Investigating the quantitative and qualitative status of effluent in the wastewater treatment plant in Iran Central Iron Ore

The aim of present study was to investigate the quality of the produced effluent from different units of the Iran Central Iron Ore in Bafq city and comparison of effluent with the standards. This study presents the physicochemical and biological parameters data of effluent of three Sequencing batch reactors (SBR) with a capacity of 160 m³?d^?1. Most common parameters include pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), chemical oxygen demand (COD), heavy metals, and total coliforms and fecal coliforms as biological indicators. Then, for each SBR system, the average of each parameter was determined, and results were compared with the standard recommended by the Iranian Environmental Protection Agency. Based on the results, some of the parameters, including BOD₅, COD, and TSS in the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, are higher than the permitted amount for discharge to the surface water. Considering the BOD₅, COD, and TSS concentration in WWTPs, the treated wastewater is only suitable for agricultural and irrigation use. Therefore, wastewater produced by Iran Central Iron Ore Co. will need additional treatment to achieve standard quality of water before discharge in surface water and adsorbent well.     

中国安全生产标准现状统计分析

安全生产标准是规范企业安全生产工作的基础性规范,是安全生产法律体系的重要组成部分,也是安全生产监管监察执法的重要依据。为掌握安全生产标准现状,收集、梳理了已发布的安全生产标准603项和正在研制阶段的标准385项,对标准发布年份、在研标准计划年份、标准领域分布、标准级别和标准性质多个维度进行分析,总结标准工作存在的问题,提出安全生产标准制（修）订及发展建议,为安全生产标准工作的持续完善提供参考。     

The environment as a factor of production

This paper uses firm-level data about electric utilities to develop an empirical model of how electric utilities use and bank SO₂ pollution permits under the Acid Rain Program. The empirical model considers emissions, fuels, and labor as variable inputs with quasi-fixed stocks of permits and capital. Consequently, substitution possibilities between the environment and other production factors can be measured and tested. The results reveal substantial substitution between emissions, permit stocks, capital, fuel, and labor. The empirical findings also indicate that firms bank permits primarily as a hedge against uncertainty and for other firm-specific reasons. Overall, the results suggest that cap-and-trade approaches can reduce the cost of meeting environmental goals by providing a mechanism for addressing regulatory and market risks and by signaling an appropriate price for factor use, especially irreversible capital investments.     

Eco-Labeling and ISO 14000: An Analysis of US Regulatory Systems and Issues Concerning Adoption of Type II Standards

/ Current private and public regulatory systems may not provide an optimal degree of regulation for labels bearing environmental information, and established institutions may detract from efforts to provide for better environmental management. The advent of ISO 14000 offers new opportunities for making eco-labeling a meaningful tool to encourage environmental stewardship. While new federal legislation offers the best vehicle to introduce these standards into US law, the slow pace of the legislative process may recommend an alternative system. Multinational and civic-minded firms may be expected to employ private programs to nurture benevolent environmental management practices until more definitive governmental institutions can be put in place.KEY WORDS: Eco-labels; Environmental labeling; International standards; ISO 14000     

应用BLM模型预测我国主要河流中Cu的生物毒性

应用BLM模型对我国5条主要河流15个国控断面中铜的生物毒性进行预测,同时以虹鳟鱼为实验动物进行了实际水样的加标实验,得到实测生物毒性结果.结果表明,珠江、长江、淮河、松花江12个点位BLM模型预测LC50为0.13～0.46mg·L-1,利用虹鳟鱼进行的生物毒性测试结果为0.11～0.47mg·L-1,二者具有较好的一致性.对于黄河流域的3个点位,预测结果为0.42～1.00mg·L-1,实测结果为0.21～0.33mg·L-1,二者差距较大.根据预测结果与测试结果得到的水效应比(WER)范围分别为3.3～11.8与3.3～11.5(黄河流域,WERs值范围分别为10.5～25.0与5.3～8.3),均大于1.该研究提示,中国主要河流水系由于水化学条件不同,即使在相同的总Cu浓度下,所表现的毒性亦有很大差别;利用BLM模型和河流主要水质参数,则可以预测Cu的毒性.根据BLM模型获得的Cu的WERs值,将是制订中国流域水质标准的重要依据.     

我国不同区域玉米施肥的生命周期评价

以吉林、陕西、河南、湖南、广西等玉米主产省份为例,以生产1t玉米为评价的功能单元,应用生命周期评价(LCA)方法,比较了不同生态区玉米生产过程中施肥的资源环境影响潜力.结果表明,五省环境影响综合指数大小依次为广西0.315、湖南0.309、河南0.273、陕西0.238、吉林0.183.几种资源环境影响中,潜力大小依次是富营养化、环境酸化、温室效应、土地利用和能源消耗,其中,施用氮肥引起的氨挥发是导致富营养化和酸化的主要原因.农户间玉米施肥的资源环境影响潜力差异很大,环境影响综合指数变异范围在41.2%～81.6%之间,且以湖南省最高,吉林省最低.如果将玉米追肥由撒施都改为穴施,五省的环境影响综合指数将降低8.5%～34.1%.总体而言,在目前生产条件下,吉林省具有资源环境影响较低的优势;富营养化是最主要的环境影响类型,而改进施肥方式、减少氨挥发是降低玉米施肥资源环境影响的关键技术途径.     

完善北京市地方水环境标准体系的总体思路

随着国家水环境标准思路的改变,北京市水环境标准也应进行相应的修订。在分析北京市水环境标准现状的基础上,指出了目前标准体系存在的主要问题。根据北京市水环境标准需求,提出了完善北京市水环境标准体系的总体思路,涉及工业、城镇污水处理厂、医疗机构等方面。标准体系完善对降低污染物排放、改善北京市水环境质量起着重要的作用,对未来北京市水环境标准体系的规划起着很好的参考意义。     

“城市地震安全社区”建设方法研究——以昌平区“城市地震安全社区”建设为例

当前国内各"安全社区"建设还都没有考虑地震安全建设,而地震安全已经是当今城市发展中越来越突出的问题."城市地震安全社区"建设是保障人民生命财产安全和社会经济的可持续发展,是构建平安和谐社会的重要组成部分.本文通过在北京市昌平区积极开展"城市地震安全示范社区"建设与合作研究,探索出了"地震安全社区"建设内容和评估标准,为制定全国"城市地震安全社区"建设标准提供科学依据.     

Linking the EU emissions trading scheme: economic implications of allowance allocation and global carbon constraints

We investigate the role of domestic allowance allocation and global emissions constraints for the carbon-market impacts of linking the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) internationally. Employing a quantitative simulation model of the global carbon market, we find that the economic benefits from connecting the European ETS to emerging non-EU schemes strongly depend on the regional allowance allocation of the linking participants: In a world of moderate carbon constraints, an economically efficient regional allowance allocation induces a much stronger fall in total compliance costs than a sub-optimal (i.e. too high) domestic allocation of emissions permits. However, a more efficient (i.e. stricter) allocation shifts abatement efforts and compliance costs to energy-intensive industries which are covered by the domestic ETS. We further find that committing to ambitious global emissions reduction targets (compatible with stabilizing CO₂ concentrations at 450 ppm) induces much stronger regional abatement efforts and substantially higher compliance costs for the abating regions. In such an ambitious climate policy regime, an efficient domestic allocation of allowances is even more important from an economic perspective: Here, linking emissions trading schemes diminishes the associated compliance costs on the largest scale.

Foresty offsets in emissions trading systems: a link between systems?

An important aspect in the linking of different emissions trading schemes is the degree to which these systems allow (or ban) external offset project categories. The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) currently allows the use of credits from energy and industry projects developed under the Kyoto Protocol’s Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) but excludes the use of carbon credits from forestry projects for compliance in the EU ETS. Forestry credits generated by the CDM have a limited lifetime and expire at the end of a project’s crediting period, or earlier if the carbon stock for which the credits have been issued ceases to exist. According to the recently adopted amendment of the EU ETS Directive forestry credits will remain to be excluded until 2020. The present article reviews how the New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (Australia), the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (US) and the voluntary scheme of the Chicago Climate Exchange integrate forestry offsets into the respective system and how they deal with the risk of losing stored and credited biomass. By comparing the results of different scenarios this article shows how differences in the treatment of forestry offsets could impact the efforts to link various emission trading systems in future.