Showing papers by "Angela Druckman published in 2009"

Accounting for food waste: comparative analysis within the uk

Abstract: Meeting UK targets for waste reduction will require careful planning and informed investment in infrastructure. An essential prerequisite for both is the availability of robust waste data. This pap...

Analysing the Role of Lifestyles in Determining UK Household Energy Demand and GHG Emissions: Predictions and Scenarios to 2050.

Abstract: This paper reports on the progress of econometric modelling and scenario building work conducted as part of the Research Group on Lifestyles Values and Environment (RESOLVE) at the University of Surrey, UK. RESOLVE is an ESRC funded multi-disciplinary project group attempting to analyse the impact of lifestyle changes on future energy consumption of the UK by combining the economic, environmental, psychological and sociological approaches. The paper will describe how econometric modelling is being employed for forecasting future household energy demand and related carbon emissions until 2050. For this, not only the key economic drivers of income and price, but also the impact of non-economic factors, such as changes in lifestyle and values are being quantified. Subsequently, the framework will be used to model and understand UK final consumption, its impact on energy consumption (both direct and indirect) and on GHG emissions (both direct and indirect). The paper will also describe the development of lifestyle scenarios through to 2050, depicting energy consumption related to the household. The social, technological, economic, political, psychological and environmental factors that are likely to impact upon consumption will be explored through these scenarios. The econometric model will be used to inform the development of the scenarios in an iterative fashion, with key assumptions for each scenario being used to build illustrative forecasts. The end product of each scenario will include a narrative portraying lifestyles in 2050, along with a storyline of how this pathway might unfold from present circumstances according to key events, trends and shocks. Early efforts at developing a 'reference scenario' using the econometric model will be described, with preliminary results explored. The limitations of such a reference scenario in a rapidly changing policy environment will be discussed, in order to make clear the purpose of building a set of scenarios where explicit assumptions have been agreed upon in a systematic manner, for use in policyand decision-making. Please note this paper represents work in progress and must not be quoted without the explicit agreement of the authors.

Estimating household material flows in deprived areas

Abstract: As a first step to understanding household material flows and waste arisings, a detailed picture of household consumption is required. This task is particularly problematic for local areas such as deprived inner-city housing estates that are under-represented in national surveys. This paper describes two methodologies for assessing household expenditure as a consumption proxy and applies them to such an area. The first is a top-down approach using national datasets to model household expenditure at high levels of socio-economic and geographical disaggregation. The second method is a bottom-up approach in which a sample of household expenditure diaries was collected, augmented by a variety of qualitative techniques to gain a detailed picture of household practices. The results from the two methodologies showed marked discrepancies: locally collected data demonstrate a higher degree of variability than modelled results based on aggregate data. It is suggested that neither approach is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but that the two methodologies serve different purposes. Use of top-down modelled data is pragmatic and affordable for use by administrative or commercial bodies. However, without recognition of the localised volatility revealed by the bottom-up method, it is unlikely that realistic and efficient collection strategies can be devised.