Environmental impacts of household appliances in Europe and scenarios for their impact reduction     

Roland Hischier  Francesca Reale  Valentina Castellani  Serenella Sala 《Chemie der Erde / Geochemistry》2012

Assessing the environmental impact due to consumption of goods and services is a pivotal step towards achieving the sustainable development goal related to responsible production and consumption (i.e. SDG 12). Household appliances plays a crucial role and should be assessed in a systemic manner, namely considering all life cycle stages, technological efficiency, and affluence aspects. The present study assess the impact of such household appliances used in Europe, and tests scenarios of potential impact reduction at various scales. Life cycle assessment is applied to 14 different household appliances (ranging from dishwashers to television devices) selected to build a set of representative products, based on their economic value and diffusion in households in Europe. Related impacts are calculated with the Environmental Footprint method for calculating a Consumer Footprint “appliances” for the baseline year 2010. A number of scenarios encompassing eco-solutions on a technical level, changes in consumption pattern, behavioral changes, as well as the combination of all these aspects are run to estimate the Consumer Footprint related to household appliances for the year 2030, compared against this baseline scenario. The baseline Consumer Footprint is confirming the importance of the use phase in leading the impacts in almost all impact categories. Testing different scenarios concludes that there is a reduction of the impact for most of the categories (with up to 67% for the ozone depletion potential, and still around 35% for the global warming potential), while two of the here examined impact categories (i.e. land-use and mineral resource depletion) show an overall potential that is even negative – i.e. the results of all scenarios are higher than the ones of the 2010 baseline scenario. The increase in purchase and use of such appliances may offset energy efficiency benefits in some of the examined categories. Hence, the assessment of sustainability of appliances consumption should always include several scales, from the efficiency of the products (micro scale), to the improvement of the energy mix (meso scale), up to accounting for socio-economic drivers and patterns of consumption affecting the overall appliances stock (macro scale).  相似文献   

The human impact on natural rock reserves using basalt,anorthosite, and carbonates as raw materials in insulation products     

《International Geology Review》2012,54(8):894-904

Typical crustal rocks such as basalt, limestone, and anorthosite are used in stone wool insulation products. The raw materials for stone wool production are not specific to any rare mineral source but depend upon the mixture of materials having the correct chemical composition, exemplified by 40 wt% basalt, 20 wt% anorthosite, and 40 wt% cement-bonded renewable materials. This study provides an overview of the natural cycle of these resources, including their abundances in nature, and sets the consumption by the stone wool industry and other human activities in perspective.

Basalt, anorthosite, and carbonates are widespread on all continents. Although basaltic rocks cover most of the ocean floor, these reserves are hidden below several kilometres of water and therefore are regarded as inaccessible. Instead, large igneous provinces on land constitute major basaltic reserves useful for human rock exploration. Globally, anorthositic provinces comprise smaller volumes than do limestone or basalt, but still occur in sufficient amounts to supply for the production of insulation materials indefinitely. An evaluation of the modern consumption rates and reserves shows that the crustal inventories of these rock types are so large that they could supply current human demand for millions of years.

The natural degradation of surface rocks occurs by physical and chemical weathering creating sediment that is transported along rivers and deposited in the ocean. Sediments are either obducted with continental lithosphere or subducted with oceanic crust and recycled through the mantle by plate tectonics. Insulation products have a chemical composition similar to average crustal rocks and participate in the natural rock cycle. However, these products need not accumulate in nature, inasmuch as old insulation materials serve as excellent source materials for new products. Moreover, current production lines exploit more than 30 natural and 20–30 synthetic source materials that circumvent regional depletion and contribute to the recycling of other industrial materials.  相似文献   

Swell impact on reef sedimentary processes: A case study of the La Reunion fringing reef     

EMMANUEL CORDIER  EMMANUEL POIZOT  YANN MÉAR 《Sedimentology》2012,59(7):2004-2023

Two surface‐sediment sampling campaigns were carried out in November and December 2003, before and after a strong swell event, in the back‐reef area of a microtidal fringing reef on the western coast of La Reunion, Indian Ocean. The spatial distributions of the mean grain size, sorting and skewness parameters are determined, and grain‐size trend analysis is performed to estimate the main sediment transport pathways in the reef. The results of this analysis are compared with hydrodynamic records obtained in the same reef area during fair weather conditions and during swell events. Sediment dynamics inferred from the hydrodynamic records show that significant sediment erosion and transport occur only during swell events and under strongly agitated sea states. Under normal wave conditions, there is a potential for onshore sediment transport from the reef‐flat to the back‐reef, but this transport is episodic and occurs principally during high‐tide stages. Sediment transport trends revealed by the grain‐size trend analysis method show onshore and alongshore low‐energy transport processes that are in agreement with the hydrodynamic records. The grain‐size trend analysis method also provides evidence of an offshore high‐energy transport trend that could be interpreted as a real physical process associated with return flow from the shore to the reef. The impact of swell on the reef sediment dynamics is clearly demonstrated by onshore and alongshore transport. Considering different combinations of the vector transport trends computed through the grain‐size trend analysis approach, more realistic and pertinent results can be obtained by applying an exclusive OR operation (XOR case) on the vectors. The main results presented here highlight a trend towards the accumulation of carbonate sands in the back‐reef area of the fringing reef. These sediments can only be resuspended during extreme events such as storms or tropical cyclones.  相似文献   

煤巷与支护相互作用的冲击破坏试验与数值分析     

吕祥锋  潘一山  唐巨鹏  肖晓春 《岩土力学》2012,33(2):604-610

采用相似材料试验和数值模拟相结合的方法,对锚网锚杆、U型钢和吸能支护条件下煤岩巷道冲击破坏过程进行研究,揭示了巷道与支护相互作用下的巷道冲击破坏机制。试验和数值计算研究结果表明,不同支护作用下巷道冲击破坏规律表现基本一致,在冲击载荷作用下,巷道顶板有明显下沉,底板出现起鼓现象,两边帮均向巷道内部方向发生弯曲变形,形成裂缝,进而扩展和贯通,并有抛出物冲入巷道内。根据模型试验和数值计算结果可知,不同支护条件下冲击破坏程度不同,吸能支护具有良好的缓冲和吸能特性,巷道变形较小,整体稳定性好,更适合于冲击地压巷道的支护。  相似文献   

Space weathering simulation and spectrum decoding     

Sen Hu  Yangting Lin 《中国地球化学学报》2012,31(2):128-135

Visible and near-infrared spectra are routinely used to achieve mineral abundances and mineral chemistry of the global surfaces of the Moon and asteroids.However,these spectra can be significantly modified by space weathering,including micrometeorite impacting,solar wind implanting and cosmic ray irradiation.In this paper we report results of laser-bombarding experiments on the Jilin ordinary chondrite,simulating micrometeorite impacting on the surface of asteroids.After laser bombardment,the spectra became significantly redder and moderately darker. With the Modified Gaussian Model(MGM)method,the absorption band positions of olivine can be decoded from the modified spectra,which are correlated with their fayalite contents.In addition,a continuum of the modified spectra can be decoded,and its slope may be used to depict the degree of space weathering.However,relative strengths of the absorption sub-bands of olivine and pyroxenes show significant variant after the bombardment, hence they cannot be used to estimate the relative abundances of high-Ca to low-Ca pyroxenes of the lunar surface and other matured surfaces of asteroids.  相似文献   

解读工程建筑中地下水的作用与影响     

程胜 《吉林地质》2012,(3):111-112,136

地下水是很重要的一部分水体,它与地表水不同,对人类的水源提供具有很重要的意义,然而在工程建设中,由于地下水的特殊性和其化学成分,对钢筋混凝土具有很大的侵蚀性。文章中采用化学分析的方法,对地下水进行分析,获取水中的物质定量指标,评价其对工程建筑的作用和影响。  相似文献   

气候自然变异在气候变化对水资源影响 评价中的贡献分析——Ⅱ.未来期应用分析          下载免费PDF全文

刘艳丽  张建云  王国庆  刘九夫  贺瑞敏  王鸿杰  金君良 《水科学进展》2012,23(2):156-162

基于模型率定期(基准期)气候自然变异的模拟方法及气候自然变异引起的径流变化的可能情况分析,此部分研究未来期(2021~2051年,2061~2091年)气候变化下径流变化情况及气候自然变异的影响。基于CSIRO、NCAR、MPI三种气候模式及A1B、A2、B1三种排放方式共7种未来气候情景,应用和基准期相同的水文模型和研究流域,引入基准期模型率定出的参数,考虑气候自然变异的影响,对未来气候变化对水资源的影响进行分析。为消除气候模式本身的系统误差,采用δ差值方法得到各模式各排放情景下的未来气候情景。该项研究主要说明如何在气候变化的影响评价中将气候自然变异的贡献分离出来,从而实现更客观的气候变化的影响评价。研究结果表明,气候变异的影响在整个气候变化进程中的贡献随时间的推移将有所不同。未来2021~2051年期间,气候自然变异的影响相对较大;未来2061~2091年期间,由温室气体引起的气候变化的影响占主导。  相似文献   

火山活动的气候影响及其冰芯记录研究进展     

李传金  任贾文  秦大河  效存德  侯书贵  丁明虎 《冰川冻土》2012,34(4):863-876

系统地总结了不同时间尺度内火山活动影响气候的机理,回顾了不同区域冰芯记录火山喷发物质沉积信号的研究历史,阐述了不同气候模式对火山活动影响气候的数值模拟结果,并指出了相关研究中存在的不确定性.结果表明:火山活动通过释放大量的火山物质气溶胶影响气候波动,在年际至年代际时间尺度上,这种影响是显著的;然而,在更长的时间尺度上这种影响是否仍然存在,尚需更多研究的证实.冰芯中火山喷发物质沉积记录为研究历史时期火山活动及其气候影响提供了必要的参考资料,相关的气候模式利用该沉积记录较好地模拟了火山活动对区域乃至全球尺度气候的影响,为我们认识火山活动影响气候变化的机理提供了重要的理论支持,同时也为研究未来火山活动对气候的可能影响提供了参照.但是,冰芯中火山喷发物质沉积记录研究及数值模式模拟结果中尚存在诸多的问题和不确定性.  相似文献   

安徽省大型水库泄洪对下游城镇防洪影响分析     

徐建平  薛仓生 《水文》2012,(1):84-87

介绍了水库在城市防洪中的作用,分析了安徽省12座大型水库泄洪对下游城镇防洪安全的影响,以及城市防洪能力偏低的原因,提出了提高城市防洪能力的工程与非工程措施途径。该研究对城市水利规划和城镇防洪,具有一定的借鉴意义。  相似文献   

Seismic effects of the Caloris basin impact, Mercury     

Jiangning Lü  Youshun Sun  M. Nafi Toksöz  Yingcai Zheng  Maria T. Zuber 《Planetary and Space Science》2011,59(15):1981-1991

Striking geological features on Mercury's surface have been linked to tectonic disruption associated with the Caloris impact and have the potential to provide information on the interior structure of Mercury. The unusual disrupted terrain located directly at the antipode of the 1500-km-diameter Caloris basin could have plausibly formed as a consequence of focused seismic waves generated by the massive impact event. In this paper, we revisit the antipodal seismic focusing effects of the Caloris impact by developing physically consistent structure models for Mercury and parameterized seismic source models for the Caloris impact. If the focused seismic body waves caused the disrupted terrain, then the amplitudes of the waves and the areal extent of surface disruptions could be used for estimating the seismic energy imparted by the impact.In this study, we show that effects of direct body waves are small relative to those of focused guided waves. Two types of guided waves are produced by the Caloris impact. One is the conventional Rayleigh wave generated by the impact. The second is the mantle guided waves trapped between the core and the free surface. Mantle guided waves, not recognized in previous studies, may have played an important role in the creation of the disrupted terrain. We find that the early core state has only moderate effects on the antipodal response to the Caloris impact. The fact that the zone of predicted disruption for both fluid and solid core cases is smaller than the observed region of chaotic terrain suggests either that the antipodal response to the Caloris impact was modulated by the shallow structure of Mercury, or that the energy imparted by the impact was larger than those used in this study.  相似文献