Determinants of the increased CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emission and adaption strategy in Chinese energy-intensive industry

Climate change has not only brought about many natural hazards but also threaten the sustainable development of industry. This study is to investigate the adaptive implications for energy-intensive industries of China in response to climate change impacts. For this purpose, a deep and comprehensive analysis on the change of CO₂ emission for 6 energy-intensive sectors is explored over the period of 2000–2007. A Log-Mean Divisia Index based on time series is also introduced in our study to identify the key factors toward the change of CO₂ emission. It is shown that there were 146.1 million metric tons carbon increased in energy-intensive industries from 2000 to 2007. And the excessive growth of industrial output and increasingly fossil-intensive energy consumption structure were the main driving forces for the increased CO₂ emission. Nevertheless, energy intensity change and declining emission coefficient of electricity played negative role in the growing trend of CO₂ emission. On the basis of these four determinants (namely industrial output, energy intensity, fuel mix effect, and emission coefficient), it is suggested that both economic motives and technologically feasible approaches should be implemented to control the scale of excessive productions and improve energy efficiency toward the energy-intensive industries. And more importantly, strengthening energy-intensive sectors’ awareness of climate change adaptation should be given stronger emphasis as long-term work with the help of some propaganda campaigns for instance.     

Study on the CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions embodied in the trade of China’s steel industry: based on the input–output model

The impact of trade on the environment and the climate has become a focus of attention. Tending to develop industries with higher added values, developed countries rely on importing high energy consumption goods from developing countries, and however, some CO₂ emissions are embodied in the process of import. Currently, the accounting method of the territorial responsibility used to get the international data of greenhouse gas inventories ignores the difference between domestic consumption and export demands. Thus, developing countries bear the responsibility of pollution emissions from the export. The steel industry is an important basic industry of China’s national economy as well as a vital part in the industrial system. With the expansion of trade scale, the impact of the export and import of China’s steel on CO₂ emissions is growing. This paper studied the embodied CO₂ emissions in the trade of China’s steel from 2005 to 2014, using the input–output model and the trade data of the China’s steel imports and exports. The results indicate that (1) the complete CO₂ emissions of China’s steel industry are high. (2) The increase in the export scale makes the embodied CO₂ emissions in the trade of China’s steel export increase, and (3) China is a net exporter of CO₂ emissions in the steel trade. Especially after 2007, the value of China’s steel exports has been larger than that of China’s steel imports, so China had borne much CO₂ emissions responsibility in the trade of China’s steel. Therefore, this paper puts forward that, in the future, the export structure of goods should be optimized into the high-tech products with the high added value, low energy consumption and low carbon emissions, and meanwhile, service industry is promoted to improve technical support to reduce CO₂ emissions in the steel industry.     

In-use energy and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions impact of a plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicle based on real-world driving

Facilitated by fuel economy, climate legislation and government policy, sales of light-duty plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles are rapidly increasing during the last decade. But their energy and emissions impact have not been fully investigated, particularly accounting for energy and emissions during electricity generation. In this study, we conducted in-use energy consumption and emissions measurements of a plug-in and a battery electric vehicle under real-world city and highway driving conditions. We further compare them with energy consumption and emissions from counterpart conventional vehicles under the same driving conditions, to exclude benefits due to different vehicle specifications. Our results show that both the plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles can achieve about 50% energy benefits compared with their counterpart conventional vehicles, mainly through capturing regenerative energy. But when vehicles are tested in high-speed or high-acceleration driving conditions, the distance-normalized life-cycle CO₂ emissions of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles are higher to their counterpart gasoline powered vehicles. The CO₂ emissions comparison results can vary based on the location and time of electricity generation. Therefore, our results confirm that benefits of promoting electric vehicles should consider temporal and spatial aspects of electricity generation.     

Assessing the technology impact for industry carbon density reduction in China based on C3IAM-Tice

Thermal power, steel, cement, and coal chemical industries account 62.6% energy consumption and 84.6% carbon emissions of China simultaneously in 2015. This research use C³IAM-Tice model to analyze the impact of advanced technologies ratio increasing quantitatively. The model can explore the balance of emission reduction and economy efficiency of energy use, finally got the technology structure optimization for these four industries. The paper uses the historical energy consumption and CO₂ emission, combing with the low-carbon developing goal objection, to create the database for these four energy- and carbon-intensive industries. As the result, the scenario-4, which is the most advanced technology-oriented strategy, shows 282 Mt CO₂ emission reductions for the 2020 Goal. In this scenario, 26.19%, 47.43%, 65.39%, and 28.98% of the CO₂ emissions per unit of added value in thermal power industry, steel industry, cement industry, and coal chemical industry could be reduced comparing with data in 2005. Although the advanced technology-oriented strategy shows the positive impact, we need to consider the cost of elimination of existed technology. On the other hand, the paper notices the future technology, with new energy alternative, low-carbon economy development, and industry restructure together, which are important factors for the low-carbon development of China.

     

Changes in carbon intensity of China’s energy-intensive industries: a combined decomposition and attribution analysis

There has been growing interest among researchers in factors influencing carbon emissions of energy-intensive industries in China due to the important roles they play. Such studies mainly focused on evaluating carbon emissions and identifying the contributing factors separately for each energy-intensive industry. Regarding energy-intensive industries as a whole and investigating the contribution of each industry to changes in carbon intensity have not yet been sufficiently addressed and quantified. In order to deeply understand this issue, this study employed the LMDI decomposition analysis to study driving forces (e.g., emission coefficient, energy intensity, and industrial structure) of carbon intensity of energy-intensive industries. Then, attribution analysis was further used to study the contribution of each energy-intensive industry to the percent change in carbon intensity through each impact factor. The results showed that the carbon intensity of energy-intensive industries dropped by 31.83% from 1996 to 2014. The energy intensity effect was largely responsible for this decrease, of which, five industries were the contributors except for the fuel-processing industry. The industrial structure effect also contributed to the decrease, and non-metallic industry and fuel-processing industry played important roles. However, the emission coefficient effect showed a slight impact on increasing carbon intensity, which principally due to chemical industry and power generation industry. The findings suggested that the adaptability and sensitivity of different energy-intensive industries to the implemented policies were various. Based on the results, differentiated and feasible policies related to energy intensity, industrial structure, and energy structure for energy-intensive industries were provided to further mitigate carbon intensity.     

Decomposing the changes of energy-related carbon emissions in China: evidence from the PDA approach

In order to investigate the main drivers of CO₂ emissions changes in China during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006–2010) and seek the main ways to reduce CO₂ emissions, we decompose the changes of energy-related CO₂ emissions using the production-theoretical decomposition analysis approach. The results indicate that, first, economic growth and energy consumption are the two main drivers of CO₂ emissions increase during the sample period; particularly in the northern coastal, northwest and central regions, where tremendous coal resources are consumed, the driving effect of their energy consumption on CO₂ emissions appears fairly evident. Second, the improvement of carbon abatement technology and the reduction in energy intensity play significant roles in curbing carbon emissions, and comparatively the effect of carbon abatement technology proves more significant. Third, energy use technical efficiency, energy use technology and carbon abatement technical efficiency have only slight influence on CO₂ emissions overall. In the end, we put forward some policy recommendations for China’s government to reduce CO₂ emissions intensity in the future.     

Multi-peril risk assessment for business downtime of industrial facilities

The chemical industry is one of the most important industry sectors in terms of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in China. However, few studies have undertaken accounting of the CO₂ emissions in the chemical industry. In addition, there are some shortcomings in the traditional accounting method as a result of poor data availability, such as the incomplete consideration of emission sources and overestimation of actual emissions. Based on the traditional accounting method and the actual situation of the chemical industry, this study proposes a method called the Emission Accounting Model in the Chemical Industry, which covers fossil energy-related emission, indirect emission generated by electricity and heat, carbonate-related process emission and the reuse of CO₂. In particular, fossil energy used as feedstock is included. By applying the Emission Accounting Model in the Chemical Industry in China, the calculated CO₂ emissions would be 19–30% less than the result from the traditional method. In addition, it is found that the indirect CO₂ emissions generated by electricity and heat account for 67% of the total amount, the fossil energy-related emissions account for approximately 37%, the process-related emissions accounted for 2%, and reuse of CO₂ accounts for ??6% in 2016. The production of ammonia, ethylene and calcium carbide generated approximately half of the total CO₂ emissions in 2016. In addition, in view of emission sources and carbon source flow, two other bottom-up accounting methods are proposed that can take effect when the chemical plant-level data are available.

     

Impact of household expenditures on CO2 emissions in China: Income-determined or lifestyle-driven?

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between household expenditure and CO₂ emissions among different income groups of urban and rural households in China. Having employed the 2007 Social Accounting Matrix of China, this study examines the direct and indirect CO₂ emissions caused by household demand. The results show that within both urban and rural households, the higher the income level is, the higher the per capita emissions are; the CO₂ emissions per unit expenditure due to savings and taxes are generally much larger than those from consumption of goods and services; and these emissions per unit consumption expenditures mainly come from indirect emissions. To deeply explore the relationships between consumption patterns and CO₂ emissions, two scenarios are established to eliminate the differences in income level and consumption propensity among different groups step by step. Main results indicate that (1) the income gap is the primary cause of the significant differences in emission levels among each group; (2) the difference in consumption propensity is also a notable reason; and (3) the rural higher income groups spend a larger share of their income on those carbon-intensive goods (e.g., electricity, transportation, energy products), thus making their consumption patterns more carbon-intensive, while for the urban, the consumption patterns of lower income groups are more carbon-intensive. Finally, policy recommendations on the reduction of household emissions are also made.

     

The effect of directed technical change on carbon dioxide emissions: evidence from China’s industrial sector at the provincial level

Technical change has a pivotal role to play in low-carbon development. Recent research has offered different insights regarding the effect of technical change on CO₂ emissions but ignored the bias of technical changes which lead to changes in CO₂ emissions. To fill the gap, this paper uses the 2008 to 2015 provincial-level data on China’s 22 industrial sub-sectors to investigate both the effect of directed technical change on CO₂ emissions and its heterogeneity. We find that the technical change in most industrial sectors in China was capital-biased, although a labor-biased trend was evident. Labor-biased technical change is conducive to CO₂ reduction, while capital-biased technical change has the opposite effect. Moreover, this effect is different by developmental periods, industries, and regions. Therefore, we propose that the government promotes labor-biased technical change based on the differentiated characteristics.

     

Thermogravimetric and model-free kinetic studies on CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> gasification of low-quality,high-sulphur Indian coals

Coal gasification with CO₂ has emerged as a cleaner and more efficient way for the production of energy, and it offers the advantages of CO₂ mitigation policies through simultaneous CO₂ sequestration. In the present investigation, a feasibility study on the gasification of three low-quality, high-sulphur coals from the north-eastern region (NER) of India in a CO₂ atmosphere using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA-DTA) has been made in order to have a better understanding of the physical and chemical characteristics in the process of gasification of coal. Model-free kinetics was applied to determine the activation energies (E) and pre-exponential factors (A) of the CO₂ gasification process of the coals. Multivariate non-linear regression analyses were performed to find out the formal mechanisms, kinetic model, and the corresponding kinetic triplets. The results revealed that coal gasification with CO₂ mainly occurs in the temperature range of 800^°–1400^°C and a maximum of at around 1100^°C. The reaction mechanisms responsible for CO₂ gasification of the coals were observed to be of the ‘nth order with autocatalysis (CnB)’ and ‘nth order (Fn) mechanism’. The activation energy of the CO₂ gasification was found to be in the range 129.07–146.81 kJ mol^?1.     

The influence of degradation of the swamp and alpine meadows on CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> fluxes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes from a high-cold swamp meadow and an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, subject to different degrees of degradation, were measured over a 12-month period. Air temperature, soil temperature and moisture, and the depths of the water table and thawing-freezing layer were determined. For swamp meadows, the greater the degradation, the lesser the carbon efflux. CH₄ emissions at the nondegraded swamp meadow site were 1.09–3.5 and 2.5–11.27 times greater, and CO₂ emissions 1.08–1.69 and 1.41–4.43 times greater, respectively, than those from moderately and severely degraded sites. For alpine meadows, the greater the degradation, the greater the CH₄ consumption and CO₂ emissions. CH₄ consumption at the severely degraded alpine meadow site was 6.6–21 and 1.1–5.25 times greater, and CO₂ emissions 1.05–78.5 and 1.04–6.28 times greater, respectively, than those from the nondegraded and moderately degraded sites. The CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes at both sites were significantly correlated (R ² > 0.59, P < 0.05) with air temperature, soil temperature, and topsoil (0–5 cm depth) moisture, indicating these to be the main environmental factors affecting such fluxes.     

Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas thermal power plants using life cycle approach

The importance of mitigation of climate change due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various developmental and infrastructure projects has generated interest at global level to reduce environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment may be used as a tool to assess GHG emissions and subsequent environmental impacts resulting from electricity generation from thermal power plants. This study uses life cycle approach for assessing GHG emissions and their impacts due to natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) and imported coal thermal power plants using the IPCC 2001 and Eco-Indicator 99(H) methods in India for the first time. The total GHG emission from the NGCC thermal power plant was 584 g CO₂ eq/kWh electricity generation, whereas in case of imported coal, it was 1,127 g CO₂ eq/kWh electricity generation. This shows that imported coal has nearly ~2 times more impacts when compared to natural gas in terms of global warming potential and human health as disability-adjusted life years from climate change due to GHG emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O).     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> mineralization of natural wollastonite into porous silica and CaCO<Subscript>3</Subscript> powders promoted via membrane electrolysis

CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, whose emissions threaten the existence of human beings. Its inherently safe sequestration can be performed via CO₂ mineralization, which is relatively slow under natural conditions. In this work, an energy-saving membrane electrolysis technique was proposed for accelerating the CO₂ mineralization of wollastonite into SiO₂ and CaCO₃ products. The electrolysis process involved splitting NH₄Cl into HCl and NH₃·H₂O via hydrogen oxidation and water reduction at the anode and cathode of the electrolytic system, respectively. In contrast to the chlor-alkali electrolysis, this method did not involve Cl^? oxidation and the standard potential of the anode was reduced. Additionally, NH₄Cl was used as the electrolyte instead of NaCl; as a result, the generation of NH₃·H₂O instead of NaOH occurred in the catholyte and the cathodic pH dramatically decreased, thus reducing the cathodic potential for hydrogen evolution. The observed changes led to a 73.5% decrease in the energy consumption. Moreover, after the process of CO₂ mineralization was optimized, SiO₂ with a specific surface area of 221.8 m² g^?1 and CaCO₃ with a purity of 99.9% were obtained.     

The nexus between income inequality,economic growth and environmental degradation in Pakistan

This study examines the impact of income inequality and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan using ARDL bounds testing approach for the period 1966–2011. Empirical results for the aggregate CO₂ emissions and its four sources such as CO₂ emissions from solid fuel, liquid fuel and gaseous fuel consumption as well as electricity and heat production confirm the existence of long run co-integrated relationship between income inequality, economic growth and environment degradation. The estimated results indicate that carbon emissions increase as the income gap expands in Pakistan. Besides the negative impact of industrial share and population density on CO₂ emissions, we also confirm that economic growth in Pakistan comes up with higher emissions. Hence, the hypothesis of EKC is not valid for Pakistan during the study period. Our empirical findings are robust as evidenced by dynamic ordinary least squared and the U-tests. Overall, this study suggests that the distribution of income matters to aggregate carbon emissions and focus should be made on sustained economic growth to reduce pollutants and hence CO₂ emission in the study area.     

Physical and chemical characteristics of potential seal strata in regions considered for demonstrating geological saline CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> sequestration

Capture and geological sequestration of CO₂ from energy production is proposed to help mitigate climate change caused by anthropogenic emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. Performance goals set by the US Department of Energy for CO₂ storage permanence include retention of at least 99% of injected CO₂ which requires detailed assessments of each potential storage site’s geologic system, including reservoir(s) and seal(s). The objective of this study was to review relevant basin-wide physical and chemical characteristics of geological seals considered for saline reservoir CO₂ sequestration in the United States. Results showed that the seal strata can exhibit substantial heterogeneity in the composition, structural, and fluid transport characteristics on a basin scale. Analysis of available field and wellbore core data reveal several common inter-basin features of the seals, including the occurrence of quartz, dolomite, illite, calcite, and glauconite minerals along with structural features containing fractures, faults, and salt structures. In certain localities within the examined basins, some seal strata also serve as source rock for oil and gas production and can be subject to salt intrusions. The regional features identified in this study can help guide modeling, laboratory, and field studies needed to assess local seal performances within the examined basins.     

Reduction of environmental pollution through optimization of energy use in cement industries

Industrial development has lead to higher energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases, as well as air pollutants. Cement factories play an important role in over all greenhouse emissions. This study aims to investigate the role of Iranian cement industries and their contribution of greenhouse gases contribution. The measured emission factors for oil and fuel gas shows that carbon dioxide contribution from fuel oil based cement industries is almost 2.7 times higher than gas based cement factories. The strength, weakness, opportunity and threat technique analysis showed that the best strategy to combat greenhouse gases from Iranian cement factory is to implement energy efficiency measures. Further, strategic position and action evaluation matrix analysis indicates that Iranian cement industries fall within invasive category. Therefore, exploitation of opportunities must carefully be used. One of these opportunities is the utilization of financial assistance provided by clean development mechanism. The results show that replacement of ball mills with vertical roller mill can reduce the electricity consumption from 44.6 to 28 kWh/ton. As a result of such substitution about 720 million kWh/y of electricity would be saved (almost a power plant of 125 MW capacities). Though implementation of new mills may not be economic for the cement industries’ owner, but the overall gain for the government of Iran will be about US$ 304 million. If the duration of such efficiency measure is considered as about 12 y, then the overall CO₂ reduction/phase-out would be around 4.3 million tons.     

The Starzach site in Southern Germany: a site with naturally occurring CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions recovering from century-long gas mining as a natural analog for a leaking CCS reservoir

In this paper, we present the Starzach site, a region featuring numerous natural CO₂ emission spots, such as mofettes, that reappeared after a longer period of extensive industrial CO₂ mining. We discuss the results of a detailed literature study on the geological setting and the activities related to the gas mining in combination with own measurements to introduce the site as an example on how gas leakage from an insecure CCS reservoir could manifest at the surface. The site is in particular interesting for such investigations as the CO₂ emissions started to replenish after the end of the CO₂ mining and offers the unique possibility to investigate an increase in degassing activity as it might be expected for an active CCS site where leakage is suspected. Based on the geological setting and soil, gas emission, and isotope investigations, we further discuss the source of the CO₂ emission and the gas ascent to the ground surface via deep-reaching faults, latter being so far excluded by previous work. The combination of our extensive literature review and recent field investigations allowed us to draw new geological conclusions for the site that were under discussion for a long time and to give insight into the site’s potential for CCS-related analog studies in the future.     

Site characterisation of a basin-scale CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> geological storage system: Gippsland Basin,southeast Australia

Geological storage of CO₂ in the offshore Gippsland Basin, Australia, is being investigated by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) as a possible method for storing the very large volumes of CO₂ emissions from the nearby Latrobe Valley area. A storage capacity of about 50 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum for a 40-year injection period is required, which will necessitate several individual storage sites to be used both sequentially and simultaneously, but timed such that existing hydrocarbon assets will not be compromised. Detailed characterisation focussed on the Kingfish Field area as the first site to be potentially used, in the anticipation that this oil field will be depleted within the period 2015–2025. The potential injection targets are the interbedded sandstones of the Paleocene-Eocene upper Latrobe Group, regionally sealed by the Lakes Entrance Formation. The research identified several features to the offshore Gippsland Basin that make it particularly favourable for CO₂ storage. These include: a complex stratigraphic architecture that provides baffles which slow vertical migration and increase residual gas trapping and dissolution; non-reactive reservoir units that have high injectivity; a thin, suitably reactive, lower permeability marginal reservoir just below the regional seal providing mineral trapping; several depleted oil fields that provide storage capacity coupled with a transient production-induced flow regime that enhances containment; and long migration pathways beneath a competent regional seal. This study has shown that the Gippsland Basin has sufficient capacity to store very large volumes of CO₂. It may provide a solution to the problem of substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions from future coal developments in the Latrobe Valley.     

An integrated analysis of air pollution from US coal-fired power plants

The United States is one of the world's leaders in electricity production, generating about 4116 billion kWh in 2021, of which coal accounted for 21.8% of the total. This study applies an integrated approach using both terrestrial and satellite data to specifically examine emissions from coal-fired power plants and its spatial extent. The study also highlights the effectiveness of government policies to reduce emissions. It was found that emission of pollutants from the country's energy sector has been steadily declining, with annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) decreasing from the US electric power sector between 1990 and 2020 by 93.4% and 84.8%, respectively, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) by 37% between 2007 and 2020. Although overall emissions from coal-fired power plants are declining, some individual plants have yet to install environmental equipment to control emissions. According to US government data, major emitters of SO₂, NO_x, and CO₂ in the US are the Martin Lake power plant in East Texas, the Labadie power plant near St. Louis, Missouri, and the James H Miller Jr plant near Birmingham, Alabama. This study also integrates TROPOMI satellite data to detect point emissions from individual power plants. While the highest levels of measured pollutants were over the country's major cities and areas of fossil fuel extraction, TROPOMI could clearly distinguish the pollution caused by power plants in more rural areas. Although the US has made great strides in reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants, these plants still represent a major source of pollution and remain a major concern. Totally eliminating coal as a power source will be difficult with the higher power demands resulting from the transition to electric automobiles.     

Serviceability-related reliability for mainshock-damaged reinforced concrete piers considering the aftershock-induced seismic hazards

To investigate the impact of carbon emission reduction paths on energy demand and CO₂ emissions in China, in this study, quantitative carbon emission reduction paths in the period 2014–2020 are established by decomposing the target for emissions reduction. An optimization model of energy demand, into which reduction paths are incorporated, is then constructed from a goal-oriented perspective. The results suggest that energy consumption varies under different emission reduction paths. Coal demand is found to be much more sensitive to the choice of emission reduction path than other forms of energy; in particular, it responds strongly to the decreasing reduction path. We conclude that the decreasing reduction path is a better means than the increasing reduction path of achieving China’s emission reduction target for 2020 with the least amount of energy and the least amount of CO₂ emissions.