Public Internal Performance Contracting - Managing and financing energy-efficiency measures in public administrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irrek, Wolfgang; Thomas, Stefan; Attali, Sophie; Benke, Georg; Borg, Nils; Figorski, Arkadiusz; Filipowicz, Mariusz; Labanca, Nicola; Pindar, Andrew; Ochoa, Amalia

2005-01-01

Public Internal Performance Contracting (PICO) is a type of in-house 'third-party' financing or energy performance contracting scheme. In theory, once triggered, PICO provides a 'perpetual motion' finance mechanism for public authorities by which energy efficiency savings fund new investments in an upward virtuous cycle. One unit of the public authority, e.g. the technical department, delivers the financial and technical energy efficiency service to another unit of the same public administration. Remuneration takes place through cross payments between these units, according savings made in energy costs. The initial investments require 'seed funds' to kick start the process, after which the cross payments provide sufficient means to fund further measures. How can the PICO mechanism be initiated in times of tight public budgets? What difficulties are faced during the implementation process and how can these be overcome? What kind of energy-efficiency measures is PICO best suited to? And what role can national and European policy play to facilitate implementation? These are the key questions that the EU-funded PICOLight project aimed to tackle. This was done through testing and disseminating the PICO schemes, first used in Germany, in six European countries, developing these further and making the necessary adaptations. PICO schemes were piloted in seven public administrations with the technical focus on energy-efficient lighting retrofits. The experiences gathered in these pilot projects should help to introduce PICO schemes on a larger scale in public administrations in Europe. The paper presents the preliminary results from these pilot projects

Financing Solar Energy Systems with Energy Savings Performance Contracts in the Federal Sector: Results of a Survey on Barriers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gee, R. C.; LaPorta, C.

1999-08-17

This report summarizes the findings of an investigation into financing solar energy systems for the Federal sector. The objectives of the investigation were (1) to identify the barriers that impede companies from using Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to develop solar energy projects for Federal facilities, and (2) to clarify the impacts of Federal contracting requirements on energy service companies' use of ESPCs. Twenty-four representatives of energy service companies agreed to be interviewed. Their responses indicate that these are the primary barriers to greater use of ESPCs: the relatively long payback periods for investments in solar technologies; the length of the ESPC process; the cost of certain contractual requirements regarding wages and financing; and a lack of knowledge about the actual cost and reliability of solar systems. The report proposes a number of actions the government could take to remove these barriers, including (1) streamlining and shortening the ESPC process and (2) doing more to inform both government agencies and energy service companies about the costs and benefits of solar systems.

Strategic design of cost savings guarantee in energy performance contracting under uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deng, Qianli; Jiang, Xianglin; Cui, Qingbin; Zhang, Limao

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A methodology is proposed to assist Energy Service Companies to maintain competitiveness in winning bids. • Uncertainties within the energy cost savings are modeled stochastically using the Monte-Carlo simulation. • A strategic energy savings guarantee design curve is derived, where all points return as appropriate guarantees. • A campus case is presented to demonstrate the applicability for finding appropriate guaranteed savings value. - Abstract: Among the key barriers to profit in Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) are uncertainties about attaining the realized energy cost savings and potential disputes over the guaranteed cost savings. In this paper, a methodology has been proposed to assist the Energy Service Company (ESCO): (1) to evaluate the risk threshold if the guarantee has already been made, and (2) to determine the guarantee design, if the guarantee has not been made yet, that not only promises the ESCO’s profitability from EPC but also maintains its competitiveness to win the bid. Uncertainties within the energy cost savings are modeled stochastically using Monte-Carlo simulation, taking both the energy price fluctuation and the facility performance variability into account. Based on that, a strategic energy savings guarantee design curve is derived, that all the points on it would return as appropriate guarantees. Finally, a campus case is presented to demonstrate the applicability for finding the appropriate guaranteed savings value. This method is also worth popularizing in similar performance-based projects

Building America Energy Renovations. A Business Case for Home Performance Contracting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baechler, Michael C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Antonopoulos, C. A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Sevigny, M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gilbride, T. L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hefty, M. G. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2012-10-01

This research report gives an overview of the needs and opportunities that exist in the U.S. home performance contracting industry. The report discusses industry trends, market drivers, different business models, and points of entry for existing and new businesses hoping to enter the home performance contracting industry. Case studies of eight companies who successfully entered the industry are provided, including business metrics, start-up costs, and marketing approaches.

Utility Energy Services Contracts: Enabling Documents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2009-05-01

Utility Energy Services Contracts: Enabling Documents provides materials that clarify the authority for Federal agencies to enter into utility energy services contracts (UESCs), as well as sample documents and resources to ease utility partnership contracting.

Department of Energy contract/business management initiatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fisher, S.B.

1992-01-01

More than 40 years ago the Department of Energy (DOE) developed a unique contractual instrument called a management and operating contract, to be used for the operation of our weapons production plants and the national laboratories. The contracts are very broad in scope. There is no output objective set forth in the contract. There are no cost targets, nor any contractually motivated cost objectives. Performance is measured against criteria which is often subjective. The time has come to make changes in the structure of these contracts to reflect changes in the work being performed and to make the contractors more accountable. DOE's work now, at these sites, and for years to come, consists largely of major project-type work such as environmental restoration which lends itself to a more definitized structure. DOE is in the process of implementing a work order authorization control system (task order contracting) under its management and operating contracts. Target date for implementation for our for-profit contractors is FY 1992, and for the non-profit contractors is FY 1993. Under this system, requirements will be contracted for as entities of work and contractors will be held accountable for performance, schedules and costs. Billings, payments and award fee will be tied to the specific planning objectives set forth in the tasks, including costs and schedules. Incentives will be provided for outstanding performance, fee may be withheld if performance is unacceptable. These changes will necessitate more DOE oversight of contractor operations and sound business support systems, as well as effective management disciplines. US DOE will perform business management reviews to assure contractors' systems are adequate and to support this form of contracting. The Contractor Procurement Systems Review Program will be enhanced to assure good subcontractor procurement practices

Energy contracting. Energy-related services and decentral energy supply. 2. ed.; Energie-Contracting. Energiedienstleistungen und dezentrale Energieversorgung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hack, Martin

2012-11-01

According to the author, the intended German energy turnaround cannot be achieved solely on the basis of power from renewables and by constructing new passive buildings. Also required are decentral energy services if the energy saving and efficiency goals are to be achieved. In spite of many variations, the basic structure of these is the following: A contractor providing energy services does not only supply energy but also carries the risk and responsibility for efficient supply. This will relieve energy users, whether industrial or trade enterprises, public administration or home owners from this task; also, this integrated approach will open up undeveloped efficiency potentials. The book discusses current legal issues in a clear and practice-oriented manner and also provides a check list for energy contracting and an exemplary contract. (orig./RHM)

Whither Performance Contracting?

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Norman S.

This report describes briefly performance contracts; discusses their shortcomings, pitfalls, and advantages; and gives some insight into the future development of this new concept. Two shortcomings of performance contracting include (1) teaching to the test and (2) board abdication of its responsibility for making final decisions about educational…

Utility Energy Services Contracts: Enabling Documents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas, Karen; Vasquez, Deb

2017-01-01

The Federal Energy Management Program's 'Utility Energy Service Contracts: Enabling Documents' provide legislative information and materials that clarify the authority for federal agencies to enter into utility energy service contracts, or UESCs.

The economics of energy service contracts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorrell, S. [University of Sussex, Brighton (United Kingdom). Sussex Energy Group, SPRU -Science and Technology Policy Research

2007-01-15

Energy service contracting can provide a cost-effective route to overcoming barriers to energy efficiency. Energy service contracts allow the client to reduce operating costs, transfer risk and concentrate attention on core activities. However, the energy services model may only be appropriate for a subset of energy services and energy using organisations. A challenge for both business strategy and public policy is to identify those situations in which energy service contracting is most likely to be appropriate and the conditions under which it is most likely to succeed. Energy service contracting is a form of outsourcing. It will only be chosen where the expected reduction in the production cost of supplying energy services can more than offset the transaction cost of negotiating and managing the relationship with the energy service provider. Production costs will be determined by a combination of the physical characteristics of the energy system and the technical efficiency of the relevant organisational arrangements, including economies of scale and specialisation. Transaction costs, in turn, will be determined by the complexity of the energy service, the 'specificity' of the investments made by the contractor, the competitiveness of the energy services market and the relevant legal, financial and regulatory rules. This paper develops these ideas into a general framework that may be used to assess the feasibility of energy service contracting in different circumstances. The framework leads to a number of hypotheses that are suitable for empirical test. (author)

The economics of energy service contracting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sorrell, Steve [Univ. of Sussex (United Kingdom). SPRU

2005-07-01

Energy service contracting can provide a cost-effective route to overcoming barriers to energy efficiency. Energy service contracts allow the client to reduce operating costs, transfer risk and concentrate attention on core activities. However, the energy services model may only be appropriate for a subset of energy services and energy using organisations. A challenge for both business strategy and public policy is to identify those situations in which energy service contracting is most likely to be appropriate and the conditions under which it is most likely to succeed. Energy service contracting is a form of outsourcing. It will only be chosen where the expected reduction in the production cost of supplying energy services can more than offset the transactions cost of negotiating and managing the relationship with the energy service provider. Production costs will be determined by a combination of the physical characteristics of the energy system and the technical efficiency of the relevant organisational arrangements, including economies of scale and specialisation. Transaction costs, in turn, will be determined by the complexity of the energy service, the 'specificity' of the investments made by the contractor, the 'contestability' of the energy services market and the relevant legal, financial and regulatory rules. This paper develops these ideas into a general framework that may be used to assess the feasibility of energy service contracting in different circumstances. The framework leads to a number of hypotheses that are suitable for empirical test.

The economics of energy service contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sorrell, Steve

2007-01-01

Energy service contracting can provide a cost-effective route to overcoming barriers to energy efficiency. Energy service contracts allow the client to reduce operating costs, transfer risk and concentrate attention on core activities. However, the energy services model may only be appropriate for a subset of energy services and energy using organisations. A challenge for both business strategy and public policy is to identify those situations in which energy service contracting is most likely to be appropriate and the conditions under which it is most likely to succeed. Energy service contracting is a form of outsourcing. It will only be chosen where the expected reduction in the production cost of supplying energy services can more than offset the transaction cost of negotiating and managing the relationship with the energy service provider. Production costs will be determined by a combination of the physical characteristics of the energy system and the technical efficiency of the relevant organisational arrangements, including economies of scale and specialisation. Transaction costs, in turn, will be determined by the complexity of the energy service, the 'specificity' of the investments made by the contractor, the competitiveness of the energy services market and the relevant legal, financial and regulatory rules. This paper develops these ideas into a general framework that may be used to assess the feasibility of energy service contracting in different circumstances. The framework leads to a number of hypotheses that are suitable for empirical test

A Model for Sustainable Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) Using Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) Mechanism for Hotel Buildings in China

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Pengpeng

Hotel building is one of the high-energy-consuming building types, and retrofitting hotel buildings is an untapped solution to help cut carbon emissions contributing towards sustainable development. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) has been promulgated as a market mechanism for the delivery of energy efficiency projects. EPC mechanism has been introduced into China relatively recently, and it has not been implemented successfully in building energy efficiency retrofit projects. The aim of this research is to develop a model for achieving the sustainability of Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) in hotel buildings under the Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) mechanism. The objectives include: • To identify a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring the sustainability of BEER in hotel buildings; • To identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) under EPC mechanism that have a strong correlation with sustainable BEER project; • To develop a model explaining the relationships between the CSFs and the sustainability performance of BEER in hotel building. Literature reviews revealed the essence of sustainable BEER and EPC, which help to develop a conceptual framework for analyzing sustainable BEER under EPC mechanism in hotel buildings. 11 potential KPIs for sustainable BEER and 28 success factors of EPC were selected based on the developed framework. A questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain the importance of selected performance indicators and success factors. Fuzzy set theory was adopted in identifying the KPIs. Six KPIs were identified from the 11 selected performance indicators. Through a questionnaire survey, out of the 28 success factors, 21 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were also indentified. Using the factor analysis technique, the 21 identified CSFs in this study were grouped into six clusters to help explain project success of sustainable BEER. Finally, AHP/ANP approach was used in this research to develop a model to

Comparing contracting performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindholst, Andrej Christian

. Hypotheses are suggested for the role of culture, competition, contracts, capabilities and collaboration for contracting performance between and across the countries. Arguments are tested against data from on four comparable national surveys of private delivery of park and road maintenance services in local...

Impacts of government subsidies on pricing and performance level choice in Energy Performance Contracting: A two-step optimal decision model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Zhijian; Shao, Shuai

2016-01-01

Highlights: • An ESCO optimal decision model considering governmental subsidies is proposed. • Optimal price and performance level are deduced via a two-stage model. • Demand, profit, and performance level increase with increasing subsidies. • ESCO’s market strategy should firstly focus on high energy consumption industries. • Governmental subsidies standard in different industries should be differentiated. - Abstract: Government subsidies generally play a crucial role in pricing and the choice of performance levels in Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). However, the existing studies pay little attention to how the Energy Service Company (ESCO) prices and chooses performance levels for EPC with government subsidies. To fill such a gap, we propose a joint optimal decision model of pricing and performance level in EPC considering government subsidies. The optimization of the model is achieved via a two-stage process. At the first stage, given a performance level, ESCOs choose the best price; and at the second stage, ESCOs choose the optimal performance level for the optimal price. Furthermore, we carry out a numerical analysis to illuminate such an optimal decision mechanism. The results show that both price sensitivity and performance level sensitivity have significant effects on the choice of performance levels with government subsidies. Government subsidies can induce higher performance levels of EPC, the demand for EPC, and the profit of ESCO. We suggest that ESCO’s market strategy should firstly focus on high energy consumption industries with government subsidies and that government subsidies standard adopted in different industries should be differentiated according to the market characteristics and energy efficiency levels of various industries.

Federal Energy Savings Performance Contracts: Frequently Asked Questions on the Scope of 42 U.S.C. § 8287 et seq.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2016-12-21

Document provides clarification and guidance on issues commonly raised regarding the scope of 42 U.S.C. § 8287 et seq. It is a supplement to the Federal Energy Management Program's extensive collection of materials that are available to assist federal agencies execute successful energy savings performance contract (ESPC) projects.

Financing the energy renovation of public buildings through Internal Contracting. Infinite Solutions Guidebook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schilken, Peter; Turner, Ian; Kuehnbach, Matthias; Simic, Ivan; Kuharic, Boris; Laranjeira, Celia; Rodrigues, Carlos; Couceiro, Carla; Presotto, Agnese; Mazzeschi, Alessandro; Cleto, Joao

2017-02-01

Meeting the European energy and climate policy objectives will require the mobilisation of substantial energy efficiency and renewable energy investments at the local level. Given both the substantial effort necessary to finance the energy transition and restricted municipal budgets, it is clear that these objectives cannot be met through traditional public financing such as grants or direct investment, but by finding a new approach to financing solutions. This Energy Cities guidebook is built upon a comprehensive analysis of Stuttgart's Internal Contracting scheme and a detailed questioning of it by the learning authorities within the INFINITE Solutions project. It is intended to offer guidelines to municipalities as well as universities, hospitals or other institutions interested in applying Internal Contracting to improve their energy consumption and efficiency performance. The approach of this guidebook is developed as follows: The concept of contracting - especially Internal Contracting - is introduced. Universal guidance is offered on how to implement an Internal Contracting scheme and keep it working over the long term. The Internal Contracting scheme is presented in practice. Several cities describe their individual approaches to Internal Contracting and the various ways they have been able to adapt the scheme

Energy contracting has lots to offer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aeberli, O.

2001-01-01

In this interview with Roland Heller, CEO of Greenergy Contracting AG, the future of contracting as a way of providing reliable and cheap energy services for enterprises is discussed. The topic is treated from the points of view of both the supplier of energy services - the contractor - and of the customer / energy user. Advantages to be gained by both sides in the financial and technical areas are listed. The use of modern, efficient technologies such as combined heat and power (CHP) units is discussed. Examples of successful co-operation with local utilities are given, including solutions where the utility provides gas and base load energy and the CHP units deliver valuable peak-load energy to the grid. Political aspects such as the influence of market liberalisation and environmental factors are discussed and the market for contracting solutions is also examined

Energy service contracting in DOD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahle, D.E.

1993-01-01

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) annually consumes about $3 Billion in energy to operate facilities at military installations worldwide, representing about 80% of utility operating expense for all Federal facilities. Recent legislation and a Presidential Executive Order have directed DOD by Fiscal Year 2000 to reduce facility energy consumption by 20%, from the level of energy used in Fiscal Year 1985. To achieve this goal it is estimated that energy efficiency improvement investments between $2-3 billion would be required. Considering the competition for resources within DOD as it experiences downsizing and restructuring, DOD will need to seek opportunities to tap alternative investment strategies through energy service contracting to leverage Federal resources. Shared Energy Savings and Operations and Maintenance Energy Services contracting activities in the Department of the Navy will be used to address how such acquisition methods can contribute to achieving DOD energy efficiency goals

Life cycle cost-based risk model for energy performance contracting retrofits

Science.gov (United States)

Berghorn, George H.

Buildings account for 41% of the primary energy consumption in the United States, nearly half of which is accounted for by commercial buildings. Among the greatest energy users are those in the municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals (MUSH) market. Correctional facilities are in the upper half of all commercial building types for energy intensity. Public agencies have experienced reduced capital budgets to fund retrofits; this has led to the increased use of energy performance contracts (EPC), which are implemented by energy services companies (ESCOs). These companies guarantee a minimum amount of energy savings resulting from the retrofit activities, which in essence transfers performance risk from the owner to the contractor. Building retrofits in the MUSH market, especially correctional facilities, are well-suited to EPC, yet despite this potential and their high energy intensities, efficiency improvements lag behind that of other public building types. Complexities in project execution, lack of support for data requests and sub-metering, and conflicting project objectives have been cited as reasons for this lag effect. As a result, project-level risks must be understood in order to support wider adoption of retrofits in the public market, in particular the correctional facility sub-market. The goal of this research is to understand risks related to the execution of energy efficiency retrofits delivered via EPC in the MUSH market. To achieve this goal, in-depth analysis and improved understanding was sought with regard to ESCO risks that are unique to EPC in this market. The proposed work contributes to this understanding by developing a life cycle cost-based risk model to improve project decision making with regard to risk control and reduction. The specific objectives of the research are: (1) to perform an exploratory analysis of the EPC retrofit process and identify key areas of performance risk requiring in-depth analysis; (2) to construct a

Energy contracting in Switzerland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muggli, C.

2000-01-01

The article discusses the status of energy contracting in Switzerland and compares it with the situation in USA, Germany and France, where it has been standard practice for many years. The fact that this financing and operating instrument is not widely used in Switzerland in spite of its benefits for users and suppliers is discussed, as are the obstacles placed in its way. The results of a study made by the Federal Office of Energy are presented, whereby some 220 existing contracting arrangements with a total investment volume of around CHF 200 million were noted and a further potential of around CHF 1.1 billion estimated. The author notes that in order to utilise this potential, great efforts must be made by all parties involved

Accelerating energy efficiency improvement in the public sector, using Energy Performance Contracting - a workshop on Nordic experiences and needs for improvements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gottberg, Annika; Gode, Jenny; Axelsson, Ulrik

2009-08-15

This report provides documentation on a workshop on experiences of Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) in the Nordic countries, aiming to identify strengths, weaknesses and needs for improvements. The results of surveys undertaken to inform presentations and discussions at the workshop are reported. Furthermore, the outcomes of the discussions during the workshop and resulting recommend actions for different actors to further and accelerate the use of EPC in the public sector are reported. Target groups for this documentation are existing and potential EPC customers, providers and policy-makers

Energy Performance Contracting - success in Austria and Germany - dead end for Europe?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seefeldt, Friedrich

2003-01-01

At the beginning of the 21st century, the European market for Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is extremely diverse. Without a doubt, Germany and Austria are the pioneers, standing out due to their already high market standards and consistent market growth. The market in Germany is characterised by more than 200 EPC-agreements made since the mid-90s - with high-tech individual buildings like hospitals, as well as building 'pools' of up to 100 separate buildings. In Austria, EPC projects have been implemented in approximately 500 buildings during the last four years - with the public building administrations as the driving forces. While EPC has become a standard instrument in facility management in Germany and Austria, in most other European countries the market is still at its very beginning. First, the basic idea and conception of the instrument will be presented in a short introduction, illustrated by concrete project examples with an emphasis on discussing the perspectives from the demand side, especially the public and tertiary sectors. Next, the question centres on how a deliberate energy (efficiency) policy can accelerate the successful market introduction of EPC (role of public building administration as pioneers, support of building owners during project preparation; energy agencies with specific know-how etc.). A last reflection discusses the consequences for a possible directive on Energy Services. In all this, the authors draw continuous attention to the common traits, but also take a look at barriers and success factors. The analysis is based on both authors' broad practical experience in EPC project development and dissemination of best practices

Contracting and Performance in Agencies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørnholt, Bente; Houlberg Salomonsen, Heidi; Rennison, Betina Wolfgang

As part of New Public Management (NPM), contracting represents a supplement to the traditional hierarchical and rule-based managing of relations between actors in order to improve performance (Fortin and van Hassel 2000; Greve and Ejersbo 2002; Drewry et al. 2005; Verhoest 2005). To various degrees...... higher goal attainment when agency head experience that the department balance dialogue and autonomy with some element of control in the process of internal contracting (Bjørnholt and Salomonsen 2011). This implies, that effective steering include a combination of decentralized management...... and how a balanced use of internal contracting leads to a better performance. These findings are then theoretically interpreted based upon a combination of literature on agencification as well as public management. We compare contracting across all Danish agencies based on a combination of survey...

Performance contracting in central government in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Mads Bøge

2015-01-01

) are observed across central government agencies, when the content of the performance contracts is compared. This makes it interesting to examine how variation in the content of the performance contracts across agencies can be explained? Based on a broad theoretical framework in which variation......This paper looks into performance contracting in Danish central government. Management by Objectives and Results (MBOR) was adopted in central government in Denmark during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, performance contracts between parent ministries and their agencies were introduced...... in Danish central government. Since their introduction, performance contracts have become central elements in the steering and management of agencies in central government in Denmark, and today they are nearly universally adopted in central government. In Denmark, the Ministry of Finance is responsible...

Contracting of energy services in Switzerland. Development, effects, market potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muggli, C.; Baumgartner, W.; Kohn, L.

1999-06-01

The authors of this detailed report first define the contracting of energy services, this new reality of the market place, and analyse its current status in Switzerland. Contracting is mainly to be understood as the delegation of certain energy-related services by a company. The total investment for the operated energy systems considered by the study is about 120 millions USD, with an installed power of 160 MW. This market is highly unhomogeneous and is the answer to various goals. Globally, it brings a more efficient use of energy, including a more frequent involvement of renewable energy sources, along with a lower risk and significant advantages for all contractors. That is the reason for the energy policy authority to recommend contracting. The report goes on with the analysis of the factors leading the chief executives to consider contracting of energy services, or on the contrary to exclude it. The authors estimate the realistic potential market for contracting in Switzerland to 650 millions USD for the period 1999-2004. They conclude by giving recommendations which should result in an acceleration of the contracting's development on the market place

48 CFR 1536.201 - Evaluation of contracting performance.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... performance. 1536.201 Section 1536.201 Federal Acquisition Regulations System ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... Contracting for Construction 1536.201 Evaluation of contracting performance. (a) The Contracting Officer will... will file the form in the contractor performance evaluation files which it maintains. (e) The Quality...

Success factors of energy performance contracting (EPC) for sustainable building energy efficiency retrofit (BEER) of hotel buildings in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Pengpeng; Chan, Edwin Hon-Wan; Queena Kun Qian

2011-01-01

Hotel building is a type of high-energy-consuming building and most existing hotel buildings need energy efficiency improvement in China. Energy performance contracting (EPC) is considered a win-win mechanism to organize building energy efficiency retrofit (BEER) project. However, EPC mechanism has been introduced into China relatively recently and many EPCs have not been successful in building energy efficiency retrofit projects. This research aims to develop a set of critical success factors (CSFs) of EPC for sustainable energy efficiency retrofit (BEER) of hotel buildings in China. Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey with practitioners and other professionals were conducted. The findings reveal the relative importance of the 21 number of identified success factors. In order to explore the underlying relationship among the identified critical success factors (CSFs), factor analysis method was adopted for further investigation, which leads to grouping the 21 identified CSFs into six clusters. These are (1) project organization process, (2) EPC project financing for hotel retrofit, (3) knowledge and innovation of EPC, sustainable development (SD), and M and V, (4) implementation of sustainable development strategy, (5) contractual arrangement, and (6) external economic environment. Finally, several relevant policies were proposed to implement EPC successfully in sustainable BEER in hotel buildings. - Highlights: → EPC is a win-win mechanism to organize building energy efficiency retrofit project. → CSFs of EPC mechanism for sustainable BEER of hotel building in China are examined. → Six clusters are extracted from 21 identified CSFs based on factor analysis.

Utility Energy Services Contracts Lessons Learned

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2001-08-01

This document describes best practices in the use of Utility Energy Services Contracts. The recommendations were generated by a group of innovative energy managers in many successful projects. The topics include project financing, competition between utility franchises, and water conservation.

Integration of Multiple Contractors with Performance Type of Contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BURDGE, L.F.

2000-01-01

The management practices, procedures, and processes that are suited to managing Management and Operation (MandO) type of contracts at Department of Energy (DOE) sites, which were cost reimbursement with award fee, are not well suited to managing contracts where fee is determined by performance metrics. Thus a different style of management, requiring substantial revamping of the management process, is needed. This shift in philosophy also requires a dramatic shift in culture. This paper will describe how these changes are being managed at the River Protection Project (RPP), located at the DOE's Hanford Site in Washington State, one of DOE's largest and highest risk environmental clean-up project

Contracting of energy services: often a viable alternative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milic, M.; Bruendler, M.

2001-01-01

This article discusses the outsourcing of energy services as a viable alternative to the operation of own energy facilities. The advantages of contracting for enterprises wanting to focus on their core competencies and have their energy infrastructure financed, built, maintained and operated by a third party are discussed. Financial aspects are looked at and examples in connection with the calculation of actual energy costs are given. The article is concluded with tips on the evaluation of offers for contracting services and on the definition of ownership aspects and property boundaries

Performance-Driven Interface Contract Enforcement for Scientific Components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahlgren, Tamara Lynn [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)

2008-01-01

Performance-driven interface contract enforcement research aims to improve the quality of programs built from plug-and-play scientific components. Interface contracts make the obligations on the caller and all implementations of the specified methods explicit. Runtime contract enforcement is a well-known technique for enhancing testing and debugging. However, checking all of the associated constraints during deployment is generally considered too costly from a performance stand point. Previous solutions enforced subsets of constraints without explicit consideration of their performance implications. Hence, this research measures the impacts of different interface contract sampling strategies and compares results with new techniques driven by execution time estimates. Results from three studies indicate automatically adjusting the level of checking based on performance constraints improves the likelihood of detecting contract violations under certain circumstances. Specifically, performance-driven enforcement is better suited to programs exercising constraints whose costs are at most moderately expensive relative to normal program execution.

Insight conference proceedings : Ontario energy contracts 2005 : giving your company's energy trading the power it needs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

This conference provided a forum for discussing energy contracts in relation to energy trading. Issues concerning fixed priced electricity contracts and recent changes in the energy market were reviewed. Price procurement and interjurisdictional trading were examined. The role of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in the monitoring and procurement of energy contracts was evaluated. Various procurement strategies were discussed with reference to large institutions and industrial consumers. New regulatory developments relating to energy contracts in Ontario were reviewed and the emergence of demand side management as a commodity in the Ontario electricity market was discussed. Recent developments in the United States were examined in relation to Ontario's electricity sector. The conference featured 14 presentations, of which 1 has been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Case Study: Greenhill Contracting, Inc., Hickory Ridge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

2017-09-01

Greenhill Contracting built this 3,912-ft2 house in Gardiner, New York, to the high-performance criteria of the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program. A highly efficient air-source heat pump heats and cools the home’s interior, while the roof-mounted photovoltaic system offsets electricity usage to cut energy bills to nearly zero. Many months the home owners see a credit on their utility bill.

Governance variety in the energy service contracting market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ostertag, Katrin; Huelsmann, Friederike

2008-07-01

There is a surprisingly high variety of actors involved in the supply of energy service contracting arrangements. Based on an empirical record of approximately 2,500 contracting projects in the domain of space heating in Germany, the paper analyses specialisation patterns of contractors. An econometric model is used to test hypotheses derived from transaction cost economics, which contractor type should be expected for which kind of contracting project. According to our results, if physical, site and human asset specificity are high, governance modes are preferred, for which contracting represents a downward integration of business activities along the value-added chain. This includes the supply of contracting by municipal utilities. More specifically, municipal utilities occur as superior suppliers of contracting if combined heat and power is implemented, if the building served is connected to their gas grid and if it is a public building. This pattern could orient the development of contracting activities for utilities reconsidering their strategic position following the liberalisation of the electricity market. (orig.)

Gauge Group Contraction of Electroweak Model and its Natural Energy Limits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolai A. Gromov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The low and higher energy limits of the Electroweak Model are obtained from first principles of gauge theory. Both limits are given by the same contraction of the gauge group, but for the different consistent rescalings of the field space. Mathematical contraction parameter in both cases is interpreted as energy. The very weak neutrino-matter interaction is explained by zero tending contraction parameter, which depends on neutrino energy. The second consistent rescaling corresponds to the higher energy limit of the Electroweak Model. At the infinite energy all particles lose masses, electroweak interactions become long-range and are mediated by the neutral currents. The limit model represents the development of the early Universe from the Big Bang up to the end of the first second.

Utility Energy Services Contracts: Enabling Documents, May 2009 (Book)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2009-05-01

Enabling Documents, delivered by the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to provide materials that clarify the authority for federal agencies to enter into utility energy services contracts (UESCs).

Energy-Performance-Based Design-Build Process: Strategies for Procuring High-Performance Buildings on Typical Construction Budgets: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scheib, J.; Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.

2014-08-01

NREL experienced a significant increase in employees and facilities on our 327-acre main campus in Golden, Colorado over the past five years. To support this growth, researchers developed and demonstrated a new building acquisition method that successfully integrates energy efficiency requirements into the design-build requests for proposals and contracts. We piloted this energy performance based design-build process with our first new construction project in 2008. We have since replicated and evolved the process for large office buildings, a smart grid research laboratory, a supercomputer, a parking structure, and a cafeteria. Each project incorporated aggressive efficiency strategies using contractual energy use requirements in the design-build contracts, all on typical construction budgets. We have found that when energy efficiency is a core project requirement as defined at the beginning of a project, innovative design-build teams can integrate the most cost effective and high performance efficiency strategies on typical construction budgets. When the design-build contract includes measurable energy requirements and is set up to incentivize design-build teams to focus on achieving high performance in actual operations, owners can now expect their facilities to perform. As NREL completed the new construction in 2013, we have documented our best practices in training materials and a how-to guide so that other owners and owner's representatives can replicate our successes and learn from our experiences in attaining market viable, world-class energy performance in the built environment.

48 CFR 217.175 - Multiyear contracts for electricity from renewable energy sources.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... electricity from renewable energy sources. 217.175 Section 217.175 Federal Acquisition Regulations System... renewable energy sources. (a) The head of the contracting activity may enter into a contract for a period not to exceed 10 years for the purchase of electricity from sources of renewable energy, as that term...

14 CFR 151.49 - Performance of construction work: Contract requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Performance of construction work: Contract... § 151.49 Performance of construction work: Contract requirements. (a) Contract provisions. In addition to any other provisions necessary to ensure completion of the work in accordance with the grant...

Making contracting work better and cost less: Report of the Contract Reform Team

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1994-02-01

In June 1993, Secretary of Energy Hazel O`Leary formed a Contract Reform Team, chaired by Deputy Secretary Bill White, to evaluate the contracting practices of the Department of Energy and to formulate specific proposals for improving those practices. This report summarizes the results of the work of the Contract Reform Team. It recommends actions for implementation that will significantly improve the Department`s contracting practices and will enable the Department to help create a government that -- in the words of Vice President Gore -- {open_quotes}works better and costs less.{close_quotes} These actions and the deadlines for their implementation are listed. Among other things, they recommend replacing the Department`s standard Management and Operating Contract with a new Performance-Based Management Contract and strengthening the Department`s systems for selecting and managing contractors.

75 FR 50950 - Federal Speculative Position Limits for Referenced Energy Contracts and Associated Regulations

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-18

..., section 4a(a) of the Act authorized the Commission to establish position limits for contracts traded on or... Position Limits for Referenced Energy Contracts and Associated Regulations AGENCY: Commodity Futures... and option contracts based on a limited set of exempt commodities,\\1\\ namely certain energy...

PERFORMANCE-BASED CONTRACTING IN CONSTRUCTION PHASE AND MAINTENANCE PHASE OF PAVEMENT

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Takeshi

Performance-based contracting for pavement in Japan started as performance warranties in construction phase, in 1999. Recently, road agencies have recognized the applicability of this type of contracting in outsourcing of maintenance activities. The objectives of this study are to clarify the issues of performance specifying in construction phase and maintenance phase of pavement, and to propose measures to be taken. This paper, with the recognition that the life of each pavement depends on performance standards for various attributes, reviews domestic and foreign examples of performance-based contracting. A performance standard based on the average of current practices can enhance product quality and service life with a warranty contract. Repair thresholds and response time for each deficiency should be considered as performance standards in maintenance phase.

A Business Case for Home Performance Contracting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baechler, Michael C.; Antonopoulos, Chrissi A.; Sevigny, Maureen; Gilbride, Theresa L.; Hefty, Marye G.

2012-10-01

This report was prepared by PNNL for the DOE Building America program. The report provides information for businesses considering entering the home performance contracting industry. Metrics discussed include industry trends and drivers, specific points of entry, business models, startup costs, and marketing strategies. The report includes detailed analysis of eight businesses around the country that have successfully entered the home performance contracting industry. Data is provided on their financial structures, program participation, marketing efforts, and staff training. This report will be distributed via the DOE Building America website, www.buildingamerica.gov. Individual case studies will also be cleared separately.

Cost savings from performance-based maintenance contracting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Straub, A.

2009-01-01

New procurement approaches combined with performance-based building approaches should reduce costs, but empirical qualitative and quantitative studies are lacking. Performance-based maintenance contracts give maintenance suppliers incentives to improve their way of working. Innovative,

A Guide to Performance Contracting. A Presentation and Discussion of the Multiple Considerations Regarding Contracted Services in Local Education Agencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, John W.; Kitchak, Karen H.

This report provides a framework for evaluating the use of performance contracts. It serves as a working guide for those who are considering or are committed to performance contracts with public or private organizations. The topics cover (1) the theoretical basis and rationale of performance contracting, (2) the procurement model and the request…

Specific performance as a primary remedy in the South African law of contract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean Chrysostome Kanamugire

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Specific performance is a primary remedy for breach of contract available for the aggrieved party. This order emphasises the performance of contractual obligations. Although the plaintiff can elect to claim specific performance from the defendant, the court has a discretion to grant or decline the order of specific performance. The discretion must be exercised judicially and does not confine on rigid rules. Courts decide each case according to its own facts and circumstances. Plaintiff has a right of election whether to claim specific performance from the defendant or damages for breach of contract. The defendant does not enjoy any choice in this matter. As a general rule, specific performance is not often awarded in the contract of services. However, recent developments have demonstrated that specific performance will usually be granted in employment contracts if there is equality of bargaining power among contracting parties and such order will not produce undue hardship to the defaulting party. Public policy generally favours the utmost freedom of contract and requires that parties should respect or honour their contractual obligations in commercial transactions. Public policy is rooted in the constitution and can sparingly be used to strike down contracts. Specific performance should not continue to be a primary remedy for breach of contract. Contracting parties should be allowed to resile from the contract and use damages as a remedy for breach of contract

A third generation of performance contracting in danish central government?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, Mads Bøge

2017-01-01

This paper compares the content of performance contracts in Danish central government over time in order to identify whether – and if so, how – it develops. The analysis is conducted as a two-step, mixed methods study. First, a quantitative study was carried out based on a study of all performance...... contracts in Danish central government in 2002, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2014. For each year, all performance contracts have been coded according to the number and type of targets included in them. A range of qualitative interviews was then carried out, and Ministry of Finance recommendations were consulted...... of outcomes has increased, activity-oriented targets have decreased, and targets for internal management decreased in the mid-2000s before again increasing more recently. On this basis, performance contracting in Danish central government is argued to have entered a third generation....

78 FR 20097 - Energy Savings Performance Contracts

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-03

... procedures, scope definition, Measurement and Verification (M&V), financing procurement, and definition of... government. More than $2.71 billion has been invested in Federal energy efficiency and renewable energy... more than $7.18 billion of cumulative energy cost savings for the Federal Government. While FEMP has...

Energy Performance Contract models for the diffusion of green-manufacturing technologies in China: A stakeholder analysis from SMEs’ perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Peng; Zhou, Yuan; Zhou, Dillon K.; Xue, Lan

2017-01-01

Small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant to China's emission reduction programme. This research aims to improve our understanding of the challenge of diffusing green-manufacturing technologies among SMEs in China. Specifically, this study examines the Chinese Government's effort to facilitate reduction of energy consumption among SMEs through Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) to incentivize domestic manufacturers to adopt energy efficient measures (EEMs) in order to reduce demand for energy and corresponding drop in emissions. The data is gathered from relevant EPC stakeholders in the National Motor Upgrading Demonstration Project and its implementation in Dongguan city, which is based on 30 in-depth interviews and 6 focus group discussions. Using stakeholder analysis, this study finds that guaranteed energy savings model is the favorite model in implementation, given the gained benefits outweigh committed resources, and the control capability overrides possible risks among the two core stakeholders. The outcomes of this study may allow the government to have a clear understanding of stakeholder perception of the different EPC models used in China so the design and deployment of these mechanisms can be improved. - Highlights: • Examine the barriers faced by green technologies when they are promoted to SMEs on a large scale. • Explain why green technology diffusion is thwarted when stakeholders cannot reach compromises. • Find that the guaranteed energy savings model is the best mechanism for upgrading SMEs. • Note that new EPC models and new policies are needed to increase stakeholders’ adoption rate.

Contracts, Performance Measurement and Accountability in the Public Sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Drewry, Gavin; Greve, Carsten; Tanquerel, Thierry

This book addresses issues to do with public accountability, audit and performance measurement that are both highly topical and of crucial importance to the theory and practice of public administration in an era of contractualized public management. The literature on public sector contracting...... of audit and accountability in a variety of countries and contexts; the third part offers some wider, cross-cutting perspectives. Based on the work of the EGPA permanent study group on the history of contractualization, Contracts, Performance Measurement and Accountability in the Public Sector draws upon...... - covering both 'hard' agreements (ones that are legally enforceable) and 'soft' agreements (enforced by negotiation and mutual trust) - has been growing for some time and the present book adds a primarily European perspective on contracting, performance-based management and accountability. One important...

Performance contracting to engage detoxification-only patients into continued rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Haley, Sean J; Dugosh, Karen Leggett; Lynch, Kevin G

2011-03-01

In 2006, only 18.7% of Delaware's detoxification patients were admitted to continuing recovery-oriented treatment within 30 days after discharge. In response, Delaware established financial contingencies to (1) maintain 90% detoxification occupancy, (2) make receipt of 10% of the facility's monthly reimbursement contingent on 25% of patients entering treatment, and (3) provide a $500 bonus for every patient with three or more prior detoxification visits who was retained in treatment. Under the performance contract, the detoxification provider (1) maintained the 90% occupancy requirement, (2) achieved the 25% treatment entry target for 7 of 12 months, and (3) observed only 8% (27/337) of detoxification completions that met the targeted length of stay. Continuation to and retention in treatment was even more constrained for patients with three or more prior detoxifications. Contrary to the policy intent, the number of patients with three or more detoxifications in fiscal year (FY) 2008 is nearly triple that of FY 2006. The modest gain in the transition rate was achieved without changes in patient access; the FY 2008 patient population reported significantly higher rates of homelessness and a younger age of first use than before the performance contract in FY 2006. Performance contracting may offer promise for improving transition to treatment rates. However, the unique needs of detoxification patients, the treatment capacity of each level of care to meet patient needs, and the structure of the performance contract must be carefully considered. Performance contracting efforts may be strengthened when service contracts across the system are tightly synchronized. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance-based contracting for maintaining transportation assets with emphasis on bridges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alsharqawi Mohammed

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With a large number of aging transportation infrastructure assets in North America and the growing problem of deterioration across the globe, managing these assets have been the subject of ongoing research. There is an overwhelming amount of maintenance and rehabilitation works to be done and selecting a suitable maintenance, repair or replacement (MRR strategy is one of the most challenging tasks for decision makers. Limited budget and resources are even making the decision making process more challenging. Maintaining infrastructure to the highest possible condition while investing the minimal amount of money has promoted innovative contracting approaches. Transportation agencies have increased private sector involvement through long term performance-based maintenance contracts or what is called Performance-Based Contracting. PBC is a type of contract that pays a contractor based on the results achieved, not on the methods for performing the maintenance work. By looking into the literature, it is observed that agencies are expanding the amount of contracting they do in order to maintain and achieve a better standard of infrastructure facilities. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to study and review performance-based contracting for transportation infrastructure with emphasis on bridge assets.

Performance Contracting as a Performance Management Tool in the Public Sector in Kenya: Lessons of learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hope, Kempe Ronald, Sr.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide an assessment and analysis of public sector performance contracting as a performance management tool in Kenya. It aims to demonstrate that performance contracting remains a viable and important tool for improving public sector performance as a key element of the on-going public sector transformation…

Performance-based contracts for road projects comparative analysis of different types

CERN Document Server

Gajurel, Ashish

2014-01-01

This book focuses on the aspects of contracting contracts, basically related to road construction and management contracts. The book presents an analytical study of Performance-Based Road Management and Maintenance (PMMR), Funktionsbauvertrag (FBV) (Function-Based Construction Contract) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP). A separate chapter is also included about the comparative study of these contract types. The book provides useful material for university libraries, construction companies and government departments of construction.

48 CFR 52.222-49 - Service Contract Act-Place of Performance Unknown.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Service Contract Act-Place... Provisions and Clauses 52.222-49 Service Contract Act—Place of Performance Unknown. As prescribed in 22.1006(f), insert the following clause: Service Contract Act—Place of Performance Unknown (MAY 1989) (a...

Network meta-analyses performed by contracting companies and commissioned by industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schuit, Ewoud; Ioannidis, John P A

2016-01-01

Background: Industry commissions contracting companies to perform network meta-analysis for health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement submissions. Our objective was to estimate the number of network meta-analyses performed by consulting companies contracted by industry, to assess whether

The French market of solutions for active energy efficiency. Energy, central home automation systems, consumption monitoring software, distributed load shedding, energy performance contract... which tools will stand out?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-12-01

This article presents the content of a market study which aimed at proposing an overview of solutions for energy efficiency and at assessing their impact on energy consumption, at identifying the growth dynamics of three market segments (assisted efficiency, automated efficiency and contract-based efficiency), at comparing the posture and strategies of the different actors present on this market (energy providers, equipment manufacturers, pure players, NTIC...), at identifying actors who are in the best position to benefit market development, and at imagining tomorrow's supply for energy efficiency. The report addresses the definition of active energy efficiency, the rationale of its development, the European regulatory and legal context, the strengthening of regulatory and environmental constraints in France, the three different market segments (examples, opportunities), and the competition context

Accounting for derivative contracts in an energy environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewthwaite, T.; Majid, H.; Swingler, N.

1999-01-01

This chapter reviews the latest developments in the accounting for derivative contracts in the energy environment, covering the US accounting and disclosure requirements and the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 133 Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, and the Emerging Issues Task Force Consensus (EITF) 98-10 accounting for energy trading and risk management activities. UK accounting and disclosure requirements and the international point of view are discussed. Three different types of hedges are described

Accounting for derivative contracts in an energy environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewthwaite, T.; Majid, H.; Swingler, N. [Arthur Andersen (United Kingdom)

1999-07-01

This chapter reviews the latest developments in the accounting for derivative contracts in the energy environment, covering the US accounting and disclosure requirements and the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 133 Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, and the Emerging Issues Task Force Consensus (EITF) 98-10 accounting for energy trading and risk management activities. UK accounting and disclosure requirements and the international point of view are discussed. Three different types of hedges are described.

Public contracts in the Dutch energy sector. A strategic investigation with regard to normalisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Feen, E.J.; Maas, P.J.J.

1995-01-01

A number of strategic investigations is carried out to determine if and to what extent normalization of public contracts can support the position of the Dutch businesses and industry in the European market. The strategic investigation in this report is limited to clusters within the Dutch energy utilities' sector concerning the production, transportation and distribution of electricity and heat, and the distribution of natural gas in the Netherlands. The results of this report can support those companies that will acquire orders via public contracts in the future; companies that wish to continue existing relations with tender services, if they will change to public contracts; and tender services that will have to put their orders via public contracts.Relevant European guidelines and accompanying procedures are outlined. The economic interest of the total Dutch energy sector and the different energy clusters in the Netherlands is discussed. Also attention is paid to the process of normalization, the role of standards and other technical documents regarding the guidelines Public Contracts. An inventory of available standards and conceptual standards is given for each energy cluster. Finally, an indication is given of the actual compliance of the guidelines. 5 figs., 4 tabs., 16 appendices

Evaluation model based on FAHP for nuclear power project contract performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Bohang; Cheng Jing

2012-01-01

Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation is a common tool to analyze comprehensive integration. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is an improvement for Analytic Hierarchy Process. Firstly the paper pointed out the concept of FAHP, and then used FAHP to setup an evaluation system model for nuclear power project contract performance. Based on this model, all the evaluation factors were assigned to different weightiness. By weighting the score of each factor, output would be the result which could evaluate the contract performance. On the basis of the research, the paper gave the principle of evaluating contract performance of nuclear power suppliers, which can assure the procurement process. (authors)

14 CFR 151.47 - Performance of construction work: Letting of contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Development Projects § 151.47 Performance of construction work: Letting of contracts. (a) Advertising required... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Performance of construction work: Letting... project, each contract for construction work on a project in the amount of more than $2,000 must be...

The lifecycle approach as a driver for innovative power contracting; Der Lifecycle-Ansatz als Treiber fuer innovatives Energie-Contracting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gayer, Alfred [RWE Energiedienstleistungen GmbH (Germany)

2011-07-01

The sensible and efficient use of energy raises more and more the general awareness. The efficiency of projects will be influenced not only by the replacement of existing technology, but also mainly by the general conception of the design of decentralized energy supplies. The integration of waste heat from production-related processes as well as the use of all forms of energy such as electricity, heat, refrigeration and compressed air to meet the customer needs in a comprehensive energy plan increase the complexity and significantly the efficiencies. In the implementation of such projects the contracting is becoming increasingly important because the future gains in efficiency are taken into account directly. Contracting projects include the traditional total-cost-of-ownership approach (lifecycle approach). This approach considers the investment costs as well as the consequential costs of a project and shows how to optimize the total cost.

48 CFR 23.205 - Energy-savings performance contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... through Efficient Energy Management, requires an agency to make maximum use of the authority provided in... capital cost to the United States Treasury. The energy service company finances the capital costs of implementing energy conservation measures and receives, in return, a contractually determined share of the cost...

LEGAL PRINCIPLES IN FUNCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF BOT CONTRACT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reifon Cristabella Eventia

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT represents a long term partnership of the government and private sector. In BOT project, either the government or a private sector identifies a need for a development project. The philosophy in BOT contract begins from the increasing infrastructural needs in all areas and with a limited budget, government are required to commit the duties and functions state governance so that the concept of BOT give a solution through a partnership with the private sector. The government then gives a concession to the private sector to build the project and operate it for a fixed period years, after the period ended, the building shall be transferred to the government. Through BOT, the country is able to gain asset without government spending while maintaining a measure of regulatory control over the project. BOT permits the government to use private sector fund to finance public infrastructure development. The main issues elaborated in this article are the legal principle in the formation of BOT contract and the legal principle in the performance of BOT contract. There are two results; firstly, in the formation of a BOT contract, the principles of partnership and the principle of transparency should be emphasized. Secondly, in performance of the BOT contract, the principle of risk management and the principle of proportionality should be clearly stated in the rules and legal norms.

U.S. Department of Energy Photovoltaic Energy Program Contract Summary: Fiscal Year 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Surek, T.

2001-02-21

This report summarizes the in-house and subcontracted research and development (R and D) activities under the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Photovoltaics Program from October 1, 1999, through September 30, 2000 (FY 2000). The mission of the DOE National Photovoltaics Program is to make PV a significant part of the domestic economy-as an industry and an energy resource. The two primary goals of the national program are to (1) maintain the U.S. industry's world leadership in research and technology development and (2) help the U.S. industry remain a major, profitable force in the world market. The NCPV is part of the National PV Program and provides leadership and support to the national program toward achieving its mission and goals. This Contract Summary for fiscal year (FY) 2000 documents some 179 research projects supported by the PV Program, performed by 107 organizations in 32 states, including 69 projects performed by universities and 60 projects performed by our industry partners. Of the total FY 2000 PV Program budget of $65.9 million, the industry and university research efforts received $36.9 million, or nearly 56%. And, of this amount, more than 93% was for contractors selected on a competitive basis. Much of the funding to industry was matched by industry cost-sharing. Each individual effort described in this summary represents another step toward improving PV manufacturing, performance, cost, and applications, and another step toward accomplishing the DOE PV Program's overall mission.

48 CFR 47.207-2 - Duration of contract and time of performance.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... performance of segments of a major job; e.g., an office relocation for which the work phases must be... time of performance. 47.207-2 Section 47.207-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL...-Related Services 47.207-2 Duration of contract and time of performance. The contracting officer shall— (a...

A performance incentive contract that pays off for all parties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krummrich, C.R.; Johnston, R.E.; Crist, T.W.

1995-01-01

The Western Business Unit Bakersfield drilling department of Chevron, U.S.A. Production Company developed a drilling performance incentive contract that was implemented during 1994 in the Lost Hills field of California. The performance incentive contract (PIC) financially rewarded all of the drilling contractor's rig employees for outperforming pre-established drilling performance goals. The key elements of the performance incentive program are: (1) Goals that rigger incentives are based on cost categories that are controllable by the drilling team; (2) Goals were established using a database of past years performance; (3) Goals that are not achieved negatively impact the incentive earned in an effort to deter repeated errors; (4) Accidents that occur on the job negatively impact the incentive earned; (5) Administration of the program is not time consuming. The results of using an incentive contract in the Lost Hills drilling program are: (1) Time and cost of operations are reduced; (2) The results are measurable and repeatable; (3) A team environment develops in which ideas are shared and acted upon by crew members and supervisory personnel

The Use of Performance Incentives in DOD Contracting

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hildebrandt, Gregory G

1998-01-01

.... Such contracts may have renewed policy relevance today because of both the change from detailed design-to-performance specifications and the implementation of Cost as an Independent Variable (CAIV...

Residential energy contracts and the 28 day rule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Littlechild, Stephen

2006-01-01

What measures are needed to protect customers when a utility market is first opened to competition? In the UK, residential (domestic) customers must be able to terminate energy contracts at 28 days' notice. This rule was introduced as a transitional protection for customers and for competition. However, the regulatory justification for the rule seems to have evolved over time. Removing the rule could have a number of advantages, including the development of fixed-price fixed-term contracts. The advantages of retaining the rule are questionable. In other retail sectors there is no regulatory concern or requirement of this kind. UK electricity suppliers have begun to offer capped prices for specified periods of time, suggesting that there is a growing customer demand for this. Fixed-price fixed-term contracts are a common form of competition in Scandinavia. The 28 day rule no longer seems necessary to protect customers and is more likely to distort than to protect competition. In retrospect, it would have been preferable not to introduce the rule in the first place. (author)

Contracting and building renovation - does it work together?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tritthart, Wibke; Bruner-Lienhart, Susanne [Inter-Univ. Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture, Graz (Austria); Bleyl, Jan W.; Bucar, Gerhard [Graz Energy Agency (Austria)

2007-07-01

The renovation or refurbishment is an important point in the life cycle of a building that makes it possible to achieve both environmental and climate protection goals and a higher quality of living of the inhabitants. However, lack of money often leads to a renovation that covers only the basic requirements, whereas measures that are valuable in a long term perspective like energy saving measures are not realised. Energy performance contracting (EPC) is widely used as an instrument to reduce long term operating costs significantly by guaranteed energy savings. An energy service company (ESCo) implements saving technologies, especially in the field of heating, HVAC, lighting and plug loads, and in particular in public buildings. It is the aim of this paper to investigate the possibilities to incorporate construction measures like building envelope insulation into standard energy performance contracting.For this purpose a qualitative survey is presented that was performed among experts and stakeholders in the business: ESCos, building owners and facility managers, representatives of construction companies and financing institutions were interviewed. The focus was on their experiences with such projects, on difficulties that arose or barriers that exist from their point of view and on the chances they perceived. This provides the basis for identifying restraints and supporting factors for the integration of contracting and constructional measures.Three pilot projects that have been renovated in Austria are outlined subsequently. They are evaluated with respect to the contractual network between the project partners, types of guarantees and financing issues. Special emphasis is put on the assignment of tasks and the cash flow between the project partners. Various constellations of trades acted as energy service provider: a general contractor, an energy supply company, a consortium of a builder and a plumber. The projects reveal some differences to the standard energy

Nova Scotia electricity market : frameworks for renewable energy contracting and cogeneration contracting : discussion document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

The recent Electricity Marketplace Governance Committee of Nova Scotia report issued a number of recommendations regarding renewable and cogeneration sales to retail consumers, as well as recommendations for top-up, spill rates and back-up rates to complement the operation of independent generating facilities. This discussion paper examined issues which need to be addressed in order to implement the recommendations. The discussion paper also included recommendations relating to the purchase of cogeneration output by the Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) under long term power purchase agreements. The aim of the paper was to provide a basis for the further discussion of issues in preparation for the development of future rules and regulations. The first part of the document identified ways for buyers and sellers to arrange contracts, as well as issues that need to be addressed at the institutional level to enable arrangements. Options for financial contracts and physical contracts were reviewed.The second part of the document examined pricing issues in the context of both financial and physical contract arrangements. Resolutions for both sets of options were proposed. Energy pricing principles were reviewed, as well as various pricing options and issues related to the analysis of price requirements. It was concluded that in order to support the safe, reliable and economic supply of electricity, the design of the electricity market should enable maximum flexibility in contractual arrangements and facilitate competition in ways that do not harm other parties

A high performance data parallel tensor contraction framework: Application to coupled electro-mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Poya, Roman; Gil, Antonio J.; Ortigosa, Rogelio

2017-07-01

The paper presents aspects of implementation of a new high performance tensor contraction framework for the numerical analysis of coupled and multi-physics problems on streaming architectures. In addition to explicit SIMD instructions and smart expression templates, the framework introduces domain specific constructs for the tensor cross product and its associated algebra recently rediscovered by Bonet et al. (2015, 2016) in the context of solid mechanics. The two key ingredients of the presented expression template engine are as follows. First, the capability to mathematically transform complex chains of operations to simpler equivalent expressions, while potentially avoiding routes with higher levels of computational complexity and, second, to perform a compile time depth-first or breadth-first search to find the optimal contraction indices of a large tensor network in order to minimise the number of floating point operations. For optimisations of tensor contraction such as loop transformation, loop fusion and data locality optimisations, the framework relies heavily on compile time technologies rather than source-to-source translation or JIT techniques. Every aspect of the framework is examined through relevant performance benchmarks, including the impact of data parallelism on the performance of isomorphic and nonisomorphic tensor products, the FLOP and memory I/O optimality in the evaluation of tensor networks, the compilation cost and memory footprint of the framework and the performance of tensor cross product kernels. The framework is then applied to finite element analysis of coupled electro-mechanical problems to assess the speed-ups achieved in kernel-based numerical integration of complex electroelastic energy functionals. In this context, domain-aware expression templates combined with SIMD instructions are shown to provide a significant speed-up over the classical low-level style programming techniques.

Learning Contracts in Undergraduate Courses: Impacts on Student Behaviors and Academic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Timothy; Scharf, Lauren F. V

2013-01-01

This project studied the effect of individualized, voluntary learning contracts for 18 students who performed poorly in the first part of the semester. Contracts were hypothesized to increase commitment and motivation, and lead to changes in behaviors and course performance. Self-reported prioritization and learning-related behaviors (completion…

Defense Department Profit and Contract Finance Policies and Their Effects on Contract and Contractor Performance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Arnold, Scot A; Harmon, Bruce R; Tyson, Karen W; Fasana, Kenton G; Wait, Christopher S

2009-01-01

.... The goal of profit policy is a contract price that reimburses the contractor for its costs, provides the necessary incentives to yield beneficial performance, and provides the contractor with sufficient risk reward...

Utility Energy Services Contracts Guide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2013-09-01

The UESC Guide is a compilation of samples and templates developed as a resource to help contracting officers implement task orders for UESCs under existing U.S. General Services Administration areawide contracts.

Defense Department Profit and Contract Finance Policies and Their Effects on Contract and Contractor Performance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Arnold, Scot A; Harmon, Bruce R; Tyson, Karen W; Fasana, Kenton G; Wait, Christopher S

2008-01-01

.... The goal of profit policy is a contract price that reimburses the contractor for its costs, provides the necessary incentives to yield beneficial performance, and to provide the contractor with sufficient risk reward...

Contractual Alliance Governance: Impact of Different Contract Functions on Alliance Performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Faems, D.L.M.; Alberink, Rutger; Groen, Arend J.; Klein Woolthuis, Rosalinde

2010-01-01

Recent research on alliance governance has emphasized that contracts can have both a control and coordination function. In this paper, we test the impact of these different contract functions on alliance performance. Conducting structural equation analyses on a sample of 270 Dutch technology

Use of performance standards in behavioral health carve-out contracts among Fortune 500 firms.

Science.gov (United States)

Merrick, E L; Garnick, D W; Horgan, C M; Goldin, D; Hodgkin, D; Sciegaj, M

1999-06-25

To determine the prevalence and nature of performance standards in specialty managed behavioral healthcare contracts among Fortune 500 companies. This was a cross-sectional survey of all companies listed on the Fortune 500 during 1994, 1995, or both. From April 1997 to May 1998 we conducted a mailed survey with phone follow-up. Of the 68% of firms that responded, over one third reported carve-out contracts. The survey focused on whether companies had behavioral health carve-out contracts with specialty vendors and characteristics of these contracts, including the use of performance standards. More than three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies reporting specialty behavioral healthcare contracts used at least one performance standard. Most common were administrative standards (70.2%) and customer service standards (69.4%). About half of the companies used quality standards, whereas only a third used provider-related standards. Most (58.8%) companies using performance standards also specified financial consequences. Larger Fortune 500 firms were significantly more likely to use performance standards. Risk contracts and contracts that included all covered employees were also more likely to include some categories of standards. Administrative and customer service standards may be most common because companies find it easier to specify those standards, especially compared with clinical quality measures. To the extent that employers want to obtain the most value from their behavioral healthcare purchasing, we expect that more will begin to adopt quality standards in their contracts, especially as performance measures become more refined. Reliance on accreditation, however, is an alternative approach for employers.

Using performance-based contracts to foster innovation in outsourced service delivery

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sumo, Regien; van der Valk, Wendy; Duijsters, Geert; van Weele, Arjan

2016-01-01

While many scholars claim that Performance-based Contracts (PBCs) foster supplier-led innovation, empirical research into their actual use and effects remains limited. We therefore explore two cases of IT outsourcing through such contracts to see whether, and if so how, PBCs foster innovation. Our

On the legal nature of electricity supply contracts concluded by electricity companies and power stations generating electricity from renewable energy sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrmann, B.J.

1998-01-01

Section 2 of the German Act for enhanced use of electricity from renewable energy sources (StEG) defines the obligation to contract but not the contractual obligations, i.e. the conditions of performance of the contract (supply and purchase of electricity and the legal obligations of contractors). The analysis here shows that characterising this mandatory contract required by the act as an agreement of purchase and sale more appropriately describes the legal nature of the contract and the intent of the legislator than other contracts for supply and purchase of electricity, as for instance those concluded by electric utilities and their customers. One specific aspect elaborated by the author is that the StEG does not constitute an obligation to supply on the part of the renewable energy generating power station, so that the power station operator is not obliged to ensure availability of the electricity at any time or in terms of supplies that can be called off by the purchasing utility, whereas the electric utility is obliged by section 2 of the StEG to purchase the contractual amounts from the generating station. (orig./CB) [de

48 CFR 970.2303-3 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... facility, the clause at 48 CFR 970.5223-1, Integration of Environment, Safety and Health into Work Planning..., Renewable Energy Technologies, Occupational Safety and Drug-Free Work Place 970.2303-3 Contract clauses. (a) When work under management and operating contracts and subcontracts thereunder is to be performed at a...

Nuclear Energy Gradients for Internally Contracted Complete Active Space Second-Order Perturbation Theory: Multistate Extensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlaisavljevich, Bess; Shiozaki, Toru

2016-08-09

We report the development of the theory and computer program for analytical nuclear energy gradients for (extended) multistate complete active space perturbation theory (CASPT2) with full internal contraction. The vertical shifts are also considered in this work. This is an extension of the fully internally contracted CASPT2 nuclear gradient program recently developed for a state-specific variant by us [MacLeod and Shiozaki, J. Chem. Phys. 2015, 142, 051103]; in this extension, the so-called λ equation is solved to account for the variation of the multistate CASPT2 energies with respect to the change in the amplitudes obtained in the preceding state-specific CASPT2 calculations, and the Z vector equations are modified accordingly. The program is parallelized using the MPI3 remote memory access protocol that allows us to perform efficient one-sided communication. The optimized geometries of the ground and excited states of a copper corrole and benzophenone are presented as numerical examples. The code is publicly available under the GNU General Public License.

State-Ademe contracts on objectives and performance 2016-2019. Synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-04-01

This publication indicates the main strategic orientations of the ADEME from 2016 to 2019 as they have been defined in contracts between the French State and this public agency. It indicates how this agency promotes and supports innovation and prepares the future of the ecological and energy transition, and how it contributes to the collective expertise for an ecological and energy transition. It also presents operational objectives by distinguishing transverse, thematic (energy, climate change and air quality, circular economy) and support (governance, budgetary, financial and logistic management) objectives

Analysis of Air Force Wartime Contracted Construction Project Performance

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-26

KPIs ) identified in current literature. Chan’s meta-analysis of KPIs found that time and cost are the primary objective indicators of a successful...Smith, Currie & Hancock, 2009). 46 Key performance indicators ( KPI ) were also used as input factors to analyze differences between contracts...Chan, et al. (2002) performed a meta-analysis of KPIs , as determined by construction researchers. They found that the most predictive performance

Fossil Energy Program report, 1 October 1976--30 September 1977. [Objectives, progress and plans for each contract or project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunning, H. Neal; Batchelor, James; Crim, Winfred; Furlong, Leroy; Harvie, Robert; Hunter, Juanita; Jones, William; Karnes, Anita; Ludwig, Linda; Miller, C. Lowell; Mills, G. Alex; Sacks, Stephen; Watkins, J. Wade; Watson, Coni; Weaver, Val

1978-08-01

This report is an integral part of the documentation system of the Fossil Energy Program of the Department of Energy. It contains descriptions of each contract and project, arranged in conformance with planning and budgetary documents. The results of contracts are reported at various intervals, depending on the type of contract, but at least annually. These reports are not listed individually in the ''Publications'' sections but are available from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia 22161. The Department of Energy also publishes several abstract journals: Fossil Energy Update, Energy Research Abstracts, and Energy Abstracts for Policy Analysis.

Getting more than contractually guaranteed. Five years energy conservation contracting in the clinic Bremerhaven; Mehr bekommen als vertraglich garantiert. Fuenf Jahre Energiespar-Contracting im Klinikum Bremerhaven

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Breuer, Juergen [Klinikum Bremerhaven-Reinkenheide (Germany); Habel, Birger; Harneit, Maurice; Kahmann, Lars [Siemens AG, Region Nord (Germany). Building Technologies Div.

2012-04-15

Most hospitals in Germany virtually throw their money out the window - for heat that could be produced more efficiently, for air that would not be worked up or for coldness which is produced at the wrong place at the wrong time and with low efficiency. Quite different in the Hospital Bremerhaven-Reinkenheide (Bremerhaven, Federal Republic of Germany): In 2004, the hospital administration decided for energetic modernization of building systems based on energy performance contracting with 25% of guaranteed conservation.

Salinity Gradient Energy from Expansion and Contraction of Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) Hydrogels.

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Tri Quang; Cao, Vinh Duy; Do, Nu Bich Duyen; Christoffersen, Trine Eker; Wang, Wei; Kjøniksen, Anna-Lena

2018-06-22

Salinity gradients exhibit a great potential for production of renewable energy. Several techniques such as pressure-retarded osmosis and reverse electrodialysis have been employed to extract this energy. Unfortunately, these techniques are restricted by the high costs of membranes and problems with membrane fouling. However, the expansion and contraction of hydrogels can be a new and cheaper way to harvest energy from salinity gradients since the hydrogels swell in freshwater and shrink in saltwater. We have examined the effect of cross-linker concentration and different external loads on the energy recovered for this type of energy-producing systems. Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) hydrogels were cross-linked with glutaraldehyde to produce hydrogels with excellent expansion and contraction properties. Increasing the cross-linker concentration markedly improved the energy that could be recovered from the hydrogels, especially at high external loads. A swollen hydrogel of 60 g could recover more than 1800 mJ when utilizing a high cross-linker concentration, and the maximum amount of energy produced per gram of polymer was 3.4 J/g. Although more energy is recovered at high cross-linking densities, the maximum amount of energy produced per gram of polymer is highest at an intermediate cross-linking concentration. Energy recovery was reduced when the salt concentration was increased for the low-concentration saline solution. The results illustrate that hydrogels are promising for salinity gradient energy recovery, and that optimizing the systems significantly increases the amount of energy that can be recovered.

Contracting for Efficiency. A Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-04-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

Contracting for Efficiency: A Best Practices Guide for Energy Efficient Product Procurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bunch, Saralyn [Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Washington, DC (United States); Payne, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2017-11-01

The requirement to buy energy- and water-efficient products applies to federal purchases made through any procurement pathway (e.g., purchase cards, e-retailers, and solicitations) and to a wide variety of federal projects. The Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP's) Buy Energy-Efficient Products buyer overview fact sheet and Contracting for Efficiency best practices guide for product procurement are designed to support federal buyers in the purchase of energy- and water-efficient products.

Managing wind turbine reliability and maintenance via performance-based contract

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jin, Tongdan; Ding, Yi; Guo, Huairui

2012-01-01

between system cost, reliability and spare parts stocking. This analytical insight into the system performance allows the turbine manufacturer to optimize design, production, and after-sales services. The study aims to create a theoretical basis to facilitate the transition of the maintenance paradigm......Performance-based contracting (PBC) is reshaping the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of capital equipment. Under the PBC scheme, we propose a holistic approach for lowering the cost of wind turbine ownership while meeting the availability requirement. Our effects are focused on integrated...... firms who design and market wind turbines, and also provide maintenance and repair service. PBC differs from conventional service contracts in that the wind farmers compensate the service provider for the system performance, not the spare parts and repair labor. We explore the analytical relationship...

Performance-based potential for residential energy efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Performance-based potential for residential energy efficiency

2013-01-15

Energy performance contracts (EPCs) have proven an effective mechanism for increasing energy efficiency in nearly all sectors of the economy since their introduction nearly 30 years ago. In the modern form, activities undertaken as part of an EPC are scoped and implemented by experts with specialized technical knowledge, financed by commercial lenders, and enable a facility owner to limit risk and investment of time and resources while receiving the rewards of improved energy performance. This report provides a review of the experiences of the US with EPCs and discusses the possibilities for the residential sector to utilize EPCs. Notably absent from the EPC market is the residential segment. Historically, research has shown that the residential sector varies in several key ways from markets segments where EPCs have proven successful, including: high degree of heterogeneity of energy use characteristics among and within households, comparatively small quantity of energy consumed per residence, limited access to information about energy consumption and savings potential, and market inefficiencies that constrain the value of efficiency measures. However, the combination of recent technological advances in automated metering infrastructure, flexible financing options, and the expansion of competitive wholesale electricity markets to include energy efficiency as a biddable supply-side resource present an opportunity for EPC-like efforts to successfully engage the residential sector, albeit following a different model than has been used in EPCs traditionally.(Author)

Framing Performance Magic: The Role of Contract, Discourse and Effect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Landman, Todd

2013-10-01

Full Text Available A wide continuum of genres in performance magic has developed since the Victorian period, including stage magic, street magic, close-up magic, comedy magic, mentalism, bizarre and mystery entertainment. Each of these genres frames its performance on a different contract between the performer and the audience, the discourse used during performance and the effect on the audience both in terms of its perception of what has transpired and the personal meaning attached to the effect. This article examines this interplay between contract, discourse and effect in theory and practice. The article constructs a typology of performance magic which is then explored through an examination of audience perception and feedback from a drama workshop and focus group conducted at the University of Huddersfield in October 2012. The group experienced three performances framed around the idea of the magician, the mentalist, and the mystic, and the ensuing discussion revealed a wide range of insights into these different framings of performance. The reactions and ensuing discussions involved different understandings of trust, plausibility, explanation, authority, and dynamic interaction.

Performance Optimization of Tensor Contraction Expressions for Many Body Methods in Quantum Chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartono, Albert; Lu, Qingda; Henretty, Thomas; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; Zhang, Huaijian; Baumgartner, Gerald; Bernholdt, David E.; Nooijen, Marcel; Pitzer, Russell M.; Ramanujam, J.; Sadayappan, Ponnuswamy

2009-01-01

Complex tensor contraction expressions arise in accurate electronic structure models in quantum chemistry, such as the coupled cluster method. This paper addresses two complementary aspects of performance optimization of such tensor contraction expressions. Transformations using algebraic properties of commutativity and associativity can be used to significantly decrease the number of arithmetic operations required for evaluation of these expressions. The identification of common subexpressions among a set of tensor contraction expressions can result in a reduction of the total number of operations required to evaluate the tensor contractions. The first part of the paper describes an effective algorithm for operation minimization with common subexpression identification and demonstrates its effectiveness on tensor contraction expressions for coupled cluster equations. The second part of the paper highlights the importance of data layout transformation in the optimization of tensor contraction computations on modern processors. A number of considerations such as minimization of cache misses and utilization of multimedia vector instructions are discussed. A library for efficient index permutation of multi-dimensional tensors is described and experimental performance data is provided that demonstrates its effectiveness.

Performance Optimization of Tensor Contraction Expressions for Many Body Methods in Quantum Chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; Bernholdt, David E.; Pitzer, R.M.; Sadayappan, Ponnuswamy

2009-01-01

Complex tensor contraction expressions arise in accurate electronic structure models in quantum chemistry, such as the coupled cluster method. This paper addresses two complementary aspects of performance optimization of such tensor contraction expressions. Transformations using algebraic properties of commutativity and associativity can be used to significantly decrease the number of arithmetic operations required for evaluation of these expressions. The identification of common subexpressions among a set of tensor contraction expressions can result in a reduction of the total number of operations required to evaluate the tensor contractions. The first part of the paper describes an effective algorithm for operation minimization with common subexpression identification and demonstrates its effectiveness on tensor contraction expressions for coupled cluster equations. The second part of the paper highlights the importance of data layout transformation in the optimization of tensor contraction computations on modern processors. A number of considerations, such as minimization of cache misses and utilization of multimedia vector instructions, are discussed. A library for efficient index permutation of multidimensional tensors is described, and experimental performance data is provided that demonstrates its effectiveness.

Collaboration in Action: Measuring and Improving Contracting Performance in the University of California Contracting Network

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Tam; Bowman-Carpio, LeeAnna; Buscher, Nate; Davidson, Pamela; Ford, Jennifer J.; Jenkins, Erick; Kalay, Hillary Noll; Nakazono, Terry; Orescan, Helene; Sak, Rachael; Shin, Irene

2017-01-01

In 2013, the University of California, Biomedical Research, Acceleration, Integration, and Development (UC BRAID) convened a regional network of contracting directors from the five University of California (UC) health campuses to: (i) increase collaboration, (ii) operationalize and measure common metrics as a basis for performance improvement…

Energy from wastes and the private waste contracting industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burnett, J.S.

1993-01-01

The focus of this ongoing work is the utilisation of general non hazardous industrial and commercial waste as an energy or fuel source. Whereas much of the existing experience in energy from waste (EFW) is related to municipal solid wastes (MSW), there is very little direct experience with these other waste streams and the shortage of reliable information in this field is notoriously lacking. It is important to have a good understanding of the private waste contracting industry (pwci) in order to establish the conditions under which energy from waste technologies may play an economically and technically feasible role within that industry's development. The Non Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) has encouraged entrepreneurial interest through premium payments for electricity generated from renewable sources. (author)

40-Hz square-wave stimulation requires less energy to produce muscle contraction: compared with the TASER® X26 conducted energy weapon.

Science.gov (United States)

Comeaux, James A; Jauchem, James R; Cox, D Duane; Crane, Carrie C; D'Andrea, John A

2013-07-01

Conducted energy weapons (CEWs) (including the Advanced TASER(®) X26 model produced by TASER International, Inc.) incapacitate individuals by causing muscle contractions. In this study using anesthetized swine, the potential incapacitating effect of primarily monophasic, 19-Hz voltage imposed by the commercial CEW was compared with the effect of voltages imposed by a laboratory device that created 40-Hz square waves. Forces of muscle contraction were measured with the use of strain gauges. Stimulation with 40-Hz square waves required less pulse energy than stimulation with the commercial CEW to produce similar muscle contraction. The square-pulse stimulation, at the higher repetition rate, caused a more complete tetanus at a lower energy. Use of such a simple shape of waveform may be used to make future nonlethal weapon devices more efficient. © 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the U.S.A.

The effects of area contraction on the performance of UNITEN's shock tube: Numerical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohsen, A M; Yusoff, M Z; Al-Falahi, A

2013-01-01

Numerical study into the effects of area contraction on shock tube performance has been reported in this paper. The shock tube is an important component of high speed fluid flow test facility was designed and built at the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). In the above mentioned facility, a small area contraction, in form of a bush, was placed adjacent to the diaphragm section to facilitate the diaphragm rupturing process when the pressure ratio across the diaphragm increases to a certain value. To investigate the effects of the small area contraction on facility performance, numerical simulations were conducted at different operating conditions (diaphragm pressure ratios P 4 /P 1 of 10, 15, and 20). A two-dimensional time-accurate Navier-Stokes CFD solver was used to simulate the transient flow in the facility with and without area contraction. The numerical results show that the facility performance is influenced by area contraction in the diaphragm section. For instance, when operating the facility with area contraction using diaphragm pressure ratio (P 4 /P 1 ) of 10, the shock wave strength and shock wave speed decrease by 18% and 8% respectively.

Renewable Energy Contract Development Best Practices

Science.gov (United States)

This page provides information on how available resources can help organizations effectively navigate the solar contract development process with the goal of RFP and contract transparency, completeness, and accountability of all involved parties.

PERFORMANCE OF INTEGRATED CONTRACT AND INDEPENDENT BROILER PRODUCTION IN EAST LOMBOK, WEST NUSA TENGGARA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Indarsih

2012-03-01

Full Text Available This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of vertical integration and independent poultry producers in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, during the period July to September 2011. Data was collected from a primary field survey of integrated contract and independent producers. The sample producers were interviewed to collect the required data using a questioner. Supporting data were obtained from the relevant institution, and poultry association. Thirty integrated contract and fourteen independent growers were involved to measure farms performance with references on numerical performance (NP and farmer returns. This study indicates that the NP of integrated contract and independent farms were 315.7 and 317.1, respectively, both was higher than the standard that is 200. Returns for integrated contract farmers were lower than the independent when calculated based on the production cycle when this study was undertaken. Integrated contract farmers were attractive to various types of professions, the graduated people of university or college (43.3% was the most, whilst independent farmers were dominated by senior high school (50% with higher experience which was more than 20 years.

The Performance Contracting Concept, Appendix: A Critique of the Theory

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Stucker, James P

1971-01-01

.... A. Simon, and Optimal Rewards in Incentive Systems, a Ph.D. dissertation by C. N. Yowell, Jr. These analyses could provide a foundation for a fully articulated theory of performance contracting...

Performance-based contracting in public procurement of developing countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ambaw, Baynesagn Asfaw

2017-01-01

This research is focused on the application of Performance-based Contracting (PBC) in public procurement system of developing countries. We define five research objectives (ROs) that focus on this common issue. The first objective (RO1) mainly deals with the theory behind and the theoretical

Bilateral electric energy contracts: return and risk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gunn, Laura K.; Silva, Elisa B.; Correia, Paulo B. [State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil). College of Mechanical Engineering

2009-07-01

In Brazil electricity is traded through three segments: the spot market that balances offer and demand, with prices calculated by a cost-based computational model; the regulated market , where prices are settled in public auctions, and the free market for bilateral contracts. As spot and regulated market prices are public information, a seller is able to calculate his opportunity price to trade a bilateral contract in the free market by using the non-arbitrage principle. Thus, the seller searches the price of a bilateral contract in the free market that balances his/her revenues with the value expected in case it were negotiated in the regulated and the spot market. Besides the expected revenue, the seller may also consider the CVaR to measure the risk of her/his bilateral contract in the free market. So this paper develops a binomial lattice approach to price bilateral contracts in the free market, considering the seller's opportunity of negotiations in both regulated and spot markets, and measuring the contract risk directly. (author)

Performance-based contracting in home-care work in The Netherlands: professionalism under pressure?

Science.gov (United States)

Oomkens, Rosanne; Hoogenboom, Marcel; Knijn, Trudie

2016-07-01

Our aim was to improve the understanding of the relationships between performance-based contracting, management supportiveness and professionalism in home care. Using path analysis, this article explores the relationships between home-care workers' perceptions of management support, implementation of performance-based contracting (i.e. use of strict time registration rules and cost-efficiency measures) and autonomy and intrinsic job satisfaction. We hypothesised that: use of strict time registration rules and cost-efficiency measures relates to lower levels of autonomy and intrinsic job satisfaction (H1); there is an indirect relationship between use of strict time registration rules and use of cost-efficiency measures and intrinsic job satisfaction via autonomy (H2); higher levels of management support relate to the use of looser time registration rules and less use of cost-efficiency measures (H3); and higher levels of management support relate to higher levels of autonomy and intrinsic job satisfaction (H4). We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 of a sample of Dutch home-care workers (N = 156, response rate = 34%). Overall, our study suggests that the consequences of performance-based contracting for professionalism are ambiguous. More specifically, using strict time registration rules is related to lower levels of autonomy, whereas using cost-efficiency measures does not seem to affect autonomy (H1). Performance-based contracting has no consequences for the level of fulfilment home-care workers find in their job, as neither of the two contracting dimensions measured was directly or indirectly related to intrinsic job satisfaction (H1, H2). The role of managers must be taken into account when studying performance-based contracting, because perceived higher management support is related to managers' less frequent use of both strict time registration rules and of cost-efficiency measures (H3). The insight we gained into the importance of

International offshore petroleum contracts: Towards the compatibility of energy need and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Zhiguo.

1993-01-01

The legal and commercial relationships between petroleum producing countries and foreign oil companies have been defined by traditional oil concession agreements before the 1950s, and since then by modern petroleum contracts. The development policies behind the evolution of various arrangements for offshore petroleum exploration are scrutinized. By studying examples of contracts in four developing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and China), the issues of mutuality of interests and environmental sustainability that are reflected in both the structure and substance of modern petroleum contracts are examined. Major findings are that modern petroleum contracts are generally able to achieve and maintain a necessary balance of rights, interests and benefits between the contracting parties, but have failed to produce any balance between the extraction of resources and environmental sustainability. The existing contractual systems have failed in principle to provide adequate environmental regulation and have not addressed the issue of sustainable development at all. Arrangements focusing on economic interests are inappropriate for future energy developments, but through the proper use of contract terms that contain elements favouring sustainable development, economic and environmental interests can nevertheless be accomodated and served at the same time. Future petroleum agreements should recognize explicitly the inherent independence and coexistence between commerciality and sustainable development. 288 refs., 1 fig., 24 tabs

[The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency performance evaluation at the management contract model].

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, Elka Maltez de Miranda; Costa, Ediná Alves

2010-11-01

The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) is supervised by the Ministry of Health by means of a management contract, a performance evaluation tool. This case study was aimed at describing and analyzing Anvisa's performance evaluation model based on the agency's institutional purpose, according to the following analytical categories: the management contract formalization, evaluation tools, evaluators and institutional performance. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis revealed that Anvisa signed only one management contract with the Ministry of Health in 1999, updated by four additive terms. The Collegiate Board of Directors and the Advisory Center for Strategic Management play the role of Anvisa's internal evaluators and an Assessing Committee, comprising the Ministry of Health, constitutes its external evaluator. Three phases were identified in the evaluation model: the structuring of the new management model (1999-2000), legitimation regarding the productive segment (2001-2004) and widespread legitimation (2005). The best performance was presented in 2000 (86.05%) and the worst in 2004 (40.00%). The evaluation model was shown to have contributed little towards the agency's institutional purpose and the effectiveness measurement of the implemented actions.

PERFORMANCE OF INTEGRATED CONTRACT AND INDEPENDENT BROILER PRODUCTION IN EAST LOMBOK, WEST NUSA TENGGARA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Indarsih

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of vertical integration and independentpoultry producers in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, during the period July to September 2011.Data was collected from a primary field survey of integrated contract and independent producers. Thesample producers were interviewed to collect the required data using a questioner. Supporting data wereobtained from the relevant institution, and poultry association. Thirty integrated contract and fourteenindependent growers were involved to measure farm’s performance with references on numericalperformance (NP and farmer’ returns. This study indicates that the NP of integrated contract andindependent farms were 315.7 and 317.1, respectively, both was higher than the standard that is 200.Returns for integrated contract farmers were lower than the independent when calculated based on theproduction cycle when this study was undertaken. Integrated contract farmers were attractive to varioustypes of professions, the graduated people of university or college (43.3% was the most, whilstindependent farmers were dominated by senior high school (50% with higher experience which wasmore than 20 years.

Two 'hot buttons' in gas contracting: security performance and force majeure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, J.J.

1996-01-01

Two important developments in gas contracting issues are the 'force majeure' provisions and security for performance clauses. 'Force majeure' was defined as any acts of God or any acts of omission by a transporter of gas, which is excused by any event not within the control of the party claiming suspension. 'Force majeure' provisions need to be specifically negotiated in every case. These issues often arise in gas contracting situations, but the nature of Canada's non-litigious oil and gas industry is such that we have had little or no Canadian case law to assist in interpreting what these clauses mean. The 'force majeure' clause is basically meant to protect the parties from events outside normal business risk. The security of performance issue arises when the obligation of a supplier of gas to perform, and the obligation of a buyer of gas to pay, is unsecured, as would be the case for example, if one of the parties becomes bankrupt

Europe of energy: a contract to be urgently re-founded

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maisonneuve, Cecile

2014-04-01

In a first part, the author analyses and discusses the present situation of energy in Europe, and wanders whether it will turn to be something like a chaos foretold. The author notably outlines the too slow implementation of the European gas market, wanders about the actual existence of an electricity market, and outlines the weakened credibility of the European energy policy. In a second part, the author proposes a further analysis of this crisis of the European energy and tries to identify its origins and to show that, although ambitious, this project was founded on neither an actual vision nor means. Ambiguities of the Lisbon Treaty are outlined. The behaviour of member States is described as the triumph of the 'every-man for himself' principle, and the author wanders about the ability of the Commission in the search of a balanced position. In the third part, the author proposes guidelines for a re-foundation of the European energy contract. These guidelines are: to base the European energy policy on solidarity and sustainability, to favour the use of all energy sources by introducing a political coordination between member States, and to put the Directorate General for Energy (DG Energy or ENER) at the heart of the governance of the European energy policy

48 CFR 916.307 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clauses. 916.307 Section 916.307 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Cost-Reimbursement Contracts 916.307 Contract clauses. (g) Insert the...

Natural gas contracts in efficient portfolios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sutherland, R.J.

1994-12-01

This report addresses the {open_quotes}contracts portfolio{close_quotes} issue of natural gas contracts in support of the Domestic Natural Gas and Oil Initiative (DGOI) published by the U.S. Department of Energy in 1994. The analysis is a result of a collaborative effort with the Public Service Commission of the State of Maryland to consider {open_quotes}reforms that enhance the industry`s competitiveness{close_quotes}. The initial focus of our collaborative effort was on gas purchasing and contract portfolios; however, it became apparent that efficient contracting to purchase and use gas requires a broader consideration of regulatory reform. Efficient portfolios are obtained when the holder of the portfolio is affected by and is responsible for the performance of the portfolio. Natural gas distribution companies may prefer a diversity of contracts, but the efficient use of gas requires that the local distribution company be held accountable for its own purchases. Ultimate customers are affected by their own portfolios, which they manage efficiently by making their own choices. The objectives of the DGOI, particularly the efficient use of gas, can be achieved when customers have access to suppliers of gas and energy services under an improved regulatory framework. The evolution of the natural gas market during the last 15 years is described to account for the changing preferences toward gas contracts. Long-term contracts for natural gas were prevalent before the early 1980s, primarily because gas producers had few options other than to sell to a single pipeline company, and this pipeline company, in turn, was the only seller to a gas distribution company.

10 CFR 603.1300 - Procurement contract.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Used in this Part § 603.1300 Procurement contract. A Federal Government procurement contract. It is a... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Procurement contract. 603.1300 Section 603.1300 Energy... Government and a State, a local government, or other non-government entity when the principal purpose of the...

State-Andra performance contract 2017-2021

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-12-01

After a brief presentation of the ANDRA and of its missions, of challenges faced by this agency in the elaboration of the performance contract in addressing waste issues, the role of time and life cycle for storages, and the collaboration with territories, this publication presents ANDRA's objectives for the period 2017-2021 according to six main strategic axes: to conduct a transformation of the agency, to set the environment and dialogue with society at the core of its action, to make Cigeo a collective success, to confirm the ANDRA's industrial excellence and to contribute the one of the whole sector, to develop, capitalise and transmit knowledge, to develop the public agency model as a reference for a safe waste management with a good and reasonable taking of challenges into account

Long-term energy supply contracts in European competition policy: Fuzzy not crazy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauteclocque, Adrien de; Glachant, Jean-Michel

2009-01-01

Long-term supply contracts often have ambiguous effects on the competitive structure, investment and consumer welfare in the long term. In the new market context, these effects are likely to be worsened and thus even harder to assess. Since liberalization and especially since the release of the Energy Sector Inquiry in early 2007, the portfolio of long-term supply contracts of the former incumbents have become a priority for review by the European Commission and the national competition authorities. It is widely believed that European Competition authorities take a dogmatic view on these contracts and systemically emphasize the risk of foreclosure over their positive effects on investment and operation. This paper depicts the methodology that has emerged in the recent line of cases and argues that this interpretation is largely misguided. It shows that a multiple-step approach is used to reduce regulation costs and balance anti-competitive effects with potential efficiency gains. However, if an economic approach is now clearly implemented, competition policy is constrained by the procedural aspect of the legal process and the remedies imposed remain open for discussion.

Report on inspection regarding small business contracting statistics reporting and presentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-04-01

On September 11, 1995, the Office of Inspections, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Energy (DOE), received an allegation regarding the accuracy of the Department`s small business contracting statistics in the Secretary of Energy`s Fiscal Year (FY) 1995 Performance Agreement with the President, entitled: {open_quotes}Performance Agreement Between the President of the United States William Jefferson Clinton and the Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O`Leary.{close_quotes} It was alleged that the FY 1995 Performance Agreement incorrectly communicated that the Department intended to increase small business contracting from 25 percent in FY 1994 to more than 34 percent in FY 1995. We subsequently received additional allegations that the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity (ED) had not issued a required annual report to Congress on the Department`s small business program since 1992 as required by the Department of Energy Act of 1978--Civilian Applications, as amended by Public Law 96-470, and may have provided incorrect information for use in Secretarial presentations on the Department`s small business program.

Share Contract Choices and Economic Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Salazar Espinoza, César Antonio

2015-01-01

framework, we estimate a dose-response function to study the formation of contracts and identify the marginal effects of changes in crew profit shares on fishing returns in Chilean artisanal fisheries. The results support share contract choices based on bargaining power, monitoring costs, technology, state...... of fishing resources, and outside options. We find significant effects of increasing crew profit shares on vessel owner returns in the interval (0.25, 0.65). The results vary across fisheries, however. While the effects are not significant in the fish group, they are larger and robust for molluscs...

A New Availability-Payment Model for Pricing Performance-Based Logistics Contracts

Science.gov (United States)

2014-05-01

Grant number: N00244‐13‐1‐0009 A New “Availability‐ Payment ”  Model  for Pricing Performance‐ Based Logistics Contracts A. KashaniPour, X. Zhu, P...DATE MAY 2014 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2014 to 00-00-2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A New ’Availability‐ Payment ’ Model for...is how the  payment   model  in the contract  quantifies the contractor’s  performance for awarding incentives  or penalties Discrete‐Event Simulator ut

48 CFR 916.504 - Indefinite-quantity contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... indefinite-quantity, multiple award contracts to ensure that adequate consideration exists to contractually... contracts. 916.504 Section 916.504 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Indefinite-Delivery Contracts 916.504 Indefinite-quantity...

Skeletal muscle fiber type composition and performance during repeated bouts of maximal, concentric contractions

Science.gov (United States)

Colliander, E. B.; Dudley, G. A.; Tesch, P. A.

1988-01-01

Force output and fatigue and recovery patterns were studied during intermittent short-term exercise. 27 men performed three bouts of 30 maximal unilateral knee extensions on 2 different occasions. Blood flow was maintained or occluded during recovery periods (60 s). Blood flow was restricted by inflating a pneumatic cuff placed around the proximal thigh. Muscle biopsies from vastus lateralis were analyzed for identification of fast twitch (FT) and slow twitch (ST) fibers and relative FT area. Peak torque decreased during each bout of exercise and more when blood flow was restricted during recovery. Initial peak torque (IPT) and average peak torque (APT) decreased over the three exercise bouts. This response was 3 fold greater without than with blood flow during recovery. IPT and APT decreased more in individuals with mainly FT fibers than in those with mainly ST fibers. It is suggested that performance during repeated bouts of maximal concentric contractions differs between individuals with different fiber type composition. Specifically, in high intensity, intermittent exercise with emphasis on anaerobic energy release a high FT composition may not necessarily be advantageous for performance.

From performance to performativity: The legitimization of US security contracting and its consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Krahmann, Elke

2017-12-01

Discussions about the legitimacy of private security companies (PSCs) in multilateral military interventions abound. This article looks at how the United States has sought to legitimize the outsourcing of security services to PSCs through performance-based contracting and performance assessments. Both mechanisms aim to demonstrate the effective provision of publicly desirable outcomes. However, the immaterial and socially constructed nature of security presents major problems for performance assessments in terms of observable and measurable outcomes. Performance has therefore given way to performativity - that is, the repetitive enactment of particular forms of behaviour and capabilities that are simply equated with security as an outcome. The implications of this development for the ways in which security has been conceptualized, implemented and experienced within US interventions have been profound. Ironically, the concern with performance has not encouraged PSCs to pay increased attention to their impacts on security environments and civilian populations, but has fostered a preoccupation with activities and measurable capabilities that can be easily assessed by government auditors.

Specification Section 01065S ES&H for Service Contracts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kirsch, Greg C. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2014-07-01

Section Includes: Requirements and guidelines in performance of work concerning protection of environment and property, and the safety and health of Contractors, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Department of Energy (DOE) employees, visitors to SNL, and members of the public. This Section is applicable only to Service Contracts that do not involve construction or construction-like activities. Construction and construction-like activities are covered by Section 01065, Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H) for Construction Contracts. The entire ES&H program shall focus on safe-by-design intent, understanding the technical basis for the work, identifying and controlling energy sources, unacceptable consequences, risk assessments, and positive verification.

Bonneville Purchasing Instructions. Appendix 14A, Contracting Officer`s Technical Representatives` Guide for Services Contracts.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1993-07-01

This guide outlines the duties of BPA personnel designated as Contracting Officers Technical Representatives (COTRs). The BPA Administrator gives contracting officers (COs) in BPA responsibility and authority for awarding and administering contracts. COs are authorized to designate other BPA employees to act as their representatives for purposes of contract administration, from the time of contract award until final receipt and acceptance of the contracted services. COTRs are the individuals primarily relied upon to perform technical contract administration functions. Similar functions for supply and construction contracts are performed by engineering representatives, construction inspectors, and inspectors. Although this Guide is written primarily with the COTR in mind, the concept and operation of teamwork is essential throughout the entire process of contract administration. The CO administers the contract during performance, but rarely has expertise in all of the relevant technical areas. Therefore, CO decisions rely on input from a team. The COTR is an indispensable member of that team. The instructions in this Guide are designed to facilitate this essential CO-COTR cooperation. COTR duties are usually additional to those required of the COTR in his or her assigned line organization. The COTR is still accountable to the line supervisor for performance of regularly-assigned duties. These duties are to be reflected appropriately in performance appraisals and job descriptions. For contract administration duties, however, the COTR reports directly to, and is accountable only to, the CO. The COTR`s supervisor must allow sufficient time to ensure that the COTR can adequately monitor the contract for technical compliance. This Guide is designed for COTRs who are performing service contract (including intergovernmental contract) administration functions as an adjunct to their normal technical duties.

Coordinating a Service Supply Chain under Arms Offset Program’s Intervention by Performance-Based Contracting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-Kuei Lin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates a support service supply chain for coordinating with a local third-party logistics provider by arms offset program’s intervention and develops a performance-based contracting framework for the coordinating problem, which remains scarce in the literatures. The performance-based contracting framework evaluates payments and profits for the support service by a game-theoretical approach with principal-agent model. We prove that the proposed framework is an effective tool in acquiring the balance between maximum profit and minimum payment for both parties in the coordinating problem without moral hazard issue. A numerical study consolidates the formulated schemes as contracting preference for both parties’ decision with a higher profit margin at a lower customer’s payment.

48 CFR 970.1504 - Contract pricing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract pricing. 970.1504 Section 970.1504 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AGENCY SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS DOE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATING CONTRACTS Contracting by Negotiation 970.1504 Contract pricing. ...

31 CFR 538.406 - Exportation of services; performance of service contracts; legal services.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Exportation of services; performance of service contracts; legal services. 538.406 Section 538.406 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations... SUDANESE SANCTIONS REGULATIONS Interpretations § 538.406 Exportation of services; performance of service...

48 CFR 947.7002 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clause. 947.7002 Section 947.7002 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACT MANAGEMENT TRANSPORTATION Foreign Travel 947.7002 Contract clause. When foreign travel may be required under the contract...

48 CFR 916.203-4 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clauses. 916.203-4 Section 916.203-4 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 916.203-4 Contract clauses. (d)(2) The...

Designation of Contracting Officers Representatives and Oversight Framework Could Be Improved for Contracts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-30

Sea Systems issue guidance to contracting officers to obtain a quality assurance surveillance plan for all service contracts, and ensure that the...prepare a quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP) for service contracts in order to facilitate assessment of contractor performance.12 Furthermore...that the contracting activities received and paid for goods or services that did not meet contract performance standards. At the time of the audit

78 FR 24736 - Energy Savings Performance Contracts: Extension of Comment Period

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-26

... Verification (M&V), financing procurement, and definition of risk and responsibilities. More detailed... legislated and executive-ordered energy, greenhouse gas, and water goals. These are delivered through project..., obtaining, and implementing project funding for energy projects through the use of ESPCs. ESPCs allow...

Administrative contracts

OpenAIRE

Vukićević-Petković Milica

2015-01-01

Administrative contracts are a special type of contract where usually one of the contracting parties is a public law body and which is concluded for the performance of public service and the realization of a public interest. They go a long way since its inception to its eventual final acceptance of all the legal systems. One of the enduring characteristics of this type of contract is their disquised or unnoticed existence. This is why only monitoring their development may lead to a complete u...

13 CFR 126.700 - What are the performance of work requirements for HUBZone contracts?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What are the performance of work... ADMINISTRATION HUBZONE PROGRAM Contract Performance Requirements § 126.700 What are the performance of work... meet the performance of work requirements set forth in § 125.6(c) of this chapter. (b) In addition to...

Role of performance measures in reengineering U.S. Department of Energy's management of environmental management programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murthy, K.S.; Harroun, W.P.

1996-01-01

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Rocky Flats) contributed to America's defense up to the end of the Cold War. It is one of several large US Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear industrial facilities, currently undergoing cleanup and closure. The Site was constructed in a sparsely populated area along the Rocky Mountain Foothills, near Denver, in 1952. In the 45 years since, Denver has grown to a major metropolitan area. Over 2 million people live within the Site's 50-mile radius. The Site is directly upstream of water supplies that serve over 300,000 people. As a result, accelerated cleanup, consolidation, reuse, and closure of the Site are the current essentials. The Site has had three management and operating (M and O) contractors since inception. In keeping with the shift in the Site's paradigm from one of weapon-parts production program to cleanup and closure project, DOE changed its contracting philosophy for the Site from the M and O type of contract to a Performance-based Incentive Fee Integrating Management contract (PBIF IMC). Doe selected the Site's fourth contractor as an IMC contractor in July 1995. Kaiser-Hill Company L.L.C. was awarded the contract and assumed IMC responsibility for the Site on July 1, 1995. Integral to this contract is the establishment and implementation of a performance measures system. Performance measures are the bases for incentives that motivate the IMC and the subcontractors working at Rocky Flats. This paper provides an overview of Performance Measures system practiced at Rocky Flats from July 1995 to December 1995. Also described are the developments in reengineering during the July 1995--March 1996 interval

48 CFR 942.270-2 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clause. 942.270-2 Section 942.270-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACT MANAGEMENT CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION AND AUDIT SERVICES Contract Administration Services 942.270-2 Contract clause. The clause at 952...

Photovoltaic Energy Program Contract Summary; Fiscal Year 1998

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Surek, T.

1999-02-16

This document provides individual summaries of some 200 photovoltaics research projects performed in house and by subcontractors to Department of Energy national laboratories and field offices, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Golden Field Office, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Albuquerque Field Office, and Boston Support Office. The document is divided into the following sections: research and development, technology development, and systems engineering and applications. Three indexes are included: performing organizations by name, performing organizations by state, and performing organizations by technology area.

Energy saving potential of energy services - experimentation on the life cycle of energy conversion equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupont, M.

2006-12-01

Energy efficiency services are growing in Europe but their role is still limited. In order to evaluate the potential, we focused first of all on policy, economical and environmental mechanisms that support their development. European natural gas and electricity markets, that are now almost wholly de-regulated, are analysed and compared to their historical structure. By introducing uncertainty on energy prices, this new deal translates better the real energy costs. Energy performance contracts (EPC) limit the impact of these uncertainties on the customer energy bills by guaranteeing a financial result. As a result of the modelling of these contracts, namely operation and maintenance ones, we prove that they transfer technical and financial risks from building owners to energy service companies (ESCO) making energy saving measures easier and less expensive at the same time. These contracts are relatively widespread for heating or compressed-air processes but remain marginal for air-conditioning systems. So new methods were needed to guarantee on the long terms the efficiency of air-conditioning systems demand (1) to master the process and its performances and (2) to be able to determine precisely the energy saving potential and its realisation costs. A detailed energy audit is thus necessary for which we propose a guidance. Conclusions of audits carried out prove that energy saving potential is mainly located in equipment management and control. These optimizations are not always carried out because of a lack of contractual incentive and due to the weaknesses of audit methods. Through the involvement of an independent expert, the mandatory and regular inspection of air-conditioning systems may allow to verify and guide such practices. A three-step analysis procedure has been developed in order to maximize the inspection potential and to get higher benefits from service contracts. (author)

The economical contracting management in Agricultural Cooperatives: tools for evaluating their performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Enrique Viña Echevarría

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The economic and management contracts involve strategic actions, legal and operational purposes that make possible to convert the goal of an organization on results that express the fulfillment of the mandates and satisfies customers on the basis of the duties and obligations set out in the negotiating document. This article aims to get inside into the performance evaluation of the management of the recruitment of Agricultural Cooperatives and to reflex about the insufficiencies evidenced in this process. To which we developed a theoretical valuation and economic procurement praxiological showing a group of deficiencies that have impacted in the contracts management The study was able to obtain, process, analyze, interpret and argue the problems associated with economic contracting and justify the need to propose a system of indicators to assess recruitment management Agricultural Cooperatives in the province of Sancti Spiritus, the results revealed the ineffectiveness of the process and the negative impact on the productive base.

The Contract Management Body of Knowledge: A Comparison of Contracting Competencies

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-01

and supply chain management policies in an effort to deliver higher returns for their companies ( KPMG , 2012). As purchasing becomes increasingly more...conservation, hazardous materials , and ozone-depleting substances (NCMA, 2011). Contract Structures (1.5) has to do with identifying specific contract types...discusses time and material contracts as well as cost, performance, and delivery incentives. Incentive and award-fee contracts pertaining to fixed-price

Understanding the Public Service Obligation in the Electricity Sector. Lessons for the Contracting Parties of the Energy Community Treaty

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karova, R. [Energy Community Secretariat, Vienna (Austria)

2012-01-15

The paper underlines that the EU energy acquis does not simply require the Contracting Parties to the Energy Community Treaty to liberalize their electricity markets, but it also provides for a 'safety net' to ensure the available of public services through the imposition of Public Service Obligations (PSO). Nevertheless, the paper points out that the present understanding of the PSOs in the Contracting Parties is not in compliance with the conditions provided byArtide 3 of the Electricity Directive. Therefore, it includes some policy recommendations and a proposal for introducing a duty of notification, which should be instructive for the Contracting Parties to improve their understanding of PSO in line with EU law, by thus effectively safeguarding the availability of public services in the electricity sector to their citizens without jeopardizing the effective electricity market liberalization.

48 CFR 916.405 - Cost-reimbursement incentive contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Cost-reimbursement incentive contracts. 916.405 Section 916.405 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Incentive Contracts 916.405 Cost-reimbursement...

10 CFR 603.200 - Contracting officer responsibilities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

....200 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Appropriate Use of Technology Investment Agreements § 603.200 Contracting officer responsibilities... contracting officer's judgment that the use of a TIA could benefit the RD&D objectives in ways that likely...

Energy performance certification as a signal of workplace quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parkinson, Aidan; De Jong, Robert; Cooke, Alison; Guthrie, Peter

2013-01-01

Energy performance labelling and certification have been introduced widely to address market failures affecting the uptake of energy efficient technologies, by providing a signal to support decision making during contracting processes. The UK has recently introduced the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) as a signal of building energy performance. The aims of this article are: to evaluate how valid EPC’s are signals of occupier satisfaction with office facilities; and to understand whether occupant attitudes towards environmental issues have affected commercial office rental values. This was achieved by surveying occupant satisfaction with their workplaces holistically using a novel multi-item rating scale which gathered 204 responses. Responses to this satisfaction scale were matched with the corresponding EPC and rental value of occupier’s workplaces. The satisfaction scale was found to be both a reliable and valid measure. The analysis found that EPC asset rating correlates significantly with occupant satisfaction with all facility attributes. Therefore, EPC ratings may be considered valid signals of overall facility satisfaction within the survey sample. Rental value was found to correlate significantly only with facility aesthetics. No evidence suggests rental value has been affected by occupants' perceptions towards the environmental impact of facilities. - Highlights: • A novel, internally consistent, and valid measure of office facility satisfaction. • EPC’s found to be a valid signal of overall facility satisfaction. • Historic rental value found to be an invalid measure of overall facility satisfaction. • No evidence suggests rental value has been affected by occupants' perceptions towards the environmental impact of facilities. • Occupants with stronger ties to landlords found to be more satisfied with office facilities

48 CFR 923.7003 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clauses. 923.7003... Efficiency, Renewable Energy Technologies, and Occupational Safety Programs 923.7003 Contract clauses. (a) A decision to include or not include environmental, safety and health clauses in DOE contracts shall be made...

Administrative contracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vukićević-Petković Milica

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Administrative contracts are a special type of contract where usually one of the contracting parties is a public law body and which is concluded for the performance of public service and the realization of a public interest. They go a long way since its inception to its eventual final acceptance of all the legal systems. One of the enduring characteristics of this type of contract is their disquised or unnoticed existence. This is why only monitoring their development may lead to a complete understanding of the importance and essence of this institution as well as the need for its complete legal regulation.

Cost-Sharing Contracts for Energy Saving and Emissions Reduction of a Supply Chain under the Conditions of Government Subsidies and a Carbon Tax

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Yuyin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available To study the cooperation of upstream and downstream enterprises of a supply chain in energy saving and emissions reduction, we establish a Stackelberg game model. The retailer moves first to decide a cost-sharing contract, then the manufacturer determines the energy-saving level, carbon-emission level, and wholesale price successively. In the end, the retailer determines the retail price. As a regulation, the government provides subsidies for energy-saving products, while imposing a carbon tax on the carbon emitted. The results show that (1 both the energy-saving cost-sharing (ECS and the carbon emissions reduction cost-sharing (CCS contracts are not the dominant strategy of the two parties by which they can facilitate energy savings and emissions reductions; (2 compared with single cost-sharing contracts, the bivariate cost-sharing (BCS contract for energy saving and emissions reduction is superior, although it still cannot realise prefect coordination of the supply chain; (3 government subsidy and carbon tax policies can promote the cooperation of both the upstream and downstream enterprises of the supply chain—a subsidy policy can always drive energy saving and emissions reductions, while a carbon tax policy does not always exert positive effects, as it depends on the initial level of pollution and the level of carbon tax; and (4 the subsidy policy reduces the coordination efficiency of the supply chain, while the influences of carbon tax policy upon the coordination efficiency relies on the initial carbon-emission level.

Performance report of the U.S. Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jefferson Lab

1999-01-01

Jefferson Lab, the newest of the US Department of Energy's 16 national laboratories, has been functioning effectively since its inception in 1984, first during construction and later during operations. As shown in this report, JLab aligns itself directly with DOE's strategic planning, both in terms of laboratory visions and plans and in terms of actual laboratory performance. Most importantly, JLab contributes significantly to DOE's Science and Technology mission in the area of nuclear physics, under the Office of Science. The laboratory practices continuous improvement and has made a number of important effectiveness and efficiency enhancements in recent years. Laboratory performance has been demonstrated by completion of the construction phase on cost and schedule, by exceeding technical specifications when coming on-line for physics research, and then - during operations in the mid- and late- 1990's - by the application of the performance measures in the laboratory's performance-based contract with DOE

Non-Performance Pay and Relational Contracting: Evidence from CEO Compensation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

DeVaro, Jed; Kim, Jin-Hyuk; Vikander, Nick

2017-01-01

compensation by invoking the idea of informal agreements, specifically the theory of relational contracting. We derive observable implications to distinguish relational from formal contracting and, using ExecuComp data, find that CEOs' annual cash and equity incentive payments positively correlate...... with the cyclical component of sales and respond to measures of persistence as relational contracting theory predicts....

Panel discussion : contract design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vallas, A.; Vegh, G.; McGee, M.; Zaremba, T.; Seshan, A.; Harricks, P.; Bertoldi, L.; Taylor, R.

2003-01-01

This session presented highlights of the comments of 8 panelists who discussed the issue of contract design. The new electricity market in Ontario has introduced the energy trader, who enters into a contract with the consumer, based on the spot price set by the Independent Electricity Market Operator. Every contract has a fixed price payer as well as floating-price payers. If the floating price for a given amount of energy is higher than the fixed price, then the consumer gets the difference. Confusion, however, arises with the purchase of retail physical power in the market, particularly in deciding a fixed rate that the consumer will be paying. Different billing options were also discussed with emphasis on mid to large retail customers that have portfolios in the tens of MW and up to 100 MW or more. figs

Panel discussion : contract design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vallas, A. [Sempra Energy Trading, Toronto, ON (Canada); Vegh, G. [MacLeod Dixon, Toronto, ON (Canada); McGee, M. [Energy Profiles Ltd., Etobicoke, ON (Canada); Zaremba, T. [Direct Energy Marketing, Calgary, AB (Canada); Seshan, A. [Larson and Toubro Information Technology, Toronto, ON (Canada); Harricks, P. [Gowlings, Toronto, ON (Canada); Bertoldi, L. [Borden Ladner Gervais, Toronto, ON (Canada); Taylor, R. [Hydro One Networks Inc., Markham, ON (Canada)

2003-05-01

This session presented highlights of the comments of 8 panelists who discussed the issue of contract design. The new electricity market in Ontario has introduced the energy trader, who enters into a contract with the consumer, based on the spot price set by the Independent Electricity Market Operator. Every contract has a fixed price payer as well as floating-price payers. If the floating price for a given amount of energy is higher than the fixed price, then the consumer gets the difference. Confusion, however, arises with the purchase of retail physical power in the market, particularly in deciding a fixed rate that the consumer will be paying. Different billing options were also discussed with emphasis on mid to large retail customers that have portfolios in the tens of MW and up to 100 MW or more. figs.

Experiments on supply chain contracting: effects of contract type and fairness concerns

OpenAIRE

Arabacı, Özge; Arabaci, Ozge

2013-01-01

In this thesis, we conduct experiments with human decision makers on supply chain contracting. We consider a simple manufacturer-retailer supply chain scenario where the retailer faces the newsvendor problem. Building on Sahin and Kaya (2011), we compare the experimental performance of three contract types (wholesale price, buyback and revenue sharing contracts) between the firms with theoretical predictions, and among each other. We are interested in the manufacturer’s contract parameter dec...

Energy saving potential of energy services - experimentation on the life cycle of energy conversion equipment; Potentiel d'economies d'energie par les services energetiques - application au cycle de vie des equipements de conversion de l'energie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dupont, M

2006-12-15

Energy efficiency services are growing in Europe but their role is still limited. In order to evaluate the potential, we focused first of all on policy, economical and environmental mechanisms that support their development. European natural gas and electricity markets, that are now almost wholly de-regulated, are analysed and compared to their historical structure. By introducing uncertainty on energy prices, this new deal translates better the real energy costs. Energy performance contracts (EPC) limit the impact of these uncertainties on the customer energy bills by guaranteeing a financial result. As a result of the modelling of these contracts, namely operation and maintenance ones, we prove that they transfer technical and financial risks from building owners to energy service companies (ESCO) making energy saving measures easier and less expensive at the same time. These contracts are relatively widespread for heating or compressed-air processes but remain marginal for air-conditioning systems. So new methods were needed to guarantee on the long terms the efficiency of air-conditioning systems demand (1) to master the process and its performances and (2) to be able to determine precisely the energy saving potential and its realisation costs. A detailed energy audit is thus necessary for which we propose a guidance. Conclusions of audits carried out prove that energy saving potential is mainly located in equipment management and control. These optimizations are not always carried out because of a lack of contractual incentive and due to the weaknesses of audit methods. Through the involvement of an independent expert, the mandatory and regular inspection of air-conditioning systems may allow to verify and guide such practices. A three-step analysis procedure has been developed in order to maximize the inspection potential and to get higher benefits from service contracts. (author)

Energy conservation attenuates the loss of skeletal muscle excitability during intense contractions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Macdonald, W A; Ørtenblad, N; Nielsen, Ole Bækgaard

2007-01-01

High-frequency stimulation of skeletal muscle has long been associated with ionic perturbations, resulting in the loss of membrane excitability, which may prevent action potential propagation and result in skeletal muscle fatigue. Associated with intense skeletal muscle contractions are large...... with control muscles, the resting metabolites ATP, phosphocreatine, creatine, and lactate, as well as the resting muscle excitability as measured by M-waves, were unaffected by treatment with BTS plus dantrolene. Following 20 or 30 s of continuous 60-Hz stimulation, BTS-plus-dantrolene-treated muscles showed...... changes in muscle metabolites. However, the role of metabolites in the loss of muscle excitability is not clear. The metabolic state of isolated rat extensor digitorum longus muscles at 30 degrees C was manipulated by decreasing energy expenditure and thereby allowed investigation of the effects of energy...

31 CFR 545.406 - Exportation of services; performance of service contracts; legal services.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... of service contracts; legal services. 545.406 Section 545.406 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations... TALIBAN (AFGHANISTAN) SANCTIONS REGULATIONS Interpretations § 545.406 Exportation of services; performance... received in the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban. Note to § 545.406. See § 545.513 with...

Greening Public Buildings: ESCO-Contracting in Danish Municipalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesper Rohr Hansen

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents current research on Danish municipalities’ use of Energy Service Companies (ESCO as a way to improve the standard of public buildings and to increase energy efficiency. In recent years more and more municipalities have used ESCO-contracts to retrofit existing public buildings, and to make them more energy efficient. At the moment 30 municipalities (of the 98 municipalities in Denmark are involved in, or preparing, ESCO contracts. Nevertheless, ESCO-contracting still faces many challenges on the Danish market, as there is a widespread skepticism towards the concept amongst many stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the various experience gained so far by municipalities use of ESCO-contracting, the different approached to ESCO-contracting being used in practice, as well as the different viewpoints drivers and barriers behind the development. The strong growth in ESCO-contracts reflects that the ESCO-concept fits well with a number of present problems that municipalities are facing, as well as a flexible adaptation to the local context in different municipalities.

Glycolysis in contracting rat skeletal muscle is controlled by factors related to energy state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ørtenblad, Niels; Macdonald, Will A; Sahlin, Kent

2009-01-01

The control of glycolysis in contracting muscle is not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to examine whether activation of glycolysis is mediated by factors related to the energy state or by a direct effect of Ca2+ on the regulating enzymes. Extensor digitorum longus muscles from...... and 58% of those in Con respectively. Glycolytic rate in BTS was only 51% of that in Con but the relative contribution of ATP derived from PCr (phosphocreatine) and glycolysis and the relation between muscle contents of PCr and Lac (lactate) were not different. Prolonged cyanide incubation of quiescent...... contribution of energy delivered from PCr and glycolysis during both conditions suggests that the glycolytic rate is controlled by factors related to energy state....

Engineering and Statistical Research Institute contract reports to May, 1983

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thuns, A; Morrison, B A

1983-06-01

The purpose of this publication is to provide information on certain Canadian agricultural research contracts which are completed, published and available for loan. These contracts reports are documentation of research contracted out to non-federal government agencies, universities or individuals. Reports on contracts under the control of the Engineering and Statistical Research Institute are written by the contractor, and are reviewed by the scientific authority. Some reports date back to 1973, when the initial contracting program began. The first program was called DREAM (Development, Research, and Evaluation in Agricultural Mechanization). In 1977-78, projects under the Energy in Agriculture program were added. This was the beginning of the AERD (Agricultural Enginering Research and Development) program. In 1981, energy research had expanded and came under a separate progam called ERDAF (Energy Research and Development in Agriculture and Food). The remaining contract work stayed with the AERD program. This publication lists only contracts completed having final reports, and available contract reports with separate listings sorted by contract file number, title, author or subject.

Organizational Commitment, Psychological Contract Fulfillment and Job Performance: A Longitudinal Quanti-qualitative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leticia Gomes Maia

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The goals of this study are to contribute to the understanding of the development of organizational commitment and to explore the relations among psychological contract fulfillment, organizational commitment, and job performance. This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal quanti-qualitative study conducted with newcomers over three years. We identified four trajectories of commitment development: Learning to Love, High Match, Honeymoon Hangover and Learning to Hate. The last one is originally proposed in this study, and it is represented by individuals who began work highly committed to the organization, but then their commitment levels decreased dramatically over time. We discuss some characteristics associated with these trajectories. Our results corroborate the assumption that psychological contract fulfillment is positively related to commitment. Nevertheless, our findings about the relationship between commitment and job performance were different according to the trajectories. The trajectories Learning to Love and Learning to Hate support the assumption that higher commitment levels would lead to better performance, and vice versa; however, the trajectories High Match and Honeymoon Hangover contradict it. We offer and discuss some possible explanations for these findings.

Contract management survey 2002.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppszallern, Suzanna

2002-10-01

Spending on clinical contracts continues to outpace spending on business services, but may be leveling off. The 12th annual Contract Management Survey shows that the performance of clinical vendors is now comparable to business service vendors in meeting savings targets. Both business and clinical vendors are receiving higher marks from hospital leaders, but execs quickly respond to low marks by bringing the service back in-house of changing vendors. This report examines trends in outsourcing, satisfaction levels, the decision-making process, contract features and performance, and spending.

Planing contract between the State and the Environment and energy mastership Agency 2000-2006; Contrat de plan entre l'Etat et l'Agence de l'environnement et de la maitrise de l'energie 2000-2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-07-01

This contract describes the mutual commitments between the French State and the ADEME (Agency for the Environment and the Energy Mastership) for 2000-2006. The subjects concerned are the domestic wastes management, the energy efficiency and the energy resources development, the air pollution decrease and the international agreements of the France. It presents the implementing and expected impacts of the action and research and development programs, the ADEME research policy, the contract management and the evaluation. (A.L.B.)

Energy saving potential of energy services - experimentation on the life cycle of energy conversion equipment; Potentiel d'economies d'energie par les services energetiques - application au cycle de vie des equipements de conversion de l'energie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dupont, M

2006-12-15

Energy efficiency services are growing in Europe but their role is still limited. In order to evaluate the potential, we focused first of all on policy, economical and environmental mechanisms that support their development. European natural gas and electricity markets, that are now almost wholly de-regulated, are analysed and compared to their historical structure. By introducing uncertainty on energy prices, this new deal translates better the real energy costs. Energy performance contracts (EPC) limit the impact of these uncertainties on the customer energy bills by guaranteeing a financial result. As a result of the modelling of these contracts, namely operation and maintenance ones, we prove that they transfer technical and financial risks from building owners to energy service companies (ESCO) making energy saving measures easier and less expensive at the same time. These contracts are relatively widespread for heating or compressed-air processes but remain marginal for air-conditioning systems. So new methods were needed to guarantee on the long terms the efficiency of air-conditioning systems demand (1) to master the process and its performances and (2) to be able to determine precisely the energy saving potential and its realisation costs. A detailed energy audit is thus necessary for which we propose a guidance. Conclusions of audits carried out prove that energy saving potential is mainly located in equipment management and control. These optimizations are not always carried out because of a lack of contractual incentive and due to the weaknesses of audit methods. Through the involvement of an independent expert, the mandatory and regular inspection of air-conditioning systems may allow to verify and guide such practices. A three-step analysis procedure has been developed in order to maximize the inspection potential and to get higher benefits from service contracts. (author)

Psychological contract breach and work performance: Is social exchange a buffer or an intensifier?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bal, P.M.; Chiaburu, D.S.; Jansen, P.G.W.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate how social exchanges modify the relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance. It aims to present two concurrent hypotheses, based on theoretical interaction effects of social exchanges (conceptualized as social exchange

ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN CONTRACTING MAGNETIC ISLANDS DURING SOLAR FLARES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borovikov, D.; Tenishev, V.; Gombosi, T. I. [University of Michigan, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2143 (United States); Guidoni, S. E. [The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Avenue Northeast, Washington, DC 20064 (United States); DeVore, C. R.; Karpen, J. T.; Antiochos, S. K. [Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

2017-01-20

Electron acceleration in solar flares is well known to be efficient at generating energetic particles that produce the observed bremsstrahlung X-ray spectra. One mechanism proposed to explain the observations is electron acceleration within contracting magnetic islands formed by magnetic reconnection in the flare current sheet. In a previous study, a numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulation of an eruptive solar flare was analyzed to estimate the associated electron acceleration due to island contraction. That analysis used a simple analytical model for the island structure and assumed conservation of the adiabatic invariants of particle motion. In this paper, we perform the first-ever rigorous integration of the guiding-center orbits of electrons in a modeled flare. An initially isotropic distribution of particles is seeded in a contracting island from the simulated eruption, and the subsequent evolution of these particles is followed using guiding-center theory. We find that the distribution function becomes increasingly anisotropic over time as the electrons’ energy increases by up to a factor of five, in general agreement with the previous study. In addition, we show that the energized particles are concentrated on the Sunward side of the island, adjacent to the reconnection X-point in the flare current sheet. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that the electron energy gain is dominated by betatron acceleration in the compressed, strengthened magnetic field of the contracting island. Fermi acceleration by the shortened field lines of the island also contributes to the energy gain, but it is less effective than the betatron process.

Distributed Energy Implementation Options

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shah, Chandralata N [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-09-13

This presentation covers the options for implementing distributed energy projects. It distinguishes between options available for distributed energy that is government owned versus privately owned, with a focus on the privately owned options including Energy Savings Performance Contract Energy Sales Agreements (ESPC ESAs). The presentation covers the new ESPC ESA Toolkit and other Federal Energy Management Program resources.

Contract market power and its impact on the efficiency of the electricity sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serra, Pablo

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes the pro-competitive effects of financial long-term contracts in oligopolistic electricity markets. This is done in a model that incorporates the main features of the industry: non-storable production, time-varying price-elastic demand, and sequential investment and production decisions. The paper considers contracts for difference that have as reference price the average spot price. Assuming that the spot market coordinator sets competitive prices, the paper shows that installed capacity increases with the quantity of energy contracted, reaching the welfare-maximizing capacity when energy contracted equals this same level. Next, the paper studies the case where the quantity of energy contracted is endogenous and contracts are traded before capacity decisions are taken. Regarding purchasers of contracts, two polar cases are considered: either they are price-taker speculators or they are an aggregation of consumers that auctions a long (buy) contract for a given energy quantity. In the former case the strike price equals the reference price, i.e., arbitrage is perfect, and the quantity of energy contracted falls short of the efficient level. In turn, in the latter case, the strike price equals the average efficient spot price. Moreover, an aggregation of all consumers would choose to auction the social optimum quantity. - Highlights: • The paper analyzes the pro-competitive impact of contracts for difference. • The reference price of contracts is the average spot price. • Installed capacity increases with total quantity of energy contracted. • Social welfare is maximized when energy contracted equals the efficient capacity. • An aggregation of all consumers would choose to auction the efficient quantity

Motor unit activity when young and old adults perform steady contractions while supporting an inertial load

Science.gov (United States)

Gould, Jeffrey R.; Enoka, Roger M.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to compare the discharge characteristics of biceps brachii motor units of young and old adults when they performed steady, submaximal contractions while the arm supported different inertial loads. Young (28 ± 4 yr; n = 16) and old (75 ± 4 yr; n = 14) adults performed steady contractions with the elbow flexors at target forces set at either small (11.7 ± 4.4% maximum) or large (17.8 ± 6.5% maximum) differences below the recruitment threshold force of the motor unit (n = 40). The task was to maintain an elbow angle at 1.57 rad until the motor unit was recruited and discharged action potentials for ∼120 s. Time to recruitment was longer for the larger target force difference (187 ± 227 s vs. 23 ± 46 s, P recruited, motor units discharged action potentials either repetitively or intermittently, with a greater proportion of motor units exhibiting the repetitive pattern for old adults. Discharge rate at recruitment and during the steady contraction was similar for the two target force differences for old adults but was greater for the small target force difference for young adults. Discharge variability was similar at recruitment for the two age groups but less for the old adults during the steady contraction. The greatest difference between the present results and those reported previously when the arm pulled against a rigid restraint was that old adults modulated discharge rate less than young adults across the two contraction intensities for both load types. PMID:23221403

LPTA versus Tradeoff: Analysis of Contract Source Selection Strategies and Performance Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-15

7 - Naval Postgraduate School source selection strategies to be made on a best value basis and not the lowest price ” (Office of...cost is an evaluation factor in all procurements, regardless of the source selection strategy chosen. In evaluating cost or price , FAR...contract performance is minimal, cost or price may play a dominant role in source selection. The less definitive the requirement, the more

Analysis of General Accounting Office, Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and Federal Court of Claims Decisions on Protests Disputes Involving Performance Specifications

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Murphy-Sweet, Philip

2002-01-01

... involving Performance Specifications. Performance Specifications generally leave the contractor open to decide the best means to accomplish the work of a contract and deliver the product called for in the contract...

48 CFR 970.2304-2 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

..., Renewable Energy Technologies, Occupational Safety and Drug-Free Work Place 970.2304-2 Contract clause. Link to an amendment published at 75 FR 57695, Sept. 22, 2010. The contracting officer shall insert the...

48 CFR 9903.201-4 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... consistently the Contractor's cost accounting practices in accumulating and reporting contract performance cost... contract performance cost data concerning this contract. If any change in cost accounting practices is made...-4 Section 9903.201-4 Federal Acquisition Regulations System COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD, OFFICE...

48 CFR 908.1104 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clauses. 908.1104 Section 908.1104 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY COMPETITION ACQUISITION PLANNING REQUIRED SOURCES OF SUPPLIES AND SERVICES Leasing of Motor Vehicles 908.1104 Contract clauses. (f...

Identifying key performance indicators in food technology contract R&D

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Flipse, S.M.; Sanden, van der M.C.A.; Velden, van der T.; Fortuin, F.T.J.M.; Omta, S.W.F.; Osseweijer, P.

2013-01-01

Innovating companies increasingly rely on outsourcing to Contract Research Organisations (CROs) for their Research and Development (R&D), which are largely understudied. This paper presents the outcome of a case study in the field of food technology contract research, identifying context

Implementation of the best in class project management and contract management initiative at the Department Of Energy's Office Of Environmental Management - 16062

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Camp, Scott G.; Stevenson, Jeremy S.; Deiters, Michael G.; Jamison, Timothy P.

2009-01-01

Since its creation in 1989, the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM) has struggled with a legacy of inadequate project management and contract management. This has been manifested in recurring scope changes, cost overruns and schedule delays, and has been documented in multiple internal and external reviews. EM has committed itself to improving project performance and undertaken a number of proactive management initiatives including the development of a 'Best in Class' Project Management and Contract Management organization (i.e., the BICPM Initiative). During 2007, EM assessed the status of project management and contract management at 15 EM sites. These assessments evaluated strengths and weaknesses in 12 key project management capabilities and three contract management benchmarks. The January 2008 Compilation Assessment Report showed that EM faces significant challenges in its mission execution due to staffing shortages, project and contract management integration, insufficient project-oriented culture, and lack of a clear role for Headquarters in BICPM. EM then formulated a strategy to meet their objectives in the March 2008 Corporate Implementation Plan. It summarizes BICPM efforts, introduces the vision for BICPM, identifies the strategy for achieving BICPM, and describes a process for implementing BICPM. That is, it acts as a road-map to address EM's challenges. It also documents 18 Recommended Priority Actions (RPAs) that are the key to correcting these challenges. These RPAs provide a clear path forward that can be communicated to the entire EM organization and provide the foundation upon which a BICPM culture can be built. EM has since gained considerable momentum and progress towards institutionalizing BICPM. This paper provides a discussion of the BICPM Initiative and its implementation. (authors)

48 CFR 811.404 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Contract clause. 811.404... ACQUISITION PLANNING DESCRIBING AGENCY NEEDS Delivery or Performance Schedules 811.404 Contract clause. When delivery is required by or on a particular date for f.o.b. destination contracts, the contracting officer...

Cross hedging and forward-contract pricing of electricity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woo, C.-K.; Hoang, K.; Horowitz, I.

2001-01-01

We consider the problem of an electric-power marketer offering a fixed-price forward contract to provide electricity that it purchases from a potentially volatile and unpredictable fledgling spot energy market. One option for the risk-averse marketer who wants to hedge against the spot-price volatility is to engage in cross hedging to reduce the contract's profit variance, and to determine the forward-contract price as a risk-adjusted price - the sum of a baseline price and a risk premium. We show how the marketer can estimate the spot-price relationship between two wholesale energy markets for the purpose of cross hedging, as well as the optimal hedge and the forward contract's baseline price and risk premium

Project Delivery Acquisition and Contracting Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MERCADO, L.C.

2000-01-01

This document is a plan presenting the process, strategies and approaches for vendor contracting by the Tank Farm Contractor. The plan focuses on contracting structures, practices, methods, and desired approaches in contracting. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP) has contracted with the CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. (CHG), as the Tank Farm Contractor (TFC), to support vitrification of Hanford Site tank waste by the Privatization Contractor. During Waste Feed Delivery Phase 1, waste will be retrieved from certain double-shell tanks and delivered to the Privatization Contractor to meet contract feed delivery requirements. Near-term project goals include upgrading infrastructure systems; retrieving and delivering the waste; and accepting the waste packages for interim onsite storage and disposal. Project Delivery includes individual projects assigned to provide the infrastructure and systems responsible to provide engineering, design, procurement, installation/construction, and testing/turnover of systems for retrieval of waste from Hanford double-shell tanks. This plan sets the requirements for projects work scope, contracting practices, structures, methods, and performance measurements. The plan is designed to integrate Life-Cycle Projects acquisitions and provide a consistent contracting approach. This effort will serve as a step improvement in contract reform implementing commercial practices into DOE projects

Regional Super ESPC Saves Energy and Dollars at NASA's Johnson Space Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Federal Energy Management Program

2001-01-01

This case study about energy saving performance contacts (ESPCs) presents an overview of how the NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center established an ESPC contract and the benefits derived from it. The Federal Energy Management Program instituted these special contracts to help federal agencies finance energy-saving projects at their facilities

Turnkey contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langetepe, G.

1977-01-01

To make energy available economically and in sufficient quantity is a main point for the future of an industrial and more for a developing country. The investment costs and the availability of a power plant and in particular for a nuclear power plant are the most significant factors in the economic operation of the plant. In the phase before signing the contract the essential decisions are made with high influence in the economic operation and the availability of the plant. A turn-key contract offers good possibilities to minimize the risks referring a) the plant quality and functionality, b) the plant investment cost, c) the plant completion date, d) the handling of the licensing procedures, e) the availability of the operation. The lecture mentions the points which are of high influence for a successful erection and operation period and which must be clarified before signing the contract between the buyer and supplier of the plant. (orig./HP) [de

The effect of energy performance regulations on energy consumption

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guerra-Santin, O.; Itard, L.

2012-01-01

Governments have developed energy performance regulations in order to lower energy consumption in the housing stock. Most of these regulations are based on the thermal quality of the buildings. In the Netherlands, the energy efficiency for new buildings is expressed as the EPC (energy performance

Study of impacts of physical contracts and financial contracts on bidding strategies of GENCOs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiaoling Chen; He, Y.; Song, Y.H.

2004-01-01

This paper studies the impacts of physical contracts and financial contracts on the bidding strategies of GENCOs, including Physical Bilateral Contracts, Contracts for Difference (CfDs), Call Options and Put Options under discriminatory pricing mechanism. The integrated bidding decision model is applied, which has three main modules - probabilistic local marginal price simulator, market-oriented unit commitment model and multi-criteria decision system. The numerical results show that the GENCO will choose different bidding strategies if it holds different types of contract. The results also suggest that CfDs have the best performance for risk alleviation. (author)

48 CFR 225.802-70 - Contracts for performance outside the United States and Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... outside the United States and Canada. 225.802-70 Section 225.802-70 Federal Acquisition Regulations System... States and Canada. Follow the procedures at PGI 225.802-70 when placing a contract requiring performance outside the United States and Canada. Also see Subpart 225.74, Defense Contractors Outside the United...

Solar buildings program contract summary, calendar year 1999

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-06-07

The mission of the US Department of Energy's Solar Buildings Program is to advance the development and widespread deployment of competitive solar thermal technologies for use in buildings. The long-term goal of the Program is to combine solar energy technologies with energy-efficient construction techniques and create cost-effective buildings that have a zero net need for fossil fuel energy on an annual basis. The Solar Buildings Program conducts research and development on solar technologies that can deliver heat, light, and hot water to residential and commercial buildings. By working closely with manufacturers in both the buildings and solar energy industries and by supporting research at universities and national laboratories, the Solar Buildings Program brings together the diverse players developing reliable and affordable solar technologies for building applications. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, jointly participate in the Solar Buildings Program. These two national laboratories work closely with industry researching new concepts, developing technology improvements, reducing manufacturing costs, monitoring system performance, promoting quality assurance, and identifying potential new markets. In calendar year 1999, the Solar Buildings Program focused primarily on solar hot water system research and development (R and D), US industry manufacturing assistance, and US market assistance. The Program also completed a number of other projects that were begun in earlier years. This Contract Summary describes the Program's contracted activities that were active during 1999.

Cross hedging and forward-contract pricing of electricity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Woo, C.-K.; Hoang, K. [Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc., 353 Sacramento Street, Suite 1700, 94111 San Francisco, CA (United States); Horowitz, I. [Decision and Information Sciences, Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, 32611 Gainesville, FL (United States)

2001-01-01

We consider the problem of an electric-power marketer offering a fixed-price forward contract to provide electricity that it purchases from a potentially volatile and unpredictable fledgling spot energy market. One option for the risk-averse marketer who wants to hedge against the spot-price volatility is to engage in cross hedging to reduce the contract's profit variance, and to determine the forward-contract price as a risk-adjusted price - the sum of a baseline price and a risk premium. We show how the marketer can estimate the spot-price relationship between two wholesale energy markets for the purpose of cross hedging, as well as the optimal hedge and the forward contract's baseline price and risk premium.

Too much or too little of R&D offshoring : The impact of captive offshoring and contract offshoring on innovation performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steinberg, Philip; Procher, Vivien D.; Urbig, Diemo

2017-01-01

Innovating firms may acquire foreign knowledge and improve their innovation performance by offshoring their R&D activities to their own foreign affiliates (captive offshoring) as well as by contracting out their R&D to external foreign parties (contract offshoring). This study examines the impact of

Combined Effect of Contraction Ratio and Chamber Pressure on the Performance of a Gaseous Hydrogen-Liquid-Oxygen Combustor for a Given Propellant Weight Flow and Oxidant-Fuel Ratio

Science.gov (United States)

Hersch, Martin

1961-01-01

The effect of contraction ratio and chamber pressure on the combustion performance of a gaseous-hydrogen-liquid-oxygen combustor was investigated analytically and experimentally. The experiment was conducted with a "two-dimensional" gaseous-hydrogen-liquid-oxygen engine of about 150-pound thrust. The contraction ratio was varied from 1.5 to 6 by changing the nozzle throat area. This variation resulted in a chamber pressure variation of about 25 to 120 pounds per square inch. The experimental results were corrected for heat transfer to the engine walls and momentum pressure losses. The experimental performance, as evaluated in terms of characteristic exhaust velocity, was 98 percent of theoretical at contraction ratios greater than 3 but decreased very rapidly at smaller contraction ratios. The heat-transfer rate increased with increasing contraction ratio and chamber pressure; it was about 1 Btu per square inch per second at a contraction ratio of 1.5 and increased to about 3 at a contraction ratio of 6. The combined effects of contraction-ratio and chamber-pressure changes on performance were investigated analytically with a mixing model and a vaporization model. The mixing model predicted very poor mixing at contraction ratios below 3 and almost perfect mixing at higher contraction ratios. The performance predicted by the vaporization model was very close to 100 percent for all contraction ratios. From these results, it was concluded that the performance was limited by poor mixing at low contraction ratios and chamber pressures.

Balancing Government Risks with Contractor Incentives in Performance-Based Logistics Contracts

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gardner, Christopher P

2008-01-01

...: the PBL goal of developing long-term partnerships that encourage investment from commercial partners is best achieved through lengthy, guaranteed contracts -- but such contracts increase the DoD's...

10 CFR 603.1000 - Contracting officer's responsibilities at time of award.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Contracting officer's responsibilities at time of award. 603.1000 Section 603.1000 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Executing the Award § 603.1000 Contracting officer's responsibilities at time of award...

48 CFR 932.102 - Description of contract financing methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... financing methods. 932.102 Section 932.102 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Non-Commercial Item Purchase Financing 932.102 Description of contract financing methods. (e)(2) Progress payments based on a percentage or stage of...

A study of the contract terms offered by the regional electricity companies to generators of renewable energy outside the NFFO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, N.C.; Limbrick, A.J.

1996-01-01

The aim of this study was to review the terms and conditions of contract for the purchase of renewable energy currently offered by the Regional Electricity Companies (RECs) outside the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO), through consultation with electricity generators. It focused on projects contracted under the first and second tranches of the NFFO, and those which have been developed outside this support mechanism (both renewable and fossil-fuelled), but which are characterised by being ''embedded'' in the RECs' distribution networks. (UK)

LPTA Versus Tradeoff: How Procurement Methods Can Impact Contract Performance

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

by saying, “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down” (Buffett, 2008, p. 5). The same...system by a member of ACC. Electronic contract file documents were retrieved from PCF to create a digital contract file that was reviewed to obtain the

Optimization of portfolio of contracts for companies of electric power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunn, Laura Keiko; Silva, Elisa Bastos; Correia, Paulo de Barros

2010-01-01

Portfolio optimization is a technique widely used to select investments in economic and financial zones. In the Brazilian Electric Market the portfolio models must consider not only different types of contracts used in the free market, but also different types of markets: the free market, the captive market and the spot market. Normally, the question is knowing which proportion of energy should be sold in each market, in order to maximize the return and minimize the risk. This article deals with a problem from the point of view of a power generator, where their objective is to maximize its profit, to serve their obligations regarding the delivery of energy and minimizing the risk associated with the occurrence of Spot Price - minimum (Spot Price). It is considered that the generator has flexible contracts and inflexible contracts to sell the energy. Inflexible contracts have delivery obligations of fixed energy and flexible contracts allow, the holder of the flexibility, to deliver or to receive an amount of variable energy. In this case, the holder of flexibility may be the purchaser or the generator. (author)

48 CFR 916.203 - Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustments. 916.203 Section 916.203 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 916.203 Fixed...

Energy performance of windows based on the net energy gain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Svend; Kragh, Jesper; Laustsen, Jacob Birck

2005-01-01

The paper presents a new method to set up energy performance requirements and energy classes for windows of all dimensions and configurations. The net energy gain of windows is the solar gain minus the heat loss integrated over the heating season. The net energy gain can be calculated for one...... be expressed as a function of two parameters representing the energy performance and two parameters representing the geometry of the window. The two energy performance parameters are the net energy gain per area of the glazing unit and the sum of the heat losses through the frame and the assembly per length...... of the frame. The two geometry numbers are the area of the glazing unit relative to the window area and the length of the frame profiles relative to the window area. Requirements and classes for the energy performance of the window can be given by assigning values to the two energy performance parameters...

How to estimate realistic energy savings in Energy Performance Certificates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wittchen, Kim Bjarne; Altmann, Nagmeh; Berecová, Monika

Given the fact that most MS use fixed or other kinds of default values as boundary condition input for energy performance calculations, it is not surprising that the calculated energy performance differs from the measured energy consumption. As a consequence, the calculated energy savings due...... stationary calculation tools using monthly average values. The optimum solution for energy performance certificates and calculating realistic energy savings is to have two calculations. One calculation, using default values to calculate the label itself, and one with actual input parameters for calculating...... energy performance before and after implementing energy saving measures. Actual values though, may be difficult to identify, so there is a need to make adaptations to reality easy. Even if actual values are available, there are still issues that cause calculated energy savings to differ from the obtained...

Choice of Contract Type and Other Policy Initiatives for Reducing Contract Prices

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

system franchise model). Assume that the contractor retained ownership of the design rights so that subsequent procurement lots are not open to...2 1. The Weapon System Franchise Model ..........................................................2 2. The Agency Problem and...40 2. Contracting for Time vs . Contracting for Performance ..............................41 B. Empirical Analysis of DoD Service

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blanca Giorgiana GRAMA

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The psychological contract became known as a research paradigm within corporate research, providing a broad framework which explains the employee-company relations. Despite all this, there are still many debates on the concept and a series of criticism were expressed that led to the necessity of some more rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis. The psychological contract refers to the unwritten, implicit expectations that employees have from the company and vice versa; it is that which defines the things the employee expects from the employer. Consequently, each of the parties involved in the contract may have different perceptions on these commitments and obligations. Thus the psychological contract may be regarded as an exchange relation between the employer and the employee. Breaking the psychological contract affects the performance, the morale, and the motivation of the staff in a negative manner. The information presented in this paper is intended to contribute to the theoretical and methodological development of the concept.

Alternative contract mechanisms for environmental restoration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Billings, R.M.; Geotze, P.; Billings, B.G.

1994-01-01

Remediation and investigation contracting mechanisms used by Billings and Associates, Inc. (BAI), for operations within New Mexico are described, and the advantages and disadvantages are considered. Methods discussed are: time and materials, unit pricing, and pay for performance. An emphasis is placed upon the pay for performance method. While there are alternative contracting mechanisms, the state has thus far been limited to traditional contract types, such as time and materials. While the undertaking of a pay for performance remediation scenario presents higher risk with an opportunity for comparable reward, application of this type of alternative contracting has been slow to materialize. The New Mexico Environment Department/Underground Storage Tank Bureau is mandated by regulation to seek complete remediation of petroleum contaminated soils and ground water within the shortest practicable period of time

48 CFR 970.2307-2 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Vehicle Fleet Fuel Efficiency, in all management contracts providing for Contractor management of the motor vehicle fleet. [68 FR 52131, Sept. 2, 2003] Effective Date Note: At 75 FR 57695, Sept. 22, 2010... SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS DOE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATING CONTRACTS Environment, Energy and Water Efficiency...

Energy performance assessment methodology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Platzer, W.J. [Fraunhofer Inst. for Solar Energy Systems, Freiburg (Germany)

2006-01-15

The energy performance of buildings are intimately connected to the energy performance of building envelopes. The better we understand the relation between the quality of the envelope and the energy consumption of the building, the better we can improve both. We have to consider not only heating but all service energies related to the human comfort in the building, such as cooling, ventilation, lighting as well. The complexity coming from this embracing approach is not to be underestimated. It is less and less possible to realted simple characteristic performance indicators of building envelopes (such as the U-value) to the overall energy performance. On the one hand much more paramters (e.g. light transmittance) come into the picture we have to assess the product quality in a multidimensional world. Secondly buildings more and more have to work on a narrow optimum: For an old, badly insulated building all solar gains are useful for a high-performance building with very good insulation and heat recovery systems in the ventilation overheating becomes more likely. Thus we have to control the solar gains, and sometimes we need high gains, sometimes low ones. And thirdly we see that the technology within the building and the user patterns and interactions as well influence the performance of a building envelope. The aim of this project within IEA Task27 was to improve our knowledge on the complex situation and also to give a principal approach how to assess the performance of the building envelope. The participants have contributed to this aim not pretending that we have reached the end. (au)

Planing contract between the State and the Environment and energy mastership Agency 2000-2006; Contrat de plan entre l'Etat et l'Agence de l'environnement et de la maitrise de l'energie 2000-2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-07-01

This contract describes the mutual commitments between the French State and the ADEME (Agency for the Environment and the Energy Mastership) for 2000-2006. The subjects concerned are the domestic wastes management, the energy efficiency and the energy resources development, the air pollution decrease and the international agreements of the France. It presents the implementing and expected impacts of the action and research and development programs, the ADEME research policy, the contract management and the evaluation. (A.L.B.)

Federal Energy Administration's contract with the Advertising Council, Inc. , for a public relations campaign on the need to save energy. Report to the chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Power, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1977-08-31

This report is in response to a request for an audit of the Federal Energy Administration's contract with The Advertising Council, Inc., for a public-service advertising campaign on energy conservation. Significant aspects of the audit are summarized in the report's digest.

Contract theory and EU Contract Law

OpenAIRE

Hesselink, M.W.; Twigg-Flesner, C.

2016-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between contract theory and European contract law. In particular, it confronts the leading contract law theories with the main characteristics of EU contract law. The conclusion is that the two do not match well. In particular, monist normative contract theories are largely irreconcilable with the contract law of the EU. The paper further addresses the main implications of this mismatch, both for contract theory and for EU contract law. It suggests that in...

Contract types for nuclear power projects, non-turnkey type contracts in particular

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyte'n, T.

1975-01-01

A non-turnkey contract differs from a turnkey contract in no special formal way. The way the buyer chooses to exercise his project leadership must be concretized in the contract. The way and extent he wishes to exercise technical checking must be laid down in the form of clear rules. The way information has to flow from one contractor over buyer to others and vice versa has to be laid down in detail and the consequences of non conformance fixed in such a manner that optimum project performance is reached. (orig./FW) [de

Windows with improved energy performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Noyé, Peter Anders; Laustsen, Jacob Birck; Svendsen, Svend

2002-01-01

According to the Danish energy protocol, Energy 21, one of the goals with highest priority is to reduce the CO2-emission. Energy consumption for domestic heating is a major contributor to the CO2-emission; hence one of the primary efforts to reach the goal is by saving energy in the households...... performances. During the last 20 years the U-value of the glazing part of windows has been improved considerably, but the frame part has not followed the same development with respect to energy performance. Therefore an increasingly large part of the total heat loss through windows is relating to the frame...... part, for which reason, as far as energy efficiency and total economy are concerned, it has become more interesting to further develop frame structures. Traditionally, the energy performance of windows has primarily been characterised by the heat loss coefficient, U-value. However as the heat loss has...

Group contractions in quantum field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Concini, C. De; Vitiello, G.

1979-01-01

General theorems are given for SU(n) and SO(n). A projective geometry argument is also presented with disclosure of the occurrence a group contraction mechanism as a geometric consequence of spontaneous breakdown of symmetry. It is also shown that a contraction of the conformal group gives account of the number of degrees of freedom of an n-pseudoparticle system in an Euclidean SU(2) gauge invariant Yang-Mills theory, in agreement with the result obtained by algebraic geometry methods. Low-energy theorems and ordered states symmetry patterns are observable manifestations of group contractions. These results seem to support the conjecture that the transition from quantum to classical physics involves a group contraction mechanism. (author)

48 CFR 936.609-3 - Work oversight in architect-engineer contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... architect-engineer contracts. 936.609-3 Section 936.609-3 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Architect-Engineer Services 936.609-3 Work oversight in architect-engineer contracts. In addition to the clause at 48...

The River Corridor Closure Contract How Washington Closure Hanford is Closing A Unique Department of Energy Project - 12425

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feist, E.T. [Washington Closure Hanford, 2620 Fermi Avenue, Richland, WA 99354 (United States)

2012-07-01

Cleanup of the Hanford River Corridor has been one of Hanford Site's top priorities since the early 1990's. This urgency is due to the proximity of hundreds of waste sites to the Columbia River and the groundwater that continues to threaten the Columbia River. In April 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) awarded the Hanford River Corridor Closure Contract (RCCC), a cost-plus incentive-fee closure contract with a 2015 end date and first of its kind at Hanford Site, to Washington Closure Hanford (WCH), a limited-liability company owned by URS, Bechtel National, and CH2M HILL. WCH is a single-purpose company whose goal is to safely, compliantly, and efficiently accelerate cleanup in the Hanford River Corridor and reduce or eliminate future obligations to DOE-RL for maintaining long-term stewardship over the site. Accelerated performance of the work-scope while keeping a perspective on contract completion presents challenges that require proactive strategies to support the remaining work-scope through the end of the RCCC. This paper outlines the processes to address the challenges of completing work-scope while planning for contract termination. WCH is responsible for cleanup of the River Corridor 569.8 km{sup 2} (220 mi{sup 2}) of the 1,517.7 km{sup 2} (586 mi{sup 2}) Hanford Site's footprint reduction. At the end of calendar year 2011, WCH's closure implementation is well underway. Fieldwork is complete in three of the largest areas within the RCCC scope (Segments 1, 2, and 3), approximately 44.5% of the River Corridor (Figure 3). Working together, DOE-RL and WCH are in the process of completing the 'paper work' that will document the completion of the work-scope and allow DOE-RL to relieve WCH of contractual responsibilities and transition the completed areas to the Long-Term Stewardship Program, pending final action RODs. Within the next 4 years, WCH will continue to complete cleanup of the River

Residential Energy Performance Metrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Wright

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Techniques for residential energy monitoring are an emerging field that is currently drawing significant attention. This paper is a description of the current efforts to monitor and compare the performance of three solar powered homes built at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The homes are outfitted with an array of sensors and a data logger system to measure and record electricity production, system energy use, internal home temperature and humidity, hot water production, and exterior ambient conditions the houses are experiencing. Data is being collected to measure the performance of the houses, compare to energy modeling programs, design and develop cost effective sensor systems for energy monitoring, and produce a cost effective home control system.

29 CFR 4.111 - Contracts “to furnish services.”

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act Covered Contracts Generally § 4.111 Contracts “to furnish services.” (a) “Principal purpose” as criterion. Under its terms, the Act applies to a “contract * * * the... performed are only incidental to the performance of a contract for another purpose, the Act does not apply...

Proofs of Contracted Length Non-covariance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strel'tsov, V.N.

1994-01-01

Different proofs of contracted length non covariance are discussed. The way based on the establishment of interval inconstancy (dependence on velocity) seems to be the most convincing one. It is stressed that the known non covariance of the electromagnetic field energy and momentum of a moving charge ('the problem 4/3') is a direct consequence of contracted length non covariance. 8 refs

A Case Analysis of Energy Savings Performance Contract Projects and Photovoltaic Energy at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas

Science.gov (United States)

2006-06-01

PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY AND FORT BLISS CASE BACKGROUND A. PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY The use of photovoltaic power systems is nothing new in the Department...against the Outback MPPT charge controller . This test will be done over a one month timeframe. The Arizona Power ISG test plan is contained in...cost-benefit analysis of conventional power versus emerging photovoltaic energy for the Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX. The project will also analyze

Manual of contracts for the electricity sector. Contracts that work: Drafting and proper legal application. 2. rev. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schoene, Thomas

2014-01-01

This manual deals fundamentally with the drafting of contracts for the electricity sector. It covers all types of contracts on both the customer and the network side with their various special clauses and variants, specifically: basic supply, substitute supply, supply contracts for private, commercial and industrial special customers as well as redistributors, EFET contracts, network access contracts, supplier framework contracts, feed-in contracts, grid connection contracts and connection use contracts. The manual also addresses questions concerning electricity customer insolvency, an issue of growing importance. The following topics are furthermore dealt with in a practically oriented manner and with care being taken to explain the underlying legal issues in readily understandable language. What basic framework conditions are specified by the new energy economy laws and general civil law? What possibilities are available in drafting contracts and what are the ramifications in each case? What subject matters in a contract are of particular economic significance? How can concession contracts be designed in a market-conforming way when there is strong competition for qualified rights of way? What opportunities and risks are associated with innovative products? What options for action does a supplier have in the event of (threatening) customer insolvency? Model contracts from day-to-day management practice and tips, checklists and cautioning notes round off this manual.

Team incentives in relational contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kvaloey, Ola

2003-01-01

Incentive schemes for teams are compared. I ask: under which conditions are relational incentive contracts based on joint performance evaluation, relative performance evaluation and independent performance evaluation self-enforceable. The framework of Che and Yoo (2001) on team incentives is combined with the framework of Baker, Gibbons and Murphy (2002) on relational contracts. In a repeated game between one principal and two agents, I find that incentives based on relative or independent performance are expected to dominate when the productivity of effort is high, while joint performance evaluation dominates when productivity is low. Incentives based on independent performance are more probable if the agents own critical assets. (author)

Work and minor work contracts

CERN Document Server

1999-01-01

The Work and Minor Work contracts are all of the result-oriented type. The work is specified by CERN and the contractor is given full responsibility for its performance. The contracts are thus very similar to supply contracts. The re-tendering of the existing contracts is almost complete, except for some building maintenance contracts. A new cycle of re-tendering for some activities will be launched in the next twelve months. The total estimated expenditure in the year 2000 for the contracts referred to in this document is 27 750 000 Swiss francs at 1999 prices. The Finance Committee is invited: - to approve the proposed expenditure for the extension of contracts for which the estimated amount for the year 2000 exceeds 750 000 Swiss francs, namely those under references 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 23, highlighted in Table I; - to take note that all Work and Minor Work contracts have been tendered since 1 January 1994, except the small contracts shown under references 12 and 16 in Table I; - to take note that the ...

On the “cost-optimal levels” of energy performance requirements and its economic evaluation in Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lamberto Tronchin

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The European energy policies about climate and energy package, known as the “20-20-20” targets define ambitious, but achievable, national energy objectives. As regards the Directives closely related to the 2020 targets, the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD Recast- DIR 2010/31/EU is the main European legislative instrument for improving the energy performance of buildings, taking into account outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness. The EPBD recast now requests that Member States shall ensure that minimum energy performance requirements for buildings are set “with a view to achieving cost-optimal levels”. The cost optimum level shall be calculated in accordance with a comparative methodology framework, leaving the Member States to determine which of these calculations is to become the national benchmark against which national minimum energy performance requirements will be assessed. The European standards (ENs- Umbrella Document V7 (prCEN/TR 15615 are intended to support the EPBD by providing the calculation methods and associated material to obtain the overall energy performance of a building. For Italy the Energy Performance of Building Simulations EPBS must be calculated with standard UNITS 11300. The energy building behaviour is referred to standard and not to real use, nor climate or dynamic energy evaluation. Since retrofitting of existing buildings offers significant opportunities for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, a case study of retrofitting is described and the CostOptimal Level EU procedure in an Italian context is analysed. Following this procedure, it is shown not only that the energy cost depends on several conditions and most of them are not indexed at national level but also that the cost of improvement depends on local variables and contract tender. The case study highlights the difficulties to apply EU rules, and

Windows with improved energy performances

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laustsen, Jacob Birck; Svendsen, Svend

2003-01-01

Heat loss through windows represents a considerable part of the total heat loss from houses. However, apart from providing daylight access and view, windows offer a unique potential for solar gain to be exploited during the heating season. Until now valuation of the energy performance of windows...... has primary focused on the heat loss coefficient, U-value. However, as the U-value, especially for the glazing part, has improved considerably during the last years, the total solar energy transmittance, g-value, has become equally important to the total energy performance of windows. Improved energy...... resulted in a window with a positive net energy gain (in short the Net Gain Window), which means that it contributes to the space heating of the building. All improvements are based on existing technology and manufacturing methods. The results from this work show that the energy performances of windows can...

Natural limits of electroweak model as contraction of its gauge group

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gromov, N A

2015-01-01

The low and higher energy limits of the electroweak model are obtained from the first principles of gauge theory. Both limits are given by the same contraction of the gauge group, but for the different consistent rescalings of the field space. Mathematical contraction parameter in both cases is interpreted as energy. Very weak neutrino–matter interactions are explained by zero tending contraction parameter, which depends on neutrino energy. The second consistent rescaling corresponds to the higher energy limit of the electroweak model. At the infinite energy all particles lose mass, electroweak interactions become long-range and are mediated by neutral currents. The limit model represents the development of the early Universe from the big bang up to the end of the first second. (paper)

Effective energy planning for improving the enterprise’s energy performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Păunescu Carmen

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The global pressing need to protect the environment, save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide has prompted the enterprises to implementing both individual energy saving measures and a more systematic approach to improve the overall enterprise’s energy performance. Energy management is becoming a priority as enterprises strive to reduce energy costs, conform to regulatory requirements, and improve their corporate image. As such, enterprises are encouraged to manage their energy related matters in a systematic manner and a more harmonized way, to ensure continual improvement on their energy efficiency. Despite the increasing interest in energy management standards, a gap persists between energy management literature and current implementation practices. The release of the ISO 50001 international standard was meant to help the organizations develop sound energy management systems and effective process-based energy management structures that could be recognized through third-party certification. Building on the energy management literature and energy management standards, the current paper presents the essential steps the enterprises should take to practically design a sustainable energy management system. Also, by using multiple case studies of enterprises that have implemented an ISO 50001 energy management system, it introduces a structured approach that companies can use to effectively develop their energy planning and improve energy performance. The key components of the enterprise’s energy planning are discussed, as well as practical examples of energy objectives and performance indicators from various industries are offered. The paper shows that by establishing an effective energy planning system, this will efficiently meet demands for achieving energy performance indicators and international certification.

Getting added value from the supply contract

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heslop, Peter

1999-01-01

The linking of energy saving measures with the competitive supply of energy is examined, and the impact of digital metering on the electricity market, the roles of energy surveys and monitoring and targeting, and the unwillingness to invest in energy efficiency are discussed. Combined heat and power projects, and energy supply contracts are considered. (uk)

Hybrid renewable energy support policy in the power sector: The contracts for difference and capacity market case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onifade, Temitope Tunbi

2016-01-01

The article employs qualitative methods in contextualizing and conceptualizing the hybrid renewable energy support policy. It claims that hybrid policies may combine distinct mechanisms to drive desirable objectives better than traditional policies. A policy cycle helps to frame the United Kingdom's Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market (CFD & CM) scheme as a case study. The CFD & CM policy emerged to address environmental and energy challenges through the deployment of renewable energy (RE) in a low-carbon economy, employing liberalization: Environmental protection is foremost in this scheme. The policy combines and improves on the elements of feed-in tariff (FIT) and quota obligation (QO), and strives to solve the problems of these traditional policies. It addresses regulatory uncertainty under FIT by employing private law mechanics to guarantee above-loss reward for low carbon generation, and addresses market uncertainty under QO by incentivizing the capacity to supply future low carbon energy based on projected demand, hence creating a predictable and stable market. It also accommodates other important commitments. Overall, the CFD & CM scheme is a hybrid policy that engages the energy market mainly for advancing the end goal of environmental protection. To thrive however, it needs to meet private sector interests substantially. - Highlights: •The hybrid support policy combines traditional support systems. •Hybrid policies may drive objectives better than traditional policies. •The UK's contract for difference and capacity market system is a hybrid policy. •Environmental protection is foremost in the UK's hybrid policy. •To thrive, the UK's hybrid policy should address private sector interests.

Review on Overseas Contracts of a Nuclear Research Institute in Korea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Myung Ho; Lee, Eui Jin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2010-10-15

Since its establishment, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has made various contracts in research, design, engineering and consultation with a lot of foreign counterparts all over the world, including international organizations. As one of the global nuclear energy research leaders, KAERI can make a large scale contract because it has already procured a turnkey EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contract for a research and training reactor in the spring of 2010 by forming a consortium with a construction and engineering company. A contract in nuclear business industries is to be made under the limited control of regulatory authorities because the contractors must ensure nuclear safety and follow the international nuclear non-proliferation guidelines to secure the peaceful use of nuclear energy at an international level. The export and import of strategic technologies, products or materials (including nuclear materials) must be directly controlled by the authorities in accordance with the applicable law. In 2009, KAERI organized a new team to manage the overseas contracts and to make the limited control reflected in the contract documentation. In large scale project contracts, more attention shall be given to the contracts to prevent claims and also to the consideration of the regulatory requirements. In this context, the nature of the past KAERI contracts was reviewed. The conditions of several recent KAERI contracts were also individually reviewed based on the FIDIC (Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseils) model service agreement, which is generally accepted by service contractors. Ways to increase the quality of future contracts and to improve the standard model agreement which is used to prepare the draft contract were also considered

Review on Overseas Contracts of a Nuclear Research Institute in Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Myung Ho; Lee, Eui Jin

2010-01-01

Since its establishment, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has made various contracts in research, design, engineering and consultation with a lot of foreign counterparts all over the world, including international organizations. As one of the global nuclear energy research leaders, KAERI can make a large scale contract because it has already procured a turnkey EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contract for a research and training reactor in the spring of 2010 by forming a consortium with a construction and engineering company. A contract in nuclear business industries is to be made under the limited control of regulatory authorities because the contractors must ensure nuclear safety and follow the international nuclear non-proliferation guidelines to secure the peaceful use of nuclear energy at an international level. The export and import of strategic technologies, products or materials (including nuclear materials) must be directly controlled by the authorities in accordance with the applicable law. In 2009, KAERI organized a new team to manage the overseas contracts and to make the limited control reflected in the contract documentation. In large scale project contracts, more attention shall be given to the contracts to prevent claims and also to the consideration of the regulatory requirements. In this context, the nature of the past KAERI contracts was reviewed. The conditions of several recent KAERI contracts were also individually reviewed based on the FIDIC (Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseils) model service agreement, which is generally accepted by service contractors. Ways to increase the quality of future contracts and to improve the standard model agreement which is used to prepare the draft contract were also considered

Contract theory and EU Contract Law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hesselink, M.W.; Twigg-Flesner, C.

2016-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between contract theory and European contract law. In particular, it confronts the leading contract law theories with the main characteristics of EU contract law. The conclusion is that the two do not match well. In particular, monist normative contract theories

Micro and small firms contracted the works of third sector contracting and public

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Juliano Silva

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In a scenario of successive changes, we are faced today with a "new" State of design (First Sector subsidiary and developer, embracing new contracting models, involving private non-profit institutions (Third Sector ahead of social services relevance (health, education, technology, among others. To comply with the obligations entered into with the public entity (end-obligations, this Third Sector performs hires (to perform their half-bonds with the second sector (market, where they operate Micro and Small Businesses. This study aims a reflective look at these contracts, usually the result of simplified bidding process in order to verify their specificities and whether they take place in compliance with the prerogatives and differential treatment meted especially those business companies (art. 170, X, SC / 1988. In this endeavor, it was decided, besides a literature review by an investigative approach from the point of view of three different social organizations that have management contracts in health care with public entities and therefore have signed contracts with ME and EPP for the fulfillment of their obligations to the government.      

Advanced Performance Hydraulic Wind Energy

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jack A.; Bruce, Allan; Lam, Adrienne S.

2013-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, has developed a novel advanced hydraulic wind energy design, which has up to 23% performance improvement over conventional wind turbine and conventional hydraulic wind energy systems with 5 m/sec winds. It also has significant cost advantages with levelized costs equal to coal (after carbon tax rebate). The design is equally applicable to tidal energy systems and has passed preliminary laboratory proof-of-performance tests, as funded by the Department of Energy.

CONTRACTING AND ERUPTING COMPONENTS OF SIGMOIDAL ACTIVE REGIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Rui; Wang Yuming; Liu Chang; Wang Haimin; Török, Tibor

2012-01-01

It has recently been noted that solar eruptions can be associated with the contraction of coronal loops that are not involved in magnetic reconnection processes. In this paper, we investigate five coronal eruptions originating from four sigmoidal active regions, using high-cadence, high-resolution narrowband EUV images obtained by the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). The magnitudes of the flares associated with the eruptions range from GOES class B to class X. Owing to the high-sensitivity and broad temperature coverage of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board SDO, we are able to identify both the contracting and erupting components of the eruptions: the former is observed in cold AIA channels as the contracting coronal loops overlying the elbows of the sigmoid, and the latter is preferentially observed in warm/hot AIA channels as an expanding bubble originating from the center of the sigmoid. The initiation of eruption always precedes the contraction, and in the energetically mild events (B- and C-flares), it also precedes the increase in GOES soft X-ray fluxes. In the more energetic events, the eruption is simultaneous with the impulsive phase of the nonthermal hard X-ray emission. These observations confirm that loop contraction is an integrated process in eruptions with partially opened arcades. The consequence of contraction is a new equilibrium with reduced magnetic energy, as the contracting loops never regain their original positions. The contracting process is a direct consequence of flare energy release, as evidenced by the strong correlation of the maximal contracting speed, and strong anti-correlation of the time delay of contraction relative to expansion, with the peak soft X-ray flux. This is also implied by the relationship between contraction and expansion, i.e., their timing and speed.

Environmental Management Performance Report for December 1999

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

EDER, D.M.

2000-02-16

The purpose of the Environmental Management Performance Report (EMPR) is to provide the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office's (DOE-RL's) report of Hanford's Environmental Management (EM) performance by: U. S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) through Fluor Hanford, Inc. (FHI) and its subcontractors, Environmental Restoration Contract through Bechtel Hanford, Inc. (BHI), and its subcontractors, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) for EM and EM Science and Technology (S&T) Mission. This report is a monthly publication that summarizes EM Site performance under RL Operations Office. It is organized by the four sections listed above, with each section containing an Executive Summary and Area Performance Summaries. A listing of what is contained in the sections can be found in the Table of Contents.

Contract Reform Self Assessment Report

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1997-01-01

The primary objective of this self assessment is to report on the Department of Energy's progress in implementing the Contract Reform initiative launched in February 1994 and to discuss remaining challenges...

Managing the risks associated with natural gas purchase contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brett, T.

2003-01-01

This presentation described different styles of gas contracts. When markets opened in 1986, many contracts were between end users and producers, and a few marketers. Typically, contracts were for a fixed price and term. In 1990, when gas futures contracts began trading on NYMEX, contracts began to have floating prices, and prices linked to NYMEX prices. Standard gas contracts were developed in the mid-late 1990s. This paper described the differences between plain retail gas contracts, retail gas contracts between mass marketers and end users, wholesale contracts, contracts between producers and marketers, transportation contracts and domestic contracts. Both contracting parties obtain business and legal advice from consultants and lawyers with knowledge in energy transactions. Master agreement contracts were also described with reference to the Gas EDI contract. Examples of changing regulatory requirements were also outlined along with some traps to avoid. Bundled transportation agreements are standard documents that can be negotiated in special circumstances to charge customers who fail to deliver. They should be considered as tariffs

48 CFR 952.236 - Construction and architect-engineer contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Construction and architect-engineer contracts. 952.236 Section 952.236 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY... Construction and architect-engineer contracts. ...

Office of Inspector General report on special audit of pension plans for Department of Energy contract employees of the University of California

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-08-01

On May 15, 1996, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced its decision to extend and renegotiate its contracts with the University of California for the management and operation of the Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Current contracts for the operation of these laboratories expire in 1997. The renegotiation process provides an opportunity for the Department to: (1) recover at least $620 million in excess assets from the pension plans it has funded for University of California employees who work at DOE`s laboratories; and (2) improve the Department`s ability to exercise prudent management of its interest in those pension funds. According to Department records, as of July 1, 1995, the University of California Retirement Plan had between $620 million and $2.0 billion in excess assets that were attributable to the Department of Energy (emphasis supplied). The wide variation in excess assets is a function of the assumptions used in making these calculations. These are described in Appendix 1 to this report. It was concluded as a result of the audit that, as part of the contract renegotiation process, the Department should obtain the cooperation and assistance of the University of California in recovering excess pension plan assets in a manner that does not affect the defined retirement benefits of the contract employees. This could include jointly sponsoring legislation to modify any existing legal restrictions.

A Contract That Manages Itself: The Time Has Arrived

Science.gov (United States)

2015-02-01

technology inspires contracting. The Smart Contract The paradigm of a contract as a static document is about to change. The days of a contract being read...efficiency is of paramount importance in order for an organization to perform its mission. The Smart Contract as an Object In discussions about...the contract object ( smart contract ) exists, the contract will be able to interact with other objects. That will enable the contract to know how

Pricing structures in US coal supply contracts

Science.gov (United States)

Kacker, Kanishka

The subject of my dissertation is the study of coal procurement by electric utilities in the US over 2 decades, from 1979 to 2000. Energy markets are typically characterized by severe contracting problems. Buyers and sellers therefore employ various instruments, such as contract length or complex pricing arrangements, to restrict these problems. Relationship specific investment, wherein buyers make investments specific to their suppliers, has been advanced as a prominent explanation for contractual length. Investment decisions are however endogenous in length or pricing, making causal identification of the role of investment specificity difficult. In my first chapter, I attempt a resolution. I use the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment as an exogenous shifter of the extent of relationship specific investment. A key feature of the Amendment's design helps me define a difference-in-difference model arguably free of the endogeneity issues discussed above. I find that the plants forced into switching - Phase I plants located in the US Midwest - are more likely to choose fixed price contracts than those that were not. Further they also write contracts of shorter terms, with the reduction being approximately 30%. Considerably little is known about the performance implications of contractual choices. These form the basis for Chapter 2. Here I find prices to be lower, by between 5% to 20% of the total transaction price, but the probability of renegotiation higher, under fixed price contracts than under escalator or cost-plus contracts. Contract choices appear consistent with a trade-off between establishing incentives ex-ante and lowering negotiation costs ex-post, with relationship specific investments in particular making such a trade-off compelling. Chapter 3 considers the regulatory environment these utilities were subject to. Both incentive based regulation as well as the restructuring of electricity generation are smaller in comparison to relationship specific investment

Contracting as a Science

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-30

disconfirmation of expectations theory to examine customer satisfaction in the procuring contracting officer (PCO)–program manager (PM) relationship in...marketing terms, finding that disconfirmed expectations lead to consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The former approach presents the idea that if an...individual exerts effort, the expectation is that successful performance will occur leading to a desired result. In contracting, the theory might be

The effect of behavioral contracting on the acquisition of guitar performance skills in a college-level beginning guitar class.

Science.gov (United States)

Gooding, Lori F

2009-01-01

Behavioral contracting has been used as a tool to modify behavior in a variety of settings, and the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of behavioral contracting on the acquisition of guitar performance skills in a college-level beginning guitar class. Music and nonmusic majors enrolled in 4 college-level beginning guitar classes participated in this study. Participants (N = 27) were divided into four groups, with Groups 1 and 2 serving as control (n = 5, n = 6) and Groups 3 and 4 serving as experimental (n = 7, n = 9). A Multiple baseline format was implemented that involved 3 testing conditions (T1, T2, T3). Participants played the same I-IV-V7-1 chord progression for all 3 testing conditions. Experimental Group 3 received a behavioral contract between T1 and T2, while experimental Group 4 received a contract between T2 and T3. Participants in the contracting groups were allowed to make structured choices about evaluation procedures and reward outcomes. Data on speed increase and accuracy were collected via videotaping and analyzed by an independent reviewer blind to condition. Two-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze differences in tempo and errors. A significant interaction was found for tempo and group and a significant difference in errors was found across treatment conditions. However, no significance was found between the groups for errors. Graphic analysis of tempo changes indicated that Group 1 improved tempo by a total of 41%, Group 2 by a total of 38%, Group 3 (contract) by a total of 76% and Group 4 (contract) by a total of 67%. Both contracting groups showed the biggest decrease in errors during the contracting condition, although errors actually increased slightly for Group 3 once the contracting condition was removed.

Towards measurement and verification of energy performance under the framework of the European directive for energy performance of buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burman, Esfand; Mumovic, Dejan; Kimpian, Judit

2014-01-01

Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and Council on the Energy Performance of Buildings has led to major developments in energy policies followed by the EU Member States. The national energy performance targets for the built environment are mostly rooted in the Building Regulations that are shaped by this Directive. Article 3 of this Directive requires a methodology to calculate energy performance of buildings under standardised operating conditions. Overwhelming evidence suggests that actual energy performance is often significantly higher than this standardised and theoretical performance. The risk is national energy saving targets may not be achieved in practice. The UK evidence for the education and office sectors is presented in this paper. A measurement and verification plan is proposed to compare actual energy performance of a building with its theoretical performance using calibrated thermal modelling. Consequently, the intended vs. actual energy performance can be established under identical operating conditions. This can help identify the shortcomings of construction process and building procurement. Once energy performance gap is determined with reasonable accuracy and root causes identified, effective measures could be adopted to remedy or offset this gap. - Highlights: • Building energy performance gap is a negative externality that must be addressed. • A method is proposed to link actual performance to building compliance calculation. • Energy performance gap is divided into procurement and operational gaps. • This framework enables policy makers to measure and address procurement gap. • Building fine-tuning by construction teams could also narrow operational gap

PROJECT HANFORD MANAGEMENT CONTRACT (PHMC) PERFORMANCE REPORT 05/2004 (WWW.HANFORD.GOV/EMPR.INDEX.CFM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

PIELSTICK, R.M.

2004-01-01

This report is the monthly performance summary of the Central Plateau Contractors. FH work scope responsibilities are described, and other contractor/RL-managed work is excluded. Section A, Overview, provides a summary of the cost, schedule, and technical performance described in this report. It summarizes performance for the period covered, highlights areas worthy of management attention, and provides key performance activities as extracted from the contractor baseline. Subsequent sections of this report provide detailed performance data relative to contract sections (e.g., Project Hanford Cleanup Work Summary, Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Operations, Infrastructure and Hanford Site Services, and other Work Scope). All information is as of the end of May 2004 unless otherwise noted

Method Determining the Contents of the Contract

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agus Yudha Hernoko

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The contents of the contract are primarily determined by what the real mutually agreed upon by the parties. By interpreting some certain statements, in this case to determine its meaning, to be clear based on what the parties committed themselves. Why is the interpretation required? In facts, on the many cases provided a valuable lesson, how many commercial disputes arise when the performance of the contract. The dispute begins when the parties have a different understanding of the statement that they use in the contract. Indeed, businesses are very familiar with the business processes that they do, but at the time of the business process are set forth in the contract language and designed by those who do not understand the legal aspects of the contract, the contract can be ascertained open possibility for disputes. The power of contract binding (the contents of the agreement toward to the characteristic and the wide spectrum of the rights and obligations contractually, basically a contract represents the power of performance among others in order implementing the rights and obligations of the parties. As an instrument to understand the contract, the method of determining the content of the contract (e.g., through interpretation, autonomous and heteronomous factors, further can be used to assess the reciprocation of rights and obligations in a meaningful and proportional contractual relationship.

Labour contracts and performance of Cameroonian firms | Benjamin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study evaluated employees' productivity in relation to their contract status. It used survey data collected among manufacturing sector firms, having more than 15 employees, in Cameroon between April and May 2006; and information issued by the National Institute of Statistics. Information collected concerned 45 firms ...

Effort and Selection Effects of Incentive Contracts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwens, J.F.M.G.; van Lent, L.A.G.M.

2003-01-01

We show that the improved effort of employees associated with incentive contracts depends on the properties of the performance measures used in the contract.We also find that the power of incentives in the contract is only indirectly related to any improved employee effort.High powered incentive

25 CFR 170.809 - Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self-determination contract or self-governance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.809 Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self-determination contract or self-governance agreement...

The energy of naturally curved elastic rods with an application to the stretching and contraction of a free helical spring as a model for DNA

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, Gerald S.

2015-09-01

We give a contemporary and direct derivation of a classical, but insufficiently familiar, result in the theory of linear elasticity—a representation for the energy of a stressed elastic rod with central axis that intrinsically takes the shape of a general space curve. We show that the geometric torsion of the space curve, while playing a crucial role in the bending energy, is physically unrelated to the elastic twist. We prove that the twist energy vanishes in the lowest-energy states of a rod subject to constraints that do not restrict the twist. The stretching and contraction energies of a free helical spring are computed. There are local high-energy minima. We show the possibility of using the spring to model the chirality of DNA. We then compare our results with an available atomic level energy simulation that was performed on DNA unconstrained in the same sense as the free spring. We find some possible reflections of springlike behavior in the mechanics of DNA, but, unsurprisingly, the base pairs lend a material substance to the core of DNA that a spring does not capture.

The energy of naturally curved elastic rods with an application to the stretching and contraction of a free helical spring as a model for DNA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manning, Gerald S., E-mail: jerrymanning@rcn.com [Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8087 (United States)

2015-09-14

We give a contemporary and direct derivation of a classical, but insufficiently familiar, result in the theory of linear elasticity—a representation for the energy of a stressed elastic rod with central axis that intrinsically takes the shape of a general space curve. We show that the geometric torsion of the space curve, while playing a crucial role in the bending energy, is physically unrelated to the elastic twist. We prove that the twist energy vanishes in the lowest-energy states of a rod subject to constraints that do not restrict the twist. The stretching and contraction energies of a free helical spring are computed. There are local high-energy minima. We show the possibility of using the spring to model the chirality of DNA. We then compare our results with an available atomic level energy simulation that was performed on DNA unconstrained in the same sense as the free spring. We find some possible reflections of springlike behavior in the mechanics of DNA, but, unsurprisingly, the base pairs lend a material substance to the core of DNA that a spring does not capture.

Proposal for the Award of Two Contracts for the Technical Services for Work on Components of CERN Particle Accelerators and High Energy Physics Experiments

CERN Document Server

2003-01-01

This document concerns the award of two contracts for the technical services for work on components of CERN particle accelerators and high energy physics experiments. Following a market survey carried out among 73 firms in fourteen Member States, a call for tenders (IT-3156/SPL) was sent on 4 November 2002 to three consortia in four Member States. By the closing date, CERN had received tenders from the three consortia. The Finance Committee is invited to agree to the negotiation of two contracts with: 1) the consortium SERCO FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (NL) - GERARD PERRIER INDUSTRIE (FR) - INEO ALPES (FR), the lowest bidder, for approximately 55% of the technical services for work on components of CERN particle accelerators and high energy physics experiments, for an initial period of five years and for a total amount not exceeding 37 435 270 euros (54 902 500 Swiss francs), subject to revision for inflation from 1 January 2005. The contract will include options for two one-year extensions beyond the initial five-...

Types of contracts and contracting procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zijl, N.A. van

1977-01-01

Contracting for a nuclear power plant can be carried out in many different ways, from a bilateral agreement between two countries to an international open bidding competition. Also the kind of contracts (turnkey, split-package or multi-contract type) are discussed with their pros and cons as well as the contracting procedures which can be followed to come to the conclusion of a contract. (orig.) [de

Best in Class Project Management and Contract Management Initiative at the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Camp, S.G.; Stevenson, J.S.; Deiters, M.G.

2009-01-01

Since its founding in 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM) has struggled with a legacy of inadequate project and contract management. This has been manifested in recurring scope changes, cost overruns and schedule delays, and has been documented in multiple internal and external reviews. To address this issue, EM has developed a vision for building a 'Best in Class' Project Management and Contract Management (BICPM) organization. To develop the strategy and implement the process to accomplish this vision, EM contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and their support contractors. EM and the USACE Team developed a five-phased approach to implement the BICPM Initiative: (I) develop assessment criteria, (II) assess existing project and contract management capabilities, (III) develop an implementation plan, (IV) implement corrective actions, and (V) institutionalize BICPM. Under Phases I and II, the USACE Team assessed the status of project and contract management capabilities at 16 EM offices. These assessments evaluated strengths and weaknesses in 12 key project management capabilities and benchmarks and three contract management benchmarks. Under Phase III, EM and the USACE Team developed the Corporate Implementation Plan which identified the key challenges and provided a road-map to address these challenges and to implement BICPM. These challenges included: Federal staffing shortages; integration of project and contract management; further development of project-oriented culture; project baseline maintenance; consistent implementation of the DOE order for project management, 413.3A; and role of EM Headquarters in BICPM. The shortage of qualified resources dedicated to supporting Federal project and contract management functions was identified as a primary cause for project and contract management difficulties within EM. The Corporate Implementation Plan outlined a set of 18 specific Recommended Priority

Proceedings of the General Committee for solar thermal energy 2017

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loyen, Richard; Gibert, Francois; Porcheyre, Edwige; Laplagne, Valerie; Lambertucci, Stefano; Hauser, Eva; Delmas, Pierre; Mozas, Kevin; Servier, Gerard; Girard, Jean-Paul; Haim, Philippe; Gendron, Marc; Haas, Benjamin; Leclech, Rodrigue; Eberhardt, Mathieu; Bettwy, Fabrice; Berthomieu, Nadine; Barais, Claire; Mingant, Sylvie; Daniel, Charles; GODIN, Olivier; PELe, Charles; Benabdelkarim, Mohamed; Brottier, Laetitia; Cholin, Xavier; Mugnier, Daniel; Marchal, David; Khebchache, Bouzid

2017-10-01

The contributions of this conference first proposed an overview of the status and perspectives of the solar thermal energy sector with a presentation of the present situation and perspectives for the French market, and an overview of situations and initiatives in neighbouring European countries. A second session addressed the possible new economical and marketing models able to face challenges of solar thermal energy in 2018 with focuses on heat kWh purchase, on supply portage through a global operator contract (design-realisation-exploitation-maintenance contracts or CREM contracts, energy performance contracts or CPE), and on issues related to building renovation (solar-gas synergy) and to new buildings (regulatory evolution, E+C label). The third session proposed examples of local good practices: development of solar thermal networks in Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes with the development of these networks and a support to commissioners, ADEME's support with patrimony-rehabilitation contracts, and the solar policy implemented by the Brest metropole. A technological focus was then proposed. It addressed communications about the SOCOL approach, concentration-based solar technology (technology, applications, realisations), and solar heating (assets in new and renovated buildings). Before a synthesis, two interventions addressed the production of solar electron and calories, and works performed on the increase of the solar coverage rate

A preliminary assessment of financial stability, efficiency, health systems and health outcomes using performance-based contracts in Belize.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowser, Diana M; Figueroa, Ramon; Natiq, Laila; Okunogbe, Adeyemi

2013-01-01

Over the last 10 years, Belize has implemented a National Health Insurance (NHI) program that uses performance-based contracts with both public and private facilities to improve financial sustainability, efficiency and service provision. Data were collected at the facility, district and national levels in order to assess trends in financial sustainability, efficiency payments, year-end bonuses and health system and health outcomes. A difference-in-difference approach was used to assess the difference in technical efficiency between private and public facilities. The results show that per capita spending on services provided by the NHI program has decreased over the period 2006-2009 from BZ$177 to BZ$136. The private sector has achieved higher levels of technical efficiency, but lower percentages of efficiency and year-end bonus payments. Districts with contracts through the NHI program showed greater improvements in facility births, nurse density, reducing maternal mortality, diabetes deaths and morbidity from bronchitis, emphysema and asthma than districts without contracts over the period 2006-2010. This preliminary assessment of Belize's pay-for-performance system provides some positive results, however further research is needed to use the lessons learned from Belize to implement similar reforms in other systems.

Comparison of fully internally and strongly contracted multireference configuration interaction procedures

Science.gov (United States)

Sivalingam, Kantharuban; Krupicka, Martin; Auer, Alexander A.; Neese, Frank

2016-08-01

Multireference (MR) methods occupy an important class of approaches in quantum chemistry. In many instances, for example, in studying complex magnetic properties of transition metal complexes, they are actually the only physically satisfactory choice. In traditional MR approaches, single and double excitations are performed with respect to all reference configurations (or configuration state functions, CSFs), which leads to an explosive increase of computational cost for larger reference spaces. This can be avoided by the internal contraction scheme proposed by Meyer and Siegbahn, which effectively reduces the number of wavefunction parameters to their single-reference counterpart. The "fully internally contracted" scheme (FIC) is well known from the popular CASPT2 approach. An even shorter expansion of the wavefunction is possible with the "strong contraction" (SC) scheme proposed by Angeli and Malrieu in their NEVPT2 approach. Promising multireference configuration interaction formulations (MRCI) employing internal contraction and strong contraction have been reported by several authors. In this work, we report on the implementation of the FIC-MRCI and SC-MRCI methodologies, using a computer assisted implementation strategy. The methods are benchmarked against the traditional uncontracted MRCI approach for ground and excited states of small molecules (N2, O2, CO, CO+, OH, CH, and CN). For ground states, the comparison includes the "partially internally contracted" MRCI based on the Celani-Werner ansatz (PC-MRCI). For the three contraction schemes, the average errors range from 2% to 6% of the uncontracted MRCI correlation energies. Excitation energies are reproduced with ˜0.2 eV accuracy. In most cases, the agreement is better than 0.2 eV, even in cases with very large differential correlation contributions as exemplified for the d-d and ligand-to-metal charge transfer transitions of a Cu [NH 3 ] 4 2 + model complex. The benchmark is supplemented with the

The Green Stamp in Power Supply Contracts - A proposal for the Brazilian Electricity Market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Estrocio, Joao Paulo

2010-09-15

The insertion of a certification mechanism for discriminatory energy supply contracts aiming to make it possible to contract exclusively clean and renewable energy is presented. With the increasing interest for sustainability and carbon emissions reduction, there's a growing demand for clean energy reflected in people's choices for cleaner products. Electricity in a power grid, however, is result of a set of sources or plants, and its operation or dispatch. A proposal for clean energy contracts is presented, providing the market and the clients with the ability to choose to buy exclusively renewable energy through the grid.

Options for change in the NHS consultant contract.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, R W; Gray, C

The lead negotiators for the management and consultant sides in an NHS trust in northern England responded to debate in their trust about consultant contracts by offering to research the attitudes of their peers towards a variety of contract options. The options tested included the current contract; models already examined in the trust and elsewhere, such as time sensitive and mild performance related contracts; and some more radical and speculative possibilities, including consultants franchising their services to the trust. Beyond the predictable conclusion that consultants would prefer no change while managers desired it, a time sensitive contract emerged as having potential for successful negotiation. On the other hand, neither consultants nor managers favoured a strict performance related contract or a fee for service contract. There was a strong similarity of opinion between the two groups on the relative salary values of the options, though the consultants consistently priced these higher than the managers.

Determining the Return of Energy Efficiency Investments in Domestic and Deployed Military Installations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gammache, Nathan J

2007-01-01

...: the use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts to fund energy efficiency improvements at domestic military installations, and the use of waste to energy generators at remote, deployed military installations...

Impacts of FDI Renewable Energy Technology Spillover on China’s Energy Industry Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiwei Liu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Environmental friendly renewable energy plays an indispensable role in energy industry development. Foreign direct investment (FDI in advanced renewable energy technology spillover is promising to improve technological capability and promote China’s energy industry performance growth. In this paper, the impacts of FDI renewable energy technology spillover on China’s energy industry performance are analyzed based on theoretical and empirical studies. Firstly, three hypotheses are proposed to illustrate the relationships between FDI renewable energy technology spillover and three energy industry performances including economic, environmental, and innovative performances. To verify the hypotheses, techniques including factor analysis and data envelopment analysis (DEA are employed to quantify the FDI renewable energy technology spillover and the energy industry performance of China, respectively. Furthermore, a panel data regression model is proposed to measure the impacts of FDI renewable energy technology spillover on China’s energy industry performance. Finally, energy industries of 30 different provinces in China based on the yearbook data from 2005 to 2011 are comparatively analyzed for evaluating the impacts through the empirical research. The results demonstrate that FDI renewable energy technology spillover has positive impacts on China’s energy industry performance. It can also be found that the technology spillover effects are more obvious in economic and technological developed regions. Finally, four suggestions are provided to enhance energy industry performance and promote renewable energy technology spillover in China.

Psychological contract breach and work performance:Is social exchange a buffer or an intensifier?

OpenAIRE

Bal, P. Matthijs; Chiaburu, Dan S.; Jansen, Paul G. W.

2010-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate how social exchanges modify the relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance. It aims to present two concurrent hypotheses, based on theoretical interaction effects of social exchanges (conceptualized as social exchange relationships, POS, and trust). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a sample of 266 employees in a service sector company in the USA. Regression analysis was used to explore the moder...

Managing the relational character of public-private partnership contracts

OpenAIRE

Cvetković, Predrag

2015-01-01

A public-private partnership contract has the character of a relational contract. Relational contracts are incomplete agreements governing transactions where the contracting parties have mutually agreed that it is impossible or economically inefficient to contractually define ex ante possible difficulties and contingencies in the contract implementation, nor the difficulties and contingencies underlying the ex post control of contract performance by a third entity (court or arbitration). Cons...

Energy conservation in mechanical industry; Maitrise de l`energie dans les industries mecaniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-12-31

The workshop is composed of 12 communications on the theme of energy consumption, conservation and management in industry, and more especially in metal industry: evaluation of the energy savings potential in the French industry; official energy diagnosis procedure in buildings; the French national gas utility policy for energy conservation and economical performance in industry; energy conservation with speed variators for electric motors; energy audits and energy metering for conservation objectives. Examples of energy efficient systems or energy audits in various industrial sectors (compressed air, industrial buildings, heat treatments, curing...) are also presented. The electric power quality EDF`s contract is also discussed

Building America Expert Meeting Report: Transitioning Traditional HVAC Contractors to Whole House Performance Contractors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burdick, A.

2011-10-01

This report outlines findings resulting from a U.S. Department of Energy Building America expert meeting to determine how HVAC companies can transition from a traditional contractor status to a service provider for whole house energy upgrade contracting. IBACOS has embarked upon a research effort under the Building America Program to understand business impacts and change management strategies for HVAC companies. HVAC companies can implement these strategies in order to quickly transition from a 'traditional' heating and cooling contractor to a service provider for whole house energy upgrade contracting. Due to HVAC service contracts, which allow repeat interaction with homeowners, HVAC companies are ideally positioned in the marketplace to resolve homeowner comfort issues through whole house energy upgrades. There are essentially two primary ways to define the routes of transition for an HVAC contractor taking on whole house performance contracting: (1) Sub-contracting out the shell repair/upgrade work; and (2) Integrating the shell repair/upgrade work into their existing business. IBACOS held an Expert Meeting on the topic of Transitioning Traditional HVAC Contractors to Whole House Performance Contractors on March 29, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. The major objectives of the meeting were to: Review and validate the general business models for traditional HVAC companies and whole house energy upgrade companies Review preliminary findings on the differences between the structure of traditional HVAC Companies and whole house energy upgrade companies Seek industry input on how to structure information so it is relevant and useful for traditional HVAC contractors who are transitioning to becoming whole house energy upgrade contractors Seven industry experts identified by IBACOS participated in the session along with one representative from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The objective of the meeting was to validate the general operational

The Role of International Investment Law in Renewable Energy Investment; focus on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) Contracts

OpenAIRE

Adetiloye, Idowu Adejoke

2014-01-01

Renewable energy is one of the ways of reducing greenhouse gas emission. There is need for more investment in this sector. However, lack of stable regulatory framework and change in policy makes it unattractive to investors. International investment laws through its protections in investment agreement can help to mitigate risks considered by investors especially those with Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) type of contracts.

Energy service collaborations. It is a question of trust

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Backlund, S. [Department of Management and Engineering, Division of Energy Systems, Linkoeping University, Linkoeping (Sweden); Eidenskog, M. [Department of Thematic Studies, Technology and Social Change, Linkoeping University, Linkoeping (Sweden)

2013-08-15

Energy services have been highlighted both in European Union directives and in academic literature as an important tool to increase energy efficiency. Performance-based energy services, i.e., outsourcing energy management in performance-based remuneration contracts, is said to overcome many of the barriers that have been used to explain the energy efficiency gap. Energy service companies (ESCOs) help organizations to implement energy-efficient solutions in order to reduce energy costs. By combining science and technology studies (STS) analysis and economics in an interview study of firms, the paper contributes insights on the relational nature of energy service collaborations. The objective of the study is to describe how knowledge and incentives affect trust between partners in performance-remunerated energy service collaborations. Performance-based remuneration is one aspect that makes energy service contracts complex. On the one hand, risk is recognized as an important barrier to energy efficiency. Since remuneration to ESCOs is based on energy savings, they also share the financial and technical project risk with their clients. On the other hand, performance-based remuneration can create a lack of trust. Performance is measured in calculations made by the ESCO, calculations that demand expertise that client firms do not possess. ESCOs are consulted for their knowledge on energy efficiency and therefore an imbalance of knowledge is in the nature of energy service collaborations. The paper concludes that if the initial doubt is overcome, long-term collaborations can be advantageous for both parties, since this builds trust and generates long-term profits.

Army Contract Writing System (ACWS)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

2016 Major Automated Information System Annual Report Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) Defense Acquisition Management Information Retrieval...Information 4 Responsible Office 4 References 4 Program Description 5 Business Case 5 Program Status 6 Schedule 7 Performance...Program Information Program Name Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) DoD Component Army Responsible Office Program Manager References MAIS

Contract Design: Financial Options and Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Mühlbacher, Axel C; Amelung, Volker E; Juhnke, Christin

2018-01-12

Integrated care systems as well as accountable care organisations (ACOs) in the US and similar concepts in other countries are advocated as an effective method of improving the performance of healthcare systems. These systems outline a payment and care delivery model that intends to tie provider reimbursements to predefined quality metrics. By this the total costs of care shall be reduced. When designing healthcare options contractors are faced with a variety of financial options. The costs of market utilisation are highly relevant for the conception of healthcare contracts; furthermore contract-specific investments are an obstacle to the efficient operation of ACOs. A comprehensive literature review on methods of designing contracts in Integrated Care was conducted. This article is the second in a row of three that are all published in this issue and contribute to a specific issue in designing healthcare contracts. The first dealt with the organisation of contracts and information asymmetries, while part 3 concludes with the question of risk management and evaluation. The specific research question of this second article focusses on the financial options and reimbursement schemes that are available to define healthcare contracts. A healthcare contract is a relational contract, which determines the level of reimbursement, the scope of services and the quality between service providers and payers, taking account of the risks relating to population and performance. A relational contract is an agreement based upon assumption of a longer timeframe. A major obstacle to the practical implementation of healthcare contracts is the prognosis of the inflows and outflows due to the actuarial risks of the insured population. Financing conditions and reimbursement arrangements that are based on a prospectively determined fixed price, have a significant drawback: it is very difficult to take the differences in health status and the utilisation of distinct insured clientele

Synthesis of the objectives contract 2006-2010 between the State and the IFP. Innovate for a controlled energy transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

The IFP, French Institute of Petroleum, is a public organization of research and formation at the service of the energy, the transport and the environment. It assures the technology transfer between fundamental research, applied research and the industrial development. The contract for 2006-2010 presents three major structural evolutions: the increase development of the new technologies of the energy; a new equilibrium in favor of the downstream researches and more particularly the transports, the increase of the industry competitiveness in the hydrocarbons sector and the automobiles. (A.L.B.)

A SIMULATION OF CONTRACT FARMING USING AGENT BASED MODELING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuanita Handayati

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to simulate the effects of contract farming and farmer commitment to contract farming on supply chain performance by using agent based modeling as a methodology. Supply chain performance is represented by profits and service levels. The simulation results indicate that farmers should pay attention to customer requirements and plan their agricultural activities in order to fulfill these requirements. Contract farming helps farmers deal with demand and price uncertainties. We also find that farmer commitment is crucial to fulfilling contract requirements. This study contributes to this field from a conceptual as well as a practical point of view. From the conceptual point of view, our simulation results show that different levels of farmer commitment have an impact on farmer performance when implementing contract farming. From a practical point of view, the uncertainty faced by farmers and the market can be managed by implementing cultivation and harvesting scheduling, information sharing, and collective learning as ways of committing to contract farming.

Policy Pathways: Energy Performance Certification of Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Improving energy efficiency is one of the most effective measures to address energy security, climate change and economic objectives. The Policy Pathways series can help countries capture this potential by assisting with the implementation of the 25 energy efficiency policy recommendations that were published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2008. This policy pathway on energy performance certification of buildings is the second in the series. It aims to provide a 'how-to' guide to policy makers and relevant stakeholders on the essential elements in implementing energy performance certification of buildings programmes. Energy performance certification of buildings is a way to rate the energy efficiency of individual buildings -- whether they be residential, commercial or public. It is a key policy instrument that can assist governments in reducing energy consumption in buildings. This policy pathway showcases experiences from countries around the world to show examples of good practice and delivers a pathway of ten critical steps to implement energy performance certification of buildings programmes.

Trust-based or performance-based management: a study of employment contracting in hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pettersen, Inger Johanne

2011-01-01

Hospitals are frequently changing managerial practices due to numerous public sector reforms taking place. In general, these reforms include the making and monitoring of contracts that regulate relations between the hospitals and their professional staffs. The aim of this paper is to discuss some main characteristics of the contracts that regulate the perceived relations between physicians as employees and the public hospital as employer. The theoretical framework is based on a contract theory approach. The empirical data is based on survey data from full-time employed physicians in the medical and surgical divisions in one of the largest university hospitals in Norway. This study shows that perceived obligations and psychological contracts indicate high degree of relational contracts between the hospital and the physicians. These socio-cultural elements should be recognized as important mechanisms of coordination and communication when policy makers and hospital managers are designing hospital management control systems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Market performance and bidders' bidding behavior in the New York Transmission Congestion Contract market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Ning

2009-01-01

Using publicly available bidder level bids data for Transmission Congestion Contracts (TCCs) and the realized awards of TCCs in the NYISO monthly reconfiguration auctions from June 2000 to December 2004, we examine both market performance and bidders' bidding behavior in the auctions. The data show significant under-pricing in the realized awards of TCCs. Theories suggest that under-pricing may arise from risk-aversion, monopsonistic market power or winner's curse. Our empirical analysis illustrates that all of the three effects play a role in the NYISO TCCs market. Both market performance and bidders' bidding strategies can be best explained by the theoretical model with asymmetric information and risk-averse bidders. (author)

Optimal long-term contracting with learning

OpenAIRE

He, Zhiguo; Wei, Bin; Yu, Jianfeng; Gao, Feng

2016-01-01

We introduce uncertainty into Holmstrom and Milgrom (1987) to study optimal long-term contracting with learning. In a dynamic relationship, the agent's shirking not only reduces current performance but also increases the agent's information rent due to the persistent belief manipulation effect. We characterize the optimal contract using the dynamic programming technique in which information rent is the unique state variable. In the optimal contract, the optimal effort is front-loaded and decr...

Medial Elbow Joint Space Increases With Valgus Stress and Decreases When Cued to Perform A Maximal Grip Contraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Pexa, Brett S; Ryan, Eric D; Myers, Joseph B

2018-04-01

Previous research indicates that the amount of valgus torque placed on the elbow joint during overhead throwing is higher than the medial ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) can tolerate. Wrist and finger flexor muscle activity is hypothesized to make up for this difference, and in vitro studies that simulated activity of upper extremity musculature, specifically the flexor digitorum superficialis and flexor carpi ulnaris, support this hypothesis. To assess the medial elbow joint space at rest, under valgus stress, and under valgus stress with finger and forearm flexor contraction by use of ultrasonography in vivo. Controlled laboratory study. Participants were 22 healthy males with no history of elbow dislocation or UCL injury (age, 21.25 ± 1.58 years; height, 1.80 ± 0.08 m; weight, 79.43 ± 18.50 kg). Medial elbow joint space was measured by use of ultrasonography during 3 separate conditions: at rest (unloaded), under valgus load (loaded), and with a maximal grip contraction under a valgus load (loaded-contracted) in both limbs. Participants lay supine with their arm abducted 90° and elbow flexed 30° with the forearm in full supination. A handgrip dynamometer was placed in the participants' hand to grip against during the contracted condition. Images were reduced in ImageJ to assess medial elbow joint space. A 2-way (condition × limb) repeated-measures analysis of variance and Cohen's d effect sizes were used to assess changes in medial elbow joint space. Post hoc testing was performed with a Bonferroni adjustment to assess changes within limb and condition. The medial elbow joint space was significantly larger in the loaded condition (4.91 ± 1.16 mm) compared with the unloaded condition (4.26 ± 1.23 mm, P space increases under a valgus load and then decreases when a maximal grip contraction is performed. This indicates that wrist and finger flexor muscle contraction may assist in limiting medial elbow joint space, a result similar to findings of previous

Informal Progress Report Contract Number: DE-FG03-02NA00074/A000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brune, Carl R.; Grimes, Steven M.

2003-01-01

OAK B127 We report on work performed under contract DE-FG03-03NA00074 since January 1,2003. The research is in the area of low energy nuclear reactions and nuclear structure. The progress on research on level densities and improvement to R-Matrix calculations are presented. The preparations to begin high resolution experiments on p-shell nuclei are reviewed

26 CFR 1.460-1 - Long-term contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... the manufacture of personal property is a manufacturing contract. In contrast, a contract for the... performance of engineering and design services, and the production of components and subassemblies that are..., enters into a single long-term contract to design and manufacture a satellite and to develop computer...

The complexity of natural gas contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Boer, A.

2000-01-01

In the process of the deregulation of the energy market large consumers will have lots of opportunities to purchase natural gas and electricity cheaper than before. However, only one third seizes those opportunities. Special consultants can help to conclude supply contracts, focusing on the customer, supplier and commodity. Advantages and disadvantages of collective purchases of energy are briefly outlined

Italy. Electrical contract management in local government

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carsana, C.

1999-01-01

The technical and economical assessment of electric energy consumption of a public administration body (province) shows remarkable opportunities of reducing energy costs. This calls for a continuous monitoring of the supply contract parameters. It is also discussed the solution concerning the transparency in supplier-customer relationship [it

48 CFR 46.710 - Contract clauses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... QUALITY ASSURANCE Warranties 46.710 Contract clauses. The clauses and alternates prescribed in this... research and development contract is contemplated and the use of a warranty clause has been approved under... performance specifications or design are of major importance; a fixed-price supply, service, or research and...

Energy policy and energy market performance: The Argentinean case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Recalde, Marina

2011-01-01

In the early 1990s Argentina liberalized and privatized the energy system, trending to a total market oriented system and abandoning the use of energy policy. Since 2004, as a result of a boom in energy demand and constrains in energy supply, Argentina has gone through an energy problem mainly related to natural gas and electricity, which derived in energy shutdowns. In this frame, this study explores the role of energy policy and institutions in Argentina, with the aim of discussing whether it has been properly used to contrast the observed lack of coordination between fossil energy reserves management and the demand of fuels in power generation. The results of the analysis enhance the relevance of regulatory and control authorities, as well as the active use of long run energy policy for the energy system performance in order to avoid coordination failures between subsectors of the system. The relevance of energy consumption for the development process, and the particular characteristics of energy systems require a wide planning perspective. - Highlights: → This paper examines some aspects of the performance of the Argentinean energy system and energy policy. → There is a lack of coordination between fossil energy reserves management and electricity demand. → It is required an improvement of the regulatory framework, and an active role of the regulatory authorities. → A better planning for electricity supply and strengthening aspects related to the linking with other energy chains. → Promoting a systematic exploitation of NG and oil reserves' and increasing the share of RETs in the energy mix.

Contract Design: Risk Management and Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mühlbacher, Axel C; Amelung, Volker E; Juhnke, Christin

2018-01-12

Effective risk adjustment is an aspect that is more and more given weight on the background of competitive health insurance systems and vital healthcare systems. The risk structure of the providers plays a vital role in Pay for Performance. A prerequisite for optimal incentive-based service models is a (partial) dependence of the agent's returns on the provider's gain level. Integrated care systems as well as accountable care organisations (ACOs) in the US and similar concepts in other countries are advocated as an effective method of improving the performance of healthcare systems. These systems outline a payment and care delivery model that intends to tie provider reimbursements to predefined quality metrics. By this the total costs of care shall be reduced. Little is known about the contractual design and the main challenges of delegating "accountability" to these new kinds of organisations and/or contracts. The costs of market utilisation are highly relevant for the conception of healthcare contracts; furthermore information asymmetries and contract-specific investments are an obstacle to the efficient operation of ACOs. A comprehensive literature review on methods of designing contracts in Integrated Care was conducted. The research question in this article focuses on how reimbursement strategies, evaluation of measures and methods of risk adjustment can best be integrated in healthcare contracting. Each integrated care contract includes challenges for both payers and providers without having sufficient empirical data on both sides. These challenges are clinical, administrative or financial nature. Risk adjusted contracts ensure that the reimbursement roughly matches the true costs resulting from the morbidity of a population. If reimbursement of care provider corresponds to the actual expenses for an individual/population the problem of risk selection is greatly reduced. The currently used methods of risk adjustment have widely differing model and forecast

Procedure to Measure Indoor Lighting Energy Performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deru, M.; Blair, N.; Torcellini, P.

2005-10-01

This document provides standard definitions of performance metrics and methods to determine them for the energy performance of building interior lighting systems. It can be used for existing buildings and for proposed buildings. The primary users for whom these documents are intended are building energy analysts and technicians who design, install, and operate data acquisition systems, and who analyze and report building energy performance data. Typical results from the use of this procedure are the monthly and annual energy used for lighting, energy savings from occupancy or daylighting controls, and the percent of the total building energy use that is used by the lighting system. The document is not specifically intended for retrofit applications. However, it does complement Measurement and Verification protocols that do not provide detailed performance metrics or measurement procedures.

PREREQUISITES OF THE RESOLUTION OF A CONTRACT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlad-Victor OCHEA

2017-05-01

Full Text Available I herein want to emphasise the prerequisites of the resolution of a contract according to the Romanian Civil Code of 2009. The prerequisites of the resolution of a contract are substantially different from those identified under the former fundamental civil legislation (the Romanian Civil code of 1864. This study aims at a better understanding of the new prerequisites of the resolution of a contract: a. a fundamental non-performance of the obligation; b. an unjustified non-performance of the obligation; c. mora debitoris The analysis of these prerequisites reveals a new possible trait of the resolution: a remedy for the non-performance of the contract rather than a sanction or a variety of contractual liability. Thus the modern legislator of the Romanian Civil Code of 2009 proposed to partially change the physiognomy of the resolution of a contract, different from the former institution and here we are in front of a new law institution. The resolution of a contract under the Romanian Civil Code of 2009 is regulated under The 5th Book – The Obligations, The second chapter – The enforcement of the Obligations, The 5th Section – Resolution of the Contract, respectively under the Article 1549 – 1554. As will be shown below, the resolution of a contract has a homogeneous structure without being spread in different parts of the Civil code. The earning lies in the action of organism the new legal provisions, apparently enriched in comparison to those found in the Romanian Civil Code of 1864. Most notably, the Romanian Civil Code of 2009 preserves the Roman legacy. The modern legislator had a difficult task: 146 years of legal doctrine and jurisprudence transposed into a new legislation which, of course, has its flaws. Nevertheless, it should be praised, as it encompasses useful tools to regulate social relations

The 3rd annual Australian contract mining conference

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

Papers discussed: the termination of contract debate - implications for the industry; contract industry`s outlook; viability of contract mining at ERA`s Ranger mine in the Northern Territory; obtaining superior operational performance, and reducing risk, using mining contractors; industry consolidation, contracts and market trends; mining equipment financing - the operating lease alternative; Portman Mining Ltd.; development of contract mining within the coal operations of Eastern Australia; case study - Thiess. contractors` experience in operating the Collinsville coal mine for the MIM/Itochu joint venture; integrating contractor management on mines with duty of care; the risk variables; and conflicting objectives - mine optimisation and the underground contract.

Relational Contracts, Multitasking, and Job Design

OpenAIRE

Anja Schöttner

2008-01-01

This article analyzes optimal job design in a repeated principal-agent relationship when there is only one contractible and imperfect performance measure for three tasks whose contribution to firm value is nonverifiable. The tasks can be assigned to either one or two agents. Assigning an additional task to an agent strengthens his relational contract. Therefore, broad task assignments are optimal when the performance measure strongly distorts incentives for the two-task job. This is more like...

30 CFR 881.6 - Project contract.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... contractors or suppliers for the construction, installation, services or work to be performed. (b) Project... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Project contract. 881.6 Section 881.6 Mineral... LAND RECLAMATION SUBSIDENCE AND STRIP MINE REHABILITATION, APPALACHIA § 881.6 Project contract. (a...

48 CFR 16.405-2 - Cost-plus-award-fee contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Incentive Contracts 16.405-2 Cost-plus-award-fee... during performance and that is sufficient to provide motivation for excellence in the areas of cost... consisting of (1) a base amount fixed at inception of the contract, if applicable and at the discretion of...

Driving forces and barriers to improved energy performance of buildings: an analysis of energy performance of Swedish buildings, 2000-2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fuglseth, Bente Beckstroem

2008-06-15

The building sector is responsible for a substantial part of energy use and green house gas emissions in Europe. This report explores driving forces and barriers to improved energy performance of buildings, using the Swedish building sector as a case. The development of energy performance of buildings in Sweden from 2000 until 2006 is explored by applying a threefold understanding of energy performance of buildings: substitution from fossil fuels to renewable energy, conversion from electrical heating to thermal energy and reduction in energy demand. Three explanatory approaches are used to analyse driving forces and barriers to improved energy performance: the techno-economic approach stresses the physical aspects of infrastructure and technologies, the institutional approach emphasizes the role of institutional factors, while the regulative approach focuses on formal rules and laws. The study concludes that all factors have promoted substitution of fossil fuels with renewable energy, while they have prevented conversion from electrical heating to thermal energy and reduction in energy demand. (author). 95 refs

Predicting energy performance of a net-zero energy building: A statistical approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kneifel, Joshua; Webb, David

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A regression model is applied to actual energy data from a net-zero energy building. • The model is validated through a rigorous statistical analysis. • Comparisons are made between model predictions and those of a physics-based model. • The model is a viable baseline for evaluating future models from the energy data. - Abstract: Performance-based building requirements have become more prevalent because it gives freedom in building design while still maintaining or exceeding the energy performance required by prescriptive-based requirements. In order to determine if building designs reach target energy efficiency improvements, it is necessary to estimate the energy performance of a building using predictive models and different weather conditions. Physics-based whole building energy simulation modeling is the most common approach. However, these physics-based models include underlying assumptions and require significant amounts of information in order to specify the input parameter values. An alternative approach to test the performance of a building is to develop a statistically derived predictive regression model using post-occupancy data that can accurately predict energy consumption and production based on a few common weather-based factors, thus requiring less information than simulation models. A regression model based on measured data should be able to predict energy performance of a building for a given day as long as the weather conditions are similar to those during the data collection time frame. This article uses data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) to develop and validate a regression model to predict the energy performance of the NZERTF using two weather variables aggregated to the daily level, applies the model to estimate the energy performance of hypothetical NZERTFs located in different cities in the Mixed-Humid Climate Zone, and compares these

Audit Report on Management Controls over the Use of Service Contracts at the Office of River Protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

The Department of Energy's (Department) Office of River Protection (ORP) is responsible for the storage, treatment, and disposal of over 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from over 40 years of plutonium production at the Hanford Site. Because of the diversity, complexity, and large scope of its mission, coupled with its small staff, ORP told us that it has found it necessary to engage in service contracts to obtain consulting services, technical expertise, and support staff. Federal policy generally permits contractors to perform a wide range of support service activities, including, in most situations, the drafting of Government documents subject to the review and approval of Federal employees. Federal policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget, however, prohibits contractors from drafting agency responses to Congressional inquiries and reports issued by the Office of Inspector General and Government Accountability Office (GAO) because they are so closely related to the public interest and provide the appearance of private influence. To provide a majority of its needed services, ORP issued a Blanket Purchase Agreement to Project Assistance Corporation (PAC) in 2003. Through the Blanket Purchase Agreement, ORP acquired services in the areas of project management, risk assessment, program assessment, quality assurance, safety, cost and schedule estimating, budgeting and finance, and engineering. PAC has, in turn, subcontracted with various other firms to obtain some of the services needed by ORP. From 2005 to 2008, the total annual cost for the contract with PAC had grown from $4.7 million to $9.2 million. Because of the extent of the services provided and growing costs of the contract, we conducted this review to determine whether ORP appropriately administered its contract with the Project Assistance Corporation. Our review disclosed that, in some instances, ORP had not appropriately administered all work performed under the PAC contract

Contractions activate hormone-sensitive lipase in rat muscle by protein kinase C and mitogen-activated protein kinase

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Donsmark, Morten; Langfort, Jozef; Holm, Cecilia

2003-01-01

and contractions. Adrenaline acts via cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). The signalling mediating the effect of contractions is unknown and was explored in this study. Incubated soleus muscles from 70 g male rats were electrically stimulated to perform repeated tetanic contractions for 5 min. The contraction......Intramuscular triacylglycerol is an important energy store and is also related to insulin resistance. The mobilization of fatty acids from this pool is probably regulated by hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which has recently been shown to exist in muscle and to be activated by both adrenaline......-induced activation of HSL was abolished by the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors bisindolylmaleimide I and calphostin C and reduced 50% by the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor U0126, which also completely blocked extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1 and 2 phosphorylation. None...

Building Energy Audit Report, for Hickam AFB, HI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chvala, William D.; De La Rosa, Marcus I.; Brown, Daryl R.; Dixon, Douglas R.

2010-09-30

A building energy assessment was performed by a team of engineers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under contract to the Department of Energy/Federal Energy Management program (FEMP). The effort used the Facility Energy Decision System (FEDS) model to determine how energy is consumed at Hickam AFB, identify the most cost-effective energy retrofit measures, and calculate the potential energy and cost savings. This documents reports the results of that assessment.

Building Energy Audit Report for Camp Smith, HI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chvala, William D.; De La Rosa, Marcus I.; Brown, Daryl R.; Dixon, Douglas R.

2010-09-30

A detailed energy assessment was performed by a team of engineers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under contract to the Department of Energy/Federal Energy Management program (FEMP). The effort used the Facility Energy Decision System (FEDS) model to determine how energy is consumed at Camp Smith, identify the most cost-effective energy retrofit measures, and calculate the potential energy and cost savings. This report documents the results of that assessment.

Optimal contracts for wind power producers in electricity markets

KAUST Repository

Bitar, E.

2010-12-01

This paper is focused on optimal contracts for an independent wind power producer in conventional electricity markets. Starting with a simple model of the uncertainty in the production of power from a wind turbine farm and a model for the electric energy market, we derive analytical expressions for optimal contract size and corresponding expected optimal profit. We also address problems involving overproduction penalties, cost of reserves, and utility of additional sensor information. We obtain analytical expressions for marginal profits from investing in local generation and energy storage. ©2010 IEEE.

Green Performance Contracting Strategy for Highway Construction Projects

OpenAIRE

2014-01-01

With the growing awareness of sustainability and global climate change, state highway agencies are taking essential steps to reduce carbon emissions from highway infrastructure on a life cycle basis. While much is known regarding climate change mitigation and adaption strategies during highway operation, very little is understood about how climate change issues should be integrated into highway planning, delivery, and construction processes. This paper presents the current contracting pra...

Contraction of an air disk caught between two different liquids

KAUST Repository

Thoraval, M.-J.; Thoroddsen, Sigurdur T

2013-01-01

When a drop impacts a pool of liquid it entraps a thin disk of air under its center. This disk contracts rapidly into a bubble to minimize surface energy. Herein we use ultra-high-speed imaging to measure the contraction speed of this disk when

14 CFR 1274.509 - Contract provisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... bidder equivalent to five percent of the bid price. The “bid guarantee” shall consist of a firm... assurance that the bidder shall, upon acceptance of his bid, execute such contractual documents as may be... the contract price. A “performance bond” is one executed in connection with a contract to secure...

Magnetic-Island Contraction and Particle Acceleration in Simulated Eruptive Solar Flares

Science.gov (United States)

Guidoni, S. E.; Devore, C. R.; Karpen, J. T.; Lynch, B. J.

2016-01-01

The mechanism that accelerates particles to the energies required to produce the observed high-energy impulsive emission in solar flares is not well understood. Drake et al. proposed a mechanism for accelerating electrons in contracting magnetic islands formed by kinetic reconnection in multi-layered current sheets (CSs). We apply these ideas to sunward-moving flux ropes (2.5D magnetic islands) formed during fast reconnection in a simulated eruptive flare. A simple analytic model is used to calculate the energy gain of particles orbiting the field lines of the contracting magnetic islands in our ultrahigh-resolution 2.5D numerical simulation. We find that the estimated energy gains in a single island range up to a factor of five. This is higher than that found by Drake et al. for islands in the terrestrial magnetosphere and at the heliopause, due to strong plasma compression that occurs at the flare CS. In order to increase their energy by two orders of magnitude and plausibly account for the observed high-energy flare emission, the electrons must visit multiple contracting islands. This mechanism should produce sporadic emission because island formation is intermittent. Moreover, a large number of particles could be accelerated in each magneto hydro dynamic-scale island, which may explain the inferred rates of energetic-electron production in flares. We conclude that island contraction in the flare CS is a promising candidate for electron acceleration in solar eruptions.

Banking contracts

OpenAIRE

Durčáková, Klára

2010-01-01

Resumé - Bank Contracts Bank Contracts are an integral part of our everyday lives. Citizen and bussines entities used bank contracts very often. Despite this fact we can't find legal definition in the Czech law. Banking contracts understand contracts that are signed by banks in their business activities and obligations under these contracts arise. While the banking contracts have been widely used, in Czech law there is not too much literature and judgements abou this issue. Lack of legislatio...

Environmental Management Performance Report April 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

EDER, D.M.

2000-04-01

The purpose of the Environmental Management Performance Report (EMPR) is to provide the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office's (DOE-RL's) report of Hanford's Environmental Management (EM) performance by: Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) through Fluor Hanford, Inc. (FHI) and its subcontractors; Environmental Restoration Contract through Bechtel Hanford, Inc. (BHI), and its subcontractors; Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) for EM and EM Science and Technology (S and T) Mission; and Office of Safety Regulation of the TWRS Privatization Contractor. This report is a monthly publication that summarizes EM Site performance under RL Operations Office. It is organized by the four sections listed above, with each section containing an Executive Summary and Area Performance Summaries.

Summary final report: Contract between the Japan atomic power company and the U.S. Department of Energy Improvement of core safety - study on GEM (III)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burke, T.M.; Lucoff, D.M.

1997-01-01

This report provides a summary of activities associated with the technical exchange between representatives of the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) regarding the development and testing of Gas Expansion Modules (GEM) at the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). Issuance of this report completes the scope of work defined in the original contract between JAPC and DOE titled ''Study on Improvement of Core Safety - Study on GEM (III).'' Negotiations related to potential modification of the contract are in progress. Under the proposed contract modification, DOE would provide an additional report documenting FFTF pump start tests with GEMs and answer additional JAPC questions related to core safety with and without GEMs

Financial Management: Reopening of Contracts in the Mechanization of Contract Administration Services System

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Granetto, Paul

2003-01-01

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service planned to replace the payment and entitlement function performed by the Mechanization of Contract Administration Services system with a new or modified system...

The effects of the contract-relax-antagonist-contract form of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching on postural stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Edwin E; Rossi, Mark D; Lopez, Richard

2010-07-01

To investigate the effects of the contract-relax-antagonist-contract (CRAC) form of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching, with and without a warm-up, on postural stability. Thirty volunteers (15 men and 15 women, age: 25.17 +/- 5.4 years, height: 173.76 +/- 8.2 cm, and weight: 72.03 +/- 14.87 kg) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: warm-up and stretch (WS), stretching only (SO), and a control condition (CON). Contract-relax-antagonist-contract PNF of the hamstrings, plantar flexors, and hip flexors was performed during WS and SO. A 6-minute treadmill warm-up was applied before CRAC in the WS condition. Measures of anterior/posterior and medial/lateral (M/L) postural stability were taken before and after treatment conditions. A 2 x 3 analysis of variance was used to assess for differences between conditions. Significance was set at p Contract-relax-antagonist-contract form of stretching is a useful protocol for improving M/L stability.

Contract Design: Risk Management and Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Axel C. Mühlbacher

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Effective risk adjustment is an aspect that is more and more given weight on the background of competitive health insurance systems and vital healthcare systems. The risk structure of the providers plays a vital role in Pay for Performance. A prerequisite for optimal incentive-based service models is a (partial dependence of the agent’s returns on the provider’s gain level. Integrated care systems as well as accountable care organisations (ACOs in the US and similar concepts in other countries are advocated as an effective method of improving the performance of healthcare systems. These systems outline a payment and care delivery model that intends to tie provider reimbursements to predefined quality metrics. By this the total costs of care shall be reduced.  Methods: Little is known about the contractual design and the main challenges of delegating “accountability” to these new kinds of organisations and/or contracts. The costs of market utilisation are highly relevant for the conception of healthcare contracts; furthermore information asymmetries and contract-specific investments are an obstacle to the efficient operation of ACOs. A comprehensive literature review on methods of designing contracts in Integrated Care was conducted. The research question in this article focuses on how reimbursement strategies, evaluation of measures and methods of risk adjustment can best be integrated in healthcare contracting.  Results: Each integrated care contract includes challenges for both payers and providers without having sufficient empirical data on both sides. These challenges are clinical, administrative or financial nature. Risk adjusted contracts ensure that the reimbursement roughly matches the true costs resulting from the morbidity of a population. If reimbursement of care provider corresponds to the actual expenses for an individual/population the problem of risk selection is greatly reduced. The currently used methods

Reported Energy and Cost Savings from the DOE ESPC Program: FY 2015

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

2017-01-01

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 151 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.

14 CFR 1260.148 - Contract provisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... equivalent to five percent of the bid price. The “bid guarantee” shall consist of a firm commitment such as a... bidder shall, upon acceptance of his bid, execute such contractual documents as may be required within... contract price. A “performance bond” is one executed in connection with a contract to secure fulfillment of...

28 CFR 70.48 - Contract provisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... bidder equivalent to five percent of the bid price. The “bid guarantee” must consist of a firm commitment... that the bidder must, upon acceptance of his bid, execute such contractual documents as may be required... contract price. A “performance bond” is one executed in connection with a contract to secure fulfillment of...

Entrepreneurs, Contracts, and the Failure of Young Firms

OpenAIRE

Pierre Azoulay; Scott Shane

2001-01-01

Although economic theory has emphasized that moral hazard and hold-up problems influence the design of contracts, very little is known about the process by which explicit contracts are established and the effect of contractual arrangements on firm performance. This paper attempts to demonstrate that firms are selected for survival on the basis of contracting efficiency. Based on a statistical analysis of 170 new franchise contracts and interviews with the founders of 16 of these new franchise...

Monitoring multi-party contracts for E-business

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Xu, L.

2004-01-01

"Monitoring multi-party contracts for E-business" investigates the issues involved in the performance of econtract monitoring of business automations in business to business e-commerce environment. A pro-active monitoring contract model and monitoring mechanism have been designed and developed. A

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR(R) Exchange

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2003-10-01

Handout for the Energy and Environmental Building Association's Building Solutions 2003 Conference and Expo: Chicago, Illinois, October 2003 The following summaries, provided by implementers of ''Home Performance with ENERGY STAR{reg_sign}'' around the country, are for use in the October 15 discussion during the Energy & Environmental Building Association (EEBA) Building Solutions, 2003 Conference in Chicago. The summaries and session discussions provide an overview of ''Home Performance with ENERGY STAR'', along with results and lessons learned from existing ''Home Performance'' implementers in New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, California, and Kansas City. Five future pilot projects set to begin in Georgia/Alabama, Idaho, Missouri, New Jersey and Texas will also be presented and discussed. Session topics will include the use of different training approaches, methods of quality assurance, and the role contractor certification plays in several of the programs. The session will conclude with a roundtable discussion of Home Performance issues by current and emerging implementers, with time for participant questions. ''Home Performance with ENERGY STAR'' uses the growing awareness and credibility of the ENERGY STAR brand to encourage and facilitate whole-house energy improvements in existing homes through self-sustaining energy efficiency programs. Whether you're a state energy official, utility program manager, contractor training professional or efficiency program implementer, you're sure to benefit from the unique presentations and networking opportunities that this session will offer.

Energy performance of buildings—EPBD in Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dascalaki, E.G.; Balaras, C.A.; Gaglia, A.G.; Droutsa, K.G.; Kontoyiannidis, S.

2012-01-01

Transposition of the European Directive on the energy performance of buildings (EPBD) in Greece was enacted in 2008 by a national law. A follow-up regulation on the energy performance in the building sector—KENAK released in 2010, outlines the overall approach in accordance to European standards and EPBD mandates. All necessary technical specifications and detailed information for the implementation of KENAK are included in four new technical guidelines prepared in 2010, which are supported by an official national software. Issues related to the energy experts are handled by presidential decrees published in 2010; over 5400 temporary energy inspectors are already in place, while permanent accreditation is in progress. Energy performance design study of new buildings for obtaining a building permit is in place since October 2010 and issuing energy performance certificates as of January 2011. This paper presents an overview of the development and current EPBD stage of implementation in Greece, along with a first assessment of the lessons learned and experiences gained. - Highlights: ► EPBD transposition in Greece is a reality. ► KENAK is the main legislative instrument for improving building energy efficiency in Greece. ► Four new technical guidelines have been published to support KENAK. ► A national software was also prepared to support implementation of KENAK. ► Temporary accreditation of 5300 energy inspectors. ► Over 20,000 energy performance certificates issued in the first five months of implementation.

Belene nuclear power plant contracting approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tankosic, D.; Mignone, O.

2004-01-01

Historically, three main types of project execution and contractual approaches have been applied to energy and industrial projects, including nuclear projects. These approaches are grouped into three broad categories: 1) Turnkey Approach; 2) Split Package (Island) Approach; and 3)Multiple Package Approach. Based on a preliminary screening done by an ongoing feasibility study work for NPP Belene (NEK contract to Parsons E and C), the recommended approach is going to follow that general trend i.e., with some variation between the Split Package and the Turnkey approach. Before deciding on an execution approach or at least before issuing bid specifications for the nuclear power plant, it is prudent, even for a country with existing nuclear power program (like Bulgaria), to re-check/verify capabilities of the interested bidders to handle contracts of this size and nature. During the last decades, nuclear energy went through a substantial restructuring and most of the capabilities (human and financial) that existed before are not any more available. This re-checking should mainly cover the experience of the bidders as regards the design, construction and operation of the stations where they were involved, but also include items such as local experience, capability to bring favorable financing, liability coverage, general background, potential and organizational structures. The advantages and disadvantages for the Owner of the three contracting approaches can be briefly summarized as follows: Turnkey Approach - main advantages: all responsibilities rest in a Contractor or Consortium. Main disadvantages - limited project control by Owner and restricted local participation. For Split Package Contract Approach main advantage are more favorable financing conditions and increased local participation. Main disadvantage is the increased interface problems. For Multiple package Contract Approach main advantages are the opportunity to tailor the plant and maximum increase of local

Greening Public Buildings: ESCO-Contracting in Danish Municipalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Ole; Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Rohr Hansen, Jesper

2013-01-01

This paper presents current research on Danish municipalities’ use of Energy Service Companies (ESCO) as a way to improve the standard of public buildings and to increase energy efficiency. In recent years more and more municipalities have used ESCO-contracts to retrofit existing public buildings...

Frustration of contract e impossibility of performance en el common law inglés

OpenAIRE

José Félix Chamie

2009-01-01

Sumario: i. Premisa. Formación de la doctrina de la frustration of contract. ii. Implied term theory. iii. Just and reasonable solution theory. iv. Foundation of contract theory. v. Radical change in the obligation: The “Construction theory”. vi. Efectos de la aplicación de la doctrine of frustration. vii. Límites de la jurisprudencia a la aplicación de la doctrine of frustration of contract

The European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Steffen; Hviid, Christian Anker

This paper investigates the actual energy use for building operation with the calculated energy use according to the Danish implementation of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). This is important to various stakeholders in the building industry as the calculated energy...... performance is used for estimating investment security, operating budgets and for policy making. A case study shows that the actual and calculated energy use is practically the same in an average scenario. In the worst-case uncertainty scenario, the actual energy use is 20 % higher than the corrected...

Future Contract Selection by Term Structure Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasco Grossmann

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In futures markets, a single asset is generally represented by several contracts with different maturities. The selection of specific contracts is an inevitable task that also creates new opportunities, especially in terms of speculative trading. Evaluating immediate and upcoming trading costs for all considered contracts might lead to a significantly improved performance. Among that, even possible market inefficiencies might be taken into consideration. This research introduces and evaluates a new algorithm for the contract selection. The results are benchmarked and compared with established methods using a Monte Carlo simulation on different commodity and index futures.

Management of Contracts for F110 Engine Procurements

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Granetto, Paul

2001-01-01

This audit was performed in response to an allegation to the Defense Hotline that the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Procurement Contracting Office made poor procurement decisions on F110 aircraft engine contracts...

48 CFR 225.7403-2 - Contract clause.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... performance or travel outside the United States, except for contracts with— (a) Foreign governments; (b..., DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS FOREIGN ACQUISITION Defense Contractors Outside the United States 225.7403-2 Contract clause. Use the clause at 252.225-7043, Antiterrorism/Force Protection Policy...

Skeletal muscle contraction in protecting joints and bones by absorbing mechanical impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Rudenko, O. V.; Tsyuryupa, S.; Sarvazyan, A.

2016-09-01

We have previously hypothesized that the dissipation of mechanical energy of external impact is a fundamental function of skeletal muscle in addition to its primary function to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy. In this paper, a mathematical justification of this hypothesis is presented. First, a simple mechanical model, in which the muscle is considered as a simple Hookean spring, is considered. This analysis serves as an introduction to the consideration of a biomechanical model taking into account the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction, kinetics of myosin bridges, sarcomere dynamics, and tension of muscle fibers. It is shown that a muscle behaves like a nonlinear and adaptive spring tempering the force of impact and increasing the duration of the collision. The temporal profiles of muscle reaction to the impact as functions of the levels of muscle contraction, durations of the impact front, and the time constants of myosin bridges closing, are obtained. The absorption of mechanical shock energy is achieved due to the increased viscoelasticity of the contracting skeletal muscle. Controlling the contraction level allows for the optimization of the stiffness and viscosity of the muscle necessary for the protection of the joints and bones.

Frustration of contract e impossibility of performance en el common law inglés

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Félix Chamie

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Sumario: i. Premisa. Formación de la doctrina de la frustration of contract. ii. Implied term theory. iii. Just and reasonable solution theory. iv. Foundation of contract theory. v. Radical change in the obligation: The “Construction theory”. vi. Efectos de la aplicación de la doctrine of frustration. vii. Límites de la jurisprudencia a la aplicación de la doctrine of frustration of contract

Green Power Partnership Long-term Contracts

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This page lists Partners that signed a contract to purchase green power for 5 years or more.

Is Contract Law Necessary?

OpenAIRE

SCHWARTZ, Alan

2010-01-01

This lecture was delivered on 17 March 2010. Alan Schwartz, Sterling Professor of Law; Professor of Management, Yale University This Lecture argues that much of the contract law in the cases (the US, the UK and Canada) and in the codes (Europe and Latin America) is unnecessary. To say that a law is unnecessary is to say that it does not perform a useful social function. The argument below thus sets out the functions that contract laws today are thought to serve, and then shows that many of...

Learning Contracts in Undergraduate Courses: Impacts on Student Behaviors and Academic Performance

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-01

they "felt bound and obligated by the mutual expectations," and the learning contract motivated them to complete readings on time ( Lemieux , 2001...1974; Huff and Johnson, 1998; Williams and Williams, 1999; Chan and Wai-tong, 2000; Lemieux , 2001; Chyung, 2007; Litchfield, et al., 2007; O’Halloran...were required to sign a contract (e.g. Barlow, 1974; Huff and Johnson, 1998; Williams and Williams, 1999; Chan and Wai-tong, 2000; Lemieux 2001

Assessing the performance of Dutch local energy companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blokhuis, Erik; Advokaat, Bart; Schaefer, Wim

2012-01-01

According to binding European Union agreements, the Netherlands has to cover at least 14% of its total energy use with renewable energy sources by 2020. However, the share of renewable energy in the Netherlands is small and hardly increasing. In 2010, renewable energy in the Netherlands accounted for only 3.8% of the national energy use, and has decreased with 0.4% compared to 2009. A cause of the stagnating renewable energy generation in the Netherlands is the absence of a nation-wide, clear and consistent long-term policy on the introduction of renewable energy. In order to overcome the current standstill in renewable energy adoption, several Dutch municipalities take the initiative and establish Local Energy Companies (LECs). However, to date, it is unclear which LEC type performs best. This research aims to compare the performance of existing LECs on three aspects: technology, finance, and organization. Furthermore, the performance of existing LECs is compared with theoretical reference LECs, in order to estimate efficiencies and opportunities for improvements. Finally, the influence of the recent changes in the Dutch subsidy scheme on LEC performance is examined. In order to achieve these aims, the benchmark method Data Envelopment Analysis is employed. - Highlights: ► Dutch Local Energy Companies (LECs) producing heat perform best in cost efficiency. ► Technical efficiency is highest in Dutch Local Energy Companies employing wind energy. ► Theoretical assumptions concerning LEC performance are not yet achieved in practice. ► The self supply model adds to the profitability of LECs, independent from subsidies. ► Recent changes in Dutch subsidy schemes add little to LECs’ financial performance.

Decisions on Energy Demand Response Option Contracts in Smart Grids Based on Activity-Based Costing and Stochastic Programming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfred J. Hildreth

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Smart grids enable a two-way energy demand response capability through which a utility company offers its industrial customers various call options for energy load curtailment. If a customer has the capability to accurately determine whether to accept an offer or not, then in the case of accepting an offer, the customer can earn both an option premium to participate, and a strike price for load curtailments if requested. However, today most manufacturing companies lack the capability to make the correct contract decisions for given offers. This paper proposes a novel decision model based on activity-based costing (ABC and stochastic programming, developed to accurately evaluate the impact of load curtailments and determine as to whether or not to accept an energy load curtailment offer. The proposed model specifically targets state-transition flexible and Quality-of-Service (QoS flexible energy use activities to reduce the peak energy demand rate. An illustrative example with the proposed decision model under a call-option based energy demand response scenario is presented. As shown from the example results, the proposed decision model can be used with emerging smart grid opportunities to provide a competitive advantage to the manufacturing industry.

Managing the relational character of public-private partnership contracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cvetković Predrag

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A public-private partnership contract has the character of a relational contract. Relational contracts are incomplete agreements governing transactions where the contracting parties have mutually agreed that it is impossible or economically inefficient to contractually define ex ante possible difficulties and contingencies in the contract implementation, nor the difficulties and contingencies underlying the ex post control of contract performance by a third entity (court or arbitration. Considering the methodology of managing relational contracts, it is essential that the theory of relational contracts does not advocate for the establishment of relational contracts as a separate category of contracts, with specifically designated contractual instruments. This theory defines the relational contract as a category which legitimizes 'the relational mode' of a particular contract. The methodology of relational contracts is important for contracts on public-private partnership as it ensures that the contractual relationship is aligned with the changes in the immediate environment where the PPP contract operates. The aforementioned alignment has two aspects. The first one is the ex ante aspect of the alignment which is primarily aimed at preventing the detrimental effect of such alignment to the public partner's interests. Therefore, the intent to prevent such an effect shall be taken into account when defining the criteria for the selection of the most favorable private partner and the best offer. At the same time, it is essential to establish verifiable standards for measuring the private partner performance in the phase of contract implementation. For this goal to be achieved, it is crucial to specify the subject matter of the private partner's obligations, to establish the priority rank of PPP project objectives, to elaborate on the specific requirements governing the eligibility of private partners to participate in the bidding process, to specify

Natural gas contracts in an emerging competitive market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutherland, R.J.

1992-01-01

Natural gas is being viewed by many as the fuel of the 1990s and beyond because of its environmental qualities, relatively low cost and significant domestic resource base. However, in the Fall of 1991, a group of electric utility executives met with then Deputy Secretary of Energy Henson Moore and asserted that an inability to obtain long term gas contracts meant that supplies are unreliable and construction of gas-fueled generating stations is being discouraged. This study was requested by the Deputy Secretary to address the issues surrounding long-term gas contracts and supply reliability. The relationship between supply reliability and contracts is explained in terms of the number of buyers and sellers in a market. With the appropriate state regulatory policies, utilities can contract for gas and obtain reliable supplies at competitive market prices. Public utility commissioners are encouraged to permit utilities a free choice in signing gas contracts, but to allow only competitive market prices to be reflected in allowable fuel costs

Natural gas contracts in an emerging competitive market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sutherland, R.J.

1992-11-01

Natural gas is being viewed by many as the fuel of the 1990s and beyond because of its environmental qualities, relatively low cost and significant domestic resource base. However, in the Fall of 1991, a group of electric utility executives met with then Deputy Secretary of Energy Henson Moore and asserted that an inability to obtain long term gas contracts meant that supplies are unreliable and construction of gas-fueled generating stations is being discouraged. This study was requested by the Deputy Secretary to address the issues surrounding long-term gas contracts and supply reliability. The relationship between supply reliability and contracts is explained in terms of the number of buyers and sellers in a market. With the appropriate state regulatory policies, utilities can contract for gas and obtain reliable supplies at competitive market prices. Public utility commissioners are encouraged to permit utilities a free choice in signing gas contracts, but to allow only competitive market prices to be reflected in allowable fuel costs.

Natural gas contracts in an emerging competitive market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sutherland, R.J.

1992-01-01

Natural gas is being viewed by many as the fuel of the 1990s and beyond because of its environmental qualities, relatively low cost and significant domestic resource base. However, in the Fall of 1991, a group of electric utility executives met with then Deputy Secretary of Energy Henson Moore and asserted that an inability to obtain long term gas contracts meant that supplies are unreliable and construction of gas-fueled generating stations is being discouraged. This study was requested by the Deputy Secretary to address the issues surrounding long-term gas contracts and supply reliability. The relationship between supply reliability and contracts is explained in terms of the number of buyers and sellers in a market. With the appropriate state regulatory policies, utilities can contract for gas and obtain reliable supplies at competitive market prices. Public utility commissioners are encouraged to permit utilities a free choice in signing gas contracts, but to allow only competitive market prices to be reflected in allowable fuel costs.

Service contracts in the petroleum industry - a practical approach; Contrato de servicos na industria do petroleo - uma abordagem pratica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, Sidney P. [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2003-07-01

The worldwide competition and the availability of new business opportunities have paved the way for service contracts as an attractive option when performing feasibility analysis for gas and energy projects. This paper addresses this subject and incorporates the experience gotten at PETROBRAS focusing on Compression Service Contract for Gas Pipeline Transmission System and also on Gas Processing Contract for gas dew point adjustment for natural gas production so as to specify the gas for industrial and automotive use. The methodology presented, that incorporates Monte Carlo Simulation for Risk Analysis, can be applied for any project with similar characteristics. This paper also underlines the importance of the use of Risk Analysis for feasibility studies. (author)

Summary final report: Contract between the Japan atomic power company and the U.S. Department of Energy Improvement of core safety - study on GEM (III)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burke, T.M.; Lucoff, D.M.

1997-03-18

This report provides a summary of activities associated with the technical exchange between representatives of the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) regarding the development and testing of Gas Expansion Modules (GEM) at the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). Issuance of this report completes the scope of work defined in the original contract between JAPC and DOE titled ''Study on Improvement of Core Safety - Study on GEM (III).'' Negotiations related to potential modification of the contract are in progress. Under the proposed contract modification, DOE would provide an additional report documenting FFTF pump start tests with GEMs and answer additional JAPC questions related to core safety with and without GEMs.

Support services for the Office of Energy efficiency and renewable energy. Quarterly progress report, July 1, 1995--September 30, 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-10-01

R.K. Sen & Associates, Inc., under Contract No. DE-AC01-94CE34027, provides technical and economic analysis support services to the Advanced Utility Concepts Division (AUCD) of DOE. Energetics, Inc. is a subcontractor to R.K. Sen & Associates, Inc. The work performed under this contract is mainly for the DOE Hydrogen R&D Program, although a limited amount of activities are also undertaken for the DOE Battery Energy Storage Program.

23 CFR 635.121 - Contract time and contract time extensions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... TRAFFIC OPERATIONS CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE Contract Procedures § 635.121 Contract time and contract time extensions. (a) The STD should have adequate written procedures for the determination of contract... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Contract time and contract time extensions. 635.121...

Environmental labelling of electricity delivery contracts in Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaaberger, Tomas

2003-01-01

Competition in the electricity market allows customers to choose between suppliers. As a consequence, customers may demand electricity from specified sources of energy. In Sweden, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), operates a system of environmental labelling of electricity delivery contracts since 1996. Labelling is available for suppliers offering electricity from renewable sources of energy with some additional criteria. Companies may acquire a licence to use the label by showing ability to deliver such electricity and by agreeing to be audited. The system is private independent. It is operating on the bases of credibility earned by the SSNC during 90 years as an environmental organisation and 10 years as operator of environmental labelling of consumer products. The system is market oriented, compatible with WTO and EU market principles, and independent of governmental environmental restrictions, subsidy or quota systems. It is relying on voluntary agreements. The results are desirable if only a few by electricity under labelled contracts as well as if every customer do so. The market is growing. A majority of the suppliers have a license and may offer labelled contracts. In the year 2000, 7% of all electricity sold to final consumers was sold under labelled contracts

Assessment of Navy Contract Management Processes

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-30

capability? • 85% of quality problems are related to processes, while only 15% of problems are controlled by individual workers ( Deming , 1986...eligible participants: 369 • Total surveys completed: 185 • Response rate: 50% CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MATURITY MODEL© MATURITY LEVEL 5...Measurement – Organizations systematically use performance metrics to measure the quality and evaluate the effectiveness of the contract management

Architectural design and energy performance; Conception architecturale et performance energetique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beaud, Ph. [Agence de l' Environnement et de la Maitrise de l' Energie, (ADEME), 06 - Valbonne (France); Pouget, A. [Bureau Etude Thermique, 75 - Paris (France); Sesolis, B. [TRIBU, 75 - Paris (France)] [and others

2000-07-01

This day was organized around the energy performance of the architecture in three parts. A first time dealt with the design of new buildings and private houses. Simulation tools for the energy optimization and practice of design are discussed. The second part was devoted to the new 2000 regulation with an open discussion on the regulatory costs. The last part forecasted the evolution until 2015 taking into account the french program of fight against the greenhouse effect, the limitation of the air conditioning consumption and the definition of a quality label concerning the energy performances. (A.L.B.)

Environmental Management Performance Report November 2000

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

EDER, D.M.

2000-11-01

The purpose of the Environmental Management Performance Report (EMPR) is to provide the Department of Energy Richland Operations Office's (DOE-RL's) report of Hanford's Environmental Management (EM) performance by: Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) through Fluor Hanford, Inc. (FH) and its subcontractors; Environmental Restoration Contract through Bechtel Hanford, Inc. (BHI), and its subcontractors; Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) for Science and Technology support to the EM Mission; and Office of Safety Regulation of the TWRS Privatization Contractor. This report is a monthly publication that summarizes EM Site performance under RL Operations Office. It is organized by the four sections listed above, with each section containing an Executive Summary and Area Performance Summaries. A glossary of terms is provided at the end of this report for reference purposes.

Commercial Buildings Energy Performance within Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun; Shaker, Hamid Reza

2015-01-01

Existing commercial buildings represent a challenge in the energy efficiency domain. Energy efficiency of a building, very often equalized to a building’s performance should not be observed as a standalone issue. For commercial buildings, energy efficiency needs to be observed and assessed within...

Non-renewal of contracts

CERN Multimedia

Association du personnel

2007-01-01

A new illegal practice is appearing in certain sectors of the Organization: the non-renewal of renewable three-year limited-duration (LD) contracts, despite a more than satisfactory performance and an obvious commitment to the Organization.

Performance profiles of major energy producers 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-02-01

Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 1994 is the eighteenth annual report of the Energy Information Administration`s (EIA) Financial Reporting System (FRS). The report examines financial and operating developments in energy markets, with particular reference to the 24 major U.S. energy companies required to report annually on Form EIA-28. Financial information is reported by major lines of business, including oil and gas production, petroleum refining and marketing, other energy operations, and nonenergy businesses. Financial and operating results are presented in the context of energy market developments with a view toward identifying changing corporate strategies and measuring the performance of ongoing operations both in the United States and abroad.

Heat contracting - a contribution to climate protection, security of supply and competition; Waerme-Contracting - ein Beitrag zu Klimaschutz, Versorgungssicherheit und Wettbewerb

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quint, R.P. [GASAG WaermeService GmbH, Berlin (Germany)

2007-08-15

Contracting is an important trump card when it comes to containing the climate change and improving the security of supply - and a promising business field besides. This is an option that should be used more widely considering the ambitious energy efficiency improvement targets of the European Union and Germany, which are set at 20% and 50% percent over the year 1990, respectively. It is moreover an option that pays off. German tenancy law is in urgent need of a reform to make heat contracting more popular. Furthermore, the modernisation of heating systems through contracting should be placed on a level with modernisation effected by the landlord.

Contract Formation and Performance under the UCC and CISG: A Comparative Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, Kurt M.; Rymsza, Leonard

2015-01-01

Contracts for the sale of goods in the United States are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in every state but one. When one of the parties to the contract is based in another country, however, the conflict of laws principles that will determine which country's law governs the transaction can be confounding. In addition, the commercial…

Performance profiles of major energy producers, 1991

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 1991 is the fifteenth annual report of the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Financial Reporting System (FRS). The report examines financial and operating developments, with particular reference to the 23 major energy companies (the FRS companies) required to report annually on Form EIA-28. It also traces key developments affecting the financial performance of major energy companies in 1991, as well as reviews important trends. Financial information is reported by major lines of business including oil and gas production, petroleum refining and marketing, and other energy operations. Domestic and international operations are examined separately in this report

Manual of contracts for the electricity sector. Contracts that work: Drafting and proper legal application. 2. rev. ed.; Vertragshandbuch Stromwirtschaft. Praxisgerechte Gestaltung und rechtssichere Anwendung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schoene, Thomas (ed.)

2014-07-01

This manual deals fundamentally with the drafting of contracts for the electricity sector. It covers all types of contracts on both the customer and the network side with their various special clauses and variants, specifically: basic supply, substitute supply, supply contracts for private, commercial and industrial special customers as well as redistributors, EFET contracts, network access contracts, supplier framework contracts, feed-in contracts, grid connection contracts and connection use contracts. The manual also addresses questions concerning electricity customer insolvency, an issue of growing importance. The following topics are furthermore dealt with in a practically oriented manner and with care being taken to explain the underlying legal issues in readily understandable language. What basic framework conditions are specified by the new energy economy laws and general civil law? What possibilities are available in drafting contracts and what are the ramifications in each case? What subject matters in a contract are of particular economic significance? How can concession contracts be designed in a market-conforming way when there is strong competition for qualified rights of way? What opportunities and risks are associated with innovative products? What options for action does a supplier have in the event of (threatening) customer insolvency? Model contracts from day-to-day management practice and tips, checklists and cautioning notes round off this manual.

Department of Defense Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan, FY 2011

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

significant reductions in energy consumption and therefore emissions of carbon dioxide. A low impact development (LID) approach to stormwater... Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification and incorporate the November 2010 Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) on Low Impact Development...Base (MCLB) Albany, in Georgia, awarded a $20 million energy savings performance contract in December 2009 for a landfill gas cogeneration project

Uranium enrichment conference on modified contract option, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, July 22, 1975

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-01-01

The questions and answers presented in this document originated at an industry-wide meeting sponsored by the Energy Research and Development Administration held in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on July 22, 1975, to discuss features and provisions of an ERDA plan to adjust contracts held by firms receiving uranium enriching services from ERDA. On June 19, 1975, ERDA announced terms of an expanded contract modification plan. The modified contract option broadened a previous plan proposed on January 15, 1975, by the former Atomic Energy Commission. The meeting in Oak Ridge on July 22, 1975, was designed to provide additional information on the expanded contract option and to offer ample opportunity for questions and answers prior to August 18, 1975, by which time enriching services customers who chose the one-time option had to so notify ERDA. The meeting included presentations by officials of ERDA Headquarters and ERDA's Oak Ridge Operations on the features of the contract adjustment offer, including provisions for contract termination in whole, separative work schedule adjustments, and uranium feed delivery schedule relaxation. (auth)

Procedure for Measuring and Reporting Commercial Building Energy Performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barley, D.; Deru, M.; Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.

2005-10-01

This procedure is intended to provide a standard method for measuring and characterizing the energy performance of commercial buildings. The procedure determines the energy consumption, electrical energy demand, and on-site energy production in existing commercial buildings of all types. The performance metrics determined here may be compared against benchmarks to evaluate performance and verify that performance targets have been achieved.

Quantitative application study on the control system of contract progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Xiaocong; Kang Rujie; Zhan Li

2012-01-01

Quantitative application study on the control system of contract progress, which is based on project management theory and PDCA cycle methods, provides a new way for the contract business management of enterprise, in line with the current situation and the nuclear power enterprise performance management needs. The concept of the system, system development, program design and development of ERP (VBA design) which come from the work experience summary of business managers are convenient and feasible in practical applications. By way of the applications in 2009, 2010, 2011 three-year overhaul contract management and continuous adjustment it has become an important business management tool, which not only effectively guaranteed the contract time and efficiency, but also combines the performance management and contract progress management. This study has provided useful reference for the enterprise management. (authors)

Implantable power generation system utilizing muscle contractions excited by electrical stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahara, Genta; Hijikata, Wataru; Tomioka, Kota; Shinshi, Tadahiko

2016-06-01

An implantable power generation system driven by muscle contractions for supplying power to active implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers and neurostimulators, is proposed. In this system, a muscle is intentionally contracted by an electrical stimulation in accordance with the demands of the active implantable medical device for electrical power. The proposed system, which comprises a small electromagnetic induction generator, electrodes with an electrical circuit for stimulation and a transmission device to convert the linear motion of the muscle contractions into rotational motion for the magneto rotor, generates electrical energy. In an ex vivo demonstration using the gastrocnemius muscle of a toad, which was 28 mm in length and weighed 1.3 g, the electrical energy generated by the prototype exceeded the energy consumed for electrical stimulation, with the net power being 111 µW. It was demonstrated that the proposed implantable power generation system has the potential to replace implantable batteries for active implantable medical devices. © IMechE 2016.

Environmental performance evaluation of Beijing's energy use planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Lei; Xu Linyu; Song Huimin

2011-01-01

In line with rapid economic development, urban energy consumption is increasing rapidly, resulting in environmental problems. After considering several methods to evaluate the environmental performance of energy use, including: energy ecological footprint, input-output analysis, emergy-exergy analysis, and multi-criteria decision-making, an environmental performance evaluation model is proposed, which combines the analytical hierarchy process, fuzzy extent analysis, and membership degree analysis. In the model, 18 sub-indicators of environmental performance from energy use planning are classified into four categories: structure of energy use and industry, technology and efficiency of energy use, environmental impacts caused by energy use, and the socio-economic benefits of energy use. Membership degree analysis is applied to each indicator. Three energy use scenarios which are, respectively, environment-friendly, technology-led, and economic policy-led are evaluated. The results show that the technology-led energy use planning is best. The sustainable energy use policies are proposed from three aspects, including optimizing the energy use and industrial structure, encouraging development of energy-saving and air pollution control technologies, and enhancing legislation on energy use management. The policies are helpful to optimize the trade-offs between economic growth and environmental protection in Beijing. - Highlights: → Our paper establishes a system of indicators according to the structure of urban energy use planning. → We have created a comprehensive environmental performance evaluation model in the research. → The model and results can serve as an important basis for decision-making to guide local government.

Computational Fluid Dynamics and Building Energy Performance Simulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Peter V.; Tryggvason, Tryggvi

An interconnection between a building energy performance simulation program and a Computational Fluid Dynamics program (CFD) for room air distribution will be introduced for improvement of the predictions of both the energy consumption and the indoor environment. The building energy performance...

Standard form contracts and a smart contract future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristin B. Cornelius

2018-05-01

Full Text Available With a budding market of widespread smart contract implementation on the horizon, there is much conversation about how to regulate this new technology. Discourse on standard form contracts (SFCs and how they have been adopted in a digital environment is useful toward predicting how smart contracts might be interpreted. This essay provides a critical review of the discourse surrounding digitised SFCs and applies it to issues in smart contract regulation. An exploration of the literature surrounding specific instances SFCs finds that it lacks a close examination of the textual and documentary aspects of SFCs, which are particularly important in a digital environment as a shift in medium prompts a different procedural process. Instead, common perspectives are either based on outdated notions of paper versions of these contracts or on ideologies of industry and business that do not sufficiently address the needs of consumers/users in the digital age. Most importantly, noting the failure of contract law to address the inequities of SFCs in this environment can help prevent them from being codified further with smart contracts.

Performance profiles of major energy producers 1989

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-01-23

Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 1989 is the thirteenth annual report of the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Financial Reporting System (FRS). The report examines financial and operating developments, with particular reference to the 23 major energy companies (the FRS companies'') required to report annually on Form EIA-28. Financial information is reported by major lines of business including oil and gas production, petroleum refining and marketing, and other energy operations. Domestic and international operations are examined separately in this report. It also traces key developments affecting the financial performance of major energy companies in 1989, as well as review of important trends.

Maximizing Energy Savings Reliability in BC Hydro Industrial Demand-side Management Programs: An Assessment of Performance Incentive Models

Science.gov (United States)

Gosman, Nathaniel

of alternative performance incentive program models to manage DSM risk in BC. Three performance incentive program models were assessed and compared to BC Hydro's current large industrial DSM incentive program, Power Smart Partners -- Transmission Project Incentives, itself a performance incentive-based program. Together, the selected program models represent a continuum of program design and implementation in terms of the schedule and level of incentives provided, the duration and rigour of measurement and verification (M&V), energy efficiency measures targeted and involvement of the private sector. A multi criteria assessment framework was developed to rank the capacity of each program model to manage BC large industrial DSM risk factors. DSM risk management rankings were then compared to program costeffectiveness, targeted energy savings potential in BC and survey results from BC industrial firms on the program models. The findings indicate that the reliability of DSM energy savings in the BC large industrial sector can be maximized through performance incentive program models that: (1) offer incentives jointly for capital and low-cost operations and maintenance (O&M) measures, (2) allow flexible lead times for project development, (3) utilize rigorous M&V methods capable of measuring variable load, process-based energy savings, (4) use moderate contract lengths that align with effective measure life, and (5) integrate energy management software tools capable of providing energy performance feedback to customers to maximize the persistence of energy savings. While this study focuses exclusively on the BC large industrial sector, the findings of this research have applicability to all energy utilities serving large, energy intensive industrial sectors.

Contract 98 Self-Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-04-01

This report documents the results of LBL`s Self-Assessment required by Appendix F to Contract DE ACOO3765F00098. This self assessment covers the performance measures set forth in Appendix F except those requiring an external audit. The performance measures for LBL are in the areas of ES&H Finance, Human Services and Procurement and Property. LBL is a multi-program laboratory operated by the University of California (UC) for DOE. The mission of LBL includes performing research in energy, general, and life sciences. LBL facilities include the main site on 130 acres located in the cities of Berkeley and Oakland; laboratories and offices located in buildings on the UC Berkeley Campus; and three leased buildings in the cities of Berkeley and Emeryville. 1. Involvement of Line Management in the assessment process to provide awareness and ownership. 2. Using existing assessments, audits and appraisals in lieu of a new assessment wherever possible. 3. Conduct of the assessments by individuals with functional responsibility and knowledge of the areas being assessed. 4. Interaction with individuals performing assessments at other Laboratories to enhance our learning process. As anticipated, a number of findings will require corrective action. General corrective actions are identified for key findings in this report. In early May 1993, this Laboratory will begin the development of detailed formal corrective action plans which will be entered into a laboratory automated corrective action tracking system.

48 CFR 16.601 - Time-and-materials contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... contracts for certain commercial services. (1) Government surveillance. A time-and-materials contract..., appropriate Government surveillance of contractor performance is required to give reasonable assurance that... procedures, the fixed hourly rates for services that meet the definition of commercial item at 2.101 that are...

Performance profiles of major energy producers, 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-01-01

The energy industry generally and petroleum and natural gas operations in particular are frequently reacting to a variety of unsettling forces. Falling oil prices, economic upswings, currency devaluations, increasingly rigorous environmental quality standards, deregulation of electricity markets, and continued advances in exploration and production technology were among the challenges and opportunities to the industry in 1997. To analyze the extent to which these and other developments have affected energy industry financial and operating performance, strategies, and industry structure, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) maintains the Financial Reporting Systems (FRS). Through Form EIA-28, major US energy companies annually report to the FRS. Financial and operating information is reported by major lines of business, including oil and gas production (upstream), petroleum refining and marketing (downstream), other energy operations, and nonenergy business. Performance Profiles of Major Producers 1997 examines the interplays of energy markets, companies` strategies, and government policies (in 1997 and in historical context) that gave rise to the results given here. The report also analyzes other key aspects of energy company financial performance as seen through the multifaceted lens provided by the FRS data and complementary data for industry overall. 41 figs., 77 tabs.

Renewable Energy Feasibility Study Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rooney, Tim [Antares Group Inc.

2013-10-30

The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC or the Community) contracted the ANTARES Group, Inc. (“ANTARES”) to assess the feasibility of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. A solar energy project could provide a number of benefits to the Community in terms of potential future energy savings, increased employment, environmental benefits from renewable energy generation and usage, and increased energy self-sufficiency. The study addresses a number of facets of a solar project’s overall feasibility, including: Technical appropriateness; Solar resource characteristics and expected system performance; Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) economic assessment. The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC or the Community) contracted the ANTARES Group, Inc. (“ANTARES”) to prepare a biomass resource assessment study and evaluate the feasibility of a bioenergy project on Community land. A biomass project could provide a number of benefits to the Community in terms of increased employment, environmental benefits from renewable energy generation and usage, and increased energy self-sufficiency. The study addresses a number of facets of a biomass project’s overall feasibility, including: Resource analysis and costs; Identification of potential bioenergy projects; Technical and economic (levelized cost of energy) modeling for selected project configuration.

Between Status and Contract?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thorsten Keiser

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This contribution deals with unfree labour in Germany from the early modern age until the beginning of the 20th century. It presents the main conclusions of a book published in 2013 on this subject in German. Unfree labour is not identified in the first place with slavery or any other labour relationship based on status. Instead, this study aims at an analysis of freedom and coercion in contractual labour relationships. It will be argued that in Germany contractual labour relationships before 1800 were embedded in a legal system that strongly restricted contractual autonomy and aimed at the suppression of free labour markets. The scope of this legislation was to guarantee efficient labour performance, which was not only perceived as being in the personal interest of an employer, but as a fundamental element of the common good. After 1800 the system changed to more incentive-based legislation that established freedom of contract for labour relations. Nevertheless, coercion in order to perform the contractual duties of a work contract remained important for many groups of workers, especially farmhands and industrial workers. The last criminal sanctions for breaches of labour contracts were only abolished in the revolution of 1919. This development shows the difficulties German law had in extending the principles of private law to workers. When a system of free labour was fully established, the issue of unemployment and economic problems, especially in the Weimar Republic, required a new system of protective rules. The history of free market based labour contracts in Germany was therefore very short, with state intervention shi ing from control and coercion to social assistance.

Electricity contract choices of Finnish residential customers. A choice based conjoint analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rouvinen, S.; Matero, J. (Univ. of Eastern Finland, Joensuu (Finland), School of Forest Sciences), e-mail: seppo.rouvinen@uef.fi, e-mail: jukka.matero@uef.fi

2010-07-01

Our aim is to examine how different environmental attributes of electricity contracts affect the residential customer choices when heterogeneity in customer preferences and motivations is taken into account. The data was acquired by a mail questionnaire to random sample of Finnish people in October-November 2009 with a response rate of 38 %. In addition to conventional questions, like questions on socio-demographic and agreements of energy related statements, the discrete choice experiment (DCE) of electricity contracts was included. The choice sets in the DCE had three electricity contract alternatives with varying levels of predetermined attributes (including unit price, supplier type, frequency of power outages, energy source and CO{sub 2} emissions). In this paper, we present the findings of our DCE design. Modeling respondent choices resulted in implicit prices for various electricity contract attributes that provide guidance for green marketing strategies of electricity suppliers and energy related informational activities of public institutions. We conclude that currently the potential for increasing demand-based environmental competitiveness from the wood electricity differentiation remains limited as we did not find any significant market segment of residential customers with strong preferences for wood over other sources of electricity (including 'mixture'). (orig.)

Technical progress report, Contracts DE-AC02-81ER40014, 40015 and 40016

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

This Progress Report summarizes work carried out at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Colorado from November 1, 1980 through July 31, 1981, under contracts between the University of Colorado and the United States Department of Energy. The shorter report period of nine months is due to a change to an earlier submission date this year for our proposal for support to begin February 1, 1982. Cyclotron operation, research, and development have been supported under contract DE-AC02-81ER40014. The AVF cyclotron has continued to provide reliable and versatile beams of protons, deuterons, 3 He and 4 He. A wide variety of research results in direct reactions, nuclear structure, and compound reaction mechanisms can be noted in this Progress Report, correlated in many cases to current problems in intermediate energy physics. Theoretical work on nuclear reactions, carried out under contract DE-AC02-81ER40015, has been well matched to our experimental programs in low and intermediate energy physics. One important result has been the recasting of the DWBA in an eikonal expansion suited to high energy reactions. Our efforts in intermediate energy physics, under contract DE-AC02-81ER40016, have emphasized pion scattering studies at LAMPF and TRIUMF and proton induced charge exchange reactions at IUCF. Data for an important test of hadronic charge symmetry have been completed at two energies, using elastic pion-deuteron scattering

Optimizing multiple reliable forward contracts for reservoir allocation using multitime scale streamflow forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Mengqian; Lall, Upmanu; Robertson, Andrew W.; Cook, Edward

2017-03-01

Streamflow forecasts at multiple time scales provide a new opportunity for reservoir management to address competing objectives. Market instruments such as forward contracts with specified reliability are considered as a tool that may help address the perceived risk associated with the use of such forecasts in lieu of traditional operation and allocation strategies. A water allocation process that enables multiple contracts for water supply and hydropower production with different durations, while maintaining a prescribed level of flood risk reduction, is presented. The allocation process is supported by an optimization model that considers multitime scale ensemble forecasts of monthly streamflow and flood volume over the upcoming season and year, the desired reliability and pricing of proposed contracts for hydropower and water supply. It solves for the size of contracts at each reliability level that can be allocated for each future period, while meeting target end of period reservoir storage with a prescribed reliability. The contracts may be insurable, given that their reliability is verified through retrospective modeling. The process can allow reservoir operators to overcome their concerns as to the appropriate skill of probabilistic forecasts, while providing water users with short-term and long-term guarantees as to how much water or energy they may be allocated. An application of the optimization model to the Bhakra Dam, India, provides an illustration of the process. The issues of forecast skill and contract performance are examined. A field engagement of the idea is useful to develop a real-world perspective and needs a suitable institutional environment.

CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING: DOD, State, and USAID Contracts and Contractor Personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hutton, John; Ayers, Johana R; Berkholtz, Jessica M; Brandon, E; Culley, Brendan S; James, Jr., Art; McMillen, Lisa A; McSween, Jean; Thornton, Karen

2008-01-01

DOD, State, and USAID reported that they obligated at least $33.9 billion during fiscal year 2007 and the first half of fiscal year 2008 on 56,925 contracts with performance in either Iraq or Afghanistan...

Contract Award Decisions Resulting in Contract Termination for Default

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1996-01-01

.... Specifically, the audit focused on contracts terminated either for default or convenience and determined whether the contract terminations could have been averted based on information available before contract award...

Automatic Energy Schemes for High Performance Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sundriyal, Vaibhav [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2013-01-01

Although high-performance computing traditionally focuses on the efficient execution of large-scale applications, both energy and power have become critical concerns when approaching exascale. Drastic increases in the power consumption of supercomputers affect significantly their operating costs and failure rates. In modern microprocessor architectures, equipped with dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and CPU clock modulation (throttling), the power consumption may be controlled in software. Additionally, network interconnect, such as Infiniband, may be exploited to maximize energy savings while the application performance loss and frequency switching overheads must be carefully balanced. This work first studies two important collective communication operations, all-to-all and allgather and proposes energy saving strategies on the per-call basis. Next, it targets point-to-point communications to group them into phases and apply frequency scaling to them to save energy by exploiting the architectural and communication stalls. Finally, it proposes an automatic runtime system which combines both collective and point-to-point communications into phases, and applies throttling to them apart from DVFS to maximize energy savings. The experimental results are presented for NAS parallel benchmark problems as well as for the realistic parallel electronic structure calculations performed by the widely used quantum chemistry package GAMESS. Close to the maximum energy savings were obtained with a substantially low performance loss on the given platform.

Asymmetric Information, Self-selection, and Pricing of Insurance Contracts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Donnelly, Catherine; Englund, Martin Kristian; Nielsen, Jens Perch

2014-01-01

This article presents an optional bonus-malus contract based on a priori risk classification of the underlying insurance contract. By inducing self-selection, the purchase of the bonus-malus contract can be used as a screening device. This gives an even better pricing performance than both...... an experience rating scheme and a classical no-claims bonus system. An application to the Danish automobile insurance market is considered....

13 CFR 124.515 - Can a Participant change its ownership or control and continue to perform an 8(a) contract, and...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... of a majority of the voting stock of the concern in order to raise equity capital, but only if— (i... financing; (2) Ownership and control of the concern that is performing the 8(a) contract will pass to...

Assessing District Energy Systems Performance Integrated with Multiple Thermal Energy Storages

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaie, Behnaz

The goal of this study is to examine various energy resources in district energy (DE) systems and then DE system performance development by means of multiple thermal energy storages (TES) application. This study sheds light on areas not yet investigated precisely in detail. Throughout the research, major components of the heat plant, energy suppliers of the DE systems, and TES characteristics are separately examined; integration of various configurations of the multiple TESs in the DE system is then analysed. In the first part of the study, various sources of energy are compared, in a consistent manner, financially and environmentally. The TES performance is then assessed from various aspects. Then, TES(s) and DE systems with several sources of energy are integrated, and are investigated as a heat process centre. The most efficient configurations of the multiple TESs integrated with the DE system are investigated. Some of the findings of this study are applied on an actual DE system. The outcomes of this study provide insight for researchers and engineers who work in this field, as well as policy makers and project managers who are decision-makers. The accomplishments of the study are original developments TESs and DE systems. As an original development the Enviro-Economic Function, to balance the economic and environmental aspects of energy resources technologies in DE systems, is developed; various configurations of multiple TESs, including series, parallel, and general grid, are developed. The developed related functions are discharge temperature and energy of the TES, and energy and exergy efficiencies of the TES. The TES charging and discharging behavior of TES instantaneously is also investigated to obtain the charging temperature, the maximum charging temperature, the charging energy flow, maximum heat flow capacity, the discharging temperature, the minimum charging temperature, the discharging energy flow, the maximum heat flow capacity, and performance

The Suitability of the Remedy of Specific Performance to Breach of a "Player's Contract" with Specific Reference to the Mapoe and Santos cases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K Mould

2011-04-01

Full Text Available During the 1990s, rugby union formation in the Republic of South Africa developed rapidly from a system of strict amateurism to one of professionalism. Professional participants in the sport received salaries for participation, and rugby became a business like any other. As in all forms of business, rugby had to be regulated moreefficiently than had previously been the case. Tighter regulations were instituted by governing bodies, and ultimately labour legislation became applicable to professional rugby. A professional sportsman or woman participating in a team sport is generallyconsidered an employee. This means that the same principles that govern employees in general should also apply to professional sportsmen and women. The exact nature of the "player's contract", a term generally used to describe the contract of employment between a professional sportsman or sportswoman and his or her employer, deserves closer attention. It has been argued with much merit that the "player's contract", while in essence a contract of employment, possesses certain sui generis characteristics. The first aim of this article is to demonstrate how this statement is in fact a substantial one. If it is concluded that the "player's contract" isin fact a sui generis contract of employment, the most suitable remedy in case of breach of contract must be determined. The second aim of this article is to indicate why the remedy of specific performance, which is generally not granted in cases where the defaulting party has to provide services of a personal nature, is the most suitable remedy in case of breach of "player's contracts". To substantiate this statement, recent applicable case law is investigated and discussed, particularly the recent case of Vrystaat Cheetahs (Edms Beperk v Mapoe. Suggestions are finally offered as to how breach of "player's contracts" should be approached by South African courts in future.

BUILDING DESIGN INFLUENCE ON THE ENERGY PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moga Ligia

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Energy efficient design is a high priority in the national energy strategy of European countries considering the latest requirements of the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. The residential sector is responsible for a significant quantity of energy consumptions from the total amount of consumptions on a worldwide level. In residential building most of the energy consumptions are given mainly by heating, domestic hot water and lighting. Retrofitting the existing building stock offers great opportunities for reducing global energy consumptions and greenhouse gas emissions. The first part of the paper will address the need of thermal and energy retrofit of existing buildings. The second part will provide an overview on how various variables can influence the energy performance of a building that is placed in all four climatic zones from Romania. The paper is useful for specialist and designers from the construction field in understanding that buildings behave differently from the energy point of view in different climatic regions, even if the building characteristic remain the same.

Relativistic beam self-contraction in the inhomogeneous magnetic field with a neck

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grishin, V.K.

1979-01-01

For production of short bunches of relativistic electrons and accompanying electromagnetic fields with amplitudes (up to MW/cm), considered was self-contraction of a relativistic electron beam (REB) in a magnetic field with a neck. REB dynamics in a ferrodielectric channel with permeability >> 1 was considered as well. It is shown, that in a such system, 10 m beam with a current up to ten kA is contracted to a length of approximately 0.5 m. Also the possible ways of application of the considered method of REB contraction are shown. For instance, a slow REB, fearing a great field, can be used for the capture and subsequent acceleration of heavy ions. The contracted beam application for generating powerful pulses of a h.f. field with, in fact, a homogeneous spectrum up to 100-300 MHz and total field energy up to 10-15% of initial beam energy is of great interest as well

Energetic aspects of skeletal muscle contraction: implications of fiber types.

Science.gov (United States)

Rall, J A

1985-01-01

In this chapter fundamental energetic properties of skeletal muscles as elucidated from isolated muscle preparations are described. Implications of these intrinsic properties for the energetic characterization of different fiber types and for the understanding of locomotion have been considered. Emphasis was placed on the myriad of physical and chemical techniques that can be employed to understand muscle energetics and on the interrelationship of results from different techniques. The anaerobic initial processes which liberate energy during contraction and relaxation are discussed in detail. The high-energy phosphate (approximately P) utilized during contraction and relaxation can be distributed between actomyosin ATPase or cross-bridge cycling (70%) and the Ca2+ ATPase of the sacroplasmic reticulum (30%). Muscle shortening increases the rate of approximately P hydrolysis, and stretching a muscle during contraction suppresses the rate of approximately P hydrolysis. The economy of an isometric contraction is defined as the ratio of isometric mechanical response to energetic cost and is shown to be a fundamental intrinsic parameter describing muscle energetics. Economy of contraction varies across the animal kingdom by over three orders of magnitude and is different in different mammalian fiber types. In mammalian skeletal muscles differences in economy of contraction can be attributed mainly to differences in the specific actomyosin and Ca2+ ATPase of muscles. Furthermore, there is an inverse relationship between economy of contraction and maximum velocity of muscle shortening (Vmax) and maximum power output. This is a fundamental relationship. Muscles cannot be economical at developing and maintaining force and also exhibit rapid shortening. Interestingly, there appears to be a subtle system of unknown nature that modulates the Vmax and economy of contraction. Efficiency of a work-producing contraction is defined and contrasted to the economy of contraction

Management practices and performance of mergers and acquisitions in Pakistan: mediating role of psychological contract.

Science.gov (United States)

Bari, Muhammad Waseem; Fanchen, Meng; Baloch, Muhammad Awais

2016-01-01

The objective of this study is to examine the direct and indirect effect of management practices (procedural justice, coordination approach, communication system, integration strategy, and coping programs) on merger and acquisition (M&A) performance in the Pakistan banking industry. Psychological contract (PC) acts as a mediator between Management practices and M&A performance. The Present study distributes a structured questionnaire to 700 bank employees of different management cadres. The useful response rate is 76 % (536 employees). It uses PLS-SEM technique for data analysis. (1) procedural justice is a key strategy which has highly significant direct and indirect effect on M&A performance; however integration strategy and the communication system have an only direct effect. (2) PC performs partial mediation at different levels between management practices and M&A financial and non-financial performance. This study provides an effective solution to solve the soft issues during and post-M&A process. This is one of the few studies which effectively integrate the five constructs into a single framework to study their effects on M&A performance. Limitations and future research directions are presented in the last section of the study.

A Guide to Performance Contracting with ESCOs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baechler, Michael C.

2011-09-01

An energy services company (ESCO) can identify energy improvements, provide the capital required and installs improvements, offers turn-key installation services, and guarantees energy savings. Companies pay the ESCO back over a period of years from the energy cost savings generated from the project. Hiring an ESCO is a proven strategy for identifying and implementing energy saving capital improvements, while managing risks inherent in such projects.

University of Virginia High Energy Physics Group. Final performance report, June 1, 1989--January 31, 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1994-12-31

The US Department of Energy Contracts for 1989 covered the initial year of the University of Virginia High Energy Physics Group. The first proposal was submitted in the fall of 1988 and the first allocation of funding was received in June 1989. This first contract which covered the time period June 1, 1989--January 31, 1990 was in the amount of $186,000 and covered UVa HEP group operations and equipment during that period. At that point, a regular contract year was established and two subsequent contracts were issued for February 1, 1990--January 31, 1991 and February 1, 1991--January 31, 992 with awards of $280,000 and $580,000, respectively. The funding between June, 1989 and January, 1992 covered the activities of both the UVa Theory Group (Task A) and the UVa HEP Experimental Group (Task B). Expenditures of all above funds was completed by January 31, 1994. In this time period, certain initial things were accomplished using the operating funds provided by DOE and the seed funds ($2.2 million over the period). There were three main areas of activities, the building of the University of Virginia HEP infrastructure (construction of lab space, computer facilities, electronic shop, machine shop and office space), the hiring of personnel (faculty, post docs, and students) and the physics activities of the group. Much of the physics program of the experimental group revolved around the study of production and decay of heavy flavor. A list of technical papers generated by their work is provided.

University of Virginia High Energy Physics Group. Final performance report, June 1, 1989 - January 31, 1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

The US Department of Energy Contracts for 1989 covered the initial year of the University of Virginia High Energy Physics Group. The first proposal was submitted in the fall of 1988 and the first allocation of funding was received in June 1989. This first contract which covered the time period June 1, 1989--January 31, 1990 was in the amount of $186,000 and covered UVa HEP group operations and equipment during that period. At that point, a regular contract year was established and two subsequent contracts were issued for February 1, 1990--January 31, 1991 and February 1, 1991--January 31, 992 with awards of $280,000 and $580,000, respectively. The funding between June, 1989 and January, 1992 covered the activities of both the UVa Theory Group (Task A) and the UVa HEP Experimental Group (Task B). Expenditures of all above funds was completed by January 31, 1994. In this time period, certain initial things were accomplished using the operating funds provided by DOE and the seed funds ($2.2 million over the period). There were three main areas of activities, the building of the University of Virginia HEP infrastructure (construction of lab space, computer facilities, electronic shop, machine shop and office space), the hiring of personnel (faculty, post docs, and students) and the physics activities of the group. Much of the physics program of the experimental group revolved around the study of production and decay of heavy flavor. A list of technical papers generated by their work is provided

The advantages of cost plus award fee contracts

Science.gov (United States)

Keathley, William C.

1994-01-01

A Cost Plus Award Fee contract is the best procurement vehicle for the high-tech, one-of-a-kind, development projects that constitute most of NASA'S projects. The use of this type of contract requires more government and contractor effort than any other forms of contracts. An award fee contract is described as an arrangement whereby the government periodically awards a fee consistent with the cost, schedule and technical performance that is achieved by a contractor during a preset period with preset award fee pools. It's the only contracting method where both the government and contractor goals are closely linked. It also has a built-in mechanism to conveniently alter and emphasize program events in order to current external and internal situations. The award fee process also demands good communication between government and contractor participants.

10 CFR 435.4 - Energy efficiency performance standard.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Energy efficiency performance standard. 435.4 Section 435.4 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR NEW FEDERAL LOW-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS Mandatory Energy Efficiency Standards for Federal Low-Rise Residential...

Performance profiles of major energy producers 1993

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-01-01

Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 1993 is the seventeenth annual report of the Energy Information Administration`s (EIA) Financial Reporting System (FRS). The report examines financial and operating developments in energy markets, with particular reference to the 25 major US energy companies required to report annually on Form EIA-28. Financial information is reported by major liens of business, including oil and gas production, petroleum refining and marketing, other energy operations, and nonenergy businesses. Financial and operating results are presented in the context of energy market developments with a view toward identifying changing corporate strategies and measuring the performance of ongoing operations both in the US and abroad. This year`s report analyzes financial and operating developments for 1993 (Part 1: Developments in 1993) and also reviews key developments during the 20 years following the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973--1974 (Part 2: Major Energy Company Strategies Since the Arab Oil Embargo). 49 figs., 104 tabs.

Performance Analysis: Control of Hazardous Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Grange, Connie E. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Freeman, Jeff W. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Kerr, Christine E. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2010-10-06

LLNL experienced 26 occurrences related to the control of hazardous energy from January 1, 2008 through August 2010. These occurrences were 17% of the total number of reported occurrences during this 32-month period. The Performance Analysis and Reporting Section of the Contractor Assurance Office (CAO) routinely analyzes reported occurrences and issues looking for patterns that may indicate changes in LLNL’s performance and early indications of performance trends. It became apparent through these analyses that LLNL might have experienced a change in the control of hazardous energy and that these occurrences should be analyzed in more detail to determine if the perceived change in performance was real, whether that change is significant and if the causes of the occurrences are similar. This report documents the results of this more detailed analysis.

Physician Personal Services Contract Enforceability: The Influence of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Science.gov (United States)

Fasko, Steven A; Kerr, Bernard J; Alvarez, M Raymond; Westrum, Andrew

We explore the influence of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution on the enforceability of personal services contracts for physicians. This influence extends from the ambiguous definition to the legal interpretation of personal services contracts. The courts have struggled with determining contracts to be a personal service and whether to grant injunctions for continued performance. The award or denial of damages due to a breach of contract is vested in these enforceability complications. Because of the Thirteenth Amendment's influence, courts and contracting parties will continue to struggle with physician personal services contract enforceability; although other points of view may exist. Possible solutions are offered for health care contract managers dealing with challenges attributable to physician personal services contracts.

More cost effectiveness from public tendering of energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, E.

2006-01-01

From the results of an energy market analysis it appears that parties which are obliged to tender for energy contracts do not make the most of it. Timing is crucial in a liberalized market. Contracting in spring seems to deliver the best prices for energy in combination with tailor-made contracts [nl

Polymorphic Contracts

Science.gov (United States)

Belo, João Filipe; Greenberg, Michael; Igarashi, Atsushi; Pierce, Benjamin C.

Manifest contracts track precise properties by refining types with predicates - e.g., {x : Int |x > 0 } denotes the positive integers. Contracts and polymorphism make a natural combination: programmers can give strong contracts to abstract types, precisely stating pre- and post-conditions while hiding implementation details - for example, an abstract type of stacks might specify that the pop operation has input type {x :α Stack |not ( empty x )} . We formalize this combination by defining FH, a polymorphic calculus with manifest contracts, and establishing fundamental properties including type soundness and relational parametricity. Our development relies on a significant technical improvement over earlier presentations of contracts: instead of introducing a denotational model to break a problematic circularity between typing, subtyping, and evaluation, we develop the metatheory of contracts in a completely syntactic fashion, omitting subtyping from the core system and recovering it post facto as a derived property.

The regulation of peculiarities of electronic contracting: comparative analysis

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