Journal: Journal of Environmental Management

Abbreviation

J. environ. manag.

Publisher

Elsevier

Journal Volumes

ISSN

0301-4797
1095-8630

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Publications 1 - 10 of 95
  • A novel machine-learning approach for evaluating rebounds-associated environmental footprint of households and application to cooperative housing
    Item type: Journal Article
    Shinde, Rhythima; Froemelt, Andreas; Kim, Aleksandra; et al. (2022)
    Journal of Environmental Management
    Multiple environmental policies aim to increase resource efficiency and reduce consumption of goods and services with high environmental impact. This may lead to cost-savings and, consequently, additional consumption with environmental impacts (rebound effects). In this study, a supervised machine-learning model (i.e. an application of random forest regression) is developed to quantify consumption rebound effects. In contrast to previous approaches, it is a versatile method, which allows to estimate any income-related rebound at household level considering specific household properties and the entire profile of consumption. Socio-economic properties (e.g. income, age group) of the households are used as the independent properties for the regressor to detect the dependent consumption expenses of the households. Thus, this method can be used as a bottom-up study for understanding rebounds and developing targeted measures to prevent or reduce rebound effects. To illustrate the application of the method, it is applied to the case of cooperative housing in Switzerland. In addition to environmental goals, the cooperative aims to provide affordable housing, and the reduced rent increases the disposable income of tenants. The results show that households tend to spend the ‘extra’ income on housing (e.g. for larger apartments) and travel. For the former, the cooperative already has a policy in place regulating the apartment area permitted per person, which delimits induced environmental impacts. For the latter, households with lower income particularly spend their extra-money on purchase and operation of vehicles, while higher-income groups rather spend it on recreation and package holidays. Travel, housing, clothing and personal care products have highest emissions per Swiss Franc (∼0.3–0.6 kg CO2-eq/CHF). Thus, it is recommended to provide incentives for shifting these expenses to other consumption, to avoid jeopardizing environmental goals. The method was also used for a range of other applications e.g. rebounds due to energy-efficient devices to illustrate its versatility.
  • Applying kitchen compost promoted soil chrysene degradation by optimizing microbial community structure
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kou, Bing; Huo, Lin; Cao, Minyi; et al. (2024)
    Journal of Environmental Management
    Chrysene, as a high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), has become an important factor in degrading soil quality and constraining the safe production of food crops. Compost has been widely used to amend contaminated soil. However, to date, the main components of kitchen compost that enhance the biodegradation of chrysene in the soil remain unidentified. Thus, in this study, the enhancing effect and mechanisms of kitchen compost (KC) and kitchen compost-derived dissolved organic matter (KCOM) on chrysene removal from soil were investigated through cultivation experiments combined with high-throughput sequencing technology. Additionally, the key components influencing the degradation of chrysene were identified. The results showed that KCOM was the main component of compost that promoted the degradation of chrysene. The average degradation rate of chrysene in 1% KC- and 1% KCOM-treated soil increased by 27.20% and 24.18%, respectively, at different levels of chrysene pollution compared with the control treatment (CK). KC and KCOM significantly increased soil nutrient content, accelerated humification of organic matter, and increased microbial activity in the chrysene-contaminated soil. Correlation analyses revealed that the application of KC and KCOM optimized the microbial community by altering soil properties and organic matter structure. This optimization enhanced the degradation of soil chrysene by increasing the abundance of chrysene-degrading functional bacteria from the genera Bacillus, Arthrobacter, Pseudomonas, Lysinibacillus, and Acinetobacter. This study provides insight into the identification of key components that promote chrysene degradation and into the microbial-enhanced remediation of chrysene-contaminated soil.
  • Application of biological early warning systems in wastewater treatment plants: Introducing a promising approach to monitor changing wastewater composition
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kizgin, Ali; Schmidt, Danina; Joss, Adriano; et al. (2023)
    Journal of Environmental Management
    Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are a major source of micropollutants to surface waters. Currently, their chemical or biological monitoring is realized by using grab or composite samples, which provides only snapshots of the current wastewater composition. Especially in WWTPs with industrial input, the wastewater composition can be highly variable and a continuous assessment would be advantageous, but very labor and cost intensive. A promising concept are automated real-time biological early warning systems (BEWS), where living organisms are constantly exposed to the water and an alarm is triggered if the organism's responses exceed a harmful threshold of acute toxicity. Currently, BEWS are established for drinking water and surface water but are seldom applied to monitor wastewater. This study demonstrates that a battery of BEWS using algae (Chlorella vulgaris in the Algae Toximeter, bbe Moldaenke), water flea (Daphnia magna in the DaphTox II, bbe Moldaenke) and gammarids (Gammarus pulex in the Sensaguard, REMONDIS Aqua) can be adapted for wastewater surveillance. For continuous low-maintenance operation, a back-washable membrane filtration system is indispensable for adequate preparation of treated wastewater. Only minor deviations in the reaction of the organisms towards treated and filtered wastewater compared to surface waters were detected. After spiking treated wastewater with two concentrations of the model compounds diuron, chlorpyrifos methyl, and sertraline, the organisms in the different BEWS showed clear responses depending on the respective compound, concentration and mode of action. Immediate effects on photosynthetic activity of algae were detected for diuron exposure, and strong behavioral changes in water flea and gammarids after exposure to chlorpyrifos methyl or sertraline were observed, which triggered automated alarms. Different types of data analysis were applied to extract more information out of the specific behavioral traits, than only provided by the vendors algorithms. To investigate, whether behavioral movement changes can be linked to impact other endpoints, the effects on feeding activity of G. pulex were evaluated and results indicated significant differences between the exposures. Overall, these findings provide an important basis indicating that BEWS have the potential to act as alarm systems for pollution events in the wastewater sector.
  • Updating beliefs and combining evidence in adaptive forest management under climate change
    Item type: Journal Article
    Yousefpour, Rasoul; Temperli, Christian; Bugmann, Harald; et al. (2013)
    Journal of Environmental Management
  • Characterization of the dynamic aging and leached dissolved organic carbon from biodegradable and conventional plastics under photooxidation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Yu, Yue; Yao, Yu; Adyel, Tanveer Mehedi; et al. (2024)
    Journal of Environmental Management
    Biodegradable plastics have been regarded as promising candidates in the struggle against plastic pollution. However, the aging and dynamic leaching process of biodegradable and conventional plastics under photooxidation is still unclear. Herein, three types of non-biodegradable plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyethylene terephthalate), and two types of biodegradable plastics (polylactic acid and cornstarch-based plastics) were treated with 21 days of photooxidation followed by 13 days of dark conditions. Scanning electron microscopy was applied to display the morphological changes. Also, the carbonyl index, oxygen-to-carbon ratio, and contact angle were utilized to characterize the aging degree of the plastic surface. Unexpectedly, biodegradable plastics did not always display a greater aging degree than non-biodegradable plastics. Moreover, the dissolved organic carbon during the leaching process was identified using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy. The findings suggested that biodegradable plastics showed the potential to release more dissolved organic carbon. Particularly, the polylactic acid plastic displayed higher concentrations and more types of dissolved organic carbon release than that of conventional plastics in our experiment. This research highlights the necessity for monitoring the aging process of both biodegradable and non-biodegradable plastics and the non-negligible ecological risk of leached organic pollutants due to plastic degradation.
  • Explaining people's perceptions of invasive alien species: A conceptual framework
    Item type: Journal Article
    Shackleton, Ross T.; Richardson, David M.; Shackleton, Charlie M.; et al. (2019)
    Journal of Environmental Management
  • Soil application of biochar produced from biomass grown on trace element contaminated land
    Item type: Journal Article
    Evangelou, Michael W.H.; Brem, Anette; Ugolini, Fabio; et al. (2014)
    Journal of Environmental Management
  • Environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural products
    Item type: Journal Article
    Meier, Matthias S.; Stoessel, Franziska; Jungbluth, Niels; et al. (2015)
    Journal of Environmental Management
  • Testing of new stormwater pollution build-up algorithms informed by a genetic programming approach
    Item type: Journal Article
    Zhang, Kefeng; Deletic, Ana; Bach, Peter M.; et al. (2019)
    Journal of Environmental Management
  • Decision making under uncertainty in case of soil remediation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Scholz, Roland W.; Schnabel, Ute (2006)
    Journal of Environmental Management
Publications 1 - 10 of 95