Search

Abstract: The pulp and paper industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries worldwide. In 2007, it accounted for 5% of total global industrial energy consumption and 2% of direct industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. An energy audit is a primary step toward improving energy efficiency at the facility level. This paper describes a plant-wide energy audit aimed at identifying energy conservation and CO2 mitigation opportunities at a paper mill in Guangdong province, China. We describe the energy audit methods, relevant Chinese standards, methods of calculating energy and carbon indicators, baseline energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the audited paper mill, and nine energy-efficiency improvement opportunities identified by the audit. For each of the nine options, we evaluate the energy conservation and associated CO2 mitigation potential. The total technical energy conservation potential for these nine opportunities is 967.8terajoules (TJ), and the total CO2 mitigation potential is equal to 93,453tonnes CO2 annually, representing 14.4% and 14.7%, respectively, of the mill’s total energy consumption and CO2 emissions during the audit period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Household energy consumption accounts for almost one third of global primary energy demand and significantly affects the environment. As such, it has served as a classic and compelling theme in the literature, with a range of studies having analyzed various aspects of household consumption, including energy conservation, energy poverty, and energy efficiency. Nonetheless, overall trends and frontiers in this research area have not been characterized and are poorly understood. This study aims to assess the current status, evolution, and emerging topics in this area through a bibliometric and network analysis of 1134 extracted publications from 1983 to 2018. This systematic review shows that nearly half the studies on household energy consumption were published in just three journals (namely, Energy Policy; Energy; and Energy Economics) with a focus on three areas (Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Energy and Fuels; Business and Economics). The findings also show that among contributing countries, the USA and China have the closest ties and wield the most academic influence. Furthermore, emerging and pioneering studies on behavioral interventions, energy conservation, and energy poverty and those pertaining to climate and electricity consumption may constitute the research frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of financial inclusion on energy consumption in China since the new millennium by using provincial data in China from 2000 to 2019. A financial inclusion index is first constructed, and the spatial-temporal evolution of China's financial inclusion and energy consumption are explored. Second, a spatial econometric model is applied to investing their relationship. Third, the mechanism on how financial inclusion may affect energy consumption is investigated through the mediation effect model. Results show that both financial inclusion and energy consumption show signs of polarization in China. Besides, most provinces saw a significant increase in their per capita energy consumption. Further, the relationship between financial inclusion and energy is U-shaped. Lastly, economic growth and technology upgrading mediate the impact of financial inclusion on energy consumption, with the direct effects (II) dominating the mediation effects. Some policy suggestions are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews China's future fossil fuel supply from the perspectives of physical output and net energy output. Comprehensive analyses of physical output of fossil fuels suggest that China's total oil production will likely reach its peak, at about 230 Mt/year (or 9.6 EJ/year), in 2018; its total gas production will peak at around 350 Bcm/year (or 13.6 EJ/year) in 2040, while coal production will peak at about 4400 Mt/year (or 91.9 EJ/year) around 2020 or so. In terms of the forecast production of these fuels, there are significant differences among current studies. These differences can be mainly explained by different ultimately recoverable resources assumptions, the nature of the models used, and differences in the historical production data. Due to the future constraints on fossil fuels production, a large gap is projected to grow between domestic supply and demand, which will need to be met by increasing imports. Net energy analyses show that both coal and oil and gas production show a steady declining trend of EROI (energy return on investment) due to the depletion of shallow-buried coal resources and conventional oil and gas resources, which is generally consistent with the approaching peaks of physical production of fossil fuels. The peaks of fossil fuels production, coupled with the decline in EROI ratios, are likely to challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society unless new abundant energy resources with high EROI values can be found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates third party access regulatory issues in China's natural gas industry. We study the development of China's gas market-oriented reform and how third party access becomes a pressing issue in that context. This paper aims to report stakeholders' benefit and distributional effects during a hypothetical third party access process. To that end, we apply an oligopolistic equilibrium model, based on the mixed complementarity problem, to China's gas pipeline network. We compare two scenarios: a scenario without third party access and the other scenario where an independent pipeline operator optimizes flows. This latter scenario aims to guarantee that the maximum social benefit is achieved. In addition, the latter scenario transfers the congestion rent to former integrated gas companies to compensate their actual loss control of the pipeline operation, in order to minimize the adverse distributional effects for pipeline companies. The solution of the model indicates that operational separation is feasible with Pareto improvement in China's context. Moreover, it merits particular attention from policy makers in China that pipeline capacity scarcity should be properly evaluated and managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little attention has been paid to the influence of telecommunications on energy consumption, especially from an empirical perspective in the emerging economies. This paper firstly employs an autoregressive distribution lag bound test to examine the co-integration relationship among our model variables. Then, it mainly follows a partial least squares regression to investigate the long-run effect and an error correction model to explore the short-run impact of telecommunication services on energy intensity in China. Our main conclusions reveal a co-integration relationship among all the variables in our expanded STIRPAT model. Besides, it is also indicated that the energy intensity reduction effect of telecommunication services is statistically significant both in the short and long term. Additionally, the impacts of population, income, industrial structure, energy consumption structure, and energy price on energy intensity are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Access to energy has increasingly been provided by the Chinese Government via new alternative energy sources known as renewables in recent years. Meanwhile, the development and use of environmentally friendly renewables gradually become the basic requirements for the sustainable development in the future society. The integration of blockchain technology with distributed photovoltaic (PV) energy may break the existing pattern where the production, transportation, distribution, and sales of energy are centralized. This paper first reviews the current overall situation of China's distributed PV and further analyzes the policy environment with respect to the development of distributed PV. On the basis of the analysis of the status quo, the paper then discusses the internalities (strengths and weaknesses) and the externalities (opportunities and threats) that have driven the development of China's distributed PV by illustrating the SWOT analysis. The data structure and characteristics of blockchain are analyzed to identify the application mode of blockchain technology in the distributed PV industry for the first time. Through our research, some conclusions and policy proposals are finally put forward to provide support to the formulation of related policy in the Chinese Government and industry association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by user demand and policy, the technological innovation speed and economic efficiency of different power technologies will change internally. By setting different policy scenarios, based on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) model, the paper comprehensively compared the impact of different policy portfolios and policy input intensity on the economics and stage of power technologies, and the market competitiveness evolution of coal power and renewable energy power is mainly analyzed. After 2020, with the increase in coal fuel prices and the acceleration of nuclear power technology learning, the LCOE of coal power has shown an upward trend, while the LCOE of nuclear power has shown the declining year by year. With the positive effects of technological innovation and diffusion, the LCOE of solar photovoltaic power (PV), and centralized solar power (CSP) technologies has also shown a downward trend year by year. In Scenario 1, continuing the existing energy policies, the LCOE of wind power, solar PV and CSP was significantly lower than coal power in 2040. In Scenario 2, implementing low-level coal resource tax, environmental tax, carbon tax and PV price subsidy, the LCOE of wind power and solar PV power was lower than coal power in 2030, and the LCOE of CSP was lower than coal power in 2040. In Scenario 3, implementing more rigorous energy policies, with the obvious economic advantages, the alternative of new energy power sources such as wind power and solar PV power is stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports new evidence on the existence of both large and small price divergent clusters for China's energy markets, 2000-2009. The largest convergent price clusters suggest that the coal and gasoline markets are well integrated, however, small convergent price clusters suggest that electricity and diesel markets are proving harder to integrate. The paper argues that the traditional approach to price convergence analysis should be applied with caution, especially in a transitional economy such as China where questions to be asked should relate to the 'degree of market-orientation' and not simply whether it is a market-based economy or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • PCM energy storage and PV/T coupled multi-source heat pump systems were combined. • The thermal performance, energy efficiency, and economy of the system were analyzed. • The performance of paraffin C17 and water as energy storage materials were compared. • The performance of six low-temperature PCMs applied to the system were analyzed. • Compared to the existing system, it saves 56 % of energy and 27.7 % of operating costs. To improve the application of renewable energy in the heating zone, as well as to address the limitations of air and water source heat pump. The study presents a PV/T (photovoltaic/thermal) coupled air–water source heat pump system integrated with phase change energy storage. A theoretical analytical model and TRNSYS simulation model of the system were developed to evaluate the thermal performance, energy efficiency and economics of the system. The performance of phase change energy storage was compared with that of water storage, and the effect of different phase change materials on the system characteristics. The results show that the coupled system achieves a seasonal performance factor of 2.3, a 56 % reduction in energy consumption, and a 27.7 % reduction in operating costs compared to a conventional gas boiler system. Comparative analysis with the water storage system showed that the system equipped with phase change materials performed well in terms of energy consumption, operating costs and heating stability. In addition, the density of the phase change material has a biased effect on the overall performance of the system. This paper can provide a reference value for the study of renewable energy heating systems in cold zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is transforming the growth model and speeding up industrial structural improvement and upgrading now and in the coming years, which means the slowdown of economic growth and more serious environmental costs in economic and social development would be the "New Normal." As the world's largest energy consumer and carbon‐emitting country, China's emissions reduction commitments are crucial to global greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, so there is a profusion of research focused on China's economy‐environment nexus. Among which, the dynamic relationship of carbon emission and economic growth and its evolution combined the national, regional, provincial data have not been discussed thoroughly. This paper analyses the elasticity of economic performance of carbon emissions based on 30 Chinese provincial data from 2000 to 2016; furthermore, a panel vector autoregressive model is constructed to discuss the interactions of variables within environmental economic system. It is concluded that China is experiencing a turning point from weak decoupling to strong decoupling in recent years, and its economic performance of carbon emissions has been gradually improved with larger disparities among provinces though. Regression result confirms the role of the energy mix on carbon emissions, and it also indicates that the impact of most factors influencing that have been discussed in previous studies may not be direct, prominent, and for long term. [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 In 2017 about 37% of the world's wind turbines and 50% of the world's photovoltaic (PV) panels are installed in China. But at the same time a huge amount of wind power and PV power is wasted mainly because of insufficient flexibility of thermal power which is the dominant source in China's electricity system. This paper aims to assess the flexibility requirements for thermal power plants to accommodate large-scale variable renewable energies (VREs). This paper constructs three scenarios for the reference year of 2030, where VREs account for 16%, 19% and 22% in the electricity system respectively, and simulates corresponding residual load time series (residual load = load − hydropower − nuclear power − wind power − PV power). We find that the current average 1%/min ramp rate of thermal power plants is basically sufficient to deal with ramps in residual load in the future. But the current average 60% minimum load level of thermal power plants has to be improved to 40% or even 30%, otherwise the economic losses of VREs curtailment will be as high as 947.2 × 10 8 – 1632.0 × 10 8 CNY per year in the future. It is necessary and beneficial for the central authority to invest in retrofitting the existing huge thermal power plants to improve their minimum load level. Highlights • This paper simulates the future VREs scenarios for the year of 2030. • 1%/min ramp rate of thermal power is sufficient to follow ramps in residual load. • Minimum load level of thermal power has to be improved to 40% or even 30%. • It is a huge economic benefit to improve minimum load level of thermal power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a modified environmental production technology which imposes the proper disposability on the undesirable outputs depending on the underlying technical properties. Then, aggregate and disaggregate (Russell-type) data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are proposed to evaluate the energy–economy–environment (3E) efficiency based on the modified technology (hereafter referred to as the 3E-DEA models). The non-radial Malmquist productivity index is adapted to model the changes in the 3E productivity over time. A case study of 3E efficiency analysis for the 30 Chinese administrative regions during 2011–2013 is presented. In general, Chinese regions did not perform well in terms of 3E goals as only three of them exhibited full efficiency. It was also found out that the eastern area showed the best 3E performance, whereas the central area followed suit, thus putting the western area at end of ranking. Still, some regions in the eastern area showed 3E efficiencies lower than those of some cities in the central and eastern areas. Anyway, most of the regions showed improving 3E productivity during 2011–2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has abundant shale gas resource reserves, and shale gas resource development will greatly relieve the imbalance between energy supply and demand. However, in the traditional government-led unilateral energy development model, the high cost of shale gas development makes financing difficult. Therefore, the development of shale gas in a public–private partnership (PPP) mode is worthy of study. Combining the operation mechanism of the PPP mode and the technology, environment, and market demand of shale gas development in China, this paper has analyzed the operation mechanism of the PPP mode in shale gas development in China from several aspects and gives some suggestions from the perspective of the government and the enterprise to develop the idea of the PPP mode for shale gas development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese electricity market has undergone twice reforms since 2002. However, the current electricity market is still partially irrational in electricity pricing mechanism. Furthermore, the utilization of renewable energy is inefficient in western regions. From the perspective of market participants, electricity retailers are new entrants in deregulated electricity market. In this spot electricity market, they are faced with various challenges and opportunities. Thus, this paper introduces an inter-regional power transaction model based on bottom-up modeling. There are mainly three parts in this paper: ⑴ It examines the existing problems and achievements in the twice reforms, and introduces the participants of cooperative game in a spot market. ⑵It proposes an inter-regional electricity transaction model to illustrate the new pricing mechanism. ⑶ Based on cooperative game theory, it quantifies how costs, electricity prices and benefits affect the behavior of retailers in a spot market with some reasonable economic assumptions. What is novel about this research is that the proposed transaction model analyzes electricity retailers' behaviors in a spot market. The cooperative game model improves electricity retailer's competitiveness in a spot market, and is of great theoretical and practical significance for the reform and development of China's electricity market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the regulatory policies, feed-in tariffs (FIT) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are the most popular to promote the development of renewable energy power industry. This paper uses system dynamics (SD) to establish models of long-term development of the renewable energy power industry under FIT and RPS schemes, and provides a case study of China's wind power industry by using scenario analysis method. The model, on the one hand, not only clearly shows the complex logical relationship between the factors but also reveals the process of coordination between the two policy tools in the development of the renewable energy power industry. On the other hand, it provides a reference for scholars to study similar problems in different countries, thereby facilitating an understanding of the renewable energy power's long-term sustainable development pattern under FIT and RPS schemes, and helping to provide references for policy-making institutions. The results show that the integrate implementation of FIT and RPS can promote long-term and rapid development of China's wind power industry given the constraints and actions of the mechanisms of RPS quota proportion, the tradable green certificates (TGC) valid period, and fines. In addition, in the period of the construction of the TGC market, RPS quota growth rate and fine have a no significant effect on industrial development, however, with TGC market game becoming more and more fierce, both of them have a significant positive impact on the long-term development of the industry. TGC valid period has little effect on industrial development in our study. At the end of the paper, policy implications are offered as references for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important energy base of China, Xinjiang is the key part of the “Silk Road” economic belt development strategy and is in an superior position. This paper analyzes the problems exist in the sustainable energy industry based on the distribution status of sustainable resources of Xinjiang. The evaluation index system of the application level of Renewable Energy Systems (RESs) is discussed using the wind farm as an example. Besides it investigates the advantages and disadvantages of the development process of each node in the “Silk Road” economic belt areas according to the current situation of the resources, economic and social development. Suggestions for the development of each area are proposed in the end. This paper will contribute to the sustainable development of renewable energy industry and economy in Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's fastest growing energy consumer, China has attracted enormous attention over the Iast few years. This paper looks at the factors influencing China's policies and strategies in its search for energy security and examines whether China can be persuaded to adopt a more integrative stance with respect to energy. It argues that China's pursuit of a policy to secure preferential access to oil and gas resources in politically unstable states could lead to heightened competition with other major importing states and to geopolitical tensions. Instead, China needs to work with other consumers and the international community to solve energy-related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper examines pathways towards solar energy in China by examining two different solar energy technologies, namely solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWH). The paper investigates these two case studies to understand how different pathways for low carbon innovation are promoted and challenged by China's changing financing and policy-making, and how they relate to changing practices among producers and consumers. The paper finds two distinct approaches to solar energy. Chinese solar PV is predominantly produced for the export market, relies on intellectual property-intensive technology and has received much financial and political support from the central and provincial governments. On the other side, solar water heaters are an indigenous Chinese technology that is found everywhere across China, especially in rural areas. They have developed from grass-roots levels to mass products with very little central government support. Although being largely absent from high-level discussions and policies, solar water heaters could contribute a lot to China's low carbon transitions that are driven at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With important implications for global climate change mitigation, the development of a cap-and-trade emission trading scheme (ETS) in China is embedded in distinctive political, economic, and institutional contexts and has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. To offer a clear perspective on current research progress, this paper systematically reviews the recent literature on China’s ETS from three main aspects: mechanism design, policy and regional linkages, as well as impact assessment. The current research consensuses are summarized based upon detailed literature analyses and commentaries, and together with observations of international experience and China’s actual condition, the paper provides policy proposals for the development of China’s national ETS during 2016–2020. Finally, several important controversies in the current literature are discussed with regard to the practical demands of China’s ETS development. Five pressing topics that need to be further studied in the coming years are highlighted, including cap setting, allowance allocation among sectors and enterprises, carbon pricing, policy package and unified carbon market construction, as well as ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the industrial sector's high energy use and vast potential for energy saving, many national governments have established voluntary or negotiated agreements that set quantitative energy-saving targets for individual industrial enterprises. The most commonly used energy-saving targets worldwide are volume and energy intensity targets. Since 2006, the Chinese government has set mandatory, enterprise-level energy-saving targets in terms of the “amount of energy saved”; this represents a unique category that differs from both volume and energy intensity targets. Based on first-hand data collected at ten case enterprises, this paper represents one of the first attempts to verify the reliability of the amount of energy saved data reported by the Chinese government and to rigorously and systematically investigate the inherent weaknesses of the amount of energy saved targets through a comparison with the mainstream categories of energy-saving targets. The ten case enterprises reported four different types of amount of energy saved. While all of the case enterprises claimed full achievement of their amount of energy saved targets, four enterprises exaggerated their performance by violating the National Standard for Calculating the Amount of Energy Saved of Enterprises. The paper thus hypothesizes that the National Top-1000 Enterprise Program's alleged achievement of performance 65% higher relative to its amount of energy saved target is likely an overestimation. Although amount of energy saved targets constitute an innovative energy-saving indicator, they do not represent a step forward from conventional volume and intensity targets because of the following four weaknesses: 1) amount of energy saved targets provide limited potential for comparison given the different types of amount of energy saved and the different calculation methods, 2) they generate uncertain environmental outcomes as it is possible to meet a portion of an amount of energy saved target through production volume expansion, 3) they are difficult to enforce due to the complexity of data verification on the part of local government agencies, and 4) they are poorly correlated with the national target for reducing energy intensity. Amount of energy saved targets should therefore be replaced with “double-control” targets that impose both volume and intensity targets on industrial enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear power has gradually become one of the key parts in power supply structure due to its environmental benefits, effective productivity and steady operation. However, complicated system, high investment and derivative security issues make it difficult to develop in a large scale. Nowadays, faced with serious challenges from environment protection, fossil fuel lacking and upgrading of industrial structure, China are taking measures to promote nuclear power industry to realize sustainable development. China׳s nuclear power industry has achieved large achievements in industrial policy, technical and economic condition during the last three decades. However, there still exist problems impeding its future development. Therefore, this paper first analyzes the external environment and historical stages of nuclear power industry in China. Then, it summarizes its current situation and points out the existing problems. In the end, to deal with the above problems, this paper proposes relative solutions from the aspects of industrial distribution optimization, regional resources integration, technical standard system, industrial organization mode and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010 China has faced a worrying phenomenon “wind curtailment” in the development and operation of the wind power industry. This phenomenon has resulted in sharp decline of the utilization hours of the wind power equipment, seriously affected the economic benefits of the wind farms and caused serious energy waste. The wind curtailment in China is seemingly caused by the volatility of the wind power technical characteristics. However, judging from a deep level, the planning, networking management and policies play a critical role. With analysis this paper makes such a conclusion: it is not practical to solve the wind curtailment of China solely with the technical solutions and comprehensive measures must be taken. The paper offers strategies from the planning, policy and technical levels to solve the wind curtailment problem according to the actual situation of China and by referring to experiences of developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a global consensus on making full use of renewable energy because of human concern for energy security and environmental deterioration. Power generation with large-scale renewable energy such as solar and wind energy has become the trend of modern power systems, and the resulting impacts on power systems are more and more prominent. Therefore, there is great concern from academic and engineering areas of all countries. In China, as the fastest growing country in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in the world, these problems are particularly outstanding. This paper extensively reviews the present research and application status of large-scale PV (LSPV) power generation in China, discusses the modelling and simulation techniques of LSPV, explores impacts of LSPV integration on dynamic and static characteristics of power systems, and describes key technologies about LSPV power generation delivery and consumption from the perspective of power system planning, simulation, dispatching and control. Additionally, this paper also refines academic and engineering problems, and recommendations are proposed for future research and development of LSPV power generation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the conventional energy resources are limited and environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent, new energy resources, being environmental friendly and renewable, are paid more and more attention by all the countries. At present, the development and utilization of new energy resources in China has made progress. However, due to the factors such as the international energy competition situation, China׳s productivity level and its development phase, and the lagging of related system and mechanism reforms, China׳s new energy has been faced with constraints in the aspects of the system, efficiency, supply, region and technology. If related reforms were not implemented, the development of new energy in China would be severely hindered for a long period of time in the future. In view of this, this paper reviewed the development status of China׳s new energy industry, and analyzed five aspects of constraints. Moreover, a discussion was carried out from four aspects of the system, consumption, production, technology reforms in order to break the corresponding constraints. Finally the future development planning of new energy was presented. All in all, the deep investigation into China׳s new energy development status, constraints, reforms and planning in this paper is aimed at promoting the reform of new energy resources production and utilization modes, improving the policy system continuously, addressing the deep-rooted institutional contradictions of the new energy industry, and providing the reference and advice for the transformation of China׳s energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and renewable, wind is one of the major ways to produce power. However, natural wind used for tunnel ventilation is often neglected. Natural wind is usually regarded as resistance. Every year, unchanging ventilation mode and unreasonable control strategy lead to huge energy consumption and economic loss In China. This paper mainly discusses and analyzes the current situation of energy consumption in extra-long tunnel operation ventilation in China. It proposes the natural wind utilization in extra-long segmented tunnels. Therefore, a scientific and theoretical calculation method for extra-long tunnels located in climate separation zone is presented in this paper. Principles of natural wind in each tunnel section are obtained based on long-term monitored meteorological factors. A feasible optimized energy-saving ventilation strategy is put forward, which utilizes natural wind and will minimize the operation energy consumption. It is concluded that, the results about operation energy consumption from this paper can provide useful technical supports in design, operation and management for tunnels all over the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a conceptual study that examines the viability of the construction of the Kra Isthmus within the context of the five dimensions of megaproject success of Sovacool and Cooper (The governance of energy megaprojects: politics, hubris, and energy security, )-social (governance), technological (systems), democratic (politics), externalities (economics, ecology), and risks assessments (accountability), and its possible impact on China's strategic energy supply chain. One of the objectives of this study is also to discuss the current impacts, perceived benefits, and risks of China's dependence on its multinational and transnational pipelines. China could see the construction of Kra Canal as an alternative option for its strategic sourcing activities especially crude oil and gas at much lower costs. The megaproject would become a passageway that connects the Indian Ocean, Andaman Sea, and the Gulf of Siam at the choke point of Isthmus region in Thailand. However, this megaproject could also trigger the internal conflicts of Thailand, and affect the ASEAN countries' political and economic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a good power supplement form of super power and large-scale energy base, distributed energy has the characteristics of less investment and flexible power generation. Facing with the double pressure of the sustainable development of energy use and environmental protection, it has become an efficient solution to meet the demand of load growth, reduce environmental pollution and improve the comprehensive utilization of energy and the reliability of power supply. However, the development of distributed energy starts relatively late in China and confronts many difficulties. So this paper analyzes the present development situation and existing problems of the distributed energy in China. Then it elaborates from the aspects of policies and regulations, technical specifications, price policy and grid-interconnection codes. At last, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions of the guarantee mechanism of distributed energy. This paper argues that, with the attention of the development of distributed energy increasing, a series of policies to promote the construction and interconnection of distributed energy will be introduced, and distributed energy will get scaled development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oil crisis and the successful commercial exploitation of shale gas in America have made shale gas become the focus of global energy industry. Shale gas industry will be developed mainly in the future. Sichuan has natural geographical advantages and becomes the main battlefield of shale gas in China. So it is necessary and urgent to analyze the current situation of Sichuan shale gas. This paper introduces the status quo of shale gas in Sichuan, and systematically analyzes the industrial environment for developing Sichuan shale gas from four aspects of policy, economy, society, technology. Then the issues facing Sichuan are discussed. Finally, the paper puts forward some corresponding recommendations to provide certain references to the development of shale gas industry in Sichuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has surpassed the United States to be the world's largest energy consumer, but a lot of energy was used to produce products for exporting to other countries. Presently, China faces a great challenge in energy security and environmental protection. This paper focuses on the energy embodied in China's foreign trade with a multi-regional input–output approach. Three versions of the GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) database were used to capture the trend and distribution of the embodied energy flows for China during 2001–2007. The results indicate that the energy embodied in the global trade is increasing rapidly, growing faster than the total direct energy exported in the same period. China is shown as an energy exporter in terms of embodied energy, and the embodied energy trade surplus increased from 156 million tons of oil equivalents (Mtoe) in 2001 to 514 Mtoe in 2007, with a proportion of domestic energy consumption increased from 14% to 23%. This paper also studies the effects of the energy-intensive industry restrictive export policy of China, and we find that this policy could reduce the national energy consumption and promote industrial structure upgrades effectively. However, the expansion of energy-intensive industries in other countries may reduce China's efforts for global energy saving and global warming alleviation. Our simulation shows that carbon leakage is about 50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the temporal-spatial distribution of wave energy at the Beibu Gulf at a monthly, seasonal, and annual base using the Simulated WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model, which is called third generation wave prediction model. The model is forced with the ECMWF ERA Interim wind field data covering 34 years at a time interval of 6 h. Wave parameters, including significant wave height ( Hs ), peak wave period ( Tp ), and wave direction (θ) are simulated by SWAN model. Simulated data are validated against the altimeter data using Bias, MSE, and R, and the validation results show that the simulated data can effectively be used to calculate the wave energy in Beibu Gulf. This paper highlights the temporal-spatial distributions of monthly, seasonal, and annual of wave energy. The results reveal that (1) the wave energy propagations in inner waters are dominantly along northeast and west-northwest; (2) the high-energy areas are located at the middle and the southern Beibu Gulf; (3) the biggest monthly wave energy is from January through March with approximately 2.5 kW/m, and the biggest seasonal wave energy is from winter through spring with approximately 1.7 kW/m, and the biggest annual wave energy is about 1.5 kW/m. Additionally, the quantitative analysis, in which the total storage of wave energy vs. the percentage of wave energy greater than 2 kW/m is mapped at a 0.5° × 0.5° grid, identifies those grids used for wave energy convertor deployment. Finally some suggestions are drawn up for decision-makers of the local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical process industry is the second largest carbon-emitting sector in China. Therefore, it is extremely urgent and crucial to explore how to reduce carbon emissions in the sector. This paper employs the co-integration method and scenario analysis to investigate how to reduce carbon emissions in the sector. The granger causality test is conducted and the result indicates that all the variables except lnPare granger-causes lnCE. Moreover, comparing the JJ (Johansen-Juselius) co-integration with the EG (Engle-Granger) co-integration based on the squared residual, the fitting effect and the prediction effect, we find that the EG co-integration method is better. Furthermore, we adopt the EG co-integration and scenario analysis and find that the emission reduction potential of the sector will be 63.9 Mt in 2015 and 180 Mt in 2020 under the middle scenario; and 121.4 Mt in 2015 and 327.9 Mt in 2020 under the advanced scenario. Finally, the paper provides some policy implication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically discusses the evolution of China's industrial and trade policy regarding coke and the effects of this policy over the past decade, particularly from 2004 to 2013. We found that: (1) due to the impact of China's strict industrial policies, the country's coal and coke industry is still competitive. These policies have also helped the Chinese government achieve its goal of maintaining security and energy conservation. (2) China's coke trade policies did not reduce the volume of coke export. There is also no reliable evidence that strong coke industrial and trade policies have led to the expansion of the spread between the Chinese price and the international price. (3) There is a co-integration relationship between the domestic Chinese coke price and the international coke price, while changes in China's domestic coke price and macroeconomic climate index are both one-way Granger causes of the change in the international coke price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to argue for the necessity and significance of studying the distributional employment impacts of renewable and new energy development (RNE). Based on the comprehensive review of the methodology and conclusions of existing literatures, this paper builds up an extended input–output model to study RNE’s distributional employment impacts on gender and personnel structure. The case study of China׳s power sector in this paper affirmed earlier doubts that RNE development will indeed aggravate the gender inequality problem and add to the level of mismatch between the structure of labor demand and supply, causing structural unemployment problems. The quantitative analysis in this paper outlined here implies that from 2011 to 2020 the development of RNE will bring about 7 million employment gains, but only 81.8% of which can be realized due to the mismatch problem. The study of China may alert other countries to be less-optimistic about RNE’s employment impacts and reaffirm the need to carry out the distributional employment impacts analysis. This paper concludes with policy suggestions such as providing suitable training and equal promotion opportunities for women, offering courses and vocational trainings to RNE-related majors, in order to reduce the structural unemployment problem and further speed up the development of RNE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has become a net importer of natural gas as a result of rapidly increasing consumption in recent years. A production peak would exist since natural gas is an exhaustible resource. As conventional natural gas production peak approaches, the development of unconventional natural gas is attracting increasing attention. China׳s unconventional natural gas reserves are abundant, but exploration is still in its infancy stage. Thus, with the increasing quest for low-carbon development and China׳s natural gas price reform, studying the impacts of unconventional gas development on China׳s natural gas supply and price reform under different scenarios has practical significance. In this paper we predict China׳s natural gas production trends in different scenarios and forecast natural gas demand. This paper concludes that the exploitation of unconventional natural gas will greatly improve China׳s annual natural gas production, and delay the production peak year. This is important for China׳s natural gas supply security as it can decrease dependence on imported gas. Furthermore, as the cleanest fossil fuel, it will enable more time and space for renewable energy development given the many costs and controversies surrounding its development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China faced the greatest challenge in balancing its economic growth, energy and resource security as well as environmental pollution. The energy-intensive industries, which used to be the major force driving China׳s economic growth, had seriously exhausted the countries׳ natural resources and energy, and at the same time polluted the environment because of the severe surplus of low-efficiency production capacities. As a result, the Chinese government had initiated multiple economic and administrative policies to eliminate these low-efficiency production capacities intended to improve the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries. These policies are summarized in this paper, along with export tax rebating rate, resource tax, administrative audit and approvals, differential electric power pricing and shutting down the low-efficiency production capacities. The paper also evaluates the effects of these policies by analyzing several key indicators about the energy-intensive industries, including fixed asset investment growth rate, energy-intensity of industrial added-value, waste gas emission-intensity of industrial added-value. The VALDEX methodology is selected to examine the improving trends of energy-efficiency for energy-intensive industries. The analyzing results show that firstly the development of low-efficiency capacities tends to be more sensitive to the policies, so the policies that China had enacted really exert very important effects on improving the energy-efficiency of energy-intensive industries. However, the effects of economic policies seem more faster and obvious than the fiscal policies. Besides, the results also show that polices which are designed to reserve energy may not necessarily exert the same effects on reducing emissions. There is still large room for improving the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries, substantial improvement still needs to be done for current policies’ system. Some suggestions for future work are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China׳s wind power industry has achieved tremendous successes in recent years. The country׳s cumulative installed capacity has exceeded that of America and ranked first in the world. The fast development has also been accompanied by inevitable high risks. Wind turbine accidents are happening with increasing frequency. Since insurance is an effective measure and instrument to control risks, it can guarantee healthy development of the wind power industry. So the fast-growing wind power industry in China is in urgent need of insurance services. However, currently the slow-developing insurance does not match the fast-growing wind power industry. Up to now, there have been few correlative studies on such field. Therefore, based on the problems behind development of China׳s wind power industry, this paper emphasizes the importance of insurance for China׳s wind power industry, and also analyzes the challenges that China׳s wind energy insurance companies have to face. The aim of this paper is to let more experts know the status of both the wind power industry and its corresponding insurance market in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of energy economics, the concept of "green premium" refers to the cost difference between zero-emission or emission-reducing technologies and emission-emitting technologies. This cost difference plays a crucial role in the adoption and commercialization of renewable energy technologies, which is essential for addressing climate change. However, the green premium, as an abstract concept, is often used qualitatively, and research on quantifying the green premium is very limited. This has significant adverse effects on both the formulation of business strategies for companies and the planning of government policies. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) method is a widely used cost analysis approach in businesses and organizations. It can quantitatively assess and understand the overall costs associated with specific products, assets, or services, thereby assisting decision-makers in making informed choices and managing resources. Therefore, this study introduces, for the first time, a TCO-based green premium modeling model to address the challenge of quantifying the green premium. Considering that China's Electric Vehicles (EVs) industry has successfully overcome the green premium barrier and entered the commercialization phase, it is an appropriate domain for studying the green premium. To further demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of the modeling, this paper enhances the classic Bass model for sales forecasting of electric vehicles. It innovatively incorporates the influence of the green premium in the generalized Bass model. Additionally, the study uses primary data from industry research to construct a multi-factor green premium model for EVs based on TCO analysis. It also develops a generalized Bass diffusion model that considers the green premium and selects time-series data on EV diffusion in the Chinese market from 2010 to 2021. A genetic algorithm is employed to fit the model parameters, and different scenarios are considered to forecast EV market penetration over the next decade. Experimental results validate that incorporating the green premium in the generalized Bass model leads to better forecasting performance compared to methods that do not consider the premium which proved these related green premium modeling approaches exhibit good accuracy and scalability. • Economic Model of Green Premium : Developed an economic model comparing emissions-emitting and zero-emissions technology. • Data on Automotive Industry : Gathered primary data for calculating the green premium in the EV market. • Genetic Algorithm for Bass Model : Used a genetic algorithm on the modified Bass model, improving forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reviewed the history of the evolution of low-carbon development strategies and the establishment of low-carbon targets in China, over the past 30 years. The climate policy development in China has been classified into four stages and the key strategies of the Chinese government adopted towards low-carbon development were analysed. The results showed the changing view of the government regarding the climate issue, was the underlying reason for the establishment of low-carbon development targets, whilst a low-carbon economy is now receiving increasing attention in the governance of China. Some recommendations for future improvement were given at the end of the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is based on dynamic optimization methodology to investigate the economic energy efficiency issues in developing countries. The paper introduces some definitions about energy efficiency both in economics and physics, and establishes a quantitative way for measuring the economic energy efficiency. The linkage between economic energy efficiency, energy consumption and other macroeconomic variables is demonstrated primarily. Using the methodology of dynamic optimization, a maximum problem of economic energy efficiency over time, which is subjected to the extended Solow growth model and instantaneous investment rate, is modelled. In this model, the energy consumption is set as a control variable and the capital is regarded as a state variable. The analytic solutions can be derived and the diagrammatic analysis provides saddle-point equilibrium. A numerical simulation based on China is also presented; meanwhile, the optimal paths of investment and energy consumption can be drawn. The dynamic optimization encourages governments in developing countries to pursue higher economic energy efficiency by controlling the energy consumption and regulating the investment state as it can conserve energy without influencing the achievement of steady state in terms of Solow model. If that, a sustainable development will be achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The enhancement of sustainability of hydrogen supply chain is of vital importance for the stakeholders/decision-makers to design a sustainable hydrogen supply chain. The objective of this paper is to develop a method for prioritizing the influential factors, identifying the key driving factors that influence the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain and mapping the cause–effect relationships to improve the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain. In this paper, thirty seven criteria in four aspects including economic, technological, environmental and societal aspects are considered for enhancing the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain, and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory has been used to analyze the relationships among these criteria. The status of hydrogen supply chain in China has been studied by the proposed method, and the results are consistent with the actual conditions. It could be concluded that the proposed method is feasible and could be popularized to some other cases. [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: China''s PV industry has developed rapidly in recent years due to the dramatic demand from the world market. In contrast, until 2010 China''s domestic PV market has been very small due to lack of sufficient incentives in the country to promote domestic PV deployment. However, since early 2009 many incentives have been implemented in China. The paper makes an analysis on China''s solar PV incentive policies, particularly the national FIT scheme. Policy recommendations are made with regard to the promotion of the domestic solar PV market, including the construction of an effective national FIT scheme, the imposition of renewable portfolio system as well as the establishment of sound technical and administration standards for the grid-connection of PV systems. The paper contributes to the academic literature over China''s solar PV power policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In March 2011, China’s central government set a new challenging target of reducing its energy intensity by 16% during 2011–2015, after it had achieved a reduction of 19.1% during 2006–2010. And this new target was assigned to provincial authorities in August 2011. However, China’s provincial energy-economic developments are unbalanced and different provinces have different key sectors for energy conservation. Most previous studies focused on provincial energy efficiency at the aggregate level, or the three-industry level (or one-digit level). However, whether for policy decision or academic research, it is necessary to further subdivide the sectors. In this paper, we use three indicators (Gini Coefficient, energy consumption share and energy intensity) to compare provincial energy conservation potentials at the two-digit sector level. To our knowledge, this paper is the first one to identify the keys for energy conversation across the 31 provinces×65 sectors. And the results are shown in visualized maps and matrix tables to help identify the key province×sectors for energy conservation easier. This also helps the central and provincial governments to distinguish key sectors when they monitor the energy conservation progress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper introduces the biggest solar cooling system in China. The solar cooling system is applied to a campus library in Hainan Island, which is the furthest south province in China. Some important factors, such as scheme selection, supplementary energy resource choice, chiller type comparison, solar collector selection, system configuration, operation and control strategy determination etc., are mainly discussed in this paper. The project was finished in 2011 summer and an on-line monitoring system was installed to know how the system operates. Some primary technical and economic analysis is made and some suggestions about how to promote solar cooling system in China are also put forward in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recently, energy production in China fell behind energy consumption. This poses important challenges for the rapidly growing Chinese economy. As a consequence, the causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP is an important empirical issue. This paper examines Granger causality between energy consumption and GDP in China using province-level data. The current paper extends the Granger causality analysis employed in previous studies by taking into account panel heterogeneity. Specifically, four different causal relationships are examined: homogeneous non-causality (HNC), homogeneous causality (HC), heterogeneous non-causality (HENC), and heterogeneous causality (HEC). HC and HNC hypotheses are rejected for causality in either direction, from GDP to energy or from energy to GDP, which implies that the panel made up of Chinese provinces is not homogeneous. Then, heterogeneous causality tests (HEC ad HENC) are conducted for each province. For the causality running from GDP to energy, 19 provinces exhibit HEC and 11 provinces exhibit HENC. For the causality running from energy to GDP, 14 provinces exhibit HEC and 16 provinces exhibit HENC. The results suggest that the Chinese government should incorporate a regional perspective while formulating and implementing energy policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since 2005, there has been dramatic progress in China''s wind power industry. The annual growth rate of newly constructed capacity reached a miracle of 105% and the total installed capacity has increased from 1.27GW in 2005 to 44.73GW in 2010, which has exceeded the target of China''s energy long-term planning for 2020. During the 11th Five-Year-Plan (FYP), the Chinese government has issued a series of polices to promote and regulate the development of wind power industry, which is the underlying force driving its rapid development. This paper is a systematical review on the current status and policies of wind power industry in China. Firstly the current status including achievements and shortcomings is presented, and then the relevant polices and regulations released during the period of 11th FYP are reviewed. Meanwhile, the main approaches of the policies and regulations in promoting the development of wind power industry are discussed and the issues of the current policies are analyzed. Finally, the paper concludes on the perspectives of wind power policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction of the fractional order accumulation has made significant contributions to the development of forecasting methods, and fractional grey models play a key role in such new methods. However, the fractional grey models may also be inaccurate in some cases as they do not consider the time delayed effect. To further improve the applicability of the existing fractional grey models, a novel fractional grey model called the fractional time delayed grey model is proposed in this paper. The essence of the fractional time delayed term is discussed, revealing that the fractional time delayed term is essentially a function between the polynomial functions with integer order, which can be more flexible to improve the modelling accuracy. The cutting-edge Grey Wolf Optimizer is introduced to find the optimal value of fractional order. Detailed modelling procedures, including the computational steps and the intelligent optimization algorithm, have been clearly presented. Four real world case studies are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model, in comparison with 8 existing grey models. Finally the proposed model is applied to forecast the coal and natural gas consumption of Chongqing China, the results show that the proposed model significantly outperforms the other 8 existing grey models. • A novel fractional time delayed grey model is proposed. • Essence of fractional time delayed term is revealed. • Grey Wolf Optimizer is used to find the optimal fractional order. • The proposed model outperforms 8 models in 6 real world cases. • The new model is efficient in energy forecasting for complex energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geothermal energy is a key clean energy in China that can be applied in heating, hot springs and aquaculture. However, the recovery of geothermal energy depends heavily on electricity, the market is narrow and the initial investment is very high. Focusing on the geothermal energy development in Beijing, China, this paper applies the game theory to analyze the economy of complex geothermal energy and designs the economic incentive system for geothermal energy. Specifically, the energy analysis and thermoeconomic analysis methods were designed for geothermal energy system, in the light of the thermodynamic laws. The investment cost, specific negative entropy cost and comparable irreversible cost of geothermal energy recovery were examined in details, revealing that the recovery of geothermal resources needs the least investment in Miyun, Haidian and Fangshan, and that Changping has the smallest relative cost difference and energy economics factor in Beijing. In addition, economic incentive measures were put forward, including both tax incentive and financial subsidy. The research findings lay the theoretical basis for expanding the development and utilization of geothermal energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]