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In the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations worldwide pledged emissions reductions (Nationally Determined Contributions-NDCs) to avert the threat of climate change, and agreed to periodically review these pledges to strengthen their level of ambition. Previous studies have analyzed NDCs largely in terms of their implied contribution to limit global warming, their implications on the energy sector or on mitigation costs. Nevertheless, a gap in the literature exists regarding the understanding of implications of the NDCs on countries' Energy-Water-Land nexus resource systems. The present paper explores this angle within the regional context of Latin America by employing the Global Change Assessment Model, a state-of-the-art integrated assessment model capable of representing key system-wide interactions among nexus sectors and mitigation policies. By focusing on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, we stress potential implications on national-level water demands depending on countries' strategies to enforce energy-related emissions reductions and their interplays with the land sector. Despite the differential implications of the Paris pledges on each country, increased water demands for crop and biomass irrigation and for electricity generation stand out as potential trade-offs that may emerge under the NDC policy. Hence, this study underscores the need of considering a nexus resource planning framework (known as "Nexus Approach") in the forthcoming NDCs updating cycles as a mean to contribute toward sustainable development.

The concept of the energy, water, and land (EWL) nexus encompasses a growing concern on the availability of vital resources derived from these intertwined systems, and how to manage the nexus resources to respond to the challenges posed by future human demands, aggravated by the perspective of climate change. This paper explores how the Paris Pledges might influence the EWL nexus in Latin America. In particular, it explores the near-term and long-term implications of the Paris pledges on the EWL nexus in four of the major countries/economies in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. For this purpose, we employ the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), a state-of-the-art integrated assessment model of human and natural processes that captures the national-level EWL synergies and tradeoffs and allows the understanding of the key drivers of the EWL sectoral interactions and the role of climate policies such as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are included in the Paris pledges. Our findings indicate that under the emissions mitigation scenarios explicitly modeled to represent the Paris pledges framework, potential conflicts regarding the use of nexus resources in the four focus Latin American countries may be exacerbated by the induced changes in the energy and land sectors that would impinge upon the water sector of those nations. Despite the differential implications of the Paris pledges on each country, increased water demands for crop and biomass irrigation and for electricity generation were identified as the potential sources of the nexus conflicts that may emerge under this climate policy scenario. Hence, this study underscores the need to refine national climate policies within a EWL nexus resource planning framework such that a balance between the rational use of the nexus resources and stringent climate policies can be found.

Rural buildings in China now account for more than half of China's total building energy use. Forty percent of the floorspace in China is in rural villages and towns. Most of these buildings are very energy inefficient, and may struggle to provide for basic needs. They are cold in the winter, and often experience indoor air pollution from fuel use. The Chinese government plans to adopt a voluntary building energy code, or design standard, for rural homes. The goal is to build on China's success with codes in urban areas to improve efficiency and comfort in rural homes. The Chinese government recognizes rural buildings represent a major opportunity for improving national building energy efficiency. The challenges of rural China are also greater than those of urban areas in many ways because of the limited local capacity and low income levels. The Chinese government wants to expand on new programs to subsidize energy efficiency improvements in rural homes to build capacity for larger-scale improvement. This article summarizes the trends and status of rural building energy use in China. It then provides an overview of the new rural building design standard, and describes options and issues to move forward with implementation.

U.S. government agencies are now directed to assess the vulnerability of their operations and facilities to climate change and to develop adaptation plans to increase their resilience. Specific guidance on methods is still evolving based on the many different available frameworks. This technical paper synthesizes lessons and insights from a series of research case studies conducted by the investigators at facilities of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense. The paper provides a framework of steps for climate vulnerability assessments at Federal facilities and elaborates on three sets of methods required for assessments, regardless of the detailed framework used. In a concluding section, the paper suggests a roadmap to further develop methods to support agencies in preparing for climate change.

U.S. government agencies are now directed to assess the vulnerability of their operations and facilities to climate change and to develop adaptation plans to increase their resilience. Specific guidance on methods is still evolving based on the many different available frameworks. Agencies have been experimenting with these frameworks and approaches. This technical paper synthesizes lessons and insights from a series of research case studies conducted by the investigators at facilities of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. The purpose of the paper is to solicit comments and feedback from interested program managers and analysts before final conclusions are published. The paper describes the characteristics of a systematic process for prioritizing needs for adaptation planning at individual facilities and examines requirements and methods needed. It then suggests a framework of steps for vulnerability assessments at Federal facilities and elaborates on three sets of methods required for assessments, regardless of the detailed framework used. In a concluding section, the paper suggests a roadmap to further develop methods to support agencies in preparing for climate change. The case studies point to several preliminary conclusions; (1) Vulnerability assessments are needed to translate potential changes in climate exposure to estimates ofmore » impacts and evaluation of their significance for operations and mission attainment, in other words into information that is related to and useful in ongoing planning, management, and decision-making processes; (2) To increase the relevance and utility of vulnerability assessments to site personnel, the assessment process needs to emphasize the characteristics of the site infrastructure, not just climate change; (3) A multi-tiered framework that includes screening, vulnerability assessments at the most vulnerable installations, and adaptation design will efficiently target high-risk sites and infrastructure; (4) Vulnerability assessments can be connected to efforts to improve facility resilience to motivate participation; and (5) Efficient, scalable methods for vulnerability assessment can be developed, but additional case studies and evaluation are required.« less

INTRODUCTIONIndia is experiencing an unprecedented construction boom. The country doubled its floorspace between 2001 and 2005 and is expected to add 35 billion m2 of new buildings by 2050 (Shnapp and Laustsen, 2013). Buildings account for 35% of total final energy consumption in India today, and building energy use is growing at 8% annually (Rawal et al., 2012). Studies have shown that carbon policies will have little effect on reducing building energy demand (Chaturvedi et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2014). Chaturvedi et al. (2014) predicted that, if there are no specific sectoral policies to curb building energy use, final energy demand of the Indian building sector will grow over five times by the end of this century, driven by rapid income and population growth. The growing energy demand in buildings is accompanied by a transition from traditional biomass to commercial fuels, particularly an increase in electricity use. This also leads to a rapid increase in carbon emissions and aggravates power shortages in India. Growth in building energy use poses a challenge for the Indian government.To curb energy consumption in buildings, the Indian government issued the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007, which applies to commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or 120kVA. Previous studies estimated that the implementation of ECBC could help save 25-40% of energy, compared to reference buildings without such energy-efficiency measures (IEEMA, 2007; Tulsyan et al., 2013). However, the impact of ECBC depends on the effectiveness of its enforcement and compliance. Currently, the majority of buildings in India are not ECBC-compliant. The United Nations Development Programme projected that code compliance in India would reach 35% by 2015 and 64% by 2017 (UNDP, 2011). Whether the projected targets can be achieved depends on how the code enforcement system is designed and implemented.Although the development of ECBC lies in the hands of the national government - the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power, the adoption and implementation of ECBC largely relies on state and local governments. Six years after ECBC's enactment, only two states and one territory out of 35 Indian states and union territories formally adopted ECBC and six additional states are in the legislative process of approving ECBC (BEE, 2013). There are several barriers that slow down the process. First, stakeholders, such as architects, developers, and state and local governments, lack awareness of building energy efficiency, and do not have enough capacity and resources to implement ECBC. Second, most jurisdictions have not yet established effective legal mechanisms for implementing ECBC; specifically, ECBC is not included in local building by-laws in most jurisdictions or incorporated into the building permitting process. Third, there is not a systematic approach to measuring and verifying compliance and energy savings, and thus the market does not have enough confidence in ECBC.Previous studies and reports have addressed the first and second barriers. Kumar et al. (2010), Rawal et al. (2012), and Williams and Levine (2012) identified implementation strategies to improve capacity and remove institutional barriers. The study by Yu et al. (2012) and the Administrative StaffCollege of India and the Natural Resources Defense Council (2012) provided suggestions on motivating stakeholders and implementing ECBC at the state level. Yu et al. (2013) and the Shakti Foundation (2013) proposed using third-party inspectors to help states build capacity and roll out ECBC implementation rapidly. However, none of the previous studies provides solutions on how to evaluate ECBC compliance and associated energy savings. Compliance evaluation is critical. It helps build confidence in the private sector and facilitates deployment of energy efficiency technologies. In addition, compliance evaluation can help roll out implementation, as state and local governments can prioritize areas for enforcement and develop incentives and penalties based on evaluation results. …

Abdominal pain is a common chief complaint in both the emergency department and the primary care setting. Although most patients are ultimately diagnosed with benign self-limited conditions, the differential diagnosis in infants and toddlers does include ovarian torsion. In this article, we present 2 cases involving female infants younger than 18 months who were found to have ovarian torsion during evaluation in our pediatric emergency department. We discuss the clinical presentation, risk factors, diagnosis, management, and potential long-term complications of ovarian torsion, with special attention to the younger population.

From 1995 to 2005, building energy use in China increased more rapidly than the world average. China has been adding 0.4 to 1.6 billion square meters of floor space annually 2 , making it the world’s largest market for new construction. In fact, by 2020, China is expected to comprise half of all new construction. In response to this, China has begun to make important steps towards achieving building energy efficiency, including the implementation of building energy standards that requires new buildings to be up to 65% more efficient than buildings from the early 1980s. Making progress on reducing building energy use requires both a comprehensive code and a robust enforcement system. The latter – the enforcement system – is a particularly critical component for assuring that a building code has an effect. China has dramatically enhanced its enforcement system for building energy codes in the past two years, with more detailed requirements for ensuring enforcement and new penalties for non-compliance. We believe that the U.S. and other developed countries could benefit from learning about the multiple checks and the documentation required in China. Similarly, some of the more user-friendly enforcement approaches developed in the U.S. and elsewhere may be useful for China as it strives to improve enforcement in rural and smaller communities. In this article, we provide context to China’s building codes enforcement system by comparing it to the U.S. Among some of the enforcement mechanisms we look at are testing and rating procedures, compliance software, and training and public information.

Several U.S. Government agencies promote energy efficiency in buildings internationally. The types and scope of activities vary by agency. Those with the largest role include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Both USAID and the Department of State have a substantial presence overseas, which may present some complementarities with the Department of Energy’s efforts to reach out to other countries. Generally speaking, USAID focuses on capacity building and policy issues; the Department of State focuses on broad diplomatic efforts and some targeted grants in support of these efforts, and EPA has more targeted roles linked to ENERGY STAR appliances and a few other activities. Several additional agencies are also involved in trade-related efforts to promote energy efficiency in buildings. These include the Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade and Development Agency (TDA). This initial synthesis report is designed to summarize broad trends and activities relating to international cooperation on energy efficiency in buildings, which can help the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in developing its own strategy in this area. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will develop a more completemore » synthesis report later in 2010 as it populates a database on international projects on building energy efficiency.« less

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has researched how participating countries divide funding obligations under International Energy Agency (IEA) Implementing Agreements (IAs). This is part of a broader assessment evaluating the buildings-area IAs. This particular part of the analysis looked at 12 IAs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. By selecting a range of agreements, we hoped to understand the types of arrangements and the range of funding formulas. PNNL asked the U.S. Executive Committee (ExCo) members how the total contribution for their IA and its Annexes were determined, and how the total was then divided between participating countries.