Monitoring of flow field based on stable isotope geochemical characteristics in deep groundwater

As circumstances of operating and maintenance activities for landfilling and composting in Tehran metropolis differ from those of cities in developed countries, it was concluded to have an environmental impact comparison between the current solid waste management (MSW) strategies: (1) landfill, and (2) composting plus landfill. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare these scenarios for MSW in Tehran, Iran. The Eco-Indicator 99 is applied as an impact assessment method considering surplus energy, climate change, acidification, respiratory effect, carcinogenesis, ecotoxicity and ozone layer depletion points of aspects. One ton of municipal solid waste of Tehran was selected as the functional unit. According to the comparisons, the composting plus landfill scenario causes less damage to human health in comparison to landfill scenario. However, its damages to both mineral and fossil resources as well as ecosystem quality are higher than the landfill scenario. Thus, the composting plus landfill scenario had a higher environmental impact than landfill scenario. However, an integrated waste management will ultimately be the most efficient approach in terms of both environmental and economic benefits. In this paper, a cost evaluation shows that the unit cost per ton of waste for the scenarios is 15.28 and 26.40 US$, respectively. Results show landfill scenario as the preferable option both in environmental and economic aspects for Tehran in the current situation.     

An evaluation of alternative household solid waste treatment practices using life cycle inventory assessment mode

Waste disposal is an important part of the life cycle of a product and is associated with environmental burdens like any other life-cycle stages. In this study, an integrated assessment for solid waste treatment practices, especially household solid waste, was undertaken to evaluate the impact contribution of household solid waste treatment alternatives towards the sustainable development by using Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method. A case study has been investigated under various possible scenarios, such as (1) landfill without landfill gas recovery, (2) landfill with landfill gas recovery and flaring, (3) landfill with landfill gas recovery and electric generation, (4) composting, and (5) incineration. The evaluation utilized the Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method for multiple assessments based on various aspects, such as greenhouse gas emission/reduction, energy generation/consumption, economic benefit, investment and operating cost, and land use burden. The results showed that incineration was the most efficient alternative for greenhouse gas emission reduction, economic benefit, energy recovery, and land use reduction, although it was identified as the most expensive for investment and operating cost, while composting scenario was also an efficient alternative with quite economic benefit, low investment and operating cost, and high reduction of land use, although it was identified as existing greenhouse gas emission and no energy generation. Furthermore, the aim of this study was also to establish localized assessment methods that waste management agencies, environmental engineers, and environmental policy decision makers can use to quantify and compare the contribution to the impacts from different waste treatment options.     

北京市废弃物处理温室气体排放特征

基于《2006年IPCC国家温室气体清单指南》推荐的方法，结合《省级温室气体清单编制指南（试行）》和《城市温室气体核算工具指南》的部分数据与核算范围，针对固体废弃物填埋、焚烧和废水处理等过程，核算了北京市2005-2014年废弃物处理过程中温室气体总排放量。结果表明：2005-2014年北京市废弃物处理过程温室气体总排放量呈逐渐上升趋势，2014年温室气体总排放量比2005年增长98%。10年间，固体废弃物填埋过程一直是最主要的温室气体排放源，到2014年排放量达到最大，为416.3×10⁴t二氧化碳当量（CO₂e）。废弃物填埋、废水处理和废弃物焚烧过程占总排放量的比例分别为78.5%（CO₂e质量分数，下同）、13.5%和8%。结合已有研究，系统优化国内7个典型城市废弃物处理温室气体排放因子，核算7个城市排放情况，并对比分析了北京市排放情况。     

Determination of nickel, copper, zinc and lead in human scalp hair in Syrian occupationally exposed workers by total reflection X-ray fluorescence

In this study, an attempt has been made to study methane flux and quantification of heavy metals from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill areas of selected cities in India. During the period of study, the average value of methane flux was estimated from these landfill areas varied from 146–454 mg/m2/h. Methane emission from landfill is of serious environmental global concern as it accounts for approximately 15 percentages of current Greenhouse gas emissions. It has been estimated that methane emission, from landfill areas in the world, in next two decades would be same as that what is emitted from paddy fields presently. Besides, the estimation of methane flux, quantification of some heavy metals was conducted to analyse the suitability of using MSW as compost. The average values for metals were observed to be both within the range of USEPA and Indian standards for MSW disposal in landfill areas and to be used as compost respectively.     

Municipal solid waste management in Thailand and disposal emission inventory

The increasing municipal solid waste (MSW) generation along with the high fraction of organic waste and a common disposal of open dumping is the current scenario in many areas in Thailand. As a response to this problem, the country’s Pollution Control Department (PCD) aims to reduce the MSW generation rate to less than 1 kg/capita/day, increase the collection efficiency, and improve the recovery of recyclables. For many years, more than 60% of the solid waste disposal system in Thailand has been carried out by open dumping. According to the survey conducted by this study, in 2004 there were 425 disposal sites (95 landfills; 330 open dumps) in Thailand and an estimated methane emission of 115.4 Gg/year was generated based on this practice. It has been estimated that the anticipated methane emission in Thailand will rise from 115.4 Gg/year to 118.5 Gg/year if the largest open dumpsites in provinces with no existing landfill are upgraded to sanitary landfill; and it will increase to 193.5 Gg/year if the existing sanitary landfill is upgraded to integrated waste management facilities. Moreover, Bangkok metropolitan have the highest methane emission (54.83 Gg/year) among all the regions in Thailand. The methane emission forecast of 339 Gg/year by 2020 (based on LandGEM methodology) provides a stimulus to create a comprehensive plan to capture and utilize methane as an energy source.     

四川省城市生活垃圾的组成及特性

对四川省典型城市生活垃圾的组成、元素分析及热值等实验结果进行分析,结果表明:典型城市生活垃圾具有厨余含量高(57.4%～66.1%)、渣土含量少(1.9%～11.7%)的特点;四川省城市生活垃圾热值介于4 200～5 500 kJ/kg之间,且大部分处在4 800～5 500 kJ/kg之间;攀枝花、绵阳和成都市金牛区城市生活垃圾热值较高,适合采用焚烧法,内江和遂宁的城市生活垃圾热值偏低,宜采用填埋的方法。     

Residents’ concerns and attitudes toward a municipal solid waste landfill: integrating a questionnaire survey and GIS techniques

The ever-growing industry of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal appeals to the growing need for disposal facilities, and MSW treatment facilities are increasingly an environmental and public health concern. Residents living near MSW management facilities are confronted with various risk perceptions, especially odour. In this study, in an effort to assist responsible decision-makers in better planning and managing such a project, a structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to assess the nearby residents’ concerns and attitudes surrounding the Laogang Landfill in Shanghai. Geographic information system techniques and relevance analysis were employed to conduct the spatial analysis of physical perceptions, especially odour annoyance. The findings of the research indicate that a significant percentage of the responding sample was aware of the negative impacts of landfills on the environment and public health, and residents in close proximity preferred to live farther from the landfill. The results from the spatial analysis demonstrated a definite degree of correlation between odour annoyance and distance to the facility and proved that the benefits of the socially disadvantaged have been neglected. The research findings also direct attention to the important role of public participation, information disclosure, transparency in management, and mutual communication to avoid conflicts and build social trust.     

Review of PSR framework and development of a DPSIR model to assess greenhouse effect in Taiwan

In dealing with the complex issues of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and climate change mitigation, many interrelated factors such as cost, level of technology development, supply and demand of energy, structure of industry, and expenditures on research and development exist. Using indicators to monitor environmental impacts and evaluate the efficacies of policies and regulations has been practiced for a long time, and it can serve as a useful tool for decision making and for comparison between different countries. Although numerous indicators have been developed for relevant subjects, integrated approaches that consider individual changes, dynamic interaction, and multi-dimensions of indicators are scarce. This paper aimed to develop a Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to assess the problems. This DPSIR model is mainly related to energy consumption, environmental impacts, and policy responses. The objectives of the paper were: (1) conduct a literature review on the indicators that have been used in GHG-related studies; (2) develop a DPSIR model that incorporates GHG-related indicators and evaluate their relationships using a cause?Ceffect chain of GHG emission; and (3) develop a calculative method that can be used to explain the dynamic correlation among the interdependent indicators. Taiwan is a significant source of global GHG emissions. A case study, using the developed framework and Taiwan??s actual data of the past two decades, was conducted. The results indicate that regulatory strategies for pollution control are inadequate in terms of ensuring environmental quality, and the nature does not have the capability to revert the impacts from the existing level of pollution.     

A thematic review of life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to pig production

Commercial livestock production is known to have significant impacts on the environment. Pig production is a complex system which involves the production of animal feed, transportation, animal rearing and waste management. One tool for assessing the environmental performance of such complex systems is life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA has been applied to pig production considerably to date. This paper provides a chronological review of state-of-the-art pig production LCAs under three themes: feed production; entire-system livestock rearing; and waste management. The study considers how LCA applications have addressed technological improvements in animal husbandry, and highlights methodological limitations, particularly related to cross-study comparisons. Recent research demonstrates crude protein reduction in feed and anaerobic treatment of pig excreta resulting in bioenergy production are the key targets for environmental performance improvements related to pig production.     

Geospatial strategy for sustainable management of municipal solid waste for growing urban environment

This paper presents the implementation of a Geospatial approach for improving the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal suitability site assessment in growing urban environment. The increasing trend of population growth and the absolute amounts of waste disposed of worldwide have increased substantially reflecting changes in consumption patterns, consequently worldwide. MSW is now a bigger problem than ever. Despite an increase in alternative techniques for disposing of waste, land-filling remains the primary means. In this context, the pressures and requirements placed on decision makers dealing with land-filling by government and society have increased, as they now have to make decisions taking into considerations environmental safety and economic practicality. The waste disposed by the municipal corporation in the Bhagalpur City (India) is thought to be different from the landfill waste where clearly scientific criterion for locating suitable disposal sites does not seem to exist. The location of disposal sites of Bhagalpur City represents the unconsciousness about the environmental and public health hazards arising from disposing of waste in improper location. Concerning about urban environment and health aspects of people, a good method of waste management and appropriate technologies needed for urban area of Bhagalpur city to improve this trend using Multi Criteria Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing for selection of suitable disposal sites. The purpose of GIS was to perform process to part restricted to highly suitable land followed by using chosen criteria. GIS modeling with overlay operation has been used to find the suitability site for MSW.     

The technological innovation of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles for environment carbon pollution control

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) have been promoted by providing Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) infrastructure as a possible solution to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and other emissions by utilizing energy instead of oil for effective environmental management. The promising solution for reducing air pollution in cities is commonly regarded as electric vehicles, which helps to optimize the environment management more effectively, as a key to future low carbon mobility. However, their environmental benefits rely on the temporal and spatial sense of real use, and challenges such as limited range complicated for the rollout of an Electric Vehicle (EVs). This paper investigates the environmental carbon pollution in cities and control preventions using Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). Further, the Artificial intelligence model has been introduced, which defines optimal automobile designs and the assignment of vehicles to drivers across a variety of scenarios, including minimum net life cycle expense, GHG emissions, and oil usage for effective environmental management. By designing overspent vehicle power for corresponding output, weight, and cost impact, the life cycle costs and the emission of GHG are reduced utilizing high battery swinging and replacing batteries as needed. Moreover, energy consumption (EC) and pollution have been greatly influenced by the use of energy sources in the environment. The significant energy consumption and pollution variables resulted in a large proportion of coal-fired energy. The results show that the PHEV can achieve better fuel economy by combining the proposed model with an allowable deviation from the state of the charge.     

Application of processed organic municipal solid waste on agricultural land – a scenario analysis

Source separation, composting and anaerobic digestion, with associated land application, are increasingly being considered as alternative waste management strategies to landfilling and incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW). Environmental life cycle assessments are a useful tool in political decision-making about waste management strategies. However, due to the diversity of processed organic MSW and the situations in which it can be applied, the environmental impacts of land application are very hard to determine by experimental means. In the current study, we used the agroecosystem model Daisy to simulate a range of different scenarios representing different geographical areas, farm and soil types under Danish conditions and legislation. Generally, the application of processed organic MSW resulted in increased emissions compared with the corresponding standard scenarios, but with large differences between scenarios. Emission coefficients for nitrogen leaching to the groundwater ranged from 0.03 to 0.87, while those for nitrogen lost to surface waters through tile drains ranged from 0 to 0.30. Emission coefficients for N₂O formation ranged from 0.013 to 0.022 and for ammonia volatilization from 0.016 to 0.11. These estimates are within reasonable range of observed values under similar conditions. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis showed that the estimates were not very sensitive to the mineralization dynamics of the processed organic MSW. The results show that agroecosystem models can be powerful tools to estimate the environmental impacts of land application of processed MSW under different conditions. Despite this, agroecosystem models have only been used to a very limited degree for this purpose.     

Environmental monitoring of offshore drilling for petroleum exploration (MAPEM Project): shallow waters

This paper deals with the characteristics and composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in Sangamner city. The composition of solid waste was studied by segregating it into different component, i.e., kitchen waste, paper, earth and fine material, slaughter house waste, leaves, metals, etc. These components were categorised into organic waste and inorganic waste. It was observed that Sangamner city produces around 61% organic waste, and the rest is inorganic waste. The characteristics of organic solid waste, i.e., pH, electrical conductivity, moisture content, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were evaluated. The analysis of organic content of MSW indicates that it is good source of nutrients for the agriculture sector whereas inorganic material can be used for landfill.     

Life cycle assessment of traditional and alternative bricks: A review

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a solid tool to assess the potential environmental impacts in construction industry, an important material in this industry is the brick, along time several traditional and alternative bricks were developed and assessed environmentally by LCA. The purpose of this article is to review the literature related to LCA of bricks, responding important topics to characterize and guide future studies. Out of Traditional Bricks (TB), there are Alternative Bricks with Organic (ABO) and Inorganic (ABI) additives, that use wastes from several industries and differ of TB in the omission of firing for a stabilization process, however, to omit firing is hard and stabilization still needs further improvements. The principal system boundaries and tools for LCA were also reviewed. Regarding the most present impact categories, they were: Climate change (CC), Human Toxicity (HT) and Freshwater Ecotoxicity (FE), in every category, production is the stage of highest impact, and in the productive process, drying and burning processes have the highest potential impacts. Future searches could continue to study on new materials (wastes) for development of new ABO and ABI, to quantify the benefits of reusing wastes, and to study, either the replacement of firing with stabilizing processes, or the use of biomass as fuel source in firing, and to develop studies in different countries to create national datasets that will make future studies more representative.     

Environmental impact of electricity relocation: A quasi-natural experiment from interregional electricity transmission

Pollutants such as sulfur would concentrate in the source regions and thus the localized impacts are more obvious. Local balance of electricity by transporting coal has resulted in dense concentration of coal-fired power plants in load centers and caused severe environmental problems. Electricity relocation through interregional transmission is another choice for energy transportation to achieve electricity balance across regions and pollution mitigation. Using interregional electricity transmission (IRET) lines in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper assesses the environmental impact of electricity relocation. In the assessment, the grid organization of “province as executor” in China is considered because it affects the sphere of IRET's influence on pollution mitigation. Here we show the environmental benefits of electricity relocation. We find that, electricity relocation through interregional transmission leads to the growth rate of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emission decreasing 7% in landing areas and Sichuan province benefits most from electricity relocation. It is interesting that there is no significant increase of SO₂ emission growth rate in sending areas compared to counterfactuals if there had no IRET due to more integration of clean energy and improved emission efficiency in sending areas. Placebo study and robustness check show that the results are quite convincing. Therefore, IRET provides an appealing choice for China's environmental control in eastern region, and it is not necessarily at the cost of pollution in western region. The methodology can be applied to assess the environmental impacts of other program or policy elsewhere.     

Environmental Issues for the Chinese Strong Aromatic Liquor Industry: an Assessment for the Brewing System

Environmental assessments are often performed for industries due to a lot of issues produced in the processes. However, few studies are reported for environmental assessment of Chinese liquor production. A lot of material consumptions in Chinese liquor industries often bring about serious environmental pollution. Thus, Chinese strong aromatic liquor (CSAL) is taken as a representative for the environmental issues assessment of Chinese liquor industry in view of cleaner production (CP). The assessment is performed for the brewing system of CSAL including three main phases: crude liquor brewing, crude liquor blending, and steam production, which addresses resource and energy consumptions and environmental impacts. The results indicate that, according to the standards of Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, the consumptions of materials and energy are acceptable while the water consumption is higher than the requirement. Moreover, the discharge of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the brewing phase is above the standard requirement and contributes much to eutrophication. The total environmental impacts in the blending phase are less than those in the brewing and steam production phases. In detail, in the brewing phase, high concentration of volatile organic compounds in the wastewater results in the odor threshold values and photochemical ozone creation. In the blending phase, the main environmental impact is eutrophication owing to the wastewater. In the steam production phase, the most and least significant impacts are global warming and soot emission, respectively, wherein waste gas emission is dominated. Cost analysis reveals that when the water consumption and COD discharge meet the requirements according to the CP option, there are plenty of economic and environmental benefits for the CSAL industry. The results confirm that the reform strategies for the Chinese liquor enterprise should be performed to decrease the water consumption, promote the utilization efficiency of water, improve recycle and reuse of by-products, reduce the pollutant discharge, and enhance waste treatment efficiency.     

Meat,Dairy and Climate Change: Assessing the Long-Term Mitigation Potential of Alternative Agri-Food Consumption Patterns in Canada

We use a newly developed model of the entire Canadian energy system (TIMES-Canada) to assess the climate change mitigation potential of different agri-food consumption patterns in Canada. For this, our model has been extended by disaggregating the agricultural demand sector into individual agri-food demands to allow for a more in-depth analysis. Besides a business-as-usual (baseline) scenario, we have constructed four different agri-food scenarios to assess the viability of reducing Canadian meat and dairy consumption in order to diminish Canada’s agricultural sector energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our policy scenarios progressively restrict the consumption of different meat and dairy agricultural products until the year 2030. Our results suggest that the implementation of a meat and dairy consumption reduction policy would lead to a 10 to 40 % reduction in agricultural GHG emissions, depending on the severity of the scenario. This translates to a 1 to 3 % decrease in total Canadian GHG emissions by the year 2030. Besides these environmental benefits, health benefits associated with a reduction in meat and dairy consumption (as inferred from other studies) are presented as an additional source of motivation for implementing such a policy in Canada.     

Analysis of multi-temporal landsat satellite images for monitoring land surface temperature of municipal solid waste disposal sites

This studypresents a remote sensing application of using time series Landsat satellite images for monitoring the Trail Road and Nepean municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal sites in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Currently, the Trail Road landfill is in operation; however, during the 1960s and 1980s, the city relied heavily on the Nepean landfill. More than 400 Landsat satellite images were acquired from the US Geological Survey (USGS) data archive between 1984 and 2011. Atmospheric correction was conducted on the Landsat images in order to derive the landfill sites’ land surface temperature (LST). The findings unveil that the average LST of the landfill was always higher than the immediate surrounding vegetation and air temperature by 4 to 10 °C and 5 to 11.5 °C, respectively. During the summer, higher differences of LST between the landfill and its immediate surrounding vegetation were apparent, while minima were mostly found in fall. Furthermore, there was no significant temperature difference between the Nepean landfill (closed) and the Trail Road landfill (active) from 1984 to 2007. Nevertheless, the LST of the Trail Road landfill was much higher than the Nepean by 15 to 20 °C after 2007. This is mainly due to the construction and dumping activities (which were found to be active within the past few years) associated with the expansion of the Trail Road landfill. The study demonstrates that the use of the Landsat data archive can provide additional and viable information for the aid of MSW disposal site monitoring.     

The evolution of city-scale GHG emissions inventory methods: A systematic review

The capacity of cities to act on climate change mitigation is essential to fulfil the Paris Agreement target. In order to do so, cities should establish an effective climate policy which requires, as a first step, a complete greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory. The accurate city-scale GHG inventory enables cities to develop, implement and track climate solution measures, mainly those related to transportation. The compilation of a city-scale GHG inventory requires a standardized method and up-to-date activity data. This systematic review critically examines 40 articles over the past 20 years to (1) identify city-scale GHG inventory methods being applied worldwide, (2) evaluate how these methods are evolving, (3) elaborate how emissions from transport sector are being estimated, and (4) determine what data types and sources of transport-related data are being used. The review was limited to articles that addressed the process of compilation of a GHG inventory. The results demonstrate that city-scale GHG inventory methods evolved from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines to a variety of GHG accounting methods that offer levels of complexity to estimate city-scale emissions. Although GHG inventory methods for city-scale have advanced over the years, almost one third of the articles reviewed were focused on the proposal of a GHG inventory framework, adjusting current methods to each city's reality or proposing new ones. The majority of the cities analysed lack local transport-related data to measure GHG emissions based on the bottom-up approach. Yet, more than 40% of the articles managed to deliver the bottom-up inventory using a diversity of data types and sources. This review shows that there is still a path to achieve a globally compatible method. This would require a joint effort between researchers and city authorities to make international protocols more compliant to each city's data availability along with the improvement of cities data collection.     

Greenhouse gas emissions from two hydroelectric reservoirs in Mediterranean region

Water reservoirs are used for many purposes, such as water supply, irrigation, flood mitigation, and hydroelectric energy generation. Although hydroelectric energy is considered “green,” many studies show that the construction of a reservoir enhances greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the transformed area. These emissions, mainly of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O gases, depend on the age of the reservoir, landscape and soil composition, fauna and flora remnants of the impounded area, climatic conditions, and basin runoffs. Consequently, GHG emissions significantly vary between reservoirs and depending on local specificities. Several studies have investigated GHG emissions from reservoirs around the world, focusing mainly on reservoirs located in cold regions, temperate regions, and tropical regions. Research is lacking for reservoirs in Mediterranean countries, like Greece, and similar regions. This work initially assesses the net GHG emissions of a newly created reservoir (Ilarion est. 2012) in Western Macedonia, Greece. The methodology for net GHG emission calculation was based on the use of literature data concerning pre-impoundment emission factors and local specificities of the reservoir (terrain type, canopy cover), as well as on the 2-year measurement data that were collected using a “static floating chamber.” Furthermore, in this work, the gross GHG emissions of an older, in-line reservoir (Polyfytos est. 1974) were also calculated, based on 2-year measurement data. The results show that the global warming potential (GWP) of the reservoirs is dictated by methane emissions; it minimizes during winter and spring and maximizes during summer and autumn. Hydroelectric energy production at Ilarion Reservoir results in 32 to 97 times less total CO₂ equivalent emissions in comparison to fossil fuels, while at Polyfytos Reservoir only 8 to 24 times less (based on gross emissions). It appears that the impact of a reservoir’s morphology on GHG emissions is more significant than that of a reservoir’s age.