A change in the transportation needs today, a better future for tomorrow – climate change review

No sooner than later, the world will be living hell as a result of the transportation effects on our climate now escalating. The pressure is now growing towards their resultant effects to be totally eradicated in order to save our planet otherwise, the stabilisation of these effects; global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and degradation will need to be sought after. The world all over is at it now in an effort to restore our climate, to save it from the effects of these catastrophes/disasters. On the proposition of the Kyoto Protocol in1997, the main focus was to decrease greenhouse emissions of mainly six gases – Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, Hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) and Per fluorinated Compounds (PFCs). And transport alone, accounts for over 26% of global CO2 and has been regarded as one of the few industrial sectors wherein emissions are still on the increase, on this basis, researchers and policy makers are all at it to tackle the menace of climate changes through provision of sustainable transport. This paper focuses on the new and developed technologies like the renewable energy source [RES], which will be an alternative to transport fuels to avoid the dependence on petroleum which after effects are damaging to the world climate, and may probably not be there forever to continue serving the world ever increasing population. While the long term solutions are being sought, these alternatives will make do for now

Stochastic optimal energy management system for RTG cranes network using genetic algorithm and ensemble forecasts

In low voltage networks, Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) play a significant role in increasing energy cost savings, peak reduction and energy efficiency whilst reinforcing the electrical network infrastructure. This paper presents a stochastic optimal management system based on a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for the control of an ESS equipped with a network of electrified Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) cranes. The stochastic management system aims to improve the reliability and economic performance, for given ESS parameters, of a network of cranes by taking into account the uncertainty in the RTGs electrical demand. A specific case study is presented using real operational data of the RTGs netwrok in the Port of Felixstowe, UK, and the results of the stochastic control system is compared to a standard set-point controller. In this paper, two forecast data sets with different levels of accuracy are used to investigate the impact of the crane demand forecast error in the proposed ESS control system. The results of the proposed control strategies indicate that the stochastic management system successfully increases the electric energy cost savings, the peak demand reductions and successfully outperforms a comparable set-point controller

Aquatic food security:insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment

Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand

Securing effective and equitable coverage of marine protected areas : the UK's progress towards achieving Convention on Biological Diversity commitments and lessons learned for the way forward

Current international agreements call for protecting 10% of marine and coastal waters by 2020, with the intention of increasing that target to 30% by 2030. With 24% of its territorial waters protected, the UK falls short of the new expected target. As well as quantitative targets, qualitative criteria have been internationally agreed for protected area designation, including minimum coverage values and characteristics that encompass effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape. The legal framework supporting protected area designations at sea is summarized and explained for UK territorial waters. Efforts to date to achieve current marine protected area (MPA) targets are reviewed, with emphasis on how well the existing protected area portfolio captures the qualitative criteria. Examples are given of other effective conservation measures complementary to formalized MPAs, especially with regard to achieving and promoting qualitative criteria for biodiversity conservation, including appropriate recognition of and support for areas conserved by indigenous people, local communities and private entities. A precis on the governance of MPAs and other effective conservation measures in the UK and its overseas territories is presented. Whilst the UK has made exceptional progress with quantitative MPA coverage, it is still not clear whether designated areas offer effective protection. A UK-level strategy is in place to address this; and at site level, Lyme Bay MPA illustrates the benefits of addressing qualitative criteria. Illustrated by the UK example, an urgent call is made for ongoing and future marine in situ area-based conservation efforts to substantiate quantitative and qualitative considerations, and to ensure that MPA networks are ultimately fit for purpose

Effective maritime cybersecurity regulation – the case for a cyber code

Ships and ports are increasingly connected to each other through cyberspace. This connectivity streamlines many aspects of maritime business, but also exposes maritime operators and administrations to new types of risk including hacking and outage. The maritime industry has been slow to realize the implications of this new environment within which it operates, and now lags behind other industries (like aviation) when it comes to cyber risk mitigation and regulation. We argue that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), alongside its members, urgently needs to create robust and resilient cybersecurity regulations. We suggest that the IMO should consider creating a standalone Cyber Code, based on a framework created by previous IMO Codes such as the Polar Code. Since the IMO uses Codes as a legally binding instrument, this would help to ensure the continued safety and efficiency of the maritime industry in the face of threats from cyberspace