Consumers’ willingness to pay for biodiesel in Spain

Consumer/Household Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Culture as a source of new working practices: new perspectives and types of employment.

Actualmente, o conceito tradicional de emprego — e o subsequente ideal de pleno emprego - ainda coincide, de um modo crítico, com a nova perspectiva de «open employment» e o seu ideal correlativo de plena actividade. E esta crise-uma mudança que se avizinha, já anunciada mas não ainda concretizada — favorece a visão do desemprego estrutural como um problema sem solução ou com um preço inexorável que a maior parte das sociedades desenvol vidas têm de pagar pelo bem-estar e a inovação produtiva. Neste contexto, há uma necessidade premente de uma mudança de mentalidade que, ao ir para além dos valores inerentes ao conceito de emprego, nos transporte, a curto prazo, para a nova axiologia de plena actividade. Porque esta plena activi dade, ao mesmo tempo que descobre um rico filão de depósitos inexplorados, serve de elo de ligação entre uma vida de trabalho e os valores e necessidades da sociedade actual. A minha contribuição vai no sentido de indicar as possibilidades que a Cultura pode oferecer como veículo de novas formas de trabalho, não apenas como uma fonte de rendimento mas também, e acho que ainda mais importante, como um veículo de socialização das nossas vidas e da nossa participação na definição da ordem social e dos valores sociais por que aspiramos

Incorporating Uncertainty and Cero Values into the Valuation of Protected Areas and Species

Under the Spanish conservation law, compensation is envisaged for the damage associated with all actions that reduce the quantity or quality of protected areas and species. This paper provides a tool to evaluate the monetary equivalent of this damage. We conduct a contingent valuation exercise to estimate the existence value related to protected areas and species in Aragon. This estimate is then reconsidered including the possibility of zero bids and also the possibility of uncertain preferences for non-familiar goods. Considering these two effects, mean values are reduced significantly giving support to previous recommendations of dividing by two contingent valuation estimates from dichotomous choice question formats.natural heritage, contingent valuation, Spike model, uncertainty, Land Economics/Use, B23, C24, C42, C52, D62, Q26,

Control de la temperatura en el transporte de alimentos mediante sistemas RFID

Investigadores de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) y de la Universidad de Bremen (Alemania) trabajan conjuntamente en la supervisión y control de transportes frigoríficos y así poder asegurar la trazabilidad de los productos alimentarios hasta los consumidores

Assessing the socio-economic impacts of drought in the Ebro river basin

La sequía es un fenómeno caracterizado por una disminución coyuntural significativa de los recursos hídricos durante un período prolongado, en un territorio extenso y con consecuencias adversas. Tradicionalmente ha sido considerada como un problema fundamentalmente agrario, de manera que sus implicaciones se han buscado en el ámbito rural, pero la amplitud e importancia del uso de los recursos hídricos en la sociedad actual conlleva situaciones de déficit y crea un abanico de problemas muy graves. Los objetivos específicos del estudio son, a partir de la información estadística secundaria disponible, estimar el impacto económico directo de la sequía en el año 2005 sobre la producción agraria y energética en la cuenca del Ebro y, en segundo lugar, y mediante la utilización del Marco Input-Ouput (MIO), estimar los efectos indirectos de la sequía sobre la producción y el empleo en el conjunto de la economía de la cuenca. Los resultados muestran como este episodio ha supuesto un impacto directo de más de 482 millones � de valor añadido bruto en el sistema económico, al que se ha podido asociar una pérdida de producción de 377 millones �. Esta disminución lleva asociada también la destrucción de más de 11.000 empleosDroughts can be defined as a significant reduction in water resources during a long period of time in a large spatial area which leads to negative consequences. These episodes have traditionally been regarded as an agricultural problem and thus their economic impacts have been considered limited to the rural environments. However, current water uses cover a broader scope of economic activity and water deficits generate impacts in a greater number of sectors. The specific objective of this paper is to estimate the direct and indirect economic impacts of a drought episode in the Ebro River Basin, using available statistical information within an Input-Output framework. Direct impacts are assessed for the two main sectors affected by this drought, agriculture and energy production, and with these effects, the indirect impacts on the wider economic activity are derived for the whole river basin. Results show that this climatic episode resulted in a direct gross added value loss of over �482 million in the two sectors considered with an additional induced production loss of �377 million. This reduction in activity resulted also in a reduction of over 11.000 job

Interacción entre iguales y aprendizaje de conceptos científicos

Throughout this article we try to present the first results of a wider research about the verbal intercourses which take place in small groups of students, and its relationship with the process of learning scientific concepts. The research has been done with secondary students, aged 15-16. They were working in real context on the solution of activities leading to the development of their alternative conceptions about energy. Here you have some of the conclusions obtained: 1) Their development towards more accurate concepts is wider when working in groups than working individually. 2) The actions of giving and receiving help and the following usage of that help have a clear and significative relationship with the fact of learning. 3) The pupils in homogeneous groups interact and learn more than those pupils in heterogeneous groups. Previous training in cooperative skills helps those students with less experience

Evoluçao e aplicaçao da mecatronica em maquinas agricolas.

Em Ciências Agronómicas, a constante adoção de novas tecnologias, faz com que cada vez mais se alargue o conhecimento em torno de novas áreas técnicas e científicas. Hoje, a incorporação de sistemas mecatrónicos na arquitetura de conceção de tratores e máquinas agrícolas, além de tornar a máquina mais amiga do operador, tem permitido a otimização da sua utilização e rentabilidade de operação. O significado de Mecatrónica e algumas considerações sobre a sua aplicação em máquinas agrícolas são descritas neste artigo

Sistemas de Control en el Transporte de productos Perecederos

Los productos alimentarios perecederos tales como hortalizas, frutas, carne o pescado requieren transporte refrigerado. El control de la calidad y supervisión de los productos durante su transporte y distribución es de gran importancia, siendo el mayor reto asegurar una cadena de frio continua desde el productor hasta el consumidor. Entre las diferentes tecnologías que se pueden utilizar para monitorizar, destacan las tecnologías de sensórica inalámbrica que pueden ser de dos tipos: RFID (Identificación por Radio Frecuencia) y WSN (Redes inalámbricas de Sensores), por su gran potencial. La tecnología RFID fue desarrollada para identificar de forma inalámbrica todo tipo de elementos, desde libros, hasta vehículos o contenedores de transporte. En la actualidad, se dispone de nuevos dispositivos RFID, de reducido tamaño, con sensores de temperatura embebidos lo cual permite registrar temperaturas a lo largo de toda la cadena de frio sin necesidad de cablear o realizar instalaciones adicionales. Las WSN proporcionan una información más completa, pues a parte de temperatura miden también humedad, presión, luminosidad o aceleración. Además, son capaces de conformar topologías de red avanzadas y pueden funcionar de forma autónoma durante años

How can we untap the energy saving potential of households? Insights from household preferences for alternative measures

Abstract Reducing energy consumption is one of the steps needed to achieve a climate neutral energy system by 2050. Households account for 17.1% of final energy consumption in Spain and have a high reduction potential. However, this is difficult to achieve as it relies on the individual behaviour of millions of households. This paper tries to investigate how this behaviour could be triggered by analysing individuals’ preferences for households’ energy saving measures. We surveyed 401 individuals in Aragón in 2020 using an on line platform evaluating different energy saving measures applying the Best Worst Method and estimating a Latent Class Model. The results show that individuals value investments in energy saving measures, such as insulation of their home or using energy efficient appliances as the most important measures. On the contrary, daily behaviours as setting thermostats to recommended levels, turning lights and devices off, replacing traditional light bulbs with LED, using fully loaded washing appliances and setting temperature of refrigerators and freezers at ECO levels were less valued. We identified three different classes of energy saving behaviour patterns: "high potential energy savers", "convenience seekers" and "financially constrained". Our results can help policy makers when designing energy saving policies