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Books in Environmental sciences

The Environmental Sciences titles present critical research and insights into the complex interactions within natural ecosystems, climate systems, and human impacts on the environment. Covering areas such as biodiversity, sustainability, climate change, and resource management, these titles support scientific discovery and practical solutions for addressing today’s most pressing environmental challenges. This collection is essential for researchers, policymakers, and students dedicated to advancing environmental understanding and stewardship

  • Waste Minimization and Cost Reduction for the Process Industries

    • 1st Edition
    • Paul N. Cheremisinoff
    • English
    The purpose of this book is to provide a base of information and analysis to assist in implementation of the policy of reducing and/or minimizing hazardous waste generation in manufacturing and more specifically in the process industries. What is the significance of reducing the generation of all process wastes? This book examines the technical nature of waste reduction and the extent to which waste reduction can likely be implemented. Also explored is the extent to which technology itself, as well as information and resources, is a barrier to waste reduction. In what ways are waste reduction decisions dependent on specific circumstances? Can the amount of feasible waste reduction be estimated? Auditing of manufacturing and unit operations and processes are particularly significant and useful in the chemical process industries (food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizer, petrochemicals, etc.) since it is estimated that these industries account for more than half of the hazardous wastes generated. This book presents a compilation of complete information on potential sources of waste loss or generation through technical inspection. Also presented are calculation methods for determining air-waste-solid wastes material balances, informational requirements and waste reduction analysis.The reader should find the book useful in the areas of auditing and waste minimization. It is replete with useful information as well as specific case histories, which should make it a practical tool for the user.
  • Handbook of Emergency Response to Toxic Chemical Releases

    A Guide to Compliance
    • 1st Edition
    • Nicholas P. Cheremisinoff
    • English
    This handbook has been prepared as a working reference for the safety officer, the environmental engineer, and the consultant. For the safety officer, this handbook provides detailed guidelines and instructions in preparing Right-to-Know Reporting Audits, establishing programs and training employees on hazard awareness, and developing and implementing emergency response programs in the workplace and at off-site operations.For the environmental engineer, this handbook provides extensive technical data on toxic chemical properties and detailed instructional aid on how to properly prepare toxic chemical release inventory reporting.For the environmental consultant, an extensive overview of corrective action technologies is provided.
  • Nuclear Waste Cleanup Technologies and Opportunities

    • 1st Edition
    • Robert Noyes
    • English
    One of the largest, most complicated and expensive environmental problems in the United States is the cleanup of nuclear wastes. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has approximately 4,000 contaminated sites covering tens of thousands of acres and replete with contaminated hazardous or radioactive waste, soil, or structures. In addition to high-level waste, it has more than 250,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste and millions of cubic meters of low-level radio-active waste. In addition, DOE is responsible for thousands of facilities awaiting decontamination, decommissioning, and dismantling. DOE and its predecessors have been involved in the management of radioactive wastes since 1943, when such wastes were first generated in significant quantities as by-products of nuclear weapons production. Waste connected with DOE's nuclear weapons complex has been accumulating as a result of various operations spanning over five decades.The cost estimates for nuclear waste cleanup in the United States have been rapidly rising. It has recently been estimated to be in a range from $200 to $350 billion. Costs could vary considerably based on future philosophies as to whether to isolate certain sites (the ""iron fence"" philosophy), or clean them up to a pristine condition (the ""greenfields"" philosophy). Funding will also be based on Congressional action that may reduce environmental cleanup, based on budget considerations.
  • Environmental and Health and Safety Management

    A Guide to Compliance
    • 1st Edition
    • Nicholas P. Cheremisinoff + 1 more
    • English
    This volume has been prepared for the Environmental and Health & Safety Manager. The EH&S Manager is a new breed of corporate professionals that are faced with the responsibility of handling both environmental policy/issues and occupational safety issues within organizations. Throughout the 1980s there was a proliferation of health and safety departments, environmental compliance personnel, and technical people associated with handling pollution control and waste management. American industry has been over the last several years contracting and downsizing their operations. In doing so, many corporations, large and small, are demanding greater responsibilities be delegated to middle and line function management. In this regard, many corporations today are moving towards a single management entity, the EH&S Manager, who's responsibilities require extensive knowledge of both the environmental statutes and OSHA standards. This desk reference has been written as a compliance source for the EH&S Manager. The authors prefer to call the EH&S Manager an Occupational Safety Professional and use this designation interchangeably throughout the text. This individual, as stated above, has a dual responsibility that requires both technical and managerial skills in two arenas. In this regard, this book provides the working professional a reference on both the environmental regulations and industry safety standards. Additionally, it covers management practices for on-site hazard materials handling operations and constitutes an important reference for establishing hazard communication and training programs for employees.
  • Plant Location Selection Techniques

    • 1st Edition
    • Edwin M. McPherson
    • English
    This book ties together history, legislation and economics to create an awareness of what chances an individual will have when he selects a location for a plant. Key costs are discussed including those mandated by the environment and by legislation. The impact of cultures, both past and present, upon the opportunity for economic success are reviewed. It is a ""How To"" and a ""Beware"" presentation of plant location, both domestic and international.The book is designed to provide chief executive officers, manufacturing vice presidents, chief engineers and engineers a checklist of things to do in analyzing a potential plant site. It is also designed to provide state and local industrial development staffs' guidance in their efforts to obtain industry. New entrepreneurs will find this book to be useful in making presentations to financial agencies.The do's and don'ts of plant location are dealt with from both the current and historical prospective. The impact of legislation upon manufacturing costs and thereby industry location is covered by both current and past examples.Examples of failed locations from both industry and site planners perspectives are provided. The book shows how to choose the best location in a country through arraying the basic economic and social facts in an orderly manner. Both tangible and intangible cost analysis and factor weighting are covered. Included are the impact of customs, legal systems, ways of doing business upon costs, management style and plant efficiency. Current legislation's potential impact upon plant location is evaluated. This review includes GATT, NAFT A, CBI and other international direct and indirect influences on markets and costs. Also the present and potential impact of OSHA, ADA, EPA and other national mandates is covered.
  • Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems

    • 1st Edition
    • George W. Koch + 1 more
    • English
    The importance of carbon dioxide extends from cellular to global levels of organization and potential ecological deterioration may be the result of increased CO2 in our atmosphere. Recently, the research emphasis shifted from studies of photosynthesis pathways and plant growth to ground-breaking studies of carbon dioxide balances in ecosystems, regions, and even the entire globe. Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems addresses these new areas of research. Economically important woody ecosystems are emphasized because they have substantial influence on global carbon dioxide balances. Herbaceous ecosystems (e.g., grasslands, prairies, wetlands) and crop ecosystems are also covered. The interactions among organisms, communities, and ecosystems are modeled, and the book closes with an important synthesis of this growing nexus of research. Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems is a compilation of detailed scientific studies that reveal how ecosystems generally, and particular plants specifically, respond to changed levels of carbon dioxide.
  • Future Climates of the World

    • 1st Edition
    • Ann Henderson-Sellers
    • English
    Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective is Volume 16 of the highly prestigious series of climatology reference books World Survey of Climatology. The present volume offers a state-of-the-art overview of our understanding of future climates and is aimed at climatology undergraduates, interested non-climatologists with a scientific background as well as the generally interested reader. Each topic is discussed clearly so that the full implications of its affect on the earth's future climate can be fully understood. The study of climate has moved from data collection ``climatology'' to the model and experimentally based predictions of ``climatic science''. Our understanding of climatic prediction depends crucially upon improvements in, and improved understanding of, climatic models.The book compises four main themes which follow an introductory chapter i.e. the geologic perspective (I) and present-day observations (II) as they pertain to future climates; human factors affecting future climates (III) and planetary geophysiology and future climates (IV).
  • Safety of Reactive Chemicals and Pyrotechnics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • Y. Wada + 2 more
    • English
    Accidents involving reactive chemicals can often be prevented, or their effects alleviated, if those handling them have a sound knowledge both of their hazardous properties and of appropriate handling methods. This book addresses this need.It opens with a definition of the key technical terms and evaluation methods for hazardous materials are outlined. Chapter 2 covers accidents involving self-reactive substances, accidents occurring during chemical reactions, and accidents involving hazardous products in the event of an earthquake. In the next three chapters, methods for evaluating fire and explosion hazards of reactive substances are covered. The test methods described include DSC test using a sealed cell, impact sensitivity tests, the ignitability test, burning tests, the pyrolytic severity test, and shock sensitivity tests. Recently, the Japanese Fire Services Law was amended, requiring hazardous materials to be evaluated and classified by appropriate tests. These test methods, described in chapter 4, are related to oxidising solids, combustible solids, spontaneous ignition substances, and water-reactive substances. The final chapter gives examples of the safety assessment of various pyrotechnics.There are few books available on this subject and none so comprehensive. Each of the methods described is practical, effective and of low cost; and many of the application results are from the author's own laboratory. The book will be invaluable to those in public and industrial safety laboratories, R & D chemical laboratories, Fire Departments, explosives manufacturers, and those responsible for the transportation of hazardous materials.
  • Climate Change Research

    Evaluation and Policy Implications
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 65
    • S. Zwerver + 3 more
    • English
    Climate change is more and more considered to be a major global environmental risk. The above mentioned conference was the concluding part of a new programme organized in The Netherlands with a view to stimulating participation of Dutch scientists in the international research effort concerning the problem of climate change. The proceedings of the Maastricht Conference on Climate Change Research cover a wide range of subjects including:* key note papers of internationally leading scientists on relevant aspects of the climate problem* assessments of NRP-research on the climate system, the causes of potential change in the system, the possible effects and consequences of climate change, and alternative responses (including technological and/or social) that are considered within the context of sustainable development* short papers of the NRP- and related projects with final conclusions per projectThis book will be of value to anyone professionally interested in the various aspects of climate change research and policy.
  • Catalysis and Automotive Pollution Control III

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 96
    • A. Frennet + 1 more
    • English
    These proceedings are based on the third of a series of symposia devoted to the use of catalysis for the depollution of exhaust gases of motor vehicles. Although catalysts have been used for this purpose for some thirty years, the subject is still very topical because of its economic impact. The increasing number of submitted, accepted and published papers amply attests to this fact.