Search results for "Directive"
showing 10 items of 308 documents
Management of Distribution Risks and Digital Transformation of Insurance Distribution—A Regulatory Gap in the IDD
2021
The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) aims to regulate insurance distribution in the EU regardless of distribution channels and means. Although new technologies affect insurance distribution, the IDD does not explicitly regulate this digital transformation. Insurers and intermediaries must comply with detailed business conduct rules that aim to counteract distribution risks. However, the IDD exempts ancillary insurance intermediaries from its scope when they meet certain conditions. The article highlights the regulatory framework on insurance, requiring insurers and intermediaries to address distribution risks, and analyses how this exemption affects the management of distribution risk…
Cost-effectiveness analysis of sewer mining versus centralized wastewater treatment: Case study of the Arga river basin, Spain
2015
ABSTRACT:In the context of the EU Water Framework Directive, a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) was performed to compare centralized and decentralized wastewater treatment strategies aimed to improve the ecological status of a Spanish river. The implementation of several hybrid membrane bioreactors within the urban framework for sewer mining (SM) was compared with the more common wastewater treatment plant enlargement option. The assessment ranked 6 alternatives based on 12 potential scenarios, aimed at narrowing the uncertainty of the CEA. The cost analysis illustrated that SM is the most expensive option regarding both investment and operation and maintenance costs. However, the effectiv…
Economic feasibility study for wastewater treatment: a cost-benefit analysis.
2010
Water resource management should be made from a multidisciplinary perspective. In this sense, economic research into the design and implementation of policies for the efficient management of water resources has been emphasized by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the more widely accepted economic instruments since it is a rational and systematic decision-making support tool. Moreover, the wastewater treatment process has significant associated environmental benefits. However, these benefits are often left uncalculated because they have no market value. In this paper, using the concept of shadow price, a quantification of the environmental be…
Selective collection of glass containers in the Valencian Community (Spain)
2000
Spanish legislation has recently adopted the norms defined by a directive of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, 20 December 1994, concerning containers and container residues. The purpose of the directive is to harmonize national measures for the processing of these products in member states. Thus, contributing to prevent or reduce their impact upon the environment both in the different member states and in third countries. To this effect, the directive requires the compliance within a given period of a series of recycling and processing objectives applicable to all the packaging and container materials on the market, including glass products. The aims of the present stu…
Hybrid moving bed biofilm reactors: a pilot plant experiment.
2008
The growing increment of the urbanization and on the other hand, the even more strict effluent limits imposed by the Water Framework Directive for the receiving water body quality state have lead to a need of upgrading several existing WWTP. With this respect HMBBR systems are an innovative solution since allow to upgrade existing high loaded WWTP without building new tanks. However, some uncertainties in their design, maintenance as well as performance have to be addressed due to their recent acquisition compared with well consolidated technologies such as activated sludge systems. In this light, a data gathering campaign on a HMBBR pilot plant has been performed. The aim was to detect the…
Modelling of hybrid moving bed biofilm reactors: a pilot plant experiment.
2007
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the development of hybrid biofilm reactors, especially in the upgrading of existing WWTP that are no longer able to respect concentration limits. In fact, today's challenge is the achievement of a good aquatic state for the receiving water bodies according to the Water Framework Directive requirements, which indeed limit even more the continuous emissions, i.e. coming from WWTP. This paper presents the setting up of a mathematical model for the simulation of a hybrid MBBR system; the model calibration/validation has been carried out considering a field gathering campaign on an experimental pilot plant. The main goal is to gain insight…
Life Cycle Costing: a tool to manage the urban water cycle
2013
The Water Framework Directive puts much emphasis on the role of economics for improving the management of water resources. In the context of the urban water cycle, previous studies have proven that Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is a useful methodology for assessing the costs of the whole cycle. However, there are many elements and factors that can influence the results of the LCC assessment and therefore affect the decision making process. The main aim of this study is to identify the main difficulties for carrying out LCC studies in the urban water cycle and to propose some solutions to overcome them. Hence, the conclusions obtained from the assessment of several case studies will be more robus…
A feasibility study of some DSM enabling solutions in small islands: The case of Lampedusa
2017
Abstract The paper addresses the issue of the transition from a traditional electrical system without automation to a newer active and smart system allowing the possibility of implementing Demand Side Management policies, for little islands not supplied by the main grid. In particular, the paper focuses on two main topics related to the definition of: • an effective control, monitoring and communication system as a tool for the full exploitation of the opportunities given by Demand Response policies; • some solutions for the automation of the end-users’ electrical installations, in order to offer to the utility flexibility to be used for the improvement of the generation and distribution ef…
Energy certification of buildings: A comparative analysis of progress towards implementation in European countries
2010
Abstract The Energy Performance Building Directive (Directive 2002/91/EC) introduced the compulsory energy certification of buildings in the EU from 2006 and it has played a key role in the common policy to monitor and reduce energy consumption. In order to assess the experience gained in this field in Europe overall, and in particular against the highly diverse settings of the different European nations, this paper examines the extent to which the Directive has been implemented by the 27 EU Member States. This is done via a comparative analysis assisted by two different indicators: of uniformity and of excellence. The measure of uniformity makes it possible to assess the degree of harmony …
The importance of reliable climatic data in the energy evaluation
2012
Abstract In the last few years, more and more attention has been focused on energy issues, as it is pointed out, for example, by the Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings and Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. However, in order to do that, reliable tools for technicians to design systems for such topics should be provided. Nowadays, several software are available; the weak point is the availability of reliable climatic data and, above all, the ones referring to solar radiation. In this work, after a short overview of the world climatic databases, a description of three statistical methods for the elaboration of a climatic…