Assessing the number of users who are excluded by domestic heating controls

IntroductionPopulation expansion and economic development increased global greenhouse gas emissions, leading to serious environmental degradation. China, the world's largest developing country and promoter of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), accounts for 28.8% of the world"s total energy carbon emissions. How to reduce energy consumption to achieve the “double carbon” target (i.e., carbon peaking and carbon neutrality) and promote the implementation of Green BRI is still a serious challenge that China needs to face. MethodsWe evaluated China's carbon emissions using three indicators (i.e., total carbon emission, carbon intensity, and carbon emissions effect), and used spatial analysis to reveal the spatial and temporal trends of China's carbon emissions. In addition, the LMDI model was adopted to explore the driving mechanism of carbon emissions, so as to seek a path that can achieve harmonious economic and environmental development, as well as the “double carbon” target.ResultsChina's total carbon emission increased at a rate of 226.12% from 2000 to 2019, while the carbon intensity decreased at a rate of 48.84%. Carbon emission showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing from southwest to northeast. From 2000 to 2019, the total carbon emission, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population size and total energy consumption are growing in synergy. Economic and population effects are positively related to carbon emissions, while technology effects are negatively related to it, indicating technological innovations contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions.DiscussionSome suggestions were proposed to control carbon emissions with a view to helping policy makers to formulate relevant policies. The findings provide a scientific basis and reference for the country to achieve the “double carbon” target and the low-carbon sustainable development of BRI.

How does new-type urbanization affect total carbon emissions, per capita carbon emissions, and carbon emission intensity? An empirical analysis of the Yangtze River economic belt, China

The Government has set an ambitious target to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 80% by year 2050. To meet these targets, action is needed in the residential sector with 27% of the UK's CO2 emissions coming from energy use in homes. While working towards zero-carbon new homes, refurbishment of the existing housing stock to advanced, low-carbon standards is essential. In this process the involvement of all stakeholders and behavioural change of occupants to low-carbon life styles are primary factors. This paper presents the findings of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Public Engagement project (2009–2010) carried out to promote low-carbon home adaptations and behaviour change among the elderly. A number of engagement events were held to increase the awareness of environmental upgrading of homes, energy-efficiency measures, financial support available and low-carbon life styles. A feedback process collected information on sustainable actions taken by the attendees 3–6 months after the initial events. A coding method was designed to analyse the questionnaire responses. The results illustrated that many had made changes in their lives since attending the events, are planning to change or have encouraged someone else they know to make a change in their lives to be more sustainable.

Editorial and News

The demolition or refurbishment of older housing has been an active policy area since the late 1880s in the UK, when the government first authorised the statutory demolition of unsanitary slums. The debate on demolition and new building has been intensified since 2003, with government proposals for large-scale clearance and new construction. This paper summarises the evidence and debate on whether demolition would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. It examines whether a more achievable and socially beneficial route to reducing energy use in the built environment exists, based on the fact that buildings account for half of the UK's carbon emissions. This paper argues that large-scale and accelerated demolition would neither help with meeting energy and climate change targets, nor would it address social needs. Refurbishment offers clear advantages in time, cost, community impact, prevention of building sprawl, reuse of existing infrastructure and protection of existing communities. It can also lead to significantly reduced energy use in buildings in both the short and long term.

Buildings contribute a significant proportion of the UK's carbon emissions and play a key role in achieving net zero emissions targets. This POSTbrief explores the emissions associated with buildings, from design to end of life, and presents an overview of the opportunities for reducing their carbon impact.

Domestic energy consumption contributes to over a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions, understanding how it is driven can be helpful for delivering a fair energy transition to net zero. Energy usage is noted as a spatial phenomenon, however, the spatial variability of how it is driven is rarely considered in existing UK studies. To contribute to this research gap, this study examines the spatial variations in the relationship between domestic energy consumption and its driving factors using the local spatial statistical modelling technique multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). With explanatory variables on dwelling and household characteristics, this study analyses data at Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) level on the study area, Nottingham, a somewhat socio-economically deprived city that also has the UK's largest district heating (DH) system supplying low-carbon residential heating. The study reveals domestic energy consumption is driven by factors at different spatial scales with spatially varied or even spatially heterogeneous patterns. Specifically, higher domestic energy consumption is affected differently across local areas by larger percentages of dwellings with 4 or more bedrooms, unemployment, terraced dwellings, whilst by smaller percentages of social-rented housing tenures and central heating type of district heating. The impacts of dwelling energy efficiency, median household income, percentage of households with 3 or more people, fuel poverty, and central heating with renewable energy, vary across different local areas. Therefore, while there are identifiable relationships between these factors and domestic energy consumption, they differ by locality, and aggregated level analysis may fail to accurately to capture these patterns. Nuanced local patterns of how domestic energy consumption is driven suggest placed-based approaches and more local deliberation to devise policies may be more suitable than "one-size-fit-all" policy plans to achieve the envisioned outcomes of rapid and fair domestic energy decarbonisation and just energy transition to net zero.

The generation of electricity from renewable sources of energy is a centre plank in the government's strategy to reduce the UK's carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This paper considers many of the available generation technologies associated with renewable energy and their differences compared to conventional generation. Finally it considers some of the new network solutions available to allow these technologies to connect to networks in a technically acceptable and cost effective manner.

Regulatory frameworks for decentralised energy

Each loaf of bread produces half a kilo of CO2

In the context of global warming, agriculture, as the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after industry, had attracted widespread attention from all walks of life to reduce agricultural emissions. The carbon footprint of the planting production system of the Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Area (HLRA), an important commodity grain base in China, was evaluated and analyzed in this paper. On this basis, this paper sought feasible strategies to reduce carbon emissions from two aspects: agronomic practices and cropping structure adjustment, which were particularly crucial to promote the low-carbon and sustainable development of agriculture in HLRA. Therefore, using the accounting methods in IPCC and Low Carbon Development and Guidelines for the Preparation of Provincial Greenhouse Gas Inventories compiled by the Chinese government, relevant data were collected from 2000 to 2017 in HLRA and accounted for the carbon emissions of the planting production system in four aspects: carbon emissions from agricultural inputs, N2O emissions from managed soils, CH4 emissions from rice cultivation and straw burning emissions. Then carbon uptake consisted of seeds and straws. Finally, with farmers' incomes were set as the objective function and carbon emissions per unit of gross production value was set as the constraint, this paper simulated and optimized the cropping structure in HLRA. The results showed that there was a “stable-growing-declining” trend in the total carbon emissions and carbon uptake of the planting production system in HLRA, with total carbon emissions of 2.84×1010 kg and total carbon uptake of 7.49×1010 kg in 2017. In the past 18 years, carbon emissions per unit area and carbon emissions per unit of gross production had both shown a decreasing trend. To achieve further efficiency gains and emission reductions in the planting production system, it was recommended that the local governments strengthen the comprehensive use of straw resources, optimize irrigation and fertilization techniques, and adjust the cropping structure, i.e., increase the planting area of maize and soybeans and reduce the planting area of rice, and increase subsidies to protect the economic returns of planters. Keywords: carbon footprint, carbon emissions, carbon uptake, crop planting structure, Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Area DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221501.5588 Citation: Chu T S, Yu L, Wang D R, Yang Z L. Carbon footprint of crop production in Heilongjiang land reclamation area, China. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(1): 182–191.

Effectively exploring the impacts of urban spatial structures on carbon dioxide emissions is important for achieving low-carbon goals. However, most previous studies have examined the impact of urban spatial structure on total carbon emissions based only on polycentricity. Fine-grained studies on subsectoral carbon emissions and other dimensions of urban spatial structure are lacking. Therefore, our study comprehensively explores the impact of urban dispersion and polycentricity on total carbon emissions and carbon emissions of four subsectors (industry, power, civilian, and transportation) from 2012 to 2017 while considering the effects of city size. Results reveal that the nighttime light data is useful for measuring urban spatial structure, and a polycentric, decentralized urban spatial structure correlates with the reduced total carbon emissions and transportation carbon emissions. Meanwhile, a decentralized urban spatial structure gives rise to lower industrial carbon emissions and civilian carbon emissions, whereas a multicenter urban spatial structure contributes to minimizing carbon emissions from power systems. However, in small and medium-sized cities, urban spatial structure differently affects the total carbon and transportation carbon emissions.

Household carbon emissions are important components of total carbon emissions. The consumer side of energy-saving emissions reduction is an essential factor in reducing carbon emissions. In this paper, the carbon emissions coefficient method and Consumer Lifestyle Approach (CLA) were used to calculate the total carbon emissions of households in 30 provinces of China from 2006 to 2015, and based on the extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model, the factors influencing the total carbon emissions of households were analyzed. The results indicated that, first, over the past ten years, the energy and products carbon emissions from China’s households have demonstrated a rapid growth trend and that regional distributions present obvious differences. Second, China’s energy carbon emissions due to household consumption primarily derived from the residents’ consumption of electricity and coal; China’s products household carbon emissions primarily derived from residents’ consumption of the high carbon emission categories: residences, food, transportation and communications. Third, in terms of influencing factors, the number of households in China plays a significant role in the total carbon emissions of China’s households. The ratio of children 0–14 years old and gender ratio (female = 100) are two factors that reflect the demographic structure, have significant effects on the total carbon emissions of China’s households, and are all positive. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita plays a role in boosting the total carbon emissions of China’s households. The effect of the carbon emission intensity on total household carbon emissions is positive. The industrial structure (the proportion of secondary industries’ added value to the regional GDP) has curbed the growth of total carbon emissions from China’s household consumption. The results of this study provide data to support the assessment of the total carbon emissions of China’s households and provide a reasonable reference that the government can use to formulate energy-saving and emission-reduction measures.

July 01 2013 Design Without Discipline Craig Bremner, Craig Bremner Craig Bremner is Professor of Design at Charles Sturt University. Prior to this, he held the positions of Professor in Design Pedagogy at Northumbria University and Professor of Design at the University of Canberra, where he had also been Dean of the Faculty of Design & Architecture. His research deals with developing methods to discover how and why we don't know much about the experience of design, as well as finding ways to clarify the reason why not knowing is an essential and valuable beginning point of our practice. Some applications of his research methods traced the experience of living in Glasgow, using banks, and driving motorcars, and he has curated design exhibitions that have toured Australia, USA, and Japan. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers is Professor of Design Issues at Northumbria University, UK. He has had a distinguished and extensive career in design research. Prior to joining Northumbria University in 2009, he was Reader in Design at Edinburgh Napier University (1999–2009) and a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Engineering Design Centre (1996–1999). He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Design from Middlesex University and a PhD in Product Design from the University of Westminster. He has over 20 years of experience in product design research and has led several research projects for Research Councils in the UK and design projects funded by the Scottish Government and The Lighthouse (Scotland's National Centre for Architecture, Design, and the City). He has published more than 130 papers in book chapters, journals, and conferences. Rodgers sits on the Editorial Board of Design Studies and Design Creativity and Innovation. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Craig Bremner Craig Bremner is Professor of Design at Charles Sturt University. Prior to this, he held the positions of Professor in Design Pedagogy at Northumbria University and Professor of Design at the University of Canberra, where he had also been Dean of the Faculty of Design & Architecture. His research deals with developing methods to discover how and why we don't know much about the experience of design, as well as finding ways to clarify the reason why not knowing is an essential and valuable beginning point of our practice. Some applications of his research methods traced the experience of living in Glasgow, using banks, and driving motorcars, and he has curated design exhibitions that have toured Australia, USA, and Japan. Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers is Professor of Design Issues at Northumbria University, UK. He has had a distinguished and extensive career in design research. Prior to joining Northumbria University in 2009, he was Reader in Design at Edinburgh Napier University (1999–2009) and a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Engineering Design Centre (1996–1999). He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Design from Middlesex University and a PhD in Product Design from the University of Westminster. He has over 20 years of experience in product design research and has led several research projects for Research Councils in the UK and design projects funded by the Scottish Government and The Lighthouse (Scotland's National Centre for Architecture, Design, and the City). He has published more than 130 papers in book chapters, journals, and conferences. Rodgers sits on the Editorial Board of Design Studies and Design Creativity and Innovation. Online Issn: 1531-4790 Print Issn: 0747-9360 © 2013 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2013 Design Issues (2013) 29 (3): 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00217 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share MailTo Twitter LinkedIn Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Craig Bremner, Paul Rodgers; Design Without Discipline. Design Issues 2013; 29 (3): 4–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00217 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsDesign Issues Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2013 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2013 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

This paper focuses on novel interdisciplinary design methodologies between architecture and aerospace engineering in support of drastic required changes for the construction of genuinely resilient and sustainable buildings. Current design and construction methods are rarely truly interdisciplinary; driven by successive development stages as opposed to holistic system views capable of integrating valuable feedback loops into the design process and whole life cycle stages of a building. We address these deficiencies by integrating two methods that have been successfully tested independently. Firstly, the “Virtual Design Studio” (VDS) approach that focuses on holistic architectural design processes, initially funded by the US Department of Energy at Syracuse University and the New York State Center of Excellence for Energy and Environmental Systems. Secondly, the Value Assessment (VA) methodology supported by Visual Analytics in aerospace engineering design cycles, initially funded by the European Commission FP7 through the TOICA project and currently funded by Innovate UK through the APROCONE project, and developed by the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge.