Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Stony migrants in Bruges’ port landscape during medieval times
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“Pierre de Meuse”, an exceptional historical heritage stone from the Meuse valley, Belgium
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Approvisonnement et mise en oeuvre des pierres naturelles à Tongres à l’époque romaine
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First Atlantic record of the rare infaunal shrimp Salmoneus erasimorum Dworschak, Abed-Navandi & Anker, 2000 (Malacostraca: Decapoda: Alpheidae)
- The rare symbiotic alpheid shrimp Salmoneus erasimorum Dworschak, Abed-Navandi & Anker, 2000 was previously known from a single specimen collected with a suction pump on the Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea, together with its host, the ghost shrimp, Gilvossius tyrrhenus (Petagna, 1792). A second record of S. erasimorum is presented here, with a diagnosis and the first colour photographs, based on a single specimen collected in northern Brittany, France, also with a suction pump, but without its host. This is also the first record of the species on the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean. An annotated list and a key to the species of Salmoneus currently known from the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea are provided.
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Integrated geo-techno-economic and real options analysis of the decision to invest in a medium enthalpy deep geothermal heating plant. A case study in Northern Belgium
- Deep geothermal energy (DGE) is a renewable energy source that is considered to cause a low global warming impact. The potential of DGE for heating is widespread and interest in deep geothermal heating (DGH) has been growing in Europe to help achieving the decarbonization of the heating mix. Nevertheless, despite its large potential, DGH development in Europe remains underexplored. DGH investments are hindered by the risks born by geological and market uncertainties. However, various flexibility options inherent to the development process, such as the option to abandon or defer, could partly mitigate these risks. To account for managerial flexibility in the investment analysis, this study suggests a novel real options (RO) framework. The RO model splits DGH development into five phases, and considers several compound options and geological and market uncertainties to investigate the timing and value of DGH development at the Campine Basin in Northern Belgium. The RO model is coupled to a geo-techno-economic model and is solved using the Least Squares Monte Carlo algorithm. The RO analysis finds a 51% probability of abandonment and an average deferral time for the development of 12 years. The abandon option mitigates the risk of large financial losses in case of inadequate geological conditions. The defer option allows the investors to wait for more favorable market conditions before investing, to increase the project value. The results show that DGH development in the investigated area is not economically desirable. However, the investors’ flexibility increases the project value by 12.16 million EUR, compared to a conventional techno-economic analysis. The implementation of supporting policy measures improves the economic performance of the plant. The consideration of flexibility leads to supporting policy measures with 3–4 times lower governmental expenditure, compared to a conventional techno-economic analysis. This study shows that a RO approach is more suitable to investigate DGH investments than static techno-economic methods. The inclusion of flexibility allows for identifying development pathways that increase the project value and for designing more cost-efficient supporting policy schemes.
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Integrated assessment of deep geothermal heating investments in Northern Belgium through techno-economic, life cycle, global sensitivity and real options analysis
- The decarbonization of the heating sector is crucial for the green transition of the energy mix. This study investigates threefold the economic and environmental performance of deep geothermal heating investments in Northern Belgium First, techno-economic and life cycle assessment (LCA) are performed, followed by a global sensitivity analysis focusing on the geological uncertainty. Lastly, real options analysis (ROA) is employed to investigate the economic and environmental value of the investors’ flexibility. A novel ROA method is proposed that considers the LCA results to calculate development decisions that minimize the expected environmental impact of the investment. The results show that the economic and environmental performance of the investment vary with the energy prices and the electricity mix. The performance of the investment is driven by the plant’s pumping requirements, which are induced by the relatively low rock permeability at the targeted location. Also, the results’ variability mainly originates by uncertainty regarding the permeability value. Nevertheless, the investors’ flexibility adds large economic and environmental value to the investment. However, the development strategies that optimize the economic or the environmental performance of the plant present some trade-offs. This study demonstrates that the economic and environmental performance of deep geothermal heating investments in Northern Belgium can be improved by focusing on the factors that simultaneously drive the costs, environmental impacts, and their variability. It also shows that utilizing the investors’ flexibility to optimize the investment’s economic and environmental performance can add significant value to the investment.
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Implementing geological and economic uncertainty in a techno-economic analysis of deep geothermal energy projects
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Geo-techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture, transport, and storage chain options for a cement plant in Germany
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The subsurface hydrogen storage potential in Belgium
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Building a regional telescoped model of the Campine Basin for subsurface management
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PSS V, a modular techno-economic simulation tool for deep subsurface uses
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The Epigravettian site of Yudinovo, Russia: mammoth bone structures as ritualized middens.
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Relationships of Late Pleistocene giant deer as revealed by Sinomegaceros mitogenomes from East Asia
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Geometric morphometric assessment of the fossil bears of Namur, Belgium: Allometry and ecomorphology
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The sponges Hymeniacidon perlevis and Halichondria panicea are reservoirs of antibiotic-producing bacteria against multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus
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Sexual dimorphism in the walrus mandible: comparative description and geometric morphometrics
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Phyllotreta astrachanica Lopatin, 1977, Phyllotreta rugifrons Kuester, 1849 et Longitarsus kutscherai (Rye, 1872) identifiés pour la première fois en Belgique (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticinae). Entretiens sur les Chrysomelidae de Belgique etc.
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Colimarena, a new replacement name for the genus Colima Jocqué & Baert, 2005 (Araneae: Zodariidae)
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Insights into the short-term tidal variability of multibeam backscatter from field experiments on different seafloor types
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Simulating multimodel floc size distributions of suspended cohesive sediments with lognormal subordinates: comparison with mixing jar and settling column experiments
