Household dependence on solid cooking fuels in Peru: An analysis of environmental and socioeconomic conditions

Solid fuel use is linked with adverse effects on the environment and human health. Yet, solid fuels remain an important energy source for households in developing countries. Even when country-level dependence on solid fuels is modest, there is often significant variation in within-country patterns of solid fuel use. This study examines a range of environmental and socioeconomic conditions to understand the relationship between them and household energy use within a country. While our results are derived from a study of regional patterns of solid fuel dependence in Peru, the contribution of this study is broad: variables that we include in our models of households’ fuel choice decisions are likely to shape such decisions in most developing countries. Our findings indicate that environmental conditions, such as elevation and forest cover, are associated with solid fuel use. Socioeconomic factors, including urbanization, poverty and female literacy, are similarly important. In addition, we identify nuanced links between types of female employment and indigenous population, on the one hand, and solid fuel use, on the other.     

Assessing New England's waterborne energy imports (1995–2004)

This paper tests four hypotheses relating to the waterborne commerce of New England's imported energy, by port of entry, from 1995 through 2004. It concludes that the region's ports engaged in this fossil fuel traffic are part of a hierarchical system of large, medium, and small ports; that such energy flows have increased over the study period; that localized demand for energy is the principal component leading to growth; and that regional inter-port competition was not stable.     

Terrestrial laser scanning to estimate plot-level forest canopy fuel properties

This paper evaluates the potential of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) to characterize forest canopy fuel characteristics at plot level. Several canopy properties, namely canopy height, canopy cover, canopy base height and fuel strata gap were estimated. Different approaches were tested to avoid the effect of canopy shadowing on canopy height estimation caused by deployment of the TLS below the canopy. Estimation of canopy height using a grid approach provided a coefficient of determination of R² = 0.81 and an RMSE of 2.47 m. A similar RMSE was obtained using the 99th percentile of the height distribution of the highest points, representing the 1% of the data, although the coefficient of determination was lower (R² = 0.70). Canopy cover (CC) was estimated as a function of the occupied cells of a grid superimposed upon the TLS point clouds. It was found that CC estimates were dependent on the cell size selected, with 3 cm being the optimum resolution for this study. The effect of the zenith view angle on CC estimates was also analyzed. A simple method was developed to estimate canopy base height from the vegetation vertical profiles derived from an occupied/non-occupied voxels approach. Canopy base height was estimated with an RMSE of 3.09 m and an R² = 0.86. Terrestrial laser scanning also provides a unique opportunity to estimate the fuel strata gap (FSG), which has not been previously derived from remotely sensed data. The FSG was also derived from the vegetation vertical profile with an RMSE of 1.53 m and an R² = 0.87.     

Swimming upstream: addressing fossil fuel supply under the UNFCCC

Reducing fossil fuel supply is necessary to meet the Paris Agreement goal to keep warming ‘well below 2°C’, yet the Agreement is silent on the topic of fossil fuels. This article outlines reasons why it is important that Parties to the Agreement find ways to more explicitly address the phasing out of fossil fuel production under the UNFCCC. It describes how countries aiming to keep fossil fuel supply in line with Paris goals could articulate and report their actions within the current architecture of the Agreement. It also outlines specific mechanisms of the Paris Agreement through which issues related to the curtailment of fossil fuel supply can be addressed. Mapping out a transition away from fossil fuels – and facilitating this transition under the auspices of the UNFCCC process – can enhance the ambition and effectiveness of national and international climate mitigation efforts.

Key policy insights

• The international commitment to limit global average temperature increases to ‘well below 2°C’ provides a strong rationale for Parties to the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC to pursue a phase-down in fossil fuel production, not just consumption.

• Several countries have already made commitments to address fossil fuel supply, by agreeing to phase down coal or oil exploration and production.

• Integrating these commitments into the UNFCCC process would link them to global climate goals, and ensure they form part of a broader global effort to transition away from fossil fuels.

• The Paris Agreement provides a number of new opportunities for Parties to address fossil fuel production.

     

Solid state C NMR studies of selected oil shales from Queensland, Australia

Solid state ¹³C NMR techniques of cross polarization with magic-angle spinning, and interrupted decoupling have been employed to examine the nature of the organic matter in eight kerogen concentrates representing five Tertiary deposits in Queensland, Australia. The NMR results show that five of the kerogens have high proportions of aliphatic carbon in their organic matter and correspond to Type I–II algal kerogens. Three of the kerogens, derived from carbonaceous shales, have a high proportion of aromatic carbon in their organic matter and correspond to Type III kerogens. The fractions of aliphatic carbon in all the kerogens, regardless of type, are shown to correlate with the conversion characteristics of the corresponding raw shales during Fischer assay. Interrupted decoupling NMR results show the presence of more oxygen-substituted carbon in the carbonaceous shales, which may account for the greater CO₂ evolution and phenolic materials found in the pyrolysis products of the carbonaceous shales.     

Renewable energy policies and household solid fuel dependence

What effects do domestic and international policies have on household solid fuel consumption? Previous studies analyze some of the policies that national governments and international organizations have implemented to reduce solid fuel dependence, but these studies tend to examine one policy and/or one country at a time. In contrast, this article seeks to provide a more systematic analysis of whether and to what extent domestic and international policies can encourage transition to less polluting fuels. Using data on the proportion of population using solid cooking fuels, and domestic and international programs promoting renewable energy, we evaluate the association between renewable energy policies and household solid fuel dependence. Our statistical tests show that such policies, regardless of their domestic or international origins, matter in explaining the level of solid fuel dependence. As the number of domestic policies increases, the share of population using solid fuels tends to decline. International efforts to promote renewable energy are also linked to reduced solid fuel dependence in countries where such international programs are implemented.     

GHG emission estimates for road transport in national GHG inventories

The annual reporting procedures of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have now produced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories from 40 so-called Annex I countries for 18 years. This article analyses a subset of these data: emissions from road transport. The article compares the reported data with the technical guidance on GHG emission inventories provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The analysis suggests that some countries use the IPCC's default emission factors, whereas other countries use country-specific values. In the case of diesel-fuelled road transport, the estimated emissions appear to be generally comparable between all countries for all years. For CO₂ emissions from gasoline-fuelled road transport, the picture is less clear. The results suggest that the default emission factor for CO₂ from motor gasoline as provided by the IPCC is about 3–5% too low. Countries that seem to apply this default value might therefore underestimate their emissions by the same percentage. The effect of this possible underestimate on trends is, however, very small. Despite the possible problem with the default emission factor, the quantification of the trend in emissions is only slightly influenced by this.     

Institutional interaction to address greenhouse gas emissions from international transport: ICAO,IMO and the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract

In response to Article 2.2 of the Kyoto Protocol, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have begun to consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international aviation and shipping. However, neither ICAO nor IMO have taken any effective action on the issue yet and progress can be characterised as slow. The lack of action has so far not been made up for by measures within the climate change regime or by individual countries. An important motivation for the efforts of ICAO and IMO so far has been the potential regulatory competition with the climate change regime. However, given the lack of political will to act on the issue within the latter, this motivation has not been very forceful. Against this backdrop, I argue that there are in particular three options for furthering progress within ICAO and IMO, namely (1) enhancing the threat of regulation of GHG emissions from international transport under the climate change regime; (2) undertaking unilateral domestic action by various countries (in particular the EU); and (3) furthering a learning process within ICAO and IMO. Furthermore, a closer coordination of efforts under ICAO, IMO and the climate change regime could facilitate and accelerate progress.     

IPCC AR6报告解读:强化技术和管理创新的交通运输部门减碳路径北大核心CSCD

IPCC第六次评估报告第三工作组报告交通运输章评估了该行业温室气体的减缓措施和转型路径。1990年以来,全球交通运输部门温室气体排放量一直增长,2019年已经成为全球第四大排放源,仅次于电力、工业以及农业、林业和其他土地利用(AFOLU)部门,其增长速度超过其他最终用途行业。报告强调了交通减排的重要性,主要的减排措施包括三方面:首先是减少需求,其次是对陆路交通部门进行脱碳,再次是对重型的水运和航空运输等进行脱碳。评估的多种燃料和动力技术处于不同的商业化水平,它们未来应用时间节点和规模各有不同。对于陆路交通来说,需要继续推进电气化;对于水运和航空来说需要进一步应用低碳技术,并优化国际管理机制;从中长期来看,所有部门都需要强调运输服务需求管理和运输效率的提升。情景相关的文献评述分析表明,全球温升目标要求全经济部门采取减排措施,特别是交通电气化的减排潜力在很大程度上取决于电力部门的脱碳。如果不采取减缓措施,交通运输部门排放在2050年可能增长65%(相对2010年);如果成功实施减缓战略,该部门的排放量将减少68%,这也与全球1.5℃温升目标要求相一致。关于这些减缓措施的分析和判断,对我国交通运输部门实现碳中和与碳达峰具有重要的参考意义。     

Comprehensive Combustion Performances of Water Hyacinth and Pistia stratiotes Pellet Fuels

For efficient combustion of aquatic biomass, the effects of heating rate on the combustion and dynamic characteristics of two typical aquatic species (water hyacinth, Pistia stratiotes), and the effects of temperature and additives on ash K and Cl concentrations are studied. The two types of pellets have ignition temperatures of 252.7 and 250.3 °C, respectively. At a heating rate of 10 °C min⁻¹, where combustion is most stable, the comprehensive combustion efficiencies reach their maximum at 4.7 × 10⁻⁶ and 2.2 × 10⁻⁶ mg²min⁻¹°C⁻², respectively. The K and Cl concentrations in the ash decrease steadily with increasing temperature, falling to 10.3% and 0.41% for water hyacinth and 11.1% and 1.85% for P. stratiotes, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD)shows that abundant Ca minerals form in the ash after the addition of CaO, which inhibit KCl formation, and K and Al silicates form in the ash after the addition of kaoline, which reserve K in the ash. These findings provide a starting point for the development of efficient aquatic biomass combustion.