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In recent years, escalating cost of generating electricity, substantial investments with the purpose of building power plants, and environmental pollution related to the power generation have underlined the importance of optimal power supply and demand management. Given that, by employing Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) software, the present study set out to optimize the energy system of Iran through two model capabilities, namely electric sector optimization and simulation. To do so, the energy system was initially evaluated by optimizing Iran's demand for electricity by the Demand Side Management (DSM) scenario. Then, Iran's electricity sector was optimized to generate electricity at the lowest cost by setting emission roof with different scenarios, especially the Optimized scenario. The social cost and GHG emission were evaluated in both steps. The prospective social costs of the electricity generation sector based on Optimized and DSM scenarios were calculated to be 5.1 and 4.8 Billion U.S. Dollars in 2035. Regarding the environmental results of the study, the emission rates of pollutants based on Optimized and DSM scenarios were reported to be144 and 429 MtCO 2 for the same year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the production and consumption of meat are known to be among the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution, this study examines the relationship between the consumption of various types of red meat by households and its impact on air pollution and environmental contamination in Iran. For this purpose, this article tests this relationship using annual time series data from 1980 to 2019 and the FMOLS method. The findings indicate that the consumption of red meat has a negative effect on environmental pollution because it leads to air pollution and increases environmental pollution. According to the results, the consumption of cow and veal meat has a greater contribution on air pollution and environmental pollution, and the consumption of camel meat has the lowest contribution. Furthermore, the growth of consumption, which leads to the development of production in the economy, can result in air and environmental pollution, as meat production is an energy and input-intensive process. In light of these findings, policymakers must focus on controlling household consumption and production of these products by implementing tax and incentive policies to decrease environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was utilized to determine the optimal location on which to install flat-plate solar thermal collectors for residential buildings in a number of cities in Iran under diverse climatic conditions. The payback period of investment (IPBP) was chosen as one of the decision criteria, while payback periods of energy and greenhouse gas emissions (EPBP and GGEPBP), being two recently introduced concepts, were also taken into account to provide a broader insight from the energy, economic, and environmental (3E) benefits of the system. The novelty of this work is proposing a method to find places with the greatest potential to install flat-plate solar collectors. It was performed using AHP as a systematic decision-making tool, and based on energy, environmental, and economic criteria, which are the key aspects of an energy system. Codes developed in the MATLAB software were employed to determine the values for different investigated cities. According to the results, Yazd, located in the center of the country, was found to be the best place to install the system. This city enjoys EPBP, IPBP, and GGEPBP scores of 2.47, 3.37, and 0.71 years, respectively. The collector area for this city was also found to be 109.8 m2. Yazd gained a score of 26.5 out of 100. With scores of 24.4, 18.6, 15.9, and 14.6 out of 100, Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Rasht, and Tabriz were found to be the second, third, fourth, and fifth priorities for utilizing the system, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to find the best location for municipal solid waste (MSW)-based power plant and landfill. Another goal was to investigate the energy recovery potential of MSW by anaerobic digestion and recycling process. A combination of multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system was applied in GIS environment to select the most suitable site for MSW-based power plant and landfill. The effective sub-criteria were classified into three main categories of environmental, social, and economic criteria, and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to weight and integrate them. The method was used in a case study to find the best location of MSW-based plant and landfill in Khuzestan province, Iran. Based on the amount of MSW production in this province and as a result, the potential for energy savings by recycling the recyclable part and recovering energy from the digestible part, the amount of fossil fuel that can be saved and the emission of greenhouse gases that can be avoided were estimated. Based on the results, in total, recycling the recyclable portion (dry waste) and producing energy from the digestible portion (wet waste) of MSW in Khuzestan province, leads to avoid burning 7.4 billion MJ of fossil fuels and emitting 644,169 t of CO2eq GHG. The results also showed that the integration of fuzzy logic and multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system provides more flexibility in choosing the best location for the MSW-based plant. This method is flexible enough and in other situations can include other necessary criteria and can provide a comprehensive guideline for decision makers in choosing the optimal location for a power plant or a landfill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many developing countries strive to cover their need for cement by domestic productions. The rising number of cement factories in these countries gives evidence to this. However, the ambition comes along with considerable environmental impacts that can be attributed to this industry. Policy makers, manufacturers and the public are becoming more and more aware about the environmental issues attributed to cement production. Striving for an environmental friendly production of this good is an urgent need. This paper discusses how environmental evaluation of the cement industry in Iran can be facilitated. Up to now, there is no standard or coherent method available to proceed with the evaluation. To advance environmental evaluation, a set of appropriate indicators have been developed by cooperating with experts from university, industry and policy makers. Five representative cement factories in Iran were then surveyed to derive quantitative data for the indicators. This helped to picture the current performance of this industry sector. The importance of the indicators was determined with the help of the cooperating industrial partners. By using the TOPSIS method, indicators were prioritized and improvement strategies for this industrial sector were derived. 15 indicators are introduced; among them seven are for the intensity of consumptions during production of cement and emissions production, three for control of emissions to air, four for capacities of control of water pollution and one for the inefficiency level in the execution of ISO 14000. It shows that the last indicator has the highest priority followed by the intensity of CO2 emission. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recent empirical research has examined the relationship between certain indicators of environmental degradation and income, concluding that in some cases an inverted U-shaped relationship, which has been called an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), exists between these variables. The source of growth explanation is important for two reasons. First, it demonstrates how the pollution consequences of growth depend on the source of growth. Therefore, the analogy drawn by some in the environmental community between the damaging effects of economic development and those of liberalized trade is, at best, incomplete. Second, the source of growth explanation demonstrates that a strong policy response to income gains is not necessary for pollution to fall with growth. The aim of this paper investigates the role of differences source of growth in environmental quality of Iran. The results show the two growth resources in Iran cause, in the early stages, CO2 emission decreases until turning point but beyond this level of income per capita, economic growth leads to environmental degradation. I find a U relationship between environmental degradation (CO2 emission) and economic growth in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High population growth and immigration rate from rural areas to urban centers have led to increased waste production and numerous urban landfill sites in different parts of Iran during the past three decades. The present study was carried out in southwest Iran where the aforementioned factors have occurred at an extremely high rate. There are four cities in this part of the country with a population of about 2.250 million and three landfill centers are located near these cities. The main aim of the present study was to estimate the CH4and total GHGs emission rate from the mentioned sites. So, the components of urban solid wastes and the share of wet waste were determined in the areas of study. The results revealed that the share of wet solids was between 65 and 73%. Also, methane and total GHGs emission in landfill sites were estimated at about 2244.7 tons/year and 8405 tons/year during 2010, respectively. Moreover, the amounts of CH4and total GHGs emission for the next 75 years, respectively, are estimated to be about 1.98 × 106tons and 5.2 × 106tons for the aforementioned three landfill centers. The high volume of the produced biogas shows that by correctly designing the gas pipeline, the application of the produced gas will be very beneficial with regard to environment and economic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-docking practice plays an important role in improving the efficiency of distribution networks, especially, for optimizing supply chain operations. Moreover, transportation route planning, controlling the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and customer satisfaction constitute the major parts of the supply chain that need to be taken into account integratedly within a common framework. For this purpose, this paper tries to introduce the reliable Pollution-Routing Problem with Cross-dock Selection (PRP-CDS) where the products are processed and transported through at least one cross-dock. To formulate the problem, a Bi-Objective Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (BOMILP) model is developed, where the first objective is to minimize total cost including pollution and routing costs and the second is to maximize supply reliability. Accordingly, sustainable development of the supply chain is addressed. Due to the high complexity of the problem, two well-known meta-heuristic algorithms including Multi-Objective Simulated-annealing Algorithm (MOSA) and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) are designed to provide efficient Pareto solutions. Furthermore, the ε-constraint method is applied to the model to test its applicability in small-sized problems. The efficiency of the suggested solution techniques is evaluated using different measures and a statistical test. To validate the performance of the proposed methodology, a real case study problem is conducted using the sensitivity analysis of demand parameter. Based on the main findings of the study, it is concluded that the solution techniques can yield high-quality solutions and NSGA-II is considered as the most efficient solution tool, the optimal route planning of the case study problem in delivery and pick-up phases is attained using the best-found Pareto solution and the highest change in the objective function occurs for the total cost value by applying a 20% increase in the demand parameter. • Developing a novel bi-objective MILP model to integrate reliable PRP and CDS. • Studying the effects of traffic conditions in transportation and pollution emission. • Designing high-quality algorithms including NSGA-II and MOSA to solve the problem. • Applying the Taguchi design method to enhance the performance of the algorithms. • Evaluating the applicability of the proposed methodology using a case study in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geochemical nature and health hazards of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the street dust of Bandar Abbas, Iran, are investigated in this study based on 27 street dust samples. Mean concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Sb, and Hg revealed elevated concentrations as compared to the world soil average. Calculated enrichment factors (EFs) indicated that there is very high contamination in dust particles owing to anthropogenic emissions. Two main sources of PTEs are traffic emissions (Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Mn, Fe, As, Cd, Sb, and Hg) and resuspended soil particles (Al, Ti, Ni, and Cr). Statistical analysis shows that Al, Mn, Ni, Ti, Cr, Fe, and Co are geogenic, whereas PAHs are mainly derived from traffic emissions. Values of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), as derived from a modified model of the United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), indicate that Bandar Abbas residents are potentially exposed to high cancer risk, especially via dust ingestion and dermal contact, whereas the level of hazard index (HI), hazard quotients (HQ), and cancer risk associated with exposure to the elements in street dust fall lower than threshold values representative of health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the interface between energy consumption and its related emissions in the manufacturing of one cubic meter medium density fiberboard (MDF) in Iran and provides a comprehensive life cycle inventory (LCI) data for production process. The study was developed following the methodological guidelines of ISO 14040. Inventories data for a gate-to-gate assessment of MDF manufacturing were collected by on-site surveys. Ten impact categories including of: Abiotic depletion (AD), Acidification (AC), Eutrophication (EP), Global warming (GW), Ozone layer depletion (OLD), Fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FE), Marine aquatic ecotoxicity (ME), Human toxicity (HT), Terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE) and Photochemical oxidation (PO) in three subsystem of manufacturing process were assessed. The subsystem of fiber preparation was the major contributor to the environmental impacts. Urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin production was identified as the main hotspot, except in AD, AC, OLD and PO impacts that natural gas, electricity, transport and production process were the main hotspots, respectively. Moreover, Tube dryer, MDF saw and hogger were the most effective sectors in the emissions of production process. Results for substitution of natural gas showed that except in some impacts categories, use of alternative source of thermal energy such as wood residue could improve emissions from manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]