Compatibility of the French white certificate program to fulfil the objective of energy savings claimed by the Energy Service Directive

International audienceThe Commission has proposed a Directive on the promotion of end-use efficiency and energy services (ESD) to enhance the cost-effective and efficient end-use of energy in Member States. According to the Directive, the Member States shall adopt and aim to achieve an overall national indicative energy savings target of 9% (or beyond) in 2016. This target is to be reached by way of energy services and other energy efficiency measures. The French National Energy Efficiency Action Plan to comply with the ESD includes a White Certificates scheme (or FWC) as one of the important measures to fulfil the target. As the accountings of energy savings in the FWC scheme and in the ESD are different (e.g. lifetime-cumulated and discounted kWh for FWC and annual kWh for ESD), an analysis of the compliance of both methodologies and a comparison of the assessed savings are necessary. In this paper, we evaluate the compliance with the ESD requirements of two different end-use actions (insulation, heating boiler) included in the FWC scheme. This is done through the concrete case of certificates filed by EDF. The main objective of this evaluation is to assess the contribution of the savings of these FWC actions to the target of the ESD. Finally, general conclusions are drawn about the use of a White Certificates scheme as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the ESD purpose

Between but not within species variation in the distribution of fitness effects

New mutations provide the raw material for evolution and adaptation. The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) describes the spectrum of effects of new mutations that can occur along a genome, and is therefore of vital interest in evolutionary biology. Recent work has uncovered striking similarities in the DFE between closely related species, prompting us to ask whether there is variation in the DFE among populations of the same species, or among species with different degrees of divergence, i.e., whether there is variation in the DFE at different levels of evolution. Using exome capture data from six tree species sampled across Europe we characterised the DFE for multiple species, and for each species, multiple populations, and investigated the factors potentially influencing the DFE, such as demography, population divergence and genetic background. We find statistical support for there being variation in the DFE at the species level, even among relatively closely related species. However, we find very little difference at the population level, suggesting that differences in the DFE are primarily driven by deep features of species biology, and that evolutionarily recent events, such as demographic changes and local adaptation, have little impact

The GenTree Platform: growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species

Background: Progress in the field of evolutionary forest ecology has been hampered by the huge challenge of phenotyping trees across their ranges in their natural environments, and the limitation in high-resolution environmental information. Findings: The GenTree Platform contains phenotypic and environmental data from 4,959 trees from 12 ecologically and economically important European forest tree species: Abies alba Mill. (silver fir), Betula pendula Roth. (silver birch), Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech), Picea abies (L.) H. Karst (Norway spruce), Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine), Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), Pinus nigra Arnold (European black pine), Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine), Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Populus nigra L. (European black poplar), Taxus baccata L. (English yew), and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. (sessile oak). Phenotypic (height, diameter at breast height, crown size, bark thickness, biomass, straightness, forking, branch angle, fructification), regeneration, environmental in situ measurements (soil depth, vegetation cover, competition indices), and environmental modeling data extracted by using bilinear interpolation accounting for surrounding conditions of each tree (precipitation, temperature, insolation, drought indices) were obtained from trees in 194 sites covering the species’ geographic ranges and reflecting local environmental gradients. Conclusion: The GenTree Platform is a new resource for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes in forest trees. The coherent phenotyping and environmental characterization across 12 species in their European ranges allow for a wide range of analyses from forest ecologists, conservationists, and macro-ecologists. Also, the data here presented can be linked to the GenTree Dendroecological collection, the GenTree Leaf Trait collection, and the GenTree Genomic collection presented elsewhere, which together build the largest evolutionary forest ecology data collection available

The costs and benefits of white certificates schemes

White certificate schemes mandate energy companies to promote energy efficiency with flexibility mechanisms, including the trading of energy savings. A unified framework is used to estimate the costs and benefits of the schemes implemented in Great Britain in 2002, in Italy in 2005 and in France in 2006. "Negawatt-hour cost" estimates reach €0.009 per kWh saved in Great Britain and €0.037 per kWh saved in France, which compares favourably to energy prices in those countries. Moreover, the benefits of reduced energy bills and CO2 emissions saved exceed the costs, thus white certificate schemes pay for themselves. Overall, the policy instrument is cost-effective and economically efficient. A closer look at the differences among countries provides general insights about the conceptualization of the instrument : (i) compared to utility demand-side management, to which they are related, white certificate schemes provide more transparency about energy savings, but less transparency around costs ; (ii) the substantial efficiency discrepancy between the British scheme and its French counterpart can be explained by differences in technological potentials, coexisting policies and supply-side systems in these countries ; (iii) the nature and amount of costs influence compliance strategies. Notably, if energy suppliers are allowed to set their retail price freely, they tend to grant subsidies to end-use consumers for energy efficient investments.Les dispositifs de certificats blancs obligent les opérateurs énergétiques à encourager l'efficacité énergétique en associant des mécanismes de flexibilité, notamment l'échange d'économies d'énergie certifiées. Cet article utilise une méthodologie commune pour estimer les coûts et bénéfices des dispositifs mis en œuvre en Grande-Bretagne en 2002, en Italie en 2005 et en France en 2006. Le coût du " négawatt-heure " est estimé à 0,9 c€ par kWh économisé en Grande-Bretagne et à 3,7c€/kWh économisé en France, soit un coût inférieur au prix des énergies dans ces pays. Ces dispositifs sont efficients, dans la mesure où les bénéfices issus de la réduction de la facture énergétique et des émissions de CO2 évitées sont supérieurs aux coûts. Un examen plus détaillé des différences entre pays apporte des éléments généraux sur la conceptualisation de l'instrument : (i) comparés aux politiques américaines de Demand-side management qui les ont inspirés, les dispositifs de certificats blancs apportent plus de transparence sur les économies d'énergie réalisées mais moins de transparence sur les coûts ; (ii) la différence substantielle d'efficience entre les dispositifs britannique et français s'explique par des différences de gisement technologique et de système de production d'électricité, ainsi que par des politiques préexistantes ; (iii) la nature et le montant des coûts influence les stratégies des opérateurs énergétiques. En particulier, lorsque les fournisseurs d'énergie sont autorisés à fixer librement leur prix de vente, ils ont tendance à offrir des subventions aux consommateurs finaux pour des investissements dans l'efficacité énergétique

Consistency of the French white certificates evaluation system with the framework proposed for the European energy services

International audienceAccording to the directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services (ESD), the European Member States shall adopt a national indicative energy savings target of 9% (or beyond) in 2016. The issue of the energy savings evaluation is crucial for its implementation. The French White Certificates (FWC) scheme is one of the important measures for France to fulfill its ESD target. However, the accountings of energy savings in the FWC scheme and in the ESD are different. Therefore, an analysis of the consistency of the two systems is needed. A concrete example of actions on residential buildings is used to illustrate the challenges for policy marker and stakeholders to set harmonized evaluation rules. The FWC and ESD calculations appear to be consistent from a physics point of view, as long as calculations are well-documented. But due to differences in the policy objectives, calculation routines may be necessary to convert national energy savings unit (e.g., kWh cumac) into supranational energy savings unit (e.g., ESD kWh). Finally, the work done to establish a transparent evaluation system brings additional benefits (e.g., increased visibility and quality of the actions), which will improve the results of the energy efficiency policies on long term

ELA/APELA precursor cleaved by furin displays tumor suppressor function in renal cell carcinoma through mTORC1 activation

International audienc

The GenTree Platform: Growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species

Background Progress in the field of evolutionary forest ecology has been hampered by the huge challenge of phenotyping trees across their ranges in their natural environments, and the limitation in high-resolution environmental information. Findings The GenTree Platform contains phenotypic and environmental data from 4,959 trees from 12 ecologically and economically important European forest tree species: Abies alba Mill. (silver fir), Betula pendula Roth. (silver birch), Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech), Picea abies (L.) H. Karst (Norway spruce), Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine), Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), Pinus nigra Arnold (European black pine), Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine), Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Populus nigra L. (European black poplar), Taxus baccata L. (English yew), and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. (sessile oak). Phenotypic (height, diameter at breast height, crown size, bark thickness, biomass, straightness, forking, branch angle, fructification), regeneration, environmental in situ measurements (soil depth, vegetation cover, competition indices), and environmental modeling data extracted by using bilinear interpolation accounting for surrounding conditions of each tree (precipitation, temperature, insolation, drought indices) were obtained from trees in 194 sites covering the species’ geographic ranges and reflecting local environmental gradients. Conclusion The GenTree Platform is a new resource for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes in forest trees. The coherent phenotyping and environmental characterization across 12 species in their European ranges allow for a wide range of analyses from forest ecologists, conservationists, and macro-ecologists. Also, the data here presented can be linked to the GenTree Dendroecological collection, the GenTree Leaf Trait collection, and the GenTree Genomic collection presented elsewhere, which together build the largest evolutionary forest ecology data collection available