Environmental impact of consumption by Czech households: hybrid input–output analysis linked to household consumption data

We quantify direct and indirect emissions resulting from Czech household consumption contributing to climate change, acidification and smog formation. We develop a hybrid environmentally extended input-output model that links the single-region input-output analysis on domestic processes with a multiregional input-output analysis to derive the indirect emissions associated with imports and part of the domestic production. We apply Almon’s algorithm to transform the domestic emissions from industries to product groups. The indirect and direct emission intensities of more than hundred consumption items are then linked to expenditures of almost 3000 individual households to compute the total emissions for each household. We find that emissions attributable to households are not distributed evenly – while the first expenditure decile of households is responsible for less than 4% of all emissions, the tenth decile is responsible for 20-24%. Consumption of services and goods are least emission intensive, while use of electricity, heating, and transportation remain responsible for major part of emissions. The most important factor of emissions attributable to household consumption is total expenditures; the expenditure elasticity of emissions is about 0.8, but we identify consumption groups which emissions are less sensitive to total expenditures (electricity, heating and food) and more sensitive (transportation, goods)

Metodika hodnocení socioekonomických dopadů energetické transformace

Transformace na nízkouhlíkovou ekonomiku vyžaduje rozsáhlé technologické a infrastrukturní změny v řadě odvětví a neobejde se bez řady souvisejících sociálních, politických a institucionálních dopadů. Energetický sektor patří mezi největší emitenty emisí skleníkových plynů a jeho dekarbonizace tak představuje jednu z největších výzev s významnými dopady na chod ekonomiky. Metodika si klade za cíl sloužit jako průvodce při modelování dopadů nízkouhlíkové transformace v oblasti energetiky na (1) strukturu zaměstnanosti, resp. poptávku po pracovní síle, na (2) hrubou přidanou hodnotu (HPH) včetně rozlišení jednotlivých složek HPH a na (3) na hrubý domácí produkt (HDP).The transformation to a post-carbon economy requires extensive technological and infrastructural changes in many industries and will have a number of related social, political and institutional impacts. The energy industry is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases and its decarbonisation therefore represents one of the biggest challenges with significant implications for the economy. The methodology aims to serve as a guide for modelling the impacts of the post-carbon transformation in the energy sector regarding (1) the structure of employment (labor demand), (2) gross value added (GVA), including the differentiation of individual components of GVA, and (3) gross domestic product (GDP)

Quantifying the Ancillary Benefits of the Representative Concentration Pathways on Air Quality in Europe

This paper presents estimates of the economic benefit of air quality improvements in Europe that occur as a side effect of GHG emission reductions. We consider three climate policy scenarios that reach radiative forcing levels in 2100 of three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). These targets are achieved by introducing a global uniform tax on all GHG emissions in the Integrated Assessment Model WITCH, assuming both full as well as limited technological flexibility. The resulting consumption patterns of fossil fuels are used to estimate the physical impacts and the economic benefits of pollution reductions on human health and on key assets by implementing the most advanced version of the ExternE methodology with its Impact Pathway Analysis. We find that the mitigation scenario compatible with +2°C reduces total pollution costs in Europe by 76%. Discounted ancillary benefits are more than €2.5 trillion between 2015 and 2100. The monetary value of reduced pollution is equal to €22 per abated ton of CO2 in Europe. Less strict climate policy scenarios generate overall smaller, but still considerable, local benefits (14 € or 18 € per abated ton of CO2). Without discounting, the ancillary benefits are in a range of €36 to €50 per ton of CO2 abated. Cumulative ancillary benefits exceed the cumulative additional cost of electricity generation in Europe. Each European country alone would be better off if the mitigation policy was implemented, although the local benefits in absolute terms vary significantly across the countries. We can identify the relative losers and winners of ancillary benefits in Europe. In particular, we find that large European countries contribute to as much as they benefit from ancillary benefits. The scenarios with limited technology flexibility do deliver results that are similar to the full technology flexibility scenario

Diagnostika stavu záznamové vrstvy optických paměťových médií DVD pomocí mikroskopu LEXT

Optická záznamová média lze pokládat v současnosti za nejrozšířenější přenosné medium pro ukládání dat, a to i přesto, že se již začínají na trhu objevovat nová média využívající technologii Blue Ray. Nejasnosti jsou ale v tom, po jaké době bude možné datový záznam uložený na tomto optickém médiu ještě přečíst. Příspěvek je věnován formám degradace tohoto media a možnostem diagnostiky stavu záznamové vrstvy DVD pomocí konfokálního laserového mikroskopu LEXT firmy Olympus