An analysis of the main driving factors of renewable energy consumption in the European Union.

Climate change is a major global concern closely related to the strategies aimed at reducing energy consumption and increasing energy efficiency. Over the last decades, the interest in the development of renewable energy (RE) has grown exponentially. In the case of the European Union (EU), the Renewable Energy Directive sets rules to achieve a 32% of total energy consumption to be covered through RE by 2030. In order to achieve this goal, it is important to know what are the main driving factors of RE consumption (REC). This study aims to analyze the impact of economic and social factors on the share of REC in total energy consumption in the EU over the period 2001-2015. For doing so, we estimate a Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) model. The results obtained show that economic factors have a negative effect on REC. In contrast, social factors like education exert a positive effect. This suggests that it is necessary to adopt a holistic approach that includes not only economic but also social aspects in order to foster REC.

Economic evaluation of elective single-embryo transfer with subsequent single frozen embryo transfer in an in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection program.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the cost-effectiveness of IVF-ICSI cycles with elective single-embryo transfer (eSET), plus elective single frozen embryo transfer (eSFET) if pregnancy is not achieved, compared with double-embryo transfer (DET). DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness analysis. SETTING: Public hospital. PATIENT(S): A population of 121 women (<38 years old), undergoing their first or second IVF cycles. INTERVENTION(S): We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis using the results of a prospective clinical trial. The women in group 1 received eSET plus eSFET, and those in group 2 received DET. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Live birth delivery rate. RESULT(S): The cumulative live birth delivery rate was 38.60% in the eSET+eSFET group versus 42.19% in the DET group. The mean costs per patient were €5,614.11 in the eSET+eSFET group and €5,562.29 in the DET group. These differences were not statistically significant. The rate of multiple gestation was significantly lower in the eSET group than in the DET group (0 vs. 25.9%). CONCLUSION(S): This study does not show that eSET is superior to DET in terms of effectiveness or of costs. The lack of superiority of the results for the eSET+eSFET and the DET groups corroborates that the choice of strategy to be adopted should be determined by the context of the health care system and the individual prognosis.

Direct and indirect generation of waste in the Spanish paper industry.

The paper industry has a relatively high degree of reliance on suppliers when compared to other industries. Exploring the role of the paper industry in terms of consumption of intermediate inputs from other industries may help to understand how the production of paper does not only generate waste by itself but also affects the amount of waste generated by other industries. The product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a useful analytical tool to examine and assess environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of a product "from cradle to grave" but it is costly and time intensive. In contrast, Economic Input Output Life Cycle Assessment Models (IO-LCA) that combine LCA with Input-Output analysis (IO) are more accurate and less expensive, as they employ publicly available data. This paper represents one of the first Spanish studies aimed at estimating the waste generated in the production of paper by applying IO-LCA. One of the major benefits is the derivation of the contribution of direct and indirect suppliers to the paper industry. The results obtained show that there was no direct relationship between the impact on output and the impact on waste generation exerted by the paper industry. The major contributors to waste generation were the mining industry and the forestry industry.