Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours: a review of methods and approaches. ESRI Working Paper No. 645 December 2019

Many urgent environmental problems can be mitigated with more sustainable use of resource. An acknowledgement of which is a growing interest among policy practitioners in encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change initiatives. The effect of anthropic pressure on the environment is long known and the first pro-environmental behaviour studies date back to the middle 1970s. Despite this, the scientific literature has not yet answered several questions: what are the most suitable ways to encourage behavioural changes? What are the barriers to project implementation? What are the long run effects of behavioural change projects? With this in mind, this contribution offers a review of the existing literature on behavioural change case studies and provides a categorisation of treatments and guidelines for successful project implementation. Five different approaches have been considered: education and awareness, social influence, relationship building, incentives and nudges, which have been used in experimental studies. On balance the case studies suggest that all approaches are suitable but their selection should be based on specific objectives and target population. Interestingly, the choice of the behaviour to change is rarely discussed before project implementation. This analysis also highlights that little is known on whether behaviour change projects achieve sustained pro-environmental behavioural change over time

Low rates of free-riding in residential energy efficiency retrofit grants. ESRI Research Bulletin, 2018/04

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Homes (BEH) grant scheme to encourage households to invest in residential energy efficiency retrofits. All grant schemes are subject to free-riders, where a proportion of those being grant-aided would have undertaken the activity (i.e. energy efficiency retrofits) in the absence of any grant aid, which is often referred to as deadweight loss. This research finds that just 7% of participants in the BEH scheme would have undertaken a retrofit even in the absence of grant aid, and a further 8% would have occurred with a lower level of grant aid than was available. These free-rider rates are very low compared to similar schemes internationally, which have free-riding rates ranging from 40% to as much as 96%. Free-rider rates vary by retrofit type, lowest for households investing in solar panels and highest for those investing in central heating controls. Of households that received grant aid for heating controls only, 33% were estimated as free riders (i.e. would have invested in absence of the grant) and a further 27% would have undertaken a retrofit with a lower level of grant aid. The analysis also estimates how much households are willing to pay for certain types of energy efficiency retrofit improvements. For retrofits that specifically improve the efficiency of energy used for space and water heating (e.g. boiler upgrades, heating controls) estimated willingness-to-pay equals €0.127/kWh/yr. Households that have previously undertaken an energy efficiency upgrade are willing to pay twice this amount. Additionally, households in the least energy efficient properties (i.e. properties with the greatest potential energy efficiency gains) are willing to pay less for retrofits than households in more energy efficient properties

Return on energy efficiency investments in rental properties. ESRI Research Bulletin 2018/6

Generally, residential tenants do not invest in energy efficiency, as the upkeep of rental properties is usually the landlord’s responsibility. This research, which is based on a survey of tenants, finds that up to half of rental tenants are willing to pay more for properties with higher levels of energy efficiency. Of rental tenants willing to pay for better energy efficiency, on average they are willing to pay €38 per month extra in rent for a 1-grade improvement in the 15-grade Building Energy Rating (BER) scale for their existing rental properties. How much extra rent tenants are willing to pay varies across a number of circumstances but the factor that had the largest impact is information; information related to BER ratings and the potential savings in energy costs associated with better BER grades. Information on the BER rating scheme and the associated potential energy cost savings have two impacts on tenants’ willingness to pay for energy efficiency improvements. First, with additional information explaining BERs, including what a BER rating measures and how much a grade improvement along the BER scale can affect energy costs more tenants were willing to pay additional rent for energy efficiency improvements, rising from 38% of our survey sample to 55%. Second, the extra rent that tenants were willing to pay for a 1-grade BER improvement declined from €47/month to €38/month. This decline in willingness to pay occurs even among respondents that were willing to pay an additional rent of €47/month prior to learning more about BERs and associated potential energy cost savings. So, a higher proportion of tenants were willing to pay some extra rent for energy efficiency improvements but the amount that they are willing to pay declines, on average. This reduction in willingness to pay implies that in the absence of a good understanding of the potential energy cost savings associated with BER improvements tenants overvalue energy efficiency labels. A substantial minority of tenants are unwilling to pay additional rent for energy efficiency improvements, between 45% and 62% in our sample. The predominant reason tenants indicated why they were unwilling to pay was that they could not afford higher rents. This reflects the current property market in Ireland with high rental rates. When the extra rent that tenants are willing to pay is compared to the cost of associated energy efficiency improvements, the investment payback periods for most retrofit types (e.g. attic and cavity wall insulation, heating system upgrades) are relatively short. For the most energy inefficient properties (BER grades D-G) the investment payback periods are between 1 – 3 years when the Sustainable Energy Authority’s (SEAI) energy efficiency retrofit grant is included, whereas the payback period of more energy efficient properties (BER grades A-C) averages between 2 – 4 years. Payback periods for retrofits comprising external wall insulation or solar panels are substantially longer

Estimating the Demand for Salmon Angling in Ireland

This paper reports the results of a count data travel cost model for estimating the demand and economic value of salmon angling in Co. Donegal, Ireland. Angling quality, age and nationality were found to affect angling demand, while estimated consumer surplus per angler per day was approximately IR£138 based on a truncated negative binomial model allowing for endogenous stratification.

Water quality and recreational use of public waterways. ESRI Research Bulletin 2017/06

Approximately half of the adult population participate in some form of water-based activity every year, across activities such as angling, boating, swimming, and water sports. Prior research from 2003 suggests that water-based tourism accounted for 22 per cent of the domestic tourism market and generated 45 per cent of domestic tourism revenue, all of which is underpinned by Ireland’s marine and freshwater resources. The Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent State of the Environment report notes that while the quality of Ireland’s surface waters is among the best in Europe improvements are still needed and insufficient progress is being made. Over the past six years there was no improvement in quality of river, transitional and coastal waters, while lake water quality has got slightly worse. This research examines how recreational activity is impacted by changes in water quality

EXPLAINING DEER POPULATION PREFERENCES: AN ANALYSIS OF FARMERS, HUNTERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC

Wildlife managers must consider the public's preferences for wildlife population levels when determining management policies. In 1996, Maryland farmers, hunters and the general public were surveyed to determine their preferences for increasing, maintaining, or decreasing deer population numbers. Using a random utility theoretic framework with an ordered response probit model, the factors that explain preferences such as residential location, socioeconomic characteristics, landscape damage, agricultural yield loss and vehicle accidents were analyzed.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Interferometric tracking system for the tracking and data relay satellite

This report documents construction and testing of the Interferometric Tracking System project developed under the NASA SBIR contract NAS5-30313. Manuals describing the software and hardware, respectively entitled: 'Field Station Guide to Operations' and 'Field Station Hardware Manual' are included as part of this final report. The objective of this contract was to design, build, and operate a system of three ground stations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry techniques to measure the TDRS orbit. The ground stations receive signals from normal satellite traffic, store these signals in co-located computers, and transmit the information via phone lines to a central processing site which correlates the signals to determine relative time delays. Measurements from another satellite besides TDRS are used to determine clock offsets. A series of such measurements will ultimately be employed to derive the orbital parameters, yielding positions accurate to within 50 meters or possibly better

ESTIMATION OF EMPLOYMENT MULTIPLIERS FOR PLANNING IN OZARKS NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES

Labor and Human Capital,

Uncertainty Relation for Mutual Information

We postulate the existence of a universal uncertainty relation between the quantum and classical mutual informations between pairs of quantum systems. Specifically, we propose that the sum of the classical mutual information, determined by two mutually unbiased pairs of observables, never exceeds the quantum mutual information. We call this the complementary-quantum correlation (CQC) relation and prove its validity for pure states, for states with one maximally mixed subsystem, and for all states when one measurement is minimally disturbing. We provide results of a Monte Carlo simulation suggesting the CQC relation is generally valid. Importantly, we also show that the CQC relation represents an improvement to an entropic uncertainty principle in the presence of a quantum memory, and that it can be used to verify an achievable secret key rate in the quantum one-time pad cryptographic protocol.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure