Raw materials activities of the manhattan project on the colorado plateau

The Manhattan Project was a highly secret project during World War II to develop the atomic bomb, and included the acquisition of raw materials. It was carried out by the Army’s Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District. In the United States, 2,698,000 pounds of uranium oxide were acquired at various vanadium mills on the Colorado Plateau, mainly from the treatment of tailings. Geologic investigations conducted by a contractor, Union Mines Development Corporation, laid the ground work for the exploration activities of the Atomic Energy Commission which succeeded the Manhattan Engineer District in 1947     

能源安全研究的理论与方法及其主要进展

在能源价格和温室气体减排双重驱动下,能源安全研究再次成为学术界关注的热点.加强能源安全理论、方法研究,对于把握能源安全关键要素,识别一国(区域)能源安全状态及演进趋势具有重要的现实意义,同时为能源安全预警与响应机制的构筑奠定了坚实基础.本文对国内外能源安全理论、方法及其主要进展进行了综述,研究结果表明：①国内能源安全定量研究较为薄弱,主要表现为研究成果匮乏、缺乏共识;②国际上,能源安全研究方法大多基于能源安全多样性指数——Shannon-Wiener 指数(SWI)与Herfindahl-Hirschman 指数(HHI).其中,又以英国能源供应安全联合研究小组(JESS)、荷兰能源研究中心(ECN)、国际能源署(IEA)以及亚太能源研究中心(APERC)所开发的能源安全模型较具有代表性;③能源安全定量研究在时间尺度、空间尺度、评价内容及不确定性上均有待改进.     

产业结构变动对区域能源效率贡献的空间分析——以中国大陆31省区为例

能源是重要的生产要素,由于增加能源要素投入,人类的劳动生产率得到了极大提高,推动了经济与社会发展.产业结构变动是影响区域能源效率提高的重要因素.在现代经济发展中,产业结构升级与提高区域能源效率密切联系,产业结构状况与能源效率共同反映一国的经济发展方向,发展水平和经济可持续发展能力.本文从空间角度探讨产业结构变动对区域能源效率提高的贡献,利用GDP产业结构统计数据和相关能源利用统计数据,结合数学模型和空间分析方法,以中国大陆31个省区相关数据为样本,分析得出中国大陆31省区产业结构变动对能源效率提高贡献的空间差异较大;产业结构合理且经济基础较好省区、经济发展起步较晚省区以及处于产业结构调整初期的中国中西部欠发达省区产业结构变动对区域能源效率提高的贡献明显;而经济基础薄弱尚未形成主导产业的省区与形成较为合理低端产业结构的省区,产业结构变动对区域能源效率提高的贡献不明显.     

俄欧能源关系中的美国因素

作为国际能源体系中的主要“棋手”,俄欧美三国在国际能源领域中发挥着重要作用。但是彼此间相异的能源结构与发展目标,使得各方的能源战略表现也不同。俄欧的能源合作可追溯至冷战期间,目前双方间的能源关系紧密。但具备全球地缘能源战略视野的美国并不乐意俄欧能源关系的加强与巩固。作为“第三者”的美国对俄欧能源关系保持着高度的警惕与关注。本文从俄欧美能源关系现状出发,分析了美国在俄欧能源关系中发挥的作用,认为其目的在于分化俄欧。     

Mapping Energy: Cartographies of Energy Into The Twenty‐First Century

“Energy” presents a number of complex and interrelated challenges regarding the environment, economy, and politics. In this paper, we argue that cartography should help clarify our understanding of energy issues, but ask whether this has in fact been the case. In a review of over 100 articles pulled from twenty‐three peer‐reviewed geography journals, we qualitatively assess energy maps published since the early 20^th century, examining trends in topic and cartographic technique. Energy maps in geography journals have focused on North America and Western Europe while relying on proportional symbols, grayscale production, and the analysis of energy phenomena at the national scale—tendencies that in many instances have limited our understanding of the ways in which energy is actually consumed. Simultaneously, cartographers are limited to the energy data available to them, frequently precluding small‐scale consumption analysis or consideration of diurnal and seasonal trends. We argue that the future of energy cartography relies on access to consumption data coupled with greater user interactivity.     

The Great Australian Wind Rush and the Devaluation of Landscape Amenity

Up until very recently--and in marked contrast to such countries as Spain, Denmark and Germany--Australia generated hardly any electricity from the wind. Driven largely by the mandatory targets embodied in the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Commonwealth) this situation is now changing. Australia has several operational small- to medium-sized wind energy power stations in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. But--in the face of often strong local opposition--the Australian Wind Energy Association is keen to increase the number and scale of such projects. This paper outlines recent overseas developments in wind energy and then focuses on the environmental and planning dilemmas posed by this form of electricity production. Particular attention is focused on a highly controversial wind energy proposal in south-western Victoria, the Portland Wind Energy Project (PWEP). The argument presented is that wind is only one of a number of possible renewable energy options, that coastal landscapes are an 'endangered species', and that it is time for geographers to revisit methodologies concerned with evaluating landscape beauty and debating the place of landscape values within the ecologically sustainable development paradigm.     

中国能源保障基本形势分析

国家能源保障目标由两部分组成： 第一,能源供应的稳定性,指满足国家人口发展正常需 求的能源供应保障的稳定程度;第二,能源使用的安全性,指能源消费及使用不应对人类自身的 生存与发展环境构成任何威胁。本文从影响能源保障的能源资源基础、生产与消费、运输、生产与 消费对环境影响等方面分析了中国能源保障的基本形势, 总体来说中国目前能源保障重点集中 在能源供应保障层面上, 立足于自身的资源基础及生产与消费空间高度分离的特点建立起了庞 大的能源保障体系, 对能源使用安全尽管已经引起了高度的重视, 但是由于现实经济的压力和认 识上的不足实质性的措施还很少。未来我国应该立足能源保障基本形势, 从供应稳定性和使用安 全性出发构筑稳定、经济、清洁、安全的能源保障体系。     

Peaceful Nuclear Explosions and the Geography of Scientific Authority

From 1957 to 1973, scientists and engineers working under the direction of the United States Atomic Energy Commission and its Livermore laboratory investigated, experimented with, and promoted the idea of ‘peaceful’ uses of nuclear explosives through a program called Project Plowshare. Proponents confidently argued that the ‘geographical engineering’ (as it was called) of harbors, canals, dams, and mountain passes could be accomplished safely, economically, and scientifically by means of nuclear‐blasted excavation. But the nuclear earthmoving explosions also produced large amounts of radioactive fallout, and with it, significant challenges to the program on scientific grounds. This paper examines several moments from the contested career of nuclear earthmoving to show how scientific and technical research under the Plowshare program, developed out of the resources of Cold War American science, was structured by geographical variations in scientific authority.     

Net Energy Payback and CO2 Emissions from Three Midwestern Wind Farms: An Update

This paper updates a life-cycle net energy analysis and carbon dioxide emissions analysis of three Midwestern utility-scale wind systems. Both the Energy Payback Ratio (EPR) and CO₂ analysis results provide useful data for policy discussions regarding an efficient and low-carbon energy mix. The EPR is the amount of electrical energy produced for the lifetime of the power plant divided by the total amount of energy required to procure and transport the materials, build, operate, and decommission the power plants. The CO₂ analysis for each power plant was calculated from the life-cycle energy input data. A previous study also analyzed coal and nuclear fission power plants. At the time of that study, two of the three wind systems had less than a full year of generation data to project the life-cycle energy production. This study updates the analysis of three wind systems with an additional four to eight years of operating data. The EPR for the utility-scale wind systems ranges from a low of 11 for a two-turbine system in Wisconsin to 28 for a 143-turbine system in southwestern Minnesota. The EPR is 11 for coal, 25 for fission with gas centrifuge enriched uranium and 7 for gaseous diffusion enriched uranium. The normalized CO₂ emissions, in tonnes of CO₂ per GW_eh, ranges from 14 to 33 for the wind systems, 974 for coal, and 10 and 34 for nuclear fission using gas centrifuge and gaseous diffusion enriched uranium, respectively.     

Wood burning for residential space heating in the United States: an energy efficiency analysis

Biomass combustion is commonly perceived as an alternative energy source which will reduce reliance on, and thus conserve, conventional non-renewable fuels. However, in the United States wood collection is energy intensive and requires the expenditure of high-quality fossil fuels to support the technology. The efficiency of an energy collection or delivery system can be estimated by using a net energy analysis (NEA). An energy accounting framework is employed to compare the total output of energy (in joules) delivered for residential space heating to the total energy input required to make the wood energy available. Energy inputs are either direct, such as the petrol used to power the transport vehicle, or indirect, such as the energy required to manufacture the transport vehicle. This study analyses the energy efficiency of three wood-gathering strategies commonly practised in the United States. Energy output-input ratios, calculated for each of the three cases, indicate that the ratios are strongly influenced by situation-specific variables, particularly (1) the distance fuelwood must be transport, (2) the load capacity of the transport vehicle and (3) the combustion efficiency of the wood-burning unit. Incorporating indirect energy costs significantly reduces the energy ratio but, in some situations, burning renewable wood can be as energy efficient as conventional heating systems based on non-renewable fossil fuels, thus providing a locally viable alternative.     

Unconventional Energy Resources: 2013 Review

This report contains nine unconventional energy resource commodity summaries and an analysis of energy economics prepared by committees of the Energy Minerals Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Unconventional energy resources, as used in this report, are those energy resources that do not occur in discrete oil or gas reservoirs held in structural or stratigraphic traps in sedimentary basins. These resources include coal, coalbed methane, gas hydrates, tight-gas sands, gas shale and shale oil, geothermal resources, oil sands, oil shale, and U and Th resources and associated rare earth elements of industrial interest. Current U.S. and global research and development activities are summarized for each unconventional energy commodity in the topical sections of this report.     

East-Central Europe's changing energy landscapes: a place for geography

Energy developments in the post-Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) have a major impact on global energy security and sustainability, thanks to this region's key geographical position between the energy-exporting states of the former Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the energy-importing states of Western and Southern Europe, on the other. At the same time, post-socialist reforms of energy industries in this region provide unique insights into the complex relations of power, economic transformation and spatial inequality that govern energy production and consumption. This paper therefore aims to provide an initial look at some of the theoretical and policy issues that underpin the emergent 'geographies' of energy reform in ECE, as well as their embeddedness in relations of power stemming from organisational, infrastructural and economic inequalities in the region. It employs an analysis of local news reports, policy papers and statistical data to examine the intricate institutional networks and spatial formations that have governed the energy transformation process. In broader terms, the paper aims to emphasise the important role that human geography can play in making sense of the territorial differences and frictions that have emerged during the post-socialist reform process, while challenging the idea of a 'neat' neoliberal transition from a centrally planned to a market-based mode of energy regulation .     

哈萨克斯坦能源效率变动及其影响因素实证分析

基于哈萨克斯坦1992-2013年能源相关数据,分析该国近年来能源利用效率变动的基本情况,并与我国做出了比较;借助模型工具,选取技术进步、产业结构、能源价格、能源消费结构四因素探讨其对能源效率的影响,在此基础上利用脉冲响应和方差分解模型进一步从动态视角审视能源效率与影响因素之间的变动关系。研究表明:(1) 1992-2013年哈萨克斯坦能源效率呈现逐渐上升的趋势,2013年达到0.597 t标准煤·(10⁴元)^-1,高于2013年我国的能源效率水平0.701 t标准煤·(10⁴元)^-1,且两国都处于能源效率低水平的国家行列。(2)从长期来看,哈萨克斯坦能源消费结构、产业结构、能源价格每降低1%,能源效率则会分别提高3.17%、1.85%、1.26%,能源消费结构对能源效率影响最大,而技术进步每提高1%,则能源效率将提高0.25%。(3)哈萨克斯坦能源消费结构与技术进步对能源效率的冲击效应呈倒U型分布,分别是缘于边际递减效应与技术自身滞后性及回弹效应,且方差分解表明能源价格对能源效率贡献最大。哈萨克斯坦能源效率变动趋势与我国有类似规律,说明在能源价格改革和能源结构调整领域内,我国与哈萨克斯坦有共同的难题,有进一步合作的需要,这些结论为我国与哈萨克斯坦国家能源合作领域开辟新空间,为今后丝绸之路经济带沿线国家能源领域合作提供研究基础。     

Multi-criteria, multi-objective and uncertainty analysis for agro-energy spatial modelling

The worldwide increase in the use of biomass as a Renewable Energy Source raises the issue of introducing crops dedicated to energy production into rural landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to set-up a GIS based multi-criteria approach to assess a range of possibilities for perennial energy crops conversion. The presented method was implemented at the regional level in the Yorkshire and the Humber Region in Northern UK. The first phase of the study aims to set-up a land capability model for the specific purpose of assessing the potential of different typologies of perennial energy crops, on the basis of specific pedo-climatic and topographic factors. The model output illustrates a range of potentials for energy crop conversion that can be explored in the given landscape. In the second phase a uncertainty analysis of the land capability model was performed through a simulation approach in order to interpret the influence of assumptions and uncertainty on input data and model parameters. The last phase of the study allows allocating the energy crop conversion area according to specific environmental constraints, nature protection targets, food production priorities and land capability values. The land allocation output gives a rather restrictive energy crop penetration scenario, where more than half of the conversion area is allocated to cropping systems with low land degradation potential. This scenario represents a preliminary regional analysis of the energy crop potential in terms of theoretically available conversion areas. The final results also show that the areas with highest environmental risks correspond to the areas with both the lowest suitability for energy crop cultivation and the highest model uncertainty.     

A Regionally Based Energy End‐Use Strategy: Case Studies from Centre County,Pennsylvania*

The production and use of fossil fuels and nonrenewable electricity creates many forms of environmental degradation. To reduce degradation, this research suggests an energy strategy based on energy end‐use analysis and regional geography. Energy end‐use analysis and regional geography are used to match renewable energy resources with site‐specific, end‐use needs. Fieldwork conducted within Centre County, Pennsylvania, demonstrates that small‐scale solar, wind, and micro‐hydropower resources could displace a proportion of household electricity use. Such an approach meets energy end‐use needs, while conserving fossil fuels and reducing environmental degradation.     

世界能源产消与流动分析

随着全球化的到来,各国都面临着更合理地分配和使用地球上的能源的机遇和挑战。能源的大规模空间流动已经成为不可避免的趋势。对近几十年能源产消与空间流动状态进行分析表明：第一,世界能源生产和消费一直保持大致平衡状态,但空间格局存在很大差异;第二,能源流动主要体现在石油流动;第三,能源空间收敛系数、能源消费结构演进和城市化发展都是能源产消差异和空间流动的重要影响因素．     

沙漠能源生态圈概念、内涵及发展模式

沙漠地区既是中国重要的能源基地,也是生态环境脆弱区和发展落后地区,如何在保护沙漠生态环境的前提下,充分开发利用沙漠丰富资源,同时又带动地区经济发展和改善民生?首先基于生态学、管理学、自然地理学、系统科学等相关理论,结合国内外沙漠能源开发及沙漠治理、生态修复等方面最新研究进展,运用能源互联网思维,构建了包涵沙漠治理、生态...     

世界能源保障基本形势探讨

国家能源保障主要由能源供应的稳定性和能源使用的安全性两个部分组成。论文从影响能源保障的资源基础、能源生产与消费、能源贸易与运输、能源消费对环境的破坏等方面分析了世界能源保障的基本形势,世界能源保障还主要停留在能源供应的稳定性层面上,对使用安全性尽管在思想已经认识到,但是在行动上还远不尽人意,世界能源保障应该从目前主要追求供应稳定性向追求供应稳定性和使用安全性的双重目标转变。由能源生产、消费、贸易与运输等组成的世界能源保障基本格局,随着中国、印度等发展中国家能源国际化的进一步推进,正受到巨大的冲击并不断进行重组。     

基于工业结构特征的中国地区能源消费强度差异分析

本文从工业结构演变的角度分析地区能源消费强度差异,利用工业特征偏向指数对地区能源消费强度与工业结构之间的关系进行了定量分析,并通过建立地区能源消费强度影响因素的回归分析模型,重点考察了近几年中国地区工业结构能源消耗特征演变对地区能源消费强度差异的影响。研究表明,近几年来中国工业结构能耗特征的变化,对地区能源消费强度差异有重要影响。在中西部地区发挥资源和成本优势、大规模承接东部沿海地区产业转移的过程中,呈现出中西部地区工业结构高耗能化、东部地区工业结构低耗能化的演进态势,而高耗能的工业结构决定了较高的能源消费强度。政府在制定节能减排政策、进行节能目标分解时,要正确认识中西部地区工业结构演变的客观规律与发展阶段,根据各地区能源消费强度的变化特点,制定有区别的区域节能目标和政策措施。     

区域能源消费与经济和环境绩效——基于14个能源输出和输入大省的实证研究

本文对中国的能源输出大省和能源输入大省进行了界定,运用DEA方法测度了2000-2010年能源输出和输入大省的能源消费经济绩效、环境绩效及节能潜力,对能源输出和输入大省的能源消费经济绩效、环境绩效特征进行系统归纳和比较,分析能源消费绩效形成原因,并利用Malmquist生产率指数方法对2000-2010年能源输出和输入大省的能源消费经济绩效、环境绩效变化趋势进行了深入研究,探讨提高能源输出和输入大省能源消费绩效的对策措施。研究结果表明：① 能源输出大省的能源消费绩效未达最优主要受规模效率制约,规模效率和纯技术效率对能源输入大省能源消费绩效未达最优的共同制约比较明显;② 能源输出大省的整体能源消费经济绩效改善落后于能源输入大省,但在环境绩效改善方面能源输出大省整体上强于能源输入大省;③ 技术进步是决定能源输出和输入大省能源消费绩效变化趋势的关键;④ 半数能源输出大省和大部分能源输入大省存在投入冗余现象,基于环境产出投入冗余远高于基于经济产出投入冗余,尤其是能源输入大省。