Tendo por base o conceito de Energia Renovável e Armazenada, este trabalho realiza a comparação entre a eficiência de conversão da irradiação solar fotovoltaica e a fotossintética em Energia Elétrica através da análise do ciclo de vida energético (ACVE) e de sua expressão em empreendimentos implantados. Esta análise envolveu um exame aprofundado dos recursos (tecnologia, implantação, estrutura financeira e operativa, utilização de recursos hídricos e alocação de resíduos, além de aspectos da produção de alimentos e aquecimento global) envolvidos em todas as etapas do ciclo de vida dos empreendimentos. Isso se fazia necessário porque as eficiências propaladas em proposições acadêmicas ou comerciais tendiam a ser parciais, não dando conta da efetiva energia líquida gerada. A apuração da energia líquida gerada enfatiza a necessidade de fomento às cadeias de suprimento, incentivando conteúdo local por meio de intervenção regulatória sugerida. Tal intervenção busca identificar e favorecer uma tecnologia de conversão de irradiação solar e , assim procedendo, agregar segurança à matriz energética do Brasil, aumentando sua capacidade de armazenamento sustentável de energia. / Based on the concept of Renewable and Stored Energy, this paper performs a comparison between the efficiency of photovoltaic and photosynthetic solar electricity conversion by examining the life cycle energy analysis (ACVE) and its expression in projects deployed. This analysis involved a detailed examination of the resources (technology, deployment, operational and financial structure, water use and allocation of waste, as well as aspects of food production and global warming) involved in all stages of the life cycle of the projects. This was necessary because the efficiencies verified in academic and/or business propositions tended to be partial, not realizing the effective net energy generated. The calculation of net energy generated emphasizes the need for fostering supply chains by encouraging local content through regulatory intervention suggested. This intervention seeks to identify and promote a technology of converting solar radiation and, in so doing, add security to Brazil\'s energy matrix, increasing its storage capacity in terms of sustainable energy.

A partir de 1990 o fenômeno \"aquecimento global\" passou a ser uma das mais frequentes questões ambientais veiculadas pela mídia, fato ocasionado, provavelmente, pelos relatórios do IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Sabe-se da complexidade do assunto e que concepções diferentes podem surgir em seu estudo. Dada a relevância desse tema para a vida no planeta, considera-se importante conhecer como os alunos estão compreendendo esse assunto, e como se colocam frente a essa problemática. A presente pesquisa buscou conhecer o que os alunos sabem sobre o aquecimento global, suas possíveis causas, seus efeitos, os responsáveis e seu posicionamento frente ao problema e às possíveis soluções. Considerando que os conhecimentos manifestados pelos alunos são socialmente elaborados e partilhados, a análise se baseou na teoria das representações sociais e como havia o interesse de investigar questões específicas, se considerou as concepções manifestas individualmente, uma vez que os conhecimentos pessoais ou teorias subjetivas podem justificar comportamentos pessoais. A pesquisa investigou as ideias de alunos do 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental e da 3ª série do Ensino Médio, de quatro escolas da Grande São Paulo. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um questionário com doze questões, sendo oito de múltipla escolha e quatro dissertativas. A Representação social que a maioria dos alunos possui é que aquecimento global é o aumento de temperatura do planeta, pouco citando o efeito estufa, sendo sua causa a poluição. A diminuição da camada de ozônio é citada pelos alunos do Ensino Fundamental e causas naturais são citadas por parte do Ensino Médio. Para minimizar os efeitos estão o consumo consciente, reciclagem, não desperdiçar energia e campanhas de conscientização, porém, ações como não jogar lixo nas ruas e não poluir as águas também são consideradas. São feitas associações da poluição como causa e derretimento das geleiras como efeito do aquecimento global. No Ensino Médio são associados também os impactos ambientais, mas encontramos citações de terremotos e tsunamis como efeitos do aquecimento global. Com essa pesquisa percebeu-se que os estudantes ainda não possuem clareza sobre o tema, fazem muitas confusões entre conceitos distintos e não sabem, ao certo, qual é seu papel em relação à responsabilidade e formas de minimizar os efeitos. Muitos pontos convergem entre os níveis de escolaridade, mesmo assim, algumas concepções alternativas são abandonadas a medida que o nível de escolaridade aumenta. Além disso, os alunos do Ensino Médio, mesmo com algumas limitações, conseguem dissertar melhor, visto que possuem maior grau de conhecimento sobre o tema. / From 1990 the phenomenon \"global warming\" became one of the most frequent environmental questions transmitted in the media, a fact caused, probably by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports. The complexity of the subject is known and different conceptions can arise in its study. Given the relevance of this theme to the life on the planet, it\'s considered important to know how students understand this subject, and how facing front to this problem. The present research find know what the students know about the global warming, its possible causes, its effects, those who are responsible and its positioning to the problem and possible solutions. Considering that the expressed knowledge by students are socially developed and shared, the analysis was based in the social representation theory and there was an interest to investigate specific questions, it was considered the conceptions expressed individually, once the personal knowledge or subjective theories can justify personal behavior. The research investigate the ideas of students in the 9th grade and 3rd grade of High School, of 4 schools in Sao Paulo. The data was collected through a questionnaire with 12 questions, 8 of them were multiple choice and 4 were written. The social representation that most of the students do is that global warming is the world\'s increasing of temperature, without mentioning greenhouse effect and its cause is the pollution. The depletion of the ozone is mentioned by students in Elementary School and natural causes mentioned from part of High School. To minimize the effects are the conscious consume, recycling, not wasting energy and awareness campaigns however actions like, not littering and not polluting the water are also considered. Associations are made of pollution as a cause and melting glaciers as an effect. In High School are also associated the environmental impacts, but we found earthquakes quotes and tsunamis as global warming effects. With this research it could be realized that students still don\'t have knowledge about the subject, they make mistakes between different concepts and they don\'t know, what is their role to the responsibility and ways to minimize the effects. Many points converge between education levels and some alternative conceptions are still abandoned according to the education level increasing. Besides, High School students, even with some limitations can write better, because they have more knowledge about the subject.

Global warming is expected to affect the arctic harsher than other regions of the globe. Many plant species will face conditions that contradict their adaptations in a warming climate. Changes in habitat can lead to drastic changes in biodiversity as well as exerting a strong selective pressure for plants to evolve and adapt quickly. Herbivore grazing in the arctic also affects plant ecosystems e.g. by lowering biodiversity and changing species composition and may influence their response to warming. The aim of this study was to examine whether grazing influences plants’ adaptation to rising temperatures. Geothermally warmed areas have been used as in situ proxy systems for effects of warming climates on ecosystems. Grændalur, a geothermally warmed valley in southwest Iceland, was used as a study site to explore the effects of warming and grazing on ecosystems. Three soil temperature gradient transects were established there and each transect has six fenced-off plots, at different soil temperatures (ambient +0, +1, +3, +5, +10 and +20°C), and paired plots outside the fence that were grazed by sheep. Species richness, evenness, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson’s diversity, species cover, and composition as well as plant height were measured in these plots inside and outside the fence. In addition, flowering and vegetative Ranunculus acris (meadow buttercup) individuals were counted in each plot to assess grazing effects on flowering success. Grazing did not influence the plant community response to warming. Rising temperature decreased species richness and both Shannon-Wiener and Simpson’s diversity, and drove changes in community composition. Plant height increased with rising temperatures but decreased with grazing. Grazing also significantly reduced R. acris flowering. These results highlight the need for sustainable grazing management in Iceland, as well as the significance global warming has for plant communities.

Global climate models simulate a robust increase of global mean precipitation of about 1.5 to 2% per Kelvin surface warming in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing.Here, it is shown that the sensitivity to aerosol cooling is robust as well, albeit roughly twice as large. This larger sensitivity is consistent with energy budget arguments. At the same time, it is still considerably lower than the 6.5 to 7% K−1 decrease of the water vapor concentration with cooling from anthropogenic aerosol because the water vapor radiative feedback lowers the hydrological sensitivity to anthropogenic forcings. When GHG and aerosol forcings are combined, the climate models with a realistic 20th century warming indicate that the globa lmean precipitation increase due to GHG warming has, until recently, been completely masked by aerosol drying. This explains the apparent lack of sensitivity of the global mean precipitation to the net global warming recently found in observations. As the importance of GHG warming increases in the future, a clear signal will emerge.

Orientador: Maria Lucia Negreiros Fransozo / Coorientador: Álvaro Montenegro Neto / Banca: Sérgio Luiz de Siquiera Bueno / Banca: Marcos Domingos Siqueira Tavares / Banca: Sandro Santos / Banca: Roberto Munehisa Shimizu / Resumo: Avaliações sobre os possíveis impactos das crescentes emissões de CO2, por ação antrópica, nos oceanos e as consequentes alterações sobre a biota marinha, são indispensáveis para elaboração de medidas mitigatórias. Deste modo, torna-se imprescindível o desenvolvimento de sistemas aquáticos, cujas variáveis abióticas se assemelhem ao máximo às condições marinhas previstas para o futuro. Apresenta-se aqui a descrição de um novo modelo de sistema recirculante, capaz de proporcionar controle e estabilidade de condições préestabelecidas para o pH, temperatura e salinidade, em conjunto com a manutenção individual de organismos para investigações experimentais de curta ou longa duração. Este sistema apresenta 2 aquários interligados ao sistema de filtragem, perfazendo um total de 70 litros de água marinha. Para avaliação da estabilidade e eficiência do sistema, foram utilizados os resultados obtidos nas criações larvais do caranguejo Eriphia gonagra, durante toda fase zoeal (~30 dias), em diferentes cenários realísticos previstos pelo Painel Intergovernamental sobre Mudanças Climáticas - IPCC. Verificou-se que o sistema manteve a temperatura, pH, salinidade, oxigênio dissolvido, amônia, nitrito e variáveis do sistema carbonato estáveis e nos níveis desejados. Verificou-se que a independência dos componentes deste sistema permite sua fácil adaptação para outros tipos de estudo ou organismos. O sistema demonstrou ser útil em experimentos laboratoriais de pequena escala e possibilita estudos adicionais com grande replicação, principalmente nesta área de pesquisa ainda com alta carência de dados fundamentais / Abstract: Not available / Doutor

Background: Climate change and the consequences of global warming is probably one of the greatest issues of our time. Among other concerns, global warming is thought to have a great impact on hydrology worldwide. When the atmosphere warms up, river runoff patterns are altered. Nevertheless these future changes are assumed to increase the hydropower potential in some countries. In the public debate it is often referred to a nine year old investigation claiming an increase of 15-20 % in Swedish energy production from hydropower due to the river runoff increase. On the other hand recent research is hinting that the effect of global warming might be masked by climate variability in the nearest future. This study seeks to investigate whether or not the hydropower-intensive company Fortum will benefit from increased future hydropower potential due to climate change. Methods: Using historical data, the impacts of global warming on the future potential power production in different types of hydropower plants are estimated by the statistical approach of probability density functions. Moreover spectral analysis is used to investigate the impacts of climate variability in various Swedish watersheds. The study investigates both the nearest future, represented by the years 2021-2050, and the end of the century, represented by the years 2069-2098. Results: The future hydropower production is shown to be strongly dependent on the geographical location of a power plant and of the specific power plant type. Although all Swedish rivers where Fortum operates is given more river runoff in the future, some hydropower plants might  suffer from lower hydropower potential due to increased runoff variability. However all reservoir-type power plants in the study, with ability to store water, are calculated to benefit from increased river runoff. Only the run-of-river type power plants, operating with unregulated river flow, are not yet proven to benefit from a changing climate. When considering both specific river and type of power plant, this study indicates that the hydropower potential in the rivers where Fortum operates is expected to increase with 4-15 % towards the end of the century. The one exception is the unregulated river Västerdalälven where this study indicates a possibility of decreased hydropower potential due to climate change. The results of the spectral analysis indicates that up to 30 % of the coefficient of variation in the  monthly mean runoff data is explained by low-frequent periodic fluctuations due to natural climate variability, linked to somewhat predictable climate indices. Conclusion: Natural climate variability is likely to be the dominating factor in the nearest future, at least in regulated rivers. Although there are uncertainties about the future potential power production in the run-of-river type power plants, one cannot deny that most of the Swedish rivers where the major hydropower companies operate are strongly regulated. Adding the fact that river runoff will increase as a consequence of global warming, Fortum is likely to gain from an increased hydropower potential. However, this present study highlights the inaccuracies in using the out-of-date estimation of 15-20 % hydropower-potential increase as a forecast of future potential power production in all Fortum-operated hydropower plants.

Miscanthus Giganteus is a rapidly growing perennial grass utilizing C4 photosynthesis that is a promising candidate as a raw resource for “second generation” biofuel production. This study seeks to determine the long-term sustainability, from a water balance perspective, of cultivating this plant in different climate zones. CoupModel, a model for the soil-plant-atmosphere system, is utilized to model M. Giganteus and simulate its cultivation over a 30-year period at four sites in Europe, each representing a different climate zone. A future climate scenario building on historical climate data together with projections for monthly changes in temperature and precipitation, as modeled by the HadCM3 global climate model in the A2 emission scenario, is then created and used for another simulation at each site. The growth, yields, and water balances in each simulation are analyzed and compared. The highest yields and water use efficiencies are achieved in the warmest climates, but the most sustainable zones when taking water balance into account are the more humid ones. The humid continental, Dfb, zone and the humid subtropical, Cfa, zone are determined to be sustainable in the long-term for cultivation of M. Giganteus. / Miscanthus Giganteus är ett snabbväxande perennt gräs med C4-fotosyntes samt en lovande kandidat som resurs i tillverkandet av andra generationens biobränslen. Denna studie syftar till att bestämma den långsiktiga hållbarheten av odling av denna växt i olika klimatzoner ur ett vattenbalansperspektiv. CoupModel, en datamodell som simulerar systemet “jord-planta-atmosfär”, används för att simulera M. Giganteus och dess tillväxt över en 30-årsperiod för fyra platser i Europa vilka alla representerar en klimatzon. Ett framtida klimatscenario som bygger på historisk klimatdata tillsammans med projektioner för framtida månatliga förändringar i temperatur och nederbörd, framtaget av HadCM3 för IPCC:s utsläppsscenario A2, tas sedan fram och används för att göra ytterligare en simulering för varje plats. Plantans tillväxt, skörd och vattenbalans för varje simulation analyseras och jämförs. De högsta skördarna och högst vattenanvändningseffektivitet uppnås i de varmaste klimaten, men de mest hållbara zonerna för odling av M. Giganteus när vattenbalansen tas hänsyn till är zonerna med mest nederbörd. Dfb-zonen, med fuktigt inlandsklimat, och Cfa-zonen med fuktigt subtropiskt klimat bedöms vara långsiktigt hållbara för odling av M. Giganteus.

The reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere will be one of the challenges that society will have to face in the coming years. Until now, all efforts have been put in improving the properties of the discharged water in a wastewater treatment plant and the efficiency of the whole process. But little effort has been done in measuring and controlling the greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, the production of nitrous oxide when treating wastewater has become of great concern. Several measurements in laboratory scale and full scale have been done and a wide range of results have been obtained. On the other hand, Himmerfjärden wastewater treatment plant has a deammonification plant for treating rejected water produced when dewatering sludge. It consists of an efficient technology where less energy is supplied and no extra carbon source is added. However, it is unknown the efficiency of this system in terms of nitrous oxide production. For this reason, an analysis was carried out from the 19th June to the 2nd of July. In the light of the results obtained, the deammonification process has obtained better results than conventional nitrification and denitrification in terms of nitrous oxide emissions.

Understanding the relationships between solitary bees’ flight phenology and flowering phenology is important in the context of global warming. Using Swedish citizen science data, observations of oligolectic solitary bees and flowering phenology were used together with temperature data. All five bees studied had flight period that overlapped with the flowering period their corresponding host plant. None of the species were affected by the temperature, although there was a correlation between earliest observations of flowering phenology and flight phenology. The later the flowering observation was made, the later the flight observation was made. No correlation was found between the length of flight period and length of the flowering period. Increasing temperature is not the only factor that effects flight phenology and flowering phenology.

Rising temperature caused by global warming alters physiology, phenology and/or distribution in a wide array of plant and animal species, which has dramatic knock-on effects at different levels of organisation. This study investigates the individual and interactive effects of temperature (18ᵒC, 22ᵒC and 30ᵒC) and additions of the macroalga Gracilaria gracilis (high and low) on the performance of the seagrass Zostera capensis, which occurs in Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa over a seven-week period. Results from the laboratory experiment revealed that G. gracilis did not significantly affect the performance of Z. capensis although temperature did result in greater leaf width, fouling and senescent biomass, as well as marginally greater leaf area and lower below-ground biomass at 30ᵒC. Increasing temperature also increased G. gracilis biomass, percent cover and fouling by microalgae. In addition, there was no interaction between temperature and the additions of Gracilaria. The overall findings of this study indicate that Z. capensis abundance is likely to decrease while G. gracilis will conversely increase in abundance in response to warming. Changes in abundance of those two ecosystem engineers highlight the possibility of a phase shift from a seagrass- to macroalgal-dominated state in Langebaan Lagoon.