| 1. |
- Faisal, Sk Md Tawsif, et al.
(författare)
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Peak Shaving and E-Cooker as Sustainable Solutions for Off-Grid Electricity in Bangladesh
- 2023
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Ingår i: 2023 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica, PowerAfrica 2023.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- General electrification, specifically renewable-based off-grid systems, could contribute to sustainable development in Bangladesh. However, it is important to make sure that it contributes or at least does not act inhibitory in any of the three dimensions of sustainability. This study examines the potential of demand-side management and electrified cooking as sustainable solutions for off-grid electricity in Bangladesh. The evaluation is based on techno-economic, environmental, and social aspects, using a set of selected indicators. The study employs two tools, RAMP and MicroGridsPy, to optimize techno-economic results. The environmental evaluations are based on the result of the techno-economic evaluation and literature review, while the social aspect evaluations are based on the literature review and the author's own remarks and experiences. The analysis is completed using a sustainability matrix in the form of a simplified multi-criteria analysis. This study investigates the impact of peak shaving by fans and TVs and the introduction of electrified cooking in an off-grid electrification system. In Bangladesh, both approaches have positive economic and environmental impacts, but peak shaving has a negative social impact. The study finds that the result can contribute to sustainable development of off-grid electricity system in Bangladesh.
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| 2. |
- Maran, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainability Evaluation of Generation Solutions for Microgrids in Bangladesh
- 2023
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Ingår i: 2023 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica, PowerAfrica 2023.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Access to energy for a large part of the world's population is still today a luxury that cannot be taken for granted. In light of several studies demonstrating the social and environmental impact that is obtained by providing clean energy, finding solutions that guarantee the sustainable electrification of underdeveloped areas has become a non-negligible urgency. This paper aims to analyze different configurations of a microgrid and to propose a model to identify its sustainability from the economic, environmental and social points of view. The microgrid is sized using two open-source tools for modelling the load demand and designing the grid. The study relies on field data on techno-economic parameters and social habits of the local population. The data are elaborated relying on the already mentioned tools and literature analysis to address the social and environmental factors. The study concludes that monocrystalline panels offer the best trade-off considering techno-economic, social and environmental aspects. Nevertheless if among these three fields, one is prioritized, the alternative technologies might be the best solution. The novelty of this study lies in the approach aimed at integrating the study of both technological and economic as well as social and environmental aspects, these latter are often overlooked but are also the ones that have a non-negligible impact on the successful implementation of a sustainable microgrid.
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| 3. |
- Ogunbode, Charles, et al.
(författare)
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Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action : Correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Psychology. - : Academic Press. - 0272-4944 .- 1522-9610. ; 84
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and inversely related to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries, and with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, it only predicted environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.
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| 4. |
- Rybacka, Aleksandra, 1987-
(författare)
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A step forward in using QSARs for regulatory hazard and exposure assessment of chemicals
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- According to the REACH regulation chemicals produced or imported to the European Union need to be assessed to manage the risk of potential hazard to human health and the environment. An increasing number of chemicals in commerce prompts the need for utilizing faster and cheaper alternative methods for this assessment, such as quantitative structure-activity or property relationships (QSARs or QSPRs). QSARs and QSPRs are models that seek correlation between data on chemicals molecular structure and a specific activity or property, such as environmental fate characteristics and (eco)toxicological effects.The aim of this thesis was to evaluate and develop models for the hazard assessment of industrial chemicals and the exposure assessment of pharmaceuticals. In focus were the identification of chemicals potentially demonstrating carcinogenic (C), mutagenic (M), or reprotoxic (R) effects, and endocrine disruption, the importance of metabolism in hazard identification, and the understanding of adsorption of ionisable chemicals to sludge with implications to the fate of pharmaceuticals in waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). Also, issues related to QSARs including consensus modelling, applicability domain, and ionisation of input structures were addressed.The main findings presented herein are as follows:QSARs were successful in identifying almost all carcinogens and most mutagens but worse in predicting chemicals toxic to reproduction.Metabolic activation is a key event in the identification of potentially hazardous chemicals, particularly for chemicals demonstrating estrogen (E) and transthyretin (T) related alterations of the endocrine system, but also for mutagens. The accuracy of currently available metabolism simulators is rather low for industrial chemicals. However, when combined with QSARs, the tool was found useful in identifying chemicals that demonstrated E- and T- related effects in vivo.We recommend using a consensus approach in final judgement about a compound’s toxicity that is to combine QSAR derived data to reach a consensus prediction. That is particularly useful for models based on data of slightly different molecular events or species.QSAR models need to have well-defined applicability domains (AD) to ensure their reliability, which can be reached by e.g. the conformal prediction (CP) method. By providing confidence metrics CP allows a better control over predictive boundaries of QSAR models than other distance-based AD methods.Pharmaceuticals can interact with sewage sludge by different intermolecular forces for which also the ionisation state has an impact. Developed models showed that sorption of neutral and positively-charged pharmaceuticals was mainly hydrophobicity-driven but also impacted by Pi-Pi and dipole-dipole forces. In contrast, negatively-charged molecules predominantly interacted via covalent bonding and ion-ion, ion-dipole, and dipole-dipole forces.Using ionised structures in multivariate modelling of sorption to sludge did not improve the model performance for positively- and negatively charged species but we noted an improvement for neutral chemicals that may be due to a more correct description of zwitterions. Overall, the results provided insights on the current weaknesses and strengths of QSAR approaches in hazard and exposure assessment of chemicals. QSARs have a great potential to serve as commonly used tools in hazard identification to predict various responses demanded in chemical safety assessment. In combination with other tools they can provide fundaments for integrated testing strategies that gather and generate information about compound’s toxicity and provide insights of its potential hazard. The obtained results also show that QSARs can be utilized for pattern recognition that facilitates a better understanding of phenomena related to fate of chemicals in WWTP.
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