1. An Innovative Financial Business Model Leading Stakeholders Towards Energy Efficient Building Envelope Components

    Çağlar BEKİROĞLU

    Gebze Institute of Technology

    Abstract:

    Most green buildings cost a premium of <2%, but yield 10 times as much over the entire life of the building. The stigma is between the knowledge of up-front cost vs. life-cycle cost. The savings in money come from more efficient use of utilities which result in decreased energy bills.

    As of necessity for creating successful model belonging to one of building envelope components, energy efficient window system is chosen as pilot project in Turkey. A private bank, company and property investment partnership are 3 main trivets of this business model.

    Firstly costs of traditional or “business-as-usual” window system and energy efficient window system, will be compared.

    Secondly financial savings on bills including water, natural gas and electricity etc. will be calculated by considering traditional and energy efficient window systems.

    Lastly a private bank will be responsible for financial model of the pilot project. The main idea of the pilot project is building energy efficient building envelope components with reasonable up front costs that will be paid back through bills over a period of time.

    Keywords: Energy efficient building envelope components, financial business model, stakeholder partnership.

    Pages: 329 – 337 | Full PDF Paper

  2. Risks of Irrigation with Wastewater on Soil and Plants

    Sahar, K. M. Kenawy

    Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University (Girls), Cairo, Egypt.

    Abstract: Environmental pollution and food safety are two of the most important issues in our time. Soil and water pollution, in particular, have historically impacted on food safety which represents an important threat to human health. It has been observed that agricultural soils have been contaminated due to the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water and disposal of chemicals nearby. Over  the last decades, environmental contamination with heavy metals has increased drastically. Soil pollution with heavy metals will lead to losses in agricultural yield and hazardous health effects as they enter into food chains. Contaminated food through dietary intake has become the main potential risk impacts on human health. This study aimed at investigating the concentration of some cations, anions, macronutrients  and  some heavy metals in irrigation water and  soil, also determine the concentration of the studied heavy metals in  six vegetable plants irrigated with treated wastewater from El- Gabal El- Asfar farm (EGAF). The vegetables parsley, tomato, pepper, pumpkin, cucumber and jew,s mallow were collected from El- Gabal El- Asfar farm, analyzed for trace metals (Cd, Co, Ni, Pb, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) and were compared with the literature reported values. The results indicated that generally, the examined irrigation water, soils and collected plants were heavily contaminated with the heavy metals and exceeded the standard values in most cases.

    Keywords: Wastewater, heavy metals, vegetables, permissible levels, food safety.

    Pages: 338 – 356 | Full PDF Paper

  3. The Amount of Organic Phosphates (Like DPG) Existing In Blood Is Determinative Factor of Mammals’ Bulk

    Ramin Amirmardfar

    Independent scholar of Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran.

    Abstract: It is essential that oxygen is transported through the blood to all cells of a mammal at any moment. This ensures survival of all cells in a mammal’s body. In case a mammal’s bulk is large, the distance between cells in different tissues and the mammals’ heart is farther. Therefore, red blood cells in bulky mammals’ bodies should be capable of conveying oxygen to farther distances. To make it practical, oxygen should be glued to red blood cells tenaciously. In other words, the cohesion of oxygen to red blood cells should be stronger in bulky than in small mammals. In mammals’ bodies, the controlling factor of the amount of cohesion of oxygen to red blood cells, are organic phosphates (like DPG). The less DPG in red blood cells of a mammal, the more cohesion of oxygen to red blood cells at the same rate. If oxygen is glued more tenaciously to red blood cells, then it is being carried to farther distance allowing mammals to have larger bulk at the same rate. The amount of organic phosphates (eg. DPG) of red blood cells decreases respectively due to the size from mouse, rat, cat, fox, sheep, horse, to elephant.

    Keywords: mammals’ size, Animals size, Organic phosphates, DPG, Red blood cell, Metabolism.

    Pages: 357 – 364 | Full PDF Paper