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Topic Review
Permeable Pavement Systems for Stormwater Management
There has been growing interest in the field of permeable pavement systems (PPS), especially in the scope of stormwater management as a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS). Slight modifications within the PPS layers or incorporation of innovative filters could result in improved contaminant removal efficiency. In addition maintenance procedures were proven effective in mitigating clogging effects, mostly occurring at the upper 1.5–2.5 cm of the PPS. Although partial replacement of the PPS mix design with recycled aggregates improved the overall permeability, the compressive strength was slightly compromised. 
  • 1.1K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Daylight in Downtown Area of a Compact City
Daylight is of utmost importance and should be the main source of light in most areas dedicated to working and living. When considering the contemporary way of living, it can be easily discerned that most of human life is spent indoors, yet in a typical architectonic design approach, daylight is too often hardly of consequence. Hence daylight becomes a critical factor. Designers comply with the legal requirements of the solar hours required for areas subjected to constant use. Simultaneously for electrical engineers’ daylight is only an additional source of light valued only where energy efficiency is concerned. 
  • 1.1K
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Biological Methods of Producing Hydrogen from Biomass
Hydrogen is an environmentally friendly biofuel which, if widely used, could reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions. The main barrier to the widespread use of hydrogen for power generation is the lack of technologically feasible and—more importantly—cost-effective methods of production and storage. Hydrogen has been produced using thermochemical methods (such as gasification, pyrolysis or water electrolysis) and biological methods (most of which involve anaerobic digestion and photofermentation), with conventional fuels, waste or dedicated crop biomass used as a feedstock. Microalgae possess very high photosynthetic efficiency, can rapidly build biomass, and possess other beneficial properties, which is why they are considered to be one of the strongest contenders among biohydrogen production technologies.
  • 1.1K
  • 29 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Energy Recovery from Residual Municipal Solid Waste
Among the technologies for the recovery of energy from waste, in particular residual municipal solid waste (rMSW), combustion is the most widely used thermo-chemical treatment process associated with thermal and electric power production by a steam cycle, named, shortly, Waste to Energy (WtE). 
  • 1.1K
  • 26 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Product Recycling Desirability Model
Product Recycling Desirability Model (PRDM) was coined as a competent model for prioritizing product selection for recycling due to its successful application in several international cases, including those of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, China, and India. The model’s critical parameters were: (i) the ease with which the product’s components could be disassembled for recycling, (ii) the readiness of the recycling technology in place to carry out the recycling operation; and (iii) the criticality of the materials contained in end-of-life products, which make them prime candidates for recycling.
  • 1.1K
  • 13 May 2022
Topic Review
Underground Plastic Recharge Chambers in Stormwater Management
Land development typically requires stormwater control measures (SCMs) to limit runoff volume, reduce peak flow, delay discharge to streams, and reduce pollutant loads to receiving waters, with the ideal goal of mimicking the natural hydrologic system. Life cycle assessment is used to systematically evaluate the environmental impact of underground plastic recharge chambers (RCs) used for stormwater management.  Using cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment and a functional unit of 1 m3 stormwater capacity, different RC structure types, manufacturing processes and materials are considered. The inventory is based on various commercially available RCs, including injection-molded or extruded polypropylene and polyvinylchloride polymers and typical installation materials and methods. A new dataset is developed to estimate the manufacture and use of recycled polypropylene granulate. TRACI 2.1 is used to investigate the midpoint life cycle impact assessment metrics, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, and fossil fuel resources. 
  • 1.1K
  • 06 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Battery Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
During the last few years, electric and hydrogen vehicles have become an alternative to cars that use internal combustion engines. The number of electric and hydrogen vehicles sold has increased due to support from local governments and because car manufacturers will stop the production of internal combustion engines in the near future. The emissions of these vehicles while being driven are zero, but they still have an impact on the environment due to their fuel.
  • 1.1K
  • 09 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Energy-Sustainable Renovation of Building Envelopes
The EU’s low carbon transition relies on the building sector as one of its main pillars, given that around 85% of the 160 million buildings within the EU are thermally inefficient. The energy-sustainable renovation of building envelopes calls for a comprehensive approach from initial design phases to construction, while balancing a series of factors, e.g., function and aesthetics, energy savings and environmental concerns, as well as cost-effectiveness.
  • 1.1K
  • 13 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Smart Urban Water Systems
Urban water systems comprise the infrastructures and operating controls of water supply, wastewater, stormwater, and recycled water systems. They serve the social, constructed, and natural subsystems of living cities and they connect elements of these subsystems through water uses and impacts due to linkages among natural, social, and built systems. A smart urban water system would join the constellation of other smart systems in a smart city, which use computer controls and information to collect data, use that data to improve operations, and communicate with citizens about all aspects of their lives in the cities.
  • 1.1K
  • 17 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Towards Circular Economy for More Sustainable Apparel Consumption
The apparel industry causes environmental problems, particularly due to the shortening life cycle of garments and fast-fashion’s throw-away culture. The circular economy provides solutions to minimise and prevent these problems through innovative circular business models, which require changes in consumer behaviours. With the lens of environmental psychology, we analyse consumers’ willingness to acquire circular apparel considering four approaches on clothing life-cycle extension. We conducted an online questionnaire among Brazilian and Dutch consumers and tested if the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory can explain the willingness of consumers to purchase circular apparel. Our results indicate that, overall, the variables from the VBN theory explain circular behaviour in the apparel industry and that the paths suggested by the model are supported by our analyses. Additionally, we tested and found that when all of the variables from the VBN theory were controlled for, materialistic values did not explain circular behaviours in the apparel industry among Brazilian respondents. However, they had a positive influence on some circular apparel behaviours among Dutch consumers. Overall, materialistic values did not play an important role in predicting willingness to consume circular clothing. Furthermore, the results suggest that the VBN theory predicts willingness to consume circular apparel better in the Netherlands compared to Brazil, suggesting that this behaviour may be perceived as more effortful for the Brazilian population. However, we highlight the need for future research.
  • 1.1K
  • 12 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Sustainable Construction Projects
There are several definitions of "sustainable construction", but it is positioned as a relevant contemporary issue aligned with the efforts needed to achieve sustainability and development. Sometimes its focus is limited to the environmental dimension, but it must encompass all three pillars: environmental, social, and economic aspects in its scope to be considered sustainable:  Environment: Focusing on the protection of the environment through the reduction of ecological impacts, resource utilization, and waste production. Social: Integrating health and safety aspects in construction and the area of influence, as well as conflict resolution for all stakeholders.  Economic: Integrating efficiency and savings, quality assurance, and profitability. Complemented by the result of the application of biomimetic methodology: the biocircular model.  In this model, it is established that construction processes must be efficient and dynamic, considering the human dimension, management, and technical knowledge to achieve objectives.  In addition, the circular economy approach focused on reuse, recycling, durability, and optimization. 
  • 1.1K
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Post-Consumer Plastic Waste Management
Challenges associated with plastic waste management range from littering to high collection costs to low recycling rates. Effective collection of plastics is obviously an important step in the management of plastic waste and has an impact on recycling rates.
  • 1.1K
  • 06 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Typhoon Tracking Based on Satellite Videos
Object tracking is a hot topic in computer vision and remote sensing, and it typically employs a bounding box that locks onto the region of interest (ROI) when only an initial state of the target (in a video frame) is available. The rapid development of remote sensing technologies provides a new methodology for weather observation and forecasting tasks using high-resolution visual data. A growing body of literature investigating the deep neural network-based cyclone track prediction from satellite imagery sequences has been published.
  • 1.0K
  • 26 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Hydrothermal Carbonization of Agricultural Biogas Production Process
In agricultural biogas plants, besides biogas, the by-product digestate is also produced. Due to its high moisture content and organic origin, it can successfully be applied in the hydrothermal carbonization process to avoid the fate of landfilling. The type of feedstock and the parameters of the hydrothermal conversion (HTC) process, such as temperature, pressure and residence time, affects the physical and chemical characteristics of hydrochar. Therefore, its possible application might be as a biofuel, fertilizer, soil improver, adsorber, or catalyst. 
  • 1.0K
  • 01 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Framework Proposal for Achieving Smart and Sustainable Societies
The proposed model is based on the integration of three smart strategies: (1) water provision that consists of the use of greywater and rainwater; (2) sanitation provision that comprises the nutrients recovery from excreta and organic solid waste and; (3) resource-oriented agriculture that conceives the use of the water provision system for the production of food with the use of nutrients recovered from the sanitation system. The S3 framework has the potential to increase the well-being, human development, water availability, food safety, poverty alleviation, and healthy environments of societies through the provision of safely managed basic services as well as the recycling of nutrients and water to achieve sustainability at household and community levels.
  • 1.0K
  • 29 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Water Quality Assessment
Various human activities have been the main causes of surface water pollution. The uneven distribution of industrial enterprises in the territories of the main river basins of Ukraine do not always allow the real state of the water quality to be assessed.
  • 1.0K
  • 23 May 2022
Topic Review
Effects of Temperature/Water Types on Coronavirus Decay
The analysis of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) gene copy numbers in wastewater samples can provide quantitative information on Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) cases within a sewer catchment. However, many wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) studies have neglected virus decay during the wastewater transportation process in sewers while back-calculating COVID-19 prevalence. Among various sewer condition parameters, wastewater temperature and dilution by fresh/saltwater infiltration may result in a significant change to the virus decay, in terms of both infectivity and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA). 
  • 1.0K
  • 22 Mar 2023
Topic Review
End-of-Life Management of Lithium-Ion Batteries and Circular Economy
Electric vehicles, which are primarily powered by lithium-ion batteries, have gained much attention as the future of transportation for their environmental and economic benefits. However, the economy of lithium-ion battery management is quite linear. A circular economy with reusing and end-of-life recycling of lithium-ion batteries, would reduce the social and environmental costs associated with the mining of metals, decelerate the depletion of natural resources, and prevent the improper management that often accompanies disposal.
  • 1.0K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Microplastics Disposal and Water Resources
Microplastics (MPs) can also function as indicators for metals, antibiotics, toxic chemicals, pathogenic bacteria Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB)-forming dinoflagellates across the continents, especially through ballast water, serving as “hotspots” in ballast waters for developing and spreading multiple drug-resistant human pathogens through co-selection mechanisms.
  • 1.0K
  • 19 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Graphene Family Nanomaterials (GFN)-TiO2
TiO2 is a naturally occurring oxide of titanium with structural stability and corrosion resistance. Although TiO2 is typically considered to be of low toxicity, the development of TiO2 nanotechnologies has resulted in increased human and environmental exposure, putting TiO2 nanoparticles under toxicological scrutiny. The points of view on the intrinsic properties of TiO2, GFNs (pristine graphene, graphene oxide (GO), reduced GO, and graphene quantum dots (GQDs)), and GFN-TiO2 are presented. This entry also explains practical synthesis techniques along with perspective characteristics of these TiO2- and/or graphene-based materials. The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity by using GFN-TiO2 and its improved photocatalytic reactions for the treatment of organic, inorganic, and biological pollutants in water and air phases are reported. It is expected that this entry can provide insights into the key to optimizing the photocatalytic activity of GFN-TiO2 and possible directions for future development in these fields.
  • 1.0K
  • 01 Dec 2021
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