Susan M. Macey

Demonstrations as a Policy Instrument With Energy Technology Examples

Demonstration projects can be an effective tool in the diffusion of information and the promotion of new technologies and practices. This article provides a review of knowledge to date. It outlines the characteristics of demonstration projects, their goals, methods employed, and the means by which they are evaluated, using energy technology examples. Further, it discusses how the effectiveness of demonstration projects can be maximized and draws conclusions concerning their application and usefulness.

A causal model of the adoption of home heating energy conservation measures

A causal model of energy conservation behavior, incorporating both psychological and household variables, is developed and tested. A longitudinal survey of owner-occupied, single-family residential units in Decatur, Illinois, serves as the basis for empirical analysis. Results indicate that psychological variables are better predictors of conservation behavior than socioeconomic, demographic or dwelling unit variables. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Managing a Computer Teaching Laboratory

Abstract This paper seeks to synthesize key issues that arise in the course of both the short- and long-term operations of a computer teaching laboratory. As background to the facilitys management, the first section deals with initial setup issues as they impact future operations. Such considerations include decisions on establishing a single- or multipurpose facility, designing for an open laboratory layout versus a teaching configuration, hidden costs, and utilizing resources to get the most value for your money. The body of the paper examines everyday operational problems. These include setting policies on laboratory access, strategies for dealing with a high student-per-machine ratio, and provisions for maintenance, staffing, hardware, software, and data security. The final section addresses more long-term management considerations such as avenues for obtaining hardware and software upgrades, networking demands, and generally working around increasing demand with static or limited resources. Potentia...

Evaluating the impact of two energy conservation programmes in a midwestern city

Abstract This paper presents a general methodology for evaluating energy conservation programmes, and uses the methodology to assess a home audit and an energy tax credit programme. The data base contains utility bill histories, audit forms, and personal surveys for 319 Decatur, Illinois homeowners. These data enable analysis of the extent of adoption of the two programmes; characteristics of adopters and non-adopters; the role of information in the adoption process; the actions prompted by the programmes; and the impact of the programmes on residential energy consumption. Adopters of the programmes are found to be better educated, wealthier, have newer homes, and engage in more conservation practices than non-adopters. Lack of information is one barrier to programme adoption, with adopters receiving more useful information from the local utility company and government sources. The programmes appear to have prompted certain conservation practices, but they have not reduced energy consumption. Policy implications are discussed.

Hypothermia and Energy Conservation: A Tradeoff for Elderly Persons?.

For many elderly people, residential energy conservation options are often limited to little or no cost measures such as reducing their winter nighttime thermostat setting. As a result, conflicts can arise between the need to preserve health and the necessity to conserve energy. Under these circumstances, accidental hypothermia is an important and growing concern. This study examines the association between concern for health and the adoption by elderly persons of a lowered winter nighttime thermostat setting. Evidence from two surveys of elderly respondents who maintain separate owner-occupied residences shows that health and thermal comfort concerns are the major reasons for nonadoption of this energy conservation measure. Methods are presented for increasing energy conservation while maintaining a healthful home environment.

Residential Energy Conservation Among the Elderly

This study analyzes the number and type of home heating energy conservation measures adopted by a sample of Lexington, Kentucky elderly to: determine the reasons certain measures are adopted; to analyse the extent of participation in public programs; and to suggest ways to assist the elderly in implementing energy conservation measures. The respondents are conservation conscious, but have special needs and constraints. Expense, concern for comfort, and perceived need act as major constraints in the adoption of conservation measures, while low participation in public programs is linked to lack of awareness of the programs and their potential benefits.

A Respiratory Riskscape for Texas Cities: A Spatial Analysis of Air Pollution, Demographic Attributes and Deaths from 2000 Through 2004

This study utilizes readily available criteria air pollution data from federal government sources to determine the spatial pattern of urban air pollutants. Using both geographic information systems spatial processing functions and statistical analysis, these data are then combined with respiratory and nonrespiratory decedents’ demographic characteristics (including age, race/ethnicity, and gender). Respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, are a leading cause of illness and death in the United States. The areas studied include the major Texas cities of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. The purpose of this research is to develop a “respiratory riskscape” in two steps. First, a spatial model of air pollutants for major urban areas in Texas is created. Second, the spatial pattern revealed by that model is analyzed for any significant relationships between specific pollutant sources/emissions and decedent’s demographic characteristics, and mortality rates where respiratory disease is a primary or contributing cause of death. Results show variations among urban areas, and a complex interaction between pollution data and mortality rates based on demographic attributes.

Book Reviews : Social Care of the Elderly. Marjorie H. Cantor, and Mark Brennan. (2000). New York, NY: Springer Publishing,

Cantor and Brennan explore the nature of social care for elderly individuals, the extent to which race, ethnicity and culture play a role in that care, and the future needs of this segment of the population, taking both informal and formal care systems into account. The book accomplishes its aim through both an examination of theory dealing with social care (Part I), and the analysis of case studies of elderly New Yorkers (Part II). Part III builds on these sections to provide a perspective on the future needs that might be anticipated in the informal and formal care systems for an aging population. The inclusion of definitions and the comparison of several theories in the first part of this volume set the stage by providing the reader with a snapshot of current thinking in the field. Three theories of social support (Cantor’s Social Care Model, the Convoy Model, and Exchange/Equity Theory), along with several theoretical models of support preference, relationship specialization, and the process of substitution are detailed and compared. Part I concludes with an examination of older people’s social support preferences in instrumental, emotional and informational situations as determined from two sets of in-person interviews conducted on samples of elderly respondents in New York City, one done in 1970 based on a spatial sampling method, and the other in 1990 based on a probability sample of Medicare enrollees. In Part II, the results of the 1990 survey of 1,570 New York City residents 65 years or older are presented as three case studies, respectively centered on Jewish, Latino, and African American elderly respondents. Each case study is set out in a separate chapter that provides a brief historical

49.95, 338 pp., hardcover. ISBN: 0-8261-1263-3

Given that Sunbelt states promote their images by stressing their good climate, the question arises as to how healthy their climate is for the elderly. This study compares deaths attributed to excessive cold for persons sixty years of age and over in Sunbelt and nonsunbelt states for the years 1980–1985. State mortality data are analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple correlations. Blacks of both sexes have significantly higher death rates in the Sunbelt, while the reverse is true for whites. Death rates by age group were generally lower in the Sunbelt, though the few significant correlations showed a Sunbelt bias. The latter may be linked to particularly severe winters.