Das Projekt "C3: Market inclusion of ecosystem services: A viable option to achieve sustainable land use in the tropics?" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität München, Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan für Ernährung, Landnutzung und Umwelt, Fachgebiet für Waldinventur und nachhaltige Nutzung durchgeführt. The concept of ecosystem services (ES) links ecosystem functioning and human wel-fare to achieve sustainable land use. However, the success of this concept will critically depend on sources to finance the provision of ES (possibly mobilized by means of markets for ES), on credibility of ES values and on willingness of ES providers to ac-cept financial compensation. Our proposal addresses these aspects: The first part investigates how the land use in Ecuador would change if ES were actually acknowl-edged as economic values. We will use and develop a risk sensitive economic modeling approach to integrate the uncertainty of expected economic values for ES. The aim is to explore how the uncertainty of ES values would affect investments into specific ecosystem types and the connected conversion processes from tropical forest lands to other land use types and vice versa. The second proposal part investigates the willing-ness to accept financial compensation for providing ES. In this part we adapt a risk-sensitive bioeconomic farm model that combines various productive but sustainable land management options to real farm situations. The farm level modeling builds upon the effects of risk compensation from diversified land use by means of a land use port-folio approach. It will be used to derive acceptable individual and thus effective conser-vation payments.
Das Projekt "Biomass Fuell Cell Utility System (BIOCELLUS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität München, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Fakultät für Maschinenwesen, Lehrstuhl für Energiesysteme durchgeführt. Objective: Energy from Biomass needs highly efficient small-scale energy systems in order to achieve cost effective solutions for decentralized generation especially in Mediterranean and Southern areas, and for applications without adequate heat consumer. Thus fuel cells are an attractive option for decentralized generation from biomass and agricultural residues but they have to meet at least two outstanding challenges: 1. Fuel cell materials and the gas cleaning technologies have to treat high dust loads of the fuel gas and pollutants like tars, alkalines and heavy metals. 2. The system integration has to allow efficiencies of at least 40-50 percent even within a power range of few tens or hundreds of kW. This proposal addresses in particular these two aims. Hence the first part of the project will focus on the investigation of the impact of these pollutants on degradation and performance characteristics of SOFC fuel cells in order to specify the requirements for appropriate gas cleaning system (WP 1-2). These tests will be performed at six existing gasification sites, which represent the most common and applicable gasification technologies. WP 3 will finally test and demonstrate the selected gas cleaning technologies in order to verify the specifications obtained from the gasification tests. The results will be used for the development, installation and testing of an innovative SOFC - Gasification concept, which will especially match the particular requirements of fuel cell systems for the conversion of biomass feedstock. The innovative concept comprises to heat an allothermal gasifier with the exhaust heat of the fuel cell by means of liquid metal heat pipes. Internal cooling of the stack and the recirculation of waste heat increases the system efficiency significantly. This so-called TopCycle concept promises electrical efficiencies of above 50 percent even for small-scale systems without any combined processes.
Das Projekt "Storage of hydrogen in hydrides" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik durchgeführt. Hydrogen is the ideal synthetic fuel to convert chemical energy into electrical energy or into motive power because it is light weight, highly abundant and its oxidation product is vapor of water. Thus its usage helps to reduce the greenhouse gases and it conserves fossile resources. There is even a clean way to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water by means of photo voltaics (SvW06, VSM05, PMM05). There are various possibilities to store the hydrogen for later use: Liquid and gaseous hydrogen can be stored in a pressure vessel, hydrogen can be adsorped on large surface areas of solids, and finally crystal lattices of metals or other compounds can be used as the storage system, where hydrogen is dissolved either on interstitial or on regular lattice sites by substitution (SvW06, San99). The latter process and its reversal is called hydriding respectively dehydriding. The subject of this proposal is the modeling and simulation of that process. The main problem of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery is likewise a storage problem, because in a rechargeable battery, both the anode and cathode do not directly take part in the electrochemical process that converts chemical energy into electrical energy, rather they act as host systems for the electron spending element, which is here lithium (Li). During the last month the applicant developed and exploited a mathematical model that is capable to capture the storage problem of an iron phosphate (FePO4) cathode, where the Li atoms are stored on interstitial lattice sites (DGJ07).
Das Projekt "Origin and fate of dissolved organic matter in the subsoil" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Bodenkunde durchgeführt. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one major source of subsoil organic matter (OM). P5 aims at quantifying the impact of DOM input, transport, and transformation to the OC storage in the subsoil environment. The central hypotheses of this proposal are that in matric soil the increasing 14C age of organic carbon (OC) with soil depth is due to a cascade effect, thus, leading to old OC in young subsoil, whereas within preferential flowpaths sorptive stabilization is weak, and young and bioa-vailable DOM is translocated to the subsoil at high quantities. These hypotheses will be tested by a combination of DOC flux measurements with the comparative analysis of the composition and the turnover of DOM and mineral-associated OM. The work programme utilizes a DOM monitoring at the Grinderwald subsoil observatory, supplemented by defined experiments under field and labora-tory conditions, and laboratory DOM leaching experiments on soils of regional variability. A central aspect of the experiments is the link of a 13C-leaf litter labelling experiment to the 14C age of DOM and OM. With that P5 contributes to the grand goal of the research unit and addresses the general hypotheses that subsoil OM largely consists of displaced and old OM from overlying horizons, the sorption capacity of DOM and the pool size of mineral-associated OM are controlled by interaction with minerals, and that preferential flowpaths represent 'hot spots' of high substrate availability.
Das Projekt "Plant induced weathering of minerals in the subsoil - release of 'non-exchangeable' potassium from 2:1 layer minerals (TransMinK)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Agrar- und Ernährungswissenschaften, Professur für Bodenkunde und Bodenschutz durchgeführt. The proposal addresses the potential of subsoil to contribute to K nutrition of crops. More specifically we will address the processes controlling release of K from interlayer of 2:1 clay minerals as this is expected to be the dominant K fraction in the subsoil. While it has been shown in the past that this so called 'non-exchangeable' K can be released due to root activity, there are controversial results concerning the role of soil solution K concentration in the rhizosphere required to trigger the process. Likewise little information is available about the concentration dynamics of other cations (NH4, Ca) in the rhizosphere and their impact on K release and vermiculitization supposed to be associated with this process. Model studies with substrate from the central field trial will be conducted in compartment systems equipped with micro suction cups. The measurement of dynamic changes of soil solution composition with increasing distance from the root surface will be combined with investigations of changes in mineralogy by XRD, TEM and SEM-EDX. Changes of mineralogy as a result of plant induced K release from interlayer will also be studied on bulk soil and rhizosphere samples collected within the central field and the central microcosm experiment and with mineral bags exposed in the field during a cropping cycle. Finally, X-ray CT will be used to access changes in soil texture, i.e. clay distribution around roots and the temporal spread of roots in biopores which is a prerequisite for K uptake from such structures.
Das Projekt "The fate of phosphorus in forest and treeline ecosystems in Ecuador" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Tübingen, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Forschungsbereich Geographie durchgeführt. Even remote areas such as tropical montane forests suffer from continuously high atmospheric nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition. In studies on ecosystem responses to atmospheric nutrient deposition, P cycling has played an underrated role compared to N, although P is thought to limit organism growth in main parts of the Tropics. Furthermore, the responses of tropical montane forests to atmospheric nutrient deposition might depend on the predicted climate change i.e., shifts in temperature and precipitation. Altitudinal gradients represent an ideal means to study environmental changes in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador, because climate scenarios and unpublished trends in longer-term climate data predict increasing temperatures and decreased moisture which parallels the altitudinal gradient from 4000 m to 1000 m asl.Previous experiments, including the NUMEX experiment in Ecuador, showed that the main proportion of P added to forests to simulate atmospheric deposition was retained in soil. While total P pools in soil respond slowly to low P addition rates, the biological and geochemical processes underlying retention in the organic layer or in soil are expected to react faster. Our overarching objective is to assess the fate of fertilized P in the organic layer and in mineral soil and to elucidate the processes involved in P cycling in soil (immobilization and release rates by microorganisms, sorption/desorption, precipitation/dissolution) along the NUMEX-X altitudinal gradient (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000m; the latter including a Polylepis and a Páramo ecosystem). We will assess P fractions in soil and use a combination of 33P tracer studies and incubation experiments to disentangle biological and geochemical processes controlling P retention. The mechanistic understanding gathered by this proposal is crucial for predictions of ecosystems responses to the continuously high atmospheric N (and P) deposition, because single mechanisms might respond differently (and oppositionally) in the long run. Because the processes involved in P cycling are expected to respond faster to environmental changes than e.g., P pools in soil, these different responses are an essential basis to evaluate effects of environmental change and finally, to develop early-warning ecosystem indicators for environmental change.
Das Projekt "(Vorschlag für ein 'Berliner Protokoll' zur Rahmenkonvention zum Klimaschutz)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Öko-Institut. Institut für angewandte Ökologie e.V. durchgeführt.
Das Projekt "Establishment and exploration of a gas ion source for micro-scale radiocarbon dating of glaciers and groundwater" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Umweltphysik durchgeführt. Recent progress in the operation of CO2 gas ion sources for accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C analysis on microgram-size samples opens a wide range of new applications in dating studies, e.g. for environmental and archeological applications. This proposal aims at implementing a gas ion source at the AMS system MICADAS at the Klaus-Tschira Laboratory of the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum für Archäometrie (CEZA) in Mannheim and to use this new capability for cutting-edge applications in environmental studies, namely the dating of small amounts of organic carbon contained in glacier ice and of specific organic compounds in ground water. Cold glaciers hold unique records on past climate and atmospheric composition. Mid-latitude ice cores furthermore enable reconstructions of recent ice chemistry changes, but cannot be dated by stratigraphic methods. For such ice bodies, only radiometric dating based on 14C analysis of organic matter contained in the ice matrix presently offers a reasonable dating potential in the late Holocene and beyond. The challenge of this approach lies in the very restricted availability of this matter, but the ability to analyse microgram samples of organic carbon from ice via a gas ion source should now enable reliable 14C dating of ice. Ground water constitutes an important water resource worldwide, especially in semi-arid regions, and in addition constitutes a useful climate archive. Dating of ground water by 14C in the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is standard but problematic due to the complex carbonate geochemistry. Dating of ground water based on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has been attempted with mixed success, but now the new analytical developments enable compound-specific 14C analyses of the various DOC components, offering the chance to identify compounds suitable for dating. This project is based on the extensive experience of the collaborating scientists in 14C analytics and applications as well as in the use of glacier ice and ground water as archives, including the development and application of 14C dating methods for these systems. It will establish 14C-measurements at the MICADAS AMS of the CEZA via a gas ion source on a routine base to analyse CO2-samples in the range of 5 to 40 microgram C at a precision down to 0,5 Prozent. By improving existing sample preparation techniques for glacier ice samples, reliable 14C values of the particulate and dissolved organic fractions from small (some 100 g) ice samples shall be obtained. This capability will be applied to constrain ages of cold, sedimentary glaciers as well as of small scale, cold Alpine congelation ice bodies. The project will further develop and test the tools required for micro-scale, compound-specific radiocarbon dating of ground water via its organic fraction. For this purpose, ground water samples from the Upper Rhine Graben area will be analysed, where extensive isotopic data, including DIC 14C values, are available for comparison.
Das Projekt "Climate indicators on the local scale for past, present and future and platform data management" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Philipps-Universität Marburg, Fachgebiet Klimageographie und Umweltmodellierung durchgeführt. Predicting future climate change is in itself already difficult, especially in such complex ecosystems as the Andean mountain rain and dry forest as well as the Paramo. The common tools to simulate global climate change are global circulation models (GCM). Because of their coarse resolution they are not able to capture atmospheric processes affecting the local climate. For this reason a dynamical downscaling approach will be used to develop a highly resolved spatial and temporal Climatic Indicator System (hrCIS) to derive ecologically relevant climate change indicators affecting the ecosystems of South Ecuador. A local-limited area model (LAM) will be used to (i) generate a highly resolved gridded climatology for present day (hrCISpr) based on reanalysis data and (ii) to generate a highly resolved gridded climatology for projected future (hrCISpf) based on the new Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenario data. The output of the LAM for present day will be validated with in-situ measurement data and satellite-derived products to ensure the accuracy of the model for the simulations of the projected future. On the basis of statistical analysis of both climatologies changes in climate indicators such as air temperature and precipitation regime will be described. The proper storage, curation and accessibility of environmental data is of crucial importance for global change research particularly for monitoring purposes. This proposal will offer an adequate data management system for the Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Monitoring and Research. This will be archived by extending the web-based information management system FOR816DW (a data warehouse for collaborative ecological research units) with features like automatic upload interfaces, a workbench for integrative analysis and an user defined alert system, which will facilitate environmental monitoring for scientist as well as stakeholders. Beside the development of these innovations a main objective is the transfer of knowledge and information (know how, source code, and collection data) to our partners in Ecuador. For this, and to bring together the existing data sources, we cooperate with university and non-university parties in the joint establishment of a Data access platform for environmental data of the region. This will include considerations on long-term accessibility, which is envisaged by a data transfer to the planned German national data infrastructure GFBio.
Das Projekt "Technical Support for the revision of ecolabel and green public procurement GPP Criteria Lot 1" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Öko-Institut. Institut für angewandte Ökologie e.V. durchgeführt. The project's objective is to support JRC IPTS in revising the existing Ecolabel and GPP criteria of personal computers and notebook computers. The priority in this revision process is to first analyse which of the existing criteria and the supporting evidence are still valid and to identify the additional research that should be carried out. Potential additional criteria can be developed, if identified as necessary in the course of the study. The study starts with a definition of the scope; the necessarity for new or revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria is based on a market analysis and a technical analysis with research on the most significant environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of the products. This also includes the application of a consistent methodological approach regarding the hazardous substances criteria. Based on these findings, the improvement potential will be derived resulting in a proposal for a revised Ecolabel and GPP criteria set for desktop and notebook computers which will be discussed in a European stakeholder process.
| Origin | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 99 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 99 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| open | 99 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 99 |
| Englisch | 96 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 83 |
| Webseite | 16 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 83 |
| Lebewesen & Lebensräume | 96 |
| Luft | 70 |
| Mensch & Umwelt | 99 |
| Wasser | 77 |
| Weitere | 99 |