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Bioenergy crops are well known for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the soil carbon stock. Although such crops are often held to be in competition with food crops and thus raise the question of current and future food security, at the same time mitigation measures are required to tackle climate change and sustain local farming communities and crop production. However, in some cases the actions envisaged for specific pedo-climatic conditions are not always economically sustainable by farmers. In this frame, energy crops with high environmental adaptability and yields, such as giant reed (Arundo donax L.), may represent an opportunity to improve farm incomes, making marginal areas not suitable for food production once again productive. In so doing, three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations would be met, namely SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, SDG 7 on reliable, sustainable and modern energy, and SDG 13 on action to combat climate change and its impacts. In this work, the response of giant reed in the marginal areas of an agricultural district of southern Italy (Destra Sele) and expected farm incomes under climate change (2021-2050) are evaluated. The normalized water productivity index of giant reed was determined (WP; 30.1gm-2) by means of a SWAP agro-hydrological model, calibrated and validated on two years of a long-term field experiment. The model was used to estimate giant reed response (biomass yield) in marginal areas under climate change, and economic evaluation was performed to determine expected farm incomes (woodchips and chopped forage). The results show that woodchip production represents the most profitable option for farmers, yielding a gross margin 50% lower than ordinary high-input maize cultivation across the study area.

Results of the innovative development of an efficiently controlled, new-generation, energy-saving, industrial AC electric drive are presented. The drive is based on a two-link cycloconverter without a filter in the intermediate link. The improved energy and electromagnetic compatibility with the supply mains are important advantages of new-generation converters.

This paper studies the initiation of a partnership between a corporation and a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for environmentally sustainable innovation, as well as its development over time. Proceeding from a dynamic capabilities approach, it provides a retrospective, longitudinal examination of a 10-year partnership between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature Netherlands (WNF), which promoted a market for aviation biofuels. The case study suggests that the progress of the partnership is determined by three specific dynamic capabilities of KLM and WNF: learning, coordination, and reconfiguration. The results reveal two microfoundations for each of these dynamic capabilities. For learning, these microfoundations are the sensing of strategic partners and the co-specialization of resources. For coordination, these consist of finding a fit between partners and having an integrated mission. Finally, the microfoundations of reconfiguration are the fostering of an institutional dialogue and the setting of new industry standards. This study is beneficial to scholars as it opens a research avenue concerning the dynamic capabilities and microfoundations that support corporate-NGO partnering for environmentally sustainable innovation. Practitioners can use these dynamic capabilities and microfoundations as guidelines for developing their own specific corporate-NGO partnerships.

Decreasing nutrient losses from excessive synthetic fertilizer inputs is the direct and valid way to address low nutrient use efficiency and the related environmental consequences. Here, we established a comprehensive database of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and carbon (C) losses from rice paddy fields in China, which we used to evaluate fertilization-induced losses and the impact of environmental factors, and to mitigate losses by adopting alternative fertilization options and setting input thresholds. Our results showed that most N-loss pathways had exponential increases with additional N input. In average, 23.8% of the N applied was lost via NH3 (16.1%), N2O (0.3%), leaching (4.8%), and runoff (2.6%). Total P loss was approximately 2.7% of the input, composed of leaching (1.3%) and runoff (1.4%). C lost as CH4 accounted for 4.9% of the organic C input. A relative importance analysis indicated that climate or soil variation rather than fertilizer rate was the dominant factor driving N and P leaching, and CH4 emissions. Based on the sensitivity of multiple N-loss pathways to N fertilization, we propose upper thresholds for N inputs of 142–191 kg N ha−1 across four rice types, which would avoid dramatic increases in N losses. Compared to conventional chemical fertilization, alternative fertilization options had diverse performances: enhanced-efficiency N fertilizer reduced N loss rate by 7.8 percent points and the global warming potential (GWP, considering N2O and CH4 emissions) by 28.8%; combined manure and chemical N fertilizer reduced N loss rate by 9.0 percent points but increased the GWP by 56.9%; straw return had no effect on total N loss but almost doubled the GWP. Using nutrient sources most appropriate to site-specific conditions is demonstrated as a robust way to decrease nutrient losses. Setting nutrient input thresholds would also contribute to the mitigation of environmental pollution, especially in regions with poor fertilization recommendation systems.

The main performance characteristics of the turbine, descriptions of the electrohydraulic control and protection system (EHCPS), the heat flow diagram, arrangement decisions, and motivation for selecting them, are given. The steam turbine presented by the Ural Turbine Works (UTW) is intended for replacing the VPT-25 turbine the service life of which has already expired at the Novokuybyshevsk CHP plant. The mixed-pressure turbine will operate in combination of the double-circuit heat recovery boiler (HRB) in a parallel scheme. High-pressure (HP) steam will be supplied from the main steam header to which high-pressure steam from the power boilers and the HRB will be fed, while low-pressure (LP) steam will be supplied directly from the HRB. For the turbine, nozzle steam distribution and the two-row control stage are adopted. The turbine has a process steam extraction line with its stop and control valve and heating steam extraction line leading to the main steam collector.

This study explores the use of energy savings technologies in timber production for wood housing construction. Methods applied were based on the creation of system of optimized regimes of drying of sawn timber was carried out in two stages: computing experiment with the tools of MathCAD and production experiment. The findings discovered the following tendency: however the minimum cost of energy is achieved at the minimum time of drying that is explained by an essential difference in the cost of thermal and electric energy. The regimes of steeples structure received by computer modeling allow receiving sawn timber that fully meets the requirements of the consumer without application of moisture treatment and the conditioning processing. The developed technique of formation of the steeples regimes of drying of sawn timber allows determining structure and sizes of parameters of the regime depending on the required quality of drying and energy costs on its carrying out. Calculations of technical and economic efficiency have shown that the total annual economic effect in more than 17 dollars per 1 m3 and it can be extended by including on power component. © 2018 CEUR-WS. All rights reserved. The work is carried out based on the task on fulfilment of government contractual work in the field of scientific activities as a part of base portion of the state task of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to Ural State Forest Engineering University (the # 26.8660.2017/8.9 "The Research Methodology of Forms of Economic and Technological Reality in the Aspect of Sustainable Forest Management").

We analyze a stage-structured biomass model for size-structured consumer-resource interactions. Maturation of juvenile consumers is modeled with a food-dependent function that consistently translates individual-level assumptions about growth in body size to the population level. Furthermore, the model accounts for stage-specific differences in resource use and mortality between juvenile and adult consumers. Without such differences, the model reduces to the Yodzis and Innes (1992) bioenergetics model, for which we show that model equilibria are characterized by a symmetry property that reproduction and maturation are equally limited by food density. As a consequence, biomass production rate exactly equals loss rate through maintenance and mortality in each consumer stage. Stage-specific differences break up this symmetry and turn specific stages into net producers and others into net losers of biomass. As a consequence, the population in equilibrium can be regulated in two distinct ways: either through total population reproduction or through total population maturation as limiting process. In the case of reproduction regulation, increases in mortality may lead to an increase of juvenile biomass. In the case of maturation regulation, increases in mortality may increase adult biomass. This overcompensation in biomass occurs with increases in both stage-independent and stage-specific mortality, even when the latter targets the stage exhibiting overcompensation.

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.