Lake Winnipeg Basin Indicator Series

Environmental indicators are measurements of the condition of an ecosystem, or the state of its health. They condense complex environmental data into understandable information, and can help show progress towards targets or goals. Examples of indicators include: descriptions of observed conditions within the lake, such as water quality conditions, other ecosystem conditions, such as the health of the fishery, watershed indicators, such as status of wetlands in the basi

Tidal energy machines: A comparative life cycle assessment

Marine energy in the UK is currently undergoing a period of exponential growth in terms of development and implementation. The current installed tidal energy capacity of around 4MW is expected to rise to provide up to 20% of the UK’s electricity demand by 2050 [5]. With this in mind, there is a huge range of energy devices, all seemingly promoted by their developers as the best method of extracting power from the ocean. Embodied energy is an important aspect of any power producing device or process, and is used to describe the amount of energy required to begin and maintain the process of energy generation. Until a device or process has generated this amount of energy it cannot be said to be a net contributor of energy. This work used Life Cycle Assessment to study four tidal energy devices, representing a cross section of the existing designs, and compares their embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions. In order to ensure a fair comparison, a hypothetical installation site is used, with conditions typical of those found at potential array installation sites in the UK. The designs studied include a multi-blade turbine, two three blade horizontal axis turbine machines, and an Archimedes’ screw device. These machines were chosen to represent a cross section of device, foundation, installation and operation designs. They have all been developed to prototype stage, meaning that actual manufacturing data is available. Embodied energy is considered over the entire lifetime of each device, beginning with extraction of raw materials. Energy use from fabrication, transport, installation, lifetime maintenance, end-of-life decommissioning and recycling are all calculated, and compared to the energy generation from each device at the test site. Finally, the embodied energy; CO2 intensity; and energy payback periods are compared to those of conventional power generating systems as well as other renewable energy sources. A range of data sources are used. Embodied energy of steel has been provided by the World Steel Association. Of the four devices studied, all were found to achieve CO2 and energy payback within the first 12 years of their lifetime, and exhibited CO2 intensity of between 18 and 35 gCO2/kWh. This compares favourably to many current energy sources, and is likely to fall as technology improves, array size increases and industry experience progresses

NDC Highlights

NDC Highlights is a bimonthly newsletter of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission, focusing on disseminating information and knowledge on the implementation of Ethiopia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). It provides details of current news, activities, events, conferences and publications. This issue features articles on: non-motorized transportation and Ethiopia’s transport sector; and, “nature-based solutions” interventions that range from enhancing agroforestry and sustainable afforestation of degraded forest areas, to improving ecosystem health through ecological farming

NDC Highlights Newsletter

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherland

The availability of land for perennial energy crops in Great Britain

This paper defines the potentially available land for perennial energy crops across Great Britain as the first component of a broader appraisal undertaken by the ‘Spatial Modelling of Bioenergy in Great Britain to 2050’ project. Combining data on seven primary constraints in a GIS reduced the available area to just over 9 M ha (40% of GB). Adding other restrictions based on land cover naturalness scores to represent landscape considerations resulted in a final area of 8.5 M ha (37% of GB). This distribution was compared with the locations of Miscanthus and SRC willow established under the English Energy Crop Scheme during 2001–2011 and it was found that 83% of the planting fell within the defined available land. Such a correspondence provides confidence that the factors considered in the analysis were broadly consistent with previous planting decisions

India's intended nationally determined contribution: working towards climate justice

"With the responsibility of ensuring a reasonable HDI for the country and the economic progress of its vast population, India has attempted to follow a path 'cleaner' than the one followed by many countries in the past. Today these countries may be in the forefront of Page 3 of 38 development, even providing a model of growth to other developing countries. However, if India compares the emission intensity of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) terms at present with those countries at a similar level of development, it is seen that their emissions then were far more than India’s at present. This is as much on account of India being open and innovative in embracing new technology and a cleaner way of doing things, as it is from the inherent principles of sustainability ingrained in its thought process.

Methane Flux from Drained Northern Peatlands: Effect of a Persistent Water Table Lowering on Flux

Measurements of CH4 flux from drained and undrained sites in three northern Ontario peatlands (a treed fen, a forested bog, and a treed bog) were made from the beginning of May to the end of October 1991. In the drained portions, the water table had been lowered between 0.1 and 0.5 m, compared to the water table of the undrained portion of the peatlands. The mean seasonal CH4 flux from the undrained portions of three peatlands was small, ranging from 0 to 8 mg m-2d-1, but similar to the CH4 flux from other treed and forested northern peatlands. The mean seasonal CH4 flux from the drained portion of the peatlands was either near zero or slightly negative (i.e., uptake): fluxes ranged from 0.1 to -0.4 mg m-2d-1. Profiles of CH4 in the air-filled pores in the unsaturated zone, and the water-filled pores of the saturated zone of the peat at the undrained sites, showed that all the CH4 produced at depth was consumed within 0.2 m of the water table and that atmospheric CH4 was consumed in the upper 0.15 m of the peatland. On the basis of laboratory incubations of peat slurries to determine CH4 production and consumption potentials, the lowering of the water table eliminated the near-surface zone of CH4 production that existed in the undrained peatland. However, drainage did not alter significantly the potential for CH4 oxidation between the water table and peatland surface but increased the thickness of the layer over which CH4 oxidation could take place. These changes occurred with a drop in the mean summer water table of only 0.1 m (from -0.2 to -0.3 m) suggesting that only a small negative change in soil moisture would be required to significantly reduce CH4 flux from northern peatlands

Climate Regime Beyond 2012: Key Perspectives (Long-Term Targets), 2nd Interim Report

This report presents the international developments related to Long-Term Targets for controlling climate change, the significance of establishing Long-Term Targets, the conditions precedent to debating Long-Term Targets, temperature increases and related impacts due to climate change, the approaches to establishing Long-Term Targets, and the agenda for the future