Determinants of Industrial Property Rents in the Chicago Metropolitan Area

Urban economists have long understood the theoretical importance of transportation infrastructure and accessibility on the location choice of households and firms. We utilize a readily available data set of transaction rents in the Chicago metropolitan area to investigate the determinants of industrial property rents. Among the factors considered are proximity to transportation infrastructure, characteristics of the property, the term structure of lease agreements, and local attributes of the neighborhood. Empirical results suggest property, lease, and local demographics play important roles in determining rents. Despite the fact that industrial property tends to locate very close to rail lines and interstate highways, transportation infrastructure has much less influence. There is evidence that there is an upward sloping lease term structure premium and that the premium varies over time. The model is also used to develop a constant quality rent index for the Chicago commercial property market. Compared to average rents and asking rents, the estimated constant quality index shows a smaller run up in rents from 2003 through 2008 and a larger drop off in rents through the end of 2011

Towards an overall framework to assess the sustainability of the use of natural resources

Over the years, the sustainable supply of natural resources for the global economy has drawn increasing political interest. The efficient use of resources is a fundamental issue for sustainability assessment, entailing and affecting environmental, economic and social aspects. It is not surprising that they hold a central role in many different sustainability assessment frameworks. In conventional life cycle assessment (LCA), natural resources are considered as one area of protection (AoP). It is well recognized that the typical approach of this AoP starts from the provisioning function of resources, but natural resources however are also dealt with in totally different frameworks. If one starts from an ecological point of view, provisioning services is only one role natural resources fulfill next to regulating, cultural and supporting functions, all captured by the Ecosystems Services framework. The access to certain resources is a further issue of concern for policy. The identification of the so-called Critical Raw Materials for EU took into account their economic importance for specific sectors and supply risk, the latter being focused on concentration of supply from producing countries showing poor governance and low environmental standards, in turn mitigated by substitutability and recyclability of the materials. Further on, there is no doubt that resource exploitation and use may affect several social aspects (e.g. working conditions) as can be identified by the Social Hotspot Database, and that emissions generated along their use in supply chains (from extraction to manufacturing, use and end of life) might affect human health and natural ecosystems, other two areas of protection in conventional LCA. This presentation proposes an integration of the aforementioned frameworks aiming at depicting an overall framework to assess the sustainability of the use of natural resources

Current issues in the characterisation of toxicological impacts

Fate, exposure and effect measures provide a basis for the calculation of characterisation factors in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Such characterisation factors provide insights into the relative concern of chemical emissions within and across life cycle inventories, in the context of toxicological stress to humans and to ecosystems. A brief overview is presented in this paper of the available options for toxicological characterisation and of associated issues that will need to be addressed in future consensus-building initiatives. An introduction is provided to issues such as: (1) the benefit of measures calculated at midpoints versus at endpoints in the toxicological cause-effect chains (sometimes termed environmental mechanisms); (2) the need to use multimedia models with spatial resolution; (3) the political consequences of accounting for variations in population density; (4) uncertainties in the toxicological potency measures; and (5) the different options for the toxicological endpoint measure(s). These issues are addressed under the headings of Fate and Exposure, Human Health and (aquatic) Ecosystem Healt

Brain GABA and Glutamate Concentrations Following Chronic Gabapentin Administration: A Convenience Sample Studied During Early Abstinence From Alcohol.

Gabapentin (GBP), a GABA analog that may also affect glutamate (Glu) production, can normalize GABA and Glu tone during early abstinence from alcohol, effectively treating withdrawal symptoms and facilitating recovery. Using in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we tested the degree to which daily GBP alters regional brain GABA and Glu levels in short-term abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals. Regional metabolite levels were compared between 13 recently abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals who had received daily GBP for at least 1 week (GBP+) and 25 matched alcohol-dependent individuals who had not received GBP (GBP-). Magnetic resonance spectra from up to five different brain regions were analyzed to yield absolute GABA and Glu concentrations. GABA and Glu concentrations in the parieto-occipital cortex were not different between GBP- and GBP+. Glu levels in anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia did not differ between GBP- and GBP+. However, in a subgroup of individuals matched on age, sex, and abstinence duration, GBP+ had markedly lower Glu in the frontal white matter (WM) than GBP-, comparable to concentrations found in light/non-drinking controls. Furthermore, lower frontal WM Glu in GBP+ correlated with a higher daily GBP dose. Daily GBP treatment at an average of 1,600 mg/day for at least 1 week was not associated with altered cortical GABA and Glu concentrations during short-term abstinence from alcohol, but with lower Glu in frontal WM. GBP for the treatment of alcohol dependence may work through reducing Glu in WM rather than increasing cortical GABA

Toward an overall analytical framework for the integrated sustainability assessment of the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers

The sustainable production and supply of raw materials (nonenergy raw materials) and primary energy carriers (energy raw materials) is a core element of many policies. The natural resource base for their production and supply, and the access thereto, are limited. Moreover, raw material supply is high on environmental and social impact agendas as well. A broad, quantitative framework that supports decision makers is recommended so as to make use of raw materials and primary energy carriers more sustainably. First, this article proposes a holistic classification of raw materials and primary energy carriers. This is an essential prerequisite for developing an integrated sustainability assessment framework (ISAF). Indeed, frequently, only a subset of raw materials and primary energy carriers are considered in terms of their source, sector, or final application. Here, 85 raw materials and 30 primary energy carriers overall are identified and grouped into seven and five subgroups, respectively. Next, this article proposes a quantitative ISAF for the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers, covering all the sustainability pillars. With the goal of comprehensiveness, the proposed ISAF integrates sustainability issues that have been covered and modeled in quite different quantitative frameworks: ecosystem services; classical life cycle assessment (LCA); social LCA; resource criticality assessment; and particular international concerns (e.g., conflict minerals assessment). The resulting four areas of concerns (i.e., environmental, technical, economic, and social/societal) are grouped into ten specific sustainability concerns. Finally, these concerns are quantified through 15 indicators, enabling the quantitative sustainability assessment of the production and supply of raw materials and primary energy carriers

Sustainability assessment of future-oriented scenarios: a review of data modelling approaches in Life Cycle Assessment

Steering policy-making processes and business long term strategies entails tasks such as e.g. setting up sound environmental long term objectives and targets, assessing implications, and comparing options. To best run these tasks in the context of sustainability assessment, two fundamental ingredients are indispensable: life cycle thinking and analysis of future-oriented scenarios. Considering the whole life cycle of goods and services is necessary to avoid the shifting of problems from one life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to another and from one environmental medium or protection target to another. Given the proliferation of life cycle thinking-based data modelling approaches, a review was conducted to detect where we stand in defining and framing life cycle thinking-based approaches and related data modelling approaches, what their key features are, and how mature they are. In addition, a scientific workshop was arranged to further discuss data modelling approaches and to screen how Environmental Footprint methodologies can be used to assess future-oriented scenarios. This review represents a stepping stone towards recommendations for sustainability assessment of future-oriented scenarios.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Midpoints versus endpoints: The sacrifices and benefits

On May 25-26, 2000 in Brighton (England), the third in a series of international workshops was held under the umbrella of UNEP addressing issues in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). The workshop provided a forum for experts to discuss midpoint vs. endpoint modeling. Midpoints are considered to be links in the cause-effect chain (environmental mechanism) of an impact category, prior to the endpoints, at which characterization factors or indicators can be derived to reflect the relative importance of emissions or extractions. Common examples of midpoint characterization factors include ozone depletion potentials, global warming potentials, and photochemical ozone (smog) creation potentials. Recently, however, some methodologies have adopted characterization factors at an endpoint level in the cause-effect chain for all categories of impact (e.g., human health impacts in terms of disability adjusted life years for carcinogenicity, climate change, ozone depletion, photochemical ozone creation; or impacts in terms of changes in biodiversity, etc.). The topics addressed at this workshop included the implications of midpoint versus endpoint indicators with respect to uncertainty (parameter, model and scenario), transparency and the ability to subsequently resolve trade-offs across impact categories using weighting techniques. The workshop closed with a consensus that both midpoint and endpoint methodologies provide useful information to the decision maker, prompting the call for tools that include both in a consistent framewor

Recommendations for Life Cycle based Indicators for Sustainable Consumption and Production in the European Union

Public administrations in Europe need robust Sustainability Indicators to support the conception, development, implementation, and monitoring of policies. Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is essential to ensure this, taking into consideration the environmental impacts along the whole life cycle of a product (both goods and services) in a single framework, irrespective of when or where they occur. This report summarises the outcomes of the 3rd International Life Cycle Thinking Workshop on Sustainability and Decoupling Indicators: Life cycle based approaches organised by DG JRC in Cyprus, in January 2007. More than 50 scientific experts and public administrators from 20 countries met to discuss whether, and how, to further integrate life cycle thinking into indicators in the contexts of decoupling and sustainability. Platform presentations, case studies and breakout groups recommendations are reported. The necessity for further developing existing Sustainability Indicators in relation to production, consumption, and waste, by integrating Life Cycle Thinking, was stressed by all participants. It was highlighted that the future developments must focus on providing meaningful, reliable, and consistent indicators that have a clear policy-support role, developed on solid methodological foundations to achieve broad acceptance.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Analysis of material recovery from silicon photovoltaic panels

Lifecycle impacts of photovoltaic (PV) plants have been largely explored in several studies in the scientific literature. However, the end-of-life phase has been generally excluded or neglected from these analyses. It is expected that the disposal of PV plants will become a relevant environmental issue in the next decades. An Italian company is currently developing the project FRELP - Full Recovery End of Life Photovoltaic- as part of the European “LIFE” programme. The FRELP project focuses on the development of an innovative process based on a series of mechanical and chemical treatments to recycle/recover waste crystalline-silicon (C-Si) photovoltaic (PV) panels. Thanks to the FRELP processing several materials can be sorted from 1 tonne of PV waste including: glass (98%), aluminium (99%), silicon metal (95%), copper (99%), and silver (94%) for a total quantity of 908 kg. Some of these materials (e.g. silicon metal, antimony, chromium and fluorspar) are considered as Critical Raw Materials for the European economy, having high economic importance and high risk of supply. The present report describes the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to analyse the innovative process developed within FRELP project. The system boundaries of the LCA were set from the PV waste collection until the production of recyclable materials. Environmental benefits (i.e. credits) due to the potential productions of secondary raw materials have been accounted by expanding the system boundary. The benefits of the recycling process were compared to impacts due to the production of raw material and manufacturing of the PV panels. The report shows that, when waste materials are recycled to produce secondary raw materials, relevant environmental benefits can be obtained. The LCA methodology was also applied to assess the environmental performance of the innovative recycling process in comparison with the current treatment of PV waste in generic Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling plants. The results proved that this innovative recycling implies higher impacts for the processing but much higher benefits in terms of recycled materials. Relevant net benefits have been estimated. The LCA identified some hot-spots of the recycling process. Transport has been found to have an important contribution to all life cycle impacts. Finally, the high efficiency and quality of glass separated through the FRELP processes could be used for high quality application (i.e. glass for the production of new PV panels). This process would allow the recycling of antimony used in the glass and currently dispersed in the secondary glass production. In particular, this scenario would allow an overall benefit of 2,274 kg CO2 eq avoided per tonne of recycled PV (20% higher than the FRELP PV waste treatment base case scenario).JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen