Carbon Emission Regulations Research Articles

Mean Field Models to Regulate Carbon Emissions in Electricity Production.

The most serious threat to ecosystems is the global climate change fueled by the uncontrolled increase in carbon emissions. In this project, we use mean field control and mean field game models to analyze and inform the decisions of electricity producers on how much renewable sources of production ought to be used in the presence of a carbon tax. The trade-off between higher revenues from production and the negative externality of carbon emissions is quantified for each producer who needs to balance in real time reliance on reliable but polluting (fossil fuel) thermal power stations versus investing in and depending upon clean production from uncertain wind and solar technologies. We compare the impacts of these decisions in two different scenarios: (1) the producers are competitive and hopefully reach a Nash equilibrium; (2) they cooperate and reach a social optimum. In the model, the producers have both time dependent and independent controls. We first propose nonstandard forward–backward stochastic differential equation systems that characterize the Nash equilibrium and the social optimum. Then, we prove that both problems have a unique solution using these equations. We then illustrate with numerical experiments the producers’ behavior in each scenario. We further introduce and analyze the impact of a regulator in control of the carbon tax policy, and we study the resulting Stackelberg equilibrium with the field of producers.

Carbon emission regulation, input-output networks, and firm dynamics: The case of low-carbon zone pilot in China

Carbon emission regulation, input-output networks, and firm dynamics: The case of low-carbon zone pilot in China

The carbon challenge

The carbon challenge

A multi-objective model for sustainable closed-loop supply chain of perishable products under two carbon emission regulations

PurposeThis paper aims to minimize the total carbon emissions and costs and also maximize the total social benefits.Design/methodology/approachThe present study develops a mathematical model for a closed-loop supply chain network of perishable products so that considers the vital aspects of sustainability across the life cycle of the supply chain network. To evaluate carbon emissions, two different regulating policies are studied.FindingsAccording to the obtained results, increasing the lifetime of the perishable products improves the incorporated objective function (IOF) in both the carbon cap-and-trade model and the model with a strict cap on carbon emission while the solving time increases in both models. Moreover, the computational efficiency of the carbon cap-and-trade model is higher than that of the model with a strict cap, but its value of the IOF is worse. Results indicate that efficient policies for carbon management will support planners to achieve sustainability in a cost-effectively manner.Originality/valueThis research proposes a mathematical model for the sustainable closed-loop supply chain of perishable products that applies the significant aspects of sustainability across the life cycle of the supply chain network. Regional economic value, regional development, unemployment rate and the number of job opportunities created in the regions are considered as the social dimension.

Product rollover strategy and emission reduction with intertemporal carbon emission regulation versus consumer supervision

Product rollover strategy and emission reduction with intertemporal carbon emission regulation versus consumer supervision

Integrated optimization of inventory, replenishment and vehicle routing for a sustainable supply chain under carbon emission regulations

Integrated decision regarding routing plan for vehicles, inventory management and operational adjustments confer minimum cost and emission for a supply chain network. In view of the aforementioned facts, this paper develops a sustainable supply chain inventory management (SSCIM) model for a single-vendor and multiple-buyers’ integrated approach considering item deterioration and imperfect production simultaneously. A fleet of vehicles available at the vendor location are assigned to serve the buyers. Emissions generated through production, rework, transportation, warehousing and disposal of deteriorated items are taken into consideration. For the purpose of a cleaner and sustainable environment, several emission regulatory policies, namely, carbon tax, carbon cap-and-offset and cap-and-trade, are implemented so as to alleviate the effect of carbon emission by reducing its volume. The aforesaid scenarios are mathematically formulated in a bi-objective framework minimizing both total cost and overall emissions simultaneously subject to a well-built set of constraints. The bi-objective SSCIM focuses on obtaining a trade-off between cost and emissions, thereby determining the optimal production–shipment policy and a proper routing plan for the fleet of vehicles. For better illustration of the developed theory, numerical experiments are also carried out followed by an extensive discussion on the sensitivity analysis for various parameters.

Estimating the Cost-Competitiveness of Recycling-Based Geopolymer Concretes

The cement industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. Consequently, there has been an increasing interest, in both academia and business, in low-carbon concretes in which Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is partially or fully replaced with industrial side streams. However, the realization of the environmental benefits of such materials depends on how competitive they are in the construction market, where low costs are a major competitive factor. This is not straightforward, as many types of concretes exist. Raw material prices vary, and costs can be influenced by governmental regulations via carbon pricing. This study presents a case study estimating the cost prices of four different geopolymer concretes with different material compositions and carbon footprints, considering the raw material price variability and the potential impact of carbon emissions regulation (carbon price). The case study demonstrates how material mix cost comparisons can be made openly and systematically. The results imply that carbon pricing, at the rates currently applied, does not significantly change the cost price difference between traditional and geopolymer concretes. Instead, cost-competitiveness of low carbon concretes depends heavily on the material mix type and the availability of critical side streams.

Economic analysis of hydrogen-powered data center

The data center needs more and more electricity due to the explosive growth of IT servers and it could cause electricity power shortage and huge carbon emission. It is an attractive and promising solution to power the data center with hydrogen energy source. The present work aims to conduct an economic analysis on the hydrogen-powered data center. Configurations of hydrogen-powered and traditional data centers are compared and the differences focus on backup power system, converter/inverter, fuel cell subsystem, carbon emission, hydrogen and electricity consumptions. Economic analysis is conducted to evaluate the feasibility to power the data center with hydrogen energy source. Results show that electricity price increasing rate and hydrogen cost are the main factors to influence economic feasibility of hydrogen-powered data center. When the electricity price keeps constant in the coming two decades, the critical hydrogen price is about 2.8 U.S. dollar per kilogram. If the electricity price could increase 5% annually due to explosive growth of electric vehicles and economy, critical hydrogen price will become 6.4 U.S. dollar per kilogram. Hydrogen sources and transportation determine the hydrogen price together. Hydrogen production cost varies greatly with hydrogen sources and production technologies. Hydrogen transport cost is greatly influenced by distances and H2 consumptions to consumers. It could be summarized that the hydrogen-powered data center is economic if hydrogen could be produced from natural gas or H2-rich industrial waste streams in chemical plant and data center could not be built too far away from hydrogen sources. In addition, large-scale hydrogen-powered data center is more likely to be economic. Solar hydrogen powered data center has entered into a critical stage in the economic feasibility. Solar hydrogen production cost has restrained the H2 utilization in data center power systems now, since it could be competitive only when more strict carbon emission regulation is employed, hydrogen production cost reduces greatly and electricity price is increasing greatly in the future. However, it could be expected solar hydrogen-powered system will be adopted as the power source of data centers in the next few years.

Carbon Leakage: The Impact of Asymmetric Regulation on Carbon‐Emitting Production

Regions with carbon emission regulations bear the risk of “carbon leakage” if local producers shift production capacity to an unregulated region. We investigate the problem for a producer subject to geographically asymmetric emission regulation with uncertain future emission price. The producer has two ex ante options to lower its compliance cost: investing in clean production technology in the regulated region and building production capacity in the unregulated region. The producer determines its production quantities ex post, after emission price uncertainty is resolved. We study two anti‐leakage policies, Border Tax (BT) and Output‐Based Allocation (OB), where the former adopts a “stick” approach that penalizes offshore production and the latter adopts a “carrot” approach that grants free emission allowances for production in the regulated region. First, we show that the emission price uncertainty can exert opposing effects in the absence of an anti‐leakage policy: When the expected emission price is low (high), a higher uncertainty aggravates (mitigates) carbon leakage. Second, through a comprehensive comparison, we highlight that while both BT and OB are able to reduce carbon leakage, BT has a stronger effect in both the regulated and unregulated regions in multiple dimensions, especially when the carbon leakage risk is high. Third, we find that a higher emission price uncertainty weakens the effect of both BT and OB. We therefore suggest that emission price uncertainty should be accounted for when formulating anti‐leakage policies. Finally, we extend our analysis to a competitive case and find that the superiority of BT relative to OB is enhanced.

Time-frequency relationship between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions in G7 countries: evidence from wavelet coherence analysis.

The seven leading industrial countries, called the G7, are becoming a pivotal group to fulfil their emissions-reduction commitments to manage the climate crisis. This paper investigates the relationships between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions in the context of the G7 countries for the period from 1970 to 2017. Our analysis, which examines these relationships, focuses on the wavelet coherence approach to conduct time-frequency domain analyses. The empirical results show that there is heterogeneity across different time scales and frequencies for R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions within each country. Specifically, R&D intensity and globalization are negatively correlated with carbon emissions for the G7 countries, except Japan, for which they are positive. The long-term correlations between R&D intensity, globalization, and carbon emissions are higher than those in the short- and medium-term periods. In addition, the multiscale connectedness network results reveal that the strongest bidirectional correlations exist between energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions. Our results provide a useful reference for policymakers in the G7 countries to effectively regulate carbon emissions.

Study on a new cascade utilize method for ship waste heat based on TEG‐ORC combined cycle

AbstractIn order to achieve the efficient cascade utilization of various ship's waste heat, improve the energy efficiency of ships and meet the strict requirements of the new international carbon emission regulations, this article proposes a of TEG‐ORC (thermoelectric power generation/organic Rankine cycle) combined cycle, and designs the experimental system. Coupling characteristics of each bottom cycle are taken as the entry point in the combined cycle, using the method of system simulation, the influence of TEG/ORC bottom cycle ratio, evaporation pressure and flow rate of ORC working fluid flow on the key performance of system output power, system thermal efficiency, and waste heat utilization rate of main engine flue gas are studied. The results show that TEG‐ORC combined cycle can overcome the limitations of TEG or ORC, maximize the recovery amount of waste heat, improve the stability and safety of ORC bottom cycle, simulation results show that when the bottom cycle ratio (QTEG/QORC) is 0.52, the maximum output power and maximum thermal efficiency of the experimental system are 2933.7w and 24.68%, respectively. In this condition, the scale of TEG bottom cycle is 41 pieces, the ORC working fluid flow rate is 0.046 kg/s, and the ORC working medium evaporation pressure is 3 MPa.

Simulation research of TEG-ORC combined cycle for cascade recovery of vessel waste heat

ABSTRACT The waste heat of ships has the characteristics of large temperature gradient, huge recoverable amount and various properties. Traditional technologies such as thermoelectric power generation (TEG) and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) are difficult to take into account the different characteristics of the various types of waste heat from ships. In order to realize the efficient cascade utilization of various waste heat from ships, improve the efficiency and meet the stringent requirements of the new international carbon emission regulations, a cascade recovery system of ship waste heat based on TEG-ORC (thermoelectric power generation/organic Rankine cycle) is proposed in this paper. After designing of the TEG-ORC combined cycle experimental system, the simulation research has also been carried out. The effects of TEG bottom cycle scale, ORC working medium flow rate and evaporation pressure on system net output power, system power generation cost and bottom cycle ratio (QTEG/QORC ) are studied. The results show that the TEG-ORC combined cycle overcomes the limitation of single waste heat utilization method, realizes multi-stage utilization of ship waste heat, as well as improves the utilization of waste heat. Of course, the stability and safety of ORC bottom cycle operation are also promoted. The simulation results show that when the TEG bottom cycle scale is 22 pieces, ORC working medium flow rate is 0.44 kg/s, and ORC working medium evaporation pressure is 2.2MPa, the system economy is optimal. At this time, the system power generation cost is 0.26 $/kW·h, the system net output power is 2520.3 W, and the thermal efficiency is 23.33%.

Carbon Emission Regulation, Green Boards, and Corporate Environmental Responsibility

In this study, we examine various effects of carbon emission regulation enacted in South Korea. We provide empirical evidence of regulated firms strategically hedging against potential risks by increasing the number of directors with environment-related backgrounds. We also find that this relationship is clearly evidenced when the firm is owned by a lower proportion of foreign investors. Further analysis shows that these directors successfully change their firms to become environmentally friendly. Overall, we conclude that the role of governments in promoting green finance is crucial. The findings of this study may be used as a guideline for decision makers and environmental policymakers to create systems and policies to increase the firm’s awareness about the environment in relation to corporate environmental responsibility (CER) ratings of firms.

Hybrid meta-heuristic algorithms for a supply chain network considering different carbon emission regulations using big data characteristics

Big data (BD) approach has significantly impacted on the development and expansion of supply chain network management and design. The available problems in the supply chain network (SCN) include production, distribution, transportation, ordering, and inventory holding problems. These problems under the BD environment are challenging and considerably affect the efficiency of the SCN. The drastic environmental and regulatory changes around the world and the rising concerns about carbon emissions have increased the awareness of customers regarding the carbon footprint of the products they are consuming. This has enforced supply chain managers to change strategies to reframe carbon emissions.. The decisions such as an optimization of the suitable network of the proper lot sizes can play a crucial role in minimizing the whole carbon emissions in the SCN. In this paper, a new integrated production–transportation–ordering–inventory holding problem for SCN is developed. In this regard, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model in the multi-product, multi-level, and multi-period SCN is formulated based on the minimization of the total costs and the related cost of carbon emissions. The research also uses a chance-constrained programming approach. The proposed model needs a range of real-time parameters from capacities, carbon caps, and costs. These parameters along with the various sizes of BD, namely velocity, variety, and volume, have been illustrated. A lot-sizing policy along with carbon emissions is also provided in the proposed model. One of the important contributions of this paper is the three various carbon regulation policies that include carbon capacity-and-trade, the strict capacity on emission, and the carbon tax on emissions in order to assess the carbon emissions. As there is no benchmark available in the literature, this study contributes toward this aspect by proposing two hybrid novel meta-heuristics (H-1) and (H-2) to optimize the large-scale problems with the complex structure containing BD. Hence, a generated random dataset possessing the necessary parameters of BD, namely velocity, variety, and volume, is provided to validate and solve the suggested model. The parameters of the proposed algorithms are calibrated and controlled using the Taguchi approach. In order to evaluate hybrid algorithms and find optimal solutions, the study uses 15 randomly generated data examples having necessary features of BD and T test significance. Finally, the effectiveness and performance of the presented model are analyzed by a set of sensitivity analyses. The outcome of our study shows that H-2 is of higher efficiency.

The analysis of the relationship between CO2 level and economic growth

2019 was Earth's second warmest year since 1850. In 2019 the global mean temperature was cooler than in 2016, but warmer than any other year explicitly measured. Consequently, 2016 is still the warmest year in historical observation history. Year-to-year rankings are likely to reflect natural fluctuations in the short term, but the overall pattern remains consistent with a long-term global warming trend. This would be predicted from global warming, caused by greenhouse gases, temperature increase across the globe is broadly spread, impacting almost all areas of land and oceans. “Climate change" and "global warming" are often used interchangeably, but are of distinct significance. Global warming is the long-term heating of the Earth's climate system, observed since the pre-industrial period as a result of human activities, mainly the combustion of fossil fuel, which raises the heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the Earth's air. The term is often used interchangeably with the term climate change, as the latter applies to warming, caused both humanly and naturally, and the impact it has on our planet. This is most generally calculated as the average increase in global surface temperature on Earth. In our research, we examine the relationship between the regulation of carbon emissions and the GDP / capita relationship between developed and developing countries. We assumed applying carbon abatement policies will reduce economic growth and GDP in developed countries, but it will rise economic growth and GDP in developing countries.

Optimizing the Replenishment Cycle and Selling Price for an Inventory Model Under Carbon Emission Regulation and Partially Permissible Delay in Payment

Optimizing the Replenishment Cycle and Selling Price for an Inventory Model Under Carbon Emission Regulation and Partially Permissible Delay in Payment

Joint pricing and lot-sizing for a production model under controllable deterioration and carbon emissions

Carbon emission regulations help firms to develop green inventory systems. Besides, lots of items perish because of deterioration. Therefore, controlling both carbon emissions and the deterioration of items becomes essential. Despite the importance of the contribution of these issues, a few works have attended the concepts simultaneously. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a production system considering carbon emissions and deterioration of items and utilises green and preservation technologies to control them, respectively. Moreover, as determining the selling price of items plays a crucial role in a production system, pricing is another issue that this paper concentrates on it. This paper determines the preservation technology investment and green technology investment with discrete values of the cycle length and selling price for an item which: (a) items deteriorate at a constant rate, and the investment in preservation technology is allowable to mitigate the number of deteriorated items, (b) carbon is emitted due to setup and holding the items and the manufacturer follows carbon cap-and-trade regulation and invests on emission reduction, (c) a price-dependent demand is utilised to evaluate the selling price in optimal value. To validate the mathematical model, numerical examples for all cases are exposed.

The role of national identity in collective pro-environmental action

Both individual and collective actions are needed to address global environmental changes. Contributing to a growing literature on the collective dimension of pro-environmental actions, we examined the role of national identity in mobilizing environmental norms and pro-environmental tendencies. Latent profile analysis with a large national dataset (N = 13,942) revealed five profiles underlying participants' views of attributes necessary for being a ‘true’ New Zealander. Four profiles containing over 89% of participants placed high importance on having a clean-and-green attitude as a core component of national identity, confirming that environmentalism is part of New Zealand's zeitgeist. Importantly, believing that New Zealand has a superordinate environmental identity was associated with both individual pro-environmental tendencies and collective pro-environmental actions (i.e., support for government regulation of carbon emissions and subsidisation of public transport), both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Forging national environmental identities and norms are thus important, yet vastly underutilised, pathways to mobilise pro-environmental collective action.

Optimal pricing strategy of competing manufacturers under carbon policy and consumer environmental awareness

With consideration of consumer environmental awareness (CEA) and upstream competition, this paper investigates the joint pricing strategy of enterprises based on carbon tax and low-carbon subsidy and the design of carbon tax and low-carbon subsidy based on environment goal. Results indicate that both carbon tax and subsidy policy benefit low-carbon products despite different action ways. Analysis of firms’ joint pricing strategy under carbon policy provide a reference for firms’ decision-making adjustments under upstream competition. Carbon policy design strategies help policymakers regulating carbon emissions in industries with upstream competition make policy-making decisions. Further, the comparison of the two policies’ emission reduction efficiency helps policymakers make policy-selection decisions to better avoid certain policy failures. An interesting finding in this paper is that there is a complementary effect between CEA and low-carbon subsidy in reducing carbon emission, policymakers can achieve the environmental goal of minimum carbon emissions with a small subsidy expenditure by promoting low-carbon concepts to raise CEA.

Thermodynamic analysis of a solid oxide co-electrolysis cell system for its optimal thermal integration with external heat supply

A solid oxide co-electrolysis cell system is expected to play a more crucial role in the field of energy and environment under the pressure of carbon emission regulation. Based on its high-operating temperature and ability to decompose steam and carbon dioxide simultaneously, solid oxide co-electrolysis cell can provide highly efficient and economic means of carbon conversion to synthetic gas. However, most of the previous studies are focused on the performance of a stack itself without investigating the key features of a thermodynamic system. Thus, in this study, we develop a solid oxide co-electrolysis cell thermodynamic system model which incorporates design variables and empirical correlations of a stack and several balance-of-plant components as well as fluid characteristics of incoming working fluids. The basic concept of a solid oxide co-electrolysis cell system is designed and integrated with an oxy-fuel combustion power cycle from which high-quality heat and high-purity carbon dioxide are supplied. 72 different system layouts are suggested, each of which has unique thermal integration regarding external heat supply and exhaust gas utilization method. Using temperature-heat transfer diagram analysis, the system layouts that are thermodynamically infeasible are screened out. After screening out similar layouts once again, 11 candidate system layouts are chosen and investigated in detail. It can be evidenced that using minimal amount of external heat is key to increase the system efficiency. Moreover, immediate branching of external heat flux into two main-heating heat exchangers as soon as it is discharged from the steam generator shows the least pressure drop in the main heat exchanger for air due to its short heat exchange path, minimizing the parasitic power. The optimal solid oxide co-electrolysis cell system layout shows the energy efficiency of 37.31% and the exergy efficiency of 23.97%. This study suggests the key idea of thermal integration of solid oxide co-electrolysis cell system integrated with potential high-quality heat and carbon dioxide sources, which provides effective and reliable basis on which system demonstration and actual operation can be performed.