Spatial cost efficiency in waste paper handling: the case of corrugated board in Sweden

This paper analyzes the spatial cost efficiency of the Swedish legislation regarding waste disposal handling. We focus on the case of corrugated board and recognize that the different counties in Sweden possess different economic prerequisites in terms of waste paper recovery and utilization potential. We employ data for six corrugated board mills and 20 counties and a non-linear programming model to identify the least cost strategy for reaching the politically specified recycling target of a 65% recovery rate for corrugated board. That is, the total costs of recovering a minimum of 65% in each county are calculated and compared with the case when the country as a whole recovers 65% of all old corrugated board is collected but there exist no uniform target for each county. The conclusion is that from an efficiency point of view the recovery efforts should be concentrated to the highly populated and urbanized counties, and not be uniformly divided throughout the country. In the base case, the results suggest that the cost efficient county-specific recovery rates should range from 51 to 72%.     

论排污权交易在中国的可行性

着重分析排污权交易理论上的可行性和在中国应值得注意的问题．虽然排污权交易可以节省费用，加速达标、刺激技术革新，并促进公平与效益的统一，但现行法规的束缚、市场条件的制约以及初始分配的权衡等要求在实践中应谨慎实施．     

南京市城市生活垃圾分类收集问卷调查

围绕南京市城市生活垃圾分类收集的问卷调查展开，揭示了南京市生活垃圾收集开展的现状，分析了其间存在的问题及成因，提出了相应的改进意见和解决办法，为生活垃圾分类收集在全国的推广提供了依据。     

以运行费用函数为基础制定超标污水收费标准

根据现行的上海市和国家的超标污水征收标准的特点，提出制定新标准的５项原则。新标准的制定方案中，确定以ｙ＝ａ．ｘ＾β费用函数基础；用数理统计等方法，通过对污染排放标准，处理深度和处理费用３者关系的处理，得出二类污染物中，１级收费标准比现行２级收费标准上升３０％、２级收费采用现行标准、３级收费标准比现行标准下降２０－３０％；并提出污染物收费的计算公式，经对方案的论证和测算，说明其有效好的可行性。     

Past and future sustainability of water policies in Europe

The article contributes to a discussion on two global issues on water: water resources management, and water supply and sanitation. Focusing on Europe, it traces the legal roots of current systems in history: as a resource, water is considered as a common property, rather than a market good; while as a public service it is usually a commodity. Public water supply and sanitation technologies and engineering have developed under three main paradigms: quantitative and civil engineering; qualitative and chemical/sanitary engineering (both on the supply side); and the most recent one, environmental engineering and integrated management (on the demand side). The cost of public drinking water is due to rise sharply in view of the two‐fold financial challenge of replacing an ageing infrastructure and keeping up with ever‐rising environmental and sanitary quality standards. Who will pay? Government subsidies, or water users? The author suggests that apparent successes with privatisation may have relied heavily on hidden government subsidies and/or the healthy state of previously installed water infrastructure: past government subsidies are still felt for as long as the lifetime of the infrastructure. The article stresses the importance of public participation and decentralized local management of water and sanitation services. Informing and involving users in water management decisions is seen as an integral part of the ‘ethics’ side of the crucial three E's (economics, environment, ethics). The article strongly argues for municipal provision of water services, and hopes that lessons learnt and solutions found in the European experience may serve water services management efforts in other regions of the world.     

秦皇岛市生态状况及资源开发利用水平分析综述

秦皇岛市区内生态类型多样,各类生态系统功能突出,自然资源丰富,尤其是海、旅游资源优势突出,为区域经济发展提供了良好的基础条件。该文对秦皇岛市生态系统平衡及资源开发利用水平进行了定量分析。     

A transportation network assessment tool for hazardous material cargo routing: Weighing exposure health risks,proximity to vulnerable areas,delay costs and trucking expenses

The inherent risks associated with accidental releases of hazardous materials during transport have drawn attention and concerns in the recent decades. The aim of this study is to propose a tool for evaluation and comparison of the transportation networks which can be used to assess the routing options between origins and destinations of the cargos for their suitability for transporting hazardous material cargos by tanker trucks and to identify routes which provide lower accidental release risks, lower public exposure risks, and offer economical benefits. Each route segment of transportation networks were evaluated using specific criteria which included health risk and cost of delay in case of an accidental release of materials, trucking cost and proximity to vulnerable areas. Since, the health impact of hazardous materials differ depending on the characteristics of the material being transported as well as release quantities and atmospheric conditions; this paper aimed in providing a tool that can be used to estimate the impact radius (for health risks) after accidental release of hazardous materials by taking into account different atmospheric conditions based on the meteorological data and solar elevation angle. The Gaussian air dispersion model paired with ArcGIS using Python programming were employed to estimate the health risk impact zones by considering the meteorological data, and accordingly to analyze road segments for cost impacts (delay and trucking costs), and the proximity to vulnerable areas. The route assessment tool was demonstrated with a case study. The results of this study can efficiently aid decision makers for transportation of hazardous materials.     

How certain are we about the certainty-equivalent long term social discount rate?

Theoretical arguments for using a term structure of social discount rates (SDR) that declines with the time horizon have influenced government guidelines in the US and Europe. The certainty equivalent discount rate that often underpins this guidance embodies uncertainty in the primitives of the SDR, such as growth. For distant time horizons the probability distributions of these primitives are ambiguous and the certainty equivalent itself is uncertain. Yet, if a limited set of characteristics of the unknown probability distributions can be agreed upon, ‘sharp’ upper and lower bounds can be defined for the certainty-equivalent SDR. Unfortunately, even with considerable agreement on these features, these bounds are widely spread for horizons beyond 75 years. So while estimates of the present value of intergenerational impacts, including the social cost of carbon, can be bounded in the presence of this ambiguity, they typically remain so imprecise as to provide little practical guidance.     

Alternative management structures for municipal waste collection services: The influence of economic and political factors

Identifying and characterising the factors that determine why a local authority opts for a particular way of managing its waste collection service is an important issue, warranting research interest in the field of municipal solid waste (MSW) management. This paper presents empirical evidence spanning a broad time horizon (2002–2010) showing that economic and political factors impact in different ways on the provision of waste management services. We examine five alternatives in this area, including public and private service delivery formulas and, within each field, individual and joint options. Our findings highlight the importance of the service cost and that of the various indicators of fiscal stress as determinant factors of management decisions regarding the provision of MSW management services.     

排污权有偿使用与交易制度若干问题探析——以浙江省温州市为例

排污权有偿使用与交易制度是我国一项重要的环境经济政策。文章以温州市为例,从水环境管理视角出发,探讨排污权有偿使用与交易的若干问题。着重分析温州市初始排污权核定与分配的成效、存在的问题和解决途径,利用平均治理成本等方法设计排污权有偿使用价格,研究排污权交易的实现途径。在此基础上,文章提出应探索利用地方立法权制定排污权相关法律法规、完善初始排污权核定与分配方法、优化排污权竞拍机制和实施市场化激励政策等建议。