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The development and utilization of biomass energy based on the thermochemical conversion of crop biomass to produce hydrogen are of great significance for promoting China's ecological civilization construction, energy revolution, and low-carbon economic development. Henan province is one of the largest agricultural and pasturage provinces in China. Based on the analysis of the status and trends of Henan's biomass energy (BE) development, this paper summarizes the present status of the construction of ecological civilization (CEC) and the factors restricting its development. Challenges in developing biomass energy are analyzed systematically, and strategies and key technical directions for future biomass energy development are discussed. Finally, the paper presents countermeasures and suggestions for CEC based on the development of BE, which will vigorously promote the development and utilization of BE and the process of CEC. This research provides a reference for the further development of BE and CEC in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a global context where sustainable growth is imperative, understanding carbon emissions in significant regions is essential. Henan Province, being a vital region in China for population, agriculture, industry, and energy consumption, plays a crucial role in this understanding. This study, rooted in the need to identify strategies that not only meet China's broader carbon neutrality objectives but also offer insights regarding global sustainability models, utilizes the STIRPAT model combined with scenario analysis. The aim was to forecast carbon emission trajectories from 2020 to 2060 across the key industries—electricity, steel, cement, transportation, coal, and chemical—that are responsible for over 80% of the total emissions in Henan. The findings suggest a varied carbon peak timeline: the steel and cement industries might achieve their peak before 2025, and the transportation, coal, and chemical sectors might achieve theirs around 2030, whereas that of the power industry could be delayed until 2033. Significantly, by 2060—a landmark year for Chinese carbon neutrality ambitions—only the electricity sector in Henan shows potential for zero emissions under an extreme scenario. This study's results underscore the importance of region-specific strategies for achieving global carbon neutrality and offer a blueprint for other populous, industrialized regions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global climate change and energy security pressures, biomass power generation has been regarded as an effective way to supplement the energy supply, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and alleviate environmental pollutants. This paper presents an integrated modeling framework to address the regional biomass power generation planning to facilitate biomass utilization in developing countries. By combining the geographic information system, multi-criteria decision-making approach, as well as the type-2 fuzzy inexact programming method, the proposed integrated framework could assist the optimal decision-making for the specific site and size selection of biomass power plants in the whole region as well as the optimal operation strategies under deep uncertainties. The proposed modeling framework is applied to the particular context of Henan, an agricultural province in China with great biomass potential. The results suggested that biomass power plants with a total capacity of 2.4 GW could be established, which could satisfy 6% of local electricity consumption and avoid 18.51 Mt of carbon emissions. The sensitivity analysis of the main economic parameters indicated that lower investment and operation costs were essential to stimulate the utilization of local biomass energy. A higher feed-in tariff is not encouraged due to the limited incentive effect but is a heavy burden for the government. Furthermore, the optimal strategies for biomass power generation planning under uncertainties could be suggested for different decision makers with various risk preferences to achieve a tradeoff between system cost and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing energy efficiency is globally regarded as an effective way to reduce carbon emissions. In recent years, the energy efficiency of China has gradually improved; however, energy consumption and CO2 emissions are still increasing. To better understand the reasons for this, we evaluated the energy rebound effect (RE) of 30 provinces in China over the period 2001–2017 by employing stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and the system generalized method of moments (system-GMM) approach, and explored the extent to which the RE affects CO2 emissions. Asymmetric and regional heterogeneity analyses were also conducted. The results indicate that the national average RE was 90.47% in the short run, and 78.17% in the long run, during the sample period. Most of the provinces experienced a partial RE, with a backfire effect occurring in some provinces such as Guangxi and Henan. The RE was associated with significant increases in CO2 emissions; specifically, a 1% increase in the short-run RE led to an increase in CO2 emissions of approximately 0.818%, and a 1% increase in the long-run RE resulted in an increase in CO2 emissions of approximately 0.695%. Moreover, significant regional differences existed in the impact of the RE on CO2 emissions; in regions with high emissions and a high RE, the CO2 reduction effect from the marginal decline in the RE was much more pronounced than that in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission is further intensified as urbanization and industrialization continue to accelerate. China has maintained its rapid economic development and urbanization in the last 2 decades. The development of the construction industry has not only consumed a large number of energy sources but also resulted in significant carbon emissions, causing some environmental damage. Recognizing the major influencing factors of carbon emissions in the construction industry has become a research hotspot to alleviate environmental pollution caused by the construction industry and meet industrial demands for energy saving and emission reduction. In this study, the factors that influence annual carbon emissions of different building types in China from 2011 to 2018 were decomposed by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) through a case study in Henan Province. The major influencing factors of carbon emissions have been identified. Results demonstrate that the per capita carbon emission in the construction industry in Henan Province remains high from 2011 to 2018, but it decreases year by year. Carbon emissions from the construction industry in Henan Province increase due to economic development and energy structure. Energy efficiency can inhibit carbon emissions from the construction industry in Henan Province. The obtained conclusions have a positive effect on analyzing annual variations in carbon emissions from the construction industry in a region, identifying influencing factors, and proposing specific countermeasures of energy saving and emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low energy utilization is observed in China due to the extensive economic growth mode, which further leads to considerable energy wastes and environmental pollution. The construction industry plays an important role in the national economic development of China and consumes tremendous materials; thus, this industry discharges abundant CO2. The energy consumption growth rate of the construction industry in China is far higher than the national energy consumption growth rate, resulting in the prominent situation of high energy consumption and low yield. A case study based on Henan Province, China, was conducted to further analyze the environmental efficiency of the construction industry. An index system was established by using the Super-slack-based model (Super-SBM). This system chooses the following: labor, energy, capital, and technology of the construction industry as the input variables, economic output as the output variable, and carbon emissions as the unexpected output. This system was also used to investigate the energy efficiency of the construction industry in Henan Province from 2008 to 2019. Results demonstrated that the construction industry in Henan Province has failed to eliminate the extensive development mode thus far. The environmental efficiency of the construction industry presents a fluctuating growth with a mean of 1.048, which generally remains at a relatively low level. The numbers of construction machines and enterprises in the construction industry have redundancy in approximately 50% of the years. Thus, this study can provide some positive references to enrich the evaluation index system and estimation model of energy efficiency of the construction industry, which includes unexpected output. Moreover, the current study can provide a comprehensive understanding of the environmental efficiency of the construction industry in a province in China and realize reasonable allocation of construction industrial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]