The project's objective is to support JRC IPTS in revising the existing Ecolabel and GPP criteria of personal computers and notebook computers. The priority in this revision process is to first analyse which of the existing criteria and the supporting evidence are still valid and to identify the additional research that should be carried out. Potential additional criteria can be developed, if identified as necessary in the course of the study. The study starts with a definition of the scope; the necessarity for new or revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria is based on a market analysis and a technical analysis with research on the most significant environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of the products. This also includes the application of a consistent methodological approach regarding the hazardous substances criteria. Based on these findings, the improvement potential will be derived resulting in a proposal for a revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria set for desktop and notebook computers which will be discussed in a European stakeholder process.
The project's objective is to support JRC IPTS in revising the existing Ecolabel and GPP criteria of televisions. The priority in this revision process is to first analyse which of the existing criteria and the supporting evidence are still valid and to identify the additional research that should be carried out. Potential additional criteria can be developed, if identified as necessary in the course of the study. The study starts with a definition of the scope; the necessarity for new or revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria is based on a market analysis and a technical analysis with research on the most significant environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of the products. This also includes the application of a consistent methodological approach regarding the hazardous substances criteria. Based on these findings, the improvement potential will be derived resulting in a proposal for a revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria set for televisions which will be discussed in a European stakeholder process.
Ziel der Forschungsarbeit ist die Klassifizierung von Boden-Biozönosen in ausgewählten Feldrainen. In drei Naturräumen (Lössböden der Jülicher Börde, Muschelkalkböden in Mainfranken und pleistozäne Sande bei Leipzig) werden typische Lebensgemeinschaften von Collembola und Gamasina (Taxozönosen) beschrieben. Der wesentliche Unterschied zu anderen Klassifikations-Ansätzen liegt in der induktiven Vorgehensweise: Biozönosen werden allein aufgrund der Artenzusammensetzung an den Standorten typisiert. Vegetationskundliche Kriterien dienen als entscheidendes Hilfsmittel zur Vorauswahl von Flächen mit ähnlichen Standortbedingungen. Hierbei wird gleichzeitig die aufgenommene Vegetation als ein weiteres Taxon der zu beschreibenden Biozönose angesehen. Die typische Artenzusammensetzung ist das integrierte Ergebnis aller denkbaren ökologischen Vorgänge. Ein Ziel der Arbeit ist somit die prospektive Formulierung von Erwartungswerten für Collembolen und Raubmilben auf der Basis vegetationskundlicher Daten. Es sollte daher möglich sein, dieses Mehrarten-System mit hoher Sensibilität zur Bioindikation von Standortveränderungen einzusetzen. Die Kenntnis der Artenstruktur wiederkehrender Lebensgemeinschaften kann der funktionellen Ökosystemforschung hilfreiche Hinweise bieten.
Das Projekt ÖkoKauf der Stadt Wien hat es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, durch die Erstellung von ökologischen Kriterien, Pilotprojekte und durch Bewusstseinsarbeit das Beschaffungswesen im Magistrat Wien weiter zu ökologisieren. In diesem Rahmen widmete sich der Arbeitskreis 'Desinfektionsmittel unter der Leitung der Wiener Umweltanwaltschaft (WUA) der Aufgabe, für Hygienefachleute ein Instrument zur Beurteilung der Auswirkungen von Desinfektionsmitteln auf Gesundheit und Umwelt zu erstellen. Das Österreichische Ökologie-Institut führte eine Daten- und Literaturrecherche durch, das Umweltbundesamt nahm ergän-zende ökotoxikologische Tests an Wirkstoffen und -produkten vor und 'die umweltberatung ermittelte stationsbezogene Desinfektionsmittelverbräuche in Wiener Krankenanstalten. Die Recherche- und Testergebnisse zu Desinfektionsmittelwirkstoffen und -produkten wurden in einer vom IFZ konzipierten und von der Magistratsabteilung 14 realisierten Datenbank zusammengefasst. Um die ökotoxikologischen Produkteigenschaften vergleichbar zu machen, wurde vom IFZ ein Bewertungsraster entwickelt und in die Datenbank integriert. Dabei werden nachteilige Wirkungen auf die Gesundheit anhand von vier Wirkungskategorien erfasst: Akute Giftigkeit; Reizwirkung auf die Haut; Sensibilisierung, allergenes Potenzial sowie Erbgutschädigende, krebserzeugende und fruchtschädigende Eigenschaften. Zusammen mit der Berücksichtigung des Verhaltens in Oberflächengewässern (Abbauverhalten, Bioakkumulationspotenzial, Toxizität für Wasserorganismen) sowie dem Verhalten in Kläranlagen werden insgesamt sechs Bewertungszahlen generiert, die auf einer Skala von 1 (vernachlässigbar) bis 5 (sehr hoch) das gesamte Gefährdungsprofil des Stoffes beschreiben sollen. Das Gefährdungsprofil eines Handelsproduktes errechnet sich aus den Gefährdungsprofilen der darin enthaltenen Wirkstoffe anhand eines Algorithmus: Dabei wird die Annahme getroffen, dass die Produkteigenschaften von der Konzentration der darin enthaltenen Wirkstoffe abhängen. Bei der Bewertung ist außerdem zu gewährleisten, dass ein Wirkstoff mit einem hohen Gefährdungspotenzial angemessen berücksichtigt wird, auch und gerade wenn seine Konzentration im Produkt gering ist. In der Literatur wird dazu eine logarithmische Skalierung vorgeschlagen. Die Bewertung berücksichtigt derzeit die Wirkstoffe sowie Anwendungsverdünnungen. Die Zusammenfassung der Produkte in Verwendungs- bzw. Expositionskategorien ermöglicht letztlich eine vergleichende Bewertung. Da das Bewertungsraster gerade auf eine vergleichende Bewertung von Produkten abzielt, unterliegt er einer ständigen kritischen Diskussion, die auch häufig von den Herstellern geführt wird. Dieser Umstand sowie das Faktum von Produktlebenszyklen erfordern ein ständiges Update der in der Datenbank enthaltenen Informationen und eine Anpassung des Bewertungsmodells an den aktuellen Stand von Forschung sowie Standards der Stoff- und Produktpolitik.
Due to ecological reasons and because of the need to remain independent from foreign energy suppliers, the power generation in offshore wind parks becomes more and more important in Germany. It is therefore planned to build up approximately 1,300 new offshore wind power plants with a capacity of 6,500 MW near the German coastline until 2020. The structures are installed on the ground of the sea in a water depth that might in some cases reach 50 m. The mechanical loading situation for these structures is characterised by an enormous weight combined with high cyclic stresses resulting from the service loads and the tide. Hence, hot rolled steels with a yield strength of 355 MPa are employed in a maximum thickness of 100 mm. Until now, the required toughness properties for these structural steels and their welds are 40 J at -20 C. However, in a plate thickness of 100 mm, only the submerged arc welding (SAW) process can be used to guarantee such toughness properties, but especially in these heavy plates, submerged arc welding is rather time consuming and consequently more uneconomic compared to other welding techniques. Due to these disadvantages, it can even be expected that only part of the planned power plants will be built up in time as the high welding time of several hours per m causes too many delays. From the point of structural integrity, it can be argued wether a Charpy impact toughness of 40 J is really required, as this criterion is only set based on experiences of mechanical and civil engineers. Thus, it can be concluded that different welding techniques should be regarded as alternatives to SAW in case that the 'real' toughness requirements are less than 40 J at -20 C. Electron beam welding would be a favourable welding process for such heavy plates as even 100 m thick plates can be welded in one single step, but until now the toughness requirements of 40 J have not yet been met. It is therefore the aim of the research project to reinforce the electron beam welding process for the application to heavy plates in offshore wind power plants. To reach this aim, the following tasks are be carried out: - improvement of the electron beam welding process in order to achieve better toughness properties of the welds, - application of reliable fracture mechanics concepts in order to calculate realisitc toughness requirements. With regard to the process, already a this stage of the project an enormous improvement of the toughness properties of EB weld seams could be demonstrated based on optimisation of the welding process. Furthermore, it could be shown that by establishing the leakage before breakage criterion combined with regular inspections, the toughness requirements can be significantly reduced. Thus, the EB welding can be applied to offshore wind energy installations even if steels of higher yield strength (e.g. S460Q) are selected.
The main objectives are : - to identify, structure and assess instruments addressing and promoting sustainable consumption and greening of the market; - to identify and evaluate best practice examples; - to develop policy strategies for transferring best practices; - to carry out a workshop; - to finalise insights by preparing a guideline for policy makers; - to prepare a scientific report and a summary. After a prephase connected with an internal kick-off meeting, the first phase analyses policy instruments, measures and actions and the gained experiences in WP 2 ' Basic instrumental overview . The instrumental overview is intended to be of a broader nature to collect insights into existing, but also discussed, proposed and/or rejected tools which have lead or could lead to a greening of the markets by addressing supply and/or demand. We will concentrate on promising tools and actions. The gained and collected information will be assessed along certain criteria developed beforehand in WP 3 'Assessment . WP 4 'Best practises and market transformation patterns will bring together the most instructive findings and consider what could be learned from them. The key question behind that approach is to look for the patterns behind successful greening strategies. The second phase is dedicated to the potentials for transferring of the results and their dissemination. WP 5 'Extension and transfer strategies picks up the results of the preceding work. It considers the findings and prepares strategies for the transfer of promising approaches. Results and proposals will be documented and discussed at a one-day workshop (WP 6 'Workshop ) which will collect insights, opinions and experiences of a broader auditorium. The discussion and results of the workshop will be documented and will contribute to the update of the preliminary findings. WP 7 'Dissemination brings together all findings and insights. Here we will prepare guidelines, a report, including a summary. Prime Contractor: Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung GgmbH; Berlin; Germany.
Lichen conservation biology is often faced with widely distributed, but strongly fragmented taxa. If in a global Red List assessment such a taxon is treated as one single unit, one large and stable population may result in a low conservation status of the global population, despite the fact that most populations face a strong decline. In case the global population of a taxon is subdivided into evolutionary significant units (ESU), an individual Red List status might be assigned to each ESU. However, the complex life cycles and long generation times make it very difficult to identify ESU for lichens if ecological differentiation is the crucial criterion for their distinction. As an alternative approach to delimit ESU, genetic differentiation of regional populations has been suggested. Recent developments of molecular markers demonstrated considerable levels of regional genetic differentiation among populations within species and during our first Scopes project we found high levels of genetic differentiation within L. pulmonaria between biogeographic regions in Russia. We identified a broad suture zone of two different evolutionary lineages in the Ural Mountains. The western lineage, as identified by ITS sequences is widely distributed in Africa and Western, Northern and Central Europe. The eastern lineage was found so far in Russia East of the Urals and in North America. Concerning the differentiation within the two ITS types it is likely that these genetically differentiated populations of L. pulmonaria developed independently over considerable evolutionary periods rather than became demographically autonomous through recent isolation, e.g. during anthropogenic deforestation. In this project we will sample additional populations along this suture zone, as well as east and west of it to study possible gene flow between the two distinct evolutionary lineages. In order to test if the genetic differentiation found in regional populations parallel ecological adaptation, we had established a provenance clone test during our first Scopes project. We expect that during the coming three years the growth of the transplants will have reached an optimal level, which will then allow to test if survival and growth rate, diaspore production and degree of parasite attack differ between the provenances from the Carpathians, the Ural Mountains, The Komi Republic and Sakhalin. A differentiation between the studied L. pulmonaria population into regional ecotypes would have a significant impact on the conservation status of this species, because its global population could be subdivided into regional ESU.
The main goal of the present project is to derive and analyze new numerical schemes for the simulation of the transport and diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere or in water. This process can be described by an advection diffusion equation in 3D. However, some simple models of environmental problems can be reduced to a one-dimensional form, e.g. saline and alum intrusion in rivers and canals, air pollution generated by a point source and air quality modelling (ozone, acid rain). Numerical methods will be constructed for the multi-dimensional problems by reducing them to a sequence of one-dimensional problems. Moreover, these schemes must preserve important features of the continuous model, such as the positivity of the solution (monotone schemes). These specially designed difference schemes must be accompanied with artificial boundary conditions to limit the computational domain. Finally, these boundary condition are designed on a discrete level directly for the chosen scheme in order to conserve the monotonicity property and to prevent any unphysical reflection at these boundaries (cf. (DaEh)). In a second task (DEGD) we consider the problems of optimal location of industrial enterprises and optimization of emissions from enterprises for ensuring sanitary environment criteria. Moreover, we study the problem of determination of the coefficients of diffusion and the coefficient of transformation of aerosols. This mathematical study is about how to achieve the growth of enterprise in an environmentally friendly manner (i.e. compatible with environmental protection) since overuse of resources can result in a larger release of pollution into the environment. This environmental problem is especially interesting for fast developing countries, like Vietnam but it is certainly affecting all other regions of the globe.
Objectives: The study links East African and European re-searchers into strategic alliances so as to contribute to resolving conflicts prevailing between the needs of different forest stakeholders and the need to sustain the remaining forest and its biodiversity. The project will develop a scientific basis and directly applicable tools for forest ecosystem restoration and sustainable management. The particular objectives are to: - Establish and validate ecological & socio-economic criteria against which status and pro-cesses of forest and its management can be assessed - Assess indicators that permit inference of the status of a particular criterion and to formulate appropriate verifiers - Design and validate nature-based silvicultural tools to gear operations so as to improve local livelihoods and sustain forest resources - Integrate results into appropriate technology packages and disseminate to target-groups. Activities: Establishment of country-specific tandems of local and European institutions. Identification of locally applicable C&I for sustainable forest management and standardisation of research methods. Together with stakeholders, joint development of a framework in which C&I can be verified locally, based on prevailing information and complementary research. Participating NGOs to facilitate establishment of socio-economic context, research institutions to investigate status and dynamics of forests. In parallel, research will commence on silviculturally relevant ecosystem characteristics. Mid-project evaluation of descriptive-analytical 1st project phase so as to formulate the experimental, predictive 2nd phase of the study. Definition of research approaches to calibrate verifiers for indicators and to test silvicultural tools suited to guide the forest ecosystem into the desired direction or status. Research on the management of invasive species, natural establishment of desirable species and on stand improvement treatments. The continuous input and evaluation through an NGO moderator will help to fine-tune and ensure the client-orientated approach of the silvicultural research. A specific communication module serves to translate scientific findings into technological packages relevant to stakeholders. Expected Outcome: Regional framework to assess sustainability of forest management. Silvicultural tools for forest restoration and sustainable forest management. Research findings translated into formats appropriate to the target group, including extension, policy advice and management guidelines.
Objective: The primary aim of the SIINN ERA-NET is to promote the rapid transfer of the results of nano-science and nanotechnology (N&N) research into industrial application by helping to create reliable conditions. In order to strengthen the European Research Area and to coordinate N&N-related R&D work, the project has the aim of bringing together a broad network of ministries, funding agencies, academic and industrial institutions to create a sustainable transnational programme of joint R&D in N&N. The commercial application of nano-materials (NMs) products is increasing rapidly, but one important question, the safety of NMs, still represents a barrier to their wide innovative use. Therefore the first priority of SIINN is to focus on developing a consolidated framework to address nano-related risks and the management of these risks for humans and the environment by investigating the toxicological behaviour of NMs. European R&D activities in N&N remain largely uncoordinated and fragmented, resulting in the sub-optimal use of available resources, such as human resources, research equipment and funding. Since available data on their toxicological behaviour is often scant, unreliable or contradictory, the SIINN Project will focus on ways of remedying this situation. After defining the criteria important for NM toxicology, the environmental health and safety (EHS) information currently available to Europe will be examined. Liaisons will strategically be established and maintained. They will network with organisations looking into the EHS of NMs within Europe and abroad with the aim of continually exchanging information with these. Available information will be examined for their reliability in respect of the assessment of the risks of NMs towards human health and to the environment and major knowledge gaps identified. At least two joint, transnational calls will be organised during the initial lifetime of SIINN in order to fill these gaps.
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