Life cycle assessment environmental data for structural steel construction in Greece

The construction industry is a critical sector in relation to sustainable development as its optimisation in terms of the consumption of resources can provide significant environmental benefits. To achieve this, a number of tools and methodologies have been developed to assist decision making. Life cycle assessment is one of the most acknowledged and widely used methodologies to assess the sustainability of construction works. Its efficient use, however, requires environmental data that in some cases are not yet available. Especially for sectors such as steel construction in which the potential for sustainable development is increased due to the recycling and reuse potential of the material, the lack of such data slows sustainability-related progress down. The current research addresses this issue by collecting primary environmental data for cold-formed structural steel and compiling the required data-sets. The data-sets are used to assess the environmental impact of an existing steel building and identify how and to what extent the environment is burdened by its construction. The findings of the research include the aforementioned environmental data which can be used in environmental analyses related to construction projects, while additional conclusions concerning the environmental impact of steel buildings in terms of quantity and type were also drawn.     

渤海海峡跨海通道建设环境影响研究

渤海海峡跨海通道建设是一项高技术、高投入的特大战略性工程，工程建设具有重大的经济、军事和政治意义，但是也必将对环境产生重大影响。本文在对各界专家一致推荐的“伏贴式隧道和隧道桥”方案进行简要分析的基础上．论述了对工程建设进行环境影响研究的必要性，提出了环境影响评价工作程序与工程决策生命周期的耦合过程，以便从工程源头控制环境影响的产生；初步探讨了工程施工期和运营期的环境影响识别内容，结果表明：采用“伏贴式隧道和隧道桥”方案，相对于其它方案对资源、生态环境的干扰和影响是最小的；并提出了预防和减缓不良环境影响的对策措施，为工程的环保施工与运营提供科学依据。     

国内外大型水电工程生态环境监测与保护

简要介绍了世界银行对水电工程的环境政策,概述了埃及阿斯旺、巴西伊泰普、中国的二滩和三峡等四个世界著名水电站的长期环境监测计划和减少负面影响的对策。水电工程对周边环境会产生正面或负面影响,对大型水坝的负面影响作了集中的阐述。埃及的阿斯旺高坝建于20世纪60年代, 当时人们对生态环境影响问题还没有引起重视。长期的生态环境监测结果表明,一些环境影响比如河床侵蚀等实际上被过分夸大,而另外一些,如对传统的制砖业带来的影响又被忽视;巴西的伊泰普水坝在兴建过程中注意了采取措施减少负面影响,如在库周地区植树造林,兴建生物屏障,建立自然保护区,实施动物救护等;中国的二滩水电站由世界银行贷款兴建,并执行了世界银行的环境政策来降低负面影响;这些大型水电工程兴建中的经验给在建的三峡工程提供了有益的借鉴,一系列的环境保护措施正在实施,世界上最大的生态环境监测网络已在三峡库区及相关地区建成。     

公共租赁住房项目建设生态环境影响评价——以济南市西蒋峪片区为例

在分析济南市西蒋峪片区公共租赁住房评价区生态环境现状的基础上,从土地利用、生物、水土流失和景观类型等方面分析了施工期和运营期项目对生态环境的影响,在此基础上提出了公租房建设中的景观生态建设和植被保护与恢复等生态保护和恢复的对策。     

千岛湖配水工程的环境成本估算——基于调水区支付意愿调查

由于水资源分布不均、水污染日趋严重,调水工程已不仅用以解决城市资源型缺水,也成为一些地区缓解水质型缺水问题的途径,但是这些耗资巨大的调水工程往往对周围自然生态环境可能产生巨大影响,可能带来的环境成本不容忽视。以千岛湖配水工程为例,通过在调水地进行实地调研和问卷调查,运用Tobit模型分析影响居民支付意愿的因素,基于意愿调查法(CVM)分析了建德市人民对千岛湖配水工程的生态环境影响的支付意愿,并以此估算该工程的环境成本。结果表明,调水地居民对恢复和改善可能破坏的生态环境的平均支付意愿约为每人每年377.6～542.1元,按照年配水量9.78亿 m³可以计算每吨水的环境成本约为0.15～0.21元。由此估算,工程期内千岛湖配水工程可能造成的环境成本总计约为5.80～8.28亿元,高于2014年公布的《杭州市第二水源千岛湖配水工程环境影响报告书》(下文简称《报告书》)中对该工程的环境经济影响评价3.70亿元。千岛湖配水工程的环境成本不容忽视,必须建立科学的生态补偿机制,加强监管;同时受水地也应积极加强污染治理和节约用水,共同解决城市水质型缺水问题。     

中国低碳城市热思考:现状、问题及趋势

近年来我国掀起了一股低碳城市建设热潮。但在这股热潮背后,还有许多尚不明晰的问题需要理性思考。围绕低碳城市相关议题,开展了如下5方面工作:①解读低碳城市概念,指出低碳城市建设是一个多目标问题,要以低碳经济为基础,并实现经济发展、生态环境保护、居民生活水平提高等目标的共赢;②概括低碳城市评价指标,指出针对指标还没有建立明确的标准;③从城市规划、低碳政策、生态产业、可持续能源、绿色交通等方面总结了保定、上海、吉林、杭州等城市的低碳建设途径;④分析城市低碳发展现状水平评价结果,指出低碳城市建设还有很大的提升空间;⑤最终在分析低碳城市建设尚存不足的基础上,提出今后需深化认识的几个问题,如不能因低碳而放弃其它城市发展目标,低碳城市建设要因地制宜,低碳城市是一项长期、复杂的系统工程,需各领域专家通力协作,需从系统规划、阶段性方案实施、实施后评估与修订等环节进行全生命周期跟踪管理。希望这些思考能对我国低碳城市建设的顺利推进起到积极作用。     

Muting the Voice of the Local in the Age of the Global: How Communication Practices Compromised Public Participation in India's Allain Dunhangan Environmental Impact Assessment

Public participation is widely lauded as a way to make environmental decisions more democratic, to improve their quality, and to enhance their legitimacy. Scholars and citizens around the world repeatedly complain, however, that public participation frequently serves primarily as a pro forma exercise to defend predetermined decisions rather than as a meaningful opportunity for the affected public to influence decision-making. These critiques persist despite considerable research suggesting ways to improve the quality of public participation. This essay explores this problem by analyzing citizen involvement in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes for the Allain Duhangan hydropower project in northern India. It describes how meaningful public involvement was compromised—despite repeated objections by citizens and independent consultants—by four communication practices: (1) failing to provide adequate access to information; (2) predetermining EIA outcomes by controlling the definition of issues (“definitional hegemony”); (3) privileging scientific/technical discourse; (4) utilizing “consultative” forms of communication that promote one-way flows of information rather than more interactive forms that encourage the joint construction of information and values. This study further argues that these practices persist because they serve as acts of power that privilege dominant actors and interests in the larger socio-political context. This analysis thus suggests that altering communication practices that compromise the quality of public participation may require attending to the interaction between communication practices, relations of power, and the larger socio-political context in which public participation takes place.     

Simulating potential vegetation distribution in a mountainous region of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau:A case study of Barkam County

The main objective of this study is to simulate the potential vegetation types on the basis of environmental parameters.The paper took Barkam County in a mountainous region of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau as the study area.The vegetation distribution was mapped in 1994 and 2007 based on TM remote sensing images by object-oriented interpretation method.We overlaid the two maps to find out the vegetation patches which have not changed,and took them as stable types.Fifty per cent of the stable patches were randomly sampled to operate the logistic regression with related environmental parameters;others were used as test data of simulated results.Seven environmental parameters were mapped,including elevation,slope,aspect,surface curvature,solar radiation,temperature and precipitation,based on DEM data and meteorological site data by GIS technology.The relationship between the spatial distribution of vegetation and environmental variables were quantified by logistic regression.The distribution probabilities of each vegetation type were calculated.Finally,the spatial distribution of potential vegetation was simulated.This research can provide a scientific basis for vegetation restoration and ecological construction in this area.     

基于湖泊形态分析的旅游开发适宜性评价——以大梁子湖为例

在旅游开发建设压力下,湖泊生态环境面临巨大挑战。湖泊旅游开发适宜性评价鲜少从湖泊形态入手,而湖泊形态参数所揭示的湖泊水文特征会在一定程度上对旅游开发造成影响。以GIS技术为工具,选取大梁子湖分形几何维数和欧式几何形态指标（岸线发育系数、形状率、近圆率、紧凑度、空间包容面积）作为湖泊形态参数,通过Mapgis软件分析,获得大梁子湖湖泊形态分形维数为1.549,同时进一步计算出构成大梁子湖的6大湖泊的欧式几何形态指标,以此构建基于湖泊形态的旅游开发适宜性评价指标体系,建立湖泊形态和旅游开发适宜性关系模型,揭示湖泊水文特征与景观吸引力、生态脆弱程度、旅游环境安全性以及游客环境容量等旅游开发适宜性指标的内在联系,为湖泊旅游开发决策提供科学依据     

Perceived Influence of Proenvironmental Testimonials

Recommendations for communicators to make environmental issues more concrete in public align with the tenets of exemplification theory. Audiences may also engage with messages that they perceive as influencing them more than others, an outcome that aligns with the third-person effects framework. What is not well known is how these two areas of research intersect, namely, how exemplars about environmental issues may impact perceived message influence on the self-relative to others. This study examines the effects of testimonials on the perceived influence of environmental messages. Two experiments, each conducted simultaneously in Singapore and the Midwestern US, suggest that university students perceive themselves to be more influenced than others by proenvironmental messages. The second experiment shows that this perceptual bias is related to message desirability and individuals’ environmental values. Both experiments reveal location-specific effects, which is useful for understanding how to communicate environmental problems to global audiences.     

Economic Conditions,the Policy Cycle,and Media Visibility of Environmental Organizations

The extent to which social movements have access to the news media has important implications on the capability of social movements to communicate with and garner support from the public. Factors that shape movement organizations' media visibility thus deserve scholarly attention. This article deals with news coverage of environmental movement organizations (EMOs) in Hong Kong and focuses on the impact of economic conditions, the policy cycle, and the number of EMOs in society on media visibility of EMOs. Analysis of a data-set constructed based on archival data and official statistics illustrates that all three factors influence media visibility of EMOs through media attention to environmental issues, while the number of EMOs and economic conditions also affect media visibility of EMOs directly. In-depth interview data are then used to supplement the quantitative analysis by showing how movement activists perceive and respond strategically to the structural factors. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

The impacts of the waterfront development in Iskandar Malaysia

The increasing number of waterfront projects shows that the concept of waterfront development has contributed to the advancement of the Malaysian construction industry. This study seeks to assess the impacts of the implementation of waterfront development in Iskandar Malaysia eliciting the perceived relative importance of these impacts. A comprehensive literature review has been conducted to collate the potential impacts of the waterfront development. A total of 363 sets of questionnaires were distributed to the contractors and developers registered under G7 category of the Construction Industry Development Board in Malaysia. Results show that the most significant influence of the waterfront development is related to economic benefits, while environmental impacts are not considered as a priority for this category of stakeholders. In addition, this study also indicates that the implementation of the waterfront projects has generated numerous job opportunities within the developed region. Moreover, exchanging knowledge in the planning and managing of the waterfront development is imperative to the development of the waterfront projects. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of these developments, such as the negative environmental impact on natural beaches and the coastline (i.e. pollution) as well as human-related issues (i.e. excessive human settlement), should not be taken lightly. This research confirms that the reclamation of land for waterfront development is closely correlated with the destruction of these natural structures.     

收入差距是否影响环境质量?——国内外研究综述

近年来,收入差距扩大与环境质量恶化成为许多国家同时面临的问题,也让一些经济学家开始思考,这两者之间是否存在关联。继20世纪90年代环境库兹涅茨曲线提出以来,一些研究发现不仅收入的绝对水平会对环境质量产生影响,收入差距对环境质量也有影响。本文对这一课题的理论研究进行了梳理,发现现有理论中收入差距对环境质量的影响途径主要有三条。第一条途径是消费者途径,即收入差距影响着以消费为主的个人经济行为,进一步影响着社会消费总量和消费结构,及其过程中产生的污染总量。第二条途径是企业途径,即认为收入差距的扩大会削弱环保型产品的正外部性,不利于环保技术的创新活动,对未来环境质量的改善产生动态影响。第三条途径是政府途径,即认为收入差距会影响相关的环境政策方式与强度选择;而且在不同的社会政策决策机制下,收入差距对环境政策的影响也是不同的,现有的社会决策机制分析框架主要有两种——权利权重型社会决策规则和简单多数规则。此外,本文还对现存的主要实证研究进行了总结,发现大多数研究结论都支持收入差距对环境质量存在着影响,但这种影响并不是线性的。一方面,收入差距对环境的影响与研究的污染物种类有关,大多数研究都显示,收入不平等对CO 2排放和土壤污染存在着负向影响,但有关收入差距对空气污染和水污染影响的研究结论并不统一或并不显著。另一方面,这种影响还与经济发展水平相关,在高收入国家与低收入国家是不同的,存在着阈值效应。最后本文总结了针对中国的研究现状,讨论了其在我国的适用性。     

规划项目大气环境影响评价要点及案例研究

由于规划项目涉及面广、不确定性强、行业多样等特点,目前还没有针对规划环评的通用方法。虽然很多适用于建设项目环境影响评价的方法可以直接用于规划环评,但二者之间仍存在着很大的不同。结合规划项目的环境影响评价特点与评价要求,参考国内现有行业标准规范与新发布的大气评价导则技术要求,提出了规划项目大气环境影响评价的基本工作流程和4个工作要点,并通过具体案例应用,分别从基础资料收集与分析、环境影响预测方案制定、规划方案的比选及环境承载力的测算给出具体说明与实施方法。通过预测评价分析及方案比选,对规划选址、发展规模、规划布局、产业结构以及区域规划发展方式等进行综合分析,最终针对规划项目的污染控制及规划方案提出调整建议,为今后规划环境影响评价工作提供依据和技术参考。     

水资源开发与生态环境协调发展的实例研究

结合水资源工程的必要性和以三峡工程为代表的水资源工程的环境保护措施，指出水资源开发与生态环境协调发展在理论和实践上的可行性。从防洪、能源安全、可持续发展以及水能资源蕴藏量等方面分析，我国总体水资源有限，而主要江河的中下游地区仍受到洪水威胁，在总体水资源利用程度上与世界平均水平相比还较低。水资源工程可以充分调节和利用水资源，以保障人类社会的可持续发展，但同时也会对河流形态、水文水动力学条件、水生态环境形成多方面的不利影响。为减缓或减免这些不利影响，必须从设计、施工、管理等各方面重视水资源开发与生态环境保护的协调发展。三峡工程是长江干流防洪和水资源利用的骨干工程，该工程从论证、施工及初期运行各个阶段，严格履行环境保护责任和义务，建立相关环境制度和标准，建立环境监测体系，设立科研项目和落实环境保护措施，保证了工程在发挥防洪、航运和发电功能的同时，努力成为环境友好型工程。     

河口三角洲地表水文连通性研究进展

三角洲通常位于河流与湖泊、海洋等大型地表水体的过渡带,分布全球约8%人口。受地势低缓、流域来沙减少和海平面上升等多因素作用,三角洲系统被认为是诸多地表类型中高度敏感和脆弱的地带。近年来,地表水文连通性成为三角洲水文水动力领域新的热点问题。通过国内外相关文献调研,系统阐述了水文连通性概念、三角洲地表水文连通性组成以及三角洲形态和水文连通性的联系。研究表明:三角洲地表水文连通性可分为结构连通性、功能连通性和过程连通性;基于图论方法的结构连通性仅表征河网在三角洲水文连通性的作用,而功能连通性和过程连通性反映水文水动力要素的空间分布及其与气象等环境要素的耦合关系,但亟需有效的野外观测和调查数据;三角洲形态与水文连通性存在一定联系,部分形态指标可用于刻画三角洲地表水文连通程度。因三角洲具有高度时空异质性和复杂地形地貌等特点,从学科发展趋势和应用需求的角度出发,未来应综合采用野外观测、数理统计和数值模拟等多学科交叉的研究策略,为三角洲湿地生态系统应对当前快速变化环境等重大问题提供科学依据。     

Increasing the sustainability of a resource development: Aboriginal engagement and negotiated agreements

While the role Aboriginal people play in environmental governance programs are often underpinned by the Crown, Aboriginal peoples are ratifying negotiated agreements with mining proponents to ensure their issues and concerns are addressed. This paper examines Aboriginal participation in mine development to show how more inclusive social and environmental development models can support a more sustainable development. Through two complementary processes, negotiated agreements and environmental impact assessment, Aboriginal peoples are maximizing their benefits and minimizing the adverse impacts of a project to create a more sustainable resource development. Case study analysis of the Galore Creek Project in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, illustrates how environmental impact assessment and negotiated agreements can co-exist to positively contribute to a successful mineral development, and hence operationalize sustainability within this context.     

The Influence of Media Use on Environmental Engagement: A Political Socialization Approach

Current research suggests that the media play an important part in informing and engaging citizens in environmental issues. Building on these findings, this study adopts a political socialization approach to citizens' involvement in everyday-life pro-environmental behavior. Multivariate analysis of recent survey data from Swedish adolescents (N = 1148) demonstrates direct as well as indirect relationships between frequency of news media use, talk about environmental issues with parents and peers, and extent of pro-environmental behavior. The findings are consistent with the notion that news media use promotes behavior by raising awareness of environmental issues. The results are also discussed in terms of a citizen-communication framework according to which interpersonal communication translates environmental information gleaned from news sources to adolescents' everyday-life reality, thereby motivating pro-environmental behavior. Future directions for examining causal mechanisms in more detail are discussed.     

Supplier assessment based on corporate social responsibility criteria in Indian automotive and textile industry sectors

Mandatory disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting forces supply chain members to consider CSR issues in developed countries. Researchers have viewed CSR content within different themes, such as human (social), ethical and environmental perspectives. So far, in India, very little research has been done to study the impact of human issues in employment (social), ethical issues in business operations and pollution (environmental) issues at both regional and specific sector level. This paper emphasises the perspective view of supplier selection, considering CSR issues as opposed to traditional methods using conventional selection criteria such as cost, quality, delivery and service. It employs six CSR criteria such as discrimination, abuse of human rights, child labour, long working hours, unfair competition and pollution to assess small- and medium-sized suppliers who produce and deliver products to the automotive and textile industry sectors. The results of this study indicate that to prevent discrimination against pay variation, minimise cases of abuse of human rights and incidence of child labour, suppliers must put in place proper policies and procedures regarding employment contract, identification and verification records. Furthermore, to reduce unfair competition, suppliers of both automotive and textile sectors may introduce processes for investigating reports of unethical conducts and take severe disciplinary action. The suppliers of both automotive and textile sectors believe that the competitive advantage can be achieved through environmental oriented business practices. However, they differ in their approaches in attaining this objective.     

Comparative evaluation of antimicrobials for textile applications

Many antimicrobial technologies are available for textiles. They may be used in many different textile applications to prevent the growth of microorganisms. Due to the biological activity of the antimicrobial compounds, the assessment of the safety of these substances is an ongoing subject of research and regulatory scrutiny. This review aims to give an overview on the main compounds used today for antimicrobial textile functionalization. Based on an evaluation of scientific publications, market data as well as regulatory documents, the potential effects of antimicrobials on the environment and on human health were considered and also life cycle perspectives were taken into account. The characteristics of each compound were summarized according to technical, environmental and human health criteria. Triclosan, silane quaternary ammonium compounds, zinc pyrithione and silver-based compounds are the main antimicrobials used in textiles. The synthetic organic compounds dominate the antimicrobials market on a weight basis. On the technical side the application rates of the antimicrobials used to functionalize a textile product are an important parameter with treatments requiring lower dosage rates offering clear benefits in terms of less active substance required to achieve the functionality. The durability of the antimicrobial treatment has a strong influence on the potential for release and subsequent environmental effects. In terms of environmental criteria, all compounds were rated similarly in effective removal in wastewater treatment processes. The extent of published information about environmental behavior for each compound varies, limiting the possibility for an in-depth comparison of all textile-relevant parameters across the antimicrobials. Nevertheless the comparative evaluation showed that each antimicrobial technology has specific risks and benefits that should be taken into account in evaluating the suitability of different antimicrobial products. The results also indicated that nanoscale silver and silver salts that achieve functionality with very low application rates offer clear potential benefits for textile use. The regular care of textiles consumes lots of resources (e.g. water, energy, chemicals) and antimicrobial treatments can play a role in reducing the frequency and/or intensity of laundering which can give potential for significant resource savings and associated impact on the environment.