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Private households around the world use and combine multiple water sources, including diverse forms of market services and self-supply. The reasons for this have so far not been explained in a coherent framework, nor have the implications for water management and policy been sufficiently analyzed. Here, we examine how heterogeneity of water services, household co-production, and risks of provision influence household demand patterns. We apply an economic household production model that incorporates two water quality levels for different household activities to exemplary situations. We derive a number of explanations why households use and combine water services that expand the current state of research. Relevant findings include: (i) The diverse characteristics of available water services result in different time requirements for water procurement and varying degrees of suitability for household activities. (ii) Differences in the value placed on time can induce households to demand heterogeneous water services because these enable them to find a balance between using time and money to access water. (iii) Certain water services may be demanded because they function as insurance against both uncertain and unreliable supply. Our insights are relevant for water policy, in particular for developing and managing demand-responsive systems, and for the implementation and monitoring of normative goals for access to water.
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SIMULATING RESIDENTIAL ENERGY DEMAND IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS
Residential energy demand dynamics at household level can be studied through demographic, behavioral and physical characteristics of the household. In this paper, we develop an agent-based model using a bottom-up approach to build disaggregated energy demand estimates at the household level at an hourly interval. A household level analysis is made possible via the use of synthetic populations for the urban and rural areas of Virginia, USA. The energy consumption estimate is based on householders’ demographics, their behaviors and activities, ratings of appliances used in energy-related activities, space conditioning fuels, physical characteristics of the home, and weather conditions. Results from the simulation are then validated with actual demand curves from Rappahannock county in Virginia using dynamic time warping. The simulation results show that the model produces realistic energy demand profiles.
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- PAR ID:
- 10291704
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)
- Volume:
- 2018
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 548 to 559
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2018.8632203
