Search

The use of natural ventilation in buildings to reduce the energy consumption and CO 2 emission has been widely investigated and practiced, but few existing studies have considered the exploration and assessment of natural ventilation in different location patterns of rural residential buildings in the mountainous terrain of China. In this paper, the representative rural residential buildings are firstly selected in Huarong, Pingjiang and Liuyang regions of northern Hunan Province to carry out on-site survey works to determine building types, physical parameters and layout forms. Then, the wind tunnel experiments are carried out to investigate the effectiveness of natural ventilation under different location patterns, and the monitored results are compared with simulated data. The results show that the experiments and simulations are in satisfactory agreement. The experimental data also indicate that when the modelled distance of 120 mm (i.e. 12 m between the building and hilly terrain in practical application) is the best option for building natural ventilation. Based on the investigation and statistical data, the natural ventilation effectiveness under different location patterns and operational conditions is simulated using CFD methods, and it is obtained the most favourable location pattern for natural ventilation. The results show that the winter ventilation of buildings in the existing location pattern is significantly obstructed in the hilly terrain, which is favourable to the indoor thermal environment, however, the natural ventilation is compromised to a certain extent in summer. Furthermore, the findings also show that, regardless of the hilly terrain's height at 50 m or 150 m, the buildings are able to avoid natural ventilation in winter to the maximum extent when the distance between the buildings and the frontier of the hilly terrain is double that of the building height (i.e. 12 m). This study could contribute to theoretical instructions for optimum design of natural ventilation of rural residential buildings in the mountainous terrain of central China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China launched seven emissions trading scheme (ETS) pilots in 2011, and a national ETS, at the end of 2017 in an attempt to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and drive its extensive energy transition in a cost-effective way. The Hubei province pilot ETS has operated since 2014, and an analysis of its effectiveness can provide lessons for the nascent national system. This paper disaggregates Hubei's industrial carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions from 2005 to 2018 into economic scale, economic structure, energy efficiency, and energy structure effects using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI). Difference-in-difference (DID) models then assess the implementation effectiveness of this ETS, and its impact on the main influencing factors of the LMDI. Ten cities each in the Hubei and Hunan provinces are selected as treatment and control groups, respectively, in the DID models. Results show that the change in industrial CO 2 emissions is mainly due to the economic scale and energy efficiency effects. After the ETS implementation, the energy structure effect has a limited impact on emissions, while the economic structure effect makes a negligible contribution. Moreover, the implementation of the ETS has had little demonstrable impact on industrial CO 2 emissions, gross domestic product (GDP), energy consumption intensity, and CO 2 emission intensity. This lacking of impact is caused by the GHG monitoring capacity deficits of the local Development and Reform Commission, and irrational quota allocations. Effective supervision and quota allocation should be developed to increase the impacts of the ETS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water shortage and pollution are important issues for sustainable development. This paper establishes a model for water security evaluation based on water footprint indexes by using fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and the entropy value method. The model is then applied to the Hunan province in China for 2006–2016. First, the analysis shows that water footprint indexes can fully reflect the water security situation when combined with population facts and economic structure changes. Second, the result illustrates that the water footprint increased by 16.49% between 2006 and 2016, and Hunan's water security is in the more than safe situation. Third, a rise of 18.4% in the agricultural water footprint and the safe grade of food security imply that the efficiency of water management needs improving urgently, especially if we consider the expectation of an expanding population in the next decade. • Model for water security evaluation based on water footprint indexes. • Application to Hunan province of China for the period from 2006 to 2016. • Water footprint of Hunan province grew 16.49% between 2006 and 2016. • Water resources are used efficiently to create GDP, however, inefficiently in agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]