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Topic Review
Near Zero-Energy Housing
A context-specific approach to the investigation of barriers to Near Zero-Energy Housing could facilitate and accelerate the transition towards a zero-energy built environment.
  • 488
  • 22 Jul 2021
Topic Review
LCA&MFA for E-Waste Management
The complexity in WEEE management has prompted the need for suitable tools to understand the generation of e-waste as well as to assess the associated environmental impacts. Two such tools that are frequently used in waste management in general and also associated with WEEE are material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Both of these tools are frequently referred to in literature as useful in assisting decision-making in WEEE management.
  • 530
  • 22 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Sustainable Consumption of Food
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace, and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an urgent call to action by all countries—developed and developing—in a global partnership. The fact that food is the basic resource for life highlights the need for a comprehensive goal that can be achieved by reducing food waste, promoting healthy and balanced nutrition, raising awareness of the society on responsible food consumption and developing policies on food consumption by regulatory authorities in connection with ensuring the sustainability of food consumption. Therefore, ensuring sustainable food consumption can also be seen as a generic goal that can be supported by almost all SDGs. 
  • 1.5K
  • 20 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Lattice Boltzmann Method
Biofilm growth and evolution are very complex interactions among physicochemical and biological processes. Mathematical models are critical to modern biotechnology—both in research and in the engineering practice. Thus, many models of biofilms have been developed to include various biofilm reactor modules. However, considerable challenges exist in modelling microbial processes where mesoscopic dynamics of nutrient transport must be coupled with microscopic bacteria growth and their elementary biochemical reactions at reactive or enzymatic interfaces, in addition to the microbiological and/or ecological aspects of the “micro” organisms involved in biofilms. Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) treats flows in terms of fictive parcels of particles which reside on a mesh and conduct translation according to collision steps entailing overall fluid-like behavior. The goal of this review is to discuss and identify the opportunities of applying different LBM-based models to specific areas of biofilm research as well as unique challenges that LBM-based models must overcome.
  • 734
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Environmental Monitoring of Pesticide Residues
Pesticide residues are a threat to the health of the global population, not only to farmers, applicators, and other pesticide professionals. Humans are exposed through various routes such as food, skin, and inhalation. Indirect approaches, also called “external exposure approaches”, estimate the exposure of a population through the measurements of pesticide residue levels in food and the environment. Environmental sampling involves water resources, soils, sediments, and air particles. Recent studies have also included indoor and road dust. In addition, indirect assessment models also include food, as fruits, vegetables, and cereals treated with pesticides have also been proven to be significant sources of pesticides. Furthermore, the pesticide residues in abiotic environmental samples also bioaccumulate in biota. Dietary intake of animal products, including meat and subproducts from farm animals, fish, and seafood, is considered an important route of exposure for population.
  • 752
  • 19 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Community Connected Microgrids
Renewable energy systems in the form of community microgrids, and grid-connected solar PV-storage are considered primary solutions for powering residential developments. The primary objectives for commissioning such systems include significant electricity cost reductions and carbon emissions abatement. Despite the proliferation of renewables, the uptake of solar and battery storage systems in communities and multi-residential buildings are less researched in the literature, and many uncertainties remain in terms of providing an optimal solution.
  • 515
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Sustainable Business Model Innovation
Sustainable business model innovation is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon; thus, it is important to understand its various manifestations. Sustainable business models generally aim to integrate economic, social and environmental aspects in their value creation and/or value capture processes. However, these aspects can manifest as different combinations, and some may be more dominant than others.
  • 1.2K
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Forecasting Pollution in Urban Area
Particulate air pollution has aggravated cardiovascular and lung diseases. Accurate and constant air quality forecasting on a local scale facilitates the control of air pollution and the design of effective strategies to limit air pollutant emissions.  Accurate and constant air quality forecasting on a local scale facilitates the control of air pollution and the design of effective strategies to limit air pollutant emissions. CAMS provides 4-day-ahead regional (EU) forecasts in a 10 km spatial resolution, adding value to the Copernicus EO and delivering open-access consistent air quality forecasts. In this work, we evaluate the CAMS PM forecasts at a local scale against in-situ measurements, spanning 2 years, obtained from a network of stations located in an urban coastal Mediterranean city in Greece. Moreover, we investigate the potential of modelling techniques to accurately forecast the spatiotemporal pattern of particulate pollution using only open data from CAMS and calibrated low-cost sensors. Specifically, we compare the performance of the Analog Ensemble (AnEn) technique and the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network in forecasting PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations for the next four days, at 6 h increments, at a station level. The results show an underestimation of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by a factor of 2 in CAMS forecasts during winter, indicating a misrepresentation of anthropogenic particulate emissions such as wood-burning, while overestimation is evident for the other seasons. Both AnEn and LSTM models provide bias-calibrated forecasts and capture adequately the spatial and temporal variations of the ground-level observations reducing the RMSE of CAMS by roughly 50% for PM2.5 and 60% for PM10. AnEn marginally outperforms the LSTM using annual verification statistics. The most profound difference in the predictive skill of the models occurs in winter, when PM is elevated, where AnEn is significantly more efficient. Moreover, the predictive skill of AnEn degrades more slowly as the forecast interval increases. Both AnEn and LSTM techniques are proven to be reliable tools for air pollution forecasting, and they could be used in other regions with small modifications.
  • 486
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Urban Heat Island
Economic and social development of urban and rural areas continues in parallel with the increase of the human population, especially in developing countries, which leads to sustained expansion of impervious surface areas, particularly paved surfaces. The conversion of pervious surfaces to impervious surfaces significantly modifies local energy balance in urban areas and contributes to urban heat island (UHI) formation, mainly in densely developed cities. Climate change, urban population growth, and urban land expansion will probably increase temperatures in urban areas and make the UHI effect more prominent. Therefore, using appropriate measures to ameliorate urban microclimate becomes increasingly important.
  • 2.0K
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Air Mercury Monitoring
The GMOS (Global Mercury Observation System) project has the overall goal to develop a coordinated observing system to monitor mercury on a global scale. We present the long-term (2011 – 2020) air mercury monitoring data obtained at the Listvyanka station located at a shore of Lake Baikal, Siberia. The long-term monitoring shows obvious seasonal variation of the background mercury concentration in air, which increases in the cold and decreases in the warm season. The short-term anomalies are associated with the wind carrying the air from the industrial areas where several big coal-fired power plants are located. A positive correlation between the mercury, SO2 and NO2 concentrations is observed both in the short-term variations and in the monthly average concentrations. The analysis of forward and backward trajectories obtained with the HYSPLIT model demonstrates revealing of the mercury emissions sources. During the cruise of 2018, the continuous air mercury survey over Lake Baikal covered 1800 km. The average mercury concentration over Baikal is notably less in comparison with the average value obtained at the onshore Listvyanka station during the same days of cruise. That can lead to the conclusion that Baikal is a significant sink of the atmospheric mercury.
  • 634
  • 15 Jul 2021
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