Constructing domestic retrofit as a new urban infrastructure: experimentation,equitability and contested priorities

ABSTRACT

British cities and residential suburbs were originally developed under a modernist growth logic: separating home from work, with little concern for energy use. But recent political and social priorities such as climate change and energy security have created an imperative to reduce domestic energy use, with many existing dwellings rendered “obsolete” on account of their poor energy efficiency. This precipitated a need to develop domestic retrofit – the modification of building fabrics and systems to improve their energy efficiency – as an urban infrastructure. The UK Government responded in 2011 with policies such as the “Green Deal”, through which coalitions of actors in cities including local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and private businesses were encouraged to experiment with place-based retrofit. This paper examines the challenges and effects of developing a domestic retrofit infrastructure in a North London borough under particularly challenging policy conditions. We develop a hybrid framework for understanding the process and product of this place-based experimentation and through this we ask two questions: 1. How did both local and national conditions enable and limit the development of this infrastructure? 2. Was the emerging urban infrastructure functional and equitable? In Haringey’s case, a strong local political agenda positioned retrofit as a development opportunity and vehicle for reducing inequality, but national priorities around market-making and technological fixes dominated emerging responses. Whilst Haringey’s efforts in a difficult policy context did result in retrofits and improvements to around a thousand properties, the emerging infrastructure of retrofit services was incomplete, inequitable and temporary.     

低碳经济发展对策及建议

低碳经济是世界经济发展的大趋势,我国应加强低碳经济发展。低碳经济对中国既是压力又是挑战,在分析借鉴国外发展低碳经济经验的基础上,结合中国国情,提出了我国低碳经济发展的政策及建议。     

太湖流域农业面源污染及控制研究进展

太湖及其流域的水环境质量呈现严重恶化趋势,农业面源污染是太湖流域水体环境恶化的主要原因之一.论文通过文献分析,总结了太湖流域农业面源污染的影响因素、相应的治理措施以及农业面源污染控制的特点.结果表明:①虽然太湖流域典型区域的面源污染影响及排污系数的研究较多,但是着眼于太湖流域整体的农业面源污染负荷总量的研究并没有明确答案:②农业面源污染的治理技术研究较多,但将这些自然科学成果应用到实际的管理实践中的政策研究较少;③对农田面源污染的研究较多,对畜禽渔业养殖废弃物处理的研究比较薄弱,并且两者没有很好地结合起来进行研究;④虽然已经有了一些关于农业面源污染控制管理的讨论,但缺乏管理实施标准的研究;⑤围绕农业面源污染治理的主要手段都与农户行为有关,例如土地利用方式、耕作方式等,但现在很少有从环境污染主体即农户行为的角度去研究如何减少环境污染.     

国外食物系统研究综述及借鉴

食物关系到国计民生,食物的高效供给取决于食物系统的高效运转。目前国内食物系统视角的研究不足,系统梳理国外研究进展对我国食物系统研究具有积极的借鉴意义。为了更好地把握食物系统的研究脉络,论文通过对国外食物系统研究文献进行研读,在总结分析食物系统研究相关理论和方法的基础上,着重对食物系统的全球化与本地化、食物系统规划、食物系统的资源环境效应、食物安全与政策研究等问题进行了系统梳理。在借鉴国外食物系统研究的基础上,结合已有的研究基础和社会需求,提出未来我国食物系统领域的研究展望,包括开展不同尺度的食物系统实证研究、开展跨学科多领域的共同研究、食物系统定量指标体系设计问题研究、食物系统的利益相关者研究以及加强技术创新对食物系统的影响研究等。     

水质标准制定中的经济分析

美国在水质标准制定过程中拥有一套完善的经济分析程序,用于各州及区域对水质标准进行制定与修订。对该程序及其相关指标进行系统分析,将对完善我国国家水质标准制定中的经济分析和制定经济可行的水质标准有着积极作用。重点分析了美国水质标准中的经济分析程序以及相关的财务指标,介绍了经济分析在反降级政策中的使用。针对我国目前水环境管理的实际情况,提出了我国水质标准经济分析的相关思路。     

绿色农业产地环境的生态补偿政策绩效评价

安全的产地环境为绿色农产品生产和绿色农业可持续发展奠定了良好的物质基础,是保证消费者食品安全的源头。农业生态补偿是通过综合利用行政、法律、经济等手段,对造成农业生态环境污染、农业生态破坏的个人和组织的负外部性行为进行收费(税),对恢复、维持和增强农业生态系统服务功能做出贡献的个人和组织的正外部性行为给予经济补偿的一种制度。为了了解区域绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策的实施效果,本文以武汉市重要的农产品生产和供应基地东西湖区为例,运用层次分析法与模糊综合分析法,以生态价值、经济价值和社会价值为价值取向,构建了包括职能指标、效益指标、潜力指标3个一级指标,10个二级指标和39个三级指标体系,对东西湖区农业生态补偿政策实施绩效进行评价。评价结果表明,东西湖区在实施绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策前后效益变化分值差都在30以上,最低变化值为31.42,最高变化值为59.75。其中,政策目的设计、政策战略规划、政策反馈指标、经济效益、生态效益、社会效益和行政组织建设等方面的变化值都在50以上,政策实施管理指标、资源利用、农业生态补偿技术的变化值都在30以上。由此可以看出,绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策发挥了一定的作用,但还有进一步提升空间。为此,要加强绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策实施管理,提高绿色农业产地环境生态资本利用效率,提升绿色农业产地环境生态补偿技术水平。     

不同碳减排政策对内外资企业竞争力的影响比较

一方面,由于我国内外资企业的生产效率和碳排放效率差距较大,不同的碳减排政策势必会对内外资企业的市场竞争力带来不同的影响;另一方面,已有文献大多在完全竞争的框架下对不同减排政策的实施效应进行分析,而事实上我国碳减排政策所覆盖的产业大多是不完全竞争甚至是寡头垄断。由此,我们基于内外资企业存在低碳技术差距这一新的研究视角,通过构建两阶段博弈模型来比较分析相同碳强度减排目标下强制减排、碳税与碳交易等三种减排政策对内外资企业产量、市场份额及其社会总产量的影响,从而有利于我国从妥善处理内外资关系的角度制定更有针对性的减排政策。结果表明:(1)三种减排政策都降低了内资企业的产量和市场份额,且内外资企业低碳技术差距越大时内资企业的市场份额下降越多。(2)强制减排降低了社会总产量,碳税和碳交易同等幅度地减少了社会总产量。(3)最优税率仅仅是减排目标的增函数。(4)市场出清的碳交易价格和碳税税率相等,且其数值仅与减排目标正相关,而与碳排放权的分配无关。(5)碳交易比碳税更有利于"保护"内资企业的市场竞争力。相关政策启示如下:(1)尽快确定普适的碳排放核算标准,核算出各行业内外资企业的低碳技术差距;(2)尽快在全国范围内启动碳交易机制,建立促进缩小内外资企业低碳技术的机制;(3)在碳交易市场条件不成熟的行业可以率先推出碳税政策;(4)政府应该根据内外资企业低碳技术差距来对不同行业采取最适宜的减排政策,而非"一刀切"。     

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL WATER REQUIREMENTS IN THE GULF COAST OF THE UNITED STATES1

ABSTRACT: Competition for water resources is becoming an increasingly important issue in the southeastern U.S. The potential impacts of future precipitation and runoff estimated by a transient global climate model (HADCM2) on competing water resources in the Southeast has been conducted. Issues of agricultural management, irrigation water withdrawals, and water quality were studied over three time periods: 1974–1993, 2020–2039, and 2080–2099 in five water basins identified previously as exhibiting water-related problems. These basins, which encompass the boundary between Alabama and Mississippi, cover four important agricultural counties in Mississippi. Irrigation water requirements generated by crop growth models for corn, soybeans, and winter wheat were coupled with monthly runoff for the impacted basins estimated by the SWAT water balance model. The results of the study reveal that in the next 20–40 years water availability in the southern portions of the study area will decline as much as 10 percent during times when water requirements for agricultural production are crucial. Maintaining or expanding existing crop yields under future climate regimes may require additional irrigation water and increase competition among other uses such as domestic, industrial, recreational, and ecosystem quality.     

WATER-ENERGY CONFLICTS IN MONTANA'S YELLOWSTONE RIVER BASIN1

ABSTRACT The abundant, high-quality waters of the Yellowstone River Basin have fostered a strong agricultural-based economy in eastern Montana. The region also contains the nation's largest strippable coal reserves. Numerous conflicts have developed around the mining of coal and in-state conversion of coal into electricity and synthetic fuels – processes that require large volumes of water. Competition for water among industrialists, agriculturalists, and others is a critical state issue. Probable effects of increased water diversions, the nature of water-energy conflicts, and state efforts to control development are discussed.     

Use of Life Cycle Assessment in Environmental Management

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to develop strategic policies that can lead to a minimization of the environmental burden resulting from the provision of services or the manufacture, use, and disposal of products within the economy. We accomplish this aim by presenting a case study that evaluates the greenhouse gas contributions of each stage in the life cycle of containerboard packaging and the potential impact on emissions of various policy options available to decision-makers. Our analysis showed that, in general, the most useful strategy was to recycle the used packaging. However, our analysis also indicated that when measures are taken to eliminate sources of methane emissions, then recycling is no longer beneficial from a greenhouse perspective. This is because the process energy required in the form of gas and electricity is substantially greater for containerboard manufactured from recycled material than it is for virgin fiber.