• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 13. Climate action close
• 15. Life on land close
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In recent years, the rapid development of the rare earth industry has had a serious impact on the environment. Some enterprises have taken measures to improve the production process. In order to explore the sustainability of this industry and these improvements’ environmental benefits, this paper combines emergy analysis and lifecycle assessment to evaluate and compare the production process of rare-earth oxides considering the three aspects of emergy flow, pollutant emissions, and emergy-based indicators. Changes in the emergy of pollutant emissions before and after improvement of the production process are discussed. The results show that the greatest inputs in the mining and beneficiation stage and smelting separation stage are labor force and service and non-renewable resources, respectively. These two production stages are highly dependent on external input and have weak competitiveness. Both stages place great pressure on the environment, so the bastnasite production process would be unsustainable in the long term. After the improvement, the environmental impact of the production process for bastnaesite changed significantly, indicating that the improvement effect of the wastewater treatment facilities and the change of fuel from coal to natural gas is remarkable.

Progressive urban density affects city centers especially and results in growing congestion, lack of parking spaces, and increasing environmental costs of transportation, causing increased air pollutant emissions and noise. These phenomena reduce the attractiveness of the city and result in a degradation of the quality of life for its residents. In light of these phenomena, there is a clear need for intelligent management of urban space using new technologies that would be complementary to existing intelligent transportation systems. Expanding information resources obtained from mobile cameras will have a positive impact on increasing the efficiency of transportation management and use of limited space in city centers. It will also have an impact on reducing external transport costs and increasing the quality of logistics services provided in the city. The main aim of the paper is to develop a concept of a transport management system in cities using mobile vision systems mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles. The model will concern the cases of lane occupation by freight vehicles and the analysis of parking spaces in the city in order to improve their management. The results of the developed model will contribute to the automation of the parking space management process and increase the efficiency of the use of city parking space resources.

Large amounts of CO2 from human socioeconomic activities threaten environmental sustainability. Moreover, uncontrolled resource use and lack of relevant technology exacerbate this issue. For this reason, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology has gained worldwide attention. Many scholars have researched CCUS, but few have used CCUS patent bibliometric analysis from a unified perspective. This article aims to provide a conclusive analysis for CCUS researchers and policymakers, as well as summarize the innovation trends, technological distribution, and topic evolution. Based on 11,915 pieces of patent data from the Derwent Innovations Index, we used bibliometric analysis and data mining methods to conduct research on four dimensions: overall trend, geographical distribution, patentees, and patent content. The results of this article are as follows. CCUS has entered a rapid development stage since 2013. Patents are mainly distributed geographically in China, the US, and Japan, especially in heavy industries such as energy and electricity. Large enterprises hold patents with a relatively stable network of cooperators and attach great importance to international patent protection. A total of 12 topics were identified through clustering, and these topics gradually shifted from technicalities to commercialization, and from industrial production to all aspects of people’s daily lives.

Aggregate and limestone mining in San Antonio’s Bexar and Comal counties in Texas, USA, has caused considerable health concerns as of late. Aggregate mining actions can result in localized air quality issues in any neighborhood. Furthermore, heavy truck traffic, hauling, and transportation of the mined material contribute to pollution. In this research, PM species were sampled at four locations north of the San Antonio city limits. The data were collected using a TSI Air Quality Sampler that sampled PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and relative humidity. Continuous data with 1 min averages were recorded during the study period from August to September 2019. The instrument was stationed at every location for a period of 7 days each. The four locations were a ranch, an open field, a residential compound, and an elementary school. PM1 and PM2.5 concentration levels were lower compared to PM10 concentrations at all four studied sites. Our results suggest that PM concentrations are primarily impacted by mining activities. PM species were highest at the residential compound due to its proximity to an active mining area, resulting in deleterious health effects for neighbors living in the vicinity of the sampled site.

In response to the pressing need for transportation decarbonization, this paper examines the often overlooked domain of inland waterway transport and seeks to answer which alternative fuel or power source is the most promising for that sector. As the shipping industry significantly contributes to global carbon emissions, it has been shifting towards alternative fuels and decarbonization measures in the effort to reduce them, whereas the inland waterways, operating predominantly on diesel engines, have not achieved equivalent substantial progress. Employing a systematic literature review and regional analysis, this study identifies notable trends. LNG initially emerged as a favored alternative fuel, but recent studies emphasize a shift towards “greener” solutions like batteries and hydrogen. Europe and Asia lead in these developments. This investigation uncovers critical gaps in research and development, particularly in the Northern European countries that have extensive inland waterway networks. It also calls for future studies to explore the performance of vessels that have adopted LNG compared to other emerging alternatives and emphasizes the importance of considering the time lag between technology development and research publication.

Eucalyptus is the main fast-growing tree for biomass production in the tropics, providing resources for pulp and paper industries and bioenergy. The potential productivity of forest sites over an eight-year rotation in Brazil was evaluated by the Physiological Principles in Predicting Growth (3-PG) model for two soils, Acrisols and Arenosols, with high and low water storage, respectively, and distinct productive potential capacity. The model was parameterized by data-sets obtained in bimonthly forest inventories performed in stands with 33, 58 and 89 months-old trees, and edaphic surveys. The average volumetric productivity of wood and biomass of the main stem determined at the 89 months-old stand was 374 m3 ha−1 (177 Mg ha−1) for Acrisols and 272.3 m3 ha−1 (130.0 Mg ha−1) for Arenosols. The estimated volumetric production in the Arenosols had a high mean annual increment up to the age of 58 months, with a significant reduction in growth rates after this time. In Acrisols, high incremental rates in wood volume up to age of 89 months (MAIVW > 50 m3 ha−1 year−1) indicate that, under ideal soil conditions, the cutting cycle may exceed 8 years with no productivity impairment. The parameterized model matched well for forest yield (r2 > 0.9) and dendrometric variables (r2 > 0.78). The expected results of lower productivity in Arenosols occurred only after 58 months, while for Acrisols productivity remained high up to 89 months. The results showed the eucalyptus cycle should be shorter in Arenosols, since the lower cutting cycle can provide higher final productivity, when using the mean annual increment to evaluate productivity.

The energy crisis and increasing fossil fuel prices due to increasing demands, controlled supplies, and global political unrest have adversely affected agricultural productivity and farm profitability across the globe and Pakistan is not an exception. To cope with this issue of energy deficiency in agriculture, the best alternate strategy is to take advantage of biomass and solid waste potential. In low-income countries such as Pakistan, the greenhouse heating system mostly relies on fossil fuels such as diesel, gasoline, and LPG. Farmers are reluctant to adopt greenhouse farming due to the continuously rising prices of the fossil fuels. To reduce reliance on fossil fuel energy, the objective of this study was to utilize biomass from crop residues to develop an efficient and economical biomass furnace that could heat greenhouses to protect the crop from seasonal temperature effects. Modifications made to the biomass furnace, such as the incorporation of insulation around the walls of the furnace, providing turbulators in fire tubes, and a secondary heat exchanger (heat recovery system) in the chimney, have increased the thermal efficiency of the biomass furnace by about 21.7%. A drastic reduction in hazardous elements of flue gases was observed due to the addition of a water scrubber smoke filter in the exit line of the flue. The efficiency of the biomass furnace ranged from 50.42% to 54.18%, whereas the heating efficiency of the diesel-fired heater was 71.19%. On the basis of the equal heating value of the fuels, the unit material and operating costs of the biomass furnace for wood, cotton stalks, corn cobs, and cow dung were USD 2.04, 1.86, 1.78, and 2.00 respectively against USD 4.67/h for the diesel heater. The capital and operating costs of the biomass furnace were about 50% and 43.7% of the diesel heater respectively, resulting in a seasonal saving of about 1573 USD. The produced smoke was tested as environmental friendly under the prescribed limits of the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS), which shows potential for its large-scale adoption and wider applications.

Reducing natural resources caused by the growth of the world’s population, meeting the growing demands of consumers, and preventing environmental pollution requires the development of sustainable and efficient procedures that include the valorization of wastes [...]