New subjects in the politics of energy transition? Reactivating the northern German oil and gas infrastructure

The global circulation of the word ‘fracking’ seems to testify to a setback for energy transitions, a nexus that has not yet received much scholarly attention. In light of this, the controversy over fracking is understood as furthering infrastructural changes that are central to energy transitions. Infrastructure should not be understood as materiality per se but instead as sedimented but ultimately discursive elements that can be reactivated and rearticulated. Examining ‘infrastructure’ from the point of view of discourse theory places the focus on infrastructural change. Prior to 2011, the oil and gas infrastructure in northern Germany was largely invisible to the public. The subsequent reassembling of production with fracking facilitated the politicization not just of that term but also of the whole infrastructure. Instead of routinely reproducing the infrastructure, subjects that had formerly dominated the field were confronted with new and heterogeneous voices that challenged their agency.     

炼油工艺节能环保的实现路径研究

我国作为世界第二大经济体,也是全球第一大发展中国家,对于石油的需求也是很大的。石油作为不可再生资源,虽然我国的炼油技术发展也有了非常显著的提升,但是炼油过程产生和消耗所伴随的环境问题也越来越大。为了解决炼油过程中所带来的环境问题,我们必须采取有效的措施来提升环保性能,依托节能和环保,以保证炼油工业的长期、高质量发展。     

Designing a supercritical steam cycle to integrate the energy requirements of CO2 amine scrubbing

Absorption by chemical solvents combined with CO₂ long-term storage appears to offer interesting and commercial applicable CO₂ capture technology. However one of the main disadvantages is related to the large quantities of heat required to regenerate the amine solvent that means an important power plant efficiency penalty. Different studies have analyzed alternatives to reduce the heat duty on the reboiler and the thermal integration requirements on existing power cycles. In these studies integration principles have been well set up, but there is a lack of information about how to achieve an integrated design and the thermal balances of the modified cycle flowsheet. This paper proposes and provides details about a set of modifications of a supercritical steam cycle to overcome the energy requirements through energetic integration with the aim of reducing the efficiency and power output penalty associated with CO₂ capture process. Modifications include a new designed low-pressure heater flowsheet to take advantage of the CO₂ compression cooling for postcombustion systems and integration of amine reboiler into a steam cycle. It has been carried out several simulations in order to obtain power plant performance depending on sorbent regeneration requirements.     

Analysis of energy use in a sample of Chinese villages

This paper summarises the methodology and results of work involved in the investigation of energy demand in six Chinese villages included in the SUCCESS Project. The procedures used to collect data associated with local energy demand are explained and the approach to data analysis is explained. Results are provided in terms for delivered energy consumption, as an indicator of energy demand; primary energy consumption, as an indicator of energy resource depletion; and carbon dioxide emissions, as an indicator of global climate change. Similarities and differences between results for this sample of villages are considered. The important causes of differences in results are investigated.     

Environmental stewardship—What does it mean?

Human activities have impacted the environment since the first toolmakers learned to make fire. As the human population has grown and changed, so has our impact on the environment. Currently the world's population is estimated at 6–7 billion, and that number of people, along with the billions of domesticated animals, and their activities, are large enough to have major global and regional impacts. Climate change, declining fish populations in the oceans, and ever decreasing ranges for “wild” ecosystems are the most obvious impacts. Other impacts may be surprising to many people, especially those impacts that are regional and not raised to the level of international concern.This paper will take a very high level look at a number of global, regional and local human interactions with the environment, and how mitigating those impacts requires a very broad and multi-disciplinary response. Examples will focus on water, carbon and energy, all of which are needed for life, as we know it, to exist. Stewardship will be shown to involve determination and monitoring of many key indicators and environmental processes, followed by the tough decisions on how to steward those processes to maintain a healthy environment for all the planet's inhabitants. Stewardship is not easy, and there are few cases where solutions can be neatly divided into good or bad, positive or negative.     

Laser cleaning of historical limestone buildings in Bordeaux appraisal using cathodoluminescence and electron paramagnetic resonance

BACKGROUND: Most historical buildings in Bordeaux city are made of limestone. This yellowish-white rock is rather porous and highly sensitive to pollution. As a consequence of local weathering conditions, these buildings present a dark appearance due to the development of a superficial dark grey to black crust. METHODS: For the last decade, a campaign has been underway to clean these buildings. Eleven techniques of surface treatment have been used, including laser beam technology. As a contribution to the study of laser beam effects on stone buildings, two analytical methods have been used on clean versus unclean surfaces: Cathodoluminescence (CL) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), in addition to SEM-EDX and XRD. RESULTS: The black crust is composed of different types of particles: carbon porous micro-particles of industrial origin, atmospheric dust due to the erosion of soils and rocks, alumino-silicate particles from urban pollution; all these particles being cemented by gypsum. DISCUSSION: As far as heritage conservation is concerned, the laser surface treatment not only preserves the original patina of the stone, but also leaves surface smoothness unaltered. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: CL and EPR data confirm that lasers--with highly controlled parameters--only get rid of the black crust and, thus, reveal the underneath layer, the so-called patina. This patina shows no luminescence, whereas the limestone on which it has grown shows a bright orange emission of CL. This indicates CL to be a fast and easy way to provide a high quality control for the restoration of polluted ancient stones.     

朝阳市农村能源现状与开发利用途径

朝阳市农村能源资源十分丰富 ,但农村能源却普遍短缺。根据朝阳市农村能源供需矛盾 ,本文提出发展农村能源的措施     

山西能源基地水资源的持续开发利用对策

本文在分析了山西能源基地水资源的特征、开发利用现状和存在的主要问题的基础上,提出了该地区水资源合理开发与持续利用的对策。     

Biomonitoring of the distribution of dust emissions by means of a new SEM/EDX technique

A new application of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Microanalyzer (EDX) has been developed to study the distribution of airborne dust emissions. This technique makes it possible to identify the particles and measure the amount of dust deposition on the surface of the biomonitoring material. Pine bark or needles and moss can easily be used as the study material. A map indicating pollution levels and distribution can be drawn on the basis of the measured data.