Achieving additional emission reductions under a cap-and-trade scheme

Over the last decade, cap-and-trade emissions schemes have emerged as one of the favoured policy instruments for reducing GHG emissions. An inherent design feature of cap-and-trade schemes is that, once the cap on emissions has been set, no additional reductions beyond this level can be provided by the actions of those individuals, organizations and governments within the covered sectors. Thus, the emissions cap constitutes an emissions floor. This feature has been claimed by some to have undesirable implications, in that it discourages ethically motivated mitigation actions and preempts the possibility that local, state and national governments can take additional mitigation action in the context of weak national or regional targets. These criticisms have become prominent in Australia and the US within the public debate regarding the adoption of an emissions trading scheme (ETS). These criticisms and their potential solutions are reviewed. A set-aside reserve is proposed to automatically retire ETS permits, which would correspond to verified and additional emissions reductions. This minimizes the possibility that ethically motivated mitigation actions are discouraged, allows for additional action by other levels of government, while providing transparency to other market participants on the level of permit retirements.     

Implications of early action for JI baselines

Abstract

This article discusses possible implications of early Joint Implementation (JI) action. Some projects which would otherwise be non-additional during the first commitment period, can become additional by implementing them before 2008 through early JI. For example, several environmental investments that will be mandatory under the European Union (EU) Acquis Communautaire as of, e.g. 2008 or 2010 could be carried out earlier than that with early JI action. As such, candidate countries could partly finance the accession process through JI credits and their environmental standards would earlier be in line with the Acquis. The theoretical risk that projects would have to follow a slow track if JI parties are not eligible for the fast track is not large for JI hosts that are candidate for EU membership.     

On the variational approach to the periodic n-body problem

This expository paper gathers some of the results obtained by the author in recent works in collaboration with Davide Ferrario and Vivina Barutello, focusing on the periodic n-body problem from the perspective of the calculus of variations and minimax theory. These researches were aimed at developing a systematic variational approach to the equivariant periodic n-body problem in the two and three-dimensional space. The purpose of this paper is to expose the main problems and achievements of this approach. The material here was exposed in the talk that given at the Meeting CELMEC IV promoted by SIMCA (Società italiana di Meccanica Celeste).     

山区人为地质灾害问题与思考

人为地质灾害加剧，地质环境恶化，势必阻碍山区经济发展，产生的根源在于人类不妥当的工程经济活动。因此，解决问题的基本途径是从调整人的行为入手，以人为本，综合治理，搞好灾害防治工作，促进山区经济持续发展。     

中国环境工程地质的发展现状与未来

本文对我国环境工程地质的发展简况、研究现状和末来所面临的问题等进行了回顾、概括和展望,指出我国环境工程地质问题日趋复杂。从防御和保护环境出发,我国未来的环境地质问题将以沿海地区、长江中下游沿江地带和内陆大中城市地区为重点。建立经济、社会和环境协调发展的环境工程地质的科学体系已成为当务之急。     

集群产业优势对区域品牌形成的作用机理研究——以温州典型产业集群为例

为了获得集群产业优势与区域品牌形成之间的作用机理,在回顾大量相关文献的基础上,从理论层面推导出集群产业优势的构成维度;通过对温州集群品牌的深访研究,获得维度构成和测量指标,印证和修正理论模型,开发量表和设计问卷;并以温州典型产业集群为例,对影响区域品牌形成的集群产业优势进行实证研究。结论证实集群产业优势的4个维度(成本优势、产品优势、创新优势和营销优势)对区域品牌形成均具有显著作用。     

南、北半球环状模月内活动的主要时间尺度

基于“大气环状活动带” 的概念, 利用逐日再分析资料对南、 北半球环状模 (简称SAM、 NAM) 的季节活动特征及月内活动的主要时间尺度 (Submonthly timescales) 进行了研究, 结果表明, NAM具有冬季强、 夏季弱的年循环特征, 而SAM则表现出明显的准半年循环特征。并且, 逐年的功率谱分析进一步显示: NAM的月内活动的主要时间尺度以准1周和准2周为主, 且它们具有共生性, 准3周为相对次要的周期; 而SAM的月内活动周期与NAM相似, 准2周和准1周较强, 准3周次之。NAM和SAM的月内活动在不同特征时间尺度上的空间特征及其时间演变值得进一步研究。     

Improvement and Application of the Similarity Saltation Model: Wind-Tunnel Experimental Investigation and Numerical Simulation of the Vertical Sand Mass Flux Distribution in the Saltation Layer

Based upon comparisons between published experimental data and simulated results on the vertical sand flux distribution in the saltation layer, Shao’s similarity saltation model has been greatly improved by correcting the average vertical particle lift-off velocity and using a more suitable universal roughness length. By the improved model, the vertical sand flux profile over the bare, dry and loose uniform sandy surface, which is quite representative of real desert surfaces, can be reproduced very well. Meanwhile, the surface transport rate and the characteristic and average saltation heights have been simulated and analyzed in detail, disclosing their relationships with friction velocity, particle size and roughness length, and the possible underlying mechanisms. Besides, the average particle lift-off velocity and the average mean vertical aerodynamic action upon the ascending particle, which determine the saltation process, are explicitly expressed by parameters involved in the similarity model, and their relationships with friction velocity, particle size and roughness length are also described concisely. The corrected average particle lift-off velocity makes it possible to investigate the characteristic particle trajectory, whose initial velocity equals the average lift-off velocity, so as to estimate the average particle against surface impacting velocity and the average aerodynamic action upon the saltation process.     

深部作用在华北中生代陆内造山过程中的主导性 ——对断块构造力源机制的讨论

本文结合笔者对大兴安岭和燕山中生代陆内造山作用的研究,对张文佑先生提出的“断块构造”的力源机制作进一步的探讨。大兴安岭中生代不同深度的两种作用同时控制着岩浆活动和构造变形,即软流圈底辟体上涌与陆缘剪切走滑的共同作用--可称之为构造-岩浆活动的二元机制,其中前者起主导作用。燕山地区中生代的断陷和隆起,是在岩石圈断裂继承性活动的基础上,在地幔物质上升和参与的背景下发生的,其中深部作用也是主导性的。     

循环脱吸湿与加卸载耦合作用下土体持水性能试验研究

土体所经历的干湿循环和应力历史,对其孔隙结构和持水性能影响明显。为进一步深入研究二者耦合作用的影响,开展了先竖向固结再循环脱吸湿以及先气压脱湿再反复竖向加卸载两种不同加载路径的水分变化测量试验,探索土样持水性能和变形能力的演化规律。研究结果表明:(1)脱湿与吸湿路径对比,土体的持水能力具有明显的差异性,且土体越密实,这种差异性越强烈;(2)随着脱吸湿循环次数的增加,土样的进气值略有增大,减湿段和吸湿段的斜率都会减小,但影响趋势随循环次数增多而减弱;(3)对于气压减湿后的非饱和土样,其前期固结压力随气压值增加而增大,而加卸载形成的滞回圈的面积却随之减小,土体的持水性能和变形能力也降低;(4)重塑土样从不同加载路径首次达到同一应力状态时,先固结再脱湿路径下土样的体积收缩更多,而先施加气压再加载路径下土样持水性能减弱的更多。