This dissertation assesses the evolving structure and performance of the electricity supply industry (ESI) in Queensland following the restructuring and deregulation process undertaken in 1997 and 1998 respectively. This microeconomic reform process essentially replaced a vertically integrated electricity monopoly with an oligopolistic electricity market. In theory at least, restructuring a monopoly generator, and deregulating the product and capacity markets, should lead to lower electricity production costs, more cost-reflective wholesale electricity prices, and a generation plant expansion path that reflects the least-cost, optimal mix of baseload, intermediate and peaking technologies. In economic terms, the deregulated electricity market should deliver improvements in productive, allocative and dynamic efficiency. However, a likely side effect is a deterioration of ESI environmental performance, since the minimization of production costs are of paramount importance in a competitive market. This research has utilized historic data, direct comparisons to southern market outcomes, economic theory and the development and adaptation of a suite of economic cost and generation system simulation models to test the stated hypotheses of expected improvements in productive, allocative and dynamic efficiency, and a deterioration in environmental performance. This research has not had the availability of extensive historical market data upon which to draw. When research first commenced, less than six months of historical market data were available. At the time of completion of this dissertation, only three full financial years of data existed. Consequently, this research necessarily relied upon complex simulation models of economic cost and electricity generation systems, coupled with economic theory, to forecast market outcomes. The short history of market data is examined and tentative conclusions are drawn from this, which are integrated with the outputs of the simulation models. Simulation experiments have been conducted to identify the theoretically optimal market outcome, that is, the least-cost generation plant mix that would best meet the Queensland load curve, subject to a reliability constraint. This forms the 'base case', and represents that which would reasonably be expected to emerge under a centrally planned monopoly regime with a welfare maximization objective, characterised by perfect information and zero political intervention. Such a scenario establishes efficient generation system costs, prices and plant capacity mix. The 'base case' or centrally planned scenario is contrasted with forecast 'market scenarios'. Performance of the generation system is explored under specified scenarios using the economic cost and generation system simulation models, publicly available information about committed and expected future investment in plant capacity, incumbent generator trends and behavioural assumptions consistent with oligopolistic market theories. The analysis indicates that productive efficiency, or cost efficiency, is enhanced as a result of restructuring the monopoly generator into competing entities since competitive pressures force the generators to reduce costs in order to survive. Allocative efficiency, or price efficiency, declined during the first three years of the market, with all generators earning positive economic rents. The presence of these economic rents, coupled with conventional oligopolistic strategies associated with the theory of barriers to entry, resulted in a rush to commission new baseload capacity. Not surprisingly, dynamic efficiency appears to be deteriorating, with the market-induced capacity augmentation proving to be far greater than that considered optimal. Modelling results indicate that the oversupply of baseload capacity is expected to place considerable downward pressure on electricity prices, and thus allocative efficiency is forecast to improve in the intermediate run, much to the benefit of electricity consumers. In the long run, the oversupply of baseload capacity and subsequent low market price can be expected to frustrate the timely entry of new peaking or intermediate plant capacity, which will ultimately be required by the Queensland ESI given the strong electricity demand growth. What does appear to be emerging is a five or seven year electricity generation business cycle. Modelling results from this research also point to alarming environmental implications, with the general levels of greenhouse gas emissions of the electricity system increasing. While system thermal efficiency is declining, the rush of new, low-cost coal-fired capacity represents an inferior outcome to the alternative (i.e. efficient combined cycle gas plant) because the volume of greenhouse emissions is markedly higher. The outlook for Queensland's greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation, in the absence of coincident environmental policies, is that they will more than double between the 1990 emission baseline, and the commencement of the Kyoto commitment period in 2008. Some clear warnings emerge from this research. The structure and performance of an ESI prior to deregulation is important if microeconomic reforms are to be successful. Too little generation capacity or transmission capacity is unlikely to provide a robust foundation for wholesale market implementation. To ensure that adequate competition will prevail, it will be necessary to restructure monopoly generators. The existing ESI needs to be characterised by ‘inefficiency’ if gains from trade are to be capitalized. An efficient centrally planned ESI is unlikely to benefit greatly from deregulation, particularly given that implementing a product market is likely to be a costly process. And finally, competitive markets deliver lowest cost, which is usually inconsistent with the most environmentally responsible outcome. As a result, if the environment is considered a policy imperative, it will be critical that ESI deregulation be complemented by coincident environmental regulations.

Environmental changes are great challenges that humanity must face. This has spurred a flurry of activities aimed to lower our impact on our environment. This essay focuses on the aspects that influence decision makers when choosing construction materials as well as a look into whether wood has a lower impact on the environment compared to concrete when building houses. The materials have been assembled through surveys, interviews and literary studies. The primary factor that was given most weight among entrepreneurs and architects were robustness and safety, and concrete was in that regard favoured over wood. It is also possible that already established economical structures support the use of concrete instead of wood. Environmental aspects are not reflected among entrepreneurs as very important factors when it comes to choosing materials and for change to occur there needs to be more information supporting that wood can be as robust as concrete in structures for it to be similarly prioritised. Concerning wood’s impact on the climate and the environment compared to concrete there is a significant difference in woods favour if only the construction and production phase of the house’s life cycle is examined. However, there are studies that show that depending on the material used and the time the house is expected to remain there are instances where wood has a higher environmental impact than concrete. Conclusively, wood is not always more environmentally friendly. The environmental impact of a material in construction depends heavily on the life span of the house.

The UK has committed to deep, long-term reductions in national greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global effort to address climate change. Material efficiency, reducing the material inputs per service output, has long been identified as a globally underexplored mitigation strategy. Previous studies show unrealised technical potential to improve the efficiency of steel use, a large contributor of industry emissions, in the UK. This thesis explores why these opportunities may be unrealised along the steel supply chain.

The diploma thesis examines the production of gas emmissions (especially ammonia) arising from chicken farming. It focuses on its decrease and it also compares the gas concentrations while using electrolytic-oxydizing water. The work observes the expensiveness of the electrolyte water and compares the Air Emission Limit with the EU directivity. The measuring itself took place in a farm in Čekanice near Tábor. Air emission limit of ammonia has turned out to be 0,013 [kg NH3.ks-1.rok-1], more precisely 0,017 [kg NH3.ks-1.rok-1] for a hall without electrolyte-oxydizing water.

Agriculture is, after fossil fuels, the second largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for global climate change, and it is necessary to look for ways to reduce this environmental load. Cereals are the most cultivated crops in the world, so it is appropriate to examine their share of this load. The aim of the thesis was to evaluate and compare the environmental aspects of the cultivation of selected cereals (wheat, rye and barley) in the conventional and ecological farming system. The resulting environmental load was first calculated on 1 kg of grain, and then the load was recalculated to a load of 1 kg of protein contained in grain of selected cereals. Protein content in grain is one of the grain quality indicators. A simplified LCA method has been used for the environmental load calculations. This method is used for environmental impact assessments and covers the whole life cycle of the product.

179 p. / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2012-12-19T20:11:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 11a.pdf: 2500615 bytes, checksum: b6e1b8b3c11f149e14b2db6b9a1b4957 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-12-19T20:11:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 11a.pdf: 2500615 bytes, checksum: b6e1b8b3c11f149e14b2db6b9a1b4957 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Essa pesquisa teve por objetivo geral investigar as principais diferenças entre o mercado de carbono regulado e voluntário no Brasil, no período de 2004 a 2011. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratória, de caráter bibliográfica e documental. Além disso, realizou-se o mapeamento de projetos no mercado de carbono voluntário no Brasil por meio de busca em bancos de dados e sites institucionais dos Padrões Internacionais (PIs) e dos proponentes, enquanto que os projetos do mercado de carbono regulado foram extraídos do banco de dados já existente no site do Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT). Os dados secundários foram coletados por meio de analise de conteúdo dos Documentos de Concepção dos Projetos (DCP) mapeados e extraídos dos sites e banco de dados visitados. Verificam-se diferenças e semelhanças entre os mercados de carbono regulado e voluntário no Brasil, estando o primeiro mercado com 499 projetos, enquanto o segundo possui 111 projetos até o momento. Constatou-se que o mercado de comercialização de créditos de carbono brasileiro, seja ele na categoria regulada, seja na voluntária pode constituir-se em um instrumento econômico de extrema importância na viabilização da redução das emissões de GEE, contribuindo, assim, para a mitigação das mudanças climáticas e para o alcance das metas nacionais de redução de emissão de GEE fixadas na Política Nacional de Mudanças Climáticas (PNMC). Constatou-se também que o uso desses projetos como instrumentos de políticas públicas poderá contribuir significativamente para o cumprimento das metas fixadas pela PNMC e requer a criação de fundos de financiamentos voltados para esses mercados, viabilizando o aumento do número de projetos e suas contribuições para mitigar as mudanças climáticas, bem como a consolidação desses mercados no Brasil. Além disso, faz-se necessário que o governo estimule a iniciativa privada a investir em tecnologias ambientalmente seguras, viabilizando o aumento de energias renováveis para o país, que contribuam para a transição para uma economia de baixo carbono, além da criação de incentivos fiscais que motivem as empresas a desenvolverem os projetos de redução de emissão de GEE. Enfim, recomenda-se como novas investigações futuras a realização de pesquisa com o objetivo de verificar de que forma os créditos de carbono são comercializado no Brasil, identificando as características dos contratos fechados no mercado financeiro nacional, como também a realização de estudos de caso em projetos representativos do mercado de carbono voluntário no Brasil, visando confrontar os dados secundários obtidos via análise de dados com os dados primários obtidos através de pesquisa de campo. / Salvador

xii, 97 p. / Electricity generated from woody biomass material is generally considered renewable energy and has been considered carbon neutral. However, recent criticism from scientists argues that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profile of bioenergy is nuanced and the carbon neutral label is inappropriate. An initial carbon debt is created when a forest is harvested and combusted for bioenergy. Because forests re-grow over a period of years, life cycle analyses show that bioenergy generated from whole trees from forests may not reduce GHG emissions in the short term, as required to combat climate change. State renewable portfolio standards and federal laws and proposed legislation designed to incentivize renewable energy typically define eligible forms of biomass that qualify for these incentives. Most of these definitions are very broad and do not account for GHG emissions from bioenergy. Federal and state laws should incorporate life cycle analyses into definitions of eligible biomass so that these laws incentivize biomass electricity that reduces GHG emissions in the next several decades. / Committee in charge: Roberta Mann, Chairperson; Scott Bridgham, Member

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No. of bitstreams: 1 chiapinotto_l_me_guara.pdf: 2025683 bytes, checksum: 06211c8bab58758df3a08535a4aa3f80 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-21 / Nesta pesquisa investiga-se a viabilidade do uso de misturas heterogêneas de combustíveis compostas por etanol e gás natural veicular (GNV) em motor flex fuel (Flex). Os motores Flex, no Brasil, são abastecidos com gasolina E27 (com até 27% de etanol anidro e 73% de gasolina), etanol, GNV ou qualquer mistura de etanol e gasolina. Ao funcionarem com o GNV apresentam vantagens pela menor emissão de dióxido de carbono (CO2), monóxido de carbono (CO) e óxidos de nitrogênio (NOX), mas são desvantajosos com relação às emissões de hidrocarbonetos (HC) em baixas rotações quando comparados ao utilizarem gasolina ou etanol, além da perda de potência variando de 10 a 20%. Esta pesquisa objetiva encontrar uma mistura de etanol-GNV, cuja combustão possa reduzir, as emissões de CO, HC e NOx do motor Flex em relação ao modo GNV. Os testes foram conduzidos num motor Flex de 2000 cilindradas, com duas válvulas por cilindro. No motor foi instalado um sistema de gerenciamento de injeção eletrônica de GNV funcionando concomitantemente com a injeção de combustível líquido. Fez-se inicialmente a medição da vazão de etanol (E100), do GNV (E0) e de diferentes misturas de etanol-GNV (E20, E40, E60, E80). Para a avaliação dos parâmetros das emissões de CO2, CO, O2, HC e NOx, das eficiências (térmica, volumétrica e mecânica), consumo específico de combustível e custo operacional, calibrou-se primeiramente o motor para o uso de E0 e de E100. Os testes foram realizados em modo estacionário e dinâmico, cujas emissões foram medidas através do analisador de gases. No modo estacionário mediram-se as emissões de gases de exaustão em velocidade angular de 1000 e 2500 RPM (rotações por minuto); no modo dinâmico mediram-se além das emissões, a potência e o consumo de combustível com o motor submetido a 25% de carga a 2000, 2500, 3000 RPM e à carga total num dinamômetro ativo para até 290 kW. Os melhores resultados obtiveram-se para a mistura E20. Comparando-se com E0, a mistura E20 resultou uma média de 55,33%, 31%, 29,86% e 57,41% na diminuição das emissões de CO, O2, HC e de NOx, respectivamente, com um aumento médio das emissões de CO2 em 5,81%; foi observado também perda de 2,45% de potência líquida, além do aumento de 2,35%, 1,25%, 1,41%, 16,94% e 18,85% para eficiência térmica, eficiência volumétrica, eficiência mecânica, consumo específico de combustível e do custo operacional, respectivamente / This research has investigated the feasibility of using heterogeneous fuel blends composed of ethanol and compressed natural gas (CNG) in flex-fuel engines. In Brazil, such vehicles are fueled by E27 gasoline (up to 27% anhydrous ethanol and 73% gasoline), ethanol, CNG or any ethanol and gasoline blend. When running on CNG, they offer advantages due to lower carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions, although they are disadvantageous with respect to hydrocarbon emissions (HC) at low revolutions, especially if compared to being run on gasoline or ethanol, in addition to power loss ranging from 10 to 20%. Thus, it is aimed to find an ethanol-CNG blend whose combustion can reduce CO, HC and NOx emissions from flex-fuel engines in comparison with the CNG mode. Tests have been conducted on a 2000cc flex-fuel engine with two valves per cylinder. It was installed an electronic CNG injection system operating concomitantly with the liquid fuel injection system. Flows of ethanol (E100), CNG (E0) and different ethanol-CNG blends (E20, E40, E60, E80) were initially measured. In order to evaluate levels of CO2, CO, O2, HC and NOx emissions, efficiency (thermal, volumetric and mechanical), specific fuel consumption and operating cost, the engine was initially calibrated to run on E0 and E100. The emissions tests were performed in stationary and dynamic mode. In stationary mode, exhaust emissions were measured at 1000 and 2500 RPM (revolutions per minute); in dynamic mode, power and fuel consumption were measured while the engine was subjected to 25% load at 2000, 2500, and 3000 RPM, in addition to repeating exhaust gas and power tests at full load with an active dynamometer at up to 290 kW. Optimal results were obtained for blend E20. If compared to E0, E20 resulted in an average of 55.33%, 31%, 29.86% and 57.41% at reducing CO, O2, HC and NOX emissions, respectively, with increased CO2 emissions. It were also observed of 2.45% of gross power loss, besides an increase of 2.35%, 1.25%, 1.41%, 16.94% and 18.85% in thermal efficiency, volumetric efficiency, mechanical efficiency, specific fuel consumption and operating cost, respectively

Urban development demands on construction aggregates are set to rise dramatically over the coming years within the Stockholm region and a significant environmental challenge will be associated with the large flows of construction aggregates and excavated materials in and out of future development projects respectively.   Material banks receive construction and demolition waste (CDW), process this waste and supply recycled aggregates to the construction industry helping to reduce the demand on natural construction minerals.  The transportation of these material flows between the material banks and development areas is predominantly by road in the Stockholm region.  With the transport sector responsible for almost one third of green-house-gas (GHG) emissions in Sweden, there is a motivation for investigating the environmental benefits of minimising transportation distances of construction aggregates.  Quantities of CDW in the form of excavated granular soil and rock from future development locations within a case-study area comprising three municipalities; Botkyrka, Huddinge and Haninge, in the south of Stockholm, have been estimated based on their municipal comprehensive plans up to the year 2030.  This has been done with the assistance of an earthworks estimation tool, the ESAR model, developed by Ecoloop AB.  Distances between existing and planned material banks and future development areas together with the estimated material quantities have been combined to approximate total vehicle-kilometres for the transportation of these materials under a business-as-usual scenario up until 2030.  A comparison has been made to an alternative scenario of strategically located material banks within the case-study area, whereby a methodology has been developed within this study to strategically locate material banks utilising GIS software ArcMap together with land availability map layers for siting material banks previously developed under a separate related study.  In comparison to the business-as-usual scenario, one strategically located material bank within the case-study area reduces total material haulage distances of excavated granular soils and rocks from development areas to the material banks by approximately 42% or 3.67 million vehicle-kilometres, equating to a reduction of 3478 tonnes of CO2e throughout the time horizon of this study.  Another output from the ESAR model is the estimated construction aggregate demand for sub-surface earthworks backfilling activities.  A material flow analysis for the strategically located material bank indicates that the material bank is able to satisfy the sub-surface backfilling construction aggregate demand in the form of recycled aggregates throughout its operation.  Considering the flow of recycled aggregates back to development areas for backfilling earthworks activities, a total combined reduction of 45% or 5.54 million vehicle-kilometres of material haulage distance is achievable, equating to a saving of 5248 tonnes of CO2e.  Reductions in GHG emissions from strategically located material banks are likely to also be significant beyond the boundaries of this study and warrant further research.

abstract: The environmental and economic assessment of neighborhood-scale transit-oriented urban form changes should include initial construction impacts through long-term use to fully understand the benefits and costs of smart growth policies. The long-term impacts of moving people closer to transit require the coupling of behavioral forecasting with environmental assessment. Using new light rail and bus rapid transit in Los Angeles, California as a case study, a life-cycle environmental and economic assessment is developed to assess the potential range of impacts resulting from mixed-use infill development. An integrated transportation and land use life-cycle assessment framework is developed to estimate energy consumption, air emissions, and economic (public, developer, and user) costs. Residential and commercial buildings, automobile travel, and transit operation changes are included and a 60-year forecast is developed that compares transit-oriented growth against growth in areas without close access to high-capacity transit service. The results show that commercial developments create the greatest potential for impact reductions followed by residential commute shifts to transit, both of which may be effected by access to high-capacity transit, reduced parking requirements, and developer incentives. Greenhouse gas emission reductions up to 470 Gg CO₂-equivalents per year can be achieved with potential costs savings for TOD users. The potential for respiratory impacts (PM₁₀-equivalents) and smog formation can be reduced by 28-35%. The shift from business-as-usual growth to transit-oriented development can decrease user costs by $3,100 per household per year over the building lifetime, despite higher rental costs within the mixed-use development. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil Engineering 2014