Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Analysis of the Li-ion battery industry in light of the global transition to electric passenger light duty vehicles until 2050","authors":"Lorenzo Usai, J. Lamb, E. Hertwich, O. Burheim, A. Strømman","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac49a0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac49a0","url":null,"abstract":"The decarbonization of the transport sector requires a rapid expansion of global battery production and an adequate supply with raw materials currently produced in small volumes. We investigate whether battery production can be a bottleneck in the expansion of electric vehicles and specify the investment in capital and skills required to manage the transition. This may require a battery production rate in the range of 4–12 TWh/year, which entails the use of 19–50 Mt/year of materials. Strengthening the battery value chain requires a global effort in many sectors of the economy that will need to grow according to the battery demand, to avoid bottlenecks along the supply chains. Significant investment for the establishment of production facilities (150–300 billion USD in the next 30 years) and the employment of a large global workforce (400k–1 million) with specific knowledge and skillset are essential. However, the employment and investment required are uncertain given the relatively early development stage of the sector, the continuous advancements in the technology and the wide range of possible future demand. Finally, the deployment of novel battery technologies that are still in the development stage could reduce the demand for critical raw materials and require the partial or total redesign of production and recycling facilities affecting the investment needed for each factory.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132294698","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":"Vision for a European metrology network for energy gases","authors":"A. Murugan, Oluwafemi A. Omoniyi, Emma Richardson, M. Workamp, A. Baldan","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac57f6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac57f6","url":null,"abstract":"As Europe moves towards decarbonising its energy infrastructure, new measurement needs will arise that require collaborative efforts between European National Metrology Institutes and Designated Institutes to tackle. Such measurement needs include flow metering of hydrogen or hydrogen enriched natural gas in the gas grid for billing, quality assurance of hydrogen at refuelling stations and equations of state for carbon dioxide in carbon capture and storage facilities. The European metrology network for energy gases for the first time provides a platform where metrology institutes can work together to develop a harmonised strategy, prioritise new challenges, and share expertise and capabilities to support the European energy gas industry to meet stringent EU targets for climate change and emissions reductions.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128569727","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":"Pay as you throw; an exploratory study on a market-based approach to the environmental problems caused by public littering in Nigeria","authors":"Cletus Alexander Umerie, Joy Nzube Nnamoko","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac56b1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac56b1","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides an overview of environmental policy research focusing on market-based instruments, and their applicability to developing countries, in particular Nigeria. It also addresses more general developments in the field of deposit-refund systems (DRSs) and explores the practicality of a DRS to litter management in Nigeria. A prominent theme of our discussion is economic instruments, where different approaches will be explored to understand the link between compliance and neglect inherent in environmental issues of a developing country such as Nigeria. Where the objective is to reduce littering, a DRS was considered the choice for the framework of this study, after researches detailed its benefits and relevance to the research problem. DRS is subsequently discussed as a policy intervention, and the feasibility of introducing the system in Nigeria is evaluated. By understanding the implementation mechanisms, the economic viability and environmental effectiveness of a DRS, it is concluded that a DRS can support a country’s drive to solve some of its pressing issues of environmental concerns even with the bare minimum of government administration. The consolidation of information from this research can kick-start the conversation on ways to incorporate this system as part of Nigeria’s solid waste management policy.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129970159","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":"Assessing the performance of global thermostat adjustment in commercial buildings for load shifting demand response","authors":"Aditya Keskar, Shunbo Lei, Taylor Webb, Sarah Nagy, I. Hiskens, J. Mathieu, Jeremiah X. Johnson","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac51c5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac51c5","url":null,"abstract":"Efficiently leveraging new sources of flexibility is critical to mitigating load balancing challenges posed by variable renewable resources. The thermal inertia of commercial buildings allows us to shift their power consumption on minute to hourly timescales to provide demand response (DR) to the grid while maintaining occupant comfort. Global thermostat adjustment (GTA) provides a readily available and scalable approach for implementing load shifting DR using commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, since it leverages the inherent sophistication of modern building automation systems. However, there is an incomplete understanding of GTA’s performance for this purpose and its impact on building systems and occupant comfort. In this paper, we explore the performance of GTA by analyzing results from nearly nine hundred experiments on eight university campus buildings in Michigan and North Carolina. Using GTA, we manipulate each building’s thermostat setpoints causing the building to shift its power consumption with respect to its baseline. We quantify the magnitude of HVAC power response, energy use of HVAC subsystems, and impact on occupant comfort. Finally, we connect our experimental results with power system operation using an optimization model that coordinates GTA actions across a large collection of grid-interactive efficient buildings to reduce high ramp rates on the grid and mitigate renewable energy curtailment. Overall, our work finds that the impacts on HVAC subsystems are often complex, and may result in additional energy being consumed by fans and terminal reheat. These effects must be considered when using GTA for load shifting. Additionally, we demonstrate that occupant comfort, as assessed by indoor temperature and humidity, can be maintained during GTA events. From a societal perspective, our modeling work finds that the additional renewable energy that can be integrated through the use of GTA strategies eclipses any additional energy consumed by buildings.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"264 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123711773","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":"NEPA and climate change: consideration of climate mitigation and adaptation in infrastructure review processes","authors":"N. Ulibarri, David Han","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac5006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac5006","url":null,"abstract":"Addressing climate change requires a shift in the planning, design, and operations of infrastructure. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require decarbonizing energy, water, transportation, and other infrastructures. And the long-term resilience of many infrastructure projects will be affected by expected changes in precipitation, sea level, heat and cold spells, and natural hazards like hurricanes and wildfires. Many scholars and practitioners have suggested that environmental impact assessment (EIA)—a required review of the environmental impacts of infrastructure projects—can serve as an opportunity to encourage infrastructure to be more climate friendly. In the United States (like many other jurisdictions), federal agencies are not required to address climate change in EIA reviews, but guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality advises them to consider greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change. This paper applied qualitative content analysis to assess integration of climate change into environmental impact statements (EISs) in the United States. We found that most EISs included some consideration of climate change, most frequently with a few brief mentions rather than extensive integration. We also found more focus on climate mitigation than adaptation, in both recognizing potential impacts and managing those impacts. Surprisingly, infrastructure that is more directly related to climate change—water and energy infrastructure, as well as land management—had lower overall climate integration than transportation, information technology, or buildings and operations. As exploratory work, this research suggests that federal agencies could do more to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in approved projects and in particular to make infrastructure more adaptive to climate change. The work also raises a number of questions as to whether EIA is the right regulatory tool to encourage climate friendly infrastructure.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132145570","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":"Financiers' perceptions of risk in relation to large hydropower projects","authors":"Judith Plummer Braeckman, Sanna Markkanen, Nina Seega","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac4e70","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac4e70","url":null,"abstract":"More renewable electricity generation capacity will be needed to support progress towards Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement objective in lower income and lower-middle income countries (LICs and L-MICs). In the context of declining availability of public sector finance for energy generation, there is a widespread expectation that much of the new generation capacity will need to be financed entirely by the private sector or through public-private-partnerships (PPPs). Sustainably developed large hydropower could play a vital role in a future electricity mix dominated by intermittent renewables. In addition to generating low-cost, low-carbon electricity at a large scale, hydropower is capable of delivering ancillary services that are needed to facilitate greater penetration of intermittent renewable electricity. However, concerns over social and environmental outcomes, uncertain financial returns and thus a widespread perception of large hydropower as a ‘high risk’ investment has so far made it difficult to attract private sector investment for such projects, especially in many LICs and L-MICs. This paper addresses the gap in the existing knowledge base by developing a conceptual analytical framework for public and private sector actors. The framework provides a structured approach to the analysis of risk which can aid governments, developers, lenders and investors in maximising the likelihood of a project obtaining sustainable finance. The findings suggest that many of the greatest risks associated with large PPP hydropower projects in LICs and L-MICs are those that can cause reputational damage to the involved parties, such as social and environmental risks. The results presented in this paper will enable governments and developers to take targeted action to reduce risk and thus facilitate more effective use of the PPP financing model for large renewable energy infrastructure projects in LICs and L-MICs where additional large-scale sustainable electricity generation capacity is most needed.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114800284","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":"Incorporating thermoelectric power plant water use into multi-objective optimal power flow","authors":"J. Kravits, J. Kasprzyk, K. Baker, A. Stillwell","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac4d18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac4d18","url":null,"abstract":"Traditionally, power systems have been operated to minimize cost while maintaining reliability. However, extreme weather and demand events can affect traditional thermoelectric power generation operations due to their reliance on water for cooling. This paper contributes a novel multi-objective formulation of the optimal power flow (OPF) problem where cost, water withdrawal, and water consumption are minimized. Through this formulation, we assign optimization weights to water withdrawn and consumed, which can be directly incorporated into existing OPF formulations. We apply this formulation with a global mapping sensitivity analysis to a realistic case study to first demonstrate its general effectiveness under extreme climatic, hydrologic, and operational scenarios. Then, we apply a global ranking sensitivity analysis to determine the most influential generators for system performance. Through this operational scenario analysis framework, analysts can gain insights into potential system-level and component-level vulnerabilities within power systems. Such insights can be useful for informing both short-term operations as well as long-term power system planning.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128686263","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":"Infrastructure autopoiesis: requisite variety to engage complexity","authors":"M. Chester, B. Allenby","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac4b48","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac4b48","url":null,"abstract":"Infrastructure systems must change to match the growing complexity of the environments they operate in. Yet the models of governance and the core technologies they rely on are structured around models of relative long-term stability that appear increasingly insufficient and even problematic. As the environments in which infrastructure function become more complex, infrastructure systems must adapt to develop a repertoire of responses sufficient to respond to the increasing variety of conditions and challenges. Whereas in the past infrastructure leadership and system design has emphasized organization strategies that primarily focus on exploitation (e.g., efficiency and production, amenable to conditions of stability), in the future they must create space for exploration, the innovation of what the organization is and does. They will need to create the abilities to maintain themselves in the face of growing complexity by creating the knowledge, processes, and technologies necessary to engage environment complexity. We refer to this capacity as infrastructure autopoiesis. In doing so infrastructure organizations should focus on four key tenets. First, a shift to sustained adaptation—perpetual change in the face of destabilizing conditions often marked by uncertainty—and away from rigid processes and technologies is necessary. Second, infrastructure organizations should pursue restructuring their bureaucracies to distribute more resources and decisionmaking capacity horizontally, across the organization’s hierarchy. Third, they should build capacity for horizon scanning, the process of systematically searching the environment for opportunities and threats. Fourth, they should emphasize loose fit design, the flexibility of assets to pivot function as the environment changes. The inability to engage with complexity can be expected to result in a decoupling between what our infrastructure systems can do and what we need them to do, and autopoietic capabilities may help close this gap by creating the conditions for a sufficient repertoire to emerge.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114111954","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":"Factors influencing household-level positive and negative solid waste management practices in rapidly urbanizing cities: insights from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia","authors":"Denise P. Lozano Lazo, A. Gasparatos","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac44da","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac44da","url":null,"abstract":"Household solid waste management (HSWM) practices are a critical aspect of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems. Despite efforts to implement source separation and recycling at the household level in developing countries, negative practices such as illegal dumping and backyard burning remain ubiquitous, particularly in rapidly urbanizing cities. Source separation and recycling behaviors have been rarely studied in such cities. Moreover, studies on illegal dumping and backyard burning using robust tools and frameworks are practically non-existent. This study aims to (a) estimate the prevalence of ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ behaviors for different HSWM practices, and (b) identify their observable and non-observable influencing factors. The focus is Santa Cruz, a rapidly urbanizing city of Bolivia. Household surveys (n = 305) are used to establish the connections between latent constructs (e.g. awareness, satisfaction), and observable variables (e.g. location, socio-demographic characteristics) with each behavior. This is achieved through the combination of exploratory factor analysis to validate the constructs to be included in the analysis, and structural equation modeling to identify the most influential factors. Two causal models are developed, one for the positive behaviors (i.e. source separation, recyclables donation, recyclables selling, and use of drop-off facilities), and the other for the negative behaviors (i.e. illegal dumping and backyard burning). Results indicate that, satisfaction with the MSWM service has a negative and significant influence on the prevalence of illegal dumping and backyard burning behaviors, while the remoteness of the household (i.e. distance to the city center) has a positive significant effect on the prevalence of these behaviors. Source separation and recyclable donation are influenced positively by latent constructs such as attitudes, knowledge, and awareness. For recyclables selling and use of drop-off stations, income and location are the most relevant factors, although with smaller effects.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122986918","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":"‘What is infrastructure? What does it do?’: anthropological perspectives on the workings of infrastructure(s)","authors":"Lav Kanoi, V. Koh, A. Lim, Shoko Yamada, Michael R. Dove","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac4429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac4429","url":null,"abstract":"Infrastructure is often thought of in big material terms: dams, buildings, roads, and so on. This study, instead, draws on literatures in anthropology and the social sciences to analyse infrastructures in relation to society and environment, and so cast current conceptions of infrastructure in a new light. Situating the analysis in context of President Biden’s recent infrastructure bill, the paper expands what is meant by and included in discussions of infrastructure. The study examines what it means for different kinds of material infrastructures to function (and for whom) or not, and considers how the immaterial infrastructure of human relations are manifested in, for example, labour, as well as how infrastructures may create intended or unintended consequences in enabling or disabling social processes. Further, in this study, we examine concepts embedded in thinking about infrastructure such as often presumed distinctions between the technical and the social, nature and culture, the human and the non-human, and the urban and the rural, and how all of these are actually implicated in thinking about infrastructure. Our analysis, thus, draws from a growing body of work on infrastructure in anthropology and the social sciences, enriches it with ethnographic insights from our own field research, and so extends what it means to study ‘infrastructures’ in the 21st century.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115360846","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}