Gratien Twagirayezu   Olivier Irumva   Abias Uwimana   Jean Claude Nizeyimana   and Jean Paul Nkundabose   

Population proliferation, economic escalation and modernization have led to a tenacious increase in the number of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in developing countries (DCs) particularly in Rwanda. Also, with the onset of information and communication technology (ICT), people are eager to discover new technologies, leading to robust demand for contemporary electronic devices and the use of these tools. Expired EEE are being discarded expeditiously as E-waste in bulk due to a lack of perspicuous management and treatment approach. This work is intended to describe the development of e-waste and suggests theoretical recommendations. However, it is predicated on open access articles that use e-waste as a keyword, field survey and some of the most widely studied topics namely waste management, environmental and human health effects, and the current situation of waste management in a particular region. This work reveals that the National E-waste Management Policy will restraint the life end of EEE emanating in human health protection, environment conservation, and business development concomitant to management of electrical and electronic waste (E-waste) and recycling industries, and job creation for sustainable development.

Eustache Hakizimana   U. G. Wali   Diego Sandoval   and Kayibanda Venant   

Rwanda is adopting a new concept of using an alternative energy source as a cooking fuel, where more than the majority of the population live in a rural area and use wood for all heating needs. Biomass in the form of firewood and charcoal plays a significant part in Rwanda's economy. This accounted for 83 per cent of Rwanda's energy consumption in 2020. Biomass technology can be converted into fuel through some different processes, including solid fuel combustion, digestion, pyrolysis, fermentation and catalyzed reactions. With the government engaging in improving the health and protection of the environment, it becomes mandatory to look for alternative fuels not harmful or way to improve the methodology and the quality of stoves used in the country. In this study, the impacts of using biomass energy were assessed and mitigation measures were also proposed. The result shows that reducing reliance on unsustainable use of wood fuel and adds ongoing efforts in Rwanda to transition from the traditional use of biomass to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or other improved cooking technology for fuel in a sustainable way. Along with this, the use of biomass for fuel is having harmful effects through health impacts and emissions. The article fills an important gap on the energy literature on Rwanda, as it gives detailed info on the cooking sector.

Jean Paul Nkundabose   Theogene Ingabire   Elie Nshimiyimana   Jean Jacques Yves Niyotwizera   and Gratien Twagirayezu   

Following its introduction in the developed countries, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is now established in many developing countries. However, EIA systems in developing countries vary greatly in procedures and practice. The concept of EIA in Rwanda was introduced through the establishment of Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA). Under Organic Law No.04/2005 of 08/04/2005 Article 64, REMA came in to coordinate and oversee all aspects of environmental management for sustainable development in the country. Currently, the EIA department was transferred from REMA to Rwanda Development Board (RDB). By a set of criteria, the present work aims to evaluate and analyze the EIA system in Rwanda, focusing on process and methodology, highlighting some challenges of EIA practice and suggesting some recommendations. Given the nature of the work, the evaluation was based on the review of literature, investigation of legislative and administrative framework. EIA practice in Rwanda enhances the developmental projects to be viable and environmentally friendly. In regard of implementation challenge, environment-related government bodies are recommended to strengthen environmental monitoring and audits. Findings of this study could contribute to wider international experience of EIA performance in developing countries.

Eustache Hakizimana   A. Ngendahayo   U. G. Wali   D. Sandoval   and V. Kayibanda   

Nowadays Rwanda's target is to transit from a developing country to a middle-income country. One of the objectives to achieve this is the government encouraging private companies and individuals to invest in solar energy use either solar home system, mini-grid or grid-connected technology. The main objective of the study was to investigate the environmental impact assessment of solar energy technologies in Rwanda and its related plant performances. The assessment of the Rwamagana solar power plant (GigaWatt) was defined as a case study. In this study, the data and information were collected from the rural community of Rwamagana district, power plant and Rwanda energy group (REG). The Rwanda national electrification framework shows that solar energy technology is the third after hydropower, thermal and peat technologies. Solar PV modules used to produce electricity of 8.5 MW to the national grid while more than 14,970 solar home systems are installed in different parts of Rwanda. As shown in the presented results, there were no global warming emissions associated with generating electricity from solar energy technologies while Rwamagana solar power plant used larger utility-scale solar photovoltaic panels to raise the land degradation and habitat loss. The paper is concluded focusing on the ways to avoid negative and enhance the positive impacts of solar energy technology in the selected power plant.

Eustache Hakizimana   U. G. Wali   D. Sandoval   and KayibandaVenant   

Hydropower is the primary renewable source of energy in Rwanda that harnesses the power of the naturally flowing water streams and its potential is strongly by the hydrological regime. In 2020, overall installed capacity of power was about 224.6 MW. Hydropower makes up approximately 46.8% of the total installed capacity. 12.8% is generated from run-of-river Nyabarongo 1 hydropower plant. The aim of this study is to describe the environmental impact assessment of hydropower plants in Rwanda. Nyabarongo I hydropower plant (NHPP I) used a case study and generated and contributed 12.8% to national installed capacity. A detailed environmental assessment audit approach has been adopted. The outcomes from physical assessment and analysis focus on plant operation and maintenance and end users. The NHPP1 which has a low visible impact, has additionally a minimal effect on the flora and wildlife. GHG emissions of NHPP1 are mainly from production, operation, protection and dismantling. In this physical assessment of NHPP1 the transportation, construction and set up stages have been no longer considered, the NHPP1 is a friendly environment handiest 43kg/MWh is emitted with the aid of a hydro, as a result, the rate of contribution to the reduction of GHG emissions is very excessive 94% as compared to the alternative energy in Rwanda.

Peter Uchenna Okoye   Chukwuemeka Ngwu   Kevin Chuks Okolie   and Christian Ifeanyi Ohaedeghasi   

This study examined the severity of the impacts of loud music sounds on the sustainability performance of buildings across three main cities in Anambra State Nigeria. Being a survey research, questionnaires were distributed to the users and occupiers of different classes of buildings in the study area. The survey results were analysed using means score index and severity index percent. The study found that loud music sounds severely affect the sustainability performance of buildings socially, environmentally, economically and technically with average means scores and severity index percent ranging from 3.73 to 4.64 and 54.89% to 100% respectively. The study further found that there was no significant difference in the severity of the impacts of loud music sounds on the sustainability performance of the buildings between the three main cities in Anambra State except for social sustainability which was due to differences in the social status of the three cities. Based on this, the study calls for change in the design and construction of buildings that would incorporate the provisions of National Building Code as regards to sound control in buildings. It suggested a review and reactivation of existing zoning laws and policies in the State, and a need to borrow a leaf from Lagos State Government by enacting a law against noise pollution. It further suggested promotion of acoustic practices that would improve sustainability performance of the buildings and reduce the consequential effects of music sounds in buildings.

Mbachu A. E.   Chukwura E. I.   and Mbachu N. A.   

Environmental pollution by organic waste especially hydrocarbons, pesticides, herbicides and other toxic wastes is a global problem. The petroleum industry has created economic boom for many countries and at the same time led to environmental and socio-economic problems. Release of hydrocarbons into the environment whether accidental or due to human activities is the main cause of water and soil pollution. Pesticide application on agricultural soil is now a common practice. Some of these pesticides persist in the soil to form pollutants which may occasionally lead to surface and ground water contamination. It is an important subject to study the role of microorganisms in organic pollutant biodegradation as it is a safe alternative to physicochemical techniques. This paper summarized the general principles of organic pollutant degradation by microorganisms. Emphasis was laid on the biochemistry of hydrocarbon oxidation viz; terminal and sub terminal oxidation of n-alkanes as well as anaerobic degradation of alkanes. This paper also highlighted the pathways for the biodegradation of organic chemicals such as pesticides as well as factors affecting organic pollutant biodegradation. Beside these factors affecting biodegradation, efforts at improving the biodegradative capabilities of microorganisms through biostimulation, bioaugmentation and the use of genetically engineered microorganisms (GEM) were also discussed.

Liqiang Yao   Lubo Liu   Qingqing Su   Yachen Zhang   and Congfeng Wang   

Water quality in the Three Gorges Reservoir and all its tributaries is of critical significance for the ecological and economic development of the middle and lower Yangtze River watershed. The construction of the reservoir impoundment has caused higher water surface elevation, slower current velocity, and even backflow in its main tributaries, including the Xiangxi River. More nutrient species related to nitrogen and phosphorous are being conveyed to the water body and retained in the river's bay region much longer than previously, leading to more frequent eutrophic events such as algal blooms, and significantly threatening the downstream water quality. This study focuses on the nutrient species levels, statistically analyzing the available data to determine the effect of backflow and estimate the variation in algal levels, developing mass balances for the water budget and important contaminants, and calculating the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus. Based on the data from the eutrophication processes happened in the Xiangxi River during the period from January to November 2010, total nitrogen is the limiting factor. The amount of water accumulated in the Xiangxi River was 1.108×10¹⁰ m³, and the water level rose by 5.78 m from January to November 2010. Most of the phosphorus and ammonia in the river came from non-point source pollution. The results will be used to help verify and calibrate variations in the water flow rate and the associated point source and non-point source pollution. Since the Xiangxi River is a representative tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the research method developed and conclusions drawn will provide a valuable reference for eutrophication investigations of other tributaries.

Hakizimana Eustache   Diego Sandoval   Umaru Garba Wali   and Kayibanda Venant   

Renewable energy technologies produce sustainable, clean energy from sources such as the sun, the wind, plants and water. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation and rural (off-grid) energy services. According to the Rwanda Energy Group, in 2018, the total installed capacity of Rwanda's power generating plants was recorded at 218MW. Renewable sources of energy accounted for about 113.14 MW (52.4%) of total energy consumption in Rwanda. Renewable energy technologies have the potential to strengthen the nation's energy security, improve environmental quality and contribute to a strong energy economy. The purpose of this paper is to review the current renewable energy technologies in Rwanda with an estimation of their potential; the challenges of new and existing renewable energy technologies are also presented. The most important renewable energy technologies (i.e., hydro, solar and biomass energy) are discussed and analysed. Moreover, each renewable energy technology's description is followed by its current potential share, its challenges, the advantages of increased adoption, future perspectives and disadvantages. The results show that 35.13% of Rwandan households are connected to the national grid and 11.33% accessing through off-grid systems. These show that access to electricity remains low, so in the rural areas, efforts are also required to provide electricity to those who are not close to the national grid.

Galgalo Dika   Aga Nemie   and Endalkachew Birhane   

This study was conducted to assess households willingness to pay (WTP) for improved solid waste management (SWM). Contingent valuation method (CVM) was employed to elicit household's WTP for the proposed improvement in solid waste management service. The data from CVM survey was analyzed by using logistic regression model. The results of the study revealed that largest proportion of households had awareness of inappropriate disposal of wastes and its problems and that they were (78%) ready to pay for the wastes they generate. Furthermore, we found that significant number of the respondents (76 %) were willing to supports proposed improvement in residential solid waste management. Mean monthly willingness to pay is 21 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) with a minimum of 5 ETB and the maximum of 100 ETB, while the rest of the respondents were not willing to contribute. The results of logit regression analysis showed that sex and household size were statistically significant at 5% and 1% respectively. Therefore, the concerned body (municipality, NGO or other voluntary group) should take their part in raising the awareness and perceptions of households on waste management and thus, to improve their willingness to pay for improved SWM.

Nikhil Rastogi   and Indu Singh   

Evaluation of indoor and outdoor radon and its progenies concentrations and natural background radiation levels of Moradabad city and in the nearby villages were measured by using Solid-state nuclear track detectors (LR-115 type II) in a bare mode. The measurements were carried out in 40 different areas of Moradabad and its nearby villages. Indoor radon concentration was found to vary with building material, ventilation condition and mode of constructions of houses. The indoor radon concentrations were found to vary from 20.3Bq/m³ to 67.2Bq/m³ with an average value of 40.8Bq/m³ and the outdoor radon concentration were found to vary 19.3Bqm^-3 to 62.2Bqm^-3 with average value 36.6Bq/m³. The mean indoor and outdoor radon equilibrium equivalent concentrations were found 16.40Bq/m³ and 14.93Bq/m³ respectively. This value is lower than the ICRP recommended values of 200Bq/m³ and thus are within safe limits. The outdoor radon concentration is usually low and less than average indoor levels. It is also found that, in general, the radon level in ground floors is higher than that in upper ones in all areas.

Nan-Min Wu   and Wen-Chin Chen   

Biodiesel as a renewable energy has received considerable attention in recent years. It is reported to be used in its neat form or blended with petroleum-based diesel, and almost without any engine modification. Given the chance of increasing use in biodiesel, however, it is required to quantify its potential emission benefits and effect on power response, especially for those public-serviced diesel vehicles in daily operations. An on-road test for waste collection vehicles using various blending percentage of biodiesel and petroleum-based diesel was evaluated, especially for the particulate matter (PM₁₀) emissions and the dynamometric power responses. Three waste collection vehicles were recruited and operated in their routine routes. The results indicated that the higher the biodiesel blending ratio, the more the power losses, up to 14% for B100 biodiesel. Heating value of the biodiesel blending is likely to be responsible for this drop of power. Near 68% PM₁₀ reduction is attained for B100 in comparison with the petroleum-based diesel (B0) during testing periods. Both of the reductions in PM₁₀ and power response differed from maker of diesel engine. Based on the testing results, though the biodiesel may abbreviate the environmental loading in PM₁₀ emissions, it is suggested that an engine tune-up and adjustment for fuel supply system be arranged prior to use of biodiesel. Additionally, to make biodiesel a viable alternative fuel for the waste collection vehicles, a long-term assessment together with weather effect is suggested to secure both operational stability and safety on-road.

Fezazi Omar   Massoum Ahmed   and Mouilah Kheira   

The variation of the rotor time constant exerts a dominant effect in the performance degradation of the orientation of the rotor flux method of induction machine and the online estimation of the time constant (T_r) is necessary in order to use it in the flux orientation and keeping the performance of the vector control. We presented our work vector control of induction machine by estimating and online adaptation of the rotor time constant of our machine only by measurement of voltage, current and speed, in line on the machine, to provide information to the orientation block on the variation of the parameter studied T_r.

Daniel Adrian Doss   Raymond Tesiero   Balakrishna Gokaraju   David McElreath   and Rebecca Goza   

This article highlights the adaptability of the integrated Capability Maturity Model within the context of a environmental process maturity framework. Existing maturity models are applicable in a variety of quality contexts – quality management, quality control, and quality assurance. The reviewed literature is synthesized to propose a process improvement maturity model derivative to address environmental management processes.

Ndububa, Olufunmilayo I.   

Nigeria made efforts towards achieving the Goal Number 7, target 7c of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and now currently working on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to support Nigeria's effort in improving access to safe rural water sources, a field work was carried out in the rural areas of Northern Nigeria (Sub- Saharan Africa) on documentation of Motorized Rural Water Supply Schemes, functionality status and challenges in operation and maintenance. The methodology engaged in achieving the project was based on use of instrument for collection of data, physical examination of water sources in the research area and interaction with members of the selected communities. Results showed that out of the 440 motorized schemes surveyed in the four selected States, the use of petrol/ diesel generators to power the schemes are predominant, these schemes accounted for 63.64% of the Motorized schemes. The use of electricity to power water supply schemes was found to be only 2.95% of all motorized schemes in the communities, about one third of motorized schemes found in communities were solar powered. From this research, it was concluded that Nigeria should re-strategize on the operations and maintenance of the rural water sources installed in communities if reasonable progress is to be made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ilknur Senturk   and Hanife Buyukgungor   

The main requirement for efficient H₂ production is the availability of efficient microbial consortia in which H₂-utilizing and non-H₂-producing bacteria are suppressed. This study evaluates the H₂ production potentials from sewage sludge with and without pretreated anaerobic culture used as inoculum. Three different anaerobic cultures (mixed anaerobic sludge from CSTR tank reactor, fermented manure, and heat-treated fermented manure) were used as inoculum. Due to hydrolysis during heat treatment, organic matter concentration increased during fermentation. Compared to other operating conditions, heat-treated fermented manure as inoculum and sewage sludge as the substrate mixture had the highest hydrogen production. The results showed that heat pretreatment of inoculum should increase H₂ production potential.

Asinyetogha Hilkiah Igoni   and Ibiye Sepiribo Kingnana Harry   

Models for the design of anaerobic batch digesters producing biogas from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Port Harcourt metropolis, Nigeria have been formulated. Experimental and field data were used to determine relevant design parameters for the batch digesters, especially the bio-kinetic behavior of MSW. The research data were analyzed using material balance analysis. The anaerobic digester was then designed and simulated for fractional conversion values of 0.2 ≤ α ≤ 0.8 and percentage total solids (PTS) concentration of 10-30%, using Microsoft Visual Basic Version 6.0 computer program. The simulation results were interpreted with Microsoft Chart Editor. The evaluation of research results showed that an empirical optimum PTS concentration of 20% was best suited for the batch digester processing the MSW for biogas generation. At this level of PTS concentration, the MSW digestion was most effective in terms of digester sizing, time of digestion, volume of biogas produced and overall cost of the digester, for the same level of percent stabilization.

Catherine Baxevanou   Dimitrios Fidaros   Thomas Bartzanas   and Constantinos Kittas   

Livestock buildings are energy consumers and aggravate the environment directly through their emissions and indirectly through the natural sources consumption. The contribution of energy consumption in the total production cost increases as the mechanization level and the conventional energy cost arises. In the present work the total energy consumption in poultries and its distribution according to the type of energy and the type of application is approached in two ways: a) The operational rating through the process of energy audit and, b) The asset rating where the thermal needs of the chambers are calculated using a source analytical explicit model in hourly time step. In terms of final energy consumption the energy per unit area ranges between 30 and 130 kWh/m² and in terms of primary energy between 70 and 180 kWh/m², depended on the chamber insulation, location and automation level. The insulation can contribute mostly in mountainous area and the automation level in lowland units. An insulation thickness of 4 to 5cm is recommended for lowland farms and 6cm for mountainous farms. Further insulation cannot offer benefit since ventilation heat losses represent significant percentage of the total heat losses and can be reduced with automatic ventilation control.

D. K. Serghides   S. D. Dimitriou   M. Michaelidou   M. Christofi   and M. Katafygiotou   

Residential buildings account for the 63% of the total energy consumption of the building stock. The existing residential building stock exceeds the number of newly built dwellings in most developed countries. Therefore, the energy efficient renovation of the existing housing stock is imperative in order to reduce the building energy consumption. For this reason, European Union ranked the improvement of the buildings' energy performance as a high priority in its research agenda. Following Europe's 20:20:20 objective, this case study investigates refurbishment scenarios in order to achieve Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) in Cyprus. The research focuses on the Multi-family House typology, as classified in the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe EPISCOPE project and specifically on retrofitting a Multi-family building constructed after 2006. A representative Multi-family building from the corresponding residential building typology in Cyprus was chosen and modelled using the software interface of the official Simplified Building Energy Model tool (iSBEM_Cy) for issuing Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). The study investigates whether it is possible for such a building to reach the Nearly Zero Energy Building standards with the implementation of the national energy performance requirements and identifies the lurking obstacles and challenges through building simulations.

Fidaros Dimitris   Baxevanou Catherine   Tsagrasoulis Aris   Bartzanas Thomas   and Kittas Constantinos   

The reduction of energy consumption for cooling should be addressed on a city level since the urban environment where the building operates increases its cooling needs and deteriorates the heat pumps operation. In the present work, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is used to study the improvement of microclimate conditions in an urban agglomeration of the city of Volos, through bioclimatic interventions. The Boussinesq approximation is used in order to take into account the thermal buoyancy while the Discrete Ordinate (DO) model is used for the radiation transport. The ground temperature is calculated by solving an energy balance model while the ground is also considered an infrared diffusive radiation emitter. The planted surfaces are considered finite thickness heat sinks and the roofs and building walls are also took as finite thickness isothermal walls and heat sources (the heat pumps and electrical device operation, lighting and, residences presence). Trees are regarded as porous volumes. The surfaces of water elements are considered isothermal heat sink walls. The local microclimate before and after the bioclimatic interventions is presented by comparing the temperature and wind speed distributions as well as the thermal comfort indices for a typical summer day.

Gülbahar Bilgiç   

Energy is fundamental to economic and social development; to reduce poverty and continue to grow. It supports people as they seek a whole range of development benefits: cleaner and safer homes, lives of greater dignity and less drudgery, to better livelihoods and better quality education and health services. At the same time, modern energy (such as natural gas, electricity) access is essential to provide, sanitation services, reliable and efficient lighting, heating, cooking, mechanical power, transportation and telecommunication. However, developing countries are unable to meet rising energy demands. Therefore, there are many problems in the rural areas far from city centers, which are caused by the lack of modern energy. This study highlights the importance of reaching modern energy, describes the minimum standards of it and examines the importance of this energy for households. Lack of modern energy access, a general explanation has been given about the social problems the household has experienced.

Hamadache Hamid   Zemouri Zahia   Touati Ramdane   and Serge Dominiak   

Burnishing is a mechanical surface treatment (MST) that implements a plastic deformation of the surface layers of materials and modifies their basic properties. A comparative study between the tensile properties resulting from machining and burnishing states was conducted. By modeling the stress-strain curves, the work hardening coefficient of the material was evaluated to better appreciate the field of plastic instability for both conditions. A simulation of the tensile test performed by the Abaqus software was used to visualize the phenomenon of plastic instability between the onset of necking and the fracture. The simulation results are in good correlation with those of experiment.

Djenbaev B.M.   Kaldybaev B.K.   Zholbolduev B.T.   and Toktoeva T.E.   

This article presents the results of the analysis of the environment components (soil, water, air) on the radionuclide which was conducted in the tail deposits, settlers and on adjacent territories. Exposure rate was established on the tail deposit, adjacent territories and coastal sites of the lake Issyk-Kul. Main radioisotopes, total alpha- and beta-activity of soil and water, as well as volume concentration of radon were determined in the soil and air above the tail deposit and on adjacent cites of the lake coastal zone. The distribution of radionuclide, alpha- and beta-activity were determined in the lake and stream of Kaji-Sai. Also the assessment of isotopic composition and ratio of uranium-238, uranium-234, thorium-228, radium-228 in the soil and water was given. A map-diagram was made for exposure rate of outer gamma-radiation of Issyk-Kul coastal zones and Kaji-Sai technogenic (man-caused) province.

Asinyetogha Hilkiah Igoni   and Ibiye Sepiribo Kingnana Harry   

In this study, mathematical models were developed for the anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Port Harcourt metropolis, Nigeria, in a continuously stirred tank bioreactor. The MSW in Port Harcourt is presently not treated before final disposal. The need to incorporate a treatment element into the management scheme has elicited various treatment proposals, including the anaerobic digestion of the waste in a continuous processing system, in order to generate biogas in the process. Bench-scale experimentation was conducted to investigate the behavior of the waste when subjected to anaerobic decomposition in a continuous reactor, leading to the formulation of process models. The development of the models was based on a material balance analysis of the continuous anaerobic biodegradation processes. The models were simulated over a range of fractional conversion (α) of 0.2-0.8 and percentage Total Solids (TS) concentration of 4-10 using the Microsoft Visual Basic Version 6.0 computer programming language. The results of the simulation were further analyzed with the Microsoft Chart Editor, which was used to establish relationships between the various process parameters, including the fractional conversion, time of digestion, effluent substrates and microbial concentrations, volume of gas produced and effluent substrates stabilization. It was found that, whereas the effect of 'α' on the time of digestion is a logarithmic function of the 'α', it is linear for the effluent substrate and microbial concentrations and a power function for the total volume of biogas produced.

Ajit Kumar Rudra   

Ecosystem services of forests are essential for human life. As the human population increases, the demand for ecosystem services also increases and thereby the amount of forest is declining, taking their ecosystem services with them and leaving the remaining forests and their services more significant and scarce. The once biodiversity rich forests of Bangladesh have undergone massive deforestation and degradation due to high population pressure and lack of proper management. In recent years there has been a substantial shift in emphasis in forest management from maximizing yield towards maximizing sustainability through increased participation of local population, conserving biodiversity, and maintaining ecosystem services. New forest management systems are added to address climate change scenario, such as agroforestry, strip plantation, participatory forestry on encroached forest, community based mangrove afforestation on newly accreted land in the coastal area and conservation area management to preserve wildlife habitat and biodiversity. This paper presents a brief account of ecosystem services of forests that are crucial for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Some studies related to ecosystem services interaction with their management implications are reviewed; valuation of ecosystem services is studied and recommends management techniques to ensure more effective conservation of existing forest and biodiversity resources are recommended. Conservation area management proved as efficient, successful and cost-effective tool for maintaining ecosystem services in the climate change context, as they often protect the last remaining large areas of natural habitats. Increasing the protected area network and improving management techniques can enhance the resilience of ecosystem to climate change and safeguard vital ecosystem services.

Graieb J. O.   Lujan J. C.   Graieb C. V.   Llanos R.   Bautista J. C.   Mangini G.   Viscido C. A.   Ojeda G.   Ferrari R. R.   and Valla S.   

This paper aims to test the efficiency of arsenic removal in drinking water, using oxide hydroxide granulated iron in with a pilot a portable plant in three different sources in the towns of Romera Pozo and Agua Azul Province Tucuman, with varied content of initial arsenic. A large treatment capacity, for certain types of water wherein the pH and silica content are key determinants of the matrices of treated water was observed. The results of the studies conducted in the three sources of arsenical waters with pH between 8 to 8.6, and silica between 59 to 60.5 [mg / L] show the treated water reaching the limit of 10 [µg / L] arsenic the following: for water with 65 [µg / L] arsenic the treated volume was 20,000 bed volumes, 16,000 to 110 [µg / L] and 2.000 to 920 [µg / L].

Sulaiman Al-Zuhair   Mohamed Abujayyab   and Abbas Khaleel   

The kinetics of adsorption of ethyl mercaptan, found in commercially available LPG, on different adsorbents, namely Zeolite, ZnO and house made date pits activated carbon (DP-AC) have been studied. The bed capacity was determined using two adsorbents weights, namely 0.2 and 0.3 g, at different LPG flow rates in the range of 35 to 90 ml min^-1. It was found that the capacity of DP-AC and Zeolite did not change with the flow rate due to their much larger micropore volumes and smaller average pores sizes, compared to ZnO. The capacity of DP-AC did not even change with the amount of adsorbate used. Two kinetics models, namely Adam's-Bohart and Yoon-Nelson, were used to fit the experimental data and compared to the first order model. The first order and Adam's-Bohart models did not present the experimental data fairly well, and only the Yoon-Nelson model was able to mimic the sigmoidal trend of the breakthrough curves. The goodness of the fitting of the Yoon-Nelson model was also reflected on the values of the coefficient of determination R², which was much closer to 1.0 compared to that of the other model. The developed models can be used in designing and scaling-up of fixed-bed adsorption columns.

Maifi Lyes   Kerbache Tahar   and Hioual Ouided   

In this paper, a theoretical study of a photovoltaic/thermal air system with a parabolic concentrator is presented. The investigated system consists of a photovoltaic panel under which air is made to flow through an exchange in order to extract heat from the panel, thereby cooling the cells and hence increasing their efficiency. The global energy yield of the system is evaluated in clouding both the electrical output of the modal and the thermal energy of air. The energy balance equations of the whole system are computed using the GAUSS-SAIDEL method, allowing to estimate heat transfer from all the main components, the results show that the daily yield, of the system increases with air mass flow rate, and decreases with the exchanger channel width. results at solar irradiance of 1120 W/m² show that the combined PV/TH efficiency is increasing from 60% to 75% and mass flow necessary to maintain the cells temperature constant decreasing form 1.8 to 1.2 Kg/s, at exchanger channel width varies from 0.35 to 0.05 m.

Sunil Yadav   Shaichi Sen Jenny   Asif Ahmed   Lawrence Amadi   Fred L. Nesbitt   Aisha Ward   William Ghann   Destiny Brown   Jamal Uddin   Md. Faruque Hossain   and Md. Nizam Uddin   

Natural pigments containing anthocyanidins extracted from 14 fruit samples were studied as possible sensitizers for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The Dyes extracted from pomegranate and berry families are reported as candidates for DSSC with a lead current between 0.5-3.98 (mA) and a voltage of 150-350 (mV), and so could be used as photosensitizers in the construction of affordable and low cost DSSC especially for educational purposes. Based on direct sunlight illumination, pomegranate dye had the maximum efficiency in energy conversion (0.22%) followed by, raspberry (0.16%), blackberry (0.14%), blueberry (0.05%) and red grape (0.02%).

Fabricio Possamai   Silvio Avila Junior   and Danilo Wilhelm Filho   

Emissions of different types of airborne particulate matter (PM) is associated either with occupational contamination that affect both, workers directly exposed to the distinct PM sources such as incineration of solid residues of health services, coal mining and also coal burning derived from an electric-power plant, as well as the population living in the vicinity of such emissions. Such contamination leads to endogenous overgeneration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in different cells and tissues and therefore to a systemic oxidative stress (OS). Enzymatic and non-enzymatic OS biomarkers were measured in the blood of workers directly and indirectly (near the emissions) exposed and also in subjects indirectly exposed living in the vicinities of these PM emissions, before and after a six months antioxidant intervention of a daily oral supplementation of vitamins C (500 mg) and E (400 mg). Compared to baseline values, the antioxidant intervention after 6 months was able to confer a consistent and protective effect against the systemic OS irrespective of the PM source of the airborne contaminants. The results clearly indicate that supplementation with antioxidant vitamins could be recommended in order to attenuate the deleterious consequences of a systemic OS associated with such PM emissions.

Y. Zhai   G. Loesser   M. Smith   W. Wang   V. Udintsev   T. Giacomin   A. Khodak   D. Johnson   and R. Feder   

ITER diagnostic first walls (DFWs) and diagnostic shield modules (DSMs) inside the port plugs (PPs) are designed to protect diagnostic instrument and components from a harsh plasma environment and provide structural support while allowing for diagnostic access to the plasma. The design of DFWs and DSMs are driven by 1) plasma radiation and nuclear heating during normal operation 2) electromagnetic loads during plasma events and associate component structural responses. A multi-physics engineering analysis protocol for the design has been established at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and it was used for the design of ITER DFWs and DSMs. The analyses were performed to address challenging design issues based on resultant stresses and deflections of the DFW-DSM-PP assembly for the main load cases. ITER Structural Design Criteria for In-Vessel Components (SDC-IC) required for design by analysis and three major issues driving the mechanical design of ITER DFWs are discussed. The general guidelines for the DSM design have been established as a result of design parametric studies.

Ndububa Olufunmilayo   and Nwafor Izuchukwu   

Ground water supply for domestic use accounts for a large proportion of domestic water use in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) (Yelwa Campus). This implies that the sanitary quality of groundwater for domestic use in the institution is of paramount importance for the well being of the end users. The water quality of domestic groundwater sources in ATBU campus was analyzed by determining their physical, chemical and biological characteristics and ‘Hazard Analysis' of the ground water sources for domestic use was determined based on the Water Safety Plan concept. Results obtained were compared to international water quality standards to identify the potential risks to various parameters and identify priority interventions to eliminate/ reduce contamination levels in the sources of water. Laboratory results showed that samples from a water source had Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Conductivity levels higher than values stated in the Drinking Water Standards. All other samples met the World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) guidelines for drinking water in terms of the physiochemical requirements. Total bacterial count obtained from two of the water sources was linked to the method of abstract of water. Results from the Hazard Analysis showed that five water sources monitored met all the requirements for drinking water quality, corrective measured were proffered for three sources on Well/ Borehole head tightness.

Ap Kuiroukidis   G. N. Throumoulopoulos   and H. Tasso   

We present recent results on steady states of translational symmetric and axisymmetric ITER relevant plasmas with incompressible sheared flow in connection with a generalized Grad-Shafranov (GGS) equation and on their stability. On the basis of a variety of ITER pertinent solutions of the GGS equation constructed it turns out that the flow affects noticeably the equilibrium quantities in qualitative agreement with the advanced confinement regimes phenomenology. Also, application of a sufficient condition for linear stability indicates that stabilization is mainly caused by the variation of the magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic surfaces, related to the magnetic shear, depends on the plasma shaping and is sensitive to the up-down asymmetry. In certain cases the sheared flow has a weaker stabilizing effect enhanced by the equilibrium nonlinearity.

R. Prokopec   K. Humer   R. K. Maix   H. Fillunger   H. W. Weber   J. Knaster   and F. Savary   

Insulation systems for fusion magnets have to operate under intense radiation, mainly fast neutrons and γ-radiation. At the ITER design fluence of 1x10²²m^-2 (E>0.1 MeV), conventional epoxy resins, which were used, e.g., for the ITER TF model coil, start to disintegrate. As a consequence, research programs were launched under EFDA, F4E and ITER contracts in order to find radiation harder resins as well as to investigate the properties of cyanate esters (CE) and CE/epoxy blends. The CE content was varied in the range between 100 % and 20 %. Test materials, consisting of wrapped R-glass fiber / polyimide tapes and VPI impregnated with various resins, were produced by European industry and tested at 77 K. Tensile and short beam shear tests were carried out to characterize the mechanical properties prior to and after irradiation to fast neutron fluences of up to 5x10²² m^-2 (E>0.1 MeV) in the TRIGA reactor (Vienna). In addition, tension-tension fatigue measurements were performed in the load-controlled mode to simulate the pulsed operation conditions of ITER. It turned out that these CE based insulation systems offer excellent properties at the ITER design fluence including an adequate safety margin, especially when a mixing ratio of 40 % CE and 60 % epoxy resin is employed. Slight modifications of the resin, mainly regarding an extension of the pot-life to more than 100 hours, were made in view of the dimensions and the complexity of the ITER TF coils. The corresponding results confirm their excellent performance and will be reported. Radiation resistant materials have also been developed by US and Japanese Industry. The qualification of these insulation systems is currently under way and comprises 40:60 CE / epoxy blends from different suppliers (Huntsman, CTD). Test materials were fabricated under the same conditions in order to provide a comparable data base. The results will be presented and discussed.

V. V. Rozhdestvensky   S. I. Lashkul   V. V. Dyachenko   E. M. Khilkevitch   S. V. Krikunov   L. A. Esipov   A. B. Altukhov   D. V. Kouprienko   A. Yu. Stepanov   A. E. Shevelev   and S. V. Shatalin   

Study of behavior of accelerated electrons (AE) in the ohmically heated (OH) plasma and low-hybrid current drive (LHCD) in tokamak has the practical interest especially for estimations of AE radiation energy losses and solving of the non-inductive CD problem for the ITER. Studies based on measurements of non-thermal microwave radiation (MR) intensity and hard X-ray (HXR) spectra are conducted in the FT-2 tokamak having large local magnetic ripples under LHCD in the omically heated (OH) plasma with the fan instability excited. The paper presents experimental data first obtained in such conditions witnessing about some AE behavior features. Nature of MR abnormal intensity and short giant flashes together with the fast additional electron heating in the plasma core are discussed. The first high additional fast electron heating was registered together with the synchrotron radiation (SR) intensity increase. It was accompanied by short MR spikes observed in the narrow frequency range (53 ÷ 78) GHz. They arise owing to the AE transverse energy and pitch angle increase under each crossing the cyclotron auto-resonance region and SR maser gain. It is proposed the heating mechanism owing to absorption of SR and Bernstein waves arising at linear transformation the extraordinary component of intensive MR spikes in the black plasma layers. It was found that the non-thermal MR of abnormal intensity arising during OH in the frequency range (10 ÷ 40) GHz is due to the fan instability development and the substantial local magnetic ripples. MR is accompanied by short giant flashes having a narrow frequency spectrum. Together with the SR growth the less intensive MR flashes appear in the range (57 ÷ 75) GHz. In our case it becomes possible the maser amplification of both SR and collective radiation. Appearance of the giant flashes may be initiated under transition of the maser - amplifier into the self - excitation regime, when low-frequency quasi- coherent MR flashes are generated.

Alekseev P. N.   Azizov E. A.   Dokuka V. N.   Gladush G. G.   Hajrutdinov R. R.   Subbotin S. A.   and Shimkevich A. L.   

A concept is offered for tokamak and molten-salt thorium blanket with liquid-metal mass-exchanger which allows an uninterrupted extraction of protactinium from the blanket and its accumulation in a cascade salt trap separately from fission products. At uninterrupted extraction of protactinium from neutron field with the same rate, such a facility can become attractive for industrial production of nuclear fuel (²³³U) from thorium. For this, it is offered to use a reduction extraction of radio-nuclides into a liquid-metal carrier (directly contacting with the molten salt) by managing RedOx potential (Fermi level) of the salt composition. Establishing Fermi level in the first cascade of molten-salt trap only for oxidizing the lanthanides allows extracting only them from the liquid-metal carrier. In the second cascade of this trap, one can extract protactinium by shifting down Fermi level at higher oxidation potential. For correct operation of the trap cascades, the lanthanides portion in the second cascade will be less than 0.01% of the first one and the portion of protactinium in the first cascade will be four orders less than in the second one.

Harmonie A. Hawley   and John Bergendahl   

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is one of the most common groundwater contaminants in the United States. The degradation products of TCE may be more hazardous than the parent compound. With increased use of advanced oxidation and permeable barriers to treat groundwater, this research was undertaken to reevaluate the occurrence of these by-products. Fenton's oxidation was assessed for the ability to destroy trichloroethylene (TCE) in an aqueous solution over 360 minutes. TCE rapidly disappeared from the solution with a decrease of approximately 90 percent in the first 90 minutes. The degradation appeared to follow a second order reaction. Two dichloroetheylene isomers (DCE) appeared in the early stages of the experiments and then began to degrade over the latter stages of the experiment following pseudo-first order reaction kinetics. This research indicates that harmful by-products are formed, but may be degradable.

Luca Riderelli   Edoardo Bocci   Maurizio Bocci   and Gabriele Fava   

Air pollution measurements were carried out at the Cavallo highway tunnel in Ancona, Italy. The tunnel is used daily by an average of 20,000 vehicles, of which 25% are gasoline fueled passenger cars, 25% diesel cars, and 50% trucks. Tunnel air concentrations of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatiles organic compounds (VOC), aromatic hydrocarbons and Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x) are presented. An integrated sampling-analysis strategy has been implemented in order to get evidence on photocatalytic processes involved inside a highway tunnel freshly coated with mortar containing photocatalytic TiO₂. In situ measurements, rather than laboratory material testing, has offered an efficient way for evaluating the occurrence of photocatalytic reactions, in spite of the presence of many conflicting meteorological and traffic parameters. The CO₂ level inside the tunnel after the photocatalytic mortar treatment resulted initially 22% lower than before treatment but it reduced to a 14% within 6 months. The consistent decreases of acetates, nitrites, and sulphates, together with the sensible increase of oxalates observed on carbon adsorbing panels, point to the occurrence of oxidative reactions occurring inside the coated tunnel. Further study is required to elucidate the effect of NO_x adsorption, in order to be able to make predictions of the time-dependence on the de-polluting effect, or how the mortar is influenced by the relative humidity, as well as its composition and exposure history.

M. R. Mahananda   

Background: An important issue of environmental protection process is the solid waste management that includes responsible planning of collecting, transporting, processing and disposing of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste material. The health of public, patients and professionals alike are affected by poor waste management practices. The study highlights a holistic approach of biomedical waste management with regards to the chain of environmental and health risks and concerns aimed in achieving the fundamental premises for a systemic approach of biomedical waste management. An attempt has been made to critically review the current management practices adopted in V.S.S. Medical College & Hospital. Following the Rules and Regulation the methods for segregation, packaging, labeling and the treatment techniques for reduction in volume, neutralization and final disposal of the biomedical waste are analysed. Methods: Personal observations of the waste treatment and disposal practices and Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of working personnel with the help of questionnaires were followed in this study. The information obtained has been confirmed by means of direct spot visit. The views and suggestions of working personnel over existing conditions/methods of biomedical waste management in the hospitals were also recorded. The information obtained was later confirmed by means of direct observations. Results: There are 20 units having total bed capacity of 1006. The daily generation of category 1 & 2 is 40-50 kg/day. The daily generation of category 3 waste is 2-3 kg which was measured one day after one day. Category 4&5 waste generation amounting 30-40 Kg/ day. The Solid waste, (category 6) generation amounting 80-90kg/ day. The solid waste, category 7 waste generation is 30-40 kg/ day. Waste generated from laboratory (category,8) was estimated and found to be 30-40 litres/ day and the incineration ash category 9 generation was recorded as 3-4 Kg/ day. The chemical waste category 10 was not properly assessed by the CBWTF. The current segregation practice is not that efficient in reducing the waste going to incinerator. According to the opinion of employees at V.S.S.Medical College and hospital burla, the important reasons for the improper segregation of wastes are; inappropriate location of waste bins, waste bins being full and lack of knowledge regarding the constituents of medical waste. Conclusion: The performance of CBWTF can be enhanced with cooperative efforts of BMW generators possible if a healthy co-ordination exists between CBWTF and BMW generators.

Rishal Amar Singh   

Gau is one of the many rugged, volcanic Islands in Fiji .Averaged 10 minutely wind speed and direction data of Vadravadra settlement was supplied by Fiji Department of Energy (DoE) and the site wind characterizing was done. Considering the surface roughness, obstacle condition and terrain information of the island, a micro-scale prediction has been done using the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) to develop an annual wind atlas and also a wind resource map which shows that at 50m height, the annual wind speed over Southern Gau varies from 8.42 to 14.69 m/s. The Southern Eastern sides of Gau appear to be promising for wind electricity generation using Vergnet 275 kW wind turbines where wind power density at a height of 50m or higher is found to be around 1128 W/m2 (average) annually. The total energy produced from using eight Vergnet 275 kW turbine generators was 13.320 GWh and the COE borne was $0.55/kWh.

Jesse D. Noel   and Syed Adeel Ahmed   

Municipal services are essential to the maintenance of a civil society. Without these services, clean water would not be available, sewerage would run through the streets, and transportation would be nonexistent. It is because of this that we should strive to improve these services whenever possible. Evaluating the current state of services is imperative to discovering potential efficiencies of scale that can result in better service. When multiple municipalities are operating similar facilities in relatively close proximity, it would behoove them to evaluate their systems and ensure that the most benefit is being generated for their constituents by operating an individual municipal facility. Because they draw from the same water source, Southeastern Louisiana municipalities providing water service are ripe for a Municipal Service Review to evaluate the potential benefit of a combined utility or the potential for shared best management practices.

Desmond Adair   and Martin Jaeger   

Roadside noise barriers and solid fences are common features along major highways in urban regions of Kazakhstan and are anticipated to have important effects on near-road air pollution through altering the dispersion of traffic emissions and resulting downstream concentrations. A 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) road model has been developed to simulate roadside barrier effects on near-road air quality and evaluate the influence of key variables, such as barrier height and wind direction. The CFD model is tested against experimental data and other existing models found in the literature, with several turbulence models tested to give optimal results, i.e., the standard k-ε model and the realizable k-ε model with different Schmidt numbers. The dispersion of a mixture of nitrogen oxides (denoted as NOx—a mix of NO and NO₂) was computed and the barriers were assumed to be straight and infinitely long. Dispersion of NOx was modeled for situations with no barriers along the highway, barriers on both sides, and for a single barrier on the downwind side of the highway. The modelling results are presented and discussed in relation to previous studies and the implications of the results are considered for pollution barriers along highways.

Tenzin Chhoerup   R K Aggarwal   P K Mahajan   S K Bhardwaj   and Subhash Sharma   

A study was conducted in snow bound and tribal areas of Lahaul & Spiti district to find out the energy consumption by the people in remote area bordering with Tibet. The space heating is a major requirement apart from cooking in the region. The fuel consumption in the study area indicated that the major fuels used for cooking were fuelwood (55.46%), cowdung (26.5%), kerosene (9.05%), LPG (8.64%) and electricity (0.07%). The fuelwood consumption of about (48%) by the households is in the range of 6-10 kg/day and that of the rest in the range < 5 kg/day in the district during winters, whereas about 59% of households were consuming LPG in the range of 5-10 cylinders during summers. The annual fuelwood consumption of the district worked out to be 905.2 tonnes, all of which is being supplied by government on subsidized rates in limited quantity, the annual kerosene consumption of the district was 0.24 million liters and the annual LPG consumption of the district was 33.0 tonnes for cooking during summers.

Withanaarachchi A. S.   Nanayakkara L. D. J. F   and Pushpakumara C.   

Though Sri Lanka’s current carbon footprint is much less than the global vale, the country’s existing and planned economic developments which in turn raised the demand for power has resulted an increase in GHG emission. The GHGs are emitted mostly by burning of fossil fuels for energy generation including transport. Thus one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions is to use renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current phase of development in Non-Conventional Renewable Energy (NCRE) source based electricity generation and its contribution to in the mitigation of GHG emission in Sri Lanka. Literature reviews and expert interviews were mainly used as the primary tool for this study. The current government policies have given a target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. Though the relevant authorities have taken considerable measures to encourage small power producers, it is the economic and practical realities that are holding back the development of renewable energy sector to reach the said targets by 2020. Government’s decision to phase out dependence on oil for electricity generation and coal being the least cost option has driven the future generation to depend on coal fired power plants. However, Energy Balance 2011 has shown that the introduction of coal power plant has already escalated the country’s CO₂ emission. Thus to prevent Sri Lanka being a significant mark in the world map of carbon footprint, immediate measures should be taken at least to reach the current renewable energy targets by 2020.

Uslu A.   Bakan G.   and Şişman A.   

In parallel with the rapid increase in population, there has been an unplanned growth observed in the rate of urbanization. Needs are also rising with the growth of urbanization. In fact, due to this increase, water, energy, and communication requisites are also raising parallel to urbanization. In this case, it has been aimed to find healthy solution methods for infrastructure systems by using the Urban Information System (UIS). Because of irregular installments of infrastructure systems, inadequacy on data, outdated infrastructure maps, accidental excavations and not having an urban information system for infrastructure systems, there have been losses of lives and properties. In this study, advantages that are provided as a result of employing urban information systems for water distribution systems have been introduced. In order to collect, process, evaluate, and analyze data belongs to a water distribution system, ArcGIS 10.0 geographic information system (GIS) software has been used on the model example. At the end of the study, to make correct decisions for the improvement and management of water supply infrastructure systems, benefits that will be provided by establishing information systems have been described.

Agu Eensaar   

Based on the monitoring data of the Central Lab of Estonian Environmental Research Centre, the statistical parameters and temporal variations of the fine particulate matter PM₁₀ concentrations in the ambient air of North Estonian cities Tallinn, Kohtla-Järve and Narva have been analyzed. Variation trends of pollution levels have been identified. The fine particulate matter PM₁₀ average concentrations in the ambient air of the industrial cities of Northern Estonia have decreased on the average 0.1–0.2 μg/m³ per month in the past 5 years. The level of monthly maximum average concentrations over 24-hour period has decreased particularly quickly with a decrease rate of 0.3 to 0.7 μg/m³ per month. It is shown that there are considerably strong correlation between the fine particulate matter PM10 average concentrations and monthly maximum average concentrations over 24-hour period in the ambient air; the linear correlation coefficient is between 0.6 and 0.9. The created frequency distributions of fine particulate matter PM₁₀ concentrations allow assessing the probabilities of development of hazardous pollution situations.

Belgin Ergül   Nihal Bektaş   and Mehmet Salim Öncel   

Arsenic and selenium are two oxyanionic elements which cause for concern in drinking water resources due to their toxicity and high mobility. Finding novel and low cost adsorbents for removing pollutants has become a very important issue for protecting water quality. In this study, low cost and locally available natural manganese oxide minerals are used as adsorbent material for the removal of arsenic and selenium ions from aqueous solutions in batch experiments. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order kinetic models, and the intraparticle diffusion model were used to describe the kinetic data of adsorption process. Comparison among the models showed the sorption kinetics was best described by the pseudo second-order model. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were applied to the experimental equilibrium data for different temperatures. The Langmuir model agrees with experimental data well. The adsorption capacities (Q^o) of manganoxide mineral for arsenic and selenium ions were calculated from the Langmuir isotherm and were in the range of 598 to 723 µg/g for arsenic and 1396 to 1475 µg/g for selenium ions at different temperatures. The activation energy, change of Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of adsorption were also evaluated for the adsorption of arsenic and selenium onto manganese oxide mineral. Thermodynamic studies showed that the arsenic and selenium uptake reactions were endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Based on the results found in this study, manganese oxide minerals can be used as adsorbents for arsenic and selenium ions removal processes as an alternative natural mineral.

Behnam Asadi Sa'atlu   

Today's photovoltaic systems are used to generate electricity to pump water, light up the night, activate switches, charge batteries, supply power to the utility grid, and many other applications. Solar batteries are usually made up of semiconductor materials especially silicon. Our innovation in this practical research was adding a floating layer in the form of nanoparticles; which was made up of elements like TiO₂, CdSe, CdTe, Cds and etc. Then we injected the said floating layer into the space between the intermediate layers. Regarding the thickness of composing elements in the floating layer we reached a thickness of 8 to 12 nano meter. Creating quantum dots for electron flow through such holes in order to reach their destination with high speed results in less waste of time and increases the efficiency of the panel to more than 60 percent. This operation makes the resulting panel to be more efficient in comparison to traditional panels. So regarding the production costs, energy output shows better turnover and seems to be more cost-effective. This panel is soft and flexible.

S. Anand Kumar Varma   M. Srimurali   and S.Vijaya Kumar Varma   

Pollutant dispersion model is the mathematical formulation to explain how pollutants from various sources disperse in the atmosphere. The mathematical equations can be solved by performing with computational programs, which simulate the dispersion of pollutant. These are used to predict the ground level concentration of air pollutants emitted from various sources. Major point sources air pollution are industries particularly Power plants. In India 70 percent of power generation is from thermal power plants. Combustion of coal is the main source for the emission of criteria pollutants. This project deals with the prediction of ground level concentration of primary pollutants by using Gaussian model at various receptor points from a point source of a thermal power project. The point source selected for this work is Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project, V.V.Reddy Nagar, Kadapa District, Andhra Pradesh, India with the generating capacity of 1050 MW., located 14042’52”N 78027’29”E. The power plant is one of the coal based power plants of Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO).

Konrad Prandecki   

The concept of sustainable development is slowly starting to be deployed to the various sectors of the economy. One is energy, which plays a key role in the modern development. The concept of sustainable energy is widely used and intuitively understood, but it is difficult to discern the full definition of this phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to define the concept of "sustainable energy". It takes into account both the issue of permanence, as well as the inclusion of social and environmental needs for economic development. Moreover, in general characterized the main areas of application of this concept, the basic tool for the study was to analyze available, domestic and foreign literature.

Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad   and Fahimeh Mirzaei   

Dwelling is an essential need of human being; unfortunately, housing development is the main contributor to the problem of climate change and environmental degradation. Thus, it is important to build more sustainable houses. Today, most of these needs have been resolved by rapid construction. But building a house with a fixed structure and defined style cannot respond to all human needs. Regarding social issues, culture and identity along with economic and environmental issues are very important and will contribute to build a more sustainable house. One of the sustainable models of dwelling, which has been proven over time, is the traditional architecture. Most traditional houses in Iran are constructed with the local wisdom of traditional people in responding to the local climate, use of the local materials and are influenced by their culture. Considering dwelling in old Tehran, we can reach to five pattern plans. The aim of this paper is to take into consideration these patterns based on certain criteria. These criteria are environmental benefits, social benefits, and economic benefits. They could help us reach the new concept of a sustainable house. The house uses a knock-down system and modular construction, and has been incorporated with many sustainable features to make it not only comfortable, but also sustainable and adaptable.

Mohammad Reza Sadeghi Moghaddam   Fattaneh Hajinorouzi   Mojtaba Shirazkian   and Salameh Azimi   

The attention to sustainable urban development, participated urban planning, the consideration of territory as nonrenewable resource, sustainable mobility and so on has been characterizing also the investigation in the field of urban and regional sciences. This paper focuses on the crucial role for sustainable energy planning in creating the context and conditions for integrating and optimizing clean and efficient energy use within the urban built environment. The paper seeks to codify a new process of sustainable town planning which is able to indicate the real actions to operate on the city. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part expresses some definitions that were extracted from various projects. The second part explains and describes The Process of Energy Planning. Finally, strategic policies and actions are proposed for urban planning that can help to reach energy saving and Sustainable Energy Planning.

Lubo Liu   and Elizabeth A. Martinez   

Historical data over an 18-year-period were examined in this study in order to determine the significance and impact of an unlined landfill on groundwater. A series of constituents historically and currently detected at an unlined landfill were selected for this investigation. The data indicate that there have been a substantial decrease in the concentration of VOCs after the implementation and operation of a pump and treat system that was required by governing state agencies in a site remediation effort. The results and findings of this research indicate that the pump and treat method and the landfill gas extraction system at the Chestnut Avenue Landfill properly contained the contamination plume. All constituents detected at the site have not been detected since 2005, except that of Trichloroethene, which has been detected until recently at low concentrations.It is suggested that a different form of remediation be proposed, as the pump and treat system has been as effective as possible and further remediation of the one remaining constituent may be infeasible.

Kuo-Chi Lin   Weiwei Deng   Jing Gu   and Chan Ham   

Solar energy is the most abundant energy source on earth. This paper suggests a new concept of solar collection that prints the solar cells directly onto a spherical surface, or a balloon. The energy collection efficiency of such a spherical surface is analyzed and compared with a conventional flat-panel collector. An experimental apparatus is built to test the solar energy reception from all directions, including the scattering and reflections from various terrain. The results show that the usage of spherical collectors such as solar balloons is a viable approach.

Shaikh Javaria Manzoor   and JaeSeung Park   

This paper has taken into account analysis of three case studies of Eco-Houses selected on the bases of fenestration insulation; designed with considerations of energy efficiency and traditional principals; which has been examined in regard with economy, material, and techniques. It is normally believed that closely controlled conditions equate with better comfort. Analysis of field surveys and adaptive comfort theories have made it clear that while closely controlled is one way of achieving comfort it is not the only way. It is a comparison of two types of houses. Firstly there is a complete analysis of an existing house in University of engineering and technology (U.E.T) staff colony that adopts traditional methods of achieving comfort through energy consumption. On the other hand there is another house where comfort levels are accommodated through alternative means. The calculations are made on the basis of utility bills. The latter house is an Eco-House design proposal for which creative design decisions are discussed in detail namely, selection of material, comfort levels, space utilization, and site development; according to the sun path diagrams. This Eco-House is based on precedent conducted studies. It is supposed to be within usual comfort limits by the use of shading and thermal mass to control the range of the temperature. The two prong strategy was devised for both the houses, separately. A comparative analysis of the radiation penetration through fenestrations for the two houses was conducted on two typical days. One is the longest day of the year i.e. 22nd of June and the other is the shortest day of the year i.e. 22nd of December. In closely controlled case firstly the analysis was made creating model based graphs of radiation statistics. And secondly for the same conditions ECOTECT software was used to study the sun path patterns and sunlight penetrations. The results obtained provide us the substance to statistically show the benefits of low energy designs. Moreover, the findings highlight an importance by providing an insight for the architects to pay attention towards as well as adopt the measures for designing low energy buildings.

Shaikh M. Javeria   

In the first part of this research there is a thorough introduction of how Oscar Hansen, one of the recent prominent architect, whose composition towards free form is in continuation with that of Le Corbusier, ‘Towards the new architecture’. He answers beautifully the growing needs of 21^st century world inhabitants. Now for Oscar Hansen the global world is one and to come up for an answer to this he travelled far and wide like how Le Corbusier did almost a century ago. His multidimensional approach towards architecture makes him universal; he opens all the physical and psychological boundaries and its barriers; and in a linear fashion takes all the architects and other professionals together towards the focused march of global accomplishment. The second part of research focuses on towards the revitalization of the project at the Słowacki estate, JuliuszSłowacki housing estate and Lublin Housing Cooperative, 1961. Here, the students are supposed to come up with the solution to revitalise the beautiful open form building housing complex.

Punam Singh   and Haripriya Gundimeda   

The purpose of this paper is to analyze various cooking fuel options commonly used in Indian households, namely, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG CO) derived from crude oil and (LPG NG) natural gas, kerosene, coal, electricity, firewood, charcoal, crop residues, dung cake and biogas. In this paper, we used life cycle energy analysis approach to determine the life cycle energy efficiency (LCEE) of cooking fuels. The daily heat energy requirement by the Indian households for cooking activities is about 2150 kcal. Amongst the analyzed fossil fuels, LPG derived from natural gas has the highest energy efficiency of 45% and coal with 14.7% is the least energy efficient fossil fuel option for household cooking. The life cycle energy efficiency of traditional biomass fuels is 11.9-7.5%, which is much lower than those of commercial cooking fuels like LPG and kerosene. The life cycle energy efficiency of charcoal is found to be 9% and is lower than that of firewood. The energy efficiency of biogas is found to be comparable to that of LPG and is potentially a sustainable cooking fuel option in Indian context.

Niels Schrøder   

In most of the 20^th century the geo-electrical methods were primarily used for groundwater exploration and the application of the methods were normally followed by a borehole, and a moment of truth. In this process the use of DC (direct current) soundings have been developed to a high grade of excellence. In the last 25 years the geo-electrical methods are more used in connection with groundwater protection and planning, and new methods, as transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings, have been developed that provide more measurements per hour. In Denmark this change is very explicit, and a paper has – compared results of TEM based mapping with results from wells in a test area north of Aarhus – and stated that: “it is time to do away with the old way of using geophysics”. The present paper tests this statement and concludes that critical boreholes have been overlooked in the analysis. The test area was earlier mapped by DC-soundings, so it is possible to test the methods against each other. It is concluded that well performed DC-soundings with a Schlumberger configuration still provide the best base for hydrogeological mapping.

Ghassan M. Tashtosh   Mohammad Jaradat   Shadi Zuraiakt   and Mohamad Aljarah   

A Mathematical modeling of indirect natural convection solar dryer was designed for drying one of the famous dairy product in Jordan called Jameed. The intended solar dryer system is environmentally friendly and consumes zero electricity. The dryer consists of a flat plate solar collector having dimensions of 0.1 m height, 0.8 m width and 1.2 m length. A drying chamber consisting of four trays separated equally from each others at a distance of 0.2 m. The chamber is 1 m long made of wood. Each tray has a cross section of 0.8 m x 0.4 m. The solar collector is studied separately to establish the effect of changing its width or length on the air outlet temperature and mass flow rate. The drying chamber is used to dry 4 kilograms of jameed, each 1 kilogram is distributed on each tray. The total solar irradiation on the collector surface and chamber walls at each hour of the day was also calculated at the 21^st of May in Jordan. At these specific solar irradiation, the flat plate solar collector efficiency was almost constant having an average efficiency of 37% and a maximum outlet temperature of 41℃ at 1p.m. The drying time for trays 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 16.4, 19.14, 22.6 and 25.71 hours, respectively.

Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad   Fahimeh Mirzaei   and Mohammadhossein Ghasempourabadi   

Regional historic architecture in each country contains many positive aspects that may be suitable for developing patterns for new technologies. Vernacular architecture around the world; considers many methods for creating better living conditions and welfare measures. Although it contains some difficulties in covering information from the past, vernacular architecture is a possible means for achieving sustainable architecture. In Iran, sustainable architecture shows creativity in using natural energy. Among them, specialized structures known as Kats in Dezfol and Shushtar in south-western Iran, have been developed for certain conditions. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the amount of natural air flow created between interior and exterior spaces due to temperature variation by exactly measuring 10 evidence points of interior and exterior air temperatures by an electronic thermometer. The results of the research show that the temperature of Kat in summer is less than the average maximum temperature and the average minimum temperature of outdoor, and the thermal condition of the Kat space during the measurement is lower than the thermal comfort limit which is specified in the ashrae standard. By adding moisture created by the Dez River and moist walls in Kat to the air flow, cool and habitable Kats have been created within traditional homes to reduce fossil fuel usage and to preserve the environment. In this paper, Kats passive energy systems are introduced for cooling of modern homes and urban spaces with sustainable criteria.

Dryahlov Vladislav Olegovich   Shaihiev Ildar Gilmanovich   Bogdan Stoyanov Bonev   Abdullin Ildar Shaukatovich   and Valentin Andreev Nenov   

The influence of parameters of low–temperature high–frequency plasma of low pressure on the efficiency of emulsions division in the sort of “oil–in water” was investigated using polyacrylonitrile membranes with pores about 50 kDa. It was indicated, that plasma treatment of membranes in an atmosphere of argon with nitrogen promotes the increase in efficiency and selectivity of division more than twofold. The investigations of surface characteristics of initial and plasma-treated membranes were carried out by the instrumental controls of analysis. It was indicated, that plasma treatment promotes structure changes of membrane surface, without changing the internal structure of membrane polymer.

Ali Homafar   Farzad Maleki   and Zahra Abbasi   

A PVC membrane electrode for lead ion based on 1,2- bis(salicylidin aminooxy) ethane as a neutral carrier was prepared. The electrode exhibits a near Nernstion response (26/49±0/7 mv/decade) for lead ion over a relatively wide concentration rang (1/0×10^-6 to 1/0×10^-1) with a limit detection 7/6×10^-7M. It has a releatively fast reasponse time (<10 s). The proposed membrane electrode revealed very good selectivity in the PH= 4-7. The influence of membrane composition enthe electrode response was studied. The proposed electrode was used for the determination of lead ion in wastewater, water and wastewater of manufactory.

Aleksander Samarin 

The controversy over the use of nuclear energy fundamentally comes down to three main considerations: its safety of use, ability of nuclear energy generation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and finally its long term sustainability. The paper addressed the problem of safety in the industrial and medical use of nuclear energy, as it is affected by the design and construction of light and heavy weight concrete biological shields from ionising radiation.

Mohammadjavad mahdavinejad Golriz Sadeghnejad and Mahboobe khademi 

The impact of rapid growth of urbanization on the pattern of pedestrian movement as well as people’s stop time in outdoor spaces is inconceivable .Since conditions that are created by physical characteristics of open spaces that exposed to direct sun, have a significant effect on pedestrian’s behavior, in this research, the influence of micro scale urban design on pedestrian comfort is investigated in different time of day in Tehran as a hot and dry city. In this regard, the Vali-ASR Avenue in Tehran has been studied by simulation method in Envi-met software. In this paper we used the Envi-Met software and the ambient site temperature parameter to analyze and compare the energy efficiency of design elements including vegetation density, water features and pavement materials in the morning and high noon time (presence of light). Results show that and presence of sun in high noon is the major reason of high effect of climatic element on thermal comfort and using all landscape design elements at the same time is the most effective way to reduce the overall intensity of temperatures in the linear open spaces.

Zuzana Danková Annamária Mockovčiaková and Mária Orolínová 

The objective of this work is study of the adsorption properties of magnetic clay composite under the ultrasound irradiation. First, the structural properties of the composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction method and Mössbauer spectroscopy. For the adsorption experiments, cadmium, as a heavy metal ion, was selected. The adsorption has been studied by a batch method using an ultrasound device and rotary shaker. The composite adsorption properties have been tested under different conditions such as pH of the solution, contact time, initial metal ions concentration and temperature. The sonication markedly influenced the adsorption properties of composite, the increase of the maximum adsorption capacity (about 35 %) was observed in comparison with the conventional method. No evident effect of temperature on the adsorption capacity of composite was proved. The maximum adsorption capacity at 298 K, 323 K and 343 K, calculated from the linearized Langmuir model, was 96, 99 and 100 mg Cd²⁺ g^-1, respectively.

Olga Nazarenko and Raisa Zarubina 

The physico-chemical properties of natural zeolite from the Sakhaptinsk deposit (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russia) were studied. The ability to use this zeolite for improving the quality of potable water was shown. The water treatment was carried out under dynamic conditions. Pre-treatment of the zeolite by the NaCl solution before experiment was carried out. The treated ground water (Kozhevnikovsky district, Tomsk region, Russia) was characterized by high concentration of iron and manganese. Obtained results indicate that natural zeolite of Sakhaptinsk deposit can be used for removal of iron and manganese and is suitable for drinking and household purposes.

M. Amrane L. Oufni B. Manaut and S. Taj 

Alpha and beta activities per unit volume of air, due to radon, thoron and their decay products ‎were measured in the outdoor atmosphere in Errachidia city, ‎Morocco, by using both CR-39 and LR-115 type II solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs). Simultaneously, meteorological parameters such as air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity were also measured in situ.. In addition, the outdoor radon activities show the highest value of the outdoor radon activity was determined in the early morning hours, and the lowest values were found in the afternoon, over a three month study period, between April-June 2006. The diurnal variations in the ‎outdoor radon activity are found to exhibit correlation with relative humidity and negatively correlate with the air temperature. The annual effective dose in the present study for ‎Errachidia environment is found to be 0.29 mSv/y.

Emad Y. Moawad 

There is a double need for better ways of processing both of the radioactive waste water and sewage water. This presentation aims to get rid of the risks of the radioactive wastes instead of being isolated from the environment besides to sewage-water purification. By utilizing transmutation of the radioactive waste products (RWP) in growing the biological cultures contained in sewage-water into stable isotopes of chemical elements to be isolated, protect the environment from the radiation contamination and sewage-water would be purified to be valid once again. During the primary stage of sewage-water purification, RWP dose is added to be transmutated into stable isotopes of chemical elements through growing the associations of the biological cultures contained in this stage. The transmutated active radionuclide should be selected of half-life time less than half the applied primary stage duration and allow the possibility to replace Calcium of the biological cells. Those organisms will react in primary stage by re-programming specific cell functions that may confer resistance to radiation. The radiation burden (Decay energy/cell) of the transmutated RWP dose is the measure of the internal adaptation for the mutagene change occurred in the biological culture. Thus, estimating the required activity of RWP should takes into account that the energy of the administered RWP dose should not exceeds that of the associations of the biological cultures contained in the primary stage. After reaching the NBR level and sedimentation of transmutated RWP for reprocessing, sewage-water should be discharged to the second stage. In the second stage, the bacteria and protozoa consume biodegradable soluble organic contaminants. The biomass grows on media and the sewage passes over its surface prior to discharge to third treatment. In the final treatment a physical disinfection through a nuclear transmutation by electric current passes through the sewage to cause electro-coagulation of the contaminants to separate precipitates from waste water by an electro-magnetic filtering unit.

R. Espanani S.H. Ebrahimi and H.R. Ziaeimoghadam 

Gas turbines are machines that work directly with ambient air, then anything that causes a change in the inlet air condition, effect on turbine efficiency. Relative humidity, Mean sea level and environment temperature have a direct effect on gas turbine efficiency. Generally, peak demand for electricity occurs during the summer time, that the output power of the gas turbine reaches its minimum value for high temperature of inlet air. This makes a lot of pressure on the power industry and to compensate for excess demand, there will always be a need for further investment of new plants. Research done on V94.2 turbines manufactured by Siemens and for pilot studies, thermo flow and GT Pro software was used.

Rajesh Kumar RK Aggarwal and J D Sharma 

This paper explores total heat load and total carbon emissions of a six storey building by using artificial neural network (ANN). The energy performance in buildings is influenced by many factors such as ambient weather conditions, building structure and characteristics, the operation of sub-level components like lighting and HVAC systems, occupancy and their behavior. This complex situation makes it very difficult to accurately implement the prediction of building energy consumption. The calculated total load was 2.09 million kW per year. ANN application showed that data was best fitted for the regression coefficient of 0.99812 with best validation performance of 1312.5203 in case of total heat load. To meet out this energy demand fuel options are presented along with their cost and carbon emission and necessary measures has been given.

Adi Wolfson Igor Grinberg and Dorith Tavor 

Solvent selection plays a key role in facilitating sustainable chemical processes. The use of green solvents, which facilitate both substrate and catalyst dissolution, increase reaction activity and selectivity, and enable easy separation of the product and recycling of the catalyst, is desirable. But the question of which green solvent to use must consider solvent production processes and whether the solvent can be recycled and re-used. In this study, selected solvents were ranked according to sustainability. Each solvent was evaluated not only for its production process and its physical properties, but also for its performance in reaction (including in terms of product separation) for two representative reactions—transfer hydrogenation of unsaturated organic compounds, where the solvent is also a reactant, and Suzuki cross-coupling of halobenzene and phenylboronic acid. Based on solvent life-cycle and physical characteristics ethylene glycol was found to be the most sustainable solvent for the transfer hydrogenation reaction and glycerol was found to be the most sustainable solvent for the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction.

Abd El-Aziz Ahmed Said Aref Ahmed M.Aly Mohamed Mahmoud Abd El-Wahab Soliman Abd El-Fadeel Soliman Aly Ahmed Abd El-Hafez Victor Helmey and Mohamed Nady Goda 

This research work involved the use of the low cost, available and renewable biosorbent propionic acid pretreated bagasse for the removal of the textile direct yellow 12 and direct red 81 dyes from aqueous solutions. Batch experiments were carried out for sorption kinetics and isotherms of the two dyes. The studied operating variables include initial pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose and particle size. Maximum color removal was in acidic medium (pH 2.5-3.5) where a greater percentage removal was observed in this pH range. Equilibrium isotherms were applied using Langmuir and Freundlich models of adsorption and it was found that the Langmuir isotherm was the best model for adsorption of direct yellow 12 whereas the Freundlich model was suitable for adsorption of the direct red 81. The kinetics of adsorption of both dyes was consistent with a pseudo-first order kinetic for the direct yellow 12 and a pseudo-second order for the direct red 81. Desorption of both dyes is greatly dependent on the pH value of the solution with which the bagasse loaded dye in contact. The percent dye removal increases with the pH increase.

Harmonie A. Hawley John Bergendahl and Robert Thompson 

Zeolite ZSM-5 was found to effectively remove trichloroethylene (TCE) from water.This study measured the extent of uptake of TCE from water, determined adsorption isotherms, and evaluated desorption of TCE from ZSM-5.TCE was rapidly removed from water and followed linear and Freundlich adsorption isotherms.Desorption of TCE from ZSM-5 occurred, but the linear isotherm was still an acceptable model for the removal of TCE from water with ZSM-5.

Rajesh Kumar RK Aggarwal Dhirender Gupta and Jyoti Dhar Sharma 

This paper explores total conduction losses of a six storey building by using neural fitting tool (nftool) of neural network of MATLAB Version 7.11.0.584 (R2010b) with 32-bit (win 32). The calculated total conduction loss was 329184 kW per year. ANN application showed that data was best fit for the regression coefficient of 0.9955 with best validation performance of 0.41231 during summer.