Using individual- and panel country-level data from 118 countries for the period 1981–2020, this study investigates the effects of national- and individual-level economic and environmental factors on subjective well-being (SWB). Two individual SWB indicators are selected: the feeling of happiness and life satisfaction. Additionally, two environmental factors are also considered: CO2 emissions by country level and personal perspective on environmental protection. The ordered probit estimation results show that CO2 emissions have a significant negative effect on SWB, and a higher perspective on environmental protection has a significant and positive effect. Compared with the average marginal effect of national income, CO2 emissions are a more important determinant of SWB when considering a personal perspective on protecting the environment. The estimation results are robust to various estimation model specifications: inclusion of additional air pollutants (CH4 and N2O), PM 2.5 and various sample groupings. This study makes a novel contribution by providing comprehensive insights into how both individual environmental attitudes and national pollution levels jointly influence subjective well-being.
The paper examines the underlying science determining the performance of hybrid engines. It scrutinizes a full range of orthodox gasoline engine performance data, drawn from two sources, and how it would be modified by hybrid gasoline vehicle engine operation. The most significant change would be the elimination of the negative consequences of urban congestion, stop-start, and engine driving, in favour of a hybrid electric motor drive. At intermediate speeds there can be other instances where electric motors might give a more efficient drive than an engine. Hybrid operation is scrutinised and the electrical losses estimated. There also remains scope for improvements in engine combustion.
In this paper, we deal with one of the most urgent and relevant topics nowadays, i.e., water pollution. The problem is finding a valid candidate for the absorption and removal of different kinds of pollutants commonly found in water. There are already some indications about graphene oxide as a potential candidate. In the present work, we take a step forward to show how graphene nanoplatelets (rather than the oxide form of this material) are capable of decontaminating water. In this starting step, we use a specific substance as a model pollutant, i.e., acetonitrile, leaving for the future steps, to extend the analysis to additional types of pollutants. In addition to laboratory-produced graphene nanoplatelets, we already examined in the past; now we wish to consider also commercially available ones, so that the new results will not be bound to a laboratory (low technology readiness level) material, but will become interesting also from the industrial point of view, thanks to the scalability of the nanoplatelets production. For this aim, we compare the performance of two types of filters based on two classes of nanomaterials, i.e., those produced by microwave and ultrasound assisted exfoliation, already analyzed in our earlier works, with those commercially distributed by an Italian company, i.e., NANESA, http://www.nanesa.com/. The latter is an innovative SME involved in the production of graphene-based nanomaterials. We focus here in the graphene nanoplatelets, commercially available in industrial batches (GXNan grades). The present study leads to determine which filtering membrane, among the various types of commercial graphene considered, shows the greatest stability, and the lack of breakage of the membrane, concentrating on such accessory features, given that all types of graphene showed excellent adsorption properties.
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