In response to strong growth in energy intensive wastewater treatment, public agencies and industry began to explore and implement measures to ensure achievement of the targets indicated in the 2020 Climate and Energy Package. However, in the absence of fundamental and globally recognized approach evaluating wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) energy performance, these policies could be economically wasteful.This paper gives an overview of the literature of WWTP energy-use performance and of the state of the art methods for energy benchmarking. The literature review revealed three main benchmarking approaches: normalization, statistical techniques and programming techniques, and advantages and disadvantages were identified for each one. While these methods can be used for comparison, the diagnosis of the energy performance remains an unsolved issue. Besides, a large dataset of WWTP energy consumption data, together with the methods for synthesizing the information, are presented and discussed. It was found that no single key performance indicators (KPIs) used to characterize the energy performance could be used universally. The assessment of a large data sample provided some evidence about the effect of the plant size, dilution factor and flowrate. The technology choice, plant layout and country of location were seen as important elements that contributed to the large variability observed.

We apply a feedback cooling technique to simultaneously cool the three electromechanical normal modes of the ton-scale resonant-bar gravitational wave detector AURIGA. The measuring system is based on a dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) amplifier, and the feedback cooling is applied electronically to the input circuit of the SQUID. Starting from a bath temperature of 4.2 K, we achieve a minimum temperature of 0.17 mK for the coolest normal mode. The same technique, implemented in a dedicated experiment at subkelvin bath temperature and with a quantum limited SQUID, could allow to approach the quantum ground state of a kilogram-scale mechanical resonator.

We analyze heat and work fluctuations in the gravitational wave detector AURIGA, modeled as a macroscopic electromechanical oscillator in contact with a thermostat and cooled by an active feedback system. The oscillator is driven to a steady state by the feedback cooling, equivalent to a viscous force. The experimentally measured fluctuations are in agreement with our theoretical analysis based on a stochastically driven Langevin system. The asymmetry of the fluctuations of the absorbed heat characterizes the oscillator's nonequilibrium steady state and reveals the extent to which a feedback cooled system departs from equilibrium in a statistical mechanics perspective.

The network of resonant bar detectors of gravitational waves resumed coordinated observations within the International Gravitational Event Collaboration (IGEC-2). Four detectors are taking part in this Collaboration: ALLEGRO, AURIGA, EXPLORER and NAUTILUS. We present here the results of the search for gravitational wave bursts over 6 months during 2005, when IGEC-2 was the only gravitational wave observatory in operation. The implemented network data analysis is based on a time coincidence search among AURIGA, EXPLORER and NAUTILUS; ALLEGRO data was reserved for follow-up studies. The network amplitude sensitivity to bursts improved by a factor 3 over the 1997-2000 IGEC observations; the wider sensitive band also allowed the analysis to be tuned over a larger class of waveforms. Given the higher single-detector duty factors, the analysis was based on threefold coincidence, to ensure the identification of any single candidate of gravitational waves with high statistical confidence. The false detection rate was as low as 1 per century. No candidates were found.

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In modern aquaculture, animal‐production technology is used to increase aquatic food sources. Such controlled rearing of seafood can, in principle, shift the pressure off wild stocks and aquatic ecosystems by reducing fishing activities, which may advance marine conservation goals. We examined resource displacement—the reduced consumption of a resource due to its replacement with a more environmentally benign substitute—in fisheries. We employed panel regression techniques in an analysis of time‐series data from 1970 through 2014 to assess the extent to which aquaculture production displaced fisheries captures for all nations for which data were available. We estimated 9 models to assess whether aquaculture production suppresses captures once other factors related to demand have been controlled for. Only 1 model predicted significant suppression of fisheries captures associated with aquaculture systems within nations over time. These results suggest that global aquaculture production does not substantially displace fisheries capture; instead, aquaculture production largely supplements fisheries capture.

Modern agricultural production typically requires large quantities of chemical pesticides, a potential source of both environmental and human harm. Previous social science research has suggested that environmental problems such as those associated with pesticide use may begin to decline at higher levels of economic development. Using fixed effects models, we examine whether this possible relationship holds within nations and over time. This study draws on data from the World Bank as well as pesticide use data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to examine the relationship between pesticide use and economic development within nations from 1990 to 2014. The findings are considered from theoretical perspectives in environmental sociology on the drivers of environmental impacts: the treadmill of production theory, structural human ecology, ecological modernization theory, and the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The results of this study show a positive relationship between economic development and pesticide consumption over time, with no decline in use at higher levels of economic development. Thus, they generally support the claims made by treadmill of production and structural human ecology.

Abstract:The vague, yet undoubtedly desirable, notion of sustainability has been discussed and debated by many natural and social scientists. We argue that mainstream conceptions of sustainability, and the related concept of sustainable development, are mired in a "pre-analytic vision" that naturalizes capitalist social relations, closes off important questions regarding economic growth, and thus limits the potential for an integrative socio-ecological analysis. Theoretical and empirical research within environmental sociology provides key insights to overcome the aforementioned problems, whereby the social, historical, and environmental relationships associated with the tendencies and qualities of the dominant economic system are analyzed. We highlight how several environmental sociology perspectives-such as human ecology, the treadmill of production, and metabolic analysis-can serve as the basis for a more integrative socio-ecological conception and can help advance the field of sustainability science.