Efficiency Upgrading Research Articles

Efficiency upgrading of solar PVT finned hybrid system in Bangladesh: Flow rate and temperature influences

This research aims to determine the impact of mass flow rate and inflow temperature on the utility and effectiveness of solar thermal systems using fins with air in various applications in Bangladesh. This study examines a three-dimensional (3D) photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system where we analyze the behavior of a hybrid system with six aluminum sheets (1 mm thick fin as a heat exchange material) inside the heat exchanger where the air takes the direction to pass in waveform through the channels (made of aluminum) using fins. The top side of the fins is bent and affixed to the bottom of the floor of the PV panel to allow heat transfer utilizing the conduction-based method. This study selects inlet fluid mass flow rate and inflow temperature between (0.015–0.535 kg/s), and (10–40 °C) respectively, while comparing the result with experimental/numerical published data based on Bangladesh's weather conditions and applies the finite element method (FEM) to solve heat transfer equations. A brief analysis of the association among Reynolds number with pressure drop and fanning friction factor is included in this paper. Our model can be mounted on building rooftops or open fields where air velocity will be controlled mechanically; thus, it has many applications. This model can be implemented within an agricultural photovoltaic (APV) system, domestic functions, dry agricultural products, and provide heat for greenhouses. The result indicates that 302–514 W thermal energy has been produced for 0.015–0.535 kg/s. For growing inflow temperature, despite the reduction in electrical efficiency, the value of adding electrical and thermal efficiency (overall efficiency) comes with elevation. A 5 °C increase in inflow temperature leads to an overall efficiency increase of 0.33%. This study's findings can help researchers better comprehend air's properties as a heat exchanger in a developed design, and they can be applied to government and commercial projects.

Research on the Impact of Digital Finance on the Quality of Manufacturing Industry Agglomeration

In the new era of deep global economic integration and industrial structure transformation and upgrading, high-quality industrial agglomeration has become the core driving force leading the development trend. Manufacturing is the most obvious industry of industrial agglomeration. The promotion effect of digital finance on high-quality manufacturing agglomeration is mainly reflected in the scale, economic efficiency, innovation, green and industrial structure upgrading of manufacturing agglomeration. The development of digital finance plays an important role in promoting high-quality manufacturing agglomeration.

Environmental regulation, land use efficiency and industrial structure upgrading: Test analysis based on spatial durbin model and threshold effect

Environmental regulation promotes industrial structure change and regional economic transformation through land use adjustment, which gets a new way to explore the path of reforming traditional industrialization and urbanization. Based on the panel data of 128 prefecture-level cities in China 's Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2000 to 2020, this paper uses the spatial Dubin model to analyze the impact of environmental regulation and land use efficiency on the upgrading of industrial structure, and sets the panel threshold model to examine the impact of environmental regulation on the upgrading of industrial structure by affecting land use efficiency. The results show that formal environmental regulation has a significant positive spatial effect on the rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure, which are 0.1734 and 0.2854 respectively. Informal environmental regulation has a negative spillover effect on neighboring provinces but not significant. Heterogeneous environmental regulation has obvious “double threshold effect” on industrial upgrading by affecting land use efficiency. When the threshold of environmental regulation intensity is 0.0315–0.0886, environmental regulation still inhibits land use efficiency and industrial structure upgrading. When the threshold value is greater than 0.0886, environmental regulation has a positive impact on land use efficiency but not significant. With the intensity of environmental regulation from weak to strong, it will produce a double threshold effect of “strong inhibition-weak inhibition-interaction promotion” on the upgrading of manufacturing structure through the adjustment of land use efficiency.

Evaluation of the Development Vitality of New Quality Productive Forces in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region Based on Game Theory-TOPSIS Method

This paper employs a Game Theory-based Weighting and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method to comprehensively evaluate the development vitality of new quality productive forces in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. By integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Method to determine weights, a scientific evaluation index system is constructed, incorporating both expert opinions and objective data. The evaluation results indicate that Beijing excels in technological innovation and efficiency, Tianjin performs well in green development, while Hebei requires enhancement in industrial transformation and upgrading. Encompassing multiple dimensions such as technological innovation, intellectual resources, green development, production efficiency, and industrial transformation and upgrading, the assessment further validates the effectiveness of the evaluation methodology through case study analysis. The Game Theory-based Weighting approach effectively combines subjective and objective weights, enhancing the scientific rigor and accuracy of the evaluation. The results provide a decision-making basis for optimizing industrial structures, promoting regional collaboration, advancing green and low-carbon development, and improving social well-being in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In conclusion, the proposed Game Theory-based Weighting and TOPSIS evaluation model serves as a powerful tool for assessing the development vitality of new quality productive forces in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. It holds significant implications for driving regional high-quality development, achieving economic growth with high quality, and fostering sustainable social development.

Решение обратной задачи теплопередачи в конденсаторе турбоустановки со встроенным теплофикационным пучком

For power plants reduction of heat losses is one of the main ways to save energy. Energy saving issue is one of the priority areas of the development of science, engineering, and technology in the Russian Federation. Efficiency upgrading of the equipment operation are associated with the condensers of turbine units, since more than 50 percent of the fuel energy is released into the environment with cooling water. The operating efficiency of a condenser with built-in heating beams significantly affects the vacuum in the condenser and, thus, the operating efficiency of the entire unit. Diagnostics of the condition and improvement of operating modes of the condenser of a turbine unit with a built-in heating unit is an urgent scientific and practical issue. To develop a model of a condenser with a built-in heating beam, the methodology of matrix formalization of the description of heat and mass transfer processes has been used. To solve the problem of diagnosing the condition of equipment, methods of least squares and mathematical programming have been used. Within the framework of the matrix formalization methodology, the authors have developed an approach to solve inverse problems of diagnosing and designing multi-flow heat exchange equipment considering the phase transition in coolants. The authors have obtained and analyzed solutions of the inverse problem from the point of view of diagnosing the state of heat exchange equipment using the example of a turbine unit condenser with a built-in heating beam. Analysis of the calculated results has shown an adequate description by the model of the standard data for the analyzed condenser. Analysis results have shown the possibility to use the model for runtime diagnosis of the condition of power equipment and the efficient use of energy resources due to preventing ineffective modes. The proposed approach allows us to formulate and solve inverse problems of diagnosing the state of equipment of condensing units for various purposes.

Investigating Environmental Efficiency Upgrading Path of Construction Waste Based on Configuration Analysis

The rapid development of urbanization and large-scale engineering projects have led to the output of a large quantity of construction waste, which also puts great pressure on the environment. Environmental efficiency, as one of the criteria for measuring sustainable development, can be used to measure the impact of enterprises, industries, or regions on the environment when creating economic value. This research takes 30 provinces in China as samples and uses configuration analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods to analyze the combined effects of factors affecting the environmental efficiency of construction waste generation, to find upgrading paths to improve environmental efficiency. The results indicate that five configurations can promote provinces to achieve high environmental efficiency, which can be classified into three types: population density, technological innovation, and policy economy. These three configurations reveal the comprehensive impact of systematic correlations among population, technology, policy, and economic factors on environmental efficiency improvements. This research provides a certain theoretical reference for exploring the influencing factors of environmental efficiency and provides theoretical guidance for selecting different paths to improve the environmental efficiency of construction waste in regions with different social conditions.

The impact of technological advancements on carbon emissions in agriculture and rural areas

Rural agriculture is an essential aspect of carbon emission reduction and sequestration and also has the potential to achieve “carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality.” A DEA-Malmquist index model is used to estimate the technical progress of agriculture using panel data from 30 provinces from 2012 to 2021. The evolution trend and spatial correlation of agricultural and rural carbon emissions are measured based on the spatial and temporal dimensions. The dynamic panel spatial lag model was also used to empirically test the mechanism of agricultural technological progress affecting agricultural rural carbon emissions. The results show that: ① There are apparent evolutionary characteristics and spatial agglomeration of agricultural and rural carbon emissions, and carbon pollution between provinces shows a weakening trend ② Agricultural technological progress can effectively drive carbon emission reduction in agriculture and rural areas, and the improvement of the farmers’ income structure can effectively regulate the carbon emission reduction efficacy of the total factor productivity, technological efficiency, and technological upgrading ③ The negative spatial spillover effect of agricultural technological progress on carbon emissions is significant; when the introduction of the farmers’ income structure as an interaction term, the negative spatial spillover effect of agricultural technological progress is significant. The negative spatial spillover effect of agricultural technological progress on carbon emissions is significant; introducing farmers’ income structure as an interaction term weakens the negative spatial spillover effect.

Artificial Intelligence and Economic Dynamics: Shaping the Future of Industries and Markets

This article takes a comprehensive look at the critical role that artificial intelligence (AI) plays in driving economic growth across industries. Through meticulous analysis and insightful observations, it illustrates the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on production, services, education, and healthcare. In addition, it also provides an in-depth study of the core technologies driving AI adoption, the emerging scale of the AI industry, and the market share it occupies. It emphasized the positive impact of artificial intelligence on production efficiency, innovation, resource allocation and industrial upgrading, while also solving related challenges such as data privacy and job loss. Finally, feasible policy recommendations for leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence to promote sustainable economic development are proposed.

Exploring digital finance, financial regulations and carbon emission nexus: New insight from resources efficiency, industrial structure and green innovation in China

The global climate crisis is exacerbated by the massive burning of fossil energy, represented by natural resource extraction and usage. Likewise, digital finance (DF) is critical to enable financial support for reducing natural resource consumption and supporting low-carbon development. Against this backdrop, this paper analyses DF's impact on carbon emissions under financial regulatory constraints using 274 Chinese cities data from 2011 to 2020. Results reveal that DF does not present a carbon mitigation effect but rather stimulates carbon emissions. The breadth of DF use mainly materializes the carbon emission effect of DF. Realizing the carbon reduction effect of DF depends on the moderating effect of financial regulatory constraints. DF has prominent universality characteristics under the constraints of financial regulation; such effect is more evident in resource-based cities, third- and fourth-tier cities, and central and western regions. The carbon reduction effect of DF under financial regulatory constraints is mainly achieved by stimulating green innovation, resource efficiency, and industrial structure upgrading.

A Study on the Impact of Industrial Robot Development on the Economy A Case Study of China

The impact of industrial robot development on the economy has long been a subject of keen interest. This research aims to explore the role of industrial robots in the Chinese economy and the factors influencing their impact. This is achieved through an analysis of the scale of the industrial robot market, its applications, the localization process, and its effects on employment and production efficiency. In the course of this study, we review the rapid growth of the Chinese manufacturing sector and the increasing adoption of industrial robots. With technological advancements, industrial robots have achieved significant milestones in fields such as automobile manufacturing and electronics production. Subsequently, this paper delves into the repercussions of industrial robots on the Chinese economy. Data indicates that the widespread use of industrial robots has significantly enhanced production efficiency, lowered production costs, and improved product quality. Furthermore, the paper scrutinizes the progress of domestication in the industrial robot sector, highlighting China's positive strides in enhancing its capacity for independent research and development, as well as manufacturing. Consequently, the rapid development of industrial robots has exerted a multifaceted impact on the Chinese economy, fostering both production efficiency and industrial upgrading, while also giving rise to a series of employment and societal issues. In the future, China should continue to intensify its efforts in technological innovation and talent development to better address the challenges and opportunities arising from the development of industrial robots, thereby promoting sustained and healthy economic growth.

Populist party-producer group alliances and divergent developmentalist politics of minimum wages in Poland and Hungary

In the advanced peripheral economies of East-Central Europe, right-wing populist parties have increasingly politicized the dualism between larger, export-competitive foreign-owned enterprises and smaller, inward-oriented and less productive domestically owned firms. By focusing on the two most-similar cases of right-wing populist governments in the region—namely, Hungary and Poland, this paper documents a striking attempt by Poland’s Law and Justice party to use increases in the minimum wage and social security contributions as a developmentalist tool that should force domestically owned firms to achieve greater efficiency and technological upgrading. In sharp contrast, Hungary’s Fidesz party has systematically compensated minimum wage increases with cuts in employer social contributions and has refrained from assigning developmentalist aims to labor cost increases. Both parties have cultivated a cross-class electoral base and have faced electoral trade-offs in emphasizing minimum wage increases. Yet we argue—and show through a comparative historical analysis—that variation in their policy approaches stems from their distinct, electorally motivated, alliances with influential producer groups and the distinct policy quid pro quos they have struck with those groups, namely, organized labor for Law and Justice and organized business for Fidesz.

Exploring decision-making mechanisms for the metro-based underground logistics system network expansion: An example of Beijing

In facing “big-city diseases”, using urban underground space to build a stratified transportation system is crucial for the sustainable development of the social economy. In recent years, underground logistics systems (ULS) receive broad attention but developing a purpose-built ULS in megacities faces difficulties due to high costs and risks. As a cost-effective alternative, the metro-based ULS (M-ULS) initiatives provide new visions for the city-wide underground transport integration of passengers and freight. This paper explores the decision-making mechanisms of M-ULS network expansion based on multi-source data collection and mathematical programming. A model with three interrelated modules is proposed and applied in the Beijing city case. First, a monetary evaluation framework with 13 flow-based indicators is established to quantify the comprehensive benefits of M-ULS in terms of logistics economics, environment, transportation, urban space expansion, and emergency supplies. Second, correlations between metro freight service pricing and market purchase willingness are formulated based on surveys and interviews. Investment budgets and government subsidies are modeled as scenario variables affected by the project’s benefits and operating profits. Third, a mixed integer programming model is developed to optimize the multi-period facility location, allocation, and pricing during network expansion. Simulation results show that M-ULS has the ability to fully eliminate the road-based e-commerce distribution in city centers. The urban underground logistics businesses are expected to make metro operations profitable and recover the construction costs of both M-ULS and original metro lines. The project’s external benefits are equivalent to 0.8% of the city's GDP, where the most salient contributions come from breaking freight access restriction, energy-saving, efficiency upgrading, pollutant reduction, and traffic mobility improvement. Increasing funding support at the project’s early stage can significantly accelerate the system expansion. More findings related to M-ULS facility deployment, pricing mechanisms, and incentive strategies are disclosed.

Scenario prediction of energy consumption and carbon emissions in Lingang New Area based on LEAP model

Based on the statistical data of Lingang New Area in 2021, the LEAP-Lingang model was constructed, and the energy consumption and carbon emissions of Lingang New Area from 2022 to 2035 were predicted and studied by setting three scenarios: benchmark, policy and low carbon. The results show that under the policy scenario, the new area can maintain low energy consumption and carbon emission development, but fails to peak carbon emissions before 2035, and can basically peak carbon emissions around 2030 under low-carbon conditions. On the basis of existing policies, the new area can further promote clean energy development, accelerate regional industry and energy efficiency upgrading, and actively promote green power and green certificate trading to accelerate the process of carbon peaking.

Impact assessment and mechanism of water conservancy policy on carbon emission performance under the background of artificial intelligence

AbstractArtificial intelligence technology is constantly developing and changing. Due to the continuous development of technology and production of carbon emissions, various problems have occurred, forcing various regions to start promoting low‐carbon work. What kind of method can effectively and quickly improve the performance of carbon emissions has become one of the current research topics that has attracted much attention. In response to this problem, it is of great significance to study in the field of carbon emission performance improvement methods. With the in‐depth research on carbon emissions, the research on the intervention of water conservancy policies in carbon emissions has gradually been carried out, and its functional effects are of great significance to solve the problem of improving carbon emissions performance. This paper has aimed to study the impact and mechanism of water conservancy policy on carbon emission performance in the context of artificial intelligence. Through the analysis and research of the water conservancy policy under artificial intelligence, the double difference model (DID) is used to evaluate it, so that it can show the impact and mechanism on carbon emission performance, so as to solve the problem of improving carbon emission performance. This paper has analysed water policy, carbon emission performance and DID model under artificial intelligence. Its influence and mechanism have been experimentally analysed, and related theoretical formulas have been used to explain. The results have shown that the water conservancy policy has a significant and continuous driving effect on the reduction of carbon emission intensity, and its interaction coefficient under the control variable is −0.934, which is significantly negative. Further analysis of variables has shown that the energy intensity coefficient is 0.714, and the secondary industry coefficient is 0.924, which are both positive and significant. Water conservancy policies mainly reduce carbon intensity through the improvement of energy efficiency and industrial structure upgrading. It can be seen that water conservancy policies under artificial intelligence can meet the needs of improving carbon emission performance, and the level of economic growth and green development has been greatly improved.

Design procedure for orthogonal steel exoskeleton structures for seismic strengthening

The steel exoskeleton systems are widespread structures applied on the external perimeter of an existing building designed to absorb the horizontal actions providing at the same time useful support for energy efficiency upgrading and architectural restyling. The growing interest in the use of exoskeletons is due to the possibility of creating an integrated retrofit (structural, energetic, formal and functional), combining “structural safety” with the concepts of “deep renovation”. Among many solutions present in the literature, in the present work, the steel exoskeletons placed orthogonally to the facade of the existing building have been analysed; this structural typology has the advantage to allow rapid retrofit execution without interfering with the activities carried out within the existing structure. In this framework, the aim of the present work is the introduction of a detailed step-by-step design procedure for steel exoskeletons systems adopted for seismic retrofit of existing buildings looking also at the accessibility and operability aspects. Each step of the procedure was individually explained and it was applied for the design of a strengthening intervention on a real single-storey steel industrial building. The existing building is located in Nusco (Av, Italy) which is classified as in medium–high seismic intensity area which corresponds a peak ground acceleration (ag) equal to 0.238 g. Non-linear analyses were conducted to assess the existing structure’s performance as well as to verify the effectiveness of the strengthening solutions designed. The use of the exoskeleton systems allows to strongly increase both the elastic stiffness and the resistance of the investigated industrial building without interrupting its product activity.

Embedding in Global Value Chains, Innovative Human Capital and China’s Manufacturing Upgrades

Since the reform and opening up, China has actively participated in the Global Value Chain (GVC) division of labor system and achieved rapid economic growth and moderate industrial upgrading. However, with the rapid development of GVC, more and more countries are participating in the global competition, and China’s manufacturing industry is facing the serious challenge of “two-way squeeze” from the return of high-end and low-end transfer. This paper constructs a theoretical framework of GVC embedding and innovative human capital accumulation affecting manufacturing upgrading, and empirically examines the impact of GVC embedding location enhancement and innovative human capital accumulation on manufacturing upgrading from the perspective of product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The findings show that innovative human capital accumulation enhances the positive effect of GVC embedding on product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The extent of this effect varies across types of industries; for product upgrading, the positive regulating effect of innovative human capital on the positive relationship between embedded location and China’s manufacturing upgrading is most pronounced in labor-intensive industries; for efficiency upgrading, innovative human capital plays a more significant positive regulating effect in capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries. Based on the above conclusions, the Chinese government should strengthen diversified investment in high-level talents and invest in the expansion of cooperative learning platforms in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the global value chain manufacturing industry, establish and improve relevant laws and regulations on intellectual property protection and transformation of innovation results, and solve the problem of deviation of talents from optimal allocation, so as to better exert the regulating effect of innovative human capital and promote the upgrading of China's manufacturing industry.

Switching it up: The effect of energy price reforms in Oman

For the most part the public debate on fossil fuel energy subsidies has been governed by two arguments. From the position of the profit-maximizing firm, the economic rationale has gravitated towards the issue of cost-competitiveness: The reduction of emissions requires a cutback of energy consumption which, when operating through the pricing mechanism, drives up the cost of inputs; increases in fossil fuel prices may therefore harm competitiveness. On the other hand, the environmental argument stresses the importance of cost transparency and externalities. However, there has also emerged a body of research which introduces a second layer to the argument of cost-competitiveness by emphazising that an increase in energy prices may not necessarily be detrimental to economic performance. This study provides novel evidence on this insight by examining the effect of a change in fossil fuel subsidies on the manufacturing industry of an oil-rich Middle Eastern economy. Using a novel firm-level micro data set on Omani manufacturing enterprises, our work shows that increases in fossil fuel energy factor prices lead to improvements in productivity as well as efficiency and notable business upgrading. The findings in this paper indicate that subsidy reforms may not only be used to achieve environmental goals but may also drive upgrading and modernization processes of firms that can, ultimately, also improve economic performance.

Energy and economic analysis of environmental upgrading of existing office buildings

Over many decades, buildings have been recognised as a significant area contributing to the negative impacts on the environment over their lifecycle, accelerating climate change. In return, climate change also impacts on buildings with extreme heatwaves occurring more frequently and raising the earth’s temperature. The operation phase is the most extended period over a building’s lifespan. In this period, office buildings consume most energy and emit the highest amount of greenhouse gas pollution into the environment. Building upgrading to improve energy efficiency seems to be the best way to cut pollution as the existing building stock is massive. The paper presents an economic analysis of energy efficiency upgrade of buildings with a focus of office buildings. The paper identifies upgrading activities that are commonly undertaken to upgrade energy efficiency of office buildings and a case study of three office buildings in Sydney, Australia has been used to analyse the results. The upgrading activities can improve the energy performance of the case study buildings from 3 stars to 5 stars NABERS energy rating in compliance with the mandatory requirement in the Australian government’s energy policy. With the potential increase in energy price, energy efficiency upgrading will become more affordable, but currently, most of them, except solar panels and motion sensors show a negative return and would not be undertaken if they did not also contribute to higher rental income and an increased life span of the building. The upgrading discussed in the paper represent a potentially attractive alternative to demolition and building anew.

Using a heat pump at the complex of energy generation and compressed air production for mining companies

A further efficiency upgrading of thermal power plants and boiler units at mining companies is linked to increasing the initial parameters of steam. Modern power units can work with an efficiency of 55-58%. However, it is possible to make a review of additional possibilities of heat utilization at a thermal power station. It is quite possible to increase the efficiency by 2-3% more due to the heat regeneration both in this cycle and in the water treatment units. A technology has been developed that combines the ORC and the cycle of compressed air production in a single power engineering system using an improved thermal-transformer, specifically, a refrigeration-heating machine what works in thermal networks of a thermal power station. In addition, from a practical point of view, it is shown that the efficiency of thermal power plant can be improved in comparison with standard schemes. Use of heat pumps beyond heating systems of private houses is becoming increasingly common in centralized heating systems and with feed water of thermal power plants. It significantly reduces the cost of heat and electricity production. Besides, solar collectors can integrate very well into the technological scheme of heating network water at the thermal power plant.

Efficiency Upgrading for Blast Furnace Smelting through Use of Iron Ore Raw Materials with Various Fluxing Degree

Firing of various basicity pellets and sintering of Kachkanar concentrates were evaluated on a pilot plant. Mineral analysis was carried out for fired pellets and those reduced in a derivatograph in gas with composition close to that of blast furnace gas. Structure and metallurgical property dependence of pellets and agglomerate on their basicity was studied. Failure mechanism of fluxed pellets was considered. Blast furnace smelting process was developed for Kachkanar iron ore raw material with various fluxing degree, consisting of low-basic pellets, and high basic agglomerate characterized by low failure characteristics at reduction and ensuring high gas permeability in blast furnace top. Optimal values of agglomerate basicity, carbon content in burden and ferrous oxide in agglomerate, ensuring its high reducibility and adequate reduction degree index, were determined. Optimal ratio of pellets and agglomerate in a blast furnace, which implementation contributes to improved furnace performance, was detected.