A strategic design approach to develop sustainable product service systems: examples taken from the ‘environmentally friendly innovation’ Italian prize

The product service systems’ (PSS) sustainability potential is described in the framework of the new types of stakeholder relationships and/or partnerships, producing new convergence of economic interests, and a potential concomitant systemic resources optimization.In this perspective, it is argued that the design competencies should move towards those of the ‘strategic design’, thus introducing the concept of ‘strategic design for sustainability’: the design of an innovation strategy, shifting the business focus from designing (and selling) physical products only, to designing (and selling) a system of products and services which are jointly capable of fulfilling specific client demands, while re-orienting current unsustainable trends in production and consumption practices.Some examples of PSS are presented and discussed using the PSS categories ‘services providing added value to the product life cycle’, ‘services providing final results to customers’, and ‘services providing enabling platforms for customers’. The cases derive from an analysis of the ‘environmental friendly innovation’ yearly endowed prize submissions. The Politecnico di Milano University together with the Bocconi University and Legambiente (an environmental NGO) promotes the initiative in Italy.     

生态经济持续性的度量和趋势预测——以甘肃武威市为例

应用生态占用模型,对武威市生态经济的可持续性进行了评价。对武威的生物资源、能源资源和制成品资源消费的生态占用的计算结果表明,1999年武威市人均占用生物生产性空间为1.589423hm₂,调整后的武威实际生产空间供给为0.856876hm₂/人。1999年武威生态赤字0.73254hm₂/人。对于世界56个国家和地区的人均生态占用和人均GDP数据进行分析,认为二者高度相关。用幂指数模型进行趋势拟合,具有较好的拟合优度和理论一致性。武威生态占用处于强的扩张时期,到2015年,人均生态占用将会达到2.60142hm₂/人,而当年实际生态承载力阈值预测值为1.0657hm₂/人。人均生态赤字扩大到1.5357hm₂/人。生态经济系统的运行是以过度消耗自然资本为代价的。     

Concurrency: a system design approach to environmental management and sustainability

The lessons of history indicate that mismanagement of natural resources and the environment often leads to potentially adverse consequences.The increasing interest in economic development,particularly in the developing countries of the world coupled with increasing population pressures and the globalization of economic activity is placing noticeable stresses on the ultimate sustainability of both human and environmental systems.Sustainable development is not a new concept.It has been an area of concern for different elements of society for some time.Yet efforts to understand the implications of sustainable development have not,until recently,been formalized.We have focused singularly on economic development and environmental quality as if they were mutually exclusive.This paper focuses on the concept of concurrency as both a conceptual framework and practicable method of understanding and implementing the ecology and economy of sustainability.     

宁夏环境问题与可持续发展

环境问题的实质，就是人类从环境中索取资源的速度超过了资源本身及其替代品的再生速度，即向环境排放废弃物的速度超过了环境的自净能力，自然和人文景观受到破坏，环境对废弃物的消纳同化能力越来越弱，环境功能发生退化，环境资源失去了可持续性。     

Water pricing towards sustainability of water resources: a case study in Beijing

The role of water pricing for managing water resources is widely recognized in many areas of the world because of the increasing scarcity of water resources, a high competition between water uses and environmental degradation. Based on the analysis of cost of water, this paper explores which types of cost should be reflected in the water pricing enhancing the sustainability of water resources. The principle of full cost pricing in which the cost should include supply cost, opportunity cost and externalities is proposed as a means to achieve the sustainability of water resources. In a case study of Beijing, low water price is analyzed as one reason for unsustainable water consumption. Thus water pricing justified is necessary and pressing. It is proposed to justify water price in phased manner and eventually towards full cost pricing. The assessment of impacts on water resources by raising water price shows water pricing could alleviate the conflict between water supply and demand. This paper concludes that water pricing can play an effective role in enhancing the sustainability of water resources in Beijing.     

城市可持续性:欧洲城市改造的经验与启示

全球化和城市化使得世界城市发展面临着严重的生态环境问题与挑战,城市可持续性是解决这些问题的根本出路.本文利用欧洲城市改造的案例对城市可持续性进行了分析和研究,通过城市可持续性的原则、特点和影响因素分析,重点讨论了欧洲地方环境行动计划,以及项目特点、预算来源、战略目标、管理形式和行动计划与方案,指出切实可行的行动计划、普遍的公众参与、充足的资金来源、相关利益人的协作体、信息技术应用是城市可持续性和竞争力提升的根本保证.     

瓜尔豆胶废水预处理的方法研究

根据瓜尔豆胶在生产食品添加剂的过程中产生的废水COD的值高迭216000mg/l的特点,分别用如下方法进行处理①调pH=6.84,按0.5%质量比加入活性炭吸附剂,静止20天,此时去除率为87.7%;②用饱和硫酸铝2mL 适量的聚丙烯酰胺絮凝,去除率为36.5%;③原液先蒸馏出1/4体积后在釜液中按3%的质量比加入Ca(OH)2,计算去除率为89.6%④利用铁炭屑以5:1的质量比形成微电池的方法作用两小时后再按3%的质量比加Ca(OH)2絮凝,此条件下去除率高达91.7%.经过比较得出第四种方法是最经济有效的,对该特种废水起到了很好的预处理作用.     

CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS IN NORTHERN CANADA: INTEGRATING INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES WITH GOVERNMENT POLICY

A study of the relationship between natural hazards and climate change in the international context provides the background for a discussion of the expected changes. In the context of this global discussion, this paper reviews the current perspectives of those natural hazards that are likely to be influenced by climate change, using northern Canada as a regional case study. The northern implications of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are examined, including the status of climate change action by the northern territorial governments, the evolving role of indigenous people, and the responsibility for climate change impacts. The difficulties surrounding natural hazards research in remote locations, and the approaches of indigenous people to natural hazards are then presented. The paper concludes with a suggested policy approach for climate change and natural hazards in northern Canada, underscoring the need for more comprehensive adaptive strategies to complement the current tendency to focus on the mitigation of greenhouse gases produced in this region.     

生态旅游及其可持续发展战略研究之二--生态旅游的可持续发展模式探讨

为衡平旅游开发过程中的经济与环保利益，作为一种全新旅游理念与旅游发展形式的“生态旅游”应运而生，也对传统旅游结构的演变提出挑战，本文通过对“生态旅游”的可持续发展的目标、原则及模式的选择等问题解析，以求能为结合“经济效益”、“生态支柱”、“文化内涵”的新型旅游发展模式提出思考。     

Annual and Diurnal Wind Patterns in the City of São Paulo

The major topographic, mesoscale, and urban influences on the wind patterns of the City of São Paulo are characterized using one year of surface wind velocity data observed at 11 surface stations within its urban limits. The data was used to study the diurnal and annual variations of wind velocity and horizontal wind divergence within the city. Results showed that the circulation over the investigated area is dominated by three major factors: sea breeze; mountain-valley circulations; and urban effects, such as roughness, building-barrier, and urban heat island. The sea breeze was found to be the dominant feature of the monthly-averaged diurnal variation of São Paulo surface winds during the eight warmest months of the year. The sea breeze front induces a velocity minimum at the time of its passage and a post-frontal afternoon velocity maximum. Mountain-valley thermal effects on the flow can be seen in the temporal divergence/convergence patterns. These thermal effects tend to be more important during colder months, at night, and when the wind velocities are low. Nighttime downslope convergent flows are present over the city during winter and spring and daytime upslope divergent flows are present over the city during summer months.