Methodologies for Assessing the Benefits of Open Standards: The Implications for the Public IT Procurement

From economic perspective, standards provide information (e.g. increasing market transparency and reducing transaction costs), foster compatibility (e.g. positive network externalities and increased competition) and reduce variety (facilitating economies of scale and building a critical mass). There are growing debates about whether using open...

Cost Benefit Analysis of Gas Smart Metering for Commercial and Domestic Users in Spain

Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and Council introduces the obligation for Member States to review the use of smart metering, whose implementation may be subject to the outcome of an economic evaluation of costs and benefits. Consequently in July 2010, by Order ITC 1890/2010, the CNE is responsible for conducting a study on the...

Incorporating long-term transport effects in Cost-Benefit Analysis: Reasons to, options for and consequences of incorporating the societal costs of fossil fuel depletion and CO2 emissions in transport CBAs

When making decisions on transport projects, decision makers ought to take into account most (if not all) of the possible consequences of the different possible alternatives. A common way of evaluating transport projects ex ante is by means of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). CBA allows for a clear comparison of different consequences, by describing...

An Economic Assessment of Carbon Capture & Storage: The Case of the Netherlands

Following the industrial revolution started circa 1750, global energy consumption and, consequently, CO2 emissions have been rapidly increasing. The amount of CO2 rose from 280 ppm in 1750 to 388 ppm in 2010. This increasing amount of GHGs gases, specifically CO2, is the underlying cause of global warming. According to the IPCC report, with the...

Cost-Benefit analysis of RetBus: A new Bus Rapid Transit system in Barcelona

The RetBus project is a plan of the City Council of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and the transit operator TMB aimed at improving the public transport service in the city. The project involves building a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system called RetBus as well as eliminating or modifying some existing bus lines. The main design objective of the...

The Sustainable Highway: A realistic alternative?

The Sustainable Highway, consisting of a transparent canopy of cold bendable laminated glass, is a potential solution to negative effects of road traffic. It can be placed over the highway and uses several sub-systems to reduce noise nuisance, local air pollution as well as the emission of CO2. As a consequence of this reduction, spatial...