Asia Pacific Journal of Energy and Environment
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Willingness to pay for Rainfall based Insurance by Smallholder Farmers in Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia: The Case of Dugda and Mieso Woredas
Full text linkCurrent climate variability is already imposing significant challenge to Ethiopia. Therefore, farmers have faced income variability in almost every production season. Problems associated with dependence on rain fed agriculture are common in Ethiopia. Smallholder farmers’ vulnerability from such income variability is also common. Over the years, a range of risk management strategies have been used to reduce, or to assist farmers to absorb, some of these risks. Since insurance is potentially an important instrument to transfer part of the risk, this study try to describe the nature of weather related risks faced by smallholder farmers, assess small holder farmers willingness to pay for the rainfall risk insurance and examine factors that affect the maximum farmers are willing to pay for the rainfall risk insurance. The data was collected from 161 sample households from the two woredas of the study area using closed ended value elicitation format followed by open ended follow up questions. The study uses Logit model to estimate the mean willingness to pay in the close ended format in addition with Tobit model to examine factors that affecting small holder farmer willingness to pay as well as intensity of payment. The mean willingness to pay values are found to be 129.98 and 183.41 birr per hectare for the open and close ended formats respectively. The total willingness to pay for the study area was found to be birr 5,740,244 per year. The tobit model shows six potential explanatory variables affect the willingness to pay value. Income of household and ownership of radio have positive and significant effect on the value of willingness to pay, whereas off-farm income, age of household head, number of livestock owning and availability of public and private gifts have negative and significant effect on willingness to pay value. If the rainfall risk insurance premium is affordable and households have enough information about the service they are willing to pay for the service. Eventually policy makers need to be aware that socio-economic and institutional characteristics of households influence the willingness to pay for rainfall risk insurance services
Computation of time energy gain in D-3He mixture: Energy deposited through deuterium ignition beam
Full text linkThe fast ignition approach to ICF consists in first compressing the fuel to high density by a suitable driver and then creating the hot spot required for ignition by means of a second external pulse. If the ignition beam is composed of deuterons, an additional energy is delivered to the target with increased energy gain. Therefore ,in this innovative suggestion ,we consider deuterium beams for fast ignition in D+3Hemixture and solve the dynamical balance equations under the available physical conditions by considering a new average reactivity formula ,then we compute the energy gain in this mixture .Our computational results show that we can get energy gain value larger than 4 at resonant temperature (200keV)of D+3Hemixture. We select D+3Hefuel, because D+3Hereaction is very attractive from a theoretical point of view since it does not produced neutrons. The D+3Hebenefits include full-lifetime materials, reduced radiation damage, less activation ,absence of tritium breeding blankets ,highly efficient direct energy conversion, easier maintenance, proliferation resistance
Classification and Determination of Indicator Environmental Properties in Western Iran Rangelands
Full text linkHow soil characteristics affecting plant species density was investigated through the one-way ANOVA method in typical rangelands of Iran in Zagros Mountains region. All of present species were identified, studied, tagged and named. Four plant types were identified based on two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). Survey was done at two depths of soil (0-30 and ≥30 cm). In each plot canopy related factors were measured and to determine chemical and physical properties of soil, at primary and end points of each transect profiles were dug. For each profile eight factors at two depths were measured inclusive: soil texture, Organic matter, total nitrogen percent, absorbable phosphorus, absorbable potassium, Lime, pH and EC. Means of squares comparison showed that organic matter, phosphorus, potassium, EC, sand and lime were more effective on species density at two depths in such rangeland ecosystems.
 
Effect of Different Parameters on Solar Pond Performance
Full text linkBy applying a model of finite differences, the thermal behavior of a large solar pond is studied in this paper. The 32-year data of sunny hour’s today-length ratio are used for the estimation of global radiation. The temperature data of a similar duration are used for evaluating the ambient temperature. The effects of the variation of different zone thicknesses on pond performance are studied. It is observed that the upper convective zone thickness should be as thin as possible, the non-convective zone might be from 1 to 2 m and the lower convective zone thickness may be designed based on the application needs. A thicker non convective zone provides more insulation against heat losses, and a thicker lower convective one supplies a higher storage capacity, though with a lower operating temperature. The heat may be extracted from the pond by either a constant or a variable loading pattern. The appropriate loading pattern can be selected based on the needs and operational temperature. The LCZ temperature of the pond, under several heat extraction patterns, is also presented for practical applications.