Is energy efficiency capitalized into home prices? Evidence from three U.S. cities

We test for evidence that energy efficiency features are capitalized into home prices in three U.S. metropolitan areas. Using hedonic regressions and multiple matching procedures, we find that Energy Star certification is associated with higher sales prices in two of the markets: the Research Triangle region of North Carolina and Portland, Oregon. We find that local “green” certifications in Portland and in Austin, Texas, are also associated with higher prices and that the estimated price impacts are larger than those from Energy Star. Matching on observables proves to be important in some cases, reducing the estimated impacts compared with models without matching. We calculate the implied energy savings from the estimated premiums and find that, in the Research Triangle market, the Energy Star premiums approximately equal the savings that program is designed to achieve, but in Portland, the premiums are slightly greater than the program's savings due to low energy costs in the region.     

金融深化对绿色发展的门槛效应分析

在绿色发展的过程中,金融作为现代经济体系中必不可少的一环正扮演着越来越重要的角色。从一般的理论认知和实践而言,可从金融的深化和广化两个角度来看待金融发展。相对金融广化而言,金融深化更能体现金融对于资本的配置功能和金融体系不断完善的过程,它通过引导投资边际收益率促进绿色发展的效率,进而影响整个绿色经济系统的全要素生产率。本文通过构建一个经济内生增长模型来检验金融深化对绿色发展的影响效应,以2003—2014年中国280个地级单元的面板数据为样本,采用面板门槛模型分析其内在作用的非对称性。结果表明:(1)模型推导发现,金融深化作用在不同生产部门所占份额的配置未达到最优时,金融深化对绿色发展存在门槛效应,即金融深化对绿色发展作用存在可能的非对称性;否则,二者以近似对数函数的关系相互作用。(2)实证发现,金融深化对绿色发展在中国地级层面存在一重门槛效应,似然比检验结果表明该门槛效应在1%的临界值下显著,并且其门槛值大小为0.635 5,门限回归结果显示金融深化对绿色发展在门限值前后的偏效应系数分别为-0.056 8和0.129 9,说明中国金融深化与绿色发展的关系呈现库兹涅茨曲线的倒U形形状。(3)稳健性检验发现,控制变量对金融深化导致的绿色发展门槛效应的扰动仅体现在P值的变化范围之内且变化幅度较小,门限值的大小及置信区间不会发生明显变化,反映中国金融深化与绿色发展的关系结构依然稳健。显然,应当大力推进金融深化过程,突破"门槛效应"的制约,充分发挥金融深化对资本的配置效应,从而推动中国绿色发展进程。     

Accounting for monogastric livestock as a driver in global land use and cover change assessments

Land systems are described based on various characteristics, including land cover composition and agricultural production. However, it is uncertain to what extent livestock, particularly monogastric livestock, determines land systems. We included monogastrics in a land system classification, and statistically analyzed the land cover composition and agricultural production of otherwise similar land systems with and without monogastric livestock. The results indicate that land systems with monogastrics are statistically different from their counterparts in the classification without monogastrics in terms of grassland area and crop yields, but are less different in terms of tree area, crop area, and ruminant livestock production. We then used a land systems map that includes monogastrics in the classification and a similar map that does not include monogastrics to project future changes in a novel manner that integrates livestock as a determinant of land systems. The results show that including monogastrics in otherwise similar projections yields less cropland intensification and more cropland expansion in several world regions, including Northern Africa and the Middle East. Other regions, such as Europe and Australia, were characterized by less decrease or more increase in tree area in the application with monogastrics, mainly due to the occurrence of open forests with monogastrics. This study prompts a call for improved characterization of land systems for land use and cover change (LUCC) assessments in order to better represent LUCC driven by monogastric livestock.     

中部地区资源型城市城市化与生态环境动态耦合关系

通过构建城市化与生态环境耦合模型,利用中部地区37个资源型城市2005—2014年城市化系统和生态环境系统的30个指标数据,对城市化与生态环境耦合关系动态变化进行测度,并比较分析不同类型资源型城市城市化水平、生态环境水平及其二者耦合协调度的变化。结果表明:(1)2005以来人口城市化对资源型地区城市化综合水平的影响力减弱,社会城市化的影响力逐渐加大并趋于比较重要的地位。尽管资源条件对资源型城市的生态环境综合水平影响最大,但生态环境治理水平对资源型地区生态环境综合水平的影响力正变得日益重要。(2)各城市间城市化综合水平差异较大,而生态环境综合水平差异较小。自2005年以来城市化发展综合水平的城际差异无较大改变,但生态环境发展水平的城际差异正变得日趋缩小。位于山西省的资源型城市城市化综合水平和生态环境综合水平的变动较之其他省份更为显著。(3)中部地区资源型城市的协调类型处于勉强协调、初级协调和中级协调,并以初级协调型为主。2005以来中部地区多数资源型城市城市化与生态环境关系保持不变,关系恶化的资源型城市主要分布在安徽、江西和湖南,关系更为协调的资源型城市主要位于山西。(4)不同类型资源型城市的城市化综合水平差异显著,而生态环境综合水平差异并不明显。再生型和衰退型城市的耦合协调度水平较高,成熟型城市的耦合协调度较低。(5)城市化滞后仍是资源型城市城市化与生态环境关系不协调发展的主要原因。     

山东半岛城市群人居环境质量综合评价

随着中国城市化的高速发展,"城市病"问题日益突出,城市群作为统筹区域协调发展、建设宜居人居环境的重点地区,其人居环境发展状况备受关注。基于此,本文以山东半岛城市群为例,从人文环境、经济环境、社会环境和生态环境4个方面构建人居环境质量综合评价指标体系,利用人居环境质量计算模型和系统协调度模型,对其人居环境质量进行静态定量化评价和动态综合性评价。研究表明:(1)山东半岛城市群人居环境质量与社会环境的关联性最大,经济实力、基础设施水平时空发展不均衡、地域差异大,是制约山东半岛城市群人居环境发展的突出问题。(2)2000—2014年山东半岛城市群人居环境综合水平呈现良好的上升趋势,且增速较稳,增幅较小;各要素间的协调性均达到了中级协调等级;系统层的评价值除人文环境外,均呈现不同程度的波动式上升态势;领域层的评价值差异明显,发展不均衡。(3)城市群内部各城市人居环境综合质量水平逐步提高,且排名相对稳定;各要素间的协调度等级差异较小,但起伏变化较大;人居环境质量时空分异特征明显,呈现东西高、中间低的格局,内部级别差异显著,可分为较好、一般、较差、差4个等级。在今后的发展中,应针对山东半岛不同城市人居环境问题采取因时因地制宜的协调对策,创造整体最优人居环境。不仅要提高城市群的整体经济水平,提升城市群的短板建设,推动人居环境协调发展,还要符合新常态下城市发展与建设的要求,加快山东半岛城市群的区域创新体系构建,科学引领产业转型升级,优化产业结构,加强山东半岛城市规划研究与实施力度,探索"多规合一"模式。     

How to Constrain Multi‐Objective Calibrations of the SWAT Model Using Water Balance Components

Accurate discharge simulation is one of the most common objectives of hydrological modeling studies. However, a good simulation of discharge is not necessarily the result of a realistic simulation of hydrological processes within the catchment. We propose an evaluation framework that considers both discharge and water balance components as evaluation criteria for calibration of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). In this study, we integrated average annual values of surface runoff, groundwater flow, and evapotranspiration in the model evaluation procedure to constrain the selection of good model runs for the Little River Experimental Watershed in Georgia, United States. For evaluating water balance and discharge dynamics, the Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and percent bias (PBIAS) were used. In addition, the ratio of root mean square error and standard deviation of measured data (RSR) was calculated for individual segments of the flow duration curve to identify the best model runs in terms of discharge magnitude. Our results indicate that good statistics for discharge do not guarantee realistic simulations of individual water balance components. Therefore, we recommend constraining the ranges of water balance components to achieve a more realistic simulation of the entire hydrological system, even if tradeoffs between good statistics for discharge simulations and reasonable amounts of the water balance components are unavoidable. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

Constraining SWAT Calibration with Remotely Sensed Evapotranspiration Data

Historically, many watershed studies have been based on using the streamflow flux, typically from a single gauge at the basin's outlet, to support calibration. In this setting, there is great potential for equifinality of parameters during the optimization process, especially for parameters that are not directly related to streamflow. Therefore, some of the optimal parameter values achieved during the autocalibration process may be physically unrealistic. In recent decades a vast array of data from land surface models and remote sensing platforms can help to constrain hydrologic fluxes such as evapotranspiration (ET). While the spatial resolution of these ancillary datasets varies, the continuous spatial coverage of these gridded datasets provides flux measurements across the entire basin, in stark contrast to point‐based streamflow data. This study uses Global Land Evaporation: the Amsterdam Model data to constrain Soil and Water Assessment Tool parameter values associated with ET to a more physically realistic range. The study area is the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed, in southern Oklahoma. Traditional objective metrics such as the Nash‐Sutcliffe coefficients record no performance improvement after application of this method. However, there is a dramatic increase in the number of days with receding flow where simulations match observed streamflow.     

Hydrothermal liquefaction phase behavior of microalgae & model compounds in fused silica capillary reactor

A fused silica capillary reactor combined with a heating/cooling stage, a microscope and a digital camera were used to investigate phase behavior during the hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae (Dunaliella tertiolecta) and model compounds, including soya protein and glycine, starch, glucose and xylose, stearic acid and palmitic acid. Bubbles were generated at 246°C and disappeared at 360°C upon heating when Dunaliella tertiolecta used as feedstocks. Moreover, liquid products were generated at 300°C upon heating and oily liquid products began to separate out at 250°C upon cooling. The phase behavior of soya protein was similar to that of the Dunaliella tertiolecta. Meanwhile, there only observed the bubbles generation during hydrothermal liquefaction of glycine. Heating the starch, glucose and xylose above 350°C generated black solids from carbonization. Stearic acid and palmitic acid only had the process of melting, dissolution, dispersion and precipitation.     

Investigation of titanium liquid/gas diffusion layers in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

In a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cell (PEMEC), liquid/gas diffusion layer (LGDL) is expected to transport electrons, heat, and reactants/products to and from the catalyst layer with minimum voltage, current, thermal, interfacial, and fluidic losses. In addition, carbon materials, which are typically used in PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs), are unsuitable in PEMECs due to the high ohmic potential and highly oxidative environment of the oxygen electrode. In this study, a set of titanium gas diffusion layers with different thicknesses and porosities are designed and examined coupled with the development of a robust titanium bipolar plate. It has been found that the performance of electrolyzer improves along with a decrease in thickness or porosity of the anode LGDL of titanium woven meshes. The ohmic resistance of anode LGDL and contact resistance between anode LGDL and the anode catalyst play dominant roles in electrolyzer performance, and better performance can be obtained by reducing ohmic resistance. Thin titanium LGDLs with straight-through pores and optimal pore morphologies are recommended for the future developments of low-cost LGDLs with minimum ohmic/transport losses.     

Comparison of the daily global solar radiation from different data sources in Northwest China climate

The solar radiation data are of high importance to the solar energy systems. Conventional methods to obtain the solar radiation data are from weather stations, solar radiation models, commercial software databases, and field measurements. In the present study, a new daily global solar radiation model is proposed, by combining the quadratic function of sunshine fraction and sine function of the day of the year. The solar radiation model calculated data are then compared with China Meteorological Data Sharing System (CMDSS) data, TRNSYS data, and field-measured data in Northwest China climate. It is found that the newly proposed solar radiation model has better performance than the other nine solar radiation models in the literature. The solar radiation model calculated data fit well with the CMDSS annually average data. The TRNSYS data are a bit larger than the CMDSS annually average data in summer half year and a little smaller than those in winter half year. The solar radiation model and the CMDSS annually average data have the best correlation, whereas the TRNSYS data and the field-measured data have the worst correlation. The solar radiation model calculated data have the best correlation with the other three data sources.