The impact of climate change on the European energy system

Climate change can affect the economy via many different channels in many different sectors. The POLES global energy model has been modified to widen the coverage of climate change impacts on the European energy system. The impacts considered are changes in heating and cooling demand in the residential and services sector, changes in the efficiency of thermal power plants, and changes in hydro, wind (both on- and off-shore) and solar PV electricity output. Results of the impacts of six scenarios on the European energy system are presented, and the implications for European energy security and energy imports are presented.Main findings include: demand side impacts (heating and cooling in the residential and services sector) are larger than supply side impacts; power generation from fossil-fuel and nuclear sources decreases and renewable energy increases; and impacts are larger in Southern Europe than in Northern Europe.There remain many more climate change impacts on the energy sector that cannot currently be captured due to a variety of issues including: lack of climate data, difficulties translating climate data into energy-system-relevant data, lack of detail in energy system models where climate impacts act. This paper does not attempt to provide an exhaustive analysis of climate change impacts in the energy sector, it is rather another step towards an increasing coverage of possible impacts.     

Relation of anodic and cathodic performance to pH variations in membraneless microbial fuel cells

One-compartment (membraneless) microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are effective tools to test new bio-technology at a laboratory level. More efforts in MFC design and materials are necessary to move from laboratory tests to real applications.     

‘Dig In’ to Social Capital: Community Gardens as Mechanisms for Growing Urban Social Connectedness

This article reports on research undertaken with members of a Melbourne urban community garden to explore the extent to which such a natural amenity provides opportunities for enhancing social capital. It is apparent even from this small qualitative study that membership of ‘Dig In’ community garden offers many benefits to its members. These benefits include increased social cohesion (the sharing of values enabling identification of common aims and the sharing of codes of behaviour governing relationships), social support (having people to turn to in times of crisis) and social connections (the development of social bonds and networks). However, the study indicates that, at least in the early stages of development, such benefits do not necessarily extend beyond the garden setting. This raises a question about the time required to develop high levels of social capital, and points to the need for further research into ‘time’ and ‘space’ aspects of community gardens.     

Green ideas travelling across organizational boundaries

In the last few decades, environmental commitment has become a powerful discursive means of mobilizing actors and developing distinct organizational identity. However, the prevalent uncertainty in society concerning the interpretation and operationalization of concepts, such as ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, ‘environment’ and ‘ecology’ allows for interpretative flexibility. Accordingly, individual members or groups of members in organizations operationalize the concept green in ways that make sense to their working contexts' specific ontology, epistemology and ideology. Based on a comparative case study of three Swedish municipal housing companies, the paper examines how green ideas are translated as they travel across organizational boundaries, and how these notions become embedded within different organizational processes, and thus set external as well as internal boundaries. The underlying assumption is that the meaning of ‘green’ shifts depending on which organization and sphere of society is in perspective. Therefore, the paper traces spatial shifts in meanings of ‘green’ as these travel across organizational boundaries, from the local governmental authority, via the Parent company, to the three individual companies studied. Comparing the companies' official environmental statements with the organizational members' representations of green shows discrepancies in talk and action, which may have implications for the companies' internal identity as well as for the creation of an external image. Furthermore, these discrepancies are traced to different communities of action and practice, i.e. those who make strategic environmental decisions in the companies are not the same as those who possess environmental expertise.

Au cours de ces dernières années, les préoccupations environnementales sont devenues un puissant moyen discursif de mobilisation des acteurs et de développement d'une identité organisationnelle distincte. Or, l'incertitude qui règne dans la société en ce qui concerne l'interprétation et l'exploitation de concepts tels que «vert», «durable», «environnement» et «écologie» autorise une certaine souplesse. En conséquence, des membres individuels ou des groupes de membres d'organisations exploitent le concept «vert» de manière à donner du sens à l'ontologie, à l'épistémologie et à l'idéologie propres au contexte de travail. S'appuyant sur une étude de cas comparative de trois entreprises suédoises de construction de logements municipaux, l'auteur de cet article examine comment les concepts écologiques se transforment lorsqu'ils traversent des frontières à l'intérieur des organisations et comment ces notions s'inscrivent dans différents processus organisationnels et fixent ainsi des limites externes et internes. L'hypothèse sous-jacente est que la notion de « vert » se déplace en fonction de l'organisation et de la sphère de la société mises en perspective. Cet article retrace donc ces déplacements dans l'espace de la signification du concept «vert» lorsqu'il traverse des limites organisationnelles, de l'administration locale, via la société-mère, jusqu'aux trois entreprises individuelles étudiées. Lorsque l'on compare les déclarations environnementales officielles de ces entreprises au concept de «vert» affiché par les membres des organisations, on voit apparaître des différences dans le discours et dans l'action qui peuvent avoir des incidences sur l'identité interne des entreprises et sur la création d'une image externe. En outre, on fait remonter ces différences jusqu'aux différentes communautés d'action et de pratique, c'est-à-dire que celles qui prennent des décisions environnementales stratégiques ne sont pas les mêmes que celles qui possèdent les compétences en matière d'environnement.

Mots clés: Communauté d'action, communauté de pratiques, bâtiments verts, construction de l'identité, innovation, culture de l'organisation, mise en oeuvre des politiques, donner du sens, déplacement des idées     

Earthquakes and children: The role of psychologists with families and communities.

The 2008 Sichuan Province earthquake and 2005 Pakistan earthquake are examples of natural disasters that took an unimaginable toll on children. In such disaster management contexts, family members as well as health care and school personnel are the first-line responders and are natural sources of continued social support as children recover. Although psychologists have increasingly sophisticated understandings of post-disaster reactions and strategies for helping children and adolescents cope with trauma, models for responding to mass catastrophes are limited, particularly in geographically remote communities and in regions in which mental health services are stigmatizing. With children’s well-being subsequent to earthquakes inextricably linked to family and community, psychologists can make important contributions in 3 spheres: (a) coordinating and activating collaborations within children’s existing social contexts to develop post-earthquake interventions; (b) designing prevention and preparedness programs focused on the emotional needs of children in earthquake-prone communities; and (c) conducting research on interventions and recovery with particular attention to developmental stage, sociocultural-economic contexts, and the similarities versus differences across various types of disasters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimating the primary etiologic agents in recreational freshwaters impacted by human sources of faecal contamination

Epidemiology studies of recreational waters have demonstrated that swimmers exposed to faecally-contaminated recreational waters are at risk of excess gastrointestinal illness. Epidemiology studies provide valuable information on the nature and extent of health effects, the magnitude of risks, and how these risks are modified or associated with levels of faecal contamination and other measures of pollution. However, such studies have not provided information about the specific microbial agents that are responsible for the observed illnesses in swimmers. The objective of this work was to understand more fully the reported epidemiologic results from studies conducted on the Great Lakes in the US during 2003 and 2004 by identifying pathogens that could have caused the observed illnesses in those studies. We used a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) approach to estimate the likelihood of pathogen-induced adverse health effects. The reference pathogens used for this analysis were Norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia lamblia, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Two QMRA-based approaches were used to estimate the pathogen combinations that would be consistent with observed illness rates: in the first, swimming-associated gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses were assumed to occur in the same proportion as known illnesses in the US due to all non-foodborne sources, and in the second, pathogens were assumed to occur in the recreational waters in the same proportion as they occur in disinfected secondary effluent. The results indicate that human enteric viruses and in particular, Norovirus could have caused the vast majority of the observed swimming-associated GI illnesses during the 2003/2004 water epidemiology studies. Evaluation of the time-to-onset of illness strongly supports the principal finding and sensitivity analyses support the overall trends of the analyses even given their substantial uncertainties.     

Influence of pre-treatment and storage temperature on the evolution of the colour of dried persimmon

Drying could be a way of increasing in the value of the large quantity of persimmon that is rejected for fresh consumption, being the colour one of the main attributes of the product. Although the use of sulphites is one of the most widely extended methods of preservation their undesirable effects on asthma sufferers currently limit their application. An interesting alternative could be to use citric acid combined with an adequate storage temperature. To that end, dried persimmon slices were stored at 4 temperatures (2, 10, 18 and 28 °C) for 409 days. Before drying, one group of samples was pre-treated (15 min) in a solution of potassium meta-bisulphite (3% w/w), other two groups (15 and 35 min respectively) in a solution of citric acid (3% w/w) and the last group (control) was untreated. The L, a and b CIE-Lab coordinates were measured during storage and the colour change, ΔE, was estimated. The experimental results were modelled using first-order kinetics and Peleg’s model. The citric acid pre-treatment turned out to be an interesting alternative to SO₂ taking into account that its effect was more effective at temperatures lower than 18 °C. No significant differences were found between the two citric acid pre-treatments, being, therefore, the shortest pre-treatment the most interesting one. More experiments are necessary to establish an optimum content of citric acid in samples.     

Using ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ social impact indicators to understand societal change caused by mining: a Western Australia case study

The paper explores the qualitative changes occurring in the local social landscape as a result of mining. Building on Colantonio's social sustainability assessment framework, we argue that there are three thematic areas (related to demographics, social capital and well-being) which identify change generally and specifically caused by mining. By studying the social impacts of mining, we examine both ‘hard’ themes around quantifiable indicators and ‘soft’ themes which deal with less tangible community characteristics and values. The analysis of the Western Australian Boddington case study demonstrates that such an approach can generate important insights about a community's nature and potential capabilities to cope and respond to change. We argue that if social impact assessment is to be used as a development tool, which is a tool that facilitates development, there is need to understand those aspects of the social environment that impact positively and/or negatively its demographic, quality and operational attributes as they influence the overall capacity of communities to maintain and enhance their long-term functioning.     

An assessment of climate change effects on atmospheric corrosion rates of steel structures

Abstract

This paper presents a discussion on assessing the potential impacts of climate change on the atmospheric corrosion rates of exposed steel structures. The effects on atmospheric corrosion due to changes in the environmental temperature, carbon dioxide, relative humidity, wind, rainfall and pollution are considered. The limitations and complexities of these assessments are discussed. To demonstrate the use and limitations of this science to evaluate effects related to climate change, a model developed in Australia to predict corrosion is combined with climate change models to project the change in the corrosion rates of steel components and protective zinc coatings in constructions. The method is applied to constructions located along the coastal areas of two Australian cities: Melbourne and Brisbane. These assessments are made using the A1FI scenario, the highest emission scenario defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, applied to nine general circulation models. The projected changes in corrosion rates were found to be an increase of ～14% for both zinc and steel in Brisbane and a decrease of ～14% for steel and 9% for zinc in Melbourne. It was also found that the uncertainties associated with the climate change models were small compared to those involved in modelling corrosion for engineering purposes.     

Current distribution and recent development of sessile oak forests in Montseny (1956–2015)

There is a distribution limit of sessile oak (Quercus petraea) in the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula, with its southernmost populations located at the xeric limit for the species. We present here the current distribution of these populations in the Montseny Massif (N.E. Catalonia) and how the surface area they cover has developed over the last 50 years. Using a new high-resolution map (1:5000) we have calculated that Q. petraea currently covers 64.1 ha, and is found between 450 and 1150 m above sea level with a predominantly southern exposure, with the north-facing slopes being dominated by beech forests. With regard to its recent development, 44% of what is now dense forest was, in 1956, much more dispersed while 11% of it consisted of open spaces or shrubs. Such changes clearly show that, in Montseny, Q. petraea is well capable of regenerating its forest canopy as well as colonising adjacent environments.