Increasing Energy Costs Research Articles

Energy Usage, Health Issues, and Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Exploring the Link and Promoting Energy Change in Kyrgyzstan

Background: This study examines the relationship between energy usage, health issues, and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) in Kyrgyzstan amidst the country’s commitment to transition from coal-based energy to renewable sources, in line with the Paris Agreement. The purpose is to investigate citizens’ attitudes towards PEB and their intentions to engage in environmentally friendly actions, focusing on gas, electricity, and coal. Methods: Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework, a survey was conducted among 1455 respondents to explore attitudes towards PEB and energy sources’ impact on health issues. Results: Decarbonization efforts in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia are in their early stages, with coal remaining a primary energy source. The study emphasizes the importance of governmental policies and citizen action in achieving decarbonization goals. Rising electricity costs outweigh the increase in indirect energy costs for food, posing challenges for households adapting to changing energy dynamics. Conclusions: Targeted interventions and communication strategies are crucial to promote pro-environmental behaviour and facilitate the transition to sustainable energy sources. Understanding the relationships between health concerns, air pollution awareness, PEB, and energy source choices can inform policymakers and organizations to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries.

A matter of energy injustice? A comparative analysis of biogas development in Brazil and Italy

Energy transitions have significant implications for justice, as certain regions may experience losses or improvements as a result of decarbonization efforts. The biogas development in Brazil and Italy has been characterized by incidents of injustice in different dimensions and contexts. This article addresses this issue by applying a multi-scalar and multi-horizon structure model developed by Kanger and Sovacool (Kanger and Sovacool, 2022 [1]) to connect these incidents to energy transition dynamics, regarding biogas development, in both countries. Organized into dimensions and clusters, and at different spatial and temporal scales, the obtained data – derived by scientific literature review and analysis of news published by the media – were analyzed from an inventory that gathered 230 incidents of injustice for Brazil and 114 for Italy. Among the results obtained, some differences stand out. In Italy, biogas policies have mainly benefited large plants in the northern region of the country, leading to regional disparities, while in Brazil, the dependence on rainfall has prevented effective incentives for renewable sources, in addition to leading to increased energy costs and social problems. The research also reveals that the regional scale is more relevant for Italy, reflecting the country's political structure. Unlike the Italian reality, in Brazil, the regional spatial scale is neglected, with a greater presence of national scope initiatives. The movement to systematize the contextual factors of biogas injustices in Brazil and Italy can provide insights for policymakers and researchers interested in the dynamics of energy transition and the challenges associated with promoting renewable energies while addressing social and environmental issues.

A novel framework for enhancing the power quality of electrical vehicle battery charging based on a modified Ferdowsi Converter

A DC–DC converter in an EV charging station is to regulate the DC voltage from the rectifier to the required voltage for battery charging. This ensures that a constant, stable, and safe charging voltage is provided to the battery However, if the EV charging is done only with a DC–DC​ converter, it results in poor Power Quality (PQ), with high levels of harmonic distortion and a low power factor. This can lead to longer charging times, increased energy costs, decreased battery performance and life, and introduce serious PQ issues. To address these issues, the Ferdowsi Converter is proposed is a combination of two interleaved Buck-Boost converters with a common input inductor as a solution with simplified PT control strategy presented, operated in operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) is presented, which can achieve nearly unity power factor (PF) over universal input voltage range studied. The converter performs with fewer components, providing a charger input current that is in phase with the mains voltage, reducing the THD to below 5% under steady state and during variations in line and load side.

Impact of green building certification on the rent of commercial properties: A review

The world is currently facing two major problems, namely, increasing energy costs and global warming. As a result, it is crucial to take proactive measures to effectively address and mitigate the detrimental impacts arising from elevated energy costs, the pressing issue of global warming, and various types of environmental degradation. As a reaction, international organizations are advocating for the development of eco-friendly, sustainable, or green buildings as a strategy to reduce the harmful effects of the construction sector on the environment. While green development may entail higher costs for developers, it is imperative to evaluate the return on investment from their perspective. As such, this study initially delves into the global landscape of green building certifications and their associated institutions by thoroughly examining relevant literature published between 2003 and 2021. Following that, the study scrutinizes the advancement of research on green building practices across diverse office building sectors and over the course of time. Following that, the study explores green incentives in property markets worldwide, with a particular emphasis on the United States and Europe, as well as other regions. Ultimately, the paper assesses the efficacy of green incentives in driving sustainable building practices in diverse real estate markets. The findings from the review suggest that green certification is associated with higher commercial building rents as opposed to buildings without certifications, with 77% of the research demonstrating a significant positive correlation between green certification and rental rates. Nevertheless, the study recommends that relative rent should be regarded as an endogenous variable in future research, as investment profitability is jointly influenced by both occupancy rate and rental value, underscoring the need for careful consideration in analytical analyses.

Selling under other skies when energy prices skyrocket: How do the companies adapt their export strategy when energy prices rise?

The prospect of higher carbon taxation raises concerns that these policies could hinder the ability of domestic industry to compete in export markets, especially for energy-intensive sectors. The recent jump in energy prices leads to even greater worries. This paper investigates the impact of a change in energy prices on export patterns of manufacturing firms using a large panel of French firms observed from 2001 to 2015. The identification strategy uses a fixed weight energy price index as a shift-share instrumental variable for the average energy cost. For the average firm we find that a 10% increase in the energy cost is associated with a 3.6% decrease in total export value, a 1.3% decrease in the number of export destinations, and a 2.3% increase in export prices. But there are substantial heterogeneities between firms facing a similar increase in energy costs and the impact of an energy cost increase differs from one destination export to another.

Assessing policy options for sustainable water use in India’s cereal production system

In India, the production of rice and wheat account for more than 80% of its total agricultural water use. As farming is highly dependent on water availability, rapidly receding water levels require urgent measures to manage withdrawals. We assess policy instruments that can reduce pressures on water resources, while at the same time limiting adverse impacts on water-intensive cereal production systems, land-use changes and economic welfare. To this end, we use a dynamic and integrated partial equilibrium model of agricultural production and its impact on the environment to reflect two options: an increase in energy costs for irrigation water (price-related effects), and alternatively, physical quotas on water withdrawals (quantity-related effects). We conclude that it is possible to increase energy prices for agriculture with minimal impacts on agricultural production, agricultural prices, and trade in cereal crops, and moderately reduce water withdrawals by 2050. We find that the intermediate effects of pricing policies are negative for all indicators as compared to quota policies. However, by 2050, both policies yield similar outcomes for all indicators. Our results offer insights into ways in which these policies drive different mechanisms and trade-offs on important agro-economic indicators, and they offer the choice for water conservation policy decision-making based on other critical factors such as implementation costs.

Specific solutions for reducing energy consumption in existing and new AAC plants

AbstractThe life cycle analysis of AAC has shown that the majority of CO2 emissions is caused by the binding agents: cement and quicklime. Only 16% are generated during the production process. However, the warning of gas shortages, power black‐out scenarios and the enormous increase in energy costs are now drawing attention to implement more energy‐saving measures into the production process. Considering renewable energy sources, e.g. photovoltaic or wind power, there are legitimate concerns regarding high consumers, like the sand mill or slurry agitators and their load peak, especially when starting the machines. Before installing renewable electrical energy producers, it is essential to minimise the basic load, avoid load peaks and use existing electrical “energy producers”. Although large energy savings like autoclave steam transfer, heat recovery systems, energy saving motors, LED‐lights are already standard in most plants, a lot of energy is still wasted in the industry. This seminar will demonstrate with specific examples additional new energy saving measures like: intelligent start/stop automatic energy recovery or storage energy efficient machine design smart lighting control predictive maintenance algorithms. Each individual measure does not seem to have a big influence but it may come as a surprise how much energy saving potential there is in the sum of these individual measures. Specifically, tested and implemented energy‐saving measures in WEHRHAHN AAC plants will be explained, giving answers to: How can existing AAC plants be even more updated in an energy‐efficient manner? What does a modern, energy‐efficient AAC plant look like?

Analysis of methods of managing the environmental safety of the navigation passage of ships of maritime transport

The requirements of the MARPOL international convention on ensuring the environmental performance of marine diesel engines in relation to the emission of sulfur oxides, as well as marine fuels during navigation passages of sea transport vessels in special ecological areas, are given. The use of scrubber cleaning of exhaust gases and the use of fuel mixtures, which include biodiesel fuel, are considered as methods that meet these requirements. The research was carried out on ships of the Bulker Carrier class with deadweight of 63,246 tons during the navigation transition between the ports of Northern Europe. One of the vessels used scrubber cleaning of exhaust gases as a method of environmental safety management. The other is the use of fuel mixtures, which include biodiesel fuel. Both vessels are equipped with a 5S60ME-C8.2 MAN-Diesel&Turbo marine diesel engine as the main engine, and three 6EY18ALW Yanmar diesel engines as auxiliary engines. The ratio of sulfur oxides to carbon oxides – SO2/CO2 – was chosen as an indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental safety management methods. This value was monitored and regulated by an automatic monitoring system. It was found that both methods meet the requirements of the MARPOL convention, namely, they will support the SO2/CO2 ratio in the range of 2.29–4.17 (when in special environmental control zones) and in the range of 6.46–20.83 (when in outside the zone of special environmental control). The use of environmental safety management methods increases energy costs for ensuring this process. When using exhaust gas scrubbing, additional power losses reach 237–278 kW. In the case of using a fuel mixture that includes biodiesel fuel, power losses amount to 18–20 kW. It has been experimentally confirmed that the use of a fuel mixture that includes biodiesel fuel is characterized by a lower level of environmental sustainability. At the same time, compared to the use of scrubber cleaning of exhaust gases, this method requires less energy consumption and is also characterized by simpler additional equipment. In this regard (and also taking into account that all the requirements of Annex VI MARPOL are provided), it is recommended as the main one to ensure the environmental safety of navigation passages of sea transport vessels.

Economics of deploying LED lamps as energy efficiency measure in the Senate building of the University of Lagos using time series analysis

The increase in energy waste from energy consuming technologies and human behavior with simultaneous sharp increases in electricity tariffs impinge negatively onto the available distributable income of every energy end-user in both public and private institutions. This paper assesses the impact of an energy management investment in a public building. The eleven-story public building in this case study is the Senate building of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. The energy baseline and economic impact of LED lamps deployment as a sustainable and advanced engineering method for achieving clean energy and cost savings are examined. The ISO50002:2014 energy audit procedure was used in accordance with the energy performance improvement in the building to assess and quantify the lighting energy management potential. The lighting energy consumption, relative humidity, and air temperature in this model were tested for co-integration to determine their relationships. The economic impact in the form of Net Present Value (NPV) was calculated for a period of 8 years at a discount rate of 15%. The overall result, compared to the baseline, indicates that energy efficient lighting does impact positively and significantly on the energy consumption and cost of energy in the building. In terms of elasticities, the regression result indicates that a 1% increase in electricity consumption attributable to lighting will lead to 0.28% increase in energy cost. The results show that the base case types of lighting have a negative NPV of $3,195.98, in contrast to the high-quality LED lamps with a positive NPV of $ 27,945.40.

Supervised Machine Learning Approaches for Leak Localization in Water Distribution Systems: Impact of Complexities of Leak Characteristics

Localizing pipe leaks is a significant challenge for water utilities worldwide. Pipe leaks in water distribution systems (WDSs) can cause the loss of a large amount of treated water, leading to pressure loss, increased energy costs, and contamination risks. What makes localizing pipe leaks challenging is the underground location of the water pipes and the similarity in impact on hydraulic properties (e.g., pressure, flow) due to leaks as compared to the effects of WDS operational changes. Physical methods to locate leaks are expensive, intrusive, and heavily localized. Computational approaches such as data-driven machine learning models provide an economical alternative to physical methods. Machine learning models are readily available and easily customizable to most problems; therefore, there is an increasing trend in their application for leak localization in WDSs. While several studies have applied machine learning models to localize leaks in single pipes and small test networks, these studies have yet to thoroughly test these models against the different complexities of leak localization problems, and hence their applicability to real-world WDSs is still unclear. The simplicity of the WDSs, the oversimplification of leak characteristics, and the lack of consideration of modeling and measuring device uncertainties adopted in most of these studies make the scalability of their proposed approaches questionable to real-world WDSs. Our study addresses this issue by devising four study cases of different complexity that account for realistic leak characteristics and model- and measuring device-related uncertainties. Two established machine learning models—multilayer perceptron (MLP) and convolutional neural network (CNN)—are trained and tested for their ability to localize the leaks and predict their sizes for each of the four study cases using different simulated hydraulic inputs. In addition, the potential benefit of combining different types of hydraulic data as inputs to the machine learning models in localizing leaks is also explored. Pressure and flow, two common hydraulic measurements, are used as inputs to the machine learning models. Further, the impact of single and multiple time point input in leak localization is also investigated. The results for the L-Town network indicate good accuracies for both the models for all study cases, with CNN consistently outperforming MLP.

Multi-objective optimization for hydrogen-mixed combined heat and power (CHP) plants considering economic and environmental factors based on MILP

In this study, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is built to analyze the operating strategy of the combined heat and power (CHP) units, and the impact of the hydrogen ratio on the cost and carbon emissions of the DES. The influence of the discontinuous working conditions of the CHP on the economy evaluation of the DES is investigated. The relationship between the energy consumption and the environmental benefits of the system under different hydrogen ratios is investigated and the optimal trade-off strategy is given. The results show that the electricity sales dominate the income influence considering electricity sales revenue, power generation subsidies, and carbon trading. The costs could save 60% at most. For the DES with hydrogen, the environmental benefits obtained by further increasing the proportion of hydrogen was not enough to compensate for the cost of hydrogen, resulting in an increase in the unit energy cost from 1.32 to 4.8 yuan/kWe. With the improvement of economic optimization satisfaction from 0 to 1(NG: H2 =1:1), electricity imported from the utility grid and carbon emissions increase by 24.11% and 22.61%, respectively. The low price advantage of grid electricity no longer expands when the economic satisfaction is greater than 0.7.

Characterization of damping in 3D metal printed gear body using parameter optimization

With the rapid development of the global economy and the widespread use of high-speed machinery, vibration and noise pollution is becoming increasingly serious. The increased energy costs, environmental pollution, and carbon emissions have prioritized sustainable development for industry. As an important link of mechanical transmission, the gear transmission vibration and noise adversely affect the physical and mental health of operators and interfere with the normal use of machinery. This paper proposes a new metal 3D printing-made vibration-damping lightweight gear model. The solid gear web is replaced with a lightening hole structure that is expected to ensure rigidity and torsional compliance while controlling the damping effects of the gear web structure. Gears were manufactured from an additive manufacturing material using a metal 3D printing technique. This work advanced an experimental analysis of the dissipation properties of metal printed gear exploiting vibration tests. A gear frequency-sweeping excitation test bench was designed and developed to simulate in-plane excitation to produce a circumferential torsional mode of the specimen. Circumference damping estimates are guided by executing vibration exciter excitation on the setup. The half-power bandwidth and modal fitting methods were arranged and compared, relying on the measured frequency response function (FRF) single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) approximation.

Wasting petabytes: A survey of the Sentinel-2 UTM tiling grid and its spatial overhead

Following Landsat’s practice, Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite products are delivered as raster images projected onto the Universal Transversal Mercator (UTM) spatial reference system, which divides Earth into 60 longitudinal zones. Locally, this guarantees high spatial accuracy, while also easing the interoperability with many regional and governmental datums. On top, the Sentinel-2 product grid uses the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) tiling scheme to facilitate manageable data slices and straightforward multitemporal image stacking. Although most convenient for small-area applications, activities with a larger geographic scope suffer from this approach and its overhead, as both data duplication and ambiguity appear along UTM zone overlaps and MGRS tile borders. In practice, such areas that are covered by multiple and incongruent grid pixels are known but just tolerated, and their degree has not been measured so far.In this paper, we illuminate the nature and patterns of these overlaps, and calculate the resulting spatial redundancy over the global land surface. We found that the total land area is enlarged in the Sentinel-2 grid definition by 33%, which is a value similar to the simple and single-zoned Plate Carrée projection. The number of co-located grid pixels for a single location ranges from 1 up to 6, with on average more redundancy at mid- and high-latitudes. With regard to global satellite archives in times of big data and increased energy costs, the examined grid appears as a suboptimal choice, inducing complexity and overhead at an unreasonable level. Owing to the grid design, e.g., the yearly Sentinel-2 user product volume (Level-1C and -2A) is inflated by 1 petabyte, entailing cascading downstream costs of storage, bandwidth, and computing.

Microwave Pyrolysis of Woody Biomass: Influence of Radiation Power on the Composition of Conversion Products

Biomass is a promising resource for the production of renewable energy, liquid fuels, and chemicals. Microwave pyrolysis is one of the directions of multifunctional conversion of raw materials. In the present work, the effect of microwave power on the characteristics of sawdust pyrolysis is studied. With an increase in power, the maximum yield of combustible gases increased, and a large proportion of the total pyrolysis time included the useful time for the release of gases. An increase in power affected the yield of individual gases non-linearly and on a different scale. The average yield of CO and CO2 remained practically unchanged when the microwave power was increased from 840 to 1760 W. However, with a further increase in power to 2200 W, there was a significant increase in the average yield of CO and CO2 (2.5 and 1.4 times, respectively). An increase in power by 2.6 times contributed to an increase in the average yield of CH4 by 5 times and H2 by 3.8 times. The increased power of microwaves contributed to the degassing of wood and intensification of secondary pyrolysis reactions, which resulted in a decrease in the mass of the solid residue by 5.3 times and a decrease in the liquid product yield by 2.7 times. A comprehensive analysis using MCDA showed that an increase in energy costs with an increase in microwave power is integrally compensated by an improvement in pyrolysis performance. So, when the power was varied from 840 W to 2200 W, the pyrolysis efficiency indicator increased by 1.3–2.2 times, considering the growth in energy consumption.

Smart Irrigation System Using Arduino

Abstract: Agriculture is a source of livelihood of majority Indians and has great impact on the economy of the country. In dry areas or in case of inadequate rainfall, irrigation becomes difficult. So, it needs to be automated for proper yield and handled remotely for farmer safety. Increasing energy costs and decreasing water supplies point out the need for better water management. Irrigation management is a complex decision making process to determine when and how much water to apply to a growing crop to meet specific management objectives. If the farmer is far From the agricultural land he will not be noticed of current conditions. So, efficient water management plays an important role in the irrigated agricultural cropping systems. A low cost alternative solution for efficient water management currently in use is drip irrigation systems that consist of an automated controller to turn on & off the control values, which in turn helps the farmers by managing the water supply to the crop fields and further maintains the moisture levels of soil that helps in better crop production. This project probes into the design of the automated irrigation system based on Arduino. This Embedded project is to design and develop a low cost feature which is based on embedded platform for water irrigation system. This project uses temperature and soil moisture sensors to detect the water quantity present in agriculture. The project uses Arduino micro controller which is controller to process the information. The aim of the implementation was to demonstrate that the automatic irrigation can be used to reduce water use

Improving a model of the hybrid photovoltaic system with a storage battery for local object’s self-consumption involving the setting of power consumed from the grid

The object of research is energy processes in a hybrid photovoltaic system with a storage battery for the needs of a local object involving the setting of power consumed from the network. The task addressed was to build a mathematical model of energy processes with the function of determining control parameters providing for the possibility of changing control scenarios. The mathematical model of the storage battery has been improved, taking into account the charge modes and discharge currents in terms of accuracy of reproduction of the manufacturer’s specification not worse than 3 %. A structure of the model was proposed with separation of module, which defines control parameters, as well as the schedule of power setting for selected scenarios. A variable is introduced into the model description, which determines the specified power value and ensures the construction of SoС(t) schedule. An additional mode to increase the energy use of the photovoltaic battery and restrictions on the measured value of load power were taken into account. Modeling with a change in time scale was proposed: first, control parameters are determined, followed by modeling in the daily cycle. This eliminates the need for preliminary calculations before modeling and provides the ability to verify the determination of system parameters with subsequent adjustment. A procedure for determining control parameters with power setting and adjusting the model under different control scenarios has been devised. When using archival generation data for the location of the facility, this makes it possible at the design stage to choose an option for implementing the power supply system with the desired indicators. For specific uses, it has been shown that underestimating the power of a photovoltaic battery by only 9 % increases energy costs by 1.72–1.39 times. Overstating power by 16.7 % impairs usage by 13.7 % while reducing costs by 1.4 % to 2.5 %

Ozonation Processes for Color Removal from Urban and Leather Tanning Wastewater

The need to ensure adequate levels of both human and environmental health protection calls for the identification of efficient wastewater treatment processes that target the removal of conventional pollutants as well as emerging contaminants, including synthetic dyes. This study explores the potential of ozone for use in the decolorization of both pretreated tannery wastewater and urban wastewater effluents. Different ozone contact times (15, 30, and 45 min) were applied to such wastewater samples at an uncontrolled (7.5–8.2) pH as well as at a pH adjusted to 10. The highest color removal efficiencies (REs) (>90%) were obtained with urban wastewater after a 45 min contact time and at pH 10. Under the same conditions, a COD RE from 31 to 51% was achieved. Even without pH adjustment, color and COD REs ranging from 81 to 92% and 39 to 41%, respectively, were obtained. A preliminary evaluation of the costs associated with the implementation of an ozonation stage within the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) generating the urban wastewater used here was carried out. The energy cost of the ozone treatment would account for a 69% increase in the total energy cost of the WWTP, suggesting the need to identify proper strategies to enhance the cost-competitiveness of this technology.

On the paradox of thriving cold-water coral reefs in the food-limited deep sea.

The deep sea is amongst the most food-limited habitats on Earth, as only a small fraction (<4%) of the surface primary production is exported below 200 m water depth. Here, cold-water coral (CWC) reefs form oases of life: their biodiversity compares with tropical coral reefs, their biomass and metabolic activity exceed other deep-sea ecosystems by far. We critically assess the paradox of thriving CWC reefs in the food-limited deep sea, by reviewing the literature and open-access data on CWC habitats. This review shows firstly that CWCs typically occur in areas where the food supply is not constantly low, but undergoes pronounced temporal variation. High currents, downwelling and/or vertically migrating zooplankton temporally boost the export of surface organic matter to the seabed, creating 'feast' conditions, interspersed with 'famine' periods during the non-productive season. Secondly, CWCs, particularly the most common reef-builder Desmophyllum pertusum (formerly known as Lophelia pertusa), are well adapted to these fluctuations in food availability. Laboratory and in situ measurements revealed their dietary flexibility, tissue reserves, and temporal variation in growth and energy allocation. Thirdly, the high structural and functional diversity of CWC reefs increases resource retention: acting as giant filters and sustaining complex food webs with diverse recycling pathways, the reefs optimise resource gains over losses. Anthropogenic pressures, including climate change and ocean acidification, threaten this fragile equilibrium through decreased resource supply, increased energy costs, and dissolution of the calcium-carbonate reef framework. Based on this review, we suggest additional criteria to judge the health of CWC reefs and their chance to persist in the future.

Effect of cetrimonium carrier micelles on bacterial membranes and extracellular DNA, an in silico study

Microorganisms do not live as dispersed single cells but rather they form aggregates with extracellular polymeric substances at interfaces. Biofilms are considered efficient life forms because they shield bacteria from biocides and collect dilute nutrients. This is a big concern in industry since the microorganisms can colonize a wide range of surfaces, accelerating material deterioration, colonizing medical devices, contaminating ultrapure drinking water, increasing energy costs and creating focus of infection. Conventional biocides that target a specific component of the bacteria are not effective in the presence of biofilms. Efficient biofilm inhibitors are based on a multitarget approach interacting with the bacteria and the biofilm matrix. Their rationale design requires a thorough understanding of inhibitory mechanisms that are still largely lacking today. Herein we uncover via molecular modelling the inhibition mechanism of cetrimonium 4-OH cinnamate (CTA-4OHcinn). Simulations show that CTA-4OH micelles can disrupt symmetric and asymmetric bilayers, representative of inner and outer bacterial membranes, following three stages: adsorption, assimilation, and defect formation. The main driving force for micellar attack is electrostatic interactions. In addition to disrupting the bilayers, the micelles work as carriers facilitating the trapping of 4OH cinnamate anions within the bilayer upper leaflet and overcoming electrostatic repulsion. The micelles also interact with extracellular DNA (e-DNA), which is one of the main components of biofilms. It is observed that CTA-4OHcinn forms spherical micelles on the DNA backbone; which hinders their ability to pack. This is demonstrated by modelling the DNA along the hbb histone-like protein, showing that in the presence of CTA-4OHcinn, DNA does not pack properly around hbb. The abilities of CTA-4OHcinn to cause cell death through membrane disruption and to disperse a mature, multi-species biofilm are also confirmed experimentally.

The Impact of the German Fuel Discount on Prices at the Petrol Pump

Abstract This paper investigates the price impact of the fuel discount in Germany, which was introduced between June and August 2022 to partially compensate increased energy costs. Using the augmented synthetic control method (ASCM) to construct the counterfactual, we provide quantitative evidence to the heated debate concerning the impact of this policy tool and find the fuel discount to have decreased consumer prices of petrol (diesel) by at least 0.30 euro per litre (0.10 euro per litre) on average. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks. Thus, oil companies and petrol stations decreased prices for consumers and passed on about 85 % (65 %) of the discount in case of petrol (diesel). Moreover, we do not find signs of excessive price increases in anticipation of the fuel discount.