Energy Structure Optimization Research Articles

Measuring the Nexus Between Economic Development and Environmental Quality Based on Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Comparative Study Between China and Germany for the Period of 2000–2017

With the rapid development of China’s economy, the problem of environmental pollution has become increasingly serious. Given that China’s current environmental quality threatens its long-term sustainable economic development, certain attention must be paid to curb environmental pollution in China. As a developed country with a high level of environmental quality in the world, Germany has experienced “Treatment after Pollution”. To promote China’s environmental quality, this study considers the historical lessons offered by Germany and examines the relationship between environmental pollution and economic development as well as the effective environmental governance mode in Germany and China.Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China and 16 states in Germany from 2000 to 2017, this study quantitatively investigates the nexus of economic growth and environmental pollution in the two countries. Empirical results demonstrate that, during the sample period of 2000–2017, the emissions of four pollutants in both countries increase initially and then decrease as the economy grows. The levels of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) that correspond to the emission peaks of sulfur dioxide,carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides are comparable in the two countries. Some economic and industrial policies may help to accelerate the occurrence of the turning point, including the following: decreasing the importance of a secondary industry; taking full advantage of the structural and technical effects brought about by foreign trade; reducing the reliance on non-clean energy; and carrying out more effective energy policies. In this regard,coordinating environmental policies with economic growth, formulating strict environmental policies, improving industrial structure, optimizing energy structure, and improving the quality of foreign trade are pivotal for China’s sustainable development goals.

Development and prospect of environmental treatment and ecological restoration of closed coal mines

The exploitation of coal mine resources has greatly contributed to China’s economic development, but it has also caused damage to the surrounding ecological environment. With the adjustment and optimization of the national energy structure, many small or unqualified mines have been closed in recent years. Thus, the environmental treatment and ecological restoration of these closed coal mines need to be carried out urgently. In this study, the causes of closed coal mines are analyzed from the perspective of macro policy. Then, the key technical difficulties of comprehensive and systematic restoration and treatment of geological and ecological problems are discussed from multiple perspectives. Finally, the successful restoration and treatment cases of closed coal mines locally and globally are showed. The findings of this study provide ideas and methods for ecological environment restoration and management of closed coal mines.

Hydrogen bonding from crystalline water mediates the hydration/dehydration of mequitazine glycolate

Comparison of crystal structures, dynamic vapor adsorption measurements, lattice energy calculations and structural optimization of the dehydration model were used to evaluate the hydration-dehydration behavior.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ СОЗДАНИЯ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИ БЕЗОПАСНОЙ ТЭС НА ТВЕРДЫХ КОММУНАЛЬНЫХ ОТХОДАХ

The article consider the main stages in the selection of an environmentally safe structure of thermal and energy solid municipal waste utilization as part of the feasibility study. The article analyses the assessed in-fluence of the fuel component on the structure of a waste-to-energy plant (WTE plant). Recommendations on how to select the optimal energy structure of WTE plant have been developed, an approach to the analy-sis of the ash and slag management scheme has been investigated. The approach to the choice of the struc-ture of the WTE plant gas purification system is selected. The article reveals significant differences in the approach to determining the structure of the energy TPP and WTE plant and provides recommendations on the ways to reduce capi-tal costs while maximizing the extraction of secondary resources. The methodology of the study consists in the analysis of foreign experience in the operation of thermal power plants on MSW with various structural schemes, presented in the literature, reports on the operation of energy complexes, passports for installa-tions. The purpose of creating the methodology is to determine the projected environmental and energy in-dicators of the projected WTE plant and, taking into account external and internal factors of the project, identify possible risks of the project at the stage of feasibility study.

How Did the Changes in Industrial and Energy Structure Influence Energy Consumption in Shandong, China?

The Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Shandong ranks third in China, but its energy and coal consumption rank first. However, in the past studies, no effort was made to analyze the influence of Shandong energy conservation and emission reduction policies on energy consumption changes. To make up for this gap, the revised divisia index and the energy consumption structure methods were used in this study to analyze the driving force of changes in energy consumption in Shandong from 2005 to 2016. The results of this research show that: Firstly, the control of energy-intensive industries and strong energy conservation policies had become the main driving forces for energy density reduction. Secondly, the energy structure optimization policies only increased the proportion of hydro, nuclear and new energy production to replace a proportion of oil, but could not effectively reduce the consumption and proportion of coal. The continuous increase in coal consumption offset the energy conservation effect by key industries during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period. It is clear that a reduction in the amount of coal used and an increase in the proportion of hydro, nuclear and new energy (especially in the industrial sector) is at the core of the energy problems in Shandong. Policy recommendations are proposed that are based on the findings of this study.

Economic analysis of auxiliary service by V2G: City comparison cases

Due to the increasing realization of environmental protection and energy structure optimization, the scale of electric vehicles (EV) is gradually expanding. However, the scale-up of EV brings new challenges about the security and economics of power system. The use of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) can not only reduce the electrical load, but also provide additional benefits for EV owners. This paper presents a value analysis model for EV aggregators to participate in ancillary services by using V2G in Shanghai and Chengdu. The potential regulatory capacity and economic benefits of V2G are analyzed based on the various demands and charge prices in different area. The results show that V2G can obviously mitigate the load pressure and save charge cost for EV owners both in Shanghai and Chengdu.

Problems and prospects of creating an environmentally friendly WtE plant

The main stages in choosing the optimal technology for thermal treatment of MSW (municipal solid wastes) at the stage of feasibility study are discussed. The analysis of the influence of the fuel component on the structure of the WTE plant is carried out. Recommendations have been developed for choosing the optimal energy structure of a WTE plant, ash and slag management schemes, and thermal utilization technologies that are most suitable for the location of the facility. A study was conducted on the influence of the selected structure of the energy complex on the decision to choose a gas treatment system. A comparison of criteria for choosing the structure of the energy complex at the MSW in comparison with the energy thermal power plant (TPP) is made.Due to the economic and environmental problems that appear during the construction of WTE plants, when it comes to waste scheme for cities and regions, it is recommended to use a scheme with the maximum use of secondary raw materials from waste and thermal treatment only of residues that are not subject to recycling, from which the fractions containing the largest amount of pollutants (RDF fuel) are extracted. The technology using deep recovery of secondary raw materials will simplify the structure of WTE plant, reduce capital and operating costs, and most importantly reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere with flue gases, ash and slag.

Combined Optimization Prediction Model of Regional Wind Power Based on Convolution Neural Network and Similar Days

With the continuous optimization of energy structures, wind power generation has become the dominant new energy source. The strong random fluctuation of natural wind will bring challenges to power system dispatching, so it is necessary to predict wind power. In order to improve the short-term prediction accuracy of regional wind power, this paper proposes a new combination prediction model based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and similar days analysis. Firstly, the least square fitting and batch normalization (BN) are used to preprocess the data, and then the recent historical wind power data set for CNN is established. Secondly, the Pearson correlation coefficient and cosine similarity combination method are utilized to find similar days in the long-term data set, and the prediction model based on similar days is constructed by the weighting method. Finally, based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, a combined forecasting model is established. The results show that the combined model can accurately predict the future short-term wind power curve, and the prediction accuracy is improved to different extents compared to a single method.

Direct and indirect effects of climate aid on carbon emissions in recipient countries

Abstract Climate aid refers to official development assistance relevant for mitigation and adaptation, and it is an important guarantee for action against climate change. Meanwhile, evidences suggesting that a large portion of climate aid flows to energy areas and the resulting energy restructuring is highly associated with carbon emissions in recipient countries. Focusing on the complicated relations among climate aid, energy structure and carbon emissions in recipient countries, we aim to investigate the influencing mechanism of climate aid. According to the theoretical analysis, we suppose that climate aid has both direct and indirect carbon reduction effects on recipient countries. And on the empirical analysis, based on the national panel data of 52 recipient countries from 1980 to 2016, the mediation model is used to empirically-test the above dual carbon reduction mechanism. In the direct path, climate aid can directly reduce carbon emissions by monitoring their implementation effect and increasing carbon reduction resources in recipient countries. As for the indirect effect, climate aid with low-carbon technology attribute can promote the gradual substitution of clean energy for traditional fossil energy to optimize energy structure, and ultimately reduce the carbon emissions in recipient countries. This study provides useful enlightenments for fulfilling the climate aid commitments, better utilizing climate aid, building low-carbon energy systems, and exploring broader environmental benefits.

Energy structure evaluation and optimization in BRICS: A dynamic analysis based on a slack based measurement DEA with undesirable outputs

Improving the energy efficiency of emerging economies is the core of achieving efficient global development. This paper innovatively applies the slack based DEA to analyze the energy structure and energy-saving potential of BRICS countries in the past three decades. The results of empirical analysis show that, first, Brazil and Russia ranked first and last with the average efficiency of 0.5941 and 0.0921 respectively in the 30-year observation period. Second, the slack variable of each country is very large. For example, in 2018, India needs to reduce 436.17 Mtoe coal consumption, 105.65 Mtoe oil consumption, 25.39 Mtoe natural gas consumption, and 2038.05 million tons of carbon emissions to reach an effective state. Third, the reasons for inefficiency vary from country to country. Brazil, Russia, and India have low levels of energy management and lack of advanced key technologies. China and South Africa are faced with the problems of scale diseconomy and unreasonable resource allocation structure. The research results are helpful to understand the changing trend of energy efficiency and the reasons for low efficiency in BRICS, and can provide a reference for the formulation of scientific development strategy, which has important practical significance.

Optical, Radiative and Chemical Characteristics of Aerosol in Changsha City, Central China

Industrial pollution has a significant effect on aerosol properties in Changsha City, a typical city of central China. Therefore, year-round measurements of aerosol optical, radiative and chemical properties from 2012 to 2014 at an urban site in Changsha were analyzed. During the observation period, the energy structure was continuously optimized, which was characterized by the reduction of coal combustion. The aerosol properties have obvious seasonal variations. The seasonal average aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm ranged from 0.49 to 1.00, single scattering albedo (SSA) ranged from 0.93 to 0.97, and aerosol radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) ranged from −24.0 to 3.8 W m−2. The chemical components also showed seasonal variations. Meanwhile, the scattering aerosol, such as organic carbon, SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+ showed a decrease, and elemental carbon increased. Compared with observation in winter 2012, AOD and TOA decreased by 0.14 and −1.49 W m−2 in winter 2014. The scattering components, SO42−, NO3− and NH4+, decreased by 12.8 μg m−3 (56.8%), 9.2 μg m−3 (48.8%) and 6.4 μg m−3 (45.2%), respectively. The atmospheric visibility and pollution diffusion conditions improved. The extinction and radiative forcing of aerosol were significantly controlled by the scattering aerosol. The results indicate that Changsha is an industrial city with strong scattering aerosol. The energy structure optimization had a marked effect on controlling pollution, especially in winter (strong scattering aerosol).

Uncovering CO2 emission drivers under regional industrial transfer in China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt: a multi-layer LMDI decomposition analysis

With the relocation of heavy industries moving from downstream region to upstream and midstream regions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), it is critical to encourage coordinated low carbon development in different regions within the YREB. This paper uncovers the evolution of CO2 emissions in different regions within the YREB for the period of 2000–2017. It decomposes regional CO2 emission changes using the temporal and cross-regional three-layer logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. Besides, it decomposes industrial CO2 emission changes using the temporal two-layer LMDI method. The research results show that economic growth is the major driver for regional CO2 emission disparities. The mitigation drivers, such as energy intensity and energy structure, lead to a more decreased CO2 emission in the downstream region than in the upstream and midstream regions. In addition, it proposes several policy recommendations based upon the local realities, including improving energy efficiency, optimizing energy structure, promoting advanced technologies and equipment transfers, and coordinating the development in the upstream, midstream and downstream regions within the YREB.

Empirical study on carbon emission measurement and influencing factors of urban traffic based on “Population-Economy-Environment”

Economic growth, urban expansion, traffic dependence, and urban lifestyle have caused a large amount of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in cities. The issue of urban greenhouse gas emissions has become a global focus and a research hotspot. This paper analysed the causality of driving factors and identified the key elements such as urban population, economy, energy and motor vehicles through system dynamics (SD) and econometric model. Then, it conducted empirical analysis and explored the impact of factors on urban transportation carbon emissions taking Beijing as an example. The research results showed that in addition to energy consumption, other factors were positively correlated with traffic carbon emissions. It believed that in order to control urban traffic carbon emissions, we must control the urban population, economy and the number of vehicles rationally. With the optimization of energy structure, the structural adjustment of traffic energy consumption is conducive to energy conservation and emission reduction in the transportation industry, and the decoupling of the total energy consumption of traffic and the carbon emissions from transportation.

Uncovering impact factors of carbon emissions from transportation sector: evidence from China’s Yangtze River Delta Area

Transportation sector contributes a significant proportion to the overall carbon emission. This paper aims at measuring the impact factors of the transportation sector’s carbon emission in China’s Yangtze River Delta Area (YRDA) so that mitigation strategies on promoting low-carbon transportation can be raised. The partial least squares method and an extended STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) model were employed for quantifying the contributions of different impact factors that affect transportation carbon emission within the YRDA region for the period of 1995–2014. Results show that population size, GDP, civilian vehicle inventory, energy intensity, passenger transportation, freight turnover, and transport sector output are key factors inducing transportation carbon emission, while energy structure and transportation sector employees mitigate the overall transportation carbon emission. Such results provide valuable policy implications for preparing appropriate mitigation strategies, such as the optimization of energy structure, the development of energy efficient technologies, the improvement of public awareness, and the implementation of intelligent transportation management.

Water Use for Energy Production and Conversion in Hebei Province, China

In recent years, with the socio-economic development, energy production and water consumption have been given more and more scientific, political and public concern. Taking Hebei Province, China as an example, this paper performs an in-depth analysis of the energy production and water consumption. In this study, the water withdrawal and water consumption associated with energy production in Hebei Province from 2015 to 2050 were estimated by using the bottom-up Long-range Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) model, which establishes three scenarios based on three different development models. The results show that the energy production and their associated water requirements would continue to grow at a high speed in the Reference Scenario (REF). The energy production and their associated water withdrawal and water consumption were found to have decreased sharply in the Coordinated Development Scenario (CDS) and the Strong Emission Reduction Scenario (SER) compared to the REF. It shows that industrial restructuring, energy structure optimization and the renewable energy replacement have plaid an important role in energyand water-efficient in CDS and SER. Further coordinated management policy on water and energy should be fully considered to promote the sustainable management of water and energy in Hebei Province.

Forecasting China's energy intensity by using an improved DVCGM (1, N) model considering the hysteresis effect

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of an improved dummy variables control grey model (DVCGM) considering the hysteresis effect of government policies in China's energy intensity (EI) forecasting.Design/methodology/approachEnergy consumption is considered as an important driver of economic development. China has introduced policies those aim at the optimization of energy structure and EI. In this study, EI is forecasted by an improved DVCGM, considering the hysteresis effect of energy-saving policies of the government. A nonlinear optimization method based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is constructed to calculate the hysteresis parameter. A one-step rolling mechanism is applied to provide input data of the prediction model. Grey model (GM) (1, N), DVCGM (1, N) and ARIMA model are applied to test the accuracy of the improved DVCGM (1, N) model prediction.FindingsThe results show that the improved DVCGM provides reliable results and works well in simulation and predictions using multivariable data in small sample size and time-lag virtual variable. Accordingly, the improved DVCGM notes the hysteresis effect of government policies and significantly improves the prediction accuracy of China's EI than the other three models.Originality/valueThis study estimates the EI considering the hysteresis effect of energy-saving policies in China by using an improved DVCGM. The main contribution of this paper is to propose a model to estimate EI, considering the hysteresis effect of energy-saving policies and improve forecasting accuracy.

Band energy modulation on Cu-doped Sb2S3-based photoelectrodes for charge generation and transfer property of quantum dot–sensitized solar cells

Sb2S3 quantum dot is prepared as the optical absorber on the ZnO nanorod films to fabricate high-efficiency quantum dot–sensitized solar cells. The band energy of the solar cells is modulated by the different concentration of Cu-doping. Meanwhile, the optical absorption spectra and photoluminescence spectra of different ZnO/Sb2S3 photoelectrodes are investigated, which had exhibited the enhancement on optical absorption property and charge separation property by Cu-doping process. The charge transfer properties of the solar cells had also been enhanced by the modulation on band energy structure by different Cu-doping concentration. With the relatively larger optical absorption edge, the 0.3 mM Cu–doped ZnO/Sb2S3 quantum dot–sensitized solar cells have exhibited optimal band energy structure for charge transfer, which can obtain higher current density to enhance the photovoltaic power conversion efficiency from 2.55 to 3.14%.

Sources and transformation of nitrate aerosol in winter 2017–2018 of megacity Beijing: Insights from an alternative approach

Abstract The dual isotopic signatures of particulate nitrate (hereafter as δ15N–NO3- and δ18O–NO3-) have been extensively used to imprint the source and chemical transformation of atmospheric NOx (NOx = NO + NO2). For instance, the δ18O–NO3- elevated proportionally when NOx converted by O3. In the present study, daily PM2.5 samples (n = 91) were collected in winter Beijing (December to February in 2017–2018) and a two-endmember linear isotopic mixing model was used to model the endmember δ18O values of NO3− oxidized by O3 (termed as δ18Onoct) and the contribution of the different pathways (i.e., daytime and nocturnal oxidation pathways). During the campaign, the NO3− concentrations in PM2.5 varied from 0.3 to 46.3 μg m−3 (8.1 ± 9.8 μg m−3), δ15N–NO3- from +1.0‰ to +19.6‰ (12.5 ± 3.6‰) and δ18O–NO3- from +50.7‰ to +103.5‰ (74.9 ± 13.3‰). The Keeling plots indicated that the δ18Onoct endmember value was within the ranges based on theoretical approaches. The contribution of the nocturnal pathway to NO3− in PM2.5 ranged from 8.5 ± 3.2% in background days to approximately 100% in extremely polluted days, with a mean of 52.0 ± 25.5%. The determined δ15N–NO3- values (12.5 ± 3.6‰) were comparable with previous studies conducted in recent winter Beijing (2013–2017, i.e., average values of 11.9‰–13.8‰). Due to the optimization of energy structure in Beijing, we inferred that the dominant NOx source in recent wintertime was the vehicular exhaust. The Bayesian mixing model also confirmed that the contribution of vehicle exhaust/biomass burning sources to the NO3− was up to 70%. This study may further improve the understanding of NOx emission source and atmospheric processes in urban environments.

Factors driving the change of household CO2 emissions through 2040 in China: based on decomposition and scenario analyses.

With China's economic transformation into a consumption-driven model, household CO2 emissions (HCEs) become an increasingly essential part of China's CO2 emissions. However, how will the HCEs change in urban and rural areas and what are the driving forces of HCEs through 2040 are not clear. In this paper, we project nation-level HCEs up to 2040 by the scenario analysis, and analyze the drivers of HCEs during 1997-2040 by the decomposition analysis. We find that the HCEs kept a persistent growth during 1997-2017 as energy intensity reduction and energy structure optimization cannot offset the rapid growth of consumption and population. During 2017-2040, in the current policy scenario, the rural HCEs will decrease, while the peaking of the total HCEs and urban HCEs would not be achieved. In the sustainable development scenario, the total HCEs, urban HCEs and rural HCEs will peak before 2030 and afterward decrease, because the energy intensity will induce a 51% and 76% reduction in the total HCEs and urban HCEs, respectively. Moreover, the decrease in the share of coal consumption due to the development of non-fossil fuels and natural gas will cause a more than 25% reduction in HCEs in the sustainable development scenario.

Research Hotspots and Trends of Natural Gas Vehicles: A Visual Analysis Using CiteSpace

Driven by the optimization of energy structure, environmental pollution control and climate change constraints, natural gas vehicles have high development potential. As a vehicle fuel, natural gas has many advantages, such as abundant reserves, excellent fuel economy and relatively less pollutants, which makes the development of natural gas vehicles more rapid. This paper uses the data analysis system (DAS) composed of Web of Science (WOS) and CiteSpace to sort out the related literature of natural gas vehicles. Through the visual analysis of 529 documents, the research hotspots and trends of natural gas vehicles from 1990 to now are found. Three important clusters are discussed in this paper, among which the future development direction of natural gas vehicles is hybrid gas-electric vehicles, in order to provide reference for the R&D and production activities of natural gas vehicles.