Search results for "macroeconomics"

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…

2014

In order to improve the market value of the product, the platform enterprise often participates in the development process of supporting product of emerging industry’s platform innovation ecosystem. This paper puts forward a revenue sharing contract between the platform company and the supporting company by creating a collaborative development model of the supporting product in the ecosystem, and this paper studies the platform enterprise investment resource property's (complementary or substitution) impact on the supporting enterprise R&D efforts and the revenue sharing factor and analyzes collaborative development mechanism of supporting product of emerging industry platform innovatio…

Six-years-long effects of the Italian policies for photovoltaics on the grid parity of grid-connected photovoltaic systems installed in urban contexts

2017

Abstract The purpose of this study is investigating the grid parity (GP) time and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in densely urbanized contexts. The analysis, which was elaborated for three Italian cities, considered the effects of the promoting policies enacted by the Italian government from June 2010 to May 2016. An appropriate methodology was applied with the aim of realistically defining the energy produced by PV systems installed on buildings with different roof types and number of floors. The calculus of the disbursements considered the operating, maintenance and insurance costs and the wear of PV panels and inverters. The resu…

Technical and economical evaluation on the use of reconfiguration systems in some EU countries for PV plants

2017

This paper shows the technical and economical evaluation of the application of a reconfiguration system for photovoltaic (PV) plants, considering the incentives system in some European Union countries. The reconfiguration system is an alternative to the distributed maximum power point tracking technique which used to increase the power production in the PV plants under the mismatch phenomenon. The reconfiguration techniques employ a microprocessor-based or field-programmable gate array-based system that modifies the layout of the PV plant through the change of the connections among modules. After having presented the main features working of the PV reconfiguration system allowing the improv…

Battery storage systems for peak load shaving applications: Part 2: Economic feasibility and sensitivity analysis

2016

This paper is the second of a two-part series, aiming to evaluate the economic feasibility of electrochemical storage systems in peak load shaving applications. The battery energy storage system (BESS) is considered to be added to a private facility, with the aim of reducing the customer electricity bill. The BESS is charged during the night, when the electricity prices are the lowest and discharged during the daily hours, when the prices are the highest, contemporary achieving a leveling of the daily usage pattern. The economical evaluations are carried out considering four different electrochemical technologies: lithium-ion (li-ion), advanced lead-acid, sodium-sulphur (NaS) and flow batte…

Economic benefits of the use of a PV plants reconfiguration systems

2015

This paper shows the economic convenience of the application of a reconfiguration system for photovoltaic plants, considering the incentives system in different Countries. The reconfiguration is an alternative to the Distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking, DMPPT, technique used to overcome the mismatch problem in Photovoltaic, PV, plants. The reconfiguration techniques employ a microprocessor-based system that modifies the layout of the PV plant by physically changing the connections among modules. After having presented the working principle of the PV reconfiguration system allowing the improvement of the efficiency of the same plant and the relevant installation, the main strength and w…

Forms and Functions of the Real Estate Market of Palermo (Italy). Science and Knowledge in the Cluster Analysis Approach

2016

The analysis of the housing market of a city requires suitable approaches and tools, such as data mining models, to represent its complexity which derives on many elements, e.g. the type of capital asset-house is a common good and an investment good as well, the heterogeneity of the urban areas—each of them has own historical and representative values and different urban functions—and the variability of building quality. The housing market of the most densely populated area of Palermo (Italy), corresponding to ten districts, is analyzed to verify the degree of its inner homogeneity and the relations between the quality of the characteristics and the price of the properties. Five hundred set…

Considerations Regarding the Relevance of Direct Foreign Investments in the Global Economy

2019

Abstract It is well known that the current business world, and also the investments, today are based on the global markets expansion. Contemporary reality shows us the image of a world which is irreversibly evolving towards the businesses globalization and the companies’ internationalization. The internal markets often become overcrowded, and the companies access more profoundly the global marketplace, which not only provides a place for all competitors, but also represents a source of new advantages for all. In the context of globalization the investment activity has gained new dimensions, becoming a global one, with serious implications, which manifest itself over the national economies a…

Keys to success in investment rounds by immigrant entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

2019

[EN] This study presents an updated diagnosis of the SV ecosystem itself and offers an insight into the entrepreneurial mobility trends prospects and expectations of the growing number of start-ups launched by immigrant entrepreneurs arriving in SV. The purpose is to determine and rank the attributes most valued by investors when assessing projects and start-ups founded by immigrant entrepreneurs. The model of analysis composed by three hypotheses leads to a series of findings about the profile and expectations of the immigrant entrepreneurs, and reveals remarkable hints and key targets to be met by immigrant entrepreneurs in SV in order to successfully close investment rounds in a hypercom…

The performance of entrepreneurial small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

2012

Innovation is an important driver of economic growth for it leads to new products and services, enhanced quality, and lower prices. In an increasingly competitive global market, innovation turns out to be essential to secure a viable competitive position. Although there is no perfect correspondence between accounting intangible assets and innovation activities, the association between these two concepts is close enough to take investment in intangible assets as a proxy for entrepreneurship and innovation. To identify differences between innovative and non‐innovative small and medium enterprises in the service industry, both descriptive and statistical analyses are performed on financial dat…