scholarly journals Willingness to Pay for Rainwater Tank Features: A Post-Drought Analysis of Sydney Water Users

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorada Tapsuwan ◽  
Stephen Cook ◽  
Magnus Moglia
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Rainwater Tank ◽  
Millennium Drought ◽  
Rainwater Tanks

The Millennium Drought across Australia during the 2000s placed cities under pressure in providing urban water security. In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, a comprehensive water demand programme triggered a significant reduction in per capita water consumption. The water demand programme included incentives for the installation of rainwater tanks. This paper explores the willingness to pay (WTP) for rainwater tank features in the post-drought context. Rainwater tanks have been demonstrated as an effective measure to reduce mains water demand, but they also provide broader environmental and economic benefits, such as the reduction of urban runoff to waterways and deferred capital investment in augmenting capacity of water supply system. Therefore, there is the need to better understand WTP for rainwater tank features across the community. An online survey was administered to a sample of Sydney households, with 127 respondents completing a rainwater tank choice experiment that explored their WTP for different rainwater tank features and the socio-psychological constructs that might influence their tendency to adopt rainwater tanks. The results demonstrated that householders surveyed valued slimline rainwater tanks, as they are likely to be less obstructive, particularly given the trend for smaller lot sizes and increased building size. Householders also placed greater value on connecting the rainwater tank to outdoor demands, which may be influenced by perceived vulnerability of outdoor uses to water restrictions relative to indoor uses. The survey analysis also identified that the householders most receptive to installing a rainwater tank are likely to be conformists, who compare themselves to peers, and spend significant effort when making decisions, and are already taking actions to conserve water. The findings are of significance when targeting future education programmes and designing financial incentives to encourage rainwater tank adoption.

scholarly journals Rainwater Harvesting Potentials in Commercial Buildings in Dhaka: Reliability and Economic Analysis

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Md. Rezaul Karim ◽  
B. M. Sadman Sakib ◽  
Sk. Sadman Sakib ◽  
Monzur Alam Imteaz
Keyword(s):  
Water Demand ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Rainwater Tank ◽  
Catchment Areas

Despite numerous studies on residential rainwater tank, studies on commercial rainwater tank are scarce. Corporate authorities pay little heed on this sustainable feature. With the aim of encouraging corporate authorities, this study presents the feasibility and economic benefits of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in commercial buildings in the capital city of Bangladesh, where water authority struggles to maintain town water supply. The analysis was conducted using a daily water balance model under three climate scenarios (wet, dry and normal year) for five commercial buildings having catchment areas varying from 315 to 776 m2 and the storage tank capacity varying from 100 to 600 m3. It was found that for a water demand of 30 L per capita per day (lpcd), about 11% to 19% and 16% to 26.80% of the annual water demand can be supplemented by rainwater harvesting under the normal year and wet year climate conditions, respectively. The payback periods are found to be very short, only 2.25 to 3.75 years and benefit–cost (B/C) ratios are more than 1.0, even for building having the smallest catchment area (i.e., 315 m2) and no significant overflow would occur during monsoon, which leads to both economic and environmental benefits. Though the findings cannot be translated to other cities as those are dependent on factors like water price, interest rate, rainfall amount and pattern, however other cities having significant rainfall amounts should conduct similar studies to expedite implementations of widescale rainwater harvesting.

scholarly journals Identifying Indoor Plant Propagation Research and Education Needs of Specialty Crop Growers

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-527
Author(s):  
Kristin E. Gibson ◽  
Alexa J. Lamm ◽  
Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa ◽  
Paul R. Fisher ◽  
Celina Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Indoor Propagation ◽  
Plant Propagation ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Specialty Crop ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Research And Education

There are economic and knowledge-based challenges that must be addressed for indoor farms to be viable in the United States despite their potential benefits. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify the needs of specialty crop growers and stakeholders interested in or currently using indoor propagation environments to grow seedlings, cuttings, and tissue-cultured plants. An online survey evaluated specialty crop growers’ current use of indoor plant propagation environments and their needs related to indoor plant propagation. A focus group was then conducted to further understand the needs for indoor plant propagation by stakeholders. Industry participants were largely motivated to adopt indoor propagation environments to reduce crop losses (“shrinkage”), increase productivity per unit of land area, ensure faster germination or rooting, improve plant quality, and profit from anticipated economic benefits. Research and education priority areas identified by stakeholders included economic costs and benefits (including capital investment and energy costs), improved crop quality, production time, uniformity, reduced shrinkage, and strategies to improve light management indoors. Based on the results, research efforts must determine and prioritize the most important economic considerations and production advantages to fill important gaps in knowledge about indoor plant propagation.

scholarly journals Comprehensive Assessment Methodology for Urban Residential Rainwater Tank Implementation

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Sharma ◽  
Ted Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Building Codes ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
Water Savings ◽  
Rainwater Tank ◽  
Rainwater Tanks

Rainwater tanks are increasingly being implemented as part of the integrated urban water management paradigm where all sources of water, including potable, stormwater and recycled, are considered eligible to contribute to the urban water supply. Over the last decade or so, there has been a rapid uptake of rainwater tank systems in urban areas, especially in Australian cities, encouraged through financial incentives, but more importantly, from change in residential building codes effectively mandating the installation of rainwater tanks. Homes with rainwater tanks in Australian cities have increased from 15% to 28% over six years to 2013. These building codes specify certain rainwater tank specifications to achieve a stated rainwater use, and hence potable water savings. These specifications include minimum rainwater tank size, minimum connected roof area, plumbing for internal supply for toilets and washing machines, and external supply for garden watering. These expected potable water savings from households are often factored into regional strategic water planning objectives. Hence if rainwater tanks do not deliver the expected saving due to sub-standard installation and/or poor maintenance, it will have an adverse impact on the regional water plan in the longer term. In this paper, a methodology to assess the effectiveness of a government rainwater tank policy in achieving predicted potable water savings is described and illustrated with a case study from South East Queensland, Australia. It is anticipated that water professionals across the globe should be able to use the same methodology to assess the effectiveness of similar rainwater policies, or indeed any other distributed water saving policy, in their local planning communities.

scholarly journals Effect of roof size on the rainwater harvesting tank sizes and performances using Tangki NAHRIM 2.0

2021 ◽  
Vol 920 (1) ◽  
pp. 012035
Author(s):  
N M Daud ◽  
N N Mahiran ◽  
A K Ruslan ◽  
N Hamzah ◽  
A A A Bakar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Demand ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Storage Efficiency ◽  
Rainwater Tank ◽  
The World ◽  
Daily Water ◽  
Rainwater Tanks

Abstract Global warming and increasing population have direct impacts on water demand all over the world. Usage of potable water in Malaysia is high if compared with other countries and the source of potable water is mainly surface water. Rainwater harvesting is one of the popular alternatives to water resources around the world. However, even Malaysia is a country with an abundance of rainfall, rainwater harvesting is still unpopular. Different size of houses has different roof sizes which will subsequently require different sizes of rainwater tanks. This study utilized Tangki NAHRIM 2.0 (TN2); a web application to determine the optimal tank size for a rainwater harvesting system for five different roof sizes for non-potable demand. TN2 simulation uses a daily water balance model with rainfall input from a built-in database by adopting the yield-after-spillage (YAS) convention. The optimum rainwater tank sizes for five different roof sizes are found to be between 2.6 m3 and 3.8 m3 with water-saving efficiency values between 59% to 76.2% and 30.9% to 53.9% for storage efficiency. A bigger tank size offers higher watersaving efficiency but with lower storage efficiency. The output will be useful for the application of RWHS to residential houses.

447 Cost-Effectiveness of a 3-Year Tele-OSA Intervention

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A177-A177
Author(s):  
Jaejin An ◽  
Dennis Hwang ◽  
Jiaxiao Shi ◽  
Amy Sawyer ◽  
Aiyu Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Incremental Cost ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Apnea Hypopnea Index ◽  
Obstructive Sleep ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Introduction Trial-based tele-obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) cost-effectiveness analyses have often been inconclusive due to small sample sizes and short follow-up. In this study, we report the cost-effectiveness of Tele-OSA using a larger sample from a 3-month trial that was augmented with 2.75 additional years of epidemiologic follow-up. Methods The Tele-OSA study was a 3-month randomized trial conducted in Kaiser Permanente Southern California that demonstrated improved adherence in patients receiving automated feedback messaging regarding their positive airway pressure (PAP) use when compared to usual care. At the end of the 3 months, participants in the intervention group pseudo-randomly either stopped or continued receiving messaging. This analysis included those participants who had moderate-severe OSA (Apnea Hypopnea Index >=15) and compared the cost-effectiveness of 3 groups: 1) no messaging, 2) messaging for 3 months only, and 3) messaging for 3 years. Costs were derived by multiplying medical service use from electronic medical records times costs from Federal fee schedules. Effects were average nightly hours of PAP use. We report the incremental cost per incremental hour of PAP use as well as the fraction acceptable. Results We included 256 patients with moderate-severe OSA (Group 1, n=132; Group 2, n=79; Group 3, n=45). Group 2, which received the intervention for 3 months only, had the highest costs and fewest hours of use and was dominated by the other two groups. Average 1-year costs for groups 1 and 3 were $6035 (SE, $477) and $6154 (SE, $575), respectively; average nightly hours of PAP use were 3.07 (SE, 0.23) and 4.09 (SE, 0.42). Compared to no messaging, messaging for 3 years had an incremental cost ($119, p=0.86) per incremental hour of use (1.02, p=0.03) of $117. For a willingness-to-pay (WTP) of $500 per year ($1.37/night), 3-year messaging has a 70% chance of being acceptable. Conclusion Long-term Tele-OSA messaging was more effective than no messaging for PAP use outcomes but also highly likely cost-effective with an acceptable willingness-to-pay threshold. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that this greater use will yield both clinical and additional economic benefits. Support (if any) Tele-OSA study was supported by the AASM Foundation SRA Grant #: 104-SR-13

scholarly journals Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Potting Mix with Biochar

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3432
Author(s):  
McKenzie Thomas ◽  
Kimberly L. Jensen ◽  
Dayton M. Lambert ◽  
Burton C. English ◽  
Christopher D. Clark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Market Potential ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Consumer Demographics ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Potential Market ◽  
Dedicated Energy Crops

Biochar is a co-product of advanced biofuels production from feedstocks including food, agricultural, wood wastes, or dedicated energy crops. Markets for soil amendments using biochar are emerging, but little is known about consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for these products or the depth of the products’ market potential for this product. This research provides WTP estimates for potting mix amended with 25% biochar, conditioned on consumer demographics and attitudes about product information labeling. Data were collected with an online survey of 577 Tennessee home gardeners. WTP was elicited through a referendum contingent valuation. Consumer WTP for an 8.81 L bag of 25% biochar potting mix is $8.52; a premium of $3.53 over conventional potting mix. Demographics and attitudes toward biofuels and the environment influence WTP. Biochar amounts demanded are projected for the study area’s potential market. Optimal prices, profits, and market shares are estimated across different marginal costs of producing biochar potting mix.

scholarly journals The effects of health shocks on family status: do financial incentives encourage marriage?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andree Ehlert
Keyword(s):  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Health Shocks ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Female Partners ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
German Socioeconomic Panel ◽  
Unobserved Effects ◽  
Traditional Marriage

AbstractThis paper asks whether marriage decisions of unmarried mature couples are driven by the prospect of financial advantages for the later widowed after one partner has suffered a serious health shock. We hypothesize that, in contrast to traditional marriage models, such health shocks may induce unmarried couples to obtain economic benefits, such as survivors’ pensions in particular, through marriage in advance of one partner’s death. This question has not yet been studied empirically. Hazard models capturing unobserved effects are applied to longitudinal data of the German Socioeconomic Panel. It turns out that the probability of marriage after male partners’ health shocks can increase significantly depending on the amount of expected survivors’ pensions for the (likely) surviving female partners. In contrast, an increased probability of marriage after health shocks to women (depending on the expected financial benefits to men) was not found. These findings are supported by various robustness checks. Economic and political implications are discussed and the results are placed in an international context.

Residents’ preferred measures and willingness-to-pay for improving urban air quality: A case study of Hanoi city, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Cong Nguyen ◽  
Hang Dieu Nguyen ◽  
Hoa Thu Le ◽  
Shinji Kaneko
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Urban Air Quality ◽  
Multivariate Probit ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Opinions

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to understand residents’ choice of preferred measures and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the measures to improve the air quality of Hanoi city.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire surveys were conducted to collect the opinions of 212 household representatives living in Hanoi City. The survey tools were tested and adjusted through an online survey with 191 responses. Multivariate probit and linear regression models were used to identify determinants of respondents’ choices of measures and their WTP.FindingsRespondents expressed their strong preferences for three measures for air quality improvements, including: (1) increase of green spaces; (2) use of less polluting fuels; (3) expansion of public transportation. The mean WTP for the implementation of those measures was estimated at about 148,000–282,000 Vietnamese dong, equivalent to 0.09–0.16% of household income. The respondents’ choices appear to be consistent with their characteristics and needs, such as financial affordability, time on roads and their perceived impacts of air pollution. The WTP estimates increase with perception of air pollution impacts, time on roads, education and income; but are lower for older people.Originality/valueTo gain a better understanding of public opinions, we applied multivariate probit models to check whether respondents’ choices were consistent with their characteristics and perceptions. This appears to be the first attempt to test the validity of public opinions on choices of measures for improving urban air quality in Vietnam. Our WTP estimates also contribute to the database on the values of improved air quality in the developing world.

scholarly journals A Choice Based Experiment of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): A Valuation of Attributes

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiushuo Yu ◽  
Ben Campbell ◽  
Yizao Liu ◽  
Jiff Martin
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Organic Products

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) operators are becoming more innovative in their efforts to attract consumers to become CSA shareholders. Therefore, CSA operators must understand which attributes consumers value. Using an online survey of Connecticut consumers in conjunction with a choice experiment, we evaluate consumer preference and willingness to pay for various attributes, including risk mitigation. We find younger consumers are more likely to prefer CSAs with organic products, while a greater diversity of products in the CSA share will increase preference for a CSA for some consumers. Further, we find that consumers with and without CSA experience value the risk-mitigation attribute.

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