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To prevent the Omicron transmission, Shanghai government implemented varying degrees of restraint measures. This study provided a new insight into the responses of air pollution altitude dependence to restraint measures by conducting vertical observations at a suburb site in Shanghai. Based on the difference-in-differences (DiD) models that compare the results in 2021 (normal scenario) and 2022 (Omicron-based restriction), we evaluated the casual effects of restrictions on (i) nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), (ii) aerosol (presented by aerosol extinction coefficient (AEC)), formaldehyde (HCHO) and glyoxal (CHOCHO) and (iii) ozone (O 3), which are generally treaded as primary, multi-sources and secondary pollutants, respectively. The estimated results from 0.0 to 2.0 km show that the drop/rise induced by restrictions is greater below 1.0 km than that above 1.0 km. Averaged on vertical distributions, AEC, NO 2 , HCHO and CHOCHO during restrictions felled by 15.1% (0.12 km−1), 40.3% (1.65 ppbv), 10.0% (0.26 ppbv) and 28.6% (21.79 pptv), respectively, while O 3 increased by 21.3% (18.12 μg/m3). It indicates that restrictions induce significant drops in primary pollutants and enhancements in secondary pollutants. For multi-sources pollutants, the decline from primary sources can be partly offset by enhanced secondary productions, and the ratio of increased secondary sources to decreased primary sources can be elevated with height. The discrepancies of responses to restrictions are reflected in vertical distribution and types of air pollution, emphasizing the significance of vertical observations for diversified pollution. These finding can also be meaningful in the strategy development for prevention and control of air pollution. [Display omitted] • This study provided a new insight into the responses of air pollution altitude dependence to restraint measures by employing vertical observations. • The difference-in differences model was applied to evaluate the casual effects of restrictions on different types of pollution. • The decline of multi-sources pollutants from primary sources can be partly offset by enhanced secondary productions. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of pollution control on industrial production efficiency in 31 provinces and cities in the Yellow River and Non-Yellow River basins in China from 2013 to 2017, using the methods of the directional distance function (hereinafter referred to as DDF) and the technology gap ratio (hereinafter referred to as TGR) in parallel, while taking the industrial production sector (labor force, total capital formation, energy consumption and industrial water consumption) and the pollution control sector (wastewater treatment funds and waste gas treatment funds) as input variables. Undesirable outputs (total wastewater discharge, lead, SO2 and smoke and dust in wastewater) and an ideal output variable (industrial output value) are taken as output variables. It is found that the total efficiency of DDF in the Non-Yellow River Basin is 0.9793, which is slightly better than 0.9688 in the Yellow River Basin. Among the 17 provinces and cities with a total efficiency of 1, only Shandong and Sichuan are located in the Yellow River Basin. The TGR values of 31 provinces, cities and administrative regions are less than 1, and the average TGR value of the Yellow River Basin is 0.3825, which is lower than the average TGR value of the Non-Yellow River Basin of 0.5234. We can start by improving the allocation of manpower and capital, implementing the use of pollution prevention and control funds, improving the technical level of industrial production, improving pollutant emission, and increasing output value to improve overall efficiency performance. This study uses the parallel method, taking the industrial production department and the pollution control department as inputs, to objectively evaluate the changes in industrial production efficiency and technology gap in the Yellow River and Non-Yellow River basins, which is conducive to mastering the situation of pollution control and industrial production efficiency, and provides the reference for SDG-6- and SDG-9-related policy making.
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1. IntroductionThe Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia has organized two-day International Conference on “Sustainable Infrastructure and Built Environment (SIBE-2022) – Challenges on Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure and Built Environment”, 8th-9th March 2022. The conference was held virtually owing to the COVID situation resulting into travel restrictions. The organizers were in CIBE Building, the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganeca 10, Bandung, Indonesia.The aim of the conference was to provide a platform for exchanging ideas, information, and experiences among academics, researchers, consultants, engineers, manufactures, and postgraduate scholars. It also serves a medium to discuss and evaluate the latest research, innovative technologies, policies and new directions in infrastructure development, pollution prevention and eco-friendly technologies adapted to developing countries, and to promote cooperation and networking amongst practitioners and researchers involved in addressing sustainable and resilient infrastructure.List of Topic and subtopic of the conferences, commitees, Paper Submission, Speakers and Sessions are available in this Pdf.
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The mismanagement of waste in protected areas may lead to significant and irreversible environmental, economic and social impacts, such as land degradation, resource depletion, surface and groundwater pollution, loss of biodiversity and impacts on the aesthetic value of these areas. This paper aims to identify the challenges and opportunities for sustainable solid waste management in privately protected areas, given the limited research conducted on this topic. A case study approach was followed, which focused on the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, a private nature reserve (PNR) in South Africa. Interviews were conducted with 30 participants, which included representatives from the management authority, commercial lodges, non-commercial properties and a waste service provider. Several challenges have been identified by interviewees. Behaviour was the most frequently mentioned challenge, where interviewees raised concerns about negative attitudes, unwillingness to implement waste management measures and a possible lack of support. Other frequently mentioned challenges included foreseen difficulties due to the size and location of the reserve and concerns around funding of waste management measures, especially given the financial implications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) travel and tourism restrictions. The most frequently identified opportunities included creating jobs and improving livelihoods, providing assurance and transparency of what happens to waste ‘beyond the gate’ and improving awareness, knowledge and skills related to waste management. To optimise the opportunities towards sustainable solid waste management, PNRs should focus on aligning their strategic direction to achieve legal compliance and support community initiatives to establish waste-related infrastructure and services that cannot be implemented within the reserve. Conservation implications: The pursuit of waste-related opportunities within privately protected areas could enhance the implementation of sustainable solid waste management in PNRs, whilst also contributing to pollution prevention, community upliftment and other secondary benefits, which could ultimately result in increased conservation efforts.
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In many cities, air pollution prevention and control have become a necessity. Industries and excessive automotive traffic in cities pollute the air to unacceptable levels, which have a harmful impact on human health. To defend individuals from health risks, forecasting, predicting and regulating air pollution are critical. There has been substantial research into predicting when inadequate air quality would occur. However, most studies are constrained by a lack of panel data, hence making it impossible to account for the factors, including seasonal behaviour. This paper presents methods of predicting air quality using machine learning techniques and forecasting the air pollution levels to take precautionary measures to minimise air pollution. This paper analyses concentrations of major pollutants in metropolitan areas (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, BTX, O3, CO, SO2, and NH3), contributing to air pollution. This paper also analysed the effect of lockdown due to the pandemic COVID-19 on the AQI at different places at Jaipur. It includes three locations of Jaipur from where the data are gathered;then, the paper will suggest the solutions that can be implemented to achieve the most desirable results, which will lead to lower levels of pollution at a lower cost. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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Ozone (O3) in the troposphere is an air pollutant and a greenhouse gas. In mainland China, after the Air Pollution Prevention and Action Plan was implemented in 2013—and despite substantial decreases in the concentrations of other air pollutants—ambient O3 concentrations paradoxically increased in many urban areas. The worsening urban O3 pollution has fuelled numerous studies in recent years, which have enriched knowledge about O3-related processes and their impacts. In this article, we synthesise the key findings of over 500 articles on O3 over mainland China that were published in the past six years in English-language journals. We focus on recent changes in O3 concentrations, their meteorological and chemical drivers, complex O3 responses to the drastic decrease in human activities during coronavirus disease 2019 lockdowns, several emerging chemical processes, impacts on crops and trees, and the latest government interventions.
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There is beyond any doubt that Latin America is one of the most important emerging markets in the world, which has increased its importance in the last decades. In effect, the issues of green, social, and sustainability (GSS) bonds are gaining more and more importance in the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) financial markets. They are specifically focused on raising funding for public expenditure programs that contribute to achieving several objectives, such as climate and environmental projects, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, sustainable agriculture, fishery and forestry, etc. The main objective of this paper is to provide a literature revision of the evolution of the issuance of GSS bonds in the LAC region and to analyze the economic growth of the countries which issue this type of bond. We will apply multiple linear regression to relate the economic growth of some countries of the LAC region with the variables proposed by the IFC Emerging Market Green Bonds Report (2019). It has been shown that the economic growth of the countries in the LAC region that are issuing GSS bonds is significantly related to the Sovereign Green Issuance (Total Planned), the ratio of Private Credit/GDP, and the Rule of Law Index. However, this research has had the limitation of the scarcity of available data in the LAC markets.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected supply and demand to a large extent. Declining demand for firms' output has caused significant financial stress for all kinds of firms worldwide. Production that requires environmental measures usually gets constrained when firms, especially small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), have difficulty in accessing credit. Firms thus face the dilemma of whether to continue environmental behaviors or to fulfill financial commitments to suppliers, employees, and so on. As such, an empirical question is whether the economic consequences of COVID-19 vary by firms' types and their environmental behaviors. Using 4,888 sample firms from 14 EU member states, this study finds evidence that the severity of damage caused by COVID-19 depends on firm size and whether firms invested in pollution abatement techniques. Specifically, eco-friendly firms perform better during the COVID-19 pandemic, and SMEs are less vulnerable than large firms. In particular, eco-friendly SMEs are less affected by the pandemic than conventional SMEs and large firms. These findings are probably related to the efficacy of government relief programs targeted to eco-friendly SMEs and/or the healthy financial status of these firms prior to the pandemic.
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Many studies have been conducted to explore the characteristics of PM2.5 pollution events in Sichuan Basin, China. However, they focused on either specific regional pollution events from different aspects or the megacities, such as Chengdu and Chongqing. To provide a panorama gram of PM2.5 pollution episodes in the whole basin area, we identified all the PM2.5 pollution events in 17 cities during 2016-2019 and analyzed the characteristics of these events. In total, 1342 episodes were identified and the characteristics of episode numbers, durations and PM2.5 concentrations were analyzed in each city. We found that the characteristics of the temporal and spatial distribution of the episode numbers and durations were similar to the annual average of PM2.5 concentrations, which were higher in the Southern Sichuan and Western Sichuan Plain spatially and occurred most frequently in winter, followed by spring, autumn and summer. Non-monotonical relationships were obtained between the PM2.5 concentrations and pollution durations and there was a duration threshold in each city. For episodes with durations shorter than the threshold, their PM2.5 concentrations increased with duration. The duration thresholds were 6–8 days and 5–7 days in Southern Sichuan and Western Sichuan Plain, respectively. We also found that the air quality deteriorated in 2019 in most cities. Synthetically considering the numbers, durations and concentrations of pollution episodes, more concerns should be taken for the prevention of PM2.5 pollution in Yibin in the Southern Sichuan, Chengdu and Leshan in the Western Sichuan Plain, Neijiang in the Central Hills, and Bazhong, Dazhou, Nanchong in the Northeastern Sichuan. These results could help understanding the characteristics of PM2.5 episodes in Sichuan Basin and providing implications for pollution control strategies in future.
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In rapidly growing urban areas, such as Tijuana, Mexico, the presence of urban green spaces (UGSs) can help stem soil erosion, improve infiltration, slow runoff, decrease flooding, reduce air pollution, and mitigate climate change. In many water-scarce parts of the world, where centralized wastewater treatment is not accessible or practical, decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DEWATSs) have the potential to supply the water needed for irrigating UGSs. Here, we first review UGS systems supported by DEWATSs and the water quality guidelines and challenges associated with implementing DEWATSs for urban greening in different countries, including Mexico. We also critically examine the linkages between the lack of UGSs in Tijuana, Mexico, extensive soil erosion, and failing sanitation infrastructure that has led to the infamously poor water quality in the Tijuana River. Tijuana’s Ecoparque Wastewater Treatment Facility, a low-energy, aerobic DEWATS, which collects, treats, and discharges residential sewage for localized landscape irrigation, demonstrates how DEWATSs can meet the water demands for urban greening in rapidly urbanizing cities. The aerobic decentralized treatment using a gravity-fed trickling biofilter resulted in a >85% removal of chemical oxygen demand and dissolved organic carbon. Prior to treatment facility upgrades, there was a ~2 log reduction in total coliform and Escherichia coli and a <20% decrease in ammonia from the influent to final effluent. After the addition of a maturation pond in 2020, the effluent met Mexico standards for irrigation reuse, with a ~4 log reduction in fecal coliforms from the influent to final effluent. Case study results demonstrated the potential for decentralized wastewater treatment to meet effluent standards for landscape irrigation, provide water for urban greening, and prevent pollution in the Tijuana River and other urban waterways.
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Coronavirus and its spread all over the world have been the most challenging crisis in 2020. Hospitals are categorized among the most vulnerable centers due to their presumably highest traffic of this virus. In this study, centrifugal isolation of coronavirus is successfully deployed for purifying hospitals' air using air conditioners and ducts, suggesting an efficient setup. Numerical simulations have been used to testify the proposed setup due to the complexities of using experimental investigation such as high cost and clinical hazards of the airborne SARS-CoV-2 in the air. Results show that a 20-cm pipe with an inlet velocity of 4 m/s constitutes the best choice for the separation and purification of air from the virus. The proposed scalable method also efficiently separates larger particles, but it can separate smaller particles too. Numerical results also suggest installing the air purifying system on the floor of the hospitals' room for maximum efficiency.