Climate change 2014 - Synthesis Report

Framework Convention on Climate Change

Biogas is experiencing a period of rapid development and biogas upgrading is attracting increasing attention. Consequently, the market for biogas upgrading is facing significant challenges in terms of energy consumption and operating costs. Selection of upgrading technology is site-specific, case-sensitive and dependent on the biogas utilisation requirements and local circumstances. Therefore, matching the technology selected for use to specific requirements is significantly important. This paper systematically reviews the state-of-the-art of biogas cleaning and upgrading technologies, including product purity and impurities, methane recovery and loss, upgrading efficiency and the investment and operating costs. In addition, the potential utilisation of biogas and the corresponding requirements on gas quality are investigated in depth. Based on the results of comparisons between the technical features of upgrading technologies, the specific requirements for different gas utilizations and the relevant investment and operating costs, recommendations are made regarding appropriate technology.

Selection of appropriate biogas upgrading technology-a review of biogas cleaning, upgrading and utilisation

Panel estimation for urbanization, energy consumption and CO2 emissions: A regional analysis in China

A review on technological options of waste to energy for effective management of municipal solid waste.

Waste is a subjective notion. Some see waste as a risk to public health and the environment, some see it as a mere aesthetic inconvenience, and others see it as a source of income. In the informal recycling sector, there is no question that waste is perceived as a resource. In Bandung, Indonesia, at least one in every 1000 people works in the informal sector, which includes recycling activities by scavengers or waste pickers in the street, in temporary storage sites, and at dump sites. Scavenging is always associated with risk, unhygienic environments, criminal activities, homelessness, unemployment, poverty, and backwardness. These associations tend to perpetuate discrimination against the informal recycling and, in turn, lead to exclusionary policies regarding the informal recycling in solid waste management (SWM). This paper discusses the role of informal recycling in SWM in Bandung, Indonesia, by using the material flow method. This study estimates at least 303 metric tons of refuse are collected by the informal recycling out of a total of 2295 metric tons of garbage generated each day in the city. This study also uses a questionnaire to investigate how local municipal officers and politicians perceive the role of the informal recycling. This paper further shows that despite the positive aspects that the informal recycling brings to SWM in Bandung, there are also negative consequences. It highlights the dilemma faced by decision makers while trying to include the informal recycling in the SWM toward inclusive society. Improved efficiency in waste collection may lead to unemployment of scavengers and waste pickers who belong to the poor strata of society, whereas issues on inclusive society force municipalities to fight against social exclusion. The normative theory of social exclusion and the concept of capital forms were used to address the dilemmas faced by decision makers in this sector.

Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector

Municipal solid waste management (SWM) problems present a serious challenge to local government authorities (LGAs) in developing countries. The effective way to reduce this tremendous issue is to integreate waste recycling systems into existing and future SWM. Understanding factors influencing recycling performance is the key to achieving sustainable waste management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the performance of SWM relating to solid waste recycling covering a total of 120 solid waste recycling programs located in different urban areas of Thailand. The indicators involving efficiency, effectiveness and service ratio were used for the assessment of recycling performance using statistical analysis methods. Influencing factors encompassing technical, economic and financial, and institutional aspects were identified for three types of recycling programs (school garbage bank, community garbage bank, and composting facility). The results suggest that common significant factors are perception of administrator awareness of SWM problems, and source separation. In terms of school garbage banks, the provision of monetary incentive including interest and compensatory goods for recycling members, transportation cost, and low investment costs significantly affect the performance. Provision of loans, managing the program as a cooperative organization, and provision of door-to-door service correlate with better performance by community garbage banks. For composting facilities, provision of free organic waste bins and cooperation with NGOs correlate with a higher rate of waste diversion. The findings also propose implications for enhancing the performance of recycling systems through a number of measures including provision of monetary incentive, tax incentives, subsidizations, information dissemination, awareness campaigns, training, technical assistance, staff exchanges, and networking with voluntary organizations—which should be formulated with respect to building capacity of development partners, responding to poor recycling performance, and focusing on significant influencing factors.

Assessment of factors influencing the performance of solid waste recycling programs

An optimization model has been developed to generate pump schedules in real-time operation for a complex water supply system by considering major difficulties posed by a complicated tariff; especially demand charges, discrete pump discharges, and other physical constraints. The model decomposes in space and time the system into several subsystems, and planning periods into operational periods. Progressive optimality is applied to solve a dynamic programming model. The pump discharges are discretized and arranged by heuristic methods in order to reduce the number of times pumps are switched on. In real-time operation, billing monthly demand is estimated by a long-term model and then incorporated in a short-term model to obtain an optimal daily schedule in a relatively short computational time. Application is made to the city of Pittsburgh's water supply system. To implement the model in making operational decisions, a computer software package is also coded. A simulation run on part of the system in a test...

Optimization of Water Supply System Operation

Population of two cities in Pakistan has already crossed the 10-million figure and for the rest of the areas in the country populations are also increasing rapidly Urbanization has boosted the use of energy in the cities and so is greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but the ground situation as to the extent, vulnerability, past trends and future scenarios are not unveiled for the cities of Pakistan Dearth of data in Pakistan is a huge hindrance to the investigation of energy use and actual GHG emissions We dared to take steps in addressing this case and put preliminary efforts in compiling baseline sectoral breakdown of energy use, carbon emission and land cover/land use Furthermore, the relationship of CO2 source and sink is also explored This study mainly tries to achieve three objectives The results illustrate that industrial and residential sectors are vibrant consumers of energy and CO2 emitters among all other sectors of the city Sparse trees in the city and reduced agriculture areas by more than one-half in 2009 compared with those in 1975 are the main reasons for increased energy use and reduced CO2 emissions from agriculture sector as well However, all the other sectors have increased their CO2 emissions in an escalating trend The forecast analysis portrays the same trend too Therefore, there is a need to make policy makers recognize such vulnerable situation of energy use and GHG emissions for them to take proper and timely actions to cope with the threats of climate change which can occur anytime in the very near future

Exercising multidisciplinary approach to assess interrelationship between energy use, carbon emission and land use change in a metropolitan city of Pakistan

Today, the production of energy from waste is not a new process; however, its implementation and application continue to be a challenge in developing countries. Despite the abundance of valuable waste in the urban markets of these countries, practices aiming at renewable energy generation are missing. In Thailand, so-called green markets are replete with renewable energy potential, but the practical implementation of this potential is rare. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to show that the conversion of green waste into renewable energy is not only environmentally beneficial but also financially rewarding. This is demonstrated by exploring the energy potential of the market and conducting a benefit–cost analysis under two scenarios. The results illustrate that for the selected market, converting organic waste into biogas is advantageous both environmentally as well as financially; further, the benefit–cost ratio is three times higher after conversion, compared to before. Additionally, there is a huge margin of conversion and production of biogas. The policy makers and planners of Talaad Thai (Thailand's largest green market) should invest greater effort in initiating plans, and set an example for other markets in Thailand, in order to make this planet clean and green.

Vilas Nitivattananon

Papers

Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector

Assessment of factors influencing the performance of solid waste recycling programs

Optimization of Water Supply System Operation

Exercising multidisciplinary approach to assess interrelationship between energy use, carbon emission and land use change in a metropolitan city of Pakistan

Green waste to biogas: Renewable energy possibilities for Thailand's green markets