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A good risk warning model is an effective way to guarantee the stable operation of the carbon market and exert its emission reduction function. This paper takes the China's pilot carbon market as the research object and measures the carbon market risk by ARMA-GARCH-VaR. Then, influential factors are selected as non-market characteristics from the perspective of causality and incorporated into the risk warning model, and SMOTE and SMOTEENN are introduced to deal with the unbalanced samples. Results show that (1) The risk fluctuations of Beijing and Shenzhen carbon market are large, and the risk fluctuations of Guangdong carbon market are relatively smooth in the early period and larger in the recent period. (2) Air quality, average daily temperature, CSI 300, power coal, natural gas, European carbon market, exchange rate, and Baidu index are all important factors in the risk volatility of carbon market. (3) The Classification Decision Tree (CDT) has the best performance. CDT has the best performance in Guangdong carbon market, SMOTE-CDT has the best performance in Hubei carbon market, and SMOTEENN-CDT has the best performance in Shanghai carbon market, in which SMOTEENN-CDT has a 76% Recall. The non-equilibrium treatment improves the overall Recall, and the risk warning model after non-equilibrium treatment can avoid missing important risk points. This paper can provide a certain degree of reference for the improvement of carbon trading market and risk management. [Display omitted] • A carbon market warning model is constructed. • The average VaR of the carbon trading markets in Shenzhen and Beijing is larger. • CDT performs better in market risk warning. • The model improves 34.8% in the avoidance of risk compared with other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized for their positive impact on well-being, quality of life, and public health. Researchers have explored how green space characteristics, such as size, theme, and convenience, influence urban movement. However, an important aspect that has received limited attention is the relative attractiveness of green spaces. When residents have access to similar green spaces nearby, their inclination to visit more distant ones decreases. This leads to the central research question: How does the relative attractiveness of urban green spaces affect urban movements? The existing literature lacks a comprehensive theory to address this question. To bridge this gap, this paper introduces the Potential to Kinetic Energy (PKE) framework, inspired by principles from physics. In this framework, potential energy represents the relative attractiveness of green spaces between the travel origin and destination, while kinetic energy signifies the urban movement resulting from the this attractiveness. To demonstrate the PKE framework's applicability, this paper analyzes green space data and smart card subway ridership records from Beijing. The results show that a unit increase in size, cultural, attraction, proximity, and location potential energy is associated with a 0.22%, 0.27%, 0.14%, 0.19%, and 0.02% increase in urban movement. The findings provide compelling evidence for the significant role of relative attractiveness in shaping urban movements and offer valuable insights for urban planning and policy development. The proposal of the PKE framework encourages interdisciplinary discussions among urban planners, environmental scientists, and transportation experts, fostering collaborative efforts to enhance the sustainability of cities. • A Potential to Kinetic Energy (PKE) framework is introduced to investigate the relationship between green space attractiveness and urban movements. • Potential energy contains five sub-concepts: size, culture, attraction, proximity and location. • Kinetic energy represents urban movement that characterizes the motion of objects resulting from potential energy conversion. • Empirical analysis of Beijing shows the significant role of relative green space attractiveness in shaping urban movement patterns. • The PKE framework supports urban planners to evaluate green space attractiveness, examine the impact of landscape change, and promote inclusive urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate PM 2.5 forecasting provides a possibility for establishing an early warning system to notify the public and take precautionary measures to prevent negative effects on ambient air quality and public health. Considering strong seasonal variation in meteorological conditions, in this paper, a seasonal stacked autoencoder model combining seasonal analysis and deep feature learning is proposed for forecasting the hourly PM 2.5 concentration, named DL-SSAE model. The original data are firstly decomposed into four seasonal subseries according to the Chinese calendar, and then the Kendall correlation coefficient method is employed to search inherent relationships between PM 2.5 concentrations and meteorological parameters within 1-h ahead for each seasonal time series. The inherent relationships of each seasonal subseries are finally extracted, learned, and modeled by different deep neural networks (stacked autoencoders for regression), and the hourly PM 2.5 forecasts are yielded. The addressed model is tested by the dataset collected from three environmental monitoring stations in Beijing, China. The results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms all other considered models with/without seasonality consideration in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sewer pipes health and failure consequences evaluation are vital to ensure the safety of urban sewer networks. Sewer pipes with low health and severe failure consequences should be the primary focus of daily maintenance and management for drainage authorities. Conversely, sewer pipes with high health and low failure consequences are temporarily not a primary concern, in order to reduce resource wastage within the constraints of limited economic and time resources. Thus, the scientific analysis of their relationships is deemed essential. This paper applies supply-demand balance theory to analyze the relationship. On the supply side, a health Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation model (HFCE) is proposed with weighted hierarchies established. On the demand side, a failure consequences FCE model (FFCE) is established. Each sewer pipe's supply-demand balance score is analyzed using matrix multiplication, highlighting two types of imbalanced pipes and sub-districts. Taking the Liangshui River Basin in Beijing as an example, the results show that the health evaluation can identify the spatial distribution of the health of sewer pipes, with low health levels V and IV accounting for 10.23 % and 4.43 %, respectively. The failure consequences evaluation can evaluate the spatial distribution of the severity of sewer pipe failure consequences, with high failure consequences levels V and IV respectively accounting for 10.97 % and 16.77 %. The supply-demand balance analysis identifies the proportion of the first and second types of imbalanced pipes, respectively 14.24 % and 6.80 %. This method, by analyzing the relationship of health and failure consequences, provides a decision-making basis for drainage authorities to prioritize sewer pipe operation management, repair, and maintenance. • Supply-demand balance to identify the relationship of health and failure consequences. • DEMATEL optimized AHP calculated weights by considering inter-indicator relationships. • Improved health evaluation via hydraulic metrics in drainage models, enhancing accuracy. • Identifying low(high) health/high(low) failure consequences areas for drainage authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Electrifying urban transportation through the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) has great potential to mitigate two global challenges, namely climate change and energy scarcity, and also to improve local air quality and further benefit human health. This paper was focused on the six typical factors potentially influencing the purchase behaviour of EVs in Beijing, China, namely vehicle price, vehicle usage, social influence, environmental awareness, purchase-related policies and usage-related policies. Specifically, this study used the data collected in a paper-based questionnaire survey in Beijing from September 2015 to March 2016, covering all of the 16 administrative regions, and tried to quantify the relative importance of the six factors, based on their weights (scores) given by participants. Furthermore, Multinomial Logit (MNL) models and Moran's I (a measure of global spatial autocorrelation) were used to analyse the weights of each factor from statistical and spatial perspectives, respectively. The results suggest that 1) vehicle price and usage tend to be more influential among the six factors, accounting for 32.3% and 28.1% of the importance; 2) Apart from the weight of social influence, the weights of the other five factors are closely associated with socio-demographic characteristics, such as individual income and the level of education; 3) people having similar attitudes towards vehicle usage (Moran's I = 0.10) and purchase restriction (Moran's I = 0.14) tend to live close to each other. This paper concludes with a discussion on applying the empirical findings in policy making and modelling of EV purchase behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area is a significant carbon emission center. The region's early achievement of peak carbon targets is critical to the nation's achievement of peak carbon targets. In this paper, it is proposed to use different orders of grey models to classify into three scenarios. Based on three scenarios, the grey multivariate convolutional model with new information priority accumulation is adopted to predict carbon emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and select the scenario suitable for local development. The results show that: (1) The Beijing region has already achieved peak carbon, the Tianjin region may not reach its peak carbon target by 2030, and the Hebei region is expected to reach its peak carbon target by 2030. (2) The high rate of carbon emission reduction scenario will greatly improve the air quality of Beijing. The low-speed growth carbon emission scenario is more in line with the future development of Tianjin city. The low-rate carbon reduction scenario is more in line with the synergistic governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Hebei Province. (3) Beijing's population policy in the most recent years has been conducive to improving the local environment. Tianjin's medium-term population policy is more in line with the local area. Hebei's medium-term industrial structure reform is favorable to local development. • Grey correlation analysis is used to analyze the factors affected carbon emissions in a region. • The factors with high correlation are predicted by using grey prediction models of different orders. • The high rate of carbon emission reduction scenario will greatly improve the air quality of Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption has promoted a continuous development for economy and society, but it has also brought serious environmental pollution problems which endanger public health. In order to focus on the impact of PM 2.5 emissions from future energy consumption on human health better, this paper estimated PM 2.5 emissions caused by energy consumption in Beijing in 2020,2025 and 2030 by setting the baseline scenario, emission reduction scenario, intensified emission reduction scenario and the data of the base year 2015, which will be 162.6 thousand tons, 195.9 thousand tons and 235.9 thousand tons in the baseline scenario, 143.1 thousand tons, 151.8 thousand tons and 160.9 thousand tons under the emission reduction scenario, and 132.6 thousand tons, 130.2 thousand tons, 127.9 thousand tons under the intensified emission reduction scenario. Finally the paper measured the number of different health effect ends caused by PM 2.5 emissions and the economic loss. The results showed that there was a rapid increase, a mild increase and a moderate decrease in energy consumption and PM 2.5 emissions in Beijing under the three scenarios from 2015 to 2030. Besides, under the same scenario and the same concentration level baseline, the number of the internal medicine (over the age of 15) was the largest, and the economic loss caused by total death rate was the biggest. This article provides suggestions to reduce PM 2.5 emissions and public health effect ends for Beijing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport sector accounts for a large proportion of energy demand and environmental emissions and is growing rapidly. The city is the hub of modern human life and the urban transport sector is developing fast. Specifically, in the Internet era, the development of public transport has brought new challenges and opportunities to urban passenger transport. Thus, research on the energy demand and environmental emissions of the urban transport sector is significant and timely. This paper takes Beijing’s public transport as an example and applies the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) model to analyze the energy demand and the main greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under different scenarios during the period 2016–2030. The results show that: 1) if the government fails to guide the development of passenger transport appropriately, its energy demand and GHG emissions will rise rapidly and under the baseline scenario, the energy demand and emissions in 2030 are about 1.8 times those oft 2015; 2) the scenarios of developing public transport and transport sharing have a significant effect of energy saving and emission reduction and in 2030 the energy demand and GHG emissions falls by 25%–30% compared with that of the baseline scenario, so the combination of public transport and transport sharing is a wise choice for the low carbon development of the passenger transport sector in Beijing; 3) scenarios of easing road congestion and new-energy and clean-energy vehicle development have huge potential for energy saving and emission reduction, particularly the internal adjustment of the energy structure in the scenario of developing new-energy and clean-energy vehicles, which can greatly reduce the demand for traditional energy sources and reduce GHG emissions. This paper illustrates the development trends of energy demand and GHG emissions in Beijing’s passenger transport sector under the scenarios of transport sharing development and traditional development in the Internet era, providing a basis for decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing urbanization but growing resource scarcities, the securing provision of fundamental resources as food, energy and water (FEW) has become a unique challenge for urban sustainability. This is not only because of continuous demand of resource imports from different regions for urban areas, but also due to the complex interrelationships among FEW systems. In such context, exploring the interactions between FEW resources and economic activities when investigating FEW provisions to meet urban demand through trade is very essential to find effective policy intervention points and priority areas for actions. This paper investigates external binding FEW resource flows with internal certain interlinkages driven by final demand of Beijing city at different nodes along their supply chains, by combing structural path analysis and multi-regional input-output model of China 2010. The results show that the key source regions present overall neighborhood pattern that Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong near Beijing are the five leading contributors of tran-regional FEW provisions. The top 20 nexus paths are identified and the most important nexus pathways start with the other services in Beijing. Besides this, the critical supply chains appear divergent directions for FEW flows, driven by food, construction and agriculture industries respectively. Moreover, the key nodes mainly concentrate on less developed regions and energy-related sectors. For example, non-metal products manufacturing in Hebei, petroleum refining and coking in Heilongjiang, and coal mining and washing in Inner Mongolia have larger impacts on all of FEW flows across the supply chains. These results are very informative to targeting our efforts to address the urban FEW nexus issue both from the perspective of supply side and demand side. • Tele-coupling mechanism of urban FEW nexus is explored using MRIO and SPA methods. • Key source regions for urban FEW provisions present neighboring characteristics. • Service sector is the most important final consumption driver for top critical pathways. • Key nodes mainly concentrate on less developed regions and energy-related sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of climate change and population growth, the development of urban agriculture is of great environmental and economic significance in rapidly urbanizing China. Based on the primary survey data, this paper evaluated the carbon footprint (CF) and economic efficiency of urban agriculture in Beijing (China) using the life cycle assessment method (from cradle to consumption approach). Two cases were analyzed and compared considering their differences in on-farm cultivation and off-farm supply chains: a conventional small householder farm that sells its vegetables directly to consumers in a local market, and a large home-delivery agriculture (HDA) initiative that delivers its vegetables to the consumers' home directly. Both cases were equipped with greenhouses with plastic covering but no heating system. The CF of the production, transportation and distribution of 1 kg fresh vegetables was estimated at 0.318 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1 and 0.624–0.652 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1 for conventional and HDA initiative farm, respectively. However, the HDA initiative showed a better environmental performance than the conventional operation when taking economic efficiency into consideration. The CF per unit of profit of HDA initiative (0.093–0.097 kg CO 2 -eq per CNY) was lower than conventional farm (0.111 kg CO 2 -eq per CNY). The lower CF per unit of product weight of the conventional farm was largely attributed to the high yield and the lower CF per unit of profit of the HDA initiative was mainly due to the outstanding economic profitability through income optimization. The major hotspots of CF in both cases were greenhouse plastic films in the cultivation phase (from cradle to farm gate) and transportation in the supply chain (from farm gate to consumption). Simulation of a switch to biodiesel instead of gasoline and diesel in combination with the replacement of current fossil-fuel-dominated electricity by hydro-powered electricity resulted in 20.0–21.8% reduction in the total CF. By identifying the CF hotspots of two farm cases, particular inputs and activities can be targeted for adjustment in order to effectively reduce the CF of urban agriculture in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1990 to 2017, the number of vehicles in China increased sharply from 5 million to 310 million, and vehicle emissions became one of the major sources of air pollution. Among the main sources of PM 2.5 in Beijing, the contributions from vehicle sources increased from 5.6% (2000) to 31.1% (2012) to 45% (2017). In 2010, the CO, hydrocarbon (HC), NO x , and particulate matter (PM) emissions of yellow-label vehicles (YLVs) accounted for 46.1%, 47.9%, 63.1% and 86.1% of the total emissions from on-road vehicles. In recent years, China has been implementing a YLV scrappage subsidy policy to control air pollution, and this policy has cost several hundred billion yuan nationwide. However, China has not evaluated the costs and benefits of the policy. Many people question whether the YLV scrappage subsidy policy is worthwhile, but all the stakeholders involved complicate the process of accurately evaluating the true value of the policy. In this study, we evaluated and compared the costs and benefits of the policy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region based on 1.362 million YLVs from 2008 to 2015. Because of the implementation of the policy, the PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO x , CO and HC emissions in the BTH region decreased by 16.46, 18.12, 174.44, 669.11, and 91.64 kt, respectively, in 2008–2015. The results show that the policy played an important role in reducing pollutant emissions and improving environmental quality in the BTH region. The costs, benefits, and net benefits of the policy were 13.69, 34.03, and 20.34 billion yuan , respectively. The cost-benefit ratio in the BTH region was 1:2.49; at the city scale, Beijing ranked first (1:7.27), and the cost-benefit ratios of Tianjin and Hebei Province were 1:2.06 and 1:1.14, respectively. Of the 13 cities in the BTH region, Beijing had the highest net benefits, amounting to 16.43 billion yuan , while Handan City has the lowest net benefits, amounting to −0.58 billion yuan. The results may provide scientific support for the promotion of older vehicle and diesel vehicle scrappage subsidy policies, the development of cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and effective environmental decision-making in China. • Based on net number of scrappage YLVs, net benefits of the policy are calculated. • This paper estimates costs and benefits of the policy based on 1.27 million YLVs. • The costs, benefits, and net benefits are 13.69, 34.03, and 20.34 billion yuan. • The results help China promote vehicle scrappage subsidy policy on a large scale. • The results promote the development of the cost-benefit analysis in China. [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 urban heat island effect in Beijing is significant, which has become a serious environmental problem posed to Beijing citizens. As an important measure to alleviate the urban heat island effect, cool roof is recommended in relevant Evaluation Standard for Green Building of China. In order to elicit policy implications, this paper investigates Beijing residents' willingness to pay for promoting cold roofs to alleviate the urban heat island effect and its determinants. This research applied double-bounded discrete choice format and face to face interview to elicit public's willingness to pay. 841 Beijing households were randomly selected and interviewed. For 242 (29%) respondents refuse to pay, the spike model was introduced to process the data for it has been proved to outperform the conventional model in dealing with zero responses. The average annual willingness to pay was computed as 1510.854 Chinese Yuan, which is 220.562 US dollars per household. In addition, In terms of the determinants of residents' willingness to pay, other than conventional demographic characteristics, we added and estimated covariance with regard to environmental knowledge and the theory of planned behavior. The result indicated that social norm, perceived behavior control, and previous knowledge of urban heat island effect and cool roof are statistical significantly related with residents' willingness to pay. This research suggests that timely information disclosure with regard to urban environment management and pro-environment education are urgently needed in promoting public participation in alleviating the urban heat island effect. • Willingness to pay for cool roofs for mitigating urban heat island effect is estimated. • The annual mean willingness to pay 1510.854 Chinese Yuan. • TPB theory and environmental knowledge can greatly explain pro-environment behavior. • Government credibility and education is important in promoting public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the coupled development of water, energy, and food (WEF) subsystems is a critical step to enhance synergies and increase efficiencies in the WEF nexus. However, the evolution and obstacles of coupled development are largely ignored. This study developed a framework dividing links in the nexus to select indicators and integrated models for the degree of coordination and obstacle diagnosis to explore the coupled development of the WEF nexus from 2000 to 2020 in the water-scarce megacities of Beijing and Tianjin. The results show that the average coordination degree of the WEF nexus in Beijing (0.315) and Tianjin (0.317) is at a low level, indicating a limited interaction between the WEF subsystems, while the coordinated development degree of the WEF nexus is increasing. The order degree of the WEF subsystems shows a two-level hierarchical structure, indicating that both similarities and differences are included in place-specific characteristics. Furthermore, obstacle factors are identified from water and energy subsystems, in which environmental water use (W3) and the energy consumption per gross domestic production unit (E4) played the most significant roles and require a higher priority in policy response. The results in this paper complement obstacle factor analysis in WEF nexus practice, and provide operational indicators for nexus governance. [Display omitted] • Linkages are divided into one-, two-, and three-resource scales. • The number of related official documents is used to define the weight of subsystems. • The water subsystem dominated the coupled development of the water-energy-food nexus. • The order degree of subsystems show a two-level hierarchical structure. • Key obstacle factors are identified from water and energy subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper investigates the potential expansion and impacts of Electric Vehicle (EV) market in Beijing, China at the micro level with an agent-based integrated urban model (SelfSim-EV), considering the interactions, feedbacks and dynamics found in the complex urban system. Specifically, a calibrated and validated SelfSim-EV Beijing model was firstly used to simulate how the EV market might expand in the context of urban evolution from 2016 to 2020, based on which the potential impacts of EV market expansion on the environment, power grid system and transportation infrastructures were assessed at the multiple resolutions. The results suggest that 1) the adoption rate of Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) increases over the period, whereas the rate of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) almost remains the same; Furthermore, the so-called neighbour effects appear to influence the uptake of BEVs, based on the spatial analyses of the residential locations of BEV owners; 2) the EV market expansion could eventually benefit the environment, as evident from the slight decrease in the amounts of HC, CO and CO 2 emissions after 2017; 3) Charging demand accounting for around 4% of total residential electricity demand in 2020 may put slight pressure on the power grid system; 4) the EV market expansion could influence several EV-related transport facilities, including parking lots, refuelling stations, and charging posts at parking lots, in terms of quantity, layout and usage. These results are expected to be useful for different EV-related stakeholders, such as local authorities and manufacturers, to shape polices and invest in technologies and infrastructures for EVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Agricultural nonpoint source pollution (NPS) is the main water-use impairment in the upper watershed of the Miyun Reservoir in Beijing, China. Selection and placement of best management practices (BMPs) in heterogeneous watersheds, requires a multi-objective optimization framework to identify the most cost-effective conservation strategy to achieve desired water quality goals. In this paper, a novel optimization methodology was developed, utilizing a BMP database that includes BMP reduction efficiencies and costs, using a multi-objective sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II) combined with the Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT) served as the NPS watershed model. Cost-effectiveness curves (optimal fronts) between pollutant reduction and total net cost input were obtained for the upper watershed of Miyun Reservoir. The optimal combination of BMP, which include a combination of conservation tillage, careful timing of 30% less fertilizer application, contour planting, and use of a 10-m edge-of-field buffer strip, indicate that the least costly scenario reduced total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads by 33% at a cost of 1.02 × 106 China Yuan. The cost-effective scenario reduced TN and TP loads 44% and 68% at a cost of 2.52 × 107 and 5.64 × 107China Yuan. The greatest reduction scenario reduced TN and TP loads 55% and 76%, respectively, at a cost of 2.01 × 108 and 2.48 × 108 China Yuan. Watershed with poultry operations, required a 30% reduction in number of birds, along with a 30% reduction in the amount of manure applied was needed to achieve water quality goals. Use of the coupled BMP optimization model can assist the policy makers achieve a cost-effective implementation of best management practices to mitigate agricultural nonpoint sources at a watershed scale. Highlights • Multi-objective optimization model for the selection and placement of BMPs for nonpoint source pollution control. • Cost-effectiveness analysis for single and combination BMPs at watershed scale. • Dynamic database were development to achieve the auto-simulation of SWAT model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study provides new insights into the comprehensive energy and economic performances of Photovoltaic Shading Systems (PVSS) in multi-story buildings. A numerical shading model was developed to evaluate the shading effect from an upper PVSS row on its subjacent row. Simulation models based on EnergyPlus were developed to analyze the Net Electricity Consumption (NEC) of PVSS with different tilt angles and widths in different climates. Benefit per Capacity (BC) and the Cost of Benefit (CB) indicators were used to analyze the economic performances of PVSS. Finally, the optimum PVSS tilt angles and widths in different cities were obtained. Harbin, Beijing, Changsha, Kunming, and Guangzhou, were selected as representative cities for different geographical and climatic conditions. The results indicate that the optimum tilt angles for PVSS installed in Harbin, Beijing, Changsha, Kunming and Guangzhou are 55°, 50°, 40°, 40° and 30°, respectively. Optimum PVSS width for all five cities is 1.156 m (7 columns of standard solar cells). PVSS installed, using the optimal design scheme, in multi-story buildings have better energy-saving potentials than either rooftop photovoltaic systems or traditional power supply modes for commercial buildings in China. Highlights • This paper focuses on the optimal design of photovoltaic shading systems. • A special PV module configuration was presented to reduce shading effect. • Numerical model embodying a profile angle was developed to analyze shading effect. • Optimum tilt angles and widths were obtained by analyzing benefit per capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Traffic-related air pollution has been one of the major environmental problems in China. It is urgent to explore the urban traffic emission patterns for the low-carbon urban planning and traffic management. With this purpose, a new urban traffic emission analysis model is proposed in this paper. The traffic analysis zones (TAZs) are treated as the analysis unit. Then the spatial and temporal dynamic emission patterns are studied based on taxi GPS data in Beijing. The whole urban area of Beijing is divided into 33 TAZs depending on the feature of road networks. And the trip patterns of TAZs are extracted. The instantaneous emissions of CO 2 , NOx, VOC and PM within and between TAZs are estimated. The relationships between emissions and road densities are studied. The results demonstrated that (1) the highest taxi trips during the day occur at 10:00, 16:00 and 20:00. (2) The variations of the 4 pollutants within and between TAZs are similar. The emissions of TAZs with business centers, entertainment centers and transportation hubs are obviously higher than others. For TAZs within the 5th Ring Road, the northern emissions are stronger than the southern. Emission patterns can be divided into 3 types, corresponding to the time periods of 0:00–3:00, 3:00–6:00 and 6:00–24:00. (3) There is a positive relationship between emissions within and between TAZs and road densities. And when the road densities of TAZs are bigger than 0.6, emissions within TAZs will rise up obviously with the increasing road densities. The policy implications of results include the region function planning, traffic planning, the public transport improvement, optimal design of charging stations and new energy vehicles promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government, industry, and corporate behaviors all encourage companies to actively implement energy efficiency measures (EEMs) but few empirical studies have identified the specific barriers and drivers of EEMs and their relative importance. This paper aims to better understand the barriers and drivers of EEMs to help determine how policies and regulations support their proliferation. We conducted a questionnaire survey of the enterprises in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei industrial transfer, carefully reviewed related policies, and built the Condition-Resource-Management (CRM) model to screen out the main factors that affect the improvement of energy efficiency. The mechanism of enterprise energy efficiency improvement was analyzed from the three different perspectives of EEMs (implementation steps, factors, and actors), and the main factors in each stage of the decision-making process were identified. The results show that in the seven steps of EEMs, the importance of awareness and investment priorities is great. Both economic and regulatory barriers and drivers have a significant effect on the improvement of energy efficiency via profit and behavioral impacts. Finally, based on the analysis results, we propose that policy makers need to (a) pay more attention to economic and legal tools and (b) appropriately increase supervision and punishment, and (c) government should provide more financial and technical support to encourage enterprises to improve energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing reliable frameworks to estimate the potential of CO 2 emission abatement and its associated costs merits urgent attention. This study aims to estimate the potential as well as macroeconomic costs of CO 2 emission abatement in Beijing. Using the industrial economy as the basis, multiobjective programming and genetic algorithm are integrated into the input–output analysis. Several important findings have been gathered in the study: (1) The abatement cost varies between $259.97 and $535.46 per ton at different rates of economic growth. (2) A reinforced emission abatement target can induce higher macroeconomic costs. (3) An inverse U-shaped relationship between CO 2 reduction cost and GDP growth rate was found. When GDP growth rate is above the threshold value of 7%, marginal abatement costs decrease rapidly in parallel with GDP growth. When the GDP growth rate is below 7%, the marginal abatement cost increases significantly with economic growth. (4) Industries that have the highest and least potential of abatement have been identified. For effectively reducing CO 2 emissions, Beijing needs to promote economic restructuring to maximize the potential of emission abatement and also fulfil the emission abatement target in a cost-effective way. This paper provides a quantitative approach to rationalize the policy design process of enacting emission targets and recommends cost-effective abatement strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The market of electric taxi has achieved rapid development in China recently, while further development is hindered by technical factors such as battery mileage and charging. First-tier cities as Beijing have explored and innovated in electric taxi business models to make up for the deficiencies caused by technological immaturity at the present stage. From the perspective of value chain, this paper carries out an analysis on current status of electric taxi business models in Beijing, and proposes a model for analyzing its economy. Moreover, a comparative analysis was conducted on the economy and sensitivity of battery changing and battery charging models based on field research data acquired from Pinggu District of Beijing. The research findings are as follows: a) overall, the battery changing model is better than the battery charging model economically. b) the sensitivity of the battery changing model to project period, carbon price and charging price is significantly higher than that of the charging model, because of its higher service frequency and greater service quantity. c) among all the influencing factors, charging price has the greatest influence on the two models. d) in the battery changing model, the breakeven point of the whole business model gradually declines as electricity price rises, so the battery changing model still can survive even without government subsidies. e) owing to vehicle loss, battery loss and other reasons, the two models have an optimal period respectively, but the greater loss of the battery changing model results in that its optimal project period is shorter than that of the battery charging model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing, the capital of China, has experienced rapid industrialization, urbanization and motorization in recent decades. Consequently, air pollution in Beijing, especially fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) pollution, has gradually become a severe environmental issue, due to the continuing growth in energy consumption and the resulting multiple pollutant emissions. In response to the increasingly serious PM 2.5 pollution, Beijing's government implemented a series of policies, measures and regulations on air pollution prevention and control and took some concrete actions to improve air quality. In this paper, firstly, we summarize China's ambient air quality standards, China's policies and regulations on air pollution prevention and control. Secondly, we illustrate historical evolution and current status of air pollution in Beijing. Finally, we introduce control measures and actions in Beijing and its surrounding areas. The paper aims to help environmental scientists and policy makers around the world understand the past and current air pollution in Beijing and control strategies and actions taken by Beijing's government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the functional zoning and comprehensive management of ecological and clean small-watersheds (ECSWs), measures to increase the carrying capacity of the environment should be taken around water resources protection and ecological risk governance. An objective zoning technology for ECSWs was recommended in this paper to tackle problems such as soil erosion and water pollution efficiently. Taking eight typical ECSWs in Changping District of Beijing as a case study, the essential data, including the land use, digital elevation, administrative division, leaf area index and annual precipitation, can be initially accessed. Subsequently, two topographic features (i.e., elevation and slope) and seven ecosystem disservices (i.e., collapse risks, debris flow risks, nitrogen pollution, phosphorus pollution, sediment export, quick flow and surface runoff) were evaluated and quantified based on Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) and Geographic Information System (GIS). The quantitative attribute matrix was herein operated as a calculation object of k -means clustering and entropy-weighted TOPSIS for the classification and delineation. According to the analysis results, the category and hierarchical control zones of each ECSW were determined, deducing the preliminary management layout. Several practical measures that have been verified to be available were marked in the layout map based on the high-resolution remote sensing technology, contributing to guiding the high-efficiency construction of ECSWs in the future. • InVEST and GIS models were used to evaluate the ecosystem disservices in ecological and clean small-watersheds (ECSWs). • K-means clustering and entropy-weighted TOPSIS methods were used to classify and delineate ECSWs in the study area. • Comprehensive management of ECSWs can be achieved systematically and standardly based on the classification and delineation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's rapid urbanization and industrialization, carbon emission in Chinese cities deserve special attention, and promoting low-carbon city (LCC) is considered essential for China. However, different cities present different development stages and carbon emission scenarios. This study presents the factors affecting carbon emission by introducing a city development-stage framework. The method of logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) is adopted to decompose emission factors into energy structure, energy intensity, industrial structure, economic output and population scale. Beijing is chosen as the case city in this study, and four development stages for the city are identified by using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory, namely, S 1 (−1991), S 2 (1991–2004), S 3 (2004–2022) and S 4 (2022-). As the data collected for analysis are only available for the period of 1995–2014, this study focuses on the factor analysis for the stage S 2 and S 3 . The results show that the main driving factor for carbon emission increase in the stage S 2 is economic output, followed by population scale, while the main factor contributes to carbon emission reduction in this stage is the industrial structure. In the stage S 3 , the economic output is the top contributor to increase carbon emission, followed by population scale and energy structure, whereas energy intensity is the main influencing factor in curbing the carbon emission. Although the paper refers to the specific case of Beijing, the understanding on the driving emission factors in different development stages not only provides policy-makers and practitioners with valuable references for adopting effective measures to reduce carbon emission, but also provides other cities internationally with important lessons for accelerating the development of LCC. The innovative economic development stage framework incorporates carbon emission characteristics provides a new approach for understanding driving emission factors at city or national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term observation of the urban ecological footprint will present useful knowledge of anthropogenic impact on and sustainable solutions for cities. This paper proposed a new framework to predict dynamic change and intrinsic structure of urban ecological footprint with the Markov chain. The system dynamic model based on Markov chain was then established for estimating Beijing's footprint during the period of 2001–2020. The results showed that Beijing's footprint kept stable in the long term due to steady consumption pattern and environmental mitigation policy. The footprint intensity has been decreasing constantly due to the expanding population against the stable total footprint. Energy consumption was found to be the major contributor to Beijing's footprint. Sensitivity analysis was also presented by testing the population and economic growth under five scenarios. This work may provide insights into the land metabolism mechanism and guidance for urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on analysis of the wetland water resources system in Beijing city, this paper established a system dynamics (SD) model for the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) in Beijing city. Using a computer simulation of the SD model, the variation trends from 2006 to 2030 in population, economy, water supply and demand, and pressure on the water environment were derived for Beijing, from which 12 core variables of the model were chosen as the WRCC evaluation indices. Five cases were designed in this study. The results indicate that the WRCC will continue to decline annually by following the status quo (Case 1), since the water environment will have difficulty in supporting the long-term social and economic development of Beijing. The status quo of Beijing’s socioeconomic development is therefore not sustainable. In order to address this problem, five optimization cases were put forward to improve the WRCC, and the carrying capacities and trends of the cases were compared and analyzed. Under Case 5, the WRCC (0.8 in 2030) will increase by 50%, compared to that in Case 1 (0.4 in 2030), while the water supply and demand ratio will be 20% higher than the average, and the water pollution will be 35% lower than the average in 2030. According to the analysis results, in order to guarantee sustainable utilization of water resources and social economy development in Beijing, it is necessary to increase water saving policies and pollution control investment in the future. Corresponding measures will need to be taken to ensure the implementation of water saving strategies to improve the water environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive GHG inventory provides an overview and the information of sources of emissions, and can serve as a sound scientific basis for mitigation actions. This study was the first initiative to develop a complete and transparent GHG inventory of Beijing, to document the current situation and to help governmental officials to clarify their priorities for reducing GHG emissions. The authors investigated and calculated the emission sources defined by the GPC, and assessed data accuracy. The contents of the detailed inventory were documented and are open for research verification and for methodological references for other cities. The results showed that three emission sources, i.e. CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption, CO 2 emissions from industrial production and CH 4 emissions from landfills, contributed 97% of Beijing's GHGs. Considering the problem of missing data and low data quality, the authors suggested that instead of seeking to compile a complete inventory, Chinese cities should first report their GHG emissions from these sources, while improving the data quality for the long run. The authors anticipate that the findings reported in this paper will help to strengthen city-level GHG inventory research in China and throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On November 28, 2013, Beijing’s carbon emissions trading opened on Beijing’s Environmental Exchange. As one of the pilot cities, Beijing has been pursuing low-carbon development strategies under state intervention and market regulation. This paper chooses the carbon market, a medium through which Beijing manages emission reduction, as the object of study. Firstly, we compare the basic construction circumstances of Beijing with other pilot cities. Then we qualitatively analyze the development of Beijing’s carbon market from the perspective of transaction status, execution of the contract, and improvement of the policies and regulations. Finally, we use the TOPSIS model to develop a comprehensive evaluation system of Beijing’s carbon market. It is used to quantitatively evaluate the operational performance and maturity of the mechanism. The results show that: Beijing’s carbon market has good comprehensive capabilities, ranking second place among seven pilot markets; but the maturity of Beijing’s carbon market is relatively poor for insufficient market liquidity; its operations are well managed, but economic efficiency still need to be improved; the depth of transaction and the effect of reduction in emissions make it meaningful. Therefore, in order to improve the construction of Beijing’s carbon market, measures should be taken as follows:(1) strengthening the quota management, and increasing carbon trading activity to avoid poor market liquidity; (2) accelerating emission reduction actions and encouraging technology innovation, such as: carrying out several policies and measures supporting new energy and energy saving & emission reduction, and increasing investment and subsidy in research and development for the technology innovation of firms etc.; (3) improving regulatory mechanism and enhancing the disclosure of carbon trading, such as: drawing lessons from the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) about measuring, reporting and verification system (MRV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The location of waste transfer station is a problem that has been studied in the previous literature, while no studies devote to considering the adjustment of the existing transfer station in the site selection process of waste transfer station to the best of our knowledge. However, in reality, a large number of existing transfer stations have a huge impact on the planning of new transfer stations. Therefore, this paper firstly adopts a location model based on mixed integer linear programming as the first attempt to consider the adjustment of existing transfer stations in the process of waste transfer station location. Next, a robust model is established by considering the uncertainty of waste production. And the budget of uncertainty is introduced to control the conservativeness. A case study in Beijing, China is given to illustrate the applicability of this model. The study finds that compared with the model without considering the adjustment of existing transfer stations, the investment cost of the deterministic model in this paper is significantly reduced, and the total cost is also reduced to a certain extent. Moreover, the solution of the robust model reveals the significant impact of waste output uncertainty on the location strategy of waste transfer station. • Adjustments of existing transfer stations are considered in the model. • Robust optimization is applied to deal with uncertain waste production. • The adjustment of uncertain budget makes the planning scheme more flexible. • A case study based in Beijing was conducted to prove the validity of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand and gravel aggregate (SGA) transportation accounts for over 30% of the freight volume in China, which is greater than that of any other cargo; low-carbon development can effectively promote the decarbonization of freight transportation. This study presents a four-step evaluation method to assess CO 2 emission reductions in freight transportation; the proposed method helps determine the relationship between the policy, CO 2 emission reductions, demand, and mode market share. Using Beijing as a case study, this paper estimates the potential of reducing CO 2 emissions from SGA transportation under various scenarios. The scenarios are set based on the avoid, shift, and improve strategies; the results of the Beijing case indicate that the CO 2 emission for SGA transportation is 920.86 kt, which is approximately 1% of the total CO 2 emissions in Beijing. The maximum reductions in CO 2 emissions that can be achieved using the avoid, shift, and improve strategies are 0.92 kt (0.1% of total), 560.52 kt (60.9% of total), and 78.59 kt (8.5% of total), respectively. The shift strategy is confirmed to be the most realistic and cost-effective approach for reducing CO 2 emissions from SGA transportation. In addition, the implementation of subsidy policies is discussed. Marginal abatement costs under the subsidy scenarios are higher than 224 CNY/t, which is higher than the price in the Chinese carbon trading market. • We evaluated CO 2 emission of aggregate transportation in Beijing at the OD level. • CO 2 emission reductions of the avoid, shift, and improve strategies were tested. • Shift strategy performed the best in reducing CO 2 emission. • Avoid and improve strategies can reduce CO 2 emission; but the effects were limited. • Subsidizing rail transport reduced more emission than subsidizing electric trucks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of dockless bike-sharing (DBS) has made it more convenient for residents to travel within the city. The integration of public transit and DBS provides an effective method to sustainable transportation development. While some studies have accounted for heterogeneity of travel behavior, very few have considered how attitudes and preferences towards DBS affect combined travel mode choice. This study aims to reveal the effect of residents' attitude towards bike-sharing on combined travel mode choice using stated-preference data collected in Beijing, China. An integrated model of choice model and latent variables based on nested logit model (ICLV-NL) is used to incorporate two latent variables of social benefit and satisfaction with bike-sharing into the discrete choice model and thereby captures relationships between attitudinal factors and observed variables. The results indicate that compared with multinomial logit and nested logit models, the ICLV-NL model yields a better fit and explanatory power. The ICLV-NL model results show that positive impressions on bike-sharing make residents more likely to choose the integration of public transit and DBS, and the pick-up distance of DBS significantly affects the use of DBS as a feeder mode to public transit. Surprisingly, the status of DBS does not have a significant impact on travel mode choice. This paper provides more insights into the choice of the integration of DBS and public transit, which is helpful to the development of green and sustainable transportation. • An ICLV-NL model is proposed to account for the unobservable attitude factors towards DBS. • Users' attitudes, including social benefits and satisfaction with DBS, positively affect the choice of integration mode. • Female, high-education, low-income, and young passengers are more likely to utilize the integration of DBS and public transit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the first batch of pilot cities for application and promotion of new energy vehicles determined in 2013, Beijing is also a pilot city for national energy conservation, demonstration and popularization of new energy vehicles as well as subsidization of private new energy vehicles purchase. 2016 marks the beginning of the “13th Five-Year Plan” and is hence expected to be a pivotal year for promoting new energy vehicles. Using the Fuel Life Cycle Assessment, this paper conducts a quantitative analysis of such battery electric vehicles being promoted in Beijing as electric taxis, electric buses, electric sanitation trucks and rental battery electric vehicles, based on which we forecast the battery electric vehicles’ performance during the “13th Five-Year Plan” in terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as provide insights into the development path and the policy making for the industry accordingly. The results indicate a positive effect on energy conservation and emission reduction for all battery electric vehicles types currently on duty in Beijing, with an estimated 1.9 billion kilogram consumed energy of electricity conserved as well as 39.4 million tons of CO 2 emission reduced by the end of 2020. Factors like power generation structure and fuel type are found to be crucial for this emission reduction performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, air pollution has become a major challenge in urban management despite rapid economic development. Meanwhile, vehicle exhaust has gradually turned into the main source of air pollution in the city. To reduce air pollution, many measures have been taken including the odd-and-even license plate rule in some cities. However, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of those measures. In view of this, based on the Davis method, this article has taken Beijing as its subject and built an odd-and-even license plate model by a probabilistic modelling method and the analysis of means, thus to quantify the pollution caused by vehicle exhaust emissions and the actual effect of the license plate limitation rule. This paper also examines the relationship between the license plate limitation rule and urban air pollution control and to see whether, or not, the rule exerts a positive influence on air pollution control. The results showed that the odd-and-even license plate rule has positive impacts on air pollution control in the short-term; however, the influence of the limitation policy gradually diminishes and disappears as the overall number of cars increases. Therefore, it is suggested to tackle air pollution in a broader and more effective way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Water is scarce in Beijing, China, and rapid economic and societal development, as well as the dense population, causes severe pressure on local water resources. This paper involves the “water footprint”, defined as the volume of water needed to produce the goods and services consumed, which quantifies the environmental impact of consumption. By combining an input–output model with intersectoral water flows, this paper describes a modified input–output model to calculate the direct, indirect and gross water footprint intensity and the gross water footprint of different sectors in Beijing in 2002 and 2007. The results show declines in the agricultural and industrial water footprints for these years. The grey water footprint, which reflects environmental pollution caused by human production and consumption, was also calculated and suggests that the shortage of water resources, rather than water pollution, is the main problem in Beijing. Evaluation of the virtual water trade, along with water savings in the various sectors, verified that Beijing is a net virtual water importer. Furthermore, the water footprint shows that Beijing is advanced in water use efficiency compared to other provinces in China. Finally, adjustments in the industrial structure, along with virtual water importing, should be prioritized as water-saving strategies for Beijing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To provide industry practitioners with a better understanding of the health impacts of occupational noise generated during construction activities, this paper applies measurement schemes to collect noise exposure samples of workers employed in 10 different trades and develops a health damage assessment model to quantify noise exposure level into hearing impairments suffered by field workers in units of “USD”. On-site measurements were conducted at two representative ongoing building projects in Beijing during 2013, and 270 valid noise exposure samples covering 10 trades were acquired. With these data, the occupational noise exposure indicator L EX, 8h was calculated and compared with the threshold limit of 85 dBA stipulated by China's authority. Then, a comparative analysis of noise exposure levels was conducted between two projects and among trades. Furthermore, a health damage assessment model was established to evaluate the real health impacts of construction noise in one of the sampling projects. The results demonstrate that workers in the construction industry suffer severe occupational health damage as a result of construction noise in China. Specifically, 94% of the total health damage occurred during the superstructure construction stage. Roofbolter operators, air duct workers, formwork fixers and concreters suffered from substantial harm in terms of per capita daily damage values. The occupational noise exposure measurement and health damage assessment based on practical project samples indicate that the proposed sampling schemes perform well and that the established health assessment model can effectively quantify health damage suffered by workers due to construction noise, thereby demonstrating its potential as a tool for establishing health subsidy standards for various trades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has contributed to rapid development of greenhouse vegetable production in Northern China resulting in negative environmental impacts caused by the overuse of agricultural inputs. A shift towards organic consumption and production has been promoted as one of the potential solutions to this challenge. Early indications for such a shift can already be observed in many major Chinese cities. In this paper, a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to examine the environmental impacts of organic and conventional production of tomatoes in greenhouses in suburban Beijing, China. Results showed clear environmental benefits associated with a 54.87% lower environmental impact index for organic tomato production compared to its conventional counterpart. For the organic system, eutrophication and soil eco-toxicity contributed the most with 56.39% and 37.87%, respectively, mainly due to manure application. For the conventional system, aquatic eco-toxicity ranked first with 59.45%, followed by eutrophication (25.70%) and soil eco-toxicity (12.12%) – mainly due to the application of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The results of the LCA analysis suggest a positive environmental evaluation of current trends towards organic production and consumption in urban China. However, the implications of accompanying trends towards direct, cold chain delivery as well as greater land demands within the organic system should be considered. Also, more effort should be made to help organic farmers to apply organic fertilizers more efficiently in order to reduce remaining significant soil eco-toxicity impacts from manure application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been included in the Chinese ‘12th Five Year Plan’ as a national strategy. Accordingly, the cooperation of energy saving and environmental protection is an important part. At the present stage, establishing carbon emission trading market in China is regarded as an effective measure to reduce and control carbon dioxide emission. Meanwhile, it is an important task for government to allocate carbon emission quotas among regions. In order to explore the cross-provincial carbon trading market mode of China, this paper aims to construct a comprehensive index and use the integrated weighting approach to simulate the carbon quota allocation of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results show that, firstly, the indicator of responsibility, which is about 0.56, is given relatively more weight among the three indicators. By comparison, the weights of capacity and potential are 0.13 and 0.30. Secondly, the provinces with strong economic ability and lower carbon reduction potential may get fewer proportions of carbon emission quotas, such as Beijing. Thirdly, since undertaking the function transfer and dispersal of Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei should have a relatively high carbon emission quotas in the future carbon trading market. These results may provide insightful support for decision makers to promote collaborative carbon reduction and allocate carbon quotas in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-reported life satisfaction of China's population has not improved as much as expected during the economic boom, which was accompanied by a significant decline in environmental performance. Is environmental pollution the culprit for the lagging subjective well-being? To explore this issue, this paper adopts sentiment analysis to construct a real-time daily subjective well-being metric at the city level based on the big data of online search traces. Using daily data from 13 Chinese cities centred on Beijing between August 2014 and December 2019, we look at the corelation between subjective well-being and air pollution and the heterogeneity in this relationship based on two separate identification strategies. We find that air pollutants are negatively correlated with subjective well-being, and well-being tends to decline more from pollution during hot seasons. In addition, residents in wealthier regions tend to be more sensitive to air pollution. This result may be explained by the differences in the subjective perception of air pollution and personal preferences at different levels of income. These findings provide information about concerns of the public, thereby helping the government to take appropriate actions to respond to the dynamics of subjective well-being. • Sentiment analysis and big data are adopted to construct a daily city-level subjective well-being metric. • Higher levels of airborne particulates lead to a decline in subjective well-being. • Peoples' well-being tends to decline more from pollution during hot seasons. • Residents in wealthier regions tend to be more sensitive to air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies using Hedonic housing price model to discuss residents' demand for urban green space (UGS) demonstrate the importance that residents place on UGS. While much of the empirical findings have focused on residents' willingness to pay, more attention needs to be paid on its temporal change and spatial heterogeneity. Taking advantage of the diverse composition of urban parks, housing, and residents in Beijing, this paper explores the dynamic and heterogeneous demand for UGS. Using more than 240 thousand micro housing resale transaction data from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a Hedonic model to empirically estimate and confirm the basic, dynamic and heterogenous willingness to pay of residents for urban parks. Our empirical findings confirm the rising and heterogeneous demand for UGS by Chinese urban residents. First, the willingness to pay for parks of urban residents has continued to grow during our study period. Second, in view of different socioeconomic characteristics, there exists heterogeneous demand related to the housing of residents and different types of parks. Residents who live in homes with a larger size have a stronger demand for urban parks. Meanwhile, urban residents prefer parks with free entry over fee-based parks, and they have strong preference for some specific types of parks. Moreover, we conduct a survey and collect 907 valid samples to directly obtain residents' willingness to pay for urban parks, and the survey results further confirm the abovementioned findings. This study deepens the understanding of urban residents' demand for UGS, and will contribute to more scientific decision making on the planning, financing and management of UGS. • Hedonic price model was used to estimate residents' demand for urban parks in Beijing. • The willingness to pay for urban parks by residents has continued to grow during 2011–2019. • There exists heterogeneous demand for urban parks, which is related to both residents' income and park types. • The abovementioned findings were confirmed by questionnaire survey which directly obtain residents' willingness to pay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a basic structural unit of the city, the community plays a crucial role in decreasing carbon emissions and creating a low carbon city. This paper selects a classic and official low carbon community named Min'an Community in Beijing as a case to illustrate the governance mechanism of the low carbon community in China from the perspective of polycentric governance. The paper summarizes the government mechanism, market mechanism, and public participation mechanism in Min'an Community and analyzes the provision, monitoring, and enforcement of each mechanism. We find that unlike the low carbon governance at the city or industry park levels, China's low carbon governance at the community level lacks a dominant mechanism. Even though it involves community-wide governance, the public participation mechanism is also inadequate. For improving low carbon governance at the community level, the government should broaden finance channels to strengthen the incentive mechanisms, make active use of new technologies, such as mobile Internet, encourage innovation of public participation mechanism, and employ various publicity and education measures to cultivate the low carbon culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic–energy storage charging station (PV-ES CS) combines photovoltaic (PV), battery energy storage system (BESS) and charging station together. As one of the most promising charging facilities, PV-ES CS plays a decisive role in improving the convenience of EV charging, saving energy and reducing pollution emissions. To promote PV-ES CS and improve the network of charging facilities, it is necessary to explore its comprehensive benefits. Firstly, to make full use of peak-to-valley electricity price difference and consume the power generated by the PV, this paper introduces the energy management strategy of the station based on time-of-use (TOU) electricity price. Secondly, from the perspective of multiple beneficiaries, a comprehensive benefits analysis model of charging station is proposed, including the benefits of PV-ES CS, power grid and society. Finally, the comprehensive benefits of the new charging station are analyzed through a PV-ES CS in Beijing. The impact of the construction cost reduction (including BESS cost and PV cost) and subsidy decline on the economy of the charging station is discussed. The government should further enrich charging stations subsidies. The results show that the social and economic benefits brought by PV-ES CS are far greater than the economic benefits of the station itself. With the development of the new charging facility in the future, it will bring considerable social and economic benefits and play a vital role in saving energy and reducing emissions. • The paper analyzes the benefits of charging station integrated photovoltaic and energy storage, power grid and society. • The social and economic benefits brought by PV-ES CS are more significant, compared with its own economic benefits. • A comprehensive benefit analysis model of charging station is proposed. • The impact of the construction cost reduction and subsidy decline on the economy of the charging station is discussed. • Some policy recommendations are put forward based on the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable mobility is critical to achieve sustainable development goals. Public policy makers worldwide have introduced different policy instruments to motivate sustainable mobility such as promoting car sharing and introducing car license plate lottery. Limited attention has been devoted to studying the effects of these types of policies on consumers' accessibility in urban mobility system, in particular when these policies are intended to achieve the same objective of promoting sustainable mobility. To fill this gap, based on the consumer discrete choice behavioral theory, this paper designs a stated choice experiment and performs discrete choice analysis to investigate how the interactions of these two policies influence consumers' mobility preferences and consumer surplus-based accessibility. By collecting data in Beijing, as an empirical context, we identify a nested logit model with a hierarchical choice structure, where bus and underground fall in the nest of public transit , while car sharing, private car and taxi are independent alternatives. Consumers who are participating in the car license plate lottery are more likely to choose car sharing, and car sharing can largely compensate for the loss of accessibility caused by the car license plate lottery policy, which implies that car sharing and the car license plate lottery policy are indeed complementary policies. However, the introduction of car sharing can also lead to an unintended consequence of higher total car usage by attracting more public transit users who never intended to buy or drive cars. This study contributes to the literature by proposing and implementing a generic theoretical framework for analyzing consumer preference-based accessibility for developing a sustainable mobility system and provides important practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to climate change and also plays a very important role in the operation of the entire economic system, leading many studies to evaluate the possible agricultural direct economic damage (ADED) of climate change. However, this damage may have an amplification impact through the intricate industrial linkages that exist among sectors, and this impact may be even greater than the original damage. Therefore, to elucidate the economic cascading effect (ECE) in China caused by ADED and industrial linkage, this paper used the ARIO model to evaluate the total ECE and analyse the differences in the 19 sectors by taking the ADED under future annual mean temperature (AMT) increases of 1–5 °C as the input condition and adjusting the exogenous parameters to enhance the adaptability of the model; the goal was to assess the economic impact of climate change in China. The results show that (i) there is a significant amplifying impact of ECE due to industrial linkage under the influence of warming, ECE will be 4.24–5.25 times that of ADED, and the total economic impact (ADED + ECE) will exceed the GDP of the Chinese capital of Beijing in 2012 when the AMT increases by 1.5 °C, while it will exceed one tenth of China's GDP when it increases by 4 °C. (ii) Manufacturing will be the sector most affected by the industrial linkage under ADED, which accounts for 26.58% of total ECE, followed by agriculture (10.39%) and construction (8.5%). (iii) The decrease in cultivated land area will have a significant impact on the economy; when it is reduced to the minimum demand (1.41% less than 2012), ADED increases by 1.65 times and ECE increases by 2.35 times. This paper aims to provide a new perspective from which to evaluate the economic impact of climate change by studying ECEs behind sectoral interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New energy vehicles (NEVs) have great potential to reduce emissions containing atmospheric pollutants. The Chinese Government has implemented a series of subsidy policies to promote NEVs and replace traditional fuel vehicles (TFVs). However, the contribution of NEVs in reducing atmospheric pollutants varies due to differences in mileages and emission factors. Previous literature has rarely studied the influence of NEV subsidy policies on the reduction of atmospheric pollutants, especially with respect to different kinds of vehicles. This paper divides motor vehicles into four categories: buses, taxis, passenger cars, and special vehicles. Taking into account the purchase subsidies and construction subsidies on the charging infrastructure of NEVs, this paper proposes an evaluation index, namely, the comprehensive subsidy efficiency, that measures the effectiveness of the two subsidies in reducing emissions of atmospheric pollutants among different NEVs. In response to Beijing's plan to prioritize the promotion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), this paper uses relevant data of BEVs instead of NEVs for the analysis. Taking Beijing as a case study, promotion proportion of NEVs were set according to the comprehensive subsidy efficiency of various NEVs; furthermore, scenario simulation of NEV subsidy policies in 2017 and 2020 was conducted. The results revealed new energy taxis and special vehicles have great a potential to alleviate the greenhouse effect and haze weather, respectively. By prioritizing the promotion of NEVs with higher comprehensive subsidy efficiency, one can achieve greater reduction in the emissions of atmospheric pollutants with equal financial funds. Furthermore, this paper suggests subsidy policies of NEVs from the perspective of reducing emissions of atmospheric pollutants. Image 1 • The paper studies different types of new energy vehicles. • The paper studies the influence of new energy vehicle subsidy policy on alleviating the greenhouse effect and haze weather. • The government should prioritize the promotion of new energy vehicles with higher comprehensive subsidy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of the energy Internet (EI) has dramatically changed the energy model of today's world. Despite scholars have done a lot of research on energy Internet, few articles have been written to evaluate its CO 2 emission reduction. In order to fill the vacancy, system dynamics (SD) is used to set up the dynamic assessment model of CO 2 emission reduction of regional energy Internet. To illustrate the effectiveness of the model, we take the energy Internet in Yanqing district of Beijing as an example for simulation. The results show that the total CO 2 emission reduction of this energy Internet will reach 5056.82 tons in 2019, and the emission reduction will continue to increase in the following years, the total amount of CO 2 emission reduction peaked at 13384.80 tons in 2030. We conclude: (1) The CO 2 emission reduction dynamic assessment model established in this paper has a strong versatility and can be applied to any built or planned energy Internet. (2) Energy Internet has a good long term effect in emission reduction. (3) The emission reduction of the supply side is the most obvious; the user side has the greatest potential for emission reduction, while the contribution of the transmission side to emissions reduction is the most stable. The innovation points of this paper mainly include: (1) we put forward and solve the dynamic assessment of carbon emission reduction on the energy Internet for the first time. (2) We establish a dynamic assessment model of CO 2 emission reduction in the energy Internet based on system dynamics. (3) We quantitatively analyze the emission reduction contribution of the supply side, transmission side and user side of the energy Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multifractal analysis technique can reveal the details of a global and local evolution of a regional space at multiple levels and scales. Hence, the built-up land in Zhengzhou is used as an example in this paper to demonstrate multifractal analysis of its spatial pattern in 1988, 1995, 2006, and 2015, in which, based on the analysis of generalized multifractal (including atypical trend and typical evolutionary features), and through a generalized multifractal with historical evolution paradigm, to reveal the details of its evolution on multiple spatial scales. The analysis of global indicators shows that the regular change in the spatial pattern of built-up lands in Zhengzhou since the 1980s is a hierarchically fluctuating spatial system. Zhengzhou tended to expand in the low- and medium-density areas before the 2000s, and it managed to exhibit spatial agglomeration in high-density areas in the 2010s. The analysis of local indicators further shows: (1) the regular change with multifractal characteristics is only part of Zhengzhou's evolutionary system, but it is the primary driving force; (2) the spatial evolution of built-up lands in Zhengzhou has long been dominated by chaotic states and mediocre states, but the regularity of recent evolution has increased; and (3) changes in the spatial scale of built-up lands at different times are basically synchronized, But the specific characteristics of each year are different and the complexity is increasing. However, compared with Beijing's left-skewed and wide-regional f (a)- a (q) curves for all periods, the features of built-up lands in Zhengzhou are right-skewed and narrow-regional. The two cities have different types of evolutional features. Therefore, the spatial evolution of Beijing has some reference value for Zhengzhou, but it cannot be copied. In general, based on the spatial complexity analysis of multiple perspectives, this paper explains the overall change of spatial pattern and the basic evolution of multi-space scale in Zhengzhou in the past 30 years and verifies the feasibility of generalized multifractal in geospatial analysis. • Evolutionary Spatial Multifractal Mechanism for Built-up Lands. • Analysis of Global Indicators. • Comparative Studies on Evolutionary Spatial Multifractal Mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing electricity price and energy consumption in high-speed railway industry push railway companies to seek a promising way to realize their sustainable developments. Making full use of the solar resource along with high-speed railways can be a potential solution to cut the electricity bill, bring more profit to railway companies and realize the decarbonization of high-speed railway industry. This paper studies the optimal planning of distributed photovoltaic generation (DPVG) and energy storage system (ESS) for the traction power supply system (TPSS) of high-speed railway. A quantitative method is proposed to study the time and space characteristics of photovoltaic generation and electricity demand of high-speed trains. An integrated cost-benefit analysis framework is developed to evaluate the effect of DPVG and ESS on the economy of TPSS. To derive the optimal planning scheme and energy management strategy of DPVG and ESS, a mathematical programming model with the objective of minimizing the total cost is proposed to seek the most economical solution. A hybrid global optimal solution approach is developed to solve the model. A real-world case of Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway in China is used to illustrate the capability and characteristics of the proposed model. The computational results show that DPVG is able to supply 32.5 % electricity demand of high-speed trains. The integration of DPVG and ESS can help railway company save 4.2 million CNY each year in Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway. This paper demonstrates the potential and applicability of DPVG and ESS in high-speed railway industry. • A novel distributed photovoltaic generation model is proposed for the traction power supply system of high-speed railway. • A global optimal algorithm is provided to derive the most economical planning scheme and energy-management strategy. • Photovoltaic generation can help Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway save 4.2 million China Yuan each year. • Solar energy is able to supply 32.5% electricity demand of Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green roof is a popular green infrastructure type implemented in highly urbanized areas, but it is difficult to reliably translate local results to urban or watershed scales. It is necessary to develop appropriate methods to quantitatively identify prioritization of green roof retrofitting at urban functional zones (UFZs) where green roof implementation is most needed and suited. In urban regions, various UFZ types may have diverse demands and suitability levels of green roof retrofitting, thus they should be given different spatial prioritization in location planning of green roof practices. In this paper, the spatial potential of green roof retrofitting at UFZs scale was estimated and mapped, a priority index considered the demand for green space, runoff risk and suitability for roof greening of UFZs was developed to identify the priority areas for retrofitting green roofs, and runoff reduction effectiveness of hypothetical green roof retrofitting scenarios under three storm return periods were assessed. Results indicated that the total potential area for green roof retrofitting is 143.62 km2 within the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing, which accounts for 21.52% of the study area; The developed priority index was able to appropriately reflecting the differences on demands and suitability levels of green roof retrofitting in various UFZs; Compared with the baseline scenario (0% retrofitting), the average runoff volume was reduced by 1.34%–2.73% with 10% green roof retrofitting; The maximum average reduction effectiveness achieved was 9.17%–19.05% under a 100% green roof retrofitting scenario. The runoff coefficient within COZ (commercial zone), EGZ (education & government zone) and HRZ (high-density residential zone) was significantly reduced as green roof retrofitting percentages increased. These results can inform urban planners of a meaningful estimator of UFZs scale green roof potential and support for identifying the priority areas for partially implementing green roofs. • A priority index to identify the spatial prioritization of UFZs for retrofitting green roofs was developed. • The potential area for roof greening within the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing was 143. 62 km2. • Functional zones COZ and EGZ had higher priority values for retrofitting green roofs. • Average runoff volume was reduced by 1.34%-2.73% with 10% green roof retrofitting. • The average runoff reduction achieved was 9.17%-19.05% under 100% green roof retrofitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordination development among various subsystems, especially among economic, social and environmental subsystems, is an important part of urban sustainability that directly affects the quality of urbanization. This paper evaluated the sustainability of the 9 China's national central cities using the coupling coordination model. In the evaluation process, an objective coupling weighting method was developed by the combination of the coupling analysis and the sequential relationship analysis method. The validity of this method was illustrated by comparing the coordination level of the cities with that obtained by the entropy method. Long-term use of this method can guide the coordination development among economy, society and environment of cities. The assessment results indicate that the coordination development among economy, society and environment of the cities was not ideal. Only one city, Beijing, located in the good coordination grade. The main reason is the lower development of economic sustainability. Policy recommendations were provided to address the problem. In addition, the paper concludes that there is a great room for improvement in the coordinated development of the cities, because they showed an increase trend in coordinated development and the economic growth rate was relatively high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquakes can have a tremendous impact on the operations of university campuses. Since campus buildings are used for teaching, living, and entertaining, it is necessary to establish timely and effective emergency response strategies that accord with the functions of each building. Since there is currently no emergency response system that can provide real-time feedback and enable decision making during an earthquake, this paper proposes a university emergency response system based on multi-source data monitoring. The proposed system offers priorities for rescuing people and maintaining facilities according to five indices: the number of people in the building, the building's command role, the potential danger of hazardous chemicals in the building, the extent of damage to the building, and the lifeline role of facilities in the building. Several methods are used in the process of decision making, including the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), linear regression, earthquake disaster simulation, and expert evaluation. The emergency response system is then applied to a case study of the Shahe Campus of the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, where simulations of three typical scenarios under fixed seismic parameters are carried out and compared. The system proposed in this paper makes the campus's earthquake emergency response more rapid and reasonable, providing new ideas for promoting the development of emergency management systems and sustainable campus operations at colleges and universities. Multi-source data based university emergency response system is proposed. The decision framework is timely and effective under limited cost. Specific buildings' electricity consumption reflects the real-time indoor population. Time characteristics and key areas based emergency resources should be allocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]