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Possible reduction of environmental impacts of geothermal energy extraction in a theoritical spa
68-75Views:86Sustainable thermal water production involves the protection of the used reservoirs, as well as the minimizing of the environmental impact (caused by heat, gas and dissolved solid). Four water extraction models are discussed in which the water and heat demand of the theoretical spa are supplied using different sources. The most environmental friendly variation contains three wells with different depths of screening. In this case the dissolved gas and solid content became the lowest, as well as the radius of influence based on drawdown calculations. Beyond the environmental impact the owner have to consider other economic aspects, such as the number of wells, the possibility of independence from gas services, which force the owner to choose not the most environment friendly way. Optimizing the various factors, thermal water extraction for medical and wellness purposes could be feasible and appropriate for sustainable operation.
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The impact of a plastic ban implementation scenario on residents of Tiruchirappalli region
30-41Views:145Plastic was created first for its durability, extended life, and capacity to be moulded into a broad range of items. There are three reasons why plastics are still used in the packaging sector, even though they are harmful to the environment. First, its low economic cost and widespread circulation. The second feature is their capacity to contain air and water while remaining watertight. The third characteristic is its relative inertness. Based on this, respondents were polled to assess their awareness of alternatives and to comprehend the pre- and post-ban situation for plastics. About 370 respondents from different age groups from different sectors from urban and rural dwellers of Trichy were asked about the prohibition of plastic carry bags, its acceptance, the alternatives available and the cost paid. Most respondents were unhappy about the removal of plastic bags and the high cost of cloth or other bags. Due to environmental concerns and their implications, it was revealed that the negative effects of plastics had not entered society sufficiently to allow the people to reject them. However, durability, lightness, flexibility, and low cost still predominate because the consumer requires plastic bags. Strict steps aiming at promoting public knowledge of the damaging consequences of plastics, their negative impact on the environment, and lowering the costs of alternatives should be explored as immediate remedies.
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Reduction of environmental impacts of heat pump usage with special regard on systems with borehole heat exchangers
66-77Views:80Ground coupled heat pump systems are suitable for extracting subsurface thermal energy with low environmental impact especially regarding CO2 emission. The efficiency of such systems strongly depends on the temperature of the ambient heat (thus underground substrate). This temperature usually changes unfavourably during operation and efficiency becomes lower than the nominal value. Appropriate installation and operation cause lower temperature drop, thus higher efficiency. Consequently, it means lower electricity demand, therefore lower specific CO2 emission, more CO2 saving and lower operation costs. Quantitative analysis with 21 heat extraction models presented in the paper points out that the differences could be significant (up to 30 %), in addition using bivalent mode the environmental impact of the installation or/and operation can be reduced as well, especially using biomass firing as auxiliary heating.
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Geographic features and environmental consequences of coffee tourism and coffee consumption in Budapest
10-15Views:499As a survey by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (2019) confirms coffee is consumed in 83% of Hungarian households, thus our country can be considered to be one of the major coffee drinking nations. At the end of the 19th century and the turn of the twentieth Budapest with its internationally famous and unique coffee culture was known as the coffeehouse capital. Post-modern tourism revived this tradition and coffee became once again a favourite consumer item while cafés turned into scenes of community life. The latest stage of the coffeehouse renaissance was partly due to the increasing role of American type café chains including McCafé, Starbucks, California Coffee Company etc. and the drop in the price of the Arabica coffee. Our research focuses on the impact of this new type of coffee consumption wave on the coffee habits of Hungarians. The American café chains have become widespread in Europe and their ability to keep the price of coffee low worldwide demonstrates significant market power. While coffee consumption has several benefits from a physiological point of view, its environmental impact is detrimental to the planet. Coffee cultivation contributes to the destruction of rainforests, the changing of the soil and last but not least results in a high amount of solid waste due to the popularity of coffee capsules. Our treatise explores these concerns as well.
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The developement of red mud flood environmental information system and the methodology for the spatial analysis of the degraded area
1-11Views:218The red mud disaster occurred on 4th October 2010 in Hungary has raised the necessity of rapid intervention and drew attention to the long-term monitoring of such threat. Both the condition assessment and the change monitoring indispensably required the prompt and detailed spatial survey of the impact area. It was conducted by several research groups - independently - with different recent surveying methods. The high spatial resolution multispectral aerial photogrammetry is the spatially detailed (high resolution) and accurate type of remote sensing. The hyperspectral remote sensing provides more information about material quality of pollutants, with less spatial details and lower spatial accuracy, while LIDAR ensures the three-dimensional shape and terrain models. The article focuses on the high spatial resolution, multispectral electrooptical method and the evaluation methodology of the deriving high spatial resolution ortho image map, presenting the derived environmental information database.
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Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals around the Gold Mine Ore Tailings of Hatti, Karnataka State, India
35-44Views:376Mining is an imperative segment of the world economy as it contributes socio-economic status of the nations. However, developing countries like India due to lack of high profile industrial techniques and equipment, eluting effluents from the industrial process may contain various hazardous substances which greatly affect the environmental and human health. The present work is aimed with the distribution of heavy metals in and around Hatti Gold Mine Ore Tailing (H-GOT). The results elicit the mine ore tailings are having high-level contaminants of heavy metal than the crop lands of Hatti (Hs), Kotha (Ks), Chikka Nagur (Cs), Tawag (Ts), Lingsugur (Ls) of Raichur District, Karnataka. It was reported that, Hatti Gold Mine ore tailings hold about 41.31±0.49 mg/kg, 2.1±0.31mg/kg, 71.96±3.26 mg/kg, 39.56±1.47 mg/kg and 73.4±2.19 mg/kg of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) heavy metals respectively. While the crop lands metal contamination range depends on seasonal variation. In south-west monsoon farming lands metal contamination order is Hs> Ks>Cs> Ts >Ls, and it was decreased during Post-monsoon. This is the hallmark of the fetching huge amount of toxic heavy metals from mining center to nearest crop lands. The continuous squeezing of these toxic metals could trigger the bio-magnification in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem and it may impact various metabolic disorders.
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Spatial and temporal pattern of soil pH and Eh and their impact on solute iron content in a wetland (Transdanubia, Hungary)
34-45Views:74Land mosaics have direct and indirect influence on chemical reaction and redox condition of soils. The present paper deals with the relationship between some environmental factors (such as soil and vegetation patterns, micro-relief, water regime, temperature and incident solar radiation) and the pH, Eh of soils and solute iron in a headwater wetland in Transdanubia, Hungary. Measurements have been taken in four different patches and along their boundaries: sedge (Carex vulpina, Carex riparia, three patches and two species), horsetail (Equisetum arvense), common nettle (Urtica dioica). The spatial pattern of the studied parameters are influenced by the water regime, micro-topography, climatic conditions and by direct and indirect effects of vegetation. The indirect effect can be the shading, which has influence on soil temperature and on the incident solar radiation (PAR). Root respiration and excretion of organic acids appear as direct effects.. There have been measured individual pH and Eh characteristic in the studied patches. Soil Eh, pH and solute iron have shown seasonal dynamics. Higher redox potentials (increasingly oxidative conditions) and higher pH values were measured between late autumn and early spring. The increasing physiological activity of plants causes lower pH and Eh and it leads to higher spatial differences. Although temperature is an essential determining factor for Eh and pH, but our results suggest it rather has indirect effects through plants on wetlands.