Determinants of public opinion on renewable energy : the case of wave energy development in Oregon

Renewable energy resources, such as wind, solar, and wave, have a number of advantages compared to traditional fossil fuels. Numerous studies attest to the physical potential for wave energy development in Oregon. In transitioning from conventional fossil fuel to alternative energy provision, citizen understanding of the global energy problems and their causes and solutions is believed to be the key for the development of renewable energy. Using a statewide mail survey of 1,200 Oregonians this dissertation provides some insight and understanding about the determinants of public opinion with regards to renewable energy, the role these determinants play in public opinion formulation, and their relative importance in citizen support of or opposition toward wave energy development in Oregon. Citizen environmental values and value orientations, ideology preferences, climate change awareness and energy policy beliefs, familiarity with the technology, energy knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics are examined. Using multiple regression analyses, the results reveal that several determinants serve as statistically significant predictors of attitudes toward wave energy development. Some of the most important are: familiarity with the technology, agreement with the possibility of increasing energy supplies while protecting the environment, and awareness about rising global temperatures. Some policy and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are proposed

U.S. electricity end-use efficiency: policy innovation and potential assessment

Electric end-use efficiency is attracting more and more attentions, but it remains unclear what factors are driving state policy innovations to improve energy efficiency. Controversy also exists over the effectiveness of energy efficiency programs. Several critical problems are facing the policymakers: what factors drive the states taking distinct strategies in policy innovation? Have state policies being able to improve energy efficiency in the past? And, will state policies remain relevant to future efficiency improvements? This dissertation tries to answer these important questions and assumes that policy innovation is relevant to energy efficiency. It first explores the factors that influence the adoption of energy efficiency policies using Internal Determinants models. Results suggest that internal state factors affect policy innovation, including state socioeconomic factors, state fiscal capacity, ideology, and constituent pressure. Policy innovations are found to be correlated with each other. This dissertation also evaluates the impact of policy innovation on energy efficiency by decomposing electricity productivity into activity, structure, and efficiency effects. The findings suggest that financial incentives and building codes have significant impacts on state electricity productivity. Other regulations tend to have mixed effects. In addition, an estimation of the achievable potential of energy efficiency suggests that policies will cost-effectively drive significant electricity savings in the future. Overall, this dissertation offers an in-depth diagnosis of the relationship between policy innovation and energy efficiency. It provides a rigorous statistical analysis covering the most important energy efficiency policies. It represents the first attempt to evaluate policy impact by decomposing electricity productivity. However, the statistical models and energy models are subject to limitations and future research is needed to improve the models.Ph.D

The Competitiveness of Ports in Emerging Markets : The case of Durban, South Africa

This report provides a synthesis of main findings from the OECD Port-Cities Programme, created in 2010 in order to assess the impact of ports on their cities and provide policy recommendations to increase the positive impacts of ports on their cities. This Programme was directed by Olaf Merk, Administrator Port-Cities within the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate. This synthesis report was directed and written by Olaf Merk; it draws on the work of a number of other contributors: César Ducruet, Jasper Cooper, Jing Li, Ihnji Jon, Maren Larsen and Lucie Billaud. The report has benefited from comments from Bill Tompson, Nils-Axel Braathen, Jane Korinek, Nicolas Mat and Juliette Cerceau. The synthesis report is based on findings from a series of OECD Port-Cities case studies. Such case studies were conducted for Le Havre/Rouen/Paris/Caen (France), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Marseille (France), Mersin (Turkey), Rotterdam/Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Antofagasta (Chile), Bratislava/Komárno/Štúrova (Slovak Republic), Durban (South Africa) and Shanghai (China). Within the framework of these studies, study visits to these port-cities were conducted, which included a series of interviews with the port-city related actors and stakeholders in these places. The OECD Port-Cities Programme also benefited from visits to the following ports and port-cities and discussion with port-related actors in the following port-cities: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Casablanca, Venice, Trieste, Genoa, Valparaíso, Varna, Gdansk, Koper, Vienna, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sydney and Newcastle (Australia). Contributions and inputs into the OECD Port-Cities case studies and related working papers were provided by César Ducruet, Elvira Haezendonck, Michael Dooms, Patrick Dubarle, Markus Hesse, Géraldine Planque, Theo Notteboom, José Tongzon, Jörg Jocker, Oguz Bagis, Angela Bergantino, Claude Comtois, Nicolas Winicki, Thai Thanh Dang, Claudio Ferrari, Alessio Tei, Anna Bottasso, Maurizio Conti, Salvador Saz, Leandro Garcia-Menéndez, Zhen Hong, Zhao Nan, Angela Xu Mingying, Xie Wenqing, Du Xufeng, Wang Jinggai, Jing Li, Matthieu Bordes, Rachel Silberstein, Xiao Wang, Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Jasper Cooper, Marten van den Bossche, Carla Jong, Christelle Larsonneur, Walter Manshanden, Martijn Dröes, Evgueny Poliakov, Olli-Pekka Hilmola, Charlotte Lafitte, Caroline Guillet, Léonie Claeyman, Suzanne Chatelier. The Programme has been enriched through the interaction with these experts. Within the framework of the Programme, three different workshops in Paris were organised and benefited from presentations by: César Ducruet, Markus Hesse, Elvira Haezendonck, Claudio Ferrari, Jan Egbertsen, Ingo Fehrs, Stijn Effting, Michael Vanderbeek, Alessio Tei, Philippe Deiss, Birgit Liodden, Johan Woxenius, Hyong Mo Jeon, Dimitrios Theologitis, Carla Jong, Lorene Grandidier, Dominique Lebreton, Claude Comtois, Marten van den Bossche, Matt Bogdan, Alice Liu, Jan Green Rebstock. Within the framework of the Programme, the Administrator has provided presentations and interventions in conferences organised by: European Committee of the Regions (COTER), European Seaport Organisation (ESPO), Moroccan Association for Logistics (Amlog), International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, City of Shenzhen, Korean Transport Institute (KOTI), Korean Maritime Institute (KMI), French Association of Town Planners (FNAU), Italian Association of Transport Economists (SIET), World Conference of Transport Research Society (WCTRS-SIG2), Maersk, Port Finance International, BSR Clean Cargo Working Group, Infrastructure Australia, International Association Cities Ports (AIVP), Inter American Committee for Ports, International Transport Forum (ITF), Florence School of Regulation, Cargo Edições Lda, Logistics Portugal, International Forum on Shipping, Ports and Airports (IFSPA), Port of Amsterdam, Port of Rotterdam, Port of Hamburg, Université du Sud Toulon-Var, Colloque Axe Seine Acte II. The Programme has benefited from the support of: the Netherlands Ministry of Economy, City of Rotterdam, City of Amsterdam, Port of Amsterdam, Çukurova Development Agency, City of Helsinki, Port of Marseille, Slovak Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, City of Hamburg, Transnet South Africa, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, Bouches du Rhône Department, Syndicat mixte du Schéma de Cohérence Territoriale Ouest Étang de Berre, Communauté d’agglomération Marseille Provence Métropole, City of Marseille, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille Provence, the Agence d’Urbanisme de Marseille, the Union Maritime et Fluviale, l’Agence d’Urbanisme de la Région du Havre et de l’Estuaire de la Seine (AURH), l’Agence d’Études d’Urbanisme de Caen Métropole (AUCAME), l’Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme (APUR), l’Institut d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la région d’Île de France (IAU IDF), l’Agence d'Urbanisme et de Développement de la Seine Aval (AUDAS), la Ville du Havre, la Communauté d’Agglomération Havraise (CODAH), la Communauté de l’Agglomération Rouen Elbeuf Austreberthe (CREA), le Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH), le Grand Port Maritime de Rouen (GPMR), Ports de Paris. The report, as well as the Port-City case studies and related thematic papers can be downloaded from the OECD website: www.oecd.org/regional/portcities Further enquiries about this work in this area should be addressed to: Olaf Merk ([email protected]) of the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate

Global seaport competitiveness: a resource management perspective

Seaport investment is lumpy, entails a long gestation period and has been referred to as a sunk cost. While seaport infrastructures have long been recognized to be a contributor of seaport performance, research on seaport competitiveness, a popular theme among mainstream maritime studies, has not directed sufficient efforts to understand the role of resource management in building seaport competitiveness. Instead, the dominant focus has been on seaport location, productivity and efficiency, price, connectivity, and organization. The manner in which global seaports manage their capital-intensive resources to develop contingent dynamic capacities and capabilities to confront the changing dynamics in the maritime market has not been systematically examined. Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, this study traces the developmental paths of three geo-politically distinctive global seaports - Dubai, Kaohsiung, and Rotterdam - to examine how they achieved competitive advantages since the advent of containerization. Drawing on the tenets of resource-based view, organization learning, dynamic capability and contingency theories, this research reviewed and interpreted the planned actions of the three seaports from the perspective of resource structuring, bundling and leveraging to develop constructs of strategic resource management. From the strategic actions taken by the three case seaports, the study identifies eight resource management constructs couched within four basic capability building blocks that were instrumental in helping them to achieve, and maintain, their global competitiveness: a capital-intensive regime of developing logistics support infrastructure, a parallel program of utilizing resources in a complementary manner, a dynamically agile capability of coupling, de-coupling, and recoupling to renew resource utilization efficiency in response to external changes (regional market dynamics, industry trends), and a capability of re-orienting the use of tangible assets as an exit strategy to develop intangible resources to adapt to unfolding events. The judicious blend of the eight resource management constructs underpins the developmental paths of the three case seaports as they navigated the environmental contingencies posed by the dynamics of the regional competition they faced against the backdrop of the size of their hinterland and foreland. Offering a fresh perspective on understanding how global seaports compete by developing contingent dynamic capabilities, this study presents six working propositions, opening an avenue for building a theory of global seaport competitiveness based on seaport resource management

Federal Register

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii

Environmental Health

Environmental health practitioners worldwide are frequently presented with issues that require further investigating and acting upon so that exposed populations can be protected from ill-health consequences. These environmental factors can be broadly classified according to their relation to air, water or food contamination. However, there are also work-related, occupational health exposures that need to be considered as a subset of this dynamic academic field. This book presents a review of the current practice and emerging research in the three broadly defined domains, but also provides reference for new emerging technologies, health effects associated with particular exposures and environmental justice issues. The contributing authors themselves display a range of backgrounds and they present a developing as well as a developed world perspective. This book will assist environmental health professionals to develop best practice protocols for monitoring a range of environmental exposure scenarios

Can we break the addiction to fossil energy? : Proceedings of the 7th Biennial International Workshop Advances in Energy Studies

Sponsored by Obra Social "la Caixa", Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and LIPHE4 Scientific Association, Generalitat de Catalunya.From 1998 onwards, every other two years, the Biennial International Workshop "Advances in Energy Studies" (BIWAES) gathers experts in what can be called energy analysis to present and discuss advances, innovations and visions in energy and energy-related environmental and socioeconomic issues and models. Renowned energy experts and ecologists, such as H.T. Odum, James Kay, Charles Hall, Tim Allen, Vaclav Smil, Robert Herendeen, Jan Szargut, Joseph Tainter and Robert Ulanowicz among others, have discussed at the BIWAES the importance of energy in our society and ecosystems and the ways to better analyze and model their complex relationships. Previous editions of BIWAES have focused on energy flows in ecology and economy; analysis of the supply side; the ecological consequences of energy sources exploitation; and the role of renewable energy sources and new energy carriers. The present Book of Proceedings refers to the seventh Edition, which took place in the month of October 2010 in Barcelona and addressed society's addiction to fossil energy