Managing the cost of emissions for durable,carbon-containing products

We recognize that carbon-containing products do not decay and release CO₂ to the atmosphere instantaneously, but release that carbon over extended periods of time. For an initial production of a stock of carbon-containing product, we can treat the release as a probability distribution covering the time over which that release occurs. The probability distribution that models the carbon release predicts the amount of carbon that is released as a function of time. The use of a probability distribution in accounting for the release of carbon to the atmosphere realizes a fundamental shift from the idea that all carbon-containing products contribute to a single pool that decays in proportion to the size of the stock. Viewing the release of carbon as a continuous probabilistic process introduces some theoretical opportunities not available in the former paradigm by taking advantage of other fields where the use of probability distributions has been prevalent for many decades. In particular, theories developed in the life insurance industry can guide the development of pricing and payment structures for dealing with the costs associated with the oxidation and release of carbon. These costs can arise from a number of proposed policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, social cost of carbon, etc), but in the end they all result in there being a cost to releasing carbon to the atmosphere. If there is a cost to the emitter for CO₂ emissions, payment for that cost will depend on both when the emissions actually occur and how payment is made. Here we outline some of the pricing and payment structures that are possible which result from analogous theories in the life insurance industry. This development not only provides useful constructs for valuing sequestered carbon, but highlights additional motivations for employing a probability distribution approach to unify accounting methodologies for stocks of carbon containing products.     

广州市水资源人口承载力研究

水资源是城市可持续发展的重要基础,科学分析城市水资源承载力与经济社会发展的关系,并基于此协调人口与水资源的关系,建立适应于城市水资源承载力的人类生活与生产方式,将有助于实现城市经济社会可持续发展。本文的计算思路是在对广州市水资源现状进行分析的基础之上,构建广州市水资源承载力评价指标体系,划定水资源承载力等级,对市各辖区相应的水资源承载力进行评价,同时结合广州市人口规划预测的人口数量及未来的供水能力等进行预测,以此提出提升水资源承载力的相关政策和措施。     

黑龙江省饮用水水源地基础环境现状

饮用水的安全与否已经成为威胁人们健康的重要因素,保护饮用水水源地、保障人民饮水安全已经成为事关国家安全、社会稳定的重要工作。本文介绍了黑龙江饮用水水源地的基本情况、特点以及存在的问题,并提出了相应的对策和建议,希望可以为改善全省饮用水水源地水质,保障人民饮水安全提供一些帮助。     

错流式膜-生物反应器处理生活污水及其生物学研究

用错流式膜－生物反应器（ＣｒｏｓｆｌｏｗＭｅｍｂｒａｎｅＢｉｏＲｅａｃｔｏｒ简称ＣＭＢＲ）进行处理生活污水试验并研究其生物动力学参数．结果表明：当ＨＲＴ为５ｈ,ＳＲＴ为１５ｄ,膜面流速为４ｍ／ｓ,膜通量为７５、１５０Ｌ／（ｍ２·ｈ）时,ＣＭＢＲ处理生活污水试验的去除率为：ＣＯＤ＞９７％、ＮＨ３－Ｎ＞９７％、浊度≥９８％;对ＳＳ和总Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉ则达到１００％,出水水质优于建设部生活杂用水回用标准ＣＪ２５．１－８９．生物相分析表明,污泥中没有原、后生动物,只有菌胶团．推导了ＣＭＢＲ稳态运行时的生物浓度计算公式,进而求得表观产率因数Ｙｇ为０．６５,衰减常数Ｋｄ为０．１ｄ－１．     

Does the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola control the sex of individual offspring?

By scoring the chromosome number of developing embryos, we show that the sex ratio bias of the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola Pocock is the result of an overproduction of female embryos. Only 17% of 585 embryos sexed from 14 egg sacs were male, a significant departure from a 1:1 sex ratio. We also explored the possibility of direct control of the sex of individual offspring in this species by examining the variance in the number of males per sac and the spatial distribution of male and female embryos within the sacs. We postulated that a variance in the number of males per sac lower than binomial (i.e., underdispersed or precise sex ratios) or a non-random distribution of male embryos within the sacs would suggest direct control of the sex of individual offspring. We found that the variance in the number of males per sac was indistinguishable from binomial and significantly larger than expected under exact ratios. Likewise, the spatial distribution of male embryos within three sacs examined was no more clustered than expected by chance. The sex ratio biasing mechanism in this species, therefore, apparently only allows control of the mean sex ratio but not of its variance. We present randomization and Monte Carlo methods that can be applied to test for departures from a random spatial arrangement of male and female embryos in an egg mass and for departures from binomial or exact ratios when not all members of a clutch have been sexed. Received: 21 October 1998 / Received in revised form: 23 March 1999 / Accepted: 26 April 1999     

LANDSCAPE‐SCALE ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF CUMULATIVE IMPACTS TO RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEMS: PAST,PRESENT, AND FUTURE1

ABSTRACT: Analyses of cumulative impacts to riparian systems is an important yet elusive goal. Previous analyses have focused on comparing the number of hectares impacted to the number of hectares restored, without addressing the loss of riparian function or the effect of the spatial distribution of impacts. This paper presents an analysis of the spatial distribution of development‐related impacts to riparian ecosystems, that were authorized under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Impacts on habitat structure, contiguity, and landscape context were evaluated using functional indices scaled to regional reference sites. Impact sites were mapped using GIS and analyzed for spatial associations. Positive spatial autocorrelation (i.e. clustering of impact sites) resulted from the piecemeal approach to impact assessment, which failed to prevent cumulative impacts. Numerous small projects in close proximity have resulted in adverse impacts to entire stream reaches or have fragmented the aquatic resources to a point where overall functional capacity is impaired. Additionally, the ecological functions of unaffected areas have been diminished due to their proximity to degraded areas. A proactive approach to managing cumulative impacts is currently being used in Orange County, California as part of a Corps of Engineers sponsored Special Area Management Plan (SAMP). The SAMP process is evaluating the ecological conditions and physical processes of the study watersheds and attempting to plan future development in a manner that will guard against cumulative impacts.     

Conversion of waste plastics into value-added carbon materials

Plastic pollution is a major environmental issue worldwide, calling for advanced methods to recycle waste plastics in the context of the circular economy. Here we review methods and strategies to convert waste plastics into value-added carbon materials, with focus on sources, properties, pretreatment of waste plastics, and on preparation of carbon materials. Pretreatment techniques include mechanical crushing, plastic stabilization and electrospinning. Carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanosheets, carbon spheres and porous carbon are prepared by oxygen-limited carbonization, catalytic carbonization, the template-based method, and pressure carbonization. We emphasize the conversion of polyethene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, halogenated plastics, polyurethane and mixed plastics.

     

China’s sponge cities alleviate urban flooding and water shortage: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - About one tenth of humans are impacted by water shortages around the globe. Water resilience is worsening under climate change because intensifying weather...     

Assessing the current state of ecological connectivity in a large marine protected area system

The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a critical step in ensuring the continued persistence of marine biodiversity. Although the area protected in MPAs is growing, the movement of individuals (or larvae) among MPAs, termed connectivity, has only recently been included as an objective of many MPAs. As such, assessing connectivity is often neglected or oversimplified in the planning process. For promoting population persistence, it is important to ensure that protected areas in a system are functionally connected through dispersal or adult movement. We devised a multi-species model of larval dispersal for the Australian marine environment to evaluate how much local scale connectivity is protected in MPAs and determine whether the extensive system of MPAs truly functions as a network. We focused on non-migratory species with simplified larval behaviors (i.e., passive larval dispersal) (e.g., no explicit vertical migration) as an illustration. Of all the MPAs analyzed (approximately 2.7 million km²), outside the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, <50% of MPAs (46-80% of total MPA area depending on the species considered) were functionally connected. Our results suggest that Australia's MPA system cannot be referred to as a single network, but rather a collection of numerous smaller networks delineated by natural breaks in the connectivity of reef habitat. Depending on the dispersal capacity of the taxa of interest, there may be between 25 and 47 individual ecological networks distributed across the Australian marine environment. The need to first assess the underlying natural connectivity of a study system prior to implementing new MPAs represents a key research priority for strategically enlarging MPA networks. Our findings highlight the benefits of integrating multi-species connectivity into conservation planning to identify opportunities to better incorporate connectivity into the design of MPA systems and thus to increase their capacity to support long-term, sustainable biodiversity outcomes.