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Paper has shaped society for centuries and is considered one of humanity's most important inventions. However, pulp and paper products can be damaging to social and natural systems along their lifecycle of material extraction, processing, transportation, and waste handling. The pulp and paper industry is among the top five most energy-intensive industries globally and is the fourth largest industrial energy user. This industry accounts for approximately 6% of global industrial energy use and 2% of direct industrial CO 2 emissions. The pulp and paper industry is also the largest user of original or virgin wood, with deleterious impacts on both human health and local flora and fauna, including aquatic ecosystems. This critical and systematic review seeks to identify alternatives for mitigating the climate impacts of pulp and paper processes and products, thus making the pulp and paper industry more environmentally sustainable. This study reviews 466 studies to answer the following questions: what are the main determinants of energy and carbon emissions emerging from the pulp and paper industry? What are the benefits of this industry adopting low-carbon manufacturing processes, and what barriers will need to be tackled to enable such adoption? Using a sociotechnical lens, we answer these questions, identify barriers for the pulp and paper industry's decarbonization, and present promising avenues for future research. •This review identifies carbon-intensive processes in the pulp and paper industry. •Presents decarbonizing practices, potential transformations and innovations. •Presents promising avenues for future research. •No agreed consensus on the most promising technologies to achieve net-zero in the pulp and paper industry. •Pulp and paper products are associated with other sociotechnical systems that create compelling interdependencies among industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pulp and paper industry, which provides cellulose pulp and paper, bio-based energy and chemicals, is one of the largest energy consumers, greenhouse gases (GHG) and pollutant emitters among manufacturing industries. Although the environmental impact of the pulp and paper industry has been extensively studied, life cycle assessment (LCA) results have not yet reached a consensus. By means of a systematic review and meta-analysis, this article contributes to the quantification and harmonization of the life cycle environmental impacts of pulp making and paper making systems. Based on the screening of 45 cases of paper making and 18 cases of pulp making, we found that 1 t of paper results in about 950 kg carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) equivalent (CO 2 -eq) GHG emissions on average. However, there are distinct differences between countries and pulp and paper categories. The dominant factor influencing GHG emissions is energy use. In paper making, the pulp making process is responsible for 62% of energy use, 45% of GHG emissions, 48% of acidification potential, and 49% of eutrophication potential. The kg CO 2 -eq emissions of three different types of pulp were as follows: Kraft, 508 kg CO 2 -eq/t; chemi-mechanical, 513 kg CO 2 -eq/t; and recycled pulp, 408 kg CO 2 -eq/t. Excluding emissions from electricity and steam production, the convergence of carbon emissions is observed within the same categories of pulp. Straw-based pulp caused far more environmental impact than any other type because of the intensive inputs in agricultural activities as well as in the pulp making process. This research highlighted the inconsistencies in functional units, system boundaries, and methodologies and carbon neutrality assumptions in different LCA studies of pulp and paper making. Future studies should focus on the environmental impact of straw-based pulp making, system boundary unification, and calculation of biogenic carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the editorial for the virtual special issue (VSI) of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) dedicated to three Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conferences held in 2022, namely: (i) the 5th South East European Conference SEESDEWES 2022 held from May 22 to 26, 2022 in Vlore, Albania; (ii) the 3rd Latin American LASDEWES 2022 held from July 24 to 28, 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and (iii) the 17th SDEWES 2022 held from November 6 to 10, 2022 in Paphos, Cyprus. The VSI collected both high quality review papers and original research articles presented at these conferences, aligning with the aims and scope of RSER. Following a rigorous peer review process, seventeen articles were accepted and published. These articles explore techniques and technologies essential for advancing feasible Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. Spanning multidisciplinary topics, many of them address almost all the Sustainable Development Goals, offering feasible solutions for much-needed decarbonization pathways. • The VSI SDEWES 2022 presents the ready solutions for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. • Five clusters for presenting the Renewable and Sustainable energy cutting edge solutions. • The positioning in the scientific context of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. • Feasible solutions for much-needed decarbonization pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon and environmentally friendly development are becoming increasingly important in the metallurgical industry. In this study, the use of biomass as a source of both material and energy in metallurgical technologies is reviewed. The paper discusses the preparation of bio-based raw materials, their utilization in metallurgical processes, phytoremediation and metal extraction technology, and forestry as a carbon dioxide sequestration method. Bio-based raw materials, such as bio-based fuels, reductants, adhesives, and activated carbons, are found to provide energy, act as reductants and binders, dispose metallurgical flue gas, and adjust metal melt composition, thereby reducing energy consumption in metallurgical processes. Additionally, heavy metals can be enriched in plants through biomass-mediated soil remediation, and these metals can then be processed to obtain raw materials for metallurgical processes. Moreover, metallurgical waste heat can be used to prepare biomass as soil amendments, remediate deserts, and indirectly reduce metallurgical industry carbon dioxide emissions through forest carbon sinks. Based on these findings, the concept of biomass metallurgy is proposed, which promotes the use of biomass as energy or raw materials, ecological restoration and reforestation, and reduction of carbon dioxide and pollutant emissions in metallurgical processes. This study emphasizes the advantages of biomass metallurgy and encourages the development of low-carbon and green metallurgical processes. [Display omitted] • Development of metallurgical technologies using bio-based material and energy. • Bio-based materials including fuels, reductants, adhesives, and activated carbon. • Biomass used in metallurgy for combustion, reductants, pellets making, etc. • Heavy metals in hyperaccumulators extracted and recovered by biochemical methods. • Indirectly reducing CO 2 by transforming metallurgical waste heat into carbon sinks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Under the circumstances of global carbon emissions reduction, it has become a trend to promote the adoption of clean energies, such as solar energy. With the increasing maturity of photovoltaic (PV) technology, household-type distributed solar PV power generation projects are increasingly popular in China. Nevertheless, compared with conventional power generation, the initial cost of a solar PV project remains relatively high. Therefore, to mobilize the incentives of the general public, there is an urgent need for studies on how to share the costs and benefits of a solar PV power generation project between the government and users. By adopting the Shapley Game methodology, this paper has conducted a theoretical analysis of the cost-sharing among the central government, local government, and users and has built an investment cost-sharing model ( C i ′ = P (i) − V s (i) − V r i , i = 1 , 2 , 3) , which is able to coordinate the benefit of all three stakeholders. This is followed by a case study. The results show that, under China's central government subsidy of 0.42 yuan per kWh, the best strategy for the local government to encourage the public to install solar PV facilities is to provide a one-off compensation equal to 30% of the initial investment. Finally, this paper proposes relevant policy recommendations to promote the development of solar PV power generation for emissions reduction in China. Highlights • We made a cost-sharing analysis of a solar PV project using the Shapley value. • We built an investment cost-sharing model (C′i = P(i)- Vs(i)- Vri, i = 1,2,3). • Providing 30% of initial subsidy is the best strategy for China's local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Whilst a plethora of literature has viewed technological progress as one of the critical influencing factors in relation to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, little effort has been made to identify the sectoral differences in the relationship between technological progress and CO 2 emissions. Thereby, this paper remedies the inadequacies in the extant literature by empirically investigating the impact of technological progress on CO 2 emissions, specifically taking into account its heterogeneous effect in various economic sectors. This paper first decomposes the effect of technological progress as taking place in heavy industry, in light industry, in construction industry, and in service industry. A panel quantile regression approach and a balanced city panel data model are then applied, covering the period 2001–2013 in China. The empirical results show that technological progress in heavy industry and light industry surprisingly facilitates a higher level of CO 2 emissions, despite its prominent contribution to energy efficiency improvement. Meanwhile, as distinct from the effect it shows in the heavy and light industries, technological progress in construction and service industries exerts a negative effect on CO 2 emissions. Additionally, this paper further discovers that the strength of the multiple impacts of technological progress also varies with the level of emitters. By studying the heterogeneous effect brought about by technological progress in different economic sectors and emitters, this paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between CO 2 emissions and technological progress. Highlights • The study considers the sectoral and scale heterogeneity of technological progress in relation to CO 2 emissions. • We apply a panel quantile regression approach to balanced city-level panel data. • Technological progress within different economic sectors exerts different effects on CO 2 emissions. • The role of technological progress in moderating energy intensity varies across emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The energy consumption in buildings accounts for a significant proportion of total energy and carbon emissions over the world. To reduce the building energy consumption and achieve sustainable development of buildings, nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) have attracted widespread attention as a future building energy target. This paper reviews energy-efficient measures (EEMs) and renewable energy technologies (RETs) in NZEBs and discusses the application and suitability of the key technologies, i.e. minimizing the energy demand in NZEBs by EEMs and adopting RETs to meet the remaining energy needs. EEMs contain efficient thermal insulation system, high-performance window system, good airtightness and fresh air heat recovery system. RETs are composed of solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system, air source heat pump system (ASHP), ground source heat pump system (GSHP), and wind power. In addition, this paper emphasizes further research works, which involve life cycle energy analysis (LCEA), meteorological parameters change, intelligent building operation management (IBOM) system, energy storage system and social policy issues. This paper will provide some references for the further development of NZEBs in different climatic regions in China. Highlights • This paper systematically reviews application of EEMs and RETs in NZEBs in China. • Feasibility and suitability of EEMs and RETs are evaluated from different aspects. • Further research work and development direction of NZEBs are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residential sector is one of the EU's priority sectors where carbon mitigation needs to be realised. In this paper, we carry out a review of the effectiveness of individual policies or policy packages in terms of the uptake of these carbon mitigation measures and/or energy savings realised as a result. The focus lies on the existing residential building stock. The literature reviewed in this paper covers panel data studies, applied behavioural research, and situated approaches. Most of the reviewed quantitative studies find that financial incentives and subsidies have a positive impact on the probability of energy efficiency improvements being undertaken. However, when evaluating the energy efficiency improvements or CO 2 reductions induced by the incentives and therefore their effectiveness, the presence of free riding turns out to be a problem. Energy and CO 2 taxation should play a larger role in encouraging people to save energy and reduce CO 2 emissions, since the reviewed studies indicate that people are responsive to savings in energy costs and expected price increases in the future. The evidence on the relative impact of regulation vs. financial incentives is inconclusive. For information policies the quantitative evidence is still limited. The reviewed panel data studies find no or a negative impact. This finding however does not necessarily imply that information policies are useless, as panel data do not allow for a detailed analysis of different types of informational approaches. Situated accounts provide further necessary qualitative findings on best practices for energy savings by households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computing systems have been focused on performance improvements, driven by the demand of user applications in past few decades, particularly from 1990 to 2010. However, due to their ever-increasing energy demand which causes large energy bills and CO 2 emissions, over the past six years the focus has shifted towards energy-performance aware. The average energy consumption of servers is increasing continuously; and several researchers suggest, if this trend continues further, the cost of energy consumed by a server during its lifetime will exceed the hardware costs. The energy consumption problem is even greater for large-scale infrastructures, such as clusters, grids and clouds, which consist of several thousand heterogeneous servers. Efforts are continuously made to minimize the energy consumption of these systems, but the interest of people in computational services and popularity of smart devices make it a difficult task. In this paper, we discuss the energy consumption of ICT equipment, and present a taxonomy of energy and performance efficient techniques for large computing systems covering clusters, grids and clouds (datacenters). We discuss both energy and performance efficiency, which makes this survey different from those already published in the literature. Key research papers are surveyed and mapped onto taxonomies to characterise and identify outstanding and key issues for further research. We discuss several state-of-the-art resource management techniques, reported in the literature, that claim significant improvement in the energy efficiency and performance of ICT equipment and large-scale computing systems such as datacenters, and identify a few open challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the barriers that inhibit the deployment of renewable energy technologies to achieve long-term reductions in carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels is paramount to Barbados. Although there are targets towards renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, geothermal) uptake, the share of these technologies in the energy mix does not exist in Barbados due to the total dependence on fossil fuels. In this paper, a review of potential challenges and the main problems for deployment of alternative energy sources is presented. Through interviews, questionnaires with a focus group of key personnel's, the paper documents the lack of renewable energy sources (with emphasis on solar energy) as one of the main alternatives to meet the carbon emission targets set by the country. The barriers and challenges facing the implementation of solar energy deployment have been clarified. From the results, it is evident that significant policy barriers still exist at the country level, which has reduced the effectiveness of a concerted national effort to deploy renewables. The current policy landscape which benefits from fossil fuel imports, the lack of technical know-how and the lack of research and development in the renewable energy space are amongst the key barriers identified. The paper also outlines the key policy's frameworks, regulatory environment and the lack of incentives, which encompasses the renewable energy sector, and presents a critical analysis of the barriers faced by the industry. A mitigation framework is proposed to bridge the gap of solar energy (renewable energy) deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first to provide an empirical analysis of the short run and long run effects of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions on health care spending across U.S. states. Accounting for the possibility of non-linearity in the data and the relationship among the variables, the analysis estimated various statistical models to demonstrate that CO 2 emissions led to increases in health care expenditures across U.S states between 1966 and 2009. Using quantile regressions, the analysis displayed that the effect of CO 2 emissions was stronger at the upper-end of the conditional distribution of health care expenditures. Results indicate the effect of CO 2 emissions on health care was relatively stronger for states that spend higher amounts in health care expenditures. The primary policy message of the paper is that there can be tangible health related benefits associated with policies that aim to reduce carbon emissions across U.S. states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong consensus that carbon emissions attributed to buildings are a major contributor to global warming. Reducing buildings’ carbon emissions becomes a matter of urgency and importance. However, despite the burgeoning body of knowledge of addressing buildings’ carbon emissions in the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, the system boundaries of buildings’ carbon emissions and actually of their relevant research had never been made explicit systemically. As a result, the definitions of buildings’ life cycle differ considerably and the methods and models of analyzing buildings’ life cycle carbon emissions (LCCa) vary; all these lead to discrepancies in reported buildings’ LCCa and suggest a significant knowledge gap in effectively addressing the complex socio-technical features of buildings’ LCCa. This paper aims to provide a fundamental rethink of the boundaries of buildings’ LCCa for achieving meaningful benchmarking and learning in the future. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of system boundaries of buildings’ LCCa, and develops a regression model to predict such LCCa with strategies for enhancing the validity and reliability of the prediction. The framework elaborates the boundaries of buildings’ LCCa in the temporal, spatial, functional and methodological dimensions which together contain twelve variables, namely, life cycle stage, lifespan, climatic zone, geographic scope, LCA method, research method, unit of analysis, sources of emissions, building typology, level of prefabrication, building material, and density. The regression model is validated utilizing six representative cases of buildings’ LCCa selected globally. Inconsistent system boundaries adopted were found to have contributed to the discrepancies between the resultant buildings’ LCCa. The reconstructed system boundaries and developed regression model should facilitate a paradigmatic improvement in the body of knowledge of buildings’ LCCa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are believed to be the main factor for alarming rise in global temperatures. Conference of Parties 21 held at Paris in the year 2015 strictly warned and asked the nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emission level. This makes the nations to adopt renewable energy technology to substitute burning fossil fuels. Solar energy due to its accessibility and affordability leads the renewable energy application race. Even though Photovoltaic (PV) technology is mature but the effect of temperature on its efficiency is considerable, which opens up new front of research where combination of PV and thermal absorber is focussed to harness thermal energy which otherwise negatively affect the PV electrical efficiency. In the proposed study starting from the effect temperature on PV electrical efficiency, construction of Photovoltaic-Thermal (PV/T) module, historical development of PV/T, about different types of PV/T's developed around the globe along with performance of developed PV/T's, effect of operating parameters and methods of thermodynamic management are reviewed and presented. The study emphasised on the use of nano fluid and phase change material to harness maximum thermal energy from the system, also includes an insight into commercially available PV/T modules across the globe. This paper presents enviro-economic evaluation of PV/T systems developed by various researchers and also enumerated thermodynamic methods for evaluating system efficiency, which includes both energy and exergy analysis. This paper also provides the necessary information about the requirement of future research in PV/T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capture and sequestration of CO 2 released by conventional fossil fuel combustion is an urgent need to mitigate global warming. In this work, main CO 2 capture and sequestration (CCS) systems are reviewed, with the focus on their integration with renewables in order to achieve power plants with nearly zero CO 2 emissions. Among these technologies under development, the Dry Carbonate Process shows several advantages. This manuscript analyses the integration of a CO 2 sorption-desorption cycle based on Na 2 CO 3 /NaHCO 3 into a coal fired power plant (CFPP) for CO 2 capture with solar support for sorbent regeneration. The Dry Carbonate Process relies on the use of a dry regenerable sorbent such as sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) to remove CO 2 from flue gases. Na 2 CO 3 is converted to sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) through reaction with CO 2 and water steam. Na 2 CO 3 is regenerated when NaHCO 3 is heated, which yields a gas stream mostly containing CO 2 and H 2 O. Condensation of H 2 O produces a pure CO 2 stream suitable for its subsequent use or compression and sequestration. In this paper, the application of the Dry Carbonate CO 2 capture process in a coal-based power plant is studied with the goal of optimizing CO 2 capture efficiency, heat and power requirements. Integration of this CO 2 capture process requires an additional heat supply which would reduce the global power plant efficiency by around 9–10%. Dry Carbonate Process has the advantage compared with other CCS technologies that requires a relatively low temperature for sorbent regeneration (< 200 °C). It allows an effective integration of medium temperature solar thermal power to assist NaHCO 3 decarbonation. This integration reduces the global system efficiency drop to the consumption associated with mechanical parasitic consumption, resulting in a fossil fuel energy penalty of 3–4% (including CO 2 compression). The paper shows the viability of the concept through economic analyses under different scenarios. The results suggest the interest of advancing in this Solar-CCS integrated concept, which shows favourable outputs compared to other CCS technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical transmission hubs in global supply chain networks have great potential to reduce carbon emissions, yet this has not received much attention from existing studies. This research combines the structural path betweenness, an extended structural path analysis, and a multi-level modularity optimization algorithm to identify key transmission sectors, paths, and carbon communities in a global supply chain network using the environmentally extended multi-regional input-output analysis. The results show that (1) China's metal industry, power industry, and non-metallic industry are the most crucial transmission centers, and some sectors, such as the paper industry and textile industry in China, are also key transmission hubs, yet they are ignored by traditional accounting methods. From a national viewpoint, China is the most key transmission hub, and its high betweenness is mainly caused by domestic demand. Meanwhile, the CO 2 emissions transferred by China to satisfy foreign demand are mainly related to the US, ROW (especially the Asia-Pacific region), and Japan. (2) The transmitted carbon emission is mainly concentrated in the first four production layers, accounting for 69.46 % of the total. (3) The global carbon emission network can be divided into 20 carbon communities. And the largest communities are mainly led by mainland China. Most of the communities contain various national sectors, which offer evidence for international cooperation strategies. The results offer policymakers a new perspective on mitigating environmental stress. [Display omitted] • Critical sectors having higher betweenness are identified from a global level. • Key supply chain paths causing the high betweenness are identified. • Some critical carbon communities in the global carbon emission network are detected. • An extended structural path betweenness is proposed to find key supply chain path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global anthropogenic activities resulting in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere have increased the challenges faced from climate change. The greater awareness of the need to mitigate climate variability has brought about intense focus on the adverse impacts of fossil-fuel based energy on the environment. Being the single largest source of carbon emissions, energy supply has attracted much attention and more so that, climate change impacts extend beyond national boundaries. Since energy use is sine qua non to economic development, scientists have reiterated the necessity of developing and utilising renewable energy. Although, past and present CO 2 emissions have and are majorly caused by industrialized countries, it is envisaged that future GHGs emissions would be mostly from developing countries as they industrialize. Renewable energy sources that include biomass, hydroelectric, wind, solar and hydrothermal systems, are carbon-neutral, releasing relatively no emissions. This paper discusses the initiatives associated with the provision of renewable energy to the energy mix in Nigeria as an indication of the country’s commitment to adopt a sustainable development strategy in shaping the economy. It reviews the literature and employs a discourse analysis to examine the limited use of renewable energy sources in Nigeria and the factors prevailing against their development. The paper concludes by identifying social and political obstacles as most significant roadblocks towards rapid implementation of a green economy through the deployment of renewable energy for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GCC experience is the only successful Arab experience at the level of regional cooperation in the Arab region. This success can only be enshrined by the Council's ability to continue. Also, these countries succeeded in promoting a rapprochement between their States and the Arab region and its surroundings. The three wars in the area posed significant challenges to the Gulf Cooperation Council. Arabian Gulf authorities have sensed the need to develop a strategic partnership focus on the defense and the sustainability of the GCC countries, and their well-being. Climate change has sparked a war; all the wealth and luxury enjoyed by the people of the Gulf States will be affected by climate change. The impact of climate change appears in many forms, including an increase in the average ambient temperature in the region with severe decrease in precipitation. The area climate is rapidly changing because of human activities from year to year and decade to decade. The Arabian Gulf region is interested in climate change on several levels, and there is a growing awareness in the area. The potential for climate change is affecting many sectors and systems, like distilled water processing, food security, renewable energies and public health. This paper will discuss these issues in this paper. The information presented in this article aims to give a review and discussion of the effect of climate change in the GCC to the researchers; decision makers, politicians, and engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By proposing a three-hierarchy meta-frontier data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper first decomposes CO 2 -emissions efficiency and the potential for emissions reduction into the following three components: structural, technical, and management. Based on these components, we then conduct an empirical analysis of China’s total-factor CO 2 -emissions efficiency, its potential for CO 2 -emissions reduction, and its corresponding implementation path. The results show that CO 2 -emissions efficiency in Mainland China is relatively low because of structural inefficiency, technical inefficiency, and management inefficiency. The Chinese government is expected to realize a large quantity of CO 2 -emissions reduction potential (nearly 40% of the current total CO 2 -emissions) through adjusting the industrial structure, narrowing the technology gap among regions, promoting the reform of marketization, and strengthening environmental regulation. The causes of CO 2 -emissions inefficiency and the distribution of potential reductions in emissions show a distinct spatial difference characteristic. Therefore, this paper also formulates emissions-reduction strategies for China's 30 provinces according to their specific situations, noting the direction of the industrial structure adjustment and the path to improving CO 2 -emissions efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first reviews the potential causality from biomass energy to CO 2 emissions and economic development within relevant literature. Later, the paper examines statistically the impacts of biomass energy consumption on CO 2 emissions and GDP in the US. To this end, paper observes environmental and economic implications of biomass fuel usage throughout energy literature and launches asymmetric causality test to confirm/disconfirm the literature output. The findings of the tests indicate that biomass energy consumption per capita mitigates CO 2 emissions per capita and increases GDP per capita. Eventually, upon its output, this research asserts that biomass energy consumption can be an efficient policy tool for environmentally sustainable development in the US, and, that, hence, biomass production technologies and biomass consumption need to be promoted in other countries as well as in the US. On the other hand, analyses underline the fact that policy makers should consider as well some potential constraints of biomass energy usage such as land use constraints and carbon leakage from biomass production. Therefore, although this paper explores the remedial impact of biomass on environment and growth, one may suggest also that further possible works consider the effects of biomass sources in detail to minimize the some worsening influence of biomass usage on climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With increasing attention on energy shortage and global warming, bioenergy is a promising alternative energy to mitigate CO 2 emissions. Despite the environmental friendly potential, a certain quantity of bioenergy-related CO 2 is still emitted in China. This paper investigates the temporal dynamics of bioenergy-related CO 2 emissions in 2000–2010 in China, and explores the underlying influence factors based on logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI). Then the core results are verified with a GIS-based approach from a spacial perspective. The results show that four impact factors: emission intensity, energy structure, energy efficiency and economic development have different impacts on bioenergy-related CO 2 emissions, of which economic development is the major factor contributing to its increase, while energy efficiency is the major determinant for the decline. Per capita bioenergy-related CO 2 emissions in different areas are verified in accordance with either economic development factor or energy efficiency factor to some extent. To achieve the dual purpose of sustainable development and CO 2 emissions reduction, this paper provides a practical policy framework for rural bioenergy and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric vehicle (EV) technology addresses the issue of the reduction of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. The concept of EVs focuses on the utilization of alternative energy resources. However, EV systems currently face challenges in energy storage systems (ESSs) with regard to their safety, size, cost, and overall management issues. In addition, hybridization of ESSs with advanced power electronic technologies has a significant influence on optimal power utilization to lead advanced EV technologies. This paper comprehensively reviews technologies of ESSs, its classifications, characteristics, constructions, electricity conversion, and evaluation processes with advantages and disadvantages for EV applications. Moreover, this paper discusses various classifications of ESS according to their energy formations, composition materials, and techniques on average power delivery over its capacity and overall efficiencies exhibited within their life expectancies. The rigorous review indicates that existing technologies for ESS can be used for EVs, but the optimum use of ESSs for efficient EV energy storage applications has not yet been achieved. This review highlights many factors, challenges, and problems for sustainable development of ESS technologies in next-generation EV applications. Thus, this review will widen the effort toward the development of economic and efficient ESSs with a longer lifetime for future EV uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct use of Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) as fuel is very attractive to reduce fossil fuels utilization and increase sustainability. WVO incorrect disposal causes serious damages to sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants. Moreover, if WVO reaches natural ecosystems, such as rivers, aquifers or subsoil, the environmental consequences can be severe. In recent years, the main reuse of WVO has been in biodiesel production, which is remunerative under current tax allowance policies. However, biodiesel production requires complex physical–chemical treatments, while direct use of WVO just needs mechanical treatment. As a consequence, WVO direct use in energy conversion systems lower the impact, from the economic, energetic and environmental points of view, with respect to biodiesel production. Moreover, as concerns the environmental impact, it should be considered that the direct use of WVO as fuel produces less polluting emissions when considering the whole life cycle: carbon dioxide produced during combustion, in fact, can be partially absorbed by crops used for oil production. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the work done to evaluate the effects of direct use of WVO in internal combustion engines. Many authors have shown the advantages of using straight vegetable oils or biodiesel produced from WVO as fuel, while the benefits of WVO direct use have not yet been clearly presented. The available literature still presents few papers about this topic, therefore also the use of vegetable oil, that presents physical chemical characteristics very similar to those of WVO, has been taken into account. After a brief introduction, the characteristics of WVO most affecting its use as fuel have been studied. Then several applications of WVO direct use in internal combustion engines and the available fuel supply technologies have been considered. Finally, the energetic performance and the pollutant emissions reported in literature have been deeply analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet environmental goals while maintaining economic competitiveness, worldwide ports have increased the amount of renewable energy production and have focused in optimizing performances and energy efficiency. However, carbon-neutral operation of industrial port areas (IPA) is challenging and requires the decarbonization of industrial processes and heavy transport systems. This study proposes a comprehensive review of decarbonization strategies for IPA, with a particular focus on the role that green hydrogen could play when used as renewable energy carrier. Much information on existing and future technologies was also derived from the analysis of 74 projects (existing and planned) in 36 IPAs, 80 % of which are in Europe, concerning hydrogen-based decarbonization strategies. The overall review shows that engine operation of ships at berth are responsible of more than 70 % of emissions in ports. Therefore, onshore power supply (OPS) seems to be one of the main strategies to reduce port pollution. Nevertheless, OPS powered by hydrogen is not today easily achievable. By overcoming the current cost-related and regulation barriers, hydrogen can also be used for the import/export of green energy and the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors. The technical and economic data regarding hydrogen-based technologies and strategies highlighted in this paper are useful for further research in the field of definition and development of decarbonization strategies in the IPA. • Comprehensive review of decarbonization strategies for industrial port areas. • Hydrogen-powered cold ironing can have a great impact in reducing emissions. • Hydrogen FC is an emission-free option for port heavy-duty vehicles/equipment. • Hydrogen hubs in ports can help decarbonize heavy industry and shipping sectors. • 74 projects considering hydrogen production/use to decarbonize IPA are analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, society must undertake a comprehensive green transformation and build a decarbonization roadmap. Model simulation is a primary method for designing and analyzing long-term low-carbon roadmaps. This paper aims to examine the various capabilities of Energy-Economy-Environment (3E) models to gain an intuitive understanding of the current status, as well as future development directions and potential, from a low-carbon analysis perspective. By reviewing various existing 3E models considering their modeling approach, theoretical framework and spatiotemporal resolution, the 10 most representative models are selected for an in-depth analysis. According to the evaluation results of the selected models while considering five challenges for future model development, most models perform well in terms of techno-economic resolution and transparency. However, there is still potential for improvement regarding spatiotemporal resolution and the consideration of social factors. Moreover, to bridge the gap between top-down models and the real-world context, it is recommended to combine them with bottom-up models to form hybrid models. Generally, the PRIMES model demonstrates the best overall performance, although it cannot be regarded as perfect. The review and assessment results can provide references for modelers to improve 3E models and serve as a basis for users to choose the most suitable model. • Ten typical 3E models with the highest use frequency are summarized and classified. • Challenges of 3E models for long-term low-carbon roadmaps research are discussed. • An evaluation framework is established for 3E models considering five abilities. • The prospects for future development of 3E models are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of an ammonia-fed solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is the most efficient method of generating power. In terms of CO 2 emission, ammonia is a good indirect hydrogen storage material because it does not contain carbon and therefore will not release CO 2 when used as fuel in a fuel cell or gas turbine. Using ammonia like hydrogen directly in a fuel-cell system provides high power density. Compared with other fuel cells, the ammonia-fed SOFC has many advantages. The availability of NH 3 is one of the main reasons for the high output. This paper presents a comparative study of the working principles, analyses, applications, advantages and disadvantages of various technologies available for ammonia fuel cells. The aim of the paper is to review and describe the suitability of ammonia as a fuel for the next generation of fuel cells, including direct ammonia-fed SOFCs, the development of different types of fuel cells using ammonia as a fuel, and the potential applications of ammonia-fed fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-carrier energy network is a system consists of several energy carriers such as electricity, natural gas, heat, etc . Generally, each transmission network is optimized separately but it could overshadow the actual optimal operation of the whole energy network. An integrated viewpoint opens a new window on optimization analysis. Among various networks, district heating networks are very promising for energy saving and carbon emission reduction. In this paper, effects of utilizing this network on optimization of a multi-carrier energy system are shown. However, such a problem has a considerable number of variables that makes a non-linear, non-convex, non-smooth, and high-dimension optimization problem and the optimal solution cannot be achieved by conventional mathematical techniques. Therefore, it is better to use evolutionary algorithms instead. In this paper, the well-known modified teaching-learning based optimization algorithm is used to solve the problem. Various simulations on a typical system show the impacts of a district heating network in the multi-carrier energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofuels productions from microalgae received wide attention recently and have high potential to replace fossil fuels. This paper served as a platform to critically review current production technologies of microalgae, ranging from cultivation, harvesting, extraction and several biofuels conversion processes. In addition, due to the high photosynthetic efficiency of microalgae, mass cultivation of microalgae is believed to be able to efficiently reduce the carbon dioxide emission to atmosphere and thus, reducing the impact of global warming. This is because microalgae have high growth rate and is able to develop maximum of 70% of lipid content within their cells depending on species. Apart from that, microalgae have the ability to survive under harsh condition and occupied smaller cultivation land area than other land crops. The harvested microalgae biomass can be used for electrical generation, while its crude lipid can be used as transportation fuel as it has 80% average energy content of petroleum. In the present paper, a detailed discussion to produce biodiesel, fuel gas, bio-oil, methane, hydrogen and alcohol from microalgae biomass are also included. Besides, updated research, challenges and the way forward of microalgae biofuels are also presented. In future, biofuels production from microalgae can be economical viable at some scale, which is then profitable in terms of economics and also environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydration is an alternative promising method for CO 2 capture and separation from either post-combustion flue gas or pre-combustion fuel gas. The present paper gathers the researches on CO 2 hydrate and the hydrates of gas mixtures of CO 2 +N 2 /H 2 /CH 4 , including studies of fundamental thermo-physical properties, molecular structures and hydrate formation equilibrium conditions. Some promoters, i.e. quaternary ammonium salt etc. are usually used in CO 2 hydration process to reduce the hydrate equilibrium pressure and to enhance the hydrate kinetic and stability, hence their promotion effect on CO 2 hydrate and on the hydrates of gas mixture of CO 2 +N 2 /H 2 /CH 4 are reviewed. The paper also summarizes the applications of hydrate technology in CO 2 capture and separation, and the corresponding performance is summarized and the bottlenecks are discussed. It necessitates more works to promote this technology towards industrial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urges that global CO 2 emissions from the power sector should be reduced by 90 percent or more below 2010 levels between 2040 and 2070. Such a reduction will most likely require greatly increasing the share of wind, solar, energy storage and nuclear energy in the energy mix in the next 40–50 years. This paper emphasizes the importance of developing large energy storage systems without which, wind and solar can only have a limited impact on CO 2 emissions as it will depend mainly on the energy mix used during wind and solar down time. The large areas that are required would be challenging, but not unrealistic, as long as a solution for energy storage exists. Carbon capture and storage has considerable potential to reduce CO 2 emissions from coal and gas power plants, but also from heavy industries such as cement and steel manufacturing. To give an idea of the scale of the required infrastructure, in the United States, coal and gas power plants emit approximately 2.4 billion tonnes of CO 2 per year; whereas the US annual petroleum consumption is about 0.9 billion tonnes (6.9 billion barrels). This paper also emphasizes that uranium and thorium used in breeder reactors represent an almost infinite source of low-carbon energy. The issues associated with the management of nuclear wastes are real, but they are not the uniquely difficult issues perceived by the media, much of the public and by many politicians. Finally, the investment necessary to implement a wind and solar powered economy would very likely be higher than that necessary to implement a nuclear powered economy because of the much larger number of GWe required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries, including Nigeria, aim to achieve industrialisation and sustainable development. However, there are few empirical studies that examined the impact of industrialisation-led economic transformation on carbon emissions in developing countries. This is the focus of this study. The paper investigates the impact of industrial value-added on CO 2 emissions in Nigeria using the Kaya Identity framework and Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF), Johansen׳s cointegration technique and vector error correction model (VECM). The data spans from 1980 to 2011. The result of the ADF test indicates that continual long term policies that exert permanent shocks on the variables are required to achieve economic development, industrialisation and CO 2 reduction. The result of the analysis shows that industrial value-added has an inverse and significant relationship with CO 2 emissions, which suggests that there is no evidence that industrialisation increases carbon emissions in Nigeria. GDP per capita and population has positive and significant impacts on CO 2 emission. Energy intensity and carbon intensity has positive but very weak significant impact (at 10% level) on CO 2 emission. The paper recommends that policy makers in Nigeria should pursue pragmatic industrialisation policies coupled with modest decarbonisation and energy-efficiency measures in order to ensure long term industrial, economic and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy security was the major driver for several countries in the world to opt for alternative sources of energy and reduce CO 2 emissions. Being blessed with oil and gas reserves, the situation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may look different, in a way that investments on Renewable Energy (RE) projects do not create adequate short-term financial returns. However, considering the extreme increase of energy demand locally caused by the industrial and economic development in the region will make seizing the emerging opportunity to develop RE projects a strategic decision. This paper targets regional decision-makers as well as multilateral stakeholders, in an attempt to formulate a set of recommendations on policies to promote RE deployment. It presents the results of the study that covered all GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman). The document summarizes GCC countries’ RE targets and highlights the main projects and measures established to start this transition. Furthermore, this paper provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the RE situation in the GCC countries, and it includes an assessment of the region’s RE potential, current installed RE capacity and project pipeline, institutional and market frameworks. This study analyses the main gaps concerning RE deployment in the region while discussing the financial, fiscal, political, legislative, technological and environmental aspects. Based on that, a set of recommendations is proposed to fill their gaps and help achieving their politically endorsed targets particularly in the electricity sector. The proposed recommendations will help to accelerate the development rate of GCC RE market, support governments’ efforts towards fulfilling future RE targets, and overcome potential barriers. However such policies analysis should be carried out individually for each country of the GCC region taking into consideration the specificity of each market and economic strategies with more adapted measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis using 40 year spanned time series for the Turkey case. CO 2 emission series representing environmental pressure and GDP per capita values representing economic development are used for the period 1968–2007. A cointegration has been determined among nonstationary series. First phases of an inverted U form EKC relationship have been determined for Turkey from the econometric estimations. This result is conflicting with that of the similar models for Turkey case. On the other hand, this conflict refers the important arguments in the literature and constitutes the main points of the paper. Sensitivity critiques (for example, Ahking et al.) for cointegration tests (Johansen and Engle–Granger tests) have been supported in our study. Moreover, we detected important diversion in results according to drift and trend assumptions both in CI vector and EKC model specifications. We conclude that building EKC model according to cointegration (CI) equation restrictions can be important source for diversion when sensitivity exists in estimations and cointegration tests; therefore, EKC estimations should be held in non-restrictive way. The additional structural reasons have been also discussed for developing country EKC cases. The most important one is that the narrow income sample of developing countries makes it possible to be defined by similar but different paths; therefore, policy implications to be drawn from those analyses should not ignore this feature of developing country analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and exploitation of sustainable and environmentally friendly energy sources are required in order to resolve global energy shortages and to reduce the reliance of many countries on fossil fuel combustion. Salinity gradient energy has been considered a potential candidate for renewable energy due to the abundance of saline waters that could be combined with less saline solutions across the globe. Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) is one of the technologies to harness salinity gradient energy. Apart from zero carbon dioxide emission, PRO is capable of producing power with less periodicity, abundance and low environmental impacts. One of the preconditions for the technical and financial feasibility of PRO, however, is the development of a PRO-specific membrane—one that meets the conditions that none of the current commercially-available membranes have met so far. The current paper discusses the progress made in PRO membrane development, particularly during the past decade, and analyses the challenges that are still hindering the implementation of PRO at large scales. Also, this paper explores possibilities for the implementation of PRO by analysing various combinations of existent solutions of various salt concentrations. Australia has been chosen to demonstrate some potential applications of PRO. This vast country has extensive reserves of saline waters that could be paired with less concentrated solutions to generate power. For each combination of solutions, a conceptual idea is presented, and an estimate of power production is given. Also, advantages and disadvantages of each scheme are discussed. The ideas and estimates can be easily extrapolated, with minor adjustments, to other countries with similar conditions. It is hoped that this publication will be valuable to those nations that have similar policies as Australia’s, with government incentives for the development and implementation of new technologies to explore new renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-benefits approach is a concept that aims to align the climate change issue with the local development goals. The premise of this approach is that the mainstreaming of the climate mitigation issue within the local level polices will result in various local environmental and non-environmental co-benefits in addition to a reduction of GHG emissions. The implementation of the co-benefits approach aims to strengthen the policy making process, which is identified as being especially important in context of developing cities. This paper attempts to confirm this by analyzing a planning process of and global and local benefits generated by an innovative project related to provision of bicycle parking. The paper firstly overviews recent co-benefits literature related to urban transport in general and active travel in particular, as well as evaluated benefits related to bicycle infrastructure provision. Then, taking the case of the Serbian city of Novi Sad, this paper examines local drivers behind the bicycle project implementation, the reduction of CO 2 emission generated by the increase of cycle commuters, the project impact on individual commute behavior as well as potential for income generation. The results support arguments towards relevance of implementation of the co-benefits approach within processes of cycling planning and popularization, particularly highlighting the role and possibilities for implementation of co-benefits projects related to bicycle parking facilities. This case study is relevant as it identifies and analyses a real-life action to respond to both, global and local sustainability challenges, but also, as it points to an action at the city level that has potential for diffusing desirable changes into wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the funding trends, topical themes, and notable gaps in global public research funding across the areas of energy, climate change, transport, and industrial decarbonisation from 1990 to 2020. The paper organizes its analysis along the themes of financial and spatial patterns of funding, patterns of disciplinary funding, and the temporality (and shifting research priorities) within funding patterns. It finds that funding for energy and climate research remains concentrated within the European Commission, United Kingdom and United States. Climate change adaptation research is the most funded general area, and the specific topics of energy efficiency, climate resilience, and climate information systems, managing climate risks, energy storage, carbon dioxide removal and solar energy are the most funded technologies. There is significant diversity in the disciplines funded, with the social sciences supported almost as much as the engineering and physical sciences and meaningful amounts of funding disbursed to the arts and humanities and the life sciences. A large majority of projects identify themselves as transdisciplinary. The paper, lastly, discusses research gaps and future research questions. • Systematically explores research funding on climate change and energy from 1990 to 2020. • Catalogues public research programs across the largest funders and countries in the world. • Examines the top-awarded universities, top-awarded disciplines and interdisciplinary funding patterns. • Evaluates how research funding shapes the dynamics on knowledge and technology innovation. • Analyses spatial patterns of funding, disciplinary politics, and shifting research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extended version of the IPAT model and the ‘Kaya identity’ is used to assess the contribution of drivers of CO 2 emissions for the 1995–2009 period. The paper carries out a multisector analysis based on the Log-Mean Divisia Index Method (LMDI I). The decomposition factors used are the Carbon Intensity factor (CI), the Energy Intensity factor (EI), the structural composition of Spain׳s economy (Economy Structure, ES), the Economic Activity factor (EA) and Population (P), respectively. Data came from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and determined the period under consideration. The paper focuses on the 35 productive sectors included in the WIOD. Major findings show that RES acted in detriment to the drivers of CO 2 emissions. This may be stated for the last few years under consideration. The positive trend for the share of RES in Spain׳s energy matrix, together with the negative tendency in the use of fossil fuels, leads us to be optimistic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil-fueled transportation is the main type of transportation used all over the world. Transportation in the United States consumes almost one third of global transportation energy and is one of the major contributors to CO 2 emissions. To deal with ever increasing environmental pollution and reduce energy consumption, a solar Trike design is presented in this paper to offer an alternative means of transportation. The solar Trike offers a higher occupancy rate, speed and travel range that can satisfy the needs of the local commute. The design, economics, sustainability and performance analysis of the solar Trike is presented in this paper. The dimension and power requirement of the solar-powered tricycle was determined based on aerodynamic force, rolling resistance, expected payload, travel velocity and distance and solar irradiance. A CAD model was built and analyzed for sustainability before building the prototype. Test run results of the prototype suggested the technical feasibility and practical applicability of the design. An LCA was performed to evaluate environmental impacts during various stages of the product life: manufacturing to disposal using SolidWorks Sustainability software. Manufacturing, operating and environmental costs are analyzed for economic viability of the design. The annual costs of CO 2 emissions, design and installation, annual maintenance, and costs to store the power for one full charge amount to $417. With a travel range of 37.1 km on a full charge, the proposed solar-powered tricycle is able to meet more than 90% of all trip distances in the USA. The proposed solar powered tricycle reduces energy consumption by more than 41%, as well as decreases CO 2 emissions by more than 75%, in comparison with the railroad, the best mode of existing transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy recovery systems (ERSs) for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) are reviewed in the context of fuel efficiency improvement and retrofit capabilities. The paper presents technical knowledge on the potential benefits that retrofitted ERSs may achieve in carbon emissions reduction. A first distinction of ERSs is made between the sources of the energy and further sub-divided on the technique to harvest and store the energy. A critical evaluation is performed on the associated characteristics such as weight, size and cost. Finally, the paper summarizes the ERSs technologies under a number of common criteria, and finds out, that the most effective ERSs in terms of fuel efficiency are the ones more difficult to retrofit. Further research is suggested to investigate the trade-off between fuel consumption reduction and investment cost of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy is one of the cleanest forms of energy sources and considered as a green source of energy. Solar energy benefit ranges from low carbon emission, no fossil fuel requirement, long term solar resources, less payback time and other. However like other power generation sources, solar energy has also some Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) concerns. This paper presents the overview of solar energy technologies and addresses the SHE impact of solar energy technologies to the sustainability of human activities. This paper will also recommend the possible ways to reduce the effect of potential hazards of widespread use of solar energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities use a big amount of energy resources and account for over 70% of global carbon emissions. Form and position of urban blocks not only influence the micro-climate but also the energy performance of each block; so, considering the building without studying the effect of its surroundings is senseless. This paper provides a review of research on the impact of urban block form on the environmental performance of buildings and their direct environment. For this purpose, all papers are categorised in three main groups: • Thermal behaviour inside and outside the building. • Solar access inside and outside the building. • Indoor and outdoor natural ventilation. A discussion of these studies reflects the impact of urban block form parameters on the energy performance of the building and reviews existing methods and techniques to predict thermal behaviour, solar access and ventilation on a neighbourhood scale. This study is useful for planners and architects who are responsible for decision-making during the design phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of carbon capture research using ammonia solution, CO2 disposal problem after carbon capture has become an important limiting factor affecting the industrial applications of carbon capture technology. It can be seen that CO2 not only controls as a greenhouse gas, but also it is a valuable carbon resource at the same time, CO2 resource recycling has a very good market prospects in near future. Two viable paths for CO2 resource utilization based on carbon capture using ammonia solution are divided in the paper. One path is regenerative resource utilization, i.e., rich liquid regenerates after the decarbonization reaction; the desorbed CO2 is sequestrated under geological layer or reused in other fields. Another path is transformed resource utilization; flue gas decarbonization combines with chemical production, and the ingredients produced from the reaction of ammonia with CO2 are transformed, carbon is fixed into nitrogen fertilizer or other chemical products, such as soda. The existing problems and the economic performance of CO2 resource utilization in power plants were reviewed in the paper. CO2 resource utilization based on carbon capture using ammonia solution is beneficial to the carbon emission reduction in coal-fired power plants; especially transformed resource utilization has economic advantage and good application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many developing countries are acutely vulnerable to global climate changes. Pakistan ranks amongst the top of those nations where vulnerability index due to climate changes is very high. Though many of these are not major contributors to the Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions, yet they have adequate potential to mitigate GHGs in various sectors. The power sector, for instance, is one of the major contributors to GHGs in Pakistan and has prospects of abating GHGs by undertaking alternative and improving measures. The GHG contribution from grid connected power plants can be estimated through baseline emissions factor. This paper has calculated this baseline emission factor by determining annual fossil fuel consumption in the grid connected power plants, their net efficiencies, energy outputs and carbon emissions from each fuel source. The data in this regard has been collected from Pakistan Energy Year Book published in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and through related government agencies. The tools, procedures and methodologies of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are followed in this regard. The paper has calculated that the weighted average baseline emissions factor for power sector in Pakistan is 0.566tCO2/MWh (tons of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour) for wind and solar power projects and 0.478tCO2/MWh for hydro power projects excluding Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) grid and 0.606tCO2/MWh for wind and solar power projects and 0.505tCO2/MWh for hydro by including KESC grid. This baseline emissions factor is also a determinant of the amount of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) that can be accrued by implementing clean Alternative and Renewable Energy (ARE) projects. The amount of CERs generated by an ARE project also have the prospects to earn the carbon revenue streams. The paper has also suggested measures for mitigating grid emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper examines the mitigating effect of social capital on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for CO2 emissions using a panel data of 69 developed and developing countries. Adopting generalised method of moments (GMM) estimators, the paper finds evidence substantiating the presence of EKC. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the pollution costs of economic development tend to be lower in countries with higher social capital reservoir. Surprisingly, there is also evidence to indicate that the income threshold point beyond which CO2 emissions decline is higher in countries with higher social capital. These results are robust to addition of alternative controlled variables in the EKC specification. Thus, in addition to policy focus on investments in environmentally friendly technology and on the use of renewable energy, investments in social capital can also mitigate the pollution effects of economic progress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the largest population living in countryside, the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from rural energy consumption is a serious problem in China. The full development and utilization of renewable energy is the key and effective way for solving the CO2 emissions problem. This paper reviews the rural energy consumption level and structure in China. Then, this paper discusses the potential for renewable energy development as well as its CO2 emissions reductions in rural areas. Results show that if full development and utilization of renewable energy is achieved, on the basis of energy data in 2008, China's rural energy consumption and even 2.2 times of that can be supplied by 100% carbon-free energy resources (which do not contain the biomass energy) without considering economic and technical constraints, and 2.4 times of that can be provided by renewable energy. Moreover, to evaluate the application priority, cost-effectiveness of each renewable energy resource is analyzed. Based on the characteristics of renewable energy resources, new promotional strategies to ensure the full development and utilization of renewable energy in rural China are also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With rapid urbanization and industrialization, China has become both the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitting country in the world. As a clean and low-carbon energy source, renewable energy is a good choice to substitute for the exhausted fossil energy. The Chinese central and local governments have made a series of policies and optimistic plans to promote a rapid development of renewable energies. China′s renewable energy development has become a key to the sustainable development of socio-economic system. Unlike most of the current studies which mainly identified the challenges regarding policies and technologies around renewable energy or performed specific analyses for a certain kind of renewable energy, this paper summarizes the spatial disparity and consistency among the major renewable energies, coal resources, energy consumption and its major influencing factors in China, and reviews the positive and negative environmental impacts of major renewable energies. Based on the geographical and environmental perspectives, this paper recommends that the Chinese government: constructs the national energy production bases according to the resource distribution; integrates different energies on the basis of their natural features and spatial consistency; adjusts the overall layout of socio-economic development consistent with renewable energies; and promotes a moderate renewable energy development to maximize the environmental benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change is now widely recognized as the major environmental problem. In order to reduce CO2 emissions so as to cope with climate change, a wide range of effective policies, and an enforced international cooperation are required. A better understanding of the dynamic changes of CO2 emissions will strengthen international cooperation and provide necessary information for policy making. This paper investigates the global convergence in per capita CO2 emissions over the period 1971–2008. The results manifest an absolute convergence within subsamples grouped by income level, while provide little evidence of absolute convergence in the full sample containing 110 countries. Furthermore, this paper takes the GDP per capita into consideration within the conditional convergence framework. Interestingly, the result shows that, within different income groups, the relationships between GDP per capita and per capita CO2 emission growth are different. Specially, per capita CO2 emissions of high-income countries keep at the “steady state” as income rises. This result is contrary to Environmental Kuznets Curve, which indicates that the CO2 emissions will decline when income rises beyond a certain level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Thailand is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels. The utilization of energy resources is the main source of CO2 emissions. Thus, restructuring current energy system is essential for the realization of low-carbon futures. Efficient and rational implementations of low emission reduction strategies and policies require application of energy system models that have the ability to estimate the baseline energy demand and CO2 emissions, and to explore technical and economic effects of different strategies over time. This paper reviews and discusses the perspective of low-carbon energy systems in the case of Thailand. It analyzes the projected development of energy system in Thailand. The literature on modeling of energy systems is analyzed and discussed. The paper presents a quantitative comparison of the selected energy model applications in terms of energy demand and energy-related CO2 emissions. The paper explores the potential pathways using findings from existing modeling studies to guide the development of a low-carbon energy system within a backcasting framework. It is found that there are wide ranges of projected emissions paths across the models. The findings suggest that there is sufficient technical potential to achieve a low-carbon target by 2030. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As an unconventional natural gas with the advantages of great resource potential and low carbon emissions, shale gas has currently aroused a new round of development and utilization worldwide. China’s shale gas resource is enormous and has huge potential for exploitation. However, due to the late start of exploration and development, it has not yet realized industrialization. By using the SWOT analysis method, this paper studies the internal and external development environment of Chinese shale gas, then explores shale gas development status of China from four dimensions including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Finally, according to the combinations of SWOT matrix analysis, the paper formulates four kinds of different development strategies to provide certain references to the development of China’s shale gas industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources offer the potential to substantially decrease carbon emissions from both the transportation and power generation sectors of the economy. Mass adoption of EVs will have a number of impacts and benefits, including the ability to assist in the integration of renewable energy into existing electric grids. This paper reviews the current literature on EVs, the electric grid, and renewable energy integration. Key methods and assumptions of the literature are discussed. The economic, environmental and grid impacts of EVs are reviewed. Numerous studies assessing the ability of EVs to integrate renewable energy sources are assessed; the literature indicates that EVs can significantly reduce the amount of excess renewable energy produced in an electric system. Studies on wind–EV interaction are much more detailed than those on solar photovoltaics (PV) and EVs. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Globally, the cement industry accounts for approximately 5 percent of current anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. World cement demand and production are increasing significantly, leading to an increase in this industry’s absolute energy use and CO2 emissions. Development of new energy-efficiency and CO2 emission-reduction technologies and their deployment in the market will be key for the cement industry’s mid- and long-term climate change mitigation strategies. This paper is an initial effort to compile available information on process description, energy savings, environmental and other benefits, costs, commercialization status, and references for emerging technologies to reduce the cement industry’s energy use and CO2 emissions. Although studies from around the world identify a variety of sector-specific and cross-cutting energy-efficiency technologies for the cement industry that have already been commercialized, information is scarce and/or scattered regarding emerging or advanced energy-efficiency and low-carbon technologies that are not yet commercialized. This paper consolidates available information on eighteen emerging technologies for the cement industry, with the goal of providing engineers, researchers, investors, cement companies, policy makers, and other interested parties with easy access to a well-structured database of information on these technologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]