Navigating the authority paradox: Practising objectivity in environmental expertise

We empirically reveal how environmental experts interpret the objectivity norm while navigating the authority paradox. The paradox here is that while there is a need for objective scientific advice, such advice is only to be acquired from experts and expert agencies whose objectivity and, hence, authority are contested. Viewed through the lens of practice, we identify what practitioners at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency understand by objectivity. Using this paradigmatic case, we show how practitioners renegotiate the meaning of objectivity while seeking to engage with new policy actors and extended peers in an independent, rigorous and legitimate manner. Successfully navigating the authority paradox is related to skilfully representing and adapting to various meanings of objectivity. Experts and experts agencies accordingly need reflexive skills to recognise which meanings of objectivity they ascribe to and which ones are invoked in public debates. Environmental experts who are able to loosely connect diverse objectivity conceptions are more likely considered as trustworthy and authoritative partners in environmental science-policy interfaces.     

转变增长方式,推行清洁生产

从我国资源承载力，环境污染的变化趋势及国际政治和国际贸易等方面，论述了维持我国经济持续发展，必须加速传统工业发展战略转移，走低消耗、低污染、高效益的发展道路。提出了经济增长与工业化战略及环保政策的思考和建议：加快产业结构转换和技术改造，大幅度降低单位产值的能耗物耗和污染物的排放：加速技术改造，推行工业清洁生产；增加环保投入，开辟资金来源。     

城市排水许可中污水处理厂权利保护问题研究

在城市排水许可中,切实保护污水处理厂的权利,不但是依法行政的必然要求,而且对于保障污水处理厂的正常运行,防治水污染意义重大。文章从界定污水处理厂在城市排水许可中的法律主体资格入手,论证其作为城市排水许可行政相关人的合理性与正当性;继而深入分析污水处理厂的权利体系;在阐述污水处理厂权利保护的理论根基和现实意义的基础上,从立法完善、行政制度和司法保护等三方面提出城市排水许可中污水处理厂权利保护的应对之策。     

秦皇岛港开展污水回用工作的实践及评价

结合秦皇岛港务局东港污水回用工程的工作实践 ,介绍了企业开展污水回用的措施 ,并对其综合效益进行评价 ,提出了企业污水回用的主要发展对策     

Constructing collaborative communities of researchers in the environmental domain. A case study of interdisciplinary research between legal scholars and policy analysts

The article offers an analysis of the interactions between legal and policy science researchers within a European project on flood risk management using a “Policy Arrangement Approach” (PAA). While interdisciplinary research is increasingly becoming a ‘must’ in environmental governance, under what conditions is cooperation possible and desirable? Our analysis shows that the PAA is not mobilized as an interdisciplinary method, but offers a framework for researchers from different disciplines to learn to work together on a subject such as flooding, requiring interdisciplinary insights. The paper shows the steps that are progressively put in place to reach a common language and reformulate issues by benefitting from each other’s view and approaches. The article concludes by drawing attention to new means of knowledge production relating to so-called “messy” or “wicked” problems, such as environmental issues. Within this framework, interdisciplinary work is not considered to be a pre-condition for the study, but rather the result of the research process itself. The analysis draws attention to the actual (working) conditions established to create an interdisciplinary community of flooding practices by challenging disciplinary borders.     

Integrated management systems: experiences in Italian organizations

Integrated Management Systems (IMS) are becoming more and more important, but experiences may differ across regions and companies of different size and sectors. The study reported in this paper has been developed using a sample of Italian companies to investigate the potential for integration starting from an analysis of the common aspects in terms of real motivations (company image, costs saving, etc.), obstacles (unclear regulations, lack of financial support, etc.), driving forces and external pressures that companies meet when implementing each of the management systems analysed: Quality (ISO 9001:2000), Environmental (ISO 14001:2004), Occupational Health and Safety (OHSAS 18001:1999), and even, Social Responsibility (SA 8000:2007) management systems.     

Biogas in the United States: estimating future production and learning from international experiences

The substitution of biogas, an energy source derived from biological feedstock, for fossil natural gas (NG) can mitigate the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, making it an attractive renewable energy source in a carbon-constrained future. Although upgraded, pipeline-quality biogas can augment the NG market supply in the United States of America (USA), researchers and energy industry experts have little studied its long-term potential. This report estimates (1) levelized costs of energy for biogas production facilities operating with landfill waste, animal manure, wastewater sludge, and biomass residue feedstocks, (2) feedstock and technology pathway-specific biogas supply functions, and (3) the aggregate national biogas supply potential for the USA by 2040. Under a range of specified assumptions, generation of biogas could be expanded to approximately 3–5 % of the total domestic NG market at projected prices of $5–6/MMBtu, with the largest potential source coming from thermal gasification of agriculture and forest residues and biomass. As market signals have not spurred widespread adoption of biogas in the USA, policy incentives, similar to those used in the European Union (E.U.), may be necessary to increase its production and use. Bioenergy policy in the E.U. and the resulting market penetration achieved there therefore provides important lessons for how biogas markets in the USA can overcome barriers to market expansion and, in doing so, provide substantial climate mitigation benefits.     

实施清洁生产提高炼油厂装置环保合格率

介绍扬子石油化工股份有限公司炼油厂全面实施清洁生产的状况以及实施清洁生产后有关环境保护各项指标的改善。由此说明实施清洁生产在炼油企业中的重要性。     

联邦德国的"他山绿石"--访德国驻华大使薄德磊先生(Mr.Broudre-Groeger)

德国的环境保护在全球范围内都是有口皆碑，其尖端的环保技术、优美的自然环境、清洁的城市面貌，都给世人留下了深刻印象，特别是德国公民的环境意识更是让世人“羡慕”和尊敬，一个高度工业化的国家是如何摆脱发展与污染的困境？我们又能借鉴什么经验？不久前记者采访了德国驻华大使薄德磊先生。     

Education for regional sustainable development: experiences from the education framework of HHCEPZ project

Characteristics and education techniques of the education framework in Hai Hua Circular Economy Pilot Zone (HHCEPZ) project are described. In the project, a three-level education framework was set up to meet the theoretical and technological needs of implementing the circular economy towards sustainable society. In this educational framework, different information and technology was provided for different target groups using different educational techniques. The educational framework was flexible and comprehensive, endeavoring to ensure a demand-oriented and need-based approach to the local sustainability improvement. The results showed that the education framework was successful and served as the basis of implementation and capacity building of sustainable development. The article also presents the achievements of the HHCEPZ project and gives some suggestions on how to improve the current education framework for further implementation.     

Energy service company and financial market development: experiences of the Global Environment Facility

Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and the energy market for ESCO financing have been developing since 1976 when oil prices increased dramatically. ESCOs’ services cover projects in many energy areas, including energy extraction, power generation, energy conversion, transportation, power transmission, energy consumption, project financing, energy project audits, monitoring, and energy savings verification. In developing countries, there are many barriers in the energy market that are preventing ESCOs from developing. These barriers include lack of appropriate policy, financial mechanisms, and local capacities for ESCO development and management. Over the past 20 years, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) financed 39 ESCO projects in 25 countries and regions to remove these barriers. The results of these projects show that some countries, such as China, are very successful in ESCO development, but others are not. Different models of ESCOs in different financial markets in various countries are analyzed; and case studies are undertaken for China, India, Ukraine, and Brazil. This article concludes that, while developing financial markets for ESCOs, countries need to consider (1) initiating national government policy to stop energy subsidies and to reform energy pricing, (2) establishing a real, market based financial mechanism for ESCOs, (3) involving the private sector in project co-financing, (4) creating incentives to ESCOs in the market by investing part of government revenue from energy tax, and (5) incentivizing ESCOs by government corporate tax exemption.     

Developing biofuels industry in small economies: Policy experiences and lessons from the caribbean basin initiative

With increasing concerns about rising energy demand and cost, diminishing oil reserves, and climate change, Central American and Caribbean (CAC) nations have the opportunity to become producers of low-carbon sustainable biofuels for domestic consumption and foreign exchange earnings. While the region has a number of comparative advantages for developing a vibrant biofuels sector, including favorable climate and significant agricultural experience, the experience under the favorable Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) has exposed significant technical and non-technical barriers that must be overcome. Using information compiled through interviews with industry executives, government policy makers and civil society stakeholders, we provide a critical analysis of this experience focusing on non-technical barriers to investment. Survey results suggest that political uncertainty, poor regulatory frameworks, and lack of institutional commitment and business incentives are the main non-technical barriers. Having laid out the challenges, we propose potential policy positions to stimulate growth of the regional biofuels sector. Results point to the need to prioritize enhancing national legislation, developing risk prevention plans, creating supply and demand side incentives and increasing multilateral collaboration. While these findings are derived from the Caribbean Basin experience, they may also be applicable to small economies in other regions that are considering policies for biofuels industry development.     

Power sector reform in Central Asia: observations on the diverse experiences of some formerly Soviet Republics and Mongolia

We examine the paths to structural reform of the electricity sectors in six former communist Central Asian countries, present data on progress towards solving identified problems, and develop economic hypotheses linking the structural changes with progress identified. This analysis is used to derive suggestions for the further structural reforms of the sectors. The experiences documented make a strong case for (i) improving the transparency of operations of Central Asia's power utilities, beginning with the transactions between subsidiaries; and (ii) improving incentives for distribution companies to perform their billing and cash collection responsibilities, both through improved accountability, and, in the countries studied, some privatisation of these commercial services. They also highlight the critical role of governmental commitment to restoring discipline, the importance of setting limited and consistent objectives for regulators, and the function of transmission company independence in promoting economically and environmentally efficient and sustainable regional power trade.     

Practical experiences with the implementation of the concept of zero emissions in the surface treatment industry in Austria

The authors have developed the approach of the “Zero emission retrofitting method for existing galvanizing plants” (ZERMEG). The goal of this approach is to take existing galvanizing plants as far as possible towards zero emissions. The development was supported by the Austrian ministry for science and technology within the programme “Factory of the Future”. The method consists first of an analytical step to describe the existing performance of the plant in terms of production, water input and input of chemicals, a second step is designed to characterize the theoretically possible minimum consumption using the present equipment and the third step is the comparison of the present to the ideal situation to identify optimisation options (improved draining, dosage of chemicals, control of rinsing water, mixing in the tanks, etc.).To facilitate the calculations, a Microsoft-Excel-programme was developed (Zero Emission Program Analysis, ZEPRA), which allows to calculate the ideal water consumption of different configurations of rin ses, drag out for different shapes and surface conditions of parts, and changes in concentrations of active baths. A technology data bank was developed that includes information on different technologies to enlarge the useful time of galvanizing baths or to recycle spent solutions and rinsing water.This paper describes case studies in five galvanizing plants. The measures which were implemented include changing the rinsing cascades in three plants at the wire producer Pengg (reduction of the water consumption in the batch pickling plant by 50%), the use of spent caustics to preneutralise spent process baths and the implementation of an electrolysis plant to recover copper at the printed circuit board manufacturer AT&S (recovery of 20 kg/day of copper), optimising the pickling baths of the hot dip galvanizer Mosdorfer (50% reduction of consumption of acids) and the optimisation of the spray rinses in the automatic copper plating plants of the producer of printing cyclinders Rotoform (reduction of water consumption by 50%, reduction of acid consumption by 40%).The work showed, that in three of the five plants it was possible to fully avoid the discharge of spent process baths. One plant now operates at zero emissions. In one plant it would be technically feasible to do so, however, it is not economically feasible, at this time.     

Promoting energy efficiency financing and ESCOs in developing countries: experiences from Korean ESCO business

Promotion of ESCO business is one way of increasing energy efficiency. However, it has a lot of barriers and challenges to be successful. The Korean case is a good example to show the reason why economically viable energy savings measures cannot be implemented and how this can be corrected. Although financing is essential for promoting energy efficiency investment and ESCO business, it is not the most crucial barrier to overcome. Along with a financial barrier, an institutional barrier should also be lifted for energy efficiency investment. In this regard, the role of government as a market creator as well as a rule setter through removing barriers and mobilizing necessary capital needs to be emphasized.