Mitigation Options for Enteric Methane Emissions from Dairy Animals: An Evaluation for Potential CDM Projects in India

Enteric fermentation in livestock is an important source of anthropogenic methane emission. India, with its large livestock population, is estimated to contribute 10.8 Tg of methane annually from this source. An evaluation of various methane mitigation options indicate that some of the available technologies like, diet supplementation with feed additive and molasses urea product are highly cost effective in reducing enteric methane emissions. The gross cost of methane abatement from use of feed additive monensin premix ranges from €0.6 to €1.8/ton CO₂ equivalent, for buffaloes and indigenous cows, respectively. The gross cost of enteric methane mitigation from supplementing molasses urea products and dietary manipulation through increased concentrate feeding is much higher. But, as the monetary value of the increased milk production on application of these technologies was higher than the annual cost of reduction strategy for buffaloes and crossbred cows, the net costs of the former mitigation option was negative for buffaloes (€-28.1/ton CO₂) and of the latter for crossbred cows (€-7.0/ton CO₂,). The availability of cost-effective technologies suggest that the methane mitigation projects under CDM, can be planned in the Indian dairy sector to the mutual benefit of countries with emission targets and India. The vast dairy animal population of India and resulting methane emissions provide good opportunity these countries to buy reasonable quantum of emission credits from projects in India. Such projects will work to the benefit to India by providing a tool for technology transfer to increase animal productivity and attract capital that assists in more prosperous and environmental friendly milk production in the country.     

Better regulation by new governance hybrids? Governance models and the reform of European chemicals policy

The EU is presently in a transition phase from environmental policy-making by law towards other governance approaches based upon networking, voluntary commitments, benchmarking and other forms of “soft law”. Those new governance approaches often claim to lead to “better regulation”, while adopting a more consensus-oriented and participatory style, taking economic aspects more seriously into account, allowing for more flexibility and autonomy for the private sector and Member States alike, mobilising a broader knowledge base or adopting more integrated and holistic approaches than previous sectoralised and compartmentalised policies.While the limitations of traditional regulatory approaches are widely accepted and cited, it is far from evident, that “new modes of governance” have greater capacity to solve problems than the old ones. There is an argument, that “better regulation” might by synonymous to a withdrawal and weakening of the regulatory state and hence effectively of the aspirations and objectives of environmental policies.An interesting case for an approach, combining the strengths of the old and the new approaches is the ongoing reform of chemicals policies. While some observers claim, that the proposed directive, “REACH” might belong to the outdated category of overcomplex and bureaucratic regulation, a closer look shows that there are many new forms of governance in REACH. This mixture or old and new may open a more realistic and promising perspective on the reform of European policy-making.In our paper we assess the effects and the interplay of the combination of different modes of governance using the example of REACH. We are particularly concerned with the question in how far the representation of interests may change when new modes of governance are introduced.     

Hidden Markov models for circular and linear-circular time series

We introduce a new class of circular time series based on hidden Markov models. These are compared with existing models, their properties are outlined and issues relating to parameter estimation are discussed. The new models conveniently describe multi-modal circular time series as dependent mixtures of circular distributions. Two examples from biology and meteorology are used to illustrate the theory. Finally, we introduce a hidden Markov model for bivariate linear-circular time series and use it to describe larval movement of the fly Drosophila. Received: September 2003 / Revised: March 2004     

CDM potential of SPV lighting systems in India

In view of the increasing interest in the development and dissemination of technologies for harnessing new and renewable sources of energy in India, there have also been some efforts towards their use in the domestic lighting sector. However, the cumulative number of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) lighting systems such as SPV lanterns and solar home lighting systems in India is far below their theoretical potential despite government subsidy programmes. One of the major barriers is the high capital investment in these systems. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) provides industrialized countries with an incentive to invest in emission reduction projects in developing countries to achieve a reduction in CO₂ emissions at lowest cost that also promotes sustainable development in the host country. SPV lanterns and solar home lighting systems could be of interest under the CDM because they directly displace greenhouse gas emissions while contributing to sustainable rural development. However, only two SPV projects have been submitted under the CDM so far. This study assesses the maximum theoretical as well as the realistically achievable CDM potential of SPV lanterns and solar home lighting systems in India. The SPV lantern project is financially viable at a certified emissions reductions (CER) price of 34 € whereas the solar home lighting project is financially viable at a CER price of 46 €. While the maximum mitigation volume is about 35 million tonne CO₂ on an annual basis, an estimate of achievable CER levels is done using the past diffusion trends of SPV systems. We find that annual CER volumes could reach 0.8 to 2.4 million by 2012 and 5.6 to 13.6 million by 2020. This would require that the government sets the subsidy level for SPV lighting systems at a level that allows them to become viable with the CER revenue. From a macro-economic point of view this makes sense if the sustainability benefits are deemed sufficiently high to warrant promotion of this type of project.

Temperature sensitivity of the turnover times of soil organic matter in forests.

Soils represent the largest carbon pool in the terrestrial biosphere, and climate change might affect the main carbon fluxes associated with this pool. These fluxes are the production of aboveground litter and root litter, and decomposition of the soil organic matter (SOM) pool by soil microorganisms. Knowledge about the temperature sensitivity of the decomposition of different SOM fractions is crucial in order to understand how climate change might affect carbon storage in soils. In this study, the temperature sensitivity of the turnover times of three different SOM fractions (labile, intermediate, and stabilized) was investigated for 11 forest sites along a temperature gradient. Carbon-14 isotope analyses of the SOM fractions combined with a model provided estimates of their turnover times. The turnover times of the labile SOM fraction were not correlated with mean annual soil temperature. Therefore it was not possible to estimate temperature sensitivity for the labile SOM fraction. Given considerable evidence elsewhere for significant temperature sensitivities of labile SOM, lack of temperature sensitivity here most likely indicates limitations of the applied methodology for the labile SOM fraction. The turnover times of the intermediate and the stabilized SOM fractions were both correlated with mean annual soil temperatures. The temperature sensitivity of the stabilized SOM fraction was at least equal to that of the intermediate SOM fraction and possibly more than twice as high. A correction for confounding effects of soil acidity and clay content on the temperature sensitivities of the intermediate and stabilized SOM fractions was included in the analysis. The results as observed here for the three SOM fractions may have been influenced by (1) modeling assumptions for the estimation of SOM turnover times of leaf and needle longevities, constant annual carbon inputs, and steady-state SOM pools, (2) the occurrence of summer drought at some sites, (3) differences between sites in quality of the SOM fractions, or (4) the relatively small temperature range. Our results suggested that a 1 degree C increase in temperature could lead to decreases in turnover times of 4-11% and 8-16%, for the intermediate and stabilized SOM fractions, respectively.     

Ant cuticular response to phthalate pollution

Phthalates are common atmospheric contaminants used in the plastic industry. Ants have been shown to constitute good bioindicators of phthalate pollution. Hence, phthalates remain trapped on ant cuticles which are mostly coated with long-chain hydrocarbons. In this study, we artificially contaminated Lasius niger ants with four phthalates: dibutyl phthalate (DBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP). The first three have previously been found on ants in nature in Touraine (France), while the fourth has not. The four phthalates disappeared rapidly (less than 5 days) from the cuticles of live ants. In contrast, on the cuticles of dead ants, DEHP quantities remained unchanged over time. These results indicate that phthalates are actively absorbed by the cuticles of live ants. Cuticular absorption of phthalates is nonspecific because eicosane, a nonnatural hydrocarbon on L. niger cuticle, was similarly absorbed. Ants are important ecological engineers and may serve as bioindicators of ecosystem health. We also suggest that ants and more generally terrestrial arthropods may contribute to the removal of phthalates from the local environment.     

Distribution and sources of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the River Rhine watershed

The concentration profile of 40 polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in surface water along the River Rhine watershed from the Lake Constance to the North Sea was investigated. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of point as well as diffuse sources, to estimate fluxes of PFAS into the North Sea and to identify replacement compounds of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). In addition, an interlaboratory comparison of the method performance was conducted. The PFAS pattern was dominated by perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) and perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) with concentrations up to 181 ng/L and 335 ng/L, respectively, which originated from industrial point sources. Fluxes of ΣPFAS were estimated to be ∼6 tonnes/year which is much higher than previous estimations. Both, the River Rhine and the River Scheldt, seem to act as important sources of PFAS into the North Sea.     

Characterization of organic coatings on hygroscopic salt particles and their atmospheric impacts

The photooxidation of α-pinene in the presence of NO₂, with and without added NaNO₃ seed particles, has been studied in a large-diameter flow tube. Particles formed by homogeneous nucleation and by condensation on the pre-existing seeds were sampled at various stages of the reaction, dried using four diffusion dryers, size selected at different mobility diameters (d_m) using a differential mobility analyzer (DMA), and characterized with a single particle mass spectrometer (SPLAT II). It was found that homogeneously nucleated particles are spherical, have a density (ρ) of 1.25 ± 0.02 g cm^?3 (±2σ) and contain a significant amount of organic nitrates. The mass spectra of the low volatility products condensed on the NaNO₃ seed particles were found to be virtually the same as in the case of homogeneous nucleation. The data show that the presence of even a submonolayer of organics on the NaNO₃ particles causes water retention that leads to a decrease in particle density and that the amount of water retained increases with organic coating thickness. Thicker coatings appear to inhibit water evaporation from the particle seeds altogether. This suggests that in the atmosphere, where low volatility organics are plentiful, some hygroscopic salts will retain water and have different densities and refractive indices than expected in the absence of the organic coating. This water retention combined with the organic shell on the particles can potentially impact light scattering by these particles and activity as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), as well as heterogeneous chemistry and photochemistry on the particles.