Enhancing carbon emission efficiency is a critical pathway for advancing global climate governance and achieving the “Dual Carbon” goals. Precisely mapping the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of carbon emission efficiency in urban agglomerations and thoroughly analyzing the underlying driving mechanisms are of paramount importance for optimizing the nation’s overall carbon neutrality pathway. This study examines 26 cities within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration from 2005 to 2023. Employing methods such as the Super-EBM model, exploratory spatiotemporal data analysis, and the Tobit model, it delves into the spatiotemporal evolution of carbon emission efficiency and its influencing factors. Key findings include: (1) Overall carbon emission efficiency remained stable at approximately 0.85 during the study period, with minor fluctuations. (2) Significant spatial disparities in carbon emission efficiency emerged, exhibiting gradually increasing convergence. (3) Local spatial structures of carbon emission efficiency were relatively dynamic yet demonstrated strong spatial dependence, while overall spatial structures remained stable with pronounced spatial cohesion. (4) Urbanization level, economic development level, population density, degree of openness, and technological innovation have a significant impact on improving carbon emission efficiencye, whereas industrial structure and environmental regulation showed no significant promotional impact.
In this paper, our objective is to design, build, and verify a closed-loop environmental control system tailored for small-scale agriculture applications. This project aims to develop a low-cost, safety-critical embedded solution using the Nuvoton NUC140 microcontroller to automate temperature regulation. The goal was to mitigate crop yield losses caused by environmental fluctuations in a greenhouse. Our final implemented system successfully meets all design specifications, demonstrating robust temperature regulation through a PID control loop and ensuring hardware safety through galvanic isolation
Hammami Saber, Romdhane Hela, Soualmia Amel
et al.
Sediment transport plays a vital role in river management and flood protection, particularly in regions prone to erosion and deposition. The study aims to assess the impact of roughness modification on the sediment transport process in the Medjerda, Tunisia’s longest perennial river, following a decade of dredging activities implemented for flood protection measures in the Boussalem city. We used the Telemac Sisyphe model to stimulate sediment 17.8 km section, which regularly undergoes dredging crossing the city of Boussalem. This section contains two distinct parts: first a smooth riverbed followed by the variable roughness on both sides of the banks, which is influenced by the existing vegetation cover. The study developed four simulation scenarios, with a smooth riverbed maintained in call cases while the roughness of the second part increasing from smooth to rough. The model-generated outputs facilitated a comprehensive longitudinal and transverse comparative analysis, focusing on flow velocity, shear stress, and bed evolution profile in response to varying roughness levels. The results show a reduction in erosion and deposition phenomena as the roughness as the bank’s roughness increases. this the crucial role of vegetation in stabilizing river banks by, strengthening the cohesion of the riverbed, thus minimizing erosion risks and excessive sediment transport, ultimately maintaining the riverbed’s integrity. These findings contribute to understanding of sedimentation patterns in the Medjerda River and facilitated the prediction of potential impacts on its fluvial morphology.
Pablo Virgolino Freitas, João Henrique Macedo Sá, Tales Abreu Tavares de Sousa
et al.
O saneamento básico é crucial para uma vida saudável e sustentável, especialmente em países em desenvolvimento, onde o esgotamento sanitário e o gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos, como os pneus inservíveis, são desafios. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de pesquisa de natureza aplicada, com a implantação inovadora e de baixo custo, de um sistema individual de tratamento de esgoto sanitário residencial que utiliza pneus inservíveis (TIRE-ATS) em substituição às paredes de alvenaria. O estudo foi dividido em quatro fases: (I) levantamento de dados locais e seleção de uma residência-piloto; (II) concepção e dimensionamento do sistema; (III) implantação do sistema; e (IV) análise das vantagens financeira e ambiental. O município estudado apresenta sérias deficiências em relação aos pneus inservíveis, como a não aplicação da logística reversa, a queima desses resíduos em área de lixões, e a inexistência de esgotamento sanitário. O sistema provou ser eficaz, demandando 18 pneus inservíveis em sua construção, o que retiraria 64.782 pneus do meio ambiente para o beneficiamento de um bairro, fomentando a economia verde, com unidades seguras, de alta durabilidade e estanque. A vantagem financeira do TIRE-ATS em relação ao sistema de alvenaria foi de 18%, bastante atraente para a população local que, em sua maioria, é carente. A sustentabilidade do reaproveitamento de pneus representa uma vantagem ambiental notável, avançando em direção aos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Organização das Nações Unidas.
Sylvain Cordier, Karl Thibault, Marie-Luc Arpin
et al.
With the demonstrated ability to perform calculations in seconds that would take classical supercomputers thousands of years, quantum computers namely hold the promise of radically advancing sustainable IT. However, quantum computers face challenges due to the inherent noise in physical qubits, necessitating error correction for reliable operation in solving industrial-scale problems, which will require more computation time, energy, and electronic components than initial laboratory-scale experiments. Yet, while researchers have modeled and analyzed the environmental impacts of classical computers using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the environmental performance of quantum computing remains unknown to date. This study contributes to filling this critical gap in two ways: (1) by establishing an environmental profile for quantum computers based on superconducting qubits; and (2) by comparing it to a functionally equivalent profile of a state-of-the-art supercomputer. With the comparison based on the problem size, the paper shows how the usage time can drive an environmental advantage for quantum computers under specific scaling conditions and quantum error correcting codes. The results emphasize that quantum error correction hardware has a substantial environmental impact due to the numerous electronic components needed to achieve 100 logical qubits. This paper can serve as a basis for designing more environmentally friendly quantum computers and for establishing their environmental profiles, as well as those of the human activities that will use them.
The dynamic nature of life's ability to thrive in diverse and changing planetary environments suggests that habitability and survival depend on the evolutionary path and life adaptation to environmental conditions. Here we explore such "adaptive habitability" through astro-ecological models. We study the interplay between temperature adaptation and environmental fluctuations, particularly those induced by solar activity and orbital dynamics. We present a simplified ecological-evolutionary model to investigate the limits of life's adaptability on a planetary scale. By incorporating complexities such as multiple niches, migration, species interactions, and realistic temperature variations, we demonstrate the potential for adaptive habitability in the face of both gradual and abrupt environmental changes. Through simulations encompassing monotonic, periodic, and secular dynamical evolution-induced temperature profiles, we identify critical thresholds for survival and extinction, highlighting the importance of phenotypic variance and dispersal rates in adapting to varying environmental conditions. These findings underscore the significance of considering temporal variations in assessing exoplanet habitability and expanding the search space for potentially habitable worlds.
Juan Ignacio Ibañez, Aayush Ladda, Paolo Tasca
et al.
The environmental impact of Bitcoin mining has become a significant concern, prompting several governments to consider or implement bans on cryptocurrency mining. However, these well-intentioned policies may lead to unintended consequences, notably the redirection of mining activities to regions with higher carbon intensities. This study aims to quantify the environmental effectiveness of Bitcoin mining bans by estimating the resultant carbon emissions from displaced mining operations. Our findings indicate that, contrary to policy goals, Bitcoin mining bans in low-emission countries can result in a net increase in global carbon emissions, a form of aggravated carbon leakage. We further explore the policy implications of these results, suggesting that more nuanced approaches may be required to mitigate the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining effectively. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable cryptocurrency regulation and provides a data-driven foundation for evaluating the true environmental costs of Bitcoin regulatory policies.
When scientists from two or more disciplines work together on related problems, they often face what we call ‘science friction’. As science becomes more data-driven, collaborative, and interdisciplinary, demand increases for interoperability among data, tools, and services. Metadata – usually viewed simply as ‘data about data’, describing objects such as books, journal articles, or datasets – serve key roles in interoperability. Yet we find that metadata may be a source of friction between scientific collaborators, impeding data sharing. We propose an alternative view of metadata, focusing on its role in an ephemeral process of scientific communication, rather than as an enduring outcome or product. We report examples of highly useful, yet ad hoc, incomplete, loosely structured, and mutable, descriptions of data found in our ethnographic studies of several large projects in the environmental sciences. Based on this evidence, we argue that while metadata products can be powerful resources, usually they must be supplemented with metadata processes. Metadata-as-process suggests the very large role of the ad hoc, the incomplete, and the unfinished in everyday scientific work.