Exploring low-carbon futures: A web service approach to linking diverse climate-energy-economy models

© 2019 by the authors. The use of simulation models is essential when exploring transitions to low-carbon futures and climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. There are many models developed to understand socio-environmental processes and interactions, and analyze alternative scenarios, but hardly one single model can serve all the needs. There is much expectation in climate-energy research that constructing new purposeful models out of existing models used as building blocks can meet particular needs of research and policy analysis. Integration of existing models, however, implies sophisticated coordination of inputs and outputs across different scales, definitions, data and software. This paper presents an online integration platform which links various independent models to enhance their scope and functionality. We illustrate the functionality of this web platform using several simulation models developed as standalone tools for analyzing energy, climate and economy dynamics. The models differ in levels of complexity, assumptions, modeling paradigms and programming languages, and operate at different temporal and spatial scales, from individual to global. To illustrate the integration process and the internal details of our integration framework we link an Integrated Assessment Model (GCAM), a Computable General Equilibrium model (EXIOMOD), and an Agent Based Model (BENCH). This toolkit is generic for similar integrated modeling studies. It still requires extensive pre-integration assessment to identify the ‘appropriate’ models and links between them. After that, using the web service approach we can streamline module coupling, enabling interoperability between different systems and providing open access to information for a wider community of users

EXIOBASE 3: Developing a time series of detailed environmentally extended multi-regional input-output tables

Environmentally extended multiregional input-output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) with a high sectorial detail matched with multiple social and environmental satellite accounts. In this paper, we present the latest developments realized with EXIOBASE 3—a time series of EE MRIO tables ranging from 1995 to 2011 for 44 countries (28 EU member plus 16 major economies) and five rest of the world regions. EXIOBASE 3 builds upon the previous versions of EXIOBASE by using rectangular supply-use tables (SUTs) in a 163 industry by 200 products classification as the main building blocks. In order to capture structural changes, economic developments, as repor ted by national statistical agencies, were imposed on the available, disaggregated SUTs from EXIOBASE 2. These initial estimates were further refined by incorporating detailed data on energy, agricultural production, resource extraction, and bilateral trade. EXIOBASE 3 inherits the high level of environmental stressor detail from its precursor, with further improvement in the level of detail for resource extraction. To account for the expansion of the European Union (EU), EXIOBASE 3 was developed with the full EU28 country set (including the new member state Croatia). EXIOBASE 3 provides a unique tool for analyzing the dynamics of environmental pressures of economic activities over time

Return to the business R&D expenditures in the Netherlands

The main goal of the study is to evaluate the rate of return to R&D expenditures carried out by private enterprise in the Netherlands based on sectoral and microeconomic datasets. We have applied the production function approach common in the literature to econometrically estimate the rate of return and differentiate the rate of return between government and private financing of R&D expenditures at the firm level. Another goal was to examine the multiplier effect of government R&D financing. The study concluded that one euro spent on R&D returned, on average, at least 2.3 euro over the lifetime of investment, including 1.6 euro in the sector where the R&D was carried out and an extra 0.7 euro via the purchasing of investment goods (machinery and software), with time lags of one to two years before the first positive annual return to the investment. Return to privately-financed R&D are higher than to government-financed. There is a multiplier effect of the public financing on private expenditures, with the elasticity between 0.05 and 0.1

Electron beam absorption in 3D-printed polymer samples with different infill densities

In this work, we study the efficiency of electron absorption by the plastic samples produced using 3D printing with different infill densities. We investigate the influence of the print layer orientation relative to the electron beam axis on the radiation dose distribution. It is possible to produce plastic samples with different infill by fused deposition modelling. Ten polymer test samples with the infill density ranging from 10% to 100% are printed and studied experimentally using a 6 MeV electron beam of an MIB-6E betatron. GafChromic EBT3 films are used for the dose measurement. When the infill is above 70%, the difference of dose distribution uniformity cannot be distinguished for the two print layer orientations. Therefore, these samples can be used for electron beam formation

Environmental and resource footprints in a global context: Europe's structural deficit in resource endowments

The European Union (EU) has proposed in its Resource-efficiency roadmap a ‘dashboard of indicators’ consisting of four headline indicators for carbon, water, land and materials. The EU recognizes the need to use a consumption-based (or ‘footprint’) perspective to capture the global dimension of resources and their impacts. In this paper, we analyse how the EU's footprints compare to those of other nations, to what extent the EU and other major economies of the world rely on embodied resource imports, and what the implications are for policy making based on this comparison. This study is the first comprehensive multi-indicator comparison of all four policy relevant indicators, and uses a single consistent global Multi-Regional Input Output (MRIO) database with a unique and high level of product detail across countries. We find that Europe is the only region in the world that relies on net embodied imports for all indicators considered. We further find that the powerful economies of China and others in the Asia-Pacific already dominate global resource consumption from a footprint perspective, while they still haven't reached the prosperity of developed countries. Competition for resources is hence likely to increase, making Europe even more vulnerable. A hot spot analysis suggests that final consumption of food, transport and housing are priorities for reduction efforts along the life cycle. Further, countries with a similar Human Development Index can have very different footprints, pointing at societal organisation at macro-level as option for improvement. This points at options for countries for lowering their footprint, becoming less dependent on embodied imports, while maintaining a high quality of life. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

The Newport College - Salve Regina Honors its Outstanding Students; Over 1200, Inlcuding Gov. Garrahy, Attend Ceremony

Industrial Ecolog