ICT applications in the research into environmental sustainability: a user preferences approach

Whether information and communication technology (ICT) constitutes a threat or a cure to environment??s deterioration is controversially discussed. Empirical evidence on the impacts of ICT is rare, so that generalizable lessons can hardly be drawn. This study provides empirical results on the role of ICT in research for environmental sustainability, but instead of ascertaining the impact of ICT on environmental protection, we conduct an analysis of the use of ICT in sustainability research. We assess the preferences of experts in different thematic sustainability fields for applying ICT tools, and we investigate ways to improve the application of these tools in order to augment their returns with respect to environmental protection research. This analysis is based on a set of surveys that were administered to international experts to evaluate the importance of ICT in environmental sustainability research and the research demands in key environmental sectors, such as climate change, natural resources, energy and biodiversity. The methodological framework is built on the analysis of users?? preferences for future developments in ICT tools using stated preferences techniques. Overall results suggest that ICT tools need to be developed in specific contexts, taking into account users?? needs and expectations. Our analysis shows that the use of ICT in environmental research is of great importance in the scientific community, but it can also play a crucial role in the policy context.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in domestic indoor dust from Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States

Because of the similarities in European and North American dietary exposure, it has been suggested that the order of magnitude higher body burdens in North Americans may be due to international variations in exposure via ingestion of indoor dust. Furthermore, ingestion of indoor dust has been suggested as a possible source of PBDEs in the blood serum of New Zealanders. Hence, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in domestic indoor dust from: Amarillo/Austin, Texas, US; Birmingham, UK; Toronto, Canada; and Wellington, New Zealand. Concentrations of BDE 209 in two UK samples were - at 520,000 and 100,000 ng g(-1) - the highest ever recorded in a domestic (or office) indoor dust sample. Median concentrations in ng g(-1) were: in Canada 620 and 560 for Sigmatri-hexa-BDEs and BDE 209 respectively; in New Zealand 96, BDE 209 not determined; in the UK 59 and 2,800; and in the US 1600 and 1300. With respect to BDE 209, concentrations were in the order: UK approximately US>Canada. For Sigmatri-hexa-BDEs, the order of concentrations was US approximately Canada>New Zealand approximately UK. Combined with principal component analysis of congener patterns, this suggests that, while North American dusts are contaminated by both Deca- and Penta-BDE commercial formulations, UK dusts are contaminated predominantly by Deca-BDE. The Octa-BDE formulation appears of minimal importance in accordance with available market demand figures. Despite the commercial formulations of PBDEs never having been manufactured in, nor imported into New Zealand, their presence in dusts from that country suggests international trade in PBDE-containing goods is an important pathway effecting their global distribution.     

Economic incentives for TQEM: Are they in your future?

Traditional command-and-control regulations provide few opportunities for total quality environmental management because they usually do not take into account cost and efficiency factors. However, in the past several years both Congress and EPA have shown increasing interest in using incentive-type approaches to regulate the environment. These include taxes, marketable pollution privileges, deposits and refunds, information disclosure provisions, and subsidies. The author details examples of each and discusses how they can effectively complement a quality program.     

Emerging technologies for in-situ groundwater remediation

There are numerous technologies currently being tested by EPA, universities throughout the world, and private research organizations. A few of the more promising innovative technologies as well as fully tested and proven remedies for treating contaminated groundwater are presented in this article. Although several of those technologies have been in existence for only four to five years, the results of full-scale testing are being produced. The method for each of these promising technologies is described, results from recent field-scale studies are summarized, and a discussion of cost is presented.     

It’s All in the Numbers: Acreage Tallies and Environmental Program Evaluation

Increasingly, performance measurement is being used to hold federal agencies accountable, represent environmental progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs. The need to track measurable outputs has created a tendency to present programmatic progress solely by quantifiable data, despite the inherent complexity of natural resource management. Wetlands and fire management programs are two specific environmental arenas that have come to overemphasize the tracking of acreage numbers to validate existing policy direction. In both of these arenas, we find the definition and categorization of "countable" acres to be inconsistent and unreliable. We explore this systemic flaw for both wetlands and fire programs and describe its implications for environmental policy and natural resource management more broadly. We conclude with recommendations for improved performance measurement in these arenas.     

Investigation of real-life operating patterns of wood-burning appliances using stack temperature data

ABSTRACT

A study was undertaken to identify patterns of consumer use of outdoor wood boilers or outdoor wood furnaces (technically referred to as outdoor wood-fired hydronic heaters (OWHHs)) and indoor wood stoves (IWSs) to inform the development of performance testing protocols that reflect real-life operating conditions. These devices are manually fed, and their usage protocols are a function of a number of variables, including user habits, household characteristics, and environmental factors. In this study, researchers logged the stack wall temperatures of 4 OWHH and 20 IWS units in the states of New York and Washington over two heating seasons. Stack wall temperature is an indicator of changes in combustion modes. Two algorithms were developed to identify usage modes and cold and warm start refueling events from the stack wall temperature time series. A linear correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of heat demand on usage patterns. The results and methods presented here will inform the cataloging of typical operational patterns of OWHHs and IWSs as a step in the development of performance testing procedures that represent actual in-home usage patterns.

Implications: Current US regulatory programs for residential wood heating use a certification program to assess emissions and efficiency performance. Testing under this program uses a test that burns 100% of a single, standardized wood fuel charge to assess performance at different steady-state load conditions. This study assessed in-field operational patterns to determine if the current certification approach accurately characterized typical homeowner use patterns. The data from this study can be used to inform revisions to testing methods to increase certification test comparability between lab and field performance.     

Females’ sampling strategy to comparatively evaluate prospective mates in the peacock blenny <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salaria pavo</Emphasis>

Emerging evidence suggests the occurrence of comparative decision-making processes in mate choice, questioning the traditional idea of female choice based on rules of absolute preference. In such a scenario, females are expected to use a typical best-of-n sampling strategy, being able to recall previous sampled males based on memory of their quality and location. Accordingly, the quality of preferred mate is expected to be unrelated to both the number and the sequence of female visits. We found support for these predictions in the peacock blenny, Salaria pavo, a fish where females have the opportunity to evaluate the attractiveness of many males in a short time period and in a restricted spatial range. Indeed, even considering the variability in preference among females, most of them returned to previous sampled males for further evaluations; thus, the preferred male did not represent the last one in the sequence of visited males. Moreover, there was no relationship between the attractiveness of the preferred male and the number of further visits assigned to the other males. Our results suggest the occurrence of a best-of-n mate sampling strategy in the peacock blenny.     

Individual differences in the mechanisms underlying the onset and maintenance of paternal behavior and the inhibition of infanticide in the monogamous biparental California mouse,Peromyscus californicus

Virgin male Peromyscus californicus tend to behave infanticidally or nonparentally towards pups, whereas virtually all males exhibit parental behavior following birth of their own young. Most males (65–75%) living with their pregnant partner attacked or ignored unfamiliar pups and did not become parental (behave parentally) prior to birth of their young. However, a significant minority of males (34%) living with their partner became parental after just 24 h of postcopulatory cohabitation with the female and remained parental throughout their mate's pregnancy. Males that were infanticidal before the birth of their young became parental only after their young were born. The presence of the mother was necessary for the postpartum maintenance of paternal behavior and the inhibition of infanticide in males that were infanticidal prepartum. In contrast, males that were paternal prior to birth of their young continued to be paternal after birth, even in the absence of postpartum contact with the mother. Thus, different mechanisms are involved in the inhibition of infanticide and the onset and maintenance of paternal behavior. Correspondence to: D.J. Gubernick     

Lessons after Bhopal: CSB a catalyst for change

The Bhopal tragedy was a defining moment in the history of the chemical industry. On December 3, 1984, a runaway reaction within a methyl isocyanate storage tank at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant released a toxic gas cloud that killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. After Bhopal, industrial chemical plants became a major public concern. Both the public and the chemical industry realized the necessity of improving chemical process safety.

Bhopal served as a wake-up call. To prevent the same event from occurring in the United States, many legislative and industrial changes were invoked—one of which was formation of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). The ultimate goal of CSB is to use the lessons learned and recommendations from its investigations to achieve positive change within the chemical industry—preventing incidents and saving lives.

Although it seems clear that the lessons learned at Bhopal have improved chemical plant safety, CSB investigations indicate that the systemic problems identified at Bhopal remain the underlying causes of many incidents. These include:

• Lack of awareness of reactive hazards.

• Lack of management of change.

• Inadequate plant design and maintenance.

• Ineffective employee training.

• Ineffective emergency preparedness and community notification.

• Lack of root cause incident investigations and communication of lessons learned.

The aim of this paper is to present common themes from recent cases investigated by CSB and to discuss how these issues might be best addressed in the future.

This paper has not been independently approved by the Board and is published for general informational purposes only. Any material in the paper that did not originate in a Board-approved report is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent an official finding, conclusion, or position of the Board.