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Abstract Many countries committed themselves in the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some of these targeted emission reductions could result from a switch from coal-fired to gas-fired electricity generation. The focus in this work lies on Western Europe, with the presence of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). For the switching to occur, several conditions have to be fulfilled. First, an economical incentive must be present, i.e. a sufficiently high European Union Allowance (EUA) price together with a sufficiently low natural gas price. Second, the physical potential for switching must exist, i.e. at a given load, there must remain enough power plants not running to make switching possible. This paper investigates what possibilities exist for switching coal-fired plants for gas-fired plants, dependent on the load level (the latter condition above). A fixed allowance cost and a variable natural gas price are assumed. The method to address GHG emission reduction potentials is first illustrated in a methodological case. Next, the GHG emission reduction potentials are addressed for several Western European countries together with a relative positioning of their electricity generation. GHG emission reduction potentials are also compared with simulation results. GHG emission reduction potentials tend to be significant. The Netherlands have a very widespread switching zone, so GHG emission reduction is practically independent of electricity generation. Other counties, like Germany, Spain and Italy could reduce GHG emissions significantly by switching. With an allowance cost following the switch level of a 50% efficient gas-fired plant and a 40% efficient coal-fired plant in the summer season (like in 2005), the global GHG emission reduction (in the electricity generating sector) for the eight modeled zones could amount to 19%.

Abstract Megacities in emerging markets are a relatively new phenomenon. The size of these cities combined with the high growth rates provides substantial sustainability challenges. Urban freight transport (UFT) contributes to these challenges. Despite its relatively low share as part of total traffic, the negative impact of UFT is disproportionate. Improving the sustainability in this context is inevitable in the light of further prospected urbanization. To study this topic, a theoretical framework is developed which is subsequently applied on literature. This allows characterizing the UFT system in a city. Such a framework is currently lacking. The framework is developed around the components of a UFT system (demand, supply and context) and the factors influencing these components. Factors include the different supply chains (demand), vehicles used (supply) and traffic measures (context). It is applied to analyze the UFT system in megacities in emerging markets. Results show that demand in different supply chains is fragmented as well as the transport. Uncontrolled sprawl and the existence of an informal economy further contribute to the complexity to regulate UFT. Based hereupon, we discuss efforts to move to more sustainable UFT in this context.

Discharges of combined sewer system overflows (CSOs) affect water quality in drinking water sources despite increasing regulation and discharge restrictions. A hydrodynamic model was applied to simulate the transport and dispersion of fecal contaminants from CSO discharges and to quantify the impacts of climate and population changes on the water quality of the river used as a drinking water source in Quebec, Canada. The dispersion model was used to quantify Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations at drinking water intakes. Extreme flows during high and low water events were based on a frequency analysis in current and future climate scenarios. The increase of the number of discharges was quantified in current and future climate scenarios with regards to the frequency of overflows observed between 2009 and 2012. For future climate scenarios, effects of an increase of population were estimated according to current population growth statistics, independently of local changes in precipitation that are more difficult to predict than changes to regional scale hydrology. Under “business-as-usual” scenarios restricting increases in CSO discharge frequency, mean E. coli concentrations at downstream drinking water intakes are expected to increase by up to 87% depending on the future climate scenario and could lead to changes in drinking water treatment requirements for the worst case scenarios. The greatest uncertainties are related to future local discharge loads. Climate change adaptation with regards to drinking water quality must focus on characterizing the impacts of global change at a local scale. Source water protection planning must consider the impacts of climate and population change to avoid further degradation of water quality.

A recent architectural current, mainly carried by a desire of building transparency proposed completely glazed facades, released from their function bearing and reduced to the role of envelope. In this case, the only manner of limiting to the maximum the losses in an entirely glazed building is either to build an entirely glazed additional skin, or to use the most efficient possible glazing. The argument justifying the overcost of an additional facade is very often that of the energy effectiveness of the double-skin facade and the improvement of the interior environment. However, this argument must be taken with many precautions. The efficiency of the double-skin depends indeed on many factors such as the type and the use of the building, the orientation, the level of insulation, the proportion of opaque and glazed surfaces of the inside skin, the operating mode of the double-skin, the type and the position of the shading devices, the quality and the dimension of double-skin openings towards outside and inside the building, the strategy of control of the equipment integrated into the facade, such as the opening of the windows or the use of the shading devices... This study compares consumption of heating and of cooling in a building with or without double-skin when the heating and cooling natural strategies are or are not used, according to the level of insulation and the orientation of the double-skin. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highlights•Common focus points in existing definitions of energy flexible buildings have been identified.•Quantification methods for the prediction of the available energy flexibility of buildings are reviewed.•Comparison of methods on a thermal case study shows significant overlap among indicators.•Time, power and cost are identified as main recurring characteristics.•Optimal control methods are found more appropriate with increasing system complexity.

Biosorption of ochratoxin A (OA) onto yeast biomass appears to be a reasonably low cost decontamination method. In vitro adsorption of OA onto three yeast industry by-products: a vinasse containing yeast cell walls (EX16), a purified yeast beta-glucan (BETA) and a yeast cell wall fraction (LEC) was examined at 25 degrees C. Seven classical adsorption models were tested to provide the best description of toxin adsorption. A comparison of these models was performed using the magnitude of the coefficient of determination R(2) for the linear models and the value of the sum of normalised errors (SNE) for linear and non-linear models. Based on the R(2) and the SNE values, Hill, Freundlich and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller equations produced the best models for OA biosorption onto respectively, EX16, BETA and LEC. For these best models, the values of isotherm constants were consistent when measured using both linear and non-linear calculations. The SNE calculation procedure presented in this paper in association with the linear equation analysis method is an appropriate approach for designing a better adsorption isothermal model.

Energy networks have supported and reproduced Flanders’ dispersed urbanization, but today this energy-intensive landscape is running into its ecological and societal limits. As a part of the energy...

Countries are pushing for the use of local, renewable energy sources in order to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for energy supply. One of the main problems with several renewable energy sources is their variability, which can be solved with energy storage. With buildings representing an important share of energy consumption, and given the growing capacity of distributed generation, distributed energy storage in buildings is expected to become increasingly present. In this context, the optimal dimensioning of home installations of photovoltaics and lithium-ion batteries, and the impact of such installations on the grid, is of the utmost importance. While there have been developments on this field, some important handicaps remain, notably the independent treatment of installation optimisation and grid impact and the substantial result differences between studies. In this paper, photovoltaics and lithium-ion storage installations are optimised through the use of real, high-resolution data from several individual households, based on realistic cost figures, and through well-defined metrics that correctly grasp the problem at hand. The impact on the grid as well as possible mitigation measures are also analysed. Results show that up to about 30% of electricity self-sufficiency can be obtained using only PV and close to grid parity. Above 40% self-sufficiency, energy storage must be used, strongly increasing the cost of such installations. Economies of scale play an important role suggesting a preferential implementation for larger users or at a community-scale. Feed-in limits seem to be a good solution to attenuate grid impact. On the other hand, a higher share of a capacity-based component on the grid tariff strongly affects the economic viability of such installations for the average household. These results are important for studies on distributed photovoltaics and energy storage as well as for energy policy. Also, the large range of results made available, calculated on a free market perspective using a simple control mechanism, provide a much-needed benchmark for further comparable studies.