Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21st Century


Book Description

Water resources stored by dams and reservoirs play an essential role in water resource management, hydropower and flood control. Where there is an extensive network of dam infrastructures, dams have made a major contribution to economic and social development, providing considerable storage capacity per capita. However, dams and reservoirs may also have an important social and environmental impact, and should be studied within the framework of integrated water resource management and sustainable development. Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21st Century presents the latest research on the role played by dams and reservoirs in 21st century societies, in developed, emergent and developing countries. It analyses the viability of dams and suggests alternative solutions from a holistic perspective, considering the technical, economic, social and environmental aspects. Other issues covered include the social acceptability of dams, public involvement and dam awareness. The book covers subjects ranging from dam engineering, through the benefits and drawbacks of dams, to their social and environmental impact, and contains numerous case studies of the constructive contributions that reservoirs have made to water development and management. The book is a valuable resource for professional and dam engineers, water managers, governmental organizations and commercial enterprises responsible for dam development and management.




Dilemmas of hydropower development in Vietnam


Book Description

Hydropower is one of the biggest controversies in Vietnam in recent decades because of its adverse environmental and social consequences, especially negative impacts on displaced people who make way for hydropower dam construction. This book explains the controversies related to hydropower development in Vietnam in order to make policy recommendations for equitable and sustainable development. The book focuses on the analysis of emerging issues, such as land acquisition, compensation for losses, displacement and resettlement, support for livelihood development, and benefit sharing from hydropower development. The analysis emphasizes the role of different stakeholders in the decision-making process for hydropower development in Vietnam as a means to find a better governance model.




Opportunities and Challenges for the Greater Mekong Subregion


Book Description

The Mekong River is a vital and valuable resource, with huge development potential for the six states through which it flows. Given the significant asymmetry of power between those states, however, there is a real risk that some might utilise it to the detriment of others. Without a sense of regional belonging, it is difficult to imagine that these states and their constituent communities will take regional imperatives to heart, participate in joint regulatory frameworks, or adopt behaviours for upstream-downstream and lateral cooperation over the appropriation and use of their shared resources. How effectively has closer interdependence of the Mekong countries accommodated the development of a political-social-cultural space conducive to the growth of a regional "we-ness" among not only political elites, but also the general public? The contributors to this volume approach this question from a range of directions, including the impacts of tourism, regional development programmes, the Mekong Power Grid, and Sino-US rivalry. This edited volume presents valuable insights for scholars of international relations, Asian studies, development studies, environment studies, policy studies, and human geography.




Beyond Economic Growth


Book Description

The book, which draws on data published by the World Bank, is addressed to teachers, students, and all those interested in exploring issues of global development.




Water and Energy


Book Description

Rapid and important developments in the area of energy - water nexus over the last two to three years have been significant. This new edition of Water and Energy: Threats and Opportunities is timely and continues to highlight the inextricable link between water and energy, providing an up-to-date overview of the subject with helpful detailed summaries of the technical literature. Water and Energy has been up-dated throughout and major changes are: new chapters on global warming and fossil fuels, including shale gas and fracking; the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Mexican Gulf and the Niger Delta oil spills; new developments in hydropower; and continued competition between food, water and energy. Water and Energy Threats and Opportunities, 2e creates an awareness of the important couplings between water and energy. It shows how energy is used in all the various water cycle operations and demonstrates how water is used and misused in all kinds of energy production and generation.Population increase, climate change and an increasing competition between food and fuel production create enormous pressures on both water and energy availability. Since there is no replacement for water, water security looks more crucial than energy security. This is true not only in developing countries but also in the most advanced countries. For example, the western parts of the USA suffer from water scarcity that provides a real security threat. Part One of the book describes the water-energy nexus, the conflicts and competitions and the couplings between water security, energy security, and food security. Part Two captures how climate change, population increase and the growing food demand will have major impact on water availability in many countries in the world. Part Three describes water for energy and how energy production and conversion depend on water availability. As a consequence, all planning has to take both water and energy into consideration. The environmental (including water) consequences of oil and coal exploration and refining are huge, in North America as well as in the rest of the world. Furthermore, oil leak accidents have hit America, Africa, Europe as well as Asia. The consequences of hydropower are discussed and the competition between hydropower generation, flood control and water storage is illustrated. The importance of water for cooling thermal power plants is described, as this was so tragically demonstrated at the Fukushima nuclear plants in 2011. Climate change will further emphasize the strong coupling between water availability and the operation of power plants. Part Four analyses energy for water - how water production and treatment depend on energy. The book shows that a lot can be done to improve equipment, develop processes and apply advanced monitoring and control to save energy for water operations. Significant amounts of energy can be saved by better pumping, the reduction of leakages, controlled aeration in biological wastewater treatment, more efficient biogas production, and by improved desalination processes. There are 3 PowerPoint presentations available for Water and Energy - threats and opportunities, 2e. About the author Gustaf Olsson, Professor Em. in Industrial Automation, Lund University, Sweden Since 2006, Gustaf has been Professor Emeritus at Lund University, Sweden. Gustaf has devoted his research to control and automation in water systems, electrical power systems and process industries. From 2006 to 2008 he was part time professor in electrical power systems at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He is guest professor at the Technical University of Malaysia (UTM) and at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and he is an honorary faculty member of the Exeter University in UK. Between 2005 and 2010 he was the editor-in-chief of the journals Water Science and Technology and Water Science and Technology/Water Supply, (IWA Publishing). From 2007 to 2010, he was a member of the IWA Board of Directors and in 2010 he received the IWA Publication Award. In 2012 he was the awardee of an Honorary Doctor degree at UTM and an Honorary Membership of IWA. Gustaf has guided 23 PhDs and a few hundred MSc students through their exams and has received the Lund University pedagogical award for distinguished achievements in the education". The Lund University engineering students elected him as the teacher of the year He has spent extended periods as a guest professor and visiting researcher at universities and companies in the USA, Australia and Japan and has been invited as a guest lecturer in 19 countries outside Sweden. He has authored nine books published in English, Russian, German and Chinese and and contributed with chapters in another 19 books as well as more than 170 scientific publications.




Hydropower


Book Description

Hydroelectric energy is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity consumption. This book is primarily based on theoretical and applied results obtained by the authors during a long time of practice devoted to problems in the design and operation of a significant number of hydroelectric power plants in different countries. It was preferred to edit this book with the intention that it may partly serve as a supplementary textbook for students on hydropower plants. The subjects being mentioned comprise all the main components of a hydro power plant, from the upstream end, with the basin for water intake, to the downstream end of the water flow outlet.




Coevolutionary Pragmatism


Book Description

China-Africa economic tie has experienced lasting rapid growth since the 2000s, attracting lots of discussion on its nature and effects. A key question is whether Chinese engagements provide an alternative paradigm to existing mainstream models, like Washington Consensus, for developing countries. However, theories on state-market dichotomy can hardly explain the strong momentum of bilateral cooperation. By examining a broad range of practices with solid field research, including trade, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, industrial zones, labor and socio-environmental preservation, this book proposes a new angle of non-linear circular causality to understand Chinese approaches to work with Africa. Guided by the pursuit for sustainable growth rather than by specific models, Chinese actors are able to experiment diverse methods to foster structural transformation in Africa. In particular, the author carefully records mutual influences between Chinese and African stakeholders at all levels, from grassroots to policy making, to illustrate the effects of coevolving industrialization.




Economic Inequality – Trends, Traps and Trade-offs


Book Description

The book “Economic Inequality – Trends, Traps and Trade-offs” presents the unexplored issues of economic inequality, including case studies of various countries. Inequality is a chronic divisive factor of society. It is well known that inequalities (such as economic, social, cultural, religious, geographical, etc.) have been omnipresent in human society. Inequalities can be found within each family, each community, and each nation and thus globally. Inequality is a major cause of political, economic, social instability, and creates crisis and conflict within society. A major cause of inequality is unequal, uneven, biased, power centric distributions of human economic, social, political, cultural and spiritual human necessities.The edited book examines the major parameters of the socio-economic issues of inequality and focuses on the key economic issues of inequality, namely, income and wealth distribution, equity & equality of outcome, and equality of opportunities. Economic inequality is measured by wealth, income dsiproportions in distribution and consumption patterns in a specific area. Mostly, inequality is measured using various statistical tools including the Gini Coefficient, inequality adjusted human development index, 20:20 ratio, Palma ratio, Hoover index, Galt score, Coefficient of variation, Theil index, wage share etc. However, not all income can be measured by these tools. By using case studies, this book encourages us to reframe economic development through the lens of growing inequalities and disparities. Economic growth per se is disproportional, and the efforts of scholars, practitioners and policymakers should be directed to empower the marginalized of society in a way that ‘no one should left behind’ (UN Slogan).




Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems


Book Description

This book provides an introduction to the scientific fundamentals of groundwater and geothermal systems. In a simple and didactic manner the different water and energy problems existing in deformable porous rocks are explained as well as the corresponding theories and the mathematical and numerical tools that lead to modeling and solving them. This approach provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the basic physical laws of thermoporoelastic rocks, the partial differential equations representing these laws and the principal numerical methods, which allow finding approximate solutions of the corresponding mathematical models. The book also presents the form in which specific useful models can be generated and solved. The text is introductory in the sense that it explains basic themes of the systems mentioned in three areas: engineering, physics and mathematics. All the laws and equations introduced in this book are formulated carefully based on fundamental physical principles. This way, the reader will understand the key importance of mathematics applied to all the subjects. Simple models are emphasized and solved with numerous examples. For more sophisticated and advanced models the numerical techniques are described and developed carefully. This book will serve as a synoptic compendium of the fundamentals of fluid, solute and heat transport, applicable to all types of subsurface systems, ranging from shallow aquifers down to deep geothermal reservoirs. The book will prove to be a useful textbook to senior undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduates, professional geologists and geophysicists, engineers, mathematicians and others working in the vital areas of groundwater and geothermal resources.




Inclusive Green Growth


Book Description

Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development makes the case that greening growth is necessary, efficient, and affordable. Yet spurring growth without ensuring equity will thwart efforts to reduce poverty and improve access to health, education, and infrastructure services.