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Medical gases are known to show a great environmental impact and also to consume relevant resources in terms of hospital management. The present work reports on a study performed between 2008 and 2016 in a target set of 12 Spanish hospitals with floor area and number of beds ranging 2314–23,300 m2 and 20–194, respectively, for which the average annual consumption rates of oxygen, nitrogen, medicinal air, carbon dioxide and nitrogen protoxide were analysed. The annual consumption of medical gases in a hospital was proved to be correlated with the number of hospital discharges, the number of surgeries, the number of emergency interventions, the number of hospitalisations, the number of hospital beds, the useful floor area of the building and the number of workers. In particular, the annual consumption per hospital bed was computed as 350 m3 for oxygen, 325 m3 for medicinal air, 9 m3 for nitrogen protoxide and 3 m3 for carbon dioxide. It is shown that healthcare activity appears as an adequate variable to quantify and to monitor medical gases consumption in hospitals, to assess the size of their facilities as well as to optimise maintenance management.

Information acquired and provided in Near Real Time is fundamental in contributing to reduce the impact of different sea pollution sources on the maritime environment. Optical data acquired by sensors aboard meteorological satellites, thanks to their high temporal resolution as well as to their delivery policy, can be profitably used for a Near Real Time sea monitoring, provided that accurate and reliable methodologies for analysis and investigation are designed, implemented and fully assessed. In this paper, the results achieved by the application of an improved version of RST (Robust Satellite Technique) to oil spill detection and monitoring will be shown. In particular, thermal infrared data acquired by the NOAA-AVHRR (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) have been analyzed and a new RST-based change detection index applied to the case of the oil spills that occurred off the Kuwait and Saudi Arabian coasts in January 1991 and during the Lebanon War in July 2006. The results obtained, even in comparison with those achieved by other AVHRR-based techniques, confirm the unique performance of the proposed approach in automatically detecting the presence of oil spill with a high level of reliability and sensitivity. Moreover, the potential of the extension of the proposed technique to sensors onboard geostationary satellites will be discussed within the context of oil spill monitoring systems, integrating products generated by high temporal (optical) and high spatial (radar) resolution satellite systems.

This Energy Sector Policy Note is intended to support the Government of Mozambique in determining priorities for policy decisions with the aim of delivering efficiently produced, technically and financially sustainable electricity supply to the Mozambican population. To support the development of recommendations, this Note includes simulation analysis based on the current finances of the sector. Electricidade de Macambique’s (EDM) corporate financial model was adapted for this work. Targets for electrification are based on discussions with government officials. EDM’s current generation pipeline and its timing was taken as a given in order to simulate investment needs and evolution of sector finances under various tariff and funding availability assumptions. The various simulations and the broader sector quantitative and qualitative discussion should support policy formulation and prioritization going forward. The power sector in Mozambique faces three key challenges: i) to provide reliable and efficient electricity supply to its customers; ii) to cope with the increase in the electricity demand from its current (and future) customer base by expanding its generation and transmission capacity; and, iii) to provide access to electricity to the vast majority of the population. The importance of the timing of new generation to export power to South Africa also points to the importance of the backbone transmission project to evacuate the power from the center of the country – thereby enabling exports. Increasing access in line with Government targets will require major investments. The Government needs to consider the trade-offs between the ambition of the access targets imposed upon EDM and the sector’s broader financial viability for carrying out operations, maintenance and investment. Relaxation of the access target so that the 50 percent target is achieved by 2030 instead of 2023 gives EDM more liquidity in the first years.