The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

Climate change 2014 - Mitigation of climate change

A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems

Part I: AN INTRODUCTION TO INQUIRY. 1. Human Inquiry and Science. 2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research. 3. The Ethics and Politics of Social Research. Part II: THE STRUCTURING OF INQUIRY: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE. 4. Research Design. 5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement. 6. Indexes, Scales, and Typologies. 7. The Logic of Sampling. Part III: MODES OF OBSERVATION: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE. 8. Experiments. 9. Survey Research. 10. Qualitative Field Research. 11. Unobtrusive Research. 12. Evaluation Research. Part IV: ANALYSIS OF DATA:QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE . 13. Qualitative Data Analysis. 14. Quantitative Data Analysis. 15. Reading and Writing Social Research. Appendix A. Using the Library. Appendix B. Random Numbers. Appendix C. Distribution of Chi Square. Appendix D. Normal Curve Areas. Appendix E. Estimated Sampling Error.

社会研究方法基础 = The Basics of Social Research

Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology

Fossil fuel consumption in transportation system and energy-intensive sectors as the principal pillar of civilization is associated with progressive release of greenhouse gases. Hydrogen as a promising energy carrier is a perfect candidate to supply the energy demand of the world and concomitantly reduce toxic emissions. This article gives an overview of the state-of-the-art hydrogen production technologies using renewable and sustainable energy resources. Hydrogen from supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of biomass is the most cost effective thermochemical process. Highly moisturized biomass is utilized directly in SCWG without any high cost drying process. In SCWG, hydrogen is produced at high pressure and small amount of energy is required to pressurize hydrogen in the storage tank. Tar and char formation decreases drastically in biomass SCWG. The low efficiency of solar to hydrogen system as well as expensive photovoltaic cell are the most important barriers for the widespread commercial development of solar-based hydrogen production. Since electricity costs play a crucial role on the final hydrogen price, to generate carbon free hydrogen from solar and wind energy at a competitive price with fossil fuels, the electrical energy cost should be four times less than commercial electricity prices.

Hydrogen production from renewable and sustainable energy resources: Promising green energy carrier for clean development

The zero waste index:a performance measurement tool for waste management systems in a zero waste city

A comprehensive review of the development of zero waste management: lessons learned and guidelines

The aim of the study is to analyze three different waste treatment technologies by life cycle assessment tool. Sanitary Landfill, Incineration and gasification-pyrolysis of the waste treatment technologies are studied in SimaPro software based on input-output materials flow. SimaPro software has been applied for analyzing environmental burden by different impact categories. All technologies are favorable to abiotic and ozone layer depletion due to energy recovery from the waste treatment facilities. Sanitary landfill has the significantly lower environmental impact among other thermal treatment while gases are used for fuel with control emission environment. However, sanitary landfill has significant impact on photochemical oxidation, global warming and acidification. Among thermal technology, pyrolysis-gasification is comparatively more favorable to environment than incineration in global warming, acidification, eutrophication and eco-toxicity categories. Landfill with energy recovery facilities is environmentally favorable. However, due to large land requirement, difficult emission control system and long time span, restriction on land filling is applying more in the developed countries. Pyrolysis-gasification is more environmental friendly technology than incineration due to higher energy recovery efficiency. Life cycle assessment is an effective tool to analyze waste treatment technology based on environmental performances.

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Comparative study of municipal solid waste treatment technologies using life cycle assessment method

Today, many developed cities such as Stockholm, and Adelaide are aiming to transform their current waste management practice into a more efficient and sustainable way, called zero waste practice. Increasingly people move from rural to urban environments due to the economic activities and quality of life provided to inhabitants, causing cities to expand. Over-crowded cities are compromising the quality of urban life due to their rapid growth and ever-increasing generation of waste. The concept of the “zero waste city” includes a 100% recycling rate and recovery of all resources from waste materials. However, transforming current over-consuming cities to zero waste cities is challenging. Therefore, this study aims to understand the key drivers of waste management and the challenges, threats, and opportunities in transforming traditional waste streams and optimizing practices toward zero waste practices. Part of this study is an in-depth case analysis of waste management systems in two cities, Adelaide and Stockholm. Cities from high consuming countries, such as Australia and Sweden, have been analyzed based on five waste management contexts: social, economic, political, technological, and environmental. In addition, key drivers are identified. Both Adelaide and Stockholm have the vision to become “zero waste cities”. The study concludes that strategies based on tools, systems, and technologies can assist cities in their transformation into “zero waste cities”; however, they must also be affordable, practicable, and effective within their local regulatory framework.

Atiq Zaman

Papers

The zero waste index:a performance measurement tool for waste management systems in a zero waste city

A comprehensive review of the development of zero waste management: lessons learned and guidelines

Comparative study of municipal solid waste treatment technologies using life cycle assessment method

Urban growth and waste management optimization towards ‘zero waste city’

A comprehensive study of the environmental and economic benefits of resource recovery from global waste management systems