An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

On the Participation of Power-To-Heat Assets in Frequency Regulation Markets—A Danish Case Study

Due to the new green energy policies, district heating companies are being increasingly encouraged to exploit power-to-heat assets, e.g., heat pumps and electric boilers, in their distribution networks besides the traditional central combined heat and power units. The increased utilization of these assets will generate a more complex interaction between power distribution grids and district heating networks including markets for provision of ancillary services. Enabling the participation of power-to-heat units in the ancillary service markets, e.g., frequency reserves, may increase the revenue streams for assets’ owners. However, some technical challenges must first be addressed, including optimization of portfolios of assets that accounts for ancillary service markets, new coordination and operational schemes for portfolio of assets, increase data exchange and interactions with transmission system operators, and new local control schemes for units. This paper proposes a systematic model based design approach for assessment of provision of frequency regulation by power-to-heat assets using the smart grid architecture model. The proposed approach is demonstrated in a Real-Time Control Hardware-in-the-Loop laboratory environment

Urban food strategies in Central and Eastern Europe: what's specific and what's at stake?

Integrating a larger set of instruments into Rural Development Programmes implied an increasing focus on monitoring and evaluation. Against the highly diversified experience with regard to implementation of policy instruments the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework has been set up by the EU Commission as a strategic and streamlined method of evaluating programmes’ impacts. Its indicator-based approach mainly reflects the concept of a linear, measure-based intervention logic that falls short of the true nature of RDP operation and impact capacity on rural changes. Besides the different phases of the policy process, i.e. policy design, delivery and evaluation, the regional context with its specific set of challenges and opportunities seems critical to the understanding and improvement of programme performance. In particular the role of local actors can hardly be grasped by quantitative indicators alone, but has to be addressed by assessing processes of social innovation. This shift in the evaluation focus underpins the need to take account of regional implementation specificities and processes of social innovation as decisive elements for programme performance.

Greening Consumer Electronics: Moving Away From Bromine and Chlorine

Presents case studies of seven electronics companies that have engineered environmental solutions that eliminate the use of most brominated and chlorinated chemicals that generate toxic materials. Discusses global standards and regulations

Information technology, contract and knowledge in the networked economy: a biography of packaged software for contract management

In this research I investigate the intersection of information and communication technology (ICT), contract and knowledge in the networked economy as illuminated by the “life” of contract management software (CMS). The failure of CMS to fulfill market expectations provides the motivating question for this study. Based on interview, survey and archival data, I construct a “biography” of CMS from a market perspective informed by the theory of commoditization as well as studies of markets from economic sociology. From the latter, I draw upon the theory of performativity in markets to identify in the failure of CMS a series of breakdowns in performative assumptions and operations normally at work in the making of a packaged software market, ranging from a failure in classification performativity to a detachment of marketized criteria, in the form of analyst ratings, from the underlying software product and vendors. This catalog of breakdown indicates that packaged software production implicates multiple levels of commoditization, including financialized meta-commodities and marketized criteria, in a dynamic I theorize as substitution of performance. I explore the implications of my findings for packaged software and for process commodities more generally, suggesting, inter alia, that process commoditization may revolve around contract and information exchange rather than product definition. I go on to propose an open theorization of contract as a technology of connectedness, in a relationship of potential convergence, complementarity and substitution with ICT, interpenetrating and performative. My contributions are to information systems and organizations research on the topics of packaged software and the relationship of ICT, contract and organizational knowledge; and to economic sociology on the topics of performativity in markets and product qualification in process commoditization

The Role of Labour Market Information for Adjustment: International Comparisons

Labour Market Information (LMI) is a policy instrument that governments use to coordinate labour market adjustments. Many approaches are utilized in the provision of this information in OECD countries. This report examines approaches in five OECD countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and Australia) in order to assess their efficiency in facilitating adjustments in labour markets. This report finds that although Canada has well developed labour market information mechanisms, further efforts should be made by the Canadian government to improve our labour market information delivery system. In particular, attempts should be made to simplify information content, improve users’ awareness, and tailor information to the needs of users, in order to ensure that our extensive information system facilitates labour market adjustments.Labour Market Information (LMI), Labour market adjustments, Delivery information, Users' awareness, International comparisons, Job search.

Towards (R)evolving Cities Urban fragilities and prospects in the 21st century

Towards (R)evolving Cities: Urban Fragilities and Prospects in the 21st century first questions how we perceive the ‘intelligence’ of a city. The New Frontier of development for urban civilisations certainly includes digital and technological evolution, but it does not consider technology to be the final answer to all contemporary cities’ problems. The formidable challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown existing urban fragilities into stark relief. At the same time however they have highlighted the potential of digital solutions for reaching a new level of interconnected civility. (R)evolving cities evolve by adopting the principles of the circular economy in the higher interest of their citizens’ well-being: they consume therefore without devouring, recycle as much as possible what they metabolize, limit the effects of their ecological footprint and ultimately lead their inhabitants, with maternal guidance and care, to a new idea of citizenship. As protagonists of this evolutionary leap, the citizens of (R)evolving cities will abandon their predatory approach, reaching a higher stage of integration in the ecosystem and becoming more respectful of reciprocal relationships. (R)evolving cities are above all ‘polite’ cities, or rather cities whose citizens are consciously educated in the principles of sustainable development, the essential basis for contemporary civil coexistence

e-Skills: The International dimension and the Impact of Globalisation - Final Report 2014

In today’s increasingly knowledge-based economies, new information and communication technologies are a key engine for growth fuelled by the innovative ideas of highly - skilled workers. However, obtaining adequate quantities of employees with the necessary e-skills is a challenge. This is a growing international problem with many countries having an insufficient numbers of workers with the right e-Skills. For example: Australia: “Even though there’s 10,000 jobs a year created in IT, there are only 4500 students studying IT at university, and not all of them graduate” (Talevski and Osman, 2013). Brazil: “Brazil’s ICT sector requires about 78,000 [new] people by 2014. But, according to Brasscom, there are only 33,000 youths studying ICT related courses in the country” (Ammachchi, 2012). Canada: “It is widely acknowledged that it is becoming inc reasingly difficult to recruit for a variety of critical ICT occupations –from entry level to seasoned” (Ticoll and Nordicity, 2012). Europe: It is estimated that there will be an e-skills gap within Europe of up to 900,000 (main forecast scenario) ICT pr actitioners by 2020” (Empirica, 2014). Japan: It is reported that 80% of IT and user companies report an e-skills shortage (IPA, IT HR White Paper, 2013) United States: “Unlike the fiscal cliff where we are still peering over the edge, we careened over the “IT Skills Cliff” some years ago as our economy digitalized, mobilized and further “technologized”, and our IT skilled labour supply failed to keep up” (Miano, 2013)