How much electricity really costs. Comparison of the state subsidisation and overall social costs of conventional and renewable energy resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuechler, Swantje; Meyer, Bettina

2012-01-01

subsidisation and external costs are often not considered in the price of conventional energy resources but ultimately have to be paid nonetheless, be it the form of tax payments, the social costs of the climate change or of other burdens on humans and the environment. The study furnishes proof that the EEG reallocation charge levied for the promotion of renewable energy (3.59 cents per kWh in 2012) represents a far smaller cost burden than do conventional energy resources, and that it will remain so even if it raised substantially in the future to finance the conversion to a more climate-friendly, sustainable energy supply. Contrary to popular belief, renewable energy resources are not the big cost driving factor in our power supply system but rather a replacement of energy resources that are causing far greater consequential costs for tax payers and society as a whole. If power supply companies were made to include these additional costs of electricity production in their cost calculations, most renewable energy resources would already be competitive today.

The burden of prenatal exposure to alcohol: revised measurement of cost.

Science.gov (United States)

Stade, Brenda; Ali, Alaa; Bennett, Dainel; Campbell, Douglas; Johnston, Mary; Lens, Cynthia; Tran, Sofia; Koren, Gideon

2009-01-01

In Canada the incidence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is estimated to be 1 in 100 live births. FASD is the leading cause of developmental and cognitive disabilities in Canada. Only one study has examined the cost of FASD in Canada. In that study we did not include prospective data for infants under the age of one year, costs for adults beyond 21 years or costs for individuals living in institutions. To calculate a revised estimate of direct and indirect costs associated with FASD at the patient level. Cross-sectional study design was used. Two-hundred and fifty (250) participants completed the study tool. Participants included caregivers of children, youth and adults, with FASD, from day of birth to 53 years, living in urban and rural communities throughout Canada participated. Participants completed the Health Services Utilization Inventory (HSUI). Key cost components were elicited: direct costs: medical, education, social services, out-of-pocket costs; and indirect costs: productivity losses. Total average costs per individual with FASD were calculated by summing the costs for each in each cost component, and dividing by the sample size. Costs were extrapolated to one year. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify significant determinants of costs and to calculate the adjusted annual costs associated with FASD. Total adjusted annual costs associated with FASD at the individual level was $21,642 (95% CI, $19,842; $24,041), compared to $14,342 (95% CI, $12,986; $15,698) in the first study. Severity of the individual's condition, age, and relationship of the individual to the caregiver (biological, adoptive, foster) were significant determinants of costs (p Cost of FASD annually to Canada of those from day of birth to 53 years old, was $5.3 billion (95% CI, $4.12 billion; $6.4 billion). Study results demonstrated the cost burden of FASD in Canada was profound. Inclusion of infants aged 0 to 1 years, adults beyond the age of 21 years

Does Disconformity in State Corporate Income Tax Systems Affect Compliance Cost Burdens?

OpenAIRE

Gupta, Sanjay; Mills, Lillian F.

2003-01-01

Prior multistate tax research on differences in state tax rules, while investigating the effects on revenue, investment, and tax burden, is silent regarding the effect on compliance costs. We investigate factors that explain state income tax compliance costs for large firms. We find that state compliance costs increase in the number of filing states and entities (or in the number of state tax returns), firm size, and variables proxying for state tax complexity. Our evidence that multistate di...

Renewable energy burden sharing. REBUS. Manual for the REBUS model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voogt, M.H.

2001-03-01

The REBUS model quantifies the effects of implementing renewable electricity targets, and the impact of introducing burden sharing systems within the EU, such as a Tradable Green Certificate (TGC) system. Results are obtained for a range of so-called burden sharing options that reflect differences in economic, social and geographical possibilities to increase the share of renewables in individual geographical regions. The REBUS model furthermore analyses the impact of other supporting mechanisms for renewable electricity on the effects of a burden sharing mechanism. With this, the REBUS model is a framework that can be used for quantifying the most equitable distribution of costs (burden sharing) and compare consequences of different equity criteria. Therewith it aims to support key policy makers, industrial stakeholders and consumers in making decisions on the possibilities to achieve their joint RES-E targets

The economic burden of adult asthma in Cyprus; a prevalence-based cost of illness study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savvas Zannetos

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Asthma is one of the main non-infectious diseases of the respiratory system with substantial economic burden worldwide. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden of adult asthma in Cyprus during 2015. Methods A retrospective probabilistic prevalence-based cost of illness model was developed to calculate the economic burden of asthma including direct and indirect costs. The bottom-up approach (person-based data was used for the calculation of direct costs while for the calculation of indirect costs the approach of human capital was employed. In addition, bootstrapped sensitivity analysis with 1000 bootstrap simulations was performed in order to calculate a 95% Confidence Interval (CI. Results Mean patient cost of asthma in Cyprus in 2015 was estimated at €579.64 (95% CI: €376.90–€813.68. Direct costs accounted for 82.08% of the overall expenses, €475.75 per patient (95% CI: €296.94–€697.69. Indirect costs of €103.89 (95% CI: €49.59–€181.46 accounted for 17.92% of the overall expenses. Conclusion This was the first study in Cyprus, which used bootstrapped prevalence-based cost of illness model to estimate the cost of asthma. This study confirms that asthma is an expensive disease for the society. In addition, it provides important information and analysis of the economic consequences of asthma to policy makers in order to strengthen surveillance of the disease as well as draft the national health policy accordingly.

Assessment of Indoor Air Quality Benefits and Energy Costs of Mechanical Ventilation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Logue, J.M.; Price, P.N.; Sherman, M.H.; Singer, B.C.

2011-07-01

Intake of chemical air pollutants in residences represents an important and substantial health hazard. Sealing homes to reduce air infiltration can save space conditioning energy, but can also increase indoor pollutant concentrations. Mechanical ventilation ensures a minimum amount of outdoor airflow that helps reduce concentrations of indoor emitted pollutants while requiring some energy for fan(s) and thermal conditioning of the added airflow. This work demonstrates a physics based, data driven modeling framework for comparing the costs and benefits of whole-house mechanical ventilation and applied the framework to new California homes. The results indicate that, on a population basis, the health benefits from reduced exposure to indoor pollutants in New California homes are worth the energy costs of adding mechanical ventilation as specified by ASHRAE Standard 62.2.This study determines the health burden for a subset of pollutants in indoor air and the costs and benefits of ASHRAE's mechanical ventilation standard (62.2) for new California homes. Results indicate that, on a population basis, the health benefits of new home mechanical ventilation justify the energy costs.

Societal costs and burden of otitis media in Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Speets AM

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Anouk Speets1, Judith Wolleswinkel1, Cristina Cardoso21Pallas health research and consultancy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; 2GlaxoSmithKline, Algés, PortugalAbstract: This study aimed to estimate the resource consumption and societal impact of otitis media (OM in children younger than five years of age in Portugal. An Internet survey on generic childhood symptoms and diseases was administered to a sample of parents. This self-report survey had been previously implemented in other European countries. Medically confirmed OM was defined as symptoms of earache or “running ear” and/or a diagnosis of OM provided by a medical doctor. Direct medical, nonmedical, and indirect nonmedical costs were calculated for individual cases. Mean total costs per OM episode were estimated at €334. This corresponds to an estimated societal impact of 72 million €/year, of which 39% were indirect nonmedical costs. An epidemiological study should help to confirm the results of this study, and evaluate whether an intervention to reduce the occurrence and/or duration of OM may have an impact on societal costs and quality of life for affected families.Keywords: otitis media, costs, societal burden, Portugal

Caregiver burden, productivity loss, and indirect costs associated with caring for patients with poststroke spasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Ganapathy, Vaidyanathan; Graham, Glenn D; DiBonaventura, Marco D; Gillard, Patrick J; Goren, Amir; Zorowitz, Richard D

2015-01-01

Objective Many stroke survivors experience poststroke spasticity and the related inability to perform basic activities, which necessitates patient management and treatment, and exerts a considerable burden on the informal caregiver. The current study aims to estimate burden, productivity loss, and indirect costs for caregivers of stroke survivors with spasticity. Methods Internet survey data were collected from 153 caregivers of stroke survivors with spasticity including caregiving time and difficulty (Oberst Caregiver Burden Scale), Work Productivity and Activity Impairment measures, and caregiver and patient characteristics. Fractional logit models examined predictors of work-related restriction, and work losses were monetized (2012 median US wages). Results Mean Oberst Caregiver Burden Scale time and difficulty scores were 46.1 and 32.4, respectively. Employed caregivers (n=71) had overall work restriction (32%), absenteeism (9%), and presenteeism (27%). Caregiver characteristics, lack of nursing home coverage, and stroke survivors’ disability predicted all work restriction outcomes. The mean total lost-productivity cost per employed caregiver was US$835 per month (>$10,000 per year; 72% attributable to presenteeism). Conclusion These findings demonstrate the substantial burden of caring for stroke survivors with spasticity illustrating the societal and economic impact of stroke that extends beyond the stroke survivor. PMID:26609225

Comparative cost of illness analysis and assessment of health care burden of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Schreiber-Katz, Olivia; Klug, Constanze; Thiele, Simone; Schorling, Elisabeth; Zowe, Janet; Reilich, Peter; Nagels, Klaus H; Walter, Maggie C

2014-12-18

Our study aimed to determine the burden of illness in dystrophinopathy type Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD), both leading to progressive disability, reduced working capacity and high health care utilization. A micro-costing method was used to examine the direct, indirect and informal care costs measuring the economic burden of DMD in comparison to BMD on patients, relatives, payers and society in Germany and to determine the health care burden of these diseases. Standardized questionnaires were developed based on predefined structured interview guidelines to obtain data directly from patients and caregivers using the German dystrophinopathy patient registry. The health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was analyzed using PedsQL™ Measurement Model. In total, 363 patients with genetically confirmed dystrophinopathies were enrolled. Estimated annual disease burden including direct medical/non-medical, indirect and informal care costs of DMD added up to € 78,913 while total costs in BMD were € 39,060. Informal care costs, indirect costs caused by loss of productivity and absenteeism of patients and caregivers as well as medical costs of rehabilitation services and medical aids were identified as the most important cost drivers. Total costs notably increased with disease progression and were consistent with the clinical severity; however, patients' HRQOL declined with disease progression. In conclusion, early assessments of economic aspects and the disease burden are essential to gain extensive knowledge of a distinct disease and above all play an important role in funding drug development programs for rare diseases. Therefore, our results may help to accelerate payer negotiations such as the pricing and reimbursement of new therapies, and will hopefully contribute to facilitating the efficient translation of innovations from clinical research over marketing authorization to patient access to a causative treatment.

Internalising external costs of electricity and heat production in a municipal energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmgren, Kristina; Amiri, Shahnaz

2007-01-01

Both energy supply and waste treatment give rise to negative effects on the environment, so-called external effects. In this study, monetary values on external costs collected from the EU's ExternE project are used to evaluate inclusion of these costs in comparison with an energy utility perspective including present policy instruments. The studied object is a municipal district heating system with a waste incineration plant as the base supplier of heat. The evaluation concerns fuels used for heat production and total electricity production, for scenarios with external costs included and for a scenario using the present policy instrument. Impacts of assumptions on marginal power producers (coal or natural gas power plants) are investigated, since locally produced electricity is assumed to replace marginal power and thus is credited for the avoided burden. Varying levels of external costs for carbon dioxide emissions are analysed. The method used is an economic optimisation model, MODEST. The conclusion is that present policy instruments are strong incentives for cogeneration, even when external costs are included. Waste is fully utilised in all scenarios. In cases where coal is the marginal power producer, more electricity is produced; when natural gas is the marginal power producer, less is produced. There are several uncertainties in the data for external costs, both methodological and ethical. In the ExternE data, not all environmental impacts are included. For waste incineration, ashes are not included, and another difficulty is how to treat the avoided burden of other waste treatment methods

Solutions to Address Diabetes-Related Financial Burden and Cost-Related Nonadherence: Results From a Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Minal R; Resnicow, Kenneth; Lang, Ian; Kraus, Kathleen; Heisler, Michele

2018-02-01

Cost-related nonadherence (CRN) to recommended self-management behaviors among adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes is prevalent. Few behavioral interventions to mitigate CRN have been tested and evaluated. We developed a financial burden resource tool and examined its acceptability and the preliminary effects on patient-centered outcomes among adults with diabetes or prediabetes seen in a clinical setting. We report a pre-post one-group design pilot study. From an endocrinology clinic, we recruited 104 adults with diabetes who reported financial burdens with their diabetes management or engaged in CRN behaviors. We offered participants the financial burden resource tool we developed, which provided tailored, low-cost resource options for diabetes management and other social needs. Acceptability and self-reported outcomes were assessed 2 months after use of the tool. Mean age of participants was 50.5 years ( SD = 15.3). Participants found the tool highly acceptable across 15 indicators (e.g., 93% "learned a lot," 98% "topics relevant" 95% "applicable to their lives," 98% "liked the information"). Significant improvements between baseline and 2-month follow-up were observed for discussion of cost concerns with nurses (19% to 29%, p financial management (33.83 to 39.62, p financial burden. A financial burden resource tool is highly acceptable to patients, is easy to administer, and can prompt behavior change. This pilot study supports the need for well-powered trials with longer follow-up to further evaluate the effectiveness of such tools in improving CRN and key outcomes.

Caregiver burden, productivity loss, and indirect costs associated with caring for patients with poststroke spasticity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ganapathy V

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Vaidyanathan Ganapathy,1 Glenn D Graham,2 Marco D DiBonaventura,3 Patrick J Gillard,1 Amir Goren,3 Richard D Zorowitz41Allergan, Irvine, CA, USA; 2Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco, CA, USA; 3Health Outcomes Practice, Kantar Health, New York, NY, USA; 4Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USAObjective: Many stroke survivors experience poststroke spasticity and the related inability to perform basic activities, which necessitates patient management and treatment, and exerts a considerable burden on the informal caregiver. The current study aims to estimate burden, productivity loss, and indirect costs for caregivers of stroke survivors with spasticity.Methods: Internet survey data were collected from 153 caregivers of stroke survivors with spasticity including caregiving time and difficulty (Oberst Caregiver Burden Scale, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment measures, and caregiver and patient characteristics. Fractional logit models examined predictors of work-related restriction, and work losses were monetized (2012 median US wages.Results: Mean Oberst Caregiver Burden Scale time and difficulty scores were 46.1 and 32.4, respectively. Employed caregivers (n=71 had overall work restriction (32%, absenteeism (9%, and presenteeism (27%. Caregiver characteristics, lack of nursing home coverage, and stroke survivors’ disability predicted all work restriction outcomes. The mean total lost-productivity cost per employed caregiver was US$835 per month (>$10,000 per year; 72% attributable to presenteeism.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the substantial burden of caring for stroke survivors with spasticity illustrating the societal and economic impact of stroke that extends beyond the stroke survivor.Keywords: burden, caregiver, productivity, spasticity, stroke

Costs and Burden Associated with Loss of Labor Productivity in Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia: Results from Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Farré, Marta; Kostov, Belchin; Haro, Josep Maria; Cabrera, Esther; Risco, Ester; Alvira, MCarmen; Miguel, Susana; Zabalegui, Adelaida

2017-11-13

We analyzed indirect costs related to loss of labor productivity (LLP) in informal caregivers (ICs) of people with dementia (PwD) and the associated caregiver burden and patients' clinical variables. Multicenter cohort study of PwD and their ICs (n = 287) focused on two groups: (1) home care and (2) institutional long-term care. The costs of LLP were assessed using the Resource Utilization Dementia instrument and a human capital approach. The cost for LLP was 378&OV0556;/month or 4.536&OV0556;/year. Greater disease severity increased the likelihood of reducing working hours and missing a working day. There was a significant association between partial absenteeism and burden in employed informal caregiver in both the home and institutional setting. Cognitive impairment contributes to the cost of LLP in IC especially in home-care. LLP has a negative impact on IC burden.

Particulate Matter Exposure and Preterm Birth: Estimates of U.S. Attributable Burden and Economic Costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Trasande, Leonardo; Malecha, Patrick; Attina, Teresa M

2016-12-01

Preterm birth (PTB) rates (11.4% in 2013) in the United States remain high and are a substantial cause of morbidity. Studies of prenatal exposure have associated particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) and other ambient air pollutants with adverse birth outcomes; yet, to our knowledge, burden and costs of PM2.5-attributable PTB have not been estimated in the United States. We aimed to estimate burden of PTB in the United States and economic costs attributable to PM2.5 exposure in 2010. Annual deciles of PM2.5 were obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We converted PTB odds ratio (OR), identified in a previous meta-analysis (1.15 per 10 μg/m3 for our base case, 1.07-1.16 for low- and high-end scenarios) to relative risk (RRs), to obtain an estimate that better represents the true relative risk. A reference level (RL) of 8.8 μg/m3 was applied. We then used the RR estimates and county-level PTB prevalence to quantify PM2.5-attributable PTB. Direct medical costs were obtained from the 2007 Institute of Medicine report, and lost economic productivity (LEP) was estimated using a meta-analysis of PTB-associated IQ loss, and well-established relationships of IQ loss with LEP. All costs were calculated using 2010 dollars. An estimated 3.32% of PTBs nationally (corresponding to 15,808 PTBs) in 2010 could be attributed to PM2.5 (PM2.5 > 8.8 μg/m3). Attributable PTBs cost were estimated at $5.09 billion [sensitivity analysis (SA): $2.43-9.66 B], of which $760 million were spent for medical care (SA: $362 M-1.44 B). The estimated PM2.5 attributable fraction (AF) of PTB was highest in urban counties, with highest AFs in the Ohio Valley and the southern United States. PM2.5 may contribute substantially to burden and costs of PTB in the United States, and considerable health and economic benefits could be achieved through environmental regulatory interventions that reduce PM2.5 exposure in pregnancy. Citation: Trasande L, Malecha P, Attina TM. 2016

Burden of Sexual Dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Balon, Richard

2017-01-02

Similar to the burden of other diseases, the burden of sexual dysfunction has not been systematically studied. However, there is growing evidence of various burdens (e.g., economic, symptomatic, humanistic) among patients suffering from sexual dysfunctions. The burden of sexual dysfunction has been studied a bit more often in men, namely the burden of erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation (PE) and testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS). Erectile dysfunction is frequently associated with chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. These conditions could go undiagnosed, and ED could be a marker of those diseases. The only available report from the United Kingdom estimated the total economic burden of ED at £53 million annually in terms of direct costs and lost productivity. The burden of PE includes significant psychological distress: anxiety, depression, lack of sexual confidence, poor self-esteem, impaired quality of life, and interpersonal difficulties. Some suggest that increase in female sexual dysfunction is associated with partner's PE, in addition to significant interpersonal difficulties. The burden of TDS includes depression, sexual dysfunction, mild cognitive impairment, and osteoporosis. One UK estimate of the economic burden of female sexual dysfunctions demonstrated that the average cost per patient was higher than the per annum cost of ED. There are no data on burden of paraphilic disorders. The burden of sexual dysfunctions is underappreciated and not well studied, yet it is significant for both the patients and the society.

Setting priorities for the health care sector in Zimbabwe using cost-effectiveness analysis and estimates of the burden of disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kristian Schultz; Chapman, Glyn

2008-01-01

Background: This study aimed at providing information for priority setting in the health care sector of Zimbabwe as well as assessing the efficiency of resource use. A general approach proposed by the World Bank involving the estimation of the burden of disease measured in Disability-Adjusted Life...... a combination of step-down and micro-costing was applied. Effectiveness of health interventions was estimated based on published information on the efficacy adjusted for factors such as coverage and compliance. Results: Very cost-effective interventions were available for the major health problems. Using...... estimates of the burden of disease, the present paper developed packages of health interventions using the estimated cost-effectiveness ratios. These packages could avert a quarter of the burden of disease at total costs corresponding to one tenth of the public health budget in the financial year 1997...

Does the cost of robotic cholecystectomy translate to a financial burden?

Science.gov (United States)

Rosemurgy, Alexander; Ryan, Carrie; Klein, Richard; Sukharamwala, Prashant; Wood, Thomas; Ross, Sharona

2015-08-01

Robotic application to cholecystectomy has dramatically increased, though its impact on cost of care and reimbursement has not been elucidated. We undertook this study to evaluate and compare cost of care and reimbursement with robotic versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The charges and reimbursement of all robotic and laparoscopic cholecystectomies at one hospital undertaken from June 2012 to June 2013 were determined. Operative duration is defined as time into and time out of the operating room. Data are presented as median data. Comparisons were undertaken using the Mann-Whitney U-test with significance accepted at p ≤ 0.05. Robotic cholecystectomy took longer (47 min longer) and had greater charges ($8,182.57 greater) than laparoscopic cholecystectomy (p depreciation, interest, and taxes (EBDIT), and Net Income were not impacted by approach. Relative to laparoscopic cholecystectomy, robotic cholecystectomy takes longer and has greater charges. Revenue, EBDIT, and Net Income are similar after either approach; this indicates that costs with either approach are similar. Notably, this is possible because much of hospital-based costs are determined by cost allocation and not cost accounting. Thus, the cost of longer operations and costs inherent to the robotic approach for cholecystectomy do not translate to a perceived financial burden.

Estimating the Hospital Burden of Norovirus-Associated Gastroenteritis in England and its Opportunity Costs for Non-Admitted Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandmann, Frank G; Shallcross, Laura; Adams, Natalie; Allen, David J; Coen, Pietro G; Jeanes, Annette; Kozlakidis, Zisis; Larkin, Lesley; Wurie, Fatima; Robotham, Julie V; Jit, Mark; Deeny, Sarah R

2018-02-26

Norovirus places a substantial burden on healthcare systems, arising from infected patients, disease outbreaks, beds kept unoccupied for infection control, and staff absences due to infection. In settings with high rates of bed occupancy, opportunity costs arise from patients who cannot be admitted due to beds being unavailable. With several treatments and vaccines against norovirus in development, quantifying the expected economic burden is timely. The number of inpatients with norovirus-associated gastroenteritis in England were modelled using infectious and non-infectious gastrointestinal Hospital Episode Statistics codes and laboratory reports of gastrointestinal pathogens collected at Public Health England. The excess length of stay from norovirus was estimated with a multi-state model and local outbreak data. Unoccupied bed-days and staff absences were estimated from national outbreak surveillance. The burden was valued conventionally using accounting expenditures and wages, which we contrasted to the opportunity costs from forgone patients using a novel methodology. Between July 2013 and June 2016, 17.7% (95%-confidence interval: 15.6%‒21.6%) of primary and 23.8% (20.6%‒29.9%) of secondary gastrointestinal diagnoses were norovirus-attributable. Annually, the estimated median 290,000 (interquartile range: 282,000‒297,000) occupied and unoccupied bed-days used for norovirus displaced 57,800 patients. Conventional costs for the National Health Service reached £107.6 million; the economic burden approximated to £297.7 million and a loss of 6,300 quality-adjusted life years annually. In England, norovirus is now the second-largest contributor of the gastrointestinal hospital burden. With the projected impact being greater than previously estimated, improved capture of relevant opportunity costs seems imperative for diseases like norovirus.

The economic burden of unintentional injuries: a community-based cost analysis in Bavi, Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Thanh, Nguyen Xuan; Hang, Hoang Mihn; Chuc, Nguyen Thi Kim; Lindholm, Lars

2003-01-01

Relatively little is known about patterns of injury at the community level in Vietnam and their economic consequences. This study sought to estimate the costs of various unintentional injuries in Bavi District during one year; to describe how costs depended on gender, age, circumstances, and severity of injury; and to describe how the economic burden of unintentional injuries was distributed between households, government, and health insurance agency. A cohort study was undertaken, which involved four cross-sectional household surveys among sampled communities in the Bavi District during the year 2000, each asking about injuries in the preceding three months. The costing system in public healthcare in Vietnam was applied as well as information from the victims. The total cost of injuries over one year in Bavi District was estimated to be D3,412,539,000 (Vietnamese dong) (US$235,347), equivalent to the annual income of 1,800 people. In total, 90% of this economic burden fell on households, only 8% on government, and 2% on the health insurance agency. The cost of a severe injury to the corresponded to approximately seven months of earned income. Home and traffic injuries together accounted for more than 80% of the total cost, 45% and 38% respectively. The highest unit cost was related to traffic injuries, followed by home, "other", work-related, and school injuries in descending order. The results can be considered as an economic baseline that can be used in evaluations of future interventions aimed at preventing injuries.

Economic burden of heart failure: investigating outpatient and inpatient costs in Abeokuta, Southwest Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogah, Okechukwu S; Stewart, Simon; Onwujekwe, Obinna E; Falase, Ayodele O; Adebayo, Saheed O; Olunuga, Taiwo; Sliwa, Karen

2014-01-01

Heart failure (HF) is a deadly, disabling and often costly syndrome world-wide. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of data describing its economic impact in sub Saharan Africa; a region in which the number of relatively younger cases will inevitably rise. Heath economic data were extracted from a prospective HF registry in a tertiary hospital situated in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria. Outpatient and inpatient costs were computed from a representative cohort of 239 HF cases including personnel, diagnostic and treatment resources used for their management over a 12-month period. Indirect costs were also calculated. The annual cost per person was then calculated. Mean age of the cohort was 58.0 ± 15.1 years and 53.1% were men. The total computed cost of care of HF in Abeokuta was 76, 288,845 Nigerian Naira (US$508, 595) translating to 319,200 Naira (US$2,128 US Dollars) per patient per year. The total cost of in-patient care (46% of total health care expenditure) was estimated as 34,996,477 Naira (about 301,230 US dollars). This comprised of 17,899,977 Naira- 50.9% ($US114,600) and 17,806,500 naira -49.1%($US118,710) for direct and in-direct costs respectively. Out-patient cost was estimated as 41,292,368 Naira ($US 275,282). The relatively high cost of outpatient care was largely due to cost of transportation for monthly follow up visits. Payments were mostly made through out-of-pocket spending. The economic burden of HF in Nigeria is particularly high considering, the relatively young age of affected cases, a minimum wage of 18,000 Naira ($US120) per month and considerable component of out-of-pocket spending for those affected. Health reforms designed to mitigate the individual to societal burden imposed by the syndrome are required.

Economic burden of heart failure: investigating outpatient and inpatient costs in Abeokuta, Southwest Nigeria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Okechukwu S Ogah

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF is a deadly, disabling and often costly syndrome world-wide. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of data describing its economic impact in sub Saharan Africa; a region in which the number of relatively younger cases will inevitably rise. METHODS: Heath economic data were extracted from a prospective HF registry in a tertiary hospital situated in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria. Outpatient and inpatient costs were computed from a representative cohort of 239 HF cases including personnel, diagnostic and treatment resources used for their management over a 12-month period. Indirect costs were also calculated. The annual cost per person was then calculated. RESULTS: Mean age of the cohort was 58.0 ± 15.1 years and 53.1% were men. The total computed cost of care of HF in Abeokuta was 76, 288,845 Nigerian Naira (US$508, 595 translating to 319,200 Naira (US$2,128 US Dollars per patient per year. The total cost of in-patient care (46% of total health care expenditure was estimated as 34,996,477 Naira (about 301,230 US dollars. This comprised of 17,899,977 Naira- 50.9% ($US114,600 and 17,806,500 naira -49.1%($US118,710 for direct and in-direct costs respectively. Out-patient cost was estimated as 41,292,368 Naira ($US 275,282. The relatively high cost of outpatient care was largely due to cost of transportation for monthly follow up visits. Payments were mostly made through out-of-pocket spending. CONCLUSION: The economic burden of HF in Nigeria is particularly high considering, the relatively young age of affected cases, a minimum wage of 18,000 Naira ($US120 per month and considerable component of out-of-pocket spending for those affected. Health reforms designed to mitigate the individual to societal burden imposed by the syndrome are required.

Modelling the cost-effectiveness of mass screening and treatment for reducing Plasmodium falciparum malaria burden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Crowell Valerie

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Past experience and modelling suggest that, in most cases, mass treatment strategies are not likely to succeed in interrupting Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission. However, this does not preclude their use to reduce disease burden. Mass screening and treatment (MSAT is preferred to mass drug administration (MDA, as the latter involves massive over-use of drugs. This paper reports simulations of the incremental cost-effectiveness of well-conducted MSAT campaigns as a strategy for P. falciparum malaria disease-burden reduction in settings with varying receptivity (ability of the combined vector population in a setting to transmit disease and access to case management. Methods MSAT incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs were estimated in different sub-Saharan African settings using simulation models of the dynamics of malaria and a literature-based MSAT cost estimate. Imported infections were simulated at a rate of two per 1,000 population per annum. These estimates were compared to the ICERs of scaling up case management or insecticide-treated net (ITN coverage in each baseline health system, in the absence of MSAT. Results MSAT averted most episodes, and resulted in the lowest ICERs, in settings with a moderate level of disease burden. At a low pre-intervention entomological inoculation rate (EIR of two infectious bites per adult per annum (IBPAPA MSAT was never more cost-effective than scaling up ITNs or case management coverage. However, at pre-intervention entomological inoculation rates (EIRs of 20 and 50 IBPAPA and ITN coverage levels of 40 or 60%, respectively, the ICER of MSAT was similar to that of scaling up ITN coverage further. Conclusions In all the transmission settings considered, achieving a minimal level of ITN coverage is a “best buy”. At low transmission, MSAT probably is not worth considering. Instead, MSAT may be suitable at medium to high levels of transmission and at moderate ITN coverage

Optimal replacement of residential air conditioning equipment to minimize energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and consumer cost in the US

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Kleine, Robert D.; Keoleian, Gregory A.; Kelly, Jarod C.

2011-01-01

A life cycle optimization of the replacement of residential central air conditioners (CACs) was conducted in order to identify replacement schedules that minimized three separate objectives: life cycle energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and consumer cost. The analysis was conducted for the time period of 1985-2025 for Ann Arbor, MI and San Antonio, TX. Using annual sales-weighted efficiencies of residential CAC equipment, the tradeoff between potential operational savings and the burdens of producing new, more efficient equipment was evaluated. The optimal replacement schedule for each objective was identified for each location and service scenario. In general, minimizing energy consumption required frequent replacement (4-12 replacements), minimizing GHG required fewer replacements (2-5 replacements), and minimizing cost required the fewest replacements (1-3 replacements) over the time horizon. Scenario analysis of different federal efficiency standards, regional standards, and Energy Star purchases were conducted to quantify each policy's impact. For example, a 16 SEER regional standard in Texas was shown to either reduce primary energy consumption 13%, GHGs emissions by 11%, or cost by 6-7% when performing optimal replacement of CACs from 2005 or before. The results also indicate that proper servicing should be a higher priority than optimal replacement to minimize environmental burdens. - Highlights: → Optimal replacement schedules for residential central air conditioners were found. → Minimizing energy required more frequent replacement than minimizing consumer cost. → Significant variation in optimal replacement was observed for Michigan and Texas. → Rebates for altering replacement patterns are not cost effective for GHG abatement. → Maintenance levels were significant in determining the energy and GHG impacts.

Out-of-pocket Cost Burden in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross-sectional Cohort Analysis.

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Sin, Aaron T; Damman, Jennifer L; Ziring, David A; Gleghorn, Elizabeth E; Garcia-Careaga, Manuel G; Gugig, Roberto R; Hunter, Anna K; Burgis, Jennifer C; Bass, Dorsey M; Park, K T

2015-06-01

Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), can result in significant morbidity requiring frequent health care utilization. Although it is known that the overall financial impact of pediatric IBD is significant, the direct out-of-pocket (OOP) cost burden on the parents of children with IBD has not been explored. We hypothesized that affected children with a more relapsing disease course and families in lower income strata, ineligible for need-based assistance programs, disparately absorb ongoing financial stress. We completed a cross-sectional analysis among parents of children with IBD residing in California using an online HIPAA-secure Qualtrics survey. Multicenter recruitment occurred between December 4, 2013 and September 18, 2014 at the point-of-care from site investigators, informational flyers distributed at regional CCFA conferences, and social media campaigns equally targeting Northern, Central, and Southern California. IBD-, patient-, and family-specific information were collected from the parents of pediatric patients with IBD patients younger than 18 years of age at time of study, carry a confirmed diagnosis of CD or UC, reside in and receive pediatric gastroenterology care in California, and do not have other chronic diseases requiring ongoing medical care. We collected 150 unique surveys from parents of children with IBD (67 CD; 83 UC). The median patient age was 14 years for both CD and UC, with an overall 3.7 years (SD 2.8 yr) difference between survey completion and time of IBD diagnosis. Annually, 63.6%, 28.6%, and 5.3% of families had an OOP cost burden >$500, >$1000, and >5000, respectively. Approximately one-third (36.0%) of patients had emergency department (ED) visits over the past year, with 59.2% of these patients spending >$500 on emergency department copays, including 11.1% who spent >$5000. Although 43.3% contributed $2000 in the past year. Families with household income

The Annual Economic Burden of Syphilis: An Estimation of Direct, Productivity, and Intangible Costs for Syphilis in Guangdong Initiative for Comprehensive Control of Syphilis Sites.

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Zou, Yaming; Liao, Yu; Liu, Fengying; Chen, Lei; Shen, Hongcheng; Huang, Shujie; Zheng, Heping; Yang, Bin; Hao, Yuantao

2017-11-01

Syphilis has continuously posed a great challenge to China. However, very little data existed regarding the cost of syphilis. Taking Guangdong Initiative for Comprehensive Control of Syphilis area as the research site, we aimed to comprehensively measure the annual economic burden of syphilis from a societal perspective. Newly diagnosed and follow-up outpatient cases were investigated by questionnaire. Reported tertiary syphilis cases and medical institutions cost were both collected. The direct economic burden was measured by the bottom-up approach, the productivity cost by the human capital method, and the intangible burden by the contingency valuation method. Three hundred five valid early syphilis cases and 13 valid tertiary syphilis cases were collected in the investigation to estimate the personal average cost. The total economic burden of syphilis was US $729,096.85 in Guangdong Initiative for Comprehensive Control of Syphilis sites in the year of 2014, with medical institutions cost accounting for 73.23% of the total. Household average direct cost of early syphilis was US $23.74. Average hospitalization cost of tertiary syphilis was US $2,749.93. Of the cost to medical institutions, screening and testing comprised the largest proportion (26%), followed by intervention and case management (22%) and operational cost (21%). Household average productivity cost of early syphilis was US $61.19. Household intangible cost of syphilis was US $15,810.54. Syphilis caused a substantial economic burden on patients, their families, and society in Guangdong. Household productivity and intangible costs both shared positive relationships with local economic levels. Strengthening the prevention and effective treatment of early syphilis could greatly help to lower the economic burden of syphilis.

The cost of lost productivity due to premature cancer-related mortality: an economic measure of the cancer burden.

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Hanly, Paul A; Sharp, Linda

2014-03-26

Most measures of the cancer burden take a public health perspective. Cancer also has a significant economic impact on society. To assess this economic burden, we estimated years of potential productive life lost (YPPLL) and costs of lost productivity due to premature cancer-related mortality in Ireland. All cancers combined and the 10 sites accounting for most deaths in men and in women were considered. To compute YPPLL, deaths in 5-year age-bands between 15 and 64 years were multiplied by average working-life expectancy. Valuation of costs, using the human capital approach, involved multiplying YPPLL by age-and-gender specific gross wages, and adjusting for unemployment and workforce participation. Sensitivity analyses were conducted around retirement age and wage growth, labour force participation, employment and discount rates, and to explore the impact of including household production and caring costs. Costs were expressed in €2009. Total YPPLL was lower in men than women (men = 10,873; women = 12,119). Premature cancer-related mortality costs were higher in men (men: total cost = €332 million, cost/death = €290,172, cost/YPPLL = €30,558; women: total cost = €177 million, cost/death = €159,959, cost/YPPLL = €14,628). Lung cancer had the highest premature mortality cost (€84.0 million; 16.5% of total costs), followed by cancers of the colorectum (€49.6 million; 9.7%), breast (€49.4 million; 9.7%) and brain & CNS (€42.4 million: 8.3%). The total economic cost of premature cancer-related mortality in Ireland amounted to €509.5 million or 0.3% of gross domestic product. An increase of one year in the retirement age increased the total all-cancer premature mortality cost by 9.9% for men and 5.9% for women. The inclusion of household production and caring costs increased the total cost to €945.7 million. Lost productivity costs due to cancer-related premature mortality are significant. The higher premature mortality cost in males than

Rotavirus diarrhea disease burden in Peru: the need for a rotavirus vaccine and its potential cost savings.

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Ehrenkranz, P; Lanata, C F; Penny, M E; Salazar-Lindo, E; Glass, R I

2001-10-01

To assess the disease burden of rotavirus diarrhea in Peru as well the need for and the potential cost savings with a rotavirus vaccine in that country. To assess the burden of rotavirus diarrhea in Peru, we reviewed published and unpublished reports where rotavirus was sought as the etiologic agent of diarrhea in children. Rotavirus detection rates obtained from these studies were combined with diarrhea incidence rates from a number of national surveys in order to estimate both the burden of rotavirus diarrhea in the country and its associated medical costs. Rotavirus is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Peruvian children. In their first 5 years of life, an estimated 1 in 1.6 children will experience an episode of rotavirus diarrhea, 1 in 9.4 will seek medical care, 1 in 19.7 will require hospitalization, and 1 in 375 will die of the disease. Per year, this represents approximately 384,000 cases, 64,000 clinic visits, 30,000 hospitalizations, and 1,600 deaths. The annual cost of medical care alone for these children is approximately US$ 2.6 million--and that does not take into account the indirect or societal costs of the illness and the deaths. Rotavirus immunization provides the prospect of decreasing the morbidity and mortality from diarrhea in Peru, but a vaccine regimen would have to be relatively inexpensive, a few dollars or less per child. Future cost-effectiveness analyses should explore the total costs (medical as well as indirect or societal) associated with rotavirus diarrhea. Newly licensed vaccines should be tested according to both their ability to avert deaths and their efficacy with fewer than three doses. All three of these factors could increase the cost savings associated with a rotavirus vaccine.

Rotavirus diarrhea disease burden in Peru: the need for a rotavirus vaccine and its potential cost savings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Ehrenkranz

2001-10-01

Full Text Available Objective. To assess the disease burden of rotavirus diarrhea in Peru as well the need for and the potential cost savings with a rotavirus vaccine in that country. Methods. To assess the burden of rotavirus diarrhea in Peru, we reviewed published and unpublished reports where rotavirus was sought as the etiologic agent of diarrhea in children. Rotavirus detection rates obtained from these studies were combined with diarrhea incidence rates from a number of national surveys in order to estimate both the burden of rotavirus diarrhea in the country and its associated medical costs. Results. Rotavirus is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Peruvian children. In their first 5 years of life, an estimated 1 in 1.6 children will experience an episode of rotavirus diarrhea, 1 in 9.4 will seek medical care, 1 in 19.7 will require hospitalization, and 1 in 375 will die of the disease. Per year, this represents approximately 384 000 cases, 64 000 clinic visits, 30 000 hospitalizations, and 1 600 deaths. The annual cost of medical care alone for these children is approximately US$ 2.6 million--and that does not take into account the indirect or societal costs of the illness and the deaths. Conclusions. Rotavirus immunization provides the prospect of decreasing the morbidity and mortality from diarrhea in Peru, but a vaccine regimen would have to be relatively inexpensive, a few dollars or less per child. Future cost-effectiveness analyses should explore the total costs (medical as well as indirect or societal associated with rotavirus diarrhea. Newly licensed vaccines should be tested according to both their ability to avert deaths and their efficacy with fewer than three doses. All three of these factors could increase the cost savings associated with a rotavirus vaccine.

Economic burden of non-malignant blood disorders across Europe: a population-based cost study.

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Luengo-Fernandez, Ramon; Burns, Richeal; Leal, Jose

2016-08-01

Blood disorders comprise a wide range of diseases including anaemia, malignant blood disorders, and haemorrhagic disorders. Although they are a common cause of disease, no systematic cost-of-illness studies have been done to assess the economic effect of non-malignant blood disorders in Europe. We aimed to assess the economic burden of non-malignant blood disorders across the 28 countries of the European Union (EU), Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. Non-malignant blood disorder-related costs (WHO International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision [ICD] D50-89) were estimated for 28 EU countries, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland for 2012. Country-specific costs were estimated with aggregate data on morbidity, mortality, and health-care resource use obtained from international and national sources. Health-care costs were estimated from expenditure on primary care, outpatient care, emergency care, hospital inpatient care, and drugs. Costs of informal care and productivity losses due to morbidity and early death were also included. To these costs we added those due to malignant blood disorders (ICD-10 C81-96 and D47) as estimated in a Burns and colleagues' companion Article to obtain the total costs of blood disorders. Non-malignant disorders of the blood cost the 31 European countries €11 billion in 2012. Health-care costs accounted for €8 billion (75% of total costs), productivity losses for €2 billion (19%), and informal care for less than €1 billion (6%). Averaged across the European population studied, non-malignant disorders of the blood represented an annual health-care cost of €159 per ten citizens. Combining malignant and non-malignant blood disorders, the total cost of blood disorders was €23 billion in 2012. Our study highlights the economic burden that non-malignant blood disorders place on European health-care systems and societies. Our study also shows that blood disorder costs were evenly distributed between malignant and non

[Financial burden of hepatitis B-related diseases and factors influencing the costs in Shenzhen, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Sen; Zhang, Shun-xiang; Ma, Qi-shan; Xiao, He-wei; Lü, Qiu-ying; Xie, Xu; Mei, Shu-jiang; Hu, Dong-sheng; Zhou, Bo-ping; Li, Bing; Chen, Jing-fang; Cui, Fu-qiang; Wang, Fu-zhen; Liang, Xiao-feng

2010-12-01

To investigate the direct, indirect and intangible costs due to hepatitis B-related diseases and to explore main factors associated with the costs in Shenzhen. Cluster sampling for cases collected consecutively during the study period was administrated. Subjects were selected from eligible hepatitis B-related patients. By pre-trained professional investigators, health economics-related information was collected, using a structured questionnaire. Hospitalization expenses were obtained through hospital records after the patients were discharged from hospital. Total economic burden of hepatitis B-related patients would involve direct, indirect and intangible costs. Direct costs were further divided into direct medical costs and direct nonmedical costs. Human Capital Approach was employed to measure the indirect costs both on patients and the caregivers in 1-year time span. Willing to pay method was used to estimate the intangible costs. Multiple linear stepwise regression models were conducted to determine the factors linked to the economic burden. On average, the total annual cost of per patient with hepatitis B-related diseases was 81 590.23 RMB Yuan. Among which, direct, indirect and intangible costs were 30 914.79 Yuan (account for 37.9%), 15 258.01 Yuan (18.7%), 35 417.43 Yuan (43.4%), respectively. The total annual costs per patient for hepatocellular carcinoma, severe hepatitis B, decompensated cirrhosis, compensated cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B and acute hepatitis B were 194 858.40 Yuan, 144 549.20 Yuan, 120 333.60 Yuan, 79 528.81 Yuan, 66 282.46 Yuan and 39 286.81 Yuan, respectively. The ratio of direct to indirect costs based on the base-case estimation foot add to 2.0:1, increased from hepato-cellular carcinoma (0.7:1) to compensated cirrhosis (3.5:1), followed by acute hepatitis B (3.3:1), severe hepatitis B (2.8:1), decompensate cirrhosis (2.3:1) and chronic hepatitis B (2.2:1). Direct medical costs were more than direct nonmedical. Ratio between the

Indirect costs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A review of the economic burden on employers and individuals in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Jeetvan G; Nagar, Saurabh P; Dalal, Anand A

2014-01-01

Objective To review and summarize existing literature on the indirect burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the US. Methods Medline, Scopus, and OvidSP databases were searched using defined search terms to identify relevant studies. Eligible studies were published in English between January 2000 and April 2012 and calculated the indirect burden of COPD in a US population in terms of prevalence, incidence or costs of productivity loss, disability, morbidity, or mortality. Results Of 53 studies identified, eleven met eligibility criteria, with data years spanning 1987–2009. Estimates of workforce participation range from 56% to 69% among individuals with COPD and from 65% to 77% among individuals without COPD. Approximately 13%–18% of those with COPD are limited in the amount or type of work they can do and one-third or more experience general activity limitation. Estimates of restricted activity days range from 27–63 days per year. Estimates of mean annual sick leave and/or disability days among employed individuals with COPD range from 1.3–19.4 days. Estimates of bed confinement range from 13–32 days per year. Estimated mean annual indirect costs were $893–$2,234/person (US dollars) with COPD ($1,521–$3,348 in 2010 [US dollars]) and varied with the population studied, specific cost outcomes, and economic inputs. In studies that assessed total (direct and indirect) costs, indirect costs accounted for 27%–61% of total costs, depending on the population studied. Conclusions COPD is associated with substantial indirect costs. The disease places a burden on employers in terms of lost productivity and associated costs and on individuals in terms of lost income related to absenteeism, activity limitation, and disability. Consideration of indirect as well as direct costs is necessary to gain a more complete view of the societal burden of COPD. PMID:24672234

The economic burden of schizophrenia in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Teoh, Siew Li; Chong, Huey Yi; Abdul Aziz, Salina; Chemi, Norliza; Othman, Abdul Razak; Md Zaki, Nurzuriana; Vanichkulpitak, Possatorn; Chaiyakunapruk, Nathorn

2017-01-01

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a highly debilitating disease despite its low prevalence. The economic burden associated with SCZ is substantial and mainly attributed to productivity loss. To improve the understanding of economic burden of SCZ in the low- and middle-income country regions, we aimed to determine the economic burden of SCZ in Malaysia. A retrospective study was conducted using a prevalence-based approach from a societal perspective in Malaysia with a 1 year period from 2013. We used micro-costing technique with bottom-up method and included direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost, and indirect cost. The main data source was medical chart review which was conducted in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). The medical charts were identified electronically by matching the unique patient's identification number registered under the National Mental Health Schizophrenia Registry and the list of patients in HKL in 2013. Other data sources were government documents, literatures, and local websites. To ensure robustness of result, probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted. The total estimated number of treated SCZ cases in Malaysia in 2015 was 15,104 with the total economic burden of USD 100 million (M) which was equivalent to 0.04% of the national gross domestic product. On average, the mean cost per patient was USD 6,594. Of the total economic burden of SCZ, 72% was attributed to indirect cost, costing at USD 72M, followed by direct medical cost (26%), costing at USD 26M, and direct non-medical cost (2%), costing at USD 1.7M. This study highlights the magnitude of economic burden of SCZ and informs the policy-makers that there is an inadequate support for SCZ patients. More resources should be allocated to improve the condition of SCZ patients and to reduce the economic burden.

Some remarks on the natural radiation burden of population

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feher, I.; Gemesi, J.; Toth, A.

1975-04-01

A large scale of the population's radiation burden is due to the natural radioactivity of building materials. An appropriate model has been developed for the calculation of the burden of population from the concentration of radioisotopes in building materials. The external and internal radiation burden of Hungary's population were determined (weighted means were 33 mrem/year and the bronhial dose 730 mrad/year, respectively) and the effect of new building technologies and materials on the radiation burden was studied. In dwellings built of precast concrete slabs containing low-activity ballast available in Hungary the radiation burden was found to be significantly lower than the present average. The increase in the contamination hazard expected from the peaceful uses of atomic energy could be compensated by reducing the average external radiation burden together with the average bronchial dose. This reduction can be 1.6 mrem/year and 58 mrad/year, respectively (according to our estimations based on simple assumptions), requiring acceptable excess cost. (K.A.)

Social costs of energy consumption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hohmeyer, O.

1988-01-01

This study systematically compares the external costs and benefits of different electricity generating technologies. It covers environmental and employment effects, the depletion of natural resources, and public subsidies. Electricity production based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy compared with electricity production based on wind energy and photovoltaic systems. The study shows that wind and photovoltaic solar energy induce far less social costs than conventionally generated electricity. The impact of excluding social costs on the competitive position of the different energy technologies is analyzed. It is shown that the allocation process is seriously distorted resulting in sub-optimal investment decisions concerning competing energy technologies. This exclusion of social costs can delay the introduction of renewable energy sources by more than ten years and results in considerable losses to society. (orig./HSCH) With 17 figs., 24 tabs

Renewable energy burden sharing. REBUS. Requirements and expectations of utilities and consumer organisations in the European energy sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voogt, M.H.; Uyterlinde, M.A.; Skytte, K.; Leonardi, M.; Whiteley, M.H.

2001-05-01

Creation of an internal market for renewable electricity will involve a political negotiation process, similar to previous EU greenhouse gas negotiations. The Energy Ministers in the EU have agreed on an overall target of 21.7% of electricity supply from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-E) and a distribution of targets over the individual Member States. The REBUS project aimed at providing insights in the effects of implementing targets for renewable electricity generation at EU Member State level and the impact of introducing burden sharing systems within the EU, such as a Tradable Green Certificate (TGC) system. Member States can participate in such burden sharing systems to reduce the costs of achieving targets for electricity from renewable sources (RES-E), compared to strictly national implementation measures. The project concentrated on the development of the REBUS model, which quantifies the impact of trade (in green certificates, quotas or targets) and the implementation of different rules to setting targets at individual Member State level. In addition, the project has paid special attention to the participation of stakeholders such as utilities, traders, and consumers of electricity. What is their opinion on the target setting, on the design of a trading system and its practical implementation and monitoring aspects? Utilities and consumer organisations in Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been asked to comment on these issues. This report is a result of a series of interviews with these stakeholders on their reaction to different burden sharing proposals, and on the socio-economic and financial impacts they foresee. The utilities take a critical view of their position in the renewable energy market and possible future international trading scheme. The main conclusions from the interviews are: Generally, target setting and burden sharing are regarded political questions, on which governments should decide; Stakeholders emphasise

Burden and cost of neurological diseases: a European North-South comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Raggi, A; Leonardi, M

2015-07-01

To address the relationship between years lived with a disability (YLDs), prevalence and cost of neurological diseases, and to test whether there is a European North-South gradient for national health expenditure, disability, costs and prevalence of neurological diseases. Information on costs, prevalence and YLDs referred to 2010 were taken from the Study on the Cost of Disorders of the Brain and from the Global Burden of Disease study; data on health expenditure were taken from OECD reports. Selected conditions were as follows: brain tumours, stroke, dementia, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, migraine and tension-type headache; selected countries were from North (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and South (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) Europe. The association between the variables for each condition was tested using Spearman's correlation; Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to test North-South Europe differences. Correlations were largely non-significant (except for stroke). YLDs and cost were generally lower in South-European countries, and prevalence was lower in North-European countries, but no significant differences were found. Health expenditure, YLDs, costs and prevalence of neurological conditions were generally not correlated across the eight countries. A clear North-South gradient was found for health expenditures, and partially for YLDs, costs and diseases' prevalence. We hypothesized that this is a consequence of the expansion of morbidity of neurological conditions connected to ageing, that health and welfare systems of selected countries were not prepared to face. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Energy Burden and Environmental Impact of Health Services

Science.gov (United States)

Buettner, Petra G.; Canyon, Deon V.

2012-01-01

Objectives. We reviewed the English-language literature on the energy burden and environmental impact of health services. Methods. We searched all years of the PubMed, CINAHL, and ScienceDirect databases for publications reporting energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, or the environmental impact of health-related activities. We extracted and tabulated data to enable cross-comparisons among different activities and services; where possible, we calculated per patient or per event emissions. Results. We identified 38 relevant publications. Per patient or per event, health-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are quite modest; in the aggregate, however, they are considerable. In England and the United States, health-related emissions account for 3% and 8% of total national emissions, respectively. Conclusions. Although reducing health-related energy consumption and emissions alone will not resolve all of the problems of energy scarcity and climate change, it could make a meaningful contribution. PMID:23078475

Beyond co-pays and out-of-pocket costs: perceptions of health-related financial burden in managing asthma among African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Minal R; Nelson, Belinda W; Id-Deen, Effat; Caldwell, Cleopatra H

2014-12-01

The purpose of this study was to define perceptions of health-related financial burden based on the views of individuals who report these perceptions through qualitative approaches. Four focus groups were conducted in Southeast Michigan with 26 African American women with asthma, recruited based on maximum variation sampling procedures. A semi-structured interview was employed by facilitators. Coded transcripts were analyzed for themes regarding dimensions of the meaning of financial burden. Major domains of financial burden identified included (1) high out-of-pocket expenses; (2) lost wages from exacerbations, inability to maintain a stable job and stress from making decisions about taking a sick day or coming to work; (3) transport costs; (4) both costs and stress of managing insurance eligibility and correcting erroneous bills. Greater awareness of factors that add to perceptions of financial burden might better equip researchers to develop interventions to help care teams manage such concerns with their patients.

The estimated economic burden of genital herpes in the United States. An analysis using two costing approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fisman David N

2001-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Only limited data exist on the costs of genital herpes (GH in the USA. We estimated the economic burden of GH in the USA using two different costing approaches. Methods The first approach was a cross-sectional survey of a sample of primary and secondary care physicians, analyzing health care resource utilization. The second approach was based on the analysis of a large administrative claims data set. Both approaches were used to generate the number of patients with symptomatic GH seeking medical treatment, the average medical expenditures and estimated national costs. Costs were valued from a societal and a third party payer's perspective in 1996 US dollars. Results In the cross-sectional study, based on an estimated 3.1 million symptomatic episodes per year in the USA, the annual direct medical costs were estimated at a maximum of $984 million. Of these costs, 49.7% were caused by drug expenditures, 47.7% by outpatient medical care and 2.6% by hospital costs. Indirect costs accounted for further $214 million. The analysis of 1,565 GH cases from the claims database yielded a minimum national estimate of $283 million direct medical costs. Conclusions GH appears to be an important public health problem from the health economic point of view. The observed difference in direct medical costs may be explained with the influence of compliance to treatment and possible undersampling of subpopulations in the claims data set. The present study demonstrates the validity of using different approaches in estimating the economic burden of a specific disease to the health care system.

A method for allocating renewable energy source subsidies among final energy consumers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batlle, Carlos

2011-01-01

In a new context of growing need for renewable energy sources (RES), tariff design has become a critical component of energy system regulation. A methodology for allocating the cost of RES subsidies that ensures an optimal balance between compliance with the main regulatory principles of tariff design and each state's specific policy is of cardinal importance in the current context. This paper presents and discusses a novel methodology to allocate the RES subsidy costs, which consists of distributing them among final energy consumers, in proportion to their consumption, regardless of the type of final energy consumed (liquid fuels, gas, electricity or coal). First, the different designs of RES subsidies are categorized and a review of a good number of the RES burden sharing mechanisms implemented in the EU is presented. Then, the proposed methodology is developed on the basis of the basic regulatory principles underlying the tariff design and the current regulatory context in force in the EU. Finally, to illustrate its actual impact in a real case example, the proposed methodology is applied to the Spanish system, in which the burden of extra costs incurred for RES amounts to a very large proportion of the overall energy system costs. - Research highlights: → This paper develops a novel methodology to allocate RES subsidy costs among final energy consumers. → The methodology is built upon the basic tariff design principles and the 3rd package regulations. → It consists of distributing them in proportion to liquid fuels, gas, electricity or coal consumption. → The 20% RES target affects all energy sectors and justifies allocating the extra costs accordingly. → The methodology is applied to the Spanish energy system, where the RES burden is a very significant.

Indirect costs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A review of the economic burden on employers and individuals in the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patel JG

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Jeetvan G Patel,1,2 Saurabh P Nagar,2 Anand A Dalal2 1Pharmacy Administration and Public Health, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2US Health Outcomes, GlaxoSmithKline, Durham, NC, USA Objective: To review and summarize existing literature on the indirect burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD in the US. Methods: Medline, Scopus, and OvidSP databases were searched using defined search terms to identify relevant studies. Eligible studies were published in English between January 2000 and April 2012 and calculated the indirect burden of COPD in a US population in terms of prevalence, incidence or costs of productivity loss, disability, morbidity, or mortality. Results: Of 53 studies identified, eleven met eligibility criteria, with data years spanning 1987–2009. Estimates of workforce participation range from 56% to 69% among individuals with COPD and from 65% to 77% among individuals without COPD. Approximately 13%–18% of those with COPD are limited in the amount or type of work they can do and one-third or more experience general activity limitation. Estimates of restricted activity days range from 27–63 days per year. Estimates of mean annual sick leave and/or disability days among employed individuals with COPD range from 1.3–19.4 days. Estimates of bed confinement range from 13–32 days per year. Estimated mean annual indirect costs were $893–$2,234/person (US dollars with COPD ($1,521–$3,348 in 2010 [US dollars] and varied with the population studied, specific cost outcomes, and economic inputs. In studies that assessed total (direct and indirect costs, indirect costs accounted for 27%–61% of total costs, depending on the population studied. Conclusions: COPD is associated with substantial indirect costs. The disease places a burden on employers in terms of lost productivity and associated costs and on individuals in terms of lost income related to absenteeism, activity limitation, and disability

Solutions to Address Diabetes-Related Financial Burden and Cost-Related Nonadherence: Results from a Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Minal R.; Resnicow, Kenneth; Lang, Ian; Kraus, Kathleen; Heisler, Michele

2018-01-01

Background: Cost-related nonadherence (CRN) to recommended self-management behaviors among adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes is prevalent. Few behavioral interventions to mitigate CRN have been tested and evaluated. Aims: We developed a financial burden resource tool and examined its acceptability and the preliminary effects on…

The economic burden of schizophrenia in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teoh SL

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Siew Li Teoh,1 Huey Yi Chong,1 Salina Abdul Aziz,2 Norliza Chemi,2 Abdul Razak Othman,2 Nurzuriana Md Zaki,2 Possatorn Vanichkulpitak,3 Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk1,4–6 1School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, 2Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 3Faculty of Pharmacy, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, 4Center of Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research (CPOR, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand; 5School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 6Health and Well-being Cluster, Global Asia in the 21st Century (GA21 Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaIntroduction: Schizophrenia (SCZ is a highly debilitating disease despite its low prevalence. The economic burden associated with SCZ is substantial and mainly attributed to productivity loss. To improve the understanding of economic burden of SCZ in the low- and middle-income country regions, we aimed to determine the economic burden of SCZ in Malaysia.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using a prevalence-based approach from a societal perspective in Malaysia with a 1 year period from 2013. We used micro-costing technique with bottom-up method and included direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost, and indirect cost. The main data source was medical chart review which was conducted in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL. The medical charts were identified electronically by matching the unique patient’s identification number registered under the National Mental Health Schizophrenia Registry and the list of patients in HKL in 2013. Other data sources were government documents, literatures, and local websites. To ensure robustness of result, probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted.Results: The total estimated number of treated SCZ cases in Malaysia in 2015 was 15,104 with the total economic burden of USD 100 million

Economic burden of multidrug-resistant bacteria in nursing homes in Germany: a cost analysis based on empirical data.

Science.gov (United States)

Huebner, Claudia; Roggelin, Marcus; Flessa, Steffen

2016-02-23

Infections and colonisations with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) increasingly affect different types of healthcare facilities worldwide. So far, little is known about additional costs attributable to MDROs outside hospitals. The aim of this study was to analysis the economic burden of multidrug-resistant bacteria in nursing homes in Germany. The cost analysis is performed from a microeconomic perspective of the healthcare facilities. Study took place in six long-term care facilities in north-eastern Germany. Data of 71 residents with a positive MDRO status were included. The study analysed MDRO surveillance data from 2011 to 2013. It was supplemented by an empirical analysis to determine the burden on staff capacity and materials consumption. 11,793 days with a positive multidrug-resistant pathogen diagnosis could be included in the analysis. On average, 11.8 (SD ± 6.3) MDRO cases occurred per nursing home. Mean duration per case was 163.3 days (SD ± 97.1). The annual MDRO-related costs varied in nursing homes between €2449.72 and €153,263.74 on an average €12,682.23 per case. Main cost drivers were staff capacity (€43.95 per day and €7177.04 per case) and isolation materials (€24.70 per day and €4033.51 per case). The importance of MDROs in nursing homes could be confirmed. MDRO-related cost data in this specific healthcare sector were collected for the first time. Knowledge about the burden of MDROs will enable to assess the efficiency of hygiene intervention measures in nursing homes in the future. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Burden Sharing with Climate Change Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Tavoni, M.; van Vuuren, D.; De Cian, E.; Marangoni, G.; Hof, A.

2014-12-01

Efficiency and equity have been at the center of the climate change policy making since the very first international environmental agreements on climate change, though over time how to implement these principles has taken different forms. Studies based on Integrated Assessment Models have also shown that the economic effort of achieving a 2 degree target in a cost-effective way would differ widely across regions (Tavoni et al. 2013) because of diverse economic and energy structure, baseline emissions, energy and carbon intensity. Policy instruments, such as a fully-fledged, global emission trading schemes can be used to pursuing efficiency and equity at the same time but the literature has analyzed the compensations required to redistribute only mitigation costs. However, most of these studies have neglected the potential impacts of climate change. In this paper we use two integrated assessment models -FAIR and WITCH- to explore the 2°C policy space when accounting for climate change impacts. Impacts are represented via two different reduced forms equations, which despite their simplicity allows us exploring the key sensitivities- Our results show that in a 2 degree stabilization scenarios residual damages remain significant (see Figure 1) and that if you would like to compensate those as part of an equal effort scheme - this would lead to a different allocation than focusing on a mitigation based perspective only. The residual damages and adaptation costs are not equally distributed - and while we do not cover the full uncertainty space - with 2 different models and 2 sets of damage curves we are still able to show quite similar results in terms of vulnerable regions and the relative position of the different scenarios. Therefore, accounting for the residual damages and the associated adaptation costs on top of the mitigation burden increases and redistributes the full burden of total climate change.

How much electricity really costs. Comparison of the state subsidisation and overall social costs of conventional and renewable energy resources; Was Strom wirklich kostet. Vergleich der staatlichen Foerderungen und gesamtgesellschaftlichen Kosten konventioneller und erneuerbarer Energien

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuechler, Swantje; Meyer, Bettina

2012-07-01

subsidisation and external costs are often not considered in the price of conventional energy resources but ultimately have to be paid nonetheless, be it the form of tax payments, the social costs of the climate change or of other burdens on humans and the environment. The study furnishes proof that the EEG reallocation charge levied for the promotion of renewable energy (3.59 cents per kWh in 2012) represents a far smaller cost burden than do conventional energy resources, and that it will remain so even if it raised substantially in the future to finance the conversion to a more climate-friendly, sustainable energy supply. Contrary to popular belief, renewable energy resources are not the big cost driving factor in our power supply system but rather a replacement of energy resources that are causing far greater consequential costs for tax payers and society as a whole. If power supply companies were made to include these additional costs of electricity production in their cost calculations, most renewable energy resources would already be competitive today.

Posthospital Discharge Medical Care Costs and Family Burden Associated with Osteoporotic Fracture Patients in China from 2011 to 2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Xie

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. This study collected and evaluated data on the costs of outpatient medical care and family burden associated with osteoporosis-related fracture rehabilitation following hospital discharge in China. Materials and Methods. Data were collected using a patient questionnaire from osteoporosis-related fracture patients (N = 123 who aged 50 years and older who were discharged between January 2011 and January 2013 from 3 large hospitals in China. The survey captured posthospital discharge direct medical costs, indirect medical costs, lost work time for caregivers, and patient ambulatory status. Results. Hip fracture was the most frequent fracture site (62.6%, followed by vertebral fracture (34.2%. The mean direct medical care costs per patient totaled 3,910¥, while mean indirect medical costs totaled 743¥. Lost work time for unpaid family caregivers was 16.4 days, resulting in an average lost income of 3,233¥. The average posthospital direct medical cost, indirect medical cost, and caregiver lost income associated with a fracture patient totaled 7,886¥. Patients’ ambulatory status was negatively impacted following fracture. Conclusions. Significant time and cost of care are placed on patients and caregivers during rehabilitation after discharge for osteoporotic fracture. It is important to evaluate the role and responsibility for creating the growing and inequitable burden placed on patients and caregivers following osteoporotic fracture.

Preventable health and cost burden of adverse birth outcomes associated with pregestational diabetes in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Cora; Grosse, Scott D; Li, Rui; Sharma, Andrea J; Razzaghi, Hilda; Herman, William H; Gilboa, Suzanne M

2015-01-01

Preconception care for women with diabetes can reduce the occurrence of adverse birth outcomes. We aimed to estimate the preconception care (PCC)-preventable health and cost burden of adverse birth outcomes associated with diagnosed and undiagnosed pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) in the United States. Among women of reproductive age (15-44 years), we estimated age- and race/ethnicity-specific prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. We applied age and race/ethnicity-specific pregnancy rates, estimates of the risk reduction from PCC for 3 adverse birth outcomes (preterm birth, major birth defects, and perinatal mortality), and lifetime medical and lost productivity costs for children with those outcomes. Using a probabilistic model, we estimated the reduction in adverse birth outcomes and costs associated with universal PCC compared with no PCC among women with PGDM. We did not assess maternal outcomes and associated costs. We estimated 2.2% of US births are to women with PGDM. Among women with diagnosed diabetes, universal PCC might avert 8397 (90% prediction interval [PI], 5252-11,449) preterm deliveries, 3725 (90% PI, 3259-4126) birth defects, and 1872 (90% PI, 1239-2415) perinatal deaths annually. Associated discounted lifetime costs averted for the affected cohort of children could be as high as $4.3 billion (90% PI, 3.4-5.1 billion) (2012 US dollars). PCC among women with undiagnosed diabetes could yield an additional $1.2 billion (90% PI, 951 million-1.4 billion) in averted cost. Results suggest a substantial health and cost burden associated with PGDM that could be prevented by universal PCC, which might offset the cost of providing such care. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Optimal household refrigerator replacement policy for life cycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyung Chul; Keoleian, Gregory A.; Horie, Yuhta A.

2006-01-01

Although the last decade witnessed dramatic progress in refrigerator efficiencies, inefficient, outdated refrigerators are still in operation, sometimes consuming more than twice as much electricity per year compared with modern, efficient models. Replacing old refrigerators before their designed lifetime could be a useful policy to conserve electric energy and greenhouse gas emissions. However, from a life cycle perspective, product replacement decisions also induce additional economic and environmental burdens associated with disposal of old models and production of new models. This paper discusses optimal lifetimes of mid-sized refrigerator models in the US, using a life cycle optimization model based on dynamic programming. Model runs were conducted to find optimal lifetimes that minimize energy, global warming potential (GWP), and cost objectives over a time horizon between 1985 and 2020. The baseline results show that depending on model years, optimal lifetimes range 2-7 years for the energy objective, and 2-11 years for the GWP objective. On the other hand, an 18-year of lifetime minimizes the economic cost incurred during the time horizon. Model runs with a time horizon between 2004 and 2020 show that current owners should replace refrigerators that consume more than 1000 kWh/year of electricity (typical mid-sized 1994 models and older) as an efficient strategy from both cost and energy perspectives

Burden of rheumatoid arthritis from a societal perspective: A prevalence-based study on cost of illness for patients with rheumatoid arthritis in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Hao; Luan, Luan; Yang, Keqin; Li, Shu-Chuen

2017-02-17

To provide a comprehensive estimation of the economic burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in China, especially for patients from less developed areas, and to explore the cost transferability between regions to assist healthcare decision-making. The study was conducted in south and north China from May 2013 to December 2013. The burden of RA was investigated by interviewing participants with a questionnaire battery containing socio-demographic, cost of illness (COI) and medical treatments. The COI questionnaire captured direct, indirect and intangible costs. Direct costs included hospitalizations, outpatient visits and medications. Indirect costs were estimated using the human capital approach, and intangible costs valued through the willingness-to-pay approach. All cost data were converted to 2013 US dollars by purchasing power parity, and then summarized descriptively and analyzed with mixed models. Questionnaires were administered to 133 RA patients. The average direct costs were $1917.21 ± $2559.06 per patient year, with medications at $1283.89 ± $1898.15 comprising more than 50% of the total. The average indirect costs were $492.88 ± $1739.74 per patient year, while intangible costs were $20396.30 ± $31145.10. There was no significant difference detected between regions. Recent hospitalization was tested as a significant predictor of the direct costs. Age and income were significantly associated with indirect and intangible costs. Besides the substantial burden in terms of direct medical costs and productivity lost, there were notable intangible costs, especially among older patients. This conclusion could be potentially expanded to other provinces in China or even other countries through the adjustments for transferability. © 2017 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Economic Burden for Lung Cancer Survivors in Urban China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xin; Liu, Shuai; Liu, Yang; Du, Jian; Fu, Wenqi; Zhao, Xiaowen; Huang, Weidong; Zhao, Xianming; Liu, Guoxiang; Mao, Zhengzhong; Hu, Teh-Wei

2017-03-15

With the rapid increase in the incidence and mortality of lung cancer, a growing number of lung cancer patients and their families are faced with a tremendous economic burden because of the high cost of treatment in China. This study was conducted to estimate the economic burden and patient responsibility of lung cancer patients and the impact of this burden on family income. This study uses data from a retrospective questionnaire survey conducted in 10 communities in urban China and includes 195 surviving lung cancer patients diagnosed over the previous five years. The calculation of direct economic burden included both direct medical and direct nonmedical costs. Indirect costs were calculated using the human capital approach, which measures the productivity lost for both patients and family caregivers. The price index was applied for the cost calculation. The average economic burden from lung cancer was $43,336 per patient, of which the direct cost per capita was $42,540 (98.16%) and the indirect cost per capita was $795 (1.84%). Of the total direct medical costs, 35.66% was paid by the insurer and 9.84% was not covered by insurance. The economic burden for diagnosed lung cancer patients in the first year following diagnosis was $30,277 per capita, which accounted for 171% of the household annual income, a percentage that fell to 107% after subtracting the compensation from medical insurance. The economic burden for lung cancer patients is substantial in the urban areas of China, and an effective control strategy to lower the cost is urgently needed.

Diabetes management in Thailand: a literature review of the burden, costs, and outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Management of diabetes represents an enormous challenge for health systems at every level of development. The latter are tested for their ability to continuously deliver high quality care to patients from the day they are diagnosed throughout their life. In this study, we review the status of diabetes management in Thailand and try to identify the key challenges the country needs to address to reduce the current (and future) medical and economic burden caused by the disease. We conducted a literature review on the burden, costs, and outcomes of diabetes in Thailand. This information was complemented by personal communication with senior officials in the Thai Ministry of Health. We identified the following priorities for the future management of diabetes in Thailand. First, increasing screening of diabetes in high risk population and promoting annual screening of diabetes complications in all diabetic patients. Second, identifying and addressing factors affecting poor treatment outcomes. Third, policy should specify clear targets and provide and use a monitoring framework to track progress. Fourth, efforts are needed to further improve data availability. Up-to-date data on the medical and economic burden of diabetes representative at the national level and at least the regional level are essential to identify needs and monitor progress towards established targets. Fifth, promotion of a healthy lifestyle for prevention of diabetes through education and quality information delivered to the public. PMID:23497447

The real cost of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Valdalbero, Domenico Rossetti

2003-01-01

Several studies have been carried out in recent years to assess the external costs (externalities) of energy, among them the European Commission's ExternE research project. An external cost occurs when the social or economic activities of one group of people have an impact on another group but that impact is not fully accounted for or compensated for by the first group. For example, a power station that generates emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases imposes an external cost if these emissions cause damage to human health (fatal or non-fatal), contribute to global warming, or have adverse effects on crops and building materials. ExternE, which was carried out during the 1990s, is the most exhaustive study to date on the evaluation of the external costs associated with the production and consumption of energy and with energy-related activities. Despite the uncertainties associated with setting a value on external costs, the ExternE project has been successful in several ways and these are summarised together with the ways in which external costs to the environment and health can be taken into account or 'internalised'. One possibility is the imposition of eco-taxes. Another option would be to encourage or subsidise cleaner technologies, thereby avoiding socio-environmental costs. Renewable energy technologies, for example, have limited external costs. The results of ExternE have already been used as a basis for European Commission guidelines on state aid for environmental protection. The project's findings are also being used to support the Council of the European Union in formulating proposals for a Directive on the limits to be set for sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides, particulates and lead in the atmosphere. In 2000, under the EU's Fifth Research and Technological Development Framework programme, a follow-up project was initiated. The purpose of NewExt (New Elements for the Assessment of External Costs from Energy Technologies) is to refine the methodology

Social costs of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, P.M.S.

1990-01-01

There have been many studies over the past 20 years which have looked at the environmental and other impacts of energy production, conversion and use. A number of these have attempted to put a monetary value to the external costs which are not reflected in the prices charged for energy. The topic has received increased attention recently as a direct result of the recognition of the potentially large social costs that might arise from the depletion of the ozone layer, the consequences of global warming and the continued releases of acid gases from fossil fuel combustion. The determination of external costs was attempted in the report for the European Economic Community, EUR11519, ''Social Costs of Energy Consumption'', by O Hohmeyer. Due to its official sponsorship, this report has been afforded greater respect than it deserves and is being used in some quarters to claim that the external costs of nuclear power are high relative to those of fossil fuels. The remainder of this note looks at some of the serious deficiencies of the document and why its conclusions offer no meaningful guidance to policy makers. So far as the present author is aware no serious criticism of the Hohmeyer study has previously appeared. (author)

Setting priorities for the health care sector in Zimbabwe using cost-effectiveness analysis and estimates of the burden of disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hansen Kristian

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This study aimed at providing information for priority setting in the health care sector of Zimbabwe as well as assessing the efficiency of resource use. A general approach proposed by the World Bank involving the estimation of the burden of disease measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs and calculation of cost-effectiveness ratios for a large number of health interventions was followed. Methods Costs per DALY for a total of 65 health interventions were estimated. Costing data were collected through visits to health centres, hospitals and vertical programmes where a combination of step-down and micro-costing was applied. Effectiveness of health interventions was estimated based on published information on the efficacy adjusted for factors such as coverage and compliance. Results Very cost-effective interventions were available for the major health problems. Using estimates of the burden of disease, the present paper developed packages of health interventions using the estimated cost-effectiveness ratios. These packages could avert a quarter of the burden of disease at total costs corresponding to one tenth of the public health budget in the financial year 1997/98. In general, the analyses suggested that there was substantial potential for improving the efficiency of resource use in the public health care sector. Discussion The proposed World Bank approach applied to Zimbabwe was extremely data demanding and required extensive data collection in the field and substantial human resources. The most important limitation of the study was the scarcity of evidence on effectiveness of health interventions so that a range of important health interventions could not be included in the cost-effectiveness analysis. This and other limitations could in principle be overcome if more research resources were available. Conclusion The present study showed that it was feasible to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses for a large number

The Economic Burden of Visual Impairment and Comorbid Fatigue: A Cost-of-Illness Study (From a Societal Perspective).

Science.gov (United States)

Schakel, Wouter; van der Aa, Hilde P A; Bode, Christina; Hulshof, Carel T J; van Rens, Ger H M B; van Nispen, Ruth M A

2018-04-01

To investigate the burden of visual impairment and comorbid fatigue in terms of impact on daily life, by estimating societal costs (direct medical costs and indirect non-health care costs) accrued by these conditions. This cost-of-illness study was performed from a societal perspective. Cross-sectional data of visually impaired adults and normally sighted adults were collected through structured telephone interviews and online surveys, respectively. Primary outcomes were fatigue severity (FAS), impact of fatigue on daily life (MFIS), and total societal costs. Cost differences between participants with and without vision loss, and between participants with and without fatigue, were examined by (adjusted) multivariate regression analyses, including bootstrapped confidence intervals. Severe fatigue (FAS ≥ 22) and high fatigue impact (MFIS ≥ 38) was present in 57% and 40% of participants with vision loss (n = 247), respectively, compared to 22% (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.7, 7.6]) and 11% (adjusted OR 4.8; 95% CI [2.7, 8.7]) in those with normal sight (n = 233). A significant interaction was found between visual impairment and high fatigue impact for total societal costs (€449; 95% CI [33, 1017]). High fatigue impact was associated with significantly increased societal costs for participants with visual impairment (mean difference €461; 95% CI [126, 797]), but this effect was not observed for participants with normal sight (€12; 95% CI [-527, 550]). Visual impairment is associated with an increased prevalence of high fatigue impact that largely determines the economic burden of visual impairment. The substantial costs of visual impairment and comorbid fatigue emphasize the need for patient-centered interventions aimed at decreasing its impact.

Socioeconomic burden of hereditary angioedema

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aygören-Pürsün, Emel; Bygum, Anette; Beusterien, Kathleen

2014-01-01

who were working or in school (n = 120), 72 provided work/school absenteeism data, resulting in an estimated 20 days missing from work/school on average per year; 51% (n = 84) indicated that HAE has hindered their career/educational advancement. CONCLUSION: HAE poses a considerable burden on patients...... and their families in terms of direct medical costs and indirect costs related to lost productivity. This burden is substantial at the time of attacks and in between attacks....

Transaction costs of raising energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ostertag, K.

2003-07-01

Part of the debate evolves around the existence and importance of energy saving potentials to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions that may be available at negative net costs, implying that the energy cost savings of one specific technology can actually more than offset the costs of investing into this technology and of using it. This so called ''no-regret'' potential would comprise measures that from a pure economic efficiency point of view would be ''worth undertaking whether or not there are climate-related reasons for doing so''. The existence of the no-regret potential is often denied by arguing, that the economic evaluation of the energy saving potentials did not take into account transaction costs. This paper will re-examine in more detail the concept of transaction costs as it is used in the current debate on no-regret potentials (section 1). Four practical examples are presented to illustrate how transaction costs and their determinants can be identified, measured and possibly influenced (section 2). In order to link the presented cases to modelling based evaluation approaches the implications for cost evaluations of energy saving measures, especially in the context of energy system modelling, will be shown (section 3). (author)

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Kobelt, Gisela; Thompson, Alan; Berg, Jenny; Gannedahl, Mia; Eriksson, Jennifer

2017-01-01

Background: The current focus in multiple sclerosis (MS) is on early diagnosis and drug intervention, with a view to modifying disease progression. Consequently, healthcare costs have shifted from inpatient care and rehabilitation to outpatient care. Objectives: This European burden of illness study provides data that can be combined with other evidence to assess whether management approaches provide value to society. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 countries. Patients reported on their disease, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and resource consumption. Descriptive analyses were performed by disease severity. Costs are reported from a societal perspective in 2015€ PPP (adjusted for purchasing power parity). Results: The 16,808 participants had a mean age of 51.5 years, and 52% had relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Work capacity declined from 82% to 8%, and utility declined from normal population values to less than zero with advancing disease. Mean costs were 22,800€ PPP in mild, 37,100€ PPP in moderate and 57,500€ PPP in severe disease; healthcare accounted for 68%, 47% and 26%, respectively. Fatigue and cognitive difficulties were reported by 95% and 71% of participants, respectively; both had a significant independent effect on utility. Conclusion: Costs and utility were highly correlated with disease severity, but resource consumption was heavily influenced by healthcare systems organisation and availability of services. PMID:28273775

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobelt, Gisela; Thompson, Alan; Berg, Jenny; Gannedahl, Mia; Eriksson, Jennifer

2017-07-01

The current focus in multiple sclerosis (MS) is on early diagnosis and drug intervention, with a view to modifying disease progression. Consequently, healthcare costs have shifted from inpatient care and rehabilitation to outpatient care. This European burden of illness study provides data that can be combined with other evidence to assess whether management approaches provide value to society. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 countries. Patients reported on their disease, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and resource consumption. Descriptive analyses were performed by disease severity. Costs are reported from a societal perspective in 2015€ PPP (adjusted for purchasing power parity). The 16,808 participants had a mean age of 51.5 years, and 52% had relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Work capacity declined from 82% to 8%, and utility declined from normal population values to less than zero with advancing disease. Mean costs were 22,800€ PPP in mild, 37,100€ PPP in moderate and 57,500€ PPP in severe disease; healthcare accounted for 68%, 47% and 26%, respectively. Fatigue and cognitive difficulties were reported by 95% and 71% of participants, respectively; both had a significant independent effect on utility. Costs and utility were highly correlated with disease severity, but resource consumption was heavily influenced by healthcare systems organisation and availability of services.

Classification of nuclear plant cost to energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long, G.A.

1983-01-01

In order to understand why the fixed-cost/variable-cost method of classifying nuclear plant costs can lead to rate discontinuities, the author must examine the factors which lead to the decision to build a nuclear power plant and the interrelationship between demand (KW) and energy (KWH). The problems and inequities associated with the nuclear plants can be avoided by recognizing that fixed costs are related to both demand and energy and by using a costing methodology which closely relates to the functional purpose of the plant. Generally, this leads to classifying fixed costs of nuclear plants primarily to the energy function in an embedded cost-of-service study and through either implicit or explicit recognition of fuel savings in a marginal cost study. The large rate discontinuities which occurred in the scenario can be resolved. Costs associated with demand or energy charges remain relatively stable compared to actual capacity costs and customers would not experience large changes in their bills due solely to a particular costing convention

Comparative environmental effects and cost analysis between conventional and non-conventional energy sources - A case for objective analysis and decision making in Nigeria's Energy Policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akinbami, J. F. K.

1997-01-01

Energy, which is simply 'ability to do work' is the central cross-sectoral issue which affects all human activities either directly or indirectly. It is a vital input to economic growth and development of any economy, developing or developed. However, as there are two sides to a coin, so is the issue of energy use. While it contributes to the economic growth and development of a nation, its usage has with it attendant environmental consequences. At every stage along the chain, from resource delineation and extraction, through conversion, transportation, and end-use, the energy industry faces environmental challenges. Each of these stages and even the associated environmental burdens is not without a cost. This paper therefore sets out to review and compare the environmental effects as well as the cost analysis of both the conventional and non-conventional energy resources generally and with particular emphasis on Nigeria. This hopefully should then inform the citizenry in their drive for energy consumption as well as the nation's planners and decision makers in their efforts at adequate energy planning and management for both economic and environmental sustainability in the country

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.

Estimation of the burden of cardiovascular disease attributable to modifiable risk factors and cost-effectiveness analysis of preventative interventions to reduce this burden in Argentina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martí Sebastián

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD is the primary cause of mortality and morbidity in Argentina representing 34.2% of deaths and 12.6% of potential years of life lost (PYLL. The aim of the study was to estimate the burden of acute coronary heart disease (CHD and stroke and the cost-effectiveness of preventative population-based and clinical interventions. Methods An epidemiological model was built incorporating prevalence and distribution of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hyperglycemia, overweight and obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity, obtained from the Argentine Survey of Risk Factors dataset. Population Attributable Fraction (PAF of each risk factor was estimated using relative risks from international sources. Total fatal and non-fatal events, PYLL and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY were estimated. Costs of event were calculated from local utilization databases and expressed in international dollars (I$. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER were estimated for six interventions: reducing salt in bread, mass media campaign to promote tobacco cessation, pharmacological therapy of high blood pressure, pharmacological therapy of high cholesterol, tobacco cessation therapy with bupropion, and a multidrug strategy for people with an estimated absolute risk > 20% in 10 years. Results An estimated total of 611,635 DALY was lost due to acute CHD and stroke for 2005. Modifiable risk factors explained 71.1% of DALY and more than 80% of events. Two interventions were cost-saving: lowering salt intake in the population through reducing salt in bread and multidrug therapy targeted to persons with an absolute risk above 20% in 10 years; three interventions had very acceptable ICERs: drug therapy for high blood pressure in hypertensive patients not yet undergoing treatment (I$ 2,908 per DALY saved, mass media campaign to promote tobacco cessation amongst smokers (I$ 3,186 per DALY saved, and lowering cholesterol with

Accounting for Energy Cost When Designing Energy-Efficient Wireless Access Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greta Vallero

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Because of the increase of the data traffic demand, wireless access networks, through which users access telecommunication services, have expanded, in terms of size and of capability and, consequently, in terms of power consumption. Therefore, costs to buy the necessary power for the supply of base stations of those networks is becoming very high, impacting the communication cost. In this study, strategies to reduce the amount of money spent for the purchase of the energy consumed by the base stations are proposed for a network powered by solar panels, energy batteries and the power grid. First, the variability of the energy prices is exploited. It provides a cost reduction of up to 30%, when energy is bought in advance. If a part of the base stations is deactivated when the energy price is higher than a given threshold, a compromise between the energy cost and the user coverage drop is needed. In the simulated scenario, the necessary energy cost can be reduced by more than 40%, preserving the user coverage by greater than 94%. Second, the network is introduced to the energy market: it buys and sells energy from/to the traditional power grid. Finally, costs are reduced by the reduction of power consumption of the network, achieved by using microcell base stations. In the considered scenario, up to a 31% cost reduction is obtained, without the deterioration of the quality of service, but a huge Capex expenditure is required.

Financial Burden Borne by Laparoscopic Living Kidney Donors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiseman, Jennifer F; Jacobs, Cheryl L; Larson, Dawn B; Berglund, Danielle M; Garvey, Catherine A; Ibrahim, Hassan N; Matas, Arthur J

2017-09-01

Living kidney donors have donation-related out-of-pocket costs (direct costs) and/or ongoing daily expenses while losing income (indirect costs). Yet there is little information about how much of a subjective burden these constitute for the donors. From December 2003 through December 2014, we surveyed donors 6 months postdonation to determine their financial burden related to donation (on a scale of 1 to 10) and what resources were used to cover expenses. Of 1136 surveyed, 796 (70%) responded. Among respondents, mean age at donation was 43.6 ± 10.6 years, 64% were women, 96% were white, and 53% were related by blood to their recipient. Overall, 26% scored their financial burden as 5 or higher; 8% scored it as 8 or higher. Increased expenses were associated with a higher reported burden; however, significant burden was reported by some with no out-of-pocket expenses (presumably due to lost wages and continuing expenses). The burden was scored as 5 or higher by 27% of those employed outside the home (n = 660), 15% homemakers, 13% retirees, 40% students; 28% unemployed; and 26% whose occupation was unknown. Over half (51%) of those receiving a local or (means-tested) national grant still reported moderate to severe burden. Besides grants, donors used a variety of sources to help offset expenses: dipped into savings, borrowed from friends or family, took out a loan, and/or had a fundraiser. Those with the highest burden reported using the most additional sources. Donors should not have to incur costs or a financial burden to donate; the transplant community should strive to make donation financially neutral.

Energy costs form European wind farms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milborrow, D [Windpower Monthly, Knebel (Denmark)

1996-12-31

Energy generation costs from European wind farms span a very wide range. Reasons for these variations, include differences in capital and operating costs, wind speeds and differing legislative and regulatory frameworks. This article compares costs, wind speeds and discount rates for British and German windfarms and sets these alongside data from elsewhere in the European Union. In this way it is possible to determine the reasons for differences in energy generation costs. (author)

Energy costs form European wind farms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milborrow, D. [Windpower Monthly, Knebel (Denmark)

1995-12-31

Energy generation costs from European wind farms span a very wide range. Reasons for these variations, include differences in capital and operating costs, wind speeds and differing legislative and regulatory frameworks. This article compares costs, wind speeds and discount rates for British and German windfarms and sets these alongside data from elsewhere in the European Union. In this way it is possible to determine the reasons for differences in energy generation costs. (author)

Energy costs form European wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milborrow, D.

1995-01-01

Energy generation costs from European wind farms span a very wide range. Reasons for these variations, include differences in capital and operating costs, wind speeds and differing legislative and regulatory frameworks. This article compares costs, wind speeds and discount rates for British and German windfarms and sets these alongside data from elsewhere in the European Union. In this way it is possible to determine the reasons for differences in energy generation costs. (author)

The economic burden of kidney disorders in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ju Hee; Ho, Seung Hee; Kim, Hyun-Jin; Lee, Sol

2018-03-01

To estimate the economic burden of kidney disorders in Korea. The economic burden of kidney disorders was estimated using a prevalence-based approach. Related kidney diseases in patients with kidney disorders (RPWKD) were defined using codes from the tenth International Classification of Disease (E70-E90, F30-F48, F60-F69, F90-F99, K65-K67, N00-N08, N17-N19, and N30-N39). All diseases in patients with kidney disorders (APWKD) were defined as kidney disorders that involved all disease codes. Economic costs were divided into direct costs (medical costs and non-medical costs) and indirect costs (productivity loss because of morbidity and premature mortality). The prevalence of kidney disorders increased from 0.08% (2008) to 0.11% (2011). The total economic burden of RPWKD also substantially increased from $898.9 million (2008) to $1.43 billion (2011). This ∼59.4% increase in the economic burden was equal to 0.12% of the Korean gross domestic product. The economic burden of APWKD also increased during the study period: $1.06 billion (2008), $1.23 billion (2009), $1.44 billion (2010), and $1.46 billion (2011). The present study provides the first data regarding the economic burden of kidney disorders in Korea. The findings support the need for early intervention services and prevention programs to prevent, identify, and manage kidney disorders.

The economic burden of tuberculosis in Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, D; Hafidz, F; Mustikawati, D

2017-09-01

Indonesia has a high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) and is one of the 22 countries with the highest TB burdens in the world. To understand the economic burden of TB in Indonesia. TB data for 2015 were combined with cost data using a simple type of cost-benefit analysis in a decision tree model to show the economic burden under different scenarios. In Indonesia, there were an estimated 1 017 378 new active TB cases in 2015, including multidrug-resistant TB. It is estimated that 417 976 of these cases would be treated and cured, 160 830 would be unsuccessfully treated and would die, 131 571 would be untreated and would achieve cure spontaneously, and 307 000 would be untreated and would die. The total economic burden related to treated and untreated cases would be approximately US$6.9 billion. Loss of productivity due to premature death would be by far the largest element, comprising US$6.0 billion (discounted), which represents 86.6% of the total cost. Loss of productivity due to illness would be US$700 million (10.1%), provider medical costs US$156 million (2.2%), and direct non-medical costs incurred by patients and their households US$74 million (1.1%). The economic burden of TB in Indonesia is extremely high. Detecting and treating more cases would result not only in major reductions in suffering but also in economic savings to society.

Energy-dense fast food products cost less: an observational study of the energy density and energy cost of Australian fast foods.

Science.gov (United States)

Wellard, Lyndal; Havill, Michelle; Hughes, Clare; Watson, Wendy L; Chapman, Kathy

2015-12-01

To examine the association between energy cost and energy density of fast food products. Twenty Sydney outlets of the five largest fast food chains were surveyed four times. Price and kilojoule data were collected for all limited-time-only menu items (n=54) and a sample of standard items (n=67). Energy cost ($/kilojoule) and energy density (kilojoules/gram) of menu items were calculated. There was a significant inverse relationship between menu item energy density and energy cost (pFast food chains could provide a wider range of affordable, lower-energy foods, use proportional pricing of larger serve sizes, or change defaults in meals to healthier options. More research is required to determine the most effective strategy to reduce the negative impact of fast food on the population's diet. Current pricing in the fast food environment may encourage unhealthier purchases. © 2015 Public Health Association of Australia.

Nonrenewable energy cost of corn-ethanol in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Q.; Chen, G.Q.

2012-01-01

Nonrenewable energy cost is accounted for the believed renewable biofuel of corn-ethanol in China. By a process-based energy analysis, nonrenewable energy cost in the corn-ethanol production process incorporating agricultural crop production, industrial conversion and wastewater treatment is conservatively estimated as 1.70 times that of the ethanol energy produced, corresponding to a negative energy return in contrast to the positive ones previously reported. Nonrenewable energy cost associated with wastewater treatment usually ignored in previous researches is shown important in the energy balance. Denoting the heavy nonrenewability of the produced corn-ethanol, the calculated nonrenewable energy cost would rise to 3.64 folds when part of the nonrenewable energy cost associated with water consumption, transportation and environmental remediation is included. Due to the coal dominated nonrenewable energy structure in China, corn-ethanol processes in China are mostly a conversion of coal to ethanol. Validations and discussions are also presented to reveal policy implications against corn based ethanol as an alternative energy in long term energy security planning. - Highlights: ► Nonrenewable energy (NE) cost is conservatively accounted for corn-ethanol in China. ► Corn cultivation, ethanol conversion and wastewater treatment are included. ► NE cost is estimated as 1.70 times that of the ethanol energy produced. ► Corn-ethanol processes in China are mostly a conversion of coal to ethanol.

Energy cost of seed drying

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weerachet Jittanit

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In this work, the energy costs of drying corn, rice and wheat seeds between 3 drying options were compared. They consisted of 1 two-stage drying by using fluidised bed dryer (FBD in the 1st stage and in-store dryer (ISD in the 2nd stage, 2 single-stage drying by fixed bed dryer (FXD and 3 two-stage drying by using FXD in the 1st  stage and ISD in the 2nd  stage. The drying conditions selected for comparison were proved to be safe for seed viability by the previous studies. The results showed that the drying options 2 and 3 consumed less energy than option 1. However, the benefits from lower energy cost must be weighed against some advantages of using FBD. Furthermore, it appeared that running the burners of FXD and ISD for warming up the ambient air during humid weather condition could shorten drying time significantly with a little higher energy cost.

Energy cost reduction in oil pipeline

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Limeira, Fabio Machado; Correa, Joao Luiz Lavoura; Costa, Luciano Macedo Josino da; Silva, Jose Luiz da; Henriques, Fausto Metzger Pessanha [Petrobras Transporte S.A. (TRANSPETRO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2012-07-01

One of the key questions of modern society consists on the rational use of the planet's natural resources and energy. Due to the lack of energy, many companies are forced to reduce their workload, especially during peak hours, because residential demand reaches its top and there is not enough energy to fulfill the needs of all users, which affects major industries. Therefore, using energy more wisely has become a strategic issue for any company, due to the limited supply and also for the excessive cost it represents. With the objective of saving energy and reducing costs for oil pipelines, it has been identified that the increase in energy consumption is primordially related to pumping stations and also by the way many facilities are operated, that is, differently from what was originally designed. Realizing this opportunity, in order to optimize the process, this article intends to examine the possibility of gains evaluating alternatives regarding changes in the pump scheme configuration and non-use of pump stations at peak hours. Initially, an oil pipeline with potential to reduce energy costs was chosen being followed by a history analysis, in order to confirm if there was sufficient room to change the operation mode. After confirming the pipeline choice, the system is briefly described and the literature is reviewed, explaining how the energy cost is calculated and also the main characteristics of a pumping system in series and in parallel. In that sequence, technically feasible alternatives are studied in order to operate and also to negotiate the energy demand contract. Finally, costs are calculated to identify the most economical alternative, that is, for a scenario with no increase in the actual transported volume of the pipeline and for another scenario that considers an increase of about 20%. The conclusion of this study indicates that the chosen pipeline can achieve a reduction on energy costs of up to 25% without the need for investments in new

The heterogeneity in financial and time burden of caregiving to children with chronic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zan, Hua; Scharff, Robert L

2015-03-01

We examine the financial and time burdens associated with caring for children with chronic conditions, focusing on disparities across types of conditions. Using linked data from the 2003 to 2006 National Health Interview Survey and 2004-2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we created measures of financial burden (out-of-pocket healthcare costs, the ratio of out-of-pocket healthcare costs to family income, healthcare costs paid by insurance, and total healthcare costs) and time burden (missed school time due to illness or injury and the number of doctor visits) associated with 14 groups of children's chronic conditions. We used the two-part model to assess the effect of condition on financial burden and finite mixture/latent class model to analyze the time burden of caregiving. Controlling for the influences of other socio-demographic characteristics on caregiving burden, children with chronic conditions have higher financial and time burdens relative to caregiving burdens for healthy children. Levels of financial burden and burden sharing between families and insurance system also vary by type of condition. For example, children with pervasive developmental disorder or heart disease have a relatively low financial burden for families, while imposing a high cost on the insurance system. In contrast, vision difficulties are associated with a high financial burden for families relative to the costs borne by others. With respect to time burden, conditions such as cerebral palsy and heart disease impose a low time burden, while conditions such as pervasive developmental disorder are associated with a high time burden. This study demonstrates that differences exist in caregiving burden for children by type of chronic condition. Each condition has a unique profile of time and financial cost burden for families and the insurance system. These results have implications for policymakers and for families' savings and employment decisions.

Environmental costs of fossil fuel energy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riva, A.; Trebeschi, C.

1997-01-01

The costs of environmental impacts caused by fossil fuel energy production are external to the energy economy and normally they are not reflected in energy prices. To determine the environmental costs associated with an energy source a detailed analysis of all environmental impacts of the complete energy cycle is required. The economic evaluation of environmental damages is presented caused by atmospheric emissions produced by fossil fuel combustion for different uses. Considering the emission factors of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, dust and carbon dioxide and the economic evaluation of their environmental damages reported in literature, a range of environmental costs associated with different fossil fuels and technologies is presented. A comparison of environmental costs resulting from atmospheric emissions produced by fossil-fuel combustion for energy production shows that natural gas has a significantly higher environmental value than other fossil fuels. (R.P.)

Costs on the Mind: the Influence of the Financial Burden of College on Academic Performance and Cognitive Functioning

Science.gov (United States)

Destin, Mesmin; Svoboda, Ryan C.

2018-01-01

The current studies test the hypothesis that the financial burden of college can initiate a psychological process that has a negative influence on academic performance for students at selective colleges and universities. Prior studies linking high college costs and student loans to academic outcomes have not been grounded within relevant social…

THE COSTS OF ENERGY SUPPLY SECURITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogner, H.H.; Langlois, L.M.; McDonald, A.; Weisser, D.; Howells, M.

2007-07-01

In general, increasing a country's energy supply security does not come for free. It costs money to build up a strategic reserve, to increase supply diversity or even to accelerate energy efficiency improvements. Nor are all investments in increasing energy supply security cost effective, even if the shocks they are designed to insure against can be predicted with 100% accuracy. The first half of the paper surveys different definitions and strategies associated with the concept of energy supply security, and compares current initiatives to establish an 'assured supply of nuclear fuel' to the International Energy Agency's (IEA's) system of strategic national oil reserves. The second half of the paper presents results from several case studies of the costs and effectiveness of selected energy supply security policies. One case study examines alternative strategies for Lithuania following the scheduled closure of the Ignalina-2 nuclear reactor in 2009. The second case study examines, for countries with different energy resources and demand structures, the effectiveness of a policy to increase supply diversity by expanding renewable energy supplies. (auth)

Department of Defense Energy and Logistics: Implications of Historic and Future Cost, Risk, and Capability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Tisa, Paul C.

Every year the DoD spends billions satisfying its large petroleum demand. This spending is highly sensitive to uncontrollable and poorly understood market forces. Additionally, while some stakeholders may not prioritize its monetary cost and risk, energy is fundamentally coupled to other critical factors. Energy, operational capability, and logistics are heavily intertwined and dependent on uncertain security environment and technology futures. These components and their relationships are less understood. Without better characterization, future capabilities may be significantly limited by present-day acquisition decisions. One attempt to demonstrate these costs and risks to decision makers has been through a metric known as the Fully Burdened Cost of Energy (FBCE). FBCE is defined as the commodity price for fuel plus many of these hidden costs. The metric encouraged a valuable conversation and is still required by law. However, most FBCE development stopped before the lessons from that conversation were incorporated. Current implementation is easy to employ but creates little value. Properly characterizing the costs and risks of energy and putting them in a useful tradespace requires a new framework. This research aims to highlight energy's complex role in many aspects of military operations, the critical need to incorporate it in decisions, and a novel framework to do so. It is broken into five parts. The first describes the motivation behind FBCE, the limits of current implementation, and outlines a new framework that aids decisions. Respectively, the second, third, and fourth present a historic analysis of the connections between military capabilities and energy, analyze the recent evolution of this conversation within the DoD, and pull the historic analysis into a revised framework. The final part quantifies the potential impacts of deeply uncertain futures and technological development and introduces an expanded framework that brings capability, energy, and

Energy and GHG abatement cost curves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alvarenga, Rafael [BHP Billiton Base Metals (Australia)

2010-07-01

Global warming due to various reasons but especially to emission of green house gases (GHGs) has become a cause for serious concern. This paper discusses the steps taken by BHP Billiton to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions using cost curves. According to forecasts, global warming is expected to impact Chile badly and the rise in temperature could be between 1 and more than 5 degrees Celsius. Mining in Chile consumes a lot of energy, particularly electricity. Total energy and electricity consumption in 2007 was 13 and 36 % respectively. BHP base metals developed a set of abatement cost curves for energy and GHG in Chile and these are shown in figures. The methodology for the curves consisted of consultant visits to each mine operation. The study also includes mass energy balance and feasibility maps. The paper concludes that it is important to evaluate the potential for reducing emissions and energy and their associated costs.

Economic burden of cancer across the European Union: a population-based cost analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Luengo-Fernandez, Ramon; Leal, Jose; Gray, Alastair; Sullivan, Richard

2013-11-01

In 2008, 2·45 million people were diagnosed with cancer and 1·23 million died because of cancer in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU). We aimed to estimate the economic burden of cancer in the EU. In a population-based cost analysis, we evaluated the cost of all cancers and also those associated with breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers. We obtained country-specific aggregate data for morbidity, mortality, and health-care resource use from international and national sources. We estimated health-care costs from expenditure on care in the primary, outpatient, emergency, and inpatient settings, and also drugs. Additionally, we estimated the costs of unpaid care provided by relatives or friends of patients (ie, informal care), lost earnings after premature death, and costs associated with individuals who temporarily or permanently left employment because of illness. Cancer cost the EU €126 billion in 2009, with health care accounting for €51·0 billion (40%). Across the EU, the health-care costs of cancer were equivalent to €102 per citizen, but varied substantially from €16 per person in Bulgaria to €184 per person in Luxembourg. Productivity losses because of early death cost €42·6 billion and lost working days €9·43 billion. Informal care cost €23·2 billion. Lung cancer had the highest economic cost (€18·8 billion, 15% of overall cancer costs), followed by breast cancer (€15·0 billion, 12%), colorectal cancer (€13·1 billion, 10%), and prostate cancer (€8·43 billion, 7%). Our results show wide differences between countries, the reasons for which need further investigation. These data contribute to public health and policy intelligence, which is required to deliver affordable cancer care systems and inform effective public research funds allocation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Systematic Review of the Economic Burden of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Shuyan; Hu, Huimei; Dong, Hengjin

2016-06-01

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), as a life-threatening disease with no efficient cure, may impose a tremendous economic burden on patients and healthcare systems. However, most existing studies have mainly emphasised epidemiology and medications, while large observational studies reporting on the economic burden are currently lacking. To review and evaluate evidence on the costs of PAH and the cost effectiveness of PAH treatments, and to summarise the corresponding cost drivers. Systematic literature searches were conducted in English-language databases (PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect) and Chinese-language databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, Chongqing VIP) to identify studies (published from 2000 to 2014) assessing the costs of PAH or the cost effectiveness of PAH treatments. The search results were independently reviewed and extracted by two reviewers. Costs were converted into 2014 US dollars. Of 1959 citations identified in the initial search, 19 papers were finally included in this analysis: eight on the economic burden of PAH and 11 on economic evaluation of PAH treatments. The economic burden on patients with PAH was rather large, with direct healthcare costs per patient per month varying from $2476 to $11,875, but none of the studies reported indirect costs. Sildenafil was universally reported to be a cost-effective treatment, with lower costs and better efficacy than other medications. Medical costs were reported to be the key cost drivers. The economic burden of patients with PAH is substantial, while the paucity of comprehensive country-specific evidence in this area and the lack of reports on indirect costs of PAH warrant researchers' concern, especially in China.

Offshore Wind Energy Cost Modeling Installation and Decommissioning

CERN Document Server

Kaiser, Mark J

2012-01-01

Offshore wind energy is one of the most promising and fastest growing alternative energy sources in the world. Offshore Wind Energy Cost Modeling provides a methodological framework to assess installation and decommissioning costs, and using examples from the European experience, provides a broad review of existing processes and systems used in the offshore wind industry. Offshore Wind Energy Cost Modeling provides a step-by-step guide to modeling costs over four sections. These sections cover: ·Background and introductory material, ·Installation processes and vessel requirements, ·Installation cost estimation, and ·Decommissioning methods and cost estimation.  This self-contained and detailed treatment of the key principles in offshore wind development is supported throughout by visual aids and data tables. Offshore Wind Energy Cost Modeling is a key resource for anyone interested in the offshore wind industry, particularly those interested in the technical and economic aspects of installation and decom...

Global economic burden of schizophrenia: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chong HY

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Huey Yi Chong,1 Siew Li Teoh,1 David Bin-Chia Wu,1 Surachai Kotirum,1 Chiun-Fang Chiou,2 Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk1,3–5 1School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; 2Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies Asia Pacific, Singapore; 3Center of Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research (CPOR, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand; 4School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA; 5School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Background: Schizophrenia is one of the top 25 leading causes of disability worldwide in 2013. Despite its low prevalence, its health, social, and economic burden has been tremendous, not only for patients but also for families, caregivers, and the wider society. The magnitude of disease burden investigated in an economic burden study is an important source to policymakers in decision making. This study aims to systematically identify studies focusing on the economic burden of schizophrenia, describe the methods and data sources used, and summarize the findings of economic burden of schizophrenia. Methods: A systematic review was performed for economic burden studies in schizophrenia using four electronic databases (Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and EconLit from inception to August 31, 2014. Results: A total of 56 articles were included in this review. More than 80% of the studies were conducted in high-income countries. Most studies had undertaken a retrospective- and prevalence-based study design. The bottom-up approach was commonly employed to determine cost, while human capital method was used for indirect cost estimation. Database and literature were the most commonly used data sources in cost estimation in high-income countries, while chart review and interview were the main data sources in low and middle-income countries. Annual costs for the schizophrenia population in the country ranged from US$94

On the Costs of Nuclear Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cintra do Prado, L.

1966-01-01

In considering the use of nuclear energy as a primary source of electricity the important thing is not that it should be ''cheap'' in absolute terms but that it should be competitive, that is to say that the cost of nuclear electricity should be produced at a cost comparable with or less than that of electricity generated by conventional sources - hydroelectric plants or thermo-plants based on coal, natural gas or oil. If energy is vital to a country's development one must be prepared to pay what it is worth; the problem is to obtain the energy at the lowest possible cost

Energy Cost Minimization in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks with Hybrid Energy Supplies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bang Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The ever increasing data demand has led to the significant increase of energy consumption in cellular mobile networks. Recent advancements in heterogeneous cellular networks and green energy supplied base stations provide promising solutions for cellular communications industry. In this article, we first review the motivations and challenges as well as approaches to address the energy cost minimization problem for such green heterogeneous networks. Owing to the diversities of mobile traffic and renewable energy, the energy cost minimization problem involves both temporal and spatial optimization of resource allocation. We next present a new solution to illustrate how to combine the optimization of the temporal green energy allocation and spatial mobile traffic distribution. The whole optimization problem is decomposed into four subproblems, and correspondingly our proposed solution is divided into four parts: energy consumption estimation, green energy allocation, user association, and green energy reallocation. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can significantly reduce the total energy cost.

Real-world dose-relativity, tablet burden, and cost comparison of conversion between sevelamer hydrochloride/carbonate and lanthanum carbonate monotherapies.

Science.gov (United States)

Keith, Michael S; Sibbel, Scott; Copley, J Brian; Wilson, Rosamund J; Brunelli, Steven M

2014-10-01

Sevelamer hydrochloride/carbonate (SH/C) and lanthanum carbonate (LC) are noncalcium-based phosphate binders used for the management of hyperphosphatemia in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The objectives of this study were to examine the dose-relativity, tablet burden, and cost difference of bidirectional conversion between SH/C and LC monotherapy in a large cohort of real-world patients with ESRD. This retrospective cohort study included three 30-day preconversion periods (days -90 to -61, -60 to -31, and -30 to -1) followed by three 30-day postconversion periods (days 1 to 30, 31 to 60, and 61 to 90); day 0 was the index date of conversion. The full analysis population (FAP) comprised two cohorts: SH/C to LC (S-L) converters and LC to SH/C (L-S) converters. The SH/C:LC dose-relativity ratio was assessed in the dose-relativity subset, defined as patients whose serum phosphate levels fell within a caliper range of ± 0.5 mg/dL in the final preconversion (days -30 to -1) and postconversion (days 61 to 90) periods. Tablet burden and phosphate binder costs were assessed in the FAP. Phosphate binder costs were based on average wholesale prices. The FAP contained a total of 303 patients, comprising the S-L (128 patients) and L-S (175 patients) converter cohorts. The dose-relativity subset contained 159 patients, 72 from the S-L cohort and 87 from the L-S cohort. The overall mean SH/C:LC dose-relativity ratio was 2.27 (95% CI, 2.04 to 2.52). In SH/C dose strata >800 to 2400, >2400 to 4800, >4800 to 7200, and >7200 mg/d, overall mean dose-relativity ratios were 0.79 (95% CI, 0.57 to 1.10), 1.45 (95% CI, 1.20 to 1.75), 2.05 (95% CI, 1.75 to 2.39), and 3.24 (95% CI, 2.89 to 3.66), respectively. The overall mean tablet burden was 6.6 tablets per day lower with LC monotherapy than with SH/C monotherapy (95% CI, -7.1 to -6.0; P 7800 mg/d was the inflection point at which conversion to LC resulted in mean cost savings. Patients requiring SH/C >7800 mg/d comprised

Transtorno afetivo bipolar: carga da doença e custos relacionados Bipolar disorder: burden of disease and related costs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Maria Niccolai Costa

2008-01-01

Full Text Available CONTEXTO: O transtorno afetivo bipolar (TAB é uma doença recorrente, crônica e grave. Comorbidades psiquiátricas e físicas, aumento do risco de suicídio, maior utilização de serviços de saúde e prejuízo na esfera social/profissional aumentam significativamente a carga e custos relacionados à doença. OBJETIVOS: Revisar aspectos clínicos, de carga da doença e conseqüentes desfechos financeiros do TAB. MÉTODOS: Pesquisa de base de dados MEDLINE/PubMed utilizando os termos bipolar disorder, epidemiology, burden of disease, comorbidity, cost of illness, outcomes e financial consequences, publicados entre 1980 e 2006. RESULTADOS: O TAB apresenta alta comorbidade com outros transtornos, o que agrava seu prognóstico e eleva os custos com os serviços de saúde. Os indivíduos com TAB apresentam mais fatores de risco cardiovascular e, conseqüentemente, maior risco de morte por evento cardíaco. O atraso e o erro diagnóstico no TAB elevam consideravelmente a carga e os custos da doença. CONCLUSÕES: As comorbidades, o risco de suicídio, o prejuízo social/profissional e a baixa adesão ao tratamento contribuem para a alta carga e os custos associados à doença. A pesquisa de comorbidades pode ajudar os médicos a ajustarem suas estratégias de tratamento, considerando cuidadosamente todos os fatores de risco e custos associados, fatores estes que devem ser levados em conta também pelos profissionais que trabalham com gestão de saúde, tanto no setor privado quanto público.BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD is a recurrent, chronic and severe disease. Mental and physical comorbidities, risk of suicide, health services use and impairment of social and professional domains significantly worsen the burden and increase the costs of illness. OBJECTIVES: Review clinical aspects, burden of disease, and consequent financial outcomes of BD. METHODS: MEDLINE/PubMed database search using the terms bipolar disorder, epidemiology, burden of

2015 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mone, Christopher; Hand, Maureen; Bolinger, Mark; Rand, Joseph; Heimiller, Donna; Ho, Jonathan

2017-04-05

This report uses representative commercial projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for both land-based and offshore wind plants in the United States for 2015. Scheduled to be published on an annual basis, the analysis relies on both market and modeled data to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind generation cost trends and drivers. It is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs and a basis for understanding variability in the LCOE across the industry. Data and tools developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are used in this analysis to inform wind technology cost projections, goals, and improvement opportunities.

2014 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mone, Christopher [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Stehly, Tyler [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Maples, Ben [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Settle, Edward [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2015-10-01

This report uses representative commercial projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for both land-based and offshore wind plants in the United States for 2014. Scheduled to be published on an annual basis, the analysis relies on both market and modeled data to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind generation cost trends and drivers. It is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs and a basis for understanding variability in the LCOE across the industry. Data and tools developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are used in this analysis to inform wind technology cost projections, goals, and improvement opportunities.

76 FR 64931 - Building Energy Codes Cost Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-19

...-0046] Building Energy Codes Cost Analysis AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy... reopening of the time period for submitting comments on the request for information on Building Energy Codes... the request for information on Building Energy Code Cost Analysis and provide docket number EERE-2011...

Energy Prices and Internal Costs in Croatian Energy System Restructuring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potocnik, V. , Magdic, M.

1995-01-01

After social and political changes in 1990, energy prices in Croatia have been getting closer to the West European averages, faster than in the most European countries in transition. The energy prices for industry are almost at the West European level, while the energy prices of electricity and natural gas for households and those of the gasoline are well behind. If the population purchasing power parity (PPP) is taken into account, these relations change. While the internalization of external energy costs is under way in the developed world, it has not practically started yet in Croatia. The Croatian energy system restructuring shall require gradual adjustment of energy prices, together with multistage internalization of external energy costs. (author). 6 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs

Understanding Cost-Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency Programs

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Discusses the five standard tests used to assess the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency, how states are using these tests, and how the tests can be used to determine the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures.

Marginal costs for intensified energy-efficiency measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakob, J.; Jochem, E.; Christen, K.

2002-01-01

The costs and benefits of investments in measures designed to improve the energy efficiency of residential buildings (in particular investments in heat insulation) were calculated as a function of increasing energy efficiency for new and renovated buildings and for single-family homes and apartment buildings. These investments in measures to improve efficiency mostly involve with the building envelope and ventilation systems and aim to successively reduce the space-heating needs of the buildings. The measures range from present-day building and renovation methods through to the 'Minergie' and 'Passive House' ('Minergie-P' in Switzerland) standards for low and very-low energy consumption buildings. Cost-benefit ratios were determined for individual building components, individual building concepts and for the whole of Switzerland, using both the average-cost as well as the pure marginal-cost methods (energy-economics level). The collection of empirical data (especially on costs) was an integral and important part of the project. The marginal costs were then compared with the benefits arising from the costs for space heating that were avoided, and, using a few typical cases as examples, with the so-called co-benefits, which are to be implemented in part by private persons and companies. For their quantification, methods were developed and used in case studies; in addition, avoided external costs are also considered. The marginal costs were also calculated for periods of time in the future, whereby they were made dynamic, according to their share of innovation, using the learning-curve method (learning and scaling effects). As far as the findings are concerned, there can be no doubt that the potential to be opened up for increasing energy efficiency using heat insulation measures is high, both for renovations and new construction work. A large portion of this potential is already economically viable and even more so when the possible risks of energy price increases

Long-term cost targets for nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogner, H.H.; McDonald, A.

2004-01-01

In 2000 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) to help guide nuclear R and D strategies targeted on anticipated mid-century energy system needs. One part of INPRO seeks to develop cost targets for new designs to be competitive in mid-century markets. The starting point was the 40 scenarios of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This paper summarizes four of the SRES scenarios, one from each of the four SRES scenario families. It discusses their implications for nuclear energy, including cost targets, and develops for each an 'aggressive nuclear' variant. The aggressive nuclear variants estimate the potential market for nuclear energy if, by improving faster than assumed by the SRES authors, nuclear energy can make inroads into vulnerable market shares projected for its competitors. In addition to projected demands for nuclear generated electricity, hydrogen and heat, the aggressive variants include prospective demand for nuclear desalination and use in upgrading fossil fuels. The paper then presents learning rates and implied cost targets consistent with the aggressive nuclear variants of the SRES scenarios. One provocative initial result is that many of the scenarios with substantial nuclear expansion do not seem to require big reductions in nuclear investment costs. One interpretation discussed at the end of the paper highlights the difference between cost reductions consistent with long-term energy system optimization based on perfect foresight, and cost reductions necessary to attract private investment in today's 'deregulating' and uncertain energy markets. (orig.)

The social and economic burden of frontotemporal degeneration.

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Galvin, James E; Howard, David H; Denny, Sharon S; Dickinson, Susan; Tatton, Nadine

2017-11-14

To quantify the socioeconomic burden of frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) compared to previously published data for Alzheimer disease (AD). A 250-item internet survey was administered to primary caregivers of patients with behavioral-variant FTD (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia, FTD with motor neuron disease, corticobasal syndrome, or progressive supranuclear palsy. The survey included validated scales for disease staging, behavior, activities of daily living, caregiver burden, and health economics, as well as investigator-designed questions to capture patient and caregiver experience with FTD. The entire survey was completed by 674 of 956 respondents (70.5%). Direct costs (2016 US dollars) equaled $47,916 and indirect costs $71,737, for a total annual per-patient cost of $119,654, nearly 2 times higher than reported costs for AD. Patients ≥65 years of age, with later stages of disease, and with bvFTD correlated with higher direct costs, while patients <65 years of age and men were associated with higher indirect costs. An FTD diagnosis produced a mean decrease in household income from $75,000 to $99,000 12 months before diagnosis to $50,000 to $59,999 12 months after diagnosis, resulting from lost days of work and early departure from the workforce. The economic burden of FTD is substantial. Counting productivity-related costs, per-patient costs for FTD appear to be greater than per-patient costs reported for AD. There is a need for biomarkers for accurate and timely diagnosis, effective treatments, and services to reduce this socioeconomic burden. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

Costs comparison of electric energy in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goncalves, D.; Menegassi, J.

1981-01-01

A cost comparison study of various sources of electric energy generation was performed using uniform analysis criteria. The results indicate higher costs for coal, followed by nuclear and hidro. It was verified that presently, large hidro-power plants can only be located far from the load centers, with increasing costs of hidro-power energy in Brazil. These costs become higher than the nuclear plant if the hidro plant is located at distances exceeding 1000 Km. (Author) [pt

Energy, emissions and emergency medical services: Policy matters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Lawrence H.; Blanchard, Ian E.

2012-01-01

Understanding the energy consumption and emissions associated with health services is important for minimizing their environmental impact and guiding their adaptation to a low-carbon economy. In this post-hoc analysis, we characterize the energy burden of North American emergency medical services (EMS) agencies and estimate the potential marginal damage costs arising from their emissions as an example of how and why health services matter in environmental and energy policy, and how and why environmental and energy policy matter to health services. We demonstrate EMS systems are energy intensive, and that vehicle fuels represent 80% of their energy burden while electricity and natural gas represent 20%. We also demonstrate that emissions from EMS operations represent only a small fraction of estimated health sector emissions, but for EMS systems in the United States the associated marginal damage costs are likely between $2.7 million and $9.7 million annually. Significant changes in the supply or price of energy, including changes that arise from environmental and energy policy initiatives designed to constrain fossil fuel consumption, could potentially affect EMS agencies and other health services. We encourage cross disciplinary research to proactively facilitate the health system's adaptation to a low-carbon economy. - Highlights: ► Estimated EMS-related emissions less than 1% of health sector emissions. ► Damage costs of U.S. EMS-related emissions estimated at $2.7 to $9.7 million. ► EMS energy burden is approximately 442 MJ per ambulance response. ► Approximately 80% of EMS energy burden is vehicle fuels. ► Energy supply, price and policy could impact EMS (and other health) services. ► Research needed to facilitate health services’ adaptation to a low carbon economy.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Brundin, Lou; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Eriksson, Jennifer

2017-08-01

To assess the value of management strategies in multiple sclerosis (MS), outcome data have to be combined with cost data. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting current data on resource consumption, work capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity; costs are estimated in the societal perspective, in 2015 SEK. A total of 1864 patients (mean age 56 years) participated in Sweden; 74% were below retirement age, and of these, 55% were employed. MS was reported to affect productivity at work in 78% of patients. Overall, 94% and 72% of patients felt that fatigue and cognition were a problem, respectively. The mean utility and costs were 0.757 and 244,000SEK at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.563 and 384,000SEK at EDSS 4-6.5 and 0.202 and 888,000SEK at EDSS 7-9, respectively. The average cost of a relapse was 36,900SEK. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Swedish patients and provides current data that are important for the development of health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Russia.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyko, Alexey; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Boyko, Olga; Popova, Ekaterina; Capsa, Daniela; Eriksson, Jennifer

2017-08-01

In order to assess the value of management strategies in multiple sclerosis (MS), outcome data have to be combined with cost data. This, in turn, requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting current data on resource consumption, work capacity and health-related quality of life (HQoL). Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity; costs are estimated in the societal perspective, in RUB 2015. A total of 208 patients (mean age: 38.5 years) participated in the Russian study; 97% were below retirement age, and of these, 49% were employed. MS was reported to affect productivity at work in 63% of patients. Overall, 87% and 41% of patients felt that fatigue and cognition were a problem. The mean utility and costs were 0.769 and 578,000 RUB at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.509 and 826,000 RUB at EDSS 4-6.5, and 0.071 and 1,013,000 RUB at EDSS 7-9. The average cost of a relapse was 33,000 RUB. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Russian patients and provides current data that are important for developing health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Portugal.

Science.gov (United States)

Sá, Maria José; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Dalén, Johan

2017-08-01

In order to assess the value of management strategies in multiple sclerosis (MS), outcome data have to be combined with cost data. This, in turn, requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting current data on resource consumption, work capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity; costs are estimated in the societal perspective, in EUR 2015. A total of 535 patients (mean age 48.5 years) participated; 92% were below retirement age and of these, 43% were employed. Employment was related to disease severity, and MS was felt to affect productivity at work by 72% of patients, most often through fatigue. Overall, 98% and 74% of patients felt that fatigue and cognition were a problem. Mean utility and costs were 0.756 and €16,500 at the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.572 and €28,700 at EDSS 4-6.5 and 0.206 and €34,400 at EDSS 7-9. The average cost of a relapse was estimated at €2930. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Portuguese patients and provides current data that are important for the development of health policies.

Cost of photovoltaic energy systems as determined by balance-of-system costs

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblum, L.

1978-01-01

The effect of the balance-of-system (BOS), i.e., the total system less the modules, on photo-voltaic energy system costs is discussed for multikilowatt, flat-plate systems. Present BOS costs are in the range of 10 to 16 dollars per peak watt (1978 dollars). BOS costs represent approximately 50% of total system cost. The possibility of future BOS cost reduction is examined. It is concluded that, given the nature of BOS costs and the lack of comprehensive national effort focussed on cost reduction, it is unlikely that BOS costs will decline greatly in the next several years. This prognosis is contrasted with the expectations of the Department of Energy National Photovoltaic Program goals and pending legislation in the Congress which require a BOS cost reduction of an order of magnitude or more by the mid-1980s.

Estimating the Global Burden of Endemic Canine Rabies

Science.gov (United States)

Hampson, Katie; Coudeville, Laurent; Lembo, Tiziana; Sambo, Maganga; Kieffer, Alexia; Attlan, Michaël; Barrat, Jacques; Blanton, Jesse D.; Briggs, Deborah J.; Cleaveland, Sarah; Costa, Peter; Freuling, Conrad M.; Hiby, Elly; Knopf, Lea; Leanes, Fernando; Meslin, François-Xavier; Metlin, Artem; Miranda, Mary Elizabeth; Müller, Thomas; Nel, Louis H.; Recuenco, Sergio; Rupprecht, Charles E.; Schumacher, Carolin; Taylor, Louise; Vigilato, Marco Antonio Natal; Zinsstag, Jakob; Dushoff, Jonathan

2015-01-01

Background Rabies is a notoriously underreported and neglected disease of low-income countries. This study aims to estimate the public health and economic burden of rabies circulating in domestic dog populations, globally and on a country-by-country basis, allowing an objective assessment of how much this preventable disease costs endemic countries. Methodology/Principal Findings We established relationships between rabies mortality and rabies prevention and control measures, which we incorporated into a model framework. We used data derived from extensive literature searches and questionnaires on disease incidence, control interventions and preventative measures within this framework to estimate the disease burden. The burden of rabies impacts on public health sector budgets, local communities and livestock economies, with the highest risk of rabies in the poorest regions of the world. This study estimates that globally canine rabies causes approximately 59,000 (95% Confidence Intervals: 25-159,000) human deaths, over 3.7 million (95% CIs: 1.6-10.4 million) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and 8.6 billion USD (95% CIs: 2.9-21.5 billion) economic losses annually. The largest component of the economic burden is due to premature death (55%), followed by direct costs of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP, 20%) and lost income whilst seeking PEP (15.5%), with only limited costs to the veterinary sector due to dog vaccination (1.5%), and additional costs to communities from livestock losses (6%). Conclusions/Significance This study demonstrates that investment in dog vaccination, the single most effective way of reducing the disease burden, has been inadequate and that the availability and affordability of PEP needs improving. Collaborative investments by medical and veterinary sectors could dramatically reduce the current large, and unnecessary, burden of rabies on affected communities. Improved surveillance is needed to reduce uncertainty in burden estimates and to

Estimating the global burden of endemic canine rabies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katie Hampson

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Rabies is a notoriously underreported and neglected disease of low-income countries. This study aims to estimate the public health and economic burden of rabies circulating in domestic dog populations, globally and on a country-by-country basis, allowing an objective assessment of how much this preventable disease costs endemic countries.We established relationships between rabies mortality and rabies prevention and control measures, which we incorporated into a model framework. We used data derived from extensive literature searches and questionnaires on disease incidence, control interventions and preventative measures within this framework to estimate the disease burden. The burden of rabies impacts on public health sector budgets, local communities and livestock economies, with the highest risk of rabies in the poorest regions of the world. This study estimates that globally canine rabies causes approximately 59,000 (95% Confidence Intervals: 25-159,000 human deaths, over 3.7 million (95% CIs: 1.6-10.4 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs and 8.6 billion USD (95% CIs: 2.9-21.5 billion economic losses annually. The largest component of the economic burden is due to premature death (55%, followed by direct costs of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP, 20% and lost income whilst seeking PEP (15.5%, with only limited costs to the veterinary sector due to dog vaccination (1.5%, and additional costs to communities from livestock losses (6%.This study demonstrates that investment in dog vaccination, the single most effective way of reducing the disease burden, has been inadequate and that the availability and affordability of PEP needs improving. Collaborative investments by medical and veterinary sectors could dramatically reduce the current large, and unnecessary, burden of rabies on affected communities. Improved surveillance is needed to reduce uncertainty in burden estimates and to monitor the impacts of control efforts.

Factors influencing the life cycle burdens of the recovery of energy from residual municipal waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Burnley, Stephen; Coleman, Terry; Peirce, Adam

2015-05-01

A life cycle assessment was carried out to assess a selection of the factors influencing the environmental impacts and benefits of incinerating the fraction of municipal waste remaining after source-separation for reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion. The factors investigated were the extent of any metal and aggregate recovery from the bottom ash, the thermal efficiency of the process, and the conventional fuel for electricity generation displaced by the power generated. The results demonstrate that incineration has significant advantages over landfill with lower impacts from climate change, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication human toxicity and aquatic ecotoxicity. To maximise the benefits of energy recovery, metals, particularly aluminium, should be reclaimed from the residual bottom ash and the energy recovery stage of the process should be as efficient as possible. The overall environmental benefits/burdens of energy from waste also strongly depend on the source of the power displaced by the energy from waste, with coal giving the greatest benefits and combined cycle turbines fuelled by natural gas the lowest of those considered. Regardless of the conventional power displaced incineration presents a lower environmental burden than landfill. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE BURDEN OF BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE DISORDER AND SCHIZOPHRENIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Jayakrishnaveni

2018-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Mental and behavioural disorders have a large impact on individuals, family and communities. There is a paucity of studies on burden and cost of illness of Bipolar Affective Disorder both internationally and in India. Such studies are important for clinical management and policy decisions. Aim of the study - The aim of the present study is to assess the magnitude of the cost of illness and family burden of Bipolar Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia and to find out the difference in the burden of the caregivers for both the groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted in the outpatient department of Institute of Mental Health, Chennai. Sixty patients in each group were included by stratified sampling. Caregivers living with patients for atleast one year are included in the study, and those with any comorbid illness, were excluded from the study. ICD -10 diagnostic and research criteria were used for diagnosis of BPAD and Schizophrenia, Questionnaire for Assessment of Cost of Illness was used to assess cost of illness and Family Burden Interview Schedule was used to assess burden of caregivers. RESULTS Schizophrenia patients are mostly from urban, nuclear family. The illness characters & sociodemographic profile of caregivers are comparable. Lifetime costs and loss of income over lifetime was more in schizophrenia. Loss of income in the past year was similar. The burden was comparable for caregivers of both groups in disruption of family routine, interaction with family members, effect on mental health. CONCLUSION Burden of both diseases were comparable except schizophrenics experience more financial burden.

Economic Burden of Human Papillomavirus-Related Diseases in Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Baio, Gianluca; Capone, Alessandro; Marcellusi, Andrea; Mennini, Francesco Saverio; Favato, Giampiero

2012-01-01

Introduction Human papilloma virus (HPV) genotypes 6, 11, 16, and 18 impose a substantial burden of direct costs on the Italian National Health Service that has never been quantified fully. The main objective of the present study was to address this gap: (1) by estimating the total direct medical costs associated with nine major HPV-related diseases, namely invasive cervical cancer, cervical dysplasia, cancer of the vulva, vagina, anus, penis, and head and neck, anogenital warts, and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, and (2) by providing an aggregate measure of the total economic burden attributable to HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 infection. Methods For each of the nine conditions, we used available Italian secondary data to estimate the lifetime cost per case, the number of incident cases of each disease, the total economic burden, and the relative prevalence of HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18, in order to estimate the aggregate fraction of the total economic burden attributable to HPV infection. Results The total direct costs (expressed in 2011 Euro) associated with the annual incident cases of the nine HPV-related conditions included in the analysis were estimated to be €528.6 million, with a plausible range of €480.1–686.2 million. The fraction attributable to HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 was €291.0 (range €274.5–315.7 million), accounting for approximately 55% of the total annual burden of HPV-related disease in Italy. Conclusions The results provided a plausible estimate of the significant economic burden imposed by the most prevalent HPV-related diseases on the Italian welfare system. The fraction of the total direct lifetime costs attributable to HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 infections, and the economic burden of noncervical HPV-related diseases carried by men, were found to be cost drivers relevant to the making of informed decisions about future investments in programmes of HPV prevention. PMID:23185412

China’s regional industrial energy efficiency and carbon emissions abatement costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ke; Wei, Yi-Ming

2014-01-01

) The Chinese major cities could have, on average, an approximately 19% or 17% efficiency increase on energy utilization or CO 2 emissions during 2006–2010. (v) Promoting the industrial energy utilization efficiency is comparatively more crucial for Chinese cities at the current stage, and the efficiency promotion burdens on the west area cities are the heaviest among all Chinese cities. (vi) An N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) exists between the level of industrial CO 2 emissions efficiency and income, and the inflection point the EKC is located between 12,052 and 12,341 US$ of GDP per capita, indicating that an accelerated CO 2 emissions efficiency increase will accrue when this income level is reached. (vii) In 2010, the industrial total energy saving and CO 2 emissions reduction potentials for Chinese major cities were 41 million tce and 143 million tCO 2 , respectively. (viii) The average industrial CO 2 emissions abatement cost for Chinese major cities is 45 US$ during 2006–2010, and the existence of large gap on CO 2 shadow prices between different Chinese regions provide a necessity and possibility for establishing a regional carbon emissions trading system in China

The “cost of not doing” energy planning: The Spanish energy bubble

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gómez, Antonio; Dopazo, César; Fueyo, Norberto

2016-01-01

The Spanish power generation sector is facing dire problems: generation overcapacity, various tariff hikes over recent years, uncertainty over the financial viability of many power plants and a regulatory framework that lacks stability. This situation is the consequence of both poor energy policies and the economic crisis in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In this paper we analyze the following three points from an energy planning perspective: how the country has arrived at this situation; whether other alternatives would have been possible through adequate planning; and the quantitative benefits that would have been accrued from such planning. We do so by developing a LEAP model, and building three scenarios that allow to segregate the costs of the economic crisis from the costs of the lack of planning. We find that appropriate energy planning could have reduced investments in the Spanish power sector by 2010€28.6 billion without compromising on performance in terms of sustainability or energy security, while improving affordability. The main causes of these surplus investments were two supply bubbles: those of gas combined cycles and of solar technologies. The results of this work highlight the value of rigorous, quantitative energy planning, and the high costs of not doing it. - Highlights: • We analyze the costs of the lack of quantitative planning for energy-policy making. • We separate the costs of the economic crisis in Spain from the cost of not planning. • We find the “cost of not doing” energy planning to be 28.6 billion 2010EUR.

Costs of renewable energies in France. Release 2016

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guillerminet, Marie-Laure; Marchal, David; Gerson, Raphael; Berrou, Yolene; Grouzard, Patrice

2016-12-01

For each renewable energy, this study reports the assessment of the range of the theoretical variation of costs with respect to the most important parameters of the concerned sector. Low range notably corresponds to particularly favourable financing modalities added to a good field quality and to low investment costs. At the opposite, the capital cost is particularly high for high ranges. Thus, after a presentation of the adopted methodology, the report addresses the costs of electric power generation for on-shore wind energy, offshore wind energy, sea hydraulics, photovoltaic, thermodynamic solar, and geothermal energy. The next part addresses heat production costs in the case of individuals (biomass, individual thermal solar, individual heat pumps) and of collective housing and office and industrial buildings (collective biomass with or without heat network, industrial biomass, thermal solar in collective housing of in network, collective geothermal heat pumps, deep geothermal energy). The fourth chapter addresses the cost of power and heat production by co-generation (biomass co-generation, methanization). Appendices provide computation hypotheses, and reference data

The economic burden of skin disease in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehkharghani, Seena; Bible, Jason; Chen, John G; Feldman, Steven R; Fleischer, Alan B

2003-04-01

Skin diseases and their complications are a significant burden on the nation, both in terms of acute and chronic morbidities and their related expenditures for care. Because accurately calculating the cost of skin disease has proven difficult in the past, we present here multiple comparative techniques allowing a more expanded approach to estimating the overall economic burden. Our aims were to (1) determine the economic burden of primary diseases falling within the realm of skin disease, as defined by modern clinical disease classification schemes and (2) identify the specific contribution of each component of costs to the overall expense. Costs were taken as the sum of several factors, divided into direct and indirect health care costs. The direct costs included inpatient hospital costs, ambulatory visit costs (further divided into physician's office visits, outpatient department visits, and emergency department visits), prescription drug costs, and self-care/over-the-counter drug costs. Indirect costs were calculated as the outlay of days of work lost because of skin diseases. The economic burden of skin disease in the United States is large, estimated at approximately $35.9 billion for 1997, including $19.8 billion (54%) in ambulatory care costs; $7.2 billion (20.2%) in hospital inpatient charges; $3.0 billion (8.2%) in prescription drug costs; $4.3 billion (11.7%) in over-the-counter preparations; and $1.6 billion (6.0%) in indirect costs attributable to lost workdays. Our determination of the economic burden of skin care in the United States surpasses past estimates several-fold, and the model presented for calculating cost of illness allows for tracking changes in national expenses for skin care in future studies. The amount of estimated resources devoted to skin disease management is far more than required to treat conditions such as urinary incontinence ($16 billion) and hypertension ($23 billion), but far less than required to treat musculoskeletal

The economic burden of prematurity in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Karissa M; Gooch, Katherine; Korol, Ellen; Vo, Pamela; Eyawo, Oghenowede; Bradt, Pamela; Levy, Adrian

2014-04-05

Preterm birth is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality among infants worldwide, and imposes considerable burden on health, education and social services, as well as on families and caregivers. Morbidity and mortality resulting from preterm birth is highest among early (prematurity due to the larger number of late preterm infants relative to early and moderate preterm infants. The aim in this study was to characterize the burden of premature birth in Canada for early, moderate, and late premature infants, including resource utilization, direct medical costs, parental out-of-pocket costs, education costs, and mortality, using a validated and published decision model from the UK, and adapting it to a Canadian setting based on analysis of administrative, population-based data from Québec. Two-year survival was estimated at 56.0% for early preterm infants, 92.8% for moderate preterm infants, and 98.4% for late preterm infants. Per infant resource utilization consistently decreased with age. For moderately preterm infants, hospital days ranged from 1.6 at age two to 0.09 at age ten. Cost per infant over the first ten years of life was estimated to be $67,467 for early preterm infants, $52,796 for moderate preterm infants, and $10,010 for late preterm infants. Based on population sizes this corresponds to total national costs of $123.3 million for early preterm infants, $255.6 million for moderate preterm infants, $208.2 million for late preterm infants, and $587.1 million for all infants. Premature birth results in significant infant morbidity, mortality, healthcare utilization and costs in Canada. A comprehensive decision-model based on analysis of a Canadian population-based administrative data source suggested that the greatest national-level burden is associated with moderate preterm infants due to both a large cost per infant and population size while the highest individual-level burden is in early preterm infants and the largest total population size is

2015 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moné, Christopher [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hand, Maureen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bolinger, Mark [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Rand, Joseph [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Heimiller, Donna [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ho, Jonathan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-06-27

This report uses representative utility-scale projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for land-based and offshore wind plants in the United States. Data and results detailed here are derived from 2015 commissioned plants. More specifically, analysis detailed here relies on recent market data and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind energy cost trends and drivers. It is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs as well as a basis for understanding variability in LCOE across the industry. This publication reflects the fifth installment of this annual report.

Costs and Benefits to EU Member States of 2030 Climate and Energy Targets - February 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

Costs and Benefits to EU Member States of 2030 Climate and Energy Targets is based on analyses using the POLES-Enerdata model and presents an overview of the main European energy and climate policies: reduction of CO_2 emissions, development of renewable energies, and promotion of energy efficiency. The report looks forward to 2030 and beyond to evaluate possible targets and the goal of maintaining global temperature rise to 2 deg. C. This publication was produced by Enerdata's Global Energy Forecasting team, including the modelling and scenario analysis, within the framework of an external service contract to the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change. This project looks ahead to 2030. To do this, scenarios were developed using the POLES-Enerdata model, a world energy-economy model that fully describes the energy system and associated GHG emissions. This report analyses the costs and benefits to all EU Member States under different scenarios of the level and type of EU targets defined within a 2030 climate and energy framework. Scenarios include progressively more stringent GHG targets in 2030 (40%, 50%, and 60% reductions compared to 1990), alternative assumptions on access to international credits (0%, 5% and 10% of 1990 emissions), the addition of RES burden shares by Member State, accelerated CCS commercial availability and reduced renewables learning rates. These are the sensitivities commissioned as part of this report; however, they are not a comprehensive range covering all possible outcomes that could arise in reality. What are the costs and benefits to Member States under different scenarios of the level and type of EU targets? The analysis assesses the benefits of different scenarios to improved air quality and health, diversity of energy supply, and reduced costs of meeting longer term emission reduction targets (notably the EU's commitment to reduce emissions by 80-95% by 2050). Relying on more low-carbon, domestic, or diversified sources of

The difference between energy consumption and energy cost: Modelling energy tariff structures for water resource recovery facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Aymerich, I; Rieger, L; Sobhani, R; Rosso, D; Corominas, Ll

2015-09-15

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of incorporating more realistic energy cost models (based on current energy tariff structures) into existing water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) process models when evaluating technologies and cost-saving control strategies. In this paper, we first introduce a systematic framework to model energy usage at WRRFs and a generalized structure to describe energy tariffs including the most common billing terms. Secondly, this paper introduces a detailed energy cost model based on a Spanish energy tariff structure coupled with a WRRF process model to evaluate several control strategies and provide insights into the selection of the contracted power structure. The results for a 1-year evaluation on a 115,000 population-equivalent WRRF showed monthly cost differences ranging from 7 to 30% when comparing the detailed energy cost model to an average energy price. The evaluation of different aeration control strategies also showed that using average energy prices and neglecting energy tariff structures may lead to biased conclusions when selecting operating strategies or comparing technologies or equipment. The proposed framework demonstrated that for cost minimization, control strategies should be paired with a specific optimal contracted power. Hence, the design of operational and control strategies must take into account the local energy tariff. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The economic burden of diabetes to French national health insurance: a new cost-of-illness method based on a combined medicalized and incremental approach.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lagasnerie, Grégoire; Aguadé, Anne-Sophie; Denis, Pierre; Fagot-Campagna, Anne; Gastaldi-Menager, Christelle

2018-03-01

A better understanding of the economic burden of diabetes constitutes a major public health challenge in order to design new ways to curb diabetes health care expenditure. The aim of this study was to develop a new cost-of-illness method in order to assess the specific and nonspecific costs of diabetes from a public payer perspective. Using medical and administrative data from the major French national health insurance system covering about 59 million individuals in 2012, we identified people with diabetes and then estimated the economic burden of diabetes. Various methods were used: (a) global cost of patients with diabetes, (b) cost of treatment directly related to diabetes (i.e., 'medicalized approach'), (c) incremental regression-based approach, (d) incremental matched-control approach, and (e) a novel combination of the 'medicalized approach' and the 'incremental matched-control' approach. We identified 3 million individuals with diabetes (5% of the population). The total expenditure of this population amounted to €19 billion, representing 15% of total expenditure reimbursed to the entire population. Of the total expenditure, €10 billion (52%) was considered to be attributable to diabetes care: €2.3 billion (23% of €10 billion) was directly attributable, and €7.7 billion was attributable to additional reimbursed expenditure indirectly related to diabetes (77%). Inpatient care represented the major part of the expenditure attributable to diabetes care (22%) together with drugs (20%) and medical auxiliaries (15%). Antidiabetic drugs represented an expenditure of about €1.1 billion, accounting for 49% of all diabetes-specific expenditure. This study shows the economic impact of the assumption concerning definition of costs on evaluation of the economic burden of diabetes. The proposed new cost-of-illness method provides specific insight for policy-makers to enhance diabetes management and assess the opportunity costs of diabetes complications

A preliminary study into the economic burden of cerebral palsy in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Bin; Chen, Yingyao; Zhang, Jie; Li, Jun; Guo, Yan; Hailey, David

2008-08-01

To measure the economic burden of cerebral palsy (CP) in China is to provide information on CP's societal impacts to policy-makers. The economic burden of CP includes direct healthcare costs, direct non-healthcare costs, developmental costs and indirect costs such as productivity loss. The incidence approach is employed to estimate the lifetime economic burden of a new CP birth and that of all new cases in China in 2003. Caregivers of 319 CP patients were interviewed in specialty hospitals in five cities in 2004. Average expenditure and utilization rates for different services by age groups from this sample were obtained to estimate the economic burden of CP. Chinese CP patients' life expectancy and survival rate were simulated with reference to Australian data with Human Development Index adjustment. From the societal perspective, the average lifetime economic burden of a new CP case in China was US$ 67,044 in 2003, and the life-span total economic loss due to all new CP cases in 2003 amounted to US$ 2-4 billion. Indirect (productivity) costs are responsible for 93% of total economic loss, and direct healthcare and developmental costs make up 3% each. There are several factors which contribute to the extraordinarily high economic burden of CP, including productivity loss, reduced life expectancy, dependency, progressive deterioration of motor physical function, and recurrent use of rehabilitation services. The economic burden of CP in China is substantial for the family of a CP patient, as well as to society. Public provision and financing of necessary preventive and rehabilitative services is urgently needed to mitigate this heavy burden for patients and their families.

Renewable deployment in India: Financing costs and implications for policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shrimali, Gireesh; Nelson, David; Goel, Shobhit; Konda, Charith; Kumar, Raj

2013-01-01

India′s ambitious goals for renewable energy raise many questions regarding the nature of investment required. We conduct financial modeling of actual renewable projects in India; and derive the following insights. First, the high cost of debt is the most pressing problem: higher cost and inferior terms of debt in India may raise the cost of renewable energy by 24–32% compared to the U.S. Second, even if cost of debt goes down, loan terms – including short tenors and variable interest rates – will become significant impediments, given that they add 13–14% to the cost of renewable energy in India compared to the U.S. Finally, due to the high cost of debt, policy lessons from the U.S. and Europe; which focus on finer instruments such as duration of revenue-support, revenue-certainty, investor-risk-perception, and completion/cost-certainty; are not likely to be as effective, with potential impacts on the cost of renewable energy in the 3–11% range. In fact, we find that an interest-rate subsidy, which reduces the cost of debt, reduces the overall subsidy burden by 13–16%. This suggests that Indian policymakers need to prioritize the provision of low-cost, long-term debt and take a closer look at the successful efforts by China and Brazil. -- Highlights: •We examine impact of policy on financing costs of renewables in India. •The high cost of debt – the most pressing problem – adds about 24–32% to the cost. •An interest rate subsidy can actually reduce the overall subsidy burden by 13–16%. •Loan terms – debt tenor and variable rate debt – add about 13–14% to the cost. •Finer policy instruments are not as effective, given that they add 3–11% to the cost

External costs of electricity production: recent developments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beutier, D.

1995-01-01

The external costs of energy use, or the environmental effects not included in the market pricing system, must at some point be borne by society. This paper argues that the true cost of energy, including the remedying or prevention of its environmetnal consequences, should be included in the price paid by the consumer as this is the only effective method of minimizing the burden of environmental damage. The difficulties of quantifying the value of such damage and internalising it within power prices is described with reference to work in a number of countries. (UK)

Burden of childhood-onset arthritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassett Afton L

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Juvenile arthritis comprises a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases causing erosive arthritis in children, often progressing to disability. These children experience functional impairment due to joint and back pain, heel pain, swelling of joints and morning stiffness, contractures, pain, and anterior uveitis leading to blindness. As children who have juvenile arthritis reach adulthood, they face possible continuing disease activity, medication-associated morbidity, and life-long disability and risk for emotional and social dysfunction. In this article we will review the burden of juvenile arthritis for the patient and society and focus on the following areas: patient disability; visual outcome; other medical complications; physical activity; impact on HRQOL; emotional impact; pain and coping; ambulatory visits, hospitalizations and mortality; economic impact; burden on caregivers; transition issues; educational occupational outcomes, and sexuality. The extent of impact on the various aspects of the patients', families' and society's functioning is clear from the existing literature. Juvenile arthritis imposes a significant burden on different spheres of the patients', caregivers' and family's life. In addition, it imposes a societal burden of significant health care costs and utilization. Juvenile arthritis affects health-related quality of life, physical function and visual outcome of children and impacts functioning in school and home. Effective, well-designed and appropriately tailored interventions are required to improve transitioning to adult care, encourage future vocation/occupation, enhance school function and minimize burden on costs.

A fuzzy levelised energy cost method for renewable energy technology assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, Daniel G.; Dey, Prasanta K.; Brammer, John G.

2013-01-01

Renewable energy project development is highly complex and success is by no means guaranteed. Decisions are often made with approximate or uncertain information yet the current methods employed by decision-makers do not necessarily accommodate this. Levelised energy costs (LEC) are one such commonly applied measure utilised within the energy industry to assess the viability of potential projects and inform policy. The research proposes a method for achieving this by enhancing the traditional discounting LEC measure with fuzzy set theory. Furthermore, the research develops the fuzzy LEC (F-LEC) methodology to incorporate the cost of financing a project from debt and equity sources. Applied to an example bioenergy project, the research demonstrates the benefit of incorporating fuzziness for project viability, optimal capital structure and key variable sensitivity analysis decision-making. The proposed method contributes by incorporating uncertain and approximate information to the widely utilised LEC measure and by being applicable to a wide range of energy project viability decisions. -- Highlights: •Proposes a fuzzy levelised energy cost (F-LEC) methodology to support energy project development. •Incorporates the terms and cost of project finance into the F-LEC method. •Applies the F-LEC method to an example bioenergy project development case

Socioeconomic burden of influenza in the Republic of Korea, 2007-2010.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mina Suh

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although the socioeconomic burden of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1 was considerable, no reliable estimates have been reported. Our aim was to compared medical costs and socioeconomic burden resulting from pandemic influenza A (H1N1 2009 with that of previous seasonal influenza. METHODS: We estimated the medical costs and socioeconomic burden of influenza from May 2007 to April 2010. We used representative national data sources(data from the Health Insurance Review Agency, the National Health Insurance Corporation, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Korean National Statistics Office including medical utilization, prescription of antivirals, and vaccination. Uncertainty of data was explored through sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS: Compared with the seasonal influenza, total medical costs (US$291.7 million associated with pandemic (H1N1 2009 increased more than 37-fold. Compared with the 2007-2008 season, outpatient diagnostic costs (US$135.3 million were 773 times higher in the 2009-2010 season, and the mean diagnostic cost per outpatient visit was 58.8 times higher. Total socioeconomic burden of pandemic (H1N1 2009 was estimated at US$1581.3 million (10%-90%: US$1436.0-1808.3 million and those of seasonal influenza was estimated at US$44.7 million (10%-90%: US$32.4-57.9 million in 2007-2008 season and US$42.3 million (10%-90%: US$31.5-53.8 million in 2008-2009 season. Indirect costs accounted for 56.0% of total costs in pandemic (H1N1 2009, and 66.48-68.09% in seasonal influenza. The largest contributors to total burden were productivity losses of caregiver in pandemic (H1N1 2009, and productivity losses due to morbidity of outpatient in seasonal influenza. CONCLUSIONS: In the Republic of Korea, socioeconomic burden of pandemic (H1N1 2009 were considerably higher than burden of the previous two influenza seasons, primarily because of high diagnostic costs and longer sick leave.

2011 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, S.; Lantz, E.; Hand, M.; Maples, B.; Smith, A.; Schwabe, P.

2013-03-01

This report describes the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for a typical land-based wind turbine installed in the United States in 2011, as well as the modeled LCOE for a fixed-bottom offshore wind turbine installed in the United States in 2011. Each of the four major components of the LCOE equation are explained in detail, such as installed capital cost, annual energy production, annual operating expenses, and financing, and including sensitivity ranges that show how each component can affect LCOE. These LCOE calculations are used for planning and other purposes by the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program.

A systematic review of the direct economic burden of type 2 diabetes in china.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Huimei; Sawhney, Monika; Shi, Lizheng; Duan, Shengnan; Yu, Yunxian; Wu, Zhihong; Qiu, Guixing; Dong, Hengjin

2015-03-01

Type 2 diabetes is associated with acute and chronic complications and poses a large economic, social, and medical burden on patients and their families as well as society. This study aims to evaluate the direct economic burden of type 2 diabetes in China. systematic review on cost of illness, health care costs, direct service costs, drug costs, and health expenditures in relation to type 2 diabetes was conducted up to 2014 using databases such as Pubmed; EBSCO; Elsevier ScienceDirect, Web of Science; and a series of Chinese databases, including Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and the China Science and Technology Journal Database. Factors influencing hospitalization and drug fees were also identified. (1) estimation of the direct economic burden including hospitalization and outpatient cost of type 2 diabetes patients in China; (2) evaluation of the factors influencing the direct economic burden. Articles only focusing on the cost-effectiveness analysis of diabetes drugs were excluded. The direct economic burden of type 2 diabetes has increased over time in China, and in 2008, the direct medical cost reached $9.1 billion, Both outpatient and inpatient costs have increased. Income level, type of medical insurance, the level of hospital care, and type and number of complications are primary factors influencing diabetes related hospitalization costs. Compared to urban areas, the direct non-medical cost of type 2 diabetes in rural areas is significantly greater. The direct economic burden of type 2 diabetes poses a significant challenge to China. To address the economic burden associated with type 2 diabetes, measures need to be taken to reduce prevalence rate and severity of diabetes and hospitalization cost.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Denmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, Peter Vestergaard; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Gannedahl, Mia

2017-08-01

To estimate the value of treatments in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with cost data. This, in turn, requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting current data on resource consumption, work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity, from the societal perspective, in 2015 Danish Kronor (DKK). A total of 830 patients (mean age of 54 years) participated; 78% were below retirement age and of these, 43% were employed. Employment was related to disease severity, and MS was felt to affect productivity at work by 73% of patients, most often through fatigue. Overall, 95% and 65% of patients felt that fatigue and cognition, respectively, were a problem. Mean utility and costs were 0.770 and 196,900DKK at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.619 and 287,300DKK at EDSS 4-6.5, and 0.302 and 533,250DKK at EDSS 7-9. The average cost of a relapse was estimated at 19,000DKK. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Danish patients and provides current data that are important for the development of health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Selmaj, Krzysztof; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Orlewska, Ewa; Capsa, Daniela; Dalén, Johan

2017-08-01

In order to estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 European countries collecting current data on resource consumption, work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity, from the societal perspective, in 2015 Polish Zloty (PLN). A total of 411 MS patients (mean age = 40 years) participated in Poland; 94% were below retirement age, and of these, 59% were employed. Employment was related to disability, and MS affected productivity for 85% of those working. Overall, 97% and 71% of patients experienced fatigue and cognition as important problems, respectively. Mean utility and total annual costs were 0.686 and 48,700 PLN at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.521 and 59,200 PLN at EDSS 4-6.5 and 0.208 and 81,600 PLN at EDSS 7-9, respectively. The average cost of a relapse was 3,900 PLN. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Polish patients and provides current data that are important for developing health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Italy.

Science.gov (United States)

Battaglia, Mario; Kobelt, Gisela; Ponzio, Michela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Dalén, Johan

2017-08-01

In order to estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting data on resource consumption and work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity, from the societal perspective, in EUR 2015. A total of 1010 patients (mean age = 45 years) participated in Italy. In total, 94% were below retirement age, and of these, 56% were employed. Employment was related to disability, and MS affected productivity at work in 77% of the patients. Overall, 96% and 65% of the patients experienced fatigue and cognitive difficulties as a problem, respectively. Mean utility and total annual costs were 0.735 and €22,900 at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of 0-3, 0.534 and €40,100 at EDSS of 4-6.5, and 0.135 and €53,300 at EDSS of 7-9. The mean cost of a relapse was estimated to be €2600. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Italian patients and provides current data on MS that are important for the development of health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Hungary.

Science.gov (United States)

Péntek, Márta; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Dalén, Johan; Bíró, Zita; Mátyás, Klotild; Komoly, Sámuel

2017-08-01

To estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting data on resource consumption, work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of disability, from the societal perspective, in HUF 2015. A total of 521 patients (mean age 47 years) participated; 85% were below retirement age, and of these, 47% were employed. Employment was related to disability and MS affected productivity at work for 82% of those working. Overall, 94% and 66% of patients experienced fatigue and cognitive difficulties as a problem, respectively. The mean utility and annual costs were 0.691 and 3,432,000HUF at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.491 and 5,262,000HUF at EDSS 4-6.5 and 0.076 and 6,235,000HUF at EDSS 7-9, respectively. The average cost of a relapse was estimated at 240,500HUF. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Hungarian patients and provides current data that are important for the development of health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Oreja-Guevara, Celia; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Eriksson, Jennifer

2017-08-01

In order to estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed, outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting data on resource consumption, work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity, from the societal perspective, in EUR 2015. A total of 462 patients (mean age 43 years) participated in Spain; 96% were below retirement age and of these, 45% were employed. Employment was related to disability, and MS affected productivity at work for 72% of those working. Overall, 92% and 64% of patients experienced fatigue and cognitive difficulties as a problem, respectively. Mean utility and total annual costs were estimated at 0.772 and €20,600 at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.486 and €48,500 at EDSS 4-6.5 and 0.182 and €68,700 at EDSS 7-9, respectively. The mean cost of a relapse was €2050. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Spanish patients and provides current data that are important for development of health policies.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Thomas; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Gannedahl, Mia

2017-08-01

In order to estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting data on resource consumption and work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of severity, from the societal perspective, in EUR 2015. A total of 516 patients (mean age, 53 years) participated in Austria; 72% were below retirement age, and of these, 46% were employed. Employment was related to disability, and MS affected productivity at work for 77% of those working. Overall, 94% and 67% of patients experienced fatigue and cognition as a problem. Mean utility and total annual costs were 0.778 and 25,100€ at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 0-3, 0.579 and 44,100€ at EDSS 4-6.5, and 0.244 and 73,800€ at EDSS 7-9. The mean cost of a relapse was estimated at 2563€. This study illustrates the burden of MS on Austrian patients and provides current data on MS that are important for development of health policies.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease burden in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Delavari, Alireza; Moradi, Ghobad; Elahi, Elham; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar

2015-02-01

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is one of the most common disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. The prevalence of this disease ranges from 5% to 20% in Asia, Europe, and North America. The aim of this study was to estimate the burden of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Iran. Burden of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Iran was estimated for one year from 21 March 2006 to 20 March 2007. The definition was adjusted with ICD-code of K21. Incident-based disability-adjusted life year (DALY) was used as the unit of analysis to quantify disease burden. A simplified disease model and DisMod II software were used for modeling. The annual incidence for total population of males and females in Iran was estimated 17.72 and 28.06 per 1000, respectively. The average duration of gastroesophageal reflux disease as a chronic condition was estimated around 10 years in both sexes. Total DALYs for an average of 59 symptomatic days per year was estimated 153,554.3 (60,330.8 for males and 93,223.5 for females).   The results of this study showed that reflux imposes high burden and high financial costs on the Iranian population. The burden of this disease in Iran is more similar to that of European countries rather than Asian countries. It is recommended to consider the disease as a public health problem and make decisions and public health plans to reduce the burden and financial costs of the disease in Iran.

Energy storage systems cost update : a study for the DOE Energy Storage Systems Program.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schoenung, Susan M. (Longitude 122 West, Menlo Park, CA)

2011-04-01

This paper reports the methodology for calculating present worth of system and operating costs for a number of energy storage technologies for representative electric utility applications. The values are an update from earlier reports, categorized by application use parameters. This work presents an update of energy storage system costs assessed previously and separately by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Storage Systems Program. The primary objective of the series of studies has been to express electricity storage benefits and costs using consistent assumptions, so that helpful benefit/cost comparisons can be made. Costs of energy storage systems depend not only on the type of technology, but also on the planned operation and especially the hours of storage needed. Calculating the present worth of life-cycle costs makes it possible to compare benefit values estimated on the same basis.

2016 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stehly, Tyler J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heimiller, Donna M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Scott, George N. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-12-29

This report uses representative utility-scale projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for land-based and offshore wind power plants in the United States. Data and results detailed here are derived from 2016 commissioned plants. More specifically, analysis detailed here relies on recent market data and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind energy cost trends and drivers. This report is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs as well as a basis for understanding variability in LCOE across the country. This publication represents the sixth installment of this annual report.

Low cost energy in Canada: The view from downstream

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irving, K.

1993-01-01

The key cost determinants of energy in Canada are analyzed and recommendations are made to ensure the competitiveness of Canadian energy costs and energy-consuming industries in the North American and world markets. Oil supplies 45% of world energy and has a key role in determining prices of all other energy forms since it serves as an incremental source of energy: its consumption changes according to economic growth, changes in weather patterns, and other factors. North America currently accounts for about a third of world oil consumption. North American oil demand is expected to remain flat over the next few decades. As Canada only produces ca 3% of world oil supply, it cannot determine oil prices. However, with an efficient downstream industry, Canada can influence the end-user price of energy. The cost structure of refined products in Canada is analyzed. The cost of raw materials is the single biggest determinant of the final product cost, followed by taxes, operating costs, and profit margin. For gasoline in Ontario, taxes account for half the retail cost, crude oil prices ca 30%, and refining costs ca 4%. Refining costs comprise about two thirds labor costs and one third energy costs. Refiner margins have not exceeded 2 cents/l since 1981, creating reluctance to invest in the refining sector. By 1994, some 200,000 bbl/d of refining capacity is expected to be shut down in Canada. Compared to refineries in the USA, Canadian refineries are smaller and have a much lower capacity to upgrade residual fuel oil to light products. Future challenges to the industry include a projected need for $5 billion in investment, largely to fund new environmental initiatives. Such an investment cannot be met through current industry profits. 12 figs., 3 tabs

Renewable Energy Cost Modeling. A Toolkit for Establishing Cost-Based Incentives in the United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gifford, Jason S. [Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC, Framington, MA (United States); Grace, Robert C. [Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC, Framington, MA (United States); Rickerson, Wilson H. [Meister Consultants Group, Inc., Boston, MA (United States)

2011-05-01

This report serves as a resource for policymakers who wish to learn more about levelized cost of energy (LCOE) calculations, including cost-based incentives. The report identifies key renewable energy cost modeling options, highlights the policy implications of choosing one approach over the other, and presents recommendations on the optimal characteristics of a model to calculate rates for cost-based incentives, FITs, or similar policies. These recommendations shaped the design of NREL's Cost of Renewable Energy Spreadsheet Tool (CREST), which is used by state policymakers, regulators, utilities, developers, and other stakeholders to assist with analyses of policy and renewable energy incentive payment structures. Authored by Jason S. Gifford and Robert C. Grace of Sustainable Energy Advantage LLC and Wilson H. Rickerson of Meister Consultants Group, Inc.

National Economic Burden Associated with Management of Periodontitis in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Dom, Tuti Ningseh; Ayob, Rasidah; Abd Muttalib, Khairiyah; Aljunid, Syed Mohamed

2016-01-01

Objectives. The aim of this study is to estimate the economic burden associated with the management of periodontitis in Malaysia from the societal perspective. Methods. We estimated the economic burden of periodontitis by combining the disease prevalence with its treatment costs. We estimated treatment costs (with 2012 value of Malaysian Ringgit) using the cost-of-illness approach and included both direct and indirect costs. We used the National Oral Health Survey for Adults (2010) data to estimate the prevalence of periodontitis and 2010 national census data to estimate the adult population at risk for periodontitis. Results. The economic burden of managing all cases of periodontitis at the national level from the societal perspective was approximately MYR 32.5 billion, accounting for 3.83% of the 2012 Gross Domestic Product of the country. It would cost the nation MYR 18.3 billion to treat patients with moderate periodontitis and MYR 13.7 billion to treat patients with severe periodontitis. Conclusion. The economic burden of periodontitis in Malaysia is substantial and comparable with that of other chronic diseases in the country. This is attributable to its high prevalence and high cost of treatment. Judicious application of promotive, preventive, and curative approaches to periodontitis management is decidedly warranted.

National Economic Burden Associated with Management of Periodontitis in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tuti Ningseh Mohd Dom

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. The aim of this study is to estimate the economic burden associated with the management of periodontitis in Malaysia from the societal perspective. Methods. We estimated the economic burden of periodontitis by combining the disease prevalence with its treatment costs. We estimated treatment costs (with 2012 value of Malaysian Ringgit using the cost-of-illness approach and included both direct and indirect costs. We used the National Oral Health Survey for Adults (2010 data to estimate the prevalence of periodontitis and 2010 national census data to estimate the adult population at risk for periodontitis. Results. The economic burden of managing all cases of periodontitis at the national level from the societal perspective was approximately MYR 32.5 billion, accounting for 3.83% of the 2012 Gross Domestic Product of the country. It would cost the nation MYR 18.3 billion to treat patients with moderate periodontitis and MYR 13.7 billion to treat patients with severe periodontitis. Conclusion. The economic burden of periodontitis in Malaysia is substantial and comparable with that of other chronic diseases in the country. This is attributable to its high prevalence and high cost of treatment. Judicious application of promotive, preventive, and curative approaches to periodontitis management is decidedly warranted.

Listen, wind energy costs nothing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poizat, F.

2008-09-01

The author discusses the affirmation of the ADEME and the Environmental and sustainable development Ministry: the french wind park will costs in 2008 0,5 euro year for each household. He criticizes strongly this calculi, bringing many data on energy real cost today and in the next 10 years. Many references are provided. (A.L.B.)

Methodology for Evaluating Cost-effectiveness of Commercial Energy Code Changes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hart, Philip R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Liu, Bing [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-01-31

This document lays out the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) method for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of energy code proposals and editions. The evaluation is applied to provisions or editions of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The method follows standard life-cycle cost (LCC) economic analysis procedures. Cost-effectiveness evaluation requires three steps: 1) evaluating the energy and energy cost savings of code changes, 2) evaluating the incremental and replacement costs related to the changes, and 3) determining the cost-effectiveness of energy code changes based on those costs and savings over time.

The effects of rising energy costs and transportation mode mix on forest fuel procurement costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rauch, Peter; Gronalt, Manfred

2011-01-01

Since fossil fuels have been broadly recognized as a non-renewable energy source that threatens the climate, sustainable and CO 2 neutral energy sources - such as forest fuels - are being promoted in Europe, instead. With the expeditiously growing forest fuel demand, the strategic problem of how to design a cost-efficient distribution network has evolved. This paper presents an MILP model, comprising decisions on modes of transportation and spatial arrangement of terminals, in order to design a forest fuel supply network for Austria. The MILP model is used to evaluate the impacts of rising energy costs on procurement sources, transport mix and procurement costs on a national scale, based on the example of Austria. A 20% increase of energy costs results in a procurement cost increase of 7%, and another 20% increase of energy costs would have similar results. While domestic waterways become more important as a result of the first energy cost increase, rail only does so after the second. One way to decrease procurement costs would be to reduce the share of empty trips with truck and trailer. Reducing this share by 10% decreases the average procurement costs by up to 20%. Routing influences the modal split considerably, and the truck transport share increases from 86% to 97%, accordingly. Increasing forest fuel imports by large CHPs lowers domestic competition and also enables smaller plants to cut their procurement costs. Rising forest fuel imports via ship will not significantly decrease domestic market shares, but they will reduce procurement costs considerably. (author)

2010 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, S. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hand, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Maples, B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lantz, E. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Schwabe, P. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Smith, A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2012-04-01

This document provides a detailed description of NREL's levelized cost of wind energy equation, assumptions, and results in 2010, including historical cost trends and future projections for land-based and offshore utility-scale wind.

2010 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, S.; Hand, M.; Maples, B.; Lantz, E.; Schwabe, P.; Smith, A.

2012-04-01

This document provides a detailed description of NREL's levelized cost of wind energy equation, assumptions and results in 2010, including historical cost trends and future projections for land-based and offshore utility-scale wind.

DEPENDENCE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND COST OF PRODUCTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Sklyarov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Economic systems exist on condition of receipt and spending of energy. Energy consumption is a necessary condition for the existence and functioning of the economic systems of any scale: macroeconomics, microeconomics, regional economy or the world economy.The economic system operates on the scale at which it is able to produce energy and get access to energy. Moreover, receipt and consumption of energy in the operation of the economic system is mainly determined by, the level of energy production from energy sources, since this level is determined by the level of energy consumption by industries and enterprises of the economy.Currently, the economic system does not produce energy in reserve. Thus, the question of energy effi ciency and energy saving was always acute.The article describes the energy efficiency and energy saving effect on the cost of production. Were used two methods: “costs and release” matrix and “price - value added” matrix. The result is the equation of dependence of energy efficiency and costs.

Estimating the burden of antimicrobial resistance: a systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Naylor, Nichola R; Atun, Rifat; Zhu, Nina; Kulasabanathan, Kavian; Silva, Sachin; Chatterjee, Anuja; Knight, Gwenan M; Robotham, Julie V

2018-01-01

Accurate estimates of the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are needed to establish the magnitude of this global threat in terms of both health and cost, and to paramaterise cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions aiming to tackle the problem. This review aimed to establish the alternative methodologies used in estimating AMR burden in order to appraise the current evidence base. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, EconLit, PubMed and grey literature were searched. English language studies evaluating the impact of AMR (from any microbe) on patient, payer/provider and economic burden published between January 2013 and December 2015 were included. Independent screening of title/abstracts followed by full texts was performed using pre-specified criteria. A study quality score (from zero to one) was derived using Newcastle-Ottawa and Philips checklists. Extracted study data were used to compare study method and resulting burden estimate, according to perspective. Monetary costs were converted into 2013 USD. Out of 5187 unique retrievals, 214 studies were included. One hundred eighty-seven studies estimated patient health, 75 studies estimated payer/provider and 11 studies estimated economic burden. 64% of included studies were single centre. The majority of studies estimating patient or provider/payer burden used regression techniques. 48% of studies estimating mortality burden found a significant impact from resistance, excess healthcare system costs ranged from non-significance to $1 billion per year, whilst economic burden ranged from $21,832 per case to over $3 trillion in GDP loss. Median quality scores (interquartile range) for patient, payer/provider and economic burden studies were 0.67 (0.56-0.67), 0.56 (0.46-0.67) and 0.53 (0.44-0.60) respectively. This study highlights what methodological assumptions and biases can occur dependent on chosen outcome and perspective. Currently, there is considerable variability in burden estimates, which can lead in

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for Cement Making An ENERGY STAR® Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Worrell, E.; Kermeli, Katerina; Galitsky, Christina

The cost of energy as part of the total production costs in the cement industry is significant, typically at 20 to 40% of operational costs, warranting attention for energy efficiency to improve the bottom line. Historically, energy intensity has declined, although more recently energy intensity

76 FR 13168 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-10

... average unit costs of residential energy in a Federal Register notice entitled, ``Energy Conservation... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency...

Impacts of optimum cost effective energy efficiency standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brancic, A.B.; Peters, J.S.; Arch, M.

1991-01-01

Building Codes are increasingly required to be responsive to social and economic policy concerns. In 1990 the State of Connecticut passes An Act Concerning Global Warming, Public Act 90-219, which mandates the revision of the state building code to require that buildings and building elements be designed to provide optimum cost-effective energy efficiency over the useful life of the building. Further, such revision must meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 - 1989. As the largest electric energy supplier in Connecticut, Northeast Utilities (NU) sponsored a pilot study of the cost effectiveness of alternative building code standards for commercial construction. This paper reports on this study which analyzed design and construction means, building elements, incremental construction costs, and energy savings to determine the optimum cost-effective building code standard. Findings are that ASHRAE 90.1 results in 21% energy savings and alternative standards above it result in significant additional savings. Benefit/cost analysis showed that both are cost effective

Sharing the burden of adaptation financing. Translating ethical principles into practical policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dellink, R.; Dekker, T.; Aiking, H.; Peters, J.; Gupta, J.; Bergsma, E.; Berkhout, F.; Den Elzen, M.

2008-12-01

Burden-sharing of adaptation costs to climate change has received limited attention in the scientific literature. This study identifies a set of principles that can serve as a basis for choices about how to share the burden of the costs of adaptation to climate change, i.e. historical responsibility and capacity to pay. The numerical analysis shows that the developed countries need to contribute the greatest burden

78 FR 17648 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-22

... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy'', dated April 26, 2012... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency...

The Cost of Enforcing Building Energy Codes: Phase 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, Alison [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Vine, Ed [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Price, Sarah [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Sturges, Andrew [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Rosenquist, Greg [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2013-04-01

The purpose of this literature review is to summarize key findings regarding the costs associated with enforcing building energy code compliance—primarily focusing on costs borne by local government. The review takes into consideration over 150 documents that discuss, to some extent, code enforcement. This review emphasizes those documents that specifically focus on costs associated with energy code enforcement. Given the low rates of building energy code compliance that have been reported in existing studies, as well as the many barriers to both energy code compliance and enforcement, this study seeks to identify the costs of initiatives to improve compliance and enforcement. Costs are reported primarily as presented in the original source. Some costs are given on a per home or per building basis, and others are provided for jurisdictions of a certain size. This literature review gives an overview of state-based compliance rates, barriers to code enforcement, and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and key stakeholder involvement in improving compliance with building energy codes. In addition, the processes and costs associated with compliance and enforcement of building energy codes are presented. The second phase of this study, which will be presented in a different report, will consist of surveying 34 experts in the building industry at the national and state or local levels in order to obtain additional cost information, building on the findings from the first phase, as well as recommendations for where to most effectively spend money on compliance and enforcement.

Renewable portfolio standards and cost-effective energy-efficiency investment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahone, A.; Woo, C.K.; Williams, J.; Horowitz, I.

2009-01-01

Renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) and mandates to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency (EE) are increasingly popular policy tools to combat climate change and dependence on fossil fuels. These supply-side and demand-side policies, however, are often uncoordinated. Using California as a case in point, this paper demonstrates that states could improve resource allocation if these two policies were coordinated by incorporating renewable-energy procurement cost into the cost-effectiveness determination for EE investment. In particular, if renewable energy is relatively expensive when compared to conventional energy, increasing the RPS target raises the cost-effective level of EE investment

Energy savings through self-backhauling for future heterogeneous networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faruk, Nasir; Ruttik, Kalle; Mutafungwa, Edward; Jäntti, Riku

2016-01-01

Mobile operators face continuous challenge of enhancing network capacity and coverage so as to meet demand for ubiquitous high-speed mobile data connectivity. Unfortunately, these enhancements are typically accompanied by increased burden of network energy consumption. Heterogeneous network (HetNet) deployments of a large number of low power small base stations (SBS) to complement existing macro base stations is an approach that increases network capacity but potentially reduces overall network energy consumption. The SBS backhaul links in HetNets present a significant powering burden. In this paper, we show how self backhauling of SBS can reduce overall network power demand. A backhaul-energy consumption model is developed and used to investigate the energy efficiency of different backhauling options. We note that significant energy savings could be achieved through the use of self-backhauling when compared with the conventional microwave backhauling. The results presented would provide guidelines for energy- and cost-efficient backhaul implementation for future HetNets. - Highlights: • A backhaul-energy consumption model is developed. • Self backhauling of small base stations can reduce overall network power demand. • Energy saving strategy presented would relieved the burden on the power networks. • Results provide guidelines for energy and cost effective backhaul implementation.

Operation optimization of a distributed energy system considering energy costs and exergy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Somma, M.; Yan, B.; Bianco, N.; Graditi, G.; Luh, P.B.; Mongibello, L.; Naso, V.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Operation optimization model of a Distributed Energy System (DES). • Multi-objective strategy to optimize energy cost and exergy efficiency. • Exergy analysis in building energy supply systems. - Abstract: With the growing demand of energy on a worldwide scale, improving the efficiency of energy resource use has become one of the key challenges. Application of exergy principles in the context of building energy supply systems can achieve rational use of energy resources by taking into account the different quality levels of energy resources as well as those of building demands. This paper is on the operation optimization of a Distributed Energy System (DES). The model involves multiple energy devices that convert a set of primary energy carriers with different energy quality levels to meet given time-varying user demands at different energy quality levels. By promoting the usage of low-temperature energy sources to satisfy low-quality thermal energy demands, the waste of high-quality energy resources can be reduced, thereby improving the overall exergy efficiency. To consider the economic factor as well, a multi-objective linear programming problem is formulated. The Pareto frontier, including the best possible trade-offs between the economic and exergetic objectives, is obtained by minimizing a weighted sum of the total energy cost and total primary exergy input using branch-and-cut. The operation strategies of the DES under different weights for the two objectives are discussed. The operators of DESs can choose the operation strategy from the Pareto frontier based on costs, essential in the short run, and sustainability, crucial in the long run. The contribution of each energy device in reducing energy costs and the total exergy input is also analyzed. In addition, results show that the energy cost can be much reduced and the overall exergy efficiency can be significantly improved by the optimized operation of the DES as compared with the

The Economic Burden Attributable to a Child's Inpatient Admission for Diarrheal Disease in Rwanda.

Science.gov (United States)

Ngabo, Fidele; Mvundura, Mercy; Gazley, Lauren; Gatera, Maurice; Rugambwa, Celse; Kayonga, Eugene; Tuyishime, Yvette; Niyibaho, Jeanne; Mwenda, Jason M; Donnen, Philippe; Lepage, Philippe; Binagwaho, Agnes; Atherly, Deborah

2016-01-01

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Hospitalization for diarrhea can pose a significant burden to health systems and households. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden attributable to hospitalization for diarrhea among children less than five years old in Rwanda. These data can be used by decision-makers to assess the impact of interventions that reduce diarrhea morbidity, including rotavirus vaccine introduction. This was a prospective costing study where medical records and hospital bills for children admitted with diarrhea at three hospitals were collected to estimate resource use and costs. Hospital length of stay was calculated from medical records. Costs incurred during the hospitalization were abstracted from the hospital bills. Interviews with the child's caregivers provided data to estimate household costs which included transport costs and lost income. The portion of medical costs borne by insurance and household were reported separately. Annual economic burden before and after rotavirus vaccine introduction was estimated by multiplying the reported number of diarrhea hospitalizations in public health centers and district hospitals by the estimated economic burden per hospitalization. All costs are presented in 2014 US$. Costs for 203 children were analyzed. Approximately 93% of the children had health insurance coverage. Average hospital length of stay was 5.3 ± 3.9 days. Average medical costs for each child for the illness resulting in a hospitalization were $44.22 ± $23.74 and the total economic burden was $101, of which 65% was borne by the household. For households in the lowest income quintile, the household costs were 110% of their monthly income. The annual economic burden to Rwanda attributable to diarrhea hospitalizations ranged from $1.3 million to $1.7 million before rotavirus vaccine introduction. Households often bear the largest share of the economic burden attributable to

The Economic Burden Attributable to a Child's Inpatient Admission for Diarrheal Disease in Rwanda.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fidele Ngabo

Full Text Available Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Hospitalization for diarrhea can pose a significant burden to health systems and households. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden attributable to hospitalization for diarrhea among children less than five years old in Rwanda. These data can be used by decision-makers to assess the impact of interventions that reduce diarrhea morbidity, including rotavirus vaccine introduction.This was a prospective costing study where medical records and hospital bills for children admitted with diarrhea at three hospitals were collected to estimate resource use and costs. Hospital length of stay was calculated from medical records. Costs incurred during the hospitalization were abstracted from the hospital bills. Interviews with the child's caregivers provided data to estimate household costs which included transport costs and lost income. The portion of medical costs borne by insurance and household were reported separately. Annual economic burden before and after rotavirus vaccine introduction was estimated by multiplying the reported number of diarrhea hospitalizations in public health centers and district hospitals by the estimated economic burden per hospitalization. All costs are presented in 2014 US$.Costs for 203 children were analyzed. Approximately 93% of the children had health insurance coverage. Average hospital length of stay was 5.3 ± 3.9 days. Average medical costs for each child for the illness resulting in a hospitalization were $44.22 ± $23.74 and the total economic burden was $101, of which 65% was borne by the household. For households in the lowest income quintile, the household costs were 110% of their monthly income. The annual economic burden to Rwanda attributable to diarrhea hospitalizations ranged from $1.3 million to $1.7 million before rotavirus vaccine introduction.Households often bear the largest share of the economic burden

The economic burden of advanced gastric cancer in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Jihyung; Tsai, Yiling; Novick, Diego; Hsiao, Frank Chi-Huang; Cheng, Rebecca; Chen, Jen-Shi

2017-09-16

Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in both sexes worldwide, especially in Eastern Asia. This study aimed to estimate the economic burden of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) in Taiwan. The costs of AGC in 2013 were estimated using resource use data from a chart review study (n = 122 with AGC) and national statistics. Annual per-patient costs, where patients' follow-up periods were adjusted for, were estimated with 82 patients who had complete resource use data. The costs were composed of direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs (healthcare travel and caregiver costs), morbidity costs, and mortality costs. Relevant unit costs were retrieved mainly from literature and national statistics, and applied to the resource use data. A broad definition of morbidity and mortality costs was employed to value the productivity loss in patients with unpaid employment, economically inactive and unemployed as well as the life years after the age of retirement. Their narrow definitions were also used in sensitivity analyses, using age- and/or sex-specific employment rates. Forgone future earnings/productivity loss were discounted at 3%. Annual per-patient costs were projected to estimate the total costs of AGC at the national level with an estimated number of patients with AGC (N = 2611) in Taiwan in 2013. The mean age of the 82 patients was 59.3 (SD: 11.9) years, and 67.1% were male. Per-patient costs were US$26,431 for direct medical costs, US$4669 for direct non-medical costs, US$5758 for morbidity costs, and US$145,990 for mortality costs (per death). These per-patient costs were projected to incur total AGC costs of US$423 million at the national-level. Mortality costs accounted for 77.3% of the total costs, followed by direct medical costs (16.3%), morbidity costs (3.6%), and direct non-medical costs (2.9%). AGC was found to exert a significant economic burden in Taiwan, incurring US$423 million in 2013. This represents about 0.08% of

Renewable energy costs, potentials, barriers: Conceptual issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbruggen, Aviel; Fischedick, Manfred; Moomaw, William; Weir, Tony; Nadai, Alain; Nilsson, Lars J.; Nyboer, John; Sathaye, Jayant

2010-01-01

Renewable energy can become the major energy supply option in low-carbon energy economies. Disruptive transformations in all energy systems are necessary for tapping widely available renewable energy resources. Organizing the energy transition from non-sustainable to renewable energy is often described as the major challenge of the first half of the 21st century. Technological innovation, the economy (costs and prices) and policies have to be aligned to achieve full renewable energy potentials, and barriers impeding that growth need to be removed. These issues are also covered by IPCC's special report on renewable energy and climate change to be completed in 2010. This article focuses on the interrelations among the drivers. It clarifies definitions of costs and prices, and of barriers. After reviewing how the third and fourth assessment reports of IPCC cover mitigation potentials and commenting on definitions of renewable energy potentials in the literature, we propose a consistent set of potentials of renewable energy supplies.

Overcoming the Challenges in Implementing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Programs Can Decrease the Burden on Healthcare Costs in the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kritika Subramanian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Theoretically, identifying prediabetics would reduce the diabetic burden on the American healthcare system. As we expect the prevalence rate of prediabetes to continue increasing, we wonder if there is a better way of managing prediabetics and reducing the economic cost on the healthcare system. To do so, understanding the demographics and behavioral factors of known prediabetics was important. For this purpose, responses of prediabetic/borderline diabetes patients from the most recent publicly available 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS survey were analyzed. The findings showed that there was a correlation between household income, geographic residence in the US, and risk for developing diabetes mellitus type 2, aside from the accepted risk factors such as high BMI. In conclusion, implementation of the National Diabetes Prevention Program is a rational way of reducing the burden of DM on the healthcare system both economically and by prevalence. However, difficulties arise in ensuring patient compliance to the program and providing access to all regions and communities of the United States. Technology incorporation in the NDPP program would maintain a low-cost implementation by the healthcare system, be affordable and accessible for all participants, and decrease economic burden attributed to diabetes mellitus.

Disease Burden from Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Guangdong Province, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianpeng Xiao

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To estimate the disease burden and financial burden attributed to hepatitis B virus (HBV infection in Guangdong Province. Methods: Based on the data of incidence, mortality and healthcare cost of HBV-related diseases and other socio-economic data in Guangdong Province, we estimated deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs and economic cost for the three HBV-related diseases—hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer—in Guangdong following the procedures developed for the global burden of disease study. Then disease burden and economic cost attributed to HBV infection was estimated. Results: HBV infection was estimated to have caused 33,600 (95% confidence interval (CI: 29,300–37,800 premature deaths and the loss of 583,200 (95% CI: 495,200–671,100 DALYs in Guangdong in 2005. The greatest loss of deaths and DALYs were from liver cancer. The 45–59 years age group had the greatest burden attributable to HBV infection. The estimated total annual cost of HBV-related diseases in Guangdong was RMB 10.8 (95% CI: 8.7–13.0 billion，the direct and indirect cost were RMB 2.6 (95% CI: 2.1–3.2 and 8.2 (95% CI: 6.6–9.8 billion. Conclusions: HBV infection is a great medical challenge as well as a significant economic burden to Guangdong Province. The results suggest that substantial health benefits could be gained by extending effective public health and clinical interventions to reduce HBV infection in Guangdong Province.

10 CFR 436.17 - Establishing energy or water cost data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... with § 436.14(c). (b) When energy costs begin to accrue in the base year, the present value of energy... present value of energy costs over the delay, calculated using the adjusted, modified uniform present worth factor for the period of delay, from the present value of energy costs over the study period or...

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the USA: a population-based disease burden and cost analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Attina, Teresa M; Hauser, Russ; Sathyanarayana, Sheela; Hunt, Patricia A; Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Myers, John Peterson; DiGangi, Joseph; Zoeller, R Thomas; Trasande, Leonardo

2016-12-01

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) contribute to disease and dysfunction and incur high associated costs (>1% of the gross domestic product [GDP] in the European Union). Exposure to EDCs varies widely between the USA and Europe because of differences in regulations and, therefore, we aimed to quantify disease burdens and related economic costs to allow comparison. We used existing models for assessing epidemiological and toxicological studies to reach consensus on probabilities of causation for 15 exposure-response relations between substances and disorders. We used Monte Carlo methods to produce realistic probability ranges for costs across the exposure-response relation, taking into account uncertainties. Estimates were made based on population and costs in the USA in 2010. Costs for the European Union were converted to US$ (€1=$1·33). The disease costs of EDCs were much higher in the USA than in Europe ($340 billion [2·33% of GDP] vs $217 billion [1·28%]). The difference was driven mainly by intelligence quotient (IQ) points loss and intellectual disability due to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (11 million IQ points lost and 43 000 cases costing $266 billion in the USA vs 873 000 IQ points lost and 3290 cases costing $12·6 billion in the European Union). Accounting for probability of causation, in the European Union, organophosphate pesticides were the largest contributor to costs associated with EDC exposure ($121 billion), whereas in the USA costs due to pesticides were much lower ($42 billion). EDC exposure in the USA contributes to disease and dysfunction, with annual costs taking up more than 2% of the GDP. Differences from the European Union suggest the need for improved screening for chemical disruption to endocrine systems and proactive prevention. Endocrine Society, Ralph S French Charitable Foundation, and Broad Reach Foundation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selected bibliography: cost and energy savings of conservation and renewable energy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1980-05-01

This bibliography is a compilation of reports on the cost and energy savings of conservation and renewable energy applications throughout the United States. It is part of an overall effort to inform utilities of technological developments in conservation and renewable energy technologies and so aid utilities in their planning process to determine the most effective and economic combination of capital investments to meet customer needs. Department of Energy assessments of the applications, current costs and cost goals for the various technologies included in this bibliography are presented. These assessments are based on analyses performed by or for the respective DOE Program Offices. The results are sensitive to a number of variables and assumptions; however, the estimates presented are considered representative. These assessments are presented, followed by some conclusions regarding the potential role of the conservation and renewable energy alternative. The approach used to classify the bibliographic citations and abstracts is outlined.

A compilation of energy costs of physical activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaz, Mario; Karaolis, Nadine; Draper, Alizon; Shetty, Prakash

2005-10-01

There were two objectives: first, to review the existing data on energy costs of specified activities in the light of the recommendations made by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization/United Nations University (FAO/WHO/UNU) Expert Consultation of 1985. Second, to compile existing data on the energy costs of physical activities for an updated annexure of the current Expert Consultation on Energy and Protein Requirements. Electronic and manual search of the literature (predominantly English) to obtain published data on the energy costs of physical activities. The majority of the data prior to 1955 were obtained using an earlier compilation of Passmore and Durnin. Energy costs were expressed as physical activity ratio (PAR); the energy cost of the activity divided by either the measured or predicted basal metabolic rate (BMR). The compilation provides PARs for an expanded range of activities that include general personal activities, transport, domestic chores, occupational activities, sports and other recreational activities for men and women, separately, where available. The present compilation is largely in agreement with the 1985 compilation, for activities that are common to both compilations. The present compilation has been based on the need to provide data on adults for a wide spectrum of human activity. There are, however, lacunae in the available data for many activities, between genders, across age groups and in various physiological states.

Simple Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) Calculator Documentation | Energy

Science.gov (United States)

;M, performance and fuel costs. Note that this doesn't include financing issues, discount issues ). This means that the LCOE is the minimum price at which energy must be sold for an energy project to the balance between debt-financing and equity-financing, and an assessment of the financial risk

Exergy costing for energy saving in combined heating and cooling applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, Chan; Veje, Christian T.; Willatzen, Morten; Andersen, Peer

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We investigate the basis for cost apportioning of simultaneous heating and cooling. • Two thermoeconomic methods based on energy and exergy costing is demonstrated. • The unit cost of heating and cooling for a heat pump system is found and compared. • Energy costing may obstruct efficient use of energy. • Exergy costing provides the most rational cost apportioning for energy saving. - Abstract: The aim of this study is to provide a price model that motivates energy saving for a combined district heating and cooling system. A novel analysis using two thermoeconomic methods for apportioning the costs to heating and cooling provided simultaneously by an ammonia heat pump is demonstrated. In the first method, referred to as energy costing, a conventional thermoeconomic analysis is used. Here the ammonia heat pump is subject to a thermodynamic analysis with mass and energy balance equations. In the second method referred to as exergy costing, an exergy based economic analysis is used, where exergy balance equations are used in conjunction with mass and energy balance equations. In both costing methods the thermodynamic analysis is followed by an economic analysis which includes investment and operating costs. For both methods the unit costs of heating and cooling are found and compared. The analysis shows that the two methods yield significantly different results. Rather surprisingly, it is demonstrated that the exergy costing method results in about three times higher unit cost for heating than for cooling as opposed to equal unit costs when using the energy method. Further the exergy-based cost for heating changes considerably with the heating temperature while that of cooling is much less affected

Economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo A Undurraga

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Dengue imposes a substantial economic and disease burden in most tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue incidence and severity have dramatically increased in Mexico during the past decades. Having objective and comparable estimates of the economic burden of dengue is essential to inform health policy, increase disease awareness, and assess the impact of dengue prevention and control technologies.We estimated the annual economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico for the years 2010-2011. We merged multiple data sources, including a prospective cohort study; patient interviews and macro-costing from major hospitals; surveillance, budget, and health data from the Ministry of Health; WHO cost estimates; and available literature. We conducted a probabilistic sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulations to derive 95% certainty levels (CL for our estimates. Results suggest that Mexico had about 139,000 (95%CL: 128,000-253,000 symptomatic and 119 (95%CL: 75-171 fatal dengue episodes annually on average (2010-2011, compared to an average of 30,941 symptomatic and 59 fatal dengue episodes reported. The annual cost, including surveillance and vector control, was US$170 (95%CL: 151-292 million, or $1.56 (95%CL: 1.38-2.68 per capita, comparable to other countries in the region. Of this, $87 (95%CL: 87-209 million or $0.80 per capita (95%CL: 0.62-1.12 corresponds to illness. Annual disease burden averaged 65 (95%CL: 36-99 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs per million population. Inclusion of long-term sequelae, co-morbidities, impact on tourism, and health system disruption during outbreaks would further increase estimated economic and disease burden.With this study, Mexico joins Panama, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Thailand as the only countries or areas worldwide with comprehensive (illness and preventive empirical estimates of dengue burden. Burden varies annually; during an outbreak, dengue burden may be significantly higher than that of

Economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Undurraga, Eduardo A; Betancourt-Cravioto, Miguel; Ramos-Castañeda, José; Martínez-Vega, Ruth; Méndez-Galván, Jorge; Gubler, Duane J; Guzmán, María G; Halstead, Scott B; Harris, Eva; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Shepard, Donald S

2015-03-01

Dengue imposes a substantial economic and disease burden in most tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue incidence and severity have dramatically increased in Mexico during the past decades. Having objective and comparable estimates of the economic burden of dengue is essential to inform health policy, increase disease awareness, and assess the impact of dengue prevention and control technologies. We estimated the annual economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico for the years 2010-2011. We merged multiple data sources, including a prospective cohort study; patient interviews and macro-costing from major hospitals; surveillance, budget, and health data from the Ministry of Health; WHO cost estimates; and available literature. We conducted a probabilistic sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulations to derive 95% certainty levels (CL) for our estimates. Results suggest that Mexico had about 139,000 (95%CL: 128,000-253,000) symptomatic and 119 (95%CL: 75-171) fatal dengue episodes annually on average (2010-2011), compared to an average of 30,941 symptomatic and 59 fatal dengue episodes reported. The annual cost, including surveillance and vector control, was US$170 (95%CL: 151-292) million, or $1.56 (95%CL: 1.38-2.68) per capita, comparable to other countries in the region. Of this, $87 (95%CL: 87-209) million or $0.80 per capita (95%CL: 0.62-1.12) corresponds to illness. Annual disease burden averaged 65 (95%CL: 36-99) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per million population. Inclusion of long-term sequelae, co-morbidities, impact on tourism, and health system disruption during outbreaks would further increase estimated economic and disease burden. With this study, Mexico joins Panama, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Thailand as the only countries or areas worldwide with comprehensive (illness and preventive) empirical estimates of dengue burden. Burden varies annually; during an outbreak, dengue burden may be significantly higher than that of the pre

2013 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mone, C. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Smith, A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Maples, B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hand, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2015-02-01

This report uses representative project types to estimate the levelized cost of wind energy (LCOE) in the United States for 2013. Scheduled to be published on an annual basis, it relies on both market and modeled data to maintain a current understanding of wind generation cost trends and drivers. It is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs and a basis for understanding current component-level costs and a basis for understanding variability in the LCOE across the industry. Data and tools developed from this analysis are used to inform wind technology cost projections, goals, and improvement opportunities.

Influenza-like-illness and clinically diagnosed flu: disease burden, costs and quality of life for patients seeking ambulatory care or no professional care at all.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilcke, Joke; Coenen, Samuel; Beutels, Philippe

2014-01-01

This is one of the first studies to (1) describe the out-of-hospital burden of influenza-like-illness (ILI) and clinically diagnosed flu, also for patients not seeking professional medical care, (2) assess influential background characteristics, and (3) formally compare the burden of ILI in patients with and without a clinical diagnosis of flu. A general population sample with recent ILI experience was recruited during the 2011-2012 influenza season in Belgium. Half of the 2250 respondents sought professional medical care, reported more symptoms (especially more often fever), a longer duration of illness, more use of medication (especially antibiotics) and a higher direct medical cost than patients not seeking medical care. The disease and economic burden were similar for ambulatory ILI patients, irrespective of whether they received a clinical diagnosis of flu. On average, they experienced 5-6 symptoms over a 6-day period; required 1.6 physician visits and 86-91% took medication. An average episode amounted to €51-€53 in direct medical costs, 4 days of absence from work or school and the loss of 0.005 quality-adjusted life-years. Underlying illness led to greater costs and lower quality-of-life. The costs of ILI patients with clinically diagnosed flu tended to increase, while those of ILI patients without clinically diagnosed flu tended to decrease with age. Recently vaccinated persons experienced lower costs and a higher quality-of-life, but this was only the case for patients not seeking professional medical care. This information can be used directly to evaluate the implementation of cost-effective prevention and control measures for influenza. In particular to inform the evaluation of more widespread seasonal influenza vaccination, including in children, which is currently considered by many countries.

Influenza-like-illness and clinically diagnosed flu: disease burden, costs and quality of life for patients seeking ambulatory care or no professional care at all.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joke Bilcke

Full Text Available This is one of the first studies to (1 describe the out-of-hospital burden of influenza-like-illness (ILI and clinically diagnosed flu, also for patients not seeking professional medical care, (2 assess influential background characteristics, and (3 formally compare the burden of ILI in patients with and without a clinical diagnosis of flu. A general population sample with recent ILI experience was recruited during the 2011-2012 influenza season in Belgium. Half of the 2250 respondents sought professional medical care, reported more symptoms (especially more often fever, a longer duration of illness, more use of medication (especially antibiotics and a higher direct medical cost than patients not seeking medical care. The disease and economic burden were similar for ambulatory ILI patients, irrespective of whether they received a clinical diagnosis of flu. On average, they experienced 5-6 symptoms over a 6-day period; required 1.6 physician visits and 86-91% took medication. An average episode amounted to €51-€53 in direct medical costs, 4 days of absence from work or school and the loss of 0.005 quality-adjusted life-years. Underlying illness led to greater costs and lower quality-of-life. The costs of ILI patients with clinically diagnosed flu tended to increase, while those of ILI patients without clinically diagnosed flu tended to decrease with age. Recently vaccinated persons experienced lower costs and a higher quality-of-life, but this was only the case for patients not seeking professional medical care. This information can be used directly to evaluate the implementation of cost-effective prevention and control measures for influenza. In particular to inform the evaluation of more widespread seasonal influenza vaccination, including in children, which is currently considered by many countries.

Burden of disease associated with cervical cancer in malaysia and potential costs and consequences of HPV vaccination.

Science.gov (United States)

Aljunid, S; Zafar, A; Saperi, S; Amrizal, M

2010-01-01

An estimated 70% of cervical cancers worldwide are attributable to persistent infection with human papillomaviruses (HPV) 16 and 18. Vaccination against HPV 16/18 has been shown to dramatically reduce the incidence of associated precancerous and cancerous lesions. The aims of the present analyses were, firstly, to estimate the clinical and economic burden of disease attributable to HPV in Malaysia and secondly, to estimate long-term outcomes associated with HPV vaccination using a prevalence-based modeling approach. In the first part of the analysis costs attributable to cervical cancer and precancerous lesions were estimated; epidemiologic data were sourced from the WHO GLOBOCAN database and Malaysian national data sources. In the second part, a prevalence-based model was used to estimate the potential annual number of cases of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions that could be prevented and subsequent HPV-related treatment costs averted with the bivalent (HPV 16/18) and the quadrivalent (HPV 16/18/6/11) vaccines, at the population level, at steady state. A vaccine efficacy of 98% was assumed against HPV types included in both vaccines. Effectiveness against other oncogenic HPV types was based on the latest results from each vaccine's respective clinical trials. In Malaysia there are an estimated 4,696 prevalent cases of cervical cancer annually and 1,372 prevalent cases of precancerous lesions, which are associated with a total direct cost of RM 39.2 million with a further RM 12.4 million in indirect costs owing to lost productivity. At steady state, vaccination with the bivalent vaccine was estimated to prevent 4,199 cervical cancer cases per year versus 3,804 cases for the quadrivalent vaccine. Vaccination with the quadrivalent vaccine was projected to prevent 1,721 cases of genital warts annually, whereas the annual number of cases remained unchanged with the bivalent vaccine. Furthermore, vaccination with the bivalent vaccine was estimated to avert RM 45

International bioenergy transport costs and energy balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamelinck, Carlo N.; Suurs, Roald A.A.; Faaij, Andre P.C.

2005-01-01

To supply biomass from production areas to energy importing regions, long-distance international transport is necessary, implying additional logistics, costs, energy consumption and material losses compared to local utilisation. A broad variety of bioenergy chains can be envisioned, comprising different biomass feedstock production systems, pre-treatment and conversion operations, and transport of raw and refined solid biomass and liquid bio-derived fuels. A tool was developed to consistently compare the possible bioenergy supply chains and assess the influence of key parameters, such as distance, timing and scale on performance. Chains of European and Latin American bioenergy carriers delivered to Western Europe were analysed using generic data. European biomass residues and crops can be delivered at 90 and 70 euros/tonne dry (4.7 and 3.7 euros/GJ HHV ) when shipped as pellets. South American crops are produced against much lower costs. Despite the long shipping distance, the costs in the receiving harbour can be as low as 40 euros/tonne dry or 2.1 euros/GJ HHV ; the crop's costs account for 25-40% of the delivered costs. The relatively expensive truck transport from production site to gathering point restricts the size of the production area; therefore, a high biomass yield per hectare is vital to enable large-scale systems. In all, 300 MW HHV Latin American biomass in biomass integrated gasification/combined cycle plants may result in cost of electricity as little as 3.5 euros cent/kWh, competitive with fossil electricity. Methanol produced in Latin America and delivered to Europe may cost 8-10 euros/GJ HHV , when the pellets to methanol conversion is done in Europe the delivered methanol costs are higher. The energy requirement to deliver solid biomass from both crops and residues from the different production countries is 1.2-1.3 MJ primary /MJ delivered (coal ∼ 1.1 MJ/MJ). International bioenergy trade is possible against low costs and modest energy loss

Investigation of Cost and Energy Optimization of Drinking Water Distribution Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Cherchi, Carla; Badruzzaman, Mohammad; Gordon, Matthew; Bunn, Simon; Jacangelo, Joseph G

2015-11-17

Holistic management of water and energy resources through energy and water quality management systems (EWQMSs) have traditionally aimed at energy cost reduction with limited or no emphasis on energy efficiency or greenhouse gas minimization. This study expanded the existing EWQMS framework and determined the impact of different management strategies for energy cost and energy consumption (e.g., carbon footprint) reduction on system performance at two drinking water utilities in California (United States). The results showed that optimizing for cost led to cost reductions of 4% (Utility B, summer) to 48% (Utility A, winter). The energy optimization strategy was successfully able to find the lowest energy use operation and achieved energy usage reductions of 3% (Utility B, summer) to 10% (Utility A, winter). The findings of this study revealed that there may be a trade-off between cost optimization (dollars) and energy use (kilowatt-hours), particularly in the summer, when optimizing the system for the reduction of energy use to a minimum incurred cost increases of 64% and 184% compared with the cost optimization scenario. Water age simulations through hydraulic modeling did not reveal any adverse effects on the water quality in the distribution system or in tanks from pump schedule optimization targeting either cost or energy minimization.

Transaction costs of raising energy efficiency. Working paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ostertag, K. [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany); Centre International de Recherche sur l' Environnement et le Developpement (CIRED), 94 - Nogent sur Marne (France)

1999-05-01

In the face of the uncertainties concerning the importance and the actual impacts of anthropogeneous climate change the extent to which measures should be adopted to avoid greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) already today and in the near future is highly controversial. More specifically, part of the debate evolves around the existence and importance of energy saving potentials to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions that may be available at negative net costs, implying that the energy cost savings of one specific technology can actually more than offset the costs of investing into this technology and of using it. This so called 'no-regret' potential would comprise measures that from a pure economic efficiency point of view would be 'worth undertaking whether or not there are climate-related reasons for doing so' (Bruce et al. 1996, p. 271). The existence of the no-regret potential is often denied by arguing, that the economic evaluation of the energy saving potentials did not take into account transaction costs (Grubb et al. 1993). This paper will examine in more detail the concept of transaction costs as it is used in the current debate on no-regret potentials (section 1). Four practical examples are presented to illustrate how transaction costs and their determinants can be identified, measured and possibly influenced (section 2). In order to link the presented cases to modelling based evaluation approaches the implications for cost evaluations of energy saving measures especially in the context of energy system modelling will be shown (section 3). (orig.)

Least cost analysis of renewable energy projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cosgrove-Davies, M.; Cabraal, A.

1994-01-01

This paper describes the methodology for evaluating dispersed and centralized rural energy options on a least cost basis. In defining the load to be served, each supply alternative must provide equivalent levels of service. The village to be served is defined by the number of loads, load density, distance from the nearest power distribution line, and load growth. Appropriate rural energy alternatives are identified and sized to satisfy the defined load. Lastly, a net present value analysis (including capital, installation, O and M, fuel, and replacement costs, etc.) is performed to identify the least cost option. A spreadsheet-based analytical tool developed by the World Bank's Asia Alternative Energy Unit (ASTAE) incorporates this approach and has been applied to compare photovoltaic solar home systems with other rural energy supply options in Indonesia. Load size and load density are found to be the critical factors in choosing between a grid and off-grid solution

Levelized Cost of Energy of the Weptos wave energy converter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pecher, Arthur; Kofoed, Jens Peter

This report presents the cost of energy calculations of a wave energy array of 90 MW, consisting of 25 x 3.6 MW Weptos wave energy converters. The calculation has been made in analogy with a publically available document presented by the UK government, covering the case of a similar size wind...

Sources, availability and costs of future energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hart, R.G.

1977-08-01

An attempt is made to put the future energy scene in perspective by quantitatively examining energy resources, energy utilization and energy costs. Available data on resources show that conventional oil and gas are in short supply and that alternative energy sources are going to have to replace oil and gas in the not too distant future. Cost/applications assessments indicate that a mix of energy sources are likely to best meet our energy needs of the future. Hydro, nuclear and coal are all practical alternatives for meeting electrical needs and electricity is a practical alternative for space heating. Coal appears to be the most practical alternative for meeting much of the industrial energy need and frontier oil or oil from the tar sands appear to be the most practical alternatives for meeting the transportation need. Solar energy shows promise of meeting some of the space heating load in Canada if economical energy storage systems can be developed. The general conclusion is that the basic energy problem is energy conversion. (author)

Energy Hub’s Structural and Operational Optimization for Minimal Energy Usage Costs in Energy Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thanh Tung Ha

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The structural and optimal operation of an Energy Hub (EH has a tremendous influence on the hub’s performance and reliability. This paper envisions an innovative methodology that prominently increases the synergy between structural and operational optimization and targets system cost affordability. The generalized energy system structure is presented theoretically with all selective hub sub-modules, including electric heater (EHe and solar sources block sub-modules. To minimize energy usage cost, an energy hub is proposed that consists of 12 kinds of elements (i.e., energy resources, conversion, and storage functions and is modeled mathematically in a General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS, which indicates the optimal hub structure’s corresponding elements with binary variables (0, 1. Simulation results contrast with 144 various scenarios established in all 144 categories of hub structures, in which for each scenario the corresponding optimal operation cost is previously calculated. These case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested model and methodology. Finally, avenues for future research are also prospected.

Health and economic burden of obesity in Brazil.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ketevan Rtveladze

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Higher and lower-middle income countries are increasingly affected by obesity. Obesity-related diseases are placing a substantial health and economic burden on Brazil. Our aim is to measure the future consequences of these trends on the associated disease burden and health care costs. METHOD: A previously developed micro-simulation model is used to project the extent of obesity, obesity-related diseases and associated healthcare costs to 2050. In total, thirteen diseases were considered: coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and eight cancers. We simulated three hypothetical intervention scenarios: no intervention, 1% and 5% reduction in body mass index (BMI. RESULTS: In 2010, nearly 57% of the Brazilian male population was overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m(2, but the model projects rates as high as 95% by 2050. A slightly less pessimistic picture is predicted for females, increasing from 43% in 2010 to 52% in 2050. Coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, cancers, osteoarthritis and diabetes prevalence cases are projected to at least double by 2050, reaching nearly 34,000 cases of hypertension by 2050 (per 100,000. 1% and 5% reduction in mean BMI will save over 800 prevalence cases and nearly 3,000 cases of hypertension by 2050 respectively (per 100,000. The health care costs will double from 2010 ($5.8 billion in 2050 alone ($10.1 billion. Over 40 years costs will reach $330 billion. However, with effective interventions the costs can be reduced to $302 billion by 1% and to $273 billion by 5% reduction in mean BMI across the population. CONCLUSION: Obesity rates are rapidly increasing creating a high burden of disease and associated costs. However, an effective intervention to decrease obesity by just 1% will substantially reduce obesity burden and will have a significant effect on health care expenditure.

Energy efficiency improvement and cost saving opportunities forpetroleum refineries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Worrell, Ernst; Galitsky, Christina

2005-02-15

The petroleum refining industry in the United States is the largest in the world, providing inputs to virtually any economic sector,including the transport sector and the chemical industry. The industry operates 146 refineries (as of January 2004) around the country,employing over 65,000 employees. The refining industry produces a mix of products with a total value exceeding $151 billion. Refineries spend typically 50 percent of cash operating costs (i.e., excluding capital costs and depreciation) on energy, making energy a major cost factor and also an important opportunity for cost reduction. Energy use is also a major source of emissions in the refinery industry making energy efficiency improvement an attractive opportunity to reduce emissions and operating costs. Voluntary government programs aim to assist industry to improve competitiveness through increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. ENERGY STAR (R), a voluntary program managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stresses the need for strong and strategic corporate energy management programs. ENERGY STAR provides energy management tools and strategies for successful corporate energy management programs. This Energy Guide describes research conducted to support ENERGY STAR and its work with the petroleum refining industry.This research provides information on potential energy efficiency opportunities for petroleum refineries. This Energy Guide introduces energy efficiency opportunities available for petroleum refineries. It begins with descriptions of the trends, structure, and production of the refining industry and the energy used in the refining and conversion processes. Specific energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies of plants and references to technical literature are provided. If available, typical payback periods are also listed. The Energy Guide draws upon the experiences with energy efficiency measures of petroleum refineries worldwide

Costs and benefits of relaunching nuclear energy in Italy

OpenAIRE

Ivan Faiella; Luciano Lavecchia

2012-01-01

This paper supplies elements for assessing the costs and benefits of electronuclear energy in order to pursue three objectives: security of supply, cost reduction, and environmental sustainability. The study reached the following conclusions: 1) the use of nuclear energy increases the diversification of the energy mix and of energy suppliers, raising energy security levels, but it does not reduce Italy�s dependence on foreign energy; 2) the use of nuclear energy would not imply a reduction ...

Marginal costs and co-benefits of energy efficiency investments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakob, Martin

2006-01-01

Key elements of present investment decision-making regarding energy efficiency of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing buildings are the marginal costs of energy efficiency measures and incomplete knowledge of investors and architects about pricing, co-benefits and new technologies. This paper reports on a recently completed empirical study for the Swiss residential sector. It empirically quantifies the marginal costs of energy efficiency investments (i.e. additional insulation, improved window systems, ventilation and heating systems and architectural concepts). For the private sector, first results on the economic valuation of co-benefits such as improved comfort of living, improved indoor air quality, better protection against external noise, etc. may amount to the same order of magnitude as the energy-related benefits are given. The cost-benefit analysis includes newly developed technologies that show large variations in prices due to pioneer market pricing, add-on of learning costs and risk components of the installers. Based on new empirical data on the present cost-situation and past techno-economic progress, the potential of future cost reduction was estimated applying the experience curve concept. The paper shows, for the first time, co-benefits and cost dynamics of energy efficiency investments, of which decision makers in the real estate sector, politics and administrations are scarcely aware

The humanistic and economic burden of systemic lupus erythematosus : a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Meacock, Rachel; Dale, Nicola; Harrison, Mark J

2013-01-01

Increased survival in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has shifted attention towards the burden that SLE imposes upon patients, healthcare systems and society. New interventions aimed at alleviating this burden will require economic evaluation. A summary of the current evidence of the humanistic and economic burden provides a platform for such subsequent studies. The objective of this study was to systematically review the current evidence on the humanistic and economic burden of SLE in terms of health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and costs, and summarize the evidence on the factors found to be associated with this burden. Relevant literature for the years 1990 to February 2011 were obtained from systematic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science. Articles reporting the humanistic (preference-based outcome measures or an SLE disease-specific HR-QOL measure) or economic burden (costs) of SLE in adult populations published in English were identified. The following exclusion criteria were applied: studies specifically examining lupus nephritis, SLE not being the main condition of focus (e.g. SLE is a co-existing condition), studies focusing on diagnostics or tests (including genetics and antibodies), mixed patient groups from which SLE could not be separated, paediatric populations, case studies, abstract unavailable, and non-English language studies. Estimates of the burden in terms of either HR-QOL or costs were extracted, tabulated and reported narratively. Annual cost figures were also converted into year 2010 US dollars using the consumer price index (CPI) and the purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor to allow for greater comparability across studies. Evidence on the factors found to be independently associated with either HR-QOL or costs was also examined. Of the 1969 studies initially identified as being potentially relevant, 32 papers were retained for the final review. Eighteen of these presented estimates of the burden in

Cost of supplying energy from New Zealand resources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Norman, Robert G.

1977-10-15

The kinds of costs which face the community when a power project is promoted are broadly discussed. Sometimes, costs such as social, economic, and environmental impacts do not appear often in budgetary form. The growth of public participation is discussed. Components (investigation costs, development costs, distribution costs, social costs, environmental costs, etc.) which contribute to the cost of energy production and supply are examined in some detail.

Economic burden of stroke in a large county in Sweden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Persson Josefine

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Stroke remains to be a major burden of disease, often causing death or physical impairment or disability. This paper estimates the economic burden of stroke in a large county of 1.5 million inhabitants in western Sweden. Methods The economic burden of stroke was estimated from a societal perspective with an incidence approach. Data were collected from clinical registries and 3,074 patients were included. In the cost calculations, both direct and indirect costs were estimated and were based on costs for 12 months after a first-ever stroke. Results The total excess costs in the first 12 months after the first-ever stroke for a population of 1.5 million was 629 million SEK (€69 million. Men consumed more acute care in hospitals, whereas women consumed more rehabilitation and long-term care provided by the municipalities. Younger patients brought a significantly higher burden on society compared with older patients due to the loss of productivity and the increased use of resources in health care. Conclusions The results of this cost-of-illness study were based on an improved calculation process in a number of fields and are consistent with previous studies. In essence, 50% of costs for stroke care fall on acute care hospital, 40% on rehabilitation and long-time care and informal care and productivity loss explains 10% of total cost for the stroke disease. The result of this study can be used for further development of the methods for economic analyses as well as for analysis of improvements and investments in health care.

Annual Energy Usage Reduction and Cost Savings of a School: End-Use Energy Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Alghoul, M. A.; Bakhtyar, B.; Asim, Nilofar; Sopian, K.

2014-01-01

Buildings are among the largest consumers of energy. Part of the energy is wasted due to the habits of users and equipment conditions. A solution to this problem is efficient energy usage. To this end, an energy audit can be conducted to assess the energy efficiency. This study aims to analyze the energy usage of a primary school and identify the potential energy reductions and cost savings. A preliminary audit was conducted, and several energy conservation measures were proposed. The energy conservation measures, with reference to the MS1525:2007 standard, were modelled to identify the potential energy reduction and cost savings. It was found that the school's usage of electricity exceeded its need, incurring an excess expenditure of RM 2947.42. From the lighting system alone, it was found that there is a potential energy reduction of 5489.06 kWh, which gives a cost saving of RM 2282.52 via the improvement of lighting system design and its operating hours. Overall, it was found that there is a potential energy reduction and cost saving of 20.7% when the energy conservation measures are earnestly implemented. The previous energy intensity of the school was found to be 50.6 kWh/m2/year, but can theoretically be reduced to 40.19 kWh/mm2/year. PMID:25485294

The Economic Burden Attributable to a Child’s Inpatient Admission for Diarrheal Disease in Rwanda

Science.gov (United States)

Ngabo, Fidele; Mvundura, Mercy; Gazley, Lauren; Gatera, Maurice; Rugambwa, Celse; Kayonga, Eugene; Tuyishime, Yvette; Niyibaho, Jeanne; Mwenda, Jason M.; Donnen, Philippe; Lepage, Philippe; Binagwaho, Agnes; Atherly, Deborah

2016-01-01

Background Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Hospitalization for diarrhea can pose a significant burden to health systems and households. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden attributable to hospitalization for diarrhea among children less than five years old in Rwanda. These data can be used by decision-makers to assess the impact of interventions that reduce diarrhea morbidity, including rotavirus vaccine introduction. Methods This was a prospective costing study where medical records and hospital bills for children admitted with diarrhea at three hospitals were collected to estimate resource use and costs. Hospital length of stay was calculated from medical records. Costs incurred during the hospitalization were abstracted from the hospital bills. Interviews with the child’s caregivers provided data to estimate household costs which included transport costs and lost income. The portion of medical costs borne by insurance and household were reported separately. Annual economic burden before and after rotavirus vaccine introduction was estimated by multiplying the reported number of diarrhea hospitalizations in public health centers and district hospitals by the estimated economic burden per hospitalization. All costs are presented in 2014 US$. Results Costs for 203 children were analyzed. Approximately 93% of the children had health insurance coverage. Average hospital length of stay was 5.3 ± 3.9 days. Average medical costs for each child for the illness resulting in a hospitalization were $44.22 ± $23.74 and the total economic burden was $101, of which 65% was borne by the household. For households in the lowest income quintile, the household costs were 110% of their monthly income. The annual economic burden to Rwanda attributable to diarrhea hospitalizations ranged from $1.3 million to $1.7 million before rotavirus vaccine introduction. Conclusion Households often bear the largest share

The burden of illness of osteoporosis in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarride, J-E; Hopkins, R B; Leslie, W D; Morin, S; Adachi, J D; Papaioannou, A; Bessette, L; Brown, J P; Goeree, R

2012-11-01

To update the 1993 burden of illness of osteoporosis in Canada, administrative and community data were used to calculate the 2010 costs of osteoporosis at $2.3 billion in Canada or 1.3% of Canada's healthcare expenditures. Prevention of fractures in high-risk individuals is key to decrease the financial burden of osteoporosis. Since the 1996 publication of the burden of osteoporosis in 1993 in Canada, the population has aged and the management of osteoporosis has changed. The study purpose was to estimate the current burden of illness due to osteoporosis in Canadians aged 50 and over. Analyses were conducted using five national administrative databases from the Canadian Institute for Health Information for the fiscal-year ending March 31 2008 (FY 2007/2008). Gaps in national data were supplemented by provincial and community data extrapolated to national levels. Osteoporosis-related fractures were identified using a combination of most responsible diagnosis at discharge and intervention codes. Fractures associated with severe trauma codes were excluded. Costs, expressed in 2010 dollars, were calculated for osteoporosis-related hospitalizations, emergency care, same day surgeries, rehabilitation, continuing care, homecare, long-term care, prescription drugs, physician visits, and productivity losses. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to measure the impact on the results of key assumptions. Osteoporosis-related fractures were responsible for 57,413 acute care admissions and 832,594 hospitalized days in FY 2007/2008. Acute care costs were estimated at $1.2 billion. When outpatient care, prescription drugs, and indirect costs were added, the overall yearly cost of osteoporosis was over $2.3 billion for the base case analysis and as much as $3.9 billion if a proportion of Canadians were assumed to be living in long-term care facilities due to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that affects a large segment of the adult population and results in a

Renewable energies: the cost of intermittency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crassous, Renaud; Roques, Fabien

2013-01-01

The authors indicate the different adaptations which will be required for the electric system to cope with the intermittency of solar and wind energy production, and propose an approximate assessment of the associated costs. Different types of adaptation are addressed: secure production in case of absence of wind or sun (electricity imports, construction of additional power stations), use of more flexible production means (gas turbines), grid extensions (connection to offshore production sites, routing of production one part of the country to the other). They think that beyond a 20 per cent share for renewable energies, these costs could rapidly increase

Economic burden made celiac disease an expensive and challenging condition for Iranian patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Pourhoseingholi, Mohamad Amin; Rostami-Nejad, Mohammad; Barzegar, Farnoush; Rostami, Kamran; Volta, Umberto; Sadeghi, Amir; Honarkar, Zahra; Salehi, Niloofar; Asadzadeh-Aghdaei, Hamid; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza; Zali, Mohammad Reza

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the economic burden of celiac disease (CD) in Iran. The assessment of burden of CD has become an important primary or secondary outcome measure in clinical and epidemiologic studies. Information regarding medical costs and gluten free diet (GFD) costs were gathered using questionnaire and checklists offered to the selected patients with CD. The data included the direct medical cost (including Doctor Visit, hospitalization, clinical test examinations, endoscopies, etc.), GFD cost and loss productivity cost (as the indirect cost) for CD patient were estimated. The factors used for cost estimation included frequency of health resource utilization and gluten free diet basket. Purchasing Power Parity Dollar (PPP$) was used in order to make inter-country comparisons. Total of 213 celiac patients entered to this study. The mean (standard deviation) of total cost per patient per year was 3377 (1853) PPP$. This total cost including direct medical cost, GFD costs and loss productivity cost per patients per year. Also the mean and standard deviation of medical cost and GFD cost were 195 (128) PPP$ and 932 (734) PPP$ respectively. The total costs of CD were significantly higher for male. Also GFD cost and total cost were higher for unmarried patients. In conclusion, our estimation of CD economic burden is indicating that CD patients face substantial expense that might not be affordable for a good number of these patients. The estimated economic burden may put these patients at high risk for dietary neglect resulting in increasing the risk of long term complications.

A parametric costing model for wave energy technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

This document describes the philosophy and technical approach to a parametric cost model for offshore wave energy systems. Consideration is given both to existing known devices and other devices yet to be conceptualised. The report is complementary to a spreadsheet based cost estimating model. The latter permits users to derive capital cost estimates using either inherent default data or user provided data, if a particular scheme provides sufficient design definition for more accurate estimation. The model relies on design default data obtained from wave energy device designs and a set of specifically collected cost data. (author)

Device interactions in reducing the cost of tidal stream energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vazquez, A.; Iglesias, G.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Numerical modelling is used to estimate the levelised cost of tidal stream energy. • As a case study, a model of Lynmouth (UK) is implemented and successfully validated. • The resolution of the model allows the demarcation of individual devices on the model grid. • Device interactions reduce the available tidal resource and the cost increases significantly. - Abstract: The levelised cost of energy takes into account the lifetime generated energy and the costs associated with a project. The objective of this work is to investigate the effects of device interactions on the energy output and, therefore, on the levelised cost of energy of a tidal stream project, by means of numerical modelling. For this purpose, a case study is considered: Lynmouth (North Devon, UK), an area in the Bristol Channel in which the first tidal stream turbine was installed − a testimony of its potential as a tidal energy site. A state-of-the-art hydrodynamics model is implemented on a high-resolution computational grid, which allows the demarcation of the individual devices. The modification to the energy output resulting from interaction between turbines within the tidal farm is thus resolved for each individual turbine. The results indicate that significant changes in the levelised cost of energy values, of up to £0.221 kW h −1 , occur due to the aforementioned modifications, which should not be disregarded if the cost of tidal stream energy is to be minimised

Cost analysis of energy storage systems for electric utility applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akhil, A. [Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Swaminathan, S.; Sen, R.K. [R.K. Sen & Associates, Inc., Bethesda, MD (United States)

1997-02-01

Under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy, Office of Utility Technologies, the Energy Storage System Analysis and Development Department at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted a cost analysis of energy storage systems for electric utility applications. The scope of the study included the analysis of costs for existing and planned battery, SMES, and flywheel energy storage systems. The analysis also identified the potential for cost reduction of key components.

The annual cost of not breastfeeding in Indonesia: the economic burden of treating diarrhea and respiratory disease among children (recommendation.

Science.gov (United States)

Siregar, Adiatma Y M; Pitriyan, Pipit; Walters, Dylan

2018-01-01

In Indonesia, 96% of children (recommendations. Breastfeeding provides protective benefits such as reducing the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with diarrhea and pneumonia/respiratory disease (PRD). This study estimates the potential economic impact of not breastfeeding according to recommendation in Indonesia based on infants suffering from attributable diarrhea and PRD. A cost analysis examined both the healthcare system costs and non-medical costs for children (recommendation from literatures to extrapolate the financial burden of treatment. The healthcare system cost due to not breastfeeding according to recommendation was estimated at US$118 million annually. The mean healthcare system cost and out of pocket costs was US$11.37 and US$3.85 respectively. This cost consists of US$88.64 million of provider costs and US$29.98 million of non-medical patient costs. The cost of not breastfeeding according to recommendation is potentially high, therefore the Indonesian government needs to invest in breastfeeding protection, promotion and support as the potential healthcare system cost savings are significant. As suggested by other studies, the long term cost due to cognitive losses of providing not breastfeeding according to recommendation should also be taken into account to provide a complete understanding of the economic impact of not breastfeeding according to recommendation.

The economic burden of cancer in Korea in 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, So Young; Park, Jong-Hyock; Kang, Kyoung Hee; Hwang, Inuk; Yang, Hyung Kook; Won, Young-Joo; Seo, Hong-Gwan; Lee, Dukhyoung; Yoon, Seok-Jun

2015-01-01

Cancer imposes a significant economic burden on individuals, families and society. The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic burden of cancer using the healthcare claims and cancer registry data in Korea in 2009. The economic burden of cancer was estimated using the prevalence data where patients were identified in the Korean Central Cancer Registry. We estimated the medical, non-medical, morbidity and mortality cost due to lost productivity. Medical costs were calculated using the healthcare claims data obtained from the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI) Corporation. Non-medical costs included the cost of transportation to visit health providers, costs associated with caregiving for cancer patients, and costs for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Data acquired from the Korean National Statistics Office and Ministry of Labor were used to calculate the life expectancy at the time of death, age- and gender-specific wages on average, adjusted for unemployment and labor force participation rate. Sensitivity analysis was performed to derive the current value of foregone future earnings due to premature death, discounted at 3% and 5%. In 2009, estimated total economic cost of cancer amounted to $17.3 billion at a 3% discount rate. Medical care accounted for 28.3% of total costs, followed by non-medical (17.2%), morbidity (24.2%) and mortality (30.3%) costs. Given that the direct medical cost sharply increased over the last decade, we must strive to construct a sustainable health care system that provides better care while lowering the cost. In addition, a comprehensive cancer survivorship policy aimed at lower caregiving cost and higher rate of return to work has become more important than previously considered.

Hydrogen Production Costs of Various Primary Energy Sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Jae Hyuk; Tak, Nam Il; Kim, Yong Hee; Park, Won Seok

2005-11-01

Many studies on the economical aspects of hydrogen energy technologies have been conducted with the increase of the technical and socioeconomic importance of the hydrogen energy. However, there is still no research which evaluates the economy of hydrogen production from the primary energy sources in consideration of Korean situations. In this study, the hydrogen production costs of major primary energy sources are compared in consideration of the Korean situations such as feedstock price, electricity rate, and load factor. The evaluation methodology is based on the report of the National Academy of Science (NAS) of U.S. The present study focuses on the possible future technology scenario defined by NAS. The scenario assumes technological improvement that may be achieved if present research and development (R and D) programs are successful. The production costs by the coal and natural gas are 1.1 $/kgH 2 and 1.36 $/kgH 2 , respectively. However, the fossil fuels are susceptible to the price variation depending on the oil and the raw material prices, and the hydrogen production cost also depends on the carbon tax. The economic competitiveness of the renewable energy sources such as the wind, solar, and biomass are relatively low when compared with that of the other energy sources. The estimated hydrogen production costs from the renewable energy sources range from 2.35 $/kgH 2 to 6.03 $/kgH 2 . On the other hand, the production cost by nuclear energy is lower than that of natural gas or coal when the prices of the oil and soft coal are above $50/barrel and 138 $/ton, respectively. Taking into consideration the recent rapid increase of the oil and soft coal prices and the limited fossil resource, the nuclear-hydrogen option appears to be the most economical way in the future

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Oportunities for the Concrete Industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kermeli, Katerina; Worrell, Ernst; Masanet, Eric

2011-12-01

The U.S. concrete industry is the main consumer of U.S.-produced cement. The manufacturing of ready mixed concrete accounts for more than 75% of the U.S. concrete production following the manufacturing of precast concrete and masonry units. The most significant expenditure is the cost of materials accounting for more than 50% of total concrete production costs - cement only accounts for nearly 24%. In 2009, energy costs of the U.S. concrete industry were over $610 million. Hence, energy efficiency improvements along with efficient use of materials without negatively affecting product quality and yield, especially in times of increased fuel and material costs, can significantly reduce production costs and increase competitiveness. The Energy Guide starts with an overview of the U.S. concrete industry’s structure and energy use, a description of the various manufacturing processes, and identification of the major energy consuming areas in the different industry segments. This is followed by a description of general and process related energy- and cost-efficiency measures applicable to the concrete industry. Specific energy and cost savings and a typical payback period are included based on literature and case studies, when available. The Energy Guide intends to provide information on cost reduction opportunities to energy and plant managers in the U.S. concrete industry. Every cost saving opportunity should be assessed carefully prior to implementation in individual plants, as the economics and the potential energy and material savings may differ.

The delivery of low-cost, low-carbon rural energy services

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Casillas, Christian E., E-mail: cecasillas@berkeley.edu [Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley (United States); Kammen, Daniel M. [Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley (United States); Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433 (United States)

2011-08-15

The provision of both electrical and mechanical energy services can play a critical role in poverty alleviation for the almost two billion rural users who currently lack access to electricity. Distributed generation using diesel generators remains a common means of electricity provision for rural communities throughout the world. Due to rising fuel costs, the need to address poverty, and consequences of global warming, it is necessary to develop cost efficient means of reducing fossil fuel consumption in isolated diesel microgrids. Based on a case study in Nicaragua, a set of demand and supply side measures are ordered by their annualized costs in order to approximate an energy supply curve. The curve highlights significant opportunities for reducing the costs of delivering energy services while also transitioning to a carbon-free electrical system. In particular, the study demonstrates the significant cost savings resulting from the implementation of conventional metering, efficient residential lighting, and electricity generation using renewable energy sources. - Highlights: > We present a case study of conservation measures implemented in a diesel microgrid. > An energy conservation and supply curve is constructed using additional measures. > Energy efficiency and renewable energy result in cost savings and carbon abatement. > We discuss weaknesses of energy supply and carbon abatement curve calculations

Financial Burden in Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Report From the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nipp, Ryan D; Kirchhoff, Anne C; Fair, Douglas; Rabin, Julia; Hyland, Kelly A; Kuhlthau, Karen; Perez, Giselle K; Robison, Leslie L; Armstrong, Gregory T; Nathan, Paul C; Oeffinger, Kevin C; Leisenring, Wendy M; Park, Elyse R

2017-10-20

Purpose Survivors of childhood cancer may experience financial burden as a result of health care costs, particularly because these patients often require long-term medical care. We sought to evaluate the prevalence of financial burden and identify associations between a higher percentage of income spent on out-of-pocket medical costs (≥ 10% of annual income) and issues related to financial burden (jeopardizing care or changing lifestyle) among survivors of childhood cancer and a sibling comparison group. Methods Between May 2011 and April 2012, we surveyed an age-stratified, random sample of survivors of childhood cancer and a sibling comparison group who were enrolled in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Participants reported their household income, out-of-pocket medical costs, and issues related to financial burden (questions were adapted from national surveys on financial burden). Logistic regression identified associations between participant characteristics, a higher percentage of income spent on out-of-pocket medical costs, and financial burden, adjusting for potential confounders. Results Among 580 survivors of childhood cancer and 173 siblings, survivors of childhood cancer were more likely to have out-of-pocket medical costs ≥ 10% of annual income (10.0% v 2.9%; P report spending a higher percentage of their income on out-of-pocket medical costs, which may influence their health-seeking behavior and potentially affect health outcomes. Our findings highlight the need to address financial burden in this population with long-term health care needs.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for Breweries: An ENERGY STAR(R) Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galitsky, Christina; Martin, Nathan; Worrell, Ernst; Lehman, Bryan

2003-09-01

Annually, breweries in the United States spend over $200 million on energy. Energy consumption is equal to 38 percent of the production costs of beer, making energy efficiency improvement an important way to reduce costs, especially in times of high energy price volatility. After a summary of the beer making process and energy use, we examine energy efficiency opportunities available for breweries. We provide specific primary energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies that have implemented the measures, as well as references to technical literature. If available, we have also listed typical payback periods. Our findings suggest that given available technology, there are still opportunities to reduce energy consumption cost-effectively in the brewing industry. Brewers value highly the quality, taste and drinkability of their beer. Brewing companies have and are expected to continue to spend capital on cost-effective energy conservation measures that meet these quality, taste and drinkability requirements. For individual plants, further research on the economics of the measures, as well as their applicability to different brewing practices, is needed to assess implementation of selected technologies.

Nosocomial infections among acute leukemia patients in China: An economic burden analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaohui; Yan, Tianyuan; Liu, Yunhong; Wang, Jingna; Li, Yingxia; Wang, Shuhui

2016-10-01

The economic burden associated nosocomial infections (NIs) in patients with acute leukemia (AL) in China was unclear. A prospective study was conducted to quantify the medical cost burden of NIs among AL patients. Nine hundred ninety-four patients diagnosed with AL between January 2011 and December 2013 were included. Relevant necessary information was extracted from the hospital information system and hospital infection surveillance system. The primary outcome was incidence of NIs and the secondary was economic burden results, including extra medical costs and prolonged length of stay (LOS). We estimated the total incremental cost of NIs by comparing all-cause health care costs in patients with versus without infections. Prolonged duration of stay was compared in patients with different infections. Of 994 patients with AL, 277 (27.9%) experienced NIs. NI was associated with a total incremental cost of $3,092 per patient ($5,227 vs $2,135; P economic burden on patients with AL. The study highlights the influence of NIs on LOS and health care costs and appeal to the establishment of prophylactic measures for NIs to reduce the unnecessary waste of medical resources in the long run. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Energy transition. A complete view on costs, performance, flexibility and prices of energies - Journal nr 11

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boncorps, Jean-Claude; Larzilliere, Marc; Bomo, Nicole; Bruder, Michel; Buscailhon, Jean-Marie; Cappe, Daniel; DobiaS, Georges; Fregere, Jean-Pierre; Garipuy, Yves; Hougueres, Gerard; Martin, Jean-Loup; Mollard, Dominique; Moncomble, Jean-Eudes; Wiltz, Bruno; Roudier, Jacques

2013-02-01

This publication aims at proposing information on the issues of energy prices, of energy production costs and of energy delivery costs, and at showing their complexity while clearing up some wrong ideas about them. After an introduction on the addressed problematic, on information sources and on uncertainties, the authors give a general overview of the definitions of a cost, of a price, of primary, secondary and final energies, of user diversity and energy demand variation in time, of energy production variations in time, and present energy taxing in France and in the European Union, the CO 2 market, and energy savings in France in various sectors (transports, buildings, industry). Then, they address the various primary energies (coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, geothermal heat, thermal solar) and secondary energies (nuclear, hydroelectricity, ground-based wind energy, renewable sea energies, geothermal electricity, electricity grids, heat networks and co-generation) and discuss for each or some of them issues like: world market, costs and pricing, perspectives, resources and constraints, technologies

Department of Energy Environmental Management cost infrastructure development program: Cost analysis requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Custer, W.R. Jr.; Messick, C.D.

1996-01-01

This report was prepared to support development of the Department of Energy Environmental Management cost infrastructure -- a new capability to independently estimate and analyze costs. Currently, the cost data are reported according to a structure that blends level of effort tasks with product and process oriented tasks. Also. the budgetary inputs are developed from prior year funding authorizations and from contractor-developed parametric estimates that have been adjusted to planned funding levels or appropriations. Consequently, it is difficult for headquarters and field-level activities to use actual cost data and technical requirements to independently assess the costs generated and identify trends, potential cost savings from process improvements, and cost reduction strategies

Burden of illness in multiple sclerosis (DEFENSE) study: the costs and quality-of-life of Finnish patients with multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruutiainen, Juhani; Viita, Anna-Mari; Hahl, Jarmo; Sundell, Jesse; Nissinen, Helena

2016-01-01

Although multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common causes of non-traumatic disability among young adults, no published data on its economic and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) burden is available from Finland. The DEFENSE study aimed to estimate the costs and HRQoL of patients with MS (PwMS) in Finland and explore how these variables are influenced by disease severity and relapses. Overall, 553 PwMS registered with the Finnish Neuro Society, a national patient association in Finland, completed a self-administered questionnaire capturing information on demographics, disease characteristics and severity (Expanded Disease Severity Scale [EDSS]), relapses, resource consumption and HRQoL. The PwMS had a mean EDSS score of 4.0. Overall, 44.1% had relapsing-remitting form of the disease (RRMS). The mean age was 53.8 years and 55.7% had retired prematurely due to MS. Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) were used by 42.7% of the study population, and 21.5% across all disease types and severities had experienced relapses during the previous year. The mean total annual cost of MS was €46,994, which increased with advancing disease from €10,835 (EDSS score = 0) to €109,901 (EDSS score = 8-9). The mean utility was 0.644. HRQoL decreased with increasing disease severity. Relapses imposed an additional utility decrement among the PwMS with RRMS and EDSS ≤5 and had a trend-like effect on total costs. The cross-sectional setting did not allow assessment of the significance of relapses in early MS or the use of DMTs on the prognosis of the disease. The study confirms previous findings from other countries regarding a significant disease burden associated with MS and provides, for the first time, published numerical estimates from Finland. Treatments that slow disease progression and help PwMS retain employment for a longer duration have the highest potential to reduce the disease burden associated with MS.

Fully Burdened Cost of Energy Analysis: A Model for Marine Corps Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

and the lognormal parameters are not used in the creation of the output distribution since they are not required values for a triangular distribution...Army energy security implementation strategy. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Bell Helicopter. (n.d.). The Bell AH-1Z Zulu [Image

Energy saving and cost saving cooling; Energie und Kosten sparende Kuehlung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koenig, Klaus W. [Architektur- und Fachpressebuero Klaus W. Koenig, Ueberlingen (Germany)

2012-07-01

In the case of cost reduction, energy conservation and resource savings, rain water is an ideal medium offering more advantages in comparison to the cooling with drinking water. There are no fees for the drinking water and drainage of rain water. It is not necessary to soften rain water so that further operational costs for the treatment and drainage of waste water can be saved. The avoidance of the related material flows and necessary energy is a practiced environmental protection and climate protection.

The analysis of security cost for different energy sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jun, Eunju; Kim, Wonjoon; Chang, Soon Heung

2009-01-01

Global concerns for the security of energy have steadily been on the increase and are expected to become a major issue over the next few decades. Urgent policy response is thus essential. However, little attempt has been made at defining both energy security and energy metrics. In this study, we provide such metrics and apply them to four major energy sources in the Korean electricity market: coal, oil, liquefied natural gas, and nuclear. In our approach, we measure the cost of energy security in terms of supply disruption and price volatility, and we consider the degree of concentration in energy supply and demand using the Hirschman-Herfindahl index (HHI). Due to its balanced fuel supply and demand, relatively stable price, and high abundance, we find nuclear energy to be the most competitive energy source in terms of energy security in the Korean electricity market. LNG, on the other hand, was found to have the highest cost in term of energy security due to its high concentration in supply and demand, and its high price volatility. In addition, in terms of cost, we find that economic security dominates supply security, and as such, it is the main factor in the total security cost. Within the confines of concern for global energy security, our study both broadens our understanding of energy security and enables a strategic approach in the portfolio management of energy consumption.

Estimation of cost and value of energy from wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tande, J.O.; Fransden, S.

1995-01-01

The International Energy Agency expert group on recommended practices for wind turbine testing and evaluation is finalizing a second edition of the E stimation of cost of energy from wind energy conversion systems . This paper summarizes those recommendations. Further, the value of wind energy in terms of the associated savings is discussed, and a case study is undertaken to illustrate wind energy cost/benefit analyses. The paper concludes that while the recommended practices on cost estimation may be useful in connection with wind energy feasibility studies there is still a need for further international agreement upon guidelines on how to assess wind energy benefits. (author)

Investigations of a Cost-Optimal Zero Energy Balance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Nørgaard, Jesper; Heiselberg, Per

2012-01-01

The Net Zero Energy Building (Net ZEB) concept is worldwide recognised as a promising solution for decreasing buildings’ energy use. Nevertheless, a consistent definition of the Net ZEB concept is constantly under discussion. One of the points on the Net ZEB agenda is the zero energy balance...... and taken a view point of private building owner to investigate what types of energy uses should be included in the cost-optimal zero energy balance. The analysis is conducted for five renewable energy supply systems and five user profiles with a study case of a multi-storey residential Net ZEB. The results...... have indicated that with current energy prices and technology, a cost-optimal Net ZEB zero energy balance accounts for only the building related energy use. Moreover, with high user related energy use is even more in favour of excluding appliances from the zero energy balance....

In Brief: Hidden environment and health costs of energy

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2009-10-01

The hidden costs of energy production and use in the United States amounted to an estimated $120 billion in 2005, according to a 19 October report by the U.S. National Research Council. The report, “Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use,” examines hidden costs, including the cost of air pollution damage to human health, which are not reflected in market prices of energy sources, electricity, or gasoline. The report found that in 2005, the total annual external damages from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter created by coal-burning power plants that produced 95% of the nation's coal-generated electricity were about $62 billion, with nonclimate damages averaging about 3.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of energy produced. It is estimated that by 2030, nonclimate damages will fall to 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. The 2030 figure assumes that new policies already slated for implementation are put in place.

The economic burden of Clostridium difficile

Science.gov (United States)

McGlone, S. M.; Bailey, R. R.; Zimmer, S. M.; Popovich, M. J.; Tian, Y.; Ufberg, P.; Muder, R. R.; Lee, B. Y.

2013-01-01

Although Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in hospitalized patients, the economic burden of this major nosocomial pathogen for hospitals, third-party payers and society remains unclear. We developed an economic computer simulation model to determine the costs attributable to healthcare-acquired C. difficile infection (CDI) from the hospital, third-party payer and societal perspectives. Sensitivity analyses explored the effects of varying the cost of hospitalization, C. difficile-attributable length of stay, and the probability of initial and secondary recurrences. The median cost of a case ranged from $9179 to $11 456 from the hospital perspective, $8932 to $11 679 from the third-party payor perspective, and $13 310 to $16 464 from the societal perspective. Most of the costs incurred were accrued during a patient’s primary CDI episode. Hospitals with an incidence of 4.1 CDI cases per 100 000 discharges would incur costs ≥$3.2 million (hospital perspective); an incidence of 10.5 would lead to costs ≥$30.6 million. Our model suggests that the annual US economic burden of CDI would be ≥$496 million (hospital perspective), ≥$547 million (third-party payer perspective) and ≥$796 million (societal perspective). Our results show that C. difficile infection is indeed costly, not only to third-party payers and the hospital, but to society as well. These results are consistent with current literature citing C. difficile as a costly disease. PMID:21668576

Assessing the Cost of Energy Independence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jongerden, M.R.; Hüls, Jannik; Haverkort, Boudewijn R.H.M.; Remke, Anne Katharina Ingrid

Battery management strategies that reserve a certain capacity for power outages are able to increase the energy independence of a smart home. However, such strategies come at a certain cost, since these storage strategies are less flexible and energy from the grid may have to be bought at a high

Economic and Disease Burden of Dengue in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Betancourt-Cravioto, Miguel; Ramos-Castañeda, José; Martínez-Vega, Ruth; Méndez-Galván, Jorge; Gubler, Duane J.; Guzmán, María G.; Halstead, Scott B.; Harris, Eva; Kuri-Morales, Pablo; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Shepard, Donald S.

2015-01-01

Background Dengue imposes a substantial economic and disease burden in most tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue incidence and severity have dramatically increased in Mexico during the past decades. Having objective and comparable estimates of the economic burden of dengue is essential to inform health policy, increase disease awareness, and assess the impact of dengue prevention and control technologies. Methods and Findings We estimated the annual economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico for the years 2010–2011. We merged multiple data sources, including a prospective cohort study; patient interviews and macro-costing from major hospitals; surveillance, budget, and health data from the Ministry of Health; WHO cost estimates; and available literature. We conducted a probabilistic sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulations to derive 95% certainty levels (CL) for our estimates. Results suggest that Mexico had about 139,000 (95%CL: 128,000–253,000) symptomatic and 119 (95%CL: 75–171) fatal dengue episodes annually on average (2010–2011), compared to an average of 30,941 symptomatic and 59 fatal dengue episodes reported. The annual cost, including surveillance and vector control, was US$170 (95%CL: 151–292) million, or $1.56 (95%CL: 1.38–2.68) per capita, comparable to other countries in the region. Of this, $87 (95%CL: 87–209) million or $0.80 per capita (95%CL: 0.62–1.12) corresponds to illness. Annual disease burden averaged 65 (95%CL: 36–99) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per million population. Inclusion of long-term sequelae, co-morbidities, impact on tourism, and health system disruption during outbreaks would further increase estimated economic and disease burden. Conclusion With this study, Mexico joins Panama, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Thailand as the only countries or areas worldwide with comprehensive (illness and preventive) empirical estimates of dengue burden. Burden varies annually; during an outbreak

Optimizing Data Centre Energy and Environmental Costs

Science.gov (United States)

Aikema, David Hendrik

Data centres use an estimated 2% of US electrical power which accounts for much of their total cost of ownership. This consumption continues to grow, further straining power grids attempting to integrate more renewable energy. This dissertation focuses on assessing and reducing data centre environmental and financial costs. Emissions of projects undertaken to lower the data centre environmental footprints can be assessed and the emission reduction projects compared using an ISO-14064-2-compliant greenhouse gas reduction protocol outlined herein. I was closely involved with the development of the protocol. Full lifecycle analysis and verifying that projects exceed business-as-usual expectations are addressed, and a test project is described. Consuming power when it is low cost or when renewable energy is available can be used to reduce the financial and environmental costs of computing. Adaptation based on the power price showed 10--50% potential savings in typical cases, and local renewable energy use could be increased by 10--80%. Allowing a fraction of high-priority tasks to proceed unimpeded still allows significant savings. Power grid operators use mechanisms called ancillary services to address variation and system failures, paying organizations to alter power consumption on request. By bidding to offer these services, data centres may be able to lower their energy costs while reducing their environmental impact. If providing contingency reserves which require only infrequent action, savings of up to 12% were seen in simulations. Greater power cost savings are possible for those ceding more control to the power grid operator. Coordinating multiple data centres adds overhead, and altering at which data centre requests are processed based on changes in the financial or environmental costs of power is likely to increase this overhead. Tests of virtual machine migrations showed that in some cases there was no visible increase in power use while in others power use

Developing a Cost Model and Methodology to Estimate Capital Costs for Thermal Energy Storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glatzmaier, G.

2011-12-01

This report provides an update on the previous cost model for thermal energy storage (TES) systems. The update allows NREL to estimate the costs of such systems that are compatible with the higher operating temperatures associated with advanced power cycles. The goal of the Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technology Program is to develop solar technologies that can make a significant contribution to the United States domestic energy supply. The recent DOE SunShot Initiative sets a very aggressive cost goal to reach a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of 6 cents/kWh by 2020 with no incentives or credits for all solar-to-electricity technologies.1 As this goal is reached, the share of utility power generation that is provided by renewable energy sources is expected to increase dramatically. Because Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is currently the only renewable technology that is capable of integrating cost-effective energy storage, it is positioned to play a key role in providing renewable, dispatchable power to utilities as the share of power generation from renewable sources increases. Because of this role, future CSP plants will likely have as much as 15 hours of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) included in their design and operation. As such, the cost and performance of the TES system is critical to meeting the SunShot goal for solar technologies. The cost of electricity from a CSP plant depends strongly on its overall efficiency, which is a product of two components - the collection and conversion efficiencies. The collection efficiency determines the portion of incident solar energy that is captured as high-temperature thermal energy. The conversion efficiency determines the portion of thermal energy that is converted to electricity. The operating temperature at which the overall efficiency reaches its maximum depends on many factors, including material properties of the CSP plant components. Increasing the operating temperature of the power generation

Psoriasis causes significant economic burden to patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Mustonen, A; Mattila, K; Leino, M; Koulu, L; Tuominen, R

2014-06-01

Psoriasis results in expenses to patients from many cost sources. Psoriasis treatments may result in considerable time and traveling costs, yet many studies fail to account for these costs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the multidimensional economic burden of psoriasis to patients. The study was based on 232 Finnish patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis visiting a tertiary level dermatological clinic during a 1-year study period between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010. The data were based on a patient questionnaire, clinical data from the medical records and reimbursement data from the Finnish Social Insurance Institution. Item costs were based on true costs charged from the patients and all time cost estimates were based on the Human Capital Approach method. 199 patients with psoriasis and 33 with psoriatic arthritis were included in the study. Total costs were higher for patients receiving traditional systemic medications or phototherapy than those not receiving such treatment. Travel costs and travel time costs accounted for more than 60% of the costs of phototherapy. Skin care at home was time consuming and thus caused significant burden to patients. The majority of the visit costs arose from hospital visits and only a small proportion were attributed to visiting primary health care providers. Visit charges and other patient co-payments were estimated to play a minor role in the total cost of psoriasis incurred by patients, while travel costs and lost time comprised the majority of the costs, which should not be omitted in future studies regarding costs of treatments.

Smart campus: Data on energy generation costs from distributed generation systems of electrical energy in a Nigerian University.

Science.gov (United States)

Okeniyi, Joshua O; Atayero, Aderemi A; Popoola, Segun I; Okeniyi, Elizabeth T; Alalade, Gbenga M

2018-04-01

This data article presents comparisons of energy generation costs from gas-fired turbine and diesel-powered systems of distributed generation type of electrical energy in Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, a smart university campus driven by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Cumulative monthly data of the energy generation costs, for consumption in the institution, from the two modes electric power, which was produced at locations closed to the community consuming the energy, were recorded for the period spanning January to December 2017. By these, energy generation costs from the turbine system proceed from the gas-firing whereas the generation cost data from the diesel-powered generator also include data on maintenance cost for this mode of electrical power generation. These energy generation cost data that were presented in tables and graphs employ descriptive probability distribution and goodness-of-fit tests of statistical significance as the methods for the data detailing and comparisons. Information details from this data of energy generation costs are useful for furthering research developments and aiding energy stakeholders and decision-makers in the formulation of policies on energy generation modes, economic valuation in terms of costing and management for attaining energy-efficient/smart educational environment.

Household burden of chronic diseases in Ghana | Togoe | Ghana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Conclusion: The relatively high direct cost of illness among households with person(s) living with NCDs and the associated high indirect burden of illness places undue stress on households. Research requires better measurement of the indirect burden with focus on the household. These findings suggest the necessity of ...

Quantifying the burden of vampire bat rabies in Peruvian livestock.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julio A Benavides

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of infectious disease burden is necessary to appropriately allocate resources for prevention and control. In Latin America, rabies is among the most important zoonoses for human health and agriculture, but the burden of disease attributed to its main reservoir, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus, remains uncertain.We used questionnaires to quantify under-reporting of livestock deaths across 40 agricultural communities with differing access to health resources and epidemiological histories of vampire bat rabies (VBR in the regions of Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco in southern Peru. Farmers who believed VBR was absent from their communities were one third as likely to report livestock deaths from disease as those who believed VBR was present, and under-reporting increased with distance from reporting offices. Using generalized mixed-effect models that captured spatial autocorrelation in reporting, we project 4.6 (95% CI: 4.4-8.2 rabies cases per reported case and identify geographic areas with potentially greater VBR burden than indicated by official reports. Spatially-corrected models estimate 505-724 cattle deaths from VBR in our study area during 2014 (421-444 deaths/100,000 cattle, costing US$121,797-171,992. Cost benefit analysis favoured vaccinating all cattle over the current practice of partial vaccination or halting vaccination all together.Our study represents the first estimate of the burden of VBR in Latin America to incorporate data on reporting rates. We confirm the long-suspected cost of VBR to small-scale farmers and show that vaccinating livestock is a cost-effective solution to mitigate the burden of VBR. More generally, results highlight that ignoring geographic variation in access to health resources can bias estimates of disease burden and risk.

Implementation of Department of Defense Survey Burden Action Plan - Reducing Survey Burden, Cost and Duplication

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-23

vulnerable populations (e.g., minors); or 3) sensitive topics (e.g., gender relations, discrimination , UCMJ violations) to improve tracking of survey...e.g., gender relations, discrimination , UCMJ violations) to improve tracking of survey burden. The applicable ISSCC-member Survey Office will...their families per year; or 2) vulnerable populations (e.g., minors); or 3) sensitive topics (e.g., gender relations, discrimination , UCMJ violations

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Glass Industry. An ENERGY STAR Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galitsky, Christina; Worrell, Ernst; Galitsky, Christina; Masanet, Eric; Graus, Wina

2008-03-01

The U.S. glass industry is comprised of four primary industry segments--flat glass, container glass, specialty glass, and fiberglass--which together consume $1.6 billion in energy annually. On average, energy costs in the U.S. glass industry account for around 14 percent of total glass production costs. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There is a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. glass industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, system, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. glass industry is provided along with a description of the major process steps in glass manufacturing. Expected savings in energy and energy-related costs are given for many energy efficiency measures, based on case study data from real-world applications in glass production facilities and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. glass industry reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of the measures--as well on as their applicability to different production practices--is needed to assess potential implementation of selected technologies at individual plants.

New insights into the burden and costs of multiple sclerosis in Europe: Results for the United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Alan; Kobelt, Gisela; Berg, Jenny; Capsa, Daniela; Eriksson, Jennifer; Miller, David

2017-08-01

In order to estimate the value of interventions in multiple sclerosis (MS) - where lifetime costs and outcomes cannot be observed - outcome data have to be combined with costs. This requires that cost data be regularly updated. This study is part of a cross-sectional retrospective study in 16 countries collecting data on resource consumption and work capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and prevalent symptoms for patients with MS. Descriptive analyses are presented by level of disability, from the societal perspective, in EUR (2015). A total of 779 patients (mean age = 57 years) participated; 72% were below retirement age and of these, 36% were employed. Employment was related to disease severity, and MS affected productivity at work for 84% of patients. Overall, 96% and 72% of the patients experienced fatigue and cognition as a problem. Mean utility and annual costs were 0.735 and 11,400GBP at Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) = 0-3, 0.534 and 22,700GBP at EDSS = 4-6.5, and 0.135 and 36,500GBP at EDSS = 7-9. The mean cost of a relapse was estimated at 790GBP. This study illustrates the burden of MS on UK patients and provides current data on MS that are important for development of health policies.

Smart campus: Data on energy generation costs from distributed generation systems of electrical energy in a Nigerian University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua O. Okeniyi

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This data article presents comparisons of energy generation costs from gas-fired turbine and diesel-powered systems of distributed generation type of electrical energy in Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, a smart university campus driven by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT. Cumulative monthly data of the energy generation costs, for consumption in the institution, from the two modes electric power, which was produced at locations closed to the community consuming the energy, were recorded for the period spanning January to December 2017. By these, energy generation costs from the turbine system proceed from the gas-firing whereas the generation cost data from the diesel-powered generator also include data on maintenance cost for this mode of electrical power generation. These energy generation cost data that were presented in tables and graphs employ descriptive probability distribution and goodness-of-fit tests of statistical significance as the methods for the data detailing and comparisons. Information details from this data of energy generation costs are useful for furthering research developments and aiding energy stakeholders and decision-makers in the formulation of policies on energy generation modes, economic valuation in terms of costing and management for attaining energy-efficient/smart educational environment. Keywords: Smart campus, Energy consumption, Energy efficiency, Load forecasting, Energy management, Learning analytics, Nigerian university, Education data mining

A model for energy pricing with stochastic emission costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, Robert J.; Lyle, Matthew R.; Miao, Hong

2010-01-01

We use a supply-demand approach to value energy products exposed to emission cost uncertainty. We find closed form solutions for a number of popularly traded energy derivatives such as: forwards, European call options written on spot prices and European Call options written on forward contracts. Our modeling approach is to first construct noisy supply and demand processes and then equate them to find an equilibrium price. This approach is very general while still allowing for sensitivity analysis within a valuation setting. Our assumption is that, in the presence of emission costs, traditional supply growth will slow down causing output prices of energy products to become more costly over time. However, emission costs do not immediately cause output price appreciation, but instead expose individual projects, particularly those with high emission outputs, to much more extreme risks through the cost side of their profit stream. Our results have implications for hedging and pricing for producers operating in areas facing a stochastic emission cost environment. (author)

Building Energy and Cost Performance: An Analysis of Thirty Melbourne Case Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Lay Langston

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the energy and cost performance of thirty recent buildings in Melbourne, Australia. Commonly, building design decisions are based on issues pertaining to construction cost, and consideration of energy performance is made only within the context of the initial project budget. Even where energy is elevated to more importance, operating energy is seen as the focus and embodied energy is nearly always ignored. For the first time, a large sample of buildings has been assembled and analyzed to improve the understanding of both energy and cost performance over their full life cycle, which formed the basis of a wider doctoral study into the inherent relationship between energy and cost. The aim of this paper is to report on typical values for embodied energy, operating energy, capital cost and operating cost per square metre for a range of building functional types investigated in this research. The conclusion is that energy and cost have quite different profiles across projects, and yet the mean GJ/m2 or cost/m2 have relatively low coefficients of variation and therefore may be useful as benchmarks of typical building performance.  

Methodology to Calculate the Costs of a Floating Offshore Renewable Energy Farm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Castro-Santos

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper establishes a general methodology to calculate the life-cycle cost of floating offshore renewable energy devices, applying it to wave energy and wind energy devices. It is accounts for the contributions of the six main phases of their life-cycle: concept definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling, the costs of which have been defined. Moreover, the energy produced is also taken into account to calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. The methodology proposed has been applied to two renewable energy devices: a floating offshore wave energy device and a floating offshore wind energy device. Two locations have been considered: Aguçadoura and São Pedro de Moel, both in Portugal. Results indicate that the most important cost in terms of the life-cycle of a floating offshore renewable energy farm is the exploitation cost, followed by the manufacturing and the installation cost. In addition, the best area in terms of costs is the same independently of the type of floating offshore renewable energy considered: Aguçadoura. However, the results in terms of Levelized Cost of Energy are different: Aguçadoura is better when considering wave energy technology and the São Pedro de Moel region is the best option when considering floating wind energy technology. The method proposed aims to give a direct approach to calculate the main life-cycle cost of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. It helps to assess its feasibility and evaluating the relevant characteristics that influence it the most.

A Low-Cost Neutral Zinc-Iron Flow Battery with High Energy Density for Stationary Energy Storage.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Congxin; Duan, Yinqi; Xu, Wenbin; Zhang, Huamin; Li, Xianfeng

2017-11-20

Flow batteries (FBs) are one of the most promising stationary energy-storage devices for storing renewable energy. However, commercial progress of FBs is limited by their high cost and low energy density. A neutral zinc-iron FB with very low cost and high energy density is presented. By using highly soluble FeCl 2 /ZnBr 2 species, a charge energy density of 56.30 Wh L -1 can be achieved. DFT calculations demonstrated that glycine can combine with iron to suppress hydrolysis and crossover of Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ . The results indicated that an energy efficiency of 86.66 % can be obtained at 40 mA cm -2 and the battery can run stably for more than 100 cycles. Furthermore, a low-cost porous membrane was employed to lower the capital cost to less than $ 50 per kWh, which was the lowest value that has ever been reported. Combining the features of low cost, high energy density and high energy efficiency, the neutral zinc-iron FB is a promising candidate for stationary energy-storage applications. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

What Is the Economic Burden of Subsidized HIV/AIDS Treatment Services on Patients in Nigeria and Is This Burden Catastrophic to Households?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enyi Etiaba

Full Text Available A gap in knowledge exists regarding the economic burden on households of subsidized anti-retroviral treatment (ART programs in Nigeria. This is because patients also incur non-ART drug costs, which may constrain the delivery and utilisation of subsidized services.An exit survey of adults (18+years attending health facilities for HIV/AIDS treatment was conducted in three states in Nigeria (Adamawa, Akwa Ibom and Anambra. In the states, ART was fully subsidized but there were different payment modalities for other costs of treatment. Data was collected and analysed for direct and indirect costs of treatment of HIV/AIDS and co-morbidities' during out-and in-patient visits. The levels of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE were computed and disaggregated by state, socio-economic status (SES and urban-rural location of the respondents. Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE in this study measures the number of respondents whose monthly ART-related household expenditure (for in-patient and out-patient visits as a proportion of monthly non-food expenditure was greater than 40% and 10% respectively.The average out-patient and in-patient direct costs were $5.49 and $122.10 respectively. Transportation cost was the highest non-medical cost and it was higher than most medical costs. The presence of co-morbidities contributed to household costs. All the costs were catastrophic to households at 10% and 40% thresholds in the three states, to varying degrees. The poorest SES quintile had the highest incidence of CHE for out-patient costs (p<0.0001. Rural dwellers incurred more CHE for all categories of costs compared to urban dwellers, but the costs were statistically significant for only outpatient costs.ART subsidization is not enough to eliminate economic burden of treatment on HIV patients. Service decentralization to reduce travel costs, and subsidy on other components of HIV treatment services should be introduced to eliminate the persisting inequitable

Consumer life-cycle cost impacts of energy-efficiency standards for residential-type central air conditioners and heat pumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenquist, Gregory; Chan, Peter; Lekov, Alex; McMahon, James; Van Buskirk, Robert

2001-01-01

In support of the federal government's efforts to raise the minimum energy-efficiency standards for residential-type central air conditioners and heat pumps, a consumer life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis was conducted to demonstrate the economic impacts on individual consumers from revisions to the standards. LCC is the consumer's cost of purchasing and installing an air conditioner or heat pump and operating the unit over its lifetime. The LCC analysis is conducted on a nationally representative sample of air conditioner and heat pump consumers resulting in a distribution of LCC impacts showing the percentage of consumers that are either benefiting or being burdened by increased standards. Relative to the existing minimum efficiency standard of 10 SEER, the results show that a majority of split system air conditioner and heat pump consumers will either benefit or be insignificantly impacted by increased efficiency standards of up to 13 SEER

Consumer life-cycle cost impacts of energy-efficiency standards for residential-type central air conditioners and heat pumps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenquist, Gregory; Chan, Peter; Lekov, Alex; McMahon, James; Van Buskirk, Robert

2001-10-10

In support of the federal government's efforts to raise the minimum energy-efficiency standards for residential-type central air conditioners and heat pumps, a consumer life-cycle cost (LCC) analysis was conducted to demonstrate the economic impacts on individual consumers from revisions to the standards. LCC is the consumer's cost of purchasing and installing an air conditioner or heat pump and operating the unit over its lifetime. The LCC analysis is conducted on a nationally representative sample of air conditioner and heat pump consumers resulting in a distribution of LCC impacts showing the percentage of consumers that are either benefiting or being burdened by increased standards. Relative to the existing minimum efficiency standard of 10 SEER, the results show that a majority of split system air conditioner and heat pump consumers will either benefit or be insignificantly impacted by increased efficiency standards of up to 13 SEER.

Economic Study of Global Tobacco Burden

Science.gov (United States)

In an interview on Cancer Currents, Dr. Mark Parascandola discusses findings from an economics study showing that, globally, tobacco use burdens economies with more than US $1 trillion annually in health care costs and lost productivity.

Global burden of disease--a race against time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyrowitsch, Dan W; Bygbjerg, Ib Christian

2007-01-01

Low-income communities will within the next decades undergo rapid changes. The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and cancer, will comprise an increasing proportion of the total disease burden. The results of projections indicate that the already...... constrained health systems will face a double burden of disease, in which HIV/AIDS and other common infectious diseases will co-exist with the new NCDs. In order for preventive measures directed towards NCD to be cost-effective, these have to be implemented within the next 10-20 years....

Cost evolution of electric energy in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, A. de; Contreras, E.C.A.

1981-01-01

An analysis of electric energy costs in Brazil is presented. Hydro, coal and nuclear costs are analysed and the final conclusion seems to indicate that nuclear power plants are not economically interesting untill the Brazilian electric capacity attains 110 GW average power. (Author) [pt

The Cost of Enforcing Building Energy Codes: Phase 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, Alison [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Price, Sarah K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Vine, Ed [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2014-10-15

The purpose of this study is to present key findings regarding costs associated with enforcing building energy code compliance–primarily focusing on costs borne by local government. Building codes, if complied with, have the ability to save a significant amount of energy. However, energy code compliance rates have been significantly lower than 100%. Renewed interest in building energy codes has focused efforts on increasing compliance, particularly as a result of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) requirement that in order for states to receive additional energy grants, they must have “a plan for the jurisdiction achieving compliance with the building energy code…in at least 90 percent of new and renovated residential and commercial building space” by 2017 (Public Law 111-5, Section 410(2)(C)). One study by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) estimated the costs associated with reaching 90% compliance to be $810 million, or $610 million in additional funding over existing expenditures, a non-trivial value. [Majersik & Stellberg 2010] In this context, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) conducted a study to better pinpoint the costs of enforcement through a two-phase process.

Structure of production costs of different energy sources (fossile fuels and nuclear energy) (group 11)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girard, Ph.

2002-01-01

This article is the work of a group of students from the ''Ecole Nationale d'Administration'', they had to study the structure of the costs of the different energy sources. This analysis shows some common features between the energy sources. The cost is very dependent on the partial costs of technological constraints due to exploration, production, transport and distribution. For primary energies the market appears to be not very competitive, the price depends strongly on the market power of the operator and benefits are generally important. In France, taxes play a role to assure competitiveness of gas and coal against oil. Uranium fuel presents the lowest production and transformation costs at the same energy content. Transport costs are important for natural gas which implies a strong mutual dependence between gas producers and consumers. The irreplaceable use of oil in transport assures regular high revenues for oil companies. (A.C.)

Analysis of the economic burden of diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis patients in rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, H-Q; Bele, S; Feng, Y; Qiu, S-S; Lü, J-Q; Tang, S-W; Shen, H-B; Wang, J-M; Zhu, L-M

2013-12-01

A county in Jiangsu Province, China. To estimate the costs of the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) from the patient's perspective and to identify determinants of the patient's financial burden. In a cross-sectional survey, we interviewed 316 patients diagnosed from January 2010 to May 2011 who had already completed their anti-tuberculosis treatment. The financial burden on TB patients included out-of-pocket costs and productivity losses. The average per capita total out-of-pocket cost was 3024.0 Chinese yuan (CNY), with a median cost of 1086 CNY (interquartile range [IQR] 480-2456). Mean out-of-pocket medical and non-medical costs were respectively 2565.7 CNY and 458.3 CNY. Productivity lost by patients and family members was 2615.2 CNY (median 500, IQR 250-2025). Factors associated with out-of-pocket costs and productivity losses included hospitalisation, adverse drug reactions, cost of drugs to 'protect' the liver, cost of second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs and diagnostic delay. Although the government of China has implemented a 'free TB service policy', the economic burden on patients is still heavy. More patient-centred interventions are essential to reduce the financial burden on patients.

Costs and profitability of renewable energies in metropolitan France - ground-based wind energy, biomass, solar photovoltaic. Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-04-01

After a general presentation of the framework of support to renewable energies and co-generation (purchasing obligation, tendering, support funding), of the missions of the CRE (Commission for Energy Regulation) within the frame of the purchasing obligation, and of the methodology adopted for this analysis, this document reports an analysis of production costs for three different renewable energy sectors: ground-based wind energy, biomass energy, and solar photovoltaic energy. For each of them, the report recalls the context (conditions of purchasing obligation, winning bid installations, installed fleet in France at the end of 2012), indicates the installations taken into consideration in this study, analyses the installation costs and funding (investment costs, exploitation and maintenance costs, project funding, production costs), and assesses the profitability in terms of capital and for stakeholders

The energy saving manual; Das Energiesparbuch

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goetze, Monika; Pinn, Gudrun

2009-07-01

The constant increase in the cost of electric power, petroleum, gasoline and gas burden the household budget. At the same time, greenhouse gases are speeding up global warming alarmingly. It is time to reconsider our style of living. This guide presents simple and practical hints to reduce energy costs and protect the climate. Exemplary calculations show how up to 1100 Euro can be saved per household member and per annum. Subjects: Identifying fields of excess energy consumption; No wasting of electricity, heat, and warm water; Food, shopping and climate; Mobility and climate protection; How to establish an individual energy conservation profile. (orig.)

Factors associated with perceived donation-related financial burden among living kidney donors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruck, Jessica M; Holscher, Courtenay M; Purnell, Tanjala S; Massie, Allan B; Henderson, Macey L; Segev, Dorry L

2018-03-01

The perception of living kidney donation-related financial burden affects willingness to donate and the experience of donation, yet no existing tools identify donors who are at higher risk of perceived financial burden. We sought to identify characteristics that predicted higher risk of perceived financial burden. We surveyed 51 living kidney donors (LKDs) who donated from 01/2015 to 3/2016 about socioeconomic characteristics, predonation cost concerns, and perceived financial burden. We tested associations between both self-reported and ZIP code-level characteristics and perceived burden using Fisher's exact test and bivariate modified Poisson regression. Donors who perceived donation-related financial burden were less likely to have an income above their ZIP code median (14% vs. 72%, P = .006); however, they were more likely than donors who did not perceive burden to rent their home (57% vs. 16%, P = .03), have an income donation-related cost concerns prior to donation might allow transplant centers to target financial support interventions toward potential donors at higher risk of perceiving donation-related financial burden. © 2017 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Cost-optimal levels for energy performance requirements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Kirsten Engelund; Aggerholm, Søren; Kluttig-Erhorn, Heike

2011-01-01

The CA conducted a study on experiences and challenges for setting cost optimal levels for energy performance requirements. The results were used as input by the EU Commission in their work of establishing the Regulation on a comparative methodology framework for calculating cost optimal levels...... of minimum energy performance requirements. In addition to the summary report released in August 2011, the full detailed report on this study is now also made available, just as the EC is about to publish its proposed Regulation for MS to apply in their process to update national building requirements....

76 FR 57982 - Building Energy Codes Cost Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-19

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [Docket No. EERE-2011-BT-BC-0046] Building Energy Codes Cost Analysis Correction In notice document 2011-23236 beginning on page...-23236 Filed 9-16-11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 1505-01-P ...

Heatwave and elderly mortality: An evaluation of death burden and health costs considering short-term mortality displacement.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Jian; Xu, Zhiwei; Bambrick, Hilary; Su, Hong; Tong, Shilu; Hu, Wenbiao

2018-06-01

A heatwave can be a devastating natural disaster to human health, and elderly people are particularly vulnerable. With the continuing rise in earth's surface temperature alongside the world's aging population, research on the mortality burden of heatwave for the older population remains relatively sparse. The potential magnitude of benefits of averting such deaths may be considerable. This paper examined the short-term mortality displacement (or "harvesting") of heatwave, characterized the heatwave-mortality relationship, and estimated death burden and health costs attributable to heatwave among the elderly in Australia. We collected daily data on the temperature and deaths of people aged ≥75 years in the five largest cities of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide), totaling 368,767 deaths in different periods between 1988 and 2011. A total of 15-tiered heatwave definitions, based on intensity (95th to 99th percentiles of temperature distribution) and duration (two or more consecutive days), were used to quantify heatwave effects, using time-series regression and random-effects meta-analysis. We calculated attributable deaths for each city and by different types of heatwave. Potential economic benefits in monetary terms were also estimated, considering that heat-related deaths are avoidable. Among the Australian elderly population, we found significant associations between heatwave and deaths, with raised mortality immediately in the first few days followed by lower-than-expected mortality. In general, heatwave was associated with an average death increase of 28% (95% confidence interval: 15% to 42%), and greater increases were mostly observed for more intense heatwaves across multiple megacities. During the study period, there were dozens to hundreds of deaths attributable to heatwave for each city, equating to an economic loss of several million Australian dollars every year. Although the estimated attributable deaths varied by heatwave

Sizing Combined Heat and Power Units and Domestic Building Energy Cost Optimisation

OpenAIRE

Dongmin Yu; Yuanzhu Meng; Gangui Yan; Gang Mu; Dezhi Li; Simon Le Blond

2017-01-01

Many combined heat and power (CHP) units have been installed in domestic buildings to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. However, inappropriate sizing of a CHP may actually increase energy costs and reduce energy efficiency. Moreover, the high manufacturing cost of batteries makes batteries less affordable. Therefore, this paper will attempt to size the capacity of CHP and optimise daily energy costs for a domestic building with only CHP installed. In this paper, electricity ...

Cost-benefit analysis: introducing energy efficient and renewable energy appliances in Lebanese households

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruble, Isabella [American University of Beirut, Department of Economics (Lebanon)], E-mail: economics.ir@gmail.com

2011-07-01

In Lebanon, neglect of the electricity sector has led to a serious shortage in installed capacity. Recently, the government of Lebanon declared its intention to raise the share of renewable energy (RE) year by year in order to reduce energy consumption. This paper gave a cost-benefit analysis and reviewed the replacement of five major traditional household appliances with their energy efficient (EE) or renewable energy counterparts. This initiative would mostly be felt in three main areas: electricity consumption, consumer costs, and government expenditure. There is a strong possibility that the electricity demand of the 1.2 million Lebanese households can be reduced by introduction of these EE household appliances. Benefits would also accrue to the government in the form of avoided subsidies and reduced need for installed capacity. This paper finds that the benefits to be expected from these policy recommendations largely outweigh the costs.

Superconducting magnetic energy storage for electric utility load leveling: A study of cost vs. stored energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luongo, C.A.; Loyd, R.J.

1987-01-01

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) is a promising technology for electric utility load leveling. This paper presents the results of a study to establish the capital cost of SMES as a function of stored energy. Energy-related coil cost and total installed plant cost are given for construction in nominal soil and in competent rock. Economic comparisons are made between SMES and other storage technologies and peaking gas turbines. SMES is projected to be competitive at stored energies as low as 1000 MWh

A new energy paradigm for Turkey: A political risk-inclusive cost analysis for sustainable energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oksay, Serhan; Iseri, Emre

2011-01-01

Implementing sustainable development policies in order to achieve economic and social development while maintaining adequate environmental protection to minimize the damage inflicted by the constantly increasing world population must be a major priority in the 21st century. While the emerging global debate on potential cost-effective responses has produced potential solutions such as cap and trade systems and/or carbon taxes as part of evolving sustainable energy/environmental policies, this kind of intellectual inquiry does not seem to be an issue among Turkish policy-making elites. This is mainly due to their miscalculation that pursuing sustainable energy policies is much more expensive in comparison to the utilization of fossil fuels such as natural gas. Nevertheless, the pegged prices of an energy sector dominated by natural gas are illusive, as both the political risks and environmental damage have not been incorporated into the current cost calculations. This paper evaluates energy policies through a lens of risk management and takes an alternative approach to calculating energy costs by factoring in political risks. This formulation reveals that the cost of traditional fossil-based energy is in fact more expensive than renewable energy. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies would provide Turkey with a significant opportunity to stimulate its economy by being one of the first countries to develop green technologies and as a result this burgeoning sector would prompt job creation as well; mainly due to the externalities. - Research highlights: → This paper evaluates Turkish energy policies through risk management scope and takes an alternative approach on calculating electricity costs by factoring in political risks. → The cost of traditional fossil-based energy turns out to be more expensive than renewable energy. → The paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies could provide Turkey

A new energy paradigm for Turkey: A political risk-inclusive cost analysis for sustainable energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oksay, Serhan, E-mail: serhano@khas.edu.t [Kadir Has University, Department of Business Administration (Turkey); Iseri, Emre, E-mail: eiseri@khas.edu.t [Kadir Has University, Department of International Relations, Cibali Campus, Kadir Has Caddesi 34083, Istanbul (Turkey)

2011-05-15

Implementing sustainable development policies in order to achieve economic and social development while maintaining adequate environmental protection to minimize the damage inflicted by the constantly increasing world population must be a major priority in the 21st century. While the emerging global debate on potential cost-effective responses has produced potential solutions such as cap and trade systems and/or carbon taxes as part of evolving sustainable energy/environmental policies, this kind of intellectual inquiry does not seem to be an issue among Turkish policy-making elites. This is mainly due to their miscalculation that pursuing sustainable energy policies is much more expensive in comparison to the utilization of fossil fuels such as natural gas. Nevertheless, the pegged prices of an energy sector dominated by natural gas are illusive, as both the political risks and environmental damage have not been incorporated into the current cost calculations. This paper evaluates energy policies through a lens of risk management and takes an alternative approach to calculating energy costs by factoring in political risks. This formulation reveals that the cost of traditional fossil-based energy is in fact more expensive than renewable energy. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies would provide Turkey with a significant opportunity to stimulate its economy by being one of the first countries to develop green technologies and as a result this burgeoning sector would prompt job creation as well; mainly due to the externalities. - Research highlights: {yields} This paper evaluates Turkish energy policies through risk management scope and takes an alternative approach on calculating electricity costs by factoring in political risks. {yields} The cost of traditional fossil-based energy turns out to be more expensive than renewable energy. {yields} The paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies could

Impact of solar energy cost on water production cost of seawater desalination plants in Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamei, A.; Zaag, P. van der; Munch, E.

2008-01-01

Many countries in North Africa and the Middle East are experiencing localized water shortages and are now using desalination technologies with either reverse osmosis (RO) or thermal desalination to overcome part of this shortage. Desalination is performed using electricity, mostly generated from fossil fuels with associated greenhouse gas emissions. Increased fuel prices and concern over climate change are causing a push to shift to alternative sources of energy, such as solar energy, since solar radiation is abundant in this region all year round. This paper presents unit production costs and energy costs for 21 RO desalination plants in the region. An equation is proposed to estimate the unit production costs of RO desalination plants as a function of plant capacity, price of energy and specific energy consumption. This equation is used to calculate unit production costs for desalinated water using photovoltaic (PV) solar energy based on current and future PV module prices. Multiple PV cells are connected together to form a module or a panel. Unit production costs of desalination plants using solar energy are compared with conventionally generated electricity considering different prices for electricity. The paper presents prices for both PV and solar thermal energy. The paper discusses at which electricity price solar energy can be considered economical to be used for RO desalination; this is independent of RO plant capacity. For countries with electricity prices of 0.09 US$/kWh, solar-generated electricity (using PV) can be competitive starting from 2 US$/W p (W p is the number of Watts output under standard conditions of sunlight). For Egypt (price of 0.06 US$/kWh), solar-generated electricity starts to be competitive from 1 US$/W p . Solar energy is not cost competitive at the moment (at a current module price for PV systems including installation of 8 US$/W p ), but advances in the technology will continue to drive the prices down, whilst penalties on usage

Economic burden of disease-associated malnutrition in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Linthicum, Mark T; Thornton Snider, Julia; Vaithianathan, Rhema; Wu, Yanyu; LaVallee, Chris; Lakdawalla, Darius N; Benner, Jennifer E; Philipson, Tomas J

2015-05-01

Disease-associated malnutrition (DAM) is a well-recognized problem in many countries, but the extent of its burden on the Chinese population is unclear. This article reports the results of a burden-of-illness study on DAM in 15 diseases in China. Using data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the China Health and Nutrition Survey, and the published literature, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost because of DAM were calculated; a financial value of this burden was calculated following WHO guidelines. DALYs lost annually to DAM in China varied across diseases, from a low of 2248 in malaria to a high of 1 315 276 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The total burden was 6.1 million DALYs, for an economic burden of US$66 billion (Chinese ¥ 447 billion) annually. This burden is sufficiently large to warrant immediate attention from public health officials and medical providers, especially given that low-cost and effective interventions are available. © 2014 APJPH.

Study of relationship between radioactivity distribution, contamination burden and quality standard, accommodate energy of code river Yogyakarta

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agus Taftazani and Muzakky

2009-01-01

Study of relationship between distribution, contamination burden of gross β radioactivity and natural radionuclide in water and sediment sample from 11 observation station Code river to quality standard and maximum capacity of Code river have been done. Natural radio nuclides identification and gross β radioactivity measurement of condensed water, dry and homogeneous sediment powder (past through 100 mesh sieve) samples have been done by using spectrometer and GM counter. Radioactivity data was analyzed descriptive with histogram to show the spreading pattern of data. Contamination burden data, quality standard and maximum capacity of river Code was to descriptive analyzed by line diagram to knowing relationship between contamination burden, quality standard, and maximum capacity of Code river. The observation of water and sediment at 11 observation station show that the emitter natural radionuclides: 210 Pb, 212 Pb, 214 Pb, 226 Ra, 208 Tl, 214 Bi, 228 Ac and 40 K were detected. The analytical result conclusion was that the pattern spread of average activity gross β and were increase from upstream to downstream of the Code river samples. Contamination burden, quality standard and maximum capacity of radionuclide activity of 210 Pb, 212 Pb, 226 Ra and 228 Ac were more smaller than quality standard of river water according to regulation of Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency 02/Ka-BAPETEN/V-99 concerning quality standard of radioactivity. It’s mean that Code river still in good contamination burden for the four radionuclides. (author)

The burden of endometriosis: costs and quality of life of women with endometriosis and treated in referral centres.

Science.gov (United States)

Simoens, Steven; Dunselman, Gerard; Dirksen, Carmen; Hummelshoj, Lone; Bokor, Attila; Brandes, Iris; Brodszky, Valentin; Canis, Michel; Colombo, Giorgio Lorenzo; DeLeire, Thomas; Falcone, Tommaso; Graham, Barbara; Halis, Gülden; Horne, Andrew; Kanj, Omar; Kjer, Jens Jørgen; Kristensen, Jens; Lebovic, Dan; Mueller, Michael; Vigano, Paola; Wullschleger, Marcel; D'Hooghe, Thomas

2012-05-01

This study aimed to calculate costs and health-related quality of life of women with endometriosis-associated symptoms treated in referral centres. A prospective, multi-centre, questionnaire-based survey measured costs and quality of life in ambulatory care and in 12 tertiary care centres in 10 countries. The study enrolled women with a diagnosis of endometriosis and with at least one centre-specific contact related to endometriosis-associated symptoms in 2008. The main outcome measures were health care costs, costs of productivity loss, total costs and quality-adjusted life years. Predictors of costs were identified using regression analysis. Data analysis of 909 women demonstrated that the average annual total cost per woman was €9579 (95% confidence interval €8559-€10 599). Costs of productivity loss of €6298 per woman were double the health care costs of €3113 per woman. Health care costs were mainly due to surgery (29%), monitoring tests (19%) and hospitalization (18%) and physician visits (16%). Endometriosis-associated symptoms generated 0.809 quality-adjusted life years per woman. Decreased quality of life was the most important predictor of direct health care and total costs. Costs were greater with increasing severity of endometriosis, presence of pelvic pain, presence of infertility and a higher number of years since diagnosis. Our study invited women to report resource use based on endometriosis-associated symptoms only, rather than drawing on a control population of women without endometriosis. Our study showed that the economic burden associated with endometriosis treated in referral centres is high and is similar to other chronic diseases (diabetes, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis). It arises predominantly from productivity loss, and is predicted by decreased quality of life.

Exergy costing for energy saving in combined heating and cooling applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Chan; Veje, Christian T.; Willatzen, Morten

2014-01-01

. In the first method, referred to as energy costing, a conventional thermoeconomic analysis is used. Here the ammonia heat pump is subject to a thermodynamic analysis with mass and energy balance equations. In the second method referred to as exergy costing, an exergy based economic analysis is used, where...... exergy balance equations are used in conjunction with mass and energy balance equations. In both costing methods the thermodynamic analysis is followed by an economic analysis which includes investment and operating costs. For both methods the unit costs of heating and cooling are found and compared...

Encouraging energy conservation in multifamily housing: RUBS and other methods of allocating energy costs to residents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McClelland, L

1980-10-01

Methods of encouraging energy conservation in multifamily housing by allocating energy costs to residents are discussed; specifically, methods appropriate for use in master metered buildings without equipment to monitor energy consumption in individual apartments are examined. Several devices available for monitoring individual energy consumption are also discussed plus methods of comparing the energy savings and cost effectiveness of monitoring devices with those of other means of promoting conservation. Specific information in Volume I includes a comparison study on energy use in master and individually metered buildings; types of appropriate conservation programs for master metered buildings; a description of the Resident Utility Billing System (RUBS); energy savings associated with RUBS; Resident reactions to RUBS; cost effectiveness of RUBS for property owners; potential abuses, factors limiting widespread use, and legal status of RUBS. Part I of Volume II contains a cost allocation decision guide and Part II in Volume II presents the RUBS Operations Manual. Pertinent appendices to some chapters are attached. (MCW)

Offshore wind energy storage concept for cost-of-rated-power savings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Chao; Saunders, Gordon; Loth, Eric

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Investigated CAES + HPT system concept for offshore wind energy; •Validated cost model for offshore wind farm including CAPEX and OPEX items; •Quantified cost-of-rated-power savings associated with CAES + HPT concept; •Estimated savings of 21.6% with CAES + HPT for a sample $2.92 billion project. -- Abstract: The size and number of off-shore wind turbines over the next decade is expected to rapidly increase due to the high wind energy potential and the ability of such farms to provide utility-scale energy. In this future, inexpensive and efficient on-site wind energy storage can be critical to address short-time (hourly) mismatches between wind supply and energy demand. This study investigates a compressed air energy storage (CAES) and hydraulic power transmission (HPT) system concept. To assess cost impact, the NREL Cost and Scaling Model was modified to improve accuracy and robustness for offshore wind farms with large turbines. Special attention was paid to the support structure, installation, electrical interface and connections, land leasing, and operations and maintenance cost items as well as specific increased/reduced costs reductions associated with CAES + HPT systems. This cost model was validated and applied to a sample $2.92 billion project Virginia Offshore case It was found that adaption of CAES + HPT can lead to a substantial savings of 21.6% of this 20-year lifetime cost by dramatically reducing capital and operating cost of the generator and power transmission components. However, there are several additional variables that can impact the off-shore energy policy and planning for this new CAES + HPT concept. Furthermore, these cost-savings are only first-order estimates based on linear mass-cost relationships, and thus detailed engineering and economic analysis are recommended.

The cost - effective solar energy applications in Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pape, A.

1999-01-01

This paper outlines several cost-effective solar energy application in Canada, and estimates the GHG emission reduction potential for each. The applications include: (1) passive solar building design; (2) solar water heating applications; (3) solar photovoltaics for remote power; and (4) solar assisted space heating and cooling in industrial buildings. Each technology is briefly profiled in terms of functionality, cost characteristics, energy production characteristics and potential emission reduction benefits. Real-life examples of each application are also included. Finally, the paper concludes on the potential role of solar energy in the reduction of Canadian GHG emissions. (author)

Toward a sustainable energy supply with reduced environmental burden. Development of metal fuel fast reactor cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koyama, Tadafumi; Kobayashi, Hiroaki; Kinoshita, Kensuke

2009-01-01

CRIEPI has been studying the metal fuel fast reactor cycle as an outstanding alternative for the future energy sources. In this paper, development of the metal fuel cycle is reviewed in the view point of technological feasibility and material balance. Preliminary estimation of reduction of the waste burden due to introduction of the metal fuel cycle technology is also reported. (author)

Economic and psychological burden of scheduled surgery ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Cancellation of scheduled surgery creates a financial burden for hospitals, caregivers and ..... costs and disregard some of the aspects mentioned in the ..... cancellation of elective surgical procedures in a Spanish general.

Distribution effects of the renewable energies act; Verteilungswirkungen des EEG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bardt, Hubertus; Niehues, Judith [Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Koeln, Koeln (Germany)

2013-09-15

The Renewal Energies Act has so far been one of the cornerstones of the energy revolution. As a result of the Act the production of electricity from renewable sources has been considerably increased. As the most expensive forms of renewable energies have grown fastest, average costs have not shrunk but have risen significantly. The ongoing growth led to increasing subsidies for renewable energies and growing costs for electricity consumers in business and private households. It would be insufficient to look at absolute cost developments only, as distribution effects may be critical. As electricity consumption only slightly depends on household income, higher income leads to lower significance of electricity costs. Therefore, low income households bear a relatively higher burden of costs for renewable energies. Furthermore, wealthy households could benefit from the subsidies as they can invest in renewable energy systems.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Petrochemical Industry - An ENERGY STAR(R) Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neelis, Maarten; Worrell, Ernst; Masanet, Eric

2008-09-01

Energy is the most important cost factor in the U.S petrochemical industry, defined in this guide as the chemical industry sectors producing large volume basic and intermediate organic chemicals as well as large volume plastics. The sector spent about $10 billion on fuels and electricity in 2004. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. petrochemical industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the petrochemical industry is provided along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Next, a wide variety of energy efficiency measures are described. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in the petrochemical and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. petrochemical industry reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures--and on their applicability to different production practices--is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.

Life Cycle Cost optimization of a BOLIG+ Zero Energy Building

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marszal, A.J.

2011-12-15

Buildings consume approximately 40% of the world's primary energy use. Considering the total energy consumption throughout the whole life cycle of a building, the energy performance and supply is an important issue in the context of climate change, scarcity of energy resources and reduction of global energy consumption. An energy consuming as well as producing building, labelled as the Zero Energy Building (ZEB) concept, is seen as one of the solutions that could change the picture of energy consumption in the building sector, and thus contribute to the reduction of the global energy use. However, before being fully implemented in the national building codes and international standards, the ZEB concept requires a clear understanding and a uniform definition. The ZEB concept is an energy-conservation solution, whose successful adaptation in real life depends significantly on private building owners' approach to it. For this particular target group, the cost is often an obstacle when investing money in environmental or climate friendly products. Therefore, this PhD project took the perspective of a future private ZEB owner to investigate the cost-optimal Net ZEB definition applicable in the Danish context. The review of the various ZEB approaches indicated a general concept of a Zero Energy Building as a building with significantly reduced energy demand that is balanced by an equivalent energy generation from renewable sources. And, with this as a general framework, each ZEB definition should further specify: (1) the connection or the lack of it to the energy infrastructure, (2) the unit of the balance, (3) the period of the balance, (4) the types of energy use included in the balance, (5) the minimum energy performance requirements (6) the renewable energy supply options, and if applicable (7) the requirements of the building-grid interaction. Moreover, the study revealed that the future ZEB definitions applied in Denmark should mostly be focused on grid

Nuclear energy: the cost of opting-out

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, U.

2003-01-01

This article discusses the results of a study made on the financial and ecological costs that would be incurred if Switzerland opted out of the use of nuclear energy. Figures are quoted for the costs if two Swiss popular initiatives on the subject of opting out of nuclear energy were accepted in voting. The disadvantages offered by the alternatives such as combined gas and steam-turbine power plant, photovoltaics and wind power are quoted. Possible negative effects of opting out on the Swiss economy are looked at and the political aspects of renewing operational permits for nuclear power stations are discussed

Macroeconomic costs of the unmet burden of surgical disease in Sierra Leone: a retrospective economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimes, Caris E; Quaife, Matthew; Kamara, Thaim B; Lavy, Christopher B D; Leather, Andy J M; Bolkan, Håkon A

2018-03-14

The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery estimated that low/middle-income countries will lose an estimated cumulative loss of US$12.3 trillion from gross domestic product (GDP) due to the unmet burden of surgical disease. However, no country-specific data currently exist. We aimed to estimate the costs to the Sierra Leone economy from death and disability which may have been averted by surgical care. We used estimates of total, met and unmet need from two main sources-a cluster randomised, cross-sectional, countrywide survey and a retrospective, nationwide study on surgery in Sierra Leone. We calculated estimated disability-adjusted life years from morbidity and mortality for the estimated unmet burden and modelled the likely economic impact using three different methods-gross national income per capita, lifetime earnings foregone and value of a statistical life. In 2012, estimated, discounted lifetime losses to the Sierra Leone economy from the unmet burden of surgical disease was between US$1.1 and US$3.8 billion, depending on the economic method used. These lifetime losses equate to between 23% and 100% of the annual GDP for Sierra Leone. 80% of economic losses were due to mortality. The incremental losses averted by scale up of surgical provision to the Lancet Commission target of 80% were calculated to be between US$360 million and US$2.9 billion. There is a large economic loss from the unmet need for surgical care in Sierra Leone. There is an immediate need for massive investment to counteract ongoing economic losses. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Pharmaceutical Industry. An ENERGY STAR Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galitsky, Christina; Galitsky, Christina; Chang, Sheng-chieh; Worrell, Ernst; Masanet, Eric

2008-03-01

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry consumes almost $1 billion in energy annually. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, system, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is provided along with a description of the major process steps in the pharmaceutical manufacturing process. Expected savings in energy and energy-related costs are given for many energy efficiency measures, based on case study data from real-world applications in pharmaceutical and related facilities worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner while meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining the quality of products manufactured. At individual plants, further research on the economics of the measures?as well as their applicability to different production practices?is needed to assess potential implementation of selected technologies.

Sizing Combined Heat and Power Units and Domestic Building Energy Cost Optimisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongmin Yu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Many combined heat and power (CHP units have been installed in domestic buildings to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. However, inappropriate sizing of a CHP may actually increase energy costs and reduce energy efficiency. Moreover, the high manufacturing cost of batteries makes batteries less affordable. Therefore, this paper will attempt to size the capacity of CHP and optimise daily energy costs for a domestic building with only CHP installed. In this paper, electricity and heat loads are firstly used as sizing criteria in finding the best capacities of different types of CHP with the help of the maximum rectangle (MR method. Subsequently, the genetic algorithm (GA will be used to optimise the daily energy costs of the different cases. Then, heat and electricity loads are jointly considered for sizing different types of CHP and for optimising the daily energy costs through the GA method. The optimisation results show that the GA sizing method gives a higher average daily energy cost saving, which is 13% reduction compared to a building without installing CHP. However, to achieve this, there will be about 3% energy efficiency reduction and 7% input power to rated power ratio reduction compared to using the MR method and heat demand in sizing CHP.

Reducing Energy Burden with Solar: Colorado's Strategy and Roadmap for States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cook, Jeffrey J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Shah, Monisha [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-03

The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) recently implemented a multi-pronged strategy to reduce energy burden for low-income (LI) Colorado residents through the deployment of solar electricity generation. Due to these efforts, approximately 20 MW of photovoltaic (PV) solar may be deployed in Colorado by the end of 2019 specifically for low-income households. Relying on interviews with ten subject-matter experts and other research, this report outlines the details of the CEO strategy including why the agency pursued this strategy, how it was carried out, and lessons learned from implementation. Though CEO's strategy is unique and tailored to the needs of Colorado, it is possible that other states might learn from CEO's experiences when designing their own LI strategies. As a result, the report concludes by outlining six primary steps for designing a comprehensive low-income solar strategy.

Measuring the societal burden of cancer: the cost of lost productivity due to premature cancer-related mortality in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanly, Paul; Soerjomataram, Isabelle; Sharp, Linda

2015-02-15

Every cancer-related death in someone of working age represents an economic loss to society. To inform priorities for cancer control, we estimated costs of lost productivity due to premature cancer-related mortality across Europe, for all cancers and by site, gender, region and country. Cancer deaths in 2008 were obtained from GLOBOCAN for 30 European countries across four regions. Costs were valued using the human capital approach. Years of productive life lost (YPLL) were computed by multiplying deaths between 15 and 64 years by working-life expectancy, then by country-, age- and gender-specific annual wages, corrected for workforce participation and unemployment. Lost productivity costs due to premature cancer-related mortality in Europe in 2008 were €75 billion. Male costs (€49 billion) were almost twice female costs (€26 billion). The most costly sites were lung (€17 billion; 23% of total costs), breast (€7 billion; 9%) and colorectum (€6 billion; 8%). Stomach cancer (in Southern and Central-Eastern Europe) and pancreatic cancer (in Northern and Western Europe) were also among the most costly sites. The average lost productivity cost per cancer death was €219,241. Melanoma had the highest cost per death (€312,798), followed by Hodgkin disease (€306,628) and brain and CNS cancer (€288,850). Premature mortality costs were 0.58% of 2008 European gross domestic product, highest in Central-Eastern Europe (0.81%) and lowest in Northern Europe (0.51%). Premature cancer-related mortality costs in Europe are significant. These results provide a novel perspective on the societal cancer burden and may be used to inform priority setting for cancer control. © 2014 UICC.

Economic burden associated with alcohol dependence in a German primary care sample: a bottom-up study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jakob Manthey

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A considerable economic burden has been repeatedly associated with alcohol dependence (AD – mostly calculated using aggregate data and alcohol-attributable fractions (top-down approach. However, this approach is limited by a number of assumptions, which are hard to test. Thus, cost estimates should ideally be validated with studies using individual data to estimate the same costs (bottom-up approach. However, bottom-up studies on the economic burden associated with AD are lacking. Our study aimed to fill this gap using the bottom-up approach to examine costs for AD, and also stratified the results by the following subgroups: sex, age, diagnostic approach and severity of AD, as relevant variations could be expected by these factors. Methods Sample: 1356 primary health care patients, representative for two German regions. AD was diagnosed by a standardized instrument and treating physicians. Individual costs were calculated by combining resource use and productivity data representing a period of six months prior to the time of interview, with unit costs derived from the literature or official statistics. The economic burden associated with AD was determined via excess costs by comparing utilization of various health care resources and impaired productivity between people with and without AD, controlling for relevant confounders. Additional analyses for several AD characteristics were performed. Results Mean costs among alcohol dependent patients were 50 % higher compared to the remaining patients, resulting in 1836 € excess costs per alcohol dependent patient in 6 months. More than half of these excess costs incurred through increased productivity loss among alcohol dependent patients. Treatment for alcohol problems represents only 6 % of these costs. The economic burden associated with AD incurred mainly among males and among 30 to 49 year old patients. Both diagnostic approaches were significantly related to the

Assessment of electricity generation and energy cost of wind energy conversion systems in north-central Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adaramola, M.S.; Paul, S.S.; Oyedepo, S.O.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → The wind energy potential and economic analysis in selected six locations in north central part of Nigeria are investigated. → Economical evaluation of the wind energy in the selected sites was made by using the levelised cost method. → Locations that are suitable electricity generation and small scale applications are identified. - Abstract: In this study, the wind energy potential and economic analysis in selected six locations in north central part of Nigeria were investigated using wind speed data that span between 19 and 37 years measured at 10 m height. The performance of small to medium size commercial wind turbine models were examined and economic evaluation of the wind energy in the selected sites was made by using the levelised cost method. The results showed that the cost of energy production per kWh for the selected sites vary between cents 4.02 and cents 166.79. It was shown that Minna is most viable site while Bida is found to be least among the sites considered. Using three selected wind turbine models (in Minna) as case study, an increase in the escalation rate of operating and maintenance cost from 0% to 10%, lead to an increase in the unit energy cost by about 7%. It was further shown that by increasing the escalation rate of inflation from 0% to 5%, the cost of energy decreases by about 29% while the discount rate (return on investment) decreases from 11.54% to 6.23%.

The hidden costs of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sweet, C.

1978-01-01

A lynch pin of the pro-nuclear argument is that atomic energy provides cheap electricity. Many are sceptical of such claims, realising that a lot of figures have been omitted from the accounting - the cost of R and D, of dismantling the obsolete stations and of waste management - but having no access to all the figures, such scepticism has remained little more than a hunch. Using conventional economic accounting it is shown that nuclear power must be considerably more costly than has ever been admitted by any of the authorities. The CEGB claims that reprocessing amounts to no more than 8 per cent of the total costs of nuclear generated electricity. According to the present author the costs are 20 per cent - and that 20 per cent is of a much higher figure. (author)

Double burden of malnutrition: A silent driver of double burden of disease in low– and middle–income countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Kolcˇic´

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Double burden of malnutrition, characterised by undernutrition among poor children and obesity among deprived adults, is a serious global problem and an important promoter of ‘double burden of disease’ which is currently affecting low– and middle–income countries. Possible ways to reduce this burden is through education on the importance of equilibrium between energy intake and expenditure; ensuring conditions for optimal fetal and early child development; and reducing poverty as one of the main drivers of both undernutrition and obesity, through empowering local communities.

Data on cost-optimal Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs across Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delia D'Agostino

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This data article refers to the research paper A model for the cost-optimal design of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs in representative climates across Europe [1]. The reported data deal with the design optimization of a residential building prototype located in representative European locations. The study focus on the research of cost-optimal choices and efficiency measures in new buildings depending on the climate. The data linked within this article relate to the modelled building energy consumption, renewable production, potential energy savings, and costs. Data allow to visualize energy consumption before and after the optimization, selected efficiency measures, costs and renewable production. The reduction of electricity and natural gas consumption towards the NZEB target can be visualized together with incremental and cumulative costs in each location. Further data is available about building geometry, costs, CO2 emissions, envelope, materials, lighting, appliances and systems.

Data on cost-optimal Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) across Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Agostino, Delia; Parker, Danny

2018-04-01

This data article refers to the research paper A model for the cost-optimal design of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) in representative climates across Europe [1]. The reported data deal with the design optimization of a residential building prototype located in representative European locations. The study focus on the research of cost-optimal choices and efficiency measures in new buildings depending on the climate. The data linked within this article relate to the modelled building energy consumption, renewable production, potential energy savings, and costs. Data allow to visualize energy consumption before and after the optimization, selected efficiency measures, costs and renewable production. The reduction of electricity and natural gas consumption towards the NZEB target can be visualized together with incremental and cumulative costs in each location. Further data is available about building geometry, costs, CO 2 emissions, envelope, materials, lighting, appliances and systems.

Reported Energy and Cost Savings from the DOE ESPC Program: FY 2014

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Slattery, Bob S. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2015-03-01

The objective of this work was to determine the realization rate of energy and cost savings from the Department of Energy’s Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) program based on information reported by the energy services companies (ESCOs) that are carrying out ESPC projects at federal sites. Information was extracted from 156 Measurement and Verification (M&V) reports to determine reported, estimated, and guaranteed cost savings and reported and estimated energy savings for the previous contract year. Because the quality of the reports varied, it was not possible to determine all of these parameters for each project. For all 156 projects, there was sufficient information to compare estimated, reported, and guaranteed cost savings. For this group, the total estimated cost savings for the reporting periods addressed were $210.6 million, total reported cost savings were $215.1 million, and total guaranteed cost savings were $204.5 million. This means that on average: ESPC contractors guaranteed 97% of the estimated cost savings; projects reported achieving 102% of the estimated cost savings; and projects reported achieving 105% of the guaranteed cost savings. For 155 of the projects examined, there was sufficient information to compare estimated and reported energy savings. On the basis of site energy, estimated savings for those projects for the previous year totaled 11.938 million MMBtu, and reported savings were 12.138 million MMBtu, 101.7% of the estimated energy savings. On the basis of source energy, total estimated energy savings for the 155 projects were 19.052 million MMBtu, and reported saving were 19.516 million MMBtu, 102.4% of the estimated energy savings.

Nuclear energy: the real costs; and reply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeffery, J.W.; Jones, P.M.S.

1982-01-01

Comments are made on a review by Jones (Atom. 306 April 1982) of 'Nuclear Energy: the Real Costs' - a special report by the Committee for the Study of the Economics of Nuclear Electricity, and criticisms contained in the review of the analysis of nuclear costs presented in the report are discussed. Dr Jones replies. (U.K.)

What does Europe pay for clean energy?-Review of macroeconomic simulation studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dannenberg, Astrid; Mennel, Tim; Moslener, Ulf

2008-01-01

This paper analyses the macroeconomic costs of environmental regulation in European energy markets on the basis of existing macroeconomic simulation studies. The analysis comprises the European emssions trading scheme, energy taxes, measures in the transport sector and the promotion of renewable energy sources. We find that these instruments affect the European economy, in particular the energy-intensive industries and the industries that produce internationally tradeable goods. From a macroeconomic point of view, however, the costs of environmental regulation appear to be modest. The underlying environmental targets and the efficient design of regulation are key determinants for the cost burden

The cost of schizophrenia in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sado M

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Mitsuhiro Sado,1 Ataru Inagaki,2 Akihiro Koreki,1 Martin Knapp,3 Lee Andrew Kissane,4 Masaru Mimura,1 Kimio Yoshimura4 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, 2Center for Clinical Psychopharmacology, Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Tokyo, Japan; 3Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK; 4Department of Health Policy and Management, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Introduction: Schizophrenia is a disorder that produces considerable burdens due to its often relapsing/remitting or chronic longitudinal course. This burden is felt not only by patients themselves, but also by their families and health care systems. Although the societal burden caused by this disorder has been evaluated in several countries, the magnitude of the societal cost of schizophrenia in Japan has never been estimated. The aim of this study is to clarify the societal burden of schizophrenia by estimating the cost of schizophrenia in Japan in 2008. Methods: A human capital approach was adopted to estimate the cost of schizophrenia. The total cost of schizophrenia was calculated as the sum of the direct, morbidity, and mortality costs. Schizophrenia was defined as disorders coded as F20.0–F20.9 according to the International Classification of Diseases-10. The data required to estimate the total cost was collected from publicly available statistics or previously reported studies. Results: The total cost of schizophrenia in Japan in 2008 was JPY 2.77 trillion (USD 23.8 billion. While the direct cost was JPY 0.770 trillion (USD 6.59 billion, the morbidity and mortality costs were JPY 1.85 trillion (USD 15.8 billion and JPY 0.155 trillion (USD 1.33 billion, respectively. Conclusion: The societal burden caused by schizophrenia is tremendous in Japan, similar to that in other developed countries where published data exist. Compared with other disorders, such as depression or anxiety disorders

Quantifying the costs and benefits of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindell, B.

1975-06-01

A number of principles which have been developed for cost-benefit assessments in the radiation field are applied to the more general cost-benefit assessment of energy production. Sources of energy may be assessed in relation to a reference practice. If this is done for one and the same electricity production, the main objective is to assess detriments in comparable terms. Detriment rates may be integrated in space and time and might also be expressed in equivalent monetary units. Although there are several practical limitations to any theoretical treatment of the problem, the basic principles may form a useful background to more realistic although more complicated approaches to the task. (author)

The Program Administrator Cost of Saved Energy for Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Billingsley, Megan A.; Hoffman, Ian M.; Stuart, Elizabeth; Schiller, Steven R.; Goldman, Charles A.; LaCommare, Kristina

2014-03-19

End-use energy efficiency is increasingly being relied upon as a resource for meeting electricity and natural gas utility system needs within the United States. There is a direct connection between the maturation of energy efficiency as a resource and the need for consistent, high-quality data and reporting of efficiency program costs and impacts. To support this effort, LBNL initiated the Cost of Saved Energy Project (CSE Project) and created a Demand-Side Management (DSM) Program Impacts Database to provide a resource for policy makers, regulators, and the efficiency industry as a whole. This study is the first technical report of the LBNL CSE Project and provides an overview of the project scope, approach, and initial findings, including: • Providing a proof of concept that the program-level cost and savings data can be collected, organized, and analyzed in a systematic fashion; • Presenting initial program, sector, and portfolio level results for the program administrator CSE for a recent time period (2009-2011); and • Encouraging state and regional entities to establish common reporting definitions and formats that would make the collection and comparison of CSE data more reliable. The LBNL DSM Program Impacts Database includes the program results reported to state regulators by more than 100 program administrators in 31 states, primarily for the years 2009–2011. In total, we have compiled cost and energy savings data on more than 1,700 programs over one or more program-years for a total of more than 4,000 program-years’ worth of data, providing a rich dataset for analyses. We use the information to report costs-per-unit of electricity and natural gas savings for utility customer-funded, end-use energy efficiency programs. The program administrator CSE values are presented at national, state, and regional levels by market sector (e.g., commercial, industrial, residential) and by program type (e.g., residential whole home programs, commercial new

The economic burden of fracture patients with osteoporosis in western China.

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, B; Ma, Y; Yan, M; Wu, H-H; Fan, L; Liao, D-F; Pan, X-M; Hong, Z

2014-07-01

To study the cost of osteoporotic fracture in China, we performed a prospective study and compared the costs of the disease in referral patients with fractures in three of the most common sites. Our results indicated that the economic burden of osteoporotic fracture to both Chinese patients and the nation is heavy. This paper aims to study the cost of osteoporotic fracture in China and thus to provide essential information about the burden of this disease to individuals and society. This prospective observational data collection study assessed the cost related to hip, vertebral, and wrist fracture 1 year after the fracture based on a patient sample consisting of 938 men and women. Information was collected using patient records, registry sources, and patient interviews. Both direct medical, direct non-medical, and indirect non-medical costs were considered. The annual total costs were highest in hip fracture patients (renminbi, RMB 27,283 or USD 4,330, with confidence interval (RMB 25715, 28851)), followed by patients with vertebral fracture (RMB 21,474 or USD 3,409, with confidence interval (RMB 20082, 22866)) and wrist fracture (RMB 8,828 or USD 1,401, with confidence interval (RMB 7829, 9827)). The direct medical care costs averaged approximately RMB 17,007 per year per patient, of which inpatient costs, drugs, and investigations accounted for the majority of the costs. Nonmedical direct costs were much less compared to direct healthcare costs and averaged approximately RMB 1,846. These results indicate that the economic burden of osteoporotic fracture to both Chinese patients and China was heavy, and the proportion of the costs in China demonstrated many similar features and some significant differences compared to other countries.

Thailand's Student Loans Fund: Interest Rate Subsidies and Repayment Burdens

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Bruce; Lounkaew, Kiatanantha; Polsiri, Piruna; Sarachitti, Rangsit; Sitthipongpanich, Thitima

2010-01-01

Government student loan schemes typically have implicit interest rate subsidies which, while these are a cost to taxpayers, they have the benefit of diminishing repayment burdens for graduates. Our goal is to illustrate the extent of both interest rate subsidies and repayment burdens with respect to Thailand's Student Loans Fund (SLF), using…

Regional energy autarky: Potentials, costs and consequences for an Austrian region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, J.; Schönhart, M.; Biberacher, M.; Guggenberger, T.; Hausl, S.; Kalt, G.; Leduc, S.; Schardinger, I.; Schmid, E.

2012-01-01

Local actors at community level often thrive for energy autarky to decrease the dependence on imported energy resources. We assess the potentials and trade-offs between benefits and costs of increasing levels of energy autarky for a small rural region of around 21,000 inhabitants in Austria. We use a novel modeling approach which couples a regional energy system model with a regional land use optimization model. We have collected and processed data on the spatial distribution of energy demand and potentials of biomass, photovoltaics and solar thermal resources. The impacts of increasing biomass production on the agricultural sector are assessed with a land-use optimization model that allows deriving regional biomass supply curves. An energy system model is subsequently applied to find the least cost solution for supplying the region with energy resources. Model results indicate that fossil fuel use for heating can be replaced at low costs by increasing forestry and agricultural biomass production. However, autarky in the electricity and the heating sector would significantly increase biomass production and require a full use of the potentials of photovoltaics on roof tops. Attaining energy autarky implies high costs to consumers and a decline in the local production of food and feed. - Highlights: ► Energy autarky strong vision for many regional actors. ► Assessment of consequences of energy autarky for a rural region in Austria. ► Novel modeling approach coupling energy system model with land use model. ► Power and heat autarky causes high costs and decline in regional food and feed production. ► Heat autarky achievable at lower costs by utilizing regional forestry and agricultural biomass.

Cost considerations for an ionising energy treatment facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Culpitt, R.A.

1985-01-01

Variables influencing the cost of food irradiation can be included under three broad headings: the physical characteristics of products to be treated; the operational characteristics of the plant to be used; costs of establishment and operation of an ionising energy treatment

Cost/benefit comparison of thermal solar energy systems in Switzerland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suter, J.M.

1991-10-01

A comparison is made between thermal solar energy systems of different size for five different applications in the three main climatic zones in Switzerland. Conventional ways of energy conservation are also included in the comparison. A cost/benefit ratio is calculated for each system. The investment is used as a cost indicator whereas the useful solar heat or the conventional energy saving is chosen as benefit. It is shown that the most systems sold today in Switzerland - combined hot water and space heating systems for single family houses - have the poorest cost/benefit ratio among all systems considered in the analysis. Four applications with more favourable cost/benefit ratio are identified. Large systems have generally a better cost/benefit ratio than smaller ones, although the total investment is higher. Photovoltaics is even less favourable than all thermal systems considered. The large scale penetration of technologies with good cost/benefit ratio lies in the public interest. Supporting activities should consider the priority set by the cost/benefit ratio. (author) 1 fig., 14 refs

Annual meeting on nuclear technology '96. Technical session: Energy costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-08-01

The two papers of this session deal with the costs of two different energy generation systems, one is based on photovoltaic energy conversion, and the other is the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear energy generation. The author shows that the costs of these two energy systems in Germany are much more governed by decisions taken in the political domain than is the case in other countries. Although German science and technology in these two engineering fields hold a top rank worldwide, the high costs that seem inevitable in Germany are expected to be a major reason why the photovoltaic industry will have to leave the country and go abroad to exploit the better chances there. (DG) [de

The energy cost of quantum information losses

Science.gov (United States)

Romanelli, Alejandro; de Lima Marquezino, Franklin; Portugal, Renato; Donangelo, Raul

2018-05-01

We explore the energy cost of the information loss resulting from the passage of an initial density operator to a reduced one. We use the concept of entanglement temperature in order to obtain a lower bound for the energy change associated with this operation. We determine the minimal energy required for the case of the information losses associated with the trace over the space coordinates of a two-dimensional quantum walk.

Directions of organisational and low-cost energy saving of engineering enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dzhedzhula Viacheslav V.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article analyses directions of energy saving of industrial enterprises. Taking into account the tendency to continuous growth of cost of energy resources, introduction of measures that would allow reduction of energy consumption of enterprises is an urgent task. One of the most important obstacles in the process of introduction of energy efficient solutions are fund limits and low awareness of owners and managers of industrial enterprises. The article offers a new classification of energy saving measures: apart from traditional expense and organisation measures it introduces the low-cost measures notion. It offers to consider low-cost those measures that are realised by the enterprise by means of own funds, moreover, their repayment term is not more than one year. It offers analytical expression for identification of annual funds saving from introduction of low-cost measures. It considers the process of identification of saving of funds from introduction of some of the main low-cost measures in detail: replacement of lighting units, balancing of ventilation networks and elimination of water leakages from pipelines and water supply equipment. Based on the analysis of bibliography information the article provides a list of main measures on energy saving, which could be referred to the low-cost ones. The proposed approaches would allow paying more attention to practical aspects of realisation of the concept of energy saving in the industry.

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markandya, A [Harvard Inst. for International Development, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1996-12-31

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markandya, A. [Harvard Inst. for International Development, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1995-12-31

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markandya, A.

1995-01-01

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

Low-Cost In-Fill Installation for High-Energy-Saving, Dynamic Windows

Science.gov (United States)

2017-07-01

increase 2% annually. This is consistent with national recognized energy prediction models. Electrical Labor costs: Electrical labor cost for wiring...Technology Description: ................................................................................................ 3 2.1.2 Energy Consumption ...22 Figure 15. Energy Consumption for the Calibration Period of 9/2/2015 - 9/16/2015

Fair Division of Costs in Green Energy Markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Kronborg, Dorte; Smilgins, Aleksandrs

2017-01-01

This paper considers cost allocation in networks where agents are characterized by stochastic demand and supply of a non-storable good, e.g. green energy. The grid itself creates possibilities of exchanging energy between agents and we propose to allocate common costs in proportion to the economi...... gain of being part of the grid. Our model includes a set of fundamental requirements for the associated trading platform. In particular, it is argued that a suitable mechanism deviates from a traditional market. The approach is illustrated by simulations....

South Korean energy scenarios show how nuclear power can reduce future energy and environmental costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Sanghyun; Bradshaw, Corey J.A.; Brook, Barry W.

2014-01-01

South Korea is an important case study for understanding the future role of nuclear power in countries with on-going economic growth, and limited renewable energy resources. We compared quantitatively the sustainability of two ‘future-mapping’ exercises (the ‘Governmental’ scenario, which relies on fossil fuels, and the Greenpeace scenario, which emphasises renewable energy and excludes nuclear power). The comparison was based on a range of environmental and technological perspectives, and contrasted against two additional nuclear scenarios that instead envisage a dominant role for nuclear energy. Sustainability metrics included energy costs, external costs (greenhouse-gas emissions, air pollutants, land transformation, water consumption and discharge, and safety) and additional costs. The nuclear-centred scenarios yielded the lowest total cost per unit of final energy consumption by 2050 ($14.37 GJ −1 ), whereas the Greenpeace scenario has the highest ($25.36 GJ −1 ). We used probabilistic simulations based on multi-factor distributional sampling of impact and cost metrics to estimate the overlapping likelihoods among scenarios to understand the effect of parameter uncertainty on the integrated recommendations. Our simulation modelling implies that, despite inherent uncertainties, pursuing a large-scale expansion of nuclear-power capacity offers the most sustainable pathway for South Korea, and that adopting a nuclear-free pathway will be more costly and produce more greenhouse-gas emissions. - Highlights: • Nuclear power has a key role to play in mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions. • The Greenpeace scenario has higher total external cost than the nuclear scenarios. • The nuclear-centred scenarios offer the most sustainable option for South Korea. • The similar conclusions are likely to apply to other Asian countries

Tibia shaft fractures: costly burden of nonunions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonova Evgeniya

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Tibia shaft fractures (TSF are common for men and women and cause substantial morbidity, healthcare use, and costs. The impact of nonunions on healthcare use and costs is poorly described. Our goal was to investigate patient characteristics and healthcare use and costs associated with TSF in patients with and without nonunion. Methods We retrospectively analyzed medical claims in large U.S. managed care claims databases (Thomson Reuters MarketScan®, 16 million lives. We studied patients ≥ 18 years old with a TSF diagnosis (ICD-9 codes: 823.20, 823.22, 823.30, 823.32 in 2006 with continuous pharmaceutical and medical benefit enrollment 1 year prior and 2 years post-fracture. Nonunion was defined by ICD-9 code 733.82 (after the TSF date. Results Among the 853 patients with TSF, 99 (12% had nonunion. Patients with nonunion had more comorbidities (30 vs. 21, pre-fracture and were more likely to have their TSF open (87% vs. 70% than those without nonunion. Patients with nonunion were more likely to have additional fractures during the 2-year follow-up (of lower limb [88.9% vs. 69.5%, P  Conclusions Nonunions in TSF’s are associated with substantial healthcare resource use, common use of strong opioids, and high per-patient costs. Open fractures are associated with higher likelihood of nonunion than closed ones. Effective screening of nonunion risk may decrease this morbidity and subsequent healthcare resource use and costs.

Kyoto, coal and sharing the cost burden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daley, J.

1998-01-01

Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (the Rio Treaty) at their first conference in 1995 agreed that the commitments entered into under the Convention were 'not adequate' to achieve its objective. These nations determined to proceed to strengthen those commitments under a protocol to be prepared for the third conference at Kyoto. Also it was to contain 'quantified emissions limitation objectives' (binding targets) on the industrial countries. For such targets to be consistent with Australia's interests, they would need to recognise Australia's relatively fast population and economic growth (both of which imply relatively faster growth in emissions), the increasing preponderance of energy intensive industries in the Australian economy, and our dependence on the export of energy intensive manufactures (like aluminium and other metals) and direct export of fossil fuels (including coal and natural gas). Major parties to the protocol negotiations - the USA and the EU - were advocates of uniform percentage emissions reductions from 1990 levels. Uniform percentage reductions, however intuitively appealing, impose widely different costs on different parties on account of their different circumstances. Australia would have been penalised by uniform reductions because our projected business-as-usual emissions trajectory is relatively steep, and measures adopted internationally to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions impact disproportionately on this economy (notably on account of reduced demand for Australian coal). The accompanying charts depict ABAREs 'less stringent' emissions scenario - addressing a goal of stabilising industrial countries' emissions of C0 2 rather than reducing them. ABARE's simulation for Australia by sector shows big negative impacts on output of non-ferrous metals, iron and steel, and coal. The metals industries, directly or indirectly are the coal industry's most important domestic customers. It is argued that because of the impact

The economic burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural southwest China.

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Cai; Lin, Li; Jun, Dong; Jianhui, He; Keying, Zhao; Wenlong, Cui; Ying, Song; Tao, Wei

2013-05-10

This study was conducted in order to estimate the economic burden of diabetes in a given year in rural Yunnan province of China, including direct, indirect and intangible costs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in rural southwest China in early 2011 among 9396 consenting individuals aged ≥ 18 years. Information on participants' demographic characteristics, and economic consequences and related aspects of diabetes were obtained using a standard questionnaire. Fasting blood sugar level was also measured for each individual. Years of life lost (YLL) due to diabetes was estimated using medical death certificates. A prevalence-based cost-of-illness method was used to estimate the economic burden of diabetes. The overall prevalence and YLL of diabetes was 6.5% and 1168.1 years in the study population, respectively. Total cost of illness related to diabetes was estimated to be $46.8 million. Mean unit direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs, morbidity costs, mortality costs, intangible costs, and cost of illness were $863.2, $44.6, $59.7, $7797.7, $936.2, and $9686.6, respectively. Direct costs accounted for the largest proportion of the economic costs of diabetes. Age was positively associated with direct costs whereas negatively associated with indirect costs. Patients aged 45-59 years incurred the highest intangible costs. Both indirect and intangible costs increased with level of education. Diabetes is a major public health problem in terms of morbidity and economic burden in rural southwest China. The region should increase investment in the further control of diabetes, and improvement of patient quality of life. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reducing Operating Costs and Energy Consumption at Water Utilities

Science.gov (United States)

Due to their unique combination of high energy usage and potential for significant savings, utilities are turning to energy-efficient technologies to help save money. Learn about cost and energy saving technologies from this brochure.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Vehicle Assembly Industry: An ENERGY STAR Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Galitsky, Christina; Galitsky, Christina; Worrell, Ernst

2008-01-01

The motor vehicle industry in the U.S. spends about $3.6 billion on energy annually. In this report, we focus on auto assembly plants. In the U.S., over 70 assembly plants currently produce 13 million cars and trucks each year. In assembly plants, energy expenditures is a relatively small cost factor in the total production process. Still, as manufacturers face an increasingly competitive environment, energy efficiency improvements can provide a means to reduce costs without negatively affecting the yield or the quality of the product. In addition, reducing energy costs reduces the unpredictability associated with variable energy prices in today?s marketplace, which could negatively affect predictable earnings, an important element for publicly-traded companies such as those in the motor vehicle industry. In this report, we first present a summary of the motor vehicle assembly process and energy use. This is followed by a discussion of energy efficiency opportunities available for assembly plants. Where available, we provide specific primary energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies, as well as references to technical literature. If available, we have listed costs and typical payback periods. We include experiences of assembly plants worldwide with energy efficiency measures reviewed in the report. Our findings suggest that although most motor vehicle companies in the U.S. have energy management teams or programs, there are still opportunities available at individual plants to reduce energy consumption cost effectively. Further research on the economics of the measures for individual assembly plants, as part of an energy management program, is needed to assess the potential impact of selected technologies at these plants.

What will abandonment of nuclear energy cost?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, H.K.

1988-01-01

The Federal Republic of Germany holds position five on the list of the world's biggest energy consumers. This alone is a fact that puts special emphasis on the public discussion about the peaceful use of nuclear energy, in addition to the current events such as incidents and accidents in nuclear installations. A sober review of the pros and cons of nuclear energy for power generation has to take into account the economic effects and the costs to be borne by the national economy as a result of immediate abandonment of nuclear energy. The article in hand discusses chances, problems, and alternatives to nuclear energy (solar energy and wind power). (orig.) [de

An analysis of energy conservation measure costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, R.; Ellis, R.; Gellineau, D.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on a Denver Support Office project to evaluate cost estimation in the Institutional Conservation Program. Unit cost characteristics and cost prediction accuracy were evaluated from 1,721 Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) and 390 Technical Assistance (TA) reports funded in the last six years. This information is especially useful to state and DOE review engineers in determining the reasonableness of future cost estimates. The estimated cost provisions for TA report grants were generally adequate to cover the actual costs. Individually, there was a tendency for TA reports to cost less than estimated by about 10%. TA report unit costs averaged $.09 to $.11 per square foot, and decreased as the building size increased. Individually, there was a tendency for ECMs to cost more than estimated by about 17%. Overall, the estimated costs of the 1,721 measures were $20.4 minion, while the actual costs were $21.4 million. This 4.6% difference indicates that, overall, ECM cost estimates have provided a reasonable basis for grant awards. There was a high variation in ECM unit costs. The data did not support speculation that there is a tendency to manipulate cost estimates to fit ECMs within the simple payback eligibility criteria of 2 to 10 years

Overall analysis of the cost key factors for the nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caero, M.

1996-01-01

In 1995, 25,8 % of the world electricity consumption was of nuclear origin, while in the EU this figure is increased up to 50,6 %. In order to maintain and even to increase its share in the electricity generation, Nuclear Energy needs to achieve a good economic performance as a base load source when compared with its competitors, basically coal and gas fired plants. Fossil-fired generation costs have declined over the past ten years, mainly due to lower fossil fuel prices. This factor together with the recently observed tendency of higher discount rates to be applied are challenging the attractiveness of the nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is a capital intensive option. Taken into account extensive standardization programs has been established aiming at cost reductions as well as to increase efficiency of nuclear energy utilization, among their main purposes. Externalities play an important role, as they are already internalized in nuclear generation costs. This is not true for many existing coal-fired plants. Even a great uncertainly exists on greenhouse gas effects. Also decisions on greenhouse gas control and their impact on carbonaceous fuel generation costs cannot be clearly predicted, even in the immediate future. Macroeconomic factors like employment, competitiveness, energy conservation, energy availability, energy demand control, etc are positively influenced by the use of nuclear energy. A sustainable economic development cannot be achieved only relying on fossil fuel generation. As a wrap up sustainable development demands nuclear energy in order to cover the future objectives of energy availability, environmental control and energy cost control. (author)

10 CFR 434.508 - Determination of the design energy consumption and design energy cost.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Determination of the design energy consumption and design... Alternative § 434.508 Determination of the design energy consumption and design energy cost. 508.1The Design Energy Consumption shall be calculated by modeling the Proposed Design using the same methods...

Software Cuts Homebuilding Costs, Increases Energy Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

To sort out the best combinations of technologies for a crewed mission to Mars, NASA Headquarters awarded grants to MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics to develop an algorithm-based software tool that highlights the most reliable and cost-effective options. Utilizing the software, Professor Edward Crawley founded Cambridge, Massachussetts-based Ekotrope, which helps homebuilders choose cost- and energy-efficient floor plans and materials.

Cost, energy use and GHG emissions for forest biomass harvesting operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Fengli; Johnson, Dana M.; Wang, Jinjiang; Yu, Chunxia

2016-01-01

For forest-based biomass to become a significant contribution to the United States' energy portfolio, harvesting operations must be physically feasible and economically viable. An assessment of cost, energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of forest biomass harvesting was conducted. The assessment differentiates harvesting systems by cut-to-length and whole tree; harvest types of 30%, 70%, and 100% cut; and forest types of hardwoods, softwoods, mixed hardwood/softwood, and softwood plantations. Harvesting cost models were developed for economic assessment and life cycle energy and emission assessment was applied to calculate energy and emissions for different harvesting scenarios, considering material and energy inputs (machinery, diesel, etc.) and outputs (GHG emissions) for each harvesting process (felling, forwarding/skidding, etc.). The developed harvesting cost models and the life cycle energy and emission assessment method were applied in Michigan, U.S. using information collected from different sources. A sensitivity analysis was performed for selected input variables for the harvesting operations in order to explore their relative importance. The results indicated that productivity had the largest impact on harvesting cost followed by machinery purchase price, yearly scheduled hours, and expected utilization. Productivity and fuel use, as well as fuel factors, are the most influential environmental impacts of harvesting operations. - Highlights: • Life cycle energy and emissions for forest biomass harvesting operations. • Harvesting cost models were developed for economic assessment. • Productivity had the largest impact on harvesting cost. • Fuel use contributes the most emissions while lubricants contribute the least.

Aquifer thermal-energy-storage costs with a seasonal-chill source

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, D. R.

1983-01-01

The cost of energy supplied by an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) ystem from a seasonal chill source was investigated. Costs were estimated for point demand and residential development ATES systems using the computer code AQUASTOR. AQUASTOR was developed at PNL specifically for the economic analysis of ATES systems. In this analysis the cost effect of varying a wide range of technical and economic parameters was examined. Those parameters exhibiting a substantial influence on the costs of ATES delivered chill were: system size; well flow rate; transmission distance; source temperature; well depth; and cost of capital. The effects of each parameter are discussed. Two primary constraints of ATES chill systems are the extremely low energy density of the storage fluid and the prohibitive costs of lengthly pipelines for delivering chill to residential users. This economic analysis concludes that ATES-delivered chill will not be competitive for residential cooling applications. The otherwise marginal attractiveness of ATES chill systems vanishes under the extremely low load factors characteristic of residential cooling systems. (LCL)

Economic burden of cervical cancer in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharifa E.W. Puteh

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Cervical cancers form the second highest number of female cancers in Malaysia, imposing a substantial amount of cost burden on its management. However, an estimation of cost burden of abnormal smears, cervical pre-invasive and invasive diseases needs to be done to show how much spending has been allocated to the problem. An expert panel committee came up with the clinical pathway and management algorithm of  cervical pre invasive and invasive diseases from July-December 2006 Malaysia. An activity based costing for each clinical pathway was done. Results were converted to USD. The cost of managing pre-invasive cervical cancers stage is USD 420,150 (Range: USD 197,158-879,679. Management of invasive cancer (new cases costs USD 51,533,233.44 (Range: USD 32,405,399.69 - USD 129,014,768.40. The cost of managing existing cases is USD 17,005,966.87 (Range: USD 10,693,781.90 - USD  28,901,587.12. The total cost of managing cervical cancers by health care providers in a public setting is around USD 75,888,329.45 (Range: USD 48,083,804.60 - USD 48,083,804.60. The outcome of this study has shown that preventive modalities such as screening have only contributed to 10.3 % of the total management cost of cervical cancer. The major cost contribution (67% came from treatment of invasive cancer especially at more advanced stages of cancer, followed by treatment of existing cases (22% and lastly on pre-invasive disease (0.6%. This study revealed that proportion of preventive modality in this country was still low, and the major cost came from actual treatment cost of cervical cancer. Therefore, heightened public cervical cancer screening in the country is needed. (Med J Indones 2008; 17: 272-80Keywords: cervical cancers, pre invasive disease, HPV vaccination

City-scale analysis of water-related energy identifies more cost-effective solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Ka Leung; Kenway, Steven J; Lant, Paul A

2017-02-01

Energy and greenhouse gas management in urban water systems typically focus on optimising within the direct system boundary of water utilities that covers the centralised water supply and wastewater treatment systems, despite a greater energy influence by the water end use. This work develops a cost curve of water-related energy management options from a city perspective for a hypothetical Australian city. It is compared with that from the water utility perspective. The curves are based on 18 water-related energy management options that have been implemented or evaluated in Australia. In the studied scenario, the cost-effective energy saving potential from a city perspective (292 GWh/year) is far more significant than that from a utility perspective (65 GWh/year). In some cases, for similar capital cost, if regional water planners invested in end use options instead of utility options, a greater energy saving potential at a greater cost-effectiveness could be achieved in urban water systems. For example, upgrading a wastewater treatment plant for biogas recovery at a capital cost of $27.2 million would save 31 GWh/year with a marginal cost saving of $63/MWh, while solar hot water system rebates at a cost of $28.6 million would save 67 GWh/year with a marginal cost saving of $111/MWh. Options related to hot water use such as water-efficient shower heads, water-efficient clothes washers and solar hot water system rebates are among the most cost-effective city-scale opportunities. This study demonstrates the use of cost curves to compare both utility and end use options in a consistent framework. It also illustrates that focusing solely on managing the energy use within the utility would miss substantial non-utility water-related energy saving opportunities. There is a need to broaden the conventional scope of cost curve analysis to include water-related energy and greenhouse gas at the water end use, and to value their management from a city perspective. This

Decommissioning Cost Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Labor, Bea

2012-03-01

The future costs for dismantling, decommissioning and handling of associated radioactive waste of nuclear installations represents substantial liabilities. It is the generations that benefits from the use of nuclear installations that shall carry the financial burden. Nuclear waste programmes have occasionally encountered set-backs related to the trust from society. This has resulted in delayed, redirected or halted activities, which has the common denominator of costs increases. In modern democratic countries, information sharing, knowledge transfer and open communication about costs for the management of radioactive waste are prerequisites for the task to develop modern methods for public participation and thus to develop well-founded and justified confidence for further development of nuclear energy. Nuclear and radiation safety Authorities have a clear role to provide unbiased information on any health, safety, financial and environmental related issues. This task requires a good understanding of the values and opinion of the public, and especially those of the younger generation

The epidemiology and economic burden of Clostridium difficile infection in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyung-Yun; Park, So-Youn; Kim, Young-Ae; Yoon, Tai-Young; Choi, Joong-Myung; Choe, Bong-Keun; Ahn, So-Hee; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Lee, Ye-Rin; Oh, In-Hwan

2015-01-01

The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection and the associated burden have recently increased in many countries. While the main risk factors for C. difficile infection include old age and antibiotic use, the prevalence of this infection is increasing in low-risk groups. These trends highlight the need for research on C. difficile infection. This study pointed out the prevalence and economic burden of C. difficile infection and uses the representative national data which is primarily from the database of the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, for 2008-2011. The annual economic cost was measured using a prevalence approach, which sums the costs incurred to treat C. difficile infection. C. difficile infection prevalence was estimated to have increased from 1.43 per 100,000 in 2008 to 5.06 per 100,000 in 2011. Moreover, mortality increased from 69 cases in 2008 to 172 in 2011. The economic cost increased concurrently, from $2.4 million in 2008 to $7.6 million, $10.5 million, and $15.8 million in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The increasing economic burden of C. difficile infection over the course of the study period emphasizes the need for intervention to minimize the burden of a preventable illness like C. difficile infection.

The Epidemiology and Economic Burden of Clostridium difficile Infection in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyung-Yun Choi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection and the associated burden have recently increased in many countries. While the main risk factors for C. difficile infection include old age and antibiotic use, the prevalence of this infection is increasing in low-risk groups. These trends highlight the need for research on C. difficile infection. This study pointed out the prevalence and economic burden of C. difficile infection and uses the representative national data which is primarily from the database of the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, for 2008–2011. The annual economic cost was measured using a prevalence approach, which sums the costs incurred to treat C. difficile infection. C. difficile infection prevalence was estimated to have increased from 1.43 per 100,000 in 2008 to 5.06 per 100,000 in 2011. Moreover, mortality increased from 69 cases in 2008 to 172 in 2011. The economic cost increased concurrently, from $2.4 million in 2008 to $7.6 million, $10.5 million, and $15.8 million in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The increasing economic burden of C. difficile infection over the course of the study period emphasizes the need for intervention to minimize the burden of a preventable illness like C. difficile infection.

The direct costs of intensive care management and risk factors for financial burden of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

Science.gov (United States)

Khwannimit, Bodin; Bhurayanontachai, Rungsun

2015-10-01

The costs of severe sepsis care from middle-income countries are lacking. This study investigated direct intensive care unit (ICU) costs and factors that could affect the financial outcomes. A prospective cohort study was conducted in the medical ICU of a tertiary referral university teaching hospital in Thailand. A total of 897 patients were enrolled in the study, with 683 (76.1%) having septic shock. Community-, nosocomial, and ICU-acquired infections were documented in 574, 282, and 41 patients, respectively. The median ICU costs per patient were $2716.5 ($1296.1-$5367.6) and $599.9 ($414.3-$948.6) per day. The ICU costs accounted for 64.7% of the hospital costs. In 2008 to 2011, the ICU costs significantly decreased by 40% from $3542.5 to $2124.9, whereas, the daily ICU costs decreased only 3.3% from $609.7 to $589.7. By multivariate logistic regression analysis, age, nosocomial or ICU infection, admission from the emergency department, number of organ failures, ICU length of stay, and fluid balance the first 72 hours were independently associated with ICU costs. The ICU costs of severe sepsis management significantly declined in our study. However, the ICU costs were a financial burden accounting for two thirds of the hospital costs. It is essential for intensivists to contribute a high standard of care within a restricted budget. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing energy supply security: Outage costs in private households

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Praktiknjo, Aaron J.; Hähnel, Alexander; Erdmann, Georg

2011-01-01

The objective of this paper is to contribute to the topic of energy supply security by proposing a Monte Carlo-based and a survey based model to analyze the costs of power interruptions. Outage cost estimations are particularly important when deciding on investments to improve supply security (e.g. additional transmission lines) in order to compare costs to benefits. But also other policy decisions on measures that have direct or indirect consequences for the supply security (e.g. a phasing out of nuclear energy) need to be based on results from outage cost estimations. The main focus of this paper lies with residential consumers, but the model is applied to commercial, industrial and governmental consumers as well. There are limited studies that have approached the problem of evaluating outage cost. When comparing the results of these studies, they often display a high degree of diversification. As consumers have different needs and dependencies towards the supply of electricity because of varying circumstances and preferences, a great diversity in outage cost is a logical consequence. To take the high degree of uncertainties into account, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted in this study for the case of private households in Germany. - Highlights: ► A macroeconomic model to assess outage cost is proposed. ► Possibilities for substitution are considered by analyzing individual preferences for the time-use. ► Uncertainties are taken into account by using a Monte Carlo simulation. ► This study reveals the distribution of outage costs to different electricity consumers. ► Implications for energy policy decisions are discussed.

Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Dairy Processing Industry: An ENERGY STAR? Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brush, Adrian [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Masanet, Eric [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Worrell, Ernst [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2011-10-01

The U.S. dairy processing industry—defined in this Energy Guide as facilities engaged in the conversion of raw milk to consumable dairy products—consumes around $1.5 billion worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. dairy processing industry to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective manner. This Energy Guide discusses energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. A discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. dairy processing industry is provided along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Next, a wide variety of energy efficiency measures applicable to dairy processing plants are described. Many measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in dairy processing facilities and related industries worldwide. Typical measure payback periods and references to further information in the technical literature are also provided, when available. Given the importance of water in dairy processing, a summary of basic, proven measures for improving water efficiency are also provided. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. dairy processing industry reduce energy and water consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures—as well as on their applicability to different production practices—is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.

Comparing the cost-per-QALYs gained and cost-per-DALYs averted literatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Peter J; Anderson, Jordan E; Panzer, Ari D; Pope, Elle F; D'Cruz, Brittany N; Kim, David D; Cohen, Joshua T

2018-01-18

Background : We examined the similarities and differences between studies using two common metrics used in cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs): cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained and cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted. Methods : We used the Tufts Medical Center CEA Registry, which contains English-language cost-per-QALY gained studies, and  Global Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (GHCEA) Registry, which contains cost-per-DALY averted studies. We examined study characteristics including intervention type, sponsor, country, and primary disease, and also analysed the number of CEAs versus disease burden estimates for major diseases and conditions across three geographic regions. Results : We identified 6,438 cost-per-QALY and 543 cost-per-DALY studies published through 2016 and observed rapid growth in publication rates for both literatures. Cost-per-QALY studies were most likely to examine pharmaceuticals and interventions in high-income countries. Cost-per-DALY studies predominantly focused on infectious disease interventions and interventions in low and lower-middle income countries. We found discrepancies in the number of published CEAs for certain diseases and conditions in certain regions, suggesting "under-studied" areas (e.g., cardiovascular disease in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania and "overstudied" areas (e.g., HIV in Sub Saharan Africa) relative to disease burden in those regions. Conclusions : The number of cost-per QALY and cost-per-DALY analyses has grown rapidly with applications to diverse interventions and diseases.  Discrepancies between the number of published studies and disease burden suggest funding opportunities for future cost-effectiveness research.

How accurate are forecasts of costs of energy? A methodological contribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddons, Craig; Allan, Grant; McIntyre, Stuart

2015-01-01

Forecasts of the cost of energy are typically presented as point estimates; however forecasts are seldom accurate, which makes it important to understand the uncertainty around these point estimates. The scale of the differences between forecasts and outturns (i.e. contemporary estimates) of costs may have important implications for government decisions on the appropriate form (and level) of support, modelling energy scenarios or industry investment appraisal. This paper proposes a methodology to assess the accuracy of cost forecasts. We apply this to levelised costs of energy for different generation technologies due to the availability of comparable forecasts and contemporary estimates, however the same methodology could be applied to the components of levelised costs, such as capital costs. The estimated “forecast errors” capture the accuracy of previous forecasts and can provide objective bounds to the range around current forecasts for such costs. The results from applying this method are illustrated using publicly available data for on- and off-shore wind, Nuclear and CCGT technologies, revealing the possible scale of “forecast errors” for these technologies. - Highlights: • A methodology to assess the accuracy of forecasts of costs of energy is outlined. • Method applied to illustrative data for four electricity generation technologies. • Results give an objective basis for sensitivity analysis around point estimates.

IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING COSTS IN THE DRINKING WATER SUPPLY INDUSTRY: An ENERGY STAR Resource Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melody, Moya; Dunham Whitehead, Camilla; Brown, Richard

2010-09-30

As American drinking water agencies face higher production costs, demand, and energy prices, they seek opportunities to reduce costs without negatively affecting the quality of the water they deliver. This guide describes resources for cost-effectively improving the energy efficiency of U.S. public drinking water facilities. The guide (1) describes areas of opportunity for improving energy efficiency in drinking water facilities; (2) provides detailed descriptions of resources to consult for each area of opportunity; (3) offers supplementary suggestions and information for the area; and (4) presents illustrative case studies, including analysis of cost-effectiveness.

Cost-effectiveness and incidence of renewable energy promotion in Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boehringer, Christoph [Oldenburg Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Economics; Landis, Florian [Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Switzerland); Tovar Reanos, Miguel Angel [Zentrum fuer Europaeische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW), Mannheim (Germany)

2017-08-01

Over the last decade Germany has boosted renewable energy in power production by means of massive subsidies. The flip side are very high electricity prices which raises concerns that the transition cost towards a renewable energy system will be mainly borne by poor households. In this paper, we combine computable general equilibrium and microsimulation analysis to investigate the cost-effectiveness and incidence of Germany's renewable energy promotion. We find that the regressive effects of renewable energy promotion could be ameliorated by alternative subsidy financing mechanisms which achieve the same level of electricity generation from renewable energy sources.

Cost-effectiveness and incidence of renewable energy promotion in Germany

OpenAIRE

Böhringer, Christoph; Landis, Florian; Tovar Reaños, Miguel Angel

2017-01-01

Over the last decade Germany has boosted renewable energy in power production by means of massive subsidies. The flip side are very high electricity prices which raises concerns that the transition cost towards a renewable energy system will be mainly borne by poor households. In this paper, we combine computable general equilibrium and microsimulation analysis to investigate the cost-effectiveness and incidence of Germany's renewable energy promotion. We find that the regressive effects of r...

Renewable energies in the transport sector: Costs and possibilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ajanovic, Amela; Haas, Reinhard

2007-01-01

Alternative fuels based on renewable energy sources, such as biodiesel, bioethanol and hydrogen from RES, have potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, to increase supply security and energy diversity. Transition from a fossil fuels based transport to future sustainable and clean transport is a long term and cost intensive process, especially for hydrogen use in transport. Hydrogen infrastructure is missing and most of hydrogen technologies are still at developing stage.This paper examines the economics of biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel) and hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The current and future costs of alternative fuels as well as the costs of the provided energy services are analysed in a dynamic framework till the year 2050. The goal is to identify the market chance of alternative fuels in a long term (till 2050). A rapid increase of fuel cell vehicles with hydrogen on the market is not expected before 2030, mainly because the costs of the fuel cells are still very high and because their efficiency, as well as the travelling range, is rather moderate.However, the use of alternative fuels in transport sector is very dependent on the political will. If political preferences, like e.g. zero-emission-vehicles, gain strong relevance this new fuels could accelerate its market penetration significantly

COST-EFFECTIVE TARGET FABRICATION FOR INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

GOODIN, D.T; NOBILE, A; SCHROEN, D.G; MAXWELL, J.L; RICKMAN, W.S

2004-03-01

A central feature of an Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) power plant is a target that has been compressed and heated to fusion conditions by the energy input of the driver. The IFE target fabrication programs are focusing on methods that will scale to mass production, and working closely with target designers to make material selections that will satisfy a wide range of required and desirable characteristics. Targets produced for current inertial confinement fusion experiments are estimated to cost about $2500 each. Design studies of cost-effective power production from laser and heavy-ion driven IFE have found a cost requirement of about $0.25-0.30 each. While four orders of magnitude cost reduction may seem at first to be nearly impossible, there are many factors that suggest this is achievable. This paper summarizes the paradigm shifts in target fabrication methodologies that will be needed to economically supply targets and presents the results of ''nth-of-a-kind'' plant layouts and concepts for IFE power plant fueling. Our engineering studies estimate the cost of the target supply in a fusion economy, and show that costs are within the range of commercial feasibility for laser-driven and for heavy ion driven IFE

Mind your step: Energy cost while walking at an enforced gait pattern

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wezenberg, D.; de Haan, A.; van Bennekom, C.A.M.; Houdijk, J.H.P.

2011-01-01

The energy cost of walking could be attributed to energy related to the walking movement and energy related to balance control. In order to differentiate between both components we investigated the energy cost of walking an enforced step pattern, thereby perturbing balance while the walking movement

Mind your step: metabolic energy cost while walking an enforced gait pattern

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wezenberg, D.; de Haan, A.; van Bennekom, C. A. M.; Houdijk, H.

2011-01-01

The energy cost of walking could be attributed to energy related to the walking movement and energy related to balance control. In order to differentiate between both components we investigated the energy cost of walking an enforced step pattern, thereby perturbing balance while the walking movement

Cost Assessment Methodology and Economic Viability of Tidal Energy Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Segura

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The exploitation of technologies with which to harness the energy from ocean currents will have considerable possibilities in the future thanks to their enormous potential for electricity production and their high predictability. In this respect, the development of methodologies for the economic viability of these technologies is fundamental to the attainment of a consistent quantification of their costs and the discovery of their economic viability, while simultaneously attracting investment in these technologies. This paper presents a methodology with which to determine the economic viability of tidal energy projects, which includes a technical study of the life-cycle costs into which the development of a tidal farm can be decomposed: concept and definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance and dismantling. These cost structures are additionally subdivided by considering their sub-costs and bearing in mind the main components of the tidal farm: the nacelle, the supporting tidal energy converter structure and the export power system. Furthermore, a technical study is developed in order to obtain an estimation of the annual energy produced (and, consequently, the incomes generated if the electric tariff is known by considering its principal attributes: the characteristics of the current, the ability of the device to capture energy and its ability to convert and export the energy. The methodology has been applied (together with a sensibility analysis to the particular case of a farm composed of first generation tidal energy converters in one of the Channel Island Races, the Alderney Race, in the U.K., and the results have been attained by means of the computation of engineering indexes, such as the net present value, the internal rate of return, the discounted payback period and the levelized cost of energy, which indicate that the proposed project is economically viable for all the case studies.

Estimating the burden of rabies in Ethiopia by tracing dog bite victims

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beyene, Tariku Jibat; Mourits, Monique C.M.; Kidane, Abraham Haile; Hogeveen, Henk

2018-01-01

In developing countries where financial resources are limited and numerous interests compete, there is a need for quantitative data on the public health burden and costs of diseases to support intervention prioritization. This study aimed at estimating the health burden and post-exposure treatment

Program Potential: Estimates of Federal Energy Cost Savings from Energy Efficient Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)