Optimized water allocation in persistent severe climatic conditions: A novel metaheuristic approach

With increasing global water tensions, the need for a comprehensive water management framework in persistent harsh conditions is crucial. A framework was designed to devise a comprehensive and detailed plan that can strike a balance between all water resources and demands. In contrast to previous studies, this framework can be adopted for long-lasting severe climatic conditions and suggests detailed cultivation patterns and reservoir management. The framework adopts a comprehensive, detailed, novel, multi-objective, and evolutionary-based approach for optimal water management during continuous extreme events in sectors including agriculture, industry, and the environment. Sustainability (ecological water demand and global warming potential), economic welfare, and equitability are allocation principles. This framework utilizes complex, metaheuristic algorithms that enable it to cope with big data and optimize complex systems with high precision. For the case study of the Karkheh basin, the results show that for a full recovery of the Hoor al-Azim wetland, the basin cannot bear the agricultural water demand, and such activities must be decreased drastically. It is also shown that a 10% increase of the agricultural net benefit will result in a 40% increase of the Gini coefficient.ISSN:0043-1354ISSN:1879-244

Novel quota and tax regime design approach for green transition: A case study on Switzerland's aviation industry

In the present study, a novel approach for calculating optimal quota and tax regimes is investigated. A meta-heuristic framework has been developed to find the optimal quota regime for the national or worldwide aviation industry. The minimization of ticket prices and CO2 emissions are considered to be objective functions. The results of the current study indicate that implementing optimized quotas is more effective than intensive tax regimes. To elaborate, much more important than the value of the carbon price is the shape (convexity or concavity) of the tax regime. The optimal tax regime shape is also obtained. Based on the optimal quota and tax regime, the concept of golden time and value is introduced. In the golden time window, investing in Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) will be the most cost-effective. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that neither the sole introduction of quotas nor the imposition of high carbon taxes are beneficial from an economic and decarbonization standpoint. Thus, an optimized quota regime should be employed. These quotas should be introduced as soon as possible, and their implementation should be combined with political efforts to introduce a carbon tax and policies supporting the development of an alternative jet fuel industry.ISSN:0301-421