Search

The use of renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels is increasingly present worldwide. In this context, Romania has committed to increasing the share of solar energy at the national level. This is in line with the European Union's concerns about energy efficiency. The lowland and low hills of the southern and south-eastern parts of the country are the most suitable for such an approach. So is the south part of Prahova county, mainly in the plain unit, which occupies the southern third. Prahova County stands out at the national level by the fact that it holds about 1/10 of all photovoltaic energy. In addition to providing clean energy, photovoltaic (PV) farms have several social and soil implications. Our study focused on the perception of the inhabitants of the areas with photovoltaic farms, related to these implications. For this purpose, we conducted one hundred interviews based on the questionnaire method, applied in over 35 localities in the county. The localities are predominantly rural, but some cities have been included. The results of this survey were statistically processed using IBM SPSS Statistics Subscription. The questionnaire questions were analyzed both individually, by developing frequencies, and in a combined manner, by making correlations. The spatial analysis was design using aerial images with 0.5m spatial resolution, acquired from the National Cartography Center in May 2018. All images have been processed with ArcGIS 10.2.1. As a result of these analyses, we have inventoried the photovoltaic fields in the county in the existing edaphic and geomorphological context and included the results in an updated geodatabase. This socio-economic study could be a guideline point for the Regional Development Plan in the coming years and possibly involved in the Zonal Urban Plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical province in south-eastern Romania, Dobrogea has been inhabited since ancient times as attested to identify objects belonging to Neolithic cultures Gumelnita and Hamangia. On the western coastline of the Black Sea have placed the Greek colonists from sec. VII i. Chr. In ancient times, Dobrogea was named Scythia Minor. The population has been long and constant, traditional occupation being agriculture, in the present share of arable land exceeding 2/3 of the total. The total area of the Dobrogea Plateau in 10 350 km² meaning 4.35% of the country. Morphologically is characterized by small altitudes (89% of the territory is less than 200 m), the energy of the landscape (relief) is predominantly below 100 and the density of the fragmentation 0.5-1 km/km2 . Under these conditions, the solidify was influenced especially temperate-continental climate conditions of the steppe, predominantly chernozemics soils (77.23%), great (excellent) for agricultural use. The same conditions morphological characteristics associated with optimal conditions of wind (present of coastal wind, named “crivatul” in the cold season) with the overrun of the 4 m/s have constituted favorable conditions of the installation and the extension in the last 10 years of the wind parks. According to data from Transelectrica (The National Company for the Transport of Electricity), the share of wind energy in the national energy system increased from 0.306% in 2010 to 11.495% in 2017. In 2018 was 9.758%. The highest growth was registered between the years 2010 and 2012. A large part of the wind turbines is located in the Dobrogea Plateau. For example, the first turbines were installed in 2007 in Baia (Tulcea County), and in the year 2012, in the Dobrogea Plateau were 500 turbines, that is half of the total number (1000), at the level of Romania. In addition to the obvious advantages but there are some disadvantages of wind parks. They are related to visual pollution, noise pollution and the reallocation of ecosystems (killing of birds). These aspects are visible especially in the framework of the wind parks, such as the one of the Cogealac-Fantanele, with 276 turbines (the largest onshore wind farm in Romania and in Europe). Another aspect is that of the removal of important areas of land. For example, for the installation of one turbine used 0.24 ha, to which are added and the surface of the access roads. This effect is obvious, especially at the level of the village, among the most affected being Fantanele, Cogealac, Chirnogeni, Casimcea, etc. This work proposes the analysis of the relationship between the economic benefit resulting from wind and the impact of changes in land use on the medium and long term in Dobrogea Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-unit of the Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians, the Ciucului Mountains are individualized in the central-southern part of them as a well-established mountain unit, limited to the west by the Ciucului Depression, with a total area of about 93720 hectares. As a whole, Ciucului Mountains, with its altitudes exceeding 1500 m, is wrapped in the form of a large isosceles triangle, based on the West, the Ciucului Depression, and a north-south ridge orientation as in general with the major structures of Carpathian Flis. This article analyses during a reference period corresponding to the last 150 years (1864-2018), the natural and anthropic characteristics identifying and defining the landscape of the Ciucului Mountains in the context of socio-political, economic and climate changes. This analysis of the multidimensional variability of the Ciucului Mountains landscape will highlight the state of ecosystems in terms of their structure, function or dynamics under the conditions changes in land management. In this study were used the historical maps from 1864, 1923, 1945, vector data Corine Land Cover 1990/2018 that were correlated and verified by GIS and Remote Sensing methods. Because of the altitude, Ciucului Mountain belongs to the belts of deciduous and coniferous forests. Initially, before 1864, traditional livestock activities have led to the extension of grassland surfaces. But the situation has changed lately. Geostatistical studies revealed that in 1864 there were 7768.88 ha (8.29%) covered by forests and 84375.61 ha (90.03%) covered with pastures and hay fields and in 2018 there was only 15078.18 ha (16.09%) covered with pastures and hay fields. At the level of the entire mountainous unit it register a process of decline of areas covered with pastures and hay fields due to abandonment of traditional activities of mowing and grazing and cover them with other types of vegetation. From the year 2011 a large portion of this area (59640.80 ha) was included in the European Natura 2000 ecological network, as the site of Community Importance (ROSCI0323). However, even if there is a process of return to the forest vegetation, there are still important areas with grassland. Even if they are secondary (derived) grasslands, they are in a good ecological condition and deserve to be valorizated for traditional agricultural or tourist purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Motru-Rovinari coal basin is placed in South-West Development Region on an area of about 522.54 km2 and is part of Oltenia mining region. Since the 50-60's (1955- 1960) it was opened here the open cast mining from which was extracted lignite, a quality charcoal. There followed the years of communism when were opened many fronts of exploitation and now has over 50 quarries, micro quarries, dumps and mining extraction. Opening and exploiting the high capacity of coal in this extractions unit, needed to find solutions for the storage of residual material (tailings) have required that large areas of land to set aside from the agricultural, forestry or construction circuit, all with negative impact on the environment. Of these, the deforestation had the biggest impact and on them acted most aggressive in this process of expanding coal mining pits. This work wants to propose a methodology to assess and quantify the forestry systems from an area strong anthropized by mining activities: the Motru-Rovinari coal basin. This way will be noticed and inventory the wooded areas or destroyed using fractal geometry in graphic modelling by determining two indicators: the fractal dimension (FD) and Fractal Spectrum (FS). Comparing with this methodology will be used other techniques and data from remote sensing and GIS, applying the NDVI analysis in estimation of changes at vegetation level, by choosing the supervised classification algorithm to provide both spatial and numerical results on assessments. In this study will be used information provided by sets of Landsat satellite images, from August 1980 to April 2015. We are looking to determine the best methods for monitoring the impact of mining activities over the environment, mainly on forest systems to signal possible unbalances and prevent natural hazards. In the context of the economic policies of the last 50 years, both locally and nationally, focus was placed on discover and exploit new energy resources, without always find mining methods and processes with the minimal impact the environment. Such human activities have become the main factor in generating environmental changes, and between this, the surface mining is one of the most destructive activities that take place on the earth surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Putna-Vrancea Natural Park (38,204 ha) is located in the eastern part of Romania, the upper part of Putna River Basin (Curvature Carpathians). It includes valuable complex forest ecosystems, mountain meadows, also known for the large variety of flora and fauna. Over the past almost thirty years, the study area was subject to diverse natural and man-made environmental stressors which had significantly influenced land use/cover changes with a particular impact on forest-covered areas. The current paper is seeking to analyse the temporal and spatial changes of the main land use/cover categories in Putna-Vrancea Natural Park, using CORINE Land Cover (CLC) over the 1990-2012 interval in relation to the main triggering factors which include historical and political events (land reforms), deforestation (logging), tourism activities, settlements expansion, grazing, but also afforestation or the protected area management (e.g. IUCN or Natura 2000). Consequently, the authors identify and analyze land use/cover flows, conversion, and dynamics in relation to the main socio-political and natural driving forces by means of GIS methods (binary change index and trend index) based on both spatial and statistical geodatabase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the country's integration in the European Union, preserving the traditional landscape becomes a very difficult mission, inasmuch as the Romanian villages suffer profound alterations. The study aims at understanding the perception of the local communities belonging to Ciocăneşti and Voroneţ settlements, Bucovina region, selected as case studies, on the traditional and modern architecture of the dwellings, in order to assess the chances of perpetuating the Bucovina's traditional architecture under the present socio-economic context. The research methods and techniques employed for this investigation were observation and survey. Ciocăneşti commune has its own traditional decorative architecture, consisting in painting the facades with traditional motifs inspired by the folk costumes. As far as Voroneţ is concerned, it is distinguished by the typical architecture of the Bucovina, with modern insertions as well. The local authorities are interested to establish a legal framework meant to contribute to the preservation of the fundamental features of the traditional landscape. At the same time, they support the sustainable development projects and the educational programs that seek to revitalize the economic sectors relying on the local resources (wood and stone) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]