Environmental Justification Research Articles

Electrocoagulation in treatment of municipal wastewater– life cycle impact assessment

The purpose of this study is investigation of electrocoagulation (EC) as a treatment of municipal wastewater, integrating life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for assessing its environmental performance of investigated treatment. The study evaluated the effectiveness of EC in removing physico-chemical and microbial parameters using aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) electrodes in monopolar and bipolar modes. Bipolar arrangement of Al(−)/Al/Al/Al(+) electrodes achieved the highest removals: 70% COD, 72% BOD5 followed by complete elimination of total phosphorous, turbidity and microbial parameters. This treatment was subject to investigation of the influence of reaction time (t = 10–60 min) on removals at higher current density (CD = 3.33 mA/cm2). In order to reduce energy consumption, the same reaction time range was used with a reduced CD = 2.33 mA/cm2. Following removal efficiencies obtained: 47–72% COD (higher CD) and 53–78% (lower CD); 69–75% BOD5 (higher CD) and 55–74% CD (lower CD); 12–21% NH4− (higher CD) and 7–22% NH4− (lower CD). Total P, NO3− and NO2− compounds showed the same removals regardless the CD. Decrease in current density did not influence removals of total suspended matter, turbidity, salinity as well as microbial parameters. The bipolar arrangement of Al(−)/Al/Al/Al(+) electrodes, assuming a lower CD = 2.33 mA/cm2 and t = 30 min, was assessed with the Recipe 2016Midpoint (H) and USEtox v.2 LCIA methods to explore the environmental justification of using EC for wastewater treatment. The LCIA results revealed that the EC process significantly reduces water eutrophication and toxicity for freshwater and marine ecosystems, but has higher impacts in global warming, fossil fuel consumption, human toxicity, acidification, and terrestrial ecotoxicity due to high energy consumption. This can be mainly explained by the assumption in the study that the EC precipitate is dispersed to agricultural soil without any pre-treatment and material recovery, along with relatively high energy consumption during the process.

Electric vehicles application - environmental justification

The transport sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in terms of total carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union. Reducing emissions in transport is more expensive than in other sectors because transport is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. For years, electric vehicles have played a prominent role in the transport sector in terms of solving the f harmful gas emissions problem. They have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by offering an alternative to conventional vehicles based on internal combustion engines. Although they have zero CO2 emissions in the tailpipe, electric vehicles require the consumption of electricity to produce them as well as to power the battery, which contributes to the creation of CO2 emissions. The paper compares the use of a delivery vehicle with an internal combustion engine and an electric vehicle in the field of road transportation of the postal sector from the aspect of environmental sustainability. The electric vehicle use showed a lower generation of CO2 by 114.2 g/km, taking into account the average emission of carbon dioxide for electric vehicles according to the data of the European Union.

Rutting and rambling: Movement characteristics reveal partial migration in adult male white-tailed deer at a latitude void of chronic and severe environmental fluctuations.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are generally considered a home-ranging species, although northern populations may migrate between summer and winter ranges to balance resource requirements with environmental stressors. We evaluated annual home range characteristics of adult bucks (n = 30) fitted with GPS collars from 2017 to 2021 in central Mississippi with time series segmentation and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) to determine if individuals employed varying movement strategies. We found 67% of bucks displayed a "sedentary" strategy characterized by a single KDE home range polygon with a mean size of 361 ha. The remaining 33% of bucks employed a "mobile" strategy characterized by multiple home range segments with a mean size of 6530 ha. Sedentary bucks went on an average of 5.9 excursions annually while mobile bucks went on 0.8. Excursion timing for both strategies peaked in breeding season and early spring. Mobile buck home ranges were separated by a mean distance of 7.1 km and mean duration in one home range segment before traveling to another was 78 days. Our study provides the first evidence that partial migration may apply to a larger proportion of lower-latitude deer populations than originally thought, though the environmental justification for this partial migration is not clear.

RENURE – PROCESSED NATURAL FERTILIZERS. SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL, PRODUCTION-ECONOMIC ISSUES

The aim of the paper is to present the essence of natural fertilizers in the form of RENURE, taking into account environmental and production-economic issues. For several decades, international programs and strategies for sustainable development have been implemented. The need to achieve various objectives in business activity is also underlined by the European Green Deal strategy, introduced at the end of 2019. An important element of it is the correct management of natural fertilizers, both for environmental and production and economic reasons. The case of the Netherlands was presented, where pilot studies on the conversion of manure into RENURE were introduced. The study used literature sources and selected, recent statistics from Eurostat resources (2019, 2020). Agriculture in EU countries in the context of production and possibilities of using natural fertilizers is illustrated. Analysis of statistical data has shown that agriculture in the EU is highly diversified in terms of manure management. The case of the Netherlands, which has implemented the RENURE pilot program, results from the specificity of their agriculture – a small area of the country, a very high population and a high stocking density of livestock. Countries that face similar agricultural challenges as the Netherlands can seek similar solutions. In the case of Polish, which differs significantly in terms of the organisation of agriculture and its natural management conditions, the economic and environmental justification for the introduction of RENURE is not justified on a sector-wide scale.

Greening self-government? Incorporation of environmental justifications into sub-state nationalist claim making in Spain

Regional nationalism in Spain – particularly those movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country – have been characterized at the parliamentary level by political parties from both the traditional left and right of the political spectrum. While calls for greater autonomy and even secession are made from both ends of that spectrum, the framings of their calls for self-government vary in content and scope. Since the turn into the 21st century, sub-state nationalist parties of the left - those more typically associated with a prioritization of environmental concerns - in both regions have taken an increased share of the seats in their respective parliaments. Over the same period, climate change has increasingly moved to the front of the list of the concerns of European citizens. This paper investigates the degree to which key regional nationalists of the left have moved to incorporate environmental and climate change concerns into their claim making, narrative, and framings, highlighting both regional, and governance level comparative dynamics.

Creation and substantiation of the matrix for model series of tubular propeller turbines for small hydropower plants

The paper is devoted to further development of small hydropower on the basis of reliable and cheap unregulated tubular propeller hydroturbines with rigidly fixed operating and guide blades. Such turbines are used mainly at low-pressure small hydroelectric power stations. Their main drawback is the impossibility of generated power regulation. However, solutions that minimize this shortcoming are proposed in this paper. Matrix of 4 model series of tubular propeller hydroturbines has been created. The nomenclature of turbines presented in this matrix is aimed at improving technical characteristics of small hydropower plants and reducing their negative impact on the environment. The rules for equipping machine platforms of low-pressure small hydroelectric power plants with capacity up to 200 kW with models of turbines from the created matrix are proposed, and their technical and environmental justification is performed. According to the recommendations given in the paper, at least two different adjacent turbines from the same model line should be installed at one HPP. The best option is three different adjacent turbines from the same model series, but technical and economic analysis should be performed for more detailed justification of the choice of the number of turbines. This is the subject of our further investigations. The application of scientific and practical results presented in the paper will improve technical characteristics of small hydropower plants with tubular propeller turbines and minimize their possible negative impact on the life of river flora and fauna in lower basin.

Environmental justification for projects to reduce emissions from energy facilities during adverse weather conditions

Environmental justification for projects to reduce emissions from energy facilities during adverse weather conditions

Characterisation and Treatment of Automobile and Battery Water Waste Using Coagulation and Adsorption Technique

Adsorption processes have seen a broad level of usage by various researchers over the years to remove heavy metals from waste streams. An adsorbent frequently used is activated carbon. Although activated carbon is used extensively in water and wastewater industries, it remains expensive. In recent years, there has been a need for economical and safe methods for heavy metal elimination from contaminated water. This need has only grown, which gave rise to research aimed toward producing low-cost alternatives to activated carbon. There is an urgent need to explore all possible sources of inexpensive agro-based adsorbents, and heavy metal removal's feasibility should be studied in great detail. This research objective is to learn how inexpensive adsorbents can remove heavy metals from wastewater. Treating Automobile battery waste efficiently remains a significant challenge due to its enormous quantity, hazardous nature, and complexity. When effective treatment technology has poor implementation, this aggravates the situation and worsens the situation further in countries with high and rising populations. This leads to more pressures of urbanisation and industrials, giving room for more industrial waste. This research suggests the best possible options by critically reviewing the existing practices. While slow biological treatment schemes usually fail to support microbial activities in the presence of toxic components in concentrations, other physicochemical plans often need to meet strict waste disposal and discharge regulations. The approach where sludge disposal is thermally incinerated has never seen environmental justification, and this is because of dioxin release and obnoxious substances transferred directly. Newly emerging membrane-based schemes can be flexible, environmentally friendly, petite, economically self-sufficient, and easy to implement and maintain after installation.

Environmental justification for the use of solar panels and batteries as an alternative energy source

The article considers the relevance of using solar panels on the roof of a hypermarket. The cost calculation and the scheme of installation of panels, their profitability and payback are made. The advantages of using bat ray from the point of view of an environmentally friendly energy source are considered.

EXPERIENCE IN INFORMATION SUPPORT OF THE STATE ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM OF THE REAL ESTATE CADASTRE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Due to the emergence of modern requirements for providing the necessary information to state authorities and local self-government bodies, interested enterprises, institutions and organizations, as well as citizens in order to regulate land and other relations, determine the amount of land fees and the value of land as part of natural resources, control over the use and protection of land, economic, environmental justification business plans and economic projects there was a need to analyze the practice of organizing geodetic, cartographic and cadastral works abroad on the example of consideration of the history and current state of cartographic and geodetic support, cadastral works on the territory of the Czech Republic. The formulated purpose and objectives of the study led to the use of general scientific approaches, logical laws of drawing conclusions, special methods of cognition. In carrying out the tasks, the research was based on the world experience of using the descriptive method, the historical and typological method based on complex and systematic approaches. The information base of the research was collections of scientific papers, periodical professional publications, Internet resources, regulatory documents. The article describes the choice of effective methods of organizing geodetic, cartographic and cadastral works abroad by the example of considering the history, current state and experience of cadastral works on the territory of the Czech Republic. The practical significance is noted by the target direction of this study for the needs of specialists in the geodetic industry, for land surveyors, for specialists in organizing effective work on methods and methods of collecting spatial data that can provide operational automated receipt of cartographic information with a given accuracy and the necessary amount of information for both the needs of the country and interested users of various industries. The implementation of the geospatial data infrastructure in the republic, which is accessible to everyone on the Internet, is investigated.

Fluidized bed dryers in terms of minimizing environmental impact and achieving the sustainable development goals

The current paper aims to find scientifically valid approaches to improving the environmental safety of technologies for drying grain materials and granular fertilizers. The methodology for environmental and economic efficiency justification of the energy-saving multi-stage shelf dryers with a convective fluidized bed drying provides design and operational parameters control. Meta-analysis of energy-effective and eco-friendly dryers based on the bibliometric method and the Scopus database is used for this study. The results showed that pollutants concentration in the exhausts could be controlled by modifying the design and the required number of shelves, ensuring the required material residence time to achieve the desired moisture content. The production of electricity using alternative resources like biogas and biofertilizer produced from the anaerobic digestate allows for achieving several Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously. The Goals in scope include Goal 6 Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Goal 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13 Climate Action, and Goal 15 Life On Land.

Land management support for formation of specially protected natural reservations system

Special-purpose programs and documents on environmental protection and sustainable development adopted at the international and regional levels demonstrate the world community’s equal attention to economic, social and environmental components as well as their recognition that with the degradation of natural environment human society’s development is impossible. At the same time, creation and development of a system of specially protected natural reservations is an integral part of the country’s nature protection system, which ensures preservation and restoration of landscape and biological diversity sufficient to maintain natural systems ability to self-regulate and compensate for the consequences of anthropogenic activities. The real mechanism for organizing the rational use of land territories and regulating land relations is land management, which solves the entire range of legal, socio-economic and environmental issues. Therefore, all actions related to the formation of some new and reorganization of existing specially protected natural reservations, organization of land rational use should be carried out only in accordance with land management procedures. The inconsistency and unsystematic nature of land management work in recent years, the involvement of incompetent organizations in implementing that work led to the fact that decisions related to the land use were made without appropriate legal, economic and environmental justification, without compliance with requirements for rational use of territories and their protection. The above-mentioned actions resulted in a number of problems in organization of rational use of territories of all categories, including land of specially protected reservations and objects. The above said statement determines the need to improve the regulatory and methodological support for formation and functioning of specially protected natural reservations of federal, regional and local significance.

Making concrete blocks by raw leachate and construction and demolition waste

AbstractResearch was performed to determine if a viable concrete product can be produced using waste streams accumulating in landfills. The lack of recycling and reuse of construction and demolition (C&D), despite technical, economic, and environmental justifications, has led to the accumulation of C&D waste in landfills throughout Iran. Another issue with landfills in Iran is the existence of pools of municipal solid waste leachate, which has caused problems due to lack of treatment. In this study, by simultaneously utilizing raw municipal leachate and C&D waste in the concrete production process, an attempt was made to produce concrete that is environmentally sustainable and can be used in civil works. After crushing, the C&D waste was granulated into different sizes, its coarse aggregate was completely replaced, and 70% of its fine aggregate was replaced with natural aggregate to form concrete samples that were then made using different percentages of leachate. The utilization of the leachate and C&D waste for concrete production doubled the concrete slump and reduced the unconfined compressive strength of 7‐ and 28‐day curing time by 9 and 15.7 MPa, respectively, when compared to concrete produced with natural aggregates. A leaching procedure test showed that samples made using leachate and recycled C&D waste did not result in high concentrations of leachable heavy metals. Therefore, the study showed that low leachate percentages and recycled C&D wastes can be used in projects where high‐strength concrete is not necessary.

Odpady żużli w produkcji hutniczej. Środowiskowe i ekonomiczne uzasadnienie ich wykorzystania w przemyśle Ukrainy

Odpady żużli w produkcji hutniczej. Środowiskowe i ekonomiczne uzasadnienie ich wykorzystania w przemyśle Ukrainy

Protecting Fashion Design: A Comparative Legal Approach and an Environmental Justification

Protecting Fashion Design: A Comparative Legal Approach and an Environmental Justification

Justification of the line of action for reclamation of lands disturbed by opencast mining

The article is devoted to the substantiation of the line of action for reclamationof disturbed lands. The object of reclamation is a land plot (Russia, Leningrad Region), disturbed as a result of unauthorized open-pit mining operations for the extraction of limestone. In order to obtain the information necessary to justify the reclamation project, the following works were carried out: reconnaissance and route observations, topographic, geological, and environmental surveys of the land. Based on the results of the generalized study data of the environmental and economic justification, a line of action for agricultural reclamation was chosen. In addition, an assessment of the estimated cost of the event was carried out and a list of necessary works was proposed within the framework of the technical and biological stages of reclamation.

Environmental justification of legal consequences of illegal actions in the Russian Federation

The issue of alimony obligations enforcement is quite acute in our country. It is necessary to recognize that Russian legislation does not contain effective mechanisms for collecting funds from parents for the maintenance of minor children. The article reveals the legal nature of consequences of non-payment of funds for the maintenance of minor children by their parents from the point of view of ratio of private and public interests in the mechanism of legal regulation. The authors note the prerequisites and limits of shifting the balance of private and public interests in the study of grounds for applying criminal liability measures for non-payment of alimony.

Aluminum Upcycled: Sustainable Design in Historical Perspective by Carl A. Zimring (review).

Reviewed by: Aluminum Upcycled: Sustainable Design in Historical Perspective by Carl A. Zimring Finn Arne Jørgensen (bio) Aluminum Upcycled: Sustainable Design in Historical Perspective By Carl A. Zimring. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019. Pp. 198. In recent years, recycling has lost some of its sustainability luster, as scholars and activists alike have criticized it for being insufficient for, or even harmful to, actual transformative environmental initiatives. Carl A. Zimring, environmental historian and professor at Pratt Institute, has been a key scholar of recycling history for more than a decade. In Aluminum Upcycled, he tackles a particular form of recycling called upcycling, a process in which materials gain more value through recycling, rather than less. While most materials degrade through recycling, other transformations can take place through upcycling. Aluminum Upcycled speaks to both scholars and practitioners, and is particularly valuable to students of design. Zimring explores upcycling as a concept in design, building on work in industrial ecology and circular economy. He traces the transition of upcycling from an artisanal practice to its adoption in major corporations such as Ford, Patagonia, and Adidas. The book has two sections, each containing three chapters, all of which focus on aluminum. The first section provides a historical overview of recycling as a phenomenon and the origins of the aluminum industry. Zimring efficiently builds on a large body of scholarship that demonstrates how aluminum has moved from scarcity to abundance. He delves particularly deep into the World War II history of aluminum, when it became a critical material for lightweight airplanes. The massive amounts of energy required for aluminum smelting required equally massive energy production facilities. After the war, production capacity shifted to civilian uses of aluminum. Finally, Zimring explores the place of aluminum in modern industrial systems, highlighting the tensions between economic and environmental justifications for recycling. The second section provides readers with in-depth case studies of how [End Page 1291] aluminum has been upcycled through artistic, craft-based, and industrial practice. Zimring clearly builds on his experience as a teacher at an institute specialized in training designers and architects. One chapter is dedicated to transportation, particularly airplanes, bicycles, and cars. Here we are in familiar terrain for historians of technology. A second chapter focuses on furniture, using Hermann Miller Inc. and Eames chairs as centerpieces. Design historians should find much of interest here. The final chapter treads new ground by looking at the history of aluminum guitars. This chapter contributes significantly to our understanding of the limits of the circular economy. Aluminum guitars that become collectors' objects are more than their material components—they take on meaning and value that sometimes bring them out of the circular economy. While Zimring provides us with many valuable insights into the concept of upcycling, the book does not clarify the role of branding and consumption in this process. Much of the increase in value Zimring describes could also be the result of branding. Because his case studies are primarily higher-end products, the value in upcycling may be artificially inflated because of brand recognition rather than material choices. While branding can be central to upcycling aluminum products, the same mechanisms can also make less sustainable products equally valuable. Aluminum Upcycled demonstrates well how the issue of environmentally friendly design is not a simple one. The book illustrates the challenge of going from recyclable to actually recycled. The sorting, dismantling, and processing of materials is often not considered at the design stage, which limits the effectiveness of recycling. Upcycling won't solve these issues unless the underlying problems with modern industrial society are addressed. The history of technology has paid ample attention to waste over the years. Zimring builds on these traditions, while directing our attention to the importance of design and designers in building sustainable products and technologies. Design is the nexus where products and technologies meet the waste stream, controlling upstream and downstream relationships. Aluminum Upcycled demonstrates the merit of blending history of technology, environmental history, and design history in sorting out the complex designed relationships between materials, values, and society in the modern world. Zimring has written a remarkably accessible book that is well worth reading. Finn Arne Jørgensen Finn...

Environmental justification of the distribution of pressure drop in a dead-end low-pressure gas network

The gas supply system is determined by the classes of the elements of the gas transmission network associated with the pressure of the pumped natural gas. Laying gas pipelines in urban areas requires sufficient space around the pipes as a safety zone. The gas pipelines of the first level include gas communications in which the methane pressure is high or medium. To eliminate dead-end sections, gas pipelines are backed up (duplicating individual segments or ringing). The creation of a dead-end network is allowed only in small settlements. Dead-end network is a gas pipeline branching in various directions to gas consumers. Each section of the branched network has a one-way power supply.

Ecosystem approach in the context of economic interest management

The relevance of the subject matter is conditioned by the need to find ways to solve the problem of environmental safety and ensure effective management. The purpose of the study is to structure the national security system with the allocation of environmental and economic subsystems, constructive and critical analysis of the main opinions and positions of scientists regarding the nature and aspects of the ecosystem approach in solving environmental safety, further development of the ecosystem approach based on economic management methods. The study is based on the use of system and matrix approaches, methods of generalisation, modelling, analysis and synthesis, content analysis. It is proved that the national security system includes, in particular, environmental and economic subsystems and that there is objectively an internal system connection between these subsystems, which, when used correctly, should ensure the effective functioning and development of both subsystems. The study outlined the functional-subject matrix of the ecological safety system, which would contribute to the systematisation of different areas of its research. It is established that from the standpoint of management theory, the ecological subsystem is defined as controlled one, and the economic subsystem – as a controlling one; the management is ensured by the fact that the former includes not only natural but also human resources (consumers of ecosystem services, managers in the environmental sphere or performers of environmental functions). It is substantiated that for the effective solution of ecological problems it is necessary to factor in the economic interests of such people, as economic interests serve as the basis of the economic (most effective) method of management. The practical value of the study lies in the development of an economic method of the environmental safety system management and justification of the role of economic interests, which would contribute to the practical solution of environmental problems in Ukraine