The impact of clean energy development on economic growth in China: from the perspectives of environmental regulation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Given the finite nature of fossil energy and rising environmental pressures, countries are increasing focus on clean energy. By employing provincial...     

城市能源利用与环境保护的综合管理初探

能源短缺和环境污染已成为中国推行全面协调可持续发展的重要制约因素,作为能源消耗的主体和环境污染的控制重点,在城市层面推动能源发展战略的转变和强化环境保护是发展的基本要求.鉴于能源与环境之间的高度关联性,在管理方面要求对能源发展和环境保护进行统筹考虑和综合管理,充分强调能源经济效率和环境制约因素在能源发展中的作用.通过制定合理的产业能效标准和排放绩效标准,为城市经济、能源和环境的可持续性发展提供科学性、系统性决策支持.     

浅谈环境影响评价在印染行业节能减排中的作用

分析了环境影响评价中几个重要步骤以及与环境影响评价相关的政策在印染行业节能减排中的作用。指出了准确的工程分析是节能减排措施能够实施的前提;合理的污染物排放总量确定为印染行业节能减排提供合理的工作目标;客观的清洁生产分析为节能减排提供可靠的分析数据;环境影响评价相关的政策是印染行业节能减排的基础和依据。     

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution: a global research framework,challenges, and future perspectives

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - As a result of extreme modifications in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, the status of air quality has recently been improved. This...     

Current status and future needs for biological and environmental reference materials certified for methylmercury compounds.

A good quality control/quality assurance programme should be implemented in all environmental or health related studies on mercury and its organic compounds, particularly, for monomethylmercury (MeHg) which is the most toxic mercury compound. This can be achieved initially by analysing suitable certified reference materials (CRMs), which are available from various producers such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from USA, National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES), National Research Council of Canada (NRCC), Standards, Measurements and Testing programme (SM&T) of the European Commission, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is well understood that these materials are not covering present needs, as most of them are of the marine origin, while many laboratories are conducting research and monitoring in terrestrial ecosystems and fresh water environment. In addition, CRMs for human exposure assessment, such as blood, urine, and hair at several levels of concentrations are still lacking. Therefore, many other actions should be undertaken to achieve, improve and/or maintain quality of data, including participation in interlaboratory studies, proficiency testing and production of laboratory reference materials. A review of these actions has shown that MeHg compounds determination in samples such as soil, sediment and water is rather difficult and the results are also method dependent. In addition, it has been shown that some of the most frequently employed analytical methods may be a subject to spurious MeHg formation in the presence of high concentrations of inorganic mercury and organic matter. These findings have put a number of previous data on MeHg in question and consequently prompt actions were undertaken by a number of well experienced laboratories and producers of CRMs. So far, it is shown that the results obtained by various laboratories using different analytical techniques agree well with certified values in all RMs certified for MeHg. This suggests that comparability of data can be achieved, which however is not a guarantee of the true values.     

规划环境影响评价探讨

以《中华人民共和国环境影响评价法》为依据 ,对实施规划环境影响评价的意义进行了分析 ,并提出了规划环境影响评价应遵循的原则、方法和基本程序     

Renewable energy consumption in Coastline Mediterranean Countries: impact of environmental degradation and housing policy

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The significance of the natural geographical characteristics and ecological formation of the Coastline Mediterranean Countries (CMC) suggests a...     

Identifying impact of international trade and renewable energy consumption on environmental quality improvement and their role in global warming

There is a lack of proper research that highlights the impact of institutional quality (IQ) and renewable energy consumption (REC) on the carbon emission (CE). The significance of IQ and REC in the achievement of zero CE is highlighted in this research. The current research reports the effects of these important factors on the consumption-based carbon emissions in the G-7 countries from 1995 to 2018. Based on the outcome of the cointegration test, the long-run connection is recognized between IQ, REC, GDP, exports, imports, and consumption-based CE. The findings also validated that there exist significant decrease and increase in the CE in both the short and long run; for instance, IQ, REC, and exports decrease the CE, while imports and GDP increase the CE. The estimates of causality test showed that policies aimed at improving IQ, REC, GDP, exports, and imports have a significant impact on the CE. Consequently, based on these results, policymakers in the G-7 must prioritize IQ and REC to enhance environmental quality and attain carbon neutrality.

     

Mitigating environmental impact of waste glass materials: review of the existing reclamation options and future outlook

The environmental impact of waste glass (WG) is one of the major challenges crippling sustainable waste management and mitigation. Reclamation of recycled materials from waste glass remains a tedious task amidst complex technological approaches. The challenge as seen in the global containment measures increase the proportion of waste glass and minimize the existing capacity of landfill space. In many works, findings have shown how best to minimize the impact of waste glass as evidenced in their inclusion as building materials such as cement, mortars, concretes and blocks. The concept of this paper is to appraise previous studies carried out on the use of waste glass as key contributing factor in structural building. The scope of this paper will be broaden to include various successes recorded in the evolution of concrete mixtures containing different proportion of recycle glass. Part of the setbacks noted in the inclusion of these recycled materials as matrix, filler or fibre are also reported in this paper. Also discussed is the durability of glass materials in varying conglomerate involving cement in reinforcement of building and structures. Thermal insulating properties of recycled glass are also considered in this work where considerable energy is saved due to their low thermal conductivity. Based on the analysis of various studies and other factors considered in this paper, it is established that recycled glass materials can be accommodated in structural buildings, while continuous research is necessary to adapt waste glass to high pH value of Portland cement.

     

Seaweed future cultivation in Chile: perspectives and challenges

Production of seaweeds in Chile has fluctuated between 120,000 and 316,000 wet metric tons per year during the last ten years. The most important Phaeophyta are exploited for alginate production and as abalone feed. Among the Rhodophyta, Chilean production comes mainly from wild stocks, as at present cultivation on a commercial scale is restricted to Gracilaria. Large scale production of this species has been the result of a sharp increase in the number of farms. During the last five years an important trend towards diversification of seaweed exploitation and cultivation has developed. The demand for brown algal materials for the alginate industry, abalone cultivation, seaweed flour production for human and animal feeding and the development of novel food products has encouraged the farming of Macrocystis pyrifera and of red edible seaweeds, such as Chondracanthus chamissoi and Callophyllis variegata, is also promoting the development of cultivation activities.     

规划环境影响跟踪评价初探

2003年开始实施的<中华人民共和国环境影响评价法>对跟踪评价提出了明确规定.对跟踪评价方法在规划环境影响评价中的运作程序进行了分析,包括判别规划是否需跟踪评价、现状调查、环境影响识别、回顾性评价、有效性分析、预测评价和战略调整7个步骤.并基于压力-状态-响应(PSR)模型建立了指标体系,采用指标体系法有效简化了跟踪评价工作的复杂性.并以<上海市某区国民经济和社会发展第十一个五年规划纲要>跟踪评价为例,进行了规划环境影响跟踪评价的案例研究.通过回顾性评价和预测评价,识别出了主要环境问题以及环境制约因素,并根据规划总目标、阶段目标和环境保护规划、环境功能区划,进一步提出环境保护对策和措施,且对规划目标进行了调整.     

Investigating global surface temperature from the perspectives of environmental,demographic, and economic indicators: current status and future temperature trend

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Anthropogenic activities have increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions, which have observably increased global temperature....     

环境影响后评价的最新进展与建议

结合《中华人民共和国环境影响评价法》的有关条款,探讨了环境影响后评价的概念、分类、适用对象、意义和内容,提出了环境影响后评价的管理和实施程序.结合多年的实践,分析了目前环境影响后评价工作在理论、方法和管理上存在的问题,提出了改进和完善的建议.案例实践表明,开展环境影响后评价有助于提高环境影响评价制度的有效性.     

Comparative analysis of the growth impact of pollution and energy use in selected West African nations

We adopt the FMOLS and Granger causality technique to analyse the effect of energy use and carbon emissions on output growth in selected West African economies, which includes Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana, from 1970 to 2019. Findings confirm that energy use enhances growth in the three selected West African economies. But in terms of significance, energy consumption is significant in Nigeria and Gambia at a 1% level of significance while it is insignificant for the Gambia. CO₂ emission positively and significantly propels economic growth for the three selected West African economies. For Nigeria, causality evidence shows no direct influence among the variables. For Ghana, we find a bi-causal association between output growth and carbon emissions and a unidirectional causality from pollution to energy consumption. For Gambia, economic growth causes CO₂ emissions. We recommend that the West African government reinforce their stand on a sustainable growth path through energy conservation.

     

Evaluation of biogas upgrading technologies and future perspectives: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Biogas is acknowledged as one of the foremost bioenergy to address the current environmental and energy challenges being faced by the world. Commonly,...     

关于在环境影响评价过程中开展公众参与的思考

通过对不同形式公众参与优缺点的分析,提出今后有效开展公众参与的建议,旨在探讨《中华人民共和国环境影响评价法》实施后,中国应如何开展环境影响评价中的公众参与。     

Diesel engines: environmental impact and control.

The diesel engine is the most efficient prime mover commonly available today. Diesel engines move a large portion of the world's goods, power much of the world's equipment, and generate electricity more economically than any other device in their size range. But the diesel is one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution problems worldwide, and will remain so, with large increases expected in vehicle population and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) causing ever-increasing global emissions. Diesel emissions contribute to the development of cancer; cardiovascular and respiratory health effects; pollution of air, water, and soil; soiling; reductions in visibility; and global climate change. Where instituted, control programs have been effective in reducing diesel fleet emissions. Fuel changes, such as reduced sulfur and aromatics content, have resulted in immediate improvements across the entire diesel on- and off-road fleet, and promise more improvements with future control. In the United States, for example, 49-state (non-California) off-road diesel fuel sulfur content is 10 times higher than that of national on-road diesel fuel. Significantly reducing this sulfur content would reduce secondary particulate matter (PM) formation and allow the use of control technologies that have proven effective in the on-road arena. The use of essentially zero-sulfur fuels, such as natural gas, in heavy-duty applications is also expected to continue. Technology changes, such as engine modifications, exhaust gas recirculation, and catalytic aftertreatment, take longer to fully implement, due to slow fleet turnover. However, they eventually result in significant emission reductions and will be continued on an ever-widening basis in the United States and worldwide. New technologies, such as hybrids and fuel cells, show significant promise in reducing emissions from sources currently dominated by diesel use. Lastly, the turnover of trucks and especially off-road equipment is slow; pollution control agencies need to address existing emissions with in-use programs, such as exhaust trap retrofits and smoke inspections. Such a program is underway in California. These and other steps that can be continued and improved will allow the use of the diesel engine, with its superior fuel consumption, to continue to benefit society while greatly reducing its negative environmental and health impacts. The next ten years can and must become the "Decade of Clean Diesel."     

Exploring the nexus between natural resource depletion,renewable energy use,and environmental degradation in sub-Saharan Africa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study explores the nexus between natural resource depletion, renewable energy&nbsp;use, and environmental degradation in 48 sub-Saharan...