Geological CO2 Storage as a Climate Change Mitigation Option

Carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ capture and storage is increasingly being considered as an important climate change mitigation option. This paper explores provisions for including geological CO₂ storage in climate policy. The storage capacity of Norway's Continental Shelf is alone sufficient to store a large share of European CO₂ emissions for many decades. If CO₂ is injected into oil reservoirs there is an additional benefit in terms of enhanced oil recovery. However, there are significant technical and economic challenges, including the large investment in infrastructure required, with related economies of scale properties. Thus CO₂ capture, transportation and storage projects are likely to be more economically attractive if developed on a large scale, which could mean involving two or more nations. An additional challenge is the risk of future leakages from storage sites, where the government must take on a major responsibility. In institutional and policy terms, important challenges are the unsettled status of geological CO₂ storage as a policy measure in the Kyoto Protocol, lack of relevant reporting and verification procedures, and lack of decisions on how the option should be linked to the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. In terms of competitiveness with expected prices for CO₂ permits under Kyoto Protocol trading, the relatively high costs per tonne of CO₂ stored means that geological CO₂ storage is primarily of interest where enhanced oil recovery is possible. These shortcomings and uncertainties mean that companies and governments today only have weak incentives to venture into geological CO₂ storage.     

推拉理论视角下的农村宅基地退出机制研究——基于南京市栖霞区农户意愿调查

以推拉理论为视角,分别从农村宅基地作为资源和资产属性以及拥有农村宅基地使用权的农民迁移到城市这两个角度,重新梳理影响农户宅基地退出意愿的因素,建立了农村宅基地退出影响因素的推拉分析框架。在理论分析的基础上,利用在南京市栖霞区农村实地调查得到的数据,建立二元Logistic模型归纳主要影响农户退出意愿的推力和拉力因素。研究发现,受教育水平、农户年总收入、家庭居住人口数和农户是否参加农村养老保险是宅基地退出的主要推动因素;而非农业收入占比、外出务工人口数、是否参加城镇养老保险、是否拥有城镇住所、是否有宅基地产权证书以及宅基地抵押权认知情况是影响宅基地退出的主要拉力因素。基于以上的影响因素分析,提出完善农村宅基地退出机制的政策建议。     

Systematic Temporal Patterns in the Relationship Between Housing Development and Forest Bird Biodiversity

As people encroach increasingly on natural areas, one question is how this affects avian biodiversity. The answer to this is partly scale‐dependent. At broad scales, human populations and biodiversity concentrate in the same areas and are positively associated, but at local scales people and biodiversity are negatively associated with biodiversity. We investigated whether there is also a systematic temporal trend in the relationship between bird biodiversity and housing development. We used linear regression to examine associations between forest bird species richness and housing growth in the conterminous United States over 30 years. Our data sources were the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the 2000 decennial U.S. Census. In the 9 largest forested ecoregions, housing density increased continually over time. Across the conterminous United States, the association between bird species richness and housing density was positive for virtually all guilds except ground nesting birds. We found a systematic trajectory of declining bird species richness as housing increased through time. In more recently developed ecoregions, where housing density was still low, the association with bird species richness was neutral or positive. In ecoregions that were developed earlier and where housing density was highest, the association of housing density with bird species richness for most guilds was negative and grew stronger with advancing decades. We propose that in general the relationship between human settlement and biodiversity over time unfolds as a 2‐phase process. The first phase is apparently innocuous; associations are positive due to coincidence of low‐density housing with high biodiversity. The second phase is highly detrimental to biodiversity, and increases in housing density are associated with biodiversity losses. The long‐term effect on biodiversity depends on the final housing density. This general pattern can help unify our understanding of the relationship of human encroachment and biodiversity response. Patrones Sistemáticos Temporales en la Relación entre Desarrollos Urbanos y la Biodiversidad de Aves de Bosque     

Comment: Investor demand and spot commodity prices

Tilton et al. claim in their article “Investor demand and spot commodity prices” to show that “investor demand can be pushing up a commodity's price even when investor stocks are falling.” In the present comment, it is argued that in both the cases described by Tilton et al., investors are supplying the market, putting physical material into it, rather than adding to demand. Thus, the reasoning by Tilton et al. is not concerned with the phenomenon referred to in the traditional theory, where, in the absence of changes in demand and supply fundamentals, prices rise as a result of increased investor demand for futures contracts.     

微生物菌剂在包头市外五区生活垃圾处理上的应用前景

通过对包头市外五区生活垃圾处理现状分析,对垃圾腐解过程中,微生物的作用进行研究,探讨了生活垃圾处理菌剂在外五区生活垃圾处理上的可行性与适应性,为解决该地区生活垃圾的快速无害化处理提供思路。     

西北干旱地区农宅雨水转化为可饮水技术

雨水集流工程对于解决干旱地区人民生活用水问题起着重要作用,甘肃省兰州市榆中县北山地区处于严重缺水的地区,人畜的饮用水为雨水、雪水直接沉淀后的水窖水。经过对北山饮用水进行水质检测,发现水中浊度、锰含量、微生物数量均超过《生活饮用水卫生标准》(GB5749-2006)的规定值。通过对传统滤池进行改造并结合阳光消毒研制出了一种新型水处理器——阳光消毒-生物砂滤池(SBF)家庭水处理设备,通过生物砂滤池中微生物对雨水中污染物的氧化分解及河砂的过滤使水浊度及锰得到有效地去除,日光高温灭活和光氧化降解综合作用杀灭水中致病微生物。用SBF家庭水处理设备对雨水进行处理,水中浊度、锰含量、微生物数量均达到标准的规定值。     

Seven thousand years in the service of humanity—the history of copper, the red metal

Measured by weight, copper is the third most important metal used by man. The annual value of its 2007 output was on a par with the GDP of e.g. Ukraine. Copper is also one of the oldest metals, its employment going back 7000 years. For millennia, it was predominantly employed for decorative purposes, coinage and in warfare. Technical breakthroughs in antiquity, like smelting and alloying, expanded its production and enhanced its utility. Copper's true heyday occurred after 1850, with the usage of electricity. In the period since then, volumes increased 300-fold, while costs and prices declined. With impressive progress in the technology of its production and consumption, the red metal has been able to hold its own, despite the emergence over history of formidable substitutes like iron, aluminum, plastics and optic fiber.     

Understanding world metals prices—Returns,volatility and diversification

In recent times, the prices of internationally traded metals have reached record highs and there is considerable uncertainty regarding their future. This phenomenon is partially driven by strong demand from a small number of emerging economies, such as China and India. This paper uses a long time-series (1900–2007) on 21 metals prices to investigate their properties, and presents unique features of their volatility, including a decomposition into within- and between-group components. If most volatility is commodity-specific rather than “global”, then metals-exporting dependent economies can smooth income via diversification.     

Perspectives on utilising Community Land Trusts as a vehicle for affordable housing provision

With lack of affordable housing being clearly identified as a social and economic exclusion issue for most communities, innovative ways of addressing this deficiency should be considered. Increasingly local communities are engaging with the possibility of direct provision themselves and discussion around this notion has profound implications for community cohesion. One community-based solution gaining popular support within communities, and with government ministers, is the Community Land Trust mechanism. This involves control and ownership of land to help ensure affordable housing is built and remains affordable in perpetuity for the community. The language and difficulties with definition of terms, together with the complexity of engaging relevant stakeholders in a changing policy and legislative framework can be problematic. This may lead to apparent lack of consensus within communities on the way forward. Perceptions of local housing issues and ways to address them are sometimes vague, sometimes diverse but rarely apathetic. This paper includes data from two case studies in North East England, which are examined using interviews with key players, as a means of seeking some practical solutions.     

Price and volatility transmission between primary and scrap metal markets

The relationship between primary and scrap prices has been hypothesized for the most part as unidirectional, characterized by spillovers from primary to scrap prices. The purpose of this study is to evaluate empirically the dynamic interactions between primary and scrap metal prices through multivariate time series methods. In addition, the study expands the investigation at the level of volatility transmission, which has not been previously examined. The metal prices utilized are for copper, lead, and zinc for the period 1984–2001. The paper demonstrates differing long run and short run links. Scrap prices do not improve the long run interpretation of primary prices, but information flows from the scrap to the primary markets exist in the short run. Additionally, the copper and lead markets exhibit bidirectional information flows in terms of volatility transmission. The analysis provides valuable insight into the interactions of the primary and scrap metal sectors which can be used to improve forecasting and planning.