Similar Economic Benefits Research Articles

Comparing economic benefits of HVAC control strategies in grid-interactive residential buildings

Energy consumption in buildings continues to rise with increased deployment of energy-consuming equipment such as Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) amid a growing world economy. Renewable energy is projected to comprise a majority of the future electricity supply, but the intermittent nature of renewables means that consumption must respond to dynamic supply for optimal utilization. This paper proposes a novel HVAC control strategy for residential buildings using the adaptive comfort model, considering occupancy through probability and real-time information, and optimizing the HVAC schedule to reduce cost, maintain thermal comfort, and respond to the dynamic availability of renewable energy while being generalizable to different situations. To validate this approach, the Universal CPS Environment for Federation (UCEF) co-simulation platform is used to connect advanced building controls with the building energy simulation software EnergyPlus. Simulations are performed for a residential building in Sacramento, CA during a typical summer week. Economic impacts, energy consumption, and thermal comfort are analyzed for traditional, adaptive, and occupancy-based control strategies under demand-based, tiered, and fixed electric tariff systems. Simulation results show that occupancy consideration, adaptive thermal comfort, and optimization can reduce cost by 50.1 %, electricity consumption by 52.9 %, and discomfort by 56.2 % compared to traditional fixed setpoints. The ability of the proposed HVAC control strategy to shift energy consumption away from peak times under a demand-based tariff system is qualitatively analyzed and findings suggest that maximum load-shifting on a grid-scale is attained using occupancy consideration with optimized control and demand-based pricing. For individual residential buildings, similar economic benefits can be gained using the less-complex adaptive HVAC control strategy with existing tiered or simple electric tariff systems.

Does the Presence of an Internal Control Audit Affect Firm Operational Efficiency?*

ABSTRACTThis study examines whether auditors' evaluation and reporting of firms' internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) affects firm operational efficiency. Prior research indicates that the strength of internal controls is positively associated with economic benefits. However, notwithstanding the underlying strength of controls, whether the mere presence of an ICFR audit provides similar economic benefits is unclear. We predict and find that small firms with ICFR audits have significantly higher overall operational efficiency than small firms with only management ICFR reports, even after controlling for underlying internal control strength. We find this effect manifests through improvements in inventory turnover and innovation, and through increased relative product market share. Separately, we find ICFR audits are associated with lower efficiency in SG&A expenses. Cross‐sectional analyses indicate that the mechanism by which ICFR audits affect overall operational efficiency is through auditor detection of internal control problems and through knowledge spillover from auditing other highly efficient firms in the audit office's metropolitan statistical area. These results provide additional evidence on the ongoing cost and benefit debate of ICFR audits for small firms.

The Selective Politicization of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations

European Union (EU) trade policy is in the spotlight. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations triggered substantial public mobilization which emerged in a surge of literature on trade politicization. Notwithstanding politicization’s topicality and significance, it varies considerably over time, across trade agreements negotiations as well as across EU member states. By picking up on the latter, this article examines why, despite similar economic benefits potentially to be gained from trade liberalization, TTIP negotiations revealed striking differences in politicization in Germany and the UK. Understanding this variation is illustrated by highlighting the impact of some of TTIPs’ substantial issues mobilizing a range of materially and ideationally motivated stakeholders, who in turn shaped diverging governments’ trade positions of the countries under scrutiny. In explaining this selective politicization across two European countries, focus is on three explanatory variables, domestic material interests (business associations and trade unions), societal ideas (voters and non-governmental organizations [NGOs]) dominant in these countries’ domestic politics, as well as their interaction with national institutions. For this reason, the societal approach to governmental preference formation is employed which provides a detailed exploration of these three domestic factors, as well as the importance of their interdependence, in shaping the TTIP positions of the UK and German governments.

Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns

The use of limited organic resources to build resilience to drought in semi-arid regions was investigated using systems modelling. The study focused on Halaba in Ethiopia, drawing on biophysical and socio-economic data obtained from a survey of farms before, during and after the 2015/16 El Niño event. Using a simplified weather dataset to remove noise from weather fluctuations, a ten yearly El Niño was demonstrated to cause significant long-term degradation of soil, reducing crop yields by 9%–14% and soil carbon by 0.5%–4.1%; more frequent droughts would increase this impact. Farmers in Halaba usually apply manures to soils untreated. Counteracting the impact of El Niño on soil degradation is possible by increasing application of untreated manure, but would result in a small net cost due to loss of dung as fuel. By composting manure its recalcitrance increases, allowing soil degradation to be counteracted without cost. The best option investigated, in terms of both food and fuel security, for households with access to water and finances needed for anaerobic digestion (500–2000 US$), is to use manure to produce biogas and then apply the nutrient-rich bioslurry residue to the soil. This will result in a significant benefit of over 5000 US$ per decade from increased crop production and saved fuel costs. However, many households are limited in water and finances; in that situation, the much cheaper pyrolysis cook-stove (50 US$) can provide similar economic benefits without the need for water. The biochar residue from pyrolysis is highly recalcitrant, but pyrolysis results in loss of nutrients, so may result in lower yields than other uses of manures. This may be countered by using biochar to capture nutrients from elsewhere in the farm, such as from animal housing or compost pits; more work is needed to quantify the impact of treated biochar on crop yields.

Bristol-Glazed Stoneware on Rural Indiana Farms: Effects of Technology Adoption on Consumer Choice

White Bristol slip-glazed utilitarian stoneware occurs on many 19th-century sites in the United States. British and American potteries produced Bristol-glazed pottery, but at different times and in different forms. American potters used Bristol slip glaze after the 1880s, about 50 years after the British developed it. A behavioral approach to technology adoption uses the performance characteristics of stoneware glazes to identify the economic and perceptual characteristics that made Bristol glaze attractive to industrialized potteries then and not earlier. Historical documents clarify the rate and locations of adoptions. Documents also suggest that consumers may have played a role in choosing the white Bristol over the brown Albany-type slip glazes, although both had similar economic benefits. A set of rural Indiana sites shows how the production histories of salt, Albany, and Bristol glaze affected the range of possible consumer-choice and glaze-type representations in archaeological assemblages.

Asiatic cotton can generate similar economic benefits to Bt cotton under rainfed conditions.

American cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), transformed with Bacillus thuringiensis Cry genes (Bt G. hirsutum) that confer resistance to lepidopteran pests, is extensively cultivated worldwide. In India, transgenic Bt G. hirsutum was commercially released in 2002 and by 2014 95% of farmers had adopted Bt G. hirsutum(1). The economic benefits of Bt G. hirsutum over non-Bt G. hirsutum are well documented and include increase in yields, increase in farmers' net revenue and reduction in pesticide application against lepidopteran pests(2-9). However, it is unclear to what extent irrigation influences the performance of Bt G. hirsutum on smallholder farming in India, and if, in the absence of irrigation, growing Bt G. hirsutum provides greater economic benefits for Indian smallholder farmers compared with growing the Asiatic cotton Gossypium arboreum L. Here, we compare the economic impact of growing Bt G. hirsutum with growing G. arboreum under rainfed conditions in the Indian state of Maharashtra, and show that G. arboreum can generate similar net revenue, and thus similar economic benefits for smallholder farmers compared with growing Bt G. hirsutum. We also compare the economic impact of growing Bt G. hirsutum under rainfed conditions with growing Bt G. hirsutum under irrigated conditions and show that even though Bt G. hirsutum yields increase with irrigation, the net revenue does not significantly increase because farmers using irrigation spend significantly more than farmers growing Bt G. hirsutum without irrigation. We conclude that our data provide a broader insight into how socio-economic data needs to be incorporated into agro-ecological data when planning strategies to improve cotton farming in India.

Cap‐and‐trade emission allowances and US companies' balance sheets

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of the emission allowances granted under California's cap‐and‐trade program (AB 32) – the first major program of its kind in the USA – on the balance sheets and income statements of the S&P 500. So far there has been little discussion of what a cap‐and‐trade program would mean for the US companies' financial statements.Design/methodology/approachThe author states and tests an economic model of the relation between greenhouse gas emissions and financial statement variables at the individual company level and use this model to predict emission allowances and obligations for the S&P 500.FindingsThe author's analysis suggests that the average S&P 500 company's balance sheet and net income will be adversely affected under several different accounting treatments for emission allowances, with the greatest impacts in the utilities, energy, and materials sectors.Practical implicationsUS and European regulators have yet to set a single standard for emissions accounting. Without a single standard, companies acting in their own interests may use diverse or unclear accounting treatments for similar economic benefits. This can raise the cost of capital and hurt investors.Originality/valueThis is the first study of which the author is aware to document how the emission allowances under the AB 32 cap‐and‐trade program will affect American companies' balance sheets.

Are Patents Property

Scholars debate whether intellectual property is truly property and the lessons learned about property rights in traditional property should be applied to property rights in inventions and other intellectual property.As we know, Intellectual property protects applications of ideas and information that are of commercial value. Intellectual property rights are like any other property rights– they allow the creator, or owner, of a patent, trademark, or copyright to benefit from his or her own work or investment. Talking about the term property, the law conceptualizes property as rights to things, as legal relationships between people with respect to objects. There was a recent inclusions done within the definition of property, those are: Company shares; Intellectual property (copyright, trademarks, patents) and Medical science- contentious area. But still in what ways might we expect patent rights to perform similarly to rights in tangible property? In brief; Property rights provide incentive to invest, to trade, and to finance. Similar economic benefits are ascribed to patents. Patents provide incentives to invest in research and development and other innovative effort. Patents also provide incentives to invest in the commercialization and further development of an invention, and for investors to invest in companies holding patents. In my research I will get into the depth of this debate.Today, scholars and courts believe that logic mandates that patents are defined differently from real property-patents must secure only a right to exclude. In my research paper I will also deal with the relation between patent right and property right that in real fact the patents can be held as property also look into the ownership or possession as well as the infringements of each right and its penalties under the laws. But still this is the ongoing debate where in present century the patents relation with the real property and how this is an under-appreciated factor contributing to the increasingly tumultuous debates over patent doctrine.

Incremental Forming of Sandwich Panels

This paper presents a first investigation of the applicability of incremental sheet forming (ISF) to sandwich panels. Two initial tests on various sandwich panel designs established that sandwich panels which are ductile and incompressible are the most suitable for the process. Further tests on a sandwich panel with mild steel face plates and a continuous polypropylene core demonstrated that patterns of deformation and tool forces followed similar trends to a sheet metal. It is concluded that, where mechanically feasible, ISF can be applied to sandwich panels using existing knowledge of sheet metals with the expectation of achieving similar economic benefits. Potentially this will increase the range of applications for which sandwich panels are viable.

Integration of Plant Resistance, Insecticides, and Planting Date for Management of the Hessian Fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Winter Wheat

The Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor (Say), can cause severe damage to soft red winter wheat, Triticum aestivum L. em Theil, in the southeastern United States. The efficacy and cost effectiveness of in-furrow applications of disulfoton and phorate as alternatives to planting date modification and plant resistance for controlling Hessian fly damage in winter wheat was studied during the 1987-1988 and 1988-1989 seasons near Midville and Plains, Ga. The study consisted of a split-split plot design of two planting dates, three insecticide treatments, and four or six cultivars of soft red winter wheat. Populations were small and damage was minimal during the first season, but populations were large and damage was severe during the second season. Planting before the recommended planting date increased the severity of Hessian fly injury, but planting at the recommended date did not necessarily avoid Hessian fly damage during the fall. Applications of phorate and disulfoton were equally effective in controlling infestations in the fall and winter. Spring infestations also tended to be lower in treated than untreated plots. Plant resistance controlled Hessian fly damage throughout the season. Phorate reduced wheat seedling establishment in some trials, but this reduction did not adversely affect wheat productivity and economic returns. Low populations had little effect on wheat yield, test weight, and economic returns in 1987-1988. Hessian fly damage in 1988-1989 reduced grain yield, test weight, and straw weight in untreated susceptible cultivars. Use of a systemic insecticide at planting on Hessian fly susceptible cultivars provided a positive economic return regardless of planting date, and disulfoton and phorate provided similar economic benefits. When infestations were large, resistant cultivars provided a large economic benefit compared with an untreated susceptible cultivar. Insecticide use on a resistant cultivar was not economically justified. Planting a high-yielding, resistant cultivar without an insecticide provided similar or better economic returns than other management options. However, if high-yielding resistant cultivars are not available, use of a systemic insecticide at planting on susceptible cultivars in conjunction with proper cultural practices is a cost-effective alternative approach to managing the Hessian fly in wheat.