Economic Input-output Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

Investigation of greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste management practices using an economic input-output life cycle analysis approach

The urban solid waste management is gaining attention due to ecological, economic, and demographic factors, emphasizing the importance of sustainable practices and infrastructure development. There are two main objectives of this work: developing an effective framework to predict the environmental impacts of alternative packaging waste collection rates and estimating the associated environmental emissions, energy consumption, and the materials required for goods and services for the case of Avcilar Municipality in Istanbul City, Türkiye. To achieve these objectives, an Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment model was implemented to assess the impacts of all associated industrial sectors. The results showed that as the amount of packaging waste collection increases, the top two sectors that are responsible for the most emissions are Oil and Gasoline Production and Electricity Production and Supply sectors. In addition, the economic analysis results of the study show that as the packaging waste collection rate increases, the unit packaging waste collection cost decreases. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the environmental emissions of packaging waste management strategies. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of packaging waste management in reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions and promoting more sustainable waste management practices. Policymakers and waste management stakeholders can utilize this framework to identify strategies that minimize environmental impacts and carbon footprints, thereby fostering a transition towards more sustainable waste management options.

Higher adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH Diet) is associated with lower greenhouse gases and land use from protein foods

IntroductionThe average American diet is high in red and processed meats which increases one's risk for chronic diseases and requires more land and water to produce and yields greater greenhouse gases (GHG) compared to other protein foods. Reduction of red and processed meat intake, such as seen with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH diet), could benefit human and environmental health.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to predict the environmental sustainability of the DASH diet by evaluating the GHG, land use, and water withdrawals from protein foods within the self-selected diets of people who were encouraged to follow the DASH diet.MethodsDietary data was collected from 380 Midwesterners aged 35-70 years old with hypertension using the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour (ASA 24) Recall System. DASH diet adherence was measured using a nutrient-based DASH score. GHG, land use, and water withdrawals were obtained using Carnegie Mellon University's Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (eiolca.net) using the Purchaser model (cradle-to-consumer). Multiple linear regressions were used to view associations between individual DASH nutrient scores and environmental impacts of total, animal, and plant protein foods.ResultsDiets that met DASH diet guidelines, as indicated by higher individual DASH nutrient scores, were associated with less GHG and land use from total and animal protein foods but more GHG and land use from plant-protein foods, with a few exceptions. The pattern was not clear for water withdrawals. Diets with the greatest adherence had around 25–50% lower GHG and land use from total protein foods than diets with the lowest adherence. Changes may be due to decreased consumption of total and animal protein foods, selection of animal protein foods with lower environmental impacts, and increased consumption of plant protein foods.ConclusionAdhering to the DASH diet can promote the consumption of less environmentally demanding protein foods resulting in lower GHG and land use from protein foods. However, claims regarding the sustainability of the entire dietary pattern cannot be determined based off the current study. Regardless, it is evident that environmental impacts should be considered alongside health impacts when selecting, promoting, or recommending a dietary pattern.

Performance-based seismic resilience and sustainability assessment of coastal RC bridges in aggressive marine environments

Corrosion-induced deterioration of material properties can noticeably affect the seismic performance of coastal reinforced concrete (RC) bridges in aggressive marine environments, causing significant adverse economic and environmental consequences post extreme events. This study systematically investigates the time-dependent seismic performance, resilience, and sustainability of coastal RC bridges. For that purpose, a three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear finite element (FE) framework is developed and combined with the formulation of performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) and an economic input-output life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Seismic resilience and robustness of the coastal RC bridges are subsequently evaluated in terms of the post-earthquake repair cost, repair time, and carbon footprint quantified by CO2. Within this framework, additional analyses are conducted to explore possible retrofit measures, including the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement on the sustainability and resilience of the retrofitted RC bridges. For the presented scenario, it is shown that wrapping bridge columns with FRP composites can effectively increase the moment capacity, thus improving resilience and sustainability by reducing as much as 650 Mg of CO2 for this specific bridge. Overall, the derived insights highlight the need for sustainability, resilience, and potential retrofit analysis of coastal RC bridges in seismically active regions affected by corrosion-induced deterioration.

A Review on Economic Input-Output Analysis in the Environmental Assessment of Electricity Generation

This paper aims to review one of the least used, but no less important, approaches in the assessment of the environmental implications of electricity generation: the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA). This methodology is a top-down approach intertwined with the environmental satellite accounts provided by the national statistical office. Through the use of economic input-output (IO) tables and industrial sector-level environmental and energy data, the EIO-LCA analysis allows for broad impact coverage of all sectors directly and indirectly involved with electricity generation. In this study, a brief overview of this methodology and the corresponding assumptions is presented, as well as an updated review of the different applications of the EIO-LCA approach in electricity generation, suggesting a possible classification of the many studies developed in this context. The different ways of overcoming the problem of disaggregation in the electricity sector are also addressed, namely by considering different IO table formats (i.e., symmetric or rectangular tables). This is a particularly relevant feature of our review, as the way in which electricity generation is modeled can result in different calculations of the costs and benefits of environmental policies. In this context, this paper further contributes to the literature by explaining and providing examples of distinct approaches to modeling the electricity sector in IO models on a detailed level.

Driving forces and variation in water footprint before and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Fujian Province of China

The COVID-19 outbreak has injured the global industrial supply chain, especially China as the world's largest manufacturing base. Since 2020, China has implemented a rigorous lockdown policy, which has sternly damaged sectoral trade in export-oriented coastal areas. Fujian Province, which mainly processes imported materials, has a more profound influence. Although the COVID-19 lockdown has had some detrimental consequences on the world economy, it also had some favorable benefits on the global ecology. Previous studies have shown that the lockdown has altered the physical water quantity and quality, but the lack of total, virtual, and physical water research that combines water quantity and water quality simultaneously to pinpoint the subject and responsibility of water resources consumption and pollution. This research quantified the physical, virtual, and total water consumption and water pollution among 30 sectors in Fujian Province based on the theory of water footprint and the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment model. SDA model was then used to investigate the socioeconomic elements that underpin variations in the water footprint. The results show that after the lockdown, the physical water quantity and the physical grey WF in Fujian Province decreased by 2.6 Gm3 (−6.7%) and 0.4 Gm3 (−1.3%) respectively. The virtual water quantity decreased by 2.3 Gm3 (−4.5%), whereas the virtual grey WF rose by 1.5 Gm3 (4.3%). The total water quantity dropped by 3.3 Gm3 (−4.9%), while the grey WF increased by 1.2 Gm3 (2.5%), i.e. the COVID-19 lockdown decreases physical water quantity and improves local water quality. More than 50% of the water comes from virtual water trade outside the province (virtual water is highly dependent on external), and around 60% of the grey WF comes from physical sewage in the province. The COVID-19 lockdown reduced water outsourcing across the province (paid nonlocally decrease) but increased pollution outsourcing (paid nonlocally increase). And gross capital formation's contribution to the growth in water footprint will continue to rise. As a result, this study suggested that Fujian should take advantage of sectoral trade network to enhance the transaction of green water-intensive intermediate products, reduce the physical water consumption of blue water-intensive sectors, and reduce the external dependence on water consumption. Achieving the shared responsibility of upstream and downstream water consumption and reducing the external dependence on water in water-rich regions is crucial to solving the world's water problems. This research provides empirical evidence for the long-term effects of COVID-19 lockdown on the physical and virtual water environment.

Potential for reducing CO2 emissions from passenger cars in Japan by 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality

For Japan to achieve its targets for carbon neutrality and reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, decarbonization of road transport is essential. Japan regards next-generation vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and fuel cell vehicles, as a key means of reducing carbon emissions from road transport. Four scenarios were proposed to predict the potential carbon emissions reduction of passenger car use in 2030: baseline, business-as-usual, government's target-based, and aggressive scenarios. Economic input–output life cycle assessment was used to evaluate potential CO2 emissions, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, and photochemical oxidation associated with passenger cars. In this study, all environmental impacts were calculated using the multi-regional environmentally extended supply and use/input–output database by applying the CML 2001 impact assessment method. The findings indicate that PHEVs have the lowest CO2 emissions per km traveled, followed by HEVs and BEVs. The prediction for carbon emissions from passenger cars shows that adopting electrified vehicles, such as HEVs, PHEVs, and BEVs could help decarbonize the passenger car sector. The population of vehicles, vehicle manufacturing, well-to-wheel cycle of fuel, and fuel economy will significantly contribute to CO2 emissions. Finally, this study recommends policies to steer Japan into achieving its goal of carbon neutrality.

Study on Embodied CO2 Emissions and Transfer Pathways of Chinese Industries

Industries with low direct CO2 emissions downstream in the industry chain have significant carbon emissions upstream, which is similar to how carbon leakage in interprovincial regions and international commerce affects these regions. Due to the interchange and transit of goods, there are intermediate production and consumption processes across industrial sectors. The CO2 emissions produced by each sector are insufficient to satisfy the sector’s ultimate demand. It will also move along with the industrial chain. Investigating embodied carbon transfer across industrial sectors is crucial to strike a balance between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. Locating the key sectors to reduce carbon emissions provides a basis for formulating resource conservation and environmental protection policies. In this study, the industrial sector divides into 24 subsectors, and the embodied CO2 emissions and carbon transfer pathways of each are examined from the viewpoint of the industrial chain using the Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and the Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM). The indirect CO2 emissions downstream of the industrial chain are higher than the direct carbon dioxide emissions, and the intersectoral carbon transfer constitutes a significant part of the total carbon emissions of the industrial sector. The upstream sector of the industry chain has a significantly higher direct carbon emission intensity than the indirect CO2 emission intensity, while the downstream sector is the opposite. The production and supply of electricity, gas and water, and raw material industries transfer significant CO2 to other sectors. The manufacturing industry is mainly the inflow of CO2. CO2 flows from the mining industry to the raw material industry and from the raw material industry to the manufacturing industry constitute the critical pathway of carbon transfer between industries. A study on the embodied carbon emissions and transfer paths of various industrial sectors is conducive to clarifying the emission reduction responsibilities and providing a basis for synergistic emission reduction strategies.

Corporate green bonds and carbon performance: An economic input–output life cycle assessment model‐based analysis

AbstractUsing a proprietary database of corporate green bonds issued in China, we investigate the effect of green bond issuance on firm‐level carbon performance and its impact mechanism. We utilize the Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO‐LCA) to evaluate corporate carbon performance and use all the 1074 firms that issued corporate bonds in 2009–2018 as the sample group. The empirical results reveal that the companies did not effectively achieve the expected carbon performance improvement post‐issuance. The mechanism analysis suggests that this might have been because the primary motivation for the companies to issue green bonds is to ease their financial constraints. Environmental regulations (at the national and industrial level) play a positive role in the relations between corporate green bond issuance and carbon performance. Overall, the findings raise an alert on the value of Chinese corporate green bonds in climate change mitigation and indicate the need for information disclosure and carbon performance‐linked supervision on green bond issuers.

Measuring structural characteristics and evolutionary patterns of an industrial carbon footprint network: A social network analysis approach

AbstractThe formation of an industrial network is inevitable because an industrial structure evolves to a higher level. The continuous material exchange among sectors creates a path for the embodied carbon in products to flow freely among industries. With the gradual complication of industrial networks, however, the emission reduction behavior of sectors not only becomes rooted in individual conduct, but also originates from the interaction forces between individuals. Therefore, carbon management in industries in the real economy needs to be explored from the perspective of these complex networks. On the basis of these considerations, this study utilized a hybrid model, the Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment model, to construct the carbon footprint network of China's industries in 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017. We also applied social network analysis to quantify the structural characteristics and evolutionary patterns of the network. Results showed that the transmission efficiency of resources and the subgroup‐integrated degree of the actors within the carbon footprint network were excellent, which was conducive to coordinated carbon emission reduction of these sectors from a network perspective. Agriculture and services were the engines driving sector‐wide carbon emission reduction through links within the network. Furthermore, some sectors, such as transportation and the warehousing industry, basic chemicals and chemical products manufacturing, and metal smelting and rolling processing industry, act as bridges and brokers. These sectors are keys to ensuring network cohesion and reducing the risk of network fragmentation. Finally, the industrial block network presented a hierarchical structure of a core–edge network. The network followed a trend of structural changes in which the network core became increasingly clear, and the network distribution pattern gradually concentrated on a single block. This finding revealed a new pathway for collaborative carbon mitigation in the industry from the perspective of the industrial community.

Taxing the heat out of the U.S. food system

This article examines the effectiveness and consequences of using carbon taxes on food purchases to contribute to achieving the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) reduction target for 2025. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey data and the elasticities derived from the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model, we simulate multiple uncompensated or revenue-neutral carbon tax policy scenarios on different food groups. We apply a carbon tax rate that is proportional to the GHGEs generated throughout each foods lifecycle, computed using Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment. We evaluate the impact of the tax on 1) quantity of GHGEs mitigated and social welfare; 2) nutritional outcomes; 3) distributional implications. Our results show that carbon taxes on food purchases decrease GHGEs from the agricultural and food sectors by 1.9 to 4.8 percent and generate up to $839 billion 2012 dollars social welfare gain per year due to avoided GHGEs-related external costs. However, tradeoffs exist among climate, nutritional and distributional goals. For instance, the most effective policy in reducing GHGEs is regressive and generates the highest loss in consumer surplus per kilogram of emission reduction. Moreover, the quantity of health-promoting nutrients falls significantly in almost all scenarios. Overall, our findings show that the use of carbon taxes alone may not be the most effective way to reduce GHGEs from U.S. food purchases. Additional policies, such as subsidies on less carbon intensive foods, may be needed to encourage consumers of all income level to adopt more sustainable diets without increasing health and social inequalities.

Analysis of Gray Water Footprint Changes and Driving Forces Caused by Sectoral Trade in Southeast China

Evaluation of gray water footprint (GWF) flow and its driving mechanism is imperative to trace the source of pollution and formulate the pollution responsibility-sharing strategies to reduce the shortage of water. We quantify the GWF of 22 sectors in Fujian Province in 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017, using an economic input–output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model, and establish a five-factor structural decomposition analysis (SDA) model to track the driving forces of the GWF. The results show that the animal husbandry sector of the primary industry is the largest outsourcing sector, outsourcing an average of 7 Bm3 GWF by other regions annually. The construction sector is an industry with more pollution outsourcing at the production end, and it should take additional pollution responsibility for its upstream sector. The changes of the GWF in Fujian Province are mainly driven by the final demand per capita and GWF outsourcing. The sector most affected by force drivers is construction, followed by machinery and equipment manufacturing, and other services. This study better reflects the sectoral pollution outsourcing situation by assessing sectoral GWF flow and net inflow GWF caused by sector trading. We aim at identifying new sectors of water pollution and sharing the pollution responsibility between upstream and downstream, providing a new perspective to analyze water quality problems in water-rich regions. Moreover, our findings imply an urgent need to develop policies related to water pollution transfer for various sectors from a whole supply chain perspective.

The Impacts on Greenhouse Gases Emission during the COVID-19 lockdown in the US: An Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment

The SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic (COVID-19) is causing disruptions to energy, finance, tourism, and trade industries all around the world. These disruptions are the result of quarantining and lockdowns that cause reductions in production and consumptions. This change in production and consumption rates has environmental consequences. This study investigates the environmental effects of COVID-19 lockdown in the United States by Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (IO-LCA) approach. The analysis is based on extraction of economic data in the US. The simulated results are based on different durations and strategies of lockdown measures. Among all industrial categories, utilities, which include power generation and supply, water supply, and natural gas supply sectors, saw the most significant reductions by approximately 110 kt CO2-eq in the first quarter and 265 kt CO2-eq in the second quarter of 2020. The assessed reductions were the results of both direct emission reductions caused by the shutdown of certain industries and also indirect emission reductions from upstream industries. The proposed methodology provides an effective guideline to predict the greenhouse gases emissions, which can be used as a prediction method for different regions in the world.

Logging Industry in the United States: Employment and Profitability

This study analyzed logging industry employment and profitability in recent decades in the U.S. based on Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), and Timber Product Output (TPO) Reports. The logging industry in the U.S. has experienced reduced employment with an aging workforce over the past two decades. The changes might be related to increased productivity from mechanization, combined with reduced demand for logging, but estimates of capital and labor productivity for logging are not available. To overcome the data limitation, a simple and cost-effective economic model, Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) Model, was applied to estimate the profitability of the entire industry at a state level. It was found that the reduced demand and increased operating costs led to poor profitability and a wave of closures of logging firms but also accelerated the adjustment in the logging industry. Serious challenges facing the forestry sector include the lack of an effective monitoring tool for the logging industry, structural shortage of logging labor, and rising operating costs.

Empirical analysis of energy consumption transfer in China's national economy from the perspective of production and demand.

Given the context of the global energy shortage and the deterioration of the ecological environment, this paper uses industrial linkage as a starting point to deeply explore the energy consumption of different sectors and its transfer characteristics. First, a dual evaluation of energy consumption in various sectors is conducted from the perspectives of production and demand to realize an integrated analysis from the energy consumption perspective. Second, based on industrial linkage, the economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model is used to quantify the net transfer of energy consumption and identify the transfer of energy consumption pressure embodied in economic activities by various sectors. Finally, the energy consumption of various sectors is decomposed, and the transfer flow of energy consumption is measured to accurately quantify the degree of linkage in the energy consumption of sectors. The results show that the current direct energy consumption intensity of various sectors in China is continuously decreasing, but this decrease is insufficient to reverse the upward trend in energy consumption demand. From the perspective of production and demand, non-energy industrial sector is a key sector for reducing energy consumption, and the intersectoral linkage between the subsectors caused by product trade flows has a greater impact on the level of direct and embodied energy consumption. Direct and embodied energy consumption in the same sector can be ranked quite differently, and their levels may not be equal. Energy sector is the main net outflow sector of energy consumption, and the level of its direct energy consumption is much higher than that of its embodied energy consumption. It is worth noting that the scale of embodied energy consumption in construction industry is much higher than the scale of direct energy consumption. Construction is the sector with the greatest net inflow of energy consumed and is the main driver of the energy consumption transfer of energy sector and non-energy industrial sector.

Comparison between Different Hybrid Life Cycle Assessment Methodologies: A Review and Case Study of Biomass-based p-Xylene Production

Two common life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are process LCA and economic input–output LCA, which suffer from truncation error and aggregation error, respectively. Many hybridization techniques a...

An Input-Output Approach for Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Cement Production

To evaluate the energy consumption and global warming impact of cement production at macro level, this work provided the 10 sectors Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) based on 1990 - 2010 Thailand national economic data. The estimating Thailand gross domestic product (GDP) and the environmental impacts from 1990 to 2010 were used to project the energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of cement production chains in Thailand for 2015 - 2030. The results of EIO-LCA analysis found that the main energy input of the cement production was mainly associated with the use of fossil energy, including, coal, diesel, lignite, and electricity, which accounted for 74 % ( 93 % in years 1995 - 2010 and 58 % ( 59 % in years 2015 - 2030 of the total energy used. The highest contributor to the total GHG emissions of cement production was from diesel combustion emissions by 58 % ( 65 % in years 1995 - 2010 and 44.2 % ( 44.5 % in years 2015 - 2030. This was because various types of energy inputs were included in petroleum refineries sector. In comparison with the Process LCA, the main contributions of energy used (84 %) and GHG emissions (91 %) of cement production were from the limestone calcination in clinker production and fossil fuels used. The diesel consumption were excluded from the calculation because the amount of diesel used and combustion was relatively small. The obtained results showed that the disaggregated for the desired level analysis was particularly insufficient. The EIO-LCA analysis might be used for providing alternative way to estimate the environmental burdens associated with the life cycle of products at the macro level and relatively inexpensive.

Life cycle assessment of novel heat exchanger for dry cooling of power plants based on encapsulated phase change materials

Cooling systems in power plants account for approximately 40% of total freshwater withdrawals in the U.S. Due to dwindling access to freshwater resources worldwide, continued operation of wet cooling systems poses a significant engineering challenge. To reduce water consumption, a novel air-cooled heat exchanger has been developed using encapsulated phase change material (EPCM) for dry cooling of power plants. Compared to traditional finned-tube air-cooled condensers, this novel EPCM heat exchanger improves the heat transfer coefficient and power plant efficiency while reducing the pressure drop and cooling system cost. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) are used to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of EPCM heat exchangers from cradle-to-grave and to compare them to wet cooling and traditional air-cooled condensers. A thermodynamic model is developed to predict the EPCM heat exchanger performance for plant-scale operations. Equipment and construction costs for heat exchangers are estimated based on design parameters obtained from the thermodynamic model. Both process-LCA and economic-input–output LCA are used to simulate and test the sensitivity of EPCM alternatives with commercial wet and dry cooling technologies. We investigate options for EPCM end-of-life management upon retiring the heat exchanger and construct a process-based LCA model to estimate a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions credit for recycling the EPCM. The life cycle GHG emission of the novel dry cooling technology is 1.16 kg CO2 eq./MWh compared with the 1.1–4.3 kg CO2 eq./MWh reported for commercial dry cooling technologies and consumes 9.5 L/MWhe of water for cradle-to-gate life cycle, which is significantly lower than that of wet cooling systems. The TEA shows many advantages of EPCM cooling technology over the state-of-art dry cooling solutions. Overall, the EPCM heat exchanger provides a better alternative compared to existing dry cooling and wet cooling technologies.

Identification of leading hazardous waste generating industries with high improvement potential in Spain

This paper employs Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis to attribute total (direct and indirect) hazardous waste generation to the different industries and to connect total hazardous waste generation to the value added generated by each industry in Spain. In difference with previous studies we include all the industries of the economy and we focus on one specific type of environmental burden: the generation of hazardous waste. The results show that there is a very high concentration in total hazardous waste generation: only three industries accounted for almost 80% of total hazardous waste generation. This concentration also affects the type of hazardous waste generated. Thus, we find two main types of waste that account for 93% of total hazardous waste. Overall, the greatest hazardous waste generating industries are also the least efficient ones and exhibit a high improvement potential. Prevention measures directed to these industries should be implemented.

Comparative assessment on two full-scale food waste treatment plants with different anaerobic digestion processes

Single-phase anaerobic digestion (SPAD) and two-phase anaerobic digestion (TPAD) are compared based on two full-scale food waste treatment plants using a hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) method combining process LCA and economic input output LCA. Plant S uses a SPAD process with thermal pretreatment and waste oil recovery, while Plant T adopts a TPAD process without pretreatment. Biogas yield, electricity consumption, and waste oil recovery are the three vital factors determining environmental benefits, and digested wastewater treatment is another key factor influencing economic performance. Plant S has 8.2% higher biogas yield than Plant T, but it also consumes steam and 1.7 times electricity on its pretreatment unit. Plant S can also recover waste oil for biodiesel production, reduce methane emission from landfill sites, and offset the negative effect of high energy consumption. As a consequence, Plant S has a carbon emission of −158.15 kg CO2-eq/t, a cumulative energy demand (CED) of −1868 MJ/t, and an energy efficiency of 64.6%; while the three values are −127.0 kg CO2-eq/t, 1713 MJ/t, and 59.2% for Plant T. Plant T achieves 66% higher reduction of acidic gases than Plant S due to the substitution effect of grid electricity, and it also gets 10% higher revenue with less cost. In the hypothetical optimal scenarios, Plant T should be upgraded by combining thermal pretreatment to enhance biogas yield and waste oil recovery, and the two plants should recycle digested effluent through land use other than traditional wastewater treatment. Thus, their carbon emissions and CEDs could decline to −326 CO2-eq/t and −2514 MJ/t for Plant and −243 kg CO2-eq/t and −1973 MJ/t for Plant S.

Sectoral changing patterns of China’s green GDP considering climate change: An investigation based on the economic input-output life cycle assessment model

Abstract The rapid growth of energy-intensive and high-emission industries has underpinned China’s economic boom over the past few decades. Since her economic development entered the new normal phase in 2013, China has faced the challenge of mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while achieving medium-high economic growth. Transforming the economic development pattern and restructuring the economy is a principal solution, and one important prerequisite is discerning great sectoral disparities of GHG emissions and corresponding environmental costs because the diversity of characteristics among different sectors causes the pollutants that are discharged to vary. Hence, this paper aims to assess the environmental costs of China’s total and sectoral GHG emissions. Based on the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts and using the economic input-output life cycle assessment model, this study calculates the green GDP and green output value of 27 sectors to reflect the environmental costs of GHG emissions in China during 1991–2016. The findings are as follows: (1) while China’s direct GHG emissions increased from 3,040.60 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2eq) to 10,641.10 MtCO2eq during 1991–2014, declining trends were observed in the total and 16 sectors’ direct GHG emissions in the subsequent two years; (2) although the ratios of direct GHG emissions to total GHG emissions in most sectors decreased, total GHG emissions in eight sectors rose first and then fell, and in 15 sectors continued to rise; (3) China’s green GDP grew from 2,003.88 billion Chinese Yuan to 26,245.25 billion Chinese Yuan during 1991–2016, and the difference between China’s GDP and green GDP decreased from 2.73% to 1.02%; and (4) differences between the output value and green output value decreased in over 20 sectors. Finally, some policy implications are given from the perspective of some key sectors of the Manufacturing industry, Agricultural sector, and Transport, storage, and post sector.