The great transformation: decarbonising Europeâ??s energy and transport systems

The euro-area crisis dominates the economic news. Yet, the world and Europe may face even more important challenges that will shape our lives and the lives of our children.World population is projected to increase to 9 billion or more by 2050. At the same time, current trends indicate an increase in living standards and a growing middle class around the world. These two mega-trends will have profound implications, and the way they are managed will be one of the key determinants of prosperity and peace in the decades or even centuries to come. A number of factors are important in this respect. More people and more income will increase the global demand for energy. Choosing the right sources of this energy will be one of the determining factors of global temperature. The continued reliance on fossil-fuel energy sources is one of the main factors behind the risk of significant global temperature increases. The internationally agreed goal of limiting the temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels appears increasingly illusory. Currently, fossil energy sources dominate many economic areas. For instance, our transport infrastructure is largely based on fossil fuels, and is thereby one of the main contributor of the carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to global temperature. Thinking about a decarbonisation strategy is therefore a key challenge with a global dimension. Economic growth in Europe will be affected by the costs of this transition from the current energy and transport system. A smooth transition towards a low-carbon energy and transport system could come at comparatively modest cost. Furthermore, identifying the most economically beneficial solutions early on and becoming a global technology leader and standard setter offers vast opportunities for exports and economic growth. Hence, our decarbonisation strategy may eventually have a greater impact on long-term European growth than the current economic crisis. Bruegel is contributing to this debate with this report, which is based on research that received funding from the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The authors argue carefully that to make decarbonisation growth friendly, a consistent policy approach is needed. Policy intervention appears indispensable as the energy and transport system is so based around and locked-in into an incumbent technology. Overcoming this lock-in is crucial. The report makes three main proposals. First, the scope, geographical coverage and duration of carbon pricing should be extended. By setting a higher carbon price, incentives for developing and investing in new low-carbon technologies are created. Second, temporary consortia for new infrastructure to solve early-phase market failures could be put in place. This is discussed using the example of hydrogen vehicles. Lastly and importantly, an open and public transition model is needed so that second-best transport solutions do not get a head start that afterwardscannot be reversed. The technological, economic and political challenge ahead is vast. But choosing the right decarbonisaton strategy offers huge economic, environmental and societal benefits. We should not overlook this debate because of the euro crisis.

The great transformation: decarbonising Europe’s energy and transport systems. Bruegel Blueprint 16, February 2012

Foreword. The euro-area crisis dominates the economic news. Yet, the world and Europe may face even more important challenges that will shape our lives and the lives of our children.World population is projected to increase to 9 billion or more by 2050. At the same time, current trends indicate an increase in living standards and a growing middle class around the world. These two mega-trends will have profound implications, and the way they are managed will be one of the key determinants of prosperity and peace in the decades or even centuries to come. A number of factors are important in this respect. More people and more income will increase the global demand for energy. Choosing the right sources of this energy will be one of the determining factors of global temperature. The continued reliance on fossil-fuel energy sources is one of the main factors behind the risk of significant global temperature increases. The internationally agreed goal of limiting the temperature rise to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels appears increasingly illusory. Currently, fossil energy sources dominate many economic areas. For instance, our transport infrastructure is largely based on fossil fuels, and is thereby one of the main contributor of the carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to global temperature. Thinking about a decarbonisation strategy is therefore a key challenge with a global dimension. Economic growth in Europe will be affected by the costs of this transition from the current energy and transport system. A smooth transition towards a low-carbon energy and transport system could come at comparatively modest cost. Furthermore, identifying the most economically beneficial solutions early on and becoming a global technology leader and standard setter offers vast opportunities for exports and economic growth. Hence, our decarbonisation strategy may eventually have a greater impact on long-term European growth than the current economic crisis. Bruegel is contributing to this debate with this report, which is based on research that received funding from the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The authors argue carefully that to make decarbonisation growth friendly, a consistent policy approach is needed. Policy intervention appears indispensable as the energy and transport system is so based around and locked-in into an incumbent technology. Overcoming this lock-in is crucial. The report makes three main proposals. First, the scope, geographical coverage and duration of carbon pricing should be extended. By setting a higher carbon price, incentives for developing and investing in new low-carbon technologies are created. Second, temporary consortia for new infrastructure to solve early-phase market failures could be put in place. This is discussed using the example of hydrogen vehicles. Lastly and importantly, an open and public transition model is needed so that second-best transport solutions do not get a head start that afterwards cannot be reversed. The technological, economic and political challenge ahead is vast. But choosing the right decarbonisaton strategy offers huge economic, environmental and societal benefits. We should not overlook this debate because of the euro crisis

MICROSCOPIC MULTICHANNEL SPECTROMETER FOR LIGHT ABSORPTION MEASUREMENTS OF PIGMENTS INSIDE OF MAMMALIAN CELLS

During the evolution process most cells have learned to use oxygen for establishing higher functional regulations. For this purpose different proteins have been developed which are able to react with oxygen; as for instance hemoglobin and myoglobin for oxygen transport and storage or cytochromes, which act in the respiratory chain as electron carriers to reduce oxygen to water for generating energy. Also other proteins are known, like oxidases, which are involved in the reduction of oxygen. The question was therefore addressed, whether monitoring of the activity of these proteins in dependence on the oxygen partial pressure can be used to construct a biosensor for oxygen

A novel pressure-jump apparatus for the microvolume analysis of protein-ligand and protein-protein interactions: its application to nucleotide binding to skeletal-muscle and smooth-muscle myosin subfragment-1

Reactions involving proteins frequently involve large changes in volume, which allows the equilibrium position to be perturbed by changes in pressure. Rapid changes in pressure can thus be used to initiate relaxation in pressure; however, this approach is seldom used, because it requires specialized equipment. We have built a microvolume (50 microl) pressure-jump apparatus, powered by a piezoelectric actuator, based on the original design of Clegg and Maxfield [(1976) Rev. Sci. Instrum. 47, 1383-1393]. This equipment can apply pressure changes of +/-20 MPa (maximally) in time periods as short as 80 micros and follow the resulting change in fluorescence signals. The system is relatively simple to use with fast (approx. 1 min) exchange of samples. In the present study, we show that this system can perturb the binding of 2'(3')-O-(N-methylanthraniloyl)-ADP to myosin subfragment-1(S1) from skeletal and smooth muscles. The kinetic data are consistent with previous work, and in addition show that, although 2'(3')-O-(N-methylanthraniloyl)-ADP binds with a similar affinity to both proteins, the increase in molar volume for the skeletal-muscle S1 binding to ADP is half of that for the smooth-muscle protein. This high-volume change for smooth-muscle S1 may be related to the ability of ADP to induce a 23 degrees tilt in the tail of S1 bound to actin