A conceptual approach to model sand–gravel extraction from rivers based on a game theory perspective

Sand–gravel mining is a significant parameter of economic development and social welfare function in modern societies. As demand for aggregate increases in construction industry, conflicts for the availability of the resource and environmental impacts become more intense. The present paper describes the contested status quo in riverbed sand–gravel mining activities with an example from Greece, as a case study. The scope is to propose a methodology about good governance of the mining sector that promotes a sustainable sharing of aggregate resource by securing environment and safekeeping revenues in the mining trade market.     

Water Management Decision Making in the Face of Multiple Forms of Uncertainty and Risk

In the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area of Northern Utah, water management decision makers confront multiple forms of uncertainty and risk. Adapting to these uncertainties and risks is critical for maintaining the long‐term sustainability of the region's water supply. This study draws on interview data to assess the major challenges climatic and social changes pose to Utah's water future, as well as potential solutions. The study identifies the water management adaptation decision‐making space shaped by the interacting institutional, social, economic, political, and biophysical processes that enable and constrain sustainable water management. The study finds water managers and other water actors see challenges related to reallocating water, including equitable water transfers and stakeholder cooperation, addressing population growth, and locating additional water supplies, as more problematic than the challenges posed by climate change. Furthermore, there is significant disagreement between water actors over how to best adapt to both climatic and social changes. This study concludes with a discussion of the path dependencies that present challenges to adaptive water management decision making, as well as opportunities for the pursuit of a new water management paradigm based on soft‐path solutions. Such knowledge is useful for understanding the institutional and social adaptations needed for water management to successfully address future uncertainties and risks.     

Quality Control for Environmental Policy Appraisal Tools: An Empirical Investigation of Relations Between Quality,Quality Control and Effectiveness

The spectre of regulatory reform carried out in a range of Western countries has generated concern amongst parts of the environmental policy community. Quality and effectiveness are said to be at stake, but empirically there is a dearth of data on the relationship between provisions for quality control and the effects on quality and effectiveness. This research addresses this lacuna by analysing the effects of different quality control provisions in the Netherlands and Denmark for a globally institutionalized environmental appraisal tool—Environmental Assessment (EA). Extensive technical provisions for quality control in the Netherlands have led to it being described as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of EA systems, while in Denmark the polity is expected to take charge of quality control. The effects of quality control are investigated through surveys and in-depth interviews with actors centrally engaged with EA implementation. The results show that quality control provisions are poorly related to the perceived quality and effectiveness of EA. Only the appropriateness of the scope of EA reports is perceived to be strongly related to quality control provisions. The findings are relevant for environmental policy communities concerned with quality control systems and effectiveness of policy appraisal tools and policy-makers contemplating regulatory reforms.     

Economic dispatch of power system containing wind power and photovoltaic considering carbon trading and spare capacity variation

The drying up of the fossil energy sources and the damage from unchecked carbon emissions demand the development of low carbon economy, which promotes the development of new energy sources, such as wind power and photovoltaic. However, the direct connections of wind/photovoltaic power into power grid bring great impacts on power systems, thus affecting the security and stability of power system operations, which challenges the power system dispatching. In despite of many methods for power system dispatch, lack of the models, for power system containing wind power and photovoltaic considering carbon trading and spare capacity variation (PSCWPCCTSCV), restricts the further optimal operations of power systems. This paper studies the economic dispatch modeling problem of power system containing wind power and photovoltaic, establishes the model of economic dispatch of PSCWPCCTSCV. On this basis, adaptive immune genetic algorithm is applied to conduct the economic operation optimization, which can provide the optimal carbon trading price and the optimal power distribution coefficient. Finally, simulations based on the newly proposed models are made to illustrate the economic dispatch of PSCWPCCTSCV. The results show that optimization with the proposed model can not only weaken the volatility of the new energy effectively, but also reduce carbon emissions and reduce power generation costs.     

Producing biogas from agricultural residues generated during phytoremediation process: Possibility,threshold, and challenges

In the past decades, a novel strategy has arisen, as required by time, to get a rational production of biogas from contaminated biomass, which may be, on purpose, harvested from contaminated soil phytoremediation process. The present review focuses on the possibility and potential of utilizing the agricultural residues generated during phytoremediation for production of biogas. As a general result of the studies compiled in this review, the harvested biomass can subsequently be utilized for the winning of biogas, and it provides a solution of waste disposal for phytoremediation technology. According to the analysis of previous results, not more than 1 mg/L of cadmium in fermenters shows promoting or at least no inhibitory effect on cumulative biogas yields. This strategy is promising for dealing with both environmental and energy problems in spite of many challenges in the coming future.     

加快推进重大政策和重大项目落地,确保生态环境质量总体改善——《“十三五”生态环境保护规划》解读

当前我国环境形势仍十分严峻,"十三五"期间要实现生态环境质量总体改善,需要"硬制度""硬项目"和"硬投入"。文章结合《"十三五"生态环境保护规划》,对其中的重大改革制度政策创新和重大工程项目安排以及资金投入渠道等进行了深入分析解读,提出为确保生态环境质量总体改善,必须积极推动重大改革政策的实施,加快推进重大项目的落地,加大环保资金的投入,优化环保资金渠道。     

基于工业生态化建设的工业园区环境管理研究

工业园区是产业集聚的载体,是区域经济发展的引擎。工业园区同时又是污染产生排放集中地,我国工业园区在发展过程中随着经济总量扩大、资源和能源消耗的增加,出现了大量的环境问题,阻碍了园区的可持续发展。工业园区的环境管理可以从园区层面出发解决污染问题,这是个既复杂又重要的工作。本文在分析工业园区发展历程的基础上揭示了目前工业园区存在的环境问题,以及管理方面存在的缺陷和不足,发现总体上园区环境管理水平较差。工业生态化建设为进行合理的园区环境管理提供了一个契机,本文针对我国工业园区的发展现状及发展趋势,提出基于工业生态化建设的工业园区环境管理的对策:1提升生态工业的意识,鼓励公众参与;2确立生态化建设思想,以生态化建设促进环境管理效率的提升;3加强工业生态化建设相关政策法规、规划的完善和实施;4构建工业生态化建设信息服务平台,以生态化建设来实现工业园区科学的环境管理。     

居民生活用电碳排放交易机制研究

个人排放交易被认为可以促进居民参与碳减排,但是因其减排收益难以覆盖高昂的建立和运行成本,降低了公众接受度。本文提出除了考虑碳减排的收益外,更需要关注个人排放交易机制的教育价值、形成正确的激励以及鼓励创新的价值,并提出可以基于当前国内多地实行的阶梯电价制度,利用电力系统现有的用户网络和账户系统,建立居民生活用电碳排放交易机制,以降低成本并实现上述价值。在此基础上,就居民生活用电碳排放交易机制的配额设定与分配、配额交易以及清缴问题做了细致的分析,并提出绿色电力作为补充电力可以免费获得碳配额以促进绿色消费。同时,比较分析了在居民生活用电交易机制和阶梯电价制度下,不同居民家庭以及电力公司的用电成本(收益),指出了其在形成正确的激励方面的作用。最后指出在条件成熟的情况下,居民生活用电碳排放交易机制可以扩展到居民的其他能源消费领域,以实现更为全面的个人排放交易。     

A radical public administration? Green radicalism and policy influence among local environmental officials in Sweden

Green radicalism among local environmental officials in Sweden is examined with the aims of theoretically elaborating on different dimensions of Green radicalism in the context of public administration, exploring the dimensionality of Green radicalism among officials, and examining the extent to which Green radicalism is associated with policy influence. Three types of Green radicalism are identified: Green ethics, Green institutional change, and Green activism. Survey data (N = 701) show that the three theoretical dimensions are present among officials, and that there is no negative association between radicalism and influence. It is primarily officials with Green activism beliefs who perceive themselves as able to influence policy. These findings suggest a need for more nuanced understanding of and further studies into the role of public administration in the quest for more radical Green reforms.     

Moving targets: Carbon pricing,energy markets,and social movements in Australia

Reporting on the origins and directions of social movement strategy on climate and energy issues in the last decade, the shifts in ‘climate movement’ practice are discussed using a neo-Polanyian account of the political economy of climate change combined with sociological analysis of the strategic decisions campaigners reported making. Since the mid-2000s, Australia’s climate movement has been engaged in three concurrent arenas of political contestation. The longest-standing arena of movement activity has been negotiations over climate policy. More recently, activists and communities are engaged in a struggle over the expansion of fossil fuels. A third contest has been waged over the present and future position of renewable energy technologies in Australia’s electricity market. In the wake of climate policy failure, energy campaigns have been deepened, and it seems that a broader energy justice agenda is being forged. New strategic dilemmas are visible in the field.