Energy–growth nexus revisited: an empirical application on transition countries

This study investigates the energy–growth nexus for transition countries analysing Granger causality between GDP growth per capita and energy use per capita. For this purpose, 17 countries located at Central and Eastern Europe and Caucasian region are chosen and a panel dataset consisting of these countries for the available period of 1990–2011 is studied. In the study, Granger causality is investigated using bootstrapped panel causality approach proposed by Konya (Econ Modell 23(6):978–992, 2006). The approach gives consistent results in case of cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity of slope coefficients between countries. Causality is examined for two scenarios: one with a trend and one without a trend. The results reveal that, in general, there is no causality running between energy consumption and economic growth, yet there is causality running from energy consumption to economic growth for some countries and sign of the relationship is always negative. Therefore, increases in energy consumption harm economic growth.     

Benchmarking Optical/Thermal Satellite Imagery for Estimating Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture in Decision Support Tools

Generally, one expects evapotranspiration (ET) maps derived from optical/thermal Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery to improve decision support tools and lead to superior decisions regarding water resources management. However, there is lack of supportive evidence to accept or reject this expectation. We “benchmark” three existing hydrologic decision support tools with the following benchmarks: annual ET for the ET Toolbox developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, predicted rainfall‐runoff hydrographs for the Gridded Surface/Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the average annual groundwater recharge for the Distributed Parameter Watershed Model used by Daniel B. Stephens & Associates. The conclusion of this benchmark study is that the use of NASA/USGS optical/thermal satellite imagery can considerably improve hydrologic decision support tools compared to their traditional implementations. The benefits of improved decision making, resulting from more accurate results of hydrologic support systems using optical/thermal satellite imagery, should substantially exceed the costs for acquiring such imagery and implementing the remote sensing algorithms. In fact, the value of reduced error in estimating average annual groundwater recharge in the San Gabriel Mountains, California alone, in terms of value of water, may be as large as $1 billion, more than sufficient to pay for one new Landsat satellite.     

Assessment of heavy metal enrichment in the offshore fine-grained sediments of the Caspian Sea

Sampling of the offshore seabed sediments of southwestern part of the Caspian Sea was carried out by gravity corer in order to study heavy metal concentration and the physicochemical factors controlling their distribution in the fine-grained fraction. The grain size distribution, amount, and type of clay minerals, total organic carbon (TOC) content, and Eh–pH of the sediments were determined. The average concentrations of the heavy metals in ppm are Mn (563), Cu (207.5), Sr (187), Zn (94), Pb (26.3), Ni (14.5), Co (11.5), Cd (2.56), and Ag (1.04) in their order of abundances. Co and Zn mostly indicate increase in silt-size fraction of the sediments suggesting their probable detrital provenance but the Mn, Ni, Cu, Sr, Pb, Cd, and Ag concentrations show a similar trend to distribution of the clay-size fraction. The concentrations of Mn, Co, and Cd increase with increase in the TOC content but the Cu, Pb, Ni, Ag, and Sr concentrations decrease with increase of the TOC content. The amounts of Zn, Cu, Sr, Pb, Cd, and Ag increase with increase in the CaCO₃ content. The calculated enrichment factor indicates that the sediments are very strong to extremely enriched in Ag, significantly enriched in Cu and Cd, and depleted to mineral for Pb, Sr, Co, Ni, and Zn. Variations of the Cu, Sr, Cd, Ag, and Pb concentrations are similar to the clay and CaCO₃ distributions.     

Estuarine circulation in the Taranto Seas

The Taranto basin is a shallow water marine system in the South of Italy characterized by the presence of a lagoon environment together with a semi-enclosed bay connected to the Ionian Sea. This marine system experienced over the last few decades strong biochemical pollution and environmental degradation, and it is considered a hotspot study site for economic, ecological and scientific reasons. The aim of this study was to examine, on an annual temporal scale and with high spatial resolution, the main hydrodynamical processes and transport scales of the system by means of a 3D finite element numerical model application, adopting the most realistic forcing available. The model allowed us to assess the role played by baroclinic terms in the basin circulation, describing its estuarine nature. In particular, the main features of water circulation, salinity and temperature distribution, water renewal time and bottom stress were investigated. Our results allowed us to equate this system dynamic to that of a weakly stratified estuary, identifying the main driving sources of this mechanism. The vertical stratification over the whole year was proved to be stable, leading to a dual circulation flowing out on the surface, mainly through Porta Napoli channel, and inflowing on the bottom mainly through Navigabile channel. This process was responsible also for the renewal time faster on the bottom of the Mar Piccolo basin than the surface. Due to the great importance of the Taranto basin for what concerns sediment pollution, also the effect of currents in terms of bottom stress was investigated, leading to the conclusion that only in the inlets area the values of bottom stress can be high enough to cause erosion.     

The comparison of fossil carbon fraction and greenhouse gas emissions through an analysis of exhaust gases from urban solid waste incineration facilities

In this study, in order to understand accurate calculation of greenhouse gas emissions of urban solid waste incineration facilities, which are major waste incineration facilities, and problems likely to occur at this time, emissions were calculated by classifying calculation methods into 3 types. For the comparison of calculation methods, the waste characteristics ratio, dry substance content by waste characteristics, carbon content in dry substance, and ¹²C content were analyzed; and in particular, CO₂ concentration in incineration gases and ¹²C content were analyzed together. In this study, 3 types of calculation methods were made through the assay value, and by using each calculation method, emissions of urban solid waste incineration facilities were calculated then compared. As a result of comparison, with Calculation Method A, which used the default value as presented in the IPCC guidelines, greenhouse gas emissions were calculated for the urban solid waste incineration facilities A and B at 244.43 ton CO₂/day and 322.09 ton CO₂/day, respectively. Hence, it showed a lot of difference from Calculation Methods B and C, which used the assay value of this study. It is determined that this was because the default value as presented in IPCC, as the world average value, could not reflect the characteristics of urban solid waste incineration facilities. Calculation Method B indicated 163.31 ton CO₂/day and 230.34 ton CO₂/day respectively for the urban solid waste incineration facilities A and B; also, Calculation Method C indicated 151.79 ton CO₂/day and 218.99 ton CO₂/day, respectively.

Implications: This study intends to compare greenhouse gas emissions calculated using ¹²C content default value provided by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) with greenhouse gas emissions calculated using ¹²C content and waste assay value that can reflect the characteristics of the target urban solid waste incineration facilities. Also, the concentration and ¹²C content were calculated by directly collecting incineration gases of the target urban solid waste incineration facilities, and greenhouse gas emissions of the target urban solid waste incineration facilities through this survey were compared with greenhouse gas emissions, which used the previously calculated assay value of solid waste.     

Production and characterization of biodiesel from Eriobotrya Japonica seed oil: an optimization study

Biodiesel is now-a-days recognized as a real potential alternative to petroleum-derived diesel fuel due to its number of desirable characteristics. However, its higher production cost resulting mainly due to use of costly food-grade vegetable oils as raw materials is the major barrier to its economic viability. Present work is an attempt to explore the potential of Eriobotrya japonica seed oil for the synthesis of biodiesel using alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Optimization of production parameters, namely molar ratio of alcohol to oil, amount of catalyst, reaction time and temperature, was carried out using Taguchi method. Fatty acid composition of both oil and biodiesel was determined using GC and H¹ NMR. Alcohol to oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst amount of 1% wt/wt, 2 h reaction time and 50 ^°C reaction temperature were found to be the optimum conditions for obtaining 94.52% biodiesel. Highest % contribution was shown by the ‘amount of catalyst’ (67.32%) followed by molar ratio of alcohol to oil (25.51%). Major fuel properties of E. japonica methyl esters produced under optimum conditions were found within the specified limits of ASTM D6751 for biodiesel, hence it may be considered a prospective substitute of petro-diesel.