Economic and CO2 mitigation impacts of promoting biomass heating systems: an input-output study for Vorarlberg, Austria

This paper reports on an empirical investigation about the economic and CO2 mitigation impacts of bioenergy promotion in the Austrian federal province of Vorarlberg. We study domestic value added, employment and fiscal effects by means of a static input-output analysis. The bioenergy systems analysed comprise biomass district heating, pellet heating, automated wood chips heating systems, logwood stoves and boilers, ceramic stoves, and buffer storage facilities. The results indicate that gross economic effects are significant, both regarding investment and operation of the systems, and that the negative economic effects caused by the displacement of decentralised systems might be in the order of 20--40%. Finally, CO2 mitigation effects are substantial, contributing already in 2004 around 35% of the 2010 CO2 mitigation target of the Land Vorarlberg for all renewables set for 2010.Input-output analysis, Value added, Employment, Bioenergy

Exploring Experience Curves for the Building Envelope: An Investigation for Switzerland for 1970–2020

Energy efficiency potentials slumbering in the envelopes of existing and newly constructed buildings are significant and still largely untapped. Increasing concerns of policy-makers about non-sustainable energy use and its implications especially on climate change currently spur a growing interest in research in this area. The aim of this paper is to fill part of the existing knowledge gap by focusing on experience curve aspects of energy efficiency measures that concern state-of-the-art insulation methods, materials, and windows, and by studying the usefulness of such experience curves for the building envelope for energy policy design and evaluation. The analysis draws on a recent investigation of the situation in Switzerland (Jakob et al. 2002), but also contains a wider perspective especially regarding some more global technological trends and the market diffusion of innovative energy conservation technologies for the building envelope, policy designs, and policy programmes. The results derived from historical data analysis point to significant techno-economic progress over the last 30 years, and demonstrate the basic applicability, merits and limitations of the experience curve concept for energy policy design and impact analyses concerning the building envelope. We conclude from our analysis that building standards and labels can be important drivers for technoeconomic progress, apart from the energy conservation potentials offered, and that experience curves can be a useful tool for targeted and effective policy measures and for the promotion of labels and standards.Experience curve, building envelope, energy efficiency, policy design, energy paradox

Further Baire results on the distribution of subsequences

This paper presents results about the distribution of subsequences which are typical in the sense of Baire. The first part is concerned with sequences of the type x_k = n_k*alpha, n_1 < n_2 < n_3 < ..., mod 1. Improving a result of Salat we show that, if the quotients q_k = n_{k+1}/n_k satisfy q_k > 1+ epsilon, then the set of alpha such that (x_k) is uniformly distributed is of first Baire category, i.e. for generic alpha we do not have uniform distribution. Under the stronger assumption lim q_k = infinity one even has maldistribution for generic alpha, the strongest possible contrast to uniform distribution. The second part reverses the point of view by considering appropriately defined Baire spaces S of subsequences. For a fixed well distributed sequence (x_n) we show that there is a set M of measures such that for generic (n_k) in S the set of limit measures of the subsequence (x_{n_k}) is exactly M.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX2e. Final version. (Somewhat expanded proofs and clarifications, more examples

Blowing the Whistle

Leniency clauses, offering cartelists legal immunity if they blow the whistle on each other, is a recent anti-trust innovation. The authorities wish to thwart cartels and promote competition. This effect is not evident, however; whistle-blowing may enforce trust and collusion by providing a tool for cartelists to punish each other. We examine the impact of leniency law, and other rules, theoretically and experimentally.Anti-trust, leniency, immunity, amnesty, blow the whistle, cartels,price competition, Bertrand model, experiment, communication

Fluid Vesicles in Shear Flow

The shape dynamics of fluid vesicles is governed by the coupling of the flow within the two-dimensional membrane to the hydrodynamics of the surrounding bulk fluid. We present a numerical scheme which is capable of solving this flow problem for arbitrarily shaped vesicles using the Oseen tensor formalism. For the particular problem of simple shear flow, stationary shapes are found for a large range of parameters. The dependence of the orientation of the vesicle and the membrane velocity on shear rate and vesicle volume can be understood from a simplified model.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX2e, psfig, 5 eps figures included, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., 199

Entanglement generation in a system of two atomic quantum dots coupled to a pool of interacting bosons

We discuss entanglement generation in a closed system of one or two atomic quantum dots (qubits) coupled via Raman transitions to a pool of cold interacting bosons. The system exhibits rich entanglement dynamics, which we analyze in detail in an exact quantum mechanical treatment of the problem. The bipartite setup of only one atomic quantum dot coupled to a pool of bosons turns out to be equivalent to two qubits which easily get entangled being initially in a product state. We show that both the number of bosons in the pool and the boson-boson interaction crucially affect the entanglement characteristics of the system. The tripartite system of two atomic quantum dots and a pool of bosons reduces to a qubit-qutrit-qubit realization. We consider entanglement possibilities of the pure system as well as of reduced ones by tracing out one of the constituents, and show how the entanglement can be controlled by varying system parameters. We demonstrate that the qutrit, as expected, plays a leading role in entangling of the two qubits and the maximum entanglement depends in a nontrivial way on the pool characteristics.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Infrared Saturation and Phases of Gauge Theories with BRST Symmetry

We investigate the infrared limit of the quantum equation of motion of the gauge boson propagator in various gauges and models with a BRST symmetry. We find that the saturation of this equation at low momenta distinguishes between the Coulomb, Higgs and confining phase of the gauge theory. The Coulomb phase is characterized by a massless gauge boson. Physical states contribute to the saturation of the transverse equation of motion of the gauge boson at low momenta in the Higgs phase, while the saturation is entirely due to unphysical degrees of freedom in the confining phase. This corollary to the Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion in linear covariant gauges also is sufficient for confinement in general covariant gauges with BRST- and anti-BRST symmetry, maximal Abelian gauges with an equivariant BRST symmetry, non-covariant Coulomb gauge and in the Gribov-Zwanziger theory.Comment: 19 pages; v2: abstract rewritten, a few comments and references added; v3: title changed, major revision of the Introduction and some further minor revisions; version agrees with the one to be published in Eur. Phys. J.