Organisation and reforms of the electricity sector in Slovenia

As a new member state of the EU, Slovenia has been required to adopt EU legislation in full. The Slovenian electricity market has been partially opened since 2001. From 1 July 2007, when households became eligible customers, the electricity market opened fully. The electricity reforms carried out so far comprise of market liberalization, unbundling of activities, allowing regulated TPA, formation of an organized power market, adoption of incentive-based price cap regulation and the establishment of an independent regulatory body. The challenge that remains to be addressed is how to enhance competition in an electricity market that has a net importer position with limited cross-border capacity. Envisaged investments in generating and cross-border capacities will partially close the gap between domestic generation and consumption. Furthermore, since Slovenia has one of the largest levels of state ownership in the electricity sector among EU member states, privatization of electricity companies is envisaged in the near future.     

公路环境保护与环境影响评价

对公路建设环境保护作了比较深入的分析与探讨，总结归纳了公路施工保护工作的重点与措施，对环境影响评价制度与方法进行了全面阐述，以减少或杜绝公路环境污染，恢复路域生态。     

地理信息系统(GIS)在环境影响评价中的应用

介绍了地理信息系统对环境影响的评价，阐述了其数据库可以获得评价对象所在地理区域内复杂的污染源、环境质量等方面的信息，指出地理信息系统将具有更为宽阔的应用空间。     

Agricultural phosphorus flow and its environmental impacts in China

The transfer of nutrients from agricultural land to waters attracts the attention of policy makers as well as scientists as it plays an increasingly significant role in affecting the water environment. It is therefore essential to first understand the nutrient flow in agricultural systems and then correspondingly formulate a series of cost-effective policies and best management practices (BMPs). On the basis of an emission inventory analysis (EIA) and a nutrient full balance (NFB) calculation, this paper presents a partial substance flow analysis (SFA) method, as well as an Agricultural Phosphorus Flow Analysis (AgiPhosFA) model, to describe the phosphorus (P) flow in the agricultural systems in China and assess the impact of human activities on waters driven by agriculture and rural life. It is estimated that average P input and output were 28.9 kg ha(-1) a(-1) and 14.2 kg ha(-1) a(-1) respectively in China in 2004, while the total P utilization efficiency (Plant uptake P/P input) in agriculture was 45.7% leading to an average P surplus of 14.7 kg ha(-1) a(-1). Excessive P application through mineral fertilizer in the arable farming system has led to the accumulation of soil P and constituted a risk to the recipient water quality, whereas the grassland grazing system is confronted with a severe P deficit problem which has resulted in widespread grass degradation. Therefore it may be an efficient way to mitigate the problems simultaneously by regulating and balancing the P flows between the two systems. Uncertainties of the method and model are also discussed in terms of model conceptualization, data and parameters, and spatial and temporal variability.     

Long-term contracting in hydro-thermal electricity generation: Welfare and environmental impact

We consider electricity generation industries where thermal operators imperfectly compete with hydro operators that manage a (scarce) water stock stored in reservoirs over a natural cycle. We explore how the exercise of intertemporal market power affects social welfare and environmental quality. We show that, as compared to the outcome of spot markets, long-term contracting either exacerbates or alleviates price distortions, depending upon the consumption pattern over the water cycle. Moreover, it induces a second-order environmental effect that, in the presence of a thermal competitive fringe, is critically related to the thermal market shares in the different periods of the cycle. We conclude by providing policy insights.     

分时电价制度下的产品成本和收益

0前言目前大多数工业企业都实行分时电价制度,用电按谷、平、峰分时计价,而且各段的电价相差较大。如我地区的电价为:谷电0.236元/kW·h,平电0.529元/kW·h,峰电0.882元/kW·h。另外对变压器的峰、平时段的最大需量按每kW收取30元的基本电费(最低也要按0.4的系数收取)。在这种情况下,企业三班开足摊薄固定费用获取规模效益不一定能达到利润最大化,我们应通过分析计算探寻最佳生产方案并取得最大利润。1建立模型某企业生产单一产品,月固定成本为FC(元/m);平均动力可变成本为VC1(元/t),VC1=aD,其中a为电价(元/kW·h),D为单位产品电耗(kW…     

The impacts of climatic and economic factors on residential electricity consumption of Bangkok Metropolis

Bangkok Metropolis is the largest city of Thailand. It consumes electricity about 30% of the whole country (2006). The residential electricity consumption (REC) in Bangkok Metropolis has increased more than 240% over the past 20-year period. The growth in REC due to climatic and economic factors. This research investigated monthly data of ambient temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and wind speed during the past 20-year period. And also investigated economic factors, e.g. number of houses, monthly income, and monthly shipment of air-conditioner over 5-year period. The residential electricity consumption of Bangkok Metropolis (RECB) model was created to analyze the impacts of each factor and to forecast the REC of Bangkok Metropolis for future use.     

E-waste: An assessment of global production and environmental impacts

E-waste comprises discarded electronic appliances, of which computers and mobile telephones are disproportionately abundant because of their short lifespan. The current global production of E-waste is estimated to be 20-25 million tonnes per year, with most E-waste being produced in Europe, the United States and Australasia. China, Eastern Europe and Latin America will become major E-waste producers in the next ten years. Miniaturisation and the development of more efficient cloud computing networks, where computing services are delivered over the internet from remote locations, may offset the increase in E-waste production from global economic growth and the development of pervasive new technologies. E-waste contains valuable metals (Cu, platinum group) as well as potential environmental contaminants, especially Pb, Sb, Hg, Cd, Ni, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Burning E-waste may generate dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs), and hydrogen chloride. The chemical composition of E-waste changes with the development of new technologies and pressure from environmental organisations on electronics companies to find alternatives to environmentally damaging materials. Most E-waste is disposed in landfills. Effective reprocessing technology, which recovers the valuable materials with minimal environmental impact, is expensive. Consequently, although illegal under the Basel Convention, rich countries export an unknown quantity of E-waste to poor countries, where recycling techniques include burning and dissolution in strong acids with few measures to protect human health and the environment. Such reprocessing initially results in extreme localised contamination followed by migration of the contaminants into receiving waters and food chains. E-waste workers suffer negative health effects through skin contact and inhalation, while the wider community are exposed to the contaminants through smoke, dust, drinking water and food. There is evidence that E-waste associated contaminants may be present in some agricultural or manufactured products for export.     

预拌混凝土生命周期环境影响评价

预拌混凝土是目前重点推广和用量巨大的建筑材料。为客观评价预拌混凝土的环境影响,基于BEPAS(Building Environmental Performance Analysis System)评价系统,从六种等级预拌混凝土(C30～C100)的生产、施工、拆除三个阶段的资源和能源消耗基础数据收集入手,建立了各等级预拌混凝土的投入产出清单。依据更新的货币化环境影响评价权重,得到了单位体积预拌混凝土的生命周期社会意愿支付值。此外,给出了基于6个模拟算例的混凝土框架结构的环境影响评价结果。结果表明:单一预拌混凝土材料的环境影响随等级提高而上升;对于框架结构,C50和C60高强预拌混凝土兼具环境表现和经济效果良好的特点。     

Comparison of environmental impacts of two residential heating systems

This paper presents a comparison of environmental impacts of two residential heating systems, a hot water heating (HWH) system with mechanical ventilation and a forced air heating (FAH) system. These two systems are designed for a house recently built near Montreal, Canada. The comparison is made with respect to the life-cycle energy use, the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the expanded cumulative exergy consumption (ECExC), the energy and exergy efficiencies, and the life-cycle cost. The results indicate that the heating systems cause marginal impacts compared with the entire house in the pre-operating phase. In the operating phase, on the other hand, they cause significant environmental impacts. The HWH systems with a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) using either electricity or natural gas have the lowest life-cycle energy use and lowest ECExC. The HWH and FAH systems using electricity as energy source have the lowest GHG emissions. Finally, the FAH systems have, on the average, a lower life-cycle cost than the HWH systems.     

Indicators of decoupling housing-related environmental impacts from economic growth

Decoupling economic growth from its negative environmental impacts is emphasized as a key strategy for achieving environmental sustainability. Indicators to measure this decoupling are of importance to policy-making, social debates and academic research. Growth in the housing sector has been linked to a number of negative environmental impacts. Based on theoretical analyses of decoupling strategies for that sector, this article proposes a comprehensive and systematic set of indicators for decoupling of housing-related environmental impacts from economic growth. These indicators measure three aspects of the decoupling strategies: substituting for growth in the housing sector; increasing the economic value of the residential building stock via qualitative improvement; and improving eco-efficiency in relation to residential buildings. The indicator set covers the environmental consequences from the housing sector in terms of material consumption, energy consumption and land-related impacts. Applications of some of the indicators are then illustrated with an example from a case study in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area in China. Finally, the fruitfulness and limitations of the decoupling indicators are discussed.     

Positive impacts of environmental policy on business in the United States

This paper asserts that environmental policy in the United States has had several positive impacts on the business community. This viewpoint is important, because popular discussion of environmental policy generally focuses on only negative impacts for the economy. Three areas of environmental policy are examined: legislation, regulation, and government‐funded research. In each of these areas, specific examples are cited to exemplify ways in which environmental policy has promoted certain economic interests. No attempt is made to refute the many negative effects that environmental policy has created for the economy. Rather, the paper highlights several positive effects, and discusses how these alter the conception of benefit‐cost analysis that simply pits environmental benefits against economic costs. Finally, the paper examines the efficacy of evaluating environmental policy with a benefit‐cost framework, and suggests areas of environmental policy where such an analysis of tradeoffs is and is not acceptable.     

From elevated freeways to surface boulevards: neighborhood and housing price impacts in San Francisco

Freeway “deconstruction” marks an abrupt shift in urban policy. Priorities are shifting away from designing cities to enhance mobility toward promoting livability. This paper investigates the neighborhood, traffic, and housing price impacts of replacing elevated freeways with surface boulevards in two corridors of San Francisco in California, USA: Embarcadero along the city's eastern waterfront and Central Freeway/Octavia Boulevard serving a predominantly residential neighborhood west of downtown. Using informant interviews, literature reviews, and statistical analyses, the research suggests that freeway conversions generally gentrifies neighborhoods, although policies like affordable housing mandates can temper displacement effects. Empirical evidence on residential sales transactions reveals that the disamenity effects of proximity to a freeway have for the most part given way to amenity benefits once roadways are converted to landscaped multiway boulevards. It is concluded that freeway‐to‐boulevard conversions have yielded net positive benefits without seriously sacrificing transportation performance.     

The role of efficiency estimates in regulatory price reviews: Ofgem's approach to benchmarking electricity networks

Electricity regulators around the world make use of efficiency analysis (or benchmarking) to produce estimates of the likely amount of cost reduction which regulated electric utilities can achieve. This short paper examines the use of such efficiency estimates by the UK electricity regulator (Ofgem) within electricity distribution and transmission price reviews. It highlights the place of efficiency analysis within the calculation of X factors. We suggest a number of problems with the current approach and make suggestions for the future development of X factor setting.     

建筑电气节能和环保技术的分析与探讨

从节能和环保角度出发,对建筑电气技术进行了研究,并采用理论和应用相结合的方法深入剖析,提出了建筑电气节能和环保的技术措施,以推动建筑电气的可持续发展。     

Eco-Bat: A design tool for assessing environmental impacts of buildings and equipment

This paper presents the features of Eco-Bat, a computer program developed to assess the environmental impacts of buildings, including construction materials and energy consumed, during its life cycle. The methodology used to evaluate environmental impacts based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, compatible with ISO 14040 standards, is detailed. The data are mainly extracted from an environmental impacts database, Ecoinvent, which contains values for the manufacturing and elimination of numerous materials as well as other processes. Two applications are presented to illustrate the possibilities offered by Eco-Bat. The first one is a comparison of different variants of building facades. The second example shows the analysis of a whole building including its energy consumption.     

An evaluation of the environmental burdens of present and alternative materials used for electricity transmission

This paper describes research using life cycle analysis assessment techniques to determine the environmental impacts associated with the use of present and possible alternative materials utilised in all aspects of high voltage electricity transmission. The study focuses on the National Grid system in England and Wales, where the majority of high voltage electricity is transmitted through steel and aluminium conductors supported above the ground by mild steel lattice type towers. A major aspect of the study is to address the effects of different corrosive environments to which the tower materials are exposed: namely rural, industrial and coastal locations.     

Economic impacts of solar thermal electricity technology deployment on Andalusian productive activities: a CGE approach

Solar thermal electricity is a type of renewable energy technology of special interest for Andalusia (southern Spain) because of the large number of annual sunshine hours. This paper estimates the impact on productive activities of increasing the production capacity of the installed solar thermal plants in Andalusia. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach, estimates of the changes in the economic sectors’ activity under two different scenarios are obtained: i) based on two types of solar thermal electricity plants currently in operation and ii) based on an increase from 11 MW in 2007 to 800 MW installed capacity by 2013 to comply with the ‘Plan Andaluz de Sostenibilidad Energética (PASENER)—Sustainable Energy Plan for Andalusia’. For the case of a parabolic trough solar collector power plant, results show that compliance with the PASENER goal would increase the level of the productive activities by around 30%. For the alternative technology—a solar tower power plant—results show that activities would increase by around 5% for 30 years, the estimated lifetime of this type of plant. Thus, the impact of the solar thermal electricity plants on the productive activities of the PASENER compliant production goal would be remarkable.