C. Tourkolias

Implementing the Contingent Valuation Method for supporting decision making in the waste management sector

This study presents an application of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) for valuing the environmental impacts associated with the operation of landfills for residues following waste treatment and depicts how the results of the analysis can be used for decision making in the field of waste management. The survey was conducted in Ikaria, Greece, a medium-sized island in the northern Aegean Sea, with a view to estimate the amount of compensatory benefits that are socially acceptable to be attributed to the hosting community of a new landfill for residues. The results showed that the mean willingness to pay per household to create a fund for financing social and environmental programs in the community that will host the landfill in question was estimated at €6.5-6.7 per 2-month and household taking into account all households of the sample. This estimate is at the same order of magnitude but at the lower band compared to the results of other relevant studies showing that the public in Ikaria is aware for the relatively limited environmental burdens associated with the operation of landfills for residues following an integrated waste management treatment.

Linking Sea Level Rise Damage and Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Greece

Throughout the course of modern history, coasts have been a substantial means of human development and an ever-growing number of people still continue to colonize the coasts worldwide. Coasts comprise dynamic and complex socio-ecological systems, encompassing a variety of biotic and abiotic elements. Their complexity and dynamics are reflected in the multiplicity of their forms. Their dynamic nature is responsible for their high productivity, leading both to periodic changes and gradual mutation. The marine ecosystems, by storing carbon dioxide and by releasing oxygen to the atmosphere through the living processes of the phytoplankton population, play a significant role in regulating climate. The coastal areas help create and preserve microclimates. The existence of coastal forests and wetlands ensures minimization of floods, erosion and other natural disasters, and offers valuable regulating and supporting ecosystem services. The importance of coastal resources for the prosperity of coastal areas can be specified through the ecosystem services and goods, which support the human life (Daily, 1997; Turner et al., 2001; Beaumont, 2007; Kontogianni et al., 2010a). The categorization of coastal services and goods is presented in Table 1. However, the ensuing anthropogenic activities of industrialization and economic growth have brought the coastal areas under intense pressure. Climatic change accentuates these pressures while it makes mean sea level rise (SLR) one of the most predictable and alarming impacts globally (Church et al., 2001; Nicholls, 2007). To make things worse, SLR is known to be rather inelastic against the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (OECD, 2006), a phenomenon known as “commitment to SLR”. That is, even if drastic reduction policies globally succeed in stabilizing the climate, SLR and the accompanying phenomena of coastal erosion and storm surges will continue to occur for centuries (Meehl et al., 2005; Wigley, 2005), causing possible tipping points for some systems (Tipping Points Report, 2009). This chapter examines the impacts of SLR on the Greek coastal zone and appraises their economic dimension. Researchers engaged in studies like this face two important issues. The first is the quantification of the economic impacts (damages) caused by the losses of coastal areas due to SLR. The second is the ex ante estimation of welfare gains from reducing SLR risks, since this estimation constitutes an important input for decision-making regarding

A methodological approach for holistic energy planning using the living lab concept: the case of the prefecture of Karditsa

The development of urban and rural landscapes has entered a pioneering era with novel combinations of energy production andconsumption and related changes in the urban and rural fabric including associated socioeconomic issues. Accompanying this change isa realization that newly developing energy initiatives are more viable for development and upscaling and are less vulnerable to failure andresistance from society if they are well integrated into their local and regional contexts. However, institutional questions remain regardingthe required mechanisms and levels of integration, while simultaneously sustainable energy planning requires that the stakeholders withdiverse and conflicting objectives come to some degree of consensus. Inspired by these findings, a methodological approach for holisticenergy planning on a regional/local level was developed within the framework of the INTENSSS-PA project that is funded by HORIZON2020. The approach provides a holistic energy plan, which goes beyond a blueprint for allocating renewable technologies and is basedon the involvement of the wider community. Hence, this approach includes aspects such as the development of spatial concepts, newco-creating strategies, business cases, societal alliances and institutional changes and formats. To implement this approach, the LivingLab (LL) concept is applied. The case of Karditsa, in Greece, will be presented as evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed planningapproach.

INTENSSS PA: a systematic approach for INspiring Training ENergy-Spatial Socioeconomic Sustainability to Public Authorities

The INTENSSS PA project, funded by Horizon 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the European Union, aims to support the local authorities involved and their stakeholders to develop an innovative integrated sustainable energy planning concept through a participatory, interdisciplinary and multilevel process. By building individual and institutional capacity of the actors involved, using the Regional Living Lab approach, the concept will be applied in order to develop seven sustainable integrated energy plans. In this first article the project activities and the results achieved so far are preliminary described, anticipating a more extensive and detailed publication on the project planned for the December edition of UPLand – Journal of Urban Planning Landscape & Environmental Design.

In Search of Marine Ecosystem Services Values: The V-MESSES Database

Economic valuation of marine ecosystem services is strongly anchored within the logic of Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). An inventory and critical assessment of marine valuation studies was conducted within the European Union funded Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research for the Southern European Seas (PERSEUS) research project (http://www.perseus-net.eu/) and this information was fed into a suitable, spatially explicit valuation database, namely Valuation database for Marine Ecosystem Services of Southern European Seas (V-MESSES), with the objective of providing monetary values for Southern European Seas (SES) to be used in cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness applications. At present, the database contains 93 studies offering over 110 value estimates for four categories and 20 subcategories of marine ecosystem services covering all regions of Mediterranean and Black Sea. The database enables so far the estimation of the aggregated value of all ecosystem services. However, the selection of appropriate, policy relevant value estimates is not a simple and straightforward task, since several conditions should be met in order to conduct effective and efficient value transfers. Bearing in mind the above limitations, tentative reference value estimates are compiled from the V-MESSES database for a number of coastal and marine ecosystem services, although not all service categories are covered sufficiently.

Assessment of Policy Instruments and Electricity Generation Technologies

This book reports and rationalizes the state-of-the-art concerning the social costs of electricity generation. Social costs are assessed by adding to the private generation costs, the external costs associated with damages to human health, the environment, crops, materials, and those related to the consequences of climate change. The authors consider the evolution of these costs up to 2030 for major electricity generating technologies and, using these estimates, evaluate policy options for external cost internalization, providing quantitative scenarios by country and primary fuel for 2010, 2020 and 2030. While mainly focusing on European countries, the book also examines the situation in key emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Turkey.