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Abstract Papermaking enterprises are currently under both environmental pressure and economic pressure for sustainable development in China. Thus, the efficiency, effectiveness, and benefits of resource utilization need to be improved. High-consumption and high-pollution companies should manufacture paper using sustainable methods. This study highlights a resource value flow analysis from the circular economy perspective, developing an extension of material flow cost accounting and modifying it by accounting for environmental damage as well as economic benefits. With reference to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, this specific case study was conducted to verify the comprehensive utility of resource value flow analysis by establishing decision-making prioritization according to the dualistic diagnosis of "internal resource loss–external environmental damage costs." In general, applying a resource value flow analysis can both reduce resource consumption and minimize environmental damage, enhancing the sustainable development of a process industry with limited resources. Highlights • Material flows and value flows form an interactive unit in the resource value flow analysis model. • The resource value flow analysis model extends the environmental dimension of material flow cost accounting. • A dualistic diagnosis of "internal resource loss and external environmental damage costs" can achieve both economic profits and environmental benefits. • The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle was introduced to strengthen the practical application of the resource value flow analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guiding industries to produce in an effective and environmentally sustainable manner has become a key issue for governments around the world. Over the past 15 years, series of regional and industrial development policies have been introduced by the Chinese government. This has influenced the geographical distribution and energy efficiency performance of China’s industries. This paper quantifies the influence of enterprises geographical distribution on energy efficiency improvement in the paper industry and aims at providing some helpful suggestions on industrial development to policy makers. The main results show that, firstly, the paper industry in eastern China shows obvious characteristic of agglomeration. The average location quotient is 1.2278. However, following the industrial and regional development policies, the characteristic of agglomeration is weakening. Secondly, only when agglomeration reaches a certain level (location quotient is above 0.5447) will industrial agglomeration positively impact on industrial energy efficiency improvement (a 1% increase in agglomeration will increase dynamic energy efficiency by at least 0.23%). Thirdly, the regional development policies carried out by the government slow the pace of energy efficiency improvement in China’s paper industry. The empirical results indicate that the government needs to consider regional characteristics and consciously guide industrial enterprises to concentrate in the dominant area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology, with its peer-to-peer trading feature, influences the management of energy consumption by offering the potential to transform transparency, efficiency, and sustainability within the energy sector. Nonetheless, there is a need to develop analytical decision-making models tailored for managing peer-to-peer energy transactions to improve energy resilience. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address the research question: How can energy distribution systems be protected via blockchain technology to enhance energy resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities to disruptions ? This paper employs a conceptual research model design and a mathematical decision-making model to address the research question by capturing the peer-to-peer trading capability of blockchain technology. The theory of planned behavior provides theoretical explanations for the proposed model. The sample includes longitudinal energy consumption data from 2015 to 2023 in Texas. The findings indicate a significant improvement in energy efficiency along with a considerable decrease in total electricity consumption. Post hoc analysis results reveal that the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average algorithm is effective as a reliable input for the proposed mathematical model. The significant implications are to implement blockchain-based smart grids in which energy systems become more resilient to disruptions, as the peer-to-peer capability enables users to trade energy. The proposed model suggests that energy will be used more efficiently and effectively. This paper contributes to prior works by introducing a mathematical model that captures the trading behavior of energy consumers. Moreover, this paper proposes the SARIMA algorithm to predict energy demand. • A mathematical peer-to-peer trading model is presented to improve resilience. • A blockchain-based smart grid is presented for consumer energy consumption. • Five machine learning algorithms are presented in energy demand management. • Longitudinal energy consumption data of Texas is used in the model. • Theoretical support is provided using the theory of planned behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations represent a blueprint for the adoption of global practices and policies to foster sustainability in societies and increase efficiencies in resources uses. The Italian National Trust, FAI, has embraced these goals, developing a holistic and transdisciplinary methodology to promote a more sustainable approach to preserve its natural and built heritage. This methodology combines heritage protection with the SDGs in various macro-areas of interventions, including energy, water, biosphere, responsible consumption, and sustainable communities. The aim is to increase access to affordable and clean energy, reduce water, waste, and soil footprints, promote responsible consumption, and develop human capital. The paper proposes a set of strategies to achieve the SDGs in heritage, involving the collaboration of several stakeholders, ranging from institutions to citizens. The methodology is applied to a specific Italian case study, Casa Macchi in Morazzone, to highlight the challenges in achieving the dual objective of preserving the historic building and promoting sustainability in the built environment. [Display omitted] • We propose a trans-disciplinary methodology for sustainable heritage preservation. • The heritage preservation project is analyzed in five macro-areas of intervention. • Assessment of effects on energy, water, biosphere, resources, and sustainability. • Casa Macchi preservation project to apply methodology and prove effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the path of industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) needs to be re-examined from a multi-dimensional perspective, this research opens the internal "black box" of China's industrial eco-economic system driven by sustainable development goals (SDGs) and decomposes IEE into industrial production and sustainable development stages. It further divides the industrial production stage into two parallel subsystems of water use efficiency (WUE) and energy efficiency (EE) and derives SDG6 efficiency (SDG 6 E) and SDG7 efficiency (SDG 7 E) in the sustainable development stage respectively. The paper proposes a meta two-stage parallel entropy dynamic DDF-DEA model to re-measure IEE of 30 provinces in China from 2015 to 2021, discusses the relationship between overall efficiency and stage efficiency, and by using the Tobit model explores various types of influencing factors by subregion. The results show that the modified DDF-DEA model can explore China's IEE more accurately under SDGs. China's IEE is more stable from 2015 to 2021, with the efficiency value always fluctuating between 0.59 and 0.64, the overall level is low, and there is more room for improvement. There are significant inter-provincial differences in IEE and efficiency inertia. In more than 75% of the provinces SDG 7 E constrains IEE improvement, while the dynamic evolution of IEE and its subsystem efficiency varies across regions. Environmental regulation is a common factor affecting IEE across the country and in the east, central, and west regions, whereas the level of economic development, openness to the outside world, and urbanization rate are differential factors affecting IEE across the country and in the three major regions. This study offers new perspectives for exploring the path of IEE enhancement and providing empirical references for the collaborative construction of industrial ecological civilization. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chooses 98 mining cities in China from 2007 to 2021 as research samples. It investigates the policy practice of green development in mining cities according to the point of view of policy combination. We establish a super-efficiency model considering undesirable output to measure the green development level of mining cities and further construct a dynamic panel model based on the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to test the transmission mechanism and heterogeneous effect of different types of environmental regulation to promote the green development of mining cities. The findings demonstrate that environmental regulations about command control, market incentives, and public participation can all help mining cities develop more sustainably. Additionally, there is a nonlinear relationship of an inverted "U" shape between the degree of green development in mining cities and environmental regulations related to command control. Combining policies can encourage the green development of mining cities, but there are crowding-out and substitution effects when environmental regulations are combined with market forces. Environmental regulation promotes urban green development by improving the energy consumption structure of mining cities. In this process, the level of digital development positively regulates the impact of environmental regulation on urban green development. Therefore, the government should choose environmental regulation tools and combinations according to local needs to achieve a multi-pronged effect of energy structure improvement and urban green development and use digital technology to support the green development of mining cities. • Command-controlled, market-motivated, and public-participating environmental regulations can significantly promote urban green development by promoting the improvement of energy structure. • There is an inverted' U' -shaped nonlinear relationship between the intensity of command and control environmental regulation and the green level of mining cities. • The level of digitization can positively regulate the relationship between environmental regulation and urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations have a significant positive impact on urban green development. • The combination of environmental regulations has heterogeneity in urban green development due to factors such as regional resource endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) has a promising share to fulfill the future of sustainable development goals. However, exploiting renewable-based THESs (Trigeneration Hybrid Energy Systems) for providing the energetic demands of the building sector needs further attention. In this regard, the present paper proposes a sustainable THES driven by a biogas-fueled gas engine. The bottoming systems comprise absorption/electrical chillers (AC and EC), organic Rankine cycle (ORC), solar collector (PTC), and an auxiliary boiler. A detailed sustainability evaluation framework (technical and eco-environment) is derived to approve the performance of the THES. Within this procedure, the best working fluid of the ORC is firstly selected and then the sensitivity of the system performance to the design variables is assessed by a comprehensive parametric study. To make the derived framework more applicable, a case study building is considered and the proposed THES is sized to meet its electricity, heating, and cooling energies. The analyses proved that R123 shows the best techno-economic performance among six investigated ORC working fluids. The parametric study illustrated that the highest and lowest sensitivity of the THES's performance is related to the outlet temperatures of EC condenser and AC evaporator. Furthermore, the energy, exergy, and economic efficiencies of the THES for the case study building are 61.78%, 25.24%, and 44.77%. In this condition, discounted payback period is 7 years, demonstrating the feasibility of this proposal. The maximum CO 2 emission is released in November, with a total electricity generation of 320 MWh. [Display omitted] • Renewable-based hybrid system is introduced to produce cold, heat, and power. • Comprehensive sensitivity analysis is done to assess impact of some decision variables. • A case study building is considered to boost NZEB concept based on the proposed system. • Energy efficiency and payback period is 61.78% and 7 years for the case study building. • Using renewables in energy systems to reduce fossil fuel share has great significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Environmental issues and cleaner production are getting increasing attentions currently, making the clean production and sustainable consumption with low emissions significant. Traditional energy vehicles are increasingly unsuitable for the development of current society. It's a trend in the current vehicle market to accelerate the substitution of new energy vehicles for traditional energy vehicles. This paper makes a theoretical study on the development of new energy vehicle market supported by the government. First, this paper establishes a Cournot duopoly model which includes domestic and imported new energy vehicle manufacturers. Through the analysis of this model, this paper argues that government support policies such as subsidies and tariffs can effectively expand the market share of domestic new energy vehicles with less technology. Yet this approach is unsustainable, because domestic new energy vehicles with less technology can only survive in the market by shortening the gap with imported brands. Secondly, this paper establishes a Stackelberg model with product price as the decision variable and find that when there is a technical gap, the first mover advantage in the market will no longer exist. Finally, this paper compares two kinds of subsidies for domestic new energy vehicles and shows that the two subsidies are not different from subsidizing consumers or enterprises in expanding market share, and the consumer can obtain higher social welfare level as the subsidy object. Highlights • New energy vehicles boom with obvious substitution effect on traditional ones. • Both subsidies and tariffs can expand the production of domestic new-energy cars. • First move of domestic brands into the market can narrow the price difference. • First mover advantage no longer exists in the Stackelberg game. • Consumer subsidy is superior to enterprise subsidy in new energy auto industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The governance of industrial energy use in recent times has been driven by the quest for greater energy security and sustainable industrial growth. Sustainable use of energy necessitates a rethink in the production, use and governance of energy resources that stimulates and supports transition to a more effective and efficient energy system. However, how do we ensure an effective transition in industrial energy use in the midst of gross energy poverty within a developing country context? This paper explores the motives and drivers of changes in energy use within the industrial sector. Statistical data from published reports, as well as informal interviews of stakeholders in Nigeria's industrial sector were used. Following analysis of data, four important salient phases (eras) of industrial energy transition in Nigeria's manufacturing sector was established. These distinct eras are: (1) Grid-dependent era; (2) Self-generation era; (3) Industrial energy outsourcing era; (4) Industrial energy conservation era. The study reveals that: outsourcing of industrial services; cost reduction; and business realignment motives are key drivers of transitions in Nigeria's industrial sector. This paper concludes by highlighting the implications of these changes for the future of energy and sustainable industrial growth in Nigeria. Highlights • Industrial energy transitions in Nigeria is happening but rather slow. • There is high dependence on biofuels and wastes for certain industrial processes. • Cost reduction and business realignment motives are key drivers of transitions. • Outsourcing industrial energy services is viewed as one way to drive transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive energy-related carbon emission intensity will lead to deterioration of environmental quality and hinder green economic growth. This paper proposes a novel self-adaptive fractional order grey generalized Verhulst model (SAFGGVM) to predict energy-related carbon emission intensity in China, America, India, Russia, and Japan with nonlinear and complex characteristics effectively. Firstly, self-adaptive fractional order and dynamic background value coefficient are introduced to capture the nonlinear evolutionary trends. Subsequently, the optimal nonlinear parameters are determined using Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm through comprehensive comparison. Furthermore, the flexibility of SAFGGVM is verified by presenting its relevance to existing models. Finally, the validity, applicability, and robustness of SAFGGVM are confirmed by comparing with two machine learning models and four grey prediction models. The empirical results exhibit that the overall precision of SAFGGVM model significantly prevails over the others in five cases, with MAPE values less than 6% in both the simulation and prediction intervals. The out-of-sample forecast results indicate that the energy-related carbon emission intensity of five countries will fall into 5.7024, 1.6030, 7.3668, 8.1633, 2.0399 tons/10,000 USD by 2025, and the decreasing rate of developing countries tends to catch up with, or even exceed, developed countries. Projection results can serve as a reference point for countries to achieve green and sustainable development. • A novel self-adaptive grey generalized Verhulst model is proposed. • Energy-related carbon emission intensity (ECEI) of five countries is predicted. • Optimal nonlinear parameters are determined by Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm. • The novel model is superior to other competing models in accuracy and roubutness. • Decline rate of ECEI in developing countries will catch up with developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport is one of the sectors of the energy consumption where the presence of renewable energies is lower and its increase is hard to achieve especially in countries that import all the fuels that they consume. This paper addresses the progress that Portugal is making toward a more sustainable transport sector. A near- and medium- term scenario analysis is performed, based on the energy consumption in the past and on a detailed evaluation of the trends for renewable energy in the transport sector. The near-term scenarios aim at portraying the conditions that allow the country to fulfill the target of 10% renewable share in transportation established by the European Union. The medium-term scenarios highlight the implications, in terms of emission reduction and of energy independence, deriving from the use of electric vehicles and natural gas, synthetic and fossil, as alternatives to liquid fuels. The results show that electric vehicles would substantially reduce the total energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions, while the promotion of routes for synthetic natural gas would contribute to taking advantage of local resources. The paper also provides some insights about the design of future policies to build a more sustainable transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether industrial agglomeration can promote an increase in energy efficiency is of great importance to not only China’s energy conservation and emissions reduction plans, but also China’s future sustainable development. This paper uses statistical data from 285 cities, from 2004 to 2013, to analyze the effect of industrial agglomeration on energy efficiency. The spatial autocorrelation tests show that there is significant spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity in urban energy efficiency. Although dynamic spatial econometric results show that industrial agglomeration can promote an increase in energy efficiency from a country level, there are significant differences at a regional level. In the east, the effect of industrial agglomeration on energy efficiency has a threshold effect, but in central and western areas, industrial agglomeration can promote the increase of energy efficiency, with the positive effect in western areas greater than that in central areas. Finally, based on the research, this paper puts forward concrete suggestions to enhance energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though renewable energy development has gained momentum in China, thermal power generation still accounts for approximately 70% of the county's total power generation serving as the major source of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in China. Facing the challenges of meeting 2030 peak target of CO 2 emission and realizing the coordinated development of thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, this paper applies generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) to decompose the dynamics in the relevant CO 2 emission. The effects of five factors including electricity demand, energy consumption, technology, energy efficiency and energy-mix are considered. The decomposition suggests that electricity demand is the primary factor driving the CO 2 emission up, whereas technology effect decreases CO 2 emission the most. Given the significant roles of technology, energy-mix and energy efficiency in CO 2 emissions reduction, seven scenarios are designed to identify the optimal coordinated development pathway for thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Through upgrading energy structure and/or enhancing energy efficiency, the thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region can achieve coordinated development and realize the 2030 peak target under four scenarios. The detailed development pathways for CO 2 emissions and specific policy implications for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are provided to further govern CO 2 emissions and maintain sustainable development. • Proposed a five-factor Generalized Divisia Index Model (GDIM) for CO 2 emission analysis. • Analyzed the CO 2 from thermal power generation in China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. • Electricity demand and technology contributed the most to the positive and negative changes of CO 2 , respectively. • Designed seven thermal generation development scenarios to study the CO 2 change until 2030. • The 2030 CO 2 peak target can be achieved under four scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries in China, which contributes to high carbon emissions and hinders efforts to reduce the emissions. The high energy consumption and emission have seriously constrained the growth of low carbon economy in China's construction industry. And reducing the carbon emission from construction industry (CECI) has become the key to sustainable development and the achievement of "double carbon target". The paper firstly decomposes the main influencing factors and calculates their effects by LMDI model. Then, the Tapio decoupling index is used to explore the decoupling relationship between carbon emissions and economic output. Finally, the spatial-temporal evolution of carbon emissions is analyzed through spatial autocorrelation theory. The results show that the carbon emissions from construction industry are highly increased by the construction employment rate (EM), and may be reduced by the energy intensity (EI) and carbon emission efficiency (CI). And the regions with better decoupling status are the eastern and central regions, which have relatively developed construction industry. Moreover, the spatial-temporal characteristic of carbon emissions is "high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north," showing obviously regional differences. [Display omitted] • Factors about production technology are taken into account, reflecting the characteristics of the construction industry. • Developed regions have better decoupling potential and more responsibility for CO 2. • The spatial distribution is "high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north". • The provinces in a region have similar decoupling status and carbon emission distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable consumption (SC) is key for sustainable development, but only limited studies have examined how to motivate SC among consumers in developing countries. Younger consumers tend to more sustainable consumption while whether they really understand the SC concept is not clear. To explore the role of SC understanding for motivating SC behaviors, this paper develops a concept model with hypotheses to propose that SC understanding mediates relationships between influencing factors and SC behaviors. Based on 623 usable questionnaires collected from junior high schools and senior high schools in three eastern cities of China, five influencing factors for SC behaviors are identified, they are, education, awareness & attitude, social influence, effectiveness of energy saving and emission reduction for sustainable products, and differentiation of sustainable products from regular products. Statistic results through hierarchical regression analysis demonstrate that SC understanding is necessary to motivate SC behaviors with certain influencing factors. Chinese adolescents can understand the SC concept through education and then purchase sustainable products. Only if sustainable products can show benefits of energy saving and emission reduction, Chinese adolescent would like to use these products. Environmental awareness and attitude can bring environmental treatment and disposal of products, but SC understanding is necessary. This paper contributes to extend the TPB to develop a conceptual model including education as one influencing factor for SC behaviors. It also develops three factors for SC behaviors from the product life cycle perspective. Besides, it also contributes to extend the previous studies about motivation of SC consumption to adolescents in an emergent economy of China to examine the role of SC understanding. Statistic results reveal the low implementation level of SC behaviors, and the government should highlight sustainable education to improve sustainable awareness and SC understanding. It is also shown that adolescents would like to purchase sustainable products if environmental performance of such products can be demonstrated, which also provide insights for enterprises to achieve win-win opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that many past studies have only been concerned with efficiency and not with the efficiency achievement ratio, whereas information on Baltic Sea countries' energy or environmental efficiency has always been based on studies that focus on different research objectives, but do not include all the Baltic Sea countries. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the achievement ratios for energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions on both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by including all Baltic Sea countries as a case study and constructing new static and dynamic efficiency indices. The study's results show that the 2008 Global Financial Crisis resulted in low achievement ratios for energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and the conclusion is that since a lot of attention has been paid to staving off an economic downturn, the Global Financial Crisis may in fact have stalled actions to combat carbon dioxide emissions and energy over-consumption. In addition, the Baltic Sea countries should strengthen energy management on the demand side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coherency of research, development, and innovation processes are vital in promoting a more resource efficient society. Sustainability-oriented innovation systems define specific kinds of innovation systems, i.e. those that are directed to the aims of sustainable development. This paper develops an integrated method with four layers of analysis to evaluate the priorities and performances of such systems. The method is applied to a sample of emerging and innovation based economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Turkey, and Singapore. The analyses consider the 6 main activities or functional dynamics of innovation systems and a set of 19 keywords. The keywords relate to the thematic clusters of renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, and environmental management. The priorities of the countries in each main interaction of the system are classified accordingly. The priorities are compared to the existing level of specialization in the keywords based on the intermediate outputs of the system. The analyses cover 153,838 papers and 15,138 patents between the years 2003 and 2014. A Sustainable Innovation Index is developed to aggregate the normalized values of country performance across all keywords. Singapore receives the highest value (21.17) and the average of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is 14.91. The results determine the ability of countries to align priorities and performance towards more mature innovation systems for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Electric vehicles (EVs) are currently the most promising technology with the potential to transform transportation and energy landscapes to make industry and society more sustainable. Although their adoption has been much faster than anticipated a few years ago, resulting in a significant increase from 400,000 EVs sold in 2013 to more than 3 million in 2017, the coming years will be crucial for determining whether EVs are to become a new transportation industry "standard", the role of which has been held by internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles over the last hundred years. Not only will innovation in EV batteries determine a "win" or "fail" for EVs, but a significant role in its acceptance will be successful development of a comprehensive EV eco-system, establishing an efficient network of EV chargers as well as attractive and affordable charging tariffs. Furthermore, having insight as to how much money EV users are willing to pay for the charging service (i.e. , willingness to pay) in various circumstances is one of the essential factors in building a successful EV eco-system. That being said, this paper utilizes a gamified survey for exploring a person's willingness to pay for EV charging. The experimental setup includes both the classic (text-only) questionnaire, as well as the game-based questionnaire. Therefore, not only have interesting insights on the willingness to pay for EV charging been identified, but analysis of user experience analysis from the questionnaires suggests that use of gamification is a good approach to performing a survey as it exhibits superior hedonic quality in comparison to classic methods (i.e. , text-only questionnaire). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cleaner production is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy which stressed the importance of environment and human beings. Although the application of cleaner production is becoming more and more mature in different industries, since the complexity of the mining operation itself and its extensive and complex impacts on the ecological environment, the application of cleaner production in the mining industry encounters great challenges. For this purpose, the paper presents some developments and new insights of environmental problems and deep mining strategy for cleaner production in mines. Firstly, the general impacts on the ecological environment of mining industry and the current corresponding solutions as well as future prospects are presented. Secondly, the ecological environment pollution induced by tailings dam and its elimination approaches are reviewed. For the accelerating volume of tailings dam waiting to be processed, the exploration and research of the comprehensive utilization and treatment of tailings is expected to be more effective with larger consumption and wider range of application. The development direction is the establishment of mine without tailings. With the development of modern technology, some intelligent monitoring and warning technologies have helped the mining engineers to keep a vigilant eye on tailings dam continually. Finally, to convert the "harm" of four highs and one disturbance induced by the complex mechanical environment in deep mines into "benefit", various specific measures with relatively high novelty and sustainability are recommended. Moreover, the conception map of safer and more efficient exploitation of resources in deep mines is depicted for industrial best practice and future research directions to enhance cleaner production work in mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Stabilized Emulsions (SE) is a Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technique that reduces mixing temperatures to approximately 100 °C, the range of WMA with the greatest reduction in temperature compared to Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). The term 'stabilized' refers to the good storage stability of the stabilized emulsion compared to that of common emulsions. Another technique that reduces the environmental impact of asphalt mixtures is the addition of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). This paper presents the research results in which the performance of SE-WMA with different amounts of added RAP were evaluated. SE-WMA was produced at 100 °C, and could be prepared with high RAP contents, reducing the consumption of virgin materials and lowering energy needs. The laboratory study and a pavement trial section were used to evaluate the performance of SE-WMA in comparison with HMA. The experimental results indicated that the physical and mechanical properties of SE-WMA, without RAP, are similar to conventional HMA, showing that the effect of reducing mixing temperature does not significantly affect the quality or performance of these asphalt mixtures. The performance of SE-WMA with 25% and 44% RAP, was slightly lower than that obtained from conventional HMA. However, the quality of the SE-WMA complied with the requirements of conventional HMA, indicating that SSE-WMA with up to 44% RAP content is suitable for pavement construction. Deflections measured in the HMA and SE-WMA trial sections without RAP and with 25% RAP showed similar results, although the SE-WMA with 44% RAP showed 8% higher deflection. The energy consumption to produce one ton of asphalt mixture calculated using a thermodynamic model showed that SE-WMA is effective for the reduction of energy consumption in asphalt plants. Overall, the study concludes that SE-WMA with RAP is a sustainable material for pavement construction that could save energy and consume less virgin material than conventional HMA pavements. Highlights • Stabilized Emulsion (SE) is a new Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) pavement technique. • The performance of SE-WMA without RAP was equivalent to conventional HMA. • The quality of SE-WMA with 44% RAP complied with the requirements of conventional HMA. • A model showed that SE-WMA is effective for the reduction of energy consumption. • SE-WMA with RAP is a sustainable material for pavement construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cities, the core of the global climate change mitigation and strategic low-carbon development, are shelters to more than half of the world population and responsible for three quarters of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG). This special volume (SV) provides a platform that promotes multi- and inter- disciplinary analyses and discussions on the climate change mitigation for cities. All papers are divided into four themes, including GHG emission inventory and accounting, climate change and urban sectors, climate change and sustainable development, and strategies and mitigation action plans. First, this SV provides methods for constructing emission inventory from both production and consumption perspectives. These methods are useful to improve the comprehensiveness and accuracy of carbon accounting for international cities. Second, the climate change affects urban sectors from various aspects; simultaneously, GHG emissions caused by activities in urban sectors affect the climate system. This SV focuses on mitigation policies and assessment of energy, transport, construction, and service sectors. Third, climate change mitigation of cities is closely connected to urban sustainable development. This SV explores the relationships between climate change mitigation with urbanization, ecosystems, air pollution, and extreme events. Fourth, climate change mitigation policies can be divided into two categories: quantity-based mechanism (e.g., carbon emission trading) and price-based mechanism (e.g., carbon tax). This SV provides experiences of local climate change mitigation all over the world and proposes the city-to-city cooperation on climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The sustainability of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a significant challenge faced by developing countries, especially China. Evaluating the sustainability status of China's water-energy-food, and improving its sustainable use, may provide good physical conditions to support China's future development. This paper applied the Pressure, State, and Response (PSR) model to select evaluation indexes. A combination weighting method was used to combine two objective weighting methods to determine index weights. The study constructed the classical field, the limited field, and the matter-element to be evaluated. This allowed the establishment of an improved matter-element extension model to evaluate the sustainability of the water-energy-food nexus; the model was then used to quantitatively evaluate the sustainability of China's water-energy-food nexus. The simulation results indicated that in 2005, the sustainability of China's water-energy-food was at a relatively low efficiency rank. By 2015, the sustainability of China's water-energy-food had reached a general efficiency rank. The results suggested that the sustainability of China's water-energy-food system significantly improved between 2005 and 2015; however, the improved sustainability remained at a general status (The general status means that the sustainability of water-energy-food nexus in China can meet the basic development needs, but it is far from the optimal state and needs further adjustment and improvement). Thus, China should improve its current utilization patterns for the three resources and consider them as a whole. This would help realize synergistic resource use and enhance their sustainability. Highlights • The sustainability of WEF nexus is a severe challenge faced by developing country. • An improved matter-element extension model to evaluate sustainability of WEF nexus. • The sustainability of China's WEF system significantly improved from 2005 to 2015. • China should improve its utilization patterns for the WEF and consider it as whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current attempts for sustainable-focused smart community evaluation have failed to make significant advancements, and quantitative analysis for sustainable development is still a major challenge in China. In recent years, smart community evaluation (SCE) for sustainable development has attracted considerable attentions. Government decision-makers can make it easier to stimulate household sustainable consumption by conducting SCE. This paper develops a combined analytical framework that will assist in the process of multi-source data integration and uncertain reasoning of SCE. This framework is used to combine quantitative metrics and subjective judgment with evidential reasoning approach, and this frarmework can also take decision makers’ risk preferences into consideration using prospect theory. Four urban communities are evaluated by the proposed framework to demonstrate its applicability and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past three decades, the notion of sustainable cities has become central in planning and managing urban areas in the world and the large-scale city formation has been formed in big cities. As a result of economic growth and urban transformation, Shanghai, a major Chinese international metropolis, faces ongoing issues with resource waste and low energy utilization. Therefore, this paper aims to consider the availability of water for energy production from a consumption-based perspective and estimate the water footprint of the energy supply using a regional input-output analysis approach for Shanghai. As a result, we conclude that the water footprint of the energy supply of Shanghai is about 1.28 billion m 3 in 2007, with 46.1% of water used for electricity and heat supply. The total water withdrawal by the energy sector is about 2.35 billion m 3 and additional water withdrawal needed is about 35% of the total water withdrawals by the energy sector in Shanghai. Furthermore, an energy self-sufficiency scenario was developed, and the scenario analysis reveals that 55% more water would be required to ensure a self-sufficient energy sector. To guarantee future regional energy security, it is important to manage water resources effectively by allocating water resources among sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergent smart energy distribution systems offer new approaches in the sustainable management of energy consumption, even at household level. The smart grid and smart house paradigms provide the necessary infrastructure to improve the efficiency of the distribution system and at the same time offer benefits for the consumers, too. In this paper the control of an intelligent household refrigerator is introduced, which can autonomously react to hourly energy tariffs by shifting its operating periods to less expensive time slots, thus it greedily minimizes the energy bill of the consumer. As a “side effect”, the energy consumption is decreased during peak periods, which is the primary purpose of the utility provider, and also decreases the CO 2 emission. The proposed controller adaptively learns the dynamic behavioral model of the appliance, and utilizes this model in a predictive control scheme. The proposed method is evaluated utilizing a realistic household refrigerator model and real pricing data. The operation is also validated by a real hardware implementation, which confirms that the control algorithm can be implemented using inexpensive embedded hardware devices. According to experiments using real pricing data, the proposed model predictive control can save 9% of the energy bill and can decrease the peak energy consumption by as much as 76%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve green development, ample environmental subsidies have been invested into many energy-intensive firms (such as thermal power firms) in China. Investigations of the effects of this kind of subsidy can help to provide specific and important implications for ongoing regulations. Unlike previous studies on the national, regional or sectoral level, this paper measures green efficiency and its compositions of thermal power firms and studies the impact of environmental subsidies on green efficiency by using the classical Slacks-based Measure and Tobit model. The results show that the average green efficiency ranges from 0.509 to 0.663 during 2010–2015, which is much lower than the general efficiency. The green scale efficiency is the main reason for the low green efficiency, thus indicating large room for improvement. Environmental subsidies negatively affect green efficiency and its decompositions from 2010 to 2013. The negative effect becomes weak and insignificant in 2014, and the environmental subsidies start to significantly promote green efficiency and its decompositions in 2015. According to our findings, some implications relating to improving green scale efficiency, increasing the intensity of environmental subsidies to firms and strengthening their supervision are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automobile sector is rapidly increasing its market share worldwide in recent years. It is because of various business strategies by automobile manufacturer such as more focus on small cars and fuel-efficient cars having a low market price that are targeted to capture the maximum market. But due to increasing market share of the automobile sector there are several environmental issues are also arising such as carbon emission, global warming, etc. In such a scenario, automobile manufacturers are facing dual pressure one, to save the environment and another is to maintain the performance of the firm in the long run. The performance of the firm can be judged on the basis of financial, operational and marketing capability of the firm. This paper develops an approach towards the adoption of the green initiatives at the firm, and also tries to build a relationship between the performance of the firm and sustainable development through the adoption of green initiatives. The paper would discuss various green initiatives such as green marketing, green supply chain management, green innovation, etc. which firms are adopting. The study would focus on the facts and opportunities of green initiatives for the success of the firm as well as sustainable development. The paper is based on the exploratory research, and extensive literature survey has been done to bring the findings of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often difficult to determine the effects of policies at a sectoral level in the overlapping domains of pollution control and energy conservation, making it difficult to consider co-benefits of energy conservation and air pollution reduction and tensions. In China, the industry sector contributes much more carbon and pollution emissions than other sectors. In this paper, Baoshan District (BSD), one of the most important industrial zones in the Shanghai metropolis, is used as a case study to illustrate the situation and to provide information to assess the effectiveness of environmental sustainable development policies in industries. The policies resulting from China's Eleventh Five-year Plan (FYP) are considered at the level of BSD. In particular, the result of implementing local policies of air pollution control and energy are analysed at BSD. Three indicator systems are adopted for quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating energy saving and air pollution reduction achieved by technical, structural and management measures in industrial enterprises of BSD. Analysis made in the paper shows that the co-benefits of pollution cutting and energy conservation have been achieved at certain scopes and degrees in the industry sector in BSD, e.g. SO 2 and Particulate Matter (PM) were reduced by 35.1% and 7.7% respectively, and the energy density was cut by 26.7%. Due to existing barriers of the lack of co-planning and co-operations in the process of designing and implementing the policies, and the overlooking the leakage of emissions in the whole project area, the overall co-benefits cannot be achieved effectively in BSD. Recommendations are made for future detailed studies of this or similar districts to develop an indicator system of co-benefits to help demonstrate the advantages of joint planning and policies for co-benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the sustainability of urban ecosystem is becoming a key area in global sustainable development. Urban metabolism is an effective analysis tool for the study of urban ecosystem. In this regard, how to evaluate the level of urban sustainable development and identify the key factors that affect urban metabolism is critical. Many studies on urban metabolism have been explored during the past half century, but few concerns about the key factors that affect urban metabolism. Therefore, this paper fills such a gap by combining emergy and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) methods in order to analyze the sustainable development level and identify the driving forces of emergy utilization, respectively. A typical industrial city, Shenyang in northeast China, was chosen as a case study city in this paper. Results show that renewable resource utilization in Shenyang was very limited from 2000 to 2010, while nonrenewable resources and the imported resources increased rapidly. During this period, total emergy utilization of Shenyang increased from 8.52 × 10 22 sej to 21.53 × 10 22 sej, and emergy density increased with annual increasing rate of 10.34%, demonstrating a fast development of the economy and high level of resident's consumption. LMDI method was employed to analyze the driving forces of emergy consumption from the aspects of scale, structure and intensity. Results show that the rapid increase of emergy utilization in Shenyang was mainly caused by the expansion of economic scale, while emergy intensity greatly contributed to offset total consumption, and industry structure played a marginal role, with a minor value for its growth. Based upon these results, several policy recommendations were raised, including the use of more renewable and clean energy sources, a regenerative and preventative eco-industrial development approach, and capacity-building efforts, so that the overall environment pressure on urban development can be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of various environmental problems and challenges concerning resource allocation, the utilisation of renewable resources is increasingly important for the efficient use of raw materials. Therefore, cascading utilisation (i.e., the multiple material utilisations of renewable resources prior to their conversion into energy) and approaches that aim to further increase resource efficiency (e.g., the utilisation of by-products) can be considered guiding principles. This paper therefore introduces the Special Volume "Improved Resource Efficiency and Cascading Utilisation of Renewable Materials". Because both research aspects, resource efficiency and cascading utilisation, belong to several disciplines, the Special Volume adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and presents 16 articles, which can be divided into four subjects: Innovative Materials based on Renewable Resources and their Impact on Sustainability and Resource Efficiency, Quantitative Models for the Integrated Optimisation of Production and Distribution in Networks for Renewable Resources, Information Technology-based Collaboration in Value Generating Networks for Renewable Resources, and Consumer Behaviour towards Eco-friendly Products. The interdisciplinary perspective allows a comprehensive overview of current research on resource efficiency, which is supplemented with 15 book reviews showing the extent to which textbooks of selected disciplines already refer to resource efficiency. This introductory article highlights the relevance of the four subjects, presents summaries of all papers, and discusses future research directions. The overall contribution of the Special Volume is that it bridges the resource efficiency research of selected disciplines and that it presents several approaches for more environmentally sound production and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The statement that in the full world, increasing the ultimate efficiency, expressed as service / throughput , is the necessary condition for humanity to achieve high levels of well-being within ecological limits is honoured as Daly's Proposition in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to make Daly's Proposition effective guidance for policymaking related to sustainable development. For this aim, this paper puts forward the indicator Ecological Well-being Performance, which is composed of the Human Development Index and the Ecological Footprint, to measure the ultimate efficiency. Furthermore, by means of matrix analysis and factor decomposition analysis, the respective pathways for countries at different stages of development to make the sustainable development transition were discussed. The G20 countries were taken as the cases to conduct the research. The empirical results show that improvements in well-being and increases in throughput level are not necessarily positively related. The relationship between the two depends on how countries control throughput levels and improve the Ecological Well-being Performance, which also explains different performances on the sustainable development transition. In a simple way, this contribution provides new methods and criteria to track and evaluate national performance on sustainable development by referring to Daly's original theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is experiencing an unprecedented transition towards a low-carbon and renewable-based energy system, driven by the imperatives of mitigating climate changes, building climate resilience and ensuring sustainable development. Recently, polygeneration systems based on renewable energies have emerged as a viable solution to support the energy transition since they can improve resource utilization and energy efficiency, thus reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and the environmental impacts on ecosystems. Renewable polygeneration systems can play a significant role in the decarbonization of the food processing industry due to its high thermal energy demand at low and medium temperature levels. This paper presents a detailed analysis of a renewable polygeneration system integrating solar, geothermal and biomass energies and able to produce electricity, heat and cold water. The novelty of this study is the analysis of polygeneration system configurations relying solely on renewable energies and the optimization of the strategy to control the energy exchange between power systems, storage facilities and utilities. Two system configurations based on different power technologies and control strategies are investigated and compared, considering as end-user a milk production process with hot and cold water requirements at different temperature levels and load profiles. To this end, a dynamic model in Matlab/Simulink has been developed to simulate the behaviour of the polygeneration system over time and evaluate its overall energy performance parameters. For each system configuration, the optimal operating strategy has been identified by maximizing the energy conversion efficiency and minimizing the unmet thermal and cooling loads. Simulation results highlighted that, compared to polygeneration systems relying only on fluctuating renewable energies, those including a backup heat source (i.e., a biomass boiler) were able to meet the thermal energy needs of larger and more complex milk production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the impact of renewable/non-renewable energy consumption on ecological quality and economic growth can serve to the sustainability of energy, ecology, and economy. This paper provides a new perspective of the comprehensive system of the 3E model, and introduces indicator of social factor to examine the non-linear effects of urbanization on energy, economy, and the environment. A threshold panel regression model is developed using the data of 120 countries in the last 20 years. In the proposed model, renewable energy and non-renewable energy are explanatory variables, economic growth and ecological footprint are explained variables, and urbanization are threshold variable. Non-linear relationships are concretized and quantified in the research of global and different income groups. The results show that global renewable energy can promote economic growth while improving the environment. As the urbanization rate increases, the negative effect of renewable energy on the ecological footprint first weakens and then increases, and the positive coefficient on the economy maintains a growth trend. Non-renewable energy has a more obvious positive effect on economic growth, but it increases the ecological footprint. The development of urbanization strengthens its promotion of the economy and reduces its pressure on the environment. From the perspective of different income groups, renewable energy does not always suppress the ecological footprint. The energy transition reduces economic growth in the initial stages of urbanization in certain regions. After crossing the threshold, the coefficient changes of different income groups have similarities and differences. Based on the conclusions, some recommendations are put forward, including promoting the transformation of energy consumption structure, improving energy efficiency and accelerating the process of urbanization. The model in this paper is suitable for investigating the nonlinear impact of urbanization on the 3E system through panel data, and can provide theoretical support for studying the threshold effect of a country or economy. This study also shows the importance of renewable energy and the indirect effects of urbanization, which is helpful for formulating global sustainable and coordinated development policies. [Display omitted] • A new perspective of the energy-economy-environment (3E) model is proposed. • Threshold models enable the non-linear relationships to be concretized and quantified. • Global renewable energy improves the environment while promoting economic growth. • Urbanization reduces the pressure on the environment from energy consumption. • Urbanization strengthens the positive effect of energy on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing sustainable business models for high energy-consuming equipment (HECE) has attracted increasing attention. Product Service System (PSS) is one eminent candidate, in which assessing economic and environmental performance of PSS during the entire lifecycle of the equipment is of utmost importance. All the stakeholders should conclude their own benefits in advance. Yet, there is only few decision-making support tools for developing PSS of HECE, and the stakeholders can hardly apply them because of a lack of expertise. This paper articulates an evaluation tool which combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) to support the development of PSS for HECE. A framework is proposed to guide the evaluation procedure which consists of seven steps including goal and scope definition, system boundary determination, methods selection, scenarios construction, data collection, quantitative analysis and results interpretation. Air separation equipment (ASE), a typical HECE, is selected as a case study. The results show that extra economic benefits for both manufacturer and client are associated with increased investment, more environmental burdens and higher risk. Developing PSS might not always be a sustainable practice, e.g., gas supply service would lead to extra economic and environmental burdens due to frequent transportation. The suitable conditions for implementing different PSS modes are analysed and discussed. The case study demonstrates that the stakeholders can carry out LCA and LCC in a more efficient, convenient and comprehensive manner using our proposed evaluation tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable management of aluminium has become crucial due to the exponential growth in global demand. The transition to a sustainable society with lightweight electric vehicles has led to the increasing use of aluminium in the transportation sector. This has consequently led to the importance of aluminium recycling to prevent the valuable material stream going to landfill. In addition, the extraction of primary aluminium has high environmental impact due to the high energy consumption and waste generation in comparison to secondary aluminium processing. Despite being one of the most recycled metals, ongoing trends of multi-material designs and the associated joining choices have caused increasing difficulty of separating aluminium with high purity. This paper evaluates the types of joining techniques causing impurities in the aluminium streams, and the relationship between particle size reduction and the presence of impurities due to joints particularly for end-of-life vehicles. An empirical experiment in a leading European recycling facility was conducted and demonstrated that mechanical fasteners, such as machine screws, socket screws, bolt screws and rivets, are the major types of joining technique causing impurities. Based on the observations from this case study, the characteristics of imperfectly liberated joints are examined. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is also performed to evaluate the environmental impact of recycling different aluminium scrap qualities with varying impurity levels. The outcomes are then used to provide ecodesign guidelines aimed at improving the quality and increase the quantity of recycled aluminium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the iron and steel industry (ISI) accounts for more than 16% of China's total energy consumption. Improving energy efficiency (EE) and promoting energy savings in this industry have vital significance for China's further sustainable development. Using provincial panel data from 2000 to 2014 and meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper investigates EE and the energy-saving potential (EP) of China's ISI by considering regional technology heterogeneities. The results show that (1) from 2001 to 2014, EE in China's ISI achieved significant improvement. Technological progress is the most powerful driving factor, while the declines in scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency are two obstructive factors; (2) the sources of energy inefficiency (EI) show distinct spatial difference characteristics. EI in the eastern region mainly stems from scale inefficiency and pure technical inefficiency, while that in the central and western regions stems from three aspects of scale inefficiency, pure technical inefficiency, and technology gap; and (3) there is considerable EP in China's ISI, which represents nearly 80% of ISI's current total energy consumption. Because the sources of EP vary across regions, the focus of future work for China's regional ISI should also vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As for the academics and policymakers, more attention has been given to the issue on how to drive green development of the manufacturing through regulations and innovations. We construct the extended Crépon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model and employ the panel data of Chinese manufacturing industries during 2003–2014 to examine the effects of environmental regulation on industrial innovation and green development. The findings reveal that (1) in the long term, environmental regulation has crowded out R&D investment. (2) Environmental regulation has inhibited patent outputs so that the “weak” version of Porter hypothesis is not underpinned. (3) In the short term, environmental regulation has promoted the improvements of labor productivity, energy efficiency and environmental efficiency in the manufacturing industry excluding green total factor productivity (GTFP), whereas in the long term, environmental regulation only has increased energy efficiency while it has obstructed labor productivity, which provides no support for the “strong” version of Porter hypothesis. (4) Different innovation outputs have distinct influences on labor productivity, energy efficiency, environmental efficiency and GTFP. Finally, this paper provides pertinent policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Cleaner Production“(CP) is about less and more efficient energy and materials use and the substitution of more harmful products (for the environment and health) by less dangerous ones. CP was the reply of the industry to the call for sustainable development as launched by the WCED (1987) and further elaborated in Rio's Agenda 21 (UN, 1992). During the past 25 years, the concept was put in practice. During this period it changed in scope, methods, and application area. This provided a deeper socio-economic impact to an idea that was originally launched to awaken industry on its environmental responsibilities. This paper provides a review of essentials that contributed to the fundamental changes in CP during the most recent quarter of a century. It takes off with a review of CP definitions illustrating the changes of the content. Changes in scope are exemplified with the increasing importance of “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR). This includes that post-modern companies have not only responsibilities on their economic performance and the environment, but should also act on issues including human rights and resources, business ethics, and community involvement. The links between CP and green and circular economy are indicated. The CP approach is increasingly applied outside the industry. CP for sustainable tourism is discussed in more detail but is only an example of the wider application in e.g. agriculture or health services. This widening of contents necessitates more and better-adapted methods supporting the measurement of the CP components. Indicators, assessment strategies, and green accounting are increasingly improved and used more specifically and frequently. This evolution is discussed in a context of a dilution of the original environmental targets in a wider, more societal scope and the transition towards a more responsible, proactive and reliable management of the sectors applying CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission and energy consumption are two important factors need to be addressed while production planning for sustainable development. As the population is increasing and demand of various commodity is increasing rapidly therefore production planning is required which reduces the environmental effect, improves energy efficiency and also meet the forecasted demand. In this paper, two objectives carbon emission and energy consumption are taken in parallel consideration and methodology is proposed for production planning via existing and new process routes for minimizing one objective while imposing a maximum limit on the other objective. The proposed methodology is graphical and based on the concepts of pinch analysis that gives physical insight to the problem. Current production scenario utilizes existing process routes and to meet the future demand new process routes (based on best available techniques) are to be added. Production planning is to be calculated via each process route in order to minimize energy consumption and carbon emission. Proposed methodology is illustrated via two examples. First example consists of general production planning and the second example consists of production planning of crude steel. The planning is carried for two cases, in the first case carbon emission is constrained within a maximum limit and energy consumption is minimized while in the other case energy consumption is constrained within a maximum limit and carbon emission is minimized. Thus, proposed methodology provides flexibility to the planner to consider either of the two cases based on scenario and other requirements and it reduces the excess burden of carbon emission and energy consumption while satisfying the demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To stimulate private sector investments and promote energy efficiency, in recent years through Public Private Partnership arrangements, the public sector uses private companies, the Energy Service Company (ESCO), to perform one or more activities related to the provision of energy services, and the contractual arrangements defining the contracting parties' obligations and rights are traditionally based on Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). Although EPC is a valuable model for delivering public energy efficiency projects, the adoption is still far from its vast potential mainly because of two unresolved issues: the dilemma of equally sharing the benefits between the public and private parties so as assuring a win-win condition, and the lack of adequate public procedures that support the selection of the most appropriate EPC schema given certain circumstances and projects' characteristics. The existing literature have analyzed the advantages of EPC mechanism for delivering energy efficiency projects and explored the critical success factors of EPC. However, it does not provide any solution to address the issues that hamper the adoption of EPCs in public sector. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a model for assessing and benchmarking the net benefits of the different EPC structures, so as choosing the EPC schema that creates a ‘win–win’ solution for both the ESCO and the government, by balancing the private sector's profitability needs and the public sector's economic interests. The assessment of the benefits of the EPC schema for contractual parties and the benchmark among the contracts are based on an economic approach, which expresses the net benefit gained by each party through the three EPC contracts in monetary terms and benchmarks the three EPC schema through the Net Present Value (NPV) method. The win-win condition is ensured by the contract that minimizes the difference between the net profits (NPV) gained by the contractual parties. This will support the public authority in the decision-making process about the EPC structure to be adopted to develop an energy efficiency project as a PPP. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model, we apply it to an energy efficiency project launched by the Municipality of Noci (Southern Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because industrial sectors in China are energy-intensive, improving energy efficiency and promoting energy savings in these sectors are of great importance for the further sustainable development of China’s economy. Using a proposed meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper analyzes the total-factor energy efficiency and energy savings potential in China’s provincial industrial sectors for the years 2000–2014 from three perspectives, namely, the technology gap, management, and scale. The results indicate that (1) driven by technological progress, energy efficiency during the sample period was greatly improved, though the expansion of technology gaps between regions and the decline in scale efficiency represented two significant handicaps; (2) the current energy efficiency in China’s industrial sectors remains extremely low, indicating that there is considerable potential for energy efficiency improvement and energy savings; and (3) the sources of energy inefficiency and energy savings potential in China’s industrial sectors exhibit spatially distinct characteristics. Accordingly, it is determined that most of China’s eastern provinces should focus on improving scale and management efficiency, whereas most of its central and western provinces should concentrate on three factors: narrowing the regional technology gap, improving management efficiency, and optimizing the industrial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, environmental problems and consequent ecological damages due to excessive consumption of resources and to the continuing human population growth of more than 80,000,000 net increase per year, have damaged and continue to accelerate the devastation of numerous ecosystems. These changes have brought significant harm to humans and are imposing high costs on societal maintenance and development. In that context, low/no-fossil carbon transformations and improved material’s and energy efficiency are crucial elements for reconciling human activities with sustainable societal development, which is built upon vibrant and sustainable ecosystems. The urgently needed changes are bound to be difficult to make due to the perceived contradictions between low/no-fossil-carbon systems and sustainable and economically vibrant societies. This Special Volume (SV) is comprised of thirty-three articles, which mainly focus on investigations of low/no-fossil carbon transformations in countries, regions, industries and enterprises. Some authors provided insights of ways to proceed based upon new research and development (R&D), evaluations of specific low/no-fossil carbon technologies and lessons learned from policy simulations and analyses of potential post-fossil carbon societies. This SV introductory article contains an overview of the content of the articles divided into five topics: (a) low/no-fossil carbon transformations within industrial sectors, (b) regional planning and low/no-fossil carbon developments, (c) multi-regional, low/no-fossil carbon economies, (d) specific low-fossil carbon technologies, and (e) low/no-fossil carbon policy results. Given the extensive coverage of low/no-fossil carbon transformations, the papers on mechanisms and pathways are clearly the most important contributions of this SV. The researchers focused broadly on ways to address two objectives: (a) To characterize the main factors catalyzing high-fossil carbon development and (b) To accelerate the transition to low/no fossil carbon societies. Some authors focused upon new, low/no-fossil carbon development and planning in different countries and regions, while others focused upon ways to make changes within energy-intensive industries. Additionally, some authors reported on progress in the evaluation of the effectiveness of specific low/no-fossil-carbon technologies and in the design and implementation of low/no-fossil carbon policies. The findings and recommendations of the authors are positive and encouraging. However, it is clear, that there are many additional research, policy and educational challenges, which must be solved, to establish and support systems to guide and to monitor the transformations to sustainable, equitable, livable, low/post-fossil carbon societies. Much work remains but the wisdom in the articles in this SV will help societies make the needed transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military expenditures in the Asia-Pacific region have grown rapidly in tandem with economic growth over the past few decades. The military sector's impact on environmental change has not been given enough attention. Renewable energy utilization in the Asia-Pacific region also has increased significantly. This paper examines the relationship between militarization, economic growth, renewable energy utilization, and environmental change in the 15 countries participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) agreement using data that covers 1990–2018. The panel cointegration and cross section autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) models are used to examine the long- and short-term relationships among variables. The empirical results show that economic growth and rising levels of militarization have a positive impact on a country's ecological footprint. The increase in military capital intensity has aggravated the environmental harm caused by the military. Improving the utilization rate of renewable energy can alleviate detrimental environmental effects in the long term. This study also puts forward policy recommendations from the policy perspective of sustainable development to reduce the level of regional militarization and improve the utilization of renewable energy. • Militarization is the cause of environmental degradation. • The increase of military capital intensity will aggravate its damage to the environment. • Renewable energy use can ease ecological footprint expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of port operation management is strongly related to the energy consumption of production at automated container terminals (ACTs). This paper focuses on the production activities at a container yard, which is the primary facility of ACTs. A digital twin-based approach is proposed to optimize the operation of an automatic stacking crane (ASC) handling containers in terms of energy consumption. A virtual container yard that syncs with a physical container yard in the ACT digital twin system for observation and validation is developed. A mathematical model is established to minimize the total energy consumption of completing all tasks. Then, the Q-learning algorithm is adapted to optimize a solution based on the operating data from the ACT digital twin system. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by comparing it with two other solution algorithms, viz., genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The total energy consumption of two operation strategies (i.e., centralized and decentralized) are also compared using the proposed digital twin-based approach. With digital twin, the operational environment and energy consumption are visualized to support optimization and management of ASCs. Managers and operators can choose an appropriate strategy according to the designated sustainable goal. [Display omitted] • A digital twin-based approach is proposed to study the port operations. • Digital twin and Q-learning are used to observe operation and optimize production. • The total energy consumption of handling containers is minimized. • The proposed approach is superior to 2 well established methods based on case studies. • The centralized and decentralized strategies are analyzed for the sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is a need for higher education to cultivate deep knowledge and skills in the ever-evolving area of sustainability. This paper explores one strategy for teaching Product Design Engineering students Design for Environment. A critical aspect is the connection between an industry partner, MicroHeat Technologies, who have developed water and energy efficient point of use water heating technology, and undergraduate students from Swinburne University with competencies in both design and engineering. This paper documents how students can explore Design for Environment strategies in a project based learning environment, verifying and quantifying environmental gains throughout the design process from concept to detailed design proposal. Engineering methods such as whole systems design and life cycle assessment were used to better equip these student designers with the tools to quantify the benefits of proposed designs in relation to sustainability. The student group was introduced to the MicroHeat technology, which has the capacity to be at the forefront of Design for Environment, the authenticity of which was used to enhance student engagement levels. The project successes were demonstrated by exceeding the industry partner expectations in terms of the breadth and high resolution of outcomes, detail for manufacture and usability. The student work revealed how higher education tied to industry innovation could prepare students to contribute to curtailing the ecological crisis when based in industry, in this case by integrating credible technology options with effective Design for Environment methodology into the design process and outcomes. These results strengthen the case for educators in sustainability to explore industry-based partnerships for cross-disciplinary student projects, with the course now running for a fourth successive year. In consultation with students and the industry partner, Swinburne staff members continue to refine the curriculum, to improve outcomes both from a project and pedagogical perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Within the field of sustainable development, collaborative and interdisciplinary actions are imperative for the development and implementation of proactive holistic renovation solutions. In an attempt to enhance cross-disciplinary and inter-organisational knowledge sharing, a project aimed at developing an arena for sharing knowledge pertaining to energy-efficient renovations of multi-family buildings was initiated. The authors have followed the development and implementation of this knowledge arena over a period of three years. The aim of this paper is to understand how knowledge sharing between different professional groups and practices may be facilitated: in this case between various research organisations, municipal housing companies, energy suppliers and governmental organisations. Specific focus has been on identifying mechanisms for interaction and knowledge sharing between actors that normally do not meet in their everyday practice. The theoretical approach adopted concerns social processes related to the sharing of knowledge in and between organisations and professional groups and individuals. Findings show that in the arena knowledge was mainly shared within a pilot project where researchers and practitioners were jointly engaged in the planning and renovation of a building. Interaction within the arena was enabled by the individuals' mutual willingness to adapt and attempt to translate the disciplinary discourses and modes of communication of researchers and of practitioner specialists. Moreover, the motivation to share knowledge was related to their expectations of, and invested interest in, various arena activities. By empirically highlighting the facilitators and hindrances for knowledge-sharing in an arena for cleaner production, the paper contributes to increased understanding of inter-disciplinary communication and collaborative interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Increased competition and reduced profit margins are pushing manufacturing plants to find ways to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. At the same time, government incentives and community initiatives are encouraging the industrial sector to pursue sustainability in operation and energy consumption. This has introduced a paradigm shift where the focus of plant operation is moving from solely cost reduction to one that considers asset management, emission control, and utilization of alternative energy resources. Mathematically speaking, the problem is changing from a single objective optimization to one with multiple objective functions that may at times be contradictory. The focus of this paper is to propose a methodology for management of an industrial plant considering the above factors. It is assumed that the plant is equipped with distributed generation (DG), and can also participate in demand response (DR). Further, the effect of ambient temperature on the lifetime and available capacity of assets such as the plant transformer has been taken into account and incorporated into their daily schedule. The objective is then to find an optimal solution for operating various workstations in such a way that it minimizes the operational costs, the emissions produced, and the loss of life of assets exposed to excess temperatures. A multi-objective optimization problem is therefore formulated through extended lexicographic goal programming, which is further modified to ensure Pareto optimality. A case study has also been presented for a manufacturing plant for luxury vehicle cockpit assembly line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many opportunities for consumers to design their lives more sustainably. While a rapidly growing body of literature has investigated how consumers can reduce carbon footprints in key consumption areas, such as food, housing and mobility, an overall framework that allows structuring those options across all consumption areas is still missing. Hence, this paper presents a novel and systematic framework to identify improvement options that promote climate change mitigation and structure them based on their primary mode of impact on GHG emissions. The framework targets consumer practices and focuses on ambitious, but technically and socioeconomically feasible strategies for consumers to lower their carbon footprint. Four major categories for reducing consumption-based emissions form the basic framework, which are then subdivided into behavioural strategies and sub-strategies. The practical application of the framework is illustrated by using food consumption as an example. Systematically identifying improvement options can advance a holistic understanding of the range of behavioural strategies targeting consumer choices that operate at different stages in the supply chain. It thus provides a starting point for addressing critical questions related to the role of consumers in supporting climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational sector is growing drastically as a result of upward trend of population. These schools require tremendous quantities of energy units to be generated and consumed. As a result, this will impact negatively on the environment by increasing the carbon emissions and depletion of non-renewable energy resources. Moreover, the harsh climate condition contributes substantially to increase the energy consumption in various weather zones in the world. Therefore, several energy efficiency plans have been developed to improve the energy performance of the schools facilities globally. Hence, this paper discusses the energy management program as a sustainable strategy that applicable on the schools. This program is designed for the schools to improve the energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality and adopting the best management practices during the operating stages. This research has developed a customized energy management program for one of the schools in UAE. It has concluded the findings by using computerized hourly thermal modeling. The energy model has evaluated the proposed energy conservation measures and the best practices that were generated by the energy management program steps. This case shows that the energy performance could be improved substantially by 35%. Thus, the energy use index of the audited school that adopted the energy management program has reduced from 438 kWh/m 2 /year to 285 kWh/m 2 /year. The proposed energy management program has been articulated in this study as a consecutive and linear progression. This methodology presents several steps to mitigate the carbon emission by addressing the sustainability dimensions; economic, environment and social aspects. This study discusses the steps and the work flow of developing the energy management program and the anticipated outcomes for the school's buildings. The program considers practical ECMs along with the students and teachers participation and interaction. Furthermore, it highlights the success criteria that assure the sustainability of the energy efficiency at the operating life cycle of school's facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sustainability and sustainable production is nowadays a wide research field due the urgency of reducing environmental burdens of industrial production. Sustainable manufacturing issues are widely investigated too. In particular, due to the relevance such issues assume for automotive and aeronautical industry, the investigation of sheet metal forming processes sustainability is worth studying and, within this research fields, a certain lack of knowledge is still present. Many studies have been presented concerning the evaluation and reduction of environmental burdens in manufacturing. In this paper, the authors focus on sheet metal forming and aim to investigate both the efficient use of materials and process energy saving. The paper presents a sensitivity analysis which is based on experimental and numerical data. A traditional forming process (stamping) is numerically analyzed to determine process energy and also the amount of material utilized for the initial blank. An experimental campaign was instead developed on an incremental forming operation and energy measurements were obtained. Both the processes were carried out using two different aluminum alloys and two different sheet thickness values. Furthermore, two final component geometries were investigated for both of the processes. The analysis reached the conclusion that the investigated processes are quite different to each other as their environmental impact is concerned since both the required process energy and the possible material savings are rather different for the two operations. The obtained results allowed to formulate some comparison guidelines as sustainability of the investigated operations is concerned. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]