Search results for "greenhouse"

Replacing short-haul flights with land-based transportation modes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: the case of Finland

2019

Even though air travel often provides the fastest transport option, it also has the highest climate impact. Especially on long-haul trips, an aircraft usually represents the only feasible option. Nevertheless, aircraft are more often used on short-haul routes as well. It is the short-haul flights that produce the highest emissions per passenger. These are also the ones that could be replaced the most easily by land-based transportation modes. This study investigates the greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential of replacing short-haul flights with train, coach and car travel within Finland while also taking into account real travel times from door to door. Our results showed that replaci…

Methodology for Calculating the Potential Maritime Wind Park Area by Taking into Account the Needs of Shipping Sector

2018

Renewable energy sources (wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectricity, ocean energy, geothermal energy, biomass and biofuels) are alternatives to fossil fuel that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, diversify energy supplies and reduce dependency on markets of unsustainable and volatile fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas. Wind energy is one of the renewable energy sources and is considered to be self-renewable as it is the result of the Sun’s activity. Using wind energy is a rapidly developing industry today, and more and more wind turbines are installed worldwide every year, land-based wind turbines being more widespread than offshore ones. In Latvia, spread of land-based wind par…

Carbon emissions by Ssouth american companies: driving factors for reporting decisions and emissions reduction

2018

In the last decade, companies have started to disclose information on carbon emissions. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to look into this phenomenon in South America, which is a very important geographical area regarding climate change because of the local nature and developing economies. This paper explores the relationships between some corporate variables and two important decisions: (i) whether to report carbon emissions, and (ii) the impact on the evolution of carbon emissions. Logit and linear panel data models are used to determine the driving factors for decisions (i) and (ii). Our results show that regarding the carbon reporting decision, a company&rsquo

Environmental Assessment of an Innovative High-Performance Experimental Agriculture Field

2022

To increase food availability, optimizing production systems and reducing burdens related to human activities is essential in a scenario of population growth and limited natural resources. In this context, the life cycle methodology can represent a valuable asset for assessing the environmental performance of agricultural products and services. This study sought to investigate and characterize potential impacts of an experimental tomato field at the University of Perugia and evaluate if the production increment obtained using high-reflective mulching compensated for the emissions caused by this extra component. The first-year crop campaign was the baseline reference to measure the system’s …

Recent changes in chironomid communities and hypolimnetic oxygen conditions relate to organic carbon in subarctic ecotonal lakes

2018

A key question in aquatic elemental cycling is related to the influence of bottom water oxygen conditions in regulating the burial and release of carbon under climate warming. In this study, we used head capsules of Chironomidae larvae to assess community and diversity change between the past (estimated as Pre-Industrial Period) and present and to reconstruct changes in hypolimnetic oxygen conditions from 30 subarctic ecotonal lakes (northeastern Lapland) using the top-bottom paleolimnological approach applying surface sediment (topmost 0-2 cm) and reference (4-5 cm) samples. Subsequently, we tested the findings against dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration of the sites. We found tha…

Disposal Behavior of Used Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Moroccan Community: Potential Environmental Impact.

2021

The spread of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) levied on the Moroccan authorities to increase their mask production capacity, which reached up to 12 million facemask units produced per day. This increase in personal protective equipment (PPE) production and consumption is an efficient tool to address the spread of COVID-19. However, this results in more plastic and microplastic debris being added into the land and marine environments, which will harm the ecosystem, wildlife, and public health. Such a situation needs deep individual behavior observation and tracking, as well as an assessment of the potential environmental impact of this new type of waste. For this reason, we assessed the …

Biotic oxidation of methane in landfills in boreal climatic conditions

2010

 This study focused on the biotic oxidation of methane in landfill covers as a technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, particularly those located in the boreal climatic zone. First, methane oxidation was studied in laboratory batch assays in a landfill cover soil consisting of a composted mixture of sewage sludge and chemical sludge which had been installed on the landfill surface 4-5 years earlier. Second, methane oxidation was studied using mechanically-biologically treated municipal solid waste (MBT residual) as a material for methane-oxidizing landfill covers both in continuously methane-sparged laboratory columns and in an outdoor pilot lysimeter. Finally, meth…

Energy efficiency and photovoltaic solar for greenhouse agriculture

2011

Economic Sustainability of Italian Greenhouse Cherry Tomato

2014

Greenhouse tomato cultivation plays an important role in Sicily, being the primary production area in Italy, due to its favorable pedo-climatic conditions that permit extra-seasonal productions. In Sicily, more than half of greenhouse tomato production is derived from the Province of Ragusa on the southeastern coast, where especially cherry tomato typologies are cultivated. Over the last decade, the Ragusa Province has registered a decrease both in terms of greenhouse tomato area and harvested production due to several structural problems that would require restructuring of the tomato supply chain. Thus, since recognition of real costs and profitability of tomato growing is a vital issue, b…

Strawberry fields forever: that is, how many grams of plastics are used to grow a strawberry?

2019

In the agricultural sector, plastic is one of the most important tools for improving the managerial and economic performance of companies. The horticultural production under protected cultivation, in particular, makes abundant use of plastic polymers. Polymers that mostly turn into waste. This study aims to identify the main characteristics and factors affecting the decision of farmers operating in the strawberry production sector to recycle the plastic material used on-farm and quantify the plastic used in relation to the different types of materials used. Data come from one of the Italian most specialized areas in the strawberry sector, Marsala. Main findings show that behind a typical 25…