Coal City Research Articles

Evaluation of Green Transformation Efficiency in Chinese Mineral Resource-Based Cities Based on a Three-Stage DEA Method

With sustained and rapid economic growth, environmental degradation and resource depletion are becoming increasingly prominent in Chinese mineral resource-based cities (MRBC). An in-depth study regarding the efficiency and characteristics of urban green transformation in recent years will help to promote the healthy development of MRBC in China. In this study, we use a three-stage data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the green transformation efficiency and potential of 110 MRBC in China from 2008 to 2017. The results show that, first, the comprehensive green transformation efficiency in the vast majority of MRBC is relatively low. After excluding external factors, the efficiency of most MRBC is considerably improved. Second, regardless of whether the external factors are excluded, the green transformation efficiency in the western and northeast regions of China is relatively higher than that in the central and eastern regions, whereas the coal cities and ferrous cities have higher efficiencies compared with non-ferrous cities and oil cities. Third, compared with pure technology efficiency, scale efficiency plays a leading role in overall green transformation efficiency. Based on the empirical analysis results, this study indicates that China’s MRBC should pay special attention to the influence of external environmental factors when formulating green transformation policies.

Geochemical baseline determination and contamination of heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City, China

Urban topsoil is the most frequent interface between human society and natural environment. The accumulation of heavy metals in the urban topsoil has a direct effect on residents’ life and health. The geochemical baseline of heavy metals is an objective description of the general level of heavy metals in the urban topsoil. Meanwhile, the determination of geochemical baseline is necessary for regional environmental management, especially in coal cities prone to heavy metal pollution. Heavy metal pollution has become an environmental problem in Fuxin City, China for a long time. To establish the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City and to evaluate the ecological risk of the topsoil, we collected 75 topsoil samples (0–20 cm) and analyzed the concentrations of Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg and As through X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. We determined the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City by using iteration removal, box-whisker plot, cumulative frequency curve and reference metal normalization; evaluated the contamination risk and ecological risk of the topsoil by using the baseline factor index, Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index; and identified the source category of heavy metals in the topsoil by using a pedigree clustering heatmap. Results showed that the geochemical baseline values were 42.86, 89.34, 92.23, 60.55, 145.21, 0.09, 0.08 and 4.17 mg/kg for Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg and As, respectively. The results of Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index indicated that the urban topsoil in the study area was slightly contaminated and suffering low potential ecological risk. The main contaminated areas dominated in the middle part and northeast part of the study area, especially in the western Haizhou Strip Mine. The result of baseline factor index indicated that Hg and Cd were the major pollution elements. Using a pedigree clustering heatmap, we divided the sources of these heavy metals into three types: type I for Ni and Cr, largely represented the enrichment of heavy metals from natural sources; type II for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and As, mainly represented the enrichment of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources; and type III for Hg, represented the form of both natural and anthropogenic inputs.

Research on Environmental Sustainability of Coal Cities: A Case Study of Yulin, China

Coal cities are an essential impetus for economic development and urbanization processes in China. However, a series of environmental issues provoked by resource exploitation cause the environmental sustainability of coal cities to face enormous challenges. Therefore, on the basis of the time series data of Yulin City from 1996 to 2017, this paper explores the nexus between socioeconomic development and industrial “three wastes” emissions by adopting the Tapio decoupling model, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, and the vector auto-regressive (VAR) model. The results show that Yulin’s economic development remains in an extensive stage and will not decouple from the environmental pollution in a short time. Except for the nexus of industrial solid waste and economic growth, which is an inverted U-shaped, the EKC hypothesis is not valid for industrial wastewater and industrial waste gas. Through the VAR (2) model, the impact of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) on industrial waste emissions is consistent with the results of the EKC hypothesis. Moreover, industrial waste emissions have a positive correlation with the per capita raw coal output, the energy consumption per unit of GDP, and the proportion of secondary industry. Hence, it is necessary to formulate targeted measures from industrial restructuring, industrial chain extension, governance model optimization, and waste comprehensive utilization to realize the environmental sustainability of coal cities.

Estimating the potential output and output gap for China's coal cities with pollutants reduction

As a result of the dual pressure of declining coal demand and government environmental regulation, the estimated potential output gap of China's coal mining cities provides the basis for increasing production capacity. This study builds potential output gap estimation models incorporating pollutant reduction under both weak and strong disposability assumptions, and decomposes the total output gap (TOG) into a general environmental efficiency gap (GEEG) and environmental regulation gap (ERG) to explore their internal composition. The new model is used to explore the spatiotemporal evolution of China's 42 typical coal cities from 2006 to 2016, and regression models are built to verify spatiotemporal heterogeneity and explore the impact mechanism of some macro variables on the potential output gap. The empirical results show that (1) environmental regulation had a pronounced negative effect on the production capacity of the cities since 2013, with those in East China suffering from the biggest loss of production capacity under environmental regulations, while those in Northeast China are less affected. (2) GEEG remained stable, indicating that environmental efficiency did not improve; however, the differences in GEEG were mainly regional. This spatiotemporal heterogeneity is also further confirmed in the econometric models. (3) The proportion of secondary industry and education level had a significant negative effect on TOG and ERG, while financial support and per capita use of foreign capital had a significant positive effect. There is no evidence that the ratio of technology expenditure has a significant impact on potential output gaps. These findings will benefit in seeking to improve the potential output of China's coal cities.

Dynamic analysis of the sustainable development capability of coal cities

Due to the decline of resources and a lack of motivation for development, coal cities encounter problems related to sustainable development. This paper focuses on the analysis of the capability of different types of coal cities for sustainable development. We synthetically evaluated this capability for four typical coal cities (in terms of growth, maturity, recession, and regeneration) in China from 2012 to 2016 by using the Super-SBM model. The Malmquist index is used to dynamically decompose changes in the capability for sustainable development. We also analyze the ineffectiveness distribution of the input and output indicators, and suggest directions for optimization. The results show the following: (1) the capability for sustainable development of coal cities in China was low (0.6704) and unstable overall. Major inefficiencies persist in resource allocation and utilization. (2) The four coal cities were ranked in the order of growth > regeneration > maturity > recession. (3) Technological progress was the main factor affecting changes in the capability for sustainable development of China's coal cities. (4) Inefficiency was mainly distributed over the economic output, and inadequate economic output capability was the main factor hindering the sustainable development of most coal cities in China.

Understanding coal miners’ livelihood vulnerability to declining coal demand: Negative impact and coping strategies

Because of the significant declining in coal demand, the problem of miners' livelihood vulnerability is more and more serious. This study takes Ordos, the largest coal city in China, as its research area and uses the system dynamics method to construct a simulation model of miners' livelihood vulnerability. Further, the evolution of livelihood vulnerability in different scenarios is revealed and the effectiveness of different coping strategies is discussed. The results show a certain degree of volatility in miners' livelihood vulnerability in Ordos and a high overall level of vulnerability; compared with capacity reduction, the coal price slump has a greater negative impact on miners' livelihood. Second, there are clear differences in the overall and cumulative effects of different coping strategies. Compared with reducing enterprise tax rate and improving social security level, developing living service industry, enhancing financial service level, and improving the technology and education level have a more marked effect on reducing livelihood vulnerability; reducing enterprise tax rate can quickly reduce vulnerability, but its effectiveness is declining, while the cumulative effect of other strategies is increasing. Finally, strategies have different influence paths on miners’ livelihood, and that is the main reason for the difference in the effectiveness of strategies.

Analysis of CO2 Emissions and the Mechanism of the Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size (IEDS) in Resource-Based Cities by Application of Geographical Detector Technology

Resource-based cities are the most important players in responding to climate change and achieving low carbon development in China. An analysis of relevant data (such as the energy consumption) showed an inter-city differentiation of CO2 emissions from energy consumption, and suggested an influence of the Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size (IEDS) in resource-based industrial cities at the prefecture level and above in different regions. Then by geographical detector technology, the sizes of each influencing mechanism on CO2 emissions from energy consumption of the IEDS were probed. This analysis showed that significant spatial differences exist for CO2 emissions from energy consumption and revealed several factors which influence the IEDS in resource-based cities. (1) In terms of unit employment, Eastern and Western resource-based cities are above the overall level of all resource-based cities; and only Coal resource-based cities far exceeded the overall level among all of the cities in the analysis. (2) In terms of unit gross industrial output value, the Eastern, Central and Western resources-based cities are all above the overall level for all the cities. Here also, only Coal resource-based cities far exceeded the overall level of all resources-based cities. Economic scale and energy structure are the main factors influencing CO2 emissions from energy consumption of the IEDS in resource-based cities. The factors influencing CO2 emissions in different regions and types of resource-based cities show significant spatial variations, and the degree of influence that any given factor exerts varies among different regions and types of resource-based cities. Therefore, individualized recommendations should be directed to different regions and types of resource-based cities, so that the strategies and measures of industrial low carbon and transformation should vary greatly according to the specific conditions that exist in each city.

Analyzing sustainability of Chinese coal cities using a decision tree modeling approach

Coal is the most important energy in China, and sustainability of Chinese coal cities is critical to the socioeconomic development and energy security of the country. Identifying the characteristics and patterns of coal city sustainability is of great importance to promoting the sustainable development of coal cities. After constructing an Indicator System for Coal City Sustainability (ISCCS) and collecting data from 55 prefecture-level coal cities, we analyzed the patterns and characteristics of sustainability of Chinese coal cities by using a data-mining method – decision tree modeling. Through comprehensive analysis of the models, we not only attained an overall understanding on the patterns and characteristics of sustainability of Chinese coal cities, but also discovered some novel, implicit, and previously unknown patterns and characteristics of sustainability: most mature coal cities present signs of resource curse, while declining coal cities present two obviously different development patterns: resource curse and resource blessing patterns; northeastern coal cities have relatively good sustainability, the environmental quality, especially air quality, of northern coal cities is bad, northwestern coal cities have rapid economic growth but undeveloped economy conditions and the fragile environmental carrying capacity is ignored. To promote the sustainability of Chinese coal cities, it is necessary to change the traditional conception of urban decay with mineral depletion, to make and implement effective plans of sustainable development for coal city from the early development stages, and to pay more attention to coal cities' regional characteristics and differences.

The attractiveness of a post-mining city as a tourist destination from the perspective of visitors: a study of Sawahlunto old coal mining town in Indonesia

Mining has been a basis of development for industrial societies. A mining city was an engine of economic growth for a region by providing employment and gaining revenue from the mining industry. Nevertheless, in the post-mining period, a city such as this suffers from a lot of problems inherited from the mining era, ranging from economic incapability, social structure change, and environmental degradation. Transforming mining-heritage values for tourism applications has become a prevalent choice for many post-mining cities around the world. The attractiveness of mining-related resources is one of the determinants in the success of tourism development in these cities. This study measures the attractiveness of tourism resources within a smaller post-mining city from the perspective of the visitors. Twenty-two types of resources are identified and categorized into three groups: core resources, created resources, and supporting resources. Questionnaire surveys were distributed to 100 random visitors in Sawahlunto, an old coal mining city in Indonesia. Using a five-point Likert scale, these measured the levels of attractiveness respondents had for each resource. Study results reveal that natural beauty, mining heritage sites, museums, and architectural features are the most attractive resources found in a post-mining city by visitors. These resources become the primary motivation for their visit. It also confirms that visitors will likely arrange return trips in the future.

Empirical analysis of the influence of natural resources on regional economic growth: Based on the sample of key coal cities in China from 2000 to 2016

Empirical analysis of the influence of natural resources on regional economic growth: Based on the sample of key coal cities in China from 2000 to 2016

Seasonal variation in heavy metal accumulation in plants at coal mine sites and possible health risk

Human health challenges in recent times have been attributed to consumption of food contaminated with heavy metals. Coal mining is an anthropogenic activity that releases heavy metals into the environment. This study, therefore, assessed accumulation of heavy metals (lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As) and iron (Fe)) in plant species in the vicinity of Akwuke and Iva coal mine in Coal city, Enugu State. The results indicate that the highest concentration of Ni (9.02 ± 0.03 mg/kg), As (0.005 ± 0.001 mg/kg) and Cd (2.16 ± 0.07 mg/kg) was accumulated in Alchornea cordifolia while the concentration of Pb (10.37 ± 0.52 mg/kg) was highest in Andropogon gayanus and Fe (231.00 ± 1.41 mg/kg) was highest in Irvingia gabonensis. The values of Ni (9.02 ± 0.03 mg/kg), As (0.005 ± 0.00 mg/kg), Pb (10.37 ± 0.32 mg/kg), Cd (2.02 ± 0.03 mg/kg), and Fe (46.00 ± 1.41 mg/kg) accumulated in A. cordifolia, A. gayanus, D. guinense, and M. indica in wet season were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than their corresponding values (5.04 ± 0.07, 8.96 ± 0.01 and 0.003 ± 0.001 mg/kg, 1.87 ± 0.07 mg/kg, and 33.45 ± 0.21 mg/kg) in dry season, respectively. Alchornea cordifolia, Andropogon gayanus and Irvingia gabonensis consumed by animals and local inhabitants in the vicinity of the two mined sites could expose them to high levels of Pb, Ni and Cd, thus posing a serious health risk to the local people.

Research on the sustainable development of China’s coal cities based on lock-in effect

Contradictions in various coal city aspects have become increasingly prominent, with many cities becoming locked in due to lack of overall planning and resource degradation, and sustainable development of coal cities has attracted widespread attention. However, many research challenges remain regarding breakthrough of coal city lock-in effect. This paper evaluated 43 typical Chinese coal city 2012–2016 lock-in breakthrough abilities considering economy, environment, and sustainable development capacity aspects. We then used the fixed effect model to analyze impact mechanisms for various influencing factors on lock-in breakthrough. We found there was no significant change in overall lock-in breakthrough capacity in recent years. Technological innovation and human resources played important roles in lock-in breakthrough, and higher secondary industry proportion implied poorer ability to lock in breakthroughs. Economic externality and government finance had no significantly affect. Therefore, the government should clarify coal city transformation goals, establish a typical city as a benchmark for others, accelerate alternative industry developments, increase talent introduction and personnel training, and insist that technological innovation solves urban development problems from the root.

Ecological efficiency of coal cities in China: evaluation and influence factors

China’s energy consumption and environmental problems are becoming increasingly urgent issues as the nation’s economy continues its rapid development. A further investigation of ecological efficiency would assist the healthy development of China’s “coal cities.” In this study, the stochastic frontier analysis based on the assumptions of the trans-log production function is employed to assess the ecological efficiency and potential promotion of 28 typical coal cities in China. The Tobit method is used to analyze the influence factors in ecological efficiency. The results show that the ecological efficiency of coal cities is not high but increased overall from 2007 to 2014. In regional terms, coal cities in the east have the highest ecological efficiency while coal cities in the west have the highest potential promotion; coal cities in the northeast have the lowest ecological efficiency and potential promotion. Moreover, ownership structure and environmental regulations have significant inhibitory effects on the improvement in ecological efficiency, while marketization level and technological innovation have significantly positive impacts.

Evolution model with time lag effects for the coal industrial symbiosis system: A case study of Ordos, China

Abstract Industrial metabolism and symbiotic coupling has become the base paradigm of green, low-carbon development of coal mining. In the coal industrial symbiosis system (CISS), stability is increasingly fragile because of its unique industrial links and growth environment. Referring to the classic Lotka-Volterra population ecology model, and synthesizing the periodicity and time lag effects of industrial development, two entirely novel and more generalized CISS evolution models with time lag effects in the competitive and reciprocal scenarios are constructed respectively. Moreover, the conditions of CISS stability are proven and discussed through mathematical analysis. Simulation and theorem validation were carried out by taking the largest Chinese coal city, Ordos, as the research object. The main results are as follows. First, the time lag effect is an important factor leading to CISS instability. The shorter the time lag within the CISS, the better the collaboration between industries, and the easier it is that the CISS will achieve a stable ecological balance. Second, when the power of competition dominates, the development of industries within CISS will be inhibited; when the power of cooperation dominates, the evolution of CISS will toward a positive direction. Third, a certain degree of self-inhibition will contribute to the stable development of the industrial symbiosis system. At last, the social service industry not only can boost the industrial diversity within CISS, but also can promote the co-evolution of original and exogenous industries, which plays a positive role in the healthy and stable development of CISS.

Seasonal variation of heavy metals in water, sediment, and highly consumed cultured fish (Labeo rohita and Labeo bata) and potential health risk assessment in aquaculture pond of the coal city, Dhanbad (India).

The extent of heavy metal pollution and their impact on the various component of urban aquaculture pond (India) were investigated on the basis of seasonal variation. The water, sediment, and fish samples (Labeo rohita and Labeo bata) were collected and analyzed to assess the metal toxicity. In the sediment, geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), and ecological risk index (ERI) were calculated. The estimated daily dietary intake (EDI) for As, Cd, Cr, Mn, Pb, and Zn was estimated in adult and children on the basis an average amount of fish consumed by the Indian people and its associated health hazard with was also assessed in terms of target hazard quotients (THQs). The concentration of metals in all the analyzed samples was found higher during pre-monsoon season. While, in case of fish, L. bata species has higher metal accumulation rate during both the seasons than the L. rohita because of their bottom dweller feeding habit. The order of metals in L. bata muscles is Zn > Mn > Pb > Cr > As > Cd. The Igeo value for Zn (2.66 to 3.68) was found to be highest and followed by Cd (1.65 to 3.52) and Pb (1.52 to 2.55) indicating moderate to highly polluted sediment quality. The values of ERI were significantly high during pre-monsoon period and varied from 319 to 557, representing very high metal contamination. From the human health perspective, present study highlighted that the local inhabitants who rely on this valuable pond for fish consumption are exposed chronically to As and Pb pollution due to higher THQ values, especially from the intake of L. bata.

Regional Economic Resilience: Resistance and Recoverability of Resource-Based Cities during Economic Crises in Northeast China

This paper quantitatively analyzes the economic resilience of resource-based cities (RBCs) in Northeast China in terms of resistance and recoverability during two economic crises: the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. Moreover, it analyzes the main factors that affected regional resilience. There are three main findings. First, the RBCs in general demonstrated poor resistance during both recessions, but there were variations among the different types of RBCs. Petroleum and metal cities demonstrated the most resistance, whereas coal cities performed the worst. Second, the influential factors affecting economic resilience varied across the two economic cycles, but location advantage, research and development (R and D) intensity, foreign trade dependence ratio, and supporting policies had positive effects on resilience during both economic cycles, while the proportion of employed persons in resource industries had a negative effect. Industrial diversity had a weak and ambiguous effect on resilience. Third, the secondary industry was more resilient during the Asian financial crisis, but the tertiary industry was more resilient during the global financial crisis. This shift may be attributed to both the nature of the crises and the strength of the sectors at the time of the crises.

Contrastive Study of the Circular Economy of Coal Resource City Based on Ecological Efficiency and C Model

Abstract: Being a developing country, the evaluation of Chinese circular economy should have its particular criterion that suits for specific national conditions. With the growth of economy, Chinese environmental loads should be permitted to increase at an appropriate speed. Based on this concept, this paper divides the process of evaluation into two parts which include evaluation of development level and evaluation of development performance. Firstly, this paper sets up a reference system which includes Zaozhuang City of Shandong Province, Jiaozuo City of Henan province, Shizuishan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and China that is regarded as a region respectively, analyzes the development level of circular economy of coal resource cities based on the evaluation indicator of ecological efficiency, and puts forward the future direction of circular economy of coal resource cities. Secondly, based on C Model of Circular Economy, this paper constructs the measurement model of development performance in...

Technical mapping of solar photovoltaic for the Coal City of India

Performance of nine commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) panels from different manufacturers with combination of different manufacturing materials and technologies are studied under the environmental conditions of the Coal City of India. The results give an indication of the comparative performance of different PV technologies under the aforesaid location’s environmental condition which helps to choose the best suitable PV technology for the Coal City of India. This procedure is commonly known as technical mapping of solar PV. Performance of PV panels made of Maxeon Cell Technology, heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT), mono-crystalline silicon (Mono C-Si), poly-crystalline silicon (Poly C-Si), Micromorph, SCHOTT, amorphous silicon (a-Si), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) technologies is analysed. Meteorological and PV panel parameters required for the study are collected from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) renewable energy resource website (Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy) and the data sheets of commercial PV panel manufacturers, respectively. The outcome of this study concludes that modules made of amorphous silicon technology perform better under the typical temperature variant and dry environmental condition of the Coal City of India. The same PV technology is also best suited considering life cycle assessment and global warming impact point of view for the concerned site.

Cytopathological Examination and Epidemiological Study of Cervicitis in Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs) in Coal City (Enugu), Nigeria.

llicit sexual behavior by commercial sex workers (CSW) may have a disproportionate impact on the reproductive health of a woman that often leads to cervicitis. This study aimed at examining the cytopathology, patterns, prevalence and burden of cervicitis in CSW in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria. Cervical smear was collected from the endocervix of about one hundred and eighteen (n=118) CSWs between November, 2014 and February, 2015 using the liquid-based cytology (LBC) method. Smears were processed and stained by the modified Papanicolaou method. Leftover samples were tested for sexually transmitted diseases, especially N. gonorrhea, and C. trachomatis using ligase chain reaction and nucleic acid amplification test. A randomized sampling design was used for data collection. Cytopathological examination of cervicitis in CSWs showed a moderate infection, and moderately severe to chronic inflammatory cells. The epidemiological study revealed that acute cervicitis are predominant 7(5.9%) and 2(1.7%) are chronic cervicitis. The prevalence of CSWs living with cervicitis in Enugu, Nigeria (7.6%), is significantly affected by age and working duration as CSWs. Also, Chlamydia trachomatis is the solely associated pathogen implicated in cervicitis group (n=9). Candidiasis infection (n=12) and T. vaginalis (n=3) are observed in non-cervicitis group (n=109) while the association between C. trachomatis and cervicitis infection is statistically significant (P= 0.0221). Acute cervicitis was prevalent with a preponderance of 4:1 in CSWs in Enugu, Nigeria. C. trachomatis infection was the most prevalent etiologic agent of cervicitis in this study. Further molecular study of LBC smears from CSWs using PCR is strongly recommended.

Study on the evolution model, process and influence factors of the coal resource-based cities' spatial structure: A casestudy of Huainan city

Study on the evolution model, process and influence factors of the coal resource-based cities' spatial structure: A casestudy of Huainan city