Reduction of carbon dioxide emission to methanol: economic and environmental study

Air pollution impacts economic activity, and economic activity creates air pollution. Understanding this endogenous nexus is critical as any policy designed to affect one will inevitably affect the other. My research explores both sides of this nexus. Specifically, I identify the economic effects from the implementation of an international climate agreement (the Kyoto Protocol); I determine the impact of air pollution on physical productivity and determine which pollutants are responsible for this effect; and I link urban form to vehicular emissions via the structure of road networks. The first chapter of this dissertation studies the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on the cement manufacturing industry. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement signed in 1997 to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and mitigate the consequences of global climate change. Early studies of the effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol have attributed it to approximately a 7-10\% reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions compared to a ``business as usual'' outcome. Given the carbon intensity of cement manufacturing, I examine the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on cement manufacturing output and carbon dioxide emissions. Using an instrumental variables difference-in-differences approach, I find that nations with binding emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol saw a 5\% reduction in both cement manufacturing and carbon dioxide emissions from cement manufacturing compared to other nations. Based on the relative magnitude of these effects, it appears that the Kyoto Protocol may have led to technological innovation in cement manufacturing. Using data on carbon intensities for cement manufacturing, I support this notion and find further evidence that it fostered diffusion of existing, cleaner technologies from relatively more developed nations during the first phase, and technical innovation by these nations during the second phase. By examining the effect on net cement imports, I do not find evidence that the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions resulted in carbon leakage. Using estimates of the social cost of carbon from the economics literature and the results from this paper, back of the envelope calculations suggest that the Kyoto Protocol had an economic gain of \$7.4 billion from the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from cement manufacturing alone. The second chapter of this dissertation studies the impact of air pollution on ultramarathon performance. Air pollution is known to lower worker productivity in myriad settings. However, causal inference studies using reliable air pollution data to study the effect of air pollution on physical productivity in

Assessment of the energy utilization and carbon dioxide emission reduction potential of the microbial fertilizers. A case study on “farm-to-fork” production chain of Turkish desserts and confections

Economic, environmental, and technical gains from the Kyoto Protocol: Evidence from cement manufacturing

Online shopping habits and the potential for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from passenger transport

This study aims to evaluate measures for the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from automobile traffic in the 23-ward district of Tokyo (central Tokyo), Japan, using the methods of spatial analysis by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis. All of the measures to prevent global warming in Japan were first investigated to extract nine measures to reduce CO2 emissions and then classified into the three groups. Secondly, using the GIS functions for database creation and information analysis, a digital map databases reflecting the real situation of automobile traffic in the study area was created. Using this database, the reduction of CO2 emissions was calculated before and after the implementation of the above nine measures (2005 and 2011) in each road unit. Furthermore, in order to evaluate these measures, the situation of the reduction of CO2 emissions was visualized in each road unit on the digital maps using GIS, and the CO2 emissions before and after the implementation effects of the above nine measures were grasped by t-tests using R language. Based on the evaluation results, it was clear that CO2 emissions are the highest on the main roads in the city center, while the roads with a high reduction of CO2 emissions differed according to each measure. It was also found that all the above nine measures were effective, except for the promotion of eco-drive for small-size automobile. This is because, in the case of small-size automobiles, the diffusion rate of eco-drive did not increase greatly, the reduction effect of CO2 emission was small, and the reduction of CO2 emissions by fuel consumption was low.

Accurate energy system modelling of chemical separations is a critical component of technology selection to minimize operating costs, energy consumption and emissions. Here we report a hybrid modelling approach based on data-driven and mechanistic models to holistically compare chemical separation performance. Our model can be used to select the most suitable technology for a given chemical separation, such as membrane separation, evaporation, extraction or hybrid configurations, by training a machine learning model to predict solute rejection using an open-access membrane dataset. We estimated an average 40% reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for industrially relevant separations using our methodology. We predicted and analysed 7.1 million solute rejections across several industrial sectors. Pharmaceutical purification could realize carbon dioxide emissions reductions of up to 90% by selecting the most efficient technology. We mapped the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and the reduction in operating costs globally, establishing parameter thresholds to facilitate corporate and governmental decision-making.

In Rwanda, farmers in agriculture field are facing a lot of challenges especially pouring water in their field to keep their plants healthy. For combating with these challenges, an automatic irrigation system can be used. This is possible by using soil moisture sensors, Programmable Logic Controller, motor pumps and solenoid valves. Diesel pumping systems are mostly used in irrigation because most of the agriculture lands are located in areas where there is no electricity. In this paper the use of solar PV systems in agriculture irrigation as solution of reduction of carbon dioxide emissions (CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ) in Rwanda is presented. Simulation with Hybrid optimization Model for Electric Renewables tool (HOMER) at Kigina site, Rweru sector, in Bugesera district shows that the diesel water pumping system emit a big amount of gases as it is found that emission of gases is 231,119kg/year for carbon dioxide (CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ), 1,443kg/year for carbon monoxide (CO), 63.6kg/year for unburned hydrocarbons, 8.65kg/year for particular matter, 566kg/year sulfur dioxide (SO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> ) and 1,356kg/year nitrogen oxide ($\mathrm{NO}_{\mathrm{x}}$) but for the solar PV systems no emission of those gazes. The benefit of using solar powered irrigation system is also demonstrated in terms of cost in this paper.

We discuss the current status of waste to power generation (WPG) in Japan and various scenarios involving indirect reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by WPG. The number of WPG facilities domestically as of 2005 was 286. Power generation capacity attained 1,515 MW and power generation 7,050 GWh/year. This amount substitutes energy otherwise acquired from natural resources such as fossil fuels in thermal power plants. If the basic unit of carbon dioxide is 0.555 kg-CO2/kWh, then the corresponding carbon dioxide emission reduction is calculated to be 3.9 million tons, equivalent to 26.7% of the 14.6 million tons emitted by municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI) in 2005. Using various existing technological options, the power generation efficiency could reach more than 20% in MSWI facilities with capacity of 300 tons/day, although present efficiency is only 12.0%. If about 85% of MSW were incinerated in MSWI with power generation efficiency of 20% as a feasible assumption, the total power generation and the corresponding carbon dioxide reduction would be 16,540 GWh/year and 9.18 million tons, respectively, equivalent to 62.7% of the carbon dioxide emitted by MSWI. Also, the ratio of the additional reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by WPG to the total additional reduction (20,000 ktons/year) in Japan during the first commitment period would be 26.3%, suggesting that promotion of WPG in MSWI is an effective option for prevention of global warming.

Carbon dioxide emission reduction using molten carbonate fuel cell systems

This study aims to investigate the effect of using different roofing materials in office building on rainwater harvesting system annual energy savings and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction which relates to the payback period. This paper includes modelling of different rain water harvesting concrete tank sizes for an office building which is used to supply water for toilet flushing and irrigation purposes. It is found that the optimized roof material for the catchment area is slate tiles with a 0.9 run-off coefficient. A total of 2870 MJ of energy can be saved and 830 kg of CO2 can be reduced annually with a payback period of 20 years, using a 32 m3 concrete tank.

Review on solar cooker systems: Economic and environmental study for different Lebanese scenarios

This work considers the potential reduction in the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the operation of Air Source Heat Pump which could be achieved by using demand side management. In order to achieve significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, it is widely envisioned that electrification of the heating sector will need to be combined with decarbonisation of the electrical supply. By influencing the times at when electric heat pumps operate such that they coincide more with electricity generation which has a low marginal carbon emissions factor, it has been suggested that these emissions could be reduced further. In order to investigate this possibility, models of the UK electrical grid based on scenarios for 2020 to 2050 have been combined with a dynamic model of an air source heat pump unit and thermal models of a population of dwellings. The performance and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the heat pumps are compared both with and without demand side management interventions intended to give preference to operation when the marginal emissions factor of the electricity being generated is low. It is found that these interventions are unlikely to be effective at achieving further reductions in emissions. A reduction of around 3% was observed in scenarios based around 2035 but in other scenarios the reduction was insignificant. In the scenarios with high wind generation (2050), the DSM scheme considered here tends to improve thermal comfort (with minimal increases in emissions) rather than achieving a decrease in emissions. The reasons for this are discussed and further recommendations are made.

Professor Lord Hunt, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to open this important scientific meeting on the impacts of climate change on urban areas. As you know, the overwhelming majority of scientific opinion supports the view that human activities are changing the Earth's climate. There really

Integrated Network Transport Simulator to Evaluate Transport Policy for Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emission

Dredging projects use large amounts of fuel, which leads to substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Until now, reducing the carbon footprint of dredging projects has mainly involved investigating the possibilities of dredging schemes and vessels that are more fuel efficient. A reduction in the order of 10–20% may be within reach, most of it is a win–win situation since fuel reduction will also reduce costs. A further reduction in carbon dioxide emissions may be possible on a project-by-project basis but will involve a trade-off between dredging costs and carbon dioxide emissions. Marine engineering projects also have an impact on primary production and formation of organic carbon and on sedimentation processes and burial of organic carbon in sediments. Both impacts influence carbon sequestration and can be a substantial or even overriding factor in the ‘carbon footprint’ of a project. The carbon footprint of a marine engineering project is often larger and more complex than previously anticipated. However, a more comprehensive carbon footprint also shows that a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is possible when the designs and dredging and maintenance schemes stimulate sequestration of organic carbon in the wider environment.