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High-temporal resolution meteorological output from the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) is used to assess changes in wildland fire danger across the western United States due to climatic changes projected in the 21st century. A business-as-usual scenario incorporating changing greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations until the year 2089 is compared to a 1975 - 1996 base period. Changes in relative humidity, especially drying over much of the West, are projected to increase the number of days of high fire danger ( based on the energy release component (ERC) index) at least through the year 2089 in comparison to the base period. The regions most affected are the northern Rockies, Great Basin and the Southwest - regions...
This study proposes a new use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the operational, environmental and both-unified efficiency measures of US coal-fired power plants. The power plants produce not only desirable outputs (e.g., electricity) but also undesirable outputs (e.g., CO2 and NOx) as a result of their plant operations. A Range-Adjusted Measure (RAM) is used as an original non-radial DEA model. Then, it is reformulated for handling undesirable (bad) outputs. The proposed use of DEA models measures the environmental and unified performance of power plants under two variable alternatives (with and without CO2 emission control) in order to examine both the influence of US Clean Air Act (CAA) on the acid...
The Swedish programme for geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel is approaching major milestones in the form of permit applications for an encapsulation plant and a deep geologic repository. This paper presents an overview of the bedrock and surface modelling work that comprises a major part of the on-going site characterization in Sweden and that results in syntheses of the sites, called site descriptions. The site description incorporates descriptive models of the site and its regional setting, including the current state of the geosphere and the biosphere as well as natural processes affecting long-term evolution. The site description is intended to serve the needs of both repository engineering with respect...
This study deals with modeling and analyzing the performance of greenhouses from the power plant through the heating system to the greenhouse envelope using exergy analysis method, the so-called low exergy or LowEx approach, which has been and still being successfully used in sustainable buildings design, for the first time to the best of the author’s knowledge. For the heating applications, three options are studied with (i) a solar assisted vertical ground-source heat pump greenhouse heating system, (ii) a wood biomass boiler, and (iii) a natural gas boiler, which are driven by renewable and non-renewable energy sources. In this regard, two various greenhouses, the so-called small greenhouse and large greenhouse,...
This article compares US and Chinese incentives in winning oil contracts in African countries. Exploration and development of African oil resources has soared, and many nations are competing for these new oil contracts. China has won a significant portion of these oil contracts due to their unique incentive offerings. This report will address a brief history and the development of Sino–African policies and interests, modern US–African energy policy and interests, petroleum opportunities in Africa, China’s growing oil demand, and information on both American and Chinese incentives strategies. This information will be used to compare US and Chinese incentive strategies on winning African oil contracts. Implications...
High-temporal resolution meteorological output from the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) is used to assess changes in wildland fire danger across the western United States due to climatic changes projected in the 21st century. A business-as-usual scenario incorporating changing greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations until the year 2089 is compared to a 1975 - 1996 base period. Changes in relative humidity, especially drying over much of the West, are projected to increase the number of days of high fire danger ( based on the energy release component (ERC) index) at least through the year 2089 in comparison to the base period. The regions most affected are the northern Rockies, Great Basin and the Southwest - regions...
The Swedish programme for geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel is approaching major milestones in the form of permit applications for an encapsulation plant and a deep geologic repository. This paper presents an overview of the bedrock and surface modelling work that comprises a major part of the on-going site characterization in Sweden and that results in syntheses of the sites, called site descriptions. The site description incorporates descriptive models of the site and its regional setting, including the current state of the geosphere and the biosphere as well as natural processes affecting long-term evolution. The site description is intended to serve the needs of both repository engineering with respect...
China's steel sector is the largest in the world and has been a major driving force behind China's high rate of economic growth. This sector, however, is also a major consumer of energy and, in particular, coal. As a result, the iron and steel sector in China is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. In this article we examine the potential for inter-factor substitution between capital, energy and labor in the Chinese steel sector and find that capital and energy and energy and labor are substitutes. This result suggests that removal of price ceilings on energy would tend to reduce energy use and increase capital intensiveness. While the potential for substitution between energy and...
Quantitative assessment of forest burn severity and determination of its spatial variation are important for post-fire forest restoration and forest fire management. In this paper, we assessed forest burn severity using pre- and post-fire Landsat TM/ETM+ data and field-surveyed data and explored the spatial variation in burn severity and its influencing factors. Our results showed a relatively strong linear relationship between normalized burn ratio (NBR) and composite burn index (CBI) (R2 = 0.63), suggesting that NBR was the best spectral index and could be used to assess forest burn severity in Heilongjiang Province. The forest burn severity showed obvious spatial variation. The majority of heavily burned areas...
Goodstein identified and discussed a "Saturday effect" in data on the timing of tanker oil spills. This comment describes two ways in which the validity of the statistical analysis used to identify and confirm this effect can be strengthened.
Reliance on oil as an energy source for private transportation produces increasingly unfavorable social, political and environmental conditions including climate change, dependence on foreign oil, and the need for difficult choices between oil production and protection of biological systems. At the same time, the population is increasingly sedentary due largely to our reliance on the automobile for transportation. Adoption and maintenance of healthy weights and healthier lifestyles by substituting walking or biking for short trips currently taken by car could simultaneously improve health and reduce oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. We calculate the reduction in oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions...
High-temporal resolution meteorological output from the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) is used to assess changes in wildland fire danger across the western United States due to climatic changes projected in the 21st century. A business-as-usual scenario incorporating changing greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations until the year 2089 is compared to a 1975 - 1996 base period. Changes in relative humidity, especially drying over much of the West, are projected to increase the number of days of high fire danger ( based on the energy release component (ERC) index) at least through the year 2089 in comparison to the base period. The regions most affected are the northern Rockies, Great Basin and the Southwest - regions...
This study proposes a new use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the operational, environmental and both-unified efficiency measures of US coal-fired power plants. The power plants produce not only desirable outputs (e.g., electricity) but also undesirable outputs (e.g., CO2 and NOx) as a result of their plant operations. A Range-Adjusted Measure (RAM) is used as an original non-radial DEA model. Then, it is reformulated for handling undesirable (bad) outputs. The proposed use of DEA models measures the environmental and unified performance of power plants under two variable alternatives (with and without CO2 emission control) in order to examine both the influence of US Clean Air Act (CAA) on the acid...
The Swedish programme for geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel is approaching major milestones in the form of permit applications for an encapsulation plant and a deep geologic repository. This paper presents an overview of the bedrock and surface modelling work that comprises a major part of the on-going site characterization in Sweden and that results in syntheses of the sites, called site descriptions. The site description incorporates descriptive models of the site and its regional setting, including the current state of the geosphere and the biosphere as well as natural processes affecting long-term evolution. The site description is intended to serve the needs of both repository engineering with respect...
High-temporal resolution meteorological output from the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) is used to assess changes in wildland fire danger across the western United States due to climatic changes projected in the 21st century. A business-as-usual scenario incorporating changing greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations until the year 2089 is compared to a 1975 - 1996 base period. Changes in relative humidity, especially drying over much of the West, are projected to increase the number of days of high fire danger ( based on the energy release component (ERC) index) at least through the year 2089 in comparison to the base period. The regions most affected are the northern Rockies, Great Basin and the Southwest - regions...
The subject of ecological indicators is both complex and technical. Indicators are low signal/noise read-outs from systems reflecting deeply embedded processes. Informal, single factor indicators reflect superficial properties. Complex systems require formal, multifactorial measures. Conceptual basis, importance and bandwidth of variables, reliability and statistical properties, data and skill requirements, data quality and archiving, robustness under technology change, and cost/benefit issues are factors in indicator design. Network models enable formalism to be brought to the indicator problem. Networks are oriented in time-forward and reverse directions, giving rise to environs. Output environs span network flows...
Advanced Research Workshop on “Challenges in Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Regulation of the Nuclear Legacy” organised jointly by Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) and the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia (FMBA) was held at “Ershovo” (Zvenigorod) in Moscow, Russia, 25–27 September 2007 with participants from international organisations like NATO, IAEA, ICRP and several countries Norway, Russia, United States, France, United Kingdom, Sweden and Kyrgyzstan. The workshop was sponsored by the NATO Programme Security Through Science and Norwegian Radiation protection Authority. The sponsorship and the financial support of NATO is gratefully acknowledged. The workshop was organized in...
Why did nuclear energy policies in France, Sweden, and the United States, very similar at the time of the oil crisis of 1973 and 1974, diverge so greatly in the following years? In answering this question, James Jasper challenges one of the most popular trends in political analysis: explanations relying exclusively on political and economic structures to account for public policies. Jasper proposes a new cultural and state-centered approach--one heeding not only structural factors but cultural meanings, individual biographies, and elite discretion. Surveying the period from the successful commercialization of light-water-reactor technology in the early 1960s to the present, he explains the events that occurred after...
Why did nuclear energy policies in France, Sweden, and the United States, very similar at the time of the oil crisis of 1973 and 1974, diverge so greatly in the following years? In answering this question, James Jasper challenges one of the most popular trends in political analysis: explanations relying exclusively on political and economic structures to account for public policies. Jasper proposes a new cultural and state-centered approach--one heeding not only structural factors but cultural meanings, individual biographies, and elite discretion. Surveying the period from the successful commercialization of light-water-reactor technology in the early 1960s to the present, he explains the events that occurred after...
The paper suggests the ‘middle out’ as an additional, and sometimes alternative approach to ’bottom-up’ and ’ top-down’ efforts to drive low carbon innovations and practices in society. Individuals are often seen by policy makers as the target agents for changing their own behaviour. To induce bottom-up change in energy demand patterns, governmental and non-governmental organizations have produced information tools such as carbon calculators, real-time feedback, and media based campaigns encourage individuals to reduce their carbon emissions voluntarily. At the same time, government employs top-down regulatory approaches to reduce emissions. These are being demonstrated in the introduction of market mechanisms (e.g....