Information and Communication Technology for Sustainable Development shows how ICT, as an enabler for all spheres of development, can help innovate business processes and operations, and provide faster integration of new technologies into business systems. Focused on sustainability, the book addresses strategic approaches to cope with a range of climatic, environmental, cyber-security threats and other global risks, and aims to promote prosperity and economic growth. Furthermore, it explores how the adoption of new technologies, and collective action based upon a strategic behavioral theory of new leadership, can be applied when responding to specific set of conditions that allow for the proposed strategies to cope with risks.

Information technology and strategic planning complement each other to attain the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Risk management frameworks, business continuity systems, and strategic planning methodologies such as mechanism design theory, strategic adaptive cognition (SAC), and risk mechanism theory (RMT) are the fundamental components needed to have a universal approach embedded into the national development plans agenda. As technology no longer follows an orderly, linear path, but improves exponentially, developing a strategic approach to ICT implementation help world leaders in the difficult but inspiring task of making a sustainable world and consequently find solutions to achieve the SDGs and the desired growth pattern that must be sustained, inclusive and equitable.

Features:

Discusses for the first time the potential of ICT as a transformative power in finding solutions to climatic and economic issues.

Illustrates comprehensive strategic planning for leaders to implement in both public and private organizations.

Integrates standards and frameworks in the context of sustainable development along with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Describes in detail how mechanism design, risk management, business continuity systems, a comprehensive strategic planning using SAC (Strategic Adaptive Cognition) and risk mechanism theory can be used to address environmental risks and attain sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Explains eHealth as an adaptation strategy to address future changes in climate and impacts, and the links between mitigation and adaptation to ICTs.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to Tackle Climate Variability and Change Impacts. Information and Communication Technologies for Environmental Sustainability. Moving from Theory to Practice: The TESLA Factor. mHealth: A New Path of Transformation for Health through Mobile Technologies. An Integrated Perspective on the Future of Mobility. Intelligent Transport Systems. The Role of Communication Technologies in Building Future Smart Cities. The Role of ICT in Smart Cities Governance. Digital Revolution and the Environment. Strategic Approach to ICT Contributions to Cope with Climatic Events. Managing Risks Associated with ICT. The Art & Science of Executing Your Vision. Leading Change in the Digital Age: Promoting Economic Growth, Combating Climate Change Impacts, Reducing Health Risks and the Leader's Role in Strategy.

This new edition has been revised throughout, and adds several sections, including: lean manufacturing and design for the environment, low impact development and green infrastructure, green science and engineering, and sustainability. It presents strategies to reduce waste from the source of materials development through to recycling, and examines the basic concepts of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of different pollutants. It includes case studies from several industries, such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, metals, electronics, petrochemicals, refineries, and more. It also addresses the economic considerations for each pollution prevention approach.

This two-volume work presents comprehensive, accurate information on the present status and contemporary development in phycoremediation of various types of domestic and industrial wastewaters. The volume covers a mechanistic understanding of microalgae based treatment of wastewaters, including current challenges in the treatment of various organic and inorganic pollutants, and future opportunities of bioremediation of wastewater and industrial effluents on an algal platform. The editors compile the work of authors from around the globe, providing insight on key issues and state-of-the-art developments in algal bioremediation that is missing from the currently available body of literature. The volume hopes to serve as a much needed resource for professors, researchers and scientists interested in microalgae applications for wastewater treatment. Volume 1 focuses on the different aspects of domestic and industrial wastewater treatment by microalgae. The case studies include examples such as genetic technologies as well as the development and efficient use of designer consortia for enhanced utilization of microalgae. This volume provides thorough and comprehensive information on removal of persistent and highly toxic contaminants such as heavy metals, organic pesticides, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, endocrine disruptors, pharmaceutical compounds, and dyes from wastewater by microalgae, diatoms, and blue-green algae. Design considerations for algal ponds and efficient use of photobioreactors and HRAPs for wastewater treatment are some other highlights. This volume addresses the applications, potentials, and future opportunities for these various considerations in water pollution mitigation using algal technologies.

This volume outlines a progressively staged process focused on fostering a more effective, more efficient, and greener global construction industry. The research-based book commences with an evaluation of eight methodologies identified after a worldwide literature and compliance review. It is followed by a more detailed report on four of these options, with the ultimate objective of independent selection within the construction engineering community of a single most appropriate methodology as the approach for further, more-detailed investigation. The eight methodologies were selected against six key performance indicators developed as assessment criteria and include knowledge management, lean construction, construction contract procurement practices, optimal work duration on site, construction site waste, rationalization of construction safety regulations, sustainable construction labor force, and portfolio project development. A primary outcome of the selected methodology being a triple bottom-line benefit to key stakeholders, commercially and also to the ecology, along with the community at large. Front-end construction waste strategies to serve as best practices to minimize waste generated by construction projects was the methodology selected for detailed research. The text also covers the primary sources of construction waste. The book is ideal for civil and construction engineers as well as project developers; managers and public sector waste management specialists.

This book introduces the latest results in research and practice of industrial solid waste recycling in China's western regions, where more than 50% of the waste in the whole country was produced. With rapid development in recent years, the massive industrial solid waste has become a serious problem in China. This book summarizes information and results of several National Research Programs of China concerning the typical solid wastes of the metallurgical and energy industry in western China, such as magnesium slag, manganese slag, acid sludge of lead and zinc smelting, fly ash, steel slag and carbide slag. It will be highly beneficial to scholars and engineers of environmental science and engineering.

With petroleum-related spills, explosions, and health issues in the headlines almost every day, the issue of remediation of petroleum and petroleum products is taking on increasing importance, for the survival of our environment, our planet, and our future. This book is the first of its kind to explore this difficult issue from an engineering and scientific point of view and offer solutions and reasonable courses of action.

This book presents insights in green techniques used in conventional and advanced machining. It consists of various experimental case studies conducted by the authors on green machining of difficult-to-machine materials, polymer and ceramic materials. Effects of green techniques / processes on machining properties like material removal rate, surface quality, geometric accuracy, productivity, and environment while machining various materials are reported.

This book discusses the risks of information concealment in the context of major natural or industrial disasters - offering detailed descriptions and analyses of some 25 historical cases (Three Mile Island nuclear accident, Bhopal disaster, Challenger Space Shuttle explosion, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster, Enron's bankruptcy, Subprime mortgage crisis, Worldwide Spanish flu and SARS outbreaks, etc.) and applying these insights to selected on-going cases where such information concealment is suspected. Some successful examples of preventive anti-concealment practice are also presented. In the book, the term 'concealment' is used to represent the two distinct behaviors uncovered in the investigations: (i) facts and information about an organization and its functioning being hidden from those that need them - here the concealment can be due to various factors, such as complexity and miscommunication, to name but two - and (ii) the conscious and deliberate action of keeping important information secret or misrepresenting it. This second meaning makes up a surprisingly important part of the evidence presented. Accordingly, emphasis has been put on this second aspect and the approach is more pragmatic than academic, remaining focused on evidence-based practical and useful factors. It raises awareness and provides valuable lessons for decision- makers, risk specialists and responsible citizens alike. This work is also intended as a fact-based reference work for future academic and scholarly investigations on the roots of the problem, in particular regarding any psychological or sociological modeling of human fallibility.

The rapid growth of industries has resulted in the generation of high volume of solid and liquid waste. Today, there is a need of Clean and Green technology for the sustainable waste management. Biochemical and Environmental Bioprocessing: Challenges and Developments explore the State-of-art green technologies to manage the waste and to recover value added products. Microbes play an important role in the bioremediation. Bioprocess engineering an interdisciplinary connects the Science and Technology. The bioconversion and bioremediation is essentially required for the management of various hazardous substances in the environment. This book will give an intensive knowledge on the application of Biochemical and Bioprocess technologies for the eco-friendly management of pollution. This book serves as a fundamental to the students, researchers, academicians and Engineers working in the area of Environmental Bioremediation and in the exploration of various bioproducts from waste. Features Reviews various biological methods for the treatment of effluents from Industries by using biomass and biopolymers. Highlights the applications of various bioreactors like Anaerobic Sequential Batch Reactor, Continuously stirred anaerobic digester, Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor, Fluidized and expanded bed reactors. Presents the cultivation of algae in Open Pond, Closed loop System, and Photo-bioreactors for bioenergy production. Discusses the intensified and integrated biorefinery approach by Microwave Irradiation, Pyrolysis, Acoustic cavitation, Hydrodynamic cavitation, Electron beam irradiation, High pressure Autoclave reactor, Steam explosion and photochemical oxidation. Outlines the usage of microbial fuel cell (MFC) for the production bioelectricity generation in different modules Tubular MFC, Stacked MFC, Separate electrode modules Cutting edge research of synthesis of biogenic nanoparticles and Pigments by green route for the health care and environment management.

This book introduces the theory and applications of nanometer photocatalysis, and it briefly presents the concept of photocatalysts, photocatalytic reaction mechanisms and kinetics, and photocatalytic reactor design. In addition, the use of photocatalysis in the control of flue-gas pollutants is discussed in detail. The book also describes how a photocatalytic reactor is designed and implemented to evaluate the photocatalytic oxidation capacity of different photocatalysts on elemental mercury in a simulated flue gas. After that, the effect of photocatalysts on the SO2, NOx and Hg removal in the flue gas is studied. Photocatalytic cleaning technology can be applied not only in gas pollutant cleaning at power plants, but also in wastewater purification. Readers gain a comprehensive understanding of possible mercury emission control methods and the industrial applications of these technologies.

This book provides extensive information on high-temperature H2S removal for integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coarse gas, together with briefly introductions to the concept of clean coal technology, and to the mechanism and kinetics of hot coal gas desulfurizers. Readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of available control methods for high-temperature H2S removal in IGCC coarse gas and how the technology has been adopted by industry. As such, the book offers a unique resource for researchers and engineers in the fields of energy science and technology, environmental science and technology, and chemical engineering.

This book discusses the bioremediation of both solid and liquid waste, including regional solutions for India as well as globally relevant applications. The topics covered include pollutant reduction through composting, solutions for petroleum refinery waste, use of microorganisms in the bioremediation of industrial waste and toxicity reduction, microbial fuel cells, and microbial depolymerisation. The book also explores the biosorption of metals and the bioremediation of leachates, especially with regard to soil and groundwater remediation. It is a valuable resource for researchers, professionals, and policy makers alike.

This book focuses on value addition to various waste streams, which include industrial waste, agricultural waste, and municipal solid and liquid waste. It addresses the utilization of waste to generate valuable products such as electricity, fuel, fertilizers, and chemicals, while placing special emphasis on environmental concerns and presenting a multidisciplinary approach for handling waste. Including chapters authored by prominent national and international experts, the book will be of interest to researchers, professionals and policymakers alike.

Marine pollution occurs today in varied forms--chemical, industrial, and agricultural-and the sources of pollution are endless. In recent history, we've seen oil spills, untreated sewage, eutrophication, invasive species, heavy metals, acidification, radioactive substances, marine litter, and overfishing, among other significant problems. Though marine pollution has long been a topic of concern, it has very recently exploded in environmental, economic, and political debate circles; scientists and non-scientists alike continue to be shocked and dismayed at the sheer diversity of water pollutants and the many ways they can come to harm our environment and our bodies.
In Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know, Judith Weis covers marine pollution from many different angles, each fascinating in its own right. Beginning with its sources and history, the book describes in detail each common pollutant, why exactly it is harmful, why it may draw controversy, and how we can prevent it from destroying our aquatic ecosystems. Weis discusses topics like what actually happened with the Exxon Valdez, and why Harmful Algal Blooms are a serious concern. Later chapters will discuss pollutants that are only now surfacing as major threats, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and metal nanoparticles, and explain how these can begin in the water and progress up the food chain and emerge in human bodies. The book's final section will discuss the effects of climate change and acidification on marine pollution levels, and how we can reduce pollution at the local and global levels.

Marine environment can be affected by several pollutants such as the presence of elements and their chemical species, pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles and other emerging contaminants. Environmental monitoring can be assessed by genomics, proteomics (i.e. redox proteomics), chemical speciation analysis and metallomics, metabolomics as well as other advanced strategies. The present book is a useful methodological tool for researchers and specialists in the field of analytical chemistry, environmental sciences, biochemistry, genomics and toxicology. The book includes for the first time the methodological aspects and applications related to chemical speciation and -omics strategies applied to marine environment.

This book describes the environmental problems associated with agriculture, particularly the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the disposal of animal waste. These have become major policy issues in many countries, with the main polluting effect being on water quality. As with other types of pollution, significant reductions in agriculture's contribution to water pollution requires the application of either enforceable regulatory approaches or changes in the economic environment, so that farmers adopt environmentally-friendly production practices. Providing a review and guide to the policy options and their economic administrative and political merits, the reader can develop an understanding of these options and their merits in the emerging policy context. The principal focus is on the developed world, particularly North America and Europe. The book is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in agricultural economics and policy, and environmental and pollution sciences.

Initially marketed as a life-saving advancement, flame retardants are now mired in controversy. Some argue that data show the chemicals are unsafe while others continue to support their use. The tactics of each side have far-reaching consequences for how we interpret new scientific discoveries. An experienced environmental sociologist, Alissa Cordner conducts more than a hundred interviews with activists, scientists, regulators, and industry professionals to isolate the social, scientific, economic, and political forces influencing environmental health policy today. Introducing "strategic science translation," she describes how stakeholders use scientific evidence to support nonscientific goals and construct "conceptual risk formulas" to shape risk assessment and the interpretation of empirical evidence. A revelatory text for public-health advocates, Toxic Safety demonstrates that while all parties interested in health issues use science to support their claims, they do not compete on a level playing field and even good intentions can have deleterious effects.

This brief summarizes the role of certain catalysts and associated processes that are involved in the reduction or elimination of hazardous substances from wastewater and the exploitation of renewable raw materials. The authors begin by providing a summary of the most recent developments in catalysts used in the advanced oxidation of organic pollutants in aqueous phase. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPS) are described in terms of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. Some emphasis is placed on the role nanocatalysts, perovskite-type catalysts, and green catalysts play in several AOPs such as Fenton Chemistry, photocatalytic oxidation, and the hybrid technologies that combine different processes. Catalyst preparation, characterization, reaction chemistry, and process technology are described. Specific wastewater case studies which illustrate the role of these catalysts in AOPs completes the brief.

Carbon dioxide sequestration is a technology that is being explored to curb the anthropogenic emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has been implicated in the global climate change and reducing them is a potential solution.

The injection of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has the duel benefit of sequestering the CO2 and extending the life of some older fields. Sequestering CO2 and EOR have many shared elements that make them comparable.

This volume presents some of the latest information on these processes covering physical properties, operations, design, reservoir engineering, and geochemistry for AGI and the related technologies.

The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: when, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by what moral and legal right? If states or private actors undertake geoengineering ventures absent the blessing of the international community, what recourse do the rest of us have?

Several long-term trends in technology evolution have become apparent since these symposia began in 1989. Earlier presenters more frequently discussed treatment methods involving harsh and extensive human intervention. As the symposia have continued, the number of presentations describing extremely harsh and expensive treatment technologies have gradually been supplanted by more subtle and gentler methods. Such methods include subsurface-engineered barriers, phytoremediation, and bioremediation. Nineteen manuscripts were selected for inclusion in this volume, based upon peer review, scientific merit, the editors' perceptions of lasting value or innovative features, and the general applicability of either the technology itself or the scientific methods and scholarly details provided by the authors. General topics include: soil treatment, groundwater treatment, and radioactive waste treatment.

Environmental remediation technologies to control or prevent pollution from hazardous waste material is a growing research area in academia and industry, and is a matter of utmost concern to public health, to improve ecology and to facilitate the redevelopment of a contaminated site. Recently, in situ and ex situ remediation technologies have been developed to rectify the contaminated sites, utilizing various tools and devices through physical, chemical, biological, electrical, and thermal processes to restrain, remove, extract, and immobilize mechanisms to minimize the contamination effects. This handbook brings altogether classical and emerging techniques for hazardous wastes, municipal solid wastes and contaminated water sites, combining chemical, biological and engineering control methods to provide a one-stop reference. This handbook presents a comprehensive and thorough description of several remediation techniques for contaminated sites resulting from both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Providing critical insights into a range of treatments from chemical oxidation, thermal treatment, air sparging, electrokinetic remediation, stabilization/solidification, permeable reactive barriers, thermal desorption and incineration, phytoremediation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation, bioventing and biosparging through ultrasound-assisted remediation methods, electrochemical remediation methods, and nanoremediation, this handbook provides the reader an inclusive and detailed overview and then discusses future research directions. Closing chapters on green sustainable remediation, economics, health and safety issues, and environmental regulations around site remediation will make this a must-have handbook for those working in the field.

How does the state separate music from noise? How can such a filtering apparatus shape the content and form of sound production in the city? As a marker of co-presence to the hearing body, sound is always open to (or rather opens up) the politics of shared existence. In the throes of the post-dictatorship period, Brazil's legislative and executive branches implemented a series of sweeping measures to address quality of life concerns, including environmental pollution and urban inequality. In Sao Paulo, noise control became a recurrent controversy, growing in size and scale between the 1990s and 2010s. Together with the much-debated fear of crime and the socioeconomic and cultural tensions between the rich urban center and the poor peripheries, such ecological agendas against noise as a harmful pollutant have reconfigured the presence of environmental sounds in the city. In this book, Cardoso argues that the framing of specific sounds as unavoidable, unnecessary, or as harmful "noise" has been an effective strategy to organize spaces and administer group behavior in this rapidly expanding city. He focuses on two interrelated processes. First, the series of institutional regulatory mechanisms that turn sounds into the all-embracing "noise" susceptible to state intervention. Second, the constant attempts of interested groups in either attaching or detaching specific sounds (musical events, industrial noise, traffic noise, religious sounds, etc.) from regulatory scrutiny. Sound-politics is the dynamic that emerges from both processes - the channels through which sounds enter (and leave) the sphere of state regulation.

In 1969 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established the Committee on Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS). The subject of air pollution was from the start, one of the priority problems under study within the framework of various pilot studies undertaken by this committee. The organization of a periodic conference dealing with air pollution modelling and its application has become one of the main activities within the pilot study relating to air pollution. These international conferences were successively organized by the United States (first five); Federal Republic of Germany (five); Belgium (five); The Netherlands (four) and Denmark (five). With this one Portugal takes over the duty. This volume contains the papers and poster abstracts presented at the NATO/CCMS International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modelling and Its Application held in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, during 15-19 October 2001. This ITM was jointly organized by the University of Aveiro, Portugal (Pilot country) and by the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (host country). The ITM was attended by 78 participants representing 26 countries from Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Africa. The main topics of this ITM were : Role of Atmospheric Models in Air Pollution Policy and Abatement Strategies; Integrated Regional Modelling; Global and Long-Range Transport; Regional Air Pollution and Climate; New Developments; and Model Assessment and Verification.

Phytoremediation consists of using plants and their associated microbes for environmental cleanup. Over the past 10 years, this treatment has gained recognition as a cost-effective, non-invasive, alternative or complimentary technology to engineering-based remediation methods. Biofortification, on the other hand, is an agricultural process that increases the uptake and accumulation of mineral nutrients in agricultural products through plant breeding, genetic engineering, or manipulation of agricultural practices.

This book shows how, despite having different goals, both phytoremediation and biofortification technologies can be closely connected as they are both based on the phytoextraction process that involves plant uptake, accumulation, and transformation of nutrient elements from soil. More specifically, this brief offers a comprehensive introduction to Phytoremediation and Biofortification of selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), cadium (Cd) and copper (Cu), and illustrates the emerging integration of these two bio-technologies.
"Phytoremediation and Biofortification: Two Sides of One Coin" is a valuable resource to students, technicians, and academics who are interested in the treatment of environmental problems (bioremediation) through the use of plants, and in the field of biofortification.