Pollution Output Research Articles

Economic development and environmental quality: A reassessment in light of nature's self-regeneration capacity

We study the relationship between economic development and consumption of natural resources using a vintage capital model. Consumption of natural resources is assumed to generate pollution, part of which will be absorbed by nature's self-regeneration capacity. We find that during the transition dynamics, the shape of the pollution output relationship will depend on the parameter determining nature's self-regeneration capacity. Using footprint and biological capacity data, we show empirically in a repeated cross-section of countries that the shape of the pollution–output relationship indeed depends on countries' capacity to regenerate part of the resources they consume from nature.

Field Performance of Bioretention: Water Quality

Two bioretention facilities with different designs were installed on the University of Maryland campus and were monitored from Summer 2003 through Fall 2004 to quantify water quality improvements to parking lot stormwater runoff. One cell was a standard design and the other had an anoxic sump. Twelve inflow/outflow water quality data sets were successfully collected and analyzed for total suspended solids (TSS), phosphorus, and zinc. Nine sets were collected for copper and lead, and three for nitrate. In two of the events, all of the runoff flow was attenuated by the bioretention media and no flow exited the cells, resulting in zero pollutant discharge. In all cases, the median pollutant output is lower than the input, indicating successful water-quality improvement through the bioretention media. Statistically insignificant differences were noted between the two cells for all pollutants examined. Median values for effluent event mean concentrations and percent removals based on combined data sets (both c...

Development of a Response Surface Model of an Electrostatic Spray System and its Contributing Parameters

Electrostatic forces have been applied during the spraying of a target to enhance energy efficiency, reduce resource input and environmental pollutant output, and improve overall product quality and economic competitiveness. This study was therefore undertaken to develop a prediction response surface methodology (RSM) model of an electrostatic spray system to maximize solution attachment on the target. A ball with a surface area of 77.3 cm2 was used as a model to simulate a spherical food sample. Results indicated that the cross-products of height decrement and distance from the target to the sprayer nozzle were the most significant contributing factors for solution attachment to the front and back sides of the target, respectively. Multiple regression yielded models to predict solution attachment as functions of the contributing factors studied (air pressure from 138 to 276 kPa, distance from 80 to 120 cm, and height decrement from 10 to 20 cm) with coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.69 and 0.75 for the front and back sides of the target, respectively. Within the range of parameters tested, the response predictive model suggested that 7 s of electrostatic spraying with parameter values of 276 kPa air pressure, 100 cm distance, and 10 cm height decrement using a 1.50 mm disk orifice would achieve the most efficient solution attachment to the target. Verification studies on tomatoes and apples supported the findings that electrostatic charge enhanced spray efficiency and uniformity. This study may hence provide guidelines for the development of effective spray applications, such as sanitizing or watering target food materials.

Treading lightly: Ecofootprints of New Zealand's ageing population

The goal of sustainability is to have levels of resource use and waste assimilation sufficient to maintain a good quality of life for citizens, yet be within environmental carrying capacities. In countries with ageing populations, consumption is constrained by the lower incomes of retired people, and therefore, prospects exist for reductions in resource use and pollutant outputs. The extent of this effect is investigated in this study. This paper uses a new approach to quantify, by age cohort, patterns of resource use and residual generation in New Zealand. These use patterns are then projected to 2051 to see what happens as the population ages. Results indicate that resource use and waste production decline as more people enter the 65+ age group. Gains, however, are diminished by the smaller percentage of young people who have the lowest per capita requirements. Projected growth in population numbers swamp any reductions from ageing effects, even when allowances have been made for future technical change.

A consistent input–output formulation of shared producer and consumer responsibility

Growing interest in environmental and socio-economic accounting at the sub-regional and organisational level requires a consistent and comprehensive method for computing and reporting responsibility for impacts of industrial production such as water use, pollution, or employment. This work presents a formulation for allocating responsibility for production impacts consistently amongst all agents such as consumers, producers, workers, and investors throughout demand and supply chains, in a way that reflects their contribution to the production process. Generalised input–output theory is used to re-trace the flow of past inter-industrial transactions, and examine ex-post how, for example, inputs of resources or outputs of pollution were associated with these transactions. Introducing the concept of a responsibility share we enable the division of responsibility into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive portions that are assigned to the different economic sectors, and that become consistently smaller as we move away from the location of the impact within the supply or demand chain system.

Assessing contributory risk using economic input-output life-cycle analysis

The contribution of consumer purchases of non-essential products to environmental pollution is characterized. Purchase decisions by consumers induce a complex sequence of economy-wide production interactions that influence the production and consumption of chemicals and subsequent exposure and possible public health risks. An economic input-output life-cycle analysis (EIO-LCA) was used to link resource consumption and production by manufacturers to corresponding environmental impacts. Using the US Department of Commerce's input-output tables together with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory and AIRData databases, the economy-wide air discharges resulting from purchases of household appliances, motor homes, and games and toys were quantified. The economic and environmental impacts generated from a hypothetical 10,000 US dollar purchase for selected consumer items were estimated. The analysis shows how purchases of seemingly benign consumer products increase the output of air pollutants along the supply chain and contribute to the potential risks associated with environmental chemical exposures to both consumers and non-consumers alike.

Dominance-based measurement of productive and environmental performance for manufacturing

The concept of efficiency measurement is based on the definition of a frontier that envelopes observed production plans. The effect of pollution prevention and environmental compliance on productive efficiency is typically studied by considering pollution as not freely disposable (i.e., there is a cost incurred to dispose of pollution) or by assigning shadow prices to pollution outputs. However, the frontier along with the required technological assumptions needed for its definition may be replaced with the concept of pairwise dominance. With data from a manufacturing facility, the use of pairwise dominance allows one to consider a wide spectrum of inputs and outputs. Furthermore, the approach of benchmark correspondence is augmented so as to consider environmental performance. Pairwise dominance is applied to segregate production plans into sets according to their relative environmental and productive efficiency performance. These sets in conjunction with appropriately identified reference production plans are used to define distance-based measures of efficiency and environmental performance. Pollution prevention activities of a printed circuit board manufacturing facility motivated the development of the reported analytical framework.

Nutrient Pollutant Load Analysis of Xitiaoxi Watershed in Taihu Region

污染负荷研究是实施污染物总量控制、保护水质的基础,由于非点源污染一直是水环境研究的一个难题,致使河流污染负荷估算缺乏合理的估算方法.本项研究针对太湖的富营养化问题,选取太湖上游西苕溪流域,采用GIS的流域分析方法,选取单一土地利用类型的小流域,分析流域土地类型与径流量及流域出口浓度的统计关系,获取不同土地利用类型营养盐污染的产出率,合理估算了西苕溪流域的非点源营养盐污染负荷,并根据西苕溪流域社会经济统计数据及已有的污染产出率研究成果,估算了西苕溪的点源营养盐污染负荷,在此基础上估算了西苕溪流域的营养盐污染总负荷量,分析了不同污染源在总负荷量的比例.最后通过比较估算的总负荷量与实测负荷量,计算了西苕溪流域河网体系对营养盐的降解能力.研究得出, 林地产出径流浓度总氮0.715mg/L、总磷0.039mg/L,耕地产出径流浓度总氮为2.092mg/L, 总磷0.166mg/L,西苕溪流域总氮负荷量为3143.43t/a,非点源污染负荷量为1589.52t/a;总磷负荷量为226.32t/a,非点源为108.36t/a,西苕溪流域河网体系对总氮、总磷的年降解率分别为 35.39%、21.48%.;The total pollutant load assessment is the key of water quality protection and total quantity control policy. Due to complicated mechanism of non-point pollution, there is lack of the effective methods to assess the non-point pollutant load, and the total pollutant load assessment are limited. This paper, aim at the eutrophication problem of Taihu lake, selects the sub-watersheds in Xitiaoxi watershed and nearby region with one landuse type mainly, analyze the relationship between landuse type and runoff concentration, and assess the nutrient pollutant load. Then, the point pollutant load is assess by the social-economic data and pollutant output rate of different industry type and living water. Based on the assessment of point and non-point pollutant load, the total nutrient pollutant and decay rate are calculated. According to the result of this study, the total nitrogen and phosphorus concentration of runoff from forest land are 0.715mg/l and 0.039mg/l, from agriculture land 2.092mg/l and 0.166mg/l, respectively. The total nitrogen load are 3143.43t/a in Xitiaoxi watershed, non-point nitrogen load is 1589.52t/a. The total phosphorus load are 226.32t/a and non-point phosphorus load is 108.36t/a. In Xitiaoxi river system, the annual decay rate of river network to total nitrogen load and phosphorus are 35.39% and 21.48%, respectively.

Pollution abatement and productivity performance of regional Canadian pulp and paper industries

The performance of pulp and paper industries in four Canadian regions is compared based on the estimation of an input distance function, with and without pollutant outputs. Distance functions are techniques for the representation and estimation of multiple-output and multiple-input production technologies. They are quantity-based techniques. Non-marketed outputs such as pollutants can be easily incorporated into productivity analysis with the help of distance functions. This environmentally sensitive approach provides higher productivity growth estimates for all regions, indicating the need for adjusting conventional measures that ignore the non-marketed benefits of pollution abatement activities. The results also consistently indicate the presence of substantial differences in the regional levels of technical efficiency. Regional industries have not enjoyed similar rates of technological progress due to differences in their underlying structures. Productivity growth estimates for most regional industries remain weak or negative even after the recognition of pollution abatement efforts. Estimates of regional level costs of abatement for biological oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (TSS) are provided.

Non‐parametric Productivity Analysis with Undesirable Outputs: An Application to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry

AbstractThis article extends the Chavas‐Cox approach to non‐parametric analysis by incorporating undesirable outputs to provide a more complete representation of the production technology. Inner and outer non‐parametric technology bounds are constructed. The methods are illustrated with application to time series data for the Canadian pulp and paper industry. Conventional measures that ignore changes in pollutant outputs underestimate true productivity growth. Further, there is a large gap between estimates generated with reference to inner and outer bounds to the technology, suggesting that researchers need to be aware of the limitations of results derived from analyses relying only on DEA methods.

Contribution of stack gases and solid process wastes to the organic pollutant output of thermal waste treatment plants

Within the scope of fundamental investigations as well as individual research projects (W. Knorr, B. Hentschel, C. Marb, S. Schädel, M. Swerev, O. Vierle, J.-P. Lay, 1999. Rückstände aus der Müllverbrennung – Chancen für eine stoffliche Verwertung von Aschen und Schlacken. Initiativen zum Umweltschutz, 13 ed., Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Erich Schmidt, Berlin), the Bavarian State Office for Environmental Protection performs emission measurements at thermal waste treatment plants to optimize operation, to accompany and support development of new technologies, and to study the effect of this kind of waste treatment technology on the environment. Based on recent studies (October 1995–July 1999) at six municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI) in Bavaria all emission streams (solid and gas) are characterized with respect to organic pollutant contents and compared to the emissions of waste pyrolysis. The significant ranges of pollutant concentration as well as the specific congener patterns observed are similar for all MSWI, regardless of differences in technical design and waste input, but differ markedly from those of the pyrolysis products. The overall approach, including the sampling of all output streams and the determination of mass streams and volume flow rates, allows the calculation of the total output of different organic pollutants for waste incineration plants and to estimate the relative contribution of each of the emission streams to the total pollutant load. Removal efficiencies are also calculated for the air pollution control (APC) systems of the different MSWI plants.

The Environmental Integration Clause in Article 6 of the EU Treaty: Prioritising Environmental Protection

Traditionally, environmental protection legislation has taken the form of direct statutory intervention to protect certain habitats or require the reduction of pollution output. However, the only recently reworded ‘environmental integration clause’ in Article 6 of the EU Treaty has created a very different instrument to further the Treaty objective of environmental protection (stated in Article 2). It introduces the concept that environmental protection requirements must be taken into account whenever laws are passed and decisions are made. Rather than direct legislation on a specific field of environmental action, the environmental integration clause requires the indirect adaptation of all legal measures with environmental protection requirements. The author argues that this duty to ‘integrate’ environmental protection requirements has many practical implications and, above all, results in the priority of environmental protection when balanced against other Treaty objectives. The implications of such an interpretation are particularly striking in cases in which environmental protection clashes with well-established economic Treaty objectives, such as the free movement of goods.

Output scale, technical change, and productivity in the Canadian pulp and paper industry

Input distance function and index number methods are used to analyze productivity and efficiency in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. Productivity growth is decomposed into components that have different managerial and policy implications. The conventional productivity measures from the study are also compared with environmentally sensitive measures that take into account changes in pollutant outputs. The paper finds that most of the productivity growth indicated by index number methods is due to output scale effects rather than true productivity growth resulting from technical progress or improvements in the degree of productive efficiency. Researchers are advised to employ methods that allow for the identification of different productivity growth components. The results also show that conventional measures that ignore pollution abatement activities understate true productivity growth in the industry.

Output scale, technical change, and productivity in the Canadian pulp and paper industry

Input distance function and index number methods are used to analyze productivity and efficiency in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. Productivity growth is decomposed into components that have different managerial and policy implications. The conventional productivity measures from the study are also compared with environmentally sensitive measures that take into account changes in pollutant outputs. The paper finds that most of the productivity growth indicated by index number methods is due to output scale effects rather than true productivity growth resulting from technical progress or improvements in the degree of productive efficiency. Researchers are advised to employ methods that allow for the identification of different productivity growth components. The results also show that conventional measures that ignore pollution abatement activities understate true productivity growth in the industry.

Assessing Impacts of Improved Signal Timing as a Transportation Control Measure Using an Activity-Specific Modeling Approach

Metropolitan areas in nonattainment for transportation-related air pollutants rely on transportation control measures (TCMs) to reduce emissions and meet clean-air goals. However, since traditional transportationrelated air quality models use emission rates based on average speeds, only TCMs that either increase or decrease vehicle activity to speeds in which emissions are lower show reductions in output of air pollutants. In recent years, transportation air quality analysis has shifted to an activityspecific modeling approach that correlates emissions to vehicle operating mode. With an activity-specific approach, the emission reduction potential of a TCM can be evaluated by its ability to decrease time spent in modes in which emissions are disproportionately elevated. Signal timing improvements are attractive TCMs for traffic flow improvement. However, with traditional modeling, they may greatly decrease extremes in modal activity yet not show significant emission reduction if only moderate changes in average speed are realized. The benefits of using activityspecific modeling for evaluation of improved signal coordination as a TCM are described. A brief overview of the development of an activityspecific carbon monoxide emission rate model is provided, data collection for on-road vehicle activity estimates is briefly outlined, and a comparison of traditional emission modeling versus activity-specific modeling is provided to estimate the air quality benefits from improved coordination at a study intersection. Results for the study intersection indicate that more significant reductions in carbon monoxide emissions are realized using an activity-specific approach than with traditional methods.

Which focus for building assessment methods – environmental performance or sustainability?

This paper is a personal response to the Green Building Challenge '98 conference, held in Vancouver in September 1998. It represents an attempt to link together conceptually - and then comment on critically - the two main challenges thrown down at the conference. These were offered at the start and end by Rees and Kohler and were, respectively: (1) that developed countries reduce the environmental impact of their built environment tenfold by 2040 (Rees, 1999: p. 216), and (2) that they stop constructing additional new buildings, limiting themselves instead to improving their existing stock (Kohler, 1999: p. 317). Although not mentioned by Rees or Kohler, both of these challenges could be tackled, for example, through adopting a Service Economy approach to improving the built environment in industrialized countries. This could allow room - in terms of both resources input and pollution output - for the rapid urbanization predicted (and already occurring) in developing countries over the next 30 or 40 years. This paper seeks to locate their challenges in the context of broader initiatives to ‘dematerialize’ industrial economies. This is done in order to question whether the development of methods for assessing building performance should continue to address the relatively narrow resource-efficiency agenda that has predominated over the past ten years or whether it should now be extended to begin to tackle a wider remit - the sustainability of the built environment. Cet article est une réponse personnelle à la conférence Green Building Challenge '98 qui s'est tenue à Vancouver en septembre 1998. C'est une tentative d'établir un lien sur le plan conceptuel entre les deux principaux défis présentés à cette conférence puis d'en faire une analyse critique. Ces deux défis ont été exposés au début et à la fin de la conférence par Rees et Kohler et s'énonçaient comme suit: (1) d'ici 2040, les pays développés doivent réduire, par un facteur de dix, l'impact du cadre bâti sur l'environnement (Rees, 1999: p. 216); et (2) les pays développés doivent arrêter la construction de bâtiments nouveaux et se limiter à l'amélioration du parc immobilier existant (Kohler, 1999: p. 317). Bien que Rees et Kohler ne le mentionnent pas, ces deux défis pourraient être relevés, par exemple, par l'adoption d'une approche d'économie de services qui améliorerait le cadre bâti dans les pays industrialisés. Cette nouvelle méthode laisserait la place, en termes de recettes de ressources et de pollution en résultant, à l'urbanisation rapide prévue (qui se produit déjà) dans les pays en développement au cours des trente ou quarante prochaines années. Cet article cherche à placer ces défis dans le contexte d'initiatives plus larges visant à ‘dematerialiser’ les économies industrielles. Il s'agit en effet de s'interroger sur le fait de savoir si l'élaboration de méthodes d'évaluation des performances des bâtiments devrait continuer à prendre en compte la question relativement étroite du rapport entre les ressources et l'efficacité qui a prédominé au cours des dix dernières années ou de savoir si elles devraient désormais être étendues à la question plus large de la durabilité du cadre bâti.

Green Costs, Red Ink: Determinants of Municipal Defensive Expenditures inOntario

Governments at all levels expend resources to defend the environment from the adverse effects of human activity. Currently little is known about the processes and variables associated with these environmentally “defensive” expenditures. This paper attempts to fill this void by addressing the following research question: What factors induce municipal governments to expend scarce resources to defend against the adverse effectsof environmental change? The paper tackles this question with a combination of traditional statistical analysis and new environmental accounting techniques.Specifically, budgetary content analyses and secondary data are combined to develop a multiple regression model. The model uses the 1991 per capita defensive expenditures of 832 municipal governments as the response variable. These data are aggregated into 49 regions to ensure administrative commensurability. Model selection began with a wide array of predictor variablesthought to exert an influence on the defensive expenditures. The final model includes four predictor variables: provincial transfer payments for defensive expenditures per capita, property taxes per capita, median household income, and total pollution output per region. These four variables are significantly and positively associated with 73.5% of the variation in defensive expenditures (adjusted R2 = .735, p < .0001). Aninterpretation of the results suggests a need for a more place-sensitive approach to environmental accounting to ensure differences in environmental quality do not confound the analysis.

Use of entire males for pig meat in the European Union

The aim of the present paper is to review the present knowledge concerning the possible use of entire male pigs for meat production, with particular emphasis on the current situation in EU countries. Raising entire male pigs has a number of advantages including lower production costs, leaner carcass, reduction of the output of pollutants in the manure and improved welfare of the animals. However, it has also a number of drawbacks, most of them concerning meat quality, with boar taint being the most serious problem. A recent international study involving 7 EU countries has shown that a higher proportion of consumers is dissatisfied with entire male than with gilt pork (31.9 vs 26.0% for odour; 21.5 vs 18.5% for flavour). However, the perception of boar taint differs widely between countries. Skatole, a compound with intense faecal odour, and androstenone, a steroid with intense urinary odour, are held as responsible for boar taint. The above-mentioned international study demonstrated that skatole has a higher contribution than androstenone for consumer perception of unpleasant odours, while both compounds have similar contributions to unpleasant flavours. In the current situation, a high proportion of the entire male pigs reared in EU countries exhibit skatole/androstenone levels that result in a significant increase in consumer dissatisfaction, comparatively to gilt pork. Fat skatole levels are mostly dependent on feeding and rearing factors, while fat androstenone content is mostly determined by genetic factors. Besides the economic advantages associated with the production of entire males, the animal welfare issue may result some day in EU regulations prohibiting the castration of male piglets as it is currently performed. This would lead to a degradation of meat quality unless something is done to control the boar taint problem. An integrated approach should be considered with actions taken at the three levels of animal production, slaughter and processing. On the short range, immunocastration may offer a viable way for a drastic reduction of the incidence of boar taint in entire male pig populations. On the long range, selection against skatole/androstenone may be cheaper and more readily acceptable. Artificial noses and related techniques offer interesting possibilities for the assessment of boar taint on the slaughter line, however, further developments are needed in order to determine whether they can be used in industrial conditions. Tainted meat can be used through processing, however specific studies have to be conducted for each of the many products that can be processed from pig meat.

Optimal investment policies for a polluting firm in an uncertain environment

In this paper a stochastic dynamic model of the firm is used as a framework to study the optimality of abatement investments. Production causes pollution as an inevitable byproduct and in this model the latter is taxed by the government. The firm can diminish these tax payments through reducing its pollution output by carrying out abatement investments. It turns out that, provided that its liquidity position is sufficiently strong, the firm performs a growth policy such that expected marginal revenues of productive and abatement investments are balanced. Growth stops as soon as marginal revenue equals the shareholders' time preference rate. At that time dividend is paid out. We also obtain that the emissions tax rate must exceed a certain lowerbound when the government wants emissions to decrease during the firm's growth phase.

Immunocastration in cattle and pigs

Abstract Raising gonad-intact farm animals has many advantages over conventional castrates. Intact animals are generally more efficient in the conversion of feed into lean meat. In addition to decreasing production costs, better feed efficiency also leads to a reduction in the output of various biological pollutants, particularly nitrogen. Moreover, traditional surgical castration is perceived by many people to be ethically questionable. However, intact animals tend to cause problems, mostly in terms of management for cattle, mostly in terms of meat quality for pigs. Among the various methods envisaged as alternatives to surgical castration, the present review is focused on active immunisation against gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Pilot studies have demonstrated that, providing a good immune response is achieved, this technique is very efficient in preventing aggressive and sexual behaviour in bulls, oestrus behaviour in heifers and boar taint in male pigs. Performance of the immunocastrated animals are generally intermediates between those of intact and surgically castrated animals. Immunisation against GnRH appears to be a very attractive approach to castration of farm animals. However, these results still need to be confirmed with sufficient animal numbers. In addition, much work remains to be done to try to reduce animal variation in response to active immunisation and to reduce the adverse side effects associated with traditional adjuvants. The problems related to the immunocastration of male pigs should be easier to solve than those for cattle, because only short -term biological responses are required.