Reduce Air Pollutant Emissions Research Articles

Air pollution, governance quality, and health outcomes: evidence from developing countries.

While studies have demonstrated that air pollution can be catastrophic to the population's health, few empirical studies are found in the economic literature because a considerable proportion of the evidence comes from epidemiological studies. Because of the crucial role of governance in the health community, good governance has been a contentious issue in public sector management in recent years. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of air pollution and the role of governance on health outcomes. This study employed the generalized method of moment (GMM) estimation techniques to analyse panel data for 72 developing countries from 2010 to 2017. The empirical results confirm that higher PM2.5 and CO2 levels have a detrimental influence on life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, whereas the role of governance has a positive impact on life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. Furthermore, the findings show governance quality plays a role in moderating the negative effect of PM2.5 on health outcomes. The ongoing rise in air pollution has had a significant impact on the health of developing countries. It appears that governance quality has improved health outcomes. The findings have important policy implications, such that strengthening governance can reduce air pollution emissions in developing countries. However, to reduce the health effects of air pollution, developing countries must implement effective environmental development policies and track the implementation and enforcement of such policies.

Air pollution mitigation assessment to inform Cambodia's first clean air plan

Cambodia's 16.5 million people are exposed to air pollution in excess of World Health Organisation guidelines. The Royal Government of Cambodia has regulated air pollutant emissions and concentrations since 2000, but rapid economic growth and energy consumption means air pollution continues to impact human health. In December 2021, the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia published Cambodia's first Clean Air Plan that outlines actions to reduce air pollutant emissions over the next decade. This work presents the quantitative air pollution mitigation assessment underpinning the identification and evaluation of measures included in Cambodia's Clean Air Plan. Historic emissions of particulate matter (PM2.5, black carbon, organic carbon) and gaseous (nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulphur dioxide, ammonia, and carbon monoxide) air pollutants are quantified between 2010 and 2015, and projected to 2030 for a baseline scenario. Mitigation scenarios reflecting implementation of 14 measures included in Cambodia's Clean Air Plan were modelled, to quantify the national reduction in emissions, from which the reduction in ambient PM2.5 exposure and attributable health burdens were estimated. In 2015, the residential, transport, and waste sectors contribute the largest fraction of national total air pollutant emissions. Without emission reduction measures, air pollutant emissions could increase by between 50 and 150% in 2030 compared to 2015 levels, predominantly due to increases in transport emissions. The implementation of the 14 mitigation measures could substantially reduce emissions of all air pollutants, by between 60 and 80% in 2030 compared to the baseline. This reduction in emissions was estimated to avoid approximately 900 (95% C.I.: 530–1200) premature deaths per year in 2030 compared to the baseline scenario. In addition to improving air pollution and public health, Cambodia's Clean Air Plan could also to lead to additional benefits, including a 19% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, simultaneously contributing to Cambodia's climate change goals.

Reducing Air Pollutant Emissions and Optimizing Fuel Economy by Controlling Torque and Catalyst warm-up in mild HEV via Cascaded MPC

In this paper, Cascaded MPC (Model Predictive Control) including Supervisory MPC, Heating MPC and Torque MPC is applied to mild HEVs (Hybrid Electric Vehicles) in order to improve fuel economy and reduce NOx emissions. There is a difference in the timescale between Heaitng MPC and Torque MPC, which are connected via the battery. Supervisory MPC treats the power and temperature systems comprehensively and calculates reference values for NOx emissions to be tracked in Heating MPC. In Heating MPC, the optimal amount of heating from the battery to the catalyst in the exhaust gas after-treatment system is determined. The amount of heating must be determined in a way that the catalyst can optimally purify NOx emitted from the engine. At Torque MPC, the optimal torque distribution for the engine and motor is determined. Finally, the effectiveness of our proposed method is demonstrated by simulations.

CONGESTION IN LARGE URBAN AGGLOMERATIONS AND SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE IT

The increase in road traffic and transport demand in recent years, especially since the early 1990s, has caused traffic congestion, accidents, delays and environmental complications, especially in developing cities. Both cars and public transport are affected and it has numerous negative social consequences in addition to reducing economic efficiency. In densely populated areas, urbanization, followed by the increasing need for mobility, has been subjected to constant stress and consequently to the deterioration of efficiency and safety performance. The situation is further aggravated by the growing number of private cars. The transportation and traffic problems in every city are just a reflection of poor land use planning and organization. Improving the existing infrastructure involves prohibitive costs, therefore it is desirable to use it to its maximum capacity. Nowadays, cities face the challenge of improving the quality of life by limiting road congestion, reducing air pollution emissions and road accidents.

Whether it is economical to use combined heat and power (CHP) system for the efficient utilization of associated petroleum gas in oil extraction sites in China: A cost-benefit analysis considering environmental benefits

The efficient use of associated petroleum gas with combined heat and power (CHP) systems in oil extraction sites has proven to be technically feasible, but its economic inefficiency continues to deter oil companies from using CHP, given that simple fuel cost reductions do not yield significant positive returns in the face of large investments in purchasing and maintaining CHP. This research constructs a cost-benefit analysis model, which includes the monetized environmental benefits generated by CHP. A pilot experiment operated in a certain oilfield in Shandong province shows that the annual difference between the reduction in fuel costs and the investment in purchase and maintenance of CHP is only about ¥210,000 per device. However, when environmental benefits including health benefit and low-carbon benefit are included in the model, the annual environmental benefits of a single equipment update can be about ¥760,000, and the overall annual net benefits will reach about ¥970,000. It is concluded that the application of CHP in oil extraction sites is economically efficient, taking into account the environmental benefit it can produce. The research results will help oil companies use CHP to make more contributions to carbon and air pollutant emission reduction. However, considering that a large number of CHP systems can form a distributed energy structure, the proposed model still has limitations.

Narrowing fossil fuel consumption in the Indian road transport sector towards reaching carbon neutrality

Road transportation accounts for 56% of India's transportation sector's CO2 emissions. Reaching carbon neutrality before 2070 requires the deep decarbonization of this sector. This study assesses the potential of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel-cell vehicles (FCV) as the least-cost pathway toward carbon neutrality. We estimate the future demand for passenger and freight services and evaluate the impact of EV policies using the Integrated Model of Energy, Environment, and Economy for Sustainable Development/Technology (IMED/TEC). The study covers road transport emissions, energy, and air pollution transitions under four scenarios, including reference, low, medium, and high penetration of BEV and FCV, which align with the decarbonization target agreed upon under India's national policy. Results show that the carbon neutrality target would be challenging with BEV alone in road passenger and freight transportation because it is less efficient. Combined penetration of BEV and FCV can reduce air pollutant emissions significantly. Operative implementation of FCV could diminish more than 96% of the total road transport CO2 emissions. The analytical framework also proposes local climate change policies towards a carbon neutrality strategy to escalate the share of BEV and FCV in the Indian road transport sector.

Joint Planning of Fleet Deployment, Ship Refueling, and Speed Optimization for Dual-Fuel Ships Considering Methane Slip

Reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions has become one of the primary tasks for the shipping industry over the past few years. Among alternative marine fuels, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is regarded as one of the most popular alternative marine fuels because it is one of the cleanest fossil marine fuels. Therefore, a practical way to implement green shipping is to deploy dual-fuel ships that can burn conventional fuel oil and LNG on various ship routes. However, a severe problem faced by dual-fuel ships is methane slip from the engines of ships. Therefore, this study formulates a nonlinear mixed-integer programming model for an integrated optimization problem of fleet deployment, ship refueling, and speed optimization for dual-fuel ships, with the consideration of fuel consumption of both main and auxiliary engines, ship carbon emissions, availability of LNG at different ports of call, and methane slip from the main engines of ships. Several linearization techniques are applied to transform the nonlinear model into a linear model that can be directly solved by off-the-shelf solvers. A large number of computational experiments are carried out to assess the model performance. The proposed linearized model can be solved quickly by Gurobi, namely shorter than 0.12 s, which implies the possibility of applying the proposed model to practical problems to help decision-makers of shipping liners make operational decisions. In addition, sensitivity analyses with essential parameters, such as the price difference between the conventional fuel oil and LNG, carbon tax, and methane slip amount, are conducted to investigate the influences of these factors on operational decisions to seek managerial insights. For example, even under the existing strictest carbon tax policy, shipping liners do not need to deploy more ships and slow steaming to reduce the total weekly cost.

Negative emission technology is key to decarbonizing China's cement industry

The cement industry, which contributes to 8 % of global CO2 emissions and a large quantity of air pollutants, plays a pivotal role in achieving the carbon neutrality target. However, the question of how to decarbonize the cement industry toward net-zero emissions and the corresponding environmental impact remains unclear. An integrated assessment framework combining a top-down computable general equilibrium model, a bottom-up technology selection model, and a life-cycle assessment was developed to explore the cement industry’s carbon–neutral pathways and associated environmental impact. Results show that promoting energy-efficient technologies is crucial for reducing CO2 emissions in the short term, which can also significantly reduce air pollutant emissions. Improving energy efficiency contributes to reducing the emissions of SO2, NOx, and PM2.5, by 33 %, 35 %, and 8 %, respectively, by 2030. In the long run, achieving net-zero carbon emissions requires implementation of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and demand-side mitigation measures. The share of kilns equipped with BECCS would increase to 68–75 % by 2060. Corresponding unit abatement costs of CO2 are 484–676 CNY/tonne CO2. However, BECCS triggers adverse side effects by increasing water consumption and land cover by 7–11 km3 and 3–4 Mha, respectively, in 2060. Thus, China should take full advantage of energy-efficient technologies to co-control CO2 and air pollutant emissions while avoiding negative effects of BECCS.

Mitigation of air pollution and corresponding impacts during a global energy transition towards 100% renewable energy system by 2050

Air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels has adverse health impacts and is linked to cardiovascular disease, strokes, acute respiratory disease and cancer, predominantly in urban centres around the world. Increasing use of renewables for power generation has been seen to bring about the benefits of cleaner air in regions and countries that have high shares of renewable energy installations. This research aims to estimate current NOx, SOx, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions from the energy sector and identify the trends in development of these emissions during a global energy transition towards 100% renewable energy. In this energy transition, total emissions from the global energy sector are projected to drop by almost 92% in 2050 compared to 2015, with annual premature deaths from energy sector-related air pollution reducing by about 97% from 5.2 million deaths in 2015 to 150 thousand deaths by 2050. Annual damage costs are forecast to drop drastically by 88.5% from about 4600 b€ in 2015 to 529 b€ by 2050. This research shows that defossilisation and a shift to renewable forms of energy enables a massive reduction in air pollutant emissions that are directly harmful to human health, resulting in immense health and economic benefits in terms of avoided fatalities and saved health expenditures across the world.

Engineering Solutions to Improve the Environmental Safety of Quarry Transport

The results of a research project on the creation and operation of quarry dump trucks using hybrid propulsion systems and batteries to reduce air pollutant emissions are presented.

Implications of intercontinental renewable electricity trade for energy systems and emissions

A rapid global energy transition, including the ramping up of electricity generation from renewables, is needed to limit global warming to 2 °C or 1.5 °C. However, renewable resource endowments vary widely between regions, and renewable electricity is currently mainly used locally. Here we use a global integrated assessment model to explore the implications of renewable electricity trade via a set of planned direct-current-type ultra-high-voltage (UHVDC) transmission lines for global energy transition and climate change. We find that renewable electricity trade across large world regions via the underlying UHVDC interconnection can boost renewable electricity production and reduce 2020–2100 cumulative CO2 emissions from the power sector up to 9.8%. Financial investments in the UHVDC lines are offset in the long term by reduced investments in other electricity-generation options, including nuclear and storage. Finally, we find that renewable electricity trade can substantially reduce air pollutant emissions in importing regions. Projects are under way for direct-current ultra-high-voltage transmission lines that would allow trading of renewable electricity across world regions. Guo et al. use integrated assessment models to explore different scenarios for the operation of these projects and assess their potential for decarbonization.

Uncovering the key mechanisms of how deep decarbonization benefits air pollution alleviation in China

Addressing climate change and air pollution goals in conjunction would be efficient and cost-effective. Dealing with these two challenges is a common issue for urban clusters pursuing sustainable development. Expected to become the fourth international first-class bay area, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) takes the lead in exploring a green and low-carbon transition path as a key element of being a pioneering economic reform demonstration zone. Based on an integrated modeling framework that couples an energy-economy model (IMED|CGE), decomposition analysis, and regression methods, the potential contribution of achieving the climate mitigation target to air pollutant reduction in the GBA by 2050 was quantified. The results showed that the transport sector has the most significant potential for carbon reduction. Energy intensity and structural transformations are the main contributors to reducing carbon emissions, with the latter becoming increasingly important over time. Climate policy can effectively reduce air pollutant emissions; however, this effect varies for different pollutants and sectors. Based on the assessment of the synergy index and cost of abatement, sectors with priority for synergic governance were identified. The regression results indicated that the carbon shadow price would be significantly more effective in reducing air pollutant emissions in the post-2030 period than before 2030, except for SO2 and NH3, partially because of the existing actions that cause the synergistic effects to decline. In addition, end-of-pipe removal measures still play a relatively significant role in reducing air pollutants, particularly VOC, NH3, and primary PM2.5. Thus, the findings suggest that priority should be given to sectors with huge synergistic benefits, such as transportation and power generation while paying attention to possible trade-offs.

A tool for air pollution scenarios (TAPS v1.0) to enable global, long-term, and flexible study of climate and air quality policies

Abstract. Air pollution is a major sustainability challenge – and future anthropogenic precursor and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will greatly affect human well-being. While mitigating climate change can reduce air pollution both directly and indirectly, distinct policy levers can affect these two interconnected sustainability issues across a wide range of scenarios. We help to assess such issues by presenting a public Tool for Air Pollution Scenarios (TAPS) that can flexibly assess pollutant emissions from a variety of climate and air quality actions, through the tool's coupling with socioeconomic modeling of climate change mitigation. In this study, we develop and implement TAPS with three components: recent global and fuel-specific anthropogenic emissions inventories, scenarios of emitting activities to 2100 from the MIT Economic Projection and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, and emissions intensity trends based on recent scenario data from the Greenhouse Gas–Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model. An initial application shows that in scenarios with less climate and pollution policy ambition, near-term air quality improvements from existing policies are eclipsed by long-term emissions increases – particularly from industrial processes that combine sharp production growth with less stringent pollution controls in developing regions. Additional climate actions would substantially reduce air pollutant emissions related to fossil fuel (such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides), while further pollution controls would lead to larger reductions for ammonia and organic carbon (OC). Future applications of TAPS could explore diverse regional and global policies that affect these emissions, using pollutant emissions results to drive global atmospheric chemical transport models to study the scenarios' health impacts.

Evaluation of multiple air pollutant emission reductions in northern China district via resource sharing

The inter-provincial inequalities of economic developments and air pollutant emissions revealed the need for the cross-regional emission reduction strategy in China. Resource sharing could make those provinces with low emissions intensities offer more products with production shifts and trade adjustments, which would reduce emission intensities and total emissions of the whole region. Taking eight contiguous cities/provinces in northern China district as a case, a multi-regional input–output optimization model was developed to evaluate multiple air pollutant emissions reductions via regional resource sharing. Under constraints of provincial gross domestic products and various domestic demands, the application of resource sharing increased inter-provincial trades, shifted production responsibilities to low-emitting provinces, reduced regional emission intensities, and finally resulted in multiple pollutant emission reductions. Using the latest China's multi-regional input–output data of 2012, we estimated that resource sharing would reduce emissions of fine particulate matters, inhalable particles, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds by 11%, 11%, 11%, 10% and 9%, respectively in the studied region. Those provinces which had low emission intensities and adequate production capacities should supply more products and do more for improving regional degree of synergy, especially in industry and power subsectors. The emission transfers were increased, but total emissions were declined obviously. It was indicated that there was still an urgent need of promoting the scope and level of regional cooperation. Those provincial subsectors with low emission intensities and production increases were important for achieving emission reductions of the study region. This study might be helpful to conduct regional emission mitigations with existing technologies and propose a multiple pollutant emission reductions strategy based on resource sharing.

Does environmentally biased technological progress reduce air pollution emissions? empirical analysis based on spatial model and PSTR model

Environmental policies and Environmentally biased technological advances have important theoretical value and practical significance for air pollution reduction and green economic development in China. The article is based on panel data for 270 cities in China from 2007 to 2020. Using a Spatial model, the direct, spillover and moderating effects of Environmentally biased technological progress on “local-neighbourhood” urban air pollution are examined empirically. On this basis, the PSTR model is used to further explore the non-linear effects of different types of environmental regulations. The study found that: 1) There is a significant positive spatial correlation between both air pollution and Environmentally biased technological progress in China. Environmentally biased technological progress significantly suppresses air pollution, with significant spatial spillover effects, and the conclusions remain robust after a series of robustness tests. 2) Different types of environmental regulations reinforce the dampening effect of Environmentally biased technological progress on air pollution. However, informal environmental regulation only reinforces the dampening effect of Environmentally biased technological progress on air pollution in the local cities. 3) There is a significant threshold effect of environmental regulation on the impact of Environmentally biased technological progress on air pollution. When the level of environmental regulation within a certain threshold interval, Environmentally biased technological progress has a dampening effect on air pollution. 4) The more eastern the city, the larger the city and the non-resource-based cities, the more significant the air pollution suppression effect of Environmentally biased technological advances. Based on this, this study points out that governments at all levels should pay attention to the spatial spillover effect of technological progress bias on air pollution, deepen the construction of joint prevention and control mechanisms for regional air pollution control; Establish multiple environmental regulation policies, formulate and implement environmental regulation policies according to local conditions and local technological progress bias; Formulate targeted environmental regulation policies and technological innovation policies according to the characteristics of different cities. It is an important theoretical reference to help China to fight the battle against air pollution in-depth and to promote further improvement of ecological and environmental quality.

A study on the application of hybrid propulsion system of small size fishing vessels in South Korea

ABSTRACT In order to respond to strengthened environmental regulations, research on various eco-friendly technologies is actively underway in each industry. In particular, in the shipping sector, goals are set and regulations are strengthened step by step to reduce air pollutant emissions by ships. About 62% of the ships registered in South Korea are registered as fishing boats, of which 32% are aged for more than 21 years. Aging fishing boats are the main culprits of reducing fuel consumption efficiency and emitting air pollutants due to poor performance of the institution. In addition, the burden on fishermen is expected to increase as the South Korean government pushes to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes a ban on fisheries subsidies. Therefore, in this study, a target ship was designated and the operation pattern of the ship was analyzed to examine the feasibility of applying the engine-electric hybrid propulsion system to reduce air pollutant emissions from ships and increase fuel consumption efficiency.

Does the low-carbon city pilot policy achieve the synergistic effect of pollution and carbon reduction?

A scientific assessment of the synergistic effect of the low-carbon city pilot policy in reducing air pollution and carbon emissions is needed to promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This study applied the Spatial Durbin Model-Difference in Difference technique to investigate the synergistic effect of air pollution and carbon emission reduction through the implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy. The main results are as follows. (1) A spatial phenomenon was observed, in which there was a coexistence of urban carbon emissions and air pollution agglomerations. The spatial characteristics of the “symbiotic” carbon emissions and air pollution agglomerations were revealed. (2) The low-carbon city policy significantly reduced CO2, SO2, and PM2.5 concentrations, and the effect of the “co-governance” of air pollution and carbon emission reduction was obvious. (3) There was a clear regional heterogeneity in the synergistic effect of air pollution and carbon emission reduction in low-carbon cities. A stronger incentive effect was apparent in central and western cities, resource-based cities, and key environmental protection cities. (4) To achieve a synergistic governance “sharing” situation, the transmission mechanism of the low-carbon city pilot policy was the reduction of total energy consumption, the promotion of industrial restructuring, the optimization of the factor endowment structure, and the continuous improvement of the urban transport structure and green innovation. Our results not only help advance the research on synergistic reduction of air pollution and carbon emissions, but also can be of interest to low-carbon city policy makers in China.

A Study on Synergizing the Reduction of Air Pollution and Carbon Emissions in China and Policy Implication

Most conventional air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) are simultaneously emitted from the same sources, providing a sound theoretical basis for the synergistic governance of these emissions. At present, China faces severe challenges in protecting the eco-environment, such as reducing conventional pollutants, improving environmental quality, and peaking CO2 emissions. Internationally, the control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been incorporated into the comprehensive environmental management system in major developed economies such as the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), where, based on GHG emissions monitoring and statistical data, decision-making support is provided for the national governments in the form of policy evaluation, thus forming a management mode that enables overall planning, coordination, and unified regulatory at the national level and participation of multiple departments under the national government. The synergistic control of conventional air pollutants and GHGs is becoming an important measure to strengthen the environmental management and achieve low-carbon development. This paper summarizes the synergistic effects of reducing air pollution and carbon emissions from the aspects of synergistic policies, strategic planning, and institutional systems, and conducts an analysis based on existing synergistic practices.

Exploration of a new path to reduce air pollutant emissions in the sinter plant of steelworks

Tremendous air pollutant emissions have become an obstacle to curbing the green development of the steel industry. How to minimize the air pollutant emissions? In this study, the gas flow network model of the sinter plant was first established by using the dynamic material flow analysis method. Moreover, based on the circulation theory, the waste gas recycling of the sinter plant was constructed and the gas flow network model was optimized. Therefore, the waste gas and air pollutant emissions can be reduced. The results showed that the actual air consumption in the sinter plant was 79.40% higher than the theoretical value, with a serious waste of air resources. After waste gas recycling, the waste gas emissions from the production of per ton sinter were reduced by 49.54%, and the emissions of SO2, NOX, and soot were reduced by 4.5 g, 9.1 g, and 1.8 g, respectively.

Transitioning to low-GWP alternatives with enhanced energy efficiency in cooling non-residential buildings of China.

The electricity demand for space cooling in the non-residential building (NRB) sector of China is growing significantly and is becoming increasingly critical with rapid economic development and mounting impacts of climate change. The growing demand for space cooling will increase global warming due to emissions of hydrofluorocarbons used in cooling equipment and carbon dioxide emissions from the mostly fossil fuel-based electricity currently powering space cooling. This study uses the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interaction and Synergies (GAINS) model framework to estimate current and future emissions of hydrofluorocarbons and their abatement potentials for space cooling in the NRB sector of China and assess the co-benefits in the form of savings in electricity and associated reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG), air pollution, and short-lived climate pollutant emissions. Co-benefits of space cooling are assessed by taking into account (a) regional and urban/rural heterogeneities and climatic zones among different provinces; (b) technical/economic energy efficiency improvements of the cooling technologies; and (c) transition towards lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants under the Kigali Amendment. Under the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, the total energy consumption for space cooling in the NRB sector will increase from 166 TWh in 2015 to 564 TWh in 2050, primarily due to the rapid increase in the floor space area of non-residential buildings. The total GHG mitigation potential due to the transition towards low-GWP refrigerants and technical energy efficiency improvement of cooling technologies will approximately be equal to 10% of the total carbon emissions from the building sector of China in 2050.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11027-022-10021-w.