Energy intensity trends and scenarios for China��s industrial sectors: a regional case study

Due to its rapid industrialization and urbanization, China faces the daunting challenge of sharply growing energy and resource consumption. It is now indispensable for the nation to alter its course of development into more sustainable paths in terms of energy and resource efficiency. In this paper, we discuss the energy intensity of the industrial sectors of the Yangtze River Delta, consisting of Shanghai City and the neighboring province of Jiangsu—the fastest economically developing region of the country—and argue possible strategies for energy efficient industrial activities there. We first examine the historical trends of energy intensity associated with industrial sectors and study the factors affecting the evolution of these trends by applying decomposition analysis. We then argue that if “business as usual” (BAU) development patterns are continued, energy intensity level in both regions may surpass China’s policy targets in 2010, and GDP growth as well as energy consumption will exceed possible pathways under current policy targets by 2020. Thus, appropriate measures are urgently needed to lower energy intensity and consumption. Based upon these analyses as well as the Chinese government’s policy orientation, we propose two options as alternative scenarios for improving practices in energy-intensive industries, particularly targeting the cement and steel production sectors. These options are: (1) diffusion of highly energy efficient technologies into these industries, and (2) promotion of a circular economy and industrial symbiosis. We highlight that these options can potentially lead to energy savings and reductions in resource consumption associated with industrial activities and can serve as a regional model for more sustainable industrial activities in China.     

Quantitative evaluation of waste prevention on the level of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

Waste prevention is a principle means of achieving the goals of waste management and a key element for developing sustainable economies. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute substantially to environmental degradation, often not even being aware of their environmental effects. Therefore, several initiatives have been launched in Austria aimed at supporting waste prevention measures on the level of SMEs. To promote the most efficient projects, they have to be evaluated with respect to their contribution to the goals of waste management. It is the aim of this paper to develop a methodology for evaluating waste prevention measures in SMEs based on their goal orientation. At first, conceptual problems of defining and delineating waste prevention activities are briefly discussed. Then an approach to evaluate waste prevention activities with respect to their environmental performance is presented and benchmarks which allow for an efficient use of the available funds are developed. Finally the evaluation method is applied to a number of former projects and the calculated results are analysed with respect to shortcomings and limitations of the model. It is found that the developed methodology can provide a tool for a more objective and comprehensible evaluation of waste prevention measures.     

Whole-body vibration knowledge survey of U.S. occupational safety and health professionals

Problem

Whole-body vibration (WBV) is an occupational issue of concern due to adverse health effects or simple discomfort and annoyance. Unlike in Europe, WBV is an emerging topic in the U.S. safety and health (S&H) professional community. We hypothesized that at least one-half of the U.S. occupational S&H professionals knew little or nothing about WBV.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional study (survey) of WBV knowledge among members of the American Society of Safety Engineers. A Likert scale (1-none to 5-expert) was used to determine WBV topic knowledge levels (KL_1-5).

Results

Analysis of 2,764 responses revealed that 69.5% of the participants self-reported a less than basic WBV understanding. The WBV KL_1-5 mean for all participants was 1.94 ± 1.00, corresponding to an awareness of WBV without a depth of understanding.

Summary

Many at-risk U.S. workers may not be supported by occupational S&H professionals with adequate WBV knowledge.

Impact on Industry

A significant number of U.S. workers may be exposed to unhealthy levels of whole-body vibration. However, the U.S. occupational safety and health community is generally unprepared to anticipate, monitor, and control the whole-body vibration hazard.     

A comparative performance evaluation of the AURAMS and CMAQ air-quality modelling systems

A harmonized comparative performance evaluation of A Unified Regional Air-quality Modelling System (AURAMS) v1.3.1b and Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) v4.6 air-quality modelling systems was conducted on the same North American grid for July 2002 using the same emission inventories, emissions processor, and input meteorology.Comparison of AURAMS- and CMAQ-predicted O₃ concentrations against hourly surface measurement data showed a lower normalized mean bias (NMB) of 20.7% for AURAMS versus 46.4% for CMAQ. However, AURAMS and CMAQ had more similar normalized mean errors (NMEs) of 46.9% and 54.2%, respectively. Both models did similarly well in predicting daily 1-h O₃ maximums; however, AURAMS performed better in calculating daily minimums. CMAQ's poorer performance for O₃ is partly due to its inability to correctly predict nighttime lows.Total PM_2.5 hourly surface concentration was under-predicted by both AURAMS and CMAQ with NMBs of ?10.4% and ?65.2%, respectively. However, as with O₃, both models had similar NMEs of 68.0% and 70.6%, respectively. In general, AURAMS performance was better than CMAQ for all major PM_2.5 species except nitrate and elemental carbon. Both models significantly under-predicted total organic aerosols (TOAs), although the mean AURAMS concentration was over four times larger than CMAQ's. The under-prediction of TOA was partly due to the exclusion of forest-fire emissions. Sea-salt aerosol made up approximately 50.2% of the AURAMS total PM_2.5 surface concentration versus only 6.2% in CMAQ when averaged over all grid cells. When averaged over land cells only, sea-salt still contributed 13.9% to the total PM_2.5 mass in AURAMS versus 2.0% in CMAQ.     

Patterns and changes of land use and land-use efficiency in Africa 1980–2005: an analysis based on the human appropriation of net primary production framework

Regional Environmental Change - African land systems play a decisive role in addressing future sustainability challenges for food and energy supply—in Africa and potentially elsewhere....     

Changes in the spatial patterns of human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) in Europe 1990–2006

Understanding patterns, dynamics, and drivers of land use is crucial for improving our ability to cope with sustainability challenges. The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework provides a set of integrated socio-ecological indicators that quantify how land use alters energy flows in ecosystems via land conversions and biomass harvest. Thus, HANPP enables researchers to systematically and consistently assess the outcome of changes in land cover and land-use intensity across spatio-temporal scales. Yet, fine-scale HANPP assessments are so far missing, an information important to address site-specific ecological implications of land use. Here, we provide such an assessment for Europe at a 1-km scale for the years 1990, 2000, and 2006. The assessment was based on a consistent land-use/biomass flow dataset derived from statistical data, remote sensing maps, and a dynamic global vegetation model. We find that HANPP in Europe amounted to ~43 % of potential productivity, well above the global average of ~25 %, with little variation in the European average since 1990. HANPP was highest in Central Europe and lower in Northern and Southern Europe. At the regional level, distinct changes in land-use intensity were observed, most importantly the decline of cropland areas and yields following the breakdown of socialism in Eastern Europe and the subsequent recovery after 2000, or strong dynamics related to storm events that resulted in massive salvage loggings. In sum, however, these local dynamics cancelled each other out at the aggregate level. We conclude that this finding warrants further research into aspects of the scale-dependency of dynamics and stability of land use.     

A prehistoric tsunami induced long-lasting ecosystem changes on a semi-arid tropical island—the case of Boka Bartol (Bonaire, Leeward Antilles)

The Caribbean is highly vulnerable to coastal hazards. Based on their short recurrence intervals over the intra-American seas, high-category tropical cyclones and their associated effects of elevated storm surge, heavy wave impacts, mudslides and floods represent the most serious threat. Given the abundance of historical accounts and trigger mechanisms (strike-slip motion and oblique collision at the northern and southern Caribbean plate boundaries, submarine and coastal landslides, volcanism), tsunamis must be considered as well. This paper presents interdisciplinary multi-proxy investigations of sediment cores (grain size distribution, carbonate content, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility, microfauna, macrofauna) from Washington-Slagbaai National Park, NW Bonaire (Leeward Antilles). No historical tsunami is recorded for this island. However, an allochthonous marine layer found in all cores at Boka Bartol reveals several sedimentary criteria typically linked with tsunami deposits. Calibrated ¹⁴C data from these cores point to a palaeotsunami with a maximum age of 3,300 years. Alternative explanations for the creation of this layer, such as inland flooding during tropical cyclones, cannot entirely be ruled out, though in recent times even the strongest of these events on Bonaire did not deposit significant amounts of sediment onshore. The setting of Boka Bartol changed from an open mangrove-fringed embayment into a poly- to hyperhaline lagoon due to the establishment or closure of a barrier of coral rubble during or subsequent to the inferred event. The timing of the event is supported by further sedimentary evidence from other lagoonal and alluvial archives on Bonaire.     

Deliberative assessment in complex socioecological systems: recommendations for environmental assessment in drylands

Desertification is a complex process, characterised not only by a damaged ecology but also by conflict over access to scarce resources and trade-offs between the needs of multiple stakeholders at multiple scales. As such, orthodox approaches to environmental assessment in drylands, which rely solely on ecological expertise, are gradually losing legitimacy and greater attention is being given to integrated and participatory assessment approaches, which draw on multiple sources of knowledge in order to accurately describe complex socioecological processes. Moreover, there is growing recognition that successful management of desertification requires a strategy that can accommodate the multiple and often competing needs of contemporary and future stakeholders. In light of these conceptual advances, this paper highlights seven key criteria that dryland environmental assessments must meet: (1) accurately understand complex socioecological system processes, (2) focus on slow variables, (3) integrate multiple scales of analysis, (4) integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives and values, (5) ensure that future generations are fairly represented, (6) ensure that less powerful stakeholders are fairly represented and (7) integrate local and scientific knowledge. The virtues and challenges of deliberative environmental assessments, a novel subset of participatory environmental assessment approaches which places emphasis on social learning, argumentation and critical reflection, are considered in relation to each of these requirements. We argue that deliberative approaches have the potential to achieve accurate, progressive and integrated assessment of dryland environments.