Search results for "Incentive"
showing 10 items of 297 documents
Plastic end-of-life alternatives, with a focus on the agricultural sector
2021
The end of life (EoL) of plastic polymers depends on when they stop being considered a resource and begin to be considered a waste. Even with dynamic management, plastic pollution will increase in the coming decades. Reduction strategies focus on reducing the quantities of materials used in the construction of individual objects for packaging, support for reuse and recycling, incentives for gathering low-value plastics, awareness, and simplification. The agricultural sector, a sector in which the use of plastic is (apparently) not high, needs to combine environmental, social, and above all economic aspects, which can help entrepreneurs in the sector to optimize the recycling process.
Leading the way toward fuel parity in photovoltaics: The utility-scale market in Sicily, Italy
2016
The global photovoltaic (PV) market has been growing exponentially since almost twenty years. This huge demand for photovoltaic systems has been mainly driven by public subsidies in the form of a variet y of national incentive schemes. However, in Countries where successful incentive schemes have been pioneered and are now – as planned - being brought to an end, the PV market is called to the challenge of surviving without any incentive to the end user. Grid and fuel-parity represent the keystone of this emerging new phase in the history of this renewable energy technology. In this paper we present a sensitivity analysis showing that in Sicily, Italy, the Levelized Cost of Energy from utili…
Does persistence in using R&D tax credits help to achieve product innovations?
2021
Despite the generosity of its tax system, Spain is far from EU countries in terms of R&D spending and innovation outcomes. A policy instrument commonly used to foster firms’ R&D investment are tax incentives. The use of this instrument is not generalized in firms spending on R&D, and only a fraction of firms are regular claimants. This paper investigates whether persistence in using tax credits is positively related to product innovations, beyond R&D investments. We consider that firms investing in qualified R&D and using tax credits regularly are likely to be firms aiming at innovating. By contrast, occasional tax credit users may be firms investing in R&D for different reasons, such as ex…
Sustainable Infrastructure Projects: Systemic versus Traditional Delivery Models
2021
Sustainability involves multiple environmental, technical, social and economic factors, and such complex analysis requires systemic solutions. Delivery models are key to achieving system benefits and enhancing sustainable development in infrastructure investments. They define the phases of a project, incentive structures, risk sharing and the relationships among the actors in it. They are usually developed early in the project and determine the project dynamics and outcomes. We compared traditional delivery models with systemic ones. We identified and illustrated elements that differ between them through two cases. The contribution is an increased understanding of how systemic infrastructur…
Equal Pay for a Green Future
2020
In the present chapter, challenges to our growth-driven political-economic model are identified—including lethal economic inequality, growing unrest, technological unemployment in an era of robotization and artificial intelligence (AI), and limits to growth at a time of environmental and climatic collapse. The author is hesitant to offer a “yes” or “no” answer to the question of equal pay, suggesting instead that the answer hinges on time and context. In a future world of limited material resources, where jobs are increasingly automated and substituted by AI algorithms, the legitimacy of inequality-producing incentives for the main exploiters of resources and robots will erode. At a time wh…
Load mismatch of grid-connected photovoltaic systems: Review of the effects and analysis in an urban context
2013
Abstract The mismatch between generated and consumed electricity is a relevant topic of the energy and economic assessment of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Due to the load mismatch some amount of PV electricity may be exported to the grid because the electrical demand is temporarily lower than production, whereas a consumption, which is higher than production and/or that does not match the available PV generation, will require to be supplemented by the public grid electricity. The presence of the load mismatch can cause the effect of disadvantageously purchasing electricity from the grid and/or squandering the unexploited PV energy. If only a very small part of the PV generation is used to sup…
Green Bonds: Between economic incentives and eco-change
2020
Abstract As the investor base committed to financing sustainable companies in an attempt to combat the climate crisis expands, green financial products have become more attractive to issuers, corporate and sovereign alike. As a result, the EU is attempting to create favourable market conditions which mobilise the allocation of private capital for investments that reduce the contribution to climate change. As part of the EU Commission’s Action Plan for Sustainable Finance, it intends to create Green Bond Standards which aim to support the transition to greener securities investments. As a foundation, we provide an overview of the green bond market development. We then consider investment cha…
Identity, Instrumental Self-Interest and Institutional Evaluations: Explaining Public Opinion on Common European Policies in Foreign Affairs and Defe…
2008
This paper addresses public opinion on common European policies in foreign affairs and defence. It proposes three models of support for common policies in these fields. Drawing on Eurobarometer data, the analysis shows that instrumental self-interest and territorial identities contribute considerably to explaining support for common foreign affairs and defence policies. Moreover, support for common policies is strongly driven by domain-specific evaluations of the European Union's performance. These findings suggest that popular support for common European policies in foreign affairs and defence has an experiential base. Thus, elites have an incentive to respond to public opinion when makin…
State power and conflict driven evolution
2021
The goal of this chapter is to examine the implications of the evolution of social organizations due to external competition. There are a variety of models of external competition. Models such as Ely (2002) examine voluntary migration - these models tend to efficient outcomes as people are drawn to locations with high per capita income. Historically, however, institutional success has not been through voluntary immigration into the arms of welcoming richer neighbors. Rather people and institutions have generally spread through invasion and conflict: the Carthaginians did not emigrate to Rome. Large institutional change has often occurred in the aftermath of the disruption caused by warfare …
Study on the opinions of university teachers in the Region of Murcia on the training of active methods
2021
La formación del profesorado universitario supone el principal vehículo de cambio y mejora educativa en el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES). Sin embargo, existen una serie de factores que pueden impedir su formación y, por tanto, su repercusión en los estudiantes y en la sociedad. En este sentido, este trabajo describe las posibles dificultades que pueden surgir respecto de variables tales como: los años de experiencia docente, edad, género, área del conocimiento en la que imparten docencia, figura profesional o formación universitaria recibida. Para ello, se desarrolló un cuestionario ad hoc que fue aplicado a 501 docentes universitarios. Los resultados mostraron que …