I have selected a series of papers to invite policy makers to take into account other factors than CO2 when tackling the environmental crisis. CO2 is a problem but it sure is not the only one. The solution to more environmental friendly policy is not heads down more industry – green be it – and unregulated LBR*1. That is a solution for the Chicago school free market. UNTAX good behaviour is probably a key element to real environmental friendly policy. Zero carbon architecture (see below), taxing high impact consumer behaviour and UNTAX or incentive environmentally friendly behaviour, be it low carbon, negative carbon or no land use, reduced transport, ecc. As Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist at the University of California-Riverside said*2:
“We can’t just throw them (solar installations) across a landscape and say biological diversity be damned,”
Soil is a non-renewable resource. Its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future
Habitat loss is the leading cause of species extinction and other negative impacts on biodiversity (Pimm and Raven 2000) but has received relatively little attention in the energy development literature (figure 1).
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/65/3/290/236920
Then I will put things into perspective to seal this small introduction. An interesting (not very recent but still relevant) set of considerations by Ross Koningstein and David Fork (engineers at Google), who worked together on Google’s bold renewable energy initiative known as RE<C.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change
Complex matter indeed. Ramp up the production toward the green dream, but with primitive technology (windmills) and poor policy still guided by years of Chicago school dream of eternal growth in a finite (resources and space) world.
Another important point before starting a list of papers is this study published in Nature (Nov 2020). In the ESCIMO climate model it says, the world is already past a point-of-no-return for global warming…. To stop the self-sustained warming in ESCIMO, enormous amounts of CO2 have to be extracted from the atmosphere.
1. Considering… omissis the Commission proposes establishing a targeted policy to close the gap and ensure comprehensive soil protection. In doing so, the Commission is fully conscious of the need to respect the principles of subsidiarity and of taking decisions and action at the most appropriate level. Soil is a prime example of the need to think global and act local…. omissis… protect the soil as an important and essentially non-renewable resource of the EU.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS – Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=%20CELEX:52006DC0231&from=EN
LINK1
Finally, for wind power we assumed that areas within 3 km of an airfield or urban area were not developable. if there were financial incentives to minimize land-use in energy production like a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change, the energy market response to a cap-and-trade might be very different from the response depicted in the EIA scenarios. There are at least four ways to achieve emissions reduction but avoid the potential side effect of energy sprawl. Fourth, many areal impacts can be mitigated or eliminated with appropriate site selection and planning for energy development.The new area affected by energy development within each major habitat type might, for example, have minimal biodiversity effects if sited in already disturbed places. biofuels will increase dramatically in importance, with large areal impacts Energy sprawl deserves to be one of the metrics by which energy production is assessed. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006802
LINK 2
Land use has generally been considered a local environmental issue, but it is becoming a force of global importance.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/309/5734/570
LINK 3
It then comes up with the broad conclusion that renewable energy sources are not the panacea they are popularly perceived to be; indeed in some cases their adverse environmental impacts can be as strongly negative as the impacts of conventional energy sources. The paper also dwells on the steps we need to take so that we can utilize renewable energy sources without facing environmental backlashes of the type we got from hydropower projects. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626199900077X
LINK 4
Hidden costs of soil sealing
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/pdf/SoilSealing-Brochure_it.pdf
LINK 5
Brownfields 1 – Brightfields, defined by the U.S. Department of Energy as solar development on brownfields (contaminated land or closed landfills), have become increasingly attractive to project developers diversifying away from traditional rooftops and greenfield locations.
Two motivators drive this trend: first, location. Brownfields have few other viable uses, but may be close to high-capacity interconnection points in industrial zones. Second is incentives. Federal, state and local governments offer specific incentives to improve brightfield project economics and help hedge against uncertain solar valuation policies.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/building-solar-projects-on-brownfields-is-hard-work
LINK 6
Brownfields 2 – Building on brownfields and landfills cuts down on — or perhaps completely eliminates — the kind of resource conflicts that have frequently plagued large-scale solar projects in California, particularly those on public lands.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-advantages-of-developing-solar-on-brownfields
LINK 7
Brownfields 3 – A methodology for maximizing the benefits of solar landfills on closed sites
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117304525
LINK 8
Brownfields 4 – Cost advantages of solar plants on brownfields
LINK 9
Brownfields 5
L’installazione a terra sembra essere più semplice e ha meno problemi da risolvere, tranne per l’uso previsto che l’area scelta potrebbe avere. Le terre che sono adatte per la coltivazione non dovrebbero essere utilizzate per l’installazione di PV. Questo documento si propone di proporre l’installazione di PV…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610215025679
LINK 10
Brownfields 6
Renewable Energy Act (basically, brownfields). But in 2016, these restrictions are to be loosened a bit to include relatively unproductive agricultural land.
https://energytransition.org/2015/01/german-government-announces-new-rules-for-solar/
LINK 11
Finally, soil sealing in peri-urban areas is a particular cause of concern from the viewpoint of food security, as it destroys special forms of agriculture and farms located there.
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/pdf/guidelines/pub/soil_en.pdf
LINK 12
An assessment of the regional potential for solar power generation in EU-28
There is no correlation among the EU investment and the suitability in solar energy.
Using marginal lands to place PV systems might avoid the uptake of agricultural land.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515301324
LINK 13
Rather, peoples’ responses to economic opportunities, as mediated by institutional factors, drive land-cover changes. Opportunities and constraints for new land uses are created by local as well as national markets and policies. Global forces become the main determinants of land-use change, as they amplify or attenuate local factors.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378001000073
LINK 14
Ground or roofs? As of 31 dicember 2017, solar plants installed in Italy are 774.014, which correspond to a power equivalent to 19.682 MW. The small sized intallations (smaller or equal to 20 kW) make up for over 90% of the total amount of solar plants installed in Italy and represent 20% of the national power request.
LINK 15
Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Technical Potential in the United States: A Detailed Assessment…Figure ES-2 shows that California has the greatest potential to offset electricity use—its rooftop PV could generate 74% of the electricity sold by its utilities in 2013…
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/65298.pdf
LINK 16
As soil formation is an extremely slow process, soil can be considered essentially as a non renewable resource. Soil provides us with food, biomass and raw materials. It serves as a platform for human activities and landscape and as an archive of heritage and plays a central role as a habitat and gene pool. It stores, filters and transforms many substances, including water, nutrients and carbon. In fact, it is the biggest carbon store in the world.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=%20CELEX:52006DC0231&from=EN
LINK 17
Climate Change and Land
An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems
CH7
Table 7.1 shows hazards from land-climate-society interactions identified in previous chapters, or in 8 other IPCC reports
Included are forest dieback, extreme events in multiple economic and agricultural regimes (also see 7.2.2.1, 7.2.2.2), disruption in flow regimes in river systems, climate change mitigation impacts (also see 7.2.3.2), competition for land (plastic substitution by cellulose, charcoal production), land degradation and desertification (also see 7.2.2.8), loss of carbon sinks, permafrost destabilisation (also see 7.2.2.7), and stranded assets (also see 7.3.4). Other hazards such as from failure of carbon storage, renewable energy impacts on land use, wild-fire in forest-urban transition context, extreme events effects on cultural heritage and urban air pollution from surrounding land-use are covered in Table 7.1 extension in the appendix as well in 7.5.6.
| Land-Climate-Society interaction Hazard | Exposure | Vulnerability | Risk | Policy Response (Indicative) | References |
| Climate change Mitigation impacts | Across various biomes especially semi-arid and aquatic where renewable energy projects (solar, biomass, wind and small hydro) are sited |
Fishers and pastoralists Farmers Endangered range restricted species and ecosystems |
Extinction of species Downstream loss of ecosystem services Loss of livelihoods and identity of fisher/pastoralist communities Loss of regional food security |
Avoidance and informed siting in priority basins Mitigation of impacts Certification |
(Zomer et al. 2008; Nyong et al. 2007; Pielke et al. 2002; Schmidhuber and Tubiello 2007; Jumani et al. 2017; Eldridge et al. 2011; Bryan et al. 2010; Scarlat and Dallemand 2011) |
Sustainable land management (SLM) makes strong social and economic sense. Early action in implementing SLM for climate change adaptation and mitigation provides distinct societal advantages. Understanding the full scope of what is at stake from climate change presents challenges because of inadequate accounting of the degree and scale at which climate change and land interactions impact society, and the importance society places on those impacts (Santos et al. 2016)(7.2.2, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 4.1). The consequences of inaction and delay bring significant risks including irreversible change and loss in land ecosystem services, including food security, with potentially substantial economic damage to many countries in many regions of the world (high confidence).
Healthy functioning land and ecosystems are essential for human health, food and livelihood security. Land derives its value to humans from being both a finite resource and vital for life, providing vital ecosystem services from water recycling, food, feed, fuel, biodiversity and carbon storage and sequestration.
Many of these ecosystem services may be difficult to estimate in monetary terms, including when they hold high symbolic value, linked to ancestral history, or traditional and indigenous knowledge systems (Boillat and Berkes 2013). Such incommensurable values of land are core to social cohesion— social norms and institutions, trust that enables all interactions, and sense of community.
Costs of action and inaction
Preventing land degradation from occurring is considered more cost-effective in the long term compared to the magnitude of resources required to restore already degraded land (Cowie et al. 2018a)
SLM practices reverse or minimise economic losses of land degradation, estimated at between USD 6.3 and 10.6 trillion annually
Across other areas such as food security, disaster mitigation and risk reduction, humanitarian response, and healthy diet (malnutrition as well as disease), early action generates economic benefits greater than costs (high evidence, high agreement)
Land degradation neutrality (LDN) (SDG Target 15.3), evolved from the concept of Net Zero Land Degradation, which was introduced by the UNCCD to promote sustainable land management.
Land degradation neutrality can be achieved by reducing the rate of land degradation (and concomitant loss of ecosystem services) and increasing the rate of restoration and rehabilitation of degraded or desertified land.
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2i.-Chapter-7_FINAL.pdf from the IPCC report from 2019/08
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/
2. As … the government promotes landscape conservation (European Landscape Convention, Firenze 2000 – Legge 9 gennaio 2006, n. 14 ). Considering Art.9 of the Constitution which says the Republic protects landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the country.
LINK 17
The installation and operation of systems that exploit solar energy through photovoltaic conversion, recently promoted in some European countries by new sell-back tariffs, is a relevant transformation of the territory for various reasons (land use, elimination of the existing vegetation, visual impact on the components of the landscape, microclimate change, glare from the reflection of the direct sunlight)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032109001026
LINK 18
Almost a quarter (24,61% ) of net new land use between 2016 and 2017 has occured inside areas of protected landscape.
LINK19
We found that the physical attributes of the landscape and wind turbines influenced the respondents’ reactions far more than socio-demographic and attitudinal factors. One of the most important results of our study is the sensitivity of respondents to the placement of wind turbines in landscapes of high aesthetic quality, and, on the other hand, a relatively high level of acceptance of these structures in unattractive landscapes. Wind turbines also receive better acceptance if the number of turbines in a landscape is limited, and if the structures are kept away from observation points, such as settlements, transportation infrastructure and viewpoints.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261911006969
LINK 20
estimates are made for the probability of turbine detection, recognition, and visual impact at distances up to 30 km.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/b12854
LINK 21
An important finding is that the landscape with the highest aesthetic quality initially was evaluated to be the absolute worst after the addition of WTs and vice versa. strong public opposition to locating WTs in aesthetically valuable landscapes and their greater acceptance in less attractive landscapes. Vestas V90, height 105 m, rotor diameter 90 m
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030626191500522X
Link 22
Wind turbines are highly visible objects
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494408000224
LINK 23
Socioeconomic impacts of wind farm development: a case study of Weatherford, Oklahoma
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/2192-0567-3-2
For further reading on wind Turbiness click following link:
http://www.exploretuscia.com/landscapes-and-turbines/
LINK 24
Large-scale wind power would require (five to 20 times) more land area than previously thought and cause more environmental impact than previously thought. The researchers found this scenario would warm the surface temperature of the continental U.S. by 0.24 degrees Celsius
LINK25
The European Landscape Convention – Florence 2000
The member States of the Council of Europe signatory hereto,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its
members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are
their common heritage, and that this aim is pursued in particular through agreements in the
economic and social fields;
Concerned to achieve sustainable development based on a balanced and harmonious
relationship between social needs, economic activity and the environment;
Noting that the landscape has an important public interest role in the cultural, ecological,
environmental and social fields, and constitutes a resource favourable to economic activity
and whose protection, management and planning can contribute to job creation;
Aware that the landscape contributes to the formation of local cultures and that it is a basic
component of the European natural and cultural heritage, contributing to human well-being
and consolidation of the European identity;
Acknowledging that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people
everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of
high quality, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas;
Noting that developments in agriculture, forestry, industrial and mineral production techniques
and in regional planning, town planning, transport, infrastructure, tourism and recreation and,
at a more general level, changes in the world economy are in many cases accelerating the
transformation of landscapes;
Wishing to respond to the public’s wish to enjoy high quality landscapes and to play an active
part in the development of landscapes;
Believing that the landscape is a key element of individual and social well-being and that its
protection, management and planning entail rights and responsibilities for everyone;
3. Considering… it is a target of the EU to ensure no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services
LINK 26 (same as LINK 3)
It then comes up with the broad conclusion that renewable energy sources are not the panacea they are popularly perceived to be; indeed in some cases their adverse environmental impacts can be as strongly negative as the impacts of conventional energy sources. The paper also dwells on the steps we need to take so that we can utilize renewable energy sources without facing environmental backlashes of the type we got from hydropower projects. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626199900077X
LINK 27
All energy production has associated social and environmental costs… “renewable energy sources are not the panacea they are popularly perceived to be; indeed, in some cases, their adverse environmental impacts can be as strongly negative as the impacts of conventional energy sources”
On the basis of our review of the existing peer-reviewed scientific literature, it appears that insufficient evidence is available to determine whether solar energy development, as it is envisioned for the desert Southwest, is compatible with wildlife conservation
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/61/12/982/392612
We combine data on global distribution of biodiversity with data on rapidly expanding land‐based renewable energies to identify areas of conflict between biodiversity and energy development. We show that global key areas for biodiversity protection may be under threat from increasing renewable energy development in the near future. Sprawl of bioenergy production into these areas would further accelerate loss of many irreplaceable ecosystems (Koh, 2007; Fargione et al., 2008; Gibson et al., 2014), thereby undermining the fundamental objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
4. Considering… EU intends to contribute towards ensuring bio-diversity through the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora in the European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies.
Considering the measures taken pursuant to this Directive (hereunder) shall be designed to maintain or restore, at favourable conservation status, natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora of Community interest.
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcbb.12299
LINK 29
This article challenges the notion that energy efficiency and ‘clean’ energy technologies can deliver sufficient degrees of climate change mitigation. Society must likely seek deeper changes in social and economic structures to preserve the climatic conditions to which the human civilization is adapted. If society becomes receptive to the idea that developed nations abandon growthoriented economies, researchers will be asked to investigate ways in which a new macroeconomy, which does not require growth to preserve economic stability, can be developed (Jackson, 2009; Victor 2010).
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/da28/6f13c4b92de3f4e6ee68d14a8c29a9d440ac.pdf
LINK30
Increasing the environmental compatibility of USSE systems will maximize the efficacy of this key renewable energy source in mitigating climatic and global environmental change.
LINK 31
We estimated annual USSE-related avian mortality to be between 16,200 and 59,400 birds in the southern California region
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148116301422
LINK32
All energy production has associated social and environmental costs… “renewable energy sources are not the panacea they are popularly perceived to be; indeed, in some cases, their adverse environmental impacts can be as strongly negative as the impacts of conventional energy sources”
On the basis of our review of the existing peer-reviewed scientific literature, it appears that insufficient evidence is available to determine whether solar energy development, as it is envisioned for the desert Southwest, is compatible with wildlife conservation
LINK 33
Solar Power Expansion Could Pose Ecological Risks
Scientists are concerned about threats to biological diversity….A study published Monday shows that solar power developers in California have been using mostly undeveloped desert lands with sensitive wildlife habitat as sites for new solar power installations rather than building on less sensitive, previously developed open lands….
“We see that ‘big solar’ is competing for space with natural areas,” she said. “We were surprised to find that solar energy development is a potential driver of the loss of California’s natural ecosystems and reductions in the integrity of our state and national park system.”
Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist at the University of California-Riverside, who is unaffiliated with the study, said:
“We can’t just throw them (solar installations) across a landscape and say biological diversity be damned,”
“We have to find the right places to put these things,”
LINK 34
Advances in renewable energy will incur steep environmental costs to landscapes in which facilities are constructed and operated…. more sustainable USSE development requires careful evaluation of trade‐offs between land, energy, and ecology;… long‐term ecological consequences associated with USSE sites must be carefully considered…. These critical concepts provide a framework for reducing adverse environmental impacts, informing policy to establish and address conservation priorities, and improving energy production sustainability
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/fee.1517
LINK 35
Habitat loss is the leading cause of species extinction and other negative impacts on biodiversity (Pimm and Raven 2000) but has received relatively little attention in the energy development literature (figure 1).
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/65/3/290/236920
LINK 36
the majority of utility-scale solar energy (USSE) installations are sited in natural environments, namely shrublands and scrublands, and agricultural land cover types, and near (<10 km) protected areas. “Compatible” (≤15%) USSE installations are sited in developed areas, whereas “Incompatible” installations (19%) are classified as such owing to, predominantly, lengthier distances to existing transmission. Our results suggest a dynamic landscape where land for energy, food, and conservation goals overlap and where environmental cobenefit opportunities should be explored.
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/44/13579.short
5. Considering… European environment policy rests on the principles of precaution, prevention and rectifying pollution at source, and on the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Environment policy: general principles and basic framework
LINK 37
The key substances that contribute to the overall environmental impact are lead, arsenic, mercury, copper, and nickel to air generated from Ag paste, electricity, and glass production, as well as Ag used for Ag paste production.
LINK 38
The problem of recycling the solar FV panels.
6. Considering… renewables claim is to reduce CO2 levels… and save the planet.
LINK39
Global energy demand is increasing as greenhouse gas driven climate change progresses, making renewable energy sources critical to future sustainable power provision. Land-based wind and solar electricity generation technologies are rapidly expanding, yet our understanding of their operational effects on biological carbon cycling in hosting ecosystems is limited. Wind turbines and photovoltaic panels can significantly change local ground-level climate by a magnitude that could affect the fundamental plant–soil processes that govern carbon dynamics. We believe that understanding the possible effects of changes in ground-level microclimates on these phenomena is crucial to reducing uncertainty of the true renewable energy carbon cost and to maximize beneficial effects. In this Opinions article, we examine the potential for the microclimatic effects of these land-based renewable energy sources to alter plant–soil carbon cycling, hypothesize likely effects and identify critical knowledge gaps for future carbon research. Continuing LBR deployment at the current rate without understanding of ground-level microclimatic effects and the consequent C benefits, or costs, is unwise as we need to ensure any trade-off in the delivery of other ecosystem services is fully considered during planning
We judge that together all of these phenomena have the potential to interact, causing changes in ground-level microclimatic conditions strong enough to significantly alter plant–soil carbon cycling, with implications for ecosystem and landscape scale GHG emissions and soil C stocks.
We urge the scientific community to embrace this research area and work across disciplines, including plant–soil ecology, terrestrial biogeochemistry and atmospheric science, to ensure we are on the path to truly sustainable energy provision.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4255238/
LINK 40
An assessment of the regional potential for solar power generation in EU-28
There is no correlation among the EU investment and the suitability in solar energy.
Using marginal lands to place PV systems might avoid the uptake of agricultural land.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421515301324
LINK 41
https://energypost.eu/15718-2/
LINK 42
These hypotheses put forward claims which, if confirmed by historical data, may describe why the substantial global investment in solar and wind capacity has produced poor correlations with decarbonization in aggregated national data. The finding that the deployment of solar and wind are not correlated with energy decarbonization at nationally aggregated levels, while hydro and nuclear are, challenges several core assumptions underlying the IPCC’s 2014 AR5
The findings in this analysis suggest that increased deployment of solar and wind should no longer be considered climate mitigation policies a priori, but rather only those policies that promote technologies already demonstrated to decarbonize energy at aggregated national levels should be considered climate mitigation policies. That solar and wind can, in some instances, decarbonize energy at national scales cannot by itself justify designating the policies that promote them as climate mitigation policies for the world as a whole.
As such, the finding that solar and wind have not decarbonized energy helps explain why, as the IPCC states, “the decade with the strongest-ever mitigation policies was the one with the strongest emissions growth in the last 30 years” is not, in fact, a paradox. What the IPCC is referring to as “strongest-ever mitigation policies” are in reality policies to promote solar and wind; the adjective “strongest” in this case may be referring to investment quantity and capacity construction rather than energy production and carbon intensity of energy drops.
LINK 43
Loss of forests is a major contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/deforestation-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions
LINK 44
Forests can play a large role in climate change through the sequestration or emission of carbon, an important greenhouse gas; through biological growth, which can increase forest stocks; or through deforestation, which can increase carbon emissions.
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-resource-083110-115941?journalCode=resource
LINK 45
The national average urban forest carbon storage density is 25.1 tC/ha, compared with 53.5 tC/ha in forest stands
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749101002147
LINK 46
This article challenges the notion that energy efficiency and ‘clean’ energy technologies can deliver sufficient degrees of climate change mitigation. By six arguments not widely recognized in the climate policy arena, we argue that unrealistic technology optimism exists in current climate change mitigation assessments, and, consequently, world energy and climate policy. The overarching theme of the arguments is that incomplete knowledge of indirect effects, and neglect of interactions between parts of physical and social sub-systems, systematically leads to overly optimistic assessments. Society must likely seek deeper changes in social and economic structures to preserve the climatic conditions to which the human civilization is adapted. We call for priority to be given to research evaluating aspects of mitigation in a broad, system-wide perspective.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421511007026?via%3Dihub
LINK 47
Efforts to quantify and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the built environment often neglect embodied emissions, instead focusing on reducing emissions from building operations. Utilizing sustainably sourced mass timber offers low embodied carbon
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202007.0175/v2
LINK 48
the total CO2 emission of the global construction sector was 5.7 billion tons in 2009, contributing 23% of the total CO2 emissions produced by the global economics activities.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032117309413
LINK 49
An engineer’s viewpoint on key areas for further research and industry initiatives to support the increased use of mass timber, particularly Cross Laminated Timber. The paper identifies issues related to project delivery in UK and global construction markets including design for durability, approaches to building design complexity, sustainable supply and the end of life scenarios of buildings, and emerging net zero carbon emissions strategies and the role of forestry for products.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20426445.2020.1730047
LINK 50
Mineral and hydrocarbon extraction and infrastructure are increasingly significant drivers of forest loss, greenhouse gas emissions,
and threats to the rights of forest communities in forested areas of
Amazonia, Indonesia, and Mesoamerica. Projected investments in
these sectors suggest that future threats to forests and rights are
substantial, particularly because resource extraction and infrastructure reinforce each other and enable population movements and
agricultural expansion further into the forest.
LINK 51
The planetary boundary framework has yet to be fully incorporated into global energy scenario modeling, where the emphasis has been almost solely on CO2 emission mitigation. Stress on biochemical flows, land use change, biodiversity, ocean and climate systems are often neglected…. ethical choices, such as current and future generations’ access to preserved ecosystems, aversion of energy resource risks, preventing resource use conflicts, and negative impacts on human lives from energy extraction and use are not usually discussed or justified in energy scenario modeling. All investigated global energy transition scenarios failed to adequately describing the critical roles of flexibility in future energy systems based on high shares of renewable energy, such as storage, grids, demand response, supply side management and sector coupling. Nor did they adequately incorporate the concept of resilience in socio-ecological systems.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136403211830176X
LINK52
The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals. Environmental, social and governance pressures should feature in future scenario planning about the transition to a low carbon future. As low-carbon energy technologies advance, markets are driving demand for energy transition metals.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18661-9
LINK 53
Here we demonstrate that approximately 7% of mines for four key metals directly overlap with PAs (nda.: protected Areas) and a further 27% lie within 10km of a PA boundary.
https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/529933
LINK 54
Global direct pressures on biodiversity by large-scale metal mining: Spatial distribution and implications for conservation
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27262340/
LINK 55
Assessing biodiversity loss due to land use with Life Cycle Assessment: are we there yet?
Ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human activities, with land use and land-use change at the forefront of the drivers that provoke global and regional biodiversity loss.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25143302/
LINK 56
yet commonly-used LCA methodologies lack the spatial resolution and predictive ecological information to reveal key impacts on climate, water and biodiversity. We present advances for LCA that integrate spatially explicit modelling of land change and ecosystem services in a Land-Use Change Improved (LUCI)-LCA
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28429710/
LINK 57
Building materials and technologies, and building practices have evolved through ages. The art and science of building construction commenced with the use of natural materials like stones, soil, thatch/leaves, unprocessed timber, etc. Hardly any energy is spent in manufacturing and use of these natural materials for construction.
https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/4/3/175/710965