Tapping the leakages: Methane losses, mitigation options and policy issues for Russian long distance gas transmission pipelines

The Russian natural gas industry is the world's largest producer and transporter of natural gas. This paper aims to characterize the methane emissions from Russian natural gas transmission operations, to explain projects to reduce these emissions, and to characterize the role of emissions reduction within the context of current GHG policy. It draws on the most recent independent measurements at all parts of the Russian long distance transport system made by the Wuppertal Institute in 2003 and combines these results with the findings from the US Natural Gas STAR Program on GHG mitigation options and economics.With this background the paper concludes that the methane emissions from the Russian natural gas long distance network are approximately 0.6% of the natural gas delivered. Mitigating these emissions can create new revenue streams for the operator in the form of reduced costs, increased gas throughput and sales, and earned carbon credits. Specific emissions sources that have cost-effective mitigation solutions are also opportunities for outside investment for the Joint Implementation Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanism or other carbon markets.     

FLOOD PROTECTION BENEFITS AS REFLECTED IN PROPERTY VALUE CHANGES1

ABSTRACT: Measuring flood control benefits from estimated property damage in prior floods omits losses in the form of depressed values of land put to less valuable uses because of annual flooding. Covariance analysis of real property values in three urban areas differently situated around Lake Cumberland, Kentucky shows a much larger rate of increase, over a 15-year period, for the area receiving flood protection. This suggests that the economic benefits from a flood protection facility include these additional property value increases as well as the prevented property damage.     

Stream macroinvertebrate baseline surveys: A comparative analysis from the oil-shale regions of Colorado,USA

General surveys of the benthic macroinvertebrates from Piceance Creek and the White River were conducted for nearly a decade prior to oil-shale exploitation in north central Colorado, USA. Comparison of the taxa collected in four studies on Piceance Creek and five studies on the White River shows little similarity among most studies. Studies were generally consistent in methods, site selection, and time of year for collection. Lack of agreement among the studies on what constitutes a baseline of common taxa is probably a result of taxonomic difficulties and differences in technique. More emphasis should be placed on testing possible impacts than on repeated, expensive, and inconclusive baseline inventories.     

Contributions of biofilm and suspended sludge to nitrogen transformation and nitrous oxide emission in hybrid sequencing batch system

Hybrid system combines the nature of suspended growth and attached growth has been widely applied to wastewater treatment. In this research, the contributions to N transformation and N2O emission by biofilm and suspended sludge in the hybrid sequencingbatch reactor for a simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal process were investigated. For the hybrid system, nitrification occurred mostly in the suspended sludge, while the biofilm played the major role in denitrification. The interaction of the biofilm and the suspended sludge in the same reactor resulted in a better overall nitrogen removal performance with simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. However, N2O emission was the main end product of nitrogen removal for the hybrid system; while it was N2 for the biofilm. The relative low N2O emissions from the pure biofilm and the pure suspended sludge corresponded to the relatively high nitrate at the end of the aeration period compared with the hybrid system.     

Short-duration exposure of 3-µm polystyrene microplastics affected morphology and physiology of watermilfoil (sp. roraima)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microplastics are one of the most widely discussed environmental issues worldwide. Several studies have shown the effect of microplastic exposure on...