Water-saving Technologies,Solar Green House and Ecological Rehabilitation in Minqin Oasis of Gansu Province,China

Land degradation and desertification have become severe environmental problems in arid areas due to excessive use of water resources. It is urgent to reduce agricultural water use for ecological rehabilitation, which may result in a decrease in agricultural production and farmer＇s welfare. This paper focused on the impacts of some main measures including extensions of watersaving irrigation, expanding solar green house and increasing off-farm employment, which are generally recognized to be important to alleviate water shortage and poverty. A bioconomic model is applied taking Minqin Oasis in Gansu Province as a case study site. Simulation results showed that the effect of expanding solar greenhouse was more positive than other ones so it drew more attention. On the view of the different effects between each irrigation zone, mixed policy patterns suitable for them are suggested. In Baqu, expanding solar greenhouse should be the most important, auxiliary with encouraging pipe irrigation. Inversely, with regard to Quanshan, the major attention should be paid to subsidy for pipe irrigation and it would be better to supply the off-farm employment opportunities to the households in Huqu, where the expanding of solar greenhouse should also be summoned. Finally, it should be noted that farmer＇s income would only resume to 90% of the current level in the short run by putting more effort into local policies. Thus, the ecological compensation is needed to ensure farmer＇s welfare.

Research on Micro Technology of Microclimate Environment in Urban Green Space Based on Humanization Concept

To create a comfortable microclimate environment,the design methods of green layout and green structure of four common forms of urban green space(park green space,road green space,waterfront open green space,and green space between houses)were discussed,and the modes"concentric three rings"and"three-layer sandwich cake",as well as the matching principles of three-dimensional green elements of trees and shrubs with lawn and hard matrix elements,were proposed.

THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PERFORMANCE OF GREEN LOW-INCOME SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING

There is little empirical evidence in the literature about the indoor environmen­tal quality performance of residential buildings in general and of social housing in particular. To address this problem, this study used a mixed-method approach to evaluate the indoor environmental quality performance of 17 green low-income single attached family houses in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Questionnaires were administered to occupants to assess their snapshot and long-term satisfaction with the indoor environment. In addition, snapshot measurements were carried out to evaluate the indoor environmental quality factors of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics. Occupants’ snapshot satisfaction was categorized into two groups (i.e. satisfied/comfortable or dissatisfied/uncomfortable) and compared with snapshot measurements. The results showed the measured IEQ parameters were well below recommended threshold levels. Further, occupants with higher snapshot satisfaction were generally exposed to relatively lower levels of indoor pollutants. A statistically significant difference was found in PM10 level only between the snapshot satisfied and snapshot dissatisfied groups of occupants. Apparent sound transmission classes were below the standard reference value of 50, suggesting potential problems in noise attenuation within different spaces in each apartment and between apart­ments. The findings of this study could help governments implement green shadow­ing for public-housing and also renovate existing houses using the same principles.

STATION POINTE GREENS-THE JOURNEY TO NET ZERO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

INTRODUCTION Station Pointe Greens,a proposed 219-unit residential and commercial development,promises to be one of the most leading edge Passive House Certified Developments in North America.However,an innovative project such as this requires much time and research,and this project being no exception,it is still in its research and design phase.Its story began in 2008 when the City of Edmonton issued a request for proposals from developers regarding improvement of a brownfield site in Belvedere.This was done as part of the City’s redevelopment initiative for an area which was in dire need of revitalization.The Communitas Group saw a huge opportunity to develop a large-scale multi-family project immediately adjacent to a light rail transit and bus hub.And so the vision of an affordable and sustainable housing project began to take shape.Communitas had already tested the‘green’construction waters on previous projects,most notably Grandin Green,a 15-storey high-rise which was the first Canadian project to qualify for the Federal CBIP grant(25%more energy efficient than required by the Model National Energy Code for Buildings).However,they had never attempted anything as bold and leading edge as Station Pointe Greens.Their goal from the outset was to build one of the greenest multi-family housing cooperative complexes in North America.And like most developers,Communitas wanted to build it with as little‘green’premium as possible.This was,after all,to be affordable housing.

RESALE OF GREEN HOUSING COMPENSATES FOR ITS PREMIUM PRICING:AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF CHINA

Green housing reduces resource consumption and protects the ecological environment.Sustainable buildings and construction have gained increasing attention in the last decade.Many empirical studies have confirmed that green housing imposes a price premium at the presale stage.The high price could be a concern that prevents homebuyers from purchasing green buildings.However,there is a lack of empirical evidence on whether the premium pricing could be compensated for by the resale price.To address this gap,this study establishes a hedonic regression model to estimate the price premium of green housing at the resale stage.The results show that green housing certified with the Chinese Green Building Label(CGBL)offers a 6%price premium compared with non-green housing at the resale stage.The results also show that green housing with a higher level of green certification,e.g.,the 3-star CGBL,provides a greater price premium at resale.The findings indicate that homebuyers can obtain financial compensation for the high cost when purchasing a green home.Our findings also indicate that the price premium for reselling a green home is not always enough to compensate for the purchase cost in different cities.Policy recommendations for government promotion of green housing are also discussed.

External wall structure of green rural houses in Daqing, China, based on life cycle and ecological footprint theories

Daqing is situated in one of the severely cold resions of China. The livin8 environment in this region is extremely poor because of the harsh climate and the backward economy. The external wall is an important component of the external envelope of buildings, and it greatly contributes to the indoor thermal environment. By taking the external wall as the research object, this study summarizes the characteristics of the external wall structure and analyzes the common materials used in existing rural residences. Specifically, we combine life cycle theory and ecological footprint （EF） theory and introduce the green external wall structure, as well as its application in practice, in accordance with the local ecosystem. Results show that anecotosical residence offers a better environment and greater economic benefits than a traditional residence. The annual energy consumption, C02 consumption, and EF of the ecological residence in this study are lower than those of the traditional residence by 69.61%, 17.5 t, and 99.47%, respectively.

Seedling survival and growth of Aquilaria malaccensis in different microclimatic conditions of northeast India

We studied seedling survival and growth ofAquilaria malaccensis in three different environmental conditions （homegardens, green house and in different canopy conditions） of northeast India. Results show that mean seasonal survival was highest in green house （95.53%±2.33）, followed by homegardens （89.3%±1.89） and different canopy conditions （77.62%±6.73）; the highest values were found during February to April for both the homegardens （96%±1.68） and green house （98% ± 0.88） and lowest during November to January （78%±2.99） in homegardens and May to July （90%：t：4.53） in green house. In case of transplanted seedlings in different canopy conditions, mean seasonal survival was highest during May to July （98%±1.92） and lowest during August to October （66%±12.81）. However, mean seasonal growth of collar diameter was highest in different canopy conditions （23.99%±1.76） compared to green house （21.52%±2.70） and homegardens （12.44%±1.33） and it was highest during rainy season （May to July） and lowest during dry winter （November to January） in all the three experi- mental sites. These variations may be due to the different microclimatic conditions as well as nutrient status of the soil in all the three experimen- tal sites. Although, seedling quality plays a great role in their survival and growth, based on the result of green house experiment, it can be concluded that maintenance of seedlings in green house conditions during their early growth period may improve both the survival and growth for large scale plantation of the species. Thus, the species can be reintroduced in its natural forest range to compensate the loss of natural population of this precious species in northeast India.

Design on rural eco-house in cold areas of Northern China

Many kinds of factors that influence rural housing construction in Northern China are analyzed systematically and the connections between them are weighed from ecology and sustainable angles, so that an optimized green house can be built. At the same time, the energy efficient envelope structure and the method of choosing insulation material in the cost of unit thermal resistance are proposed. Integrated quality evaluation by computer shows that thermal comfort in the house would be improved remarkably for the value of PPD drops from 35%-40% to 15%, the rate of saving energy is 51.73%, much higher than the third goal of saving energy in China, and the comprehensive ecological benefit achieves good effect so as to promote the sustainable development of rural housing and community in cold areas of Northern China.

The Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Food Supply and Environmental Safety in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The resultant climate change on sustainable food supply has greatly affected agricultural production by the level of great volumes of gasses emitted into the atmosphere by human activities. The human factors that emit large amount of green house gases include industrialization, burning of fossil fuel and gas flaring. Increase in air temperature and consequent increase in the rates of evaporation also affect the level of food supply. Data for this study were collected from primary and secondary sources. Primary source were collected through field investigation and structured questionnaire. A total of 450 questionnaires were administered. Results revealed that varieties of crops ranging from tree crops to cereals were cultivated within the study area. The effect of climate change on food supply has resulted into change in crop yields, change in rainfall pattern, soil loss and has greatly affected planting period and harvesting. The study therefore recommended awareness campaigns on the causes and consequences of global climate change on food production, environmental education and afforestation campaign programmes on sustainable food supply and environmental safety must be intensified.

Climate Change: Droughts and Increasing Desertification in the Middle East, with Special Reference to Iraq

Climate change impacts on Earth’s atmosphere have caused drastic changes in the environment of most regions of the world. The Middle East region ranks among the worst affected of these regions. This has taken forms of increasing atmospheric temperatures, intensive heat waves, decreased and erratic precipitation and general decline in water resources;all leading to frequent and longer droughts, desertification and giving rise to intensive and recurrent (SDS). The present conditions have led to increasing emissions of (GHG) in the earth atmosphere. All future projections especially those using (IPCC) models and emission scenarios indicate that the Middle East will undergo appreciable decrease in winter precipitation with increasing temperature until the end of this century both of which are inductive to increased dryness and desertification. Iraq as one of the countries of this region and due to its geographical location, its dependence mostly on surface water resources originating from neighboring countries, long years of neglect and bad land management put it in the most precarious and unstable position among the other countries of the region. Modelling studies have shown that Iraq is suffering now from excessive dryness and droughts, increasing loss of vegetation cover areas, increasing encroachment of sand dunes on agricultural lands, in addition to severe and frequent (SDS). These negative repercussions and their mitigations require solutions not on the local level alone but collective cooperation and work from all the countries of the region.

Impacts of Climate Change in Portugal:Common Perception of Causes and Consequences in Forest Development

Presently the world faces what most likely will be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.Climate change is a phenomenon,or rather a set of phenomena,that directly influences the daily lives of human populations all over the planet.However,this influence normally negative also affects ecosystems,with emphasis on agroforestry systems,of which human populations are directly dependent on food and in a large number of primary raw materials.It is with this premise as a starting point that this work makes an analysis on the current state of climate change in Portugal,since,being a country of Mediterranean climate influence,it should be one of the territories where changes will be felt with more intensity and severity.In this work,the current position on energy production in Portugal regarding Green House Gases(GHGs)emissions and the evolution prospects for the near future,namely in the perspective of the impacts caused on forest resources,are discussed.

Effects of Chemical Mutagen(Sodium Azide)on Onion Grown in Organic and Inorganic Fertilized Soil

The effects of chemical agent(Sodium Azide)on Onion growing in organic and inorganic fertile soil was to be examined during this study.The analy­sis work was carried out within the green house of the research laboratory technology of the Oke Ogun Science Laboratory Technology,Saki,Oyo State.Onion seeds were soaked inside different beakers containing the mixture of Sodium Azide and water mixed with 10 ml of Phosphate solu­tion for 4 hours.Also,the control was soaked with normal water and 10 ml of Phosphate buffer solution.The treated seeds of onions was planted in plastic containers containing 4.2 g of weighed humus soil within the green house at the Department of research lab Technology of The Oke Ogun poly­technic school,Saki Oyo State.The samples parameter were taken daily for six consecutive months.The result obtained was additionally subjected to statistical analysis by using DMRT techniques.The results showed that the stem length was ranged from 11.39±0.62 and 9.98±0.52 with sample of onion without sodium Azide and inorganic had the highest stem length values and samples of onion with Sodium Azide and inorganic had very cheap stem length.However,the leave length ranged from 29.63±0.12 and 22.45±0.10 with the Onion samples with inorganic and Organic fertilizers which had the highest leave length and sample of onion without Sodium Azide was very low leave length.The results of this study showed that each one the parameters studied within the plant were low with Sodium Azide treatment.The decrease in plant growth,plant heights,root lengths,and Phaonerogam survival,fruit yield per plant and height at maturity with agent concentration.It is hereof suggested that Sodium Azide(NaN3)was expected to produce mutation in onion that area unit extremely liable to harmful pathogens and making them cheap to be useful for farmers.

RED WoLF hybrid energy storage system: Algorithm case study and green competition between storage heaters and heat pump

Green house gases reduction is critical in current climate emergency and was declared as major target by United Nations.This manuscript proposes the progressive adaptive recursive multi threshold control strategy for hybrid energy storage system that combines thermal storage reservoirs,heat pumps,storage heaters,photovoltaic array and a battery.The newest control strategy is tested in numerical experiment against primal dual simplex optimisation method as benchmark and previous iterations of RED WoLF threshold approaches.The proposed algorithm allows improvement in reduction of CO_(2) emissions by 9%comparatively to RED WoLF double threshold approach and by 26%comparatively to RED WoLF single threshold approach.Besides,the proposed technique is at least 100 times faster than linear optimisation,making the algorithm applicable to edge systems.The proposed method is later tested in numerical experiment on two measured datasets from Luxembourg school and office,equipped with batteries and ground source heat pumps.The system allows the reduction of CO_(2) emission and improvement of self-consumption,size reduction of the photovoltaic array installed at the facilities by at least by half as well as substituting battery storage by thermal storage,reducing the initial investment to the system.Intriguingly,despite 3.6 times difference in efficiency between heat pumps and storage heaters,the system equipped with latter have potential to achieve similar performance in carbon reduction,suggesting that energy storage have more prominent carbon reduction effect,than the power consumption,making cheaper systems with storage heaters a possible alternative to heat pumps.

SUSTAINABLE MULTIFAMILY KITCHEN DESIGN:A STUDENT ELICITATION APPROACH

This case study focuses on the sustainable design of a demonstration kitchen space within a multifamily residence through a student lens.A project-based learning opportunity for undergraduate students in a senior-level kitchen and bath design studio was created to redesign a multifamily starter kitchen space into a multifamily sustainable kitchen space within the Center for Real Life Kitchen Design at Virginia Tech.Upon completion of this student project,a content analysis was employed to uncover sustainability themes within these student projects.As students are making the environment and sustainability priorities in their shopping choices,uncover­ing student themes regarding multifamily sustainability kitchen design criteria can uncover trends important to this millennial generation(The Nielsen Company,2015;Timm,2014).Furthermore,as demand for sustainability increases,compar­ing student themes to multifamily industry sustainability certification systems may unearth potential gaps in the industry which need to be addressed.Although there are several sustainability certification agencies that apply to multifamily in general,there is no one specific source for sustainability guidelines for kitchens,much less in multifamily units.This lack of guidelines and the inconsistency between existing certification programs make it confusing for consumers,developers,designers,and students to value and weigh elements of a sustainable kitchen project,especially with respect to multifamily housing.By examining kitchens using current sustainability certification programs as well as this case study,recommendations can be put forth to shape guidelines for sustainable multifamily kitchens that are both clearly understood and sensitive to the environment.Ultimately,this could lead to sustainable kitchen design features becoming more commonplace in the multifamily resident home.

Evaluation of strategies for the subsequent use of CO_(2)

If substantial amounts of CO_(2),which according to actual scenarios may in the future be captured from industrial processes and power generation,shall be utilized effectively,scalable energy efficient technologies will be required.Thus,a survey was performed to assess a large variety of applications utilizing CO_(2) chemically(e.g.,production of synthesis-gas,methanol synthesis),biologically(e.g.,CO_(2) as fertilizer in green houses,production of algae),or physically(enhancement of fossil fuel recovery,use as refrigerant).For each of the processes,material and energy balances were set up.Starting with pure CO_(2) at standard conditions,expenditure for transport and further process specific treatment were included.Based on these calculations,the avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions by applying the discussed technologies was evaluated.Based on the currently available technologies,applications for enhanced fossil fuel recovery turn out to be most attractive regarding the potential of utilizing large quantities of CO_(2)(total capacity>1000 Gt CO_(2))and producing significant amounts of marketable products on one hand and having good energy and material balances on the other hand(t_(CO_(2)-emitted)/t_(CO_(2)-utilized)<0.2-0.4).Nevertheless,large scale chemical fixation of CO_(2)providing valuable products like fuels is worth considering,if carbon-free energy sources are used to provide the process energy and H2 being essential as a reactant in a lot of chemical processes(e.g.,production of DME:t_(CO_(2)-emitted)/t_(CO_(2)-utilized)>0.34).Biological processes such as CO_(2) fixation using microalgae look attractive as long as energy and CO_(2) balance are considered.However,the development of effective photobioreactors for growing algae with low requirements for footprint area is a challenge.

Environment and economic feasibility of municipal solid waste central sorting strategy： a case study in Beijing

Although Beijing has carried out municipal solid waste （MSW） source separation since 1996, it has largely been ineffective. In 2012, a ＂Green House＂ program was established as a new attempt for central sorting. In this study, the authors used material flow analysis （MFA） and cost benefit analysis （CBA） methods to investigate Green House＇s environment and economic feasibility. Results showed that the program did have significant environmental benefits on waste reduction, which reduced the amount of waste by 34%. If the Green House program is implemented in a residential community with wet waste ratio of 66%, the proportion of waste reduction can reach 37%. However, the Green House is now running with a monthly loss of 1982 CNY. This is mainly because most of its benefits come from waste reduction （i.e., 5878 CNY per month）, which does not turn a monetary benefit, but is instead distributed to the whole of society as positive environmental externalities. Lack of government involvement, small program scale, and technical/managerial deficiency are three main barriers of the Green House. We, thus, make three recommendations： involve government authority and financial support, expand the program scale to separate 91.4 tons of waste every month, and use more professional equipment/technologies. If the Green House program can successfully adopt these suggestions, 33.8 tons of waste can be reduced monthly, and it would be able to flip the loss into a profit worth 35034 CNY.