Is the transition to zero carbon power economically feasible? The case of a 70% variable renewables power system

The 26th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE 2021), Berlin, Germany, 23-25 June 2021Ambitious national renewable electricity targets in Europe have resulted in countries without significant hydro resources, such as Denmark, Ireland and Spain, aiming to source over 70% of their annual electricity consumption from variable renewables by as early as 2030. A high share of wind and solar power in the electricity system introduces numerous technical and operational issues, as well as raising questions about the financial viability of generators in the current electricity market. The objective of this paper is to examine whether such high shares of renewable electricity are economically feasible, under the current electricity market design and technical constraints, and the policy implications. We model system security, renewables curtailment, market prices and net present values of different technology types in 2030 under various renewable generation and electricity load profiles and scenarios. We find that high shares of renewable electricity in isolated systems such as Ireland could lead to curtailment of up to 15% but that additional interconnection, battery storage and dynamic load behaviour reduce this. Marginal prices fall to near zero in periods of high generation of renewable electricity. We estimate that this, combined with curtailment, may lead to insufficient revenues from the electricity price alone in existing electricity markets to cover the costs of generation for many renewable and conventional power plants. Changes to the design of electricity markets are needed to provide additional revenue streams from capacity markets and tariffs designed for system services and make future decarbonised electricity systems economically feasible.Science Foundation IrelandEuropean Commission Horizon 2020Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication

Intrathoracic solitary fibrous tumor - an international multicenter study on clinical outcome and novel circulating biomarkers

Intrathoracic solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a rare disease. Radical resection is the standard of care. However, estimating prognosis and planning follow-up and treatment strategies remains challenging. Data were retrospectively collected by five international centers to explore outcome and biomarkers for predicting event-free-survival (EFS). 125 histological proven SFT patients (74 female; 59.2%; 104 benign; 83.2%) were analyzed. The one-, three-, five- and ten-year EFS after curative-intent surgery was 98%, 90%, 77% and 67%, respectively. Patients age (>/=59 vs. 10 cm vs. 5 vs. < 5 HR 3.91, CI 1.40-10.89, p = 0.009) were prognostic after univariate analyses. After multivariate analyses tumor-dignity and fibrinogen remained as independent prognosticators. Besides validating the role of age, tumor-dignity, tumor-size, stage and resection margins, we identified for the first time inflammatory markers as prognosticators in SFT

Ethnobotanical remarks on Central and Southern Italy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The present paper is a brief survey on the ethnobotanical works published by the Authors since 1981, concerning the research carried out in some southern and central Italian regions. Before Roman domination these territories were first inhabited by local people, while the southern areas were colonized by the Greeks. These different cultural contributions left certain traces, both in the toponyms and in the vernacular names of the plants and, more generally, in the culture as a whole.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Field data were collected through open interviews, mainly of farmers, shepherds and elderly people, born or living in these areas for a long time. Voucher specimens of collected plants are preserved in the respective herbaria of the Authors and in the herbarium of "Roma Tre" University. Important contributions have been made by several students native to the areas under consideration. A comparative analysis with local specific ethnobotanical literature was carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The paper reports several examples concerning human and veterinary popular medicine and in addition some anti-parasitic, nutraceutic, dye and miscellaneous uses are also described. Moreover vernacular names and toponyms are cited. Eight regions of central and southern Italy (particularly Latium, Abruzzo, Marche and Basilicata) were investigated and the data obtained are presented in 32 papers. Most of the species of ethnobotanical interest have been listed in Latium (368 species), Marche (274) and Abruzzo (203). The paper also highlights particularly interesting aspects or uses not previously described in the specific ethnobotanical literature.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Phyto-therapy in central and southern Italy is nowadays practised by a few elderly people who resort to medicinal plants only for mild complaints (on the contrary food uses are still commonly practised). Nowadays therapeutic uses, unlike in the past, are less closely or not at all linked to ritual aspects. Several plants deserve to be taken into consideration not only from the anthropological or cultural point of view, but also for further phyto-chemical investigation. Our studies, as well as those of other authors, try to provide an original picture of the local ethno-biodiversity.</p

Experimental study on the quality of rough rice related to drying conditions

*INRA, centre de Massy Diffusion du document : INRA, centre de MassyInternational audienc

Experimental study on the quality of rough rice related to drying conditions

International audienc