The Valuation of Health Effects Caused by Stationary Sources–Related SO2 Emissions: The Adaptation of Impact Pathway Approach in Taiwan

This paper presents the externalities of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in the Taichung metropolitan, Taiwan. The human effects of SO₂ from stationary sources are a key element for local air quality management. A methodology to evaluate those effects in monetary term had been adapted and applied. This method was modified from the EU-based impact pathway approach link to the skill of geographic information systems. The studied area was divided into 66 districts and the quantity of SO₂ was allocated to each district. Then, the ambient concentration of SO₂ was estimated by using the ordinary kriging method. A risk analysis was employed to characterize the health impacts caused by SO₂. Finally, a monetary transfer approach based on the European data was conducted to estimate local damage costs per ton of SO₂. Health impacts, especially acute mortality, dominate in term of costs. The calculation showed that damage costs ranged from 0.56 to 7.38 USD/kg SO₂ based on the 2002 emission data. The results could be used in the internalization of SO₂ externalities and management of the stationary sources in the studied area. This paper also concludes that the externalities caused by stationary-related SO₂ emissions are some 28.5 million US dollars in Taichung metropolitan (Taiwan) in 2002.     

开拓创新 超前谋划 提前布局碳减排战略

碳减排是当前国际政治、经济和环境保护战略斗争的新领域。昌吉州的碳减排工作在新疆具有一定的示范意义,昌吉州目前所排放的二氧化碳主要来自于燃煤、建筑取暖、农业生产及居民生活等方面。现阶段可通过发展循环经济、走可持续发展道路,加强节能减排和植树造林,提倡节约、减少浪费,发展绿色生态农业,积极开发清洁能源,发展新能源等方式来发展低碳经济,降低昌吉州的二氧化碳排放量,为国家减少碳排放的战略目标做出自己的贡献。     

浅谈新疆“十二五”畜禽养殖业主要污染物的减排

结合主要污染物"十二五"总量控制规划编制工作经验,对新疆畜禽养殖业主要污染物的减排潜力及途径进行分析,宏观测算出新疆畜禽养殖业"十二五"期间的减排潜力,并提出新疆畜禽养殖业的减排途径及方法,为新疆主要污染物"十二五"减排工作提供合理化建议。     

An Inexact Fuzzy-robust Two-stage Programming Model for Managing Sulfur Dioxide Abatement Under Uncertainty

In this study, an inexact fuzzy-robust two-stage programming (IFRTSP) method is developed for tackling multiple forms of uncertainties that can be expressed as discrete intervals, probabilistic distributions and/or fuzzy membership functions. The model can reflect economic penalties of corrective measures against any infeasibilities arising due to a particular realization of system uncertainties. Moreover, the fuzzy decision space can be delimited into a more robust one with the uncertainties being specified through dimensional enlargement of the original fuzzy constraints. A management problem in terms of regional air pollution control has been studied to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach. Results indicate that useful solutions for planning the air quality management practices have been generated. They can help decision makers identify desired pollution-abatement strategy with minimized system cost and maximized environmental efficiency.     

Restoration of fly ash dump through biological interventions

Field experiment on 10 ha area of fly ash dump was conducted to restore and revegetate it using biological interventions, which involves use of organic amendment, selection of suitable plant species along with specialized nitrogen fixing strains of biofertilizer. The results of the study indicated that amendment with farm yard manure at 50 t/ha improved the physical properties of fly ash such as maximum water holding capacity from 40.0 to 62.42% while porosity improved from 56.78 to 58.45%. The nitrogen content was increased by 4.5 times due to addition of nitrogen fixing strains of Bradyrhizobium and Azotobacter species, while phosphate content was increased by 10.0 times due to addition of VAM, which helps in phosphate immobilization. Due to biofertilizer inoculation different microbial groups such as Rhizobium, Azotobacter and VAM spores, which were practically absent in fly ash improved to 7.1 × 10⁷, 9.2 × 10⁷ CFU/g and 35 VAM spores/10 g of fly ash, respectively. Inoculation of biofertilizer and application of FYM helped in reducing the toxicity of heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, nickel and lead which were reduced by 25, 46, 48 and 47%, respectively, due to the increased organic matter content in the fly ash which complexes the heavy metals thereby decreasing the toxicity of metals. Amendment of fly ash with FYM and biofertilizer helped in profuse root development showing 15 times higher growth in Dendrocalamus strictus plant as compared to the control. Thus amendment and biofertilizer application provided better supportive material for anchorage and growth of the plant.     

Analysis of the spatio-temporal and semantic aspects of land-cover/use change dynamics 1991–2001 in Albania at national and district levels

In the turmoil of a rapidly changing economy the Albanian government needs accurate and timely information for management of their natural resources and formulation of land-use policies. The transformation of the forestry sector has required major changes in the legal, regulatory and management framework. The World Bank financed Albanian National Forest Inventory project provides an analysis of spatially explicit land-cover/use change dynamics in the period 1991–2001 using the FAO/UNEP Land Cover Classification System for codification of classes, satellite remote sensing and field survey for data collection and elements of the object-oriented geo-database approach to handle changes as an evolution of land-cover/use objects, i.e. polygons, over time to facilitate change dynamics analysis.Analysis results at national level show the trend of natural resources depletion in the form of modifications and conversions that lead to a gradual shift from land-cover/use types with a tree cover to less dense tree covers or even a complete removal of trees. Policy failure (e.g., corruption, lack of law enforcement) is seen as the underlying cause. Another major trend is urbanisation of areas near large urban centres that change urban-rural linkages. Furthermore, after privatisation agricultural areas increased in the hills where environmental effects may be detrimental, while prime agricultural land in the plains is lost to urbanisation.At district level, the local variability of spatially explicit land-cover/use changes shows different types of natural resources depletion. The distribution of changes indicates a regional prevalence, thus a decentralised approach to the natural resources management could be advocated.     

厂界噪声背景值修正问题的讨论

在实际计算中 ,按照国家标准 (GB1 2 3 4 9-90 )扣除背景噪声值常常会与待测声源的实际声级值产生较大的误差。利用对噪声源的实际测量数据 ,探讨这种误差产生的原因及结果 ,并建议今后采用计算结果列表查找或者直接用公式计算的方法扣除背景噪声 ,以消除因数据处理不当而产生的误差。     

Differentiation of nitrous oxide emission factors for agricultural soils

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) direct soil emissions from agriculture are often estimated using the default IPCC emission factor (EF) of 1%. However, a large variation in EFs exists due to differences in environment, crops and management. We developed an approach to determine N₂O EFs that depend on N-input sources and environmental factors. The starting point of the method was a monitoring study in which an EF of 1% was found. The conditions of this experiment were set as the reference from which the effects of 16 sources of N input, three soil types, two land-use types and annual precipitation on the N₂O EF were estimated. The derived EF inference scheme performed on average better than the default IPCC EF. The use of differentiated EFs, including different regional conditions, allows accounting for the effects of more mitigation measures and offers European countries a possibility to use a Tier 2 approach.