Suchergebnisse

Global warming combined with low carbon transition plans is threatening the future of high energy consumption industry sectors in the European Union (EU). The need to respond to environmental challenges is demonstrated by support for international level energy policies and legal requirements, such as the Kyoto Protocol which the EU supports, and increased EU-level environmental legislation and energy policies. The effect of these initiatives is gradually transforming industrial activities in the EU. However, since not all countries have adopted these policies, evaluation of their net effect needs to take account also of side-effects such as delocalization of industry activity and the legal environmental frameworks in the countries where companies have chosen to relocate. This paper analyses EU energy policy and its impact on a particular energy intensive industry, the European ceramic tile sector. The discussion in this paper is not about the purpose of EU legislation, but about its effects on a specific industry. The effect of policy on industry is not a new topic, but the question of the unwanted effects of environmental and energy policy on European industry is becoming more relevant as the struggle to achieve a post-carbon Europe increases. In focussing on a specific set of EU legislation on a particular industry this article adds to the debate by showing the negative effects of policy mechanisms. The need for a scientific evaluation of the systemic changes required for a transition to a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy outlined in the 7th Environment Action Programme is highlighted. It is suggested that the EU should periodically re-evaluate its Emissions Trading Scheme legislation to include specific actions and a follow up system which would prevent the best performing environmental companies from delocalizing or shutting down.

Socio-economic considerations are included in the regulatory frameworks on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) of many countries. This is a reflection of an increasing interest in and recognition of the necessity to consider a broader range of issues when conducting a GMO risk assessment. At the same time, there are discussions about how socio-economic considerations can be identified and how their assessment can be carried out. To provide an understanding of the advances achieved so far, we describe the state of the art of existing biosafety institutional frameworks, legislation and policies with provisions on socio-economic considerations. We analyse the scope of the socio-economic considerations that have been included, the methodological options taken and the role of participatory processes and stakeholders involvement in the GMO-related decision-making. Since many of the countries that have legislation for assessing socio-economic considerations lack implementation experience, we provide an analysis of how implementation has evolved in Norway with the intention to illustrate that the inclusion of socio-economic considerations might be based on a learning process. Norway was the first country to include broader issues in its GMO assessment process, and is at present one of the countries with the most experience on implementation of these issues. Finally, we emphasise that there is a great need for training on how to perform assessments of socio-economic considerations, as well as reflection on possible ways for inclusion of participatory processes.

European legislation focusing on water quality is expected to broaden to encompass several pharmaceuticals as priority hazardous substances. This manuscript aims to challenge current regulatory approaches that do not recognize stereochemistry of chiral pharmaceuticals by testing the hypothesis that environmental transformation and effects of chiral pharmaceuticals are stereoselective. Our experiments revealed that, while degradation of chiral fluoxetine (FL) in river water occurs via non-enantioselective photochemical and mildly-enantioselective microbial processes favoring the (R)-enantiomer, a pronounced enantioselectivity favoring (S)-FL (leading to the formation of (S)-NFL (norfluoxetine)) is observed during activated sludge treatment. Toxicity tests proved strong enantiomer-specific toxicity in the case of Tetrahymena thermophila, protozoa that are utilized during activated sludge treatment ((R)-FL is 30× more toxic than (S)-FL; (S)-NFL is 10× more toxic than (S)-FL). This is of paramount importance as preferential degradation of (S)-FL in activated sludge microcosms leads to the enrichment of FL with 30× more toxic (R)-FL and formation of 10× more toxic (S)-NFL. It is commonly assumed that a decreased concentration of FL leads to decreased biological impact. Our study proves that despite the overall decrease in FL concentration, accumulation of toxic (R)-FL and formation of toxic (S)-NFL leads to much higher than presumed toxicological effects.

BACKGROUND: Many pregnancy and birth cohort studies investigate the health effects of early-life environmental contaminant exposure. An overview of existing studies and their data is needed to improve collaboration, harmonization, and future project planning. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to create a comprehensive overview of European birth cohorts with environmental exposure data. METHODS: Birth cohort studies were included if they a) collected data on at least one environmental exposure, b) started enrollment during pregnancy or at birth, c) included at least one follow-up point after birth, d) included at least 200 mother-child pairs, and e) were based in a European country. A questionnaire collected information on basic protocol details and exposure and health outcome assessments, including specific contaminants, methods and samples, timing, and number of subjects. A full inventory can be searched on www.birthcohortsenrieco.net. RESULTS: Questionnaires were completed by 37 cohort studies of > 350,000 mother-child pairs in 19 European countries. Only three cohorts did not participate. All cohorts collected biological specimens of children or parents. Many cohorts collected information on passive smoking (n = 36), maternal occupation (n = 33), outdoor air pollution (n = 27), and allergens/biological organisms (n = 27). Fewer cohorts (n = 12-19) collected information on water contamination, ionizing or nonionizing radiation exposures, noise, metals, persistent organic pollutants, or other pollutants. All cohorts have information on birth outcomes; nearly all on asthma, allergies, childhood growth and obesity; and 26 collected information on child neurodevelopment. CONCLUSION: Combining forces in this field will yield more efficient and conclusive studies and ultimately improve causal inference. This impressive resource of existing birth cohort data could form the basis for longer-term and worldwide coordination of research on environment and child health. ; This work was supported by Environmental Health Risks in European Birth Cohorts (ENRIECO), a project conducted within the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (Theme 6, Environment, including climate change), grant agreement 226285

Recently, environmental and sustainability concerns have gathered considerable attention in the academic world. Some contributions have been made in this field, but for manufacturing processes, and specially for forming processes this concern has just begun. For this reason, in the present work the influence of the variation of several process parameters in Single Point Incremental Sheet forming has been carried out. Thus, a campaign of experiments with its corresponding statistical analysis has been done. The calculation of CO2emissions for the ISF-formed part, under the Spanish framework, has been also carried out. Spindle speed variation is the most significant parameter, followed by the material and incremental step. From results, an improvement of the combination of process parameters in order to minimize energy consumption will be possible ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the Spanish government, DPI2009-09852

This study assesses the environmental impacts of four measures proposed for upgrading of the urban wastewater system of Eindhoven and the Dommel River in The Netherlands, against the base case, "do-nothing" option. The measures aim to reduce the overall environmental impact of the Eindhoven urban wastewater system (UWS) by targeting river dissolved oxygen depletion and ammonia peaks, reducing combined sewer overflows, and enhancing nutrient removal. The measures are evaluated using a life cycle analysis with the boundaries including the receiving river section by means of an integrated model of the UWS. An uncertainty analysis of the estimated impacts has been performed to support the outcomes. The study also uses the economic concept of shadow prices to assign relative weights of socio-economic importance to the estimated life cycle impacts. This novel integration of tools complements the assessments of this UWS with the inclusion of long-term global environmental impacts and the investigation of trade-offs between different environmental impacts through a single monetary unit. The results support the selection of deeper clarifiers as the most environmentally beneficial measure for upgrade ; The authors would like to acknowledge the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007−2013 under REA agreement 289193 (SANITAS ITN). The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ramon y Cajal RYC-2013-14595 and CTM 2015-66892-R) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535). The authors also acknowledge support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014-SGR- 1168)-LEQUIA-University of Girona and (2014 SGR 291)- Catalan Institute for Water Research

This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS. The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS ; ICRA authors also acknowledge the Marie Curie EU Reintegration grants 2010-RG-277050 and PCIG9-GA-2011-293535, the EU-ITN SANITAS (ITN – 289193), the Spanish government (CTM 2011-27163; RYC-2013-14595) and the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014 SGR 291)

This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS. The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS ; ICRA authors also acknowledge the Marie Curie EU Reintegration grants 2010-RG-277050 and PCIG9-GA-2011-293535, the EU-ITN SANITAS (ITN – 289193), the Spanish government (CTM 2011-27163; RYC-2013-14595) and the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014 SGR 291)

This study assesses the environmental impacts of four measures proposed for upgrading of the urban wastewater system of Eindhoven and the Dommel River in The Netherlands, against the base case, "do-nothing" option. The measures aim to reduce the overall environmental impact of the Eindhoven urban wastewater system (UWS) by targeting river dissolved oxygen depletion and ammonia peaks, reducing combined sewer overflows, and enhancing nutrient removal. The measures are evaluated using a life cycle analysis with the boundaries including the receiving river section by means of an integrated model of the UWS. An uncertainty analysis of the estimated impacts has been performed to support the outcomes. The study also uses the economic concept of shadow prices to assign relative weights of socio-economic importance to the estimated life cycle impacts. This novel integration of tools complements the assessments of this UWS with the inclusion of long-term global environmental impacts and the investigation of trade-offs between different environmental impacts through a single monetary unit. The results support the selection of deeper clarifiers as the most environmentally beneficial measure for upgrade ; The authors would like to acknowledge the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007−2013 under REA agreement 289193 (SANITAS ITN). The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ramon y Cajal RYC-2013-14595 and CTM 2015-66892-R) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535). The authors also acknowledge support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014-SGR- 1168)-LEQUIA-University of Girona and (2014 SGR 291)- Catalan Institute for Water Research

This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS. The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS ; ICRA authors also acknowledge the Marie Curie EU Reintegration grants 2010-RG-277050 and PCIG9-GA-2011-293535, the EU-ITN SANITAS (ITN – 289193), the Spanish government (CTM 2011-27163; RYC-2013-14595) and the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014 SGR 291)

This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS. The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS ; ICRA authors also acknowledge the Marie Curie EU Reintegration grants 2010-RG-277050 and PCIG9-GA-2011-293535, the EU-ITN SANITAS (ITN – 289193), the Spanish government (CTM 2011-27163; RYC-2013-14595) and the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014 SGR 291)

This study assesses the environmental impacts of four measures proposed for upgrading of the urban wastewater system of Eindhoven and the Dommel River in The Netherlands, against the base case, "do-nothing" option. The measures aim to reduce the overall environmental impact of the Eindhoven urban wastewater system (UWS) by targeting river dissolved oxygen depletion and ammonia peaks, reducing combined sewer overflows, and enhancing nutrient removal. The measures are evaluated using a life cycle analysis with the boundaries including the receiving river section by means of an integrated model of the UWS. An uncertainty analysis of the estimated impacts has been performed to support the outcomes. The study also uses the economic concept of shadow prices to assign relative weights of socio-economic importance to the estimated life cycle impacts. This novel integration of tools complements the assessments of this UWS with the inclusion of long-term global environmental impacts and the investigation of trade-offs between different environmental impacts through a single monetary unit. The results support the selection of deeper clarifiers as the most environmentally beneficial measure for upgrade ; The authors would like to acknowledge the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007−2013 under REA agreement 289193 (SANITAS ITN). The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ramon y Cajal RYC-2013-14595 and CTM 2015-66892-R) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535). The authors also acknowledge support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014-SGR- 1168)-LEQUIA-University of Girona and (2014 SGR 291)- Catalan Institute for Water Research

This study assesses the environmental impacts of four measures proposed for upgrading of the urban wastewater system of Eindhoven and the Dommel River in The Netherlands, against the base case, "do-nothing" option. The measures aim to reduce the overall environmental impact of the Eindhoven urban wastewater system (UWS) by targeting river dissolved oxygen depletion and ammonia peaks, reducing combined sewer overflows, and enhancing nutrient removal. The measures are evaluated using a life cycle analysis with the boundaries including the receiving river section by means of an integrated model of the UWS. An uncertainty analysis of the estimated impacts has been performed to support the outcomes. The study also uses the economic concept of shadow prices to assign relative weights of socio-economic importance to the estimated life cycle impacts. This novel integration of tools complements the assessments of this UWS with the inclusion of long-term global environmental impacts and the investigation of trade-offs between different environmental impacts through a single monetary unit. The results support the selection of deeper clarifiers as the most environmentally beneficial measure for upgrade ; The authors would like to acknowledge the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007−2013 under REA agreement 289193 (SANITAS ITN). The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ramon y Cajal RYC-2013-14595 and CTM 2015-66892-R) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535). The authors also acknowledge support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014-SGR- 1168)-LEQUIA-University of Girona and (2014 SGR 291)- Catalan Institute for Water Research

This study aims to propose a holistic, life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban wastewater systems (UWS) based on a comprehensive inventory including detailed construction and operation of sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). For the first time, the inventory of sewers infrastructure construction includes piping materials and aggregates, manholes, connections, civil works and road rehabilitation. The operation stage comprises energy consumption in pumping stations together with air emissions of methane and hydrogen sulphide, and water emissions from sewer leaks. Using a real case study, this LCA aims to quantify the contributions of sewer systems to the total environmental impacts of the UWS. The results show that the construction of sewer infrastructures has an environmental impact (on half of the 18 studied impact categories) larger than both the construction and operation of the WWTP. This study highlights the importance of including the construction and operation of sewer systems in the environmental assessment of centralised versus decentralised options for UWS ; ICRA authors also acknowledge the Marie Curie EU Reintegration grants 2010-RG-277050 and PCIG9-GA-2011-293535, the EU-ITN SANITAS (ITN – 289193), the Spanish government (CTM 2011-27163; RYC-2013-14595) and the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014 SGR 291)

This study assesses the environmental impacts of four measures proposed for upgrading of the urban wastewater system of Eindhoven and the Dommel River in The Netherlands, against the base case, "do-nothing" option. The measures aim to reduce the overall environmental impact of the Eindhoven urban wastewater system (UWS) by targeting river dissolved oxygen depletion and ammonia peaks, reducing combined sewer overflows, and enhancing nutrient removal. The measures are evaluated using a life cycle analysis with the boundaries including the receiving river section by means of an integrated model of the UWS. An uncertainty analysis of the estimated impacts has been performed to support the outcomes. The study also uses the economic concept of shadow prices to assign relative weights of socio-economic importance to the estimated life cycle impacts. This novel integration of tools complements the assessments of this UWS with the inclusion of long-term global environmental impacts and the investigation of trade-offs between different environmental impacts through a single monetary unit. The results support the selection of deeper clarifiers as the most environmentally beneficial measure for upgrade ; The authors would like to acknowledge the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007−2013 under REA agreement 289193 (SANITAS ITN). The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ramon y Cajal RYC-2013-14595 and CTM 2015-66892-R) and the European Union (Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG9-GA-2011-293535). The authors also acknowledge support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through the Consolidated Research Group (2014-SGR- 1168)-LEQUIA-University of Girona and (2014 SGR 291)- Catalan Institute for Water Research