An abbreviated alternatives assessment process for product designers: a children’s furniture manufacturing case study

Alternatives assessment is becoming increasingly popular to evaluate the potential environmental and human health hazards of materials. A three step process was used to identify and evaluate alternative products for a children's furniture manufacturer. An alternatives assessment framework was developed to analyze alternative mattresses. The framework specifically addresses those environmental and safety attributes applicable to the product and the product components in accordance with the product’s intended use. The result of the assessment allowed the manufacturer to select the most environmentally friendly alternative and eliminate polyvinyl chloride from their product.     

Minimizing leakage from a smelter off-gas system by enhanced control

The off-gas handling system is a vital component of a smelter and it is essential that it operates in accordance with environmental regulations. A key feature of the off-gas management system is maintaining a slightly negative system pressure to prevent gas leakage, such as SO₂, out into the work and external environments. To enhance sustainable development, there is also growing interest in capturing and reusing the significant amount of heat and CO₂ contained within off-gas. The potential incorporation of heat and CO₂ recovery systems places importance on enhancing control to minimize the risk of both gas leakage and disturbance of the smelting process. With these requirements in mind, an easily implementable feedforward control enhancement to existing control schemes is proposed to help provide improved performance.     

Carbon footprint of food - approaches from national input-output statistics and a LCA of a food portion

The aim of the study, on which this paper is based, was to provide guidance to consumers to make environmentally responsible choices in their food consumption, to assist food supply chain stakeholders to identify the key areas for environmental improvements, and to provide policy makers with a tool for monitoring the potential impacts on climate change resulting from developments within the food sector. At the macro level, the EIO-LCA model was developed specifically for the Finnish food chain; at the micro level, LCAs were performed on 30 lunch portions. The contribution of the Finnish food chain to climate change was 14%, which comprised 40% CO₂ emissions, 25% CH₄ emissions, and 34% N₂O emissions. The share of impacts from domestic agricultural processes was the highest, at 69%. The impact of a single lunch portion ranged between 0.65 and 3.80 kg of equivalent CO₂. According to the EIO-LCA model, the average impact was 7.7 kg CO₂ eq/person daily. The consumer phase accounted for between 8 and 47% of the climate change impacts for homemade portions. In ready-to-eat portions industry and retail phases were emphasized, representing 25-38% of climate change impacts. We present an approach to steer the Finnish food sector onto an environmentally sustainable path; practical tools for consumers and farmers will especially need to be developed further.     

自然保护区生态补偿定量方案研究——基于“虚拟地”计算方法

自然保护区生态补偿的“补给谁”和“补多少”在理论和实践上都是生态补偿中的重点和难点所在。传统的通过计量保护区正外部性以确定生态补偿数量的方法存在两个主要问题：一是违背经济学原理,二是与管理体制不符且法理不足。据此,并考虑到中国相当数量的保护区“没有保护好”的主要因素是保护区社区居民生产生活的干扰,论文认为应通过控制保护区社区的负外部性来达成对保护区的生态补偿。通过生产函数理论分析,发现通常情况下保护区社区的经济产出与土地面积单调正相关,因此在没有生态补偿的情况下,保护区的划建会使周边社区居民经济收入减少,解决周边社区对保护区干扰的根本途径是利用生态补偿资金发展替代产业以提高单位面积土地的经济产出。以此认识为基础,文章提出了“虚拟地”概念并发展了定量方法来确定保护区的生态补偿最低标准,采用武夷山保护区的数据进行了这一方法的案例分析。     

Designing the sustainable product-service integration: a product-service blueprint approach

As a means for providing the sustainable production and consumption, the concept of product-service system (PSS) has received increasing attention. What is at the core in the PSS is the design, since it determines the distinctive characteristics and quality of PSS. Even though some tools have been suggested for PSS design, previous tools mainly focus on identifying the relationship between actors in a conceptual level. Despite the fact that it is significant and cannot be neglected, what is more important in a practical situation is to represent the detailed flow or relationship of PSS elements, with the consideration of products and services. In response, this paper proposes a ‘‘product-service blueprint’ which is a new and systematic way to elucidate the relationship between products and services, providing the implication of how PSS can provide the sustainable production and consumption. Employing the service blueprint as a starting point, new areas, lines, and symbols are introduced to represent the distinctive features of PSS. The proposed product-service blueprint represents the product use throughout the life cycle, service flow from the management to the customer, and the relationship between products and services. Taken together, the product-service blueprint will help both managers and researchers to promote the product-service integration under the concrete framework.     

国内外土地利用区划研究的回顾与展望

土地利用区划是从区域角度观察和研究地域综合体,探讨土地利用的发展历史、现状特点、变化过程及趋势,从最大限度发挥土地生产潜力及改善土地生态系统的结构与功能出发,对土地的合理利用方向,包括确定国民经济各部门用地的合理分配、结构和布局形式等,在地域上进行分区。通过简要回顾国内外土地利用区划研究的发展历程,总结了土地利用区划研究的理论方法特点及存在的问题,并在此基础上探讨今后土地利用区划研究的重点及发展方向：从自然要素向自然与人文要素有机结合方向转变;从大空间尺度向多空间尺度方向转变;从传统的区划方法向综合集成的新技术手段转变;从静态的区划研究向多要素、多过程耦合的动态区划研究方向转变。     

国外水电环境认证制度对我国的借鉴意义

水电工程建设和运行对生态环境系统的影响是世界范围内十分关注的问题,中国水电事业的发展也开始进入生态制约阶段。建立水电工程的生态环境保护标准,推行生态环境认证制度,是降低水电工程不利生态影响的重要措施之一,国际上在这方面已经进行的实践对我国具有重要的借鉴意义。概要介绍了瑞士“绿色水电认证”和美国“低影响水电认证”的主要内容、技术标准和运行机制,并且对两者进行了比较和分析。在此基础上,分析了我国建立水电环境认证程序和推行水电生态环境保护标准的必要性及可行性,并且讨论了推行水电环境认证中可能存在的问题。     

促进江湖联系的闸口调度对策及影响区管理机制

我国传统的修堤建闸、抵御洪水的治河理念,阻断了江湖联系,造成湿地的生态萎缩。为改善湿地的生态环境,保护湿地的生物多样性,提出了新的多目标闸口调度机制,替代传统的、以防洪抗旱为目的的调度机制,力求促进江湖联系,增加湿地活力;为保障该机制的运行和实施,提出了闸口调度影响区的管理办法;并以涨渡湖为例进行了讨论。     

制度变迁框架下的耕地生态环境变化研究

从制度安排的角度考察耕地生态环境．通过设计关于农业发展和耕地生态环境的相关指标,从理论和实证角度分析我国建国以来历次制度变迁对农民行为和耕地生态环境的影响。认为土地制度和其他制度决定农民对“用地”和“养地”行为的选择。分析结果表明,不同的制度安排对我国耕地的数量和质量变化呈现出不同效应,地权的稳定性和其他制度会影响农民的用地行为．从而影响耕地生态环境。所以．保护耕地既要严格控制农用地转为建设用地的总量。又要设计适宜的农地产权制度和其他制度以促进农民主动养护耕地。     

漆酶催化酚类、苯胺类化合物的动力学分析及其测定废水中邻苯二酚的应用研究

含酚、苯胺类废水是环境中水污染的重要来源之一.本研究以漆酶分析酚类及苯胺类底物的动力学特性为基础,建立酚类、苯胺类化合物的分析方法.以分光光度法测定漆酶催化0～10mg/L酚类及苯胺类底物的反应速率,作出底物浓度与反应速率的标准曲线,采用漆酶筛查并检测了3种焦化废水中非挥发酚类含量.结果表明,漆酶的酚类及苯胺类底物主要以多元酚、氨基酚及多元胺为主,其中酚类的最适pH在7.0左右,苯胺类在4.5～5.0之间,各底物Km值大小在0.4～10mmol/L之间.除联苯胺外,分光光度法所得到的标准曲线均具有较好的一级反应动力学线性关系,相关系数R2在0.96以上.3种焦化废水中邻苯二酚含量分别为190.5、265.8和155.3mg/L,回收率介于91.9%～115.8%之间.