Operating Experience and Economic Assessment of Commercial and Industrial Cool Storage Systems - TVA Case Study

Thermal storage systems offer utilities a means to change the energy use patterns of both residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) customers by moving water-heating and space-conditioning loads from peak to offpeak periods. Benefits from investments in these systems include reduced capital investment in new generating capacity, reduced operating costs, and reduced risk associated with load growth projections and future environmental legislation. This paper presents the results of a study undertaken to evaluate the performance of and quantify the potential economic benefits of C&I cool storage systems. The paper is organized into three major sections. Section one discusses the empirical data gathered from TVA's C&I Cool Storage Demonstration conducted during the summer of 1984. Section two discusses TVA's methodology For quantifying the potential economic benefits of these systems. Finally, the results are summarized with regard to future program activities

Low-density Lipoprotiens, Body Mass Index, and the Female Sex Are Predictors of Reduced Cutaenous Reactive Hyperemia In Human Skin

Please view abstract in the attached PDF file

Assessing the Potential of Urban Ecology Research to Inform Municipal Sustainability Practices

Cities are increasingly making decisions related to sustainability, and information from the field of urban ecology may be useful in informing these decisions. However, the potential utility of this information may not translate into it actually being used. We surveyed municipal sustainability staff through the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program documenting their information needs and information sources, and used these results to identify the frequency with which urban ecologists are publishing studies of potential relevance to practitioners. We also quantified funded awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation in urban ecology that explicitly describe active partnerships with city policy makers. Our results show that urban ecologists are increasingly generating information of potential relevance to city sustainability efforts, with rapid increases in the number of articles published and grants funded on areas identified as key information needs. Our results also suggest that the transmission of information from academic urban ecologists to practitioners occurs mostly through indirect pathways, as municipal sustainability staff reported relying heavily on general web searches and government agency websites to find information. We found evidence of an increasing frequency of active collaborations between urban ecologists and policy makers from NSF grant abstracts. Our findings are consistent with previous findings that traditional models of passive communication to practitioners through academic journals results in a low efficiency of use of this knowledge, but that the potential for urban ecologists to help inform municipal sustainability initiatives through active collaborations with practitioners is great

Applications of industrial ecology : manufacturing, recycling, and efficiency

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2007.Includes bibliographical references.This work applies concepts from industrial ecology to analyses of manufacturing, recycling, and efficiency. The first part focuses on an environmental analysis of machining, with a specific emphasis on energy consumption. Energy analyses of machining show that in many cases, the energy of actual material removal represents only a small amount of the total energy used in machining, as auxiliary processes can have significant energy requirements. These analyses also show that the embodied energy of the materials that are machined can far exceed the energy of machining. Such energy consumption data, along with material flow data, provide much of the information necessary to evaluate machining on the basis of environmental performance. The second part of this work focuses on material recycling at product end-of-life. In this section, a means of evaluating the material recycling potential for products is presented. This method is based on two measures: the value of the materials used in a product and the mixture of materials used in a product. This simple representation is capable of differentiating between products that are economically worthwhile to recycle and those that are not.(cont.) Such information can in turn be used to help guide product design and recycling policy. The third part of this work focuses on the effectiveness of efficiency improvements in reducing environmental impact. Historical data from ten activities show that improvements in efficiency are rarely able to outpace increases in production. Thus, the overall impact of each of these activities has increased over time. Specific conditions and policies that do allow for efficiency improvements to reduce impact are identified and explored. Together, the three topics presented here provide information, analyses, and recommendations to help move industrial systems towards sustainability.by Jeffrey B. Dahmus.Ph.D

Investigation into alternative cooling methods for achieving environmentally friendly machining process

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. The machining of metals has traditionally involved the use of large quantities of water and oils for dissipating the cutting tool temperature, improving the surface finish of parts and increasing tool life. Invariably, the cutting fluid has become contaminated with use, has required being environmentally disposed and has accounted for approximately 17% of the total production cost of parts. A Streamline Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of machining of parts has been carried out to investigate the environmental and energy saving benefits associated with the replacement of traditional cooling method, with Minimum Quantities of Liquid (MQL) combined with cold compressed air

Managing Supply Chain Complexity: Foresight for Wind Turbine Composite Waste

The emergence of wind energy as an integral global player has witnessed a rapid growth of wind farms. While wind energy in itself is a clean energy resource, the disposal of the projected wind turbine end-of-life composite waste is likely to present a monumental management challenge that requires foresight and planning. The aim of this research was to determine the overall volume and distribution of end-of-life wind turbine composite waste and develop new metrics and mathematical tools to identify possible recycling or remanufacturing centres. Geographically distributed waste data was modelled using the centre-of-gravity method with supply chain complexity analysis utilised to develop logic for the location of recycling centres. The research predicted a total volume of over 500,000 tons of wind turbine composite waste in the UK by 2048. This paper proposes the use of new metrics to measure the complexity of waste supply chain as an evidence-based rationale for identifying appropriate sites for recycling centres. The research presents possible new approaches in waste complexity within a supply chain network to enable the development of sustainable third-party processing centres

Trajectories of university adjustment in the United Kingdom: Emotion management and emotional self-efficacy protect against initial poor adjustment

Little is known about individual differences in the pattern of university adjustment. This study explored longitudinal associations between emotional self-efficacy, emotion management, university adjustment, and academic achievement in a sample of first year undergraduates in the United Kingdom (N=331). Students completed measures of adjustment to university at three points during their first year at university. Latent Growth Mixture Modeling identified four trajectories of adjustment: (1) low, stable adjustment, (2) medium, stable adjustment, (3) high, stable adjustment, and (4) low, increasing adjustment. Membership of the low, stable adjustment group was predicted by low emotional self-efficacy and low emotion management scores, measured at entry into university. This group also had increased odds of poor academic achievement, even when grade at entry to university was controlled. Students who increased in adjustment had high levels of emotion management and emotional self-efficacy, which helped adaptation. These findings have implications for intervention

Revisiting Jevons’ Paradox with System Dynamics:Systemic Causes and Potential Cures

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.This article examines the dynamic relationship between the consumption of goods and services, technological efficiency, and associated resource use, as described by the theory of Jevons' Paradox (JP). A theory is presented about what causes JP, in which resource efficiency savings are eventually overtaken by increases in consumption to produce a net increase in resource use and therefore environmental impacts. An application of the theory was carried out using system dynamics, modeling carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) emissions from private road transport in the UK between 1970 and 2010. The model results indicate the approximate impact of JP within the historical period: a rise in travel consumption of approximately one half and a rise in CO2-eq emissions of approximately one third. The model was used to estimate whether the European Union (EU) goal of a 40% drop in CO2-eq emissions by 2030 is achievable in the road transport sector, by adding interventions, and the results indicate that higher increases in fleet efficiency than are currently forecast, costlier travel, and a reduction in travel consumption would all be required. The theory and model presented in this article highlight the need to implement a system of interventions that can influence the strength and direction of each of the feedback loops within the system being intervened with, if CO2-eq emissions are to be more reliably reduced than they are at present. Further, because the system is constantly evolving, intervening with it requires a responsive, holistic approach, while maintaining focus on a long-term goal