Emergy analysis applied to the estimation of the recovery of costs for water services under the European Water Framework Directive

In this paper, the European Union's Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) that is intended to foster protection of water resources is examined, focusing on the improvement of ecological and chemical quality of surface and groundwater. The WFD includes the concept of full cost recovery (FCR) in accordance with the Polluter-Pays Principle, as one of the tools of an adequate and sustainable water resource management system. The WFD defines three different costs associated with water: resource costs (RC), financial costs (FC), and environmental costs (ECs).The FCR of water is examined from a biophysical perspective using emergy evaluation to: (1) establish resource values of water from different sources, (2) establish the full economic costs associated with supplying water, and (3) the societal costs of water that is used incorrectly; from which the resource costs, financial costs, and environmental costs, respectively, can be computed. Financial costs are the costs associated with providing water including energy, materials, labor and infrastructure. The emergy based monetary values vary between 0.15 and 1.73 €/m³ depending on technology. The emergy based, global average resource value (from which resource costs can be computed) is derived from two aspects of water: its chemical potential and its geopotential. The chemical potential monetary value of different sources such as rain, groundwater, and surface water derived from global averages of emergy inputs varies from 0.03 to 0.18 €/m³, depending on source, and the geopotential values vary from 0.03 to 2.40 €/m³, depending on location in the watershed. The environmental costs of water were averaged for the county of Spain and were 1.42 €/m³.Time of year and spatial location within the watershed ultimately influence the resource costs (computed from emergy value of chemical potential and geopotential energy) of water. To demonstrate this spatial and temporal variability, a case study is presented using the Foix watershed in northeastern Spain. Throughout the year, the resource value of water varies from 0.21 to 3.17 €/m³, depending on location within the watershed. It is concluded that FCR would benefit from the evaluation of resource costs using spatially and temporally explicit emergy accounting.     

An approach to calculating allowable watershed pollutant loads

To improve the management of discharge pollutants loads in the reservoirs’ watershed, an approach of the allowable pollutants loads calculation and its allocation, based on the water environment model, was proposed. Establishment of the approach framework was described at first. Under the guidance of this framework, two major steps were as follows: modeling and scenario analysis were involved and should be applied to support the decision of discharge loads management; Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code (EFDC) model was selected as the kernel model in this framework. In modeling step, spatial discretization for establishing cell map in model, data preprocessing, parameter calibration and uncertainty analysis (which is considered as the significantly relevant factor of the margin of safety (MOS)), were conducted. As a result of the research, the model-based approach presented as a combination of estimation and precise calculation, which contributed to scenario analysis step. Some integrated modules, such as scenario simulation, result analysis and plan optimization were implemented as cycles in the scenario analysis. Finally, allowable pollutant loads under various conditions were calculated. The Chaihe Reservoir in Liaoning Province, China was used as a case study for an application of the approach described above. Results of the Chaihe reservoir water quality simulation, show good agreement with field data and demonstrated that the approach used in the present study provide an efficient and appropriate methodology for pollutant load allocation.     

Multiple receptor ambient monitoring and firm compliance with environmental taxes under budget and target driven regulatory missions

We analyze the potential for an environmental monitoring agency under different regulatory missions to use multiple measures of ambient pollution levels to induce firm compliance via endogenously determined probabilistic firm-level inspections of polluting activities. Departing from previous analyses, we consider a framework where the regulator has multiple, rather than a single, measures of ambient pollution in a setting where many firms are subject to a self-reported emissions tax that is not perfectly enforceable. Under a budget-driven mission, we show that a regulator can fruitfully utilize the added information from multiple ambient monitoring receptors to induce improved environmental compliance through the creation of strategic interactions among firms. Additionally, our results provide new evidence on the relative efficiency of budget- vs. target-driven environmental enforcement missions.     

Investment in cleaner technology and signaling distortions in a market with green consumers

I analyze the pricing and investment behavior of a firm that signals the environmental attributes of its production technology through its price to uninformed environmentally conscious consumers. I then analyze the effect of change in environmental regulation on the signaling outcome and the firm's ex ante incentive to invest in cleaner technology. When regulation is weak, a firm signals cleaner technology through higher price; in this case, the firm earns lower profit when it has cleaner technology and thus, has no incentive to invest in cleaner technology. The price charged by the clean firm declines sharply beyond a critical level of regulation. When regulation is sufficiently stringent, the firm with cleaner technology charges lower price but earns higher signaling profit, and ex ante the firm has positive incentive to invest in cleaner technology. With weak regulation, the incentive of the firm to directly disclose its environmental performance rather than signal it through price is increasing in the level of regulation; the opposite holds when regulation is sufficiently stringent.     

Decision‐Making Triggers in Adaptive Management

We analyzed whether decision‐making triggers increase accountability of adaptive‐management plans. Triggers are prenegotiated commitments in an adaptive‐management plan that specify what actions are to be taken and when on the basis of information obtained from monitoring. Triggers improve certainty that particular actions will be taken by agencies in the future. We conducted an in‐depth, qualitative review of the political and legal contexts of adaptive management and its application by U.S. federal agencies. Agencies must satisfy the judiciary that adaptive‐management plans meet substantive legal standards and comply with the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act. We examined 3 cases in which triggers were used in adaptive‐management plans: salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River, oil and gas development by the Bureau of Land Management, and a habitat conservation plan under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In all the cases, key aspects of adaptive management, including controls and preidentified feedback loops, were not incorporated in the plans. Monitoring and triggered mitigation actions were limited in their enforceability, which was contingent on several factors, including which laws applied in each case and the degree of specificity in how triggers were written into plans. Other controversial aspects of these plans revolved around who designed, conducted, interpreted, and funded monitoring programs. Additional contentious issues were the level of precaution associated with trigger mechanisms and the definition of ecological baselines used as points of comparison. Despite these challenges, triggers can be used to increase accountability, by predefining points at which an adaptive management plan will be revisited and reevaluated, and thus improve the application of adaptive management in its complicated political and legal context. Detonadores de la Toma de Decisiones en el Manejo Adaptativo     

基于ARIMA-LOESS模型的危化品道路运输事故起数预测

文章针对危化品道路运输事故预测问题,运用差分自回归移动平均模型(Autoregressive Integrat-ed Moving Average,ARIMA)与局部加权回归模型(Locally Estimated Scatterplot Smoothing,LOESS)的组合模型,对我国危化品道路运输事故发生起数进行...     

Determination of emergency assembly point for industrial accidents with AHP analysis

Major industrial accidents, which are a type of technological disaster, are very important due to the security risks and financial damages that threaten the environment and human health in today's industrialization. In this study, it was aimed to propose an approach that will guide the decision makers to choose the emergency assembly point that should be in the distance or shelter where the employees will be not affected by the negative consequences of emergencies within the scope of the obligation of industrial establishments preparing an internal emergency plan for major industrial accidents. For this purpose, in the first stage, modelling studies were carried out with ALOHA (Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres) Software over possible accident scenarios in an industrial establishment containing different types and amounts of hazardous chemicals. As a result of modelling studies, possible toxic emissions, fire and explosion effect distances and threat zones for the industrial establishment were obtained. In the second stage, the weights of the main and sub-selection criteria to be used in determining the assembly point were calculated. This stage was carried out based on the comparison data obtained as a result of the questionnaire applied to professionals with the help of AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method, which is one of the multi-criteria decision making methods. In the last stage, three candidate points were selected considering the physical effect areas determined in the first stage in the boundaries of the establishment, where the employees were evaluated to be affected the minimum from the negative consequences of industrial accidents. These candidate points were evaluated again with the AHP method on the basis of the sub-criteria whose relative weights were determined in the second stage and a selection was made. As a result, an approach that provides the solution of our problem was obtained.     

上、下悬窗阻风能力对比研究

环境风会改变排烟窗附近的烟气流向和速度,影响建筑内烟气流动,进而导致建筑自然排烟效率受到影响。采用数值模拟方法,对比研究了排烟窗开启角度和环境风对上、下悬窗阻风能力的影响,分析了不同开窗角度下,悬窗进风量和进风区域随开窗角度和风速的变化规律。结果表明:上、下悬窗相对进风量与开窗角度均成指数关系,但上悬窗阻风能力弱于下悬窗,上悬窗开窗角度大于45°后即失去阻风能力,而下悬窗开窗角度大于75°后才逐渐失去阻风能力,且开窗角度小于30°时,下悬窗至少能比上悬窗多减少50%空气进入室内。上悬窗开窗角度小于56°时,主要进风区域为近窗下侧水平区域;下悬窗开窗角度小于30°时,主要进风区域为窗体两侧及远窗下侧竖直区域,随着开窗角度增大,上、下悬窗主要进风区域均过渡到远窗下侧竖直区域。窗体用于日常通风时建议优选上悬窗。若要用于排烟,则应首选下悬窗,开窗角度15°即可满足阻风要求,若选用上悬窗,开窗角度不宜大于45°。     

新形势下对环境统计工作的思考

分析了环境统计工作的定位和内容,以及第二次全国污染源普查、排污许可证与排污税制度、环境质量考核制度给环境统计工作带来的改革契机。针对固定源、城镇生活源与农业面源、移动源,提出了统计调查工作的设想。建议改变环境统计调查焦点,实现污染源统计空间格局"一张图";开拓环境统计分析品牌,推动环境统计方法研究;以政策管理需求为导向,完成环境统计工作体系的重构。     

巢湖流域水质状况与环境目标可达性分析

对巢湖湖区、巢湖环湖河流水质现状及变化趋势进行了调查。结果表明。“九五”以来,巢湖湖区水体以劣Ⅴ类为主;2000年以来,巢湖主要环湖河流中,南淝河、十五里河、派河和双桥河入湖常年水质为劣Ⅴ类,其主要污染物为氨氮。巢湖流域水体污染特征为：城市河段污染较重。点源污染较为集中;面源和生活污染贡献较大;从1998年以来,TP与TN质量浓度值一直处于较高水平。巢湖流域水质环境目标可达性分析表明,巢湖湖区整体上尚不能达到规划的目标。到2005年东半湖能稳定达标。南淝河能否实现达标排放。取决于合肥市的污水处理率及处理效果。十五里河、派河、双桥河水质受点源控制,只要加强管理,可达规划的目标。