Recent insights in synthesis and energy storage applications of porous carbon derived from biomass waste: A review

In the last few decades, global warming, environmental pollution, and an energy shortage of fossil fuel may cause a severe economic crisis and health threats. Storage, conversion, and application of regenerable and dispersive energy would be a promising solution to release this crisis. The development of porous carbon materials from regenerated biomass are competent methods to store energy with high performance and limited environmental damages. In this regard, bio-carbon with abundant surface functional groups and an easily tunable three-dimensional porous structure may be a potential candidate as a sustainable and green carbon material. Up to now, although some literature has screened the biomass source, reaction temperature, and activator dosage during thermochemical synthesis, a comprehensive evaluation and a detailed discussion of the relationship between raw materials, preparation methods, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon materials are still lacking. Hence, in this review, we first assess the recent advancements in carbonization and activation process of biomass with different compositions and the activity performance in various energy storage applications including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen storage, highlighting the mechanisms and open questions in current energy society. After that, the connections between preparation methods and porous carbon properties including specific surface area, pore volume, and surface chemistry are reviewed in detail. Importantly, we discuss the relationship between the pore structure of prepared porous carbon with surface functional groups, and the energy storage performance in various energy storage fields for different biomass sources and thermal conversion methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospective are concluded to give an outlook for the development of biomass carbon materials, and energy storage applications technologies. This review demonstrates significant potentials for energy applications of biomass materials, and it is expected to inspire new discoveries to promote practical applications of biomass materials in more energy storage and conversion fields.     

Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, Innate Terrain seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.     

Ceramics composites from iron ore tailings and blast furnace slag

The search for materials and methods capable of reducing human impacts on the environment is of utmost importance nowadays. This study's primary purpose was to analyze the technical feasibility of ceramic composites production utilizing Fundão Dam's Iron Ore Tailings (IOT), Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) from charcoal, and Foundry Sand (FS) as partial substitutes for the traditional raw materials – sand and clay – for application in building industry materials. The composites were molded in rectangular specimens and fired at temperatures of 900, 950, 1000, 1050, and 1200 °C. The developed materials were analyzed and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Thermogravimetry (TGA), and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA). The obtained materials had flexural strength modulus of up to 12.19 MPa, water absorption ranging from 2 to 22%, linear shrinkage ranging from 0.02 to 6.50%, and apparent density ranging from 2.03 to 1.63 g/cm³. The study of the internal structure formation process revealed the formation of amorphous structures in the composites. The results demonstrated that these waste materials may be jointly used in construction materials, contributing to the reduction of natural resource extraction, besides enabling their correct disposal, minimizing environmental impacts, and improving the life quality of the surrounding communities.     

构建高扩展性的县级广电宽带数据网络

提出在县市级广电宽带数据网络的建设过程中,要着眼业务发展,突出高扩展性,构建基于标准、扩展灵活的主干网,实现网络建设的可持续性发展,并结合实际,从核心设备、端口、中继带宽、网络业务4个方面对扩展能力进行了阐述.     

多级机站通风新模式和矿井通风技术的新进展

文中详细论述了我国“九五”期间金属矿山在多级机站通风系统改造中涌现出的先进技术 ,反映了我国矿山通风技术的发展现状。同时 ,探讨了矿井通风技术的发展方向 ,对矿井通风系统的改造研究具有一定意义     

Assessing the potential of renewable energy sources in Turkey

To meet Turkey’s growing energy demand, the installed electric power capacity of 27.8 GW in 2001 has to be doubled by 2010 and increased fourfold by 2020. The difference between Turkey’s total primary energy supply (TPES) of from its own sources and total final consumption (TFC) is projected grow from 1 quad (1.06–2.06) in 1999 to 5.71 quads (2.79–8.5) in 2020 (1 QUAD=293.071 TWh). Turkey’s limited amount of fossil fuels has a present average ratio of proved reserves of 97.38 quads to production rate of 3.2 quads yr⁻¹ of about 30 years. Turkey’s reliance on fossil fuel-based energy systems to meet the growing demand is most likely to exacerbate the issues of energy insecurity, national environmental degradation, and global climate change in increasing proportions. Economically-feasible renewable energy potential in Turkey is estimated at a total of ca. 1.69 quads yr⁻¹ (495.4 TWh yr⁻¹) with the potential for 0.67 quads yr⁻¹ (196.7 TWh yr⁻¹) of biomass energy, 0.42 quads yr⁻¹ (124 TWh yr⁻¹) of hydropower, 0.35 quads yr⁻¹ (102.3 TWh yr⁻¹) of solar energy, 0.17 quads yr⁻¹ (50 TWh yr⁻¹) of wind energy, and 0.08 quads yr⁻¹ (22.4 TWh yr⁻¹) of geothermal energy. Pursuit and implementation of sustainability-based energy policy could provide about 90 and 35% of Turkey’s total energy supply and consumption projected in 2010, respectively. Utilization of renewable energy technologies for electricity generation would necessitate about 23.2 Mha (29.8%) of Turkey’s land resources.     

Balancing User Priorities for Sustainability versus Security

In these times of global change, many facility emphases are competing for limited resources. Competing factors include, but are not limited to, sustainable design or green buildings; security, hardening or force protection; accessibility; historic preservation; aesthetics; and functionality. Yet, unlimited resources are seldom, if ever, available to fulfill all of these competing requirements in private or public construction. The Georgia Institute of Technology designed a decision matrix to allow owners and planners to balance these competing requirements on a project-by-project basis and to document the rationale.     

我国矿业城市实现可持续发展的途径分析

详细分析我国矿业城市可持续发展所面临的社会、经济、资源和生态环境等问题，提出了我国矿业城市应树立可持续发展目标及其内涵，系统分析矿业城市可持续发展的结构和模式，结合我国矿业城市发展存在的主要问题，以矿业城市可持续发展理念为指导，提出我国矿业城市实现可持续发展的途径及其建议。     

可持续发展的历史街区保护

在历史街区保护中一般存在的问题有:保护观念不正确、保护方式不当、原居住生活网络被破坏等。文章提出,运用可持续发展理论进行历史街区保护应遵循4个原则:协调性原则、延续性原则、公平性原则、以人为本原则。     

What are the key elements of a sustainable university?

Nowadays, the principles of sustainable development are becoming increasingly important and universities are acting as agents in promoting these principles within society. In the future, universities will inevitably play crucial role in propagating these principles. This paper highlights important documents and discusses definitions of the term education for sustainable development. Elements, based on continuous feedback loop (Deming spiral) are discussed, in order to incorporate sustainability principles into university activities. The University of Maribor has been used as a case study to test the effectiveness of the proposed integration of sustainable development principles.