Willingness to pay towards a public good: how does a refund option affect stated values?

Mandatory taxes and/or voluntary contributions are commonly adopted as the payment vehicle when eliciting willingness to pay (WTP) in environmental valuation studies. While mandatory taxes may arouse negative feelings, voluntary contributions may lead to strategic behaviour (over bidding) or free riding (under bidding). In this paper, we explore an alternative payment vehicle which avoids the draconian undertones associated with taxes and may be more incentive compatible than a voluntary contribution – a tax that incorporates a refund option. The template for such a payment vehicle is the value added tax charged to tourists in Ireland, but which can be reclaimed on exiting the country. In the context of raising public funds to support the conservation of rural countryside landscape, a comparison is made between the elicited WTP via a mandatory tax and that elicited via the alternative payment method incorporating a refund option. While we observe similar participation rates between the two payment methods, the refund option reveals a higher stated WTP.     

Updraft gasification of juniper wood biomass using CO2–O2 and Air (N2–O2)

Biomass gasification is being considered as one of the most promising technologies for converting low-quality solid biomass fuel into gaseous fuel. Redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchotii), one of the woody species that dominate uncultivated lands in the southern great plains, USA, may have a great potential for bioenergy utilization. In this study, the results of gasification of juniper are presented. Juniper wood chips were gasified in an adiabatic fixed bed updraft gasifier using air and the mixture gas of carbon dioxide and oxygen (CO₂:O₂) as gasification medium. The effect of gasification parameters such as moisture contents, gasification mediums, and gasification temperature on produced gas properties and the tar yield were investigated. It was observed that oxy fuel gasification (the reaction of woody fuels with carbon dioxide) of juniper resulted in the increase of production of carbon monoxide, especially at higher peak gasification temperatures. As a result, the CO₂ gasification resulted in producing higher heating value gas (6264 kJ/nm³ with dilution of CO₂ and 19,750 kJ/nm³ inert free) compared to air gasification. For air gasification, it was observed that the updraft gasification produced large amount of the tar in the product gas (more than 100 g/nm³) for the fuels with moisture content between 6% and 11%. Generally, the tar yield increased with the increase of equivalence ratio (er) and moisture content. However, when the fuel moisture content reached 23.5%, the tar yield reduced significantly due low gasification temperature which reduced the less tar cracking.     

基于CA-Markov模型的海湾土地利用动态预测

以海南八门湾为例,利用GIS分析手段,基于Markov预测结果分析,从土地利用适宜性原则与生态保护的角度出发,提出调整后的土地利用约束条件,运用CA-Markov模型,对研究区域2020年土地利用变化趋势进行了预测和模拟。结果表明,防风林、天然林和红树林等天然植被和功能性植被的面积将有所增加;养殖水面、果园和水田等农业生产性用地将有所减少。表明按照可持续发展原则对土地利用进行控制,能够在不影响当前经济发展的前提下,实现社会经济与生态环境协调发展的目标。     

生活垃圾衍生燃料分段催化气化

利用下吸式分段催化固定床反应器对生活垃圾衍生燃料进行了气化实验。研究了气化温度、当量空气系数、气化介质和催化剂对气化产物的影响。结果表明,生活垃圾衍生燃料以塑料、纸类和厨余组分为主,热值在10 MJ·kg-1以上,适合直接气化。随着气化温度升高,气化气中H2和CO的含量、产气率、气化气热值、碳转化率和冷煤气效率升高,而焦油和CO2含量明显降低;随着当量空气系数升高,CO2含量、产气率和碳转化率升高,而焦油含量和气化气热值降低,在当量空气系数为0.33时冷煤气效率最高;当采用富氧空气作为气化介质时,N2对于气化气的稀释作用减弱;添加催化剂能有效减少气化气中焦油的含量,提高H2和CO的含量。采用下吸式分段催化气化,能有效提高气化气品质和冷煤气效率。     

GM Crops: Patently Wrong?

This paper focuses on the ethical justifiability of patents on Genetically Modified (GM) crops. I argue that there are three distinguishing features of GM crops that make it unethical to grant patents on GM crops, even if we assume that the patent system is in general justified. The first half of the paper critiques David Resnik’s recent arguments in favor of patents on GM crops. Resnik argues that we should take a consequentialist approach to the issue, and that the best way to do so is to apply the Precautionary Principle, and that the Precautionary Principle, in this case, supports patents on GM crops. I argue that his argument in favor of a consequentialist treatment is invalid; his Precautionary Principle in any case appears to be incompatible with consequentialism; and his conception of reasonable precautions is too ill-defined to have any argumentative purchase. In the second half of the paper, I argue against GM crop patents, on three grounds. First, there is insufficient evidence to say whether allowing patents on GM crops will make research go faster than not having patents, whilst there is a good reason to think that, other things being equal, a society that allows patents on GM crops will be less just than one that does not. Second, even assuming that patents on GM crops will increase the pace of GM crop research, there is no social need to do so. Third, patents on GM crops will frequently have ethically unacceptable side effects.     

LCA of local strategies for energy recovery from waste in England, applied to a large municipal flow

An intense waste management (WM) planning activity is currently undergoing in England to build the infrastructure necessary to treat residual wastes, increase recycling levels and the recovery of energy from waste. From the analyses of local WM strategic and planning documents we have identified the emerging of three different energy recovery strategies: established combustion of residual waste; pre-treatment of residual waste and energy recovery from Solid Recovered Fuel in a dedicated plant, usually assumed to be a gasifier; pre-treatment of residual waste and reliance on the market to accept the ‘fuel from waste’ so produced. Each energy recovery strategy will result in a different solution in terms of the technology selected; moreover, on the basis of the favoured solution, the total number, scale and location of thermal treatment plants built in England will dramatically change. To support the evaluation and comparison of these three WM strategy in terms of global environmental impacts, energy recovery possibilities and performance with respect to changing ‘fuel from waste’ market conditions, the LCA comparison of eight alternative WM scenarios for a real case study dealing with a large flow of municipal wastes was performed with the modelling tool WRATE. The large flow of waste modelled allowed to formulate and assess realistic alternative WM scenarios and to design infrastructural systems which are likely to correspond to those submitted for approval to the local authorities. The results show that all alternative scenarios contribute to saving abiotic resources and reducing global warming potential. Particularly relevant to the current English debate, the performance of a scenario was shown to depend not from the thermal treatment technology but from a combination of parameters, among which most relevant are the efficiency of energy recovery processes (both electricity and heat) and the calorific value of residual waste and pre-treated material. The contribution and relative importance of recycling and treatment/recovery processes change with the impact category. The lack of reprocessing plants in the area of the case study has shown the relevance of transport distances for recyclate material in reducing the efficiency of a WM system. Highly relevant to the current English WM infrastructural debate, these results for the first time highlight the risk of a significant reduction in the energy that could be recovered by local WM strategies relying only on the market to dispose of the ‘fuel from waste’ in a non dedicated plant in the case that the SRF had to be sent to landfill for lack of treatment capacity.     

Study on an environmental-friendly and high-efficient fuel cell energy conversion system

The kinds and the distribution of the coal in China are investigated.The results indicated that the 80% coal in China is used by the method of the coal gasification.The possibility of utilization and development of the fuel cell power plant in China is analyzed.A combined cycle generation system is designed.Its net electrical efficiency is about 55%(LHV),which is higher than that of the fire power plant.So it is environmental-friendly and high-efficient generation mode.     

抗滑桩加固三维多地层边坡最小势能稳定性分析

为了分析抗滑桩加固边坡的稳定性,基于最小势能原理,考虑桩土之间的相互作用和滑面储存的剪切势能,提出了抗滑桩加固多地层边坡的三维稳定性分析方法。将该方法与其他方法进行对比验证,并分析了抗滑桩相关参数对边坡稳定性的影响。结果表明:该方法是合理可行的;当抗滑桩位于边坡中部时,对边坡的稳定性更好;当抗滑桩的桩间距大于8 m时,抗滑桩间距的变化对边坡安全系数的影响较小。     

基于KPCA-LSSVM的矿井工作面动力环境安全评价模型

为实现对采前工作面所处动力环境的客观、准确评价,选取9个直接影响工作面 动力环境的指标因素构建安全评价指标体系,建立基于核主成分分析(KPCA)和最小二乘 支持向量机(LSSVM)的工作面动力环境多因素耦合安全评价智能模型。首先根据KPCA理 论对评价指标施行简约化处理,剔除冗余信息,得出6个简约后的评价指标并输入LSSVM 模型中训练学习,最后得到评价模型。选取从平顶山矿区和大同矿区搜集到的30组工作 面历史数据,按照20∶10的比例对模型进行训练和测试,并将测试结果与其他四种模型 结果进行了对比,结果表明:KPCA方法可有效减少数据信息冗余,利用KPCA优化的 LSSVM模型可准确评价工作面动力环境,误判率为0。