Policy Labels and Investment Decision-making

Much attention in recent years has turned to the potential of behavioural insights to improve the performance of government policy. One behavioural concept of interest is the effect of a cash transfer label on how the transfer is spent. The Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) is a labelled cash transfer to offset the costs of keeping older households warm in the winter. Previous research has shown that households spend a higher proportion of the WFP on energy expenditures due to its label (Beatty et al., 2011). If households interpret the WFP as money for their energy bills, it may reduce their willingness to undertake investments which help achieving the same goal, such as the adoption of renewable energy technologies. In this paper we show that the WFP has distortionary effects on the renewable technology market. Using the sharp eligibility criteria of the WFP in a Regression Discontinuity Design, this analysis finds a reduction in the propensity to install renewable energy technologies of around 2.7 percentage points due to the WFP. This is a considerable number. It implies that 62% of households (whose oldest member turns 60) would have invested in renewable energy but refrain to do so after receiving the WFP. This analysis suggests that the labelling effect spreads to products related to the labelled good. In this case, households use too much energy from sources which generate pollution and too little from relatively cleaner technologies

Green Hypocrisy?: Environmental Attitudes and Residential Space Heating Expenditure

In the UK, the largest proportion of household energy use is for space heating. Popular media make claims of a green hypocrisy: groups which have the strongest attitude towards the environment have the highest emissions. This study examines whether environmental attitudes and behaviours are associated with space heating energy use using data from the British Household Panel Survey. Results find that environmentally friendly attitudes generally do not lead to lower heating expenditures though environmentally friendly behaviours are associated with lower heating expenditure. Also, the effect of these attitudes and behaviours do not change as income increase

Proof of concept that requiring energy labels for dwellings can induce retrofitting

How to induce households to install energy efficient technology remains a puzzle. Could an energy labeling requirement for residential real estate help? We propose that the salient color-letter grades on the English Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) served as targets, motivating vendors to invest in energy efficiency. To test our hypothesis we look to a random sample of over 16,000 homes in England. In the post-EPC data we find a cluster of homes with energy efficiency scores just above the D-grade threshold. This cluster was not present prior to the requirement, replicates in an independently-drawn random sample and is significantly larger amongst properties that can be identified as treated by the EPC requirement. We conclude that the EPC requirement induced investment, and hence that energy efficiency labels have potential to green the housing stock. We infer from our analysis how the design of the EPC could be altered to motivate greater investment in energy efficiency

Cleaner Nudges? Policy Labels and Investment Decision-making

Recent evidence suggests that labeling of unconditional cash transfers leads recipients to spend more on the labeled good. In this paper we show that the Winter Fuel Payment, an unconditional cash transfer, has distortionary effects on the market for goods related to the labeled product, renewable technologies. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design this analysis finds a robust reduction in the probability to install renewable energy technologies of 1.2 percentage points. Falsification tests support the labeling hypothesis. As a result, households use too much energy from sources which generate pollution and too little from relatively cleaner technologies

Methods for determination of individual PEEP for intraoperative mechanical ventilation using a decremental PEEP trial

(1) Background: Individual PEEP settings (PEEP(IND)) may improve intraoperative oxygenation and optimize lung mechanics. However, there is uncertainty concerning the optimal procedure to determine PEEP(IND). In this secondary analysis of a randomized controlled clinical trial, we compared different methods for PEEP(IND) determination. (2) Methods: Offline analysis of decremental PEEP trials was performed and PEEP(IND) was retrospectively determined according to five different methods (EIT-based: RVD(I) method, Global Inhomogeneity Index [GI], distribution of tidal ventilation [EIT VT]; global dynamic and quasi-static compliance). (3) Results: In the 45 obese and non-obese patients included, PEEP(IND) using the RVD(I) method (PEEP(RVD)) was 16.3 ± 4.5 cm H(2)O. Determination of PEEP(IND) using the GI and EIT VT resulted in a mean difference of −2.4 cm H(2)O (95%CI: −1.2;−3.6 cm H(2)O, p = 0.01) and −2.3 cm H(2)O (95% CI: −0.9;3.7 cm H(2)O, p = 0.01) to PEEP(RVD), respectively. PEEP(IND) selection according to quasi-static compliance showed the highest agreement with PEEP(RVD) (p = 0.67), with deviations > 4 cm H(2)O in 3/42 patients. PEEP(RVD) and PEEP(IND) according to dynamic compliance also showed a high level of agreement, with deviations > 4 cm H(2)O in 5/42 patients (p = 0.57). (4) Conclusions: High agreement of PEEP(IND) determined by the RVD(I) method and compliance-based methods suggests that, for routine clinical practice, PEEP selection based on best quasi-static or dynamic compliance is favorable

Two single-headed myosin V motors bound to a tetrameric adapter protein form a processive complex

The yeast class V myosin Myo4p moves processively in vivo in a cargo-dependent manner following formation of a double-headed complex with the adapter protein She3p and the mRNA-binding protein She2p

Green hypocrisy?: Environmental attitudes and residential space heating expenditure

Popular media make claims of a green hypocrisy: groups, which have the strongest attitude towards the environment, also have the highest emissions. This study examines whether environmental behaviours, beliefs and attitudes are associated with space heating energy use in the UK in order to test for evidence of a green hypocrisy. In the UK, the largest proportion of household energy use is for space heating. We find that environmental behaviours are negatively correlated with heating expenditures, while environmentally friendly attitudes and perceptions are not associated with lower heating expenditure. Further, the effect of these attitudes and behaviours does not change as income increase. There seems to be little evidence of a green hypocrisy amongst the UK public with respect to space heating

Agent-enabled model integration in a knowledge-based environment

The field of fire protection engineering is characterized by the cooperation of experts and by the distribution of knowledge resources. The availability of relevant knowledge in all states of the planning process is the basis for a high product quality and for optimal conditions for the rescue of persons. Hence, this project aims to create a knowledge based planning environment that offers multiple services for decision support in fire protection engineering. Therefore, structured information resources (such as model and product databases) and unstructured information (such as legal guidelines and other document-based information) have to be identified and integrated. This paper focuses on the integration of distributed partial building models in a network-based planning environment. The implementation of this integration as an agent-based component and its role in the knowledge-based planning environment are presented. Different distributed design models are integrated on the basis of mobile agents. The concept of an agent-based integration of information resources is demonstrated via the implementation of a knowledge based service that checks the distributed models for compliance with fire protection requirements