Sample records for achieved annual savings

  1. Save Energy Now (SEN) Assessment Helps Expand Energy Management Program at Shaw Industries: Flooring Company Saves $872,000 Annually by Improving Steam System Efficiency

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    This case study describes how the Shaw Industries plant #20 in Dalton, Georgia, achieved annual savings of $872,000 and 93,000 MMBtu after receiving a DOE Save Energy Now energy assessment and implementing recommendations to improve the efficiency of its steam system.

  2. Saving for Success: Financial Education and Savings Goal Achievement in Individual Development Accounts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grinstead, Mary L.; Mauldin, Teresa; Sabia, Joseph J.; Koonce, Joan; Palmer, Lance

    2011-01-01

    Using microdata from the American Dream Demonstration, the current study examines factors associated with savings and savings goal achievement (indicated by a matched withdrawal) among participants of individual development account (IDA) programs. Multinomial logit results show that hours of participation in financial education programs, higher…

  3. Achieving Deeper Energy Savings in Federal Energy Performance Contracts

    DOE PAGES

    Shonder, John A.; Nasseri, Cyrus

    2015-01-01

    Legislation requires each agency of the US federal government to reduce the aggregate energy use index of its buildings by 30% by 2015, with respect to a 2003 baseline. The declining availability of appropriated funding means that energy performance contracting will be key to achieving this goal. Historically however, energy performance contracts have been able to reduce energy use by only about 20% over baseline. Achieving 30% energy reductions using performance contracting will require new approaches and a specific focus on achieving higher energy savings, both by ESCOs and by agencies. This paper describes some of the ways federal agenciesmore » are meeting this challenge, and presents results from the efforts of one agency the US General Services Administration -- to achieve deeper energy savings in conventional energy savings performance contracts.« less

  4. Estimating health benefits and cost-savings for achieving the Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing invasive colorectal cancer.

    PubMed

    Hung, Mei-Chuan; Ekwueme, Donatus U; White, Arica; Rim, Sun Hee; King, Jessica B; Wang, Jung-Der; Chang, Su-Hsin

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to quantify the aggregate potential life-years (LYs) saved and healthcare cost-savings if the Healthy People 2020 objective were met to reduce invasive colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence by 15%. We identified patients (n=886,380) diagnosed with invasive CRC between 2001 and 2011 from a nationally representative cancer dataset. We stratified these patients by sex, race/ethnicity, and age. Using these data and data from the 2001-2011 U.S. life tables, we estimated a survival function for each CRC group and the corresponding reference group and computed per-person LYs saved. We estimated per-person annual healthcare cost-savings using the 2008-2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We calculated aggregate LYs saved and cost-savings by multiplying the reduced number of CRC patients by the per-person LYs saved and lifetime healthcare cost-savings, respectively. We estimated an aggregate of 84,569 and 64,924 LYs saved for men and women, respectively, accounting for healthcare cost-savings of $329.3 and $294.2 million (in 2013$), respectively. Per person, we estimated 6.3 potential LYs saved related to those who developed CRC for both men and women, and healthcare cost-savings of $24,000 for men and $28,000 for women. Non-Hispanic whites and those aged 60-64 had the highest aggregate potential LYs saved and cost-savings. Achieving the HP2020 objective of reducing invasive CRC incidence by 15% by year 2020 would potentially save nearly 150,000 life-years and $624 million on healthcare costs. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Building America Residential System Research Results: Achieving 30% Whole House Energy Savings Level in Mixed-Humid Climates; January 2006 - December 2006

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership; Building Industry Research Alliance; Building Science Consortium

    2006-12-01

    The Building America program conducts the system research required to reduce risks associated with the design and construction of homes that use an average of 30% to 90% less total energy for all residential energy uses than the Building America Research Benchmark, including research on homes that will use zero net energy on annual basis. To measure the program's progress, annual research milestones have been established for five major climate regions in the United States. The system research activities required to reach each milestone take from 3 to 5 years to complete and include research in individual test houses, studiesmore » in pre-production prototypes, and research studies with lead builders that provide early examples that the specified energy savings level can be successfully achieved on a production basis. This report summarizes research results for the 30% energy savings level and demonstrates that lead builders can successfully provide 30% homes in the Mixed-Humid Climate Region on a cost-neutral basis.« less

  6. Creating Real and Lasting Change. Save the Children Annual Report, 2002.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hollander, Vera

    This annual report describes the years efforts by Save the Children, a leading international nonprofit childrens humanitarian and development organization working in more than 40 countries. The report highlights the work of the organization in 2002 to provide care and protection to children affected by natural disasters, war, displacement, and…

  7. Army Reserve 63d RSC Achieves 85% Savings in Parking Lot Lighting

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    Case study describes how the Army Reserve 63d Regional Support Command (RSC) achieved 85% energy savings and $4,000 per year in cost savings by replacing 12 old light fixtures with light-emitting diode fixtures in the military equipment parking area. This project was part of a camp-wide parking lighting retrofit which, on average, delivered 78% energy savings and a simple payback of 4.4 years.

  8. Costs and savings associated with community water fluoridation programs in Colorado.

    PubMed

    O'Connell, Joan M; Brunson, Diane; Anselmo, Theresa; Sullivan, Patrick W

    2005-11-01

    Local, state, and national health policy makers require information on the economic burden of oral disease and the cost-effectiveness of oral health programs to set policies and allocate resources. In this study, we estimate the cost savings associated with community water fluoridation programs (CWFPs) in Colorado and potential cost savings if Colorado communities without fluoridation programs or naturally high fluoride levels were to implement CWFPs. We developed an economic model to compare the costs associated with CWFPs with treatment savings achieved through averted tooth decay. Treatment savings included those associated with direct medical costs and indirect nonmedical costs (i.e., patient time spent on dental visit). We estimated program costs and treatment savings for each water system in Colorado in 2003 dollars. We obtained parameter estimates from published studies, national surveys, and other sources. We calculated net costs for Colorado water systems with existing CWFPs and potential net costs for systems without CWFPs. The analysis includes data for 172 public water systems in Colorado that serve populations of 1000 individuals or more. We used second-order Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the inherent uncertainty of the model assumptions on the results and report the 95% credible range from the simulation model. We estimated that Colorado CWFPs were associated with annual savings of 148.9 million dollars (credible range, 115.1 million dollars to 187.2 million dollars) in 2003, or an average of 60.78 dollars per person (credible range, 46.97 dollars dollars to 76.41 dollars). We estimated that Colorado would save an additional 46.6 million dollars (credible range, 36.0 dollars to 58.6 dollars million) annually if CWFPs were implemented in the 52 water systems without such programs and for which fluoridation is recommended. Colorado realizes significant annual savings from CWFPs; additional savings and reductions in morbidity could be achieved if

  9. A Century for Children...It Starts with Us. Save the Children 2000 Annual Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hollander, Vera; Torsney, Janet

    Save the Children was founded in 1932 as a nonprofit child-assistance organization to help children and families improve their health, education, and economic opportunities. This annual report presents information on the activities of the organization for the year 2000 and details its financial position. Beginning with highlights of the year's…

  10. Chevron: Refinery Identifies $4.4 Million in Annual Savings by Using Process Simulation Models to Perform Energy-Efficiency Assessment

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2004-05-01

    In an energy-efficiency study at its refinery near Salt Lake City, Utah, Chevron focused on light hydrocarbons processing. The company found it could recover hydrocarbons from its fuel gas system and sell them. By using process simulation models of special distillation columns and associated reboilers and condensers, Chevron could predict the performance of potential equipment configuration changes and process modifications. More than 25,000 MMBtu in natural gas could be saved annually if a debutanizer upgrade project and a new saturated gas plant project were completed. Together, these projects would save $4.4 million annually.

  11. Water-saving ground cover rice production system reduces net greenhouse gas fluxes in an annual rice-based cropping system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yao, Z.; Du, Y.; Tao, Y.; Zheng, X.; Liu, C.; Lin, S.; Butterbach-Bahl, K.

    2014-11-01

    To safeguard food security and preserve precious water resources, the technology of water-saving ground cover rice production system (GCRPS) is being increasingly adopted for rice cultivation. However, changes in soil water status and temperature under GCRPS may affect soil biogeochemical processes that control the biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The overall goal of this study is to better understand how net ecosystem greenhouse gas exchanges (NEGE) and grain yields are affected by GCRPS in an annual rice-based cropping system. Our evaluation was based on measurements of the CH4 and N2O fluxes and soil heterotrophic respiration (CO2 emissions) over a complete year, and the estimated soil carbon sequestration intensity for six different fertilizer treatments for conventional paddy and GCRPS. The fertilizer treatments included urea application and no N fertilization for both conventional paddy (CUN and CNN) and GCRPS (GUN and GNN), and solely chicken manure (GCM) and combined urea and chicken manure applications (GUM) for GCRPS. Averaging across all the fertilizer treatments, GCRPS increased annual N2O emission and grain yield by 40 and 9%, respectively, and decreased annual CH4 emission by 69%, while GCRPS did not affect soil CO2 emissions relative to the conventional paddy. The annual direct emission factors of N2O were 4.01, 0.09 and 0.50% for GUN, GCM and GUM, respectively, and 1.52% for the conventional paddy (CUN). The annual soil carbon sequestration intensity under GCRPS was estimated to be an average of -1.33 Mg C ha-1 yr-1, which is approximately 44% higher than the conventional paddy. The annual NEGE were 10.80-11.02 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 yr-1 for the conventional paddy and 3.05-9.37 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 yr-1 for the GCRPS, suggesting the potential feasibility of GCRPS in reducing net greenhouse effects from rice cultivation. Using organic fertilizers for GCRPS considerably reduced annual emissions of CH4

  12. Water-saving ground cover rice production system reduces net greenhouse gas fluxes in an annual rice-based cropping system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yao, Z.; Du, Y.; Tao, Y.; Zheng, X.; Liu, C.; Lin, S.; Butterbach-Bahl, K.

    2014-06-01

    To safeguard food security and preserve precious water resources, the technology of water-saving ground cover rice production system (GCRPS) is being increasingly adopted for the rice cultivation. However, changes in soil water status and temperature under GCRPS may affect soil biogeochemical processes that control the biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The overall goal of this study is to better understand how net ecosystem greenhouse gas exchanges (NEGE) and grain yields are affected by GCRPS in an annual rice-based cropping system. Our evaluation was based on measurements of the CH4 and N2O fluxes and soil heterotrophic respiration (CO2 emission) over a complete year, as well as the estimated soil carbon sequestration intensity for six different fertilizer treatments for conventional paddy and GCRPS. The fertilizer treatments included urea application and no N fertilization for both conventional paddy (CUN and CNN) and GCRPS (GUN and GNN), solely chicken manure (GCM) and combined urea and chicken manure applications (GUM) for GCRPS. Averaging across all the fertilizer treatments, GCRPS increased annual N2O emission and grain yield by 40% and 9%, respectively, and decreased annual CH4 emission by 69%, while GCRPS did not affect soil CO2 emissions relative to the conventional paddy. The annual direct emission factors of N2O were 4.01, 0.087 and 0.50% for GUN, GCM and GUM, respectively, and 1.52% for the conventional paddy (CUN). The annual soil carbon sequestration intensity under GCRPS was estimated to be an average of -1.33 Mg C ha-1 yr-1, which is approximately 44% higher than the conventional paddy. The annual NEGE were 10.80-11.02 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 yr-1 for the conventional paddy and 3.05-9.37 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 yr-1 for the GCRPS, suggesting the potential feasibility of GCRPS in reducing net greenhouse effect from rice cultivation. Using organic fertilizers for GCRPS considerably reduced annual emissions

  13. Alcoa World Alumina: Plant-Wide Assessment at Arkansas Operations Reveals More than$900,000 in Potential Annual Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2003-07-01

    The plant-wide energy-efficiency assessment performed in 2001 at the Alcoa World Alumina Arkansas Operations in Bauxite, Arkansas, identified seven opportunities to save energy and reduce costs. By implementing five of these improvements, the facility can save 15,100 million British thermal units per year in natural gas and 8.76 million kilowatt-hours per year in electricity. This translates into approximate annual savings of$925,300 in direct energy costs and non-fuel operating and maintenance costs. The required capital investment is estimated at$271,200. The average payback period for all five projects would be approximately 8 months.

  14. Alcoa World Alumina: Plant Wide Assessment at Arkansas Operation Reveals More than $900,000 in Potential Annual Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2003-07-01

    The plant-wide energy-efficiency assessment performed in 2001 at the Alcoa World Alumina Arkansas Operations in Bauxite, Arkansas, identified seven opportunities to save energy and reduce costs. By implementing five of these improvements, the facility can save 15,100 million British thermal units per year in natural gas and 8.76 million kilowatt-hours per year in electricity. This translates into approximate annual savings of $925,300 in direct energy costs and non-fuel operating and maintenance costs. The required capital investment is estimated at $271,200. The average payback period for all five projects would be approximately 8 months.

  15. ICU early physical rehabilitation programs: financial modeling of cost savings.

    PubMed

    Lord, Robert K; Mayhew, Christopher R; Korupolu, Radha; Mantheiy, Earl C; Friedman, Michael A; Palmer, Jeffrey B; Needham, Dale M

    2013-03-01

    To evaluate the potential annual net cost savings of implementing an ICU early rehabilitation program. Using data from existing publications and actual experience with an early rehabilitation program in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Medical ICU, we developed a model of net financial savings/costs and presented results for ICUs with 200, 600, 900, and 2,000 annual admissions, accounting for both conservative- and best-case scenarios. Our example scenario provided a projected financial analysis of the Johns Hopkins Medical ICU early rehabilitation program, with 900 admissions per year, using actual reductions in length of stay achieved by this program. U.S.-based adult ICUs. Financial modeling of the introduction of an ICU early rehabilitation program. Net cost savings generated in our example scenario, with 900 annual admissions and actual length of stay reductions of 22% and 19% for the ICU and floor, respectively, were $817,836. Sensitivity analyses, which used conservative- and best-case scenarios for length of stay reductions and varied the per-day ICU and floor costs, across ICUs with 200-2,000 annual admissions, yielded financial projections ranging from -$87,611 (net cost) to $3,763,149 (net savings). Of the 24 scenarios included in these sensitivity analyses, 20 (83%) demonstrated net savings, with a relatively small net cost occurring in the remaining four scenarios, mostly when simultaneously combining the most conservative assumptions. A financial model, based on actual experience and published data, projects that investment in an ICU early rehabilitation program can generate net financial savings for U.S. hospitals. Even under the most conservative assumptions, the projected net cost of implementing such a program is modest relative to the substantial improvements in patient outcomes demonstrated by ICU early rehabilitation programs.

  16. A simple tool for estimating city-wide annual electrical energy savings from cooler surfaces

    DOE PAGES

    Pomerantz, Melvin; Rosado, Pablo J.; Levinson, Ronnen

    2015-07-26

    We present a simple method to estimate the maximum possible energy saving that might be achieved by increasing the albedo of surfaces in a large city. We restrict this to the "indirect effect", the cooling of outside air that lessens the demand for air conditioning (AC). Given the power demand of the electric utilities and data about the city, we can use a single linear equation to estimate the maximum saving. For example, the result for an albedo change of 0.2 of pavements in a typical warm city in California, such as Sacramento, is that the saving is less thanmore » about 2 kWh per m 2 per year. This may help decision makers choose which heat island mitigation techniques are economical from an energy-saving perspective.« less

  17. Canada Education Savings Program: Annual Statistical Review--2009

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2009

    2009-01-01

    The Canada Education Savings Program is an initiative of the Government of Canada. As part of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, the program administers the Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond. These two initiatives help Canadian families save for a child's post-secondary education in Registered…

  18. Canada Education Savings Program: Annual Statistical Review 2011

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2011

    2011-01-01

    The Canada Education Savings Program has been an initiative of the Government of Canada since 1998. As part of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, the program administers the Canada Education Savings Grant and the Canada Learning Bond. These two initiatives help Canadian families save for a child's post-secondary education in…

  19. Canada Education Savings Program: Annual Statistical Review 2012

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The Canada Education Savings Program (CESP) has been an initiative of the Government of Canada since 1998. As part of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the program administers the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). These two initiatives help Canadian families save for a child's…

  20. Camp Pendleton Saves 91% in Parking Lot Lighting

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2016-01-01

    Case study describes how Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base replaced high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures in one parking lot with high-efficiency induction fixtures for 91% savings in energy use and $5,700 in cost savings annually. This parking lot is estimated to have a simple payback of 2.9 years. Sitewide up-grades yielded annual savings of 1 million kWh.

  1. High Achievers: 23rd Annual Survey. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Northbrook, IL.

    This report presents data from an annual survey of high school student leaders and high achievers. It is noted that of the nearly 700,000 high achievers featured in this edition, 5,000 students were sent the survey and 2,092 questionnaires were completed. Subjects were high school juniors and seniors selected for recognition by their principals or…

  2. 2013 AMAOs Guide: Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs). Title III, Part A Accountability System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Education Agency, 2013

    2013-01-01

    Under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the Texas Education Agency is required to establish Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs) for the English language acquisition and academic achievement of limited English proficient (LEP) students. This 2013 Guide to Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives provides AMAO…

  3. [Energy saving achieved by limited filamentous bulking under low dissolved oxygen: derivation, originality and theoretical basis].

    PubMed

    Peng, Yong-zhen; Guo, Jian-hua; Wang, Shu-ying; Chen, Ying

    2008-12-01

    How to prevent and control filamentous bulking sludge has being a research focus and attracted much attention. To date despite the extensive research that has been done on bulking sludge, filamentous bulking still occurs world-wide and a comprehensive solution does not seem to be available. Particularly, there are few studies about making use of the characteristics of filamentous bacteria and achieving energy saving by filamentous bulking. Limited filamentous bulking, a novel method for energy saving while equal or better treatment performance by allowing slight and controlled filamentous bulking sludge at low dissolved oxygen (DO), was proposed based on full-scale field observations. The practical operation showed that limited filamentous bulking resulted from a decline in DO concentration. COD, SS and TP removal could be enhanced and energy saving could be achieved by limited filamentous bulking at low DO. The derivation of limited filamentous bulking is introduced firstly, and then the theoretical fundamentals of the technique of limited filamentous bulking are presented and analyzed, including the occurrence of limited filamentous bulking caused by low DO, the enhanced effect of filamentous bacteria on pollutants removal and the energy saving mechanism by using limited filamentous bulking. Besides, the paper provides some new perspectives about the application and research direction of limited filamentous bulking in future.

  4. Medication nonadherence in diabetes: longitudinal effects on costs and potential cost savings from improvement.

    PubMed

    Egede, Leonard E; Gebregziabher, Mulugeta; Dismuke, Clara E; Lynch, Cheryl P; Axon, R Neal; Zhao, Yumin; Mauldin, Patrick D

    2012-12-01

    To examine the longitudinal effects of medication nonadherence (MNA) on key costs and estimate potential savings from increased adherence using a novel methodology that accounts for shared correlation among cost categories. Veterans with type 2 diabetes (740,195) were followed from January 2002 until death, loss to follow-up, or December 2006. A novel multivariate, generalized, linear, mixed modeling approach was used to assess the differential effect of MNA, defined as medication possession ratio (MPR) ≥0.8 on healthcare costs. A sensitivity analysis was performed to assess potential cost savings at different MNA levels using the Consumer Price Index to adjust estimates to 2012 dollar value. Mean MPR for the full sample over 5 years was 0.78, with a mean of 0.93 for the adherent group and 0.58 for the MNA group. In fully adjusted models, all annual cost categories increased ∼3% per year (P = 0.001) during the 5-year study time period. MNA was associated with a 37% lower pharmacy cost, 7% lower outpatient cost, and 41% higher inpatient cost. Based on sensitivity analyses, improving adherence in the MNA group would result in annual estimated cost savings ranging from ∼$661 million (MPR <0.6 vs. ≥0.6) to ∼$1.16 billion (MPR <1 vs. 1). Maximal incremental annual savings would occur by raising MPR from <0.8 to ≥0.8 ($204,530,778) among MNA subjects. Aggressive strategies and policies are needed to achieve optimal medication adherence in diabetes. Such approaches may further the so-called "triple aim" of achieving better health, better quality care, and lower cost.

  5. Energy Assessment Helps Kaiser Aluminum Save Energy and Improve Productivity; DOE Software Adopted as Standard for Analyzing Plant Process Heating Systems Company-Wide

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2008-07-01

    This case study describes how the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Sherman, Texas, achieved annual savings of $360,000 and 45,000 MMBtu, and improved furnace energy intensity by 11.1% after receiving a DOE Save Energy Now energy assessment and implementing recommendations to improve the efficiency of its process heating system.

  6. Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 Schools--30% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.; Long, N.

    2007-09-01

    This Technical Support Document describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings (K-12 AEDG), a design guidance document intended to provide recommendations for achieving 30% energy savings in K-12 Schools over levels contained in ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The 30% energy savings target is the first step toward achieving net-zero energy schools; schools that, on an annual basis, draw from outside sources less or equal energy than they generate on site from renewable energy sources.

  7. 31 CFR 351.45 - What happens if I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds in excess of the maximum annual...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What happens if I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds in excess of the maximum annual amount? 351.45 Section 351.45 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY...

  8. The Impact of Household Possessions on Youth's Academic Achievement in the Ghana YouthSave Experiment: A Propensity Score Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chowa, Gina A. N.; Masa, Rainier D.; Wretman, Christopher J.; Ansong, David

    2013-01-01

    Household assets as part of youth's family background have been found to have a significant impact on youth's academic achievement. In this study, the impact of household possessions on youth's academic achievement in the Ghana YouthSave experiment is investigated. Findings support the hypothesized positive direction of the impact of household…

  9. Effect of remission definition on healthcare cost savings estimates for patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologic therapies.

    PubMed

    Barnabe, Cheryl; Thanh, Nguyen Xuan; Ohinmaa, Arto; Homik, Joanne; Barr, Susan G; Martin, Liam; Maksymowych, Walter P

    2014-08-01

    Sustained remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) results in healthcare utilization cost savings. We evaluated the variation in estimates of savings when different definitions of remission [2011 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism Boolean Definition, Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) ≤ 3.3, Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) ≤ 2.8, and Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28) ≤ 2.6] are applied. The annual mean healthcare service utilization costs were estimated from provincial physician billing claims, outpatient visits, and hospitalizations, with linkage to clinical data from the Alberta Biologics Pharmacosurveillance Program (ABioPharm). Cost savings in patients who had a 1-year continuous period of remission were compared to those who did not, using 4 definitions of remission. In 1086 patients, sustained remission rates were 16.1% for DAS28, 8.8% for Boolean, 5.5% for CDAI, and 4.2% for SDAI. The estimated mean annual healthcare cost savings per patient achieving remission (relative to not) were SDAI $1928 (95% CI 592, 3264), DAS28 $1676 (95% CI 987, 2365), and Boolean $1259 (95% CI 417, 2100). The annual savings by CDAI remission per patient were not significant at $423 (95% CI -1757, 2602). For patients in DAS28, Boolean, and SDAI remission, savings were seen both in costs directly related to RA and its comorbidities, and in costs for non-RA-related conditions. The magnitude of the healthcare cost savings varies according to the remission definition used in classifying patient disease status. The highest point estimate for cost savings was observed in patients attaining SDAI remission and the least with the CDAI; confidence intervals for these estimates do overlap. Future pharmacoeconomic analyses should employ all response definitions in assessing the influence of treatment.

  10. Evaluation of Water consumption and savings achieved in Datacenters through Air side Economization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mishra, Ravi

    Recent researches and a few facility owners have focused on eliminating the chiller plant altogether by implementing 'Evaporative Cooling', as an alternative or augmentation to compressor-based air conditioning since the energy consumption is dominated by the compressor work (around 41%) in the chiller plant. Because evaporative cooling systems consume water, when evaluating the energy savings potential of these systems, it is imperative to consider not just their impacts on electricity use, but also their impacts on water consumption as well since Joe Kava, Google's head of data center operations, was quoted as saying that water is the "big elephant in the room" for data center companies. The objective of this study was to calculate the savings achieved in water consumption when these evaporative cooling systems were completely or partially marginalized when the facility is strictly working in the Economizer mode also known as 'free cooling' considering other modes of cooling required only for a part of the time when outside temperature, humidity and pollutant level were unfavorable causing improper functioning and reliability issues. The analysis was done on ASHRAE climatic zones with the help of TMY-3 weather data.

  11. Functional Requirements: 2014 No Child Left Behind--Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minnesota Department of Education, 2014

    2014-01-01

    This document describes the Minnesota No Child Left Behind (NCLB) calculation as it relates to measuring Title III districts for Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAO). In 2012, a new assessment was used to measure language proficiency skills for English Learners. New AMAO targets were created, and new values for determining individual…

  12. Aggressive Strategies for Residential Energy and Carbon Savings by 2025

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ling, F. H.; Kammen, D. M.

    2004-12-01

    again be achieved. While such high rates of innovation do not usually sustain themselves for more than a few years, innovation rates higher than the current 1.7 percent/year are also explored in this study. Acknowledgement: Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and Energy Foundation References: Energy Information Administration. "Annual Energy Outlook 2004." Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy, 2004. Hanson, Donald A. and Laitner, John A. "Skip". "An Integrated Analysis of Policies That Increase Investments in Advanced Energy-Efficient/Low-Carbon Technologies." Energy Economics, 2003. Laitner, J. A. "How far energy efficiency." 2004. Nadel, Steve. "Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards." Annual Reviews, 2002.

  13. Achieving cost-neutrality with long-acting reversible contraceptive methods.

    PubMed

    Trussell, James; Hassan, Fareen; Lowin, Julia; Law, Amy; Filonenko, Anna

    2015-01-01

    This analysis aimed to estimate the average annual cost of available reversible contraceptive methods in the United States. In line with literature suggesting long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods become increasingly cost-saving with extended duration of use, it aimed to also quantify minimum duration of use required for LARC methods to achieve cost-neutrality relative to other reversible contraceptive methods while taking into consideration discontinuation. A three-state economic model was developed to estimate relative costs of no method (chance), four short-acting reversible (SARC) methods (oral contraceptive, ring, patch and injection) and three LARC methods [implant, copper intrauterine device (IUD) and levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) 20 mcg/24 h (total content 52 mg)]. The analysis was conducted over a 5-year time horizon in 1000 women aged 20-29 years. Method-specific failure and discontinuation rates were based on published literature. Costs associated with drug acquisition, administration and failure (defined as an unintended pregnancy) were considered. Key model outputs were annual average cost per method and minimum duration of LARC method usage to achieve cost-savings compared to SARC methods. The two least expensive methods were copper IUD ($304 per women, per year) and LNG-IUS 20 mcg/24 h ($308). Cost of SARC methods ranged between $432 (injection) and $730 (patch), per women, per year. A minimum of 2.1 years of LARC usage would result in cost-savings compared to SARC usage. This analysis finds that even if LARC methods are not used for their full durations of efficacy, they become cost-saving relative to SARC methods within 3 years of use. Previous economic arguments in support of using LARC methods have been criticized for not considering that LARC methods are not always used for their full duration of efficacy. This study calculated that cost-savings from LARC methods relative to SARC methods, with discontinuation rates

  14. Achieving cost-neutrality with long-acting reversible contraceptive methods⋆

    PubMed Central

    Trussell, James; Hassan, Fareen; Lowin, Julia; Law, Amy; Filonenko, Anna

    2014-01-01

    Objectives This analysis aimed to estimate the average annual cost of available reversible contraceptive methods in the United States. In line with literature suggesting long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods become increasingly cost-saving with extended duration of use, it aimed to also quantify minimum duration of use required for LARC methods to achieve cost-neutrality relative to other reversible contraceptive methods while taking into consideration discontinuation. Study design A three-state economic model was developed to estimate relative costs of no method (chance), four short-acting reversible (SARC) methods (oral contraceptive, ring, patch and injection) and three LARC methods [implant, copper intrauterine device (IUD) and levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) 20 mcg/24 h (total content 52 mg)]. The analysis was conducted over a 5-year time horizon in 1000 women aged 20–29 years. Method-specific failure and discontinuation rates were based on published literature. Costs associated with drug acquisition, administration and failure (defined as an unintended pregnancy) were considered. Key model outputs were annual average cost per method and minimum duration of LARC method usage to achieve cost-savings compared to SARC methods. Results The two least expensive methods were copper IUD ($304 per women, per year) and LNG-IUS 20 mcg/24 h ($308). Cost of SARC methods ranged between $432 (injection) and $730 (patch), per women, per year. A minimum of 2.1 years of LARC usage would result in cost-savings compared to SARC usage. Conclusions This analysis finds that even if LARC methods are not used for their full durations of efficacy, they become cost-saving relative to SARC methods within 3 years of use. Implications Previous economic arguments in support of using LARC methods have been criticized for not considering that LARC methods are not always used for their full duration of efficacy. This study calculated that cost-savings from LARC

  15. Estimates of the direct and indirect cost savings associated with heart disease that could be avoided through dietary change in the United States.

    PubMed

    Cawley, John; Meyerhoefer, Chad; Gillingham, Leah G; Kris-Etherton, Penny; Jones, Peter J H

    2017-02-01

    Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats. A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS. Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ∼ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0-$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI = $1.8-$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI = $2.1-$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI = $0.2-$2.5 billion), and patients saving $2.2 billion (95% CI = $0.5-$3.8 billion). The annual savings in terms of reduced job absenteeism ranges from a lower bound of $600 million (95% CI = $100 million to $1.0 billion) to an upper bound of $1.2 billion (95% CI = $0.2-$2.1 billion) for 2010. The data cover only the non-institutionalized population. Decreased costs due to any decreases in the severity of heart disease are not included. Cost savings do not include any reduction in informal care at home. Diets high in saturated fat impose substantial medical care costs and job absenteeism costs, and substantial savings could be achieved by substituting MUFA for saturated fat.

  16. Walking to Save a County.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slotnick, Karen

    1981-01-01

    Describes the 10-year history and accomplishments of the Walk to Save the County which has preserved more than 400 acres of Onondaga County, New York. Outlines organizational structure, promotional strategies, awards, and educational opportunities involved in this annual fund-raising hike by third- through eighth-grade students. (NEC)

  17. ResStock - Targeting Energy and Cost Savings for U.S. Homes | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    ResStock - Targeting Energy and Cost Savings for U.S. Homes Science and Technology Highlights Highlights in Research & Development ResStock - Targeting Energy and Cost Savings for U.S. Homes Key discovered $49 billion in potential annual utility bill savings through cost-effective energy efficiency

  18. Energy Savings Measure Packages. Existing Homes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Casey, Sean; Booten, Chuck

    2011-11-01

    This document presents the most cost effective Energy Savings Measure Packages (ESMP) for existing mixed-fuel and all electric homes to achieve 15% and 30% savings for each BetterBuildings grantee location across the United States. These packages are optimized for minimum cost to homeowners for source energy savings given the local climate and prevalent building characteristics (i.e. foundation types). Maximum cost savings are typically found between 30% and 50% energy savings over the reference home; this typically amounts to $300 - $700/year.

  19. Save Energy Now Assessments Results 2008 Summary Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wright, Anthony L; Martin, Michaela A; Nimbalkar, Sachin U

    assessment process at the company's other facilities. Another important element of the Save Energy Now assessment process is the follow-up process used to identify how many of the recommended savings opportunities from individual assessments have been implemented in the industrial plants. Plant personnel involved with the Save Energy Now assessments are contacted 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months after individual assessments are completed to determine implementation results. A total of 260 Save Energy Now assessments were successfully completed in calendar year 2008. This means that a total of 718 assessments were completed in 2006, 2007, and 2008. As of July 2009, we have received a total of 239 summary reports from the ESAs that were conducted in year 2008. Hence, at the time that this report was prepared, 680 final assessment reports were completed (200 from year 2006, 241 from year 2007, and 239 from year 2008). The total identified potential cost savings from these 680 assessments ismore » $$1.1 billion per year, including natural gas savings of about 98 TBtu per year. These results, if fully implemented, could reduce CO{sub 2} emissions by about 8.9 million metric tons annually. When this report was prepared, data on implementation of recommended energy and cost savings measures from 488 Save Energy Now assessments were available. For these 488 plants, measures saving a total of $$147 million per year have been implemented, measures that will save $169 million per year are in the process of being implemented, and plants are planning implementation of measures that will save another $239 million per year. The implemented recommendations are already achieving total CO{sub 2} reductions of about 1.8 million metric tons per year. This report provides a summary of the key results for the Save Energy Now assessments completed in 2008; details of the 6-month, 12-month, and 24-month implementation results obtained to date; and an evaluation of these implementation results

  20. Save Energy Now Assessments Results 2008 Detailed Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wright, Anthony L; Martin, Michaela A; Nimbalkar, Sachin U

    assessment process at the company's other facilities. Another important element of the Save Energy Now assessment process is the follow-up process used to identify how many of the recommended savings opportunities from individual assessments have been implemented in the industrial plants. Plant personnel involved with the Save Energy Now assessments are contacted 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months after individual assessments are completed to determine implementation results. A total of 260 Save Energy Now assessments were successfully completed in calendar year 2008. This means that a total of 718 assessments were completed in 2006, 2007, and 2008. As of July 2009, we have received a total of 239 summary reports from the ESAs that were conducted in year 2008. Hence, at the time that this report was prepared, 680 final assessment reports were completed (200 from year 2006, 241 from year 2007, and 239 from year 2008). The total identified potential cost savings from these 680 assessments ismore » $$1.1 billion per year, including natural gas savings of about 98 TBtu per year. These results, if fully implemented, could reduce CO{sub 2} emissions by about 8.9 million metric tons annually. When this report was prepared, data on implementation of recommended energy and cost savings measures from 488 Save Energy Now assessments were available. For these 488 plants, measures saving a total of $$147 million per year have been implemented, measures that will save $169 million per year are in the process of being implemented, and plants are planning implementation of measures that will save another $239 million per year. The implemented recommendations are already achieving total CO{sub 2} reductions of about 1.8 million metric tons per year. This report provides a summary of the key results for the Save Energy Now assessments completed in 2008; details of the 6-month, 12-month, and 24-month implementation results obtained to date; and an evaluation of these implementation results

  1. Savings estimate for a Medicare insured group

    PubMed Central

    Birnbaum, Howard; Holland, Stephen K.; Lenhart, Gregory; Reilly, Helena L.; Hoffman, Kevin; Pardo, Dennis P.

    1991-01-01

    Estimates of the savings potential of a managed-care program for a Medicare retiree population in Michigan under a hypothetical Medicare insured group (MIG) are presented in this article. In return for receiving an experience-rated capitation payment, a MIG would administer all Medicare and employer complementary benefits for its enrollees. A study of the financial and operational feasibility of implementing a MIG for retirees of a national corporation involving an analysis of 1986 claims data finds that selected managed-care initiatives implemented by a MIG would generate an annual savings of 3.8 percent of total (Medicare plus complementary) expenditures. Although savings are less than the 5 percent to be retained by Medicare, this finding illustrates the potential for savings from managed-care initiatives to Medicare generally and to MIGs elsewhere, where savings may be greater if constraints are less restrictive. PMID:10113700

  2. Use of Midlevel Practitioners to Achieve Labor Cost Savings in the Primary Care Practice of an MCO

    PubMed Central

    Roblin, Douglas W; Howard, David H; Becker, Edmund R; Kathleen Adams, E; Roberts, Melissa H

    2004-01-01

    Objective To estimate the savings in labor costs per primary care visit that might be realized from increased use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in the primary care practices of a managed care organization (MCO). Study Setting/Data Sources Twenty-six capitated primary care practices of a group model MCO. Data on approximately two million visits provided by 206 practitioners were extracted from computerized visit records for 1997–2000. Computerized payroll ledgers were the source of annual labor costs per practice from 1997–2000. Study Design Likelihood of a visit attended by a PA/NP versus MD was modeled using logistic regression, with practice fixed effects, by department (adult medicine, pediatrics) and year. Parameter estimates and practice fixed effects from these regressions were used to predict the proportion of PA/NP visits per practice per year given a standard case mix. Least squares regressions, with practice fixed effects, were used to estimate the association of this standardized predicted proportion of PA/NP visits with average annual practitioner and total labor costs per visit, controlling for other practice characteristics. Results On average, PAs/NPs attended one in three adult medicine visits and one in five pediatric medicine visits. Likelihood of a PA/NP visit was significantly higher than average among patients presenting with minor acute illness (e.g., acute pharyngitis). In adult medicine, likelihood of a PA/NP visit was lower than average among older patients. Practitioner labor costs per visit and total labor costs per visit were lower (p<.01 and p=.08, respectively) among practices with greater use of PAs/NPs, standardized for case mix. Conclusions Primary care practices that used more PAs/NPs in care delivery realized lower practitioner labor costs per visit than practices that used less. Future research should investigate the cost savings and cost-effectiveness potential of delivery designs that change

  3. Electric energy savings from new technologies. Revision 1

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Harrer, B.J.; Kellogg, M.A.; Lyke, A.J.

    1986-09-01

    Purpose of the report is to provide information about the electricity-saving potential of new technologies to OCEP that it can use in developing alternative long-term projections of US electricity consumption. Low-, base-, and high-case scenarios of the electricity savings for 10 technologies were prepared. The total projected annual savings for the year 2000 for all 10 technologies were 137 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh), 279 BkWh, and 470 BkWh, respectively, for the three cases. The magnitude of these savings projections can be gauged by comparing them to the Department's reference case projection for the 1985 National Energy Policy Plan. In themore » Department's reference case, total consumption in 2000 is projected to be 3319 BkWh. Because approximately 75% of the base-case estimate of savings are already incorporated into the reference projection, only 25% of the savings estimated here should be subtracted from the reference projection for analysis purposes.« less

  4. Advanced Imaging Utilization and Cost Savings Among Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations: An Initial Exploratory Analysis.

    PubMed

    Rosenkrantz, Andrew B; Duszak, Richard

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore associations between CT and MRI utilization and cost savings achieved by Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP)-participating accountable care organizations (ACOs). Summary data were obtained for all MSSP-participating ACOs (n = 214 in 2013; n = 333 in 2014). Multivariable regressions were performed to assess associations of CT and MRI utilization with ACOs' total savings and reaching minimum savings rates to share in Medicare savings. In 2014, 54.4% of ACOs achieved savings, meeting minimum rates to share in savings in 27.6%. Independent positive predictors of total savings included beneficiary risk scores (β = +20,265,720, P = .003) and MRI events (β = +19,964, P = .018) but not CT events (β = +2,084, P = .635). Independent positive predictors of meeting minimum savings rates included beneficiary risk scores (odds ratio = 2108, P = .001) and MRI events (odds ratio = 1.008, P = .002), but not CT events (odds ratio = 1.002, P = .289). Measures not independently associated with savings were total beneficiaries; beneficiaries' gender, age, race or ethnicity; and Medicare enrollment type (P > .05). For ACOs with 2013 and 2014 data, neither increases nor decreases in CT and MRI events between years were associated with 2014 total savings or meeting savings thresholds (P ≥ .466). Higher MRI utilization rates were independently associated with small but significant MSSP ACO savings. The value of MRI might relate to the favorable impact of appropriate advanced imaging utilization on downstream outcomes and other resource utilization. Because MSSP ACOs represent a highly select group of sophisticated organizations subject to rigorous quality and care coordination standards, further research will be necessary to determine if these associations are generalizable to other health care settings. Copyright © 2017 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Chapter 10: Peak Demand and Time-Differentiated Energy Savings Cross-Cutting Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kurnik, Charles W; Stern, Frank; Spencer, Justin

    Savings from electric energy efficiency measures and programs are often expressed in terms of annual energy and presented as kilowatt-hours per year (kWh/year). However, for a full assessment of the value of these savings, it is usually necessary to consider the measure or program's impact on peak demand as well as time-differentiated energy savings. This cross-cutting protocol describes methods for estimating the peak demand and time-differentiated energy impacts of measures implemented through energy efficiency programs.

  6. A method for estimating maternal and newborn lives saved from health-related investments funded by the UK government Department for International Development using the Lives Saved Tool.

    PubMed

    Friberg, Ingrid K; Baschieri, Angela; Abbotts, Jo

    2017-11-07

    In 2010, the UK Government Department for International Development (DFID) committed through its 'Framework for results for reproductive, maternal and newborn health (RMNH)' to save 50,000 maternal lives and 250,000 newborn lives by 2015. They also committed to monitoring the performance of this portfolio of investments to demonstrate transparency and accountability. Methods currently available to directly measure lives saved are cost-, time-, and labour-intensive. The gold standard for calculating the total number of lives saved would require measuring mortality with large scale population based surveys or annual vital events surveillance. Neither is currently available in all low- and middle-income countries. Estimating the independent effect of DFID support relative to all other effects on health would also be challenging. The Lives Saved Tool (LiST) is an evidence based software for modelling the effect of changes in health intervention coverage on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child mortality. A multi-country LiST-based analysis protocol was developed to retrospectively assess the total annual number of maternal and newborn lives saved from DFID aid programming in low- and middle-income countries. Annual LiST analyses using the latest program data from DFID country offices were conducted between 2013 and 2016, estimating the annual number of maternal and neonatal lives saved across 2010-2015. For each country, independent project results were aggregated into health intervention coverage estimates, with and in the absence of DFID funding. More than 80% of reported projects were suitable for inclusion in the analysis, with 151 projects analysed in the 2016 analysis. Between 2010 and 2014, it is estimated that DFID contributed to saving the lives of 15,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth with health programming and 88,000 with family planning programming. It is estimated that DFID health programming contributed to saving 187,000 newborn lives. It is

  7. Energy savings opportunity survey at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC. Final Submittal report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    1987-10-22

    This Energy Savings Opportunity Survey (ESOS) was performed for sixteen (16) buildings at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WPAMC) in Washington, D.C. This survey was intended to reevaluate and update projects from a previous Energy Engineering Analysis Program (EEAP) survey performed at WRAMC. However, the previous EEAP survey was determined by the contracting officer to be incomplete and not worthy of further consideration. Therefore, this survey involved the complete reevaluation of the buildings to determine their potential energy cost savings. Six (6) projects and nine (9) low cost/no cost energy conservation opportunities (ECO`s) are recommended for implementation in the buildings.more » These projects and ECO`s are projected to annually save $448,263 at an implementation cost of $891,659. The simple payback (i.e., implementation cost divided by cost savings) for the recommendations in the survey is 1.99 years. The two (2) projects with the greatest cost savings are a stack heat recovery system (Project Number 5) and HVAC modifications (Project Number 1). These two (2) projects will provide 67% of the projected total savings for the survey. The sixteen (16) buildings in this survey represent only 22% of the total floor area of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center complex. It is believed that significant potential energy cost savings amounting to two (2) million dollars may be achieved in the remaining buildings in the complex not included in this survey. Specifically it is believed the main hospital building contains many opportunities for substantial cost savings.« less

  8. Retrospective Assessment of Cost Savings From Prevention

    PubMed Central

    Grosse, Scott D.; Berry, Robert J.; Tilford, J. Mick; Kucik, James E.; Waitzman, Norman J.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Although fortification of food with folic acid has been calculated to be cost saving in the U.S., updated estimates are needed. This analysis calculates new estimates from the societal perspective of net cost savings per year associated with mandatory folic acid fortification of enriched cereal grain products in the U.S. that was implemented during 1997–1998. Methods Estimates of annual numbers of live-born spina bifida cases in 1995–1996 relative to 1999–2011 based on birth defects surveillance data were combined during 2015 with published estimates of the present value of lifetime direct costs updated in 2014 U.S. dollars for a live-born infant with spina bifida to estimate avoided direct costs and net cost savings. Results The fortification mandate is estimated to have reduced the annual number of U.S. live-born spina bifida cases by 767, with a lower-bound estimate of 614. The present value of mean direct lifetime cost per infant with spina bifida is estimated to be $791,900, or $577,000 excluding caregiving costs. Using a best estimate of numbers of avoided live-born spina bifida cases, fortification is estimated to reduce the present value of total direct costs for each year's birth cohort by $603 million more than the cost of fortification. A lower-bound estimate of cost savings using conservative assumptions, including the upper-bound estimate of fortification cost, is $299 million. Conclusions The estimates of cost savings are larger than previously reported, even using conservative assumptions. The analysis can also inform assessments of folic acid fortification in other countries. PMID:26790341

  9. Standardized ultrasound templates for diagnosing appendicitis reduce annual imaging costs.

    PubMed

    Nordin, Andrew B; Sales, Stephen; Nielsen, Jason W; Adler, Brent; Bates, David Gregory; Kenney, Brian

    2018-01-01

    Ultrasound is preferred over computed tomography (CT) for diagnosing appendicitis in children to avoid undue radiation exposure. We previously reported our experience in instituting a standardized appendicitis ultrasound template, which decreased CT rates by 67.3%. In this analysis, we demonstrate the ongoing cost savings associated with using this template. Retrospective chart review for the time period preceding template implementation (June 2012-September 2012) was combined with prospective review through December 2015 for all patients in the emergency department receiving diagnostic imaging for appendicitis. The type of imaging was recorded, and imaging rates and ultrasound test statistics were calculated. Estimated annual imaging costs based on pretemplate ultrasound and CT utilization rates were compared with post-template annual costs to calculate annual and cumulative savings. In the pretemplate period, ultrasound and CT rates were 80.2% and 44.3%, respectively, resulting in a combined annual cost of $300,527.70. Similar calculations were performed for each succeeding year, accounting for changes in patient volume. Using pretemplate rates, our projected 2015 imaging cost was $371,402.86; however, our ultrasound rate had increased to 98.3%, whereas the CT rate declined to 9.6%, yielding an annual estimated cost of $224,853.00 and a savings of $146,549.86. Since implementation, annual savings have steadily increased for a cumulative cost savings of $336,683.83. Standardizing ultrasound reports for appendicitis not only reduces the use of CT scans and the associated radiation exposure but also decreases annual imaging costs despite increased numbers of imaging studies. Continued cost reduction may be possible by using diagnostic algorithms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. 25 CFR 30.116 - If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other methods may it use to...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... participated in the assessment. (b) Method B—Uniform Averaging Procedure. A school may use uniform averaging... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable... Adequate Yearly Progress § 30.116 If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other...

  11. 25 CFR 30.116 - If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other methods may it use to...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... participated in the assessment. (b) Method B—Uniform Averaging Procedure. A school may use uniform averaging... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable... Adequate Yearly Progress § 30.116 If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other...

  12. 25 CFR 30.116 - If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other methods may it use to...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... participated in the assessment. (b) Method B—Uniform Averaging Procedure. A school may use uniform averaging... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable... Adequate Yearly Progress § 30.116 If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other...

  13. 25 CFR 30.116 - If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other methods may it use to...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... participated in the assessment. (b) Method B—Uniform Averaging Procedure. A school may use uniform averaging... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable... Adequate Yearly Progress § 30.116 If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other...

  14. 25 CFR 30.116 - If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other methods may it use to...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... participated in the assessment. (b) Method B—Uniform Averaging Procedure. A school may use uniform averaging... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable... Adequate Yearly Progress § 30.116 If a school fails to achieve its annual measurable objectives, what other...

  15. Evaluation of Savings in Energy-Efficient Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2013-10-01

    This report presents the results of an energy performance and cost-effectiveness analysis. The Salishan phase 7 and demonstration homes were compared to Salishan phase 6 homes built to 2006 Washington State Energy Code specifications 2. Predicted annual energy savings (over Salishan phase 6) was 19% for Salishan phase 7, and between 19-24% for the demonstration homes (depending on ventilation strategy). Approximately two-thirds of the savings are attributable to the DHP. Working with the electric utility provider, Tacoma Public Utilities, researchers conducted a billing analysis for Salishan phase 7. Median energy use for the development is 11,000 kWh; annual energy costsmore » are $780, with a fair amount of variation dependent on size of home. Preliminary analysis of savings between Salishan 7 and previous phases (4 through 6) suggest savings of between 20 and 30 percent. A more comprehensive comparison between Salishan 7 and previous phases will take place in year two of this project.« less

  16. Evaluation of Savings in Energy-Efficient Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gordon, A.; Lubliner, M.; Howard, L.

    2013-10-01

    This report presents the results of an energy performance and cost-effectiveness analysis. The Salishan phase 7 and demonstration homes were compared to Salishan phase 6 homes built to 2006 Washington State Energy Code specifications 2. Predicted annual energy savings (over Salishan phase 6) was 19% for Salishan phase 7, and between 19-24% for the demonstration homes (depending on ventilationstrategy). Approximately two-thirds of the savings are attributable to the DHP. Working with the electric utility provider, Tacoma Public Utilities, researchers conducted a billing analysis for Salishan phase 7. Median energy use for the development is 11,000 kWh; annual energy costs aremore » $780, with a fair amount of variation dependent on size of home. Preliminary analysis of savings betweenSalishan 7 and previous phases (4 through 6) suggest savings of between 20 and 30 percent. A more comprehensive comparison between Salishan 7 and previous phases will take place in year two of this project.« less

  17. Scope-of-practice laws for nurse practitioners limit cost savings that can be achieved in retail clinics.

    PubMed

    Spetz, Joanne; Parente, Stephen T; Town, Robert J; Bazarko, Dawn

    2013-11-01

    Retail clinics have the potential to reduce health spending by offering convenient, low-cost access to basic health care services. Retail clinics are often staffed by nurse practitioners (NPs), whose services are regulated by state scope-of-practice regulations. By limiting NPs' work scope, restrictive regulations could affect possible cost savings. Using multistate insurance claims data from 2004-07, a period in which many retail clinics opened, we analyzed whether the cost per episode associated with the use of retail clinics was lower in states where NPs are allowed to practice independently and to prescribe independently. We also examined whether retail clinic use and scope of practice were associated with emergency department visits and hospitalizations. We found that visits to retail clinics were associated with lower costs per episode, compared to episodes of care that did not begin with a retail clinic visit, and the costs were even lower when NPs practiced independently. Eliminating restrictions on NPs' scope of practice could have a large impact on the cost savings that can be achieved by retail clinics.

  18. Costs and savings associated with implementation of a police crisis intervention team.

    PubMed

    El-Mallakh, Peggy L; Kiran, Kranti; El-Mallakh, Rif S

    2014-06-01

    Police crisis intervention teams (CIT) have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing injury to law enforcement personnel and citizens and the criminalization of mental illness; however, their financial effect has not been fully investigated. The objective of the study was to determine the total costs or total savings associated with implementing a CIT program in a medium-size city. The costs and savings associated with the implementation of a CIT program were analyzed in a medium-size city, Louisville, Kentucky, 9 years after the program's initiation. Costs associated with officer training, increased emergency psychiatry visits, and hospital admissions resulting from CIT activity were compared with the savings associated with diverted hospitalizations and reduced legal bookings. Based on an average of 2400 CIT calls annually, the overall costs associated with CIT per year were $2,430,128 ($146,079 for officer training, $1,768,536 for hospitalizations of patients brought in by CIT officers, $508,690 for emergency psychiatry evaluations, and $6823 for arrests). The annual savings of the CIT were $3,455,025 ($1,148,400 in deferred hospitalizations, $2,296,800 in reduced inpatient referrals from jail, and $9825 in avoided bookings and jail time). The balance is $1,024,897 in annual cost savings. The net financial effect of a CIT program is of modest benefit; however, much of this analysis was based on estimates and average length of stay. Furthermore, the costs and savings associated with officer or citizen injuries were not included because there was inadequate information about their prevalence and costs. Finally, this analysis does not take into account the nonmonetary gains of a CIT program.

  19. Use staff wisely to save NHS money.

    PubMed

    Moore, Alison

    2015-12-09

    The NHS could save up to £ 2 billion a year by improving workflow and containing workforce costs, according to Labour peer Lord Carter's review of NHS efficiency. Changes in areas such as rostering and management of annual leave must avoid increasing the pressure on staff.

  20. Hidden Savings in your Bus Budget

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newby, Ruth

    2005-01-01

    School transportation industry statistics show the annual average costs for operating and maintaining a single school bus range from $34,000 to $38,000. Operating a school bus fleet at high efficiency has a real impact on the dollars saved for a school district and the reliability of transportation service to students. In this article, the author…

  1. Achieving 50% Energy Savings in Office Buildings, Advanced Energy Design Guides: Office Buildings (Brochure)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2014-09-01

    This fact sheet summarizes recommendations for designing new office buildings that result in 50% less energy use than conventional designs meeting minimum code requirements. The recommendations are drawn from the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small to Medium Office Buildings, an ASHRAE publication that provides comprehensive recommendations for designing low-energy-use office buildings with gross floor areas up to 100,000 ft2 (see sidebar). Designed as a stand-alone document, this fact sheet provides key principles and a set of prescriptive design recommendations appropriate for smaller office buildings with insufficient budgets to fully implement best practices for integrated design and optimized performance. Themore » recommendations have undergone a thorough analysis and review process through ASHRAE, and have been deemed the best combination of measures to achieve 50% savings in the greatest number of office buildings.« less

  2. Estimated cost savings of increased use of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke in Canada.

    PubMed

    Yip, Todd R; Demaerschalk, Bart M

    2007-06-01

    Intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is an economically worthwhile but underused treatment option for acute ischemic stroke. We sought to identify the extent of tPA use in Canadian medical centers and the potential savings associated with increased use nationally and by province. We determined the nationwide annual incidence of ischemic stroke from the Canadian Institute of Health Information. The proportion of all ischemic stroke patients who received tPA was derived from published data. Economic analyses that report the expected annual cost savings of tPA were consulted. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of a universal health care system during 1 year. We estimated cost-savings with incrementally (eg, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) increased use of tPA for acute ischemic stroke nationally and provincially. The current average national tPA utilization is 1.4%. For every increase of 2 percentage points in utilization, $757,204 (Canadian) could possibly be saved annually (95% CI maximum loss of $3,823,992 to a maximum savings of $2,201,252). With a 20% rate, >$7.5 million (Canadian) could be saved nationwide the first year. We estimate that even small increases in the proportion of all Canadian ischemic stroke patients receiving tPA could result in substantial realized savings for Canada's health care system.

  3. Quantifying Behavior Driven Energy Savings for Hotels

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dong, Bing; Wang, Na; Hooks, Edward

    2016-08-12

    Hotel facilities present abundant opportunities for energy savings. In the United States, there are around 25,000 hotels that spend on an average of $2,196 on energy costs per room each year. This amounts to about 6% of the total annual hotel operating cost. However, unlike offices, there are limited studies on establishing appropriate baselines and quantifying hotel energy savings given the variety of services and amenities, unpredictable customer behaviors, and the around-the-clock operation hours. In this study, we investigate behavior driven energy savings for three medium-size (around 90,000 sf2) hotels that offer similar services in different climate zones. We firstmore » used Department of Energy Asset Scoring Tool to establish baseline models. We then conducted energy saving analysis in EnergyPlus based on a behavior model that defines the upper bound and lower bound of customer and hotel staff behavior. Lastly, we presented a probabilistic energy savings outlook for each hotel. The analysis shows behavior driven energy savings up to 25%. We believe this is the first study to incorporate behavioral factors into energy analysis for hotels. It also demonstrates a procedure to quickly create tailored baselines and identify improvement opportunities for hotels.« less

  4. The M77 Highway: saving lives and money.

    PubMed

    Crane, Evan O T; Augustine, Angelica; Tait, Gavin R

    2008-09-01

    Upgrading of a stretch of the A77, a major road in South West Scotland to Highway status has resulted in a significant reduction in the incidence of serious and fatal road traffic accidents on a major international route. Notwithstanding the pain and suffering prevented, the annual economic savings amount to over pound 6.1 Million ($12.14 M/euro 7.96 M) The Highway, with an effective central reservation barrier, will pay for itself in 17 years and will continue to prevent serious injury and save lives.

  5. China's Pathways to Achieving 40% ~ 45% Reduction in CO{sub 2} Emissions per Unit of GDP in 2020: Sectoral Outlook and Assessment of Savings Potential

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zheng, Nina; Fridley, David; Zhou, Nan

    2011-09-30

    Achieving China’s goal of reducing its carbon intensity (CO{sub 2} per unit of GDP) by 40% to 45% percent below 2005 levels by 2020 will require the strengthening and expansion of energy efficiency policies across the buildings, industries and transport sectors. This study uses a bottom-up, end-use model and two scenarios -- an enhanced energy efficiency (E3) scenario and an alternative maximum technically feasible energy efficiency improvement (Max Tech) scenario – to evaluate what policies and technical improvements are needed to achieve the 2020 carbon intensity reduction target. The findings from this study show that a determined approach by Chinamore » can lead to the achievement of its 2020 goal. In particular, with full success in deepening its energy efficiency policies and programs but following the same general approach used during the 11th Five Year Plan, it is possible to achieve 49% reduction in CO{sub 2} emissions per unit of GDP (CO{sub 2} emissions intensity) in 2020 from 2005 levels (E3 case). Under the more optimistic but feasible assumptions of development and penetration of advanced energy efficiency technology (Max Tech case), China could achieve a 56% reduction in CO{sub 2} emissions intensity in 2020 relative to 2005 with cumulative reduction of energy use by 2700 Mtce and of CO{sub 2} emissions of 8107 Mt CO{sub 2} between 2010 and 2020. Energy savings and CO{sub 2} mitigation potential varies by sector but most of the energy savings potential is found in energy-intensive industry. At the same time, electricity savings and the associated emissions reduction are magnified by increasing renewable generation and improving coal generation efficiency, underscoring the dual importance of end-use efficiency improvements and power sector decarbonization.« less

  6. Achieving 50% Energy Savings in New Schools, Advanced Energy Design Guides: K-12 Schools (Brochure)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    This fact sheet summarizes recommendations for designing elementary, middle, and high school buildings that will result in 50% less energy use than conventional new schools built to minimum code requirements. The recommendations are drawn from the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings, an ASHRAE publication that provides comprehensive recommendations for designing low-energy-use school buildings (see sidebar). Designed as a stand-alone document, this fact sheet provides key principles and a set of prescriptive design recommendations appropriate for smaller schools with insufficient budgets to fully implement best practices for integrated design and optimized performance. The recommendations have undergone a thoroughmore » analysis and review process through ASHRAE, and have been deemed the best combination of measures to achieve 50% savings in the greatest number of schools.« less

  7. ONU Power Saving Scheme for EPON System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mukai, Hiroaki; Tano, Fumihiko; Tanaka, Masaki; Kozaki, Seiji; Yamanaka, Hideaki

    PON (Passive Optical Network) achieves FTTH (Fiber To The Home) economically, by sharing an optical fiber among plural subscribers. Recently, global climate change has been recognized as a serious near term problem. Power saving techniques for electronic devices are important. In PON system, the ONU (Optical Network Unit) power saving scheme has been studied and defined in XG-PON. In this paper, we propose an ONU power saving scheme for EPON. Then, we present an analysis of the power reduction effect and the data transmission delay caused by the ONU power saving scheme. According to the analysis, we propose an efficient provisioning method for the ONU power saving scheme which is applicable to both of XG-PON and EPON.

  8. Improved System Yields $100,000 Annual Savings (Systems Analysis at Alcoa Yields Significant Savings)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    1999-01-01

    In another Office of Industrial Technologies Motor Challenge Success Story, Alcoa (formerly Alumax) aluminum reduced annual energy consumption by 12% and reduced both maintenance and noise levels. Order this fact sheet now to learn how your company can both increase energy efficiency and decrease pollution.

  9. 10 CFR 436.37 - Annual energy audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Annual energy audits. 436.37 Section 436.37 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING PROGRAMS Methods and Procedures for Energy Savings Performance Contracting § 436.37 Annual energy audits. (a) After contractor...

  10. 10 CFR 436.37 - Annual energy audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Annual energy audits. 436.37 Section 436.37 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING PROGRAMS Methods and Procedures for Energy Savings Performance Contracting § 436.37 Annual energy audits. (a) After contractor...

  11. 10 CFR 436.37 - Annual energy audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Annual energy audits. 436.37 Section 436.37 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING PROGRAMS Methods and Procedures for Energy Savings Performance Contracting § 436.37 Annual energy audits. (a) After contractor...

  12. 10 CFR 436.37 - Annual energy audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Annual energy audits. 436.37 Section 436.37 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING PROGRAMS Methods and Procedures for Energy Savings Performance Contracting § 436.37 Annual energy audits. (a) After contractor...

  13. 10 CFR 436.37 - Annual energy audits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Annual energy audits. 436.37 Section 436.37 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING PROGRAMS Methods and Procedures for Energy Savings Performance Contracting § 436.37 Annual energy audits. (a) After contractor...

  14. Request of laboratory liver tests in primary care in Spain: potential savings if appropriateness indicator targets were achieved.

    PubMed

    Salinas, Maria; López-Garrigós, Maite; Flores, Emilio; Uris, Joaquín; Leiva-Salinas, Carlos

    2015-10-01

    Liver laboratory tests are used to screen for liver disease, suggest the underlying cause, estimate the severity, assess prognosis, and monitor the efficacy of therapy. The aim of this study was to compare the liver laboratory tests requesting patterns by GPs in Spain, according to geographic and hospital characteristics, to investigate the degree of requesting appropriateness. One hundred and forty-one clinical laboratories were invited to participate from diverse regions across Spain. They filed out the number of laboratory liver tests requested by GPs for the year 2012. Two types of appropriateness indicators were calculated: every test request per 1000 inhabitants or ratios of related tests requests. The indicator results obtained were compared between the different hospitals, according to their setting, location, and management. The savings generated, if each area would have achieved indicator targets, were calculated. We recruited 76 laboratories covering a population of 17,679,195 inhabitants. GPs requested 20,916,780 laboratory liver tests in the year 2012. No differences were obtained according to their setting. Lactate dehydrogenase and direct bilirubin per 1000 inhabitants were significantly higher in institutions with private management. Largest differences were observed between communities. Nine, 31, 0, and 13 laboratories, respectively, achieved the aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, and total bilirubin-related alanine aminotransferase indicator targets. Reaching ratios would have resulted in savings of €1,028,468. There was a high variability in the request of liver tests. This emphasizes the need to implement interventions to improve appropriate use of liver tests.

  15. Longest-Serving Active Paper Mill in the Western United States Uncovers New Ways to Save Energy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2008-03-01

    This case study describes how West Linn Paper Company's coated paper mill in West Linn, Oregon, saves nearly 58,200 MMBtu and $379,000 annually after receiving a DOE Save Energy Now energy assessment and implementing those recommendations.

  16. Annualized TASAR Benefits for Virgin America Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2014-01-01

    The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept offers onboard automation for the purpose of advising the pilot of traffic compatible trajectory changes that would be beneficial to the flight. A fast-time simulation study was conducted to assess the benefits of TASAR to Virgin America. The simulation compares historical trajectories without TASAR to trajectories developed with TASAR and evaluated by controllers against their objectives. It was estimated that about 25,000 gallons of fuel and about 2,500 minutes could be saved annually per aircraft. These savings were applied fleet-wide to produce an estimated annual cost savings to Virgin America in excess of $5 million due to fuel, maintenance, and depreciation cost savings. Switching to a more wind-optimal trajectory was found to be the use case that generated the highest benefits out of the three TASAR use cases analyzed. Virgin America TASAR requests peaked at two to four requests per hour per sector in high-altitude Oakland and Salt Lake City center sectors east of San Francisco.

  17. Comparison of software models for energy savings from cool roofs

    DOE PAGES

    New, Joshua; Miller, William A.; Huang, Yu; ...

    2015-06-07

    For this study, a web-based Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) has been deployed for the United States Department of Energy as an industry-consensus tool to help building owners, manufacturers, distributors, contractors and researchers easily run complex roof and attic simulations. RSC simulates multiple roof and attic technologies for side-by-side comparison including reflective roofs, different roof slopes, above sheathing ventilation, radiant barriers, low-emittance roof surfaces, duct location, duct leakage rates, multiple substrate types, and insulation levels. Annual simulations of hour-by-hour, whole-building performance are used to provide estimated annual energy and cost savings from reduced HVAC use. While RSC reported similar cooling savingsmore » to other simulation engines, heating penalty varied significantly. RSC results show reduced cool roofing cost-effectiveness, thus mitigating expected economic incentives for this countermeasure to the urban heat island effect. This paper consolidates comparison of RSC's projected energy savings to other simulation engines including DOE-2.1E, AtticSim, Micropas, and EnergyPlus. Also included are comparisons to previous simulation-based studies, analysis of RSC cooling savings and heating penalties, the role of radiative heat exchange in an attic assembly, and changes made for increased accuracy of the duct model. Finally, radiant heat transfer and duct interaction not previously modeled is considered a major contributor to heating penalties.« less

  18. Cost savings from reduced catheter-related bloodstream infection after simulation-based education for residents in a medical intensive care unit.

    PubMed

    Cohen, Elaine R; Feinglass, Joe; Barsuk, Jeffrey H; Barnard, Cynthia; O'Donnell, Anna; McGaghie, William C; Wayne, Diane B

    2010-04-01

    Interventions to reduce preventable complications such as catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) can also decrease hospital costs. However, little is known about the cost-effectiveness of simulation-based education. The aim of this study was to estimate hospital cost savings related to a reduction in CRBSI after simulation training for residents. This was an intervention evaluation study estimating cost savings related to a simulation-based intervention in central venous catheter (CVC) insertion in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at an urban teaching hospital. After residents completed a simulation-based mastery learning program in CVC insertion, CRBSI rates declined sharply. Case-control and regression analysis methods were used to estimate savings by comparing CRBSI rates in the year before and after the intervention. Annual savings from reduced CRBSIs were compared with the annual cost of simulation training. Approximately 9.95 CRBSIs were prevented among MICU patients with CVCs in the year after the intervention. Incremental costs attributed to each CRBSI were approximately $82,000 in 2008 dollars and 14 additional hospital days (including 12 MICU days). The annual cost of the simulation-based education was approximately $112,000. Net annual savings were thus greater than $700,000, a 7 to 1 rate of return on the simulation training intervention. A simulation-based educational intervention in CVC insertion was highly cost-effective. These results suggest that investment in simulation training can produce significant medical care cost savings.

  19. Energy Savings Calculations for Heat Island Reduction Strategies in Baton Rouge, Sacramento and Salt Lake City

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Konopacki, S.; Akbari, H.

    2000-03-01

    In 1997, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the ''Heat Island Reduction Initiative'', to quantify the potential benefits of Heat Island Reduction (HIR) strategies (i.e., shade trees, reflective roofs, reflective pavements and urban vegetation) to reduce cooling energy use in buildings, lower the ambient air temperature and improve urban air quality in cities, and reduce CO2 emissions from power plants. Under this initiative, the Urban Heat Island Pilot Project (UHIPP) was created with the objective to investigate the potential of HIR strategies in residential and commercial buildings in three initial UHIPP cities: Baton Rouge, Sacramento and Salt Lake City.more » This paper summarizes our efforts to calculate the annual energy savings, peak power avoidance and annual C02 reduction of HIR strategies in the three initial cities. In this analysis, we focused on three building types that offer most savings potential: single-family residence, office and retail store. Each building type was characterized in detail by old or new construction and with a gas furnace or an electric heat pump. We defined prototypical building characteristics for each building type and simulated the impact of HIR strategies on building cooling and heating energy use and peak power demand using the DOE-2.IE model. Our simulations included the impact of (1) strategically-placed shade trees near buildings [direct effect], (2) use of high-albedo roofing material on building [direct effect], (3) combined strategies I and 2 [direct effect], (4) urban reforestation with high-albedo pavements and building surfaces [indirect effect] and (5) combined strategies 1, 2 and 4 [direct and indirect effects]. We then estimated the total roof area of air-conditioned buildings in each city using readily obtainable data to calculate the metropolitan-wide impact of HIR strategies. The results show, that in Baton Rouge, potential annual energy savings of $15M could be realized by rate

  20. Effect of rising chemotherapy costs on the cost savings of colorectal cancer screening.

    PubMed

    Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Iris; van Ballegooijen, Marjolein; Zauber, Ann G; Habbema, J Dik F; Kuipers, Ernst J

    2009-10-21

    Although colorectal cancer screening is cost-effective, it requires a considerable net investment by governments or insurance companies. If screening was cost saving, governments and insurance companies might be more inclined to invest in colorectal cancer screening programs. We examined whether colorectal cancer screening would become cost saving with the widespread use of the newer, more expensive chemotherapies. We used the MISCAN-Colon microsimulation model to assess whether widespread use of new chemotherapies would affect the treatment savings of colorectal cancer screening in the general population. We considered three scenarios for chemotherapy use: the past, the present, and the near future. We assumed that survival improved and treatment costs for patients diagnosed with advanced stages of colorectal cancer increased over the scenarios. Screening strategies considered were annual guaiac fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), annual immunochemical FOBT, sigmoidoscopy every 5 years, colonoscopy every 10 years, and the combination of sigmoidoscopy every 5 years and annual guaiac FOBT. Analyses were conducted from the perspective of the health-care system for a cohort of 50-year-old individuals who were at average risk of colorectal cancer and were screened with 100% adherence from age 50 years to age 80 years and followed up until death. Compared with no screening, the treatment savings from preventing advanced colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer deaths by screening more than doubled with the widespread use of new chemotherapies. The lifetime average treatment savings were larger than the lifetime average screening costs for screening with Hemoccult II, immunochemical FOBT, sigmoidoscopy, and the combination of sigmoidoscopy and Hemoccult II (average savings vs costs per individual in the population: Hemoccult II, $1398 vs $859; immunochemical FOBT, $1756 vs $1565; sigmoidoscopy, $1706 vs $1575; sigmoidoscopy and Hemoccult II $1931 vs $1878). Colonoscopy did

  1. Comparison of Software Models for Energy Savings from Cool Roofs

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    New, Joshua Ryan; Miller, William A; Huang, Yu

    2014-01-01

    A web-based Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) has been deployed for the United States Department of Energy as an industry-consensus tool to help building owners, manufacturers, distributors, contractors and researchers easily run complex roof and attic simulations. This tool employs modern web technologies, usability design, and national average defaults as an interface to annual simulations of hour-by-hour, whole-building performance using the world-class simulation tools DOE-2.1E and AtticSim in order to provide estimated annual energy and cost savings. In addition to cool reflective roofs, RSC simulates multiple roof and attic configurations including different roof slopes, above sheathing ventilation, radiant barriers, low-emittance roofmore » surfaces, duct location, duct leakage rates, multiple substrate types, and insulation levels. A base case and energy-efficient alternative can be compared side-by-side to estimate monthly energy. RSC was benchmarked against field data from demonstration homes in Ft. Irwin, California; while cooling savings were similar, heating penalty varied significantly across different simulation engines. RSC results reduce cool roofing cost-effectiveness thus mitigating expected economic incentives for this countermeasure to the urban heat island effect. This paper consolidates comparison of RSC s projected energy savings to other simulation engines including DOE-2.1E, AtticSim, Micropas, and EnergyPlus, and presents preliminary analyses. RSC s algorithms for capturing radiant heat transfer and duct interaction in the attic assembly are considered major contributing factors to increased cooling savings and heating penalties. Comparison to previous simulation-based studies, analysis on the force multiplier of RSC cooling savings and heating penalties, the role of radiative heat exchange in an attic assembly, and changes made for increased accuracy of the duct model are included.« less

  2. Columbia, Missouri: Using Energy Data to Reduce Emissions and Achieve Low-Income Household Energy Savings (City Energy: From Data to Decisions)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Office of Strategic Programs, Strategic Priorities and Impact Analysis Team

    This fact sheet "Columbia, Missouri: Using Energy Data to Reduce Emissions and Achieve Low-Income Household Energy Savings" explains how the City of Columbia used data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) and the State and Local Energy Data (SLED) programs to inform its city energy planning. It is one of ten fact sheets in the "City Energy: From Data to Decisions" series.

  3. Longest-Serving Active Paper Mill in the Western United States Uncovers New Ways to Save Energy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2008-03-01

    This case study describes how West Linn Paper Company's coated paper mill in West Linn, Oregon, saves nearly 58,200 MMBtu and $379,000 annually after receiving a DOE Save Energy Now energy assessment and implementing recommendations to improve the efficiency of its steam system.

  4. Annualized TASAR Benefit Estimate for Alaska Airlines Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Henderson, Jeffrey

    2015-01-01

    The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept offers onboard automation for the purpose of advising the pilot of traffic compatible trajectory changes that would be beneficial to the flight. A fast-time simulation study was conducted to assess the benefits of TASAR to Alaska Airlines. The simulation compares historical trajectories without TASAR to trajectories developed with TASAR and evaluated by controllers against their objectives. It was estimated that between 8,000 and 12,000 gallons of fuel and 900 to 1,300 minutes could be saved annually per aircraft. These savings were applied fleet-wide to produce an estimated annual cost savings to Alaska Airlines in excess of $5 million due to fuel, maintenance, and depreciation cost savings. Switching to a more wind-optimal trajectory was found to be the use case that generated the highest benefits out of the three TASAR use cases analyzed. Alaska TASAR requests peaked at four to eight requests per hour in high-altitude Seattle center sectors south of Seattle-Tacoma airport.

  5. Annualized TASAR Benefit Estimate for Virgin America Operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Henderson, Jeffrey

    2015-01-01

    The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept offers onboard automation for the purpose of advising the pilot of traffic compatible trajectory changes that would be beneficial to the flight. A fast-time simulation study was conducted to assess the benefits of TASAR to Virgin America. The simulation compares historical trajectories without TASAR to trajectories developed with TASAR and evaluated by controllers against their objectives. It was estimated that about 25,000 gallons of fuel and about 2,500 minutes could be saved annually per aircraft. These savings were applied fleet-wide to produce an estimated annual cost savings to Virgin America in excess of $5 million due to fuel, maintenance, and depreciation cost savings. Switching to a more wind-optimal trajectory was found to be the use case that generated the highest benefits out of the three TASAR use cases analyzed. Virgin America TASAR requests peaked at two to four requests per hour per sector in high-altitude Oakland and Salt Lake City center sectors east of San Francisco.

  6. Patient perspectives on de-simplifying their single-tablet co-formulated antiretroviral therapy for societal cost savings.

    PubMed

    Krentz, H B; Campbell, S; Gill, V C; Gill, M J

    2018-04-01

    The incremental costs of expanding antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment to all HIV-infected patients are substantial, so cost-saving initiatives are important. Our objectives were to determine the acceptability and financial impact of de-simplifying (i.e. switching) more expensive single-tablet formulations (STFs) to less expensive generic-based multi-tablet components. We determined physician and patient perceptions and acceptance of STF de-simplification within the context of a publicly funded ARV budget. Programme costs were calculated for patients on ARVs followed at the Southern Alberta Clinic, Canada during 2016 (Cdn$). We focused on patients receiving Triumeq® and determined the savings if patients de-simplified to eligible generic co-formulations. We surveyed all prescribing physicians and a convenience sample of patients taking Triumeq® to see if, for budgetary purposes, they felt that de-simplification would be acceptable. Of 1780 patients receiving ARVs, 62% (n = 1038) were on STF; 58% (n = 607) of patients on STF were on Triumeq®. The total annual cost of ARVs was $26 222 760. The cost for Triumeq® was $8 292 600. If every patient on Triumeq® switched to generic abacavir/lamivudine and Tivicay® (dolutegravir), total costs would decrease by $4 325 040. All physicians (n = 13) felt that de-simplifying could be safely achieved. Forty-eight per cent of 221 patients surveyed were agreeable to de-simplifying for altruistic reasons, 27% said no, and 25% said maybe. De-simplifying Triumeq® generates large cost savings. Additional savings could be achieved by de-simplifying other STFs. Both physicians and patients agreed that selective de-simplification was acceptable; however, it may not be acceptable to every patient. Monitoring the medical and cost impacts of de-simplification strategies seems warranted. © 2018 British HIV Association.

  7. Canadian Potential Healthcare and Societal Cost Savings from Consumption of Pulses: A Cost-Of-Illness Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Abdullah, Mohammad M. H.; Marinangeli, Christopher P. F.; Jones, Peter J. H.; Carlberg, Jared G.

    2017-01-01

    Consumption of dietary pulses, including beans, peas and lentils, is recommended by health authorities across jurisdictions for their nutritional value and effectiveness in helping to prevent and manage major diet-related illnesses of significant socioeconomic burden. The aim of this study was to estimate the potential annual healthcare and societal cost savings relevant to rates of reduction in complications from type 2 diabetes (T2D) and incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) following a low glycemic index (GI) or high fiber diet that includes pulses, or 100 g/day pulse intake in Canada, respectively. A four-step cost-of-illness analysis was conducted to: (1) estimate the proportions of individuals who are likely to consume pulses; (2) evaluate the reductions in established risk factors for T2D and CVD; (3) assess the percent reduction in incidences or complications of the diseases of interest; and (4) calculate the potential annual savings in relevant healthcare and related costs. A low GI or high fiber diet that includes pulses and 100 g/day pulse intake were shown to potentially yield Can$6.2 (95% CI $2.6–$9.9) to Can$62.4 (95% CI $26–$98.8) and Can$31.6 (95% CI $11.1–$52) to Can$315.5 (95% CI $110.6–$520.4) million in savings on annual healthcare and related costs of T2D and CVD, respectively. Specific provincial/territorial analyses suggested annual T2D and CVD related cost savings that ranged from up to Can$0.2 million in some provinces to up to Can$135 million in others. In conclusion, with regular consumption of pulse crops, there is a potential opportunity to facilitate T2D and CVD related socioeconomic cost savings that could be applied to Canadian healthcare or re-assigned to other priority domains. Whether these potential cost savings will be offset by other healthcare costs associated with longevity and diseases of the elderly is to be investigated over the long term. PMID:28737688

  8. Potential for the Use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts to Reduce Energy Consumption and Provide Energy and Cost Savings in Non-Building Applications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Williams, Charles; Green, Andrew S.; Dahle, Douglas

    2013-08-01

    The findings of this study indicate that potential exists in non-building applications to save energy and costs. This potential could save billions of federal dollars, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, increase energy independence and security, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Federal Government has nearly twenty years of experience with achieving similar energy cost reductions, and letting the energy costs savings pay for themselves, by applying energy savings performance contracts (ESPC) inits buildings. Currently, the application of ESPCs is limited by statute to federal buildings. This study indicates that ESPCs can be a compatible and effective contracting tool for achievingmore » savings in non-building applications.« less

  9. Would a Draft Save the Navy Money? A New Look.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-07-01

    incentives to meet stipulated manning objectives (52,200 4YO accessions annually of whom 70 percent m be HSDGs). (4) 70 percent of draft-induced accessions...savings by as much as two- thirds at any given percentage of 4YO accessions who are draft -induced. Recall that in these calculations we assume: (a) a...percent for each percent of 4YO accession require- ments who are draft induced. Yet only about 60 percent of the Navy’s total annual HSDG accession

  10. Looking at IT through a New Lens: Achieving Cost Savings in a Fiscally Challenging Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Claffey, George F., Jr.

    2009-01-01

    Information technology (IT) departments must cut costs and justify expenditures in the face of shrinking budgets. To promote greater cost savings, it is important to look at IT through a new "lens." This article discusses four broad categories that can be evaluated to determine if IT resource alignment is appropriate and if savings can…

  11. 25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF... an AFA is in effect. A Tribe/Consortium must use any savings that it realizes under an AFA, including...

  12. 25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF... an AFA is in effect. A Tribe/Consortium must use any savings that it realizes under an AFA, including...

  13. 25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF... an AFA is in effect. A Tribe/Consortium must use any savings that it realizes under an AFA, including...

  14. 25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF... an AFA is in effect. A Tribe/Consortium must use any savings that it realizes under an AFA, including...

  15. Reported Energy and Cost Savings from the DOE ESPC Program: FY 2014

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Slattery, Bob S.

    2015-03-01

    The objective of this work was to determine the realization rate of energy and cost savings from the Department of Energy’s Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) program based on information reported by the energy services companies (ESCOs) that are carrying out ESPC projects at federal sites. Information was extracted from 156 Measurement and Verification (M&V) reports to determine reported, estimated, and guaranteed cost savings and reported and estimated energy savings for the previous contract year. Because the quality of the reports varied, it was not possible to determine all of these parameters for each project. For all 156 projects, theremore » was sufficient information to compare estimated, reported, and guaranteed cost savings. For this group, the total estimated cost savings for the reporting periods addressed were $210.6 million, total reported cost savings were $215.1 million, and total guaranteed cost savings were $204.5 million. This means that on average: ESPC contractors guaranteed 97% of the estimated cost savings; projects reported achieving 102% of the estimated cost savings; and projects reported achieving 105% of the guaranteed cost savings. For 155 of the projects examined, there was sufficient information to compare estimated and reported energy savings. On the basis of site energy, estimated savings for those projects for the previous year totaled 11.938 million MMBtu, and reported savings were 12.138 million MMBtu, 101.7% of the estimated energy savings. On the basis of source energy, total estimated energy savings for the 155 projects were 19.052 million MMBtu, and reported saving were 19.516 million MMBtu, 102.4% of the estimated energy savings.« less

  16. Energy saving achieved by limited filamentous bulking sludge under low dissolved oxygen.

    PubMed

    Guo, Jian-Hua; Peng, Yong-Zhen; Peng, Cheng-Yao; Wang, Shu-Ying; Chen, Ying; Huang, Hui-Jun; Sun, Zhi-Rong

    2010-02-01

    Limited filamentous bulking caused by low dissolved oxygen (DO) was proposed to establish a low energy consumption wastewater treatment system. This method for energy saving was derived from two full-scale field observations, which showed pollutants removal would be enhanced and energy consumption could be reduced by at least 10% using limited filamentous bulking. Furthermore, preliminary investigation including the abundance evaluation and the identification of filamentous bacteria demonstrated that the limited filamentous bulking could be repeated steadily in a lab-scale anoxic-oxic reactor fed with domestic wastewater. The sludge loss did not occur in the secondary clarifier, while COD and total nitrogen removal efficiencies were improved by controlling DO for optimal filamentous bacterial population. Suspended solids in effluent were negligible and turbidity was lower than 2 NTU, which were distinctly lower than those under no bulking. Theoretical and experimental results indicated the aeration consumption could be saved by the application of limited filamentous bulking.

  17. Annual Energy Usage Reduction and Cost Savings of a School: End-Use Energy Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Alghoul, M. A.; Bakhtyar, B.; Asim, Nilofar; Sopian, K.

    2014-01-01

    Buildings are among the largest consumers of energy. Part of the energy is wasted due to the habits of users and equipment conditions. A solution to this problem is efficient energy usage. To this end, an energy audit can be conducted to assess the energy efficiency. This study aims to analyze the energy usage of a primary school and identify the potential energy reductions and cost savings. A preliminary audit was conducted, and several energy conservation measures were proposed. The energy conservation measures, with reference to the MS1525:2007 standard, were modelled to identify the potential energy reduction and cost savings. It was found that the school's usage of electricity exceeded its need, incurring an excess expenditure of RM 2947.42. From the lighting system alone, it was found that there is a potential energy reduction of 5489.06 kWh, which gives a cost saving of RM 2282.52 via the improvement of lighting system design and its operating hours. Overall, it was found that there is a potential energy reduction and cost saving of 20.7% when the energy conservation measures are earnestly implemented. The previous energy intensity of the school was found to be 50.6 kWh/m2/year, but can theoretically be reduced to 40.19 kWh/mm2/year. PMID:25485294

  18. Cost savings from peritoneal dialysis therapy time extension using icodextrin.

    PubMed

    Johnson, David W; Vincent, Kaia; Blizzard, Sophie; Rumpsfeld, Markus; Just, Paul

    2003-01-01

    Previous retrospective studies have reported that icodextrin may prolong peritoneal dialysis (PD) treatment time in patients with refractory fluid overload (RFO). Because the annual cost of PD therapy is lower than that of hemodialysis (HD) therapy in Australia, we prospectively investigated the ability of icodextrin to prolong PD technique survival in patients with RFO. We used a computer model to estimate the savings associated with that therapeutic strategy, based on annual therapy costs determined in a regional PD and HD costing exercise. Patients who met standard criteria for RFO and who were otherwise to be converted immediately to HD, were asked to consent to an open-label assessment of the ability of icodextrin to delay the need to start HD. Time to conversion to HD was measured. The study enrolled 39 patients who were followed for a mean period of 1.1 years. Icodextrin significantly increased peritoneal ultrafiltration by a median value of 368 mL daily. It prolonged technique survival by a mean period of 1.21 years [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.80-1.62 years]. Extension of PD treatment time by icodextrin was particularly marked for patients who had ultrafiltration failure (UFF, n = 20), defined as net daily peritoneal ultrafiltration < 1 L daily (mean extension time: 1.70 years; 95% CI: 1.16-2.25 years). Overall, annualized savings were US$3,683 per patient per year. If just the patients with UFF were considered, the savings increased to US$4,893 per year. Icodextrin prolongs PD technique survival in patients with RFO, permitting them to continue on their preferred therapy. In Australia, that practice is highly cost-effective, particularly in individuals with UFF.

  19. A model to estimate cost-savings in diabetic foot ulcer prevention efforts.

    PubMed

    Barshes, Neal R; Saedi, Samira; Wrobel, James; Kougias, Panos; Kundakcioglu, O Erhun; Armstrong, David G

    2017-04-01

    Sustained efforts at preventing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and subsequent leg amputations are sporadic in most health care systems despite the high costs associated with such complications. We sought to estimate effectiveness targets at which cost-savings (i.e. improved health outcomes at decreased total costs) might occur. A Markov model with probabilistic sensitivity analyses was used to simulate the five-year survival, incidence of foot complications, and total health care costs in a hypothetical population of 100,000 people with diabetes. Clinical event and cost estimates were obtained from previously-published trials and studies. A population without previous DFU but with 17% neuropathy and 11% peripheral artery disease (PAD) prevalence was assumed. Primary prevention (PP) was defined as reducing initial DFU incidence. PP was more than 90% likely to provide cost-savings when annual prevention costs are less than $50/person and/or annual DFU incidence is reduced by at least 25%. Efforts directed at patients with diabetes who were at moderate or high risk for DFUs were very likely to provide cost-savings if DFU incidence was decreased by at least 10% and/or the cost was less than $150 per person per year. Low-cost DFU primary prevention efforts producing even small decreases in DFU incidence may provide the best opportunity for cost-savings, especially if focused on patients with neuropathy and/or PAD. Mobile phone-based reminders, self-identification of risk factors (ex. Ipswich touch test), and written brochures may be among such low-cost interventions that should be investigated for cost-savings potential. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  20. Wastewater treatment process impact on energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions.

    PubMed

    Mamais, D; Noutsopoulos, C; Dimopoulou, A; Stasinakis, A; Lekkas, T D

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this research was to assess the energy consumption of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), to apply a mathematical model to evaluate their carbon footprint, and to propose energy saving strategies that can be implemented to reduce both energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Greece. The survey was focused on 10 WWTPs in Greece with a treatment capacity ranging from 10,000 to 4,000,000 population equivalents (PE). Based on the results, annual specific energy consumption ranged from 15 to 86 kWh/PE. The highest energy consumer in all the WWTPs was aeration, accounting for 40-75% of total energy requirements. The annual GHG emissions varied significantly according to the treatment schemes employed and ranged between 61 and 161 kgCO₂e/PE. The highest values of CO₂emissions were obtained in extended aeration systems and the lowest in conventional activated sludge systems. Key strategies that the wastewater industry could adopt to mitigate GHG emissions are identified and discussed. A case study is presented to demonstrate potential strategies for energy savings and GHG emission reduction. Given the results, it is postulated that the reduction of dissolved oxygen (DO) set points and sludge retention time can provide significant energy savings and decrease GHG emissions.

  1. Lovelace simplifies, saves big with single-source imaging equipment service contract.

    PubMed

    1997-11-01

    Lovelace Health System traded in its disorganized mess of service contracts for imaging and cardiology equipment for one umbrella contract--and is now saving more than $200,000 a year as a result. Find out how to achieve similar savings.

  2. Childhood vaccination: achievements and challenges.

    PubMed

    Ndumbe, P

    1996-09-01

    As the goal of eradicating smallpox was being met, the World Health Organization created its Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in 1974 and reached its initial goal of achieving full vaccination of 80% of the world's children by 1990. This effort was aided by the creation of "cold chain" delivery systems and resulted in the annual saving of 3.5 million children in less-developed countries. Current EPI vaccination goals include 1) eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000, 2) elimination of neonatal tetanus by the year 1995, 3) control of measles and hepatitis B, and 4) immunization of 90% of the world's children 1 year or younger by the year 2000. Goals of the Children's Vaccine Initiative (formed in 1991) include 1) provision of an adequate supply of affordable, safe, and effective vaccines; 2) production of improved and new vaccines; and 3) simplification of the logistics of vaccine delivery. Future challenges are to sustain high vaccination coverage, reach the unreached, achieve proper storage of vaccines and reduce waste, integrate new vaccines into national programs, and achieve vaccine self-sufficiency. The fact that these challenges will be difficult to achieve is illustrated by the situation in Africa where the high immunization levels achieved in 1990 have dropped dramatically. Those who must act to implement immunization programs are health personnel, families, governments, and development partners. In order to achieve equity in health, every child must be reached, governments must be made accountable for programs, health workers must convince families of the importance of vaccination, delivery systems must be in place to take advantage of the new vaccines being delivered, and a multisectoral approach must be taken to assure sustainability.

  3. How to achieve and prove performance improvement - 15 years of experience in German wastewater benchmarking.

    PubMed

    Bertzbach, F; Franz, T; Möller, K

    2012-01-01

    This paper shows the results of performance improvement, which have been achieved in benchmarking projects in the wastewater industry in Germany over the last 15 years. A huge number of changes in operational practice and also in achieved annual savings can be shown, induced in particular by benchmarking at process level. Investigation of this question produces some general findings for the inclusion of performance improvement in a benchmarking project and for the communication of its results. Thus, we elaborate on the concept of benchmarking at both utility and process level, which is still a necessary distinction for the integration of performance improvement into our benchmarking approach. To achieve performance improvement via benchmarking it should be made quite clear that this outcome depends, on one hand, on a well conducted benchmarking programme and, on the other, on the individual situation within each participating utility.

  4. Minimum savings requirements in shared savings provider payment.

    PubMed

    Pope, Gregory C; Kautter, John

    2012-11-01

    Payer (insurer) sharing of savings is a way of motivating providers of medical services to reduce cost growth. A Medicare shared savings program is established for accountable care organizations in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, savings created by providers cannot be distinguished from the normal (random) variation in medical claims costs, setting up a classic principal-agent problem. To lessen the likelihood of paying undeserved bonuses, payers may pay bonuses only if observed savings exceed minimum levels. We study the trade-off between two types of errors in setting minimum savings requirements: paying bonuses when providers do not create savings and not paying bonuses when providers create savings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. [Energy saving achieved by limited filamentous bulking under low dissolved oxygen: experimental validation in A/O process].

    PubMed

    Guo, Jian-hua; Wang, Shu-ying; Peng, Yong-zhen; Zheng, Ya-nan; Huang, Hui-jun; Ge, Shi-jian; Sun, Zhi-rong

    2008-12-01

    Preliminary studies had been conducted to determine the correctness of the theory and technique of energy saving achieved by limited filamentous bulking under low DO using a lab-scale A/O reactor with real domestic wastewater as the influent. The results showed that SVI could be maintained 150-230 mL/g and sludge settleability would not become very poor under the condition of low DO. During the period of limited filamentous bulking, COD and total nitrogen removal efficiencies were improved, and distinct simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) was achieved, while ammonia removal efficiency would slightly decline with decreasing of DO, compared with the period of good settleability sludge under high DO. COD, ammonia and total nitrogen removal efficiencies were 86%, 70% and 63%, respectively. It was found that about 10%-25% nitrogen would be removed by SND based on the mass balance of nitrogen. Besides, SS in the effluent was almost negligible and the effluent turbidity was lower than 3 NTU. Significantly, aeration consumptions would be decreased by 17% under the condition with DO of 0.5 mg/L compared with 2.0 mg/L according to theoretical calculation of air requirements to keep different DO levels, which was about 57% in lab-scale reactor correspondingly.

  6. A REALLY WHEEZY WAY TO SAVE MONEY.

    PubMed

    Li, Grace; Almossawi, Ofran; Dulfeker, Hasna; Jones, Vicky; Taylor, Felicity

    2016-09-01

    to £2.48 for the equivalent dose of non-soluble prednisolone dispensed with a tablet crusher. Several hospital trusts have switched to using non-soluble prednisolone in order to achieve cost savings, but there have been anecdotal reports of poor palatability, raising concerns about compliance with taking medication once discharged.The switch from a soluble to a non-soluble formulation of prednisolone represents an annual saving of more than £44,000 for this hospital alone and, at scale, could realise substantial potential savings to the NHS, without compromising patients' clinical care. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  7. High-risk population health management--achieving improved patient outcomes and near-term financial results.

    PubMed

    Lynch, J P; Forman, S A; Graff, S; Gunby, M C

    2000-07-01

    A managed care organization sought to achieve efficiencies in care delivery and cost savings by anticipating and better caring for its frail and least stable members. Time sequence case study of program intervention across an entire managed care population in its first year compared with the prior baseline year. Key attributes of the intervention included predictive registries of at-risk members based on existing data, relentless focus on the high-risk group, an integrated clinical and psychosocial approach to assessments and are planning, a reengineered care management process, secured Internet applications enabling rapid implementation and broad connectivity, and population-based outcomes metrics derived from widely used measures of resource utilization and functional status. Concentrating on the highest-risk group, which averaged just 1.1% prevalence in the total membership, yielded bottom line results. When the year before program implementation (July 1997 through June 1998) was compared with the subsequent year, the total population's annualized commercial admission rate was reduced 5.3%, and seniors' was reduced 3.0%. A claims-paid analysis exclusively of the highest-risk group revealed that their efficiencies and savings overwhelmingly contributed to the membershipwide effect. This subgroup's costs dropped 35.7% from preprogram levels of $2590 per member per month (excluding pharmaceuticals). During the same time, patient-derived cross-sectional functional status rose 12.5%. A sharply focused, Internet-deployed case management strategy achieved economic and functional status results on a population basis and produced systemwide savings in its first year of implementation.

  8. Evaluation of Savings in Energy-Efficient Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gordon, A.; Lubliner, M.; Howard, L.

    2013-10-01

    This report presents the results of an energy performance and cost-effectiveness analysis. The Salishan phase 7 and demonstration homes were compared to Salishan phase 6 homes built to 2006 Washington State Energy Code specifications 2. Predicted annual energy savings (over Salishan phase 6) was 19% for Salishan phase 7, and between 19-24% for the demonstration homes (depending on ventilation strategy). Approximately two-thirds of the savings are attributable to the DHP. Working with the electric utility provider, Tacoma Public Utilities, researchers conducted a billing analysis for Salishan phase 7.

  9. Energy Savings Analysis of the Proposed Revision of the Washington D.C. Non-Residential Energy Code

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rosenberg, Michael I.; Athalye, Rahul A.; Hart, Philip R.

    This report presents the results of an assessment of savings for the proposed Washington D.C. energy code relative to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. It includes annual and life cycle savings for site energy, source energy, energy cost, and carbon dioxide emissions that would result from adoption and enforcement of the proposed code for newly constructed buildings in Washington D.C. over a five year period.

  10. Annual Energy Savings and Thermal Comfort of Autonomously Heated and Cooled Office Chairs

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Carmichael, Scott; Booten, Chuck; Robertson, Joseph

    Energy use in offices buildings is largely driven by air conditioning demands. But the optimal temperature is not the same for all building occupants, leading to the infamous thermostat war. And many occupants have independently overcome building comfort weaknesses with their own space heaters or fans. NREL tested is a customized office chair that automatically heats and cools the occupant along the seat and chair back according to the occupants' personal preferences. This product is shown to deliver markedly better comfort at room temperatures well above typical office cooling setpoints. Experimental subjects reported satisfaction in these elevated air temperatures, partlymore » because the chair's cooling effect was tuned to their own individual needs. Simulation of the chair in office buildings around the U.S. shows that energy can be saved everywhere, with impacts varying due to the climate. Total building HVAC energy savings exceeded 10% in hot-dry climate zones. Due to high product cost, simple payback for the chair we studied is beyond the expected chair life. We then understood the need to establish cost-performance targets for comfort delivery packages. NREL derived several hypothetical energy/cost/comfort targets for personal comfort product systems. In some climate regions around the U.S., these show the potential for office building HVAC energy savings in excess of 20%. This report documents this research, providing an overview of the research team's methods and results while also identifying areas for future research building upon the findings.« less

  11. Can home care services achieve cost savings in long-term care for older people?

    PubMed

    Greene, V L; Ondrich, J; Laditka, S

    1998-07-01

    To determine whether efficient allocation of home care services can produce net long-term care cost savings. Hazard function analysis and nonlinear mathematical programming. Optimal allocation of home care services resulted in a 10% net reduction in overall long-term care costs for the frail older population served by the National Long-Term Care (Channeling) Demonstration, in contrast to the 12% net cost increase produced by the demonstration intervention itself. Our findings suggest that the long-sought goal of overall cost-neutrality or even cost-savings through reducing nursing home use sufficiently to more than offset home care costs is technically feasible, but requires tighter targeting of services and a more medically oriented service mix than major home care demonstrations have implemented to date.

  12. Print quality analysis for ink-saving algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ortiz Segovia, Maria V.; Bonnier, Nicolas; Allebach, Jan P.

    2012-01-01

    Ink-saving strategies for CMYK printers have evolved from their earlier stages where the 'draft' print mode was the main option available to control ink usage. The savings were achieved by printing alternate dots in an image at the expense of reducing print quality considerably. Nowadays, customers are not only unwilling to compromise quality but have higher expectations regarding both visual print quality and ink reduction solutions. Therefore, the need for more intricate ink-saving solutions with lower impact on print quality is evident. Printing-related factors such as the way the printer places the dots on the paper and the ink-substrate interaction play important and complex roles in the characterization and modeling of the printing process that make the ink reduction topic a challenging problem. In our study, we are interested in benchmarking ink-saving algorithms to find the connections between different ink reduction levels of a given ink-saving method and a set of print quality attributes. This study is mostly related to CMYK printers that use dispersed dot halftoning algorithms. The results of our efforts to develop such an evaluation scheme are presented in this paper.

  13. A case study of cost-efficient staffing under annualized hours.

    PubMed

    van der Veen, Egbert; Hans, Erwin W; Veltman, Bart; Berrevoets, Leo M; Berden, Hubert J J M

    2015-09-01

    We propose a mathematical programming formulation that incorporates annualized hours and shows to be very flexible with regard to modeling various contract types. The objective of our model is to minimize salary cost, thereby covering workforce demand, and using annualized hours. Our model is able to address various business questions regarding tactical workforce planning problems, e.g., with regard to annualized hours, subcontracting, and vacation planning. In a case study for a Dutch hospital two of these business questions are addressed, and we demonstrate that applying annualized hours potentially saves up to 5.2% in personnel wages annually.

  14. Chinese hotel general managers' perspectives on energy-saving practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Yidan

    As hotels' concern about sustainability and budget-control is growing steadily, energy-saving issues have become one of the important management concerns hospitality industry face. By executing proper energy-saving practices, previous scholars believed that hotel operation costs can decrease dramatically. Moreover, they believed that conducting energy-saving practices may eventually help the hotel to gain other benefits such as an improved reputation and stronger competitive advantage. The energy-saving issue also has become a critical management problem for the hotel industry in China. Previous research has not investigated energy-saving in China's hotel segment. To achieve a better understanding of the importance of energy-saving, this document attempts to present some insights into China's energy-saving practices in the tourist accommodations sector. Results of the study show the Chinese general managers' attitudes toward energy-saving issues and the differences among the diverse hotel managers who responded to the study. Study results indicate that in China, most of the hotels' energy bills decrease due to the implementation of energy-saving equipments. General managers of hotels in operation for a shorter period of time are typically responsible for making decisions about energy-saving issues; older hotels are used to choosing corporate level concerning to this issue. Larger Chinese hotels generally have official energy-saving usage training sessions for employees, but smaller Chinese hotels sometimes overlook the importance of employee training. The study also found that for the Chinese hospitality industry, energy-saving practices related to electricity are the most efficient and common way to save energy, but older hotels also should pay attention to other ways of saving energy such as water conservation or heating/cooling system.

  15. 75 FR 10863 - Savings Association Holding Company Report H-(b)11

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-09

    ... H-(b)11 AGENCY: Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for comment... Holding Company Report H- (b)11. OMB Number: 1550-0060. Form Numbers: OTS Form H-(b)11. Regulation...) provide that each savings and loan holding company is required to file an annual report H-(b)11 within 90...

  16. Impacts of Commercial Building Controls on Energy Savings and Peak Load Reduction

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fernandez, Nicholas E.P.; Katipamula, Srinivas; Wang, Weimin

    Commercial buildings in the United States use about 18 Quadrillion British thermal units (Quads) of primary energy annually . Studies have shown that as much as 30% of building energy consumption can be avoided by using more accurate sensing, using existing controls better, and deploying advanced controls; hence, the motivation for the work described in this report. Studies also have shown that 10% to 20% of the commercial building peak load can be temporarily managed/curtailed to provide grid services. Although many studies have indicated significant potential for reducing the energy consumption in commercial buildings, very few have documented the actualmore » savings. The studies that did so only provided savings at the whole building level, which makes it difficult to assess the savings potential of each individual measure deployed.« less

  17. Cost savings of reduced constipation rates attributed to increased dietary fiber intakes: a decision-analytic model

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Nearly five percent of Americans suffer from functional constipation, many of whom may benefit from increasing dietary fiber consumption. The annual constipation-related healthcare cost savings associated with increasing intakes may be considerable but have not been examined previously. The objective of the present study was to estimate the economic impact of increased dietary fiber consumption on direct medical costs associated with constipation. Methods Literature searches were conducted to identify nationally representative input parameters for the U.S. population, which included prevalence of functional constipation; current dietary fiber intakes; proportion of the population meeting recommended intakes; and the percentage that would be expected to respond, in terms of alleviation of constipation, to a change in dietary fiber consumption. A dose–response analysis of published data was conducted to estimate the percent reduction in constipation prevalence per 1 g/day increase in dietary fiber intake. Annual direct medical costs for constipation were derived from the literature and updated to U.S. $ 2012. Sensitivity analyses explored the impact on adult vs. pediatric populations and the robustness of the model to each input parameter. Results The base case direct medical cost-savings was $12.7 billion annually among adults. The base case assumed that 3% of men and 6% of women currently met recommended dietary fiber intakes; each 1 g/day increase in dietary fiber intake would lead to a reduction of 1.9% in constipation prevalence; and all adults would increase their dietary fiber intake to recommended levels (mean increase of 9 g/day). Sensitivity analyses, which explored numerous alternatives, found that even if only 50% of the adult population increased dietary fiber intake by 3 g/day, annual medical costs savings exceeded $2 billion. All plausible scenarios resulted in cost savings of at least $1 billion. Conclusions Increasing dietary fiber

  18. Analyzing Vehicle Fuel Saving Opportunities through Intelligent Driver Feedback

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gonder, J.; Earleywine, M.; Sparks, W.

    2012-06-01

    Driving style changes, e.g., improving driver efficiency and motivating driver behavior changes, could deliver significant petroleum savings. This project examines eliminating stop-and-go driving and unnecessary idling, and also adjusting acceleration rates and cruising speeds to ideal levels to quantify fuel savings. Such extreme adjustments can result in dramatic fuel savings of over 30%, but would in reality only be achievable through automated control of vehicles and traffic flow. In real-world driving, efficient driving behaviors could reduce fuel use by 20% on aggressively driven cycles and by 5-10% on more moderately driven trips. A literature survey was conducted of driver behaviormore » influences, and pertinent factors from on-road experiments with different driving styles were observed. This effort highlighted important driver influences such as surrounding vehicle behavior, anxiety over trying to get somewhere quickly, and the power/torque available from the vehicle. Existing feedback approaches often deliver efficiency information and instruction. Three recommendations for maximizing fuel savings from potential drive cycle improvement are: (1) leveraging applications with enhanced incentives, (2) using an approach that is easy and widely deployable to motivate drivers, and (3) utilizing connected vehicle and automation technologies to achieve large and widespread efficiency improvements.« less

  19. Qualified Tuition Savings Programs: The Impact on Household Saving.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coronado, Julia Lynn; McIntosh, Susan Hume

    This study analyzed the impact tuition savings plans are likely to have on household savings. State-sponsored college savings programs rely mainly on tax incentives to motivate parents to save for their children's education in earmarked accounts. The first such programs were prepaid tuition plans, and other types of qualified tuition savings…

  20. Society already achieves economic benefits from generic substitution but fails to do the same for therapeutic substitution.

    PubMed

    Gumbs, Pearl D; Verschuren, W M Monique; Souverein, Patrick C; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; de Wit, G Ardine; de Boer, Anthonius; Klungel, Olaf H

    2007-11-01

    To assess the potential annual savings due to generic and therapeutic substitution of statin therapy for the general Dutch population, taking the patients medical history into account. We conducted a population-based costing study using the PHARMO Record Linkage System (RLS). PHARMO RLS contains drug dispensing records from a representative sample of pharmacies located in more than 50 regions in the Netherlands. We selected all statin users in the database since 2003. The cost-savings of generic substitution of statin therapy for all simvastatin and pravastatin users, and of therapeutic substitution of statin therapy for other statin users were calculated. Substituting current users and new users of statins were considered separately. Therapeutic substitution was based on the medical history of the individual patient. Patients were only substituted if there was an appropriate substitute available. The appropriateness of substitution was based on drug-drug interactions between statins and possible comedication and the availability of an equipotent alternative. Substituting (generic and therapeutic) statin therapy for all current users would lead to potential annual savings of approximately 87 million euros. Substituting (generic and therapeutic) all starters on statin therapy would lead to potential annual savings of around 51 million euros. In the case of generic substitution only, the potential annual savings for all current simvastatin and pravastatin users would be 2.4 million euros and for the new users about 1.8 million euros. From an economic point of view, society could gain a lot from substituting statin therapy, especially from therapeutic substitution.

  1. Energy savings modelling of re-tuning energy conservation measures in large office buildings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fernandez, Nick; Katipamula, Srinivas; Wang, Weimin

    Today, many large commercial buildings use sophisticated building automation systems (BASs) to manage a wide range of building equipment. While the capabilities of BASs have increased over time, many buildings still do not fully use the BAS’s capabilities and are not properly commissioned, operated or maintained, which leads to inefficient operation, increased energy use, and reduced lifetimes of the equipment. This paper investigates the energy savings potential of several common HVAC system re-tuning measures on a typical large office building, using the Department of Energy’s building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. The baseline prototype model uses roughly as much energy asmore » an average large office building in existing building stock, but does not utilize any re-tuning measures. Individual re-tuning measures simulated against this baseline include automatic schedule adjustments, damper minimum flow adjustments, thermostat adjustments, as well as dynamic resets (set points that change continuously with building and/or outdoor conditions) to static pressure, supply-air temperature, condenser water temperature, chilled and hot water temperature, and chilled and hot water differential pressure set points. Six combinations of these individual measures have been formulated – each designed to conform to limitations to implementation of certain individual measures that might exist in typical buildings. All the individual measures and combinations were simulated in 16 climate locations representative of specific U.S. climate zones. The modeling results suggest that the most effective energy savings measures are those that affect the demand-side of the building (air-systems and schedules). Many of the demand-side individual measures were capable of reducing annual total HVAC system energy consumption by over 20% in most cities that were modeled. Supply side measures affecting HVAC plant conditions were only modestly successful (less than 5% annual HVAC

  2. 12 CFR 252.154 - Annual stress test.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Annual stress test. 252.154 Section 252.154... (CONTINUED) ENHANCED PRUDENTIAL STANDARDS (REGULATION YY) Company-Run Stress Test Requirements for Banking... stress test. (a) General requirements—(1) Savings and loan holding companies with average total...

  3. 12 CFR 252.154 - Annual stress test.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Annual stress test. 252.154 Section 252.154... (CONTINUED) ENHANCED PRUDENTIAL STANDARDS (REGULATION YY) Company-Run Stress Test Requirements for Banking... stress test. (a) General requirements—(1) Savings and loan holding companies with average total...

  4. Saving in cycles: how to get people to save more money.

    PubMed

    Tam, Leona; Dholakia, Utpal

    2014-02-01

    Low personal savings rates are an important social issue in the United States. We propose and test one particular method to get people to save more money that is based on the cyclical time orientation. In contrast to conventional, popular methods that encourage individuals to ignore past mistakes, focus on the future, and set goals to save money, our proposed method frames the savings task in cyclical terms, emphasizing the present. Across the studies, individuals who used our proposed cyclical savings method, compared with individuals who used a linear savings method, provided an average of 74% higher savings estimates and saved an average of 78% more money. We also found that the cyclical savings method was more efficacious because it increased implementation planning and lowered future optimism regarding saving money.

  5. U.S. Army Reserve 88th Readiness Division Finds Big Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    Fact sheet features lighting work done for the U.S. Army Reserve 88th Readiness Division, which was recognized in two 2017 Interior Lighting Campaign exemplary recognition categories. The troffer lighting upgrade projects at the two recognized sites are expected to save more than 246,000 kWh annually or roughly enough electricity to run 23 homes for a year.

  6. 10 Cents To Save a Life: Ending Hunger as a Special Event.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ames, Ina Ruth

    The annual "10 Cents to Save a Life" program is a special event that has been held at Mount Ida College in Newton Centre, Massachusetts for two years. The purposes of the event include: (1) teaching the public relations class and communication majors applied public relations theory through both a fundraising campaign and an education…

  7. Saving billions of dollars--and physicians' time--by streamlining billing practices.

    PubMed

    Blanchfield, Bonnie B; Heffernan, James L; Osgood, Bradford; Sheehan, Rosemary R; Meyer, Gregg S

    2010-06-01

    The U.S. system of billing third parties for health care services is complex, expensive, and inefficient. Physicians end up using nearly 12 percent of their net patient service revenue to cover the costs of excessive administrative complexity. A single transparent set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form, and standard rules of submission, among other innovations, would reduce the burden on the billing offices of physician organizations. On a national scale, our hypothetical modeling of these changes would translate into $7 billion of savings annually for physician and clinical services. Four hours of professional time per physician and five hours of practice support staff time could be saved each week.

  8. Cost-Savings Analysis of Renal Scintigraphy, Stratified by Renal Function Thresholds: Mercaptoacetyltriglycine Versus Diethylene Triamine Penta-Acetic Acid.

    PubMed

    Parikh, Kushal R; Davenport, Matthew S; Viglianti, Benjamin L; Hubers, David; Brown, Richard K J

    2016-07-01

    To determine the financial implications of switching technetium (Tc)-99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG-3) to Tc-99m diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid (DTPA) at certain renal function thresholds before renal scintigraphy. Institutional review board approval was obtained, and informed consent was waived for this HIPAA-compliant, retrospective, cohort study. Consecutive adult subjects (27 inpatients; 124 outpatients) who underwent MAG-3 renal scintigraphy, in the period from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, were stratified retrospectively by hypothetical serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) thresholds, based on pre-procedure renal function. Thresholds were used to estimate the financial effects of using MAG-3 when renal function was at or worse than a given cutoff value, and DTPA otherwise. Cost analysis was performed with consideration of raw material and preparation costs, with radiotracer costs estimated by both vendor list pricing and proprietary institutional pricing. The primary outcome was a comparison of each hypothetical threshold to the clinical reality in which all subjects received MAG-3, and the results were supported by univariate sensitivity analysis. Annual cost savings by serum creatinine threshold were as follows (threshold given in mg/dL): $17,319 if ≥1.0; $33,015 if ≥1.5; and $35,180 if ≥2.0. Annual cost savings by eGFR threshold were as follows (threshold given in mL/min/1.73 m(2)): $21,649 if ≤60; $28,414 if ≤45; and $32,744 if ≤30. Cost-savings inflection points were approximately 1.25 mg/dL (serum creatinine) and 60 mL/min/1.73m(2) (eGFR). Secondary analysis by proprietary institutional pricing revealed similar trends, and cost savings of similar magnitude. Sensitivity analysis confirmed cost savings at all tested thresholds. Reserving MAG-3 utilization for patients who have impaired renal function can impart substantial annual cost savings to a radiology department. Copyright © 2016 American College

  9. Iowa Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2012 IECC as Compared to the 2009 IECC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-06-15

    The 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) yields positive benefits for Iowa homeowners. Moving to the 2012 IECC from the 2009 IECC is cost effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Iowa homeowners will save $7,573 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 1 year for the 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings are $454 for the 2012 IECC.

  10. Texas Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2012 IECC as Compared to the 2009 IECC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-06-15

    The 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) yields positive benefits for Texas homeowners. Moving to the 2012 IECC from the 2009 IECC is cost effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Texas homeowners will save $3,456 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 2 years for the 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings are $259 for the 2012 IECC.

  11. Potential savings from an evidence-based consumer-oriented public education campaign on prescription drugs.

    PubMed

    Donohue, Julie M; Fischer, Michael A; Huskamp, Haiden A; Weissman, Joel S

    2008-10-01

    To estimate potential savings associated with the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs program, a national educational program that provides consumers with price and effectiveness information on prescription drugs. National data on 2006 prescription sales and retail prices paid for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), β-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-coA) reductase inhibitors (statins). We converted national data on aggregate unit sales of drugs in the four classes to defined daily doses (DDD) and estimated a range of potential savings from generic and therapeutic substitution. We estimated that $2.76 billion, or 7.83 percent of sales, could be saved if use of the drugs recommended by the educational program was increased. The recommended drugs' prices were 15-65 percent lower per DDD than their therapeutic alternatives. The majority (57.4 percent) of potential savings would be achieved through therapeutic substitution. Substantial savings can be achieved through greater use of comparatively effective and lower cost drugs recommended by a national consumer education program. However, barriers to dissemination of consumer-oriented drug information must be addressed before savings can be realized. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  12. Potential Savings from an Evidence-Based Consumer-Oriented Public Education Campaign on Prescription Drugs

    PubMed Central

    Donohue, Julie M; Fischer, Michael A; Huskamp, Haiden A; Weissman, Joel S

    2008-01-01

    Objective To estimate potential savings associated with the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs program, a national educational program that provides consumers with price and effectiveness information on prescription drugs. Data Sources National data on 2006 prescription sales and retail prices paid for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), β-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-coA) reductase inhibitors (statins). Study Design We converted national data on aggregate unit sales of drugs in the four classes to defined daily doses (DDD) and estimated a range of potential savings from generic and therapeutic substitution. Principal Findings We estimated that $2.76 billion, or 7.83 percent of sales, could be saved if use of the drugs recommended by the educational program was increased. The recommended drugs’ prices were 15–65 percent lower per DDD than their therapeutic alternatives. The majority (57.4 percent) of potential savings would be achieved through therapeutic substitution. Conclusions Substantial savings can be achieved through greater use of comparatively effective and lower cost drugs recommended by a national consumer education program. However, barriers to dissemination of consumer-oriented drug information must be addressed before savings can be realized. PMID:18479406

  13. Insights from Smart Meters: Identifying Specific Actions, Behaviors, and Characteristics That Drive Savings in Behavior-Based Programs

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Todd, A.; Perry, M.; Smith, B.

    2014-12-01

    In this report, we use smart meter data to analyze specific actions, behaviors, and characteristics that drive energy savings in a BB program. Specifically, we examine a Home Energy Report (HER) program. These programs typically obtain 1% to 3% annual savings, and recent studies have shown hourly savings of between 0.5% and 3%.1 But what is driving these savings? What types of households tend to be “high-savers,” and what behaviors are they adopting? There are several possibilities: one-time behaviors (e.g., changing thermostat settings), reoccurring habitual behaviors (e.g., turning off lights), and equipment purchase behaviors (e.g., energy efficient appliances); these maymore » vary across households, regions, and over time.« less

  14. Insights from Smart Meters. Identifying Specific Actions, Behaviors and Characteristics that drive savings in Behavior-Based Programs

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Todd, Annika; Perry, Michael; Smith, Brian

    2014-12-01

    In this report, we use smart meter data to analyze specific actions, behaviors, and characteristics that drive energy savings in a behavior-based (BB) program. Specifically, we examine a Home Energy Report (HER) program. These programs typically obtain 1% to 3% annual savings, and recent studies have shown hourly savings of between 0.5% and 3%. But what is driving these savings? What types of households tend to be “high-savers”, and what behaviors are they adopting? There are several possibilities: one-time behaviors (e.g., changing thermostat settings); reoccurring habitual behaviors (e.g., turning off lights); and equipment purchase behaviors (e.g., energy efficient appliances), andmore » these may vary across households, regions, and over time.« less

  15. ESCOs: Helping Schools Save Money and Energy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    School Planning & Management, 2000

    2000-01-01

    Discusses the use of energy savings performance contracts to help reduce costs and improve school infrastructure and the educational environment. Further discussed are how indoor air quality reduces health, productivity, and costs; and examples are provided of how other schools have achieved better school environments and reduced energy costs. (GR)

  16. Austin Energy: Pumping System Improvement Project Saves Energy and Improves Performance at a Power Plant

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    This two-page performance spotlight describes how, in 2004, Austin Energy (the electric utility for the city of Austin, Texas) began saving about $1.2 million in energy and maintenance costs annually as a direct result of a pumping system efficiency proj

  17. Austin Energy: Pumping System Improvement Project Saves Energy and Improves Performance at a Power Plant

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    This two-page performance spotlight describes how, in 2004, Austin Energy (the electric utility for the city of Austin, Texas) began saving about $1.2 million in energy and maintenance costs annually as a direct result of a pumping system efficiency project.

  18. Columbus Saves: Saving Money in Ohio

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shockey, Susan

    2004-01-01

    The "Columbus Saves" educational program is a broad-based community coalition made up of more than 40 local organizations from the education, nonprofit, government, faith-based, and private sectors. Common goals of partners in reaching Columbus, Ohio's 1.5 million residents are to: (a) promote increased savings through education and…

  19. VO₂ thermochromic smart window for energy savings and generation.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Jiadong; Gao, Yanfeng; Zhang, Zongtao; Luo, Hongjie; Cao, Chuanxiang; Chen, Zhang; Dai, Lei; Liu, Xinling

    2013-10-24

    The ability to achieve energy saving in architectures and optimal solar energy utilisation affects the sustainable development of the human race. Traditional smart windows and solar cells cannot be combined into one device for energy saving and electricity generation. A VO2 film can respond to the environmental temperature to intelligently regulate infrared transmittance while maintaining visible transparency, and can be applied as a thermochromic smart window. Herein, we report for the first time a novel VO2-based smart window that partially utilises light scattering to solar cells around the glass panel for electricity generation. This smart window combines energy-saving and generation in one device, and offers potential to intelligently regulate and utilise solar radiation in an efficient manner.

  20. Programs for generating data tables for the annual water-resources data report of the U.S. Geological Survey

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mason, R.R.; Hill, C.L.

    1988-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey has developed software that interfaces with the Automated Data Processing System to facilitate and expedite preparation of the annual water-resources data report. This software incorporates a feature that prepares daily values tables and appends them to previously edited files containing station manuscripts. Other features collate the merged files with miscellaneous sections of the report. The report is then printed as page-size, camera-ready copy. All system components reside on a minicomputer; this provides easy access and use by remote field offices. Automation of the annual report preparation process results in significant savings of labor and cost. Use of the system for producing the 1986 annual report in the North Carolina District realized a labor savings of over two man-months. A fully implemented system would produce a greater savings and speed release of the report to users.

  1. Energy Saving Melting and Revert Reduction Technology (Energy SMARRT): Manufacturing Advanced Engineered Components Using Lost Foam Casting Technology

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Littleton, Harry; Griffin, John

    2011-07-31

    This project was a subtask of Energy Saving Melting and Revert Reduction Technology (Energy SMARRT) Program. Through this project, technologies, such as computer modeling, pattern quality control, casting quality control and marketing tools, were developed to advance the Lost Foam Casting process application and provide greater energy savings. These technologies have improved (1) production efficiency, (2) mechanical properties, and (3) marketability of lost foam castings. All three reduce energy consumption in the metals casting industry. This report summarizes the work done on all tasks in the period of January 1, 2004 through June 30, 2011. Current (2011) annual energy savingmore » estimates based on commercial introduction in 2011 and a market penetration of 97% by 2020 is 5.02 trillion BTU's/year and 6.46 trillion BTU's/year with 100% market penetration by 2023. Along with these energy savings, reduction of scrap and improvement in casting yield will result in a reduction of the environmental emissions associated with the melting and pouring of the metal which will be saved as a result of this technology. The average annual estimate of CO2 reduction per year through 2020 is 0.03 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Equivalent (MM TCE).« less

  2. Potential energy savings in buildings by an urban tree planting programme in California

    Treesearch

    E.G. McPherson; J.R. Simpson

    2003-01-01

    Tree canopy cover data from aerial photographs and building energy simulations were applied to estimate energy savings from existing trees and new plantings in California. There are approximately 177.3 million energy-conserving trees in California communities and 241.6 million empty planting sites. Existing trees are projected to reduce annual air conditioning energy...

  3. Matched Child Savings Accounts in Low-Resource Communities: Who Saves?

    PubMed Central

    Karimli, Leyla; Ssewamala, Fred M.; Neilands, Torsten B.; McKay, Mary McKernan

    2015-01-01

    This study examines variations in saving behavior among poor families enrolled in a Child Savings Account program for orphaned and vulnerable school-going children in Uganda. We employ multilevel analyses using longitudinal data from a cluster-randomized experimental design. Our analyses reveal the following significant results: (1) given the average number of months during which the account was open (18 months), families saved on average, USD 54.72, which, after being matched by the program (2:1 match rate) comes to USD 164.16—enough to cover approximately five academic terms of post-primary education; (2) children's saving behavior was not associated with quality of family relations; it was, however, significantly associated with family financial socialization; (3) family demographics were significantly associated with children's saving behavior in the matched Child Savings Account program; and (4) children enrolled in some schools saved better compared to children enrolled in other schools within the same treatment group. PMID:26636025

  4. Potential savings associated with drug substitution in Medicare Part D: the Translating Research into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD) study.

    PubMed

    Duru, O Kenrik; Ettner, Susan L; Turk, Norman; Mangione, Carol M; Brown, Arleen F; Fu, Jeffery; Simien, Leslie; Tseng, Chien-Wen

    2014-01-01

    Drug substitution is a promising approach to reducing medication costs. To calculate the potential savings in a Medicare Part D plan from generic or therapeutic substitution for commonly prescribed drugs. Cross-sectional, simulation analysis. Low-income subsidy (LIS) beneficiaries (n = 145,056) and non low-income subsidy (non-LIS) beneficiaries (n = 1,040,030) enrolled in a large, national Part D health insurer in 2007 and eligible for a possible substitution. Using administrative data from 2007, we identified claims filled for brand-name drugs for which a direct generic substitute was available. We also identified the 50 highest cost drugs separately for LIS and non-LIS beneficiaries, and reached consensus on which drugs had possible therapeutic substitutes (27 for LIS, 30 for non-LIS). For each possible substitution, we used average daily costs of the original and substitute drugs to calculate the potential out-of-pocket savings, health plan savings, and when applicable, savings for the government/LIS subsidy. Overall, 39 % of LIS beneficiaries and 51 % of non-LIS beneficiaries were eligible for a generic and/or therapeutic substitution. Generic substitutions resulted in an average annual savings of $160 in the case of LIS beneficiaries and $127 in the case of non-LIS beneficiaries. Therapeutic substitutions resulted in an average annual savings of $452 in the case of LIS beneficiaries and $389 in the case of non-LIS beneficiaries. Our findings indicate that drug substitution, particularly therapeutic substitution, could result in significant cost savings. There is a need for additional studies evaluating the acceptability of therapeutic substitution interventions within Medicare Part D.

  5. Achieving Energy Efficiency Through Real-Time Feedback

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nesse, Ronald J.

    2011-09-01

    Through the careful implementation of simple behavior change measures, opportunities exist to achieve strategic gains, including greater operational efficiencies, energy cost savings, greater tenant health and ensuing productivity and an improved brand value through sustainability messaging and achievement.

  6. Low-cost, highly transparent flexible low-e coating film to enable electrochromic windows with increased energy savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Berland, Brian; Hollingsworth, Russell

    Five Quads of energy are lost through windows annually in the U.S. Low-e coatings are increasingly employed to reduce the wasted energy. Most commonly, the low-e coating is an oxide material applied directly to the glass at high temperature. With over 100,000,000 existing homes, a retrofit product is crucial to achieve widespread energy savings. Low-e films, i.e. coatings on polymeric substrates, are now also available to meet this need. However, the traditional oxide materials and process is incompatible with low temperature plastics. Alternate high performing low-e films typically incorporate materials that limit visible transmission to 35% or less. Further, themore » cost is high. The objective of this award was to develop a retrofit, integrated low-e/electrochromic window film to dramatically reduce energy lost through windows. While field testing of state-of-the-art electrochromic (EC) windows show the energy savings are maximized if a low-e coating is used in conjunction with the EC, available low-e films have a low visible transmission (~70% or less) that limits the achievable clear state and therefore, appearance and energy savings potential. Comprehensive energy savings models were completed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). A parametric approach was used to project energy usage for windows with a large range of low-e properties across all U.S. climate zones, without limiting the study to materials that had already been produced commercially or made in a lab. The model enables projection of energy savings for low-e films as well as integrated low-e/EC products. This project developed a novel low-e film, optimized for compatibility with EC windows, using low temperature, high deposition rate processes for the growth of low-e coatings on plastic films by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Silica films with good density and optical properties were demonstrated at deposition rates as high as 130Å/sec. A simple bi-layer low-e stack

  7. Self-monitoring induced savings on type 2 diabetes patients' travel and healthcare costs.

    PubMed

    Leminen, Aapeli; Tykkyläinen, Markku; Laatikainen, Tiina

    2018-07-01

    Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a major health concern in most regions. In addition to direct healthcare costs, diabetes causes many indirect costs that are often ignored in economic analyses. Patients' travel and time costs associated with the follow-up of T2DM patients have not been previously calculated systematically over an entire healthcare district. The aim of the study was to develop a georeferenced cost model that could be used to measure healthcare accessibility and patient travel and time costs in a sparsely populated healthcare district in Finland. Additionally, the model was used to test whether savings in the total costs of follow-up of T2DM patients are achieved by increasing self-monitoring and implementing electronic feedback practices between healthcare staff and patients. Patient data for this study was obtained from the regional electronic patient database Mediatri. A georeferenced cost model of linear equations was developed with ESRI ArcGIS 10.3 software and ModelBuilder tool. The Model utilizes OD Cost Matrix method of network analysis to calculate optimal routes for primary-care follow-up visits. In the study region of North Karelia, the average annual total costs of T2DM follow-up screening of HbA1c (9070 patients) conforming to the national clinical guidelines are 280 EUR/297 USD per patient. Combined travel and time costs are 21 percent of the total costs. Implementing self-monitoring for a half of the follow-up still within the guidelines, the average annual total costs of HbA1c screening could be reduced by 57 percent from 280 EUR/297 USD to 121 EUR/129 USD per patient. Travel costs related to HbA1c screening of T2DM patients constitute a substantial cost item, the consideration of which in healthcare planning would enable the societal cost-efficiency of T2DM care to be improved. Even more savings in both travel costs and healthcare costs of T2DM can be achieved by utilizing more self-monitoring and electronic feedback practices. Additionally

  8. Potential Energy Cost Savings from Increased Commercial Energy Code Compliance

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rosenberg, Michael I.; Hart, Philip R.; Athalye, Rahul A.

    2016-08-22

    An important question for commercial energy code compliance is: “How much energy cost savings can better compliance achieve?” This question is in sharp contrast to prior efforts that used a checklist of code requirements, each of which was graded pass or fail. Percent compliance for any given building was simply the percent of individual requirements that passed. A field investigation method is being developed that goes beyond the binary approach to determine how much energy cost savings is not realized. Prototype building simulations were used to estimate the energy cost impact of varying levels of non-compliance for newly constructed officemore » buildings in climate zone 4C. Field data collected from actual buildings on specific conditions relative to code requirements was then applied to the simulation results to find the potential lost energy savings for a single building or for a sample of buildings. This new methodology was tested on nine office buildings in climate zone 4C. The amount of additional energy cost savings they could have achieved had they complied fully with the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code is determined. This paper will present the results of the test, lessons learned, describe follow-on research that is needed to verify that the methodology is both accurate and practical, and discuss the benefits that might accrue if the method were widely adopted.« less

  9. Retrospective Assessment of Cost Savings From Prevention: Folic Acid Fortification and Spina Bifida in the U.S.

    PubMed

    Grosse, Scott D; Berry, Robert J; Mick Tilford, J; Kucik, James E; Waitzman, Norman J

    2016-05-01

    Although fortification of food with folic acid has been calculated to be cost saving in the U.S., updated estimates are needed. This analysis calculates new estimates from the societal perspective of net cost savings per year associated with mandatory folic acid fortification of enriched cereal grain products in the U.S. that was implemented during 1997-1998. Estimates of annual numbers of live-born spina bifida cases in 1995-1996 relative to 1999-2011 based on birth defects surveillance data were combined during 2015 with published estimates of the present value of lifetime direct costs updated in 2014 U.S. dollars for a live-born infant with spina bifida to estimate avoided direct costs and net cost savings. The fortification mandate is estimated to have reduced the annual number of U.S. live-born spina bifida cases by 767, with a lower-bound estimate of 614. The present value of mean direct lifetime cost per infant with spina bifida is estimated to be $791,900, or $577,000 excluding caregiving costs. Using a best estimate of numbers of avoided live-born spina bifida cases, fortification is estimated to reduce the present value of total direct costs for each year's birth cohort by $603 million more than the cost of fortification. A lower-bound estimate of cost savings using conservative assumptions, including the upper-bound estimate of fortification cost, is $299 million. The estimates of cost savings are larger than previously reported, even using conservative assumptions. The analysis can also inform assessments of folic acid fortification in other countries. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. Building energy information systems: Synthesis of costs, savings, and best-practice uses

    DOE PAGES

    Granderson, Jessica; Lin, Guanjing

    2016-02-19

    Building energy information systems (EIS) are a powerful customer-facing monitoring and analytical technology that can enable up to 20% site energy savings for buildings. Few technologies are as heavily marketed, but in spite of their potential, EIS remain an under-adopted emerging technology. One reason is the lack of information on purchase costs and associated energy savings. While insightful, the growing body of individual case studies has not provided industry the information needed to establish the business case for investment. Vastly different energy and economic metrics prevent generalizable conclusions. This paper addresses three common questions concerning EIS use: what are themore » costs, what have users saved, and which best practices drive deeper savings? We present a large-scale assessment of the value proposition for EIS use based on data from over two-dozen organizations. Participants achieved year-over-year median site and portfolio savings of 17% and 8%, respectively; they reported that this performance would not have been possible without the EIS. The median five-year cost of EIS software ownership (up-front and ongoing costs) was calculated to be $1,800 per monitoring point (kilowatt meter points were most common), with a median portfolio-wide implementation size of approximately 200 points. In this paper, we present an analysis of the relationship between key implementation factors and achieved energy reductions. Extent of efficiency projects, building energy performance prior to EIS installation, depth of metering, and duration of EIS were strongly correlated with greater savings. As a result, we also identify the best practices use of EIS associated with greater energy savings.« less

  11. Building energy information systems: Synthesis of costs, savings, and best-practice uses

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Granderson, Jessica; Lin, Guanjing

    Building energy information systems (EIS) are a powerful customer-facing monitoring and analytical technology that can enable up to 20% site energy savings for buildings. Few technologies are as heavily marketed, but in spite of their potential, EIS remain an under-adopted emerging technology. One reason is the lack of information on purchase costs and associated energy savings. While insightful, the growing body of individual case studies has not provided industry the information needed to establish the business case for investment. Vastly different energy and economic metrics prevent generalizable conclusions. This paper addresses three common questions concerning EIS use: what are themore » costs, what have users saved, and which best practices drive deeper savings? We present a large-scale assessment of the value proposition for EIS use based on data from over two-dozen organizations. Participants achieved year-over-year median site and portfolio savings of 17% and 8%, respectively; they reported that this performance would not have been possible without the EIS. The median five-year cost of EIS software ownership (up-front and ongoing costs) was calculated to be $1,800 per monitoring point (kilowatt meter points were most common), with a median portfolio-wide implementation size of approximately 200 points. In this paper, we present an analysis of the relationship between key implementation factors and achieved energy reductions. Extent of efficiency projects, building energy performance prior to EIS installation, depth of metering, and duration of EIS were strongly correlated with greater savings. As a result, we also identify the best practices use of EIS associated with greater energy savings.« less

  12. Missouri Agricultural Energy Saving Team-A Revolutionary Opportunity (MAESTRO)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McIntosh, Jane; Schumacher, Leon

    buildings, and the homes on these farms. The expected measurable outcomes of the project were to improve the environment and stimulate the economy by: • Reducing annual fossil fuel emissions by 1,942 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, reducing the total annual energy use on at least 323 small animal farms and 100 farm homes by at least 8,000 kWh and 2,343 therms per farm. • Stimulating the economy by creating or retaining at least 69 jobs, and saving small animal farmers an average of $2,071 per farm in annual energy expenditures. B. Project Scope The MAESTRO team chose the target population of small farms because while all agriculture is traditionally underserved in energy efficiency programs, small farms were particularly underserved because they lack the financial resources and access to energy efficiency technologies that larger farms deploy. The MAESTRO team reasoned that energy conservation, financial and educational programs developed while serving the agricultural community could serve as a national model for other states and their agricultural sectors. The target population was approximately 2,365 small animal farm operations in Missouri, specifically those farms that were not by definition a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). The program was designed to create jobs by training Missouri contractors and Missouri University Extension staff how to conduct farm audits. The local economy would be stimulated by an increase in construction activity and an increasing demand for energy efficient farm equipment. Additionally, the energy savings were deemed critical in keeping Missouri farms in business. This project leveraged funds using a combination of funds from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Missouri Energy Center and its Soil and Water Conservation Program, from the state's Linked Deposits, MASBDA's agricultural loan guarantee programs, and through the in-kind contribution of faculty and staff time to the project from these agencies

  13. Ohio Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2012 IECC as Compared to the 2009 IECC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-07-03

    The 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) yields positive benefits for Ohio homeowners. Moving to the 2012 IECC from the 2009 IECC is cost-effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Ohio homeowners will save $5,151 with the 2012 IECC. Each year, the reduction to energy bills will significantly exceed increased mortgage costs. After accounting for up-front costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 1 year for the 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings are $330 for the 2012 IECC.

  14. An energy-saving nonlinear position control strategy for electro-hydraulic servo systems.

    PubMed

    Baghestan, Keivan; Rezaei, Seyed Mehdi; Talebi, Heidar Ali; Zareinejad, Mohammad

    2015-11-01

    The electro-hydraulic servo system (EHSS) demonstrates numerous advantages in size and performance compared to other actuation methods. Oftentimes, its utilization in industrial and machinery settings is limited by its inferior efficiency. In this paper, a nonlinear backstepping control algorithm with an energy-saving approach is proposed for position control in the EHSS. To achieve improved efficiency, two control valves including a proportional directional valve (PDV) and a proportional relief valve (PRV) are used to achieve the control objectives. To design the control algorithm, the state space model equations of the system are transformed to their normal form and the control law through the PDV is designed using a backstepping approach for position tracking. Then, another nonlinear set of laws is derived to achieve energy-saving through the PRV input. This control design method, based on the normal form representation, imposes internal dynamics on the closed-loop system. The stability of the internal dynamics is analyzed in special cases of operation. Experimental results verify that both tracking and energy-saving objectives are satisfied for the closed-loop system. Copyright © 2015 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Development of Design Guidance for K-12 Schools: From 30% to 50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.; Long, N.

    2008-01-01

    This paper describes the development of energy efficiency recommendations for achieving 30% whole-building energy savings in K-12 Schools over levels achieved by following the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (1999 and 2004 versions). Exhaustive simulations were run to create packages of energy design solutions available over a wide range of K-12 schools and climates. These design recommendations look at building envelope, fenestration, lighting systems (including electrical lights and daylighting), HVAC systems, building automation and controls, outside air treatment, and service water heating. We document and discuss the energy modeling performed to demonstrate that themore » recommendations will result in at least 30% energy savings over ASHRAE 90.1-1999 and ASHRAE 90.1-2004. Recommendations are evaluated based on the availability of daylighting for the school and by the type of HVAC system. Compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-1999 baseline, the recommendations result in more than 30% savings in all climate zones for both daylit and nondaylit elementary, middle, and high schools with a range of HVAC system types. These recommendations have been included in the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings. Compared to the more stringent ASHRAE 90.1-2004 baseline, the recommendations result in more than 30% savings in all climate zones, for only the daylit elementary, middle, and high schools, with a range of HVAC system types. To inform the future development of recommendations for higher level of energy savings, we analyzed a subset of recommendations to understand which energy efficiency technologies would be needed to achieve 50% energy savings.« less

  16. Daylight saving time transitions and hospital treatments due to accidents or manic episodes

    PubMed Central

    Lahti, Tuuli A; Haukka, Jari; Lönnqvist, Jouko; Partonen, Timo

    2008-01-01

    Background Daylight saving time affects millions of people annually but its impacts are still widely unknown. Sleep deprivation and the change of circadian rhythm can trigger mental illness and cause higher accident rates. Transitions into and out of daylight saving time changes the circadian rhythm and may cause sleep deprivation. Thus it seems plausible that the prevalence of accidents and/or manic episodes may be higher after transition into and out of daylight saving time. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of transitions into and out of daylight saving time on the incidence of accidents and manic episodes in the Finnish population during the years of 1987 to 2003. Methods The nationwide data were derived from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. From the register we obtained the information about the hospital-treated accidents and manic episodes during two weeks before and two weeks after the transitions in 1987–2003. Results The results were negative, as the transitions into or out of daylight saving time had no significant effect on the incidence of accidents or manic episodes. Conclusion One-hour transitions do not increase the incidence of manic episodes or accidents which require hospital treatment. PMID:18302734

  17. Sara Lee: Improved Compressed Air System Increases Efficiency and Saves Energy at an Industrial Bakery

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    This case study was prepared for the Industrial Technologies Program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); it describes the energy and costs savings resulting from improving the compressed air system of a large Sara Lee bakery in Sacramento, California. The compressed air system supports many operations of the bread-making machines, and it had been performing poorly. A specialist from Draw Professional Services, a DOE Allied Partner, evaluated the system, and his suggestions included repairing a controller, fixing leaks, and replacing a compressor with a new one fitted with an energy-saving variable-speed drive. As a result, the bakery has reducedmore » its energy use by 471,000 kilowatt-hours annually and is saving $50,000 per year in operating and maintenance costs.« less

  18. Energy Efficiency Opportunities in Highway Lodging Buildings: Development of 50% Energy Savings Design Technology Packages

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jiang, Wei; Gowri, Krishnan; Thornton, Brian A.

    2010-06-30

    This paper presents the process, methodology, and assumptions for development of the 50% Energy Savings Design Technology Packages for Highway Lodging Buildings, a design guidance document that provides specific recommendations for achieving 50% energy savings in roadside motels (highway lodging) above the requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004. This 50% solution represents a further step toward realization of the U.S. Department of Energy’s net-zero energy building goal, and go beyond the 30% savings in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series (upon which this work was built). This work can serve as the technical feasibility study for the development of a 50%more » saving Advanced Energy Design Guide for highway lodging, and thus should greatly expedite the development process. The purpose of this design package is to provide user-friendly design assistance to designers, developers, and owners of highway lodging properties. It is intended to encourage energy-efficient design by providing prescriptive energy-efficiency recommendations for each climate zone that attains the 50% the energy savings target. This paper describes the steps that were taken to demonstrate the technical feasibility of achieving a 50% reduction in whole-building energy use with practical and commercially available technologies. The energy analysis results are presented, indicating the recommended energy-efficient measures achieved a national-weighted average energy savings of 55%, relative to Standard 90.1-2004. The cost-effectiveness of the recommended technology package is evaluated and the result shows an average simple payback of 11.3 years.« less

  19. Hybrid vehicle assessment. Phase 1: Petroleum savings analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Levin, R.; Liddle, S.; Deshpande, G.; Trummel, M.; Vivian, H. C.

    1984-01-01

    The results of a comprehensive analysis of near term electric hybrid vehicles are presented, with emphasis on their potential to save significant amounts of petroleum on a national scale in the 1990s. Performance requirements and expected annual usage patterns of these vehicles are first modeled. The projected U.S. fleet composition is estimated, and conceptual hybrid vehicle designs are conceived and analyzed for petroleum use when driven in the expected annual patterns. These petroleum consumption estimates are then compared to similar estimates for projected 1990 conventional vehicles having the same performance and driven in the same patterns. Results are presented in the form of three utility functions and comparisons of sevral conceptual designs are made. The Hybrid Vehicle (HV) design and assessment techniques are discussed and a general method is explained for selecting the optimum energy management strategy for any vehicle mission battery combination. Conclusions and recommendations are presented, and development recommendations are identified.

  20. VO2 thermochromic smart window for energy savings and generation

    PubMed Central

    Zhou, Jiadong; Gao, Yanfeng; Zhang, Zongtao; Luo, Hongjie; Cao, Chuanxiang; Chen, Zhang; Dai, Lei; Liu, Xinling

    2013-01-01

    The ability to achieve energy saving in architectures and optimal solar energy utilisation affects the sustainable development of the human race. Traditional smart windows and solar cells cannot be combined into one device for energy saving and electricity generation. A VO2 film can respond to the environmental temperature to intelligently regulate infrared transmittance while maintaining visible transparency, and can be applied as a thermochromic smart window. Herein, we report for the first time a novel VO2-based smart window that partially utilises light scattering to solar cells around the glass panel for electricity generation. This smart window combines energy-saving and generation in one device, and offers potential to intelligently regulate and utilise solar radiation in an efficient manner. PMID:24157625

  1. Smart management of sample dilution using an artificial neural network to achieve streamlined processes and saving resources: the automated nephelometric testing of serum free light chain as case study.

    PubMed

    Ialongo, Cristiano; Pieri, Massimo; Bernardini, Sergio

    2017-02-01

    Saving resources is a paramount issue for the modern laboratory, and new trainable as well as smart technologies can be used to allow the automated instrumentation to manage samples more efficiently in order to achieve streamlined processes. In this regard the serum free light chain (sFLC) testing represents an interesting challenge, as it usually causes using a number of assays before achieving an acceptable result within the analytical range. An artificial neural network based on the multi-layer perceptron (MLP-ANN) was used to infer the starting dilution status of sFLC samples based on the information available through the laboratory information system (LIS). After the learning phase, the MLP-ANN simulation was applied to the nephelometric testing routinely performed in our laboratory on a BN ProSpec® System analyzer (Siemens Helathcare) using the N Latex FLC kit. The MLP-ANN reduced the serum kappa free light chain (κ-FLC) and serum lambda free light chain (λ-FLC) wasted tests by 69.4% and 70.8% with respect to the naïve stepwise dilution scheme used by the automated analyzer, and by 64.9% and 66.9% compared to a "rational" dilution scheme based on a 4-step dilution. Although it was restricted to follow-up samples, the MLP-ANN showed good predictive performance, which alongside the possibility to implement it in any automated system, made it a suitable solution for achieving streamlined laboratory processes and saving resources.

  2. Energy-Saving Melting and Revert Reduction Technology (E-SMARRT): Final Summary Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    White, Thornton C

    2014-03-31

    . Through June 2014, the E-SMARRT program predicts an average annual estimated savings of 59 Trillion BTUs per year over a 10 year period through Advanced Melting Efficiencies and Innovative Casting Processes. Along with these energy savings, an estimated average annual estimate of CO2 reduction per year over a ten year period is 3.56 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Equivalent (MM TCE).« less

  3. 12 New England Organizations Honored for Outstanding Achievements in Energy Efficiency

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring 12 New England businesses and organizations for their commitment to saving energy, saving money, and protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements.

  4. Potential Savings From Increasing Adherence to Inhaled Corticosteroid Therapy in Medicaid-Enrolled Children

    PubMed Central

    Rust, George; Zhang, Shun; McRoy, Luceta; Pisu, Maria

    2016-01-01

    Background Many asthma-related exacerbations could be prevented by consistent use of daily inhaled corticosteroid therapy (ICS-Rx). Objectives We sought to measure the potential cost savings that could accrue from increasing ICS-Rx adherence in children. Study Design We measured observed costs for a cohort of 43,156 Medicaid-enrolled children in 14 southern states whose initial ICS-Rx was prescribed in 2007. Methods Adherence rates and associated costs were calculated from Medicaid claims. Children were categorized as high or low adherence based on the ratio of ICS-Rx claims filled to total asthma drug claims. Branching tree simulation was used to project the potential cost savings achieved by increasing the proportion of children with ICS-Rx to total asthma Rx ratios greater than 0.5 to 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. Results Increasing the proportion of children who maintain higher adherence after initial ICS-Rx to 40% would generate savings of $95 per child per year. An intervention costing $10 per member per month that resulted in even half of the children maintaining high adherence would generate a 98% return on investment for managed care plans or state Medicaid programs. Net costs decreased incrementally at each level of increase in ICS-Rx adherence. The projected Medicaid cost savings for these 14 states in 2007 ranged from $8.2 million if 40% of the children achieved high adherence, to $57.5 million if 80% achieved high adherence. Conclusions If effective large-scale interventions can be found, there are substantial cost savings to be gained from even modest increases in real-world adherence to ICS-Rx among Medicaid-enrolled children with asthma. PMID:25880622

  5. Cost savings threshold analysis of a capacity-building program for HIV prevention organizations.

    PubMed

    Dauner, Kim Nichols; Oglesby, Willie H; Richter, Donna L; LaRose, Christopher M; Holtgrave, David R

    2008-06-01

    Although the incidence of HIV each year remains steady, prevention funding is increasingly competitive. Programs need to justify costs in terms of evaluation outcomes, including economic ones. Threshold analyses set performance standards to determine program effectiveness relative to that threshold. This method was used to evaluate the potential cost savings of a national capacity-building program for HIV prevention organizations. Program costs were compared with the lifetime treatment costs of HIV, yielding an estimate of the HIV infections that would have to be prevented for the program to be cost saving. The 136 persons who completed the capacity-building program between 2000 and 2003 would have to avert 41 cases of HIV for the program to be considered cost saving. These figures represent less than one tenth of 1% of the 40,000 new HIV infections that occur in the United States annually and suggest a reasonable performance standard. These data underscore the resources needed to prevent HIV.

  6. Conceptual Data Model for Administrative Functions of a Typical Naval Ship, to Include: Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, Watch Quarter and Station Bill, Safety, Medical and Security

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-09-01

    Secretary of Defense as a method to achieve savings in the $9 billion spent annually on information technology in DoD and to promote interoperability and...by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a method to achieve savings in the $9 billion spent annually on information technology in DoD and to...commander. Without standard conventions for terminolo- gy, tactics or operations, the different units would have to expend much more time and effort to

  7. National and state cost savings associated with prohibiting smoking in subsidized and public housing in the United States.

    PubMed

    King, Brian A; Peck, Richard M; Babb, Stephen D

    2014-10-02

    Despite progress in implementing smoke-free laws in indoor public places and workplaces, millions of Americans remain exposed to secondhand smoke at home. The nation's 80 million multiunit housing residents, including the nearly 7 million who live in subsidized or public housing, are especially susceptible to secondhand smoke infiltration between units. We calculated national and state costs that could have been averted in 2012 if smoking were prohibited in all US subsidized housing, including public housing: 1) secondhand smoke-related direct health care, 2) renovation of smoking-permitted units; and 3) smoking-attributable fires. Annual cost savings were calculated by using residency estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and cost data reported elsewhere. Data were adjusted for inflation and variations in state costs. National and state estimates (excluding Alaska and the District of Columbia) were calculated by cost type. Prohibiting smoking in subsidized housing would yield annual cost savings of $496.82 million (range, $258.96-$843.50 million), including $310.48 million ($154.14-$552.34 million) in secondhand smoke-related health care, $133.77 million ($75.24-$209.01 million) in renovation expenses, and $52.57 million ($29.57-$82.15 million) in smoking-attributable fire losses. By state, cost savings ranged from $0.58 million ($0.31-$0.94 million) in Wyoming to $124.68 million ($63.45-$216.71 million) in New York. Prohibiting smoking in public housing alone would yield cost savings of $152.91 million ($79.81-$259.28 million); by state, total cost savings ranged from $0.13 million ($0.07-$0.22 million) in Wyoming to $57.77 million ($29.41-$100.36 million) in New York. Prohibiting smoking in all US subsidized housing, including public housing, would protect health and could generate substantial societal cost savings.

  8. The Save-WEFM Case as Reported to the 50th Annual NAEB Convention, 1974.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Danna, Sammy R.

    The history of Chicago FM radio station WEFM and the activities of the Citizen's Committee to Save WEFM are chronicled. The focus is principally on the actions of the Citizen's Committee to prevent the conversion of the radio station from a classical music format to rock and roll offerings and to block the sale of the station by Zenith to GCC…

  9. An energy saving mechanism of EPON networks for real time video transmission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Chien-Ping; Wu, Ho-Ting; Chiang, Yun-Ting; Chien, Shieh-Chieh; Ke, Kai-Wei

    2015-07-01

    Modern access networks are constructed widely by passive optical networks (PONs) to meet the growing bandwidth demand. However, higher bandwidth means more energy consumption. To save energy, a few research works propose the dual-mode energy saving mechanism that allows the ONU to operate between active and sleep modes periodically. However, such dual-mode energy saving design may induce unnecessary power consumption or packet delay increase in the case where only downstream data exist for most of the time. In this paper, we propose a new tri-mode energy saving scheme for Ethernet PON (EPON). The new tri-mode energy saving design, combining the dual-mode saving mechanism with the doze mode, allows the ONU to switch among these three modes alternatively. In the doze mode, the ONU may receive downstream data while keeping its transmitter close. Such scenario is often observed for real time video downstream transmission. Furthermore, the low packet delay of high priority upstream data can be attained through the use of early wake-up mechanism employed in both energy saving modes. The energy saving and system efficiency can thus be achieved jointly while maintaining the differentiated QoS for data with various priorities. Performance results via simulation have demonstrated the effectiveness of such mechanism.

  10. Save More Tomorrow: Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee Saving.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thaler, Richard H.; Benartzi, Shlomo

    2004-01-01

    As firms switch from defined-benefit plans to defined-contribution plans, employees bear more responsibility for making decisions about how much to save. The employees who fail to join the plan or who participate at a very low level appear to be saving at less than the predicted life cycle savings rates. Behavioral explanations for this behavior…

  11. Saving can save from death anxiety: mortality salience and financial decision-making.

    PubMed

    Zaleskiewicz, Tomasz; Gasiorowska, Agata; Kesebir, Pelin

    2013-01-01

    Four studies tested the idea that saving money can buffer death anxiety and constitute a more effective buffer than spending money. Saving can relieve future-related anxiety and provide people with a sense of control over their fate, thereby rendering death thoughts less threatening. Study 1 found that participants primed with both saving and spending reported lower death fear than controls. Saving primes, however, were associated with significantly lower death fear than spending primes. Study 2 demonstrated that mortality primes increase the attractiveness of more frugal behaviors in save-or-spend dilemmas. Studies 3 and 4 found, in two different cultures (Polish and American), that the activation of death thoughts prompts people to allocate money to saving as opposed to spending. Overall, these studies provided evidence that saving protects from existential anxiety, and probably more so than spending.

  12. Saving Can Save from Death Anxiety: Mortality Salience and Financial Decision-Making

    PubMed Central

    Zaleskiewicz, Tomasz; Gasiorowska, Agata; Kesebir, Pelin

    2013-01-01

    Four studies tested the idea that saving money can buffer death anxiety and constitute a more effective buffer than spending money. Saving can relieve future-related anxiety and provide people with a sense of control over their fate, thereby rendering death thoughts less threatening. Study 1 found that participants primed with both saving and spending reported lower death fear than controls. Saving primes, however, were associated with significantly lower death fear than spending primes. Study 2 demonstrated that mortality primes increase the attractiveness of more frugal behaviors in save-or-spend dilemmas. Studies 3 and 4 found, in two different cultures (Polish and American), that the activation of death thoughts prompts people to allocate money to saving as opposed to spending. Overall, these studies provided evidence that saving protects from existential anxiety, and probably more so than spending. PMID:24244497

  13. Energy saving effects of wireless sensor networks: a case study of convenience stores in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Chen, Chih-Sheng; Lee, Da-Sheng

    2011-01-01

    Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has been successfully applied to energy saving applications in many places, and plays a significant role in achieving power conservation. However, previous studies do not discuss WSN costs and cost-recovery. The application of WSNs is currently limited to research and laboratory experiments, and not mass industrial production, largely because business owners are unfamiliar with the possible favorable return and cost-recovery on WSN investments. Therefore, this paper focuses on the cost-recovery of WSNs and how to reduce air conditioning energy consumption in convenience stores. The WSN used in this study provides feedback to the gateway and adopts the predicted mean vote (PMV) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to allow customers to shop in a comfortable yet energy-saving environment. Four convenience stores in Taipei have used the proposed WSN since 2008. In 2008, the experiment was initially designed to optimize air-conditioning for energy saving, but additions to the set-up continued beyond 2008, adding the thermal comfort and crowds peak, off-peak features in 2009 to achieve human-friendly energy savings. Comparison with 2007 data, under the same comfort conditions, shows that the power savings increased by 40% (2008) and 53% (2009), respectively. The cost of the WSN equipment was 500 US dollars. Experimental results, including three years of analysis and calculations, show that the marginal energy conservation benefit of the four convenience stores achieved energy savings of up to 53%, recovering all costs in approximately 5 months. The convenience store group participating in this study was satisfied with the efficiency of energy conservation because of the short cost-recovery period.

  14. Energy Saving Effects of Wireless Sensor Networks: A Case Study of Convenience Stores in Taiwan

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Chih-Sheng; Lee, Da-Sheng

    2011-01-01

    Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has been successfully applied to energy saving applications in many places, and plays a significant role in achieving power conservation. However, previous studies do not discuss WSN costs and cost-recovery. The application of WSNs is currently limited to research and laboratory experiments, and not mass industrial production, largely because business owners are unfamiliar with the possible favorable return and cost-recovery on WSN investments. Therefore, this paper focuses on the cost-recovery of WSNs and how to reduce air conditioning energy consumption in convenience stores. The WSN used in this study provides feedback to the gateway and adopts the predicted mean vote (PMV) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to allow customers to shop in a comfortable yet energy-saving environment. Four convenience stores in Taipei have used the proposed WSN since 2008. In 2008, the experiment was initially designed to optimize air-conditioning for energy saving, but additions to the set-up continued beyond 2008, adding the thermal comfort and crowds peak, off-peak features in 2009 to achieve human-friendly energy savings. Comparison with 2007 data, under the same comfort conditions, shows that the power savings increased by 40% (2008) and 53% (2009), respectively. The cost of the WSN equipment was 500 US dollars. Experimental results, including three years of analysis and calculations, show that the marginal energy conservation benefit of the four convenience stores achieved energy savings of up to 53%, recovering all costs in approximately 5 months. The convenience store group participating in this study was satisfied with the efficiency of energy conservation because of the short cost-recovery period. PMID:22319396

  15. Estimation of cost savings between 2011 and 2014 attributed to infliximab biosimilar in the South Korean healthcare market: real-world evidence using a nationwide database.

    PubMed

    Kim, Jiyoun; Ha, Dongmun; Song, Inmyung; Park, Haesun; Lee, Sang-Won; Lee, Eui-Kyung; Shin, Ju-Young

    2018-06-01

    The introduction of biosimilars is expected to reduce the cost of biologic drugs, but the actual cost savings have not yet been quantified in Korea. The aim of this study was to estimate the annual cost savings attributed to the introduction of infliximab biosimilar. We conducted a retrospective analysis using data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patients Sample (HIRA-NPS) between 2011 and 2014. The study subjects were patients who were treated with infliximab, adalimumab or etanercept. We compared the drug costs before and after the introduction of infliximab biosimilar in December 2012 (2011-2012 and 2013-2014) to estimate the annual drug cost savings attributed to this and the number of patients who could additionally benefit from the biosimilar in 2013 and 2014. A total of 10 986 prescriptions were identified: 2620 for infliximab. The cost savings were estimated at $262 270 for 133 patients in 2013 and $395 220 for 174 patients in 2014. Among the patients who underwent a 1-year maintenance course of infliximab therapy, the annual expenditure on infliximab was lower in 2014 than in 2011. If the cost savings were used to treat additional patients, 13.3%-38.6% more patients per year could be treated by indication. The introduction of infliximab biosimilar reduced direct medical costs for both patients and the payer, which could then be used to increase patient access to biologic medicines. The entry of infliximab biosimilar could result in further reductions in healthcare costs. © 2018 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

  16. Better Buildings Alliance 2013 Annual Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    2014-01-31

    We are pleased to share with you a copy of the 2013 Annual Report. Inside, you’ll find significant program accomplishments, profiles on highlighted members, and plans for 2014. With your contributions, support, and leadership over the past 12 months, the program has reached significant milestones, including: Growing membership to over 200 members, to represent over 10 billion square feet of U.S. commercial building space and one-seventh of the market; Increasing participation in the 15 Solutions Teams by 75%; Developing 3 new high-efficiency technology specifications that if widely implemented, could save more than $5 billion in energy costs per year; Launchingmore » the Advanced RTU Campaign and Wireless Meter Challenge, and surpassing 100 million sq. ft. in the Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign; Welcoming partners in new sectors, including K-12 schools and local governments; The program is a critical element of the Better Buildings Initiative, driving 20% energy savings in the building sector by 2020 through innovation, new technologies, and profiling leadership. Thank you for your ongoing participation, we are looking forward to working with you in the new year on your energy saving targets and advancing technical and market practices that promote energy savings at your organization.« less

  17. Cost savings of outpatient versus standard inpatient total knee arthroplasty

    PubMed Central

    Huang, Adrian; Ryu, Jae-Jin; Dervin, Geoffrey

    2017-01-01

    Background With diminishing reimbursement rates and strained public payer budgets, a high-volume inpatient procedure, such as total knee arthroplasty (TKA), is a common target for improving cost efficiencies. Methods This prospective case–control study compared the cost-minimization of same day discharge (SDD) versus inpatient TKA. We examined if and where cost savings can be realized and the magnitude of savings that can be achieved without compromising quality of care. Outcome variables, including detailed case costs, return to hospital rates and complications, were documented and compared between the first 20 SDD cases and 20 matched inpatient controls. Results In every case–control match, the SDD TKA was less costly than the inpatient procedure and yielded a median cost savings of approximately 30%. The savings came primarily from costs associated with the inpatient encounter, such as surgical ward, pharmacy and patient meal costs. At 1 year, there were no major complications and no return to hospital or readmission encounters for either group. Conclusion Our results are consistent with previously published data on the cost savings associated with short stay or outpatient TKA. We have gone further by documenting where those savings were in a matched cohort design. Furthermore, we determined where cost savings could be realized during the patient encounter and to what degree. In carefully selected patients, outpatient TKA is a feasible alternative to traditional inpatient TKA and is significantly less costly. Furthermore, it was deemed to be safe in the perioperative period. PMID:28234591

  18. 49 CFR 71.2 - Annual advancement of standard time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ..., requires that the standard time of each State observing Daylight Saving Time shall be advanced 1 hour... 49 Transportation 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Annual advancement of standard time. 71.2 Section 71.2 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation STANDARD TIME ZONE BOUNDARIES § 71.2...

  19. 49 CFR 71.2 - Annual advancement of standard time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ..., requires that the standard time of each State observing Daylight Saving Time shall be advanced 1 hour... 49 Transportation 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Annual advancement of standard time. 71.2 Section 71.2 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation STANDARD TIME ZONE BOUNDARIES § 71.2...

  20. 49 CFR 71.2 - Annual advancement of standard time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ..., requires that the standard time of each State observing Daylight Saving Time shall be advanced 1 hour... 49 Transportation 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Annual advancement of standard time. 71.2 Section 71.2 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation STANDARD TIME ZONE BOUNDARIES § 71.2...

  1. 49 CFR 71.2 - Annual advancement of standard time.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ..., requires that the standard time of each State observing Daylight Saving Time shall be advanced 1 hour... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Annual advancement of standard time. 71.2 Section 71.2 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation STANDARD TIME ZONE BOUNDARIES § 71.2...

  2. Technical Support Document: 50% Energy Savings Design Technology Packages for Highway Lodging Buildings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jiang, Wei; Gowri, Krishnan; Lane, Michael D.

    2009-09-28

    This Technical Support Document (TSD) describes the process, methodology and assumptions for development of the 50% Energy Savings Design Technology Packages for Highway Lodging Buildings, a design guidance document intended to provide recommendations for achieving 50% energy savings in highway lodging properties over the energy-efficiency levels contained in ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

  3. Michigan Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2012 IECC as Compared to the Michigan Uniform Energy Code

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-07-03

    The 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) yields positive benefits for Michigan homeowners. Moving to the 2012 IECC from the Michigan Uniform Energy Code is cost-effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Michigan homeowners will save $10,081 with the 2012 IECC. Each year, the reduction to energy bills will significantly exceed increased mortgage costs. After accounting for up-front costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 1 year for the 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings are $604 for the 2012 IECC.

  4. Energy Savings Lifetimes and Persistence

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hoffman, Ian M.; Schiller, Steven R.; Todd, Annika

    2016-02-01

    This technical brief explains the concepts of energy savings lifetimes and savings persistence and discusses how program administrators use these factors to calculate savings for efficiency measures, programs and portfolios. Savings lifetime is the length of time that one or more energy efficiency measures or activities save energy, and savings persistence is the change in savings throughout the functional life of a given efficiency measure or activity. Savings lifetimes are essential for assessing the lifecycle benefits and cost effectiveness of efficiency activities and for forecasting loads in resource planning. The brief also provides estimates of savings lifetimes derived from amore » national collection of costs and savings for electric efficiency programs and portfolios.« less

  5. Can efficient supply management in the operating room save millions?

    PubMed

    Park, Kyung W; Dickerson, Cheryl

    2009-04-01

    Supply expenses occupy an ever-increasing portion of the expense budget in today's increasingly technologically complex operating rooms. Yet, little has been studied and published in the anesthesia literature. This review attempts to bring the topic of supply management to anesthesiologists, who play a significant role in operating room management. Little investigative work has been performed on supply management. Anecdotal reports suggest the benefits of a perpetual inventory system over a periodic inventory system. A perpetual inventory system uses utilization data to update inventory on hand continually and this information is linked to purchasing and restocking, whereas a periodic inventory system counts inventory at some regular intervals (such as annually) and uses average utilization to set par levels. On the basis of application of operational management concepts, ways of taking advantage of a perpetual inventory system to achieve savings in supply expenses are outlined. These include linking the operating room scheduling and supply order system, distributor-driven just-in-time delivery of case carts, continual updating of preference lists based on utilization patterns, increasing inventory turnovers, standardizing surgical practices, and vendor consignment of high unit-cost items such as implants. In addition, Lean principles of visual management and elimination of eight wastes may be applicable to supply management.

  6. Incorporating shared savings programs into primary care: from theory to practice.

    PubMed

    Hayen, Arthur P; van den Berg, Michael J; Meijboom, Bert R; Struijs, Jeroen N; Westert, Gert P

    2015-12-30

    In several countries, health care policies gear toward strengthening the position of primary care physicians. Primary care physicians are increasingly expected to take accountability for overall spending and quality. Yet traditional models of paying physicians do not provide adequate incentives for taking on this new role. Under a so-called shared savings program physicians are instead incentivized to take accountability for spending and quality, as the program lets them share in cost savings when quality targets are met. We provide a structured approach to designing a shared savings program for primary care, and apply this approach to the design of a shared savings program for a Dutch chain of primary care providers, which is currently being piloted. Based on the literature, we defined five building blocks of shared savings models that encompass the definition of the scope of the program, the calculation of health care expenditures, the construction of a savings benchmark, the assessment of savings and the rules and conditions under which savings are shared. We apply insights from a variety of literatures to assess the relative merits of alternative design choices within these building blocks. The shared savings program uses an econometric model of provider expenditures as an input to calculating a casemix-corrected benchmark. The minimization of risk and uncertainty for both payer and provider is pertinent to the design of a shared savings program. In that respect, the primary care setting provides a number of unique opportunities for achieving cost and quality targets. Accountability can more readily be assumed due to the relatively long-lasting relationships between primary care physicians and patients. A stable population furthermore improves the confidence with which savings can be attributed to changes in population management. Challenges arise from the institutional context. The Dutch health care system has a fragmented structure and providers are typically

  7. Arizona Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2009 and 2012 IECC as Compared to the 2006 IECC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-04-01

    The 2009 and 2012 International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC) yield positive benefits for Arizona homeowners. Moving to either the 2009 or 2012 IECC from the 2006 IECC is cost-effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Arizona homeowners will save $3,245 over 30 years under the 2009 IECC, with savings still higher at $6,550 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 1 year for the 2009 and 2 years with the 2012 IECC. Average annual energymore » savings are $231 for the 2009 IECC and $486 for the 2012 IECC.« less

  8. Alabama Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2009 and 2012 IECC as Compared to the 2006 IECC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-06-15

    The 2009 and 2012 International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC) yield positive benefits for Alabama homeowners. Moving to either the 2009 or 2012 IECC from the 2006 IECC is cost effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Alabama homeowners will save $2,117 over 30 years under the 2009 IECC, with savings still higher at $6,182 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 2 years for both the 2009 and 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings aremore » $168 for the 2009 IECC and $462 for the 2012 IECC.« less

  9. Marginal costs of water savings from cooling system retrofits: a case study for Texas power plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Loew, Aviva; Jaramillo, Paulina; Zhai, Haibo

    2016-10-01

    The water demands of power plant cooling systems may strain water supply and make power generation vulnerable to water scarcity. Cooling systems range in their rates of water use, capital investment, and annual costs. Using Texas as a case study, we examined the cost of retrofitting existing coal and natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plants with alternative cooling systems, either wet recirculating towers or air-cooled condensers for dry cooling. We applied a power plant assessment tool to model existing power plants in terms of their key plant attributes and site-specific meteorological conditions and then estimated operation characteristics of retrofitted plants and retrofit costs. We determined the anticipated annual reductions in water withdrawals and the cost-per-gallon of water saved by retrofits in both deterministic and probabilistic forms. The results demonstrate that replacing once-through cooling at coal-fired power plants with wet recirculating towers has the lowest cost per reduced water withdrawals, on average. The average marginal cost of water withdrawal savings for dry-cooling retrofits at coal-fired plants is approximately 0.68 cents per gallon, while the marginal recirculating retrofit cost is 0.008 cents per gallon. For NGCC plants, the average marginal costs of water withdrawal savings for dry-cooling and recirculating towers are 1.78 and 0.037 cents per gallon, respectively.

  10. Up Close and Personal: The Value of Feedback in Implementing an Individual Energy-Saving Adaptation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pollard, Carol Elaine

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the drivers of computer-related sustainability behavior at a medium-sized US university and the extent to which an inexpensive energy-saving device installed on 146 administrator, faculty and general staff workstations achieved significant savings in kWh, CO[subscript 2] kg and dollars.…

  11. Determinants of success in Shared Savings Programs: An analysis of ACO and market characteristics.

    PubMed

    Ouayogodé, Mariétou H; Colla, Carrie H; Lewis, Valerie A

    2017-03-01

    Medicare's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) programs introduced shared savings to traditional Medicare, which allow providers who reduce health care costs for their patients to retain a percentage of the savings they generate. To examine ACO and market factors associated with superior financial performance in Medicare ACO programs. We obtained financial performance data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); we derived market-level characteristics from Medicare claims; and we collected ACO characteristics from the National Survey of ACOs for 215 ACOs. We examined the association between ACO financial performance and ACO provider composition, leadership structure, beneficiary characteristics, risk bearing experience, quality and process improvement capabilities, physician performance management, market competition, CMS-assigned financial benchmark, and ACO contract start date. We examined two outcomes from Medicare ACOs' first performance year: savings per Medicare beneficiary and earning shared savings payments (a dichotomous variable). When modeling the ACO ability to save and earn shared savings payments, we estimated positive regression coefficients for a greater proportion of primary care providers in the ACO, more practicing physicians on the governing board, physician leadership, active engagement in reducing hospital re-admissions, a greater proportion of disabled Medicare beneficiaries assigned to the ACO, financial incentives offered to physicians, a larger financial benchmark, and greater ACO market penetration. No characteristic of organizational structure was significantly associated with both outcomes of savings per beneficiary and likelihood of achieving shared savings. ACO prior experience with risk-bearing contracts was positively correlated with savings and significantly increased the likelihood of receiving shared savings payments. In the first year, performance is quite heterogeneous, yet organizational structure does not

  12. Determinants of Success in Shared Savings Programs: An Analysis of ACO and Market Characteristics

    PubMed Central

    Colla, Carrie H.; Lewis, Valerie A.

    2016-01-01

    Background Medicare’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO) programs introduced shared savings to traditional Medicare, which allow providers who reduce health care costs for their patients to retain a percentage of the savings they generate. Objective To examine ACO and market factors associated with superior financial performance in Medicare ACO programs. Methods We obtained financial performance data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); we derived market-level characteristics from Medicare claims; and we collected ACO characteristics from the National Survey of ACOs for 215 ACOs. We examined the association between ACO financial performance and ACO provider composition, leadership structure, beneficiary characteristics, risk bearing experience, quality and process improvement capabilities, physician performance management, market competition, CMS-assigned financial benchmark, and ACO contract start date. We examined two outcomes from Medicare ACOs’ first performance year: savings per Medicare beneficiary and earning shared savings payments (a dichotomous variable). Results When modeling the ACO ability to save and earn shared savings payments, we estimated positive regression coefficients for a greater proportion of primary care providers in the ACO, more practicing physicians on the governing board, physician leadership, active engagement in reducing hospital re-admissions, a greater proportion of disabled Medicare beneficiaries assigned to the ACO, financial incentives offered to physicians, a larger financial benchmark, and greater ACO market penetration. No characteristic of organizational structure was significantly associated with both outcomes of savings per beneficiary and likelihood of achieving shared savings. ACO prior experience with risk-bearing contracts was positively correlated with savings and significantly increased the likelihood of receiving shared savings payments. Conclusions In the first year performance is quite

  13. Intelligent vehicle initiative : 2002 annual report -- saving lives through advanced vehicle safety technology

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-05-15

    This Annual Report provides an overview of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiatives (IVIs) progress and accomplishments during 2002. The 1998 Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorized IVI as part of the Department of Tra...

  14. Do water-saving technologies improve environmental flows?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Batchelor, Charles; Reddy, V. Ratna; Linstead, Conor; Dhar, Murli; Roy, Sumit; May, Rebecca

    2014-10-01

    Water saving and conservation technologies (WCTs) have been promoted widely in India as a practical means of improving the water use efficiency and freeing up water for other uses (e.g. for maintaining environmental flows in river systems). However, there is increasing evidence that, somewhat paradoxically, WCTs often contribute to intensification of water use by irrigated and rainfed farming systems. This occurs when: (1) Increased crop yields are coupled with increased consumptive water use and/or (2) Improved efficiency, productivity and profitability encourages farmers to increase the area cropped and/or to adopt multiple cropping systems. In both cases, the net effect is an increase in annual evapotranspiration that, particularly in areas of increasing water scarcity, can have the trade-off of reduced environmental flows. Recognition is also increasing that the claimed water savings of many WCTs may have been overstated. The root cause of this problem lies in confusion over what constitutes real water saving at the system or basin scales. The simple fact is that some of the water that is claimed to be ‘saved’ by WCTs would have percolated into the groundwater from where it can be and often is accessed and reused. Similarly, some of the “saved” runoff can be used downstream by, for example, farmers or freshwater ecosystems. This paper concludes that, particularly in areas facing increasing water scarcity, environmental flows will only be restored and maintained if they are given explicit (rather than theoretical or notional) attention. With this in mind, a simple methodology is proposed for deciding when and where WCTs may have detrimental impacts on environmental flows.

  15. The impact of changing dental needs on cost savings from fluoridation.

    PubMed

    Campain, A C; Mariño, R J; Wright, F A C; Harrison, D; Bailey, D L; Morgan, M V

    2010-03-01

    Although community water fluoridation has been one of the cornerstone strategies for the prevention and control of dental caries, questions are still raised regarding its cost-effectiveness. This study assessed the impact of changing dental needs on the cost savings from community water fluoridation in Australia. Net costs were estimated as Costs((programme)) minus Costs((averted caries).) Averted costs were estimated as the product of caries increment in non-fluoridated community, effectiveness of fluoridation and the cost of a carious surface. Modelling considered four age-cohorts: 6-20, 21-45, 46-65 and 66+ years and three time points 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Cost of a carious surface was estimated by conventional and complex methods. Real discount rates (4, 7 (base) and 10%) were utilized. With base-case assumptions, the average annual cost savings/person, using Australian dollars at the 2005 level, ranged from $56.41 (1970s) to $17.75 (1990s) (conventional method) and from $249.45 (1970s) to $69.86 (1990s) (complex method). Under worst-case assumptions fluoridation remained cost-effective with cost savings ranging from $24.15 (1970s) to $3.87 (1990s) (conventional method) and $107.85 (1970s) and $24.53 (1990s) (complex method). For 66+ years cohort (1990s) fluoridation did not show a cost saving, but costs/person were marginal. Community water fluoridation remains a cost-effective preventive measure in Australia.

  16. Potential unintended pregnancies averted and cost savings associated with a revised Medicaid sterilization policy.

    PubMed

    Borrero, Sonya; Zite, Nikki; Potter, Joseph E; Trussell, James; Smith, Kenneth

    2013-12-01

    Medicaid sterilization policy, which includes a mandatory 30-day waiting period between consent and the sterilization procedure, poses significant logistical barriers for many women who desire publicly funded sterilization. Our goal was to estimate the number of unintended pregnancies and the associated costs resulting from unfulfilled sterilization requests due to Medicaid policy barriers. We constructed a cost-effectiveness model from the health care payer perspective to determine the incremental cost over a 1-year time horizon of the current Medicaid sterilization policy compared to a hypothetical, revised policy in which women who desire a postpartum sterilization would face significantly reduced barriers. Probability estimates for potential outcomes in the model were based on published sources; costs of Medicaid-funded sterilizations and Medicaid-covered births were based on data from the Medicaid Statistical Information System and The Guttmacher Institute, respectively. With the implementation of a revised Medicaid sterilization policy, we estimated that the number of fulfilled sterilization requests would increase by 45%, from 53.3% of all women having their sterilization requests fulfilled to 77.5%. Annually, this increase could potentially lead to over 29,000 unintended pregnancies averted and $215 million saved. A revised Medicaid sterilization policy could potentially honor women's reproductive decisions, reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and save a significant amount of public funds. Compared to the current federal Medicaid sterilization policy, a hypothetical, revised policy that reduces logistical barriers for women who desire publicly funded, postpartum sterilization could potentially avert over 29,000 unintended pregnancies annually and therefore lead to cost savings of $215 million each year. © 2013.

  17. Cooling energy savings potential of light-colored roofs for residential and commercial buildings in 11 US metropolitan areas

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Konopacki, S.; Akbari, H.; Gartland, L.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored this project to estimate potential energy and monetary savings resulting from the implementation of light-colored roofs on residential and commercial buildings in major U.S. metropolitan areas. Light-colored roofs reflect more sunlight than dark roofs, so they keep buildings cooler and reduce air-conditioning demand. Typically, rooftops in the United States are dark, and thus there is a potential for saving energy and money by changing to reflective roofs. Naturally, the expected savings are higher in southern, sunny, and cloudless climates. In this study, we make quantitative estimates of reduction in peak power demand andmore » annual cooling electricity use that would result from increasing the reflectivity of the roofs. Since light-colored roofs also reflect heat in the winter, the estimates of annual electricity savings are a net value corrected for the increased wintertime energy use. Savings estimates only include direct reduction in building energy use and do not account for the indirect benefit that would also occur from the reduction in ambient temperature, i.e. a reduction in the heat island effect. This analysis is based on simulations of building energy use, using the DOE-2 building energy simulation program. Our methodology starts with specifying 11 prototypical buildings: single-family residential (old and new), office (old and new), retail store (old and new), school (primary and secondary), health (hospital and nursing home), and grocery store. Most prototypes are simulated with two heating systems: gas furnace and heat pumps. We then perform DOE-2 simulations of the prototypical buildings, with light and dark roofs, in a variety of climates and obtain estimates of the energy use for air conditioning and heating.« less

  18. National and State Cost Savings Associated With Prohibiting Smoking in Subsidized and Public Housing in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Peck, Richard M.; Babb, Stephen D.

    2014-01-01

    Introduction Despite progress in implementing smoke-free laws in indoor public places and workplaces, millions of Americans remain exposed to secondhand smoke at home. The nation’s 80 million multiunit housing residents, including the nearly 7 million who live in subsidized or public housing, are especially susceptible to secondhand smoke infiltration between units. Methods We calculated national and state costs that could have been averted in 2012 if smoking were prohibited in all US subsidized housing, including public housing: 1) secondhand smoke-related direct health care, 2) renovation of smoking-permitted units; and 3) smoking-attributable fires. Annual cost savings were calculated by using residency estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and cost data reported elsewhere. Data were adjusted for inflation and variations in state costs. National and state estimates (excluding Alaska and the District of Columbia) were calculated by cost type. Results Prohibiting smoking in subsidized housing would yield annual cost savings of $496.82 million (range, $258.96–$843.50 million), including $310.48 million ($154.14–$552.34 million) in secondhand smoke-related health care, $133.77 million ($75.24–$209.01 million) in renovation expenses, and $52.57 million ($29.57–$82.15 million) in smoking-attributable fire losses. By state, cost savings ranged from $0.58 million ($0.31–$0.94 million) in Wyoming to $124.68 million ($63.45–$216.71 million) in New York. Prohibiting smoking in public housing alone would yield cost savings of $152.91 million ($79.81–$259.28 million); by state, total cost savings ranged from $0.13 million ($0.07–$0.22 million) in Wyoming to $57.77 million ($29.41–$100.36 million) in New York. Conclusion Prohibiting smoking in all US subsidized housing, including public housing, would protect health and could generate substantial societal cost savings. PMID:25275808

  19. Advertising energy saving programs: The potential environmental cost of emphasizing monetary savings.

    PubMed

    Schwartz, Daniel; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Fischhoff, Baruch; Lave, Lester

    2015-06-01

    Many consumers have monetary or environmental motivations for saving energy. Indeed, saving energy produces both monetary benefits, by reducing energy bills, and environmental benefits, by reducing carbon footprints. We examined how consumers' willingness and reasons to enroll in energy-savings programs are affected by whether advertisements emphasize monetary benefits, environmental benefits, or both. From a normative perspective, having 2 noteworthy kinds of benefit should not decrease a program's attractiveness. In contrast, psychological research suggests that adding external incentives to an intrinsically motivating task may backfire. To date, however, it remains unclear whether this is the case when both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are inherent to the task, as with energy savings, and whether removing explicit mention of extrinsic motivation will reduce its importance. We found that emphasizing a program's monetary benefits reduced participants' willingness to enroll. In addition, participants' explanations about enrollment revealed less attention to environmental concerns when programs emphasized monetary savings, even when environmental savings were also emphasized. We found equal attention to monetary motivations in all conditions, revealing an asymmetric attention to monetary and environmental motives. These results also provide practical guidance regarding the positioning of energy-saving programs: emphasize intrinsic benefits; the extrinsic ones may speak for themselves. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. I Do... Want to Save: Marriage and Retirement Savings in Young Households

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knoll, Melissa A. Z.; Tamborini, Christopher R.; Whitman, Kevin

    2012-01-01

    Increased policy and academic attention has been placed on promoting retirement savings early in the life course. This study investigates the extent to which retirement savings behavior among young persons, a population for which retirement savings is important but typically low, differs by marital status. We draw national survey data on young…

  1. Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 Schools -- 50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bonnema, E.; Leach, M.; Pless, S.

    2013-02-01

    This Technical Support Document (TSD) describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net Zero Energy Building (AEDG-K12) (ASHRAE et al. 2011a). The AEDG-K12 provides recommendations for achieving 50% whole-building energy savings in K-12 schools over levels achieved by following ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (Standard 90.1-2004) (ASHRAE 2004b). The AEDG-K12 was developed in collaboration with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of Northmore » America (IES), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).« less

  2. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens: 29th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    This report presents the 1998 statistical findings of the annual survey to determine the attitudes of national high school student leaders. Questionnaires were completed by 3,123 high school juniors and seniors, all of whom were selected for recognition in "Who's Who among American High School Students." In addition to demographic…

  3. The Myth About Saving Money: "IT Investments Will Save The Institution Money"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawkins, Brian L.; Oblinger, Diana G.

    2005-01-01

    Claims that investing in information technology will save money for a college or university have rarely proven true. In fact, realizing the promised dollar savings is so rare in higher education that the credibility of many IT professionals has been jeopardized by making the claim. Not producing promised savings only exacerbates the sense, among…

  4. Energy savings for heat-island reduction strategies in Chicago and Houston (including updates for Baton Rouge, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Konopacki, S.; Akbari, H.

    2002-02-28

    In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the ''Heat Island Reduction Initiative'' to quantify the potential benefits of Heat-Island Reduction (HIR) strategies (i.e., shade trees, reflective roofs, reflective pavements and urban vegetation) to reduce cooling-energy use in buildings, lower the ambient air temperature and improve urban air quality in cities, and reduce CO2 emissions from power plants. Under this initiative, the Urban Heat Island Pilot Project (UHIPP) was created with the objective of investigating the potential of HIR strategies in residential and commercial buildings in three initial UHIPP cities: Baton Rouge, LA; Sacramento, CA; and Salt Lake City,more » UT. Later two other cities, Chicago, IL and Houston, TX were added to the UHIPP. In an earlier report we summarized our efforts to calculate the annual energy savings, peak power avoidance, and annual CO2 reduction obtainable from the introduction of HIR strategies in the initial three cities. This report summarizes the results of our study for Chicago and Houston. In this analysis, we focused on three building types that offer the highest potential savings: single-family residence, office and retail store. Each building type was characterized in detail by vintage and system type (i.e., old and new building constructions, and gas and electric heat). We used the prototypical building characteristics developed earlier for each building type and simulated the impact of HIR strategies on building cooling- and heating-energy use and peak power demand using the DOE-2.1E model. Our simulations included the impact of (1) strategically-placed shade trees near buildings [direct effect], (2) use of high-albedo roofing material on the building [direct effect], (3) urban reforestation with high-albedo pavements and building surfaces [indirect effect] and (4) combined strategies 1, 2, and 3 [direct and indirect effects]. We then estimated the total roof area of air

  5. [Child health. Revolution in health care can save millions].

    PubMed

    1983-02-09

    The conclusions of the 1982-83 UNICEF report on the world's children are summarized. Improved diarrhea treatment, better vaccines, a halt to formula-feeding, and the fight against the invisible problem of malnutrition could save 20,000 children per day. If no measures are taken, a 30% increase in the number of undernourished and sick children could result by the turn of the century. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is vital to combatting diarrhea, which claims the lives of 5 million children per year. ORT can be done at home by letting the child drink a mixture of sugar and salt in water. The distribution of cheap ORT salt packages should be promoted. A new, heat-resistant measles vaccine, requiring only cold storage instead of freezing, could save 1.5 million children who die of measles annually. In 35 countries, a campaign against the use and sale of baby formulas could also save scores of children who die from undernourishment or infections from unclean bottles. Breast-feeding should be encouraged. In the fight against malnutrition, a child development chart indicating normal growth phases should be used to alert mothers to slow development. In 60% of the malnutrition cases in the Philippines, mothers were not aware of the condition. In an experiment in Indonesia, 15,000 village mothers regularly weigh their children on open-market scales and record the results. The organizational input for this is relatively small, but could result in decreasing malnutrition and child mortality by 1/2 by the end of the century. In addition, there are indications that a decline in child mortality correlates with a decrease in birth rate. Paradoxically, saving 6-7 million children could prevent the birth of 12-20 million children per year.

  6. Health, Health Inequality, and Cost Impacts of Annual Increases in Tobacco Tax: Multistate Life Table Modeling in New Zealand

    PubMed Central

    Blakely, Tony; Cobiac, Linda J.; Cleghorn, Christine L.; Pearson, Amber L.; van der Deen, Frederieke S.; Kvizhinadze, Giorgi; Nghiem, Nhung; McLeod, Melissa; Wilson, Nick

    2015-01-01

    Background Countries are increasingly considering how to reduce or even end tobacco consumption, and raising tobacco taxes is a potential strategy to achieve these goals. We estimated the impacts on health, health inequalities, and health system costs of ongoing tobacco tax increases (10% annually from 2011 to 2031, compared to no tax increases from 2011 [“business as usual,” BAU]), in a country (New Zealand) with large ethnic inequalities in smoking-related and noncommunicable disease (NCD) burden. Methods and Findings We modeled 16 tobacco-related diseases in parallel, using rich national data by sex, age, and ethnicity, to estimate undiscounted quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained and net health system costs over the remaining life of the 2011 population (n = 4.4 million). A total of 260,000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 155,000–419,000) QALYs were gained among the 2011 cohort exposed to annual tobacco tax increases, compared to BAU, and cost savings were US$2,550 million (95% UI: US$1,480 to US$4,000). QALY gains and cost savings took 50 y to peak, owing to such factors as the price sensitivity of youth and young adult smokers. The QALY gains per capita were 3.7 times greater for Māori (indigenous population) compared to non-Māori because of higher background smoking prevalence and price sensitivity in Māori. Health inequalities measured by differences in 45+ y-old standardized mortality rates between Māori and non-Māori were projected to be 2.31% (95% UI: 1.49% to 3.41%) less in 2041 with ongoing tax rises, compared to BAU. Percentage reductions in inequalities in 2041 were maximal for 45–64-y-old women (3.01%). As with all such modeling, there were limitations pertaining to the model structure and input parameters. Conclusions Ongoing tobacco tax increases deliver sizeable health gains and health sector cost savings and are likely to reduce health inequalities. However, if policy makers are to achieve more rapid reductions in the NCD

  7. Health, Health Inequality, and Cost Impacts of Annual Increases in Tobacco Tax: Multistate Life Table Modeling in New Zealand.

    PubMed

    Blakely, Tony; Cobiac, Linda J; Cleghorn, Christine L; Pearson, Amber L; van der Deen, Frederieke S; Kvizhinadze, Giorgi; Nghiem, Nhung; McLeod, Melissa; Wilson, Nick

    2015-07-01

    Countries are increasingly considering how to reduce or even end tobacco consumption, and raising tobacco taxes is a potential strategy to achieve these goals. We estimated the impacts on health, health inequalities, and health system costs of ongoing tobacco tax increases (10% annually from 2011 to 2031, compared to no tax increases from 2011 ["business as usual," BAU]), in a country (New Zealand) with large ethnic inequalities in smoking-related and noncommunicable disease (NCD) burden. We modeled 16 tobacco-related diseases in parallel, using rich national data by sex, age, and ethnicity, to estimate undiscounted quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained and net health system costs over the remaining life of the 2011 population (n = 4.4 million). A total of 260,000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 155,000-419,000) QALYs were gained among the 2011 cohort exposed to annual tobacco tax increases, compared to BAU, and cost savings were US$2,550 million (95% UI: US$1,480 to US$4,000). QALY gains and cost savings took 50 y to peak, owing to such factors as the price sensitivity of youth and young adult smokers. The QALY gains per capita were 3.7 times greater for Māori (indigenous population) compared to non-Māori because of higher background smoking prevalence and price sensitivity in Māori. Health inequalities measured by differences in 45+ y-old standardized mortality rates between Māori and non-Māori were projected to be 2.31% (95% UI: 1.49% to 3.41%) less in 2041 with ongoing tax rises, compared to BAU. Percentage reductions in inequalities in 2041 were maximal for 45-64-y-old women (3.01%). As with all such modeling, there were limitations pertaining to the model structure and input parameters. Ongoing tobacco tax increases deliver sizeable health gains and health sector cost savings and are likely to reduce health inequalities. However, if policy makers are to achieve more rapid reductions in the NCD burden and health inequalities, they will also need to

  8. Minnesota Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2009 and 2012 IECC as Compared to the Minnesota Residential Energy Code

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-04-01

    The 2009 and 2012 International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC) yield positive benefits for Minnesota homeowners. Moving to either the 2009 or 2012 IECC from the current Minnesota Residential Energy Code is cost effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Minnesota homeowners will save $1,277 over 30 years under the 2009 IECC, with savings still higher at $9,873 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceed cumulative cash outlays) in 3 years for the 2009 IECC and 1 year for themore » 2012 IECC. Average annual energy savings are $122 for the 2009 IECC and $669 for the 2012 IECC.« less

  9. Wisconsin Energy and Cost Savings for New Single- and Multifamily Homes: 2009 and 2012 IECC as Compared to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Robert G.; Taylor, Zachary T.; Mendon, Vrushali V.

    2012-04-01

    The 2009 and 2012 International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC) yield positive benefits for Wisconsin homeowners. Moving to either the 2009 or 2012 IECC from the current Wisconsin state code is cost effective over a 30-year life cycle. On average, Wisconsin homeowners will save $2,484 over 30 years under the 2009 IECC, with savings still higher at $10,733 with the 2012 IECC. After accounting for upfront costs and additional costs financed in the mortgage, homeowners should see net positive cash flows (i.e., cumulative savings exceeding cumulative cash outlays) in 1 year for both the 2009 and 2012 IECC. Average annual energymore » savings are $149 for the 2009 IECC and $672 for the 2012 IECC.« less

  10. St. Michael's Improvement Program - A Collaborative Approach to Sustainable Cost Savings.

    PubMed

    Trafford, Anne; Jane, Danielle

    2017-01-01

    In response to a challenging financial environment and increasing patient demand, St. Michael's Hospital needed to find long-term sustainable solutions to continue to provide high-quality patient care and invest in key priorities. By conducting Operational Reviews in focused areas, the hospital achieved $7.4 million of in-year savings in the first year, found standardizations, process efficiencies and direct cost savings that positioned itself for success in future funding models. Initiatives were grounded in evidence and relied heavily on the effective execution by the leadership, front-line staff and physicians. As organizations face similar challenges, this journey can provide key learnings.

  11. Carbon and Energy Saving Financial Opportunities in the Industrial Compressed Air Sector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vittorini, Diego; Cipollone, Roberto

    2017-08-01

    The transition towards a more sustainable energy scenario calls for both medium-to-long and short term interventions, with CO2 reduction and fossil fuel saving as main goals for all the Countries in the World. Among all others, one way to support these efforts is the setting-up of immaterial markets able to regulate, in the form of purchase and sales quotas, CO2 emissions avoided and fossil fuels not consumed. As a consequence, the upgrade of those sectors, characterized by high energy impact, is currently more than an option due to the related achievable financial advantage on the afore mentioned markets. Being responsible for about 10% electricity consumption in Industry, the compressed air sector is currently addressed as extremely appealing, when CO2 emissions and burned fossil fuels saving are in question. In the paper, once a standard is defined for compressors performances, based on data from the Compressed Air and Gas Institute and PNEUROP, the achievable energy saving is evaluated along with the effect in terms of CO2 emissions: with reference to those contexts in which mature intangible markets are established, an estimation of the financial benefit from savings sale on correspondent markets is possible, in terms of both avoided CO2 and fossil fuels not burned. The approach adopted allows to extend the analysis results to every context of interest, by applying the appropriate emission factor to the datum on compressor specific consumption.

  12. Achieving universal health coverage goals in Thailand: the vital role of strategic purchasing.

    PubMed

    Tangcharoensathien, Viroj; Limwattananon, Supon; Patcharanarumol, Walaiporn; Thammatacharee, Jadej; Jongudomsuk, Pongpisut; Sirilak, Supakit

    2015-11-01

    Strategic purchasing is one of the key policy instruments to achieve the universal health coverage (UHC) goals of improved and equitable access and financial risk protection. Given favourable outcomes of Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), this study synthesized strategic purchasing experiences in the National Health Security Office (NHSO) responsible for the UCS in contributing to achieving UHC goals. The UCS applied the purchaser-provider split concept where NHSO, as a purchaser, is in a good position to enforce accountability by public and private providers to the UCS beneficiaries, through active purchasing. A comprehensive benefit package resulted in high level of financial risk protection as reflected by low incidence of catastrophic health spending and impoverished households. The NHSO contracted the District Health System (DHS) network, to provide outpatient, health promotion and disease prevention services to the whole district population, based on an annual age-adjusted capitation payment. In most cases, the DHS was the only provider in a district without competitors. Geographical monopoly hampered the NHSO to introduce a competitive contractual agreement, but a durable, mutually dependent relationship based on trust was gradually evolved, while accreditation is an important channel for quality improvement. Strategic purchasing services from DHS achieved a pro-poor utilization due to geographical proximity, where travel time and costs were minimal. Inpatient services paid by Diagnostic Related Group within a global budget ceiling, which is estimated based on unit costs, admission rates and admission profiles, contained cost effectively. To prevent potential under-provisions of the services, some high cost interventions were unbundled from closed end payment and paid on an agreed fee schedule. Executing monopsonistic purchasing power by NHSO brought down price of services given assured quality. Cost saving resulted in more patients served within a finite

  13. Achieving universal health coverage goals in Thailand: the vital role of strategic purchasing

    PubMed Central

    Tangcharoensathien, Viroj; Limwattananon, Supon; Patcharanarumol, Walaiporn; Thammatacharee, Jadej; Jongudomsuk, Pongpisut; Sirilak, Supakit

    2015-01-01

    Strategic purchasing is one of the key policy instruments to achieve the universal health coverage (UHC) goals of improved and equitable access and financial risk protection. Given favourable outcomes of Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), this study synthesized strategic purchasing experiences in the National Health Security Office (NHSO) responsible for the UCS in contributing to achieving UHC goals. The UCS applied the purchaser–provider split concept where NHSO, as a purchaser, is in a good position to enforce accountability by public and private providers to the UCS beneficiaries, through active purchasing. A comprehensive benefit package resulted in high level of financial risk protection as reflected by low incidence of catastrophic health spending and impoverished households. The NHSO contracted the District Health System (DHS) network, to provide outpatient, health promotion and disease prevention services to the whole district population, based on an annual age-adjusted capitation payment. In most cases, the DHS was the only provider in a district without competitors. Geographical monopoly hampered the NHSO to introduce a competitive contractual agreement, but a durable, mutually dependent relationship based on trust was gradually evolved, while accreditation is an important channel for quality improvement. Strategic purchasing services from DHS achieved a pro-poor utilization due to geographical proximity, where travel time and costs were minimal. Inpatient services paid by Diagnostic Related Group within a global budget ceiling, which is estimated based on unit costs, admission rates and admission profiles, contained cost effectively. To prevent potential under-provisions of the services, some high cost interventions were unbundled from closed end payment and paid on an agreed fee schedule. Executing monopsonistic purchasing power by NHSO brought down price of services given assured quality. Cost saving resulted in more patients served within a finite

  14. Modeling health gains and cost savings for ten dietary salt reduction targets.

    PubMed

    Wilson, Nick; Nghiem, Nhung; Eyles, Helen; Mhurchu, Cliona Ni; Shields, Emma; Cobiac, Linda J; Cleghorn, Christine L; Blakely, Tony

    2016-04-26

    Dietary salt reduction is included in the top five priority actions for non-communicable disease control internationally. We therefore aimed to identify health gain and cost impacts of achieving a national target for sodium reduction, along with component targets in different food groups. We used an established dietary sodium intervention model to study 10 interventions to achieve sodium reduction targets. The 2011 New Zealand (NZ) adult population (2.3 million aged 35+ years) was simulated over the remainder of their lifetime in a Markov model with a 3 % discount rate. Achieving an overall 35 % reduction in dietary salt intake via implementation of mandatory maximum levels of sodium in packaged foods along with reduced sodium from fast foods/restaurant food and discretionary intake (the "full target"), was estimated to gain 235,000 QALYs over the lifetime of the cohort (95 % uncertainty interval [UI]: 176,000 to 298,000). For specific target components the range was from 122,000 QALYs gained (for the packaged foods target) down to the snack foods target (6100 QALYs; and representing a 34-48 % sodium reduction in such products). All ten target interventions studied were cost-saving, with the greatest costs saved for the mandatory "full target" at NZ$1260 million (US$820 million). There were relatively greater health gains per adult for men and for Māori (indigenous population). This work provides modeling-level evidence that achieving dietary sodium reduction targets (including specific food category targets) could generate large health gains and cost savings for a national health sector. Demographic groups with the highest cardiovascular disease rates stand to gain most, assisting in reducing health inequalities between sex and ethnic groups.

  15. Solid oral forms availability in children: a cost saving investigation

    PubMed Central

    Lajoinie, Audrey; Henin, Emilie; Kassai, Behrouz; Terry, David

    2014-01-01

    Aim To assess the suitability and potential cost savings, from both the hospital and community perspective, of prescribed oral liquid medicine substitution with acceptable solid forms for children over 2 years. Method Oral liquid medicines dispensed from a paediatric hospital (UK) in 1 week were assessed by screening for existence of the solid form alternative and evaluating the acceptability of the available solid form, firstly related to the prescribed dose and secondly to acceptable size depending on the child's age. Costs were calculated based on providing treatment for 28 days or prescribed duration for short term treatments. Results Over 90% (440/476) of liquid formulations were available as a marketed solid form. Considering dosage acceptability (maximum of 10% deviation from prescribed dosage or 0% for narrow therapeutic range drugs, maximum tablet divisions into quarters) 80% of liquids could be substituted with a solid form. The main limitation for liquid substitution would be solid form size. However, two-thirds of prescribed liquids could have been substituted with a suitable solid form for dosage and size, with estimated savings being of £5K and £8K in 1 week, respectively based on hospital and community costs, corresponding to a projected annual saving of £238K and £410K (single institution). Conclusion Whilst not all children over 2 years will be able to swallow tablets, drug cost savings if oral liquid formulations were substituted with suitable solid dosage forms would be considerable. Given the numerous advantages of solid forms compared with liquids, this study may provide a theoretical basis for investing in supporting children to swallow tablets/capsules. PMID:24965935

  16. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens: 28th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    This report details the 28th annual study to examine the attitudes of student leaders in U.S. high schools. Participating in the survey were 3,210 adolescents, primarily 16- and 17-year-olds, who had been featured in the 1997 edition of "Who's Who Among American High School Students." The report presents demographic information on the…

  17. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens: 27th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    This report details the 27th annual study to examine the attitudes of student leaders in U.S. high schools. Participating in the survey were 3,370 adolescents, primarily 16- and 17-year-olds, who had been featured in the 1996 edition of "Who's Who Among American High School Students." The report presents demographic information on the survey…

  18. Achieving waste to energy through sewage sludge gasification using hot slags: syngas production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Yongqi; Nakano, Jinichiro; Liu, Lili; Wang, Xidong; Zhang, Zuotai

    2015-06-01

    To relieve the environmental issues of sewage sludge (SS) disposal and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in China, we proposed an integrated method for the first time to simultaneously deal with these two problems. The hot slags below 920 °C could act as a good heat carrier for sludge gasification and the increasing CO2 concentration in CO2/O2 atmospheres enhanced the production of CO and H2 at 400-800 °C. Three stages of syngas release were clearly identified by Gaussian fittings, i.e., volatile release, char transformation and fixed carbon reaction. Additionally, the effect of sulfur retention of slags and the synergy effect of the stabilization of toxic elements in the solid residuals were discovered in this study. Furthermore, a novel prototype of multiple industrial and urban systems was put forward, in which the produced CO + H2 could be utilized for direct reduced iron (DRI) production and the solid residuals of sludge ash and glassy slags would be applied as cementitious materials. For a steel plant with an annual production of crude steel of 10 million tons in China, the total annual energy saving and GHG emission reduction achieved are 3.31*105 tons of standard coal and 1.74*106 tons of CO2, respectively.

  19. 12 CFR 583.21 - Savings association.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... AFFECTING SAVINGS AND LOAN HOLDING COMPANIES § 583.21 Savings association. The term savings association means a Federal savings and loan association or a Federal savings bank chartered under section 5 of the Home Owners' Loan Act, a building and loan, savings and loan or homestead association or a cooperative...

  20. Adapting livestock behaviour to achieve management goals

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Using livestock to efficiently achieve management goals requires melding animal behavior with mechanical and electronic equipment. Practices such as autonomously obtaining individual animal liveweight when combined with individual animal electronic identification can produce numerous cost saving ad...

  1. Financial Impact of Cancer Drug Wastage and Potential Cost Savings From Mitigation Strategies.

    PubMed

    Leung, Caitlyn Y W; Cheung, Matthew C; Charbonneau, Lauren F; Prica, Anca; Ng, Pamela; Chan, Kelvin K W

    2017-07-01

    Cancer drug wastage occurs when a parenteral drug within a fixed vial is not administered fully to a patient. This study investigated the extent of drug wastage, the financial impact on the hospital budget, and the cost savings associated with current mitigation strategies. We conducted a cross-sectional study in three University of Toronto-affiliated hospitals of various sizes. We recorded the actual amount of drug wasted over a 2-week period while using current mitigation strategies. Single-dose vial cancer drugs with the highest wastage potentials were identified (14 drugs). To calculate the hypothetical drug wastage with no mitigation strategies, we determined how many vials of drugs would be needed to fill a single prescription. The total drug costs over the 2 weeks ranged from $50,257 to $716,983 in the three institutions. With existing mitigation strategies, the actual drug wastage over the 2 weeks ranged from $928 to $5,472, which was approximately 1% to 2% of the total drug costs. In the hypothetical model with no mitigation strategies implemented, the projected drug cost wastage would have been $11,232 to $149,131, which accounted for 16% to 18% of the total drug costs. As a result, the potential annual savings while using current mitigation strategies range from 15% to 17%. The financial impact of drug wastage is substantial. Mitigation strategies lead to substantial cost savings, with the opportunity to reinvest those savings. More research is needed to determine the appropriate methods to minimize risk to patients while using the cost-saving mitigation strategies.

  2. Evaluating the potential for secondary mass savings in vehicle lightweighting.

    PubMed

    Alonso, Elisa; Lee, Theresa M; Bjelkengren, Catarina; Roth, Richard; Kirchain, Randolph E

    2012-03-06

    Secondary mass savings are mass reductions that may be achieved in supporting (load-bearing) vehicle parts when the gross vehicle mass (GVM) is reduced. Mass decompounding is the process by which it is possible to identify further reductions when secondary mass savings result in further reduction of GVM. Maximizing secondary mass savings (SMS) is a key tool for maximizing vehicle fuel economy. In today's industry, the most complex parts, which require significant design detail (and cost), are designed first and frozen while the rest of the development process progresses. This paper presents a tool for estimating SMS potential early in the design process and shows how use of the tool to set SMS targets early, before subsystems become locked in, maximizes mass savings. The potential for SMS in current passenger vehicles is estimated with an empirical model using engineering analysis of vehicle components to determine mass-dependency. Identified mass-dependent components are grouped into subsystems, and linear regression is performed on subsystem mass as a function of GVM. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed to determine the mean and 5th and 95th percentiles for the SMS potential per kilogram of primary mass saved. The model projects that the mean theoretical secondary mass savings potential is 0.95 kg for every 1 kg of primary mass saved, with the 5th percentile at 0.77 kg/kg when all components are available for redesign. The model was used to explore an alternative scenario where realistic manufacturing and design limitations were implemented. In this case study, four key subsystems (of 13 total) were locked-in and this reduced the SMS potential to a mean of 0.12 kg/kg with a 5th percentile of 0.1 kg/kg. Clearly, to maximize the impact of mass reduction, targets need to be established before subsystems become locked in.

  3. How America Saves for College, 2013. Sallie Mae's National Study of Parents with Children under Age 18

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sallie Mae, Inc., 2013

    2013-01-01

    Sallie Mae has conducted an ongoing study, "How America Pays for College," annually since 2008. Through that study, the researchers are able to provide a clearer picture of how the typical American undergraduate is paying for college today. This report is the third in the "How America Saves for College" series conducted since 2009. Interviews took…

  4. Potential unintended pregnancies averted and cost savings associated with a revised Medicaid sterilization policy

    PubMed Central

    Borrero, Sonya; Zite, Nikki; Potter, Joseph E.; Trussell, James; Smith, Kenneth

    2013-01-01

    Objective Medicaid sterilization policy, which includes a mandatory 30-day waiting period between consent and the sterilization procedure, poses significant logistical barriers for many women who desire publicly-funded sterilization. Our goal was to estimate the number of unintended pregnancies and the associated costs resulting from unfulfilled sterilization requests due to Medicaid policy barriers. Study design We constructed a cost effectiveness model from the health care payer perspective to determine the incremental cost over a 1-year time horizon of the current Medicaid sterilization policy compared to a hypothetical, revised policy in which women who desire a post-partum sterilization would face significantly reduced barriers. Probability estimates for potential outcomes in the model were based on published sources; costs of Medicaid-funded sterilizations and Medicaid-covered births were based on data from the Medicaid Statistical Information System and The Guttmacher Institute, respectively. Results With the implementation of a revised Medicaid sterilization policy, we estimated that the number of fulfilled sterilization requests would increase by 45%, from 53.3% of all women having their sterilization requests fulfilled to 77.5%. Annually, this increase could potentially lead to over 29,000 unintended pregnancies averted and $215 million saved. Conclusion A revised Medicaid sterilization policy could potentially honor women's reproductive decisions, reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, and save a significant amount of public funds. Implication Compared to the current federal Medicaid sterilization policy, a hypothetical, revised policy that reduces logistical barriers for women who desire publicly-funded, post-partum sterilization could potentially avert over 29,000 unintended pregnancies annually and therefore lead to a cost savings of $215 million each year. PMID:24028751

  5. Implementation of an optical diagnosis strategy saves costs and does not impair clinical outcomes of a fecal immunochemical test-based colorectal cancer screening program.

    PubMed

    Vleugels, Jasper L A; Greuter, Marjolein J E; Hazewinkel, Yark; Coupé, Veerle M H; Dekker, Evelien

    2017-12-01

     In an optical diagnosis strategy, diminutive polyps that are endoscopically characterized with high confidence are removed without histopathological analysis and distal hyperplastic polyps are left in situ. We evaluated the effectiveness and costs of optical diagnosis.  Using the Adenoma and Serrated pathway to Colorectal CAncer (ASCCA) model, we simulated biennial fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening in individuals aged 55 - 75 years. In this program, we compared an optical diagnosis strategy with current histopathology assessment of all diminutive polyps. Base-case assumptions included 76 % high-confidence predictions and sensitivities of 88 %, 91 %, and 88 % for endoscopically characterizing adenomas, sessile serrated polyps, and hyperplastic polyps, respectively. Outcomes were colorectal cancer burden, number of colonoscopies, life-years, and costs.  Both the histopathology strategy and the optical diagnosis strategy resulted in 21 life-days gained per simulated individual compared with no screening. For optical diagnosis, €6 per individual was saved compared with the current histopathology strategy. These cost savings were related to a 31 % reduction in colonoscopies in which histopathology was needed for diminutive polyps. Projecting these results onto the Netherlands (17 million inhabitants), assuming a fully implemented FIT-based screening program, resulted in an annual undiscounted cost saving of € 1.7 - 2.2 million for optical diagnosis.  Implementation of optical diagnosis in a FIT-based screening program saves costs without decreasing program effectiveness when compared with current histopathology analysis of all diminutive polyps. Further work is required to evaluate how endoscopists participating in a screening program should be trained, audited, and monitored to achieve adequate competence in optical diagnosis.

  6. Energy conservation and money savings through the use of diesel-powered trucks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-01-01

    This report presents an analysis of the potential energy and money savings to be achieved from the increased use of class 7, diesel-powered, 4-yard dump trucks by the Department. The technical differences between diesel and gasoline power plants are ...

  7. Energy-saving EPON Bandwidth Allocation Algorithm Supporting ONU's Sleep Mode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Yinfa; Ren, Shuai; Liao, Xiaomin; Fang, Yuanyuan

    2014-09-01

    A new bandwidth allocation algorithm was presented by combining merits of the IPACT algorithm and the cyclic DBA algorithm based on the DBA algorithm for ONU's sleep mode. Simulation results indicate that compared with the normal mode ONU, the ONU's sleep mode can save about 74% of energy. The new algorithm has a smaller average packet delay and queue length in the upstream direction. While in the downstream direction, the average packet delay of the new algorithm is less than polling cycle Tcycle and the average queue length is less than the product of Tcycle and the maximum link rate. The new algorithm achieves a better compromise between energy-saving and ensuring quality of service.

  8. Fuel saving and emissions cut through shore-side power concept for high-speed crafts at the red sea in egypt

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seddiek, Ibrahim S.; Mosleh, Mosaad A.; Banawan, Adel A.

    2013-12-01

    The progress of economic globalization, the rapid growth of international trade, and the maritime transportation has played an increasingly significant role in the international supply chain. As a result, worldwide seaports have suffered from a central problem, which appears in the form of massive amounts of fuel consumed and exhaust gas fumes emitted from the ships while berthed. Many ports have taken the necessary precautions to overcome this problem, while others still suffer due to the presence of technical and financial constraints. In this paper, the barriers, interconnection standards, rules, regulations, power sources, and economic and environmental analysis related to ships, shore-side power were studied in efforts to find a solution to overcome his problem. As a case study, this paper investigates the practicability, costs and benefits of switching from onboard ship auxiliary engines to shore-side power connection for high-speed crafts called Alkahera while berthed at the port of Safaga, Egypt. The results provide the national electricity grid concept as the best economical selection with 49.03 percent of annual cost saving. Moreover, environmentally, it could achieve an annual reduction in exhaust gas emissions of CO2, CO, NO x , P.M, and SO2 by 276, 2.32, 18.87, 0.825 and 3.84 tons, respectively.

  9. Measured energy savings and performance of power-managed personal computers and monitors

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nordman, B.; Piette, M.A.; Kinney, K.

    1996-08-01

    Personal computers and monitors are estimated to use 14 billion kWh/year of electricity, with power management potentially saving $600 million/year by the year 2000. The effort to capture these savings is lead by the US Environmental Protection Agency`s Energy Star program, which specifies a 30W maximum demand for the computer and for the monitor when in a {open_quote}sleep{close_quote} or idle mode. In this paper the authors discuss measured energy use and estimated savings for power-managed (Energy Star compliant) PCs and monitors. They collected electricity use measurements of six power-managed PCs and monitors in their office and five from two othermore » research projects. The devices are diverse in machine type, use patterns, and context. The analysis method estimates the time spent in each system operating mode (off, low-, and full-power) and combines these with real power measurements to derive hours of use per mode, energy use, and energy savings. Three schedules are explored in the {open_quotes}As-operated,{close_quotes} {open_quotes}Standardized,{close_quotes} and `Maximum` savings estimates. Energy savings are established by comparing the measurements to a baseline with power management disabled. As-operated energy savings for the eleven PCs and monitors ranged from zero to 75 kWh/year. Under the standard operating schedule (on 20% of nights and weekends), the savings are about 200 kWh/year. An audit of power management features and configurations for several dozen Energy Star machines found only 11% of CPU`s fully enabled and about two thirds of monitors were successfully power managed. The highest priority for greater power management savings is to enable monitors, as opposed to CPU`s, since they are generally easier to configure, less likely to interfere with system operation, and have greater savings. The difficulties in properly configuring PCs and monitors is the largest current barrier to achieving the savings potential from power management.« less

  10. Solar Air Collectors: How Much Can You Save?

    DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

    Newburn, J. D.

    1985-04-01

    A collector efficiency curve is used to determine the output of solar air collectors based on the testing of seven solar collectors sold in Iowa. In this application the solar heater is being used as a space heater for a house. The performance of the solar air heater was analyzed and an 8% savings in energy was achieved over a one year period using two 4 x 8 collectors in a typical house.

  11. Assessment of China's Energy-Saving and Emission-Reduction Accomplishments and Opportunities During the 11th Five Year Plan

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Levine, Mark D.; Price, Lynn; Zhou, Nan

    2010-04-28

    During the period 1980 to 2002, China experienced a 5% average annual reduction in energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP). The period 2002-2005 saw a dramatic reversal of the historic relationship between energy use and GDP growth: energy use per unit of GDP increased an average of 3.8% per year during this period (NBS, various years). China's 11th Five Year Plan (FYP), which covers the period 2006-2010, required all government divisions at different levels to reduce energy intensity by 20% in five years in order to regain the relationship between energy and GDP growth experienced during themore » 1980s and 1990s. This report provides an assessment of selected policies and programs that China has instituted in its quest to fulfill the national goal of a 20% reduction in energy intensity by 2010. The report finds that China has made substantial progress toward its goal of achieving 20% energy intensity reduction from 2006 to 2010 and that many of the energy-efficiency programs implemented during the 11th FYP in support of China's 20% energy/GDP reduction goal appear to be on track to meet - or in some cases even exceed - their energy-saving targets. It appears that most of the Ten Key Projects, the Top-1000 Program, and the Small Plant Closure Program are on track to meet or surpass the 11th FYP savings goals. China's appliance standards and labeling program, which was established prior to the 11th FYP, has become very robust during the 11th FYP period. China has greatly enhanced its enforcement of new building energy standards but energy-efficiency programs for buildings retrofits, as well as the goal of adjusting China's economic structure to reduce the share of energy consumed by industry, do not appear to be on track to meet the stated goals. With the implementation of the 11th FYP now bearing fruit, it is important to maintain and strengthen the existing energy-saving policies and programs that are successful while revising programs or

  12. 45 CFR 2400.2 - Annual competition.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Annual competition. 2400.2 Section 2400.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) JAMES MADISON MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS General § 2400.2 Annual competition. To achieve its principal purposes, the...

  13. 45 CFR 2400.2 - Annual competition.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Annual competition. 2400.2 Section 2400.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) JAMES MADISON MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS General § 2400.2 Annual competition. To achieve its principal purposes, the...

  14. Save Energy: Save Money!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eccli, Eugene; And Others

    This publication is a collection of inexpensive energy saving tips and home improvements for home owners, particularly in low-income areas or in older homes. Section titles are: (1) Keeping Warm; (2) Getting Heat Where You Need It; (3) Using the Sun; (4) Furnaces, Stoves, and Fireplaces; (5) Insulation and Other Energy Needs; (6) Do-It-Yourself…

  15. Accelerating locomotor savings in learning: compressing four training days to one.

    PubMed

    Day, Kevin A; Leech, Kristan A; Roemmich, Ryan T; Bastian, Amy J

    2018-06-01

    Acquiring new movements requires the capacity of the nervous system to remember previously experienced motor patterns. The phenomenon of faster relearning after initial learning is termed "savings." Here we studied how savings of a novel walking pattern develops over several days of practice and how this process can be accelerated. We introduced participants to a split-belt treadmill adaptation paradigm for 30 min for 5 consecutive days. By training day 5, participants were able to produce near-perfect performance when switching between split and tied-belt environments. We found that this was due to their ability to shift specific elements of their stepping pattern to account for the split treadmill speeds from day to day. We also applied a state-space model to further characterize multiday locomotor savings. We then explored methods of achieving comparable savings with less total training time. We studied people training only on day 1, with either one extended split-belt exposure or alternating four times between split-belt and tied-belt conditions rapidly in succession. Both of these single-day training groups were tested again on day 5. Experiencing four abbreviated exposures on day 1 improved the performance on day 5 compared with one extended exposure on day 1. Moreover, this abbreviated group performed similarly to the group that trained for 4 consecutive days before testing on day 5, despite only having one-quarter of the total training time. These results demonstrate that we can leverage training structure to achieve a high degree of performance while minimizing training sessions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Learning a new movement requires repetition. Here, we demonstrate how to more efficiently train an adapted walking pattern. By compressing split-belt treadmill training delivered over 4 days to four abbreviated bouts of training delivered on the first day of training, we were able to induce equivalent savings over a 5-day span. These results suggest that we can

  16. Simplification and Saving

    PubMed Central

    Beshears, John; Choi, James J.; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C.

    2012-01-01

    The daunting complexity of important financial decisions can lead to procrastination. We evaluate a low-cost intervention that substantially simplifies the retirement savings plan participation decision. Individuals received an opportunity to enroll in a retirement savings plan at a pre-selected contribution rate and asset allocation, allowing them to collapse a multidimensional problem into a binary choice between the status quo and the pre-selected alternative. The intervention increases plan enrollment rates by 10 to 20 percentage points. We find that a similar intervention can be used to increase contribution rates among employees who are already participating in a savings plan. PMID:24443619

  17. 12 CFR 561.43 - Savings association.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ..., chartered under section 5 of the Act, or a building and loan, savings and loan, or homestead association, or... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Savings association. 561.43 Section 561.43... AFFECTING ALL SAVINGS ASSOCIATIONS § 561.43 Savings association. The term savings association means a...

  18. Savings Behavior and Satisfaction with Savings: A Comparison of Low- and High-Income Groups.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Elizabeth P.; Schumm, Walter R.

    1987-01-01

    Data on 1,739 married couples from 13 states were analyzed. Associations between satisfaction with savings and level of savings with measures of motivation to save, motivations to spend, and family resources were found to differ substantially between low- and high-income couples. (Author/CH)

  19. 12 CFR 575.10 - Acquisition and disposition of savings associations, savings and loan holding companies, and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... associations, savings and loan holding companies, and other corporations by mutual holding companies. 575.10... COMPANIES § 575.10 Acquisition and disposition of savings associations, savings and loan holding companies, and other corporations by mutual holding companies. (a) Acquisitions—(1) Stock savings associations. A...

  20. About "Save the Children Committee (India)".

    PubMed

    1996-01-01

    This article describes the activity among charitable committees to provide education and shelter to orphans and homeless children in India. "Save The Children Committee" of the All India Women's Conference began operations during the Bengal famine of 1943 by providing shelter to children who were homeless or did not know where their parents were. The Bengal Relief Committee also provided shelters, which later became Children's Homes, which were operated by the Save The Children Committee. Funding support for the homes came from individual donors and organizations. The Bengal government provided Rs.25/month/child for 450 children. Children's homes were set up in Phola, Mymensingh, and Brahmanberia, in the present day Bangladesh, and in Bankura. The Committee took over homes in Mahishadal, Khagda, and Belbeni. After 1948, the Children's Homes in East Pakistan were transferred to India. In 1952, several Children's Committees merged. Funds were supplied by international organizations. Government support levels varied over time. Schools for orphans changed from an emphasis on self-reliance and work to ordinary schooling. Brief descriptions are provided for homes at Pifa, Mangalgunge in Bongaon Subdivision, Thakurpukur in 24-Parganas, and Khagda in Midnapore district. For example, the home at Khagda was begun by the Bengal Relief Committee at the time of the famine of 1944. Save The Children Committee took over its operations in 1946. It is now a home for 21 boys. The boys have access to a good high school, have achieved academically, and received respect from the community.

  1. Office-like Test Chambers to Measure Cool Roof Energy Savings in Four Indian Climates

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Arumugam, Rathish; B, Sasank; T, Rajappa

    Selecting a high albedo (solar reflectance) waterproofing layer on the top of a roof helps lower the roof’s surface temperature and reduce the air conditioning energy consumption in the top floor of a building. The annual energy savings depend on factors including weather, internal loads, and building operation schedule. To demonstrate the energy saving potential of high albedo roofs, an apparatus consisting of two nearly identical test chambers (A and B) has been built in four Indian climates: Chennai (hot & humid), Bangalore (temperate), Jhagadia (Hot & dry) and Delhi (composite). Each chamber has well-insulated walls to mimic the coremore » of an office building. Both chambers have the same construction, equipment, and operating schedule, differing only in roof surface. The reinforced cement concrete roof of Chamber A is surfaced with a low-albedo cement layer, while that of Chamber B is surfaced with a high-albedo water proof membrane (change in solar reflectance of 0.28). The experiment will be carried out for one year to explore seasonal variations in energy savings. Initial results in the month of July (post summer) shows that savings from high albedo roof ranges from 0.04 kWh/m2/day in temperate climates, to 0.08 kWh/m2/day in hot & dry climate.« less

  2. Analyzing the effect of the longwave emissivity and solar reflectance of building envelopes on energy-saving in buildings in various climates

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shi, Zhiyang; Zhang, Xiong

    A dynamic computer simulation is carried out in the climates of 35 cities distributed around the world. The variation of the annual air-conditioning energy loads due to changes in the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance of the building envelopes is studied to find the most appropriate exterior building finishes in various climates (including a tropical climate, a subtropical climate, a mountain plateau climate, a frigid-temperate climate and a temperate climate). Both the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance are set from 0.1 to 0.9 with an interval of 0.1 in the simulation. The annual air-conditioning energy loads trends ofmore » each city are listed in a chart. The results show that both the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance of building envelopes play significant roles in energy-saving for buildings. In tropical climates, the optical parameters of the building exterior surface affect the building energy-saving most significantly. In the mountain plateau climates and the subarctic climates, the impacts on energy-saving in buildings due to changes in the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance are still considerable, but in the temperate continental climates and the temperate maritime climates, only limited effects are seen. (author)« less

  3. [Estimation of cost-saving for reducing radioactive waste from nuclear medicine facilities by implementing decay in storage (DIS) in Japan].

    PubMed

    Kida, Tetsuo; Hiraki, Hitoshi; Yamaguchi, Ichirou; Fujibuchi, Toshioh; Watanabe, Hiroshi

    2012-01-01

    DIS has not yet been implemented in Japan as of 2011. Therefore, even if risk was negligible, medical institutions have to entrust radioactive temporal waste disposal to Japan Radio Isotopes Association (JRIA) in the current situation. To decide whether DIS should be implemented in Japan or not, cost-saving effect of DIS was estimated by comparing the cost that nuclear medical facilities pay. By implementing DIS, the total annual cost for all nuclear medical facilities in Japan is estimated to be decreased to 30 million yen or less from 710 million yen. DIS would save 680 million yen (96%) per year.

  4. Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now. 2006-2007 Annual Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ConnCAN, 2007

    2007-01-01

    In January 2005, leaders from Connecticut's business, higher education and civic communities came together to create the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN): a nonprofit organization designed to be a catalyst for the fundamental changes needed to move Connecticut from having the largest to having the smallest achievement gap in the…

  5. Analysis of energy-saving potential in residential buildings in Xiamen City and its policy implications for southern China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Fei

    The buildings sector is the largest energy-consuming sector in the world. Residential buildings consume about three-quarters of the final energy in the buildings sector. Promoting residential energy savings is in consequence critical for addressing many energy-use-related environmental challenges, such as climate change and air pollution. Given China's robust economic growth and fast urbanization, it is now a critical time to develop policy interventions on residential energy use in the nation. With this as a background, this dissertation explores effective policy intervention opportunities in southern China through analyzing the residential energy-saving potential, using the city of Xiamen as a case study. Four types of residential energy-saving potential are analyzed: technical potential, economic potential, maximum achievable potential (MAP), and possible achievable potential (PAP). Of these, the first two types are characterized as static theoretical evaluation, while the last two represent dynamic evaluation within a certain time horizon. The achievable potential analyses are rarely seen in existing literature. The analytical results reveal that there exists a significant technical potential for residential energy savings of about 20.9-24.9% in the city of Xiamen. Of the technical potential, about two-thirds to four-fifths are cost-effective from the government or society perspective. The cost-effectiveness is evaluated by comparing the "Levelized Cost of Conserved Energy (LCOCE)" of available advanced technical measures with the "Actual Cost" of conserved energy. The "Actual Cost" of energy is defined by adding the environmental externalities costs and hidden government subsidies over the retail prices of energy. The achievable potential analyses are particularly based on two key realistic factors: 1) the gradual ramping-up adoption process of advanced technical measures; and 2) individuals' adoption-decision making on them. For implementing the achievable

  6. Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Large Hospitals - 50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bonnema, E.; Leach, M.; Pless, S.

    2013-06-01

    This Technical Support Document describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Large Hospitals: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net Zero Energy Building (AEDG-LH) ASHRAE et al. (2011b). The AEDG-LH is intended to provide recommendations for achieving 50% whole-building energy savings in large hospitals over levels achieved by following Standard 90.1-2004. The AEDG-LH was created for a 'standard' mid- to large-size hospital, typically at least 100,000 ft2, but the strategies apply to all sizes and classifications of new construction hospital buildings. Its primary focus is new construction, but recommendations may be applicablemore » to facilities undergoing total renovation, and in part to many other hospital renovation, addition, remodeling, and modernization projects (including changes to one or more systems in existing buildings).« less

  7. Energy Saving in DC Electric Railways by Battery Substation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sugimoto, Takeshi

    New rolling vehicles used in dc electric railways are of the regenerative type. At less busy time a part of regenerative power is not used for powering vehicles, and canceled by changed air brake. Recently, significant attention has been paid to the development of secondary batteries for hybrid and electric motorcars. The use of this battery enables reduction in electric power consumption. Because we can charge excess regenerative power and use for powering vehicles after. Before the fact we compared the actual and simulated effective coefficient of regenerative energy, we confirmed the suitability of the simulation model. In this simulation, we studied the energy-saving effect of the battery substations and determined the battery capacity at which maximum power saving is achieved. We found that the power consumption could be reduced remarkably by using a 15-20kWh battery substation.

  8. Cost-of-illness analysis reveals potential healthcare savings with reductions in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease following recommended intakes of dietary fiber in Canada

    PubMed Central

    Abdullah, Mohammad M. H.; Gyles, Collin L.; Marinangeli, Christopher P. F.; Carlberg, Jared G.; Jones, Peter J. H.

    2015-01-01

    Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are leading causes of mortality and two of the most costly diet-related ailments worldwide. Consumption of fiber-rich diets has been repeatedly associated with favorable impacts on these co-epidemics, however, the healthcare cost-related economic value of altered dietary fiber intakes remains poorly understood. In this study, we estimated the annual cost savings accruing to the Canadian healthcare system in association with reductions in T2D and CVD rates, separately, following increased intakes of dietary fiber by adults. Methods: A three-step cost-of-illness analysis was conducted to identify the percentage of individuals expected to consume fiber-rich diets in Canada, estimate increased fiber intakes in relation to T2D and CVD reduction rates, and independently assess the potential annual savings in healthcare costs associated with the reductions in rates of these two epidemics. The economic model employed a sensitivity analysis of four scenarios (universal, optimistic, pessimistic, and very pessimistic) to cover a range of assumptions within each step. Results: Non-trivial healthcare and related savings of CAD$35.9-$718.8 million in T2D costs and CAD$64.8 million–$1.3 billion in CVD costs were calculated under a scenario where cereal fiber was used to increase current intakes of dietary fiber to the recommended levels of 38 g per day for men and 25 g per day for women. Each 1 g per day increase in fiber consumption resulted in annual CAD$2.6 to $51.1 million savings for T2D and $4.6 to $92.1 million savings for CVD. Conclusion: Findings of this analysis shed light on the economic value of optimal dietary fiber intakes. Strategies to increase consumers’ general knowledge of the recommended intakes of dietary fiber, as part of healthy diet, and to facilitate stakeholder synergy are warranted to enable better management of healthcare and related costs associated with T2D and CVD in Canada. PMID

  9. Cost-of-illness analysis reveals potential healthcare savings with reductions in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease following recommended intakes of dietary fiber in Canada.

    PubMed

    Abdullah, Mohammad M H; Gyles, Collin L; Marinangeli, Christopher P F; Carlberg, Jared G; Jones, Peter J H

    2015-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are leading causes of mortality and two of the most costly diet-related ailments worldwide. Consumption of fiber-rich diets has been repeatedly associated with favorable impacts on these co-epidemics, however, the healthcare cost-related economic value of altered dietary fiber intakes remains poorly understood. In this study, we estimated the annual cost savings accruing to the Canadian healthcare system in association with reductions in T2D and CVD rates, separately, following increased intakes of dietary fiber by adults. A three-step cost-of-illness analysis was conducted to identify the percentage of individuals expected to consume fiber-rich diets in Canada, estimate increased fiber intakes in relation to T2D and CVD reduction rates, and independently assess the potential annual savings in healthcare costs associated with the reductions in rates of these two epidemics. The economic model employed a sensitivity analysis of four scenarios (universal, optimistic, pessimistic, and very pessimistic) to cover a range of assumptions within each step. Non-trivial healthcare and related savings of CAD$35.9-$718.8 million in T2D costs and CAD$64.8 million-$1.3 billion in CVD costs were calculated under a scenario where cereal fiber was used to increase current intakes of dietary fiber to the recommended levels of 38 g per day for men and 25 g per day for women. Each 1 g per day increase in fiber consumption resulted in annual CAD$2.6 to $51.1 million savings for T2D and $4.6 to $92.1 million savings for CVD. Findings of this analysis shed light on the economic value of optimal dietary fiber intakes. Strategies to increase consumers' general knowledge of the recommended intakes of dietary fiber, as part of healthy diet, and to facilitate stakeholder synergy are warranted to enable better management of healthcare and related costs associated with T2D and CVD in Canada.

  10. Semuloparin for prevention of venous thromboembolism after major orthopedic surgery: results from three randomized clinical trials, SAVE-HIP1, SAVE-HIP2 and SAVE-KNEE.

    PubMed

    Lassen, M R; Fisher, W; Mouret, P; Agnelli, G; George, D; Kakkar, A; Mismetti, P; Turpie, A G G

    2012-05-01

    Semuloparin is a novel ultra-low-molecular-weight heparin under development for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention in patients at increased risk, such as surgical and cancer patients. Three Phase III studies compared semuloparin and enoxaparin after major orthopedic surgery: elective knee replacement (SAVE-KNEE), elective hip replacement (SAVE-HIP1) and hip fracture surgery (SAVE-HIP2). All studies were multinational, randomized and double-blind. Semuloparin and enoxaparin were administered for 7-10 days after surgery. Mandatory bilateral venography was to be performed between days 7 and 11. The primary efficacy endpoint was a composite of any deep vein thrombosis, non-fatal pulmonary embolism or all-cause death. Safety outcomes included major bleeding, clinically relevant non-major (CRNM) bleeding, and any clinically relevant bleeding (major bleeding plus CRNM). In total, 1150, 2326 and 1003 patients were randomized in SAVE-KNEE, SAVE-HIP1 and SAVE-HIP2, respectively. In all studies, the incidences of the primary efficacy endpoint were numerically lower in the semuloparin group vs. the enoxaparin group, but the difference was statistically significant only in SAVE-HIP1. In SAVE-HIP1, clinically relevant bleeding and major bleeding were significantly lower in the semuloparin vs. the enoxaparin group. In SAVE-KNEE and SAVE-HIP2, clinically relevant bleeding tended to be higher in the semuloparin group, but rates of major bleeding were similar in the two groups. Other safety parameters were generally similar between treatment groups. Semuloparin was superior to enoxaparin for VTE prevention after hip replacement surgery, but failed to demonstrate superiority after knee replacement surgery and hip fracture surgery. Semuloparin and enoxaparin exhibited generally similar safety profiles. © 2012 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

  11. Strategic planning for saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children and preventing stillbirths in KwaZulu-Natal province South Africa: modelling using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST).

    PubMed

    McGee, Shelley-Ann; Chola, Lumbwe; Tugendhaft, Aviva; Mubaiwa, Victoria; Moran, Neil; McKerrow, Neil; Kamugisha, Leonard; Hofman, Karen

    2016-01-19

    KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa has the largest population of children under the age of five and experiences the highest number of child births per annum in the country. Its population has also been ravaged by the dual epidemics of HIV and TB and it has struggled to meet targets for maternal and child mortality. In South Africa's federal system, provinces have decision-making power on the prioritization and allocation of resources within their jurisdiction. As part of strategic planning for 2015-2019, KwaZulu-Natal provincial authorities requested an assessment of current mortality levels in the province and identification and costing of priority interventions for saving additional maternal, newborn and child lives, as well as preventing stillbirths in the province. The Lives Saved Tool (LiST) was used to determine the set of interventions, which could save the most additional maternal and child lives and prevent stillbirths from 2015-2019, and the costs of these. The impact of family planning was assessed using two scenarios by increasing baseline coverage of modern contraception by 0.5 percentage points or 1 percentage point per annum. A total of 7,043 additional child and 297 additional maternal lives could be saved, and 2,000 stillbirths could be prevented over five years. Seventeen interventions account for 75% of additional lives saved. Increasing family planning contributes to a further reduction of up to 137 maternal and 3,168 child deaths. The set of priority interventions scaled up to achievable levels, with no increase in contraception would require an additional US$91 million over five years or US$1.72 per capita population per year. By increasing contraceptive prevalence by one percentage point per year, overall costs to scale up to achievable coverage package, decrease by US$24 million over five years. Focused attention on a set of key interventions could have a significant impact on averting stillbirths and maternal and neonatal mortality in

  12. A penny saved is ten dollars earned: fifteen ways to lower overhead and boost the bottom line.

    PubMed

    Pollock, Kim

    2013-01-01

    As expenses rise and reimbursements remain flat or decline, it's more important than ever to scrutinize practice expenditures on a regular basis. This article provides tips for evaluating individual line items on the profit and loss statement and identifying expenses that can be reduced without sacrificing quality of care or patient satisfaction. When aggregated, even seemingly small reductions add up to big annual savings.

  13. Antiretroviral treatment-based cost saving interventions may offset expenses for new patients and earlier treatment start.

    PubMed

    Angeletti, C; Pezzotti, P; Antinori, A; Mammone, A; Navarra, A; Orchi, N; Lorenzini, P; Mecozzi, A; Ammassari, A; Murachelli, S; Ippolito, G; Girardi, E

    2014-03-01

    Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has become the main driver of total costs of caring for persons living with HIV (PLHIV). The present study estimated the short/medium-term cost trends in response to the recent evolution of national guidelines and regional therapeutic protocols for cART in Italy. We developed a deterministic mathematical model that was calibrated using epidemic data for Lazio, a region located in central Italy with about six million inhabitants. In the Base Case Scenario, the estimated number of PLHIV in the Lazio region increased over the period 2012-2016 from 14 414 to 17 179. Over the same period, the average projected annual cost for treating the HIV-infected population was €147.0 million. An earlier cART initiation resulted in a rise of 2.3% in the average estimated annual cost, whereas an increase from 27% to 50% in the proportion of naïve subjects starting cART with a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based regimen resulted in a reduction of 0.3%. Simplification strategies based on NNRTIs co-formulated in a single tablet regimen and protease inhibitor/ritonavir-boosted monotherapy produced an overall reduction in average annual costs of 1.5%. A further average saving of 3.3% resulted from the introduction of generic antiretroviral drugs. In the medium term, cost saving interventions could finance the increase in costs resulting from the inertial growth in the number of patients requiring treatment and from the earlier treatment initiation recommended in recent guidelines. © 2013 British HIV Association.

  14. Achieving Energy Savings in Municipal Construction in Long Beach, CA

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Parrish, Kristen; Regnier, Cindy

    Long Beach Gas and Oil (LBGO), the public gas utility in Long Beach, California, partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to build a new, low-energy modular office building that is at least 50% below requirements set by Energy Standard 90.1-2007 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of America (IESNA) as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) program.3 The LBGO building, which demonstrates that modular construction can be very energy efficient, is expected to exceed the ASHRAEmore » baseline by about 45%. The new 15,000-square foot (ft2) LBGO office building has two stories and houses private offices, open-plan cubicle offices, and a conference room and call center on the second floor. The building’s modular nature allowed LBGO to realize the cost benefits of fasttracked construction while saving substantial energy and reducing operational costs. The project was funded by the utility’s ratepayer revenue, which imposed a tight budget limit. The design process was a collaborative effort involving LBGO and its design-build team, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and subcontractors Stantec (formerly Burt Hill) and LHB Inc. The team proposed efficiency measures based on computer modeling of the building in full compliance with ASHRAE 90.1-2007; in the modeled building, the lighting and cooling systems were the largest energy users, so increasing the efficiency of these systems was a top priority. Promising measures were modeled to estimate their energy performance, and each measure was evaluated for its feasibility within the budget.« less

  15. The influence of multiple goals on driving behavior: the case of safety, time saving, and fuel saving.

    PubMed

    Dogan, Ebru; Steg, Linda; Delhomme, Patricia

    2011-09-01

    Due to the innate complexity of the task drivers have to manage multiple goals while driving and the importance of certain goals may vary over time leading to priority being given to different goals depending on the circumstances. This study aimed to investigate drivers' behavioral regulation while managing multiple goals during driving. To do so participants drove on urban and rural roads in a driving simulator while trying to manage fuel saving and time saving goals, besides the safety goals that are always present during driving. A between-subjects design was used with one group of drivers managing two goals (safety and fuel saving) and another group managing three goals (safety, fuel saving, and time saving) while driving. Participants were provided continuous feedback on the fuel saving goal via a meter on the dashboard. The results indicate that even when a fuel saving or time saving goal is salient, safety goals are still given highest priority when interactions with other road users take place and when interacting with a traffic light. Additionally, performance on the fuel saving goal diminished for the group that had to manage fuel saving and time saving together. The theoretical implications for a goal hierarchy in driving tasks and practical implications for eco-driving are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Estimating customer electricity savings from projects installed by the U.S. ESCO industry

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Carvallo, Juan Pablo; Larsen, Peter H.; Goldman, Charles A.

    The U.S. energy service company (ESCO) industry has a well-established track record of delivering substantial energy and dollar savings in the public and institutional facilities sector, typically through the use of energy savings performance contracts (ESPC) (Larsen et al. 2012; Goldman et al. 2005; Hopper et al. 2005, Stuart et al. 2013). This ~$6.4 billion industry, which is expected to grow significantly over the next five years, may play an important role in achieving demand-side energy efficiency under local/state/federal environmental policy goals. To date, there has been little or no research in the public domain to estimate electricity savings formore » the entire U.S. ESCO industry. Estimating these savings levels is a foundational step in order to determine total avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from demand-side energy efficiency measures installed by U.S. ESCOs. We introduce a method to estimate the total amount of electricity saved by projects implemented by the U.S. ESCO industry using the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) /National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) database of projects and LBNL’s biennial industry survey. We report two metrics: incremental electricity savings and savings from ESCO projects that are active in a given year (e.g., 2012). Overall, we estimate that in 2012 active U.S. ESCO industry projects generated about 34 TWh of electricity savings—15 TWh of these electricity savings were for MUSH market customers who did not rely on utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs (see Figure 1). This analysis shows that almost two-thirds of 2012 electricity savings in municipal, local and state government facilities, universities/colleges, K-12 schools, and healthcare facilities (i.e., the so-called “MUSH” market) were not supported by a utility customer-funded energy efficiency program.« less

  17. Saving-enhanced memory: the benefits of saving on the learning and remembering of new information.

    PubMed

    Storm, Benjamin C; Stone, Sean M

    2015-02-01

    With the continued integration of technology into people's lives, saving digital information has become an everyday facet of human behavior. In the present research, we examined the consequences of saving certain information on the ability to learn and remember other information. Results from three experiments showed that saving one file before studying a new file significantly improved memory for the contents of the new file. Notably, this effect was not observed when the saving process was deemed unreliable or when the contents of the to-be-saved file were not substantial enough to interfere with memory for the new file. These results suggest that saving provides a means to strategically off-load memory onto the environment in order to reduce the extent to which currently unneeded to-be-remembered information interferes with the learning and remembering of other information. © The Author(s) 2014.

  18. Energy-Saving Tunnel Illumination System Based on LED's Intelligent Control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Shanshan; Gu, Hanting; Wu, Lan; Jiang, Shuixiu

    2011-02-01

    At present there is a lot of electric energy wastage in tunnel illumination, whose design is based on the maximum brightness outside and the maximum vehicle speed all year round. LED's energy consumption is low, and the control of its brightness is simple and effective. It can be quickly adjusted between 0-100% of its maximum brightness, and will not affect the service life. Therefore, using LED as tunnel's illumination source, we can achieve a good energy saving effect. According to real-time data acquisition of vehicle speed, traffic flow and brightness outside the tunnel, the auto real-time control of tunnel illumination can be achieved. And the system regulated the LED luminance by means of combination of LED power module and intelligent control module. The tunnel information was detected by inspection equipments, which included luminometer, vehicle detector, and received by RTU(Remote Terminal Unit), then synchronously transmitted to PC. After data processing, RTU emitted the dimming signal to the LED driver to adjust the brightness of LED. Despite the relatively high cost of high-power LED lights, the enormous energy-saving effect and the well-behaved controllability is beyond compare to other lighting devices.

  19. Giving EMS flexibility in transporting low-acuity patients could generate substantial Medicare savings.

    PubMed

    Alpert, Abby; Morganti, Kristy G; Margolis, Gregg S; Wasserman, Jeffrey; Kellermann, Arthur L

    2013-12-01

    Some Medicare beneficiaries who place 911 calls to request an ambulance might safely be cared for in settings other than the emergency department (ED) at lower cost. Using 2005-09 Medicare claims data and a validated algorithm, we estimated that 12.9-16.2 percent of Medicare-covered 911 emergency medical services (EMS) transports involved conditions that were probably nonemergent or primary care treatable. Among beneficiaries not admitted to the hospital, about 34.5 percent had a low-acuity diagnosis that might have been managed outside the ED. Annual Medicare EMS and ED payments for these patients were approximately $1 billion per year. If Medicare had the flexibility to reimburse EMS for managing selected 911 calls in ways other than transport to an ED, we estimate that the federal government could save $283-$560 million or more per year, while improving the continuity of patient care. If private insurance companies followed suit, overall societal savings could be twice as large.

  20. Achieving waste to energy through sewage sludge gasification using hot slags: syngas production

    PubMed Central

    Sun, Yongqi; Nakano, Jinichiro; Liu, Lili; Wang, Xidong; Zhang, Zuotai

    2015-01-01

    To relieve the environmental issues of sewage sludge (SS) disposal and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in China, we proposed an integrated method for the first time to simultaneously deal with these two problems. The hot slags below 920 °C could act as a good heat carrier for sludge gasification and the increasing CO2 concentration in CO2/O2 atmospheres enhanced the production of CO and H2 at 400–800 °C. Three stages of syngas release were clearly identified by Gaussian fittings, i.e., volatile release, char transformation and fixed carbon reaction. Additionally, the effect of sulfur retention of slags and the synergy effect of the stabilization of toxic elements in the solid residuals were discovered in this study. Furthermore, a novel prototype of multiple industrial and urban systems was put forward, in which the produced CO + H2 could be utilized for direct reduced iron (DRI) production and the solid residuals of sludge ash and glassy slags would be applied as cementitious materials. For a steel plant with an annual production of crude steel of 10 million tons in China, the total annual energy saving and GHG emission reduction achieved are 3.31*105 tons of standard coal and 1.74*106 tons of CO2, respectively. PMID:26074060

  1. Achieving waste to energy through sewage sludge gasification using hot slags: syngas production.

    PubMed

    Sun, Yongqi; Nakano, Jinichiro; Liu, Lili; Wang, Xidong; Zhang, Zuotai

    2015-06-15

    To relieve the environmental issues of sewage sludge (SS) disposal and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in China, we proposed an integrated method for the first time to simultaneously deal with these two problems. The hot slags below 920 °C could act as a good heat carrier for sludge gasification and the increasing CO2 concentration in CO2/O2 atmospheres enhanced the production of CO and H2 at 400-800 °C. Three stages of syngas release were clearly identified by Gaussian fittings, i.e., volatile release, char transformation and fixed carbon reaction. Additionally, the effect of sulfur retention of slags and the synergy effect of the stabilization of toxic elements in the solid residuals were discovered in this study. Furthermore, a novel prototype of multiple industrial and urban systems was put forward, in which the produced CO + H2 could be utilized for direct reduced iron (DRI) production and the solid residuals of sludge ash and glassy slags would be applied as cementitious materials. For a steel plant with an annual production of crude steel of 10 million tons in China, the total annual energy saving and GHG emission reduction achieved are 3.31*10(5) tons of standard coal and 1.74*10(6) tons of CO2, respectively.

  2. Can lean save lives?

    PubMed

    Fillingham, David

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to show how over the last 18 months Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust have been exploring whether or not lean methodologies, often known as the Toyota Production System, can indeed be applied to healthcare. This paper is a viewpoint. One's early experience is that lean really can save lives. The Toyota Production System is an amazingly successful way of manufacturing cars. It cannot be simply translated unthinkingly into a hospital but lessons can be learned from it and the method can be adapted and developed so that it becomes owned by healthcare staff and focused towards the goal of improved patient care. Working in healthcare is a stressful and difficult thing. Everyone needs a touch of inspiration and encouragement. Applying lean to healthcare in Bolton seems to be achieving just that for those who work there.

  3. Multiple Drug Cost Containment Policies in Michigan’s Medicaid Program Saved Money Overall, Although Some Increased Costs

    PubMed Central

    Kibicho, Jennifer; Pinkerton, Steven D.

    2014-01-01

    Michigan’s Medicaid program implemented four policies (preferred lists, joint and multi-state purchasing arrangements, and maximum allowable cost) in 2002–2004 for its dual-eligible Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, taking antihypertensives and antihyperlipidemics prescriptions. We used interrupted time series analysis to evaluate the impact of each individual policy while holding the effect of all other policies constant. Preferred lists increased preferred and generic market share, and reduced daily cost. In contrast, maximum allowable cost increased daily cost, and is the only policy that did not generate cost savings. The joint and multi-state arrangements did not impact daily cost. Despite policy tradeoffs, the cumulative effect was a 10% decrease in daily cost and an annualized cost savings of $46,195. PMID:22492899

  4. Clean Cities 2010 Annual Metrics Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Johnson, C.

    2012-10-01

    This report details the petroleum savings and vehicle emissions reductions achieved by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities program in 2010. The report also details other performance metrics, including the number of stakeholders in Clean Cities coalitions, outreach activities by coalitions and national laboratories, and alternative fuel vehicles deployed.

  5. Clean Cities 2011 Annual Metrics Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Johnson, C.

    2012-12-01

    This report details the petroleum savings and vehicle emissions reductions achieved by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities program in 2011. The report also details other performance metrics, including the number of stakeholders in Clean Cities coalitions, outreach activities by coalitions and national laboratories, and alternative fuel vehicles deployed.

  6. The potential cost savings of implementing an inter-utility NO{sub x} trading program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Siegel, S.; Kalagnanam, J.

    1995-12-31

    Technology based standards such as RACT, which require the installation of a Reasonably Available Control Technology on a boiler by boiler basis have been the dominant factor driving electric utility NO{sub x} compliance plans. In this paper, the authors examine the cost savings of implementing NO{sub x} trading, an alternative market based strategy for reducing the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) to achieve NO{sub x} reduction goals set under Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act. In order to estimate the potential cost savings of inter-utility NO{sub x} trading, the authors have used a combinatorial optimization approach tomore » identify boiler retrofits and operating parameters which yield efficient (i.e., the most cost effective) NO{sub x} abatement. In the formulation, annual emissions at individual boilers which are expensive to abate may exceed RACT levels by up to a factor of two thus allowing for trades with boilers which can abate in a more cost effective manner. The authors constrain total emissions in a trading region to be at or below the level obtained had all the boilers adopted RACT. Increasing the flexibility with which trades can occur has two main effects: (1) the cost effectiveness of meeting an aggregate reduction goal increases and (2) the spatial distribution of emissions shift relative to what it would have been under a strict RACT based compliance strategy. The authors estimate the magnitude of these effects for two Eastern electric utilities making intra and inter-utility NO{sub x} trades. Results indicate that the cost effectiveness of meeting RACT level reduction can be increased by as much as 38% under certain trading regimes.« less

  7. The potential cost savings of implementing an inter-utility NO{sub x} trading program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Siegel, S.; Kalagnanam, J.

    1995-10-01

    Technology based standards such as RACT, which require the installation of a (R)easonably (A)vailable (C)ontrol (T)echnology on a boiler by boiler basis have been the dominant factor driving electric utility NO{sub x} compliance plans. In this paper, the authors examine the cost savings of implementing NO{sub x} trading, an alternative market based strategy for reducing the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) to achieve NO{sub x} reduction goals set under Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act. In order to estimate the potential cost savings of inter-utility NO{sub x} trading, they use a combinatorial optimization approach to identify boilermore » retrofits and operating parameters which yield efficient (i.e., the most cost effective) NO{sub x} abatement strategies. In their formulation, annual emissions at individual boilers which are expensive to abate may exceed RACT levels by up to a factor of two thus allowing for trades with boilers which can abate in a more cost effective manner. They constrain total emissions in a trading region to be at or below the level obtained had all the boilers adopted RACT. Increasing the flexibility with which trades can occur has two main effects: (1) the cost effectiveness of meeting an aggregate reduction goal increases and (2) the spatial distribution of emissions shift relative to what it would have been under a strict RACT based compliance strategy. They estimate the magnitude of these effects for two Eastern electric utilities making intra- and inter-utility NO{sub x} trades. Results indicate that the cost effectiveness of meeting RACT level reduction can be increased by as much as 38% under certain trading regimes.« less

  8. Development of Design Guidance for K-12 Schools from 30% to 50% Energy Savings: Preprint

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.; Long, N.

    2008-07-01

    This paper describes the development of energy efficiency recommendations for achieving 30% whole-building energy savings in K-12 schools over levels achieved by following the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1. These design recommendations look at building envelope, fenestration, lighting systems (including electrical lights and daylighting), HVAC systems, building automation and controls, outside air treatment, and service water heating.

  9. Moonlight project promotes energy-saving technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ishihara, A.

    1986-01-01

    In promoting energy saving, development of energy conservation technologies aimed at raising energy efficiency in the fields of energy conversion, its transportation, its storage, and its consumption is considered, along with enactment of legal actions urging rational use of energies and implementation of an enlightenment campaign for energy conservation to play a crucial role. Under the Moonlight Project, technical development is at present being centered around the following six pillars: (1) large scale energy saving technology; (2) pioneering and fundamental energy saving technology; (3) international cooperative research project; (4) research and survey of energy saving technology; (5) energy saving technology development by private industry; and (6) promotion of energy saving through standardization. Heat pumps, magnetohydrodynamic generators and fuel cells are discussed.

  10. Does task shifting yield cost savings and improve efficiency for health systems? A systematic review of evidence from low-income and middle-income countries.

    PubMed

    Seidman, Gabriel; Atun, Rifat

    2017-04-13

    Task shifting has become an increasingly popular way to increase access to health services, especially in low-resource settings. Research has demonstrated that task shifting, including the use of community health workers (CHWs) to deliver care, can improve population health. This systematic review investigates whether task shifting in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) results in efficiency improvements by achieving cost savings. Using the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, we searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and the Health Economic Evaluation Database on March 22, 2016. We included any original peer-review articles that demonstrated cost impact of a task shifting program in an LMIC. We identified 794 articles, of which 34 were included in our study. We found that substantial evidence exists for achieving cost savings and efficiency improvements from task shifting activities related to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and additional evidence exists for the potential to achieve cost savings from activities related to malaria, NCDs, NTDs, childhood illness, and other disease areas, especially at the primary health care and community levels. Task shifting presents a viable option for health system cost savings in LMICs. Going forward, program planners should carefully consider whether task shifting can improve population health and health systems efficiency in their countries, and researchers should investigate whether task shifting can also achieve cost savings for activities related to emerging global health priorities and health systems strengthening activities such as supply chain management or monitoring and evaluation.

  11. Perceived Barriers to Savings among Low- to Moderate-Income Households that Do Not Save Regularly

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mauldin, Teresa; Bowen, Cathy Faulcon; Cheang, Michael

    2013-01-01

    The study reported here examined the differences in barriers to savings among low- to moderate-income households who do not save regularly. Characteristics associated with individuals who perceived they could and could not save included age, presence of child under 18 years of age, and gender. Having no money left over, being late on bills and/or…

  12. Maryland's Achievements in Public Education, 2011

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maryland State Department of Education, 2011

    2011-01-01

    This report presents Maryland's achievements in public education for 2011. Maryland's achievements include: (1) Maryland's public schools again ranked #1 in the nation in Education Week's 2011 Quality Counts annual report; (2) Maryland ranked 1st nationwide for a 3rd year in a row in the percentage of public school students scoring 3 or higher on…

  13. 40% Whole-House Energy Savings in the Hot-Humid Climate

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    none,

    This guide book is a resource to help builders design and construct highly energy-efficient homes, while addressing building durability, indoor air quality, and occupant health, safety, and comfort. With the measures described in this guide, builders in the hot-humid climate can build homes that achieve whole house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark (the 1993 Model Energy Code) with no added overall costs for consumers.

  14. 40% Whole-House Energy Savings in the Mixed-Humid Climate

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Baechler, Michael C.; Gilbride, T. L.; Hefty, M. G.

    2011-09-01

    This guide book is a resource to help builders design and construct highly energy-efficient homes, while addressing building durability, indoor air quality, and occupant health, safety, and comfort. With the measures described in this guide, builders in the mixed-humid climate can build homes that achieve whole house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark (the 1993 Model Energy Code) with no added overall costs for consumers.

  15. Cost Savings from Palliative Care Teams and Guidance for a Financially Viable Palliative Care Program

    PubMed Central

    McCarthy, Ian M; Robinson, Chessie; Huq, Sakib; Philastre, Martha; Fine, Robert L

    2015-01-01

    Objectives To quantify the cost savings of palliative care (PC) and identify differences in savings according to team structure, patient diagnosis, and timing of consult. Data Sources Hospital administrative records on all inpatient stays at five hospital campuses from January 2009 through June 2012. Study Design The analysis matched PC patients to non-PC patients (separately by discharge status) using propensity score methods. Weighted generalized linear model regressions of hospital costs were estimated for the matched groups. Data Collection Data were restricted to patients at least 18 years old with inpatient stays of between 7 and 30 days. Variables available included patient demographics, primary and secondary diagnoses, hospital costs incurred for the inpatient stay, and when/if the patient had a PC consult. Principal Findings We found overall cost savings from PC of $3,426 per patient for those dying in the hospital. No significant cost savings were found for patients discharged alive; however, significant cost savings for patients discharged alive could be achieved for certain diagnoses, PC team structures, or if consults occurred within 10 days of admission. Conclusions Appropriately selected and timed PC consults with physician and RN involvement can help ensure a financially viable PC program via cost savings to the hospital. PMID:25040226

  16. Application of Waste Heat Recovery Energy Saving Technology in Reform of UHP-EAF

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, J. H.; Zhang, S. X.; Yang, W.; Yu, T.

    2017-08-01

    The furnace waste heat of a company’s existing 4 × 100t ultra-high-power electric arc furnaces is not used and discharged directly of the situation has been unable to meet the national energy-saving emission reduction requirements, and also affected their own competitiveness and sustainable development. In order to make full use of the waste heat of the electric arc furnace, this paper presents an the energy-saving transformation program of using the new heat pipe boiler on the existing ultra-high-power electric arc furnaces for recovering the waste heat of flue gas. The results show that after the implementation of the project can save energy equivalent to 42,349 tons of standard coal. The flue gas waste heat is fully utilized and dust emission concentration is accorded with the standard of Chinese invironmental protection, which have achieved good results.

  17. Comparing the Medicaid Retrospective Drug Utilization Review Program Cost-Savings Methods Used by State Agencies.

    PubMed

    Prada, Sergio I

    2017-12-01

    The Medicaid Drug Utilization Review (DUR) program is a 2-phase process conducted by Medicaid state agencies. The first phase is a prospective DUR and involves electronically monitoring prescription drug claims to identify prescription-related problems, such as therapeutic duplication, contraindications, incorrect dosage, or duration of treatment. The second phase is a retrospective DUR and involves ongoing and periodic examinations of claims data to identify patterns of fraud, abuse, underutilization, drug-drug interaction, or medically unnecessary care, implementing corrective actions when needed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires each state to measure prescription drug cost-savings generated from its DUR programs on an annual basis, but it provides no guidance or unified methodology for doing so. To describe and synthesize the methodologies used by states to measure cost-savings using their Medicaid retrospective DUR program in federal fiscal years 2014 and 2015. For each state, the cost-savings methodologies included in the Medicaid DUR 2014 and 2015 reports were downloaded from Medicaid's website. The reports were then reviewed and synthesized. Methods described by the states were classified according to research designs often described in evaluation textbooks. In 2014, the most often used prescription drugs cost-savings estimation methodology for the Medicaid retrospective DUR program was a simple pre-post intervention method, without a comparison group (ie, 12 states). In 2015, the most common methodology used was a pre-post intervention method, with a comparison group (ie, 14 states). Comparisons of savings attributed to the program among states are still unreliable, because of a lack of a common methodology available for measuring cost-savings. There is great variation among states in the methods used to measure prescription drug utilization cost-savings. This analysis suggests that there is still room for improvement in terms of

  18. Comparing the Medicaid Retrospective Drug Utilization Review Program Cost-Savings Methods Used by State Agencies

    PubMed Central

    Prada, Sergio I.

    2017-01-01

    Background The Medicaid Drug Utilization Review (DUR) program is a 2-phase process conducted by Medicaid state agencies. The first phase is a prospective DUR and involves electronically monitoring prescription drug claims to identify prescription-related problems, such as therapeutic duplication, contraindications, incorrect dosage, or duration of treatment. The second phase is a retrospective DUR and involves ongoing and periodic examinations of claims data to identify patterns of fraud, abuse, underutilization, drug–drug interaction, or medically unnecessary care, implementing corrective actions when needed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires each state to measure prescription drug cost-savings generated from its DUR programs on an annual basis, but it provides no guidance or unified methodology for doing so. Objectives To describe and synthesize the methodologies used by states to measure cost-savings using their Medicaid retrospective DUR program in federal fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Method For each state, the cost-savings methodologies included in the Medicaid DUR 2014 and 2015 reports were downloaded from Medicaid's website. The reports were then reviewed and synthesized. Methods described by the states were classified according to research designs often described in evaluation textbooks. Discussion In 2014, the most often used prescription drugs cost-savings estimation methodology for the Medicaid retrospective DUR program was a simple pre-post intervention method, without a comparison group (ie, 12 states). In 2015, the most common methodology used was a pre-post intervention method, with a comparison group (ie, 14 states). Comparisons of savings attributed to the program among states are still unreliable, because of a lack of a common methodology available for measuring cost-savings. Conclusion There is great variation among states in the methods used to measure prescription drug utilization cost-savings. This analysis suggests that

  19. 12 CFR 502.26 - How does OTS calculate the semi-annual assessment for savings and loan holding companies?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... holding company's business, a component based on its organizational form, and a component based on its...-site supervision of a noncomplex, low risk savings and loan holding company structure. OTS will... company is the registered holding company at the highest level of ownership in a holding company structure...

  20. Plugging into Energy Savings.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harrigan, Merrilee

    1999-01-01

    The nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy has been helping schools reduce energy consumption through a combination of retrofits, classroom instruction, and behavior. Lists eight small steps to big energy savings, among them: involve the whole school, stop leaks, turn off computers, and recycle. (MLF)

  1. Assets and Educational Achievement: Theory and Evidence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elliott, William; Sherraden, Michael

    2013-01-01

    This special issue of Economics of Education Review explores the role of savings and asset holding in post-secondary educational achievement. Most college success research has focused on income rather than assets as a predictor, and most college financing policy has focused on tuition support and educational debt, rather than asset accumulation.…

  2. Reinforcement Learning and Savings Behavior.

    PubMed

    Choi, James J; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C; Metrick, Andrew

    2009-12-01

    We show that individual investors over-extrapolate from their personal experience when making savings decisions. Investors who experience particularly rewarding outcomes from saving in their 401(k)-a high average and/or low variance return-increase their 401(k) savings rate more than investors who have less rewarding experiences with saving. This finding is not driven by aggregate time-series shocks, income effects, rational learning about investing skill, investor fixed effects, or time-varying investor-level heterogeneity that is correlated with portfolio allocations to stock, bond, and cash asset classes. We discuss implications for the equity premium puzzle and interventions aimed at improving household financial outcomes.

  3. Reinforcement Learning and Savings Behavior*

    PubMed Central

    Choi, James J.; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C.; Metrick, Andrew

    2009-01-01

    We show that individual investors over-extrapolate from their personal experience when making savings decisions. Investors who experience particularly rewarding outcomes from saving in their 401(k)—a high average and/or low variance return—increase their 401(k) savings rate more than investors who have less rewarding experiences with saving. This finding is not driven by aggregate time-series shocks, income effects, rational learning about investing skill, investor fixed effects, or time-varying investor-level heterogeneity that is correlated with portfolio allocations to stock, bond, and cash asset classes. We discuss implications for the equity premium puzzle and interventions aimed at improving household financial outcomes. PMID:20352013

  4. Green Investment, Green Return: How Practical Conservation Projects Save Millions on America's Campuses.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eagan, David J.; Keniry, Julian

    This report presents examples of exemplary academic institutions that have achieved both a healthy environment and the goal of saving economically. Twenty-three public and private institutions' cost-effective environmental management stories are presented. Institutional size ranges from a few thousand to 40,000 students. Contents include: (1)…

  5. Accrued Cost Savings of a Free Clinic Using Quality-Adjusted Life Years Saved and Return on Investment.

    PubMed

    Sanders, Jim; Lacey, Marcus; Guse, Clare E

    2017-01-01

    Savings garnered through the provision of preventive services is a form of profit for health systems. Free clinics have been using this logic to demonstrate their cost-savings. The Community-Based Chronic Disease Management (CCDM) clinic treats hypertension using nurse-led teams, clinical protocols, and community-based settings. We calculated CCDM's cost-effectiveness from 2007 to 2013 using 2 metrics: Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) saved and return on investment (ROI). QALYs were calculated using the Clinical Preventive Burden (CPB) score for hypertension care. ROI was calculated by tallying the savings from prevented heart attacks, strokes, and emergency department visits against the total operating costs. Using conservative assumptions for cost estimates, hypertension care resulted in a value of QALYs saved of $711,000 to $2,133,000 and an ROI ratio range of 0.35 to 1.20. Our study shows that when using conservative assumptions to calculate cost-savings, our free clinic did not save money. Cost-savings did occur, but the amount was modest, was less than that of cost-inputs, and was not likely captured by any single health entity. Although free clinics remain a vital health care access point for many Americans, it has yet to be demonstrated that they generate a net savings. © Copyright 2017 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  6. Characteristics of Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiatives that Generated Savings for Medicare: a Qualitative Multi-Case Analysis.

    PubMed

    Burton, Rachel A; Lallemand, Nicole M; Peters, Rebecca A; Zuckerman, Stephen

    2018-02-05

    Through the Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice (MAPCP) Demonstration, Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers offered supplemental payments to 849 primary care practices that became patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) in eight states; practices also received technical assistance and data reports. Average Medicare payments were capped at $10 per beneficiary per month in each state. Since there was variation in the eight participating states' demonstration designs, experiences, and outcomes, we conducted a qualitative multi-case analysis to identify the key factors that differentiated states that were estimated to have generated net savings for Medicare from states that did not. States' MAPCP Demonstration initiatives were comprehensively profiled in case studies based on secondary document review, three rounds of annual interviews with state staff, payers, practices, and other stakeholders, and other data sources. Case study findings were summarized in a case-ordered predictor-outcome matrix, which identified the presence or absence of key demonstration design features and experiences and arrayed states based on the amount of net savings or losses they generated for Medicare. We then used this matrix to identify initiative features that were present in at least three of the four states that generated net savings and absent from at least three of the four states that did not generate savings. A majority of the states that generated net savings: required practices to be recognized PCMHs to enter the demonstration, did not allow late entrants into the demonstration, used a consistent demonstration payment model across participating payers, and offered practices opportunities to earn performance bonuses. Practices in states that generated net savings also tended to report receiving the demonstration payments and bonuses they expected to receive, without any issues. Designers of future PCMH initiatives may increase their likelihood of generating net savings by

  7. Electricity savings potentials in the residential sector of Bahrain

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Akbari, H.; Morsy, M.G.; Al-Baharna, N.S.

    1996-08-01

    Electricity is the major fuel (over 99%) used in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors in Bahrain. In 1992, the total annual electricity consumption in Bahrain was 3.45 terawatt-hours (TWh), of which 1.95 TWh (56%) was used in the residential sector, 0.89 TWh (26%) in the commercial sector, and 0.59 TWh (17%) in the industrial sector. Agricultural energy consumption was 0.02 TWh (less than 1%) of the total energy use. In Bahrain, most residences are air conditioned with window units. The air-conditioning electricity use is at least 50% of total annual residential use. The contribution of residential AC to themore » peak power consumption is even more significant, approaching 80% of residential peak power demand. Air-conditioning electricity use in the commercial sector is also significant, about 45% of the annual use and over 60% of peak power demand. This paper presents a cost/benefit analysis of energy-efficient technologies in the residential sector. Technologies studied include: energy-efficient air conditioners, insulating houses, improved infiltration, increasing thermostat settings, efficient refrigerators and freezers, efficient water heaters, efficient clothes washers, and compact fluorescent lights. We conservatively estimate a 32% savings in residential electricity use at an average cost of about 4 fils per kWh. (The subsidized cost of residential electricity is about 12 fils per kWh. 1000 fils = 1 Bahrain Dinar = US$ 2.67). We also discuss major policy options needed for implementation of energy-efficiency technologies.« less

  8. How Manipulatives Affect the Mathematics Achievement of Students in Nigerian Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aburime, F. Ehi.

    2007-01-01

    Mathematics is a very important subject in Nigeria. Yet, for more than twenty years, mathematics education in Nigeria has been in a sorry state. Mathematics achievement has been very low and frustrating. So far, every effort made to save Nigerian education from the devastating effect of persistent poor mathematics achievement has failed. An…

  9. Freshwater savings from marine protein consumption

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gephart, Jessica A.; Pace, Michael L.; D'Odorico, Paolo

    2014-01-01

    Marine fisheries provide an essential source of protein for many people around the world. Unlike alternative terrestrial sources of protein, marine fish production requires little to no freshwater inputs. Consuming marine fish protein instead of terrestrial protein therefore represents freshwater savings (equivalent to an avoided water cost) and contributes to a low water footprint diet. These water savings are realized by the producers of alternative protein sources, rather than the consumers of marine protein. This study quantifies freshwater savings from marine fish consumption around the world by estimating the water footprint of replacing marine fish with terrestrial protein based on current consumption patterns. An estimated 7 600 km3 yr-1 of water is used for human food production. Replacing marine protein with terrestrial protein would require an additional 350 km3 yr-1 of water, meaning that marine protein provides current water savings of 4.6%. The importance of these freshwater savings is highly uneven around the globe, with savings ranging from as little as 0 to as much as 50%. The largest savings as a per cent of current water footprints occur in Asia, Oceania, and several coastal African nations. The greatest national water savings from marine fish protein occur in Southeast Asia and the United States. As the human population increases, future water savings from marine fish consumption will be increasingly important to food and water security and depend on sustainable harvest of capture fisheries and low water footprint growth of marine aquaculture.

  10. The predicted CLARREO sampling error of the inter-annual SW variability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doelling, D. R.; Keyes, D. F.; Nguyen, C.; Macdonnell, D.; Young, D. F.

    2009-12-01

    The NRC Decadal Survey has called for SI traceability of long-term hyper-spectral flux measurements in order to monitor climate variability. This mission is called the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) and is currently defining its mission requirements. The requirements are focused on the ability to measure decadal change of key climate variables at very high accuracy. The accuracy goals are set using anticipated climate change magnitudes, but the accuracy achieved for any given climate variable must take into account the temporal and spatial sampling errors based on satellite orbits and calibration accuracy. The time period to detect a significant trend in the CLARREO record depends on the magnitude of the sampling calibration errors relative to the current inter-annual variability. The largest uncertainty in climate feedbacks remains the effect of changing clouds on planetary energy balance. Some regions on earth have strong diurnal cycles, such as maritime stratus and afternoon land convection; other regions have strong seasonal cycles, such as the monsoon. However, when monitoring inter-annual variability these cycles are only important if the strength of these cycles vary on decadal time scales. This study will attempt to determine the best satellite constellations to reduce sampling error and to compare the error with the current inter-annual variability signal to ensure the viability of the mission. The study will incorporate Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) (Monthly TOA/Surface Averages) SRBAVG product TOA LW and SW climate quality fluxes. The fluxes are derived by combining Terra (10:30 local equator crossing time) CERES fluxes with 3-hourly 5-geostationary satellite estimated broadband fluxes, which are normalized using the CERES fluxes, to complete the diurnal cycle. These fluxes were saved hourly during processing and considered the truth dataset. 90°, 83° and 74° inclination precessionary orbits as

  11. 16th Annual Survey of High Achievers: Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Northbrook, IL.

    The report presents data from 2,043 questionnaires completed by secondary student leaders and high achievers. Ss were selected for recognition in "Who's Who Among American High School Students" by their principals or guidance counselors, national youth organizations, or the publishing company because of high achievement in academics, activities,…

  12. Cost Savings Realized by Implementation of Routine Microbiological Identification by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

    PubMed Central

    Alby, Kevin; Kerr, Alan; Jones, Melissa; Gilligan, Peter H.

    2015-01-01

    Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is an emerging technology for rapid identification of bacterial and fungal isolates. In comparison to conventional methods, this technology is much less labor intensive and can provide accurate and reliable results in minutes from a single isolated colony. We compared the cost of performing the bioMérieux Vitek MALDI-TOF MS with conventional microbiological methods to determine the amount saved by the laboratory by converting to the new technology. Identification costs for 21,930 isolates collected between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014, were directly compared for MALDI-TOF MS and conventional methodologies. These isolates were composed of commonly isolated organisms, including commonly encountered aerobic and facultative bacteria and yeast but excluding anaerobes and filamentous fungi. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and rapidly growing mycobacteria were also evaluated for a 5-month period during the study. Reagent costs and a total cost analysis that included technologist time in addition to reagent expenses and maintenance service agreement costs were analyzed as part of this study. The use of MALDI-TOF MS equated to a net savings of $69,108.61, or 87.8%, in reagent costs annually compared to traditional methods. When total costs are calculated to include technologist time and maintenance costs, traditional identification would have cost $142,532.69, versus $68,886.51 with the MALDI-TOF MS method, resulting in a laboratory savings of $73,646.18, or 51.7%, annually by adopting the new technology. The initial cost of the instrument at our usage level would be offset in about 3 years. MALDI-TOF MS not only represents an innovative technology for the rapid and accurate identification of bacterial and fungal isolates, it also provides a significant cost savings for the laboratory. PMID:25994167

  13. Cost Savings Realized by Implementation of Routine Microbiological Identification by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Tran, Anthony; Alby, Kevin; Kerr, Alan; Jones, Melissa; Gilligan, Peter H

    2015-08-01

    Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is an emerging technology for rapid identification of bacterial and fungal isolates. In comparison to conventional methods, this technology is much less labor intensive and can provide accurate and reliable results in minutes from a single isolated colony. We compared the cost of performing the bioMérieux Vitek MALDI-TOF MS with conventional microbiological methods to determine the amount saved by the laboratory by converting to the new technology. Identification costs for 21,930 isolates collected between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014, were directly compared for MALDI-TOF MS and conventional methodologies. These isolates were composed of commonly isolated organisms, including commonly encountered aerobic and facultative bacteria and yeast but excluding anaerobes and filamentous fungi. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and rapidly growing mycobacteria were also evaluated for a 5-month period during the study. Reagent costs and a total cost analysis that included technologist time in addition to reagent expenses and maintenance service agreement costs were analyzed as part of this study. The use of MALDI-TOF MS equated to a net savings of $69,108.61, or 87.8%, in reagent costs annually compared to traditional methods. When total costs are calculated to include technologist time and maintenance costs, traditional identification would have cost $142,532.69, versus $68,886.51 with the MALDI-TOF MS method, resulting in a laboratory savings of $73,646.18, or 51.7%, annually by adopting the new technology. The initial cost of the instrument at our usage level would be offset in about 3 years. MALDI-TOF MS not only represents an innovative technology for the rapid and accurate identification of bacterial and fungal isolates, it also provides a significant cost savings for the laboratory. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  14. The Finnish experience to save asthma costs by improving care in 1987-2013.

    PubMed

    Haahtela, Tari; Herse, Fredrik; Karjalainen, Jussi; Klaukka, Timo; Linna, Miika; Leskelä, Riikka-Leena; Selroos, Olof; Reissell, Eeva

    2017-02-01

    The Finnish National Asthma Program 1994-2004 markedly improved asthma care in the 1990s. We evaluated the changes in costs during 26 years from 1987 to 2013. Direct and indirect costs were calculated by using data from national registries. Costs from both the societal and patient perspectives were included. The costs were based on patients with persistent, physician-diagnosed asthma verified by lung function measurements. We constructed minimum and maximum scenarios to assess the effect of improved asthma care on total costs. The number of patients with persistent asthma in the national drug reimbursement register increased from 83,000 to 247,583. Improved asthma control reduced health care use and disability, resulting in major cost savings. Despite a 3-fold increase in patients, the total costs decreased by 14%, from €222 million to €191 million. Costs for medication and primary care visits increased, but overall annual costs per patient decreased by 72%, from €2656 to €749. The theoretical total cost savings for 2013, comparing actual with predicted costs, were between €120 and €475 million, depending on the scenario used. The Finnish Asthma Program resulted in significant cost savings at both the societal and patient levels during a 26-year period. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Grocery Stores--50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hale, E. T.; Macumber, D. L.; Long, N. L.

    2008-09-01

    This report provides recommendations that architects, designers, contractors, developers, owners, and lessees of grocery store buildings can use to achieve whole-building energy savings of at least 50% over ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004.

  16. NASA SAVE Award Winner

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2012-01-09

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Financial Manager and White House 2011 SAVE award winner Matthew Ritsko is seen during a television interview at NASA Headquarters shortly after meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011, in Washington. The Presidential Securing Americans' Value and Efficiency (SAVE) program gives front-line federal workers the chance to submit their ideas on how their agencies can save money and work more efficiently. Matthew's proposal calls for NASA to create a "lending library" where specialized space tools and hardware purchased by one NASA organization will be made available to other NASA programs and projects. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  17. 5 CFR 731.601 - Savings provision.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Savings provision. 731.601 Section 731.601 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) SUITABILITY Savings Provision § 731.601 Savings provision. No provision of the regulations in...

  18. 5 CFR 731.601 - Savings provision.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Savings provision. 731.601 Section 731.601 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) SUITABILITY Savings Provision § 731.601 Savings provision. No provision of the regulations in...

  19. 31 CFR 359.66 - Is the Education Savings Bonds Program available for Series I savings bonds?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Is the Education Savings Bonds... Education Savings Bonds Program available for Series I savings bonds? You may be able to exclude from income... bonds during the year. To qualify for the program, you or the co-owner (in the case of definitive...

  20. Austin Energy: Pumping System Improvement Project Saves Energy and Improves Performance at a Power Plant

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2005-06-01

    This two-page performance spotlight describes how, in 2004, Austin Energy (the electric utility for the city of Austin, Texas) began saving about $1.2 million in energy and maintenance costs annually as a direct result of a pumping system efficiency project. The project was designed to improve the efficiency of the circulating water pumping system serving the utility's 405-MW steam turbine. A U.S. Department of Energy Qualified Pumping System Assessment Tool Specialist at Flowserve Corporation assisted in the initial assessment of the system.

  1. Preventive eye care in people with diabetes is cost-saving to the federal government. Implications for health-care reform.

    PubMed

    Javitt, J C; Aiello, L P; Chiang, Y; Ferris, F L; Canner, J K; Greenfield, S

    1994-08-01

    Diabetic retinopathy, which leads to macular edema and retinal neovascularization, is the leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans. Previous research has demonstrated significant cost savings associated with detection of eye disease in Americans with type I diabetes. However, detection and treatment of eye disease among those with type II diabetes was previously thought not to be cost-saving. Our purpose was to estimate the current and potential federal savings resulting from the screening and treatment of retinopathy in patients with type II diabetes, based on recently available data concerning efficacy of treating both macular edema and neovascularization along with new data on federal budgetary costs of blindness. We used computer modeling, incorporating data from population-based epidemiological studies and multicenter clinical trials. Monte Carlo simulation was used, combined with sensitivity analysis and present value analysis of cost savings. Screening and treatment for eye disease in patients with type II diabetes generates annual savings of $247.9 million to the federal budget and 53,986 person-years of sight, even at current suboptimal (60%) levels of care. If all patients with type II diabetes receive recommended care, the predicted net savings (discounted at 5%) exceeds $472.1 million and 94,304 person-years of sight. Nearly all savings are associated with detection and treatment of diabetic macular edema. Enrolling each additional person with type II diabetes into currently recommended ophthalmological care results in an average net savings of $975/person, even if all costs of care are borne by the federal government. Our analysis indicates that prevention programs aimed at improving eye care for patients with diabetes not only reduce needless vision loss but also will provide a financial return on the investment of public funds.

  2. Incentives for Tuition Savings.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Scott E.

    The role of the federal government in authorizing tuition savings plans and the relationship of these incentives to more traditional student aid programs are examined. Most of the recent proposals to provide incentives for families to save for their children's education would allow tax breaks. For example, the Reagan administration proposal would…

  3. Cost-effectiveness of annual targeted larviciding campaigns in Cambodia against the dengue vector Aedes aegypti.

    PubMed

    Suaya, Jose A; Shepard, Donald S; Chang, Moh-Seng; Caram, Mariana; Hoyer, Stefan; Socheat, Duong; Chantha, Ngan; Nathan, Michael B

    2007-09-01

    To assess the cost-effectiveness (CE) of annual targeted larviciding campaigns from 2001 to 2005 against the dengue vector Aedes aegypti in two urban areas of Cambodia with a population of 2.9 million people. The intervention under analysis consisted of annual larviciding campaigns targeting medium to large water storage containers in households and other premises. The CE compared the intervention against the hypothetical alternative of no intervention. The CE was calculated as the ratio of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) saved to the net cost of the intervention (in 2005 US dollars) by year. A sensitivity analysis explored the range of study parameters. The intervention reduced the number of dengue cases and deaths by 53%. It averted an annual average of 2980 dengue hospitalizations, 11,921 dengue ambulatory cases and 23 dengue deaths, resulting in a saving of 997 DALYs per year. The gross cost of the intervention was US $567,800 per year, or US $0.20 per person covered. As the intervention averted considerable medical care, the annual net cost of the intervention was US $312,214 (US $0.11 per person covered) from a public sector perspective and US $37,137 (US $0.01 per person covered) from a societal perspective. The resulting CE ratios were: US $313/DALY gained from the public perspective and US $37/DALY gained from the societal perspective. Even under the most conservative assumption, the intervention remained cost effective from both perspectives. Annual, targeted larviciding campaigns appear to have been effective and cost-effective medium-term interventions to reduce the epidemiologic and economic burden of dengue in urban areas of Cambodia.

  4. 49 CFR 173.219 - Life-saving appliances.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Life-saving appliances. 173.219 Section 173.219... Life-saving appliances. (a) A life-saving appliance, self-inflating or non-self-inflating, containing small quantities of hazardous materials that are required as part of the life-saving appliance must...

  5. 49 CFR 173.219 - Life-saving appliances.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Life-saving appliances. 173.219 Section 173.219... Life-saving appliances. (a) A life-saving appliance, self-inflating or non-self-inflating, containing small quantities of hazardous materials that are required as part of the life-saving appliance must...

  6. NREL Technical Reports Guide the Way to 50% Energy Savings in Hospitals, Office Buildings (Fact Sheet)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2011-02-01

    Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed two technical reports that provide recommendations to help designers and operators of large office buildings and hospitals achieve at least a 50% energy savings using existing technology.

  7. Consumer Socialization: Children's Saving and Spending.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cohen, Stewart

    1994-01-01

    Provides examples of age-appropriate saving and spending activities that teachers can encourage in students to help them develop wise consumer behaviors. Suggests that younger children can save money in piggy banks or savings accounts, and older students can utilize checking accounts and mutual funds. All students can donate unneeded possessions…

  8. 24 CFR 221.1 - Savings clause.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Savings clause. 221.1 Section 221.1... MORTGAGE AND LOAN INSURANCE PROGRAMS UNDER NATIONAL HOUSING ACT AND OTHER AUTHORITIES LOW COST AND MODERATE INCOME MORTGAGE INSURANCE-SAVINGS CLAUSE Eligibility Requirements-Low Cost Homes-Savings Clause § 221.1...

  9. Saving and Reproduction of Human Motion Data by Using Haptic Devices with Different Configurations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsunashima, Noboru; Yokokura, Yuki; Katsura, Seiichiro

    Recently, there has been increased focus on “haptic recording” development of a motion-copying system is an efficient method for the realization of haptic recording. Haptic recording involves saving and reproduction of human motion data on the basis of haptic information. To increase the number of applications of the motion-copying system in various fields, it is necessary to reproduce human motion data by using haptic devices with different configurations. In this study, a method for the above-mentioned haptic recording is developed. In this method, human motion data are saved and reproduced on the basis of work space information, which is obtained by coordinate transformation of motor space information. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by experiments. With the proposed method, saving and reproduction of human motion data by using various devices is achieved. Furthermore, it is also possible to use haptic recording in various fields.

  10. Energy and cost saving results for advanced technology systems from the Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study (CTAS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sagerman, G. D.; Barna, G. J.; Burns, R. K.

    1979-01-01

    An overview of the organization and methodology of the Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study is presented. The objectives of the study were to identify the most attractive advanced energy conversion systems for industrial cogeneration applications in the future and to assess the advantages of advanced technology systems compared to those systems commercially available today. Advanced systems studied include steam turbines, open and closed cycle gas turbines, combined cycles, diesel engines, Stirling engines, phosphoric acid and molten carbonate fuel cells and thermionics. Steam turbines, open cycle gas turbines, combined cycles, and diesel engines were also analyzed in versions typical of today's commercially available technology to provide a base against which to measure the advanced systems. Cogeneration applications in the major energy consuming manufacturing industries were considered. Results of the study in terms of plant level energy savings, annual energy cost savings and economic attractiveness are presented for the various energy conversion systems considered.

  11. Cost savings in a hospital clinical laboratory with a pay-for-performance incentive program for supervisors.

    PubMed

    Winkelman, J W; Aitken, J L; Wybenga, D R

    1991-01-01

    A pay-for-performance incentive program for clinical laboratory supervisors was developed and implemented at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, Mass). It provides monetary rewards to personnel who directly produce cost savings in their area of responsibility. This reward system is new to the hospital laboratory but is commonly used in industry. Substantial true cost savings over and above previously established stringent budgets were achieved, 11% of which was returned to first-line supervisors in the form of a bonus. The program expanded the scope of professionalism for supervisors to include fiscal management.

  12. The threshold rate of oral atypical anti-psychotic adherence at which paliperidone palmitate is cost saving.

    PubMed

    Edwards, Natalie C; Muser, Erik; Doshi, Dilesh; Fastenau, John

    2012-01-01

    To identify, estimate, and compare 'real world' costs and outcomes associated with paliperidone palmitate compared with branded oral atypical anti-psychotics, and to estimate the threshold rate of oral atypical adherence at which paliperidone palmitate is cost saving. Decision analytic modeling techniques developed by Glazer and Ereshefsky have previously been used to estimate the cost-effectiveness of depot haloperidol, LAI risperidone, and, more recently, LAI olanzapine. This study used those same techniques, along with updated comparative published clinical data, to evaluate paliperidone palmitate. Adherence rates were based on strict Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) criteria. The evaluation was conducted from the perspective of US healthcare payers. Paliperidone palmitate patients had fewer mean annual days of relapse (8.7 days; 6.0 requiring hospitalization, 2.7 not requiring hospitalization vs 17.8 days; 12.4 requiring hospitalization, 5.4 not requiring hospitalization), and lower annual total cost ($20,995) compared to oral atypicals (mean $22,481). Because paliperidone palmitate was both more effective and less costly, it is considered economically dominant. Paliperidone palmitate saved costs when the rate of adherence of oral atypical anti-psychotics was below 44.9% using strict MEMS criteria. Sensitivity analyses showed results were robust to changes in parameter values. For patients receiving 156 mg paliperidone palmitate, the annual incremental cost was $1216 per patient (ICER = $191 per day of relapse averted). Inclusion of generic risperidone (market share 18.6%) also resulted in net incremental cost for paliperidone palmitate ($120; ICER = $13). Limitations of this evaluation include use of simplifying assumptions, data from multiple sources, and generalizability of results. Although uptake of LAIs in the US has not been as rapid as elsewhere, many thought leaders emphasize their importance in optimizing outcomes in patients with

  13. National Science Foundation - Annual Report 1985. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1985.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

    The 35th Annual Report of the National Science Foundation (NSF) describes recent achievements of NSF sponsored research in viral structure, semiconductors, genetic engineering, Mayan culture, astronomy, physiology, paleontology, robotics, physics, material science and pollution. Major 1985 initiatives included: (1) establishing six university…

  14. 10 CFR 436.20 - Net savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.20 Net savings. For a retrofit project, net savings may be found by subtracting life cycle costs based on the proposed project from life cycle costs based on not having it. For a new building design, net savings is the difference between the life cycle costs of an alternative...

  15. 10 CFR 436.20 - Net savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.20 Net savings. For a retrofit project, net savings may be found by subtracting life cycle costs based on the proposed project from life cycle costs based on not having it. For a new building design, net savings is the difference between the life cycle costs of an alternative...

  16. 10 CFR 436.20 - Net savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.20 Net savings. For a retrofit project, net savings may be found by subtracting life cycle costs based on the proposed project from life cycle costs based on not having it. For a new building design, net savings is the difference between the life cycle costs of an alternative...

  17. 10 CFR 436.20 - Net savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.20 Net savings. For a retrofit project, net savings may be found by subtracting life cycle costs based on the proposed project from life cycle costs based on not having it. For a new building design, net savings is the difference between the life cycle costs of an alternative...

  18. 10 CFR 436.20 - Net savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.20 Net savings. For a retrofit project, net savings may be found by subtracting life cycle costs based on the proposed project from life cycle costs based on not having it. For a new building design, net savings is the difference between the life cycle costs of an alternative...

  19. Modern methods of cost saving of the production activity in construction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Silka, Dmitriy

    2017-10-01

    Every time economy faces recession, cost saving questions acquire increased urgency. This article shows how companies of the construction industry have switched to the new kind of economic relations over recent years. It is specified that the dominant type of economic relations does not allow to quickly reorient on the necessary tools in accordance with new requirements of economic activity. Successful experience in the new environment becomes demanded. Cost saving methods, which were proven in other industries, are offered for achievement of efficiency and competitiveness of the companies. Analysis is performed on the example of the retail sphere, which, according to the authoritative analytical reviews, is extremely innovative on both local and world economic levels. At that, methods, based on the modern unprecedentedly high opportunities of communications and informational exchange took special place among offered methods.

  20. Healthcare cost savings estimator tool for chronic disease self-management program: a new tool for program administrators and decision makers.

    PubMed

    Ahn, SangNam; Smith, Matthew Lee; Altpeter, Mary; Post, Lindsey; Ory, Marcia G

    2015-01-01

    Chronic disease self-management education (CDSME) programs have been delivered to more than 100,000 older Americans with chronic conditions. As one of the Stanford suite of evidence-based CDSME programs, the chronic disease self-management program (CDSMP) has been disseminated in diverse populations and settings. The objective of this paper is to introduce a practical, universally applicable tool to assist program administrators and decision makers plan implementation efforts and make the case for continued program delivery. This tool was developed utilizing data from a recent National Study of CDSMP to estimate national savings associated with program participation. Potential annual healthcare savings per CDSMP participant were calculated based on averted emergency room visits and hospitalizations. While national data can be utilized to estimate cost savings, the tool has built-in features allowing users to tailor calculations based on their site-specific data. Building upon the National Study of CDSMP's documented potential savings of $3.3 billion in healthcare costs by reaching 5% of adults with one or more chronic conditions, two heuristic case examples were also explored based on different population projections. The case examples show how a small county and large metropolitan city were not only able to estimate healthcare savings ($38,803 for the small county; $732,290 for the large metropolitan city) for their existing participant populations but also to project significant healthcare savings if they plan to reach higher proportions of middle-aged and older adults. Having a tool to demonstrate the monetary value of CDSMP can contribute to the ongoing dissemination and sustainability of such community-based interventions. Next steps will be creating a user-friendly, internet-based version of Healthcare Cost Savings Estimator Tool: CDSMP, followed by broadening the tool to consider cost savings for other evidence-based programs.

  1. 'Nurture the sprouting bud; do not uproot it'. Using saving groups to save for maternal and newborn health: lessons from rural Eastern Uganda.

    PubMed

    Ekirapa-Kiracho, Elizabeth; Paina, Ligia; Muhumuza Kananura, Rornald; Mutebi, Aloysius; Jane, Pacuto; Tumuhairwe, Juliet; Tetui, Moses; Kiwanuka, Suzanne N

    2017-08-01

    Saving groups are increasingly being used to save in many developing countries. However, there is limited literature about how they can be exploited to improve maternal and newborn health. This paper describes saving practices, factors that encourage and constrain saving with saving groups, and lessons learnt while supporting communities to save through saving groups. This qualitative study was done in three districts in Eastern Uganda. Saving groups were identified and provided with support to enhance members' access to maternal and newborn health. Fifteen focus group discussions (FGDs) and 18 key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted to elicit members' views about saving practices. Document review was undertaken to identify key lessons for supporting saving groups. Qualitative data are presented thematically. Awareness of the importance of saving, safe custody of money saved, flexible saving arrangements and easy access to loans for personal needs including transport during obstetric emergencies increased willingness to save with saving groups. Saving groups therefore provided a safety net for the poor during emergencies. Poor management of saving groups and detrimental economic practices like gambling constrained saving. Efficient running of saving groups requires that they have a clear management structure, which is legally registered with relevant authorities and that it is governed by a constitution. Saving groups were considered a useful form of saving that enabled easy acess to cash for birth preparedness and transportation during emergencies. They are like 'a sprouting bud that needs to be nurtured rather than uprooted', as they appear to have the potential to act as a safety net for poor communities that have no health insurance. Local governments should therefore strengthen the management capacity of saving groups so as to ensure their efficient running through partnerships with non-governmental organizations that can provide support to such groups.

  2. A model to evaluate the costs and clinical effectiveness of human papilloma virus screening compared with annual papanicolaou cytology in Germany.

    PubMed

    Petry, Karl Ulrich; Barth, Cordula; Wasem, Jürgen; Neumann, Anja

    2017-05-01

    We modelled human papilloma virus (HPV) primary screening scenarios compared with Pap cytology to evaluate clinical effectiveness and projected annual costs in Germany. A Markov cohort model was built to compare the budget impact of annual Pap cytology with different 5-yearly HPV screening scenarios: (1) a positive HPV test followed by Pap cytology; (2) a positive HPV test followed by p16/Ki-67 dual-stained cytology; (3) a positive HPV test followed by colposcopy if HPV-16/18-positive or p16/Ki-67 dual-stained cytology if positive for other subtypes; (4) co-testing with HPV and Pap. Screening scenarios were based on a 10-year horizon. All HPV screening scenarios in the model were associated with fewer deaths from missed diagnosis of cervical cancer compared with Pap screening; 10-year totals n=172-344 (1.5-3 per 100,000) versus n=477 (4.1 per 100,000), respectively. Total annual costs were lower with HPV screening than Pap cytology. The projected average annual cost for HPV screening ranged from €117 million to €136 million compared with €177 million for Pap screening, representing annual savings of €41-60 million. The greatest clinical impact was achieved with primary HPV screening (with genotyping) followed by colposcopy for HPV 16/18-positive women or p16/Ki-67 dual-stained cytology for women positive for other HPV subtypes. Screening strategies including primary HPV testing for high-risk subtypes (HPV-16/18) in conjunction with p16/Ki-67 dual-stained cytology can improve the detection of cervical cancer at a lower total annual cost than conventional Pap cytology screening. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  3. Building America Residential System Research Results: Achieving 30% Whole House Energy Savings Level in Mixed-Humid Climates; January 2006 - December 2006

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Anderson, R.; Hendron, R.; Eastment, M.

    2006-12-01

    This report summarizes research results for the 30% energy savings level and demonstrates that lead builders can successfully provide 30% homes in the Mixed-Humid Climate Region on a cost-neutral basis.

  4. Association between Schoolwide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports and Academic Achievement: A 9-Year Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madigan, Kathleen; Cross, Richard W.; Smolkowski, Keith; Strycker, Lisa A.

    2016-01-01

    This study evaluated the long-term impact of schoolwide positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS) on student academic achievement. In this quasi-experimental study, academic achievement data were collected over 9 years. The 21 elementary, middle, and high schools that achieved moderate to high fidelity to the Save & Civil Schools'…

  5. How to Save Money by Saving Energy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

    This pamphlet presents energy conservation tips to help consumers save money. Conservation measures suggested here cover topics such as: (1) insulation; (2) space heating and cooling; (3) hot water heating; (4) cooking; (5) laundry; (6) lighting; (7) electrical appliances; (8) buying or building a home; and (9) buying, maintaining and driving a…

  6. Simple Steps to Save Water

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Saving water around the home is simple and smart. The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill but could save about $170 per year by retrofitting with waterefficient fixtures and incorporating watersaving practices.

  7. Quantifying Energy and Water Savings in the U.S. Residential Sector.

    PubMed

    Chini, Christopher M; Schreiber, Kelsey L; Barker, Zachary A; Stillwell, Ashlynn S

    2016-09-06

    Stress on water and energy utilities, including natural resource depletion, infrastructure deterioration, and growing populations, threatens the ability to provide reliable and sustainable service. This study presents a demand-side management decision-making tool to evaluate energy and water efficiency opportunities at the residential level, including both direct and indirect consumption. The energy-water nexus accounts for indirect resource consumption, including water-for-energy and energy-for-water. We examine the relationship between water and energy in common household appliances and fixtures, comparing baseline appliances to ENERGY STAR or WaterSense appliances, using a cost abatement analysis for the average U.S. household, yielding a potential annual per household savings of 7600 kWh and 39 600 gallons, with most upgrades having negative abatement cost. We refine the national average cost abatement curves to understand regional relationships, specifically for the urban environments of Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Cost abatement curves display per unit cost savings related to overall direct and indirect energy and water efficiency, allowing utilities, policy makers, and homeowners to consider the relationship between energy and water when making decisions. Our research fills an important gap of the energy-water nexus in a residential unit and provides a decision making tool for policy initiatives.

  8. Cost Savings for Manufacturing Lithium Batteries in a Flexible Plant

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nelson, Paul A.; Ahmed, Shabbir; Gallagher, Kevin G.

    2015-06-01

    The flexible plant postulated in this study would produces types of batteries for electric-drive vehicles of the types hybrid (HEV), 10-mile range and 40-mile range plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and a 150-mile range battery-electric (EV). The annual production rate of the plant is 235,000 per year (30,000 EV batteries and 100,000 HEV batteries). The unit cost savings as calculated with the Argonne BatPaC model for this flex plant vs. dedicated plants range from 8% for the EV battery packs to 23% for the HEV packs including the battery management systems (BMS). The investment cost savings are even larger, ranging from 21%more » for EVs to 43% for HEVs. The costs of the 1.0-kWh HEV batteries are projected to approach $710 per unit and that of the EV batteries $228 per kWh with the most favorable cell chemistries and including the BMS. The best single indicator of the cost of producing lithium-manganate spinel/graphite batteries in a flex plant is the total cell area of the battery. For the four batteries studied, the price range is $20-24 per m2 of cell area including the cost of the BMS, averaging $21 per m2 for the entire flex plant.« less

  9. National mandatory motorcycle helmet laws may save $2.2 billion annually: An inpatient and value of statistical life analysis.

    PubMed

    Dua, Anahita; Wei, Shuyan; Safarik, Justin; Furlough, Courtney; Desai, Sapan S

    2015-06-01

    While statistics exist regarding the overall rate of fatalities in motorcyclists with and without helmets, a combined inpatient and value of statistical life (VSL) analysis has not previously been reported. Statistical data of motorcycle collisions were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control, National Highway Transportation Safety Board, and Governors Highway Safety Association. The VSL estimate was obtained from the 2002 Department of Transportation calculation. Statistics on helmeted versus nonhelmeted motorcyclists, death at the scene, and inpatient death were obtained using the 2010 National Trauma Data Bank. Inpatient costs were obtained from the 2010 National Inpatient Sample. Population estimates were generated using weighted samples, and all costs are reported using 2010 US dollars using the Consumer Price Index. A total of 3,951 fatal motorcycle collisions were reported in 2010, of which 77% of patients died at the scene, 10% in the emergency department, and 13% as inpatients. Thirty-seven percent of all riders did not wear a helmet but accounted for 69% of all deaths. Of those motorcyclists who survived to the hospital, the odds ratio of surviving with a helmet was 1.51 compared with those without a helmet (p < 0.001). Total costs for nonhelmeted motorcyclists were 66% greater at $5.5 billion, compared with $3.3 billion for helmeted motorcyclists (p < 0.001). Direct inpatient costs were 16% greater for helmeted riders ($203,248 vs. $175,006) but led to more than 50% greater VSL generated (absolute benefit, $602,519 per helmeted survivor). A cost analysis of inpatient care and indirect costs of motorcycle riders who do not wear helmets leads to nearly $2.2 billion in losses per year, with almost 1.9 times as many deaths compared with helmeted motorcyclists. The per capita cost per fatality is more than $800,000. Institution of a mandatory helmet law could lead to an annual cost savings of almost $2.2 billion. Economic analysis, level III.

  10. The Impact of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) Regulation on Electricity Saving in Malaysia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fatihah Salleh, Siti; Eqwan Roslan, Mohd; Isa, Aishah Mohd; Faizal Basri Nair, Mohd; Syafiqah Salleh, Siti

    2018-03-01

    One of Malaysia’s key strategies to promote efficient energy use in the country is to implement the minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) through the Electricity Regulations (Amendment) 2013. Five selected electrical appliances (refrigerator, air conditioner, television, domestic fans and lamp fittings) must comply with MEPS requirement in order to be sold in Malaysian market. Manufacturers, importers or distributors are issued Certificate of Approval (COA) if products are MEPS-compliant. In 2015, 1,215 COAs were issued but the number of MEPS products in the market is unknown. This work collects sales data from major manufacturers to estimate the annual sales of MEPS appliances and the cumulative electricity consumption and electricity saving. It was found that most products sold have 3-star rating and above. By year 2015, total cumulative electricity savings gained from MEPS implementation is 3,645 GWh, with air conditioner being the highest contributor (30%). In the future, it is recommended that more MEPS products and related incentives be introduced to further improve efficiency of energy use in Malaysia.

  11. Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings - 50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bonnema, E.; Leach, M.; Pless, S.

    2013-06-01

    This Technical Support Document describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net Zero Energy Building (AEDG-MBBR) ASHRAE et al. (2011b). The AEDG-MBBR is intended to provide recommendations for achieving 50% whole-building energy savings in retail stores over levels achieved by following ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (Standard 90.1-2004) (ASHRAE 2004b). The AEDG-MBBR was developed in collaboration with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), themore » Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the U.S. Department of Energy.« less

  12. Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings - 50% Energy Savings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bonnema, Eric; Leach, Matt; Pless, Shanti

    2013-06-05

    This Technical Support Document describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net Zero Energy Building (AEDG-MBBR) ASHRAE et al. (2011b). The AEDG-MBBR is intended to provide recommendations for achieving 50% whole-building energy savings in retail stores over levels achieved by following ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (Standard 90.1-2004) (ASHRAE 2004b). The AEDG-MBBR was developed in collaboration with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), themore » Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the U.S. Department of Energy.« less

  13. Consumer behaviours: Teaching children to save energy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grønhøj, Alice

    2016-08-01

    Energy-saving programmes are increasingly targeted at children to encourage household energy conservation. A study involving the assignment of energy-saving interventions to Girl Scouts shows that a child-focused intervention can improve energy-saving behaviours among children and their parents.

  14. Energy Saving and GHG Emission Reduction in a Micro-CCHP System by Use of Solar Energy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ion, Ion V.; Ciocea, Gheorghe; Popescu, Florin

    2012-12-01

    In this work, the reduction of greenhouse gas emission, and the energy saving by integrating solar collectors and photovoltaic panels in a Stirling engine based microcombined cooling, heating and power (mCCHP) system are studied. The mCCHP system consists of a natural gas Stirling CHP and an adsorber chiller. When the thermal outputs of the Stirling CHP and solar collectors are not sufficient to cover the heat demand for domestic hot water (DHW), heating/cooling, an auxiliary heating boiler starts to operate. The energy saving by using solar energy varies from 13.35% in December to 59.62% in April, in the case of solar collectors usage and from 7.47% in December to 28.27% in July, in the case of photovoltaic panels usage. By using solar energy the annual GHG emission decreases by 31.98% and the fuel cost reduction varies from 12.73% in December to 49.78% in June.

  15. ‘Nurture the sprouting bud; do not uproot it’. Using saving groups to save for maternal and newborn health: lessons from rural Eastern Uganda

    PubMed Central

    Ekirapa-Kiracho, Elizabeth; Paina, Ligia; Muhumuza Kananura, Rornald; Mutebi, Aloysius; Jane, Pacuto; Tumuhairwe, Juliet; Tetui, Moses; Kiwanuka, Suzanne N

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Background: Saving groups are increasingly being used to save in many developing countries. However, there is limited literature about how they can be exploited to improve maternal and newborn health. Objectives: This paper describes saving practices, factors that encourage and constrain saving with saving groups, and lessons learnt while supporting communities to save through saving groups. Methods: This qualitative study was done in three districts in Eastern Uganda. Saving groups were identified and provided with support to enhance members’ access to maternal and newborn health. Fifteen focus group discussions (FGDs) and 18 key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted to elicit members’ views about saving practices. Document review was undertaken to identify key lessons for supporting saving groups. Qualitative data are presented thematically. Results: Awareness of the importance of saving, safe custody of money saved, flexible saving arrangements and easy access to loans for personal needs including transport during obstetric emergencies increased willingness to save with saving groups. Saving groups therefore provided a safety net for the poor during emergencies. Poor management of saving groups and detrimental economic practices like gambling constrained saving. Efficient running of saving groups requires that they have a clear management structure, which is legally registered with relevant authorities and that it is governed by a constitution. Conclusions: Saving groups were considered a useful form of saving that enabled easy acess to cash for birth preparedness and transportation during emergencies. They are like ‘a sprouting bud that needs to be nurtured rather than uprooted’, as they appear to have the potential to act as a safety net for poor communities that have no health insurance. Local governments should therefore strengthen the management capacity of saving groups so as to ensure their efficient running through partnerships with

  16. Can digital pathology result in cost savings? A financial projection for digital pathology implementation at a large integrated health care organization.

    PubMed

    Ho, Jonhan; Ahlers, Stefan M; Stratman, Curtis; Aridor, Orly; Pantanowitz, Liron; Fine, Jeffrey L; Kuzmishin, John A; Montalto, Michael C; Parwani, Anil V

    2014-01-01

    Digital pathology offers potential improvements in workflow and interpretive accuracy. Although currently digital pathology is commonly used for research and education, its clinical use has been limited to niche applications such as frozen sections and remote second opinion consultations. This is mainly due to regulatory hurdles, but also to a dearth of data supporting a positive economic cost-benefit. Large scale adoption of digital pathology and the integration of digital slides into the routine anatomic/surgical pathology "slide less" clinical workflow will occur only if digital pathology will offer a quantifiable benefit, which could come in the form of more efficient and/or higher quality care. As a large academic-based health care organization expecting to adopt digital pathology for primary diagnosis upon its regulatory approval, our institution estimated potential operational cost savings offered by the implementation of an enterprise-wide digital pathology system (DPS). Projected cost savings were calculated for the first 5 years following implementation of a DPS based on operational data collected from the pathology department. Projected savings were based on two factors: (1) Productivity and lab consolidation savings; and (2) avoided treatment costs due to improvements in the accuracy of cancer diagnoses among nonsubspecialty pathologists. Detailed analyses of incremental treatment costs due to interpretive errors, resulting in either a false positive or false negative diagnosis, was performed for melanoma and breast cancer and extrapolated to 10 other common cancers. When phased in over 5-years, total cost savings based on anticipated improvements in pathology productivity and histology lab consolidation were estimated at $12.4 million for an institution with 219,000 annual accessions. The main contributing factors to these savings were gains in pathologist clinical full-time equivalent capacity impacted by improved pathologist productivity and workload

  17. Can Digital Pathology Result In Cost Savings? A Financial Projection For Digital Pathology Implementation At A Large Integrated Health Care Organization

    PubMed Central

    Ho, Jonhan; Ahlers, Stefan M.; Stratman, Curtis; Aridor, Orly; Pantanowitz, Liron; Fine, Jeffrey L.; Kuzmishin, John A.; Montalto, Michael C.; Parwani, Anil V.

    2014-01-01

    Background: Digital pathology offers potential improvements in workflow and interpretive accuracy. Although currently digital pathology is commonly used for research and education, its clinical use has been limited to niche applications such as frozen sections and remote second opinion consultations. This is mainly due to regulatory hurdles, but also to a dearth of data supporting a positive economic cost-benefit. Large scale adoption of digital pathology and the integration of digital slides into the routine anatomic/surgical pathology “slide less” clinical workflow will occur only if digital pathology will offer a quantifiable benefit, which could come in the form of more efficient and/or higher quality care. Aim: As a large academic-based health care organization expecting to adopt digital pathology for primary diagnosis upon its regulatory approval, our institution estimated potential operational cost savings offered by the implementation of an enterprise-wide digital pathology system (DPS). Methods: Projected cost savings were calculated for the first 5 years following implementation of a DPS based on operational data collected from the pathology department. Projected savings were based on two factors: (1) Productivity and lab consolidation savings; and (2) avoided treatment costs due to improvements in the accuracy of cancer diagnoses among nonsubspecialty pathologists. Detailed analyses of incremental treatment costs due to interpretive errors, resulting in either a false positive or false negative diagnosis, was performed for melanoma and breast cancer and extrapolated to 10 other common cancers. Results: When phased in over 5-years, total cost savings based on anticipated improvements in pathology productivity and histology lab consolidation were estimated at $12.4 million for an institution with 219,000 annual accessions. The main contributing factors to these savings were gains in pathologist clinical full-time equivalent capacity impacted by

  18. Energy savings potential from improved building controls for the US commercial building sector

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fernandez, Nick; Katipamula, Srinivas; Wang, Weimin

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Office (BTO) sponsored a study to determine the potential national savings achievable in the commercial building sector through widespread deployment of best practice controls, elimination of system and component faults, and use of better sensing. Detailed characterization of potential savings was one source of input to set research, development, and deployment (RD&D) goals in the field of building sensors and controls. DOE’s building energy simulation software, EnergyPlus, was employed to estimate the potential savings from 34 measures in 9 building types and across 16 climates representing almost 57% of commercial building sectormore » energy consumption. In addition to estimating savings from individual measures, three packages of measures were created to estimate savings from the packages. These packages represented an 1) efficient building, 2) typical building, and 3) inefficient building. To scale the results from individual measures or a package to the national scale, building weights by building type and climate locations from the Energy Information Administration’s 2012 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) were used. The results showed significant potential for energy savings across all building types and climates. The total site potential savings from individual measures by building type and climate location ranged between 0% and 25%. The total site potential savings by building type aggregated across all climates (using the CBECS building weights) for each measure varied between 0% and 16%. The total site potential savings aggregated across all building types and climates for each measure varied between 0% and 11%. Some individual measures had negative savings because correcting underlying operational problems (e.g., inadequate ventilation) resulted in increased energy consumption. When combined into packages, the overall national savings potential is estimated to be

  19. Energy Control Systems: Energy Savings.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    School Business Affairs, 1980

    1980-01-01

    The installation of proper control systems is estimated as saving up to 25 percent of the energy used in schools. Other potential energy-saving areas are transmission (heat loss or gain through walls, especially ceilings); internal load (heat from students, lights, and machinery); ventilation; and equipment maintenance. (Author/MLF)

  20. 12 CFR 541.18 - Interim Federal savings association.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... an existing savings and loan holding company or to facilitate any other transaction the Office may... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interim Federal savings association. 541.18... REGULATIONS AFFECTING FEDERAL SAVINGS ASSOCIATIONS § 541.18 Interim Federal savings association. The term...

  1. Model-based optimal design of active cool thermal energy storage for maximal life-cycle cost saving from demand management in commercial buildings

    DOE PAGES

    Cui, Borui; Gao, Dian-ce; Xiao, Fu; ...

    2016-12-23

    This article provides a method in comprehensive evaluation of cost-saving potential of active cool thermal energy storage (CTES) integrated with HVAC system for demand management in non-residential building. The active storage is beneficial by shifting peak demand for peak load management (PLM) as well as providing longer duration and larger capacity of demand response (DR). In this research, a model-based optimal design method using genetic algorithm is developed to optimize the capacity of active CTES aiming for maximizing the life-cycle cost saving concerning capital cost associated with storage capacity as well as incentives from both fast DR and PLM. Inmore » the method, the active CTES operates under a fast DR control strategy during DR events while under the storage-priority operation mode to shift peak demand during normal days. The optimal storage capacities, maximum annual net cost saving and corresponding power reduction set-points during DR event are obtained by using the proposed optimal design method. Lastly, this research provides guidance in comprehensive evaluation of cost-saving potential of CTES integrated with HVAC system for building demand management including both fast DR and PLM.« less

  2. Model-based optimal design of active cool thermal energy storage for maximal life-cycle cost saving from demand management in commercial buildings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cui, Borui; Gao, Dian-ce; Xiao, Fu

    This article provides a method in comprehensive evaluation of cost-saving potential of active cool thermal energy storage (CTES) integrated with HVAC system for demand management in non-residential building. The active storage is beneficial by shifting peak demand for peak load management (PLM) as well as providing longer duration and larger capacity of demand response (DR). In this research, a model-based optimal design method using genetic algorithm is developed to optimize the capacity of active CTES aiming for maximizing the life-cycle cost saving concerning capital cost associated with storage capacity as well as incentives from both fast DR and PLM. Inmore » the method, the active CTES operates under a fast DR control strategy during DR events while under the storage-priority operation mode to shift peak demand during normal days. The optimal storage capacities, maximum annual net cost saving and corresponding power reduction set-points during DR event are obtained by using the proposed optimal design method. Lastly, this research provides guidance in comprehensive evaluation of cost-saving potential of CTES integrated with HVAC system for building demand management including both fast DR and PLM.« less

  3. Achieving energy efficiency during collective communications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sundriyal, Vaibhav; Sosonkina, Masha; Zhang, Zhao

    2012-09-13

    Energy consumption has become a major design constraint in modern computing systems. With the advent of petaflops architectures, power-efficient software stacks have become imperative for scalability. Techniques such as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (called DVFS) and CPU clock modulation (called throttling) are often used to reduce the power consumption of the compute nodes. To avoid significant performance losses, these techniques should be used judiciously during parallel application execution. For example, its communication phases may be good candidates to apply the DVFS and CPU throttling without incurring a considerable performance loss. They are often considered as indivisible operations although littlemore » attention is being devoted to the energy saving potential of their algorithmic steps. In this work, two important collective communication operations, all-to-all and allgather, are investigated as to their augmentation with energy saving strategies on the per-call basis. The experiments prove the viability of such a fine-grain approach. They also validate a theoretical power consumption estimate for multicore nodes proposed here. While keeping the performance loss low, the obtained energy savings were always significantly higher than those achieved when DVFS or throttling were switched on across the entire application run« less

  4. Reduced acute inpatient care was largest savings component of Geisinger Health System's patient-centered medical home.

    PubMed

    Maeng, Daniel D; Khan, Nazmul; Tomcavage, Janet; Graf, Thomas R; Davis, Duane E; Steele, Glenn D

    2015-04-01

    Early evidence suggests that the patient-centered medical home has the potential to improve patient outcomes while reducing the cost of care. However, it is unclear how this care model achieves such desirable results, particularly its impact on cost. We estimated cost savings associated with Geisinger Health System's patient-centered medical home clinics by examining longitudinal clinic-level claims data from elderly Medicare patients attending the clinics over a ninety-month period (2006 through the first half of 2013). We also used these data to deconstruct savings into its main components (inpatient, outpatient, professional, and prescription drugs). During this period, total costs associated with patient-centered medical home exposure declined by approximately 7.9 percent; the largest source of this savings was acute inpatient care ($34, or 19 percent savings per member per month), which accounts for about 64 percent of the total estimated savings. This finding is further supported by the fact that longer exposure was also associated with lower acute inpatient admission rates. The results of this study suggest that patient-centered medical homes can lead to sustainable, long-term improvements in patient health outcomes and the cost of care. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  5. Innovative project management on the basis of programme-and-target approach for energy saving in the construction complex

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mottaeva, Angela

    2017-10-01

    Article is devoted to the consideration of the existing approaches to energy saving. According to the author’s opinion,the system approach is not enough for the achievement of the goal of the increase in energy efficiency and economy of energy, which is quite relevant for the world scientific community today, when the mankind has reached the certain power and ecological threshold. The author reasons the need of programme-and-target approach to energy saving and the increase in energy efficiency of buildings. The problems of the energy saving in current conditions are revealed. The provisional algorithm of the programme-and-target approach to energy efficiency. The expected results from introduction of the programme-and-target approach are presented in the article.

  6. Potential cost savings for Medi-Cal, AFDC, food stamps, and WIC programs associated with increasing breast-feeding among low-income Hmong women in California.

    PubMed

    Tuttle, C R; Dewey, K G

    1996-09-01

    To determine the potential cost savings for four social service programs if breast-feeding rates increased among Hmong women in California. Cost-savings analysis. Hmong women in California. In this population, breast-feeding is currently uncommon, and use of contraceptives is minimal. Savings were based on estimates of the resulting decrease in infant morbidity, maternal fertility, and formula purchases (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) if women breast-fed each child for at least 6 months. Costs were projected over a 7.5-year period and future values were discounted with annual interest rates of 2% or 4%. Substantial savings estimates were associated with breast-feeding for all four programs. The total projected savings over the 7.5-year period ranges from $3,442 to $4,944 (4% discount) to $4,475 to $6,0960 (0% discount) per family enrolled in all four programs. This translates into an estimated yearly savings of between $459 and $659 (4% discount) and $597 and $808 (0% discount) per family. Although health care providers generally accept that breast-feeding is the preferred method for feeding infants, many still view the choice as a neutral one; that is, they consider low breast-feeding rates in the United States a cultural choice with no cost to society. This analysis provides evidence that breast-feeding is economically advantageous for individuals and society.

  7. 77 FR 20123 - Fee Change for Paying Agents Redeeming Definitive Savings Bonds and Savings Notes

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-03

    ... notes from the EZ CLEAR process to an existing image-based process through the Federal Reserve. This simple and modern process allows paying agents to electronically transmit images of redeemed definitive savings bonds and savings notes to a Federal Reserve Processing Site for payment. Because the new process...

  8. Mission science value-cost savings from the Advanced Imaging Communication System (AICS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rice, R. F.

    1984-01-01

    An Advanced Imaging Communication System (AICS) was proposed in the mid-1970s as an alternative to the Voyager data/communication system architecture. The AICS achieved virtually error free communication with little loss in the downlink data rate by concatenating a powerful Reed-Solomon block code with the Voyager convolutionally coded, Viterbi decoded downlink channel. The clean channel allowed AICS sophisticated adaptive data compression techniques. Both Voyager and the Galileo mission have implemented AICS components, and the concatenated channel itself is heading for international standardization. An analysis that assigns a dollar value/cost savings to AICS mission performance gains is presented. A conservative value or savings of $3 million for Voyager, $4.5 million for Galileo, and as much as $7 to 9.5 million per mission for future projects such as the proposed Mariner Mar 2 series is shown.

  9. Do Preschoolers Save to Benefit Their Future Selves?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Metcalf, Jennifer L.; Atance, Cristina M.

    2011-01-01

    Using a new paradigm for measuring children's saving behaviors involving two marble games differing in desirability, we assessed whether 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds saved marbles for future use, saved increasingly on a second trial, saved increasingly with age, and were sensitive to the relative value of future rewards. We also assessed whether…

  10. Prescription Program Provides Significant Savings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rowan, James M.

    2010-01-01

    Most school districts today are looking for ways to save money without decreasing services to its staff. Retired pharmacist Tim Sylvester, a lifelong resident of Alpena Public Schools in Alpena, Michigan, presented the district with a pharmaceuticals plan that would save the district money without raising employee co-pays for prescriptions. The…

  11. Saving Money Through Energy Conservation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Presley, Michael H.; And Others

    This publication is an introduction to personal energy conservation. The first chapter presents a rationale for conserving energy and points out that private citizens control about one third of this country's energy consumption. Chapters two and three show how to save money by saving energy. Chapter two discusses energy conservation methods in the…

  12. 12 CFR 583.20 - Savings and loan holding company.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Savings and loan holding company. 583.20... REGULATIONS AFFECTING SAVINGS AND LOAN HOLDING COMPANIES § 583.20 Savings and loan holding company. The term savings and loan holding company means any company that directly or indirectly controls a savings...

  13. Household water saving: Evidence from Spain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aisa, Rosa; Larramona, Gemma

    2012-12-01

    This article focuses on household water use in Spain by analyzing the influence of a detailed set of factors. We find that, although the presence of both water-saving equipment and water-conservation habits leads to water savings, the factors that influence each are not the same. In particular, our results show that those individuals most committed to the adoption of water-saving equipment and, at the same time, less committed to water-conservation habits tend to have higher incomes.

  14. How Trees Can Save Energy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fazio, James R., Ed.

    1991-01-01

    This document might easily have been called "How To Use Trees To Save Energy". It presents the energy saving advantages of landscaping the home and community with trees. The discussion includes: (1) landscaping advice to obtain the benefits of tree shade; (2) the heat island phenomenon in cities; (3) how and where to properly plant trees for…

  15. Testing an Asset-Building Approach for Young People: Early Access to Savings Predicts Later Savings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedline, Terri; Elliott, William; Chowa, Gina A. N.

    2013-01-01

    A major hypothesis of asset-building is that early access to savings accounts leads to continued and improved educational and economic outcomes over time. This study asks whether or not young adults (ages 18-22) in 2007, particularly among lower income households, are significantly more likely to own savings accounts and to accumulate more savings…

  16. Development of the Workplace Health Savings Calculator: a practical tool to measure economic impact from reduced absenteeism and staff turnover in workplace health promotion.

    PubMed

    Baxter, Siyan; Campbell, Sharon; Sanderson, Kristy; Cazaly, Carl; Venn, Alison; Owen, Carole; Palmer, Andrew J

    2015-09-18

    Workplace health promotion is focussed on improving the health and wellbeing of workers. Although quantifiable effectiveness and economic evidence is variable, workplace health promotion is recognised by both government and business stakeholders as potentially beneficial for worker health and economic advantage. Despite the current debate on whether conclusive positive outcomes exist, governments are investing, and business engagement is necessary for value to be realised. Practical tools are needed to assist decision makers in developing the business case for workplace health promotion programs. Our primary objective was to develop an evidence-based, simple and easy-to-use resource (calculator) for Australian employers interested in workplace health investment figures. Three phases were undertaken to develop the calculator. First, evidence from a literature review located appropriate effectiveness measures. Second, a review of employer-facilitated programs aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of employees was utilised to identify change estimates surrounding these measures, and third, currently available online evaluation tools and models were investigated. We present a simple web-based calculator for use by employers who wish to estimate potential annual savings associated with implementing a successful workplace health promotion program. The calculator uses effectiveness measures (absenteeism and staff turnover rates) and change estimates sourced from 55 case studies to generate the annual savings an employer may potentially gain. Australian wage statistics were used to calculate replacement costs due to staff turnover. The calculator was named the Workplace Health Savings Calculator and adapted and reproduced on the Healthy Workers web portal by the Australian Commonwealth Government Department of Health and Ageing. The Workplace Health Savings Calculator is a simple online business tool that aims to engage employers and to assist participation

  17. The PrePex device is unlikely to achieve cost-savings compared to the forceps-guided method in male circumcision programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

    PubMed

    Obiero, Walter; Young, Marisa R; Bailey, Robert C

    2013-01-01

    Male circumcision (MC) reduces the risk of heterosexual HIV acquisition in men by approximately 60%. MC programs for HIV prevention are currently being scaled-up in fourteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The current standard surgical technique for MC in many sub-Saharan African countries is the forceps-guided male circumcision (FGMC) method. The PrePex male circumcision (PMC) method could replace FGMC and potentially reduce MC programming costs. We compared the potential costs of introducing the PrePex device into MC programming to the cost of the forceps-guided method. Data were obtained from the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS), an MC service delivery organization in Kenya, and from the Kenya Ministry of Health. Analyses are based on 48,265 MC procedures performed in four Districts in western Kenya from 2009 through 2011. Data were entered into the WHO/UNAIDS Decision Makers Program Planning Tool. The tool assesses direct and indirect costs of MC programming. Various sensitivity analyses were performed. Costs were discounted at an annual rate of 6% and are presented in United States Dollars. Not including the costs of the PrePex device or referral costs for men with phimosis/tight foreskin, the costs of one MC surgery were $44.54-$49.02 and $54.52-$55.29 for PMC and FGMC, respectively. The PrePex device is unlikely to result in significant cost-savings in comparison to the forceps-guided method. MC programmers should target other aspects of the male circumcision minimum package for improved cost efficiency.

  18. Annual Report on Student Achievement 1992-93. Publication Number 92.30.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mangino, Evangelina; And Others

    Student achievement in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) (Texas), as reflected by different achievement test scores, is reported for 1992-93. In this year, 14,114 students took the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS)in the fall, and 14,799 took the TAAS in the spring. In grades 1 and 2, 9,520 students took the Iowa Tests of…

  19. Poor Families Striving to Save in Matched Children's Savings Accounts: Findings from a Randomized Experimental Design in Uganda.

    PubMed

    Karimli, Leyla; Ssewamala, Fred M; Neilands, Torsten B

    2014-12-01

    This study examines participants' savings in children's savings accounts (CSAs) set up for AIDS-orphaned children ages 10-15 in Uganda. Using a cluster randomized experimental design, we examine the extent to which families participating in a CSA program report more savings than their counterparts not participating in the program, explore the extent to which families who participate in the CSA program report using formal financial institutions compared with families who do not have a CSA, and consider whether families participating in the CSA program bring new money into the CSA or whether they reshuffle existing household assets. We find that participating in a CSA increased families' likelihood to report having saved money. However, our results show no intervention effect either on the amount of self-reported savings or on the likelihood of using formal financial institutions. Further research is needed to understand whether use of a CSA helps families generate new wealth.

  20. [Saving motives in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Preliminary results of a new inventory for exploring lifespan saving motives].

    PubMed

    Rager, B; Lang, F R; Wagner, G G

    2012-12-01

    There is some research on personal reasons for saving money in the economic sciences. However, not much is known about the age differences of saving motives. In this vein, the future time perspective (FTP) is known to play a critical role for motivation across the life span. In this study, we introduce a new Saving Motive Inventory (SMI), which also covers saving goals after retirement. Furthermore, it is argued that additional saving motives that are not based on economic models of life-cycle saving also exist. In accordance with the socio-emotional selectivity theory, we explored age differences in an online survey with 496 participants from young (19-44 years), middle-aged (45-64 years), and older (65-86 years) adulthood, who completed a questionnaire on saving motives, personality, and future-related thinking (e.g., Future Time Perspective Scale, Life Orientation Test). Results of the explorative Factor Analysis (EFA) are consistent with the theoretical expectations. The factors are generativity, educational investment, consumption, indifference, and provision for death and dying. Together these five factors account for 67% of the variance. In general, the inventory is reliable and valid with respect to the expected internal and external criteria. It contributes to better understanding of saving motives over the lifespan, especially with respect to effects of the future time perspective.

  1. Improving the Energy Saving Process with High-Resolution Data: A Case Study in a University Building.

    PubMed

    Han, Jeongyun; Lee, Eunjung; Cho, Hyunghun; Yoon, Yoonjin; Lee, Hyoseop; Rhee, Wonjong

    2018-05-17

    In this paper, we provide findings from an energy saving experiment in a university building, where an IoT platform with 1 Hz sampling sensors was deployed to collect electric power consumption data. The experiment was a reward setup with daily feedback delivered by an energy delegate for one week, and energy saving of 25.4% was achieved during the experiment. Post-experiment sustainability, defined as 10% or more of energy saving, was also accomplished for 44 days without any further intervention efforts. The saving was possible mainly because of the data-driven intervention designs with high-resolution data in terms of sampling frequency and number of sensors, and the high-resolution data turned out to be pivotal for an effective waste behavior investigation. While the quantitative result was encouraging, we also noticed many uncontrollable factors, such as exams, papers due, office allocation shuffling, graduation, and new-comers, that affected the result in the campus environment. To confirm that the quantitative result was due to behavior changes, rather than uncontrollable factors, we developed several data-driven behavior detection measures. With these measures, it was possible to analyze behavioral changes, as opposed to simply analyzing quantitative fluctuations. Overall, we conclude that the space-time resolution of data can be crucial for energy saving, and potentially for many other data-driven energy applications.

  2. Potential Savings in Rural Public School Non-Instructional Costs through Shared Services Arrangements: A Regional Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ECM, Inc., Williamsville, NY.

    A study was undertaken in 16 rural New York school districts to determine the feasibility of sharing noninstructional services as an avenue to achieving cost savings and enhanced services. The districts involved were within the Delaware/Chenango/Madison/Otsego BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) in a rural mountainous region of…

  3. New workers' compensation legislation: expected pharmaceutical cost savings.

    PubMed

    Wilson, Leslie; Gitlin, Matthew

    2005-10-01

    California Workers' Compensation (WC) system costs are under review. With recently approved California State Assembly Bill (AB) 749 and Senate Bill (SB) 228, an assessment of proposed pharmaceutical cost savings is needed. A large workers' compensation database provided by the California Workers' Compensation Institute (CWCI) and Medi-Cal pharmacy costs obtained from the State Drug Utilization Project are utilized to compare frequency, costs and savings to Workers' Compensation in 2002 with the new pharmacy legislation. Compared to the former California Workers' Compensation fee schedule, the newly implemented 100% Medi-Cal fee schedule will result in savings of 29.5% with a potential total pharmacy cost savings of $125 million. Further statistical analysis demonstrated that a large variability in savings across drugs could not be controlled with this drug pricing system. Despite the large savings in pharmaceuticals, inconsistencies between the two pharmaceutical payment systems could lead to negative incentives and uncertainty for long-term savings. Proposed alternative pricing systems could be considered. However, pain management implemented along with other cost containment strategies could more effectively reduce overall drug spending in the workers' compensation system.

  4. Fast approach for toner saving

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Safonov, Ilia V.; Kurilin, Ilya V.; Rychagov, Michael N.; Lee, Hokeun; Kim, Sangho; Choi, Donchul

    2011-01-01

    Reducing toner consumption is an important task in modern printing devices and has a significant positive ecological impact. Existing toner saving approaches have two main drawbacks: appearance of hardcopy in toner saving mode is worse in comparison with normal mode; processing of whole rendered page bitmap requires significant computational costs. We propose to add small holes of various shapes and sizes to random places inside a character bitmap stored in font cache. Such random perforation scheme is based on processing pipeline in RIP of standard printer languages Postscript and PCL. Processing of text characters only, and moreover, processing of each character for given font and size alone, is an extremely fast procedure. The approach does not deteriorate halftoned bitmap and business graphics and provide toner saving for typical office documents up to 15-20%. Rate of toner saving is adjustable. Alteration of resulted characters' appearance is almost indistinguishable in comparison with solid black text due to random placement of small holes inside the character regions. The suggested method automatically skips small fonts to preserve its quality. Readability of text processed by proposed method is fine. OCR programs process that scanned hardcopy successfully too.

  5. Climate-simulated raceway pond culturing: quantifying the maximum achievable annual biomass productivity of Chlorella sorokiniana in the contiguous USA

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Huesemann, M.; Chavis, A.; Edmundson, S.

    Chlorella sorokiniana (DOE 1412) emerged as one of the most promising microalgae strains from the NAABB consortium project, with a remarkable doubling time under optimal conditions of 2.57 hr-1. However, its maximum achievable annual biomass productivity in outdoor ponds in the contiguous United States remained unknown. In order to address this knowledge gap, this alga was cultured in indoor LED-lighted and temperature-controlled raceways in nutrient replete freshwater (BG-11) medium at pH 7 under conditions simulating the daily sunlight intensity and water temperature fluctuations during three seasons in Southern Florida, an optimal outdoor pond culture location for this organism identified bymore » biomass growth modeling. Prior strain characterization indicated that the average maximum specific growth rate (µmax) at 36 ºC declined continuously with pH, with µmax corresponding to 5.92, 5.83, 4.89, and 4.21 day-1 at pH 6, 7, 8, and 9, respectively. In addition, the maximum specific growth rate declined nearly linearly with increasing salinity until no growth was observed above 35 g/L NaCl. In the climate-simulated culturing studies, the volumetric ash-free dry weight-based biomass productivities during the linear growth phase were 57, 69, and 97 mg/L-day for 30-year average light and temperature simulations for January (winter), March (spring), and July (summer), respectively, which corresponds to average areal productivities of 11.6, 14.1, and 19.9 g/m2-day at a constant pond depth of 20.5 cm. The photosynthetic efficiencies (PAR) in the three climate-simulated pond culturing experiments ranged from 4.1 to 5.1%. The annual biomass productivity was estimated as ca. 15 g/m2-day, nearly double the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2015 State of Technology annual cultivation productivity of 8.5 g/m2-day, but this is still significantly below the projected 2022 target of ca. 25 g/m2-day (U.S. DOE, 2016) for economic microalgal biofuel production, indicating the

  6. Saving Lives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moon, Daniel

    2002-01-01

    Advises schools on how to establish an automated external defibrillator (AED) program. These laptop-size devices can save victims of sudden cardiac arrest by delivering an electrical shock to return the heartbeat to normal. Discusses establishing standards, developing a strategy, step-by-step advice towards establishing an AED program, and school…

  7. Chapter 21: Estimating Net Savings - Common Practices. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kurnik, Charles W; Violette, Daniel M.; Rathbun, Pamela

    This chapter focuses on the methods used to estimate net energy savings in evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM and V) studies for energy efficiency (EE) programs. The chapter provides a definition of net savings, which remains an unsettled topic both within the EE evaluation community and across the broader public policy evaluation community, particularly in the context of attribution of savings to a program. The chapter differs from the measure-specific Uniform Methods Project (UMP) chapters in both its approach and work product. Unlike other UMP resources that provide recommended protocols for determining gross energy savings, this chapter describes and comparesmore » the current industry practices for determining net energy savings but does not prescribe methods.« less

  8. An analysis of three levels of scaled-up coverage for 28 interventions to avert stillbirths and maternal, newborn and child mortality in 27 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the Lives Saved Tool (LiST).

    PubMed

    Arnesen, Lauren; O'Connell, Thomas; Brumana, Luisa; Durán, Pablo

    2016-07-22

    Action to avert maternal and child mortality was propelled by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has shown promise in achieving the MDGs in many countries, but preventable maternal, neonatal and child mortality persist. Furthermore, preventable stillbirths are occurring in large numbers in the region. While an effective set of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) interventions have been identified, they have not been brought to scale across LAC. Baseline data for select MNCH interventions for 27 LAC countries that are included in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) were verified and updated with survey data. Three LiST projections were built for each country: baseline, MDG-focused, and All Included, each scaling up a progressively larger set of interventions for 2015 - 2030. Impact was assessed for 2015 - 2035, comparing annual and total lives saved, as projected by LiST. Across the 27 countries 235,532 stillbirths, and 752,588 neonatal, 959,393 under-five, and 60,858 maternal deaths would be averted between 2015 and 2035 by implementing the All-Included intervention package, representing 67 %, 616 %, 807 % and 101 % more lives saved, respectively, than with the MDG-focused interventions. 25 % neonatal deaths averted with the All-Included intervention package would be due to asphyxia, 42 % from prematurity and 24 % from sepsis. Our modelling suggests a 337 % increase in the number of lives saved, which would have enormous impacts on population health. Further research could help clarify the impacts of a comprehensive scale-up of the full range of essential MNCH interventions we have modelled.

  9. Energy performance and savings potentials with skylights

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Arasteh, D.; Johnson, R.; Selkowitz, S.

    1984-12-01

    This study systematically explores the energy effects of skylight systems in a prototypical office building module and examines the savings from daylighting. For specific climates, roof/skylight characteristics are identified that minimize total energy or peak electrical demand. Simplified techniques for energy performance calculation are also presented based on a multiple regression analysis of our data base so that one may easily evaluate daylighting's effects on total and component energy loads and electrical peaks. This provides additional insights into the influence of skylight parameters on energy consumption and electrical peaks. We use the DOE-2.1B energy analysis program with newly incorporated daylightingmore » algorithms to determine hourly, monthly, and annual impacts of daylighting strategies on electrical lighting consumption, cooling, heating, fan power, peak electrical demands, and total energy use. A data base of more than 2000 parametric simulations for 14 US climates has been generated. Parameters varied include skylight-to-roof ratio, shading coefficient, visible transmittance, skylight well light loss, electric lighting power density, roof heat transfer coefficient, and electric lighting control type. 14 references, 13 figures, 4 tables.« less

  10. A Save-Energy, Save-Money Program That Pays Off

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Embersits, John F.

    1976-01-01

    Suggested guidelines for energy saving on campus include a 3-phase plan: (1) Quick Fix--effective management of what you already have; (2) Refitting--modification of existing systems and installation of simple controls; (3) Systems Convert--installation of computerized controls, waste-heat recovery, solid-waste recovery utilization and other…

  11. Digital-map grids of mean-annual precipitation for 1961-90, and generalized skew coefficients of annual maximum streamflow for Oklahoma

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rea, A.H.; Tortorelli, R.L.

    1997-01-01

    This digital report contains two digital-map grids of data that were used to develop peak-flow regression equations in Tortorelli, 1997, 'Techniques for estimating peak-streamflow frequency for unregulated streams and streams regulated by small floodwater retarding structures in Oklahoma,' U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4202. One data set is a grid of mean annual precipitation, in inches, based on the period 1961-90, for Oklahoma. The data set was derived from the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) mean annual precipitation grid for the United States, developed by Daly, Neilson, and Phillips (1994, 'A statistical-topographic model for mapping climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain:' Journal of Applied Meteorology, v. 33, no. 2, p. 140-158). The second data set is a grid of generalized skew coefficients of logarithms of annual maximum streamflow for Oklahoma streams less than or equal to 2,510 square miles in drainage area. This grid of skew coefficients is taken from figure 11 of Tortorelli and Bergman, 1985, 'Techniques for estimating flood peak discharges for unregulated streams and streams regulated by small floodwater retarding structures in Oklahoma,' U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 84-4358. To save disk space, the skew coefficient values have been multiplied by 100 and rounded to integers with two significant digits. The data sets are provided in an ASCII grid format.

  12. 76 FR 31680 - General Reporting and Recordkeeping by Savings Associations and Savings and Loan Holding Companies

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-01

    ... comments at the Public Reading Room, 1700 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20552 by appointment. To make an... collection relates to reports and records required by the following regulations: 12 CFR 552.11 (books and... the savings association), 12 CFR 584.1(f) (books and records of each savings and loan holding company...

  13. 76 FR 16477 - General Reporting and Recordkeeping by Savings Associations and Savings and Loan Holding Companies

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-23

    ..., interested persons may inspect comments at the Public Reading Room, 1700 G Street, NW., by appointment. To... collection relates to reports and records required by the following regulations: 12 CFR 552.11 (books and... the savings association), 12 CFR 584.1(f) (books and records of each savings and loan holding company...

  14. Energy and cost savings results for advanced technology systems from the Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study /CTAS/

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sagerman, G. D.; Barna, G. J.; Burns, R. K.

    1979-01-01

    The Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study (CTAS), a program undertaken to identify the most attractive advanced energy conversion systems for industrial cogeneration applications in the 1985-2000 time period, is described, and preliminary results are presented. Two cogeneration options are included in the analysis: a topping application, in which fuel is input to the energy conversion system which generates electricity and waste heat from the conversion system is used to provide heat to the process, and a bottoming application, in which fuel is burned to provide high temperature process heat and waste heat from the process is used as thermal input to the energy conversion system which generates energy. Steam turbines, open and closed cycle gas turbines, combined cycles, diesel engines, Stirling engines, phosphoric acid and molten carbonate fuel cells and thermionics are examined. Expected plant level energy savings, annual energy cost savings, and other results of the economic analysis are given, and the sensitivity of these results to the assumptions concerning fuel prices, price of purchased electricity and the potential effects of regional energy use characteristics is discussed.

  15. Investigating energy-saving potentials in the cloud.

    PubMed

    Lee, Da-Sheng

    2014-02-20

    Collecting webpage messages can serve as a sensor for investigating the energy-saving potential of buildings. Focusing on stores, a cloud sensor system is developed to collect data and determine their energy-saving potential. The owner of a store under investigation must register online, report the store address, area, and the customer ID number on the electric meter. The cloud sensor system automatically surveys the energy usage records by connecting to the power company website and calculating the energy use index (EUI) of the store. Other data includes the chain store check, company capital, location price, and the influence of weather conditions on the store; even the exposure frequency of store under investigation may impact the energy usage collected online. After collecting data from numerous stores, a multi-dimensional data array is constructed to determine energy-saving potential by identifying stores with similarity conditions. Similarity conditions refer to analyzed results that indicate that two stores have similar capital, business scale, weather conditions, and exposure frequency on web. Calculating the EUI difference or pure technical efficiency of stores, the energy-saving potential is determined. In this study, a real case study is performed. An 8-dimensional (8D) data array is constructed by surveying web data related to 67 stores. Then, this study investigated the savings potential of the 33 stores, using a site visit, and employed the cloud sensor system to determine the saving potential. The case study results show good agreement between the data obtained by the site visit and the cloud investigation, with errors within 4.17%. Among 33 the samples, eight stores have low saving potentials of less than 5%. The developed sensor on the cloud successfully identifies them as having low saving potential and avoids wasting money on the site visit.

  16. Investigating Energy-Saving Potentials in the Cloud

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Da-Sheng

    2014-01-01

    Collecting webpage messages can serve as a sensor for investigating the energy-saving potential of buildings. Focusing on stores, a cloud sensor system is developed to collect data and determine their energy-saving potential. The owner of a store under investigation must register online, report the store address, area, and the customer ID number on the electric meter. The cloud sensor system automatically surveys the energy usage records by connecting to the power company website and calculating the energy use index (EUI) of the store. Other data includes the chain store check, company capital, location price, and the influence of weather conditions on the store; even the exposure frequency of store under investigation may impact the energy usage collected online. After collecting data from numerous stores, a multi-dimensional data array is constructed to determine energy-saving potential by identifying stores with similarity conditions. Similarity conditions refer to analyzed results that indicate that two stores have similar capital, business scale, weather conditions, and exposure frequency on web. Calculating the EUI difference or pure technical efficiency of stores, the energy-saving potential is determined. In this study, a real case study is performed. An 8-dimensional (8D) data array is constructed by surveying web data related to 67 stores. Then, this study investigated the savings potential of the 33 stores, using a site visit, and employed the cloud sensor system to determine the saving potential. The case study results show good agreement between the data obtained by the site visit and the cloud investigation, with errors within 4.17%. Among 33 the samples, eight stores have low saving potentials of less than 5%. The developed sensor on the cloud successfully identifies them as having low saving potential and avoids wasting money on the site visit. PMID:24561405

  17. I-SAVE: AN INTERACTIVE REAL-TIME MONITOR AND CONTROLLER TO INFLUENCE ENERGY CONSERVATION BEHAVIOR BY IMPULSE SAVING

    EPA Science Inventory

    Simulation-based model to explore the benefits of monitoring and control to energy saving opportunities in residential homes; an adaptive algorithm to predict the type of electrical loads; a prototype user friendly interface monitoring and control device to save energy; a p...

  18. Saving Millions without Spending a Dime.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raman, Elizabeth

    2003-01-01

    Describes how the University of Hawaii at Hilo is using the $2.7 million it saved on utility bills during the past 5 years to repay campus energy improvements financed, installed, and maintained by an energy services company; the method is called energy savings performance contracting. (EV)

  19. 40 CFR 64.10 - Savings provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Savings provisions. 64.10 Section 64.10 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE MONITORING § 64.10 Savings provisions. (a) Nothing in this part shall: (1) Excuse the...

  20. Creative Energy Management Can Save Money.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, Patricia

    1984-01-01

    Schools can launch energy conservation programs with simple money-saving measures like improving boiler maintenance, recalibrating utility meters, and obtaining preferred utility rates. Becoming more assertive in the marketplace and using "creative financing" when needed, they can then reinvest their savings in more extensive projects. (MCG)

  1. 40 CFR 64.10 - Savings provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 15 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Savings provisions. 64.10 Section 64.10 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE MONITORING § 64.10 Savings provisions. (a) Nothing in this part shall: (1) Excuse the...

  2. Chapter 16: Retrocommissioning Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kurnik, Charles W.; Tiessen, Alex

    Retrocommissioning (RCx) is a systematic process for optimizing energy performance in existing buildings. It specifically focuses on improving the control of energy-using equipment (e.g., heating, ventilation, and air conditioning [HVAC] equipment and lighting) and typically does not involve equipment replacement. Field results have shown proper RCx can achieve energy savings ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, with a typical payback of two years or less (Thorne 2003). The method presented in this protocol provides direction regarding: (1) how to account for each measure's specific characteristics and (2) how to choose the most appropriate savings verification approach.

  3. Poor Families Striving to Save in Matched Children’s Savings Accounts: Findings from a Randomized Experimental Design in Uganda

    PubMed Central

    Karimli, Leyla; Ssewamala, Fred M.; Neilands, Torsten B.

    2014-01-01

    This study examines participants’ savings in children’s savings accounts (CSAs) set up for AIDS-orphaned children ages 10–15 in Uganda. Using a cluster randomized experimental design, we examine the extent to which families participating in a CSA program report more savings than their counterparts not participating in the program, explore the extent to which families who participate in the CSA program report using formal financial institutions compared with families who do not have a CSA, and consider whether families participating in the CSA program bring new money into the CSA or whether they reshuffle existing household assets. We find that participating in a CSA increased families’ likelihood to report having saved money. However, our results show no intervention effect either on the amount of self-reported savings or on the likelihood of using formal financial institutions. Further research is needed to understand whether use of a CSA helps families generate new wealth. PMID:25525282

  4. Cost-effectiveness analysis of annual Trichomonas vaginalis screening and treatment in HIV-positive women to prevent HIV transmission.

    PubMed

    Lazenby, Gweneth Bratton; Unal, Elizabeth Ramsey; Andrews, Annie Lintzenich; Simpson, Kit

    2014-06-01

    Because of a high incidence of Trichomonas infection among HIV-positive women, annual screening and treatment are recommended. Trichomonas infection is associated with a 2-fold risk of HIV transmission. The objective of this study was to determine if annual screening is cost-effective for the prevention of new HIV cases in susceptible male partners secondary to Trichomonas infection in HIV-positive women. A decision tree analysis was constructed to model the costs of Trichomonas screening, treatment, and follow-up. 200 women cycled through the model for a period of 12 months. One hundred women were unscreened and 100 were screened and treated per recommendations. Annual Trichomonas screening and treatment saves US $553 (US $475- US $645) per woman in the prevention of HIV transmission to male partners. The cost-effectiveness of this strategy was maintained across all assumptions in a sensitivity analysis. Trichomonas screening and treatment for the purpose of decreasing new HIV infections is not only cost-effective but also cost saving in HIV-positive women. If Centers for Disease Control and Prevention treatment guidelines were followed in all HIV-positive women living in the United States, the lifetime cost of new HIV infections prevented would approximate US $159,264,000 and could potentially prevent new HIV cases secondary to female-to-male transmissions.

  5. 12 CFR 583.11 - Diversified savings and loan holding company.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Diversified savings and loan holding company... DEFINITIONS FOR REGULATIONS AFFECTING SAVINGS AND LOAN HOLDING COMPANIES § 583.11 Diversified savings and loan holding company. The term diversified savings and loan holding company means any savings and loan holding...

  6. Savings in acute care costs if all older adults treated for fall-related injuries completed matter of balance.

    PubMed

    Howland, Jonathan; Shankar, Kalpana Narayan; Peterson, Elizabeth W; Taylor, Alyssa A

    Falls among older adults are a common and serious public health problem. Evidence-based fall prevention programs delivered in community settings and targeting older adults living independently are increasingly deployed throughout the nation. These programs tend to be offered by public and private organizations that serve older adults, and recruitment usually occurs through direct marketing to the target population, rather than through referrals from healthcare providers. Matter of Balance , a program developed to reduce fear of falling and associated activity restriction in community-dwelling older adults, is currently being delivered in 38 of the 50 United States. In this study, we estimate the one-year medical care cost savings if older adults treated at Massachusetts hospitals for fall-related injuries were referred by healthcare providers to participate in Matter of Balance . Data from several sources were used for this study. We estimated annual cost savings in older adult falls recidivism for a hypothetical 100 patients presenting at an emergency department for a fall-related injury, assuming that all were referred to, and 50 % completed, Matter of Balance . This cost-saving estimate was subsequently expanded based on the actual number (43,931) of older adult patients presenting at, and discharged from Massachusetts emergency departments for all fall-related injuries in 2012. Cost savings were calculated for two additional participation rates: 25 % and 75 %. The return on investment (ROI), was calculated based on the percentage of return per each dollar invested. The calculated ROI for Matter of Balance was 144 %. Statewide savings ranged from $2.79 million assuming a 25 % participation rate to $8.37 million, assuming a 75 % participation rate. Referral to evidence-based falls prevention programs of older adult patients presenting at EDs with a fall-related injury could reduce subsequent falls and associated treatment costs.

  7. SAVE IT! Easy Environmental Tips To Save the Earth.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Washington, DC.

    Everyone has the opportunity to make a difference in turning around the mounting environmental crisis. The purpose of this document is to outline choices a person can make and actions people can take to save the earth from continuing environmental deterioration. This booklet contains concise explanations of environmental problems and tips that…

  8. Analyzing the Core Flight Software (CFS) with SAVE

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ganesan, Dharmalingam; Lindvall, Mikael; McComas, David

    2008-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation describes the SAVE tool and it's application to Core Flight Software (CFS). The contents include: 1) Fraunhofer-a short intro; 2) Context of this Collaboration; 3) CFS-Core Flight Software?; 4) The SAVE Tool; 5) Applying SAVE to CFS -A few example analyses; and 6) Goals.

  9. Rules and persuasion to save energy: a description of the French connection

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1977-02-07

    Mr. Syrota discusses the results of France's energy program to save 45 million tons of oil equivalent in 1985 without slowing economic growth or causing undue discomfort. A combination of persuasion and tax incentives will be used to encourage lower consumption. Industry requires stronger regulations, tax incentives (such as taxes on heavy oils), and advertising restrictions. France's per capita energy consumption in 1973 was already the lowest of the industrialized nations. Success of the program's first two years is credited to the efforts of individuals, but now new policy initiatives must be made to encourage investment in energy conservation asmore » opposed to energy production. Reduced imports because of conservation will achieve the same balance of payments advantage as increased exports. Demonstration projects will promote waste heat recovery as a significant area for energy savings. Residential efforts include lowering thermostats, improving insulation and temperature control, and encouraging heat pumps and the use of waste heat. (DCK)« less

  10. Extended operating times are more efficient, save money and maintain a high staff and patient satisfaction.

    PubMed

    Herron, Jonathan Blair Thomas; French, Rachel; Gilliam, Andrew Douglas

    2018-01-01

    Current public sector austerity measures necessitate efficiency savings throughout the NHS. Performance targets have resulted in activity being performed in the private sector, waiting list initiative lists and requests for staff to work overtime. This has resulted in staff fatigue and additional agency costs. Adoption of extended operating theatre times (0800-1800 hours) may improve productivity and efficiency, with potentially significant financial savings; however, implementation may adversely affect staff morale and patient compliance. A pilot period of four months of extended operating times (4.5 hour sessions) was completed and included all theatre surgical specialties. Outcome measures included: the number of cases completed, late starts, early finishes, cancelled operations, theatre overruns, preoperative assessment and 18-week targets. The outcomes were then compared to pre-existing normal working day operating lists (0900-1700). Theatre staff, patient and surgical trainee satisfaction with the system were also considered by use of an anonymous questionnaire. The study showed that in-session utilisation time was unchanged by extended operating hours 88.7% (vs 89.2%). The service was rated as 'good' or 'excellent' by 87.5% of patients. Over £345,000 was saved by reducing premium payments. Savings of £225,000 were made by reducing privately outsourced operation and a further £63,000 by reviewing staff hours. Day case procedures increased from 2.8 to 3.2 cases/day with extended operating. There was no significant increase in late starts (5.1% vs 6.8%) or cancellation rates (0.75% vs 1.02%). Theatre over-runs reduced from 5% to 3.4%. The 18 weeks target for surgery was achieved in 93.7% of cases (vs 88.3%). The number of elective procedures increased from 4.1 to 4.89 cases/day. Only 13.33% of trainees (n = 33) surveyed felt that extended operating had a negative impact on training. The study concludes that extended operating increased productivity from

  11. Vapor-phase diethyl oxalate pretreatment of wood chips. Part 1, Energy savings and improved pulps

    Treesearch

    William Kenealy; Eric Horn; Carl Houtman

    2007-01-01

    Diethyl oxalate (DEO) was injected into a digester containing wood chips (pine, spruce, or aspen) preheated to 130–1408C and held for 30 min at the same temperature. When mechanical pulps were produced from these pretreated chips, savings in electrical refiner energy could be achieved. For southern yellow pine (Pinus taeda), the electrical refiner energy required to...

  12. Long-term monitoring of Sacramento Shade program trees: tree survival, growth and energy-saving performance

    Treesearch

    Yekang Ko; Jun-Hak Lee; E. Gregory McPherson; Lara A. Roman

    2015-01-01

    Long-term survival and growth of urban forests are critical to achieve the targeted benefits of urban tree planting programs, such as building energy savings from tree shade. However, little is known about how trees perform in the long-term, especially in residential areas. Given this gap in the literature, we monitored 22-years of post-planting survival, growth, and...

  13. How critical cost analysis can save money in today's NHS: a review of carpal tunnel surgery in a district general hospital.

    PubMed

    Williamson, Mark; Sehjal, Ranjit; Jones, Mark; James, Chris; Smith, Andrew

    2018-01-01

    With today's National Health Service (NHS) facing huge financial pressures the healthcare profession cannot afford to carry on spending at the current rate. Individual clinicians should be encouraged to critically appraise their own practices to bring about a more efficient and cost-effective service. The purpose of this project was to analyse the way that carpal tunnel surgery was being performed within our institution and bring about safe changes to practice that reduce expenditure. By critiquing our practices and applying simple changes based around sound evidence an annual saving of over £15 500 to the department was made. The changes instigated are simple, sustainable and safe to implement while providing improved patient satisfaction. They are also easily transferrable across institutions and to other minor hand surgical procedures to afford even greater ongoing savings to the NHS.

  14. Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Urban Heat-island Effects: Findings from an India Experiment

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Akbari, Hashem; Xu, Tengfang; Taha, Haider

    Cool roofs, cool pavements, and urban vegetation reduce energy use in buildings, lower local air pollutant concentrations, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas. This report summarizes the results of a detailed monitoring project in India and related simulations of meteorology and air quality in three developing countries. The field results quantified direct energy savings from installation of cool roofs on individual commercial buildings. The measured annual energy savings potential from roof-whitening of previously black roofs ranged from 20-22 kWh/m2 of roof area, corresponding to an air-conditioning energy use reduction of 14-26% in commercial buildings. The study estimated thatmore » typical annual savings of 13-14 kWh/m2 of roof area could be achieved by applying white coating to uncoated concrete roofs on commercial buildings in the Metropolitan Hyderabad region, corresponding to cooling energy savings of 10-19%. With the assumption of an annual increase of 100,000 square meters of new roof construction for the next 10 years in the Metropolitan Hyderabad region, the annual cooling energy savings due to whitening concrete roof would be 13-14 GWh of electricity in year ten alone, with cumulative 10-year cooling energy savings of 73-79 GWh for the region. The estimated savings for the entire country would be at least 10 times the savings in Hyderabad, i.e., more than 730-790 GWh. We estimated that annual direct CO2 reduction associated with reduced energy use would be 11-12 kg CO2/m2 of flat concrete roof area whitened, and the cumulative 10-year CO2 reduction would be approximately 0.60-0.65 million tons in India. With the price of electricity estimated at seven Rupees per kWh, the annual electricity savings on air-conditioning would be approximately 93-101 Rupees per m2 of roof. This would translate into annual national savings of approximately one billion Rupees in year ten, and cumulative 10-year savings of over five billion Rupees for

  15. Evaluation of energy savings potential of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) from variable air volume (VAV) in the U.S. climate locations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kim, Dongsu; Cox, Sam J.; Cho, Heejin

    Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems are known for their high energy performance and thus can improve energy efficiency both in residential and commercial buildings. The energy savings potential of this system has been demonstrated in several studies by comparing the system performance with conventional HVAC systems such as rooftop variable air volume systems (RTU-VAV) and central chiller and boiler systems. This paper evaluates the performance of VRF and RTU-VAV systems in a simulation environment using widely-accepted whole building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. A medium office prototype building model, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is used to assessmore » the performance of VRF and RTU-VAV systems. Each system is placed in 16 different locations, representing all U.S. climate zones, to evaluate the performance variations. Both models are compliant with the minimum energy code requirements prescribed in ASHRAE standard 90.1-2010 — energy standard for buildings except low-rise residential buildings. Finally, a comparison study between the simulation results of VRF and RTU-VAV models is made to demonstrate energy savings potential of VRF systems. The simulation results show that the VRF systems would save around 15–42% and 18–33% for HVAC site and source energy uses compared to the RTU-VAV systems. In addition, calculated results for annual HVAC cost savings point out that hot and mild climates show higher percentage cost savings for the VRF systems than cold climates mainly due to the differences in electricity and gas use for heating sources.« less

  16. Evaluation of energy savings potential of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) from variable air volume (VAV) in the U.S. climate locations

    DOE PAGES

    Kim, Dongsu; Cox, Sam J.; Cho, Heejin; ...

    2017-05-22

    Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems are known for their high energy performance and thus can improve energy efficiency both in residential and commercial buildings. The energy savings potential of this system has been demonstrated in several studies by comparing the system performance with conventional HVAC systems such as rooftop variable air volume systems (RTU-VAV) and central chiller and boiler systems. This paper evaluates the performance of VRF and RTU-VAV systems in a simulation environment using widely-accepted whole building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. A medium office prototype building model, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is used to assessmore » the performance of VRF and RTU-VAV systems. Each system is placed in 16 different locations, representing all U.S. climate zones, to evaluate the performance variations. Both models are compliant with the minimum energy code requirements prescribed in ASHRAE standard 90.1-2010 — energy standard for buildings except low-rise residential buildings. Finally, a comparison study between the simulation results of VRF and RTU-VAV models is made to demonstrate energy savings potential of VRF systems. The simulation results show that the VRF systems would save around 15–42% and 18–33% for HVAC site and source energy uses compared to the RTU-VAV systems. In addition, calculated results for annual HVAC cost savings point out that hot and mild climates show higher percentage cost savings for the VRF systems than cold climates mainly due to the differences in electricity and gas use for heating sources.« less

  17. Cost savings associated with an alternative payment model for integrating behavioral health in primary care.

    PubMed

    Ross, Kaile M; Gilchrist, Emma C; Melek, Stephen P; Gordon, Patrick D; Ruland, Sandra L; Miller, Benjamin F

    2018-05-23

    Financially supporting and sustaining behavioral health services integrated into primary care settings remains a major barrier to widespread implementation. Sustaining Healthcare Across Integrated Primary Care Efforts (SHAPE) was a demonstration project designed to prospectively examine the cost savings associated with utilizing an alternative payment methodology to support behavioral health services in primary care practices with integrated behavioral health services. Six primary care practices in Colorado participated in this project. Each practice had at least one on-site behavioral health clinician providing integrated behavioral health services. Three practices received non-fee-for-service payments (i.e., SHAPE payment) to support provision of behavioral health services for 18 months. Three practices did not receive the SHAPE payment and served as control practices for comparison purposes. Assignment to condition was nonrandom. Patient claims data were collected for 9 months before the start of the SHAPE demonstration project (pre-period) and for 18 months during the SHAPE project (post-period) to evaluate cost savings. During the 18-month post-period, analysis of the practices' claims data demonstrated that practices receiving the SHAPE payment generated approximately $1.08 million in net cost savings for their public payer population (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid, and Dual Eligible; N = 9,042). The cost savings were primarily achieved through reduction in downstream utilization (e.g., hospitalizations). The SHAPE demonstration project found that non-fee-for-service payments for behavioral health integrated into primary care may be associated with significant cost savings for public payers, which could have implications on future delivery and payment work in public programs (e.g., Medicaid).

  18. Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: Longitudinal Models of Reciprocal Effects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pekrun, Reinhard; Lichtenfeld, Stephanie; Marsh, Herbert W.; Murayama, Kou; Goetz, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting…

  19. A multifunctional energy-saving magnetic field generator.

    PubMed

    Xiong, Hui; Sun, Wanpeng; Liu, Jinzhen; Shi, Jinhua

    2018-03-01

    To improve the energy utilization of magnetic field generators for biological applications, a multifunctional energy-saving magnetic field generator (ESMFG) is presented. It is capable of producing both an alternating magnetic field (AMF) and a bipolar pulse magnetic field (BPMF) with high energy-saving and energy-reuse rates. Based on a theoretical analysis of an RLC second-order circuit, the energy-saving and energy-reuse rates of both types of magnetic fields can be calculated and are found to have acceptable values. The results of an experimental study using the proposed generator show that for the BPMF, the peak current reaches 130 A and the intensity reaches 70.3 mT. For the AMF, the intensity is 11.0 mT and the RMS current is 20 A. The energy-saving and energy-reuse rates for the AMF generator are 61.3% and 63.5%, respectively, while for the BPMF generator, the energy-saving rate is 33.6%. Thus, the proposed ESMFG has excellent potential for use in biomedical applications.

  20. A multifunctional energy-saving magnetic field generator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiong, Hui; Sun, Wanpeng; Liu, Jinzhen; Shi, Jinhua

    2018-03-01

    To improve the energy utilization of magnetic field generators for biological applications, a multifunctional energy-saving magnetic field generator (ESMFG) is presented. It is capable of producing both an alternating magnetic field (AMF) and a bipolar pulse magnetic field (BPMF) with high energy-saving and energy-reuse rates. Based on a theoretical analysis of an RLC second-order circuit, the energy-saving and energy-reuse rates of both types of magnetic fields can be calculated and are found to have acceptable values. The results of an experimental study using the proposed generator show that for the BPMF, the peak current reaches 130 A and the intensity reaches 70.3 mT. For the AMF, the intensity is 11.0 mT and the RMS current is 20 A. The energy-saving and energy-reuse rates for the AMF generator are 61.3% and 63.5%, respectively, while for the BPMF generator, the energy-saving rate is 33.6%. Thus, the proposed ESMFG has excellent potential for use in biomedical applications.

  1. 24 CFR 242.43 - Application of cost savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Application of cost savings. 242.43... MORTGAGE INSURANCE FOR HOSPITALS Endorsement for Insurance § 242.43 Application of cost savings. At the sole discretion of HUD, any cost savings shall be used to: (a) Reduce the principal amount of the...

  2. Stroke thrombolysis: save a minute, save a day.

    PubMed

    Meretoja, Atte; Keshtkaran, Mahsa; Saver, Jeffrey L; Tatlisumak, Turgut; Parsons, Mark W; Kaste, Markku; Davis, Stephen M; Donnan, Geoffrey A; Churilov, Leonid

    2014-04-01

    Stroke thrombolysis is highly time-critical, but data on long-term effects of small reductions in treatment delays have not been available. Our objective was to quantify patient lifetime benefits gained from faster treatment. Observational prospective data of consecutive stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis in Australian and Finnish centers (1998-2011; n=2258) provided distributions of age, sex, stroke severity, onset-to-treatment times, and 3-month modified Rankin Scale in daily clinical practice. Treatment effects derived from a pooled analysis of thrombolysis trials were used to model the shift in 3-month modified Rankin Scale distributions with reducing treatment delays, from which we derived the expected lifetime and level of long-term disability with faster treatment. Each minute of onset-to-treatment time saved granted on average 1.8 days of extra healthy life (95% prediction interval, 0.9-2.7). Benefit was observed in all groups: each minute provided 0.6 day in old severe (age, 80 years; National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score, 20) patients, 0.9 day in old mild (age, 80 years; NIHSS score, 4) patients, 2.7 days in young mild (age, 50 years; NIHSS score, 4) patients, and 3.5 days in young severe (age, 50 years; NIHSS score, 20) patients. Women gained slightly more than men over their longer lifetimes. In the whole cohort, each 15 minute decrease in treatment delay provided an average equivalent of 1 month of additional disability-free life. Realistically achievable small reductions in stroke thrombolysis delays would result in significant and robust average health benefits over patients' lifetimes. The awareness of concrete importance of speed could promote practice change.

  3. 31 CFR 351.47 - May I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds through a payroll savings plan?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds through a payroll savings plan? 351.47 Section 351.47 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUREAU OF THE...

  4. 31 CFR 359.35 - May I purchase definitive Series I savings bonds through a payroll savings plan?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I purchase definitive Series I savings bonds through a payroll savings plan? 359.35 Section 359.35 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUREAU OF THE...

  5. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    Case study describes how the Army Reserve 99th Regional Support Command (RSC) cut its energy consumption in half at the Support Command's Technical Sergeant Vernon McGarity Army Reserve Center by replacing more than 1,200 fluorescent troffers with 46 W and 61 W LED troffers with dimmers. The site achieved annual savings of more than 180,000 kWh and more than $20,000 in energy cost savings.

  6. Commentary: Can This Evaluation Be Saved?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ginsberg, Pauline E.

    2004-01-01

    Can this evaluation be saved? More precisely, can this evaluation be saved in such a way that both evaluator and client feel satisfied that their points of view were respected and both agree that the evaluation itself provides valid information obtained in a principled manner? Because the scenario describes a preliminary discussion and no contract…

  7. Student Academic Achievement: Report to the Provost.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leas, David E.

    In fall 1991, the faculty and staff of New Mexico State University-Alamogordo (NMSU-A) designed and implemented a strategic planning process which incorporates a comprehensive annual review of various aspects of student academic achievement (SAA). The faculty-based SAA assessment process includes activities focused on classroom instruction,…

  8. Water Conservation Checklist for the Home. Save Water, Save Energy, Save Money. Program Aid No. 1192.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pifer, Glenda; And Others

    Few people realize that the average person uses about 60 gallons of water each day. Water shortages are already occurring on a regional scale; someday they may become a national problem. Accordingly, this checklist is designed to help house and apartment dwellers determine how efficiently they use water and identify additional ways to save it.…

  9. 10 CFR 436.21 - Savings-to-investment ratio.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Savings-to-investment ratio. 436.21 Section 436.21 Energy... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.21 Savings-to-investment ratio. The savings-to-investment ratio... conservation measure. The denominator of the ratio is the present value of the net increase in investment and...

  10. 10 CFR 436.21 - Savings-to-investment ratio.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Savings-to-investment ratio. 436.21 Section 436.21 Energy... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.21 Savings-to-investment ratio. The savings-to-investment ratio... conservation measure. The denominator of the ratio is the present value of the net increase in investment and...

  11. The impact of translucent fabric shades and control strategies on energy savings and visual quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wankanapon, Pimonmart

    shade colors. The results clearly show the benefit of automatic shade control strategies with integrated lighting control over a condition when shades are closed all day. The main contributor to the total energy savings is from lighting energy savings, followed by cooling energy savings. Shades provide greater benefit in a hot climate and in a moderate climate than in a cold climate. Different control strategies provide savings in the range of 7-35% for annual total space energy with higher savings with light colored shades. Control strategies of shades should be selected and optimized based on climate, orientation, window area, and window/shade properties. High performance glazings, when equipped with shades, show lower energy savings when compared to standard glazings. High transmittance/reflectance shades, such as white shades, perform better than dark shades in most of the cases due to higher lighting energy savings obtained with the automatic electric lighting control and the resulting cooling energy savings from rejection of some solar energy and a reduction in the heat from lights. A South orientation showed the least benefit of automatic control of shades when compare to other orientations due to the large fraction of time shades are required to provide visual comfort. Under automatic shade control, energy savings are higher the more often the shades can be raised. The different automatic control strategies present tradeoffs between energy savings and comfort. With regard to visual quality, daylight quality assessments on view, glare, luminance ratios, and UDI can be used to assess shade control strategies. Automatic shade control can increase the number of view hours while controlling sunlight penetration. With automatic shade control, more daylight hours can be provided within the beneficial range of 100-2000 lux compared to shades that are closed all day. For a person facing the window, discomfort glare is likely to increase the more often the shades are

  12. Benefits and Costs of Aggressive Energy Efficiency Programs and the Impacts of Alternative Sources of Funding: Case Study of Massachusetts

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cappers, Peter; Satchwell, Andrew; Goldman, Charles

    2010-08-06

    Increased interest by state (and federal) policymakers and regulatory agencies in pursuing aggressive energy efficiency efforts could deliver significant utility bill savings for customers while having long-term implications for ratepayers (e.g. potential rate impacts). Equity and distributional concerns associated with the authorized recovery of energy efficiency program costs may necessitate the pursuit of alternative program funding approaches. In 2008, Massachusetts passed the Green Communities Act which directed its energy efficiency (EE) program administrators to obtain all cost-effective EE resources. This goal has translated into achieving annual electric energy savings equivalent to a 2.4% reduction in retail sales from energy efficiencymore » programs in 2012. Representatives of electricity consumer groups supported the new portfolio of EE programs (and the projected bill savings) but raised concerns about the potential rate impacts associated with achieving such aggressive EE goals, leading policymakers to seek out alternative funding sources which can potentially mitigate these effects. Utility administrators have also raised concerns about under-recovery of fixed costs when aggressive energy efficiency programs are pursued and have proposed ratemaking policies (e.g. decoupling) and business models that better align the utility's financial interests with the state's energy efficiency public policy goals. Quantifying these concerns and identifying ways they can be addressed are crucial steps in gaining the support of major stakeholder groups - lessons that can apply to other states looking to significantly increase savings targets that can be achieved from their own ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs. We use a pro-forma utility financial model to quantify the bill and rate impacts on electricity customers when very aggressive annual energy efficiency savings goals ({approx}2.4%) are achieved over the long-term and also assess the impact of

  13. Technical Resources for Energy Savings Plus Health

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The Energy Savings Plus Health Guide equips school districts to integrate indoor air quality protections into school energy efficiency retrofits and other building upgrade projects. This page lists additional resources related to Energy Savings Plus Health

  14. Monitoring and Characterization of Miscellaneous Electrical Loads in a Large Retail Environment

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gentile-Polese, L.; Frank, S.; Sheppy, M.

    2014-02-01

    Buildings account for 40% of primary energy consumption in the United States (residential 22%; commercial 18%). Most (70% residential and 79% commercial) is used as electricity. Thus, almost 30% of U.S. primary energy is used to provide electricity to buildings. Plug loads play an increasingly critical role in reducing energy use in new buildings (because of their increased efficiency requirements), and in existing buildings (as a significant energy savings opportunity). If all installed commercial building miscellaneous electrical loads (CMELs) were replaced with energy-efficient equipment, a potential annual energy saving of 175 TWh, or 35% of the 504 TWh annual energymore » use devoted to MELs, could be achieved. This energy saving is equivalent to the annual energy production of 14 average-sized nuclear power plants. To meet DOE's long-term goals of reducing commercial building energy use and carbon emissions, the energy efficiency community must better understand the components and drivers of CMEL energy use, and develop effective reduction strategies. These goals can be facilitated through improved data collection and monitoring methodologies, and evaluation of CMELs energy-saving techniques.« less

  15. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2015 Annual Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2016

    2016-01-01

    This 2015 annual report shares many of the accomplishments achieved by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools in 2015 including the celebration of their 10th anniversary. Among other achievements, the report highlights: (1) At the end of 2015 Congress and the President agreed to an $80 million increase in support for the federal Charter…

  16. Annual Technical Symposium (29th), Achieving Affordable Performance, Held in Arlington, Virginia on May 28, 1992

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-05-01

    Problem on the Self -Defense Test Ship" LCDR David Sanders, Project Officer for Self -Defense Test Ship, RAM Program Office (PMS 420), NAVSEA Rick York...as ballast tanks, bilge areas, and machinery. Sac- (1) Compliance with all local, state, and federal rificial anode systems are self regulating in...involved in logisticitygoods. However, less than car load rates negate some planningand ILS execution. These efforts are very costly in of the cost savings

  17. The effect of major adverse renal cardiovascular event (MARCE) incidence, procedure volume, and unit cost on the hospital savings resulting from contrast media use in inpatient angioplasty.

    PubMed

    Keuffel, Eric; McCullough, Peter A; Todoran, Thomas M; Brilakis, Emmanouil S; Palli, Swetha R; Ryan, Michael P; Gunnarsson, Candace

    2018-04-01

    To determine the net economic impact of switching from low-osmolar contrast media (LOCM) to iso-osmolar contrast media (IOCM; iodixanol) in patients undergoing inpatient coronary or peripheral angioplasty in the United States (US). A budget impact model (BIM) was developed from a hospital perspective. Nationally representative procedural and contrast media prevalence rates, along with MARCE (major adverse renal cardiovascular event) incidence and episode-related cost data were derived from Premier Hospital Data (October 2014 to September 2015). A previously estimated relative risk reduction in MARCE associated with IOCM usage (9.3%) was applied. The higher cost of IOCM was included when calculating the net impact estimates at the aggregate, hospital type, and per hospital levels. One-way (±25%) and probabilistic sensitivity analyses identified the model's most important inputs. Based on weighted analysis, 513,882 US inpatient angioplasties and 35,610 MARCE cases were estimated annually. Switching to an "IOCM only" strategy from a "LOCM only" strategy increases contrast media cost, but prevents 2,900 MARCE events. The annual budget impact was an estimated saving of $30.71 million, aggregated across all US hospitals, $6,316 per hospital, or $60 per procedure. Net savings were maintained across all univariate sensitivity analyses. While MARCE/event-free cost differential was the most important factor driving total net savings for hospitals in the Northeast and West, procedural volume was important in the Midwest and rural locations. Switching to an "IOCM only" strategy from a "LOCM only" approach yields substantial net global savings to hospitals, both at the national level and within hospital sub-groups. Hospital administrators should maintain awareness of the factors that are likely to be more influential for their hospital and recognize that purchasing on the basis of lower contrast media cost may result in higher overall costs for patients undergoing inpatient

  18. The Timmons Savings Plan: A Working Document on a Plan to Encourage Families to Save for College.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tierney, Michael L.

    The Timmons Savings Plan, which encourages families to save toward college costs, is analyzed. This plan allows for periodic (non-tax deductible) contributions to an account administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The amount deposited would be matched by the federal government in exchange for the government's earning the interest on…

  19. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens: 26th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    A national survey of 3,351 high achieving high school students (junior and senior level) was conducted. All students had A or B averages. Topics covered include lifestyles, political beliefs, violence and entertainment, education, cheating, school violence, sexual violence and date rape, peer pressure, popularity, suicide, drugs and alcohol,…

  20. Your Savings and Investment Dollar. [Revised.] Money Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baran, Nancy H., Ed.; Tarrant, Sharon M., Ed.

    This booklet on savings and investment, 1 in a series of 12, covers all the basic aspects of personal- and family-money management. Suitable for use by high school and college students as well as adults, this handbook shows how to develop a savings and investment program based on present and future needs and goals. Section 1 overviews savings and…

  1. 12 CFR 563e.26 - Small savings association performance standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Small savings association performance standards... COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT Standards for Assessing Performance § 563e.26 Small savings association performance standards. (a) Performance criteria—(1) Small savings associations that are not intermediate small savings...

  2. 12 CFR 563e.26 - Small savings association performance standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 5 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Small savings association performance standards... COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT Standards for Assessing Performance § 563e.26 Small savings association performance standards. (a) Performance criteria—(1) Small savings associations that are not intermediate small savings...

  3. Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series: An Interview with Amy King

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Joshua D.; Gray, Neal D.

    2017-01-01

    This interview is the second in the Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series at TPC that presents an annual interview with a seminal figure who has attained outstanding achievement in counseling over a career. I am honored to present the interview of Amy King, a school counselor in Mississippi and the first practitioner to be interviewed for this…

  4. Approaches to 30% Energy Savings at the Community Scale in the Hot-Humid Climate

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Thomas-Rees, S.; Beal, D.; Martin, E.

    2013-03-01

    BA-PIRC has worked with several community-scale builders within the hot humid climate zone to improve performance of production, or community scale, housing. Tommy Williams Homes (Gainesville, FL), Lifestyle Homes (Melbourne, FL), and Habitat for Humanity (various locations, FL) have all been continuous partners of the BA Program and are the subjects of this report to document achievement of the Building America goal of 30% whole house energy savings packages adopted at the community scale. The scope of this report is to demonstrate achievement of these goals though the documentation of production-scale homes built cost-effectively at the community scale, and modeledmore » to reduce whole-house energy use by 30% in the Hot Humid climate region. Key aspects of this research include determining how to evolve existing energy efficiency packages to produce replicable target savings, identifying what builders' technical assistance needs are for implementation and working with them to create sustainable quality assurance mechanisms, and documenting the commercial viability through neutral cost analysis and market acceptance. This report documents certain barriers builders overcame and the approaches they implemented in order to accomplish Building America (BA) Program goals that have not already been documented in previous reports.« less

  5. How critical cost analysis can save money in today’s NHS: a review of carpal tunnel surgery in a district general hospital

    PubMed Central

    Williamson, Mark; Sehjal, Ranjit; Jones, Mark; James, Chris; Smith, Andrew

    2018-01-01

    With today’s National Health Service (NHS) facing huge financial pressures the healthcare profession cannot afford to carry on spending at the current rate. Individual clinicians should be encouraged to critically appraise their own practices to bring about a more efficient and cost-effective service. The purpose of this project was to analyse the way that carpal tunnel surgery was being performed within our institution and bring about safe changes to practice that reduce expenditure. By critiquing our practices and applying simple changes based around sound evidence an annual saving of over £15 500 to the department was made. The changes instigated are simple, sustainable and safe to implement while providing improved patient satisfaction. They are also easily transferrable across institutions and to other minor hand surgical procedures to afford even greater ongoing savings to the NHS. PMID:29946571

  6. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens. 24th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    This survey represents information compiled by the largest national survey of adolescent leaders and high achievers. Of the 5,000 students selected demographically from "Who's Who Among American High School Students," 1,957 responded. All students surveyed had "A" or "B" averages, and 98% planned on attending college. Questions were asked about…

  7. Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens. 18th Annual Survey of High Achievers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Educational Communications, Inc., Lake Forest, IL.

    This document contains factsheets and news releases which cite findings from a national survey of 1,985 high achieving high school students. Factsheets describe the Who's Who Among American High School Students recognition and service program for high school students and explain the Who's Who survey. A summary report of this eighteenth annual…

  8. Energy saving and consumption reducing evaluation of thermal power plant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tan, Xiu; Han, Miaomiao

    2018-03-01

    At present, energy saving and consumption reduction require energy saving and consumption reduction measures for thermal power plant, establishing an evaluation system for energy conservation and consumption reduction is instructive for the whole energy saving work of thermal power plant. By analysing the existing evaluation system of energy conservation and consumption reduction, this paper points out that in addition to the technical indicators of power plant, market activities should also be introduced in the evaluation of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant. Ttherefore, a new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction is set up and the example power plant is calculated in this paper. Rresults show that after introducing the new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction, the energy saving effect of the power plant can be judged more comprehensively, so as to better guide the work of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant.

  9. [Annual Reports for the Academic Year 1980-81 from 49 States, the District of Columbia and 3 Canadian Provinces Focusing on Problems, Issues, Achievements and Other Areas of Interest to the Postsecondary Education Community.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berve, Nancy M., Ed.

    1981-01-01

    Annual reports are presented for the academic year 1980-1981 from 49 states (except Maine), the District of Columbia, and three Canadian provinces focusing on problems, issues, achievements, and other areas of interest to the postsecondary education community. Specific topics include the following: long-range plans for higher education,…

  10. Finding savings in laundry operations.

    PubMed

    Giancola, D

    1993-07-01

    A 450-bed hospital, operating at 75 percent occupancy, which has a cash outlay of $10.00 per patient day for linen service, will spend $1,231,875 on linen service per year. If the cash outlay for linen service can be reduced to $7.00 per patient day, the hospital will save $369,562 per year. This article details the factors that affect linen service operations expenses, suggests ways such operations may be improved, and provides a method of measuring the potential savings.

  11. Does retirement education teach people to save pension distributions?

    PubMed

    Muller, L A

    As defined contribution pension plans have become increasingly common over the past two decades, so have lump sum distributions from those plans. Employees who elect such a distribution take the balance of their pension account with them when they leave a job. They can then choose to maintain the funds in accounts designated for retirement, invest them in other saving vehicles, or spend them. If spent pension distributions are not replaced by other savings, however, the future elderly are unlikely to be able to maintain a desirable standard of living. With employee-funded pensions expected to play an increasingly important role in financing Americans' retirement, saving these funds in essential. This article is the first to examine the relationship between retirement education--specifically, meetings sponsored by employers or by public and private institutions--and the saving of lump sum distributions. Two definitions of saving are used: one that includes reinvestment only in tax-deferred saving vehicles, and a broader one that includes tax-deferred vehicles, general saving vehicles (stocks, bonds, savings accounts, and so on), and paying off debt. The analysis also evaluates the effects of retirement education on specific groups identified in previous research as being less likely to keep their pension distributions in tax-deferred accounts: namely, women, younger persons, and persons with less than a college education. The same groups tend to be less financially secure in retirement, making the effects of retirement education on them particularly relevant. With an econometric model using ordinary least squares and data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, the analysis finds that retirement education does not affect the overall likelihood that employees will save their distributions, whether in tax-deferred or non-tax-deferred vehicles. The picture is more complicated for subgroups of employees. Attending a retirement meeting is associated with an increased

  12. Innovative Phase Change Approach for Significant Energy Savings

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-09-01

    September 2016 Innovative Phase Change Approach For Significant Energy Savings September 2016 8 After conducting a market survey...FINAL REPORT Innovative Phase Change Approach for Significant Energy Savings ESTCP Project EW-201138 SEPTEMBER 2016 Dr. Aly H Shaaban Applied...5a. CONTRACT NUMBER W912HQ-11-C-0011 Innovative Phase Change Approach for Significant Energy Savings 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM

  13. Indirect Effects of Child Reports of Teacher-Student Relationship on Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughes, Jan N.; Wu, Jiun-Yu; Kwok, Oi-Man; Villarreal, Victor; Johnson, Audrea Y.

    2012-01-01

    The effect of student-reported teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) on academic motivation and achievement was investigated among a sample of 690 academically at-risk elementary students (52.8% male). Measures of TSRQ, achievement, and motivation were collected annually for 3 consecutive years, beginning when participants were in Grade 2…

  14. The Economic Gains of Achieving Reduced Alcohol Consumption Targets for Australia

    PubMed Central

    Magnus, Anne; Cadilhac, Dominique; Sheppard, Lauren; Cumming, Toby; Pearce, Dora; Carter, Rob

    2012-01-01

    Objectives. To inform prevention policy, we estimated the economic benefits to health, production, and leisure in the 2008 Australian population of a realistic target reduction in per capita annual adult alcohol consumption. Methods. We chose a target of 6.4 liters annually per capita on average. We modeled lifetime health benefits as fewer incident cases of alcohol-related disease, deaths, and disability adjusted life years. We estimated production gains with surveyed participation and absenteeism rates. We valued gains with friction cost and human capital methods. We estimated and valued household production and leisure gains from time-use surveys. Results. A reduction of 3.4 liters of alcohol consumed annually per capita would result in one third fewer incident cases of disease (98 000), deaths (380), working days lost (5 million), days of home-based production lost (54 000), and a A$ 789-million health sector cost reduction. Workforce production had a A$ 427 million gain when we used the friction cost method. By contrast, we estimated a loss of 28 000 leisure days and 1000 additional early retirements. Conclusions. Economic savings and health benefits from reduced alcohol consumption may be substantial—particularly in the health sector with reduced alcohol-related disease and injury. PMID:22594720

  15. 31 CFR 351.48 - May I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds through employee thrift, savings, vacation, and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I purchase definitive Series EE savings bonds through employee thrift, savings, vacation, and similar plans? 351.48 Section 351.48 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT...

  16. 31 CFR 359.36 - May I purchase definitive Series I savings bonds through employee thrift, savings, vacation, and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I purchase definitive Series I savings bonds through employee thrift, savings, vacation, and similar plans? 359.36 Section 359.36 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT...

  17. 22nd Annual Survey of High Achievers: Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Northbrook, IL.

    This study surveyed high school students (N=1,879) who were student leaders or high achievers in the spring of 1991 for the purpose of determining their attitudes. Students were members of the junior or senior high school class during the 1990-91 academic year and were selected for recognition by their principals or guidance counselors, other…

  18. 76 FR 20459 - Savings and Loan Holding Company Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Thrift Supervision Savings and Loan Holding Company... concerning the following information collection. Title of Proposal: Savings and Loan Holding Company... officer of a savings and loan holding company, or any individual who owns, controls, or holds with power...

  19. Ways to Save Your Money. The CIRcular: Consumer Information Report 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bank of America NT & SA, San Francisco, CA.

    This report explains savings accounts and low-deposit investments in order to help consumers determine which accounts are right for them. It is divided into the following four sections (topics covered are listed in parentheses): (1) the savings program (setting savings goals, saving regularly, choosing a savings account, interest, the savings…

  20. 75 FR 27863 - Savings Bank of Maine, MHC and Savings Bank of Maine, Gardiner, Maine; Approval of Conversion...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-05-18

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Thrift Supervision [AC-38: OTS Nos. 06947 and H 4709] Savings Bank of Maine, MHC and Savings Bank of Maine, Gardiner, Maine; Approval of Conversion Application Notice is hereby given that on May 7, 2010, the Office of Thrift Supervision approved the application of...

  1. 34 CFR 200.18 - Annual measurable objectives.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Annual measurable objectives. 200.18 Section 200.18 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TITLE I-IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED Improving...

  2. Celebrations: American Camping Association Annual Report 1986.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Camping Association, Martinsville, IN.

    The 1986 American Camping Association (ACA) annual report reviews the year's achievements and outlines goals for the future. An introductory message from ACA President Jean McMullan notes successful fund raising to improve the association's national headquarters, passage of federal legislation exempting camps from paying federal unemployment…

  3. Armenian Astronomical Society Annual Activities in 2014

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mickaelian, A. M.

    2015-07-01

    A report is given on the achievements of the Armenian astronomy during the last year and on the present activities of the Armenian Astronomical Society (ArAS). ArAS membership, ArAS electronic newsletters (ArASNews), ArAS webpage, annual meetings, Annual Prize for Young Astronomers (Yervant Terzian Prize) and other awards, international relations, presence in international organizations, summer schools, astronomical Olympiads and other events, matters related to astronomical education, astronomical heritage, astronomy outreach and ArAS further projects are discussed. The present meeting, BAO Science Camp, ArAS School lectures are among 2014 events as well.

  4. Invisible costs, visible savings.

    PubMed

    Lefever, G

    1999-08-01

    By identifying hidden inventory costs, nurse managers can save money for the organization. Some measures include tracking and standardizing supplies, accurately evaluating patients' needs, and making informed purchasing decisions.

  5. The High Cost of Saving Energy Dollars.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, Patricia

    1985-01-01

    In alternative financing a private company provides the capital and expertise for improving school energy efficiency. Savings are split between the school system and the company. Options for municipal leasing, cost sharing, and shared savings are explained along with financial, procedural, and legal considerations. (MLF)

  6. Who's in the business of saving lives?

    PubMed

    Lee Chang, Pepe

    2006-10-01

    There are individuals, including children, dying needlessly in poverty-stricken third world countries. Many of these deaths could be prevented if pharmaceutical companies provided the drugs needed to save their lives. Some believe that because pharmaceutical companies have the power to save lives, and because they can do so with little effort, they have a special obligation. I argue that there is no distinction, with respect to obligations and responsibilities, between pharmaceutical companies and other types of companies. As a result, to hold pharmaceutical companies especially responsible for saving lives in third world countries is unjustified.

  7. Energy Savings by Treating Buildings as Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harvey, L. D. Danny

    2008-09-01

    This paper reviews the opportunities for dramatically reducing energy use in buildings by treating buildings as systems, rather than focusing on device efficiencies. Systems-level considerations are relevant for the operation of heat pumps (where the temperatures at which heat or coldness are distributed are particularly important); the joint or separate provision of heating, cooling, and ventilation; the joint or separate removal of sensible heat and moisture; and in the operation of fluid systems having pumps. Passive heating, cooling, and ventilation, as well as daylighting (use of sunlight for lighting purposes) also require consideration of buildings as systems. In order to achieve the significant (50-75%) energy savings that are possible through a systems approach, the design process itself has to involve a high degree of integration between the architect and various engineering disciplines (structural, mechanical, electrical), and requires the systematic examination and adjustment of alternative designs using computer simulation models.

  8. 21st Annual Survey of High Achievers: Attitudes and Opinions from the Nation's High Achieving Teens.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Who's Who among American High School Students, Lake Forest, IL.

    This survey was conducted by Who's Who Among American High School Students during the spring of 1990, to determine the attitudes of student leaders in U.S. high schools. A survey of high achievers sent to 5,000 students was completed and returned by approximately 2,000 students. All students were members of the junior or senior class during the…

  9. A Study on the Saving Method of Plate Jigs in Hull Block Butt Welding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ko, Dae-Eun

    2017-11-01

    A large amount of plate jigs is used for alignment of welding line and control of welding deformations in hull block assembly stage. Besides material cost, the huge working man-hours required for working process of plate jigs is one of the obstacles in productivity growth of shipyard. In this study, analysis method was proposed to simulate the welding deformations of block butt joint with plate jigs setting. Using the proposed analysis method, an example simulation was performed for actual panel block joint to investigate the saving method of plate jigs. Results show that it is possible to achieve two objectives of quality accuracy of the hull block and saving the plate jig usage at the same time by deploying the plate jigs at the right places. And the proposed analysis method can be used in establishing guidelines for the proper use of plate jigs in block assembly stage.

  10. Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fuels Save Money in Indy

    Science.gov Websites

    Alternative Fuels Save Money in Indy to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center : Alternative Fuels Save Money in Indy on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fuels Save Money in Indy on Twitter Bookmark Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fuels Save Money in

  11. A CLS-based survivable and energy-saving WDM-PON architecture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Min; Zhong, Wen-De; Zhang, Zhenrong; Luan, Feng

    2013-11-01

    We propose and demonstrate an improved survivable and energy-saving WDM-PON with colorless ONUs. It incorporates both energy-saving and self-healing operations. A simple effective energy-saving scheme is proposed by including an energy-saving control unit in the OLT and a control unit at each ONU. The energy-saving scheme realizes both dozing and sleep (offline) modes, which greatly improves the energy-saving efficiency for WDM-PONs. An intelligent protection switching scheme is designed in the OLT, which can distinguish if an ONU is in dozing/sleep (offline) state or a fiber is faulty. Moreover, by monitoring the optical power of each channel on both working and protection paths, the OLT can know the connection status of every fiber path, thus facilitating an effective protection switching and a faster failure recovery. The improved WDM-PON architecture not only significantly reduces energy consumption, but also performs self-healing operation in practical operation scenarios. The scheme feasibility is experimentally verified with 10 Gbit/s downstream and 1.25 Gbit/s upstream transmissions. We also examine the energy-saving efficiency of our proposed energy-saving scheme by simulation, which reveals that energy saving mainly arises from the dozing mode, not from the sleep mode when the ONU is in the online state.

  12. Valuation of travel time savings in viewpoint of WTA.

    PubMed

    Shao, Chang-Qiao; Liu, Yang; Liu, Xiao-Ming

    2014-01-01

    In order to investigate the issues in measurement of value of travel time savings (VTTS), the willingness-to-accept (WTA) for the private car owner is studied by using surveyed data. It is convincing that trip purpose, trip length, time savings, cost savings, income, and allowance from employee have effects on the WTA. Moreover, influences of these variables are not the same for different trip purposes. For commuting trips, effects of income and allowance from employee are significant while time savings and cost savings are dominated for leisure and shopping trips. It is also found that WTA is much higher than expected which implies that there are a group of drivers who are not prone to switching to other trip modes other than passenger car.

  13. Assessing the Decline in the National Saving Rate

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-04-01

    and on the Contributions of the Government and Private Sectors xii 1. NIPA Measure of National Saving as a Percentage of Gross National Product 2 2...System of National Accounts Measure of National Saving Rates 3 3. Per Capita Gross Domestic Product in 1990 U.S. Dollars Adjusted for Purchasing Power... Product 4 6. Nonresidential and Residential Capital Consumption as a Percentage of Gross National Product and Capital Stocks 10 7. Net National Saving as

  14. Statistical uncertainty in the Medicare shared savings program.

    PubMed

    DeLia, Derek; Hoover, Donald; Cantor, Joel C

    2012-01-01

    Analyze statistical risks facing CMS and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). We calculate the probability that shared savings formulas lead to inappropriate payment, payment denial, and/or financial penalties, assuming that ACOs generate real savings in Medicare spending ranging from 0-10%. We also calculate expected payments from CMS to ACOs under these scenarios. The probability of an incorrect outcome is heavily dependent on ACO enrollment size. For example, in the MSSP two-sided model, an ACO with 5,000 enrollees that keeps spending constant faces a 0.24 probability of being inappropriately rewarded for savings and a 0.26 probability of paying an undeserved penalty for increased spending. For an ACO with 50,000 enrollees, both of these probabilities of incorrect outcomes are equal to 0.02. The probability of inappropriate payment denial declines as real ACO savings increase. Still, for ACOs with 5,000 patients, the probability of denial is at least 0.15 even when true savings are 5-7%. Depending on ACO size and the real ACO savings rate, expected ACO payments vary from $115,000 to $35.3 million. Our analysis indicates there may be greater statistical uncertainty in the MSSP than previously recognized. CMS and ACOs will have to consider this uncertainty in their financial, administrative, and care management planning. We also suggest analytic strategies that can be used to refine ACO payment formulas in the longer term to ensure that the MSSP (and other ACO initiatives that will be influenced by it) work as efficiently as possible.

  15. Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings

    PubMed Central

    Attari, Shahzeen Z.; DeKay, Michael L.; Davidson, Cliff I.; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi

    2010-01-01

    In a national online survey, 505 participants reported their perceptions of energy consumption and savings for a variety of household, transportation, and recycling activities. When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations. For a sample of 15 activities, participants underestimated energy use and savings by a factor of 2.8 on average, with small overestimates for low-energy activities and large underestimates for high-energy activities. Additional estimation and ranking tasks also yielded relatively flat functions for perceived energy use and savings. Across several tasks, participants with higher numeracy scores and stronger proenvironmental attitudes had more accurate perceptions. The serious deficiencies highlighted by these results suggest that well-designed efforts to improve the public's understanding of energy use and savings could pay large dividends. PMID:20713724

  16. Long-Run Savings and Investment Strategy Optimization

    PubMed Central

    Gerrard, Russell; Guillén, Montserrat; Pérez-Marín, Ana M.

    2014-01-01

    We focus on automatic strategies to optimize life cycle savings and investment. Classical optimal savings theory establishes that, given the level of risk aversion, a saver would keep the same relative amount invested in risky assets at any given time. We show that, when optimizing lifecycle investment, performance and risk assessment have to take into account the investor's risk aversion and the maximum amount the investor could lose, simultaneously. When risk aversion and maximum possible loss are considered jointly, an optimal savings strategy is obtained, which follows from constant rather than relative absolute risk aversion. This result is fundamental to prove that if risk aversion and the maximum possible loss are both high, then holding a constant amount invested in the risky asset is optimal for a standard lifetime saving/pension process and outperforms some other simple strategies. Performance comparisons are based on downside risk-adjusted equivalence that is used in our illustration. PMID:24711728

  17. Long-run savings and investment strategy optimization.

    PubMed

    Gerrard, Russell; Guillén, Montserrat; Nielsen, Jens Perch; Pérez-Marín, Ana M

    2014-01-01

    We focus on automatic strategies to optimize life cycle savings and investment. Classical optimal savings theory establishes that, given the level of risk aversion, a saver would keep the same relative amount invested in risky assets at any given time. We show that, when optimizing lifecycle investment, performance and risk assessment have to take into account the investor's risk aversion and the maximum amount the investor could lose, simultaneously. When risk aversion and maximum possible loss are considered jointly, an optimal savings strategy is obtained, which follows from constant rather than relative absolute risk aversion. This result is fundamental to prove that if risk aversion and the maximum possible loss are both high, then holding a constant amount invested in the risky asset is optimal for a standard lifetime saving/pension process and outperforms some other simple strategies. Performance comparisons are based on downside risk-adjusted equivalence that is used in our illustration.

  18. Bernard van Leer Foundation Annual Report, 2001.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Hague (Netherlands).

    This annual report for 2001 describes the year's activities, achievements, and financial status of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a private foundation based in The Netherlands operating internationally to improve opportunities for young children from birth to age 7 living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage. Following the…

  19. Bernard van Leer Foundation Annual Report, 2002.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Hague (Netherlands).

    This annual report for 2002 describes the year's activities, achievements, and financial status of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a private foundation based in The Netherlands operating internationally to improve opportunities for young children from birth to age 7 living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage. Following the…

  20. The Annual Condition of Education Report 2012

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iowa Department of Education, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The Annual Condition of Education Report provides a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results, and school financial information. The report provides important metrics to the education community about the status of the education system.…

  1. Social and psychological barriers to private retirement savings in Hong Kong.

    PubMed

    Chou, Kee-Lee; Yu, Kar-Ming; Chan, Wai-Sum; Chan, Alfred C M; Lum, Terry Y S; Zhu, Alex Y F

    2014-01-01

    Using a phone survey conducted among Hong Kong workers, we examined the association of institutional, social, and psychological factors with engagement in both private retirement savings and the total amount of savings. Alarmingly, this study demonstrates that approximately 42% of Hong Kong workers do not save privately for their retirement. We found that age, education, number of children, support from spouse and friends, social regulation, perceived financial knowledge, and financial management capacity are associated with engagement in private retirement savings. Among those who saved, age, education, perceived financial knowledge, and financial management capacity are related to the amount of savings. Measures that could increase the social support for retirement savings as well as enhance their financial knowledge and management ability should be developed and implemented so that more workers engage in private retirement savings. A promising policy option for the Hong Kong government is to offer a tax incentive to promote additional savings for old-age income protection.

  2. Saving Children, Saving Haiti? Child Vulnerability and Narratives of the Nation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoffman, Diane M

    2012-01-01

    Long before the earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010, but particularly since, international media and humanitarian groups have drawn attention to the "vulnerable child" in Haiti, a child often portrayed as needing "saving". Focusing in particular on the "restavek" (child domestic laborer), this article first…

  3. Welfare Recipiency and Savings Outcomes in Individual Development Accounts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhan, Min; Sherraden, Michael; Schreiner, Mark

    2004-01-01

    The authors examined how welfare recipiency is associated with savings outcomes in individual development accounts (IDAs), a structured savings program for low-income people. They investigated whether welfare recipients can save if they are provided with incentives. Data for this study ore from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD), the first…

  4. Learn Smart: Missouri Department of Higher Education FY 2002 Annual Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Missouri State Dept. of Higher Education, Jefferson City.

    This annual report tells of educators and administrators in Missouri working through serious economic challenges to achieve the most important goals of higher education: increased economic growth, more educational opportunity, and achievement and improved quality. Data in this report show that public colleges and universities have reduced expenses…

  5. Saving Energy. Managing School Facilities, Guide 3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department for Education and Employment, London (England). Architects and Building Branch.

    This guide offers information on how schools can implement an energy saving action plan to reduce their energy costs. Various low-cost energy-saving measures are recommended covering heating levels and heating systems, electricity demand reduction and lighting, ventilation, hot water usage, and swimming pool energy management. Additional…

  6. Pan Am gets big savings at no cost

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tanz, D.

    Pan American World Airways' contract with an energy management control systems distributor enabled the company's terminal and maintenance facilities at JFK airport in New York to shift from housekeeping to major savings without additional cost. Energy savings from a pneumatic control system were split almost equally between Pan Am and Thomas S. Brown Associates (TSBA) Inc., and further savings are expected from a planned computer-controlled system. A full-time energy manager, able to give top priority to energy-consumption problems, was considered crucial to the program's success. Early efforts in light-level reduction and equipment scheduling required extensive persuasion and policing, but successfulmore » energy savings allowed the manager to progress to the more-extensive plants with TSBA.« less

  7. 48 CFR 2448.104-3 - Sharing collateral savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT VALUE ENGINEERING 2448.104-3 Sharing collateral savings. (a) The authority of the HCA to determine that the cost of calculating and tracking collateral savings will exceed the...

  8. 48 CFR 2448.104-3 - Sharing collateral savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT VALUE ENGINEERING 2448.104-3 Sharing collateral savings. (a) The authority of the HCA to determine that the cost of calculating and tracking collateral savings will exceed the...

  9. 48 CFR 2448.104-3 - Sharing collateral savings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT VALUE ENGINEERING 2448.104-3 Sharing collateral savings. (a) The authority of the HCA to determine that the cost of calculating and tracking collateral savings will exceed the...

  10. Maximizing Student Achievement: Using Student-Centered Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, William L.; Johnson, Annabel M.; Johnson, Jared W.

    2017-01-01

    The document is from a featured presentation at the 2017 annual conference of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) in Houston, Texas, November 9-11, 2017. When educators discuss student achievement, it is rare not to hear names like Robert Marzano and John Hattie. Both have clear, specific, and concrete strategies teachers can use to…

  11. Higher Education Counts: Achieving Results. 2007 Executive Summary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connecticut Department of Higher Education (NJ1), 2007

    2007-01-01

    "Higher Education Counts" is the annual accountability report on Connecticut's system of higher education. Since 2000, the report has been the primary vehicle for reporting higher education's progress toward achieving six, statutorily-defined state goals: (1) To enhance student learning and promote academic excellence; (2) To join with…

  12. Higher Education Counts: Achieving Results, 2008. Executive Summary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connecticut Department of Higher Education (NJ1), 2008

    2008-01-01

    "Higher Education Counts" is the annual accountability report on Connecticut's system of higher education. Since 2000, the report has been the primary vehicle for reporting higher education's progress toward achieving six, statutorily-defined state goals: (1) To enhance student learning and promote academic excellence; (2) To join with…

  13. Higher Education Counts: Achieving Results. 2009 Executive Summary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connecticut Department of Higher Education (NJ1), 2009

    2009-01-01

    "Higher Education Counts" is the annual accountability report on Connecticut's system of higher education. Since 2000, the report has been the primary vehicle for reporting higher education's progress toward achieving six, statutorily-defined state goals: (1) To enhance student learning and promote academic excellence; (2) To join with…

  14. Insurance choice and tax-preferred health savings accounts.

    PubMed

    Cardon, James H; Showalter, Mark H

    2007-03-01

    We develop an infinite horizon utility maximization model of the interaction between insurance choice and tax-preferred health savings accounts. The model can be used to examine a wide range of policy options, including flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, and health reimbursement accounts. We also develop a 2-period model to simulate various implications of the model. Key results from the simulation analysis include the following: (1) with no adverse selection, use of unrestricted health savings accounts leads to modest welfare gains, after accounting for the tax revenue loss; (2) with adverse selection and an initial pooling equilibrium comprised of "sick" and "healthy" consumers, introducing HSAs can, but does not necessarily, lead to a new pooling equilibrium. The new equilibrium results in a higher coinsurance rate, an increase in expected utility for healthy consumers, and a decrease in expected utility for sick consumers; (3) with adverse selection and a separating equilibrium, both sick and healthy consumers are better off with a health savings account; (4) efficiency gains are possible when insurance contracts are explicitly linked to tax-preferred health savings accounts.

  15. Option pricing: a flexible tool to disseminate shared savings contracts.

    PubMed

    Friedberg, Mark W; Buendia, Anthony M; Lauderdale, Katherine E; Hussey, Peter S

    2013-08-01

    Due to volatility in healthcare costs, shared savings contracts can create systematic financial losses for payers, especially when contracting with smaller providers. To improve the business case for shared savings, we calculated the prices of financial options that payers can "sell" to providers to offset these losses. Using 2009 to 2010 member-level total cost of care data from a large commercial health plan, we calculated option prices by applying a bootstrap simulation procedure. We repeated these simulations for providers of sizes ranging from 500 to 60,000 patients and for shared savings contracts with and without key design features (minimum savings thresholds,bonus caps, cost outlier truncation, and downside risk) and under assumptions of zero, 1%, and 2% real cost reductions due to the shared savings contracts. Assuming no real cost reduction and a 50% shared savings rate, per patient option prices ranged from $225 (3.1% of overall costs) for 500-patient providers to $23 (0.3%) for 60,000-patient providers. Introducing minimum savings thresholds, bonus caps, cost outlier truncation, and downside risk reduced these option prices. Option prices were highly sensitive to the magnitude of real cost reductions. If shared savings contracts cause 2% reductions in total costs, option prices fall to zero for all but the smallest providers. Calculating the prices of financial options that protect payers and providers from downside risk can inject flexibility into shared savings contracts, extend such contracts to smaller providers, and clarify the tradeoffs between different contract designs, potentially speeding the dissemination of shared savings.

  16. A location selection policy of live virtual machine migration for power saving and load balancing.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Jia; Ding, Yan; Xu, Gaochao; Hu, Liang; Dong, Yushuang; Fu, Xiaodong

    2013-01-01

    Green cloud data center has become a research hotspot of virtualized cloud computing architecture. And load balancing has also been one of the most important goals in cloud data centers. Since live virtual machine (VM) migration technology is widely used and studied in cloud computing, we have focused on location selection (migration policy) of live VM migration for power saving and load balancing. We propose a novel approach MOGA-LS, which is a heuristic and self-adaptive multiobjective optimization algorithm based on the improved genetic algorithm (GA). This paper has presented the specific design and implementation of MOGA-LS such as the design of the genetic operators, fitness values, and elitism. We have introduced the Pareto dominance theory and the simulated annealing (SA) idea into MOGA-LS and have presented the specific process to get the final solution, and thus, the whole approach achieves a long-term efficient optimization for power saving and load balancing. The experimental results demonstrate that MOGA-LS evidently reduces the total incremental power consumption and better protects the performance of VM migration and achieves the balancing of system load compared with the existing research. It makes the result of live VM migration more high-effective and meaningful.

  17. A Location Selection Policy of Live Virtual Machine Migration for Power Saving and Load Balancing

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Gaochao; Hu, Liang; Dong, Yushuang; Fu, Xiaodong

    2013-01-01

    Green cloud data center has become a research hotspot of virtualized cloud computing architecture. And load balancing has also been one of the most important goals in cloud data centers. Since live virtual machine (VM) migration technology is widely used and studied in cloud computing, we have focused on location selection (migration policy) of live VM migration for power saving and load balancing. We propose a novel approach MOGA-LS, which is a heuristic and self-adaptive multiobjective optimization algorithm based on the improved genetic algorithm (GA). This paper has presented the specific design and implementation of MOGA-LS such as the design of the genetic operators, fitness values, and elitism. We have introduced the Pareto dominance theory and the simulated annealing (SA) idea into MOGA-LS and have presented the specific process to get the final solution, and thus, the whole approach achieves a long-term efficient optimization for power saving and load balancing. The experimental results demonstrate that MOGA-LS evidently reduces the total incremental power consumption and better protects the performance of VM migration and achieves the balancing of system load compared with the existing research. It makes the result of live VM migration more high-effective and meaningful. PMID:24348165

  18. Bernard van Leer Foundation Annual Report, 2000.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernard Van Leer Foundation, The Hague (Netherlands).

    This annual report for 2000 describes the year's activities, achievements, and financial status of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a private foundation based in The Netherlands that operates internationally to improve opportunities for young children from birth to age 7 living in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage. Following an…

  19. DOD can save millions by using energy efficient centralized aircraft support systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1982-05-07

    The ways the Department of Defense can save millions of dollars annually by using new energy efficient centralized aircraft support systems at certain Air Force and Navy bases are discussed. The Air Force and Navy have developed and installed several different systems and have realized some degree of success. However, each service has developed its systems independently. Consequently, there is no commonality between the services' systems which could permit economical procurements for standard servicewide systems. Standardization would also prevent duplication of design efforts by the services and minimize proliferation of aircraft support equipment. It also would allow the services tomore » further reduce costs by combining requirements to assure the most economical quantities for buying system components. GAO makes specific recommendations to the Secretaries of Defense and the Air Force to develop standard systems and to install them at all bases where feasible and practical.« less

  20. Medicare Accountable Care Organizations of Diverse Structures Achieve Comparable Quality and Cost Performance.

    PubMed

    Comfort, Leeann N; Shortell, Stephen M; Rodriguez, Hector P; Colla, Carrie H

    2018-01-31

    To examine whether an empirically derived taxonomy of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) is associated with quality and spending performance among patients of ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Three waves of the National Survey of ACOs and corresponding publicly available Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services performance data for NSACO respondents participating in the MSSP (N = 204); SK&A Office Based Physicians Database from QuintilesIMS. We compare the performance of three ACO types (physician-led, integrated, and hybrid) for three domains: quality, spending, and likelihood of achieving savings. Sources of performance variation within and between ACO types are compared for each performance measure. There is greater heterogeneity within ACO types than between ACO types. There were no consistent differences in quality by ACO type, nor were there differences in likelihood of achieving savings or overall spending per-person-year. There was evidence for higher spending on physician services for physician-led ACOs. ACOs of diverse structures perform comparably on core MSSP quality and spending measures. CMS should maintain its flexibility and continue to support participation of diverse ACOs. Future research to identify modifiable organizational factors that account for performance variation within ACO types may provide insight as to how best to improve ACO performance based on organizational structure and ownership. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  1. Statistical Uncertainty in the Medicare Shared Savings Program

    PubMed Central

    DeLia, Derek; Hoover, Donald; Cantor, Joel C.

    2012-01-01

    Objective Analyze statistical risks facing CMS and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Methods We calculate the probability that shared savings formulas lead to inappropriate payment, payment denial, and/or financial penalties, assuming that ACOs generate real savings in Medicare spending ranging from 0–10%. We also calculate expected payments from CMS to ACOs under these scenarios. Results The probability of an incorrect outcome is heavily dependent on ACO enrollment size. For example, in the MSSP two-sided model, an ACO with 5,000 enrollees that keeps spending constant faces a 0.24 probability of being inappropriately rewarded for savings and a 0.26 probability of paying an undeserved penalty for increased spending. For an ACO with 50,000 enrollees, both of these probabilities of incorrect outcomes are equal to 0.02. The probability of inappropriate payment denial declines as real ACO savings increase. Still, for ACOs with 5,000 patients, the probability of denial is at least 0.15 even when true savings are 5–7%. Depending on ACO size and the real ACO savings rate, expected ACO payments vary from $115,000 to $35.3 million. Discussion Our analysis indicates there may be greater statistical uncertainty in the MSSP than previously recognized. CMS and ACOs will have to consider this uncertainty in their financial, administrative, and care management planning. We also suggest analytic strategies that can be used to refine ACO payment formulas in the longer term to ensure that the MSSP (and other ACO initiatives that will be influenced by it) work as efficiently as possible. PMID:24800155

  2. An Evaluation of the Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baird, Peter; Walter, Johanna; Landers, Patrick; Timm, Jonathan; Luczywek, Beata

    2017-01-01

    The state of Kansas created the Child Support Savings Initiative (CSSI) in 2013 to help parents who owe child support pay off debt that is owed to the state while also saving for their children's future higher education. The program aims to encourage parents to make qualifying deposits into tax-advantaged college savings plans--529…

  3. Productivity Savings from Colorectal Cancer Prevention and Control Strategies

    PubMed Central

    Bradley, Cathy J.; Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Iris; Yabroff, K. Robin; Dahman, Bassam; Mariotto, Angela; Feuer, Eric J.; Brown, Martin L.

    2011-01-01

    Background Lost productivity represents a considerable portion of the total economic burden of colorectal cancer (CRC), but cost-effectiveness studies of CRC prevention and control have not included these costs and therefore underestimate potential savings from CRC prevention and control. Purpose To use microsimulation modeling study to estimate and project productivity costs of CRC and to model the savings from four approaches to reducing CRC incidence and mortality: risk factor reduction, improved screening, improved treatment, and a simultaneous approach where all three strategies are implemented. Methods A model was developed to project productivity losses from CRC using the U.S. population with CRC incidence and mortality projected through the year 2020. Outcome measures were CRC mortality, morbidity, and productivity savings. Results With 2005 levels in risk factors, screening, and treatment, 48,748 CRC deaths occurred in 2010, amounting to $21 billion of lost productivity. Using prevention and treatment strategies simultaneously, 3586 deaths could have been avoided in 2010, leading to a savings of $1.4 billion. Cumulatively, by 2020, simultaneous strategies that reduce risk factors and increase screening and treatment could result in 101,353 deaths avoided and $33.9 billion in savings in reduced productivity loss. Improved screening rates alone led to nearly $14.7 billion in savings between 2005 and 2020, followed by risk factor reduction ($12.4 billion) and improved treatment ($8.4 billion). Conclusions The savings in productivity loss from strategies to reduce CRC incidence and mortality are substantial, providing evidence that CRC prevention and control strategies are likely to be cost-saving. PMID:21767717

  4. Productivity savings from colorectal cancer prevention and control strategies.

    PubMed

    Bradley, Cathy J; Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Iris; Yabroff, K Robin; Dahman, Bassam; Mariotto, Angela; Feuer, Eric J; Brown, Martin L

    2011-08-01

    Lost productivity represents a considerable portion of the total economic burden of colorectal cancer (CRC), but cost-effectiveness studies of CRC prevention and control have not included these costs and therefore underestimate potential savings from CRC prevention and control. To use microsimulation modeling study to estimate and project productivity costs of CRC and to model the savings from four approaches to reducing CRC incidence and mortality: risk factor reduction, improved screening, improved treatment, and a simultaneous approach where all three strategies are implemented. A model was developed to project productivity losses from CRC using the U.S. population with CRC incidence and mortality projected through the year 2020. Outcome measures were CRC mortality, morbidity, and productivity savings. With 2005 levels in risk factors, screening, and treatment, 48,748 CRC deaths occurred in 2010, amounting to $21 billion of lost productivity. Using prevention and treatment strategies simultaneously, 3586 deaths could have been avoided in 2010, leading to a savings of $1.4 billion. Cumulatively, by 2020, simultaneous strategies that reduce risk factors and increase screening and treatment could result in 101,353 deaths avoided and $33.9 billion in savings in reduced productivity loss. Improved screening rates alone led to nearly $14.7 billion in savings between 2005 and 2020, followed by risk factor reduction ($12.4 billion) and improved treatment ($8.4 billion). The savings in productivity loss from strategies to reduce CRC incidence and mortality are substantial, providing evidence that CRC prevention and control strategies are likely to be cost-saving. Copyright © 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. All rights reserved.

  5. Mission aware energy saving strategies for Army ground vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dattathreya, Macam S.

    Fuel energy is a basic necessity for this planet and the modern technology to perform many activities on earth. On the other hand, quadrupled automotive vehicle usage by the commercial industry and military has increased fuel consumption. Military readiness of Army ground vehicles is very important for a country to protect its people and resources. Fuel energy is a major requirement for Army ground vehicles. According to a report, a department of defense has spent nearly $13.6 billion on fuel and electricity to conduct ground missions. On the contrary, energy availability on this plant is slowly decreasing. Therefore, saving energy in Army ground vehicles is very important. Army ground vehicles are embedded with numerous electronic systems to conduct missions such as silent and normal stationary surveillance missions. Increasing electrical energy consumption of these systems is influencing higher fuel consumption of the vehicle. To save energy, the vehicles can use any of the existing techniques, but they require complex, expensive, and time consuming implementations. Therefore, cheaper and simpler approaches are required. In addition, the solutions have to save energy according to mission needs and also overcome size and weight constraints of the vehicle. Existing research in the current literature do not have any mission aware approaches to save energy. This dissertation research proposes mission aware online energy saving strategies for stationary Army ground vehicles to save energy as well as to meet the electrical needs of the vehicle during surveillance missions. The research also proposes theoretical models of surveillance missions, fuzzy logic models of engine and alternator efficiency data, and fuzzy logic algorithms. Based on these models, two energy saving strategies are proposed for silent and normal surveillance type of missions. During silent mission, the engine is on and batteries power the systems. During normal surveillance mission, the engine is

  6. Crushing leads to waste disposal savings for FUSRAP

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Darby, J.

    1997-02-01

    In this article the author discusses the application of a rock crusher as a means of implementing cost savings in the remediation of FUSRAP sites. Transportation and offsite disposal costs are at present the biggest cost items in the remediation of FUSRAP sites. If these debris disposal problems can be handled in different manners, then remediation savings are available. Crushing can result in the ability to handle some wastes as soil disposal problems, which have different disposal regulations, thereby permitting cost savings.

  7. Natural attenuation of mining pollutants in the transboundary Save River

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meck, M. L.; Masamba, W. R. L.; Atlhopheng, J.; Ringrose, S.

    The objective of the study was to investigate the role played by the natural environment in protecting the transboundary Save River from the impacts of metals derived from phosphate mining at Dorowa. The study is a follow up study from a previous one that noted that there is natural attenuation at Dorowa. Water and sediment samples were collected in the Save River and the streams that drain the Dorowa dumps. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze the cations (Na +, K +, Ca 2+, Mg 2+, Cu 2+, Co 2+, Fe 2+, Ni 2+, Zn 2+, Pb 2+, Sn 2+, Mn 2+, Cd 2+) in the samples. Major anions Cl -, SO42- and NO3- were analyzed by standard chromatography whilst CO32- and HCO3- were determined by titration. pH was measured on site. Geochemical modeling of the water composition was conducted with Visual Minteq. The results show that natural attenuation is being achieved through precipitation of solids from the water and subsequent deposition onto the sediments. Six of the metals are almost completely precipitated (Cu 99.99%, Fe 99.39%, Ni 91.24%, Pb 99.87%, Sn 99.99% and Zn 88.66%). However Mn, Co and Cd remain in solution. Thus the natural environment is protecting the Save River which is a transboundary river from the impacts of mining through precipitation of the metals. Users downstream of Dorowa mine are therefore not being affected by mining pollution. This study demonstrates that besides being a legitimate and important user of water, the natural environment can also play a significant role in protecting water quality by attenuating metals naturally. By analyzing costs incurred in several places where alternative methods are employed to remediate metal related pollution the study concludes that natural remediation at Dorowa is saving the nation in environmental costs. Therefore the paper advocates for appreciation of the role that the natural environment plays in protecting ecosystems from the impact of human developments and environmental costs

  8. Ideas To Save Electricity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, John C.

    1974-01-01

    Significant energy savings can be effected through stopping obvious waste of water, electricity, and heat; purchasing equipment with the correct voltage and horsepower; equipment maintenance; and redesigning or replacing obsolete or inefficient equipment. (Author/MF)

  9. Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY 2000 Annual Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Al-Ayat, R

    This Annual Report provides an overview of the FY2000 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and presents a summary of the results achieved by each project during the year.

  10. NASA Participates in 5th Annual California Aerospace Week

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-03-03

    The fifth annual California Aerospace Days event was recently held at the Capitol in Sacramento. It was an opportunity for NASA's Ames Research Center to showcase some of its key achievements and innovations in the Golden State.

  11. Promoting and sustaining a historical and global effort to prevent sepsis: the 2018 World Health Organization SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign.

    PubMed

    Martischang, Romain; Pires, Daniela; Masson-Roy, Sarah; Saito, Hiroki; Pittet, Didier

    2018-04-13

    Sepsis is estimated to affect more than 30 million patients with potentially five million deaths every year worldwide. Prevention of sepsis, as well as early recognition, diagnosis and treatment, can't be overlooked to mitigate this global public health threat. World Health Organization (WHO) promotes hand hygiene in health care through its annual global campaign, SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign on 5 May every year. The 2018 campaign targets sepsis with the overall theme "It's in your hands; prevent sepsis in health care".

  12. Non-Declarative Sequence Learning does not Show Savings in Relearning

    PubMed Central

    Keisler, Aysha; Willingham, Daniel T.

    2007-01-01

    Researchers have utilized the savings in relearning paradigm in a variety of settings since Ebbinghaus developed the tool over a century ago. In spite of its widespread use, we do not yet understand what type(s) of memory are measurable by savings. Specifically, can savings measure both declarative and non-declarative memories? The lack of conscious recollection of the encoded material in some studies indicates that non-declarative memories may show savings effects, but as all studies to date have used declarative tasks, we cannot be certain. Here, we administer a non-declarative task and then measure savings in relearning the material declaratively. Our results show that while material outside of awareness may show savings effects, non-declarative sequence memory does not. These data highlight the important distinction between memory without awareness and non-declarative memory. PMID:17343944

  13. Non-declarative sequence learning does not show savings in relearning.

    PubMed

    Keisler, Aysha; Willingham, Daniel T

    2007-04-01

    Researchers have utilized the savings in relearning paradigm in a variety of settings since Ebbinghaus developed the tool over a century ago. In spite of its widespread use, we do not yet understand what type(s) of memory are measurable by savings. Specifically, can savings measure both declarative and non-declarative memories? The lack of conscious recollection of the encoded material in some studies indicates that non-declarative memories may show savings effects, but as all studies to date have used declarative tasks, we cannot be certain. Here, we administer a non-declarative task and then measure savings in relearning the material declaratively. Our results show that while material outside of awareness may show savings effects, non-declarative sequence memory does not. These data highlight the important distinction between memory without awareness and non-declarative memory.

  14. The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions

    PubMed Central

    Beshears, John; Choi, James J.; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C.; Milkman, Katherine L.

    2015-01-01

    Using a field experiment in a 401(k) plan, we measure the effect of disseminating information about peer behavior on savings. Low-saving employees received simplified plan enrollment or contribution increase forms. A randomized subset of forms stated the fraction of age-matched coworkers participating in the plan or age-matched participants contributing at least 6% of pay to the plan. We document an oppositional reaction: the presence of peer information decreased the savings of nonparticipants who were ineligible for 401(k) automatic enrollment, and higher observed peer savings rates also decreased savings. Discouragement from upward social comparisons seems to drive this reaction. PMID:26045629

  15. Statistical Application and Cost Saving in a Dental Survey.

    PubMed

    Chyou, Po-Huang; Schroeder, Dixie; Schwei, Kelsey; Acharya, Amit

    2017-06-01

    To effectively achieve a robust survey response rate in a timely manner, an alternative approach to survey distribution, informed by statistical modeling, was applied to efficiently and cost-effectively achieve the targeted rate of return. A prospective environmental scan surveying adoption of health information technology utilization within their practices was undertaken in a national pool of dental professionals (N=8000) using an alternative method of sampling. The piloted approach to rate of cohort sampling targeted a response rate of 400 completed surveys from among randomly targeted eligible providers who were contacted using replicated subsampling leveraging mailed surveys. Two replicated subsample mailings (n=1000 surveys/mailings) were undertaken to project the true response rate and estimate the total number of surveys required to achieve the final target. Cost effectiveness and non-response bias analyses were performed. The final mailing required approximately 24% fewer mailings compared to targeting of the entire cohort, with a final survey capture exceeding the expected target. An estimated $5000 in cost savings was projected by applying the alternative approach. Non-response analyses found no evidence of bias relative to demographics, practice demographics, or topically-related survey questions. The outcome of this pilot study suggests that this approach to survey studies will accomplish targeted enrollment in a cost effective manner. Future studies are needed to validate this approach in the context of other survey studies. © 2017 Marshfield Clinic.

  16. Comparative cost analysis of housing and case management program for chronically ill homeless adults compared to usual care.

    PubMed

    Basu, Anirban; Kee, Romina; Buchanan, David; Sadowski, Laura S

    2012-02-01

    To assess the costs of a housing and case management program in a novel sample-homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses. The study used data from multiple sources: (1) electronic medical records for hospital, emergency room, and ambulatory medical and mental health visits; (2) institutional and regional databases for days in respite centers, jails, or prisons; and (3) interviews for days in nursing homes, shelters, substance abuse treatment centers, and case manager visits. Total costs were estimated using unit costs for each service. Randomized controlled trial of 407 homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses enrolled at two hospitals in Chicago, Illinois, and followed for 18 months. Compared to usual care, the intervention group generated an average annual cost savings of (-)$6,307 per person (95 percent CI: -16,616, 4,002; p = .23). Subgroup analyses of chronically homeless and those with HIV showed higher per person, annual cost savings of (-)$9,809 and (-)$6,622, respectively. Results were robust to sensitivity analysis using unit costs. The findings of this comprehensive, comparative cost analyses demonstrated an important average annual savings, though in this underpowered study these savings did not achieve statistical significance. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  17. Significant savings with a stepped care model for treatment of patients with intermittent claudication.

    PubMed

    Fokkenrood, H J P; Scheltinga, M R M; Koelemay, M J W; Breek, J C; Hasaart, F; Vahl, A C; Teijink, J A W

    2014-10-01

    International guidelines recommend supervised exercise therapy (SET) as primary treatment for intermittent claudication (IC). The aim of this study was to calculate treatment costs in patients with IC and to estimate nationwide annual savings if a stepped care model (SCM, primary SET treatment followed by revascularization in case of SET failure) was followed. Invoice data of all patients with IC in 2009 were obtained from a Dutch health insurance company (3.4 million members). Patients were divided into three groups based on initial treatment after diagnosis (t0). The SET group received SET initiated at any time between 12 months before and up to 3 months after t0. The intervention group (INT) underwent endovascular or open revascularization between t0 and t+3 months. The third group (REST) received neither SET nor any intervention. All peripheral arterial disease related invoices were recorded during 2 years and average costs per patient were calculated. Savings following use of a SCM were calculated for three scenarios. Data on 4954 patients were analyzed. Initial treatment was SET (n = 701, 14.1%), INT (n = 1363, 27.5%), or REST (n = 2890, 58.3%). Within 2 years from t0, invasive revascularization in the SET group was performed in 45 patients (6.4%). Additional interventions (primary at other location and/or re-interventions) were performed in 480 INT patients (35.2%). Some 431 REST patients received additional SET (n = 299, 10.3%) or an intervention (n = 132, 4.5%). Mean total IC related costs per patient were €2,191, €9851 and €824 for SET, INT, and REST, respectively. Based on a hypothetical worst, moderate, and best case scenario, some 3.8, 20.6, or 33.0 million euros would have been saved per annum if SCM was implemented in the Dutch healthcare system. Implementation of a SCM treatment for patients with IC may lead to significant savings of health care resources. Copyright © 2014 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by

  18. Targeted tuberculosis contact investigation saves money without sacrificing health.

    PubMed

    Pisu, Maria; Gerald, Joe; Shamiyeh, James E; Bailey, William C; Gerald, Lynn B

    2009-01-01

    Health departments require an efficient strategy to investigate individuals exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The contact priority model (CPM) uses a decision rule to minimize testing of low-risk contacts; however, its impact on costs and disease control is unknown. A cost-effectiveness analysis compared the CPM with the traditional concentric circle approach (CCA) in a simulated population of 1000 healthy, community-dwelling adults with a 10% background rate of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of the Alabama Department of Public Health. Model inputs were derived from the literature and the Alabama Department of Public Health. Lifetime costs (2004 dollars) and outcomes were discounted 3 percent annually. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were used to compare the strategies. Over the lifetime of 1000 simulated contacts, the CPM saved $45,000 but led to 0.5 additional TB cases and 0.24 fewer years of life. The CCA is more effective than the CPM, but it costs $92,934 to prevent one additional TB case and $185,920 to gain one additional life year. The CPM reduces costs with minimal loss of disease control and is a viable alternative to the CCA under most conditions.

  19. Higher Education Opportunity Program. Annual Report, 1983-84.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New York State Education Dept., Albany. Bureau of Higher Education Opportunity Programs.

    The 1983-1984 annual report of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) at New York independent colleges and universities is presented. Information is provided on program administration, eligibility and student characteristics, campus programs, student achievement, and program financing. The state appropriated almost $11.5 million to serve…

  20. Energy and emissions saving potential of additive manufacturing: the case of lightweight aircraft components

    DOE PAGES

    Huang, Runze; Riddle, Matthew; Graziano, Diane; ...

    2015-05-08

    Additive manufacturing (AM) holds great potential for improving materials efficiency, reducing life-cycle impacts, and enabling greater engineering functionality compared to conventional manufacturing (CM) processes. For these reasons, AM has been adopted by a growing number of aircraft component manufacturers to achieve more lightweight, cost-effective designs. This study estimates the net changes in life-cycle primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with AM technologies for lightweight metallic aircraft components through the year 2050, to shed light on the environmental benefits of a shift from CM to AM processes in the U.S. aircraft industry. A systems modeling framework is presented, with integratesmore » engineering criteria, life-cycle environmental data, and aircraft fleet stock and fuel use models under different AM adoption scenarios. Estimated fleetwide life-cycle primary energy savings in a rapid adoption scenario reach 70-174 million GJ/year in 2050, with cumulative savings of 1.2-2.8 billion GJ. Associated cumulative emission reduction potentials of CO2e were estimated at 92.8-217.4 million metric tons. About 95% of the savings is attributed to airplane fuel consumption reductions due to lightweighting. In addition, about 4050 tons aluminum, 7600 tons titanium and 8100 tons of nickel alloys could be saved per year in 2050. The results indicate a significant role of AM technologies in helping society meet its long-term energy use and GHG emissions reduction goals, and highlight barriers and opportunities for AM adoption for the aircraft industry.« less