A Framework for Assessing Carbon Flow in Indian Wood Products

This paper uses a lifecycle analysis to trace the fate of carbon bound in wood products until most of the carbon is released back into the atmosphere. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out to find the effect of change in terminal use (recycling, land filling and burning of discarded products), half-life of wood products and decay rate of carbon in landfills. Of the total carbon harvested from forests in India, about 90% is released into the atmosphere in the first year, due to burning of fuelwood; at the end of 100 years, about 0.8% still remains in the wood products. The sensitivity analysis shows that the length of the lifespan of wood products has only a marginal effect on the amount of carbon sequestered but has significant effect on the amount of carbon in products in use. Thus an important conclusion from this scenario is that by increasing the durability of the wood products, carbon can be locked over a period equal to the time needed to grow the timber for these products. Further, the carbon storage is affected more significantly by the decay rate of carbon in landfills than the proportion of products recycled. The study also shows that wood products can be important stores of carbon, but only if they can substitute for a unit of carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels. Such a lifecycle analysis has the potential to account completely for carbon stock changes in the wood products, where and when they are occurring, and explain how they are occurring.     

PM2.5 chemical source profiles for vehicle exhaust, vegetative burning, geological material, and coal burning in Northwestern Colorado during 1995

PM_2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 μm) chemical source profiles applicable to speciated emissions inventories and receptor model source apportionment are reported for geological material, motor vehicle exhaust, residential coal (RCC) and wood combustion (RWC), forest fires, geothermal hot springs; and coal-fired power generation units from northwestern Colorado during 1995. Fuels and combustion conditions are similar to those of other communities of the inland western US. Coal-fired power station profiles differed substantially between different units using similar coals, with the major difference being lack of selenium in emissions from the only unit that was equipped with a dry limestone sulfur dioxide (SO₂) scrubber. SO₂ abundances relative to fine particle mass emissions in power plant emissions were seven to nine times higher than hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) abundances from geothermal springs, and one to two orders of magnitude higher than SO₂ abundances in RCC emissions, implying that the SO₂ abundance is an important marker for primary particle contributions of non-aged coal-fired power station contributions. The sum of organic and elemental carbon ranged from 1% to 10% of fine particle mass in coal-fired power plant emissions, from 5% to 10% in geological material, >50% in forest fire emissions, >60% in RWC emissions, and >95% in RCC and vehicle exhaust emissions. Water-soluble potassium (K⁺) was most abundant in vegetative burning profiles. K⁺/K ratios ranged from 0.1 in geological material profiles to 0.9 in vegetative burning emissions, confirming previous observations that soluble potassium is a good marker for vegetative burning.     

应用化学质量平衡模型解析烟台市污染源的排放贡献率

根据烟台地区污染排放特点,应用化学质量平衡模型（CMB8）进行污染源解析分析,得出每个污染源对于受体地区颗粒物体样本的排放贡献率。最终的模型结果显示,建筑尘和居民烯煤锅炉排放,海洋尘和冶炼厂排放对于大气环境污染也有一定的贡献,以上分析可以为城市污染源治理提供一定的依据。     

甘肃省农田水分平衡及其时空分布规律

采用农田水量平衡模型,以县域为基本单元,对甘肃省1961～2001年10种作物逐月天然状态下农田水分平衡时空分布规律进行了研究。结果表明:天然状态下,甘肃省多年平均农田需水量为121.06×10⁸m3;亏水量为43.28×10⁸m3;盈水量为0.62×10⁸m3,降水不能满足作物生长需求。在25%、50%、75%三种降水保证率下,作物的亏水总量分为35.99×10⁸m3、42.93×10⁸m3、49.85×10⁸m3,盈水量分别为0.61×10⁸m3、0.11×10⁸m3、0.00×10⁸m3。农田水分亏缺是甘肃省农田水分平衡的主要特征。对大多数作物而言,亏水量集中于夏季,10种作物夏季亏水总量占全年亏水总量的60.2%。全生育期棉花水分盈亏的稳定性最强,水量盈亏变异系数为6.9%,麻类最差,变异系数高达43.6%。全省天然状态下,农田亏水量由东南向西北、高山向河谷递增,农田盈水量由东南向西北递减,农田水分满足率与农田水分盈亏波动性具有从东南向西北递减的趋势。     

火电厂清洁生产的可持续性分析与评估

从企业生态角度分析了火电厂清洁生产的可持续性;运用能值理论对火电厂清洁生产的可持续性进行了评估;以某发电厂采用清洁生产为实例进行了可持续性分析,结果表明:火电厂清洁生产的可持续性明显提高。     

城市污泥好氧堆肥物料平衡计算分析

根据好氧堆肥机理和物料平衡关系研究城市污泥好氧堆肥过程,给出了污泥预处理过程中若干平衡方程,可用这几个方程计算调节剂添加量等参数,还分别建立了好氧堆肥过程中固、液、气三相平衡关系的计算方程,有助于好氧堆肥工程的设计。     

Development of new monthly global and diffuse solar irradiation estimation methodologies and comparisons

In assessing and deciding the prediction schemes of solar irradiation countrywide, better the accuracy means better the management of energy transition toward renewables. Consequently, the present study is on the development of new models to make the most accurate possible estimations of the global and diffuse solar irradiation based on ground measurements. Such analysis produces the most accurate estimations for the input of solar energy systems. This is utmost significant for deciding the investments on solar energy systems and their design periods. Turkey is a high-potent country whose solar energy market has been growing rapidly. She doesn’t have adequate reliable measurement network and there is no estimation methodology developed for each and every point within its territory. Moreover, installing such a measurement system network doesn’t seem to be economically feasible and technically possible, inter alia. Accordingly, this study defines a methodology to make the most accurate estimations of monthly mean daily solar irradiation on horizontal surface and its diffuse and beam components. For the global and diffuse estimations, new methodologies in linear and quadratic forms are developed, compared, and discussed. The comparison is applied by using mean bias error and root mean square error statistical comparison methods. The measured data values used for modeling and comparisons are provided from the State Meteorological Service of Turkey responsible authority for solar irradiation measurements. The results revealed that the methodologies explained in this study give very high accurate values of total solar irradiation on a horizontal surface and its diffuse component.     

Key role for nuclear energy in global biodiversity conservation

Modern society uses massive amounts of energy. Usage rises as population and affluence increase, and energy production and use often have an impact on biodiversity or natural areas. To avoid a business‐as‐usual dependence on coal, oil, and gas over the coming decades, society must map out a future energy mix that incorporates alternative sources. This exercise can lead to radically different opinions on what a sustainable energy portfolio might entail, so an objective assessment of the relative costs and benefits of different energy sources is required. We evaluated the land use, emissions, climate, and cost implications of 3 published but divergent storylines for future energy production, none of which was optimal for all environmental and economic indicators. Using multicriteria decision‐making analysis, we ranked 7 major electricity‐generation sources (coal, gas, nuclear, biomass, hydro, wind, and solar) based on costs and benefits and tested the sensitivity of the rankings to biases stemming from contrasting philosophical ideals. Irrespective of weightings, nuclear and wind energy had the highest benefit‐to‐cost ratio. Although the environmental movement has historically rejected the nuclear energy option, new‐generation reactor technologies that fully recycle waste and incorporate passive safety systems might resolve their concerns and ought to be more widely understood. Because there is no perfect energy source however, conservation professionals ultimately need to take an evidence‐based approach to consider carefully the integrated effects of energy mixes on biodiversity conservation. Trade‐offs and compromises are inevitable and require advocating energy mixes that minimize net environmental damage. Society cannot afford to risk wholesale failure to address energy‐related biodiversity impacts because of preconceived notions and ideals.     

Life cycle analysis of a biogas-centred integrated dairy farm-greenhouse system in British Columbia

This study investigates the potential integration of a dairy farm and a greenhouse into an eco-industrial system to promote waste-to-energy and waste-to-material exchanges. Natural gas consumption is substituted by renewable biogas generated from anaerobic digestion (AD) of the dairy manure; CO₂ for plant enrichment in greenhouses is supplied by biogas combustion and the digestate (digestion residue) from digesters is used as animal bedding, plant growing media and liquid fertilizers.A life cycle analysis (LCA) was conducted to quantify the environmental impacts of the eco-industrial system in comparison to the conventional agriculture practices. The results show that the integrated system reduces non-renewable energy consumption, climate change impact, acidification, respiratory effects from organic emissions, and human toxicity by more than 40%. If the digestate surplus is treated as a waste, the integrated system shows an increase in eutrophication and respiratory effects from inorganic emissions while all the analyzed impacts are reduced if the digestate can be used for substituting chemical fertilizers.     

Experimental study on the influence of the nitrogen concentration in the air on the minimum ignition energies of combustible powders due to electrostatic discharges

As a useful method of preventing dust explosions, nitrogen (N₂), an incombustible gas, has been applied to an explosive atmosphere. This paper is a report that quantitatively determines whether the minimum ignition energy of powder depends on the nitrogen (or oxygen) concentration in the air. Hartman vertical-tube apparatus and six sample powders were used in this study. The results show that the minimum ignition energies of all of the powders used in this study increased with increased amounts of N₂ in the air. However, the effects were different in all of the sample powders. We finally suggest that the N₂ concentration of 84% (or above) prevents dust explosions due to electrostatic discharges in the industrial process with the sample powders used in this experiment.