Comprehensive Environmental Assessment Research Articles

Economic evaluation of typical metal production process: A case study of vanadium oxide production in China

Proper understanding and evaluation of a metal production process is crucial for its further optimization. Economic evaluation is frequently used to estimate the practicality of a specific process based on the product life cycle assessment. However, it encounters difficulties to identify the importance of materials efficiency coupling with pollution control during evaluation on the effectiveness of process optimization. In this research, a factor defining the material recirculation is introduced to economic evaluation. Typical vanadium oxide production processes in China were evaluated by the economic evaluation model considering the whole production process, through defining a range of parameters, i.e., the materials cost, water cost, energy cost, waste treatment cost and auxiliary cost. Three V2O5 production processes are analyzed and compared to each other. The production process of high purity V2O5 has the best cost-effective products with high purity, the simplest production, the highest materials efficiency and the lowest cost for waste treatment. It is noticed that materials efficiency tends to be inversely proportional to waste treatment cost. Under comprehensive environmental assessment, proper pollutant control improves material recirculation percentage and reduces the expense for waste treatment which is an important aspect of economic evaluation. With this research, an optimization scheme is illustrated for the economic evaluation of typical metal production process which may provide guidance to industrial factories to optimize relevant production processes.

Systemic stereoselectivity study of bromothalonil: stereoselective bioactivity, toxicity, and degradation in vegetables and soil.

The chiral pesticide bromothalonil is widely used to control anthracnose disease on fruits and vegetables in China. The pesticidal activity, ecotoxicological effects and environmental behavior of bromothalonil and its enantiomers are still unclear. Bromothalonil presented effective biocidal activities against the tested fungi, its enantiomers showed distinct inhibitory activities against different fungal species. The bioactivities of (+)-bromothalonil was 1.29-10.77 times higher than (-)-bromothalonil toward Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea, Curvularia lunata, Corynespora cassiicola, Colletotrichum siamense, and Colletotrichum musae, while the effect pattern was opposite for Colletotrichum cliviicola. Based on the acute toxicity test, bromothalonil was very toxic to Eisenia foetida (E. foetida). Bromothalonil also damaged the lysosomal membrane and exhibited potential genotoxicity toward E. foetida. Moreover, (+)-bromothalonil presented lower toxicity than (-)-bromothalonil. Stereoselective degradation was investigated in tomato, cucumber, chieh-qua, and soil. The half-life values of bromothalonil degradation ranged from 7.14 to 24.75 days, indicating that bromothalonil was easily degraded. Additionally, (+)-bromothalonil degraded 1.2-1.75 times faster than (-)-bromothalonil in the four matrices. This is the first systemic assessment of the stereoselectivity of bromothalonil. Based on the obtained half-life, EC50 and LC50 values, bromothalonil is an easily degraded, broad-spectrum biocidal but very toxic pesticide. (+)-Bromothalonil was more degradable in vegetables and soil and showed clearly higher bioactivity toward target organisms and lower toxicity to E. foetida than (-)-bromothalonil. Therefore, the stereoselectivity of bromothalonil enantiomers should be fully considered in comprehensive environmental and ecological risk assessments in future work. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Annual Nationwide Environmental Impact Assessment of Japanese Municipalities by Type of Business within the Endpoint-type LCIA Method “LIME2”

This study attempts a comprehensive environmental impact assessment, within the context of annual operations by type of business in each division of Japanese municipality, based on the LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) method. LIME2 (Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Method Based on Endpoint Modeling 2) is an example of an endpoint-type LCIA method developed in Japan. Annual environmental impacts of municipalities nationwide are assessed by LIME2 from the perspective of environmental damage, indexed to the Japanese yen. Here, this index is referred to as the “Eco-index Yen”. The availability of necessary inventory data in each category is surveyed from statistical information published by governments. From the assessment results based on these conditions, the annual damage amount of all Japanese municipalities taken together is 4.63 trillion yen. The assessment result of each municipality is converted into indicators per capita and per GRP (Gross Regional Product). These results are displayed on a map of Japan to visualize regional characteristics nationwide by type of business, across different types of industries, including the residential and transportation sectors. As described in this study, these results provide a first step toward constructing a new methodology for comprehensive environmental impact assessment of administrative units.

Effects of Inter-Basin Water Transfer on Water Flow Condition of Destination Basin

In recent years, the intensification of drought and unsustainable management and use of water resources have caused a significant decline in the water level of the Urmia Lake in the northwest of Iran. This condition has affected the lake, approaching an irreversible point such that many projects have been implemented and are being implemented to save the natural condition of the Urmia Lake, among which the inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) project from the Zab River to the lake could be considered an important project. The main aim of this research is the evaluation of the IBWT project effects on the Gadar destination basin. Simulations of the geometrical properties of the river, including the bed and flow, have been performed, and the land cover and flood map were overlapped in order to specify the areas prone to flood after implementing the IBWT project. The results showed that with the implementation of this project, the discharge of the Gadar River was approximately tripled and the water level of the river rose 1 m above the average. In April, May, and June, about 952.92, 1458.36, and 731.43 ha of land adjacent to the river (floodplain) will be inundated by flood, respectively. Results also indicated that UNESCO’s criteria No. 3 (“a comprehensive environmental impact assessment must indicate that the project will not substantially degrade the environmental quality within the area of origin or the area of delivery”) and No. 5 (“the net benefits from the transfer must be shared equitably between the area of origin and the area of water delivery”) have been violated by implementing this project in the study area. The findings could help the local government and other decision-makers to better understand the effects of the IBWT projects on the physical and hydrodynamic processes of the Gadar River as a destination basin.

The ecological assessment of the eutrophic biogenic load of the water body

The work provides a comprehensive environmental assessment of the eutrophic biogenic load on a water body using the example of the Gulf of Taganrog of the Sea of Azov. This study is carried out with the aim of a deeper understanding of the ecological state of the waters of the Gulf of Taganrog, the processes of its eutrophication. The assessment of the biogenic load on the water area is carried out. The conducted researches showed that the eutrophication of the Gulf of Taganrog northeastern part depends on the salinity, water temperature, ammonium, and nitrate and phosphate concentrations. The level of the internal and external loads of phosphorus in the waters of the Gulf of Taganrog is approximately equal.

Comprehensive assessment of environmental impact during the operation of a pilot plant for the processing of dead tail of the Khingan tin deposit

The article presents the results of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment in the extraction of tin from stale tails accumulated in tailings during the operation of the Khingan deposit. Tailings pose a threat to the environment and at the same time are a source of technogenic raw materials. Operation of a pilot plant of gravity-flotation type will have a negligible impact on the environment, and a low positive effect on the socio-economic sphere. At the same time, the environmental situation will significantly improve in connection with the liquidation of tailings.

Problem formulation for gene drive mosquitoes designed to reduce malaria transmission in Africa: results from four regional consultations 2016\u20132018

BackgroundGene drive mosquitoes have been proposed as a possible means to reduce the transmission of malaria in Africa. Because this technology has no prior use-history at this time, environmental risk assessments for gene drive mosquitoes will benefit from problem formulation—an organized and ordered process to identify protection goals and potential pathways to harm to the environment, or animal or human health. Recognizing this need, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), with support from African and international partners, organized four regional consultative workshops in Africa to initiate this process.MethodsThe workshops were attended by a diverse set of participants and stakeholders, including scientists, ethicists, health professionals, government regulators in the fields of environment health and biosafety as well government policymakers, who met for 4 days to deliberate on protection goals and pathways relevant to the use of gene drive mosquitoes for malaria control. The goal of the workshops was not to produce a comprehensive and detailed environmental risk assessment of gene drive mosquitoes, but rather to introduce problem formulation as a tool to the stakeholder community, and to serve as a starting point for conducting systematic environmental risk assessments in the future, identifying protection goals related to gene drive mosquitoes that are particular to African stakeholders.ResultsParticipants in the workshops frequently identified human health and biodiversity as being relevant broad protection goals. Results of the deliberations provide insight into the concerns of African participants at an early stage in the development of gene drive organism/products that should be instructive to developers using this technology.ConclusionsIn general, the African participants of the consultations had a precautionary perspective with regard to environmental risk assessment of gene drive technology. As gene drive technology develops, protection goals will become further refined and candidate products will be further defined. These workshops represent only the beginning of a continuing process that will ultimately inform environmental risk assessment for gene drive mosquitoes to control malaria in Africa.

Managing the analytical challenges related to micro- and nanoplastics in the environment and food: filling the knowledge gaps

ABSTRACTThis paper identifies knowledge gaps on the sustainability and impacts of plastics and presents some recommendations from an expert group that met at a special seminar organised by the European Commission at the end of 2018. The benefits of plastics in society are unquestionable, but there is an urgent need to better manage their value chain. The recently adopted European Strategy for Plastics stressed the need to tackle the challenges related to plastics with a focus on plastic litter including microplastics. Microplastics have been detected mainly in the marine environment, but also in freshwater, soil and air. Based on today’s knowledge they may also be present in food products. Although nanoplastics have not yet been detected, it can be assumed that they are also present in the environment. This emerging issue presents challenges to better understand future research needs and the appropriate immediate actions to be taken to support the necessary societal and policy initiatives. It has become increasingly apparent that a broad and systematic approach is required to achieve sustainable actions and solutions along the entire supply chain. It is recognised that there is a pressing need for the monitoring of the environment and food globally. However, despite the number of research projects increasing, there is still a lack of suitable and validated analytical methods for detection and quantification of micro- and nanoplastics. There is also a lack of hazard and fate data which would allow for their risk assessment. Some priorities are identified in this paper to bridge the knowledge gaps for appropriate management of these challenges. At the same time it is acknowledged that there is a great complexity in the challenges that need to be tackled before a really comprehensive environmental assessment of plastics, covering their entire life cycle, will be possible.

The accessibility of data on environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals: Is the marketing authorisation procedure in conflict with the international right of access to environmental information?

BackgroundFor a large part of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) available on the market, there is no or no comprehensive environmental risk assessment (ERA) existent/available. Existing ERAs are, moreover, treated as commercially/industrial confidential information (CCI) and the information content on the ERAs contained in the Public Assessment Reports is very limited. Thus, neither the public can inform itself sufficient nor environmental authorities can use the ERAs to compile environmental quality standards. Environmental information law, on the other hand, requires the general accessibility of environmental information. Against this background, this investigation examines the following questions in conformity with the environmental information law: Which environmental information on pharmaceuticals is generated in the marketing authorisation? Which of the environmental information generated in the marketing authorisation is available to the public? Does the environmental information on pharmaceuticals concern CCI?ResultsAccording to international and European environmental information law, there is in principal a right of access to the ERAs of pharmaceuticals (environmental information according to Art. 2(3)(b) Aarhus Convention), which is ineffective due to product-based data and allegedly conflicting CCI. The practised blanket classification of CCI by the marketing authorisation holders is in conflict with the principle of transparency of environmental information law. In any case, the outcomes of the ERA (in particular the ecotoxicity endpoints) may not be classified as CCI. Furthermore, the publicly accessible information in the format of the Public Assessment Report does not sufficiently reflect the information from ERAs and thus does not fulfil the mandate of active access to information (Art. 5 Aarhus Convention). The conflict between the actual accessibility of environmental information on pharmaceuticals and the requirements of environmental information law could be resolved through an API-based publicly accessible database with the outcomes of the ERAs (including all underlying ecotoxicity endpoints). To fulfil the right of access to environmental information effectively, the database also needs to be extended to “old” APIs for which environmental risk assessments have not yet been carried out. This would be the basis for prioritisation of API and establishing a monograph system.ConclusionThe environmental information law requires an improved accessibility of ERAs that could be achieved through an API-based publicly accessible database.

The importance of designing a comprehensive Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) & Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for carbon capture and storage in Japan

CCS projects involve a complex legal mechanism. The IPCC (2005) clearly indicated that installations of CCS technology require ‘long-term management’ by: ensuring careful site selection; monitoring systems; regulations; and remediation and liability measures. While a large volume of legal study on CCS has been undertaken, a variety of SEA and EIA and their possible mixed approaches are also being considered for designing an effective policy and legal framework for CCS (e.g. IEAGHG, 2007; and Koornneef et al. 2008, 2011). Yet, the best practice of the mixed approach to assisting a policy, legal and regulatory framework is unclear, due to the lack of experience and the varied levels of comprehension. Japan intends to commercialise CCS technology in the future. This paper provides an analysis of examining: whether the key roles and elements of SEA and EIA in response to long-term management are being covered in the current CCS law in Japan. The outcome of this study creates a novel framework of legal analysis, an application of the framework that articulate insights into Japan’s legal issues, and a set of potentially useful lessons for the future design of policy and legal framework for CCS projects.

Environmental Safety Assessment In The Reclamation Of Urban Industrial Zones With Regression Equations

Ensuring environmental safety in the city is a priority, since the industrial zones located in it are polluted in one way or another. However, an environmental safety assessment during reclamation is now impossible, since there is no approved list of criteria in the regulatory and technical documentation and the development of a system of criteria taking into account Russian conditions. Thanks to the analysis of foreign experience, namely the parameters of the criteria for a comprehensive environmental assessment of the territory, a theoretical calculation was made using the regression equations. The article considers the problems of reclamation of industrial zones in urban areas by the method of environmental assessment through the preparation of a mathematical model and the solution of the regression equations. The dependence of the sum of the requirements of each environmental assessment criterion and their maximum score is determined, subject to the requirements for buildings and the territory as a whole. Plots of linear and hyperbolic regression are constructed. Conclusions are drawn regarding the applicability of the results to land surveying and the determination of the scientific novelty. Comparison of the parameters of the criteria of the international "green" standard with the previously obtained criteria for the reclamation of industrial zones in the Russian Federation contributes to the improvement of the regulatory and technical base, taking into account the best practices in "green" construction.

Sorption and desorption of organic UV filters onto microplastics in single and multi-solute systems

Sorption studies of organic pollutants by microplastics (MPs) in single-solute systems are well established in the literature. However, actual aquatic environments always contain a mixture of contaminants. Prediction of the fate and biological effects of MPs-mediated chemical exposure requires a better understanding of sorption-desorption processes of multiple organic contaminants by MPs. In this study, the altered sorption and desorption behaviors of individual organic UV filters (BP-3 and 4-MBC) in the presence of cosolutes (BP-3, 4-MBC, EHMC and OC) on two types of MPs (LDPE and PS) were examined. In most cases, co-occurrence of other organic UV filters appeared to have an antagonistic effect on the sorption of primary solute, which was consistent with trends found in previous studies. Nevertheless, the sorption uptake of 4-MBC as primary solute on PS was enhanced in the presence of cosolute(s), arising presumably from solute multilayer formation caused by laterally attractive π-π interactions between adsorbed cosolute(s) and 4-MBC molecules. Such formation of multilayer sorption in multi-solute systems depends on the solute hydrophobicity and concentration as well as inherent sorptivity of MPs. Our further desorption experiments revealed that the bioaccessibility of primary solute was significantly elevated with cosolutes, even though competitive sorption was observed under the same experimental conditions. These findings supplement the current knowledge on sorption mechanisms and interactions of multiple organic contaminants on MPs, which are critical for a comprehensive environmental risk assessment of both MPs and hazardous anthropogenic contaminants in natural environments.

Environmental sustainability of conventional and organic farming: Accounting for ecosystem services in life cycle assessment

Today, there is an ongoing debate about the environmental sustainability of the products of organic farming. To compare the performance of conventional and organic farming systems regarding environmental impact and productivity, the comprehensive environmental assessment tool ‘life cycle assessment’ can be used. The lower crop yields attained by organic systems compared to conventional farming systems might, however, outweigh the benefits of the use of more environmental-friendly practices when evaluating the environmental impact per product unit. Although these practices are beneficial for the environment, which is reflected in the delivery of a range of ecosystem services (ES), the focus is traditionally put only on the (harvested) product. Because the agricultural product involves actually a bundle of ES, the impact should be allocated among the whole output of an agricultural system. In this study, we propose an allocation procedure based on the capacity of agricultural systems to deliver ES to divide the environmental impact over all agricultural outputs (i.e. provisioning and other ES). Allocation factors are developed for conventional and organic arable farming systems. Applying these allocation factors, we demonstrate that for about half of the studied food products (including maize, potato), organic farming has clear environmental benefits in terms of resource consumption in comparison to conventional cultivation methods. This allocation approach allows a more complete comparison of the environmental sustainability of organically and conventionally produced food.

Research on comprehensive environmental impact assessment of shale gas development

PurposeIn recent years, to solve the contradiction between energy supply and demand, the Chinese Government has vigorously promoted shale gas development. With the rapid development of the shale gas industry, the environmental impact problems have become increasingly serious. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out a comprehensive environmental impact assessment of shale gas development. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for enterprises to make development decisions on shale gas projects by constructing a model of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the comprehensive environmental impact factors of shale gas development are analyzed from the two aspects of the natural environment and macro environment, and the index system of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development including 7 secondary indicators and 24 tertiary indicators is constructed. Owing to the fact that qualitative indicators are difficult to quantify in the evaluation process, the method of intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP) is adopted for evaluation. This method (IFAHP) can delicately describe the hesitancy degree of the decision-makers in the process of assigning a weight to the indicators, and make the weight assignment of each index more accurate. Furthermore, this method overcomes the shortcomings of the conventional methods, such as the complexity of calculation and the large amount of calculation.FindingsThe evaluation model is applied to a shale gas platform drilling project in Southwest China. Based on the ratings from 13 experts, the comprehensive environmental impact assessment grade of this project is good, indicating that the shale gas development project is feasible. The result is basically in line with the actual situation.Originality/valueBased on the consideration of the natural environmental impacts of shale gas development, this paper also has considered the macro environmental impact of shale gas development, and has established the index system of comprehensive environmental impact assessment for shale gas development from the two aspects of the natural environment and macro environment. To overcome such difficulties as incomplete evaluation by decision-makers, cumbersome calculation process and a large amount of calculation, this paper has adopted the method of IFAHP to evaluate and has established a comprehensive environmental impact assessment model for shale gas development based on IFAHP.

Comprehensive Environmental Assessment of Potato as Staple Food Policy in China.

The Chinese government projected 30% of total consumed potatoes as a staple food (PSF) by 2020. We comprehensively assessed the potential impacts of PSF on rice and flour consumption, rice and wheat planting, energy and nutrient supply, irrigation-water, chemical nitrogen (N), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) and potassium oxide (K2O) fertilizer inputs and total greenhouse gases (GHG) emission for potatoes, rice and wheat, by assuming different proportions of potato substitutes for rice and flour. The results showed that per capita, 2.9 ± 0.3 and 4.7 ± 0.5 kg more potatoes per year would enter the Chinese staple-food diet, under the government’s target. PSF consumed are expected to reach 5.2 ± 0.7 Tg yr−1, equivalent to substituting potatoes for 4.2 ± 0.8–8.5 ± 0.8 Tg yr−1 wheat and 5.1 ± 0.9–10.1 ± 1.8 Tg yr−1 rice under different scenarios. While this substitution can increase the nutrient supply index by 63% towards nutrient reference values, it may induce no significant effect on staple-food energy supply with lower chemical fertilizer (except for K2O) and irrigation-water inputs and GHG emissions in different substitution scenarios than the business as usual scenario. The reduction in rice and wheat demands lead to wheat in the North China Plain and early rice decrease by 6.1–11.4% and 12.1–24.1%, respectively. The total GHG reduction is equal to 1.1–9.0% of CO2 equivalent associated with CH4 and N2O emitted from the Chinese agroecosystem in 2005. The saved irrigation water for three crops compared to 2012 reaches the total water use of 17.9 ± 4.9–21.8 ± 5.9 million people in 2015. More N fertilizer, irrigation-water, and GHG can be reduced, if the PSF ratio is increased to 50% together with potato yield improves to the optimal level. Our results implied that the PSF policy is worth doing not only because of the healthier diets, but also to mitigate resource inputs and GHG emissions and it also supports agricultural structure adjustments in the areas of irrigated wheat on the North China Plain and early rice across China, designed to increase the adaptability to climate change.

Life cycle assessment of atmospheric emission profiles of the Italian geothermal power plants

After nearly a decade of only small development in capacity in deep geothermal sector in Europe, in recent years a resurgence of interest in geothermal power and the use of innovative technologies to increase and better exploit geo-thermoelectric generation has stolen the limelight from the scientific community. Differently from other types of energy sources, the environmental impacts determined by geothermal exploitation are extremely dependent on the geographical location. Life Cycle Assessment offers a powerful methodological approach for the investigation of the environmental footprint of power generation systems.Focusing on an unprecedented system-modelling approach for the investigation of an environmental impacts analysis of geo-thermoelectric activity in the Tuscany Region, Italy, in this work we perform a comprehensive environmental impact assessment for the calculation of atmospheric emissions profiles connected with the operational phase of the power plants. A clustering of all the geothermal installations in operation nowadays is performed by considering geographical representativeness This allows the identification of regional geothermal subareas. Moreover, an extensive data processing analysis is implemented with the aim of reconciling the great variability found among data collected. Results demonstrate that the efforts undertaken by the operator of the geothermal power plants to limit the impact of emissions, through abatement systems like AMIS, are quite effective. Indeed, in areas where mercury and ammonia concentration in fluids constitute a problem to deal with, nowadays the emissive patterns result comparable to the other ones. Notwithstanding, mercury and ammonia emissions, mainly emitted through the cooling towers, still represent a critical problem for all the geothermal fields. On the basis of our findings we conclude that potential chemical interactions and environmental impacts related to the variety of the compounds emitted should be object of future research and a further effort to minimize them.

SWOT analysis of the urbanized area environmental component (using the example of city of Odesa)

Urbanized areas are characterized by a concentration of anthropogenic sources of pollution, and their functioning is a major factor of environmental change. A comprehensive environmental quality assessment, study of the city's environmental component and its impact on the living conditions enable directing the environmental situation management in such a way that allows achieving the optimum possible state of the urbanized areas' natural component. Odesa is a large multifunctional city with extremely diverse anthropogenic impact. This leads to the formation of unfavorable environmental situation. The work is aimed at providing a SWOT analysis of the environmental component of city of Odesa. To achieve this goal, we analyzed the main natural and anthropogenic factors that affect the formation of the ecological situation within the territory of Odesa. The SWOT analysis consists in identifying the Strengths (S) and Weaknesses (W) of the internal environment of the object under research, the Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) of the external environment and establishing the link between them. When speaking about urban systems, the Strengths are different environmentally positive situations, capabilities and properties of the city. The Weaknesses include the existing environmental problems. The Opportunities of the external environment include natural potential of surrounding territories, as well as environmentally positive socio-economic conditions of regional and national levels. The Threats of the external environment include factors that are able to cause harm to the city environment and may cause deterioration of the environmental situation therein. The paper analyzes the existing environmental problems such as a high level of air basin pollution by emissions from mobile and stationary pollution sources, marine environment pollution by pollutants present in sewage and other return waters, surface runoff originating in the city; poor state of water supply and sewage networks; insufficient quality of drinking water from surface and underground water sources; soil contamination by heavy metals, oil products and other pollutants; insufficient landscape gardening of certain city areas and unsatisfactory state of green plantations therein; formation of technogenic groundwater and flooding of the large part of the city's territory; development of dangerous exogenous geological processes; presence of acoustic and electromagnetic pollution sources; poor management and treatment of industrial and consumption waste; presence of environmentally hazardous industrial facilities; unsatisfactory health status of urban inhabitants; low level of environmental culture among citizens. Based on the analysis of internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors, a set of measures to improve the environmental situation in Odesa is offered.

Technical ideas for environmental risk identification and assessment in Nangang petrochemical industry zone in Binhai New Area of Tianjin

At present, industrial development at the regional level has become a new economic growth point in China. As an industrial pillar and high-risk industry for economic development in China, the highly agglomeration form of petrochemical industry will increase the occurrence probability of environmental emergencies and trigger a chain reaction. Regional, industrial or comprehensive environmental risk assessment is still in a preliminary stage although some result foundations for regional environmental risks have been constructed in domestic and foreign. Therefore, this paper discusses the technical ideas for environmental risk identification and assessment in the petrochemical park area, which is based on Nangang petrochemical industry zone in Binhai New Area of Tianjin, meanwhile providing a useful case for related work in similar regions.

Penilaian Kitaran Hayat Sel Suria Terpeka Pewarna di Malaysia

Solar energy is the most abundant nature resources on earth which easily exploitable, clean, long lasting and dependable which make it is desirable to generate electricity compared to other energy resources. However, conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies such as silicon and thin film solar cells may provide significant environmental impacts over their life cycle due to complicated production process of these PV technologies. This make numerous scientists looking forward on the new emerging solar cells including dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Thus, the objective of this research is to analyse a comprehensive environmental impact assessment through life cycle assessment (LCA) from cradle-to-gate approach of this technology in Malaysia. Two environmental indicators were evaluated such as cumulative energy demand (CED) that affect the energy payback time (EPBT), and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The results highlight that DSSC module has EPBT of 3.49 years, CED of 1190.29 MJ/m2 and GHG emissions of 262.38 gCO2eq/kWh which were slightly higher compared to other researchers. Higher energy consumption in module fabrication and panel manufacturing process, lower conversion efficiency (ŋ) and solar irradiation (IR), and used of FTO glass substrate were recognized as main contributors to the results.

An Analysis of EIA Report of the Second International Airport Project, Nepal

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a planning tool which enables decision makers to accept environmentally friendly projects and reject environment damaging projects or their certain components. EIA has been mandatory in Nepal since the enactment of Environment Protection Act in 1997. Usually in Nepal, EIA is done for a project late in the project cycle after many important decisions on design and locations have already been made. While in case of government sponsored projects, EIA has remained as ‘pro forma’ compliance with government’s legal requirements. This paper analyses outputs of approved EIA of a mega infrastructure project “Second International Airport Project” which government wants to implement despite of protests by conservationists, and environmental and social activists. There are technocratic problems in EIA Report such as informational weaknesses, insufficient analysis of impacts, and inadequately proposed mitigations measures. It indicates political influence on EIA. This paper suggests making policy decision on size and nature of an international airport and its facilities, alternative locations avoiding ecologically sensitive area, and source of funding. It proposes to conduct a comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) complying with national and international environmental and social safeguards, before making any decision to fell trees.