The backward incidence of pollution control in a rigid-wage economy

The backward incidence of pollution controls onto the polluting and nonpolluting industries is examined in a two-sector, rigid-wage economy characterized by unemployment in both the short run and the long run. As expected, more restrictive pollution controls result in contraction in the polluting sector and expansion in the nonpolluting sector. Somewhat unexpectedly, national income may rise with stronger pollution controls, if the polluting industry is relatively capital intensive.     

Household incidence of pollution control policies: A robust welfare analysis using general equilibrium effects

This study assesses the incidence of pollution control policies on households. In contrast to previous studies, we employ an integrated framework combining a multisector general equilibrium model with a stochastic dominance analysis using household-level data. We consider three policy instruments in a domestic emission trading system: (i) an output-based allocation (OBA) of permits; (ii) the use of the proceeds of permit sales to reduce payroll taxes (RPT); (iii) and the use of these proceeds to reduce consumption taxes instead (UCS). The general equilibrium results suggest that the return to capital is more negatively affected than the wage rate in all simulations, since polluting industries are capital intensive. Abstracting from pollution externalities, the dominance analysis suggests that all three policies have a normatively robust negative (positive) impact on welfare (poverty). Formal dominance tests indicate that RPT first-order welfare dominates OBA over all values of household incomes. UCS also first-order poverty dominates RPT for any choice of poverty line below $CAN 18,600, and poverty dominates for any poverty line (and thus welfare dominates) at the second order. Finally, while the three pollution control policies do not have a numerically large impact on inequality (in comparison to the base run), statistical tests indicate that inequality increases significantly more with OBA and RPT than with UCS.     

Pollution control is a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model

This paper examines the problem of pollution control is an economy which produces two commodities which have different polluting characteristics. The model sheds light on the change is the optimal combination of commodities such as public transportation as opposed to private transportation, detergents and soap, returnable and nonreturnable bottles, and so on.     

Parental investment decision rules: a test in bluegill sunfish

Summary We review parental investment decision theory and provide an experimental test of the decision rule used by male bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) in allocating parental investment to their young. The alternative decision rules tested are: (1) invest according to brood size (number) only; (2) invest according to past investment only; (3) invest according to both brood size and past investment; and (4) invest according to neither brood size nor past investment. By manipulating brood size independently of a male's cumulative investment in the brood, and by measuring each male's defensive behavior against a model predator, we found that male bluegill invest according to both brood size and past investment. This result is consistent with recent theory that past parental investment devalues adult future reproductive value, and that animals should therefore invest according to the value of their brood relative to that of their own expected future reproduction.     

Diversity–stability relationships revisited: scaling rules for biological communities near equilibrium

The debate on diversity–stability relationships has a long history of theoretical interest and plays a central role in development of modern ecology. But such debate has recently re-opened under critical scrutiny both in theoretical and empirical studies. In this paper we use allometric (or energetic) scaling and statistical physics approaches to this problem. On the basis of local Damuth symmetry, a Markov model of transfer of energy between different species, and the fluctuation–dissipation theorem, scaling rules of species number and population variability of biological communities near equilibrium are derived. These scaling rules indicate that the diversity–stability relationship may be an energetic and thermodynamic consequence of ecological systems near equilibrium, not a simple statistical consequence as derived by other recent theoretical work.     

Optimal investment in pollution control capital in a neoclassical growth context

A neoclassical growth model is employed to study the optimal division of investment between pollution control capital and directly productive capital while simultaneously treating the saving rate as a policy variable to be varied to the optimal. The model treats pollution as a flow positively related to aggregate output, negatively related to the stock of pollution control capital, and having a negative effect on utility. Under the assumptions chosen, the optimal policy is an unbalanced one of specializing investment first in directly productive capital and subsequently in pollution control capital.     

Air pollution and its control in China

The rapid growth of China’s economy has led to severe air pollution characterized by acid rain, severe pollution in cities, and regional air pollution. High concentrations are found for various pollutants such as sulfur dioxides (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), and fine particulates. Great efforts have thus been undertaken for the control of air pollution in the country. This paper discusses the development and application of appropriate technologies for reducing the major pollutants produced by coal and vehicles, and investigates air quality modeling as an important support for policy-making.     

Optimization models for environmental pollution control: A synthesis

The optimization models presented here represent a synthesis between input-output analysis and mathematical programming models for environmental pollution control. The pivotal construct is a social cost for each unit of consumption; it is derived from the input-output analysis and is used in the objective function of the mathematical programming models which seek to optimize the final value of bill of goods and bads. The theory of optimization with relative bounded variables in nonlinear programming is developed and utilized.     

Review of water pollution control in China

Water resource shortage and pollution has seriously threatened the survival and development of developing countries. Because of China’s specific economical and social circumstances, complete adoption of developed countries’ experience is unrealistic. At present, China needs to develop strategies and technologies in source water pollution control and municipal environmental remediation that embrace the country’s specific need to battle the water resource problem. Among them, efficient source water pretreatment is a critical step to ensure a safe municipal water supply. Unlike developed countries, it is not yet feasible in China to treat water supplied to the household and have it meet the standard of direct drinking; therefore, it is more appropriate to refer to it as service water. As a beneficial supplement, an additional community drinking water network and household drinking water apparatus can be considered.     

Optimal pollution control with a nonconstant exponential rate of decay

This paper examines the effects of introducing a nonconstant exponential pollution decay rate into a pollution control model. If the pollution level is great enough it may render a waterway biologically dead and unable to cleanse itself. This is the problem associated with Lake Erie and Lake Baikal. The natural question is: Is it ever optimal to let a waterway such as Lake Erie die? The answer is shown to depend upon the form of the objective functional used by the planning authorities. The possibility of multiple stationary solutions also arises.     

北京市空气污染季节变化规律研究及污染控制建议

北京市的空气质量问题直接关系到首都的经济发展和生态环境建设,也影响着北京在世界大都市的地位.近几年,中央政府和北京市对首都空气质量的改善也越来越重视.根据北京市环保局下设的27个测站点从2005年末到2008年初的观测资料,借助SPSS统计软件,通过对北京市各区域不同时间段的空气污染指数进行对比分析和研究,旨在探索北京市空气污染的季节性变化规律及其污染控制埘策.研究结果表明:北京的首要污染物为可吸入颗粒物;在一年当中,6-8月份的气象条件有利于大气污染物的稀释和扩散,大气环境质量相对最好:冬季受气象条件和采暖的影响.春季季风段受西北部沙尘暴的影响,大气环境质量相对较差.根据这个规律,为确保北京市中长期大气环境保护工作目标的实现,进一步降低污染排放、改善城市空气质量提出了具体的对策和建议.     

System engineering for water pollution control at the watershed level in China

The present water pollution situation at watershed level in China has been systematically analyzed. The causes of water pollution are attributed to the extensive economic developmental pattern, poor wastewater treatment, and a lack of nonpoint pollution control. The problems of water pollution control at watershed level include a lack of thought and approach, developmental delay in the environmental standard system, an inadequate monitoring ability, and an inefficient implementation of laws and regulations. From 2006 to 2020, water pollution control and governance will be a national key specific project of science and technology in China. The strategies of this project include establishing a water pollution control system at watershed level, orienting a healthy aquatic ecosystem, conducting risk management, and using comprehensive methods. The goal is to establish and complete a technological system of pollution control and management in three five-year phases. The main tasks are to develop common technologies, management systems, and mechanisms for lake eutrophication control, river pollution control, urban water environmental pollution control, potable water safety, and water environmental management. The bottlenecks of water pollution control and management in China could be systematically removed, and the demonstration of the system engineering approach will be conducted at selected key watersheds.     

Spatial economic theory of pollution control: Reflections on a paradox

In their analyses of the impact of pollution taxation on the location of polluting decisions, U. K. Mathur (J. Environ. Econom. Management 3, 16–28 (1976)) and S. S. Gokturk (J. Reg. Sci. 19, 461–467 (1979)) obtained the result that a tax increase on urban pollution concentration may not succeed in pushing the polluting firm away from the urban center. In this paper is shown that the sufficient condition for success in this case depends upon the specification of the production and pollution emissions technology and may be the opposite to the one posited by Mathur and has more intuitive appeal.     

Effects of within- and among-patch experiences on the patch-leaving decision rules in an insect parasitoid

The present study aimed to address how an insect parasitoid makes patch-departure decisions from various types of host patches and how previous patch experiences in the environment modify this decision-making process. Experiments were done with the parasitic wasp Aphidius rhopalosiphi attacking the grain aphid Sitobion avenae. In the experiments, wasps were observed in a laboratory environment containing several patches of various host densities, and behavioural records were analysed using a Coxs proportional hazards model. Consideration of the effect of the within-patch experience gave a classic pattern of patch-leaving decision rules in parasitoids: A. rhopalosiphi used local information on host quality (i.e. numbers of ovipositions or rejections) and availability (i.e. patch density) to determine departure decision. However, consideration of previous patch experiences provided evidence that these departure rules are fundamentally dynamic, responding to the physiological state of the animal and the information it has about its environment. Results showed that A. rhopalosiphi decreased its tendency to leave the visited patch after an oviposition. However, when a female has already laid several other eggs in the environment, such an incremental mechanism gradually switched to a decremental one. Hence, A. rhopalosiphi responded to egg-load depletion by leaving the visited patches sooner and by depositing a smaller number of eggs in those patches, which probably led to a decreased level of superparasitism. Results also indicated that previous experiences enabled wasps to estimate spatial host distribution and then to adjust their behavioural decisions accordingly. Thus, A. rhopalosiphi was shown to adjust its patch residence time according to the quality and the number of the patches previously visited. These proximate mechanistic rules adopted by A. rhopalosiphi females are discussed in the context of general predictions from optimality models.Communicated by D. Gwynne     

Firm incentives to promote technological change in pollution control

The process of technological change in pollution control is broken into three basic steps: innovation, diffusion, and optimal agency response. Firm incentives to promote these steps are then examined under five regulatory regimes: direct controls, emission subsidies, emission taxes, free marketable permits, and auctioned marketable permits. On a relative basis, emission taxes and auctioned permits provide the highest firm incentives to promote technological change; at times, free permits generate lower incentives. Direct controls, which are common regulatory tools, usually provide the lowest relative firm incentives to promote technological change.     

Nanomaterials for environmental burden reduction, waste treatment, and nonpoint source pollution control: a review

Nanomaterials are applicable in the areas of reduction of environmental burden, reduction/treatment of industrial and agricultural wastes, and nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control. First, environmental burden reduction involves green process and engineering, emissions control, desulfurization/denitrification of nonrenewable energy sources, and improvement of agriculture and food systems. Second, reduction/treatment of industrial and agricultural wastes involves converting wastes into products, groundwater remediation, adsorption, delaying photocatalysis, and nanomembranes. Third, NPS pollution control involves controlling water pollution. Nanomaterials alter physical properties on a nanoscale due to their high specific surface area to volume ratio. They are used as catalysts, adsorbents, membranes, and additives to increase activity and capability due to their high specific surface areas and nano-sized effects. Thus, nanomaterials are more effective at treating environmental wastes because they reduce the amount of material needed.     

Reclamation and pollution control at a severely disturbed minesite in northern New Brunswick,Canada

This site in north-eastern New Brunswick, Canada, was developed as an open-pit copper mine in the early 1970s. The site was left in a severely disturbed state, contaminating the local drainage for over 10 years. Contamination to local runoff included low pH, high concentrations of lead, copper, zinc and iron and elevated concentrations of metals in general. Action taken to alleviate, the problems in the local drainage and establish a programme of site reclamation is described. The programme included water diversion, improvements in water quality control, site grading, material relocation and revegetation.The author was employed as site coordinator for Anaconda's health, safety and environmental activities during the period when the programme described in this paper was undertaken.     

Search for a natural scientific measure of economy

Through human history, wealth has been measured in grain, gold, and, now, dollars. Though counterfeiting of coins and notes goes back a long way, it is only with electronic financial accounting in a global economy tainted by toxic loans and imaginary funds that there is an urgency to search for a realistic objective way to monitor and regulate what we are doing to our Earth and ourselves. Various schemes using analysis of utility functions, oil equivalents, entropy, energy, and other units have been tried and, while helping to understand some basic processes and flows, have always been swamped by the machinations of financiers and the attention big sums of money attract. Now, the concept of exergy, pioneered in Eastern Europe in the 1950s, is being researched, developed, and applied, especially in China, driven by the desperation to measure the reality beyond the twin specters of global financial and environmental crises. A rough inventory of the matter in the biosphere at the coordinate details of an angstrom and an appreciation of how humans harness and manipulate electromagnetic forces can be enlightening as to what is and is not sustainable. Without that understanding, any financial estimate and proposed stimulus packages or IMF reform will be wildly wrong and may even be headed in the wrong direction.     

Economical pollution control in warm climates by contact stabilization wastewater treatment

Water pollution abatement with economical solutions, for wastewater treatment plants design and operation, is a crucial problem, especially for economically developing countries. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the contact stabilization process to achieve economical secondary treatment as well as partial nitrification under favorable temperature conditions. The examined variables are easily definable parameters of practical importance for any wastewater treatment plant. Based on full scale plants data, correlations between design or operation variables and plant performance or effluent quality are reported.