The Impact of Social Factors and Consumer Behavior on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the United Kingdom

In this article we apply geodemographic consumer segmentation data in an input−output framework to understand the direct and indirect carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions associated with consumer behavior of different lifestyles in the United Kingdom. In a subsequent regression analysis, we utilize the lifestyle segments contained in the dataset to control for aspects of behavioral differences related to lifestyles in an analysis of the impact of various socioeconomic variables on CO₂ emissions, such as individual aspirations and people's attitudes toward the environment, as well as the physical context in which people act.
This approach enables us to (1) test for the significance of lifestyles in determining CO₂ emissions, (2) quantify the importance of a variety of individual socioeconomic determinants, and (3) provide a visual representation of "where" the various factors exert the greatest impact, by exploiting the spatial information contained in the lifestyle data.
Our results indicate the importance of consumer behavior and lifestyles in understanding CO₂ emissions in the United Kingdom. Across lifestyle groups, CO₂ emissions can vary by a factor of between 2 and 3. Our regression results provide support for the idea that sociodemographic variables are important in explaining emissions. For instance, controlling for lifestyles and other determinants, we find that emissions are increasing with income and decreasing with education. Using the spatial information, we illustrate how the lifestyle mix of households in the United Kingdom affects the geographic distribution of environmental impacts.     

The Impacts of Household Consumption and Options for Change

This introductory article situates the contributions that comprise this special issue within the field of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) studies. After a brief review of the policy history surrounding SCP, we organize our discussion and the subsequent collection of articles into two groups. The first suite of articles views the environmental impacts associated with household consumption from the perspectives of different consumer groups, income levels, and geographic areas. This work confirms and refines several insights that have been developing over the past several years, namely that food and beverages, mobility, housing, and energy-using products are the most critical consumption domains from the standpoint of environmental sustainability and that higher household income leads to greater (but less than proportional) impacts. The second subset of articles analyzes the potential for mitigating these impacts through behavioral changes and innovation strategies. Although the contributions to this special issue describe several noteworthy examples of information- and team-based initiatives to catalyze behavioral changes, the state of knowledge pertaining to this aspect of the consumption problem is much more inchoate. Research on the formulation and implementation of effective "change management for sustainable consumption" should be treated as an area of priority attention for industrial ecologists.     

Mating compatibility among populations of codling moth Cydia pomonella Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from different geographic origins

The codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a serious pest of pome fruit worldwide and the sterile insect technique (SIT) provides an environmentally acceptable approach for its control. As the pest is present in both the southern and northern hemispheres it would be possible for a rearing facility in the northern hemisphere to supply sterile moths to an SIT programme in the southern hemisphere during the northern winter and vice versa. This could greatly improve the economics of moth production and the running costs of rearing facilities. However in order to develop this concept, it is important to assess if populations of codling moth from different geographical regions share mating compatibility. Twelve different laboratory and field populations from both hemispheres were sampled and field cage bisexual mating compatibility tests were carried out between selected combinations. The index of sexual isolation (ISI) and the female and male relative performance index (FRPI and MRPI, respectively) were calculated for each mating combination. In only two of the combinations was there a slight but significant deviation from random mating. There were also some significant differences in mating duration between the homotypic matings and the duration of a particular homotypic mating seemed to depend on the origin of the other population in the cage. It was concluded that there exist no barriers to mating between populations of codling moth from many parts of the world and that it would be feasible for sterile moths to be shipped from one rearing facility to SIT programmes in other parts of the world.     

Methane production from rice straw pretreated by a mixture of acetic–propionic acid

Rice straw was treated with a mixed solution of acetic acid and propionic acid to enhance its biodegradability. The effect of acid concentration, pretreatment time, and the ratio of solid to liquid on the delignification performance of rice straw were investigated. It was found that the optimal conditions for hydrolysis were 0.75 mol/L acid concentration, 2 h pretreatment time and 1:20 solid to liquid ratio. Batch methane fermentation of untreated rice straw, pretreated rice straw, and the hydrolysates (the liquid fraction) of pretreatment were conducted at 35 °C for 30 days, and the results indicated that methane production of rice straw can be enhanced by dilute organic acid pretreatment. Moreover, most of the acid in hydrolysates can also be converted into methane gas.     

我国柠檬酸行业的产业化现状及可持续发展

综述了我国在柠檬酸发酵工艺中菌种选育和原料开发方面取得的进展;在提取工艺中,重点介绍了在万吨级规模应用中获得成功的柠檬酸氢钙法和模拟移动床色谱法。针对我国柠檬酸产业发展中存在的问题提出了相应的策略,以期实现柠檬酸工业的可持续发展。     

紫外光诱导苎麻疫霉抗甲霜灵突变及对苎麻疫霉生物学特性的影响

作者研究了紫外光对苎麻疫霉的抗甲霜灵诱变效应及对苎麻疫霉生物学特性的影响。结果表明,供试6个苎麻疫霉野生型菌株经菌丝块紫外光药剂诱变和菌丝块药剂驯化3周后,均获得抗甲霜灵突变体,且紫外光药剂诱变处理角变区出现频率明显高于药剂驯化处理,说明紫外光对苎麻疫霉抗甲霜灵突变有一定促进效应。紫外光显著地抑制苎麻疫霉游动孢子的萌发和菌丝的生长,在一定范围内,处理时间愈长,抑制率愈高。苎麻疫霉耐紫外光菌株(经亚致死剂量的紫外光照射处理后存活的游动孢子所形成的菌株)与野生型亲本相比,对温度和pH的敏感性大致相同,但菌落形态有一定变异,菌丝生长速率、卵孢子产生量均显著下降,表明紫外光对苎麻疫霉的菌丝生长和卵孢子产生量有明显的抑制作用。苎麻疫霉耐紫外光菌株EC50值比野生型亲本菌株EC50值提高了23.21%-56.70%,即耐紫外光菌株对甲霜灵敏感性比野生亲本菌株显著下降,这与紫外光诱变试验结果是相一致的。     

Industrial scale of optimization for the production of carboxymethylcellulase from rice bran by a marine bacterium, Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis A-53

Rice bran and yeast extract were found to be the best combination of carbon and nitrogen sources for the production of carboxymethycellulase (CMCase) by Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtlis A-53. Optimal concentrations of rice bran and yeast extract for the production of CMCase were 5.0% (w/v) and 0.10% (w/v), respectively. Optimal temperature and initial pH of medium for cell growth of B. subtilus subsp. subtilis A-53 were 35 °C and 7.3, whereas those for the production of CMCase by B. subtilus subsp. subtilis A-53 were 30 °C and 6.8. Optimal agitation speed and aeration rate in a 7 L bioreactor were 300 rpm and 1.0 vvm, respectively. The optimal agitation speed and aeration rate for the production of CMCase by B. subtilus subsp. subtilis A-53 were lower than those for cell growth. The highest productions of CMCase by B. subtilus subsp. subtilis A-53 in 7 and 100 L bioreactors were 150.3 and 196.8 U mL⁻¹, respectively.