Large Number Of Environmental Problems Research Articles

Single well geothermal heating systems: Technical and economic assessment of two widely-used configurations

Benefiting from the closed wellbore space, the single well geothermal heating system (SWGHS) could avoid a large number of environmental problems compared to conventional geothermal systems. Combined with heat pump, this technology is attracting growing interest for the development of district heating based on medium-depth geothermal resources. Efforts of the scientific community and of business operators now focus on the technical optimization and commercial viability of the different SWGHS concepts already available. Here, we numerically investigate the heat extraction performance of a butted- and a vertical-well SWGHS possibly operational in a geothermal prospect area in Xi’an, central China. We addressed the performance of the two systems in terms of outlet temperature, heat production rate, heating area, and economic benefits. Sensitivity analysis suggests that large circulation rates and low inlet temperatures have beneficial effects on both thermal efficiency and economic benefits of the project. Our integrated technical and economic analysis suggests that the butted-well SWGHS configuration is particularly suitable for long-run, large-scale applications, compared to the vertical-well design. This work can provide valuable references for the applications of SWGHS, which is of criterial importance for reaching carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Feasibility of changing the area of the «Boryslavsky» local landscape reserve

The intervention of industrial production in the state of nature-reserved objects often causes a number of changes in natural ecosystems. In the city of Boryslav and its surroundings, industrial oil production has already caused a large number of environmental problems. In order to preserve the valuable native beech-fir forests surrounding the city on the southern side, the gene pool of the animal and plant world, and maintain the overall ecological balance in the Drohobych region, in 1984 the Boryslavsky landscape reserve of local importance was created, the area of which is 2,049.3 hectares. The territory of the reserve belongs to the Upper Dniester Beskydy district and is of particular importance for ensuring the water regime of the Tysmenytsia River and its tributaries, in the basin of which it is located. Also, 15 red book insect species were found here, which is about half of the red book entomofauna of the Transcarpathian region in general, and a number of insects that are under protection in European countries or recognized as rare, although they are not listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, 6 rare red book species of animals. Our research confirmed the presence of four Red Book grass species that have the nature conservation status of unassessed and two rare phytocenoses (the association of Alnetum (incanae)alliosum (ursini) and Fageto (sylvaticae)Abietum (albae) Hederosum. The territory of the reserve is located within the boundaries of South Boryslav of the oil field, which belongs to the most promising oil and gas-bearing areas of Precarpathia. In accordance with the approved limit for the special use of natural resources within the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund of local importance, in accordance with the state environmental protection department in the Lviv region, and on the basis of the permit issued by the local self-government body, the limited liability company "First Ukrainian Gas and Oil Company" began conducting geological exploration works on the site belonging to the territory of the Boryslavsky Reserve. the territory of the nature reserve, with an area of 2.5 hectares, located on the border of blocks 63 and 66, vid. 5 square meters 66 and part of ed. 1 and 2 sq. 63 of the Boryslav Forestry (territory of the reserve, altitude about 740 m above sea level) was cut down due to the need for geological exploration. As of today, this company has a special permit to use the subsoil of this area and plans to continue its activities. Given these circumstances, we consider it expedient to remove this area from the lands of the landscape reserve of local importance "Borislavsky", as it does not fulfill the functions assigned to it, namely: protection, preservation and restoration of valuable fir and beech plantations of natural origin with a typical formations with flora and fauna. In turn, we propose to include two plots of highly productive beech-fir groves from the lands of the State Enterprise "Drogobitske LG", Boryslav Forestry, namely sections No. 20 (area of 2.8 ha) and No. 22 (area of 1.2 ha) ) of the 44th quarter. These areas, bordering the lands of the landscape reserve, were selected as a result of the study of the tree stand, features of vegetation and soil cover, the existing natural undergrowth of beech and fir, the presence of plant and animal species included in the Red Book and subject to protection. Thus, the area of the reserve will increase by 1.5 hectares.

Динамическое картографирование нарушенных земель с использованием данных дистанционного зондирования

Due to the increase in the areas of disturbed lands, the relevance of developing methods and methods for obtaining and analyzing spatial data in order to make decisions on rational nature management is increasing every year. Monitoring of natural and anthropogenic systems is largely related to the collection, analysis and visualization of dynamic processes, so the technologies for compiling of dynamic maps are at the peak of relevance. A number of factors necessitate the using of dynamic geoimages. Firstly, these images are an inseparable combination of spatial-temporal links on the certain areas. Secondly, it is the possibility of a full-fledged analysis of spatial changes taking into account time. Thirdly, it is the forecasting of natural and socio-economic factors and phenomena. In addition, dynamic mapping opens up opportunities for multimedia data visualization, which increases the observer’s perception of geoimages by several times with the focus on specific objects. Remote sensing data is one of the main sources for compiling and updating thematic dynamic maps. This article demonstrates the development of the method for creating working layers used in geographic information systems (GIS) for compiling dynamic maps using remote sensing data. The authors note a distinctive feature of the methodology: it is aimed at a wide range of users who do not fully have the skills and abilities to work with remote sensing data. These are managers of any level, whose direct work is not related to the compiling of geo-images, but whose competence is to make managerial decisions. Another advantage of the described methods is its implementation in an open source GIS (QGIS), as well as its application not only for single images, but also for a mosaic image. The article presents a description of the entire path from image processing to the creation of visual images. Disturbed lands of the Zabaykalsky Krai of the Russian Federation were chosen as a special example of working polygons. These territories have a large number of environmental problems, causing an increase in the areas of disturbed lands: open pits, an increase in the number of mining and processing factories, degradation of agricultural and forest lands due to anthropogenic activities and erosion processes, active seismic processes, mudflows and avalanche hazard.

The Influence of Green Human Resources Practices on Sustainable Performance in the Egyptian Hotels

The hotel industry is one of the sectors that largely increases the environmental burden. Therefore, due to the large number of environmental problems faced by the hotel industry, there is a growing force for the companies and their stakeholders to respond correctly to environmental concerns and to introduce sustainable business practices such as the adoption of green practices. This study used a research model to explore the relationship between green HRM practices in the Egyptian hotels. Structural equation modelling was utilised to analyse data collected from 910 hotels. The research findings revealed that green recruiting and selection, green training and development, and green compensation have a meaningful sustainable performance relationship. The study provides hotel managers with meaningful implications on how to use GHRM in improving their business performance.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF CLIMATE CHANGES

Global climate changes have and will have different outcomes which will impact the human population, such as natural disasters, or human-induced, environmental degradation. Solutions to a large number of environmental problems lie in human behavior, and behavior is, by its definition, the subject of the study of psychology. Therefore, in addition to natural changes (such as solar radiation or sea currents), the human factor becomes the object of two-sides study - on the one hand, as a cause of climate changes, and on the other, as the one on which the same changes have their impact (on physical and mental health). Such studies require a complex methodology, interdisciplinarity and, often, significant financial resources. It should be kept in mind that global climate change and its impact cannot be directly perceived, but only through certain indicators, such as, for example, circadian, seasonal or regional temperature variations and their impact on the psycho-physical status of individuals.Research on the effects of climate change has shown that certain types of individuals may develop different types of mental dysfunctions, as a consequence of those climate changes, like the reduction of emotional balance, anxiety, depression, generalized or specific stress conditions, etc. Although it is not possible to feel the climate change directly, thanks to the previous knowledge it is possible to prepare to those changes, to the extent that the adaptability of the human organism allows it, and to respond adequately to them. These preparations involve knowledge regarding those changes and management of the interaction of man and his environment, whether it is natural or artificial, made by people themselves.

Application of hybrid artificial intelligence model to predict coal strength alteration during CO2 geological sequestration in coal seams

CO2 geological sequestration in coal seams has gradually become one of the effective means to deal with the global greenhouse effect. However, the injection of CO2 into the coal seam can have an important impact on the physical and chemical properties of coal, which in turn affects the CO2 sequestration performance in coal seams and causes a large number of environmental problems. In order to better evaluate the strength alteration of coal in CO2 geological sequestration, a hybrid artificial intelligence model integrating back propagation neural network (BPNN), genetic algorithm (GA) and adaptive boosting algorithm (AdaBoost) is proposed. A total of 112 data samples for unconfined compressive strength (UCS) are retrieved from the reported studies to train and verify the proposed model. The input variables for the predictive model include coal rank, CO2 interaction time, CO2 interaction temperature and CO2 saturation pressure, and the corresponding output variable is the measured UCS. The predictive model performance is evaluated by correlation coefficient (R), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The predictive results denote that the GA-BPNN-AdaBoost predictive model is an efficient and accurate method to predict coal strength alteration induced by CO2 adsorption. The simultaneous optimization of BPNN by GA and AdaBoost algorithm can greatly improve the prediction accuracy and generalization ability of the model. At the same time, the mean impact value (MIV) is used to investigate the relative importance of each input variable. The relative importance scores of coal rank, CO2 interaction time, CO2 interaction temperature and CO2 saturation pressure are 0.5475, 0.2822, 0.0373, 0.1330, respectively. The research results in this paper can provide important guiding significance for CO2 geological sequestration in coal seams.

Geo-Coordinated Parallel Coordinates (GCPC): Field trial studies of environmental data analysis

The large number of environmental problems faced by society in recent years has driven researchers to collect and study massive amounts of data in order to understand the complex relations that exist between people and the environment in which we live. Such datasets are often high dimensional and heterogeneous in nature, with complex geospatial relations. Analysing such data can be challenging, especially when there is a need to maintain spatial awareness as the non-spatial attributes are studied. Geo-Coordinated Parallel Coordinates (GCPC) is a geovisual analytics approach designed to support exploration and analysis within complex geospatial environmental data. Parallel coordinates are tightly coupled with a geospatial representation and an investigative scatterplot, all of which can be used to show, reorganize, filter, and highlight the high dimensional, heterogeneous, and geospatial aspects of the data. Two sets of field trials were conducted with expert data analysts to validate the real-world benefits of the approach for studying environmental data. The results of these evaluations were positive, providing real-world evidence and new insights regarding the value of using GCPC to explore among environmental datasets when there is a need to remain aware of the geospatial aspects of the data as the non-spatial elements are studied.

Life cycle assessment of opencast coal mine production: a case study in Yimin mining area in China.

China has the largest coal production in the world due to abundant resource requirements for economic development. In recent years, the proportion of opencast coal mine production has increased significantly in China. Opencast coal mining can lead to a large number of environmental problems, including air pollution, water pollution, and solid waste occupation. The previous studies on the environmental impacts of opencast coal mine production were focused on a single production process. Moreover, mined land reclamation was an important process in opencast coal mine production; however, it was rarely considered in previous research. Therefore, this study attempted to perform a whole environmental impact analysis including land reclamation stage using life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The Yimin opencast coal mine was selected to conduct a case study. The production of 100tons of coal was used as the functional unit to evaluate the environmental risks in the stages of stripping, mining, transportation, processing, and reclamation. A total of six environmental impact categories, i.e., resource consumption, acidification, global warming, solid waste, eutrophication, and dust, were selected to conduct this assessment. The contribution rates of different categories of environmental impacts were significantly different, and different stages exhibited different consumption and emissions that gave rise to different environmental effects. Dust was the most serious environmental impact category, and its contribution rate was 36.81%, followed by global warming and acidification with contribution rates of 29.43% and 22.58%, respectively. Both dust and global warming were mainly affected in mining stage in Yimin opencast coal mine based on comprehensive analysis of environmental impact. Some economic and feasible measures should be used to mitigate the environmental impacts of opencast coal mine production, such as water spraying, clean transportation, increasing processing efficiency, and improving mining technologies. This study can be considered as a useful reference for a deeper understanding of key environmental impacts related to the whole coal production in opencast coal mine.

Assessment of technological pollution sources influence on underground water on the territory of Kharkiv region

Formulation of the problem. To date, a large number of environmental problems remain unsolved.Moreover, their number increases year after year. First of all, this is due to the impact of man on a balanced nature, the expansion of industrial and agricultural production. Kharkiv region, whose industry plays a significant role in Ukraine's production and gives a tenth of all industrial production in the country, was investigated in the article to assess the impact of technogenic sources of groundwater contamination. There are more than 1200 industrial enterprises located here, indicating an extremely high level of industrialization, which results in the formation of significant volumes of industrial waste and negatively affects the environment. Powerful heavy industry enterprises on the territory of Kharkiv region, which have worn-out and technically outdated workshops and production in their structure, produce large volumes of industrial waste, which, in turn, causes an unfavorable environmental condition in the cities of the region, such as chemical pollution of air, soils, groundwater. The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of technogenic sources of groundwater pollution on the territory of Kharkiv region. Presenting main material. The article gives a description of the influence of the most significant objects of Kharkiv region, which pose a possible threat to groundwater, and therefore to the water intakes they operate. The sources of concentrated groundwater contamination in the investigated area are mainly large industrial enterprises, which, by their nature, use water in significant volumes and, as a result, have large amounts of waste water. Such sites are on the territory involved in the production cycle. These are septic tanks, sludges, heat exchangers, quarries, access platforms, warehouses, burial sites of various wastes, etc. Conclusions. Several significant sites are located on the territory of Kharkiv region, which pose a possible threat to underground waters, and therefore to water intakes that operate them. These are, first of all, Zmiiv heat-station, Pervomaisky Khimprom, Balakliya cement-slate intergated works, Shebelinka gas-extraction, the point of radioactive waste disposal in the village of Dergachi, Dergachi District Solid Waste Management and some other active industrial enterprises.Based on the data of groundwater aquifers’ chemical composition in the zone of influence of technogenic sources for the long period of observations, appropriate conclusions were drawn regarding pollution.

Appropriate future targets of biochemical research in the developing countries

Appropriate future targets of biochemical research in the developing countries

Participatory Governance: Addressing the Problem of Rising Groundwater Level in Cities

The rising groundwater level in the cities has become a major concern all around the world. Due to the increasing level of groundwater it is not only endangering the structures and properties but also causing major environmental problem affecting the health of the city habitats and the biotic of the land community. The author proposes an interdisciplinary planning strategy to deal with the issue of rising groundwater level. The fabric of a city reveals the past present and the future growth of the city. The technical and non-technical issues are closely interlinked. The groundwater level gets seriously affected due to increasing pressure of various man-made activities. Once the natural flow of the groundwater is affected it can result in raising the level or lessen the level creating large number of environmental problems. In any democratic society it has to go through a lengthy complicated process of formalities to respect the individual and social values. Socio-political decisions have always played the most important role in the execution of any project. The utilitarian attitude of the democratic government has become counterproductive in the name of maintaining democratic sanctity. The technical advises are overlooked to win the mass support for the political gains. Hence the author strongly feels that the success of a project especially if it is related to environment does not depend on technical knowledge and solution only. The planning body should evolve a policy of participatory governance constituting a well-coordinated multidisciplinary forum comprising experts from the cross-section of the society consisting the technical experts finance experts management experts social organizations community-level representatives and government agencies is the most essential component. (authors)

Long-term Consequences of Upstream Impoundment

Since 1970 a large number of environmental problems have been identified as resulting from the long-term effects of human impacts. Consideration of human activity within the environment as three orders of impact, provides a basic framework for the appreciation and evaluation of long-term problems. Consequent upon dam construction, major changes of flood magnitude and frequency and of the quantity and calibre of sediment loads (first-order impacts), will induce the readjustment of channel morphology and ecology (second-order impacts). However, the macrophytic and macro-invertebrate population, for example, are also adjusted to channel morphology—particularly channel shape and substrate composition—so that further readjustments of the macrophyte and macro-invertebrate populations may be effected by changes of channel form (third-order impacts).