Search

We are witnessing an explosion in carbon calculators for estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (i.e., carbon footprint) of households, buildings, cities, and processes. Seeking to capitalize on the emergent 'green' consumer, corporations are leading the next iteration in carbon footprinting: consumer products. This potentially lucrative low-carbon frontier, however, faces steep challenges due to complexities of scale, largely a function of the number of actors and geographies involved in globalized commodity and energy networks, and scope, which increasingly demands inclusion of emissions due to land use change (e.g., biofuel production, timber harvest, livestock grazing, mining). Life cycle assessment (LCA)-the principal method behind product-level GHG emissions footprint protocols-frequently avoids these challenges by narrowly delineating system boundaries, thereby excluding the 'messiness' of space and place. Through a comparative model of energy sources and emissions in the globalized paper industry, this article reveals how complexities associated with geographic variation and land use change create indeterminacy in footprints based on these protocols. Using industry and trade data, the authors develop geographic information system transportation and energy models to map the globally dispersed pulp supply networks and to rescale Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change GHG inventory guidelines to include carbon loss associated with land use change in the carbon footprint of coated paper. Given their integrative abilities to conceptualize and model coupled human-ecological systems, sophisticated understanding of time-space dynamics and critical theoretical insights, geographers have much to contribute to the LCA and product carbon footprinting enterprise, which to date has been largely the intellectual domain of engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gases from industrial activities have become a global problem. Emissions management is being developed to raise awareness of the importance of controlling pollution in general and atmospheric emissions in particular. In 2017, the deficit of the rights of issuance in the industrial sectors increased up to 8.3% (verified emissions in 2017 versus allocation in 2017). This trend will increase more at the end of Phase III due to a progressive reduction in allocation. Phase IV will be much more restrictive in allocating emission rights than Phase III. The extra cost of this deficit reinforces the need for industry in general to reduce CO2 and for the paper industry to reduce GHG emissions and generate credits. Old factories are typically identified as sources of pollution in addition to being inefficient compared to new factories. This article discusses the possibilities offered by maintenance actions, whose integration into a process can successfully reduce the environmental impact of industrial plants, particularly by reducing the CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2-eq units henceforth CO2) they produce. This case study analyzes the integration of maintenance rules that enable significant thermal energy savings and consequently CO2 emissions reduction associated with papermaking. Managing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as the amount of cold water added to the boiler circuit and the conditions of the air blown into the dryer section hood, can be used as indicators of CO2 emissions generated. The control of the water and temperature reduces these emissions. A defined measure—in this case, t CO2/t Paper—indicates an achievement of a 21% reduction in emissions over the past 8 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ports in China are facing significant pressure to reduce carbon emissions in alignment with carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. Onshore power supply (OPS) is regarded as a promising approach to accomplish these targets, necessitating a thorough evaluation of its impact for port authorities to make informed decisions regarding its adoption. This research focuses on Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the largest port globally, as a case study. Two metrics are proposed to quantify the energy efficiency of ships powered by onshore energy while berthed. The installation and connection status of OPS in the port area are analyzed. Subsequently, the energy demand of berthed ships is assessed, and the potential for energy efficiency improvement resulting from OPS implementation is evaluated using Monte Carlo methods. The findings reveal untapped potential in the studied port area, with OPS demonstrating the ability to improve energy efficiency of berthed ships at a rate parallel to the connection rate, excluding indirect emissions. However, considering indirect emissions and energy loss diminishes the effectiveness of OPS. The paper discusses practical implications for enhancing the energy efficiency of OPS, enabling port authorities to make well-informed decisions. These findings are invaluable for Chinese port authorities striving to achieve carbon reduction goals and enhance sustainability in the maritime industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low carbon gear hobbing is an environmentally friendly way to machine massive workpieces. The appropriate process parameter decision-making is of great significance to improve processing quality, reduce the machining time, production cost, and carbon emission in gear manufacturing. This paper first proposes a support vector machine/ant lion optimizer/gear hobbing (SVM/ALO/GH) integrated approach to do the multi-objective optimization of machining parameters for solving small sample problem of batch production. The first population of process parameters is generated by the multi-class SVM method. Pareto improvement and ALO algorithm are employed to obtain the optimal process parameters. Finally, the case study is presented to give a clear picture of the application of the optimization approach. The results uncover that the proposed SVM/ALO/GH method has better performance than the improved back propagation neural network/differential evolution (IBPNN/DE) algorithm over the small sample problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since railway transport possesses the advantage of high volume and low carbon emissions, diverting some freight from road to railway will help reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with transport. This paper develops a flow assignment model for quantitative analysis of diverting truck freight to railway. First, a general network which considers road transportation, railway transportation, handling and transferring is established according to all the steps in the whole transportation process. Then general functions which embody the factors which the shippers will pay attention to when choosing mode and path are formulated. The general functions contain the congestion cost on road, the capacity constraints of railways and freight stations. Based on the general network and general cost function, a user equilibrium flow assignment model is developed to simulate the flow distribution on the general network under the condition that all shippers choose transportation mode and path independently. Since the model is nonlinear and challenging, we adopt a method that uses tangent lines to constitute envelope curve to linearize it. Finally, a numerical example is presented to test the model and show the method of making quantitative analysis of bulk freight modal shift between road and railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-objective optimization model for a green supply chain management scheme that minimizes the inherent risk occurred by hazardous materials, associated carbon emission and economic cost. The model related parameters are capitalized on a big data analysis. Three scenarios are proposed to improve green supply chain management. The first scenario divides optimization into three options: the first involves minimizing risk and then dealing with carbon emissions (and thus economic cost); the second minimizes both risk and carbon emissions first, with the ultimate goal of minimizing overall cost; and the third option attempts to minimize risk, carbon emissions, and economic cost simultaneously. This paper provides a case study to verify the optimization model. Finally, the limitations of this research and approach are discussed to lay a foundation for further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a fuzzy modelling approach oriented to the design of a fuzzy controller for regulating the fresh airflow of a real diesel engine. This strategy has been suggested for enhancing the regulator design that could represent an alternative to the standard embedded BOSCH controller, already implemented in the Engine Control Unit (ECU), without any change to the engine instrumentation. The air systemcontroller project requires the knowledge of a dynamic model of the diesel engine, which is achieved bymeans of the suggested fuzzy modelling and identification scheme. On the other hand, the proposed fuzzy PI controller structure is straightforward and easy to implement with respect to different strategies proposed in literature. The results obtained with the designed fuzzy controller are compared to those of the traditional embedded BOSCH controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the impact of the “Carbon Neutral Growth from 2020” (CNG2020) strategy on airline efficiency is analyzed based on the predicted data of 29 international airlines during 2021–2023. The data is predicted through neural network. Following the principle of CNG2020 strategy, we calculate the emission limit for each airline. Two models, Network Range Adjusted Measure with natural disposability and Network Range Adjusted Measure with managerial disposability, are proposed to discuss the efficiency change when the CNG2020 strategy is considered. The following findings are gotten: 1. Under natural disposability, the indices related with undesirable output have a larger role in deciding benchmarking airline. 2. For most of the 29 airlines, CNG2020 strategy has little influence on their efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prioritized purpose of this dissertation is to put forward a scientific and plausible interval of carbon price benchmark on the unified carbon trading market, of which will be scheduled to be established in the year of 2016. A model named EMD–GARCH that integrated Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) with Generalized Autoregressive Conditionally Heteroskedastic (GARCH) together is presented here in order to forecast the carbon price of the five pilots (Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, and Tianjin) in 2016 so as to provide exogenous data for later analysis. For further study, a recursive dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model will be structured to explore the impacts on China’s macroeconomics, environmental quality, and energy demand respectively under 8 different simulation scenarios, which are being designed in terms of the aforementioned calculated carbon price outcome. The simulation results illustrate that the unified carbon price policy will exert a comprehensive effect on China in various perspectives that we discussed in this paper. Moreover, regarding the carbon price scenarios, the price level by itself generates a different degree of impacts in improving the environmental quality, decreasing the energy demand, and increasing the macroeconomic growth. Consequently, based on the analysis of those three approaches mix in this study, we suggest the alternative interval of carbon price benchmark in the national unified carbon trading market with a lower bound of 30 yuan/tCO 2 to an upper bound of 50 yuan/tCO 2 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ports offer an effective way to facilitate the global economy. However, massive carbon emission during port operating aggravates the atmospheric pollution in port cities. Capturing characteristics of port carbon emission is vital to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) in the maritime realm as well as to achieve China's carbon neutral objective. In this work, an integrated framework is proposed for exploring the driving factors of China ports' emissions combined with stochastic effects on population, affluence and technology regression (STIRPAT), Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) and multiple linear regression (MLR). The port efficiency is estimated for each port and the potential driving factors of carbon emission are explored. The results indicate that port carbon emissions have a strong connection with port throughput, productivity, containerization and intermodal transshipment. It is worth noting that the containerization ratio and port physical facility with fossil-free energy improvement have positively correlated with carbon emissions. However, the specific value of waterborne transshipment shows a complex impact on carbon dioxide emission as the ratio increases. The findings reveal that China port authorities need to improve containerization ratio and develop intermodal transportation; meanwhile, it is responsible for port authorities to update energy use and improve energy efficiency in ways to minimize the proportion of non-green energy consumption in accordance with optimizing port operation management including peak shaving and intelligent management systems under a new horizon of clean energy and automatic equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the reforms pertaining to the energy structure in the automotive industry, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have long been the focus of government attention, as an effective means to reduce air pollution. Therefore, this paper employs the rolling-window Granger causality test, in order to discuss the environmental benefits of new energy vehicles, so as to explore the active role of the transportation sector in reducing air pollution. By studying the interactions between NEVs and particulate matter (PM 2.5) from the time period spanning from 2013:M1 to 2020:M9, we have found that the positive influences from NEVs to PM 2.5 ascertain that NEVs cannot be considered as an efficient measure to mitigate air pollution. Moreover, these results are not supported by the energy and environment interaction model, which essentially indicates that replacing traditional energy with renewable energy is an effective measure for controlling environmental pollution. In fact, PM 2.5 tends to have a negative impact on NEVs, which underlines that the air quality index is a leading indicator, particularly when it comes to analyzing the development of the NEVs market. This essentially highlights that in China, NEVs still do not account for a high proportion of car sales, and therefore, its environmental protection effect is not obvious. At the same time, the factor of public awareness regarding environmental protection will thus occupy a considerable proportion in the transmission of NEVs sales. These revelations will help the government to formulate environmental governance policies, and expand the new energy vehicle market to achieve carbon neutrality targets in China. • The impact of NEVs on particulate matter (PM2.5) to investigate the role of the transport sector in mitigating air pollution. • NEVs can not be considered as an efficient measure to mitigate air pollution. • Not supported by the energy and environment interaction model. • The public's awareness of environmental protection will occupy a considerable proportion in the transmission of NEVs sales. • Help the government to formulate environmental governance policies and expand the new energy vehicle market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clean air policies in China have substantially reduced particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution in recent years, primarily by curbing end-of-pipe emissions. However, reaching the level of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines may instead depend upon the air quality co-benefits of ambitious climate action. Here, we assess pathways of Chinese PM2.5 air quality from 2015 to 2060 under a combination of scenarios that link global and Chinese climate mitigation pathways (i.e. global 2°C- and 1.5°C-pathways, National Determined Contributions (NDC) pledges and carbon neutrality goals) to local clean air policies. We find that China can achieve both its near-term climate goals (peak emissions) and PM2.5 air quality annual standard (35 μg/m3) by 2030 by fulfilling its NDC pledges and continuing air pollution control policies. However, the benefits of end-of-pipe control reductions are mostly exhausted by 2030, and reducing PM2.5 exposure of the majority of the Chinese population to below 10 μg/m3 by 2060 will likely require more ambitious climate mitigation efforts such as China's carbon neutrality goals and global 1.5°C-pathways. Our results thus highlight that China's carbon neutrality goals will play a critical role in reducing air pollution exposure to the level of the WHO guidelines and protecting public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how ozone pollution and climate change/variability have interactively affected net primary productivity (NPP) and net carbon exchange (NCE) across China's forest ecosystem in the past half century. Continental China. Using the dynamic land ecosystem model (DLEM) in conjunction with 10-km-resolution gridded historical data sets (tropospheric O concentrations, climate variability/change, and other environmental factors such as land-cover/land-use change (LCLUC), increasing CO and nitrogen deposition), we conducted nine simulation experiments to: (1) investigate the temporo-spatial patterns of NPP and NCE in China's forest ecosystems from 1961-2005; and (2) quantify the effects of tropospheric O pollution alone or in combination with climate variability and other environmental stresses on forests' NPP and NCE. China's forests acted as a carbon sink during 1961-2005 as a result of the combined effects of O, climate, CO, nitrogen deposition and LCLUC. However, simulated results indicated that elevated O caused a 7.7% decrease in national carbon storage, with O-induced reductions in NCE (Pg C year) ranging from 0.4-43.1% among different forest types. Sensitivity experiments showed that climate change was the dominant factor in controlling changes in temporo-spatial patterns of annual NPP. The combined negative effects of O pollution and climate change on NPP and NCE could be largely offset by the positive fertilization effects of nitrogen deposition and CO. In the future, tropospheric O should be taken into account in order to fully understand the variations of carbon sequestration capacity of forests and assess the vulnerability of forest ecosystems to climate change and air pollution. Reducing air pollution in China is likely to increase the resilience of forests to climate change. This paper offers the first estimate of how prevention of air pollution can help to increase forest productivity and carbon sequestration in China's forested ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile has pioneered the implementation of emission offseting programs pursuing simultaneously economic growth and environmental protection. In this paper, emission trading programs implemented in Santiago of Chile are analyzed and its relevance for developing countries is evaluated. It is argued that emission trading programs can be the best tool to deal with air pollution problems even in cases in which the institutional capacities are not well developed. Moreover, the inclusion of the transport system into the emission trading programs and the possibility of moving towards a system of interpollutant exchange are both nouvelle and relevant elements in the context of air pollution control policies. However, these innovations involve rather more complex elements in the design of emission trading programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent years have been marked by the role of green tech innovation in decreasing carbon emissions worldwide to attain the carbon neutrality target. Despite many studies examining the nexus between the former and energy consumption, tech innovation's effects on CO2 releases have not been extensively researched, and the extant empirical findings are often contradictory. Also, a major concern regarding the available literature is the scarcity of papers that scan the impact of tourism on carbon emissions, even though the industry has a high potential to affect ambient air pollution. In this case, the evidence is mixed, and no consensus among academics on the relationships between the two. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the relevance of green innovation and tourism in decreasing environmental damage in Thailand based on the bootstrapping ARDL causality model suggested by (McNown et al., 2018). This specification includes a new cointegration feature and conventional ARDL bounds tests, which increases the power of the t- and of the f-test and has several advantages, being more adequate for dynamic models with more than one explanatory variable. Our findings reveal that green innovation and tourism lead to lower environmental damage by reducing CO 2 emissions, similar to foreign investments and that green tech innovation improves the environmental quality via lower carbon emissions. • The study investigates the role of green innovation and tourism on CO2 emissions. • The study applied advanced econometric techniques. • Green innovation and tourism lead to lower environmental damage. • Foreign investments improve the environmental quality. • Green-tech innovation also helps to reduce CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Policies to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can yield public health benefits by also reducing emissions of hazardous co-pollutants, such as air toxics and particulate matter. Socioeconomically disadvantaged communities are typically disproportionately exposed to air pollutants, and therefore climate policy could also potentially reduce these environmental inequities. We sought to explore potential social disparities in GHG and co-pollutant emissions under an existing carbon trading program-the dominant approach to GHG regulation in the US and globally.Methods and Findings: We examined the relationship between multiple measures of neighborhood disadvantage and the location of GHG and co-pollutant emissions from facilities regulated under California's cap-and-trade program-the world's fourth largest operational carbon trading program. We examined temporal patterns in annual average emissions of GHGs, particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, and air toxics before (January 1, 2011-December 31, 2012) and after (January 1, 2013-December 31, 2015) the initiation of carbon trading. We found that facilities regulated under California's cap-and-trade program are disproportionately located in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods with higher proportions of residents of color, and that the quantities of co-pollutant emissions from these facilities were correlated with GHG emissions through time. Moreover, the majority (52%) of regulated facilities reported higher annual average local (in-state) GHG emissions since the initiation of trading. Neighborhoods that experienced increases in annual average GHG and co-pollutant emissions from regulated facilities nearby after trading began had higher proportions of people of color and poor, less educated, and linguistically isolated residents, compared to neighborhoods that experienced decreases in GHGs. These study results reflect preliminary emissions and social equity patterns of the first 3 years of California's cap-and-trade program for which data are available. Due to data limitations, this analysis did not assess the emissions and equity implications of GHG reductions from transportation-related emission sources. Future emission patterns may shift, due to changes in industrial production decisions and policy initiatives that further incentivize local GHG and co-pollutant reductions in disadvantaged communities.Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine social disparities in GHG and co-pollutant emissions under an existing carbon trading program. Our results indicate that, thus far, California's cap-and-trade program has not yielded improvements in environmental equity with respect to health-damaging co-pollutant emissions. This could change, however, as the cap on GHG emissions is gradually lowered in the future. The incorporation of additional policy and regulatory elements that incentivize more local emission reductions in disadvantaged communities could enhance the local air quality and environmental equity benefits of California's climate change mitigation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historic Paris Agreement calls for limiting global temperature rise to "well below 2 °C." Because of uncertainties in emission scenarios, climate, and carbon cycle feedback, we interpret the Paris Agreement in terms of three climate risk categories and bring in considerations of low-probability (5%) highimpact (LPHI) warming in addition to the central (~50% probability) value. The current risk category of dangerous warming is extended to more categories, which are defined by us here as follows: >1.5 °C as dangerous; >3 °C as catastrophic; and >5 °C as unknown, implying beyond catastrophic, including existential threats. With unchecked emissions, the central warming can reach the dangerous level within three decades, with the LPHI warming becoming catastrophic by 2050. We outline a threelever strategy to limit the central warming below the dangerous level and the LPHI below the catastrophic level, both in the near term (<2050) and in the long term (2100): the carbon neutral (CN) lever to achieve zero net emissions of CO2, the super pollutant (SP) lever to mitigate short-lived climate pollutants, and the carbon extraction and sequestration (CES) lever to thin the atmospheric CO2 blanket. Pulling on both CN and SP levers and bending the emissions curve by 2020 can keep the central warming below dangerous levels. To limit the LPHI warming below dangerous levels, the CES lever must be pulled as well to extract as much as 1 trillion tons of CO2 before 2100 to both limit the preindustrial to 2100 cumulative net CO2 emissions to 2.2 trillion tons and bend the warming curve to a cooling trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a study that explains how the Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and optical remote sensing stratification system meets the requirements of forest carbon protocols while improving the accuracy of forest inventory estimates. The study found that the use of ALS and optical remote sensing data can help to locate areas that need the most intensive inventory effort and also help in decreasing the cost of field inventory.

Copyright of Journal of Environmental Engineering & Landscape Management is the property of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The three Kyoto flexible mechanisms-emissions trading, the clean development mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI)-have always been controversial. Proponents saw the mechanisms as clever tools to ensure environmental outcomes were achieved at least cost. Reducing the costs of compliance, they argued, would make righter environmental targets possible, and certainly more politically feasible. Detractors have argued that the flexible mechanisms commoditize Earth's atmosphere in a manner that will allow dubious projects and the exchange of ‘hot air’ to substitute for serious engagement on climate change. This chapter reviews the Kyoto flexible mechanisms, which will become fully operative during the period 2008 to 2012. The review assesses their progress and success to date, examines the problems that have emerged, and considers suggestions for future developments in climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a summary of the conversation among scholars attending the special session on "Responsibility, Opportunity, and Vision for Higher Education in Urban and Regional Carbon Management" at the First International Conference on Carbon Management at Urban and Regional Levels: Connecting Development Decisions to Global Issues in Mexico City Sept. 4-8, 2006. It includes The Declaration for Carbon Management Education, agreed upon by the participants. Obstacles to such a vision were discussed along with exemplar models of transdisciplinary curricula and suggestions for scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution and climate change are closely interlinked, once both share common emission sources, which mainly arise from fuel combustion and industrial processes. Climate mitigation actions bring co-benefits on air quality and human health. However, specific solutions can provide negative trade-offs for one side. The Portuguese Carbon Neutrality Roadmap was developed to assess conceivable cost-effective pathways to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050. Assessing its impacts, on air pollutant emissions, is the main focus of the present work. The bottom-up linear optimization energy system the integrated MARKAL-EFOM system (TIMES) model was selected as a modeling tool for the decarbonization scenarios assessment. The estimation of air pollutant emissions was performed exogenously to the TIMES model. Results show that reaching net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is possible, and technologically feasible, in Portugal, by 2050. The crucial and most cost-effective vector for decarbonizing the national economy is the end-use energy consumption electrification, renewable based, across all end-use sectors. Decarbonization efforts were found to have strong co-benefits for reducing air pollutant emissions in Portugal. Transport and power generation are the sectors with the greatest potential to reduce GHG emissions, providing likewise the most significant reductions of air pollutant emissions. Despite the overall positive effects, there are antagonistic effects, such as the use of biomass, mainly in industry and residential sectors, which translates into increases in particulate matter emissions. This is relevant for medium term projections, since results show that, by 2030, PM2.5 emissions are unlikely to meet the emission reduction commitments set at the European level, if no additional control measures are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]