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The energy transition implies an increase in electrical demand, which shall be met primarily by renewable energy sources, potentially raising costs for the system and the community. However, increasing consumption flexibility has the potential to reduce these additional costs by minimizing the risk of curtailment and reducing the need for new storage and grid line capacity. Few studies have been conducted to examine the techno‐economic implications of improving consumption flexibility from an energy system perspective, but none have determined how these gains may affect future solar power integration costs. In this study, it is aimed to fill the gap by assessing the economic effects of flexible demand on solar integration and generation costs. Different scenarios for 2030 and 2040 of the Italian energy system are investigated taking into account future flexible demand availability and geographical distribution. In the results, it is shown that enabling a 12 h flexible demand can lower powerline transport capacity by up to 14%, and storage capacity by up to 25% in the 2040 scenarios. This corresponds to a reduction in photovoltaic (PV) generation costs from 11 to 13% by lowering overall PV integration costs, with peaks of up to 20% in some cases. The energy transition increases electrical demand, primarily met by renewable sources, potentially raising system costs. In this study, the economic effects of flexible demand on solar integration and generation costs in Italy for 2030 and 2040 are assessed. In the results, significant reductions are shown in powerline and storage capacity needs, lowering photovoltaic generation costs by up to 20%.

This report provides some practical guidance on how utilities can define their own smart grid vision, identify priorities, and structure investment plans. While most of these strategic aspects apply to any area of the electricity grid, the document focuses on the segment of distribution. The guidance includes key building blocks that are needed to modernize the distribution grid and provides examples of grid modernization projects. Potential benefits that can be achieved (in monetary terms) for a given investment range are also discussed. The concept of the smart grid is relevant to any grid regardless of its stage of development. What varies are the magnitude and type of the incremental steps toward modernization that will be required to achieve a specific smart grid vision. Importantly, a utility that is at a relatively low level of grid modernization may leap frog one or more levels of modernization to achieve some of the benefits offered by the highest levels of grid modernization. Smart grids impact electric distribution systems significantly and sometimes more than any other part of the electric power grid. In developing countries, modernizing the distribution grid promises to benefit the operation of electric distribution utilities in many and various ways. These benefits include improved operational efficiency (reduced losses, lower energy consumption, amongst others), reduced peak demand, improved service reliability, and ability to accommodate distributed generating resources without adversely impacting overall power quality. Benefits of distribution grid modernization also include improved asset utilization (allowing operators to 'squeeze' more capacity out of existing assets) and workforce productivity improvement. These benefits can provide more than enough monetary gain for electric utility stakeholders in developing countries to offset the cost of grid modernization. Finally the report describes some funding and regulatory issues that may need to be taken into account when developing smart grid plans.

Aim of process integration methods is to increase the efficiency of industrial processes by using pinch analysis combined with process design methods. In this context, appropriate integrated utilities offer promising opportunities to reduce energy consumption, operating costs and pollutants emissions. Energy integration methods are able to integrate any type of predefined utility, but so far there is no systematic approach to generate potential utilities models based on their technology limits. This work focusses on the integration of industrial heat pumps and the development of a corresponding heat pump data base. This latter offers the possibility to integrate different heat pump types to any process, in a flexible and systematic way. A methodology, integrating the heat pump data base in an energy integration problem, and using multi objective optimization in order to identify optimal solutions, is presented. The results of a brewery process are presented and analyzed.

Whereas scholars have typically modeled climate change as a global collective action challenge, we offer a dynamic theory of climate politics based on the present and future revaluation of assets. Climate politics can be understood as a contest between owners of assets that accelerate climate change, such as fossil fuel plants, and owners of assets vulnerable to climate change, such as coastal property. To date, obstruction by “climate-forcing” asset holders has been a large barrier to effective climate policy. But as climate change and decarbonization policies proceed, holders of both climate-forcing and “climate-vulnerable” assets stand to lose some or even all of their assets' value over time, and with them, the basis of their political power. This dynamic contest between opposing interests is likely to intensify in many sites of political contestation, from the subnational to transnational levels. As it does so, climate politics will become increasingly existential, potentially reshaping political alignments within and across countries. Such shifts may further undermine the Liberal International Order (LIO); as countries develop pro-climate policies at different speeds and magnitudes, they will have incentives to diverge from existing arrangements over trade and economic integration.

Quantifying landscape characteristics and linking them to ecological processes is one of the central goals of landscape ecology. Landscape metrics are a widely used tool for the analysis of patch‐based, discrete land‐cover classes. Existing software to calculate landscape metrics has several constraints, such as being limited to a single platform, not being open‐source or involving a complicated integration into large workflows. We present landscapemetrics, an open‐source R package that overcomes many constraints of existing landscape metric software. The package includes an extensive collection of commonly used landscape metrics in a tidy workflow. To facilitate the integration into large workflows, landscapemetrics is based on a well‐established spatial framework in R. This allows pre‐processing of land‐cover maps or further statistical analysis without importing and exporting the data from and to different software environments. Additionally, the package provides many utility functions to visualize, extract, and sample landscape metrics. Lastly, we provide building‐blocks to motivate the development and integration of new metrics in the future. We demonstrate the usage and advantages of landscapemetrics by analysing the influence of different sampling schemes on the estimation of landscape metrics. In so doing, we demonstrate the many advantages of the package, especially its easy integration into large workflows. These new developments should help with the integration of landscape analysis in ecological research, given that ecologists are increasingly using R for the statistical analysis, modelling and visualization of spatial data.

Twelve pairs of mature forest trees representing three classes of timber quality were selected along trails at three recreation sites in New York and Pennsylvania. A different hardwood species was selected at each site. Visitors compared the attractiveness of the trees within each pair, indicating their preference, and selected from a list those physical characteristics most responsible for their choice. The results indicated a positive relationship between aesthetic quality and timber quality, especially in pairs representing very good and very bad in timber quality. The relationship was somewhat erratic, however, indicating that timber quality classifications were not sufficiently discriminating, and did not encompass all the criteria of aesthetic quality. Characteristics most often marked as reasons for preference were: more balanced, more attractive background, straighter, and more branches.

A rapidly growing collection of software tools is helping researchers to analyse multiple huge ‘-omics’ data sets. A rapidly growing collection of software tools is helping researchers to analyse multiple huge ‘-omics’ data sets.

This paper measures the impact of vertically integrated and exclusive software on industry structure and welfare in the sixth-generation of the US video game industry (2000-2005). I specify and estimate a dynamic model of both consumer demand for hardware and software products, and software demand for hardware platforms. I use estimates to simulate market outcomes had platforms been unable to own or contract exclusively with software. Driven by increased software compatibility, hardware and software sales would have increased by 7 percent and 58 percent and consumer welfare by $1.5 billion. Gains would be realized only by the incumbent, suggesting exclusivity favored the entrant platforms.

Competition usually increases firm productivity; but in network industries, effective competition requires vertical separation, which might reduce productivity and lead to a potential trade-off. We analyze the combined effect of competition and vertical separation on inefficient costs for US electricity industry restructuring. We estimate firm-level inefficiencies with the use of different nonparametric models of the technology and calculate net benefits with the use of difference-in-differences. The results depend on how we model the production technology and the length of the post-treatment horizon. The more flexible is the production frontier, the greater is the net benefit from divestiture and competition. Across our models the combined effect of divestiture and competition is positive.

We investigate cross-border dynamics between the Spanish and French electricity markets in the light of EU’s market integration. The analysis is highly relevant given the isolation of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of European markets and its unique electricity market design. Results show the shift in the merit order curve in each market. Electricity prices in Spain follow the dynamics of the French ones, fostered by Spain’s import-dependence. Benefits of grid integration are asymmetric, with Spanish users taking advantage of the market integration with France. The substitution effect between domestic fuel-based units and imported green electricity allows Spain to further decarbonize its energy mix and increase the security of supply. The expansion of the cross-border grid until 2030 will be key for a successful phasing out of the remaining coal-based units. Our findings should be considered in support schemes for integration projects to align the incentives of participants.