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Wood biomass is turned into industrial fuel through chipping. The efficiency of chipping depends on many factors, including chipper knife wear. Chipper knife wear was determined through a long-term follow-up study, conducted at a waste wood recycling yard. Knife wear determined a sharp drop of productivity (>20%) and a severe decay in product quality. Dry sharpening with a grinder mitigated this effect, but it could not replace proper wet sharpening. Increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions determined a moderate increase of knife depreciation cost, but it could drastically enhance machine performance and reduce biomass processing cost. Since benefits largely exceed costs, increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions may be an effective measure for reducing overall chipping cost. If the main goal of a chipper operator is to increase productivity and/or decrease fuel consumption, then managing knife wear should be a primary target. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

China has achieved impressive rapid economic growth over the past 30 years but accompanied by significant extreme weather events and environmental changes caused by global change and overfast urbanization. Using the absolute hazards index (AHI), we assessed the spatial distribution patterns and related health effects of 4 major extreme natural disasters, including drought, floods (landslides, mudslides), hails, and typhoons from 2000 to 2011 at the provincial level in China. The results showed that (1) central and south China were the most affected by the 4 natural disasters, and north China suffered less; (2) the provinces with higher AHI suffered most from total death, missing people, collapse, and emergently relocated population; (3) the present health emergency response system to disasters in China mainly lacks a multidisciplinary approach. In the concluding section of this article, suggestions on preparedness and rapid response to extreme health events from environmental changes are proposed.

Abstract Electrolyte-separator-free fuel cell (EFFC) is a new emerging energy conversion technology. The EFFC consists of a single-component of nanocomposite material which works as a one-layer fuel cell device contrary to the traditional three-layer anode–electrolyte–cathode structure, in which an electrolyte layer plays a critical role. The nanocomposite of a single homogenous layer consists of a mixture of semiconducting and ionic materials that provides the necessary electrochemical reaction sites and charge transport paths for a fuel cell. These can be accomplished through tailoring ionic and electronic (n, p) conductivities and catalyst activities, which enable redox reactions to occur on nano-particles and finally accomplish a fuel cell function.

This paper serves as an introduction to this special issue on new developments in urban transportation planning. The papers in this issue highlight how physical mobility is still an essential priority for urban life, but that there are associated costs in the terms of environmental impacts, quality of life and economic performance of cities. Four features of the emerging urban transportation field are identified. The first defining feature is that it is a discipline in the midst of a paradigmatic transition. Second is its overarching aim of achieving sustainable urban mobility as part of a broader effort towards enhancing quality of life in cities. The third feature is the emphasis on collaboration, integration and exchange with other professions and policy sectors. The last distinctive feature is the recognition that urban transportation planning is a communication-oriented activity.

Various theories and approaches have been introduced in the debate on how to address sustainable consumption. In this study, we first discuss different theoretical perspectives on sustainable consumption, particularly developed in the fields of economics, social psychology and environmental sociology. We argue that neither an ‘individualist’ nor a system- or structural perspective alone is sufficient for understanding and analysing the transition towards sustainable consumption. Therefore, we propose to apply the Social Practices Approach (SPA) that combines both human agency and social structures to understand sustainable consumption issues. Following the SPA framework, we review and summarize research on sustainable consumption in China in particular on three consumption fields: food, housing energy and mobility. It is found that introducing more efficient production technology is commonly taken as the focal point in these sectors when sustainable consumption was introduced to China. Despite a rising interest in consumers' perceptions of products' sustainability in recent years, research has rarely paid any attention to consumers' behavioural change or to the transition dynamics towards sustainable consumption. In general, ‘individualist’ perspectives have largely dominated Chinese sustainable consumption research. This paper proposes to move attention to a better understanding of Chinese consumption issues by emphasizing the link between the provision of sustainable products and the diverse sustainable consumption practices. Also, images of food, energy, mobility and other consumption products that are undergoing transitions need to be considered in future research as these have consequences for socio-technical changes, material infrastructures and for ‘lifestyle’ innovations.

Abstract Electrolyte-free fuel cell (EFFC) which holds the similar function with the traditional solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) but possesses a completely different structure, has draw much attention during these years. Herein, we report a complex of MZSDC–LNCS (Mg 0.4 Zn 0.6 O/Ce 0.8 Sm 0.2 O 2− δ –Li 0.3 Ni 0.6 Cu 0.07 Sr 0.03 O 2− δ ) for EFFC that demonstrates a high electrochemical power output of about 600 mW cm −2 at 630 °C. The co-doped MZSDC is synthesized by a co-precipitation method. Semiconductor material of LNCS is synthesized by direct solid state reaction. The microstructure and morphology of the composite materials are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The performance of the cell with a large size (6 × 6 cm 2 ) is comparable or even better than that of the conventional solid oxide fuel cells with large sizes. The maximum power output of 9.28 W is obtained from the large-size cell at 600 °C. This paper develops a new functional nanocomposite for EFFC which is conducive to its commercial use.

Livestock production in peri-urban areas constitutes an important sub-sector of the agricultural production system in China, and contributes to environmental degradation and local air borne pollution contributing to smog. As a result, local policies are being implemented to safeguard the environment. However, there has been little attempt to quantify the impact of environmental policies on livestock production structure, spatial distribution and their related greenhouse gases (GHGs) and ammonia (NH3) emissions. Here, we calculated the inventories of GHGs and NH3 emissions for 2010 and 2014 for peri-urban livestock production in Beijing, using reliable spatially explicit data, which was collected from 1748 industrial farms in 2010 and 2351 industrial farms in 2014, including pig, dairy, beef cattle, poultry and sheep farms. Our estimates indicated that total industrial livestock production increased by 17% between 2010 and 2014, even under the more strict environmental protection polices, with farm size decreasing by between 7% and 47%. Up to 50% of the industrial livestock farms have remained in operation, with the rest closing down or being moved to other regions. Following this trend, total GHGs emission decreased from 5.0 to 4.5 Tg CO2-eq between 2010 and 2014. Most of the GHGs emission reduction was due to the lowering of energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in 2014. Total NH3 emission decreased from 102 to 96 Gg between 2010 and 2014, mainly due to more stringent environmental regulations for new and extended farms (increased in farm size), e.g. Discharge standard for pollutants for livestock and poultry breeding. Our study identified that GHGs and NH3 emission hotspots were concentrated in suburban areas (around the city centre and with less agricultural resource and population density) in 2010. However, between 2010 and 2014 these hotspots moved to the exurban plain and mountain area following the closure or sub-division of intensive farms in suburban regions and construction of new and small farms in exurban areas (around the suburban and with more agricultural resource and lower population density). Scenario analysis suggests that total GHGs emission can be reduced by up to 1.0 Tg CO2-eq (23% of total livestock sector emissions) in Beijing, using a combination of modifications of farm type, livestock diet and manure management. The integrated scenario can reduce CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions by 27%, 9% and 35%, compared to the reference scenario. Within this short period of time (5 years), policies have had direct impacts on peri-urban livestock production in Beijing, resulting in marked changes in the structure of different livestock sectors, as well as the GHGs and NH3 emission inventories and their spatial distribution. Our analysis clearly shows that the success of these (and future) polices relies on optimizing spatial management of new livestock production systems. Policy and farmer guidance should focus on optimizing livestock diet and on-farm manure management, industrial production systems and the pig and poultry sectors in peri-urban regions.

In the last ten years, the research of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) or ceramic fuel cells (CFC) had focused on reducing the working temperature through the development of novel materials, especially the high ionic conductive electrolyte materials. Many progresses on single-phase electrolyte materials with the enhanced ionic conductivity have been made, but they are still far from the criteria of commercialization. The studies of ceria oxide based composite electrolytes give an alternative solution to these problems because of their impressive ionic conductivities and tunable ionic conduction behaviors. Significant advances in the understanding the ceria based composite material and construction of efficient fuel cell systems have been achieved within a short period. This report reviews recent developments of ceria-based composite from different aspects: materials, fundamentals, technologies, fabrication/construction parameters, electrochemistry and theoretical studies. Particular attention is given to ceria-carbonate (nano)composite, including its fuel cell performance, multi-ionic transport properties, advanced applications, corresponding electrode material and stability concerning. Besides, several novel fuel cell (FC) concepts like nanowire FC, all-nanocomposite FC and single-component/electrolyte-free fuel cell (SC-EFFC) are presented. This mini-review emphasizes the promise of ceria-based composites for advanced FC application and highlights the breakthrough of SC-EFFC research for high efficient energy conversion.