Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes1

van de Meene, Susan J. and Rebekah R. Brown, 2009. Delving into the “Institutional Black Box”: Revealing the Attributes of Sustainable Urban Water Management Regimes. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 45(6):1448‐1464. Abstract: This paper is based on the proposition that the transition to sustainable urban water management has been hampered by the lack of insight into attributes of a sustainable urban water regime. Significant progress has been made in developing technical solutions to advance urban water practice, however it is the co‐evolution of the socio‐institutional and technical systems that enable a system‐wide transition. A systematic analysis of 81 empirical studies across a range of practice areas was undertaken to construct a schema of the sustainable urban water regime attributes. Attributes were identified and analyzed using a framework of nested management regime spheres: the administrative and regulatory system, inter‐organizational, intra‐organizational, and human resources spheres. The regime is likely to involve significant stakeholder involvement, collaborative inter‐organizational relationships, flexible and adaptive organizational cultures, and motivated and engaging employees. Comparison of the constructed sustainable and traditional regime attributes reveals that to realize sustainable urban water management in practice a substantial shift in governance is required. This difference emphasizes the critical need for explicitly supported strategies targeted at developing each management regime sphere to further enable change toward sustainable urban water management.     

Overcoming Contradictions Between Growth and SustainabiUty： Institutional Innovation in the BRICS

The recent accelerated growth rates or efforts to emulate countries that have achieved a rapid pace of economic growth are widely acclaimed as means to uplift millions from poverty. In so doing, however, this rapid economic growth is most likely to coincide with unsustainable levels of consumption, place excessive pressure on life support systems and terrestrial sinks and foreshorten options for the future. Rather than pursuing the ＂Environmental Kuznets Curve＂ （EKC） hypothesis that higher income will bring with it the means to reduce the impacts of greater consumption, ecological economists assert that buying our way out of future scarcity with fast growth is indeed contradictory with sustainability. To better understand these contradictions and explore potential institutional innovations that may enable developing nations to better confront them （in effect, ＂tunneling under＂ the EKC）, this article refers to recent experience in the BRICS countries （Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa）. Beginning with a brief comparative summary of major development and environmental indicators, pressures on resources and society in each of the BRICS are discussed, followed by identification of institutional and policy frameworks each country has evolved to confront the challenges of growth and sustainability. The article closes with general conclusions for further research and information sharing among developing nations.     

中国西部地区可持续能力透视

本文基于目前可持续发展领域的研究成果,对中国区域,尤其是西部地区的可持续能力进行评估,从整体的高度诊断出西部地区可持续发展的制约因素和障碍,并就增强 事的可持续能力提出几点建议,以此为中开发决策奠定了一些理论基础。     

洞庭湖区水灾的可持续性防治探讨

90年代洞庭湖区大水灾不断,与50年代相比,雨情偏小、水情恶化、灾情放大。从若干基本关系的分析入手,诊断其变化、问题及成因,反思抗洪救灾实践,探讨水灾的可持续性防治对策：第一,要正确处理水沙关系,水沙兼治,治沙为本。为此,要建立长江上游地区和四水流域水土流失综合防治体系;加强和加快四水控制性水利工程体系建设;建立高洪水风险下的土地资源可持续利用模式。第二,要正确处理江湖、湖垸关系,南控北引,湖垸易位。为此,要建设三峡工程,三口建闸,四水建库,联合调度;要开辟荆南分洪道,行南北分流;有计划地向江汉平原和湖区低洼地区引洪放淤。第三,要正确处理堵疏关系,堵疏结合,以疏为主。为此,要抓紧制定河湖疏浚和河湖 治规划,重点是洪道清淤和河道扫障,同时加固大堤.四,要正确处理蓄洪与建设的关系,建立“蓄洪特区”,以加强安全设施建设。为此,要建立流域性蓄洪垸权威管理机构;及早研究蓄洪与建设中出现的新情况新问题,避免出现毁灭性后果。     

Computational energy estimation tools for machining operations during preliminary design

The aim of this paper is to develop computational machining energy estimation tools during the early design stage of product development. In the preliminary or embodiment design, a product's shape and materials are determined. At this stage, it is crucial for a designer to be able to compare alternative designs and materials based on many different criteria, such as cost, functionality, energy, etc. Automated tools for estimating energy consumption that could later be used to integrate with CAD/CAM systems are in demand. This study presents computational tools for estimating the energy consumption of machining operations during the early design phase. The computational tools utilize a preliminary computer representation of a product (CAD model), its material and candidate machining operations to automatically analyse and estimate a range of energy consumption during machining operations. Detailed steps for computing turning and milling energy consumption are presented. Case studies of both parts and assemblies were conducted to test the validity of the tools and to evaluate the performance of the tools. Environmental impacts such as carbon weight will also be estimated. The computation tools will assist users with little knowledge about energy computations to estimate energy consumption during the design stage. Such energy estimation can be used to redesign parts and assemblies, leading to the development of products with reduced machining energy. The computation tools are part of a larger research on estimating energy consumption throughout a product's life cycle.     

Alternatives to gas flaring: a multi-criteria decision approach applied to a case study in Russia

During recent years, the issue of gas flaring has become an increasingly relevant problem for the international community. The claim to more sustainable development offers a renewed prospective in the observation of gas flaring and emphasizes that recovering the associated gas could induce economic, environmental and social benefit. The true core of the issue, as is widely accepted, is not a lack of appropriate technologies, but in the number of criteria involved, which makes it difficult to identify a list of alternatives and connecting all the involved stakeholders in the negotiation process. The complexity of this problem can be mitigated using a decision-making method. The objective of the present work is to identify and formulate a supportive decision system based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Application of the model to a real case underlines the strengths and weaknesses of the model, leading to the conclusion that a selection of the most sustainable alternatives needs to be based on a number of criteria that need to be recognized and agreed amongst the stakeholders.     

Energy,exergy analysis,and sustainability assessment of different engine powers for helicopter engines

The rapid decrease of energy resources has accelerated studies on energy efficiency. Energy efficiency refers to the effective use of energy, in other words, completing a specific task to the required standard by using less energy. Exergy is an effective instrument to indicate the effective and sustainable use of energy in systems and processes. Transportation is an important part of human life. The studies on energy saving and the effective use of energy in different areas around the world have also increased for transportation systems and vehicles. With the more effective use of fuel, there will be potential benefits for the environment as well as a reduction in operating costs. This study includes energy and exergy analyses as well as a sustainability assessment by using C₈H₁₆ as a fuel at different engine powers (150–600 SHP (shaft horse power)), for the piston-prop helicopter engine. The maximum exergetic sustainability index was found at the power that provided the maximum energy and exergy efficiency. As a result of this index, the lowest waste exergy ratio, the lowest exergy destruction factor, and the lowest environmental impact factor were obtained. The highest exergy destruction and the highest exergy loss value were obtained at maximum power (600 SHP).     

Simulation of Combined Best Management Practices and Low Impact Development for Sustainable Stormwater Management1

Damodaram, Chandana, Marcio H. Giacomoni, C. Prakash Khedun, Hillary Holmes, Andrea Ryan, William Saour, and Emily M. Zechman, 2010. Simulation of Combined Best Management Practices and Low Impact Development for Sustainable Stormwater Management. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-12. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00462.x Abstract: Urbanization causes increased stormwater runoff volumes, leading to erosion, flooding, and the degradation of instream ecosystem health. Although Best Management Practices (BMPs) are used widely as a means for controlling flood runoff events, Low Impact Development (LID) options have been proposed as an alternative approach to better mimic the natural flow regime by using decentralized designs to control stormwater runoff at the source, rather than at a centralized location in the watershed. For highly urbanized areas, LID practices such as rainwater harvesting, green roofs, and permeable pavements can be used to retrofit existing infrastructure and reduce runoff volumes and peak flows. This paper describes a modeling approach to incorporate these LID practices in an existing hydrologic model to estimate the effects of LID choices on streamflow. The modeling approach has been applied to a watershed located on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, to predict the stormwater reductions resulting from retrofitting existing infrastructure with LID technologies. Results demonstrate that use of these LID practices yield significant stormwater control for small events and less control for flood events. A combined BMP-LID approach is tested for runoff control for both flood and frequent rainfall events.     

Phosphate rock formation and marine phosphorus geochemistry: the deep time perspective

The role that phosphorite formation, the ultimate source rock for fertilizer phosphate reserves, plays in the marine phosphorus (P) cycle has long been debated. A shift has occurred from early models that evoked strikingly different oceanic P cycling during times of widespread phosphorite deposition to current thinking that phosphorite deposits may be lucky survivors of a series of inter-related tectonic, geochemical, sedimentological, and oceanic conditions. This paradigm shift has been facilitated by an awareness of the widespread nature of phosphogenesis—the formation of authigenic P-bearing minerals in marine sediments that contributes to phosphorite formation. This process occurs not just in continental margin sediments, but in deep sea oozes as well, and helps to clarify the driving forces behind phosphorite formation and links to marine P geochemistry.Two processes come into play to make phosphorite deposits: chemical dynamism and physical dynamism. Chemical dynamism involves the diagenetic release and subsequent concentration of P-bearing minerals particularly in horizons, controlled by a number of sedimentological and biogeochemical factors. Physical dynamism involves the reworking and sedimentary capping of P-rich sediments, which can either concentrate the relatively heavy and insoluble disseminated P-bearing minerals or provide an episodic change in sedimentology to concentrate chemically mobilized P. Both processes can result from along-margin current dynamics and/or sea level variations. Interestingly, net P accumulation rates are highest (i.e., the P removal pump is most efficient) when phosphorites are not forming. Both physical and chemical pathways involve processes not dominant in deep sea environments and in fact not often coincide in space and time even on continental margins, contributing to the rarity of high-quality phosphorite deposits and the limitation of phosphate rock reserves. This limitation is becoming critical, as the human demand for P far outstrips the geologic replacement for P and few prospects exist for new discoveries of phosphate rock.     

Sustainable development integration in Greek schools of engineering: current situation,experiences and actions

In this paper, a comprehensive study regarding the assessment of sustainable development (SD) integration in Greek schools of engineering is presented. More specifically, the undergraduate and graduate curricula and websites of all schools of engineering in Greece were examined to identify SD-related content and actions. Moreover, a simple guide for embedding SD into engineering schools was established, based on the experiences of successful implementation and strategies from highly recognised technical universities worldwide, to benchmark the Greek experience and to propose indicative measures for incorporating SD teaching in Greek universities. Results indicated that changing the curriculum is not the only way to efficiently incorporate SD in universities, whereas there are gaps concerning the integration of sustainability principles and tools in Greek engineering universities. Furthermore, the initial steps of incorporating SD-related actions at an engineering department are presented and analysed indicating some characteristic key factors affecting the efficient incorporation of SD tools in engineering courses.