Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: analysis (X) > Extensions: Citation (X)

94 results (10ms)   

View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
The paper traces the manner in which an obligation came to be imposed on select industries, requiring them to take account of amenity, wildlife and outdoor-recreational interests in the course of preparing and carrying out developmental schemes. Under pressure from the relevant voluntary bodies, the statutory obligations, first imposed on hydro-electric power development, were generalized to cover 'whole' industries, and then, under the Countryside Acts of 1967-68, were extended to all State utilities. The recent privatization of those industries has provided a further pretext for extending and strengthening the 'amenity' clause. The approach has provided important insights into how industry itself might become...
We examined bird and bat mortality at a new 89-turbine windfarm constructed in an environmentally sensitive area in north-central Iowa. The windfarm became operational in November 2001. It is located in cropland between three Wildlife Management Areas (WMA's) with historically high bird use. In the past, migrant and resident waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds moved between the WMA's through the area now occupied by the windfarm. Studies of bird collision mortality in California and elsewhere raised concerns about the possibility of mortalities in this area. From April 15, 2003 and December 15, 2003 we searched for dead animals under 26 randomly selected turbines. Six 76.2 m by 3.0 m transects were maintained...
Models that treat innovations to the price of energy as predetermined with respect to U.S. macroeconomic aggregates are widely used in the literature. For example, it is common to order energy prices first in recursively identified VAR models of the transmission of energy price shocks. Because exactly identifying assumptions are inherently untestable, this approach in practice has required an act of faith in the empirical plausibility of the delay restriction used for identification. An alternative view that would invalidate such models is that energy prices respond instantaneously to macroeconomic news, implying that energy prices should be ordered last in recursively identified VAR models. In this paper, we propose...
Cumulatively, headwater streams contribute to maintaining hydrologic connectivity and ecosystem integrity at regional scales. Hydrologic connectivity is the water-mediated transport of matter, energy and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Headwater streams compose over two-thirds of total stream length in a typical river drainage and directly connect the upland and riparian landscape to the rest of the stream ecosystem. Altering headwater streams, e.g., by channelization, diversion through pipes, impoundment and burial, modifies fluxes between uplands and downstream river segments and eliminates distinctive habitats. The large-scale ecological effects of altering headwaters are amplified...
Some forms of renewable energy have long contributed to electricity generation, whereas others are just emerging. For example, large-scale hydropower is a mature technology generating about 16% of global electricity, and many smaller scale systems are also being installed worldwide. Future opportunities to improve the technology are limited but include upgrading of existing plants to gain greater performance efficiencies and reduced maintenance. Geothermal energy, widely used for power generation and direct heat applications, is also mature, but new technologies could improve plant designs, extend their lifetimes, and improve reliability. By contrast, ocean energy is an emerging renewable energy technology. Design,...
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...
Issues related to energy saving and pollution reduction are closely related. Their importance has increased in recent years and presents considerable academic and industrial challenges. They generally represent complex tasks of a considerable scale and comprehensive interactions. The methodology and concepts of Process Integration have been developing over last thirty years [1] and have been considerably expended to tackle these problems [2]. International conferences provide a good opportunity to review the state-of-the-art in this field. One of the most established and well known conference is PRES. The 13th Conference on “Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction...
Many of the most cost-effective options for reducing emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) involve: reducing leaks; responsible handling practices; replacement with a substance with little or no global warming potential; or reducing the amount of the greenhouse gas (GHG) needed. Some of these options can be implemented immediately for quick emission reductions. However, because many of the types of equipment that rely on these gases have lifetimes ranging from 10 to 30 years, fully implementing these emission reductions can take decades. Reductions in HFC consumption, however, can generally be seen more immediately. Recent US proposals for climate legislation have considered limits on HFC consumption under a cap...
This study was conducted to evaluate the causality between energy consumption, GDP growth and carbon emissions for eight Asia-Pacific countries from 1971 to 2005 using the panel data. The results indicate that there are long-run equilibrium relationships between these variables. Additionally, causality from energy consumption to CO2 emissions was observed generally, but there were some opposite relationships also. Parameter estimations of the panel data model indicate that there are great differences in the carbon emissions, the efficiencies of energy use, carbon emissions of unit GDP and unit energy consumption between developed and developing countries. The base carbon emissions, per capita energy consumption...
Summary The use of biomass to produce bioenergy in order to provide a wide range of energy services (heat, light, comfort, entertainment, information, mobility etc.), and to produce biomaterials as substitutes for those presently manufactured from petro-chemicals, is an integrating response to a number of global problems. These include equity, development, energy supply security, rural employment, and climate change mitigation. Biomass provides fuel flexibility to match a wide range of energy demands and is a renewable energy source that can be stored, which is an advantage over several other forms of renewable energy. It has been identified by the European Union as a significant contributor to its 12% renewable...
The current project is aimed at developing a policy-oriented methodology for the integrated assessment of the global warming problem. Decision analysis in general and influence diagrams in particular appear to constitute an appropriate integrated assessment methodology. The influence-diagram approach is illustrated at a preliminary integrated modeling of the global warming problem. In next stages of the research, attention will be shifted from the methodology of integrated assessment to the contents of integrated models.
The Arctic National wildlife Refuge (ANWR) , located on the Alaska North Slope, is believed to contain high petroleum production potential. This region also has outstanding wildlife and wilderness values. Currently ANWR is closed to oil and gas leasing. However, Congress is considering an Interior Department recommendation to open a portion of ANWR to oil and gas production. Environmentalists maintain that petroleum exploration and development will have severe environmental effects on the calving activities of one of the largest caribou herds in the Arctic, negative impacts on the peregrine falcon, lesser snow goose, and muskox populations, as well as other detrimental environmental consequences. A draft study by...
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 first part of this paper presented an ab initio exposition of the development-focused end-useoriented service-directed (DEFENDUS) approach to energy planning. In this approach, the future demand for any source of energy is estimated on the basis of the energy services required and the efficiency with which these are provided. To meet this demand, the costs per unit of the available energy-supply/saving technologies are estimated and a least-cost mix of options identified. In this second part, some of the energy studies for which the DEFENDUS method has been used are described to demonstrate that its applicability is not confined to a particular region or source of energy. These studies include: electricity for...
In June 2008, 303,000 L of hydrofracturing fl uid from a natural gas well were applied to a 0.20-ha area of mixed hardwood forest on the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia. During application, severe damage and mortality of ground vegetation was observed, followed about 10 d later by premature leaf drop by the overstory trees. Two years after fl uid application, 56% of the trees within the fl uid application area were dead. Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. was the tree species with the highest mortality, and Acer rubrum L. was the least aff ected, although all tree species present on the site showed damage symptoms and mortality. Surface soils (0–10 cm) were sampled in July and October 2008, June and October 2009,...
The primary supposition about renewable forms of energy is that use of such resources will not result in depletion or exhaustion. While it is true that natural energy flows such as sun and wind are not directly subject to degradation by use, there may still be indirect limitations on renewability. The exploitation of natural energy flows may require that systems of nonrenewable "support" resources be used to capture, store, and convert natural energy into useful forms. Poor resource management practices that degrade the support resources may therefore, in effect, endanger renewability. Biomass is an illustrative case of a renewable energy resource with nonrenewable support components. The soil and water management...
The timely development of the nation's energy production capacity in a manner that minimizes potential adverse local and regional impacts associated with energy facilities requires the use of sophisticated techniques for evaluation of siting alternatives and fuel cycle options. This report is a documentation of the computerized SITE methodology that has been developed for evaluating health, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts related to utilization of alternate sites for energy production within a region of interest. The cost, impact, and attribute vectors, which are generated and displayed on density maps, can be used in a multiparameter overlay process to identify preferable siting areas. The assessment of...
Tidal energy has the technical potential to form part of a low carbon electricity sector, however, its ‘social potential’ is less clear, as few empirical studies of public beliefs and responses have been conducted to date. This research addressed this gap by investigating a tidal energy convertor in Northern Ireland, said to be the first grid-connected device of its kind in the world. Data was collected from 313 residents of two nearby villages using mixed methods, guided by a conceptual framework that avoided ‘NIMBY’ assumptions and instead drew on place theory. Findings indicated strong support for the project, arising from beliefs that the project enhanced local distinctiveness by ‘putting the area on the map...
Tidal energy has the technical potential to form part of a low carbon electricity sector, however, its ‘social potential’ is less clear, as few empirical studies of public beliefs and responses have been conducted to date. This research addressed this gap by investigating a tidal energy convertor in Northern Ireland, said to be the first grid-connected device of its kind in the world. Data was collected from 313 residents of two nearby villages using mixed methods, guided by a conceptual framework that avoided ‘NIMBY’ assumptions and instead drew on place theory. Findings indicated strong support for the project, arising from beliefs that the project enhanced local distinctiveness by ‘putting the area on the map...