Exploring Agricultural Production Systems and Their Fundamental Components with System Dynamics Modelling

Agricultural production in the United States is undergoing marked changes due to rapid shifts in consumer demands, input costs, and concerns for food safety and environmental impact. Agricultural production systems are comprised of multidimensional components and drivers that interact in complex ways to influence production sustainability. In a mixed-methods approach, we combine qualitative and quantitative data to develop and simulate a system dynamics model that explores the systemic interaction of these drivers on the economic, environmental and social sustainability of agricultural production. We then use this model to evaluate the role of each driver in determining the differences in sustainability between three distinct production systems: crops only, livestock only, and an integrated crops and livestock system. The result from these modelling efforts found that the greatest potential for sustainability existed with the crops only production system. While this study presents a stand-alone contribution to sector knowledge and practice, it encourages future research in this sector that employs similar systems-based methods to enable more sustainable practices and policies within agricultural production

Water Integration for Squamscott Exeter (WISE): Preliminary Integrated Plan, Final Technical Report

This document introduces the goals, background and primary elements of an Integrated Plan for the Lower Exeter and Squamscott River in the Great Bay estuary in southern New Hampshire. This Plan will support management of point (wastewater treatment plant) and nonpoint sources in the communities of Exeter, Stratham and Newfields. The Plan also identifies and quantifies the advantages of the use of green infrastructure as a critical tool for nitrogen management and describes how collaboration between those communities could form the basis for an integrated plan. The Plan will help communities meet new wastewater and proposed stormwater permit requirements. Critical next steps are need before this Plan will fulfill the 2018 Nitrogen Control Plan requirements for Exeter and proposed draft MS4 requirements for both Stratham and Exeter. These next steps include conducting a financial capability assessment, development of an implementation schedule and development of a detailed implementation plan. The collaborative process used to develop this Plan was designed to provide decision makers at the local, state and federal levels with the knowledge they need to trust the Plan’s findings and recommendations, and to enable discussions between stakeholders to continue the collaborative process. This Plan includes the following information to guide local response to new federal permit requirements for treating and discharging stormwater and wastewater: Sources of annual pollutant load quantified by type and community; Assessment and evaluation of different treatment control strategies for each type of pollutant load; Assessment and evaluation of nutrient control strategies designed to reduce specific types of pollutants; Evaluation of a range of point source controls at the wastewater treatment facility based on regulatory requirements; Costs associated with a range of potential control strategies to achieve reduction of nitrogen and other pollutants of concern; and A preliminary implementation schedule with milestones for target load reductions using specific practices for specific land uses at points in time; Recommendations on how to implement a tracking and accounting program to document implementation; Design tools such as BMP performance curves for crediting the use of structural practices to support nitrogen accounting requirements; and Next Steps for how to complete this Plan

Project Management in Civil Design of a Daycare and Preschool

This report is an overview of a civil design process, based on the example of a Kiddiegarten School of Maple Grove project; it shows how to plan and manage a construction project, how to do project’s economic analysis; how to perform civil design. Careful financial planning should be done before any construction. Net present value and internal rate of return methods were used to determine if the project brings any return on investment. Work breakdown structure and responsibility matrix were the first steps for defining the project; the project timeline was created next and main milestones defined. Civil design started with an extensive requirements research and best available technologies analysis. Preliminary design included a set of plans and supportive documents for the PUD approval application in the City of Maple Grove. The project shows good return on investment during the stable state. The plans were submitted on time and approved by the City of Maple Grove. The project results can be used for future design and project management work on similar facilities. This report is an overview of a civil design process, based on the example of a Kiddiegarten School of Maple Grove project; it shows how to plan and manage a construction project, how to do project’s economic analysis; how to perform civil design. Careful financial planning should be done before any construction. Net present value and internal rate of return methods were used to determine if the project brings any return on investment. Work breakdown structure and responsibility matrix were the first steps for defining the project; the project timeline was created next and main milestones defined. Civil design started with an extensive requirements research and best available technologies analysis. Preliminary design included a set of plans and supportive documents for the PUD approval application in the City of Maple Grove. The project shows good return on investment during the stable state. The plans were submitted on time and approved by the City of Maple Grove. The project results can be used for future design and project management work on similar facilities

Thermal power systems small power systems application project: Siting issues for solar thermal power plants with small community applications

The siting issues associated with small, dispersed solar thermal power plants for utility/small community applications of less than 10 MWe are reported. Some specific requirements are refered to the first engineering experiment for the Small Power Systems Applications (SPSA) Project. The background for the subsequent issue discussions is provided. The SPSA Project and the requirements for the first engineering experiment are described, and the objectives and scope for the report as a whole. A overview of solar thermal technologies and some technology options are discussed

Barlean\u27s Organic Oils: rezone & expansion: environmental impact assessment

In the spring of 2010 Barlean\u27s Organic Oils, LLC. applied to Whatcom County to rezone 35 acres on their 40 acre property from rural-5 (R5A) to Light Impact Industrial (LII). The purpose the rezone is to expand their processing facilities and warehousing storage capacity. Barlean\u27s is a fish oil and flax seed oil processing plant located in Whatcom County, WA. Specifically, Barlean\u27s Organic Oils, LLC. headquarters and processing facilities are located on the southwest 10-acres of their 40-acre square property, northeast of the Slater Road and Lake Terrell Road junction. Barlean\u27s is adjacent to ConocoPhillips\u27 crude oil refinery to the west, privately owned rural county residents on the north and east, and the Lummi Nation Reservation to the south. In February of 2011, Whatcom County approved the rezone of 35 acres of the Barlean\u27s property. Before the rezone, Barleans\u27 processing facilities were operating under conditional use permits (CUP1993-0036, CUP1997-00002 and CUP2000-00024) and were restricted to the southwest 10 acres. The rezone changed 35 acres of Barleans\u27 property from a R5A zone to a LII zoning designation. The zoning has been approved by the county but the buildings that Barlean\u27s intends to construct on the rezoned land have yet to be permitted. There are four 20,000 square foot buildings Barlean\u27s plans to add outside the originally developed 10-acre area as well as two additional pre-approved 20,000 and 5,000 square foot facilities on the existing 10 acres. These buildings will house a protein plant, dry boat storage, seed storage, packing plant, material warehousing and office space. In addition, Barlean\u27s plans to build a 27,000 square foot, four-foot deep drainage pond on the southeast corner of the property to account for impervious surface water runoff. The drainage pond will be located within the new LII zone between a category IV wetland area and the proposed material warehousing building (Figure 4). An employee nature walk and a 25-foot wide quick growing native plant buffer is planned to the north and east sides of the rezone area to mitigate encroaching expansion toward the neighbors (Figure 4) In all, the new operational LII zone will include 35 acres, leaving a five acre triangular plot on the northeast corner of the property that will remain a R5A zone for future residential use (Figure 2)

Hawaii geothermal drilling guide : Circular C-126

Contents: introduction -- rules and regulations -- drilling -- casing and cementing -- blowout prevention -- well completion & testing -- monitoring and reporting -- workovers, plugging, and abandonment -- emerging technology -- illustrations -- appendices"This Geothermal Drilling Guide has been prepared at the request of the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to provide a single, comprehensive document that describes geothermal drilling and well-testing operations for the use of potential developers, operators, and stakeholders. This guide is intended as a general reference for common practices currently found in the geothermal industry. For site-specific well programs, detailed analysis of all available project data should be performed in order to ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and county regulations.""Prepared by GeothermEx, Inc., a Schlumberger company."Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawai

Community rotorcraft air transportation benefits and opportunities

Information about rotorcraft that will assist community planners in assessing and planning for the use of rotorcraft transportation in their communities is provided. Information useful to helicopter researchers, manufacturers, and operators concerning helicopter opportunities and benefits is also given. Three primary topics are discussed: the current status and future projections of rotorcraft technology, and the comparison of that technology with other transportation vehicles; the community benefits of promising rotorcraft transportation opportunities; and the integration and interfacing considerations between rotorcraft and other transportation vehicles. Helicopter applications in a number of business and public service fields are examined in various geographical settings

A Comparative Evaluation of State Policies and Programs for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that over 45 percent of the nation\u27s waterbodies are impaired and has identified nonpoint sources as the major contributors to water quality problems. Although federal and state government agencies have largely controlled pollution from point sources through infrastructure grants and permit programs, few statutes and regulations target nonpoint sources. One exception is the Clean Water Act\u27s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations that require the states to identify causes and sources of impairments and allocate pollutant loads for point and nonpoint sources to achieve the fishable, swimmable standard of water quality. However, the federal and state governments have made little progress towards implementation of TMDLs and enforcement of other nonpoint source pollution controls. Government entities at all three levels--federal, state, and local--have not enforced requirements for pollution control, have lacked coordination with interested parties, and have implemented primarily rigid command-and-control programs. Traditional nonpoint source control programs and policies are not effective in reducing nonpoint source pollution. As an alternative to traditional regulation and program approaches, federal policy has moved to manage pollution in our waterways with flexible and innovative programs, such as water pollution trading and offsets. This research evaluates nonpoint source pollution policies and programs at the federal, state, and local levels, using the Chesapeake Bay watershed as a case study. The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, is not meeting water quality standards due to high concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment, among other contaminants. This research determines the types of regulations and programs that government entities have implemented within a multi-state watershed and assesses their impacts on water quality. Using qualitative and quantitative measures, this study evaluates environmental impacts, economic factors, land-based indicators, as well as, program structure and implementation on nonpoint source pollution. Additionally, this research identifies factors that contribute to the effectiveness of nonpoint source pollution reduction programs. The multi-criteria state evaluation and local watershed prioritization discern the major characteristics that result in effective programs and policies and provide insight into nonpoint source program and policy improvements