What motivates retrofitting? Results of a nationally representative sample in Great Britain

Energy use in buildings is one of the largest contributors to total energy consumption. The UK Government established the goal of reducing carbon emissions from homes by 29% by 2020, with energy efficiency improvements forming a central part of the plans. However, the recent ‘Green Deal’ policy to promote energy-efficiency measures in homes through financial incentives had very little uptake. In a nationally representative survey, we assessed framing effects on the hypothetical uptake of free home insulation provided by the energy supplier. The frames tested were: (1) monetary savings, (2) a warmer home, (3) carbon savings, (4) health benefits, and (5) social norms. The option emphasizing monetary savings was associated with significantly higher likeliness to take up the offer than any of the other options, which all received similar mean ratings. Higher trust in the energy supplier was associated with higher likeliness to participate in the scheme. Financial benefits seem to be the greatest incentive for retrofit measures, supporting policy based on them. In this context we critically discuss the apparent failure of the Green Deal, and suggest how the importance of trust in the energy supplier could be used in the future

Analysis of the effects of baffles on combustion instability

An analytical model has been developed for predicting the effects of baffles on combustion instability. This model has been developed by coupling an acoustic analysis of the wave motion within baffled chambers with a model for the oscillatory combustion response of a propellant droplet developed by Heidmann. A computer program was developed for numerical solution of the resultant coupled equations. Diagnostic calculations were made to determine the reasons for the improper prediction. These calculations showed that the chosen method of representing the combustion response was a very poor approximation. At the end of the program, attempts were made to minimize this effect but the model still improperly predicts the stability trends. Therefore, it is recommended that additional analysis be done with an improved approximation

Tailored emails prompt electric vehicle owners to engage with tariff switching information

The carbon intensity of the electricity used to charge an electric vehicle (EV) is dependent on when in the day charging occurs. However, persuading EV owners to adopt incentives to charge during off-peak hours is challenging. Here we show that governments could exploit the ‘window of opportunity’ created when people purchase their first EV to promote time-of-use tariffs. Email recipients (n = 7,038 EV owners) were more likely to click-through to an information webpage when the email emphasized specific reductions in home-charging costs versus general bill savings. However, the ‘window of opportunity’ for maximizing potential adoption is short; email open rates declined from over 70% immediately after purchase to 40% for recipients owning their EV for over three months. These results demonstrate the potential of prompts to change behaviours for which opt-out enrolment (where enrolment is automatic unless people explicitly opt out) would be unethical or less effective

Two energy suppliers are better than one: survey experiments on consumer engagement with local energy in GB

Usually consumers have a single energy supplier. Permitting consumers to take on additional contracts with local suppliers in a multiple-supplier model could support growth of local renewable energy. The aims of this study were to assess the attractiveness of a multiple-supplier model and to understand whether consumers would be more likely to engage with local energy suppliers in a multiple-supplier model or the current single supplier model. An additional aim was to explore the role of default effects and cognitive biases associated with remaining with incumbent suppliers (loss-aversion, cognitive effort and implied endorsement). Two nationally representative survey experiments were conducted in Great Britain (n = 1042, n = 762). Results showed that participants were significantly more likely to engage with local energy suppliers under a multiple-supplier model than the current single supplier model. In one experiment, consumers’ preference for adding a local supplier under a multiple-supplier model was so strong that it overcame default effects. The perception that the supplier has been recommended (i.e. implied endorsement) was the most robust mechanism associated with remaining with default suppliers, suggesting that explicit endorsement of local energy suppliers may encourage uptake. Results suggest multiple-supplier models are likely to be a promising avenue for increased energy market engagement

Effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels on response speed in cognitive test

To explore the associations of exposure to carbon dioxide with adults' response speed, 69 participants were invited to participate in the experiment conducted in an environmentally controlled chamber. Participants were exposed alone in three separate sessions, each lasting one hour, with a fixed ventilation rate, temperature and relative humidity level and the CO2 levels fixed at 600ppm, 1500ppm and 2100ppm, respectively. A validated neurobehavioral test battery, the Behavioural Assessment and Research System (BARS) was used to assess participants' cognitive performance, and response times were collected. Response speed was assessed in ten different tests. After adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender, and education), results showed no significant differences in eight out of the ten neurobehavioral tests. For the Selective Attention test, participants responded faster (lower response time) under CO2 levels of 2100ppm compared to 600ppm (adj.β-coef. -17.57, 95% CI (-29.45, -5.68), p-value=0.004). For the Progressive Ratio Test, participants' response times significantly decreased with CO2 levels increased. Results indicate no statistical link between CO2 levels and response speed, with only two out of ten comparisons being significant

Bodyspace at the pub: sexual orientations and organizational space

In this article we argue that sexuality is not only an undercurrent of service environments, but is integral to the way that these workspaces are experienced and negotiated. Through drawing on Sara Ahmed’s (2006a) ‘orientation’ thesis, we develop a concept of ‘bodyspace’ to suggest that individuals understand, shape and make meaning of work spaces through complex sexually-orientated negotiations. Presenting analysis from a study of UK pubs, we explore bodyspace in the lived experience of workplace sexuality through three elements of orientation: background; bodily dwelling; and lines of directionality. Our findings show how organizational spaces afford or mitigate possibilities for particular bodies, which simultaneously shape expectations and experiences of sexuality at work. Bodyspace therefore provides one way of exposing the connection between sexual ‘orientation’ and the lived experience of service sector work

Novel Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia Polymeric Precursor for the Fabrication of Thin Films

An acetate-based polymeric precursor for producing yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) was developed. The precursor was prepared under ambient conditions and contains only yttrium and zirconium cations. Dense, crack-free films were fabricated with this precursor on alumina substrates at a rate of 60 nm per deposition, producing polycrystalline YSZ at temperatures as low as 600 °C. Grain growth in thin YSZ films followed Arrhenius equation with an activation energy approximately 0.45 eV. The residual strain in YSZ films decreased with increasing annealing temperature from 600 to 900 °C

Exploration of Power-Performance Tradeoffs through Parameterization of FPGA-based Multiprocessor Systems

The design space of FPGA-based processor systems is huge, because many parameters can be modified at design- and runtime to achieve an efficient system solution in terms of performance, power and energy consumption. Such parameters are, for example, the number of processors and their configurations, the clock frequencies at design time, the use of dynamic frequency scaling at runtime, the application task distribution, and the FPGA type and size. The major contribution of this paper is the exploration of all these parameters and their impact on performance, power dissipation, and energy consumption for four different application scenarios. The goal is to introduce a first approach for a developer’s guideline, supporting the choice of an optimized and specific system parameterization for a target application on FPGA-based multiprocessor systems-on-chip. The FPGAs used for these explorations were Xilinx Virtex-4 and Xilinx Virtex-5. The performance results were measured on the FPGA while the power consumption was estimated using the Xilinx XPower Analyzer tool. Finally, a novel runtime adaptive multiprocessor architecture for dynamic clock frequency scaling is introduced and used for the performance, power and energy consumption evaluations

Numerical evolution of Brill waves

We report a numerical evolution of axisymmetric Brill waves. The numerical algorithm has new features, including (i) a method for keeping the metric regular on the axis and (ii) the use of coordinates that bring spatial infinity to the edge of the computational grid. The dependence of the evolved metric on both the amplitude and shape of the initial data is found.Comment: added more discussion of results and several reference