Heavy-duty trucking and the energy efficiency paradox: Evidence from focus groups and interviews

Theory suggests that profit maximizing firms have an incentive to incorporate cost-effective technologies into their products. However, simple net present value calculations comparing upfront costs of fuel-saving technologies to future savings suggest this is not always the case. This puzzle is commonly referred to as the “energy efficiency paradox.” A growing number of empirical studies examine why households may under-invest in energy efficiency. Fewer studies examine similar undervaluation by businesses. We explore investment decisions within the heavy-duty trucking sector for fuel-saving technologies via focus groups and interviews to gain insight into what factors might explain apparent underinvestment in fuel-saving technologies. We find some evidence that market failures related to lack of information about technology performance and network externalities contribute to slow adoption of some technologies. However, information about new technologies for tractors seems to generate limited spillovers. There is also some evidence of split incentives between owners and drivers, though companies have invested in a variety of technologies and approaches in an attempt to address these effects. Other factors important in trucking investment decisions that are not classic market failures include tradeoffs between fuel economy and other valued truck attributes, as well as uncertainty and risk associated with new technologies if decision-makers are loss averse.     

车道偏离预警算法研究

为提高车辆行驶的主动安全性,文章根据车辆偏离速度将TLC算法和FOD算法相结合,针对车道偏离预警系统提出了多模式车道偏离预警算法,并搭建Simulink模型,结合Carsim进行联合仿真实验。仿真结果表明,提出的算法能更好的进行车道偏离预警。     

Infrastructure based approach for roadway departure risk assessment

This paper presents a warning device to prevent the roadway departure of light vehicles while cornering. The proposed risk assessment methodology is based on recent works from the authors (Rey et al., 2011b,a; Rey, 2010). Given the random variability arising from the driver, the vehicle and the infrastructure at the entrance to the curve, a probabilistic strategy is adopted to assess the roadway departure risk. The infrastructure-based methodology enables the real curve characteristics to be considered and an alarm triggering decision to be made. Two safety criteria are tested and the potential safety benefits of the proposed warning device are evaluated. Contrary to existing roadway departure warning systems, the proposed approach does not require extra equipment for vehicles; it only requires that the measuring and warning devices be part of the road infrastructure, which is a great advantage in terms of economic cost.     

盾构穿越对圆形风井结构的变形内力影响分析——以南京纬三路过江通道工程盾构穿越梅子洲风井为例

盾构进出工作井是盾构安全施工的关键。以南京市纬三路过江通道工程梅子洲圆形风井盾构穿越为研究背景,建立复杂的大型三维计算模型,对盾构穿越区域采用实体单元模拟、土弹簧释放开挖荷载的特殊模拟方法,首先对盾构破除素混凝土强度的选取进行优化分析,建议采用C15混凝土,既能减小盾构穿越施工的难度,又能保证围护结构的安全稳定;然后对盾构穿越前后风井地连墙、内衬墙和冠梁等重要围护结构的变形和内力变化规律进行了研究分析,盾构穿越前后,地连墙的变形和内力变化很大,最大增幅分别为45%和228%,内衬墙的环向弯矩和竖向最大正弯矩均存在较大变化,环向弯矩最大增幅200%,竖向弯矩最大增幅54%,冠梁的最大环向弯矩变化很大,最大增幅为1 160%。因此,工程设计时应对地连墙、内衬墙和冠梁内力较大区域加强配筋,以保证盾构安全顺利地通过。     

政府投资项目建设过程中影响工程投资的问题及建议

针对政府投资项目中存在的一些不规范性,该文从五个方面较为详细地阐述了存在的问题,分析了产生这些问题的原因,并提出了相关的建议。     

市场随机波动下干散货和原油船投资决策研究

运用实物期权博弈理论,建立了航运市场随机波动情况下干散货和原油船舶的投资决策模型,得出了承运人之间同质竞争和差异化竞争时船舶的最优投资准则.理论研究和实证分析均表明:承运人的收益和投资船舶的边际收益随航运市场规模和风险的增加而增加;最优的船舶投资量与航运市场的规模和风险正相关;随着航运市场竞争的加剧,承运人的收益和最优的船舶投资量呈下降趋势;随着承运人之间服务差异化程度的增加,承运人的收益和最优的船舶投资量呈上升趋势.     

公路交通投资与经济增长的关系

区域公路交通投资与经济增长之间相互影响的课题是交通领域中未解决的问题之一.基于格兰杰因果关系检验的基本原理与回归分析方法建立数学模型研究区域公路交通投资与经济增长之间的内在依存关系.经济发展的不同阶段,区域的公路交通投资与GDP总量之间均存在着互为因果关系.相同阶段经济增长与公路交通投资的相互之间推动作用不同.1978...     

码头建设投资对最佳泊位利用率影响的研究

港口工程的设计原则之一是使港口企业、船公司和货主三方的在港费用总和最低,追求国民经济效益的最大化.海港总平面设计规范中的最佳泊位利用率是某一范围内的推荐值,与码头投资无关.以某业主码头原油泊位为例,根据排队论原理利用计算机模拟技术推算出的最佳泊位利用率,超出了规范推荐值的范围,分析其原因是码头投资过大.采用4组假定的不...     

Anticipating new-highway impacts: Opportunities for welfare analysis and credit-based congestion pricing

Pricing of roadways opens doors for infrastructure financing, and congestion pricing seeks to address inefficiencies in roadway operations. This paper emphasizes the revenue-generation opportunities and welfare impacts of flat-tolling schemes, standard congestion pricing, and credit-based congestion pricing policies. While most roadway investment decisions focus on travel time savings for existing trips, this work turns to logsum differences (which quantify changes in consumer surplus) for nested logit specifications across two traveler types, two destinations, three modes and three times of day, in order to arrive at welfare- and revenue-maximizing solutions. This behavioral specification is quite flexible, and facilitates benefit-cost calculations (as well as equity analysis), as demonstrated in this paper.The various cases examined suggest significant opportunities for financing new roadway investment while addressing congestion and equity issues, with net gains for both traveler types. Application results illustrate how, even after roadway construction and maintenance costs are covered, receipts may remain to distribute to eligible travelers so that typical travelers can be made better off than if a new, non-tolled road had been constructed. Moreover, tolling both routes (new and old) results in substantially shorter payback periods (5 versus 20 years) and higher welfare outcomes (in the case of welfare-maximizing tolls with credit distributions to all travelers). The tools and techniques highlighted here illustrate practical methods for identifying welfare-enhancing and cost-recovering investment opportunities, while recognizing multiple user classes and appropriate demand elasticity across times of day, destinations, modes and routes.     

栈桥式重件码头设计要点

栈桥式码头的设计要点主要包括:桥式起重机的轨顶高程的确定;轨道梁下净空高度的确定;导堤布置研究;靠泊作业区宽度的研究。对设计要点进行分析探讨,并给出了设计依据和计算公式。