Analysis of Ecosystem Degradation Factors in Yuanmou Arid-Hot Valleys Based on Interpretative Structural Model

For ecological restoration and reconstruction of the degraded area, it is an important premise to correctly understand the degradation factors of the ecosystem in the arid-hot valleys. The factors including vegetation degradation, land degradation, arid climate, policy failure, forest fire, rapid population growth, excessive deforestation, overgrazing, steep slope reclamation, economic poverty, engineering construction, lithology, slope, low cultural level, geological hazards, biological disaster, soil properties etc, were selected to study the Yuanmou arid-hot valleys. Based on the interpretative structural model （ISM）, it has found out that the degradation factors of the Yuanmou arid-hot valleys were not at the same level but in a multilevel hierarchical system with internal relations, which pointed out that the degradation mode of the arid-hot valleys was ＂straight （appearance）-penetrating-background＂. Such researches have important directive significance for the restoration and reconstruction of the arid-hot valleys ecosystem.

Debromination of decabromodiphenyl ether by organo-montmorillonitesupported nanoscale zero-valent iron: Preparation, characterization and influence factors

An organo-montmorillonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron material （M-NZVI） was synthesized to degrade decabromodiphenyl ether （BDE-209）. The results showed that nanoscale zero-valent iron had good dispersion on organo-montmoriUonite and was present as a core-shell structure with a particle size range of nanoscale iron between 30-90 nm, characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XRF, ICP-AES, and XPS. The results of the degradation of BDE-209 by M-NZVI showed that the efficiency of M-NZVI in removing BDE-209 was much higher than that of NZVI. The efficiency of M-NZVI in removing BDE-209 decreased as the pH and the initial dissolved oxygen content of the reaction solution increased, but increased as the proportion of water in the reaction solution increased.

Improved Energy Management Strategy for Prosumer Buildings with Renewable Energy Sources and Battery Energy Storage Systems

The concept of utilizing microgrids(MGs)to convert buildings into prosumers is gaining massive popularity because of its economic and environmental benefits.These pro-sumer buildings consist of renewable energy sources and usually install battery energy storage systems(BESSs)to deal with the uncertain nature of renewable energy sources.However,because of the high capital investment of BESS and the limitation of available energy,there is a need for an effective energy management strategy for prosumer buildings that maximizes the profit of building owner and increases the operating life span of BESS.In this regard,this paper proposes an improved energy management strategy(IEMS)for the prosumer building to minimize the operating cost of MG and degradation factor of BESS.Moreover,to estimate the practical operating life span of BESS,this paper utilizes a non-linear battery degradation model.In addition,a flexible load shifting(FLS)scheme is also developed and integrated into the proposed strategy to further improve its performance.The proposed strategy is tested for the real-time annual data of a grid-tied solar photovoltaic(PV)and BESS-powered AC-DC hybrid MG installed at a commercial building.Moreover,the scenario reduction technique is used to handle the uncertainty associated with generation and load demand.To validate the performance of the proposed strategy,the results of IEMS are compared with the well-established energy management strategies.The simulation results verify that the proposed strategy substantially increases the profit of the building owner and operating life span of BESS.Moreover,FLS enhances the performance of IEMS by further improving the financial profit of MG owner and the life span of BESS,thus making the operation of prosumer building more economical and efficient.