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After modeling the large-scale climate response patterns of leaf unfolding, leaf coloring and growing season length of evergreen and deciduous French temperate trees, we predicted the effects of eight future climate scenarios on phenological events. We used the ground observations from 103 temperate forests (10 species and 3,708 trees) from the French Renecofor Network and for the period 1997-2006. We applied RandomForest algorithms to predict phenological events from climatic and ecological variables. With the resulting models, we drew maps of phenological events throughout France under present climate and under two climatic change scenarios (A2, B2) and four global circulation models (HadCM3, CGCM2, CSIRO2 and PCM). We compared current observations and predicted values for the periods 2041-2070 and 2071-2100. On average, spring development of oaks precedes that of beech, which precedes that of conifers. Annual cycles in budburst and leaf coloring are highly correlated with January, March-April and October-November weather conditions through temperature, global solar radiation or potential evapotranspiration depending on species. At the end of the twenty-first century, each model predicts earlier budburst (mean: 7 days) and later leaf coloring (mean: 13 days) leading to an average increase in the growing season of about 20 days (for oaks and beech stands). The A2-HadCM3 hypothesis leads to an increase of up to 30 days in many areas. As a consequence of higher predicted warming during autumn than during winter or spring, shifts in leaf coloring dates appear greater than trends in leaf unfolding. At a regional scale, highly differing climatic response patterns were observed.

This study is oriented to the economic and environmental impacts of the substitution in Kinshasa traditional cookstoves by improved clean cookstoves. We selected two traditional cookstoves (TCS), the TCS D27 and the TCS D23 and two improved cookstoves (ICS), the ICS 16/8/NC and the ICS 16/8/C. The test was carried out under the cooking controlled test (CCT) protocol, which is a laboratory test under strictly controlled conditions. All tests were carried out using the meal much preferred by the average and poor households of Kinshasa. To cook a dry meal of 1150g of beans and 1250g of rice, it takes 2429g of charcoal for a traditional cookstove TCS D27 and 1847g for traditional cookstove TCS D23. However, this only requires 1198g of charcoal for an improved cookstove ICS 16/8/NC and 1081g for an improved clean cookstove ICS 16/8/C. This represents fuel savings ranging from 37% to 55%. A household of 10 people in Kinshasa would spend up to $ 48.61 per month to purchase fuel with a TCS D27 while it will only need $ 22.01 per month for the same culinary tasks using an ICS 16/8/C. Le présent travail a consisté à analyser les impacts économiques et environnementaux du changement d’utilisation dans les ménages de la ville Kinshasa en République démocratique du Congo (RD Congo) du foyer de cuisson traditionnel par un foyer de cuisson amélioré. Nous avons sélectionnés deux foyers de cuisson traditionnels (traditional cookstove TCS), le TCS D27 et le TCS D23 et deux foyers de cuisson améliorés (improved cookstove ICS), le ICS 16/8/NC et le ICS 16/8/C. Le test réalisé fut le test de cuisson contrôlée (cooking controlled test CCT), qui est un test de laboratoire dans des conditions strictement contrôlées. Tous les tests furent réalisés en cuisinant un mets local familier populaire, principalement apprécié par les ménages moyens et pauvres de Kinshasa. Pour cuire un repas sec de 1150 g de haricot et 1250 g de riz, il a fallu 2429 g de charbon de bois avec un foyer traditionnel TCS D27 et 1847,4 g avec un foyer traditionnel TCS D23. Mais cela exigeait seulement 1198,7 g de charbon de bois avec un ICS 16/8/NC ou 1081,1 g avec un ICS 16/8/C,ce qui représente des économies en combustible allant de 37% jusqu’à 55%. Ainsi un ménage de 10 personnes à Kinshasa dépenserait jusqu’à 48,61 $/mois pour l’achat en combustible avec l’usage d’un TCS D27 alors qu’il n’aura besoin que de 22,01 $ mensuels pour les mêmes tâches culinaires en utilisant un ICS 16/8/C.

Abstract Geological storage of the greenhouse gas CO 2 has the potential to be a widespread and effective option to mitigate climate change. As any industrial activity, CO 2 storage may lead to adverse impact on human health and the environment in the case of unexpected leakage from the reservoir. These potential impacts should be considered in a risk assessment process. We present an approach to assess the impacts on human health in case of CO 2 leakage emerging in the unsaturated zone under a building. We first focus on the migration of the CO 2 in the unsaturated zone and the foundation through numerical simulation with sensitivity analysis. Our results show that the intrusion of CO 2 into a building is substantially attenuated by the unsaturated zone and the foundation and may lead only under very specific conditions (very low ventilated parts of buildings, high flow rate and/or building situated very close to a leaking pathway) to hazardous CO 2 indoor concentrations. We have then integrated the former results in a global toolbox that provides an efficient and easy-to-use tool for decision support, which enables to assess the impacts on human health of CO 2 leakage from the reservoir to a building.

AbstractProfessional and scientific networks built around the production of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) led to the collection of phenology data for a wide range of cultivars grown in experimental sites characterized by highly contrasted climatic conditions. We present a dataset of flowering and maturity dates, recorded each year for one tree when available, or the average of several trees for each cultivar, over a period of 37 years (1978–2015). Such a dataset is extremely valuable for characterizing the phenological response to climate change, and the plasticity of the different cultivars’ behaviour under different environmental conditions. In addition, this dataset will support the development of predictive models for sweet cherry phenology exploitable at the continental scale, and will help anticipate breeding strategies in order to maintain and improve sweet cherry production in Europe.

Heavy metal emission is a great environmental concern for the development of municipal solid waste (MSW) thermal treatment techniques. In this study, both experimental investigations and theoretical simulations are carried out to identify the partitioning of heavy metals between the gaseous phase and solid fractions during pyrolysis, gasification, and incineration of simulated MSW. Two types of incinerators are used. A tubular furnace is applied to evaluate the evaporation of metals from residues, whereas the metal distribution among bottom ash, cyclone fly ash, and filter fly ash is further examined in a fluidized bed. Six target metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, and Ni) are studied. Results show that a reductive atmosphere favors the evaporation of Cd and Zn but refrains Cu, Ni, and Cr volatilization, because metals are mainly reduced to their elemental form or sulfide, according to thermodynamic equilibrium calculation. Oxides are the dominant species under oxidizing condition due to the abundance of alkalis...

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is a major international effort linking the climate, crop, and economic modeling communities with cutting-edge information technology to produce improved crop and economic models and the next generation of climate impact projections for the agricultural sector. The goals of AgMIP are to improve substantially the characterization of world food security due to climate change and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries. Analyses of the agricultural impacts of climate variability and change require a transdisciplinary effort to consistently link state-of-the-art climate scenarios to crop and economic models. Crop model outputs are aggregated as inputs to regional and global economic models to determine regional vulnerabilities, changes in comparative advantage, price effects, and potential adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector. Climate, Crop Modeling, Economics, and Information Technology Team Protocols are presented to guide coordinated climate, crop modeling, economics, and information technology research activities around the world, along with AgMIP Cross-Cutting Themes that address uncertainty, aggregation and scaling, and the development of Representative Agricultural Pathways (RAPs) to enable testing of climate change adaptations in the context of other regional and global trends. The organization of research activities by geographic region and specific crops is described, along with project milestones. Pilot results demonstrate AgMIP's role in assessing climate impacts with explicit representation of uncertainties in climate scenarios and simulations using crop and economic models. An intercomparison of wheat model simulations near Obregón, Mexico reveals inter-model differences in yield sensitivity to [CO2] with model uncertainty holding approximately steady as concentrations rise, while uncertainty related to choice of crop model increases with rising temperatures. Wheat model simulations with mid-century climate scenarios project a slight decline in absolute yields that is more sensitive to selection of crop model than to global climate model, emissions scenario, or climate scenario downscaling method. A comparison of regional and national-scale economic simulations finds a large sensitivity of projected yield changes to the simulations’ resolved scales. Finally, a global economic model intercomparison example demonstrates that improvements in the understanding of agriculture futures arise from integration of the range of uncertainty in crop, climate, and economic modeling results in multi-model assessments.