Permits and effluent charges in the water pollution control policies of France,West Germany,and the Netherlands

In this article the water pollution control policies of these countries and their effects on emitters are analyzed. In the Netherlands, local water control boards levy pollution charges on both direct and indirect emitters. The charges are based upon measured emissions and actual treatment costs and they vary among the boards. Discharges into surface waters are by permission only. West German law sets nationally uniform rates only for direct emitters and some pollutants, irrespective of treatment costs. The States (Länder), however, may make indirect emitters liable to pay as well. In France, river basin agencies charge emitters and grant discounts where abatement facilities have been installed. Further policy instruments are tax cuts, subsidies, and standards set on local and national levels. France, in this complex policy, also uses contrats de branche where government and industries agree by contract on pollution abatement. Evidence shows that all these policies have reduced water pollution. As emissions decrease, problems of overcapacity might occur where collective water treatment plants have been installed already. Moreover, investment in additive abatement technology may inhibit the introduction of low-waste, integrated technologies. Yet the development of the latter, though expensive in the short run, should enable industry to meet more stringent standards in the future.     

Statistical Simulation to Estimate Uncertain Behavioral Parameters of Hybrid Energy-Economy Models

In energy-economy modeling, new hybrid models attempt to combine the technological explicitness of bottom-up models with the macroeconomic feedbacks and statistically estimated behavioral parameters of top-down models. However, statistical estimation of behavioral parameters (portraying firm and household technology choices) with such models is challenged by the number of uncertain variables and the lack of historical data on technologies in terms of capital costs, operating costs, and market shares. Multiple combinations of parameter values might equally explain past technology choices. This paper reports on the application of a Bayesian statistical simulation approach for estimating the most likely values for these key behavioral parameters in order to best explain past technology choices and then simulate policies to influence future technology choices. The method included (1) data collection of key technology market shares, capital costs, and operating costs over the past; (2) backcasting a hybrid energy-economy model over a historical time period; and (3) the application of Markov chain Monte Carlo statistical simulation using the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm as a tool for estimating distributions for key parameters in the model. The results provide a means of indicating the uncertainty bounds around key behavioral parameters when generating forecasts of the effect of certain policies. However, the results also indicate that this approach may have limited applicability, given that future available technologies may differ substantially from past technologies and that it is difficult to separate the effects of parameter uncertainty from model structure uncertainty.     

Effects of Scale and Logging on Landscape Structure in a Forest Mosaic

Landscape structure in a forest mosaic changes with spatial scale (i.e. spatial extent) and thresholds may occur where structure changes markedly. Forest management alters landscapestructure and may affect the intensity and location of thresholds. Our purpose was to examine landscape structure at different scales to determine thresholds where landscape structure changes markedly in managed forest mosaics of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. We also investigated how logging influences landscape structure and whether these management activities change threshold values. Using threshold and autocorrelation analyses, we found that thresholds in landscape indices exist at 400, 500, and 800 m intervals from the outer edge of management units in our studyregion. For landscape indices that consider all landcovercategories, such as dominance and contagion, landscape structureand thresholds did not change after logging occurred. Measurements for these overall landscape indices were stronglyinfluenced by midsuccessional deciduous forest, the most commonlandcover category in the landscape. When restricting analysesfor mean patch size and percent cover to individual forest types,thresholds for early-successional forests changed after logging. However, logging changed the landscape structure at small spatialscale, but did not alter the structure of the entire forestmosaic. Previous forest management may already have increasedthe heterogeneity of the landscape beyond the point whereadditional small cuts alter the overall structure of the forest. Because measurements for landscape indices yield very differentresults at different spatial scales, it is important first toidentify thresholds in order to determine the appropriate scalesfor landscape ecological studies. We found that threshold andautocorrelation analyses were simple but powerful tools for thedetection of appropriate scales in the managed forest mosaicunder study.     

Carrots and sticks for new technology: Abating greenhouse gas emissions in a heterogeneous and uncertain world

Many governments use technology incentives as an important component of their greenhouse gas abatement strategies. These carrots are intended to encourage the initial diffusion of new, greenhouse-gas-emissions-reducing technologies, in contrast to carbon taxes and emissions trading which provide a stick designed to reduce emissions by increasing the price of high-emitting technologies for all users. Technology incentives appear attractive, but their record in practice is mixed and economic theory suggests that in the absence of market failures, they are inefficient compared to taxes and trading. This study uses an agent-based model of technology diffusion and exploratory modeling, a new technique for decision-making under conditions of extreme uncertainty, to examine the conditions under which technology incentives should be a key building block of robust climate change policies. We find that a combined strategy of carbon taxes and technology incentives, as opposed to carbon taxes alone, is the best approach to greenhouse gas emissions reductions if the social benefits of early adoption sufficiently exceed the private benefits. Such social benefits can occur when economic actors have a wide variety of cost/performance preferences for new technologies and either new technologies have increasing returns to scale or potential adopters can reduce their uncertainty about the performance of new technologies by querying the experience of other adopters. We find that if decision-makers hold even modest expectations that such social benefits are significant or that the impacts of climate change will turn out to be serious then technology incentive programs may be a promising hedge against the threat of climate change.     

污水中抗生素生化去除研究进展

综述了活性污泥法、膜生物反应器、人工湿地等国内外常见抗生素生化去除方法的优缺点与适用范围,通过工艺对比发现,膜生物反应器和人工湿地能有效去除污水中的抗生素,活性污泥法对抗生素的去除率不高,且选择性较强;污泥龄和水力停留时间对抗生素的去除率有着显著影响,多数情况下反应器的运行改进也能提高抗生素的去除效果。针对抗生素污染问题,提出了采取加强型的复合式处理工艺、开展分区研究、出台相关管理政策等建议。     

Advances in analytical technologies for environmental protection and public safety

Due to the increased threats of chemical and biological agents of injury by terrorist organizations, a significant effort is underway to develop tools that can be used to detect and effectively combat chemical and biochemical toxins. In addition to the right mix of policies and training of medical personnel on how to recognize symptoms of biochemical warfare agents, the major success in combating terrorism still lies in the prevention, early detection and the efficient and timely response using reliable analytical technologies and powerful therapies for minimizing the effects in the event of an attack. The public and regulatory agencies expect reliable methodologies and devices for public security. Today's systems are too bulky or slow to meet the "detect-to-warn" needs for first responders such as soldiers and medical personnel. This paper presents the challenges in monitoring technologies for warfare agents and other toxins. It provides an overview of how advances in environmental analytical methodologies could be adapted to design reliable sensors for public safety and environmental surveillance. The paths to designing sensors that meet the needs of today's measurement challenges are analyzed using examples of novel sensors, autonomous cell-based toxicity monitoring, 'Lab-on-a-Chip' devices and conventional environmental analytical techniques. Finally, in order to ensure that the public and legal authorities are provided with quality data to make informed decisions, guidelines are provided for assessing data quality and quality assurance using the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) methodologies.     

Estimating the environmental and economic impacts of widespread adoption of potential technology solutions to reduce water use and pollution: Application to China's textile industry

Numerous technologies are emerging to reduce water use and pollution in China's textile industry, including several that are promoted by the China National Textile and Apparel Council as cleaner technologies in their five-year development guideline published in 2016. Though these technologies appear promising, the complexity of the industry makes it difficult to predict and compare the environmental and economic impacts of widespread adoption of these technologies. We draw on existing studies to estimate the potential scale of applicability of these technologies, and then estimate the potential economic and environmental benefits of encouraging their widespread adoption. Several of them, if implemented on a large scale, could drastically reduce water use and pollution with a payback of less than a year. Our approach to estimating the environmental and economic impacts of widespread adoption of promising technologies is also relevant for impact assessment in other complex industries with a wide range of products and processes.     

A gis-based assessment on the vulnerability and future extent of the tropical forests of the congo basin

This paper examines the vulnerability of the Congo Basin's forests through a GIS platform, taking into consideration the variables of population growth, road density, logging concession, and forest fragmentation. The assessment indicates that the forests will continue to shrink towards the interior over the next 50 years. Current contiguous forests will fragment into three large blocks, including one on the west side of the Congo River and two in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while a large number of small forest patches will retain in the periphery of the large blocks. The study shows that integrated GIS assessment of the driving forces of tropical deforestation can shed light on the future forest distribution and provide a tool to address the broader implications of social and economic development for tropical deforestation.     

主体功能区环境政策导向研究

环境政策是主体功能区区域政策的重要组成部分,从环境准入政策、环境管理政策和环境经济政策3个方面研究提出了不同主体功能区域的环境政策导向,以推动主体功能区分类别环境政策框架体系的形成。     

Kyoto commitments: macro and micro insights on trading and the Clean Development Mechanism

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we raise some issues related to the expected dimension of the carbon market. This analysis is based on a survey of model results on the implementation of the Kyoto goal with and without reliance on emissions trading. In particular, we consider both the emissions and the financial implications associated with different trading scenarios. Transfers related to international GHG trading might be equivalent to a 400% increase in foreign direct investment to countries with economies in transition. A closer look at the GHG reductions expected from the developing world also suggests that global models may be overly optimistic in their assessment of the contribution of flexibility mechanisms in meeting the Kyoto emission goals. OECD countries may need to rely more on domestic policies to reduce their emissions than what has so far been projected by global models. Second, we use a simple microeconomic model to test the potential contribution of typical power generation technologies in the context of the Clean Development Mechanism. Projects that are defined as additional in terms of the environment but already profitable can bring about significant results at a relatively low price of certified emission reductions. To assume that the contribution of the CDM will come close to what is projected by global models (both for prices and quantities) is to assume that such projects could be credited under the CDM. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

地下土壤、水中DNAPLs污染的修复技术研究进展

综述了国内外地下土壤、含水层DNAPLs污染的迁移机理及其修复技术研究进展,对该领域的研究前景做了展望.     

完善排污权有偿使用和交易政策的探讨

中国开展排污权有偿使用和交易试点以来,经过各试点地区的积极探索取得了实质性进展,环境容量的资源意识不断得到提升,部分地区已经初步建立了排污指标有偿使用和交易机制.由于此项工作尚处于起步和探索阶段,仍存在政策和法律滞后、与其他政策关联不足、试点范围局限等问题.提出从完善立法、加强政策关联、注重政策公平以及扩大试点范围等推...     

我国城市噪声污染现状与特征

通过对8个大城市功能区噪声监测数据的分析,阐述了我国城市噪声主要污染区域、主要超标时段、噪声时间分布及季度变化等特征,为管理部门制定噪声防治政策提供参考.     

Assessment of noise level and noise propagation generated by light-lift helicopters in mountain natural environments

The use of helicopter rises discussion about environmental noise propagation especially when it operates in proximity of environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) for an extended period because of its potential implications in wildlife behaviours. In order to support decisions on helicopter logging operation management in proximity of ESAs, this study focused on (i) analysing the noise spectrum of a light-lift helicopter during logging operations and on (ii) assessing the noise propagation in the surrounding environments. This study investigated a helicopter logging operation for wood fuel extraction in the eastern part of the Italian Alps. The potential disturbance area covered for the entire helicopter logging operation was evaluated by a specific GIS application according to hearing sensitivity of the most sensitive wildlife species in the study area (different strigiform species). The noise level at the ground appeared to be affected by the location regardless both the use of equivalent continuous sound pressures level dB(A) (LAeq) and the single-event level (SEL) noise metrics. The lowest values were recorded when the helicopter was flown over the sound meter level located under the forest canopy, while the highest was recorded when the helicopter was unhooking the loads at the landing. The GIS application highlighted the consistent of the exceeded noise area (weighted to strigiform hearing range and sensitivity) for the lower frequency bands (0.016–0.250 kHz). A more restricted exceeded noise area concerned instead the most sensitive frequency bands" for the strigiform (1–2 kHz).

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Investments in Power Generation Under Uncertainty—a MIP Specification and Large-Scale Application for EU

Investments in power generation constitute a typical budget allocation problem in the context of multiple objectives, while all factors influencing investor’s decisions for power plants are subject to considerable uncertainties. The paper introduces a multi-objective stochastic model designed to optimize budget allocation decisions for power generation in the context of risk aversion taking into account several sources of uncertainty, especially with regard to volatility of fossil fuel and electricity prices, technological costs, and climate policy variability. Probability distributions for uncertain factors influencing investment decisions are directly derived from the stochastic global energy model PROMETHEUS and thus they take into account complex interactions between variables in the systemic context. In order to fully incorporate stochastic characteristics of the problem, the model is specified as an optimization problem in which the probability that an objective exceeds a given threshold is maximized (risk aversion) subject to a set of deterministic and probabilistic constraints. The model is formulated as a mixed integer program providing complete flexibility on the joint distributions of rates of return of technologies competing for investments, as it can handle non-symmetric distributions and take automatically into account complex covariance patterns as emerging from comprehensive PROMETHEUS stochastic results. The analysis shows that risk is a crucial factor for power generation investments with investors not opting for technologies subject to uncertainty related to climate policies and fossil fuel prices. On the other hand, combination of options with negative covariance tends to benefit in the context of risk-hedging behavior.     

土壤生态环境健康监测与评价技术现状与展望

综述了国内对土壤生态环境健康的研究进展,总结了传统土壤环境监测技术的不足,介绍了土壤生态环境健康监测技术,包括植物、动物、微生物等生态监测方法,旨在通过对各项技术的比较,了解各项监测技术对土壤健康监测和评价现状。对土壤生态环境健康监测与评价技术的发展趋势进行展望,提出未来需要对土壤生态健康监测技术进行标准化和定量化;开展多生物指标联合监测;结合遥感和物联网技术扩大土壤时空监测尺度,形成完整的土壤生态环境健康监测与评价体系,为环境管理部门有效监测土壤生态环境提供依据。     

Meta-Modeling to Assess the Possible Future of Paris Agreement

In the meta-modeling approach, one builds a numerically tractable dynamic optimization or game model in which the parameters are identified through statistical emulation of a detailed large scale numerical simulation model. In this paper, we show how this approach can be used to assess the economic impacts of possible climate policies compatible with the Paris Agreement. One indicates why it is appropriate to assume that an international carbon market, with emission rights given to different groups of countries will exist. One discusses the approach to evaluate correctly abatement costs and welfare losses incurred by different groups of countries when implementing climate policies. Finally, using a recently proposed meta-model of game with a coupled constraint on a cumulative CO₂ emissions budget, we assess several new scenarios for possible fair burden sharing in climate policies compatible with the Paris Agreement.     

Energy storage selection for sustainable energy development: The multi-criteria utility analysis based on the ideal solutions and integer geometric programming for coordination degree

The choice of the energy storage technology involves multiple criteria that need to be simultaneously considered in the energy planning process. The development of sustainable energy system requires to take into account not only technical characteristics of storage technologies but also to pursue sustainability issues. The paper aims to perform not-site-specific sustainability assessment of the main types of energy storage technologies (mechanical, chemical, electrochemical and thermal) based on the developed advanced multi-criteria technique. The paper follows the vein of the coordinated Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and extends it to the interval environment. A geometric integer programming model is introduced to identify the interval for the degree of coordination. The proposed method is, therefore, able to handle uncertainty and coordinate performance of the alternatives with respect to multiple criteria. Sustainability assessment of energy storage technologies is performed based on the most important technological, economic, environmental and social criteria. The results showed that the most sustainable energy storage technologies are mechanical and thermal ones (utility scores range in between 1 and 0.75). The remaining technologies exhibit utility scores of 0.69 at most. The least appealing options are electrochemical storage technologies.     

Development and Applications of Microbial Ecogenomic Indicators for Monitoring Water Quality: Report of a Workshop Assessing the State of the Science, Research Needs and Future Directions

This article brings forth recommendations from a workshop sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) and Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (EMAP) Programs and by the Council of State Governments, held during May 2002 in Kansas City, Kansas. The workshop assembled microbial ecologists and environmental scientists to determine what research and science is needed to bring existing molecular biological approaches and newer technologies arising from microbial genomic research into environmental monitoring and water quality assessments. Development of genomics and proteomics technologies for environmental science is a very new area having potential to improve environmental water quality assessments. The workshop participants noted that microbial ecologists are already using molecular biological methods well suited for monitoring and water quality assessments and anticipate that genomics-enabled technologies could be made available for monitoring within a decade. Recommendations arising from the workshop include needs for (i) identification of informative microbial gene sequences, (ii) improved understandings of linkages between indicator taxa, gene expression and environmental condition, (iii) technological advancements towards field application, and (iv) development of the appropriate databases. Contribution no. 1217 from the NHEERL Gulf Ecology Division. All authors contributed equally to this publication.     

Socially evaluated impacts on a technologically transformed urban river

Urban rivers are natural elements in the urban landscape that are technologically changed to solve flood and pollution problems, and as a result of these interventions in the riverbed, they can be sources of well-being or problems for different segments of a city's population. As such, alternatives for assessment from different temporal and spatial viewpoints are necessary. Here we examine the importance of an urban river which has been technologically transformed over time, through the perception of families who live alongside it. Historical background was initially used to provide context, followed by binary logistic regression to analyze survey data (stratified sample of 710 inhabitants, significance level = 0.05). The results show that perceptions varied by the type of riverbed where each respondent lived (straightened, natural, or underground) and how long residents had lived near the river, and that the technologies used influence perceptions of impacts on the quality of life in riverside populations. The findings of this study provide possibilities for evaluating urban rivers as assets that generate diffuse effects capable of intensively impacting the quality of life of various residents in different ways, with intensities moderated by the nature of the corrective technologies used in each segment of the river, as well as priorities for conservation policies developed in each community or riverside micro-society. The conclusion is that high-impact technological solutions tended to be highly effective, and despite the ongoing deterioration of water quality and escalating risk, part of the population continues to value the river as a public natural resource and believes that solutions should come from government efforts.