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result(s) for
"Environmental Monitoring - economics"
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Validate personal air-pollution sensors
Simple sensors perform best when pollution levels are high and when the compound of interest swamps others - for example, sensors for nitric oxide (NO) and NO2 seem to work well in locations that have heavy traffic and high pollution levels, where concentrations of these gases approach the parts-per-million level.\\n Although we do not wish to stifle innovation, sensors that claim to be able to measure ambient pollution levels could be required to undergo an independent testing regime, as is the case for instruments that are used in regulatory measurements. People with asthma might use their local sensor data to make personal decisions on medication; an air-pollution sensor is not meant as a medical device, but its real-world application could make it function like one. For sensors that might be used for public policy, health studies or any type of infrastructure control, independent testing and verification is essential, as is already being done through long-standing environment-agency committees and national air-pollution schemes.
Journal Article
Integrating ecosystem-service tradeoffs into land-use decisions
Recent high-profile efforts have called for integrating ecosystem-service values into important societal decisions, but there are few demonstrations of this approach in practice. We quantified ecosystem-service values to help the largest private landowner in Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, design a land-use development plan that balances multiple private and public values on its North Shore land holdings (Island of O’ahu) of ∼10,600 ha. We used the InVEST software tool to evaluate the environmental and financial implications of seven planning scenarios encompassing contrasting land-use combinations including biofuel feedstocks, food crops, forestry, livestock, and residential development. All scenarios had positive financial return relative to the status quo of negative return. However, tradeoffs existed between carbon storage and water quality as well as between environmental improvement and financial return. Based on this analysis and community input, Kamehameha Schools is implementing a plan to support diversified agriculture and forestry. This plan generates a positive financial return ($10.9 million) and improved carbon storage (0.5% increase relative to status quo) with negative relative effects on water quality (15.4% increase in potential nitrogen export relative to status quo). The effects on water quality could be mitigated partially (reduced to a 4.9% increase in potential nitrogen export) by establishing vegetation buffers on agricultural fields. This plan contributes to policy goals for climate change mitigation, food security, and diversifying rural economic opportunities. More broadly, our approach illustrates how information can help guide local land-use decisions that involve tradeoffs between private and public interests.
Journal Article
The Imperial County Community Air Monitoring Network: A Model for Community-based Environmental Monitoring for Public Health Action
The Imperial County Community Air Monitoring Network (the Network) is a collaborative group of community, academic, nongovernmental, and government partners designed to fill the need for more detailed data on particulate matter in an area that often exceeds air quality standards. The Network employs a community-based environmental monitoring process in which the community and researchers have specific, well-defined roles as part of an equitable partnership that also includes shared decision-making to determine study direction, plan research protocols, and conduct project activities. The Network is currently producing real-time particulate matter data from 40 low-cost sensors throughout Imperial County, one of the largest community-based air networks in the United States. Establishment of a community-led air network involves engaging community members to be citizen-scientists in the monitoring, siting, and data collection process. Attention to technical issues regarding instrument calibration and validation and electronic transfer and storage of data is also essential. Finally, continued community health improvements will be predicated on facilitating community ownership and sustainability of the network after research funds have been expended. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1772
Journal Article
Emergency deployment of direct air capture as a response to the climate crisis
Though highly motivated to slow the climate crisis, governments may struggle to impose costly polices on entrenched interest groups, resulting in a greater need for negative emissions. Here, we model wartime-like crash deployment of direct air capture (DAC) as a policy response to the climate crisis, calculating funding, net CO
2
removal, and climate impacts. An emergency DAC program, with investment of 1.2–1.9% of global GDP annually, removes 2.2–2.3 GtCO
2
yr
–1
in 2050, 13–20 GtCO
2
yr
–1
in 2075, and 570–840 GtCO
2
cumulatively over 2025–2100. Compared to a future in which policy efforts to control emissions follow current trends (SSP2-4.5), DAC substantially hastens the onset of net-zero CO
2
emissions (to 2085–2095) and peak warming (to 2090–2095); yet warming still reaches 2.4–2.5 °C in 2100. Such massive CO
2
removals hinge on near-term investment to boost the future capacity for upscaling. DAC is most cost-effective when using electricity sources already available today: hydropower and natural gas with renewables; fully renewable systems are more expensive because their low load factors do not allow efficient amortization of capital-intensive DAC plants.
Governments may struggle to impose costly polices on vital industries, resulting in a greater need for negative emissions. Here, the authors model a direct air capture crash deployment program, finding it can remove 2.3 GtCO
2
yr
–1
in 2050, 13–20 GtCO
2
yr
–1
in 2075, and 570–840 GtCO
2
cumulative over 2025–2100.
Journal Article
Build a global Earth observatory
Markku Kulmala calls for continuous, comprehensive monitoring of interactions between the planet’s surface and atmosphere.
Markku Kulmala calls for continuous, comprehensive monitoring of interactions between the planet’s surface and atmosphere.
Journal Article
Coupling and decoupling effects of agricultural carbon emissions in China and their driving factors
The relationship between agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural economic growth has attracted a significant research attention. A key issue to address in the development of agriculture is the reduction of agricultural carbon emissions while maintaining agricultural economic growth. This study investigated the interactions between agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural economic growth from multiple perspectives based on agricultural carbon emission data from 30 provinces in China measured from 1997 to 2015. Using this dataset, the coupling and decoupling effects of agricultural carbon emissions and the underlying driving factors were explored using a coupling development degree model, the Tapio decoupling assessment model, and a logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition model. The results were as follows: (1) at the regional scale, the degree of coupling development between agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural economic growth is high in the central region of China and low in the western region. At the provincial scale, the coupling effects of agricultural carbon emissions exhibited four levels: minimal, low, moderate, and high coupling. (2) With the exceptions of Beijing, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, and Shanghai, the relationships between agricultural carbon emissions and agricultural economic growth in the other 24 provinces were in a weak decoupling state. (3) The effects of agricultural development scale and agricultural technical progress were the major driving factors associated with increases and decreases in agricultural carbon emissions, respectively.
Journal Article
Field performance of a low-cost sensor in the monitoring of particulate matter in Santiago, Chile
Integration of low-cost air quality sensors with the internet of things (IoT) has become a feasible approach towards the development of smart cities. Several studies have assessed the performance of low-cost air quality sensors by comparing their measurements with reference instruments. We examined the performance of a low-cost IoT particulate matter (PM
10
and PM
2.5
) sensor in the urban environment of Santiago, Chile. The prototype was assembled from a PM
10
–PM
2.5
sensor (SDS011), a temperature and relative humidity sensor (BME280) and an IoT board (ESP8266/Node MCU). Field tests were conducted at three regulatory monitoring stations during the 2018 austral winter and spring seasons. The sensors at each site were operated in parallel with continuous reference air quality monitors (BAM 1020 and TEOM 1400) and a filter-based sampler (Partisol 2000i). Variability between sensor units (
n
= 7) and the correlation between the sensor and reference instruments were examined. Moderate inter-unit variability was observed between sensors for PM
2.5
(normalized root-mean-square error 9–24%) and PM
10
(10–37%). The correlations between the 1-h average concentrations reported by the sensors and continuous monitors were higher for PM
2.5
(
R
2
0.47–0.86) than PM
10
(0.24–0.56). The correlations (
R
2
) between the 24-h PM
2.5
averages from the sensors and reference instruments were 0.63–0.87 for continuous monitoring and 0.69–0.93 for filter-based samplers. Correlation analysis revealed that sensors tended to overestimate PM concentrations in high relative humidity (RH > 75%) and underestimate when RH was below 50%. Overall, the prototype evaluated exhibited adequate performance and may be potentially suitable for monitoring daily PM
2.5
averages after correcting for RH.
Journal Article
Disposable and Low-Cost Colorimetric Sensors for Environmental Analysis
Environmental contamination affects human health and reduces the quality of life. Therefore, the monitoring of water and air quality is important, ensuring that all areas are acquiescent with the current legislation. Colorimetric sensors deliver quick, naked-eye detection, low-cost, and adequate determination of environmental analytes. In particular, disposable sensors are cheap and easy-to-use devices for single-shot measurements. Due to increasing requests for in situ analysis or resource-limited zones, disposable sensors’ development has increased. This review provides a brief insight into low-cost and disposable colorimetric sensors currently used for environmental analysis. The advantages and disadvantages of different colorimetric devices for environmental analysis are discussed.
Journal Article
Environmental application of nanotechnology: air, soil, and water
Global deterioration of water, soil, and atmosphere by the release of toxic chemicals from the ongoing anthropogenic activities is becoming a serious problem throughout the world. This poses numerous issues relevant to ecosystem and human health that intensify the application challenges of conventional treatment technologies. Therefore, this review sheds the light on the recent progresses in nanotechnology and its vital role to encompass the imperative demand to monitor and treat the emerging hazardous wastes with lower cost, less energy, as well as higher efficiency. Essentially, the key aspects of this account are to briefly outline the advantages of nanotechnology over conventional treatment technologies and to relevantly highlight the treatment applications of some nanomaterials (e.g., carbon-based nanoparticles, antibacterial nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanoparticles) in the following environments: (1) air (treatment of greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds, and bioaerosols via adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, thermal decomposition, and air filtration processes), (2) soil (application of nanomaterials as amendment agents for phytoremediation processes and utilization of stabilizers to enhance their performance), and (3) water (removal of organic pollutants, heavy metals, pathogens through adsorption, membrane processes, photocatalysis, and disinfection processes).
Journal Article