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Fragile ecosystems that are affected by erosion from high pollution environmental loads pose a serious threat to human health and well-being. The evaluation of regional environmental loads has become a major issue for eco-environmental conservation and management. As a key region in central China, Hubei Province relies on ecosystems and the environment, which offer an important foundation for sustainable development and continuous improvements in social productivity. For this study, seven influencing factors were selected, and a correlation degree model was applied to assess Hubei Province's environmental loads during the period from 1995-2019. The results show that the overall environmental loads exhibit a fluctuating decreasing trend in response to economic growth and development actions. Moreover, as eco-environmental pollution problems have been addressed and improved over time, the ecosystem operating status has been gradually optimized. Finally, the paper concludes with a proposal of specific measures designed to mitigate Hubei Province's ecological loading from the perspectives of industrial structure, public awareness and technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequent occurrence of extreme climate events has a significant impact on people's lives. Heavy rainfall can lead to an increase of regional Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS), which will cause land subsidence due to the influence of hydrological load. At present, regional TWS is mostly obtained from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data, but the method has limitations for small areas. This paper used water level and flow data as hydrological signals to study the land subsidence caused by heavy rainfall in the Chaohu Lake area of East China (June 2016–August 2016). Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to study the interconnection between water resource changes and Global Navigation Satellites System (GNSS) vertical displacement. Meanwhile, to address the reliability of the research results, combined with the Coefficient of determination method, the research findings were validated by using different institutional models. The results showed that: (1) During heavy rainfall, the vertical displacement caused by atmospheric load was larger than non-tidal oceanic load, and the influence trends of the two were opposite. (2) The rapidly increasing hydrologic load in the Chaohu Lake area resulted in greater subsidence displacement at the closer CORS station (CHCH station) than the more distant CORS station (LALA station). The Pearson correlation coefficients between the vertical displacement and water level were as high as −0.80 and −0.64, respectively. The phenomenon confirmed the elastic deformation principle of disc load. (3) Although there was a systematic bias between the different environmental load deformation models, the deformation trends were generally consistent with the GNSS monitoring results. The average Coefficients of determination between the different models and the GNSS results were 0.63 and 0.77, respectively. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of GNSS in monitoring short-term hydrological load. This study reveals the spatial-temporal evolution of land deformation during heavy rainfall around Chaohu Lake, which is of reference significance for water resource management and infrastructure maintenance in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the problems of energy depletion and environmental pollution caused by non renewable energy such as oil and coal have seriously hindered the sustainable development of our society. Biomass energy is a reliable low-carbon alternative energy with renewable, clean and other characteristics. Therefore, the energy transformation to renewable energy is crucial to China's development. Research shows that China has rich biomass resources. For example, agricultural wastes can be used to produce biogas by anaerobic fermentation of agricultural wastes straw, which can reduce a lot of carbon emissions. Therefore, it is of great significance for China's development to make full and reasonable use of this resource. This paper discusses two types of biogas power generation technologies using straw as raw material, namely, traditional biogas direct combustion power generation technology and biogas fuel cell power generation technology. Based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and time value dynamic analysis method, the feasibility of two types of biogas power generation technologies is comprehensively evaluated from both environmental and economic aspects. The feasibility of this technology is compared with that of coal-fired power generation technology, and the feasibility of straw biogas power generation technology in both economic and environmental aspects is discussed. In the feasibility analysis of environmental benefits, three potential values of environmental impact categories are considered: global warming (GWP), environmental acidification (AP) and human toxicity (HTP). The environmental impact potential of the three power generation technologies is calculated according to the equivalence factor of each environmental category. After the environmental impact potentials are standardized, the total environmental impact loads of different environmental categories are obtained. The analysis of the total environmental impact is consistent with the judgment of the environmental benefits of the three power generation technologies. The economic feasibility analysis adopts the dynamic analysis method of time value, and selects the dynamic investment payback period, internal rate of return and net present value as the analysis indicators. According to literature review, find representative power plants, and calculate dynamic payback period, net present value and internal rate of return by referring to capital input and output data of power plants. According to the calculation results, the economic feasibility of different power generation technologies is comprehensively analyzed. The results show that the biogas fuel cell power generation technology is the best in terms of total environmental impact, and the total environmental impact load is 8.55×10-4, followed by biogas direct combustion power generation technology, with a total environmental impact load of 2.15×10-2。 Compared with coal-fired power generation technology (2.97×10-1), the emission reduction rate reached 99.71% and 92.76% respectively. In terms of economic benefits, when the dynamic payback period and NPV are taken as indicators, the payback period of the straw biogas direct fired power generation project is the shortest (12.03 years), the NPV in the operation period can reach 1 361 246 Yuan/MW, and the economic benefits are the best; The second is coal-fired power generation project (14.5 years), with a net present value of 423 933 Yuan/MW; The dynamic payback period of biogas fuel cell power generation project is more than 20 years, and there is no surplus during operation. Therefore, compared with biogas fuel cell power generation technology, biogas direct combustion power generation technology has more significant economic benefits. This shows that biogas direct fired power generation technology will remain one of the best power generation technologies to replace coal-fired power generation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Measuring environmental capacity of total nitrogen (TN) in marine water has become an effective indicator of how much TN is entering the ocean from various sources. However, the TN environmental capacity balance is affected not only by external input but also by removal of TN from water. This removal occurs by numerous mechanisms, among which sedimentation is one that should not be ignored. Materials and methods: The influence of sedimentation rates on the environmental capacity of TN in the water body in the northern area of Bohai Bay was studied by investigating the total nitrogen contents of both water and sediments independently. The radioactivity of lead and cesium isotopes (i.e., 210Pb and 137Cs) that were present in columnar sediment samples was measured for time periods ranging from 48 to 72 h using a high-purity germanium detector. A constant rate of supply model (CRS) was used to calculate sedimentation rates. Results and discussion: The results indicate that 5.81 × 106 t of sediment are removed from the water column annually through precipitation. Based on the concentration of TN in the studied sediment samples, we calculate that a total of 3.34 × 103 t of nitrogen are removed from the water via sedimentation every year. According to the target TN concentrations for the marine environment that were adopted for the study area for 2025 and 2030, the amount of TN removed from water by sedimentation could remove 62.08% and 64.85%, respectively, of the TN introduced to the marine environment by allowable amounts of anthropogenic discharge into the northern area of Bohai Bay in 2025 and 2030. Conclusions: The high sedimentation rate in Bohai Bay can be expected to remove half of all nitrogen currently entering the water in this area. This demonstrates that when the environmental capacity of TN in ocean water is used to determine the total amount of nitrogen that can be permissibly discharged from land sources, the capacity of the environment to "self-purify" via sedimentation should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of new infrastructure in China, the demand for copper has increased significantly. In 2021, copper consumption in this sector accounted for 9.1% of China's total consumption, becoming a new driving force for copper demand. This study analyzed copper flow characteristics and primary driving factors in China's new infrastructure sectors using the material flow analysis method, quantified the environmental loads of the metabolic processes, and predicted copper demand in the new infrastructure sectors by 2030 through scenario analysis. The primary conclusions drawn are as follows: In 2021, copper consumption in new infrastructure sectors was 1,225,700 tons, with the rail transportation sector accounting for 59.6% and the artificial intelligence sector accounting for 0.6%. The rail transportation sector had the largest total environmental load, with carbon emissions of approximately 3,513,372 tons. From the perspective of tons of copper products, the 5G sector had the highest environmental load, while the big data centers had the lowest. In the seven sectors of new infrastructure, the environmental load contribution rates across the four stages showed little variation, with their proportions being 49.0, 29.8, 15.8, and 5.4%, respectively. Recycling of discarded copper products can effectively reduce industrial energy consumption and carbon emissions. Under the three scenarios set in this study, the copper demand in the new infrastructure sector by 2030 will be 3.856, 3.233, and 2.625 million tons, respectively. Using wind energy to replace coal in copper production can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 43.2%. • Rapid new infrastructural development drives rapid growth in copper consumption. • Quantified the environmental impact of copper usage in new infrastructure field through lifecycle assessment methods. • Copper demand in new infrastructure field projected to increase significantly by 2030. • Replacing 50% coal in copper production with wind energy can reduce CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Industria Textila is the property of Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Textile si Pielarie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To understand the agricultural production dynamics and sustainability in the hilly areas of southeast China, this paper took Dehua county, a typical mountainous area in Fujian province, as an example to quantitatively analyze the changes of input, output, environmental load and sustainability of farmland-livestock systems from 2007 to 2016, and constructed the indicators of waste emergy ratio and environmental pollution emergy negative output. The results showed that the input of the farmland- livestock system in the study area was mainly based on the purchasing emergy, accounting for 68%-79% of the total emergy input, and the emergy of water resources accounted for 21%-31%. The emergy output of livestock systems accounted for more than 72% of the total output. And the emergy density fluctuated between 2.68×1012 and 3.33×1012 sej·m-2, and emergy per person increased from 1.23×1016 sej to 1.72× 1016 sej. The net emergy yield ratio decreased by 40%, and the environmental load increased significantly, which could have been maintained since 2015. The emergy sustainability index fell rapidly from 1.14 to 0.42 after a brief rise in 2007-2010. From the indicators of construction, the proportion of system waste emergy decreased, and environmental pollution emergy output decreased by about 22%. In terms of comprehensive economic benefits and waste utilization, the sustainable development of Dehua county has gradually improved in recent years. Dehua county is currently adjusting its output structure of farmland- livestock system. It should increase the amount of feedback emergy in the system, control fertilizer and feed input, and improve waste utilization to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cement production needs effective ways to promote the sustainability level due to its huge energy consumption and intensive environmental emissions. In this paper, we conduct an emergy accounting to assess the performance of the resource utilization and environmental emissions of a New Suspension Preheaters (NSP) cement plant in China. The sustainability level associated with utilization efficiency and environmental load of the cement production process are quantified based on the emergy-based indicators. It can be concluded that in the total emergy input, nonrenewable resource input and economic investment contribute most because the raw materials of lime and sandstone are from surrounding environment, and the dependence on energy and materials purchased from the economy. Particularly, emergy-based environmental emission indices for CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , PM 10 and waste water are calculated to reveal the life-cycle cost of cement production and the loses of both natural capital and human health. Regarding the emission intensity of total emergy input, CO 2 emission intensity is calculated to be the highest, followed by wastewater, PM 10 and SO 2 , while NO x is the lowest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayan Obo mine in China is the largest iron-niobium-rare-earth symbiotic and associated mine in the world. Its exploitation has brought great economic benefit over the years. At the same time, many environmental problems arise. One of the most serious problems is tailings. Based on the theory and method of life cycle assessment, the environmental problems caused by integrated exploitation technology for tailings in Bayan Obo mine have been studied. Environmental impact assessment method TRACI 2.1 developed by Environmental Protection Agency of the United States has been chosen in this study. Through the study of resource consumption, energy consumption, pollution input by raw materials, pollution from industrial emissions etc. of each process, 10 types of environmental impacts have been studied and their values have been calculated. Results show that the main environmental impact types are Human toxicity non-cancer, Human toxicity cancer, Ecotoxicity, Global warming air, Human health particulate air, respectively. And the pollution input by raw materials is much greater than that from industrial emission, which provides a typical case and support for green purchasing, green manufacturing, process improving etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of important building materials, the sustainability of cement production is widely concerned in the world. This research evaluated the sustainability of China’s cement industry in 2010 using emergy analysis. Several emergy based indicators were adopted to describe the comprehensive performance of this system from different angles, including Percentage of renewability (%R), Unit emergy value (UEV), Emergy yield ratio (EYR), Emergy exchange ratio (EER), Environmental load ratio (ELR) and Emergy sustainable index (ESI). The research results show that (1) Mineral resources have absolute contribution to China’s cement production; (2) Coal is the main energy source for China’s cement industry; (3) China’s cement industry has relatively weak competition ability due to relatively high ratio of purchased inputs; (4) China’s other industries have benefited greatly from this industry by exchanges; (5) China’s cement industry cannot keep sustainable in the long run due to its high environmental load; (6) the UEV of Chinese cement in 2010 is 3.64E15 sej/t (based on the emergy baseline 15.83E24 sej/yr). Finally, the related policy implications are proposed from four aspects, including (1) Accelerating the adjustment of process structure and technical innovation; (2) Promoting the substitution of raw materials or fuels; (3) Raising the price of cement products; (4) Decreasing the export of cement products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of articles on industrial ecology, including "Progress Toward a Circular Economy in China: The Drivers (and Inhibitors) of Eco-Industrial Initiative," by John A. Matthews and Hao Tan, "Urban Metabolism in China: Achieving Dematerialization and Decarbonization in Suzhou," by Sai Liang and Tinzhu Zhang," and "An Ecological Economic Critique of the Use of Market Information in Life Cycle Assessment Research," by Nathan Pelletier and Peter Tyedmers.

Shandong Province is currently experiencing fast urbanization and economic booming. However, low energy efficiency, energy shortage and other energy related issues are becoming the limiting factors for further economic development. Based on the analysis of Resource and Environmental Performance Index ( REPI) of the past decade, the energy saving index shows that the energy saving level in Shandong fell behind the national average level in China. The sulfur dioxide saving index, however, shows that sulfur dioxide reduction in Shandong was significant. The energy demands of Shandong in 2010, 2015 and 2020 have been forecasted with the environmental load model. In a projected ideal scenario, the energy consumption does not increase with economic development. On the contrary, Shandong can achieve rapid economic development with less energy consumption and affordable environmental load if the industrial structure is being further optimized, technological upgrading efforts are strengthened, strict pollutant control measures are implemented, and reasonable plans for energy development are established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As a less developed country, China has witnessed a rapid GDP growth of over 8% since 2007. The negative side of this glory, however, is numerous resource problems and heavy environmental pollution. How to achieve a harmonious development between economy and environment has become an urgent problem that need to be replied. This paper sets up a quantitative relationship between economic growth and environmental load by applying IPAT equation and its derived equations. Firstly, combined with actual situation of China in 1997-2007, IPAT equation and IGT equation are used to analyze actual situation and existing problems of China in the last 10 years. The relation between descent rate of environmental load (t) and g*=g/ (1+g) is used in analyzing the impacts of economic growth on ecological environment. Secondly, based on STIRPAT model, this paper makes a prediction formed 4 different scenarios on the future relation of economic growth and environmental load in China from 2010 to 2020. In the 4 scenarios, predictive indexes include GDP, energy consumption, SO2 emission and COD emission. Results of the scenario analysis show that the recommended scenario is the solution suitable to China most, i.e. it can both satisfy the demand of economic development as a less developed country and guarantee the sustainable utilization of resource and environment. Finally, the paper puts forward some measures and strategies that should be taken if the recommended scenario is adopted by China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The midpoint impact assessment methodology and several weighting methods that are currently used by most building Life cycle assessment (LCA) researchers in China, still have some shortcomings. In order to make the evaluation results have better temporal and spatial applicability, the endpoint impact assessment methodology was adopted in this paper. Based on the endpoint damage oriented concept, four endpoints of resource exhaustion, energy exhaustion, human health damage and ecosystem damage were selected according to the situation of China and the specialties of the building industry. Subsequently the formula for calculating each endpoint, the background value for normalization and the weighting factors were defined. Following that, an endpoint damage oriented model to evaluate the life cycle environmental impact of buildings in China was established. This model can produce an integrated indicator for environmental impact, and consequently provides references for directing the sustainable building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the further promotion of green buildings in China, the adoption of green building technology (GBT) to improve building performance is a new requirement. Meanwhile, government-financed affordable housing to address the housing problems of a large number of low-income residents and migrant workers is in high demand. The specific service attributes of affordable housing determine its typical characteristics of low construction costs, its compact nature and short construction period, which distinguish it from commodity housing. However, the current research on the suitability of GBT mainly focused on individual technologies, or lack the capability to evaluate a given GBT system from a comprehensive performance aspect. According to the requirements of green affordable housing, this study established a multi-objective suitability evaluation model with maturity, economy and environmental load and quality as evaluation indexes. Based on 43 cases of green-certified residential communities in China's Zhejiang province, this study screened 37 common GBTs and evaluated them using the aforenamed model. As a result, a list of suitable GBTs was obtained, among which 11 technologies were identified as the optimal GBTs for affordable housing, capable of improving the performance of buildings without unduly increasing their economic burden and construction difficulty. The results of this study provide clear guidance for affordable housing and GBT selection during the design and construction processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]