Possibility of Using Fuel Cells for Co-generation of Heat and Power in Venizelio Hospital in Crete, Greece

Mitigation of climate change requires the replacement of traditional energy technologies with novel low carbon energy systems. The possibility of using a fuel cell and a hybrid energy system consisted of a fuel cell and solar-PV panel for energy generation in Venizelio hospital located in Crete, Greece has been investigated. The size, the heat and electricity generated, the H2 required and the capital cost of the fuel cell and the solar-PV system covering the energy requirements in the hospital have been estimated. Existing research has indicated that fuel cells using H2 can cover the heat and electricity needs in various buildings. Our results indicated that a fuel cell at 1 397 KW can produce annually 4 895 MWhel and 4 895 MWhth covering all the electricity and heating needs in Venizelio hospital producing excess heat at 2 451 MWhth. The capital cost of the fuel cell has been calculated at 4 191 000 € while the required H2 at 367.5 tons/year. All the energy requirements of the hospital can be also covered with a hybrid energy system consisted of a fuel cell and a solar-PV system. The size of the fuel cell has been estimated at 697.5 KW and the cost at 2 092 500 €. The electricity generation was at 2 444 KWhel and its heat production at 2 444 KWhth. The size of the solar-PV system has been evaluated at 1 629 KWp and the cost at 1 634 000 €.The annual electricity generation was at 2 451 MWhel. The capital cost of the hybrid energy system at 3 726 500 € is lower than the cost of the fuel cell alone at 4 191 000 €. Our results indicated that the use of novel benign energy systems with zero carbon emissions in Venizelio hospital is technically and economically feasible.

The Effect of Remediation of Crude Oil Contaminated Land on Agricultural Resources in Umuechem in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

Contamination is the release of hazardous materials into the environment; which could be in the form of: waste, petroleum hydrocarbons and other unwanted materials. The release of these hazardous materials could affect soil nutrients and aggravate biodiversity loss. When the soil nutrient is impacted, it negatively affects its crop yield and production capabilities. Once there is contamination of the environment, remediation becomes necessary. This paper examines the effects of remediation of crude oil contaminated land on agricultural resources in Umuechem in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique and a survey research design was adopted with the use of structured questionnaires administered on a sample size of sixty two (62) persons whose farmlands and other agricultural resources were contaminated and thereafter remediated. The sample size was made up of fifty four (54) literate and eight (8) illiterate persons. The questionnaire was interpreted in native language to the illiterate persons by either their children or any other relative. The data obtained from the survey were analysed using descriptive statistics such as tables and statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).The findings obtained indicated that there was a post-remediation low-crop-yield and recommended that remediation consultants should adopt techniques capable of completely removing contaminants from the environment.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Environmental Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 10 No. 4

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development (EMSD) would like to thank the following reviewers for reviewing manuscripts from August 1, 2021, to November 1, 2021. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Many authors, regardless of whether EMSD publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Macrothink Institute appreciates the following reviewers’ rigorous and conscientious efforts for this journal. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review during this period. Aristotulus Ernst Tungka, University of Sam Ratulangi Manado, IndonesiaChristiane do Nascimento Monte, Universidade Federal Fluminense, BrazilChuck Chuan Ng, Xiamen University Malaysia, MalaysiaDastun Gabriel Msuya, Sokoine University Of Agriculture, TanzaniaHayssam Mohamed Ali, King Saud University, EgyptJoão Fernando Pereira Gomes, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, PortugueseNuralam Hossain, Chongqing University, ChinaOylum Gokkurt Baki, Sinop University, TurkeyPankaj Maheshwari, College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USATateda Masafumi, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan

Development of Sustainable Indoor Air Quality for Air-Conditioning System Using Smart Control Techniques

Air-conditioning as a technical solution to protect inhabitants from excessive heat exposure creates the challenge of expanding indoor health effects. While air-conditioning has mostly been applied as an improvement to living conditions, health and environmental problems associated with its use frequently occurs. Therefore, this paper challenges and extends existing knowledge on sustainability related to the smart air-conditioning systems. The decrease of CO2 level in building requires an intelligent control system because energy utilisation has been legitimately connected with wellbeing and eventually to operational expenses. A building’s indoor environmental essential factors of comfort are IAQ, visual and thermal. Through an appropriate structured controller, the performance of indoor control system can be altogether improved. It merits creating innovative control techniques to optimise the indoor environment quality for air-conditioning system. The newly proposed backpropagation neural network was optimised using Matlab to control the CO2 level appropriately while carefully taking into account the performance of system controllers such as the stability, adaptability, speed response and overshoot. The controller of indoor environment was designed, and the proportional-integral-derivative control was utilised as a result of its suitability. The smart controllers were designed to regulate the parameters automatically to ensure the optimised control output. The indoor CO2 possesses an appropriate time constant and settling time of 2.1s and 27.3s, respectively. Therefore, utilising smart control techniques to exterminate various indoor health effects is expected to produce sustainable living conditions.

Mining Impact on Livelihoods of Farmers of Asutifi North District, Ghana

Local communities in Ghana are heavily reliant on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, they are increasingly shifting from engaging in agriculture to mining. This study was undertaken to assess the impact of mining (both small and large scale) on the livelihoods of community members of Kenyasi, Asutifi North District in Ghana. Data were collected from 201 farming households who were selected randomly and interviewed for a variety of information. The questionnaire responses received from the respondents were classified into items and each item's responses were tallied. The results of the studies show that the farmers’ livelihood systems were affected by the mining operations occurring around their communities. Water pollution, displacement of farmers from their lands, degradation of agricultural lands, and an increase in social vices and higher dropout rates of students from schools are some of the reported consequences of the mining activities. The pollution of the water resources poses a serious threat to the health and livelihood systems of these farmers as they depend on the water resources for agriculture and domestic use. In this study, we project that there could be increased grievances over scarce land resource and food insecurity that could lead to conflicts in the mining areas. The lack of land resources could have a tremendous effect on the social, economic, and political climate of a country and must be considered and addressed as some of the most immediate threats to Ghana's national security.

Preparedness and Mitigation Measures for Oil and Gas Pipeline Vandalization in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Owing to poor preparedness and mitigation measures for oil and gas pipeline vandalization in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, there have been series of spills that have now reached life threatening levels. This study set out to investigate factors that affect preparedness and mitigation measures for crude oil pipeline vandalism in the study area. The thrust of the study was to unravel the spatial variation in the preparedness and mitigation measures for crude oil pipeline in the region. The study used the survey research method and primary data was sort using questionnaire. The target population were heads of household and workers of multinational companies working in the area. Analysis of variance was used for hypotheses testing at the 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the companies’ preparedness options were, use of hazard, risk and vulnerability assessment (76%). Both the community (42%) and companies (76%) respondents averred that the preparedness measure adopted in the area were less effective for combating the menace of pipeline vandalism. The mitigation practices against pipeline vandalization adopted included awareness creation, promoting community participation, community policing, community-based pipeline surveillance, community by laws, right of way, punishment for offenders, and excommunication. Majority of the respondent whether community respondents (48%) or companies respondents (84%) suggested that, the adopted mitigation measures were not effective. The ANOVA model was significant at p<0.05 (F, 14 sig 0.000) meaning that there is statistical significant variation in the level of preparedness for oil and gas pipeline vandalization in the study area. Similarly, the ANOVA model that measured the spatial variation in mitigation measures showed that the model is significant at p<0.05(F, 16.83, sig 0.000), meaning there is statistical significant spatial variation in the level of disaster mitigation for oil and gas pipeline vandalization in the study area. The study recommends improvement in surveillance technology, creation of awareness of the dangers of pipeline vandalism to the locals, amongst others.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Environmental Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 10 No. 3

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development (EMSD) would like to thank the following reviewers for reviewing manuscripts from May 1, 2021, to August 1, 2021. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Many authors, regardless of whether EMSD publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Macrothink Institute appreciates the following reviewers’ rigorous and conscientious efforts for this journal. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review during this period. Adriano Magliocco, University of Genoa, ItalyAristotulus Ernst Tungka, University of Sam Ratulangi Manado, IndonesiaChristiane do Nascimento Monte, Universidade Federal Fluminense, BrazilChuck Chuan Ng, Xiamen University Malaysia, MalaysiaDastun Gabriel Msuya, Sokoine University Of Agriculture, TanzaniaGiacomo Chiesa, Politecnico di Torino, ItalyJephias Mapuva, Bindura University, ZimbabweJoão Fernando Pereira Gomes, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, PortugueseMd. Nuralam Hossain, Chongqing University, ChinaOylum Gokkurt Baki, Sinop University, TurkeyPankaj Maheshwari, University of Nevada, USATateda Masafumi, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan

Solid Waste Disposal Management Practices in Ghana, A Case Study of Subin Metropolis

Solid waste management is a societal problem both in developed and developing countries and studies have shown that most developing nations are struggling to find a lasting solution to this bane. The study therefore, sought to assess the waste management practices in Ghana using Subin Metropolis as a case study and offer some solutions to the challenges faced by resident and city authorities in managing the problem. Subin Metropolis a suburb of Kumasi, is considered as one of the highly-dense suburbs in terms of its human population and social activities.In this study, a set of structured questionnaires was administered to households selected randomly. The total number of households selected was based on statistics of the 2010 population census of one hundred and seventy-four thousand and four (174,004) inhabitants. with an annual growth rate of 4.8%, was used in projecting the number of inhabitants in the suburb for 2020 being the year under consideration as 253192, was adopted using the Slovin’s equation resulting in a sample size of four hundred (400). Data collected were analysed using SPSS and the results presented.Findings of the research reveal that despite the provision of dustbin by Subin sub metro authority and waste management companies, 32.25% of the residents use inappropriate storage receptacles including plastic bags to store their refuse temporarily in the house.8.75% of residents dispose of their waste through waste companies using dump truck, 76% of the waste generated are evacuated through paid labourer for onward transportation to the few waste storage and collecting points within the metropolis. If the wastes at the storage point are not evacuated on time can lead to serious health implications.Lack of access roads is a major hindrance to effective waste management in the community due to poor spatial planning. Inadequate information and education on waste management and alternative strategies on managing waste is also another limiting factor that contributed to the poor sanitary condition in the Metropolis.This paper recommends using a multifaceted approach in solving the waste management menace through awareness creation, community engagement, information sharing as well as sustainable waste management systems such as waste reduction and recycling of waste. The paper also recommends that the city authority create more access roads in the community to improve upon waste services delivery.

Effects of Artisanal Refinery on the Environment, Public Health and Socio-Economic Development of Communities in the Niger Delta Region

Nigeria discovered crude oil in 1956. Instead of making sustainable economic progress since, the country spiraled into serious economic waste and loss, due to pollution from crude oil, corruption, neglect of the oil producing regions and high handedness of the IOCs/NOCs. Today, not only are legitimate oil exploration pipelines leaking oil into the environment, illegal artisanal refineries are contributing to pollution problems and by extension economic and health effects. This study thus investigated, effects of artisanal refinery on the environment, public health and socio-economic development of communities in the Niger Delta Region. The cross-sectional research design was used in this study. The target population comprised of illegal bunkering/artisanal refining sites and households that dwell within the artisanal refinery sites. The Taro Yamane formula was used to determine the sample sizes for state and 400 was realized for each state. 1324 artisanal refining sites were determined and using Taro Yamane equation 313 sites were derived. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for data analysis. The study found that, locals complained about how artisanal refineries affected their environment, health and economics. These effects varied spatially based on the result of the Kruskal Wallis test at P<0.05. However, some of the locals identified that, despite the environmental pollution because of illegal artisanal refining in the area, some economic gains abound. It is therefore the position of this study that artisanal refining be improved, so that the environmental and health effects be reduced, while making room for sustainable economic development.

The Relationship between Passengers' Satisfaction of Urban Road Transport Services and Their Sense of Belonging

Passengers' satisfaction of urban road transportation services has been widely researched over the past few decades. However, no study has been conducted to analyze the relationship of the passengers' satisfaction of regular taxi and bus transport services with an external psychological factor. To this end, 100 passengers were randomly recruited to participate in this study. The participants were required to complete three questionnaires to assess their level of belonging and their satisfaction of regular taxi and bus transport services as two prominent urban road transport services. The questionnaire of sense of belonging had 12 items rated on a 5-point Likert Scale. The responses also were rated from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. The respondents were requested to grade 1 to 10 an 18-travel-attribute survey to assess their satisfaction of urban road transport services. The results indicated that passengers were not satisfied with urban road transport services; however, their satisfaction with regular taxi was higher in comparison with bus transport services. The findings also revealed that there was a significant correlation between the passengers' level of belonging and their satisfaction of public transport services.