Search

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2006.05.012 Byline: Matthias Ruth (a), Clark Bernier (b), Alan Meier (c), John 'Skip' Laitner (d) Keywords: Energy Efficiency; Efficiency gap; Simulation game; Energy policy; Greenhouse gas emissions; Consumer choice; Household appliances; Experimental economics; Technology policy Abstract: Computer models are widely used to analyze decisions about energy efficiency improvements in the residential and commercial sectors. Few models exist that can actually be run interactively by decision makers to play out alternative future scenarios. None are available that interactively capture the dynamics, subtleties and complexities of interdependent decisions by utilities, households and firms in an ever-changing technological and economic environment. This paper presents the features and experiences of PowerPlay, a computer-facilitated game which fills that gap and does more: it is a game to be played by at least a dozen player groups who interact with each other, make deals (or break them), plan for the future and revise decisions. The computer model functions like a game board to trace actions and offer choices. The observed behaviors can be analyzed to advance understanding of investment strategies and consumer choices; to generate experimentally-based data on energy efficiency changes; and to provide the basis for analyses that can substantiate or complement historical, time-series driven specifications of energy models. Author Affiliation: (a) Center for Integrative Environmental Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA (b) Environmental Policy Program, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA (c) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA (d) American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Washington, D.C., 20036, USA Article History: Received 19 September 2005; Revised 24 April 2006; Accepted 1 May 2006

An approach to improve the understanding of the dynamics of large industrial systems is presented. Engineering and economic analysis with detailed representation of an industry's capital stock structure are fused in this approach.

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation system of human settlements focusing on housing conditions, urban natural environments, social economy, and public infrastructure. Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis are used to analyze and rank the 2003–2013 human settlements index and create five clusters for 35 major cities in China (including municipalities, provincial capitals, and Prefecture-level cities). On the basis of four years of a spatial analysis of the human settlements index, we find that living conditions of 35 Chinese cities have significantly improved; severe air pollution persists in China, with large differences between the north and the south; weak correlation between urban human settlements and the growth rate of economic development; and the infrastructure of China's mega cities is overloaded. The results confirm and quantify growing geographic disparities and deep structural urban challenges that are associated with rapid economic growth and social change, leaving many cities in China to struggle with worsening pollution, excessive demand on existing infrastructures, and housing prices that rise faster than disposable incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major reason behind China׳s dominant position in the solar water heater (SWH) industry in the world over recent years has been its technological choice of evacuated tube instead of flat plate collectors. Through continuous innovations in research and development, manufacturing, and marketing, China has ensured that evacuated tube SWHs satisfy consumer needs with low initial costs and short payback periods. SWH companies have also been able to generate considerable profits even without financial incentives from the government. Preliminary investigations of economic advantages of evacuated tube SWHs mainly resulting from innovations in China, imply that Chinese companies should continue to develop ways to minimize the cost of evacuated tube SWHs and to improve their quality rather than follow developments in industrialized countries where flat plate SWH technologies dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Livability has risen, alongside sustainability, as a guiding principle for planning and policy. Promoted as the more tangible of the two concepts, livability shapes public perception and infrastructure investments in cities, as well as competition among cities for the attention of the public, investment communities, and potentially fickle and mobile human capital. This paper takes stock of the current discourse on livability, identifies two central elements that have yet to shape the assessments of livability and policies to promote it, and explores strategies for research and practice to transform the livability concept, and with it the places in which the lives and livelihoods of people unfold. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Three development patterns of industrial symbiosis systems are proposed and empirically examined. [•] Industrial symbiosis networks build on and strengthen the disparity of firms’ capability on building symbiotic relations. [•] Due to this disparity, self-organized industrial symbiosis networks favor the most capable firms and grow preferentially. [•] Coordinating agencies improve disadvantaged firms’ capabilities, and change the preferential growth to a homogeneous one. [•] Strong government engagement helps disadvantaged firms and facilitates non-preferential symbiosis development in a region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Borrowing from the Kuznets curve literature, researchers have coined the term “environmental Kuznets curve” or EKC to characterize the relationship between pollution levels and income: pollution levels will increase with income but some threshold of income will eventually be reached, beyond which pollution levels will decrease. The link between the original Kuznets curve, which posited a similar relationship between income and inequality, and its pollution-concerned offspring lies primarily with the shape of both curves (an upside-down U) and the central role played by income change. Although the EKC literature has burgeoned over the past several years, few concrete conclusions have been drawn, the main themes of the literature have remained constant, and no consensus has been reached regarding the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve. EKC research has used a variety of types of data and a range of geographical units to examine the effects of income levels on pollution. Changes in pollution levels might also be at least partly explained by countries’ position in the demographic transition and their general population structure, however little research has included this important aspect in the analysis. In addition, few analyses confine themselves to an evaluation for one country of the long-term relationship between income and pollution. Using United States CO2 emissions as well as demographic, employment, trade and energy price data, this paper seeks to highlight the potential impact of population and economic structure in explaining the relationship between income and pollution levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As investment and policy decision-makers grapple with the implications of climate change, benefits are seen in making available to them climate information at spatial and temporal scales that match the realms within which those decision-makers operate. For such an endeavour to have lasting economic and social benefits, however, the information must be carefully placed within the broader environmental, economic, social and institutional context within which decisions are made. This paper illustrates the challenges and opportunities of doing so, and uses information on the cost of inaction to illustrate the contributions that may come from advancements in climate modelling and information delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate change policy debate and ensuing discussions about industrial energy use and carbon emissions have highlighted the need to: (a) aggregate engineering information to a level relevant for economic policy analysis while maintaining sufficient detail so that results are meaningful for industry decision makers, (b) properly represent an industry’s capital vintage structure to better understand inertia associated with changes in aggregate industrial emissions profiles, and (c) identify policy instruments that leverage an industry’s potential for technological change such that carbon emissions can be noticeably reduced. This paper presents an econometric analysis of energy use and emissions profiles of the US Pulp and Paper Industry and uses the resulting set of equations to specify a dynamic model for the analysis of select climate change policies. Scenarios of cost of carbon, energy tax, and investment-led policies indicate that a combination of cost of carbon and investment-led policies can achieve the desired result of rapidly improving overall efficiency of the industry and promoting changes in fuel mix, which together can result in drastic reductions of carbon emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on trends in evolutionary economics at the crossroads of biology and physics, while arguing to supplant analogies derived from either of the two disciplines. Importance of analogies derived from biology or evolutionary economics; Benefits of advances in thermodynamics and information theory; How the concepts and measures available from physics can be used to improve the understanding of economic evolution.