ALBERT

Beschreibung: This paper focuses on the thermal characteristic of the torrefied pinecone pellets. The resistivity heating system was used for torrefaction purposes. The torrefaction was conducted at 523 K for different holding times of 5, 10 and 15 minutes. The thermal behaviour of the pinecone pellet was numerically predicted using the pdepe algorithm. A parabolic 2-D heat transfer equation was used to estimate the thermal profile across the pinecone. The effect of the interactive atmosphere was on the numerical solution was also examined. The pelletisation was performed using a ring-die at the temperature of 70 °C.

Beschreibung: The aim of this review article is the analysis of the results obtained from the scientific literature concerning all the phases that make up the life cycle of traction batteries for electric vehicles, in order to evaluate the associated environmental impact. In this regard, some scientific articles dealing with LCA studies concerning electric vehicles, with particular reference to batteries, will be examined. The revision of these articles will provide a general framework for the production, use and recycling phases of traction batteries. In particular, different parameters that influence the outcome of the LCA studies will be shown, parameters on which we can then act to improve the environmental impacts of the transition from internal combustion vehicles to electric mobility. These parameters are represented by the chemistry of the battery considered, aspect at the centre of the discussion, by the specific energy and efficiency of the battery pack, by the durability of the latter, but also by other aspects, such as the energy mix considered (both for the production phase, for the use phase and for recharging) and the functional unit chosen for the study, which determines a different approach, related to the analysis of a specific problem or aspect rather than another. Finally, the usefulness of the recycling practice and the related problems will be shown. In fact, the recycling must be perfected according to the battery chemistry in question to obtain benefits and better reduce environmental loads.

Beschreibung: The aim of the study was to determine air pollution over the sea surface (North Sea and Baltic Sea) comparing to concentration in the closest land areas to examine the impact of ships on the level of PM concentration. The analysis is based on the measurements made during the two weeks cruise of the tall ship Fryderyk Chopin from Edinburg to Kołobrzeg. The highest pollution levels were observed in locations distant from the coast, especially over Baltic Sea, with increasing concentrations when other ships approaching. The article attempts to assess the possibility of migration of pollutants to these areas from land-based sources, and thus indicate the degree of their participation in the level of pollution present at sea.

Beschreibung: Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.)) are two commercially important species in Alaska, with harvests beginning to focus on naturally regenerated young-growth. We developed within-tree models of ring specific gravity (SG) and diameter inside bark (DIB) for young-growth western hemlock and Sitka spruce. Eight even-aged stands (age

Beschreibung: Indian cities are highly dependent on road transport for freight and passenger traffic movements. The estimated road transport led yearly emission inventory of pollutants for 25 million-plus population cities of India indicates vehicle stock as the critical contributor to air pollution in cities. During 2025 the city of Kolkata will be responsible for the emission of 21 668.24 Gg of CO2 followed by 272.81 Gg of CO, 98.21 Gg of NOX, 16.9 Gg of CH4, 93.39 Gg of SO2, 8.6 Gg of PM, and 38.55 Gg of HC due to its 2.79 million vehicles. The total vehicle stock of 25 leading Indian cities increased by 19 % during 2015–2017, and during the same period, Rajkot and Vadodara had the highest rise of 97 % and 94 % respectively. Out of 25 cities total CO2 (220 560 Gg) and CO (3185 Gg) vehicular emissions during 2017, Delhi was the highest contributor with 22 % and 20 % respectively followed by Bengaluru (12 %, 12 %), and Chennai (9 %, 8 %). The GHG emission per unit area of Kolkata during 2017, due to on-road vehicular emission, was the highest amongst the 25 cities of India. For Kolkata, cars were responsible for 35 % for CO2, 55 % of CO, 75 % of CH4, 27 % of PM, omnibuses for 41 % for NOX emission, taxis for 83 % of SO2, and two-wheelers for 36 % of HC emissions.

Beschreibung: Single family houses consume substantially more thermal energy per floor area compared to multi-apartment buildings to satisfy space heating or cooling demand. Over the past decades there has been an undisputed evidence of a temperature rise across the world that has led to a growing concern of more extreme weather patterns and regular seasonal heat waves globally. As such, building occupants are at a continuously growing risk to overheating exposure inside the premises. Within the framework of this study a single-family house was examined with respect to its thermal performance in warm and cold seasons. A simulation model was developed in IDA-ICE software to evaluate annual thermal energy demand for a reference scenario, 3 shading scenarios and for an optimized scenario. At an optimized scenario that incorporates mechanical ventilation with a heat recovery unit and enhanced thermal performance of the external building elements, the annual thermal energy demand in the proposed single-family house was reduced by 39.5 % compared to the reference scenario, which is a significant step towards meeting nearly zero energy building criteria.

Beschreibung: In 2018, 4.1 billion tonnes of freight and 437 million passengers passed through the 1200 European ports. This dimension of geographically concentrated activities is the rationale that ports are characterised by a high-energy demand and a high share of emissions. Driven by a growing awareness for a cleaner environment, a stronger focus on sustainability and intensified environmental regulations, ports are forced to take responsibility when it comes to environmental issues. As a response, in recent studies, the concept of ‘green ports’ emerged. Simultaneously, in the context of digitalisation, the term ‘smart ports’ has received growing attention in the latest scientific discussions, too. Since an important driver towards greener maritime operations is linked to digitalisation, we argue that digital efforts in ports should next to the automation of inherent logistics processes also contribute to reducing the emissions and energy demands. Previous studies have primarily concentrated on the automation of container handling operations. Hence, there exists a research gap concerning the automation of bulk cargo handling operations in ports. Thus, this study addresses the question of how to automate the dry bulk cargo loading operations in the frame of a green and smart port development. The developed case study refers to the seaport of Wismar, whereby the results show that the digitalisation and greener port operations can be successfully aligned. Overall, this study extends the discussion on green and smart port development, while it contributes to the scientific literature by proving that both conceptual ideas can be achieved in the operating business.

Beschreibung: Implementing provisions of the EPBD all Member States require to provide EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) when buildings are c onstructed, sold or rented. The purpose of the certificate is to compare buildings’ performance and inform the end-users. However, quite many mismatches and discrepancies could be found when comparing actual energy consumption with the once declared by the EPC. This mismatch of energy demand is known as Energy Performance Gap (EPG). It was analysed by different researchers on national levels. In the study, an overall overview of the high-performance buildings in Lithuania is performed and EPG is analysed using statistical indicators. Analysis has shown that for class A the EPG varies from −101 % to +77 %. More buildings are found to have a positive Energy Performance Gap. For class A+ and A++ variations are within a narrower interval: from +18 to 76 % and from +23 to 77 % accordingly. It confirms the findings in the other countries that very high-energy performance buildings tend to consume more than predicted. Also it is confirmed that despite differences in national certification methodologies, the same problem (just of different scale) exists and EPC schemes need revisions.

Beschreibung: Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly fuel, produced by a transesterification process using homogeneous catalyst which causes water pollution and cannot be recycled. The present study utilizes industrial brine sludge waste (IBSW) as a heterogeneous catalyst in the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) into biodiesel. One variable at a time design was applied to optimize the transesterification process. The process variables were varied as follows: methanol to oil weight ratio (10–50 %), reaction time (0.5–2.5 h), reaction temperature (30–90 °C) and catalyst to oil weight ratio (0.84–4.2 %). The IBSW before and after calcination and the transesterification process was characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Biodiesel was produced at maximum yield of 95.51 wt% at reaction time, temperature methanol to oil weight ratio, and catalyst to oil weight ratio of 1 hour, 60 °C, 30 wt%, and 2.52 wt% respectively. The FTIR and SEM results confirms that before and after the transesterification process the modification of IBSW took place. Using the ideal process conditions, biodiesel was produced and vital fuel properties such as viscosity, density, pour point and flash point were measured and were found to be within the specification as per American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) standards for biodiesel. The reusability of the IBSW catalyst was tested by recycling and it can be established that the catalyst can be utilized up to four times without affecting its catalytic activity.

Beschreibung: Currently available water-energy-food (WEF) modelling frameworks to analyse cross-sectoral interactions often share one or more of the following gaps: (a) lack of integration between sectors, (b) coarse spatial representation, and (c) lack of reproducible methods of nexus assessment. In this paper, we present a novel clustering tool as an expansion to the Climate-Land-Energy-Water-Systems modelling framework used to quantify inter-sectoral linkages between water, energy, and food systems. The clustering tool uses Agglomerative Hierarchical clustering to aggregate spatial data related to the land and water sectors. Using clusters of aggregated data reconciles the need for a spatially resolved representation of the land-use and water sectors with the computational and data requirements to efficiently solve such a model. The aggregated clusters, combined together with energy system components, form an integrated resource planning structure. The modelling framework is underpinned by an open-source energy system modelling tool—OSeMOSYS—and uses publicly available data with global coverage. By doing so, the modelling framework allows for reproducible WEF nexus assessments. The approach is used to explore the inter-sectoral linkages between the energy, land-use, and water sectors of Viet Nam out to 2030. A validation of the clustering approach confirms that underlying trends actual crop yield data are preserved in the resultant clusters. Finally, changes in cultivated area of selected crops are observed and differences in levels of crop migration are identified.

Beschreibung: Digitalization projects are actively underway in the energy industry, such as the power industry and oil and gas industry. However, there has been no in-depth and quantitative analysis of the relationships between the participants, industry, and technology of digital projects. Therefore, this study focused on which technologies are invested according to key characteristics such as the types of participants and industries driving digitalization projects. This study also examined whether there are differences in technology choices depending on the degree of clean energy exposure. Based on statistics from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), a total of 711 projects were analysed using multinomial logistic regression (MNLR). As a result, the proportion of Analytics software was generally higher in the whole industry, and the energy industry was more likely to invest in Analytics software than in other industries. Comparing the power, oil and gas sectors, there was a high probability of investment in Internet of Things (IoT) in the power sector and Automation in the oil and gas sector. In the type of cooperation between energy companies and industrial companies, the probability of investing in Analytics software was significantly higher. In the case of cooperation between energy companies and information and communications technology (ICT) companies, in the oil and gas sector, Analytics software and Cloud/Data accounted for a large proportion. This study provides insight into the effect of characteristics of energy digitalization projects on the technology choice.

Beschreibung: The study aims to substantiate theoretical and methodological aspects of the use of strategic environmental assessment as an instrument for public regulation of the ecological status of territories. The research methodology is based on using a systematic approach for conducting a strategic environmental assessment of the possibility of environmental problems and threats posed by the implementation of long-term projects and current activities. The development of ecological balance, comparison of the results of normative and exploratory forecasts of the state of the environment become the basis for the formation of goals of strategic environmental management, the appearance of a set of measures for the conservation and restoration of natural resources. Identification of factors influencing the state of the environment is a necessary condition for the prevention of pollution of territories, inefficient use of natural resources, justification of the essential measures of state regulation to ensure the achievement of goals. The practical experience of assessing the achievements in the management of the conditions of the environment is illustrated by the example of regions of Ukraine. The proposed approach to the development of the ecological balance and the methodology of complex assessment of the ecological status of the territory have scientific novelty and contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of public administration balanced development of the territories.

Beschreibung: The Baltic Sea is the youngest sea on our planet, the environment of the sea is considered to be unique and fragile. It is affected by various human activities resulting in the impairment of water quality. Riverine nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loads are among the major causes of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. This study examines temporal trends in water discharge, total phosphorus (TP) and orthophosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P) concentrations and losses from three agricultural runoff monitoring sites in Latvia including Berze, Mellupite, and Vienziemite. The annual datasets of TP and PO4-P concentrations and losses were tested for statistical trends using a nonparametric test - the Mann-Kendall trend test. The timeframe of this study was from 1995 until 2018. The results show a large variety of annual mean concentrations and losses of TP and PO4-P in the study period. No statistically significant trend was detected for TP losses. Meanwhile, statistically significant downward trends were observed for TP concentrations in four out of six study sites and in two study sites for PO4-P concentrations.

Beschreibung: Since 2008 many municipalities in the European Union have taken part in the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative and have developed Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP) to contribute to climate change mitigation. To respond to new policy goals for 2030, the CoM has expanded its focus and since 2018 requires municipalities to cover climate adaptation actions. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the first experiences of six municipalities from Spain, Portugal and Latvia in upgrading their existing Sustainable Energy Actions Plans to Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP). SECAPs were developed through a participatory process involving all relevant local stakeholders, to gain maximum understanding and acceptance. Each municipality implemented climate adaption actions to demonstrate the need for adaptation and the ways it can be accomplished.

Beschreibung: The industry sector in many countries has a significant role in reaching national long-term emission reductions, energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. New technologies, wide implementation of energy efficiency measures and smart energy management are needed for the industry to ensure local and global competitiveness and reduce emissions. Since the industrial sector is often comprised of sub-sectors that are unique and with local specifics, this paper focuses on three of them, taking Latvia as the case. The sectors are: manufacture of wood and wood products, non-metallic mineral products, as well as food products and tobacco. These sub-sectors together consume around 80 % of the total final energy use in the country’s industrial sector. Comprehensive analysis and decomposition of the sub-sectors was made to identify future development pathways. TIMES model was used to elaborate a process-oriented modelling approach to analyze the impact of measures defined in the National Energy and Climate Plan until 2030 as well to gauge the impact of additional measures. Results show that these measures promote the use of renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, however it is necessary to set new measures and activities for the period beyond to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

Beschreibung: Today cold chain transportation has become more important than before, as countries rely on cold chain logistics to store and transport SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and other temperature-sensitive goods. The cold chain is usually associated with the use of non-renewable materials and higher energy consumption than the regular supply chain. An important part of cold chain sustainability is thermal packaging. Up to now one of the most popular thermal packaging materials is polystyrene – made from fossil raw material. Polystyrene has low thermal conductivity and density, but it breaks down into micro- and nano plastics when exposed to sunlight making it environmentally unsustainable. To determine which factors are important for cold chain regarding thermal packaging, 12 criteria were compared to determine their ranking. Further multi-criteria analysis was used to compare polystyrene to four alternative biodegradable thermal packaging options: mycelium-based, corn starch, non-woven wool, and non-woven feathers. Polystyrene gained only 3rd place with a 0.70 proximity to ideal solution 1, but non-woven wool showed the best result with 0.88 proximity to ideal solution.

Beschreibung: While drinking water is known to create significant health risk in arsenic hazard areas, the role of exposure to arsenic through food intake is less well understood, including the impact of food trade. Using the best available datasets on crop production, irrigation, groundwater arsenic hazard, and international crop trade flows, we estimate that globally 17.2% of irrigated harvested area (or 45.2 million hectares) of 42 main crops are grown in arsenic hazard areas, contributing 19.7% of total irrigated crop production, or 418 million metric tons (MMT) per year of these crops by mass. Two-thirds of this area is dedicated to the major staple crops of rice, wheat, and maize (RWM) and produces 158 MMT per year of RWM, which is 8.0% of the total RWM production and 18% of irrigated production. More than 25% of RWM consumed in the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where both arsenic hazard and degree of groundwater irrigation are high, originate from arsenic hazard areas. Exposure to arsenic risk from crops also comes from international trade, with 10.6% of rice, 2.4% of wheat, and 4.1% of maize trade flows coming from production in hazard areas. Trade plays a critical role in redistributing risk, with the greatest exposure risk borne by countries with a high dependence on food imports, particularly in the Middle East and small island nations for which all arsenic risk in crops is imported. Intensifying climate variability and population growth may increase reliance on groundwater irrigation, including in arsenic hazard areas. Results show that RWM harvested area could increase by 54.1 million hectares (179% increase over current risk area), predominantly in South and Southeast Asia. This calls for the need to better understand the relative risk of arsenic exposure through food intake, considering the influence of growing trade and increased groundwater reliance for crop production.

Beschreibung: Cities are at the front line of combating environmental pollution and climate change, thus support from cities is crucial for successful enforcement of environmental policy. To mitigate environmental problems, China introduced at provincial level the Environmental Protection Tax Law in 2018. Yet the resulting economic burden on households in different cities with significantly different affluence levels remains unknown. The extent of the economic impacts is likely to affect cities’ support and public acceptability. This study quantifies the economic burden of urban households from taxation of fine particle pollution (PM2.5) for 200 cities nationwide from a “consumer” perspective, accounting for PM2.5 and precursor emissions along the national supply chain. Calculations are based on a Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) analysis, the official tax calculation method and urban household consumption data from China’s statistical yearbooks. We find that the current taxation method intensifies economic inequality between cities nationally and within each province, with some of the richest cities having lower tax intensities than some of the poorest. This is due to the fact that taxes are collected based on tax rates of producing regions rather than consuming regions, that cities with very different affluence levels within a province bear the same tax rate, and that emission intensities in several less affluent cities are relatively high. If the tax could be levied based on tax rates of each city where the consumer lives, with tax rates determined based on cities’ affluence levels and with tax revenues used to support emission control, inter-city economic inequality could be reduced. Our work provides quantitative evidence to improve the environmental tax and can serve as the knowledge base for coordinated inter-city policy.

Beschreibung: District heating has proven to be an efficient way of providing space heating and domestic hot water in populated areas. It has also proven to be an excellent way to integrate various renewable energy sources (RES) into the energy system. In Estonia, biomass covers most of the heat demand, but carbon-intensive fuels are still used to cover peaks and lows. Heat pumps can be a good solution for rural areas, as there is usually plenty of land available for heat pump facilities. In addition, heat pumps require low-grade heat sources such as ambient air, groundwater, lakes, rivers, sea, sewage water, and industrial waste heat. One of the downsides of heat pumps is the need for large investments compared to boilers fired by natural gas and biomass, and electric boilers. This study examines the impact of heat pump use on consumer prices for district heating in rural district heating networks in Estonia.

Beschreibung: Achieving an economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal by mid-century in the United States entails transforming the energy workforce. In this study, we focus on the influence of increased labor compensation and domestic manufacturing shares on (1) renewable energy technology costs, (2) the costs of transitioning the U.S. economy to net-zero emissions, and (3) labor outcomes, including total employment and wage benefits, associated with the deployment of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) and land based and offshore wind power. We find that manufacturing and installation labor cost premiums as well as increases in domestic content shares across wind and utility-scale solar photovoltatic supply chains result in relatively modest increases in total capital and operating costs. These small increases in technology costs may be partially or fully offset by increases in labor productivity. We also show that solar and wind technology cost premiums associated with high road labor policies have a minimal effect on the pace and scale of renewable energy deployment and the total cost of transitioning to a net-zero emissions economy. Public policies such as tax credits, workforce development support, and other instruments can redistribute technology cost premiums associated with high road labor policies to support both firms and workers.

Beschreibung: Choosing appropriate spatial priorities for protected areas (PAs) to conserve ecosystem services (ESs) and biodiversity is a challenge for decision-makers under limited land resources, especially when facing uncertain protection consequences or conflicting protection objectives. Attitudes toward risk will influence actions, which will, in turn, impact consequences. To understand how theoretical decision-maker attitudes towards risk impact protection effectiveness for biodiversity and ESs (e.g., water retention, soil retention, flood mitigation, water purification and carbon sequestration) and how this information can be integrated into effective PAs management, we examined Hainan Island as a case study. We used the ordered weighted averaging algorithm to assess the impact of attitude towards risk in PA management. Decision-makers’ attitude towards risk scenarios (from risk-averse and risk-taking) showed higher mean protection effectiveness (2.41–2.85) than existing PAs (2.37), indicating that there is still room for improvement in biodiversity and ESs conservation in existing PAs. In addition, among the seven examined risk scenarios, the higher risk aversion scenario showed the best outcome. In comparison to existing PAs, this scenario improved mean protection effectiveness (20.13%) as well as the protection effectiveness of water retention (24.84%), water purification (11.46%), flood mitigation (8.84%), soil retention (16.63%), carbon sequestration (5.31%), and biodiversity (12.84%). Thus, our research shows that the influence of theoretical decision-makers’ attitudes towards risk could be considered by OWA method which could provide a normative model of what the right choice given theoretical risk attitudes is while selecting priority area for biodiversity and ESs.

Beschreibung: In recent years, Chinese cities have begun to pay attention to their rivers, and a large number of waterfront linear parks have been built in the riverside areas, so that the public can easily enjoy their landscape and entertainment functions. In this study, the visual quality of the waterfront trails and the greenbelt trails in the Waterfront linear Park around the Hunhe river in Shenyang was evaluated the basis of the Scenic Beauty Estimation Method and Semantic Differential Method, and the principal components of the landscape characteristics were extracted and a regression model of the visual quality and the landscape characteristics was established. Results show that the natural feature and the formal feature have a positive influence on the visual quality in waterfront linear parks, and the man-made feature has a negative impact on the visual quality. The six landscape characteristics are Sense of seclusion, ecology, intactness, uniqueness, unity and vitality, which are the main factors which affect the visual quality. This study puts forward improvement measures for the waterfront trails and the greenbelt trails, and the results can be applied to the planning, construction, and management of waterfront linear parks.

Beschreibung: This study conducted a systematic literature review of the technical aspects and methodological choices in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of using hydrogen for road transport. More than 70 scientific papers published during 2000–2021 were reviewed, in which more than 350 case studies of use of hydrogen in the automotive sector were found. Only some studies used hybrid LCA and energetic input-output LCA, whereas most studies addressed attributional process-based LCA. A categorization based on the life cycle scope distinguished case studies that addressed the well-to-tank (WTT), well-to-wheel (WTW), and complete life cycle approaches. Furthermore, based on the hydrogen production process, these case studies were classified into four categories: thermochemical, electrochemical, thermal-electrochemical, and biochemical. Moreover, based on the hydrogen production site, the case studies were classified as centralized, on-site, and on-board. The fuel cell vehicle passenger car was the most commonly used vehicle. The functional unit for the WTT studies was mostly mass or energy, and vehicle distance for the WTW and complete life cycle studies. Global warming potential (GWP) and energy consumption were the most influential categories. Apart from the GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation) model and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for assessing the GWP, the Centrum voor Milieukunde Leiden method was most widely used in other impact categories. Most of the articles under review were comparative LCA studies on different hydrogen pathways and powertrains. The findings provide baseline data not only for large-scale applications, but also for improving the efficiency of hydrogen use in road transport.

Beschreibung: Accurate prediction of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is beneficial to billions of people’s production and lives. Here convolutional neural networks (CNN) and transfer learning are used for predicting the EASM. The results of the constructed CNN regression model show that the prediction of the CNN regression model is highly consistent with the reanalysis dataset, with correlation coefficient of 0.78, which is higher than that of each of the current state-of-the-art dynamic models. The heat map method indicates that the robust precursor signals in the CNN regression model agree well with previous theoretical studies, and can provide the quantitative contribution of different signals for EASM prediction. The CNN regression model can predict the EASM one year ahead with a confidence level above 95%. The above method can not only improve the prediction of the EASM but also help to identify the involved physical predictors.