Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) results in adverse health outcomes. Although this is a global concern, residents of China may be particularly vulnerable due to frequent severe air pollution episodes associated with economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization. Until 2012, PM_2.5 was not regulated and monitored in China and annual average concentrations far exceeded the World Health Organizations guidelines of 10 μg/m³. Since the establishment of PM_2.5 Ambient Air Quality Criteria in 2012, concentrations have decreased, but still pose significant health risks. A review of ambient PM_2.5 health effect studies is warranted to evaluate the current state of knowledge and to prioritize future research efforts. Our review found that recent literature has confirmed associations between PM_2.5 exposure and total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, hypertension, lung cancer, influenza and other adverse health outcomes. Future studies should take a long-term approach to verify associations between exposure to PM_2.5 and health effects. In order to obtain adequate exposure assessment at finer spatial resolutions, high density sampling, satellite remote sensing, or models should be employed. Personal monitoring should also be conducted to validate the use of outdoor concentrations as proxies for exposure. More research efforts should be devoted to seasonal patterns, sub-population susceptibility, and the mechanism by which exposure causes health effects. Submicron and ultrafine PM should also be monitored and regulated.

Renewable energy can address increasing energy demand while mitigating the effects of climate change. High capital costs and long payback periods require most projects to secure financing for a portion of the initial costs. Market-based incentives and policies can be credited with lowering development costs, but these come with uncertainties and expiration dates. To secure financing, project developers have turned to innovative mechanisms. This paper presents case studies of innovative financing for renewable energy development in North America. Examples include financing through public capital vehicles, hybrid and carbon bonds, and through corporate power purchase agreements. The objective is to determine which mechanisms or which components of these financing packages are replicable for the purpose of encouraging developers to seek the most advantageous solutions.

Reassessment of the fatigue life for wind turbine structural components is typically performed using deterministic methods with the same partial safety factors as used for the original design. However, in relation to life extension, the conditions are generally different from the assumptions used for calibration of partial safety factors; and using a deterministic assessment method with these partial safety factors might not lead to optimal decisions. In this paper, the deterministic assessment method is compared to probabilistic and risk-based approaches, and the economic feasibility is assessed for a case wind farm. Using the models also used for calibration of partial safety factors in IEC61400-1 ed. 4, it is found that the probabilistic assessment generally leads to longer additional fatigue life than the deterministic assessment method. The longer duration of the extended life can make life extension feasible in more situations. The risk-based model is applied to include the risk of failure directly in the economic feasibility assessment and it is found that the reliability can be much lower than the target for new turbines, without compromising the economic feasibility.

Windsor (Ontario) is located on the Canada-US border. Some believe that the heavy industrial facilities such as power generation and automobile production in the neighbouring regions of US greatly affect Windsor's air quality. This study investigates the frequency of air mass exchange between Windsor and the neighbouring US states. Two-day (48-hr) and one-day (24-hr) back trajectories were run using the Hybrid Single-Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Windsor Airport (42.27o N, 82.96o W) was the starting point. The model resolution was three days a week. Two calendar years, 2008 and 2009, were modeled thus seasonal and inter-annual variations could be observed. It was found that the fraction of air mass parallel to the border is small. When considering the 48-hr trajectories on an annual basis, 53-55% of air masses arriving Windsor were from the US, whereas the 24-hr trajectories showed a much higher percentage (81-82%). The inter-annual variability between 2008 and 2009 was small. In both years, winter had higher frequency of US to Canada transport than Canada to US. In the other three seasons (spring, summer and fall), one year had more frequent US to Canada transport while the other year had less. It was concluded that overall the US-Canada transport had a higher frequency. However, this alone is inadequate to support the claim of air masses coming from US greatly affect Windsor air quality. Further analyses using state and province wide emission densities and ambient concentrations were conducted for a two-week period during each year to quantitatively assess the trans-boundary movement of air pollutants. Statistical analyses showed no consistent, significant correlations between the travel path of the air mass prior to arrival and the measured NO2 or PM2.5 concentrations at the receptor

There is growing interest in multi-purpose offshore floating platforms that: harvest energy from the sun, wind, water, and waves; desalinize water; host agriculture and aquaculture; and house residents. While there are some basic commonalities with well established, oil and gas platforms, lighter variants are functionally different with little wind research coverage. Here, we investigate a floating, multi-purpose, light duty platform under 1:150 scaled straight atmospheric boundary layer wind (ABL), tornado like vortices (TLV), and downburst (DB) conditions. The experiments examined the movement of a 1:150 geometrically scaled platform with six degrees of freedom and two mooring Configurations. Four Configurations are studied, (1) Loosely moored platform, (2) Tightly moored platform, (3) Platform with ballast, and (4) Platform with ballast and weight on the deck. DB winds produced the greatest movement, followed by the TLV winds. Little movement was seen under the ABL winds. Loosely moored platforms moved more than tightly moored.

A 30-year financial model and business case is presented for implementing a microgrid at an Ontario school to meet their energy needs and net-zero carbon emissions. The project considers several factors including capital expenses, electricity and natural gas cost projections, CO2 emission credits, efficiency measures, demand charge mitigation [and non-monetary benefits]. Ontario-specific policies and incentives are discussed. This project provides multiple scenario evaluations and sensitivity analyses of factors that could sway the economic feasibility of similar projects.