Off-grid: community energy and the pursuit of self-sufficiency in British Columbia's remote and First Nations communities

Remote or off-grid communities in Canada primarily rely on diesel generators for the provision of their electricity. Often surrounded by potential renewable resources, they are characterised as the low-hanging fruit of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. While much is said about the promises of community energy projects, as well as technologies and policy mechanisms for addressing the needs of these communities, little attention has been paid to what communities, themselves, might want for their energy projects and what the implications of those desires might be for both technology development and community energy policies. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the on-going energy pursuits of a number of remote First Nations communities in British Columbia. It identifies a desire for community self-sufficiency as a primary motivation for engaging with energy projects on the part of the communities and discusses the various meanings and implications of self-sufficiency in the context of community energy projects. These meanings and implications primarily include the two dimensions of material self-sufficiency and political self-determination, the latter of which suggests a view of community energy projects as processes of decolonisation among First Nation communities in British Columbia. It then suggests that the pursuit of this goal is somewhat incongruent with the approach that government and industry have taken in addressing community energy, especially the way in which remote communities are viewed as the low-hanging fruit of various sustainability projects.     

面向未来污水处理技术应用研究现状及工程实践

目前全球面临巨大能源、水污染及资源危机,传统污水处理技术已无法满足可持续发展需求,实现能源自给、污水再生及资源回收的新型污水处理技术是未来水厂重要实施路径.污水处理厂实现能源自给的关键一是"开源",即高效回收污水中有机物化学能、低品位热能,并利用外源有机物厌氧共消化、太阳能、风能等技术开发能源;二是"节流",即利用高效...     

碳中和时代下我国能量自给型污水处理厂发展方向及工程实践

基于碳中和背景及污水处理可持续、低碳运行理念,分析了我国污水处理厂不同水质、工艺类型、规模等条件下的能源消耗及能源回收特点,提出了以“碳改向技术+低耗高效复合脱氮技术+污泥厌氧共消化技术+污水热能回收技术+节能降耗技术”的污水处理新模式是实现我国能源自给型污水处理厂的关键,并提出我国污水处理厂实现碳中和应分为“完全能源自给”及“能源供应工厂”两个目标.此外,对基于此背景下建设的北京某再生水厂的理论能源自给情况进行了分析,结果表明,通过节能降耗、引入外源有机物、污水源热泵回收等措施,北京某再生水厂能源自给率由12.2%分别提高至17.1%、21.6%、84.7%.     

Resource Potentials and Limitations of A Nicaraguan Agricultural Region

Food production has to be increased in a sustainable way to meet the future global demand. A key position is attributed to developing countries. A deepened understanding of their agricultural regions with specific resource endowments and constraints is therefore crucial. In this study we propose a methodology based on material flux analysis (MFA) to assess the resource potentials and limitations of a Nicaraguan agricultural region. We focus on current regional and farm resource management and explore them under two scenarios. Indicators are nitrogen and the degrees of self-sufficiency (DSS) for energy, and the staples maize and beans. As data is scarce, most information is based on interviews with farmers of four categories and key persons, and on literature. The results show that nitrogen management does not differ considerably among categories. Nitrogen is mined mostly from staple plots. Self-sufficiency for beans is given in an average year. Yet, landless and small farmers neither produce enough maize for autoconsumption, nor are they self-sufficient for firewood. Energy supply is also the core problem of the region, since the DSS is 70%. Soil nitrogen stocks last at most for three more generations. Analyses with the scenario technique show that: (a) Unlimited population growth has serious consequences in the near future e.g. severe shortage of energy and food. (b) Alternative farming systems are possible, but they require reducing the population by a factor 2, and thus the creation of jobs in a Hinterland. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Explaining support for renewable energy: commitments to self-sufficiency and communion

ABSTRACT

Across the political spectrum, people favour renewable energy. For political liberals, this support has been attributed to concern for the environment; in contrast, the bases of conservatives’ support are less clear. Derived from interviews with a diverse sample of households in Washington State, USA, and a vignette experiment with a representative sample of American households, results show that Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) have different moral intuitions, with Democrats emphasizing communion and both Democrats and Republicans valuing self-sufficiency. These findings explain how politically polarized environmental attitudes can exist alongside a shared support for renewable energy. The study therefore contributes to the literature on environmental concern and behaviour, and has implications for policies aimed at increasing adoption of renewable energy as well as pro-environmental behaviour more broadly.     

Empirical analysis on the influence of the Shaanxi fruit industry on regional food security

As part of its development policy to relieve rural poverty in west China, the Chinese government has introduced measures such as agricultural tax exemptions, agricultural subsidies, and scientific, technological and restructuring improvements to agriculture. Following these actions, farmers’ incomes have increased greatly and the economy in poor areas of west China has seen rapid improvements. However, agricultural restructuring, infrastructure construction and ecological restoration projects have reduced the area of land under arable farming, restricting opportunities for increasing total grain yield. Regional food security is therefore threatened and an imbalance between economic development and food security is created. Shaanxi is a representative province in west China where agricultural restructuring has resulted in large areas of arable land being converted into orchards that produce higher economic returns. This study randomly surveyed 1430 farm households in three counties in the apple-producing region of Shaanxi Province (Luochuan, Changwu and Baishui). The standard of living and household income of farmers in the fruit production areas were higher than in grain-producing areas, thus discouraging grain production. Land under agriculture in the counties studied comprised 59% orchards and 39% arable, with 2% under other uses. Per capita, 204.3 kg of grain was produced, 51% of that required for self-sufficiency. Other staple foods produced amounted to only 13.9% of that needed for self-sufficiency. As a result, nearly half of the grain needed by the community was purchased from outside, resulting in very poor regional food security. Clearly, fruit production in this region seriously affects regional food security. Coordination of relationships between rural economic development and regional food security is key for sustainable development of the regional agriculture and economy of west China.     

Comparing theoretical and actual feasibility of transferring management of river lift irrigation systems in Sudan

This article focuses on agricultural production in lift irrigation schemes along the White Nile in the Sudan. A comparison is drawn between the theoretical forecast and actual practical experience regarding the feasibility of transferring management from government-run parastatal organizations to private farmer organizations. Although the theoretical model indicates that farmers should be able to cover the cost of managing the river lift irrigation systems, field data show, however, that farmers growing wheat are barely able to break even. Even assuming a doubling of the present wheat yields, the cash surplus earned would only suffice for fuel to operate the pumps. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that, contrary to government expectations, the private sector has been unenthusiastic about taking over management of White Nile river lift schemes. The lessons that emerge from this study indicate that unplanned and rapid withdrawal of state management can lead to negative results. The transfer of management responsibility for the river pumps does not appear to influence economic performance considerably, which depends on the wider context of the country's economic, political and institutional environment, within which the agricultural sector functions.     

中国粮食自给率研究——粮食、谷物和口粮自给率分析

由于统计口径与计算方法的不同,粮食自给率的计算结果往往差异较大,得出的中国粮食安全的结论也大相径庭,从而引起国内各界的广泛争议。为了准确分析当前中国的粮食安全情势,避免误判对相关决策造成误导,有必要对粮食的统计口径和自给率计算方法进行分析研究。本文选用三种粮食自给率计算方法—定额统计法、流向统计法和消费统计法,测算中国2000-2016年的粮食、谷物和口粮自给率,并对结果进行对比分析。结果显示：（1）定额统计法计算结果容易造成失真,流向统计法与消费统计法计算结果较为准确;（2）谷物和口粮自给率更能反映中国实际的粮食供需情况;（3）中国谷物自给率在98%以上,口粮自给率高于100%。然而,随着工业化和城市化进程的加快,城市发展对土地的需求越来越大,这会造成耕地被侵占、粮食需求激增等严重问题,口粮生产仍然不能放松,建议未来调整农业结构,稳定小麦、稻米生产。     

我国粮食自给水平目标设定：研究综述与政策启示

确保重要农产品特别是粮食供给,是实施乡村振兴战略的首要任务。粮食自给水平目标设定是粮食安全状况评价和政策制定的基础,直接影响到国家粮食产业发展的战略方向和实施路径。本文通过对已有关于我国粮食自给水平目标设定的文献进行研读,在总结粮食自给率相关概念和回顾国家粮食自给方针演变的基础上,着重对我国粮食自给率目标设定水平、依据、意义,以及自给率变动的原因和产生的影响等问题进行系统梳理。结果显示：现有研究对于我国粮食安全自给水平设定目标尚无明确且统一的判断。研究提出,现阶段应以资源环境承载力为硬约束,以保持粮食生产稳定性为红线,设定粮食总量自给水平目标替代自给率目标,通过充分利用国外资源和国际市场,更好地实现粮食安全保障与生态环境保护的高度统一。     

食物贸易视角下的全球食物供需平衡及其演化分析

用食物供给量与生产量分别表示食物的可及性与自给率,其差值可表示食物贸易量,以人均每天卡路里为单位进行的折算可以更好地反映膳食营养的变化。从食物贸易视角分析了28年来食物供需平衡状况,结果表明:（1）1986—2013年,全球食物贸易量增加1.5倍;食物总产量增加0.75倍,贸易量在总产量中的比例增加约8个百分点,相当于7.9×10⁸ t食物进入国际市场,这成为改善膳食结构的重要因素。（2）28年来,食物可及性与自给率呈上升趋势,全球绝大部分人口已经达到最低2200 kal的营养标准。（3）食物可及性、自给率、贸易量均存在地域差异,非洲及南亚的部分国家是低值地区。（4）总体来看,全球人均每天热量与蛋白质供给量增加。低收入国家增速最快,中等收入国家增速次之,高收入国家增速最慢。但非洲、东南亚等地的一些欠发达国家仍未达到最低的营养标准,全球仍有一部分人处于营养不良状态。