swiss francs in 1982 prices. It is estimated that, by 1987, CERN's high technology purchases made in 1973-82 will have generated Economic Utility amounting to about 60% of the overall cost of the Organization during the same period. In 1982, about 75% of the increased turnover due to CERN resulted from sales to markets outside high energy particle physics, for example, railways, shipbuilding, refrigeration, power generation and distribution, and health care. The quantification model used is discussed in detail and some specific cases are presented as examples. The industrial managers interviewed during both studies have confirmed that the forecasts made ten years ago were, on average, accurate. (orig.)

CO2 utilization: Developments in conversion processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erdogan Alper

2017-03-01

The potential utilization of CO2, captured at power plants, should also been taken into consideration for sustainability. This CO2 source, which is potentially a raw material for the chemical industry, will be available at sufficient quality and at gigantic quantity upon realization of on-going tangible capture projects. Products resulting from carboxylation reactions are obvious conversions. In addition, provided that enough supply of energy from non-fossil resources, such as solar [1], is ensured, CO2 reduction reactions can produce several valuable commodity chemicals including multi-carbon compounds, such as ethylene and acrylic acid, in addition to C1 chemicals and polymers. Presently, there are only few developing technologies which can find industrial applications. Therefore, there is a need for concerted research in order to assess the viability of these promising exploratory technologies rationally.

Health economic studies: an introduction to cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Angevine, Peter D; Berven, Sigurd

2014-10-15

Narrative overview. To provide clinicians with a basic understanding of economic studies, including cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility analyses. As decisions regarding public health policy, insurance reimbursement, and patient care incorporate factors other than traditional outcomes such as satisfaction or symptom resolution, health economic studies are increasingly prominent in the literature. This trend will likely continue, and it is therefore important for clinicians to have a fundamental understanding of the common types of economic studies and be able to read them critically. In this brief article, the basic concepts of economic studies and the differences between cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility studies are discussed. An overview of the field of health economic analysis is presented. Cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility studies all integrate cost and outcome data into a decision analysis model. These different types of studies are distinguished mainly by the way in which outcomes are valued. Obtaining accurate cost data is often difficult and can limit the generalizability of a study. With a basic understanding of health economic analysis, clinicians can be informed consumers of these important studies.

Economic evaluation of CO2 pipeline transport in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Dongjie; Wang Zhe; Sun Jining; Zhang Lili; Li Zheng

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We build a static hydrodynamic model of CO 2 pipeline for CCS application. ► We study the impact on pressure drop of pipeline by viscosity, density and elevation. ► We point out that density has a bigger impact on pressure drop than viscosity. ► We suggest dense phase transport is preferred than supercritical state. ► We present cost-optimal pipeline diameters for different flowrates and distances. - Abstract: Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is an important option for CO 2 mitigation and an optimized CO 2 pipeline transport system is necessary for large scale CCS implementation. In the present work, a hydrodynamic model for CO 2 pipeline transport was built up and the hydrodynamic performances of CO 2 pipeline as well as the impacts of multiple factors on pressure drop behavior along the pipeline were studied. Based on the model, an economic model was established to optimize the CO 2 pipeline transport system economically and to evaluate the unit transport cost of CO 2 pipeline in China. The hydrodynamic model results show that pipe diameter, soil temperature, and pipeline elevation change have significant influence on the pressure drop behavior of CO 2 in the pipeline. The design of pipeline system, including pipeline diameter and number of boosters etc., was optimized to achieve a lowest unit CO 2 transport cost. In regarding to the unit cost, when the transport flow rate and distance are between 1–5 MtCO 2 /year and 100–500 km, respectively, the unit CO 2 transport cost mainly lies between 0.1–0.6 RMB/(tCO 2 km) and electricity consumption cost of the pipeline inlet compressor was found to take more than 60% of the total cost. The present work provides reference for CO 2 transport pipeline design and for feasibility evaluation of potential CCS projects in China.

Economics of Alaska North Slope gas utilization options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, C.P.; Doughty, T.C.; Hackworth, J.H.; North, W.B.; Robertson, E.P.

1996-08-01

The recoverable natural gas available for sale in the developed and known undeveloped fields on the Alaskan North Slope (ANS) total about 26 trillion cubic feet (TCF), including 22 TCF in the Prudhoe Bay Unit (PBU) and 3 TCF in the undeveloped Point Thomson Unit (PTU). No significant commercial use has been made of this large natural gas resource because there are no facilities in place to transport this gas to current markets. To date the economics have not been favorable to support development of a gas transportation system. However, with the declining trend in ANS oil production, interest in development of this huge gas resource is rising, making it important for the U.S. Department of Energy, industry, and the State of Alaska to evaluate and assess the options for development of this vast gas resource. The purpose of this study was to assess whether gas-to-liquids (GTL) conversion technology would be an economic alternative for the development and sale of the large, remote, and currently unmarketable ANS natural gas resource, and to compare the long term economic impact of a GTL conversion option to that of the more frequently discussed natural gas pipeline/liquefied natural gas (LNG) option. The major components of the study are: an assessment of the ANS oil and gas resources; an analysis of conversion and transportation options; a review of natural gas, LNG, and selected oil product markets; and an economic analysis of the LNG and GTL gas sales options based on publicly available input needed for assumptions of the economic variables. Uncertainties in assumptions are evaluated by determining the sensitivity of project economics to changes in baseline economic variables

Beyond Expected Utility in the Economics of Health and Longevity

OpenAIRE

Cordoba, Juan Carlos; Ripoll, Marla

2013-01-01

We document various limitations of the expected utility model for the study of health and longevity. The model assumes individuals are indifferent between early and late resolution of uncertainty. This assumption gives rise to predictions regarding the economic value of life that are inconsistent with relevant evidence. For example, poor individuals would price life below the present value of foregone income or even negatively. We show that a non-expected utility model disentangling intertemp...

The impact of economic growth on health care utilization: a longitudinal study in rural Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Thoa, Nguyen Thi Minh; Thanh, Nguyen Xuan; Chuc, Nguyen Thi Kim; Lindholm, Lars

2013-03-16

In many developing countries, including Vietnam, out-of-pocket payment is the principal source of health financing. The economic growth is widening the gap between rich and poor people in many aspects, including health care utilization. While inequities in health between high- and low-income groups have been well investigated, this study aims to investigate how the health care utilization changes when the economic condition is changing at a household level. We analysed a panel data of 11,260 households in a rural district of Vietnam. Of the sample, 74.4% having an income increase between 2003 and 2007 were defined as households with economic growth. We used a double-differences propensity score matching technique to compare the changes in health care expenditure as percentage of total expenditure and health care utilization from 2003 to 2005, from 2003 to 2007, and from 2005 to 2007, between households with and without economic growth. Households with economic growth spent less percentage of their expenditure for health care, but used more provincial/central hospitals (higher quality health care services) than households without economic growth. The differences were statistically significant. The results suggest that households with economic growth are better off also in terms of health services utilization. Efforts for reducing inequalities in health should therefore consider the inequality in income growth over time.

Emergy evaluation of water utilization benefits in water-ecological-economic system based on water cycle process

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, X.; Wu, Z.; Lv, C.

2017-12-01

The water utilization benefits are formed by the material flow, energy flow, information flow and value stream in the whole water cycle process, and reflected along with the material circulation of inner system. But most of traditional water utilization benefits evaluation are based on the macro level, only consider the whole material input and output and energy conversion relation, and lack the characterization of water utilization benefits accompanying with water cycle process from the formation mechanism. In addition, most studies are from the perspective of economics, only pay attention to the whole economic output and sewage treatment economic investment, but neglect the ecological function benefits of water cycle, Therefore, from the perspective of internal material circulation in the whole system, taking water cycle process as the process of material circulation and energy flow, the circulation and flow process of water and other ecological environment, social economic elements were described, and the composition of water utilization positive and negative benefits in water-ecological-economic system was explored, and the performance of each benefit was analyzed. On this basis, the emergy calculation method of each benefit was proposed by emergy quantitative analysis technique, which can realize the unified measurement and evaluation of water utilization benefits in water-ecological-economic system. Then, taking Zhengzhou city as an example, the corresponding benefits of different water cycle links were calculated quantitatively by emergy method, and the results showed that the emergy evaluation method of water utilization benefits can unify the ecosystem and the economic system, achieve uniform quantitative analysis, and measure the true value of natural resources and human economic activities comprehensively.

Synergistic Effect of Co-utilization of Coal and Biomass Char: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Paiman, M. E. S.; Hamzah, N. S.; Idris, S. S.; Rahman, N. A.; Ismail, K.

2018-05-01

Global concerns on impact of greenhouse gases emission, mostly released from coal-fired power plant, and the depletion of fossil fuel particularly coal, has led the production of electricity from alternatives resources such as co-utilization technologies. Previous studies proved that the co-utilization of coal and biomass/biomass chars has significantly reduced the emission of greenhouse gases either during the pyrolysis, combustion or gasification process in laboratories, pilots as well as in the industrial scales. Interestingly, most of the studies reported the presence of synergistic effect during the co-utilization processes particularly between coal and biomass char while some are not. Biomass chars were found to have porous and highly disorder carbon structure and belong to the class of most reactive carbon material, resulting to be more reactive than those hard coal and lignite. Up to date, microwave assisted pyrolysis is one of the best and latest techniques employed to produce better quality of biomass chars and it is also reduce the processing cost. Lot of works has been done regarding on the existence of synergistic effects during its co-utilization. However, the knowledge is limited to thermal and product characteristics so far. Even so, the specific reasons behind its existence are yet to understand well. Therefore, in this paper, the emphasis will be given on the synergistic effects on emission characteristics of co-utilization of coal and biomass chars so that it can be apply in energy-based industries to help in reduction of the greenhouse gases emission.

The Potential for Electrofuels Production in Sweden Utilizing Fossil and Biogenic CO{sub 2} Point Sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansson, Julia, E-mail: julia.hansson@ivl.se [Climate and Sustainable Cities, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Stockholm (Sweden); Division of Physical Resource Theory, Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg (Sweden); Hackl, Roman [Climate and Sustainable Cities, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Stockholm (Sweden); Taljegard, Maria [Division of Energy Technology, Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg (Sweden); Brynolf, Selma; Grahn, Maria [Division of Physical Resource Theory, Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg (Sweden)

2017-03-13

This paper maps, categorizes, and quantifies all major point sources of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions from industrial and combustion processes in Sweden. The paper also estimates the Swedish technical potential for electrofuels (power-to-gas/fuels) based on carbon capture and utilization. With our bottom-up approach using European databases, we find that Sweden emits approximately 50 million metric tons of CO{sub 2} per year from different types of point sources, with 65% (or about 32 million tons) from biogenic sources. The major sources are the pulp and paper industry (46%), heat and power production (23%), and waste treatment and incineration (8%). Most of the CO{sub 2} is emitted at low concentrations (<15%) from sources in the southern part of Sweden where power demand generally exceeds in-region supply. The potentially recoverable emissions from all the included point sources amount to 45 million tons. If all the recoverable CO{sub 2} were used to produce electrofuels, the yield would correspond to 2–3 times the current Swedish demand for transportation fuels. The electricity required would correspond to about 3 times the current Swedish electricity supply. The current relatively few emission sources with high concentrations of CO{sub 2} (>90%, biofuel operations) would yield electrofuels corresponding to approximately 2% of the current demand for transportation fuels (corresponding to 1.5–2 TWh/year). In a 2030 scenario with large-scale biofuels operations based on lignocellulosic feedstocks, the potential for electrofuels production from high-concentration sources increases to 8–11 TWh/year. Finally, renewable electricity and production costs, rather than CO{sub 2} supply, limit the potential for production of electrofuels in Sweden.

Estimating CO2 Emission Reduction of Non-capture CO2 Utilization (NCCU) Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Ji Hyun; Lee, Dong Woog; Gyu, Jang Se; Kwak, No-Sang; Lee, In Young; Jang, Kyung Ryoung; Shim, Jae-Goo; Choi, Jong Shin

2015-01-01

Estimating potential of CO 2 emission reduction of non-capture CO 2 utilization (NCCU) technology was evaluated. NCCU is sodium bicarbonate production technology through the carbonation reaction of CO 2 contained in the flue gas. For the estimating the CO 2 emission reduction, process simulation using process simulator (PRO/II) based on a chemical plant which could handle CO 2 of 100 tons per day was performed, Also for the estimation of the indirect CO 2 reduction, the solvay process which is a conventional technology for the production of sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate, was studied. The results of the analysis showed that in case of the solvay process, overall CO 2 emission was estimated as 48,862 ton per year based on the energy consumption for the production of NaHCO 3 (7.4 GJ/tNaHCO 3 ). While for the NCCU technology, the direct CO 2 reduction through the CO 2 carbonation was estimated as 36,500 ton per year and the indirect CO 2 reduction through the lower energy consumption was 46,885 ton per year which lead to 83,385 ton per year in total. From these results, it could be concluded that sodium bicarbonate production technology through the carbonation reaction of CO 2 contained in the flue was energy efficient and could be one of the promising technology for the low CO 2 emission technology.

Current status of radio-isotopes utilization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, M [Banaras Hindu Univ. (India)

1974-08-01

Utilization of radioisotopes were reviewed briefly in a categorized manner. In plant biochemistry, long lived radioactive carbon ,/sup 14/C, was applied to clarify such metabolic processes as photosynthesis, respiration and protein synthesis, etc., while radioactive oxygen ,/sup 18/O, was used to study the O/sub 2/ generation mechanism. Radioactive phosphorus ,/sup 32/P, was used to detect the amount, grain size of phosphatic fertilizer as well as the time and depth for better utilization. Radioactive sulphur ,/sup 35/S, and nitrogen ,/sup 15/N, could be of use in studies of protein metabolism in plants. Radioactive tracers of other minerals such as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Mo, B, and Co were also used to detect their specific role in plants. Use of radioactive isotopes in protein synthesis and transfer of genetic information was described. Radioactive iodine ,/sup 131/I, binding capacity of milk proteins, and radio trace studies in the iodine turn over in the use of radioactive iodine were summarized.

Techno-economic study of CO{sub 2} capture from an existing coal-fired power plant: MEA scrubbing vs. O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} recycle combustion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, D; Croiset, E; Douglas, P L [Waterloo Univ., Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo, ON (Canada); Douglas, M A [Natural Resources Canada, CANMET Energy Technology Centre, Nepean, ON (Canada)

2003-11-01

The existing fleet of modern pulverised coal fired power plants represents an opportunity to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years providing that efficient and economical CO{sub 2} capture technologies are available for retrofit. One option is to separate CO{sub 2} from the products of combustion using conventional approaches such as amine scrubbing. An emerging alternative, commonly known as O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} recycle combustion, involves burning the coal with oxygen in an atmosphere of recycled flue gas. Both approaches can be retrofitted to existing units, however they consume significant amounts of energy to capture, purify and compress the CO{sub 2} for subsequent sequestration. This paper presents a techno-economic comparison of the performance of the two approaches. The comparison was developed using the commercial process simulation packages, Hysys and Aspen Plus. The results show that both processes are expensive options to capture CO{sub 2} from coal power plants, however O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} appears to be a more attractive retrofit than MEA scrubbing. The CO{sub 2} capture cost for the MEA case is USD 53/ton of CO{sub 2} avoided, which translates into 3.3 cent/kW h. For the O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} case the CO{sub 2} capture cost is lower at USD 35/ton of CO{sub 2} avoided, which translates into 2.4 cent/kW h. These capture costs represent an approximate increase of 20-30% in current electricity prices. (Author)

Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions in the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bengochea-Morancho, A.; Martinez-Zarzoso, I.; Higon-Tamarit, F.

2001-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions in the European Union. A panel data analysis for the period 1981 to 1995 is applied in order to estimate the relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and CO 2 emissions in ten selected European countries. The analysis shows important disparities between the most industrialised countries and the rest. The results do not seem to support a uniform policy to control emissions; they rather indicate that a reduction in emissions should be achieved by taking into account the specific economic situation and the industrial structure of each EU member state. 20 refs

Initial Economic Analysis of Utility-Scale Wind Integration in Hawaii

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2012-03-01

This report summarizes an analysis, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in May 2010, of the economic characteristics of a particular utility-scale wind configuration project that has been referred to as the 'Big Wind' project.

Dynamic relationship between CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in three North African countries

Science.gov (United States)

Kais, Saidi; Ben Mbarek, Mounir

2017-10-01

This paper investigated the causal relationship between energy consumption (EC), carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and economic growth for three selected North African countries. It uses a panel co-integration analysis to determine this econometric relationship using data during 1980-2012. Recently developed tests for panel unit root and co-integration tests are applied. In order to test the Granger causality, a panel Vector Error Correction Model is used. The conservation hypothesis is found; the short run panel results show that there is a unidirectional relationship from economic growth to EC. In addition, there is a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to CO2 emissions. A unidirectional relationship from EC to CO2 emissions is detected. Findings shown that there is a big interdependence between EC and economic growth in the long run, which indicates the level of economic activity and EC mutually influence each other in that a high level of economic growth leads to a high level of EC and vice versa. Similarly, a unidirectional causal relationship from EC to CO2 emissions is detected. This study opens up new insights for policy-makers to design comprehensive economic, energy and environmental policy to keep the economic green and a sustainable environment, implying that these three variables could play an important role in the adjustment process as the system changes from the long run equilibrium.

Microalgal technology for remediation of CO{sub 2} from power plant flue gas: A techno-economic perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kadam, K.L. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

1996-12-31

Power plants burning fossil fuels are a major source of CO{sub 2} which is implicated in global warming. Microalgal systems which photosynthetically assimilate carbon dioxide can be used for mitigation of this major greenhouse gas. A techno-economic model was developed for trapping carbon dioxide from flue gases by microalgae in outdoor ponds. The model also shows that algal lipid content and growth rate are both important for an economical process, but a trade-off exists between the two, i.e., a high lipid content and low growth rate combination can be as effective as a low lipid content and high growth rate combination. Hence, these two parameters may be treated as a composite parameter to be optimized to yield the least CO{sub 2} mitigation cost. Model predictions were also used to compare the microalgal technology with alternative technologies in terms of CO{sub 2} mitigation costs. Incorporating advances anticipated in the future into the design basis, the model yields a CO{sub 2} mitigation cost that is competitive with other CO{sub 2} remediation technologies currently being proposed. Furthermore, this technology also provides a lipid feedstock for producing a renewable fuel such as biodiesel. Deployment of this technology for CO{sub 2} mitigation looks attractive if research goals put forth by the model are achieved.

CO2 capture technologies: current status and new directions using supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) absorbers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kolding, Helene; Fehrmann, Rasmus; Riisager, Anders

2012-01-01

Current state-of-the-art techniques for CO2 capture are presented and discussed. Post-combustion capture of CO2 by absorption is the technology most easily retrofitted to existing installations, but at present this is not economically viable to install and run. Using ionic liquids instead...... of aqueous amine solutions overcomes the major thermodynamic issues. By applying SILP technology further advances, in terms of ease of handling and sorption dynamics, are obtained. Initial experimental studies showed that ionic liquids such as tetrahexylammonium prolinate, [N6666][Pro], provide a good...... candidate for CO2 absorption using SILP technology. Thus a solid SILP absorber comprised of 40 wt% [N6666][Pro] loaded on precalcined silica quantitatively takes up about 1.2 mole CO2 per mole of ionic liquid in consecutive absorption-desorption cycles in a flow-experiment performed with 0.09 bar of CO2 (9...

Logging utilization in Idaho: Current and past trends

Science.gov (United States)

Eric A. Simmons; Todd A. Morgan; Erik C. Berg; Stanley J. Zarnoch; Steven W. Hayes; Mike T. Thompson

2014-01-01

A study of commercial timber-harvesting activities in Idaho was conducted during 2008 and 2011 to characterize current tree utilization, logging operations, and changes from previous Idaho logging utilization studies. A two-stage simple random sampling design was used to select sites and felled trees for measurement within active logging sites. Thirty-three logging...

Stochastic modelling of the economic viability of on-farm co-digestion of pig manure and food waste in Ireland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dennehy, C.; Lawlor, P.G.; Gardiner, G.E.; Jiang, Y.; Shalloo, L.; Zhan, X.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Assessed economic viability of on-farm manure mono- and co-digestion. •Assessed three farm sizes: 521 sows; 2607 sows; and 5214 sows. •Mono-digestion of manure alone not economically viable. •Co-digestion viable on small farms as food waste likely to be sourced. •Viability on larger farms dependent on securing sufficient food waste. -- Abstract: The majority of studies analysing the economic potential of biogas systems utilise deterministic models to assess the viability of a system using fixed inputs. However, changes in market conditions can significantly affect the viability of biogas plants, and need to be accounted for. This study assessed the economic potential of undertaking on-farm anaerobic co-digestion of food waste (FW) and pig manure (PM) using both deterministic and stochastic modelling approaches. The financial viability of three co-digestion plants sized to treat PM generated from 521, 2607 and 5214 sow integrated units was assessed. Under current market conditions the largest co-digestion scenario modelled was found to be unviable. Stochastic modelling of four key input variables (FW availability, renewable electricity tariff, gate fees and digestate disposal costs) was undertaken to assess the sensitivity of project viability to changes in market conditions. Due to the high likelihood of accessing sufficient FW, the smallest co-digestion scenario was found to be the least sensitive to any future changes in market conditions. Due to its potential to treat greater amounts of FW than the smallest scenario, a co-digestion plant designed for a 2607 sow farm had the highest revenue generating potential under optimal market conditions; however, it was more sensitive to changes in FW availability than the smaller scenario. This study illustrates the need for farm-based biogas plant projects to secure long-term, stable supplies of co-substrates and to size plants’ capacity based on the availability of the co-substrates which drive

An approach for evaluating utility-financed energy conservation programs. The economic welfare model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costello, K W; Galen, P S

1985-09-01

The main objective of this paper is to illustrate how the economic welfare model may be used to measure the economic efficiency effects of utility-financed energy conservation programs. The economic welfare model is the theoretical structure that was used in this paper to develop a cost/benefit test. This test defines the net benefit of a conservation program as the change in the sum of consumer and producer surplus. The authors advocate the operation of the proposed cost/benefit model as a screening tool to eliminate from more detailed review those programs where the expected net benefits are less than zero. The paper presents estimates of the net benefit derived from different specified cost/benefit models for four illustrative pilot programs. These models are representative of those which have been applied or are under review by utilities and public utility commissions. From the numerical results, it is shown that net benefit is greatly affected by the assumptions made about the nature of welfare gains to program participants. The main conclusion that emerges from the numerical results is that the selection of a cost/benefit model is a crucial element in evaluating utility-financed energy conservation programs. The paper also briefly addresses some of the major unresolved issues in utility-financed energy conservation programs. 2 figs., 3 tabs., 10 refs. (A.V.)

The potential of geological storage of CO2 in Austria: a techno-economic assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Brüstle, Anna Katharina; Welkenhuysen, Kris; Bottig, Magdalena; Piessens, Kris; Ramirez, Andrea; Swenner, Rudy

2014-05-01

economic uncertainties. Results indicate a significant potential for CCS in Austria and a very high probability for any CO2 storage activity. The assessment of the average practical capacity of the whole country is 120Mt at 15€/tCO2 of storage budget, while the average matched national capacity is 40Mt. Concerning the individual reservoirs, reservoir development probabilities generally lie between 20 and 30%. These numbers served as basis for a reservoir exploration ranking. Compared to current emissions, total storage capacity is at the low end, which is likely the main technical limiting factor for CCS deployment in Austria. Also, current policy seems not in favour of CCS. Storage capacity is however high enough to provide a significant contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the country, in the order of a few million tonnes per year. Opportunities to combine CO2 geological storage and geothermal energy seem promising, but require additional evaluation. Welkenhuysen, K., Ramirez, A., Swennen, R. & Piessens, K., 2013. Ranking potential CO2 storage reservoirs: an exploration priority list for Belgium. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 17, p. 431-449

Assessing the economic feasibility of flexible integrated gasification Co-generation facilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meerman, J.C.; Ramírez Ramírez, C.A.; Turkenburg, W.C.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2011-01-01

This paper evaluated the economic effects of introducing flexibility to state-of-the-art integrated gasification co-generation (IGCG) facilities equipped with CO2 capture. In a previous paper the technical and energetic performances of these flexible IG-CG facilities were evaluated. This paper

Analysis of Co-Tunneling Current in Fullerene Single-Electron Transistor

Science.gov (United States)

KhademHosseini, Vahideh; Dideban, Daryoosh; Ahmadi, MohammadTaghi; Ismail, Razali

2018-05-01

Single-electron transistors (SETs) are nano devices which can be used in low-power electronic systems. They operate based on coulomb blockade effect. This phenomenon controls single-electron tunneling and it switches the current in SET. On the other hand, co-tunneling process increases leakage current, so it reduces main current and reliability of SET. Due to co-tunneling phenomenon, main characteristics of fullerene SET with multiple islands are modelled in this research. Its performance is compared with silicon SET and consequently, research result reports that fullerene SET has lower leakage current and higher reliability than silicon counterpart. Based on the presented model, lower co-tunneling current is achieved by selection of fullerene as SET island material which leads to smaller value of the leakage current. Moreover, island length and the number of islands can affect on co-tunneling and then they tune the current flow in SET.

Developing an agenda to guide forest social science, economics, and utilization research.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard W. Haynes

2005-01-01

The USDA Forest Service has had a longstanding presence in utilization, economics, and social sciences research and development activities. The magnitude and diversity of these activities have changed as the questions and the people asking them have changed over the past century. These changes challenge the social science and utilization research community to develop...

The relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO_2 emissions: Empirical evidence from China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Shaojian; Li, Qiuying; Fang, Chuanglin; Zhou, Chunshan

2016-01-01

Following several decades of rapid economic growth, China has become the largest energy consumer and the greatest emitter of CO_2 in the world. Given the complex development situation faced by contemporary China, Chinese policymakers now confront the dual challenge of reducing energy use while continuing to foster economic growth. This study posits that a better understanding of the relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO_2 emissions is necessary, in order for the Chinese government to develop the energy saving and emission reduction strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change. This paper investigates the cointegrating, temporally dynamic, and casual relationships that exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO_2 emissions in China, using data for the period 1990–2012. The study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework in order to perform this analysis. The results of cointegration tests suggest the existence of long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, albeit with short dynamic adjustment mechanisms, indicating that the proportion of disequilibrium errors that can be adjusted in the next period will account for only a fraction of the changes. Further, impulse response analysis (which describes the reaction of any variable as a function of time in response to external shocks) found that the impact of a shock in CO_2 emissions on economic growth or energy consumption was only marginally significant. Finally, Granger casual relationships were found to exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO_2 emissions; specifically, a bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was identified, and a unidirectional causal relationship was found to exist from energy consumption to CO_2 emissions. The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners, warning of the need to develop and implement long-term energy and economic

Water Utility Lime Sludge Reuse – An Environmental Sorbent ...

Science.gov (United States)

Lime sludge can be used as an environmental sorbent to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) and acid gases, by the ultra-fine CaCO3 particles, and to sequester mercury and other heavy metals, by the Natural Organic Matter and residual activated carbon. The laboratory experimental set up included a simulated flue gas preparation unit, a lab-scale wet scrubber, and a mercury analyzer system. The influent mercury concentration was based on a range from 22 surveyed power plants. The reactivity of the lime sludge sample for acid neutralization was determined using a method similar to method ASTM C1318-95. Similar experiments were conducted using reagent calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate to obtain baseline data for comparing with the lime sludge test results. The project also evaluated the techno-economic feasibility and sustainable benefits of reusing lime softening sludge. If implemented on a large scale, this transformative approach for recycling waste materials from water treatment utilities at power generation utilities for environmental cleanup can save both water and power utilities millions of dollars. Huge amounts of lime sludge waste, generated from hundreds of water treatment utilities across the U.S., is currently disposed in landfills. This project evaluated a sustainable and economically-attractive approach to the use of lime sludge waste as a valuable resource for power generation utilities.

Techno-Economic Assessment of Four CO2 Storage Sites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gruson J.-F.

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS should be a key technology in order to achieve a decline in the CO2 emissions intensity of the power sector and other intensive industry, but this potential deployment could be restricted by cost issues as the International Energy Agency (IEA in their last projections (World Energy Outlook 2013 has considered only around 1% of global fossil fuel-fired power plants could be equipped with CCS by 2035. The SiteChar project funded by 7th Framework Programme of European Commission gives the opportunity to evaluate the most influential parameters of techno-economic evaluations of four feasible European projects for CO2 geological storage located onshore and offshore and related to aquifer storage or oil and gas reservoirs, at different stages of characterization. Four potential CO2 storage sites have been assessed in terms of storage costs per tonne of CO2 permanently stored (equivalent cost based. They are located offshore UK, onshore Denmark, offshore Norway and offshore Italy. The four SiteChar techno-economic evaluations confirm it is not possible to derive any meaningful average cost for a CO2 storage site. The results demonstrate that the structure of costs for a project is heterogeneous and the storage cost is consequently site dependent. The strategy of the site development is fundamental, the technical choices such as the timing, rate and duration of injection are also important. The way monitoring is managed, using observation wells and logging has a strong impact on the estimated monitoring costs. Options to lower monitoring costs, such as permanent surveys, exist and should be further investigated. Table 1 below summarizes the cost range in Euro per tonne (Discount Rate (DR at 8% for the different sites, which illustrates the various orders of magnitude due to the specificities of each site. These figures have how to be considered with care. In particular the Italian and Norwegian sites present very specific

A Study of How the Watts-Strogatz Model Relates to an Economic System’s Utility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lunhan Luo

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Watts-Strogatz model is a main mechanism to construct the small-world networks. It is widely used in the simulations of small-world featured systems including economic system. Formally, the model contains a parameters set including three variables representing group size, number of neighbors, and rewiring probability. This paper discusses how the parameters set relates to the economic system performance which is utility growth rate. In conclusion, it is found that, regardless of the group size and rewiring probability, 2 to 18 neighbors can help the economic system reach the highest utility growth rate. Furthermore, given the range of neighbors and group size of a Watts-Strogatz model based system, the range of its edges can be calculated too. By examining the containment relationship between that range and the edge number of an actual equal-size economic system, we could know whether the system structure has redundant edges or can achieve the highest utility growth ratio.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF CO2 SEQUESTRATION TECHNOLOGIES TASK 4, BIOMASS GASIFICATION-BASED PROCESSING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martha L. Rollins; Les Reardon; David Nichols; Patrick Lee; Millicent Moore; Mike Crim; Robert Luttrell; Evan Hughes

2002-04-01

Biomass derived energy currently accounts for about 3 quads of total primary energy use in the United States. Of this amount, about 0.8 quads are used for power generation. Several biomass energy production technologies exist today which contribute to this energy mix. Biomass combustion technologies have been the dominant source of biomass energy production, both historically and during the past two decades of expansion of modern biomass energy in the U. S. and Europe. As a research and development activity, biomass gasification has usually been the major emphasis as a method of more efficiently utilizing the energy potential of biomass, particularly wood. Numerous biomass gasification technologies exist today in various stages of development. Some are simple systems, while others employ a high degree of integration for maximum energy utilization. The purpose of this study is to conduct a technical and economic comparison of up to three biomass gasification technologies, including the carbon dioxide emissions reduction potential of each. To accomplish this, a literature search was first conducted to determine which technologies were most promising based on a specific set of criteria. During this reporting period, the technical and economic performances of the selected processes were evaluated using computer models and available literature. The results of these evaluations are summarized in this report.

Technico-economic analysis of the utilization of inexhaustible energy sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salieva, R B

1975-01-01

An economic analysis is conducted concerning the design, construction and utilization of solar power plants and wind power plants. Methods are presented for determining operational costs, for reducing them, and for calculating the real cost of producing solar and wind energy. Criteria are presented for selecting cost-optimal output power.

Economic and environmental benefits of higher-octane gasoline.

Science.gov (United States)

Speth, Raymond L; Chow, Eric W; Malina, Robert; Barrett, Steven R H; Heywood, John B; Green, William H

2014-06-17

We quantify the economic and environmental benefits of designing U.S. light-duty vehicles (LDVs) to attain higher fuel economy by utilizing higher octane (98 RON) gasoline. We use engine simulations, a review of experimental data, and drive cycle simulations to estimate the reduction in fuel consumption associated with using higher-RON gasoline in individual vehicles. Lifecycle CO2 emissions and economic impacts for the U.S. LDV fleet are estimated based on a linear-programming refinery model, a historically calibrated fleet model, and a well-to-wheels emissions analysis. We find that greater use of high-RON gasoline in appropriately tuned vehicles could reduce annual gasoline consumption in the U.S. by 3.0-4.4%. Accounting for the increase in refinery emissions from production of additional high-RON gasoline, net CO2 emissions are reduced by 19-35 Mt/y in 2040 (2.5-4.7% of total direct LDV CO2 emissions). For the strategies studied, the annual direct economic benefit is estimated to be $0.4-6.4 billion in 2040, and the annual net societal benefit including the social cost of carbon is estimated to be $1.7-8.8 billion in 2040. Adoption of a RON standard in the U.S. in place of the current antiknock index (AKI) may enable refineries to produce larger quantities of high-RON gasoline.

CO2 emissions by the economic circuit in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lenglart, F.; Lesieur, Ch.; Pasquier, J.L.

2010-01-01

Before commenting various statistical data on CO 2 emission in France, this report explains how these data have been established according to the 'Stiglitz' Commission recommendations, i.e. by integrating CO 2 emissions in the national accounts. While commenting the evolutions of CO 2 emissions in relationship with economic activity and giving table of world data, it outlines that France represents 3% of the World GDP, 1.3% of CO 2 emissions and 1% of the population. The relationship between standard of living and pollutant emissions are commented. As far as France is concerned and with a comparison with world data the shares of different sources of energy and of the different sectors in CO 2 emissions are indicated and commented. The report comments the influence of the domestic demand on foreign CO 2 emissions, the differences between households in terms of CO 2 emissions with respect to their revenues, the shares of household consumption and of CO 2 emissions among expense items, the influence of socio-professional, of age, and of household composition category on CO 2 emissions. Some methodological and computational aspects are given

LFTR: in search of the ideal pathway to thorium utilization-development program and current status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soon, Benjamin

2015-01-01

Thorium has gained substantial attention as a potential energy source that could rival and eventually replace fossil fuels as humanity's primary energy source. This could not have come at a more opportune time as concerns about global climate change from CO 2 emissions and the approaching spectre of finite fossil fuel resources create serious challenges for the continuation of our advanced industrial societies, which are reliant on readily available and affordable energy. Thorium also potentially represents the catalyst with which the nuclear industry could reinvent itself and finally gain widespread public acceptance. There are many opinions on how to utilize thorium as a fuel, but the question of what constitutes an 'ideal' pathway has mostly been under-emphasized. Many specific characteristics of the thorium fuel cycle can differ significantly depending on the conditions and methodologies of utilization; characteristics such as safety, efficiency, waste profile and volume, and fissile protection can vary greatly according to reactor design and utilization philosophy. With thorium, we have been given an opportunity to start over, a blank slate. Therefore, in imagining the 'Thorium Economy' to come, it behoves the scientific and engineering communities to consider the most 'elegant' solution physically possible-what constitutes the 'ideal' and is it possible to reconcile it with what is both economically and technically practical? The characteristics desired of an 'ideal' nuclear reactor, in the areas of safety, efficiency, economy, and sustainability, and the 5 key design choices that could enable such a reactor will be discussed. This will be followed by an overview of the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, a 2-fluid Molten Salt Reactor currently under development by Flibe Energy in the United States. LFTR is a direct descendant of the MSRE, which was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the

A CO2 laser polarimeter for measurement of plasma current profile in Alcator C-Mod

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, C.H.; Hutchinson, D.P.; Richards, R.K.; Irby, J.; Luke, T.

1994-01-01

A multichannel infrared polarimeter system for measurement of the plasma current profile in Alcator C-Mod has been designed, constructed, and tested. The system utilizes a cw CO 2 , laser at a wavelength of 10.6 μm. An electro-optic polarization-modulation technique has been used to achieve the high sensitivity required for the measurement. The recent results of the measurements as well as the feasibility of its application on ITER are presented

Biowaste utilization in the process of co-gasification with bituminous coal and lignite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howaniec, Natalia; Smoliński, Adam

2017-01-01

Biowaste utilization in co-gasification with bituminous coal and lignite gives the benefits of stable supplies of a primary energy source – coal and utilization of a zero-emission, waste material (i.e. agriculture waste, sewage sludge, etc.) with higher process efficiency and lower negative environmental impact than biomass or coal gasification, respectively. The main focus of the study presented is co-gasification of bituminous coal or lignite with biowaste to hydrogen-rich gas. The experiments were performed in the laboratory scale fixed-bed reactor installation at 700 and 900 °C. The Hierarchical Clustering Analysis complemented with a color map of studied data were applied in the selection of the optimal operating parameters for biowaste utilization in the co-gasification process based on the experimental data of gasification/co-gasification process as well as physical and chemical properties of fuels tested. The experimental results showed that the carbon conversion rate in co-gasification increased with increasing biomass content in a fuel. The total gas volume and hydrogen volume in co-gasification were higher than the values expected based on the results of the gasification process of the fuels analyzed. - Highlights: • Biowaste co-gasification with bituminous coal/lignite to hydrogen-rich gas. • Steam co-gasification in laboratory scale fixed-bed reactor at 700 and 900 °C. • Hierarchical Clustering Analysis complemented with color map of experimental data. • Carbon conversion increase with increasing biomass content. • The highest total gas and hydrogen volume in co-gasification of C-B20 blend at 900C.

Review of Microalgae Harvesting via Co-Pelletization with Filamentous Fungus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Hu

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Cultivation of microalgae to utilize CO2 and nutrients in the wastewater to generate biofuel products is a promising research objective. However, the process faces tremendous technical difficulties, especially the harvest of microalgae cells, an economically challenging step. Several researchers recently reported co-culturing of filamentous fungi with microalgae so that microalgae cells can be co-pelletized in order to facilitate the cell harvest. This algae pelletization via the filamentous fungi represents an innovative approach to address both the cost and sustainability issues in algae biofuel production and also has potential with direct commercial applications. This paper reviews the current research status in this area and some possible drawbacks of this method in order to provide some possible directions for the future research.

Nonparametric Forecasting for Biochar Utilization in Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng-Shiuh Chang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Agriculture is the least profitable industry in China. However, even with large financial subsidies from the government, farmers’ living standards have had no significant impact so far due to the historical, geographical, climatic factors. The study examines and quantifies the net economic and environmental benefits by utilizing biochar as a soil amendment in eleven counties in the Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone. A nonparametric kernel regression model is employed to estimate the relation between the scaled environmental and economic factors, which are determined as regression variables. In addition, the partial linear and single index regression models are used for comparison. In terms of evaluations of mean squared errors, the kernel estimator, exceeding the other estimators, is employed to forecast benefits of using biochar under various scenarios. The results indicate that biochar utilization can potentially increase farmers’ income if rice is planted and the net economic benefits can be achieved up to ¥114,900. The net economic benefits are higher when the pyrolysis plant is built in the south of Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone than when it is built in the north as the southern land is relatively barren, and biochar can save more costs on irrigation and fertilizer use.

Advanced Acid Gas Separation Technology for the Utilization of Low Rank Coals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kloosterman, Jeff

2012-12-31

Air Products has developed a potentially ground-breaking technology – Sour Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) – to replace the solvent-based acid gas removal (AGR) systems currently employed to separate sulfur containing species, along with CO{sub 2} and other impurities, from gasifier syngas streams. The Sour PSA technology is based on adsorption processes that utilize pressure swing or temperature swing regeneration methods. Sour PSA technology has already been shown with higher rank coals to provide a significant reduction in the cost of CO{sub 2} capture for power generation, which should translate to a reduction in cost of electricity (COE), compared to baseline CO{sub 2} capture plant design. The objective of this project is to test the performance and capability of the adsorbents in handling tar and other impurities using a gaseous mixture generated from the gasification of lower rank, lignite coal. The results of this testing are used to generate a high-level pilot process design, and to prepare a techno-economic assessment evaluating the applicability of the technology to plants utilizing these coals.

Trace and low concentration co2 removal methods and apparatus utilizing metal organic frameworks

KAUST Repository

Eddaoudi, Mohamed

2016-03-10

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for removing trace and low concentration CO2 from fluids using SIFSIX-n-M MOFs, wherein n is at least two and M is a metal. In some embodiments, the metal is zinc or copper. Embodiments include devices comprising SIFSIX-n-M MOFs for removing CO2 from fluids. In particular, embodiments relate to devices and methods utilizing SIFSIX-n-M MOFs for removing CO2 from fluids, wherein CO2 concentration is trace. Methods utilizing SIFSIX-n-M MOFs for removing CO2 from fluids can occur in confined spaces. SIFSIX-n-M MOFs can comprise bidentate organic ligands. In a specific embodiment, SIFSIX-n-M MOFs comprise pyrazine or dipryidilacetylene ligands.

The current total economic burden of diabetes mellitus in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, M L; Huisman, E L; Schoonen, M; Wolffenbuttel, B H R

2017-09-01

Insight into the total economic burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) is essential for decision makers and payers. Currently available estimates for the Netherlands only include part of the total burden or are no longer up-to-date. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the current total economic burden of DM and its complications in the Netherlands, by including all the relevant cost components. The study combined a systematic literature review to identify all relevant published information and a targeted review to identify relevant information in the grey literature. The identified evidence was then combined to estimate the current total economic burden. In 2016, there were an estimated 1.1 million DM patients in the Netherlands, of whom approximately 10% had type 1 and 90% had type 2 DM. The estimated current total economic burden of DM was € 6.8 billion in 2016. Healthcare costs (excluding costs of complications) were € 1.6 billion, direct costs of complications were € 1.3 billion and indirect costs due to productivity losses, welfare payments and complications were € 4.0 billion. DM and its complications pose a substantial economic burden to the Netherlands, which is expected to rise due to changing demographics and lifestyle. Indirect costs, such as welfare payments, accounted for a large portion of the current total economic burden of DM, while these cost components are often not included in cost estimations. Publicly available data for key cost drivers such as complications were scarce.

CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth nexus in MENA countries: Evidence from simultaneous equations models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omri, Anis

2013-01-01

This paper examines the nexus between CO 2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth using simultaneous-equations models with panel data of 14 MENA countries over the period 1990–2011. Our empirical results show that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. However, the results support the occurrence of unidirectional causality from energy consumption to CO 2 emissions without any feedback effects, and there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emissions for the region as a whole. The study suggests that environmental and energy policies should recognize the differences in the nexus between energy consumption and economic growth in order to maintain sustainable economic growth in the MENA region. - Graphical abstract: Interaction between CO 2 , energy and GDP for MENA countries. - Highlights: • We investigate the energy–environment–GDP nexus for 14 MENA countries. • We have used simultaneous equations models estimated by the GMM-estimator. • Results show bi-directional causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. • There is uni-directional causality from energy consumption to CO 2 . • There exists bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and pollutant emissions

Digest of current research in the electric-utility industry. Volume 1. Categories 1-5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, K.; Bates, P.; Berkey, R.; Gray, K.; Kindt, C.; O'Gara, M.; Pakulski, R.

1980-01-01

The major objective of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is to be a prime source of information of R and D activities in the field of electric energy. Therefore, EPRI developed the Research and Development Information System (RDIS) which is a computerized data base of research projects sponsored by EPRI and by individual electric utilities throughout the US. The heart of RDIS is a computerized on-line data base containing approximately 7200 records of R and D projects. The data base is organized into 13 major categories: General R and D support, hydroelectric power, nuclear power, fossil fuels, advanced power systems, transmission, distribution, stations and substations, consumer utilization, economics, personnel, area development, and environmental assessment. This issue of the Digest of Current Research, issued annually and published in two volumes, represents the data base as of August 1980. This volume covers categories 1 through 5. Subject and corporate indexes are included

Digest of current research in the electric-utility industry. Volume 2. Categories 6-13

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, K.; Bates, P.; Berkey, R.; Gray, K.; Kindt, C.; O'Gara, M.; Pakulski, R.

1980-01-01

The major objective of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is to be a prime source of information of R and D activities in the field of electric energy. Therefore, EPRI developed the Research and Development Information System (RDIS) which is a computerized data base of research projects sponsored by EPRI and by individual electric utilities throughout the US. The heart of RDIS is a computerized on-line data base containing approximately 7200 records of R and D projects. The data base is organized into 13 major categories: General R and D Support, hydroelectric power, nuclear power, fossil fuels, advanced power systems, transmission, distribution, stations and substations, consumer utilization, economics, personnel, area development, and environmental assessment. This issue of the Digest of Current Research, issued annually and published in two volumes represents the data base as of August 1980. This volume covers categories 6 through 13. Subject and corporate indexes are included

Are adverse effects incorporated in economic models? An initial review of current practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, D; McDaid, C; Fonseca, T; Stock, C; Duffy, S; Woolacott, N

2009-12-01

To identify methodological research on the incorporation of adverse effects in economic models and to review current practice. Major electronic databases (Cochrane Methodology Register, Health Economic Evaluations Database, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, EconLit, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, IDEAS, MEDLINE and Science Citation Index) were searched from inception to September 2007. Health technology assessment (HTA) reports commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) HTA programme and published between 2004 and 2007 were also reviewed. The reviews of methodological research on the inclusion of adverse effects in decision models and of current practice were carried out according to standard methods. Data were summarised in a narrative synthesis. Of the 719 potentially relevant references in the methodological research review, five met the inclusion criteria; however, they contained little information of direct relevance to the incorporation of adverse effects in models. Of the 194 HTA monographs published from 2004 to 2007, 80 were reviewed, covering a range of research and therapeutic areas. In total, 85% of the reports included adverse effects in the clinical effectiveness review and 54% of the decision models included adverse effects in the model; 49% included adverse effects in the clinical review and model. The link between adverse effects in the clinical review and model was generally weak; only 3/80 (manipulation. Of the models including adverse effects, 67% used a clinical adverse effects parameter, 79% used a cost of adverse effects parameter, 86% used one of these and 60% used both. Most models (83%) used utilities, but only two (2.5%) used solely utilities to incorporate adverse effects and were explicit that the utility captured relevant adverse effects; 53% of those models that included utilities derived them from patients on treatment and could therefore be interpreted as capturing adverse effects. In total

Decoupling economic growth from CO2 emissions: A decomposition analysis of China's household energy consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-Wei Ma

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes Chinese household CO2 emissions in 1994–2012 based on the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI structure decomposition model, and discusses the relationship between household CO2 emissions and economic growth based on a decoupling indicator. The results show that in 1994–2012, household CO2 emissions grew in general and displayed an accelerated growth trend during the early 21st century. Economic growth leading to an increase in energy consumption is the main driving factor of CO2 emission growth (an increase of 1.078 Gt CO2 with cumulative contribution rate of 55.92%, while the decline in energy intensity is the main cause of CO2 emission growth inhibition (0.723 Gt CO2 emission reduction with cumulative contribution rate of 38.27%. Meanwhile, household CO2 emissions are in a weak state of decoupling in general. The change in CO2 emissions caused by population and economic growth shows a weak decoupling and expansive decoupling state, respectively. The CO2 emission change caused by energy intensity is in a state of strong decoupling, and the change caused by energy consumption structure fluctuates between a weak and a strong decoupling state.

Pleistocene atmospheric CO2 change linked to Southern Ocean nutrient utilization

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, M.; Diz, P.; Hall, I. R.; Zahn, R.

2011-12-01

Biological uptake of CO2 by the ocean and its subsequent storage in the abyss is intimately linked with the global carbon cycle and constitutes a significant climatic force1. The Southern Ocean is a particularly important region because its wind-driven upwelling regime brings CO2 laden abyssal waters to the surface that exchange CO2 with the atmosphere. The Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) is a CO2 sink and also drives global primary productivity as unutilized nutrients, advected with surface waters from the south, are exported via Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) as preformed nutrients to the low latitudes where they fuel the biological pump in upwelling areas. Recent model estimates suggest that up to 40 ppm of the total 100 ppm atmospheric pCO2 reduction during the last ice age were driven by increased nutrient utilization in the SAZ and associated feedbacks on the deep ocean alkalinity. Micro-nutrient fertilization by iron (Fe), contained in the airborne dust flux to the SAZ, is considered to be the prime factor that stimulated this elevated photosynthetic activity thus enhancing nutrient utilization. We present a millennial-scale record of the vertical stable carbon isotope gradient between subsurface and deep water (Δδ13C) in the SAZ spanning the past 350,000 years. The Δδ13C gradient, derived from planktonic and benthic foraminifera, reflects the efficiency of biological pump and is highly correlated (rxy = -0.67 with 95% confidence interval [0.63; 0.71], n=874) with the record of dust flux preserved in Antarctic ice cores6. This strongly suggests that nutrient utilization in the SAZ was dynamically coupled to dust-induced Fe fertilization across both glacial-interglacial and faster millennial timescales. In concert with ventilation changes of the deep Southern Ocean this drove ocean-atmosphere CO2 exchange and, ultimately, atmospheric pCO2 variability during the late Pleistocene.

The relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shaojian; Li, Qiuying; Fang, Chuanglin; Zhou, Chunshan

2016-01-15

Following several decades of rapid economic growth, China has become the largest energy consumer and the greatest emitter of CO2 in the world. Given the complex development situation faced by contemporary China, Chinese policymakers now confront the dual challenge of reducing energy use while continuing to foster economic growth. This study posits that a better understanding of the relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions is necessary, in order for the Chinese government to develop the energy saving and emission reduction strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change. This paper investigates the cointegrating, temporally dynamic, and casual relationships that exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions in China, using data for the period 1990-2012. The study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework in order to perform this analysis. The results of cointegration tests suggest the existence of long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, albeit with short dynamic adjustment mechanisms, indicating that the proportion of disequilibrium errors that can be adjusted in the next period will account for only a fraction of the changes. Further, impulse response analysis (which describes the reaction of any variable as a function of time in response to external shocks) found that the impact of a shock in CO2 emissions on economic growth or energy consumption was only marginally significant. Finally, Granger casual relationships were found to exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions; specifically, a bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was identified, and a unidirectional causal relationship was found to exist from energy consumption to CO2 emissions. The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners, warning of the need to develop and implement long-term energy and economic policies in

Current Activities of the Joint Council on Economic Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Highsmith, Robert J.

1987-01-01

Reviews current activities of the Joint Council, among them, a researcher training institute, a new K-12 economic education scope and sequence document, a junior high level test of economic knowledge, an instructional package for advanced placement classes, a textbook conference, a project to help teachers of students who work with at-risk…

Final Techno-Economic Analysis of 550 MWe Supercritical PC Power Plant CO₂ Capture with Linde-BASF Advanced PCC Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bostick, Devin [Linde LLC, Murray Hill, NJ (United States); Stoffregen, Torsten [Linde AG Linde Engineering Division, Dresden (Germany); Rigby, Sean [BASF Corporation, Houston, TX (United States)

2017-01-09

This topical report presents the techno-economic evaluation of a 550 MWe supercritical pulverized coal (PC) power plant utilizing Illinois No. 6 coal as fuel, integrated with 1) a previously presented (for a subcritical PC plant) Linde-BASF post-combustion CO₂ capture (PCC) plant incorporating BASF’s OASE® blue aqueous amine-based solvent (LB1) [Ref. 6] and 2) a new Linde-BASF PCC plant incorporating the same BASF OASE® blue solvent that features an advanced stripper interstage heater design (SIH) to optimize heat recovery in the PCC process. The process simulation and modeling for this report is performed using Aspen Plus V8.8. Technical information from the PCC plant is determined using BASF’s proprietary thermodynamic and process simulation models. The simulations developed and resulting cost estimates are first validated by reproducing the results of DOE/NETL Case 12 representing a 550 MWe supercritical PC-fired power plant with PCC incorporating a monoethanolamine (MEA) solvent as used in the DOE/NETL Case 12 reference [Ref. 2]. The results of the techno-economic assessment are shown comparing two specific options utilizing the BASF OASE® blue solvent technology (LB1 and SIH) to the DOE/NETL Case 12 reference. The results are shown comparing the energy demand for PCC, the incremental fuel requirement, and the net higher heating value (HHV) efficiency of the PC power plant integrated with the PCC plant. A comparison of the capital costs for each PCC plant configuration corresponding to a net 550 MWe power generation is also presented. Lastly, a cost of electricity (COE) and cost of CO₂ captured assessment is shown illustrating the substantial cost reductions achieved with the Linde-BASF PCC plant utilizing the advanced SIH configuration in combination with BASF’s OASE® blue solvent technology as compared to the DOE/NETL Case 12 reference. The key factors contributing to the reduction of COE and the cost of CO₂ captured

The relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO{sub 2} emissions: Empirical evidence from China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Shaojian, E-mail: 1987wangshaojian@163.com [School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (China); Li, Qiuying [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Fang, Chuanglin, E-mail: fangcl@igsnrr.ac.cn [Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Zhou, Chunshan [School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (China)

2016-01-15

Following several decades of rapid economic growth, China has become the largest energy consumer and the greatest emitter of CO{sub 2} in the world. Given the complex development situation faced by contemporary China, Chinese policymakers now confront the dual challenge of reducing energy use while continuing to foster economic growth. This study posits that a better understanding of the relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO{sub 2} emissions is necessary, in order for the Chinese government to develop the energy saving and emission reduction strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change. This paper investigates the cointegrating, temporally dynamic, and casual relationships that exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO{sub 2} emissions in China, using data for the period 1990–2012. The study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework in order to perform this analysis. The results of cointegration tests suggest the existence of long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, albeit with short dynamic adjustment mechanisms, indicating that the proportion of disequilibrium errors that can be adjusted in the next period will account for only a fraction of the changes. Further, impulse response analysis (which describes the reaction of any variable as a function of time in response to external shocks) found that the impact of a shock in CO{sub 2} emissions on economic growth or energy consumption was only marginally significant. Finally, Granger casual relationships were found to exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO{sub 2} emissions; specifically, a bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was identified, and a unidirectional causal relationship was found to exist from energy consumption to CO{sub 2} emissions. The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners, warning of the need to develop and implement long

Negotiating EU CO2/energy taxation. Political economic driving forces and barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klok, Jacob

2001-11-01

The primary objective of this project is to identify the main political economic driving forces behind and barriers against the creation of an EU agreement on CO 2 /energy taxation. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework for understanding European integration and on detailed historical investigations into a process of EU negotiations concerning CO 2 /energy taxation that took place from the 1980s to 1994. Following the historical analysis of political economic driving forces and barriers, some overall perspectives on possible future developments within the field of EU CO 2 /energy taxation are finally advanced. The secondary objective of the project is to consider the possible effects on the EU negotiation process of Danish efforts to push the CO 2 /energy tax proposal from the late 1980s to 994. This analysis is based on the preceding historical analysis of the EU negotiation process, as well as further investigations into the national Danish development within the field of CO 2 /energy taxation, including accounts of Denmark's particular relations with the EU during the period in question. Finally, based on the likely future developments in the field EU CO 2 /energy taxation. Denmark's strategic opportunities are outlined. (BA)

Alternative routes to improved fuel utilization: Analysis of near-term economic incentives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salo, J.P.; Vieno, T.; Vira, J.

1984-01-01

The potential for savings in the nuclear fuel cycle costs is discussed from the point of view of a single utility. The analysis is concentrated on the existing and near-term economic incentives for improved fuel utilization, and the context is that of a small country without domestic fuel cycle services. In the uranium fuel cycle the extended burnup produces savings in the uranium feed as well as in the fuel fabrication and waste management requirements. The front-end fuel cycle cost impact is evaluated for BWRs. In the back-end part the situation is more specific of the concrete back-end solution. Estimates for savings in the cost of direct disposal of spent fuel are presented for a Finnish case. The economics of recycle is reviewed from a recent study on the use of MOX fuel in the Finnish BWRs. The results from a comparison with once-through alternative show that spent fuel reprocessing with consequent recycle of uranium and plutonium would be economically justified only with very high uranium prices. (author)

State and business co-operation in settling socio-economic issues: forward to sustainable development of ecologically unfavorable regions

Science.gov (United States)

Bashkirova, N. N.; Lessovaia, S. N.

2018-01-01

The complexity of socio-economic issues of mono-cities located in the ecologically unfavorable regions of Eurasia was disclosed. The economically strategic role of city-forming mining enterprises and their impact on ecological situation was revealed. The general conception of settling the socio-economic problems of mono-cities located in ecologically unfavorable regions was worked out. Various approached to the concentration of financial resources for economic and ecological sustainable development of the regions located on the north of Eurasia holding nature protection actions were submitted. Based on performed critical analysis of the positive international experience of ecological taxation some approaches to reforming current Russian system of ecological taxation were suggested. It was revealed that increasing the social responsibilities of business in the field of waste recycling, environmental protection and monitoring of ecological conditions of territories and state and business co-operation are the most efficient opportunities in settling socio-economic issues of ecologically unfavorable regions.

Summary report of working group I CO{sub 2} capture, fixation/utilization, and disposal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1993-12-31

The topics of our working group were divided into four key areas: CO{sub 2} Capture, Utilization/Fixation, Ocean Disposal, and Land Disposal. Fourteen presentations were made as follows: CO{sub 2} Capture: Toshikatsu Hakuta (Japan) and Rod Judkins, Bruce St. John, and Alan Wolsky (US). Utilization/Fixation: Hironori Arakawa, Yasuo Asada, and Takashi lbusuki (Japan) and Ed Lipinsky (US). Ocean Disposal: Yuji Shindo (Japan) and Eric Adams, Gerard Nihous, and Wheeler North (US). Land Disposal: Shoichi Tanaka (Japan) and Roger Bailey (US/Canada). Co-chairs for this working group were Toshikatsu Hakuta (Japan) and Howard Herzog (US). This document contains only a summary outline of research needs in the area of CO{sub 2} capture and sequestration. It should be used in conjunction with other assessments made in this area. For the U.S., a DOE report entitled A Research Needs Assessment for the Capture, Utilization and Disposal of Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants will be forthcoming in 1993.

Comparative analysis of large biomass & coal co-utilization units

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liszka, M.; Nowak, G.; Ptasinski, K.J.; Favrat, D.; Marechal, F.

2010-01-01

The co-utilization of coal and biomass in large power units is considered in many countries (e.g. Poland) as fast and effective way of increasing renewable energy share in the fuel mix. Such a method of biomass use is especially suitable for power systems where solid fuels (hard coal, lignite) are

A comparative study of energy utilization efficiency between Taiwan and China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh Tsailien; Chen Tseryieth; Lai Peiying

2010-01-01

This paper employs data envelopment analysis to evaluate energy utilization efficiency between China and Taiwan from 2002 to 2007. The most important contributions of this paper are the clear description of the systematic process of energy utilization efficiency, the efficiency comparison between China and Taiwan, the remarkable demonstration of their outputs through two non-desirable outputs (CO 2 emissions and SO 2 emissions) in the data envelopment analysis framework, and the valuable results and insights gained from the application of economic development and environmental protection. Empirical results show that the Eastern region of China enjoy higher energy utilization efficiency than the Western region. Energy utilization efficiency in Taiwan is higher than that in the Eastern region of China. In China, CO 2 emissions were 11.28% greater than they should be (from 2002 to 2007). By contrast, CO 2 emissions in Taiwan were only 1.50% in excess of what they should be since Taiwan began conducting an uninterrupted energy-saving policy and a CO 2 emission regulation policy. Finally, this study employs the business strategy matrix constructed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG Matrix) to illustrate individual evidence of the relationship between economic development efficiency and greenhouse gas efficiency.

Economic evaluation of the solar thermal co-production of zinc, synthesis gas, and hydrogen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steinfeld, A [Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland); Spiewak, I [EC Joint Research Centre (Spain)

1999-08-01

The use of concentrated solar energy for co-producing Zn and synthesis gas from Zn O and natural gas upgrades the calorific value of the initial reactants by 39% and, when compared to the traditional carbothermic reduction of Zn O, has the potential of reducing CO{sub 2} emissions by up to 78%. An economic assessment for an industrial thermochemical plant, 30 to 51 MW solar input, indicates that the cost of solar production of zinc ranges between 89-133 $/t (excluding the cost of Zn O feed and credit for pollution abatement), and thus might be competitive with conventional fossil-fuel-based processes at current fuel prices. The cost of solar H{sub 2}, produced by splitting water with zinc, is estimated to be in the range 0.10-0.14 $/kWh, and it is a favorable long term prospect once the cost of energy will account for the environmental externalities from fossil fuel burning such as the costs for CO{sub 2} mitigation and pollution abatement. (author) 1 fig., 2 tabs., 5 refs.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF CO2 SEQUESTRATION TECHNOLOGIES TASK 4, BIOMASS GASIFICATION-BASED PROCESSING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martha L. Rollins; Les Reardon; David Nichols; Patrick Lee; Millicent Moore; Mike Crim; Robert Luttrell; Evan Hughes

2002-06-01

Biomass derived energy currently accounts for about 3 quads of total primary energy use in the United States. Of this amount, about 0.8 quads are used for power generation. Several biomass energy production technologies exist today which contribute to this energy mix. Biomass combustion technologies have been the dominant source of biomass energy production, both historically and during the past two decades of expansion of modern biomass energy in the U. S. and Europe. As a research and development activity, biomass gasification has usually been the major emphasis as a method of more efficiently utilizing the energy potential of biomass, particularly wood. Numerous biomass gasification technologies exist today in various stages of development. Some are simple systems, while others employ a high degree of integration for maximum energy utilization. The purpose of this study is to conduct a technical and economic comparison of up to three biomass gasification technologies, including the carbon dioxide emissions reduction potential of each. To accomplish this, a literature search was first conducted to determine which technologies were most promising based on a specific set of criteria. The technical and economic performances of the selected processes were evaluated using computer models and available literature. Using these results, the carbon sequestration potential of the three technologies was then evaluated. The results of these evaluations are given in this final report.

Research Activity in Computational Physics utilizing High Performance Computing: Co-authorship Network Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ahn, Sul-Ah; Jung, Youngim

2016-10-01

The research activities of the computational physicists utilizing high performance computing are analyzed by bibliometirc approaches. This study aims at providing the computational physicists utilizing high-performance computing and policy planners with useful bibliometric results for an assessment of research activities. In order to achieve this purpose, we carried out a co-authorship network analysis of journal articles to assess the research activities of researchers for high-performance computational physics as a case study. For this study, we used journal articles of the Scopus database from Elsevier covering the time period of 2004-2013. We extracted the author rank in the physics field utilizing high-performance computing by the number of papers published during ten years from 2004. Finally, we drew the co-authorship network for 45 top-authors and their coauthors, and described some features of the co-authorship network in relation to the author rank. Suggestions for further studies are discussed.

Eddy current analysis by BEM utilizing loop electric and surface magnetic currents as unknowns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishibashi, Kazuhisa

2002-01-01

The surface integral equations whose unknowns are the surface electric and magnetic currents are widely used in eddy current analysis. However, when the skin depth is thick, computational error is increased especially in obtaining electromagnetic fields near the edge of the conductor. In order to obtain the electromagnetic field accurately, we propose an approach to solve surface integral equations utilizing loop electric and surface magnetic currents as unknowns. (Author)

Coping with the economic burden of Diabetes, TB and co-prevalence: evidence from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Matthias; Beran, David; Haghparast-Bidgoli, Hassan; Batura, Neha; Akkazieva, Baktygul; Abdraimova, Aida; Skordis-Worrall, Jolene

2016-04-05

The increasing number of patients co-affected with Diabetes and TB may place individuals with low socio-economic status at particular risk of persistent poverty. Kyrgyz health sector reforms aim at reducing this burden, with the provision of essential health services free at the point of use through a State-Guaranteed Benefit Package (SGBP). However, despite a declining trend in out-of-pocket expenditure, there is still a considerable funding gap in the SGBP. Using data from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, this study aims to explore how households cope with the economic burden of Diabetes, TB and co-prevalence. This study uses cross-sectional data collected in 2010 from Diabetes and TB patients in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Quantitative questionnaires were administered to 309 individuals capturing information on patients' socioeconomic status and a range of coping strategies. Coarsened exact matching (CEM) is used to generate socio-economically balanced patient groups. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression are used for data analysis. TB patients are much younger than Diabetes and co-affected patients. Old age affects not only the health of the patients, but also the patient's socio-economic context. TB patients are more likely to be employed and to have higher incomes while Diabetes patients are more likely to be retired. Co-affected patients, despite being in the same age group as Diabetes patients, are less likely to receive pensions but often earn income in informal arrangements. Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are higher for Diabetes care than for TB care. Diabetes patients cope with the economic burden by using social welfare support. TB patients are most often in a position to draw on income or savings. Co-affected patients are less likely to receive social welfare support than Diabetes patients. Catastrophic health spending is more likely in Diabetes and co-affected patients than in TB patients. This study shows that while OOP are moderate for TB affected patients

The Significance of Forests and Algae in CO2 Balance: A Hungarian Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Attila Bai

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study presents the sequestration and emissions of forests and algae related to CO2 while providing a comparison to other biomass sources (arable crops, short rotation coppices. The goal of the paper is to analyze the impact of the current CO2 balance of forests and the future prospects for algae. Our calculations are based on data, not only from the literature but, in the case of algae, from our own previous experimental work. It was concluded that the CO2 sequestration and natural gas saving of forests is typically 3.78 times higher than the emissions resulting from the production technology and from the burning process. The economic and environmental protection-related efficiency operate in opposite directions. The CO2 sequestration ability of algae can primarily be utilized when connected to power plants. The optimal solution could be algae production integrated with biogas power plants, since plant sizes are smaller and algae may play a role, not only in the elimination of CO2 emissions and the utilization of heat but also in wastewater purification.

Economical Utilization of Associated Gas in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lukman Obayopo Alimi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Oil production is often accompanied by associated natural gas as valuable by-product of oil processing. Large amount of this vital energy component is flared during these processes, mostly in developing countries. For a longer period of time more gas is flares in Nigeria than anywhere else in Africa and second to Russian in the world, with daily estimates of roughly 2.5 billion cubic feet. This is equivalent to around 40% of all Africa´s natural gas consumption, and annual financial loss to Nigeria is about 1.8 billion Euros. Gas flaring contributes to major environmental pollution problems, which affects oil producing areas of the Niger Delta in Nigeria. This research attempts to look into the environmental issues in the region and proposes possible solutions, with recommendations that will contribute to improve associated gas utilization. This study describes gas to liquid (GTL conversion technology as a sustainable option to utilize associated gas in Nigeria, and also evaluates the economic attractiveness of the process. This conversion technology could contribute to total elimination of gas flaring and reduces the overdependence on importation of refined products (petrol, diesel and kerosene from foreign countries into Nigeria.

Estimating CO{sub 2} Emission Reduction of Non-capture CO{sub 2} Utilization (NCCU) Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Ji Hyun; Lee, Dong Woog; Gyu, Jang Se; Kwak, No-Sang; Lee, In Young; Jang, Kyung Ryoung; Shim, Jae-Goo [KEPCO Research Institute, Daejon (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Jong Shin [Korea East-West Power Co., LTD(ETP), Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

Estimating potential of CO{sub 2} emission reduction of non-capture CO{sub 2} utilization (NCCU) technology was evaluated. NCCU is sodium bicarbonate production technology through the carbonation reaction of CO{sub 2} contained in the flue gas. For the estimating the CO{sub 2} emission reduction, process simulation using process simulator (PRO/II) based on a chemical plant which could handle CO{sub 2} of 100 tons per day was performed, Also for the estimation of the indirect CO{sub 2} reduction, the solvay process which is a conventional technology for the production of sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate, was studied. The results of the analysis showed that in case of the solvay process, overall CO{sub 2} emission was estimated as 48,862 ton per year based on the energy consumption for the production of NaHCO{sub 3} (7.4 GJ/tNaHCO{sub 3}). While for the NCCU technology, the direct CO{sub 2} reduction through the CO{sub 2} carbonation was estimated as 36,500 ton per year and the indirect CO{sub 2} reduction through the lower energy consumption was 46,885 ton per year which lead to 83,385 ton per year in total. From these results, it could be concluded that sodium bicarbonate production technology through the carbonation reaction of CO{sub 2} contained in the flue was energy efficient and could be one of the promising technology for the low CO{sub 2} emission technology.

Technical and economic feasibility of utilizing apple pomace as a boiler feedstock

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sargent, S.A.

1983-01-01

Apple pomace or presscake, was evaluated for suitability as a boiler feedstock for Michigan firms processing apple juice. Based upon the physical and chemical characteristics of pomace, handling/direct combustion systems were selected to conform with operating parameters typical of the industry. Fresh pomace flow rates of 29,030 and 88,998 kg/day (64,000 and 194,000 lb/day) were considered as representative of small and large processors, respectively, and the material was assumed to be dried to 15% moisture content (wet basis) prior to storage and combustion. Boilers utilizing pile-burning, fluidized-bed-combustion, and suspension-firing technologies were sized for each flow rate, resulting in energy production of 2930 and 8790 kW (10 and 30 million Btu/h), respectively. A life-cycle cost analysis was performed giving Average Annual Costs for the three handling/combustion system combinations (based on the Uniform Capital Recovery factor). An investment loan at 16% interest with a 5-year payback period was assumed. The break-even period for annual costs was calculated by anticipated savings incurred through reduction of fossil-fuel costs during a 5-month processing season. Large processors, producing more than 88,998 kg pomace/day, could economically convert to a suspension-fired system substituting for fuel oil, with break-even occurring after 4 months of operation of pomace per year. Small processors, producing less than 29,030 kg/day, could not currently convert to pomace combustion systems given these economic circumstances. A doubling of electrical-utility costs and changes in interest rates from 10 to 20% per year had only slight effects on the recovery of Average Annual Costs. Increases in fossil-fuel prices and the necessity to pay for pomace disposal reduced the cost-recovery period for all systems, making some systems feasible for small processors. 39 references, 13 figures, 10 tables.

Economics of reducing CO2 emissions from China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Zhongxin

1991-01-01

Relative to the nations of the industrialized world, developing countries emit far lower levels of CO 2 per capita. In coming years, however, as the developing world experiences more rapid rates of economic and population growth, their carbon emissions per capita inevitably will rise. Therefore, developing countries should be encouraged both to adopt more advanced energy technologies in order to improve the efficiency of energy exploration, transportation, generation and end-use and to replace carbon-intensive fuels sources with less carbon-intensive sources (non-fossil fuels and renewable energy). By incorporating methods aimed at curtailing carbon emissions into their energy development strategies, developing nations can reduce the risks posed by higher CO 2 emissions. However, adopting more advanced energy technologies generally entails high costs. These higher prices serve as a particularly large obstacle for developing nations. In order to serve the common interest of protecting the global environment, international funds should be devoted to cover the high costs of reducing developing world CO 2 emissions

Utilization of biogas produced by anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial waste: Energy, economic and environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hublin, Andrea; Schneider, Daniel Rolph; Džodan, Janko

2014-07-01

Anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial waste is of significant interest in order to facilitate a sustainable development of energy supply. Using of material and energy potentials of agro-industrial waste, in the framework of technical, economic, and ecological possibilities, contributes in increasing the share of energy generated from renewable energy sources. The paper deals with the benefits arising from the utilization of biogas produced by co-digestion of whey and cow manure. The advantages of this process are the profitability of the plant and the convenience in realizing an anaerobic digestion plant to produce biogas that is enabled by the benefits from the sale of electric energy at favorable prices. Economic aspects are related to the capital cost (€ 2,250,000) of anaerobic digestion treatment in a biogas plant with a 300 kW power and 510 kW heating unit in a medium size farm (450 livestock units). Considering the optimum biogas yield of 20.7 dm(3) kg(-1) of wet substrate and methane content in the biogas obtained of 79%, the anaerobic process results in a daily methane production of 2,500 kg, with the maximum power generation of 2,160,000 kWh y(-1) and heat generation of 2,400,000 kWh y(-1) The net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period for implementation of profitable anaerobic digestion process is evaluated. Ecological aspects related to carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emission reduction are assessed. © The Author(s) 2014.

CO{sub 2}-mitigation measures through reduction of fossil fuel burning in power utilities. Which road to go?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaupp, A. [Energetica International Inc., Suva (Fiji)

1996-12-31

Five conditions, at minimum, should be examined in the comparative analysis of CO{sub 2}-mitigation options for the power sector. Under the continuing constraint of scarce financial resources for any private or public investment in the power sector, the following combination of requirements characterise a successful CO{sub 2}-mitigation project: (1) Financial attractiveness for private or public investors. (2) Low, or even negative, long range marginal costs per ton of `CO{sub 2} saved`. (3) High impact on CO{sub 2}-mitigation, which indicates a large market potential for the measure. (4) The number of individual investments required to achieve the impact is relatively small. In other words, logistical difficulties in project implementation are minimised. (5) The projects are `socially fair` and have minimal negative impact on any segment of the society. This paper deals with options to reduce carbonaceous fuel burning in the power sector. Part I explains how projects should be selected and classified. Part II describes the technical options. Since reduction of carbonaceous fuel burning may be achieved through Demand Side Management (DSM) and Supply Side Management (SSM) both are treated. Within the context of this paper SSM does not mean to expand power supply as demand grows. It means to economically generate and distribute power as efficiently as possible. In too many instances DSM has degenerated into efficient lighting programs and utility managed incentives and rebate programs. To what extent this is a desirable situation for utilities in Developing Countries that face totally different problems as their counterparts in highly industrialised countries remains to be seen. Which road to go is the topic of this paper.

Valuable metals - recovery processes, current trends, and recycling strategies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Froehlich, Peter; Lorenz, Tom; Martin, Gunther; Brett, Beate; Bertau, Martin [Institut fuer Technische Chemie, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Leipziger Strasse 29, 09599, Freiberg (Germany)

2017-03-01

This Review provides an overview of valuable metals, the supply of which has been classified as critical for Europe. Starting with a description of the current state of the art, novel approaches for their recovery from primary resources are presented as well as recycling processes. The focus lies on developments since 2005. Chemistry strategies which are used in metal recovery are summarized on the basis of the individual types of deposit and mineral. In addition, the economic importance as well as utilization of the metals is outlined. (copyright 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Co-benefits of utilizing logging residues for bioenergy production: The case for East Texas, USA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gan, Jianbang; Smith, C.T.

2007-01-01

This study evaluated the co-benefits associated with the utilization of logging residues for electricity production in East Texas, USA. The benefits evaluated included the value of CO 2 emissions displaced due to substituting logging residues for coal in power generation, reductions in site preparation costs during forest regeneration, and creation of jobs and income in local communities. Based on the 2004 Forest Inventory Analysis data and a 70% biomass recovery rate, annual recoverable logging residues in East Texas were estimated at 1.3 Mt (dry). These residues, if used for electricity production, would displace about 2.44 Mt of CO 2 , valued at some 9M$ at the current CO 2 price traded at the Chicago Climate Exchange (accounting for about 2% of the stumpage value). Removing logging residues would also save $200-250 ha -1 in site preparation costs. In addition, input-output modeling revealed that logging residue procurement and electricity generation together would have a stronger ripple effect on employment than on output or value-added, with about 1340 new jobs created and 215M$ in value-added generated annually. These results offer new insights into the cost-competitiveness of forest biomass and bioenergy production. (author)

A study for the biological CO2 fixation and utilization system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otsuki, T.

2001-01-01

Increased CO 2 in the atmosphere is such a serious problem for mankind that many research and development approaches are implemented to reduce CO 2 emissions. One is a biological CO 2 fixation using the photosynthetic function of microalgae like Chlorella and Synechocystis sp. The target of the project is to achieve a CO 2 fixation rate of 50 g CO 2 /m 2 ·d, which is 10 times as large as that of the temperate forest. The purpose of this study is to clarify the possibilities of the biological CO 2 fixation system in view of the CO 2 balance, energy balance, and payback period. The amount of CO 2 fixation of the system should be larger than the emission of CO 2 by operating. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the system should also be less than the biochemical energy (enthalpy) of glucose, which is made by photosynthesis. After CO 2 fixation was completed by the microalgae, the biomass must be utilized practically for many markets and the initial investment in the system construction could be regained

Integration of poly-3-(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) production by Haloferax mediterranei through utilization of stillage from rice-based ethanol manufacture in India and its techno-economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharyya, Anirban; Jana, Kuntal; Haldar, Saubhik; Bhowmic, Asit; Mukhopadhyay, Ujjal Kumar; De, Sudipta; Mukherjee, Joydeep

2015-05-01

Haloferax mediterranei has potential for economical industrial-scale production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) as it can utilize cheap carbon sources, has capacity for nonsterile cultivation and allows simple product recovery. Molasses-based Indian distilleries are converting themselves to cereal-based distilleries. Waste stillage (14 l) of rice-based ethanol industry was used for the production of PHA by H. mediterranei in the simple plug-flow reactor configuration of the activated sludge process. Cells utilized stillage and accumulated 63 ± 3 % PHA of dry cell weight and produced 13.12 ± 0.05 g PHA/l. The product yield coefficient was 0.27 while 0.14 g/l h volumetric productivity was reached. Simultaneous lowering of 5-day biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand values of stillage by 82 % was attained. The biopolymer was characterized as poly-3-(hydroxybutyrate-co-17.9 mol%-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV). Directional properties of decanoic acid jointly with temperature-dependent water solubility in decanoic acid were employed for two-step desalination of the spent stillage medium in a cylindrical baffled-tank with an immersed heater and a stirrer holding axial and radial impellers. 99.3 % of the medium salts were recovered and re-used for PHA production. The cost of PHBV was estimated as US$2.05/kg when the annual production was simulated as 1890 tons. Desalination contributed maximally to the overall cost. Technology and cost-analysis demonstrate that PHA production integrated with ethanol manufacture is feasible in India. This study could be the basis for construction of a pilot plant.

Geological Sequestration Training and Research Program in Capture and Transport: Development of the Most Economical Separation Method for CO2 Capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vahdat, Nader

2013-09-30

The project provided hands-on training and networking opportunities to undergraduate students in the area of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and transport, through fundamental research study focused on advanced separation methods that can be applied to the capture of CO2 resulting from the combustion of fossil-fuels for power generation . The project team’s approach to achieve its objectives was to leverage existing Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) course materials and teaching methods to create and implement an annual CCS short course for the Tuskegee University community; conduct a survey of CO2 separation and capture methods; utilize data to verify and develop computer models for CO2 capture and build CCS networks and hands-on training experiences. The objectives accomplished as a result of this project were: (1) A comprehensive survey of CO2 capture methods was conducted and mathematical models were developed to compare the potential economics of the different methods based on the total cost per year per unit of CO2 avoidance; and (2) Training was provided to introduce the latest CO2 capture technologies and deployment issues to the university community.

24 CFR 990.175 - Utilities expense level: Computation of the current consumption level.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

...: Computation of the current consumption level. 990.175 Section 990.175 Housing and Urban Development... Calculating Formula Expenses § 990.175 Utilities expense level: Computation of the current consumption level. The current consumption level shall be the actual amount of each utility consumed during the 12-month...

System-level modeling for economic evaluation of geological CO2 storage in gas reservoirs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yingqi; Oldenburg, Curtis M.; Finsterle, Stefan; Bodvarsson, Gudmundur S.

2007-01-01

One way to reduce the effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases on climate is to inject carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from industrial sources into deep geological formations such as brine aquifers or depleted oil or gas reservoirs. Research is being conducted to improve understanding of factors affecting particular aspects of geological CO 2 storage (such as storage performance, storage capacity, and health, safety and environmental (HSE) issues) as well as to lower the cost of CO 2 capture and related processes. However, there has been less emphasis to date on system-level analyses of geological CO 2 storage that consider geological, economic, and environmental issues by linking detailed process models to representations of engineering components and associated economic models. The objective of this study is to develop a system-level model for geological CO 2 storage, including CO 2 capture and separation, compression, pipeline transportation to the storage site, and CO 2 injection. Within our system model we are incorporating detailed reservoir simulations of CO 2 injection into a gas reservoir and related enhanced production of methane. Potential leakage and associated environmental impacts are also considered. The platform for the system-level model is GoldSim [GoldSim User's Guide. GoldSim Technology Group; 2006, http://www.goldsim.com]. The application of the system model focuses on evaluating the feasibility of carbon sequestration with enhanced gas recovery (CSEGR) in the Rio Vista region of California. The reservoir simulations are performed using a special module of the TOUGH2 simulator, EOS7C, for multicomponent gas mixtures of methane and CO 2 . Using a system-level modeling approach, the economic benefits of enhanced gas recovery can be directly weighed against the costs and benefits of CO 2 injection

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY CONSUMPTION, ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CO2 EMISSIONS: A DYNAMIC PANEL DATA APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chaido Dritsaki

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Energy plays an important role in economic development worldwide. The increase of energy consumption showed that CO2 emissions in the atmosphere have increased dramatically, and these lead many scientists to push governments of the developing countries to take action for the formulation of environmental policies. Many studies have attempted to look for the direction of causality between energy consumption (EC, economic growth (GDP and CO2 emissions mainly on developing countries. This paper, therefore, applies the panel unit root tests, panel cointegration methods and panel causality test to investigate the relationship between energy consumption (EC, economic growth (GDP and CO2 emissions for three countries of Southern Europe (Greece, Spain, and Portugal covering the annual period 1960-2009. The FMOLS and DOLS are then used to estimate the long run relationship between the variables. The findings of this study reveal that there is a short-run bilateral causal link between the examined variables. However, in the long run, there is a unidirectional causality running from CO2 emissions to energy consumption (EC, and economic growth (GDP and a bilateral causality between energy consumption and economic growth. This indicates that energy is a force for economic growth both in short and long run as it is driven from economic growth. Moreover, to face the heterogeneity on the three countries of Southern Europe we use the FMOLS and DOLS estimation methods.

Research and survey report of FY 1997 on the CO2 balance for high-temperature CO2 fixation and utilization technology; 1997 nendo chosa hokokusho (nisanka tanso koon bunri gijutsu ni okeru CO2 balance ni kansuru chosa kenkyu)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-03-01

The purpose of this research is to clarify the application condition and effectiveness of high-temperature CO2 fixation and utilization technology. To evaluate the present process, it was compared with others, such as separation using a polymer membrane, physico-chemical absorption process, adsorption process, hydrogen contact reduction process, and biological fixation. The development trends of absorption, membrane, adsorption, and cryogenic separation were investigated. The questionnaire was carried out about the separation technologies which are in the stage of performance test using actual gas, to arrange and compare the data and information. The current trends of chemical and biological CO2 fixation and utilization technology were also investigated for arranging the subjects. High-temperature CO2 disposal by the carbonation in concrete waste has been studied, to clarify its application conditions and effectiveness. In order to compare the separation technologies, treatment processes of CO2 in the exhaust gas from boilers of LNG power generation and coal fired power generation were simulated. These processes were simulated by ASPEN PLUS for the modeling. Trends of application of ASPEN PLUS and collection of information were surveyed by participating in the ASPEN WORLD. 103 refs., 51 figs., 55 tabs.

DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL GAS PRESSURIZED STRIPPING (GPS)-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR CO₂ CAPTURE FROM POST-COMBUSTION FLUE GASES Topical Report: Techno-Economic Analysis of GPS-based Technology for CO₂ Capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Shiaoguo

2015-09-30

This topical report presents the techno-economic analysis, conducted by Carbon Capture Scientific, LLC (CCS) and Nexant, for a nominal 550 MWe supercritical pulverized coal (PC) power plant utilizing CCS patented Gas Pressurized Stripping (GPS) technology for post-combustion carbon capture (PCC). Illinois No. 6 coal is used as fuel. Because of the difference in performance between the GPS-based PCC and the MEA-based CO2 absorption technology, the net power output of this plant is not exactly 550 MWe. DOE/NETL Case 11 supercritical PC plant without CO2 capture and Case 12 supercritical PC plant with benchmark MEA-based CO2 capture are chosen as references. In order to include CO2 compression process for the baseline case, CCS independently evaluated the generic 30 wt% MEA-based PCC process together with the CO2 compression section. The net power produced in the supercritical PC plant with GPS-based PCC is 647 MW, greater than the MEA-based design. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) over a 20-year period is adopted to assess techno-economic performance. The LCOE for the supercritical PC plant with GPS-based PCC, not considering CO2 transport, storage and monitoring (TS&M), is 97.4 mills/kWh, or 152% of the Case 11 supercritical PC plant without CO2 capture, equivalent to $39.6/tonne for the cost of CO2 capture. GPS-based PCC is also significantly superior to the generic MEA-based PCC with CO2 compression section, whose LCOE is as high as 109.6 mills/kWh.

Economic optimization of nuclear waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeWames, R.E.; Grantham, L.F.; Guon, J.; McKisson, R.L.

1984-01-01

The paper presented here addresses the impact of waste management system operating parameters on overall system economics. The conclusion reached by this study is that currently available technology and proposed operating conditions do not lead to optimum economics. The decision to utilize the current reference waste package and non-optimum operating conditions will cause added expenditures of 7 billion dollars over the next several decades. Further, this paper points out that optimum economics is not necessarily incompatible with improved system safety

Factors mediating co-occurrence of an economically valuable introduced fish and its native frog prey.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Rosemary; Pope, Karen; Lawler, Sharon

2014-06-01

Habitat characteristics mediate predator-prey coexistence in many ecological systems but are seldom considered in species introductions. When economically important introduced predators are stocked despite known negative impacts on native species, understanding the role of refuges, landscape configurations, and community interactions can inform habitat management plans. We measured these factors in basins with introduced trout (Salmonidae) and the Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) to determine, which are responsible for observed patterns of co-occurrence of this economically important predator and its native prey. Large, vegetated shallows were strongly correlated to co-occurrence, and R. cascadae larvae occur in shallower water when fish are present, presumably to escape predation. The number of nearby breeding sites of R. cascadae was also correlated to co-occurrence, but only when the western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) was present. Because A. boreas larvae are unpalatable to fish and resemble R. cascadae, they may provide protection from trout via Batesian mimicry. Although rescue-effect dispersal from nearby populations may maintain co-occurrence, within-lake factors proved more important for predicting co-occurrence. Learning which factors allow co-occurrence between economically important introduced species and their native prey enables managers to make better-informed stocking decisions. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

The study of Zn–Co alloy coatings electrochemically deposited by pulse current

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomić Milorad V.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The electrochemical deposition by pulse current of Zn-Co alloy coatings on steel was examined, with the aim to find out whether pulse plating could produce alloys that could offer a better corrosion protection. The influence of on-time and the average current density on the cathodic current efficiency, coating morphology, surface roughness and corrosion stability in 3% NaCl was examined. At the same Ton/Toff ratio the current efficiency was insignificantly smaller for deposition at higher average current density. It was shown that, depending on the on-time, pulse plating could produce more homogenous alloy coatings with finer morphology, as compared to deposits obtained by direct current. The surface roughness was the greatest for Zn-Co alloy coatings deposited with direct current, as compared with alloy coatings deposited with pulse current, for both examined average current densities. It was also shown that Zn-Co alloy coatings deposited by pulse current could increase the corrosion stability of Zn-Co alloy coatings on steel. Namely, alloy coatings deposited with pulse current showed higher corrosion stability, as compared with alloy coatings deposited with direct current, for almost all examined cathodic times, Ton. Alloy coatings deposited at higher average current density showed greater corrosion stability as compared with coatings deposited by pulse current at smaller average current density. It was shown that deposits obtained with pulse current and cathodic time of 10 ms had the poorest corrosion stability, for both investigated average deposition current density. Among all investigated alloy coatings the highest corrosion stability was obtained for Zn-Co alloy coatings deposited with pulsed current at higher average current density (jav = 4 A dm-2.

Planning Routes Across Economic Terrains: Maximizing Utility, Following Heuristics

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hang; Maddula, Soumya V.; Maloney, Laurence T.

2010-01-01

We designed an economic task to investigate human planning of routes in landscapes where travel in different kinds of terrain incurs different costs. Participants moved their finger across a touch screen from a starting point to a destination. The screen was divided into distinct kinds of terrain and travel within each kind of terrain imposed a cost proportional to distance traveled. We varied costs and spatial configurations of terrains and participants received fixed bonuses minus the total cost of the routes they chose. We first compared performance to a model maximizing gain. All but one of 12 participants failed to adopt least-cost routes and their failure to do so reduced their winnings by about 30% (median value). We tested in detail whether participants’ choices of routes satisfied three necessary conditions (heuristics) for a route to maximize gain. We report failures of one heuristic for 7 out of 12 participants. Last of all, we modeled human performance with the assumption that participants assign subjective utilities to costs and maximize utility. For 7 out 12 participants, the fitted utility function was an accelerating power function of actual cost and for the remaining 5, a decelerating power function. We discuss connections between utility aggregation in route planning and decision under risk. Our task could be adapted to investigate human strategy and optimality of route planning in full-scale landscapes. PMID:21833269

PLANNING ROUTES ACROSS ECONOMIC TERRAINS: MAXIMIZING UTILITY, FOLLOWING HEURISTICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hang eZhang

2010-12-01

Full Text Available We designed an economic task to investigate human planning of routes in landscapes where travel in different kinds of terrain incurs different costs. Participants moved their finger across a touch screen from a starting point to a destination. The screen was divided into distinct kinds of terrain and travel within each kind of terrain imposed a cost proportional to distance traveled. We varied costs and spatial configurations of terrains and participants received fixed bonuses minus the total cost of the routes they chose. We first compared performance to a model maximizing gain. All but one of 12 participants failed to adopt least-cost routes and their failure to do so reduced their winnings by about 30% (median value. We tested in detail whether participants’ choices of routes satisfied three necessary conditions (heuristics for a route to maximize gain. We report failures of one heuristic for 7 out of 12 participants. Last of all, we modeled human performance with the assumption that participants assign subjective utilities to costs and maximize utility. For 7 out 12 participants, the fitted utility function was an accelerating power function of actual cost and for the remaining 5, a decelerating power function. We discuss connections between utility aggregation in route planning and decision under risk. Our task could be adapted to investigate human strategy and optimality of route planning in full-scale landscapes.

Separate hydrolysis and co-fermentation for improved xylose utilization in integrated ethanol production from wheat meal and wheat straw

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Erdei Borbála

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The commercialization of second-generation bioethanol has not been realized due to several factors, including poor biomass utilization and high production cost. It is generally accepted that the most important parameters in reducing the production cost are the ethanol yield and the ethanol concentration in the fermentation broth. Agricultural residues contain large amounts of hemicellulose, and the utilization of xylose is thus a plausible way to improve the concentration and yield of ethanol during fermentation. Most naturally occurring ethanol-fermenting microorganisms do not utilize xylose, but a genetically modified yeast strain, TMB3400, has the ability to co-ferment glucose and xylose. However, the xylose uptake rate is only enhanced when the glucose concentration is low. Results Separate hydrolysis and co-fermentation of steam-pretreated wheat straw (SPWS combined with wheat-starch hydrolysate feed was performed in two separate processes. The average yield of ethanol and the xylose consumption reached 86% and 69%, respectively, when the hydrolysate of the enzymatically hydrolyzed (18.5% WIS unwashed SPWS solid fraction and wheat-starch hydrolysate were fed to the fermentor after 1 h of fermentation of the SPWS liquid fraction. In the other configuration, fermentation of the SPWS hydrolysate (7.0% WIS, resulted in an average ethanol yield of 93% from fermentation based on glucose and xylose and complete xylose consumption when wheat-starch hydrolysate was included in the feed. Increased initial cell density in the fermentation (from 5 to 20 g/L did not increase the ethanol yield, but improved and accelerated xylose consumption in both cases. Conclusions Higher ethanol yield has been achieved in co-fermentation of xylose and glucose in SPWS hydrolysate when wheat-starch hydrolysate was used as feed, then in co-fermentation of the liquid fraction of SPWS fed with the mixed hydrolysates. Integration of first-generation and

Co-operation and Competition in Regional Economic Development Associated with Radioactive Waste Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webler, Thomas

2009-01-01

Competition and co-operation appear in many different social venues. The author gives a variety of examples of co-operative behaviour in economics, politics, research, and everyday life activities such as sports. These four diverse examples illustrate the variety of forms that co-operation may take such as tacit co-operation, incremental co-operation, deep co-operation, etc. The links with the form of democracy (adversary democracy or consensual democracy) are also pointed. However, as with so many other things in life, the key is to the question of co-operation or competition is balance. Co-operation and competition are dialectical opposites. They create and maintain and define each other; they each are incomplete without the other

Estimation of CO2 Transport Costs in South Korea Using a Techno-Economic Model

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Kwangu Kang

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, a techno–economic model was used to calculate the costs of CO2 transport and specify the major equipment required for transport in order to demonstrate and implement CO2 sequestration in the offshore sediments of South Korea. First, three different carbon capture and storage demonstration scenarios were set up involving the use of three CO2 capture plants and one offshore storage site. Each transport scenario considered both the pipeline transport and ship transport options. The temperature and pressure conditions of CO2 in each transport stage were determined from engineering and economic viewpoints, and the corresponding specifications and equipment costs were calculated. The transport costs for a 1 MtCO2/year transport rate were estimated to be US$33/tCO2 and US$28/tCO2 for a pipeline transport of ~530 km and ship transport of ~724 km, respectively. Through the economies of scale effect, the pipeline and ship transport costs for a transport rate of 3 MtCO2/year were reduced to approximately US$21/tCO2 and US$23/tCO2, respectively. A CO2 hub terminal did not significantly reduce the cost because of the short distance from the hub to the storage site and the small number of captured sources.

Economic Analysis of an Integrated Annatto Seeds-Sugarcane Biorefinery Using Supercritical CO2 Extraction as a First Step

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Juliana Q. Albarelli

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Recently, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE has been indicated to be utilized as part of a biorefinery, rather than as a stand-alone technology, since besides extracting added value compounds selectively it has been shown to have a positive effect on the downstream processing of biomass. To this extent, this work evaluates economically the encouraging experimental results regarding the use of SFE during annatto seeds valorization. Additionally, other features were discussed such as the benefits of enhancing the bioactive compounds concentration through physical processes and of integrating the proposed annatto seeds biorefinery to a hypothetical sugarcane biorefinery, which produces its essential inputs, e.g., CO2, ethanol, heat and electricity. For this, first, different configurations were modeled and simulated using the commercial simulator Aspen Plus® to determine the mass and energy balances. Next, each configuration was economically assessed using MATLAB. SFE proved to be decisive to the economic feasibility of the proposed annatto seeds-sugarcane biorefinery concept. SFE pretreatment associated with sequential fine particles separation process enabled higher bixin-rich extract production using low-pressure solvent extraction method employing ethanol, meanwhile tocotrienols-rich extract is obtained as a first product. Nevertheless, the economic evaluation showed that increasing tocotrienols-rich extract production has a more pronounced positive impact on the economic viability of the concept.

Process Design Report for Stover Feedstock: Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis for Corn Stover

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aden, A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ruth, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ibsen, K. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jechura, J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Neeves, K. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sheehan, J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Wallace, B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Montague, L. [Harris Group, Seattle, WA (United States); Slayton, A. [Harris Group, Seattle, WA (United States); Lukas, J. [Harris Group, Seattle, WA (United States)

2002-06-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is promoting the development of ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks as an alternative to conventional petroleum-based transportation fuels. DOE funds both fundamental and applied research in this area and needs a method for predicting cost benefits of many research proposals. To that end, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has modeled many potential process designs and estimated the economics of each process during the last 20 years. This report is an update of the ongoing process design and economic analyses at NREL.

CURRENT ECONOMIC AND MEDICAL REFORMS IN THE ROMANIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

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Dragoi Mihaela Cristina

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of health has always been, both in social reality and in academia and research, a sensitive topic considering the relationship each individual has with his own health and the health care system as a public policy. At public opinion levels and not only, health care is the most important sector demanding the outmost attention, considering that individual health is the fundamental prerequisite for well-being, happiness and a satisfying life. The ever present research and practical question is on the optimal financing of the health care system. Any answer to this question is also a political decision, reflecting the social-economic value of health for a particular country. The size of the resource pool and the criteria and methods for resource allocation are the central economic problems for any health system. This paper takes into consideration the limited resources of the national health care system (the rationalization of health services, the common methods of health financing, the specificity of health services market (the health market being highly asymmetric, with health professionals knowing most if not all of the relevant information, such as diagnosis, treatment options and costs and consumers fully dependent on the information provided in each case and the performance of all hospitals in Romania, in order to assess the latest strategic decisions (introduction of co-payment and merging and reconversion of hospitals taken within the Romanian health care system and their social and economic implications. The main finding show that, even though the intention of reforming and transforming the Romanian health care system into a more efficient one is obvious, the lack of economic and demographic analysis may results into greater discrepancies nationwide. This paper is aimed to renew the necessity of joint collaboration between the economic and medical field, since the relationship between health and economic development runs both ways

The current economic and financial crisis: a gender perspective

OpenAIRE

Antonopoulos, Rania

2009-01-01

Widespread economic recessions and protracted financial crises have been documented as setting back gender equality and other development goals in the past. In the midst of the current global crisis--often referred to as "the Great Recession"--there is grave concern that progress made in poverty reduction and women's equality will be reversed. Indeed, for many developing countries it is particularly worrisome that, through no fault of their own, the global economic downturn has exacerbated ef...

Assessing the Potential of Utilization and Storage Strategies for Post-Combustion CO2 Emissions Reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armstrong, Katy; Styring, Peter

2015-01-01

The emissions reduction potential of three carbon dioxide handling strategies for post-combustion capture is considered. These are carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS), enhanced hydrocarbon recovery (EHR), and carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) to produce synthetic oil. This is performed using common and comparable boundary conditions including net CO 2 sequestered based on equivalent boundary conditions. This is achieved using a “cradle to grave approach” where the final destination and fate of any product is considered. The input boundary is pure CO 2 that has been produced using a post-combustion capture process as this is common between all processes. The output boundary is the emissions resulting from any product produced with the assumption that the majority of the oil will go to combustion processes. We also consider the “cradle to gate” approach where the ultimate fate of the oil is not considered as this is a boundary condition often applied to EHR processes. Results show that while CCS can make an impact on CO 2 emissions, CDU will have a comparable effect whilst generating income while EHR will ultimately increase net emissions. The global capacity for CDU is also compared against CCS using data based on current and planned CCS projects. Analysis shows that current CDU represent a greater volume of capture than CCS processes and that this gap is likely to remain well beyond 2020 which is the limit of the CCS projects in the database.

Current economic trends in equine practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Andrew R

2009-12-01

Current economic trends in equine practice are trends of weakness. Most practices, after a decade of double-digit growth, have migrated to survival mode within a few months. Understanding that all regions and disciplines are affected differently, using the Porter five forces model, we can identify changes that must be made in our business models first to survive and then to position ourselves to prosper when the recession ends. If we are to avoid long-term damage to our practices, we must use cost control and work efficiency in addition to price concessions.

An economy-ralated equity analysis of health service utilization by women in economically underdeveloped regions of western China.

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yuyan; Zhou, Zhongliang; Yan, Ju'e; Gao, Jianmin; Wang, Yuping; Yang, Xiaowei; Xu, Yongjian; Li, Yanli

2017-10-27

The Chinese government has long been committed to eliminating the inequality in the utilization of health services; however, it still lacks an analysis or measurement of the economy-related inequality in the utilization of women's health services. The economy-related utilization of health services in women aged 15 years and above was assessed by the horizontal inequity index of a two-week outpatient rate and annual inpatient rate from the 5th National Health Service Survey of Shaanxi Province. The concentration index of each factor was decomposed into the contribution of each factor to the economic-related inequality of health service utilization based on the Probit regression model. The horizontal inequity indexes of the two-week outpatient rate was 0.0493, and the horizontal inequity indexes of the annual impatient rate was 0.0869. The contributions of economic status to the two indexes were 190.71% and 115.80%, respectively. Economic status, age, basic medical insurance, educational status, marital status, urban/rural area, and self-rated health were the main impact factors that affected the inequality in women's health services utilization in Shaanxi. Health service utilization was different between women with different social demographic characteristics, and unequal health service utilization is evident among women in Shaanxi.

Development Strategies in Papua Economic Democracy

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Muhamad Ismail

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Based economic development aims to increase community participation in various development activities, especially in the economic field. Populist both economic development by exploiting the potential of Micro Small Medium Enterprises has not made a significant impact to the welfare of society. The purpose of the study to see how far the populist economic development in Papua, and formulate a strategy based economic development in the province of Papua. Using SWOT the analysis, using primary and secondary data. The results showed populist economic development in Papua province could not be implemented to the fullest because it is affected by several drawbacks and other technical constraints such as shortage of working capital, equipment is still modest, the quality and quantity of the product is low, the difficulty of access to markets and weak entrepreneurial spirit, especially for community / indigenous people of Papua economic actors. Based economic development can be done by utilizing the role of micro and medium-sized businesses and cooperatives / KUD because people could easily be involved in both the economic container. Based economic development can be done by: Increasing the quality and quantity of local products to compete with regional and international markets, giving stimulant fund for venture capital for the economic actors of the people by utilizing funds OTSUS, and the state budget, Improved HR agriculture through private sector support (partners’ business and capital of banking institutions. To overcome the weaknesses in the development of community economy, it can be done through: Boosting qualities SDM economic actors people through non-formal education / training, education and ongoing training for facilitators, provision of venture capital and agricultural equipment by utilizing appropriate technology (TTG, increasing the role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and co-operatives to all districts / cities, utilization of

CO2 Emissions, Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and FDI in Vietnam

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Dinh Hong Linh

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This study examines the dynamic relationships between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI and economic growth for Vietnam IN the period from 1980 to 2010 based on Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC approach, cointegration, and Granger causality tests. The empirical results do not support the EKC theory in Vietnam. However, the cointegration and Granger causality test results indicate a dynamic relationship among CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI and economic growth. The short run bidirectional relationship between Vietnam’s income and FDI inflows implies that the increase in Vietnam’s income will attract more capital from overseas. Inversely, FDI inflow is also driver of national income growth. The existence of bidirectional relationships in the long-run provides important policy implications. We recommend implementing a dual strategy of increasing investment in energy infrastructure and promulgating energy conservation policies to increase energy efficiency and reduce wastage of energy.

Modeling the development and utilization of bioenergy and exploring the environmental economic benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Junnian; Yang, Wei; Higano, Yoshiro; Wang, Xian’en

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A complete bioenergy flow is schemed to industrialize bioenergy utilization. • An input–output optimization simulation model is developed. • Energy supply and demand and bioenergy industries’ development are optimized. • Carbon tax and subsidies are endogenously derived by the model. • Environmental economic benefits of bioenergy utilization are explored dynamically. - Abstract: This paper outlines a complete bioenergy flow incorporating bioresource procurement, feedstock supply, conversion technologies and energy consumption to industrialize the development and utilization of bioenergy. An input–output optimization simulation model is developed to introduce bioenergy industries into the regional socioeconomy and energy production and consumption system and dynamically explore the economic, energy and environmental benefits. 16-term simulation from 2010 to 2025 is performed in scenarios preset based on bioenergy industries, carbon tax-subsidization policy and distinct levels of greenhouse gas emission constraints. An empirical study is conducted to validate and apply the model. In the optimal scenario, both industrial development and energy supply and demand are optimized contributing to a 8.41% average gross regional product growth rate and a 39.9% reduction in accumulative greenhouse gas emission compared with the base scenario. By 2025 the consumption ratio of bioenergy in total primary energy could be increased from 0.5% to 8.2%. Energy self-sufficiency rate could be increased from 57.7% to 77.9%. A dynamic carbon tax rate and the extent to which bioenergy industrial development could be promoted are also elaborated. Regional economic development and greenhouse gas mitigation can be potentially promoted simultaneously by bioenergy utilization and a proper greenhouse gas emission constraint. The methodology presented is capable of introducing new industries or policies related to energy planning and detecting the best tradeoffs of

CO2 emissions and economic activity: Heterogeneity across countries and non-stationary series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piaggio, Matías; Padilla, Emilio

2012-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between CO 2 emissions and economic activity for 31 countries (28 OECD, Brazil, China, and India) during the period 1950 to 2006 using cointegration analysis. Single country long run relationships are estimated, and equality in the functional form, the parameters, and the turning point, when appropriate, are rejected. This confirms the relevance of considering the differences among countries in the relationship between air pollution and economic activity to avoid wrong estimations and conclusions. - Highlights: ► Path and parameters homogeneity in CO 2 -economic activity relationship is analyzed. ► Longer period than previous studies allows greater overlap between countries' paths. ► We also test turning point homogeneity, which imposes a weaker restriction. ► Functional form, parameters and turning point homogeneity is rejected. ► Individual functional form for the long term relation is determined for each country.

Assessing the techno-environmental performance of CO2 utilization via dry reforming of methane for the production of dimethyl ether

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schakel, Wouter|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/369280784; Oreggioni, Gabriel; Singh, Bhawna; Strømman, Anders; Ramírez, Andrea|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/284852414

2016-01-01

Abstract CO2 utilization is gaining attention as a greenhouse gas abatement strategy complementary to CO2 storage. This study explores the techno-environmental performance of CO2 utilization trough dry reforming of methane into syngas for the production of dimethyl ether (DME). The CO2 source is a

Utility requirements for HTGRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicholls, D.R.

1997-01-01

Eskom, the state utility of South Africa, is currently evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of the helium cooled Pebble Bed Modular Reactor with a closed cycle gas turbine power conversion system for future power generating additions to its electric system. This paper provides an overview of the Eskom system including the needs of the utility for future generation capacity and the key performance requirements necessary for incorporation of this gas cooled reactor plant. (author)

Exploring the role of co-worker social support on health care utilization and sickness absence

Science.gov (United States)

Tamers, Sara L.; Beresford, Shirley A.A.; Thompson, Beti; Zheng, Yingye; Cheadle, Allen D.

2011-01-01

Objectives To explore the association of baseline co-worker social support with follow-up measures of health care use and sickness absence. Methods Data were obtained on 1,240 employees from 33 worksites, through Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating, a group randomized weight maintenance trial. Co-worker social support, health care utilization, and absenteeism were assessed via a self-reported questionnaire. Generalized Estimating Equations were employed using STATA version 10. Results Higher baseline co-worker social support was significantly associated with a greater number of doctors’ visits (p = 0.015). Co-worker social support was unrelated to number of hospitalizations, emergency room visits, or absenteeism. Conclusions The relationship between co-worker social support and health care utilization and absenteeism is complex and uncertain. Future studies should measure more specific outcomes, incorporate important mediating variables, and distill how social networks influence these outcomes. PMID:21685798

78 FR 44186 - Colorado Disaster # CO-00058 Declaration of Economic Injury

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-23

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 13662] Colorado Disaster CO-00058 Declaration... notice of an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) declaration for the State of Colorado, dated 07/15/2013... areas have been determined to be adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Hinsdale, Mineral...

Economics of the Nuclear Energy Considered CO2 Emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Su Jin; Kim, Yong Min

2011-01-01

The energy consumption in Korea has greatly increased along with its rapid economic growth and industrialization since the 1970s. Total energy consumption increased at an average annual growth rate. Due to the lack of domestic energy resources, however, the overseas dependence rate of energy consumption has continuously increased. Also Climate change, resulting from increases in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), is considered one of the biggest environmental dangers facing the world today. The objective and approach of this study are to compare the different types of scenarios in terms of the power plant type and CO 2 emission from each power plant. We estimated cost of electricity generation using fuel cost, O and M cost(Operation and Maintenance Cost) and CO 2 emission

Preliminary assessment of a method utilizing carbon dioxide and steelmaking slags to produce precipitated calcium carbonate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eloneva, Sanni; Said, Arshe; Fogelholm, Carl-Johan; Zevenhoven, Ron

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► An NH 4 -salt-based method utilizes CO 2 and steelmaking slags to produce pure CaCO 3 . ► It was determined if its economic potential warrants moving forward. ► Despite small solvent losses, the method was found to have economical potential. ► The method has significant CO 2 emissions reduction potential. ► Scaling up the reactor will allow for a more detailed design for the process. -- Abstract: One of the options that can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for climate change mitigation is the so-called CO 2 sequestration by mineral carbonation, or CO 2 mineral sequestration. Steel manufacturing could benefit from this option by utilizing its own by-products, i.e. steelmaking slags to combine with CO 2 . We have recently studied a method, where aqueous solution of ammonium salt (e.g. ammonium acetate, ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride) is used to extract calcium selectively from the steel converter slag, followed by precipitation of pure calcium carbonate by bubbling CO 2 through the produced solution. The ammonium salt solution is recovered and re-used. The purpose of this research was to determine if the economic potential of the method warrants moving forward to large-scale application. Despite the small solvent losses, the method was found to have economical potential. In addition, it has significant CO 2 emission reduction potential as well. Scaling up the reactor from the small laboratory scale will allow more detailed design for the process to be made followed by a full economical evaluation including all of the important operational and capital investment costs.

Engineering economic analysis of meliponiculture in Malaysia considering current market price

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Basrawi Firdaus

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Stingless bees (kelulut keeping is now a trend in Malaysia. However, since demand for the source of colony in log is increasing, the log price is rapidly increasing. But, there is no data reported on the economic viability of meliponiculture in the current market price. Thus, the objective of this study is to clarify the economic viability of investment in meliponiculture in the current market price by engineering economic perspective. Investment in meliponiculture was analysed using Equivalent Annual Uniform Cost (EAUC, Internal Rate of Return (IRR and Breakeven Analysis. A small start-up with 30 units of logs or hives was considered in the analysis. All raw data was acquainted from current Malaysian market price, but only revenue from honey was considered. It was found that EAUC indicated that the annual worth of the log system is 23% better than the hive system. However, IRR calculation indicated that both the log and the hive systems offer margin exceeding 55% which is a very good return in general investment. In addition, it was also found that the log system had breakeven after 8th month, whereas the hive was 13th month. Better economic value could be obtained if revenue from by-products are considered. Thus, it can be concluded that meliponiculture is still very economically viable in Malaysia market trend, and the hive systems could be a better choice if splitting colony, maintenance, safety and aesthetics points of view are considered.

Technology roadmap study on carbon capture, utilization and storage in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xian; Fan, Jing-Li; Wei, Yi-Ming

2013-01-01

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology will likely become an important approach to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions and optimize the structure of energy consumption in China in the future. In order to provide guidance and recommendations for CCUS Research, Development and Demonstration in China, a high level stakeholder workshop was held in Chongqing in June 2011 to develop a technology roadmap for the development of CCUS technology. This roadmap outlines the overall vision to provide technically viable and economically affordable technological options to combat climate change and facilitate socio-economic development in China. Based on this vision, milestone goals from 2010 to 2030 are set out in accordance with the technology development environment and current status in China. This study identifies the critical technologies in capture, transport, utilization and storage of CO 2 and proposes technical priorities in the different stages of each technical aspect by evaluating indices such as the objective contribution rate and technical maturity, and gives recommendations on deployment of full-chain CCUS demonstration projects. Policies which would support CCUS are also suggested in this study. - Highlights: • A technology roadmap for CCUS development in China from 2010 to 2030 is presented. • Sound data and analysis in combination with expert workshops are used. • Critical technologies in CCUS are identified. • Priority actions of all stages are identified and proposed. • Guidance and recommendations for CCUS RD and D are provided

Bio-electrochemical synthesis of commodity chemicals by autotrophic acetogens utilizing CO2 for environmental remediation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabeen, Gugan; Farooq, Robina

2016-09-01

Bio-electrochemical synthesis (BES) is a technique in which electro-autotrophic bacteria such as Clostridium ljungdahlii utilize electric currents as an electron source from the cathode to reduce CO2 to extracellular, multicarbon, exquisite products through autotrophic conversion. The BES of volatile fatty acids and alcohols directly from CO2 is a sustainable alternative for non-renewable, petroleum-based polymer production. This conversion of CO2 implies reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The synthesis of heptanoic acid, heptanol, hexanoic acid and hexanol, for the first time, by Clostridium ljungdahlii was a remarkable achievement of BES. In our study, these microorganisms were cultivated on the cathode of a bio-electrochemical cell at -400 mV by a DC power supply at 37 degree Centrigrade, pH 6.8, and was studied for both batch and continuous systems. Pre-enrichment of bio-cathode enhanced the electroactivity of cells and resulted in maximizing extracellular products in less time. The main aim of the research was to investigate the impact of low-cost substrate CO2, and the longer cathode recovery range was due to bacterial reduction of CO2 to multicarbon chemical commodities with electrons driven from the cathode. Reactor design was simplified for cost-effectiveness and to enhance energy efficiencies. The Columbic recovery of ethanoic acid, ethanol, ethyl butyrate, hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid and hexanol being in excess of 80 percent proved that BES was a remarkable technology.

FISCAL POLICY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS

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VALENTIN SAVA

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Fiscal policies in the current era are the sovereign right of states to collect and administer taxes on national territory. In this respect, the European Union, which is an association of independent states, did not created an European tax - although many politicians proposing it - and within the Union is found important differences between the tax systems of member states. Due to historical and national different traditions, the EU member states have heterogeneous tax systems and revenue sharing systems because of different conceptions of public policies relative to the role of state in social and economic respective community’s life. The financing of public spending is usually considered the main function of taxation. In the original tradition following Locke1, property protection is the main functions of the state. As a result, the tax must correspond to the services rendered, that is to say, to pay the State for the protection of the rights it provides. Here we are at the origin of the doctrine of the benefit that there should be equivalence between the utility derived by the citizens of public services they consume and the "price" they pay tax.

[Impact of Phosphogypsum Wastes on the Wheat Growth and CO2 Emissions and Evaluation of Economic-environmental Benefit].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ji; Wu, Hong-sheng; Gao, Zhi-qiu; Shang, Xiao-xia; Zheng, Pei-hui; Yin, Jin; Kakpa, Didier; Ren, Qian-qi; Faustin, Ogou Katchele; Chen, Su-yun; Xu, Ya; Yao, Tong-yan; Ji, Wei; Qian, Jing-shan; Ma, Shi-jie

2015-08-01

Phosphogypsum is a phosphorus chemical waste which has not been managed and reused well, resultantly, causing environmental pollution and land-occupation. Phosphogypsum wastes were used as a soil amendment to assess the effect on wheat growth, yield and CO2 emissions from winter wheat fields. Its economic and environmental benefits were analyzed at the same time. The results showed that wheat yield was increased by 37.71% in the treatment of phosphogypsum of 2 100 kg x hm(-2). Compared with the control treatment, throughout the wheat growing season, CO2 emission was accumulatively reduced by 3% in the treatment of phosphogypsum waste of 1050 kg x hm(-2), while reduced by 8% , 10% , and 6% during the jointing stage, heading date and filling period of wheat, respectively; while CO2 emission was accumulatively reduced by 7% in the treatment of phosphogypsum waste of 2 100 kg x hm(-2) throughout the wheat growing season, as reduced by 11% , 4% , and 12% during the reviving wintering stage, heading date and filling period of wheat, respectively. It was better for CO2 emission reduction in the treatment of a larger amount of phosphogypsum waste. In the case of application of phosphogypsum waste residue within a certain range, the emission intensity of CO2 ( CO2 emissions of per unit of fresh weight or CO2 emissions of per unit of yield) , spike length, fresh weight and yield showed a significantly negative correlation--the longer the ear length, the greater fresh weight and yield and the lower the CO2 emissions intensity. As to the carbon trading, phosphogypsum utilization was of high economic and environmental benefits. Compared with the control, the ratio of input to output changed from 1: 8.3 to 1: 10.7, which in the same situation of investment the output could be increased by 28.92% ; phosphogypsum as a greenhouse gas reducing agent in the wheat field, it could decrease the cost and increase the environmental benefit totally about 290 yuan per unit of ton. The

CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ARMENIA

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Arus Tunian

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the study of the problem of economic growth in Armenia. It is identified the nature of the balance of payments of the country, indicating a net debtor position, which leads to inherent deterioration of the international investment position. A small open economy of Armenia moves to a new phase of development, in the frame of the integration processes within the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. One of the main characteristics of the Armenian economy vulnerability remains a negative balance in foreign trade, which continues to grow, despite the export growth. Economic growth is provided, as before, mostly due to the sale of raw materials - non-ferrous metals and metal ores, both in the primary as well as in the previous preprocessing. Estimating the econometric VAR models revealed that the negative current account impacts on GDP growth negatively.

Socio-economic status and health care utilization in rural Zimbabwe: findings from Project Accept (HPTN 043).

Science.gov (United States)

Kevany, Sebastian; Murima, Oliver; Singh, Basant; Hlubinka, Daniel; Kulich, Michal; Morin, Stephen F; Sweat, Michael

2012-03-07

Zimbabwe's HIV epidemic is amongst the worst in the world, and disproportionately effects poorer rural areas. Access to almost all health services in Zimbabwe includes some form of cost to the client. In recent years, the socio-economic and employment status of many Zimbabweans has suffered a serious decline, creating additional barriers to HIV treatment and care. We aimed to assess the impact of i) socio-economic status (SES) and ii) employment status on the utilization of health services in rural Zimbabwe. Data were collected from a random probability sample household survey conducted in the Mutoko district of north-western Zimbabwe in 2005. We selected variables that described the economic status of the respondent, including: being paid to work, employment status, and SES by assets. Respondents were also asked about where they most often utilized healthcare when they or their family was sick or hurt. Of 2,874 respondents, all forms of healthcare tended to be utilized by those of high or medium-high SES (65%), including private (65%), church-based (61%), traditional (67%), and other providers (66%) (P=0.009). Most respondents of low SES utilized government providers (74%) (P=0.009). Seventy-one percent of respondents utilizing health services were employed. Government (71%), private (72%), church (71%), community-based (78%) and other (64%) health services tended to be utilized by employed respondents (P=0.000). Only traditional health services were equally utilized by unemployed respondents (50%) (P=0.000). A wide range of health providers are utilized in rural Zimbabwe. Utilization is strongly associated with SES and employment status, particularly for services with user fees, which may act as a barrier to HIV treatment and care access. Efforts to improve access in low-SES, high HIV-prevalence settings may benefit from the subsidization of the health care payment system, efforts to improve SES levels, political reform, and the involvement of traditional

Decision support for utility environmental risk management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balson, W.E.; Wilson, D.S.

1991-01-01

This paper reviews a number of decision support methods developed and applied by Decision Focus Incorporated to help utility personnel manage current environmental problems. This work has been performed for the Environmental Risk Analysis Program of EPRI's Environment Division, and also for a number of electric utilities across the country. These are two distinct types of decision support software tools that have been created: economic risk management and environmental risk analysis. These types differ primarily in the identification of who will make a decision. Economic risk management tools are directed primarily at decisions made by electric utilities. Environmental risk analysis tools are directed primarily at decisions made by legislative or regulatory agencies, about which a utility may wish to comment

NOS CO-OPS Active Currents Data, 6-Minute

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset has surface Active Currents data from NOAA NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS). WARNING: These raw data have not...

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS CONTROL BY OXYGEN FIRING IN CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED BOILERS: PHASE II--PILOT SCALE TESTING AND UPDATED PERFORMANCE AND ECONOMICS FOR OXYGEN FIRED CFB WITH CO2 CAPTURE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nsakala ya Nsakala; Gregory N. Liljedahl; David G. Turek

2004-10-27

Because fossil fuel fired power plants are among the largest and most concentrated producers of CO{sub 2} emissions, recovery and sequestration of CO{sub 2} from the flue gas of such plants has been identified as one of the primary means for reducing anthropogenic CO{sub 2} emissions. In this Phase II study, ALSTOM Power Inc. (ALSTOM) has investigated one promising near-term coal fired power plant configuration designed to capture CO{sub 2} from effluent gas streams for sequestration. Burning fossil fuels in mixtures of oxygen and recirculated flue gas (made principally of CO{sub 2}) essentially eliminates the presence of atmospheric nitrogen in the flue gas. The resulting flue gas is comprised primarily of CO{sub 2}, along with some moisture, nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases like SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x}. Oxygen firing in utility scale Pulverized Coal (PC) fired boilers has been shown to be a more economical method for CO{sub 2} capture than amine scrubbing (Bozzuto, et al., 2001). Additionally, oxygen firing in Circulating Fluid Bed Boilers (CFB's) can be more economical than in PC or Stoker firing, because recirculated gas flow can be reduced significantly. Oxygen-fired PC and Stoker units require large quantities of recirculated flue gas to maintain acceptable furnace temperatures. Oxygen-fired CFB units, on the other hand, can accomplish this by additional cooling of recirculated solids. The reduced recirculated gas flow with CFB plants results in significant Boiler Island cost savings resulting from reduced component The overall objective of the Phase II workscope, which is the subject of this report, is to generate a refined technical and economic evaluation of the Oxygen fired CFB case (Case-2 from Phase I) utilizing the information learned from pilot-scale testing of this concept. The objective of the pilot-scale testing was to generate detailed technical data needed to establish advanced CFB design requirements and performance when firing coals and

Time-varying analysis of CO_2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth nexus: Statistical experience in next 11 countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shahbaz, Muhammad; Mahalik, Mantu Kumar; Shah, Syed Hasanat; Sato, João Ricardo

2016-01-01

This paper detects the direction of causality among carbon dioxide (CO_2) emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth in Next 11 countries for the period 1972–2013. Changes in economic, energy, and environmental policies as well as regulatory and technological advancement over time, cause changes in the relationship among the variables. We use a novel approach i.e. time-varying Granger causality and find that economic growth is the cause of CO_2 emissions in Bangladesh and Egypt. Economic growth causes energy consumption in the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam but the feedback effect exists between energy consumption and economic growth in South Korea. In the cases of Indonesia and Turkey, we find the unidirectional time-varying Granger causality running from economic growth to CO_2 emissions thus validates the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis, which indicates that economic growth is achievable at the minimal cost of environment. The paper gives new insights for policy makers to attain sustainable economic growth while maintaining long-run environmental quality.

Technical and economic viability of co-inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense in soybean cultivars in the Cerrado

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando S. Galindo

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF efficiency can be increased by co-inoculation with bradyrhizobia and Azospirillum brasilense, allowing even greater uptake of water and nutrients, leading to higher yields. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the technical and economic viability of soybean in the Cerrado, according to the cultivars and co-inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense. The experiment was conducted in Selvíria, MS, in no-tillage system, in Oxisol, arranged in a randomized block design in a 2 x 2 factorial scheme with two cultivars (‘Potência’ and ‘Valiosa’, with and without co-inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense in the seed. Co-inoculation with A. brasilense increases grain yield in the cultivars ‘Potência’ and ‘Valiosa’, being economically viable. However, using the cultivar ‘Potência’ co-inoculated led to the highest profitability.

Coal-fired Power Plants with Flexible Amine-based CCS and Co-located Wind Power: Environmental, Economic and Reliability Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Bandyopadhyay, Rubenka

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies provide a means to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the existing fleet of fossil-fired plants, and hence can facilitate a gradual transition from conventional to more sustainable sources of electric power. This is especially relevant for coal plants that have a CO2 emission rate that is roughly two times higher than that of natural gas plants. Of the different kinds of CCS technology available, post-combustion amine based CCS is the best developed and hence more suitable for retrofitting an existing coal plant. The high costs from operating CCS could be reduced by enabling flexible operation through amine storage or allowing partial capture of CO2 during high electricity prices. This flexibility is also found to improve the power plant's ramp capability, enabling it to offset the intermittency of renewable power sources. This thesis proposes a solution to problems associated with two promising technologies for decarbonizing the electric power system: the high costs of the energy penalty of CCS, and the intermittency and non-dispatchability of wind power. It explores the economic and technical feasibility of a hybrid system consisting of a coal plant retrofitted with a post-combustion-amine based CCS system equipped with the option to perform partial capture or amine storage, and a co-located wind farm. A techno-economic assessment of the performance of the hybrid system is carried out both from the perspective of the stakeholders (utility owners, investors, etc.) as well as that of the power system operator. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

Assessing the Potential of Utilization and Storage Strategies for Post-Combustion CO{sub 2} Emissions Reduction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Armstrong, Katy; Styring, Peter, E-mail: p.styring@sheffield.ac.uk [UK Centre for Carbon Dioxide Utilization, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom)

2015-03-03

The emissions reduction potential of three carbon dioxide handling strategies for post-combustion capture is considered. These are carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS), enhanced hydrocarbon recovery (EHR), and carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) to produce synthetic oil. This is performed using common and comparable boundary conditions including net CO{sub 2} sequestered based on equivalent boundary conditions. This is achieved using a “cradle to grave approach” where the final destination and fate of any product is considered. The input boundary is pure CO{sub 2} that has been produced using a post-combustion capture process as this is common between all processes. The output boundary is the emissions resulting from any product produced with the assumption that the majority of the oil will go to combustion processes. We also consider the “cradle to gate” approach where the ultimate fate of the oil is not considered as this is a boundary condition often applied to EHR processes. Results show that while CCS can make an impact on CO{sub 2} emissions, CDU will have a comparable effect whilst generating income while EHR will ultimately increase net emissions. The global capacity for CDU is also compared against CCS using data based on current and planned CCS projects. Analysis shows that current CDU represent a greater volume of capture than CCS processes and that this gap is likely to remain well beyond 2020 which is the limit of the CCS projects in the database.

Susceptibility of CoFeB/AlOx/Co Magnetic Tunnel Junctions to Low-Frequency Alternating Current

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan-Tsung Chen

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This investigation studies CoFeB/AlOx/Co magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ in the magnetic field of a low-frequency alternating current, for various thicknesses of the barrier layer AlOx. The low-frequency alternate-current magnetic susceptibility (χac and phase angle (θ of the CoFeB/AlOx/Co MTJ are determined using an cac analyzer. The driving frequency ranges from 10 to 25,000 Hz. These multilayered MTJs are deposited on a silicon substrate using a DC and RF magnetron sputtering system. Barrier layer thicknesses are 22, 26, and 30 Å. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD include a main peak at 2θ = 44.7° from hexagonal close-packed (HCP Co with a highly (0002 textured structure, with AlOx and CoFeB as amorphous phases. The full width at half maximum (FWHM of the Co(0002 peak, decreases as the AlOx thickness increases; revealing that the Co layer becomes more crystalline with increasing thickness. χac result demonstrates that the optimal resonance frequency (fres that maximizes the χac value is 500 Hz. As the frequency increases to 1000 Hz, the susceptibility decreases rapidly. However, when the frequency increases over 1000 Hz, the susceptibility sharply declines, and almost closes to zero. The experimental results reveal that the mean optimal susceptibility is 1.87 at an AlOx barrier layer thickness of 30 Å because the Co(0002 texture induces magneto-anisotropy, which improves the indirect CoFeB and Co spin exchange-coupling strength and the χac value. The results concerning magnetism indicate that the magnetic characteristics are related to the crystallinity of Co.

Local knowledge and socio-economic determinants of traditional medicines' utilization in livestock health management in Southwest Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mafimisebi Taiwo E

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Smallholder livestock farmers in Nigeria utilize traditional medicines derived from medicinal plants (PMs for the maintenance of their animals' health. This study was designed to determine the PMs used in the study area and their level of utilization by livestock farmers, compare the level of utilization of PMs across the three states surveyed and identify the socio-economic factors influencing farmer's utilization of PMs. Thirty-five PMs were identified. Farmers had considerable knowledge about the identified PMs but about 80.0% of them used the PMs to poor/moderate extent. There were statistical differences in the utilization level of PMs among the three states. Six socio-economic variables were found to be statistically significant in influencing PMs' utilization. Farmer's age, household size, distance to the nearest veterinary hospital/clinic and extent of travels, had positive effects while negative effects were exhibited by farm income and number of heads of livestock. It was concluded that there was considerable knowledge about PMs and that utilization of PMs varied between the three states. It was recommended that local knowledge of PMs be preserved in the study area through screening and documentation.

How often do sensitivity analyses for economic parameters change cost-utility analysis conclusions?

Science.gov (United States)

Schackman, Bruce R; Gold, Heather Taffet; Stone, Patricia W; Neumann, Peter J

2004-01-01

There is limited evidence about the extent to which sensitivity analysis has been used in the cost-effectiveness literature. Sensitivity analyses for health-related QOL (HR-QOL), cost and discount rate economic parameters are of particular interest because they measure the effects of methodological and estimation uncertainties. To investigate the use of sensitivity analyses in the pharmaceutical cost-utility literature in order to test whether a change in economic parameters could result in a different conclusion regarding the cost effectiveness of the intervention analysed. Cost-utility analyses of pharmaceuticals identified in a prior comprehensive audit (70 articles) were reviewed and further audited. For each base case for which sensitivity analyses were reported (n = 122), up to two sensitivity analyses for HR-QOL (n = 133), cost (n = 99), and discount rate (n = 128) were examined. Article mentions of thresholds for acceptable cost-utility ratios were recorded (total 36). Cost-utility ratios were denominated in US dollars for the year reported in each of the original articles in order to determine whether a different conclusion would have been indicated at the time the article was published. Quality ratings from the original audit for articles where sensitivity analysis results crossed the cost-utility ratio threshold above the base-case result were compared with those that did not. The most frequently mentioned cost-utility thresholds were $US20,000/QALY, $US50,000/QALY, and $US100,000/QALY. The proportions of sensitivity analyses reporting quantitative results that crossed the threshold above the base-case results (or where the sensitivity analysis result was dominated) were 31% for HR-QOL sensitivity analyses, 20% for cost-sensitivity analyses, and 15% for discount-rate sensitivity analyses. Almost half of the discount-rate sensitivity analyses did not report quantitative results. Articles that reported sensitivity analyses where results crossed the cost-utility

The nexus of oil consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in China, Japan and South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Saboori, Behnaz; Rasoulinezhad, Ehsan; Sung, Jinsok

2017-03-01

This article attempts to explore the nexus between oil consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in three East Asian oil importing countries (i.e. China, South Korea and Japan) over the period 1980-2013, by using the Granger causality, Johansen cointegration test, Generalised Impulse Response functions (GIRF) and variance decompositions. The empirical findings provide evidence for the existence of a long-run relationship between oil consumption and economic growth in China and Japan. The results also point to a uni-directional causality from running from oil consumption to economic growth in China and Japan, and from oil consumption to CO 2 emissions in South Korea. The overall results of GIRF reveal that while economic growth in China and South Korea shows a positive response to oil consumption, this variable responses negatively to the same shock in Japan. In addition, oil consumption spikes cause a negative response of CO 2 emissions in Japan and China, as well as a U-shape response in South Korea.

Studies of S-CO{sub 2} Power Plant Pipe Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Minseok; Ahn, Yoonhan; Lee, Jeong Ik [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

Further development of nuclear energy is required to address the global warming issue while overcoming the difficulty of meeting the constantly growing demand of energy. As the nuclear energy does not only reduce the carbon dioxide emission but also attain sufficient and stable electricity supply, this is considered as one of the most clean and sustainable energy sources. The Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) is a strong candidate among the next generation nuclear reactors. However, current SFR design may face difficulty in public acceptance due to the potential hazard from sodium-water reaction (SWR) when the current conventional steam Rankine cycle is utilized as a power conversion system for SFR. In order to eliminate SWR, the Supercritical CO{sub 2} (S-CO{sub 2}) cycle has been proposed. Although many S-CO{sub 2} cycle concepts are being suggested by many research organizations, pipe selection criteria for S-CO{sub 2} cycle are one of the areas that are not clearly established. As one of the most important parts of the plant design is economical fluid transfer, this paper will discuss how to select a suitable pipe for the S-CO{sub 2} power plant compared to steam Rankine cycle. The main advantages of S-CO{sub 2} cycle are: prevention of no SWR by changing the working fluid, relatively high efficiency with 450∼750 .deg. C turbine inlet temperature, physically compact size. Additional study for larger system such as 300MW class system in MIT report will be conducted. From the preliminary estimation when the S-CO{sub 2} system becomes large than the pipe diameter may exceed the current ASME standard. This means that more innovative approach will be needed for the S-CO{sub 2} pipe design. To economically design the pipe of S-CO{sub 2} recompressing cycle, optimal flow velocity for S-CO{sub 2} that can be obtained through the process engineering should exist. Although the Ronald W. Capps equation offers an optimal flow velocity while considering safety, capital

Economic utilization of general aviation airport runways

Science.gov (United States)

Piper, R. R.

1971-01-01

The urban general aviation airport economics is studied in detail. The demand for airport services is discussed, and the different types of users are identified. The direct cost characteristics of the airport are summarized; costs to the airport owner are largely fixed, and, except at certain large airports, weight is not a significant factor in airport costs. The efficient use of an existing airport facility is explored, with the focus on the social cost of runway congestion as traffic density at the airport build up and queues form. The tradeoff between aircraft operating costs and airport costs is analyzed in terms of runway length. The transition from theory to practice is treated, and the policy of charging prices only on aircraft storage and fuel is felt likely to continue. Implications of the study from the standpoint of public policy include pricing that spreads traffic peaks to improve runway utilization, and pricing that discriminates against aircraft requiring long runways and causes owners to adopt V/STOL equipment.

Enhancing the Utilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) among Home Economics Lecturers in South Eastern Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Ejinkeonye, Uju Bridget; Usoroh, Comfort I.

2016-01-01

The study was on enhancing the utilization of information communication Technology (ICT) among Home Economics lecturers in south Eastern Nigeria. The study adopted a survey method. The area of the study is south eastern Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The population was made up of 63 Home Economics lecturers from the six…

GRS current activities in East-European countries overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teske, H.; Janke, R.

2001-01-01

This report presents the following items: agreement between the Federal Government and Utility Companies about the future utilization of the existing nuclear power plants in Germany, June 2001; GRS current activities in the Eastern European countries; science-technical co-operation with Russia; assessment of safety significance of the events for German NPP; Leningrad in-depth safety assessment, co-operation SEC NRS and GRS

A Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Conversion to CO with High Selectivity and Current Density.

Science.gov (United States)

Jhong, Huei-Ru Molly; Tornow, Claire E; Smid, Bretislav; Gewirth, Andrew A; Lyth, Stephen M; Kenis, Paul J A

2017-03-22

We report characterization of a non-precious metal-free catalyst for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to CO; namely, a pyrolyzed carbon nitride and multiwall carbon nanotube composite. This catalyst exhibits a high selectivity for production of CO over H 2 (approximately 98 % CO and 2 % H 2 ), as well as high activity in an electrochemical flow cell. The CO partial current density at intermediate cathode potentials (V=-1.46 V vs. Ag/AgCl) is up to 3.5× higher than state-of-the-art Ag nanoparticle-based catalysts, and the maximum current density is 90 mA cm -2 . The mass activity and energy efficiency (up to 48 %) were also higher than the Ag nanoparticle reference. Moving away from precious metal catalysts without sacrificing activity or selectivity may significantly enhance the prospects of electrochemical CO 2 reduction as an approach to reduce atmospheric CO 2 emissions or as a method for load-leveling in relation to the use of intermittent renewable energy sources. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Co-Occurrence of Reading Disorder and ADHD: Epidemiology, Treatment, Psychosocial Impact, and Economic Burden

Science.gov (United States)

Sexton, Chris C.; Gelhorn, Heather L.; Bell, Jill A.; Classi, Peter M.

2012-01-01

The co-occurrence of reading disorder (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received increasing attention. This review summarizes the epidemiology, treatment strategies, psychosocial impact, and economic burden associated with the co-occurrence of these conditions. Common genetic and neuropsychological deficits may partially…

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY, FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION, CO2 EMISSIONS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: IMPLICATIONS AND POLICY OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chibueze Eze Nnaji

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the causal relationship among electricity supply, fossil fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1971-2009, in a multivariate framework.Using the bound test approach to cointegration, we found a short-run as well as a long-run relationship among the variables with a positive and statistically significant relationship between CO2 emissions and fossil fuel consumption. The findings also indicate that economic growth is associated with increased CO2 emissions while a positive relationship exists between electricity supply and CO2 emissions revealing the poor nature of electricity supply in Nigeria. Further, the Granger causality test results indicate that electricity supply has not impacted significantly on economic growth in Nigeria. The results also strongly imply that policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions in Nigeria will not impede economic growth. The paper therefore concludes that a holistic energy planning and investment in energy infrastructure is needed to drive economic growth. In the long-run however, it is possible to meet the energy needs of the country, ensure sustainable development and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions by developing alternatives to fossil fuel consumption, the main source of CO2 emissions.

Techno-economic feasibility of waste biorefinery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shahzad, Khurram; Narodoslawsky, Michael; Sagir, Muhammad

2017-01-01

elaborated a process for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers starting from diverse waste streams of the animal processing industry. This article provides a detailed economic analysis of PHA production from this waste biorefinery concept, encompassing the utilization of low......-quality biodiesel, offal material and meat and bone meal (MBM). Techno-economic analysis reveals that PHA production cost varies from 1.41 €/kg to 1.64 €/kg when considering offal on the one hand as waste, or, on the other hand, accounting its market price, while calculating with fixed costs for the co...

Economic Co-operation Across the Finnish-Russian Border - Factors of Sluggish Development and Success of Enterprises

OpenAIRE

Rautio, V.; Tykkylaeinen, M.

2000-01-01

The post-Cold War era in Europe in the 1990s has caused people to recognize the complexity of economic development and economic co-operation. The opening of borders has not always meant an increase cross-border economic activities in general. On the contrary, the adverse socio-economic development of many border areas has been unanticipated. The Finnish-Russian border is one example of this dissonance. This paper analyses the operation of Finnish companies in economic activities in Russ...

What Should We Make with CO2 and How Can We Make It?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bushuyev, Oleksandr S.; De Luna, Phil; Dinh, Cao Thang; Tao, Ling; Saur, Genevieve; van de Lagemaat, Jao; Kelley, Shana O.; Sargent, Edward H.

2018-03-01

In this forward-looking Perspective, we discuss the current state of technology and the economics of electrocatalytic transformation of CO2 into various chemical fuels. Our analysis finds that short-chain simple building-block molecules currently present the most economically compelling targets. Making an optimistic prediction of technology advancement in the future, we propose the gradual rise of photocatalytic, CO2 polymerization, biohybrid, and molecular machine technologies to augment and enhance already practical electrocatalytic CO2 conversion methods.

SOCIAL PRACTICES OF UTILITY SPHERE: CONCERNING THE ISSUE OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTEMPORARY REFORMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Timofeevna Oboimova

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The paper covers the issues of market members’ social responsibilities when a particular economic sector is being reformed, house and public utility sphere being an example of such sector. The author conceives both the prerequisites for sustainable development of an economic sector (utility sphere being an example and issues concerning consumer protection system that is to eliminate rendering of nonconforming services as well as supplier protection system aimed against non-payers. The paper considers social and economic practices that were systematized after their content had been modified in a way. The author analyzes the factors that are significant for both the process of building up an entity’s profile and employees, provided the specific characteristics of house and public utility sphere have been taken in consideration. The author’s conclusion is that in this case citizens become more aware of house and public utility sphere social practices. As a result, social awareness of such practices gets enhanced. The methodological method can be applied to study the issue.The scientific aim of the paper is to consider and establish grounds of social practices when a particular economic sector is being reformed and institutional relations are being transformed.The technique of the work performed is based criterion identification that might contribute to establishing a basis of various house and public utility services.In order to get the results a group of theoretical and empirical methods have been resorted to: analysis, synthesis, dialectical method that both showed inconsistency and variability of social and economic processes and juxtaposed the similarities and differences; comparative method, monitoring and method of diagrams.          The results of the work performed can be defined as the prerequisites for sustainable development of both house and public utility sphere and entities’ social and economic

Co-current and Counter-Current Operations for Steam Reforming of Heptane in a Novel CFB Membrane Reformer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Z.; Elnashaie, S.S.E.H.

2004-01-01

Hydrogen production by steam reforming of higher hydrocarbon over nickel supported catalyst is investigated in an earlier suggested novel Circulating Fast Fluidized Bed Membrane Reformer (CFFBMR). Palladium hydrogen membranes are used with co-current and counter-current operation modes. It is found that hydrogen production has a non-monotonic dependence upon the reaction temperature in the range of 623-823 K. Between 623 and 723 K. the yields of hydrogen decrease and then increase between 723 and 823 K. This important phenomenon is investigated, discussed and explained. The simulation results shows that the reformer performance can be significantly improved using hydrogen membranes, especially in the counter-current operation mode. At low temperatures around 623 K, both .co-current and counter-current operation modes provide similar yields of hydrogen. While at temperature 723 K and higher, the counter-current operation provides the highest yield of hydrogen

Perceptions of Scholars in the Field of Economics on Co-Authorship Associations: Evidence from an International Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sameer; Ratnavelu, Kuru

2016-01-01

Scholars (n = 580) from 69 countries who had contributed articles in the field of Economics during the year 2015 participated in a survey that gauged their perceptions of various aspects of co-authorship, including its benefits, motivations, working relationships, order of authorship and association preferences. Among the main findings, significant differences emerged in the proportion of co-authored papers based on age, gender and number of years the researchers had spent in their present institution. Female scholars had a greater proportion of co-authored papers than male scholars. Respondents considered improved quality of paper, contribution of mutual expertise, and division of labor as the biggest benefits of and motivation for co-authorship. Contrary to common perceptions that Economics researchers used a predominantly alphabetical order of authorship, our study found that a considerable percentage of respondents (34.5%) had practiced an order of authorship based on the significance of the authors' contribution to the work. The relative importance of tasks differed significantly according to whether researchers co-authored as mentors or co-authored as colleagues. Lastly, researchers were found to associate, to varying degrees, with other researchers based on socio-academic parameters, such as nationality, ethnicity, gender, professional position and friendship. The study indicates that Economics authors perceive co-authorship as a rewarding endeavor. Nonetheless, the level of contribution and even the choice of association itself as a co-author depends to a great extent on the type of working relationship and socio-academic factors.

Perceptions of Scholars in the Field of Economics on Co-Authorship Associations: Evidence from an International Survey.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sameer Kumar

Full Text Available Scholars (n = 580 from 69 countries who had contributed articles in the field of Economics during the year 2015 participated in a survey that gauged their perceptions of various aspects of co-authorship, including its benefits, motivations, working relationships, order of authorship and association preferences. Among the main findings, significant differences emerged in the proportion of co-authored papers based on age, gender and number of years the researchers had spent in their present institution. Female scholars had a greater proportion of co-authored papers than male scholars. Respondents considered improved quality of paper, contribution of mutual expertise, and division of labor as the biggest benefits of and motivation for co-authorship. Contrary to common perceptions that Economics researchers used a predominantly alphabetical order of authorship, our study found that a considerable percentage of respondents (34.5% had practiced an order of authorship based on the significance of the authors' contribution to the work. The relative importance of tasks differed significantly according to whether researchers co-authored as mentors or co-authored as colleagues. Lastly, researchers were found to associate, to varying degrees, with other researchers based on socio-academic parameters, such as nationality, ethnicity, gender, professional position and friendship. The study indicates that Economics authors perceive co-authorship as a rewarding endeavor. Nonetheless, the level of contribution and even the choice of association itself as a co-author depends to a great extent on the type of working relationship and socio-academic factors.

Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions: Evidence from Panel Data for MENA Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sahbi Farhani

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Energy plays a vital role in economic development. It performs a key for sustainable development. Hence, many studies have attempted to look for the direction of causality between energy consumption (EC, economic growth (GDP and CO2 emissions. This paper, therefore, applies the panel unit root tests, panel cointegration methods and panel causality test to investigate the relationship between EC, GDP and CO2 emissions for 15 MENA countries covering the annual period 1973-2008. The finding of this study reveals that there is no causal link between GDP and EC; and between CO2 emissions and EC in the short run. However, in the long run, there is a unidirectional causality running from GDP and CO2 emissions to EC. In addition, to deal with the heterogeneity in countries and the endogeneity bias in regressors, this paper applies respectively the FMOLS and the DOLS approach to estimate the long-run relationship between these three factors.

Decomposition of SO2, NOx and CO2 emissions from energy use of major economic sectors in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sue J. Lin; Tzu C. Chang

1996-01-01

In this paper we use the Divisia index approach to decompose emission changes of SO 2 , NO, and CO 2 from major economic sectors in Taiwan during 1980 to 1992. The study highlights the interrelationships between energy use and environmental quality, and provides insights for policy making. The emission changes are decomposed into five components-pollution coefficient, fuel mix, energy intensity, economic growth and industrial structure. Of all components analyzed, economic growth had the largest positive effect on emission changes for Taiwan's major economic sectors. Emissions of SO 2 in industry and other sectors showed a decreasing trend due to fuel quality improvements antipollution control. However, NO, and CO 2 emissions increased sharply in all sectors. Comparisons were also made with Germany, Japan and USA. This study has shown that improvement in energy efficiency, pollution control and fuel substitution are major options to reduce SO 2 , NO, and CO 2 emissions

Economic sustainability of a biomass energy project located at a dairy in California, USA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camarillo, Mary Kay; Stringfellow, William T.; Jue, Michael B.; Hanlon, Jeremy S.

2012-01-01

Previous experience has demonstrated the tenuous nature of biomass energy projects located at livestock facilities in the U.S. In response, the economic sustainability of a 710 kW combined heat and power biomass energy system located on a dairy farm in California was evaluated. This biomass energy facility is unique in that a complete-mix anaerobic digester was used for treatment of manure collected in a flush-water system, co-digestates were used as additional digester feedstocks (whey, waste feed, and plant biomass), and the power plant is operating under strict regulatory requirements for stack gas emissions. Electricity was produced and sold wholesale, and cost savings resulted from the use of waste heat to offset propane demand. The impact of various operational factors was considered in the economic analysis, indicating that the system is economically viable as constructed but could benefit from introduction of additional substrates to increase methane and electricity production, additional utilization of waste heat, sale of digested solids, and possibly pursuing greenhouse gas credits. Use of technology for nitrogen oxide (NO x ) removal had a minimal effect on economic sustainability. - Highlights: ► We evaluated the economic sustainability of a dairy biomass energy project. ► The project is economically sustainable as currently operated. ► The simple payback period could be reduced if the system is operated near capacity. ► Co-digestion of off-site waste streams is recommended to improve profitability.

An efficient combination of transcritical CO_2 refrigeration and multi-effect desalination: Energy and economic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farsi, Aida; Mohammadi, S.M.Hojjat; Ameri, Mehran

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A novel combination of CO_2 refrigeration and MED system is analyzed from energy and economic viewpoints. • A new heating medium source in MED (supercritical CO_2) is introduced. • Heat transfer coefficients in components of the system are calculated. • In MED, supercritical CO_2 presents better heat transfer characteristics compared to steam. • In similar operating conditions, the combined cycle is more economical than single generation systems. - Abstract: This paper presents a novel combination of transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration with Boosted-MED (Multi-Effect-Desalination) system to provide cooling and fresh water simultaneously. In the combined system a part of gas cooler in refrigeration system is replaced by the first effect and Booster module of Boosted-MED; so that a significant amount of waste heat would be recovered. Thermodynamic and economic analyses are carried out in order to investigate the proposed system’s performance. Since institution of CO_2 as a heating medium in MED systems is a novel topic; so, the heat transfer process between CO_2 and seawater is studied. Results show that the supercritical CO_2 presents an effective heat exchange process. Therefore, the specific heat transfer area would be reduced 135% and 25% compared to conventional MEDs and sensible heat source MEDs, respectively. The proposed combined system can save 57% of energy and 37.8% and 29.1% of total annual cost in Iran and Toronto respectively, compared to a stand-alone CO_2 refrigeration system and an MED-Boosted.

Thermodynamic and economic evaluation of co-production plants for electricity and potable water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-05-01

Within the framework of the IAEA's activities related to seawater desalination using nuclear energy, a need was identified for developing criteria and methodologies in order to facilitate comparative economic evaluations of nuclear and fossil fuelled energy sources for desalination and generation of electricity. The aspect of costing of electricity and potable water from co-production plants is of particular interest. In response to these needs, the IAEA carried out a study to establish methodologies for allocating costs to the two final products of co-production plants based on thermodynamic criteria and to enable economic ranking of co-production plant alternatives. This publication describes the methodologies and presents the results obtained from analyzing a reference case, taken as an example. This publication has been discussed and reviewed at a consultants meeting convened by the IAEA in September 1996 in Vienna. The methodologies have been incorporated in an EXCEL spreadsheet routine which is available upon request from the IAEA. The IAEA staff member responsible for this publication is L. Breidenbach of the Division of Nuclear Power and the Fuel Cycle. 30 refs, figs, tabs

Economic policy and renewable energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klaiss, H.

1993-01-01

The paper summarizes the economical conclusions of the 6th Symposium on Solar Thermal Concentrating Technologies which take place at Mojacar (Almeria). Parabolic throughs, Central Receiver Systems, dish stirling and Solar chimneys will commercial utilization by the year 2000. Levalized Energy Cost (Solar) is still higher than conventional (coal). Only the utilization of environmental parameters like ''CO2 avoided'' may contribute to market penetration. Concerning siting, it becomes clear that only those countries below 40 degree latitude, (Madrid, Nepal, Ankara) are acceptable. A desregulation of the electrical market is necessary for solar penetration, mainly in developing countries

Integrated approach to natural gas utilization in the Asia Pacific region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hovdestad, W.R.; Egbogah, E.O.

1995-01-01

The rapidly expanding economies in the Pacific Rim have placed increasing demands upon indigenous natural gas supplies in South East Asia and Australia. Competing demands include exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), domestic consumption, and potential use for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to extend the useful life of maturing oil fields. An additional competing demand for gas exports may emerge as the interstate pipeline grid is expanded. An integrated approach incorporating the evolving nature of gas demands and discrete physical supplies would provide a means to mitigate against potential mismatching of supply and demand. The consideration of the evolving nature of gas demands could promote economically beneficial changes to gas field development. The development of high carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) content gas fields has been slowed by the lack of a market for CO 2 . Utilization of by-product CO 2 for EOR could improve development economics, thus facilitating earlier development of gas supplies to satisfy gas demands including domestic use and LNG exports. End users would also benefit from the assurance that gas supplies would become available as needed. The maturity and increasingly complex natural gas industry in the Asia Pacific Region has led to a qualitative change. The model of single projects to satisfy single markets is no longer valid. The current environment is more dynamic, creating the need to anticipate changes to market demands and to find value-added markets for by-products. The integrated approach to gas utilization discussed in this paper presents a new model more appropriate to the gas industry existing today in the Asia Pacific Region. This approach is particularly significant to widely discussed proposals for an Asia Pacific energy grid extending to Australia

CO2, GDP and RET: An aggregate economic equilibrium analysis for Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumbaroglu, Guerkan; Karali, Nihan; Arikan, Yildiz

2008-01-01

There is a worldwide interest in renewable electricity technologies (RETs) due to growing concerns about global warming and climate change. As an EU candidate country whose energy demand increases exponentially, Turkey inevitably shares this common interest on RET. This study, using an aggregate economic equilibrium model, explores the economic costs of different policy measures to mitigate CO 2 emissions in Turkey. The model combines energy demands, capital requirements and labor inputs at a constant elasticity of substitution under an economy-wide nested production function. Growing energy demand, triggered by economic growth, is met by increased supply and initiates new capacity additions. Investment into RET is encouraged via the incorporation of (a) endogenous technological learning through which the RET cost declines as a function of cumulative capacity, and (b) a willingness to pay (WTP) function which imposes the WTP of consumers as a lower bound on RET installation. The WTP equation is obtained as a function of consumer income categories, based on data gathered from a pilot survey in which the contingent valuation methodology was employed. The impacts of various emission reduction scenarios on GDP growth and RET diffusion are explored. As expected, RET penetration is accelerated under faster technological learning and higher WTP conditions. It is found that stabilizing CO 2 emissions to year 2005 levels causes economic losses amounting to 17% and 23% of GDP in the years 2020 and 2030, respectively

GASIFICATION BASED BIOMASS CO-FIRING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Babul Patel; Kevin McQuigg; Robert Toerne; John Bick

2003-01-01

Biomass gasification offers a practical way to use this widespread fuel source for co-firing traditional large utility boilers. The gasification process converts biomass into a low Btu producer gas that can be used as a supplemental fuel in an existing utility boiler. This strategy of co-firing is compatible with a variety of conventional boilers including natural gas and oil fired boilers, pulverized coal fired conventional and cyclone boilers. Gasification has the potential to address all problems associated with the other types of co-firing with minimum modifications to the existing boiler systems. Gasification can also utilize biomass sources that have been previously unsuitable due to size or processing requirements, facilitating a wider selection of biomass as fuel and providing opportunity in reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere through the commercialization of this technology. This study evaluated two plants: Wester Kentucky Energy Corporation's (WKE's) Reid Plant and TXU Energy's Monticello Plant for technical and economical feasibility. These plants were selected for their proximity to large supply of poultry litter in the area. The Reid plant is located in Henderson County in southwest Kentucky, with a large poultry processing facility nearby. Within a fifty-mile radius of the Reid plant, there are large-scale poultry farms that generate over 75,000 tons/year of poultry litter. The local poultry farmers are actively seeking environmentally more benign alternatives to the current use of the litter as landfill or as a farm spread as fertilizer. The Monticello plant is located in Titus County, TX near the town of Pittsburgh, TX, where again a large poultry processor and poultry farmers in the area generate over 110,000 tons/year of poultry litter. Disposal of this litter in the area is also a concern. This project offers a model opportunity to demonstrate the feasibility of biomass co-firing and at the same time eliminate

DSM shareholder incentives: Current designs and economic theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoft, S.; Eto, J.; Kito, S.

1995-01-01

This report reviews recent DSM shareholder incentive designs and performance at 10 US utilities identifies opportunities for regulators to improve the design of DSM shareholder incentive mechanisms to increase the procurement of cost-effective DSM resources. We develop six recommendations: (1) apply shared-savings incentives to DSM resource programs; (2) use markup incentives for individual programs only when net benefits are difficult to measure, but are known to be positive; (3) set expected incentive payments based on covering a utility's open-quotes hidden costs,close quotes which include some transitional management and risk-adjusted opportunity costs; (4) use higher marginal incentives rates than are currently found in practice, but limit total incentive payments by adding a fixed charge; (5) mitigate risks to regulators and utilities by lowering marginal incentive rates at high and low performance levels; and (6) use an aggregate incentive mechanism for all DSM resource programs, with limited exceptions (e.g., information programs where markups are more appropriate)

Economics of the Nuclear Energy Considered CO{sub 2} Emission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Su Jin; Kim, Yong Min [Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongsan (Korea, Republic of)

2011-05-15

The energy consumption in Korea has greatly increased along with its rapid economic growth and industrialization since the 1970s. Total energy consumption increased at an average annual growth rate. Due to the lack of domestic energy resources, however, the overseas dependence rate of energy consumption has continuously increased. Also Climate change, resulting from increases in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), is considered one of the biggest environmental dangers facing the world today. The objective and approach of this study are to compare the different types of scenarios in terms of the power plant type and CO{sub 2} emission from each power plant. We estimated cost of electricity generation using fuel cost, O and M cost(Operation and Maintenance Cost) and CO{sub 2} emission

Optimization Strategy for Economic Power Dispatch Utilizing Retired EV Batteries as Flexible Loads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shubo Hu

2018-06-01

Full Text Available With the increasing penetration of new and renewable energy, incorporating variable adjustable power elements on the demand side is of particular interest. The utilization of batteries as flexible loads is a hot research topic. Lithium-ion batteries are key components in electric vehicles (EVs in terms of capital cost, mass and size. They are retired after around 5 years of service, but still retain up to 80% of their nominal capacity. Disposal of waste batteries will become a significant issue for the automotive industry in the years to come. This work proposes the use of the second life of these batteries as flexible loads to participate in the economic power dispatch. The characteristics of second life batteries (SLBs are varied and diverse, requiring a new optimization strategy for power dispatch at the system level. In this work, SLBs are characterized and their operating curves are obtained analytically for developing an economic power dispatch model involving wind farms and second life batteries. In addition, a dispatch strategy is developed to reduce the dispatch complex brought by the disperse spatial and time distribution of EVs and decrease the system operating cost by introducing incentive and penalty costs in regulating the EV performance. In theory, SLBs are utilized to reduce the peak-valley difference of power loads and to stabilize the power system. Test results based on a ten-unit power system have verified the effectiveness of the proposed dispatch model and the economic benefit of utilizing SLBs as flexible loads in power systems. This work may provide a viable solution to the disposal of waste batteries from EVs and to the stable operation of fluctuating power systems incorporating stochastic renewable energy.

Economic evaluation of pre-combustion CO2-capture in IGCC power plants by porous ceramic membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franz, Johannes; Maas, Pascal; Scherer, Viktor

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Process simulations of IGCC with pre-combustion capture via membranes were done. • Most promising technology is the water–gas-shift-membrane-reactor (WGSMR). • Energetic evaluations showed minimum efficiency loss of 5.8%-points for WGSMR. • Economic evaluations identified boundary limits of membrane technology. • Cost of electricity for optimum WGSMR-case is 57 €/MW h under made assumptions. - Abstract: Pre-combustion-carbon-capture is one of the three main routes for the mitigation of CO 2 -emissions by fossil fueled power plants. Based on the data of a detailed technical evaluation of CO 2 -capture by porous ceramic membranes (CM) and ceramic membrane reactors (WGSMR) in an Integrated-Gasification-Combined-Cycle (IGCC) power plant this paper focuses on the economic effects of CO 2 -abatement. First the results of the process simulations are presented briefly. The analysis is based on a comparison with a reference IGCC without CO 2 -capture (dry syngas cooling, bituminous coal, efficiency of 47.4%). In addition, as a second reference, an IGCC process with CO 2 removal based on standard Selexol-scrubbing is taken into account. The most promising technology for CO 2 -capture by membranes in IGCC applications is the combination of a water gas shift reactor and a H 2 -selective membrane into one water gas shift membrane reactor. For the WGSRM-case efficiency losses can be limited to about 6%-points (including losses for CO 2 compression) for a CO 2 separation degree of 90%. This is a severe reduction of the efficiency loss compared to Selexol (10.3% points) or IGCC–CM (8.6% points). The economic evaluation is based on a detailed analysis of investment and operational costs. Parameters like membrane costs and lifetime, costs of CO 2 -certificates and annual operating hours are taken into account. The purpose of these evaluations is to identify the minimum cost of electricity for the different capture cases for the variation of the boundary

Planning for Economic Growth with Reduced CO2 Emissions in Provincial China: The Case of Jiangxi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Lin Tsou

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Since the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2, has put increasing pressure on the atmosphere's ability to absorb them. China is the fastest growing major economy in the world, and is following a process of rapid industrialization. This process, however, contributes dramatically to global warming through major CO2 emissions. The widespread provision of electricity through coal-fired power plants is just one contributor, but industrial structures, transportation systems, and the construction of large superblock residential towers also play major roles. The large cities and industrialized provinces of China emit the most CO2, a fact that requires serious attention. However, stemming this trend elsewhere in China would provide a greater opportunity for success in reducing overall CO2 emissions in the country. Consequently, the question this paper addresses is what policies can be adopted to reduce CO2 emissions in provinces in China where development is still in its early stages, while maintaining economic growth. Jiangxi is a province that has historically been a major agricultural area. In recent years, however, because of the economic development policies of the Chinese central government, the province's rich mineral deposits, favorable location, and convenient transportation system are attracting more investments and projects for development (Statistical Bureau of Jiangxi, 2010. Jiangxi, then, provides an excellent case study because the province, although developing quickly, might still produce less CO2 if proper growth policies and actions are implemented. According to the results of this research, CO2 emissions would indeed decline in Jiangxi if the province would adopt new technology for electricity generation and increase the GDP role of the service sector. KEYWORDS: Provincial Chinese development, economic growth and global warming, CO2 emissions in China, Chinese

Assessing CO2 Mitigation Options Utilizing Detailed Electricity Characteristics and Including Renewable Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Bensaida, K.; Alie, Colin; Elkamel, A.; Almansoori, A.

2017-08-01

This paper presents a novel techno-economic optimization model for assessing the effectiveness of CO2 mitigation options for the electricity generation sub-sector that includes renewable energy generation. The optimization problem was formulated as a MINLP model using the GAMS modeling system. The model seeks the minimization of the power generation costs under CO2 emission constraints by dispatching power from low CO2 emission-intensity units. The model considers the detailed operation of the electricity system to effectively assess the performance of GHG mitigation strategies and integrates load balancing, carbon capture and carbon taxes as methods for reducing CO2 emissions. Two case studies are discussed to analyze the benefits and challenges of the CO2 reduction methods in the electricity system. The proposed mitigations options would not only benefit the environment, but they will as well improve the marginal cost of producing energy which represents an advantage for stakeholders.

A Study of How the Watts-Strogatz Model Relates to an Economic System’s Utility

OpenAIRE

Lunhan Luo; Jianan Fang

2014-01-01

Watts-Strogatz model is a main mechanism to construct the small-world networks. It is widely used in the simulations of small-world featured systems including economic system. Formally, the model contains a parameters set including three variables representing group size, number of neighbors, and rewiring probability. This paper discusses how the parameters set relates to the economic system performance which is utility growth rate. In conclusion, it is found that, regardless of the group siz...

Changes in morbidity and medical care utilization after the recent economic crisis in the Republic of Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hanjoong; Chung, Woo Jin; Song, Young Jong; Kang, Dae Ryong; Yi, Jee Jeon; Nam, Chung Mo

2003-01-01

To examine and quantify the impact of the recent economic crisis on morbidity and medical care utilization in the Republic of Korea. 22 675 people from 6791 households and 43 682 people from 12 283 households were questioned for two nationwide surveys that took place in 1995 and 1998, respectively. A separate sample pretest-posttest design was used and we conducted c2 test and logistic regression analysis after controlling for the maturation effect of the morbidity and medical care utilization. The morbidity rates of chronic disease and acute disease increased significantly by 27.1% and 9.5%, respectively, whereas the utilization rates of outpatient and inpatient services decreased by 15.1% and 5.2%, respectively. In particular, the pace of decline in the utilization rate of outpatient services varied depending on the type of disease: morbidity rates for mental and behavioural disorders were 13.7%; for cardiovascular disease, 7.1%; and for injury, 31.6%. After the Republic of Korean economic crisis, the morbidity and medical care utilization rates changed significantly but the degree of change depended on the type of disease or service. The time-dependent relationship between the national economy and the morbidity and medical care utilization rates needs to be further investigated.

The Utilization of the Cobb-Douglas Production Function for Analyzing Indonesia's and Malaysia's Economic Growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elis Ratna Wulan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the utilization Cobb-Douglas production function in its classical form for analyzing Indonesia's and Malaysia's economic growth in relation to the intensity of using capital and labour as determinants of the production.

Economic Analysis of Nuclear Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Man Ki; Moon, K. H.; Kim, S. S.; Lim, C. Y.; Song, K. D.; Lee, H. M.; Oh, K. B.

2003-12-01

This study consists of various issues as follows; electricity price regulation in the liberalized electricity market, establishment of carbon emission limit in national electricity sector, the role of nuclear power as an future energy supply option, the future prospect of CO2 capture and sequestration and current research status of that area in Korea, and Preliminary economic feasibility study of MIP(Medical Isotopes Producer). In the price regulation in the liberalized electricity market, the characteristic of liberalized electricity market in terms of regulation was discussed. The current status and future projection of GHG emission in Korean electricity sector was also investigated. After that, how to set the GHG emission limit in the national electricity sector was discussed. The characteristic of nuclear technology and the research in progress were summarized with the suggestion of the possible new application of nuclear power. The current status and future prospect of the CO2 capture and sequestration research was introduced and current research status of that area in Korea was investigated. Preliminary economic feasibility study of MIP(Medical Isotopes Producer), using liquid nuclear fuel to produce medical isotopes of Mo-99 and Sr-89, was performed

The causal link among militarization, economic growth, CO2 emission, and energy consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Bildirici, Melike E

2017-02-01

This paper examines the long-run and the causal relationship among CO 2 emissions, militarization, economic growth, and energy consumption for USA for the period 1960-2013. Using the bound test approach to cointegration, a short-run as well as a long-run relationship among the variables with a positive and a statistically significant relationship between CO 2 emissions and militarization was found. To determine the causal link, MWALD and Rao's F tests were applied. According to Rao's F tests, the evidence of a unidirectional causality running from militarization to CO 2 emissions, from energy consumption to CO 2 emissions, and from militarization to energy consumption all without a feedback was found. Further, the results determined that 26% of the forecast-error variance of CO 2 emissions was explained by the forecast error variance of militarization and 60% by energy consumption.

Current status and future prospects of nuclear energy utilization in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondo, S.

2006-01-01

Nuclear power is recognized as a safe, reliable and competitive energy source in Japan as Japan's 55 nuclear power plants supply about a third of the country's electricity and contribute to the rise in her degree of self-sufficiency in primary energy supply from 4% to 17%. It is also a practical and effective mean to observe the promise of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce CO2 emissions into atmosphere. The development of nuclear science and engineering, on the other hand, contributes not only to the advancement of science and technology in various fields but also to the improvement of health and living standards of the people as well as to the industrial prosperity through the application of radiation to medical diagnosis, cancer treatment, insect pest control, production of semi-conductors, radial tiers, etc. Major goal of current nuclear energy policy in Japan is to enrich the basic measures that compose the basis for the utilization of nuclear energy technologies in civil society and encourage academia and industries to innovate themselves to grapple the challenge, while sustaining the share of nuclear power in electricity generation after the year 2030 at the level equal to or greater than the current level of 30-40% based on the strategy to recycle uranium and plutonium from nuclear spent fuels, in addition to the expansion of the use of radiation technologies. Major policy areas are the improvement of institutional and financial arrangements to promote safe and effective utilization of nuclear energy technology including radiation technologies, the promotion of effective and efficient research and development activities, and the promotion of bilateral and multilateral cooperative activities necessary and or useful for facilitating these activities, in addition to nurturing the international political and institutional environment suitable for the sound promotion of nuclear energy utilization in the world. To pursue these goals, Japanese government and industries

Time-varying causality between energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth: evidence from US states.

Science.gov (United States)

Tzeremes, Panayiotis

2018-02-01

This study is the first attempt to investigate the relationship between CO 2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth at a state level, for the 50 US states, through a time-varying causality approach using annual data over the periods 1960-2010. The time-varying causality test facilitates the better understanding of the causal relationship between the covariates owing to the fact that it might identify causalities when the time-constant hypothesis is rejected. Our findings indicate the existence of a time-varying causality at the state level. Specifically, the results probe eight bidirectional time-varying causalities between energy consumption and CO 2 emission, six cases of two-way time-varying causalities between economic growth and energy consumption, and five bidirectional time-varying causalities between economic growth and CO 2 emission. Moreover, we examine the traditional environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the states. Notably, our results do not endorse the validity of the EKC, albeit the majority of states support an inverted N-shaped relationship. Lastly, we can identify multiple policy implications based on the empirical results.

Economics and utilization of thorium in nuclear reactors. Technical annexes 1 and 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-05-01

An assessment of the impact of utilizing the 233 U/thorium fuel cycle in the U.S. nuclear economy is strongly dependent upon several decisions involving nuclear energy policy. These decisions include: (1) to recycle or not recycle fissile material; (2) if fissile material is recycled, to recycle plutonium, 233 U, or both; and (3) to deploy or not to deploy advanced reactor designs such as Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR's), High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGR's), and Canadian Deuterium Uranium Reactors (CANDU's). This report examines the role of thorium in the context of the above policy decisions while focusing special attention on economics and resource utilization

Wise use of wetlands: current state of protection and utilization of Chinese wetlands and recommendations for improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yanxia; Yao, Yong; Ju, Meiting

2008-06-01

Wetland protection and utilization sometimes appear to be in conflict, but promoting the wise use of wetlands can solve this problem. All countries face the challenge of sustainable development of wetlands to a greater or lesser extent, but the problem is especially urgent in developing countries, such as China, that want to accelerate their economic development without excessive environmental cost. Chinese wetlands contribute greatly to economic development, but improper use of these natural resources has endangered their existence. It is thus necessary to provide scientific guidance to managers and users of wetlands. In this paper, we analyze the present status of Chinese wetland protection and utilization, and discuss problems in six categories: a lack of public awareness of the need for wetland protection; insufficient funding for wetland protection and management; an imperfect legal system to protect wetlands; insufficient wetland research; lack of coordination among agencies and unclear responsibilities; and undeveloped technologies related to wetland use and protection. The wise use of Chinese wetlands will require improvements in four main areas: increased wetland utilization research, scientific management of wetland utilization, improved laws and regulations to protect wetlands, and wider dissemination of wetland knowledge. Based on these categories, we propose a framework for the optimization of wetland use by industry to provide guidance for China and other countries that cannot sacrifice economic benefits to protect their wetlands.

Current Status and Outlook in the Application of Microalgae in Biodiesel Production and Environmental Protection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Xin [Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China); Rong, Junfeng [SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Beijing (China); Chen, Hui; He, Chenliu; Wang, Qiang, E-mail: wangqiang@ihb.ac.cn [Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan (China)

2014-08-19

Microalgae have been currently recognized as a group of the most potential feedstocks for biodiesel production due to high productivity potential, efficient biosynthesis of lipids, and less competition with food production. Moreover, utilization of microalgae with environmental purposes (CO{sub 2} fixation, NO{sub x}, and wastewater treatment) and biorefinery has been reported. However, there are still challenges that need to be addressed to ensure stable large-scale production with positive net energy balance. This review gives an overview of the current status of the application of microalgae in biodiesel production and environmental protection. The practical problems not only facing the microalgae biodiesel production but also associated with microalgae application for environmental pollution control, in particular biological fixation of greenhouse gas (CO{sub 2} and NO{sub x}) and wastewater treatment are described in detail. Notably, the synergistic combination of various applications (e.g., food, medicine, wastewater treatment, and flue gas treatment) with biodiesel production could enhance the sustainability and economics of the algal biodiesel production system.

Current status and outlook in the application of microalgae in biodiesel production and environmental protection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin eZhang

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Microalgae have been currently recognized as one group of the most potential feedstocks for biodiesel production due to high productivity potential, efficient biosynthesis of lipids and less competition with food production. Moreover, utilization of microalgae with environmental purposes (CO2 fixation, NOX and wastewater treatment and biorefinery have been reported. However, there are still challenges that need to be addressed to ensure stable large-scale production with positive net energy balance. This review gives an overview of the current status of the application of microalgae in biodiesel production and environmental protection. The practical problems not only facing the microalgae biodiesel production but also associated with microalgae application for environmental pollution control, in particular biological fixation of greenhouse gas (CO2 and NOX and wastewater treatment are described in detail. Notably, the synergistic combination of various applications (e.g. food, medicine, wastewater treatment and flue gas treatment with biodiesel production could enhance the sustainability and economics of the algal biodiesel production system.

High-current-density electrodeposition using pulsed and constant currents to produce thick CoPt magnetic films on silicon substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Ewing, Jacob; Wang, Yuzheng; Arnold, David P.

2018-05-01

This paper investigates methods for electroplating thick (>20 μm), high-coercivity CoPt films using high current densities (up to 1 A/cm2) and elevated bath temperatures (70 °C). Correlations are made tying current-density and temperature process parameters with plating rate, elemental ratio and magnetic properties of the deposited CoPt films. It also investigates how pulsed currents can increase the plating rate and film to substrate adhesion. Using 500 mA/cm2 and constant current, high-quality, dense CoPt films were successfully electroplated up to 20 μm thick in 1 hr on silicon substrates (0.35 μm/min plating rate). After standard thermal treatment (675°C, 30 min) to achieve the ordered L10 crystalline phase, strong magnetic properties were measured: coercivities up 850 kA/m, remanences >0.5 T, and maximum energy products up to 46 kJ/m3.

ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS VS ECONOMIC(AL ECOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Kharlamova

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Currently world faces the dilemma – ecological economy or economic(al ecology. The researchers produce hundreds of surveys on the topic. However the analyses of recent most cited simulations had shown the diversity of results. Thus, for some states the Kuznets environmental curve has place, for others – no. Same could be said about different years for the same state. It provokes the necessity of drawing new group analyses to reveal the tendencies and relationships between economic and environmental factors. Most flexible and mirror factor of environmental sustainability is the volume of CO2 emissions. The econometric analysis was used for detecting the economic impact on this indicator at the global level and in the spectra of group of states depending on their income. The hypothesis of the existence of environmental Kuznets curve for the analysed data is rejected. Real GDP per capita impact on carbon dioxide emissions is considered only at the global level. The impact of openness of the economy is weak. Rejection happened also to the hypothesis that for the developed countries there is a reverse dependence between the environmental pollution and economic openness. Indicator “energy consumption per capita” impacts on greenhouse gas emissions only in countries with high income. Whereby it should be noted that the more developed a country is, the more elastic is this influence. These results have a potential usage for environmental policy regulation and climate strategy.

Impact of the economic recession on the European power sector's CO2 emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Declercq, Bruno; Delarue, Erik; D'haeseleer, William

2011-01-01

This paper investigates the impact of the economic recession on CO 2 emissions in the European power sector, during the years 2008 and 2009. Three main determinants of the power sector's emissions are identified: the demand for electricity, the CO 2 price, and fuel prices. A counterfactual scenario has been set up for each of these, i.e., what these parameters would have been if not affected by the recession. A simulation model of the European power sector is then employed, comparing a historical reference simulation (taking the parameters as actually occurred) with the counterfactual scenarios. The lower electricity demand (due to the recession) is shown to have by far the largest impact, accounting for an emission reduction of about 175 Mton. The lower CO 2 price (due to the recession) resulted in an increase in emissions by about 30 Mton. The impact of fuel prices is more difficult to retrieve; an indicative reduction of about 17 Mton is obtained, mainly as a consequence of the low gas prices in 2009. The simulated combined impact of the parameters results in an emission reduction of about 150 Mton in the European power sector over the years 2008 and 2009 as a consequence of the recession. - Research highlights: → CO 2 emissions are simulated for the European power sector. → Emissions reduced drastically because of the economic recession in 2008 and 2009. → Lower electricity demand had highest impact and accounts for reduction of about 175 Mton. → Impact of different CO 2 and fuel prices on emissions is more limited.

Economic and CO2 mitigation impacts of promoting biomass heating systems: An input-output study for Vorarlberg, Austria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madlener, Reinhard; Koller, Martin

2007-01-01

This paper reports on an empirical investigation about the economic and CO 2 mitigation impacts of bioenergy promotion in the Austrian federal province of Vorarlberg. We study domestic value-added, employment, and fiscal effects by means of a static input-output analysis. The bioenergy systems analysed comprise biomass district heating, pellet heating, and automated wood chip heating systems, as well as logwood stoves and boilers, ceramic stoves, and buffer storage systems. The results indicate that gross economic effects are significant, regarding both investment and operation of the systems, and that the negative economic effects caused by the displacement of conventional decentralised heating systems might be in the order of 20-40%. Finally, CO 2 mitigation effects are substantial, contributing already in 2004 around 35% of the 2010 CO 2 mitigation target of the Land Vorarlberg for all renewable energy sources

Hybrid Membrane/Absorption Process for Post-combustion CO2 Capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Shiguang; Shou, S.; Pyrzynski, Travis; Makkuni, Ajay; Meyer, Howard

2013-12-31

% CO2 product purity was achieved throughout the test. Membrane contactor modules have been scaled from bench scale 2-inch diameter by 12-inch long (20 ft2 membrane surface area) modules to 4-inch diameter by 60-inch long pilot scale modules (165 ft2 membrane surface area). Pilot scale modules were tested in an integrated absorption/regeneration system for CO2 capture field tests at a coal-fired power plant (Midwest Generation’s Will County Station located in Romeoville, IL). Absorption and regeneration contactors were constructed utilizing high performance super-hydrophobic, nano-porous PEEK membranes with CO2 gas permeance of 2,000 GPU and a 1,000 GPU, respectively. Field tests using aMDEA solvent achieved greater than 90% CO2 removal in a single stage. The absorption mass transfer coefficient was 1.2 (sec)-1, exceeding the initial target of 1.0 (sec)-1. This mass transfer coefficient is over one order of magnitude greater than that of conventional gas/liquid contacting equipment. The economic evaluation based on field tests data indicates that the CO2 capture cost associated with membrane contactor technology is $54.69 (Yr 2011$)/tonne of CO2 captured when using aMDEA as a solvent. It is projected that the DOE’s 2025 cost goal of $40 (Yr 2011$)/tonne of CO2 captured can be met by decreasing membrane module cost and by utilizing advanced CO2 capture solvents. In the second stage of the field test, an advanced solvent, Hitachi’s H3-1 was utilized. The use of H3-1 solvent increased mass transfer coefficient by 17% as compared to aMDEA solvent. The high mass transfer coefficient of H3-1 solvent combined with much more favorable solvent regeneration requirements, indicate that the projected savings achievable with membrane contactor process can be further improved. H3-1 solvent will be used in the next pilot-scale development phase. The integrated absorption/regeneration process design and high performance membrane contactors developed in the current bench

Trade-offs, co-benefits and safeguards: Current debates on the breadth of REDD+.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.; McDermott, C.; Vijge, M.J.; Cashore, B.

2012-01-01

Fundamental trade-offs exist between different land uses for carbon, livelihoods, economic development, biodiversity, agriculture and energy (especially biofuels). This article analyses the scientific debates on REDD+ trade-offs, co-benefits and safeguards, and shows how the development and expanded

A combined model to assess technical and economic consequences of changing conditions and management options for wastewater utilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Giessler, Mathias; Tränckner, Jens

2018-02-01

The paper presents a simplified model that quantifies economic and technical consequences of changing conditions in wastewater systems on utility level. It has been developed based on data from stakeholders and ministries, collected by a survey that determined resulting effects and adapted measures. The model comprises all substantial cost relevant assets and activities of a typical German wastewater utility. It consists of three modules: i) Sewer for describing the state development of sewer systems, ii) WWTP for process parameter consideration of waste water treatment plants (WWTP) and iii) Cost Accounting for calculation of expenses in the cost categories and resulting charges. Validity and accuracy of this model was verified by using historical data from an exemplary wastewater utility. Calculated process as well as economic parameters shows a high accuracy compared to measured parameters and given expenses. Thus, the model is proposed to support strategic, process oriented decision making on utility level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technologies for utilization of industrial excess heat: Potentials for energy recovery and CO2 emission reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broberg Viklund, Sarah; Johansson, Maria T.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Technologies for recovery and use of industrial excess heat were investigated. • Heat harvesting, heat storage, heat utilization, and heat conversion technologies. • Heat recovery potential for Gävleborg County in Sweden was calculated. • Effects on global CO 2 emissions were calculated for future energy market scenarios. - Abstract: Industrial excess heat is a large untapped resource, for which there is potential for external use, which would create benefits for industry and society. Use of excess heat can provide a way to reduce the use of primary energy and to contribute to global CO 2 mitigation. The aim of this paper is to present different measures for the recovery and utilization of industrial excess heat and to investigate how the development of the future energy market can affect which heat utilization measure would contribute the most to global CO 2 emissions mitigation. Excess heat recovery is put into a context by applying some of the excess heat recovery measures to the untapped excess heat potential in Gävleborg County in Sweden. Two different cases for excess heat recovery are studied: heat delivery to a district heating system and heat-driven electricity generation. To investigate the impact of excess heat recovery on global CO 2 emissions, six consistent future energy market scenarios were used. Approximately 0.8 TWh/year of industrial excess heat in Gävleborg County is not used today. The results show that with the proposed recovery measures approximately 91 GWh/year of district heating, or 25 GWh/year of electricity, could be supplied from this heat. Electricity generation would result in reduced global CO 2 emissions in all of the analyzed scenarios, while heat delivery to a DH system based on combined heat and power production from biomass would result in increased global CO 2 emissions when the CO 2 emission charge is low

Prediction of community mental health service utilization by individual and ecological level socio-economic factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Donisi, Valeria; Tedeschi, Federico; Percudani, Mauro; Fiorillo, Andrea; Confalonieri, Linda; De Rosa, Corrado; Salazzari, Damiano; Tansella, Michele; Thornicroft, Graham; Amaddeo, Francesco

2013-10-30

Individuals with a more deprived socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to have higher rates of psychiatric morbidity and use of psychiatric services. Such service use is also influenced by socioeconomic factors at the ecological level. The aim of this article is to investigate the influence of these variables on service utilization. All patients in contact with three Italian community psychiatric services (CPS) were included. Community and hospital contacts over 6 months were investigated. Socio-economic characteristics were described using a SES Index and two new Resources Accessibility Indexes. Low SES was found to be associated with more community service contacts. When other individual and ecological variables were controlled for, SES was negatively associated only with the number of home visits, which was about half the rate in deprived areas. An association between service utilization and the resources of the catchment area was also detected. The economic crisis in Europe is increasing inequality of access, so paying attention to SES characteristics at both the individual and the ecological levels is likely to become increasingly important in understanding patterns of psychiatric service utilization and planning care accordingly. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The nexus of electricity consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowan, Wendy N.; Chang, Tsangyao; Inglesi-Lotz, Roula; Gupta, Rangan

2014-01-01

This study reexamines the causal link between electricity consumption, economic growth and CO 2 emissions in the BRICS countries (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) for the period 1990–2010, using panel causality analysis, accounting for dependency and heterogeneity across countries. Regarding the electricity–GDP nexus, the empirical results support evidence on the feedback hypothesis for Russia and the conservation hypothesis for South Africa. However, a neutrality hypothesis holds for Brazil, India and China, indicating neither electricity consumption nor economic growth is sensitive to each other in these three countries. Regarding the GDP–CO 2 emissions nexus, a feedback hypothesis for Russia, a one-way Granger causality running from GDP to CO 2 emissions in South Africa and reverse relationship from CO 2 emissions to GDP in Brazil is found. There is no evidence of Granger causality between GDP and CO 2 emissions in India and China. Furthermore, electricity consumption is found to Granger cause CO 2 emissions in India, while there is no Granger causality between electricity consumption and CO 2 emissions in Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. Therefore, the differing results for the BRICS countries imply that policies cannot be uniformly implemented as they will have different effects in each of the BRICS countries under study. - Highlights: • We examine the nexus of electricity, GDP growth and CO 2 emissions in BRICS. • We take into account cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity across countries. • Electricity–GDP: Feedback for Russia and conservation for South Africa. • CO 2 –GDP feedback for Russia, from GDP to CO 2 in SA, CO 2 to GDP in Brazil. • Only from electricity consumption to emissions for India

A comparison of co-current and counter-current modes of operation for a novel hydrogen-permselective membrane dual-type FTS reactor in GTL technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rahimpour, M.R.; Forghani, A.A.; Mostafazadeh, A. Khosravanipour; Shariati, A. [Chemical Engineering Department, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345 (Iran)

2010-01-15

In this work, a comparison of co-current and counter-current modes of operation for a novel hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) has been carried out. In both modes of operations, a system with two-catalyst bed instead of one single catalyst bed is developed for FTS reactions. In the first catalytic reactor, the synthesis gas is partly converted to products in a conventional water-cooled fixed-bed reactor, while in the second reactor which is a membrane fixed-bed reactor, the FTS reactions are completed and heat of reaction is used to preheat the feed synthesis gas to the first reactor. In the co-current mode, feed gas is entered into the tubes of the second reactor in the same direction with the reacting gas stream in shell side while in the counter-current mode the gas streams are in the opposite direction. Simulation results for both co-current and counter-current modes have been compared in terms of temperature, gasoline and CO{sub 2} yields, H{sub 2} and CO conversion, selectivity of components as well as permeation rate of hydrogen through the membrane. The results showed that the reactor in the co-current configuration operates with lower conversion and lower permeation rate of hydrogen, but it has more favorable profile of temperature. The counter-current mode of operation decreases undesired products such as CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} and also produces more gasoline. (author)

Methanol synthesis using captured CO2 as raw material: Techno-economic and environmental assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pérez-Fortes, Mar; Schöneberger, Jan C.; Boulamanti, Aikaterini; Tzimas, Evangelos

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A carbon utilisation plant that synthesise methanol is simulated in CHEMCAD. • The total amount of CO 2 demand is 1.46 t/t methanol . • The CO 2 not-produced compared to a conventional plant is 0.54 t/t methanol . • Production costs results too high for a financially attractive project. • There is a net potential for CO 2 emissions reduction of 2.71 MtCO 2 /yr in Europe. - Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to assess via techno-economic and environmental metrics the production of methanol (MeOH) using H 2 and captured CO 2 as raw materials. It evaluates the potential of this type of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) plant on (i) the net reduction of CO 2 emissions and (ii) the cost of production, in comparison with the conventional synthesis process of MeOH Europe. Process flow modelling is used to estimate the operational performance and the total purchased equipment cost; the flowsheet is implemented in CHEMCAD, and the obtained mass and energy flows are utilised as input to calculate the selected key performance indicators (KPIs). CO 2 -based metrics are used to assess the environmental impact. The evaluated MeOH plant produces 440 ktMeOH/yr, and its configuration is the result of a heat integration process. Its specific capital cost is lower than for conventional plants. However, raw materials prices, i.e. H 2 and captured CO 2 , do not allow such a project to be financially viable. In order to make the CCU plant financially attractive, the price of MeOH should increase in a factor of almost 2, or H 2 costs should decrease almost 2.5 times, or CO 2 should have a value of around 222 €/t, under the assumptions of this work. The MeOH CCU-plant studied can utilise about 21.5% of the CO 2 emissions of a pulverised coal (PC) power plant that produces 550 MW net of electricity. The net CO 2 emissions savings represent 8% of the emissions of the PC plant (mainly due to the avoidance of consuming fossil fuels as in the conventional Me

Water Utility Management Strategies in Turkey: The current situation and the challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Alp, E.; Aksoy, M. N.; Koçer, B.

2013-12-01

As the effects of climate change becomes more prominent, current challenges related to water and wastewater management is becoming more serious. Providing water that satisfies environmental and safety standards in terms of quantity and quality is needed to maintain human life without compromising the need of future generations. Besides providing safe and affordable water, necessary treatment should be achieved according to several important factors such as receiving body standards, discharge standards, water reuse options. Therefore, management of water becomes more crucial than ever that states have to provide accessibility of safe water with affordable cost to its citizens with the means of effective utility management, including water treatment facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, water supply facilities and water distribution systems. Water utilities encounter with several challenges related to cost, infrastructure, population, legislation, workforce and resource. This study aims to determine the current situation and the necessary strategies to improve utility management in Turkish municipalities in a sustainable manner. US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has formed a tool on effective utility management that assists utilities to provide a solution for both current and future challenges. In this study, we used EPA's guidelines and developed a survey consists of 60 questions under 10 sub-topics (Product Quality, Employee & Leadership Development, Stakeholder Understanding & Support, Operational Optimization, Infrastructure Stability, Financial Viability, Community Sustainability, Customer Satisfaction, Operational Resiliency, and Water Resource Adequacy). This survey was sent to the managers of 25 metropolitan municipalities in Turkey to assess the current condition of municipalities. After the evaluation of the survey results for each topic, including the importance given by managers, facilities were rated according to their level of achievement

Scientific and Engineering Progress in CO2 Mineralization Using Industrial Waste and Natural Minerals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heping Xie

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The issues of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere, sustainably utilizing natural mineral resources, and dealing with industrial waste offer challenging opportunities for sustainable development in energy and the environment. The latest advances in CO2 mineralization technology involving natural minerals and industrial waste are summarized in this paper, with great emphasis on the advancement of fundamental science, economic evaluation, and engineering applications. We discuss several leading large-scale CO2 mineralization methodologies from a technical and engineering-science perspective. For each technology option, we give an overview of the technical parameters, reaction pathway, reactivity, procedural scheme, and laboratorial and pilot devices. Furthermore, we present a discussion of each technology based on experimental results and the literature. Finally, current gaps in knowledge are identified in the conclusion, and an overview of the challenges and opportunities for future research in this field is provided.

Economic efficiency of coal gasification in Poland in reference to the price of CO2 emission rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kopacz Michał

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents the impact of prices of carbon dioxide on the economic efficiency of 14 coal gasification technologies employed for producing electricity, hydrogen and methanol measured with the use of NPV method. All technical, technological and economic assumptions in the assessment have been made for Polish conditions. The impact of CO2 prices were examined in the range of 30-200 PLN/Mg. The production capacity of the base technology corresponds with the fuel consumption of indicative coal having the calorific value of 20.5 GJ/Mg, used in the amount of 100 Mg/h. On the basis of the conducted research, with respect to all technical and economic assumptions, it can be stated that for the base scale there is a clear impact of prices of CO2 emission allowances above the 90 PLN/Mg CO2. Such a level of carbon dioxide prices makes the decision concerning construction of geological sequestration systems (CCS, carbon capture and storage worthwhile. This applies in particular to the production of electric energy. For the variants focused on hydrogen production there is a dominance of variants with CCS system only at the price exceeding 120 PLN/Mg CO2, and in the case of methanol such a situation occurs above 150 PLN/Mg CO2.

Carbon Dioxide Utilization (CO2U) ICEF Roadmap 2.0. Draft October 2017

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandalow, D; Aines, R; Friedmann, J; McCormick, C; McCoy, S

2017-10-02

Last year, experts from CO₂ Sciences, Columbia University and Valence Strategic came together to develop a roadmap. That document, Carbon Dioxide Utilization ICEF Roadmap 1.0, released at the UNFCCC Marrakesh Climate Change Conference in 2016, surveyed the commercial and technical landscape of CO₂ conversion and use. The document provided extensive background and analysis and has helped to provide a foundation for additional studies, including this one.This roadmap is meant to complement and expand upon the work of its predecessor. Based in part on a workshop at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy in July 2017, it explores three distinct categories of CO₂-based products, the technologies that can be harnessed to convert CO2 to these products, and the associated research and development needs. It also explores the complicated topic of life cycle analysis—critically important when considering the climate impacts of CO₂ conversion and use—as well as policy tools that could be used to promote CO₂-based products.

Economic status, education and empowerment: implications for maternal health service utilization in developing countries.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saifuddin Ahmed

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Relative to the attention given to improving the quality of and access to maternal health services, the influence of women's socio-economic situation on maternal health care use has received scant attention. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between women's economic, educational and empowerment status, introduced as the 3Es, and maternal health service utilization in developing countries.The analysis uses data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 31 countries for which data on all the 3Es are available. Separate logistic regression models are fitted for modern contraceptive use, antenatal care and skilled birth attendance in relation to the three covariates of interest: economic, education and empowerment status, additionally controlling for women's age and residence. We use meta-analysis techniques to combine and summarize results from multiple countries. The 3Es are significantly associated with utilization of maternal health services. The odds of having a skilled attendant at delivery for women in the poorest wealth quintile are 94% lower than that for women in the highest wealth quintile and almost 5 times higher for women with complete primary education relative to those less educated. The likelihood of using modern contraception and attending four or more antenatal care visits are 2.01 and 2.89 times, respectively, higher for women with complete primary education than for those less educated. Women with the highest empowerment score are between 1.31 and 1.82 times more likely than those with a null empowerment score to use modern contraception, attend four or more antenatal care visits and have a skilled attendant at birth.Efforts to expand maternal health service utilization can be accelerated by parallel investments in programs aimed at poverty eradication (MDG 1, universal primary education (MDG 2, and women's empowerment (MDG 3.

Economic status, education and empowerment: implications for maternal health service utilization in developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Saifuddin; Creanga, Andreea A; Gillespie, Duff G; Tsui, Amy O

2010-06-23

Relative to the attention given to improving the quality of and access to maternal health services, the influence of women's socio-economic situation on maternal health care use has received scant attention. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between women's economic, educational and empowerment status, introduced as the 3Es, and maternal health service utilization in developing countries. The analysis uses data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 31 countries for which data on all the 3Es are available. Separate logistic regression models are fitted for modern contraceptive use, antenatal care and skilled birth attendance in relation to the three covariates of interest: economic, education and empowerment status, additionally controlling for women's age and residence. We use meta-analysis techniques to combine and summarize results from multiple countries. The 3Es are significantly associated with utilization of maternal health services. The odds of having a skilled attendant at delivery for women in the poorest wealth quintile are 94% lower than that for women in the highest wealth quintile and almost 5 times higher for women with complete primary education relative to those less educated. The likelihood of using modern contraception and attending four or more antenatal care visits are 2.01 and 2.89 times, respectively, higher for women with complete primary education than for those less educated. Women with the highest empowerment score are between 1.31 and 1.82 times more likely than those with a null empowerment score to use modern contraception, attend four or more antenatal care visits and have a skilled attendant at birth. Efforts to expand maternal health service utilization can be accelerated by parallel investments in programs aimed at poverty eradication (MDG 1), universal primary education (MDG 2), and women's empowerment (MDG 3).

Economic evaluations of pharmacogenetic approaches in infectious diseases: a review of current approaches and evaluation of critical aspects affecting their quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Meoni

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Pharmacogenetics holds great potential for improving the effectiveness of treatment modalities in infectious diseases by taking into account the genetic determinants of both the host and infectious agents’ individuality. Better utilization of resources and improved therapeutic efficiency are the expected outcomes of personalized medicine using pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomics information made available by technological advances. However, there has been growing concern in the clinical community regarding the evaluation of the true benefits of these approaches. This perception is partly due to the limited number and perceived poor quality of economic evaluations in this field, and initiatives aimed at harmonizing and communicating strategies improving the quality of these studies and their acceptance by the clinical community are greatly needed. This paper reviews current literature of economic evaluations of pharmacogenetics interventions guiding pharmacotherapy in infectious diseases. PubMed and the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases were searched using a combination of five broad research terms related to pharmacogenetic approaches, and papers relative to economic evaluations of pharmacogenetic interventions in infectious diseases retained for further analysis. Using these criteria, a total of 14 papers were included in this review. The area of economic evaluation of pharmacogenetic interventions in infectious diseases remains understudied and would benefit from greater harmonization. The main weaknesses of evaluations reviewed in this paper seem to be represented by poor evidence of pharmacogenetic marker validation, inconsistencies in the selection of costs and utility included in the economic models and the choice of sensitivity analysis. All these factors limit the overall transparency of the studies, greater acceptance of their results and applicability to diverse and possibly resourcelimited environments where these

Energy Economics of Farm Biogas in Cold Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pillay, Pragasen; Grimberg, Stefan; Powers, Susan E

2012-10-24

Anaerobic digestion of farm and dairy waste has been shown to be capital intensive. One way to improve digester economics is to co-digest high-energy substrates together with the dairy manure. Cheese whey for example represents a high-energy substrate that is generated during cheese manufacture. There are currently no quantitative tools available that predict performance of co-digestion farm systems. The goal of this project was to develop a mathematical tool that would (1) predict the impact of co-digestion and (2) determine the best use of the generated biogas for a cheese manufacturing plant. Two models were developed that separately could be used to meet both goals of the project. Given current pricing structures of the most economical use of the generated biogas at the cheese manufacturing plant was as a replacement of fuel oil to generate heat. The developed digester model accurately predicted the performance of 26 farm digesters operating in the North Eastern U.S.

Linguistic confusion in economics: utility, causality, product differentiation, and the supply of natural resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, J L

1982-01-01

Lack of careful attention to the language used in the discussion of economic concepts has resulted in considerable confusion and error. 2 frequent sources of confusion include tautology and the absence of operational definitions of concepts. This paper outlines a more effective scientific practice through reference to 2 economic examples: 1) the concept of utility, where it is demonstrated that choice of an operational definition of the concept facilitates interpersonal comparisons; and 2) causality, where a multidimensional operational definition is needed to discriminate among the various meanings of the term in theoretical, empirical, and policy contexts. The paper further discusses the example of natural resource scarcity, where application of the term "finite" reveals that there is no empirical evidence of physical limits to growth in the use of resources. A more appropriate measure of scarcity is the economic concept of price.

Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi; Ben Youssef, Adel; M'henni, Hatem; Rault, Christophe

2012-01-01

This article extends the recent findings of , , and by implementing recent bootstrap panel unit root tests and cointegration techniques to investigate the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and real GDP for 12 Middle East and North African Countries (MENA) over the period 1981–2005. Our results show that in the long-run energy consumption has a positive significant impact on CO 2 emissions. More interestingly, we show that real GDP exhibits a quadratic relationship with CO 2 emissions for the region as a whole. However, although the estimated long-run coefficients of income and its square satisfy the EKC hypothesis in most studied countries, the turning points are very low in some cases and very high in other cases, hence providing poor evidence in support of the EKC hypothesis. CO 2 emission reductions per capita have been achieved in the MENA region, even while the region exhibited economic growth over the period 1981–2005. The econometric relationships derived in this paper suggest that future reductions in CO 2 emissions per capita might be achieved at the same time as GDP per capita in the MENA region continues to grow. - Highlights: ► We study the links between CO 2 emissions, energy consumption and GDP in MENA region. ► Energy consumption has a positive correlation with CO 2 emissions. ► GDP exhibits a quadratic relationship with CO 2 emissions for the region as a whole. ► However, the turning points are low in some cases and high in other cases. ► Thus, not all countries need to sacrifice economic growth to decrease CO 2 emissions.

Systems and economic analysis of microalgae ponds for conversion of CO{sub 2} to biomass. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benemann, J.R.; Oswald, W.J.

1996-03-21

There is growing evidence that global warming could become a major global environmental threat during the 21st century. The precautionary principle commands preventive action, at both national and international levels, to minimize this potential threat. Many near-term, relatively inexpensive, mitigation options are available. In addition, long-term research is required to evaluate and develop advanced, possibly more expensive, countermeasures, in the eventuality that they may be required. The utilization of power plant CO{sub 2} and its recycling into fossil fuel substitutes by microalgae cultures could be one such long-term technology. Microalgae production is an expanding industry in the U.S., with three commercial systems (of approximately 10 hectare each) producing nutriceuticals, specifically beta-carotene, extracted from Dunaliella, and Spirulina biomass. Microalgae are also used in wastewater treatment. Currently production costs are high, about $10,000/ton of algal biomass, almost two orders of magnitude higher than acceptable for greenhouse gas mitigation. This report reviews the current state-of-the-art, including algal cultivation and harvesting-processing, and outlines a technique for achieving very high productivities. Costs of CO{sub 2} mitigation with microalgae production of oils ({open_quotes}biodiesel{close_quotes}) are estimated and future R&D needs outlined.

The economics of reducing CO2 emissions by solar thermal power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brakmann, G.

1993-01-01

The necessity to reduce CO 2 -emissions on a global scale is being recognized by scientists and politicians. If no scientific proof of a climate catastrophe due to CO 2 -emissions can be established, it would nevertheless be prudent to implement a form of global survival insurance policy, the premium of which is the required effort to reduce CO 2 -emissions. The implementation of such a policy without a considerable reduction in the living standard requires the replacement of fossil fuels by capital and/or know-how. It should be performed in the most economical manner. This leads to the replacement of the classical ''least cost power expansion strategy'' by the ''least cost power expansion/pollution limiting strategy''. Thereby projects have to compete no longer exclusively on low cost of energy production but on low cost of pollution reduction as well. (Author)

Techno-Economic Assessment of Redundancy Systems for a Cogeneration Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Majid Mohd Amin Abd

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The use of distributed power generation has advantage as well as disadvantage. One of the disadvantages is that the plant requires a dependable redundancy system to provide back up of power during failure of its power generation equipment. This paper presents a study on techno-economic assessment of redundancy systems for a cogeneration plant. Three redundancy systems were investigated; using public utility, generator set and gas turbine as back up during failures. Results from the analysis indicate that using public utility provides technical as well as economic advantages in comparison to using generator set or turbine as back up. However, the economic advantage of the public utility depends on the frequency of failures the plant will experience as well on the maximum demand charge. From the break even analysis of the understudied plant, if the number of failures exceeds 3 failures per year for the case of maximum demand charge of RM56.80, it is more economical to install a generator set as redundancy. The study will be useful for the co-generator operators to evaluate the feasibility of redundancy systems.

Dynamic impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Hamisu Sadi; Law, Siong Hook; Zannah, Talha Ibrahim

2016-06-01

The objective of this paper is to examine the dynamic impact of urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria based on autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) approach for the period of 1971-2011. The result shows that variables were cointegrated as null hypothesis was rejected at 1 % level of significance. The coefficients of long-run result reveal that urbanization does not have any significant impact on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria, economic growth, and energy consumption has a positive and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. However, trade openness has negative and significant impact on CO 2 emissions. Consumption of energy is among the main determinant of CO 2 emissions which is directly linked to the level of income. Despite the high level of urbanization in the country, consumption of energy still remains low due to lower income of the majority populace and this might be among the reasons why urbanization does not influence emissions of CO 2 in the country. Initiating more open economy policies will be welcoming in the Nigerian economy as the openness leads to the reduction of pollutants from the environment particularly CO 2 emissions which is the major gases that deteriorate physical environment.

Current practices in economic appraisal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mossink, J.C.M.

2000-01-01

By means of economic appraisal, the costs and the benefits of health, environment and safety management can be made clear, both at the national level and at the company level. As such it is a tool in advocating good practices. This paper explores the possibilities of economic appraisal for policy

Utilities practices toward sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The strategy toward a Sustainable Development is not standardised and it is useful to compare approaches of companies. WG C3.03 analysed a number of Sustainability Reports or Environmental Reports, published by Utilities, exposing their current approaches to the three 'Pillars': environmental aspects, society development and economical performances. Case studies, relevant to the three 'Pillars', show examples of practices

Nanocrystalline Ni-Co Alloy Synthesis by High Speed Electrodeposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamaliah Idris

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Electrodeposition of nanocrystals is economically and technologically viable production path for the synthesis of pure metals and alloys both in coatings and bulk form. The study presents nanocrystalline Ni-Co alloy synthesis by high speed electrodeposition. Nanocrystalline Ni-Co alloys coatings were prepared by direct current (DC and deposited directly on steel and aluminum substrates without any pretreatment, using high speed electrodeposition method. The influence of the electrolysis parameters, such as cathodic current density and temperature at constant pH, on electrodeposition and microstructure of Ni-Co alloys were examined. A homogeneous surface morphology was obtained at all current densities of the plated samples, and it was evident that the current density and temperature affect the coating thickness of Ni-Co alloy coatings.

New methodologies for integrating algae with CO2 capture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hernandez Mireles, I.; Stel, R.W. van der; Goetheer, E.L.V.

2014-01-01

It is generally recognized, that algae could be an interesting option for reducing CO2 emissions. Based on light and CO2, algae can be used for the production various economically interesting products. Current algae cultivation techniques, however, still present a number of limitations. Efficient

Energy development and CO2 emissions in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiaolin Xi

1993-03-01

The objective of this research is to provide a better understanding of future Chinese energy development and CO 2 emissions from burning fossil fuels. This study examines the current Chinese energy system, estimates CO 2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and projects future energy use and resulting CO 2 emissions up to the year of 2050. Based on the results of the study, development strategies are proposed and policy implications are explored. This study first develops a Base scenario projection of the Chinese energy development based upon a sectoral analysis. The Base scenario represents a likely situation of future development, but many alternatives are possible. To explore this range of alternatives, a systematic uncertainty analysis is performed. The Base scenario also represents an extrapolation of current policies and social and economic trends. As such, it is not necessarily the economically optimal future course for Chinese energy development. To explore this issue, an optimization analysis is performed. For further understanding of developing Chinese energy system and reducing CO 2 emissions, a Chinese energy system model with 84 supply and demand technologies has been constructed in MARKAL, a computer LP optimization program for energy systems. Using this model, various technological options and economic aspects of energy development and CO 2 emissions reduction in China during the 1985-2020 period are examined

Ecological economics of soil erosion: a review of the current state of knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Adhikari, Bhim; Nadella, Karthik

2011-02-01

The economics of land degradation has received relatively little attention until recent years. Although a number of studies have undertaken valuation of ecosystem services ranging from the global to the micro level, and quite a few studies have attempted to quantify the costs of soil erosion, studies that address the full costs of land degradation are still scarce. In this review, we attempt to analyze different land resource modeling and valuation techniques applied in earlier research and the type of data used in these analyses, and to assess their utility for different forms of land resource and management appraisal. We also report on the strengths and weaknesses of different valuation techniques used in studies on the economics of soil erosion, and the relevance of these valuation techniques. We make a case for the need for more appropriate models that can make the analysis more robust in estimating the economic costs of land degradation while recognizing the spatial heterogeneity in biophysical and economic conditions. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

The Effect of Affect on Economic and Strategic Decision Making.

OpenAIRE

Benjamin E. Hermalin and Alice M. Isen.

1999-01-01

The standard economic model of decision making assumes a decision maker makes her choices to maximize her utility or happiness. Her current emotional state is not explicitly considered. Yet there is a large psychological literature that shows that current emotional state, in particular positive affect, has a significant effect on decision making. This paper offers a way to incorporate this insight from psychology into economic modeling. Moreover, this paper shows that this simple insight can ...

Economic and environmental assessment of cellulosic ethanol production scenarios annexed to a typical sugar mill.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali Mandegari, Mohsen; Farzad, Somayeh; Görgens, Johann F

2017-01-01

In this work different biorefinery scenarios were investigated, concerning the co-production of bioethanol and electricity from available lignocellulose at a typical sugar mill, as possible extensions to the current combustion of bagasse for steam and electricity production and burning trash on-filed. In scenario 1, the whole bagasse and brown leaves is utilized in a biorefinery and coal is burnt in the existing inefficient sugar mill boiler. Scenario 2 & 3 are assumed with a new centralized CHP unit without/with coal co-combustion, respectively. Also, through scenarios 4 & 5, the effect of water insoluble loading were studied. All scenarios provided energy for the sugarmill and the ethanol plant, with the export of surplus electricity. Economic analysis determined that scenario 1 was the most viable scenario due to less capital cost and economies-of scale. Based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results, scenario 2 outperformed the other scenarios, while three scenarios showed lower contribution to environmental burdens than the current situation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research on economics and CO2 emission of magnetic and inertial fusion reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mori, Kenjiro; Yamazaki, Kozo; Oishi, Tetsutarou; Arimoto, Hideki; Shoji, Tatsuo

2011-01-01

An economical and environment-friendly fusion reactor system is needed for the realization of attractive power plants. Comparative system studies have been done for magnetic fusion energy (MFE) reactors, and been extended to include inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactors by Physics Engineering Cost (PEC) system code. In this study, we have evaluated both tokamak reactor (TR) and IFE reactor (IR). We clarify new scaling formulas for cost of electricity (COE) and CO 2 emission rate with respect to key design parameters. By the scaling formulas, it is clarified that the plant availability and operation year dependences are especially dominant for COE. On the other hand, the parameter dependences of CO 2 emission rate is rather weak than that of COE. This is because CO 2 emission percentage from manufacturing the fusion island is lower than COE percentage from that. Furthermore, the parameters dependences for IR are rather weak than those for TR. Because the CO 2 emission rate from manufacturing the laser system to be exchanged is very large in comparison with CO 2 emission rate from TR blanket exchanges. (author)

The economics of the CO{sub 2}-problem: What about the supply side?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blank, J E; Stroebele, W J

1995-07-01

The CO{sub 2}-question is a difficult problem for environmental and energy economics and for resource economics. The pricing of fossil fuels is drastically changed by a CO{sub 2}-restriction. To some extent this means a partial expropriation of resource owners. This may induce resource owners to react strategically rather than behave in a passive way. Ignoring this feedbacks from the introduction of a tax on fossil fuel on the supply side means a severe simplification of most modelling done in GE-models like Global 2100, GREEN or PE-models like Edmonds-Reilly. Looking at the basic ingredients, that one would like to find in a complex world energy model, one must conclude, that the present state of the art of modelling looks pretty well with respect to the demand side and still rather good with respect to the world-wide trade of energy. But the modelling of the (strategic) supply side of the most important energy markets has severe shortcomings in all three models looked at. (orig.)

Report on survey of international cooperation possibility on chemical CO2 fixation and utilization technology in FY 1997; 1997 nendo chosa hokokusho (kagakuteki CO2 koteika yuko riyo gijutsu ni kakawaru kokusai kyoryoku kanosei chosa)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-03-01

This survey focused on the end of the more promising companion and promoting the international cooperation on chemical CO2 fixation and utilization technology. As a result, the way of the carrying-forward of the international cooperation with more than one companion could be arranged beforehand. It led to getting an arrangement about a secrecy agreement respectively with Lurgi company and ABB company in Europe, and to providing a catalyst sample developed by RITE to implement an examination by the other party and to show related technical information. In addition, it concluded a cooperation agreement about a total system of the chemical CO2 fixation and utilization technology and methanol synthesis with ZSW. In Australia, negotiation about international cooperation with CSIRO which is a federal research organization and CRC (Cooperative Research Centre) for renewable energy has been started. The ideal circumstances are being ready for the chemical CO2 fixation project for which the international cooperation with the country where the natural energy is rich like Australia is essential when coming to practical use. To do alternating current with further high density in the following year it is desired to build a concrete study cooperation system. 1 fig., 4 tabs.

Utilization of whey with microbiological processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teuber, M

1981-08-01

Besides biogas production, the following processes and technologies are available in practice for microbiological processing: 1) Lactic acid Using thermophilic lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, the procedure is economically performed at 45-50/sup 0/C. Since the bacteria are sensitive to high lactate concentrations, buffering with CaCO/sub 3/ or lime-milk is necessary. 2) Ethanol Using lactose-fermenting yeasts, such as Kluyvermyces fragilis, alcohol production is easily performed at 25/sup 0/C and at pH-values between 4 and 6, the dry matter contents varying between 5 and 15% (concentrated whey or permeate). Addition of ammonium sulphate is necessary. 3) Single Cell Protein One-stage production of single cell protein (SCP) is possible using lactose-fermenting aerobic yeasts (K. fragilis, Candida utilis etc.). The yeast procuced and utilized in animal feeding (as Milke replacement in calf rearing) is currently offered in the Federal Republic of Germany at a price of approximately DM 1.40/kg. Two-stage fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae following lactic acid fermentation and addition of enzymatically hydrolyzed starch can be performed effluent-free.

Economical utilization of hot water - an important precondition for an efficient utilization of waste heat in milk cooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaiser, E; Pflug, C

1985-01-01

Indispensable both in the field of hydroecological and energy policies is the economical utilization of hot water. Hydroecological process analyses in specialized dairy cattle plants have shown that the specific mean annual abstraction of hot water (50/sup 0/C) may be reduced to 14 l per cow and per day. The proportionate contribution of different operational sectors and methods to arrive at the standards are pointed out. Economizing dairy cattly plants reducing hot water consumption as indicated and reaching average milking outputs of >= 1 l per cow and per day may thus bridge the summer season by heat recovery processes producing a sufficient quantity of hot water and allowing a shutdown of all heating units. At present the majority of dairy cattle plants cannot yet dispense with supplementary water during the remaining months. The hot water consumption rate is highest at the end of shifts. In double-shifted dairy cattle plants the estimated maximum hourly consumption amounts to 12 per cent of the average daily consumption. (orig.).

Current activities handbook: formerly utilized sites remedial action program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

This volume is one of a series produced under contract with the DOE, by Politech Corporation to develop a legislative and regulatory data base to assist the FUSRAP management in addressing the institutional and socioeconomic issues involved in carrying out the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. This Information Handbook series contains information about all relevant government agencies at the Federal and state levels, the pertinent programs they administer, each affected state legislature, and current Federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives. This volume is a compilation of information about the activities each of the thirteen state legislatures potentially affected by the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. It contains a description of the state legislative procedural rules and a schedule of each legislative session; a summary of pending relevant legislation; the name and telephone number of legislative and state agency contacts; and the full text of all bills identified

Current activities handbook: formerly utilized sites remedial action program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1981-02-27

This volume is one of a series produced under contract with the DOE, by Politech Corporation to develop a legislative and regulatory data base to assist the FUSRAP management in addressing the institutional and socioeconomic issues involved in carrying out the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. This Information Handbook series contains information about all relevant government agencies at the Federal and state levels, the pertinent programs they administer, each affected state legislature, and current Federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives. This volume is a compilation of information about the activities each of the thirteen state legislatures potentially affected by the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. It contains a description of the state legislative procedural rules and a schedule of each legislative session; a summary of pending relevant legislation; the name and telephone number of legislative and state agency contacts; and the full text of all bills identified.

The Economic Determinants of Bioenergy Trade Intensity in the EU-28: A Co-Integration Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Alsaleh

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the dynamic effect of the economic determinants on bilateral trade intensity of the European Union (EU region’s bioenergy industry outputs. The authors adopt the panel co-integration model approach to estimate annual trade intensity data of the EU-28 countries’ bioenergy industry outputs from 1990 to 2013. This study investigated the long-term influence of the rate of real exchange, gross domestic product (GDP, and export price on the trade intensity of bioenergy industry applying fully modified oriented least square (FMOLS, dummy oriented least square (DOLS, and pooled mean group (PMG models. In the current study, the findings boost the empirical validity of the panel co-integration model through FMOLS, indicating that depreciation has improved the trade intensity. This study has further investigated, through the causality test, a distinct set of countries. FMOLS estimation does find proof of the long run improvement of trade intensity. Thus, the result shows that the gross domestic product (GDP and the real exchange rate have a positive and noteworthy influence on the EU-28 region trade intensity of the bioenergy industry. Moreover, the export price affects negatively and significantly the trade intensity of the bioenergy industry in the EU-28 countries.

Economic scale of utilization of radiation (2): agriculture. Comparison between Japan and the U.S.A.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kume, Tamikazu [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Takasaki, Gunma (Japan). Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research Establishment; Amano, Etsuo [Fukui Prefectural Univ., Research Center for Bioresources Dept., Awara, Fukui (Japan); Nakanishi, Tomoko M. [Tokyo Univ., Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Tokyo (Japan); Chino, Mitsuo [Akita Prefectural Univ., Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Akita (Japan)

2002-10-01

The economic scale of the application of radiation in the field of agriculture in Japan was estimated from public documents to be about 964M$ (million dollars) in 1997. In the food irradiation, an amount of 15,000t of potatoes irradiated per year in Hokkaido was estimated to be worth 16M$. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) used for combating losses due to the melon fly in the mainly Okinawa region produced as much as 70M$ in benefits. Production of rice using varieties developed by mutation breeding was about 3% of overall production in Japan and the economic scale was 774M$. Radioisotope (RI) utilized in laboratory work, environmental analysis and chronology was accounted to be as high as 24M$. The relative ratios of radiation processing (136M$), mutation breeding (804M$) and RI utilization (24M$) were 14%, 83%, and 3%, respectively. The economic scale surveys in food irradiation and mutation breeding were extended to the United Sates of America (hereinafter abbreviated as U.S.A. or U.S.) for a direct comparison to the situation in Japan. As to maximum estimation, it amounted to be 3.2b$ (billion dollars) for food irradiation and 11.2b$ for mutation breeding. The economic scale for agriculture products within our scope was 14.5b$ for the U.S. and about 0.8b$ for Japan, implying that the former is larger in magnitude by a factor of about 18. (author)

Economic scale of utilization of radiation (2): agriculture. Comparison between Japan and the U.S.A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kume, Tamikazu; Nakanishi, Tomoko M.; Chino, Mitsuo

2002-01-01

The economic scale of the application of radiation in the field of agriculture in Japan was estimated from public documents to be about 964M$ (million dollars) in 1997. In the food irradiation, an amount of 15,000t of potatoes irradiated per year in Hokkaido was estimated to be worth 16M$. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) used for combating losses due to the melon fly in the mainly Okinawa region produced as much as 70M$ in benefits. Production of rice using varieties developed by mutation breeding was about 3% of overall production in Japan and the economic scale was 774M$. Radioisotope (RI) utilized in laboratory work, environmental analysis and chronology was accounted to be as high as 24M$. The relative ratios of radiation processing (136M$), mutation breeding (804M$) and RI utilization (24M$) were 14%, 83%, and 3%, respectively. The economic scale surveys in food irradiation and mutation breeding were extended to the United Sates of America (hereinafter abbreviated as U.S.A. or U.S.) for a direct comparison to the situation in Japan. As to maximum estimation, it amounted to be 3.2b$ (billion dollars) for food irradiation and 11.2b$ for mutation breeding. The economic scale for agriculture products within our scope was 14.5b$ for the U.S. and about 0.8b$ for Japan, implying that the former is larger in magnitude by a factor of about 18. (author)

Economics and the refinery's CO2 emissions allocation problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pierru, A.

2007-01-01

The establishment of a market for CO 2 emission rights in Europe leads oil-refining companies to add a cost associated with carbon emissions to the objective function of linear programming models used to manage refineries. These models may be used to compute the marginal contribution of each finished product to the CO 2 emissions of the refinery. Babusiaux (Oil. Gas Sci. Technol., 58, 2003, 685-692) has shown that, under some conditions, this marginal contribution is a relevant means of allocating the carbon emissions of the refinery. Thus, it can be used in a well-to-wheel Life Cycle Assessment. In fact, this result holds if the demand equations are the only binding constraints with a non-zero right-hand side coefficient. This is not the case for short-run models with fixed capacity. Then, allocating CO 2 emissions on a marginal basis tends to over-value (or undervalue) the total volume of emissions. In order to extend the existing methodology, we discuss two distinct solutions to this problem, inspired by economic theory: adapting either the Aumann-Shapley cost sharing method (Values of non-atomic games, 1974, Princeton University Press) or the Ramsey pricing formula (Econ. J., 37, 1927, 47-61; J. Econ. Theory, 3, 1971, 219-240). We compare these two solutions, with a strong argument in favour of Ramsey prices, based on the determination of the optimal environmental tax rate to which imported finished products should be subject. (author)

Economic analysis of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Man Ki; Moon, K. H.; Kim, S. S.; Lim, C. Y.; Song, K. D.; Oh, K. B.

2004-12-01

This study evaluated the role of nuclear energy in various aspects in order to provide a more comprehensive standard of judgement to the justification of the utilization of nuclear energy. Firstly, this study evaluated the economic value addition of nuclear power generation technology and Radio-Isotope(RI) technology quantitatively by using modified Input-Output table. Secondly, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of nuclear power generation was conducted with an effort to quantify the foreign exchange expenditure, the environmental damage cost during 1986-2015 for each scenario. Thirdly, the effect of the regulation of CO 2 emission on the Korean electric supply system was investigated. In more detail, an optimal composition of power plant mix by energy source was investigated, under the assumption of the CO 2 emission regulation at a certain level, by using MESSAGE model. Finally, the economic spillover effect from technology self-reliance of NSSS by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute was evaluated. Both production spillover effect and value addition spillover effect were estimated by using Input-Output table

CO2 Accounting and Risk Analysis for CO2 Sequestration at Enhanced Oil Recovery Sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Zhenxue; Viswanathan, Hari; Middleton, Richard; Pan, Feng; Ampomah, William; Yang, Changbing; Jia, Wei; Xiao, Ting; Lee, Si-Yong; McPherson, Brian; Balch, Robert; Grigg, Reid; White, Mark

2016-07-19

Using CO2 in enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) is a promising technology for emissions management because CO2-EOR can dramatically reduce sequestration costs in the absence of emissions policies that include incentives for carbon capture and storage. This study develops a multiscale statistical framework to perform CO2 accounting and risk analysis in an EOR environment at the Farnsworth Unit (FWU), Texas. A set of geostatistical-based Monte Carlo simulations of CO2-oil/gas-water flow and transport in the Morrow formation are conducted for global sensitivity and statistical analysis of the major risk metrics: CO2/water injection/production rates, cumulative net CO2 storage, cumulative oil/gas productions, and CO2 breakthrough time. The median and confidence intervals are estimated for quantifying uncertainty ranges of the risk metrics. A response-surface-based economic model has been derived to calculate the CO2-EOR profitability for the FWU site with a current oil price, which suggests that approximately 31% of the 1000 realizations can be profitable. If government carbon-tax credits are available, or the oil price goes up or CO2 capture and operating expenses reduce, more realizations would be profitable. The results from this study provide valuable insights for understanding CO2 storage potential and the corresponding environmental and economic risks of commercial-scale CO2-sequestration in depleted reservoirs.

Economic analysis of open space box model utilization in spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammad, Atif F.; Straub, Jeremy

2015-05-01

It is a known fact that the amount of data about space that is stored is getting larger on an everyday basis. However, the utilization of Big Data and related tools to perform ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) applications will soon be pervasive in the space sciences. We have entered in a crucial time where using Big Data can be the difference (for terrestrial applications) between organizations underperforming and outperforming their peers. The same is true for NASA and other space agencies, as well as for individual missions and the highly-competitive process of mission data analysis and publication. In most industries, conventional opponents and new candidates alike will influence data-driven approaches to revolutionize and capture the value of Big Data archives. The Open Space Box Model is poised to take the proverbial "giant leap", as it provides autonomic data processing and communications for spacecraft. We can find economic value generated from such use of data processing in our earthly organizations in every sector, such as healthcare, retail. We also can easily find retailers, performing research on Big Data, by utilizing sensors driven embedded data in products within their stores and warehouses to determine how these products are actually used in the real world.

Hynol: An economic process for methanol production from biomass and natural gas with reduced CO2 emission

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, M.; Dong, Yuanji

1993-10-01

The Hynol process is proposed to meet the demand for an economical process for methanol production with reduced CO2 emission. This new process consists of three reaction steps: (1) hydrogasification of biomass, (2) steam reforming of the produced gas with additional natural gas feedstock, and (3) methanol synthesis of the hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced during the previous two steps. The H2-rich gas remaining after methanol synthesis is recycled to gasify the biomass in an energy neutral reactor so that there is no need for an expensive oxygen plant as required by commercial steam gasifiers. Recycling gas allows the methanol synthesis reactor to perform at a relatively lower pressure than conventional while the plant still maintains high methanol yield. Energy recovery designed into the process minimizes heat loss and increases the process thermal efficiency. If the Hynol methanol is used as an alternative and more efficient automotive fuel, an overall 41% reduction in CO2 emission can be achieved compared to the use of conventional gasoline fuel. A preliminary economic estimate shows that the total capital investment for a Hynol plant is 40% lower than that for a conventional biomass gasification plant. The methanol production cost is $0.43/gal for a 1085 million gal/yr Hynol plant which is competitive with current U.S. methanol and equivalent gasoline prices. Process flowsheet and simulation data using biomass and natural gas as cofeedstocks are presented. The Hynol process can convert any condensed carbonaceous material, especially municipal solid waste (MSW), to produce methanol.

Removal of CO2 by storage in the deep underground, chemical utilization and biofixation. Options for the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Over, J.A.; De Vries, J.E.; Stork, J.

1999-07-01

The Utrecht University in Utrecht, Netherlands, initially put the subject of CO2-storage on the agenda as a possible necessary policy element. During 1990/1991 a number of research institutes and engineering consultants carried out several studies. Also in 1991 the lEA Greenhouse Gas Group (IEA GHG) was initiated, including participation from The Netherlands. The Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment (Novem) and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs both attended the meetings of the Executive Committee (ExCo) from the start. This Group started paying attention to the subject of CO2-capturing at large point sources (electricity stations). They then went subsequently from capturing from other (smaller and/or more diffuse) sources, ranking relative to other large scale options to combat or reduce CO2-emissions (i.e. vast areas of forest) to influence and controlling other 'greenhouse gases' such as methane. During 1992/1993 Novem prepared - on request of the Ministry of Economic Affairs - research proposals for investigations and demonstration projects, having a 10 to 15 year horizon, with regard to CO2-capturing technologies. In the beginning of 1994, the Dutch Ministry of Environment (VROM) put more emphasis on demonstration of the feasibility of CO2-storage. When the first 'Kok-government' (the so-called 'Purple Cabinet') came into being, attention shifted to studies on CO2-storage; the central question being whether there would be sufficient potential capacity if the necessity to store CO2 would ever occur. Within this framework Novem was authorized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to carry out an investigation program on possibilities of CO2-storage. The present publication deals with the results of these studies. The main subject of investigation were: Storage in underground formations (depleted gas fields and aquifers) and the conditions under which this is feasible; Possibilities for enhanced gas recovery by carbon dioxide injection and its

Cost-utility of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication versus proton pump inhibitors for chronic and controlled gastroesophageal reflux disease: a 3-year prospective randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Goeree, Ron; Hopkins, Rob; Marshall, John K; Armstrong, David; Ungar, Wendy J; Goldsmith, Charles; Allen, Christopher; Anvari, Mehran

2011-01-01

Very few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication (LNF) to proton pump inhibitors (PPI) medical management for patients with chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Larger RCTs have been relatively short in duration, and have reported mixed results regarding symptom control and effect on quality of life (QOL). Economic evaluations have reported conflicting results. To determine the incremental cost-utility of LNF versus PPI for treating patients with chronic and controlled GERD over 3 years from the societal perspective. Economic evaluation was conducted alongside a RCT that enrolled 104 patients from October 2000 to September 2004. Primary study outcome was GERD symptoms (secondary outcomes included QOL and cost-utility). Resource utilization and QOL data collected at regular follow-up intervals determined incremental cost/QALY gained. Stochastic uncertainty was assessed using bootstrapping and methodologic assumptions were assessed using sensitivity analysis. No statistically significant differences in GERD symptom scores, but LNF did result in fewer heartburn days and improved QOL. Costs were higher for LNF patients by $3205/patient over 3 years but QOL was also higher as measured by either QOL instrument. Based on total costs, incremental cost-utility of LNF was $29,404/QALY gained using the Health Utility Index 3. Cost-utility results were sensitive to the utility instrument used ($29,404/QALY for Health Utility Index 3, $31,117/QALY for the Short Form 6D, and $76,310/QALY for EuroQol 5D) and if current lower prices for PPIs were used in the analysis. Results varied depending on resource use/costs included in the analysis, the QOL instrument used, and the cost of PPIs; however, LNF was generally found to be a cost-effective treatment for patients with symptomatic controlled GERD requiring long-term management. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR

CO2 burden and climatic risk. Strategies of action of the German electricity supply companies. 2. rev. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

According to indications of the working group for questions on the climate of the association of German electric utilities (VDEW), energy application of power generation contributes to the German CO 2 -emission with about 30%. A reduction of CO 2 -emissions in electro-economics can be achieved especially with a decrease of the application of fossil energy sources parallel to a better energy utilization (increase of the efficiency, enlargement of cogeneration) and through the expansion of power generation free from CO 2 (nuclear energy, renewable energy sources). (orig.) [de

Economic security of the Russian Federation: current status, level and threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Grigoryeva

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The problems of national and economic security maintenanceis aggravating in modern conditions of globalization and international competition related to controlof market channels, technological, information and natural resources.Today Russia is making all efforts to protect its position on the world stage and improve the lives of its citizens.Despite the worsening of the present economic, political and social differences in the world, the Russian Federation has its own national interests, which can be possible to fulfill only on the basis of sustainable development of the national economic security system.The latter traditionally determines the ability of the state economic system to maintain normal conditions for the national economy functioning and the population activity. The national economic securitystabilitycan be estimated only by the application of elaborate tools of the economic development indicators analysis and the threshold values examinationaimed at the determination of the quality characteristic of actual and the most successful model of the economic activity.The analysis of the current Russian economic situation showed the presence of some serious problems existing in the national economy. The economic security level of Russia, having a tendency to increase in the period of 1998-2013, has been sharply reduced to critical points since 2014. So, it is necessary to take some measures to restructure the system of economic security of the state. Based on the research it was identified the list of the most dangerous threats to the modern Russian economy, which includes: low level of the country industrial production; the economy dependence on goods import and raw materials export; low living standards of the population; the rapid growth of the shadow economy and corruption; the lack of civil science and innovationdevelopment. The main strategic directions for economic security levelincrease in Russia today and in the future are aimed at

Separation and utilization of fission products considering economic aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beer, M.; Gorski, B.; Hennrich, M.; Pfrepper, G.; Richter, M.

1982-01-01

The quantity of usable fission products which will be obtained by nuclear fission till the year 2000 is estimated on the basis of prognostics for the development of nuclear energy in the world considering especially the development in the U.S.S.R. and the CMEA. The possibilities of utilization of cesium as gamma-ray source are discussed, and the present fields of application of palladium and the development of its price on the world market are shown. The fields of application of technetium, which wasn't available as artificial element in a greater quantity till now, have to be developed. The economic estimations base on data of a project for the separation of fission products in connection with a reprocessing plant, which was developed in the U.S.A. in 1978. The data show, that it is possible to produce the platinum metals and cesium with profit, the same can be expected for technetium. (author)

The Principle(s) of Co-existence in the Market for GMOs in Europe: Social, Economic and Legal Avenues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Purnhagen, K.; Wesseler, J.H.H.

2016-01-01

The European policy of co-existence for GMOs follows a number of well-established social, economic and legal principles. Applying these principles in practice has resulted in a complex “rag rug” of co-existence policies in Europe. This rag rug makes enforcement of these principles difficult, at

Co-utilization of L-arabinose and D-xylose by laboratory and industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boles Eckhard

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass is an attractive alternative for the production of bioethanol. Traditionally, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used in industrial ethanol fermentations. However, S. cerevisiae is naturally not able to ferment the pentose sugars D-xylose and L-arabinose, which are present in high amounts in lignocellulosic raw materials. Results We describe the engineering of laboratory and industrial S. cerevisiae strains to co-ferment the pentose sugars D-xylose and L-arabinose. Introduction of a fungal xylose and a bacterial arabinose pathway resulted in strains able to grow on both pentose sugars. Introduction of a xylose pathway into an arabinose-fermenting laboratory strain resulted in nearly complete conversion of arabinose into arabitol due to the L-arabinose reductase activity of the xylose reductase. The industrial strain displayed lower arabitol yield and increased ethanol yield from xylose and arabinose. Conclusion Our work demonstrates simultaneous co-utilization of xylose and arabinose in recombinant strains of S. cerevisiae. In addition, the co-utilization of arabinose together with xylose significantly reduced formation of the by-product xylitol, which contributed to improved ethanol production.

Low Overpotential and High Current CO2 Reduction with Surface Reconstructed Cu Foam Electrodess

KAUST Repository

Min, Shixiong

2016-06-23

While recent reports have demonstrated that oxide-derived Cu-based electrodes exhibit high selectivity for CO2 reduction at low overpotential, the low catalytic current density (<2 mA/cm2 at -0.45 V vs. RHE) still largely limits its applications for large-scale fuel synthesis. Here we report an extremely high current density for CO2 reduction at low overpotential using a Cu foam electrode prepared by air-oxidation and subsequent electroreduction. Apart from possessing three-dimensional (3D) open frameworks, the resulting Cu foam electrodes prepared at higher temperatures exhibit enhanced electrochemically active surface area and distinct surface structures. In particular, the Cu foam electrode prepared at 500 °C exhibits an extremely high geometric current density of ~9.4 mA/cm2 in CO2-satrurated 0.1 M KHCO3 aqueous solution and achieving ~39% CO and ~23% HCOOH Faradaic efficiencies at -0.45 V vs. RHE. The high activity and significant selectivity enhancement are attributable to the formation of abundant grain-boundary supported active sites and preferable (100) and (111) facets as a result of reconstruction of Cu surface facets. This work demonstrates that the structural integration of Cu foam with open 3D frameworks and the favorable surface structures is a promising strategy to develop an advanced Cu electrocatalyst that can operate at high current density and low overpotential for CO2 reduction.

The U.S. Gas Flooding Experience: CO2 Injection Strategies and Impact on Ultimate Recovery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nunez-Lopez, Vanessa [The University of Texas at Austin; Hosseini, Seyyed; Gil-Egui, Ramon

2017-09-29

The Permian Basin in West Texas and southwestern New Mexico has seen 45 years of oil reserve growth through CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR). More than 60 CO2 EOR projects are currently active in the region’s limestone, sandstone and dolomite reservoirs. Water alternating gas (WAG) has been the development strategy of choice in the Permian for several technical and economic reasons. More recently, the technology started to get implemented in the much more porous and permeable clastic depositional systems of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast. Continued CO2 injection (CGI), as opposed to WAG, was selected as the injection strategy to develop Gulf Coast oil fields, where CO2 injection volumes are significantly larger (up to 6 times larger) than those of the Permian. We conducted a compositional simulation based study with the objective of comparing the CO2 utilization ratios (volume of CO2 injected to produce a barrel of oil) of 4 conventional and novel CO2 injection strategies: (1) continuous gas injection (CGI), (2) water alternating gas (WAG), (3) water curtain injection (WCI), and (4) WAG and WCI combination. These injection scenarios were simulated using the GEM module from the Computer Modeling Group (CMG). GEM is an advanced general equation-of-state compositional simulator, which includes equation of state, CO2 miscible flood, CO2/brine interactions, and complex phase behavior. The simulator is set up to model three fluid phases including water, oil, and gas. Our study demonstrates how the selected field development strategy has a significant impact on the ultimate recovery of CO2-EOR projects, with GCI injection providing maximum oil recovery in absolute volume terms, but with WAG offering a more balanced technical-economical approach.

Correction: Large-scale electricity storage utilizing reversible solid oxide cells combined with underground storage of CO2 and CH4

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Søren Højgaard; Graves, Christopher R.; Mogensen, Mogens Bjerg

2017-01-01

Correction for ‘Large-scale electricity storage utilizing reversible solid oxide cells combined with underground storage of CO2 and CH4’ by S. H. Jensen et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 2471–2479.......Correction for ‘Large-scale electricity storage utilizing reversible solid oxide cells combined with underground storage of CO2 and CH4’ by S. H. Jensen et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 2471–2479....

Cu-Sn Bimetallic Catalyst for Selective Aqueous Electroreduction of CO2 to CO

KAUST Repository

Sarfraz, Saad

2016-03-23

We report a selective and stable electrocatalyst utilizing non-noble metals consisting of Cu and Sn for the efficient and selective reduction of CO2 to CO over a wide potential range. The bimetallic electrode was prepared through the electrodeposition of Sn species on the surface of oxide-derived copper (OD-Cu). The Cu surface, when decorated with an optimal amount of Sn, resulted in a Faradaic efficiency (FE) for CO greater than 90% and a current density of −1.0 mA cm−2 at −0.6 V vs. RHE, compared to the CO FE of 63% and −2.1 mA cm−2 for OD-Cu. Excess Sn on the surface caused H2 evolution with a decreased current density. X-ray diffraction (XRD) suggests the formation of Cu-Sn alloy. Auger electron spectroscopy of the sample surface exhibits zero-valent Cu and Sn after the electrodeposition step. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that replacing a single Cu atom with a Sn atom leaves the d-band orbitals mostly unperturbed, signifying no dramatic shifts in the bulk electronic structure. However, the Sn atom discomposes the multi-fold sites on pure Cu, disfavoring the adsorption of H and leaving the adsorption of CO relatively unperturbed. Our catalytic results along with DFT calculations indicate that the presence of Sn on reduced OD-Cu diminishes the hydrogenation capability—i.e., the selectivity towards H2 and HCOOH—while hardly affecting the CO productivity. While the pristine monometallic surfaces (both Cu and Sn) fail to selectively reduce CO2, the Cu-Sn bimetallic electrocatalyst generates a surface that inhibits adsorbed H*, resulting in improved CO FE. This study presents a strategy to provide a low-cost non-noble metals that can be utilized as a highly selective electrocatalyst for the efficient aqueous reduction of CO2.

Institutions and development in Mexico. Are formal economic reforms enough?

OpenAIRE

Manuel Palma-Rangel

2006-01-01

This paper examines whether the current political arrangements framing the Mexican politics help in consolidating and advancing those economic reforms that have been implemented in Mexico since the 1982 severe economic crises. I will argue that these arrangements create impediments to the co-ordination required to sustain and advance those policy changes that are needed under the new economic model. Formal and informal institutional environments that do not provide for the adequate enforcemen...

The Development of Forms of Corporate Social Responsibility in Russia in the Current Economic Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalya Arzumanova

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The article reveals the characteristic features of modern trends in the formation and implementation of corporate social responsibility in Russia in the current economic conditions, which is based on the fact that reasonable economic interests oriented business not only on maximizing profits, but also to improve their own macro - socio-economic, natural, political, through voluntary investment profits in the respective areas.

The Decomposition Analysis of CO2 Emission and Economic Growth in Pakistan India and China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Irfan Javaid Attari

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The conflict between economic growth and keeping greenhouse gases (GHG at controllable levels is one of the ultimate challenges of this century. The aim of Kyoto Protocol is to keep the level of carbon dioxide (CO2 below a certain threshold level. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of CO2 emission on economic growth by conducting the regional analysis of PIC nations i.e. Pakistan, India and China. The study also provides the detail information regarding the atmospheric emission by applying decomposition analysis. It is suggested that environmental policies need more attention in the region by keeping the differences aside. So, the emission trading is considered to be the new concept. The approach should be introduced to tackle down the global warming in the region. Now it is time to respond because the low Carbon Economy is the reality.

Cost utility analysis of co-prescribed heroin compared with methadone maintenance treatment in heroin addicts in two randomised trials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkgraaf, Marcel G. W.; van der Zanden, Bart P.; de Borgie, Corianne A. J. M.; Blanken, Peter; van Ree, Jan M.; van den Brink, Wim

2005-01-01

Objective To determine the cost utility of medical co-prescription of heroin compared with methadone maintenance treatment for chronic, treatment resistant heroin addicts. Design Cost utility analysis of two pooled open label randomised controlled trials. Setting Methadone maintenance programmes in

The feasibility of co-firing biomass for electricity in Missouri

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Zuoming; Altman, Ira; Johnson, Thomas G.

2014-01-01

Bioenergy is one of the most significant energy resources with potential to serve as a partial replacement for fossil. As an agricultural state, Missouri has great potential to use biomass for energy production. In 2008, Missouri adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) yet about 80% of its power supply still comes from coal. This paper describes a feasibility study of co-firing biomass in existing coal-powered plants in Missouri. Specifically, this study developed a linear programming model and simulated six scenarios to assess the economic feasibility and greenhouse gas impacts of co-firing biomass in existing qualified coal power plants in Missouri. The results of this study indicate that although co-firing can reduce the emissions of GHG and environmental pollutants, it is still not an economically feasible option for power generation without additional economic or policy incentives or regulations which could take environmental costs into account. Based on these results, strategies and policies to promote the utilization of biomass and to increase its competitiveness with fossil fuels are identified and discussed. - Highlights: • This paper reports on a study of the economic feasibility and environmental effects of co-firing biomass for electricity. • The feasibility of co-firing biomass varies by location depending on local availability of biomass and size of facility. • We apply a linear optimization model that generates economic and environmental indicators for each of several locations. • This paper will appeal to power generators, academic researchers and consultants interested in the feasibility of biopower

Utilization of Integrated Assessment Modeling for determining geologic CO2 storage security

Science.gov (United States)

Pawar, R.

2017-12-01

Geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been extensively studied as a potential technology to mitigate atmospheric concentration of CO2. Multiple international research & development efforts, large-scale demonstration and commercial projects are helping advance the technology. One of the critical areas of active investigation is prediction of long-term CO2 storage security and risks. A quantitative methodology for predicting a storage site's long-term performance is critical for making key decisions necessary for successful deployment of commercial scale projects where projects will require quantitative assessments of potential long-term liabilities. These predictions are challenging given that they require simulating CO2 and in-situ fluid movements as well as interactions through the primary storage reservoir, potential leakage pathways (such as wellbores, faults, etc.) and shallow resources such as groundwater aquifers. They need to take into account the inherent variability and uncertainties at geologic sites. This talk will provide an overview of an approach based on integrated assessment modeling (IAM) to predict long-term performance of a geologic storage site including, storage reservoir, potential leakage pathways and shallow groundwater aquifers. The approach utilizes reduced order models (ROMs) to capture the complex physical/chemical interactions resulting due to CO2 movement and interactions but are computationally extremely efficient. Applicability of the approach will be demonstrated through examples that are focused on key storage security questions such as what is the probability of leakage of CO2 from a storage reservoir? how does storage security vary for different geologic environments and operational conditions? how site parameter variability and uncertainties affect storage security, etc.

The current status of HANARO utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hark Rho; Lee, Choong Sung; Sohn, Jae Min; Park, Kyung Bae

2003-01-01

The HANARO (High-flux Advanced Neutron Application Research Reactor) is now operating at 24 MW to meet the user's demands in a variety of utilization fields. The most active field is the neutron scattering and diffraction using the currently available HRPD (High Resolution Powder Diffraction), FCD (Four Circle Diffraction), RSI (Residual Stress Instrument), and SANS (Small Angle Neutron Scattering). Using these instruments, we have been investigating such characteristics as materials' crystal structure and phase transition, residual stress, texture, and hard and soft matters. Through examination and inspection of the test specimens, NRF (Neutron Radiography Facility) is contributing to such fields as the nuclear industry, ordnance industry, aerospace industry, and archaeology. The second utilization field is the fuel and material irradiation test. KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) has developed atomized fuel powder and provided it to USA, France and Argentina. Under the RERTR program, KAERI has been contributing to the development of research reactor fuels of better quality. To test the reactor materials and fuels, instrumented and non-instrumented capsules are widely being used. To produce and supply RIs and pharmaceuticals for medical and industrial purposes, HANARO and its RIPF (Radioisotope Production Facility) has been fully complying with demands so that the national welfare might be enhanced by our efforts. NAA (Neutron Activation Analysis) is assisting the nuclear industry, environmental research and the promotion of the health area. To support all active utilizations, HANARO operators have been making every effort to not only improve the systems, if needed, but also to avoid the inadvertent reactor trip. Based upon this stable neutron supply, we have been developing and expanding the utilization fields and facilities. The PNS(Polarized Neutron Spectrometer) is under construction and the reflectometer is in preparation. The BNCT(Boron Neutron

Utilization of Volatile Organic Compounds as an Alternative for Destructive Abatement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Satu Ojala

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOC emissions is a necessity of today. The catalytic treatment has already proven to be environmentally and economically sound technology for the total oxidation of the VOCs. However, in certain cases, it may also become economical to utilize these emissions in some profitable way. Currently, the most common way to utilize the VOC emissions is their use in energy production. However, interesting possibilities are arising from the usage of VOCs in hydrogen and syngas production. Production of chemicals from VOC emissions is still mainly at the research stage. However, few commercial examples exist. This review will summarize the commercially existing VOC utilization possibilities, present the utilization applications that are in the research stage and introduce some novel ideas related to the catalytic utilization possibilities of the VOC emissions. In general, there exist a vast number of possibilities for VOC utilization via different catalytic processes, which creates also a good research potential for the future.

Effect of pulse frequency and current density on anomalous composition and nanomechanical property of electrodeposited Ni-Co films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chung, C.K., E-mail: ckchung@mail.ncku.edu.t [Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701 (China); Chang, W.T. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan 701 (China)

2009-07-01

Effect of pulse frequency and current density on the anomalous cobalt content and nanomechanical property of the electrodeposited nickel-cobalt (Ni-Co) films has been investigated. The composition, morphology, phase and hardness of the Ni-Co alloy films were examined by scanning electron microscope with an attached energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope, X-ray diffraction and nanoindentation techniques, respectively. The different Co composition of the Ni-Co films codeposited from the fixed sulfamate-chloride bath is subject to the pulse frequencies and current densities. The frequencies varied from 0 to 100 Hz and current densities varied from 1 to 20 ASD (ampere per square decimeter). The Co composition has no significant variation in pulse electrodeposition but it is greatly influenced by current densities from 22.53% at 1 ASD decreased to 13.39% at 20 ASD under DC codeposition. The mean hardness of Ni-Co films has no eminent change at a pulse frequency of 10-100 Hz but it decreases with current densities from 8.72 GPa (1 ASD) to 7.13 GPa (20 ASD). The smoother morphology can be obtained at higher pulse frequency or lower current density. Good Ni-Co films with high hardness and smooth morphology can be obtained by reducing current density and increasing pulse frequency.

Energy, Environmental, and Economic Analyses of Design Concepts for the Co-Production of Fuels and Chemicals with Electricity via Co-Gasification of Coal and Biomass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eric Larson; Robert Williams; Thomas Kreutz; Ilkka Hannula; Andrea Lanzini; Guangjian Liu

2012-03-11

The overall objective of this project was to quantify the energy, environmental, and economic performance of industrial facilities that would coproduce electricity and transportation fuels or chemicals from a mixture of coal and biomass via co-gasification in a single pressurized, oxygen-blown, entrained-flow gasifier, with capture and storage of CO{sub 2} (CCS). The work sought to identify plant designs with promising (Nth plant) economics, superior environmental footprints, and the potential to be deployed at scale as a means for simultaneously achieving enhanced energy security and deep reductions in U.S. GHG emissions in the coming decades. Designs included systems using primarily already-commercialized component technologies, which may have the potential for near-term deployment at scale, as well as systems incorporating some advanced technologies at various stages of R&D. All of the coproduction designs have the common attribute of producing some electricity and also of capturing CO{sub 2} for storage. For each of the co-product pairs detailed process mass and energy simulations (using Aspen Plus software) were developed for a set of alternative process configurations, on the basis of which lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, Nth plant economic performance, and other characteristics were evaluated for each configuration. In developing each set of process configurations, focused attention was given to understanding the influence of biomass input fraction and electricity output fraction. Self-consistent evaluations were also carried out for gasification-based reference systems producing only electricity from coal, including integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and integrated gasification solid-oxide fuel cell (IGFC) systems. The reason biomass is considered as a co-feed with coal in cases when gasoline or olefins are co-produced with electricity is to help reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for these systems. Storing biomass-derived CO

Value chain analysis of CO2 storage by using the Ecco tool: Storage economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Loeve, D.; Bos, C.; Chitu, A.; Loveseth, S.; Wahl, P.E.; Coussy, P.; Eickhoff, C.

2013-01-01

The ECCO Tool [1, 2] has been developed in the “ECCO – European value chain for CO2” project [3]. ECCO was a collaborating project under the 7th framework programme for research of the EU. The ECCO Tool is a software program designed to evaluate quantitatively the post-tax economics of Carbon

adjustment policies and current account behaviour: empirical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DJFLEX

2009-10-15

Oct 15, 2009 ... test, co-integration test and the variance decomposition and impulse response function. The variance ... economic performance and the external account. In the ... net impacts of the financial deepening and monetary credibility on .... profitability. In terms of .... cadgdp = the ratio of current account to GDP.

CO2 emissions, natural gas and renewables, economic growth: Assessing the evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Kangyin; Sun, Renjin; Dong, Xiucheng

2018-05-31

This study aims to test the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in China by developing a new framework based on the suggestion of Narayan and Narayan (2010). The dynamic effect of natural gas and renewable energy consumption on CO 2 emissions is also analyzed. Considering the structural break observed in the sample, a series of econometric techniques allowing for structural breaks is utilized for the period 1965-2016. The empirical results confirm the existence of the EKC for CO 2 emissions in China. Furthermore, in both the long-run and the short-run, the beneficial effects of natural gas and renewables on CO 2 emission reduction are observable. In addition, the mitigation effect of natural gas on CO 2 emissions will be weakened over time, while renewables will become progressively more important. Finally, policy suggestions are highlighted not only for mitigating CO 2 emissions, but also for promoting growth in the natural gas and renewable energy industries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of Co-Current and Counter-Current Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Through Packed Bed in Microgravity

Science.gov (United States)

Revankar, Shripad T.

2002-11-01

The main goal of the project is to obtain new experimental data and development of models on the co-current and counter-current gas-liquid two-phase flow through a packed bed in microgravity and characterize the flow regime transition, pressure drop, void and interfacial area distribution, and liquid hold up. Experimental data will be obtained for earth gravity and microgravity conditions. Models will be developed for the prediction of flow regime transition, void fraction distribution and interfacial area concentration, which are key parameters to characterize the packed bed performance. Thus the specific objectives of the proposed research are to: (1) Develop experiments for the study of the gas liquid two-phase flow through the packed bed with three different flow combinations: co-current down flow, co-current upflow and counter current flow. (2) Develop pore scale and bed scale two-phase instrumentation for measurement of flow regime transition, void distribution and gas-liquid interfacial area concentration in the packed bed. (3) Obtain database on flow regime transition, pressure drop, void distribution, interfacial area concentration and liquid hold up as a function of bed characteristics such as bed particle size, porosity, and liquid properties such as viscosity and surface tension. (4) Develop mathematical model for flow regime transition, void fraction distribution and interfacial area concentration for co-current gas-liquid flow through the porous bed in gravity and micro gravity conditions.(4) Develop mathematical model for the flooding phenomena in counter-current gas-liquid flow through the porous bed in gravity and micro gravity conditions. The present proposal addresses the most important topic of HEDS-specific microgravity fluid physics research identified by NASA 's one of the strategic enterprises, OBPR Enterprise. The proposed project is well defined and makes efficient use of the ground-based parabolic flight research aircraft facility. The

Indirect thermal control for improved reliability of Modular Multilevel Converter by utilizing circulating current

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dowlatabadi, Mohammadkazem Bakhshizadeh; Ma, Ke; Loh, Poh Chiang

2015-01-01

semiconductor devices are comprehensively investigated. Also a novel control strategy by utilizing the circulating current is proposed to enhance the reliability performance of MMC in order to limit the amplitude of thermal cycles. It is concluded that the circulating current may change the losses and thermal...

Ultrafast demagnetization enhancement in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunneling junction driven by spin tunneling current.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Wei; Zhu, Tao; Zhang, Xiang-Qun; Yang, Hai-Tao; Cheng, Zhao-Hua

2013-10-07

The laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunneling junction is exploited by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TRMOKE) for both the parallel state (P state) and the antiparallel state (AP state) of the magnetizations between two magnetic layers. It was observed that the demagnetization time is shorter and the magnitude of demagnetization is larger in the AP state than those in the P state. These behaviors are attributed to the ultrafast spin transfer between two CoFeB layers via the tunneling of hot electrons through the MgO barrier. Our observation indicates that ultrafast demagnetization can be engineered by the hot electrons tunneling current. It opens the door to manipulate the ultrafast spin current in magnetic tunneling junctions.

Economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Sweden 1800-2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kander, Astrid

2002-01-01

Large transformations of technologies have occurred in the Swedish economy during the last two centuries, resulting in higher income, better quality of products and changing composition of GDP. An agrarian society has given way to an industrial society and lately to a post-industrial phase. The energy supply systems have changed, from traditional energy carriers, such as firewood and muscle energy to modern carriers like coal, oil and electricity, with effects on CO 2 emissions. Not only the energy supply has gone through fundamental changes, but also forest management, which affects the net emissions of CO 2 . The interrelations of growth, energy and CO 2 are analyzed in this thesis, which uses standard calculations, relative price analyses and energy quality factors, to determine the relative effects of structural and technical changes, including changes in energy carrier composition to explain the long term delinking of energy consumption, CO 2 emissions and economic growth that takes place. Technical change is the main reason of energy intensity decline. Total factor productivity gains, including improvements in technical energy efficiency, saves energy in relation to output. The most spectacular energy savings took place in the sectors transportation, communications and industry. Structural changes at the sector level tended to increase energy intensity between 1870 and 1970. No correlation was found between increasing energy quality and decreasing energy intensity, but energy quality may have had an impact on economic growth rates. The consumers' surplus was exceptionally high during the interwar period and the three decades after the Second World War, and the total energy quality was outstanding during the latter period. The most rapid relative decline in energy intensity took place between 1970 and 2000. In this period structural changes at the sector level no longer worked to increase energy intensity and the new growth direction of the third industrial

DUPIC fuel cycle economics assessment (1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, H. B.; Roh, G. H.; Kim, D. H.

1999-04-01

This is a state-of-art report that describes the current status of the DUPIC fuel cycle economics analysis conducted by the DUPIC fuel compatibility assessment group of the DUPIC fuel development project. For the DUPIC fuel cycle economics analysis, the DUPIC fuel compatibility assessment group has organized the 1st technical meeting composed of 8 domestic specialists from government, academy, industry, etc. and a foreign specialist of hot-cell design from TRI on July 16, 1998. This report contains the presentation material of the 1st technical meeting, published date used for the economics analysis and opinions of participants, which could be utilized for further DUPIC fuel cycle and back-end fuel cycle economics analyses. (author). 11 refs., 7 charts

Decoupling between CO2 emissions and economic growth in Brazil and in other countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla Nogueira Patrão de Aquino

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to examine the change in behavior between CO2 emissions and the world economic growth in the years 2013 and 2014 which may represent decoupling, and, thus,  contribute to the debate on alternative forms of reducing greenhouse effect. We established the 1990-2014 period as time axis because it presents two inflections in the growth curve of global CO2 emissions: one associated with the 2008 world crisis; and the other starting in 2013, discussed in this article. We selected six countries: the United States, Japan, Brazil, China, India, and Russia. In common, they share the same amount of CO2 emissions in world production. As a result, we identified changes related to the vectors gross domestic product and global CO2 emissions, favoring gas emissions reduction, as behavioral reflection of these two variables in the investigated countries which, if confirmed, points to structural changes between these two variables.

Studies of S-CO{sub 2} Power Plant Pipe Design for Small Modular Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Min Seok; Ahn, Yoon Han; Lee, Jeong Ik [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

If SFR can be developed into the economical small modular reactor (SMR) for an export from Korea, the expected value can be greater. However, current SFR design may face difficulty in public acceptance due to the potential hazard from sodium-water reaction (SWR) when the current conventional steam Rankine cycle is utilized as a power conversion system for a SFR. In order to eliminate SWR, the Supercritical CO{sub 2} (S-CO{sub 2}) cycle has been proposed. Although there are many researches on S-CO{sub 2} cycle concept and turbomachinery, very few research works considered pipe selection criteria for the S-CO{sub 2} cycle. As one of the most important parts of the plant, this paper will discuss how to select a suitable pipe considering thermal expansion for the S-CO{sub 2} power plant and perform a conceptual design of SFR type SMR. The S-CO{sub 2} cycle can improve the safety of SFR as preventing the SWR by changing the working fluid. Additionally, not only the relatively high efficiency with 450-750 .deg. C turbine inlet temperature, but also the physically compact footprint are advantages of the S-CO{sub 2} cycle. However the pipe design is more complicated than existing power plant because it has high pressure and temperature conditions and needs high mass flow rate. By designing the piping system for a small modular -SFR, the compactness and simplicity of the S-CO{sub 2} cycle are re-confirmed. Moreover, in this paper, realistic and safe pipe design was conducted by considering thermal expansion in the high pressure and temperature conditions. Although total pipe pressure drop is somewhat high, the cycle thermal efficiency is still higher than the existing steam Rankine cycle. Additional study for a larger system such as 300MW class system in MIT report will be conducted in the future study. From the preliminary estimation when the S-CO{sub 2} system becomes large, the pipe diameter may exceed the current ASME standard. This means that more innovative approach

Energy development and CO₂ emissions in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xi, Xiaolin [Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

1993-03-01

The objective of this research is to provide a better understanding of future Chinese energy development and CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. This study examines the current Chinese energy system, estimates CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels and projects future energy use and resulting CO₂ emissions up to the year of 2050. Based on the results of the study, development strategies are proposed and policy implications are explored. This study first develops a Base scenario projection of the Chinese energy development based upon a sectoral analysis. The Base scenario represents a likely situation of future development, but many alternatives are possible. To explore this range of alternatives, a systematic uncertainty analysis is performed. The Base scenario also represents an extrapolation of current policies and social and economic trends. As such, it is not necessarily the economically optimal future course for Chinese energy development. To explore this issue, an optimization analysis is performed. For further understanding of developing Chinese energy system and reducing CO₂ emissions, a Chinese energy system model with 84 supply and demand technologies has been constructed in MARKAL, a computer LP optimization program for energy systems. Using this model, various technological options and economic aspects of energy development and CO₂ emissions reduction in China during the 1985-2020 period are examined.

Economic scale of utilization of radiation (I): Industry. Comparison between Japan and the U.S.A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tagawa, Seiichi; Kashiwagi, Masayuki; Kamada, Toshimitsu; Sekiguchi, Masayuki; Hosobuchi, Kazunari; Tominaga, Hiroshi; Ooka, Norikazu; Makuuchi, Keizo

2002-01-01

Utilization of radiation in the industrial field has been enlarged due to the variety of technologies. In the present paper, the economic scale between the U.S.A. and Japan is compared with selected industrial parameters such as sterilization, semiconductors, radiographic testing (RT) and radial tire production because the very large industrial markets make a whole comparison difficult. The economic scale revealed was about 56b$ (1$=121 yen) for the U.S.A. and 39b$ for Japan. The former is large in magnitude by a factor of 1.4. With respect to the relative ratio versus the GDP, the former was 0.7% and 0.9% for the latter. This implied that utilization of radiation in industry is large in magnitude and is expected to be further developed. Regarding electron beam (EB) accelerators, for example, 648 units were installed in North America and 308 units for Japan during the past 29 years. The large number of the former is attributed to use in curing and heat shrinkable tubes (film). (author)

Techno-economic analysis for the evaluation of three UCG synthesis gas end use approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Nakaten, Natalie; Kempka, Thomas; Burchart-Korol, Dorota; Krawczyk, Piotr; Kapusta, Krzysztof; Stańczyk, Krzysztof

2016-04-01

Underground coal gasification (UCG) enables the utilization of coal reserves that are economically not exploitable because of complex geological boundary conditions. In the present study we investigate UCG as a potential economic approach for conversion of deep-seated coals into a synthesis gas and its application within three different utilization options. Related to geological boundary conditions and the chosen gasification agent, UCG synthesis gas composes of varying methane, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide amounts. In accordance to its calorific value, the processed UCG synthesis gas can be utilized in different manners, as for electricity generation in a combined cycle power plant or for feedstock production making use of its various chemical components. In the present study we analyze UCG synthesis gas utilization economics in the context of clean electricity generation with an integrated carbon capture and storage process (CCS) as well as synthetic fuel and fertilizer production (Kempka et al., 2010) based on a gas composition achieved during an in situ UCG trial in the Wieczorek Mine. Hereby, we also consider chemical feedstock production in order to mitigate CO2 emissions. Within a sensitivity analysis of UCG synthesis gas calorific value variations, we produce a range of capital and operational expenditure bandwidths that allow for an economic assessment of different synthesis gas end use approaches. To carry out the integrated techno-economic assessment of the coupled systems and the sensitivity analysis, we adapted the techno-economic UCG-CCS model developed by Nakaten et al. (2014). Our techno-economic modeling results demonstrate that the calorific value has a high impact on the economics of UCG synthesis gas utilization. In the underlying study, the synthesis gas is not suitable for an economic competitive electricity generation, due to the relatively low calorific value of 4.5 MJ/Nm³. To be a profitable option for electricity

Inequality aspects of alternative CO2 agreement designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welsch, Heinz

1992-01-01

In recent years, the expected climate change, due to the atmospheric accumulation of CO 2 and other trace gases, has become an increasingly important issue in energy policy. Given the important contribution of CO 2 to the greenhouse effect, and the global character of the problem, an international agreement on curbing CO 2 emissions is under current consideration. The design of such an agreement inevitably raises significant questions of equity and efficiency. In the international political debate, most emphasis is generally put on the distributive aspect. Interestingly, the discussion usually focuses on equity in terms of the distribution of emissions. From an economic perspective, it appears more natural to address the equity issue from the point of view of income. It is obvious that a given degree of abatement can have dramatically different economic effects in different countries. Of course, this aspect is implicitly at the centre of all CO 2 related equity considerations. In what follows, this issue will be addressed explicitly, by examining the applicability and the implications of various economic approaches to distributive justice. (author)

The impact of economic recession on CO2 emissions: a large diminution in 2009, what evolution for 2010-2011?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

Based on the evolution of economic growth, of the GDP, and of CO 2 emissions over the past years, and on the observation of the relationship between these data and indicators, and within the context of an economic recession which should result in a reduction of activity and therefore of CO 2 emissions, this paper tries to define scenarios for 2010 and 2011. The author outlines that some other factors may influence these evolutions, for instance the climate conditions, but also the reduction of investments which could result in a slowdown of the diffusion of new technologies and the improvement of energy efficiency

Integration of the steam cycle and CO2 capture process in a decarbonization power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Gang; Hu, Yue; Tang, Baoqiang; Yang, Yongping; Zhang, Kai; Liu, Wenyi

2014-01-01

A new integrated system with power generation and CO 2 capture to achieve higher techno-economic performance is proposed in this study. In the new system, three measures are adopted to recover the surplus energy from the CO 2 capture process. The three measures are as follows: (1) using a portion of low-pressure steam instead of high-pressure extracted steam by installing the steam ejector, (2) mixing a portion of flash-off water with the extracted steam to utilize the superheat degree of the extracted steam, and (3) recycling the low-temperature waste heat from the CO 2 capture process to heat the condensed water. As a result, the power output of the new integrated system is 107.61 MW higher than that of a decarbonization power plant without integration. The efficiency penalty of CO 2 capture is expected to decrease by 4.91%-points. The increase in investment produced by the new system is 3.25 M$, which is only 0.88% more than the total investment of a decarbonization power plant without integration. Lastly, the cost of electricity and CO 2 avoided is 15.14% and 33.1% lower than that of a decarbonization power generation without integration, respectively. The promising results obtained in this study provide a new approach for large-scale CO 2 removal with low energy penalty and economic cost. - Highlights: • Energy equilibrium in CO 2 capture process is deeply analyzed in this paper. • System integration is conducted in a coal-fired power plant with CO 2 capture. • The steam ejector is introduced to utilize the waste energy from CO 2 capture process. • Thermodynamic, exergy and techno-economic analyses are quantitatively conducted. • Energy-saving effects are found in the new system with minimal investment

Oligarchic forests of economic plants in amazonia: utilization and conservation of an important tropical resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, C M; Balick, M J; Kahn, F; Anderson, A B

1989-12-01

Tropical forests dominated by only one or two tree species occupy tens of millions of hectares in Ammonia In many cases, the dominant species produce fruits, seeds, or oils of economic importance. Oligarchic (Gr. oligo = few, archic = dominated or ruled by) forests of six economic species, i. e., Euterpe oleracea, Grias peruviana, Jessenia bataua, Mauritia flexuosa, Myrciaria dubia, and Orbignya phalerata, were studied in Brazil and Peru Natural populations of these species contain from 100 to 3,000 conspecific adult trees/ha and produce up to 11.1 metric tons of fruit/hd/yr. These plant populations are utilized and occasionally managed, by rural inhabitants in the region. Periodic fruit harvests, if properly controlled have only a minimal impact on forest structure and function, yet can generate substantial economic returns Market-oriented extraction of the fruits produced by oligarchic forests appears to represent a promising alternative for reconciling the development and conservation of Amazonian forests.

Technical, economic and environmental potential of co-firing of biomass in coal and natural gas fired power plants in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Ree, R.; Korbee, R.; Eenkhoorn, S.; De Lange, T.; Groenendaal, B.

2000-01-01

In this paper the technical, economic, and environmental potential of co-firing of biomass in existing Dutch coal and natural gas fired power plants, and industrial combined-cycles (CC), is addressed. Main criteria that are considered are: the availability and contractibility of biomass for energy purposes; the (technical) operation of the conventional fossil fuel based processes may not be disturbed; the gaseous and liquid plant emissions have to comply to those applicable for power plants/CCs, the commercial applicability of the solid residues may not be negatively influenced; applicable additional biomass conversion technologies must be commercially available; the necessary additional investment costs must be acceptable from an economic point of view, and the co-firing option must result in a substantial CO 2 -emission reduction. The main result of the study described in the paper is the presentation of a clear and founded indication of the total co-firing potential of biomass in existing power plants and industrial CCs in the Netherlands. This potential is determined by considering both technical, economic, and environmental criteria. In spite of the fact that the co-firing potential for the specific Dutch situation is presented, the results of the criteria considered are more generally applicable, and therefore are also very interesting for potential co-firing initiatives outside of the Netherlands

Predicting Trophic Interactions and Habitat Utilization in the California Current Ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-30

Foraging patterns: model-data comparison . Simulated (colored circles) and observed (black circles) foraging locations for male sea lion individuals off...focusing on trophic interactions affecting habitat utilization and foraging patterns of California sea lions (CSL) in the California Current Large Marine...by considering patterns of covariability between environmental variables (e.g., temperature, primary production) and foraging patterns and success of

Economic evaluation and market analysis for natural gas utilization. Topical report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hackworth, J.H.; Koch, R.W.; Rezaiyan, A.J.

1995-04-01

During the past decade, the U.S. has experienced a surplus gas supply. Future prospects are brightening because of increased estimates of the potential size of undiscovered gas reserves. At the same time, U.S. oil reserves and production have steadily declined, while oil imports have steadily increased. Reducing volume growth of crude oil imports was a key objective of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Natural gas could be an important alternative energy source to liquid products derived from crude oil to help meet market demand. The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze three energy markets to determine whether greater use could be made of natural gas or its derivatives and (2) determine whether those products could be provided on an economically competitive basis. The following three markets were targeted for possible increases in gas use: transportation fuels, power generation, and chemical feedstock. Gas-derived products that could potentially compete in these three markets were identified, and the economics of the processes for producing those products were evaluated. The processes considered covered the range from commercial to those in early stages of process development. The analysis also evaluated the use of both high-quality natural gas and lower-quality gases containing CO 2 and N 2 levels above normal pipeline quality standards

Structural evolution of utility systems and its implications for photovoltaic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iannucci, J.J.; Shugar, D.S.

1993-01-01

Photovoltaics (PV) differ substantially from the central generating stations traditionally employed by utilities. PV utilizes a fuel which disappears nightly, operating only while the sun shines. It has the potential of being highly reliable while requiring low levels of operating and maintenance attention, and it can be deployed in a highly modular fashion close to load. It is precisely these differences that give rise to PV's greatest opportunities in successfully entering the utility market. The purpose of this paper is to explore an emerging utility paradigm, the Distributed Utility concept, and how utilities might change their current planning and resource selection processes to take advantage of it, both to the betterment of the PV industry and the utility's customers. Out of this exploration emerges the photovoltaics Diffusion Model strategy that bridges the gap from currently economic stand-alone special applications of PV in utility operations to bulk power production. (author). 12 refs, 5 figs

Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Utility Credit Design for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

A current trend in funding urban stormwater programs relies on the issuance of stormwater utilities (i.e., fees) based on some measure of impervious surface (e.g., actual, estimated, average), and local programs vary greatly, dependent upon state law, municipal ordinances, and co...

Economic Valuation on Change of Tourism Quality in Rawapening, Indonesia: An Application of Random Utility Method

Science.gov (United States)

Subanti, S.; Irawan, B. R. M. B.; Sasongko, G.; Hakim, A. R.

2017-04-01

This study aims to determine the profit (loss) earned economic actors tourism activities if the condition or quality of tourism in Rawapening be improved (deteriorated). Change condition or quality can be seen by traveling expenses, natural environment, Japanese cultural performances, and traditional markets. The method used to measure changes in the economic benefits or economic loss with a random utility approach. The study was found that travel cost, natural environment, Japanese cultural performances, and traditional markets have significant factors about respondent preferences to choose the change of tourism condition. The value of compensation received by visitors as a result of changes in conditions improved by 2,932 billion, while the change in the condition worsens by 2,628 billion. Recommendation of this study is the local government should consider environmental factors in the formulation of tourism development in Rawapening.

Economic viability of large-scale fusion systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helsley, Charles E., E-mail: cehelsley@fusionpowercorporation.com; Burke, Robert J.

2014-01-01

A typical modern power generation facility has a capacity of about 1 GWe (Gigawatt electric) per unit. This works well for fossil fuel plants and for most fission facilities for it is large enough to support the sophisticated generation infrastructure but still small enough to be accommodated by most utility grid systems. The size of potential fusion power systems may demand a different viewpoint. The compression and heating of the fusion fuel for ignition requires a large driver, even if it is necessary for only a few microseconds or nanoseconds per energy pulse. The economics of large systems, that can effectively use more of the driver capacity, need to be examined. The assumptions used in this model are specific for the Fusion Power Corporation (FPC) SPRFD process but could be generalized for any system. We assume that the accelerator is the most expensive element of the facility and estimate its cost to be $20 billion. Ignition chambers and fuel handling facilities are projected to cost $1.5 billion each with up to 10 to be serviced by one accelerator. At first this seems expensive but that impression has to be tempered by the energy output that is equal to 35 conventional nuclear plants. This means the cost per kWh is actually low. Using the above assumptions and industry data for generators and heat exchange systems, we conclude that a fully utilized fusion system will produce marketable energy at roughly one half the cost of our current means of generating an equivalent amount of energy from conventional fossil fuel and/or fission systems. Even fractionally utilized systems, i.e. systems used at 25% of capacity, can be cost effective in many cases. In conclusion, SPRFD systems can be scaled to a size and configuration that can be economically viable and very competitive in today's energy market. Electricity will be a significant element in the product mix but synthetic fuels and water may also need to be incorporated to make the large system

Economic viability of large-scale fusion systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helsley, Charles E.; Burke, Robert J.

2014-01-01

A typical modern power generation facility has a capacity of about 1 GWe (Gigawatt electric) per unit. This works well for fossil fuel plants and for most fission facilities for it is large enough to support the sophisticated generation infrastructure but still small enough to be accommodated by most utility grid systems. The size of potential fusion power systems may demand a different viewpoint. The compression and heating of the fusion fuel for ignition requires a large driver, even if it is necessary for only a few microseconds or nanoseconds per energy pulse. The economics of large systems, that can effectively use more of the driver capacity, need to be examined. The assumptions used in this model are specific for the Fusion Power Corporation (FPC) SPRFD process but could be generalized for any system. We assume that the accelerator is the most expensive element of the facility and estimate its cost to be $20 billion. Ignition chambers and fuel handling facilities are projected to cost $1.5 billion each with up to 10 to be serviced by one accelerator. At first this seems expensive but that impression has to be tempered by the energy output that is equal to 35 conventional nuclear plants. This means the cost per kWh is actually low. Using the above assumptions and industry data for generators and heat exchange systems, we conclude that a fully utilized fusion system will produce marketable energy at roughly one half the cost of our current means of generating an equivalent amount of energy from conventional fossil fuel and/or fission systems. Even fractionally utilized systems, i.e. systems used at 25% of capacity, can be cost effective in many cases. In conclusion, SPRFD systems can be scaled to a size and configuration that can be economically viable and very competitive in today's energy market. Electricity will be a significant element in the product mix but synthetic fuels and water may also need to be incorporated to make the large system economically

The current Russian model of social development, and economic growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V V Paramonov

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Although the Article 7 of the Constitution of Russia adopted in 1993 defines the country as a social state, the contemporary social and economic situation is significantly different from this declaration. The author considers the current situation focusing on the foundations of the welfare state. The indicators of social inequality and stratification that allow to identify the country as a social state prove the widening gap between the rich and poor. In recent years, nothing has been done to achieve the more equitable distribution of income and national wealth, which led to the further growth of social inequality exceeding the global indices. The author believes that the high level of social inequality negatively affects the economic growth. Based on the studies of Russian scientists he concludes that equal distribution of income provides higher rates of economic growth and prosperity of the country. The modified theory of the factors of production explains this interconnection, and adds a few more factors, including such a specific resource as sales market, to three factors introduced by J.B. Say at the beginning of the XIX century. The huge social inequality and, consequently, a significant number of the poor deprive the country of such an important resource. To change the situation, the author proposes to return to the progressive tax scale and introduce the zero rate of income tax for the poorest groups in order to create prerequisites for the growth of consumer demand under the economic crisis.

Acceptability of CO2 capture and storage. A review of legal, regulatory, economic and social aspects of CO2 capture and storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Coninck, H.C.; Groenenberg, H.; Anderson, J.; Curnow, P.; Flach, T.; Flagstad, O.A.; Norton, C.; Reiner, D.; Shackley, S.

2006-05-01

Capture and storage of CO2 (CCS) has been studied as an option in the portfolio of climate change mitigation strategies for about 20 years. Although the technical maturity of CCS is generally less than other mitigation options, such as renewable energy or energy efficiency, many of the CCS components are generally regarded as mature enough for deployment. CCS, however, has a number of other aspects that may inhibit its deployment. The aim of the ACCSEPT project is to identify the main gaps in knowledge in the non-technical aspects of CCS, to research them, and to propose recommendations to address them. Although in the recent past several large and influential reports have been published in the field of CCS, many of them have focussed on the technical aspects of CCS. The IPCC Special Report on CCS did not have the mandate to address policy aspects and could only touch upon public perception issues. An IEA report focussed on the costs and economic aspects of CCS and touched upon regulatory and risk issues, but was at the time of publication unable to dive deep into it. This report provides a critical literature review for the non-technical aspects of CCS in the following categories: (a) Legal issues: National and international legislation relevant to CCS. Examples include national drinking water and mining laws, and the London Convention (Chapter 2). (b) Regulatory issues: National and international policies in the field of energy or climate change that can act as support mechanisms for CCS (Chapter 3). (c) Costs and economics: Addresses the question whether the current costs assumed for CCS are interpreted correctly, and reviews the assumptions made in economic models informing the policymaking process (Chapter 4). (d) Social and acceptability issues: A review of all studies currently done that focus on public perception of CCS. Methods used are questionnaires with lay public, focal group discussions, and expert polls (Chapter 5). (e) Crosscutting issues: CCS as a

Enhancing the Teaching of Introductory Economics with a Team-Based, Multi-Section Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Beaudin, Laura; Berdiev, Aziz N.; Kaminaga, Allison Shwachman; Mirmirani, Sam; Tebaldi, Edinaldo

2017-01-01

The authors describe a unique approach to enhancing student learning at the introductory economics level that utilizes a multi-section, team-based competition. The competition is structured to supplement learning throughout the entire introductory course. Student teams are presented with current economic issues, trends, or events, and use economic…

Survey on utility technology of a tidal and ocean current energy

Science.gov (United States)

Hirose, Manabu; Kadoyu, Masataka; Tanaka, Hiroyoshi

1987-06-01

A study is made to show the current technological levels in Japan and other nations regarding the conversion of tidal current or ocean current energy to electric power and to determine the latent energy quantities and energy-related characteristics of tidal and ocean currents. In Japan, relatively large-scale experiments made so far mostly used one of the following three types of devices: Savonius-wheel type, Darrieus-wheel type, and cross-flow-wheel type. Field experiments of tidal energy conversion have been performed at the Naruto and Kurushima Straits. The energy in the Kuroshio current is estimated at about 170 billion kWh per year. Ocean current energy does not undergo large seasonal variations. The total energy in major straits and channels in the Inland Sea and other sea areas to the west is estimated at about 124 billion kWh per year. Tidal current energy shows large seasonal variations, but it is possible to predict the changes. A survey is made to determine energy-related characteristics of a tidal current at Chichino-seto, Kagoshima Prefecture. At Chichino-seto, the flow velocity ranges from 0 to 2.2m/s, with a latent tidal current energy of about 70 kW, of which about 20 kW can actually be utilized.

Current challenges in health economic modeling of cancer therapies: a research inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Jeffrey D; Foley, Kathleen A; Russell, Mason W

2014-05-01

The demand for economic models that evaluate cancer treatments is increasing, as healthcare decision makers struggle for ways to manage their budgets while providing the best care possible to patients with cancer. Yet, after nearly 2 decades of cultivating and refining techniques for modeling the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of cancer therapies, serious methodologic and policy challenges have emerged that question the adequacy of economic modeling as a sound decision-making tool in oncology. We sought to explore some of the contentious issues associated with the development and use of oncology economic models as informative tools in current healthcare decision-making. Our objective was to draw attention to these complex pharmacoeconomic concerns and to promote discussion within the oncology and health economics research communities. Using our combined expertise in health economics research and economic modeling, we structured our inquiry around the following 4 questions: (1) Are economic models adequately addressing questions relevant to oncology decision makers; (2) What are the methodologic limitations of oncology economic models; (3) What guidelines are followed for developing oncology economic models; and (4) Is the evolution of oncology economic modeling keeping pace with treatment innovation? Within the context of each of these questions, we discuss issues related to the technical limitations of oncology modeling, the availability of adequate data for developing models, and the problems with how modeling analyses and results are presented and interpreted. There is general acceptance that economic models are good, essential tools for decision-making, but the practice of oncology and its rapidly evolving technologies present unique challenges that make assessing and demonstrating value especially complex. There is wide latitude for improvement in oncology modeling methodologies and how model results are presented and interpreted. Complex technical and

Comparative study of Fischer–Tropsch production and post-combustion CO2 capture at an oil refinery: Economic evaluation and GHG (greenhouse gas emissions) balances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johansson, Daniella; Franck, Per-Åke; Pettersson, Karin; Berntsson, Thore

2013-01-01

The impact on CO 2 emissions of integrating new technologies (a biomass-to-Fischer–Tropsch fuel plant and a post-combustion CO 2 capture plant) with a complex refinery has previously been investigated separately by the authors. In the present study these designs are integrated with a refinery and evaluated from the point-of-view of economics and GHG (greenhouse gas emissions) emissions and are compared to a reference refinery. Stand-alone Fischer–Tropsch fuel production is included for comparison. To account for uncertainties in the future energy market, the assessment has been conducted for different future energy market conditions. For the post-combustion CO 2 capture process to be profitable, the present study stresses the importance of a high charge for CO 2 emission. A policy support for biofuels is essential for the biomass-to-Fischer–Tropsch fuel production to be profitable. The level of the support, however, differs depending on scenario. In general, a high charge for CO 2 economically favours Fischer–Tropsch fuel production, while a low charge for CO 2 economically favours Fischer–Tropsch fuel production. Integrated Fischer–Tropsch fuel production is most profitable in scenarios with a low wood fuel price. The stand-alone alternative shows no profitability in any of the studied scenarios. Moreover, the high investment costs make all the studied cases sensitive to variations in capital costs. - Highlights: • Comparison of Fischer–Tropsch (FT) fuel production and CO 2 capture at a refinery. • Subsidies for renewable fuels are essential for FT fuel production to be profitable. • A high charge for CO 2 is essential for post-combustion CO 2 capture to be profitable. • A low charge for CO 2 economically favours FT fuel production. • Of the studied cases, CO 2 capture shows the greatest reduction in GHG emissions

Plant concept of heat utilization of high temperature gas-cooled reactors. Co-generation and coal-gasification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tonogouchi, M.; Maeda, S.; Ide, A.

1996-01-01

In Japan, JAERI is now constructing the High temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) and the new era is coming for the development and utilization of HTR. Recognizing that the heat utilization of HTR would mitigate problems of environment and resources and contribute the effective use and steady supply of the energy, FAPIG organized a working group named 'HTR-HUC' to study the heat utilization of HTR in the field other than electric power generation. We chose three kinds of plants to study, 1) a co-generation plant in which the existing power units supplying steam and electricity can be replaced by a nuclear plant, 2) Coal gasification plant which can accelerate the clean use of coal and contribute stable supply of the energy and preservation of the environment in the world and 3) Hydrogen production plant which can help to break off the use of the new energy carrier HYDROGEN and will release people from the dependence of fossil energy. In this paper the former two plants, Co-generation chemical plant and Coal-gasification plant are focussed on. The main features, process flow and safety assessment of these plants are discussed. (J.P.N.)

Efficient energy utilization and environmental issues applied to power planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, Hector; Montero, Gisela; Perez, Carlos; Lambert, Alejandro

2011-01-01

This document shows the importance of policies for electric energy savings and efficient energy utilization in power planning. The contributions of economic, social, and environmental items were evaluated according to their financial effects in the delay of investments, reduction of production costs and decrement of environmental emissions. The case study is Baja California, Mexico; this system has a unique primary source: geothermal energy. Whether analyzing the planning as usual or planning from the supply side, the forecast for 2005-2025 indicates that 4500 MW additional installed capacity will be required (3-times current capacity), representing an investment that will emit 12.7 Mton per year of CO 2 to the atmosphere and will cost US$2.8 billion. Systemic planning that incorporates polices of energy savings and efficiency allows the reduction of investments and pollutant emissions. For example, a reduction of 20% in the growth trend of the electricity consumption in the industrial customers would save US$10.4 billion over the next 20 years, with a potential reduction of 1.6 Mton/year of CO 2 . The increase in geothermal power generation is also attractive, and it can be combined with the reduction of use and energy losses of utilities, which would save US$13.5 billion and prevent the discharge of 8.5 Mton/year of CO 2 . - Highlights: → We contrast power planning methods for supply electricity for economy development. → Importance of policies for electricity savings and efficient use in power planning. → Systemic planning facilitates decision-making process for electricity optimization. → Supply-side planning will cause climb in prices and loss of energy self-sufficiency. → Power planning should be immersed in an environment of appropriate energy policies.

The Current Status and Prospects of the Economic Relationship between North Korea and China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Myoungchul Cho

1998-06-01

Full Text Available After the socialist market collapse after 1990s, the economic relationship of North Korea and China is becoming closer. It can be proven by the fact that economic relationship between this two countries are transferring from the national trade model to various models such as border trade, agency trade, the illicit trade and investment aid. In this progress, North Korea rely China more than in 1990. But after 1992, the economic relationship is falling from the political priority as before, blind support and assistance based on the nature of the economic benefits to the rapid changes in relationship. This thesis reviewed economic relations in the world environment which has changed. First it analyzed the national economy and trade policies adopted in the current situation of two countries, and on this basis, it looked forward to the economic relationship between the two countries, and point out the measures regarding the relationship between two countries.

An economic study for the co-generation of liquid fuel and hydrogen from coal and municipal solid waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warren, A.; El-Halwagi, M.

1996-01-01

The objective of this paper is to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a new process for co-liquefying coal and plastic wastes. This assessment is based on incorporating recent experimental data on plastic/coal liquefaction within a conceptual process framework. A preliminary design was developed for two process configurations. The primary difference between the configurations is the source of hydrogen (coal versus cellulosic waste). The assessment was based on co-liquefying 720 tons per day of plastic waste with an equivalent amount of coal on a weight basis. The plant products include hydrocarbon gases, naphtha, jet fuel and diesel fuel. Material and energy balances along with plant-wide simulation were conducted for the process. Furthermore, the data on plastic-waste availability, disposal and economics have been compiled. The results from the economic analysis identify profitability criteria for gross profit and thus return on investment based on variable conversion, yield and tipping fee for plastic waste processed. 11 refs., 6 figs

Preliminary results of a techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture-network configurations in the industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berghout, N.A.; Kuramochi, T.; van den Broek, M.A.; Ramirez, C.A.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2013-01-01

This paper evaluated the techno economic performance of several CO2 capture-network configurations for a cluster of sixteen industrial plants in the Netherlands using bottom up analysis. Preliminary findings indicate that centralizing capture equipment instead of capture equipment at plant sites

Optimization of hydrothermal pretreatment for co-utilization C-5 and C-6 sugars of cassava alcohol residue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Huisheng; Lv, Chunliu; Zhang, Minhua; Liu, Shuangyan; Liu, Jiatao; Lian, Feng

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Cassava alcohol residue was first pretreated by hydrothermal reaction. • Hydrothermal pretreatment was optimized by RSM for co-utilization of C-5 and C-6 sugars. • The maximum xylose yield and the highest enzymatic digestibility were not obtained at the same conditions. • Optimum pretreatment conditions were at 193 °C, with 11.4% solids and for 51 min. • The optimal theoretical ethanol production was 69.5 mg/g raw materials by co-utilization of C-5 and C-6 sugars. - Abstract: Hydrothermal reaction was first applied to pretreat cassava alcohol residue for realizing the co-utilization of xylose and glucose to assume fermentation ethanol. This work focused on the influence of hydrothermal pretreatment conditions on ethanol production. Hydrothermal reaction was used to explore the maximum xylose and glucose yields, in respect to reaction temperature (120–240 °C), solid-liquid ratio (0.023–0.150) and reaction time (15–120 min). The results showed that the suitable conditions were at 180–200 °C, for 45–60 min and with 10–12.5% solids. In this range, the conjunct of xylose and glucose would reach the maximum, which can make full use of hemicellulose and cellulose in cassava alcohol residue. According to the results, respond surface methodology (RSM) based on Box-Behnken design was used to further optimize the three independent variables for the highest ethanol by co-utilization of xylose and glucose. RSM revealed that the effect of temperature on ethanol production was much more significant than the effect of reaction time and solid-liquid ratio, and the highest ethanol production was 70.6 mg/g that was close to the experiment value of 69.5 mg/g at 193 °C for 51 min and with 11.5% solids. Furthermore, the crystallinity and morphology of the untreated and pretreated cassava alcohol residue were investigated to assess the effect of hydrothermal pretreatment by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD

Economic Value of Li-ion Energy Storage System in Frequency Regulation Application from Utility Firm’s Perspective in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wonchang Hur

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Energy Storage Systems (ESSs have recently been highlighted because of their many benefits such as load-shifting, frequency regulation, price arbitrage, renewables, and so on. Among those benefits, we aim at evaluating their economic value in frequency regulation application. However, unlike previous literature focusing on profits obtained from participating in the ancillary service market, our approach concentrates on the cost reduction from the perspective of a utility firm that has an obligation to pay energy fees to a power exchange. More specifically, we focus on the payments between the power exchange market and the utility firm as a major source of economic benefits. The evaluation is done by cost- benefit analysis (CBA with a dataset of the Korean market while considering operational constraint costs as well as scheduled energy payments, and a simulation algorithm for the evaluation is provided. Our results show the potential for huge profits to be made by cost reduction. We believe that this research can provide a guideline for a utility firm considering investing in ESSs for frequency regulation application as a source of cost reduction.

Study of tunneling transport in Si-based tunnel field-effect transistors with ON current enhancement utilizing isoelectronic trap

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Takahiro; Morita, Yukinori; Miyata, Noriyuki; Migita, Shinji; Fukuda, Koichi; Mizubayashi, Wataru; Masahara, Meishoku; Yasuda, Tetsuji; Ota, Hiroyuki

2015-02-01

The temperature dependence of the tunneling transport characteristics of Si diodes with an isoelectronic impurity has been investigated in order to clarify the mechanism of the ON-current enhancement in Si-based tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) utilizing an isoelectronic trap (IET). The Al-N complex impurity was utilized for IET formation. We observed three types of tunneling current components in the diodes: indirect band-to-band tunneling (BTBT), trap-assisted tunneling (TAT), and thermally inactive tunneling. The indirect BTBT and TAT current components can be distinguished with the plot described in this paper. The thermally inactive tunneling current probably originated from tunneling consisting of two paths: tunneling between the valence band and the IET trap and tunneling between the IET trap and the conduction band. The probability of thermally inactive tunneling with the Al-N IET state is higher than the others. Utilization of the thermally inactive tunneling current has a significant effect in enhancing the driving current of Si-based TFETs.

Improving utilization of and retention in PMTCT services: can behavioral economics help?

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Nicholas Kenji; Buttenheim, Alison M

2013-10-10

The most recent strategic call to action of the World Health Organization sets the elimination of pediatric HIV as a goal. While recent efforts have focused on building infrastructure and ensuring access to high-quality treatment, we must now turn our focus to the behavior change needed to eliminate vertical transmission. We make the case for the application of concepts from the field of behavioral economics to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs to more effectively address demand-side issues of uptake and retention. We introduce five concepts from the field of behavioral economics and discuss their application to PMTCT programs: 1) Mentor mothers who come from similar circumstances as PMTCT patients can serve as social references who provide temporally salient modeling of utilization of services and adherence to treatment. 2) Economic incentives, like cell phone minutes or food vouchers, that reward adherence to PMTCT protocols leverage present bias, the observation that people are generally biased toward immediate versus future awards. 3) Default bias, our preference for the default option, is already being used in many countries in the form of opt-out testing, and could be expanded to all PMTCT programs. 4) We are hardwired to avoid loss more than to pursue an equivalent gain. PMTCT programs can take advantage of loss aversion through the use of commitment contracts that incentivize mothers to return to the clinic in order to avoid both reputational and financial loss. Eliminating vertical transmission of HIV is an ambitious goal. To close the remaining gap, innovations are needed to address demand for PMTCT services. Behavioral economics offers a set of tools that can be engineered into PMTCT programs to increase uptake and improve retention with minimal investment.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development's International Early Learning Study: What Happened Next

Science.gov (United States)

Moss, Peter; Urban, Mathias

2017-01-01

In this article, the authors provide an update on what has happened over recent months with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's proposal for an International Early Learning Study, and review responses to the proposed International Early Learning Study, including the concerns that have been raised about this new venture in…

Design and Implementation of a CO2 Flood Utilizing Advanced Reservoir Characterization and Horizontal Injection Wells In a Shallow Shelf Carbonate Approaching Waterflood Depletion, Class II; ANNUAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czirr, K.L.; Gaddis, M.P.; Moshell, M.K.

2002-01-01

The principle objective of this project is to demonstrate the economic viability and widespread applicability of an innovative reservoir management and carbon dioxide (CO2) flood project development approach for improving CO2 flood project economics in shallow shelf carbonate (SSC) reservoirs

Reduction of waveform distortion in grid-injection current from single-phase utility interactive PV-inverter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamid, Muhammad Imran; Jusoh, Awang

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A reduction scheme for harmonics from utility interactive PV-inverter is proposed. • Single-phase conditioner with 3-phase expandability structure is used. • The single-phase conditioner in 3-phase structure work independently. • The scheme works effectively within overall operation range of the PV-inverter. • Conditioner in the scheme also improves the PV-inverter and plant’s utility factor. - Abstract: As the natural behavior of energy source and design characteristic, the current generated by a grid-interactive PV-inverter may contain harmonics. This distortion component will be carried on from the PV-inverter during injection power into the grid. Excessive harmonics in a grid will lead to a variety of power quality problems. This paper presents a distortion reduction scheme, utilizing a fed forward single-phase, generation-side power conditioner with a structure that can be expanded for use in a three-phase system and can work independently under imbalanced condition. Conditioner is placed in parallel with the photovoltaic plant and it functions to compensate the plant’s output current distortion, so that the total current flow to the grid is sinusoidal. This method also includes the implementation of a simpler control system for the conditioner, which consists of a combination of distortion current extraction, synchronization and a current control system, and realized through a TMS320F28335: a 150 MHz floating point DSP controller. Testing of the conditioner prototype, which was conducted on a real operation of a PV plant, showed that the scheme worked effectively within the overall operation range of the PV plant. This paper also discusses the potential of utility factor improvement of the PV-inverter and plant due to implementation of conditioner in the scheme

Incentive regulation of nuclear power plants by state Public Utility Commissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, R.L.; Olson, J.; Hendrickson, P.

1989-12-01

Economic performance incentives established by state Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) currently are applicable to the construction or operation of approximately 73 nuclear power reactors owned by 27 utilities with investment greater than 10% in 18 states. The NRC staff monitors development of the incentives and periodically provides an updated report on all nuclear plant incentives to its headquarters and regional offices. The staff maintains contact with the PUCs and the utilities responsible for implementing the incentives in order to obtain the updated information and to consider potential safety effects of the incentives. This report on incentive regulation of nuclear power plants by state PUCs presents the NRC staff's concerns on potential safety effects of economic performance incentives. It also includes a plant-by-plant survey that describes the mechanics of each incentive and discusses the financial effects of the incentive on the utility-owner(s) of the plant

Synthesis and characterisation of Co-Co(OH)2 composite anode material on Cu current collector for energy storage devices

Science.gov (United States)

Yavuz, Abdulcabbar; Yakup Hacıibrahimoğlu, M.; Bedir, Metin

2017-04-01

A Co-Co(OH)2 modified electrode on inexpensive Cu substrate was synthesized at room temperature and demonstrated to be a promising anode material for energy storage devices. A modified Co film was obtained potentiostatically and was then potentiodynamically treated with KOH solution to form Co(OH)2. Co-Co(OH)2 coatings were obtained and were dominated by Co(OH)2 at the oxidized side, whereas Co dominant Co-Co(OH)2 occurred at the reduced side (-1.1 V). As OH- ions were able to diffuse into (out of) the film during oxidation (reduction) and did not react with the Cu current collector, the Co-Co(OH)2 electrode can be used as an anode material in energy storage devices. Although the specific capacitance of the electrodes varied depending on thickness, the redox reaction between the modified electrode and KOH electrolyte remained the same consisting of a surface-controlled and diffusion-controlled mechanism which had a desirable fast charge and discharge property. Capacity values remained constant after 250 cycles as the film evolved. Overall capacity retention was 84% for the film after 450 scans. A specific capacitance of 549 F g-1 was obtained for the Co-Co(OH)2 composite electrode in 6 M KOH at a scan rate of 5 mV s-1 and 73% of capacitance was retained when the scan rate was increased to 100 mV s-1.

FY 2000 report on the survey to support the R and D on the development of the coal/natural gas use CO2 recovery/utilization technology; 2000 nendo sekitan tennen gas katsuyogata nisanka tanso kaishu riyo gijutsu no kaihatsu ni kansuru kenkyu kaihatsu shien chosa hokokusho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-03-01

In this study, technology to rationalize energy utilization is developed by which CO2 is efficiently converted into methanol which is the next generation liquid fuel by reacting CO2 with coal, natural gas and steam using solar heat. Together with this study, survey/study are conducted of the trend of the related element technology and the total system technology, trend of the competitive technology, study of comparison with the competitive technology, economical efficiency, possibility of the commercialization, etc. In this report, in Chapter 1, summarized are the trend of the R and D which each country conducts with the aim of using abundant solar energy in the Sun Belt and the trend of other R and D of energy utilization in each country. In Chapter 2, the paper describes the technology that Japan is now developing and the developmental trend of the related technology. In Chapter 3, the methanol supply/demand balance and the related researches were arranged. The most important points in future commercialization of the said technology are the establishment of technology and the economical efficiency. (NEDO)

Carbon emissions and management scenarios for consumer-owned utilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischlein, Miriam; Smith, Timothy M.; Wilson, Elizabeth J.

2009-01-01

An important subset of the utility sector has been scarcely explored for its ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions: consumer-owned electric utilities significantly contribute to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, but are often excluded from energy efficiency and renewable energy policies. They sell a quarter of the nation's electricity, yet the carbon impact of these sales is not well understood, due to their small size, unique ownership models, and high percentage of purchased power for distribution. This paper situates consumer-owned utilities in the context of emerging U.S. climate policy, quantifying for the first time the state-by-state carbon impact of electricity sales by consumer-owned utilities. We estimate that total retail sales by consumer-owned utilities account for roughly 568 million metric tons of CO 2 annually, making this sector the 7th largest CO 2 emitter globally, and examine state-level carbon intensities of the sector in light of the current policy environment and the share of COU distribution in the states. Based on efficiency and fuel mix pathways under conceivable regulations, carbon scenarios for 2030 are developed.

Economic Creativity Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nasseroddin Kazemi Haghighi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available As a new concept in the literature, the authors discuss the conception of “Economic Creativ-ity” (EC. The authors explain psychological characteristics of “Economic Creativity”: atti-tudes, motivation, personality traits, and abili-ties. They propose a design based on Emotion of Thought Theory (Kazemi, 2007 for Economic Creativity Development (ECD. This theory is an affective-cognitive approach that tries to ex-plain creativity. Emotion of Thought involves “Poyaei” and “Bitabi” (in Persian meaning Dy-namism and Restlessness. According to this theory, ECD relates to connections between emotion and thought. The ECD includes pro-moting individual readiness, utilization of eco-nomic resources, attitude towards economic af-fairs development, enhancing the utilization of economic experiences, conducting economic ac-tivity education, development of economic thinking and development of emotion of thought.

Economic evaluation of the industrial solar production of lime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meier, Anton; Gremaud, Nicolas; Steinfeld, Aldo

2005-01-01

The use of concentrated solar energy in place of fossil fuels for driving the endothermic calcination reaction CaCO 3 → CaO + CO 2 at above 1300 K has the potential of reducing CO 2 emissions by 20% in a state-of-the-art lime plant and up to 40% in a conventional cement plant. An economic assessment for an industrial solar calcination plant with 25 MW th solar input indicates that the cost of solar produced lime ranges between 128 and 157 $/t, about twice the current selling price of conventional lime. The solar production of high purity lime for special sectors in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry might be competitive with conventional fossil fuel based calcination processes at current fuel prices

A Panel Estimation of the Relationship Between Trade Liberalization, Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions in BRICS Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehrara Mohsen

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the last few years, several studies have found an inverted-U relationship between per capita income and environmental degradation. This relationship, known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC, suggests that environmental degradation increases in the early stages of growth, but it eventually decreases as income exceeds a threshold level. However, this paper investigation relationship between per capita CO2 emission, growth economics and trade liberalization based on econometric techniques of unit root test, co-integration and a panel data set during the period 1960-1996 for BRICS countries. Data properties were analyzed to determine their stationarity using the LLC , IPS , ADF and PP unit root tests which indicated that the series are I(1. We find a cointegration relationship between per capita CO2 emission, growth economics and trade liberalization by applying Kao panel cointegration test. The evidence indi\tcates that in the long-run trade liberalization has a positive significant impact on CO2 emissions and impact of trade liberalization on emissions growth depends on the level of income Our findings suggest that there is a quadratic relationship between relationship between real GDP and CO2 emissions for the region as a whole. The estimated long-run coefficients of real GDP and its square satisfy the EKC hypothesis in all of studied countries. Our estimation shows that the inflection point or optimal point real GDP per capita is about 5269.4 dollars. The results show that on average, sample countries are on the positive side of the inverted U curve. The turning points are very low in some cases and very high in other cases, hence providing poor evidence in support of the EKC hypothesis. Thus, our findings suggest that all BRICS countries need to sacrifice economic growth to decrease their emission levels

Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis Current and Futuristic Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

1999-07-01

carried out to various extents by a number of microorganisms, including fungi, such as Fusarium oxysporum and bacteria, such as Clostridia sp. However...reactant for material balance purposes only. Corn steep liquor is the actual nitrogen source. 21 Table 6 gives the reactions and conversions used in...fermentation reactions. Ammonia is shown as a reactant for material balance purposes only. Corn steep liquor is the actual nitrogen source. In addition to

Inter-utility trade review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warnes, E.M.; Vaahedi, E.

1991-01-01

The National Energy Board was requested by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources to identify possible measures to improve cooperation among Canadian electrical utilities and to enhance access for buyers and sellers of electricity to available transmission capacity through intervening systems for wheeling purposes. To identify measures to improve cooperation, a questionnaire was sent to electric utilities and other interested parties on the present extent and future possibilities for inter-utility cooperation. The questionnaire and its results are presented. It was found that there already exists a significant amount of inter-utility cooperation in Canada. Such cooperation generally involves interchanges of economy energy, non-economic capacity and energy, coordinated operation, resource sharing, maintenance scheduling, emergency supports, etc. There is a very limited degree of integrated generation expansion planning. Typically, these agreements are carried out under interconnection agreements negotiated on a bi-lateral basis. The highest current degree of cooperation exists under the auspices of the Alberta interconnected power system pool. Wheeling is limited and generally restricted to cases where the sender and receiver are the same entity or where power is wheeled to a utility purchasing it from the wheeler's system. 2 figs., 3 tabs

A current value Hamiltonian Approach for Discrete time Optimal Control Problems arising in Economic Growth

OpenAIRE

Naz, Rehana

2018-01-01

Pontrygin-type maximum principle is extended for the present value Hamiltonian systems and current value Hamiltonian systems of nonlinear difference equations for uniform time step $h$. A new method termed as a discrete time current value Hamiltonian method is established for the construction of first integrals for current value Hamiltonian systems of ordinary difference equations arising in Economic growth theory.

CO{sub 2} capture and biofuels production with microalgae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benemann, J.R. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

1995-11-01

Microalgae cultivation in large open ponds is the only biological process capable of directly utilizing power plant flue gas CO{sub 2} for production of renewable fuels, such as biodiesel, thus mitigating the potential for global warming. Past and recent systems studies have concluded that in principle this concept could be economically feasible, but that this technology still requires both fundamental and applied long-term R&D.

Phytoremediation, a sustainable remediation technology? II: Economic assessment of CO2 abatement through the use of phytoremediation crops for renewable energy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Witters, N.; Mendelsohn, R.; Van Passel, S.; Van Slycken, S.; Weyens, N.; Schreurs, E.; Meers, E.; Tack, F.; Vanheusden, B.; Vangronsveld, J.

2012-01-01

Phytoremediation could be a sustainable remediation alternative for conventional remediation technologies. However, its implementation on a commercial scale remains disappointing. To emphasize its sustainability, this paper examines whether and how the potential economic benefit of CO 2 abatement for different crops used for phytoremediation or sustainable land management purposes could promote phytotechnologies. Our analysis is based on a case study in the Campine region, where agricultural soils are contaminated with mainly cadmium. We use Life Cycle Analysis to show for the most relevant crops (willow (Salix spp), energy maize (Zea mays), and rapeseed (Brassica napus)), that phytoremediation, used for renewable energy production, could abate CO 2 . Converting this in economic numbers through the Marginal Abatement Cost of CO 2 (€ 20 ton −1 ) we can integrate this in the economic analysis to compare phytoremediation crops among each other, and phytoremediation with conventional technologies. The external benefit of CO 2 abatement when using phytoremediation crops for land management ranges between € 55 and € 501 per hectare. The purpose of these calculations is not to calculate a subsidy for phytoremediation. There is no reason why one would prefer phytoremediation crops for renewable energy production over “normal” biomass. Moreover, subsidies for renewable energy already exist. Therefore, we should not integrate these numbers in the economic analysis again. However, these numbers could contribute to making explicit the competitive advantage of phytoremediation compared to conventional remediation technologies, but also add to a more sustainably funded decision on which crop should be grown on contaminated land. -- Highlights: ► We add CO 2 abatement for each remediation crop to the private economic analysis. ► This values the advantage of phytoremediation compared to conventional remediation. ► This leads to a crop choice that considers an

Renewable energy utilization and CO2 mitigation in the power sector: A case study in selected GMS countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kong Pagnarith

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Renewable energy is an alternative resource to substitute fossil fuels. Currently, the share of renewable energy inpower generation is very low. The selected Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS, namely, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand andVietnam is a region having abundant of renewable energy resources. Though these countries have a high potential of renewableenergy utilization, they are still highly dependent on the imported fossil fuels for electricity generation. The less contributionof renewable energy in the power sector in the region is due to the high cost of technologies. Renewable energytechnology cannot compete with the conventional power plant. However, in order to promote renewable energy utilizationand reduce dependency on imported fossil fuel as well as to mitigate CO2 emissions from the power sector, this study introducesfour renewable energy technologies, namely, biomass, wind, solar PV, and geothermal power, for substitution of conventionaltechnologies. To make the renewable energy competitive to the fossil fuels, incentives in terms of carbon credit of20$/ton-ne CO2 are taken into account. Results are analyzed by using the Long-Range Energy Alternative Planning System(LEAP modeling. Results of analyses reveal that in the renewable energy (RE scenario the biomass power, wind, solarphotovoltaics, and geothermal would contribute in electricity supply for 5.47 GW in the region, accounted for 3.5% in 2030.The RE scenario with carbon credits could mitigate CO2 emissions at about 36.0 million tonne at lower system cost whencompared to the business-as-usual scenario.

Economical Feasibility of Utilizing Photovoltaics for Water Pumping in Saudi Arabia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Z. Sahin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Energy and water are the two major need of the globe which need to be addressed for the sustenance of the human beings on this planet. All the nations, no matter most populous, developed and developing need to diversify the means and ways of producing energy and at the same time guarding the environment. This study aims at techno economical feasibility of producing energy using PV solar panels and utilizing it to pump-water at Dhahran, Riyadh, Jeddah, Guriat, and Nejran regions in Saudi Arabia. The solar radiation data from these stations was used to generate electricity using PV panels of 9.99 kW total capacity. Nejran region was found to be most economical in terms of minimal payback period and cost of energy and maximum internal rate of return whereas PV power production was concerned. Water-pumping capacity of the solar PV energy system was calculated at five locations based on the PV power production and Goulds model 45J series of pumps. Monthly total and annual total water pumping capacities were determined. Considering the capital cost of combined solar PV energy system and the pump unit a cost analysis of water pumping for a well of 50 m total dynamic head (TDH was carried out. The cost of water pumping was found to vary between 2 and 3 /m3.

Ash quality and environmental quality assurance system in co-combustion - Co-combustion of forest industry waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laine-Ylijoki, J.; Wahlstroem, M.

2000-01-01

The environmental acceptability and possible utilization of co-combustion ashes will have a significant influence on the wider use of co-combustion in the future. At present the correlation between currently used fuels, their mixture ratios, and quality variations in ashes are not known, which complicates the assessment of possible utilization and environmental acceptability of co-combustion ashes. The composition of ashes has also been found to vary significantly. Effective utilization requires that process variations to alter ash composition and quality variations are known in advance. The aim of the research was to characterize the fly ash from co- combustion of peat, wood and biological paper mill sludge produced under different fuel loadings, especially with and without sludge addition, ant to identify critical parameters influencing on the ash composition. The variations in the leaching properties of ashes collected daily were followed up. The environmental acceptability of the ashes produced under different fuel loadings, especially their suitability for use in road constructions, were evaluated. The project included also the preparation of laboratory reference material from ash material. Guidelines were developed for sampling, sample preparation and analysis, and leaching tests. Furthermore, a quality control system, including sampling strategies, sample analysis and leaching testing, was established

Economic growth, energy consumption and CO{sub 2} emissions in Sweden 1800-2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kander, Astrid

2002-05-01

Large transformations of technologies have occurred in the Swedish economy during the last two centuries, resulting in higher income, better quality of products and changing composition of GDP. An agrarian society has given way to an industrial society and lately to a post-industrial phase. The energy supply systems have changed, from traditional energy carriers, such as firewood and muscle energy to modern carriers like coal, oil and electricity, with effects on CO{sub 2} emissions. Not only the energy supply has gone through fundamental changes, but also forest management, which affects the net emissions of CO{sub 2}. The interrelations of growth, energy and CO{sub 2} are analyzed in this thesis, which uses standard calculations, relative price analyses and energy quality factors, to determine the relative effects of structural and technical changes, including changes in energy carrier composition to explain the long term delinking of energy consumption, CO{sub 2} emissions and economic growth that takes place. Technical change is the main reason of energy intensity decline. Total factor productivity gains, including improvements in technical energy efficiency, saves energy in relation to output. The most spectacular energy savings took place in the sectors transportation, communications and industry. Structural changes at the sector level tended to increase energy intensity between 1870 and 1970. No correlation was found between increasing energy quality and decreasing energy intensity, but energy quality may have had an impact on economic growth rates. The consumers' surplus was exceptionally high during the interwar period and the three decades after the Second World War, and the total energy quality was outstanding during the latter period. The most rapid relative decline in energy intensity took place between 1970 and 2000. In this period structural changes at the sector level no longer worked to increase energy intensity and the new growth direction of

CO2 taxes as economic tool for energy efficiency analysis of CO2 tax impact on energy efficiency projects in Latvia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumberga, D.; Blumberga, M.; Veidenbergs, I.

2005-01-01

The intended purpose of the carbon tax is to reduce CO 2 emissions. This tax can play a significant role in the implementation of energy saving projects. The paper evaluates three market mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: joint implementation, emissions trading and CO 2 taxes. The first market mechanism - pilot phase of joint implementation (Activities Implemented Jointly) opened the minds of specialists to the GHG emission reduction potential of energy efficiency projects. The second mechanism was implemented after Latvia had accepted the National Allocation Plan to start emission trading. The third mechanism is based on the introduction of a carbon tax, which will come into force in Latvia in July 2005. This paper describes the potential impact of this tax that could promote development of energy efficiency projects. The authors worked out an evaluation methodology to calculate the impact of CO 2 taxes on emissions levels and the potential value of such taxes. The proposed methodology is applicable to district heating companies and governmental institutions, defining links between the energy efficiency and CO 2 taxes and showing ways of justifying these taxes both economically and environmentally. (authors)

Current and future financial competitiveness of electricity and heat from energy crops: A case study from Ireland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Styles, David; Jones, Michael B.

2007-01-01

It has been demonstrated that Miscanthus and willow energy-crop cultivation could be economically competitive with current agricultural land uses at a farm-gate biomass price ranging from EUR70 to EUR130 t -1 dry matter [Styles, D., Thorne, F., Jones, M.B., in review. Energy crops in Ireland: An economic comparison of willow and Miscanthus production with conventional farming systems. Biomass and Bioenergy, May 2006]. This paper uses the same farm-gate prices to calculate the economic competitiveness of energy crop electricity and heat production, using a net-present-value (NPV) approach (20-year period, 5% discount rate). Direct and gasified co-firing of willow wood with coal would result in electricity generation 30% or 37% more expensive than coal generation, at current coal and CO 2 allowance prices and a farm-gate biomass cost of EUR100 t -1 . 'Break-even' CO 2 allowance prices are EUR33 and EUR37 t -1 , respectively. However, co-firing of Miscanthus with peat is close to economic competitiveness, and would require a CO 2 allowance price of EUR16 t -1 to break-even (against a current price of EUR12 t -1 ). NPV analyses indicate that wood heat is significantly cheaper than oil, gas or electric heat, excluding existing wood-boiler installation subsidies. Discounted annual savings range from EUR143 compared with gas to EUR722 compared with electric heating at the domestic scale and from EUR3454 to EUR11,222 at the commercial scale. Inclusion of available subsidies improves the comparative economics of domestic wood heat substantially. The economic advantage of wood heat is robust to variation in fuel prices, discount rates and heat loads. The greatest obstacles to energy-crop utilisation include: (i) a reluctance to consider long-term economics; (ii) possible competition from cheaper sources of biomass; (iii) the need for a spatially coordinated supply and utilisation network. (author)

Thermo-Economic Modelling and Process Integration of CO2-Mitigation Options on Oil and Gas Platforms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Tuong-Van; Tock, Laurence; Breuhaus, Peter

2014-01-01

recovering CO2 that can be used for enhanced oil recovery. In this paper, a North Sea platform is considered as case study, and the site-scale retrofit integration of these three options is analysed, considering thermodynamic, economic and environmental performance indicators. The results illustrate......The offshore extraction of oil and gas is an energy-intensive process associated with large CO2 and CH4 emissions to the atmosphere and chemicals to the sea. The taxation of these emissions has encouraged the development of more energy-efficient and environmental-friendly solutions, of which three...

Experimental Investigation on CO2 Methanation Process for Solar Energy Storage Compared to CO2-Based Methanol Synthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Castellani, Beatrice; Gambelli, Alberto Maria; Morini, Elena; Nastasi, B.; Presciutti, Andrea; Filipponi, Mirko; Nicolini, Andrea; Rossi, Federico

2017-01-01

The utilization of the captured CO2 as a carbon source for the production of energy storage media offers a technological solution for overcoming crucial issues in current energy systems. Solar energy production generally does not match with energy demand because of its intermittent and

Acknowledging patient heterogeneity in economic evaluation : a systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Grutters, Janneke P C; Sculpher, Mark; Briggs, Andrew H; Severens, Johan L; Candel, Math J; Stahl, James E; De Ruysscher, Dirk; Boer, Albert; Ramaekers, Bram L T; Joore, Manuela A

2013-02-01

Patient heterogeneity is the part of variability that can be explained by certain patient characteristics (e.g. age, disease stage). Population reimbursement decisions that acknowledge patient heterogeneity could potentially save money and increase population health. To date, however, economic evaluations pay only limited attention to patient heterogeneity. The objective of the present paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding patient heterogeneity within economic evaluation of healthcare programmes. A systematic literature review was performed to identify methodological papers on the topic of patient heterogeneity in economic evaluation. Data were obtained using a keyword search of the PubMed database and manual searches. Handbooks were also included. Relevant data were extracted regarding potential sources of patient heterogeneity, in which of the input parameters of an economic evaluation these occur, methods to acknowledge patient heterogeneity and specific concerns associated with this acknowledgement. A total of 20 articles and five handbooks were included. The relevant sources of patient heterogeneity (demographics, preferences and clinical characteristics) and the input parameters where they occurred (baseline risk, treatment effect, health state utility and resource utilization) were combined in a framework. Methods were derived for the design, analysis and presentation phases of an economic evaluation. Concerns related mainly to the danger of false-positive results and equity issues. By systematically reviewing current knowledge regarding patient heterogeneity within economic evaluations of healthcare programmes, we provide guidance for future economic evaluations. Guidance is provided on which sources of patient heterogeneity to consider, how to acknowledge them in economic evaluation and potential concerns. The improved acknowledgement of patient heterogeneity in future economic evaluations may well improve the

Reduce, reuse, recycle: Acceptance of CO_2-utilization for plastic products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heek, Julia van; Arning, Katrin; Ziefle, Martina

2017-01-01

Global warming is a central threat for today's society caused by greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) is a promising approach to reduce emissions and the use of expensive and limited fossil resources. Applying CCU, carbon dioxide (CO_2) can be incorporated as raw material during the manufacture of plastic products. While most of the studies address technical feasibilities, hardly any systematic research on public perception and acceptance of those specific products exists so far. This study empirically investigates the acceptance of CCU plastic products (mattress as example). First, interviews with experts and lay people revealed critical acceptance factors (CO_2 proportion, saving of fossil resources, disposal conditions, perceived health complaints). Their relative importance was detailed in two consecutive conjoint studies. Study 1 revealed disposal conditions and saving of fossil resources as essential for product selection, while the products’ CO_2 proportion was less important. In study 2, potential health complaints were integrated as well as individual levels of domain knowledge and risk perception, which significantly affected acceptance of CCU products. Recommendations concerning communication strategies for policy and industry were derived. - Highlights: • Study provides insights into the acceptance of specific CCU products. • Disposal conditions and savings of fossil resource are main drivers of acceptance. • Concerns about potential health effects act as major barrier especially for laypeople. • Perceived knowledge and risk perception affect CCU product acceptance. • Communication strategy recommendations for policy and industry are derived.

New approaches to business cycle theory in current economic science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica DOBRESCU

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In modern economies, current research generally acknowledges that the central issues in macroeconomics are essentially the same as those identified by Keynes in the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. One way or the other, economists are trying to address the same macroeconomic issues that they did seven decades ago: How can we account for the different growth rates and various fluctuations observed in national economies? Which are the economic policies most suitable to solve the issues of growth and cyclic behavior? Both the new classicals and the new Keynesians have made considerable progress within their research paradigms: to explain economic fluctuations, the new classicals focus on technological perturbations, the intertemporal substitution of leisure and real business cycles; on the other hand, the new Keynesians speak in terms of monopolistic competition, menu costs or efficiency wages. On the whole, the new classicals believe that the business cycle can best be understood within the market-clearing model, whereas the new keynesians believe that business fluctuations are due to certain market failures of various sorts.The present paper focuses on the main directions of research of the new classical school on the business cycle, given that the theoretical progress in this field has been significant and relevant for economic policy during the past four decades.

A partial Hamiltonian approach for current value Hamiltonian systems

Science.gov (United States)

Naz, R.; Mahomed, F. M.; Chaudhry, Azam

2014-10-01

We develop a partial Hamiltonian framework to obtain reductions and closed-form solutions via first integrals of current value Hamiltonian systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The approach is algorithmic and applies to many state and costate variables of the current value Hamiltonian. However, we apply the method to models with one control, one state and one costate variable to illustrate its effectiveness. The current value Hamiltonian systems arise in economic growth theory and other economic models. We explain our approach with the help of a simple illustrative example and then apply it to two widely used economic growth models: the Ramsey model with a constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility function and Cobb Douglas technology and a one-sector AK model of endogenous growth are considered. We show that our newly developed systematic approach can be used to deduce results given in the literature and also to find new solutions.

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A CO2 FLOOD UTILIZING ADVANCED RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION AND HORIZONTAL INJECTION WELLS IN A SHALLOW SHELF CARBONATE APPROACHING WATERFLOOD DEPLETION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

K.J. Harpole; Ed G. Durrett; Susan Snow; J.S. Bles; Carlon Robertson; C.D. Caldwell; D.J. Harms; R.L. King; B.A. Baldwin; D. Wegener; M. Navarrette

2002-09-01