A Societal Life Cycle Costing of Energy Production: The Implications of Environmental Externalities

Alberta’s electricity market is deregulated; consequently, it does not recognize the benefits of renewables. This research applied a novel societal life cycle costing approach to estimate the economic values of environmental damages to society that result from coal and biomass fired electricity generation. Although coal fuel is cheaper to produce electricity, yet its societal life cycle costing (LCC) is significantly higher than bioenergy systems. Mainstreaming of environmental externalities creates market advantages for low carbon energy sources. Coal power plants cause Alberta to lose at least $117.8 billion per annum due to externalities. Ending electricity from coal with wood pellet can save 53.7 billion USD per year. The societal life cycle cost per year of coal power plants in Alberta represents 15.8% of the province’s GDP and 343.7% of the total expenditure on health. The transformative potential presented by carbon pricing toward a cleaner future is limited. Externalities for health and ecosystems should also be priced and included in the retail price of electricity

Species, Risk Factors, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Bacterial Isolates from HIV-Infected Patients Suspected to Have Pneumonia in Mekelle Zone, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Data Availability Data supporting the conclusions of this article are available by request from G. Adhanom. The relevant raw data will be made available to researchers wishing to use them for noncommercial purposes. Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge Mekelle University for financing and allowing the laboratory space and materials to conduct the laboratory work. All ART clinics of Mekelle zone and all study participants are acknowledged for their willingness to participate in this study. This work was supported by Mekelle University, College of Health Sciences, Postgraduate Students Research fund.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Accounting for Human Health and Ecosystems Quality in Developing Sustainable Energy Products: The Implications of Wood Biomass-based Electricity Strategies to Climate Change Mitigation

The prospect for transitions and transformations in the energy sector to mitigate climate change raises concerns that actions should not shift the impacts from one impact category to another, or from one sustainability domain to another. Although the development of renewables mostly results in low environmental impacts, energy strategies are complex and may result in the shifting of impacts. Strategies to climate change mitigation could have potentially large effects on human health and ecosystems. Exposure to air pollution claimed the lives of about seven million people worldwide in 2010, largely from the combustion of solid fuels. The degradation of ecosystem services is a significant barrier to achieving millennium development goals. This thesis quantifies the biomass resources potential for Alberta; presents a user-friendly and sector-specific framework for sustainability assessment; unlocks the information and policy barriers to biomass integration in energy strategy; introduces new perspectives to improve understanding of the life cycle human health and ecotoxicological effects of energy strategies; provides insight regarding the guiding measures that are required to ensure sustainable bioenergy production; validates the utility of the Environmental Life Cycle Cost framework for economic sustainability assessment; and provides policyrelevant societal cost estimates to demonstrate the importance of accounting for human health and ecosystem externalities in energy planning. Alberta is endowed with a wealth of forest and agricultural biomass resources, estimated at 458 PJ of energy. Biomass has the potential to avoid 11-15% of GHG emissions and substitute 14-17% of final energy demand by 2030. The drivers for integrating bioenergy sources into Alberta’s energy strategy are economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation policy objectives. Bioenergy pathways significantly improved both human health and ecosystem quality from coal fuel. Bioenergy alternatives have higher economic cost than the prevailing scenario of coal-fired generation system. Although coal fuel is the most cost effective way of electricity generation, its combustion results in the loss of 123.5 billion USD per year for Alberta due to societal life cycle cost. This research demonstrated that bioenergy can support the transformation of a fossil-based energy system to a more sustainable power production system; however, respiratory effects is a concern

Prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility test and associated factors of Salmonella and Shigella in ready-to-eat fruit juices and salads in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia

Abstract Background Food borne diseases is a challenging problem nowadays. Salmonella and Shigella species are great concern of food-born outbreaks. Thus, this study was aimed to assess the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility test and associated factors of Salmonella and Shigella species in fruit juices and salads. Methods A community based cross sectional study design was carried out on 50 juice houses from December to March 2020 in Mekelle. One hundred fifty samples were collected aseptically from the juice houses for laboratory analysis. Information related to risk factors was obtained using a structured questionnaire. In the laboratory, samples were homogenized using peptone water and incubated overnight for enrichment. Then, Salmonella and Shigella species were isolated on Salmonella-Shigella agar and Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar. Disc diffusion method was used to perform antimicrobial susceptibility test. Using SPSS (version 22) package, descriptive statistics and Chi square test (χ2) were used to analyze the data, and p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result The overall prevalence of Salmonella and Shigella species was 41/150 (27.33%; 95% CI: 20.20 – 34.46) with 33 (22%) Salmonella spp. and 8(5.33%) Shigella spp. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests of both Salmonella and Shigella spp.showed high resistance against ampicillin (100%), tetracycline (63.6 and 62.5%, respectively) and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (100%). Accessibility of fruits to flies and dust had statistical association (p = 0.021) with occurrence of Salmonell a and/or Shigella spp. Conclusion The overall prevalence of Salmonella and Shigella spp. was found to be significant. The resistant rate of isolates against ampicillin, tetracycline and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid was high. Storage sites for fruits should be inaccessible to flies and dust. Therefore, routine monitoring of juice houses should be promoted and regular evaluation of bacterial resistance pattern should be done for selective antimicrobial therapy. Furthermore, consistent training of juice makers on food safety and hygiene should be implemented by the concerned body

Neonatal septicemia at intensive care unit, Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Tigray, North Ethiopia: Bacteriological profile, drug susceptibility pattern, and associated factors.

BackgroundNeonatal septicemia is a life threatening medical emergency that requires timely detection of pathogens with urgent rational antibiotics therapy.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2017 to September 2018 among 317 septicemia suspected neonates at neonatal intensive care unit, Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, North Ethiopia. A 3 mL of blood was collected from each participant. Identification of bacterial species was done using the standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic sensitivity test was done using disk diffusion method. Data were entered and analyzed using computer software SPSS version 22. Bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was applied to determine the association between variables.ResultsOf the 317 (190 male and 127 female) neonates, 116 (36.6%) were found to be with culture proven septicemia. Klebsiella species were the predominant etiologic agents. Length of hospital stay (AOR (adjusted odds ratio) = 3.65 (2.17-6.13), p ConclusionNeonaltal septicemia is found to be significantly high in the present study. As most of the isolates are potentially related to hospital acquired infections, prevention and control policy should have to be more strengthening in the neonatal intensive care unit