The Influence of Rebate Programs on the Demand for Water Heaters: The Case of New South Wales

In the past decade the Australian Federal government and state governments have established a wide range of programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors. This paper examines the role of hot water system rebate programs in shifting the existing stock of electric water heaters toward more climate friendly versions using two unique data sets from New South Wales homeowners. The first data set is based on a survey of households who recently purchased a water heater and exploits a natural experiment created by the rebate program to quantify its effects. The other data set is based on a set of stated preference questions asked of households who own an older water heater and will in the reasonably near future face a replacement decision. We find that recent rebate programs significantly increased the share of solar/heat pump systems. For households without access to natural gas, this increased share comes directly from inefficient electric water heaters. For households with access to natural gas, older existing electric water heaters would likely have been replaced with gas water heaters in the absence of the rebate programs. The rebate program appears to be much less effective when water heaters are replaced on an emergency basis. Data from discrete choice experiments was analysed using several flexible choice models. A newly proposed model that combines a latent class approach with a random coefficients approach clearly dominates the other models in terms of statistical fit. Predictions based on this model estimate are reasonably consistent with actual purchase data. Results from it point to considerable heterogeneity with respect to household preferences toward different types of water heaters and with respect to the discount rates they hold.Climate change mitigation, Energy conservation programs, Natural experiments, Discrete choice experiments, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Static internal performance of ventral and rear nozzle concepts for short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft

The internal performance of two exhaust system concepts applicable to single-engine short-take-off and vertical-landing tactical fighter configurations was investigated. These concepts involved blocking (or partially blocking) tailpipe flow to the rear (cruise) nozzle and diverting it through an opening to a ventral nozzle exit for vertical thrust. A set of variable angle vanes at the ventral nozzle exit were used to vary ventral nozzle thrust angle between 45 and 110 deg relative to the positive axial force direction. In the vertical flight mode the rear nozzle (or tailpipe flow to it) was completely blocked. In the transition flight mode flow in the tailpipe was split between the rear and ventral nozzles and the flow was vectored at both exits for aircraft control purposes through this flight regime. In the cruise flight mode the ventral nozzle was sealed and all flow exited through the rear nozzle

A Nested Logit Model of Recreational Fishing Demand in Alaska

Travel cost analysis, bioeconomic modeling, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q26, Q22, C35,

Transparent free relatives with "who": Support for a unified analysis

This paper provides novel data, including from acceptability ratings, supporting a unified analysis of Transparent Free Relatives (TFRs) as variants of Standard Free Relatives (SFRs), rather than entirely different beasts. Two arguments are presented. First, who-TFRs exist, contrary to the view in the literature that TFRs can only be formed with what. Second, who-TFRs degrade following the same illunderstood pattern as who-SFRs. These outcomes cohere better with accounts of TFRs that treat them as similar to SFRs, versus accounts that treat them as virtually unrelated

Objectless locative prepositions in British English

In British English, sentences like This film has monsters in are possible without the pronoun it. Descriptively, we refine landscape of the phenomenon, identifying restrictions on the distribution and interpretation of OLPs, including dialectal variation within British English, and observing an A-bar movement restriction on monsters. Analytically, we argue against an A-movement analysis (Griffiths & Sailor), and ponder alternatives from a cross-linguistic perspective

An Examination of Systematic Differences in the Appreciation of Individual Housing Units

House price appreciation should play an important role in households' decisions of when, where, and how "much" house to buy, and whether to default on their mortgages. Several price indexes are published which could be used as a measure of appreciation, but their focus on aggregate price changes does not facilitate their inclusion in micro-level studies of housing decisions. This paper examines individual housing unit appreciation using owners' valuations. This measure is accurate and is available in several commonly used data sets. Systematic differences in these rates are found between cities, within cities, between different types of units, and between individual owners.

In Vivo Efficacy of a Cocktail of Human Monoclonal Antibodies (CL184) Against Diverse North American Bat Rabies Virus Variants

Following rabies virus (RABV) exposure, a combination of thorough wound washing, multiple-dose vaccine administration and the local infiltration of rabies immune globulin (RIG) are essential components of modern post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Although modern cell-culture-based rabies vaccines are increasingly used in many countries, RIG is much less available. The prohibitive cost of polyclonal serum RIG products has prompted a search for alternatives and design of anti-RABV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that can be manufactured on a large scale with a consistent potency and lower production costs. Robust in vitro neutralization activity has been demonstrated for the CL184 MAb cocktail, a 1:1 protein mixture of two human anti-RABV MAbs (CR57/CR4098), against a large panel of RABV isolates. In this study, we used a hamster model to evaluate the efficacy of experimental PEP against a lethal challenge. Various doses of CL184 and commercial rabies vaccine were assessed for the ability to protect against lethal infection with representatives of four distinct bat RABV lineages of public health relevance: silver-haired bat (Ln RABV); western canyon bat (Ph RABV); big brown bat (Ef-w1 RABV) and Mexican free-tailed bat RABV (Tb RABV). 42–100% of animals survived bat RABV infection when CL184 (in combination with the vaccine) was administered. A dose-response relationship was observed with decreasing doses of CL184 resulting in increasing mortality. Importantly, CL184 was highly effective in neutralizing and clearing Ph RABV in vivo, even though CR4098 does not neutralize this virus in vitro. By comparison, 19–95% survivorship was observed if human RIG (20 IU/kg) and vaccine were used following challenge with different bat viruses. Based on our results, CL184 represents an efficacious alternative for RIG. Both large-scale and lower cost production could ensure better availability and affordability of this critical life-saving biologic in rabies enzootic countries and as such, significantly contribute to the reduction of human rabies deaths globally