Auflistung nach:
Auflistung Environmental Informatics 2011 nach Titel
1 - 10 von 115
Treffer pro Seite
Sortieroptionen
- KonferenzbeitragA Central Collaborative CEMIS(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Allam, Nabil; Mahmoud, Tariq; Junker, Horst; Marx Goméz, JorgeThere have been research projects on Corporate Environmental Management Information Systems (CEMIS) during the last 20 years. Nowadays we have different CEMIS in the market that provide different approaches and techniques that are solving environmental (-related) issues in companies. However, such environmental information systems are rarely used. In addition, different projects in Asia and USA has been developing and implementing industrial ecology/symbiosis strategy. This strategy has generated new revenues and reduced environmental emissions and disposal costs, while simultaneously improving the quality of services and products. In her investigation, Elke Perl found out that CEMIS are rarely used in the German-speaking region (Perl, 2006). Following her research work, three rationales are mainly responsible for this situation. Collaborative Corporate Environmental Management Information Systems (Collaborative CEMIS) provide approaches to conquer the issue of rare use of CEMIS in the German-speaking region and support the efforts of collaborative work to gain the benefits of industrial symbiosis. In Collaborative CEMIS solution, Web Services and semantic techniques are involved. Collaborative CEMIS, been based on Web Services, provides powerful integration of environmental applications and data. Instead of being connected to several disparate environmental applications, Web Services-enabled collaborative CEMIS solution provides a connection point between these heterogeneous applications. This work will present a collaborative CEMIS solution that is mainly relying on the idea of supplying Web Services from one CEMIS that can be used from different company information systems to handle corporate environmental issues. The requirements will be discussed and model will be presented for such a system. The main goals of this solution is reducing the efforts to achieve a legal compliance environmental management and supporting the new perspective on industrial development resembling natural ecosystem to use energy, water, material, and human resources optimally while at the same time minimizing wastes and efforts of environmental management. It proposes an environmental collaboration between companies via summing up all the required information from different involved players in form of Web Services. In this solution, the companies will act as clients and providers at the same time. They are both requesting and supplying environmental data. They maintain their identities by not revealing the information regarding their resource details.
- KonferenzbeitragA Model for the Evaluation of Potential Energy Conservation of Data Center Focusing on the Air Conditioning Options in Japan(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Mori, Shunsuke; Ohkura, Masashi; Ohkura, HidetakaThe importance of carbon emission reduction is now broadly understood. After the gigantic earthquake on March, 11, 2011, the first priority issue for Japan is the recovery of the society and economy. However, most of the energy conservation options for the global warming mitigation are applicable under the energy constraints. Until today, the impacts of information and communication (ICT) industry have not been well addressed. In Japan, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications(MIC) has assessed that the power consumption for the air-conditioning of data centre (DC) indicates 17% of total power demand for ICT. In this study, we develop an optimization model considering the temperature and humidity conditions for DC with 2000 racks in Tokyo and Sapporo including - Cogeneration systems - LNG vaporizer to utilize the evaporating heat - Photovoltaic cell (PV) - Ambient air intake - Turbo refrigerator - Humidifier The results show that 23.9% and 11.9% of CO2 emission could be reduced by introducing photovoltaic cells and humidifier in Tokyo and Sapporo, respectively. The ambient air is largely utilized in Tokyo except for summer while it is not mainly utilized in Sapporo due to the low humidity. Thus, humidifier in Sapporo contributes to reducing CO2 emission in Sapporo. Key Word: data centre, energy conservation, ambient air, LNG vaporizer, humidity control
- KonferenzbeitragA Novel Spatially Explicit Integrated Modeling Tool for Assessing P Accumulation in Agricultural Soils(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Gaertner, Dominique; Della Peruta, Raniero; Keller, ArminAn improper fertilization strategy may lead to the accumulation of phosphorus (P) in agricultural soils in the long term, leading to elevated risks of P export by runoff, erosion and leaching to water bodies, thus contributing to their eutrophication. Furthermore, excessive application of nutrients is a waste of limited resources. Although several methods have been published for calculating P balances at different scales, there is a lack of models purposely designed to produce spatially distributed predictions of the long-term evolution of P concentration in soil at regional scale. We devised a modelling tool based on a tiered field- and regional-scale approach, integrating and harmonizing a high number of different datasets related to weather, soil, land use, and farm management. We developed a Land Management Model (LMM) that provides animal manure and mineral fertilizer application rates, based on farm census and land use statistics. Swiss census data comprises georeferenced information for every single farm, such as animal type and number, crop and corresponding area. This information, complemented by fertilisation guidelines and expert knowledge, was distributed in a spatially explicit form to the land use raster. The LMM was coupled with a field scale dynamic model (Environment Policy Impact Calculator, EPIC) which simulates several soil-plant processes including the cycling of P in distinct pools and for different soil layers. EPIC was calibrated at reference sites belonging to the Swiss Soil Monitoring Network (NABO), where soils have been sampled every five years and field management has been recorded annually since 1986. The LMM and EPIC were coupled within a Spatially Explicit Regional Integration Tool (SERIT). Uncertainties related to the spatial distribution of soil properties and crops, as well as amount and P content of animal manure, are taken into account by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The final figures are thus complemented by a measure of their uncertainty, which can be apportioned to different sources. The modelling tool was tested in a study area located in Canton Fribourg, Switzerland, for the period 1995-2009. The soil P temporal evolution was represented by maps. Results indicate a general depletion of both labile and total P fractions from the topsoil, and an accumulation of labile P in the subsoil. The spatial pattern of total P variation in the subsoil is heterogeneous and can be put in relation with the land use, indicating accumulation in arable land and depletion in grassland. Keywords: phosphorus, modelling, spatial, soil, agriculture, uncertainty.
- KonferenzbeitragA review of tools for PCF and LCA in the agri-food sector(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Teixeira, Ricardo; Gustavus, Lori; Himeno, Anne; Pax, SaraToday, there are more than 100 tools in the market for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Product Carbon Footprint (PCF). While some of these tools are full LCA/ISO compliant, others propose simplifications. The use of each tool depends on the expert level of target users and the objectives of the analysis. In this paper, we review the LCA/PCF market, from the standpoint of an informed LCA practitioner seeking a tool for use in an agri-food study. Overall 63 tools were reviewed from public information (general description, screenshots, technical documentation) displayed on each tool’s website. Out of these, 11 tools were tested in some capacity (i.e. trial period version, demo version, live demo). To complement this analysis, we conducted an LCA practitioner survey on a sample consisting mainly of well-experienced practitioners of agriculture and food LCAs working in academia and based in Europe. This procedure allowed us to analyze the way practitioners are using LCA/PCF compared to the tools that they are using. We found that full LCA/ISO compliant tools still hold the largest share of the market. Several similar tools are available to more experienced users; however, there is a growing trend for companies with full LCA tools on the market to develop simplified versions that meet other goals. This may be explained by several factors. First, there is a more practical, business-oriented approach to LCA gaining in acceptance. Second, practitioners claim to follow ISO standards in their studies, but they admit that they do not necessarily submit them for peer-review. This may mean that studies are mainly done to gather internal intelligence. In fact, LCA is now being integrated in product development as a proactive tool, instead of being just a post production assessment tool. Third, the main worry in the LCA community is data gathering and the quality of databases, which are also the more time-consuming steps.
- KonferenzbeitragA scalable implementation of the track summing algorithm for Emergy calculation with Life Cycle Inventory databases(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Marvuglia, Antonino; Benetto, Enrico; Rugani, Benedetto; Rios, GordonEmergy analysis is an environmental accounting approach that links thermodynamics and systems ecology to evaluate the work made by both natural processes and human activities to make a product or service available. Emergy is a measure of the energy used in the past and thus “memorized“ in the product, including also the energy spent by natural processes up to the main source (the sun). In order to compute thisamount of solar energy (called solar energy equivalent) Emergy Evaluation (EME)uses conversion factors called transformities or Unit Emergy Values (UEVs), which express the amount of Emergy required per unit ofa given product or service. This work aims to develop an operational tool for allowing the calculation of the Emergy associated to each of the commodities involved in a given product’s life cycle along with its related inventoried resources. More specifically, the Emergy was calculated starting from a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), which represents a list of environmental inputs and outputs (resource extractions and pollutant emissions) related to the production of a specific product. The motivation for our work is linked first of all to the consideration that, while Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can nowadays avail itself of large LCI databases (such as Ecoinvent) which are constantly updated and extended, consistent libraries of UEVs for Emergy calculations do not exist. As a consequence, a methodology able to link LCI databases and emergy calculations and formalize the latter ones in a matrix form would represent an important step forward for Emergy-based environmental accounting. The case study tackled here deals with a simplified version of the production system of flat glass. We formalized the problem in a matrix-based structure which comes directly from the LCA framework and developed a variant of the track summing algorithm originally due to Tennenbaum (Tennenbaum1988). Two versions of the algorithm were implemented: one in Scala (a general purpose programming language that smoothly integrates features of object-oriented and functional languages) and one in C++. The former is a multi-threaded breadth first search (BFS), the latter follows a depth first search (DFS) and is more efficient in terms of memory usage.The algorithm consisted in calculating Emergy flows separately per Emergy independent sources, then summing the results. Solving the problem at stake took an operation time of 1.37 seconds on a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo laptop running Mac OS X. The results were validated using the software Emsim, a free-share Emergy simulatorthat can workwith lifecycle systems using a graph instead of a matrix. However, Emsimdoes not allow a direct link to automatic calculation routines, since it requires the system’s diagram to be drawn by the operator. The promisingresult obtained will enable us to scale-up the method, possibly using the whole Ecoinvent database. This would allow the achievement of a reproducible, consistent, and transparent calculation of Emergy values for thousands of products of a LCI database. Furthermore, the algorithm could be applied case by case to specific product’s life cycles modelled using conventional LCA software tools like Simapro, allowing an exact calculation of the Emergy associated to the studied products and therefore a complete combination of LCA and Emergy perspectivesinenvironmental assessment.
- KonferenzbeitragA scenario-based approach to assessing the exposure and flood risk of Ho Chi Minh City’s urban development strategy in times of Climate Change(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Storch, Harry; Downes, Nigel K.; Rujner, HendrikAsian cities located in deltaic settings such as Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), exhibit higher exposure levels to flood risk primary as a result of their location, their low elevation and if located in tropical regions, the significant annual variations of climatic and weather extremes they incur. The present assessment linking urban development and sea level rise (SLR) scenarios provides an initial estimation of the exposure of HCMC to potential flooding from the current high tide level (1.5 m AMSL). The scenarios also investigate how climate change is likely to influence HCMC’s exposure to coastal inundation due to SLR (+0.5 and +1.0 m) up to the year 2100, alongside rapid urbanisation. Focussing on projected land-use changes extracted from the official land-use plan up to the year 2010 and the draft version for the years up to 2025/30, a much more detailed analysis is provided than earlier studies carried out on the global or national level. The analysis focuses on the exposure of built-up land to current and future flooding, rather than estimating the ‘risk’ of flooding to population and long-lived economic assets, such as buildings, utilities and transport infrastructure.
- KonferenzbeitragA Short History of Sustainability Oriented Modelling Endeavours(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Simon, Karl-HeinzSince the beginning of systems analytic activities aiming at understanding environmental problems and generating solutions the role of models has become more and more important. The first prominent example was the WORLD2 and 3 models of the MIT group (Forrester, Dana and Dennis Meadows). The authors of these models wanted to comprehend the dynamics around resources depletion and overload in sinks (like the atmosphere). In integrating natural and social factors they developed an interdisciplinary model approach that brought up new insights and was, at the time of first publication, an inspiration for intensive public discussions and responses in the mass media. In the following years the methodology, at the beginning “pure system dynamics”, was refined and extended, e.g. by multi-level approaches (Mesarovic) or the so-called sensitivity model (Vester). In more recent developments, like those of the integrated modelling community, meta-structures (“architectures”) are defined that assign several specific models their place within such a map of models. With these projects, applied to the problem of climate change or the analysis of ecosystem services, a powerful instrument became available, to work on rather complex sustainability problems.
- KonferenzbeitragA Sociocybernetic Approach to Meta-modelling for the European Environmental Information Space(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Hornung, Bernd R.In the following paper the Purpose and Scope of a Meta-Model and its hierarchies are discussed. On this basis a sociocybernetic model based on system theory is introduced.
- KonferenzbeitragA Software Platform Towards a Comparison of Cars - A Case Study for Handling Ratio-Based Decisions -(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Wittmann, Jochen; Markert, Johann; Plura, Sebastian; Brüggemann, RainerEnvironmental aspects often are in conflict with the criteria for a best/optimal behavior under technical aspects only. In these cases, common methods to compare alternatives and to come to a decision show methodological disadvantages. In this situation, this paper intends to demonstrate the situation firstly by giving a typical example, secondly to show, how a software platform might support the decision, thirdly, to provide different methods for comparison to demonstrate the effects of the method chosen and finally to sensitize the users for the interdependencies between the comparison method and the resulting ranking. The example will deal with the decision to find a new car according to individually scalable ratios. General data on different cars mainly are in conflict with the ratio of CO2-ratio expressing the environmental aspects of the cars to select. The paper proposes a software platform that allows dealing with these conflicting parameters by individually weighting and a flexible interface for comparison.
- KonferenzbeitragA system approach to the integration of ecosystem services with DPSIR components.(Innovations in Sharing Environmental Observations and Information, 2011) Iannucci, Corrado; Munafò, Michele; Sambucini, ValterWhen analyzed with the tools provided by the systems theory, the DPSIR framework apparently implies a model of the natural environment (the ecosystem) separated from and in same way conflicting with the human society and its processes. Moreover, the baseline used to define the responses for the protection of the environment appears to be not generated by such processes. In order to reconcile the model with a more global vision of the dynamics of interest for the environment, the notion of ecosystem services has been added to the DPSIR approach. As a result, it has been obtained a conceptual model that includes all the DPSIR components and, moreover, can exploit the huge amounts of data that are collected on a steady basis for the social systems. This approach could allow to improve the data acquisition and decision making processes meant to provide a better management of the relationships between the humans and the environment.