Search results for " impact assessment"
showing 10 items of 193 documents
Paysage & [et] infrastructures de transport : modélisation des impacts des infrastructures sur les réseaux écologiques
2013
The development of linear infrastructures leads to the fragmentation and the artificialisation of the landscape across scales. Landscape fragmentation is a spatial process that is accompanied by a progressive decrease of the connectivity between the elements needed to conduct ecological processes. Thus, maintaining a good level of connectivity between natural habitats, compatible with human activities, has become a major issue for the preservation of biodiversity.By mobilizing methods from graph theory and landscape ecology, the thesis seeks to demonstrate the value of landscape graphs to model ecological networks and analyze impacts of transportation infrastructures at regional scale.The m…
Marble quarrying: an energy and waste intensive activity in the production of building materials
2008
Marble represents an important component of Italian buildings, where it is often utilized as a covering for bottom surfaces, despite its relatively high price. Moreover, it characterizes several public buildings, for which it is by far the most important decorative material, also because of its structural features and its long durability. Unfortunately, marble quarrying is an energy intensive activity that requires relevant amounts of electric and thermal energy sources; in addition, the extraction of the marble blocks from the mountain sides does involve a noticeable quantity of explosives, particularly in sites where traditional working methods are utilized. Another important feature of t…
Prospects for combining chemical and biological methods for integrated environmental assessment
2009
Abstract Inherently interdisciplinary, environmental assessment applied to contamination is evolving rapidly, despite associated uncertainties in methodologies and data limitations. Mixtures of known and unknown pollutants can cause toxic effects in the environment. Besides deploying a chemicals-driven strategy for the ecological risk assessment of the pollutants, it is necessary to apply and to explore biological strategies. Consequently, bioassays, biosensors and effect-directed analysis (EDA) to identify pollutants responsible of particular effects have become increasingly important. We give a broad overview of how to assess biological monitoring of ecosystems and chemical monitoring of …
Multivariate analysis of historical data (2004-2013) in assessing the possible environmental impact of the Bellolampo landfill (Palermo).
2017
Multivariate analysis was performed on a large data set of groundwater and leachate samples collected during 9 years of operation of the Bellolampo municipal solid waste landfill (located above Palermo, Italy). The aim was to obtain the most likely correlations among the data. The analysis results are presented. Groundwater samples were collected in the period 2004–2013, whereas the leachate analysis refers to the period 2006–2013. For groundwater, statistical data evaluation revealed notable differences among the samples taken from the numerous wells located around the landfill. Characteristic parameters revealed by principal component analysis (PCA) were more deeply investigated, and corr…
The environmental impact of air pollution on the built heritage of historic Cairo (Egypt)
2020
In the last decades, many researchers investigated the relation between environmental pollution and the degradation phenomena on the built heritage, because of their rapid increase and growing harmfulness. Consequently, the identification of the main pollution sources has become essential to define mitigation actions against degradation and alteration phenomena of the stone materials. In this way, the present paper is focused on the study of the effect of air pollution on archaeological buildings in Historic Cairo. A multi-methodological approach was used to obtain information about the chemical composition of examined black crusts and to clarify their correlation with the air pollution, sp…
Towards A New Decision Support System for Design, Management and Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emiss…
2015
The increasing attention paid to the environment has led to a reduction in the emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Moreover, the increasing interest in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from WWTPs suggests that we reconsider the traditional tools used for designing and managing WWTPs. Indeed, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane can be emitted from wastewater treatment, significantly contributing to the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. The reduction of energy consumption as well as GHG emission are of particular concern for large WWTPs which treat the majority of wastewater in terms of both volume and pollution load. Nowadays, there is an increasing need to develop new …
The precautionary principle and management of uncertainties in EIAs – analysis of waste incineration cases in Finland
2013
This article examines whether and how the practice of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) serves the idea of the precautionary principle. The article provides an empirical examination and description of how uncertainties and risks were dealt with in conclusive outputs of EIAs of chosen example cases of Finnish waste incineration projects. The analysis focuses on the time when several incineration projects were in the planning phase in Finland and the effects of this development were seen as being controversial. The findings of the analysis are evaluated against a legislative and theoretical framework. The challenges and strengths of the practice are identified. The article suggests that…
Comparison of the environmental assessment of an identical office building with national methods
2019
The IEA EBC Annex 72 focuses on the assessment of the primary energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of buildings during production, construction, use (including repair and replacement) and end of life (dismantling), i.e. during the entire life cycle of buildings. In one of its activities, reference buildings (size, materialisation, operational energy demand, etc.) were defined on which the existing national assessment methods are applied using national (if available) databases and (national/regional) approaches. The ?be2226? office building in Lustenau, Austria was selected as one of the reference buildings. TU Graz established a BIM model and quantified the amou…
Modeling and Analysis of a New Process for Pyruvate Production
2005
Early process development is crucial for the economic and environmental performance of a final production process. A new process for the production of pyruvate is presented as a case study to show how process modeling and an analysis of the results regarding economic and environmental aspects improves the understanding of the process, its cost structure, and its environmental impact. It also enables the quantification of process improvements and the comparison of alternative designs. The model of the pyruvate production shows how strain and fermentation improvements propagate through the process and affect its economic and environmental performance. The comparison of two alternative purific…
Scaling-up processes: Patents and commercial applications
2020
There is currently a great demand for fish and seafood products. However, their high consumption produces large quantities of by-products that can be an ecological problem. That is why it is necessary to look for alternatives to revalue these products and give them a second life, thus reducing their environmental impact. In this sense, several investigations have been carried out in laboratories around the world to extract compounds from marine processing industry for the final high added-value products. Some of these compounds are collagen, omega 3 fatty acids, protein concentrates or chitin/chitosan, among others. Nevertheless, one of the critical steps for obtaining these compounds at th…