Czech Republic | EPFL Graph Search

The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec. The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia. It was formally recognized as an Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Crown lands of Bohemia were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Em

On-site biostimulation evaluation of a remediated perchloroethene-contaminated acquifer located in Jablunkov, Czech Republic

Isabelle Fäh

Chlorinated ethenes solvents (CEs) are one of the most common contaminants identified in groundwater ecosystems. Long used as a degreaser in industry, perchloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) are particularly persistent in the environment as recalcitrant to oxic degradation, and classified as unhealthy and dangerous for the environment. Under anaerobic conditions, CEs can be degraded naturally in the environment by organohalide respiring bacteria (OHRB) through dehalogenase enzymes reducing them into ethene, a non-hazardous end product. However, toxicity of the intermediate daughter compounds of the degradation (TCE, DCE and VC) is higher than PCE. As this natural attenuation is a slow process, intermediate compounds accumulate in the environment and biostimulation is often used to enhance the complete degradation of CEs. Substrates are added to the contaminated aquifer and used by fermentative bacteria releasing by-product such as H2 that is essential for the dehalorespiration of CEs. Biostimulation has been studied in a PCE contaminated-aquifer located in Jablunkov (Czech Republic). Cheese whey (CW) has been injected into the groundwater in November 2012 and June 2013. The objective of the current project is to evaluate the efficiency of the CW applications by analysing microbiologic and physico-chemical parameters describing the aquifer at six sampling dates from September 2012 to December 2013 within six wells allocated over the aquifer. Global bacterial community structures were analysed in laboratory using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and T-RFLP (Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism). OHRB were analysed as well by specific PCR targeting 16S rRNA and dehalogenase genes of bacteria known to degrade completely the CEs. Then, contaminants and ethene concentrations as well as others Terminal Electron Acceptors implicated in the respiratory processes (Terminal Electron Accepting Processes – TEAPs) were measured to give information about the redox conditions within the aquifer. Finally, others hydrogeological parameters such as pH and temperature were measured. All data were analysed using Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) in the R software. Interpretations provided a global model indicating the characteristics and functioning of the aquifer. The successive CW applied on-site have a gradual impact on the environmental conditions and on the structures of bacterial communities. After the two CW applications, the aquifer has partly changed to conditions favourable for complete dechlorination. It was the case for three wells over six. Two CW injections have been necessary to allow the production of ethene for two wells whereas only one was needed for the other one. Biostimulation were efficient but not sufficient to completely degrade the CEs on the whole aquifer. In one well, the accumulation of DCE were more important than the production of ethene. In two other wells, ethene was not produced but the statistical analysis showed that they tend toward complete dechlorination conditions. New CW applications would be necessary to completely remediate this aquifer.

2014

Développement d'un habitat groupé basé sur (MCIC) en périphérie émergente de Prague (République Tchèque)

Thomas Austerveil

C'est après avoir analysé spécifiquement la région de Prague en République Tchèque, zone limite des climats continentaux et tempérés qu'a été développée une série de "Méthodes et Conditions Idéales de Construction" (M.C.I.C) pour le cas d'édifices résidentiels. Ces stratégies nous permettent le développement d'un bâtiment à la consommation d'énergie fortement réduite pour les conditions particulières du site de Srby situé à l'Ouest de Prague, à proximité d'une infrastructure ferroviaire connectant la région. Idéalement orienté, notre bâtiment type, à travers le captage direct passif de l'énergie solaire, la ventilation naturelle grâce à sa position vis-à-vis des vents dominants, par le biais du mode et des détails de construction, et cetera, réduit sa consommation énergétique au maximum dans cette région difficile où la couverture nuageuse est forte en période d'hiver. Ce bâtiment résidentiel de quatre niveaux et représentant au total plus de 800 m2 sera ensuite dupliqué, afin de densifier la zone disponible pour le développement, tout en faisant attention à ne pas réduire ses avantages bioclimatiques. C'est en appliquant cette logique qu'apparaissent sur les bords du Lac de Turynsky une série d'édicules ou de 'pods' aérodynamiques profitant avec assurance des bienfaits du soleil, des vents mais aussi du paysage environnant tout en affichant, grâce à une série de calculs précis de simulations (SunEye, Relux, COMSOL, Flovent, TRNSYS), des résultats de consommation énergétique surprenants.

2009

Potential Integration of Chinese and European Emissions Trading Market: Welfare Distribution Analysis

Ru Li, Sigit Pria Perdana, Marc Vielle

Central to the aims of the Paris Agreement, a multilateral coordinated action through integrated carbon markets has been a practical bottom up option for effective and efficient mitigation. This paper quantifies the welfare effects of potential integration of Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) between the European Union (EU) and China. The analysis is performed up to the year 2040, assessing the economic and welfare impacts for China and 28 EU Member States. Using the European version of the computable general equilibrium model GEMINI-E3, the analytical assessment reveals that integrating trading markets is beneficial for both regions, albeit stronger for the EU. Linking the EU-China trading market decreases welfare cost from abatement to some notable countries with high constitutes of energy-intensive industries such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic. A few others, such as the Netherlands and Ireland, face higher welfare cost from negative gain of trade. Limiting the trade quotas up 30 per cent, captures most of the welfare gain coming from CO2 trading for the EU. Further analysis in sectoral level finds that market integration significantly minimizes the loss of competitiveness of European energy-intensive industries and reduces the international leakage. Our finding thus confirms the potential of emissions trading market as an effective instrument to facilitate multilateral coordination in global mitigation.

2020

On-site biostimulation evaluation of a remediated perchloroethene-contaminated acquifer located in Jablunkov, Czech Republic

Isabelle Fäh

2014