Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Atmosphere atmosphere	2.686	2.9	2010	14.3 Days	1800 CHF	Submit
Buildings buildings	2.648	4.2	2011	16.38 Days	1600 CHF	Submit
Land land	3.395	3.0	2012	12.44 Days	1800 CHF	Submit
Remote Sensing remotesensing	4.848	6.6	2009	16.06 Days	2400 CHF	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	3.251	3.9	2009	15.35 Days	1900 CHF	Submit

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Impact of District Heating System Retrofitting

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Aleksandrs Zajacs

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Anatolijs Borodinecs

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Nikolai Vatin

Atmosphere 2021, 12(9), 1110; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12091110 - 29 Aug 2021

Abstract

Retrofitting of district heating systems is a comprehensive process which covers all stages of district heating (DH) systems: production, distribution and consumption. This study quantitatively shows the effect of retrofitting measures and represents strengths and weaknesses of different development scenarios. Improvements in production [...] Read more.

Retrofitting of district heating systems is a comprehensive process which covers all stages of district heating (DH) systems: production, distribution and consumption. This study quantitatively shows the effect of retrofitting measures and represents strengths and weaknesses of different development scenarios. Improvements in production units show improvements in fuel use efficiency and thus indirectly reduce CO₂ emissions due to unburned fuel. For this purpose, validated district planning tools have been used. Tool uses mathematical model for calculation and evaluation of all three main components of the DH system. For the quantitative evaluation, nine efficiency and balance indicators were used. For each indicator, recommended boundary values were proposed. In total, six simulation scenarios were simulated, and the last scenario have shown significant reduction in CO₂ emissions by 40% (from 3376 to 2000 t CO₂ compared to the actual state), while share of biomass has reached 47%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

Open AccessArticle

Linking Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis and Circuit Theory to Identify Ecological Security Pattern in the Loess Plateau: Taking Shuozhou City as an Example

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Ronglei Yang

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Zhongke Bai

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Zeyu Shi

Land 2021, 10(9), 907; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090907 (registering DOI) - 28 Aug 2021

Abstract

Located in an ecologically fragile area in China’s eastern part of the Loess Plateau, Shuozhou City has faced environmental challenges imposed by frequent urban expansion and mining activities in recent years. As ecological security patterns (ESP) identification and optimization are significant to regional [...] Read more.

Located in an ecologically fragile area in China’s eastern part of the Loess Plateau, Shuozhou City has faced environmental challenges imposed by frequent urban expansion and mining activities in recent years. As ecological security patterns (ESP) identification and optimization are significant to regional biodiversity and ecosystem services, this study combined morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and circuit theory to construct and optimize regional ESP. Results show the number and area of ecological sources in the study area decreased from 21 to 20 between 2010 and 2017. The total area of ecological sources fell from 1923.35 km² to 1869.37 km², with their proportion in the study area dropped from 18.14% to 17.64%. From 2010 to 2017, the number of obstacles increases from 63 to 80, mainly consisting of farmland, unused land, transportation land, and construction land. The area of obstacles reached 10.17 km² in 2017. A framework of “one protection area, two regulation areas, and three restoration areas” is proposed to optimize the ESP of the study zone. This study explored a combination of ESP analysis tools and focused on improving regional ecosystem service and biodiversity. It will support local urban planning and provide a reference for similar studies in resource-based cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

Open AccessArticle

Impacts of Saline-Alkali Land Improvement on Regional Climate: Process, Mechanisms, and Implications

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Remote Sens. 2021, 13(17), 3407; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173407 (registering DOI) - 27 Aug 2021

Abstract

Studying land use change and its associated climate effects is important to understand the role of human activities in the regulation of climate systems. By coupling remote sensing measurements with a high-resolution regional climate model, this study evaluated the land surface changes and [...] Read more.

Studying land use change and its associated climate effects is important to understand the role of human activities in the regulation of climate systems. By coupling remote sensing measurements with a high-resolution regional climate model, this study evaluated the land surface changes and corresponding climate impact caused by planting rice on saline-alkali land in western Jilin (China). Our results showed that paddy field expansion became the dominant land use change in western Jilin from 2015 to 2019, 25% of which was converted from saline-alkali land; this percentage is expected to increase in the near future. We found that saline-alkali land reclamation to paddy fields significantly increased the leaf area index (LAI), particularly in July and August, whereas it decreased albedo, mainly in May and June. Our simulation results showed that planting rice on saline-alkali land can help decrease the air temperature and increase the relative humidity. The temperature and humidity effects showed different magnitudes during the growing season and were most significant in July and August, followed by September and June. The nonradiative process, rather than the radiative process, played a dominant role in regulating the regional climate in this case, and the biophysical competition between evapotranspiration (ET) and albedo determined the temperature and relative humidity response differences during the growing season. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

Open AccessArticle

Simulating Grassland Carbon Dynamics in Gansu for the Past Fifty (50) Years (1968–2018) Using the Century Model

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Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9434; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169434 - 23 Aug 2021

Abstract

China is one of the countries most impacted by desertification, with Gansu Province in the northwest being one of the most affected areas. Efforts have been made in recent decades to restore the natural vegetation, while also producing food. This has implications for [...] Read more.

China is one of the countries most impacted by desertification, with Gansu Province in the northwest being one of the most affected areas. Efforts have been made in recent decades to restore the natural vegetation, while also producing food. This has implications for the soil carbon sequestration and, as a result, the country’s carbon budget. Studies of carbon (C) dynamics in this region would help to understand the effect of management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) as well as aboveground biomass (ABVG), and to aid informed decision-making and policy implementation to alleviate the rate of global warming. It would also help to understand the region’s contribution to the national C inventory of China. The CENTURY model, a process-based model that is capable of simulating C dynamics over a long period, has not been calibrated to suit Gansu Province, despite being an effective model for soil C estimation. Using the soil and grassland maps of Gansu, together with weather, soil, and reliable historical data on management practices in the province, we calibrated the CENTURY model for the province’s grasslands. The calibrated model was then used to simulate the C dynamics between 1968 and 2018. The results show that the model is capable of simulating C with significant accuracy. Our measured and observed SOC density (SOCD) and ABVG had correlation coefficients of 0.76 and 0.50, respectively, at p < 0.01. Precipitation correlated with SOCD and ABVG with correlation coefficients of 0.57 and 0.89, respectively, at p < 0.01. The total SOC storage (SOCS) was 436.098 × 10⁶ t C (approximately 0.4356% of the national average) and the average SOCD was 15.75 t C/ha. There was a high ABVG in the southeast and it decreased towards the northwest. The same phenomenon was observed in the spatial distribution of SOCD. Among the soils studied, Hostosols had the highest SOC sequestration rate (25.6 t C/ha) with Gypsisols having the least (7.8 t C/ha). Between 1968 and 2018, the soil carbon stock gradually increased, with the southeast experiencing the greatest increase. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Enhancing the Output of Climate Models: A Weather Generator for Climate Change Impact Studies

by

Pietro Croce

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Paolo Formichi

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Filippo Landi

Atmosphere 2021, 12(8), 1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12081074 - 21 Aug 2021

Abstract

Evaluation of effects of climate change on climate variable extremes is a key topic in civil and structural engineering, strongly affecting adaptation strategy for resilience. Appropriate procedures to assess the evolution over time of climatic actions are needed to deal with the inherent [...] Read more.

Evaluation of effects of climate change on climate variable extremes is a key topic in civil and structural engineering, strongly affecting adaptation strategy for resilience. Appropriate procedures to assess the evolution over time of climatic actions are needed to deal with the inherent uncertainty of climate projections, also in view of providing more sound and robust predictions at the local scale. In this paper, an ad hoc weather generator is presented that is able to provide a quantification of climate model inherent uncertainties. Similar to other weather generators, the proposed algorithm allows the virtualization of the climatic data projection process, overcoming the usual limitations due to the restricted number of available climate model runs, requiring huge computational time. However, differently from other weather generation procedures, this new tool directly samples from the output of Regional Climate Models (RCMs), avoiding the introduction of additional hypotheses about the stochastic properties of the distributions of climate variables. Analyzing the ensemble of so-generated series, future changes of climatic actions can be assessed, and the associated uncertainties duly estimated, as a function of considered greenhouse gases emission scenarios. The efficiency of the proposed weather generator is discussed evaluating performance metrics and referring to a relevant case study: the evaluation of extremes of minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, and ground snow load in a central Eastern region of Italy, which is part of the Mediterranean climatic zone. Starting from the model ensemble of six RCMs, factors of change uncertainty maps for the investigated region are derived concerning extreme daily temperatures, daily precipitation, and ground snow loads, underlying the potentialities of the proposed approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Are Land Use Options in Viticulture and Oliviculture in Agreement with Bioclimatic Shifts in Portugal?

by

Cristina Andrade

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André Fonseca

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João Andrade Santos

Land 2021, 10(8), 869; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10080869 - 19 Aug 2021

Abstract

Land and climate are strongly connected through multiple interface processes and climate change may lead to significant changes in land use. In this study, high-resolution observational gridded datasets are used to assess modifications in the Köppen–Geiger and Worldwide Bioclimatic (WBCS) Classification Systems, from [...] Read more.

Land and climate are strongly connected through multiple interface processes and climate change may lead to significant changes in land use. In this study, high-resolution observational gridded datasets are used to assess modifications in the Köppen–Geiger and Worldwide Bioclimatic (WBCS) Classification Systems, from 1950–1979 to 1990–2019 in Portugal. A compound bioclimatic-shift exposure index (BSEI) is also defined to identify the most exposed regions to recent climatic changes. The temporal evolution of land cover with vineyards and olive groves between 1990 and 2018, as well as correlations with areas with bioclimatic shifts, are analyzed. Results show an increase of CSa Warm Mediterranean climate with hot summer of 18.1%, followed by a decrease in CSb (warm summer) climate of −17.8%. The WBCS Temperate areas also reveal a decrease of −5.11%. Arid and semi-arid ombrotypes areas increased, conversely humid to sub-humid ombrotypes decreased. Thermotypic horizons depict a shift towards warmer classes. BSEI highlights the most significant shifts in northwestern Portugal. Vineyards have been displaced towards regions that are either the coolest/humid, in the northwest, or the warmest/driest, in the south. For oliviculture, the general trend for a relative shift towards cool/humid areas suggests an attempt of the sector to adapt, despite the cover area growth in the south. As vineyards and olive groves in southern Portugal are commonly irrigated, options for the intensification of these crops in this region may threaten the already scarce water resources and challenge the future sustainability of these sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Public’s Intention and Influencing Factors of Dockless Bike-Sharing in Central Urban Areas: A Case Study of Lanzhou City, China

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Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9265; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169265 - 18 Aug 2021

Abstract

Taking the main district in Lanzhou city of China as an example, the questionnaires were designed and distributed, and then the effects of five factors, i.e., behavioral attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, on the behavioral [...] Read more.

Taking the main district in Lanzhou city of China as an example, the questionnaires were designed and distributed, and then the effects of five factors, i.e., behavioral attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, on the behavioral intention of dockless bike-sharing (DBS) use were empirically analyzed based on the integrated model of technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as well as the structural equation model. Results show that the five factors all impose significantly positive effects on the public’s behavioral intention of DBS use but differ in influencing degrees. Behavioral attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control can all directly affect the public’s behavioral intention of DBS use, with direct influence coefficients of 0.691, 0.257 and 0.198, while perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness impose indirectly effects on behavioral intention, with indirect influence coefficients of 0.372 and 0.396. Overall, behavioral attitude imposes the most significant effect, followed by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and subjective norm, and finally perceived behavioral control. This indicates that the public’s behavioral intention of DBS use depends heavily on their behavioral attitude towards the shared bikes. In view of the limited open space of the main district in Lanzhou, the explosive growth of shared bikes, oversaturated arrangements, disordered competition, unclear and unscientific divisions of parking regions, and hindrance of traffic, this study proposes a lot of policy suggestions from the research results. A series of supporting service systems related to DBS should be formulated. The shared bikes with different characteristics should be launched for different age groups, gender groups and work groups. The corresponding feedback platform for realtime acquisition, organization, analysis and solution of data information, as well as the adequate platform feedback mechanism, should be established. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

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Open AccessArticle

Competitiveness of Industrial Companies Forming the Value Chain of Wind Energy Components: The Case of Lithuania

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Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9255; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169255 - 18 Aug 2021

Abstract

Sustainable energy development has attracted attention worldwide, partly because of the value chain of the wind energy industry that focuses on the overall value creation and innovation. In order to achieve not only ambitious goals in the fight against climate change, but also [...] Read more.

Sustainable energy development has attracted attention worldwide, partly because of the value chain of the wind energy industry that focuses on the overall value creation and innovation. In order to achieve not only ambitious goals in the fight against climate change, but also to create significant economic benefits for European Union citizens, it is necessary to ensure the production of renewable energy components in Europe itself and in Lithuania at the same time. This paper aims to evaluate the competitiveness of Lithuanian companies that manufacture wind energy components. The research was conducted applying methods such as a survey of manufacturers of wind energy components, expert assessment and descriptive analysis. The results of the competitiveness assessment revealed that the existing conditions and trends are favourable for the development of their performance and strengthening of their competitiveness. The government solutions to promote industry could facilitate the performance of companies operating in the value chain of wind energy components and encourage new companies to join it. This would encourage the Lithuanian industry to expand its participation in the value chain of the European Union’s renewable energy industry, create more jobs, and increase the added value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability)

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