Local authorities and climate protection in the European union: Putting subsidiarity into practice?

Abstract

Although intrinsically a global environmental concern, the climate change issue has a number of implications for local authorities. Within the European Union (EU), the remit of local authorities in—‐for abatement policies—the crucial areas of energy and transport policy varies considerably, as does their commitment to environmental action more generally. This paper examines the role of local authorities in climate protection within a framework of global, EU and national action, through examples of local strategies from Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The paper finds positive instances of action in all countries, but points to unsympathetic policy frameworks both at national and EU level, such as budget constraints imposed on local authorities, the pursuit of low energy prices combined with a resistance to impose carbon taxes, a lack of energy efficiency standards and insufficient support for public transport.     

Sustainable roofing technology under multiple constraints: a decision-analytical approach

Recent efforts in the private and public sectors to move toward enhanced sustainability in the built environment have prompted the need to quantify and assess trade-offs among relevant sustainability metrics. Within the US military, for instance, many technological improvements are available to facilitate the achievement of net-zero goals for installations. These technologies must be assessed based on numerous performance criteria, and these technology selection decisions are difficult to make unaided. This paper seeks to demonstrate the use of decision-analytical techniques in which sustainable roofing technology alternatives (reflective, vegetated, or solar roofs) can be properly framed and assessed while evaluating the trade-offs between multiple performance criteria. Multi-criteria decision analysis methods are used to assess the impact of technology alternatives on sustainability framed within the popular concept of the triple bottom line (economic, societal, and environmental concerns). The framework developed in this paper can be applied to other sustainability technologies (energy, water, waste) or portfolios of numerous technologies.     

Assessment of morphology for anaerobic-granular particles.

This study shows that a proper assessment of granule morphology is fundamental before applying any mathematical derivation or empirical formula based on the shape factor of anaerobic-granular particles to determine granular characteristics. The granular images and size distribution of samples observed in this study revealed two different dimensions along two axes, which characterize these particles as ellipsoids. In the literature, theoretical-settling velocities and particle-size distribution of anaerobic granules have been calculated by assuming granules as spherical-shaped and using the numerical correlation between the size and settling velocity. This resulted in large deviations in results reported for settling velocities and size distribution calculated by using empirical equations when compared with experimentally measured values. It is believed that, because of the nonspherical nature of these particles, errors have been made in the earlier studies (which considered these particles as spherical), while evaluating granular-physical properties.     

Multiscale approach to the security of hardware supply chains for energy systems

While the cybersecurity field has focused primarily on software and network security, threats and vulnerabilities of hardware device supply chains are growing concerns. Of particular importance and interest in this vein is the way in which semiconductors and other electronic devices are increasingly deployed to support energy distribution, storage, and control at a variety of scales. Future smart grid supply chains must be secured to prevent cyber attacks from affecting energy infrastructure, and the societal and economic functions on which they depend. This perspective paper calls for a multiscale approach to address modeling and decision-making for energy system hardware supply chains. A multiscale approach, as discussed in this paper, can facilitate resilience of supply chains across the life cycles of these systems, through low- and high-tech techniques to monitor and act on the supply chain. This can incorporate both qualitative and quantitative factors to suit the variety of stakeholders, geographic scales, organizational levels, and planning and operational time horizons.     

Pollution and Genetic Structure of North American Populations of the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale)

Assessing the genetic structure of natural populations differentially impacted by anthropogenic contaminants can be a useful tool for evaluating the population genetic consequences of exposure to pollution. In this study, measures of genetic diversity at variable-number-tandem-repeat loci in six dandelion populations (3 urban and 3 rural) showed patterns that may have been influenced by exposure to environmental contaminants. Mean genetic similarity among individuals within a population was significantly and positively correlated with increasing levels of airborne particulate matter ( 10 m, PM₁₀) and soil concentrations of four metals (Cd, Fe, Ni and Pb). In addition, mean genetic similarity was always significantly higher at the urban sites compared to rural sites. There was a significant negative correlation between the number of genotypes at a site and increasing amounts of PM₁₀, concentrations of five soil metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb), leaf tissue levels of Fe and a significant positive correlation between the extent of clonality at a site and levels of PM₁₀ and soil concentrations of five metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb). Although, this study does not directly establish a causal link between the specific contaminants detected at the study sites and differences in genetic diversity, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that pollution-induced selection has contributed in some fashion to the lower genetic diversity found at the urban sites.