A study of industrial hydrogen and syngas supply systems

The potential and incentives required for supplying hydrogen and syngas feedstocks to the U.S. chemical industry from coal gasification systems were evaluated. Future hydrogen and syngas demand for chemical manufacture was estimated by geographic area and projected economics for hydrogen and syngas manufacture was estimated with geographic area of manufacture and plant size as parameters. Natural gas, oil and coal feedstocks were considered. Problem areas presently affecting the commercial feasibility of coal gasification discussed include the impact of potential process improvements, factors involved in financing coal gasification plants, regulatory barriers affecting coal gasification, coal mining/transportation, air quality regulations, and competitive feedstock pricing barriers. The potential for making coal gasification the least costly H2 and syngas supply option. Options to stimulate coal gasification system development are discussed

Water Funds: Conserving Green Infrastructure

This manual is an effort by TNC to compile, analyze and synthesize its own experience, together with that of the water funds already in existence and under creation, in order to provide operational guidelines to people and organizations interested in establishing a water fund or similar mechanism. Each location has different ecological, social, economic, legal and institutional features and, therefore, each water fund will have its own characteristics, phases and projections. This manual presents general guidelines and logical steps that must be followed to boost the opportunities and benefits of a water fund and to minimize possible obstacles for its creation. It is not intended to be an in-depth look at every aspect of water funds. Although TNC participates in several other initiatives and similar approaches to watershed management, such as the water producers program in Brazil, this document will not address those initiatives and will only focus on the water funds scheme, placing greater emphasis on experiences in the Andean region

Business plan: Recycling plant of post-industrial waste of the textile industry

Recycling is important in today’s world if we want to leave this planet for our future generations. In the last few decades, movements and trends have educated the general public to recycle, reduce and reuse its consumer products. However, despite the steps made in changing the mentality in the individual landscape, a big cog in the machine that churns out waste into this world still goes unchecked: the manufactures. The industry landfills millions of tons of textile fibers mainly because there are no incentives to reverse this trend. Once in landfills, natural fibers can take hundreds of years to decompose and release a plethora of toxic gases and substances. As such, textile recycling is a significant challenge to be addressed as we strive to move closer to a zero landfill society and a low resource use circular economy society. The development of this Business Plan intends to create a solution to this problem in the textile industry, more exactly the Portuguese textile Industry, and aims to assess the economic and financial feasibility, and market deployment of this innovative format and transform the Portuguese textile recycling industry. The aim is to feed the recycled raw materials, which traditional get reused - not recycled - into insolation material, back into the economy as a raw material to be used in innovative lines of environmentally friendly yarns, which consequently gets made into environmentally friendly fabric that can be used in most everyday products.A reciclagem é um factor incontornável nos dias de hoje e algo essencial se quisermos deixar uma casa habitável para as gerações futuras. As últimas décadas viram nascer movimentos e tendências que educaram a população a reciclar, reduzir e reutilizar os produtos que consumem. Porém, apesar dos importantes passos dados na mudança de mentalidade no sector individual, existe ainda uma peça da engrenagem que continua a gerar quantidades desmesuradas de desperdício: a indústria. Devido à falta de incentivos para reverter esta tendência, este sector produz milhões de toneladas de resíduos de fibras têxteis, que tem como destino final os aterros sanitários. Uma vez depositadas em aterros sanitários as fibras naturais e sintéticas podem demorar centenas de anos a se decompor, e nesse processo, libertam enormes quantidades de gases e substancias tóxicas para o ecossistema. Assim sendo, melhorar as condições desta indústria é um desafio necessário para podermos nos aproximar de uma sociedade com zero resíduos e uma economia circular que consumo um baixo nível de recursos. O desenvolvimento deste Plano de Negócios visa criar uma solução para este problema a indústria têxtil, mais precisamente, a indústria têxtil Portuguesa. Além disso visa averiguar a viabilidade financeira e económica, e a forma de implementação e comercialização deste formato inovador que visa transformar a indústria recicladora têxtil portuguesa. O objectivo é fornecer matérias-primas, que tradicionalmente são reutilizadas para insulamento, à economia que possam ser usadas em gamas de produtos amigas do ambiente

Markets for technology (why do we see them, why don't we see more of them and why we should care)

This essay explores the nature, the functioning, and the economic and policy implications of markets for technology. Today, the outsourcing of research and development activities is more common than in the past, and specialized technology suppliers have emerged in many industries. In a sense, the Schumpeterian vision of integrating R&D with manufacturing and distribution is being confronted by the older Smithian vision of division of labor. The existence and efficacy of markets for technology can profoundly influence the creation and diffusion of new knowledge, and hence, economic growth of countries and the competitive position of companies. The economic and managerial literatures have touched upon some aspects of the nature of these markets. However, a thorough understanding of how markets for technology work is still lacking. In this essay we address two main questions. First, what are the factors that enable a market for technology to exist and function effectively? Specifically we look at the role of industry structure, the nature of knowledge, and intellectual property rights and related institutions. Second, we ask what the implications of such markets are for the boundaries of the firm, the specialization and division of labor in the economy, industry structure, and economic growth. We build on this discussion to develop the implications of our work for public policy and corporate strategy

The Green Investment Report: The Ways and Means to Unlock Private Finance for Green Growth

This report is a first step by the Green Growth Action Alliance to deliver on the G20 Leaders' request. It aims to provide a common point of reference to guide policy-makers, financial institutions and investors as they seek to better understand, and address, the global gap in green investment. This report documents and synthesizes the best available green investment data, research and case studies from a number of leading organizations, including Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Climate Policy Initiative, the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank Group and the World Resources Institute, and provides important messages for different groups of stakeholders. New analysis is also presented on clean-energy asset finance flows, the findings of which can be used to guide investment decisions and priorities in other sectors

Floating solar panel park

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.This Final Report is the culmination of a four month long design study on floating solar panel park feasibility in Vaasa, Finland. The Floating Ideas Team was tasked with coming up with a design that would not only work, but also make a profit. The team focused a lot of time on initial research, an iterative design process, and experiments to gather information that could not be found during the research phase. In this report, one can expect to find the major findings from research in many different areas such as location, panel design, flotation design, cooling techniques, and efficiency adding techniques. The first takeaway is that implementing floating solar parks in Finland would require adding efficiency techniques such as mirrors or concentrators. Second, how the panels are placed means a lot in a location so far north. Placing the panels far away from each other and horizontally will reduce the negative impact of shadows. And third, the rotation of the structure is important in increasing efficiency. Multiple axis tracking is not necessary, but tracking in the vertical axis can add a 50% increase in power generated. This research then lead into the defining of four initial designs which were eventually paired down into one. The largest factors leading to the change in design were the combination of rotation and anchoring methods, the flotation structure, and the structure required hold the panel modules together. In the end, the final design is a modular circular design with panels and mirrors to help add efficiency, approximately 37%. From there, an economic and environmental feasibility study was done and for both, this design was deemed feasible for Finland. With the design, detailed in this report, it would be possible to implement this and make a profit off of it, leading the team to believe that this should be implemented in places looking for alternatives for renewable energy production

Financing arrangements and industrial organisation for new nuclear build in electricity markets

National audienc

Space resources. Volume 4: Social concerns

Space resources must be used to support life on the Moon and exploration of Mars. This volume, Social Concerns, covers some of the most important issues which must be addressed in any major program for the human exploration of space. The volume begins with a consideration of the economics and management of large scale space activities. Then the legal aspects of these activities are discussed, particularly the interpretation of treaty law with respect to the Moon and asteroids. The social and cultural issues of moving people into space are considered in detail, and the eventual emergence of a space culture different from the existing culture is envisioned. The environmental issues raised by the development of space settlements are faced. Some innovative approaches are proposed to space communities and habitats and self-sufficiency is considered along with human safety at a lunar base or outpost

Smart specialisation for regional economic transformation

The aim of this paper is to provide a quick yet comprehensive understanding of the nature and logic of smart specialisation as a place-based strategy for economic transformation and development. The origin and characteristics of the smart specialisation approach in the European Union are presented together with the main challenges for a successful implementation. Smart specialisation is about identifying and pursuing sub-sectoral and inter-sectoral activities, which can be explored by existing but also new entrant firms, where technology can facilitate either radical innovation, or the incremental utilisation of existing skills/strengths in new niches, fostering regional and national technology-savvy economic transformation. Stakeholder involvement through an entrepreneurial discovery process is a defining feature of this approach.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Defining And Measuring Green FDI: An Exploratory Review Of Existing Work And Evidence

This paper was developed at the request of the OECD Working Party of the Investment Committee to document efforts to date to define and measure green FDI and to investigate the practicability of various possible definitions, as well as to identify investment policy restrictions to green FDI. It does so by reviewing the literature and existing work on the contributions of FDI to the environment; by providing a two-part definition of green FDI; and by discussing various assumptions necessary to estimate the magnitude of \u27green\u27 FDI