The electric utility business case for investigating EMS: ISO 14000 and beyond

This article will focus on how a systems approach can be used as a strategic tool for environmental improvement that makes sense from a perspective of bottom-line financial performance. The author will discuss some real-world experience concerning how electric utilities are attempting to align environmental management more closely with business management theory and practice. The ISO 14000 standards have been proposed and, in many instances, finalized as global voluntary standards. How important will they be to the U.S. electric utility sector? ISO 14001, the EMS standard, has been promoted as a necessary “certificate” for those who sell products and/or services overseas. In fact, to be of value to most organizations, the standard must show that it can make a positive financial contribution, whether the service or product is marketed globally, nationally, or locally. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Stress on stress response of wild mussels,Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus,as an indicator of ecosystem health

Mussels' health as indicated by the survival time of 50% of sampled animals (LT(50)) when maintained in air at 15 degrees C was examined at three sites in Halifax Harbour with expected differing levels of contamination. Condition and gonad indices, lipid content and the body burden of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) were compared with this stress response in 60 groups of mussels covering two species. At each sampling time, the bioaccumulation of PACs, lipid content and condition indices were higher within Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus displaying shorter survival than at the other sites. M. edulis was generally more tolerant than M. trossulus (for n=11, LT(50) of 9.3 and 7.9 days), with indications of shorter and later gonad development in M. trossulus. Minimum and maximum tolerance was apparent in June and October (LT(50) spanning 3-14 days), respectively. Our results indicate that the stress on stress response provides a simple and sensitive indicator of environmental health, which could be integrated with mussel watch studies.     

Removal of biocide pentachlorophenol in water system by the spent mushroom compost of Pleurotus pulmonarius

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) has been widely used as a wood preservative since 1980s. Although it has been banned worldwide, residues of PCP are still commonly found. The spent compost of oyster mushroom Pleurotus pulmonarius (SMC) which was a degraded paddy straw-based substrate, contained 25% chitin. Five percentage of the SMC could remove 89.0 +/- 0.4% of 100 mg PCPl(-1) within 2 days at room temperature predominantly by biodegradation. The maximum removal capacity was 15.5 +/- 1.0 mg g(-1) SMC. The sorption kinetics of PCP by SMC can be described by the Freundlich monolayer model with a theoretical sorption capacity similar to that found for chitin. A PCP-degradative bacterium was isolated from the SMC. Yet, biodegradation was predominantly contributed by the immobilized ligninolytic enzymes secreted by the mushroom to the SMC. Degradation of PCP involves dechlorination, methylation, carboxylation and ring cleavage as verified by GC-MSD and ion chromatography. Thus, the SMC has a potential for treating PCP-contaminated water.     

Developing a multimedia model of chemical dynamics in an urban area.

A multimedia model has been developed to account for the movement of semi-volatile organic compounds (SOCs) in an urban environment. The model, based on a Level III fugacity model of D. Mackay (Multimedia Environmental Models: The Fugacity Approach, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 1991), consists of six compartments: air, surface water, sediment, soil, vegetation, and an organic film that coats impervious surfaces. The latter is a newly identified compartment into which gas-phase SOCs partition and particle-phase SOCs are believed to be efficiently captured (M.L. Diamond, S.E. Gingrich, K. Fertuck, B.E. McCarry, G.A. Stern, B. Billeck, B. Grift, D. Brooker, T.D. Yager, Environ. Sci. Technol., 34 (2000a), 2900-2908). The model, parameterized for downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and run with an illustrative emission rate for selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and homologues of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, indicates that the film achieves the highest concentrations among media but that soils are the greatest sink for all but the least hydrophobic chemicals. The film "reflects" the more volatile chemicals into air, facilitates removal to surface waters by wash-off, and provides a surface on which photolytic degradation can occur. As such, the film is a transient sink that increases chemical mobility in urban areas by increasing air concentrations and the cycling of these compounds between air and urban surfaces and increasing water concentrations. Vegetation also accumulates SOCs, a portion of which is transferred to soil that reduces chemical mobility.     

Fire ant venom alkaloids act as key attractants for the parasitic phorid fly, Pseudacteon tricuspis (Diptera: Phoridae)

The phorid fly, Pseudacteon tricuspis Borgmeier, is an introduced parasitoid of imported fire ants, Solenopsis spp., in the USA. Although the assumption that phorid flies use fire ant alarm pheromones for host location is probably true, we demonstrated in a previous study the possible involvement of other ant semiochemicals in the response of P. tricuspis to fire ants. This study was conducted to determine the glandular sources and identity of the semiochemicals mediating this interaction. First, we tested the electroantennogram response of P. tricuspis to extracts of key body parts and glands of workers of the red imported fire ant, S. invicta Buren. The results confirm that the poison (venom) gland/sac is the key source of compounds which elicited strong antennal activity in P. tricuspis. Follow-up studies were conducted by using a combination of bioassay-guided fractionation and behavioral bioassays to test the hypothesis that attraction of this parasitoid to fire ants is mediated by venom alkaloids. The results confirm the response of P. tricuspis to physiologically relevant amounts of the two venom alkaloid fractions (cis and trans alkaloid fractions) of S. invicta. Further analysis by coupled gas chromatography–electroantennogram detection revealed nine venom alkaloid components including two novel 2,6-dialkylpiperideines that elicited significant antennal activity in P. tricuspis. This is the first demonstration of the role of venom alkaloids of ants as attractants for their natural enemies. We propose a semiochemical-mediated host location mechanism for P. tricuspis involving both alarm pheromones and venom alkaloids. The ecological significance of these findings, including the attraction of male P. tricuspis to fire ant venom alkaloids, possibly for mate location, is discussed.     

You think you are big fish in a small pond? Perceived overqualification,goal orientations,and proactivity at work

Overqualification denotes situations in which job incumbents have higher qualifications than those required for the job. Drawing on the self‐regulatory perspective, we proposed that employees' perception of overqualification positively affects their proactive behavior through the mechanism of role‐breadth self‐efficacy and that this indirect effect is moderated by employees' goal orientations. We tested our hypotheses through two studies. In Study 1, we found that perceived overqualification had a positive indirect effect on employees' proactive behavior through role‐breadth self‐efficacy using a sample of 323 salespeople with a cross‐lagged panel design. In Study 2, the multi‐wave and multi‐source data from 302 teachers confirmed the indirect effect and indicated that performance goal orientation and learning goal orientation moderated the indirect relationship. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does globalization and energy usage influence carbon emissions in South Asia? An empirical revisit of the debate

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 agenda hinges on attaining a sustainable environment with the need to “take urgent...     

Balancing durability and environmental impact in concrete combining low-grade recycled aggregates and mineral admixtures

This paper investigated the effect of various amounts of low-grade recycled aggregates in concrete containing mineral admixtures at three different water-binder ratios on mechanical and environmental performance. The balance between durability and environmental impact for a given strength level similar to normal-use concrete was also examined using analytic hierarchy process. Results showed that increasing the water-binder ratio and volume of recycled aggregates reduced compressive strength and increased air permeability and drying shrinkage relative to normal aggregates. However, compared to normal-use concrete similar or better performance could be achieved, which was attributed to improvement of low-grade recycled aggregate performance when combined with fly ash. Similarly, CO₂ emissions and volume of raw materials were lower than the normal-use concrete for all mixes. Concrete mixes with low air permeability and low CO₂ footprint had the best balance of durability and environmental impact, as decreasing raw material volume tended to more greatly reduce durability.     

Performance of amine-multilayered solid sorbents for CO2 removal: Effect of fabrication variables

The emission of fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere is implicated as the predominant cause of global climate change; therefore, advanced CO₂ capture technologies are of the utmost importance. In this study, innovative amine-multilayered sorbents were fabricated using layer-by-layer (LbL) nanoassembly technology via alternate deposition of a CO₂-adsorbing amine polymer (e.g. polyethylenimine or PEI) and an oppositely-charged polymer (e.g. polystyrene sulfonate or PSS). We found that the developed sorbents could be used for CO₂ capture and that LbL nanoassembly allows us to engineer their CO₂ capture performance through the fabrication variables (e.g. deposition polymers, deposition media, and number of bilayers). PEI/PSS was found to be the best polymer combination for developing sorbents with relatively high CO₂ capture capacity. The amine-multilayered solid sorbents possessed fine microstructures and may have similar polymer deposition within and on the surface of solid sorbents. These amine-multilayered sorbents had much faster CO₂ desorption rates compared to sorbents prepared using the current PEI-impregnation approach. Such fast CO₂ desorption could make sorbents a good option for CO₂ removal from power plants and even the atmosphere.