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A metafrontier slack-based efficiency measure is presented to measure environmental efficiency for various regions in China. The objective of the new approach is to investigate the change of environmental efficiency while incorporating group heterogeneities and all variable slack and environmental pollutants into environmental efficiency analysis. Global production technology is used to improve the discriminating power of environmental efficiency measurement. An empirical analysis of regional environmental efficiency is carried out incorporating sulfur dioxide emissions and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of China’s regions from 2000–2011. Results indicate that excessive emissions pollution is the major cause of environmental inefficiency. Most of the regions return environmental efficiency values. Significant regional technology gaps in environmental efficiency are found between the east, central, and west areas. Finally, some policy implications are presented from the empirical results.

The Anyue Sinian–Cambrian giant gas field was discovered in central paleo-uplift in the Sichuan Basin in 2013, which is a structural-lithological gas reservoir, with 779.9 km2 proven gas-bearing area and 4 403.8×108 m3 proven geological reserves in the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation in Moxi Block, and the discovery implies it possesses trillion-cubic-meter reserves in the Sinian. Cambrian Formations in Sichuan Basin. The main understandings achieved are as follows: (1) Sinian–Cambrian sedimentary filling sequences and division evidence are redetermined; (2) During Late Sinian and Early Cambrian, “Deyang–Anyue” paleo-taphrogenic trough was successively developed and controlled the distribution of source rocks in the Lower-Cambrian, characterized by 20–160 m source rock thickness, TOC 1.7%–3.6% and Ro 2.0%–3.5%; (3) Carbonate edge platform occurred in the Sinian Dengying Formation, and carbonate gentle slope platform occurred in the Longwangmiao Formation, with large-scale grain beach near the synsedimentary paleo- uplift; (4) Two types of gas-bearing reservoir, i.e. carbonate fracture-vug type in the Sinian Dengying Formation and dolomite pore type in the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation, and superposition transformation of penecontemporaneous dolomitization and supergene karst formed high porosity-permeability reservoirs, with 3%–4% porosity and (1–6)×10−3 μm2 permeability in the Sinian Dengying Formation, and 4%–5% porosity and (1–5)×10−3 μm2 permeability in the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation; (5) Large paleo-oil pool occurred in the core of the paleo-uplift during late Hercynian—Indosinian, with over 5 000 km2 and (48–63)×108 t oil resources, and then in the Yanshanian period, in-situ crude oil cracked to generate gas and dispersive liquid hydrocarbons in deep slope cracked to generate gas, both of which provide sufficient gas for the giant gas field; (6) The formation and retention of the giant gas field is mainly controlled by paleo-taphrogenic trough, paleo-platform, paleo-oil pool cracking gas and paleo-uplift jointly; (7) Total gas resources of the Sinian–Cambrian giant gas field are preliminarily predicted to be about 5×1012 m3, and the paleo-uplift and its slope, southern Sichuan Basin depression and deep formations of the high and steep structure belt in east Sichuan, are key exploration plays. The discovery of deep Anyue Sinian–Cambrian giant primay oil-cracking gas field in the Sichuan Basin, is the first in global ancient strata exploration, which is of great inspiration for extension of oil & gas discoveries for global middle-deep formations from Lower Paleozoic to Middle–Upper Proterozoic strata. Key words: Sichuan Basin, Anyue gas field, Fuling shale gas field, paleo-taphrogenic trough, paleo-oil pool, paleo-uplift, carbonate platform, unconventional oil and gas, shale gas, Weiyuan shale gas field

Abstract In this paper a Dynamic Simulation Model has been used to present the likely responses of the electricity industries’ latest perturbations such as: changes in environmental regulations, international fuel market evolution, restriction on fuel supply and increase on fuel prices, liberalisation of the European Electricity Market, and the results of applying energy policies and official tools such as taxes and emission allowances. The case under study refers to the Teruel Power Plant, built after the 1970s oil crisis to ensure national electricity supply; burning domestically produced coal in order to ensure local mining activity. The Teruel Power Plant has made relevant investments in order to meet emission limits, such as a Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant. The economic viability of the power stations has to be analysed after environmental costs have been internalised. A system is defined that studies the coal-firing Electric Power Plant selling energy to the free electricity market, whenever the generation cost is competitive. A Dynamic Simulation Model would appear to be an accurate tool to optimise power station management within different frameworks.

Consumption and related waste production is an integral part of our daily lives. The waste generation worldwide depends on the economic strength of the given region/country, and it increases from year to year. More and more attention is drawn to the re-use, recycling, reutilization of the waste which are driven mainly by environmental concerns and economic interests. Regional waste management systems have been established in Hungary with the support of EU funds, which process the waste according to European standards. In addition to this in January 2013 new Waste Management Act was introduced in Hungary, with the main objectives to increase the rate of recycling and to significantly decrease the proportion and amount of waste taken for final disposal at landfill sites. By the development of waste handling techniques and the harmonisation of the legal environment and instruments to the European standards the Hungarian waste management has achieved a restructuring phase, where the core issues of the sustainable waste management are considered and implemented.

This research work is carried out to identify the corrosive nature of soils towards the buried-galvanized steel and cast iron pipelines buried in Sanothimi areas of Madhyapur Thimi municipality, Bhaktapur based on different soil parameters such as organic content, moisture content, pH, resistivity, oxidation-reduction potential, chloride and sulfate ions. The soil parameters of the collected soil samples from the study areas were analyzed using standard ASTM methods. Concentrations of these soil parameters measured in this study were found as: organic content (0.9- 7.9%), moisture content (8.0-36.7%), pH (6.8-7.7), resistivity (3900-16700 ohm.cm), oxidation-reduction potential (337-461 mV vs SHE), chloride (25-71 ppm) and sulfate (35-464 ppm) contents. These soil parameters gave an indication of “mildly corrosive” to “less corrosive” nature of soils on the galvanized steels and cast iron pipelines buried in the study areas. Based on the findings of the present studies, it can be advised to the related authorities or local people that simple modification of the soils by using cheapest non-conducting materials like gravel or sand around the buried water supply pipelines before undergrounding them in the study areas is very beneficial from the corrosion point of view to increase their life time. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/bibechana.v11i0.10387 BIBECHANA 11(1) (2014) 94-102

AbstractThis paper is about to quantify the effect of China's urbanization on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by separating the part driven by the economic growth from the whole effect. In order to be accurate to estimate unknown parameters, this paper follows the method of Blanchard & Quah (1989), in which identifying conditions are set by assuming some shocks have no long-term effect on corresponding explained variables. We conclude that 1) Urbanization shock has an inverted hump-shaped effect on GHG emissions, in other words, nowadays the process of China's urbanization has been accompanied with saving energy and reducing emissions; 2) The growth rate of GHG emissions, owning to the GDP shock, can be raised by almost 1.53% annually and the urbanization level approximately contributes to 18% of the change of CO2 emissions based on empirical results; 3) China's emission reductions, in the short run, are actualy in expense of decreasing economic growth and delaying the p rocess of its urbanization.

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the development of an approach to characterize the as-built heat loss coefficient (HLC) of buildings based on a combination of on-board monitoring (OBM) and data-driven modeling. OBM is hereby defined as the monitoring of the energy consumption and interior climate of in-use buildings via non-intrusive sensors. The main challenge faced by researchers is the identification of the required input data and the appropriate data analysis techniques to assess the HLC of specific building types, with a certain degree of accuracy and/or within a budget constraint. A wide range of characterization techniques can be imagined, going from simplified steady-state models applied to smart energy meter data, to advanced dynamic analysis models identified on full OBM data sets that are further enriched with geometric info, survey results, or on-site inspections. This paper evaluates the extent to which these techniques result in different HLC estimates. To this end, it performs a sensitivity analysis of the characterization outcome for a case study dwelling. Thirty-five unique input data packages are defined using a tree structure. Subsequently, four different data analysis methods are applied on these sets: the steady-state average, Linear Regression and Energy Signature method, and the dynamic AutoRegressive with eXogenous input model (ARX). In addition to the sensitivity analysis, the paper compares the HLC values determined via OBM characterization to the theoretically calculated value, and explores the factors contributing to the observed discrepancies. The results demonstrate that deviations up to 26.9% can occur on the characterized as-built HLC, depending on the amount of monitoring data and prior information used to establish the interior temperature of the dwelling. The approach used to represent the internal and solar heat gains also proves to have a significant influence on the HLC estimate. The impact of the selected input data is higher than that of the applied data analysis method.

The purpose of this research is to substantiate the need to develop a professional standard “Management specialist in industries and at enterprises of the agro-industrial complex” to improve the provision of the Russian agro-industrial complex with management personnel. Methods. To achieve this purpose, it is rational to apply analytical and statistical research methods: to analyze the provision of the Russian agro-industrial complex with specialists with economic and managerial competencies, to carry out a comparative analysis of the job responsibilities of managers and chief specialists of agricultural organizations performing the functions of personnel management and production processes, and the content and volume of economic-management training for the agro-industrial complex. Results. The heads of agricultural organizations, their deputies and chief specialists do not always meet the requirements for educational level and possession of economic and managerial competencies. On average, in the system of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, only 66 % of heads of agricultural enterprises have higher education, among the main specialists – 71 %. In the agricultural sector, there is an obvious shortage of managerial personnel, a high proportion of them are without professional education, a large proportion is occupied by employees of retirement age. Training of personnel for the agro-industrial complex is carried out in 54 universities subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. The number of graduates in the main agricultural areas and specialties trained internally at the expense of the federal budget is more than 19 000 people, but there are only about 6 000 graduates of the specialist and magistracy who have the right to occupy leadership positions. In addition, in the main professional educational programs of personnel for the agro-industrial complex, little study time is allocated for the study of economic and management disciplines, which does not allow the formation of the necessary competencies in graduates to perform the functions of organizing agricultural production. To provide agricultural organizations with personnel with modern economic and management competencies, it is proposed to recommend that agricultural universities, when teaching students in the main specialties of the agricultural profile, determine the list of relevant disciplines, their volume and content in the main professional educational programs in accordance with the labor functions, knowledge and skills specified in the draft professional standard “Specialist in management in industries and enterprises of the agro-industrial complex”.