Facilitating sustainable development in Chile: a survey of suitable energy technologies

Sustainable development in developing countries is the main aim of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, in the present context, uncertainty prevails as to whether the CDM is actually achieving its aims in terms of achieving sustainable development and to what extent. Chile has several renewable energy and energy efficiency options with significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement potential that are not yet financially and economically competitive. In order to be able to identify potential CDM projects and to formulate a series of possible investment strategies with a sustainable development component, it is crucial to establish a clear understanding of the host country's needs and priorities and the suitable sustainable energy technologies to meet these needs. The main scope of this paper is to present results obtained from an elaborated stakeholder assessment on Chile's high priority energy needs and sustainable energy technologies fulfilling these needs in order to assist Chile in finding ways of encouraging technology transfer that would contribute to low-carbon sustainable energy development.     

Prioritising development planning in the Indian semi-arid Deccan using sustainable livelihood security index approach

This paper presents the status of sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) of Karnataka, the most drought prone state in the Southern part of India. Computation of ecological security index, economic efficiency index and social equity index, and finally SLSI were carried out at the district level for the entire state, using empirical data. The selected indicators were first normalised, and then using estimated weights, indices were computed. The results indicate that the state has a very low SLSI with only 27.6% of total geographical area (TGA) and 21.7% of population being placed in the ‘sustainable’ and ‘highly sustainable’ categories (covering 10 districts) while only 34% of the TGA covering six districts falls in the ‘moderately sustainable’ category. The remaining area, confined mostly to the northern parts of the state, comprising 14 districts (51.8% of the state’s TGA) is categorised as ‘less sustainable’ and ‘very less sustainable’ exposing 44.4% (27.14 million) of state’s population to the perils of uncertain rainfall, high soil erosion rates, high social inequality and poor resource use efficiency. There is an urgent need to reorient development programmes and prioritise development investments in these vulnerable districts so that they are provided resources and opportunities to improve their ecological (more forest cover and less soil erosion), economic (higher agricultural productivity) and social (improved health and education facilities and rural infrastructure) status and achieve sustainable levels of livelihood.     

我国重工业企业烟气脱硫技术及存在的问题

为使企业在"十二五"期间达到SO2减排指标,总结出几种目前应用普遍,技术成熟,投资、运行成本较低的脱硫工艺,包括烟气脱硫的基本原理、主要设备、技术难点及存在的问题。供企业新建,改建或扩建脱硫系统借鉴。     

Assessing citizen contributions to butterfly monitoring in two large cities

Citizen science may be especially effective in urban landscapes due to the large pool of potential volunteers. However, there have been few evaluations of the contributions of citizen scientists to knowledge of biological communities in and around cities. To assess the effectiveness of citizen scientists' monitoring of species in urban areas, we compared butterfly data collected over 10 years in Chicago, Illinois (U.S.A.), and New York City, New York (U.S.A.). The dates, locations, and methods of data collection in Chicago were standardized, whereas data from New York were collected at any location at any time. For each city, we evaluated whether the number of observers, observation days (days on which observations were reported), and sampling locations were associated with the reported proportion of the estimated regional pool of butterfly species. We also compared the number of volunteers, duration of volunteer involvement, and consistency of sampling efforts at individual locations within each city over time. From 2001 to 2010, there were 73 volunteers in Chicago and 89 in New York. During this period, volunteers observed 86% and 89% of the estimated number of butterfly species present in Chicago and New York, respectively. Volunteers in New York reported a greater proportion of the estimated pool of butterfly species per year. In addition, more species were observed per volunteer and observation day in New York, largely due to the unrestricted sampling season in New York. Chicago volunteers were active for more years and monitored individual locations more consistently over time than volunteers in New York. Differences in monitoring protocol--especially length of sampling season and selection protocol for monitoring locations--influenced the relationship between species accrual and sampling effort, which suggests these factors are important in volunteer-based species-monitoring programs.     

土壤跳虫(Folsomia candida)对食物中铜污染物的吸收和排泄

重金属污染物在生物体内的累积、迁移和传递已成为当今的研究热点。土壤弹尾目昆虫作为土壤生态系统的重要组成部分,针对其对重金属的吸收、积累和排泄的动态过程以及相应解毒机制的研究意义重大。本研究通过弹尾目跳虫(Folsomia candida)对Cu的吸收-排泄效率实验发现,跳虫体内Cu含量随暴露时间的延长而显著增加(r~2=0.8878,F_(1,5)=29.59,P<0.01);跳虫体内Cu含量随排泄时间的延长而明显逐渐降低(r~2=0.7836,F_(1,3)=7.13,P<0.01)。跳虫对Cu的吸收-排泄Budget实验表明,只有少量的Cu被跳虫摄取到体内,其中小部分被体内组织消化吸收,大部分则可能通过中肠细胞的褪皮作用和产卵等方式排出体外。可见,褪皮和排卵是跳虫排泄重金属Cu的重要途径,跳虫对Cu具有较低的吸收率(8.13%)和较高的排泄率(57.3%),表明跳虫对Cu可能有较高的耐受性。     

Growth,deforestation and the efficiency of the REDD mechanism

This paper assesses the long term impacts of an international transfer called the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism, which aims at preserving tropical forests of the recipient economy. This two-sector economy faces a dilemma between economic growth and deforestation. The rural sector can substitute reproducible capital for agricultural land whereas the manufacturing sector only requires capital. The model shows that the REDD mechanism has a non-monotonic effect on steady state welfares. For low transfer schemes, the agricultural output increases with the transfer even though less land is under cultivation. For high transfer schemes, the increase in the transfer may not offset the decrease in the agricultural output. The open-loop symmetric Nash equilibrium in a dynamic deforestation game predicts that redistributing the transfer among a finite number of producers is less efficient in reducing deforestation than in the social optimum.     

农业发展与环境协调性评价及其影响因素分析

利用中国1997~2009年间省际面板数据,在方向性距离函数模型的框架下测度农业环境技术效率,评价农业发展与环境的协调程度,并考察其演变的时空特征和驱动机制.结果表明:农业发展与环境协调性整体偏低,并且研究期内呈现波动状态;不同省(市)环境与农业发展协调性差异较大,其空间分布与经济发展水平、农业生产条件存在着对应关系;经济发展水平、农业结构变动、农业基础设施投资、农业资源禀赋和农业环境管理政策等因素对农业发展-环境协调性产生重要影响,这应是农业环境管理政策创新的重点.     

城市生活垃圾卧式气流分选特性研究

利用处理能力100 kg/h的卧式气流分选机开展生活垃圾中塑料分选实验。实验结果表明:进风角度为10°、15°时,分别对应存在>8.5 m/s、7.7～9.3 m/s的风速范围,使塑料的纯度和分选效率达到80%以上;利用Fluent软件模拟,结果表明:进风角度>15°时,分选机内气流复杂,塑料纯度和分选效率的波动性大,仅存在较窄的风速范围可使总纯度和分选效率同时达到80%以上。     

基于活性污泥微生物冻后再生对废水基质降解效能的研究

采用高径比为12.5的序批式反应器(SBR)对冷冻的成熟好氧颗粒污泥（AGS）解冻驯化,研究母体颗粒冻后富集培养及其在番茄废水基质降解中的循环利用。结果表明：冻后恢复活性的污泥第60天全部颗粒化,平均粒径不小于0.45 mm;高通量测序结果显示,相较母体颗粒,该污泥中与颗粒化相关的变形菌门(Proteobacteria)和拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)优势菌群富集,微生物丰度呈显著差异（P<0.05）;复合菌株对COD、NH3-N和PO3-4-P去除率分别为98.9%、82.1%和82.2%,可实现番茄废水的有效降解。     

潮汐-复合流人工湿地系统优化及对抗生素抗性基因的去除效果

抗生素抗性基因随废水排放传播扩散,对环境生物和民众健康构成严重威胁.针对废水中抗性基因的深度去除值得重点关注.在前期研究中发现潮汐流人工湿地能有效去除废水中多种氮素.本研究通过增加隔板和种植植物等方式进一步优化潮汐流人工湿地系统,并考察了工艺优化对抗性基因去除和脱氮功能微生物的影响机制.结果表明,同时增加隔板和种植植物后的潮汐-复合流人工湿地系统能有效提高抗性基因的去除效率,在增加隔板和种植植物组对7类21种抗性基因去除率最高达到83.82%~100.0%,显著高于单一增加隔板或种植植物组.从湿地基质和植物中的抗性基因绝对丰度对比可以看出,增加隔板能促进湿地基质中抗性基因量积累,而植物对抗性基因吸附也是其去除途径之一.同时,结合氮循环功能基因测序结果显示,湿地系统优化能提高基质中硝化和反硝化功能微生物物种多样性和丰富度,这与优化系统对废水中硝化量、反硝化量和总氮的去除率相对更高结果一致.