Summary

Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today, it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems. Environmental studies are incorporating more of the social sciences in order to understand human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. This entry collection features information about design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.

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Topic Review
Thermal Bridges
Thermal bridges are caused by full or partial penetration of the building envelope by materials with different thermal conductivities, changes in fabric thickness, and/or differences between internal and external areas, such as those found at wall/floor/ceiling junctions).
  • 519
  • 12 May 2022
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.
  • 574
  • 13 May 2022
Topic Review
Water Quality Monitoring
Monitoring water quality is an essential tool for the control of pollutants and pathogens that can cause damage to the environment and human health. However, water quality analysis is usually performed in laboratory environments, often with the use of high-cost equipment and qualified professionals. With the progress of nanotechnology and the advance in engineering materials, several studies have shown, in recent years, the development of technologies aimed at monitoring water quality, with the ability to reduce the costs of analysis and accelerate the achievement of results for management and decision-making.
  • 3.1K
  • 13 May 2022
Topic Review
Fungal Priming
Priming (also referred to as acclimation, acquired stress resistance, adaptive response, or cross-protection) is defined as an exposure of an organism to mild stress that leads to the development of a subsequent stronger and more protective response. This memory of a previously encountered stress likely provides a strong survival advantage in a rapidly shifting environment. Priming has been identified in animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria.
  • 443
  • 11 May 2022
Topic Review
Smart Agricultural Orchards
The capability of IoT technology has also been used with regularity in agriculture, especially the smart agriculture orchard concept by applying IoT with the sensor nodes to operate independently and construct a network infrastructure in an ad-hoc manner. In the aspect of research regarding smart agriculture production, an IoT-based WSN has been used to observe the condition of the yields and automate precision agriculture by using various sensors.
  • 704
  • 09 May 2022
Topic Review
Low-Carbon Travel Motivation and Constraint
Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from travel and tourism activities account for 5–14% of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions. They are rising at a rate of 3.2% per year. Transportation (e.g., aircraft, cars, and boats), accommodation, and tourism activities represent the primary means tourism consumes energy and produces carbon emissions. Jarratt and Davies have asserted that tourists could slow the rise in carbon emissions, by consuming less fuel and reducing their carbon emissions. Thus, promoting low-carbon travel has become a topic of interest to the tourism industry and academic circles over the past ten to twenty years.
  • 592
  • 09 May 2022
Topic Review
Waste Biorefineries
Sustainable biofuel production is the most effective way to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuels while preserving food security and land use. In addition to producing bioenergy, waste biorefineries can be incorporated into the waste management system to solve the future challenges of waste disposal. Biomass waste, on the other hand, is regarded as a low-quality biorefinery feedstock with a wide range of compositions and seasonal variability. In light of these factors, biomass waste presents limitations on the conversion technologies available for value addition, and therefore more research is needed to enhance the profitability of waste biorefineries. Perhaps, to keep waste biorefineries economically and environmentally sustainable, bioprocesses need to be integrated to process a wide range of biomass resources and yield a diverse range of bioenergy products.
  • 656
  • 09 May 2022
Topic Review
Pressure Swing Adsorption Modeling
The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process has been considered a promising method for gas separation and purification. However, experimental methods are time-consuming, and it is difficult to obtain the detailed changes in variables in the PSA process.
  • 1.6K
  • 13 May 2022
Topic Review
Kazakhstan’s Fisheries Sector
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that is now independent, lies near the center of arid Eurasia. Its sparse hydrographic network includes a small number of large rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, many ponds and smaller streams, as well as littoral zones bordering the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. A diverse fisheries sector, initially based on wild fish capture and later including aquaculture, developed in these waters during the Soviet era, when animal agriculture was unable to meet the protein needs of Soviet citizens. The sector, which was originally centered on the Volga–Caspian basin, was tightly managed by Moscow and benefitted from coordinated investments in research, infrastructure, and human resources, as well as policies to increase the consumption of fish products. Independence in 1991 administered a political and economic shock that disrupted these relationships.
  • 935
  • 07 May 2022
Topic Review
Ecological Poverty Alleviation in Eco-Civilization Progress
Ecological poverty alleviation is a discursive and policy system with rich theoretical implications, comprehensive policy tools and multiple practical approaches, constituting an important dimension of contemporary Chinese poverty alleviation theory and practice, or a complete case of eco-innovation. Promoting green development, establishing ecological public-welfare compensation mechanisms and organizing ecological relocation are the three major modes or paths of implementing this policy. It is undoubtedly a historic success on the one hand and has still great potential for self-adjustment or self-transformation on the other from a perspective of eco-civilization progress or sustainability.
  • 621
  • 07 May 2022
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