Surface installations intended for Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Atypical accident scenarios and their identification

With the advent of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technology the extent of CO₂ handling is set to increase dramatically. However, lack of substantial operational experience in such a novel process can lead to significant difficulties in identifying the associated hazards. This field may be characterized by atypical accident scenarios, i.e. scenarios not captured by common HAZard IDentification (HAZID) techniques because of omissions, errors or lack of knowledge. Recent atypical events evidence that consequences may exceed by far those of worst-case reference scenarios. Identification of atypical scenarios related to CCS is a challenge, considering also the public concern that this technology raises. This study focuses on new and emerging technologies of carbon capture and transport. A HAZID analysis was carried out by means of two different approaches (‘top-down’ and ‘DyPASI’). This allowed not only for a double check of results, but also for the comparative assessment of the methodologies and of their applicability. A general overview of the accident scenarios related to these technologies was given. No absolute showstoppers were found. Rather, a number of potential hazards were identified which will require the adoption of safe design principles to eliminate, prevent, control or mitigate them. Some possible safety barriers required for implementation were identified as a starting point in this process.     

Combustion products toxicity risk assessment in an offshore installation

Products of a hydrocarbon fire accident have both chronic and acute health effects. They cause respiratory issues to lung cancer. While fire is the most frequent phenomenon among the offshore accidents, predicting the contaminants’ concentration and their behavior are key issues. Safety measures design, such as ventilation and emergency routes based only on predicted contaminants’ concentration seems not to be the best approach. In a combustion process, various harmful substances are produced and their concentration cannot be added. The time duration that any individual spends in different locations of an offshore installation also varies significantly. A risk-based approach considers the duration a person is exposed to contaminants at various locations and also evaluates the hazardous impacts. A risk-based approach has also an additivity characteristic which helps to assess overall risk.Through the current study, an approach is proposed to be used for risk assessment of combustion products dispersion phenomenon in a confined or semi-confined facility. Considering CO, NO₂ and CH₄ as the contaminants of concern, the dispersion of the substances over the layout of the facility after a LNG fire is modeled. Considering different exposure times for three major parts of the facility including the processing area, office area and the accommodation module, the risk contours of CO, NO₂ and CH₄ over the entire facility are developed. The additivity characteristic of the risk-based approach was used to calculate the overall risk. The proposed approach helps to better design safety measures to minimize the impacts and effective emergency evacuation planning.     

Estimating the mitigation effect of Tokai earthquake measures on housing damage: a counterfactual approach

This paper evaluates the mitigation effect of Tokai earthquake measures on housing damage using a counterfactual approach. It focuses on those measures that stimulate ex‐ante investment in disaster prevention in the supposedly affected area, including earthquake‐proof retrofitting and improved housing construction; the effect of the measures on housing losses is estimated monetarily. The study compares factual disaster damage computed using a real distribution of houses with counterfactual damage to a hypothetical housing distribution that would occur if the measures were not implemented. The key findings are: (i) the disaster mitigation effects of Tokai earthquake measures on housing amount to approximately JPY 18 billion (USD 0.18 billion) for Yamanashi Prefecture and JPY 0.26 trillion (USD 2.6 billion) for Shizuoka Prefecture, which would be at the centre of the event; (ii) a before–after comparison biases estimates of the mitigation effect; and (iii) statistically, the measures do not mitigate the housing damage predicted for an earthquake in Tokai.     

Building resilience by challenging social norms: integrating a transformative approach within the BRACED consortia

Resilience is a complex phenomenon whereby a multitude of social and environmental factors, including gender, combine to shape the ways that shocks affect people. Looking at two BRACED (Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters) projects, in Burkina Faso and in Ethiopia, this article uses a desk review and primary data from partners and people at risk to explore how a gender‐transformative approach can be an integral part of resilience‐building projects, particularly those implemented by multi‐stakeholder consortia. It also suggests ways to incorporate a stronger gender component in similar future projects. The article argues that donors and programme managers must provide clear principles and guidelines for achieving gender equity within resilience‐building efforts. However, these must allow flexibility to adapt to norms, needs and resources as determined by implementing partners. The right balance can be achieved by facilitating spaces for individual and collective goal‐setting; assessing current capacity and trajectories; and lesson‐sharing as an iterative process for institutional learning.     

中国各省区生态环境质量评价与排序

本文建立了区域生态环境质量综合评价的指标体系,并应用这一指标体系,通过层次分析和综合评价方法对我国各省区的生态环境质量做了定量评价与分析,为生态环境管理和宏观决策提供依据。     

基于资源价值折耗的石油资源账户建立与分析——以黄河三角洲石油开发为例

在国际上通行的环境经济综合核算体系(SEEA)的基础上,以黄河三角洲石油资源开发为研究案例,根据黄河三角洲2003-2008年石油开发利用等数据,经过计算和统计依次建立了石油资源的实物型账户、价值型账户和综合账户。计算和统计结果表明:2003-2008年,黄河三角洲石油资源因开采而造成的价值折耗分别为154.0×10⁸、111.3×10⁸、121.6×10⁸、104.9×10⁸、106.0×10⁸、83.0×10⁸元,考虑了资源价值折耗的石油行业增加值占工业增加值和地区GDP的比例,以及因价值折耗造成的工业经济和地区GDP损失比例都有减小的趋势,平均分别为59.1%和42.0%,以及14.3%和9.8%。巨大的价值折耗带来了石油资源利用的可持续性下降,但是在当地的整体经济中,黄河三角洲石油开发带来的经济增长的可持续性在一定程度上增强。最后对结果进行了分析和讨论。     

机床再制造产业发展国际比较及其启示

机床再制造属于节能环保型新兴产业,我国的机床再制造产业发展与发达国家相比有着较大差距。通过对国内外机床再制造产业发展现状进行比较,寻求促进产业发展的途径,提出了自主创新、优质品牌和两化融合等三大战略,以及注重调整产业结构、有效开展技术创新、着力提升生产水平、切实加强品牌建设、积极开拓营销渠道和全面实施节能环保等六大举措。     

Sustainability assessment of entire forest value chains: Integrating stakeholder perspectives and indicators in decision support tools

The optimization of value chains is an important process to promote sustainable development, since value chains are closely linked to the satisfaction of human needs and combine different driving forces for environmental change. This article presents a methodological approach for the participatory development of value-chain wide sustainability indicator sets and their integration into a decision support tool in the specific case study of the chain “construction and refurbishment with wood”. There are numerous indicator sets for sustainable development of forests and sustainable forestry available at different levels, ranging from local, regional and national to global scale assessments. Some efforts were also made to integrate later production stages of forest value chains (such as wood processing) in the assessment scope (e.g. for chain-of-custody certification). However, no indicator set has so far been available covering environmental, social and economic aspects for the entire value chain of building with timber. This gap was closed through applied sustainability research in the project “Holzwende 2020: Sustainable future markets for wood in the building sector”.     

地下水开采引起地面沉降预测方法的现状与未来

地面沉降作为一种广泛的地质灾害,不仅对地面设施造成很大的破坏作用,而且也会使地下环境发生变化,给工业生产、城市建设和人们生活带来的影响是深刻和巨大的。本文首先分析了地下水开采引起地面沉降的机理;然后根据运用的理论将目前由于地下流体资源开发引起地面沉降的预测方法归纳为5种:数理统计法、早期的数值计算法、准三维计算法、基于真三维水流模型的计算法及三维完全耦合模型,并将之分类总结,概括其优缺点。重点介绍了当前运用最多的准三维预测方法,以及1种基于真三维水流模型的计算方法,该方法曾经成功地分析了日本房总半岛由于地下水抽取引起的地面沉降。     

Determining reference conditions for TN, TP, SD and Chl-a in eastern plain ecoregion lakes, China

Establishing the nutrient reference condition(baseline environmental condition) of lakes in an ecoregion is a critical consideration in the development of scientifically defensible aquatic nutrient criteria.Three methods were applied to determine reference conditions in the Eastern plain ecoregion lakes with respect to total phosphorus(TP),total nitrogen(TN),planktonic chlorophyll a(Chl-a) and Secchi depth(SD).The reference condition value for the lakes in the Eastern plain ecoregion by the trisection method is TP of 0.029 mg/L,TN of 0.67 mg/L,Chl-a of 3.92 mg/m 3,SD of 0.85 m,and the reference condition range by the lake population distribution approach is TP of 0.014-0.043 mg/L,TN of 0.360-0.785 mg/L,Chl-a of 1.78-4.73 mg/m 3,SD of 0.68-1.21 m.Additionally,empirical models were developed for estimating the reference Chl-a concentration and SD successfully for lakes in the Eastern plain ecoregion.Overall,the data suggest that multiple methods can be used to determine reference conditions and that in Eastern plain ecoregion lakes the reference condition corresponds to a mesotrophic status.