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Modern health care systems are characterized by pronounced prevention and cost-optimized treatments. This dissertation offers novel empirical evidence on how useful such measures can be. The first chapter analyzes how radiation, a main pollutant in health care, can negatively affect cognitive health. The second chapter focuses on the effect of Low Emission Zones on public heath, as air quality is the major external source of health problems. Both chapters point out potentials for preventive measures. Finally, chapter three studies how changes in treatment prices affect the reallocation of hospital resources. In the following, I briefly summarize each chapter and discuss implications for health care systems as well as other policy areas. Based on the National Educational Panel Study that is linked to data on radiation, chapter one shows that radiation can have negative long-term effects on cognitive skills, even at subclinical doses. Exploiting arguably exogenous variation in soil contamination in Germany due to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the findings show that people exposed to higher radiation perform significantly worse in cognitive tests 25 years later. Identification is ensured by abnormal rainfall within a critical period of ten days. The results show that the effect is stronger among older cohorts than younger cohorts, which is consistent with radiation accelerating cognitive decline as people get older. On average, a one-standarddeviation increase in the initial level of CS137 (around 30 chest x-rays) is associated with a decrease in the cognitive skills by 4.1 percent of a standard deviation (around 0.05 school years). Chapter one shows that sub-clinical levels of radiation can have negative consequences even after early childhood. This is of particular importance because most of the literature focuses on exposure very early in life, often during pregnancy. However, population exposed after birth is over 100 times larger. These results point to substantial external human capital costs of radiation which can be reduced by choices of medical procedures. There is a large potential for reductions because about one-third of all CT scans are assumed to be not medically justified (Brenner and Hall, 2007). If people receive unnecessary CT scans because of economic incentives, this chapter points to additional external costs of health care policies. Furthermore, the results can inform the cost-benefit trade-off for medically indicated procedures. Chapter two provides evidence about the effectiveness of Low Emission Zones. Low Emission Zones are typically justified by improvements in population health. However, there is little evidence about the potential health benefits from policy interventions aiming at improving air quality in inner-cities. The chapter ask how the coverage of Low Emission Zones air pollution and hospitalization, by exploiting variation in the roll out of Low Emission Zones in Germany. It combines information on the geographic coverage of Low Emission Zones with rich panel data on the universe of German hospitals over the period from 2006 to 2016 with precise information on hospital locations and the annual frequency of detailed diagnoses. In order to establish that our estimates of Low Emission Zones' health impacts can indeed be attributed to improvements in local air quality, we use data from Germany's official air pollution monitoring system and assign monitor locations to Low Emission Zones and test whether measures of air pollution are affected by the coverage of a Low Emission Zone. Results in chapter two confirm former results showing that the introduction of Low Emission Zones improved air quality significantly by reducing NO2 and PM10 concentrations. Furthermore, the chapter shows that hospitals which catchment areas are covered by a Low Emission Zone, diagnose significantly less air pollution related diseases, in particular by reducing the incidents of chronic diseases of the circulatory and the respiratory system. The effect is stronger before 2012, which is consistent with a general improvement in the vehicle fleet's emission standards. Depending on the disease, a one-standard-deviation increase in the coverage of a hospitals catchment area covered by a Low Emission Zone reduces the yearly number of diagnoses up to 5 percent. These findings have strong implications for policy makers. In 2015, overall costs for health care in Germany were around 340 billion euros, of which 46 billion euros for diseases of the circulatory system, making it the most expensive type of disease caused by 2.9 million cases (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2017b). Hence, reductions in the incidence of diseases of the circulatory system may directly reduce society's health care costs. Whereas chapter one and two study the demand-side in health care markets and thus preventive potential, chapter three analyzes the supply-side. By exploiting the same hospital panel data set as in chapter two, chapter three studies the effect of treatment price shocks on the reallocation of hospital resources in Germany. Starting in 2005, the implementation of the German-DRG-System led to general idiosyncratic treatment price shocks for individual hospitals. Thus far there is little evidence of the impact of general price shocks on the reallocation of hospital resources. Additionally, I add to the exiting literature by showing that price shocks can have persistent effects on hospital resources even when these shocks vanish. However, simple OLS regressions would underestimate the true effect, due to endogenous treatment price shocks. I implement a novel instrument variable strategy that exploits the exogenous variation in the number of days of snow in hospital catchment areas. A peculiarity of the reform allowed variation in days of snow to have a persistent impact on treatment prices. I find that treatment price increases lead to increases in input factors such as nursing staff, physicians and the range of treatments offered but to decreases in the treatment volume. This indicates supplier-induced demand. Furthermore, the probability of hospital mergers and privatization decreases. Structural differences in pre-treatment characteristics between hospitals enhance these effects. For instance, private and larger hospitals are more affected. IV estimates reveal that OLS results are biased towards zero in almost all dimensions because structural hospital differences are correlated with the reallocation of hospital resources. These results are important for several reasons. The G-DRG-Reform led to a persistent polarization of hospital resources, as some hospitals were exposed to treatment price increases, while others experienced reductions. If hospitals increase the treatment volume as a response to price reductions by offering unnecessary therapies, it has a negative impact on population wellbeing and public spending. However, results show a decrease in the range of treatments if prices decrease. Hospitals might specialize more, thus attracting more patients. From a policy perspective it is important to evaluate if such changes in the range of treatments jeopardize an adequate nationwide provision of treatments. Furthermore, the results show a decrease in the number of nurses and physicians if prices decrease. This could partly explain the nursing crisis in German hospitals. However, since hospitals specialize more they might be able to realize efficiency gains which justify reductions in input factors without loses in quality. Further research is necessary to provide evidence for the impact of the G-DRG-Reform on health care quality. Another important aspect are changes in the organizational structure. Many public hospitals have been privatized or merged. The findings show that this is at least partly driven by the G-DRG-Reform. This can again lead to a lack in services offered in some regions if merged hospitals specialize more or if hospitals are taken over by ecclesiastical organizations which do not provide all treatments due to moral conviction. Overall, this dissertation reveals large potential for preventive health care measures and helps to explain reallocation processes in the hospital sector if treatment prices change. Furthermore, its findings have potentially relevant implications for other areas of public policy. Chapter one identifies an effect of low dose radiation on cognitive health. As mankind is searching for new energy sources, nuclear power is becoming popular again. However, results of chapter one point to substantial costs of nuclear energy which have not been accounted yet. Chapter two finds strong evidence that air quality improvements by Low Emission Zones translate into health improvements, even at relatively low levels of air pollution. These findings may, for instance, be of relevance to design further policies targeted at air pollution such as diesel bans. As pointed out in chapter three, the implementation of DRG-Systems may have unintended side-effects on the reallocation of hospital resources. This may also apply to other providers in the health care sector such as resident doctors. ; Moderne Gesundheitssysteme zeichnen sich sowohl durch eine ausgeprägte Prävention als auch durch kostenoptimierte Behandlungen aus. Diese Dissertation bietet neue empirische Erkenntnisse darüber, wie nützlich solche Maßnahmen sein können. Das erste Kapitel analysiert, wie Strahlung, ein Hauptschadstoff im Gesundheitswesen, die kognitive Gesundheit negativ beeinflussen kann. Das zweite Kapitel konzentriert sich auf die Auswirkungen von Umweltzonen auf die öffentliche Gesundheit, da die Luftqualität die wichtigste externe Quelle für Gesundheitsprobleme ist. Beide Kapitel zeigen Potenziale für präventive Maßnahmen auf. Schließlich wird in Kapitel drei untersucht, wie sich Änderungen von Behandlungspreisen auf die Reallokation von Krankenhausressourcen auswirken. Im Folgenden fasse ich jedes Kapitel kurz zusammen und diskutiere die Relevanz für Gesundheitssysteme und andere Politikbereiche. Basierend auf dem Nationalen Bildungspanel, welches wir mit Strahlungsdaten verknüpfen, zeigt Kapitel eins, dass Strahlung, auch in geringen Dosen, negative Langzeitwirkungen auf die kognitiven Fähigkeiten haben kann. Dazu nutzen wir die exogene Variation der Bodenkontamination in Deutschland nach der Tschernobyl-Katastrophe von 1986. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Menschen, die einer höheren Strahlung ausgesetzt waren, 25 Jahre später in kognitiven Tests deutlich schlechter abschneiden. Die Identifizierung wird durch anormale Niederschläge innerhalb eines kritischen Zeitraums von zehn Tagen nach dem Reaktorunfall gewährleistet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Effekt bei älteren Kohorten stärker ist als bei jüngeren Kohorten, was mit der Theorie übereinstimmt, dass Strahlung den altersbedingten Rückgang der kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit beschleunigt. Im Durchschnitt ist eine Erhöhung des Anfangsniveaus von CS137 um eine Standardabweichung (ca. 30 Thoraxröntgenaufnahmen) mit einer Abnahme der kognitiven Fähigkeiten um 4,1 Prozent einer Standardabweichung verbunden (ca. 0.05 Schuljahre). Die Ergebnisse in Kapitel eins zeigen, dass geringe Strahlungswerte auch nach der frühen Kindheit negative Folgen haben können. Dies ist von besonderer Bedeutung, da sich der Großteil der Literatur auf die Exposition in sehr frühen Lebensphasen konzentriert, oft während der Schwangerschaft. Die nach der Geburt exponierte Bevölkerung ist jedoch über 100-mal größer. Diese Ergebnisse deuten auf erhebliche externe Humankapitalkosten der Strahlung hin, die zum Beispiel durch die Wahl medizinischer Verfahren reduziert werden können. Es bestehen große Reduktionspotenziale, da beispielsweise etwa ein Drittel aller CT-Scans als medizinisch nicht gerechtfertigt angesehen werden (Brenner and Hall, 2007). Unter der Annahme, dass Menschen aufgrund wirtschaftlicher Anreize unnötige CT-Scans erhalten, weist dieses Kapitel auf zusätzliche externe Kosten von Gesundheitsmaßnahmen für die Gesundheit der Patienten hin. Außerdem erweitern die Ergebnisse die Informationsgrundlage für Risiko-Nutzen-Abwägungen medizinischer Behandlungen. Kapitel zwei liefert Belege für die Wirksamkeit von Umweltzonen. Umweltzonen sind in der Regel durch eine Verbesserung der Gesundheit der Bevölkerung gerechtfertigt. Es gibt jedoch wenig Belege für den gesundheitlichen Nutzen solcher politischen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Luftqualität in Innenstädten. In dem Kapitel analysieren wir, wie sich die Ausdehnung der Umweltzonen auf die Luftverschmutzung und die Krankenhausaufenthalte auswirkt. Dazu nutzen wir zeitliche Unterschiede bei der Einführung der Umweltzonen in Deutschland. Hierfür kombinieren wir Informationen über die geografische Abdeckung der Umweltzonen mit umfangreichen Paneldaten von allen deutschen Krankenhäusern im Zeitraum von 2006 bis 2016. Die Krankenhausdaten enthalten präzise Informationen über Krankenhausstandorte und die jährliche Häufigkeit detaillierter Diagnosen. Um sicherzustellen, dass unsere Schätzungen der gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen der Umweltzonen auf eine Verbesserung der lokalen Luftqualität zurückzuführen sind, verwenden wir Daten aus dem offiziellen deutschen Luftmessnetz und ordnen den Umweltzonen Monitorstandorte zu. Hierdurch prüfen wir, ob Messungen der Luftverschmutzung durch die Abdeckung einer Umweltzone beeinflusst werden. Die Ergebnisse in Kapitel zwei bestätigen frühere Ergebnisse, die zeigen, dass die Einführung von Umweltzonen die Luftqualität durch die Reduzierung der NO2- und PM10-Konzentrationen deutlich verbessert. Darüber hinaus zeigt das Kapitel, dass Krankenhäuser, deren Einzugsgebiete in eine Umweltzone fallen, deutlich weniger durch Luftverschmutzung bedingte Krankheiten diagnostizieren, insbesondere durch die Verringerung von chronischen Krankheiten des Kreislaufs und der Atemwege. Der Effekt ist vor 2012 stärker, was sich durch eine allgemeine Verbesserung der Abgasnormen für Fahrzeuge erklären lässt. Wird der Anteil eines Krankenhauseinzugsgebiets mit Umweltzone um eine Standardabweichung erhöht, reduziert sich die jährliche Anzahl der entsprechenden Diagnosen um bis zu 5 Prozent. Diese Ergebnisse sind für politische Entscheidungsträger von Bedeutung. Im Jahr 2015 gab Deutschland 46 Milliarden Euro für Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen aus, die teuerste Krankheitsform mit 2,9 Millionen Fällen. Die Reduktion von Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen würde die Gesundheitskosten der Gesellschaft unmittelbar senken. Während Kapitel eins und zwei die Nachfrageseite in Gesundheitsmärkten und damit das Präventionspotenzial untersuchen, analysiert Kapitel drei die Angebotsseite. Unter Verwendung desselben Krankenhauspaneldatensatzes wie in Kapitel zwei untersuche ich die Auswirkungen von veränderten Behandlungspreisen auf Krankenhausressourcen in Deutschland. Ab 2005 wurden die Behandlungspreise für Patienten durch das G-DRG- System umgewandelt, was bis 2010 zu allgemeinen idiosynkratischen Preisschocks für einzelne Krankenhäuser führte. Die vorhandene Literatur bildet den Effekt von allgemeinen Preisschocks auf Krankenhausressourcen jedoch nur unzureichend ab. Außerdem erweitere ich die vorhandene Literatur indem ich zeige, dass Preisänderungen auch dann langfristige Auswirkungen auf Krankenhausressourcen haben können, wenn die Preisschocks verschwinden. Einfache OLS-Regressionen würden den wahren Effekt aufgrund von endogenen Preisschocks unterschätzen. Unter Zuhilfenahme von hochauflösenden Satellitendaten nutze ich eine Instrumentenvariablenstrategie, welche exogene Schwankungen der Wetterbedingungen im Einzugsbereich von Krankenhäusern nutzt. Eine Besonderheit der Reform führt dazu, dass Abweichungen der Wetterbedingungen zum Zeitpunkt der Reformeinführung einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die Behandlungspreise hatten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Preiserhöhungen im Laufe der Zeit zu einem Anstieg des Pflegepersonals, von Ärzten und der Vielfalt der angebotenen Behandlungen führen, aber zu einem Rückgang des Behandlungsvolumens. Bei privaten und größeren Krankenhäusern sind die Auswirkungen stärker. Darüber hinaus sinkt die Wahrscheinlichkeit von Krankenhausfusionen und Privatisierungen. IV-Ergebnisse zeigen gegen Null verzerrte OLS-Schätzungen in fast allen Dimensionen, da strukturelle Krankenhausunterschiede mit der Reallokation von Ressourcen korreliert sind. Diese Ergebnisse sind aus mehreren Gründen wichtig. Die G-DRG-Reform führte zu einer anhaltenden Polarisation von Krankenhausressourcen, da Krankenhäuser sowohl Preisanstiege als auch Preissenkungen erfuhren. Wenn Krankenhäuser das Behandlungsvolumen durch unnötige Therapien erhöhen, hat das negative Auswirkungen auf die öffentliche Gesundheit der Bevölkerung und die öffentlichen Ausgaben. Andererseits zeigen die Ergebnisse einen Rückgang der Bandbreite der angebotenen Behandlungen bei sinkenden Preisen. Krankenhäuser könnten sich stärker spezialisieren und so mehr Patienten anziehen. Aus politischer Sicht ist es wichtig zu beurteilen, ob solche Veränderungen in der Vielfalt der angebotenen Behandlungen eine angemessene flächendeckende Versorgung gefährden. Des Weiteren zeigen die Ergebnisse einen Rückgang der Zahl der Krankenschwestern und Ärzte, wenn die Preise sinken. Dies könnte die Pflegekrise, welche die Bundesregierung in Deutschland beschreibt, teilweise erklären. Da sich die Krankenhäuser jedoch stärker spezialisieren, können sie möglicherweise Effizienzsteigerungen erzielen, die eine Verringerung der Inputfaktoren rechtfertigen, ohne an Qualität zu verlieren. Weitere Untersuchungen sind notwendig, um die Auswirkungen auf die Qualität der Gesundheitsversorgung nachzuweisen. Ein weiterer wichtiger Aspekt sind Veränderungen in der Organisationsstruktur. Viele öffentliche Krankenhäuser werden privatisiert oder mit anderen Krankenhäusern fusioniert. Meine Ergebnisse zeigen, dass dies zumindest teilweise auf die G-DRG-Reform zurückzuführen ist. Dies kann zu einem Mangel an angebotenen Behandlungen in einigen Regionen führen, wenn sich fusionierte Krankenhäuser spezialisieren oder wenn Krankenhäuser von kirchlichen Organisationen übernommen werden, die aus moralischen Gründen nicht alle Behandlungen anbieten. Insgesamt unterstreicht diese Dissertation das große Potenzial von Gesundheitsvorsorgemaßnahmen und hilft, Reallokationsprozesse im Krankenhaussektor zu erklären. Darüber hinaus haben die Ergebnisse potenziell relevante Auswirkungen auf andere Bereiche der Politik. Kapitel Eins identifiziert einen Einfluss von geringer Radioaktivität auf die kognitive Gesundheit. Auf der Suche nach neuen Energiequellen wird die Kernenergie wieder populär. Die Ergebnisse von Kapitel Eins deuten jedoch auf erhebliche Kosten von Kernenergie hin, die in der aktuellen Debatte noch nicht berücksichtigt wurden. Kapitel Zwei findet starke Hinweise darauf, dass die Verbesserung der Luftqualität durch Umweltzonen, selbst bei relativ geringer Luftverschmutzung, zu einer Verbesserung der Gesundheit führt. Diese Ergebnisse können für die Einführung weiterer Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung der Luftverschmutzung von Bedeutung sein, wie beispielsweise Fahrverbote für Dieselfahrzeuge. Wie in Kapitel Drei dargelegt, kann die Einführung von DRG-Systemen unbeabsichtigte Effekte bei der Reallokation von Krankenhausressourcen haben. Dies kann auch für andere Anbieter im Gesundheitswesen wie niedergelassene Ärzte gelten.

In 2019, the new European Commission (EC) presented its vision for climate and environmental transformation in Europe and beyond in its communication on the Green Deal. The Green Deal covers all sectors of the economy, elaborates a new concept for economic growth with climate goals at its centre, and implies a review of current EU climate and climate-related policies. An analysis of the instruments for the Green Deal's implementation and internationalization and their classification and systematization shows a wider picture of the whole complex of available and suggested new policy tools. It also clarifies the role of each of the initiatives and assesses more precisely their importance and potential for influencing the global climate agenda and relations with the Russian Federation. The analysis further reveals the balance of costs and benefits for the sectors and actors involved. The purpose of this study is to systematize the complex of the Green Deal's implementation instruments and assess the balance of various measures in the EU's menu of policy options. The EU's influence on the global agenda and the interests of other countries, including Russia, is not limited to the introduction of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which was widely covered and analyzed as a never before applied trade and climate policy tool with potential to influence global competition. Upcoming new rules to enter the European market, including through sustainable product requirements, could affect the interests of other countries even more. This influence will also be amplified by the regulatory frameworks and rules on emerging markets, such as for climate-neutral technologies and energy sources. Analysis of the initiatives suggests that the measures may be quite burdensome, especially for citizens, while the system of redistribution and compensation is not yet sufficiently developed in terms of financing and administration. Some initiatives significantly increase the transaction and administrative costs for all market participants (exporters, importers, European companies, and consumers) with fairly limited emissions reductions on a global scale. Despite these drawbacks, the Green Deal remains the most comprehensive, elaborate, detailed and ambitious initiative aimed at reaching the net-zero target. Other actors have their own reasoning for tougher climate policy, but the influence and pressure of the Deal increases the ambition of their goals and encourages them to consider the implementation of various policy options, including strict carbon regulation. Therefore, the new EU policy could become a model to identify the best solutions and practices, as well as a catalyst for global climate transition.

Space-division multiplexing (SDM) attracts attention to cladding-pumped optical amplifiers, but they suffer from a low pump power conversion efficiency. To address this issue, ytterbium (Yb3+) and erbium (Er3+) co-doping is considered as an effective approach. However, it changes the gain profile of Er3+-doped fiber amplifiers and induces the gain difference between optical wavelengths in the C-band, significantly limiting the effective band of the dense wavelength-division multiplexed (DWDM) system. This paper is devoted to a detailed study of a cladding-pumped Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) through numerical simulations aiming to identify a configuration, before assembling a similar EYDFA in our laboratory premises that ensures the desired performance. The simulation model is based on a commercial double cladding EYDF whose parameters are experimentally extracted and fed to the EYDFA setup for the system-level studies. We investigate the wavelength dependence of the amplifier's characteristics (absolute gain, gain uniformity, noise figure) and bit error rate (BER) performance for several DWDM channels and their optical power. The obtained results show that a 7 m long EYDF and co-propagating pump direction is preferable for the EYDFA with a 3 W pump source at 975 nm and with the given gain medium characteristics for WDM applications. For instance, it ensures a gain of 19.7–28.3 dB and a noise figure of 3.7–4.2 dB when amplifying 40 DWDM channels with the input power of −20 dBm per channel. Besides, we study EYDFA gain bandwidth and the maximum output power when operating close to the saturation regime and perform a sensitivity analysis showing how the doped fiber's absorption and emission cross-sections impact the amplification process through energy transfer from Yb3+ to Er3+. Finally, we quantify the power penalty introduced by the EYDFA; the results show that it is not higher than 0.1 dB when amplifying 40 × 10 Gbps non-return-to-zero on-off keying signals from −20 dBm/channel.---//---This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license. ; This work has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund project No.1.1.1.1/18/A/068. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as a Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.

We present a measurement of theB-mode polarization power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data taken from 2014 July to 2016 December with thePolarbearexperiment. The CMB power spectra are measured using observations at 150 GHz with an instantaneous array sensitivity of

Los residuos de las actividades industriales (agroforestales, extractivas, construcción y demolición, etc.) constituyen un importante problema medioambiental en las sociedades modernas. Este escenario ha provocado el desarrollo de un marco normativo a nivel europeo, nacional y autonómico, con el objetivo de fomentar el desarrollo sostenible e implementar el modelo de economía circular. Este contexto "Hacia una economía circular: un programa de cero residuos para Europa" cobra especial relevancia el sector de la construcción y especialmente la industria cementera y del hormigón, que se han caracterizado tradicionalmente por ser actividades poco respetuosas con el medio ambiente. En este sentido, indicar que, en las últimas décadas estos sectores han tratado de incorporar a su modelo productivo residuos procedentes de la actividad industrial, tratando de reducir el consumo de recursos naturales, coste energético de la extracción de los mismos y las emisiones de CO₂. El objetivo de esta tesis es estudiar la viabilidad de reutilizar las cenizas de biomasa en la fabricación de nuevos materiales eco-eficientes de base cemento en el ámbito de la ingeniería civil. Para ello se estudiarán las propiedades físicas, mecánicas y durables de los productos finales, comprobando el cumplimiento de los requisitos exigidos por la normativa vigente. ; Industrial (agroforestry, mining, construction & demolition and similar) waste constitutes a substantial environmental problem in modern societies. That situation has prompted the enactment of new Europe-, nation- and region-wide legislation that seeks to further sustainable development and institute a circular economy. In the context of 'Towards a circular economy, a zero waste programme for Europe', the construction and especially the cement industries acquire particular importance as businesses traditionally characterised by their scant respect for the environment. That notwithstanding, in recent years they have made efforts to include industrial waste in their production models in an attempt to reduce the consumption of natural resources, the energy costs associated with their extraction and CO₂ emissions. This thesis aims to determine the viability of reusing biomass ash to manufacture new eco-efficient cement-based materials for civil construction. Attaining that goal will entail studying the physical and mechanical properties and durability of the end products, verifying their compliance with the requisites laid down in the existing legislation. ; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad: proyecto de investigación BIA2016-76643-C3-1-R · Gobierno de Extremadura; fondos FEDER: ayuda al grupo de investigación MATERIA de la Universidad de Extremadura (GR 18122 y GR 15064)

Energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in building has become a key issue since the built environment is nowadays responsible for more than 30% of the total carbon emissions. While new building design and construction reached massive improvements toward net zero energy and high environmental performance standards, existing and historical buildings are still too much energy needy, with a relatively low indoor comfort conditions for both occupants and artworks preserved inside, especially within heritage buildings. Such high architectural value buildings correspond to almost one third of the Italian building stock and they typically need to be re-functionalized for hosting residential, office, or institutional uses, i.e. museums and exhibition areas. In this view, the present research aims at developing a replicable method for assessing and enhancing indoor comfort in historical buildings frequently characterized by too high relative humidity and thermal losses through the envelope. More in details, an innovative envelope material for indoor application, i.e. hygro-adsorbing plaster, has been tested in an ancient Italian castle and its effect has been assessed by means of coupled monitoring and calibrated dynamic simulation. The experimental campaign shows an increase of the Performance Index (PI) in terms of relative humidity acceptable range from 16.1 to 33.3% by applying the new thin plaster. Moreover, the results show that dedicated HVAC systems may support the action of passive strategies for preserving artworks and indoor comfort levels, but at the same time, such passive low-invasive strategies represent a mandatory first step toward energy efficiency, functional, and comfortable cultural heritage architectures. ; Prof. Luisa F. Cabeza would like to acknowledge the Spanish Government for the funding PRX17/00221 that allowed her to visit University of Perugia during 6 months. Prof. Cabeza would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2014 SGR 123). GREA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. The corresponding author acknowledgements are due to the 'CIRIAF program for UNESCO' in the framework of the UNESCO Chair 'Water Resources Management and Culture', for supporting her research. Also, University of Perugia acknowledgements are due to Centro Edile per la Sicurezza e la Formazione–Perugia (in particular to Dr. Cristiana Bartolucci and Dr. Laura Galli), which provided the case study and supported the project COLO ARTE, also financed by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia ("COLO ARTE - COnservazione e vaLOrizzazione degli edifici storici e delle opere d'ARTE" 2016.0276.021).

The use of environment friendly materials, with low environmental impact and low production costs is becoming an issue of great interest in the building sector. It is known that there is a need to reduce the energy requirement in buildings, once they account for 40% of total energy consumption in European Union (EU). The adoption of sustainable and efficient solutions could be the answer to improve the energy performance of buildings, leading to a reduction of the energy demand and cost for the building sector. From a global point of view the use of bio-based materials provides low-cost and short-term opportunities to contribute to the EU objective to have nearly zero-energy buildings and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Bio-based materials are known for their environmental benefits but specially for being materials with high hygroscopic behaviour. The use of natural fibres in earth composites reinforcement has become an interest matter in the construction world, not only due to the availability, embodied energy and hygroscopic behaviour of the earth but also due to the properties and advantages of the use of reinforcement fibres. Earth is a construction material with high advantages but the negative aspects are also relevant, whereas the use of binders to reduce the negative aspects is very common. Based on these fundaments, the present thesis studies the production of a novel bio-based insulation material with earth, stabilised with gypsum and lime and reinforced with rice husk. The objective was to produce a high-performance material that not only could be used as an insulation material but also as a regulator of the indoor air humidity. The implementation of an image analysis method enables to assess of the influence of the length and orientation of the natural fibres on the physical and thermal properties of the composite. In order to evaluate the influence of these factors on the performance of a bio-based material, a comparison was made with previously produced earth blocks, with different natural fibre contents, different production methods and dimensions. The experimental tests showed promising results, especially on the hygrothermal properties of the earth panels. Despite having a relatively low thermal conductivity, the results still do not allow the panels to be considered an insulation material but they could contribute to the indoor thermal comfort. As a regulator of the humidity the panels show great ability to adsorb and desorb the air moisture with relative humidity changes, proving the effectiveness of earth and natural fibres on the hygrothermal comfort.

In the days following the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on September 11, 2001 (9/11), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated numerous air monitoring activities to better understand the ongoing impact of emissions from that disaster. Using these data, EPA conducted an inhalation exposure and human health risk assessment to the general population. This assessment does not address exposures and potential impacts that could have occurred to rescue workers, firefighters, and other site workers, nor does it address exposures that could have occurred in the indoor environment. Contaminants evaluated include particulate matter (PM), metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, asbestos, volatile organic compounds, particle‐bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, silica, and synthetic vitreous fibers (SVFs). This evaluation yielded three principal findings. (1) Persons exposed to extremely high levels of ambient PM and its components, SVFs, and other contaminants during the collapse of the WTC towers, and for several hours afterward, were likely to be at risk for acute and potentially chronic respiratory effects. (2) Available data suggest that contaminant concentrations within and near ground zero (GZ) remained significantly elevated above background levels for a few days after 9/11. Because only limited data on these critical few days were available, exposures and potential health impacts could not be evaluated with certainty for this time period. (3) Except for inhalation exposures that may have occurred on 9/11 and a few days afterward, the ambient air concentration data suggest that persons in the general population were unlikely to suffer short‐term or long‐term adverse health effects caused by inhalation exposures. While this analysis by EPA evaluated the potential for health impacts based on measured air concentrations, epidemiological studies conducted by organizations other than EPA have attempted to identify actual impacts. Such studies have identified respiratory effects in worker and general populations, and developmental effects in newborns whose mothers were near GZ on 9/11 or shortly thereafter. While researchers are not able to identify specific times and even exactly which contaminants are the cause of these effects, they have nonetheless concluded that exposure to WTC contaminants (and/or maternal stress, in the case of developmental effects) resulted in these effects, and have identified the time period including 9/11 itself and the days and few weeks afterward as a period of most concern based on high concentrations of key pollutants in the air and dust.

This report reviews existing economic instruments in the environmental field in Sweden. Evaluations of the various economic instruments have been summarised. Particular emphasis has been given to four of the16 environmental objectives in Swedish environmental policy and protection. These are Reduced Climate Impact, A Non-Toxic Environment, Sustainable Forests and Zero Eutrophication. A problem common to these objectives is that they are considered to be very difficult to achieve within the stated deadline. The analysis made is also linked to the three action strategies: (i) More efficient energy use and transport; (ii) Non-toxic and resource-efficient cyclical systems; and (iii) Management of land, water and the built environment. Our approach is based on the long-term socio-economically efficient use of instruments to achieve environmental objectives. Since only a few evaluations include socio-economic evaluation methods, we have defined three criteria for determining whether a given instrument is an effective long-term aid to achievement of the environmental objectives. Market-based systems, i.e. the electricity certificate scheme and the EU emissions trading scheme, are not described separately; they are described to the extent the systems act in conjunction with other economic instruments. The economic instruments covered can be divided into groups: taxes, charges, tax relief and grants. This project has been carried out over a fairly short space of time, and we have therefore been unable to fully review the literature. Nonetheless, our survey includes nearly two hundred evaluations. The project has been carried out by the Swedish EPA and the Swedish Energy Agency as directed by the Ministry of the Environment. There has also been consultation with the National Institute of Economic Research and the Swedish Tax Agency and other agencies responsible for environmental objectives or sectors. The study is a preliminary study in preparation for a government report on economic instruments and also forms part of the in-depth review of environmental objectives to be performed in 2008. The following people have been involved in preparation of this report: Reino Abrahamsson (Swedish EPA), Johanna Andréasson (Swedish Energy Agency), Mats Björsell (Swedish EPA), Johanna Jussila Hammes (Swedish Energy Agency), Therese Karlsson (Swedish Energy Agency), Henrik Scharin (Swedish EPA), Ulrika Lindstedt (Swedish EPA) and Pelle Magdalinski (Swedish EPA). Project leaders were Marcus Carlsson Reich, Swedish EPA and Karin Sahlin, Swedish Energy Agency. English translation by Maxwell Arding.

Energy production is associated with a number of significant environmental externalities. For instance, coal-fired power plants emit both local pollutants (such as particulate matter and sulphur dioxide) and the global pollutant carbon dioxide. This creates a need for government intervention: left to their own devices, energy producers will do more environmental damage than is socially optimal. The choices faced by policy-makers in regulating the energy industry are, however, rarely clear. Government regulators must trade off the externalities caused by different types of energy production. While nuclear power generation does not emit carbon dioxide, there is the risk of significant environmental damage in the event of a nuclear meltdown. While many proponents of biofuels hoped that replacing fossil fuels with biofuels would decrease carbon dioxide emissions, land-use changes associated with biofuels production can cause environmental damage. These trade-offs motivate the chapters of this dissertation.In the first chapter, I study changes to nuclear power safety following major regulatory changes in electricity markets. Following electricity market restructuring, approximately half of all commercial U.S. nuclear power reactors were sold by price-regulated public utilities to independent power producers. At the time of the sales, some policy-makers raised concerns that these corporations would ignore safety. Others claimed that the sales would bring improved reactor management, with positive effects on safety. Using data on various safety measures and a difference-in-difference estimation strategy, I find that safety improved following ownership transfers and the removal of price regulations. Generation increased, and this does not appear to have come at the cost of public safety. This paper contributes to several strands of the energy literature. First, it fits in with the literature on electricity deregulation. While this literature has considered a broad set of outcomes, my paper is the first to look closely at safety, an outcome of particular interest for nuclear energy. In line with that, it also contributes to the literature on nuclear safety, which has been of particular interest given accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Finally, my work is germane to the literature on the consequences of deregulation for outcomes beyond private efficiency gains. While there is now some consensus that deregulation can lead to the alignment of private costs and thus to efficiency gains, less is known about the effect on external costs. Papers in this literature are necessarily industry-specific: the interaction of private cost reductions with changes to quality or changes to external costs is highly context-dependent. However, this paper provides intuition for the mechanisms at work, some of which are generalizable beyond the nuclear power industry.In the second and third chapters, I study land-use changes relating to biofuels production. Transportation in the U.S. accounts for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Motor gasoline, excluding ethanol, accounts for around 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, or over 1 billion metric tons each year. Biofuels have been promoted as an alternative to petroleum products that bypasses some of the fundamental problems with the oil market: supporters claim that it is renewable (whereas conventional oil is exhaustible), produced in the U.S. (as opposed to regimes in some cases unfriendly to the U.S.), and carbon-friendly. As the acreage devoted to biofuels crop production expands, however, it can compete with cropland used for food or with natural ecosystems.In the second chapter, joint with Maximilian Auffhammer and Peter Berck, I examine price impacts of biofuels production. The last ten years have seen tremendous expansion in biofuels production, particularly in corn ethanol in the United States, at the same time that commodity prices (e.g., corn) have experienced significant spikes. While supporters claim that biofuels are renewable and carbon-friendly, concerns have been raised about their impacts on land use and food prices. This paper analyzes how U.S. crop prices have responded to shocks in acreage supply; these shocks can be thought of as a shock to the residual supply of corn for food. Using a structural vector auto-regression framework, we examine shocks to a crop's own acreage and to total cropland. This allows us to estimate the effect of dedicating cropland or non-crop farmlands to biofuels feedstock production. A negative shock in own acreage leads to an increase in price for soybeans and corn. Our calculations show that increased corn ethanol production during the boom production year 2006/2007 explains approximately 27 percent of the experienced corn price rise. In the final chapter, I study land-use change in Brazil arising from biofuels production. Scientists and economists are increasingly worried that biofuels production is leading to deforestation, and hence loss of habitats and increased carbon dioxide emissions. I estimate land use changes in response to shocks in sugarcane (a biofuels feedstock) and soybean (thought to be affected by United States corn ethanol production) prices in Brazil at a national and regional level. Using county-level data from 1973 to 2005, I consider a dynamic panel data model of input demand for land, conditioning on price changes of other commodities. Unlike the existing literature, I apply a dynamic panel data estimator that is unbiased (unlike OLS with fixed effects) and more precise than GMM. The short-run price elasticity of sugarcane acreage in Brazil is estimated to be approximately zero, whereas the elasticity of soybean acreage is 0.9 when both spot and futures prices change. The regional estimates for soybeans show considerable variation, and are highest in areas of ecological importance, such as the cerrado. Sugarcane estimates are more homogeneous. These results should be taken into account in impact assessments of biofuels.

For over forty years, Brazil, its subnational governments, Indigenous communities, other nations, non-governmental organizations, corporations, and individuals have worked to conserve the Amazon rainforest through a staggering number of diverse international initiatives. While some initiatives have supported Brazil in decreasing the rate of deforestation over the past fifteen years, the 2019 fires demonstrated that destruction continues. Left unchecked, this irreversible destruction promises to amplify. Fortunately, the long history of global involvement in Amazon conservation provides ample lessons for effective, place-based deforestation prevention. Thoughtful and coordinated international action can address the current lethal combination of destructive factors: Brazil's environmentally hostile federal administration, its national economic recession, and surging international demand for deforestation commodities. This Article curates lessons learned from over four decades of international efforts to conserve the Amazon rainforest and synthesizes them into a more effective and efficient strategy. Due to the urgency caused by the climate crisis and the Amazon's impending "tipping point," this Article analyzes the issue through a retrospective lens, drawing insight from past and existing initiatives—because what has been done is possible. Because this Article's proposal relies on existing global alliances, political motivation, institutions, and mechanisms, the burden of its implementation is considerably reduced. There simply is no time for starting fresh.

Air pollution is an important topic with a great social impact; it is related with public health, environment and ecology, and climate change. Scientists have developed several models in the last thirty years, and regional air quality operational systems are used routinely by governments and agencies. Efforts have also been done to simulate the air quality in the local scale; main models are Gaussian and Puff models, that are based on a Lagrangian approach. In contrast with these models, in this thesis we have developed a system using an Eulerian approach. This model is specifically designed for regions with complex orography where the Lagrangian models have problems computing the trajectory of the particles. This model can be used for diagnostic or prediction simulations. Air quality operational systems depend on the orography, meteorological data, and emission data. Air quality models use processors to incorporate these data into the model. The data can come from numerical weather prediction systems, experimental data, or databases. In this thesis we have developed processors, specifically designed for the local scale, to incorporate these data into our system. To incorporate the orography, we have developed a mesh generation algorithm suitable for complex terrain discretization; it also allows to insert layers that can match the regional models. A wind field model has also been used; it can interpolate a three-dimensional wind field from some station measurements using a log-linear vertical wind profile, or can interpolate it from a numerical weather prediction system. Once an interpolated wind field is computed, a mass-consistent model is applied to ensure null divergence and impermeability in the terrain. The wind field is modified to take into account the injection of the pollutants into the atmosphere. Briggs studied the trajectory of the plume rise giving some empirical equations that will be used in our model. Briggs' equations describe the trajectory in a plane; our model will modify this trajectory adapting it to the ambient wind field. This modification allows the plume rise to surround the mountains or channel into the valleys. The transport and reaction of pollutants in the atmosphere is then computed using an splitting method, so the transport and the chemical reactions are computed independently. To solve the transport of pollutants we have used a finite element method stabilized using least squares. The chemical reaction is simulated using simplified models such as RIVAD, or more complex ones such as CB05. To obtain more accurate results we have used adaptation. An error indicator has been used to adapt the mesh to the solution. To adapt the mesh to the concentration distribution of all the species is very demanding, for this reason we have used a multimesh method where every chemical specie has its own mesh where we solve the transport and the chemical reactions are simulated in a common mesh. The system developed in this thesis has diagnostic and forecasting capabilities. For this reason we present two different applications. The first one is a diagnostic application in La Palma island (Spain), where wind measurements are given, and SO2 and NO2 emissions from a stack are considered. The topography of the island is real, from a digital elevation model, but the wind field measurements, and the stack location and emissions, are simulated. The second application is a forecasting application data from the CMAQ benchmark test. It is located in the surrounding of Pineville Kentucky. In this application we have used all the data from CMAQ and the chemical reaction model CB05. ; La contaminació atmosfèrica té gran impacte social; està relacionada ambla salut pública, l'ecologia, el medi ambient i el canvi climàtic. En els últims trenta anys, els científics han desenvolupat diversos models que els governs i les agències mediambientals utilitzen diàriament. També s'han fet esforços per simular la qualitat de l'aire en l'escala local. Els models principals són els models Gaussians i Puff, que es basen en una descripció Lagrangiana. En contrast amb aquests models, en aquesta tesi s'ha desenvolupat un sistema que utilitza una descripció Euleriana. Aquest model està dissenyat específicament per a les regions amb topografia complexa on els models Lagrangians tenen problemes calculant la trajectòria de les partícules. El model presentat en aquesta tesi pot ser utilitzat tant pel diagnòstic com per la predicció. Els sistemes operatius utilitzats actualment depenen de l'orografia, de dades meteorològiques i de dades d'emissió. Per tal d'incorporar aquestes dades, els models de qualitat de l'aire han desenvolupat diferents preprocessadors. Les dades poden venir dels sistemes numèrics de predicció meteorològics, de dades experimentals o de bases de dades. En aquesta tesi hem desenvolupat preprocessadors dissenyats específicament per a l'àmbit local, per tal d'incorporar aquestes dades al nostre sistema. Per incorporar l'orografia, hem desenvolupat un algoritme de generació de malles adequat per terreny complex; l'algoritme també ens permet inserir capes que poden coincidir amb la dels models regionals. S'ha desenvolupat un model de càlcul de camp de vent; a partir de les dades s'interpola un camp de vent tridimensional fent servir un perfil log-lineal vertical del vent, o s'interpola a partir dels resultats d'un sistema de predicció meteorològica. Quan s'ha calculat el vent interpolat, es fa servir un model de massa consistent per obtenir un camp de vent definitiu on s'ha imposat divergència zero i impermeabilitat del terreny. El camp de vent s'ha de modificar per tenir en compte la injecció dels contaminants a l'atmosfera. Briggs va estudiar la trajectòria de l'elevació de la ploma i va trobar equacions empíriques que utilitzarem en el nostre model. Les equacions de Briggs descriuen la trajectòria de la ploma en un pla vertical; el nostre model modificarà aquesta trajectòria adaptant-la al camp de vent ambiental. Aquesta modificació permet que l'elevació de la ploma rodegi les muntanyes o s'acanali a les valls. El transport i la reacció de contaminants a l'atmosfera es calcula utilitzant un mètode de "splitting", de manera que el transport i la reacció química es calculen de forma independent. Per resoldre el transport de contaminants, hem utilitzat el mètode d'elements finits estabilitzat amb mínims quadrats. La reacció química es simula mitjançant models simplificats com el model RIVAD, o més complexes com el CB05. Per obtenir resultats més precisos hem adaptat la malla a la solució utilitzant un indicador d'error. Haver d'adaptar la malla a la distribució de la concentració de totes les espècies contaminants és molt exigent i per aquest motiu hem utilitzat un mètode "multimesh" on cada espècie química té la seva pròpia malla on resolem el transport i les reaccions químiques es simulen en una malla comú. El sistema desenvolupat en aquesta tesi té capacitats de diagnòstic i pronòstic. Per aquesta raó es presenten dues aplicacions diferents. La primera és una aplicació de diagnòstic a l'illa de la Palma (Espanya), on es disposa de mesures de vent, i de les emissions de SO2 i NO2 d'una xemeneia. La topografia de l'illa és real, a partir d'un model digital del terreny, però les dades del camp de vent, la ubicació de la xemeneia i el valor de les emissions són simulades. La segona aplicació és una aplicació de predicció fent servir els resultats del benchmark del CMAQ. Es simula una zona a Pineville Kentucky. En aquesta aplicació hem utilitzat totes les dades del CMAQ i el model químic CB05. ; Postprint (published version)

Air pollution is an important topic with a great social impact; it is related with public health, environment and ecology, and climate change. Scientists have developed several models in the last thirty years, and regional air quality operational systems are used routinely by governments and agencies. Efforts have also been done to simulate the air quality in the local scale; main models are Gaussian and Puff models, that are based on a Lagrangian approach. In contrast with these models, in this thesis we have developed a system using an Eulerian approach. This model is specifically designed for regions with complex orography where the Lagrangian models have problems computing the trajectory of the particles. This model can be used for diagnostic or prediction simulations. Air quality operational systems depend on the orography, meteorological data, and emission data. Air quality models use processors to incorporate these data into the model. The data can come from numerical weather prediction systems, experimental data, or databases. In this thesis we have developed processors, specifically designed for the local scale, to incorporate these data into our system. To incorporate the orography, we have developed a mesh generation algorithm suitable for complex terrain discretization; it also allows to insert layers that can match the regional models. A wind field model has also been used; it can interpolate a three-dimensional wind field from some station measurements using a log-linear vertical wind profile, or can interpolate it from a numerical weather prediction system. Once an interpolated wind field is computed, a mass-consistent model is applied to ensure null divergence and impermeability in the terrain. The wind field is modified to take into account the injection of the pollutants into the atmosphere. Briggs studied the trajectory of the plume rise giving some empirical equations that will be used in our model. Briggs' equations describe the trajectory in a plane; our model will modify this trajectory adapting it to the ambient wind field. This modification allows the plume rise to surround the mountains or channel into the valleys. The transport and reaction of pollutants in the atmosphere is then computed using an splitting method, so the transport and the chemical reactions are computed independently. To solve the transport of pollutants we have used a finite element method stabilized using least squares. The chemical reaction is simulated using simplified models such as RIVAD, or more complex ones such as CB05. To obtain more accurate results we have used adaptation. An error indicator has been used to adapt the mesh to the solution. To adapt the mesh to the concentration distribution of all the species is very demanding, for this reason we have used a multimesh method where every chemical specie has its own mesh where we solve the transport and the chemical reactions are simulated in a common mesh. The system developed in this thesis has diagnostic and forecasting capabilities. For this reason we present two different applications. The first one is a diagnostic application in La Palma island (Spain), where wind measurements are given, and SO2 and NO2 emissions from a stack are considered. The topography of the island is real, from a digital elevation model, but the wind field measurements, and the stack location and emissions, are simulated. The second application is a forecasting application data from the CMAQ benchmark test. It is located in the surrounding of Pineville Kentucky. In this application we have used all the data from CMAQ and the chemical reaction model CB05. ; La contaminació atmosfèrica té gran impacte social; està relacionada ambla salut pública, l'ecologia, el medi ambient i el canvi climàtic. En els últims trenta anys, els científics han desenvolupat diversos models que els governs i les agències mediambientals utilitzen diàriament. També s'han fet esforços per simular la qualitat de l'aire en l'escala local. Els models principals són els models Gaussians i Puff, que es basen en una descripció Lagrangiana. En contrast amb aquests models, en aquesta tesi s'ha desenvolupat un sistema que utilitza una descripció Euleriana. Aquest model està dissenyat específicament per a les regions amb topografia complexa on els models Lagrangians tenen problemes calculant la trajectòria de les partícules. El model presentat en aquesta tesi pot ser utilitzat tant pel diagnòstic com per la predicció. Els sistemes operatius utilitzats actualment depenen de l'orografia, de dades meteorològiques i de dades d'emissió. Per tal d'incorporar aquestes dades, els models de qualitat de l'aire han desenvolupat diferents preprocessadors. Les dades poden venir dels sistemes numèrics de predicció meteorològics, de dades experimentals o de bases de dades. En aquesta tesi hem desenvolupat preprocessadors dissenyats específicament per a l'àmbit local, per tal d'incorporar aquestes dades al nostre sistema. Per incorporar l'orografia, hem desenvolupat un algoritme de generació de malles adequat per terreny complex; l'algoritme també ens permet inserir capes que poden coincidir amb la dels models regionals. S'ha desenvolupat un model de càlcul de camp de vent; a partir de les dades s'interpola un camp de vent tridimensional fent servir un perfil log-lineal vertical del vent, o s'interpola a partir dels resultats d'un sistema de predicció meteorològica. Quan s'ha calculat el vent interpolat, es fa servir un model de massa consistent per obtenir un camp de vent definitiu on s'ha imposat divergència zero i impermeabilitat del terreny. El camp de vent s'ha de modificar per tenir en compte la injecció dels contaminants a l'atmosfera. Briggs va estudiar la trajectòria de l'elevació de la ploma i va trobar equacions empíriques que utilitzarem en el nostre model. Les equacions de Briggs descriuen la trajectòria de la ploma en un pla vertical; el nostre model modificarà aquesta trajectòria adaptant-la al camp de vent ambiental. Aquesta modificació permet que l'elevació de la ploma rodegi les muntanyes o s'acanali a les valls. El transport i la reacció de contaminants a l'atmosfera es calcula utilitzant un mètode de "splitting", de manera que el transport i la reacció química es calculen de forma independent. Per resoldre el transport de contaminants, hem utilitzat el mètode d'elements finits estabilitzat amb mínims quadrats. La reacció química es simula mitjançant models simplificats com el model RIVAD, o més complexes com el CB05. Per obtenir resultats més precisos hem adaptat la malla a la solució utilitzant un indicador d'error. Haver d'adaptar la malla a la distribució de la concentració de totes les espècies contaminants és molt exigent i per aquest motiu hem utilitzat un mètode "multimesh" on cada espècie química té la seva pròpia malla on resolem el transport i les reaccions químiques es simulen en una malla comú. El sistema desenvolupat en aquesta tesi té capacitats de diagnòstic i pronòstic. Per aquesta raó es presenten dues aplicacions diferents. La primera és una aplicació de diagnòstic a l'illa de la Palma (Espanya), on es disposa de mesures de vent, i de les emissions de SO2 i NO2 d'una xemeneia. La topografia de l'illa és real, a partir d'un model digital del terreny, però les dades del camp de vent, la ubicació de la xemeneia i el valor de les emissions són simulades. La segona aplicació és una aplicació de predicció fent servir els resultats del benchmark del CMAQ. Es simula una zona a Pineville Kentucky. En aquesta aplicació hem utilitzat totes les dades del CMAQ i el model químic CB05. ; Postprint (published version)

This open access book considers the water, energy, food (WEF) nexus in the Pacific region. The region comprises seventeen sovereign countries and seven territories spread across the Pacific Ocean, a blue expanse that covers a fifth of the world's surface area but contains only 0.5% of the population—or 44.5 million people. The uniqueness of the Pacific and the need for a Pasifika-led approach to sustainability across environmental, societal and economical spheres requires this blue continent to be considered in a separate volume under the 'Water Security in a New World' series. This Pacific volume is focussed on water, energy and food security in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) and the challenges produced by the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and human population pressures. The diversity of culture, traditional knowledge and ways of life across the Pacific are united by similar geographies and opportunities to apply a 'Pacific specific' WEF nexus approach; a coordinated approach to manage water, energy and food that is centred on active decision making across the three sectors to increase the security of each. Importantly, a WEF nexus approach builds on national and international efforts to date in the Pacific which include Integrated Water Resource Management, Ridge to Reef, Source to Sea, UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and other similar approaches. In this book, contributions by authors from governments, regional bodies, multilateral agencies, and academia describe water security and its intersectionality with both the energy and food sectors, highlighting the significance of both land and marine food systems and connectivity between water and energy in a Pacific-focussed context. It is demonstrated that these systems cannot be separated from the challenges associated with healthy environments and functioning ecological services, transport, and waste that are unique to this vast archipelagic region. To achieve meaningful change, it is essential that solutions are cognizant of the world's colonial past and the global inequalities that persist today. The path forward for water and food systems is one that is Pasifika-led and builds on traditional knowledge and local capacity. National energy demands must consider the future with solutions comprising both WEF-integrated approaches and new energy technologies to hasten the transition away from fossil fuels. Globally, major greenhouse gas emitters both past and present need to step up for the environmental and economic benefit of all by rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting Pasifika leadership on highly ambitious net zero goals. This book is a highly recommended source of information and inspiration for policy makers, decision makers, research communities and practitioners dealing with any aspect of water, energy, or food security in the Pacific.

The subject matter discussed in the article concerns the problem of the energy transformation of the European Union (EU) countries. In the case of the EU, the energy transformation has specific characteristics due to formal legal and institutional provisions. This means that the member states are obliged to implement the adopted Community Energy Strategy, which was defined under the European Green Deal. According to the EU policy, all member states are to have climate-neutral and zero-gas-emission economies by 2050. The energy transformation is to be largely based on the diversification of the energy sources used, with a dominance of renewable energy sources (RES). The article presents a research problem, where the question was asked whether achieving climateneutral energy independence based solely on RES is possible at the regional level. It seems that the positive answer is an important argument in the discussion about the possibility of all member states achieving the goals set under the European Green Deal. Additionally, stating the possibility of energy independence from RES for a selected region is an important argument to promote just and bottom-up initiatives in order to carry out the energy transformation more effectively. The assessment of the energy potential from renewable sources at the regional level was carried out on the example of a selected NUTS 2 region, the Greater Poland Voivodeship in Poland. The main objective of the study is to analyze the possibility of obtaining independence from RES by the selected Greater Poland Voivodeship. The implementation of the objective consists of determining the energy potential from RES in the Voivodeship under study on the basis of the methods of a geographic information system (GIS). GIS methods were selected due to the fact that they allow for the spatial positioning of point, line, and surface structures in relation to the potential of RES, thus ensuring high accuracy of the obtained estimates. The analysis carried out in the study shows that the technical potential of RES in the Greater Poland Voivodeship is higher than the current electricity and heat usage. This means that by focusing solely on RES in the region, the Greater Poland Voivodeship can fully meet the energy demand thanks to its green resources. It should be emphasized that the Greater Poland Voivodeship is one of the coal-dependent regions in Poland that has already prepared a structured plan of just transformation. A locally and bottom-up prepared strategy assumes the conversion of the region from a "Coal Energy Region" into a "Green Energy Valley" in which economic development will be strictly connected to RES energy independence.