Fossil Stocks Research Articles

Use of low potencial wastewater heat

The article points out that exhaustion of fossil stocks of fuel and negative impacts of fuel burning on environment determined a significant interest in technologies of heat utilization of low-potential sources in many developed countries of the world. Therefore the solution of the problem of using heat utilization technologies of low-potential sources will be of great importance for preserving people's habitats. In Russia, the most promising area of using unconventional energy sources is heat supply systems of houses and buildings. The conducted analysis shows that one of the effective directions of energy saving is heat pump systems of heat supply, using the most available low potential heat source of flooded massif of soil. It is noted that a huge energy potential of water pumped from closed mines is practically unused because of considerable distance of heat consumers from water purification complexes.

Capital beats coal: How collecting the climate rent increases aggregate investment

Carbon pricing is the key to decarbonizing the economy, as it regulates emission flows. However, a price on carbon also collects rents from underlying fossil resource stocks, giving rise to unexamined macroeconomic effects. This article shows that if these stocks are tradable, carbon pricing shifts aggregate investment towards alternative assets. If capital is underaccumulated, this implies lower costs of climate policy and a welfare improvement. We prove this beneficial investment shift from fossil stocks towards capital for the case of an emission trading scheme: specifically, we show that the higher the share of auctioned permits, the larger the beneficial investment effect. The same holds for a ‘stock instrument’, under which the right to recurrently receive emission permits is a tradable asset, making the effect robust to trade restrictions on fossil stocks. Our main result contradicts the common perception of a trade-off between climate change mitigation policy and growth.

Biological approach for the production of vanillin from lignocellulosic biomass (Bambusa tulda)

The growing concerns regarding the stock of fossil fuel feedstock and environment throughout the globe have led to the quest for alternatives. Lignocellulosic biomass is the only alternative and of great interest for production of biofuel and other important chemicals. Lignin, the second most abundant terrestrial polymer after cellulose is one of the attractive sources for value added aromatics, remains underutilized. There are few evidences available on bacteria that utilize lignin as its food source compared to fungal strains. Taking this in account a natural bacterial consortium was developed on bamboo for value addition of lignin. On direct application of this bacterial consortium on bamboo, it was observed that lignin is degraded by the consortium without any appreciable damage to cellulose, producing vanillin as the major product accompanied by few other minor compounds. Vanillin was identified from its corresponding Proton-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) values after purification on thin layer chromatography (TLC) and its production was found to be 0.9 ± 0.03 mg/mL from its high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) data.

Energy Trajectory in India: Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation

Energy plays a pivotal role in the development of a region. Increasing dependency on fossil fuels has caused serious concerns at the local (energy dependency, pollution, etc.) and global (global warming, GHG emissions, etc.) levels. Harvesting of energy depends on the availability of resources apart from the economic viability and technical feasibility of meeting the demand. The energy requirement of India is mainly supplied by coal and lignite (19378.24 PJ), followed by crude oil and petroleum products (18432.96 PJ) and electricity (7562.24 PJ). However, energy consumption in rural India is largely dependent on non-conventional energy sources due to the availability, possibility of rapid extraction, and appropriate technologies. Globalization and consequent opening up of Indian markets has led to urbanization with the enhanced energy demand in the industrial and infrastructure sectors. The perishing stock of fossil fuel coupled with the growing concerns of climate change has necessitated the exploration of cost effective, environment friendly, and sustainable energy alternatives.

Unilateral consumption-based carbon taxes and negative leakage

We investigate the performance of a consumption-based carbon tax – implemented by full border carbon adjustment – as an instrument of unilateral climate damage mitigation in a two-period two-country general equilibrium model with a finite stock of fossil fuel. The implementation of that tax in the first period reduces the first-period emissions in the taxing and non-taxing country (negative within period leakage) if income effects are sufficiently weak. Otherwise, it increases the first-period emissions in both countries (green paradox). That result contrasts with the case of a unilateral production-based carbon tax, in which the leakage rate is always positive and possibly exceeds 100%.

Climate Policy Enhances Efficiency: A Macroeconomic Portfolio Effect

Carbon pricing regulates emission flows and collects rents from underlying fossil resource stocks. The resulting investment shift implies lower climate policy costs and improved welfare if capital is underaccumulated. We prove that under emission trading, such a beneficial macroeconomic portfolio effect between fossil stocks and capital is induced if some permits are auctioned. Alternatively, a carbon tax also induces a portfolio effect, but cannot simultaneously implement a given mitigation path and collect an arbitrary rent share. Finally, treating the right to recurrently receive a share of total emission permits as a tradable asset is formally, but not politically equivalent. JEL-Code: E220, H210, H230, Q300, Q540.

A Conceptual Approach to Hybridize Pulverized Coal Fired Boiler with Fluidized Bed Boiler for Cleaner Power Generation

Power conversion through conventional fossil fired technology produces different pollutants in spite of use of efficient technologies like supercritical, ultra-supercritical, IGCC, FBC etc. Also, technology like, CCS, scrubber, SCR and ESP are used to capture of CO2, SOx, NOx and SPM respectively but at the cost of overall plant efficiency. Co-firing technology is another approach to mitigate pollutants. Despite the use of these methods for arresting the pollutants, complete removal is practically not possible and limited stock of fossil fuel compelled engineers, scientists and technologists to concentrate more on pollution free and sustainable renewable energy sources. But present renewable energy source cannot fulfill our total energy demand due to their low generating capability, high power cost and mostly are intermittent in nature. At this juncture hybridization of fossil fuel technology with renewable sources may be one of the alternatives technologies till complete switchover from conventional power conversion method to renewable power generation, which required further technological advancement and innovation. A new hybrid boiler is conceptualized which capable of burning large verities of fuel ranging from wood to pulverized coal and also its own mill rejects from pulverize section. CO2 generation can be reduced upto 50% per unit of power generation compare to solely fossil firing unit. NOx generation can be reduced by reducing furnace temperature through flue gas mixing, SOx can be captured by feeding CaO in fluidized section and SPM can be arrested by ESP successfully. New hybrid boiler requires techno-economical evaluation to realize in practical use with Palash Wood as main biomass fuel supported by pulverized semi-bituminous coal.

The economics of oil, biofuel and food commodities

We study the effects on the food price of introducing biofuels as a substitute for fossil fuel in the energy market. Energy is supplied by a price-leading oil cartel and a competitive fringe of farmers producing biofuel. Biofuel production shares a finite land resource with food production. A positive relationship results between energy and food prices. We establish that the equilibrium price of food will be growing as long as the oil stock is being depleted, and beyond if demand is growing. An analysis of the effects of the productivity of land use in either the food or the biofuel sectors is carried out. It is shown that, with a highly inelastic demand for food, an increase in the productivity of land in agriculture will decrease the price of food in the short-run, only to increase it in the long-run as the stock of fossil fuel is depleted.

Energy transitions and the global land rush: Ultimate drivers and persistent consequences

While the recent emergence of a global land rush has initiated large debates and conflicts over the use and access to land, further investigation into the underlying drivers is required to enhance the understanding of the potential trajectories of the land grab phenomenon. This paper takes a biophysical perspective and explores how declining fossil stocks and a global transition towards renewable energies ultimately drive the land rush. The paper addresses, in qualitative terms, how societal needs for land change with different patterns of societal energy metabolism. The potential spatial expansions of renewables are illustrated in quantitative terms, based on the power density concept and energy provision forecasts for the year 2020. The transition from an energy system based on fossils stocks, with high power densities, to one based on renewables, with low power densities, drastically boosts societal demand for land. This drives the land rush directly through land acquisitions for the expansion of energy systems. The energy transition also drives the land rush indirectly, in particular through food security threats motivated by the growing competition over farmland uses and changes in crop supply. Although currently fossil stocks are still relatively abundant, future declines are expected to trigger the demand for land to even greater extents. Given the inevitability of the energy transition, we believe that the land rush will have persistence, bearing long-term consequences for land use and struggles over access to land.

Microbial Production of Hydrogen: An Overview

Production of hydrogen by anaerobes, facultative anaerobes, aerobes, methylotrophs, and photosynthetic bacteria is possible. Anaerobic Clostridia are potential producers and immobilized C. butyricum produces 2 mol H2/mol glucose at 50% efficiency. Spontaneous production of H2 from formate and glucose by immobilized Escherichia coli showed 100% and 60% efficiencies, respectively. Enterobactericiae produces H2 at similar efficiency from different mono-saccharides during growth. Among methylotrophs, methanogenes, rumen bacteria, and thermophilic archae, Ruminococcus albus, is promising (2.37 mol/mol glucose). Immobilized aerobic Bacillus licheniformis optimally produces 0.7 mol H2/mol glucose. Photosynthetic Rhodospirillum rubrum produces 4, 7, and 6 mol of H2 from acetate, succinate, and malate, respectively. Excellent productivity (6.2 mol H2/mol glucose) by co-cultures of Cellulomonas with a hydrogenase uptake (Hup) mutant of R. capsulata on cellulose was found. Cyanobacteria, viz., Anabaena, Synechococcus, and Oscillatoria sp., have been studied for photoproduction of H2. Immobilized A. cylindrica produces H2 (20 ml/g dry wt/h) continually for 1 year. Increased H2 productivity was found for Hup-mutant of A. variabilis. Synechococcus sp. has a high potential for H2 production in fermentors and outdoor cultures. Simultaneous productions of oxychemicals and H2 by Klebseilla sp. and by enzymatic methods were also attempted. The fate of H2 biotechnology is presumed to be dictated by the stock of fossil fuel and state of pollution in future.

Notes on the ecology and paleoecology ofneothyrls, an endemic New Zealand brachiopod

Summary Neothyris lecticularis (Deshayes, 1839) live mainly south o'f 44°S in waters 90–180 m (extremes 18–384 m) deep where bottom temperatures are always >7°c. Fossil N. “avails” (Hutton, 1886) in the early Pleistocene limestone at Castlepoint (41 °S) are associated with an assemblage of animals generioally the same as the living N. lenticularis assemblage of Foveaux Strait. The granular substrate occupied by the living animals is similar to the matrix of the Castlepoint limestone. Thus the early Pleistocene marine climate in 90–180 m at 43°S may have been about 5°c cooler than it is today; the possible use is mentioned of the presence of the fossil assemblage in studies of palaeoelimates. Population analysis of living and fossil stocks show a constant bias toward the older age‐groups; this finding is discussed. Various ecological observations are recorded.