Search results for "Environmental issue"
showing 10 items of 17 documents
Ocean acidification impairs vermetid reef recruitment
2014
Vermetids form reefs in sub-tropical and warm-temperate waters that protect coasts from erosion, regulate sediment transport and accumulation, serve as carbon sinks and provide habitat for other species. The gastropods that form these reefs brood encapsulated larvae; they are threatened by rapid environmental changes since their ability to disperse is very limited. We used transplant experiments along a natural CO2 gradient to assess ocean acidification effects on the reef-building gastropod Dendropoma petraeum. We found that although D. petraeum were able to reproduce and brood at elevated levels of CO2, recruitment success was adversely affected. Long-term exposure to acidified conditions…
Towards a broader perspective on the forms of eco-industrial networks
2014
Abstract This paper explores various forms of eco-industrial networks in advancing environmental sustainability. Prior research on environmental sustainability primarily identifies industrial actors as autonomous entities or considers the role of networks in advancing environmental sustainability from a rather narrow perspective. However, the networks of ties in which industrial firms are embedded profoundly impacts not only their own performance, but also the natural environment in which they operate. Based on a systematic literature review, we identify four forms of eco-industrial networks that have the potential to advance environmental sustainability: 1) symbiosis networks, 2) sustainab…
Biological Nutrient Removal and Fouling Phenomena in a University of Cape Town Membrane Bioreactor Treating High Nitrogen Loads
2013
The behavior of a University of Cape Town (UCT) membrane bioreactor (MBR) system was investigated for use in biological nutrient removal from real wastewater. The pilot plant was in operation for a period of 165 days, during which an extensive data gathering campaign was conducted. The pilot plant was started up by inoculating it with activated sludge from a nearby wastewater treatment plant, and it was fed by real municipal wastewater characterized by high organic nitrogen concentrations attributable to discharges from industrial wastewater and sporadic landfill leachate. Carbon and biological nutrient removal processes, a sludge production process, and a membrane fouling mechanism were an…
The Environmental Issue in Sicily
2014
In Italy, despite the number of protected natural areas and the abundance of scientific research upon the landscape, the level of control of human pressure on the environmental system is still seriously inadequate. Among the main factors is the disconnection between urban/regional and sectorial planning, in the frame of the detachment of the nature conservation policies from the landscape and territorial policies, which is the focus of the present research. The regional situation is rendered even more serious by the lack of an up-to-date planning law (the Sicilian planning law was passed in 1978), the poor diffusion of territorial and vast area planning (the Regional Master Plan has never b…
Financial measures for supporting wind power systems in Europe: A comparison between green tags and feed’in tariffs
2008
Distributed Generation demonstrates to be able to significantly influence the electric power system, bringing considerable benefits to the quality of service and improving the energetic efficiency of the distribution network. In particular, in the last few years, Distributed Generation from renewable energy sources is considerably increased thanks to the many support policies promoted worldwide with the aim of facing the environmental issue and the problem of the permanent rise of prices of the fossil energy. In this contest, after a brief review on the financing strategies carried out in Europe in the last decade for promoting the recourse to renewable energy, the paper presents a comparis…
Project Management in the Port Development Project in Latvia
2016
Paper analyse case study of performance and compliance audit in the port development project in Latvia. Author has participated in the audit process evaluating project management application practical approach in the project implemented by the Riga Freeport Authority and co-funded by the Cohesion Fund “Development of Infrastructure on Krievu Island for the Transfer of Port Activities from the City Centre”. Despite the mass media reports that the Riga Freeport Authority has successfully completed the project, only the construction phase of the project has been completed. During the following two years the stevedore activity must be transferred to the newly built port infrastructure on Krievu…
The impact of globalization on regional development and competitiveness: cases of selected regions
2019
International audience; The objective of this study is to conduct an analysis of regional development and competitiveness in the EU and Latvia under current conditions of economic globalization. This paper makes an attempt to evaluate a theory of regional development and regional competitiveness concept in relation to regional competitiveness in the light of current global economic changes. The authors emphasise that the regional development is based on competitive advantages, which has been a subject of fundamental research by Michal Porter and that serves as a basis for the current scientific methodology to assess competitiveness of regions and countries. The authors support a view of man…
Interactions, spillovers de connaissance et croissance des villes européennes. Faut-il préférer la géographie, le climat institutionnel ou les réseau…
2013
Knowledge spillovers within urban economies are also sources of spillovers between cities. We examine how knowledge spillovers influenced the economic growth of 82 European metropolises over the 1990-2005 period. We model knowledge spillovers between cities on the basis of five specific interaction patterns based on geography, networks of multinational firms in advanced services, institutional climate and two combinations of these factors. Spatial models are estimated to detail the effects of growth factors in terms of spillovers and externalities. We show that spillovers are local rather than global and that interactions among cities accelerate the convergence process based on gross value …
L’interaction agglomération-croissance en économie géographique
1999
International audience
Feed-in Tariffs for Grid-connected PV Systems: The Situation in the European Community
2007
Distributed generation demonstrates to be able to significantly influence the electric power system bringing considerable benefits to the quality of service and improving the energetic efficiency of the distribution network. In particular, in the last few years, distributed generation from renewable sources is considerably increased thanks to the many support policies promoted worldwide with the aim of facing the environmental issue and the problem of the permanent rise of prices of the fossil energy. In this contest the paper presents a study of the "feed-in tariffs" financing measure carried out, at present, in many European countries and responsible of the increase in these last years of…