Trading Dams

Over the past forty years, environmental trading systems have emerged as one of the primary innovations of American environmental law. In fields ranging from climate change mitigation to wetlands protection, regulated entities may now proceed with otherwise proscribed activities in return for providing extra protection at some other place or time. At their best, these trades achieve environmental goals while increasing flexibility and lowering the economic costs of regulation. In practice, that promise has not always been achieved, and the emergence of environmental trading systems has at times been quite controversial. But they have become increasingly persuasive. This Article considers environmental trading in a new context. The United States contains tens of thousands of dams, and these dams have drastically altered river systems. While many of these dams also provide important societal benefits, a major reconfiguration of America\u27s dams would greatly improve those dams\u27 collective balance between benefits and harms. To date, that kind of major reconfiguration has not taken place. But a restoration project on Maine\u27s Penobscot River illustrates how trading might create such change. By exchanging reduced environmental regulatory constraints and increased energy generation in some locations for dam removals and other environmental improvements elsewhere, the project will create major environmental improvements without any loss of hydropower. *1044 Using that project as a model, this Article analyzes how trading systems might facilitate better reconciliation of the positive benefits and negative impacts of dams. Our conclusions are qualified; while we argue that trading systems hold promise, applying them to dams will not be easy. Nevertheless, the concept is worth pursuing, and we offer a series of legal reforms to that end. More broadly, the analysis illustrates both the promise and the challenges that face environmental trading systems as they continue their expansion through the field of environmental law

Trading Dams

Over the past forty years, environmental trading systems have emerged as one of the primary innovations of American environmental law. In fields ranging from climate change mitigation to wetlands protection, regulated entities may now proceed with otherwise proscribed activities in return for providing extra protection at some other place or time. At their best, these trades achieve environmental goals while increasing flexibility and lowering the economic costs of regulation. In practice, that promise has not always been achieved, and the emergence of environmental trading systems has at times been quite controversial. But they have become increasingly persuasive. This Article considers environmental trading in a new context. The United States contains tens of thousands of dams, and these dams have drastically altered river systems. While many of these dams also provide important societal benefits, a major reconfiguration of America\u27s dams would greatly improve those dams\u27 collective balance between benefits and harms. To date, that kind of major reconfiguration has not taken place. But a restoration project on Maine\u27s Penobscot River illustrates how trading might create such change. By exchanging reduced environmental regulatory constraints and increased energy generation in some locations for dam removals and other environmental improvements elsewhere, the project will create major environmental improvements without any loss of hydropower. *1044 Using that project as a model, this Article analyzes how trading systems might facilitate better reconciliation of the positive benefits and negative impacts of dams. Our conclusions are qualified; while we argue that trading systems hold promise, applying them to dams will not be easy. Nevertheless, the concept is worth pursuing, and we offer a series of legal reforms to that end. More broadly, the analysis illustrates both the promise and the challenges that face environmental trading systems as they continue their expansion through the field of environmental law

Sodium fast reactors as potential nuclear power plants in Nigeria’s quest for nuclear electricity

The sodium fast reactor (SFR) was x-rayed in this work as a possible candidate for the Nigeria nuclear programme. In particular, the fuel economy and effects of reactivity were analyzed using the BN 600 as a prototype nuclear power plant (NPP). In a regime of closed fuel cycle, fast reactors are reputed for utilizing a large variety of fuels in sharp contrast to conventional reactors. Reaction rates and isotopic compositions of fuel elements were computed using the software “TIME 26”. The radial heat profile in the reactor core (RC) was aligned. Alignment was carried out by fuel enrichment in the peripheral part of the Active Zone (AZ), that is, Zone of Big Enrichment (ZBE). The corresponding fuel enrichment in the Zone of Small Enrichment (ZSE) was equally determined via a prompt enrichment factor (a) that ranges from 1.2 to 1.3. Parameters such as fuel campaign time and time interval between refueling were also determined. These parameters were limited to the maximum allowable burn-up value of the fuel which was set at 10%. With a Breeding Ratio (BR) of 1.2865, it is shown in this work that SFRs are able to reproduce their own fuel in contrast to thermal reactors. Further, the computed reactivity margin of 0.01283 is a key requirement for the plant internal safety. The implication for the Nigeria nuclear energy programme is discussed. Keywords: Nuclear energy, Sodium Fast Reactor, BN 600, Nuclear fuel, Reactivity Effect

Additive effects of Na+ and Cl– ions on barley growth under salinity stress

Soil salinity affects large areas of the world’s cultivated land, causing significant reductions in crop yield. Despite the fact that most plants accumulate both sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl–) ions in high concentrations in their shoot tissues when grown in saline soils, most research on salt tolerance in annual plants has focused on the toxic effects of Na+ accumulation. It has previously been suggested that Cl– toxicity may also be an important cause of growth reduction in barley plants. Here, the extent to which specific ion toxicities of Na+ and Cl– reduce the growth of barley grown in saline soils is shown under varying salinity treatments using four barley genotypes differing in their salt tolerance in solution and soil-based systems. High Na+, Cl–, and NaCl separately reduced the growth of barley, however, the reductions in growth and photosynthesis were greatest under NaCl stress and were mainly additive of the effects of Na+ and Cl– stress. The results demonstrated that Na+ and Cl– exclusion among barley genotypes are independent mechanisms and different genotypes expressed different combinations of the two mechanisms. High concentrations of Na+ reduced K+ and Ca2+ uptake and reduced photosynthesis mainly by reducing stomatal conductance. By comparison, high Cl– concentration reduced photosynthetic capacity due to non-stomatal effects: there was chlorophyll degradation, and a reduction in the actual quantum yield of PSII electron transport which was associated with both photochemical quenching and the efficiency of excitation energy capture. The results also showed that there are fundamental differences in salinity responses between soil and solution culture, and that the importance of the different mechanisms of salt damage varies according to the system under which the plants were grown

Le Québec en Amérique du Nord : Hollywood Nord-Est ? La production de films nord-américains au Québec

La faiblesse du dollar canadien et de généreux programmes de crédits d'impôt ont contri¬bué à créer une industrie du film prospère mais vulnérable au Québec, qui a généré 32 900 emplois au Québec en 2003/2004. Cette note décrit le fonctionnement de l'industrie nord-américaine du cinéma au Québec. Elle se penche sur les cas de Technicolor Services créatifs, une multinationale qui opère au Québec, et Muse Entertainment Enterprises, basée au Québec. Muse, Technicolor et leurs clients se sont installés au Québec en raison de la faiblesse du dollar canadien, mais aussi à cause du climat fiscal favorable. L'industrie québécoise dans ce domaine est techniquement concurrentielle et capable de produire des films de qualité semblable à ceux produits à Hollywood. La hausse du dollar canadien, l'apparition d'incitatifs fiscaux dans les États américains comparables à ceux pratiqués au Québec, le déclin des films produits pour la télévision et une hausse du protectionnisme dans l'industrie américaine du film ont mené à un déclin dans les productions étrangères filmées au Québec

Crop weight measurement sensor for IoT based industrial greenhouse systems

ArticleNo wadays the industrial management systems are changing by means of implementing various Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, allowing a simple integration of sensor technologies with wireless communications and development of cloud based database solution s. The industrial greenhouse management systems are not the exception in this regard, as they are becoming more and more popular with the use of various sensors for the automation of the vegetable and other crop cultivation process.The general aim they hav e is to raise the level of process automation, quality, energy efficiency and other important parameters. The implemented technologies and environment of industrial greenhouse can be different fir the research type laboratories, as they are focused on prod uction, therefore this research is conducted in cooperation with tomato producing industrial greenhouse of SIA ‘ Latgales darzenu logistika ’ focusing on IoT based crop weight measurement

Development and testing results of IoT based air temperature and humidity measurement system for industrial greenhouse

ArticleIn dustrial greenhouse control systems are changing and getting new capabilities, due to the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, allowing wirelessly integrate various sensor technologies and create a cloud - based database and analytic solut ions. Greenhouse systems typically are controlled by consuming single temperature and humidity measurement unit data (treated as an average value), this raises a question about the precision of such approach for application in a large industrial greenhouse . In this article IoT based temperature and humidity measurement system uMOL architecture is described and first measurement results of multi - point data collection with high resolution compared to existing single - point measurements

Differences in proton pumping and Na/H exchange at the leaf cell tonoplast between a halophyte and a glycophyte

The tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter and tonoplast H+ pumps are essential components of salt tolerance in plants. The objective of this study was to investigate the transport activity of the tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter and the tonoplast V-H+-ATPase and V-H+-PPase in a highly tolerant salt-accumulating halophyte, Salicornia dolichostachya, and to compare these transport activities with activities in the related glycophyte Spinacia oleracea. Vacuolar membrane vesicles were isolated by density gradient centrifugation, and the proton transport and hydrolytic activity of both H+ pumps were studied. Furthermore, the Na+/H+-exchange capacity of the vesicles was investigated by 9-amino-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridine fluorescence. Salt treatment induced V-H+-ATPase and V-H+-PPase activity in vesicles derived from S. oleracea, whereas V-H+-ATPase and V-H+-PPase activity in S. dolichostachya was not affected by salt treatment. Na+/H+-exchange capacity followed the same pattern, i.e. induced in response to salt treatment (0 and 200 mM NaCl) in S. oleracea and not influenced by salt treatment (10 and 200 mM NaCl) in S. dolichostachya. Our results suggest that S. dolichostachya already generates a high tonoplast H+ gradient at low external salinities, which is likely to contribute to the high cellular salt accumulation of this species at low external salinities. At high external salinities, S. dolichostachya showed improved growth compared with S. oleracea, but V-H+-ATPase, V-H+-PPase and Na+/H+-exchange activities were comparable between the species, which might imply that S. dolichostachya more efficiently retains Na+ in the vacuole