Compromising sustainable mobility? The case of the Gothenburg congestion tax

Congestion charging is widely considered an effective policy measure to regulate and reduce car traffic demand and associated environmental and health problems in cities. However, introducing restrictive measures to constrain individual choice and behaviour for the common good has often proven difficult. Using a specific case, the Gothenburg congestion tax introduced in 2013, we study the policy process behind the introduction of the tax and assess to what extent green values were compromised along the way. The tax was made possible by co-financing infrastructure investments, including roads, which seemingly contradicts stated goals of reducing car traffic and emissions. We show how the tax was ‘muddled through’ in a top-down political compromise by a grand coalition where different interests could legitimate their support in relation to the achievement of partially conflicting objectives and projects. However, to declare the regulatory goals fully neutralised would be to underestimate the scheme's direct environmental effects and restrictive potential. Finding a compromise with powerful political and economic interests was necessary to get it off the ground. Once launched, however, it can over time regain its restrictive properties and lead to more profound long-term effects.     

Reducing the risk level for pipelines transporting carbon dioxide and hydrogen by means of optimal safety valves spacing

In many countries where electricity generation is based on their natural resources of fossil fuels a need arises to implement new power engineering technologies that allow carbon dioxide capture. Simultaneously, efforts are made to find new energy carriers which, if fired, do not involve carbon dioxide emissions. Hydrogen is one of such fuels with this future potential which is now becoming increasingly popular. Obviously, this means that the two gases mentioned above – carbon dioxide and hydrogen – will be produced in large quantities in future, which in many cases will necessitate their transport over considerable distances. If a pipeline failure occurs, the transport of the gases may pose a serious hazard to people in the immediate vicinity of the leakage site. This paper presents an analysis of the possibility of reducing the level of risk related to pipelines transporting CO₂ and H₂ by means of safety valves. It is shown that for a 50 km long and a 0.4 m diameter pipeline transporting gas with the pressure of 15 MPa the individual risk level can be reduced from 1·10⁻⁴ to 6.5·10⁻⁷ for CO₂ and from 1·10⁻⁶ to 6·10⁻¹⁰ for H₂. The social risk can be diminished in similar proportions.     

纳米Ag粒子在我国主要类型土壤中的迁移转化过程与环境效应

随着纳米技术的快速发展,纳米材料进入环境并不断累积,因此开展纳米材料的环境安全性研究具有重要意义.纳米银(Ag NP)是目前应用最广泛的人工纳米材料之一.本课题组拟以Ag NP为研究对象,系统研究其在我国主要类型土壤中的迁移、转化过程及其生态环境效应;基于同步辐射技术、同位素技术和量子化学计算等方法,揭示Ag NP与土壤中主要矿物或有机质之间的相互作用规律;探明Ag NP对土壤中微生物、动物和植物的致毒过程及其作用机制;发展Ag NP在土壤中迁移的数学模型,预测其在土壤中的迁移、滞留通量进而评价其淋溶风险,为Ag NP的安全利用提供重要理论基础和技术支撑.     

合肥城郊典型源头溪流不同渠道形态的氮磷滞留特征

为揭示源头溪流中深潭和曲折沟渠两种典型渠道形态的氮磷养分滞留特征,在合肥城郊二十埠河的某一级支流上,以NH4Cl和KH2PO4为添加营养盐,以NaCl为保守型示踪剂,开展现场示踪实验.在此基础上,利用OTIS模型软件、暂态存储参数和养分螺旋原理,解析深潭和曲折沟渠氮磷滞留特征.结果表明:1深潭的As值较曲折沟渠大,但其α值则较弯曲沟渠小1个数量级,而且As和α值随水文条件变化均不显著;2深潭中主渠道流动水体的NH+4-λ较其暂态存储区的NH+4-λs高2~3个数量级,曲折沟渠的NH+4-λ与NH+4-λs数值较为接近;3深潭中NH+4-Vf较SRP-Vf高1~2个数量级,而在曲折沟渠中,不仅NH+4-Vf与SRP-Vf数值较为相近,NH+4-Sw与SRP-Sw也基本相当;4深潭的NH+4-U较SRP-U高出2~3个数量级,曲折沟渠NH+4-U则较SRP-U高出1~2个数量级;5总的来说,在对NH+4和SRP滞留影响方面,深潭和曲折沟渠存在较大的差异性,且在深潭中NH+4的滞留效应显著超过SRP.     

Interacting Effects of Translocation,Artificial Propagation,and Environmental Conditions on the Marine Survival of Chinook Salmon from the Columbia River,Washington, U.S.A.

Abstract: Captive rearing and translocation are often used concurrently for species conservation, yet the effects of these practices can interact and lead to unintended outcomes that may undermine species’ recovery efforts. Controls in translocation or artificial‐propagation programs are uncommon; thus, there have been few studies on the interacting effects of these actions and environmental conditions on survival. The Columbia River basin, which drains 668,000 km² of the western United States and Canada, has an extensive network of hydroelectric and other dams, which impede and slow migration of anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and can increase mortality rates. To mitigate for hydrosystem‐induced mortality during juvenile downriver migration, tens of millions of hatchery fish are released each year and a subset of wild‐ and hatchery‐origin juveniles are translocated downstream beyond the hydropower system. We considered how the results of these practices interact with marine environmental conditions to affect the marine survival of Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). We analyzed data from more than 1 million individually tagged fish from 1998 through 2006 to evaluate the probability of an individual fish returning as an adult relative to its rearing (hatchery vs. wild) and translocation histories (translocated vs. in‐river migrating fish that traveled downriver through the hydropower system) and a suite of environmental variables. Except during select periods of very low river flow, marine survival of wild translocated fish was approximately two‐thirds less than survival of wild in‐river migrating fish. For hatchery fish, however, survival was roughly two times higher for translocated fish than for in‐river migrants. Competition and predator aggregation negatively affected marine survival, and the magnitude of survival depended on rearing and translocation histories and biological and physical conditions encountered during their first few weeks of residence in the ocean. Our results highlight the importance of considering the interacting effects of translocation, artificial propagation, and environmental variables on the long‐term viability of species.     

中国ESDPM模型及其在交通需求预测中的应用

交通运输是国民经济的基础部门.未来随着国民经济的快速发展和人均收入水平的不断提高,交通运输部门的能源消费量将会以较高的速度增长,在决定我国终端能耗的局面中占据着非常重要的地位.本文应用集合模型方法建立了中国能源服务需求预测模型( Energy service demand projection model,ESDPM),在对未来经济和社会发展进行合理假设的基础上,预测了中国未来一直到2050年的客运和货运周转量以及小汽车保有量,并进行了国家和地区间的比较.结果显示,2005-2050年中国的客运和货运周转量将分别以年均增长率5.9%和5.1%的速度增长,2050年客运和货运周转量将分别达到23.1万亿人·km和74.7万亿t·km.小汽车将随着人均GDP的快速增加呈现出明显的"S"型增长关系,在小汽车拥有率饱和水平选取为0.4时,小汽车保有量将稳定在5.8亿辆左右.     

Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in fish from lakes of the Tibetan Plateau and the implications

High mountains may play significant roles in the global transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work aims to investigate the levels, patterns and distribution of semi-volatile organoclorine pollutants and to improve the understanding of the long-range atmospheric transport and fate of contaminants on the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 60 fish samples were collected from eight lakes located between 2813 and 4718 m above sea level across the Plateau. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in fish muscle. The results showed that concentrations of DDT, HCH and HCB were comparable to or lower than those found in remote mountains of Europe, Canada and US, while PCB concentrations in fish were, on average, about 4-150 times lower on Tibet than at other mountain areas. The transport and fate of contaminants in the Plateau are significantly influenced by the unique climatological and meteorological conditions, particularly by the summer Indian monsoon and winter westerly jet stream.     

Implications of high altitude desert dust transport from Western Sahara to Nile Delta during biomass burning season

The air over major cities and rural regions of the Nile Delta is highly polluted during autumn which is the biomass burning season, locally known as black cloud. Previous studies have attributed the increased pollution levels during the black cloud season to the biomass or open burning of agricultural waste, vehicular, industrial emissions, and secondary aerosols. However, new multi-sensor observations (column and vertical profiles) from satellites, dust transport models and associated meteorology present a different picture of the autumn pollution. Here we show, for the first time, the evidence of long range transport of dust at high altitude (2.5-6 km) from Western Sahara and its deposition over the Nile Delta region unlike current Models. The desert dust is found to be a major contributor to the local air quality which was previously considered to be due to pollution from biomass burning enhanced by the dominant northerly winds coming from Europe.     

Effects of sewage sludge amendments on pesticide sorption and leaching through undisturbed Mediterranean soils

The Gharb region in Morocco is an important agricultural zone where soils receive pesticide treatments and organic amendments to increase yields. The groundwater aquifer in the Gharb region is relatively shallow and thus vulnerable. The objective of this work was to study the influence of organic amendments on diuron, cyhalofop-butyl and procymidone leaching through undisturbed soil columns. Two soils were sampled from the Gharb region, a Dehs (sandy soil) and a R’mel (loamy clay soil). Following elution (124.5 mm), the amount of pesticide residues in the leachates of the sandy soil (0.06–0.21 %) was lower than in those of the loamy clay soil (0.20–0.36 %), which was probably due to preferential flow through the loamy clay soil. The amount of procymidone leached through the amended soil columns was greater than the control for the sandy soil only. The organic amendments did not significantly influence diuron and cyhalofop-butyl leaching in either of the soils. The application of organic amendments affected the amounts of dissolved organic matter (DOM) eluted and thus pesticide leaching as a function of soil-type. Nevertheless, in some case, the formation of pesticide-DOM complexes appeared to promote pesticide leaching, thus increasing groundwater contamination risks.     

Distributions of radionuclide sorption coefficients (Kd) in sub-surface sediments and the implications for transport calculations

The effect of the spatial variability of K_d on calculations of contaminant travel time in the vadose zone was determined. Depth discrete measurements of K_d were made for a suite of radionuclides (¹⁰⁹Cd, ⁵⁷Co, ⁶⁰Co, ⁸⁵Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, and ⁸⁸Y) utilizing a sediment core from the E-Area at the Savannah River Site. The K_d’s were ordered as ⁸⁵Sr²⁺ < ¹³⁷Cs⁺ < ¹⁰⁹Cd²⁺ < ⁵⁷Co²⁺ = ⁶⁰Co²⁺ << ⁸⁸Y³⁺ and the values generally fell below or near the lowest quartile of values reported in the literature. Correlations were generally weak between soil properties and K_d values. Most importantly, all of the K_d distributions could be reasonably approximated as log-normal. Deterministic and stochastic calculations of contaminant travel time to the water table were made. The deterministic calculations were based on each of three conceptual models of the vadose zone: complete stratification (17 strata, each with a different K_d), two strata (two sections of the vadose zone, each characterized by a single, average K_d), and unstratified (a single zone with an average K_d). Stochastic calculations were based on log-normal fits to the K_d data. The two strata model generally yielded travel times 2× greater than those in the completely stratified model. The unstratified model yielded travel times that were between 3 and 5 times greater than the completely stratified model. The stochastic mean travel times were comparable to those of the two strata model.