Solid waste, a lever for decarbonization.

Reducing methane emissions from solid waste is already technically possible.

Ecological water, a new focus of China's water management.

Water set aside for environmental purposes is now the fastest-growing category of water use in China. Since 2000 this 'ecological water' (EcoW) has grown to make up 5 % of the total water allocation (around 30 billion m3 of water). This paper provides the first substantial review of the history, definition, and policy rationale for EcoW in China, and allows us to compare the Chinese program with elsewhere. As in most countries, the growth in EcoW is a response to the over-allocation of water, and a recognition of the broader values of aquatic systems. In contrast to other countries, most EcoW is still allocated to support human values more than natural values. The earliest, and most celebrated EcoW projects, were directed at reducing dust pollution from arid zone rivers affecting northern China. In other countries, most environmental water is clawed back from other users in a catchment (usually irrigators) and is then delivered as a quasi-natural flow regime from a dam. These sorts of environmental flows from dams do occur in China, represented by the EcoW diversion in the Heihe River Basin and the Yellow River Basin. By contrast, the largest EcoW programs do not replace existing uses. Instead, they augment flows through large interbasin transfers. The largest and fastest-growing EcoW program in China is on the North China Plain (NCP) based on excess water available from the South-North Water Transfer project. To illustrate the complexity of EcoW projects in China, we describe in more detail two case studies, the well-established arid-zone Heihe EcoW program and the newer Jin-Jin-Ji EcoW program on the NCP. Overall, ecological water allocation in China reflects a major development in water management in that country and a growing shift toward more holistic water management.

The US role in securing the European Union's near-term natural gas supply.

The European Union's plan to phase out Russian natural gas imports by 2027 rests partly on increasing near-term imports of US liquefied natural gas. This will require a coordinated policy response that includes securing supplies from major exporters, global diplomacy, expanding import capacity, and alignment with Europe's climate goals.

Complications following regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia for the treatment of distal radius fractures.

PURPOSE: Open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) are commonly utilized for the repair of distal radius fractures (DRF). While general anesthesia (GA) is typically administered for ORIF, recent studies have also demonstrated promising results with the usage of regional anesthesia (RA) in the surgical treatment of distal radius fractures. This study will compare complication rates between the use of RA versus GA for ORIF of DRFs. METHODS: A multi-institutional surgical registry was utilized to identify patients who had undergone ORIF for DRFs from 2005 to 2018-these patients were stratified into GA and RA cohorts. Patients were matched utilizing coarsened-exact-matching (CEM) to compare postoperative outcomes and rates of 30-day complications were compared between the two cohorts. RESULTS: Upon CEM-matching, 1191 patients receiving RA were matched to 9250 patients who had received GA, with a multivariate imbalance measure (L1) statistic of < 0.001. In the matched-cohort analysis, no significant differences were observed in rates of any complication (all p ≥ 0.083). On multivariate regression analyses, RA was not associated with increased risk for any complication (p = 0.445), minor complications (p = 0.093), major complications (p = 0.758), unplanned reoperations (p = 0.355), unplanned readmissions (p = 0.799), or mortality (p = 0.579). CONCLUSION: With similar safety profiles, RA is a safe and reasonable alternative to GA when managing DRFs surgically. RA may be the preferred anesthetic technique for ORIF of DRFs in patients at high risk with GA, such as those with reactions to GA in the past or with significant cardiopulmonary risk factors.

The Future of Food: Environmental Lessons from E-Commerce.

Our food system is experiencing dramatic changes as the expansion of e-commerce, introduction of new products, and innovations in supply chain structures all pose to transform how we buy, sell, and distribute food. However, the environmental impacts of these transformations remain unclear. This feature reviews existing literature on environmental implications of e-commerce, discusses relevant trade-offs, and identifies pressing gaps in research. Some trade-offs discussed are those between centralized and decentralized delivery service types, those unique to a rural landscape, and those within the interplay of transportation and consumer behavior. The impacts of fulfillment centers, of refrigerated logistics, of e-commerce on consumer shopping and food waste habits, and of e-commerce services in rural regions are identified as pressing knowledge gaps.

Alternative water supply solutions: China's South-to-North-water-diversion in Jinan.

Inter-basin water transfers are intended to have a positive impact on the development of a region, but are always accompanied by huge energy consumption. The feasibility and effectiveness of water transfer projects have not yet been clearly evaluated, especially in the light of their energy consumption and effects on social development. This paper develops a method that combines life cycle approach and system dynamic model to reveal the effectiveness of different water supply alternatives (transferred water, reclaimed wastewater and rainwater harvesting) when they are all constrained to consume equal energy. This approach is applied to the case of Jinan city in Shandong province, China, the main water-receiving city on the Eastern Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (ER-SNWTP). The results show that in normal years, Jinan's reclaimed water and rainwater harvesting supply are effective replacements for transferred water under the constraints of equal energy consumption and capital costs; even in dry years these two alternatives still play an important role. The results of this study indicate the relative effectiveness of reclaimed water and rainwater harvesting in supplying urban water while conserving energy and capital.

The Dynamics of Trust in the Shanghai Water Supply Regime.

Trust in natural resource managers and planners is recognized as a crucial component of the public's perception of environmental risks, including the risk of consuming water in cities. Although China is famous for its dubious water quality, public perception of the performance of water suppliers in China has scarcely been considered. Yet this is important, not least because improvements in urban water quality are most likely if the public perceives that there is a risk, which is a function of their levels of trust. We, therefore, examine the Shanghai public's trust in urban water authorities through analysis of the results from a face-to-face questionnaire that 5007 residents responded to. We find that although respondents show a moderate level of overall trust in water suppliers, they have less trust in the honesty and fairness of these organizations. In addition, we find that hukou status and education help explain the differences in people's trust in Shanghai's water authorities, and that these are more influential than factors such as gender and age. For water managers in Shanghai, this implies trust can be improved through a greater effort at public relations and increased transparency about decision making and levels of pollution.

Use of MRF residue as alternative fuel in cement production.

Single-stream recycling has helped divert millions of metric tons of waste from landfills in the U.S., where recycling rates for municipal solid waste are currently over 30%. However, material recovery facilities (MRFs) that sort the municipal recycled streams do not recover 100% of the incoming material. Consequently, they landfill between 5% and 15% of total processed material as residue. This residue is primarily composed of high-energy-content non-recycled plastics and fiber. One possible end-of-life solution for these energy-dense materials is to process the residue into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) that can be used as an alternative energy resource capable of replacing or supplementing fuel resources such as coal, natural gas, petroleum coke, or biomass in many industrial and power production processes. This report addresses the energetic and environmental benefits and trade-offs of converting non-recycled post-consumer plastics and fiber derived from MRF residue streams into SRF for use in a cement kiln. An experimental test burn of 118 Mg of SRF in the precalciner portion of the cement kiln was conducted. The SRF was a blend of 60% MRF residue and 40% post-industrial waste products producing an estimated 60% plastic and 40% fibrous material mixture. The SRF was fed into the kiln at 0.9 Mg/h for 24h and then 1.8 Mg/h for the following 48 h. The emissions data recorded in the experimental test burn were used to perform the life-cycle analysis portion of this study. The analysis included the following steps: transportation, landfill, processing and fuel combustion at the cement kiln. The energy use and emissions at each step is tracked for the two cases: (1) The Reference Case, where MRF residue is disposed of in a landfill and the cement kiln uses coal as its fuel source, and (2) The SRF Case, in which MRF residue is processed into SRF and used to offset some portion of coal use at the cement kiln. The experimental test burn and accompanying analysis indicate that using MRF residue to produce SRF for use in cement kilns is likely an advantageous alternative to disposal of the residue in landfills. The use of SRF can offset fossil fuel use, reduce CO2 emissions, and divert energy-dense materials away from landfills. For this test-case, the use of SRF offset between 7700 and 8700 Mg of coal use, reduced CO2 emissions by at least 1.4%, and diverted over 7950 Mg of energy-dense materials away from landfills. In addition, emissions were reduced by at least 19% for SO2, while NOX emissions increased by between 16% and 24%. Changes in emissions of particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen chloride, and total-hydrocarbons were all less than plus or minus 2.2%, however these emissions were not measured at the cement kiln. Co-location of MRFs, SRF production facilities, and landfills can increase the benefits of SRF use even further by reducing transportation requirements.

Removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions via adsorption on carbon nanocomposites.

The development of technologies for water purification is critical to meet the global challenges of insufficient water supply and inadequate sanitation. Among all wastewater treatments, adsorption is globally recognized as the most promising method because of its versatility and economic feasibility. Herein, the removal of copper ions (Cu(II)) from aqueous solutions through adsorption on free-standing hybrid papers comprised of a mixture between graphene and different types of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was examined. Results indicate that the rate of adsorption and long-time capacity of the metal ions on the nanocomposites significantly exceeds that of activated carbon by a factor of 4. Moreover, the combination of graphene with CNTs endows an increase in the uptake of Cu(II) up to 50% compared to that of CNTs alone, with a maximum adsorption capacity higher than 250 mg·g(-1). The removal of Cu(II) from water is sensitive to solution pH, and the presence of oxygen functional groups on the adsorbent surface promotes higher adsorption rates and capacities than pristine materials. These hybrid nanostructures show great promise for environmental remediation efforts, wastewater treatments, and separation applications, and the results presented in this study have important implications for understanding the interactions of carbonaceous materials at environmental interfaces.

Two new species of Euscorpius (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece.

Two new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (subgenus Euscorpius s.str.) (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) are described based on morphology and the COI DNA barcoding marker: E. deltshevi sp. n. from northern Bulgaria and neighbouring Serbia (formerly reported as E. carpathicus) and E. solegladi sp. n. from southwestern Bulgaria and neighbouring Greece (formerly reported as E. hadzii).

The impact of water use fees on dispatching and water requirements for water-cooled power plants in Texas.

We utilize a unit commitment and dispatch model to estimate how water use fees on power generators would affect dispatching and water requirements by the power sector in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' (ERCOT) electric grid. Fees ranging from 10 to 1000 USD per acre-foot were separately applied to water withdrawals and consumption. Fees were chosen to be comparable in cost to a range of water supply projects proposed in the Texas Water Development Board's State Water Plan to meet demand through 2050. We found that these fees can reduce water withdrawals and consumption for cooling thermoelectric power plants in ERCOT by as much as 75% and 23%, respectively. To achieve these water savings, wholesale electricity generation costs might increase as much as 120% based on 2011 fuel costs and generation characteristics. We estimate that water saved through these fees is not as cost-effective as conventional long-term water supply projects. However, the electric grid offers short-term flexibility that conventional water supply projects do not. Furthermore, this manuscript discusses conditions under which the grid could be effective at "supplying" water, particularly during emergency drought conditions, by changing its operational conditions.

Geographic, technologic, and economic analysis of using reclaimed water for thermoelectric power plant cooling.

Use of reclaimed water-municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent-in nonpotable applications can be a sustainable and efficient water management strategy. One such nonpotable application is at thermoelectric power plants since these facilities require cooling, often using large volumes of freshwater. To evaluate the geographic, technologic, and economic feasibility of using reclaimed water to cool thermoelectric power plants, we developed a spatially resolved model of existing power plants. Our model integrates data on power plant and municipal wastewater treatment plant operations into a combined geographic information systems and optimization approach to evaluate the feasibility of cooling system retrofits. We applied this broadly applicable methodology to 125 power plants in Texas as a test case. Results show that sufficient reclaimed water resources exist within 25 miles of 92 power plants (representing 61% of capacity and 50% of generation in our sample), with most of these facilities meeting both short-term and long-term water conservation cost goals. This retrofit analysis indicates that reclaimed water could be a suitable cooling water source for thermoelectric power plants, thereby mitigating some of the freshwater impacts of electricity generation.

Reproductive tradeoff limits the predatory efficiency of female Arizona Bark Scorpions (Centruroides sculpturatus).

BACKGROUND: Life history tradeoffs may result from temporal and physiological constraints intrinsic to an organism. When faced with limited time and energy, compromises occur and these resources are allocated among essential activities, such as body growth, maintenance, foraging, mating, and offspring care. We investigated potential tradeoffs that may occur between reproductive activities and feeding performance in female Arizona Bark Scorpions (Centruroides sculpturatus) by comparing the time taken to capture prey between non-reproductive and reproductive females (gravid females and females exhibiting maternal care, i.e. carrying offspring on their backs). RESULTS: Gravid females were as efficient at catching prey as non-gravid females. To control for variation in the duration of the maternal care period, we removed all offspring from all post-parturient females after 5 days. Brooding females and females 24 hours following offspring removal (FOR) did not successfully capture prey within the 900-second trial period. Twenty-eight days FOR, females caught prey faster than females displaying maternal care and females 24 hours FOR, but were not as efficient at catching prey as non-gravid and gravid females. When pursuing prey, C. sculpturatus exhibiting maternal care used an active foraging strategy more frequently than non-gravid, gravid, and females 28 days FOR. In contrast, non-gravid, gravid, and females 28 days FOR used active and ambush foraging with similar frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that reproduction does not significantly reduce the predatory efficiency of gravid C. sculpturatus, and that these females can cope with increasing body mass and the physiological costs of gestation. However, the observation that brooding females and females 24 hours FOR did not catch prey within the trial period indicates that maternal care significantly reduces predatory efficiency in these scorpions. Females 28 days FOR were still not as efficient at catching prey as non-gravid and gravid females, suggesting that reproductive costs extend for at least 4 weeks after the end of the maternal care period. Preferential use of an active foraging strategy by brooding females may increase prey encounter rates, allowing the scorpions to more rapidly replenish energy reserves depleted during reproduction. However, active foraging may be energetically costly and increase predation risk for brooding females. Our findings regarding antagonistic interactions between reproduction and feeding in female C. sculpturatus demonstrate the pervasive nature of reproductive costs for viviparous females, and may provide insight on factors that influence the diversity of reproductive strategies observed in nature.

A new Vaejovis C.L. Koch, 1836, the second known vorhiesi group species from the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona (Scorpiones, Vaejovidae).

A new species of the vorhiesi group of Vaejovis C.L. Koch, 1836, Vaejovis brysoni sp. n., is described from the Santa Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona. Vaejovis deboerae Ayrey also inhabits this mountain range, making this the first documented case of two vorhiesi group species distributed on the same mountain. When compared to all other vorhiesi group species, Vaejovis brysoni sp. n. is distinct based on several combinations of morphological characters and morphometric ratios.

Energy return on investment for algal biofuel production coupled with wastewater treatment.

This study presents a second-order energy return on investment analysis to evaluate the mutual benefits of combining an advanced wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) (with biological nutrient removal) with algal biofuel production. With conventional, independently operated systems, algae production requires significant material inputs, which require energy directly and indirectly, and the WWTP requires significant energy inputs for treatment of the waste streams. The second-order energy return on investment values for independent operation of the WWTP and the algal biofuels production facility were determined to be 0.37 and 0.42, respectively. By combining the two, energy inputs can be reduced significantly. Consequently, the integrated system can outperform the isolated system, yielding a second-order energy return on investment of 1.44. Combining these systems transforms two energy sinks to a collective (second-order) energy source. However, these results do not include capital, labor, and other required expenses, suggesting that profitable deployment will be challenging.