Environmental aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement : hearing before the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, first session, March 16, 1993.

Shipping list no.: 93-0331-P.

Environmental readiness document : solar heating and cooling of buildings /

September 1979.

Hazardous properties and environmental effects of materials used in solar heating and cooling (SHAC) technologies : interim handbook /

Issued Dec. 1978.

A practical treatise on gas and ventilation, with special relation to illuminating, heating and cooking by gas. Including scientific helps to engineer-students and others.

Mode of access: Internet.

Department of Energy's facilities for defense materials production : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, first session, on the public health and safety and environmental aspects of operation ... July 17, 1987.

Pt. 2 has subtitle: Hearings before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, first session, on the status of the Department of Energy's effects to address issues concerning the defense materials production reactors ... October 27 and 29, 1987.

Monitoring well-being and changing environmental conditions in coastal communities: development of an assessment method

The intersection of social and environmental forces is complex in coastal communities. The well-being of a coastal community is caught up in the health of its environment, the stability of its economy, the provision of services to its residents, and a multitude of other factors. With this in mind, the project investigators sought to develop an approach that would enable researchers to measure these social and environmental interactions. The concept of well-being proved extremely useful for this purpose. Using the Gulf of Mexico as a regional case study, the research team developed a set of composite indicators to be used for monitoring well-being at the county-level. The indicators selected for the study were: Social Connectedness, Economic Security, Basic Needs, Health, Access to Social Services, Education, Safety, Governance, and Environmental Condition. For each of the 37 sample counties included in the study region, investigators collected and consolidated existing, secondary data representing multiple aspects of objective well-being. To conduct a longitudinal assessment of changing wellbeing and environmental conditions, data were collected for the period of 2000 to 2010. The team focused on the Gulf of Mexico because the development of a baseline of well-being would allow NOAA and other agencies to better understand progress made toward recovery in communities affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, the broader purpose of the project was to conceptualize and develop an approach that could be adapted to monitor how coastal communities are doing in relation to a variety of ecosystem disruptions and associated interventions across all coastal regions in the U.S. and its Territories. The method and models developed provide substantial insight into the structure and significance of relationships between community well-being and environmental conditions. Further, this project has laid the groundwork for future investigation, providing a clear path forward for integrated monitoring of our nation’s coasts. The research and monitoring capability described in this document will substantially help counties, local organizations, as well state and federal agencies that are striving to improve all facets of community well-being.

Influence of a building's integrated-photovoltaics on heating and cooling loads

Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has the potential to become a major source of renewable energy in the urban environment. BIPV has significant influence on the heat transfer through the building envelope because of the change of the thermal resistance by adding or replacing the building elements. Four different roofs are used to assess the impacts of BIPV on the building's heating-and-cooling loads; namely ventilated air-gap BIPV, non-ventilated (closed) air-gap BIPV, closeroof mounted BIPV, and the conventional roof with no PV and no air gap. One-dimensional transient models of four cases are derived to evaluate the PV performances and building cooling-and-heating loads across the different roofs in order to select the appropriate PV building integration method in Tianjin, China. The simulation results show that the PV roof with ventilated air-gap is suitable for the application in summer because this integration leads to the low cooling load and high PV conversion efficiency. The PV roof with ventilation air-gap has a high time lag and small decrement factor in comparison with other three roofs and has the same heat gain as the cool roof of absorptance 0.4. In winter, BIPV of non-ventilated air gap is more appropriate due to the combination of the low heating-load through the PV roof and high PV electrical output. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-product related environmental process and production methods (NPR-PPMs): a view from international trade law and international environmental governance

The primary aim of this thesis is to analyse legal and governance issues in the use of Environmental NPR-PPMs, particularly those aiming to promote sustainable practices or to protect natural resources. NPR-PPMs have traditionally been thought of as being incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, the issue remains untouched by WTO adjudicatory bodies. One can suggest that WTO adjudicatory bodies may want to leave this issue to the Members, but the analysis of the case law also seems to indicate that the question of legality of NPR-PPMs has not been brought ‘as such’ in dispute settlement. This thesis advances the argument that despite the fact that the legal status of NPR-PPMs remains unsettled, during the last decades adjudicatory bodies have been scrutinising environmental measures based on NPR-PPMs just as another expression of the regulatory autonomy of the Members. Though NPR-PPMs are regulatory choices associated with a wide range of environmental concerns, trade disputes giving rise to questions related to the legality of process-based measures have been mainly associated with the protection of marine wildlife (i.e., fishing techniques threatening or affecting animal species). This thesis argues that environmental objectives articulated as NPR-PPMs can indeed qualify as legitimate objectives both under the GATT and the TBT Agreement. However, an important challenge for the their compatibility with WTO law relate to aspects associated with arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination. In the assessment of discrimination procedural issues play an important role. This thesis also elucidates other important dimensions to the issue from the perspective of global governance. One of the arguments advanced in this thesis is that a comprehensive analysis of environmental NPR-PPMs should consider not only their role in what is regarded as trade barriers (governmental and market-driven), but also their significance in global objectives such as the transition towards a green economy and sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

COMMUNICATION AND GREEK ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS: MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND INFLUENCING FACTORS

A basic operational objective of any environmental organisation is to raise awareness among the public on issues of environmental protection, through the dissemination of knowledge and experience to local communities, so that the conservation and ecologically sound management of natural resources can acquire a local dimension. This can be achieved either through interventions directed at the State, mainly in relation to its legislative function, or by encouraging citizens to change or improve their attitude regarding environmental matters. In order to ensure a successful outcome and the efficient functioning of any organisation, a feeling of mutual trust and understanding should exist between the latter and its various audiences, i.e. the State and society. A basic ingredient of this balance between the organisation, the broader public and the State is effective communication and activity planning. As a way of contributing to the exploration of this process, this paper describes the means of communication used by Greek environmental organisations, and presents, through a non-linear model, the differentiation amongst them, in conjunction with aspects of the profile of those running each organisation and other indicators, such as the years in operation and the membership figures in each sampled organisation. The paper concludes by arguing that the diversification of communication means is related to the head person's years as a member of the organisation and the extent of its total membership. Another important finding is that the more the involvement in activities within the organisation, the less differentiation we observe amongst the employed means of communication.

National energy policies of the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada in the 1970s and 1980s: are economic and/or environmental concerns responsible for change?

The thesis presents a comparison of the national energy policies of the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada from 1973 until the late 1980s. The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether economic and/or environmental concerns were responsible for changes in the· West-German and Canadian national energy policies. Furthermore, the feasibility of implementing a soft energy path in West-Germany and Canada is examined. For better comprehension of the policy-making process and implemented changes in the national energy policies of the two states, the West-German and Canadian parliamentary systems and the political cultures were compared. For the analysis, several events with international impact were taken as guidelines. Furthermore, based on statistical data, the West-German and Canadian energy production and consumption were analyzed. With reference to these results the degree of the de facto changes in the national energy policies were analyzed. In addition, the thesis discusses the possibilities which a soft energy path offers to both national governments to renounce themselves from the dependencies on a few energy resources. The thesis reveals that changes in the West-German and Canadian national energy policies, in their energy production and consumption are correlated to various world events. In particular, governmental reponses security of energy supply by the two international oil crises of 1973 and 1979/1980 demonstrate that changes in the West-German and Canadian national energy policies were implemented in reaction to economic concerns than environmental ones. With the policies "away from oil" and "off oil", the West-German and Canadian government implemented the i i substitution of oil through various diverse energy supply resources. However, energy savings concepts and policies were initiated through the first oil crisis in 1973. The world recessions in 1975 and 1982 had no 'profound impacts on the agenda of West-German and Canadian energy policies. As a consequence of the stagnation or the negative growth of the world economic market, changes in their energy production and consumption can be perceived. However, the West-German and Canadian energy production and consumption intensified with the augmentation of the world economy. During the period of study, environmental concerns were taken into account in the energy policy agendas of the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada but they were not of primary concern. wi thin the decade of. the 1980s notably more environmental considerations were taken into account in the energy policies of the two states. The two nuclear reactor accidents in 1979 and 1986 sharpened to various degrees West-German and Canadian public discourse of present energy supply mix and attitude towards energy production and consumption. The statistical data reflects yet no changes in the energy policies in regard to the position of nuclear power. However, in the next several years possible changes can be observed through statistical data, because the planning, the construction and possible phase out of nuclear power requires several years. Finally, the thesis reveals that the implementation of a soft energy path requires profound changes in the consumer behaviour. As several studies indicate, a soft energy path is technological and economically feasible for the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada, its implementation remains to be a political decision.

Ethics, tourists and the environmental practices of the North American cruise ship industry: a comparison study of the ethical standards of Alaskan and Caribbean cruise ship tourists

Please consult the paper edition of this thesis to read. It is available on the 5th Floor of the Library at Call Number: Z 9999 R43 S54 2005