Life cycle assessment of hot mix asphalt and zeolite-based warm mix asphalt with reclaimed asphalt pavement

A comprehensive life cycle assessment of asphalt pavements was conducted including hot mix asphalt (HMA), warm mix asphalt (WMA) with the addition of synthetic zeolites, and asphalt mixes with reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). The environmental impacts associated with energy consumption and air emissions were assessed, as well as other environmental impacts resulting from the extraction and processing of minerals, binders and chemical additives; asphalt production; transportation of materials; asphalt paving; road traffic on the pavement; land use; dismantling of the pavement at the end-of-life and its landfill disposal or recycling. Monte Carlo simulations were also conducted to take into account the variability of critical input parameters. Taking into account the entire life cycle, the impacts of zeolite-based WMA pavements were almost equal to the impacts of HMA pavements with the same RAP content. The reduction in the impacts of WMA resulting from the lowering of the manufacturing temperature was offset by the greater impacts of the materials used, especially the impacts of the synthetic zeolites. Moreover, by comparing asphalt mixes with different RAP contents, it was shown that the impacts of asphalt mixes were significantly reduced when RAP was added. All endpoint impacts as well as climate change, fossil depletion and total cumulative energy demand were decreased by 13–14% by adding 15% RAP. A key advantage of WMA is the potentially greater use of RAP. Thus, the decrease in the impacts achieved by adding large amounts of RAP to WMA could turn these asphalt mixes into a good alternative to HMA in environmental terms.     

Life cycle indicators for monitoring the environmental performance of European waste management

As widely recognised by EU legislation, Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is a viable approach to support sound waste management choices. In this context, the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) has lead the development of macro-level, life cycle based waste management indicators to quantify and monitor the potential environmental impacts, benefits, and improvements associated with the management of a number of selected waste streams generated and treated in Europe.The waste management indicators developed make use of a combination of macro statistical waste management data combined with emissions/resource life cycle data for the different elements of the waste treatment chain. Indicators were initially calculated for the entire European Union (EU-27) and for Germany, covering several waste streams and a broad range of environmental impact categories.An indicator developed for a given waste stream captures the potential environmental impact associated with the generation and management of that waste stream. The entire waste management chain is considered, i.e. from generation to final treatment/disposal. Therefore, system boundaries for the selected waste streams include also the treatment or recycling of secondary waste (e.g. bottom ash from the incineration of household waste), and secondary products (e.g. recovered paper), as well as energy recovery.The experiences from the development of these life cycle based waste management indicators suggest that more detailed and quality-assured waste statistics are needed, especially covering the many different treatment operations and options. Also, it would be beneficial if waste statistics had a higher disaggregation level of waste categories, as well as more detailed information about waste composition. A further development of the indicators should include an increased number of waste streams, as well as calculation of the results for all Member States.     

Global Warming Impact of Electricity Generation from Beef Cattle Manure: A Life Cycle Assessment Study

We compare calculated greenhouse gas emissions for a North American beef feedlot operation, which includes biogas production by anaerobic digestion with subsequent electricity generation (the AD case), to the emissions for a “business as usual” case, which includes both a feedlot and an equivalent amount of grid-generated electricity. Anaerobic digestion, biogas production and electricity production are the major sources of differences in emissions. Fertilizer production, crop production, manure collection and spreading, as well as the associated transport stages are also considered within the LCA system boundaries; impacts on life cycle emissions from these sources are lower. Running a feedlot and producing electricity using typical grid power plants produces 3,845 kg CO_2?eq/MWh while running a feedlot, which generates biogas to produce electricity, produces 2,965 kg CO_2?eq/MWh. This savings of 880 kg CO_2?eq/MWh arises because the net power generation in the AD case emits about 90% less life cycle GHG emissions compared to grid-average electricity. The high overall emission levels arise due to emissions associated with enteric fermentation in beef cattle as the main source of GHG emissions in both the “business as usual” and the AD cases. It contributed 57% of total emissions for the feedlot /biogas /electricity system and 44% of total emissions for the feedlot /grid electricity system.     

Lactation patterns of pinnipeds are not explained by optimization of maternal energy delivery rates

Within pinnipeds, phocids and otariids show differing maternal care strategies. Phocids rear young out of body stores in a yearly cycle with a single stay ashore when the mother fasts while lactating, whereas otariids provision their young by repeated foraging trips to sea alternating with brief stays ashore where they suckle their young. In a previous optimality model, these differences have been interpreted as adaptations based on differing energy requirements of large (phocid) and smaller (otariid) species, and the time budget of the large elephant and the much smaller Antarctic fur seal were correctly predicted. Our refined model—extended to pinniped species of all sizes—predicts lactation strategies to shift from attendance cycles to 1-year cycles with increasing body mass and provides an explanation for the finding that phocid pups are weaned at lower relative mass than otariid pups. However, other predictions do not correspond to empirical findings. In particular, the model does not explain the behavior of large otariids and small phocids. Thus, maternal metabolic requirements alone appear insufficient to explain observed lactation patterns. In the light of our results, we discuss more generally the scope and limitations of optimality models when applied in a comparative framework to a group of related species.     

庭院经济综合评价

针对辽北各类庭院生态系统特点，建立了评价指标体系，并采用序列综合与专家咨询相结合的评价方法，首次对庭院生态系统进行了综合评价，阐述了各项指标在庭院生态系统中的地位和作用。     

Methodological convergence as an issue within environmental cognition research

Two perspectives in the analysis of pointing and mapping tasks as the measure of representations of the large-scale environment are examined. These two perspectives are: (1) an individual difference approach; and (2) a cognitive representational approach. Convergence between methods assessing the same geographical/spatial knowledge is necessary as evidence for the existence of unified cognitive-spatial representations of the environment.Three sets of analyses interrelate performance on pointing and mapping tasks. In the first analysis, a confirmatory factor analytic model is applied to short tests of pointing and mapping accuracy to determine whether one or two factors are needed to account for covariation between the tests. In the second analysis, covariation among errors in pointing and mapping of specific locations is partitioned into general and specific method factors using the Schmid-Leiman procedure. In the third analysis, pointing errors for identical locations within the mapping and pointing tasks are directly compared on the basis of directional errors.The three analyses indicate that: (1) tests of pointing and mapping measure highly related abilities; (2) the targets used in pointing and mapping tasks are of differential importance in identifying general and specific method factors; and (3) there is little or no direct correspondence between directional errors made in pointing tasks and those occurring in mapping tasks for the same locations.When results of the three analyses are examined in relationship to criteria for convergence of pointing and mapping tasks, little evidence is found to suggest that directional errors in these tasks arise from a unified mental representation of the geographical environment. However, substantial predictable individual differences are apparent for both tasks.     

交通建设环评中生物量影响评价指标探讨

随着公路铁路等交通项目的建设,其面临的生态环境压力日益增大,周边地区生物量发生很大变化。本文针对交通建设活动对生物量的影响问题,研究提出一种基于土地利用类型变化的交通建设项目前后生物量变化的评价指标和评价标准,并采用京沪铁路电气化北京-济南段实际工程建设进行实例应用。     

高原湖泊砷污染健康风险评估

以某高原湖泊为例,以湖水中的砷含量类比推算了从该湖泊取水灌溉区域内水稻和蔬菜的砷含量,对稻米、蔬菜和饮水3种暴露途径进行健康风险评估。结果表明,人群通过摄入区域内稻米、蔬菜的致癌风险系数为可接受的致癌风险,饮用湖水的致癌风险系数为不可接受的致癌风险。     

改善环境质量优化经济增长

论述了目前我国环境与经济之间的关系现状及环境优化对经济增长所做出的贡献,说明环境优化经济增长是转变经济增长方式国家战略的必然要求,提出规划环评是促进环境优化经济的重要手段。     

A recursive ecological indicator system for the supply chain of a company

This paper proposes the concept of cumulative eco-intensity with which environmental or sustainability indicators are related to the added value of economic activities. The intensities are passed on recursively from supplier to supplier and thus make it possible to include upstream and downstream effects along the supply and waste disposal chain. The process is applied to whole companies and (by contrast with LCA) not to individual products. At comparatively low expenditure for the individual companies, it allows vertical comparisons along the value-adding chain and horizontal comparisons among companies or production locations. This provides a decision-making aid for a company seeking to fulfil its ecological or sustainability responsibility in the entire production and supply chains.