Costs Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Research Articles

Evaluating the levelized costs and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of electricity generation from rooftop solar photovoltaics: a Swiss case study

Abstract The transition to renewable energy sources is pivotal in addressing global climate change challenges, with rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems playing a crucial role. For informed decision-making in energy policy, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of both the economic and environmental performance of rooftop solar PV. This study provides a high-resolution analysis of existing rooftop solar PV systems in Switzerland by assessing the robustness of the potential estimation to properly derive the amount of electricity generated by individual systems, and subsequently quantify the levelized cost of electricity and life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of electricity generation from PV and compare them with those of grid electricity supplies. Our results indicate substantial geographical variations between potential estimations and real-world installations, with notable underestimations of approximately 1.3 Gigawatt-peak, primarily for systems around 10 kWp in size, mainly due to the quality of input data and conservative estimation. The study finds that in many regions and for most of the installed capacity, electricity generated from rooftop PV systems is more economical than the grid electricity supply, mainly driven by factors including high electricity prices, larger installations and abundant solar irradiance. The GHG emissions assessment further emphasizes the importance of methodological choice, with stark contrasts between electricity certificate-based approaches and others that are based on the consumption mix. This study suggests the need for more accurate geographical potential estimations, enhanced support for small-scale rooftop PV systems, and more incentives to maximize the potential of their roof area for PV deployment. As Switzerland progresses towards its renewable energy goals, our research underscores the importance of informed policymaking based on a retrospective analysis of existing installations, essential for maximizing the potential and benefits of rooftop solar PV systems.

An environmental cost-benefit analysis of organic and non-organic sheep farming in Iceland

This paper presents an environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) comparing organic and non-organic sheep farming in Iceland over three decades. Environmental life cycle costing (ELCC) is the basis for the aggregate cost framework, encompassing costs for investment, operations, maintenance, and environmental externalities. Greenhouse gas emissions are included as an external cost as they relate to the monetization of damages to society. Net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) indicators reveal both systems as unprofitable over thirty years with and without subsidies. Depending on the discount rate, the organic farm's BCR ranges from 0.26 to 0.38, with a NPV between (-2.4) and (-1.1) million euros. The non-organic farm's BCR ranges from 0.12 to 0.19, with NPV between (-8.6) and (-3.7) million euros. Greenhouse gas emission costs constitute 28% and 33% of total life cycle costs for organic and non-organic farms. Across three discount rates, the LCC and ELCC per kilogram of organic lamb ranged between €13.78 – 25.27 and €18.23 – 37.07, respectively. The LCC and ELCC per kilogram of non-organic lamb ranged between €9.75 – 18.05 and €13.80 – 28.82, respectively. Due to a shortened value chain, organic sheep farming demonstrated revenue advantages as compared to non-organic. The external cost of greenhouse gas emissions from sheep farming forms a significant portion of lifetime costs suggesting that policymakers could incentivize organic practices aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, this study provides a deeper understanding of the long-term economic prospectivity of sheep farming under different production approaches.

Correction: Al-Jabir, M.; Isaifan, R.J. Long-Term Projection of Transport-Related Social Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Qatar. Sustainability 2024, 16, 536

Correction: Al-Jabir, M.; Isaifan, R.J. Long-Term Projection of Transport-Related Social Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Qatar. Sustainability 2024, 16, 536

Exploring Synergistic GHG Emissions Mitigation Potential and Costs of Room Air Conditioners.

This study explores the potential of synergistically reducing direct (refrigerant) and indirect (electricity) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the global room air conditioning (RAC) sector, based on 80% of global RAC manufactured in China. Three scenarios are evaluated: Business-as-usual (BAU) based on maintaining refrigerant and energy efficiency levels from 2021 China RAC sales shares, Kigali Amendment compliant with 10% energy efficiency improvement by 2025 (KAE), and accelerated refrigerant transition and energy efficiency improvement (ATE). Each scenario considers the costs of refrigerant and efficiency measures for export market groups based on Kigali Amendment classifications. BAU predicts around 1 Gt CO2-eq average annual global RAC emissions (2022-2060). Cumulative emission reductions in China's RAC manufacturing under KAE and ATE are 12.2 and 17.2 Gt CO2-eq A5II and A5I (except China), presenting cost-effective abatement measures, with average costs of -$51.4 and -$68.8/t CO2-eq in KAE and ATE. Cumulative average abatement costs are around $18 and $4/t CO2-eq globally. KAE and ATE scenarios would avoid surface temperature rises of 0.023 (±0.002) °C and 0.027 (±0.003) °C, respectively, versus BAU. Collaboration between China and importing countries is urged to enhance energy efficiency in RACs traded, ensuring sustainable mitigation aligned with the Kigali Amendment.

Comprehensive performance analysis and optimization for PEMFC-heat pump combined system considering dual heat source

Traditional proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems face the challenges of strong thermal–electrical coupling and insufficient heating capacity. This study proposes a PEMFC–heat pump combined system considering dual heat source, which effectively utilizes fuel cell waste heat and environmental heat to achieve significant improvements in thermal–electrical decoupling and heating capacity. Energy, economic, and environmental analysis models were established, and the effects of key parameters on the combined system were systematically analyzed, followed by multi-objective optimization. Results show that the PEMFC current density has the largest effect on the heating capacity, while the heat flow ratio exerts the strongest influence on economic performance. The minimum pollutant emissions are achieved when wind power is adopted for hydrogen production. Under an ambient temperature of 248.15 K, the combined system increases the heating capacity by 12.8 % and reduces the levelized cost of energy and greenhouse gas emissions by 7.85 % and 15.9 %, respectively. The optimal solution presents a strong nonlinear relationship with the PEMFC current density and condenser undercooling, the heat flow ratio is close to the upper limit (0.99), and the operating temperature is close to the lower limit (333.4 K). These findings provide innovative thermoelectric decoupling and efficient energy supply solutions for PEMFC systems and have important implications for accelerating the low-carbon transition of regional energy systems.

Carbon border adjustment mechanism, carbon pricing, and within-sector shifts: A partial equilibrium approach to Vietnam's steel sector

Carbon pricing has recently gained further momentum from the European Union (EU)'s plan for the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The CBAM aims to align the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission costs in imported products with those within the EU. CBAM will affect foreign producers in targeted sectors, incentivizing them to employ low-emission technology, and encouraging trading partners to implement carbon pricing akin to the EU's. Our study assesses the potential impact of the CBAM and Vietnam's carbon pricing on the country's steel sector, using a multi-technology, multi-trade-partner partial equilibrium model. The results suggest that the CBAM could significantly reduce Vietnam's steel exports to the EU while it is not sufficient to significantly shift production from high-emission to low-emission steel production. However, CBAM may nudge Vietnam's carbon pricing, which can drive a substantial transition from high-emission to low-emission production and accelerate the transition to clean energy, depending on the level of carbon price. Our study results provide important insights for energy and climate policy discussions in relation to carbon border adjustment mechanisms and carbon pricing.

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.

Coordinated energy storage and network expansion planning considering the trustworthiness of demand-side response

The enhancement of economic sustainability and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are becoming more relevant in power system planning. Thus, renewable energy sources (RESs) have been widely used as clean energy for their lower generation costs and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, the strong random uncertainties from both the demand and generation sides make planning an economic, reliable, and ecological power system more complicated. Thus, this paper considers a variety of resources and technologies and presents a coordinated planning model including energy storage systems (ESSs) and grid network expansion, considering the trustworthiness of demand-side response (DR). First, the size of a single ESS was considered as its size has a close effect on maintenance costs and ultimately affects the total operating cost of the system. Second, it evaluates the influence of the trustworthiness of DR. Third, multiple resources and technologies were included in this high-penetration renewable energy integrated power system, such as ESSs, networks, DR technology, and GHG reduction technology. Finally, this model optimizes the decision variables such as the single size and location of ESSs and the operation parameters such as thermal generation costs, loss load costs, renewable energy curtailment costs, and GHG emission costs. Since the problem scale is very large not only due to the presence of various devices but also both binary and continuous variables considered simultaneously, we reformulate this model by decomposition. Then, we transform it into a master problem (MP) and a dual sub-problem (SP). Finally, the proposed method is applied to a modified IEEE 24-bus test system. The results show computational effectiveness and provide a helpful method in planning low-carbon electricity power systems.

Cost of Carbon in the Total Cost of Healthcare Procedures: A Methodological Challenge.

Economic evaluations aim to compare the costs and the results of health strategies to guide the public decision-making process. Cost estimation is, thus, a cornerstone of this approach. At present, few national evaluation agencies recommend incorporating the cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from healthcare actions into the calculation of healthcare costs. Our main goal is to describe and discuss the methodology for integrating the cost of GHG emissions into the field of applied economic evaluations. To estimate this cost, three steps are required: (1) identifying and quantifying the physical flows linked to the production and management of the outputs of healthcare interventions, (2) estimating the quantity of GHG that can be attributed to each physical flow, and (3) valuing these GHG emissions in monetary terms. Integrating the cost of GHG emissions into the calculation of the costs of healthcare interventions is both useful and relevant from a perspective of collective intergenerational well-being. This approach has been made possible thanks to the existence of accounting and monetary valuation methods for emissions. Agencies specialized in health economic evaluations could take up this issue to resolve ongoing questions, thus providing researchers with a methodological framework and public decision-makers with some key insights.

Agro-technology for climate-smart agriculture and resilience to climate extremes in sub-Saharan Africa

Agro-technologies such as irrigation and new crop varieties can reduce climate risk for agricultural production in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). SSA has the highest maize yield gaps globally, despite its importance as a staple crop in the region. Reducing maize yield gaps is key to tackling food insecurity; however, closing yield gaps might imply an increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cost. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) seeks to minimise this cost whilst maximising productivity and resilience. One key element of CSA is resilience to extreme events, although this is rarely examined. Accordingly, we assess the climate smartness of contrasting agro-technology and climate scenarios to assess both resilience to extremes and the overall climate smartness of the scenarios. We use simulations from an existing integrated modelling framework for Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, centred on 2050. Four scenarios were examined, defined by combinations of high vs. low agro-technology adoption and high vs. low climate risk (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5). We calculated a climate smartness index (CSI) to the model outputs that quantify the trade-offs between greenhouse gas emissions and agricultural productivity. CSI scores showed that the increase in GHG emissions from improved agro-technology is compensated for the yield benefits. Agro-technology in SSA can therefore benefit the pillars of climate-smart agriculture, namely increased mitigation, adaptation, and productivity. Further, we show that improved maize varieties and irrigation can substantially reduce future yield shocks and enhance resilience to climate change extremes in SSA, pointing to best-bets for agro-technology adoption. Irrigation reduces mid-century yield shocks by 64% (RCP2.6) or 42% (RCP8.5). When combined with improved maize varieties, irrigation removes the majority of yield shocks (90%) in RCP8.5. We therefore conclude that: (i) irrigation has significant potential to increase resilience in SSA; and (ii) investment in strategies to improve crop varieties is critical if the benefits or irrigation are to be fully realized under an RCP8.5 future.

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.