The Environmental Engineering Session of the Riga Technical University 54th International Scientific Conference “Environmental and Climate Technologies” will be held 14-16 October 2013. The Conference has been envisaged as a regular scientific forum and its main aim is to acquaint researchers with achievements in the area of energy systems and environmental engineering and to give the scientists, especially PhD students, an opportunity to publish the results of their research.

International scientific conference "Environmental and Climate Technologies" is traditionally held for several years, bringing together scientists and researchers from different countries. An overview of the scientific conference “Environmental and Climate Technologies 2012” can be found here.

The conference is organized within the project "Ecohousing".

Topic of Interest for the year 2013: Development of low carbon emission technologies

Climate change is one of the topics that lately causes the most interest and concern among all environmental problems raising heated discussions among scientists, politicians, and practitioners, as well as within society as a whole. The Environmental engineering session of the year 2013 will be devoted to the mitigation of climate change, focusing to the development of low carbon emission technologies. Scientists and practitioners reflect the development of low carbon emission technologies – pure technological solutions for the utilization of non-fossil energy sources and increasing energy efficiency.

Besides the topic listed above, the conference is open for any contributions related to environmental engineering. A variety of themes will be covered through a multi-disciplinary approach which integrates all aspects of environmental science:

Manuscripts are expected to be submitted at Online Submission System. Scientific articles will be peer-reviewed and once a manuscript will be accepted for publication, it will undergo language copyediting in order to provide the highest possible publication quality. Formatting rules for the articles are attached below.

Best submitted articles will be published in the international scientific journal of RTU "Environmental and Climate Technologies".The print version of the journal is published by RTU Press and the electronic version by Versita.

Special session "“Geological storage of CO₂ as a way to reduce carbon footprint”

Organized in collaboration with CGS Europe project

Returning the carbon originally extracted in the form of coal, oil or gas back deep underground can help to mitigate the current situation of large CO₂emissions disturbing the atmosphere and contributing to climate change and ocean acidification. The technology of Carbon capture and storage (CCS) consists of capturing CO₂ at coal or gas-fired power stations and industrial plants, then transporting it by pipeline or ship to a storage location. Finally, it is injected via a well into a suitably deep geological formation for long-term storage. CCS might provide the time needed to create a bridge to a worldwide economy based on renewable and cleaner energy.

The legal framework was set out by the European Directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide in 2009, demonstration projects are underway and new ones are starting, so the uncertainties related to both the availability and distribution of storage capacity need to be reduced and knowledge of the rock properties and geological processes in various subsurface conditions needs to be improved. To facilitate the knowledge sharing and distribution and to better coordinate their research plans, leading European research institutes involved in CO₂ storage research have formed the CO2GeoNet association which has now gained additional support by an FP7 coordination action called CGS Europe. This is an infrastructure to share experiences, discuss the problems, to provide objective information to stakeholders and to map the research needs.

CO₂GeoNet is the European scientific body on CO₂ geological storage. It currently comprises 13 public research institutes from 7 European countries, and brings together over 300 researchers with the multidisciplinary expertise. With activities encompassing joint research, training, scientific advice, information and communication, CO₂GeoNet has a valuable and independent role to play in enabling the efficient and safe geological storage of CO₂. CO₂GeoNet was created in 2004 as a Network of Excellence supported by the EC FP6 programme for 5 years. In 2008, CO₂GeoNet became a non-profit association under French law. More about CO₂GeoNet at www.co2geonet.eu or www.co2geonet.com

From 2013, the membership of CO₂GeoNet is expanding thanks to the support of the FP7 CGS Europe project.

CGS Europe is a networking project that pools together the expertise of 34 key research institutes in the area of CO₂ geological storage across 28 countries (24 European member states and 4 associated countries). Funded by the EC FP7 programme, it builds upon the networking and integration experience of CO₂GeoNet with the ultimate goal of providing an independent, scientific, pan-European platform and reference source where national, European and international experts, institutes and regulators can access the most up-to-date results of CO₂ storage-related studies, share experiences and good practices, discuss the implementation of regulations, identify research needs to face upcoming challenges, and build new projects. More about CGS Europe at www.cgseurope.net

Electronical version of Conference Abstract Book

The full text articles will be published in Special Conference Issue of International Scientific Journal "Environmental and Climate Technologies". Best articles will be published in the International Scientific Journal "Environmental and Climate Technologies" Issue 11 or Issue 12.

Conference presentations

October 15, Session "Sustainable Usage of Resources"

Cilinskis E., Why Latvian society does not accept Green Policies?

Mi-Hyun J., Jai-Young L., Effect of Modified Mechanical Treatment Facilities on SRF Yield in Korea

Vaizene V., Technologies for Decreasing Mining Losses

Vaizene V., Pilot Unit for Mining Waste Reduction Methods

Brazdausks P., Influence of Biomass Pretreatment Process Time on Furfural Extraction from Birch Wood

October 15, Session "Geological Storage of CO2 as a Way to Reduce Carbon Footprint"

Vincent C., Introduction to the Technology of CO2 capture and geological storage

Report: State of play on CO2 geological storage in 28 European countries

Saftic B., Geological Storage Capacity as a Vital Resource-Exploration Stage and Estimation Methodologies

Nilsson P.A., Bastor2-Halftime Report on Findings

Shegenov K., Principal Concepts of CO2 Geological storage

Gusca J., Research on Development of Latvian Energy Sector

October 16, Session "Development of Low Carbon Technologies"

Zevenhoven R., Two methods for direct flue gas decarbonation with seprentine minerals

Lapinskiene G., Environmental Kuznets Curve-Empirical Analyses of Additional factors Impacting GHG in European Countries

Grege-Staltmane E., Development of Evaluation Methodology for Carbon Dioxide Emissions in production Processes

Grabaak I., Nordic Power Road map 2050: Strategic Choices Toward Carbon Neutrality

Mediastika C., Degrading Indoor Noise Levels using Occupant`s Perception

Zagorskas J., Energetic Refurbishment of Historic Brick Buildings

Zogla G., Energy Efficiency Improvement Potential in Historical Brick Building

If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact a Conference organizers Ieva Pakere, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Kristīne Dobrāja, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Phone: + 371 67089923; Fax: + 371 67089908

Section Chair: Gatis Bažbauers

Scientific Committee:

Organizing Committee:

The conference program can be found here.

Important! Small changes has be made regarding the programm on October 16. In case of any problemas, please contact ieva.pakere[@]rtu.lv