Sustainability through Optimization: The Future of Watershed Management

2012 ◽  
Vol 260-261 ◽  
pp. 876-881
Author(s):  
Thambirajah Saravanapavan ◽  
Guo Shun Zhang ◽  
Mark Voorhees

A quantitative comparison of total costs between the traditional approach and the optimization approach for stormwater management is presented in this study. As the uniform sizing method is always associated with the traditional stormwater management practices, the optimization approach is well suited for the more recent stormwater management paradigm of low impact development (LID) practices. In the case study conducted for the town of Franklin in the Upper Charles River Watershed, Massachusetts, USA, the optimization method is able to identify stormwater management alternatives that cost 60% less than the traditional approach for meeting the Phosphorus loading reduction targets. The study highlights the comprehensive benefits from coupling optimization with the LID practices in stormwater management: 1. The LID practices’ focus on restoring the predevelopment runoff conditions ensures sustainable stormwater management, and 2. The optimization technique guarantees that the most cost-effective LID practices are selected throughout the decision-making process. The approaches outlined in this study can be very informative to many Asian countries that are under fast development and are in urgent need of scientific and sound approaches for achieving sustainable watershed management.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4649
Author(s):  
İsmail Hakkı ÇAVDAR ◽  
Vahit FERYAD

One of the basic conditions for the successful implementation of energy demand-side management (EDM) in smart grids is the monitoring of different loads with an electrical load monitoring system. Energy and sustainability concerns present a multitude of issues that can be addressed using approaches of data mining and machine learning. However, resolving such problems due to the lack of publicly available datasets is cumbersome. In this study, we first designed an efficient energy disaggregation (ED) model and evaluated it on the basis of publicly available benchmark data from the Residential Energy Disaggregation Dataset (REDD), and then we aimed to advance ED research in smart grids using the Turkey Electrical Appliances Dataset (TEAD) containing household electricity usage data. In addition, the TEAD was evaluated using the proposed ED model tested with benchmark REDD data. The Internet of things (IoT) architecture with sensors and Node-Red software installations were established to collect data in the research. In the context of smart metering, a nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM) model was designed to classify household appliances according to TEAD data. A highly accurate supervised ED is introduced, which was designed to raise awareness to customers and generate feedback by demand without the need for smart sensors. It is also cost-effective, maintainable, and easy to install, it does not require much space, and it can be trained to monitor multiple devices. We propose an efficient BERT-NILM tuned by new adaptive gradient descent with exponential long-term memory (Adax), using a deep learning (DL) architecture based on bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT). In this paper, an improved training function was designed specifically for tuning of NILM neural networks. We adapted the Adax optimization technique to the ED field and learned the sequence-to-sequence patterns. With the updated training function, BERT-NILM outperformed state-of-the-art adaptive moment estimation (Adam) optimization across various metrics on REDD datasets; lastly, we evaluated the TEAD dataset using BERT-NILM training.


SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Hongxue Han ◽  
Maurice B. Dusseault ◽  
Shunde Yin ◽  
Guowei Xia ◽  
Mingchao Peng

Summary We introduce a quick and cost-effective method of estimating horizontal in-situ stress profiles and rock elastic moduli vs. depth from geophysical logs taken in vertical well sections. A multiobjective optimization approach finds the optimum solution for the inversion of in-situ stresses and the rock mechanical parameters from elastic borehole deformations measured by the commonly available four-arm caliper tools. The four-arm caliper log responses also permit quality control (QC) of input and identification and classification of borehole sections that display breakouts and sloughing. The method is applied in the estimation of horizontal in-situ stress profiles and rock deformation moduli vs. depth in Karamay Basin, Northwestern China. The results have demonstrated good agreement with available field in-situ stress measurements, indicating promising broader applications of the method.


2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Dickson ◽  
Cary B. Chadwick ◽  
Chester L. Arnold

AbstractAny strategy to protect coastal and marine resources needs to address the issue of polluted runoff, particularly urban runoff generated by development. Low impact development (LID) practices, also known as green infrastructure, have been shown to be very effective in mitigating the impacts associated with stormwater runoff from development. On-the-ground examples of LID implementation, both good and bad, are needed to help local officials and others overcome the natural reticence to embrace new technologies or approaches and encourage or even require their use. The National LID Atlas is an interactive tool that provides these real local examples of LID implementation throughout the country on the Internet in an easy-to-use Google Maps™ Mashup. The members of the National NEMO (Nonpoint Source Education for Municipal Officials) Network and other outreach educators collaboratively built the Atlas and continue to add new projects to it. Local officials, developers, contractors, homeowners, and others can use the site to find examples of LID implementation in their state or region and resources for finding out more detailed information.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Jingchao Liu ◽  
Lixue Mei ◽  
Akbar Maleki ◽  
Roghayeh Ghasempour ◽  
Fathollah Pourfayaz

The type of solar panels has a great impact on the optimal sizing of a hybrid photovoltaic–battery scheme. The optimization of these schemes based on a powerful optimization approach results in more cost-effective schemes. In this paper, a new global dynamic harmony search method, as an optimization method, is presented for the optimal sizing of a hybrid photovoltaic–battery scheme. The new optimization method is aimed at minimizing the total cost and loss of load supply probability of the scheme at the same time. In this regard, the effect of the type of solar panels on the optimal sizing of the hybrid scheme is investigated. Furthermore, performance optimizations are performed with an original global dynamic harmony search, an original harmony search, and simulated annealing to determine the effectiveness of the suggested optimization method. The effects of the initial costs and efficiency of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar panels on the optimization of hybrid systems are analyzed. The superiority of the suggested method in terms of time and cost indicators of the hybrid scheme is presented comparing the other algorithm.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Savio Coutinho

This research explores the state of practice for managing rain where it falls in southern Ontario through green infrastructure policies. A literature review and first hand experience from municipalities provided the understanding of the issues to wide‐spread adoption. Stormwater runoff is a significant issue within urban settings, contributing to localized riverine and/or basement flooding that impacts municipal infrastructure, residences, and environmental quality of waterways. Traditional grey infrastructure, an engineered approach of collection and treatment facilities, addresses concerns with combined sewer overflow (CSO), but is not an effective system for Stormwater Management (SWM), evident by the increase in flooding and pollution from intensified rain events, with climate change. Supported by evidence in published literature over the last decade, Low Impact Development (LID) principles have demonstrated effective results for cold climates, provided life costs‐analysis, and a planning framework to determine suitable placement for installations. Co-benefits of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) are especially valued such as building great communities to live in with "high functioning" urban green spaces. This evidence suggests that managing stormwater runoff locally is a more cost effective and sustainable than end‐of‐pipe solutions. The study revealed best practices and lessons learned from municipalities implementing GSI for the Right‐of‐Way (ROW) though “Green Streets” and on private lands through LID to manage rain where it falls. In Ontario, GSI is at an early adoption stage. The findings support a planning rationale for a coordinated approach to implement, finance, and operate GSI programs for both private lands and in the public ROW for SWM.


2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 1474-1480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Che Wu ◽  
Mengxi Qiao ◽  
Sisi Wang

Hundreds of years ago, the ancient Chinese implemented several outstanding projects to cope with the changing climate and violent floods. Some of these projects are still in use today. These projects evolved from the experience and knowledge accumulated through the long coexistence of people with nature. The concepts behind these ancient stormwater management practices, such as low-impact development and sustainable drainage systems, are similar to the technology applied in modern stormwater management. This paper presents the cases of the Hani Terrace in Yunnan and the Fushou drainage system of Ganzhou in Jiangxi. The ancient Chinese knowledge behind these cases is seen in the design concepts and the features of these projects. These features help us to understand better their applications in the contemporary environment. In today's more complex environment, integrating traditional and advanced philosophy with modern technologies is extremely useful in building urban and rural stormwater management systems in China.


2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (11) ◽  
pp. 2382-2390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Eric ◽  
Celia Fan ◽  
Darko Joksimovic ◽  
James Y. Li

Evaluations of benefits of implementing low impact development (LID) stormwater management techniques can extend up to a watershed scale. This presents a challenge for representing them in watershed models, since they are typically orders of magnitude smaller in size. This paper presents an approach that is focused on trying to evaluate the benefits of implementing LIDs on a lot level. The methodology uses the concept of urban hydrological response Unit and results in developing and applying performance curves that are a function of lot properties to estimate the potential benefit of large-scale LID implementation. Lot properties are determined using a municipal geographic information system database and processed to determine groups of lots with similar properties. A representative lot from each group is modeled over a typical rainfall year using USEPA Stormwater Management Model to develop performance functions that relate the lot properties and the change in annual runoff volume and corresponding phosphorus loading with different LIDs implemented. The results of applying performance functions on all urban areas provide the potential locations, benefit and cost of implementation of all LID techniques, guiding future decisions for LID implementation by watershed area municipalities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shafique ◽  
Reeho Kim

AbstractLow impact development (LID)/green infrastructure (GI) practices have been identified as the sustainable practices of managing the stormwater in urban areas. Due to the increasing population, most of the cities are more developing which results in the change of natural area into impervious areas (roads, buildings etc.). Moreover, urbanization and climate change are causing many water-related problems and making over cities unsafe and insecure. Under these circumstances, there is a need to introduce new stormwater management practices into developed cities to reduce the adverse impacts of urbanization. For this purpose, retrofitting low impact development practices demands more attention to reduce these water-related problems and trying to make our cities sustainable. In developed areas, there is a little space is available for the retrofitting of LID practices for the stormwater management. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate place to retrofitting LID practices needs more concern. This paper describes the successfully applied retrofitting LID practices around the globe. It also includes the process of applying retrofitting LID practices at the suitable place with the suitable combination. Optimal places for the retrofitting of different LID practices are also mentioned. This paper also highlights the barriers and potential solutions of retrofitting LID practices in urban areas.


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