A Global Labour Constitution?

This article explores the argument that the idea of the labour constitution, as developed by Hugo Sinzheimer, offers a useful perspective for thinking about labour law today. With reference to the work of Wolfgang Streeck and Karl Polanyi, it highlights the potential benefits of the labour constitution as a framework for analysis. With a view to developing and updating Sinzheimer’s blueprint for a – national – labour constitution, it then engages with two lines of theoretical enquiry into the nature of constitutionalism under conditions of advanced economic globalisation. It concludes by outlining an agenda for further research, informed and inspired by the idea of a global labour constitution

Balancing and Intraday Market Design: Options for Wind Integration

EU Member States increase deployment of intermittent renewable energy sources to deliver the 20% renewable target formulated in the European Renewables Directive of 2008. To incorporate these intermittent sources, a power market needs to be flexible enough to accommodate short-term forecasts and quick turn transactions. This flexibility is particularly valuable with respect to wind energy, where wind forecast uncertainty decreases significantly in the final 24 hours before actual generation. Therefore, current designs of intraday and balancing markets need to be altered to make full use of the flexibility of the transmission system and the different generation technologies to effectively respond to increased uncertainty. This paper explores the current power market designs in European countries and North America and assesses these designs against criteria that evaluate whether they are able to adequately handle wind intermittency.Power market design, integrating renewables, wind energy, balancing, intraday

Local Solutions to Global Problems: Policy Choice and Regulatory Jurisdiction

This paper considers the efficiency of various types of environmental regulations when they are applied locally to pollutants whose damages extend outside the jurisdiction of the local regulator. We draw on examples from state- and city-level efforts to address climate change by enacting policies to reduce greenhouse gases. While previous work has noted the possibility for leakage, whereby the polluting sources move outside the jurisdiction of the regulation in order to escape it, we note an additional problem when policies are targeted downstream at consumers of goods whose production creates pollution. Specifically, we show how consumer-based policies can be circumvented by a simple reshuffling of who is buying from whom. We argue that the leakage and reshuffling problems are most pronounced with more flexible or market-based regulations. We conclude that localities may have the most effect on global pollutants when they enact efficiency standards or targeted subsidies.

Mekaanisen massan tuotannon ja energiahallinnan optimointi paperitehtaalle, jolla on integroitu CHP-voimalaitos

The pulp and paper industry is facing global competition, where companies are working to lower their production costs. Energy consumption plays an important role in these costs. There is much interest into lowering the electricity costs of mills through demand side management. This Thesis is a case study of a mechanical pulp and paper mill with integrated CHP production. The case site is modeled with focus on the critical dependencies between pulp, paper, and CHP production. The purpose of the model is to analyze the mill’s capacity of demand side management, and the total costs of executing regulating power bids in the mill site. The production scheduling of mechanical mass is studied through a mixed integer linear model. The model is based on the processes of the mill site, considering the balances of steam, electricity, heat, and mechanical mass. Paper production scheduling is not in the scope of the model. The model is utilized to calculate the increase of production costs in case a regulating power trade is made. The model creates an optimal mechanical mass production schedule for a 24 hour period. It is then used to modify that schedule based on a hypothetical regulating power bid that is accepted on the first hour of the modeling period. The cost difference between the resulting two schedules is calculated, denoting the real cost of regulating in that scenario. This analysis is repeated for a number of real periods in terms of electricity price and district heating demand. The model generates realistic production schedules of mechanical mass. Upregulating power trades are found to cause moderate costs, but there is significant variation. It is noted that the co-planning of the mill and power plant plays an important role in the results. Its design allows the model to be used for various purposes in addition to what is presented in this Thesis.Sellu- ja paperiteollisuus on globaalissa kilpailutilanteessa, jossa yritykset pyrkivät alentamaan tuotantokustannuksiaan. Energian kulutuksella on suuri rooli näissä kustannuksissa. Sähköenergiakustannusten alentaminen kulutusjouston avulla herättää paljon kiinnostusta. Tässä diplomityössä esitellään case-tutkimus mekaanista massaa ja paperia valmistavasta tehtaasta, jolla on integroitu CHP-voimalaitos. Kohteena oleva tehdas voimalaitoksineen mallinnetaan, keskittyen tärkeimpiin riippuvuuksiin massan, paperin ja energian tuotantoprosessien välillä. Tavoitteena on analysoida tehdaskokonaisuuden kapasiteettia kulutusjouston tekemiseen sekä säätösähkötarjousten toteuttamisen kustannuksia. Mekaanisen massan valmistuksen aikataulutusta tutkitaan lineaarisen sekalukuoptimointimallin avulla. Malli perustuu tehdaskokonaisuuden prosesseihin, joista huomioidaan taseet höyrylle, sähkölle, lämmölle ja mekaaniselle massalle. Paperintuotannon aikataulutus ei kuulu mallin piiriin. Työssä esitetään, miten mallia voi käyttää säätökaupan aiheuttamien lisäkustannusten laskemiseksi. Mallin avulla luodaan optimaalinen mekaanisen massan tunneittainen tuotantoaikataulu vuorokauden jaksolle. Tätä aikataulua muokataan edelleen mallin avulla kuvitteellisen säätösähkötarjouksen perusteella, joka hyväksytään mallinnusjakson ensimmäisellä tunnilla. Vertaamalla tuloksina saatujen kahden aikataulun kustannuksia voidaan arvioida säädön todellinen kustannus. Tämä analyysi toistetaan useissa eri tilanteissa todellisilla sähkön hinnoilla ja kaukolämmön tarpeilla. Malli tuottaa realistisia aikatauluja mekaanisen massan tuotannolle. Ylössäätökauppojen todetaan aiheuttavan kohtuullisia kustannuksia, mutta vaihtelu on suurta. Huomataan, että paperitehtaan ja voimalaitoksen yhteissuunnittelu on tärkeässä roolissa tuloksissa. Mallin rakenne mahdollistaa sen käyttämisen tässä työssä esitettyjen lisäksi myös muihin tarkoituksiin

A flexible business model for the ETP Wijster:final report

Eén van de doelstellingen van het onderzoeksproject Flexiheat is het ontwerpen van innovatieve business modellen die een succesvolle exploitatie van warmtenetten stimuleren door het benutten van flexibiliteit. Binnen Flexiheat is het Energy Transition Park in Wijster met de afvalverbrandingsinstallatie van Attero één van de cases. Het ETP Wijster is op zoek naar een innovatief bedrijfsconcept, waarbij flexibiliteit de nieuwe vorm van waardecreatie is. In deze studie hebben we een flexibel, multi-commodity business model ontworpen en gevalideerd dat het voor Attero en de omliggende industrie op het ETP mogelijk maakt om de flexibiliteit van de industriële processen te benutten en succesvol te exploiteren. De bron van flexibiliteit in dit model is de intelligente integratie van het warmte- en elektriciteitsnet. In plaats van in vaste hoeveelheden warmte en elektriciteit te produceren wordt de productie van deze commodities afhankelijk gemaakt van de prijzen op de verschillende elektriciteitsmarkten (day-head, intraday en onbalansmarkt) en de beschikbare flexibiliteit bij de bedrijven. De bedrijven verhandelen hun flexibiliteit op een intern handelsplatform. Het business model is gevalideerd door middel van een technisch-economisch model dat potentiële winsten berekend. De resultaten tonen aan dat het business model haalbaar is

Enhanced financial mechanisms for post 2012 mitigation

Despite the many calls to reform the CDM, its conceptual underpinnings are strong and it will most likely survive in the post-2012 climate regime. Some modifications may be considered in the short term to strengthen the effectiveness and transparency of the mechanism without modifying the Marrakesh Accords. In the medium term substantially increased mitigation efforts in developing countries may require a combination of three possible financial mechanisms: the current activity-based CDM albeit improved, a second market mechanism that would seek to improve the long term emission trends of developing countries by promoting broad based emission reduction programs primarily in the private sector, and a third financial mechanism outside of the market which would be an incentive for the adoption of policy changes leading to a low carbon path, but where emission reductions would not be used as international offsets.Environmental Economics&Policies,Carbon Policy and Trading,Montreal Protocol,Energy and Environment,Environment and Energy Efficiency

Frequency Restoration Reserve Control Scheme with Participation of Industrial Loads

In order to accommodate larger amounts of renewable energy resources, whose power output is inherently unpredictable, there is an increasing need for frequency control power reserves. Loads are already used to provide replacement reserves, i.e. the slowest kind of reserves, in several power systems. This paper proposes a control scheme for frequency restoration reserves with participation of industrial loads. Frequency restoration reserves are required to change their active power within a time frame of tens of seconds to tens of minutes in response to a regulation signal. Industrial loads in many cases already have the capacity and capability to participate in this service. A mapping of their process constraints to power and energy demand is proposed in order to integrate industrial loads in existing control schemes. The proposed control scheme has been implemented in a 74-bus test system. Dynamic simulations show that industrial loads can be successfully integrated into the power system as frequency restoration reserves. © 2013 IEEE

The gas chain: influence of its specificities on the liberalisation process. NBB Working Papers. No. 122, 16 November 2007

Like other network industries, the European gas supply industry has been liberalised, along the lines of what has been done in the United Kingdom and the United States, by opening up to competition the upstream and downstream segments of essential transmission infrastructure. The aim of this first working paper is to draw attention to some of the stakes in the liberalisation of the gas market whose functioning cannot disregard the network infrastructure required to bring this fuel to the consumer, a feature it shares with the electricity market. However, gas also has the specific feature of being a primary energy source that must be transported from its point of extraction. Consequently, opening the upstream supply segment of the market to competition is not so obvious in the European context, because, contrary to the examples of the North American and British gas markets, these supply channels are largely in the hands of external suppliers and thus fall outside the scope of EU legislation on the liberalisation and organisation of the internal market in gas. Competition on the downstream gas supply segment must also adapt to the constraints imposed by access to the grid infrastructure, which, in the case of gas in Europe, goes hand in hand with the constraint of dependence on external suppliers. Hence the opening to competition of upstream and downstream markets is not "synchronous", a discrepancy which can weaken the impact of liberalisation. Moreover, the separation of activities necessary for ensuring free competition in some segments of the market is coupled with major changes in the way the gas chain operates, with the appearance of new markets, new price mechanisms and new intermediaries. Starting out from a situation where gas supply was in the hands of vertically-integrated operators, the new regulatory framework that has been set up must, on the one hand, ensure that competitive forces can be given free rein, and, on the other hand, that free and fair competition helps the gas chain to operate coherently, at lower cost and in the interests of consumers, for whom the stakes are high as natural gas is an important input for many industrial manufacturing processes, even a "commodity" almost of basic necessity