A strategic roadmap for large-scale green hydrogen demonstration and commercialisation in China: A review and survey analysis

Hydrogen is gaining increased attention from industries and policymakers in China. However, most of the current demonstration projects in the country have relied on conventional energy sources, including industrial byproduct hydrogen and grey hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. Moreover, strategies and policy frameworks leading to a shift to green or low-carbon hydrogen have neither been explored in-depth nor been identified clearly in the context of China. This study aims at bridging such gaps. Roadmapping techniques enhanced by the Delphi method and SWOT analysis are used to survey hydrogen energy experts from government bodies, industries, and academia to achieve basic agreement on strategically enabling large-scale green hydrogen demonstrations followed by commercialisation in China. The outcome of two rounds of surveys showed that experts' opinions converged on a strategic roadmap with three stages of development. The corresponding policies needed in each stage are evaluated and selected to form a systemic framework.     

Urban livability in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods: The experience of the German program “socially integrative city”

This paper asks how the livability of socially disadvantaged urban neighborhoods can be improved with the help of publicly funded area-based urban regeneration. It builds on the history of area-based regeneration policies in Germany aiming at upgrading and resolving urban problems at the neighborhood level. Its main argument is as follows. First, the fate of conventional physical upgrading policies focusing on the livability of deprived urban areas depends on the development environment. While successful upgrading sometimes makes inner-city neighborhoods so attractive that they run into a trend towards gentrification and displacement of the urban poor, the stabilization of less privileged areas cannot always be guaranteed. Second, alternative approaches are needed, linking limited physical upgrading with socially oriented policies, building on strategies like neighborhood management and empowerment. Third, they can make a substantial contribution to stabilizing deprived neighborhoods, thereby improving the general living conditions and the opportunities of the urban poor. However, they require at least some permanent intervention. Thus, they transcend the logic of area-based regeneration normally limited to restoring faith into the private real estate market and thereby directing inward investment into them that improves the quality of the physical environment. Fourth, they are hardly able to overcome significant negative stigmatization in cities that are severely hit by economic downturn and population decline. This is especially true when they act as arrival areas for consecutive waves of migrants, making it necessary to redefine the role of those areas in cities and accepting their high concentration of urban problems as a starting point for different area-based policies dealing with them. The key empirical background of the paper is the German system of urban development grants and an evaluation of the so-called program of “socially integrative city”.     

Simulation of interaction between high-temperature process and heat emission from electricity system in summer

During the hot summer season, using electricity systems increases the local anthropogenic heat emission, further increasing the temperature. Regarding anthropogenic heat sources, electric energy consumption, heat generation, indoor and outdoor heat transfer, and exchange in buildings play a critical role in the change in the urban thermal environment. Therefore, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model was applied in this study to investigate the heat generation from an indoor electricity system and its influence on the outdoor thermal environment. Through the building effect parameterization (BEP) of a multistorey urban canopy scheme, a building energy model (BEM) to increase the influence of indoor air conditioning on the electricity consumption system was proposed. In other words, the BEP+BEM urban canopy parameterization scheme was set. High temperatures and a summer heat wave were simulated as the background weather. The results show that using the BEP+BEM parameterization scheme of indoor and outdoor energy exchange in the WRF model can better simulate the air temperature near the surface layer on a sunny summer. During the day, the turning on the air conditioning and other electrical systems have no obvious effect on the air temperature near the surface layer in the city, whereas at night, the air temperature generally increases by 0.6 ℃, especially in densely populated areas, with a maximum temperature rise of approximately 1.2 ℃ from 22:00 to 23:00. When the indoor air conditioning target temperature is adjusted to 25–27 ℃, the total energy release of the air conditioning system is reduced by 12.66%, and the temperature drops the most from 13:00 to 16:00, with an average of approximately 1 ℃. Further, the denser the building is, the greater the temperature drop.     

超滤-纳滤组合工艺对东太湖原水的处理效果

随着工业化进程的不断加快,东太湖水质日趋恶化,给常规处理增加了很大的处理难度。针对水源污染问题和给水深度处理的需要,开展了超滤-纳滤双膜组合工艺处理东太湖原水的中试研究,考察双膜工艺对出水水质的提升效果。结果表明,超滤-纳滤双膜工艺对水质常规指标具有较好的去除效果,CODMn和TOC的去除率分别为91.7%和90%;对荧光类物质的去除主要表现在对芳香族蛋白质、类富里酸物质、溶解性微生物代谢产物的去除;此外,双膜组合工艺对小分子二甲基异莰醇(2-MIB)和土臭素(GSM)的去除率分别为70%和77%,表明该工艺对水中主要致嗅物质具有良好的去除能力。     

长三角城市群节能减排效率及影响因素分析

使用夜间灯光数据估算了长三角城市群地区能源消耗量,通过数据包络分析、Tobit模型计算了节能减排效率与影响因素。研究结论表明:我国长三角城市群地区节能效率改进较小而减排效率提升较大,在诸多影响因素中固定资本投资率、产业结构与人口密度对节能减排效率有较大的促进作用;而第二产业集聚度目前影响方向为负,未来对节能减排效率的改进有一定的正向影响。     

Modes of making smart cities: Or,practices of variegated smart urbanism

The ‘actually existing’ smart city is not a monolith. It is not directed by a universal logic, nor does it develop in a standardised way. As recent research has argued, the spatial, material, and political contexts of cities have major influence over what smart urbanism looks like in practice. This paper adds analytical depth to, and broadens the geographical scope of, research on the variegated modes of making smart cities. Based on empirical research in multiple Australian cities we use three case studies to explore three different modes of smart urbanism, each one centred on the interests of a different key actor: corporate-centric, citizen-centric, and planner-centric. These different modes can, and do, co-exist in the same city. At times, they are competing logics that fight to pull the city in different directions. Yet, they can also work together to shape smart city initiatives. In describing these different modes, we pay particular attention to the ways that these projects and strategies must contend with the already existing spatial, cultural, and political contexts of each place.     

Systematic approach for recognizing limiting factors for growth of biomethane use in transportation sector – A case study in Finland

In this paper, limiting factors for increased use of biomethane as a transportation fuel are studied. The aim of this research is to recognize and estimate the limiting factors for biomethane utilization in the transportation sector. The limiting factors are studied by using calculation models from Life cycle perspective and literature reviews. According to the results, the main limiting factors can be classified into the following categories: production potential, technology, economy or policy. For biomethane utilization in Finland, the main limiting factors seem to be the lack of distribution infrastructure in northern parts of the country and the uncertain economical feasibility for agricultural biomass producers and for vehicle owners. From the political perspective, the external costs for petrol operated vehicles are higher than for biomethane operated vehicles. Reductions from the external costs could be used by political decisions as a base to support the growth of biomethane in the transportation sector which could lead to GHG emission reductions. A similar systematic approach can also be used to study limiting factors for other transportation energy systems.     

Cloud asset for urban flood control

The performance of physical assets has become a major determinant success factor for urban flood control. However, managing these assets is always challenging as there are a huge number of diverse assets involved, which are distributed throughout the city, and owned by different agencies. Aiming at improving the management efficiency of these assets, and ensuring their performance, this paper proposes the concept of cloud asset based on cloud computing, mobile agent, and various smart devices. Through hardware integration and software encapsulation, cloud asset could sense its real-time status, adapt to varied working scenarios, be controlled remotely, and shared among agencies. It enables accurate real-time control of every asset, and thus improves the management efficiency and effectiveness. This paper first presents the concept of cloud asset with its technical architecture, and then analyses the software agent model for cloud asset, which is the key enabler to realize UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) management of assets, and provides mobility and intelligence for them. After that, the framework of cloud asset-enabled workflow management is built, in which cloud asset could be easily found and dynamically invoked by different workflows. Finally, a demonstrative case is provided to verify the effectiveness of cloud asset.     

Federal policy documentation and geothermal water consumption: Policy gaps and needs

With U.S. geothermal power production expected to more than triple by 2040, and the majority of this growth expected to occur in arid and water-constrained areas, it is imperative that decision-makers understand the potential long-term limitations to and tradeoffs of geothermal development due to water availability. To this end, water consumption data, including documentation triggered by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, production and injection data, and water permit data, were collected from state and federal environmental policy sources in an effort to determine water consumption across the lifecycle of geothermal power plants. Values extracted from these sources were analyzed to estimate water usage during well drilling; to identify sourcing of water for well drilling, well stimulation, and plant operations; and to estimate operational water usage at the plant level. Nevada data were also compared on a facility-by-facility basis with other publicly available water consumption data, to create a complete picture of water usage and consumption at these facilities. This analysis represents a unique method of capturing project-level water data for geothermal projects; however, a lack of statutory and legal requirements for such data and data quality result in significant data gaps, which are also explored.