Creative and disruptive elements in Norway´s climate policy mix: the small-state perspective

ABSTRACT

Recent scholarship has argued that effective and credible national climate policy mixes should encompass measures that promote new low-carbon technologies alongside those instruments aimed at constraining and phasing out support for existing polluting industries. The creative and disruptive policy measures in Norway´s climate policy mix are analysed by focusing on both national and international climate mitigation efforts. Norway´s climate policy mix at home has been more ambitious in the transport sector with a growing electric vehicle market than in the energy sector where niche support and disruptive policies have remained weak. Abroad, Norway has been increasingly active in supporting new low-carbon technologies and disrupting the fossil-fuel industry, especially coal. This is explained by the consensus-seeking and oil and gas dominated small-state social-investment political economy in Norway, combined with a forward-looking foreign policy based on norm-setting and multilateralism.     

Urban aerosol evolution and particle formation during wintertime temperature inversions

Aerosol temporal and spatial distributions during wintertime temperature inversions in Gothenburg, Sweden, have been characterized by ground-based and airborne particle measurements combined with lidar measurements. Ground inversions frequently developed during evenings and nights with stable cold conditions, and the low wintertime insolation often resulted in near neutral boundary layer conditions during day-time. Under these conditions ground level aerosol concentrations peaked during morning rush hours and often remained relatively high throughout the day due to inefficient ventilation. The particle number concentrations decreased slowly with increasing altitude within the boundary layer, and measurements slightly above the boundary layer suggested limited entrainment of polluted air into the free troposphere. High concentrations of ultrafine particles were observed throughout the boundary layer up to altitudes of 1100 m, which suggested that nucleation took place within the residual layer during the night and early morning. Recently formed particles were also observed around midday when the layer near ground was ventilated by mixing into the boundary layer, which indicated that ultrafine particles were either transported down from the residual layer to ground level or formed when the polluted surface layer mixed with the cleaner air above.     

Modeling of metal binding in tropical Fluvisols and Acrisols treated with biosolids and wastewater

There is growing concern about the accumulation of metals in tropical agricultural soils. In this study, experimental results from batch studies were used to test whether multi-surface geochemical models could describe metal binding in selected Vietnamese soils. The multi-surface models considered metal binding to iron hydroxides (using the diffuse layer model), organic matter (Stockholm Humic model and NICA-Donnan model), and phyllosilicate clay (Gaines-Thomas equation) as well as complexation to dissolved organic and inorganic ligands in the solution phase. We found that for total dissolved Cd, Cu and Zn the two multi-surface models being tested provided very good model fits for all soils, as evidenced by low root-mean square errors between model predictions and observations. These results suggest that organic matter is an important sorbent for many metals in these soils. However, poor fits were obtained for Cr(III), Mn and Pb for all soils. The study also suggests that the pH is the main factor that controls the solubility of metals in tropical Fluvisols and Acrisols subjected to application of biosolids and wastewater, and that advanced multi-surface models can be used to simulate the binding and release of many trace metals.     

评估可离子化有机化合物的生物累积潜力：当前的认知和研究的重点

本研究的目的是回顾目前关于可离子化有机化合物(IOCs)的生物累积潜力的认知,重点讨论鱼类经验数据的有效性。IOCs在鱼体内的生物积累潜力可以很好地表征为：依赖pH的鳃摄取和排泄,肠道吸收和磷脂吸附(膜-水分区)。关键的挑战包括缺乏关于IOCs生物转化和血浆结合的经验数据。鱼拥有多种蛋白质,可以在细胞膜上传输IOCs。然而,除了少数情况下,这种传输对环境污染物的吸收和积累的意义是未知的。本文提出了2个研究案例。第一个描述了pH值和生物转化对有机酸和碱的生物富集的建模作用,而第二个则采用了一个更新的模型来研究导致全氟烷基酸积累的因素。全氟化烷基酸个案研究是值得关注的,因为它说明了膜转运蛋白在肾脏中可能具有的重要性,并强调了交叉比对方法(read-across approaches)的潜在价值。认识到当前需要对IOCs进行生物累积危害评估和生态风险评估,作者提供了一个分层策略,从保守的假设(模型和相关数据)到需要化学特定信息的更复杂的模型。
精选自Armitage, J. M., Erickson, R. J., Luckenbach, T., Ng, C. A., Prosser, R. S., Arnot, J. A., Schirmer, K. and Nichols, J. W. (2017), Assessing the bioaccumulation potential of ionizable organic compounds: Current knowledge and research priorities. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 36: 882–897. doi: 10.1002/etc.3680
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3680/full
     

Ambient Air Quality and Automotive Emission Control

This paper is concerned with uncertainties involved in projecting ambient air quality. Ambient air quality was projected by assuming a linear dependence on estimated future emissions. Future automotive emissions were estimated by a method recommended by EPA. Projections were made for the locations reported to have the highest ambient air concentrations of each pollutant; Chicago for carbon monoxide and the California South Coast Air Basin for hydrocarbon and oxidant. The sensitivity of the projections to several input parameters was determined.

The uncertainty in projection of air quality due to the use of a maximum, once-per-year concentration is large. For example, the reduction in total CO emissions in Chicago in 1975, necessary to meet the air quality standard, was as high as 68% or as low as 26%, depending on whether the historic high, 8 hr average concentration of 44 ppm or the 1970 maximum of 21 ppm was used. The effects of uncertainties in growth rates and fraction of emissions attributed to the automobile were also sizeable. Differences in automotive growth rate had a large near-term effect on projected concentrations, while differences in nonautomotive growth rate or fraction of emissions attributed to the automobile had a large long-term effect. The effect of 1975 interim automotive emission standards on projected air quality was negligible when compared with projected air quality based on the previous Federal automotive emission standards for 1975.     

Validation of a new method for measuring and continuously monitoring the efficiency of industrial flares

A new method has been developed for a direct and remote measurement of industrial flare combustion efficiency (CE). The method is based on a unique hyper-spectral or multi-spectral Infrared (IR) imager which provides a high frame rate, high spectral selectivity and high spatial resolution. The method can be deployed for short-term flare studies or for permanent installation providing real-time continuous flare CE monitoring.

In addition to the measurement of CE, the method also provides a measurement for level of smoke in the flare flame regardless of day or night. The measurements of both CE and smoke level provide the flare operator with a real-time tool to achieve “incipient smoke point” and optimize flare performance.

The feasibility of this method was first demonstrated in a bench scale test. The method was recently tested on full scale flares along with extractive sampling methods to validate the method. The full scale test included three types of flares – steam assisted, air assisted, and pressure assisted. Thirty-nine test runs were performed covering a CE range of approximately 60-100%. The results from the new method showed a strong agreement with the extractive methods (r²=0.9856 and average difference in CE measurement=0.5%).

Implications: Because industrial flares are operated in the open atmosphere, direct measurement of flare combustion efficiency (CE) has been a long-standing technological challenge. Currently flare operators do not have feedback in terms of flare CE and smoke level, and it is extremely difficult for them to optimize flare performance and reduce emissions. The new method reported in this paper could provide flare operators with real-time data for CE and smoke level so that flare operations can be optimized. In light of EPA’s focus on flare emissions and its new rules to reduce emissions from flares, this policy-relevant development in flare CE monitoring is brought to the attention of both the regulating and regulated communities.     

Evaluation of Multi-level Social Learning for Sustainable Landscapes: Perspective of a Development Initiative in Bergslagen, Sweden

To implement policies about sustainable landscapes and rural development necessitates social learning about states and trends of sustainability indicators, norms that define sustainability, and adaptive multi-level governance. We evaluate the extent to which social learning at multiple governance levels for sustainable landscapes occur in 18 local development initiatives in the network of Sustainable Bergslagen in Sweden. We mapped activities over time, and interviewed key actors in the network about social learning. While activities resulted in exchange of experiences and some local solutions, a major challenge was to secure systematic social learning and make new knowledge explicit at multiple levels. None of the development initiatives used a systematic approach to secure social learning, and sustainability assessments were not made systematically. We discuss how social learning can be improved, and how a learning network of development initiatives could be realized.     

Improved SWAT Model Performance With Time-Dynamic Voronoi Tessellation of Climatic Input Data in Southern Africa1

Andersson, Jafet C.M., Alexander J.B. Zehnder, Bernhard Wehrli, and Hong Yang, 2012. Improved SWAT Model Performance with Time-Dynamic Voronoi Tessellation of Climatic Input Data in Southern Africa. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 480-493. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00627.x Abstract: In this study, we compared two approaches to obtain climatic time series for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), namely the conventional centroid method and time-dynamic Voronoi tessellation, and assessed the performance of SWAT in simulating discharge and smallholder maize yields in Southern Africa. Climatic time series were estimated with each method. The Voronoi method utilized all available precipitation and temperature data, but the centroid method used only 14.5 and 82.5%, respectively. After centroid processing, sub-basin time series were on average 42 and 63% incomplete, respectively. After Voronoi processing, all time series were complete. SWAT was fed with each climate dataset. Each model setup was independently calibrated and validated against discharge and maize yield. Similar model performance was obtained with both methods for yield. The root mean squared error during calibration was 0.26 and 0.27 t ha⁻¹ for the centroid and Voronoi methods, respectively (p-value: 0.80). However, daily discharge simulations improved significantly with the Voronoi method. The coefficient of determination increased from 0.24 to 0.39 in the calibration period (p-value: 9.6 × 10⁻¹³) and from 0.41 to 0.48 in the validation period (p-value: 3.1 × 10⁻³). The Voronoi method improved the simulation of the river flow regime. The largest improvements were obtained in data scarce situations, at high spatial and temporal resolution, and where the centroid method performed the worst.     

Conceptual frameworks and key questions for assessing the contribution of marine protected areas to shark and ray conservation

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are key tools in addressing the global decline of sharks and rays, and marine parks and shark sanctuaries of various configurations have been established to conserve shark populations. However, assessments of their efficacy are compromised by inconsistent terminology, lack of standardized approaches to assess how MPAs contribute to shark and ray conservation, and ambiguity about how to integrate movement data in assessment processes. We devised a conceptual framework to standardize key terms (e.g., protection, contribution, potential impact, risk, threat) and used the concept of portfolio risk to identify key attributes of sharks and rays (assets), the threats they face (portfolio risk), and the specific role of MPAs in risk mitigation (insurance). Movement data can be integrated into the process by informing risk exposure and mitigation through MPAs. The framework is operationalized by posing 8 key questions that prompt practitioners to consider the assessment scope, MPA type and purpose, range of existing and potential threats, species biology and ecology, and management and operational contexts. Ultimately, MPA contributions to shark and ray conservation differ according to a complex set of human and natural factors and interactions that should be carefully considered in MPA design, implementation, and evaluation.