A Manual for the Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies

This manual is a guide for analyzing the economics of energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE) technologies and projects. It is intended (1) to help analysts determine the appropriate approach or type of analysis and the appropriate level of detail and (2) to assist EE analysts in completing consistent analyses using standard assumptions and bases, when appropriate. Included are analytical techniques that are commonly required for the economic analysis of EE technologies and projects. The manual consists of six sections: Introduction, Fundamentals, Selection Criteria Guide, Economic Measures, Special Considerations for Conservation and Renewable Energy Systems, and References. A glossary and eight appendices are also included. Each section has a brief introductory statement, a presentation of necessary formulae, a discussion, and when appropriate, examples and descriptions of data and data availability. The objective of an economic analysis is to provide the information needed to make a judgment or a decision. The most complete analysis of an investment in a technology or a project requires the analysis of each year of the life of the investment, taking into account relevant direct costs, indirect and overhead costs, taxes, and returns on investment, plus any externalities, such as environmental impacts, that are relevant to the decision to be made. However, it is important to consider the purpose and scope of a particular analysis at the outset because this will prescribe the course to follow. The perspective of the analysis is important, often dictating the approach to be used. Also, the ultimate use of the results of an analysis will influence the level of detail undertaken. The decision-making criteria of the potential investor must also be considered

L-arginine Supplementation Improves Responses to Injury and Inflammation in Dextran Sulfate Sodium Colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), results in substantial morbidity and is difficult to treat. New strategies for adjunct therapies are needed. One candidate is the semi-essential amino acid, L-arginine (L-Arg), a complementary medicine purported to be an enhancer of immunity and vitality in the lay media. Using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) as a murine colonic injury and repair model with similarities to human UC, we assessed the effect of L-Arg, as DSS induced increases in colonic expression of the y+ cationic amino acid transporter 2 (CAT2) and L-Arg uptake. L-Arg supplementation improved the clinical parameters of survival, body weight loss, and colon weight, and reduced colonic permeability and the number of myeloperoxidase-positive neutrophils in DSS colitis. Luminex-based multi-analyte profiling demonstrated that there was a marked reduction in proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression with L-Arg treatment. Genomic analysis by microarray demonstrated that DSS-treated mice supplemented with L-Arg clustered more closely with mice not exposed to DSS than to those receiving DSS alone, and revealed that multiple genes that were upregulated or downregulated with DSS alone exhibited normalization of expression with L-Arg supplementation. Additionally, L-Arg treatment of mice with DSS colitis resulted in increased ex vivo migration of colonic epithelial cells, suggestive of increased capacity for wound repair. Because CAT2 induction was sustained during L-Arg treatment and inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) requires uptake of L-Arg for generation of NO, we tested the effect of L-Arg in iNOS−/− mice and found that its benefits in DSS colitis were eliminated. These preclinical studies indicate that L-Arg supplementation could be a potential therapy for IBD, and that one mechanism of action may be functional enhancement of iNOS activity

The effect of the inclusion of uncertainty on the optimal allocation of resources to climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes

How to deal with our changing climate is one of the most controversial topics facing modern society. The two most prevalent choices are to mitigate the effects through global programmes, or adapt to the changes at the local level. While both have positive and negative traits, the reality is that a combination of the two strategies is required. This is the second study in a series investigating the mitigation–adaptation balance from an economic perspective. Using an expected value approach, this study discusses the theoretical sources and impact of uncertainty associated with implementing a mitigation or adaptation programme on the strategic optimisation

The impact of unregulated ionic clay rare earth mining in China

The ionic clay rare earth resources in China are the cheapest and most accessible source of heavy rare earths. They are also the most valuable. The Chinese rare earth market has an uncontrolled illegal market segment that represents approximately 40% of the domestic market, which translates to 30% of the global market. This sector of the market pays little or no attention to the environmental damage of their mining and processing actions and, through their unregulated supply, depresses the market price such that external (and in some cases, internal) producers are having difficulties making or maintaining profit margins. It creates significant negative externalities that adversely affects the native environment and the international rare earth market

Kuwaiti Consumption in the Presence of Dramatic Economic Events: 1973-2003

The Kuwaiti consumption function is examined for the 1973-2003 time period. The dramatic events included: the Arab oil embargo of 1973, Kuwait's nationalization of oil facilities in 1976, the oil price shock in 1978, the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Iran/Iraq war, Kuwait's unofficial stock market Al Manakh crash, increases in crude oil supply by non-OPEC producers by ten million barrels per day, the collapse of world crude oil prices in 1986, and the 1990 Iraq invasion. This paper examines three decades in which Kuwait experiences a variety of uncommonly dramatic economic and sociological events. The question we are addressing econometrically is: "Is consistency in Kuwaiti consumption maintained even in the presence of extreme economic conditions?"We found that Kuwaiti consumption is consistent with the Permanent Income Hypothesis. That is the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) approaches the average propensity to consume (APC) and the intercept is not significantly different from zero. Moreover, this result of a relatively small MPC of 0.30 is consistent with the contentions of Keynes and Kurihara that wealthy high income economies have relatively small values for MPC and APC.

Non-technical risks and their impact on the mining industry

'Country risk', including the threat of 'resource nationalism', market-related 'commodity price risk' and corporate-level 'going concern risk' are identified as amongst the principal non-technical risk types having the greatest impact on the mining industry. 'Exchange rate risk' acts alongside commodity price risk at the corporate level where mine-related revenues are in United States dollars (US$) and the mine cost-base in a local currency. Other market-related risks comprise the various indirect price-influencing forces that drive mineral demand and the non-technical (market) factors that impact on the cost and volume of mineral supply. On the demand side these forces include the strength of the global economy, threat of substitution for key end-uses, changes in metal use patterns in the community and the role of government intervention on mineral demand. On the supply side issues of input costs, market structure and potential government-imposed restrictions are amongst the industry-level non-technical risks. Non-technical risks cannot be entirely isolated from technical risks in any overarching risk classification system applied to the mining industry. The technical and non-technical risk 'domains' inevitably overlap when the root causes of adverse outcomes are examined at both mine-project and company-levels. This paper reviews the various sources of non-technical risk, the interplay of non-technical and technical risks and observations on risk-related challenges facing the mining sector. Challenges in the non-technical risk domain include the effective communication of non-technical risks and their impacts to industry stakeholders as well as the mitigation of non-technical risks