Dynamic Standard Setting for Carbon Dioxide

Under the assumption that a continuous increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide beyond a critical value, caused by the combustion of fossil fuel, will lead to irreversible and large changes of the climate of the earth, the problem of limiting CO2 emission becomes an urgent concern. The subject of how to determine and adapt an emission standard for carbon dioxide is treated as a three-person infinite stage game, the players of which are the decision units of regulators, producers, and population. After the description of the model solutions are derived for several solution concepts and discussed. In special cases the solutions differ substantially from each other

A Dynamic Model for Setting Railway Noise Standards

This paper describes the application of a multistage game theoretical model to setting noise standards which is illustrated by the case of trains. The problem was structured to match the decision problem which the Environment Agency faced when setting standards for Shinkansen trains. The model considers three players: the regulator (environment agency), the producer (railway corporation), and the impactees (residents along the railway line who suffer from noise). The game has seven stages characterized by the actions of the impactees ranging from petitions to legal litigation. The final stages are the outcomes of a possible lawsuit. The case is either won by the producer or the impactees, or a compromise is reached. Transition probabilities between stages are considered parameters of the game. They depend mainly on the noise level the impactees consider acceptable, the standard set by the regulator, and the actual level of noise emitted. Only the regulator and the producer are active players in the sense that they have a set of choices characterized as standard levels (regulator) and noise protection measures (producer). The impactees are modeled as a response function. Several solutions according to a hierarchical solution concept of the game are derived. In particular, conditions are given under which the regulator or the producer would prefer a compromise solution to awaiting the outcome of the court case. These conditions can be expressed directly as functions of noise levels and transition probabilities, given some simple assumptions about the shape of the utility functions of the regulator and the producer

A Game Theoretic Framework for Dynamic Standard Setting Procedures

This paper presents a game-theoretic approach to modeling environmental standard setting procedures under specific consideration of the dynamic conflict situation in environmental decisions. Three idealized decision units are considered, the regulator, producer and impactee units: the regulator has to fix the standard. This standard causes a financial burden to the producer, who releases pollutants to the environment. By means of the standard the impactee has to be protected against this pollution. The starting point is a multistage model for a non-cooperative three person game. After the description of this model the range of its application is indicated by the cases of North Sea oil, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and noise. Since any game-theoretic analysis includes the choice of a solution concept, a class of concepts is discussed. The last part of the paper contains a brief survey of the results of two multistage cases where the relevance of the solution concepts is demonstrated

Procedures for the Establishment of Standards. Final Report. Vol.2

This final report summarizes two years of research on analyzing procedures for the establishment of standards. The research was sponsored by the Volkswagenwerk Foundation and jointly carried out at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis at Laxenburg and the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The final report is meant to be both a problem-oriented review of related work in the area of environmental standard setting and an executive summary of the main research done during the contract period. The following eleven technical papers (Volume II of the Final Report) are reference reports written to accompany Volume I. They describe the studies and findings performed under the contract in more detail, and they have been either published as IIASA Research Memoranda or as outside publications, or were especially written for this report. These technical reports are structured in four parts: (1) policy analyses of standard setting procedures; (2) decision and game theoretic models for standard setting; (3) applications of decision game theoretic models to specific standard setting problems; and (4) biological basis for standard setting

Zur Einbettung der Energiewirtschaft in die Volkswirtschaft Vier dynamische Modelle

SIGLEDEGerman

EERI: Lugu, Taiwan September 18, 2022, Mw 6.9 Earthquake Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR)

On September 18th, 2022, at 2:44 pm local time, a moment magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 42.7 km north of Taitung City, Taiwan. The epicentral coordinates reported by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Taiwanese Central Weather Bureau Seismological Center were 23.159°N 121.316°E and 23.14°N 121.20°E, respectively. The USGS reported a hypocenter depth of 10.0 km, whereas the Central Weather Bureau Seismological Center reported a depth of 7.0 km. The earthquake was preceded by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in the same area 17 hours earlier. There have been several earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 and larger in the sequence. This earthquake caused some geotechnical failures and damage to infrastructure, mainly bridges, railroads, and highways. Damage to buildings was observed, but it was primarily concentrated on older non-ductile structures and non-structural component damage. At least one building collapsed and hundreds more had some damage. The earthquake resulted in at least one death and 171 earthquake related injuries. The earthquake highlighted the vulnerabilities of older non-ductile concrete buildings in seismic regions, concrete bridges, and non-structural building components during an earthquake. This event also highlighted the importance of an earthquake early warning system. The purpose of this Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report (PVRR) is to provide a summary of the characteristics of the event, the seismicity of the impacted region, and an overview of the main effects of the earthquake as collected from publicly available information