Battery powered electric vehicles charged via solar photovoltaic arrays developed for light agricultural duties in remote hilly areas in the Southern Mediterranean region

In the Southern Mediterranean region hilly and remote areas are afflicted with the high cost of diesel fuel, problematic supply, poor or non-existent grid connections and lack of maintenance technicians to service farm grid generation systems and machinery. A prototype Battery Powered Electric Vehicle (BPEV) charged using a solar photovoltaic array (10 kWp) was installed at a monastery situated at Achkout (Lebanon) with a total agricultural area of 50 ha, 10 ha of which was devoted to viticulture. The purpose of this was to investigate the potential for the cleaner production of power hence reducing the use of diesel fuels in agriculture. Data collected from the test site is presented and used to validate a numerical model. The numerical model was then used to extend the study further to the other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea which have different levels of solar irradiance. Currently the average cost of diesel fuel within the EU is at an all-time high of 1.32 €/L. A life cycle costing determined that if the current trends in inflation in the EU continue and that fuel costs increase by 7.5% per annum, then battery powered electric vehicles charged using solar photovoltaics are economically viable in areas of high solar irradiance. The numerical model was then used to determine the outcome of using lithium titanate batteries instead of conventional lead-acid batteries. Adoption of the described system for a 10 ha vineyard would result in annual fuel saving of 4200–5200 L of diesel depending on which location in the Mediterranean area a system such as this is installed.     

The practical societal problem of pollution and public health as the source of a variety of problems regarding chance mechanisms operating in living organisms

The essence of the societal problem which justifies the expenditure of large sums on studies of pollution and health is illustrated by three figures included in this paper. The first two of these figures illustrate the contemporary publicity favoring the two competing energy-producing technologies, the nuclear and the conventional fossil-burning technologies. The very existence of this costly publicity demonstrates that the decisions affecting public health are now frequently made without due regard to the relevant scientific findings. The third figure illustrates the most laudable effort of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a relationship between hoped-for decreases in mortality and the dollar cost of removing from the environment any one of the several investigated pollutants, e.g., “particulates”, krypton-85, tritium, etc.The subsequent parts of this presentation tend to document the fact that the reliability of the EPA chart published in 1973 is illusory. The same applies to the large number of other official publications, including those of the National Academy of Sciences. The results of more modern studies brought to the fore a variety of biological chance mechanisms, such as competing risks, dose-rate effects, synergisms, etc., which make the problem attacked by EPA much more difficult than was originally anticipated.The basic research, combining the laboratory experimentation on animals and theoretical considerations, results in a better understanding of a variety of phenomena. However, this better understanding seems to imply that the solution of the practical societal problem requires a large multipollutant and multilocality epidemiological study.     

Mercury in certain boletus mushrooms from Poland and Belarus

This paper reports the results of the study of Hg contents of four species of Boletus mushroom (Boletus reticulatus Schaeff. 1763, B. pinophilus Pilát & Dermek 1973, B. impolitus Fr. 1838 and B. luridus Schaeff. 1774) and the surface soils (0–10 cm layer, ～100 g) samples beneath the mushrooms from ten forested areas in Poland and Belarus by cold-vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy. The ability of the species to bioconcentrate Hg was calculated (as the BCF) while Hg intakes from consumption of these mushroom species were also estimated. The median Hg content of the caps of the species varied between 0.38 and 4.7 mg kg^?1 dm; in stipes between 0.13 and 2.5 mg kg^?1 dm and in the mean Hg contents of soils varied from 0.020 ± 0.01 mg kg^?1 dm to 0.17 ± 0.10 mg kg^?1 dm which is considered as “background” Hg level. The median Hg content of caps of B. reticulatus and B. pinophilus were up to 4.7 and 3.6 mg kg^?1 dm, respectively, and they very efficiently bioaccumulate Hg with median BCF values of up to 130 for caps and 58 for stipes. The caps and stipes of these mushrooms if eaten will expose consumer to elevated dose of total Hg estimated at 1.4 mg for caps of Boletus reticulatus from the Kacze ??gi site, which is a nature reserve area. Nevertheless, the occasional consumption of the valued B. reticulatus and B. pinophilus mushrooms maybe safe.     

Butyltin compounds in sediment and fish from the Polish Coast of the Baltic Sea

Concentrations of mono- (MBT), di- (DBT), and tri-(TBT) butyltin compounds were measured in eggs, liver, and muscle of nine species of fish from four regions of the Baltic Sea - the Firth of Vistula, the Gulf of Gdańsk, Puck Bay, and the mouth of the Vistula River. The overall concentration ranges among all the fish sampled from the four sites were: < 7 to 79 ng/g for MBT, 6 to 1100 ng/g for DBT, 7 to 3600 ng/g for TBT, and 16 to 4800 ng/g for total BTs, on a wet wt basis. The highest concentration of total BTs was found in herring liver from the Firth of Vistula (4800 ng/g, wet wt) and in roach muscle from Puck Bay (3300 ng/g, wet wt), while the least concentration was found in burbot eggs and liver from the Vistula River (39 and 32 ng/g, wet wt, respectively). TBT was the major form of BTs present in most samples analyzed. Sediment samples collected from shipyards in the Gulf of Gdańsk contained butyltin concentrations ranging from 1.2 to 46 μg/g (dry wt) for MBT, 2.0 to 42 μg/g for DBT, and 2.6 to 40 μg/g for TBT. As with the fish, the majority of the BTs in sediment were present as TBT, which suggested recent exposure of the aquatic environment of the region to TBT.     

Nanoparticles: Their potential toxicity,waste and environmental management

This literature review discusses specific issues related to handling of waste containing nanomaterials. The aims are (1) to highlight problems related to uncontrolled release of nanoparticles to the environment through waste disposal, and (2) to introduce the topics of nanowaste and nanotoxicology to the waste management community. Many nanoparticles used by industry contain heavy metals, thus toxicity and bioaccumulation of heavy metals contained in nanoparticles may become important environmental issues. Although bioavailability of heavy metals contained in nanoparticles can be lower than those present in soluble form, the toxicity resulting from their intrinsic nature (e.g. their size, shape or density) may be significant. An approach to the treatment of nanowaste requires understanding of all its properties – not only chemical, but also physical and biological. Progress in nanowaste management also requires studies of the environmental impact of the new materials. The authors believe Amara’s law is applicable to the impact of nanotechnologies, and society might overestimate the short-term effects of these technologies, while underestimating the long-term effects. It is necessary to have basic information from companies about the level and nature of nanomaterials produced or emitted and about the expectation of the life cycle time of nanoproducts as a basis to estimate the level of nanowaste in the future. Without knowing how companies plan to use and store recycled and nonrecycled nanomaterials, development of regulations is difficult. Tagging of nanoproducts is proposed as a means to facilitate separation and recovery of nanomaterials.     

Traces of DU in samples of environmental bio-monitors (non-flowering plants, fungi) and soil from target sites of the Western Balkan region

This paper reports results of gamma and alpha spectrometric measurements for mosses, lichens, fungi and soil samples from areas in the Balkans targeted by depleted uranium (DU). Samples were collected in 2002 and 2003 in the vicinity of several villages, principally Han Pijesak (Bosnia and Herzegovina, hit by DU in 1995) and Bratoselce (South Serbia, hit by DU in 1999) and in lesser numbers from Gornja Stubla, Kosovo (which is identified as a high natural radon/thoron area) and Presevo close to the Kosovo border. In the course of gamma spectrometric measurements some results suggested samples with unusual high uranium contents which might be considered to be a signature for the presence of DU, although many samples had very high detection limits. Alpha spectrometric measurements directly proved the presence of DU for five samples, all from directly targeted places. These were samples of mosses, lichens and soil. For some samples homogeneity tests were applied which showed a rather even distribution of DU in these samples. No trace of DU was found in any sample from a dwelling.     

Acceleration of tributyltin chloride (TBT) degradation in liquid cultures of the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans

In this study, we have examined the effects of synthetic medium ingredients and culture incubation conditions on growth and tributyltin chloride (TBT) degradation activity of the fungus Cunninghamella elegans. The best efficiency of TBT conversion to less toxic derivatives: dibutyltin and monobutyltin was noticed on media which contained glucose, NH(4)Cl, K(2)HPO(4) and MgSO(4). Next, the constructed M3 medium (with the above components) ensured vigorous growth of C. elegans and allowed the reduction of 80% of the initial TBT content (10 mg l(-1)), after 3d of biodegradation. The further acceleration of the biocide utilization by C. elegans was achieved by additional oxygen supply (pO(2) >or = 20%) to the growing fungus (89% after 2d of incubation in the BioFlo II bioreactor). The efficient xenobiotic biodegradation was related to the intensity of fungal growth. The obtained results suggest a cometabolic nature of TBT utilization by C. elegans.     

Forest health status in the Carpathian Mountains over the period 1997-2001

The results of forest health status assessments in the Carpathian Mountains from the monitoring networks developed by the European Union Scheme on the Protection of Forest Against Atmospheric Pollution (EU Scheme) and International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP-Forests), have led to a better understanding of the impact of air pollution and other stressors on forests at the regional scale. During the period 1997-2001, forests in the Carpathian Mountains were severely affected by air pollution and natural stresses with 29.7-34.9% of the trees included in defoliation classes 2-4. The broadleaves were slightly healthier than the conifers, and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was the least affected species. Norway spruce (Picea abies) has poor health status, with 42.9-46.6% of the trees damaged (2-4% defoliation classes). Silver fir (Abies alba) damage was also high, with 46.0-50.9% in defoliation classes 2-4. Pines (primarily Pinus sylvestris) were the least affected of the conifers, with 24.9-33.8% in defoliation classes 2-4. The results from the transnational networks (16 x 16 km) show that the Carpathian forests are slightly more damaged than the average for the entire Europe. The correlative studies performed in individual European countries show the relationships between air pollution stressors with trends in defoliation and a possible effect of natural stresses at each site. More specific, effects of tree age, drought, ozone and acid deposition critical level exceedances were demonstrated to affect crown condition.     

Prediction of environmental partition coefficients and the Henry's law constants for 135 congeners of chlorodibenzothiophene

Polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs) could be classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environment and are particularly interesting due to their structural resemblance to highly toxic dioxins. We show here some basic environmental properties such as n-octanol water (K_OW), n-octanol/air (K_OA) and air/water (K_AW) partition coefficients as well as Henry’s law constants (K_H) for all 135 congeners of chlorodibenzothiophene. Predictions were made by regression of principal components (PCR) and with aid of a set of standard chemicals, for which physical–chemical properties are well featured. Computed K_OW, K_OA, K_AW and K_H values for mono-CDTs ranged, respectively, between 4.66 and 4.71, 7.48 and 7.55, −2.84 and −2.82, 3.56 and 3.74; for di-CDTs between 5.02 and 5.28, 8.03 and 8.29, −3.01 and −2.95, 2.42 and 2.75; for tri-CDTs between 5.53 and 5.70, 8.65 and 8.87, −3.2 and −3.11, 1.58 and 1.92; for tetra-CDTs between 5.95 and 6.13, 9.27 and 9.50, −3.39 and −3.27, 1.02 and 1.33; for penta-CDTs between 6.38 and 6.51, 9.88 and 10.05, −3.54 and −3.45, 0.72 and 0.88; for hexa-CDTs between 6.83 and 6.97, 10.54 and 10.66, −3.72 and −3.64, 0.47 and 0.56; for hepta-CDTs between 7.28 and 7.35, 11.12 and 11.20, −3.81 and −3.87, 0.33 and 0.38; for octa-CDT 7.74, 11.78, −4.04 and 0.23. An estimated value of the three types of partition coefficient and Henry’s law constants suggest that polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes are lipophilic and semi-volatile persistent organic pollutants. Their mobility in the environment seems to be very similar to that of some well-known POPs such as polychlorinated dibenzofurans, -dibenzo-p-dioxins, and -biphenyls or organochlorine pesticides.