Introductory remarks on space observations of long-term climatic changes produced by escalating energy use

Understanding long-term (centennial–millennial scale) ecosystem stability and dynamics are key to sustainable management and conservation of ecosystem processes under the currently changing climate. Fossil pollen records offer the possibility to investigate long-term changes in vegetation composition and diversity on regional and continental scales. Such studies have been conducted in temperate systems, but are underrepresented in the tropics, especially in Africa. This study attempts to synthesize pollen records from Nigeria (tropical western Africa) and nearby regions to quantitatively assess Holocene regional vegetation changes (turnover) and stability under different climatic regimes for the first time. We use the squared chord distance metric (SCD) to assess centennial-scale vegetation turnover in pollen records. Results suggest vegetation in most parts of Nigeria experienced low turnover under a wetter climatic regime (African Humid Period), especially between ~8000 and 5000 cal year BP. In contrast, vegetation turnover increased significantly under the drier climatic regime of the late-Holocene (between ~5000 cal year BP and present), reflecting the imp role of moisture changes in tropical west African vegetation dynamics during the Holocene. Our results are consistent with records of vegetation and climatic changes in other parts of Africa, suggesting the Holocene pattern of vegetation change in Nigeria is a reflection of continental-scale climatic changes.

Download Full-text

Thermal structure and response to long-term climatic changes in Lake Qiandaohu, a deep subtropical reservoir in China

Limnology and Oceanography ◽

10.4319/lo.2014.59.4.1193 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 1193-1202 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Yunlin Zhang ◽

Zhixu Wu ◽

Mingliang Liu ◽

Jianbo He ◽

Kun Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Structure ◽

Climatic Changes

Download Full-text

The Impact of Economic Growth, Trade Openness and Technological Progress on Renewable Energy Use in Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Countries

10.31235/osf.io/wj45u ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽

Wahid Murad

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Least Squares ◽

Technological Progress ◽

Energy Use ◽

Trade Openness ◽

Oecd Countries ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Short Term

This study investigates the short-term and long-term impacts of economic growth, trade openness and technological progress on renewable energy use in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Based on a panel data set of 25 OECD countries for 43 years, we used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and the related intermediate estimators, including pooled mean group (PMG), mean group (MG) and dynamic fixed effect (DFE) to achieve the objective. The estimated ARDL model has also been checked for robustness using the two substitute single equation estimators, these being the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS). Empirical results reveal that economic growth, trade openness and technological progress significantly influence renewable energy use over the long-term in OECD countries. While the long-term nature of dynamics of the variables is found to be similar across 25 OECD countries, their short-term dynamics are found to be mixed in nature. This is attributed to varying levels of trade openness and technological progress in OECD countries. Since this is a pioneer study that investigates the issue, the findings are completely new and they make a significant contribution to renewable energy literature as well as relevant policy development.

Download Full-text

Personality Trait Effects on Green Household Installations

Collabra Psychology ◽

10.1525/collabra.120 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ante Busic-Sontic ◽

Cameron Brick

Keyword(s):

Personality Traits ◽

Alternative Energy ◽

Energy Use ◽

Environmental Concern ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Green Energy ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Household Decision ◽

Green Investments

Large, one-time investments in green energy installations effectively reduce domestic energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite long-term economic benefits for households, the rate of green investments often remains moderate unless supported by financial subsidies. Beyond financial considerations, green investments may also be driven by individual psychological factors. The current study uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (N = 3,468) to analyse whether the household decision to invest in green energy installations is linked to the Big Five personality traits. Personality traits and domestic investments in solar and other alternative energy systems had weak indirect associations through environmental concern but not through risk preferences. Openness to Experience and Neuroticism showed a weak positive relationship with green energy installations through the environmental concern channel, whereas Extraversion had a weak negative link. Based on these findings, persuasive messaging for green investments may be more effective when it focuses on environmental concern rather than reduced risk in countries like Germany, where long-standing financial subsidies decreased the risk in green investments.

Download Full-text

The Importance of End-Use Technologies for Long-Term Energy Use in Sweden

Proceedings of the World Renewable Energy Congress – Sweden, 8–13 May, 2011, Linköping, Sweden ◽

10.3384/ecp11057984 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Mats Bladh

Keyword(s):

Energy Use ◽

Term Energy ◽

End Use

Download Full-text

California High-Speed Rail

Advances in Civil and Industrial Engineering - Emerging Challenges and Opportunities of High Speed Rail Development on Business and Society ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0102-2.ch001 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Jeff Morales

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Energy Use ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Job Creation ◽

The United States ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Environmentally Sensitive ◽

Rail Station

California has started construction on the first true high-speed rail system in the United States. In this chapter, the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority describes how the state's historic investment in new high-speed rail infrastructure will benefit Californians. Benefits include job creation, statewide modernization of existing local rail lines, short and long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, preservation of agricultural land and environmentally sensitive habitats, advanced clean and green construction practices and technologies, a commitment to 100% renewable energy use, and assistance to partner cities on transit-oriented planning for high-speed rail station areas.

Download Full-text

Interannual and long-term changes in the trophic state of a multibasin lake: effects of morphology, climate, winter aeration, and beaver activity

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjfas-2015-0249 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 73 (3) ◽

pp. 445-460 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dale M. Robertson ◽

William J. Rose ◽

Paul C. Reneau

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Trophic State ◽

Secchi Depth ◽

Climatic Changes ◽

Main Flow ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Air Temperatures ◽

Long Term Changes ◽

P Sources

Little St. Germain Lake (LSG), a relatively pristine multibasin lake in Wisconsin, USA, was examined to determine how morphologic (internal), climatic (external), anthropogenic (winter aeration), and natural (beaver activity) factors affect the trophic state (phosphorus, P; chlorophyll, CHL; and Secchi depth, SD) of each of its basins. Basins intercepting the main flow and external P sources had highest P and CHL and shallowest SD. Internal loading in shallow, polymictic basins caused P and CHL to increase and SD to decrease as summer progressed. Winter aeration used to eliminate winterkill increased summer internal P loading and decreased water quality, while reductions in upstream beaver impoundments had little effect on water quality. Variations in air temperature and precipitation affected each basin differently. Warmer air temperatures increased productivity throughout the lake and decreased clarity in less eutrophic basins. Increased precipitation increased P in the basins intercepting the main flow but had little effect on the isolated deep West Bay. These relations are used to project effects of future climatic changes on LSG and other temperate lakes.

Download Full-text

Economics and evolution

The Paleontological Society Special Publications ◽

10.1017/s2475262200008583 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 298-298

Author(s):

Geerat J. Vermeij

Keyword(s):

Energy Use ◽

Construction Materials ◽

Ripple Effect ◽

Use Of Resources ◽

Economic Interpretation ◽

History Of ◽

Long Term Trends ◽

Random Nature ◽

Antagonistic Interactions

Individual organisms compete for resources. Among competitive dominants, per-capita energy use has generally increased through time. This increase has had a ripple effect on all other species by increasing the number of competitive and predatory encounters among individuals. Species unable to cope with such biological rigors have become restricted to environments where resource supply is low and where encounters with enemies are few. Among species that hold their own in biologically rigorous habitats, construction materials that are cheap to produce and that enable individuals to grow and respond quickly have generally been favored over those that exact a high cost in energy and time. Extinction interrupts but does not reverse or fundamentally alter these long-term between-clade evolutionary trends. The availability of resources to organisms, as well as the opportunity for evolutionary change, depends on extrinsic events and factors as well as on the competitive abilities of organisms.Those who have raised methodological and theoretical objections against this economic interpretation of the history of life deny the overriding importance of organisms as agents of natural selection, emphasize the random nature of extinction, deny the existence of long-term trends, favor a larger role for mutualistic as opposed to antagonistic interactions, or accord a larger role to species-level attributes in evolution that are not reducible to the properties of individual organisms. These arguments are either unpersuasive or incorrect. The long-term economics of life may have important lessons for our own use of resources.

Download Full-text