Search results for "Exchange"
showing 10 items of 2035 documents
Covering the Gap for an Effective Energy and Environmental Design of Green Roofs: Contributions from Experimental and Modelling Researches
2021
AbstractGreen roofs are components of the building envelope that have become increasingly popular in urban contexts because other than providing numerous environmental benefits they are also capable of reducing building energy consumption, especially in summer. However, despite all these advantages, green roofs are still affected by some limitations. Specifically, there are some gaps affecting the energy modelling consisting in the absence of a proper database, information (growth stage, leaf area index, and coverage ratio) relative to the different green roof plant species, which technicians could use in case of lack of actual field data to perform energy analysis of buildings equipped wit…
Corruption, Carry Trades, and the Cross Section of Currency Returns
2017
This is the first paper to explore the effects of perceived corruption on the FX market. It finds that the currencies of countries perceived to suffer from high levels of corruption generate statistically significantly lower returns than the currencies of countries perceived to have low levels of corruption. Moreover, the portfolio spread is highly correlated with NBER recessions and U.S. consumption growth of nondurable goods. Interestingly, stochastic discount factor model analysis reveals that the portfolio spread is useful for pricing the cross section of currency returns, even when controlling for standard FX risk factors.
Monetary policy, asset prices and consumption in China
2012
Abstract This paper studies the wealth channel in China. Although the wealth channel has been found to be functioning in many advanced countries, its existence is yet to be explored in most emerging economies, also in China. In order to illuminate dynamics between monetary policy, asset prices and consumption, we use the structural vector autoregression method. The findings support the view that a loosening of China's monetary policy does indeed lead to higher asset prices. Furthermore, a positive shock to residential prices increases household consumption, while the role of stock prices seems to be small from the households’ point of view. Finally, we test the existence of the wealth chann…
Household Expenditure on Leisure: a Comparative Study of Italian Households with Children from Y- and Z-Generation
2019
The intrinsic complexity of post-materialist society makes it challenging to investigate the connection between social changes and generations. However, the study of consumption might help in the analysis of such a connection. In this paper, we analyse empirical data of consumption on leisure of Italian households, and focus on families at a very precise stage of family life-cycle, that is, couples with teenager children. We look at consumption of households at different points in time, 2001, 2007, and 2012, in order to investigate the impact of both social change and generation of children–Y-generation in 2001 and 2007, and Z-generation in 2012–on the leisure expenditure patterns of famili…
A review on optimization and cost-optimal methodologies in low-energy buildings design and environmental considerations
2019
Abstract The topic of low-energy buildings received a widespread and growing interest in last years, thanks to energy saving policies of developed countries. The design of a low-energy building is addressed with energy saving measures and renewable energy generation, but the correct assessment of phenomena occurring in a building usually requires to perform dynamic simulations and to analyze multiple scenarios to attain the optimal solution. The optimality of a technical solution may be subject to contrasting constraints and objectives. For this reason, designers may employ mathematical optimization techniques, a non-familiar topic to most of building designers. In this paper, a review on o…
Climate change and the building sector: Modelling and energy implications to an office building in southern Europe
2018
Abstract The building sector is one of the most relevant sectors in terms of generation of wealth and occupation, but it is also one of the main contributor to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. at the European level it is currently responsible for 36% of CO2 emissions). For these reason this sector must play a key role in achieving a low-carbon economy consistent with the objective of holding the increase of the average temperature of the globe below 2 °C if compared to pre-industrial levels. In this context, the paper analyses the potential impact of climate change on the energy uses for heating and cooling in southern Europe, based on the assumptions of the latest Intergovernm…
The willingness to pay of Sicilian consumers for a wine obtained with sustainable production method: An estimate through an ordered probit sample-sel…
2019
The growing presence of Sicilian sustainable wine has pushed the research group to investigate and analyse the consumers' behaviour and their potential willingness to pay a premium price for the wine obtained through sustainable production processes. The analysis of the consumer's behaviour towards the wine made with sustainable production methods is carried out in order to provide potentially useful indications to Italian and in particular Sicilian wine enterprises regarding the production and marketing strategies to undertake in a future perspective. This study shows the result of an empirical investigation on the consumption of sustainable wine in Sicily. Through the Ordered (demographic…
Estimating willingness to pay for desalinated seawater: the case of Djerba Island, Tunisia
2017
AbstractWater scarcity can be a growth-limiting factor. Non-conventional water resources, such as desalinated water, represent an alternative means of guaranteeing access to water while reducing water stress. In this study, a contingent valuation survey carried out in Djerba Island, Tunisia, allows the joint modelling of two decisions: societal support for the construction of a desalination plant and households’ willingness to pay for desalinated water. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study to date has addressed this relationship. We find that although a clear majority of households are in favour of using desalinated water, far fewer are willing to pay for it. The article conclude…
Estimating the non-market benefits of an urban park: Does proximity matter?
2007
Abstract There is increasing and widespread public support for public park provision in urban areas given that they provide an array of different recreational activities enhancing the citizen's quality of life. A contingent valuation survey of 900 randomly chosen inhabitants was undertaken in Valencia (Spain) to estimate the non-market benefits derived from the provision of a new urban park where there is currently an old train station. In conducting our study we distinguished between the districts of the city more and less affected by the project according to the proximity to the future park. Our main finding is that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) is considerably higher for people who l…
Analysis of the Combustion Process in a Hydrogen-Fueled CFR Engine
2023
Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, is nowadays one of the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels for reducing pollutant emissions and in turn global warming. In particular, the use of hydrogen as fuel for internal combustion engines has been widely analyzed over the past few years. In this paper, the authors show the results of some experimental tests performed on a hydrogen-fueled CFR (Cooperative Fuel Research) engine, with particular reference to the combustion. Both the air/fuel (A/F) ratio and the engine compression ratio (CR) were varied in order to evaluate the influence of the two parameters on the combustion process. The combustion duration was divided in two par…