Environmental impact improvements due to introducing automation into underground copper mines

A life-cycle assessment(LCA) model was developed to comparatively analyze the use of manual and automated mining equipment in underground copper mine sites.Processes and key variables that were determined to contribute to the environmental impact of operations were identified for six mine sites in a range of geographical locations around the world.Our model successfully calculated carbon dioxide(CO_(2) eq.) emissions to within 4.9% of the reported annual emissions from the site's respective companies.The implementation of automation was found to decrease global warming potential by a range of 11.4%-18.0% or 3.9-17.9 kg CO_(2) eq./t ore.The model was also used to estimate the average reductions across several impact potentials including,acidification(11.9%-17.8%),eutrophication(7.6%-13.7%),and human toxicity(16.0%-20.0%).World-wide the mining industry is moving toward introducing significantly more automation to enhance productivity and safety.This novel work demonstrates an important third dimension that can support this move,reduced environmental impact.

Environmental Improvement Problems of Village in Town and Countermeasures

The improvement of urbanization level in China and long-term development of economy in vast rural areas commonly impel rapid development of urbanization in China by " stronghold type" of small town and " radiation type" of big town. Urbanization road with Chinese characteristics impels urbanization and industrialization development,which needs relying on the development of small town. Due to the impact of town,space environment of " village in town" changes,and rural memory weakens. The state of " non city and non township" deeply affects rural development. Meanwhile,due to limited by urban-rural dualism,top-down planning of " village in town" is obviously unworkable. In this paper,analysis and interpretation on the problems of " village in town" are conducted,the cause is found,and effective channel of solving problem is obtained.

Improving Market Circulation and Investment Environment

With the approach of the 21st century,the Asia-Pacific Region where Chinais situated is becoming a new growthpoint of the world economy.The developmentof China’s economy will surely bring vitalityto the further prosperity of Asia-Pacific Regionand the overall development of the worldeconomy.With the daily deepening of therestructuring of China’s circulation systemand the increasing attractive investmentenvironment for foreign businessmen,China,with its 1.2 billion people,has become a largeworld market,that is highly competitive.

Improving Market Circulation and Investment Environment

With the approach of the 21st century, the Asia-Pacific Region where China is situated is becoming a new growth point of the world economy. The development of China’s economy will surely bring vitality to the further prosperity of Asia-Pacific Region and the overall development of the world economy. With the daily deepening

Haimen to Improve Environment for Opening-up

Haimen, a coastal city in Jiangsu Provingce, taking advantage of its geographical superiority as a neighbour of Shanghai, has attached great importance to infrastructure construction to meet the needs for developing an exportoriented economy. By the end of 1994, 320 foreign-funded enterprises had been established with US$94.89 million of contracted foreign inyestment and US$40 million of paid-in foreign funds. In 1994, the foreign-funded enterprises in the

Strategies for Improving the Overall Environmental Quality of Rivers Based on “Renovation and Restoration” Concept: A Case Study of Landscape Planning of Linjiang River, Yongchuan District, Chongqing City

The concept of "renovation and restoration" marks the transformation from urban and rural planning and construction to intensive development mode and to quality improvement stage.The environmental imbalance problem of emphasizing development and neglecting ecology in the past has become the focus of the current urban quality improvement stage.Rivers are related to the origin,development and evolution of cities,affect the layout,transportation and environment of cities,and bear the culture,economy and characteristics of cities.Taking the Linjing River of Yongchuan in Chongqing as an example and taking the concept of "renovation and restoration" as the guidance of the design of the overall environmental quality improvement of the river,this study analyzed and summarized the problems to be solved in the improvement of the environmental quality of the river based on the four river environmental impact factors of water pollution,water resource supply and demand,ecological environment and shore water waterfront type and the strategies of optimizing the aquatic environment management,constructing the ecological landscape pattern,shaping the regional cultural landscape and combining the economic development along the river were put forward in order to improve the overall environmental quality of Linjiang River and provide reference for relevant planning and design.

Urban Waterfront Space Design under the Concept of Ecological Conservation:A Case Study of Hefei Swan Lake

With the proposal of the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,ecological issues have become increasingly important issues of concern to people.The process of urbanization is accelerating,and the importance of urban waterfront space in improving the environmental quality of the city and people’s quality of life,enhancing the vitality of the city,the overall appearance of the city,and the competitiveness of the city,is receiving increasing attention.And how to properly handle the construction and development of urban waterfront space has become increasingly prominent in urban planning.Under the the concept of“ecological conservation”,it is thought that the construction of urban waterfront space should follow the principle of harmony between nature and man,and strengthen the multifaceted connection of the city.Through field research on Swan Lake,a comprehensive evaluation of the problems in the plank road and land ecology is conducted.It is proposed to improve the current situation of Swan Lake by grasping the two keywords of“waterfront”and“city”,and starting from the improvement of water body and the enhancement of urban cultural construction in the lake area.

An integrated environmental improvement of marshlands:impact on control and elimination of schistosomiasis in marshland regions along the Yangtze River,China

Background:Schistosomiasis is a global snail-transmitted infectious disease of poverty.Transmission control had been achieved in China in 2015 after the control efforts for over 60 years.Currently,the remaining core regions endemic for Schistosoma japonicum are mainly located in the marshland and lake regions along the Yangtze River basin.Methods:During the period from 2001 through 2015,an integrated environmental improvement of the marshlands was carried out through the implementation of industrial,agricultural and resources development projects in Yizheng County along the Yangtze River.S.japonicum infection in humans,livestock and snails was estimated by serology,stool examination,hatching technique and microscopy during the 15-year study period to evaluate the effect of the integrated environmental improvement on control and elimination of schistosomiasis.Results:A 0.05%overall rate of S.japonicum infection was observed in snails during the 15-year study period,and no infected snails were detected since 2012.The overall prevalence of S.japonicum infection was 0.09%in humans during the study period,and no human infection was found since 2012.In addition,only 13 bovines were identified with S.japonicum infection in 2003 during the 15-year study period,and since 2004,no infection was found in livestock.Conclusion:The results of the present study demonstrate that the implementation of industrial,agricultural and water resources development projects,not only alters snail habitats in marshland regions,and promotes local economic development,which appears a win-to-win strategy to block the transmission of S.japonicum and accelerate socio-economic development along the Yangtze River.

Value and Heterogeneity: Using a Choice Experiment to Evaluate the Coastal Recreational Environment

The management of the coastal park environment is a major ecological and economic development issue. In developing effective policies, relevant information is essential, especially the economic valuation of various recreation-related environmental attributes. This study used Dalian coastal parks as a pilot study area and estimated the willingness to pay(WTP) of tourists using three different discrete choice models. In this study, we analyzed the preference heterogeneity among the respondents regarding a combination of park attributes, and the individual respondent’s WTP values were estimated for each attribute. The results indicate that water quality amelioration and trash reduction had the highest economic values among the given attribute factors. In addition, the estimated tourist WTP varied considerably among different segments, such as among the visitors who preferred different recreational activities. These findings provide valuable information that will allow coastal park managers to develop policies which maintain a balance between tourism development and improvement of the coastal environment.

China's Practice in Improving Tax Environment:An Exclusive Interview with Commissioner Wang Jun of STA,China

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD)has just released the World Investment Report 2021.According to the report,China remains the world’s second largest recipient of foreign direct investment(FDI),with its FDI inflows increasing by 6%over the previous year to US$149 billion in 2020,against the backdrop of a significant drop in global FDI inflows due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Improve Market Environment for Promoting Rapid, Sustainable and Healthy Developmentof China Auto IndustryHu Xinmin, President of China Association of Automotive Manufacturers (CAAM)

During the 8th Five-Year Plan period, an average annual growth rate of 24% was achieved by China auto industry, which is in line with that of the gross industrial output val-ue all over China, and is higher than that of the GNP. It can be said that the auto industry ex-perienced a high speed increase in this period, but from the last two years of this period to now, an obvious slowdown in terms of

Role of solar power in shifting the Turkish electricity sector towards sustainability

This work covers a three-stage evaluation:cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment(LCA)of polycrystalline silicon(pc-Si)and monocrys-talline silicon(mc-Si)solar photovoltaics(PVs)as on-grid utility-scale energy options;environmental-impact distribution of pc-Si and mc-Si combinations under local conditions in Turkey;and assessment of the role of solar power in improving the environmental per-formance of the Turkish electricity mix.In LCA,mc-Si panels are found to have 4.47-9.16%higher environmental impacts than pc-Si panels in absolute terms.However,the higher efficiency and slower degradation rate of mc-Si panels make them have lower impacts on a kWh electricity basis.For the solar PV combination,the global-warming potential(GWP)and human-toxicity potential(HTP)re-sults are found to be significantly lower than that of home-scale pc-Si systems(27.1-34.4 g versus 33.7-59.9 g CO_(2) equivalent(eq)/kWh 30.6-38.9 g versus 65.9-117 g 1-4 dichlorobenzene(g 1-4 DB)eq/kWh)operating in Turkey due to the higher capacity and efficiency of the utility-scale system.This result reveals the advantage of utilizing solar power as a centralized energy option for the country.All of the eight impacts that we evaluated reduce increasingly with increasing solar percentage in the electricity mix.The general ten-dency is that each percentage increase in solar electricity in the mix reduces each impact by~1.0%.With a conservative assumption,if the solar power ratio in the mix increases to 15%by 2030,a GWP reduction of 31.3 million tons can be achieved.This corresponds to 12.7%of the greenhouse-gas mitigation commitment(246 million tons CO_(2) eq)made by Turkey under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.With the Turkish electricity sector being dominated by imported coal and natural gas,the obtained results reveal the potential of solar power in improving the environmental performance of the electricity mix in Turkey.