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The process of carbon neutrality does have economic costs; however, few studies have measured the cost and the economic neutral opportunities. This paper uses a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate China's carbon neutrality path from 2020 to 2060 and analyzes its economic impact. This paper innovatively adjusts the CGE modeling technology and simulates the boundary of the Porter hypothesis on the premise of economic neutrality. The results show that the carbon neutrality target may reduce the annual GDP growth rate by about 0.8% in 2020–2060. To make the carbon pricing method under the carbon neutrality framework meet the strong version of the Porter hypothesis (or economic neutrality), China must increase its annual total factor productivity by 0.56–0.57% in 2020–2060; this is hard to achieve. In addition, the study finds that China's 2030 carbon target has little impact on the economy, but the achievement of the 2060 carbon neutrality target will have a significant effect. Therefore, the paper believes that the key to carbon neutrality lies in the coexistence of technological innovation and carbon pricing to ensure that we can cope with global warming with the lowest cost and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaics and wind power are expected to account for a large share of power generation in the carbon-neutral era. A gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) with an industrial gas turbine as the main engine has the ability to rapidly start up and can follow up to load fluctuations to smooth out fluctuations in power generation from renewable energy sources. Simultaneously, the system must be more efficient than today's state-of-the-art GTCCs because it will use either Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) when burning natural gas or hydrogen/ammonia as fuel, which is more expensive than natural gas. This paper describes the trend of cooled turbine rotor blades used in large industrial gas turbines that are carbon neutral. First, the evolution of cooled turbine stationary vanes and rotor blades is traced. Then, the current status of heat transfer technology, blade material technology, and thermal barrier coating technology that will lead to the realization of future ultra-high-temperature industrial gas turbines is surveyed. Based on these technologies, this paper introduces turbine vane and blade cooling technologies applicable to ultra-high-temperature industrial gas turbines for GTCC in the carbon-neutral era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a raw material for clean energy supply for the new generation, the soybean is conducive to the realization of global energy transition and sustainable development in the context of "carbon neutrality". However, global warming has been affecting soybean yields in recent years. How to clarify the correlation between meteorological factors and soybean yields, so as to ensure the security of soybean growth and development and the stability of renewable energy development, is a key concern of the government and academia. Based on the data of temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration and active accumulated temperature during the soybean growing season in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 1951 to 2019, and soybean yield data of the city from 1985 to 2019, this paper adopted statistical methods such as the Trend Analysis Method, the Rescaled Range Analysis Method and so on to analyze the trends of yield changes, characteristics of abrupt changes and periodic patterns of climate factors and soybean yields in Hulunbuir. A Pearson Correlation Analysis and a Grey Relation Analysis were used to explore the correlation between climatic factors and soybean yields, followed by a comprehensive impact model of the combined effect of temperature and precipitation on soybean yields established by the Method of Integral Regression. The results showed that temperature and active accumulated temperature are the dominant factors affecting soybean yields in Hulunbuir, while the decrease in precipitation is unfavorable to the improvement of soybean yields. Meanwhile, temperature and precipitation have different effects on the growth and development of the soybean at different stages. The conclusion of this paper is of great practical significance for Hulunbuir to promote the sustainable development of clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic power generation (PV) has significantly grown in recent years and it is perceived as one of the key strategies to reach carbon neutrality. Due to a low power density, PV requires much space, which may limit PV expansion in the future. Placing PV on water has therefore become an interesting alternative siting solution in several countries. China has the largest fleet of water floating photovoltaic power stations. Water-based PV is typically installed on inland shores, but now offshore areas may become the next step of development. In this paper, the background of offshore photovoltaic power generation and an analysis of existing offshore photovoltaic systems is presented. Fixed pile-based photovoltaic systems are stationary PV systems in offshore or tidal areas characterized by higher safety, but also a higher initial investment. Wave-proof PV systems are highly modular, easier to install, and more practical in countries with high population density and less available land. Floating platform photovoltaic systems are built on a floating platform with a floating body and frame structure. The photovoltaic module is installed on the floating platform at a certain height, which can avoid the direct action of waves. Floating thin-film PV is one of the most recently developed water-based PV systems. It has a reinforced film that can fluctuate with the waves, adapting to the wave and wind load. This paper finally discusses the challenges encountered by offshore PV and presents future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foundation pit excavation is common in urban construction, while safety evaluation is always significant in every specified project. The soil material properties, groundwater level, excavation method, supporting structure, monitoring points' arrangement, and so on distinguish from one site from another. Thus, many studies have looked into the safety and reliability of designated projects. This paper was based on the co-construction underground tunnel project of a deep foundation pit excavation in Suzhou, China. This paper aimed to perform a safety evaluation on this foundation pit by means of numerical simulation for parameter influence analysis, as well as scientific comparison with in-site monitoring data. To minimize the energy consumption and contribute to the carbon neutrality, a brief energy consumption analysis was also conducted. The results indicated that the maximum deformation of the foundation pit bottom is 4.5 cm and the deformation of the foundation pit is within the allowable range. The maximum horizontal displacement of each excavation is approximately at 10 m to 12 m of the diaphragm wall and the largest deformation is 28 mm. The maximum ground settlement is less than 16 mm, which confirmed the safety during excavation. It is ideal that the above deformation law will provide a reference for similar projects. Furthermore, this research simulated and monitored the whole cycle of foundation pit excavation, and contributes to savings in energy consumption and limiting of carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate anomalies are affecting the world. How to reduce carbon emissions has become an important issue for governments and academics. Although previous researchers have discussed the factors of carbon emission reduction from environmental regulation, economic development, and industrial structure, limited studies have explored the carbon emission reduction effect of a city's spatial structure. Based on 108 Chinese cities from the Yangtze River Economic Belt between 2003 and 2017, this paper examines the impact of the city cluster policy on city carbon emissions using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. We find that: (1) The city cluster policy has significantly reduced the cities' carbon emissions by 7.4%. Furthermore, after a series of robust and endogenous tests, such as parallel trend and PSM-DID, the core conclusion still remains. (2) We further identify possible economic channels through this effect, and find that city cluster policy would increase city productivity, city technological innovation, and industrial structure optimization. The conclusions of this paper have important practical significance for China to achieve carbon neutrality and facilitate future deep decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon emissions of sectors and households enabled by primary inputs have practical significance in reality. Considering the mutual effect between the industrial sector and the household, this paper firstly constructed an environmentally extended semi-closed Ghosh input–output model with an endogenized household sector to analyze the relationship between carbon emissions and the Chinese economy from the supply-side perspective. The structural decomposition analysis and the hypothetical extraction method were remodified to identify the supply-side driving effects of the changes in carbon emissions and investigate the net carbon linkage. The results show that the electricity, gas, and water supply sector was the key sector with the highest carbon emission intensity enabled by primary inputs. The household sector had an above 93% indirect effect of the enabled intensity, with its enabled intensity dropping significantly by more than 55% from 2007 to 2017. The operating surplus and mixed income caused 3214.67 Gt (34.17%) of the enabled emissions in 2017. The supply-side economic activity, measured by the value added per capita, was the main factor of the carbon emission growth, mainly attributed to the development of the manufacturing sector and the electricity, gas, and water supply sector. The emission intensity and allocation structure both brought a decrease in carbon emissions. The electricity, gas, and water supply sector and the manufacturing sector were the major sources of the supply-induced cross-sectoral input emissions, while the commercial and service sector and the household sector were the top source of supply-induced cross-sectoral output emissions. This paper sheds light on the policies of the carbon emission abatement and the adjustment of the allocation structure from the perspective of supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the construction industry is one of China's high carbon emission industries, to achieve China's carbon neutrality target by 2060, CO2 emissions in cold regions must be reduced. At the same time, forests have excellent carbon sequestration abilities, so this paper takes residential buildings in severely cold regions as the object of carbon emission reduction research. A model of a two-story building in Changchun was constructed, and the life-cycle carbon emissions of reinforced concrete and wood structures were measured using the life-cycle evaluation method as the basis for calculation and simulation with DesignBuilderVer.7 software. The results show that the life-cycle carbon emission of a wood structure house is 61.46 t less than that of a reinforced concrete house, and the life-cycle carbon emission reduction rate of a wood structure house is 43.39%. Based on the data, it has been proven that wooden structures effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions during the building life cycle while enhancing building performance, given the same structural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of carbon neutrality, the phase-out of coal from the energy structure has resulted in numerous old coal mines that possess abundant underground space resources suitable for underground pumped hydroelectric energy storage (UPHES). Site selection and estimation of potential are critical to the planning and implementation of UPHES in old coal mines. This paper introduces a two-step site selection concept, including a screening assessment followed by a comprehensive assessment, to determine suitable locations for UPHES. The screening indicators in the screening assessment comprise geological features, mine water disasters, and minimum installed capacity, while the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied in the comprehensive assessment. Additionally, coal mines in Henan Province are preliminarily screened through the screening assessment and the potential for UPHES is thoroughly investigated. The estimated volume of the drifts and shafts in old coal mines is approximately 1.35 × 107 m3, while in producing coal mines, it is around 2.96 × 107 m3. Furthermore, the corresponding annual potential for UPHES is 1468.9 GWh and 3226.3 GWh, respectively. By consuming surplus wind and solar power, UPHES is able to reduce 4.68 × 105 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The study provides preliminary guidance for policy-makers in developing UPHES in old coal mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the urgency to mitigate climate change intensifies, the achievement of zero carbon targets in the built environment has become a critical objective. Building retrofitting plays a vital role in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions in existing buildings. This paper presents an approach that combines Building Information Modeling (BIM) with multiple domains to strive for zero carbon targets in building retrofit projects. The proposed approach is based on a dynamic multi-parameter analysis that integrates indoor comfort, energy savings, CO2eq reduction, and the social cost of carbon while considering investment costs. Renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic panels and solar thermal systems, are emphasized to achieve the desired zero-carbon outcomes. Real-time monitoring mechanisms enable continuous performance evaluation and adaptive retrofit strategies for further energy savings. This approach is validated through a case study of an existing thermal bath building, known as "Terme Lucane", located in southern Italy. The results of the study demonstrate significant reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions, highlighting the potential of the proposed approach to achieve zero carbon targets through the integration of multi-data BIM implementation. These findings offer a promising pathway for building retrofit projects aiming for zero carbon targets through multi-data BIM modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve energy storage efficiency and promote the early achievement of global carbon neutrality goals, this paper proposes a spherical thermal storage unit filled with a composite phase change material (CPCM) comprising myristic acid (MA) and expanded graphite (EG). The effects of EG content and Stefan number (Ste) on the melting performance were investigated through a combination of experiments and numerical simulations. The results show that an increase in EG content (especially for ≥4 wt.% EG) leads to a temperature profile that assumes a concentric ring shape, while the melting rate increases with an increase in both the EG mass fraction and the Ste number. Compared to pure MA, the time required to complete melting was reduced by 82.2%, 85.6%, and 88.0% at EG contents of 4 wt.%, 5 wt.%, and 6 wt.%, respectively. Notably, the Ste value has a greater effect on melting when the EG content is ≤3 wt.%. The optimal EG content in the spherical cell was determined to be 4 wt.%, and a dimensionless analysis established a general correlation between the liquid mass fraction and the Fo, Ste, and Gr numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization, we must vigorously develop renewable energy. As one of the important renewable energy sources, the development and utilization of biomass energy has a high cost, and it is difficult to compete with traditional fossil energy in the early stage of development. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to escort the development of the biomass energy industry through legal means. First of all, on the basis of fully analyzing the development prospects of China's biomass energy, the article sorts out the laws and regulations related to biomass energy in China, and finds the shortcomings. Secondly, this paper draws on the institutional experience of the United States, Brazil, Sweden and other countries with relatively developed biomass energy industry, and provides suggestions for improvement from three aspects: law, policy and administrative system, with a view to supporting China's development of biomass energy industry and realizing the "dual carbon target" theoretically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources generated locally are becoming increasingly popular in order to achieve carbon neutrality in the near future. Some of these sources are being used in neighbourhood (local, or energy communities) grids to achieve high levels of self-sufficiency. However, the objectives of the local grid and the distribution grid to which it is connected are different and can sometimes conflict with each other. Although the distribution grid allows access to all variable resources, in certain circumstances, such as when its infrastructure is overloaded, redispatch measures need to be implemented. The complexity and uncertainties associated with current and future energy systems make this a challenging bi-level multi-criteria optimisation problem, with the distribution grid representing the upper level and the neighbourhood grid representing the lower level. Solving these problems numerically is not an easy task. However, there are new opportunities to solve these problems with less computational costs if we decompose the flexibility in the lower lever. Therefore, this paper presents a mathematical approach to optimise grid management systems by aggregating flexibility from neighbourhood grids. This mathematical approach can be implemented with centralised or decentralised algorithms to solve congestion problems in distribution grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrofitting buildings to achieve improved levels of energy performance is a key strategy in the transition to a low-/net zero carbon future. In China, there has been an enormous growth in residential construction in recent decades in response to the country's economic development and population growth. However, although these buildings are structurally solid and have long functional life spans, most have very poor thermal performance. Therefore, they would be very suitable for energy retrofitting. Because of the variety of retrofitting options, it is important to review the retrofit measures, regulations and possible outcomes to find effective, long-term solutions that strike a balance between the energy saved, the carbon emitted and the financial costs over a building's lifetime. This paper reviews suitable retrofit measures for the hot summer–cold winter region of China, because this is an area with huge numbers of residential buildings that are suitable for energy retrofitting. The study explores the current conditions of targeted residential buildings, retrofit schemes, building regulations, and policy gaps towards achieving China's 2060 carbon neutrality goal. The review indicates that current mandatory building energy regulations in this region are not ambitious enough to achieve a significantly lower carbon future, and one-step deep Passivhaus retrofit schemes are recommended to achieve decarbonization goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Republic of Korea has unique geographical characteristics similar to those of an island, resulting in an isolated power system. For this reason, securing sufficient operating reserves for the system's stability and reliability in the face of the intermittency of increasing variable renewable energy (VRE) is paramount, and this will pave the way to achieving the nation's decarbonization target and carbon neutrality. However, the current reserve-operation method in Republic of Korea does not take into account energy-system conditions, such as the intermittency of the VRE. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of the impact of changes in reserve-operation methods on the electricity market in the future Republic of Korean power system, with the increased levels of VRE that are currently envisioned. Specifically, three reserve-operation methods, including Korea's current reserve-power-operation standards, were applied to the two power-system plans announced by the Korean government to analyze the annual generator operation and costs. The analysis results show that securing reserves proportional to the VRE would exert negative effects, such as increased power-generation costs and the curtailment of nuclear and VRE generation. These results can contribute to the estimation of operational reserves needed for high levels of VRE and to the design of new the Korean reserve market, to be introduced in 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and its ascertained attribution to anthropic activity need to be tackled with extreme urgency and must not be postponed. The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions require a change in the energy paradigm, mainly affecting the construction and mobility sectors. Countries need to move towards climate neutrality with a widespread adoption of innovative models, systems, and technologies, reducing dependence on non-renewable sources and increasing energy efficiency. Measures to be adopted to achieve the prefixed decarbonization targets should involve, in addition to central governments, local communities. In this paper, in order to contribute to the definition of mitigation measures by the local administration, the balance of emissions and removal of greenhouse gases, assessed following the IPCC guidelines, for an Italian city (Reggio Calabria) on the date of 1 January 2020 is presented. Several hypotheses concerning reduction measures to be applied to the building and transport sectors, together with absorption interventions, have been developed and we have analyzed the effectiveness of each of them and their global effects on 1 January 2030. The proposed measures allow a reduction of 17% of total emissions, indicating that to reach carbon neutrality in 2050, more incisive and wide range interventions are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and utilization of marine renewable energy is an important measure for achieving energy conservation, emissions reduction and carbon neutrality. Ocean thermal energy is the most stable energy among all the types of marine renewable energy. This paper built a simulation model of an ocean thermal energy conversion system based on actual device specifications by Aspen and MATLAB and put forward a corresponding control strategy. The opening control signal of the control valve at the turbine inlet was the condenser inlet pressure in this paper, and the frequency control of the working fluid pump depended on the evaporating pressure and flow rate of the working fluid. This paper analyzed the key operating parameter changes of the system under different working conditions. According to the analysis results, the turbogenerator in this system was able to generate 50 kW power for about 8 months per year. The highest net output power of the Organic Rankine Cycle was 47.3 kW; the highest cycle thermal efficiency was 3.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart integration of different energy sectors on islands could serve as a key to achieve their energy independence and carbon neutrality goals and facilitate the large-scale penetration of renewables. Demonstration projects play a vital role in testing innovative sector-coupling solutions and exploring their synergies in the real-life environment. They also help to build the required market confidence and awareness, verify and enhance the societal acceptance, and identify and prevent unnecessary risks and complications. The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with a comprehensive review of 19 research projects, which concern the demonstration of sector-coupling technologies on European islands. The projects are funded by the European Commission and started between 2010 and 2020. The review focuses on the exploration of various technical aspects of 28 demo pilots. In addition, it addresses objectives, contributions, and novelty of the demonstrations and analyses barriers, challenges, risks, and success factors reported by project stakeholders. The paper intends to support the decision-makers on the identification, adoption, and replication of successful technologies. Moreover, it provides researchers and other interested parties with lessons learnt to ensure the successful project execution and technology demonstration in future projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals have proposed by many countries, including China. Meanwhile, China has also proposed the construction of a new-type electric power system with new energy as the main body, which will have great impacts on coal-fired power generation enterprises. The transformation of coal-fired power enterprises is imperative, and the evaluation of the organizational performance of coal-fired power enterprises is urgent, which can accurately determine the development status and even can find issues related to the transformation of coal-fired power enterprises. In this paper, a hybrid evaluation model is proposed based on the Variational Auto-Encoder algorithm and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method improved by a vague set to comprehensively evaluate the organizational performance of coal-fired power enterprises. Eight coal-fired power enterprises in North China are selected for empirical analysis. The results show that the YC coal-fired power enterprise has the best organizational performance, while the NK coal-fired power enterprise has the worst organizational performance. Moreover, sensitivity and comparative analyses are carried out to verify the robustness of the evaluation result using the proposed hybrid method in this paper. This paper focuses on the organizational performance evaluation of coal-fired power enterprises, which can provide a reference for the smooth transformation and sustainable development of coal-fired power enterprises in the context of "Dual-Carbon" goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses existing trends and prospects for decarbonization in the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS), an international organization that regroups Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The CIS occupies a significant share of Eurasia, representing a large share of global energy consumption and production with a corresponding carbon footprint. These countries and their decarbonization prospects are rarely discussed in the English-language scientific literature. This paper fills in this gap by offering a comprehensive analysis based on statistical data, policy documents, and scenario-based future projections. The results underline that revisiting Nationally Determined Contributions, increasing energy efficiency, and decoupling GDP growth from greenhouse gas emissions are essential to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The future energy mix should include larger shares of renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels (highly efficient with carbon capture), and nuclear energy to achieve energy security and decarbonize the economy of the region in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effect of carbon trading on low-carbon transformation of high energy consumption enterprises in China. Based on the mechanism of interaction and restriction among high energy consumption enterprises, carbon verification agencies and the government, a tripartite evolutionary game model is constructed. The three-dimensional dynamic system is built to analyze the behavior patterns of the three parties. The evolution path of the tripartite game is visualized, and the low-carbon transformation states of high energy consumption enterprises in different situations are described. The results show that the high energy consumption enterprises, verification organization and the government cannot reach the optimal game equilibrium (low-carbon transformation, verification and supervision) temporarily when seeking their own interests. The corresponding measures should be taken with different situations of the tripartite game. No matter what strategy the government chooses, the low-carbon transformation could be promoted by carbon trading through carbon verification mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guangxi is a typical developing region on the southern coast of China. The current issues encountered in the region's development are that fossil energy accounts for about 80% of the energy structure, fossil fuels are heavily dependent on imports, and the self-sufficiency rate of resources is only 32%. These challenges have created a disparity between the current regional development state and the country's dual carbon target. Under the premise of comprehensively considering the multi-sectors of electricity, industry, transportation, and heating, this paper presents a study on the energy system transition towards low-carbon development for Guangxi in four steps. Firstly, to demonstrate EnergyPLAN's capability in energy modeling, a reference scenario for Guangxi is created using official yearbook data from 2020. Then, a short-term scenario is formulated to analyze the development of Guangxi's energy system during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Furthermore, two mid-term scenarios are established, revealing that Guangxi is anticipated to reach its carbon emission peak between 2025 and 2030. Finally, three long-term scenarios are proposed for Guangxi's energy system for 2050. These scenarios encompass the expansion of photovoltaics, nuclear, and wind power in the electricity system and emission reduction policies in the industrial, transportation, and heating sectors. As a result, compared with the 2020REF scenario, Guangxi can achieve a carbon emission reduction exceeding 57% and the share of non-fossil energy consumption can reach about 70% in the 2050 scenarios, despite a substantial increase in energy consumption, which makes it possible to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060 and to establish an energy system with less than 20% of fossil energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islands face unique challenges on their journey towards achieving carbon neutrality by the mid-century, due to the lack of energy interconnections, limited domestic energy resources, extensive fossil fuel dependence, and high load variance requiring new technologies to balance demand and supply. At the same time, these challenges can be turned into a great opportunity for economic growth and the creation of jobs with non-interconnected islands having the potential to become transition frontrunners by adopting sustainable technologies and implementing innovative solutions. This paper uses an advanced energy–economy system modeling tool (IntE3-ISL) accompanied by plausible decarbonization scenarios to assess the medium- and long-term impacts of energy transition on the energy system, emissions, economy, and society of the island of Mayotte. The model-based analysis adequately captures the specificities of Mayotte and examines the complexity, challenges, and opportunities to decarbonize the island's non-interconnected energy system. The energy transition necessitates the adoption of ambitious climate policy measures and the extensive deployment of low- and zero-carbon technologies both in the demand and supply sides of the energy system, accounting for the unique characteristics of each individual sector, while sectoral integration is also important. To reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, such as transportation and industry, the measures and technologies can include the installation and use of highly efficient equipment, the electrification of end uses (such as the widespread adoption of electric vehicles), the large roll-out of renewable energy sources, as well as the production and use of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the realization of the "dual carbon" goal, urban public transport with an increasing proportion of new energy vehicles will become the key subject to achieve the carbon emission reduction goal. Under the new background of deep coupling between transport networks and power grids, it is of great significance to study the carbon-trading mode of urban public transport participation in promoting the development of new energy vehicles and improving the operating efficiency and low-carbon level of the "energy-transport" system. In this paper, based on blockchain technology, a framework for urban public transportation networks to participate in carbon trading is established to solve the current problems of urban public transportation's insufficient motivation to reduce emissions, lax operation strategy and lack of carbon-trading matching mechanisms. Finally, Hyperledger Fabric was selected as the simulation platform, and we simulated the model through the calculation example. The results show that the proposed scheme can effectively improve the operating efficiency of urban public transport and reduce its operating costs and carbon emissions. In addition, policy recommendations on carbon price, carbon quota and penalties are proposed to improve the institutional system of the carbon-trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is considered an effective way to reduce greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is significant for achieving carbon neutrality. Based on Derwent patent data, this paper explored the technology topics in CCUS patents by using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic model to analyze technology's hot topics and content evolution. Furthermore, the logistic model was used to fit the patent volume of the key CCUS technologies and predict the maturity and development trends of the key CCUS technologies to provide a reference for the future development of CCUS technology. We found that CCUS technology patents are gradually transforming to the application level, with increases in emerging fields, such as computer science. The main R&D institutes in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, and other countries are enterprises, while in China they are universities and research institutes. Hydride production, biological carbon sequestration, dynamic monitoring, geological utilization, geological storage, and CO2 mineralization are the six key technologies of CCUS. In addition, technologies such as hydride production, biological carbon sequestration, and dynamic monitoring have good development prospects, such as CCUS being coupled with hydrogen production to regenerate synthetic methane and CCUS being coupled with biomass to build a dynamic monitoring and safety system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious goal of the European Union (EU) countries is to achieve carbon neutrality by providing inclusive economic growth, which requires the development of relevant incentives and initiatives. Furthermore, such incentives and initiatives should guarantee the achievement of the declared goals. Energy sectors are the core determinant of inclusive economic growth. Traditional energy resources (coal oriented) have a higher negative impact on nature and people's well-being than on economic and social benefits. However, the transition to renewable energy raises new issues in achieving goals of inclusive economic growth: affordable and clean energy, responsible energy consumption, and energy infrastructure. The analysis of the theoretical framework found that the digitalization of government could be a core instrument for handling the abovementioned issues. The paper aims to justify the role of green energy in achieving inclusive economic growth empirically. The study applies the following methods: fully modified Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and canonical cointegrating regression. The findings allow concluding that institutional quality passively affects inclusive economic growth and that the digitalization of government has a U-shaped impact on inclusive economic growth. In this case, countries should boost the digital transformation of public services and continuously increase the quality of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decarbonisation of the building sector is crucial for Portugal's goal of achieving economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. To mobilize communities towards energy efficiency measures, it is important to understand the primary drivers and barriers that must be overcome through policymaking. This paper aims to review existing Energy Policies and Actions (EPA) in Portugal and assess their effectiveness in improving Energy Efficiency (EE) and reducing CO2 emissions in the building sector. The Local Energy Planning Assistant (LEPA) tool was used to model, test, validate and compare the implementation of current and alternative EPAs in the North of Portugal, including the national EE plan. The results indicate that electrification of heating and cooling, EE measures, and the proliferation of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are crucial for achieving climate neutrality. The study found that the modelling of alternative EPAs can be improved to reduce investment costs and increase Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction. Among the alternatives assessed, the proposed one (Alternative 4) presents the best returns on investment in terms of cost savings and emissions reduction. It allows for 52% investment cost savings in the residential sector and 13% in the service sector when compared to the current national roadmap to carbon neutrality (Alternative 2). The estimated emission reduction in 2050 for Alternative 4 is 0.64% for the residential sector and 3.2% for the service sector when compared to Alternative 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Green Deal declares climate neutrality as a goal for the year 2050. It establishes an EU binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. The market, through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, will determine how EU member states contribute to this target. The Effort Sharing Regulation defines binding national targets to reduce the remaining GHG emissions not covered by the EU ETS. In this paper, an energy optimization model is applied to analyze the capability of Czechia to meet the climate change targets by 2030 and 2050. We define a baseline scenario derived from the National Energy and Climate Plan and three policy scenarios to assess impacts of the extension of the EU ETS to buildings and transport (EU ETS 2) and the coal phase-out on the Czech energy system. One of the policy scenarios aims at approaching climate neutrality in 2050. In addition, another scenario does not assess the impacts of the EU ETS 2 and coal phase-out but searches for the optimal path to achieve climate neutrality in 2050. Given the high level of GHG emissions in 1990 and the significant reduction in GHG emissions in the 1990s, Czechia could achieve a 55% reduction by 2030. However, further decarbonization will be quite challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in migrating to a carbon-neutral power system that relies on renewable energy due to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, energy shortages, and global warming. However, the increasing share of renewable energy has added volatility and uncertainty to power system operations. Introducing new devices and using flexible resources may help solve the problem, but expanding the domain of the problem can be another solution. Sector coupling, which integrates production, consumption, conversion, and storage by connecting various energy domains, could potentially meet the needs of each energy sector. It can also reduce the generation of surplus energy and unnecessary carbon emissions. As a result, sector coupling, an integrated energy system, increases the acceptance of renewable energy in the traditional power system and makes it carbon neutral. However, difficulties in large-scale integration, low conversion efficiency and economic feasibility remain obstacles. This perspective paper discusses the background, definition, and components of sector coupling, as well as its functions and examples in rendering power systems carbon-neutral. The current limitations and outlook of sector coupling are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to address global warming, most countries in the world have established carbon neutral targets and are continuously taking action to achieve carbon neutrality. The building sector accounts for 36% of end-use energy consumption and 37% of energy-related CO2 emissions globally, so carbon mitigation in building sector is considered to be the most critical step in completing the "last mile" of global carbon neutrality. Low-carbon buildings and communities are the foundation for achieving low-carbon cities and the key transition to reach the goal of carbon neutrality. Therefore, this review aimed to: (a) provide a comprehensive review of countries' policies on low-carbon buildings and communities and a theoretical basis for improving the corresponding laws and regulations; (b) investigate low-carbon technologies related to building and community construction and operation, as well as identify the current technology gaps; (c) provide a comprehensive overview of low-carbon buildings and communities assessment systems to analyze and evaluate the economic, technical, environmental and social benefits of current building and community energy systems; and (d) identify enablers and barriers in low-carbon buildings and communities to provide direction for future research. The results of this paper can provide comprehensive insights in to further achieving low-carbon buildings and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proposed goal of "Carbon Neutrality", photovoltaic energy is gradually gaining the leading role in energy transformation. At present, crystalline silicon cells are still the mainstream technology in the photovoltaic industry, but due to the similarity of defect characteristics and the small scale of the defects, automatic defect detection of photovoltaic cells (PV) by electroluminescence (EL) imaging is a challenging task. In order to better meet the growing demand for high-quality photovoltaic cell products in intelligent manufacturing and use, and ensure the safe and efficient operation of photovoltaic power stations, this paper proposes an improved abnormal detection method based on Faster R-CNN for the surface defect EL imaging of photovoltaic cells, which integrates a lightweight channel and spatial convolution attention module. It can analyze the crack defects in complex scenes more efficiently. The clustering algorithm was used to obtain a more targeted anchor frame for photovoltaic cells, which made the model converge faster and enhanced the detection ability. The normalized distance between the prediction box and the target box is minimized by considering the DIoU loss function for the overlapping area of the boundary box and the distance between the center points. The experiment shows that the average accuracy of surface defect detection for EL images of photovoltaic cells is improved by 14.87% compared with the original algorithm, which significantly improves the accuracy of defect detection. The model can better detect small target defects, meet the requirements of surface defect detection of photovoltaic cells, and proves that it has good application prospects in the field of photovoltaic cell defect detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new energy–economy system modelling approach, developed specifically for energy system planning in non-interconnected islands, aiming for decarbonization. Energy system planning is an essential tool to shape the energy transition to reach carbon neutrality in the medium- and long-term horizon. Islands, as small-scale energy systems, have a limited contribution to the global climate targets, but due to their geographical and natural limitations, they present the potential to become frontrunners in the clean energy transition, especially regarding the efficient use of resources. The specificities and complexities of geographical islands cannot be adequately covered by the available energy modelling tools and new advanced approaches need to be developed to provide the appropriate support in designing the future decarbonized energy systems at insular level. Our methodological approach follows the adaptation and customization of well-established energy–economy modelling tools towards the development of an integrated island-scale energy–economy system model, capturing energy demand and supply by sector, heating/cooling and mobility requirements, energy efficiency potentials and their complex interactions through energy prices, storage, flexibility services and sectoral integration. By soft-linking the energy and economy system modelling tools through the consistent exchange of model parameters and variables, we developed a fully fledged modelling framework called IntE3-ISL, designed for islands with a horizon up to 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the leading solutions for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Iran's energy system. However, there are some challenges to investing in PV systems in Iran, such as the low energy market price and the high investment cost of PV systems. Although the flat feed-in tariff (FiT) is defined to help purchase energy from the PV systems, it is not attractive to investors. In this paper, a mathematical formulation is developed for the planning problem of the PV systems with battery energy storages (BESs) considering two incentive policies: (1) Designing time-of-use FiT to encourage the PV systems to sell energy to the grid at peak hours (2) Participating in the carbon trading energy market. The insolation in Iran is calculated regarding mathematical formulations which divide Iran into eight zones. The results of the base case show high payback periods for all zones. In the presence of the incentive policies, the payback period decreases considerably from 5.46 yrs. to 3.75 yrs. for the best zone. Also, the net present value increases more than 170 percent in some zones compared to the base case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the promotion of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals and the construction of renewable-dominated electric power systems, renewable energy will become the main power source of power systems in China. How to ensure the accommodation of renewable energy will also be the core issue in the future development process of renewable-dominated electric power systems. In this context, shared energy storage (SES), a novel business model combined with energy storage technologies and the sharing economy, has the potential to play an important role in renewable energy accommodation scenarios. This paper systematically organizes the application prospect, development status and key technologies of SES in the renewable energy accommodation scenario in the context of China, providing helpful references for the promotion of the business model. Firstly, a typical SES framework for renewable energy accommodation is described, and three basic forms of SES in this scenario are presented. Moreover, the application prospect of SES in the renewable energy accommodation scenario is quantitatively analyzed based on the renewable energy generation planning under the carbon peaking goal and the current guarantee mechanism of renewable energy accommodation. Furthermore, the rules for energy storage systems that provide the peak-regulation ancillary service in typical regions and provincial administrative regions in China are summarized, and the development status of SES in the renewable energy accommodation scenario is analyzed, combined with the actual market data. Finally, the key technologies to promote the further development of SES for renewable energy accommodation are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing carbon emission mitigation and carbon utilization have become necessary for the world to respond to climate change caused by the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations. As a result, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies have attracted considerable attention worldwide, especially in China, which plans to achieve a carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. This paper proposed six priorities for China, the current world's largest carbon emitter, to achieve its dual carbon strategy in the green energy transition process. We analyzed and summarized the challenges and potentialities of conventional carbon utilization (CU), carbon capture utilization (CCU), and CCUS. Based on the current development trend, carbon dioxide capture, circular utilization, and storage (CCCUS) technology that integrates carbon circular utilization and partial sequestration, with large-scale underground energy storage were proposed, namely biomethanation. Technically and economically, biomethanation was believed to have an essential contribution to China's renewable energy utilization and storage, as well as the carbon circular economy. The preliminary investigation reveals significant potential, with a corresponding carbon storage capacity of 5.94 × 108 t~7.98 × 108 t and energy storage of 3.29 × 1012 kWh~4.42 × 1012 kWh. Therefore, we believe that in addition to vigorously developing classical CCUS technology, technical research and pilot projects of CCCUS technology that combined large-scale underground energy storage also need to be carried out to complete the technical reserve and the dual-carbon target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable sources play a crucial role in the decarbonisation process of the current linear economy, aimed at reaching the 2030 climate objectives and fulfilling the EU's long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. All economic subjects, including households, can contribute to the Green Deal goals. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate households' consumption of energy sources for heating purposes in the Czech Republic in the period 2003–2020 and depict possible drivers of switching to biomass. For this, various data were collected, such as data published by the Czech Statistical Office, ministries, and other national authorities, as well as data from Eurostat. Concerning methods, data analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used. Different models focus on the substitution effect, rebound effect, and behaviour of different kinds of households. The results show a substitution effect connected with the consumption of coal, electricity, and biomass for heating purposes. Many households substituted coal for biomass in the observed period. On the other hand, the environmental impact of such substitution is not significant, as carbon emissions and emissions of other pollutants are stable. The substitution of fuels should be accompanied by technological change, e.g., improvement of combustion boilers. Moreover, households of pensioners are the key economic subjects with the highest impact on biomass consumption for heating purposes. Against this background we recommend policies to support households in replacing their boilers for more environmentally friendly ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of China's carbon emission reduction targets and the promotion of the construction of a unified domestic market, what kind of carbon emission effect has market integration had in weakening regional barriers and optimizing resource allocation? This paper adopts a two-way fixed effects analysis based on China's provincial panel data from 2003 to 2019. It uses a mediation model to explore the relationship between market integration and carbon emissions. Furthermore, industrial rationalization and upgrade are the basis for examining whether a competitive or cooperative relationship exists between the carbon emission effects generated and promoting market integration between regions. The study finds a negative relationship between market integration and carbon emissions. In addition, there is significant heterogeneity in the effect of market integration on carbon emissions, and the influence effect is mainly in central China; industrial rationalization can play an enhanced role in the process of the negative impact of market integration on carbon emissions, further enhancing the negative contribution of market integration to carbon emissions. However, market integration can weaken its negative impact on carbon emissions with the industrial upgrade, and there may still be invisible barriers between regions in promoting market integration barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide and combustion products are among the main waste streams deriving from the energy sector. Efficient and cost-effective methods of solid waste valorization and carbon capture, storage and utilization are needed in the transition period towards carbon neutrality in light of the recent scenarios forecasting energy demand and energy supply mix under dynamic social, economic and political circumstances. Within this paper, the current advances in carbon dioxide mineralization, combining carbon dioxide utilization and combustion products valorization, are presented in terms of the recognized methodological options of carbonation methods, process efficiency and effects on the process product properties. Special attention is given to the studies on the valorization of fluidized bed boilers fly ash, differing in a range of parameters from the conventional boilers fly ash, as well as the effects of the carbonation process on the stabilization and improvement of its properties and the resulting extended range of applicability. The relevant research fields needing further investigations, as well as the desired decision makers' supporting actions, are also specified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to global warming, China has formulated the "double carbon" strategic goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality before 2060. The problem of rural carbon emissions is often ignored due to underdeveloped industries and services. In this paper, the carbon emission pathways in the rural areas of Guangdong Province are investigated. Since energy consumption is the main source of carbon emissions, the factor analysis was used to analyze the main factors affecting rural household energy consumption and agricultural production energy consumption. Multiple linear regression was conducted to predict the rural energy consumption demand in Guangdong. Furthermore, the current situation and development trend of rural energy supply, demand and consumption structure, and the potential of renewable energy development were considered to predict carbon emissions in the rural areas of Guangdong. Moreover, the carbon emission pathways in the rural areas of Guangdong were discussed under two scenarios: the base scenario and the radical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of international carbon neutrality, energy prices are affected by several nonlinear and nonstationary factors, making it challenging for traditional forecasting models to predict energy prices effectively. The existing literature mainly uses linear models or a combination of multiple models to forecast energy prices. For the nonlinear relationship between variables and the mining of historical data information, the prediction strategy and accuracy of the existing literature need to be improved. Thus, this paper improves the prediction accuracy of energy prices by developing a "decomposition-reconstruction-integration" thinking strategy that affords medium- and short-term energy price prediction based on carbon constraint, eigenvalue transformation and deep learning neural networks. Considering 2011–2020 as the research period, the prices for traditional energy resources and polysilicon in clean photovoltaic energy raw materials are selected as representatives. Based on energy price decomposition using the Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) method, and combining it with Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) cluster technology, the decomposed quantities are aggregated into price sequences with different characteristics. Additionally, the carbon intensity is considered the leading market's overall constraint, which is input with the processed price data into a Long Short-Term Memory network (LSTM) model for training. Thus, the SSA-LSTM combined forecasting model is developed to predict the energy price under carbon neutrality. Four indices are employed to evaluate the prediction accuracy: Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and R-squared. The results highlight the following observations. (1) Using a sequence decomposition clustering strategy significantly improves the model's prediction accuracy. This strategy enhances predicting the overall trend of the price series and the changes in different periods. For coal price, the RMSE value decreased from 0.135 to 0.098, the MAE value decreased from 0.087 to 0.054, the MAPE value decreased from 0.072 to 0.064, and the R-squared value increased from 0.643 to 0.725. Regarding the polysilicon price, the RMSE value decreased from 0.121 to 0.096, the MAE value decreased from 0.068 to 0.064, the MAPE value decreased from 0.069 to 0.048, and the R-squared value increased from 0.718 to 0.764. (2) The prediction effect is better in the case of carbon constraint. Considering "carbon emission intensity" as the overall constraint of the leading market, it can effectively explore the typical characteristics of energy price information. Four evaluation indicators show that the accuracy of the model prediction can be improved by more than 3%. (3) When the proposed SSA-LSTM model is used to predict both prices, the results show that the evaluation index of the prediction error remained at about 1%, while the model's accuracy was high. This also proves that the proposed model can predict traditional energy prices and new energy sources such as solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green hydrogen exploitation plays a crucial role in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Hydrogen, in fact, provides a number of key benefits for the energy system, due to its integrability with other clean technologies for energy production and consumption. This paper is aimed at presenting the project of recovery of an abandoned industrial area located in central Italy by developing a site for the production of green hydrogen. To this aim, the analysis of the territorial and industrial context of the area allowed us to design the project phases and to define the sizing criteria of the hydrogen production plant. The results of a preliminary cost–benefit analysis show that a huge initial investment is required and that, in the short term, the project is sustainable only with a very large public grant. On the other hand, in the long term, the project is sustainable, and the benefits significantly overcome the costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating the promotion of the green transition can help to achieve high-quality development in manufacturing industries. In terms of policies that encourage the transition to green production, carbon trading is a direct and effective means of achieving this goal, and the carbon price is an important regulator in trading. Normally, firms respond to carbon prices by making three behavioral choices: production restrictions, pollution reduction, and the technological transition to green production. This study examines the effect of carbon price volatility on the decision to conduct green production, i.e., transforming to sustainable technologies and processes. In addition, this paper also investigates whether organizational resource slack and organizational technical standards moderate the relationship between the carbon price volatility and firms' green transitions. The results suggest that a steadily increasing carbon price will motivate firms to make a green transition, but if the carbon price is volatile, firms will be reluctant to make a green transition. This tendency to make a green transition is stronger when firms have resource slack and have implemented green technical standards. The findings provide empirical evidence and policy implications regarding how manufacturing firms can accelerate their green transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the goals of low carbon emission and carbon neutrality, some urgent challenges include the development and utilization of low-carbon or zero-carbon internal combustion engine fuels. Hydrogen, as a clean, efficient, and sustainable fuel, has the potential to meet the abovementioned challenges. Thereby, hydrogen internal combustion engines have been attracting attention because of their zero carbon emissions, high thermal efficiency, high reliability, and low cost. In this paper, the opportunities and challenges faced by hydrogen internal-combustion engines were analyzed. The progress of hydrogen internal-combustion engines on the mixture formation, combustion mode, emission reduction, knock formation mechanism, and knock suppression measures were summarized. Moreover, possible technical measures for hydrogen internal-combustion engines to achieve higher efficiency and lower emissions were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LVDC buildings use a low-voltage direct current (LVDC) distribution system for energy transmission and integrate photovoltaic (PV), battery energy storage (BES) and the utility grid as building energy resources. This technology can reduce energy loss in conversion to a certain extent and increase renewable energy compared with traditional AC distribution systems. Under the national goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, LVDC buildings have been proven to be a new approach to energy conservation and emission reductions, and have been applied in engineering in China. However, the construction methods and integrated technologies of those projects are not clear, and technical barriers and policy constraints for the engineering application of LVDC buildings are not systematically discussed yet. This paper presents the latest study of LVDC building engineering applications the advantages and drawbacks of LVDC development in China. First, relevant policies and standards which support the development of LVDC building industries are summarized. More than 60 practical LVDC projects are investigated, and the application characteristics and the technology status of building types, and their capacity and design methods, etc., are analyzed. The attitudes of stakeholders toward LVDC buildings are surveyed to determine the policy direction according to the demands of this technology, with reference to building practitioners who intend to engage in LVDC projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China has proposed the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, which will significantly alter its existing coal-based energy mix. Since coal is China's primary source of energy and the largest contributor to carbon emissions, coal reduction is an important measure toward carbon neutrality. In order to guarantee the stable development of economy and society in the process of coal reduction, the path and cost of coal reduction need to be studied in depth. Based on coal use in China, this paper examines and measures the stages and costs of coal reduction. It also gives a definition for coal reduction costs for the first time, including economic cost, environment and ecology cost, and health cost, as well as proposes a framework for analyzing the "full cost, full process, and full scenario". We measure the cost in combination with the KAYA formula, and take into account the time value of the cost. Based on the above measurement framework, we calculate the unit coal reduction cost and estimate the coal reduction cost between CNY 454.38 and 827.1 billion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to the rise in energy prices and the impact of COVID-19, energy shortages have led to unsafe power supply environments. High emissions industries which account for more than 58% of the carbon emissions of Guangdong Province have played an important role in achieving the carbon peak goal, alleviating social energy shortage and promoting economic growth. Controlling high emissions industries will help to adjust the industrial structure and increase renewable energy investment. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively evaluate the policies of energy security and the investments of high emission industries. This paper builds the ICEEH-GD (comprehensive assessment model of climate, economy, environment and health of Guangdong Province) model, designs the Energy Security scenario (ES), the Restrict High Carbon Emission Sector scenario (RHS) and the Comprehensive Policy scenario (CP), and studies the impact of limiting high emissions industries and renewable energy policies on the transformation of investment structure, macro-economy and society. The results show that under the Energy Security scenario (ES), carbon emissions will peak in 2029, with a peak of 681 million tons. Under the condition of ensuring energy security, the installed capacity of coal-fired power generation will remain unchanged from 2025 to 2035. Under the Restrict High Carbon Emission Sector scenario (RHS), the GDP will increase by 8 billion yuan compared with the ES scenario by 2035. At the same time, it can promote the whole society to increase 10,500 employment opportunities, and more investment will flow to the low emissions industries. In the Comprehensive Policy scenario (CP), although the GDP loss will reach 33 billion yuan by 2035 compared with the Energy Security scenario (ES), the transportation and service industries will participate in carbon trading by optimizing the distribution of carbon restrictions in the whole society, which will reduce the carbon cost of the whole society by more than 48%, and promote the employment growth of 104,000 people through industrial structure optimization. Therefore, the power sector should increase investment in renewable energy to ensure energy security, limit the new production capacity of high emissions industries such as cement, steel and ceramics, and increase the green transition and efficiency improvement of existing high emissions industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon neutrality of the built environment plays a key role in fighting the climate crisis and fully realising ecological transition. In this field, the aim of the paper is to promote a new production paradigm that enables an integrated process from the design phase to the production of high-performance building components, to their "tailor-made installation" for the efficiency enhancement of the national residential building stock, reducing resource consumptions, costs, construction time and the associated environmental impact. The methodological approach is based on three key elements: digitalisation, production and performance. Recent technologies make it possible to achieve important goals, through the creation of the digital cataloguing of existing buildings, advanced dynamic simulations, improved energy performance for building stock and industrial production chain optimisation of the construction sector according to off-site construction criteria. This strategy was tested on a demonstrator building. The methodology application has made it possible to validate a catalogue of standardised insulation solutions that can be applied to 90% of the existing national building stock and that can reduce installation times by 60% and costs by around 30% compared to traditional techniques, while complying with the national requirements on thermal building insulation. The study is able to organise production according to advanced standardisation in order to meet the real demand of the market with advantages in term of production costs and economies of scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current legal and policy system of renewable energy in China has set up a framework of policy instruments, which provides an important foundation for dealing with climate change and promoting the healthy development of the renewable energy industry with the goal of "carbon neutrality" and "emission peak". However, the current policy instruments cannot meet the needs for rapid development of the renewable energy industry. This paper investigates, analyzes, and concludes the status of renewable energy development along with related policy instruments in different renewable energy sources by literature and points out the problems of current policy instruments, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures. Moreover, from the perspective of energy consumption market transformation, the authors carried out an analysis of China's challenges of policy instruments, pointing out that China's renewable energy policy instruments have the potential to take one step further in the areas of the regulatory system, legal system and legal security system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a global perspective, carbon emissions are a global problem that needs to be solved urgently. At present, 61% of countries have committed to achieving net zero emissions. Compared with industry and construction, the transportation sector has become the focus and challenge for countries to achieve carbon neutrality due to the characteristics of strong mobility, scattered emission sources, and complex social behaviors. Therefore, the issue of carbon emissions in the transportation industry has become the focus of academic attention. This paper first calculates the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) of the regional transportation industry through the super-efficiency SBM model and then evaluates its regional differentiation characteristics through the Theil index, which has important practical significance for reducing regional carbon emissions. The results show that the national transportation CEE average value is 0.612, a relatively low level. The spatial distribution of China's transportation CEE shows an obvious characteristic of "east highest and west lowest". The regional differences in the transportation industry CEE are larger than those between regions. The differences in the transportation industry CEE among the eastern, central, and western regions are on the downward trend as a whole, and intra-regional differences are greater than inter-regional. The intra-regional differences cause the overall differences in transportation industry CEE; the eastern region contributed the most to the Theil index, while the central contributed the least. The biggest factor affecting the transportation industry CEE is the regional energy structure, and the smallest factor is the per capita GDP. This research has important reference significance on the target of carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goal, Shanxi Province adjusts the power supply structure and promotes the development of a high proportion of new energy, which has a certain impact on the demand for thermal coal. Therefore, constructing a reasonable forecasting model for thermal coal demand can play a role in stabilizing coal supply and demand. This paper analyzes various factors related to coal demand, and uses Pearson coefficient to screen out six variables with strong correlation. Then, based on the scenario analysis method, combined with the "14th Five-Year Plan" of Shanxi Province, different scenarios of economic development and carbon emission reduction development are set. Finally, a multi-scenario GA–LSSVM forecasting model of thermal coal demand in Shanxi Province is constructed, and the future development trend of thermal coal demand in Shanxi Province is predicted. The results show that the demand for thermal coal is the largest in the mode of high-speed economic development and low emission reduction, and the demand for thermal coal is the lowest in the mode of low-speed economic development and strong emission reduction, which provides a scientific basis for the implementation of Shanxi Province's thermal coal supply policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]