Compromise solutions to the acid deposition control problem: a theoretical model and some simulation results

Acid deposition is a muitifaceted environmental phenomenon whose control represents one of the most controversial environmental policy areas. Because of the longrange transport of air pollutants contributing to acid deposition, its control is the responsibility of more than one region. Given the interdependence between the economic and environmental impacts of acid deposition as well as the interregional conflicts over its control, the present article proposes an interregional integrated economic-environmental model for the study of the impacts of acid deposition control policies. This model is solved with the use of a compromise programming procedure which facilitates the explicit treatment of conflicting regional goals. After the theoretical and operational forms and the solution procedure of the proposed model are described, the use of the model is illustrated with a simulation example using the 1963 MRIO accounts and hypothetical environmental data. The compromise programming procedure can form the basis for interactive decision processes when policy makers are exposed to the solutions yielded by the model. The model's usefulness and future research directions are discussed.     

Using a choice experiment to measure the environmental costs of air pollution impacts in Seoul

Air pollution, a by-product of economic growth, has been incurring extensive environmental costs in Seoul, Korea. Unfortunately, air pollution impacts are not treated as a commercial item, and thus it is difficult to measure the environmental costs arising from air pollution. There is an imminent need to find a way to measure air pollution impacts so that appropriate actions can be taken to control air pollution. Therefore, this study attempts to apply a choice experiment to quantifying the environmental costs of four air pollution impacts (mortality, morbidity, soiling damage, and poor visibility), using a specific case study of Seoul. We consider the trade-offs between price and attributes of air pollution impacts for selecting a preferred alternative and derive the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) estimate for each attribute. According to the results, the households' monthly WTP for a 10% reduction in the concentrations of major pollutants in Seoul was found to be approximately 5494 Korean won (USD 4.6) and the total annual WTP for the entire population of Seoul was about 203.4 billion Korean won (USD 169.5 million). This study is expected to provide policy-makers with useful information for evaluating and planning environmental policies relating specifically to air pollution.     

神经网络在空气污染预报中的应用研究

空气污染预报是一项复杂的系统工程,是当今环境科学研究的热点,国内外已有将神经网络法应用于大气污染预报的研究。本论文以PM2．5为例,采用伦敦市PM2．5的小时平均浓度数据,使用传统的BP神经网络建立预报模型,定量预测伦敦市PM2.5的小时平均浓度,探讨了大气污染预报网络的建模过程中,扩大样本集、去除样本集数据噪声和在输入向量中加入气象变量等因素对建模所产生的影响。最后得出结论,适当的选择样本集、气象变量,有利于提高所建立网络模型的预测精度。     

The cost of crop damage caused by ozone air pollution from motor vehicles

The effects of ozone air pollution on the agricultural sector are an important environmental challenge facing policy makers. Most studies of the economic impact of air pollution on agriculture have found that a 25% reduction in ambient ozone would provide benefits of at least $1–2 billion annually in the United States. This paper extends existing research by estimating the benefits of a reduction in emissions from a major source of ozone formation: motor-vehicle emissions. An agricultural production model is combined with an analysis of motor-vehicle emissions and air quality to estimate the impacts of emissions from six different motor-vehicle classes, at both the regional and national level. The benefits to the agricultural sector from completely eliminating ozone precursor emissions from motor vehicles ranges between $3·5 and $6·1 billion annually.     

Analysis of energy security and sustainability in future low carbon scenarios for Brazil

This study estimated a series of indicators to assess the energy security of supply and global and local environmental impacts under different mitigation scenarios through 2050 in Brazil, designed with the integrated optimization energy system model MESSAGE‐BRAZIL. The assessment of interactions between environmental impacts and energy security dimensions was complemented through the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Overall results imply energy security establishes more synergies than trade‐offs in increasingly stringent mitigation scenarios, especially patent within the sustainability dimension, which increases energy security and provides additional benefits regarding climate change mitigation and air pollution emissions. It is still necessary to extend analysis to other energy sectors in addition to the power supply sector and to promote a better understanding of repercussions of energy scenario expansion in energy security.     

Assessing environmental impacts of municipal solid waste of Johor by analytical hierarchy process

The views of the public on solid waste bound to be generated in Johor Bahru Malaysia are presented and appraised. This is because of the massive development currently going on to transform the city to an international standing by the year 2025. For this reason, attempts to raise stakeholder awareness on the need to embrace on how best to manage the current problem with reduced impacts to the environment currently and in the future was attempted. Data were collected through contacts and questionnaire survey. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique was used to structure and assess the views and judgments of stakeholders on the environmental impacts of solid waste disposal. SuperDecision software was used to generate and compute results of stakeholder's judgments. The assessment revealed that fauna and flora, habitat depletion and land use among the criteria are most critical environmental impacts. Landfilling, recycling, incineration and composting were evaluated in terms of the environmental impacts. The choice of incineration is perceived to improve environmental visibility, preserves fauna and flora as well as stream ecology, improves environmental air quality and optimizes land use. Similarly, recycling of waste, is perceived to preserves fauna and flora, stream ecology, habitat depletion, improves air quality as well as land use. Composting is perceived to be the best option in terms of preservation of stream ecology, habitat depletion and land use practice. Landfill generates less noise and vibration but found to be responsible for more than 50% of the environmental impacts created by solid waste in this area. Composting and recycling are mostly preferred to landfilling and incineration and the reason why this is so was provided. The study also identified challenges ahead and highlights that benefits attached to some vital disposal options (such as incineration) are yet to be fully implemented.     

Design for environment: A new framework for strategic decisions

For most of its history of environmental protection, U.S. policy has concentrated on a pollution control strategy based on single medium emissions: air, water, or land. Efforts to mitigate environmental impacts to one medium often resulted in greater impacts to others. While much environmental improvement has occurred via this system over the last quarter-century, it is generally recognized that alternative strategies which address environmental impacts across all media in an integrated manner will be necessary for continued improvement. Increasingly, regulatory strategies that result in only passive compliance will be insufficient to meet these demands. This article demonstrates why new strategies which encourage proactive behavior are necessary. A new framework for making strategic decisions—design for environment—concerning the relation between our actions and environment is necessary to ensure a sustainable future.     

The impacts of anthropogenic factors on the environment in Nigeria

Generally speaking, there has been a consensus on the primary drivers of anthropogenic induced environmental degradation. However, little progress has been made in determining the magnitude of the impacts, particularly in developing countries. This creates a lacuna that needs to be filled up. The purpose of this study therefore is to ascertain the degree of anthropogenic induced environmental impacts in Nigeria. To achieve the aim, fossil fuel consumption was used as a surrogate for carbon dioxide emissions while the magnitude of the impacts was determined by regression statistics and the STIRPAT model. The results show that only three variables, namely population, affluence and urbanization, were statistically significant and that the regression model accounts for 60% of the variation in the environmental impacts. However, population and affluence, which have ecological elasticities of 1.699 and 2.709, respectively, are the most important anthropogenic drivers of environmental impacts in Nigeria while urbanization, with an elasticity of -0.570, reduces the effect of the impacts. This implies that modernization brings about a reduction in environmental impacts. The paper therefore makes a significant contribution to knowledge by successfully testing the STIRPAT model in this part of the world and by being the first application of the model at political units below the regional or nation states.     

Environmental impact minimization of a total wastewater treatment network system from a life cycle perspective

Synthesis of distributed wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) has focused on cost reduction, but never on the reduction of environmental impacts. A mathematical optimization model was developed in this study to synthesize existing distributed and terminal WTPs into an environmentally friendly total wastewater treatment network system (TWTNS) from a life cycle perspective. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of principal contributors in a TWTNS. The LCA results were integrated into the objective function of the model. The mass balances were formulated from the superstructure model, and the constraints were formulated to reflect real wastewater treatment situations in industrial plants. A case study validated the model and demonstrated the effect of the objective function on the configuration and environmental performance of a TWTNS. This model can be used to minimize environmental impacts of a TWTNS in retrofitting existing WTPs in line with cleaner production and sustainable development.     

Open waste burning in Cameroonian cities: an environmental impact analysis

Lack of technology and efficient management of solid waste coupled with poverty have motivated most developing countries to sort for cheap waste disposal methods with negative consequences on the environment. Open burning at waste dumps causes serious toxicological impacts. Most organic solid waste excluding plastics when burned cause considerably little environmental pollution. However, non-stoichiometric combustion of waste plastics produces significant amounts of various aliphatic and aromatic compounds, acidic gases, dust and smoke. These products pollute the air, water and soil generating significant health problems with related socioeconomic impacts on human, animals and plants. Some of these pollutants are toxic and/or carcinogenic, form acid-rain and influence climate change. Critical discourse and research on environmental toxicology resulting from air pollution with related health risk and impacts have been catalysed by the enactment of major environmental regulations and increased awareness. The new clean air act amendment of 1990 is estimated to require about $25billion annually for its implementation in the United States, indicating the gravity of the pollution problem. Understanding, controlling and mitigating the impacts of chemical pollution from multiple sources related to open burning of plastics is complex. This paper uses content analysis of relevant literature and field observations to analyse, evaluate and identify characteristic pollutants including their transmission potentials, sources and impacts on human health with the assessment, prevention and management of related risk. An affordable technology-based approach applied within a bottom-up management strategy to prevent and control pollution offers a sustainable solution underpinned by resource and energy recovery from waste.     

Comparative risk analysis for metropolitan solid waste management systems

Conventional solid waste management planning usually focuses on economic optimization, in which the related environmental impacts or risks are rarely considered. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the methodology of how optimization concepts and techniques can be applied to structure and solve risk management problems such that the impacts of air pollution, leachate, traffic congestion, and noise increments can be regulated in the long-term planning of metropolitan solid waste management systems. Management alternatives are sequentially evaluated by adding several environmental risk control constraints stepwise in an attempt to improve the management strategies and reduce the risk impacts in the long run. Statistics associated with those risk control mechanisms are presented as well. Siting, routing, and financial decision making in such solid waste management systems can also be achieved with respect to various resource limitations and disposal requirements.     

Environmental Impact Evaluation Model for Industrial Processes

This paper proposes a model to evaluate the environmental impact of manufacturing processes. This model uses the potency factor approach to classify environmental impacts into five ecological health impact groups and uses their toxicological, cancer, and physical effects as the bases to rate the seven groups of human health impacts. The environmental impacts in each impact group are reported, and their hazard scores on ecological and human health are determined. The model also generates a single score for the overall environmental impacts of a process. This single score system helps to identify, among all the viable processes, which is the most environmentally friendly process. This model can serve as a tool to highlight the potential environmental hazards of process operations and to provide information about environmental performance for decision making. The model has been developed into a computer software program, Environmental Impact Evaluation System, and is demonstrated by using the processes employed for the manufacture of paper bags.     

A framework to assess regional environmental impacts of dedicated energy crop production

Numerous studies have evaluated air quality and greenhouse gas mitigation benefits of biomass energy systems, but the potential environmental impacts associated with large-scale changes in land-use patterns needed to produce energy crops have not been quantified. This paper presents a framework to assess the potential soil, water, and biodiversity impacts that may result from the large-scale production of dedicated energy crops. The framework incorporates producer economic decision models with environmental models to assess changes in land use patterns and to quantify the consequent environmental impacts. Economic and policy issues that will affect decisions to produce energy crops are discussed. The framework is used to evaluate erosion and chemical runoff in two Tennessee regions. The analysis shows that production of dedicated energy crops in place of conventional crops will significantly reduce erosion and chemical runoff.     

ECOSYSTEM MODELING OF A FORESTED RIVER BASIN1

ABSTRACT: A present concern in decision making processes for forest land use is the environmental effects of land use activities on water, air, and the land itself. Criteria for evaluating the magnitude and detriment of environmental impacts are not definite since it is often difficult to isolate a particular activity as the cause of a particular impact. Instead, interactions between various forest practices must be considered along with their integrated impacts. In order to provide an effective decision tool, the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, is modeling the forest ecosystem of the Snohomish River Basin located in the Cascade Mountains of western Washington. The project consists of a general system model comprised of subsystem models dealing with product conversion processes, forest production processes, recreation supply processes, wildlife and fisheries supply processes, and the interactions of these processes with water and the atmosphere. The system model is interfaced with a computerized multiple player management game which enables land managers, manufacturing managers, and regulation agency personnel to make management decisions and respond to indications of lack of environmental control. Responses of the hydrologic system to various management decisions are simulated by the water subsystem model. The responses being considered include surface flow quantity and water quality. The model emphasizes the monitoring of non-point as well as point source impacts rather than predicting short-term hydrographs. The significance of impacts vary with land use patterns and the goals of the game player. Therefore, the model has flexible resolution and is able to predict hydrologic conditions for both large and small scale. The water subsystem model responds to management decisions by interpreting the effects of management options selected by game players for 40-acre cells within the Basin. The model then determines which streams are immediately affected, defines the watersheds contributing to these streams, and extracts from a resource data bank the information needed to define model parameters. Using these parameters and precipitation inputs, mean flow discharge on a montly and annual basis is calculated for the impactcd sub watersheds as well as 21 major watersheds of the Basin. Water quality responses predicted for these watersheds include suspended sediment concentration, temperature increases due to stream exposure, dissolved oxygen concentrations, the effects of fertilization on nitrogen content, biocide and herbicide effects, and residues from product conversion processes.     

Rice and Bricks: Environmental Issues and Mapping of the Unusual Crop Rotation Pattern in the Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal has experienced a very rapid increase in population resulting in considerable land use/land cover change and also a series of environmental problems. One of the results of the population increase is an expansion of brick manufacturing within the Valley because most structures are brick. The brick kilns are intense in several locations of the Valley and have an interesting pattern of using the same lands for bricks during the dry season and then conversion to rice during the wet, summer monsoon months. The increase in brick production has contributed to environmental problems including decreased soil productivity, lowered ground water levels, and particularly air pollution. Brick manufacturing has little, if any, effective regulation. There is a lack of current, accurate data on brick production that could be resolved by remote sensing methods. Controls should be established and more information acquired on the location and impacts of brick production.     

Managing agricultural emissions to the atmosphere: state of the science, fate and mitigation, and identifying research gaps

The impact of agriculture on regional air quality creates significant challenges to sustainability of food supplies and to the quality of national resources. Agricultural emissions to the atmosphere can lead to many nuisances, such as smog, haze, or offensive odors. They can also create more serious effects on human or environmental health, such as those posed by pesticides and other toxic industrial pollutants. It is recognized that deterioration of the atmosphere is undesirable, but the short- and long-term impacts of specific agricultural activities on air quality are not well known or understood. These concerns led to the organization of the 2009 American Chemical Society Symposium titled . An outcome of this symposium is this special collection of 14 research papers focusing on various issues associated with production agriculture and its effect on air quality. Topics included emissions from animal feeding operations, odors, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, mitigation, modeling, and risk assessment. These papers provide new research insights, identify gaps in current knowledge, and recommend important future research directions. As the scientific community gains a better understanding of the relationships between anthropogenic activities and their effects on environmental systems, technological advances should enable a reduction in adverse consequences on the environment.     

Environmental monitoring at Hanford,Washington, USA: A brief site history and summary of recent results

Nuclear and nonnuclear industrial and research activities have been conducted on the Hanford reservation since 1943. Materials originating from these activities may enter the surrounding environment through releases of airborne and liquid effluents and solid wastes. Concern about the environmental effects of these releases has evolved over the past four decades into a comprehensive onsite and offsite monitoring program. Today, environmental monitoring to assess potential impacts of released materials includes field sampling and chemical and physical analyses of air, ground and surface water, fish and wildlife, soil, vegetation, and foodstuffs. This paper reviews the history of Hanford operations and summarizes the current environmental monitoring program and its major findings. Mathematical models based on monitoring data show that radiation doses to people living near the Hanford site are well below existing regulatory standards. Only trace amounts of radionuclides from Hanford have been detected in the offsite environment.     

The influence of motivations for seeking ISO 14001 certification: an empirical study of ISO 14001 certified facilities in Hong Kong

This study proposes a model linking firm motivations for seeking ISO 14001 certification to the effectiveness of three major components of an environmental management system (EMS)--environmental policy, the assessment of environmental aspect and impacts, and management review. The relationship of these EMS components with a self-reported measure of environmental performance is also examined. From a sample of 29 ISO 14001 certified facilities in Hong Kong (of 71 total certifications at the time the data was collected), it was found that motivations to enhance firm reputation are positively related to perceptions of the effectiveness of the policy statement. Motivations for reputation enhancement and cost reduction were positively related to perceptions of EMS effectiveness in assessing environmental aspects and impacts. The effectiveness of the methodology for identifying environmental aspects and impacts was also found to be positively related to improved environmental performance.     

Predicting methyl iodide emission, soil concentration, and pest control in a two-dimensional chamber system

Due to ever-increasing state and federal regulations, the future use of fumigants is predicted on reducing negative environmental impacts while offering sufficient pestcontrol efficacy. To foster the development of a best management practice, an integrated tool is needed to simultaneously predict fumigant movement and pest control without having to conduct elaborate and costly experiments. The objective of this study was (i) to present a two-dimensional (2-D) mathematical model to describe both fumigant movement and pestcontrol and (ii) to evaluate the model by comparing the simulated and observed results. Both analytical and numerical methods were used to predict methyl iodide (MeI) transport and fate. To predict pest control efficacy, the concentration-time index (CT) was defined and a two-parameter logistic survival model was used. Dose-response curves were experimentally determined for MeI against three types of pests (barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli] seed, citrus nematode [Tylenchulus semipenetrans], and fungi [Fusarium oxysporum]). Methyl iodide transport and pest control measurements collected from a 2-D experiimental system (60 by 60 cm) were used to test the model. Methyl iodide volatilization rates and soil gas-phase concentrations over time were accurately simulated by the model. The mass balance analysis indicates that the fraction of MeI degrading in the soil was underestimated when determined by the appearance of iodide concentration. The experimental results showed that after 24 h of MeI fumigation in the 2-D soil chamber, fungal population was not suppressed; > 90% of citrus nematodes were killed; and barnyardgrass seeds within 20-cm distance from the center were affected. These experimental results were consistent with the predicted results. The model accurately estimated the MeI movement and control of various pests and is a powerful tool to evaluate pesticides in terms of their negative environmental impacts and pest control under various environmental conditions and application methods.