Life cycle assessment for printed newspapers in Northwestern Mexico

This paper aims to present the relevant results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study conducted on printed matter under a sheet-fed offset printing process by a company located in northwestern Mexico. Different scenarios were simulated in order to support decisions related to the improvement of environmental performance along the production processes. The study design was based on the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPLCA), which is in line with the ISO 14040 and 14044:2006 standards on LCA. The scope of the study was cradle-to-gate, with emphasis on the production of printed matter. The method chosen for the impact assessment was Impact 2002+ with a combined midpoint–damage approach. The results of the study showed that the major contributors to adverse effects were, primarily electricity consumption followed by paper consumption during the printing operation, as well as consumption of ink to a small degree. As for the plate-making operation along with the generation of secondary products, the result was negative. This is essentially due to involvement of recyclable materials, thus contributing to the prevention of raw material extraction. The smallest impact was observed from processes involving cleaning products and LP gas. The main issues of concern stemming from the results are electricity consumption and printing – both activities dominate almost all the midpoint categories. Generation of secondary products also had a relative environmental impact along the supply chain. Cleaning agents and LP gas did not have a significant impact on the final results of the process.     

Emissions cap or emissions tax? A multi-sector business cycle analysis

We develop a multi-sector business cycle model to analyze stochastic implications of reducing CO₂ emissions with carbon permits or with carbon taxes in the presence of multiple sources of macroeconomic uncertainty. The model is calibrated to reflect the U.S. experience. As in previous studies, using a single-sector version of our model, we find that the cap regime generates lower volatility of real variables than the tax regime, but the latter may be preferable from the welfare perspective. Still, our multi-sector analysis points to the importance of the origin of the shocks in the ranking of the two instruments and to the desirability of going beyond a single-sector analysis in evaluating their merits. We find no significant difference between the cap and the tax regimes when shocks come from non-energy sectors. In contrast, the cap has lower volatility but higher welfare costs than the tax for the shocks to energy production.     

Carbon emission analysis of a residential building in China through life cycle assessment

In this paper, a quantitative life cycle model for carbon emission accounting was developed based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) theory. A residential building in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (Tianjin, China) was selected as a sample, which had been constructed according to the concept of green environmental protection and sustainable development. In the scenario of this research, material production, construction, use and maintenance, and demolition phases were assessed by building carbon emission models. Results show that use and maintenance phase and material production phase are the most significant contributors to the life cycle carbon emissions of a building. We also analyzed some factor influences in LCA, including the thickness of the insulating layer and the length of building service life. The analysis suggest that thicker insulating layer does not necessarily produce less carbon emissions in the light of LCA, and if service life of a building increases, its carbon emissions during the whole life cycle will rise as well but its unit carbon emission will decrease inversely. Some advices on controlling carbon emissions from buildings are also provided.     

应用煤制天然气防治大气污染合理性评估

以京津冀地区燃煤制天然气(SNG)锅炉为对象,基于生命周期角度对其大气污染物排放进行了分析.结果显示,燃SNG锅炉全生命周期排放少于燃煤锅炉,但存在着污染向SNG产地转移的效应.为进一步评估SNG防治大气污染的效果,对京津冀地区燃煤锅炉改造为燃SNG锅炉,以及燃煤锅炉末端排放治理2种方式在生命周期排放、资源消耗、经济性3方面进行了对比.结果显示,在全生命周期过程中,SNG锅炉相比末端处理方式有更多大气污染物排放,但若忽略污染转移现象而只考虑京津冀地区,则SNG锅炉相比末端处理排放更少;燃SNG锅炉相比末端处理会消耗更多的能源和水资源;SNG锅炉同时需要更高的投资和成本.以煤制天然气作为防治大气污染的选择需要谨慎考虑,不宜过度发展.     

乳化植物油强化地下水中Cr(VI)的生物地球化学还原研究

设计天然细砂模拟实验,利用乳化植物油作为电子供体,研究生物地球化学作用对Cr(VI)的还原过程和机理.结果表明,乳化油可以使地下水呈弱酸性,反应体系pH值最终为6.59;并长期维持还原环境,Eh最终降低至-158.6mV.乳化油可显著促进土著微生物的异化铁还原作用,将细砂介质中的Fe(III)还原成Fe(II)并耦合去除Cr(VI).当反应进行到14d时,Cr(VI)全部被去除,反应第28d总铬完全被去除.Fe(II)的累积对反应体系中的氧化还原环境有重要影响.当实验结束时,Fe(II)浓度为44.40mg/L,乳化油消耗了48.9%.XPS和XRD表征分析反应后的细砂,结果表明生成的Cr(III)最终以Fe-Cr无定型态沉淀存在.     

中国核电能源链的生命周期温室气体排放研究

应用全能源链分析(PCA)和生命周期分析(LCA)方法,采用第一手调查数据和一些新的参数,对我国核电能源链的生命周期温室气体排放进行评价计算.结果表明,现阶段我国核电能源链(包括核燃料循环前段、核电站)的实际温室气体排放量为6.2g CO2,eq/(k W·h),若考虑核燃料循环后段(乏燃料后处理与废物处置)则总的温室气体排放量为11.9g CO2,eq/(k W·h).核电是低碳能源,发展核电代替一定规模的煤电提供一次能源,每1k W·h电力生产能够减排大约1kg二氧化碳.推进核电产业链的技术升级和持续节能降耗,鼓励材料再循环再利用,核电能源链的温室气体排放仍有进一步降低的空间.     

我国核电与煤电环境影响的外部成本比较

应用影响路径分析和生命周期分析方法建立了核电能源链与煤电能源链的外部成本计量框架,对二者的环境影响的外部成本进行了比较评价.结果表明:煤电能源链向环境排放的污染物直接导致酸雨、降尘和全球变暖等环境效应,对人体健康、植被、生态系统、材料和清洗等造成明显影响;而核电能源链未发现可察觉的环境影响.从污染物(SO₂,NO_x,PM和CO₂)排放看,煤电能源链比核电能源链高2个数量级;煤电能源链的辐射影响是核电能源链的40倍;煤电能源链总的外部成本是核电能源链的115倍.比较可知:①核电是清洁的能源,其比煤电更有利于环境;②以煤为主的能源结构是环境问题的主要原因之一;③现行的能源价格机制中没有合理地体现环境成本.应通过节约能源、提高能源效率、改善能源结构、发展清洁能源技术、外部成本内部化以完善能源价格机制等途径促进能源的可持续发展.      

水泥窑共处置废白土的环境效益分析

以废白土为研究对象,应用生命周期评价法(LCA)对水泥窑共处置和焚烧炉处置系统3个类别的环境影响[人类健康(HH)、生态系统质量(EQ)和资源(R)]进行研究和对比分析.结果表明,水泥窑共处置废白土有利于环境的可持续发展,焚烧炉处置对环境的影响较大.水泥窑共处置和焚烧炉处置功能单位废白土的总环境负荷分别为-1.03,0.273Pt,前者的环境负荷比后者减少了477%,相应各指标的减少率为:HH 413%, EQ 479%, R 36.9%. EQ在2种处置方式的LCA中均为最敏感的影响指标.水泥窑系统中,避免了贡献率占97%以上的矿山开采阶段的环境影响,是降低整个系统环境影响的关键环节;焚烧炉系统中,电力消耗是造成环境破坏的重要阶段,对各影响指标都有很高的贡献率.二 、苯、重金属的排放是水泥窑共处置废白土的主要影响因子;粉尘和重金属排放对焚烧处置系统的影响较大.     

海洋低盐度干湿交替环境不同金属镀层对D32钢保护特性研究

目的 探究一种适合于低盐度海域干湿交替环境金属腐蚀防护的金属镀层.方法 以胜利海域低盐度的腐蚀环境为研究对象,以D32钢为基体,通过直流脉冲电流电镀4种金属(Al、Mg、Cu和Zn),镀层厚度为(30±1)μm,通过电化学测试和腐蚀形貌分析研究不同镀层金属的腐蚀动力学过程和点蚀特征,以确定最佳保护金属镀层.结果 在干湿...     

A geostatistical approach for mapping thematic classification accuracy and evaluating the impact of inaccurate spatial data on ecological model predictions

Spatial information in the form of geographical information system coverages and remotely sensed imagery is increasingly used in ecological modeling. Examples include maps of land cover type from which ecologically relevant properties, such as biomass or leaf area index, are derived. Spatial information, however, is not error-free: acquisition and processing errors, as well as the complexity of the physical processes involved, make remotely sensed data imperfect measurements of ecological attributes. It is therefore important to first assess the accuracy of the spatial information being used and then evaluate the impact of such inaccurate information on ecological model predictions. In this paper, the role of geostatistics for mapping thematic classification accuracy through integration of abundant image-derived (soft) and sparse higher accuracy (hard) class labels is presented. Such assessment leads to local indices of map quality, which can be used for guiding additional ground surveys. Stochastic simulation is proposed for generating multiple alternative realizations (maps) of the spatial distribution of the higher accuracy class labels over the study area. All simulated realizations are consistent with the available pieces of information (hard and soft labels) up to their validated level of accuracy. The simulated alternative class label representations can be used for assessing joint spatial accuracy, i.e., classification accuracy regarding entire spatial features read from the thematic map. Such realizations can also serve as input parameters to spatially explicit ecological models; the resulting distribution of ecological responses provides a model of uncertainty regarding the ecological model prediction. A case study illustrates the generation of alternative land cover maps for a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) subscene, and the subsequent construction of local map quality indices. Simulated land cover maps are then input into a biogeochemical model for assessing uncertainty regarding net primary production (NPP).