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text ; Transportation fleet emissions have a dominant role in air quality because of their significant contribution to ozone precursor and greenhouse gas emissions. Regulatory policies have emphasized improvements in vehicle fuel economy, alternative fuel use, and engine and vehicle technologies as approaches for obtaining transportation systems that support sustainable development. This study examined the air quality impacts of the partial electrification of the transportation fleet and the use of biofuels for the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area under a 2030 vision of regional population growth and urban development using the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with extensions (CAMx). Different strategies were considered including the use of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) with nighttime charging using excess capacity from electricity generation units and the replacement of conventional petroleum fuels with different percentages of the biofuels E85 and B100 along or in combination. Comparisons between a 2030 regional vision of growth assuming a continuation of current development trends (denoted as Envision Central Texas A or ECT A) in the Austin MSA and the electrification and biofuels scenarios were evaluated using different metrics, including changes in daily maximum 1-hour and 8-hour ozone concentrations, total area, time integrated area and total daily population exposure exceeding different 1-hour ozone concentration thresholds. Changes in ozone precursor emissions and predicted carbon monoxide and aldehyde concentrations were also determined for each scenario. Maximum changes in hourly ozone concentration from the use of PHEVs ranged from -8.5 to 2.2 ppb relative to ECT A. Replacement of petroleum based fuels with E85 had a lesser effect than PHEVs on maximum daily ozone concentrations. The maximum reduction due to replacement of 100% of gasoline fuel in light and heavy duty gasoline vehicles by E85 ranged from -2.1 to 2.8 ppb. The magnitude of the effect was sensitive to the biofuel ...

Shipping list no.: 95-0048-P. ; Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche. ; Includes bibliographical references. ; Microform. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Energy storage is particularly well suited to developing countries’ power system needs. Developing countries frequently feature weak grids. These are characterized by poor security of supply, driven by a combination of insufficient, unreliable and inflexible generation capacity, underdeveloped or nonexistent grid infrastructure, a lack of adequate monitoring and controlequipment, and a lack of skilled human resources and adequate maintenance. In this context,energy storage can help enhance reliability. Deployed together with VRE, it can help displacecostly and polluting generation based on liquid fuels while increasing security of supply.Storage can also help defer and/or avoid the construction of new grid infrastructure

The GEWEX Continental International Project (GCIP), which started in 1995 and completed in 2001, held its grand finale conference in New Orleans, LA in May 2002. Participants at this conference along with the scientists funded through the GCIP program are invited to contribute a paper to a special issue of Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR). This special JGR issue (called GCIP3) will serve as the final report on scientific research conducted by GCIP investigators. Papers are solicited on the following topical areas, but are not limited to, (1) water energy budget studies; (2) warm season precipitation; (3) predictability and prediction system; (4) coupled land-atmosphere models; (5) climate and water resources applications. The research areas cover observations, modeling, process studies and water resources applications.

Reuse of record except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc. ; At head of title: 94th Congress, 2d session. Committee print. ; CIS Microfiche Accession Numbers: CIS 77 S442-1 ; Includes bibliographical references. ; Microfiche. ; Mode of access: Internet.

With an increased demand for renewable energy production, especially the conversion of biomass to biofuels, perennial grasses are gaining interest as a renewable source of biofuel feedstocks. Identifying the trade-offs between bioenergy crop cultivation and nutrient runoff, erosion, and water requirements will be important as the demand for these crops continues to grow. The primary objective of this study is develop an integrated optimal control model that estimates the potential effects on water quality and demand and soil erosion from cultivating switchgrass and other perennial grasses instead of conventional crops at the watershed scale. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool is used to model these land use changes. In this research, we developed an optimization method based on genetic algorithms to evaluate different land cover change scenarios and their effect at the watershed level by coupling the SWAT model with a multi-objective genetic algorithm, that takes into consideration the minimization of nutrient loading, sediment yield due to erosion at the watershed outlet, the effects on regional water resources, while maximizing biomass production. The optimal control model will help further the understanding of the environmental impacts of cultivating biofuel feedstocks and is intended to aid policy makers and stakeholders when making decisions to increase feedstock production.

Writen for practitioner audience ; Provides practitioner-friendly advice on how to develop a makerspace plan and learning activities that are sustainable even with low budgets. ; This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-05-15-0021-15. ; http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117499/1/tl-sustaining-makerspace.pdf ; Description of tl-sustaining-makerspace.pdf : Main article

Catalytic conversion of biomass-derived oxygenates to fuels and value-added chemicals is a promising strategy in the search for renewable and sustainable energy sources. Most relevant catalytic processes are carried out in an aqueous environment using supported transition metal catalysts. The reaction network consists of multiple series and parallel pathways leading to formation of hydrogen, alkanes, and lighter oxygenates. The final product distribution ultimately depends on the sequence and competition of C−C, C−O, C−H, and O−H bonds scissions. Ethylene glycol (EG) is the simplest model molecule of various biomass-derived polyols that has a C:O stoichiometry of 1:1 and contains all relevant C−C, C−O, C−H, and O−H bonds. While the reaction mechanism of EG reforming is to some degree understood at the metal–gas interface, lack of a well-established methodology for describing the influence of a complex liquid phase on a reaction across a solid–liquid interface has hindered similar theoretical studies in an aqueous environment. In this dissertation, we show how first-principles calculations can be used for a systematic investigation of complex reaction pathways at a metal–water interface. We proposed a multistep strategy where the description of the influence of an aqueous environment on reaction kinetics and equilibria is successively refined. First, we developed a new computational approach for implicit solvation of periodic metal slabs by integrating planewave density functional theory (DFT) calculations with an implicit solvation model. Rapid convergence with size of the metal cluster and basis set was demonstrated for C−C cleavage in dehydrogenated EG at a Pt (111)/H2O interface. The method was then successfully applied for predicting experimentally reported CO frequency shifts in water at Pt (111)/H2O and Pd (111)/H2O interfaces. Next, we developed a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method to allow an explicit description of water molecules at the metal–water interface, and applied it to ...

Rainfed agriculture (1.25 billion hectares out of 1.55 billion hectares arable area) plays an important role globally in improving livelihoods and food security as it covers 63 per cent of total agriculture in Asia and 97 per cent in Africa. These areas are not only the hotspots of poverty but are also food insecure, hotspots of malnutrition, water scarcity, prone to severe land degradation and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.1 With increasing demand for food production to meet the needs of the growing population (9 billion by 2050), growing incomes and changing food habits, water scarcity will also intensify. The per-capita availability of water has declined considerably; for example, in India water availability was 1,820 cubic metres per person in 2001 compared to 5,177 cubic metres in 1951, and it is expected to decrease further to 1,341 cubic metres by 2025 and 1140 cubic metres by 2050.

As natural resources are decreasing and environmental pollution is increasing, the buildings that play an important role in this problem should be constructed sustainably so their affects are kept to a minimum. Hospitals operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, therefore they are one of the largest energy consumers. Hence designers have started to design healthcare facilities according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria, believing that it will reduce waste production, energy consumption and increase patient satisfaction by creating brighter and less stressful facilities. To understand if the claims are correct or not, this thesis first studied the results of the patient survey, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System (HCAHPS), undertaken at most of the hospitals in the U.S., and compares the results to LEED and non-LEED certified hospitals. To find answers for the claims related to the financial benefits, this thesis compared three financial indicators; cost of operation of plant, profitability, and inpatient revenue. In the cases where there is a large enough sample size, a t-test is used to compare two groups, however when the sample size was not large enough, two groups are compared based on their means. For the cost of operation of plant and profitability, non-LEED certified hospitals are performing better. However, the patient satisfaction and inpatient revenues are significantly higher at the LEED-certified hospitals.