MagnetGrid : Model description and user guide

MagnetGrid is een modulair economisch landgebruiksmodel dat ruimtelijk expliciete biofysische informatie combineert met macro-economische projecties. MagnetGrid visualiseert toekomstige agrarisch landgebruikspatronen gedreven door een combinatie van klimatologische en socioeconomische ontwikkelingen. Het model kwantificeert de impact van deze trends en de mogelijke uitruil tussen verschillende doelstellingen. De ruimtelijk expliciete analyses van MagnetGrid kunnen voor een breed publiek toegankelijk gemaakt worden door kaarten die veranderingen in landgebruik laten zien op wereld-, regio-, land- en lokaal niveau

Expert Views on the Future Development of Biogas Business Branch in Germany, The Netherlands, and Finland until 2030

To be able to meet the European Union’s energy and climate targets for 2030, all member states need to rethink their energy production and use. One potential renewable energy source is biogas. Its role has been relatively small compared to other energy sources, but it could have a more central role to solve some specific challenges, e.g., to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from traffic, or to act as a buffer to balance electricity production with consumption. This research analyses how the future of the biogas business in three case study countries is developing until 2030. The study is based on experts’ views within the biogas business branch in Germany, The Netherlands, and Finland. Both similarities and differences were found among the experts’ answers, which reflected also the current policies in different countries. The role of biogas was seen much wider than just to provide renewable energy, but also to decrease emissions from agriculture and close loops in a circular economy. However, the future of the biogas branch is much dependent on political decisions. To be able to show the full potential of biogas technology for society, stable and predictable energy policy and cross-sector co-operation are needed

How do trust, social norms and risk attitudes influence sustained adoption of interventions to reduce post-harvest losses?: application of an Agent-Based Model to the tomato value chain in Nigeria

Transporting fresh tomatoes from farmer to retailer in Nigeria in plastic crates instead of raffia baskets can substantially decrease post-harvest losses both in quantity and in quality. We apply the Value Chain Laboratory (VC-Lab) method to analyse the importance for the long-term acceptance of these plastic crates of trust in other chain actors, risk attitudes and social norms of chain actors, a price bonus for transporting tomatoes in crates, the costs and lifespan of crates, and who should invest in crates. The price a farmer receives from a wholesaler, risk attitudes of the actors, and social norms were the most important drivers for the long-term use of crates

Transition support system approach for urban food security in the future : The case of Ghana

The population of the world is becoming increasingly urbanised due to a combination of natural population growth and rural–urban migration. This will pose major challenges to feed the future population and meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Meeting these complex challenges requires an integrated approach. The transition support system (TSS) approach integrates decision support tools and stakeholder analyses for these complex issues. This study has focused attention on the application of decision support tools of the TSS approach that visualises the urgency of future food security as a proof of concept. To this end, the future food security of the city of Accra, the capital of Ghana, has been taken as a case study. The use of Global-Detector and its maps illustrated a quick way to downscale data and projections from MAGNET (Modular Applied GeNeral Equilibrium Tool) and perform spatial analyses without the burden of acquiring additional data. Downscaling of macroeconomic results of future projections provides insights into future urban food security. Giventhese insights, stakeholders might urge policy or interventions. The results of the exercise are largely determined by the availability of data and maps; in particular, the more detailed information is available, the more accurate the results of our exercise will be

Agricultural GHG emissions in the EU: an exploratory economic assessment of mitigation policy options

The main objective of this report is to assess the GHG emission reduction potential of a selected number of policy options and to quantify related production and economic impacts for the agricultural sector in the EU. Therefore the possible future evolution of agricultural GHG emissions in the EU are assessed through the simulation of scenarios including expected macro- and micro-economic changes. The proposed mitigation policy scenarios are all exploratory, i.e. it is intended to explore what could happen if policies would be implemented that explicitly force farmers in the EU-27 to reach certain GHG emission reduction targets. It has to be stressed that all policy scenarios are rather theoretical and hypothetical and do not necessarily reflect mitigation policies that are already agreed on, or are under formal discussion.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Cтруктурні, оптичні і термоелектричні властивості плівок та наночастинок ZnO, CZTS, CZTSe для фото- і термоперетворювачів

Дисертаційна робота присвячена оптимізації основних фотоелектричних характеристик, а саме квантового виходу (Q), густини струму короткого замикання (Jsc), ефективності (η) плівкових ФЕП на основі ГП n-CdS(ZnSe, ZnS)/p-(CZTS, CdTe) із струмознімальними контактами n-ITO(ZnO); дослідженню морфологічних особливостей, структурних, субструктурних, оптичних, термоелектричних властивостей та елементного складу плівок ZnO, CZTS, нанесених методом пульсуючого спрей піролізу, для використання у ФЕП та наноструктурованого матеріалу на основі НЧ CZTSe, синтезованих колоїдним методом, для застосування у ТЕП, що можуть працювати паралельно з ФЕП. Встановлені взаємозв’язки між фізико- та хіміко-технологічними умовами нанесення плівок та синтезу НЧ, наноструктурованого матеріалу на їх основі, та структурними, субструктурними, оптичними, термоелектричними властивостями, елементним складом будуть використані для подальшого створення ФЕП та ТЕП з покращеними характеристиками.Диссертационная работа посвящена оптимизации основных фотоэлектрических характеристик, а именно квантового выхода (Q), плотности тока короткого замыкания (Jsc), эфективности (η) плёночных ФЭП на основе ГП n-CdS(ZnSe, ZnS)/p-(CZTS, CdTe) с токособирающими контактами ITO(ZnO); исследованию морфологических особенностей, структурных, субструктурных, оптических, термоэлектрических свойств и элементного состава плёнок ZnO, CZTS, нанесённых методом пульсирующего спрей-пиролиза, для применения у вышеуказанных ФЭП и наноструктурированного материала на основе НЧ CZTSe, синтезированных колоидальным методом, для использования у ТЭП, которые могут работать паралельно с ФЭП. Установленные взаимосвязи между физико- и химико-технологическими условиями нанесения плёнок, синтеза НЧ, наноструктурированного материала на их основе, и структурными, субструктурными, оптическими, термоэлектрическими свойствами, элементным составом будут использованы для создания ФЭП и ТЭП с улучшенными характеристиками.PhD thesis is devoted both to the optimization of basic photoelectric characteristics (quantum yield (Q), density of short circuit current (Jsc), efficiency (η)) of solar cells based on n-CdS(ZnSe, ZnS)/p-(CZTS, CdTe) heterojunctions with n-ITO(ZnO) frontal contacts, and to the investigation of morphological, structural, substructural, optical, thermoelectric properties and chemical composition of: (I) ZnO, CZTS films deposited by spray pyrolysis for application in solar cells; (II) nanostructured materials based on CZTSe nanocrystals synthesized by colloidal method for application in thermoelectric devices which can work simultaneously with solar cells. In the work, modeling approbation was performed by means of investigating the effect of optical and recombination losses on Q, Jsc, η of solar cells based on n-CdS(ZnS)/p-CdTe heterojunctions. Afterwards, the investigation of these losses on the photoelectric characteristics of solar cells based on n-CdS(ZnSe, ZnS)/p-CZTS heterojunctions with n-ITO(ZnO) frontal contacts was carried out with the help of the approbated procedure. Taking into account the results of mathematical modeling, the solar cells based on ZnO frontal contact and CZTS absorber layer were considered. For this purpose, the automated setup for the deposition of ZnO and CZTS films by pulsed spray pyrolysis technique was developed. The in-depth investigation of influence of the main growth conditions of layers’ deposition (substrate temperature (Ts), volume of initial precursor (Vs)) on structural (grains size, phase composition, texture quality, lattice parameters), substructural (coherent scattering domain sizes, level of microdeformations and microstresses, density of dislocations at the boundaries and in the volume of subgrains), optical (transmission coefficients, absorbance, band gap) properties and chemical composition of ZnO, CZTS films, as well as the determination of optimal conditions to obtain the specified films were carried out. Since the solar cells operate at the elevated temperatures, it was proposed to use the additional thermal energy by means of its conversion into electrical energy by use of the thermoelectric devices. For this purpose, the nanostructured thermoelectric material based on CZTSe nanocrystals synthesized by the colloidal method was obtained. The influence of kinetic conditions, namely type of phosphonic acid, on morphological (size, shape), structural (phase composition), optical (absorbance, band gap) properties and chemical composition of CZTSe nanocrystals was determined. The influence of chemical composition on the main thermoelectric properties (concentration (p) and mobility ( u ) of majority charge carriers, relative electrical conductivity ( k ), Seebeck coefficient (SZ)) of nanostructured material based on CZTSe nanocrystals was investigated. The established correlations between the film, nanocrystals growth conditions and structural, substructural, optical, thermoelectric properties, chemical composition will be applied for further development of solar cells and thermoelectric devices with the enhanced characteristics

POLICY IMPACTS ON LEGUME-BASED AGRICULTURE AT EU LEVEL

The impact of policy scenarios on economic welfare and the environment depends to a large extent on their direct effect on land use: a strong increase in the cultivation of legumes means a significant environmental impact and a sizeable impact on other variables such as farmers’ incomes, cost to taxpayers and imports and exports. The impact of realistic policy alternatives aimed at promoting legumes is likely to be limited. In particular, they may not be able to reverse the trend in the decline of grain legumes

Agent-Based Modeling of Farming Behavior: A Dutch Case Study on Milk Quota Abolishment and Sustainable Dairying

Gaining insight on the effect of policies upon the agricultural domain is essential for policy makers, famers and the agribusiness sector. A variety of models have therefore been developed that enable a prediction of agricultural development under different policies. Most models do however not make predictions on a fine grained level and are weak in accounting for specific factor market and resource constraints farmers (agents) face at farm level. The paper presents an agent-based model where each farm is modeled by means of an agent and studies the effect of milk quota abolishment. Two simulations policy simulations are made: 1) abolition of the milk quota; and 2) land-tied sustainable dairy scenario. Outcomes are analyzed and compared with the predictions of sector models

Analysing EU dairy exports: indicators of non-tariff measures and gravity

In the prospect of on-going EU trade negotiations, we investigate non-tariff measures (NTMs) on key EU dairy exports markets. After combining latest publicly available NTM datasets, we calculate frequency and coverage ratios in order to take stock of existing measures. Subsequently, we quantify the NTM impact on EU dairy exports by a gravity estimation. In our model, we explicitly single out SPS and TBT measures and find that they dominate the negative trade effect. Our results underline the need to address NTM issues in EU trade negotiations to secure potential export markets