No description available.

The way people view development is changing. The world now advocates for a development that also considers future generations. There is a paradigm shift towards sustainable development - a development in today's lifestyle without destroying the resources for tomorrow generations. Sustainable development is a broad concept that addresses how human activities impact on the economic, environmental and social well-being of an ecosystem; however, practical application of the sustainability concept is complex because its objective assessment is elusive. It is often said that the effect of technology on society has never been more profound than today. As mankind develops in science and technology to improve on his well-being, certain impacts are made on the systems that support human existence. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology, like gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology, is a latest innovation conceived to 'fight' the problem of gas flaring, and help contribute to the social and economic growth of the people; but it is necessary for man to know if these contemporary technologies are sustainable. This dissertation critically appraises the impact of the LNG project on the community of Bonny Island in Nigeria from a holistic perspective. The approach to the research work is three-fold: an appropriate sustainability framework is selected based on certain criteria; sustainability indicators are developed from the chosen framework; and the sustainability indicators are used to assess the impact of the project on the flora and fauna of the community. To have a clear picture of the impact of Nigeria LNG on its host community, Epe-Waterside is chosen as a control community because of its similar socio-geographical outlook to Bonny Island community. The control community is then subjected to the same set of sustainability indicators for a comparative analysis. The outcome of the research work shows that, though the economic and social conditions of Bonny Island seem much better, its environmental status remains a challenge. In other words, it can be concluded that the present approach to the operation of the LNG technology is not sustainable. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The way people view development is changing. The world now advocates for a development that also considers future generations. There is a paradigm shift towards sustainable development - a development in today's lifestyle without destroying the resources for tomorrow generations. Sustainable development is a broad concept that addresses how human activities impact on the economic, environmental and social well-being of an ecosystem; however, practical application of the sustainability concept is complex because its objective assessment is elusive. It is often said that the effect of technology on society has never been more profound than today. As mankind develops in science and technology to improve on his well-being, certain impacts are made on the systems that support human existence. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology, like gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology, is a latest innovation conceived to 'fight' the problem of gas flaring, and help contribute to the social and economic growth of the people; but it is necessary for man to know if these contemporary technologies are sustainable. This dissertation critically appraises the impact of the LNG project on the community of Bonny Island in Nigeria from a holistic perspective. The approach to the research work is three-fold: an appropriate sustainability framework is selected based on certain criteria; sustainability indicators are developed from the chosen framework; and the sustainability indicators are used to assess the impact of the project on the flora and fauna of the community. To have a clear picture of the impact of Nigeria LNG on its host community, Epe-Waterside is chosen as a control community because of its similar socio-geographical outlook to Bonny Island community. The control community is then subjected to the same set of sustainability indicators for a comparative analysis. The outcome of the research work shows that, though the economic and social conditions of Bonny Island seem much better, its environmental status remains a challenge. In other words, it can be concluded that the present approach to the operation of the LNG technology is not sustainable. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

El sector de pasta i paper és considerat un dels set sectors industrials més intensius en consum energètic. La producció i consum d'electricitat i de vapor esdevenen les fonts majoritàries d'emissions de gasos d'efecte hivernacle en aquest sector industrial. Les fàbriques papereres poden assolir objectius de reducció d'emissions mitjançant reducció en origen (substitució de combustibles, introducció d'energies renovables) o bé a partir de mesures d'eficiència energètica en el propi procés. En aquest context, s'ha desenvolupat un mètode de distribució d'emissions que permet assignar a cada unitat d'operació del procés paperer, el seu grau de responsabilitat en emissions. També s'han avaluat diferents mètodes de càlcul de factors d'emissió de vapor i electricitat, tant per plantes de cogeneració com per sistemes individuals. A partir d'aquesta avaluació s'han proposat nous mètodes alternatius als analitzats. Aquests mètodes i els factors d'emissions s'han aplicat a dues fàbriques papereres catalanes. / Pulp and paper sector is considered one of the seven industrial sectors with a higher energy intensive profile. Power and steam production and consumption are the main responsible for green house gas emissions of this industrial activity. Paper industries can achieve reductive emission targets by considering emissions origin (replacing fuels, aplying renewable energies) as well as improving energy efficiency of the process itself. An emission allocation tool has been developed with the purpose of approaching to each unit operation of the papermaking process its related emissions share. In addition, energy-emission factors regarding power and steam generation in combined heat and power plants and in single heat and power systems have been evaluated. Some new methods for calculating different emission factors have been proposed after the analysis. Two Catalan paper mills have been used as case-studies to apply, both allocation method and emission factors.

This theses fokus on the enviromental impact of livestock raising cycle (cattle, pigs and poultry). Energetical costs and emissions caused by livestock fattening are counted including processing and transport of the final product ? meat. Conventional and organic farming were compared as well as different forms of housing. SIMA Pro software tool was used for obtaining the emission load. The aim of the work was to find which form of livestock raising has the least environmental impact. This work was created in the European Union internatiponal project M00080-EUS-AT-SUKI Sustainable Kitchen focusing on the emission load of substantial links of vertical production chain.

Motivation behind this master dissertation is to introduce a novel study called " A fuzzy logic micro-controller enabled system for the monitoring of micro-climatic parameters of a greenhouse" which is capable of intelligently monitoring and controlling the greenhouse climate conditions in a preprogrammed manner. The proposed system consists of three stations: Sensor Station, Coordinator Station, and Central Station. To allow for better monitoring of the climate condition in the greenhouse, fuzzy logic controller is embedded in the system as the system becomes more intelligent with fuzzy decision making. The sensor station is equipped with several sensor elements such as MQ-7 (Carbon monoxide sensor), DHT11 (Temperature and humidity sensor), LDR (light sensor), grove moisture sensor (soil moisture sensor). The communication between the sensor station and the coordinator station is achieved through XBee wireless modules connected to the Arduino Mega and the communication between coordinator station and the central station is also achieved via XBee wireless modules connected to the Arduino Mega. The experiments and tests of the system were carried out at one of IKHALA TVET COLLEGE’s greenhouses that is used for learning purposes by students studying agriculture at the college. The purpose of conducting the experiments at the college’s green house was to determine the functionality and reliability of the designed wireless sensor network using ZigBee wireless technology. The experiment result indicated that XBee modules could be used as one solution to lower the installation cost, increase flexibility and reliability and create a greenhouse management system that is only based on wireless nodes. The experiment result also showed that the system became more intelligent if fuzzy logic was used by the system for decision making. The overall system design showed advantages in cost, size, power, flexibility and intelligence. It is trusted that the results of the project will give the chance for further research and development of a low cost greenhouse monitoring system for commercial use. / Electrical and Mining Engineering / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

Cloud gaming over mobile networks enables players to play high-resource consuming games on low-end devices with various intrinsic restrictions such as limited battery lifetime and computational capacity. For mobile cloud gaming(MCG), the remaining battery level on the device is one of the critical factors that affect the sensitivity of user satisfaction. Thus, an android application is developed to measure the energy consumption of mobile devices that measure the power consumption of the device such that the obtained values correspond with the specific network conditions and users. The collected values are studied to identify if the energy consumption of the device is impacted by the network degradation that might occur during MCG in cellular networks. Results demonstrate that the energy consumption is at its highest when packet loss is 45% at 2ms RoundTrip Time (RTT) delay. Moreover, a qualitative study on the perceived Quality of Experience (QoE) of MCG over mobile networks is conducted and its impact on the energy consumption of the device is investigated where 31 users play a cloud-based First Person Shooter (FPS) for approximately 2 hours each. The results demonstrate the existence of the relationship between energy consumption and perceived QoE whereas negates the hypothesis of the existence of the relationship between QoE and CPU resources. In addition, to make comparisons of energy consumption of MCG with online mobile gaming (OMG), another test is carried out where each user plays another non-cloud-based FPS game and it is found that MCG is more efficient than OMG under the least energy-consuming network condition (2ms RTT delay) by 33.3% and the most energy consuming network condition (45% packet loss at 2ms RTT) by 32.7% in 4G cellular network.

Baigiamajame magistro darbe nagrinėjamos ekologiškos statybinės medžiagos, analizuojami namo dalių konstrukciniai variantai, statant namus iš šių medžiagų. Taip pat sudaroma kompiuterinė sistema, padedanti vartotojui išsirinkti racionaliausią ekologiškų medžiagų panaudojimo variantą. Darbą sudaro trys dalys. Pirmojoje dalyje apžvelgiama ekologiškų statybinių medžiagų samprata, pagrindiniai principai, aprašomas statybinių medžiagų gyvavimo ciklas, aptariama aplinkai nekenksmingų medžiagų situacija Europoje. Antrojoje dalyje plačiau aprašomos gamtai nekenksmingos statybinės medžiagos, galimi tokių medžiagų konstrukciniai variantai. Analizuojami sienų, stogo dangos, šilumos izoliacijos ir šildymo sistemos pritaikymo galimybės statant ekologišką namą. Trečiojoje dalyje nagrinėjamas praktinis ekologiško namo konstrukcijų pritaikymo modelis. Sudaroma alternatyvų ir kriterijų sistema, apibūdinanti nekenksmingo aplinkai namo konstrukcinius elementus. Panaudojant kiekybinius ir kokybinius kriterijus ir galimas medžiagų alternatyvas, atliekama daugiakriterė statybinių medžiagų ir jų konstrukcijų analizė, sudaroma kompiuterinė sistema. / Ecological and environmentally friendly building materials and constructional options, that are used to build houses, are considered in this master work. It also contains the computer system enabling the user to choose the most rational option of ecological materials. This master work consists of three parts: In the first part the concept of ecological building materials and main principles are described. It also contains information about the life cycle of building materials and the situation of environmentally friendly materials in Europe are discussed. The second part describes environmentally friendly building materials and possible structural variations of such materials. It analyzes walls, roof, heat insulation and possibilities of heating system in the ecological house. In the third part the practical model of the ecological house is considered. An alternative and criteria system that describes the environmentally friendly house constructional elements is created. Using quantitative, qualitative criteria and possible material alternatives multiple criteria analysis of building materials and their construction is performed. The computer system is also made.

The purpose of this work was to present and apply an analytical tool to the flows of goods and income between economic agents and the environment that allows us to calculate the Environmental Gross Domestic Product (EGDP) for Brazilian Legal Amazon. In order to achieve this goal the Environmental Social Accounting Matrix (ESAM) was developed. The model was developed from the traditional Social Accounting Matrix, the Environmental Input-Output Analysis Models, and from the United Nations handbook on the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accountings. The EGDP was calculated from the Environmental Input-Output Analysis, since the unavailability of data did not allow the application of the model of ESAM. The flows between the economy and the environment considered were the emissions of green house gases (depreciation of natural capital) and the investment needed to return the air to the same quality it had before being polluted. The results showed that the inclusion of depreciation of natural capital in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and in the added value (AV) calculation for each industry of the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region diminished the AV significantly in the industries of cattle (235%), soybean (77%), and other activities of livestock and agricultural (24%). In the Rest of Brazil, the industries with the highest impact of depreciation of natural capital on AV were soybean (30%), cattle (15%) and sugarcane (13%). The total EGDP of the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region was 15% smaller than its total GDP, whereas this difference for the rest of Brazil was 1%. Considering that the GDP is a component of economic wellbeing, the results show a significant reduction in economic wellbeing due to green house gas emissions released into the air by economic activities, mainly due to land use changes. The Environmental Social Accounting Matrix Model is a useful tool to help decision makers since it offers an analytical instrument for economic behavior and the impacts of economic activities on the environment. / The purpose of this work was to present and apply an analytical tool to the flows of goods and income between economic agents and the environment that allows us to calculate the Environmental Gross Domestic Product (EGDP) for Brazilian Legal Amazon. In order to achieve this goal the Environmental Social Accounting Matrix (ESAM) was developed. The model was developed from the traditional Social Accounting Matrix, the Environmental Input-Output Analysis Models, and from the United Nations handbook on the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accountings. The EGDP was calculated from the Environmental Input-Output Analysis, since the unavailability of data did not allow the application of the model of ESAM. The flows between the economy and the environment considered were the emissions of green house gases (depreciation of natural capital) and the investment needed to return the air to the same quality it had before being polluted. The results showed that the inclusion of depreciation of natural capital in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and in the added value (AV) calculation for each industry of the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region diminished the AV significantly in the industries of cattle (235%), soybean (77%), and other activities of livestock and agricultural (24%). In the Rest of Brazil, the industries with the highest impact of depreciation of natural capital on AV were soybean (30%), cattle (15%) and sugarcane (13%). The total EGDP of the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region was 15% smaller than its total GDP, whereas this difference for the rest of Brazil was 1%. Considering that the GDP is a component of economic wellbeing, the results show a significant reduction in economic wellbeing due to green house gas emissions released into the air by economic activities, mainly due to land use changes. The Environmental Social Accounting Matrix Model is a useful tool to help decision makers since it offers an analytical instrument for economic behavior and the impacts of economic activities on the environment.

近年來，隨著能源價格不斷飆漲以及溫室氣體大量排放造成的氣候異常變化，引起世界各國對於提高能源使用效率與加強溫室氣體排放管制的重視。溫室氣體大多由化石燃料燃燒所產生。因此，一般被視為能耗較高的發電、鋼鐵、水泥以及石化等產業，遂成為眾所矚目而被要求加強溫室氣體排放管制的主要產業。未來的產業發展規劃，必需兼顧經濟與環保，否則必將被世界潮流所淹沒。 因應全球溫室氣體排放管制趨勢，就台灣經濟發展面、財政建設面、環境永續經營面等層面考量分析，現階段石化產業之發展應對產業競爭力及環境保護做更多且更審慎的考量。於產業競爭力部分，建議中油開放民營，並運用部份釋股取得的資金，一方面引進先進的製程技術及進行設備更新，提升企業競爭力；另一方面整合國內仰賴台灣中油公司供料且在各產品領域擁有數十年營運經驗的中下游業者，建構泛中油體系的石化經營團隊。如此泛中油體系與國內另一石化產品鏈已相當完整的台塑體系，形成兩大石化體系，互為良性競爭。於環境保護方面，則建議我國應終止國光石化投資案，降低溫室氣體排放量，並藉提升廠商製程效率減少能耗，如此將使經濟發展及環境保護得以兼顧，亦達成原興建國光計畫之目的。 而未來台灣石化產業發展策略，技術發展需長期向下扎根，產品則朝高值化、精緻化發展，開發低能耗、低污染之替代能源，提升產品的附加價值，並將大宗石化耗能的產品移往海外能源低廉的地區，持續提升產業競爭力，並達成溫室氣體減少排放為目標。如是，台灣在環境保護日益重視之趨勢下，石化產業也得以永續發展。 / The high energy cost and the unusual climate change due to increasing green house gases（GHG）emission in recent years have attracted the global attentions and called for improvement of energy utilization efficiency and enhancement of GHG emission control. GHG are mostly produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. And the higher energy consumption industries such as power generation, steel, cement and petrochemical industries are thus strongly requested to reduce GHG emission. Economic development and environmental protection both are needed to be equally evaluated in the planning of future industry development. Taking petrochemical industry as an example, many of its mid-stream and down-stream products have become an unseparable part and of our daily life. In Taiwan, it has been over half century since the establishment of petrochemical industry, and now become top 10 petrochemical production countries in the world. The production value of petrochemical-related industries are very close to 4 trillion NT dollars, about 30% of total production value of domestic manufacturing sectors. Petrochemical industry and electronic industry are the two strong arms in supporting national economic growth. As a very important industry in Taiwan, however, the intensity of its GHG emission is only next to steel industry. The significant technology improvement in petrochemical industry has been achieved since the installation of the existing refinery, naphtha crackers and many petrochemical mid-stream production plants in Taiwan. It is well recognized that the GHG emission will be greatly reduced if the advanced technologies are introduced and the old facilities are revamped. Therefore, the writer would like to address a different approach toward KuoKuang Petrochemical Project which the government is giving an impetus to its execution. Here the writer would propose Taiwan CPC company, the state-owned petroleum company and the leader of Kuokuang Petrochemical Project, to become privatized after asset re-evaluation and collect some government capital from privatization through issuance of part of its shares to the open market. The capital thus collected can be used for enterprise reform. The important items of the enterprise reform include but not limited to introduction of the advanced technologies, revamping of existing facilities and establishment of a new well-integrated petrochemical conglomerate through mutual investment between Taiwan CPC and the mid-stream companies that rely raw material supplies from Taiwan CPC. From viewpoints of both economy and environment, government policy of implementation of KuoKuang Petrochemical Project is worthy for reconsideration. Formation of a CPC-lead petrochemical conglomerate would also benefit the current petrochemical companies that rely on raw material supplies from Taiwan CPC as their operation efficiencies would improved from business intergration. The newly formed conglomerate would be more powerful in further business development and more competitive in world market. They would have more resources to explore their potential in advanced technology development, in new business fields such as biomass energy, solar energy and so on. The CPC-lead petrochemical conglomerate would be able to enchance its competitiveness to another domestic petrochemical giant, Taiwan Formosa Group, and other petrochemical giants in the global market.