Low Carbon Development for Cities: Methods and Measures

Cities consume more than 60% of global energy and that share is expected to rise with the rapid rate of urbanization now underway (van der Hoeven, 2012). Cities\u27 energy consumption, along with the reshaping and resurfacing of land and the food and other resources they demand, lead to a similarly large share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, carbon-based and otherwise. With cities playing a crucial role in sustainable energy and climate systems, this chapter examines emerging efforts by cities around the world to shift to a development pattern with less energy and less carbon

Energy demand and efficiency measures in polymer processing: comparison between temperate and Mediterranean operating plants

Polymer processing is an energy-intensive industry. The plastification of polymers requires a high volume of electric power for thermal energy. Electricity based power is the common form of energy in polymer processing and provides obvious potential for a reduction in energy use and costs. Measures to avoid production-based conversion losses, total conversion and transportation losses in energy used all have social, national, economic and business relevance. A bottom-up evaluation of four different production factories in this study assesses the potential for energy use improvements. The resulting theoretical assessment suggested that reducing primary energy demand is the most powerful target for reducing energy intensity in the polymer industry followed by the introduction of improved technologies to raise energy efficiency. The transferability of the conclusions was supported by the comparison between two different geographic locations for polymer production in Germany and Western Australia. The findings of this research suggest potential in their use in ‘green’ decision-making in the plastics industry

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

A review of climate change and the implementation of marine biodiversity legislation in the United Kingdom

1. Marine legislation, the key means by which the conservation of marine biodiversity is achieved, has been developing since the 1960s. In recent decades, an increasing focus on ‘holistic’ policy development is evident, compared with earlier ‘piecemeal’ sectoral approaches. Important marine legislative tools being used in the United Kingdom, and internationally, include the designation of marine protected areas and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with its aim of meeting ‘Good Environmental Status’ (GES) for European seas by 2020. 2. There is growing evidence of climate change impacts on marine biodiversity, which may compromise the effectiveness of any legislation intended to promote sustainable marine resource management. 3. A review of key marine biodiversity legislation relevant to the UK shows climate change was not considered in the drafting of much early legislation. Despite the huge increase in knowledge of climate change impacts in recent decades, legislation is still limited in how it takes these impacts into account. There is scope, however, to account for climate change in implementing much of the legislation through (a) existing references to environmental variability; (b) review cycles; and (c) secondary legislation and complementary policy development. 4. For legislation relating to marine protected areas (e.g. the EC Habitats and Birds Directives), climate change has generally not been considered in the site-designation process, or for ongoing management, with the exception of the Marine (Scotland) Act. Given that changing environmental conditions (e.g. rising temperatures and ocean acidification) directly affect the habitats and species that sites are designated for, how this legislation is used to protect marine biodiversity in a changing climate requires further consideration. 5. Accounting for climate change impacts on marine biodiversity in the development and implementation of legislation is vital to enable timely, adaptive management responses. Marine modelling can play an important role in informing management decisions

Environmental issues and the geological storage of CO2 : a discussion document

Increasing CO2 emissions will lead to climate change and ocean acidification with severe consequences for ecosystems and for human society. Strategies are being sought to reduce emissions including the geological storage of CO2. Existing studies operate within existing oil and gas regulatory frameworks, but if other non-oil reservoir geological formations are used these existing regulations may not apply. At UK and European levels the potential environmental impacts of uncontrolled CO2 releases from storage sites have been highlighted to be of significance for regulators. Thus a new regulatory framework may be needed. The precautionary principle is likely to be adopted by regulators, so it is important that the effects of acute and chronic exposures of ecosystems to CO2 leakages are evaluated. Consequently, existing regulations are likely to be developed to include specific recommendations concerning leakages. This review shows that many basic data simply do not exist to assist regulators in this process

Modelling transport energy demand : a socio-technical approach

Peer reviewedPostprin

Education and Disaster Vulnerability in Southeast Asia: Evidence and Policy Implications

This article summarizes the growing theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of education on disaster vulnerability with a focus on Southeast Asia. Education and learning can take place in different environments in more or less formalized ways. They can influence disaster vulnerability as the capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from natural hazard in direct and indirect ways. Directly, through education and learning, individuals acquire knowledge, abilities, skills and perceptions that allow them to effectively prepare for and cope with the consequences of disaster shocks. Indirectly, education gives individuals and households access to material, informational and social resources, which can help reducing disaster vulnerability. We highlight central concepts and terminologies and discuss the different theoretical mechanisms through which education may have an impact. Supportive empirical evidence is presented and discussed with a particular focus on the role of inclusiveness in education and challenges in achieving universal access to high-quality education. Based on situation analysis and best practice cases, policy implications are derived that can inform the design and implementation of education and learning-based disaster risk reduction efforts in the region

Trends in reported flooding in the UK: 1884–2013

A long term dataset of reported flooding based on reports from the UK Meteorological Office and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is described. This is possibly a unique dataset as the authors are unaware of any other 100+ year records of flood events and their consequences on a national scale. Flood events are classified by severity based upon qualitative descriptions. There is an increase in the number of reported flood events over time associated with an increased exposure to flooding as floodplain areas were developed. The data was de-trended for exposure, using population and dwelling house data. The adjusted record shows no trend in reported flooding over time, but there is significant decade to decade variability. This study opens a new approach considering flood occurrence over a long timescale using reported information (and thus likely effects on society) rather than just considering trends in extreme hydrological conditions.<br/

Mapping the Influence of Food Waste in Food Packaging Environmental Performance Assessments

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149217/1/jiec12743-sup-0001-SuppInfoS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149217/2/jiec12743.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149217/3/jiec12743_am.pd