Principles of gas pricing and their impact on the market for gas cars in Germany

As for any other fuels used for transport or heating, the gas price for final users could be split into three major components: the wholesale price for the resource (including far distance transport by ship or pipeline), taxes and finally a assorted group of mainly smaller price drivers (such as local transport, storage, marketing costs or retail margins). This paper focuses on the gas wholesale price component. It will be demonstrated that due to the traditional pricing system in Germany (net-back pricing based on oil-indexation or "Anlegbarkeit") gas prices have been higher than necessary - at least when assuming a competitive supply and demand based pricing system (like in the US or the UK). Based on the linear optimisation model MAGELAN a hypothetic competitive market price for Germany will be simulated for the period 2000 to 2011 and compared with the actual prices for German gas imports based on the net-back principle. The paper ends with a section discussing the impact of the traditional pricing systems for the German gas mar- ket in general and the situation of gas cars in special. It will be discussed that price regime is only one limiting factor for further development and that massive efforts by the gas industry are needed to push gas cars in Germany

Relevance of oil prices for mobility today and in the next decades

The paper discusses the role of crude oil prices as an important cost factor for individual and collective mobility. After a short introduction, there will be three further sections. Section 2 covers a general discussion of the relevance of oil today and also several scenarios for the future demand development will be discussed. In section 3 some oil price forecasts will be presented and compared to fundamental cost parameters. The paper ends with a conclusion section

Ist die Verbändevereinbarung zur Stromnetznutzung gescheitert?

Seit der Liberalisierung des Elektrizitätsmarktes im Jahre 1998 wird der Netzzugang durch eine Verbändevereinbarung geregelt, die einer Regulierung durch eine Behörde vorgezogen wurde. Die bisherigen Erfahrungen zeigen aber, daß der Wettbewerb immer noch nicht reibungslos funktioniert. Im Oktober 2000 beschlossen das Bundeskartellamt und die Landeskartellbehörden eine Arbeitsgruppe einzusetzen, die zahlreiche Klagen gegen die Stromversorger prüfen und ein Konzept für das weitere Vorgehen ausarbeiten soll. Hat die Elektrizitätswirtschaft ihre Chance auf Selbstregulierung vertan

Ist die Verbändevereinbarung zur Stromnetznutzung gescheitert?

Seit der Liberalisierung des Elektrizitätsmarktes im Jahre 1998 wird der Netzzugang durch eine Verbändevereinbarung geregelt, die einer Regulierung durch eine Behörde vorgezogen wurde. Die bisherigen Erfahrungen zeigen aber, daß der Wettbewerb immer noch nicht reibungslos funktioniert. Im Oktober 2000 beschlossen das Bundeskartellamt und die Landeskartellbehörden eine Arbeitsgruppe einzusetzen, die zahlreiche Klagen gegen die Stromversorger prüfen und ein Konzept für das weitere Vorgehen ausarbeiten soll. Hat die Elektrizitätswirtschaft ihre Chance auf Selbstregulierung vertan? --

Erdgas: sichere Zukunftsenergie oder knappe Ressource?

Die weltweiten Erdgasmärkte befinden sich im Wandel. In diesem Arbeitspapier werden im Rahmen einer Bestandsaufnahme der aktuelle Stand dieses Prozesses sowie einige Erklärungsansätze diskutiert. Das Papier fokussiert sich dabei auf die Bereich Reserven und Ressourcen, Entwicklung des internationalen Handels sowie die unterschiedlichen Preisbildungssysteme für Erdgas in den einzelnen Teilmärkten

Forecasting European Gas Supply Selected results from EUGAS model and historical verification

The common application of EUGAS, a long-term, dynamic, interregional linear optimization model, is the projection of European natural gas supply up to 2030. Based on current expectations regarding future demand, supply costs and reserves, the model results comprise production and transport volumes, changes in infrastructure and marginal costs of supply, covering the EU-25 plus the main non-EU supply countries. In the reference run a significant increase in Middle Eastern gas is projected while generally a growing share of volume will be imported via LNG. In order to assess validity of these projections a model run was conducted re-simulating the evolution of European gas market from 1960-2000. While the general results are predominantly in line with the historical development, one of the main findings is that the current strong position of FSU-gas in Western Europe contradicts cost minimal calculation

Математическое моделирование сложных объектов с распределенными параметрами в задачах автоматического управления структурно-перестраиваемых систем

Рассматривается моделирование управления нестационарными температурными полями объектов со сложной геометрической конфигурацией. Приводятся сравнительные динамические характеристики замкнутых систем автоматического регулирования с перестраиваемой и фиксированной структурами

Integrated planning of the partially automated Banji coal mine in China

AbstractThe chinese mining company SDIC Xinji currently develops in the province of Anhui, south of Beijing, the coal mine Banji, pursuing the aim to realize an exemplary high-performance mine with the highest degree of production efficiency and a high safety standard, using state of the art technology. Remarkable with this assignment of task is the fact, that power supply technology, high voltage switch technology, automation and communication were being projected from one supplier, as an integrated complete system, based on a three- dimensional mine layout model

Reconstruction of former channel systems in the northwestern Nile Delta (Egypt) based on corings and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT)

The current state of research about ancient settlements within the Nile Delta allows the hypothesizing of fluvial connections to ancient settlements all over the Nile Delta. Previous studies suggest a larger Nile branch close to Kom el-Gir, an ancient settlement hill in the northwestern Nile Delta. To contribute new knowledge to this little-known site and prove this hypothesis, this study aims at using small-scale paleogeographic investigations to reconstruct an ancient channel system in the surroundings of Kom el-Gir. The study pursues the following: (1) the identification of sedimentary environments via stratigraphic and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses of the sediments, (2) the detection of fluvial elements via electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and (3) the synthesis of all results to provide a comprehensive reconstruction of a former fluvial network in the surroundings of Kom el-Gir. Therefore, auger core drillings, pXRF analyses, and ERT were conducted to examine the sediments within the study area. Based on the evaluation of the results, the study presents clear evidence of a former channel system in the surroundings of Kom el-Gir. Thereby, it is the combination of both methods, 1-D corings and 2-D ERT profiles, that derives a more detailed illustration of previous environmental conditions which other studies can adopt. Especially within the Nile Delta which comprises a large number of smaller and larger ancient settlement hills, this study’s approach can contribute to paleogeographic investigations to improve the general understanding of the former fluvial landscape

Comparing different machine‐learning techniques to date Nile Delta sediments based on portable X‐ray fluorescence data

Geomorphology generally aims to describe and investigate the processes that lead to the formation of landscapes, while geochronology is needed to detect their timing and duration. Due to restrictions on exporting geological samples from Egypt, modern geoscientific studies in the Nile Delta lack the possibility of dating the investigated sediments and geological features by standard techniques such as OSL or AMS 14C; therefore, this study aims to validate a new approach using machinelearning algorithms on portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) data. Archaeologically dated sediments from the archaeological excavations of Buto (Tell el‐Fara'in; on‐site) that pXRF analyses have geochemically characterized serve as training data for running and comparing Neural Nets, Random Forests, and single‐decision trees. The established pXRF fingerprints are transferred via machine‐learning algorithms to set up a chronology for undated sediments from sediment cores (i.e., the test data) of the nearby surroundings (off‐site). Neural Nets and Random Forests work fine in dating sediments and deliver the best classification results compared with singledecision trees, which struggle with outliers and tend to overfit the training data. Furthermore, Random Forests can be modeled faster and are easier to understand than the complex, less transparent Neural Nets. Therefore, Random Forests provide the best algorithm for studies like this. Furthermore, river features east of Kom el‐Gir are dated to pre‐Ptolemaic times (before 332 B.C.) when Kom el‐Gir had possibly not yet been settled. The research in this paper shows the success of close interactions from various scientific disciplines (Geoinformatics, Physical Geography, Archaeology, Ancient History) to decipher landscape evolution in the long‐term‐settled Nile Delta's environs using machine learning. With the approach's design and the possibility of integrating many other geographical/sedimentological methods, this study demonstrates the potential of the methodological approach to be applied in other geoscientific fields