ABSTRACTThis paper assesses the evolution of generation technology-mix in Australia, with specific emphasis on understanding how such evolution has been shaped by wider political and socio-economic influences. This assessment is predicated on the argument that the contemporary, quintessentially techno-economic, policy discourse on renewable energy is deficient, as it ignores climacteric political and socio-economic influences on generation technology-mix. The methodological framework employed in this paper is informed by the core tenets of technological change theory. The assessment suggests that generation technology-mix in Australia has historically been overwhelmingly influenced by the underlying technological paradigm of the electricity industry; and that this technological paradigm essentially draws its imprimatur from the wider political and socio-economic contexts. By implication, it suggests that a rapid uptake of renewables will have widespread ramifications, extending into political, socio-economic and cultural realms of a society. Clearly, existing policy discourse – that tends to focus on technical potentials, cost competitiveness, externalities and risks of various renewable technologies – is deficient. A much broader discourse is needed. This paper also made an attempt to develop a basis for such a discourse by reviewing broader aspects of the Australian society that would be affected by a rapid uptake of renewables. 相似文献
Russian Journal of Ecology - Temporal and spatial variations of phytoplankton community in Lake Erhai were investigated from May 2010 to April 2011. A total of 124 species belonging to 8 phyla and... 相似文献
Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The oil-water separation is a popular issue and the removal of oil from bulk water is also meaningful especially in oil spill incident, which not only... 相似文献
Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Suicide prevention has become a public health issue of great concern. Previous studies proved that ambient temperature had an impact on suicide death,... 相似文献
Phthalates (PAEs) in drinking water sources such as the Yangtze River in developing countries had aroused widespread concern. Here, the water, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and sediment samples were collected from 15 sites in wet and dry seasons in Zhenjiang, for the determination of six PAEs (DMP, DEP, DIBP, DBP, DEHP, and DOP) using the solid-phase extraction (SPE) or ultrasonic extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total concentrations of six PAEs (Σ6PAEs) spanned a range of 2.65–39.31 μg L?1 in water, 1.97–34.10 μg g?1 in SPM, and 0.93–34.70 μg g?1 in sediment. The partition coefficients (Kd1) of PAEs in water and SPM phase ranged from 0.004 to 3.36 L g?1 in the wet season and from 0.12 to 2.84 L g?1 in the dry season. Kd2 of PAEs in water and sediment phase was 0.001–9.75 L g?1 in the wet season and 0.006–8.05 L g?1 in the dry season. The dominant PAEs were DIBP, DBP, and DEHP in water and SPM, DIBP, DEHP, and DOP in sediment. The concentration of DBP in water exceeded the China Surface Water Standard. The discharge of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater might be the main potential sources of PAEs. The risk quotient (RQ) method used for the risk assessment revealed that DBP (0.01 < RQ < 1) posed a medium risk, while DIBP and DEHP (RQ > 1) posed a high environmental risk in water, DIBP (RQ > 1) also showed a high risk in sediment.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fetal growth has been demonstrated to be an important predictor of perinatal and postnatal health. Although the effects of maternal exposure to air... 相似文献