Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-244). Also available on the Internet.

Hong Kong is currently generating more than 3000 tons of food waste every day which generate air pollution problem and create odor nuisance to residents near landfill site. It is critical for us to reduce waste generation at sources and find ways to treat our food waste instead of solely rely on landfill. The aim of this paper is to propose a food waste to energy system to be installed in high-rise buildings which helps save our landfill space and utilize waste energy to generate electricity and heat for building use. It is estimated that around one ton of food waste will be generated from a domestic household building and hence the proposed food waste to energy system is designed to have treatment capacity of 1 ton of food waste per day. A total of 238.1 Nm3 of biogas, with 53.5% methane content can be generated from one ton of food waste. With the use of combined heat and power (CHP) system, 465 kWh of electricity and 732 kWh of heat can be generated. A survey is conducted to assess the public view of the food waste problem in Hong Kong and the proposed food waste to energy system. It is found that most of the respondent agrees the proposed food waste to energy is a good mean to tackle food waste problem in Hong Kong and support to install such system in high-rise buildings. A life cycle assessment is carried out to compare the environmental impact of landfilling 1 ton of food waste and treating 1 ton of food waste with the proposed system. It is found that the carbon emission (CO2 equivalent) of the proposed system is 1112.6 kg less than that of landfilling, i.e. the proposed system can help to save 406.1 ton of carbon dioxide emission a year which equals to planting of 17,656 trees. The economic viability of installing the proposed system is evaluated. The capital investment and the operating cost for the proposed system are estimated to be HK$3,400,000 and HK$ 170,000 per year respectively. As the proposed system can bring in revenue of HK$ 763,986 per year, the internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period of the system is 15% and 6 years respectively. Limitations and difficulties encountered for the installation of the proposed system are discussed and finally suggestions are made for the successful installation of the proposed system and several ways to reduce food waste from sources are also suggested for both commercial sectors and the government. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Electronics involve an elaborate process of waste-making, from the mining of raw materials to the production of microchips through toxic solvents, to the eventual recycling or disposal of obsolete equipment. These processes of pollution, remainder and decay reveal other orders of materiality that have yet to enter the sense of the digital. This thesis investigates electronics through this waste and remainder. The thesis is guided by Walter Benjamin's notion of "natural history," and focuses on the dynamic, transient and poetic qualities of outmoded or "fossilized" commodities. Described here are electronic versions of such fossils, as well as the more formless residues that are sloughed off in the pursuit of technological advance. / Electronic technologies expand beyond devices and programs to an assemblage of sites and systems. Instead of a collection of outdated artifacts, this study further suggests that it is necessary not to focus solely on the abandoned electronic gadget, but also to consider the extended contexts through which electronics and electronic waste circulate. My intention here is to crack open the black box of electronics, and track their transformation to waste across a number of fields, from manufacture to disposal, and from archive to landfill, which inform the chapters below. By focusing on waste, this study is less interested in material comprehensiveness, or all that goes into electronics, and is instead more attentive toward material proliferations. In this way, I work through the "inputs and outputs" that take place not only at a material level, but also at cultural, political and economic levels. There is much more to electronics than raw materials transformed into neat gadgets that swiftly become obsolete. This study then considers electronics not from the perspective of all that is new, but rather from the perspective of all that is discarded. These discards, this study suggests, direct us toward considerations of electronics, technologies and material culture that are informed not by "upgrades," but instead by politics and poetics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2004. / Title from title screen (viewed 7 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-118). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 255).

Thesis (M.S.C.E.)--University of Toledo, 2008. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for Masters of Science degree in Civil Engineering." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 90-92.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2007. / "May, 2008". Includes bibliographical references (p. 102).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-93).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-62).