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Because China has emerged as the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in total annual emissions, to accelerate the pace of GHG emission reduction in China is important to the success of global efforts in addressing climate change. Carbon trading is a market mechanism and key instrument in the mitigation of climate change. This paper explores the policy process and development state to date of China׳s carbon-trade market to understand the emergence and development of that market and to understand what barriers are hampering China׳s carbon-trade market development. To achieve this goal, this paper introduces and analyzes China׳s status in the international market, examines the factors driving carbon-market launching by the Chinese government, and traces the development of mandatory carbon-emission trading and voluntary emission trading. It is argued that China׳s carbon-trading market is confronted with challenges such as the absence of a functional carbon-trading market, inaccuracy of the quota allocation, an imperfect trading mechanism, and lagging legislation. At the present stage, shortcomings such as having no real-time carbon price and dominated spot transactions differentiate China׳s trade market substantially from a functional system. A quick market integration of China׳s carbon market appears remote. It is suggested that specific measures be taken to promote the development of the Chinese carbon-trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen years after the publication of the article entitled "Energy Education: breaking up the rational energy use barriers" in 2004, what were the paths taken and scientific contributions made towards a rational energy use as regards energy education? This paper aims to answer this question by collecting data on the Web of Science database to identify publications citing the aforementioned article using different levels of approach. The selected papers were structured in clusters utilizing software for such a purpose, which allowed organizing and listing reviewed works from which a cluster of keywords has been structured to identify the most frequently cited terms. Once found, the following step was to perform a content analysis to allow organizing authorship and contributions. During this process, the term "barriers" in the context of rational energy use was not restricted to its class, but it was present in the analysis of other terms that constitute other classes. Energy education is presented as one of the ways to make society more aware and active while taking actions towards rational energy use. However, to achieve greater effectiveness of such an educational process, the human aspect requires special attention through a clearer definition of personal values, attitude, and behaviour because of its importance for activities aimed at energy issues. • Energy education is crucial for energy rational use. • Other approaches for energy education were identified. • Individual's psyche influence on energy rational use. • Several barriers permeate energy and its use. • Energy education enables energy planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at presenting a comprehensive perusal on hot air and microwave drying of medicinal herbs through investigating the dehydration behaviour, mathematical modelling, energy characteristics and essential oil yield of peppermint leaves drying. For our study the leaves were dried using microwave at power levels of 200, 400, 600, and 800 W, and hot air at temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C. The dehydration process of the leaves in microwave drying method occurred in an accelerating rate period at the start followed by a falling rate period while; convective drying took place in the falling rate period entirely. Six mathematical models were fitted into the experimental data and the Midilli and Kucuk model best described the drying curves. The lowest effective moisture diffusivity (1.809×10 −9 m 2 s −1 ) belonged to hot air drying at 50 °C, while the highest (110.552×10 −9 m 2 s −1 ) belonged to microwave drying at 800 W. The activation energy for microwave and hot air drying was determined to be 1.89 W g −1 and 12.46 K J mol −1 , respectively. Specific energy consumption for microwave and convective drying of the peppermint leaves were ranged from 4.581 to 5.890 M J kg w −1 , and from 42.721 to 64.712 M J kg w −1 , respectively. The maximum and minimum oil yields were obtained from the leaves dried at air temperature of 70 °C and microwave power at 800 W, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Croatia has enormous renewable energy potential, particularly solar, but it is underperforming with regard to its use both for electricity production and heating. Paper focuses on the reasons therefor by analyzing the policy with regard to environment, subsidies, the role of international financial institutions, monopoly dimension of power utility companies, as well as social dimension. The author presents proposals for changing the status quo in order for Croatia to catch up with regard to securing reasonable solar and other renewable energy share in its energy supply. Apart from the state as regulator which has various instruments at its disposal to implement thoroughly the renewable energy use, local authorities should assume central role and responsibility for solarizing their territories and generating the energy locally from other renewable energy sources available on their territory. Municipal utility companies would thus add electricity production to their regular activities and could provide installation and maintenance services for individual energy generating systems within the territory of their competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European industry sector is responsible for about one-third of the EU's total energy consumption and process-related Greenhouse Gas emissions, which makes it a central factor in the EU's climate and energy strategies. Energy cooperation, i.e., the mutualised generation, use and/or acquisition of energy by at least two companies, has the potential of significantly supporting the successful achievement of these strategies. This paper presents a concept for moving from a single-company sustainable energy intervention approach to cooperative sustainable energy solutions within the framework of industrial parks. Technical, economic, regulatory, organizational, and social barriers for energy-efficient park design and operation on all levels and instruments to overcome them have been systematically analysed, taking correlation of solutions, and park-specific requirements into account, thus providing a holistic workflow. First results show that technical and economic attractiveness, and an enabling legal and policy context, are not always enough. For promising energy cooperation solutions to flourish, cultural, organizational, social, and behavioural factors also play a significant role. Furthermore, findings show that external facilitators are helpful to pool efforts to achieve greater engagement. • Systematic assessment of barriers to energy cooperation and instruments to overcome them. • Highlighting the role of park managers as key facilitators of energy cooperation. • Assessment of feasibility studies based on key performance indicators. • Proposes a replicable strategy to identify energy cooperation opportunities at the industrial park level. • Integration of the findings in an easy-to-use decision-making tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved energy efficiency is one of the key elements to decouple energy-related emissions from economic growth. Since the energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises are underdeveloped, most of the energy efficiency potential is left untapped. Studies show that several barriers pertaining to economic, technological, and organizational systems lead to poor implementation rates of energy efficiency measures. An energy efficiency network is considered effective in overcoming these barriers and promoting energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper explores the role of energy efficiency networks, and specifically the role of its functions in overcoming the identified barriers from literature. This study was carried out as a multiple case study including 13 industrial small and medium-sized enterprises using semi-structured interviews with participants from companies in a Swedish regional energy efficiency network program. Results show that energy efficiency networks are effective in overcoming some of the barriers to energy efficiency implementation and that the present functions are effective in addressing some barriers faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, e.g., energy efficiency implementation barriers such as lack of time and resources. However, some barriers still remain as constraints for energy efficiency implementation, even after energy efficiency network participation. • Presentation of a novel methodology by using theory of barriers for network evaluation. • Energy efficiency networks reduce some of the barriers to energy efficiency. • The energy audit was the most favorable network function to network participants. • The energy audit and the lectures on efficiency were the network functions that reduced most barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]