State of the art for use of LCA in building sector : Deliverable D2 of the project ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Buildings

QC 20120210ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building

Training and certification of PV installers in Europe. A transnational need for PV industry's competitive growth.

The European strategy for the coming decades sets specific targets for a sustainable growth, including reaching a 20% share of renewables in final energy consumption till 2020. To achieve this target, a number of initiatives and measures have been in force. Europe, is currently the largest market for PV systems with more than 75% of the annual worldwide installations in 2011. The favourable European policies as well as the Member States' supporting legislations have resulted in high market growth for photovoltaics.Applying PV technologies however, requires high qualified technicians to install, repair and maintain them. Until today, national markets have been growing faster than the skilled PV installers force can satisfy. The PVTRIN, an Intelligent Energy Europe action, addresses these issues by developing a training and certification scheme for technicians active in the installation and maintenance of small scale PV systems. During the implementation of the action, a market research was conducted in the six participating countries in order to record the stakeholders' attitudes, perceptions and considerations and to adapt the training methods, tools and materials to the national PV industry requirements and markets' needs. Indicative results of this analysis as well as the current situation regarding relevant training and certification schemes are presented in this paper.This publication is supported by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy – Europe Programme, within the framework of the project PVTRIN-Training of PV Installers in Europe, Contract number: IEE/09/928/SI2.558379. The sole responsibility for the content of this paper lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.Peer reviewe

GUIDELINES FOR LCA CALCULATIONS IN EARLY DESIGN PHASES

QC 20120126ENSLIC BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building

Riktlinjer för LCA beräkningar i tidiga byggnadsskeden

QC 20120209ENSLIC_BUILDING : Energy Saving through Promotion of Life Cycle Assessment in Building

Assessment of Euro Zone's Compatibility with the Concept of Theory of Optimum Currency Area and Projected Benefits of Latvia from Joining Emu

Darbā apskatāmais jautājums ir optimālo valūtas zonu teorija, kura nosaka kādiem nosacījumiem esot spēkā valstīm ir izdevīgi atsacīties no elastīga valūtas kursa un apvienoties vienotas valūtas zonā. Interese par šo jautājumu ir īpaši pieaugusi kopš Eiropas monetārās integrācijas pēdējās fāzes – eiro ieviešanas – sākuma. Tādējādi, darba autors, izmantojot koncepcijas teorētisko ietvaru, novērtē vai Latvijai ir izdevīgi pievienoties Eiropas Monetārajai Savienībai, kā alternatīvu pretnostatot nacionālās valūtas saglabāšanu. Darba autors secina, ka Latvijas dalība eiro zonā varētu nest makroekonomiskas izmaksas, tomēr ir grūti paredzēt vai tās būtu lielākas par ekonomikas ieguvumiem. Atslēgas vārdi: optimālā valūtas zona, eiro zona, valūtas kursa režīms, asimetriskie šokiThesis has its focus on theory of optimum currency area. Theory of optimum currency areas indentifies certain conditions under which it is beneficial for a country to join common currency area. Interest in this topic has grown since the final stage of Europe's monetary integration and introduction of euro in 1999. Thus, thesis attempts to link the theoretical backgrounds of the OCA theory with the economic performance of Latvia, examining whether Latvia is better off with a common currency as compared to the option of retaining the national currency. Author concludes that participation in euro area would cause macroeconomic costs to Latvia, however it is difficult to predict whether the costs would exceed economic gains. Key words: optimum currency area, euro area, exchange rate regime, assymetric shock

Training and certification of PV installers in Europe: a transnational need for PV industry's competitive growth

Summarization: The European strategy for the coming decades sets specific targets for a sustainable growth, including reaching a 20% share of renewables in final energy consumption till 2020. To achieve this target, a number of initiatives and measures have been in force. Europe, is currently the largest market for PV systems with more than 75% of the annual worldwide installations in 2011. The favourable European policies as well as the Member States’ supporting legislations have resulted in high market growth for photovoltaics. Applying PV technologies however, requires high qualified technicians to install, repair and maintain them. Until today, national markets have been growing faster than the skilled PV installers force can satisfy. The PVTRIN, an Intelligent Energy Europe action, addresses these issues by developing a training and certification scheme for technicians active in the installation and maintenance of small scale PV systems. During the implementation of the action, a market research was conducted in the six participating countries in order to record the stakeholders’ attitudes, perceptions and considerations and to adapt the training methods, tools and materials to the national PV industry requirements and markets’ needs. Indicative results of this analysis as well as the current situation regarding relevant training and certification schemes are presented in this paper.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Energy Polic

Transverse-momentum and pseudorapidity distributions of charged hadrons in pppp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 7 TeV

Charged-hadron transverse-momentum and pseudorapidity distributions in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$~TeV are measured with the inner tracking system of the CMS detector at the LHC. The charged-hadron yield is obtained by counting the number of reconstructed hits, hit-pairs, and fully reconstructed charged-particle tracks. The combination of the three methods gives a charged-particle multiplicity per unit of pseudorapidity \dnchdeta|_{|\eta| < 0.5} = 5.78\pm 0.01\stat\pm 0.23\syst for non-single-diffractive events, higher than predicted by commonly used models. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$ to 7~TeV is 66.1\%\pm 1.0\%\stat\pm 4.2\%\syst. The mean transverse momentum is measured to be 0.545\pm 0.005\stat\pm 0.015\syst\GeVc. The results are compared with similar measurements at lower energies.Charged-hadron transverse-momentum and pseudorapidity distributions in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are measured with the inner tracking system of the CMS detector at the LHC. The charged-hadron yield is obtained by counting the number of reconstructed hits, hit-pairs, and fully reconstructed charged-particle tracks. The combination of the three methods gives a charged-particle multiplicity per unit of pseudorapidity, dN(charged)/d(eta), for |eta| < 0.5, of 5.78 +/- 0.01 (stat) +/- 0.23 (syst) for non-single-diffractive events, higher than predicted by commonly used models. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from sqrt(s) = 0.9 to 7 TeV is 66.1% +/- 1.0% (stat) +/- 4.2% (syst). The mean transverse momentum is measured to be 0.545 +/- 0.005 (stat) +/- 0.015 (syst) GeV/c. The results are compared with similar measurements at lower energies

Measurement of the charge ratio of atmospheric muons with the CMS detector

We present a measurement of the ratio of positive to negative muon fluxes from cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere, using data collected by the CMS detector both at ground level and in the underground experimental cavern at the CERN LHC. Muons were detected in the momentum range from 5 GeV/ c to 1 TeV/ c . The surface flux ratio is measured to be 1.2766±0.0032(stat.)±0.0032(syst.) , independent of the muon momentum, below 100 GeV/ c . This is the most precise measurement to date. At higher momenta the data are consistent with an increase of the charge ratio, in agreement with cosmic ray shower models and compatible with previous measurements by deep-underground experiments.We present a measurement of the ratio of positive to negative muon fluxes from cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere, using data collected by the CMS detector both at ground level and in the underground experimental cavern at the CERN LHC. Muons were detected in the momentum range from 5 GeV/c to 1 TeV/c. The surface flux ratio is measured to be 1.2766 \pm 0.0032(stat.) \pm 0.0032 (syst.), independent of the muon momentum, below 100 GeV/c. This is the most precise measurement to date. At higher momenta the data are consistent with an increase of the charge ratio, in agreement with cosmic ray shower models and compatible with previous measurements by deep-underground experiments

Search for Pair Production of Second-Generation Scalar Leptoquarks in pp Collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for pair production of second-generation scalar leptoquarks in the final state with two muons and two jets is performed using proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 34 inverse picobarns. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the predictions from the standard model processes. An upper limit is set on the second-generation leptoquark cross section times beta^2 as a function of the leptoquark mass, and leptoquarks with masses below 394 GeV are excluded at a 95% confidence level for beta = 1, where beta is the leptoquark branching fraction into a muon and a quark. These limits are the most stringent to date