Energy Information Systems: From the Basement to the Boardroom

A significant buildings energy reduction opportunity exists in the office sector, given that this market segment typically is an early adopter of new technology. There is a rising trend towards smart and connected offices through the internet of things (IoT) that provides new opportunities for operational efficiency and environmental sustainability practices. Leading commercial real estate companies have begun to shift from individual building automation systems (BAS) to partially integrated and automated systems such as energy information systems (EIS). In both the United States and India, organizations are seeking operational excellence, enhanced tenant relationships, and topline growth. Hence it is imperative to engage the executives with decision-making power, by tapping into their interest in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and innovation. This expansion of interest can enable data-driven decisions, strong energy investments, and deeper energy benefits, and would drive innovation in this field. However, none of this would be possible without robust, consistent building energy information to provide visibility across all the levels of decision making, i.e. from the basement where the facilities staff take operational action to the boardroom where the executives make investment decisions. Price, security, and ease of use remain barriers to the adoption and pervasive use of promising EIS technologies in commercial office buildings. We believe that these barriers can be addressed through the development of ready, simplified, consistent, commercially available, low-cost EIS-in-a-box packages, that have a pre-defined set of hardware components and software features and functionality that are pertinent to a particular building sector. These simplified, sector-specific EIS packages can help to obviate the need for customization, and enhance ease of use, thereby enabling scale-up, in order to facilitate building energy savings. The EIS-in-a-box are adaptable in both U.S. and Indian office buildings, and potentially beyond these two countries

Mitigation strategies and energy technology learning: an assessment with the POLES model

International audienceThis paper explores various dimensions of the learning process for low-carbon technologies under different mitigation scenarios. It uses the POLES model, which addresses learning as an endogenous phenomenon with learning curves, and a set of scenarios developed as part of the AMPERE project. It represents an analytical effort to understand the learning patterns of energy technologies in various contexts and tries to disentangle the different dimensions of the relation between these patterns and the deployment process. One result is, surprisingly, that apparent learning may be slower in mitigation scenarios with accelerated technology deployment when using two-factor learning curves. Second, the R&D analysis clearly shows that reductions in R&D budgets have significant impacts on long term technology costs. Third, solar technology which is more constrained by floor costs in the model benefits more from major technological breakthroughs than wind energy. Finally, ambitious stabilization targets can be met with limited cost increases in the electricity sector, thanks to the impact of learning effects on the improvement in technology costs and performances

An empirical analysis of ASEAN's labor-intensive exports

This paper investigates the factors affecting the demand for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) labor-intensive exports. Results obtained using a panel data set including exports to 25 countries indicate that an appreciation in ASEAN countries would substantially reduce exports of clothing, furniture, and footwear. In addition, an increase in foreign income and an appreciation among competitors would raise ASEAN's exports. These results indicate that profit margins for labor-intensive manufactures are thin and that slow growth abroad will curtail ASEAN's exports. These findings imply that policymakers should seek to promote domestic demand, expand the technological base, and consider exchange rate coordination to mitigate beggar-thy-neighbor policies

An empirical analysis of East Asian computer exports

For the last 15 years, computers have been the leading export category from East Asia to the rest of the world. They are produced within regional production and distribution networks. Japan; Republic of Korea; and Taipei,China construct sophisticated technology-intensive parts and components and ship them to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for processing by lower-skilled workers and re-export. This paper presents evidence that exchange rate appreciations in countries supplying parts and components to East Asian assembly economies would curtail computer exports, while exchange rate appreciations in assembly economies would not. The evidence also indicates that decreases in income in importing countries would significantly reduce computer exports. These findings imply that if growth remains slow in the rest of the world, computer exports will no longer be able to play the same role as an engine of growth. This evidence thus provides impetus to create initiatives to promote the demand for final goods in the region

FTAs and Philippine Business: Evidence from Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Within East Asia, the outward-oriented Philippine economy is a latecomer to using free trade agreements (FTAs) as a trade policy instrument and has relied heavily on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for regional liberalization. While negotiating FTAs has consumed scarce time and other resources, limited attention has been hitherto given to evaluating the impact of FTAs-particularly the 15-year-old ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement-on business activity in the Philippines. Using a survey of 155 manufactured goods exporters from three sectors (transport equipment, processed foods, and electronics), this study deals with three questions: (i) Do firms use AFTA and why?; (ii) What impedes firms from using AFTA and other FTAs?; and (iii) What can be done to improve FTA use at firm level in the future? The study finds that utilization of AFTA is higher than expected from existing studies and is set to double in the future. Econometric analysis suggests that firm age, domestic ownership, awareness of FTAs, and membership in the transport sector increase the probability of using AFTA. Surprisingly, among nonusers, a lack of information is the biggest barrier to FTA use. Other impediments to use include the availability of export processing zone incentive schemes, low most-favored-nation rates (particularly in electronics), delays in origin administration, rent-seeking behavior, and nontariff measures in partner country markets. Interestingly, the majority of firms do not think that multiple rules of origin in overlapping Asian FTAs add significantly to business costs. However, there is room for improvement in the system of AFTA rules of origin (e.g., lower value content and introduction of self-certification mechanisms). The examination of institutional support reveals an excess demand for a range of support services (e.g., information, technology-based, and small or medium enterprise extension services) that will enable firms to use FTAs more effectively in the future. The paper concludes by making the case for better mainstreaming of FTAs into Philippine national trade policy and for improving support services to firms.philippines fta impact; philippines fta business; philippines economy ftas

FTAs and Philippine Business : Evidence from Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Within East Asia, the outward-oriented Philippine economy is a latecomer to using free trade agreements (FTAs) as a trade policy instrument and has relied heavily on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for regional liberalization. While negotiating FTAs has consumed scarce time and other resources, limited attention has been hitherto given to evaluating the impact of FTAsparticularly the 15-year-old ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreementon business activity in the Philippines. Using a survey of 155 manufactured goods exporters from three sectors (transport equipment, processed foods, and electronics), this study deals with three questions : (i) Do firms use AFTA and why?; (ii) What impedes firms from using AFTA and other FTAs?; and (iii) What can be done to improve FTA use at firm level in the future? The study finds that utilization of AFTA is higher than expected from existing studies and is set to double in the future. Econometric analysis suggests that firm age, domestic ownership, awareness of FTAs, and membership in the transport sector increase the probability of using AFTA. Surprisingly, among nonusers, a lack of information is the biggest barrier to FTA use. Other impediments to use include the availability of export processing zone incentive schemes, low most-favored-nation rates (particularly in electronics), delays in origin administration, rent-seeking behavior, and nontariff measures in partner country markets. Interestingly, the majority of firms do not think that multiple rules of origin in overlapping Asian FTAs add significantly to business costs. However, there is room for improvement in the system of AFTA rules of origin (e.g., lower value content and introduction of self-certification mechanisms). The examination of institutional support reveals an excess demand for a range of support services (e.g., information, technology-based, and small or medium enterprise extension services) that will enable firms to use FTAs more effectively in the future. The paper concludes by making the case for better mainstreaming of FTAs into Philippine national trade policy and for improving support services to firms.FTA, The Philippines, Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Analysis of Vascular Flora in the Załęcze Nature Park (Wieluń Upland)

The object of analysisis vascular floralisted in the work of Fagasiewicz, Czyżewska and Olaczek (1986). It has been compared with two local floras in Cracow-Wieluń Jura: Ojców National Park and the Break of the Warta River near Częstochowa. Frequency of appearance of each taxa was estimatd; the flora was divided into syntaxonomical groups; and there was determined participation of these groups and mutual relations on each of 177 localities - squares with an area of 1 km². This provided a basis for study of plant communities, associations or their fragments, which have not been listed in phytosociological works so far. There was also assessed the indicator of flora synanthropization (S) and modernization (M) degree for the entire area and for particular localities. Moreover, the concept of an index of archaeophytezation (A) and an index of synanthropization (kS) were introduced (for summary see: page 312-313).Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Testing and demonstration of model predictive control applied to a radiant slab cooling system in a building test facility

Radiant slab systems have the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings. However, control of radiant slab systems is challenging. Classical feedback control is inadequate due to the large thermal inertia of the systems and heuristic feed-forward control often leads to unacceptable indoor comfort and may not achieve the full energy savings potential. Model predictive control (MPC) is now attracting increasing interest in the building industry and holds promise for radiant systems. However, an often-cited barrier to its implementation in the building industry is the high computational cost and complexity relative to the feedback controls used in conventional systems. The objectives of this study were to (i) verify the correct operation of an open source MPC toolchain developed for radiant slab systems, and (ii) demonstrate its efficacy in a test facility. A matched pair of cells in the FLEXLAB building test facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was used in the study. The proposed MPC toolchain was implemented in one cell and the performance compared to that of the other cell, which used a conventional heuristic control strategy. The results showed that the simplified MPC approach applied in the toolchain worked as expected and realized energy savings over the conventional control strategy. The MPC yielded 42% chilled water pump power reduction and 16% cooling thermal energy savings, while maintaining equal or better indoor comfort

Accounting information systems for mSME survivability

According to the International Finance Corporation (2012), small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent a substantial percentage of businesses globally (about 90%). Moreover, they are directly responsible for more than half of employment worldwide. As such, governments and economists consider the SME sector to be a key factor in national growth (Pollard & Hayne, 1998). In the Philippines, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) already account for almost all (99.6%) of the businesses in the country (Department of Trade and Industry, 2011). Furthermore, it provides employment to 63% of the Philippine labor force

Growing your business and creating a market for your product

This 14th Consumer Coping Behavior Survey is a nationwide survey of consumers regarding their recurring purchases of 144 product and service categories. In 2008, it became nationwide covering the four study areas of NCR, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao