Search results for "Environmental quality"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
Control of Acoustical Quality of Indoor Spaces: Thorough Analysis of the Influence of Façade Typologies
2001
Building shape is of prime importance with regard to the acoustic aspects of achieving adequate indoor environmental quality. This paper presents experimental results obtained in a measurement programme carried out at CSTB, using reduced-scale models. The objectives were to identify the architectural forms of façades' best for noise mitigation, and to address the influence of façade architecture on indoor acoustic quality. Many façade typologies have been assessed in different situations involving combinations of structural and architectural elements, such as balustrades, balconies, loggias, etc. A systematic simulation of real configurations (buildings in front of one another, stacked or …
Including an environmental quality index in a demographic model
2016
This paper presents a new well-being index which allows environmental quality to be measured through CO2 emissions, renewable energies and nuclear power. Its formula derives from a geometric mean used to calculate which things in the human production system warm the planet and which do not. This index has been introduced into a gender-defined stochastic population dynamic mathematical model which measures well-being in a country. The main variables in this model are rates of death, birth, emigration and immigration, as well as three UN indices: Human Development Index, Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Index. This model has been extended with variables that allow an environmen…
General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI)-integrating aerosol research from nano …
2011
In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan…
The relationship between environmental values and income in a transition economy: surface water quality in Latvia
2002
A contingent valuation study measured citizen willingness to pay (WTP) for an improvement in surface water quality in Latvia. The average respondent was willing to pay 0.7 per cent of household income for the environmental improvement, but that amount was much less than needed to finance the required investments in treatment facilities. While the income elasticity of WTP for the average resident was low (0.56), it increases as income increases, reaching 0.9 at an income level double the current average. As real incomes increase in Latvia, the demand for environmental quality by citizens can be expected to increase substantially.
Sustainable Growth and Environmental Policies
2000
A model of ecologically sustainable endogenous growth is presented, in which environmental quality has a positive influence on individual welfare and on the productivity of capital. The effect of different environmental policies on the long-run growth of the economy is studied in the framework of this model. The results establish that an optimal policy which taxes production and subsidies pollution abatement has a favourable effect on environmental quality, and could increase the growth rate if the positive external effects of the environment on the productivity are important. Furthermore, it is shown that this kind of environmental policy is neutral in budgetary terms, i.e. tax receipts ar…
The Community Response to Aircraft Noise Around Six Spanish Airports
1993
Abstract The community response to aircraft noise has been studied through a social survey. A total of 1800 persons living in the vicinity of six major Spanish airports have been interviewed at their homes concerning the environmental quality of the area, dissatisfaction with road traffic noise and aircraft noise, activities interfered with by noise, most disturbing aircraft types, and subjective evaluation of airport impact. All the responses obtained in this survey have been compared with aircraft noise levels corresponding to the residence locations of the people interviewed (values of NEF levels were calculated with the INM model). The results obtained in this work allow one to evaluate…
Indoor Environmental Quality Survey: A Brief Comparison between Different Post Occupancy Evaluation Methods
2013
Building occupants are important factor in giving information on indoor conditions such as comfort, productivity, building performance and occupants ́ health. Even that, being their appraisal mainly based on subjective judgments, it is difficult to set up a standard and objective method for this purpose. The present work aimed to describe, analyze and compare the most common tests on this topic, in order to highlight critical, failings and strengths.
Environmental Quality and Entrepreneurial Activity in Rural Tourism in Italy
2012
We estimate the relation between environmental quality and services in rural tourism in Italy. We use the average number of firms per region in 2003-07 to indicate entrepreneurial activity. We suggest that heterogeneity among administrative regions can be tied to environmental quality. Incorporated farms in rural tourism are relatively more common in regions with better environmental quality, and command higher average price from better quality in hospitality. Only 7% of entrepreneurial activity can be attributable to environmental quality. We conclude that rural tourism activity in Italy is not genuinely tied to environmental quality.
Assessment methods for impact of environmentally friendly entrepreneurship and driving forces to the quality of environment
2002
Environmentally friendly entrepreneurship (further – EFE) is one of the tools for improvement environmental quality. There might be made theoretical approaches, how quantitatively large is the impact of the EFE in changes of the quality of environment. In this field theoretical suggestion is prior to practice, because in the most of countries there is domination of several cases, but it could not be used as overall tendency [8; 10]. Opposite impact to quality of environment might be created by driving forces (driving forces are economical indicators, which stimulate changes in quality of environment) [1] like overcon‐sumption, growth of gross domestic product (further – GDP) etc. The articl…
Geografías de la pandemia COVID-19 en España : el retorno del medio rural
2022
La pandemia de la COVID-19 ha supuesto en España la peor crisis de salud pública, económica y social desde la Guerra Civil. El virus ha causado miles de muertos y cientos de miles de infectados, con Cataluña y Madrid como territorios más afectados. Un primer análisis exploratorio muestra, con los pocos datos hasta ahora disponibles y fiables, que esta pandemia ha tenido una especial incidencia en los territorios urbanos con mayor densidad de población y niveles más elevados de contaminación, mientras que las áreas rurales, a pesar de tener mucha más población de riesgo y un sistema sanitario mucho más precario, han mostrado ser mucho más resilientes a la expansión del coronavirus. Todo ello…