Comprehensive Economic Benefits Research Articles

Integrating Ecosystem Service Values and Economic Benefits for Sustainable Land Use Management in Semi-Arid Regions in Northern China

Studies on land use structural optimization can support the sustainability of land resources. The Taipusi Banner lies in the arid and semiarid area of northern China, with rapid economic development and a vulnerable ecological condition. Taking the Taipusi Banner as a research case, we adopted a land use map and statistical data, and employed the ecosystem process model to establish five scenarios, including an economically optimal scenario, an ecologically optimal scenario, a comprehensively optimal scenario, a status quo, and a projected scenario. Based on multi-objective linear programming, the land use demand was optimized; then, the CLUE-S model and adaptability evaluation were adopted to establish spatial patterns. The ecological and economic benefits were then analyzed and policy suggestions are provided. The main results include the following: (1) The optimization outputs of various scenarios show that under optimization, cropland and forestland increased by 9.13% and 18.9%, respectively, and grassland decreased by 9.81%. (2) The land use optimization shows that comprehensive optimization aimed at achieving comprehensive benefits, ecological benefits, and economic benefits increased these benefits by 3.89%, 2.1%, and 6.2%, respectively. Compared with other scenarios, focusing on the comprehensive benefits of land use can result in the greatest increase in benefits to improve sustainability land resources. Land use optimization must consider not only the optimization of both the quantity and configuration but also the dimensions of both ecology and the economy. Land use should be based on a land suitability evaluation and optimization of the land use spatial configuration to update ineffective land uses and should gradually adjust both the ecological and engineering measures.

Peak shaving benefit assessment considering the joint operation of nuclear and battery energy storage power stations: Hainan case study

The rapid development of battery energy storage technology provides a potential way to solve the grid stability problem caused by the large-scale construction of nuclear power. Based on the case of Hainan, this study analyses the economic feasibility for the joint operation of battery energy storage and nuclear power for peak shaving, and provides an effective solution framework for construction scale and battery type determination. Under the proposed framework, a novel cost model for the large-scale battery energy storage power station is proposed. Then, economic analysis is conducted to get the most economical battery type and construction scale by considering the comprehensive economic benefit of the joint operation under the limit of the load factor. On this basis, sensitivity analysis of economic indicators to control parameters and economic parameters is performed to further demonstrate the economic feasibility of the joint operation. Comparative analysis shows that 270 MW lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage power station has the best and stable comprehensive performance in terms of the IRR, PBP and LCOE, which are 16.27%, 6.27 year and 0.464¥/kWh, respectively. In comparison with the pumped storage, the battery energy storage has lower initial investment, faster capital recovery and smaller floor area under the joint operation mode. Moreover, sensitivity analysis illustrates that the large-scale application of battery energy storage still depends on the trade-off between the cost performance of battery and the real-time electricity price.

Research and application of old well evaluation technology in underground gas storage

Gas storage has high requirements for new drilling well structure, cementing quality and wellbore quality. In order to ensure the sealing of the wellbore, cement is returned to the surface and special casing is used to ensure the sealing of the wellbore. Production Wells of crude oil reservoirs generally cannot meet these conditions for the gas storage converted from depleted oil and gas reservoirs. Therefore, production Wells will not be used in principle after the reconstruction of the gas storage. In order to improve the comprehensive economic benefit and reduce the construction cost, these production Wells are generally used as monitoring Wells, observation Wells and gas production Wells after quality review and evaluation. This paper introduces the research and application of quality review, detection technology and evaluation technology of old Wells in underground gas storage.

Increasing the comprehensive economic benefits of farmland with Even-lighting Agrivoltaic Systems.

Agrivoltaic combines crop planting and electricity generation on the same land, it is considered as an opportunity to resolve the competition for land use between food and energy production. In addition to growing crops, farmers can gain electricity with the installation of agrivoltaic systems on their farmland. They can use this clean energy for agricultural production or sell it for extra income. The Chinese government considers it an important strategy for “Targeted Poverty Alleviation”. However, current methods of agrivoltaic provide uneven and low irradiance for crops, which usually results in reduced yield and low quality. In this study, an improved agrivoltaic system with a grooved glass plate has been designed, manufactured, and investigated, called Even-lighting Agrivoltaic System (EAS). Two experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of the improvement. We measured the crops’ light environment, the crop growth process, the crop yield and quality, the electricity generation, and calculated the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) as well as the comprehensive economic benefits on the farmland per hectare. Under the EAS, crops grew fast and the yield was similar or better than that under the natural state. By adding supplementary LED lamps into the EAS, the soluble sugar content of lettuce increased by 72.14% and the nitrate content of lettuce decreased by 21.51%. The average LER of the EAS for common vegetables was 1.64 as demonstrated in this work. Comprehensive economic benefits outperform the installation and maintenance costs, thus, the EAS can increase farmers’ income by an average of 5.14 times. The EAS provides new ideas and directions for the future development of agrivoltaic.

Comprehensive Evaluation of Land Use Benefit in the Yellow River Basin from 1995 to 2018

Land resources are the basis of human survival and development. Land use benefit is the embodiment of land input-output ability. As an important economic zone and ecological barrier in China, it is important to calculate the land productivity in the Yellow River Basin. Using the center of gravity model and other methods, this study evaluated the land use benefit of the Yellow River Basin from 1995 to 2018 based on the selected indicators of geographic grid-scale and analyzed the regional disparity. The results revealed that the comprehensive benefits, economic benefits, and social benefits of land use were on the rise, but the ecological benefits changed in volatility. Land circulation had a great impact on the change of land use benefits. So reasonable land transfer policy should be particularly significant for land use in the Yellow River Basin. In addition, there were obvious spatial differences and agglomeration effects in land use benefit. The high values of benefits were concentrated in urban groups, which showed that areas with better economic and social development had better land use benefits. To narrow land use benefits’ spatial differences between regions, the less developed areas deserve more preferential policies to improve their economic and social levels. Besides, ecological benefits are generally not high. Thus, the land policy in the Yellow River Basin should take ecological priority as the basic principle while considering economic factors.

Multi-Application Strategy Based on Railway Static Power Conditioner With Energy Storage System

With the rapid development of high-speed and heavy-load electrified railway, the peak impact and the regenerative braking energy content of traction load become increasingly significant, which has become an important problem affecting the construction and operation benefits of electrified railway. On the basis of comprehensively solving the power quality problems of electrified railway, a multi-application strategy based on the railway static power conditioner (RPC) with the energy storage system (ESS) is proposed in this paper to improve the economic benefits of the traction system. Through the implementation of the peak clipping and the recuperation and utilization of regenerative braking energy of traction load with the guidance of such strategy, the comprehensive economic benefits of the traction system can be improved. By analyzing the mathematical relationship between the comprehensive economic benefits and the parameters such as peak clipping rate and regenerative braking energy utilization rate of the system, an optimization model with the goal of maximizing the comprehensive economic benefits is established. Therefore, the optimal configuration capacity of the ESS is obtained. Finally, the experiments are carried out in MATLAB. The results show that, with the multi-application strategy, the peak load clipping and the recuperation and utilization of regenerative braking energy can be simultaneously realized. It is also demonstrated that the comprehensive economic benefits and environmental benefits can be improved while improving energy efficiency.

Service provider portfolio selection for project management using a BP neural network

Service provider portfolio selection (SPPS) can be a major challenge for organizations to achieve project success. Hence, organizations need to decide on which service provider portfolio (SPP) is appropriate for project management (PM). However, there has been limited research on how to select a SPP in PM. To address this research gap, we establish a novel model for SPPS based on a BP neural network integrated with entropy-AHP from the perspective of the comprehensive economic benefit. This model employs a BP neural network due to its robustness and memory and nonlinear mapping abilities. Furthermore, we implement the proposed model for a construction project to verify the effectiveness. Our results indicate that the model performs well with a prediction accuracy of 97%. Moreover, the model is confirmed to be robust as it still achieves high prediction accuracy when the input data are disturbed randomly.

Optimal configuration and economic operation of energy storage system considering photovoltaic consumption rate

The outstanding photovoltaic (PV) abandonment problem can be effectively solved by configuring energy storage (ES). The capacity configuration and operation control strategy of ES are the main difficulty in the economic operation of the system. In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation model is established to evaluate the economics of ES to improve PV consumption. Further, an ES capacity configuration method based on double-layer optimization is proposed. The upper optimization uses PV curtailment rate to determine the feasible region of ES capacity configuration. The comprehensive economic benefits are used as the inner optimization indicator to optimize the capacity configuration of ES. The ES charging and discharging strategy used in the paper can realize the efficient use of PV power. The simulation result proves the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Value-added Internal Audit from the Perspective of Corporate Governance

In an increasingly competitive market, internal audit, an integral part of corporate governance, has become increasingly important. Traditional internal auditing no longer fully responds to the current complex scope of internal auditing and the governance objectives of adding value to companies. With the continuous strengthening of corporate governance by modern enterprises, the goal of internal audit is gradually consistent with that of corporate governance: to increase the overall value of the company. This makes internal audit function, audit content and audit scope change accordingly, and value-added internal audit emerges as the times require. With the continuous development of international economic globalization, value-added internal audit is the inevitable trend of internal audit transformation from the perspective of corporate governance. Modern internal audit plays a very important role in improving the governance structure and internal control, and can bring value added to enterprises. The functions and responsibilities of internal audit are positioned to promote the achievement of corporate governance objectives, with increasing emphasis on improving governance and adding value. This means that the functional scope of internal audit has changed from simple financial audit at the beginning to a series of activities such as review and evaluation, control and risk management that run through all aspects of corporate governance. Internal audit is not only a part of corporate governance, but also evaluates and improves the effectiveness of corporate governance procedures. The benign interaction of the two contributes to the improvement of the management procedure and the increase of the overall value of the company. Internal audit can make use of its unique independence to control the risk of the company, improve the efficiency of corporate governance and improve the process of corporate governance by performing a comprehensive evaluation function, so as to enhance the comprehensive quality and economic benefits of the company and realize the overall value of the company.

Evaluation Research on Planning Implementation of Chinese Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones along the Belt and Road: Evidence from Longjiang Industrial Park, Vietnam

Chinese Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones (COCZs) under the “One Belt and One Road” initiative are committed to promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, becoming an important platform for the countries and regions where they are located to achieve the sustainable development goals of the 2030 agenda. The planning of COCZs plays a strategic leading and rigid control role in the sustainable development of parks, and the planning implementation effectiveness evaluation has been a key to the sustainable development of COCZs. From the perspective of sustainable development, we established a rating system depending on the deconstruction “effectiveness = efficiency + effect + benefit + capacity” to measure the planning implementation effectiveness evaluation indexes of COCZs, and conducted empirical research based on the evidence of Longjiang Industrial Park, Vietnam. The research results show that Longjiang Industrial Park has a good planning implementation effectiveness with remarkable comprehensive economic, social, ecological and political benefits. It features a good efficiency, effect and benefit from an excellent production capacity, reflected in the consistency between spatial planning and implementation results and a high satisfaction with planning implementation. However, planning implementation is also faced with problems such as the lag of time, imbalance between profit and loss, uneven achievement of goals, and lack of a refined planning control system. To make COCZs more sustainable in development and planning, the suggestion is, on the one hand, to accelerate the establishment of a regular and institutionalized mechanism for the planning preparation and implementation evaluation of COCZs, and bring sustainable development into the management requirements, and, on the other hand, to promote the transformation of COCZs planning from “Function and Scale Orientation” to “Quality and Effectiveness Orientation”, and guide the creation of a model for sustainable development and the planning of COCZs.

Effects of Different Rotation Patterns of Oil-Rice on Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Rice Fields

A field experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of different rice-rape rotation systems on methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which were measured using the static chamber/gas chromatography method, prediction of their global warming potentials (GWP), and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) in paddy fields. The results showed that the average cumulative emissions of CH4from a double cropping paddy field, single season rice field (including middle or late), rape field, and leisure land were 135.25, 55.64, 5.05, and 1.89 kg ·hm-2, respectively. The CH4 emission during the rice season accounted for 91.8%-98.5% of the annual CH4 emission in different rotation years, and the contents of dissolved organic carbon in paddy soil exhibited a significantly positive correlation with CH4 emission. The CH4 emission in conventional late rice paddy was 18.7% higher than that of hybrid late rice paddy (P<0.05). The average cumulative emissions of N2O from double cropping paddy field, single season rice field (including middle or late), rape field, and leisure land were 0.94, 0.64, 1.38, and 0.24 kg ·hm-2, respectively. Out of the total annual N2O emission, 57.2% to 70.2% was from the rape field; 17.8% and 30.6% was due to the winter fallow treatments with previous crop type of double corpping rice and single season rice, respectively. There was no significant difference in N2O emission between hybrid rice and conventional rice paddy fields. The GWP of double cropping rice-winter fallow and double cropping rice-rape was higher than that of rice-rape and rice-winter fallow, and the GWP of CH4 in rice season accounted for 71.2% to 90.9% of the annual GWP of rotation. The highest treatment of GHGI was rice-rice-rape, and the treatment of rice-oil and rice-winter slack was lower. According to the comprehensive environmental and economic benefits, the late hybrid rice-rape patterns should be selected to reduce greenhouse gases in multiple cropping rice fields of South China.

A hybrid method of blockchain and case-based reasoning for remanufacturing process planning

Remanufacturing plays a vital role in promoting the development of circular economy for its great advantages in energy saving, material saving and emission reduction. Remanufacturing process planning (RPP), which affects the performance of remanufacturing greatly, becomes increasingly important to the remanufacturing enterprises. In general, RPP is knowledge dependent. Some remanufacturing enterprises, especially small and middle-sized remanufacturing enterprises (SMREs) may have inadequate remanufacturing knowledge, which makes it difficult to implement a proper RPP. Therefore, how to share and make full use of the knowledge in different remanufacturing enterprises for RPP has become a bottleneck. To this end, a hybrid method integrating blockchain (BC) and case-based reasoning (CBR) for RPP, which can take full advantage of the remanufacturing knowledge by cross enterprises knowledge sharing, is presented in this paper. In this proposed method, a BC network was utilized to record the remanufacturing knowledge and its associated transactions to guarantee the security and reliability of knowledge sharing, and CBR was employed to retrieve and reuse the most suitable solution by analyzing the similarity between previous remanufacturing cases and new case with the nearest neighbor algorithm. Finally, a used lathe guideway was set as a case study to verify the feasibility and superiority of the proposed approach. The hybrid method has been applied in a prototype system written in HTML and JavaScript. The results indicated that the proposed approach can effectively help SMREs to obtain optimum solutions for RPP with comprehensive economic, environmental and social benefits.

Coal-to-gas heating compensation standard and willingness to make clean energy choices in typical rural areas of northern China

The implementation of the coal-to-gas (C2G) project is the key to achieving the transition to clean energy and improving air quality in rural areas in the north of China. Based on the survey data of 374 households in the town of Mishan, which is in the city of Jincheng in Shanxi Province, the C2G heating compensation standard was calculated using the minimum data method, and the key factors affecting farmers' choice of clean energy were analyzed using logistic regression models. The results were as follows. (i) The C2G project almost doubled the heating expenditure of farmers. (ii) When the compensation standard increased, the ratio of newly added C2G heating area and newly reduced pollutant emissions increased non-linearly. To achieve an environmental goal of reducing particulate matter by 40%, the government will need to compensate each household by 3.56 CNY/m2 per month, which is 1.35 times the current compensation standard. When the monthly compensation is 9 CNY/m2, the comprehensive best economic and environmental benefits can be achieved. (iii) The per capita annual income of households and the permanent population of households are the most significant variables affecting farmers' choice of clean energy. Introducing environmental perception variables, such as adaptive efficacy perception and self-efficacy perception, can help to identify the willingness of farmers to choose clean energy.

The research status and summary of adsorption and retention mechanism of polymer

The polymer flooding technology has been established a relatively scientific and complete technical theory system, after decades of development. Theoretical and field applications have shown that the key to profile control and flooding is adsorption and retention of polymer in reservoirs. When the polymer flows through the porous medium of the reservoir, it will be adsorbed and trapped in the pores of the cores, resulting in serious decrease in the permeability of water in the porous medium of the reservoir, while only a slight decrease in the permeability of oil, increasing the mobility of crude oil, effectively increasing the injected water swept volume, and thereby improving the comprehensive economic benefit of water-flooding development reservoir. In order to further understand the adsorption and retention mechanism of polymer, guide the oilfield production, and achieve the purpose of low injection of polymer and the high production of oil, in this paper, we conducted a lot of research on the adsorption and retention mechanism of polymer at home and abroad. The comprehensive analysis shows that electrostatic and mechanical trapping are the main causes of adsorption and retention, followed by polymer concentration, degree of hydrolysis, rock wettability and formation mineralized water composition.

Comprehensive Economic Benefit Evaluation Method of Coastal Enterprises Based on AHP

Wang, J. and Deng, X., 2020. Comprehensive economic benefit evaluation method of coastal enterprises based on AHP. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 24–28. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.In the process of comprehensive economic benefit evaluation, coastal enterprises need to consider the factors of economy, technology and reliability. These factors affect each other and are difficult to distinguish accurately. In this context, the AHP and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method are combined to evaluate the comprehensive economic benefits of coastal enterprises. First of all, the weight of each evaluation factor is determined by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) legally and quantitatively; then, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model based on AHP is constructed to evaluate the evaluation scheme containing uncertain factors; finally, the application of AHP in state-owned and private enterprises proves that the evaluation method is scientific and feasible.

The Convergence of Crowd Funding and Zakat System in India: An Integrated Approach for Human Welfare

The impact of the Zakat system on human welfare is well established. In India, there is a significant development in terms of localised management of zakat system. However, the targeted delivery of zakat funds, unorganised collections and lack of transparency remain a matter of concern. There is no formal institutional mechanism for efficient Zakat distribution, and problems of circularity are at mostly affecting the progress of welfare mechanisms. Problems of circularity of Zakat funds are still, largely, incoherent and practically disconnected with the mechanics of philanthropic institutions. In our theoretical model, crowdfunding for welfare scheme is being treated as the determinant, which could mediate and alter the performance of zakat welfare. Further, make it more accessible and catering to more comprehensive economic benefits for the community. In this exploratory theoretical paper, we also examine the nature of a common platform for the Zakat distribution. In addition to this, how it could reduce the scrutiny of Government intervention and proper channelisation of Islamic philanthropic activities.

Evaluation of comprehensive economic, ecological and social benefits of land improvement projects

With the rapid development of urbanization, a large number of arable land resources have been occupied, the amount of arable land has fallen sharply, and food security issues have become prominent. In order to protect arable land resources and ease the pressure on land use, the role of land improvement has become increasingly prominent. Objectively evaluating the implementation effect of land improvement projects is a prerequisite for sustainable use and development of land resources. The article expounded three aspects of the role and development process of land remediation projects, the necessity of land remediation benefit evaluation, and an overview of land remediation benefit evaluation methods.

Optimisation and application of well types for ground development of coalbed methane from no. 3 coal seam in shizhuang south block in Qinshui basin, Shanxi province, China

Determining the optimal well types for ground development of coalbed methane (CBM) is a significant premise from which to reduce construction risk during a project and improve CBM production efficiency. Based on Langmuir isotherm adsorption theory and Darcy's law, the research established mathematical models for productivity of vertical wells and stage-fractured horizontal wells, respectively. In combination with the economic evaluation model, the research proposed an optimisation method for CBM wells through productivity prediction, evaluation of comprehensive economic benefit, and well-type determination. Then, the method was verified based on practical reservoir conditions and CBM production of the developed wells in middle and south of Qinshui Basin (Shanxi Province, China). Meanwhile, charts of CBM production under influences of gas content and post-fracturing permeability using vertical wells and stage-fractured horizontal wells, respectively. The results indicate that, in the Shizhuang south block, when the gas content is less than 10 m3/t, CBM wells are not recommended; If the gas content is between 10 and 12 m3/t, stage-fractured horizontal wells can be constructed in areas where post-fracturing permeability can exceed 1.27 × 10−3μm2, faults and collapse columns were not developed, and hydrogeological conditions were not complicated; If the gas content is between 12 and 15 m3/t, stage-fractured horizontal wells can be constructed except in areas of mylonite coal; For reservoirs with gas contents between 15 and 18 m3/t, stage-fractured horizontal wells are preferred, and vertical wells can be considered in areas where post-fracturing permeability can exceed 0.91 × 10−3μm2, faults and collapse columns were not developed; In the case that the gas content exceeds 18 m3/t, both types of wells can be constructed, except in areas of mylonite coal. The results allow us to select a suitable method for selecting CBM well types under different reservoir conditions.

Research on Multi-Scenario Variable Parameter Energy Management Strategy of Rural Community Microgrid

Many rural communities in western China use renewable energy-based clean energy supply methods, and the community microgrid system of “photovoltaic + energy storage + electric heating” has been widely used. However, the energy management effect of such a typical rural community microgrid system is not very satisfactory. Aiming at the problem of the comprehensive economic operation of the microgrid system in rural communities, a method for optimizing the operation strategy parameters of typical operating scenarios is proposed, and critical parameters of the real-time energy management strategy of the microgrid system are optimized. Through the evaluation of the annual time-scale simulation results, it is proved that the proposed strategy can improve the comprehensive economic benefits of the operation of the rural community microgrid system (comprehensive economic benefits include electricity bills and energy storage system (ESS) life loss). Relying on the actual community microgrid demonstration project system in western China, a community-level microgrid energy management monitoring system is built. The control strategy proposed in this paper is applied to the demonstration system for experimental verification. The operational data of the demonstration system shows that the proposed method is feasible and effective.

Environmental performance analysis on resource multiple-life-cycle recycling system: Evidence from waste pet bottles in China

Resource multiple-life-cycle (MLC) recycling process is a complex system with closed-loop and open-loop recycling interwoven with each other, which has recieved vast attention in recent years. Resource MLC recycling has a cascading effect, one recycling process will have an impact on the next cycle, and ultimately affect the overall environmental performance of the social system. Policies will affect the flow of resource MLC recycling. How to maximize the emission reduction effect of resource MLC recycling through policy design is still under exploration. Employing MLC recycling of China's waste PET bottles as an example, this paper constructs an environmental performance accounting method based on MLCA, and simulates the overall impact of various policies such as implementing deposit system, promoting recycled materials, strenghtening environmental regulation and enhancing regeneration technology on the recycling system of PET bottles. The combined policy scenario is constructed by selecting advantageous strategies that can effectively give full play to the strengths of each policy scenario. From 2020 to 2040, the environmental performance loss value of the combined policy scenario will be 52.52% of the baseline scenario without policy support, and the cumulative emission reductions of wastewater, waste gas and solid waste will be 0.98, 3.61 and 341.39 million tonnes respectively, which can help China to achieve emission reduction targets set out in each five-year plan. In order to realize the combined policy scenario, it is suggested that the life cycle assessment (LCA) should be replaced by multiple life cycle assessment (MLCA), the effect of resource saving and environmental emission reduction in the recycling process should be accounted as accurately as possible, a top-level management organization of natural resources across multiple departments should be established as soon as possible, with the goal of maximizing the comprehensive environmental and economic benefits of MLC processes.