Water and energy are two of the most important resources used by humanity. Discharging highly polluting wastewater without prior treatment is known to adversely affect water potability, agriculture, aquatic life and even society. One of the greatest threats to water sources are contaminated effluents, which can be of residential or industrial origin and whose disposal in nature must comply with specific laws aimed at reducing their environmental impact. As the oil industry is closely related to energy consumption, it is among the sectors most responsible for global pollution. The damage caused by this industrial sector is present in all countries, whose legislations require companies to carry out wastewater treatment before disposal or recycling in their production process. Bacterial cellulose membranes have been shown to be efficient as filters for the removal of various contaminants, including biological and chemical agents or heavy metals. Therefore, their use could make an importan... [more]

The marine renewable energy (MRE; renewable energy captured from waves, tides, ocean currents, the natural flow of water in rivers, and marine thermal gradients, without building new dams or diversions) industry has a vital role in the U.S. clean energy strategy as we progress to meet U.S. electricity and blue economy needs with renewable, domestic energy sources. However, a thorough assessment of the U.S. marine energy permitting process from the viewpoints of both developers that propose projects and regulators that permit them has not been performed. Sharing practical experiences in this new industry is vital to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the permitting process, identify data and information gaps, develop lessons learned, and advance the industry. This paper is a case study of qualitative findings, lessons learned, and recommendations from guided discussions, workshops, and webinars with both marine renewable energy developers and state and federal regulators that... [more]

In coastal areas, the tourism sector contributes to the local economy, generating income, employment, investments and tax revenues but the rapid urban expansion creates great pressure on local resources and infrastructures, with negative repercussions on the residents’ quality of life, but also compromising the visitor’s experience. These areas face problems such as the formation of meteorological effects known as heat islands, due to the soil sealing, and increased energy demand in the peak season. To evaluate the impact of urban growth spatial pattern and change, three strategic sustainable challenges—urban form, urban energy, and urban outdoor comfort—were selected. The progress towards sustainability was measured and analyzed in a tourist city in the Algarve region, Portugal, for the period 2007−2018, using geographic information. A set of 2D and 3D indicators was derived for the building and block scales. Then, a change assessment based on cluster analysis was performed, and three... [more]

Waste treatment consists of activities required to make sure that waste has the least practical impact on the environment. In Slovakia, more than 50% of waste is in storage. Waste development depends on the economic situation of the state. In Slovakia, there is economic intolerance of waste treatment due to the weaker economic situation of the inhabitants. The goal of this contribution is to study the development of waste production in Slovakia in regard to economic indexes of households with the aim of improving waste management. The goal is achieved by searching for a relation between economic indexes and households by a correlation matrix and by verification of polynomial dependence. According to the results of the statistical importance, we found similarity of the regions in chosen indexes by using of cluster analysis. By this method a sustainable economy and healthy environment is guaranteed and waste is used to produce energy.

For many years, SF6 has been the preferred dielectric medium in electrical power applications, particularly in high voltage gas-insulated equipment. However, with the recognition that SF6 has an extremely long atmospheric lifetime and very high global warming potential, governments have pursued emission reductions from gas-filled equipment. The electrical power industry has responded to this environmental challenge applying SF6-free technologies to an expanding range of applications which have traditionally used SF6, including gas-insulated switchgear, gas-insulated circuit breakers and gas-insulated lines or bus bars. Some of these SF6-free solutions include gas mixtures containing fluorinated compounds that have low climate impact, among them, a fluoronitrile and a fluoroketone developed as 3M™ Novec™ 4710 Insulating Gas and 3M™ Novec™ 5110 Insulating Gas, respectively. Both fluoronitrile and fluoroketone mixtures are successfully used in gas-insulated equipment currently operating o... [more]

Geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs can help mitigate CO2 emissions. However, CO2 leakage over a long storage period represents a potential concern. Therefore, it is critical to establish a good understanding of the interactions between CO2−brine and cement−caprock/reservoir rock to ascertain the potential for CO2 leakage. Accordingly, in this work, we prepared a unique set of composite samples to resemble the cement−reservoir rock interface. A series of experiments simulating deep wellbore environments were performed to investigate changes in chemical, physical, mechanical, and petrophysical properties of the composite samples. Here, we present the characterisation of composite core samples, including porosity, permeability, and mechanical properties, determined before and after long-term exposure to CO2-rich brine. Some of the composite samples were further analysed by X-ray microcomputed tomography (X-ray µ-CT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), a... [more]

The modern paradigm of sustainable development is based on concepts and theories in which the needs of individuals and society, the limits of economic growth and the balance of industrial and natural systems are close to consistency [...]

The reduction of fossil CO2 emissions from key relevant industrial processes represents an important environmental challenge to be considered. To enable large-scale deployment of low carbon technologies, a significant research and development effort is required to optimize the CO2 capture systems. This work assesses various hybrid solvent-membrane configurations for post-combustion decarbonization of coal-based super-critical power plants. As an illustrative chemical solvent, Methyl-Di-Ethanol-Amine was assessed. Various membrane unit locations were assessed (e.g., top absorber, before absorber using either compressor or vacuum pump). All investigated designs have a 1000 MW net power output with a 90% decarbonization ratio. Benchmark concepts with and without carbon capture using either reactive gas-liquid absorption or membrane separation technology were also evaluated to have a comparative assessment. Relevant evaluation tools (e.g., modeling, simulation, validation, thermal integrat... [more]

Oil shortages and environmental pollution are attracting worldwide attention incrementally. Hybrid falls within one of the effective techniques for those two problems. Taking the loader with high energy consumption and high emission as the target, combined with the hydraulic hybrid technology with high power density and strong energy storage capacity, the parallel hydraulic hybrid loader (PHHL) based on brake energy regeneration is proposed. Firstly, the dynamic models of the key components of the PHHL are established, and the parameters of the part which coincides with the ordinary loader are corrected based on the V-type duty cycle. Then, consid-ering the energy recovery efficiency as well as the characteristics of the loader from the V-type duty cycle, the parameters for several major parts of the energy regeneration system (ERS) were calculated and matched. Then, based on the initial matching, the improved adaptive genetic al-gorithm (AGA) is employed to optimize the control variab... [more]

One of the most recently developed life cycle-based methods is an environmental footprint of products and organisations established by the European Commission. A special procedure of data and dataset quality assessment has been developed as a part of the environmental footprints methodology. The procedure may be recognised as vital and powerful but, at the same time, a bit complicated and time-consuming. It is worth discussing this subject and looking for potential simplification. In this paper, we suggest a possible way for simplification. We propose to remove an impact-assessment-based step from the procedure of company-specific datasets quality assessment. There are two potential benefits: a reduction in the need for expert knowledge and time savings. The threats posed are connected to the fact that all data influences the Data Quality Rating indicator of the entire dataset to the same degree. With a higher volume of data included in the assessment, there is a risk of greater differ... [more]

Three-phase isolated matrix converters enable bidirectional power conversion and galvanic isolation, and they are suitable for widespread applications in industry. However, excessive DC-link current ripple not only increases the inductor loss and switching loss but also causes more electromagnetic interference and grid current distortion. Traditionally, increasing DC-link inductance or switching frequency can reduce the current ripple to a certain extent, but it is not cost-effective due to the bulky size of the inductor and higher switching losses. To address the above issue, optimizing the modulation control strategy is more attractive. This paper proposes a new SVPWM strategy to reduce the current ripple. First, the inherent limitation of the conventional modulation scheme is revealed. Then, the new optimal modulation scheme is proposed for the isolated matrix converters to reduce the current ripple without increasing the DC-link inductor or switching frequency. Moreover, the power... [more]

Fossil fuel vehicles, emitting air toxics into the atmosphere, impose a heavy burden on the economy through additional health care expenses and ecological degradation. Air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths and chronic and acute health problems every year, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The fossil-fuel-based transportation system releases tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere putting human health at risk, especially in urban areas. This analysis aims to determine the economic burden of environmental and health impacts caused by Highway 401 traffic. Due to the high volume of vehicles driving on the Toronto Highway 401 corridor, there is an annual release of 3771 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). These emissions are mainly emitted onsite through the combustion of gasoline and diesel fuel. The integration of electric and hydrogen vehicles shows maximum reductions of 405−476 g CO2e per vehicle-kilometer. Besides these carbon dioxide emiss... [more]

Rapid population growth has led to significant demand for residential buildings around the world. Consequently, there is a growing energy demand associated with increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The residential building energy demand in arid countries such as Saudi Arabia is supplied with fossil fuel. The existing consumption pattern of fossil fuels in Saudi Arabia is less sustainable due to the depletion of fossil fuel resources and resulting environmental impacts. Buildings built in hot and arid climatic conditions demand high energy for creating habitable indoor environments. Enormous energy is required to maintain a cool temperature in hot regions. Moreover, climate change may have different impacts on hot climatic regions and affect building energy use differently. This means that different building interventions may be required to improve the performance of building energy performance in these geographical regions, thereby reducing the emissions of GHGs. In this study, th... [more]

Nowadays, protection of the natural environment is the fundamental duty and challenge of humanity. Adverse environmental changes make it necessary to encourage behaviors that will reduce our negative impact. Due to the development of media, information reaches consumers through various channels. New media, including mobile applications, are becoming increasingly popular. Their potential impact on young consumers cannot be overestimated as young people are able to modify their attitudes, behaviors and habits more easily than older ones. The main aim of this study was to recognize the use of eco-applications as a new source of information in the field of pro-environmental behavior of young people studying in Poland. The research objectives included the identification of pro-environmental behaviors most often declared by students, verifying their recognition and use of eco-applications, and determining the features of eco-app design expected by young users. The study involved the methods... [more]

This study assessed the environmental performance and energy efficiency of electricity generation from rice straw using a combined gasification and internal combustion engine (G/ICE). A life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to consider the conversion to electricity of rice straw, the production of which was based on the Philippine farming practice. Rice straw is treated as a milled rice coproduct and assumes an environmental burden which is allocated by mass. The results of an impact assessment for climate change was used directly in a system dynamic model to plot the accumulated greenhouse gas emissions from the system and compare with various cases in order to perform sensitivity analyses. At a productivity of 334 kWh/t, the global warming potential (GWP) of the system is equal to 0.642 kg CO2-eq/MJ, which is 27% lower than the GWP of rice straw on-site burning. Mitigating biogenic methane emissions from flooded rice fields could reduce the GWP of the system by 34%, while zero ne... [more]

Global competition and climate change are changing the nature of economic activity and impose the urgent need to have environmentally sensitive productivity growth. The paper addresses both desirable and undesirable output to assess technical efficiency and productivity changes, as well as evaluate the importance of an energy input in the production function and productivity change differentials in the European Union (EU) over the period 2000−2018. To that end, it uses output-oriented data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity analysis. The results reveal that the EU is facing significant challenges due to a decreasing trend in technical efficiency and slow productivity growth. The absence of major improvements in human resource performance has reduced the benefits of technological innovations which are the main source of productivity growth. Additionally, the results show that energy use did not critically influence efficiency and productivity.

The journal retracts the above cited article, Simulation and Analysis of Various Ventilation Systems Given in an Example in the Same School of Indoor Air Quality [...]

In this paper, an integrated model that coupled CONTAM and WUFI was developed to assess the indoor air quality (IAQ), moisture, and thermal comfort performance. The coupling method of CONTAM and WUFI is described based on the exchange of airflow rate control variables as infiltration, natural and mechanical ventilation parameters between heat and moisture flow balance equations in WUFI and contaminant flow balances equations in CONTAM. To evaluate the predictions of the integrated model compared to single models of CONTAM and WUFI, four scenarios were used. These scenarios are airtight-fan off, airtight-fan on, leaky-fan off, and leaky-fan on, and were defined for a three-story house subjected to three different climate conditions of Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. The measures of the simulated indoor CO2, PM2.5, and VOCs obtained by CONTAM; the simulated indoor relative humidity (RH), predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD), and predicted mean vote (PMV) obtained by WUFI; and those... [more]

For long distance electric power transport, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable systems are a commonly used solution. Space charges accumulate in the HVDC cable insulations due to the applied voltage and the nonlinear electric conductivity of the insulation material. The resulting electric field depends on the material parameters of the surrounding soil environment that may differ locally and have an influence on the temperature distribution in the cable and the environment. To use the radial symmetry of the cable geometry, typical electric field simulations neglect the influence of the surrounding soil, due to different dimensions of the cable and the environment and the resulting high computational effort. Here, the environment and its effect on the resulting electric field is considered and the assumption of a possible radial symmetric temperature within the insulation is analyzed. To reduce the computation time, weakly coupled simulations are performed to compute the temperatu... [more]

Plants, and microorganisms associated with them, offer an effective tool for removing pollutants, such as heavy metals, from the soil environment. The aim of this study was to determine changes caused by Ni2+, Co2+, and Cd2+ in the genetic diversity of soil-populating bacteria and the effect these heavy metals on the heating value of elongated coach grass (Elymus elongatus L.) and maize (Zea mays L.). Microorganisms support plants in removing heavy metals from soil. These plants can then be used for energetic purposes. The study aim was accomplished by determining counts of microorganisms and their resistance (RS) to Ni2+, Co2+, Cd2+, their colony development index (CD), ecophysiological diversity index (EP), and diversity established with the next generation sequencing (NGS) method. Further analyses aimed to establish test plants resistance to pollution with heavy metals and their heating value. Organotrophic bacteria turned out to be the most resistant to Co2+, whereas actinobacteria... [more]

The popularity of climate neutral new energy vehicles for reduced emissions and improved air quality has been raising great attention for many years. World-wide, a strong commitment continues to drive the demand for zero-emission through alternative energy sources and propulsion systems. Despite the fact that 71.27% of hydrogen is produced from natural gas, green hydrogen is a promising clean way to contribute to and maintain a climate neutral ecosystem. Thereby, reaching CO2 targets for 2030 and beyond requires cross-sectoral changes. However, the strong motivation of governments for climate neutrality is challenging many sectors. One of them is the transport sector, as it is challenged to find viable all-in solutions that satisfy social, economic, and sustainable requirements. Currently, the use of new energy vehicles operating on green sustainable hydrogen technologies, such as batteries or fuel cells, has been the focus for reducing the mobility induced emissions. In Europe, 50% of... [more]

Driver behaviour and distraction have been identified as the main causes of rear end collisions. However a promptly issued warning can reduce the severity of crashes, if not prevent them completely. This paper proposes a Forward Collision Warning System (FCW) based on information coming from a low cost forward monocular camera for low end electric vehicles. The system resorts to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and does not require the reconstruction of a complete 3D model of the surrounding environment. Moreover a closed-loop simulation platform is proposed, which enables the fast development and testing of the FCW and other Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). The system is then deployed on embedded hardware and experimentally validated on a test track.

The purpose of this article is to analyze and compare the benefits of and barriers to the implementation of Environmental Management Systems (EMS)—International Standard ISO 14001 and Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)—by organizations. This paper attempts to answer the following research questions: 1. Does the implementation of either ISO 14001 or EMAS bring the same benefits and barriers to organizations? 2. Does the system functioning duration in the company influence internal and external benefits resulting from EMS implementation? 3. Are economic aspects of EMS adoption as important for entrepreneurs as the ecological aspects? This topic is important due to the large disproportions appearing in recent years between the number of companies registered in ISO 14001 and in EMAS, and due to relatively frequent cases of non-renewal of EMAS certifications in recent years. It is crucial because each EMS certified institution has implemented procedures which contribute to better protec... [more]

The concept of the circular economy (CE) is receiving encouraging attention among scholars and practitioners, as a convenient solution to move away from the linear economy concept without neglecting the goals of sustainable development. The main goals of the CE are the closing of resource loops and the keeping of resources in the system for as long as possible at the highest utility level. However, as a result of the lack of internationally accepted definitions of the CE and several unsolved barriers, an excessive and inconsistent number of different CE applications exist. Most fields are mainly focusing on making a linear system circular instead of applying the CE principles in a holistic way. This paper presents a strategy to close the mentioned inconsistency gap, by contrasting currently discussed CE barriers and goals and thereof deriving two areas with a need for action (1. identifying the needed collection, sorting, and recovery infrastructure, and 2. developing circular product... [more]

New opportunities are opening for electric cooking (eCooking) as a cost-effective, practical and desirable solution to the twin global challenges of clean cooking and electrification. Globally, momentum is building behind the transformative potential of eCooking to achieve a range of environmental and social impacts. However, cooking is a complex, culturally embedded practice, that results in an array of behavioural change challenges that must be understood and overcome for these new opportunities to translate into impact at scale. The Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme was designed to explore this space and pilot innovative new eCooking services with the potential to rapidly scale. This paper reflects upon the programme’s key learnings to date on the behavioural change dimension of eCooking. It consolidates what we now know on the subject and highlights the gaps that remain, where further investigation is needed. The evidence shows that the uptake of eCooking can be hinde... [more]