生命周期评价在我国固体废物环境管理中的应用

生命周期评价是评价产品、工艺或活动（服务）整个生命周期阶段有关环境负荷,进而辨识和评价减少环境影响机会的一种非常有用的工具。将生命周期评价应用于固体废物环境管理,无疑对于我国建立科学化的固体废物环境管理模式具有十分重要的作用。本文对生命周期评价的定义、主要阶段、应用工具、特点进行了阐述,并对生命周期评价如何应用于我国固体废物环境管理进行了探讨。     

论循环经济中的绿色设计及回收业发展

由于传统产品的生命周期具有开放性,因此长期以来,尽管这种开环运行模式曾经推动过社会的发展,但是其开环性带来的发展是以破坏生态环境、加速资源枯竭的沉重代价换来的。随着现代科技、经济的飞速发展,传统产品设计已经完全不能顺应社会发展和环境保护的要求,考虑产品的全生命周期设计即绿色设计就成为一种明智的选择。     

基于生命周期的产品碳足迹评价与核算分析

近年来,越来越多的企业对其产品进行碳足迹评价,评价方法主要采用产品碳足迹评价标准提供的碳计量方程,如GHG Protocol、ISO14064、PAS 2050、TS Q 0010等。在介绍相关评价标准的基础上,分析了产品碳足迹的评价步骤,最后利用河北盛华化工有限公司生产的PVC产品为例,给出了基于生命周期的B2B模式的产品碳足迹评价的案例。为企业及相关机构开展碳足迹评价提供借鉴作用。     

产品绿色值计算方法研究

介绍了产品绿色值的意义和在产品生命周期分析中的作用，提出了产品绿色值的计算模式：L＝1／2（a＋η1η2），阐述了计算中各参数的意义和量化方法，并指出了提高产品绿色值的途径。     

棉织品的生命周期评价

生命周期评价（LCA）是ISO14000管理体系的重要组成部分，本文将棉捉品生命周期的四个阶段对环境的影响分别进行了评估，并将结果汇总计算，比较分析了在棉织品生命周期中，对环境影响最大的阶段，从而为棉织品的生态设计提供了依据。     

装备制造业发展循环经济的管理创新

装备制造业是指为满足国民经济各部门发展和国家安全需要而制造各种技术装备的资本品制造产业总称。其产品范围包括机械工业（含航空、航天、船舶和兵器等制造行业）和电子工业中的投资类产品。按照装备功能和重要性,装备制造业主要包括以下三方面内容：一是重大的先进的基础机械,即制造装备的装备工作“母机”;二是重要的机械、电子基础件;三...     

旅游地非线性成长影响因素及作用机制研究——以西安市为例

自旅游地生命周期理论提出以来，得到了国内外学者的广泛认同和讨论。旅游地生命周期有诸多影响因素，各种因素的作用机制存在较大区别。从时间和内外部两个维度上对生命周期影响因素进行了系统讨论，研究了各因素与生命周期曲线的起点、峰值、斜率和在达到成熟期之后的走势等特征值之间的关系，并由此提出了延长旅游地生命周期的策略。     

基于生命周期评价理论的旅游产业发展研究——以张家界为例

旅游业是国民经济的战略性产业。基于生命周期理论,分析了旅游地生命周期的发展对旅游业发展的影响。以张家界市为例,分析了影响旅游地生命周期发展阶段的因素及张家界旅游生命周期阶段,提出了通过推动旅游地旅游产品推陈出新,加强景区利益协调和推动低碳环保的张家界旅游发展路径。     

基于全生命周期评价的变压器碳足迹模型研究

以国网冀北电力有限公司的供应商所提供的变压器数据为基础，构建了一个基于全生命周期的产品碳足迹评价流程和评估模型。模型有效地计算了不同容量下10 kV油浸式与干式变压器从“摇篮”到“大门”的碳排放，得到不同类型变压器碳足迹组成及变压器容量不同时各零部件生产过程碳排放的变化，明确碳减排重点关注单元。形成供应商碳足迹核算报告标准范本，为形成典型电网物资产品碳足迹的权威数据库奠定基础，确定减少变压器碳排放的关键措施，有助于实现产品的低碳化。通过基于全生命周期的产品碳足迹评价，推动国网冀北电力有限公司相关产品全供应链参与，内在驱动整个供应链协同创新和持续改进，改变全过程的资源环境效率。     

关于汽车内饰塑料件气候交变试验的分析

通过对高温条件、低温条件、温湿条件的试验机理进行分析,对气候交变试验标准的合理性提出了质疑,并给出一种对比验证的方法进行验证,以期规范和有机统一不同的气候交变试验标准。另外还探讨了气候交变试验在验证产品生命周期上的意义以及气候交变试验与功能试验结合的必要性。     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.     

Bioremediation of Soils by Plant–Microbe Systems

Abstract

Sustainable ecosystems can be designed to eliminate environmental toxins and reduce pathogen loads through the direct and indirect consequences of plant and microbial activities. We present an approach to the bioremediation of disturbed environments, focusing on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminants. Treatment consists of incorporating a plant-based amendment to enhance ecosystem productivity and physiochemical degradation followed by the establishment of plants to serve as oxidizers and foundations for microbial communities. Promising amendments for widespread use are entire plants of the water fern Azolla and seed meal of Brassica napus (rapeseed). An inexpensive byproduct from the manufacture of biodiesel and lubricants, rapeseed meal is high in nitrogen (6% wt/wt), stimulates >100-fold increases in populations of resident Streptomyces species, and suppresses fungal infection of roots subsequently cultivated in the amended soil. Synergistic enzymatic and chemical activities of plant and microbial metabolism in root zones transform and degrade soil contaminants. Emphasis is given to mechanisms that enable PHC functionalization via reactive molecular species.     

National minerals policies and stakeholder participation for broad-based development in the southern African development community (SADC)

This paper explains how the well-accepted concept of improved stakeholder participation during mineral policy development leads to a national mineral policy that accommodates the diverging views and interests that allows wide acceptance of decisions, enhancing the success of implementation and, ultimately, national benefits. This process is based on lessons learnt during the South African experience and has been successfully applied in the development of the Namibian and Malawian national minerals policies. An effective policy in the SADC will engineer the delicate balance between poverty reduction and an internationally competitive minerals sector. This balance enhances the possibility of long-term economic growth and development in the SADC region. The overriding advantage of this strategy is that it generates ‘home-grown’ policy instruments and implementation of mineral law with which stakeholders can identify. This process presents a new challenge to traditional policy formulation strategies in emerging economies and the bottom-up approach, linked to wide political support, allows the potential realisation of national objectives.     

Energetics and environmental costs of agriculture in a dry tropical region of India

The present article, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Agronomic yield is insufficient to meet the food requirement of the human population, hence 11.5%–49.7% of the required amount of food grains are imported from the market. Energy requirements of five studied agroecosystems are subsidized considerably by the surrounding forest in the form of fodder and firewood. Natural ecosystems supply about 80%–95% of fodder needs and 81%–100% of fuelwood needs. The output-input ratio of agriculture indicated that, on average, 4.1 units of energy are expended to obtain one unit of agronomic energy. Of this, 3.9 units are supplied by the natural ecosystem. In addition, 38% of the extracted firewood is marketed. The illegal felling and lopping of trees result in ever-increasing concentric circles of forest destruction around the villages and together with excessive grazing results in savannization. The forests can be conserved by encouraging fuelwood plantations (0.7 ha/ha cultivated land) and developing village pastures (1.6 ha/ha cultivated land) and reducing the livestock numbers. Agricultural production in the region can be stabilized by introducing improved dry farming techniques such as intercropping, planned rainwater management, and adequate use of fertilizers.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.