Cost effectiveness of a combination of instruments for global warming: a quantitative approach for Spain

4 p.

Linking Reduced Deforestation and a Global Carbon Market: Impacts on Costs, Financial Flows, and Technological Innovation

25 p.

Market Instruments and CO2 Mitigation: A General Equilibrium Analysis for Spain

25 p.

Cooperative and market-based solutions to pollution abatement problems

This work concerns itself with the possibility of solutions, both cooperative and market based, to pollution abatement problems. In particular, we are interested in pollutant emissions in Southern California and possible solutions to the abatement problems enumerated in the 1990 Clean Air Act. A tradable pollution permit program has been implemented to reduce emissions, creating property rights associated with various pollutants.

Before we discuss the performance of market-based solutions to LA's pollution woes, we consider the existence of cooperative solutions. In Chapter 2, we examine pollutant emissions as a trans boundary public bad. We show that for a class of environments in which pollution moves in a bi-directional, acyclic manner, there exists a sustainable coalition structure and associated levels of emissions. We do so via a new core concept, one more appropriate to modeling cooperative emissions agreements (and potential defection from them) than the standard definitions.

However, this leaves the question of implementing pollution abatement programs unanswered. While the existence of a cost-effective permit market equilibrium has long been understood, the implementation of such programs has been difficult. The design of Los Angeles' REgional CLean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM) alleviated some of the implementation problems, and in part exacerbated them. For example, it created two overlapping cycles of permits and two zones of permits for different geographic regions. While these design features create a market that allows some measure of regulatory control, they establish a very difficult trading environment with the potential for inefficiency arising from the transactions costs enumerated above and the illiquidity induced by the myriad assets and relatively few participants in this market.

It was with these concerns in mind that the ACE market (Automated Credit Exchange) was designed. The ACE market utilizes an iterated combined-value call market (CV Market). Before discussing the performance of the RECLAIM program in general and the ACE mechanism in particular, we test experimentally whether a portfolio trading mechanism can overcome market illiquidity. Chapter 3 experimentally demonstrates the ability of a portfolio trading mechanism to overcome portfolio rebalancing problems, thereby inducing sufficient liquidity for markets to fully equilibrate.

With experimental evidence in hand, we consider the CV Market's performance in the real world. We find that as the allocation of permits reduces to the level of historical emissions, prices are increasing. As of April of this year, prices are roughly equal to the cost of the Best Available Control Technology (BACT). This took longer than expected, due both to tendencies to mis-report emissions under the old regime, and abatement technology advances encouraged by the program. Vve also find that the ACE market provides liquidity where needed to encourage long-term planning on behalf of polluting facilities.

Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Labelling in Domestic Appliances: the Spanish Market

30 p.

Analyses of planetary atmospheres across the spectrum : from Titan to exoplanets

Planetary atmospheres exist in a seemingly endless variety of physical and chemical environments. There are an equally diverse number of methods by which we can study and characterize atmospheric composition. In order to better understand the fundamental chemistry and physical processes underlying all planetary atmospheres, my research of the past four years has focused on two distinct topics. First, I focused on the data analysis and spectral retrieval of observations obtained by the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) instrument onboard the Cassini spacecraft while in orbit around Saturn. These observations consisted of stellar occultation measurements of Titan's upper atmosphere, probing the chemical composition in the region 300 to 1500 km above Titan's surface. I examined the relative abundances of Titan's two most prevalent chemical species, nitrogen and methane. I also focused on the aerosols that are formed through chemistry involving these two major species, and determined the vertical profiles of aerosol particles as a function of time and latitude. Moving beyond our own solar system, my second topic of investigation involved analysis of infra-red light curves from the Spitzer space telescope, obtained as it measured the light from stars hosting planets of their own. I focused on both transit and eclipse modeling during Spitzer data reduction and analysis. In my initial work, I utilized the data to search for transits of planets a few Earth masses in size. In more recent research, I analyzed secondary eclipses of three exoplanets and constrained the range of possible temperatures and compositions of their atmospheres.

Desigualdades de género en los trabajos : el caso de la CAE.

Este trabajo analiza los avances logrados y las desigualdades existentes en el mercado laboral y en el trabajo no remunerado con respecto a las mujeres, con especial incidencia en la C.A. de Euskadi. En primer lugar, se reflexiona de forma general sobre las medidas promovidas desde distintos niveles: europeo, estatal y de la C.A. de Euskadi, y la evolución que ha ido experimentando la sociedad para fomentar la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres. En segundo lugar, se hace un recorrido a través de los análisis teóricos de la desigualdad. En tercer lugar, se analiza la situación laboral de las mujeres vascas en comparación con la de los hombres, con especial atención en el trabajo no remunerado, la actividad laboral, el paro y los salarios. Finalmente, quedan planteadas una serie de conclusiones a las que se llega tras realizar el análisis.

Financial Futures Markets and Their Impact on the Real Economy in Middle and Low Income Countries

This project analyses the influence of the futures market on middle and low income countries. In it, I attempt to show that investments made by large investment funds in this market, as well as by certain pension plans, bring major consequences whose effects are more evident in less developed countries. The cornerstones of the work are as follows; to attempt to see the existing relationship between the commodity futures market and its underlying assets; analysing products such as wheat, rice and corn in-depth, because these are the most basic foodstuffs at a global level; to determine how an increase in trading in these markets can affect the lives of people in the poorest countries; to analyse investor concern regarding the consequences that their investments may have. Throughout the project we will see how large speculators use production forecasting models to determine the shortage of a commodity in order to take a position in the futures market to profit from it. In addition we will see how an increase in trading in this market causes an increase in the price of the underlying asset in the spot market. As for investor concern, I can say it is negligible, but the idea of running pension plans or investment funds that follow some social criteria has been welcomed by those interviewed, which makes me think that different legislation is possible. This legislation will only come into existence if it is demanded by the people. A fact that now becomes complicated because without a minimum financial basis, they cannot even know how the large investment funds trade with hunger in the world. The day when most people understand how large speculators profit from famine will be the day to put pressure on governments to begin to put limits on speculation. This makes financial awareness necessary in order to achieve a curb in excessive speculation.

'Fa Tsai', a Chinese edible Nostoc in market. [Translation from: Bulletin of the Japanese Society of Phycology 8 124-126, 1960. ]

The Nostoc 'Fa Tsai' is sometimes seen in Chinese cooking materials stores. It is investigated what 'Fa Tsai' consists of and where it originates.

Marketing of the Spanish film industry in the entertainment market

This project analyzes the role that marketing plays at present.It is a distinctive in the film industry because of the emergence of new patterns of production, distribution and exhibition due to the unstoppable progress of digital technologies, the expansion of the internet and consumer changes in the spectator. To perform this analysis, a description of the situation of the film industry in the competitive market, Hollywood, and the evolution of digital technology in general are included. It is also essential in the project, to observe, the marketing applied to the different phases of the globalized cinema. And then introduce the potential Spanish marketing strategies.

Avaliação técnico-econômica da implementação de um sistema de cultivo de microalgas na usina termelétrica Barbosa Lima Sobrinho com vista à biofixação de CO2

Este estudo teve como finalidade levantar dados para uma avaliação das alternativas tecnológicas (cultivos de microalgas e reflorestamento) para a biofixação de CO2 da atmosfera próxima à usina termelétrica; tendo sido utilizada como referência a Usina Barbosa Lima Sobrinho. Já existe um projeto de avaliação do efeito do reflorestamento na fixação do CO2 nesta usina e, neste trabalho, foi avaliada a alternativa do cultivo de microalgas. Uma pesquisa inicial foi feita na literatura para verificar qual a espécie de microalga seria a mais adequada para ser utilizada no estudo, tendo sido a espécie Chlorella sp. a selecionada. Posteriormente os sistemas de cultivo de microalgas mais comumente empregados no mercado foram levantados e foi selecionado o cultivo em tanques abertos como referência para a modelagem do processo. Utilizando os dados da termelétrica e da literatura foi possível estimar a quantidade de CO2 que será retirada da atmosfera caso um sistema de cultivo seja efetivamente instalado na usina termelétrica. Uma análise econômica foi realizada para determinar a viabilidade do projeto. Os resultados indicam que a utilização deste tipo de tecnologia é promissora