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Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Modern western societies are becoming increasingly diverse, undergoing rapid demographic change as a product of new patterns of migration driven by processes of globalization. As populations and cultures have become more heterogeneous in this way, public space has been increasingly defined as a space of encounter. The growing focus on the significance of everyday contact with difference raises questions about the frameworks within which such encounters occur and, specifically, the extent to which incidental encounters are shaped or regulated by perceptions of formal obligations to comply with legislative frameworks, or informal expectations about appropriate ways of behaving in public space. Using original empirical data about what ordinary people think about equality laws, the paper contributes to social geographies by considering the spatial sensitivities and regulatory frameworks that shape encounters with difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the legal and regulatory instruments for water quality management that have been set in place in Singapore for control of water pollution, and their evolution since the time of independence in 1965. The role of institutions in the strict implementation of the laws and regulations is also discussed, with special emphasis on the efficient inter-institutional coordination machinery that has made it possible. The analyses show that overall long-term planning and policy-making and a strong political will have been instrumental to give all aspects of water management high priority in the national agenda, thus directly supporting urban, industrial and commercial growth. EditorZ.W. Kundzewicz [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the Texas legislature created a program to identify environmental flow standards statewide through the coordinated efforts of scientific and stakeholder groups and rulemaking by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. To aid in this task, a Hydrology-based Environmental Flow Regime (HEFR) method was developed that combines a suite of user-customizable hydrologic statistics with an implementation framework. Following the concepts of the Natural Flow Paradigm, the methodology includes the separation of a long-term hydrograph into key flow components (e.g. subsistence, base, high-flow pulse and overbank) defined by the Texas Instream Flow Program. Seasonal, annual and inter-annual flow component statistics were then coupled with biology, water quality and geomorphology overlays, where available, and with implementation rules applied to example large-scale water supply projects to support development of environmental flow standards for use in water rights permit conditions. The HEFR methodology and resulting flow recommendations are compared to two contemporary in-stream flow studies and adopted environmental flow standards. Subsistence flows were fairly similar. Baseflows were in a similar range, but fewer than three seasonal levels have sometimes been specified in in-stream flow studies. Episodic events are quite different in terms of magnitude, frequency, duration and applicable number.Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor M. AcremanCitation Opdyke, D.R., Oborny, E.L., Vaugh, S.K., and Mayes, K.B., 2014. Texas environmental flow standards and the hydrology-based environmental flow regime methodology. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (3–4), 820–830. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What are the effects of emissions trading on a particular country? The efficiency and distribution effects associated with the implementation of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in Spain were modelled using a static general equilibrium model. Three scenarios were examined for cost-effectiveness and fairness: a real market as established by the National Allocation Plan (NAP); a wider (hypothetical) market applied to most sectors; and a (hypothetical) auctioned market. The actual and desirable regulatory impacts were also modelled. The results indicate that the narrow scope of the EU emissions trading market generates efficiency costs and relevant distributional effects, which may therefore be useful for the design and application of future Spanish policies and strategies to comply with short- and medium-term targets. Although the focus is on Spain, the understanding of different sectoral effects and the potential for complementary mechanisms provides a wider insight into the design of future mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This commentary scrutinizes Building Research & Information's 2008 special issue titled 'Comfort in a Lower Carbon Society' from three vantage points. The first compares the special issue with another published on the same topic in 1982 in an attempt to see what differences a quarter of a century have brought to comfort-related research. The second seeks to identify what has been gained and lost as comfort research has moved away from the reductionist and positivistic certainties of 26 years ago towards the much more highly nuanced, historical, and social constructivist position reported in the 2008 special issue. And the third asks what would need to be done next to enable the more recent, adaptive, approach to modifying indoor climate to out-compete the engineering paradigm that has become so embedded and ingrained in professional practice over the past century. The commentary concludes with the challenge that unless this new, adaptive approach can rapidly become codified and enshrined in professional codes and standards - perhaps even in (inter)national regulations, it will not even be able to begin to operate as one of the building-related bulwarks against climate change. Ce commentaire analyse sous trois angles differents le numero special de Building Research & Information 2008 consacre au confort dans une societe sobre en carbone. L'auteur commence par comparer ce numero special a un autre numero publie sur le meme sujet en 1982 afin de voir comment ont evolue en un quart de siecle les recherches liees au confort. Il s'efforce ensuite d'identifier ce qui a ete acquis et perdu alors que les recherches sur le confort sont passees des certitudes reductionnistes et positivistes d'il y a 26 ans a une position constructiviste beaucoup plus nuancee, historique, sociale telle qu'elle apparait dans ce numero special de 2008. Enfin, il pose la question sur ce qui devrait etre fait maintenant pour valider l'approche adaptative plus recente qui vise a modifier le climat interieur pour aller au-dela du paradigme technique qui s'est si profondement ancre dans les pratiques professionnelles au cours du siecle dernier. L'auteur conclut que les batiments ne pourront meme pas servir de rempart contre le changement climatique a moins que cette nouvelle approche adaptative puisse etre rapidement codifiee et consacree dans des codes et des normes professionnelles, voire dans des reglementations internationales. Mots cles: comportement adaptatif, agence, changement climatique, confort, consommation, gestion de la demande, gouvernance, societe sobre en carbone, reglementation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to the federal government, some US states have taken an aggressive approach to curbing climate change. They use a variety of policy instruments to reduce greenhouse gases. These instruments can be categorized into two broad categories: economic incentives and command-and-control regulation. While the use of economic incentives has, on average, increased, some states employ them more than others. This article compares the propensity of different US states to employ economic incentives in the area of climate change. For this purpose, it analyses and tests four models: (i) a needs/responsiveness model, (ii) an interest group influence model, (iii) an innovation-and-diffusion model, and (iv) a combined model, Interestingly, this article finds that economic incentives are pushed out of the political agenda when states are confronted with a more severe problem in terms of carbon emissions and dependence on conventional energy. This article also finds support for the traditional, antagonistic view of 'industry versus environmentalists': electric utility companies tend to oppose economic incentives, while environmentalists and renewable energy producers tend to support them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector within a cap-and-trade system poses significant policy questions on where to locate the point of compliance. Electricity markets often cross national or other regulatory boundaries, so that electricity generated within the boundary may comply with expectations but imported electricity may not. The question addressed in this article is where to locate the point of compliance in the electricity sector — where in the supply chain linking fuel suppliers to generators to the transmission system to retail load-serving entities should the obligation for measurement and compliance be placed? This problem is examined in the specific context of California's legislative requirements and particular energy markets, with the implications of the different policy options explored. The conclusion offered is that one particular approach to regulating the electricity sector — the 'first-seller approach' — would be best for California. The alternative 'load-based approach' has had a head start in the policy process but would undermine an economy-wide market-based emissions trading programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)