Environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations – part 1: Ambitec-Life Cycle,a methodological approach for considering life cycle thinking

As sustainability considerations increasingly dominate the technology development debate worldwide, practical approaches to assess environmental performance of innovations have been warranted. The present study (Part 1) introduces Ambitec-Life Cycle, a method derived from Ambitec-Agro for considering life cycle thinking in the environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of agro-industrial innovations. An agro-industrial innovation case study related to residue recycling is presented, revealing steps in the product life cycle where opportunities are best for technological improvements. In Part 2 (this issue) of this study, a methodological approach for considering the environmental vulnerability of watersheds and to integrate this analysis in EPE methods is presented. This approach is applied to Ambitec-Life Cycle and to the same residue case study, allowing the identification of performance indicators with greater potential to cause impacts at the studied watersheds.     

The urban growth machine goes South: Conditions and capacities for more sustainable place-building

Abstract

The prospects for global sustainable development are thoroughly tied to the future of cities. Our goal is to better understand how cities actually get built and with what substantive consequences. Beyond designing and implementing public policy tools, this requires a better understanding of the underlying political economy of urban place-building. Beginning with the ideal type of the urban growth machine, we outline frameworks for analysing both the ‘conditions for urban place-building’ and the ‘capacities for sustainable urban place-building’. We apply these in the Chilean context by examining general features of the urban political economy and then specific development exemplars from the urban region of Valparaíso. We outline frameworks for further comparative work.     

Residues of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides in sugarcane crop soils and river water

The presence of residual organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides was evaluated at different periods of sugarcane cultivation in agricultural soil and water samples from the town of Tlaltizapan, which is located in the state of Morelos in Mexico, to determine the presence and persistence of these compounds and their possible effects on the region. The compounds p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD (metabolites of p,p′-DDT), γ-HCH and heptachlor were found in more of 95% of the sampling zones in the three monitoring periods performed along 2 years. The highest concentration detected (129.6 μg/kg _{dry soil}) was for α-HCH, but its frequency of detection was ～5%. The low detection frequency of α-HCH and the high concentration values of γ-HCH indicate the repeated use of technical-grade HCH and Lindane (γ-HCH) in the region. Among the organophosphorus pesticides, ethyl parathion was the compound with the highest soil concentration, at ～2000 μg/kg_{dry soil}, during the initial monitoring. However, this compound was detected in the second monitoring with a concentration of ～4 μg/kg_{dry soil}, but it was not detected in the third, indicating that is was not accumulated in the environment. The heptachlor was the compound most commonly found in all water samples, within a range of 0.45–1.25 ng/L. The presence of this organochlorine compound in the water samples indicated a possible migration from the soil to water bodies due to soil erosion. The presence of organophosphorus compounds was not detected in the water samples, which could be attributed to the moderate persistence of these compounds and their consequent degradation before arriving at the water bodies.     

Time-Consistent Equilibria in Common Access Resource Games with Asymmetric Players Under Partial Cooperation

Given a differential game, if agents have different time preference rates, cooperative (Pareto optimum) solutions obtained by applying Pontryagin’s maximum principle become time inconsistent. We derive a set of dynamic programming equations in continuous time whose solutions are time-consistent equilibria for problems in which agents differ in their utility functions and also in their time preference rates. The solution assumes cooperation between agents at every time. Since coalitions at different times have different time preferences, equilibrium policies are calculated by looking for Markov (subgame perfect) equilibria in a (noncooperative) sequential game. The results are applied to the study of a cake-eating problem describing the management of a common property exhaustible natural resource. The extension of the results to a simple common property renewable natural resource model in infinite horizon is also discussed.     

Informal knowledge processes: the underpinning for sustainability outcomes in EIA?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was originally tailored for restructuring rules and values regarding environmental protection, through interdisciplinary work. EIA has developed as a tool for decision-making for the implementation of projects which potentially pose significant environmental impacts. This paper reviews the sustainability and interdisciplinarity assumptions inherent in EIA. It illustrates through a case study of a proposed landfill extension in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, that these principles can arise more from informal knowledge processes than from legal ones. It can be shown that interdisciplinarity is often misunderstood as multidisciplinarity or simple knowledge clustering, and sustainability has no common definition amongst EIA practitioners, but that there predominates an understanding which delivers weak sustainability, driven primarily by social and economic goals. The conclusion is that EIA cannot achieve the original vision set out in the world's first legislation adopted in 1970 unless a learning-organization approach is taken whereby: the critical role of informal knowledge is recognized; informal knowledge is properly managed by EIA teams to engender a common understanding of sustainable development goals; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working practices are adopted.     

MULTIOBJECTIVE REAL‐TIME RESERVOIR OPERATION WITH A NETWORK FLOW ALGORITHM1

ABSTRACT: A network flow algorithm has been developed for the optimization of real‐time operation of a multiple reservoir system. Two purposes have been considered in the operation: flood control and hydropower generation. A special network structure was developed which allows the consideration of river routing. A multiobjective formulation is utilized thus allowing generation of a non‐dominated curve. The effect of imperfect forecast on the performance of the real‐time operation model is also evaluated. An application is made to a subsystem of the Brazilian hydroelectric system, located in the Paranapanema river basin. In this case study, the model showed good performance under the largest flood of the historical records.     

Vapor intrusion risk evaluation using automated continuous chemical and physical parameter monitoring

Vapor intrusion risk characterization efforts are challenging due to complexities associated with background indoor air constituents, preferential subsurface migration pathways, and representativeness limitations associated with traditional randomly timed time‐integrated sampling methods that do not sufficiently account for factors controlling concentration dynamics. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends basing risk related decisions on the reasonable maximum exposure (RME). However, with very few exceptions, practitioners have not been applying this criterion. The RME will most likely occur during upward advective flux conditions. As such, for RME determinations, it is important to sample when upward advective flux conditions are occurring. The most common vapor intrusion assessment efforts include randomly timed sample collection events, and therefore do not accurately yield RME estimates. More specifically, researchers have demonstrated that randomly timed sampling schemes can result in false negative determinations of potential risk corresponding to RMEs. For sites experiencing trichloroethylene (TCE) vapor intrusion, the potential for acute risks poses additional challenges, as there is a critical need for rapid response to exposure exceedances to minimize health risks and liabilities. To address these challenges, continuous monitoring platforms have been deployed to monitor indoor concentrations of key volatile constituents, atmospheric pressure, and pressure differential conditions that can result in upward toxic vapor transport and entry into overlying buildings. This article demonstrates how vapor intrusion RME‐based risks can be successfully and efficiently determined using continuous monitoring of concentration and parameters indicating upward advective chemical flux. Time series analyses from multiple selected 8‐ and 24‐hr time increments during upward advective TCE flux conditions were performed to simulate results expected from the most commonly employed sampling methods. These analyses indicate that, although most of the selected time increments overlap within the same 24‐hr window, results and conclusions vary. As such, these findings demonstrate that continuous monitoring of concentration and parameters such as differential pressure and determination of a time‐weighted concentration average over a selected duration when upward advective flux is occurring can allow for a realistic RME‐based risk estimate.     

Recovery of manganese oxides from spent alkaline and zinc–carbon batteries. An application as catalysts for VOCs elimination

Manganese, in the form of oxide, was recovered from spent alkaline and zinc–carbon batteries employing a biohydrometallurgy process, using a pilot plant consisting in: an air-lift bioreactor (containing an acid-reducing medium produced by an Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans bacteria immobilized on elemental sulfur); a leaching reactor (were battery powder is mixed with the acid-reducing medium) and a recovery reactor. Two different manganese oxides were recovered from the leachate liquor: one of them by electrolysis (EMO) and the other by a chemical precipitation with KMnO₄ solution (CMO). The non-leached solid residue was also studied (RMO). The solids were compared with a MnO_x synthesized in our laboratory.The characterization by XRD, FTIR and XPS reveal the presence of Mn₂O₃ in the EMO and the CMO samples, together with some Mn⁴⁺ cations. In the solid not extracted by acidic leaching (RMO) the main phase detected was Mn₃O₄.The catalytic performance of the oxides was studied in the complete oxidation of ethanol and heptane. Complete conversion of ethanol occurs at 200 °C, while heptane requires more than 400 °C. The CMO has the highest oxide selectivity to CO₂.The results show that manganese oxides obtained using spent alkaline and zinc–carbon batteries as raw materials, have an interesting performance as catalysts for elimination of VOCs.     

A general framework for a collaborative water quality knowledge and information network

Increasing knowledge about the environment has brought about a better understanding of the complexity of the issues, and more information publicly available has resulted into a steady shift from centralized decision making to increasing levels of participatory processes. The management of that information, in turn, is becoming more complex. One of the ways to deal with the complexity is the development of tools that would allow all players, including managers, researchers, educators, stakeholders and the civil society, to be able to contribute to the information system, in any level they are inclined to do so. In this project, a search for the available technology for collaboration, methods of community filtering, and community-based review was performed and the possible implementation of these tools to create a general framework for a collaborative ??Water Quality Knowledge and Information Network?? was evaluated. The main goals of the network are to advance water quality education and knowledge; encourage distribution and access to data; provide networking opportunities; allow public perceptions and concerns to be collected; promote exchange of ideas; and, give general, open, and free access to information. A reference implementation was made available online and received positive feedback from the community, which also suggested some possible improvements.