The evaluation of national accounting matrices with environmental accounts (NAMEA) as a methodology for carrying out a sustainability assessment of the Scottish food and drink sector

This report introduces environmental input-output (IO) accounts for Scotland as an example of a NAMEA framework. It provides an introduction to the use of basic IO multiplier methodology, which can be applied to examine pollution/waste generation and/or resource use under production and consumption accounting principles

DiMIZA : a dispersion modeling based impact zone assessment of mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants and risk evaluation for inhalation exposure

Coal-fired combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) serving large districts are among the major sources of mercury (Hg) emissions globally, including Central Asia. Most CHPPs reside on the outskirts of urban areas, thus creating risk zones. The impact of atmospheric Hg levels on health is complex to establish due to the site-specific nature of the relationship between CHPP emissions and hotspots (i.e., localized areas where Hg concentrations greatly exceed its background value). However, a methodological identification of "emission impact zones" for atmospheric Hg emissions from CHPPs with potential adverse public health outcomes has not yet been fully studied. The present work suggests an easy-to-use and cost-free impact zone identification method based on HYSPLIT dispersion modeling for atmospheric Hg emissions from CHPPs. The dispersion modeling based impact zone assessment, DiMIZA, merges short-term dispersion runs (e.g., hourly) into long-term emission impacts (e.g., yearly), which allows to identify the source impact zones. To perform a case study using the suggested method, a CHPP plant in Nur-Sultan (capital of Kazakhstan) was selected. First, traditional ad-hoc measurements were performed to identify the level of dispersions at ground level in different atmospheric stability characteristics. Then, HYSPLIT dispersion model was run for the same days and times of those particular periods when the field measurements were performed. The model results were evaluated via a comparison with the ground measurements and assessed for their atmospheric stability and diel conditions. Due to different emission loads in heating and non-heating periods, two separate pairs of impact zone maps were generated, and public Hg exposure health risks (acute and chronic) were assessed

Strategic risk appraisal. Comparing expert- and literature-informed consequence assessments for environmental policy risks receiving national attention

Strategic risk appraisal (SRA) has been applied to compare diverse policy level risks to and from the environment in England and Wales. Its application has relied on expert-informed assessments of the potential consequences from residual risks that attract policy attention at the national scale. Here we compare consequence assessments, across environmental, economic and social impact categories that draw on ‘expert’- and ‘literature-based’ analyses of the evidence for 12 public risks appraised by Government. For environmental consequences there is reasonable agreement between the two sources of assessment, with expert-informed assessments providing a narrower dispersion of impact severity and with median values similar in scale to those produced by an analysis of the literature. The situation is more complex for economic consequences, with a greater spread in the median values, less consistency between the two assessment types and a shift toward higher severity values across the risk portfolio. For social consequences, the spread of severity values is greater still, with no consistent trend between the severities of impact expressed by the two types of assessment. For the latter, the findings suggest the need for a fuller representation of socioeconomic expertise in SRA and the workshops that inform SRA output

Modelling the impacts of agricultural management practices on river water quality in Eastern England

Agricultural diffuse water pollution remains a notable global pressure on water quality, posing risks to aquatic ecosystems, human health and water resources and as a result legislation has been introduced in many parts of the world to protect water bodies. Due to their efficiency and cost-effectiveness, water quality models have been increasingly applied to catchments as Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to identify mitigation options that can be introduced to reduce agricultural diffuse water pollution and improve water quality. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to the River Wensum catchment in eastern England with the aim of quantifying the long-term impacts of potential changes to agricultural management practices on river water quality. Calibration and validation were successfully performed at a daily time-step against observations of discharge, nitrate and total phosphorus obtained from high-frequency water quality monitoring within the Blackwater sub-catchment, covering an area of 19.6 km2. A variety of mitigation options were identified and modelled, both singly and in combination, and their long-term effects on nitrate and total phosphorus losses were quantified together with the 95% uncertainty range of model predictions. Results showed that introducing a red clover cover crop to the crop rotation scheme applied within the catchment reduced nitrate losses by 19.6%. Buffer strips of 2 m and 6 m width represented the most effective options to reduce total phosphorus losses, achieving reductions of 12.2% and 16.9%, respectively. This is one of the first studies to quantify the impacts of agricultural mitigation options on long-term water quality for nitrate and total phosphorus at a daily resolution, in addition to providing an estimate of the uncertainties of those impacts. The results highlighted the need to consider multiple pollutants, the degree of uncertainty associated with model predictions and the risk of unintended pollutant impacts when evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation options, and showed that high-frequency water quality datasets can be applied to robustly calibrate water quality models, creating DSTs that are more effective and reliable

Theoretical analysis of biogas potential prediction from agricultural waste

AbstractA simplistic theoretical study of anaerobic digestion in order to predict the biogas amount of agricultural waste is proposed. A wide variety of models exist, but most of them rely on algebraic equations instead of biochemical equations and require many input parameters as well as computation time. This work provides a simplified model that predicts the biogas amount produced and could be applied for agricultural energy feasibility studies for instance dimensioning bioreactors digesting animal waste slurries. The method can be used for other feedstock materials and repeated for other similar applications, in an effort to expand anaerobic digestion systems as a clean energy source

Feasibility of recovered toner powder as an integral pigment in concrete

Colour is an important property in many construction materials with pigments, coatings and paints being used primarily for aesthetic, safety and restoration purposes. However, the use of integral pigments in materials like mortar and concrete can significantly increase material costs. Recovered toner powder (RTP) from printer and photocopier cartridges has the potential to be a low cost, sustainable alternative pigment. The aim of this research was to examine the feasibility of using cyan, yellow, magenta and black RTP to create a range of colour options for mortar and concrete, and thereafter assess the colour stability in outdoor, indoor, UV and wet/dry conditions using the colour change parameter (ΔE). The work showed that the RTP as a pigment could be blended to make a range of primary and secondary colours had good colour stability in all environments with minimal impact on selected properties of hardened concrete

Adequate and anticipatory research on the potential hazards of emerging technologies: a case of myopia and inertia?

History confirms that while technological innovations can bring many benefits, they can also cause much human suffering, environmental degradation and economic costs. But are we repeating history with new and emerging chemical and technological products? In preparation for volume 2 of ‘Late Lessons from Early Warnings’ (European Environment Agency, 2013), two analyses were carried out to help answer this question. A bibliometric analysis of research articles in 78 environmental, health and safety (EHS) journals revealed that most focused on well-known rather than on newly emerging chemicals. We suggest that this ‘scientific inertia’ is due to the scientific requirement for high levels of proof via well replicated studies; the need to publish quickly; the use of existing intellectual and technological resources; and the conservative approach of many reviewers and research funders. The second analysis found that since 1996 the funding of EHS research represented just 0.6% of the overall funding of research and technological development (RTD). Compared with RTD funding, EHS research funding for information and communication technologies, nanotechnology and biotechnology was 0.09%, 2.3% and 4% of total research, respectively. The low EHS research ratio seems to be an unintended consequence of disparate funding decisions; technological optimism; a priori assertions of safety; collective hubris; and myopia. In light of the history of past technological risks, where EHS research was too little and too late, we suggest that it would be prudent to devote some 5–15% of RTD on EHS research to anticipate and minimise potential hazards while maximising the commercial longevity of emerging technologies

A GIS model-based assessment of the environmental distribution of g-hexachlorocyclohexane in European soils and waters

The MAPPE GIS based multimedia model is used to produce a quantitative description of the behaviour of γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH) in Europe, with emphasis on continental surface waters. The model is found to reasonably reproduce γ-HCH distributions and variations along the years in atmosphere and soil; for continental surface waters, concentrations were reasonably well predicted for year 1995, when lindane was still used in agriculture, while for 2005, assuming severe restrictions in use, yields to substantial underestimation. Much better results were yielded when same mode of release as in 1995 was considered, supporting the conjecture that for γ-HCH, emission data rather that model structure and parameterization can be responsible for wrong estimation of concentrations. Future research should be directed to improve the quality of emission data. Joint interpretation of monitoring and modelling results, highlights that lindane emissions in Europe, despite the marked decreasing trend, persist beyond the provisions of existing legislation. An spatially-explicit multimedia modelling strategy was applied to describe the historical distribution of γ-HCH in European soils and surface waters