A study on the intensive use of air conditioning in large retail stores

In addition to an increase in greenhouse effect emissions the intensive use of air conditioning in the retail sector can eventually carry implications on the health of some of those directly exposed to sudden cooling particularly in hot summer days. This paper reports the results of an experimental study conducted in the summer of 2005 in the United Kingdom investigating air conditioning frequency of use and the indoor air temperatures of air conditioned premises. It was found that in some large retail stores indoor air temperatures could be set higher improving thermal comfort and contributing towards the environment

Economic growth, education, and AIDS in Kenya : a long-run analysis

The AIDS epidemic threatens Kenya with a long wave of premature adult mortality, and thus with an enduring setback to the formation of human capital and economic growth. To investigate this possibility, the authors develop a model with three overlapping generations, calibrate it to the demographic and economic series from 1950 until 1990, and then perform simulations for the period ending in 2050 under alternative assumptions about demographic developments, including the counterfactual in which there is no epidemic. Although AIDS does not bring about a catastrophic economic collapse, it does cause large economic costs-and many deaths. Programs that subsidize post-primary education and combat the epidemic are both socially profitable-the latter strikingly so, due to its indirect effects on the expected returns to education-and a combination of the two interventions profits from a modest long-run synergy effect.Population Policies,Primary Education,Education For All,Adolescent Health,Economic Theory&Research

Life course building epidemiology: An alternative approach to the collection and analysis of carbon emission data

Developing policy for the reduction of the carbon emissions due to buildings requires models for energy usage that incorporate social, behavioural, and environmental factors in addition to the physical properties and technical specifications of the buildings. Marked parallels exist with some of the more intractable public health issues, such as rising levels of obesity. Recently, health researchers have recognized the importance of taking a broader life-course approach to epidemiology in order to examine the degree that long-term health outcomes are set in early life and the extent that these may be mediated or mitigated by subsequent growth and development, as well as by intervention strategies. Life course epidemiology as applied in building science, where energy usage is treated as analogous to poor health outcomes, provides an alternative approach for the construction of causal models that allow for complex interactions between social and technical factors as well as long term effects. It can provide a useful framework for the successful management and analysis of longitudinal studies and may prove particularly effective in identifying the type, timing, and targeting of intervention strategies to produce optimal outcomes in terms of absolute reductions of carbon emissions and resilience of building performance to external stresses, such as those imposed by climate change. An example based on a study in Milton Keynes (London), which is currently in progress, is used to illustrate the way causal models may help elucidate the complex interactions between factors that influence energy usage

The Long-run Effects of HIV/AIDS in Kenya

This essay analyzes the long-run economic effects of HIV/AIDS in Kenya, with emphasis on fertility, education and child labor. Human capital, which is built up through formal education and parental child-rearing, is the only input in production. Two aspects are central to the analysis: First, a mature AIDS epidemic causes massive premature adult mortality, thereby destroying existing human capital and reducing the labor force on a large scale. Second, the transmission of human capital to future generations is weakened, as children are left orphaned and surviving adults are correspondingly burdened. As a consequence, per capita income decreases and communities can less afford to raise and educate children as they did before the outbreak of the disease. The underlying theoretical model, in which it is assumed that parents raise and educate children for both financial and altruistic reasons, is calibrated using data for the period 1920 to 2000. The long-run effects of the disease, which depend heavily on parents' expectations about future mortality rates, are estimated for the years 2000-2040. Both human capital and per capita income grow significantly more slowly after the outbreak of the epidemic, while the incidence of child labor doubles for some periods. The level of fertility falls in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, but can be significantly higher when the epidemic has reached a mature phase, depending on parents' expectations. Governmental interventions in the health sector in the early phase of the epidemic can strongly mitigate its adverse effects.child labor; growth; fertility; health; epidemic; HIV/AIDS; Kenya;

Milton Keynes Park Revisited: changes in internal temperatures

27-30 April 2006 The Carbon Reduction in Buildings project has undertaken a pilot longitudinal survey based on a study of 160 ‘low-energy’ homes in 1989 in Milton Keynes Energy Park. In that study, a sub-sample of 29 dwellings was monitored on an hourly basis for internal temperature for the living room and main bedroom over 2 years. The follow up study has been in progress since 2005 and consists of 15 dwellings from the original detailed survey. Findings include that under an average daily external temperature of 5 ºC, internal temperatures were predicted from regression analysis to be 20.1ºC (95%CI:19.7, 20.5) for the living room in 2005 and 19.5 ºC (95 %CI:19.1, 19.9) for the bedroom. This was not significantly different from the 1990 baseline study, except for main bedroom evening temperatures (6pm-11pm) which were found to have decreased by -1.3°C (95%CI -2.4, 0.08; p-value 0.04). This may be indicative of higher ventilation rates since almost all participants in 2005 reported opening bedroom windows through winter

Do smart grids offer a new incentive for SME carbon reduction?

Collectively small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant energy users although many are unregulated by existing policies due to their low carbon emissions. Carbon reduction is often not a priority but smart grids may create a new opportunity. A smart grid will give electricity suppliers a picture of real-time energy flows and the opportunity for consumers to receive financial incentives for engaging in demand side management. As well as creating incentives for local carbon reduction, engaging SMEs with smart grids has potential for contributing to wider grid decarbonisation. Modelling of buildings, business activities and technology solutions is needed to identify opportunities for carbon reduction. The diversity of the SME sector complicates strategy development. SMEs are active in almost every business area and occupy the full range of property types. This paper reviews previous modelling work, exposing valuable data on floor space and energy consumption associated with different business activities. Limitations are seen with the age of this data and an inability to distinguish SME energy use. By modelling SME energy use, electrical loads are identified which could be shifted on demand, in a smart network. Initial analysis of consumption, not constrained by existing policies, identifies heating and cooling in retail and commercial offices as having potential for demand response. Hot water in hotel and catering and retail sectors may also be significant because of the energy storage potential. Areas to consider for energy efficiency schemes are also indicated

Elastic Stress Ratchetting and Corotational Stress Rates

It is well accepted that stresses should return to their original state after a closed elastic strain cycle. Here, we consider originally unstressed elements undergoing such cycles. We presume isotropic materials and use Truesdell’s hypoelastic law. Depending on the applied corotational stress rate, undesirable stress ratchetting is observed in case of two commonly used objective rates, namely the Zaremba-Jaumann and the Green/Naghdi rates. The strain cycle reaches its original stress-free state when the logarithmic rate is applied