Establishing the green neighbourhood: approaches to neighbourhood-scale sustainability certification in Portland,Oregon

ABSTRACT

While local governance is widely acknowledged as an important element in the pursuit of sustainability, local action alone is insufficient to produce lasting change. One recent solution to this quandary has been the production of certification frameworks that encourage sustainable development at the neighbourhood scale by providing local actors with standardised definitions of sustainable practices. While these frameworks facilitate the spread of sustainable development strategies between local communities, there are significant contrasts between their approaches to encouraging local sustainable development that simultaneously fulfils global objectives. This article explores these contrasts through two neighbourhood-scale sustainability certification frameworks: LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and the EcoDistricts Protocol. Analysis of these frameworks in the context of two centrally-located neighbourhoods in Portland, Oregon, reveals substantial contrasts between the two frameworks in terms of the relative flexibility of their sustainability metrics, the time frame over which decisions regarding sustainable development are made, and community involvement in the process of pursuing specific objectives. Furthermore, it suggests that greater flexibility in the application of standards, continuous governance, and greater community involvement lead to more dynamic and holistic forms of sustainability that evolve as both local community needs and broader understandings of sustainability change over time.     

Optimization of a Wind/PV Hybrid Power Generation System

This study investigates the wind and solar electricity generation availability at the Solar Energy Institute of Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. The main purpose of this study is to design an appropriate wind-PV hybrid system to cover the electricity consumption of the Institute. In order to do this, monthly average solar irradiation and wind speed data are used, which were measured, consisting of hourly records over an eight-year period from 1995–2002. Simple models were developed to determine wind, solar, and hybrid power resources per unit area. Correlations between the solar and wind power data were carried out on an hourly, daily, and monthly basis. It is shown that the hybrid system can be applied for the efficient and economic utilization of these resources.     

Minimizing disruptions caused by damming and ensuring the health of downstream ecosystems

In view of the Brazilian Ten‐Year Energy Expansion Plan 2021, this article presents a discussion on environmental flow (e‐flow). The authors analyze the literature to show the evolution of publications concerning e‐flow releases from the perspective of ecosystems services preservation considering results from different case studies from throughout the world. Finally, two main recommendations are drawn regarding e‐flow are: (1) performing a holistic approach to e‐flow planning, including hydrological, hydraulic, water quality, habitat, and riparian zone considerations; and (2) installing in new structures adequate bottom outlets to allow a range of adjustable e‐flow from reservoir dams to reproduce natural flow variations.     

Improving photostability and efficiency of polymeric luminescent solar concentrators by PMMA/MgO nanohybrid coatings

MgO nanocrystals were synthesized and doped with different concentrations in poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) to prepare hybrid organic-inorganic coatings based on polymer nanohybrid thin films. The nanoparticles were found to be spherical with 62 nm diameter as determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The coatings were characterized by spectroscopic tools such as optical absorption, transmission and fluorescence spectroscopy. The prepared nanohybrid films were spin-coated on cost-effective luminescent PMMA substrates doped with highly efficient luminescent dyes luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). The outdoor photostability tests demonstrated enhanced protection against UVA radiation for coated LSCs compared to bare LSC substrates. The current–voltage characteristics of commercially produced LSC prototypes showed that the poor UV response of monocrystalline silicon solar cell can be improved by for LSCs coated by PMMA/MgO nanohybrid films which act as luminescent down shifting layer (LDSL).     

A Two-Stage Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for MPPT of Partially Shaded PV Arrays

The power-voltage (P-V) characteristic curves of a PV array are nonlinear and have multiple peaks under partially shaded conditions (PSCs). This paper proposes a novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for a PV system with reduced steady-state oscillation based on a two-stage particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The grouping method of the shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA) is incorporated in the basic PSO algorithm (PSO-SFLA), ensuring fast and accurate searching of the global extremum. An adaptive speed factor is also introduced into the improved PSO to further enhance its convergence speed. Test results show that the proposed method converges in less than half the time taken by the conventional PSO method, and the power is improved by 33% under the worst PSCs, which confirms the superiority of the proposed method over the standard PSO algorithm in terms of tracking speed and steady-state oscillations under different PSCs.     

秦皇岛市生物能源产业发展的思路与对策

开发利用可再生的生物质能源是未来能源产业发展的主流方向之一。秦皇岛市具有发展生物能源产业的良好基础和有利条件。根据秦皇岛市生物能源资源条件,生物能源产业发展的思路应该是：畜禽粪便沼气商业化开发;农林废弃物、餐饮垃圾和城乡居民生活垃圾能源化开发;能源林、能源作物种植与生物柴油冶炼产业化发展。并通过政府对生物能源产业的组织、规划与引导,建立生物质能源资源管理制度与流通机制和生物能源产业发展的市场化运营机制,制定扶持政策等措施,促进生物能源产业的快速、健康发展。     

Comparisons and critical assessment of global and diffuse solar irradiation estimation methodologies

Defining better methodologies of accurate predictions of the amount of monthly mean daily global and diffuse solar irradiation exposed is of utmost importance in order to determine the potential for utilizing the solar energy. This study compares and discusses the main methodologies, databases, and software that are used in estimating the solar irradiation to be used for the short- and long-term performances and feasibilities of solar energy systems, especially photovoltaic power plants in Turkey, and addresses the best one to be used to make the most accurate estimations. The comparisons are carried out between the recent methodologies developed by the authors, some models taken from the related literature that are concluded to be better, a widely used database, namely Meteonorm, and a widely used software, namely EU PVGIS. The reference data to develop the methodologies and to make comparison are provided from the State Meteorological Service of Turkey, which is the responsible body in Turkey to make measurements of solar irradiation. The comparisons are based on monthly mean daily values of global and diffuse solar irradiation and are carried out by statistical errors: mean bias error and root mean square error. The results showed that the methodology developed by the authors has shown better performances in estimating the monthly mean daily global and diffuse solar irradiation amount for Turkey.     

Sustainability and education for sustainability: An analysis of publications from the last decade

This study analyzes the characteristics of publications on sustainability topics and education for sustainability in the Web of Science (WOS) database during the period ranging from 2005 to 2014. We identified the topics that are being studied within those subjects and other relevant topics. We also analyzed a special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production on “Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging areas,” published in January, 2014. Our approach was both qualitative and quantitative and aimed at qualifying and quantifying certain variables related to the scientific literature on the broad subject of sustainability. The number of published pieces in the WOS focusing on sustainability issues during the period from 2005 to 2014 was 5,924. In our analysis of the special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production, we found and analyzed 17 abstracts and full papers. The main results of our survey highlight the education, educational research, environmental sciences, ecology, and engineering areas as including the greatest number of publications. Articles, as opposed to conference proceedings or reviews, accounted for 63% of the published documents, and the year 2013 showed the largest number of publications. Huisingh, Suciu, Katane, and Barth are the most published authors on these topics. Furthermore, management, environmental studies, ecology, and environmental sciences are the “hot topics” with the best search results, meaning articles of impact and high quality. Finally, it should be emphasized that publications on the subject of sustainability appear most often in the sciences.     

我国原铝冶炼行业温室气体排放模型

我国原铝冶炼行业产业集中度较低,生产水平参差不齐,随着国内原铝产量不断增加,原铝行业碳排放及其计算方法备受关注. 针对我国原铝冶炼过程原料类型、能源结构复杂的特点,对国内外已有碳排放核算框架进行细化,从物料、工序、工艺3个层面构建了复杂的原铝冶炼系统温室气体排放计算模型. 在广泛文献调研的基础上,选取典型原铝冶炼企业开展现场调研及专家咨询,进而形成模型的基础数据库. 利用上述模型对我国2011年原铝冶炼过程碳排放进行核算. 结果表明:综合考虑氧化铝生产工艺结构、电解铝行业分布区域的电网能源结构,我国原铝冶炼系统CO₂排放因子(以铝锭计)为14.70t/t. 电解铝生产过程电耗相关排放占70%,南方电网区域电解铝生产电耗相关CO₂排放分别比华中、华北地区低13%、30%. 原铝冶炼行业可通过优先选用碳排放因子较低的物料、淘汰落后氧化铝工艺、开发引进低温低电压工艺技术等手段,进一步实现物料、工序及工艺的多层次温室气体减排.      

昆明城市太阳辐射资源及利用现状初探

利用有关资料,对昆明城市太阳辐射资源和利用现状进行了初步探讨。分析得知,昆明地区太阳辐射具有独特的分布特征,为太阳能的利用提供了良好的环境条件;太阳能热水器在干季晴好天气时增温效果显著。通过对不同太阳能热水器普及率和不同增温率的太阳能热水器等的计算,可以看出昆明城市太阳能热水器的节能效应是十分显著的,但仍有较大空间。加大昆明城市太阳能热水器的普及工作对于城市太阳能利用将是十分重要的。