This thesis investigates the determinants of private savings in Sweden, covering the time period 1914-2014. The steadily increasing fraction of the elderly, as a percentage of the working age population is a demographic development confronted by almost all industrialized countries nowadays. These conditions will bring further economic pressure on the finance of the social security systems in the years to come, hence affecting private savings. The association between private savings, globalization of capital markets and the release of liquidity constraints in many countries might also be an important determinant. These new conditions have in some cases improved consumer welfare by enabling more intertemporal substitution, the process of maximizing consumer’s utility by allocating resources across time. In this study the savings function is estimated based on several aspects concerning demographic and economic factors, based on the theories; life-cycle hypothesis of saving, precautionary saving theory, permanent income hypothesis and the Ricardian Equivalence theory. This study suggests that the private saving function is sensitive to the inflation rate and the policy implication of the relationship is presented.

Costs saving measures are important for South African gold producers due to increasing energy costs and decreasing production volumes. Demand Side Management (DSM) is an effective strategy to reduce electricity consumption and costs. DSM projects have been implemented widely on South African mining systems such as pumping, refrigeration, rock transport and compressed air. Implementations have, however, been limited on gold processing plants despite the significant amounts of energy that this section consumes. The main objective of gold processing plants is production orientated and energy management is not a primary focus. This rationale is re-evaluated owing to high electricity price inflation and availability of DSM incentives. This study investigated the cost saving potential of DSM interventions on gold plants. Electrical load management was identified as a key opportunity that can deliver substantial cost savings. These savings were shown to be feasible in respect of the required capital expenditure, effort of implementation and maintenance of operational targets. Investigation procedures were compiled to identify feasible load management opportunities. The most potential for electricity cost savings was identified on comminution equipment. Consequently, a methodology was developed to implement electrical load management on the identified sections. The methodology proposed simulation techniques that enabled load management and subsequent electricity cost optimisation through production planning. Two electrical load management case studies were successfully implemented on comminution equipment at two gold processing plants. Peak period load shift of 3.6 MW and 0.6 MW, respectively, was achieved on average for a period of three months. The annual cost savings of these applications could amount to R1.4-million and R 660 000. This results in specific electricity cost reductions of 3% and 7% for the two respective case studies. Results from the two case studies are an indication of potential for electrical load management on South African gold processing plants. If an average electricity cost saving of 5% is extrapolated across the South African gold processing industry, the potential cost savings amount to R 25-million per annum. Although the costs saving opportunities are feasible, it is influenced by the reliability of the equipment and the dynamics of ore supply. This insight plays a decisive role in determining the feasibility of DSM on gold processing plants. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015 / Demand side management (DSM) initiatives have been introduced by Eskom to reduce the deficit between the electricity generation capacity and the electricity usage within the country. DSM projects enable Eskom to reduce electricity demand instead of increasing generation capacity. DSM projects are more economical and can be implemented much faster than constructing a new power station. One particular industry where DSM projects can be implemented is on mines. Mines consume about 14.5% of South Africa’s electricity. Producing compressed air, in particular, is one of the largest electricity users on mines. It consumes 17% of the electricity used on mines. The opportunity, therefore, arises to implement DSM projects on the compressed air system of mines. Not only do these projects reduce Eskom’s high electricity demand, but they also induce financial and energy savings for the mine itself. However, during the implementation of a compressed air energy savings project, various challenges arise. These include, among others, operational changes, control limitations, industrial actions and installation delays. All of these can lead to a project not being delivered on time, within budget or with quality results. The purpose of this study is to investigate and address various problems that occur during the implementation of such a compressed air energy savings project. The study shows that although these problems have an impact on the results achievable with the project, significant savings are still possible. Project savings are achieved by reducing the amount of compressed air that is supplied, thereby delivering sufficient compressed air while minimising the amount of compressed air being wasted. During this study, a gold mine’s compressed air network was optimised. The optimisation resulted in an evening peak-clip saving of 2.61 MW. This saving was achieved daily between 18:00 and 20:00 when Eskom’s electricity demand was at its highest. It is equivalent to an annual cost saving of R1.46 million based on Eskom’s 2014/2015 tariffs. When savings from all periods throughout the day are taken into account, the project will produce an annual cost saving of R1.91 million.

Costs saving measures are important for South African gold producers due to increasing energy costs and decreasing production volumes. Demand Side Management (DSM) is an effective strategy to reduce electricity consumption and costs. DSM projects have been implemented widely on South African mining systems such as pumping, refrigeration, rock transport and compressed air. Implementations have, however, been limited on gold processing plants despite the significant amounts of energy that this section consumes. The main objective of gold processing plants is production orientated and energy management is not a primary focus. This rationale is re-evaluated owing to high electricity price inflation and availability of DSM incentives. This study investigated the cost saving potential of DSM interventions on gold plants. Electrical load management was identified as a key opportunity that can deliver substantial cost savings. These savings were shown to be feasible in respect of the required capital expenditure, effort of implementation and maintenance of operational targets. Investigation procedures were compiled to identify feasible load management opportunities. The most potential for electricity cost savings was identified on comminution equipment. Consequently, a methodology was developed to implement electrical load management on the identified sections. The methodology proposed simulation techniques that enabled load management and subsequent electricity cost optimisation through production planning. Two electrical load management case studies were successfully implemented on comminution equipment at two gold processing plants. Peak period load shift of 3.6 MW and 0.6 MW, respectively, was achieved on average for a period of three months. The annual cost savings of these applications could amount to R1.4-million and R 660 000. This results in specific electricity cost reductions of 3% and 7% for the two respective case studies. Results from the two case studies are an indication of potential for electrical load management on South African gold processing plants. If an average electricity cost saving of 5% is extrapolated across the South African gold processing industry, the potential cost savings amount to R 25-million per annum. Although the costs saving opportunities are feasible, it is influenced by the reliability of the equipment and the dynamics of ore supply. This insight plays a decisive role in determining the feasibility of DSM on gold processing plants. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015 / Demand side management (DSM) initiatives have been introduced by Eskom to reduce the deficit between the electricity generation capacity and the electricity usage within the country. DSM projects enable Eskom to reduce electricity demand instead of increasing generation capacity. DSM projects are more economical and can be implemented much faster than constructing a new power station. One particular industry where DSM projects can be implemented is on mines. Mines consume about 14.5% of South Africa’s electricity. Producing compressed air, in particular, is one of the largest electricity users on mines. It consumes 17% of the electricity used on mines. The opportunity, therefore, arises to implement DSM projects on the compressed air system of mines. Not only do these projects reduce Eskom’s high electricity demand, but they also induce financial and energy savings for the mine itself. However, during the implementation of a compressed air energy savings project, various challenges arise. These include, among others, operational changes, control limitations, industrial actions and installation delays. All of these can lead to a project not being delivered on time, within budget or with quality results. The purpose of this study is to investigate and address various problems that occur during the implementation of such a compressed air energy savings project. The study shows that although these problems have an impact on the results achievable with the project, significant savings are still possible. Project savings are achieved by reducing the amount of compressed air that is supplied, thereby delivering sufficient compressed air while minimising the amount of compressed air being wasted. During this study, a gold mine’s compressed air network was optimised. The optimisation resulted in an evening peak-clip saving of 2.61 MW. This saving was achieved daily between 18:00 and 20:00 when Eskom’s electricity demand was at its highest. It is equivalent to an annual cost saving of R1.46 million based on Eskom’s 2014/2015 tariffs. When savings from all periods throughout the day are taken into account, the project will produce an annual cost saving of R1.91 million.

Formal savings accounts can be an effective device for households to accumulate assets over time and thus have more funds available to better afford an expensive one-time payment, in the form of either addressing an economic shock or paying for an important life event. I explore this relationship using a field experiment in rural Malawi conducted from 2008-2010, and find that adoption of a formal savings account has no effect on the frequency of economic shocks that a household experiences, nor does it affect how households respond to shocks. However, I find that account adoption does significantly increase the frequency of a household’s expenditures on the life event of payment of secondary school fees. These findings indicate that, given enough time, adoption of a formal savings account allows a household to better accumulate its excess income, and therefore better afford expenditures that involve a decision by the household, as economic shocks tend to be exogenous and payments surrounding life events endogenous. These results support the effectiveness of a policy that extends formal financial services to rural, poor populations who may not have access to such services, as households can use excess funds to finance important life events that help future generations to escape a poverty trap.

The objective of this thesis is to model and analyze the energy consumption in heterogeneous cellular systems and develop techniques to minimize it. First, the energy consumption is modeled and analyzed for multi-layered heterogeneous wireless systems. This work encompasses the characterization of all the energy consumed at the base stations. Then, a novel on-off and cell-association scheme is proposed to minimize the overall network energy consumption while satisfying the spatially- and temporally-varying traffic demands. Second, we exploit the use of multi-stream carrier aggregation not only to improve the energy efficiency, but also to balance it with the conflicting objective of capacity maximization. Third, we analyze the performance of discontinuous reception methods for energy savings within the user equipments. Then, for scenarios that support carrier aggregation, we develop a cross-carrier-aware technique that further enhances such savings with minimum impact on the packet delay. Fourth, the use of small cells as an energy-saving tool and its limitations are analyzed and modeled in OPNET, a high-fidelity simulation and development platform. To bypass such limitations, a novel small cell solution is proposed, modeled, and analyzed in OPNET and then compared against its existing alternative.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Union Régionale des Coopèratives d’Epargne et de Crédit (URCOOPEC) is a network of 10 savings and credit cooperatives, established in 1990 by UNDP in Chad to support the government’s strategy of strengthening and improving access to financial services to the population. All the cooperatives are located in and around N’djaména the capital city of Chad. URCOOPEC has developed as a microfinance model owned by the community that is able to help the poor population that is excluded from the formal financial services accessing these services. Despite its potential of reaching people even in remote areas, literature about previous studies in other countries has indicated that sustainability of savings and credit cooperatives is hampered by the issues in corporate governance, management, skills, product development amongst others. This study examines the viability of this model in the context of Chad; particularly it examines the conditions for which this model can better contribute to financial sector development in Chad. The findings reveal that the model was helpful and accepted by many users at its earlier stage. However, weaknesses in corporate governance, credit management and shortage of skills have led this URCOOPEC into difficulties. There is a need for training of technical staff and for the board to develop more products, sensitize the members about their rights and duties. URCOOPEC also needs financial support from government and donors as well as linkage with commercial banks to better contribute to the provision of financial services to the population.

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate how individual retirement savings are made tangible for potential customers. As case companies we have studied the marketing strategies of Handelsbanken and Swedbank.</p><p>We use Miller and Foust’s classification of services by intangibility based on attributes and benefits and Tarn’s four strategy marketing-based model in order to find out how the retirement savings are made tangible.</p><p>We find that the attributes and benefits that are used to define retirement savings depend on how the service is affiliated to life-insurance or banking services. Intangibility is coped by simplifying the products by lifting forward salient features. Complexity is overcome by explanation. Putting emphasis on flexibility is a mean to cope with the uncertainty of future income.</p>

The purpose of my thesis is to describe the bank product building savings, especially to focuse on legal and economical problems. The thesis is composed of seven chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of building savings. Chapter One mentions the history of buildings savings, its origin and development. Chapter Two includes a list of the relevant Czech legislation, which is connected with Czech system of building savings. Chapter Three is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the thesis, as the savings phase, the loan phase, bridging loans or regular loans. Chapter Four focuses on the building savings bank as the special banks, whose business activities are restricted. Chapter Five describes the savings phase of the building savings, primarily the contract. The subchapters point out closing, changing and terminating the contracts and presents participants in building savings. Chapter Six deals with the problems of loan providing and closing the loan contracts. Because the purpose of the existence of building savings is to finance housing for as many people as possible, especially by providing loans, the main part of the thesis focuses right on the loans. The building savings banks provide two kinds of loans, bridging loans and regular loans. Chapter Seven analyzes the...