A method for supporting the design of efficient heating systems using EU product policy data

The design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems is still a challenging engineering task which requires experienced and informed decision-making. These systems have a great energy-saving potential at the system level rather than at the level of the individual products of which they are composed. European environmental product policies have been very useful in facilitating a homogeneous rating scheme which can be used to compare the energy performance of different products that provide the same service. This paper proposes a simplified design method which uses the performance of components that are regulated by European product policies to obtain the overall performance of heating systems in residential buildings. It is a flexible method and allows different product configurations to be assessed so as to optimise the system performance during the design phase. The method is tested on a real case study with domestic hot water and space heating systems. The case study shows the potential for improving the heating systems according to the performance levels of its products currently available in the market. Results of the domestic hot water system show that upgrading its storage tank to the maximum energy class (A⁺) could bring the highest energy savings ( 4162 kWh/y).     

Circular Makerspaces: the founder’s view

Abstract

Makerspaces – open access design and fabrication workshops – provide new contexts for design practice through ‘distributed production’. The global community of makerspaces has evolved quickly and in turn, substantial hype is attributed to its potential for radical sustainable innovation. In this article, we explore this potential in the context of the new ‘circular economy’ agenda. We focus the research on the critical role of makerspace managers/founders who are recognised as gatekeepers to circular practices. The research method is action-led including expert interviews (academics and founders/managers) as well as two generative context-mapping workshops, run at selected makerspaces in collaboration with their founders/managers. We unearth everyday ‘how-to’ guidance to interweave circular practices within makerspaces from the outset by: fostering an enabling culture; building local connections; nurturing individual/community capacities; and stimulating practical know-how. However, while the research reveals immense opportunities to cultivate circular literacy from within makerspaces, the prospects to ask more profound questions about our economy, through makerspace practices, are found to be compromised by day-to-day concerns. The insights from this research can act as a starting point for future work in this emerging research area.     

An enhanced sustainable approach for design and manufacturing with an application to fuselages for mono-seat civil sailplanes

Abstract

A number of tools and software systems have been developed in order to reduce the time for the design and manufacturing of industrial products. Nowadays, virtual modelling by Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems and process simulation by the application of Finite Element Method (FEM) software is a standard routine in order to compress product design activities and to achieve the optimal solution before producing any real components. These developments provided not only a reduction in the time to market but a higher complexity of the project and an improved quality of the industrial products. With the aim to further improve the sustainability of this activity, the implementation of a tool that adds automatic operations into the design activity is demonstrated. This software can interact with any CAD and helps designers when the object dimension and shape can be affected by limits and constraints deriving from different features and targets, such as the spatial collocation of the component and the interaction with other limiting items, for examples the material and the manufacturing issues. The concept was developed into the software SFIDA (Sailplane Fuselage Integrated Design Application) that is a first attempt to automatically manage multiple relations and optimise their combination.     

作业补贴与农户绿色生态农业技术采用行为研究

绿色生态农业技术是农业可持续发展的关键,中国提出建立以绿色生态为导向的农业补贴制度,探索政府购买服务等作业补贴方式,促进绿色生态农业技术推广。但是“补给谁”“如何补”“补多少”等政策操作问题尚未很好解决。本文以农作物秸秆机械化还田技术作业补贴为例,基于江苏、山东、黑龙江三省622户农户2018年实地调查数据,综合评估了绿色生态农业技术作业补贴政策及补贴方式(即补贴种植户和补贴作业服务组织)对农户绿色生态农业技术采用行为的影响。结果表明:第一,作业补贴政策对农户是否采用绿色生态农业技术和采用时间均有显著正向影响,补贴发放给农户的地区,农户更倾向于采用绿色生态农业技术,且采用时间更早。第二,相对于无农机的农户而言,有农机的农户更倾向于采用生态农业技术,且采用时间更早。第三,农户受教育程度、家庭劳动力人数、是否规模户、技术培训对农户是否采用生态农业技术和采用时间有显著正向影响。第四,农户类型、是否加入农民专业合作社、家庭劳动力人数、技术培训对农户是否获得补贴有显著正向影响。据此,政府需要继续扩大绿色生态农业补贴的技术类型及实施区域,适当提高重点区域补贴额度,补贴对象应当向种植户倾斜;为农户提供技术指导服务,加强绿色生态农业技术培训,提升农户生态农业理念;根据不同规模种植户禀赋特征制定相应推广政策,让不同类型农户享受到绿色生态农业技术的益处;鼓励获得补贴的农机户或服务组织等积极提供生态农业技术作业服务,使其真正成为推动农户采用绿色生态农业技术的重要途径。     

The influence of heterogeneous environmental regulation on the green development of the mining industry: empirical analysis based on the system GMM and dynamic panel data model

The intensity of environmental regulation (ERI) affects the short-term effect of the level of green mining (GML), and which structure determines the long-term mechanism. Based on the panel data from 2001 to 2015, with the dynamic panel model and system GMM estimation method were employed to test the influence of heterogeneous environmental regulation on green mining and its transmission mechanism. The results show that, there is a “U” type nonlinear relationship between the ERI and GML. The direct effect of command-control-based (CAC) and the market incentive-based (MBI) environmental regulation on green development of mining shows the characteristics of inhibition and promotion. There is a “U” type of indirectly moderating effect between technological innovation and the energy consumption structure on the GML. The technological innovation promotes the green development of the mining industry only after pass the inflection point of MBI, while the CAC plays a significant guiding role in upgrading of the energy consumption structure. There is an inhibition and promotion effect of MBI on the GML in the southeast coastal area, and the CAC is not significantly. Meanwhile, both of the ERI shows no positive effects in the central and western inland region.     

城市绿地生态系统合理供水辨识分析

城市绿地因具有美化环境、降低空气污染、控制城市热岛等作用而日益得到重视。合理的城市生态供水不仅有益于植被的正常生长,对城市水资源合理配置同样具有积极意义。为统筹城市生态与国民经济发展,保证绿地健康,需要合理的绿地供水管理。本文以土壤含水量为标准,根据田间持水量、临界土壤含水量和凋萎系数三个土壤含水量值划分不同等级的绿地需水量,将供水量分为四个等级,建立了城市绿地供水合理性评价模型,为有效辨识供水合理性提供了参照依据。以2009年北京市城市绿地供水为例,进行了供水合理性分析,结果表明,从全年来看,供水基本合理,虽然绿地蒸散发受到一定抑制,但不影响植被生长;从逐月供水来看,个别月份存在供水过少或过多现象,影响植被生长,且不利于水资源合理利用。     

糖蜜酒精废水两相UASB处理工艺的酸化段特征

文章考察了糖蜜酒精废水二相UASB处理工艺的酸化段特征 ,试验结果表明酸化段的容积负荷达到3 0kgCOD/m3 时 ,系统仍能正常运行 ,TOC去除率在 3 5%以上 ,酸化段的SO4 2 -去除率在 70 %。糖蜜酒精废水酸化率在 50 % ,二相厌氧生物处理系统并未将产酸微生物与产甲烷微生物截然分开 ,在产酸相中仍含有一定数量的产甲烷菌。     

A SCALE‐INVARIANT GAUSS‐MARKOV MODEL FOR DESIGN STORM HYETOGRAPHS1

Abstract. Hyetographs are essential to many hydrological designs. Many studies have shown that hyetographs are specific to storm types and durations. Recent work presented evidence that dimensionless hyetographs are scale invariant. We show that the simple scaling property of rainfall guarantees that the normalized rainfall rates of different storm durations are identically distributed and propose a nonstationary Gauss‐Markov model based on the annual maximum events that arise from the dominant storm type. We derive the unique estimators for the parameters of the Gauss‐Markov model under two constraints that: (a) the typical peak rainfall rate is preserved, and (b) the most likely hyetograph is obtained. One attractive feature of this model is that it allows translating hyetographs between storms of different durations. Two examples illustrate our model.     

开发研制预防污染的绿色化学产品

文章叙述绿色化学在环境保护中的应用,绿色化学是一门从源头上彻底阻止污染的化学,简介了几种开发研制的对人类健康和环境安全的绿色化学产品及研究开发进展。