Costs Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Research Articles

Electrothermal mineralization of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances for soil remediation

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants that can easily accumulate in soil, posing a threat to environment and human health. Current PFAS degradation processes often suffer from low efficiency, high energy and water consumption, or lack of generality. Here, we develop a rapid electrothermal mineralization (REM) process to remediate PFAS-contaminated soil. With environmentally compatible biochar as the conductive additive, the soil temperature increases to >1000 °C within seconds by current pulse input, converting PFAS to calcium fluoride with inherent calcium compounds in soil. This process is applicable for remediating various PFAS contaminants in soil, with high removal efficiencies ( >99%) and mineralization ratios ( >90%). While retaining soil particle size, composition, water infiltration rate, and cation exchange capacity, REM facilitates an increase of exchangeable nutrient supply and arthropod survival in soil, rendering it superior to the time-consuming calcination approach that severely degrades soil properties. REM is scaled up to remediate soil at two kilograms per batch and promising for large-scale, on-site soil remediation. Life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis demonstrate REM as an environmentally friendly and economic process, with a significant reduction of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission, water consumption, and operation cost, when compared to existing soil remediation practices.

Deployment of carbon removal technologies could reduce the rapid and potentially disruptive pace of decarbonization in South Africa's climate ambitions

As a developing country, South Africa faces the risk of having to undertake disruptive actions to meet its internationally pledged emission reduction targets. It has become necessary to find alternative measures for South Africa to meet its climate targets without such a disruptive and aggressive transformation of its energy sector. To truly reach net-zero CO2 emissions, South Africa must ensure that residual emissions from its recalcitrant sectors are equally compensated by carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Given the potential for CDR technologies to delay the need for rapid emissions cuts, we leverage this characteristic to explore their role in helping South Africa achieve its climate targets on time, but through a less disruptive and overly aggressive pace of energy system decarbonization. Using an integrated assessment model, we show that while reaching its emission reduction targets, the presence of novel CDR (nCDR) approaches could significantly reduce South Africa's mitigation costs to $155-240/tCO2 instead of $190–590/tCO2 by 2050 in the absence of nCDR. Furthermore, the availability of nCDR may allow for a more gradual transition towards renewable and nuclear power generation compared to scenarios without nCDR. Importantly, we reveal that nCDR could help avoid asset stranding of up to 4–6 GW and $15–25 billion in associated costs between 2016 and 2050. However, this comes at the cost of higher residual greenhouse gas emissions due to the continued reliance on fossil fuels under nCDR availability. Overall, South Africa's priority must remain on decarbonization, especially in sectors where fuel switching and energy efficiency are feasible. Nonetheless, the complementary role of nCDR must not be underestimated, and South Africa should begin investing in these emerging technologies to support its ambitious climate goals.

Impact of Climate Change on the Environment: A Synthesis Study

Climate change has a significant impact on both physical and social components of the environment. Every component of the environment has been suffering the impacts of climate change. All components of the environment are interrelated through the exchanging of energy and matter; hence they actively interact. Major components of the environment like the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere are open systems to impact climate change. This paper describes the major impacts of climate change on major components of the environment. This study investigated the current state, wide-range global research trends, and different concerns on the impacts of climate change on the sustainable tourism. Global climate change represents a grand challenge for society, one that is increasingly influencing tourism sector investment, planning, operations, and demand. This study synthesized a total of 36 studies on climate change by sourcing published material from the review that was performed in indexed databases namely Dimensions, Web Science, Elsevier Scopus, and Google Scholar. Therefore, the study found that human beings are the major contributors to climate change through anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that worsened during the Green Revolution. Climate change outcomes through the loss of valuable ecosystem goods and services, degrading the most of keystone species sites. In other ways, loss of biodiversity, changes in atmospheric composition, changes in chemical reactions in soil, changes in water quality, availability, and hydrologic cycles, and frequent occurrence of extreme weather conditions. Of course! The effects of climate change are wide-ranging and diverse, impacting many areas and facets of daily life. Therefore, this study recommends implementing carbon pricing mechanisms to internalize the costs of greenhouse gas emissions and enforcing stringent environmental regulations and standards to limit emissions and pollution. Support global efforts and agreements to combat climate change, such as the Paris Agreement.

Least-cost decarbonization pathways for electricity generation in Finland: A convex quantile regression approach

This study investigates the least-cost decarbonization pathways in the Finnish electricity generation industry in order to achieve the national carbon neutrality goal by 2035. Various abatement measures, such as downscaling production, capital investment, and increasing labor and intermediate inputs, are considered. The marginal abatement costs (MACs) of greenhouse gas emissions are estimated using the convex quantile regression method and applied to unique register-based firm-level greenhouse gas emission data merged with financial statement data. We adjust the MAC estimates for the sample selection bias caused by zero-emission firms by applying the two-stage Heckman correction. Our empirical findings reveal that the median MAC ranges from 0.1 to 3.5 euros per tonne of CO2 equivalent. The projected economic cost of a 90% reduction in emissions is 62 million euros, while the estimated cost of achieving zero emissions is 83 million euros.

Subsidizing Grid-Based Electrolytic Hydrogen Will Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coal Dominated Power Systems.

Clean hydrogen has the potential to serve as an energy carrier and feedstock in decarbonizing energy systems, especially in "hard-to-abate" sectors. Although many countries have implemented policies to promote electrolytic hydrogen development, the impact of these measures on costs of production and greenhouse gas emissions remains unclear. Our study conducts an integrated analysis of provincial levelized costs and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for all hydrogen production types in China. We find that subsidies are critical to accelerate low carbon electrolytic hydrogen development. Subsidies on renewable-based hydrogen provide cost-effective carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission reductions. However, subsidies on grid-based hydrogen increase CO2e emissions even compared with coal-based hydrogen because grid electricity in China still relies heavily on coal power and likely will beyond 2030. In fact, CO2e emissions from grid-based hydrogen may increase further if China continues to approve new coal power plants. The levelized costs of renewable energy-based electrolytic hydrogen vary among provinces. Transporting renewable-based hydrogen through pipelines from low- to high-cost production regions reduces the national average levelized cost of renewables-based hydrogen but may increase the risk of hydrogen leakage and the resulting indirect warming effects. Our findings emphasize that policy and economic support for nonfossil electrolytic hydrogen is critical to avoid an increase in CO2e emissions as hydrogen use rises during a clean energy transition.

Research on the New Business Trend under the Background of Double Carbon

With the rapid development of the social economy, more and more greenhouse gases are produced due to economic activities, which leads to huge changes in global climate, phenomena like global climate change, climate warming and so on happen frequently. In order to solve these global climate problems, plenty of solutions have been found by experts and government. In the aspect of technology, some clean energy such as electric energy, solar energy and so on are taking the place of the use of fossil fuels which will lead to a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. Besides that, some policies and regulations are also helpful in promoting enterprises' and individuals environmental awareness and taking part in emission reduction work. Take carbon emission as an example, as a policy-based emission reduction tool, it uses the market economy to raise the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, which will improve the bad trend of atmospheric environment resources. In order to achieve the goal of energy saving, emission reduction and environmental production, the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol is an important turning point for global control of greenhouse gas emissions. And the truth is, with the rapid development in developing countries, there are more and more greenhouse gases discharged by them.

Tantangan Pajak Karbon Sebagai Alternatif Kebijakan Transisi Energi Bersih di Indonesia Studi Kasus Industri Otomotif

Climate is the average weather where weather is the state of the atmosphere at a given point in time. Climate is defined as the average size and variability of relevant magnitudes of certain variables. Concrete activities in climate change mitigation are reducing and/or preventing greenhouse gas emissions released as a result of human activities. Various activities can be classified as climate change mitigation, including switching to public modes of transportation, using clean renewable energy, Carbon taxes are economically significant for reducing carbon emissions, Carbon Pricing can be used as a tool to determine the external cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study uses signaling theory which was first introduced by Spence in his research entitled job market signaling. The method used by researchers in qualitative descriptive writing with a literature review, the results of the study concluded that France, Sweden, Japan have succeeded in implementing taxes. Even though at the beginning of its implementation there were many objections from various parties and now it has succeeded in having a positive impact on the country's economy, while Indonesia will start implementing a carbon tax from April 2022 on the Coal-Fired Power Plant sector, the carbon tax rate applied is the same as the carbon price. on the carbon market but not less than IDR 30 per kilogram of CO? equivalent.

Optimized strategies for nitrogen fertilizer application in Populus plantations in the context of climate change mitigation

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer application increases biomass volume and enhances the carbon sequestration of forest stands. However, overused N fertilizers induce nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas with a higher global warming potential than CO2. This study estimates the growth function of Populus stands based on field data, based on which the revised Faustmann model is used to evaluate the optimal rotation and the N fertilizer application rate under different scenarios. Results show that the stand volume is an increasing logarithmic-reciprocal function of the age and N fertilizer rate, and the increment by age is more significant and lasting. When the cost of N2O emissions is considered, the fertilization rate is substantially reduced; a higher carbon price decreases the fertilization rate but prolongs the optimal rotation. Overall, participation in forest carbon projects is economically beneficial even when the costs of greenhouse gas emissions are considered. The research outcomes provide insights into the interplays between the benefits and costs of N fertilizer applications and forest owners' behavior. The conclusions support the accounting of N2O emissions in protocols of forest carbon projects and a more ambitious mitigation goal to push the carbon price on a national scale market.

Carbon inequality and support for carbon taxation

AbstractStringent policies that significantly increase the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, are increasingly necessary for mitigating climate change. Yet while richer individuals in society generate the most CO2 emissions and thus will face the largest absolute cost burden, they also tend to be more supportive of stringent environmental policies. In this paper, we examine how information about the distribution of carbon emissions by income affects support for carbon taxation. While carbon taxation is widely advocated as the most efficient policy for mitigating climate change, it faces significant political hurdles due to its distributional costs. Using original survey data, with an embedded experiment, we find that providing information about the actual distribution of household CO2 emissions by income significantly changes individuals' support for carbon taxation. These effects are particularly pronounced at the bottom of the household income distribution, leading to increased support for costly climate policies. However, individuals who believe that carbon taxes will reduce their income continue to hold their level of support for carbon taxation. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the public's response to the distributional consequences of the green transitions and ultimately their political feasibility.

Determination of Energy Use Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Production Costs in Organic Table Grape Production in Turkey

Determination of Energy Use Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Production Costs in Organic Table Grape Production in Turkey

The social costs of tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones (TCs) can adversely affect economic development for more than a decade. Yet, these long-term effects are not accounted for in current estimates of the social cost of carbon (SCC), a key metric informing climate policy on the societal costs of greenhouse gas emissions. We here derive temperature-dependent damage functions for 41 TC-affected countries to quantify the country-level SCC induced by the persistent growth effects of damaging TCs. We find that accounting for TC impacts substantially increases the global SCC by more than 20%; median global SCC increases from US$ 173 to US$ 212 per tonne of CO2 under a middle-of-the-road future emission and socioeconomic development scenario. This increase is mainly driven by the strongly TC-affected major greenhouse gas emitting countries India, USA, China, Taiwan, and Japan. This suggests that the benefits of climate policies could currently be substantially underestimated. Adequately accounting for the damages of extreme weather events in policy evaluation may therefore help to prevent a critical lack of climate action.

Economic framework to assess the impact of banning pesticides, with application to sulfuryl fluoride for drywood termites (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) in California.

Sulfuryl fluoride (SF) is a fumigant used to eliminate drywood termites (DWT: Kalotermitidae; Froggatt) and other structural pests. Because of its global warming potential, it has been suggested that SF be restricted as a greenhouse gas (GHG). We present an economic model to assess the net social cost of restricting SF. We consider 3 approaches to address DWT control- no treatment, allowing SF fumigation and localized treatments, and only local treatment. Each approach generates private and public benefits and costs. We estimate that the annual damage and home equity loss by DWT in California is US$4.5-16.8 billion without treatment. If fumigation is used on 20% of the houses and local treatments on the others, the combined social cost of treatment, damage, and GHG emissions are between US$1-US$2 billion annually. The annual cost of local treatments only would be between US$3.2 and US$4.9 billion. If the application of SF is severely restricted or banned, the social costs will increase between US$1.43 and US$4.31 billion annually. The implied cost per ton of CO2 eliminated is between US$624 and US$1,465, much above the price range of CO2 in other applications. The restriction/ban has significant equity and environmental effects, impacting low-income individuals living in rented properties and replacing damaged wood in housing will increase GHG emissions. We further recommend the continued use of SF until a comparable whole-structure alternative is developed that fits the parameters of our model.

Optimal Design of a Hybrid Power System for a Remote Fishpond Based on Hydro-Turbine Performance Parameters

This paper proposes an optimal solution for the design of a hybrid power system that will supply a remote fishpond in eastern Serbia. In terms of structure, this off-grid system should be a hydro-photovoltaic-diesel-converter-battery setup. The optimization objectives are to minimize total net present cost (NPC) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to maximize total annual electricity generation based on the modification of hydro-turbine performance. This study considers the following three cases of a hydro-turbine with fixed propeller blades: having fixed guide vanes, for the annual average flow rate-Case 1; having adjustable guide vanes, for smaller flow rates-Case 2 and having adjustable guide vanes, for higher flow rates-Case 3. The optimization is performed using HOMER Pro v. 3.16.2 software. The results show that the total NPC, levelized cost of energy (COE) and GHG emissions in Case 3 are 16.6%, 16.8% and 13.1% lower than in Case 1, and 8.1%, 8% and 11.7% lower than in Case 2, respectively. It is also found that the total annual electricity generation and power output from the entire system in Case 3 are 33.3% and 1.2% higher than in Case 1, and 11.9% higher and not different than in Case 2, respectively.

Levelized cost of electricity and greenhouse gas emissions of Ce- and V-based redox flow batteries

Inexpensive energy storage technologies are critical to meeting rising renewable electricity demand and maintaining grid stability, but there is insufficient storage capacity to meet this demand. Redox flow batteries are a promising long duration (>10 h) storage method because they scale efficiently with delivery time compared to non-flow batteries. Because of the connection between energy storage and intermittent renewables, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with using flow batteries are important to consider. Here, we investigate the all-vanadium redox flow battery and a Ce–V battery, where the V4+/V5+ couple is replaced by Ce3+/Ce4+. We use performance metrics from the literature and our previous work to model the batteries' operation. We develop technoeconomic assessment and life cycle inventory models and determine that the Ce–V RFB minimum levelized cost of electricity is lower and the two RFBs’ levelized GHG emissions are similar, suggesting Ce should be considered further in RFB applications. Ultimately, the production of the RFBs results in minor emissions compared to use, except in scenarios where 100% renewables are used to generate electricity. The redox potential and exchange current density are highly influential to the Ce–V RFB cost and emissions, motivating further work into the phenomena that control thermodynamics and kinetics.

Drought impacts on the electricity system, emissions, and air quality in the western United States

The western United States has experienced severe drought in recent decades, and climate models project increased drought risk in the future. This increased drying could have important implications for the region's interconnected, hydropower-dependent electricity systems. Using power-plant level generation and emissions data from 2001 to 2021, we quantify the impacts of drought on the operation of fossil fuel plants and the associated impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air quality, and human health. We find that under extreme drought, electricity generation from individual fossil fuel plants can increase up to 65% relative to average conditions, mainly due to the need to substitute for reduced hydropower. Over 54% of this drought-induced generation is transboundary, with drought in one electricity region leading to net imports of electricity and thus increased pollutant emissions from power plants in other regions. These drought-induced emission increases have detectable impacts on local air quality, as measured by proximate pollution monitors. We estimate that the monetized costs of excess mortality and GHG emissions from drought-induced fossil generation are 1.2 to 2.5x the reported direct economic costs from lost hydro production and increased demand. Combining climate model estimates of future drying with stylized energy-transition scenarios suggests that these drought-induced impacts are likely to remain large even under aggressive renewables expansion, suggesting that more ambitious and targeted measures are needed to mitigate the emissions and health burden from the electricity sector during drought.

Porous Material Made from Non-Firing Ceramics

The establishment of a carbon-neutral society has reached a stage when it is economically and industrially realistic. Based on this background, research on "non-firing ceramics" has attracted attention from the perspective of environmentally friendly manufacturing, such as energy conservation, low cost, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, because high temperatures and high pressures are not required. This technology involves a method to grind the surface of a ceramic raw material powder to obtain a chemical activity and solidify it. This paper provides an overview of non-firing ceramics, the mechanism of the surface activation of ceramic raw materials, and its application to porous materials. Although this method is not a substitute for all sintered ceramics, I hope that it will contribute to providing a new direction of manufacturing.

Does domestic investment matter? A multivariate time series analysis of the energy-CO2 emission-growth nexus in Ghana.

The economic cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to African economies have increased. Therefore, GHG emissions and their concomitant effect on the environment are fast becoming costly for emerging economies like Ghana. Hence, the justification for the growing literature on the subject. This study employed the Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) bounds test and Granger causality techniques with data from 1983 to 2014. The study examines the dynamic relationship between income growth, power consumption, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Ghana, capturing the role of domestic investment and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the nexus. All variables were found to be cointegrated in the long run based on the bounds test. The Granger causality test indicates a unidirectional causality from energy consumption to CO2 emissions and economic growth. Furthermore, a unidirectional causality from CO2 to economic growth was found in Ghana. Results from the error correction model and the bounds tests indicate that, while energy consumption increases carbon emissions by more than 44%, the lagged values of domestic investment were found to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 41% in both the short run and the long run. Due to the significant effect of domestic investments on the reduction of CO2 emissions, the study recommends policymakers toadopt policies that may increase domestic capital in place of FDI, which has been proven to exacerbate environmental degradation in host countries.

Sustainable Economic Production Quantity Model Considering Greenhouse Gas and Wastewater Emissions

Pursuing sustainability in the production inventory model has motivated researchers to reconsider carbon emission costs. In this study, we develop an economic production quantity (EPQ) inventory model to consider greenhouse gas and wastewater emission costs. This study aims to optimize the production quantity, the total costs per production cycle, and the waste emissions. To validate and test the model, data from a pulp and paper mill industry was used. The effectiveness of the model was determined by comparing the costs generated under three (3) scenarios: (1) an EPQ model that considers the costs of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; (2) an EPQ model considering shortages; and (3) a multiproduct EPQ model considering shortages. Our proposed sustainable EPQ models can provide decision-makers with insights to visualize how certain factors affect the manufacturing system. Future research can be conducted to consider the product life cycle as well as deteriorating items.

Implications of the energy transition for government revenues, energy imports and employment: The case of electric vehicles in India

Whereas the environmental benefits of transitioning away from fossil fuels are becoming indisputable, the implications for government revenues, employment, balance of trade, and employment appear less clear. Using an accounting-like framework, we analyze the potential near to medium-term implications of electric vehicles displacing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Total cost of ownership (TCO), imports, government revenues, employment and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are each lower with EVs under different market and policy scenarios considered. An exception is a steep fall in oil prices (say by 50% from current levels), which increases net energy imports when battery cells are imported. Targeting high usage vehicles for EV adoption amplifies reduction in TCO, GHG emissions and imports but also leads to greater reduction in tax revenues. Furthermore, foregone tax revenues from avoided fossil fuel consumption is several times greater than the subsidies to EVs in the form of preferential tax rates. On a per vehicle basis, each fossil fuel vehicle generates over six-fold greater taxes over its life relative to an EV. Whereas economic growth and public policy can mitigate adverse impacts on government revenues and employment, simultaneously reducing total emissions as well will, if history is a guide, be more challenging.

The Current Status, Energy Implications, and Governance of Urban Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: A System Analysis of the Beijing Case

Wastewater treatment and reuse are important means of addressing water scarcity and protecting the aquatic environment in urban areas. However, it comes at the cost of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the issues of governance and provincial-scale research have largely been ignored in current urban wastewater treatment and reuse studies. This paper summarizes the current status of 175 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Beijing, explores energy-intensive processes, energy consumption ratios, and the overall energy intensity of WWTPs, and maps the structure of urban wastewater treatment and reuse governance. The results indicate that most WWTPs in Beijing are medium or small in scale, treating wastewater at less than 200 thousand tons/day. Then, five energy-intensive subprocesses are identified, and their energy consumption ratios vary with treatment technologies and management factors, which calls for individual WWTP analysis and plant-specific strategies. The energy intensity of WWTPs in Beijing varies with treatment capacity and membrane bioreactor treatment technology used. Large-scale WWTPs employing MBR technology have a higher average energy intensity. Furthermore, the current coordination group and the four-layer policy system provide sufficient executive power and promote efficiency in departmental collaborations. Finally, inconsistent data, reductions in energy consumption, and the normalization of the governance structure are discussed, and policy suggestions are proposed.