ESR study of Fe(III) and Cr(III) hydroxides

The authors would like to thank Dr. A. Relier and B. Spring (University of Zürich) for providing the DSC analysis. This research was supported by the Swiss National Foundation, project no. 2.942-0.88 and by a grant of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.     

Assessing the quality of sustainability reporting: an alternative methodological approach

Against the background of the growing importance in corporate sustainability reporting, the Institute for Sustainable Management at the University of OAS in Aargau, North-Western Switzerland, instigated a research project in 2003. This represents one of the first attempts to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of corporate sustainability reporting in one country (Switzerland) and is the second and, at the time, most comprehensive national study worldwide on reporting practices. The object of this paper is to reflect the methodology of the Swiss study independent of other procedures used to-date. The extent to which the new methodological approach overcomes the weaknesses of other approaches will primarily be demonstrated. Secondly, the research team's findings from the results of the study and interviews with managers from 25 Swiss companies in connection with the study will be presented.     

Can a prolonged use of a passenger car reduce environmental burdens? Life Cycle analysis of Swiss passenger cars

As a consequence of the introduction of limits on exhaust gas emissions and a target agreement between the Swiss association of car importers (auto-schweiz) and the Swiss government calling for a reduction in the specific fuel consumption, a considerable reduction of exhaust emissions of newly registered Swiss passenger cars occurred in the last 10 years. Also, for the near future an ongoing reduction of exhaust emissions of newly registered vehicles is expected. However, applying the concept of life cycle thinking, exhaust emission reductions may be outbalanced with an increase in specific car manufacturing expenditures and/or a longer use of the car. Thus, from the point of view of an individual car owner, a prolonged car use may be the environmentally preferable option. In order to investigate this question, a comprehensive analysis of the environmental performance of newly registered diesel and petrol passenger cars in the time period from 2000 to 2010 has been performed. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been employed focusing on three transport components: ‘vehicle travel’ (exhaust and abrasion emissions), ‘fuel chain’ (supply of fuels) and ‘car infrastructure’ (manufacturing, maintenance and disposal of cars). The presented model aims to gain insight into the issue of longevity and prolonged car use for the Swiss case, rather than giving ultimate recommendations. The analysis focuses on classical road pollutants (NO_x and PM2.5) as well as on fuel consumption reduction and CO₂. Moreover, impact assessment has been applied, employing a common approach: Eco-Indicator (EI) 99. The ranking of different car replacement options revealed prolonged car use as the environmentally better option. As a consequence of the continuous use of the car representing 2000 average technology, the components ‘vehicle travel’ and ‘fuel chain’ show a 10% and 9% higher performance, respectively. This effect is compensated by savings in ‘car infrastructure’ (26%). Uncertainty analysis has been performed by additional model runs with different parameter settings. Despite the fact that a considerably prolonged car use scores best for all additional model runs, the resulting differences between options further decrease. This holds particularly true, if a higher yearly average fuel reduction rate of 3% is assumed. Furthermore, applying an avoided burden concept for infrastructure modeling (Value Corrected Substitution (VCS)) shows the same effect. In both cases the resulting scores differ merely marginally between the considered options and would not allow for discrimination.As a consequence of these outcomes, it is not possible to give any general recommendation to Swiss car owners to extend the use of their cars, in the short term.     

Exploring barriers to climate change adaptation in the Swiss tourism sector

Increasingly, various sectors are affected by climate change and need to find ways to adapt with much public guidance and support. This paper examines the adaptation process of a sector that started it some time ago – Swiss Alpine tourism. It identifies barriers that may be relevant for all sectors, all along the successive phases of the adaptation process. It additionally identifies the barriers which are most important and how these can be overcome. In order to do this we use an online survey directed to Swiss tourism stakeholders. Our results indicate that both economic and social feasibility barriers are important impediments to the adjustment process, whereas the acceptability among inhabitants and the willingness to act of stakeholders appear less critical. These barriers can be overcome and adaptation facilitated with more and especially better information about the regional consequences of climate change and feasible adaptation measures, by some top-down leadership and coordination, and by providing financial support.     

Environmental cross-compliance mitigates nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from Swiss agriculture

In 1993 the Swiss agricultural policy was revised with – amongst other goals – the objective of improving the environmental performance of agriculture. A voluntary agri-environmental scheme to promote integrated production (IP) was introduced. In 1999 the IP standards were integrated in cross compliance requirements and termed Proof of Ecological Performance (PEP). We evaluated the effectiveness of this policy in terms of reducing diffuse nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution of ground and surface water. We combined monitoring schemes covering the reference period from before the introduction of IP/PEP (1990–1992) with the evaluation of cause/effect relationships in selected case-study areas. The evaluation showed an overall reduction of diffuse N and P pollution from agriculture even though some goals were not reached. Nitrate leaching declined, but only a 3–4 mg L⁻¹ reduction was observed rather than the intended decrease of 5 mg L⁻¹. The P pollution of surface waters from agriculture decreased by only 10–30% instead of 50%. The intended reduction of the nitrogen surplus of Swiss agriculture by 33% was not attained, but the P surplus of Swiss agriculture was more than halved. IP/PEP practices that improved N and P management included reduced N and P fertiliser inputs and pig and poultry feedstuffs with reduced N and P contents, both of which are a consequence of the requirement of equilibrated farm nutrient balances, as well as increased use of cover cropping and of conservation tillage systems.     

工艺安全绩效指标介绍

介绍了根据瑞士奶酪模型——事故与保护层漏洞所设置的工艺安全绩效指标体系,探讨了美国石油学会标准的工艺安全绩效指标及分级,列举了每一级指标的具体指标和数据收集要求,并具体介绍了杜邦公司的工艺安全绩效指标体系,为国内企业提供参考。     

Das Studium in Technischer Biologie an der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich

A new Curriculum, termed Technical Biology (or Biotechnology) has been instituted at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Biotechnology is regarded not as a Natural Science, but as an Engineering Science. On a solid basis of two years of mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical chemistry, and biology, courses are offered in technical microbiology and process and control engineering.     

The greenhouse gas intensity of the tourism sector: The case of Switzerland

Greenhouse gas intensity is a ratio comparing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an activity or economic sector to the economic value it generates. In recent years, many countries have calculated the GHG intensity of their economic sectors as a basis for policy making. The GHG intensity of tourism, however, has not been determined since tourism is not measured as an economic sector in the national accounts. While for tourism-reliant countries it would be useful to know this quantity, a number of difficulties exist in its determination. In this study, we determine the GHG intensity of tourism's value added in Switzerland by means of a detailed bottom-up approach with the main methodological focus on how to achieve consistent system boundaries. For comparison, we calculate the tourism sector's GHG intensity for selected European countries using a simpler top-down approach. Our results show that the Swiss tourism sector is more than four times more GHG intensive than the Swiss economy on average. Of all tourism's sub-sectors, air transport stands out as the sector with by far largest emissions (80%) and highest GHG intensity. The results for other countries make similar, if not as pronounced, patterns apparent. We discuss the results and possible mitigation options against the background of the goal to prevent dangerous climate change.     

The influence of grassland management on ground beetles (Carabidae, Coleoptera) in Swiss montane meadows

Effects of grassland management type and intensity on carabid species richness, number of individuals and species composition were studied in the Swiss Prealps. Carabids were censused in 2001 and 2002 in 21 mown and 20 grazed meadows by means of pitfall traps.Mean species richness was significantly higher in mown plots than in grazed plots and species composition was significantly different between these two management types. Additionally, different species characteristic for mown and grazed plots were found. These results suggest that mown meadows and grazed meadows represent two habitat types for carabid beetles.Within both habitats, management intensity was quantified by fertilizing intensity, the number of cuts, cattle density and/or grazing intensity. The relationship between management intensity and the number of individuals and species was positive. Higher fertilizing intensity was the most important factor for higher species richness and had a significant influence on species composition in both habitats. Other variables positively related to the number of individuals, were the number of cuts in mown meadows and grazing intensity and altitude in grazed meadows. Additionally to fertilizing intensity, cattle density was positively related to the number of species in grazed meadows. These results illustrate that in the extensive management systems found in the Swiss Alps and Prealps, even intensively managed meadows can sustain high carabid diversity and abundance.     

Screening of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products for Hepatitis E Virus in Switzerland

Seroprevalence data for pig herds suggested that there must be a relevant reservoir for hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Switzerland. To know more about the viral presence in ready-to-eat meat products, we screened pork liver sausages and raw meat sausages from the Swiss retail market for the presence of HEV. Testing was performed with a detection method where the virus extraction step was optimized. As for the performance of the improved method, the mean recovery rate for the mengovirus process control was 24.4%, whereas for HEV-inoculated sample matrices between 10.4 and 100% were achieved. The limit of detection was about 1.56 × 10³ and 1.56 × 10² genome copies per gram for liver sausages and raw meat sausages, respectively. In the screening programme, HEV-RNA was detected in 10 of total 90 (11.1%) meat products, 7 of 37 (18.9%) liver sausages, and 3 of 53 (5.7%) raw meat sausages. Virus loads of up to 5.54 log₁₀ HEV genome copies per gram were measured. All sequences retrieved from positive samples belonged to HEV genotype 3. The significance of the presented work was a current overview of the HEV prevalence in ready-to-eat meat products on the Swiss retail marked and an improvement of the extraction efficiency of the HEV detection method.     

Towards cleaner technologies in small and micro enterprises: a process-based case study of foundry industry in India

In 1991, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) established a program to support developing countries in protecting the global environment. In collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, SDC India selected the foundry industry as one of the prominent areas in which to introduce environment-friendly technologies. In this paper, we focus on the process by which the SDC–TERI partnership developed and demonstrated an energy-efficient divided-blast cupola (DBC) and a highly effective pollution control device. We also discuss the measures taken to aid replication of these technologies, and to improve the socio-economic conditions of foundry workers.     

改善农村饮水水质的一种方法--SODIS

如何改善发展中国家广大农村贫困地区的饮用水水质问题仍然是当前一项十分急迫的任务。瑞士联邦环境科学技术研究院近年来在许多发展中国家推行一种新的饮用水消毒方法———阳光消毒法(SODIS),取得了良好的效益。该方法利用太阳光钝化导致腹泻的病原体的活性,从而提高饮用水的质量。该方法成本低、易操作、经济可行并可持久使用,已经在一些发展中国家逐步推广应用。     

Agricultural land abandonment and natural forest re-growth in the Swiss mountains: A spatially explicit economic analysis

Natural forest re-growth reflects a decline in traditional agricultural practices that can be observed worldwide. Over the last few decades, natural forest re-growth has replaced much of the agricultural land in the Swiss mountains. This is a region where forms of traditional cultivation have preserved unique landscapes and habitats of high ecological value. This study aimed to characterise the locations in the Swiss mountains where agricultural land has been abandoned and overgrown by trees and bushes. Therefore, multivariate statistical models based on geo-physical and socio-economic variables were developed. Land-use change data were taken from two nationwide land-use surveys carried out in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to obtain reliable models, neighbourhood effects and the group structure in our data were accounted for. For the latter a robust estimation technique known as cluster-adjustment was used.Results show that forest re-growth is largely restricted to former alpine pastures, land with grass and scrub vegetation and agricultural land with groups of trees at mid to high altitudes, steep slopes, stony ground and a low temperature sum. Some relationships were not as expected, e.g. many of the new forest areas were found to be relatively close to roads. A new finding from this study was that forest re-growth is largely restricted to regions with immigration, higher proportions of part-time farms as opposed to full-time farms and high farm abandonment rates. By accounting for neighbourhood effects, the model fit was improved. The considerable residual deviance of the models was interpreted as the result of undetected local characteristics, such as poor water availability, small-scaled topographic peculiarities (e.g. small trenches, stonewalls, soil damages by cattle) and the individual's motivation to abandon or maintain cultivation. The conclusion made was that general policy measures for the whole mountain area are not suitable for the prevention of land abandonment and forest re-growth, and that policy measures must pay more attention to local characteristics and needs.     

From science to policy through transdisciplinary research

Is transdisciplinary research a useful means of bridging science and policy? And does transdisciplinarity go beyond informing public agencies, the private sector, or civil society of the results of research? The interacting policy cultures serve as a framework for studying transdisciplinary projects funded by two environmental research programs, the Swiss Priority Program Environment (SPPE) and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (MISTRA). Two types of projects are distinguished. Researchers in projects of the first type reorganize knowledge according to the (perceived) interest of the audience. Transdisciplinary research of this type requires a clearly defined audience culture. Researchers in projects of the second type initiate a co-production of knowledge during which the different policy cultures interact. Transdisciplinary research of type two is appropriate for policies that have to be developed using a collective process involving multiple policy cultures.     

The ecoinvent database system: a comprehensive web-based LCA database

The paper describes the general structure of the ecoinvent database developed by the Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories. The database accommodates more than 2500 background processes often required in LCA case studies.Quality guidelines, established in order to ensure coherent data acquisition and reporting across the various institutes involved, are described. These include aspects such as the reporting of pollutants (e.g., heavy metals), or the nomenclature of processes and elementary flows.The data (exchange) format is also described. Processes are documented with the help of meta-information and flow data (including both unit process raw data and aggregated LCI results). The structure of the data format corresponds to the ISO/TS 14048 data documentation format. Data exchange between project partner institutes and between the database and its customers (database users) is based on XML-technology. Matrix inversion is used to calculate the cumulative LCA data using efficient algorithms and making use of the fact that LCA matrices are usually sparse.     

Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) of landfills – a systemic approach: theoretical considerations

Implementing sustainable development (SD) requires operationalizing this rather vague guiding principle in a socio-technological context. This paper refers to a notion of SD that stresses approaching SD from a systemic perspective. We first present the Function-Structure-Context Framework to appraise if and how systemic characteristics are considered in assessments. The latter framework includes a functional, structural, and contextual dimension, as well as the interdependencies of these dimensions. We then analyze four currently applied landfill assessment methods with respect to this framework: i.e., MCEA (Modified Cost Effectiveness Analysis), LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), RA (Risk Assessment), and TVA (Swiss Technical Ordinance Waste). With respect to the analyzed methods, we can reveal that each of them focuses on specific systemic dimensions in its assessment step, whereas none refers to the whole range of dimensions and interdependencies of the framework presented. We then propose the so-called Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) as an alternative comprehensive SD assessment approach, which has the potential to integrate the results of the other methods for achieving a systemic SD assessment.     

Hunting for Dark Matter particles with new detectors

Although first hints of the existence of Dark Matter were observed by the Swiss astronomer Zwicky already in the 1930s, only in recent years has it become known that the universe, in fact, is dominated by particles whose nature is almost unknown and which have never been directly observed. Meanwhile, as the existence of these particles is postulated not only by astronomy, but also cosmology and theoretical particle physics, there is significant effort to detect them in a laboratory experiment and determine their physical properties. However, as the interaction rate between Dark Matter particles and ordinary matter is extremely low, detectors have to be extremely sensitive. Low temperature detectors have been available for more than a decade and have now reached the highest sensitivity for direct Dark Matter detection. In this article, we give a short overview of observational results that suggest the existence of Dark Matter particles and what physicists have learned so far about their properties. The main focus is on the experimental challenges and effort for their direct detection.     

Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) of landfills—a systemic approach: initial application towards a legal landfill assessment

Assessing landfills in terms of sustainable development (SD) is a difficult task. Landfills might, for example, remain reactive for hundreds or even thousands of years, a fact that conflicts with the fundamental SD principle of inter-generative equity. The Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) is a comprehensive assessment approach that aims at assessing the potential of a system to hinder or support SD from a systemic perspective. In this paper, we present an initial operationalization of this approach for a pragmatic legal landfill assessment and its application to assess two prototypic Swiss landfills as part of a pilot study. Thereby, the six generic criteria of SPA are specified using 18 Functional Key Variables (FKVs), such as “control of pollutant release” or “resilience to intended human impacts.” The first results from the pilot study indicate that SPA and its generic criteria provide a purposeful guiding framework for achieving a systemic and comprehensive SD assessment that seems (i) to be feasible for practical application, (ii) sensitive for relevant SD issues, and (iii) transparent for the addressees of the assessment results.     

Carbon stocks in Swiss agricultural soils predicted by land-use,soil characteristics,and altitude

Effects of agricultural land-use and land-use change on soil organic carbon (SOC) pools play an important role in the mitigation of the global greenhouse effect. To estimate these effects, baseline SOC data for individual regions or countries are needed. The aim of this study was to quantify current SOC stocks in Swiss agricultural soils, to identify meaningful predictors for SOC, and to estimate historical SOC losses. SOC stocks in mineral soils were estimated from combined georeferenced data for land-use, topography, and profile data (n=544) from soil surveys. Mean SOC density in the layer 0–20 cm ranged between 40.6±8.9 t ha⁻¹ (±95% confidence interval (CI)) for arable land and 50.7±12.2 t ha⁻¹ for favourable permanent grassland, and in the layer 0–100 cm from 62.9±15.2 t ha⁻¹ for unfavourable grassland to 117.4±29.8 t ha⁻¹ for temporary grasslands (leys). SOC stocks in organic soils were quantified separately for intact and cultivated peatlands using data from peatland inventories and current SOC densities calculated from average peat decay rates. Organic soils account for less than 3% of the total area but store about 28% (47.2±7.3 Mt) of the total SOC stock of 170±17 Mt. Land-use type, clay content, and altitude (serving as a climate proxy for grassland soils at higher altitudes) were identified as main SOC predictors in mineral soils. Clay content explained up to 44% of the variability in SOC concentrations in the fine earth of arable soils, but was not significantly related to SOC in grassland soils at higher altitudes. SOC concentration under permanent grassland increases linearly with altitude, but because soil depth and stone content limit carbon storage in alpine grassland soils, no relationship was found between altitude and SOC stock. A preliminary estimate suggested that about 16% of the national SOC stock has been lost historically due to peatland cultivation, urbanisation, and deforestation. It seems unlikely that future changes in agricultural practices could compensate for this historical SOC loss in Swiss agricultural soils.     

Impacts of climatic change on water and natural hazards in the Alps: Can current water governance cope with future challenges? Examples from the European “ACQWA” project

This paper reviews the possible future situation of the Rhone River in the Swiss part of its catchment. Physical processes in the Alps govern the behaviour of the Rhone from its source (Rhone Glacier) to the Lake of Geneva, and substantial changes are expected to occur in the amount and seasonality of precipitation, and in the response of snow and glaciers to a warming climate. As a result, discharge in the alpine part of the Rhone River is likely to undergo an increase in winter and early spring, but strongly decreases from late spring to late autumn. These changes in water regimes will certainly be accompanied by more frequent geomorphic hazards, related to increases in heavy precipitation events and the melting of permanently frozen grounds. The direct and indirect impacts of a warming climate will affect key economic sectors such as tourism, hydropower, and agriculture, while shifts in extreme events will have an impact on the vulnerability of infrastructure and a range of economic sectors and services. Projections of the future course of events can help in advance planning and decision making in order to alleviate some of the more negative consequences of climate and hydrological impacts on key economic sectors in the region. This paper will thus discuss issues related to current and future water governance in the region, whether water-related policies are sufficiently robust today to cope with what may be rapid changes in water availability and water use in coming decades, and to resolve possible rivalries between economic sectors that may be increasingly confronted with problems of water availability at critical times of the year.