Novel method of benchmarking energetic efficiency of industrial systems
In actual economic environment, business sustainability requires high-efficiency technological processes. While Government and Utilities Demand Side Management (DSM) programs consider energy consumption (EUsed) as a whole, proposed method splits energy in 2 (two) specific components: Ideal energy (EIdeal) and Energy at Risk (E@R). Considering these two types of energy a Benchmark Energy Factor (BEF) can be defined. BEF compares the energy used by industrial system or processes (IS&P), Eused to the minimum energy required to accomplish the task at hand Eideal. Ideal energy (power) can be very accurate calculated by using adequate (well known) laws of physics chosen function of the work type performed by IS&P, therefore a solid (not empirical) reference for benchmarking system is available. That eliminates traditional variability that uses variable baselines as “best practice” or other criteria. Volatile comparative element across an industrial sector is replaced with a theoretical goal with a scientific set-up. BEF enables a new approach towards energy efficiency in industrial sector and help level the playing field for energy management. Proposed method promotes a sustainable and consistent approach making possible to determine accurately the (E@R) under variable material and environmental conditions making possible to manage the energy losses. The rating is then solely based on how close the true energy consumption within an IS&P gets to that ideal state. From economic standpoint, these sustainability concepts favor high-efficiency systems, as any energy-efficient system translates into higher effective productivity. Paper proposes a rating system model to describe the energy-efficiency for any IS&P independent of a comparison with others. BEF enables a reliable rating system model describing energetic efficiency of any IS&P that can be used by U.S. Department of Energy-Energy-Star Certification for Plants Program replacing existent benchmarking practice. Case study assessing IS&P by using (E@R) and (BEF) concepts with development of a new standard is presented.
Carbon Capture and Storage Technology: World Overview and Potential to Mitigate GHG in Brazil
The need for global actions to combat global warming resulting from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) has moved both the public and private sector organizations. Capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in geological reservoirs (CCS) has been proposed as a major GHG mitigation technology in the short and medium terms. However, the current forms of incentives for the use of CCS are related to the private sector (oil and coal industry) and funds. One way to encourage the use of CCS on a large scale is the carbon market such as the initiative in the voluntary market. While the regulated market discusses about the inclusion of CCS as a clean development mechanism (CDM) which should be completed for post-Kyoto period. The purpose of this paper is to identify the international status and global perspectives of using CCS technology in order to verify its potential to mitigate GHG in Brazil. The methodology is composed of exploratory, descriptive and analytical research which focuses on qualitative and quantitative strategies and techniques. This paper contains an introduction about global environmental governance (GEG) climate and the importance of CCS to the world. The literature about the CCS was reviewed and identified the key players as well as current forms of incentives for the use of CCS on a large scale in the world. As results are presented, this article will point out the position of the Brazilian Government about CCS and the inclusion of CCS as CDM, the potential use of CCS in Brazil and the identification of the CCS key players in Brazil. Finally, the paper presents the Brazilian opportunities for using CCS on a large scale and the scenario in which Brazil would be supportive of the large scale use of CCS.
The uprising of the marginalised: a socio-economic perspective of the Syrian uprising
More than three years after the outbreak of protests in a number of Arab countries, the role of socio-economic factors in these events is attracting more attention. One of the cases that needs more research is Syria. More than three years into the Syrian uprising, the socio-economic roots of the protest movement that became one of the bloodiest civil conflicts in the history of the Middle East need to be examined. While it has been observed that the Syrian uprising, contrary to some ‘Arab Spring’ countries, has been an uprising of more marginalised social groups with a strong role played by poorer segments in the society, particularly rural and rural-to-urban migrants, the socio-economic explanation for this is still underdeveloped. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of this issue by examining the political and socio-economic compromise that underlined the rule of the Ba’th party in Syria for four decades and unpacking how a combination of internal and external shifts that started in the 1990s and intensified in the 2000s led to the erosion of this compromise, providing the background to the events that began in 2011.