Capacity,sustainability, and the community benefits of municipal utility ownership in the United States

ABSTRACT

Most literature on utility sustainability focuses on internal operations; this misses the role that utilities could play within a community. This study measures the impact of municipal ownership of water and electric utilities on the sustainability policymaking of local governments. I find that municipalities with government-owned water utilities adopt more sustainability measures than those with investor-owned service. Similarly, municipally-owned electric utilities have higher levels of energy sustainability in the community, but not in government operations. The utilities provide fiscal and technical capacity to municipalities. Interdepartmental coordination also strongly predicts sustainability policymaking. This study brings potential community benefits to the discussion of private investment in public service delivery.     

山东省水土流失经济损失与生态价值损失评估

介绍了山东省水土流失现状，分析其危害，重点探讨了水土流失经济损失和生态价值损失的计算方法，建立经济损失计算模型，提出水土流失生态一经济面积边际比的概念，计算山东省县域边际损失比，并对其进行区域分布规律分析。     

我国农业水资源问题分析

水资源素有“农业生产的命脉”之称。由于多方面因素影响，我国农业水资源供需缺口越来越大．严重危及我国未来农业生产安全。本文分析了我国的农业水资源现状及存在的问题．并提出若干保护农业水资源安全的对策。     

浙江省水利投融资的分析

在剖析了浙江省近年水利资金投向结构及水利建设资金来源构成的基础上，对浙江水利资金投向结构发生变化的原因以及浙江水利融资的特点进行了分析研究，提出了今后稳定水利投资规模的对策和建议。     

虚拟水、虚拟水贸易理论研究综述

相对于水价和用水技术能够提高水资源在当地的配置效率,虚拟水贸易则可以提高水资源在全球范围内的配置效率。虚拟水从水资源生产率较高的国家流向水资源较低的国家意味着在全球层次上水资源的节约。因此,国家之间、洲际之间虚拟水贸易被看作提高全球水资源利用效率和缺水国家获得水安全的一个有力工具。     

浅谈铁路桥墩的大体积混凝土施工的温控技术

在大型桥梁施工中,大体积混凝土容易产生裂缝,将对工程质量产生重大安全隐患。论文全面总结了太阳冲大桥大体积混凝土施工中的温控计算、冷却水管布置和温度监控措施,对类似工程施工有一定的参考作用。     

Two-settlement Systems for Electricity Markets under Network Uncertainty and Market Power

We analyze welfare and distributional properties of a two-settlement system consisting of a spot market over a two-node network and a single energy forward contract. We formulate and analyze several models which simulate joint dispatch of energy and transmission resources coordinated by a system operator. The spot market is subject to network uncertainty, which we model as a random capacity derating of an important transmission line. Using a duopoly model, we show that even for small probabilities of congestion (derating), forward trading may be substantially reduced, and the market power mitigating effect of forward markets (as shown in Allaz and Vila 1993) may be nullified to a great extent. There is a spot transmission charge reflecting transportation costs from location of generation to a designated hub whose price is the underlying for the forward contract. This alleviates some of the incentive problems associated with the forward market in which spot-market trading is residual. We find that the reduction in forward trading is due to the segregation of the markets in the constrained state, and the absence of natural incentives for generators to commit to more aggressive behavior in the spot market (the strategic substitutes effect). In our analysis, we find that the standard assumption of no-arbitrage across forward and spot markets leads to very little contract coverage, even for the case with no congestion. We present an alternative view of the market where limited intertemporal arbitrage enables temporal price discrimination by competing duopolists. In this framework, we assume that all of the demand shows up in the forward market (or that the market is cleared against an accurate forecast of the demand), and the forward price is determined using a market clearing condition.     

Analysis and Forecast of the State of Environmental Protection in Russia

The main purpose of the present study is to analyse the emission dynamics of atmospheric and water pollutants in Russia and cost of their removal in the 1980s and early 1990s, and to forecast them by means of a Dynamic Input–Output Model according to different scenarios of future economic development till 1998. Main results of the work are:– methodological principles have been elaborated for singling out the environmental protection sector within the national economy;– a method has been offered for including the ecological block into a Dynamic Input–Output Model of the Russian economy;– a method of data preparation has been elaborated for the ecological block of the above-named model, the data base which characterizes the ecological situation in Russia has been formed and analysed;– calculations for 1994–1998 have been executed for forecasting the economic and ecological development of Russia using the above-mentioned model and the results obtained have been analysed. The results showed that if the existing tendencies towards low environmental protection capital costs remain the same, then the negative environmental impact will increase. In order to implement ecological programs and international agreements, to increase the proportion of removed pollutants, it is necessary to increase substantially expenditures on purifying water and air resources. The proportion of environmental protection investments in the total amount of the national economy capital costs should increase by up to 12–40% according to different scenarios of the economic development and different purposes of the environmental protection policy.     

水利与生态环境

本文以实例说明水利建设中缺乏生态环境意识会出现的弊端,提出水利建设的规划、设计、施工、管理全过程都应按生态经济环境水利模式来搞,使我国水利工作进入生态经济环境水利化阶段。     

农业水权:农民的紧箍咒还是护身符

在水资源日益短缺、新增水源困难、用水效益较高的形势下,工业用水与城镇用水需从农业水权转让中获得,关于农业水权的研究因此成为水权管理中的重要课题。本文从产权的权利位阶出发,探讨了农业水权的定位,论述了明晰农业水权的必要性与可行性,认为农业水权的界定既是农民的紧箍咒,也是农民的护身符。