Qualitative evaluation of three ‘environmental management systems’ in the New Zealand wine industry

The wine growing industry is increasingly important to the New Zealand economy and increasingly its marketing is associated with the country's ‘clean and green’ image. Over 60% of New Zealand's wine companies have adopted at least one of three main environmental management systems: Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, ISO 14001 and Bio-Gro. We undertook a qualitative, survey based, comparative evaluation of these systems within 15 wine companies. The key findings are that while each system appears to have its own strengths, in general, no one environmental management system is better than the other. However, implementation of an industry specific system, for example SWNZ, in combination with a generic process-based system, for example ISO 14001, aids in the development of a more sustainable wine industry.     

Sustainability in the New Zealand wine industry: drivers,stakeholders and practices

This research aims to investigate various sustainability issues in the New Zealand wine industry. Namely, the study examines (1) what drives the industry to engage in sustainability practices, (2) the role of stakeholders in the company's decision-making, and (3) environmental practices related to water utilization, chemicals and waste management. A qualitative research approach supplemented by quantitative measures was adopted to answer the research questions. Twenty-four wineries were studied. The research found that the most important drivers for sustainable practices are personal values, preferences and satisfaction with the profession (i.e., enjoyment of the work itself), followed by product quality and customers' demand. Size of firm also appears to be an important factor. New Zealand wine companies are also driven by the market, but companies do not receive a price premium for grapes grown sustainably or organically grown. The study proposes a typology matrix that differentiates wineries' involvement in sustainability based on the extent of sustainability practices and sustainability drivers.     

Equal Opportunity for Biomass in Greenhouse Gas Accounting of CO2 Capture and Storage: A Step Towards More Cost-Effective Climate Change Mitigation Regimes

Carbon dioxide capture and permanent storage (CCS) is one of the most frequently discussed technologies with the potential to mitigate climate change. The natural target for CCS has been the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil energy sources. However, CCS has also been suggested in combination with biomass during recent years. Given that the impact on the earth's radiative balance is the same whether CO₂ emissions of a fossil or a biomass origin are captured and stored away from the atmosphere, we argue that an equal reward should be given for the CCS, independent of the origin of the CO₂. The guidelines that provide assistance for the national greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting under the Kyoto Protocol have not considered CCS from biomass (biotic CCS) and it appears that it is not possible to receive emission credits for biotic CCS under the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, i.e., 2008–2012. We argue that it would be unwise to exclude this GHG mitigation alternative from the competition with other GHG mitigation options. We also propose a feasible approach as to how emission credits for biotic CCS could be included within a future accounting framework.     

Energy and environmental attitudes in the green state of Denmark: Implications for energy democracy,low carbon transitions,and energy literacy

This article investigates how a mix of energy-users from Denmark perceives energy and environmental issues such as the affordability of electricity and gasoline, the seriousness of climate change, and preferences for different energy systems. Its primary source of data is a pilot survey and energy literacy test distributed in English and Danish to 328 respondents spread across the country. The survey results are used to test four propositions about energy prices, being “green,” public knowledge and competence about energy issues, and self-sufficiency and sustainable technology. The data supports the propositions that Danes identify with “being green” and prefer national and local policies that endorse sustainable technology and being self-sufficient. However, the data also challenges the propositions that Danes would prioritize low energy prices and affordability as key energy concerns and that they are knowledgeable about energy and environmental issues. In this way, a problematic gap may exist between what many academic articles (and previous surveys) report Danish attitudes to be and what this study suggests they are. Given Denmark's ambitious low-carbon goals, these findings have clear relevance to other communities and countries seeking to decarbonize their own energy sectors.     

基于投入产出生命周期模型的建筑业能耗及敏感性分析

建设活动消耗了大量能源,研究建筑业能耗测算方法并分析其影响因素有助于建筑业的节能减排. 采用投入产出生命周期评价模型测算建筑业能耗,分析建筑业能耗对部门间联系、部门能源强度和建筑业规模等因素变化的敏感性,提出部门对建筑业能耗的技术责任系数和结构责任系数,以判断部门在降低建筑业能耗中的责任. 结果表明,2010年我国建筑业能耗为1.07×109 t(以标准煤计);技术责任系数最大的部门是黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.489 8),其次是非金属矿物制品(0.479 8)和化工(0.211 8)等;除建筑业外,结构责任系数较大的部门包括非金属矿物制品(0.276 4)和黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.246 0)等;建筑业能耗对黑色金属冶炼及延压(0.243 8)和非金属矿物制品(0.203 4)等部门能源强度的变化最敏感. 降低建筑业能耗应注重促进高能耗建材生产节能、强化建设活动科学管理、推广高性能低能耗材料应用、提高基础设施建设水平和深化住房市场化改革等方面.      

Consequences of electrical conductivity in an orb spider's capture web

The glue-coated and wet capture spiral of the orb web of the garden cross spider Araneus diadematus is suspended between the dry silk radial and web frame threads. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the capture spiral is electrically conductive because of necks of liquid connecting the droplets even if the thread is stretched. We examine how this conductivity of the capture spiral may lead to entrapment of charged airborne particles such as pollen, spray droplets and even insects. We further describe and model how the conducting spiral will also locally distort the Earth's ambient electric field. Finally, we examine the hypothesis that such distortion could be used by potential prey to detect the presence of a web but conclude that any effect would probably be too small to allow an insect to take evasive action.     

The evolution of the ENERGY STAR® energy performance indicator for benchmarking industrial plant manufacturing energy use

ENERGY STAR^® is a voluntary government/industry partnership that offers information to businesses and consumers on energy-efficient solutions, making it easier to save money and protect the environment for future generations. Introduced in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this voluntary labeling program was designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products as basic pollution prevention opportunities. The ENERGY STAR label can now be found on appliances, office equipment, lighting, buildings, and more. In 2002, ENERGY STAR was extended beyond its role in identifying energy efficient products to identifying energy-efficient production. The ENERGY STAR industry program focuses on encouraging and enabling sustainable corporate energy management. One of the three information tools EPA developed under ENERGY STAR, which also includes energy management networking and industry specific energy guides, is the energy performance indicator (EPI). The EPI is a statistical benchmarking tool that provides a “birds-eye” view of sector-specific plant-level energy use via a functional relationship between the level of energy use and the level and type of various production activities, material input's quality, and external factors, e.g. climate and material quality. The EPI uses stochastic frontier regression to estimate the lowest observed plant energy use, given these factors. This statistical model also provides a distribution of energy efficiency across the industry, which allows the user to answer the hypothetical but very practical question, “How would my plant compare to everyone else in my industry, if all other plants were similar to mine?” The result is a tool that can be used by corporate and plant energy managers to estimate the energy efficiency of their portfolio of plants. This paper describes the role of the EPI within the context of the overall goals of ENERGY STAR and gives examples of how this information tool was developed and is being used.     

The Role of Wood Material for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Based on an interdisciplinary perspective the role of wood as a carbon sink, as a multi-purpose material, and as a renewable energy source for the net reduction of greenhouse gases is discussed. We synthesize aspects from engineering, natural and social sciences to better understand the role of wood substitution in CO₂ mitigation. We also formulate some recommendations on filling knowledge gaps that could be useful for policy making regarding how wood substitution could be further expanded. There are sufficient wood resources to substantially increase the use of wood for material and energy purposes. However, a number of factors hinder a wider use of wood for energy and material purposes. Furthermore, an analysis of wood substitution is a very complex issue, since the substitution influencing factors are to be found along the entire wood supply chain and involve several industries, socio-economic and cultural aspects, traditions, price dynamics, and structural and technical change. To improve the knowledge about wood as a substitute for other resources and the implications, it would be helpful to better integrate research from different disciplines on the subject and to cover different scales from a project to an economy-wide level.     

Lessons from the French experience with voluntary agreements for greenhouse-gas reduction

The paper analyses the French experience with voluntary agreements (VAs) for the reduction of industrial greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. It is based on evidence from two case studies: the VAs signed by the main aluminium producer and by the packaging glass industry association. The analysis suggests that the considerable reductions in specific GHG emissions can hardly be seen as a direct consequence of the VA commitments. Instead they seem to have been triggered by other environmental regulations, and above all, by industry's heavy investments in technology modernisation and cost reduction efforts. Therefore, the observed reduction in specific emissions appears to correspond to industry's business-as-usual behaviour, suggesting that VA objectives were poorly ambitious. These results appear consistent with other VA evaluations. In the French GHG-related VAs, the failure to achieve more ambitious goals appears to result from the lack of a well-articulated policy-mix involving the VAs for GHG policy and energy efficiency promotion, as well as from policymakers' concerns over the potential competitive impact of GHG policy. The question of how to provide incentives for more ambitious GHG reductions without a high impact on firms' competitiveness remains a challenge for future policy.     

The importance of scientific literacy in fostering education for sustainability: Theoretical considerations and preliminary findings from a Brazilian experience

Scientific literacy can be considered as a new demand of post-industrial society. It seems necessary in order to foster education for sustainability throughout students' academic careers. Universities striving to teach sustainability are being challenged to integrate a holistic perspective into a traditional undergraduate curriculum, which aims at specialization. This new integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary epistemological approach is necessary to cultivate autonomous citizenship, i.e., that each citizen be prepared to understand and participate in discussions about the complex contemporary issues posed by post-industrial society. This paper presents an epistemological framework to show the role of scientific literacy in fostering education for sustainability. We present a set of 26 collaborative concept maps (CCmaps) in order to illustrate an instance of theory becoming practice. During a required course for first-year undergraduate students (ACH 0011, Natural Sciences), climate change was presented and discussed in broad perspective by using CCmaps. We present students' CCmaps to show how they use concepts from quantitative and literacy disciplines to deal with the challenges posed by the need of achieving a sustainable development.     

Isolines as a new tool to assess the energy costs of the production and distribution of multiple sources of seafood

Consumer-based ocean conservation efforts focus attention on seafood that is produced in an “eco-friendly” manner. However, many species can be produced either in aquaculture operations or harvested within wild capture fisheries, and each mode of production differs in their environmental impacts as well as their energy requirements. Complicating the assessment of eco-friendly seafood is the fact that seafood is a global commodity, the suppliers of which utilize a variety of methods to distribute the product from producer to consumer (e.g. ship, truck, airplane). Like the modes of production, these various modes of distribution differ in their energy intensity. This analysis assesses the overall energy requirements of production and distribution (E_P&D) of seafood to evaluate how the energy costs of distribution influence the total energy cost of seafood produced by different methods. This paper develops the concept of energy isolines as a tool to assess E_P&D. Isolines are a graphical method to succinctly integrate multiple distance assessments so that the best sourcing option can be determined. The isolines are then used to assess how the energy cost of distribution functions as a component of the overall energy cost, and how this influences the E_P&D of a product originating from two different sources with inherently different energy costs of production. Using scallops and salmon as examples, this analysis has revealed that an “eco-friendly” seafood commodity (one produced with less energy) produced far from its destination market could have a higher total E_P&D compared to a local, less “eco-friendly” product (that takes more energy to produce). Finally, this paper evaluates strategies to minimize the overall E_P&D of seafood. Overall, further work on energy audits of seafood focused the need to maintain a global perspective to determine seafood with the lowest overall energy cost of production and distribution.     

A life cycle impact of the natural gas used in the energy sector in Romania

The world's natural gas consumption continues to grow, increasing its market share of total primary energy consumption. Among the major fuels, natural gas is expected to provide the greatest increase in energy consumption in the world energy sector, due to its relatively low environmental impact and high thermodynamic quality. Natural gas plays a significant role in the energy sector because of its environmental qualities and energy. We analyzed the natural gas life cycle by using the life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare, from an environmental point of view, four sites of heat production by natural gas combustion. We determined the best site from an environmental point of view for a consumer and which stage (extraction, treatment, transportation, storage, combustion) of the natural gas life cycle pollutes the most. This study confirmed the utility of the LCA in the evaluation of the environmental impact in the energy sector.     

基于混合生命周期分析的我国海上风电场能耗及温室气体排放研究

随着我国海上风电的快速发展,对其资源环境成本进行系统核算对于全面评价海上风电的节能减排潜力具有重要意义.本研究采用混合生命周期评价方法,对我国第一个海上风电场—上海东海大桥海上风电场(二期)的能耗和温室气体排放进行核算,并将核算结果与典型陆上风电场和其它类型的可再生能源进行比较.结果表明:该海上风电项目全生命周期发电能耗为0.51 MJ·k Wh~(-1),相应的温室气体排放量为26.47g·k Wh~(-1)(以CO_2当量计);在设备制造与运输、建设施工、运行维护、回收处置4个阶段中,设备生产与运输阶段在能耗和温室气体排放的占比最大,分别贡献了能耗的91.23%和温室气体排放量的60.48%;横向比较发现,海上风电场单位发电量的能耗和温室气体排放均高于陆上风电项目,但与光伏、生物质、地热等可再生能源发电项目相比,海上风电项目全生命周期能耗和温室气体排放依然具有一定优势.     

西安高新区多情景碳达峰预测及减排路径分析

第十三届全国人民代表大会第五次会议提出要致力于推进碳达峰碳中和工作,促进经济社会向全面绿色低碳转型,实现高质量发展.西安高新区作为陕西省重要的科技创新和产业聚集区,经济发展在很大程度上依赖于能源消耗,碳减排的任务就显得尤为艰巨.以西安高新区为研究对象,首先通过系统核算园区内碳排放,对不同能源种类和不同行业企业碳排放现状进行分析;然后利用Kaya模型设定多种独立的碳达峰情景,预测不同情景下的碳排放总量值及碳达峰时间;最后结合西安高新区发展特点科学甄选相应的碳减排路径,给出合理的减排建议.结果表明,目前电力消耗碳排放占比最多且份额呈逐年上升趋势,工业碳排量始终占主导地位且第三产业发展日益蓬勃;碳排放因子情景、能源强度情景和经济水平情景这3种情景下可于2030年达到碳达峰,其中经济发展水平对西安高新区未来碳达峰的峰值和时间影响最大,产业结构情景、能源结构情景和人口规模情景在2030年前没有出现峰值;未来减排路径主要从电力部门脱碳、经济稳健高质量发展、能源及产业结构绿色升级和构建绿色交通体系入手,可为实现碳中和预留更多的准备时间,也为我国工业园区低碳发展提供决策参考.     

Zero techniques and systems – ZETS strength and weakness

Nature does not know the term “harmony”. Only humans should be in harmony with nature and artificial production system, particularly industry, should not destroy natural planetary cycles. It is clear that the world's industry and agriculture based on fossil resources exploitation are not sustainable. Harmony means complementary of natural and man-made cycles. However, there is a fundamental difference between industrial chains and biological chains. We can't use absolute analogy between biological chains and industrial chains. Industrial production chains are artificial created by humans. Zero Emissions concept accented that all industrial inputs can be completely converted into a variety of final products and that waste products can be converted into value added inputs for another chain of production or energy supply. In principle ZETS concept eliminates waste problem completely. The manufacturing line can be viewed as integrated technologies and series of production cycles and recycling systems. What is our opportunity to substitute renewable resources for fossil ones? The international climate conference in Kyoto (1997) and others can be regarded as tests for human capacity to cooperate and creatively manage two dominating carbon-rich solar energy conversion products: fossil organic materials and biomass. The former is found in rich deposits and is physically rather homogeneous (oil, gas and coal), whereas the latter is widely dispersed and highly diversified (microorganisms, plants and animals). Those aspects give oil refineries the character of compact cluster of chemical plants, whereas biomass refineries (biorefineries) are just as diverse as their feedstocks (mills for grain- and oilseeds, the food industry, fermentation plants, pulp and paper mills, etc.) This situation can inspire two questions. The first question is how the fossil carbon sources can be utilized without releasing greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In contrast to products from non-renewable resources, wood materials do not influence the atmospheric CO₂ balance. The second question is, when the oil production finally drops, whether clusters of processing units, designed for the upgrading of specific bioresources, can turn out a similar multitude of products as oil refineries do. The answers on these and other questions will be discussed in the context of ZETS using many case studies examples. Integrated ZETS have many advantages and disadvantages, too.     

Identifying uncertainties in judging the significance of human impacts on Natura 2000 sites

In European nature conservation law, Natura 2000 sites are protected towards ensuring biodiversity through the conservation of natural habitat types and of wild fauna and flora. Anyone planning a potentially harmful activity needs to assess significant effects on a site's conservation objectives. While EU case law currently demands certainty provided by science, we will show that science can never rule out uncertainty. We distinguish three sources of uncertainty: ignorance (inadequate understanding), unpredictability of ecological system behaviour and ambiguity in the science–policy interface. Only ignorance can be solved by science alone. We will specify sources of uncertainty encountered in the significance decision procedure as part of the assessment of article 6 Habitats Directive. We will explore how they affect the use of knowledge during the three steps of the assessment process, i.e. identification of site conservation objectives, predicting the impact of the planned activity and assessing the significance of any effects on the Natura 2000 site. The claim that certainty has to be provided by science is unrealistic, because policy causes a good deal of uncertainty affecting how science can operate. This is discussed in the light of a common learning process by science and society. The European precautionary principle should not be limited to ignorance alone. Within the precautionary principle risk reduction measures can be allowed and thus uncertainties could be accepted, including those uncertainties caused by unpredictability and ambiguity. Finally we propose strategies to manage uncertainty in nature conservation and law planning.     

Prenatal screening for Down syndrome and neural tube defects in twin pregnancies

Prenatal screening and diagnosis in a twin pregnancy is not straightforward. Once a twin pregnancy has been identified, women and their partners need time to consider the implications and decide whether they wish the pregnancy to be screened for Down syndrome or neural tube defects. We discuss here how multiple marker screening for Down syndrome and alpha-fetoprotein screening for neural tube defects can be carried out, given that this is the parents' chosen option and that the health professionals involved are capable of performing a diagnosis and selective feticide, should this arise. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing emissions equivalency metrics against climate policy goals

The climate impacts of energy technologies are frequently assessed using equivalency metrics, which convert emissions of multiple greenhouse gases to a common scale. Numerous metrics have been proposed that incorporate, in different ways, information about the time-dependent impacts of gases. However, more focus has been placed on proposing metrics than on testing their performance in real-world use cases. Here we present a testing approach that simulates how metrics would affect the selection of energy technology portfolios that comply with a CO₂-equivalent emissions cap. Unintended radiative forcing outcomes can occur, emphasizing the need to test metrics in a practical context. We demonstrate the approach for policies designed to limit radiative forcing and discuss extensions to limits on temperature or economic impacts. Metric performance is evaluated by (i) how much actual radiative forcing overshoots the intended stabilization level and (ii) the level of energy consumption permitted. We use this testing approach to study a variety of metrics based on an estimated radiative forcing stabilization time under two climate policy goals. We find that these goal-inspired metrics, if chosen carefully, can exhibit performance improvements over the standard global warming potential (GWP) while maintaining its transparency and ease-of-use. These alternative metrics can significantly reduce the overshoot in radiative forcing observed with the GWP, at a small cost in energy consumption. Moreover, simple metrics can exhibit similar performance improvements to more complex ones.     

Integrating Joint Implementation Projects for Energy Efficiency on the Built Environment with White Certificates in The Netherlands

In this paper we analyze policy interactions between two innovative climate and energy policy instruments, namely White Certificates (WhC) and Joint Implementation (JI) that target at energy efficiency improvement and reductions of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. We have selected The Netherlands and Bulgaria as a case study given that the former has a cumulated experience in energy efficiency policies and the latter for a growing potential in JI projects as a host country. Based on a method of analyzing policy interactions, we demonstrate how a possible design of such a scheme can take place and how it should function. A couple of parameters that deserve attention are a baseline definition and a conversion rate for credits. Our basic finding is that an integrated scheme is complementary and can assist substantially in achieving Dutch national United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol targets. Dutch electricity and gas suppliers (parties that receive energy efficiency obligations) can implement energy efficiency projects domestically and in other countries, hence reducing total abatement costs. Furthermore, such a scheme can stimulate further energy efficiency actions from other stakeholders participating in energy markets. Based on an ex-ante assessment, a carefully designed hybrid WhC and JI scheme appears to be effective in terms of targets, efficient, generating positive impacts on markets and society, while uncertain in stimulating innovation.