Indoor air pollution in developing countries and acute lower respiratory infections in children.
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BACKGROUND: A critical review was conducted of the quantitative literature linking indoor air pollution from household use of biomass fuels with acute respiratory infections in young children, which is focused on, but not confined to, acute lower respiratory infection and pneumonia in children under two years in less developed countries. Biomass in the form of wood, crop residues, and animal dung is used in more than two fifths of the world's households as the principal fuel. METHODS: Medline and other electronic databases were used, but it was also necessary to secure literature from colleagues in less developed countries where not all publications are yet internationally indexed. RESULTS: The studies of indoor air pollution from household biomass fuels are reasonably consistent and, as a group, show a strong significant increase in risk for exposed young children compared with those living in households using cleaner fuels or being otherwise less exposed. Not all studies were able to adjust for confounders, but most of those that did so found that strong and significant risks remained. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that the relative risks are likely to be significant for the exposures considered here. Since acute lower respiratory infection is the chief cause of death in children in less developed countries, and exacts a larger burden of disease than any other disease category for the world population, even small additional risks due to such a ubiquitous exposure as air pollution have important public health implications. In the case of indoor air pollution in households using biomass fuels, the risks also seem to be fairly strong, presumably because of the high daily concentrations of pollutants found in such settings and the large amount of time young children spend with their mothers doing household cooking. Given the large vulnerable populations at risk, there is an urgent need to conduct randomised trials to increase confidence in the cause-effect relationship, to quantify the risk more precisely, to determine the degree of reduction in exposure required to significantly improve health, and to establish the effectiveness of interventions. (+info)
Quantifying the effects of exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass combustion on acute respiratory infections in developing countries.
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Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the leading cause of burden of disease worldwide and have been causally linked with exposure to pollutants from domestic biomass fuels in developing countries. We used longitudinal health data coupled with detailed monitoring and estimation of personal exposure from more than 2 years of field measurements in rural Kenya to estimate the exposure-response relationship for particulates < 10 microm diameter (PM(10)) generated from biomass combustion. Acute respiratory infections and acute lower respiratory infections are concave, increasing functions of average daily exposure to PM(10), with the rate of increase declining for exposures above approximately 1,000-2,000 microg/m(3). This first estimation of the exposure-response relationship for the high-exposure levels characteristic of developing countries has immediate and important consequences for international public health policies, energy and combustion research, and technology transfer efforts that affect more than 2 billion people worldwide. (+info)
Primary production and humanosphere--is energy sufficient for sustainable humanosphere?
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There is a growing concern about the sustainability of our humanosphere. Realizing that our consumption of natural resources is soon to exhaust available ones in this globe, we feel the need for more prudent ways to utilize them. In particular, the need would be greater in the ways for the use of the primary products as we are to continue to face the rapid increase in human population. On the contrary, however, we are rapidly losing the traditional customs of their many uses. For instance, rice straws were once a significant raw material for many manufactured products in Japan, while most of them are now simply burned in the paddy. Here I would like to review the current status of primary production on the Earth from the viewpoint of material cycling and to demonstrate that, unless we quickly turn around our ever-increasing demand for more material and more energy, the humanosphere would never enter a stable phase. At the year 2006 A.D., the energy demand of a possibly sustainable humanosphere surpasses the available energy through the global primary production. (+info)
Hydrogen production. Green algae as a source of energy.
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Hydrogen gas is thought to be the ideal fuel for a world in which air pollution has been alleviated, global warming has been arrested, and the environment has been protected in an economically sustainable manner. Hydrogen and electricity could team to provide attractive options in transportation and power generation. Interconversion between these two forms of energy suggests on-site utilization of hydrogen to generate electricity, with the electrical power grid serving in energy transportation, distribution utilization, and hydrogen regeneration as needed. A challenging problem in establishing H(2) as a source of energy for the future is the renewable and environmentally friendly generation of large quantities of H(2) gas. Thus, processes that are presently conceptual in nature, or at a developmental stage in the laboratory, need to be encouraged, tested for feasibility, and otherwise applied toward commercialization. (+info)
Optimizing nitrogen management in food and energy production and environmental protection: summary statement from the Second International Nitrogen Conference.
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Human efforts to produce food and energy are changing the nitrogen (N) cycle of the Earth. Many of these changes are highly beneficial for humans, while others are detrimental to people and the environment. These changes transcend scientific disciplines, geographical boundaries, and political structures. They challenge the creative minds of natural and social scientists, economists, engineers, business leaders, and decision makers. The Second International Nitrogen Conference was designed to facilitate communications among all stakeholders in the "nitrogen community" of the world. The Conference participants" goal in the years and decades ahead is to encourage every country to make optimal choices about N management in food production and consumption, energy production and use, and environmental protection. Scientific findings and recommendations for decision makers that emerged from the Conference are presented. (+info)
An enhanced rate-based emission trading program for NOX: the Dutch model.
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Since 1997 government and industry in The Netherlands have been engaged in intensive policy discussions on how to design an emission trading program that would satisfy the Government's policy objectives within the national and international regulatory framework and accommodate industry's need for a flexible and cost-effective approach. Early on in the discussion the most promising solution was a rate-based approach, which dynamically allocated saleable emission credits based on a performance standard rate and actual energy used by facilities. All industrial facilities above a threshold of 20 MWth would be judged on their ability to meet this performance rate. Those "cleaner" than the standard can sell excess credits to others with an allocation that is less than their actual NOX emission. With some changes in law, such a design could be made to fit well into the national and EU legislative framework while at the same time uniquely meeting industry's requirement of flexibility toward economic growth and facility expansion. (An analysis of the legislative changes required will be given in a separate paper by Chris Dekkers.) However, the environmental outcome of such a system is not as certain as under an absolute emission cap. At the request of the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), Automated Credit Exchange (ACE), in close cooperation with the working group of government and industry representatives introduced a number of features into the Dutch NOX program allowing full exploitation of market mechanisms while allowing intermediate adjustments in the performance standard rates. The design is geared toward meeting environmental targets without jeopardizing the trading market the program intends to create. The paper discusses the genesis of the two-tier credit system ACE helped to design, explains the differences between primary (fixed) and secondary (variable) credits, and outlines how the Dutch system is expected to function once implemented in 2004. The paper also discusses the market trading simulation held in early 2001 to assess and test the trading program, and reviews also the current status of the market program development. (+info)
Merging nitrogen management and renewable energy needs.
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The ARBRE (ARable Biomass Renewable Energy) project, the first large-scale wood-fueled electricity generating plant in the U.K., represents a significant development in realising British and European policy objectives on renewable energy. The plant is fueled by a mix of wood from short rotation coppice (SRC) and forest residues. Where feasible, composted/conditioned sewage sludge is applied to coppice sites to increase yields and improve soil structure. In the Yorkshire Water region, typical total N:P:K composition of composted/conditioned sludge is 2.9:3.8:0.3, respectively. Sludge application is calculated on the basis of total nitrogen (N) content to achieve 750 kg N ha(-1), for 3 years" requirement. Willow coppice forms a dense, widely spaced, root network, which, with its long growing season, makes it an effective user of nutrients. This, in combination with willow"s use as a nonfood, nonfodder crop, makes it an attractive route for the recycling of sewage sludge in the absence of sea disposal, banned under the EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD). Further work is required on the nutritional requirements of SRC in order to understand better the quantities of sludge that can be applied to SRC without having a detrimental impact on the environment. This paper suggests the source of N rerouting under the UWWTD and suggests the likely expansion of SRC as an alternative recycling pathway. (+info)
Effects of brash removal after clear felling on soil and soil-solution chemistry and field-layer biomass in an experimental nitrogen gradient.
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Biofuels, such as brash from forest fellings, have been proposed as an alternative energy source. Brash removal may affect the sustainability of forest production, e.g., through a change in the availability of cations and N in the soil. We report initial effects of brash removal on inorganic N content in humus and mineral soil, soil-solution chemistry, and field-layer biomass after clear felling an N-fertilisation experiment in central Sweden. The experiment comprised six different fertiliser levels, ranging from 0 to 600 kg N ha(-1). Urea was given every 5th year during 1967 to 1982 to replicated plots, giving total doses of 0 to 2400 kg N ha(-1). Clear felling took place in 1995, 13 years after the last fertilisation. The removal of brash decreased the NO3- content in the humus layer after clear felling. A decrease in the NO3- concentration of the soil solution was indicated during most of the study period as well. No effect of the previous N fertilisation was found in the humus layer, but in the mineral soil there was an increase in NO3- content for the highest N dose after clear felling ( p = 0.06). The soil-solution chemistry and the field-layer biomass showed an irregular pattern with no consistent effects of brash removal or previous fertilisation. (+info)