Societal implications of sustainable energy action plans: from energy modelling to stakeholder learning

This article investigates the potential impact of sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs) on local development through a two-step methodology involving participatory planning and quantitative analysis. The first phase relies on a participatory system mapping (PSM) approach and generates a causal structure at the basis of the urban model. In the second phase, we transform the qualitative map into a system dynamic model which evaluates the effect of the SEAP on social, economic and environmental indicators. This methodology was applied to the case of Cascina Municipality (Italy). Through scenario analysis, we show that some indirect feedback can harm the achievement of the 20% emission reduction target. This process allows the local authority and stakeholders to evaluate the impact of emission reduction policies on CO₂ emissions and local development, thereby generating collective learning on the systemic implications of the plan. We show that this method can enhance the ambition of emission mitigation efforts by small towns.     

Beyond ‘just’ flood risk management: the potential for—and limits to—alleviating flood disadvantage

Regional Environmental Change - The threat of flooding poses a considerable challenge for justice. Not only are more citizens becoming exposed to risk, but they are expected to play increasingly...     

Production costs and operative margins in electric energy generation from biogas. Full-scale case studies in Italy

The purpose of this study was to observe the economic sustainability of three different biogas full scale plants, fed with different organic matrices: energy crops (EC), manure, agro-industrial (Plants B and C) and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) (Plant A). The plants were observed for one year and total annual biomass feeding, biomass composition and biomass cost (€ Mg^?1), initial investment cost and plant electric power production were registered. The unit costs of biogas and electric energy (€ Sm^?3_biogas, € kW h^?1_EE) were differently distributed, depending on the type of feed and plant. Plant A showed high management/maintenance cost for OFMSW treatment (0.155 € Sm^?3_biogas, 45% of total cost), Plant B suffered high cost for EC supply (0.130 € Sm^?3_biogas, 49% of total cost) and Plant C showed higher impact on the total costs because of the depreciation charge (0.146 € Sm^?3_biogas, 41% of total costs). The breakeven point for the tariff of electric energy, calculated for the different cases, resulted in the range 120–170 € MW h^?1_EE, depending on fed materials and plant scale. EC had great impact on biomass supply costs and should be reduced, in favor of organic waste and residues; plant scale still heavily influences the production costs. The EU States should drive incentives in dependence of these factors, to further develop this still promising sector.     

Impact of municipal solid waste dumpsites on trace metal contamination levels in the surrounding area: a case study in West Africa,Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The impact of uncontrolled municipal dumping sites on metal contamination in the surrounding waters, sediments, and soils are of great concern in many...     

Degradation of monofluorophenols in water irradiated with gaseous plasma

Decomposition of aqueous monofluorophenols (MFPs) was investigated by contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE). During CGDE, both MFPs and the corresponding total organic carbon (TOC) in water were consumed smoothly, suggesting that carbon atoms of benzene nucleus could be eventually mineralized to inorganic carbon (IC). And all the fluorine atoms in the MFPs were equally converted to fluoride ions. Based on the primary intermediates from each starting materials, it showed that aromatic hydroxylation preferentially occurred at the para- or ortho- position to the phenolic OH group of each MFPs. The disappearance of both MFPs and TOC followed the first-order rate law. The apparent rate constants for the decay of MFPs were independent from the pK_a values of MFPs.     

Infanticide by a solitary koinobiont ichneumonid ectoparasitoid of spiders

When encountering an already parasitized host, a parasitoid’s optimal choices (superparasitism, host rejection, host feeding or infanticide) seem to depend on the individual species’ life history, because the same choice may have different fitness consequences. We demonstrate infanticide under laboratory conditions by a polysphinctine, Zatypota albicoxa, which is a solitary koinobiont ectoparasitoid of spiders. The female always removed any previously attached egg or larva from the body of the host spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, with a rubbing behaviour. She rubbed her ovipositor back and forth toward the undersurface of the attached egg or of the saddle under the attached larva to pry it off and laid an egg after removal. When removing a larva, the infanticidal female engaged exclusively in unfastening the ‘saddle’ which fastens the larva to the body of the spider. All larvae were removed with the ‘saddle’ attached to the ventral surface of the body. The female invested more time to remove the medium second and the large penultimate instar larvae than to remove eggs and first instar larvae because of the labour involved in unfastening the saddle. Oviposition with infanticide of the medium second and the penultimate instar larvae imposed more time upon the female than that on an unparasitized host. Removal of any previous occupant in spite of the associated labour costs suggests that infanticide will always be adaptive, no matter the time costs to Z. albicoxa, because so much is invested in attacking the host and because the parasitoid cannot detect whether the spider is already parasitized until she achieves subjugation.     

Cladocerans under conditions of small river damming by man and beavers

In beaver ponds, the species diversity, abundance, biomass, and production of cladocerans and the amount of food consumed by them have increased and the composition of dominant species has changed as compared to those in the stretches of small rivers with running water or dammed by man. The stimulating effect of water from a beaver pond has been confirmed in laboratory experiments. The average number of juvenile Ceriodaphnia affinis produced by one female was considerably greater in this water than in the water from flowing and dammed (by man) river stretches.     

Technical feasibility study of a low-cost hybrid PAC-UF system for wastewater reclamation and reuse: a focus on feedwater production for low-pressure boilers

This study has applied the concept of the hybrid PAC-UF process in the treatment of the final effluent of the palm oil industry for reuse as feedwater for low-pressure boilers. In a bench-scale set-up, a low-cost empty fruit bunch-based powdered activated carbon (PAC) was employed for upstream adsorption of biotreated palm oil mill effluent (BPOME) with the process conditions: 60 g/L dose of PAC, 68 min of mixing time and 200 rpm of mixing speed, to reduce the feedwater strength, alleviate probable fouling of the membranes and thus improve the process flux (productivity). Three polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes of molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 1, 5 and 10 kDa were investigated in a cross-flow filtration mode, and under constant transmembrane pressures of 40, 80, and 120 kPa. The permeate qualities of the hybrid processes were evaluated, and it was found that the integrated process with the 1 kDa MWCO UF membrane yielded the best water quality that falls within the US EPA reuse standard for boiler-feed and cooling water. It was also observed that the permeate quality is fit for extended reuse as process water in the cement, petroleum and coal industries. In addition, the hybrid system’s operation consumed 37.13 Wh m⁻³ of energy at the highest applied pressure of 120 kPa, which is far lesser than the typical energy requirement range (0.8–1.0 kWh m⁻³) for such wastewater reclamation.

     

Does vehicle colour influence crash risk?

An often asked question regarding vehicle safety is whether vehicle colour has an influence on crash risk and if so, what is the differential in risk between the various colours of vehicles available. The major objective of this study was to assess the relationship between vehicle colour and crash risk through the analysis of real crash outcomes described in Police reported crash data. The study employed induced exposure methods utilising single vehicle crashes as the comparison crash type. It estimated the crash risk associated with each vehicle colour relative to a reference colour which was chosen to be white. Results of the analysis identified a clear statistically significant relationship between vehicle colour and crash risk. Compared to white vehicles, a number of colours were associated with higher crash risk. These colours were black, blue, grey, green, red and silver. The association between vehicle colour and crash risk was strongest during daylight hours where relative crash risks were higher for the colours listed compared to white by up to around 10%. No colour had a statistically significantly lower crash risk than white although crash risks for a number of other colours were not statistically significantly different from white.