Community energy plans in Canadian cities: success and barriers in implementation

Climate change and sustainable development concerns have motivated some municipalities in Canada to develop community energy plans, which focus on energy needs at the local level for the development of efficient, economical and environmental energy systems. Five Canadian cities that were early adopters of community energy planning principles were studied to assess whether implementation has occurred and what barriers have been experienced. The cities achieved success in the implementation of energy management in municipal operations despite barriers in jurisdiction, perception of cost, communication and capacity, but energy management in the community had not been fully implemented and long-term changes were not prevalent. While reductions were made in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by municipal operations, the community's overall GHG emissions were not significantly reduced. Long-term impacts on a city's function and growth will be key if community energy planning is to significantly impact community-wide GHG emissions and energy use.     

The local nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in American cities: a preliminary exploration

This paper reports on the results of a study of the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in 13 moderate sized US cities with populations between 400,000 and 600,000. Dividing the cities into two groups – those that have been more serious and less serious about adopting and implementing sustainability policies, analysis of a survey of local public officials examines differences in the nonprofit landscape. Analysis shows that the cities that are more serious about sustainability have local public officials who interact more with nonprofit organisations, and are more likely to report the presence of at least one nonprofit group that supports city sustainability policies. Additionally, these reported groups are more likely to be “local”, or homegrown, and to be explicitly dedicated to the environment or sustainability. While far from definitive, the results provide evidence that the nonprofit sector is different in cities with sustainability policies, and suggest that the role of these nonprofit groups in the governance decisions of city leaders warrants more in-depth study.     

Local or global food markets: A comparison of energy use for transport

Abstract

This study compares energy use for food transport to a farmers' market in Sweden with energy use for transport in the conventional food system. The farmers' market was investigated through data sampling from on-site investigations. The conventional food system was studied with the aid of life cycle assessments reported in the literature. Overall, the study found no significant differences in levels of energy use for transport to the farmers' market compared with the conventional food system. For certain products, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, transport-related energy use was much lower in the local system although the season in Sweden for this kind of product is restricted to two or three months at the end of the summer. However, there is considerable potential to increase energy efficiency in local food systems by organizing the selling in new ways and by using more energy efficient vehicles.     

Industrial layout reconstruction,the role of local government and variation of pollution distribution in China

ABSTRACT

In recent years, high-polluting industries have been gradually shifted from the eastern developed regions to the central and western underdeveloped regions in China. Certain environmental regulations have been in place accordingly in various regions, but the pollution in the central and western regions has risen sharply. Based on the data of interprovincial panel in China from 2006 to 2015, this paper calculates high-pollution industry dynamic agglomeration index, environmental pollution agglomeration index and relative environmental regulation intensity index, and uses Generalized Method of Moments to carry out the regression analyses of the whole samples, regional heterogeneity and temporal heterogeneity. The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between relative environmental regulation and environmental pollution concentration in China. The concentration degrees of industrial wastewater pollution and industrial waste gas pollution are deepened, which are mainly caused by the transfer of highly polluting industries. However, the concentration of industrial solid waste pollution caused by the transfer is not obvious. Furthermore, the deepening of industrialization intensifies the concentration of regional environmental pollution. Environmental Kuznets Curve does exist in China, but it is not significant. The increase of labor cost and quality will reduce the concentration of environmental pollution.     

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration

ABSTRACT

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land’s green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding. There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.     

许昌市特色产业集聚条件、特征及对策研究

通过对许昌市特色产业集聚的区位、产业、交通和政策环境分析,得出许昌产业集聚的机制是龙头企业带动、优势资源整合和规模经营与项目推进.据此,分析了许昌“一带十区”的空间分布特征及主要产业发展状况,提出科学规划,促进要素集聚和产业集中,构建产业体系,提升产业集聚区的品质,强化设施建设等推进许昌特色产业集聚区发展.     

1949年以来河南省城镇化进程及城镇密集区研究

河南省是中部地区城镇化水平较高较快的省份,研究其城镇化格局与过程对提升河南省城镇化的质量具有重要的示范意义与应用价值.在时间进程方面,对建国后河南省的城镇化时间进程进行了阶段划分和原因分析;在空间进程方面,考虑到统计口径和有些年份数据的缺失,采用对比分析方法进行空间分析并通过kernel密度分析方法进行了辅助分析.研究表明,河南省城镇化时间进程存在明显差异,且在1949-2009年间不断扩大;河南省城镇化水平空间分布格局“中间密、外围疏”的基本倾向没有发生根本性变更;河南省城镇化水平发育逐渐趋于稳定的差异化发展;河南省城镇密集区1995年之后逐步形成,2000年后城镇密集区的集聚核心区逐步发育成长.     

中美典型大城市突发事件应急管理模式的比较研究

我国经济的高速发展,我国城市突发公共安全事件也进入了一个相对高发期, 城市应急管理体系能有效地处理和预防城市突发公共事件,保障城市居民的人身安全和财产 安全.结合美国大城市的先进管理模式和经验,通过与我国大城市的应急管理模式在城市应 急管理体制的本质、应急管理的组织机构、应急管理运作机制、应急参与主体等几个方面的比较,...     

乌鲁木齐市蔬菜基地土壤有效态镉的空间变异特征

以乌鲁木齐市北郊蔬菜基地为典型区,对干旱区绿洲城市郊区土壤有效态镉含量的结构特征进行分析,得出该区有效态镉的空间分布格局,并揭示了引起这种分布格局的成因和污染来源.结果表明,乌鲁木齐市北郊蔬菜基地有效态镉属中等变异.半方差函数模型拟合表明,有效态镉含量可以用指数函数拟合,且在一定范围内存在空间相关性.采用Kriging...     

乌鲁木齐市可吸入颗粒物污染水平及其与气象因素的相关性分析

为了解可吸入颗粒物污染水平与气象因素之间的关系,从2008年9月—2010年2月采集乌鲁木齐市可吸入颗粒物样品,并对其随时间的变化特征及其与气象因素之间的相关性进行了统计分析。结果表明,采样时间内可吸入颗粒物中PM2.5和PM2.5-10的质量浓度的范围分别为38.2~468.7μg/m3和20.8~243.1μg/m3,平均浓度分别为134.2μg/m3和69.2μg/m3。可吸入颗粒物同时受几种气象因素的影响,其浓度与温度、能见度、风速呈负相关,与湿度呈正相关。