The energy consumption of Paris and its supply areas from the eighteenth century to the present

Since the eighteenth century and the industrial revolution, cities have experienced great changes in their metabolism, and particularly in their energy consumption: transitions from one energy source to another, growing per capita consumption, and total consumption to cite but a few. These changes also impact urban energy supply areas and supply distance. This paper estimates Paris??s energy demand in both final and primary terms since the eighteenth century and gives an illustration of long-term socio-ecological interactions in an interdisciplinary perspective, connecting energy flow analysis, and historical research. It gives an overview of energy supply areas and assesses the distance between supply sites and the city. Paris??s annual total energy requirement (TER) was about 19?GJ per capita at the beginning of the eighteenth century and reached 30?GJ per capita in 1800; the supply area remained nearly the same with an average supply distance (D_avg) of 200?km. During the nineteenth century, Paris??s population increased fivefold, and energy transitioned from biomass to fossil fuel. Per capita TER remained stable, whereas Paris??s supply area moved progressively toward coal basins, in connection with the tremendous change in transport systems. As a consequence, the D_avg grew to 270?km around 1870. During the twentieth century, and especially since the Interwar period, per capita TER increased considerably (to 26?GJ/cap/year in 1910, 47?GJ/cap/year in 1946 and 126?GJ/cap/year in 2006). The internationalization of the energy supply and the shift to petroleum and natural gas also increased the remoteness of the supply sites: the D_avg equaled 3850?km in 2006.     

Mapping the global supply and demand structure of rice

Rice plays a major role in the global supply and demand for sustainable food production. The constraints of maintaining sustainable rice production are closely linked to the relationship between the distribution patterns of human activity on the planet and economic growth. Global patterns of rice production can be mapped by using various criteria linked to domestic income, population patterns, and associated satellite brightness data of rice-producing regions. Prosperous regions have more electric lighting, and there are documented correlations between gross domestic product (GDP) and nighttime light. We chose to examine global rice production patterns on a geographical basis. For the purposes of this study, each country is considered to be made up of regions, and rice production is discussed in terms of regional distribution. A region is delineated by its administrative boundaries; the number of regions where rice is produced is about 13,839. We used gridded spatial population distribution data overlain by nocturnal light imagery derived from satellite imagery. The resultant relationship revealed a correlation between regional income (nominal values of GDP were used) and rice production in the world. The following criteria were used to examine the supply and demand structure of rice. Global rice consumption = “caloric rice consumption per capita per day” multiplied by “regional population values”. Regional rice yields = “country-based production” divided by “harvested area” (multiple harvests are taken into account). Regional rice production = “regional harvested areas” multiplied by “rice yield values”. We compared regional rice consumption and production values according to these methods. Analysis of the data sets generated a map of rice supply and demand. Inter-regional shipping costs were not accounted for. This map can contribute to the understanding of food security issues in rice-producing regions and to estimating potential population values in such regions.     

土地供给、房价与中国人口半城镇化

近十多年来,中国房价快速上涨,人口半城镇化率也随之迅速上升。针对这一现象,本文首次将土地供给、房价与人口半城镇化置于同一框架下进行系统分析,采用两阶段最小二乘法,以土地出让面积作为房价的工具变量,有效克服模型的内生性,从理论和实证两个方面研究了房价上涨对人口半城镇化的影响。结果发现:土地供给减少导致房价上涨,进而推升了人口半城镇化率,抑制了农村转移人口市民化。房价每上涨一个百分点,人口半城镇化率大约上升0.189 4个百分点。在未考虑内生性的情况下,房价对人口半城镇化的影响严重被低估。而2003年后土地供给政策收紧且向中西部地区偏移是导致东部房价上涨进而推升人口半城镇化率的重要根源。另外,还发现对外开放程度提高以及人力资本积累均有利于降低人口半城镇化率,相反,财政负担能力和户籍制度改革则产生了不利影响。因此,为了降低人口半城镇化率,有序促进农村转移人口市民化,提出如下三点政策建议:(1)调整土地供给政策,并且健全住房供应体系,防止房价上涨过快。为此,需要增加东部地区以及大城市的土地供给,使土地供给与人口流动方向以及经济发展需求相匹配,同时增加廉租房和保障房的供应。(2)大力发展工业、服务业,并提高对外开放程度,以创造更多就业机会,增加居民收入,进而促进地区人口城镇化。(3)深化户籍制度,切实放宽农村转移人口的落户条件,同时还需要深化财政制度改革,增加地方公共服务并努力促进公共服务均等化。     

Environmental impact of apparel supply chain and textile products

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Textiles products have high environmental impact compared to other products. Numerous studies have been performed on the environmental impact of...     

Minimising transportation in manufacturing supply chains

The movement of raw material, work-parts and bought-out components is an essential aspect of modern-day global manufacturing systems. It is also an expensive, non-value adding and pollution-generating activity with many undesirable consequences. These manifest themselves not only in terms of the immediate cost of transportation between suppliers, manufacturers and customers but also in the consequential effect this movement has on human health and the environment. Accordingly, modern manufacturing supply chains should be designed with great care to minimise the amount of movement required both internally within a manufacturing facility's production system and externally between the supplier, manufacturer and customer. In so doing, a good supply chain design minimises the costs associated with the transportation of goods along with the effect this has on the environment. In complex supply chains, however, minimising overall transportation movement for large sets of components is no easy task. Consequently, the contribution contained in this paper seeks to outline a technique whereby an initial supply chain design solution which does so can be identified. The method is explained in the first instance via a straightforward material movement example. The resulting solution is subsequently modified to indicate its application in the context of temporal supply chain design. By utilising this approach, the article emphasises the importance of obtaining a solution that minimises transportation movement within the supply chain together with the practical effects of doing so on flexibility, cost and environmental pollution. In addition, the work required for further development of this technique is outlined and finally suitable conclusions are drawn.     

再生资源供应链的结构、行为和绩效分析

再生资源是一种特殊的资源类型,兼具资源资产产权和环境产权,两者相互作用引导其开发利用自组织形成了正规与非正规回收利用者相互交织的完整逆向供应链系统。协调其中各主体间的利益关系、减少逆向供应链的环境污染和整体运行损耗是再生资源开发利用水平提升的关键手段。为此,本文以北京市废旧电视为例,利用实地调研的方法,系统分析了再生资源供应链的结构、行为和绩效(SCP)。结果表明:(1)消费者选择一级回收者时具有价值性、便捷性和规范性三种偏好。销售商回收模式可较好地满足消费者的需求,成为其首选方案,然而,"以旧换新"限制了无需购买新电视的人群。游商以45%的份额占据了剩余一级回收市场的主导地位。(2)一级与二级回收者间形成了稳定的合作关系,二手市场扩大了一级回收者的利润,中间商则为一级回收者提供了稳定的需求保障。(3)受到非正规拆解作坊的挤占,正规拆解企业产能严重过剩。一方面,降低了拆解企业对收购产品的质量要求,致使中间商偷换有价组件和跨境转移电子废弃物等问题日益严重。另一方面,正规拆解企业会提高收购价格,致使政府补贴的基金大部分转移至回收环节,巩固了现有的正规与非正规回收者共存的供应链结构。(4)个体中间商及非正规拆解利用作坊是再生资源供应链低效率的关键。本文调整了现有的家电基金制度,建议在电视销售环节向消费者征收40元/台的基金,并将其中的10元/台用于扶持政府可管控的正规主体中间商,代替个体中间商的功能,其余金额可用于弥补现有基金的亏空。该种模式可充分利用现有的一级回收者及二手市场,并可有效提升再生资源供应链的整体绩效水平。     

Management of two competitive closed-loop supply chains

The two competitive closed-loop supply chains under our study include three members: two manufacturers and one retailer. In this paper, we focus on the management of the wholesale prices, the retail prices and the collecting prices for the two competitive closed-loop supply chains. On the assumption that the return rate of the used-products is an increasing function of the collecting price, we obtain the optimal wholesale prices, the optimal retail prices and the optimal collecting prices based on the following models: Model MMC (two manufacturers for collecting), Model MRC (manufacturer one and retailer for collecting) and Model RRC (retailer for collecting). Furthermore, by comparing the optimal results, we find that the retailer for collecting is the best channel for the two competitive closed-loop supply chains if the two manufacturers would like to transfer all of their cost savings from remanufacturing to the retailer. At the end, we illustrate a numerical example to analyse the impacts of the market share ratio and the substitute ratio of the two products on the optimal results.     

The logistics of food supply following radioactive fallout

Discussions at the national level about critical infrastructure and its vulnerability are more common now following the events of September 11. The National Emergency Supply Agency organised a training exercise to test the logistics of food supply following passage of a plume containing radioactive material over a district in Finland. This short paper summarises the problems that had to be faced and suggests a way forward for improving emergency preparedness in this area.     

Supplier evaluation and selection for sustainable supply chain management under uncertainty conditions

Abstract

With the global increasing importance of sustainable development, sustainable supply chain has gained value among both researchers and industrialists in the last decade. Nowadays, industries are facing pressure from government legislation and the global competition in addition to the pressure from their clients to carry out environmentally – conscious actions. Thus, organisations are required to implement actions to enhance their level of both environmental and economic performances. Traditionally, organisations use criteria such as cost, quality and on-time delivery to evaluate their suppliers’ performance. Although there have been numerous studies on the common criteria for these assessments, very few studies have taken sustainable criteria into consideration. Thereupon, this study tries to put forward a complete model for selection and evaluation of the suppliers, considering three criteria for sustainability, thus using the fuzzy group graph theory and matrix approach. It is an innovative approach based on fuzzy logic and group decision-making, which aims to treat lack of certainty in selection and evaluation of suppliers. We will also discuss a case study in the industry to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.     

Closed-loop supply chain system with energy,transportation and waste disposal costs

Energy usage and consumption play important and strategic roles in modern manufacturing, inventory and logistics systems. The literature on inventory models for closed-loop supply chains reveals that, for no clear reasons, energy costs were ignored along with transportation and disposal costs. This paper introduces a closed-loop supply chain model that considers the economic value and energy content of products. It also offers a novel framework for studying lot-sizing policies of production processes in that context. Thus, a mathematical model for a closed-loop supply chain system with energy, transportation and disposal costs is developed. Numerical examples are provided with their results discussed. The developed model was also compared to that of Richter (1996) to stress the importance of accounting for the three noted costs. The numerical results emphasise that accounting for energy, transportation and disposal costs in supply chain modelling increases the sustainability of a production-inventory system due to the strong interdependence of the three costs on one hand, and their relationship to the environment on the other hand.     

A carbon footprint analysis in the textile supply chain

This research work focuses on the application of life-cycle assessment methodology to determine the carbon footprint of different players involved in a supply chain of the textile sector. A case study of a product by a textile leader company was carried out. This study demonstrates that, in the textile chain, the main contribution to the greenhouse effect is provided by the electrical and thermal energy used and by the transportation (since different production phases are delocalised in a wide range that goes from South Africa, Italy, Romania and all around the world, from the distribution centre to the stores). The Monte Carlo analysis has been used in order to obtain, for each calculated impact, not only the average value but also the distribution curve of the results characterised by uncertainty parameters. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the impact of management choices such as:

??a change in the transportation modality, from aeroplane to boat;

??a combination of road and rail transportation; and

??a selection among suppliers that allows the firm to cut environmental impacts.     

Issues in reverse supply chain,part III: classification and simple analysis

Due to growing environmental concern and increasing awareness among customers, reverse supply chain (RSC) has received much attention among researchers and practitioners. Therefore it is necessary to provide a comprehensive list of references for other researchers (or readers), who are interested in RSC research to help stimulate further interest. In this paper, we present classification schemes and a simple analysis for the reverse supply chain. This literature review was mainly based on journal articles but also included web based documents, conference materials, working papers, etc. A total of 543 articles were reviewed, of which 506 were published between 1967 and 2008 from 100 reputed international journals. Based on the literature review carried out and the nature of research observed in RSC, we have introduced two classification schemes to systematically organise the published articles. The first classification scheme is based on the content related issues on RSC and the second one is based on the solution methodology followed by the researchers. These classification schemes indicate that there is considerable research potential for RSC. The results also show that there is strong growth in RSC research.     

Future aspect of acquisition management in closed-loop supply chain

This paper reviews the current development and practices in closed-loop supply chain under content analysis of the published literatures. A comprehensive literature review of recent and state-of-the-art paper is vital to draw a framework and to shed light on the future direction. We have reviewed here articles on remanufacturing with special emphasis on literature related to acquisition management of returned items. For review of articles, various web-based search engine, books, journal and conference proceeding are selected and reviewed. The research papers are then analysed and categorized to construct useful foundation of past research. The review shows that current researchers are focusing on devising pricing policies to attract used products from customers. Finally, gaps in the literature are identified to suggest future research opportunities.     

Social sustainability in supply chain decisions: Indian manufacturers

The purpose of the paper is to assess the inclusion of social sustainability in the decisions of supply chain in multinational manufacturing organisations in India. Indian organisations are resorting to sustainability-based reporting for greater transparency and for creation of brand value for their organisations. There are tremendous economic upheavals and changes across the complete value chain, and thus, responsible business practices are becoming a necessity for the long-term survival of organisations. Sustainability, as a strategy, is responsible utilisation of resources and is reported through social, economic and environmental factors in an organisation. For sustainability as a strategy, there has to be a complete organisational inclusion and employee engagement through decision making at operational levels along the value chain. The research paper is an empirical study done through a survey using a structured questionnaire to collect information to evaluate decision criteria particularly for social sustainability, from the middle and top level executives in Indian manufacturing organisations. Multinational manufacturing organisations in India are trying to be more responsible because of mandated CSR policy, and thus, sustainability through social factors is getting more prominence. A multiple linear regression analysis is used to explain the correlation and inclusion of social factors on the decision-making process in the supply chain of multinational manufacturing organisations in India. This study reveals that decision making in the supply chain of multinational manufacturing organisations in India specifically in manufacturing industry is incorporating social sustainability. The study highlights that decision making involving social sustainability needs larger frameworks for organisational preference. While the study provides evidence of social sustainability-based practices in multinational manufacturing organisations in India, it does not deal with social sustainability practices. The study also has limitation as has been limited to organisations which follow sustainability practices and make disclosures through GRI framework.     

Sustainable supply chain network design: a multicriteria perspective

In this paper, we develop a rigorous modelling and analytical framework for the design of sustainable supply chain networks. We consider a firm that is engaged in determining the capacities of its various supply chain activities, i.e. the manufacturing, storage and distribution of the product to the demand locations. The firm is faced with both capital costs associated with constructing the link capacities and the links' operational costs. Moreover, the firm is aware of the emissions generated associated with the alternative manufacturing plants, storage facilities and modes of transportation/shipment, which may have different levels of emissions due, for example, to distinct technologies of, respectively, production, storage and transportation. The firm is assumed to be a multicriteria decision-maker who seeks to not only minimise the total costs associated with design/construction and operation, but also to minimise the emissions generated, with an appropriate weight, which reflects the price of the emissions, associated with the various supply chain network activities. We provide both the network optimisation modelling framework and an algorithm, which is then applied to compute solutions to a spectrum of numerical sustainable supply chain design examples in order to illustrate our approach.     

A proposed framework to assess upstream supply chain sustainability

There are few methods that are suitable for assessing the sustainability of companies and supply chains in an integrated way, taking into consideration the economic, social and environmental dimensions. This paper proposes a framework for assessing the sustainability of individual companies and their corresponding upstream supply chain. The framework consists of a set of steps to evaluate the sustainability of both the individual company and their upstream supply chain. The linear aggregation technique is suggested to combine the set of indicators from the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability into a unique value, giving rise to a composite index for the company and corresponding supply chain. The proposed framework represents a contribution in the area of index construction and could be used as a valuable component of sustainability reporting and sustainability management practices. It also represents an important benchmarking tool, offering managers the possibility of identifying the supply chain partners that are best and worst performers in terms of sustainability while at the same time making it possible to improve company performance. Managers can adjust their company’s behaviour according to their sustainability index score and improve economic, social and environmental performance.     

Addressing food supply chain and consumption inefficiencies: potential for climate change mitigation

Globally, more than 30 % of all food that is produced is ultimately lost and/or wasted through inefficiencies in the food supply chain. In the developed world this wastage is centred on the last stage in the supply chain; the end-consumer throwing away food that is purchased but not eaten. In contrast, in the developing world the bulk of lost food occurs in the early stages of the supply chain (production, harvesting and distribution). Excess food consumption is a similarly inefficient use of global agricultural production; with almost 1 billion people now classed as obese, 842 million people are suffering from chronic hunger. Given the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, strategies that reduce food loss and wastage, or address excess caloric consumption, have great potential as effective tools in global climate change mitigation. Here, we examine the challenges of robust quantification of food wastage and consumption inefficiencies, and their associated greenhouse gas emissions, along the supply chain. We find that the quality and quantity of data are highly variable within and between geographical regions, with the greatest range tending to be associated with developing nations. Estimation of production-phase GHG emissions for food wastage and excess consumption is found to be similarly challenging on a global scale, with use of IPCC default (Tier 1) emission factors for food production being required in many regions. Where robust food waste data and production-phase emission factors do exist—such as for the UK—we find that avoiding consumer-phase food waste can deliver significant up-stream reductions in GHG emissions from the agricultural sector. Eliminating consumer milk waste in the UK alone could mitigate up to 200 Gg CO₂e year^?1; scaled up globally, we estimate mitigation potential of over 25,000 Gg CO₂e year^?1.     

Air pollution,ethnicity and telomere length in east London schoolchildren: An observational study

BackgroundShort telomeres are associated with chronic disease and early mortality. Recent studies in adults suggest an association between telomere length and exposure to particulate matter, and that ethnicity may modify the relationship. However associations in children are unknown.ObjectivesWe examined associations between air pollution and telomere length in an ethnically diverse group of children exposed to high levels of traffic derived pollutants, particularly diesel exhaust, and to environmental tobacco smoke.MethodsOral DNA from 333 children (8–9 years) participating in a study on air quality and respiratory health in 23 inner city London schools was analysed for relative telomere length using monochrome multiplex qPCR. Annual, weekly and daily exposures to nitrogen oxides and particulate matter were obtained from urban dispersion models (2008–10) and tobacco smoke by urinary cotinine. Ethnicity was assessed by self-report and continental ancestry by analysis of 28 random genomic markers. We used linear mixed effects models to examine associations with telomere length.ResultsTelomere length increased with increasing annual exposure to NO_x (model coefficient 0.003, [0.001, 0.005], p < 0.001), NO₂ (0.009 [0.004, 0.015], p < 0.001), PM_2.5 (0.041, [0.020, 0.063], p < 0.001) and PM₁₀ (0.096, [0.044, 0.149], p < 0.001). There was no association with environmental tobacco smoke. Telomere length was increased in children reporting black ethnicity (22% [95% CI 10%, 36%], p < 0.001)ConclusionsPollution exposure is associated with longer telomeres in children and genetic ancestry is an important determinant of telomere length. Further studies should investigate both short and long-term associations between pollutant exposure and telomeres in childhood and assess underlying mechanisms.     

Green product design in a supply chain with considering marketing under competition and coordination

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Environmental sustainability is becoming a leading indicator for evaluating supply chain management. This study considers two players, a manufacturer...     

Intelligent power supply management of an autonomous hybrid energy generator

ABSTRACT

This work deals with the optimization of an hybrid energy system used to supply an isolated site. The proposed system combines a wind turbine, a photovoltaic panel, a diesel generator and a battery bank to electrify atypical home. An energy cost-effectiveness approach is adopted in accordance with meteorological data, time profile of energy consumption, and the cost of different alternative systems. A variety of performances is obtained through simulations within the Homer Pro environment. The selection of an optimal combination is based on the maximum integration of renewable energy in the suggested system with a minimum of gas emission. According to the obtained results, the overall cost of the selected installation is about 72,900 €, with 0.415€ the unit cost of a kWh electric energy provided with a contribution of renewable energy of around 86%. Simulations show a technical and financial benefits of the different configurations obtained to supply the target site. To control the proposed hybrid energy system, a supervision algorithm is developed and implemented on TMS320F28027 DSP platform. The proposed energy system aims to take advantages of renewable energy sources and shift to conventional sources only when necessary in order to ensure source autonomy and service continuity.