Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to characterize the environmental performance and potential improvement opportunities related to conventional and organic apple systems in Nova Scotia, Canada. ...The goal was to quantify and evaluate resources and energy required for production, storage, and transportation, determining how each supply chain sub-system contributes to relevant global scale environmental burdens. Importantly, scenario models were constructed to explore performance improvement opportunities related to key supply chain inputs. Results indicate that up to point of harvest, the combustion of diesel fuel, production and associated field-level emissions of fertilizers (i.e. synthetic and manure), and inputs to pest and disease management were major contributors to environmental impacts on both conventional and organic orchards. Extending system boundaries to cradle-to-retail locations (both local and distal), revealed, somewhat surprisingly, that electricity needed for long-term storage resulted in substantial burdens, highlighting the problems of coal-based electricity generation in Nova Scotia. Consuming locally produced apples when in season was found to be environmentally preferable to those requiring year round storage, while transport by freight ship is more favorable than long distance transport truck delivery.
•Conventional and organic apple supply chains in Nova Scotia were modeled and evaluated through LCA.•On-orchards hotspots include fuels, fertilizers, and inputs and emissions of pest management.•Coal-based electricity inputs led to significant contributions from storage systems.•Transport via freight ship and rail is favorable over shipment of apples by transport truck.
•The supply of Ontario Switchgrass and Miscanthus is calculated to consider policy.•4 million tonnes transported locally attractive beginning at $69/t.•20 million tonnes exported with aggregation ...on-farm attractive starting at $198/t.•20 million tonnes exported with aggregation at ports attractive starting at $137/t.•Local supply chains plausible with support, but export supply chains unlikely.
This study assesses the supply of switchgrass and miscanthus, in Ontario, Canada, under different biomass prices and supply chain structures, using an integrated economic, biophysical and GIS model, to assess bioenergy policy. In a local, domestic supply chain, 4 million tonnes of baled biomass production per year becomes attractive for transport to the Nanticoke Generation Station at $69/t. For a larger scale export supply chain to Rotterdam in the form of biomass pellets aggregated on the farm, 20 million tonnes of production becomes attractive at approximately $198/t. For an export supply chain with aggregation at the major ports of Ontario, 20 million tonnes of baled biomass product is attractive for shipping to ports, with pellets subsequently transported to Rotterdam, at around $137/t. Higher bale transportation costs mean that agricultural lands closer to ports, but with lower yields, are preferred compared to the on-farm aggregation scenario. Given government incentives to ease the transition between annual and perennial crops and an actual realized demand from the Nanticoke Generation Station for biomass, this supply chain scenario is plausible. However, export scenarios are not attractive due to infrastructure constraints from current pellet processing capacity, and volatile international energy and commodity markets.
The Canadian province of Quebec has set for 2030 a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 37.5% below 1990 levels. Meeting such a reduction target requires in particular a rapid transition ...to a low-carbon energy system. This paper proposes prospective energy scenarios for Quebec up to 2030, under different GHG emission reduction constraints (up to a 40% reduction). The main objective is to explore the role of bioenergy in achieving the reduction targets. Our analysis is based on the North American TIMES Energy Model (NATEM). It belongs to the MARKAL/TIMES family of models supported by the International Energy Agency, and includes a detailed bioenergy sector. Compared to the reference case (baseline), our results indicate a larger share of bioenergy in 2030 (up to a threefold increase in the most stringent GHG reduction scenario), with up to a fourfold increase in the total amount of feedstock used for bioenergy production. Our study envisions thus a much larger penetration of bioenergy than the one proposed by the government of Quebec in its 2030 Energy Policy.
•Prospective energy scenarios for the Province of Quebec under GHG reduction targets.•Use of a TIMES optimization energy model to derive socially optimal solutions.•Explore the role of bioenergy in achieving the reduction targets.•Results indicate a larger penetration of bioenergy than the one proposed by the government of Quebec in its 2030 Energy Policy.
This paper employs a multi-level perspective approach to examine the development of policy frameworks around energy storage technologies. The paper focuses on the emerging encounter between existing ...social, technological, regulatory, and institutional regimes in electricity systems in Canada, the United States, and the European Union, and the niche level development of advanced energy storage technologies. The structure of electricity systems as vertically integrated monopolies, or liberalized or semi-liberalized markets, is found to provide different mechanisms for niche formation and niche to regime transition pathways for energy storage. Significant trade-offs among these pathways are identified. The overwhelming bulk of energy storage policy development activities are found to be taking place in liberalized or semi-liberalized markets. The key policy debates in these markets relate to technical barriers to market participation by storage resources, the ability of storage technologies to offer multiple services in markets simultaneously, the lack of clear rules related to the aggregation of distributed energy resources, and issues related to the meaning of “technological neutrality” in liberalized market systems. Landscape conditions, particularly jurisdictional commitments to pursue deliberate reconfigurations of their energy systems towards low-carbon energy sources, emerge as the most significant factor in the implementation of policy reforms in these areas.
•Storage is an enabling technology which may disrupt conventional utility models.•Private capital is increasingly interested in storage technology development.•The strengths of liberalized markets for new technologies are also their weaknesses.•The existing rules present barriers to full utilization of energy storage technologies.•The low-carbon reconfiguration of energy systems will define the role of storage.
The 2017 fire season was one of the largest on record for British Columbia (BC), Canada, in terms of total area burned (estimated 1.2 million ha), affecting the safety and air quality of numerous ...communities. Moreover, fires of this number and extent alter the wood supply for harvesting, the nature of habitat for wildlife, and can affect regional and national carbon budgets. As a result, it is important to map these fires accurately and to monitor within-year fire progression in order to quantify the resulting forest-disturbance impacts fully. The Bayesian Updating of Land Cover (BULC) algorithm was used to merge burned-area classifications of individual fires from a range of remote sensing sources such as Landsat-7, Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, and MODIS (MCD64A1) burned-area dataset. Together, these provisional classifications imaged each pixel within a known fire perimeter an average of 33.8 times between April 1 and December 1. The resulting 35-week time-series stack had updated weekly burned areas for each of the 89 fires in BC in 2017. Province-wide fire progression was variable throughout the period analyzed, characterized by a steady burn phase of 41,437 ha (5% of total area burned) over a two-week period in early July, an accelerated burn phase of 149,422 ha (17%) from mid-July to early August, another steady burn phase of 218,079 ha (24%) for one month until early September, and a second accelerated burn phase of 301,931 ha (34%) over two weeks in late September with subsequent steady growth of 180,119 ha (20%) over 1.5 months until containment in late October. Herein, we demonstrate how such temporally dense fire classification stacks can be used to analyze fire progression over the course of a fire season (both retrospectively and in near-real time) providing useful metrics to characterize and compare fire events. End-of-season burned-area estimates correspond with estimates derived from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) product that is generated retrospectively from fire best-available mapping approaches. This rapid interpretation of information enables the analysis of suppression success and potential drivers of fires spread while facilitating analyses of carbon budget consequences as well as impacts to communities and timber supply.
•Retrospective and near real-time wildfire maps using data from multiple sensors•Bayesian-synthesized earth observation data for mapping wildfire progression•Daily and weekly fire progression metrics to quantify and characterize fire behaviour•35-week time series provided updated weekly burned areas for 89 fires in 2017.•Each pixel within a fire perimeter observed an average of 34 times April–December.
Using an extended Kaya decomposition, we identify the drivers of long-run CO2 emissions since 1800 for Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the United ...States, Canada and Japan. By considering biomass and carbon-free energy sources along with fossil fuels, we are able to shed light on the effects of past and present energy transitions on CO2 emissions. We find that at low levels of income per capita, fuel switching from biomass to fossil fuels is the main contributing factor to emissions growth. As income levels increase, scale effects, especially income effects, become dominant. Technological change proves to be the main offsetting factor in the long run. Particularly in the last decades, technological change and fuel switching have become important contributors to the decrease in emissions in Europe. Our results also contrast the differentiated historical paths of CO2 emissions taken by these countries.
•We study the long-run drivers of CO2 emissions in twelve developed economies.•We use novel data and apply an extended Kaya decomposition.•At low levels of income per capita, fuel switching is usually the main CO2 driver.•Scale effects are most important at higher levels of income and in the long-run.•Technological change is the main offsetting factor in the long-run.
The construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated by the Canadian construction industry accounts for 27 % of the total municipal solid waste disposed in landfills. However, it is evident that ...over 75 % of what the construction industry generates as waste has a residual value, and therefore could be recycled, salvaged and/or reused. The need for comprehensive and integrated waste management mechanisms, technologies, rating systems and policies is widely recognized. Owing to increasing C&D waste volumes, shortage of landfills and long-term adverse environmental, economic and social impacts of the disposed C&D waste, sustainable C&D waste management is becoming increasingly essential to protect public health and natural ecosystems. This paper proposes a conceptual C&D waste management framework to maximise the 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) and minimise the disposal of construction waste by implementing sustainable and comprehensive strategy throughout the lifecycle of construction projects. In addition, a life cycle based C&D waste sustainability index is developed. This approach can be used to make decisions related to selection of material, sorting, recycle/reuse and treatment or disposal options for C&D waste.
One major challenge in current brain research is generating an integrative understanding of the brain's functions and disorders from its multiscale neuronal architectures and connectivity. Thus, ...innovative neurotechnology tools are urgently required for deciphering the multiscale functional and structural organizations of the brain at hierarchical scales from the molecular to the organismal level by multiple brain research initiatives launched by the European Union, United States, Australia, Canada, China, Korea, and Japan. To meet this demand, microfluidic chips (μFCs) have rapidly evolved as a trans-scale neurotechnological toolset to enable multiscale studies of the brain due to their unique advantages in flexible microstructure design, multifunctional integration, accurate microenvironment control, and capacity for automatic sample processing. Here, we review the recent progress in applying innovative μFC-based neuro-technologies to promote multiscale brain research and uniquely focus on representative applications of μFCs to address challenges in brain research at each hierarchical level. We discuss the current trend of combinational applications of μFCs with other neuro- and biotechnologies, including optogenetics, brain organoids, and 3D bioprinting, for better multiscale brain research. In addition, we offer our insights into the existing outstanding questions at each hierarchical level of brain research that could potentially be addressed by advancing microfluidic techniques. This review will serve as a timely guide for bioengineers and neuroscientists to develop and apply μFC-based neuro-technologies for promoting basic and translational brain research.
ABSTRACT
Insurance pricing is subject to stricter regulation in some states than others. This cross-sectional variation, coupled with the occurrence of staggered deregulation in several states, ...enables a powerful test of the political cost hypothesis that managers manipulate accruals to mitigate adverse effects of rate regulation. We show that insurers understate their loss reserve accruals in more regulated regimes, a finding that contrasts with most prior studies documenting expense-increasing accruals in regulatory pricing settings like utilities. We theorize and find evidence that regulator-enabled cartel-like collective rate making leads to premiums being higher than the competitive level. Our results are consistent with accounting manipulation being used to justify deviating from these high rates and showcase a role for accounting in cartel enforcement.
JEL Classifications: M41; G18; G22; G32.
PDF
