Energy Efficiency, Environment and Health

The problem of heat hazard in tunnel engineering has seriously affected the normal work of personnel and machinery. After combining the heat hazard control method of controlling the energy source and blocking the energy transfer, a technical scheme of precise thermal insulation at the working face in concert with geothermal energy extraction is proposed, forming a coupled cooling method of ventilation and partial thermal insulation. By building a scaled model test platform, the temperature field of the working area was analyzed, and the effect of factors, such as with or without a thermal insulation layer, ventilation velocity, and surrounding rock temperature on the cooling limit, was discussed. The feasibility of extracting energy and enhancing cooling through the heat exchange layer was judged. The results show that the partial thermal insulation can effectively weaken the heat dissipation of the surrounding rock and enhance the ventilation and cooling effect, which can reduce the average ventilation limit temperature of the working area by 1.6 °C. The addition of the heat exchange layer can further improve the tunnel environment on the basis of partial insulation, making the cooling limit temperature drop by another 3.1 °C, and the heat exchange layer can work for one year to extract geothermal energy 4.5 × 10⁸ J. The coupled cooling scheme of ventilation and partial thermal insulation is practical and useful, which can provide technical ideas for improving the thermal environment of the tunnel. Full article

The Earth’s magnetic field is one of the basic abiotic factors in all environments, and organisms had to adapt to it during evolution. On some occasions, organisms can be confronted with a significant reduction in a magnetic field, termed a “hypomagnetic field—HMF”, for example, in buildings with steel reinforcement or during interplanetary flight. However, the effects of HMFs on living organisms are still largely unclear. Experimental studies have mostly focused on the human and rodent models. Due to the small number of publications, the effects of HMFs are mostly random, although we detected some similarities. Likely, HMFs can modify cell signalling by affecting the contents of ions (e.g., calcium) or the ROS level, which participate in cell signal transduction. Additionally, HMFs have different effects on the growth or functions of organ systems in different organisms, but negative effects on embryonal development have been shown. Embryonal development is strictly regulated to avoid developmental abnormalities, which have often been observed when exposed to a HMF. Only a few studies have addressed the effects of HMFs on the survival of microorganisms. Studying the magnetoreception of microorganisms could be useful to understand the physical aspects of the magnetoreception of the HMF. Full article

South Korea is expected to become a super-aged society by 2025, when more than 20% of its population will be aged 65 and over. One possible solution for minimizing the socioeconomic burden posed by this aging trend is smart home technology, which can be used to support older adults’ daily routines. In this study, the aim is to suggest the direction of development on smart home technology and products to enhance our understanding of service and item needs for the optimal commercialization of smart homes for users. A living lab was set up to research the experience of using smart home technology in real environments. To obtain intuitive and specific evaluations, visitors of varying ages tested each item and living space and responded to a five-point scale questionnaire on importance (recognition) and performance (satisfaction). The recognition and satisfaction for each smart home item or service were then evaluated using basic statistical analysis, importance–performance analysis, and factor analysis using SPSS. It was determined that the importance and performance evaluations of smart home services and items differed by age group. The scores for the two categories exhibited evident similarities in the older adult group. More similarities were found in the evaluation of performance than importance across age groups. The results show that different age groups agree that the development of services/items that can constantly and automatically check residents’ health status should be prioritized. Full article

Regional eco-efficiency affects local public health through intermediaries such as economic and environmental impacts. Considering multiple factors, the implicit and uncertain relationship with regional characteristics, and the limited data availability, this paper investigated the forecasting of changes in local public health—including the number of visits to hospitals (VTH), outpatients with emergency treatment (OWET), number of inpatients (NI), number of health examinations (NOHE), and patients discharged (PD)—using calculated regional eco-efficiency with the Least Square-Support Vector Machine-Forecasting Model and acquired empirical evidence, utilizing the province-level data in China. Results: (1) regional eco-efficiency is a good predictor in both a single and multi-factor situation; (2) the prediction accuracy for five dimensions of the changes in local public health was relatively high, and the volatility was lower and more stable throughout the whole forecasting period; and (3) regional heterogeneity, denoted by three economic and demographic factors and three medical supply and technical level factors, improved the forecasting performance. The findings are meaningful for provincial-level decision-makers in China in order for them to know the current status or trends of medical needs, optimize the allocation of medical resources in advance, and enable ample time to tackle urgent emergencies, and, finally, the findings can serve to evaluate the social effects of improving regional eco-efficiency via local enterprises or individuals and adopting sustainable development strategies. Full article

This work solves the task of developing a fuzzy logic model for evaluating the energy efficiency of vehicles as part of the control unit of an intelligent transport system. Within the scope of this study, the previously obtained morphological model of the transport system was modified. A mathematical dependence is proposed to determine the vehicle energy efficiency indicator. This dependence characterizes the energy consumption of the vehicle in relation to the energy consumption of the vehicle under the reference operating conditions. Synthesis of system configurations was performed, and procedures were used to transform the morphological formulas of the received configurations into a base of logical derivation rules. Parameters of the membership functions of system parameters to fuzzy terms of the area of their definition are defined. Based on the results of the morphological analysis, two fuzzy derivation models were developed: the Mamdani type and the Sugeno type. The accuracy of the modeling was evaluated using different defuzzification algorithms in the control sample. The most accurate model is the fuzzy Mamdani model, with an accuracy value of 98.8%. Using the developed model, the nature of the mutual influence of the transport system parameters on the level of vehicle efficiency was assessed. The results of the study can be used to justify the choice of the vehicle under the specified operating conditions and in the settlement design of the road infrastructure. Full article

As urbanization continues to accelerate, the urban heat island effects have become one of the most important issues affecting the urban environment and people’s living experience. Numerous studies have shown that urban parks and green spaces can effectively alleviate the problem of the urban heat island effect and provide cooling and humidifying effects. Vegetation communities are a fundamental part of urban parklands, and multi-layered vegetation communities are considered to have better cooling and humidifying effects. Previous studies have focused on comparative analyses between different cover types of vegetation communities but have not explored the differences in the cooling and humidifying effects of multi-layered vegetation communities of the same cover type. Therefore, the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing was selected as the subject of this study, and multi-layered vegetation-covered (tree-shrub-grass) with different degrees of densities and uncovered squares were selected for the control and comparison. The cooling and humidifying effects of multi-layered vegetation communities with different canopy densities at different times of the day through field measurements were studied, and the influencing factors for this were analyzed. The results show that the tree cover is the core factor affecting temperature; the degree of the canopy density of multi-layered vegetation communities is significantly and positively correlated with the intensity of cooling and humidification, and the cooling and humidifying effect of multi-layered vegetation communities increases as the degree of canopy density increases. The results of this study can provide some references for the planning and design of urban parks and green spaces. Full article

This study used micro data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2018 to explore the impact of China’s residential clean energy consumption on residents’ subjective well-being. Our research results show that: the more clean energy consumption is present in housing, the stronger the residents’ sense of happiness; furthermore, it can be seen from the results of marginal effects that the increase in residential clean energy consumption increases the probability of residents choosing “relatively happy” and “extremely happy”. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis found that the increase in residential clean energy consumption increased the happiness of people with housing and low education, and also increased the happiness of residents in central China and middle-aged and elderly residents; the intermediary analysis shows that the use of clean energy in housing improves the health of residents, and improves their quality of life while increasing their expenditure. In addition, central heating affects the relationship between residential clean energy consumption and residents’ well-being. Further analysis shows that there is no non-linear relationship between the increase in residential clean energy consumption and residents’ happiness. This study enriches the research on residential clean energy and provides policy suggestions for improving residents’ living standards and welfare. Full article

This study focused on the detection of mesoscale meteorological phenomena, such as the nocturnal low-level jet (NLLJ) and sea breeze (SB), using automatic deterministic detection wavelet technique algorithms (HWTT and SWT) and the machine learning recurrent neural network (RNN) algorithm. The developed algorithms were applied for detection of NLLJ and SB events from ultrasonic anemometer measurements, performed between January 2018 and December 2019 at a nearshore experimental site in the north of France. Both algorithms identified the SB and NLLJ days successfully. The accuracy of SB event detection by the RNN algorithm attained 95%, and we identified 67 and 78 SB days in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Additionally, a total of 192 and 168 NLLJ days were found in 2018 and 2019, respectively. To demonstrate the capability of the algorithms to detect SB and NLLJ events from near-ground ultrasonic anemometer measurements, analysis of the simultaneous wind lidar measurements available for 86 days were performed. The results show a good agreement between the RNN-based detection method and the lidar observations, detecting 88% of SB. Deterministic algorithms (HWTT and SWT) detected a similar number of NLLJ events and provided high correlation (0.98) with the wind lidar measurements. The meteorological phenomena studied can significantly affect the energy production of offshore wind farms. It was found that the maximum hourly average peak power production could be to 5 times higher than that of the reference day due to higher wind speed observed during NLLJ events. During SB events, hourly average peak power production could be up to 2.5 times higher. In this respect, the developed algorithms applied for analysis, from near-ground anemometer measurements, may be helpful for monitoring and forecasting the meteorological phenomena capable of disturbing the energy production of offshore wind turbines. Full article

Plastic can be used for many things and at the same time is the most versatile material in our modern world. However, the uncontrolled and unprecedented use of plastic comes to its end. The global ban on plastic brings significant changes in technology but even more so in civil perception—changes taking place before our eyes. The aim of this study was to find answers to the questions about the readiness of consumers for a global ban on plastic. Within the research, the differences in consumer acceptance in countries in Europe, South and North America and Asia and the expression of social readiness to change attitudes towards plastic food packaging were analyzed. This work sketches the legal framework related to limiting the use of one-use food packaging made of fossil raw materials at the level of the European Union, Poland and Portugal but also at the level of the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States, as well as lower-income countries, e.g., Ukraine and Brazil. The survey results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The performed study demonstrates that, in in all the surveyed countries, appropriate legal acts related to the reduction of plastic in everyday life are already in place. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the full understanding of plastic banning in all surveyed countries. Consumers are aware that every effort should be made to prevent the world from drowning in plastic waste. Society is, in general, open to the use of bioplastics produced from the second-generation resource if second-generation bioplastics contribute to environmental and pollution reduction targets. Full article

An eco-label is an important tool for identifying green products in the marketplace. Most eco-labels, however, present a single icon that is simple and carries limited information, thus creating cognitive barriers for consumers. As a result, eco-labels might not always effectively promote green consumption. Based on dual coding theory and the spatial contiguity effect, this study investigated the effect of the “joint presentation of eco-label information” (JPEI), which adds (functional/emotional) descriptive text to eco-labels, on improving consumers’ cognitive fluency in eco-labels and subsequent purchase intention. We conducted three studies and found that, compared with the “single presentation of eco-label information” (SPEI), JPEI improved the cognitive fluency of consumers with low eco-label knowledge. Furthermore, spatially contiguous JPEI was more effective than spatially partitioned JPEI for consumers with low eco-label knowledge. In addition, we specifically explored the information types of JPEI that were effective for consumers with low eco-label knowledge. Low-construal consumers had higher cognitive fluency and higher purchase intentions under functional JPEI, and high-construal consumers had higher cognitive fluency and higher purchase intentions under emotional JPEI. The results of this study enrich eco-label research and can provide theoretical guidance for marketing practices in eco-labels. Full article

Range anxiety is a problem that restricts the development of pure electric vehicles. For this reason, much research starts from a shift schedule and strives to improve mileage. However, the proposed shift schedules have poor adaptive ability and are not suitable for dynamic conditions. In this paper, a shift schedule based on reinforcement learning (RL) is proposed, which uses Q-learning for optimization. However, the massive state variables and huge Q table in the state space put forward higher requirements on the computing power and storage space of the controller. Traditionally, the application of RL algorithms needs to rely on expensive GPU devices. To reduce high costs, we use an innovative treatment method, the optimal Latin hypercube design (Opt LHD), which is used for sampling, and state reduction is performed on the state space. Based on the above, the mileage is effectively improved by applying the shift schedule based on RL. Full article

Given the immersion of cities in a global situation of social emergency since the latest environmental and health events, current research on increasing the quality of life of citizens has become a priority in the attempt to provide the set of sustainable strategic conditions that must be met in favour of the necessary urban regeneration associated with the improvement of the habitable environment. Thus, being directly concerned by this matter, the construction of new buildings will have to follow concordant dynamics aiming at the improvement of the quality of life of their users and of the city as a whole, thus contributing to their mandatory healthy, habitable and equitable nature. It is necessary to redefine in the design of buildings certain potential criteria with a positive effect on the quality of life. These can be grouped into the following five key factors that define architectural work in relation to its habitability conditions: identity, character, image, materiality and implementation. These quality-of-life descriptors are assessed in a particular building, which serves as a real case study as follows: the new town hall of Estepona (Malaga, Spain). The aim is to provide an answer to the potential use of indicators that determine the improvement of the quality of life provided by a building in the city as a whole. The fact that it is a public building also turns it into a model of management that is consistent with the requirements of sustainable environmental progress in the general interest of a socially just city. Full article

Soil pollution from waste crude oil in emergency pits is a major problem at petroleum industry sites. In this work, extra-heavy waste crude oil was recovered from emergency pits and underwent many pre-purification processes to remove water and impurities. This type of oil was subjected to thermal cracking reactions in a semi-batch reactor constructed from stainless steel, with a volume of 500 mL. The cracking reactions were tested at operating temperatures of 400, 425, and 450 °C, with operating pressures of 1, 3, 5, and 7 bar. The results indicated that during thermal cracking, the reaction mechanism was highly dependent on the heat and mass transfer processes that occurred in the reactor. It was noted that the interaction between the optimal reaction temperature and operating pressure enhanced the product distribution and formation of high-quality liquid fuel with low gaseous and coke formations. The highest API of 30.5 was achieved for the liquid product at an operating temperature of 400 °C and a pressure of 3 bar. Additionally, an evaluation of the thermal cracking mechanism found that the transport processes that occurred in the reactor were the chief factor in providing a high-performance thermal cracking process. Full article

This decoupling between carbon dioxide emissions and the heavy industry is one of the main topics of government managers. This paper uses the quantile regression approach to investigate the carbon intensity of China’s heavy industry, based on 2005–2019 panel data. The main findings are as follows: (1) incentive-based environmental regulations have the greater impact on the carbon intensity in Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Henan, Liaoning, and Shaanxi, because these provinces invest more in environmental governance and levy higher resource taxes; (2) the impact of mandatory environmental regulations on carbon intensity in Beijing, Tianjin, and Guangdong provinces is smaller, since these three provinces have the fewest enacted environmental laws and rely mainly on market incentives; (3) conversely, foreign direct investment has contributed most to carbon intensity reduction in Tianjin, Beijing, and Guangdong provinces, because these three have attracted more technologically advanced foreign-funded enterprises; (4) technological progress contributes more to the carbon intensity in the low quantile provinces, because these provinces have more patented technologies; (5) the carbon intensity of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia provinces is most affected by energy consumption structures because of their over-reliance on highly polluting coal. Full article

Solar access describes the capacity of urban spaces to receive sunlight and daylight. Rapid urbanization and unbridled densification pose a threat to sustainable solar access, reducing the penetration of sunlight and daylight into cities. To effectively assess solar access at such an early design stage, at the urban planning level, it is critical that evaluation metrics are simple and reliable. This paper examines a cross section of solar metrics, from simple to more complex ones, to find potential solar performance indicators for urban planning evaluations. The metric datasets were created based on iterations of homogeneous neighbourhood designs, based on the three commonest typologies in the Swedish context: courtyard, slab, and tower. The results were validated using case studies sampled from districts of Malmö. The findings indicate that simple geometrical and latitudinal metrics may be suitable for assessing the solar access of urban designs due to high correlation with built density. Potential performance indicators aimed at indoor and outdoor evaluation of daylighting (VSC, SVF) and sunlighting (ASH_F, RD_G) in urban planning stages were suggested. Possible methods of applying the provided metric database into assessments were proposed. Future work should find evidence-based thresholds for the metric values to establish performance benchmarks. Full article

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of energy poverty on health in the EU-27 countries for the period from 2003–2020 using Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag models and generalized ridge regressions. Arrears on utility bills exerts positive long-run effects on capacity to keep the home adequately warm, current health expenditures, and self-perceived health as bad or very bad, but a negative long-run influence on energy import dependency. In the long-term, the population being unable to keep their home adequately warm positively affects self-perceived health as bad and very bad and negatively influences number of cooling days. Current health expenditure has a long-run influence on self-perceived health as bad and very bad and the number of heating days. Positive short-run impacts were observed for energy import dependency, arrears on utility bills, and number of heating days on current health expenditure and the population unable to keep their home adequately warm. People at risk of poverty or social exclusion in different zones had a significant impact on energy poverty indicators. A separate analysis is made for those EU states with the highest energy import dependency and the implications of the results are discussed. Full article

High-quality data on building energy use and indoor pollution are critical to supporting government efforts to reduce carbon emissions and improve the population’s health. This study describes the development of a city-representative housing stock model used for estimating space-cooling energy use and indoor PM_2.5 exposure across the Hong Kong housing stock. Archetypes representative of Hong Kong dwellings were developed based on geographically-referenced housing databases. Simulations of unique combinations of archetype, occupation, and environment were run using EnergyPlus, estimating the annual space-cooling energy consumption and annual average PM_2.5 exposure concentrations under both non-retrofit and retrofit scenarios. Results show that modern village houses and top-floor flats in high-rise residential buildings, on average, used 19% more space-cooling energy than other archetypes. Dwellings in urban areas had lower exposure to outdoor-sourced PM_2.5 and higher exposure to indoor-sourced PM_2.5 compared to those in rural areas. The percentage decrease in space-cooling energy consumption caused by energy efficiency retrofits, including external wall insulation, low-e windows, and airtightening, varied significantly based on archetype. The implementation of external wall insulation in the housing stock led to an average decrease of 3.5% in indoor PM_2.5 exposure, whilst airtightening and low-e windows resulted in 7.9% and 0.2% average increases in exposure, respectively. Full article

Carbon-reinforced concrete (CRC) has the potential to play a pivotal role in optimizing the built environment and has therefore been experiencing a wave of research and development in the construction industry in recent years. The production of carbon fibers for CRC is energy-intensive, prompting the need to explore circular economy approaches (e.g., recycling at the End-of-Life (EoL)) to optimize the environmental performance of this material. Underdeveloped processes and a resulting lack of primary data regarding the recycling of CRC have hampered a comprehensive sustainability assessment of the novel composite building material. The novelty of this article is the detailed presentation of possible EoL scenarios for CRC and the detailed determination of the respective environmental impacts. This study aims to model EoL options within a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), focusing on the EoL stage based on ISO 14040/44 using the GaBi ts 10.5.1.124 software and the CML2001 (2016) methodology. The practical relevance of the study lies in the early consideration of the entire life cycle of new materials, such as CRC, already in the design phase. Furthermore, the EoL can have relevant impacts on the environment, and due to an increasing significance of sustainability aspects, this LCA clarifies first approaches for the future of the construction sector in quantitative statements (e.g., CO₂ emissions). All data are literature-based and are explained in detail and calculated for our case study with the functional unit of one kilogram of re-usable material (reusable and fully usable “raw” material for further use/ development) from a double wall. The impact assessment was calculated for 11 midpoint categories and related indicators, although the main focus was on Global Warming Potential (GWP). It was found that the highest-quality recycled options for CRC arise when the individual fractions (concrete matrix and carbon fibers) are first broken up, separated and then individually processed. This study focused mainly on the processing of the carbon fibers contained in CRC, for which pyrolysis and mechanical recycling have the strongest potential for industrial application. For the demolition and separation of both the concrete and the carbon fiber fractions, the conventional transport from the demolition site to the stationary processing plant proved to be the main driver of the GWP (1.4 × 10⁻³ kg CO₂e). In the subsequent processing of the carbon fibers, pyrolysis showed a higher GWP (9.7 × 10⁻³ kg CO₂e) than mechanical recycling (3.1 × 10⁻⁴ kg CO₂e). In addition, the production of one m³ of concrete (C30/37) was compared to a primary raw material concrete fraction. Concrete can be successfully used as a substitute material for the gravel present in the C30/37 concrete. The use of recycled parts in concrete (originating from the concrete used in carbon-reinforced concrete) as a substitute for primary gravel showed a savings of 6.9 kg CO₂e per m³ of primary concrete, corresponding to a reduction of 22.5%. The results show that the mechanical recycling of carbon fibers is overall the route with the lowest energy input and emissions. However, compared to pyrolysis, the recycled carbon fibers from mechanical recycling have a lower quality. Therefore, despite the higher energy input, pyrolysis is a more promising approach to close the material cycle. Furthermore, recycled aggregate concrete can reduce emissions by a quarter compared to primary concrete. Finally, this work aimed to provide a basis for further life cycle optimization in the construction sector. In subsequent studies, the EoL must be combined with the production and use stages to depict the entire life cycle, identify possible trade-offs and compare the results with conventional construction methods or materials such as steel-reinforced concrete. Full article

The treatment of phenolic-containing wastewater has received increased attention in recent years. In this study, the N-doped porous carbons were prepared from lignite with tripolycyanamide as the N source, and their phenol adsorption behaviors were investigated. Results clearly showed that the addition of tripolycyanamide largely improved the surface area, micropore volume, N content and thus the phenol adsorption capacity of lignite-based carbons. The N-doped sample prepared at 700 °C showed a surface area of 1630 m²/g and a phenol adsorption capacity as high as 182.4 mg/g at 20 °C, which were 2.0 and 1.6 times that of the lignite-based carbon without N-doping. Pseudo-second order and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models could better explain the phenol adsorption behaviors over lignite-based N-doped porous carbon. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that phenol adsorption energies over graphitic-N (−72 kJ/mol) and pyrrolic-N (−74 kJ/mol) groups were slightly lower than that over the N-free graphite layer (−71 kJ/mol), supporting that these N-containing groups contribute to enhance the phenol adsorption capacity. The adsorption mechanism of phenol over porous carbon might be interpreted by the π–π dispersion interactions between aromatic-ring and carbon planes, which could be enhanced by N-doping through increasing π electron densities in the carbon plane. Full article

In order to analyze the permeability and particle size distribution of atomized aerosol in different coal particle sizes and to explore the inhibition performance of an atomized inhibitor in different atomization times and positions, the following conclusions are obtained by ultrasonic atomization device: The results of permeability experiment show that the particle size of aerosol decreases with the increase of atomization frequency. In addition, with the particle size of the coal sample decreasing from 5 cm to 0.6 cm, the penetration ratio of aerosol in coal decreases from 64.2% to 15.5% due to the interception of large particle size water mist by dense coal. The aerosol with a particle size of 2~4 μm has better permeability in crushed coal. The flame retardant experiment shows that compared with the raw coal, the aliphatic hydrocarbon of the atomized coal decreases by 75.9%, the aromatic hydrocarbon decreases by 57.5%, and the flame retardant effect is good. Meanwhile, the extension of solution atomization time will further enhance the flame retardant ability of ultrasonic atomized aerosol. Full article

The continued development of the automotive industry has led to a rapid increase in the amount of waste rubber tires, the problem of “black pollution” has become more serious but is often ignored. In this study, the emission characteristics, health risks, and environmental effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a typical, recycled rubber plant were studied. A total of 15 samples were collected by summa canisters, and 100 VOC species were detected by the GC/MS-FID system. In this study, the total VOCs (TVOCs) concentration ranged from 1000 ± 99 to 19,700 ± 19,000 µg/m³, aromatics and alkanes were the predominant components, and m/p-xylene (14.63 ± 4.07%–48.87 ± 3.20%) could be possibly regarded as a VOCs emission marker. We also found that specific similarities and differences in VOCs emission characteristics in each process were affected by raw materials, production conditions, and process equipment. The assessment of health risks showed that devulcanizing and cooling had both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, yarding had carcinogenic risks, and open training and refining had potential carcinogenic risks. Moreover, m/p-xylene and benzene were the main non-carcinogenic species, while benzene, ethylbenzene, and carbon tetrachloride were the dominant risk compounds. In the evaluation results of L_OH, m/p-xylene (25.26–67.87%) was identified as the most key individual species and should be prioritized for control. In conclusion, the research results will provide the necessary reference to standardize the measurement method of the VOCs source component spectrum and build a localized source component spectrum. Full article

Driving in tunnel areas depends more heavily on light conditions than that on open roadways. Traditional lighting systems in highway tunnels adjust lighting parameters only caring about outside light luminance, and focus is usually on energy conservation; however, little concern is about drivers’ actual physical and psychological needs. How to leverage the enormous research progress of traffic safety, light environment, human factors engineering, and modern lighting sources to create an ideal tunnel light environment that aids with ensuring driving safety and lower interference effects caused by the change of light environment will greatly improve safety level and reduce adverse influence on drivers’ visual health in a tunnel area. An intelligent lighting control system designed with multiple influence factors are systematically considered. Based on sensor data from outside natural light conditions, target lighting parameters are determined per each lighting zone requires; then, lighting commands will be transferred and parsed by adaptive lighting controllers and modules, eventually LED lighting properties are altered step by step. This system helps a lot with optimizing tunnel lighting quality and improving drivers’ visual performance; as a result, it contributes to lower the fluctuation of drivers’ workload and get a smooth traffic flow, and ultimately this technically ensures physical and mental health of drivers in a tunnel area. Full article

The US highway system features a huge flux of energy transportation in terms of weight, speed, volume, flow density, and noise levels, with accompanying environmental effects. The adverse effects of high-volume traffic cause health concerns for nearby residential areas. Both chronic and acute exposure to PM 2.5 have detrimental effects on respiratory and cardiovascular health, and motor vehicles contribute 25–35% of direct PM 2.5 emissions. In addition to traffic-related pollutants, residing near major roadways is also associated with exposure to increased noise, and both affect the health and quality of life of residents. While regulatory and policy actions may reduce some exposures, engineering means may offer novel and significant methods to address these critical health and environmental issues. The goal of this study was to harvest highway-noise energy to induce surface charge via a piezoelectric material to entrap airborne particles, including PM 2.5. In this study, we experimentally investigated the piezoelectric effect of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheet and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber foam on the entrapment of copper (II)-2,4 pentanedione powder (Cu II powder). Appreciable voltages were induced on the surfaces of the PMMA via mechanical vibrations, leading to the effective entrapment of the Cu II powder. The EPDM rubber foam was found to attract a large amount of Cu II powder under simulated highway noise in a wide range, of 30–70 dB, and at frequencies of 700–1300 Hz, generated by using a loudspeaker. The amount of Cu II powder entrapped on the EPDM rubber-foam surfaces was found to scale with the SPL, but was independent of frequency. The experimental findings from this research provide a valuable base for the design of a robust piezoelectric system that is self-powered by harvesting the wasted sound energy from highway noise and reduces the amount of airborne particles over highways for effective environmental control. Full article

The cost of silver separation is lowered when ammonia and hydrazine hydrate are replaced with sodium thiosulfate and sodium dithionite in the process of extracting of metallic silver from copper anode slime. The overall environmental impact of two types of copper silver separation processes from anode slime has been analyzed\using the LCA method. Through the subdivision analysis, we found the raw materials or emission items that should be improved first. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) The life cycle environmental impact of the sodium thiosulfate process is much lower than the existing process; (2) The resource and environmental impacts of the sodium thiosulfate method are mainly in the fields of climate change, photochemical smog, and ionizing radiation, exceeding two-thirds of the impact on all of the resources and environment; (3) In terms of input and output items, the main impact of the new process on the resources and the environment is concentrated on the use of sodium hydroxide, accounting for 33.98% of the total equivalent, followed by sodium thiosulfate and sodium carbonate, respectively. These input–output items are the key fields that need attention in future technology improvement. Full article

Almost all systems generate acoustic signals when operating or when a process is being performed. These signals contain certain data related to the operating performance of systems. In this study, acoustic data were used to study the performance and to identify the optimum operating points of natural gas burners that are used in steam boilers. The sound recordings of burners obtained under different operating conditions were examined with acoustic analysis methods. The impact of various operating parameters on acoustic values was determined using time series analysis, frequency spectrum data and then power spectral density values. When the excess air coefficient and emission and efficiency values of boilers were compared with the acoustic data, it was determined that the Yule–Walker algorithm contained distinct and explanatory values. The steam boiler and the natural gas burner within were considered a system for the analysis. Measurement results showed that operating parameters and acoustic analysis results were correlated. Moreover, the results were confirmed with the emission measurement results. Finally, it was deduced that the acoustic values can be used for obtaining the optimum operating points in similar systems where inlet and outlet parameters cannot be measured, and the related principles were revealed. Full article

Energy use in buildings can influence the indoor environment. Studies on green buildings, energy saving measures, energy use, fuel poverty, and ventilation have been reviewed, following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The database PubMed was searched for articles published up to 1 October 2020. In total, 68 relevant peer-reviewed epidemiological or exposure studies on radon, biological agents, and chemicals were included. The main aim was to assess current knowledge on how energy saving measures and energy use can influence health. The included studies concluded that buildings classified as green buildings can improve health. More efficient heating and increased thermal insulation can improve health in homes experiencing fuel poverty. However, energy-saving measures in airtight buildings and thermal insulation without installation of mechanical ventilation can impair health. Energy efficiency retrofits can increase indoor radon which can cause lung cancer. Installation of a mechanical ventilation systems can solve many of the negative effects linked to airtight buildings and energy efficiency retrofits. However, higher ventilation flow can increase the indoor exposure to outdoor air pollutants in areas with high levels of outdoor air pollution. Finally, future research needs concerning energy aspects of buildings and health were identified. Full article

Eco-efficiency analysis can provide useful information about sustainability in the tourism industry, which has an important role in both global economy recovery and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), generating considerable indirect carbon emissions with respect to the supply chain due to its significant connections to other industries. This study, from the perspective of tourism sectors, including tourism hotels, travel agencies, and scenic spots, integrated the environmentally extended input–output analysis (EEIO) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to develop a research framework, analyzing the indirect carbon emissions of the tourism supply chain, evaluating eco-efficiency with respect to both direct carbon emissions and total carbon emissions (including direct and indirect parts), and exploring the driving factors of eco-efficiency of tourism sectors using Tobit regression models. This study took Gansu as a case, a province in China characterized by higher carbon intensity, an underdeveloped economy, and rapid tourism growth. The results demonstrate that (1) tourism hotels contribute the most carbon emissions in tourism sectors, especially indirectly due to the supply chain, with carbon emissions mainly resulting from the manufacturing of food and tobacco; (2) the eco-efficiency of tourism sectors in Gansu presents a U-shaped curve, which is consistent with Kuznets’ theory; and (3) energy technology is key to improving the eco-efficiency of tourism sectors. The research results provide a clear path for the reduction of carbon emissions and the improvement of eco-efficiency in Gansu tourism sectors. Against the backdrop of global climate change and the post-COVID-19 era, our research framework and findings provide a reference for similar regions and countries who are in urgent need of rapid tourism development to effect economic recovery. Full article

Heavy metal pollution in cultivated land poses a serious threat to environmental health and farmers’ livelihoods. As the direct user of cultivated land, understanding farmers’ adaptive behavior to heavy metal pollution, and its influencing factors, can provide insight and information relevant for decision-making, so as to better manage the hazards and risks of heavy metal pollution. We proposed a conceptual framework of “farmers’ characteristics-perceptions-adaptive behaviors”. Factor analysis and mediation effect analysis were used to explore the influence of characteristics and perceptions on adaptive behaviors. The data of 278 farmers in a typical mining area in Daye, China, show that local farmers perceive the hazards of heavy metal pollution, but their adaptive behaviors are hindered to a certain extent. The results of the mediation effect analysis show that perceptions of health impact, self-efficacy, and adaptive cost play a partial mediating role in the impact of characteristics on adaptive behaviors. In addition, the influence of the “factor of dependence on farmland” and the “factor of obstacles to action” on adaptive behavior have no significant relationship with perception levels. By comparing the influencing factors, we found that although farmers’ perceptions have mediating effects between characteristics and adaptive behaviors, characteristics still play a decisive role in adaptive behaviors. Full article

With the accelerated development of urbanization in China, rural permanent population has declined, while rural electricity consumption has increased, resulting in a significant waste of electricity resources. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2007 to 2020, this paper comprehensively used the decoupling model and the coordination degree model to analyze the temporal change characteristics, spatial distribution characteristics, and the degree of deviation of rural permanent population and rural electricity consumption. Firstly, according to the decoupling model, the type of decoupling between rural electricity consumption and rural permanent population was strong negative decoupling. At the provincial level, Beijing and Tibet belonged to expanding negative decoupling. Tianjin and Liaoning belonged to recession link. The other 27 provinces, including Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, belonged to strong negative decoupling. Secondly, according to the coordination degree model, the coordination type of the national rural permanent population and rural electricity consumption was uncoordinated. The areas that can be coordinated include 20 provinces, including Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The basic coordination areas included Beijing and Tibet. Finally, according to the comprehensive measurement model, the provinces with strong negative decoupling included Shanxi, Zhejiang, and Chongqing. Sichuan, Hebei, Shandong, and Shaanxi belonged to moderately strong negative decoupling groups. Full article

The main problem in current energy management is the ability of practical application. To address the problem, this paper proposes a reinforcement learning (RL)-based energy management by combining Tubule Q-learning and Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle (PMP) algorithms for a plug-in hybrid electric bus (PHEB). The main innovation distinguished from the existing energy management strategies is that a dynamic SOC design zone plan method is proposed. It is characterized by two aspects: ① a series of fixed locations are defined in the city bus route and a linear SOC reference trajectory is re-planned at fixed locations; ② a triangle zone will be re-planned based on the linear SOC reference trajectory. Additionally, a one-dimensional state space is also designed to ensure the real-time control. The off-line trainings demonstrate that the agent of the RL-based energy management can be well trained and has good generalization performance. The results of hardware in loop simulation (HIL) demonstrate that the trained energy management has good real-time performance, and its fuel consumption can be decreased by 12.92%, compared to a rule-based control strategy. Full article

The rapid growth and urbanization rate, coupled with hot climate and scarce rainfall, makes it essential for a country like Kuwait to have several power and desalination plants with high-generating capacity. These plants are entirely reliant on burning fossil fuels as a source of thermal energy. These plants are also universally accepted to be the largest CO₂ emitters; hence, they present a potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS). Having established the suitability of the existing conditions for post-combustion CCS, a techno-economic-based feasibility study, which took into consideration local power generation technologies and economic conditions, was performed. Relying on fifteen case study models and utilizing the concept of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), the statistical average method (SAM) was used to assess CCS based on realistic and reliable economic indicators. Zour power station, offering the highest potential CO₂ stream, was selected as a good candidate for the analysis at hand. Heavy fuel oil (HFO) was assumed to be the only fuel type used at this station with affixed price of USD 20/barrel. The analysis shows that the internal rate of return (IRR) was about 7%, which could be attributed to fuel prices in Kuwait and governmental support, i.e., waived construction tax and subsidized workforce salaries. Furthermore, the net present value (NPV) was also estimated as USD 47,928 million with a 13-year payback period (PBP). Moreover, 1–3% reductions in the annual operational cost were reflected in increasing the IRR and the NPV to 9–11% and USD 104,085–193,945 million, respectively, and decreasing the PBP to 12–11 years. On the contrary, increasing the annual operational cost by 1% made the project economically unfeasible, while an increase of 3% resulted in negative IRR (−1%), NVP (−USD 185,458 million) and increased PBP to 30 years. Similarly, increasing the HFO barrel price by USD 5 resulted in negative IRR (−10%) and NVP (−USD 590,409); hence, a CCS project was deemed economically unfeasible. While the study considered the conditions in Kuwait, it is expected that similar results could be obtained for other countries with an oil-driven economy. Considering that around 62% of the fossil fuel blend in Kuwait is consumed by electricity and water generation, it is inevitable to consider the possibility and practicality of having a carbon network with neighboring countries where other oil-driven economies, such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, can utilize a CCS-based mega infrastructure in Kuwait. The choice of Kuwait is also logical due to being a mid-point between both countries and can initiate a trading scheme in oil derivatives with both countries. Full article

The transformation of mining cities and the realization of high-quality economic development are complicated processes. The objective existence of abundant resource factor endowment in mining cities does not mean that resource allocation is in the optimal state and can play the greatest role. The optimal allocation of factors for the high-quality economic development of mining cities is more important than the resource factors. The input–output allocation efficiency of high-quality economic development under the common frontier and group frontier of 99 mining cities in China from 2006 to 2019 is calculated by using the data envelopment analysis method and common frontier model, and the pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are decomposed. The results show that (1) the comprehensive technical efficiency values under both common frontiers and group frontiers show that the factor allocation efficiency in the process of high-quality economic development of different mining cities shows obvious heterogeneity. (2) The growth of the input–output allocation efficiency of the high-quality economic development of mining cities has significant spatial convergence characteristics, but the convergence speed is different. (3) The high-quality development path of the mining city’s economy should not only focus on comprehensively improving the ability of resource element input and output allocation but also improve the group environment. Full article

Besides technological processes; logistics; and the use of petrol and light solvents, which are widely known as pollutants, the sources of BTEX hydrocarbon contributing to air pollution may also include other petroleum products and fuels that feature higher boiling points and that have not yet been associated with this issue. In this study, the contents of benzene; toluene; ethylbenzene; and o-, m-, and p-xylene were evaluated in 25 commercial samples of diesel oils; the gaseous phase in thermodynamic equilibrium with liquid diesel oil at 40 °C was then evaluated. Based on the experimental results, it was found that benzene concentration in the gaseous phase is five to more than fifteen times higher than the limits set by regulations for benzene concentration in the air at a work place (1.6 mg/m³) and cannot be compared with the limits set by regulations for annual average basal levels of benzene concentration in the air (5 µg/m³). The research revealed that diesel oil is a potential source of environmental contamination from BTEX hydrocarbons, in particular benzene. Full article

This study investigated the willingness of residents to pay for ecosystem services in a hillside forest in the Lanyang River Basin, which is among the most vulnerable watersheds in Taiwan. The economic value of provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services was evaluated. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was applied for economic analysis of public welfare. The determinants of the economic values were identified. A total of 444 respondents completed the questionnaire. The results revealed that the four ecosystem services had high economic value, indicating that conserving hillside forests can ensure the welfare of nearby residents. The findings of this study can serve as reference for regional land planning and social and economic system development policies. In addition, this study addressed policy implementation from the perspective of ecological economics to contribute to an improved Anthropocene. Full article

The most significant increase in construction volumes in Latvia was registered in the time period from 2005 to the middle of 2008. Many large suburban areas around Riga were landscaped for building single-family-type houses. People have been using these properties for 12–15 years, and now, the challenge for the inhabitants is to find the most efficient way to maintain a high level of living comfort. Deteriorating systems require investments, so it is in the interest of owners to ensure that the benefits of such investments are maximized and that energy consumption is as low as possible. In this study, the authors simulated various scenarios where HVAC system parameters were changed, and the thermal performance of building structures was improved. Annual energy consumption, indoor quality and thermal comfort were analyzed. The importance of this work is justified by the need to realize and define the energy efficiency levels of existing single-family houses and demonstrate the amount of investment required to move closer to established energy efficiency targets. Full article

The spontaneous pro-environmental behavior (PEB) of rural residents is essential for rural environmental governance. Existing studies have primarily focused on the impact of objective factors on individual PEB, while less attention has been paid to the role of subjective factors, such as rural residents’ subjective well-being, in shaping such behaviors. Based on the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data, this study evaluates the impact of subjective well-being on the PEB of rural residents. The results show that subjective well-being significantly promoted the PEB in both the private sphere with reciprocity and the public sphere with altruistic attributes. Subjective well-being affected PEB mainly by enhancing rural residents’ social interaction and reciprocity with others and raising their fraternity and altruism. Moreover, the positive effect was mainly driven by women and individuals with more environmental knowledge. Therefore, enhancing rural residents’ subjective well-being is not only an important development goal, but also the starting point and foothold of solving the contradiction between economic development and environmental protection and promoting social harmony. Full article

As the world is moving toward greener forms of energy, to mitigate the effects of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, wind energy has risen as the most invested-in renewable energy. China, as the largest consumer of world energy, has started investing heavily in wind energy resources. Most of the wind farms in China are located in Northern China, and they possess the disadvantage of being far away from the energy load. To mitigate this, recently, offshore wind farms are being proposed and invested in. As an initial step in the wind farm setting, a thorough knowledge of the wind energy potential of the candidate region is required. Here, we conduct numerical experiments with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model forced by analysis (NCEP-FNL) and reanalysis (ERA-Interim and NCEP-CFSv2) to find the best choice in terms of initial and boundary data for downscale in the South China Sea. The simulations are validated by observation and several analyses. Specific locations along China’s coast are analyzed and validated for their wind speed, surface temperature, and energy production. The analysis shows that the model forced with ERA-Interim data provides the best simulation of surface wind speed characteristics in the South China Sea, yet the other models are not too far behind. Moreover, the analysis indicates that the Taiwan Strait along the coastal regions of China is an excellent region to set up wind farms due to possessing the highest wind speeds along the coast. Full article

Whilst effective public expenditure policies are essential for transforming the traditional factor-driven economy into a green and innovation-driven economy, the impacts of public expenditure’s size and composition on green economic development have not been comprehensively investigated. This paper attempts to fill this research gap. Based on the data of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2018, we first measure green total factor productivity (GTFP), the proxy variable for green development, and briefly analyze its spatial-temporal trends. Then, using the dynamic panel models, dynamic panel mediation models, and dynamic panel threshold models, we evaluate how public expenditure affects GTFP. The main findings are fourfold: (1) there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between the expenditure size and GTFP. (2) The expansion of social expenditures and science and technology (S&T) and environmental protection expenditures play an important role in stimulating green growth, while economic expenditures and administrative expenditures have adverse effects. (3) Public expenditure mainly promotes green development through four channels: human capital accumulation, technological innovation, environmental quality improvement, and labor productivity increase. (4) The expenditure composition influences the turning point of the inverted U-shaped relationship. Based on these findings, we propose some targeted policy suggestions to promote green development. Full article

Sunlight controls endogen hormone balances and numerous health effects. Therefore, it is important to provide building users, such as schoolchildren, with sufficient daylight. Too much of it, however, leads to overheating, which is why shading systems are used. Consequently, these systems improve energy balance, but might not have positive effects on present people’s health. Within this study, shading systems were installed in classrooms of a middle school: common shading in two rooms, while two others were equipped with shading blades “Schlotterer RETROLux 80D” in an innovative design, reflecting more daylight indoors. The participating classes were divided between rooms with ordinary daylighting (n = 43) and advanced daylighting (n = 42). They spent, on average, 5 days weekly and 5–8 h daily in these classrooms. Saliva samples were collected during three semesters to detect hormonal changes. Questionnaires were collected to obtain more information about the mental alterations and, furthermore, to support the physiological results. A significant reduction in cortisol levels between 6:30 AM and 11:30 AM (p < 0.001) was observed within the group that had advanced daylighting. Questionnaires show that both groups sleep less as study duration increases (p < 0.001 time effect), but only the control group has a concurrent increase in daytime sleepiness according to relative treatment effects. The results show that increased daylight supply indoors leads to a significant greater reduction in cortisol levels of children and that those positive outcomes can be achieved by using innovative technologies for buildings. Full article

At present, research on the influence of human activities (especially urbanization) on the microbial diversity, structural composition, and spatial distribution of rivers is limited. In this paper, to explore the prokaryotic community structure and the relationship between the community and environmental factors in the Jialing River Basin of Chongqing, so as to provide a basis for monitoring microorganisms in the watershed. The V3–V4 region of the 16 S rRNA gene was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing and the microbial community of the waters of the Jialing River was analyzed for the diversity and composition of the prokaryotic community as well as the species difference of four samples and correlations with environmental factors. The main results of this study were as follows: (1) The diversity index showed that there were significant differences in the biodiversity among the four regions. At the genus level, Limnohabitans, unclassified_f_Comamonadaceae, and Hgcl_clade were the main dominant flora with a high abundance and evenness. (2) A Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to analyze the differences of species composition among the communities and the following conclusions were drawn: each group contained a relatively high abundance of Limnohabitans; the Shapingba District had a higher abundance of Limnohabitans, the Hechuan District had a wide range of unclassified_f_Comamonadaceae, and the Beibei District had a higher Hgcl_clade. (3) Through the determination of the physical and chemical indicators of the water—namely, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, chlorophyll A, and an analysis by an RDA diagram, the results demonstrated that the distribution of microbial colonies was significantly affected by the environmental factors of the water. Chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen had a significant influence on the distribution of the colonies. Different biological colonies were also affected by different environmental factors. Full article

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) concerns satisfaction with life and happiness with regard to physical, mental, and social factors. RAND-36 is a publicly available, self-administered questionnaire that examines eight health dimensions. This study evaluated the HRQoL of the South Korean population using the RAND-36 questionnaire and compared HRQoL across sociodemographic characteristics. From May 2015 to May 2019, South Koreans who visited public places aged 19–80 years were recruited and the RAND-36 questionnaire was administered. Overall, 1002 participants were recruited (mean age 45.34 years, 52% men). Men scored better than women in both physical and mental health (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in bodily pain (p < 0.05), general health perception (p < 0.05), and energy/fatigue (p < 0.05) dimensions according to the participants’ health condition. The HRQoL of South Koreans was lower than average in most dimensions compared with other countries. As the first study to assess this, its data can be used in future studies that apply RAND-36 to evaluate the HRQoL of diseased individuals, as they can compare their findings with those of our study population. Full article

This study aims to investigate the co-movement and lead–lag relationship between carbon prices and energy prices in the time–frequency domain in the carbon emission trading system (ETS) of Beijing. Based on wavelet analysis method, this study examines the weekly data on oil and natural gas prices and carbon prices in Beijing ETS from its establishment in November 2013 to April 2019. Empirical results show the following important findings: (1) Carbon and natural gas prices are mainly negatively correlated, with natural gas prices occupying a leading position in the 12–20 weeks frequency band, indicating that the increase (decrease) of natural gas price will lead to the decrease (increase) of carbon price; (2) carbon and oil prices show an unstable dependence relationship, and their leadership position in the market constantly changes. The partial wavelet coherency and partial phase differences vary greatly in different time–frequency domains, indicating that there is no stable coherency between oil prices and carbon prices. The estimation results prove the existence of coherency between the carbon and energy prices in the Beijing ETS. The research findings of this paper provide quantifiable references for investors to achieve risk control in asset allocation and investment portfolio in the ETS market. Full article

Pareidolia is a kind of misperception caused by meaningless, ambiguous stimuli perceived with meaning. Pareidolia in a built environment may trigger the emotions of residents, and the most frequently observed pareidolian images are human faces. Through a pilot experiment and an in-depth questionnaire survey, this research aims to compare built environmental pareidolian phenomena at different time points (6 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 a.m.) and to determine people’s sensitivity and reactions towards pareidolia in the built environment. Our findings indicate that the differences in stress level do not influence the sensitivity and reactions towards pareidolia in the built environment; however, age does, and the age of 40 seems to be a watershed. Females are more likely to identify pareidolian faces than males. Smokers, topers, and long-term medicine users are more sensitive to pareidolian images in the built environment. An unexpected finding is that most pareidolian images in built environments are much more easily detected in the early morning and at midnight but remain much less able to be perceived at midday. The results help architects better understand people’s reactions to pareidolia in the built environment, thus allowing them to decide whether to incorporate it appropriately or avoid it consciously in building design. Full article

In order to ensure the safety of cultivated land and promote urban productivity, the Chinese government began to promote intensive land use at the legislative level from 2014. At the same time, China faces problems of carbon emissions and energy, so we need to improve energy efficiency. Therefore, this paper aims to verify the spatial effects of intensive land use on energy efficiency of China from 2009 to 2018. We further use an index system to quantify intensive land use and use chain DEA (data envelope analysis) to quantify energy efficiency. This paper finds that: (1) intensive land use can significantly improve energy efficiency. A 1% increase in the level of intensive land use will increase energy efficiency by 1.3%. (2) The intensive use of land in one city will have a negative impact on the energy efficiency of surrounding cities. The reason is that the intensive use of land in a single city may lead to the transfer of energy-consuming industries to surrounding cities. (3) The impact of intensive land use on the energy efficiency of surrounding cities has negative threshold characteristics, and the negative impact will be weakened as the level of integration of the city increases. Full article

This study aims to measure the ability of 29 countries in producing competitive products and services that fulfill individual needs and improve the level of welfare with less utilization of natural resources. We build a two-stage network production process model to investigate the ecology efficiency and social welfare efficiency of the countries and then further discriminate the efficient countries in post-analysis. The two-stage network directional distance function is applied to assess the efficiencies of countries, and the network-based ranking approach is used to further discriminate the efficient countries following the panel data between the years 2013 and 2016. Results show that Poland and Spain are strongly referenced by other countries in the ecology stage, whereas Bulgaria, the United States, and Sweden are leaders in the social welfare stage. A remarkable observation is an absence of countries’ efficiency in both ecology and social welfare efficiencies. Most of the 29 countries have lower efficiency in the social welfare stage than in the ecology stage. This study suggests the strengths and highlights the weaknesses of the countries to help the governments efficiently improve and operate their countries. Full article

Focusing on the exploration of the important role of fiscal ecological compensation in green development, this paper incorporates fiscal ecological compensation into the analytical framework of green development. Based on samples of data from county areas in China in 2017 and 2018, this paper empirically examines the shape of the green development routes in county areas in China. On this basis, this paper explores the impact and mechanism of fiscal ecological compensation on the green development path in China. The empirical results show that there is a nonlinear, N-shaped relationship between economic development and the ecological environment in China within the range of the sample examined. Fiscal ecological compensation has a direct governance effect on the ecological environment of deterring ecological damage and providing financial compensation. Fiscal ecological compensation has an indirect impact on the ecological management of different regions by influencing economic development. Therefore, while focusing on transforming the economic development model, local governments should adopt policy instruments such as expanding the coverage of financial ecological compensation, deepening the design of the financial ecological compensation system, and systematically evaluating the effects of financial ecological compensation policies. The government should further improve and optimize the fiscal eco-compensation system in order to help China’s green and high-quality development. Full article

One of the most effective ways to improve building energy efficiency and consumption is to increase the thermal insulation of the building envelope and reduce the heat loss through walls. A new type of thermal insulation wall panel, consisting of a lightweight assembled exterior wall panel, was investigated in this research through experimental and numerical analyses. The feasibility of achieving the anticipated thermal performance through finite element modeling using ABAQUS^® was verified. Good agreement between numerical simulation and experimental measurement was found, and the accuracy is 98.8%. To further reduce the heat transfer coefficient (U-value) of the panel to improve its thermal performance, parametric analyses were conducted utilizing the validated finite element model. The simulation shows that changing the insulation material is the best option, and the U-value reduction percentage reached 13.2%. Moreover, the combination of reducing the number of steel studs, decreasing the size of steel studs, implementing the opening of the light-gauge steel, and improving the insulation material led to a 23.7% reduction in the U-value at 0.695 W·m⁻²·K⁻¹. Full article

Based on the extended STIRPAT model, this paper examines social and economic factors regarding PM_2.5 concentration intensity in 255 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2016, and includes quantile regressions to analyze the different effects of these factors among cities of various sizes. The results indicate that: (1) during 2007–2016, urban PM_2.5 concentration exhibited declining trends in fluctuations concerning the development of the urban economy, accompanied by uncertainty under different city types; (2) population size has a significant effect on propelling PM_2.5 concentration; (3) the effect of structure reformation on PM_2.5 concentration is evident among cities with different populations and levels of economic development; and (4) foreign investment and scientific technology can significantly reduce PM_2.5 emission concentration in cities. Accordingly, local governments not only endeavor to further control population size, but should implement a recycling economy, and devise a viable urban industrial structure. The city governance policies for PM_2.5 concentration reduction require re-classification according to different population scales. Cities with large populations (i.e., over 10 million) should consider reducing their energy consumption. Medium population-sized cities (between 1 million and 10 million) should indeed implement effective population (density) control policies, while cities with small populations (less than 1 million) should focus on promoting sustainable urban development to stop environmental pollution from secondary industry sources. Full article

There are myriad questions that remain to be answered in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading. This article addresses carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission factors and carbon losses from heavy equipment that is used to transport ores. Differences occurred between the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) emission factor and those that were obtained by considering incomplete combustion and on-site exhaust concentration measurements. Emissions from four off-road vehicles were analyzed. They operated at idle (loading, unloading, and queuing) and in motion (front and rear, loaded and unloaded). The results show that the average CO₂ emission factors can be as low as 64.8% of the IPCC standard value for diesel fuel. On the other hand, carbon losses can be up to 33.5% and energy losses up to 25.5%. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the method that was developed here is innovative, simple, useful, and easily applicable in determining CO₂ emission factors and fuel losses for heavy machinery. Full article

How will the dual structural effects, represented by industrial structure and energy structure, affect the future correlation between economic growth and CO₂ emissions? Taking Jilin Province as an example, this study explores the dynamic driving mechanism of dual structural effects on the correlation between economic growth and CO₂ emissions by innovatively building an integrated simulation model from 1995 to 2015 and setting different scenarios from 2016 to 2050. Correspondingly, the concept of marginal utility and the method of variance decomposition analysis are introduced to reveal the mechanism. The results show that the energy structure is different while the industrial structure tends to be similar when CO₂ emissions reach the peak under different scenarios. The slower the dual structure adjustment, the more significant the upward trend appears before the peak. The contribution of the dual structural effects to CO₂ emissions caused by unit GDP growth is basically the same in peak year. With the transformation of socio-economy, the positive driving effect of the industrial structure will gradually weaken, while the negative driving effect of the energy structure will gradually increase. The methods and results presented can provide insights into sensible trade-offs of CO₂ emissions and economic growth in different countries/regions during structural transitions. Full article

Electrokinetic remediation (EKR) is a viable, advanced cleaning strategy that can permanently reduce the toxicity of soil contaminants. However, EKR is prone to causing changes in soil pH. The negative impacts must be minimized if field-scale application is to be realized. In this study, EKR with polarity reversal was used to avoid soil pH polarization and to clean up cadmium (Cd)-contaminated paddy soils. Results showed that Cd desorbed from oxidizable and residual fractions to labile and easily available parts. Soil moisture content above 0.35 g g⁻¹ was conductive to achieving the desirable Cd-migration rate. The exchangeable Cd phase eventually migrated from both ends of that soil compartment towards the intermediate. Moreover, the addition of citric acid at the concentration of 0.1 mol L⁻¹ was an effective enhancement strategy. The methodology enriched Cd contaminants to specific sites. The technology can be used for electrokinetic-assisted phytoremediation during the rice growing period. Hyperaccumulator is planted in the intermediate area to remove the Cd contaminants. On the other hand, Cd removal is achieved in the region close to the electrodes. The present study provides a theoretical basis for in situ remediation. It has a wider significance for field-scale application. Full article

The study of thermo-hygrometric comfort in hospitals involves several factors: the presence of different subjects: patients, operators, visitors; different conditions of hospitalization: patients bedridden or out of bed; psychological aspects and therapeutic treatments. In this paper, the analysis focuses on patients in ordinary hospitalization rooms of a hospital located in southern Italy. Different room orientations, several characteristics, and specific factors concerning hospitalized patients’ conditions that significantly influence the comfort indices have been considered. In total, 41 scenarios have been defined and analyzed by means of two comfort models: static and adaptive. The study aims to investigate the application of these models to the complex environment of hospitals, finding strengths and weaknesses, which also results in a re-definition of the HVAC system operation. Results show that patient position (in bed or out), clothing type, and level of coverage in the bed can make the same microclimatic condition more suitable for one scenario over another. Furthermore, room exposure has an effect on the comfort of the indoor temperature. The seasonal analyses highlight that during summer, for all scenarios considering bedridden patients, more than 50% of the PMV calculated values are out of the comfort zone. In winter, the indoor conditions are good for bedridden patients with a cover level of 67% during the nighttime (almost 100% PMV values in comfort zone), while during the daytime, they are more suitable for a 48% coverage level if the patient is in bed or if they are walking (lower than 10% dissatisfied). Full article

Applying microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology for eco-remediation of Cr(VI) pollution from a subsurface environment has great scientific value and practical significance due to its promising advantages of pollutant remediation and renewable energy generation. The aim of the current review is to summarize the migration characteristics of Cr(VI) in a subsurface soil/water environment and investigate the factors affecting the MFC performance for synchronous Cr(VI) remediation and power generation, and sequentially highlight diverse challenges of MFC technology for in situ remediation of subsurface groundwater and soils. The critical review put forward that Cr(VI) removal efficiency and energy production of MFC can be improved by enhancing the adjustability of cathode pH, setting potential, modifying electrode, and incorporating other technologies into MFC. It was recommended that designing typical large-scale, long-term continuous flow MFC systems, adding electron shuttle media or constructing artificial electron according to actual groundwater/soil and Cr(VI) pollution characteristics, site geology, and the hydrogeology condition (hydrochemical conditions, colloid type, and medium) are essential to overcome the limitations of the small size of the laboratory experiments and improve the application of technology to in situ Cr(VI) remediation. This review provided reference and ideas for future research of MFC-mediated onsite Cr(VI) remediation. Full article

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in Korea. Dyslipidemia, characterized by the presence of abnormal lipid levels, has been suggested as an early diagnostic and preventable factor for CVD. Recent studies have shown that exposure to lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) affects lipid metabolism. This study aimed to verify the association between heavy metal concentrations and serum lipid profiles in the general population. A representative sample of 2591 Korean adults from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (2015–2017) was analyzed. The associations between heavy metals [Blood Pb (BPb), blood Hg (BHg), urinary Hg (UHg), urinary Cd (UCd)] and serum lipid profiles [total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-low level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Non-HDL-C)] were assessed using regression analysis. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, the proportional changes in serum lipid levels were significantly associated with increases in BPb, BHg, and UHg levels (p for trend < 0.05). Overall, BPb, BHg, and Uhg levels positively correlated with dyslipidemia, whereas UCd levels did not show a significant association. Our results suggest that heavy metal exposure, at low levels, may contribute to an increased prevalence of dyslipidemia in Korean adults. Full article

Energy efficiency is a pillar for the energy system transition and for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. In the light of the “energy efficiency first!” principle, European member states enforce policies to spread energy saving throughout the whole energy chain involving both citizens and industries. In this context, information and training campaigns arise as valuable support tools to disseminate energy efficiency and, therefore, for reducing energy consumption. Although various studies have evaluated the impact of information campaigns targeted to citizens, there is a lack of investigations that assess the impact of campaigns dedicated to industry sectors. This study discusses the results of a survey targeted at energy-intensive Italian companies, with a sample of 300 responses. Starting from the analysis of drivers that trigger the implementation of energy efficiency measures, the paper proposes an approach to evaluate the amount of energy savings linked to the Italian information and training program targeted to industries carried out by the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency. Results show that although information campaigns are not a crucial driver for companies, they are recognized as a factor that contributes to the implementation of energy efficiency practices. Findings show that roughly 1.4% of energy savings noted by interviewed companies to the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency are a direct effect of the information and training program. This outcome has significant implications, especially for decision-makers, giving evidence of the efficacy of information campaigns on industries, which have great potential for the transition to low carbon production systems. Full article

This work focuses on the modeling and simulation of constant pressure systems based on variable speed pumps, with the aim of studying and evaluating their performance from a multidisciplinary approach. Using the physical models of the Simscape library, from MATLAB/Simulink R2019b, two study cases are assembled consisting of: piping system, a hydropneumatic tank, centrifugal pumps with an induction motor, variable speed drives, and a control system. Case one is comprised of one pump at a fixed speed and another at variable speed, and case two with both pumps at variable speed. For the parameterization of the models, data from manufacturers and process requirements are used. The different stages of the control system are integrated and configured; these are constant V/f control, slip compensation, space vector modulation (SVM,) and pressure controller. The dynamic response of the system, power saving, transient current at startup, and harmonic distortion are evaluated. The results showed that both cases kept the pressure constant in the face of variable flow demand and smoothed out the current during startup. Case two saved more energy (between 28 and 49%) but generated more harmonic distortion. In addition, both cases have better performance compared with traditional fixed-speed technologies. Full article

The mitigation effects of park green space on Urban Heat Island (UHI) have been extensively documented. However, the relative effects of the configuration of park components on land surface temperature (LST) inside the park and indicators (i.e., park cooling intensity and distance) surrounding the park is largely unknown. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to explore the quantitative impacts of configuration and morphology features under different urban park scales on the cooling effect. In this study, based on Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS images on 3 August 2015 and 16 August 2020 during summer daytime, the LSTs of Shanghai City were retrieved by atmospheric correction method. Then, the relationships of park landscape features with LSTs in the park and typical indicators representing cooling efficiency of 24 parks on different grades were analyzed. The results showed that the average temperature in urban parks was, respectively, 1.46 °C and 1.66 °C lower than that in the main city of Shanghai in 2015 and 2020, suggesting that urban parks form cold islands in the city. The landscape metrics of park area (PA), park perimeter (PP), green area (GA) and water area (WA), were key characteristics that strong negatively affect the internal park LSTs. However, the park perimeter-to-area ratio (PPAR) had a significant positive power correlation with the park LSTs. Buffer zone analysis showed that LST cools down by about 0.67 °C when the distance from the park increases by 100 m. The Maximum Cooling Distance (MCD) for 2015 and 2020 had a significant correlation with PA, PC, PPAR, GA and WA, and increased sharply within the park area of 20 ha. However, the medium park group had the largest Maximum Cooling Intensity (MCI) in both periods, followed by the small park group. There could be a trade-off relationship between the MCD and MCI in urban parks, which is worth pondering to research. This study could be of great significance for planning and constructing park landscapes, alleviating Urban Heat Island effect and improving urban livability. Full article

Reducing red meat consumption in high-consuming countries is critical for mitigating climate change and preventing chronic disease. This study tested the effectiveness of messages conveying the worsening or reduction of environmental harms at discouraging red meat consumption. 1078 U.S. adults viewed seven messages in an online survey highlighting the reduction or worsening of environmental harms associated with eating red meat (between-subjects factor) and rated the messages on how much they discouraged them from wanting to buy beef. Each message highlighted a different environmental harm: deforestation, climate change, water shortages, biodiversity loss, carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, or environment (within-subjects factor). No statistically significant difference was found between the reduction and worsening of environmental harms conditions for most topics, though the worsening of harms frame slightly outperformed the reduction of harms frame for the ‘environment’ topic. ‘Environment’ was also the message topic that elicited the strongest response from participants overall. Latino participants, those with more than a high school degree, and those who consume beef once a week or less rated messages as more effective than non-Latino participants, those who completed high school or less, and those who consumed beef more than once a week. Future research should explore the effect of messages on behavioral outcomes. Full article

This study applies the Physical Optimum (PhO) as a reference value to rate the efficiency of two technical options for the oxygen supply of a hospital. The systematic comparison of the alternative processes using the PhO as a benchmark for the minimum input (exergy in this case) required to run a process with a certain benefit allows to determine the potential for optimization of each technology. Differences are analyzed by visualizing the losses of each individual production step in a process as well as by the resulting overall energy demand, including the primary energy. Possible alternatives are purchasing liquid oxygen from a cryogenic process or the production by means of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) on site. The cryogenic production shows a lower exergy demand even though it also has a higher potential for optimization. Yet, the total losses, significantly impacted by the unavoidable transportation, sum up, resulting in the conclusion that the PSA is the preferable option overall, considering energy aspects. Finally, additional criteria such as economic, legal, and structural consequences of the respective choices are briefly outlined. Full article

The emission of mercury from coal combustion has caused consequential hazards to the ecosystem. The key challenge to abating the mercury emission is to explore highly efficient adsorbents. Herein, sulfur-functionalized carbon (S-C) was synthesized by using a molten-salt pyrolysis strategy and employed for the removal of elemental mercury from coal-combustion flue gas. An ideal pore structure, which was favorable for the internal diffusion of the Hg⁰ molecule in carbon, was obtained by using a SiO₂ hard template and adjusting the HF etching time. The as-prepared S-C with an HF etching time of 10 h possessed a saturation Hg⁰ adsorption capacity of 89.90 mg·g⁻¹, far exceeding that of the commercial sulfur-loaded activated carbons (S/C). The S-C can be applied at a wide temperature range of 25–125 °C, far exceeding that of commercial S/C. The influence of flue gas components, such as SO₂, NO, and H₂O, on the Hg⁰ adsorption performance of S-C was insignificant, indicating a good applicability in real-world applications. The mechanism of the Hg⁰ removal by S-C was proposed, i.e., the reduced components, including sulfur thiophene, sulfoxide, and C-S, displayed a high affinity toward Hg⁰, which could guarantee the stable immobilization of Hg⁰ as HgS in the adsorbent. Thus, the molten-salt pyrolysis strategy has a broad prospect in the application of one-pot carbonization and functionalization sulfur-containing organic precursors as efficient adsorbents for Hg⁰. Full article

To understand the influence of Pb/Zn smelter on surrounding environment, 110 soil and 62 wheat grain samples (62 paired samples) were collected nearby a Pb/Zn smelter in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, China. The content and spatial distribution of metal(loid)s in the soil-wheat system, and the potential health risk via consumption of wheat grains were determined. Results showed that the average content of Pb, Cd, As, Cu, Zn, and Ni in soil were 129.16, 4.28, 17.95, 20.43, 79.36, and 9.42 mg/kg, respectively. The content of Cd in almost all soil samples (99.1%) exceeded the national limitation of China (0.6 mg/kg). Spatial distribution analysis indicated that atmospheric deposition might be the main pollution source of Pb, Cd, As, and Zn in soil. In addition, the average content of Pb, Cd, As, Cu, Zn, and Ni in wheat grain were 0.62, 0.35, 0.10, 3.7, 35.77, and 0.15 mg/kg, respectively, with the average Pb and Cd content exceeding the national limitation of China. The average bioaccumulation factor of these metal(loid)s followed the following order: Zn (0.507) > Cu (0.239) > Cd (0.134) > Ni (0.024) > Pb (0.007) > As (0.006). Health risk assessment indicated that the average noncarcinogenic risk of children (6.78) was much higher than that of adults (2.83), and the carcinogenic risk of almost all wheat grain is higher than the acceptable range, with an average value of 2.43 × 10⁻². These results indicated that humans who regularly consume these wheat grains might have a serious risk of noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic diseases. Full article

The fault tree analysis (FTA) method is an important analysis method for safety system engineering. Traditional accident analysis theory agrees that basic events lead to top events, but it does not fully consider that the accident process is accidental, and the calculation results exaggerate the probability of accident occurrence. This paper selects typical collision accidents, analyzes the shortcomings of the existing fault tree, indicates that there is a contingency in the accident process, constructs a probability fault tree based on the traditional fault tree, and puts forward concepts of “probability AND gate” and “probability OR gate”. In addition, based on the traditional quantitative analysis method of fault trees, calculations of the occurrence probability, probability importance coefficient, and critical importance coefficient of top events are modified, and the modified quantitative calculation is applied to accident cases. Full article

The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is the core region for the security of mineral resources in China and is a strategic water source containing rich water resources. Coordinating the security of mineral resources and water resources in the YREB is a key problem. Establishing and optimizing the water ecological environment (WEE) is crucial for addressing this problem in mining cities, which are the main bases for the supply of mineral resources. This study applies the cloud model, CV-TOPSIS, the standard deviation ellipse, and the coupling coordination degree model to evaluate the WEE and the coordinated development state, and to optimize the WEE. The results show that: (1) the WEE of mining cities in the YREB is generally good; (2) the protection of WEE in most mining cities has achieved significant results recently, and the results in the downstream are more remarkable than those in the mid-upstream; (3) the coordinated development of WEE in regenerative mining cities is better than that of mature and declining cities; and (4) most mining cities still belong to the lagging type of water environment (heavy metal pollution has been better treated and the threat of water ecological security caused by heavy metal pollution is low). This study suggests improvements to the sewer system, promotes WEE management in the mid-upstream, and propels the transformational development of mature and declining mining cities in advance. Full article

Water distribution networks need to improve system efficiency. Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy that has been among the key solutions to environmental issues for many decades. As the turbine is the core of hydropower plants, high attention is paid to creating new design solutions and increasing the performance of turbines in order to enhance energy efficiency of leakage by pressure control. Hence, design and performance analysis of a new turbine is a crucial aspect for addressing the efficiency of its application. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is coupled with experimental tests in order to investigate the optimal performance of a new centrifugal turbine. The behavior of the flow through the turbine runner is assessed by means of velocity profiles and pressure contours at all components of the machine under different operating conditions. Finally, the turbine geometry is scaled to a real water distribution network and an optimization procedure is performed with the aim of investigating the optimal location of both the designed new centrifugal micro-turbines (CMT) and pressure reducing valves (PRV) in order to control the excess of pressure and produce energy at the same time. Full article

Unlike their counterparts that are used for container or municipal solid waste hauling, or their peers of taxies and other commercial vehicles, construction waste hauling trucks (CWHTs) are heterogeneous in that they transport construction waste from construction sites to designated disposal facilities. Depending on the intensity of the construction activities, there are many CWHTs in operation, imposing massive impacts on a region’s transportation system and natural environment. However, such impacts have rarely been documented. This paper has analyzed CWHTs’ freight characteristics and their carbon emission by harnessing a big dataset of 112,942 construction waste transport trips in Hong Kong in May 2015. It has been observed that CWHTs generate 4544 daily trips with 307.64 tons CO₂-eq emitted on working days, and 553 daily trips emitting 28.78 tons CO₂-eq on non-working days. Freight carbon emission has been found to be related to the vehicle type, transporting weight, and trip length, while the trip length is the most influential metric to carbon emission. This research contributes to the understanding of freight characteristics by exploiting a valuable big dataset and providing important benchmarking metrics for monitoring the effectiveness of policy interventions related to construction waste transportation planning and carbon emission. Full article

The ecological environment is important for the natural disaster prevention of human society. The monitoring of ecological environment quality has far-reaching practical significance for the functional construction of ecosystem services and policy coordination. Based on Landsat 8 operational land image (OLI)/thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) remote sensing image data, this study selected the normalized vegetation (NDVI), tasseled cap transformation humidity (WI), bare soil (SI), construction index (NDSI), and land surface temperature (LST) indexes from the aspects of greenness, humidity, dryness, and heat. Using spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) and the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) analyzed the spatial differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of the original remote sensing ecological index (RSEI₀). The results showed that: (1) the overall RSEI average value of the Qinling-Daba Mountains in 2017 was 0.61, and the ecological environment quality was at a “Good” level. Greenness contributed the most to the comprehensive index of the area, and vegetation distribution had a significant impact on the ecological environment quality of the study area. Heat is a secondary impact, and it has an inhibitory effect on habitat quality; (2) the overall distribution of regional ecological environment quality was quite different, with the ecological environment quality level showing a decreasing trend from low to high altitude; RSEI₀ spatial heterogeneity at the optimal scale of 2 km was the largest, and the nugget effect was 88% which indicated a high degree of spatial variability, mainly affected by structural factors; (3) Slope, relief amplitude, elevation, the proportion of high-vegetation area, proportion of construction land area, and average population density significantly impact the spatial differentiation of RSEI₀. The explanatory powers of slope and relief amplitude were 56.1% and 65.3%, respectively, which were the main factors affecting the spatial differentiation of the ecological environment quality in high undulation. The results can provide important scientific support for ecological environment construction and ecological restoration in the study area. Full article

The CO₂ emission-mitigation policies adopted in different Chinese cities are important for achieving national emission-mitigation targets. China faces enormous inequalities in terms of regional economic development and urbanization, with some cities growing rapidly, while others are shrinking. This study selects 280 cities in China and divides them into two groups of growing cities and two groups of shrinking cities. This is achieved using an index called “urban development degree,” which is calculated based on economic, demographic, social, and land-use indicators. Then, the 280 cities’ CO₂ emission characteristics are examined, and extended STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) is used to verify the influencing factors. We find that rapidly growing cities (RGCs) present a trend of fluctuating growth in CO₂ emissions, rapidly shrinking cities (RSCs) show an inverted U-shaped trend, and slightly growing (SGCs) and slightly shrinking cities (SSCs) show a trend of rising first, followed by steady development. Moreover, for growing cities, the population, economy, and proportion of tertiary industry have positive effects on carbon emissions, while technology has negative effects. For shrinking cities, the population and economy have significant positive effects on carbon emissions, while technology and the proportion of tertiary industry have negative effects. Full article

Improving energy efficiency is an important way to achieve low-carbon economic development, a common goal of most nations. Based on the comprehensive survey data of enterprises above a designated size in Guangdong Province, this paper studies the impact of artificial intelligence on the energy efficiency of manufacturing enterprises. The results show that: (1) artificial intelligence, as measured by the use of industrial robots, has significantly improved the energy efficiency of manufacturing enterprises. This conclusion is still robust after introducing data on industrial robots in the United States over the same time period as the instrumental variable for the endogeneity test. (2) The mechanism test shows that artificial intelligence mainly promotes the improvement in energy efficiency by promoting technological progress; the impact of artificial intelligence on the technological efficiency of enterprises is not significant. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the age of the manufacturing enterprises inhibits a promoting effect of artificial intelligence on energy efficiency; manufacturing enterprises’ performance can enhance the promoting effect of artificial intelligence on energy efficiency, but this promoting effect can only be shown when the enterprise performance is positive. The paper clarifies both the impact of artificial intelligence on the energy efficiency of manufacturing enterprises and its mechanism of action; this will help provide a reference for future decision-making designed to improve manufacturing enterprises’ energy efficiency. Full article

While tourism eco-efficiency has been analyzed actively within tourism research, there is an extant dearth of research on the spatial network structure of provincial-scale tourism eco-efficiency. The Super-SBM was used to evaluate the tourism eco-efficiency of 30 provinces (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Then, social network analysis was employed to examine the evolution characteristics regarding the spatial network structure of tourism eco-efficiency. The main results are shown as follows. Firstly, tourism eco-efficiency of more than two thirds’ provinces witnessed an increasing trend. Secondly, the spatial network structure of tourism eco-efficiency was still loose and unstable during the sample period. Thirdly, there existed the multidimensional nested and fused spatial factions and condensed subsets in the spatial network structure of tourism eco-efficiency. However, there was still a lack of low-carbon tourism cooperation among second or third sub-groups. These conclusions can provide references for policymakers who expect to reduce carbon emissions from the tourism industry and to achieve sustainable tourism development. Full article

The modern climate policy of different countries, decarbonization, the principles of ESG and sustainable development determine the main trends in the world economy, the result of which is a new vision of the energy-saving problem. The authors’ research is based on the key idea that in the modern world, systematic measures are needed to improve the energy efficiency of enterprises in the industrial sector of the economy. The article analyzes the systems used for assessing the energy efficiency of objects for various purposes, and on this basis, their advantages and limitations in application are revealed, which were taken by the authors as a basis for developing a new approach to assessing the energy efficiency of industrial facilities. The study gives preference to the point-rating assessment. The authors have developed a system of indicators structured by groups: building energy efficiency, technological process energy efficiency, energy efficiency and environmental friendliness management. The system of indicators of energy efficiency of an industrial facility proposed by the authors has been replaced as a basis for ranking industrial facilities by energy efficiency classes. Full article

Grey water footprint is included in the green development efficiency evaluation index system of the chemical industry. From 2002 to 2016, the super efficiency Slack Based Measure (SBM) model was used to measure the green development efficiency of the chemical industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition method were used to decompose the regional differences of green development efficiency of the chemical industry in the Economic Belt, and the coefficient of variation method and panel data regression model were used to test the convergence characteristics. The following results were obtained. (1) The total grey water footprint of the chemical industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt showed a fluctuating downward trend from 2002 to 2016. (2) The green development efficiency of the chemical industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was significantly improved, and the spatial differentiation law of gradient decline in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Economic Belt was shown. (3) The regional difference of green development efficiency of the chemical industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt initially showed an expanding trend and then a narrowing trend. Regional differences in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River increased while those in the middle reaches first increased and then decreased, whereas those in the lower reaches decreased significantly. The variance in green development efficiency of the chemical industry is the main cause of regional differences. (4) From 2012 to 2016, the Yangtze River Economic Belt had obvious convergence in its whole region, middle reaches, and lower reaches and an inconspicuous convergence in the upstream area. Regional difference of green development efficiency of the chemical industry in the Economic Belt was the combined effect of the results of environmental regulation, industrial structure, foreign investment intensity, and scientific and technological advancements. Our results have high theoretical reference values and practical guiding significance for implementing the green efficiency promotion strategy of the chemical industry in Yangtze River Economic Belt by region and classification. Full article

Technical change essentially drives regional social and economic development, and how technical change influences the regional sustainable development of the ecological environment is also of concern. However, technical change is not always neutral, so how does directed technical change affect urban carbon intensity? Is there a spatial spillover effect between these two? In order to answer these above questions, this article first explores the relationship between directed technical change and carbon intensity through the spatial Durbin model; then, it separately analyses whether the relationship between the two in low-carbon and non-low-carbon cities will differ; finally, we performed a robustness test by replacing weights, replacing the explained variable with a lag of one period, and replacing the explained variable. The conclusions are as follows: (1) There is a positive spatial correlation between the carbon intensity of Chinese cities—that is, there is a positive interaction between the carbon intensity of local cities and of neighboring cities. For every 1% change in the carbon intensity of neighboring cities, the carbon intensity of local cities changes by 0.1027% in the same direction. (2) The directed technical change has a significant inhibitory effect on urban carbon intensity, whether in local cities or neighboring cities. However, it is worth mentioning that the direct negative effect is greater in local cities than in neighboring cities. (3) The directed technical change in low-carbon cities has a stronger inhibitory effect on carbon intensity, with a direct effect coefficient of −0.5346 and an indirect effect coefficient of −0.2616. Due to less green policy support in non-low-carbon cities, the inhibitory effect of directed technical change on carbon intensity is weakened; even if the direct effects and indirect effects are superimposed, it is only −0.0510 rather than −0.7962 for low-carbon cities. Full article

Using tobacco waste as raw material, the ultrasonic-assisted extraction of chlorogenic acid was optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). After repeated freezing and thawing of tobacco waste twice, the effect of pH value, ethanol volume fraction, temperature and extraction time on the extraction rate of chlorogenic acid was investigated by a single factor experiment. On the basis of this, the factors affecting the yield of chlorogenic acid were further optimized by using RSM. The optimum extraction conditions for chlorogenic acid were set at pH = 4.1, ethanol volume fraction was 49.57% and extraction time was 2.06 h. Under the above conditions, the extraction rate of chlorogenic acid could reach 0.502%, which was higher than traditional extraction and unpretreated ultrasonic extraction. All these results can be used as a reference for the extraction of effective ingredients in tobacco waste. Full article

The introduction of carbon fiber plate shoes has triggered a plethora of world records in running, which has encouraged shoe industries to produce novel shoe designs to enhance running performance, including shoes containing conductor elements or “grounding shoes” (GS), which could potentially reduce the energy cost of running. The aim of this study was to examine the physiological and perceptual responses of athletes subjected to grounding shoes during running. Ten elite runners were recruited. Firstly, the athletes performed an incremental running test for VO₂max and anaerobic threshold (AT) determination, and were familiarized with the two shoe conditions (traditional training shoe (TTS) and GS, the latter containing a conductor element under the insole). One week apart, athletes performed running economy tests (20 min run at 80% of the AT) on a 400 m dirt track, with shoe conditions randomized. VO₂, heart rate, lactate, and perceived fatigue were registered throughout the experiment. No differences in any of the physiological or perceptual variables were identified between shoe conditions, with an equal running economy in both TTS and GS (51.1 ± 4.2 vs. 50.9 ± 5.1 mL kg⁻¹ min⁻¹, respectively). Our results suggest that a grounding stimulus does not improve the energy cost of running, or the physiological/perceptual responses of elite athletes. Full article

China’s rapid economic growth has caused serious problems, such as environmental pollution and resource exhaustion. Only by improving the green total factor productivity (GTFP) can China’s economic development get out of the dual dilemmas of environmental degradation and resources exhaustion. Although environmental regulation helps to improve China’s productivity, its impact on GTFP is still controversial and deserves careful investigation. In this context, this study adopts the global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index to measure the GTFP change of China’s 30 provinces over the period of 2003 to 2017 and then it uses the fixed-effect dynamic panel model to investigate the impact of environmental regulation on GTFP from the perspective of governance transformation. The results show that: (1) there is a nonlinear U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and GTFP, indicating that the Porter hypothesis is verified in China. More notably, the values of environmental regulation are still located on the left side of the U-shaped curve at present, which means that the promotional effect of environmental regulation on GTFP has not been realized fully. (2) The U-shaped relationship shows significant regional heterogeneity. The western region demonstrates the highest level of significance, followed by the eastern region. However, the U-shaped relationship is insignificant in the central region. (3) Governance transformation can not only significantly improve GTFP but it can also accelerate the realization of the Porter hypothesis by inspiring the innovative enthusiasm of enterprises, which means that governance transformation can contribute to the achievement of the improved effects of environmental regulation on GTFP. (4) R&D investment can significantly improve GTFP, where the impacts of trade openness and factor endowment were significantly negative and the influence of foreign direct investment was not significant. These conclusions provide a good reference point for optimizing the relationship between the government and the market, as well as promoting regional green and high-quality development in China. Full article

In recent years, with the public paying more and more attention to the problem of air pollution, the impact of air quality on migration has gradually become a growing concern. However, in the current context of cities’ efforts to “attract talent” in China, research on the impact of air pollution on the flow or dwelling willingness of young talent is relatively limited. Based on the theory of planned behavior and from the perspective of subjective perception, this paper uses a regulated model to explore the impact mechanism of air pollution perception on young talent urban settlement intentions. Taking Hangzhou as a case, this study surveyed 987 individuals who were classified as young talent to explore the impact of air pollution perception on urban settlement intentions in China. The research shows that air pollution perception has a significant impact on young talent urban settlement intentions, and this impact is achieved through the intermediary effect of residential satisfaction. Place attachment of young talent to cities cannot significantly regulate the impact of air pollution perception on residential satisfaction, but it can significantly regulate the relationship between residential satisfaction and urban settlement intentions. That is to say, although place attachment cannot reduce the decline in residential satisfaction brought by air pollution perception, it can weaken the negative impact of air pollution perception on dwelling willingness through a decline in residential satisfaction. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between air quality and young talent settlement intentions. Full article

Increasing demand on heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems and their importance, as the respiratory system of buildings, in developing and spreading various microbial contaminations and diseases with their huge global energy consumption share have forced researchers, industries, and policymakers to focus on improving the sustainability of HVAC systems. Understanding and considering various parameters related to the sustainability of new and existing HVAC systems as the respiratory system of buildings are vital to providing healthy, energy-efficient, and economical options for various building types. However, the greatest opportunities for improving the sustainability of HVAC systems exist at the design stage of new facilities and the retrofitting of existing equipment. Considering the high available percentage of existing HVAC systems globally reveals the importance of their retrofitting. The attempt has been made to gather all important parameters that affect decision-making to select the optimum HVAC system development considerations among the various opportunities that are available for sustainability improvement. Full article

The present research analyzes the impact of nine factors related to household demographics, building equipment, and building characteristics towards a home’s total energy consumption while controlling for climate. To do this, we have surveyed single-family owned houses from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) dataset and controlled the analysis by Building America climate zones. Our findings are based on descriptive statistics and multiple regression models, and show that for a median-sized home in three of the five climate zones, heating equipment is still the main contributor to a household’s total energy consumed, followed by home size. Social-economic factors and building age were found relevant for some regions, but often contributed less than size and heating equipment towards total energy consumption. Water heater and education were not found to be statistically relevant in any of the regions. Finally, solar power was only found to be a significant factor in one of the regions, positively contributing to a home’s total energy consumed. These findings are helpful for policymakers to evaluate the specificities of climate regions in their jurisdiction, especially guiding homeowners towards more energy-efficient heating equipment and home configurations, such as reduced size. Full article

China is about to enter a moderate aging society. In the process of social and economic development, the family socioeconomic status and health status of the elderly have also changed significantly. Learning the impact of family socioeconomic status on elderly health can help them improve family socioeconomic status and better achieve healthy and active aging. Using the data of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey in 2018, this study firstly analyzed the impact of family socioeconomic status on elderly health using the multivariate linear regression model and quantile regression model, the heterogeneity of different elderly groups using subsample regression, and the mediation effects of three conditions associated with the family socioeconomic status of the elderly. The results show that family socioeconomic status has a negative effect on the frailty index, that is, it has a positive impact on elderly health. Family socioeconomic status has a higher positive impact on the health status of the middle and lower age elderly and rural elderly. Overall living status and leisure and recreation status both have mediation effects, while health-care status has no mediation effect. Full article

The thermal comfort of occupants in the increasing number of modern buildings with glass curtain wall structures is of significant research interest. As the thermal sensitivity of building occupants varies with building features, situational factors, and the human body’s thermal balance, it is necessary to derive the comfort temperature based on field research, which was conducted in this study in a South Korean office building with a glass curtain wall structure. The influence of solar radiation on the indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort obtained by measurements and occupant questionnaires was analyzed using cumulative graphs and a sensitivity analysis. The observed changes in operative temperature over time confirmed that occupant comfort was significantly affected by the radiant temperature. Based on this result, two groups (Group A near the windows and Group B near the interior corridor) were defined for analysis. Owing to the influx of solar radiation, Group A was more sensitive to changes in the thermal environment (0.67/°C) than Group B (0.49/°C), and the derived comfort temperature for each group differed from the set temperature by approximately ±2 °C. Thus, it was confirmed that the solar radiation introduced through a glass curtain wall building has a direct impact on the indoor thermal environment and occupant comfort according to location. Full article

This article uses the “Green Credit Guidelines” promulgated in 2012 as an example to construct a quasi-natural experiment and uses the double difference method to test the impact of the implementation of the “Green Credit Guidelines” on the green innovation activities of heavy-polluting enterprises. The study found that, in comparison to non-heavy polluting enterprises, the implementation of green credit policies inhibited the green innovation of all heavy-polluting enterprises. In the analysis of heterogeneity, this restraint effect did not differ significantly due to the nature of property rights and the company’s size. The mechanism test showed that green credit policy limits the efficiency of business investment and increases the cost of financing business debt. Eliminating corporate credit financing, particularly long-term borrowing, negatively impacts the green innovation behavior of listed companies. Full article

European Union Member States are called upon to meet internationally proposed environmental goals. This study is based, in particular, on the recommendation of the European Union (EU), which encourages Member States to pursue effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, including through appropriate changes in the behavioral habits of citizens. In this respect, among the main sectors involved, transport and mobility should certainly be mentioned. National institutions should be adequately involved in order to achieve the objectives set; in this regard, universities must certainly be considered for their educational value. These latter, for instance, could commit to improving the environmental performance of the mobility of their commuter students (to a not insignificant extent), since commuting modes are often the cause of high CO₂ emissions; indeed, they still largely involve the use of internal combustion engines based on fossil fuels. In this paper, the effectiveness of a smartphone-app-based method to encourage commuter students to adopt more sustainable transport modes is evaluated. In more detail, starting from a statistical analysis of the status quo of mobility habits of a sample of students at the University of Palermo (Italy), an improvement of current habits toward a more sustainable path is encouraged through a new application (specifically created for this purpose) installed on students’ smartphones. Then, the daily and annual distances traveled by commuters with the new mobility modes are calculated, and the resulting savings in energy and CO₂ emissions are estimated. Finally, it is proposed that the reduced emissions could be converted into energy-efficiency credits that the University could use to enter the emission trading system (ETS), here contextualized within the Italian “TEE” (“Energy Efficiency Credits”) scheme, while the benefits for students participating in the program could consist of reduced fees and free access to university services. The results obtained show the feasibility of the proposal. This approach can be considered a useful model that could be adopted by any other public institutions—not only universities—to facilitate their path toward decarbonization. Full article

During the economic boom, China’s government was mainly concerned with economic development; however, numerous environmental problems have arisen. Evidence suggests that Chinese individuals’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB) is at a low level in Asia. However, it does not match their high-quality environmental knowledge. In this paper, the database of the Chinese General Social Survey was used to explore the correlation between environmental knowledge and PEB in a broader context. Subsequently, environmental perception and post-materialistic values (PMV) were taken as the mediator and moderator into structural equation modeling, and every variable kept robust and consistent through exploratory factor analysis. The empirical results indicated that: (i) individuals with higher environmental knowledge always show higher passion to PEB; (ii) environmental perception plays a partially mediating role between environmental knowledge and PEB; (iii) PMV moderate the formation of environmental behavior systematically; and (iv) compared with public counterpart, the relation between environmental knowledge and PEB is significantly higher in private environmental behavior. The study results could become the basis for the Chinese government and environmental NGOs to effectively spread environmental knowledge, advocate a post-materialistic lifestyle, and improve the authenticity of online media reports on environmental issues. Full article

This article presents approximating relations defining energy-optimal structures of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system for cleanrooms as a function of key constant parameters and energy-optimal control algorithms for various options of heat recovery and external climates. The annual unit primary energy demand of the HVAC system for thermodynamic air treatment was adopted as the objective function. Research was performed for wide representative variability ranges of key constant parameters: cleanliness class—C_s (ISO5÷ISO8), unit cooling loads—${\dot{\mathrm{q}}}_{\mathrm{j}}$ (100 ÷ 500) W/m² and percentage of outdoor air—α_o (5 ÷ 100)%. HVAC systems are described with vectors $\overline{\mathrm{x}}$ with coordinates defined by constant parameters and decision variables, and the results are presented in the form of approximating functions illustrating zones of energy-optimal structures of the HVAC system ${\overline{\mathrm{x}}}^{*}$ = f (C_s, ${\dot{\mathrm{q}}}_{\mathrm{j}}$, α_o). In the optimization procedure, the type of heat recovery as an element of optimal structures of the HVAC system and algorithms of energy-optimal control were defined based on an objective function and simulation models. It was proven that using heat recovery is profitable only for HVAC systems without recirculation and with internal recirculation (savings of 5 ÷ 66%, depending on the type of heat recovery and the climate), while it is not profitable (or generates losses) for HVAC systems with external recirculation or external and internal recirculation at the same time. Full article

Unlike conventional concrete materials, Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) use a micromechanics-based design theory in the material design process. Recently, the use of nanoparticles in various concretes and mortars has increased. This study used nanocalcite to investigate the mechanical, microstructural fractal analysis of environmentally friendly nanocalcite-doped ECC (NCa-ECC). This paper investigated the effects of nanocalcite (NCa) with different contents (0.5, 1, and 1.5% by mass of binder) on the mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites (ECC). For this purpose, compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and flexural strength tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of the ECC series. In addition, SEM analyses were carried out to investigate the microstructural properties of the ECC series. The content of nanocalcite improved the mechanical and microstructural properties of the nanocalcite-modified ECC series. In addition, the 1 NCa series (1% nanocalcite modified to the mass of the binder) had the best performance among the series used in this study. Full article

Single-row double-jet film cooling (DJFC) of a turbine guide vane is numerically investigated in the present study, under a realistic aero-thermal condition. The double-jet units are positioned at specific locations, with 57% axial chord length (C_x) on the suction side or 28% C_x on the pressure side with respect to the leading edge of the guide vane. Three spanwise spacings (Z) in double-jet unit (Z = 0, 0.5d, and 1.0d, here d is the film hole diameter) and four spanwise injection angles (β = 11°, 17°, 23°, and 29°) are considered in the layout design of double jets. The results show that the layout of double jets affects the coupling of adjacent jets and thus subsequently changes the jet-in-crossflow dynamics. Relative to the spanwise injection angle, the spanwise spacing in a double-jet unit is a more important geometric parameter that affects the jet-in-crossflow dynamics in the downstream flowfield. With the increase in the spanwise injection angle and spanwise spacing in the double-jet unit, the film cooling effectiveness is generally improved. On the suction surface, DJFC does not show any benefit on film cooling improvement under smaller blowing ratios. Only under larger blowing ratios does its positive potential for film cooling enhancement start to show. Compared to the suction surface, the positive potential of the DJFC on enhancing film cooling effectiveness behaves more obviously on the pressure surface. In particular, under large blowing ratios, the DJFC plays dual roles in suppressing jet detachment and broadening the coolant jet spread in a spanwise direction. With regard to the DJFC on the suction surface, its main role in film cooling enhancement relies on the improvement of the spanwise film layer coverage on the film-cooled surface. Full article

In this study, the economic feasibility of green remodeling (GR), which could improve the health, safety, and energy of elderly households considering social cost, was analyzed. As a result, the net present value of GR was ‘−10,267 USD (49.7%)’, which was found to be uneconomical compared to the total construction cost (20,981 USD, 100%) despite benefits of energy saving, carbon reduction, and air pollutant reduction. Based on this result, in order to expand GR for low-income elderly households, who cannot afford to perform GR, a GR support measure linked to the currently implemented energy conversion and old-age housing support policies was proposed. It allows the government to perform GR for low-income elderly households with 1/4 of the total construction cost. This result could revitalize GR to reduce greenhouse gas and contribute to housing stability for low-income elderly households who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and climate change. Full article

The problem of energy consumption and the importance of improving existing buildings’ energy performance are notorious. This work aims to contribute to this improvement by identifying the latest and most appropriate machine learning or statistical techniques, which analyze this problem by looking at large quantities of building energy performance certification data and other data sources. PRISMA, a well-established systematic literature review and meta-analysis method, was used to detect specific factors that influence the energy performance of buildings, resulting in an analysis of 35 papers published between 2016 and April 2021, creating a baseline for further inquiry. Through this systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, machine learning and statistical approaches primarily based on building energy certification data were identified and analyzed in two groups: (1) automatic evaluation of buildings’ energy performance and, (2) prediction of energy-efficient retrofit measures. The main contribution of our study is a conceptual and theoretical framework applicable in the analysis of the energy performance of buildings with intelligent computational methods. With our framework, the reader can understand which approaches are most used and more appropriate for analyzing the energy performance of different types of buildings, discussing the dimensions that are better used in such approaches. Full article

A three-electrode alternating current fused magnesia furnace (AFMF) with advanced control technology was evaluated by combined energy and exergy analysis. To gain insight into the mass flow, energy flow and exergy efficiency of the present fused magnesia furnace, the exergy destruction was analysed to study the energy irreversibility of the furnace. Two different production processes, the magnesite ore smelting process (MOP) and light-calcined magnesia process (LMP), are discussed separately. Two methods were carried out to improve LMP and MOP; one of which has been applied in factories. The equipment consists of an electric power supply system, a light-calcined system and a three-electrode fused magnesia furnace. All parameters were tested or calculated based on the data investigated in industrial factories. The calculation results showed that for LMP and MOP, the mass transport efficiencies were 16.6% and 38.3%, the energy efficiencies were 62.2% and 65.5%, and the exergy destructions were 70.5% and 48.4%, respectively. Additionally, the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of the preparation process of LMP were 39.4% and 35.6%, respectively. After the production system was improved, the mass transport efficiency, energy efficiency and exergy destruction were determined. Full article

Wind direction and speed are the most important factors that determine the degree of damage caused by a jet fire. In this study, the metal hose used to extract/supply fuel was identified as the component with the highest risk for a jet fire occurring at an aerospace facility. A risk assessment was performed to evaluate the individual risk of a jet fire from the metal hose according to the wind direction and speed. HSE failure data was applied for calculating the jet fire probability including metal hose failure, ignition frequency, and jet fire frequency. Which was 3.0 × 10⁻⁴. The individual risk of different fatality probabilities was calculated according to the wind rose data for the aerospace facility. The individual risk from jet fire in the aerospace facility was calculated with a maximum risk of 3.35 × 10⁻⁵ and a minimum risk of 1.49 × 10⁻⁶. The individual risk satisfied HSE ALARP criteria. In addition, firewalls, extinguishing systems, and an emergency shut off system were enhanced, and it was thought that the risk from jet fire could satisfy acceptable criteria. Full article

Currently, fossil fuels are still the primary fuel source and reducing agent in the steel industries. The utilization of fossil fuels is strongly associated with CO₂ emissions. Therefore, an alternative solution for green steel production is highly recommended, with the use of biomass as a source of fuel and a reducing agent. Biomass’s growth consumes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which may be stored for variable amounts of time (carbon dioxide removal, or CDR). The pellets used in this study were prepared from a mixture of low-grade iron ore and palm kernel shells (PKS). The reducing reactivity of the pellets was investigated by combining thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and laboratory experiments. In the TGA, the heating changes stably from room temperature to 950 °C with 5–15 °C/min heating rate. The laboratory experiments’ temperature and heating rate variations were 600–900 °C and 10–20 °C/min, respectively. Additionally, the reduction mechanism was observed based on the X-ray diffraction analysis of the pellets and the composition of the reduced gas. The study results show that increasing the heating rate will enhance the reduction reactivity comprehensively and shorten the reduction time. The phase change of Fe₂O₃ → Fe₃O₄ → FeO → Fe increases sharply starting at 800 °C. The XRD intensities of Fe compounds at a heating rate of 20 °C/min are higher than at 10 °C/min. Analysis of the reduced gas exhibits that carbon gasification begins to enlarge at a temperature of 800 °C, thereby increasing the rate of iron ore reduction. The combination of several analyses carried out shows that the reduction reaction of the mixture iron ore-PKS pellets runs optimally at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. In this heating rate, the reduced gas contains much higher CO than at the heating rate of 10 °C/min at temperatures above 800 °C, which encourages a more significant reduction rate. In addition, the same reduction degree can be achieved in a shorter time and at a lower temperature for a heating rate of 20 °C/min compared to 10 °C/min. Full article

Exploring the changes of ecosystem services value caused by land use transformation driven by urbanization is crucial for ensuring the safety of the regional ecological environment and for enhancing the value of ecosystem services. Based on the land use remote sensing data during the rapid urbanization development period of Hubei Province from 1995 to 2015, this study analyzed the characteristics of land use/land cover change and land use transformation. The spatial–temporal response characteristics and evolution of ecosystem services value (ESV) to land use transformation driven by urbanization were measured by equivalent factor method, spatial autocorrelation analysis, hot spot analysis and gravity model. We found that: (1) Driven by urbanization, the most significant feature of land use transformation in Hubei Province was the expansion of the built-up land and the significant reduction of cropland and forest, among which 90% of the new built-up land was converted from cropland and forest. (2) This land use transformation became the main source of ESV losses. Especially, the sharp increase of the built-up land from 2010 to 2015, occupying cropland and forest, resulted in ESV losses of nearly USD 320 million. The service capacity of climate regulation, soil conservation, gas regulation and food production undertaken by cropland and forest decreased. (3) The ecosystem services value in the study area showed spatial distribution characteristics of high in the west and low in the middle and east regions. The center of gravity of ESV shifted from northwest to southeast. Due to the sharp increase of the built-up land from 2010 to 2015, the center of gravity shift rebounded. This study can help policymakers better understand the trade−offs between land use transformation and ecosystem services driven by urbanization. Full article

Promoting environmental innovation through environmental regulation is a key measure for cities to reduce environmental pressure; however, the role of environmental regulation in environmental innovation is controversial. This study used the number of environmental patent applications to measure urban environmental innovation and analyzed the role of urban environmental regulation on urban environmental innovation with the help of the spatial Durbin model (SDM). The results showed that: (1) From 2007 to 2017, the number of environmental patent applications in China has grown rapidly, and technologies related to buildings dominated the development of China’s environmental innovation. (2) Although the number of cities participating in environmental innovation was increasing, China’s environmental innovation activities were highly concentrated in a few cities (Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai), showing significant spatial correlation and spatial agglomeration characteristics. (3) Urban environmental regulation had a positive U-shaped relationship with urban environmental innovation capability, which was consistent with what the Porter hypothesis advocates. Full article

The present study aims to explore the psychophysiological impact of different traffic sounds in office spaces. In this experiment, 30 subjects were recruited and exposed to different traffic sounds in a virtual reality (VR) office scene. The road traffic sound and three railway sounds (conventional train, high-speed train, and tram) with three sound levels (45, 55, and 65 dB) were used as the acoustic stimuli. Physiological responses, electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) were monitored throughout the experiment. Psychological evaluations under each acoustic stimulus were also measured using scales within the VR system. The results showed that both the psychological and the physiological responses were significantly affected by the traffic sounds. As for psychological responses, considerable adverse effects of traffic sounds were observed, which constantly increased with the increase in the sound level. The peak sound level was found to have a better performance than the equivalent sound level in the assessment of the psychological impact of traffic sounds. As for the physiological responses, significant effects of both the acoustic factors (sound type and sound level) and the non-acoustic factors (gender and exposure time) were observed. The relationship between sound level and physiological parameters varied among different sound groups. The variation in sound level hardly affected the participants’ HR and EDA when exposed to the conventional train and tram sounds. In contrast, HR and EDA were significantly affected by the levels of road traffic sound and high-speed train sound. Through a correlation analysis, a relatively weak correlation between the psychological evaluations and HR was found. Full article

The WHO guidelines on environmental noise highlight that evidence on the health effects of wind turbine sound levels is either non-existent or of poor quality. In this context, a feasibility study was conducted in France in 2017. The objective was to suggest a methodology for calculating wind turbine sound levels in order to quantify the number of windfarms’ residents exposed to this sound. Based on a literature review, the Harmonoise model was selected for sound exposure calculation. It was validated by quantifying its uncertainties, and finally used to estimate the population exposed to wind turbine sound in metropolitan France. Compared to other environmental noise sources (e.g., transportation), sound exposure is very moderate, with more than 80% of the exposed people exposed to sound levels below 40 dBA. The total number of people exposed to more than 30 dBA is about 686,000 and 722,000 people for typical daytime and night-time meteorological conditions respectively, i.e., about 1% of the French population in 2017. These results represent the first ever assessment of sound exposure from wind turbines at the scale of the entire metropolitan France. Full article

The paper studies the problem of assessing the vehicle energy efficiency on the streets of urban road network. As a result of morphological analysis of the system “Vehicle—Traffic flow—Road—Traffic Environment” 18 significant morphological attributes of its functional elements, that affect the energy efficiency of vehicles, were identified. Each attribute is characterized by 3–6 implementation variants, which are evaluated by the relevant quantitative or qualitative parameters. The energy efficiency of vehicles is determined by the criteria of their energy consumption considering the vehicle category, type of energy unit, mode of vehicle movement and adjustment factors—road, climatic and others. The input parameters values of the system in the process of traffic flow on the linear fragments of streets and road networks of the cities of Ukraine and Poland were measured. The set of independent system parameters is determined by applying the Farrar-Glober method based on statistical estimates. The specified set is the basis of the studied system and is formed of 10 independent input parameters. The presence in the basis of parameters that correspond to the morphological features of all four functional elements, confirmed the importance of these elements of the system. The mathematical dependence of the impact of vehicle characteristics, traffic flow, road and environment on vehicle energy efficiency is built. The standard deviation of the model values from the tabular ones equals $\acute{\sigma }=0.0091$. Relative standard deviation equals ${\acute{S}}_r=1.5\%$. The results of the study could be used in the development of new and optimization of existing intelligent traffic control systems of urban transport. Full article

(1) Background: Approximately 73 countries worldwide implemented a daylight saving time (DST) policy: setting their clocks forward in spring and back in fall. The main purpose of this practice is to save electricity. The aim of the present study was to find out how DST affects the incidence and impact of seriously injured patients. (2) Methods: In a retrospective, multi-center study, we used the data recorded in the TraumaRegister DGU^® (TR-DGU) between 2003 and 2017 from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. We compared the included cases 1 week before and after DST. (3) Results: After DST from standard time to summertime, we found an increased incidence of accidents of motorcyclists up to 51.58%. The result is consistent with other studies. (4) Conclusion: However, our results should be interpreted as a tendency. Other influencing factors, such as time of day and weather conditions, were not considered. Full article

In recent years, highway construction in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has developed rapidly. When the highway passes through grassland, the soil, vegetation, and ecological environment along the line are disturbed. However, the impact on soil bacteria is still unclear. Soil bacteria play an important role in the ecological environment. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway (QTH) was selected as the research object to explore the changes in bacterial community structure, vegetation, soil, and other indicators. The results showed that the highway-related activities increased the degradation of vegetation along the road, significantly changed the physical and chemical properties of soil, and caused heavy metal pollution. These environmental factors affected the diversity and community structure of soil bacteria. This kind of disturbance shows a trend of gradually increasing from near to far from the highway. Gemmatimonas, Terrimonas, Nitrospira and Bacillus are more tolerant to environmental changes along the highway, while Barnesiella, and Blastococcus are more sensitive. The content of nitrate decreased and the content of ammonium nitrogen increased in the disturbed area, increasing the abundance of nitrifying bacteria. Therefore, the main factor of the disturbance of the QTH on the grassland is the decline of soil nutrient content, and the supplement of soil nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen should be taken into account in the process of ecological restoration of grassland along the line. Full article

This contribution firstly proposed the concept of annual average power generation hours and analyzed per capita energy consumption, carbon emission, and the human development index from a macro perspective. On this basis, we compared the average household electrical energy consumption of urban and rural residents based on the data from CGSS-2015 from a micro perspective. The results show the positive correlation between carbon emissions per capita and the human development index and China’s regional imbalance characteristics between household electricity consumption and renewable energy distribution. Therefore, the distributed energy supply system is proposed as an effective complement to centralized power generation systems and is the key to synergizing human development and carbon emissions in China. Moreover, we analyzed the characteristics of distributed energy supply systems in the context of existing energy supply systems, pointing out the need to fully use solar energy and natural gas. Finally, two types of typical distributed energy supply systems are proposed for satisfying the household energy requirements in remote or rural areas of western and the eastern or coastal areas of China, respectively. Two typical distributed energy systems integrate high-efficiency energy conversion, storage, and transfer devices such as electric heat pumps, photovoltaic thermal, heat and electricity storage, and fuel cells. Full article

In South Africa, primary eye care is largely challenged in its organisational structure, availability of human and other resources, and clinical competency. These do meet the standard required by the National Department of Health. This study seeks to assess the levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices on eye health amongst Human Resources for eye health (HReH) and their managers, as no study has assessed this previously. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 11 districts of a South African province. A total of 101 participants completed self-administered, close-ended, Likert-scaled questionnaires anonymously. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted, and values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Most participants had adequate knowledge (81.6%), positive attitudes (69%), and satisfactory practices (73%) in eye health. HReH showed better knowledge than their managers (p < 0.01). Participants with a university degree, those aged 30–44 years, and those employed for <5 years showed a good attitude (p < 0.05) towards their work. Managers, who supervise and plan for eye health, were 99% less likely to practice adequately in eye health when compared with HReH (aOR = 0.012; p < 0.01). Practices in eye health were best amongst participants with an undergraduate degree, those aged 30–44 years (aOR = 2.603; p < 0.05), and participants with <5 years of employment (aOR = 26.600; p < 0.01). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices were found to be significantly moderately correlated with each other (p < 0.05). Eye health managers have poorer knowledge and practices of eye health than the HReH. A lack of direction is presented by the lack of adequately trained directorates for eye health. It is therefore recommended that policymakers review appointment requirements to ensure that adequately trained and qualified directorates be appointed to manage eye health in each district. Full article