15,125 research outputs found
Lessons learned from the case of the Californian ZEV Mandate: From a 'technology-forcing' to a 'market-driven' regulation
In this paper, we investigate how Californian regulatory authorities and the principal stakeholders that have contributed to the design of the ZEV Mandate have dealt with this complex task. In the first three sections we present, in three stages, the evolution of the ZEV Mandate from its inception to the most recent developments, trying to reconstruct the debate that surrounded this evolution. We present some conclusions in the final section. Given the constructivist approach we adopt in this paper, our contribution can only be modest. No definitive, consensual and ready-to-apply lessons can be drawn from such a controversial case. However, the Californian example, particularly because of its excesses in various regards, offers valuable inputs to draw a line around technology-forcing regulations, stressing the major pitfalls of the regulatory design process. Moreover, this case has proved especially powerful in raising lively debates among the various communities of stakeholders involved to a greater or lesser extent in alternative vehicles and more generally in environmental regulations. We claim that these types of debate are nothing less than the very first stage of the design and evaluation of an âeffectiveâ regulation.Regulation Environment Innovation Strategic behaviors Electric vehicle
Carbon Free Boston: Social equity report 2019
OVERVIEW:
In January 2019, the Boston Green Ribbon Commission released its Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report, identifying potential
options for the City of Boston to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The report found that reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 requires three mutually-reinforcing strategies in key sectors: 1) deepen energy efficiency while reducing energy
demand, 2) electrify activity to the fullest practical extent, and 3) use fuels and electricity that are 100 percent free of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Summary Report detailed the ways in which these technical strategies will transform Bostonâs physical
infrastructure, including its buildings, energy supply, transportation, and waste management systems. The Summary Report also
highlighted that it is how these strategies are designed and implemented that matter most in ensuring an effective and equitable transition to carbon neutrality.
Equity concerns exist for every option the City has to reduce GHG emissions. The services provided by each sector are not
experienced equally across Bostonâs communities. Low-income families and families of color are more likely to live in residences that are in poor physical condition, leading to high utility bills, unsafe and unhealthy indoor environments, and high GHG
emissions.1
Those same families face greater exposure to harmful outdoor air pollution compared to others. The access and
reliability of public transportation is disproportionately worse in neighborhoods with large populations of people of color, and
large swaths of vulnerable neighborhoods, from East Boston to Mattapan, do not have ready access to the cityâs bike network.
Income inequality is a growing national issue and is particularly acute in Boston, which consistently ranks among the highest US
cities in regards to income disparities. With the release of Imagine Boston 2030, Mayor Walsh committed to make Boston more
equitable, affordable, connected, and resilient. The Summary Report outlined the broad strokes of how action to reach carbon
neutrality intersects with equity. A just transition to carbon neutrality improves environmental quality for all Bostonians, prioritizes socially vulnerable populations, seeks to redress current and past injustice, and creates economic and social opportunities
for all.
This Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report provides a deeper equity context for Carbon Free Boston as a whole, and for
each strategy area, by demonstrating how inequitable and unjust the playing field is for socially vulnerable Bostonians and why
equity must be integrated into policy design and implementation. This report summarizes the current landscape of climate
action work for each strategy area and evaluates how it currently impacts inequity. Finally, this report provides guidance to the
City and partners on how to do better; it lays out the attributes of an equitable approach to carbon neutrality, framed around
three guiding principles: 1) plan carefully to avoid unintended consequences, 2) be intentional in design through a clear equity
lens, and 3) practice inclusivity from start to finish
Analysis of Solar Community Energy Storage for Supporting Hawaii\u27s 100% Renewable Energy Goals
Solar PV generation has become an integral part of the renewable energy industry. With state-level, renewable portfolio standards in place, solar power demand has substantially increased and become a competitive and economically viable energy solution throughout the world. Hawaii has one of the most aggressive renewable portfolio standards with a goal of 100 percent renewable generation by 2045. However, there are challenges that are preventing the growth of the solar PV market in Hawaii including equal accessibility to solar power and solar power overloading causing grid instability. With Hawaiiâs high annual solar radiation, PV generation could play a significant role in reaching 100 percent renewable generation as long as a solution is put in place to alleviate overload to the grid while also expanding the adoption of solar. Community solar and energy storage techniques could potentially provide the support the solar industry needs to achieve this goal in Hawaii. This paper evaluates the success of two solar community energy storage projects, the Detroit Edison Community Energy Storage Project and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Anatolia Pilot Project, based on five criteria, the stateâs renewable portfolio standard, available funding, level of solar incentives, site location, and amount of annual solar radiation. Based on this analysis, recommendations for the implementation of solar community energy storage projects in Hawaii are provided to determine if solar community energy storage techniques can facilitate growth in the solar PV market by overcoming the grid instability and accessibility challenges affecting utility companies throughout the Hawaiian Islands
South Africaâs new Cooperatives Act: A missed opportunity for small farmers and land reform beneficiaries
Agricultural cooperatives are often viewed as appropriate vehicles to facilitate vertical coordination with, or horizontal integration between, small farmers who would otherwise be excluded from value-adding opportunities and discerning markets. In South Africa, renewed interest in development-oriented cooperatives saw the introduction of a new Cooperatives Act in 2005, along with support measures dedicated to âemergingâ cooperatives. This paper contends that the architects of the new Act discounted important trends in international legislation that would have made development-oriented cooperatives more versatile and given their members better access to capital and expertise through equity partnerships with private agribusiness firms. It is concluded that the new Act should be amended to admit non-patron investors as members, and to allow for non-redeemable and hence appreciable and tradable shares. Such innovations are emerging internationally, usually with a cap on non-patron voting power.Agricultural cooperatives, small farmers, new institutional economics, strategic partnerships, land reform beneficiaries,
Improving Sustainable Mobility through Modal Rewarding: The GOOD_GO Smart Platform
Private car mobility registers today a h igh accident rate and around 70% of the overall CO2
emissions from transport were generated by road mode split (European Commission, 2016). Moreover, in urban
areas they occur 38% of the overall fatalities from road transport, and 23% of the overall CO2 emissions
(European Commission, 2013). As a result, a modal shift of at least a part of passenger transport in urban areas,
from private car to sustainable transport systems is desirable.
This research aims to promote sustainable mobility through two mutually reinforcing "main actions": firstly,
there is a r ewarding Open-Source platform, named as GOOD_GO; secondly, there is the SW/HW system
connecting to the wide world of private and/or shared bicycles. Through the GOOD_GO platform Web portal
and App, a user enters a so called 'social rewarding game' thought to incentive sustainable mobility habits, and
gets access to the second item consisting of a system to disincentive bike-theft and based on the passive RFID
technology.
The low-cost deterrent bike-theft and bike monitoring/tracking system is functional to bring a big number of
citizens inside the rewarding game.
In 2018, a pilot test has implemented in the city of Livorno (Tuscany, It), and it involved around 1,000 citizens.
Results were quite encouraging and today, the cities of Livorno, Pisa and Bolzano will enlarge the incentive
system both to home-to-school and home-to-work mobility. The Good_Go platform is an actual M-a-a-S
(Mobility-as-a-Service) application, and it becoming a Mobility Management decision system support, jointly
with the opportunity of organizing more incentive tenders and rewarding systems types
CGT Method of Message forwarding
In vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs),
because of the nonexistence of end-to-end connections, it
is essential that nodes take advantage of connection
opportunities to forward messages to make end-to-end
messaging possible. Thus, it is crucial to make sure that
nodes have incentives to forward messages for others,
despite the fact that the routing protocols in VANETs are
different from traditional end-to-end routing protocols.
In this paper, stimulation of message forwarding in
VANETs is concerned. This approach is based on
coalitional game theory, particularly, an incentive scheme
for VANETs is proposed and with this scheme, following
the routing protocol is in the best interest of each node. In
addition, a lightweight approach is proposed for taking
the limited storage space of each node into consideration
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