Need For Environmental Protection Research Articles

Enhancing the recovery of gypsum in limestone-based wet flue gas desulfurization with high energy ball milling process: A feasibility study

Abstract The most common system for flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is the wet scrubbing process in which, the contact between the flue gases to be treated and an alkaline sorbent such limestone is realized with the correspondent production of gypsum. The production of gypsum represent a perfect example of how is possible to obtain a new product for the market starting from the need of environmental protection (the sulphur dioxide (SO2) removal). Today, limestone is ground in long drum mill reaching a size in the range 5–10 mm. With the intent of increasing the specific surface area of limestone and consequently the gypsum production, the raw limestone was treated in a high-energy mill. The performance of such micronized limestone in terms of gypsum production and SO2 removal were then evaluated by means of a bench scale desulfurization test. Subsequently, a feasibility study with the goal to verify the possible advantages simulating the application of the micronized limestone on a full-scale Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant was realized. Results showed how the micronization process occurred securely, with a greater production of gypsum and better performance in terms of SO2 removal. Additionally, the micronization solutions tested in the present study showed the suitability also from economic and environmental point of view. Since there are many power plants or WtE plants worldwide and, in many cases, they adopt a wet FGD, this study may be attractive for plant operators. The greater production of gypsum through the use of micronized limestone may help reduce the consumption of raw materials, which increased in recent years due to growing demand of the building industry.

Information technology adoption for sustainable development: green e-books as an example

ABSTRACTIn recent years, due to increasing awareness of the need for environmental protection, there have been significant efforts to improve consumers’ acceptance of green information technology(IT) products for sustainable development. This study first investigated how knowledge about a green IT product (e-books) influences consumers’ planning processes by using the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior. Data from 320 respondents were analyzed using structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships in the research model. Results show that perceived usefulness, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a significant and positive impact on the intention to purchase e-books. Results also show the moderating effect of consumers’ knowledge about the environmental friendliness of e-books on their intention to buy e-books. Finally, important implications of the findings are discussed, and directions for future research are also provided in this paper.

Uniform Parallel-Machine Scheduling for Minimizing Total Resource Consumption With a Bounded Makespan

This paper examines the uniform parallel-machine scheduling problem in which the objective aims to minimize the total resource consumption (TRC) with a bounded makespan. A matheuristic is proposed to deal with this strongly NP-hard problem. The performance of the proposed matheuristic is compared with that of the state-of-the-art particle swarm optimization (PSO) meta-heuristic and the lower bound (LB) of TRC on a set of benchmark instances. Computational results show that the proposed matheuristic significantly outperforms the PSO meta-heuristic and its solution is very close to the tight LB. Given the critical need for environmental protection, this paper provides an effective and efficient algorithm for diminishing the gap between the theoretical progress of scheduling and the practical need for environmental protection.

Environmental Accounting as a Cornerstone of Corporate Sustainability Reporting

The major objective of this paper is to stress a role of environmental accounting in developing management’s strategic initiatives in the field of environmental protection. The socially responsible behavior of a company implies undertaking various activities for prevention, removal and minimizing the harmful effects on the environment. Such a responsible strategic approach ultimately leads to numerous cost savings, improvement in profitability and reputation and finally enables corporate sustainable development. In order to achieve its goal, this research will be methodologically based on the qualitative approach of published articles’ content analysis and the analysis of corporate practice in designing environmental accounting systems that allow better identification and control of costs and benefits related to environmental protection activities. Analysis of different accounting practices in producing financial and nonfinancial environmental information requires distinction between environmental financial and management accounting, given the fact that they create different types of information intended for internal and external users. Management needs such information for the purposes of identification and control of environmental protection costs, making decisions about the more efficient use of resources, projecting costs and benefits of further activities and attempts to increase company’s value through a socially responsible behavior. The expected results of this research should confirm the premise that increased awareness of the need of environmental protection and achieving sustainable development motivates companies for more frequently producing obligatory and voluntary external and internal reports about their environmental activities. At the same time, environmental accounting is supporting these initiatives, but we expect that in future new tools will be developed that will improve the quality and scope of its informational offer, which may be the area of potential for further research.

Environmental aspects and renewable energy sources in the production of construction aggregate

The main activity of open pit mining of aggregates are aggregates' exploitation of natural mineral deposits and its modification in order to obtain high-quality aggregates. The development of aggregate production is conditioned by a number of factors. The most important are: documented material resources, mining and manufacturing capabilities, the need of environmental protection (environmental aspects), the subordination of the plan of spatial development, formal and legal issues, as well as economic and financial aspects. While identifying and assessing the environmental impacts of manufacturing aggregates one may distinguish those environmental aspects that have or may have the greatest magnitude of the impact on the environment as a result of industrial activities. Manufacturers producing aggregates located in the areas covered by the special environmental protection require extra diligence in the conduct of mining activities for preservation of natural resources. The article discusses some main environmental aspects of the production of construction aggregates on the example of one of the largest producers of this material in Subcarpathian province of Poland. Environmental protection in production of aggregates may refer to four aspects: the use of natural resources, having excluded land from agriculture and forestry, land reclamation after exploitation, and use of energy from renewable energy sources. The economic and environmental impact of production volume of aggregates is evaluated by the index information capacity method and the method of graphs.

Transcending Divisions and Harmonizing Interests: How the Arctic Council Experience Can Inform Regional Cooperation on Environmental Protection in the South China Sea

1. The South China Sea Arbitration case has brought substantial attention to the sovereignty and maritime boundary disputes of the South China Sea. It has also exposed the environmental problems in the region and three important needs: cooperative governance of the marine ecosystem, ecological security, and sustainable development of the area by littoral States of the South China Sea. As the intractable and highly sensitive political disputes in the region continue, the need for environmental protection is growing more urgent; this issue’s largely non-controversial nature should provide a relatively low threshold for cooperative engagement. 2. Nevertheless, the relevant coastal States have not established a regime for marine environmental governance in the South China Sea, partly because environmental problems have been either overshadowed by or intertwined with complicated political disputes. Consequently, these issues were bound together and used as political tools in the ongoing sovereignty, delimitation or sovereign rights disputes. The Philippines has attempted to resolve environmental problems through arbitration or litigation. However, these problems are inextricable from ongoing political and legal problems, making it difficult to implement solutions to environmental problems.

Experimental evaluation on tribological performance of the wheel/workpiece interface in minimum quantity lubrication grinding with different concentrations of Al2O3 nanofluids

Lubricants play a critical role in machining, especially in the grinding process. As a result of the growing need for environmental protection and the increasing number of health problems faced by workers, traditional lubricants are gradually being replaced. Nanofluids, which contain nanoparticles in the proper base fluid, can serve as a low-carbon, “green” lubricant. As a lubricant, nanofluids show improved heat transfer capability and lubricating properties. Friction between abrasive grains and workpieces during grinding can directly influence grinding force, grinding wheel wear, and workpiece quality. Therefore, increasing lubricating effects is an effective way to improve machining performance. In this study, a nanofluid, as the lubricating fluid, is developed by adding 0.5 vol% to 4.0 vol% Al2O3 nanoparticles to palm oil for the surface grinding of a Ni-based alloy in minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) mode. The tribological performance at the grinding wheel/workpiece interface under different concentrations of nanoparticles is studied on the basis of macroparameters (force ratio, specific energy, and G-ratio) and microparameters (surface quality, microstructure of abrasive grains and grinding debris, viscosity, and contact angle). Results show that the nanofluid flows through the grinding wheel and workpiece interface and forms a lubricating oil film that reduces friction significantly. An optimum concentration of nanoparticles is also achieved. The smallest force ratio of 0.281 is obtained when the volume concentration of the nanoparticles is 1.5%, whereas the minimum roughness of Ra = 0.301 μm, slender grinding debris, and maximum drop wetting area are realized when the volume concentration is 2.0%. Hence, the nanofluid exhibits excellent overall tribological performance. In addition, a nonlinear relationship exists between the lubricating effect and the concentration of the nanofluid. The appropriate concentration of Al2O3 in the nanofluid thus provides good tribological performance and have both environmental and economic benefits for industrial applications.

Green Economy Performance and Green Productivity Growth in China’s Cities: Measures and Policy Implication

Resource depletion and environmental degradation have become serious challenges for China’s sustainable development. This paper constructs indicators to assess China’s green economy performance and green productivity growth, in which economic expansion, resource conservation and environmental protection need to be incorporated simultaneously. For this purpose, we combine non-radial directional distance function and meta-frontier Malmquist productivity to develop the indicators. The methodology also allows for the decomposition of driving forces of China’s green economy. Moreover, the dataset employed in this paper allows for the evaluation of 275 cities in China during the period 2003–2012. The main findings are as follows. First, most of China’s cities did not perform efficiently in terms of the green economy, with an average score of only 0.233. Second, the growth rate of green productivity is slower than real GDP, and the green productivity growth in China is only moderate. Third, innovation is the main driving force of China’s green productivity growth, but the central region lags behind when it comes to green innovation. Fourth, artificial local protectionism and transport limitations impede the progress of cities that perform ineffectively in the green economy. Based on our empirical findings, we provide policy implications and suggestions for enhancing China’s green economy performance and productivity growth.

Elucidating the factors influencing the acceptance of green products: An extension of theory of planned behavior

Recent environmental disasters worldwide have made people consider the need for environmental protection. Therefore, the invisible pressure from these people made a paradigm shift on the economic structure as well as the business strategies. Even if these pressures from the environmental-friendly people are not forceful, it is nevertheless inevitable to put more strategic importance on the environment. The aim of this study was to identify determinants of acceptance of green products, including attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control of theory of planned behavior with social impression, environmental consciousness, and environmental ethics and beliefs to understand and predict the adoption of consumer intentions. An online survey with 406 responses has been analyzed by partial least square (PLS). This study found that the attitude, perceived behavioral control, environmental consciousness of consumers and the environmental ethics and beliefs of consumers have a significant positive association with their intention to use green products, while the subjective norms consumers and the social impression consumers are positively but not significantly correlated to their intentions towards using green products. Based on these results, several strategic suggestions for participators and academics as well as policy implications to promote the green production were offered.

Balance Between Local Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability: A Multi-level Governance Perspective

ABSTRACTThis study seeks to explain why U.S. local governments utilize environmental sustainability to promote economic development. Economic development and environmental protection need not be competing objectives, but rather, environmental protection can enhance local economic competitiveness. Using data from the ICMA Economic Development Survey, this study tests an empirical model that includes state sustainability initiatives, participation in climate protection networks, and political attitudes toward economic development as predictors of local policy decisions. The findings reinforce a multi-level governance perspective on explaining the balance cities seek to achieve between environmental protection and economic growth.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AND MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

In this Universe the Earth is the only planet where life is possible. Modernization and industrialization affect nature in 2 ways. Firstly it is extremely destructive of environment in its search for inexpensive biomass-based raw materials and for the opportunities for waste disposal. Secondly modernization is transforming the very character of nature. The tendency is to reduce the diversity in nature and transform it in to high yielding monocultures.
 India is country with a high level of population density. In the name of economic development often any human activity, which results in the destruction of an ecological space or in its transformation, is justified. Environmental issues were completely overlooked during the first 2 decades of economic development. Government realized the need for environmental protection in early 1970s. Environmental protection was adopted as directive principles of state policy in our Constitution. The protection of environment is also a fundamental duty of every citizen of India. Presently there are about 30 major enactments related to protection of environment being administered by the Central and State Governments. The problems concerning the policies of Government related to environmental protection and the implementation of various laws are discussed in this paper.
 India’s biggest challenge today is to identify and implement development process that will lead to greater equity, growth and sustainability. To achieve these goals Government policies should be reformed and it is our duty to come forward and make these policies successful.

English

This study was carried out to ascertain the perception of the people on sustainable timber utilization and management in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were purposively selected from the timber producing areas of the state, and multi stage random sampling technique was employed to select a total of 150 respondents. Primary data were used for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. Statistical and econometric tools used for analysis included mean, percentages, frequencies and exploratory factor analysis. Major causes of timber exploitation and illegal logging observed from the study were: poverty and hunger; high cost of timber products; expanding agriculture; expanding population; rapid urbanization and high cost of alterative wood products. Results of multiple regression showed that the socio-economics characteristics that influenced timber exploitation were: gender, occupation, education all significant at 5% and marital status with significance level of 1%. The perception of farmers as regards strategies that could be adopted for sustainable utilization and management of timber were: use of forest-regulators in the control of timber exploitation; creating awareness on the need for environmental protection and sustainability; emphasis on agroforestry, aforestation and reforestation programme; arresting of defaulters and subsequent charging of fines; support of research on alternative source of energy. The identified constraints to effective timber management were: lack of public awareness of timber resource management; population pressure; lack of fund to tackle the problem of unsustainable use of timber; poverty and institutional problem; limited manpower to enforce environmental laws and regulation and poor value system and moral ethics. The study recommended that the law enforcement approach should be complemented with incentive based development of alternative income earning opportunities for local people involved in illegal timber harvesting.   Key words: Sustainable, timber, utilization, exploitation, management, Nigeria.   &nbsp

The relationship between environmental information disclosure and firm valuation: the role of corporate governance

Hopwood argued that accounting has become associated with environmental concerns, and that environmental concerns will be further integrated into accounting practices in the near future. The McKinsey Company discovered that environmental information affects a firm’s value, and that investors in firms with good corporate governance in Asian countries are willing to pay a price premium of 20 % or greater. The increasing need for environmental protection and responsibility to the community on the part of firms have led to environmental protection becoming a critical focal concern of governments, public welfare associations, and the public. Effective implementation of corporate governance has been reported to enhance operating performance and increase firm value. This study applies the Ohlson valuation model to examine the value relevance of environmental information disclosure and corporate governance, and investigate their on firms in Taiwan. The results indicate relationships between total disclosure of environmental information, mandatory disclosure of environmental information, and voluntary disclosure of environmental information and firm value. Corporate governance is positively correlated with the valuation of total disclosure of environmental information and mandatory disclosure of environmental information.

Global norms in domestic politics: environmental norm contestation in Cambodia's hydropower sector

This paper studies environmental norm contestation in Cambodia's hydropower sector, exemplified by the Kamchay Dam. In Cambodia we can observe different discourses in relation to hydropower. These stem directly from a local contest over the path of Cambodia's development, but use global norms as reference points: one emphasizes environmental protection, using environmental impact assessment (EIA) as point of reference; and one emphasizes the utility of the clean development mechanism (CDM) to attract large-scale investment into the energy sector while downplaying the need for environmental protection. While EIA and CDM are complementary, key actors present them as contradictory. This produces a normative fragmentation of the field of environmental protection. The paper argues that the norm diffusion literature, by presenting norm conflicts as hierarchical local–global conflicts, has paid insufficient attention to the fact that local actors actively draw on global norms to justify domestic development policies. More emphasis on this phenomenon will lead to a better understanding of the role of global norms in domestic politics and will enhance our knowledge of how domestic development policies are contested.

Marketing Communication in Eco-innovation Process

Abstract The need for environmental protection is an essential part of business processes. It concerns also innovation that is characterized by the attribute of novelty. In addition to this attribute, it is important to include also the need to move towards sustainable development through environmental protection into the concept of innovation. Eco-innovations seem to be the remedy for addressing adverse situation in all business areas, but they must be supported with appropriate communication strategy that directs the customer to the correct way to build environmental awareness in him and help him choose the right commodities, which are in line with sustainable development. On the other hand, there is a company that should not underestimate conscious customers and also focus on marketing communications, which satisfy the customer that its organic products are a welcome alternative to conventional products. The paper deals with marketing communication in a linear process of eco-innovation, and brings partial results of research conducted in the small and medium enterprises in the Slovak business environment. The research results point to the importance of marketing communication that it brings to innovators, as well as to customers.

Environmental protection during armed conflicts

Environment is a term which is ever more often used in the media, and in recent years also in everyday communication of ordinary people. However, there is a small number of those who are aware of the need for environmental protection even in peacetime conditions, while during armed conflict almost nobody cares about pollution and long-term destruction of the environment. In international humanitarian law, there are just a few rules that directly protect the environment. These rules can be found in the 1977 Additional Protocol I to 1976 ENMOD Convention and the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons, as well as its Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons. There are also a number of binding rules that indirectly protect the environment, and the most important are some general principles of international humanitarian law, which derive their force from their customary nature and thus are applicable to all countries. Indirectly, the environment is also protected by some contractual obligations, such as the 1907 Hague Regulations, the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians, and the Additional Protocol I. In order to provide practical explanation based on examples of the effects of an armed conflict on the environment, the paper first defines basic terms, and then, using the example of the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), explains the role and importance of international humanitarian law for the protection of the environment during armed conflicts.

Sustainable development of eco-industrial parks in China: effects of managers' environmental awareness on the relationships between practice and performance

Abstract As an important means of achieving sustainable development, eco-industrial parks have been given great significance at every level of Chinese governments, and as a result, they have made great strides in China. The increasing pressures of resource constraints and the need for environmental protection have made the achievement of optimal sustainable development performance crucial. Managers of eco-industrial park administrative committees, as decision makers and executors, have a pivotal role in the design, plan, and organization for the sustainable development of eco-industrial parks. Furthermore managers' environmental awareness is important when organizing environmental practices in their eco-industrial parks. This paper seeks to establish the value of the effects of managers' environmental awareness on the relationships between environmental practices and sustainable development performance by presenting an analysis of Chinese eco-industrial park projects. Using an empirical study, this paper first identifies the key environmental practices, directed by managers, which impact the sustainable development performance of Chinese eco-industrial parks. The moderating effect of managers' environmental awareness on the relationships between environmental practices and sustainable development performance is then developed. Our results show that instituting environmental norms for eco-industrial park enterprises, building industrial symbiosis, and providing guidance to key enterprises play significant roles in producing sustainable development performance for eco-industrial parks. Managers' environmental awareness is helpful in driving and transforming environmental practices into sustainable development performance. Our results also provide assistance for designing and implementing environmental practices for sustainable development, recruiting managers with higher environmental awareness, and training managers to improve their environmental awareness so that eco-industrial parks can achieve sustainable development performance.

Environment, economy and energy systems: foundations of sustainable development

Energy is indispensable to social development. The objective of energy systems is to contribute to a higher standard of living. The energy policy of developed countries is more and more influenced by the need for environmental protection. Social development strategies are directed towards sustainable growth. Decisions on energy policy should be made with respect to the complex of interests of the society in question - political, environmental, economic, social, etc. For sustainable social development all usable natural resources and all available technologies should be taken into account. The decision on an energy policy is by its nature a multicriterial one. An important efficiency criterion of sustainable development is the economic efficiency and quality preservation of all components of the environment: air, soil, water, minerals, forests, organisms. Decision making on power systems has to take into consideration inseparably both environmental and economic aspects. Only in this way is it possible to create conditions for sustainable social development.

Interface shear behaviour of tunnel backfill materials in a deep-rock nuclear waste repository in Finland

The need for environmental protection and safety in facilities dedicated for the final safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel is paramount. Highly engineered multi-barriers are widely used in such waste containment facilities in order to provide a tight seal for the waste they contain. In Finland, several research studies have been conducted to investigate the feasibility of the final safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel in crystalline bedrock by incorporating the KBS-3V multi-barrier repository concept. As the saturation of the tunnels in a repository progresses, the pre-compressed bentonite buffer may swell and generate very high swelling pressure in the range of 7–15MPa. Such high swelling pressure can cause the upheaval and the compression of the tunnel backfill that would eventually decrease the density of the buffer. For various reasons, the current KBS-3V design suggests that the saturated density of the buffer should be maintained within a narrow range of 1950–2050kg/m3 at all times. As the swelling of the buffer directly influences the saturated density of the buffer, it must be controlled by designing a tunnel backfill that possesses an adequate amount of interface shear strength to sustain any additional pressure that is exerted by the swelling of the buffer. This study presents the findings of a series of direct shear box tests conducted on various tunnel backfill interfaces. Additionally, different types of rock profiles were also tested with the selected backfill materials. Based on the results, it was observed that the interface shear behaviour of different backfill-rock interfaces varied significantly with the surface roughness of the rock, while clay blocks resulted in similar shear behaviour with all the backfill materials.

Extending pedestrianization processes outside the old city center; conflict and benefits in the case of the city of Seville

Pedestrianizing areas that are generally in the old part of town has been widely used in recent years in both developed and developing countries as a way to improve urban quality in cities traditionally designed for intensive vehicle use. This paper applies discrete demand models to examine the satisfaction of citizens or frequent visitors with these schemes in two streets that are not part of the urban center of the city of Seville (Spain) and the conclusions that are drawn can be easily extrapolated to other cities, irrespective of the country that they are in. These two pedestrianizations outside the traditional inner city are clearly positively valued by citizens, especially by people living in the vicinity of the pedestrianized streets and by the collectives that have more available free time or more flexible schedules. They have also been especially welcomed by citizens who are more aware of the need for environmental protection and calling for a more a more sustainable city. The results show that both pedestrianizations have resulted in significant changes in citizens' shopping and consumption habits in establishments located in the pedestrian zones, which have been turned into open air malls with improvements to their lively ambience. These findings are repeated in countries at different levels of development. These results are in stark contrast to the strong social rejection that existed during the period that the road works to pedestrianize the zones were being planned and executed. In fact, the results show the importance of the time variable, as the more time that has passed since the works were finalized, the better the variables that measure satisfaction with the pedestrianizations have become, and the less negative the perception of the negative externalities associated with the road works.