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Environments
Special Issues
Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment
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Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment

A special issue of Environments (ISSN 2076-3298).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 65419

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shu-Yuan Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10673, Taiwan
Interests: waste-to-resource technology; integrated watershed management; ecological engineering; electrokinetic separation; CO2 mineralization; life cycle assessment; system optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chihhao Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: river pollution control and water quality management; assessment of carrying capacity of water bodies; strategy for TMDL (total maximum daily load) implementation; watershed management; environmental chemistry; water and wastewater treatment; advanced oxidation processes; impact of macromolecule on AOP treatment efficiency; photo-catalytic oxidation of disinfection by-products in drinking water; transport and fate of environmental contaminants; quality assurance and conservation of agro-environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yu-Pin Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: ecological hydrology monitoring and modeling in drainage basins; global change land use modeling; landscape ecology; system dynamic modeling of wetlands; spatial analysis and modeling; blockchain; spatial dynamic modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To simultaneously solve the dilemmas of energy demand, waste management, and greenhouse gas emission for communities globally, the development and deployment of green technologies should be a viable step towards environmental sustainability. The development of green technology could reduce carbon dependency, promote resource and energy efficiency and lessen environmental degradation. This would result in the improvement of human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities towards the sustainable development goal. The scope of green technologies includes, but is not limited to, green agriculture, green tourism, green building, green transportation, green energy, green infrastructure (engineered natural systems), and green water treatment.

This Special Issue collects original research and critical reviews about scientific and technical information on recent advances in the deployment of green technologies for a sustainable environment. The primary areas of interest of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, (1) green agriculture for sustainable materials management; (2) waste-to-energy and –resource supply chain, such as (co-)anaerobic digestion of agricultural and/or organic wastes for a circular bioeconomy; (3) green infrastructure and/or engineered natural systems for nutrient control; (4) green separation technologies for the recovery of value-added resources; (5) smart technology for real-time monitoring, control and assessment; (6) strategic management by optimizing the utilization efficiency of food, energy, land and/or water resources.

Prof. Chihhao Fan
Prof. Dr. Yu-Pin Lin
Prof. Shu-Yuan Pan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Environments is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Green agriculture
  • Green tourism
  • Green building
  • Green transportation
  • Green energy
  • Green infrastructure (engineered natural systems)
  • Advanced water treatment
  • Smart technology
  • Waste biorefining for circular bioeconomy
  • Food, water, energy and land nexus

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 148 KiB  
Editorial
Development and Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment
by Shu-Yuan Pan, Chihhao Fan and Yu-Pin Lin
Environments 2019, 6(11), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments6110114 - 24 Oct 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4758
Abstract
The definition of green technologies should be any process, product or service that reduces negative environmental impacts while protecting human health and ecosystem quality [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)

Research

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22 pages, 2500 KiB  
Article
Climate Change Mitigation Policies in the Transportation Sector in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
by Tatiana Bruce da Silva, Patrícia Baptista, Carlos A. Santos Silva and Luan Santos
Environments 2020, 7(11), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7110099 - 07 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4377
Abstract
This study analyzes climate change mitigation policies focused on light-duty electric vehicles (LDEVs) in the transportation sector in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, in the 2016–2050 period. We use the Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS) to analyze scenarios that consider greater uptake [...] Read more.
This study analyzes climate change mitigation policies focused on light-duty electric vehicles (LDEVs) in the transportation sector in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, in the 2016–2050 period. We use the Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS) to analyze scenarios that consider greater uptake of LDEVs in different time frames, implementation of a CO2 emission restriction policy, exclusion of fossil fuels from the power mix, and a combination of these policies. We find that carbon pricing, along with higher rates of LDEVs adoption, causes the highest emission reductions (up to 47%), albeit at higher costs. LDEVs become the preferred vehicle technology as soon as they reach cost parity with internal combustion engine vehicles in different scenarios. Greater LDEVs uptake, however, leads to increased electricity consumption (up to 3%), which is provided by fossil fuels when there is no emission restriction policy. If restrictions are placed on the expansion of fossil fuel power plants, fewer LDEVs are adopted (up to less than 26%) because there is not enough electricity to supply the demand. Given the state’s power mix in 2016 (58% provided by fossil fuels), investment in zero-carbon energy is necessary for mitigation policies in the transportation sector to be effective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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17 pages, 3117 KiB  
Article
Desulfurization Performance of Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents in the Presence of Graphene Oxide
by Chiau Yuan Lim, Mohd Faridzuan Majid, Sarrthesvaarni Rajasuriyan, Hayyiratul Fatimah Mohd Zaid, Khairulazhar Jumbri and Fai Kait Chong
Environments 2020, 7(11), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7110097 - 02 Nov 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4848
Abstract
Extractive catalytic oxidative desulfurization (ECODS) is the one of the recent methods used in fuel desulfurization which involved the use of catalyst in the oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuel. This study is aimed to test the effectiveness of synthesized choline chloride (ChCl) based [...] Read more.
Extractive catalytic oxidative desulfurization (ECODS) is the one of the recent methods used in fuel desulfurization which involved the use of catalyst in the oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuel. This study is aimed to test the effectiveness of synthesized choline chloride (ChCl) based deep eutectic solvent (DES) in fuel desulfurization via ECODS method, with the presence of graphene oxide (GO) as catalyst and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant. In this study, 16 DESs based on choline chloride were synthesized using glycerol (GLY), ethylene glycol (EG), tetraethylene glycol (TEG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The characterization of the synthesized DES was carried out via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, density, and viscosity determination. According to the screening result, ChCl-PEG (1:4) was found to be the most effective DES for desulfurization using ECODS method, with a removal of up to 47.4% of sulfur containing compounds in model oil in just 10 min per cycle after the optimization of the reaction parameters, and up to 95% desulfurization efficiency could be achieved by six cycles of desulfurization. It is found that the addition of GO as catalyst does not increase the desulfurization performance drastically; hence, future studies for the desulfurization performance of DESs made up from ChCl and PEG and its derivatives can be done simply by using extraction desulfurization (EDS) method instead of ECODS method, for cost reduction purpose and easier regulation of DES waste into environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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22 pages, 8547 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Light Gradient Boosted Machine Learning Technique in Large Scale Land Use and Land Cover Classification
by Dakota Aaron McCarty, Hyun Woo Kim and Hye Kyung Lee
Environments 2020, 7(10), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7100084 - 03 Oct 2020
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 4725
Abstract
The ability to rapidly produce accurate land use and land cover maps regularly and consistently has been a growing initiative as they have increasingly become an important tool in the efforts to evaluate, monitor, and conserve Earth’s natural resources. Algorithms for supervised classification [...] Read more.
The ability to rapidly produce accurate land use and land cover maps regularly and consistently has been a growing initiative as they have increasingly become an important tool in the efforts to evaluate, monitor, and conserve Earth’s natural resources. Algorithms for supervised classification of satellite images constitute a necessary tool for the building of these maps and they have made it possible to establish remote sensing as the most reliable means of map generation. In this paper, we compare three machine learning techniques: Random Forest, Support Vector Machines, and Light Gradient Boosted Machine, using a 70/30 training/testing evaluation model. Our research evaluates the accuracy of Light Gradient Boosted Machine models against the more classic and trusted Random Forest and Support Vector Machines when it comes to classifying land use and land cover over large geographic areas. We found that the Light Gradient Booted model is marginally more accurate with a 0.01 and 0.059 increase in the overall accuracy compared to Support Vector and Random Forests, respectively, but also performed around 25% quicker on average. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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24 pages, 8093 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Social Sustainability Indicators in Vernacular Architecture—Application of a Green Building Assessment Approach
by Obafemi A. P. Olukoya and Jubril O. Atanda
Environments 2020, 7(9), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7090067 - 01 Sep 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5373
Abstract
Although a growing body of research has debated the array of sustainability lessons of vernacular architecture, social sustainability discussions remain less advanced in comparison to the other pillars of sustainability. This has narrowed the plural lessons of vernacular architecture and limited the broad [...] Read more.
Although a growing body of research has debated the array of sustainability lessons of vernacular architecture, social sustainability discussions remain less advanced in comparison to the other pillars of sustainability. This has narrowed the plural lessons of vernacular architecture and limited the broad concept of sustainability to a partial one. Against this research gap, this study aims to conduct an assessment of the social sustainability of residential vernacular architecture through the application of a proposed Social Criteria of Green Building Assessment Tool (SCGBAT) assessment method. The SCGBAT proposes eight sets of social criteria categories namely; health and safety; participation and control; education; equity, accessibility and satisfaction; social cohesion; cultural values; physical resilience and also, 37 indicators for the evaluation of social sustainability. To empirically operationalize the proposed SCGBAT, this study utilizes the vernacular architecture typologies in the vernacular landscape of Louroujina village in Cyprus as a case study. Methods for data collection are desk review for secondary data while 135 close-ended questionnaires were used for primary data. The data are statistically presented based on Linkert scale and interpreted using both quantitative and descriptive analysis. The results demonstrated that the investigated vernacular architecture ranked lowly in Physical Resilience Indicator (PRI), Environmental Education Indicator (EEI), Accessibility and Satisfaction Indicator (ASI) but demonstrated sufficient lessons in the context of Health and Safety Indicator (HSI); Participation and Control Indicator (PCI); Social Equity Indicator (SEI); Social Cohesion Indicator (SCI); and Cultural Value Indicator (CVI). To this end, this paper contribute to the advancement of knowledge on the assessment of the social sustainability of vernacular architecture by innovatively applying a green building assessment approach and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of such approach in a vernacular setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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13 pages, 2479 KiB  
Article
Multi-Scale Modeling and Study of Aerosol Growth in an Amine-based CO2 Capture Absorber
by Jia-Lin Kang, Kuan-Ting Liu, David Shan-Hill Wong, Shi-Shang Jang and De-Hao Tsai
Environments 2020, 7(8), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7080058 - 31 Jul 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3348
Abstract
A monoethanolamine (MEA) aerosol growth model was developed to quantify the aerosol growth factor in an amine-based CO2 capture absorber that considers the gas-liquid interactions, and it is empirically validated by measuring the aerosol particle size and concentration. The aerosol growth model, [...] Read more.
A monoethanolamine (MEA) aerosol growth model was developed to quantify the aerosol growth factor in an amine-based CO2 capture absorber that considers the gas-liquid interactions, and it is empirically validated by measuring the aerosol particle size and concentration. The aerosol growth model, using sucrose as the aerosol nuclei instead of sulfuric acid to prevent the corrosion of the test equipment, accurately predicted that the outlet aerosol size increased to the same level regardless of the sucrose concentration. It also found that particle concentration was the primary factor affecting aerosol growth and amine emissions. We found an inverse relationship between aerosol particle concentration and the aerosol size, while the MEA emissions were proportional to particle concentration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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12 pages, 1533 KiB  
Article
Economic Valuation of Green Infrastructure Investments in Urban Renewal: The Case of the Station District in Taichung, Taiwan
by Kuo-Wei Hsu and Jen-Chih Chao
Environments 2020, 7(8), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7080056 - 29 Jul 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4810
Abstract
The extreme weather conditions that are increasingly affecting Taiwan require urgent solutions, especially as land-use pressures and intensive urban development are triggering new types of vulnerability to natural disasters. Green infrastructure is an especially promising means of enhancing the resilience of urban environments, [...] Read more.
The extreme weather conditions that are increasingly affecting Taiwan require urgent solutions, especially as land-use pressures and intensive urban development are triggering new types of vulnerability to natural disasters. Green infrastructure is an especially promising means of enhancing the resilience of urban environments, as well as their residents’ quality of life. However, due to the indirect nature of green investment, the economic value of green infrastructure is not adequately reflected in market prices, and novel methods of economic valuation are needed to ascertain their value. To fulfill that need, this study conducts a cost–benefit analysis of investment in green infrastructure related to urban renewal and identifies economic factors that could directly and indirectly increase environmental quality and promote sustainable development. The main finding of this work is that the increased cost of a green approach for a particular urban-renewal infrastructure project in Taiwan could be recouped in approximately eight years. Specifically, version of the plan based on green infrastructure would cost an additional US $9.2 million up front, but its positive impact would be greater than the non-green version by US $1.2 million per year. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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Review

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23 pages, 3087 KiB  
Review
Advances in Circular Bioeconomy Technologies: From Agricultural Wastewater to Value-Added Resources
by Nidhi Mehta, Kinjal J Shah, Yu-I Lin, Yongjun Sun and Shu-Yuan Pan
Environments 2021, 8(3), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments8030020 - 01 Mar 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5090
Abstract
This review systematically outlines the recent advances in the application of circular bioeconomy technologies for converting agricultural wastewater to value-added resources. The properties and applications of the value-added products from agricultural wastewater are first summarized. Various types of agricultural wastewater, such as piggery [...] Read more.
This review systematically outlines the recent advances in the application of circular bioeconomy technologies for converting agricultural wastewater to value-added resources. The properties and applications of the value-added products from agricultural wastewater are first summarized. Various types of agricultural wastewater, such as piggery wastewater and digestate from anaerobic digestion, are focused on. Next, different types of circular technologies for recovery of humic substances (e.g., humin, humic acids and fulvic acids) and nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) from agricultural wastewater are reviewed and discussed. Advanced technologies, such as chemical precipitation, membrane separation and electrokinetic separation, are evaluated. The environmental benefits of the circular technologies compared to conventional wastewater treatment processes are also addressed. Lastly, the perspectives and prospects of the circular technologies for agricultural wastewater are provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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17 pages, 1082 KiB  
Review
Cyanobacteria: Review of Current Potentials and Applications
by Zahra Zahra, Da Hyun Choo, Heayyean Lee and Amna Parveen
Environments 2020, 7(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7020013 - 12 Feb 2020
Cited by 102 | Viewed by 26868
Abstract
Continual increases in the human population and growing concerns related to the energy crisis, food security, disease outbreaks, global warming, and other environmental issues require a sustainable solution from nature. One of the promising resources is cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. They [...] Read more.
Continual increases in the human population and growing concerns related to the energy crisis, food security, disease outbreaks, global warming, and other environmental issues require a sustainable solution from nature. One of the promising resources is cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. They require simple ingredients to grow and possess a relatively simple genome. Cyanobacteria are known to produce a wide variety of bioactive compounds. In addition, cyanobacteria’s remarkable growth rate enables its potential use in a wide range of applications in the fields of bioenergy, biotechnology, natural products, medicine, agriculture, and the environment. In this review, we have summarized the potential applications of cyanobacteria in different areas of science and development, especially related to their use in producing biofuels and other valuable co-products. We have also discussed the challenges that hinder such development at an industrial level and ways to overcome such obstacles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Deployment of Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment)
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