486 research outputs found
Transmission needs across a fully renewable European power system
The residual load and excess power generation of 27 European countries with a
100% penetration of variable renewable energy sources are explored in order to
quantify the benefit of power transmission between countries. Estimates are
based on extensive weather data, which allows for modelling of hourly
mismatches between the demand and renewable generation from wind and solar
photovoltaics. For separated countries, balancing is required to cover around
24% of the total annual energy consumption. This number can be reduced down to
15% once all countries are networked together with uncon- strained
interconnectors. The reduction represents the maximum possible benefit of
transmission for the countries. The total Net Transfer Capacity of the
unconstrained interconnectors is roughly twelve times larger than current
values. However, constrained interconnector capacities six times larger than
the current values are found to provide 97% of the maximum possible benefit of
cooperation. This motivates a detailed investigation of several constrained
transmission capacity layouts to determine the export and import capabilities
of countries participating in a fully renewable European electricity system
The social and economic determinants of suicide in Canadian provinces
Background: In this paper we investigate the causal relationship between suicide and a variety of socioeconomic variables. We use a panel data set of Canadian provinces, 2000 - 2008, and a set of recent panel econometric techniques in order to account for a variety of statistical specification issues. Results: We find that the social and economic determinants of suicide in Canadian provinces vary across total, male, and female counts (natural logarithms) and rates. We also find that the results vary depending on the econometric method employed. As such, separate analyses for males and females is necessary for a better understanding of the factors that impact suicide (consistent with previous research) and that the choice of statistical method impacts the results. Lastly, it is important to note the particular provinces are driving the results for particular socioeconomic variables. Conclusions: Such a result, if generalizable, has significant implications for suicide prevention policy
Renewable build-up pathways for the US: Generation costs are not system costs
The transition to a future electricity system based primarily on wind and
solar PV is examined for all regions in the contiguous US. We present optimized
pathways for the build-up of wind and solar power for least backup energy needs
as well as for least cost obtained with a simplified, lightweight model based
on long-term high resolution weather-determined generation data. In the absence
of storage, the pathway which achieves the best match of generation and load,
thus resulting in the least backup energy requirements, generally favors a
combination of both technologies, with a wind/solar PV energy mix of about
80/20 in a fully renewable scenario. The least cost development is seen to
start with 100% of the technology with the lowest average generation costs
first, but with increasing renewable installations, economically unfavorable
excess generation pushes it toward the minimal backup pathway. Surplus
generation and the entailed costs can be reduced significantly by combining
wind and solar power, and/or absorbing excess generation, for example with
storage or transmission, or by coupling the electricity system to other energy
sectors.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
A Cost-Benefit/Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Proposed Supervised Injection Facilities in Ottawa, Canada
Background
Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are venues where people who inject drugs (PWID) have access to a clean and medically supervised environment in which they can safely inject their own illicit drugs. There is currently only one legal SIF in North America: Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The responses and feedback generated by the evaluations of Insite in Vancouver have been overwhelmingly positive. This study assesses whether the above mentioned facility in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver needs to be expanded to other locations, more specifically that of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa.
Methods
The current study is aimed at contributing to the existing literature on health policy by conducting cost-benefit and cost-effective analyses for the opening of SIFs in Ottawa, Ontario. In particular, the costs of operating numerous SIFs in Ottawa was compared to the savings incurred; this was done after accounting for the prevention of new HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections. To ensure accuracy, two distinct mathematical models and a sensitivity analysis were employed.
Results
The sensitivity analyses conducted with the models reveals the potential for SIFs in Ottawa to be a fiscally responsible harm reduction strategy for the prevention of HCV cases – when considered independently. With a baseline sharing rate of 19%, the cumulative annual cost model supported the establishment of two SIFs and the marginal annual cost model supported the establishment of a single SIF. More often, the prevention of HIV or HCV alone were not sufficient to justify the establishment cost-effectiveness; rather, only when both HIV and HCV are considered does sufficient economic support became apparent.
Conclusions
Funded supervised injection facilities in Ottawa appear to be an efficient and effective use of financial resources in the public health domain
An Evaluation of Bylaw and Policy Changes on Pharmacy Robberies in British Columbia
On 15 September 2015, the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia (BC) implemented a set of by-law and security policy changes in an effort to reduce robberies and burglaries in BC pharmacies. Prior to these by-law and security policy changes, pharmacy robberies were increasing in BC for approximately 5 years. After implementation, pharmacy robberies decreased significantly. In this paper, we evaluate the potential impact of the by-law and security policy changes on pharmacy robberies in four regions within BC. We find strong evidence supporting that the reduction in pharmacy robberies is a result of this by-law and accompanying security policy changes. Specifically, there was an immediate and substantial drop in pharmacy robberies within Vancouver, with a change in trend (now decreasing instead of increasing) for the Interior and Lower Mainland less Vancouver. These results should be considered support for maintaining these by-laws and security policy changes in BC and potential implementation in other areas of Canada experiencing similar issues
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