Wind power projects in Brazil: challenges and opportunities increasing co-benefits and implications for climate and energy policies

The purpose of this article is to analyze the challenges to, and opportunities for, increasing sustainable development (SD) co-benefits delivered by clean development mechanism (CDM) wind power projects in northeastern Brazil and the resulting implications for climate and energy policies. Five methodological phases were met: First, a documentary research was conducted in the main CDM database; second was a literature review, creating the analytical framework and a survey questionnaire needed to assess the SD co-benefits from the projects; third, documentary research was used to enable ex-ante analysis of the SD co-benefits proposed in the CDM Project Design Documents (PDDs); fourth, survey allowed for the analysis of SD co-benefits perceived by project entrepreneurs (ex-post analysis); and finally, a comparison between the ex-ante and ex-post analyses was completed. The results show the importance of carrying out SD co-benefit studies after the implementation of CDM projects in order to learn lessons for new mechanisms of climate governance. The lowest SD co-benefits were water management improvement in the project influence area, soil pollution prevention, health and safety improvements and technology transfer. The greatest opportunities for increasing SD co-benefits come from the environmental licensing process and the strengthening of Corporate Social Responsibility. The greatest challenges are new technology development, stakeholders’ engagement and SD co-benefit audits. We conclude that the improvement of multi-level climate and energy governance plays a key role in increasing SD co-benefits.

     

Global variability of food waste chemical composition and its consequences on the production of biofuels and chemical compounds

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The use of food waste (FW) for the production of biofuels and value-added compounds is growing worldwide. However, the significant chemical...     

Removal of Hg2+ ions by adsorption using (TiO2@MnO2)-NPs nanocomposite

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Waste water contaminated with inorganic mercury is considered a serious environmental problem, mainly due to the hazardous effects this contaminant...     

The acceptability of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in Europe: An assessment of the key determining factors: Part 1. Scientific,technical and economic dimensions

The ACCSEPT project, which ran from January 2006 to December 2007, identified and analysed the main factors which have been influencing the emergence of CO₂ capture and geological storage (CCS) within the European Union (EU). The key clusters of factors concern science and technology, law and regulation, economics, and social acceptance. These factors have been analysed through interviews, a large-scale questionnaire conducted in 2006, and discussions in two stakeholder workshops (2006 and 2007). In Part I of this paper, we aim to distil the key messages and findings with regards to scientific, technical, legal and economic issues. There are no compelling scientific, technical, legal, or economic reasons why CCS could not be widely deployed in the forthcoming decades as part of a package of climate change mitigation options. In order to facilitate this deployment, governments at both the EU and Member State levels have an important role to play, in particular in establishing a robust and transparent legal framework (e.g. governing long-term environmental liability) and a strong policy framework providing sufficient and long-term incentives for CCS and CO₂ transportation networks.     

Recycling extruded polystyrene by dissolution with suitable solvents

The amount of extruded polystyrene (XPS) waste has increased in recent years due to the increase of its use in the thermal insulation of buildings, transport vehicles, and refrigerators, among others. Dissolution with suitable solvents to achieve a volume reduction of more than 100 times without degradation of polymer chains is one of the cheapest and most efficient methods of recycling XPS. Several environmentally friendly solvents have been tested as dissolution agents for XPS volume reduction; the action of these solvents does not produce any degradation of polymer chains. The solubility of the polymer in such solvents at different temperatures was investigated. The solvent can be easily recycled by distillation, obtaining a high-quality recycled polymer. Chemical Feedstock Recycling & Other Innovative Recycling Techniques 6     

A method for assessing health and safety management systems from the resilience engineering perspective

This article introduces a method for assessing health and safety management systems (MAHS) that has two innovative characteristics: (a) it brings together the three main auditing approaches to health and safety (HS) – the structural approach (which assesses the system prescribed), the operational approach (which assesses what is really happening on the shop-floor) and the performance approach (which assesses the results of performance indicators); (b) it emphasizes the resilience engineering perspective on HS, which takes into consideration four major principles (flexibility, learning, awareness, and top management commitment). Such principles underlie seven major assessment criteria, which in turn are divided into items (e.g. hazard identification from a resilience perspective is an item that belongs to the criteria of production processes). The items are sub-divided into statements, which are the requirements that should be assessed based on interviews, analysis of documents and direct observations. Within the 112 requirements proposed, 38 of them have clear links with at least one out of the four resilience engineering principles adopted. The remaining requirements are based on traditional assumptions underlying the so-called best practices of HS management. The results of the assessment for each item are expressed by a score on a scale of compliance with the established requirements, ranging from 0% to 100%. The specific score within that scale is obtained from tables used to assess applications for the Brazilian national quality award. The MAHS was tested in a case study that was carried out in a factory that manufactures automobile exhaust systems, located in Brazil.     

Pilot study on the influence of stress caused by the need to combine work and family on occupational accidents in working women

The influx of a large number of women into the workforce involves the need for these women to combine family and work responsibilities. Multiple roles lead to work–family conflict. This study analyzes the influence of work–family conflict on the causes of minor occupational accidents suffered by working women. A survey was done on working women in the Madrid region, who had suffered a minor occupational accident in 2004. The main finding was that nearly half of the women with children considered that the stress and fatigue caused by trying to combine work and family played a part in the accident; 21% of the respondents whose accidents took place while traveling to or from work and 11% the respondents who suffered the accident in the workplace said that family reasons played a part. Additionally, 50% of the women suffered after-effects as a result of the accident; children had to change their routine in almost 1 in 4 cases; nearly a quarter of the respondents said their work situation had been temporarily modified. This point to a need for polices that encourage men and employers to contribute more to solve work–family conflicts.     

Pedestrian crossing decision-making: A situational and behavioral approach

Among road users, pedestrians are those whose continued trajectory is the less constrained by the environment and by the regulation rules. Consequently, the choice of where, when and how to cross roads are more or less conforming with the awaited behavior. Proceeding with an experimental approach, from observations of pedestrian crossings to the modeling of the decision-making process, a categorization of both environments and of pedestrian behavior is proposed.     

A field experiment with variable-suction multi-compartment samplers to measure the spatio-temporal distribution of solute leaching in an agricultural soil

Solutes spread out in time and space as they move downwards from the soil surface with infiltrating water. Solute monitoring in the field is often limited to observations of resident concentrations, while flux concentrations govern the movement of solutes in soils. A recently developed multi-compartment sampler is capable of measuring fluxes at a high spatial resolution with minimal disturbance of the local pressure head field. The objective of this paper is to use this sampler to quantify the spatial and temporal variation of solute leaching below the root zone in an agricultural field under natural rainfall in winter and spring. We placed two samplers at 31 and 25 cm depth in an agricultural field, leaving the soil above undisturbed. Each sampler contained 100 separate cells of 31 × 31 mm. Water fluxes were measured every 5 min for each cell. We monitored leaching of a chloride pulse under natural rainfall by frequently extracting the collected leachate while leaving the samplers buried in situ. This experiment was followed by a dye tracer experiment. This setting yielded information that widely surpassed the information that can be provided by separate anionic and dye tracer trials, and solute transport monitoring by coring or suction cups. The detailed information provided by the samplers showed that percolation at the sampling depth started much faster (approximately 3 h after the start of rainfall) in initially wet soil (pressure head above − 65 cm) than in drier soil (more than 14 h at pressure heads below − 80 cm). At any time, 25% of the drainage passed through 5–6% of the sampled area, reflecting the effect of heterogeneity on the flow paths. The amount of solute carried by individual cells varied over four orders of magnitude. The lateral concentration differences were limited though. This suggests a convective–dispersive regime despite the short vertical travel distance. On the other hand, the dilution index indicates a slight tendency towards stochastic–convective transport at this depth. There was no evidence in the observed drainage patterns and dye stained profiles of significant disturbance of the flow field by the samplers.     

Effects of low concentrations of the phenylurea herbicide diuron on biofilm algae and bacteria

A system of recirculating channels was used in this study to examine the long-term effects (29 d) of environmentally realistic concentrations of the herbicide diuron (from 0.07 to 7 μg L⁻¹) on biofilm communities. The autotrophic activity of biofilms was affected by this herbicide, as reflected by a marked decrease in the photosynthetic efficiency. Diuron exposure also increased chlorophyll-a content and reduced the biovolume of diatom taxa at low concentrations. The effects on bacteria were also remarkable. Bacterial abundance was reduced after a week of exposure to the herbicide at a range of concentrations. Effects were on the number of live bacteria and on the increase in the leucine-aminopeptidase activity. It is suggested that inputs of herbicides to the river ecosystem at low concentrations may cause a chain of effects in the biofilm, which include inhibitory effects on algae but also indirect effects on the relationships between biofilm components.