Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

The Role Of Environmental Filtering In Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences On Functional Diversity Are Mediated Through Soil Characteristics, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Ryan McEwan

Identifying the drivers of community assembly has long been a central goal in ecology, and the development of functional diversity indices has provided a new way of detecting the influence of environmental gradients on biotic communities. For an old-growth Appalachian forest, we used path analysis to understand how patterns of tree functional diversity relate to topography and soil gradients and to determine whether topographic effects are mediated through soil chemistry. All of our path models supported the idea of environmental filtering: stressful areas (high elevation, low soil moisture, low soil nutrients) were occupied by communities of low functional diversity, which …

Chapter One: Overview Of The Limpopo Basin, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Global Fossil Energy Markets And Climate Change Mitigation: An Analysis With Remind, Nico Bauer, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Gunnar Luderer, Lavinia Baumstark, Robert Brecha, Ottmar Edenhofer, Elmar Kriegler

Robert J. Brecha

We analyze the dynamics of global fossil resource markets under different assumptions for the supply of fossil fuel resources, development pathways for energy demand, and climate policy settings. Resource markets, in particular the oil market, are characterized by a large discrepancy between costs of resource extraction and commodity prices on international markets. We explain this observation in terms of (a) the intertemporal scarcity rent, (b) regional price differentials arising from trade and transport costs, (c) heterogeneity and inertia in the extraction sector. These effects are captured by the REMIND model. We use the model to explore economic effects of changes …

Logistic Curves, Extraction Costs And Peak Oil, Robert Brecha

Robert J. Brecha

Debates about the possibility of a near-term maximum in world oil production have become increasingly prominent over the past decade, with the focus often being on the quantification of geologically available and technologically recoverable amounts of oil in the ground. Economically, the important parameter is not a physical limit to resources in the ground, but whether market price signals and costs of extraction will indicate the efficiency of extracting conventional or nonconventional resources as opposed to making substitutions over time for other fuels and technologies. We present a hybrid approach to the peak-oil question with two models in which the …

Economic And Environmental Impacts Of Community-Based Residential Building Energy Efficiency Investment, Jun-Ki Choi, Drew Morrison, Kevin Hallinan, Robert Brecha

Robert J. Brecha

A systematic framework for evaluating the local economic and environmental impacts of investment in building energy efficiency is developed. Historical residential building energy data, community-wide economic input-output data, and emission intensity data are utilized. The aim of this study is to show the comprehensive insights and connection among achieving variable target reductions for a residential building energy use, economic and environmental impacts. Central to this approach for the building energy reduction goal is the creation of individual energy models for each building based upon historical energy data and available building data. From these models, savings estimates and cost implications can …

Development Without Energy? Assessing Future Scenarios Of Energy Consumption In Developing Countries, Jan Steckel, Robert Brecha, Michael Jakob, Jessica Strefler, Gunnar Luderer

Robert J. Brecha

We analyze the relationship between economic development and energy consumption in the context of greenhouse gas mitigation. The main contribution of this work is to compare estimates of energy thresholds in the form of minimum energy requirements to reach high levels of development with output projections of per capita final energy supply from a group of integrated assessment models (IAMs). Scenarios project that reductions of carbon emissions in developing countries will be achieved not only by means of decreasing the carbon intensity, but also by making a significant break with the historically observed relationship between energy use and economic growth. …

Sixth Edition, Global Environment Outlook (Geo-6) Regional Assessment For Africa, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Biography, Julie Elaine N. Irish

Julie Elaine Irish

Variable Renewable Energy In Modeling Climate Change Mitigation Scenarios, Falko Ueckerdt, Robert J. Brecha, Gunnar Luderer, Patrick Sullivan, Eva Schmid, Nico Bauer, Diana Böttger

Robert J. Brecha

This paper addresses the issue of how to account for short‐term temporal variability of renewable energy sources and power demand in long‐term climate change mitigation scenarios in energy‐economic models. An approach that captures in a stylized way the major challenges to the integration of variable renewable energy sources into power systems has been developed. As a first application this approach has been introduced to REMIND‐D, a hybrid energy‐economy model of Germany. An approximation of the residual load duration curve is implemented. The approximating function endogenously changes depending on the penetration and mix of variable renewable power. The approach can thus …

Rose: Roadmaps Towards Sustainable Energy Futures And Climate Protection: A Synthesis Of Results From The Rose Project, Elmar Kriegler, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Gunnar Luderer, Nico Bauer, Katherine Calvin, Enrica Decian, Robert J. Brecha, Wenying Chen, Aleh Cherp, Jae Edmonds, Kejun Jiang, Shonali Pachauri, Fabio Sferra, Massimo Tavoni, Ottmar Edenhofer

Robert J. Brecha

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Exploring energy demand and supply uncertainty: An exploration of uncertainty on drivers of energy demand and supply is indispensable for better understanding the prospects of long-tern climate stabilization. The RoSE study is the first of its kind to systematically explore the impact of economic growth, population and fossil fuel scarcity, in scenarios with and without climate policy, using a model ensemble. A feature of RoSE is the participation of five established integrated assessment modelling teams from three important regions in international climate policy negotiations: the EU, the USA and China. Economic growth: Neither slow nor rapid economic growth …

Economics Of Nuclear Power And Climate Change Mitigation Policies, Nico Bauer, Robert Brecha, Gunnar Luderer

Robert J. Brecha

The events of March 2011 at the nuclear power complex in Fukushima, Japan, raised questions about the safe operation of nuclear power plants, with early retirement of existing nuclear power plants being debated in the policy arena and considered by regulators. Also, the future of building new nuclear power plants is highly uncertain. Should nuclear power policies become more restrictive, one potential option for climate change mitigation will be less available. However, a systematic analysis of nuclear power policies, including early retirement, has been missing in the climate change mitigation literature. We apply an energy economy model framework to derive …

Renewable Energy In The Context Of Sustainable Development, Jayant Sathaye, Oswaldo Lucon, Atiq Rahman, John Christensen, Fatima Denton, Junichi Fujino, Garvin Heath, Monirul Mirza, Hugh Rudnick, August Schlaepfer, Andrey Shmakin, Gerhard Angerer, Christian Bauer, Morgan Bazilian, Robert J. Brecha, Peter Burgherr, Leon Clarke, Felix Creutzig, James Edmonds, Christian Hagelüken, Gerrit Hansen, Nathan Hultman, Michael Jakob, Susanne Kadner, Manfred Lenzen, Jordan Macknick, Eric Masanet, Yu Nagai, Anne Olhoff, Karen Olsen, Michael Pahle, Ari Rabl, Richard Richels, Joyashree Roy, Tormod Schei, Christoph Von Stechow, Jan Christoph Steckel, Ethan Warner, Tom Wilbanks, Yimin Zhang

Robert J. Brecha

Historically, economic development has been strongly correlated with increasing energy use and growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Renewable energy (RE) can help decouple that correlation, contributing to sustainable development (SD). In addition, RE offers the opportunity to improve access to modern energy services for the poorest members of society, which is crucial for the achievement of any single of the eight Millennium Development Goals. Theoretical concepts of SD can provide useful frameworks to assess the interactions between SD and RE. SD addresses concerns about relationships between human society and nature. Traditionally, SD has been framed in the three-pillar model—Economy, …

Ten Reasons To Take Peak Oil Seriously, Robert Brecha

Robert J. Brecha

Forty years ago, the results of modeling, as presented in The Limits to Growth, reinvigorated a discussion about exponentially growing consumption of natural resources, ranging from metals to fossil fuels to atmospheric capacity, and how such consumption could not continue far into the future. Fifteen years earlier, M. King Hubbert had made the projection that petroleum production in the continental United States would likely reach a maximum around 1970, followed by a world production maximum a few decades later. The debate about “peak oil," as it has come to be called, is accompanied by some of the same vociferous denials, …

Attitudes And Perspectives Of Front-Line Workers In Environmental Policy: A Case Study Of Ohio Epa And Wisconsin Dnr, Sara Rinfret, Michelle Pautz

Michelle Pautz

This research is an effort to focus on frontline regulators with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. An online survey was conducted of frontline regulators in these agencies to explore their knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives on policy implementation. More specifically, we endeavor to answer how frontline workers implement environmental policy. To analyze these data, we use two categorizations of factors (knowledge and attitudes, and contextual factors) offered by May and Winter (2009) to examine what influences the decision making of frontline regulators in their regulatory interactions. We find that despite common presumptions of adversarialism in …

Video Feature — Banned Books And The Stuart Rose Collection, Robert Brecha, Una Cadegan, John Inglis, Paul Morman

Robert J. Brecha

A faculty panel discussion in two sessions:

Session 1:
The Index: Una Cadegan (history) looks at the current scholarship on the Index of Forbidden Books.
Galileo: Robert Brecha (physics) highlights the banning of Galileo and observational science.

Session 2:
Thomas Aquinas: John Inglis (philosophy) speaks on the banning of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica, the most important book in Catholic intellectual tradition.
Descartes and the Index of Forbidden Books: Paul Morman (history, Distinguished Service Professor) highlights the book by Descartes that he was not allowed to study while a student at UD in the 1960s.

Climate Change Adaptation And Water In Semi-Arid Regions: A Case Study Of The Limpopo River Basin, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Input–Output Analysis Of Virtual Water Transfers: Case Study Of California And Illinois, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Recommendations For Integrating Environmental Justice Into The Epa's Research Enterprise

Earthea Nance, PhD (Stanford University, 2004)

Geography Of Waste As A New Approach In Waste Management Study,, Florin C. Mihai

Florin C MIHAI

Municipal waste management in the last two decades has become a global environmental priority in the context of increasing amounts of waste generated due to the development of a mass consumer society. Various issues of waste management , territorial and temporal variability, spatial analysis of treatment or disposal facilities, systemic implications on the environment, the harmonization of international policy at national, regional and local level are solid arguments for studying this field by geography. Mostly technical or economic studies, lacking a vision of territory are supplemented in the conceptual and methodological level by geographers. This paper performed on the one …

Local Governments’ Risk-Based Approach To Climate Change Adaptation: A Missed Opportunity For Resilience In New South Wales, Nadine E. White

Nadine E White

Parts of New South Wales (NSW) have experienced warming of 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius in the period 1960 to 2009, indicating that the impacts of climate change are already being felt. Immediate, effective adaptation to potential impacts is crucial in reducing vulnerability to climate change. All three levels of government in Australia have a role in adaptation planning however it is local government that is at the ‘coal face’ of the outcomes of imminent climatic changes. This empirical research seeks to discover whether the existing institutional and cultural environment of local governments in NSW facilitates or impedes effective adaptation. …

Ocena Efektów Modernizacji Systemu Oczyszczania I Ewakuacji Spalin Na Wybranych Przykładach, Robert Oleniacz, Marcelina Groborz, Michał Ożóg

Robert Oleniacz

The paper presents an assessment of changes in air emissions and impacts on air quality resulting from the modernization of flue gas cleaning and evacuation in two Polish coal-fired power plants. These modernizations were associated with the construction of flue gas desulphurisation systems and use for discharging desulphurized gases separate stacks with a height of 120 m. On the basis of analyzes and atmospheric dispersion modeling, it was found that the changes in the effective height of emitters (the apparent point of emission), due to additional reducing of flue gas volume in existing chimneys, caused that important ecological effects of …

Wpływ Zakładu Unieszkodliwiania Stałych Odpadów Komunalnych W Warszawie Na Jakość Powietrza, Robert Oleniacz, Jadwiga Antolak

Robert Oleniacz

The paper presents the results of air quality impact assessment carried out for the Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Plant in Warsaw. As part of the plant is working so far the only municipal solid waste incinerator in Poland. Following the evaluation, including data for the year 2008, it was found that it is a minor source of emissions to air and causes a slight air pollution. The highest maximum one-hour and annual average concentrations caused at ground level are many times lower than the respective reference (or permissible) values and background values for analyzed substances in the air. Increasing the …

Africa Water Atlas, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Impact Of A Large Medical Waste Incinerator On Air Quality, Robert Oleniacz

Robert Oleniacz

In the paper, an assessment of the compliance with air emission limit values and the impact on air quality of one of the largest medical waste incinerators in Poland, with a total capacity of about 300 kg/h (two incineration lines) is presented. The assessment took the results of continuous and periodic measurements of emissions in the plant’s installation over a period of 12 months’ operation into account. For this period, a calculation was performed for the spread of air pollutants emitted by the two operating incineration lines. According to the analysis and calculations, the analysed medical waste incineration plant does …

Palaeoecology: A Tool To Improve The Management Of Australian Estuaries, Krystyna M. Saunders, Kathryn H. Taffs

Dr Kathryn H Taffs

Addressing environmental problems in estuaries is a worldwide problem. Establishing benchmarks and targets for management is critical, whether the aim is conservation, restoration or ‘sustainable wise use’. Palaeoecological techniques have rapidly improved during the past decade, particularly with advances in methods that allow high resolution quantitative assessments of environmental change, allowing pre-impact conditions, the rate, extent and direction of change, and range of natural variability to be determined. Australian estuarine ecosystems are qualitatively different to the often more well-studied estuaries in North America and Europe, which means site-specific studies of Australian estuaries are needed to inform management. While a potentially …

Suchy System Oczyszczania Spalin Ze Spalania Odpadów Niebezpiecznych – Ocena Skuteczności Usuwania Substancji Gazowych I Możliwości Spełniania Standardów Emisyjnych, Robert Oleniacz

Robert Oleniacz

The research object was a medical waste incineration plant with a flue-gas treatment system based on dry sorption agent injection to combustion gases before a high-efficiency particulate collector. A combustion system was consisted with the fluidized bed reactor (starved air gasifier) and the secondary combustion chamber. As the dry absorbent was used a mixture of high reactive hydrated lime and activated carbon. Activated carbon content in the mixture was 5-10 % by mass. The absorbent was injected in the minimal recommended amount (4-5 kg/h). Applied collector was a ceramic filter with total filtration area of 120 m2 and guaranteed outlet …

Water Resource Requirements Of Corn-Based Ethanol, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Southern Africa Environment Outlook 2008, Stanley Mubako

Stanley Mubako

No abstract provided.

Ocena Wpływu Planowanego Zakładu Termicznego Przekształcania Odpadów Komunalnych Na Jakość Powietrza W Krakowie, Robert Oleniacz, Maria Pilch

Robert Oleniacz

Construction of the Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) plant is considered optimal in the Programme of Management of Solid Waste in Krakow as well as in proposed scenarios of Municipal Waste Management. Evaluation of impact of the incineration plant with a capacity of 255000 tons per year on air quality in Krakow is presented in this work. The evaluation is based on assumption that air pollutant emissions from the incinerator will be at the highest allowed level resulting from emission limit values for waste incineration plants with operation time each of two planned lines 7500 hours per year. Calculation results …

Ocena Wpływu Planowanego Zakładu Termicznego Przekształcania Odpadów Komunalnych Na Jakość Powietrza W Krakowie, Robert Oleniacz, Maria Pilch

Robert Oleniacz

The work presents air quality impact assessment for the planned Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) plant in Krakow with a established capacity of 255000 tons per year. The evaluation is based on assumption that air pollutant emissions from the incinerator will be at the highest allowed level resulting from emission limit values for waste incineration plants with operation time each of two planned lines 7500 hours per year. Calculation results for the one of the considered localization of the MSWI plant in Krakow (district of Nowa Huta) support the thesis that building the incineration plant of this size will not …