Sustainable Horizons最新文献

{"title":"Assessment of Bitcoin carbon footprint","authors":"Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie ,&nbsp;Mohammad Amin Amani ,&nbsp;Maruf Yakubu Ahmed ,&nbsp;Phebe Asantewaa Owusu","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100060","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Bitcoin is a breakthrough financial technology but a volatile asset in financial markets with a complex fundamental consensus algorithm (Proof-of-Work) limiting its large-scale adoption due to environmental-related issues. Hitherto, the role of its technical and infrastructural composition that drives carbon footprint from an ecological perspective is rarely discussed in the literature. Here, we use machine learning and econometric techniques to analyze the past, present, and future changes in Bitcoin's carbon footprint with daily data spanning July 18, 2010 to December 04, 2021. We document technical drivers, decomposition effects, causal nexus, and implications of the Bitcoin blockchain's increasing energy and carbon footprint. We show that Bitcoin's technical drivers could have potential impacts on Bitcoin's carbon footprint, and subsequently, global climate change. For example, the network's hashrate increases mining difficulty––thereby increasing Bitcoin's energy consumption and subsequently, carbon footprint. We observed a direct association between the marginal effect of block size and transaction count––implying that a higher block size improves transaction efficiency and then reduces Bitcoin's energy and carbon footprint. Besides, low mining difficulty increases market capitalization whereas increasing mining difficulty reduces bitcoin mining profit in the long run. This infers the reward for mining Bitcoin has a diminishing return in the long term. Thus, the adoption of advanced hardware for Bitcoin mining will spur energy and carbon intensity, yet will have a low return on investment. We highlight environmental regulations and regulatory changes that could limit Bitcoin's carbon footprint.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100060"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49749877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Boil-off gas precooling process for subsea low temperature LNG pipelines","authors":"Junlong Zhu ,&nbsp;Binhui Zheng ,&nbsp;Shiwen Wang ,&nbsp;Qingping Li ,&nbsp;Hui Wang ,&nbsp;Ning Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Moving liquefied natural gas (LNG) ports offshore and transporting LNG to the coast through submarine pipelines can address the required water depth for LNG tankers and prevent potential safety hazards at ports in crowded waterways. At ultra-low LNG temperatures (−160 °C), pipelines should be precooled by LNG boil-off gas (−120 °C) before normal operation to avoid instantaneous LNG gasification and sharp pipe contraction. In the present study, a transient mathematical model was developed for the precooling process in a subsea multilayered LNG pipeline. Heat conductivity varied with temperature, and the governing equations were solved using the finite difference method. Additionally, the effects of pipe size, insulation layer thickness, and insulation material were investigated. The precooling time decreased significantly with increasing pipe size, and a pipe diameter in the range of 30” to 40” was suitable. In terms of economy and practical applications, the thickness of the insulation layer was suggested to be 30–60 mm. Moreover, compared with glass foam insulating material, rigid polyurethane foam exhibited better thermal performance during the precooling process. These results can assist in determining a safe precooling process for subsea LNG pipelines, providing a suitable green alternative to fossil fuels.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100070"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ESSCC: A new multi-scale and extensively applicable evaluation system for the construction of sponge cities","authors":"Meng-Qi Ding ,&nbsp;Mei-Yun Lu ,&nbsp;Chen-Hao Cui ,&nbsp;Jie Ding ,&nbsp;Ji-Wei Pang ,&nbsp;Nan-Qi Ren ,&nbsp;Shan-Shan Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Sponge cities are actively being built in China to combat urban flooding, and 30 pilot cities (regions) have been established since 2015, serving as a guide for further research. In order to examine the intrinsic links between urban (regional) characteristics, urban planning, sponge city construction metrics, urban ecological carrying capacity, and sustainable development, this study integrates big data and machine learning. For the evaluation of sponge city construction schemes, we combined Artificial Hierarchical Processing (AHP), Gray Correlation Analysis (GCA), and Back Propagation Neural Networks (BPNN) into a multi-scale model-coupled qualitative and quantitative multiple models coupling system. An evaluation system for sponge cities construction (ESSCC), which can be used on a multilingual system, and a sponge city evaluation index system based on ecological carrying capacity and sustainable development have been developed. The system could be used to advance the assessment and optimization of sponge city construction plans in accordance with local conditions from the perspectives of guaranteeing ecological function, ensuring a baseline for natural resource utilization and environmental safety and quality, safeguarding ecological carrying capacity, and ensuring sustainable development. The system is expected to serve as an effective and scientific basis for plan formulation, and to offer direction and technical support for the promotion of sponge cities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100069"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pertinent challenges in mycorrhizal ecopreneurship for sustainable food production","authors":"Stavros D Veresoglou ,&nbsp;Evgenios Agathokleous","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100064","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Most existing literature pictures mycorrhizas as the golden grail for food production but almost nobody uses them outside academia. We here explored why this is the case and arrived at the conclusion that the literature does not appeal sufficiently to the needs of the producers and this forms a bottleneck that prevents expansion of mycorrhizal technologies. We identify two reasons why addressing consumers (rather than producers) is a key problem and propose three actions that in our opinion could increase the appeal of mycorrhizal applications. We think that the momentum is there to invest in sustainable ways to develop our societies. We also advocate that mycorrhizal technologies should be part of any changes towards a sustainable intensification and hope that our insights will make experts on mycorrhizas rethink how they communicate their findings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100064"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49749874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Renewable energy consumption, real income, trade openness, and inverted load capacity factor nexus in Turkiye: Revisiting the EKC hypothesis with environmental sustainability","authors":"Mehmet Metin Dam ,&nbsp;Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100063","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Ecological footprint and CO₂ emissions are two important indicators used to measure the extent of environmental degradation. However, these indicators are insufficient to represent environmental sustainability––as they neglect the supply side of environmental pollution. The inverted load capacity factor (<em>ILCF</em>) which measures the load capacity excess, is an important indicator of sustainable environment––considering both the supply and demand side of environmental degradation. Therefore, the <em>ILCF</em>, which is used as a proxy for environmental sustainability is constructed by incorporating biocapacity and ecological footprint into a simultaneous analysis. In this context, our study that captures the period from 1965 to 2018 considers real income, renewable energy consumption, and trade openness as explanatory indicators. We further apply the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach alongside the Toda-Yamamoto Granger Causality (TYGC) test. The results suggest that (i) real income has a positive effect on <em>ILCF</em> both in the short- and long run; (ii) renewable energy consumption has a stimulating effect on <em>ILCF</em> in the short run; (iii) trade openness has a positive effect on <em>ILCF</em> in the short run whereas this relationship is negative in the long run; however, (iv) the Inverted Load Capacity Curve (ILCC) hypothesis which establishes an inverted U-shaped relationship between real income and <em>ILCF</em>––is valid in Turkiye for the sampled period. The overall results show that Turkiye has not yet reached the level of real income per capita that will sustain environmental sustainability. Although trade openness contributes to environmental sustainability, renewable energy consumption is not a solution to environmental sustainability. Based on these results, policymakers in Turkiye could urgently implement policies that ensure a sustainable transition to green growth and a circular economy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100063"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49749873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increasing atmospheric emissions and health burdens embodied in international trade","authors":"Ruifei Li ,&nbsp;Xu Zhu ,&nbsp;Jin Zhang ,&nbsp;Hui Li ,&nbsp;Peter Krebs","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100062","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Atmospheric emissions are of great concern, as air pollution has been identified as one of the leading risk factors for premature death worldwide. Due to the strong relationship between emissions and economic activities, international trade has separated the regions where products are consumed from regions where emissions and associated health risks occur, thereby resulting in a globalization of atmospheric emissions and health burdens. Previous studies have demonstrated the transfer of global atmospheric emissions based on the combination of emission inventory and environmental economic method, yet the trend of this transferring effect has not been fully explored. This study summarizes the long-term trends in the impacts of international trade on atmospheric emissions and health impacts. About 20–33% of global CO₂ and 30% of PM_2.5 emissions were associated with international trade and mainly embodied in exports from developing regions and imports to developed regions. Furthermore, with the rise of South-South trade, a displacement of atmospheric emissions toward emerging regions has expanded in recent decades. Moreover, the PM_2.5-related health impacts embodied in trade increased by 32% from 2007 to 2017. Accordingly, it is critical to determine the impact of international trade on atmospheric emissions and associated health burdens to subsequently assist aerosol pollution mitigation policies through global cooperation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100062"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"High-resolution satellite observations reveal extensive algal blooms in both small and large lakes in China","authors":"Xuejiao Hou ,&nbsp;Lian Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100054","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Algal blooms in large lakes (such as Taihu, etc.) in China have attracted widespread concern, while the bloom patterns in small lakes (1–10 m², accounting for 74.3% of the lakes in China) remain unknown. Using high spatiotemporal resolution Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) observations during 2019–2021, we investigated algal blooms in 17,549 lakes in China (with surface areas ranging from 0.1 to 2398.3 km²). All the examined lakes were divided into three classes (small: &lt;10 km², medium: 10–100 km², and large: &gt;100 km²) to understand the algal bloom patterns in lakes of different sizes. The results demonstrated that the bloom phenologies and intensities of all the studied lakes exhibited pronounced latitudinal gradients. The bloom months (BMs) increased with decreasing latitude, while the bloom start months (BSms) gradually delayed with increasing latitude. The difference in bloom intensity in lakes of different sizes was not pronounced, small lakes showed comparable bloom severities as large lakes, with a median of approximately 5 BMs per year. Many small lakes (i.e., &lt;10 km²), especially some urban lakes, which have rarely received attention, are also experiencing severe bloom problems. Driving force analysis suggested that the algal blooms were primarily influenced by temperature either on a national scale or across different lake groups. These results could provide baseline information for the water quality management of lakes in China.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100054"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49765755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soybean isoflavones and flavonoids of Artemisia argyi enhanced conversion of chicken manure by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) larvae and effects on microbiota of their larvae and residues","authors":"Ye Wang ,&nbsp;Jianjun Du ,&nbsp;Guohui Yu ,&nbsp;Zexiang Lei ,&nbsp;Yiyong Li ,&nbsp;Yanhua Huang ,&nbsp;Hui Liu ,&nbsp;Zhanjing Li","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100055","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Black soldier fly composting technology is a promising technology for the recovery of nutrients from organic waste and a hot spot in the research field of animal manure resource utilization, the co-transformation of microorganisms is not obvious in practical application, which limits the development of composting technology and results in the limited value of its products, therefore, plant flavonoids, which may have the effect of promoting the transformation of larvae, were selected as additives to promote the transformation of black soldier fly. In this study, the promoting effect of soybean isoflavones and flavonoids of <em>Artemisia argyi</em> on the conversion of black soldier fly was demonstrated, the important factors (larvae weight, total nitrogen, crude protein, conversion rate) in the composting system were determined and the changes in the microbial community structure during the composting process were clarified. The results have shown that 40 mg/kg soybean isoflavones and flavonoids of <em>Artemisia argyi</em> could significantly improve the larvae weight, and the black soldier fly larvae treated by 20 mg/kg flavonoids of <em>Artemisia argyi</em> could dramatically improve the conversion efficiency of crude protein in chicken manure (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). Soybean isoflavones flavonoids and flavonoids of <em>Artemisia argyi</em> could significantly change the microbiota composition of residues (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05), while had no significant effect on the larvae microbiota. Soybean isoflavones flavonoids might promote the conversion of crude protein in chicken manure by the black soldier fly larvae through regulating their intestinal microbiota. The study provided reference data for using the flavonoids of <em>Artemisia argyi</em> to promote crude protein transformation of black soldier fly larvae from chicken manure as feed protein substitute.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100055"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49752052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The long-term feasibility of border carbon mechanisms: An analysis of measures proposed in the European Union and the United States and the steel production sector","authors":"Daniel Rossetto","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Carbon leakage occurs when greenhouse-gas intensive production relocates to jurisdictions with less stringent or no emissions constraint. Observable increases in policy proposals to introduce border carbon mechanisms (BCM) to manage leakage risks have prompted scholars to examine potential conflicts with international trade rules. This paper examines longitudinal data over the period 2012-21 to reveal trends in the steel sectors of the US and EU and explores the consistency of proposed border carbon measures in those jurisdictions not just with international trade rules but also with environmental integrity, UNFCCC and sovereignty criteria.</p><p>The study identifies that the EU went from being an exporter to a net importer of steel over the period examined, while the US remained a relatively steady importer throughout the period. It also identifies areas within both the EU and US border carbon mechanism proposals that have the potential to prompt concerns from other countries in future; similar to the experiences in the EU with coverage of intercontinental aviation in its emissions trading system in 2012. It identifies that elements from global sectoral agreements would help to mitigate the risks of future challenges to border carbon mechanisms, which ultimately helped to overcome concerns within intercontinental aviation.</p><p>The article extends understanding of the role border adjustments can be applied within international climate and trade policy. As more countries seriously consider border carbon adjustments, the article will be of high value not just to policy makers but also managers of corporations seeking to navigate through decarbonisation challenges in hard to abate sectors such as steel, aluminium and cement.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100053"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49752178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A general unit hydrograph distribution and its application on the marginal distribution of global wind speed","authors":"Huayang Cai ,&nbsp;Yajun Wang ,&nbsp;Tongtiegang Zhao ,&nbsp;Haosu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.horiz.2023.100056","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We here introduce a simple, general, and analytical method based on the general unit hydrograph (GUH) theory proposed by <span>Guo (2022a</span>, <span>2022b</span>, <span>2022c</span>) to describe wind speed marginal distribution. Wind speed probability is generally described by the Weibull distribution; however, its accuracy depends on the contribution made by null wind speed (owing to its zero initial condition). To overcome this disadvantage, we propose a three-parameter GUH distribution with significant flexibility in modeling symmetric heavy-tailed distributions as well as skewed distributions. We show that our proposed GUH distribution corresponds to a generalized logistic distribution that contains both type I and type II generalized logistic distributions. The shape properties of the GUH distribution are discussed along with a simple method for estimating parameters by means of least squares methods. The flexibility of the proposed GUH distribution was assessed by applying it to a well reconstructed global gridded wind speed dataset. Subsequently, we quantify the changes caused by a reversal in global surface wind speed stilling using our GUH distribution. Finally, we confirm that our proposed GUH model agrees with reconstructed wind speed data better than conventional Weibull distribution models, which suggests that the new distribution can be a useful tool for sustainable development of wind energy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101199,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Horizons","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100056"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49752051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}