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Climate change is undeniably one of humanity’s utmost concerns. Human actions, such as deforestation, exhaustive use of fossil fuels, and intensive farming, are changing weather patterns, threatening polar bears, and causing other detrimental environmental changes. Most people are aware of these effects, yet many are not engaging in behaviour to alleviate the impacts of climate change. This project examined through a literature review and data analysis to determine the extent to which instructional strategies could change these types of behaviours. This quantitative study analyzed 2006 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) data to determine if the pedagogy utilized by climate change teachers in Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Qatar impacted students’ willingness to engage in climate-change mitigating behaviour. These countries were selected because they are Muslim cultures of varied histories with different political and social situations. Thus, this study was additionally interested in discovering how the pedagogical approaches of teachers differed in their impact on students’ willingness to engage in climate-change mitigating behaviour among these three Muslim countries. Factor and reliability analyses were conducted in addition to a regression analysis, which indicated a small but significant relationship between instructional approaches and behaviour to lessen climate change. Instructional approach accounted for 4.0 percent of the climate change mitigating variable for Kyrgyzstan, 2.1 percent for Turkey, and 2.3 percent for Qatar. Future research could focus on the development of a questionnaire to better establish the range of factors that could lead to students more often engaging in behaviour to alleviate the effects of climate change.

The 2022 World Cup organised by the International Association Football Federation (International Olympic Committee, 2021) and hosted by Qatar was billed to be the tournament that would completely revolutionise football, both on and off the field. It garnered acclaim in being the first World Cup held outside its customary months of June-July as well as in pioneering net zero carbon emissions in the sport - an assertion that ultimately proved largely unfounded(Ralston, 2022) with high reputational consequences for the country and the game. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), like the Carbon Market Watch that works with the European Union amongst others, claimed that “carbon emissions created by the new stadiums could be as much as eight times higher than the figures contained in Qatar’s analysis” (MacInnes, 2022). Against the backdrop of mounting sustainability concerns expressed by policymakers and enthusiasts alike, this essay examines the environmental hazards associated with major sporting events, like the 2022 FIFA World Cup whilst delving into adaptations that organisers could make for future sporting bonanzas that would give their green aspirations wings that could fly without getting burned like the fabled Icarus whose own pride and arrogance led him to ignore the rising temperatures and ultimately cause his demise. Essex Student Journal Volume 14 Issue S1 2023

Synthetic dispersants are commonly used in the stabilization of various colloidal suspensions. However, their non-biodegradable and toxic natures hamper their industrial use. The use of natural polymers as dispersants for various colloidal suspensions has been reported in the past, but the incentive for producing highly efficient natural polymeric dispersants is high. Lignin and xylan are the most abundant and sustainable natural polymers on earth, which are produced as by-products of pulping and cellulosic ethanol industries. These chemicals can be considered as the raw materials for producing value added products such as dispersants. In this dissertation, the anionic modification of kraft lignin and xylan via carboxymethylation, sulfomethylation and oxidation were comprehensively investigated and the applications of the products as dispersants in kaolin and coal suspensions were systematically assessed. The influence of reaction conditions on charge density and solubility of kraft lignin or xylan were systematically investigated. The anionic products obtained were characterized using NMR, FTIR, TGA, molecular weight and elemental analyses. The adsorption of anionic lignin or xylan on kaolin and coal particles and their effect on zeta potential of the suspensions was comprehensively assessed. The relative turbidity and viscosity analyses of colloidal suspensions confirmed the better dispersion performance of the products compared with commercial ones. The impact of dispersant dosage, pH of the suspension and time of mixing on dispersant performance of anionic lignin or xylan in kaolin and coal suspensions was also studied. The dispersion efficiency of suspensions found to increase with anionic lignin or xylan dosage and time of mixing. The dispersion efficiency of anionic lignin or xylan was at maximum under neutral conditions. The influences of molecular weight and charge density on the dispersant performance of anionic lignin in kaolin suspensions were also studied. The results showed that a highly charged ...

Wave energy is an important renewable energy source. Previous studies of wave energy conversion (WEC) have focused on the maximum power take-off (PTO) techniques of a single machine. However, there is a lack of research on the energy and power quality of wave farm systems. Owing to the pulsating nature of ocean waves and popular PTO devices, the generated electrical power suffers from severe fluctuations. Existing solutions require extra energy storage and overrated power converters for wave power integration. In this study, we developed a master-slave wave farm system with rotor inertia energy storage; this system delivers self-smoothed power output to the grid and reduces the number of converters. Two control methods based on the moving average filter (MAF) and energy filter (EF) are proposed to smooth the output power of wave farms. RTDS simulations show that the proposed systems and control methods facilitate simple and smooth grid integration of wave energy. Keywords: Wave farm, Energy storage, Power smoothing, Power quality, Energy quality

The uptake of energy-efficiency investments in the residential sector is relatively low, despite evidence of short payback periods and numerous co-benefits, including increased home comfort and reduced negative environmental impacts. Common barriers facing homeowners include financial and time constraints, competing priorities, and a lack of adequate information. Home energy audits are an established approach to encourage energy-efficiency investments, with the intention of overcoming the informational barrier by providing personalized energy-efficiency recommendations to homeowners. However, literature suggests that the impacts of these audits are mixed, due to a lack of guidance, procedural information and support from social networks. To fill this gap, the Home Energy Coach program was piloted in Waterloo Region, Ontario, involving government, non-profit, industry and academic stakeholders. Upon receiving an EnerGuide home energy evaluation, homeowners were eligible to participate in free consultation sessions with an Energy Coach to help develop and execute a renovation plan. This thesis documented the coach interactions and renovation progress of 21 program participants through a series of online surveys, with added insight from follow-up interviews with five of these participants. The results indicated that the Energy Coach was helpful in the development of renovation plans of many participants by clarifying the audit recommendations, helping to evaluate options based on each household’s circumstances and guiding participants to additional resources. At the end of the program, 17 out of 18 exit survey respondents had made progress on or completed at least one-energy efficiency measure, with an overall conversion rate of 29 percent from audit recommendation to completed action. The most frequently completed measures were basement/crawl space insulation, draftproofing and window/door replacement, which were also the most frequently recommended measures. This thesis adds to the literature on motivations and ...

Given the highly climate-sensitive character of agricultural production, climate change has obvious and important ramifications for agricultural commercialisation, which in turn has a bearing on poverty, gender empowerment, and food and nutrition security. The nature and extent of climate change implications for agricultural commercialisation will depend on: the magnitude of the climate impacts that farmers have to deal with; and, the extent to which sustainable intensification processes can be pursued in ways which strengthen, rather than weaken, adaptive capacity and resilience in the face of climate change. This brief provides a summary of a longer working paper, which offers a review of recent literature on the implications of climate change for agricultural commercialisation and APRA’s research in this area.

This Article examines the genesis and context of SE4All, placing the effort within both itshistorical and international policy contexts. It highlights the voluntary nature of the initiative andargues that its effective implementation and the achievement of its goals require the articulation ofan applicable international legal framework that aids the transformation of SE4All’s policy actionsinto binding international legal commitments. The article contends that such a transformation doesnot depend on the creation of entirely new legal rules or institutions. Instead, an effective frame-work for successful implementation of SE4All can be derived from existing rules of internationalhuman rights law and sustainable development law. Reliance on these twin bodies of interna-tional law will increase the prospects for SE4All to achieve energy access and related goals thatits predecessor initiatives have failed to accomplish

Climate change has become one of the most urgent challenges facing our planet today. The consequences we are gradually experiencing have been driven by human activity. Specifically, the increase in energy demand, met mainly through the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil derivatives and natural gas, has significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), leading to global warming. To address the environmental problems arising from climate change, which we are gradually experiencing, it is clear that the development of the use of renewable energy sources is the key to the transition from fossil fuels to these innovative energy alternatives, in order to achieve zero emissions and contribute to decarbonization. However, the deployment of these clean energies requires the development of systems that guarantee continuous energy production, to overcome interruptions caused by the variability of natural resources like wind, sun, or water. A viable solution to this issue is employing energy storage technologies to correct the mismatch between energy supply and demand. In particular, in the specific case of the use of the sun as a renewable thermal energy source, thermal energy storage (TES) systems are of great interest, since more than half of the energy demanded in industry is thermal energy. Among the different sensible TES media, conventional concrete is emerging as a very attractive option for use as TES due to its low cost, high availability, ease of processing, high specific heat, good mechanical stability at high temperature and excellent operational performance when subjected to thermal cycling. And despite its moderate thermal conductivity, research has shown that incorporating multiple heat exchangers through which the heat transfer fluid (HTF) passes in concrete improves its efficiency, albeit at an increased cost. However, caution should be exercised in the use of concrete as the production of its precursor, Portland cement (PC), is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2. It is estimated that for every ton of PC produced, approximately one ton of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. For this reason, construction materials must be rethought and one of the lines of research to reduce CO2 emissions is the search for alternative precursors known as supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). SCMs enable the full or partial substitution of PC. Complete replacement of PC leads to the development of alkali-activated materials (AAM), while partial replacements, typically around 70-80%, result in the development of hybrid materials (HM). This Doctoral Thesis involves the fabrication of both alternative cementitious materials, AAM mortars and HM mortars, to investigate their feasibility as TES. Specifically, for both alternatives, the main precursor used as a substitute is blast furnace slag (BFS), an industrial by-product that has proven to be a promising alternative. In the case of the AAM mortar composed of BFS, SLAG, the activation of the precursor is carried out with sodium silicate due to the excellent mechanical properties of the final cementitious material. Nevertheless, the use of solutions makes the workability of these systems difficult, so HM with BFS (HSLAG) are also manufactured, which hydrate in the presence of water. HM mortars are composed of almost 80% BFS, about 20% PC and 5% sodium sulphate to promote the alkaline medium necessary for BFS activation. After verifying through a life cycle analysis (LCA) that alternative mortars offer benefits in terms of carbon footprint and water footprint, as well as continuing to manufacture alternatives focused on PC substitution, the possibility of replacing the natural aggregate with glass waste (GW) is investigated. The substitution of sand is carried out in the three types of mortars (AAM, HM and reference PC) with the aim of reducing water consumption, as sand is the component with the highest water demand. However, only the AAM system, SLAG, allows up to 25% of sand to be replaced by GW (SLAG75), thanks to the high cohesion of its main reaction product, the C-A-S-H gel. When the alternatives are manufactured together with the PC reference mortar, both the compressive mechanical properties and the key thermal properties for a TES, thermal conductivity and specific heat, are evaluated before and after various thermal treatments. After analyzing how the mechanical and thermal properties are affected after thermal treatments −including exposure to constant temperatures and thermal cycling−, it is determined that the alternative systems offer comparable and even superior mechanical stability under temperature exposure than a conventional PC system. In addition, alternative materials, characterized by their thermal conductivity and specific heat, show a superior suitability for TES applications compared to PC. More specifically, the AAM system, SLAG, exhibits operational characteristics superior to PC by reducing heat-up times and increasing its storage capacity, which allows for a reduction in TES volume and a reduction in heat exchanger surface area. While the HM system, HSLAG, does not reach the performance of SLAG, it does offer operational improvements compared to PC. These promising results are attributed to less degradation of the reaction products generated in the alternative mortars and better cohesion between the binder and the aggregate. This last factor had a negative effect on SLAG75, as the weakness in the bond created between the binder and the GW, as well as a greater difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE), lead to the generation of porosity, and even cracks, which determine both the mechanical and thermal behavior. Thus, when selecting a material such as TES, porosity must be controlled and evaluated as a critical parameter. The results displayed by the PC alternative systems developed in this Doctoral Thesis demonstrate their suitability to be selected as sustainable TES both at low-medium and high temperatures. Consequently, it can be generally concluded that the proposed alternative materials show a promising potential for their application as TES blocks. Thus, further research and development in this field could lead to the widespread adoption of these materials as TES, thus contributing to the transition towards sustainable and renewable energy systems.

The design that is being developed is a Water Monitoring System for Speed and Eramosa Rivers. This design consists of four sensors (turbidity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and water level) which monitor the Speed and Eramosa Rivers in Guelph, Ontario. The sensors input measurements to a microcontroller which processes the inputs. The software contained on the microcontroller will pass a warning message to a wireless modem which relays the problem to a base station if dangerous contamination levels are reached.