90 research outputs found
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ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine the effects of sodium oxybate (SXB) on sleep physiology and sleep/wakerelated symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (F
China’s rising hydropower demand challenges water sector
Demand for hydropower is increasing, yet the water footprints (WFs) of reservoirs and hydropower, and their contributions to water scarcity, are poorly understood. Here, we calculate reservoir WFs (freshwater that evaporates from reservoirs) and hydropower WFs (the WF of hydroelectricity) in China based on data from 875 representative reservoirs (209 with power plants). In 2010, the reservoir WF totaled 27.9 × 109 m3 (Gm3), or 22% of China’s total water consumption. Ignoring the reservoir WF seriously underestimates human water appropriation. The reservoir WF associated with industrial, domestic and agricultural WFs caused water scarcity in 6 of the 10 major Chinese river basins from 2 to 12 months annually. The hydropower WF was 6.6 Gm3 yr−1 or 3.6 m3 of water to produce a GJ (109 J) of electricity. Hydropower is a water intensive energy carrier. As a response to global climate change, the Chinese government has promoted a further increase in hydropower energy by 70% by 2020 compared to 2012. This energy policy imposes pressure on available freshwater resources and increases water scarcity. The water-energy nexus requires strategic and coordinated implementations of hydropower development among geographical regions, as well as trade-off analysis between rising energy demand and water use sustainability
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Relative energy risk: is solar energy riskier than nuclear
The discussion of risk analysis is divided into three parts: (a) a brief discussion of the methodology which can be used, (b) a listing of some of the major assumptions, and (c) the results of a comparison of eleven energy systems. The energy systems considered here can be divided into two groups: conventional, i.e., those in fairly widespread use, like coal or nuclear, and non-conventional, i.e., all others, like solar and wind. In general, although some of these non-conventional systems have been described as risk-free, they are not. In fact, compared to some conventional systems like natural gas and nuclear, technologies like solar and windpower have relatively high risk. The reason is simple. Because of the dilute nature of the energy they handle, solar and wind systems, when compared on the quantity of their energy production, require a considerable amount of apparatus as compared to other systems. In turn, this apparatus requires a large amount of material and construction labor to build and install. Associated with each ton of material and hour of labor is a definite number of accidents, diseases and deaths, according to labor statistics. When the risk is summed up in this way, we find that non-conventional systems generally have high risk. In particular, to answer the question posed in the title of this talk, solar energy seems to have a higher risk than nuclear power, when the methodology outlined below is used
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