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Prior works have suggested various strategies to increase construction waste recycling (CWR) rates. However, choosing the strategies is challenging without a lateral comparison. Therefore, this study aims to compare the usability of various strategies that target the enhancement of CWR implementation. To achieve this purpose, thirteen CWR enhancement strategies were identified from a systematic literature review. Then, questionnaire survey data were collected from 106 construction project managers. The collected data were analyzed via mean score ranking, normalization, overlap analysis, agreement analysis, and factor analysis. Additionally, the data were analyzed using a proposed formula for computing usability indexes using the cost, easiness, and effectiveness values. The results show that three strategies have high usability indexes: organize temporary bins in each construction zone, identify construction activities that produce recyclable materials, and enhance company policies related to CWR. These strategies with high usability indexes are consistent with the overlapping cheap, effective, and easy strategies. This study provides researchers and practitioners with optimal strategies for enhancing CWR implementation. Effective CWR enhancement strategies can improve CWR rates in construction projects. Future researchers can also adopt this study’s approach in computing usability indexes through questionnaire surveys.

Information on vermicomposting with Metaphire posthuma is scanty. This paper, therefore, aims to evaluate the bioconversion efficiency of this species against Eiseniafetida. For comparative analysis, different combinations of municipal solid waste (MSW) and cow dung were used as substrates. The contents of total N and availability of P, K, and Fe increased significantly in both Metaphire and Eisenia systems which was accompanied by substantial reduction in pH and total organic C. Both species exhibited similar levels of urease activity and microbial respiration. Moreover, bioavailability of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Mn, and Cu) was reduced substantially during vermicomposting, irrespective of the earthworm species. In contrast, each species was distinguished by the enhancement either in microbial biomass C and phosphatase activity (Eisenia) or in humification and fulvic/humic acid C (Metaphire). The overall results suggest that indigenous earthworm, M.posthuma could be utilized as a successful candidate for bioprocessing of toxic wastes.

In the past three decades, there has been increasing research carried out on the role of heritage and its processes in achieving broader sustainable development objectives beyond heritage conservation. As part of this movement, people-centered approaches and participation have been widely integrated into international regulations and guidelines on heritage management, stimulating the implementation of case studies-based research worldwide. Despite the wide advocacy of participatory heritage practices’ contributions to more inclusive and culturally sensitive local development in a great variety of projects, there is limited research into the roles these practices can have in addressing sustainability objectives. How are these roles addressed in international heritage regulatory frameworks, and what forms of participation are promoted for their fulfillment? This paper seeks to answer this research question through a content analysis of international declarations, conventions, guidelines, and policy documents focused on the roles and forms of participation that are promoted. A crossed-matched analysis of results reveals that active forms of participation are those most used to promote all roles and subcategories of participation, as a right, as a driver, and as an enabler of sustainable development. However, fewer active forms are presented as complementary at different stages of sustainability-oriented heritage practices. Moreover, a higher incidence of generic forms of participation can be observed in documents addressing international stakeholders, while partnership and intervention are to be found in those targeting regional and local actors. Nevertheless, the low incidence of decisional forms of participation confirms the challenges of power-sharing at all scales. Trends and influences are highlighted, informing heritage research, governance, and policymaking, but also revealing gaps and ambiguities in current regulations that further research encompassing a larger number of documents might confirm.

This paper involves the hybrid power potential implementation in view of six climatic zones in Indian state of Tamil Nadu. An intertwined techno-economic feasible study and energy management analysis of Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) has been proposed to cater to need of the electrical energy requirement in un-electrified village hamlets of Tamil Nadu. The HRES feasibility, size optimization, cost and sensitivity analyses are performed to satisfy the electrical energy requirements of the considered area. A combination of Demand Side Management (DSM) and optimum tilt solar panel approach has also been analyzed through HOMER Energy® simulation. The selection of HRES configuration is based on real-time data collected from six different climatic zones. The optimization results of the considered system are presented and compared with and without DSM strategy. The optimum planning of HRES is based on ranking scheme which includes technical and ecological aspects for sustainable development. In addition, to evaluate the most feasible consideration of the system, sensitivity analysis has been performed upon the load variation, biomass and diesel price too. The simulation results of the proposed HRES configuration can improve the renewable fraction and offer more employment opportunities to the local people, compared to the existing PV-DG-Battery HRES.

This publication brings together the major recommendations for the initial memorandum for the Spatial Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Oudland Polder (phase 1) arising from the European COASTAL Horizon 2020 project. They are based on a far-seeing exploration of the future, up to 2100, in which a range of societal developments were explored. This means that we reviewed, for example, how the further urbanisation and population growth in this polder region could evolve. We also checked which agricultural practices we could expect in the Oudland Polder in the future. This implies that we had to take into account a great many uncertainties when developing these recommendations. One of the ways to do this is to work with scenarios, whether or not supported by modelling work. This means each of the recommendations on the following pages is substantiated by the insights arising from this scenario work. Furthermore, we involved a diverse group of stakeholders living and/or working in the region in this exploration of the future. Through their expertise in relation to the Oudland Polder, they provided a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of this polder region. What they brought to the table helped to contextualise and interpret results. Thirdly, where possible, we also made the link between European and Flemish policy lines that are aimed at the longer term and present some clear objectives for the coming decades. This means the recommendations presented in this publication are a synthesis of research combining both qualitative and quantitative work, and in which modelling work builds upon a direct dialogue with stakeholders, but has also fed into it. We would therefore like to expressly thank all the stakeholders and experts who have made us familiar with the Oudland Polder in recent years, in particular the staff at the VLM. We also extend our sincere thanks to everyone who took part in one of the workshops, gave feedback on publications or took the time to work with us on the various scenarios referred to in this publication.

The combustion of fossil fuels produces emissions of the long-lived greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and of short-lived pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, that contribute to the formation of atmospheric aerosols1. Atmospheric aerosols can cool the climate, masking some of the warming effect that results from the emission of greenhouse gases1. However, aerosol particulates are highly toxic when inhaled, leading to millions of premature deaths per year2,3. The phasing out of unabated fossil-fuel combustion will therefore provide health benefits, but will also reduce the extent to which the warming induced by greenhouse gases is masked by aerosols. Because aerosol levels respond much more rapidly to changes in emissions relative to carbon dioxide, large near-term increases in the magnitude and rate of climate warming are predicted in many idealized studies that typically assume an instantaneous removal of all anthropogenic or fossil-fuel-related emissions1,4-9. Here we show that more realistic modelling scenarios do not produce a substantial near-term increase in either the magnitude or the rate of warming, and in fact can lead to a decrease in warming rates within two decades of the start of the fossil-fuel phase-out. Accounting for the time required to transform power generation, industry and transportation leads to gradually increasing and largely offsetting climate impacts of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, with the rate of warming further slowed by reductions in fossil-methane emissions. Our results indicate that even the most aggressive plausible transition to a clean-energy society provides benefits for climate change mitigation and air quality at essentially all decadal to centennial timescales.

Following the debate on the implications of international trade for global climate policy, this paper introduces the topic of the economic benefits from trade obtained by exporting countries in relation to the emissions generated in the production of exports. In 2008, 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 20% of the employment around the world were linked to international trade. China “exported” 30% of emissions and hosted 37.5% of the jobs generated by trade worldwide. The European Union and the United States of America were the destination of 25% and 18.4% of the GHG emissions embodied in trade. The imports of these two regions contributed to the creation of 45% of the employment generated by international trade. This paper proposes the idea of including trade issues in international climate negotiations, taking into account not only the environmental burden generated by developed countries when displacing emissions to developing countries through their imports, but also the economic benefits of developing countries producing the goods exported to developed countries.