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Energy is essential for the development of a city. The energy structure of China, dominated by coal, has caused serious problems, such as resource depletion, environmental pollution, and climate change. These problems have posed severe challenges to the sustainable development of mega--cities such as Shanghai. In order to ensure security of energy supply and alleviate the corresponding environmental pollution, these cities should effectively restructure their energy supply. This paper quantitatively analyzed the future energy consumption demand in Shanghai and its effects on environmental quality based on the MARKAL model with the aim of providing theoretical support for the government decision regarding energy policy, energy technology, adjustment of energy supply structure, etc. Different scenarios have been set up in light of the natural gas distributed supply system, clean and efficient coal-fired power technologies, energy-saving of industrial boilers technologies, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (advanced power generation technology), and wind power technologies. The results obtained by the MARKAL model show that total consumption of the whole society energy in Shanghai will reach 143 572 700 tons of standard coal in 2015, and 199 645 800 tons of standard coal in 2020. Thus, the future demand for energy consumption is huge astronomical, with about an average annual growth rate of 4%. The consumption of coal and other primary energy could decline by improving the energy efficiency and increasing renewable energy use, which would reduce pollutants emissions. At the same time, Shanghai should continue research on carbon dioxide emissions technology and its application in response to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy, which is inexhaustible and abundant, has become an economically viable and environmentally preferable alternative to fossil fuels. There is the inherent advantage of solar energy in mitigation of climate change, generation of employment, and reduction of poverty, as well as increased energy security and supply. It is therefore important to continue to evaluate the global solar radiation levels in countries such as Nigeria with considerably high solar energy potential. In this paper, we report such evaluation for southern Nigeria; in particular, the correlations of meteorological estimates from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and calculated Hargreaves estimates for this region of Nigeria (latitude of 4.75°-7.77°N and longitude of 3.33°-8.32°E) are carried out and the results show a good agreement in all the sites, thereby strengthening the case we make for decentralized renewable energy investments in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to define low carbon society (LCS) based on the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT [Human Impact (I) on the environment equals the product of population (P) affluence (A) and technology (T)], starting from the problem definitions: (1) Economy is not everything for LCS and (2) it is not clear if speed on the constraint is more important than liberation from it. To tackle these problems, two research questions are set: (1) What are the basic indicators, objects, and constraints to shape the argument of LCSs and (2) what are the historical paths of several countries and what can be said for their future paths toward carbon societies? Time series data from 1900 or before are used, while the phase diagram with the variables from the IPAT equation is used as the core methodology. In addition to the IPAT variables, the importance of land per capita shall be considered as another basic indicator for LCS related to the carrying capacity. The three different kinds of objects [i.e., total gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, and social indicator] and the two constraints (i.e., total emission and emission per capita) are considered, and it is shown that the combination of these objects and constraints strongly affects the argument of the carrying capacity of climate and land, development of economic system and economic man, and other human developments. Among the four cases analyzed in the phase diagram, the case where GDP per capita is object and total emission is constraint is given the most attention and requires the further research in the future since it does not contradict with a definition of LCS. It is also suggested that if changing the direction of the path with low carbon technology development takes time and cost, institutional arrangement would be additionally necessary in addition to market mechanism where optimal solutions are found on constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are responsible for nearly 75% of the world’s energy consumption; expectedly, about 90% of future growth will occur in urban areas. However, we consider that cities will be at the forefront of implementing groundbreaking technologies and policies, as evidenced in the initiatives taken by many cities here and worldwide to resolve issues in energy and climate change. In addition to affording energy and environmental benefits, investments in energy efficient and renewable technologies have huge potential to boost local economies, as demonstrated by the recent federal allocation of stimulus funding. Inclined to give priority to stopgap measures, many cities tend to regard comprehensive long-term planning as secondary. However, such solutions would bring multiple benefits to the community. The paper showcases an energy and environment systems model to provide a quantitative vision of technology and management strategy options for effectively deploying energy efficiency and renewable energy for reducing the carbon footprint, while sustainably maintaining the energy demands of the community and the servicing environmental infrastructure. We provide results of a case study completed for New York City, to showcase usefulness of long-term planning for achieving low carbon cities. Combined with appropriate stakeholder participation, such a technology explicit bottom-up approach holds the promise of influencing the current energy planning, environmental regulatory regime, including multimedia aspects of carbon control for cities locally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mid- and long-term energy requirements and greenhouse gas emission scenarios for China were presented by using the Integrated Policy Assessment Model of China. Technologies are the key component to reach a low carbon future. Technologies are identified with the scenario analysis. In order to realize the low carbon future, a technology roadmap was presented to reach the emission reduction up to 2050 in China. Twenty-eight key technologies are given in the paper for the technology roadmap, presenting learning curves. With full adoption of these key technologies, we do see ample opportunities for China to make the emission stable after 2020, without a large increase, and even start to have a deep reduction after 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]