| 11. |
- Blennow, Kristina
(författare)
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Simulating wind disturbance impacts on forest landscapes: Tree-level heterogeneity matters
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Modelling and Software. - : Elsevier BV. - 1364-8152 .- 1873-6726. ; 51, s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wind is the most detrimental disturbance agent in Europe's forest ecosystems. In recent years, disturbance frequency and severity have been increasing at continental scale, a trend that is expected to continue under future anthropogenic climate change. Disturbance management is thus increasingly important for sustainable stewardship of forests, and requires tools to evaluate the effects of management alternatives and climatic changes on disturbance risk and ecosystem services. We here present a process-based model of wind disturbance impacts on forest ecosystems, integrated into the dynamic landscape simulation model iLand. The model operates at the level of individual trees and simulates wind disturbance events iteratively, i.e., dynamically accounting for changes in forest structure and newly created edges during the course of a storm. Both upwind gap size and local shelter from neighboring trees are considered in this regard, and critical wind speeds for uprooting and stem breakage are distinguished. The simulated disturbance size, pattern, and severity are thus emergent properties of the model. We evaluated the new simulation tool against satellite-derived data on the impact of the storm Gudrun (January 2005) on a 1391 ha forest landscape in south central Sweden. Both the overall damage percentage (observation: 21.7%, simulation: 21.4%) as well as the comparison of spatial damage patterns showed good correspondence between observations and predictions (prediction accuracy: 60.4%) if the full satellite-derived structural and spatial heterogeneity of the landscape was taken into account. Neglecting within-stand heterogeneity in forest conditions, i.e., the state-of-the-art in many stand-level risk models, resulted in a considerable underestimation of simulated damage, supporting the notion that tree-level complexity matters for assessing and modeling large-scale disturbances. A sensitivity analysis further showed that changes in wind speed and soil freezing could have potentially large impacts on disturbed area and patch size. The model presented here is available as open source. It can be used to study the effects of different silvicultural systems and future climates on wind risk, as well as to quantify the impacts of wind disturbance on ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. It thus contributes to improving our capacity to address changing disturbance regimes in ecosystem management. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 12. |
- Lima, Celson, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a service based infrastructure to improve efficiency into energy systems : The NEMO&CODED quest
- 2010
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Ingår i: 10th IFAC Workshop on Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (2010). - : International Federation of Automatic Control. - 9783902661777 ; , s. 162-167
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Energy efficiency is absolutely one of the greatest challenges of our days. The whole chain of actors involved in the generation, distribution, and consumption of energy are not only concerned but also acting towards a more rational and efficient use of energy. Additionally, the use of renewable energy sources also reflects the seriousness of the subject and helps to set up the current landscape on this matter. This is the rationale driving the NEMO&CODED (NEMO) project, which targets the development of a software infrastructure, based on web services and semantic resources aiming to provide the appropriate support to manage energy-related devices (e.g. renewable energy sources, smart meters, etc.) considering an environment where energy is generated, stored, distributed, and consumed in a rational and environmentally correct way. This shall be attained through the comprehensive implementation and instantiation of computational intelligence at resource level and the development of mechanisms that enable the seamless, and online, control/monitoring of aggregations of resources. This paper discusses the NEMO project, namely its vision, goals, preliminary software architecture, evaluation and assessment scenarios, and also points out the further work (research, design, and implementation) to be performed.
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| 13. |
- Johansson, Björn, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable Production by Integrating Business Models of Manufacturing and Recycling Industries
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering. - 3642196918 ; , s. 723-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Future raw material shortage, high price levels and environmental regulations requires increased reuse of materials andcomponents. This will substantially influence conditions for both manufacturing and recycling industries, which need toinnovate their business models. Our hypothesis is that an integrated co-operation between organizations within these industries, employing symbiotic business models will increase the profitability and reduce the total environmental impact. Findings from interaction with manufacturing and recycling industries using a business model framework as baseline are presented. Results indicate that profit and decreased environmental effects can be achieved through symbiotic business models, but further development and implementation is needed.
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
-
Method and models used in the project Pathways to Sustainable European Energy Systems
- 2011
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This book describes the research that has been carried out during the first period (2006-2010) of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) project "Pathways to Sustainable European Energy Systems". this interdisciplinary project involves more that 40 researchers and addresses various aspects of the challenges faced in transforming the European energy system. Presented in this book are the energy-related methods and models that originate from different scientific disciplines and traditions and that were applied in the Pathways project. Some of the analytical tools are well-known, well-documented, and widely used in academic research. Others have been developed (or refined) during the Pathways project and are therefore unique. The chapters of this book cover around 30 different methods and models used in the Pathways project and presents an overview of the processes through which the research was conducted and the methods and models were co-ordinated.
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| 16. |
- Englund, Oskar, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Meeting Sustainability Requirements for SRC Bioenergy: Usefulness of Existing Tools, Responsibilities of Involved Stakeholders, and Recommendations for Further Developments
- 2012
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Ingår i: Bioenergy Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1939-1234 .- 1939-1242. ; 5:3, s. 606-620
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Short rotation coppice (SRC) is considered an important biomass supply option for meeting the European renewable energy targets. This paper presents an overview of existing and prospective sustainability requirements, Member State reporting obligations and parts of the methodology for calculating GHG emissions savings within the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and shows how these RED-associated sustainability criteria may affect different stakeholders along SRC bioenergy supply chains. Existing and prospective tools are assessed on their usefulness in ensuring that SRC bioenergy is produced with sufficient consideration given to the RED-associated criteria. A sustainability framework is outlined that aims at (1) facilitating the development of SRC production systems that are attractive from the perspectives of all stakeholders, and (2) ensuring that the SRC production is RED eligible. Producer manuals, EIAs, and voluntary certification schemes can all be useful for ensuring RED eligibility. However, they are currently not sufficiently comprehensive, neither individually nor combined, and suggestions for how they can be more complementary are given. Geographical information systems offer opportunities for administrative authorities to provide stakeholders with maps or databases over areas/fields suitable for RED-eligible SRC cultivation. However, proper consideration of all relevant aspects requires that all stakeholders in the SRC supply chain become engaged in the development of SRC production systems and that a landscape perspective is used.
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| 17. |
- Englund, Oskar, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Oil Palm for Biodiesel in Brazil: Potentials and Trade-offs
- 2014
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Ingår i: World Bioenergy 2014 Proceedings. - 9789197762489 ; , s. 140-148
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oil palm is a land efficient feedstock alternative for biodiesel production and can be a very profitable alternative for farmers. In this study, a spatially explicit model is used to: (i) map and quantify areas in Brazil where oil palm establishment for biodiesel production would be profitable (positive net present value, NPV) in different future scenarios; (ii) estimate corresponding biodiesel production volumes and analyze trade-offs between such biodiesel production, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and nature conservation; and (iii) investigate whether pricing of carbon emissions from land use change might help to steer oil palm production away from lands where conversion would bring the largest impacts on biodiversity or ecosystem carbon stocks. The scenarios include oil, coal, and carbon price pathways from the IEA World Energy Outlook and both the present and prospective situations concerning road infrastructure in Brazil. It is found that palm oil production for biodiesel can be profitable (positive NPV) on very large areas; that such production can conflict with greenhouse gas emissions reduction and nature conservation objectives in many places, but also provide opportunities to meet multiple objectives. Depending on scenario, some 65-80 Mha of land could support biodiesel production corresponding to more than 10% of the global diesel demand, without causing any direct land use change emissions and without inflicting on high conservation value areas.
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| 18. |
- Kordi, Maryam, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of increasing fuzziness on analytic hierarchy process for spatial multicriteria decision analysis
- 2012
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Ingår i: Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. - : Elsevier. - 0198-9715 .- 1873-7587. ; 36:1, s. 43-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) involves techniques which relatively recently have received great increase in interest for their capabilities of solving spatial decision problems. One of the most frequently used techniques of MCDA is Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the AHP, decision-makers make pairwise comparisons between different criteria to obtain values of their relative importance. The AHP initially only dealt with crisp numbers or exact values in the pairwise comparisons, but later it has been modified and adapted to also consider fuzzy values. It is necessary to empirically validate the ability of the fuzzified AHP for solving spatial problems. Further, the effects of different levels of fuzzification on the method have to be studied. In the context of a hypothetical GIS-based decision-making problem of locating a dam in Costa Rica using real-world data, this paper illustrates and compares the effects of increasing levels of uncertainty exemplified through different levels of fuzzification of the AHP. Practical comparison of the methods in this work, in accordance with the theoretical research, revealed that by increasing the level of uncertainty or fuzziness in the fuzzy AHP, differences between results of the conventional and fuzzy AHPs become more significant. These differences in the results of the methods may affect the final decisions in decision-making processes. This study concludes that the AHP is sensitive to the level of fuzzification and decision-makers should be aware of this sensitivity while using the fuzzy AHP. Furthermore, the methodology described may serve as a guideline on how to perform a sensitivity analysis in spatial MCDA. Depending on the character of criteria weights, i.e. the degree of fuzzification, and its impact on the results of a selected decision rule (e.g. AHP), the results from a fuzzy analysis may be used to produce sensitivity estimates for crisp AHP MCDA methods.
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| 19. |
- Höök, Mikael, 1982-
(författare)
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Depletion rate analysis of fields and regions : a methodological foundation
- 2014
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Ingår i: Fuel. - : Elsevier BV. - 0016-2361 .- 1873-7153. ; 121:4, s. 95-108
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a comprehensive mathematical framework for depletion rate analysis and ties it to the physics of depletion. Theory was compared with empirical data from 1036 fields and a number of regions. Strong agreement between theory and practice was found, indicating that the framework is plausible. Both single fields and entire regions exhibit similar depletion rate patterns, showing the generality of the approach. The maximum depletion rates for fields were found to be well described by a Weibull distribution.Depletion rates were also found to strongly correlate with decline rates. In particular, the depletion rate at peak was shown to be useful for predicting the future decline rate. Studies of regions indicate that a depletion rate of remaining recoverable resources in the range of 2–3% is consistent with historical experience. This agrees well with earlier “peak oil” forecasts and indicates that they rest on a solid scientific ground.
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| 20. |
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