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Studies conducted since the late 1970s have estimated the net energy value (NEV) of corn ethanol. However, variations in data and assumptions used among the studies have resulted in a wide range of estimates. This study identifies the factors causing this wide variation and develops a more consistent estimate. We conclude that the NEV of corn ethanol has been rising over time due to technological advances in ethanol conversion and increased efficiency in farm production. We show that corn ethanol is energy efficient as indicated by an energy output:input ratio of 1.34.
The seemingly irresistible growth of motorised transport and its environmental effects have led the NRP to also put mobility and transport (M & T) on its agenda. NRP questions are focused on psychosocial factors and mechanisms underlying the popularity of motorised transport, and on technical as well as behavioural measures and strategies to reduce global air pollution stemming from mobility and the use of motor vehicles. In Phase 1 of the programme, five NRP-funded Mssss & T projects have been conducted. Together with one or two related projects, these will be briefly summarised and commented upon. General observations, conclusions and some suggestions will be provided at the end of this paper.
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This dataset was last updated 02/2017. This version includes a new tidal restrictions metric that assesses the effect of undersized culverts and bridges on tidal regime.The previous version (3.1) was updated on 05/2016 by incorporating a revised version of the land cover classification, DSLland Version 3.1, developed by UMass, which included the addition of The Nature Conservancy’s Northeast lakes and ponds classification. This dataset depicts the ecological integrity of locations (represented by 30 m grid cells) throughout the northeastern United States based on environmental conditions existing in approximately 2010. Ecological integrity is defined as the ability of an area (e.g., local site or landscape) to...
To address the constantly deteriorating situation of energy supply, the environment, and energy security, biodiesel is considered to be the most important biofuel of the future. However, the high cost of biodiesel inhibits it to become a viable alternative of petroleum-based fuel. As global demand for food is expected to double in next 50 years, food-based biodiesel appears to be an unwise choice. Therefore, biodiesel from lignocellulosic biowastes seems to be an attractive and promising alternative to crude oil because of its superior environmental benefits, economical competitiveness, and resource sustainability. More attention should be paid to microbial oil technology, as it needs virtually no additional farmland...
Biofuels world production has increased sharply in recent years. Oil reserves depletion, the oil high price and the confidence in biofuels “carbon neutrality” are the main causes of this phenomenon. However, claims related to the negative consequences of biofuel programs are frequent; mainly those related to the biofuels/food competition and sustainability. This paper aims to contribute for the development of a framework for sustainability indicators as a tool for performance assessment. The most used indicators to measure the biofuels sustainability are: Life Cycle Energy Balance (LCEB), quantity of fossil energy substituted per hectare, co-product energy allocation, life cycle carbon balance and changes in soil...
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This dataset was developed as part of the Designing Sustainble Landscapes project led by Professor Kevin McGarigal of UMass Amherst and sponsored by the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (https://www.fws.gov/science/catalog); for more information about the entire project see: http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/dsl/dsl.htmlThis dataset was last updated 02/2017. The revised version incorporates the addition of a simplified version of The Nature Conservancy's Northeast lakes and ponds classification, visit https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationByGeography/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/edc/reportsdata/freshwater/Pages/Northeast-Lakes.aspx for more details.This dataset represents terrestrial...
Two field studies revealed large differences among various subgroups in the population of car drivers. Private drivers, commuters, and business drivers differed strongly with respect to current decisions and behaviour which affect CO2 emissions, and with respect to their sensitivity to various policy instruments. Several promising policy targets were identified" combinations of user groups and behaviours where substantial CO2 reduction may be achieved. The sensitivity of different car user groups to various policy measures showed whether and how desired behavioral changes may be realised.
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...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Building, energy, future, sustainable
The cleanliness of hydrogen and the efficiency of fuel cells taken together offer an appealing alternative to fossil fuels. Implementing hydrogen-powered fuel cells on a significant scale, however, requires major advances in hydrogen production, storage, and use. Splitting water renewably offers the most plentiful and climate-friendly source of hydrogen and can be achieved through electrolytic, photochemical, or biological means. Whereas presently available hydride compounds cannot easily satisfy the competing requirements for on-board storage of hydrogen for transportation, nanoscience offers promising new approaches to this challenge. Fuel cells offer potentially efficient production of electricity for transportation...
In the last decade, climate change has been one of the major concerns with regard to the health of the earth's ecosystem. The problem of a changing climate is related to not only climate, energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases, but also effects of such a change on the earth's ecosystems, resources and human settlements, as well as the need to reduce or avoid these effects. In this study, an inexact-fuzzy multiobjective programming model was proposed for adaptation planning of land resources management in the Mackenzie Basin under changing climate. This integrated adaptation planning enables the inclusion of systems interaction and feedback mechanisms and can therefore yield insights that scattered...
Dumper operators are exposed to whole body vibration (WBV) in the course of their work. The exposure to WBV in a coal mine in Central India was investigated through measurement of the magnitude of vibration and exposure time. The vibration magnitude along the dominant Z-axis ranged from 0.644 to 1.82 m/s2 in terms of root mean square acceleration. When evaluated in conjunction with their average daily exposure time of 5 h, all dumpers caused elevated health risk for their operators according to guidelines in ISO 2631-1:1997 WBV standard. Health risks were re-affirmed when vibration dose value (VDV) was applied as an additional tool for risk assessment. Forty dumper operators and 20 controls from the same mine were...
In building a governance regime to address climate change, should we prioritize the development of global institutions or national ones? This paper focuses on two neglected characteristics to inform the governance problem: the incentives for investment in low-carbon energy technology and the influence of historical policy volatility. Examining a case study of an important low-carbon energy technology, wind power, this study finds: (1) policy volatility has been substantial, (2) policy changes were uncorrelated across jurisdictions, suggesting that (3) investors could have substantially reduced their exposure to the risk of policy volatility by operating globally. While it also has downsides, a poorly coordinated...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: energy, sustainable, transition, trust
The recent global commodities price boom prompted a significant growth in mineral exploration projects in British Columbia (BC). These now face the impacts of the recession in the global economy. The forests in BC where many of these projects are underway is also facing a massive, climate-change related, pine beetle infestation which along with the housing slowdown in North America is causing a collapse of the region's forestry industry. Mining development could create new jobs through economic development, reducing the exodus of skilled workers and nurturing the already fragile state of many rural communities, including First Nations. Recent issues over new BC mining projects and their impacts on surrounding communities...
By replacing fossil fuels bioenergy has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but indirect effects might partly or even completely eliminate this benefit. Production of bio-energy products, such as biofuels for transport, causes several indirect effects through their interactions with the global economic and physical systems. Indirect land-use change leads to GHG emissions – in some cases in the same order of magnitude as the fossil emissions – and loss of nature, but there are other relevant indirect effects as well. Intensification of agricultural production is another indirect effect and could be stimulated more to minimise the undesirable land conversion. However, intensification through increased...
Revegetation and cattle production are major objectives in the reclamation plan for mine tailings at the Highland Valley Copper mine in Canada. Residual molybdenum (Mo) in the tailings is imbibed by vegetation and forages accumulate up to 400 ppm Mo at the Highmont tailings pond. Grazing studies with cattle determined the feasibility of utilising the site for livestock production and published results are reviewed. Clinical evaluations (1999?2001) revealed signs of lameness, diarrhoea and hair coat depigmentation in cows but they recovered without treatment. Supplement trials (2002 ? 2004) demonstrated the efficacy of copper (Cu) sulphate for the alleviation of clinical disorders. Dietary Mo was rapidly eliminated...
This paper describes a part of our feasibility study on the storage of hydrogen in the form of clathrate hydrates. The specific objective of this paper is to present conceptual designs of hydrogen-hydrate production plants applicable to large-scale in situ storage of hydrogen produced in an industrial complex area or to smaller-scale urban-area storage of hydrogen which is to be transported from the industrial complex area by container trucks. The plants were so designed as to produce either a simple hydrogen hydrate under a pressure of 35 MPa and a temperature of 140 K or a mixed hydrogen + tetrahydrofuran hydrate under a pressure of 30 MPa and a temperature of 223 K. In either case, the rate of hydrogen uptake...
This paper describes a part of our feasibility study on the storage of hydrogen in the form of clathrate hydrates. The specific objective of this paper is to present conceptual designs of hydrogen-hydrate production plants applicable to large-scale in situ storage of hydrogen produced in an industrial complex area or to smaller-scale urban-area storage of hydrogen which is to be transported from the industrial complex area by container trucks. The plants were so designed as to produce either a simple hydrogen hydrate under a pressure of 35 MPa and a temperature of 140 K or a mixed hydrogen + tetrahydrofuran hydrate under a pressure of 30 MPa and a temperature of 223 K. In either case, the rate of hydrogen uptake...
Many people believe that 'sustainable solutions' to global air pollution and climate change should include significant changes in human consumption and lifestyles. Under this heading six different NRP projects have been conducted. This chapter gives a review and assessment of these projects, supplemented with discussions of related research. The paper starts with a general statement of the environmental problem of household metabolism as a key component of the socio-economic production- consumption cycle. It summarises and comments upon nine different (sub)projects. And it ends with general observations, conclusions and suggestions for research and policy in relation to sustainable consumption patterns. Conceptual...
The possible impacts of a climatic change associated with an increase in CO2 on the hydrology of forests is evaluated by applying sensitivity analysis and a climatic scenario to a one-dimensional model. Water consumption of forests is affected by changes in plant physiology and meteorological environment. Changes in species composition are not taken into account. Increase in CO2 leads to a decrease of stomatal conductance, resulting in a decrease in transpiration of 10-30%. The evaporation of rainfall interception by the canopy is increased due to a higher leaf area index and higher temperatures. Application of a wet scenario shows an increase in total interception, but the ratio between interception and precipitation...
map background search result map search result map Terrestrial and Aquatic Habitat Map (DSLland), Version 3.1, Northeast U.S. Index of Ecological Integrity, Stratified by Ecosystem, Region-wide, Version 3.2, Northeast U.S. Terrestrial and Aquatic Habitat Map (DSLland), Version 3.1, Northeast U.S. Index of Ecological Integrity, Stratified by Ecosystem, Region-wide, Version 3.2, Northeast U.S.