An Economic Model-Based Predictive Control to Manage the Users' Thermal Comfort in a Building

The goal of maintaining users' thermal comfort conditions in indoor environments may require complex regulation procedures and a proper energy management. This problem is being widely analyzed, since it has a direct effect on users' productivity. This paper presents an economic model-based predictive control (MPC) whose main strength is the use of the day-ahead price (DAP) in order to predict the energy consumption associated with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). In this way, the control system is able to maintain a high thermal comfort level by optimizing the use of the HVAC system and to reduce, at the same time, the energy consumption associated with it, as much as possible. Later, the performance of the proposed control system is tested through simulations with a non-linear model of a bioclimatic building room. Several simulation scenarios are considered as a test-bed. From the obtained results, it is possible to conclude that the control system has a good behavior in several situations, i.e., it can reach the users' thermal comfort for the analyzed situations, whereas the HVAC use is adjusted through the DAP; therefore, the energy savings associated with the HVAC is increased.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [DPI2014-56364-C2-1-R]; EU-ERDF funds; Competitiveness and ERDF funds; Fundacion Iberdrola Espana; Portuguese Foundation for Science & Technology, through IDMEC, under LAETA [ID/EMS/50022/2013

Climate Responsive Design Simulation and Modelling for Industrial Heritage

The control of solar radiation is a basic dimension of modern design in all different types of constructions. Many architects have recently observed that different phases of sustainable design require a set of calculations and simulations that are necessary as a new standard design.'e valuable contributions to the process of sustainable design has a common denominator: solar radiation and comfort. In this way, motivated by all these new strategies and concepts, the large number of papers published suggests that the work has not been finished. 'is work provides an illustration of the Atarazanas regarding its climate responsiveness, focusing specifically on daylighting, shading, heat gain, and cooling loads. 'e objective is to assess the design of the Reales Atarazanas de Sevilla (Seville Royal Dockyards) to quantify how it is impacted by solar insolation and to provide insights about design characteristics that influence efficiency and conservation

Intra-Household Resource Management Structure and Income-Hiding under Incomplete Information

There is evidence that some multi-person households may withhold income transfers, such as bonuses, gifts, and cash transfers, from other members of the household (Ashraf (2009); Vogler and Pahl, (1994)). In this paper, I show that the incentives to hide income under incomplete information regarding the quantity of resources available to the household differ for three different household resource management structures. I illustrate this with a simple two-stage game. In the first stage, one spouse receives a monetary transfer that is unobserved by her spouse, and she must decide whether to reveal or to hide it. In the second stage, spouses bargain over the allocation of resources between a household good and private expenditure. The three models differ in the resource allocation mechanism that takes place in second stage of the game: housekeeping allowance, independent management, and joint management. Results indicate that when one spouse receives a monetary transfer that is unobservable to her spouse, hiding is more likely to occur in households with a housekeeping allowance contract, compared to independent or joint management. In joint management households, however, a spouse may hide in equilibrium if the change in bargaining power associated with revealing the transfer is not significant enough to compensate for the loss in discretionary expenditure.incomplete information, household bargaining, resource management systems, Demand and Price Analysis, Labor and Human Capital, D13, D82, J12,

Management of the Loco (Concholepas concholepas) as a Driver for Self-governance of Small-scale Benthic Fisheries in Chile

WRI led the "Reefs at Risk Revisited" analysis in collaboration with a broad partnership of more than 25 research, conservation, and educational organizations. Partners have provided data, offered guidance on the analytical approach, contributed to the report, and served as critical reviewers of the maps and findings.

Inversion of analytic characteristic functions and infinite convolutions of exponential and Laplace densities

We prove that certain quotients of entire functions are characteristic functions. Under some conditions, the probability measure corresponding to a characteristic function of that type has a density which can be expressed as a generalized Dirichlet series, which in turn is an infinite linear combination of exponential or Laplace densities. These results are applied to several examples

The Returns to Temporary Migration to the United States: Evidence from the Mexican Urban Employment Survey

Mexican migration to the United States has been a very important issue throughout the twentieth century, and its relevance has reached unprecedented levels during the last two decades. Even though there is a huge body of literature that analyses many different aspects of this phenomenon, the economic performance of migrants with respect to the Mexican labour markets has received very little attention. This paper aims at filling this gap by presenting new evidence on the effect that migration to the United States has on labour market outcomes of Mexican workers. It uses data from the Mexican National Survey of Urban Labour (ENEU) for the period 1994-2002. Among other advantages, the panel structure of the survey is ideal for minimizing the problems of self-selection bias that are common in most of the alternative data sources. Fixed-effects estimation indicates that Mexican workers that migrate temporarily to the United States obtain significantly higher earnings in the U.S. labour market than in the Mexican one during the period of migration. They also tend to work longer hours and face a generally higher likelihood of non employment during the period of return migration. Finally, the gains from temporary migration are lower for more skilled workers and for those migrating from the most distant regions in Mexico, relative to the United States.temporary migration, real wages, labour supply

Greenhouse technology for sustainable production in mild winter climate areas: Trends and needs

Greenhouse production in the near future will need to reduce significantly its environmental impact. For this purpose, elements such as the structure, glazing materials, climate equipments and controls have to be developed and wisely managed to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, achieve maximum use of natural resources such as solar radiation and water, and minimize the input of chemicals and fertilizers. This paper discusses the most relevant developments in greenhouse technology for mild winter climates. Regarding greenhouse structures, recent studies based on computational fluid dynamics have been conducted to investigate the effect of parameters such as ventilator size and arrangement, roof slope and greenhouse width and height on the air exchange rate. Next generation greenhouses are expected to incorporate some of the innovations derived from recent ventilation studies. Covering crops with screens is becoming a common practice. Main advantages and limitations of screenhouses are discussed in this paper. Thermal storage is increasingly applied in closed or semi-closed greenhouses. Under some conditions semi-closed greenhouses could mitigate day/night while reducing the use of water and the entrance of pest. Photo selective films that reflect a fraction of NIR radiation are effective at lowering greenhouse temperature and, in some cases, may be cost effective. NIR reflective films have side effects of major importance in greenhouse production. The CO2 enrichment strategy in computer-controlled greenhouses is based on determining the benefits of increasing the CO2 concentration against the cost of it. No clear strategies have been defined for the application of CO2 in unheated greenhouses, where most of the time the source of carbon dioxide is the external air. Some authors suggest ventilating as little as possible and fertilizing with bottled carbon dioxide at least up to the external concentration. Improving greenhouses by introducing new technologies may have an additional impact on the environment. From an environmental point of view, the incorporation of technology needs to increase yield to compensate for its associated environmental burden. Previous results have shown that forced ventilation and heating are the main reasons for the increase in environmental impact in climate controlled greenhouses. Additional results on the area of technology and its associated impact are discussed in this pape