Does the Bush Administration’s climate policy mean climate protection?

The paper analyzes the two major components of the Bush Administration’s climate policy, namely an emission intensity target and a technology strategy. The question is whether those components will generate net emission reductions that will contribute to the stabilization of the greenhouse gas concentration at a safe level in the long run. It comes out that the Bush Administration climate policy does not guarantee any meaningful contribution to climate protection. The lenient emission intensity target set by the Administration will most likely allow near term emissions to grow. In the long run, the Bush Administration places a big bet on future climate-friendly technological breakthroughs to cost-effectively compensate for the current and near term net emission increases. But the outcomes of those technological developments are uncertain in terms of emission reduction potential, cost, and timing. The way towards enhanced climate protection will most likely not come from the policies of the current Administration, but rather from the growing concern about the climate issue in Congress and at the state, corporate and civil society levels. These combined forces may raise the playing field at the federal level in the near future.     

Energy saving and emission reduction revolutionizing China's environmental protection

Great pressure to curb carbon emission and increased need for energy have forced China to develop an “energy saving and emission reduction” (ESER) plan. ESER has become China's basic national policy, and a guideline for China's energy and environmental issues during the 11th Five-Years Plan (2006–2010). ESER represents a recalibration of China's economic model, moving away from growth-at-all-cost in favor of a more “balanced and sustainable” output. In 2007, China's GDP grew by 11.4%, but emission of COD and SO₂ decreased by 3.14% and 4.66% respectively compared to 2006, energy consumption for each unit of GDP declined by 3.27% also compared to 2006. ESER is also the engine behind reform of China's traditional administrative system which has always favored economic growth over environmental protection. The ESER accountability system sets green efforts as a decisive factor in determining the career prospects of local leaders. Also, China's State Environmental Protection Agency has been upgraded to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, gaining cabinet status for the first time. A greener future relative to the previous three decades can be anticipated with confidence for China provided that the best practices enunciated by ESER are taken to heart by policymakers.     

Energy security and climate change protection: Complementarity or tradeoff?

Energy security and climate change protection have risen to the forefront of energy policy—linked in time and a perception that both goals can be achieved through the same or similar policies. Although such complementarity can exist for individual technologies, policymakers face a tradeoff between these two policy objectives. The tradeoff arises when policymakers choose the mix of individual technologies with which to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy security. Optimal policy is achieved when the cost of the additional use of each technology equals the value of the additional energy security and reduction in greenhouse gas emission that it provides. Such an approach may draw more heavily on conventional technologies that provide benefits in only one dimension than on more costly technologies that both increase energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.     

Individual environmental behavior: A key role in building low-carbon communities in China

People’s social behavior, especially environmental behavior, has a great impact on energy consumption and carbon emission. This paper explores both categories of individual factors (e.g., values, habits, education, motivation, etc.) and social factors (e.g., institution, infrastructure, encouragement, etc.), to clarify the correlation between them and their sub-factors. Low-carbon campus is a representative type of low-carbon community which is less difficult to build than other communities because university students are well-educated and, to some extent, are more environmental aware and more willing to change their behaviors. The energy-saving and environment-friendly policies implemented on campus are collected and overviewed in this paper. Additionally, the leaders and employees from the related administration departments are interviewed, and the data of electricity amount and water usage are analyzed and a well-designed questionnaire is handed out in a survey. The survey investigates the environmental knowledge, energy use habits, attitude toward low-carbon transformation, comments on the current institution and so on. The results show that different groups of students have varied levels of environmental knowledge, energy use habits, and attitude toward low-carbon campus management. To improve energy conservation and cut carbon emission radically, advices on building low-carbon community are also proposed including professional curriculums of environmental protection, economic initiatives, effect management, good communications, and sound infrastructures and facilities.     

Towards a low-carbon future in China's building sector—A review of energy and climate models forecast

This article investigates the potentials of energy saving and greenhouse gases emission mitigation offered by implementation of building energy efficiency policies in China. An overview of existing literature regarding long-term energy-demand and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission forecast scenarios is presented. Energy consumption in buildings could be reduced by 100–300 million tons of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2030 compared with the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, which means that 600–700 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions could be saved by implementing appropriate energy policies within an adapted institutional framework. The main energy-saving potentials in buildings can be achieved by improving a building's thermal performance and district heating system efficiency. The analyses also reveal that the energy interchange systems are effective especially in the early stage of penetration. Our analysis on the reviewed models suggests that more ambitious efficiency improvement policies in both supply- and demand-side as well as the carbon price should be taken into account in the policy scenarios to address drastic reduction of CO₂ emission in the building sector to ensure climate security over the next decades.     

Optimal climate protection strategies for space heating: The case of Austria

The debate over the costs of climate protection policies still focuses on the question of whether strategies to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at zero or negative net cost (‘no regrets’ strategies) can be found. This article describes a carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction strategy for space and water heating in Austria relying on net present value analyses of 43 climate protection measures. The cost-benefit analyses include investment costs, the savings from energy conservation, the administrative costs of policy instruments and estimates of the external costs. An efficient CO₂ reduction strategy was developed on the basis of energy supply curves which were adapted so that interactions between the CO₂ reduction technologies could be considered. A cost-efficient CO₂ reduction strategy could lower the CO₂ emissions for the provision of space and water heating in Austria by up to 2.7% per year relative to the official ‘business as usual’ scenario.     

The role of nuclear energy in Lithuania under various post-Kyoto climate change mitigation regimes

The article aims to evaluate the potential role of nuclear energy in Lithuania under various post-Kyoto climate change mitigation regimes. Seeking to achieve this target the analysis of possible energy sector development scenarios in Lithuania was performed and CO₂ emission projections for these scenarios were developed. The analysis of post-Kyoto climate change mitigation architectures was performed and the requirements of these possible climate change mitigation regimes for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in Lithuania were assessed. Based on these assessments the potential role of new nuclear power in Lithuania was identified under various future climate change mitigation regimes.     

The role of offsets in a post-Kyoto climate agreement: The power sector in China

This paper considers how an offset scheme specific to the electricity generation sector could incentivize emissions cuts while avoiding the problems encountered by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It proposes an approach to project evaluation based on measures of additionality, economic viability and contribution to sustainable development specific to this sector and re-evaluates 460 registered CDM projects in China that generate electricity using wind, natural gas or small hydro. It concludes that many small hydro schemes would be viable without the CDM subsidy. Although these projects have zero emissions from operations, offsets issued to projects that are viable without subsidy permit increased emissions in developed countries and lead to a net increase in global emissions. To provide some indication of the sustainable development benefits that CDM projects bring to their host countries, the paper includes estimates of the projects’ benefit to public health due to the reduced use of coal for generation. The paper provides insights into the economics of projects and their value to host countries that are missed by the official CDM methodologies. It contributes to the debate over the design of sector-specific offset schemes that may be part of a new global agreement on combating climate change.     

The effectiveness of environmental authoritarianism: Evidence from China's administrative inquiry for environmental protection

In order to improve China's environmental quality, the central government has strengthened the environmental responsibility of local governments, and adopted supervision tools such as environmental protection inquiries and inspections to promote local governments to be more proactive in environmental issues. In this paper, the global non-radial direction distance function (NDDF) and difference-in-difference (DID) method are used to analyze the impact of the environmental protection inquiry on energy-environmental efficiency. Specifically, taking energy, capital, and labor as input factors, regional GDP as desirable output, and sulfur dioxide, dust, and wastewater emissions as undesirable outputs, the unified energy-environmental efficiency index (UEEI) of each city has been estimated with the global NDDF method. The results show that UEEI in the eastern and central regions are relatively high, while that in the north and northeast regions are relatively low. On this basis, the impact of environmental protection inquiry on UEEI of each city is analyzed with the DID method. The results show that the environmental protection inquiry can significantly improve the energy-environmental efficiency of atmospheric pollutants, but the effect on energy-environmental efficiency of wastewater emission is not significant.     

Does the use of Solar Home Systems (SHS) contribute to climate protection?

The paper addresses planners and decision-makers in the field of international development cooperation and also institutions concerned with the impacts of project- and technology promotion. The primary aim of the dissemination of Solar Home Systems (SHS) in off grid areas in developing countries is to improve the living conditions of the population in a cost–effective manner. A large-scale dissemination is essential both for significant contributions to development and for climate effectiveness. However, the contribution of SHS to climate protection is disputed. This analysis presents the most important parameters affecting the contribution of SHS to climate protection and quantifies the influence of those parameters. The case considered presupposes the commercial dissemination of SHS. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are affected by the marketing decisions of the supplier of SHS. With regard to the impact on GHG emissions, a comparison is made between traditional lighting with petroleum lamps and the use of dry cell batteries to operate small devices (baseline case) on the one hand and SHSs on the other. The comparison shows GHG savings of around 9 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent GHG emissions within a 20-year period of use of one single 50 Wp SHS compared with the baseline case. The result is robust with respect to variations in GHG-affecting variables. Petroleum consumption and dry cell batteries dominate GHG emissions balances to such an extent that scarcely any importance can be attached to GHG emissions from the transportation and manufacture of SHS. Therefore, it is permissible to use simplified GHG inventories which ignore the GHG emissions arising from the transportation and manufacture of SHS. Therefore the conclusion is, if SHS are commercially disseminated and used cost efficiently to substitute kerosene and dry cell batteries they reduce GHG emissions effectively. In that case SHS can make a significant contribution to climate protection by the dissemination of large numbers.     

Evaluation of potential co-benefits of air pollution control and climate mitigation policies for China's electricity sector

Since the rapid industrialisation, local air pollution has become one of China's most important environmental issues. In consequence, increasingly stringent air pollution control policies have been established by the Chinese government. These policies will inevitably affect China's future electric power investment given the key contribution of this sector to air pollution. This sector is also a key contributor to China’s greenhouse gas emissions and hence climate policy efforts. We present a study exploring what impacts of potential interactions and combinations of different policy efforts for local air pollutant control and carbon mitigation have on China's future electricity generation mix. The study utilises a novel generation portfolio model that explicitly incorporates key uncertainties in future technology costs and different policy approaches including carbon pricing and air emissions control. The findings highlight that China can achieve significant reductions for both greenhouse gas and local air pollutant emissions through a combination of climate change and air pollution control policies. Furthermore, there are potentially significant co-benefits from the perspectives of both air pollutant control and carbon mitigation and, notably, that the co-benefit from a sufficient carbon pricing policy to air pollution emission reductions is much stronger than that from stringent air pollutant control policies to carbon mitigation. Specifically, in order to achieve substantial local air pollution and greenhouse gas mitigation from China's electricity sector, it is necessary to close coal-fired power plants rather than merely seeking to clean their air pollution emissions up.     

The role of storage in a competitive electricity market and the effects of climate change

This paper uses a new model of a competitive electricity market to investigate the role of storage in markets dominated by hydro generation. Competition among generators leads to an endogenous shadow price of stored water, which facilitates the efficient intra-day and inter-season substitution of fuel. Overall welfare depends on storage capacity, the cost structure of non-hydro generators, and the characteristics of water inflows. If climate change reduces the long-run average level of inflows or leads to the introduction of a carbon tax then overall welfare will fall and the profitability of generators will rise. The welfare benefits from additional storage capacity will increase if climate change makes long-term inflows less predictable or leads to the introduction of a carbon tax. They will decrease if average inflows fall or the predictable seasonal cycle in inflows becomes less pronounced.     

China's foreign trade and climate change: A case study of CO2 emissions

The globalization of trade has numerous environmental implications. Trade creates a mechanism for consumers to shift environmental pollution associated with their consumption to other countries. Carbon leakage exerts great influences on international trade and economy. Applying an input–output approach, the paper estimates the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) embodied in China's foreign trade during 1997–2007. It is found that 10.03–26.54% of China's annual CO₂ emissions are produced during the manufacture of export goods destined for foreign consumers, while the CO₂ emissions embodied in China's imports accounted for only 4.40% (1997) and 9.05% (2007) of that. We also estimate that the rest of world avoided emitting 150.18 Mt CO₂ in 1997, increasing to 593 Mt in 2007, as a result of importing goods from China, rather than manufacturing the same type and quantity of goods domestically. During 1997–2007, the net “additional” global CO₂ emissions resulting from China's exports were 4894 Mt. Then, the paper divides the trade-embodied emissions into scale, composition and technical effect. It was found that scale and composition effect increased the CO₂ emissions embodied in trade while the technical effect offset a small part of them. Finally, its mechanism and policy implications are presented.     

Assessment of China's climate commitment and non-fossil energy plan towards 2020 using hybrid AIM/CGE model

China made a commitment in Copenhagen to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP from 40% to 45% compared with the 2005 level by 2020, and is determined to vigorously develop non-fossil fuels. This study analyzes the effects and impacts of policies that could help to achieve China's Copenhagen commitments with a hybrid static CGE model in which the electricity sector is disaggregated into 12 generation technologies. Four scenarios are developed, including the reference scenario A, the reference scenario B and two carbon constraint scenarios. The results show that carbon intensity in terms of GDP will fall by 30.97% between 2005 and 2020 in the reference scenario A, and will be reduced further by 7.97% if China's targeted non-fossil energy development plans can be achieved in the reference scenario B. However, the rest of the 40–45% target must be realized by other measures such as carbon constraint. It is also observed that due to carbon intensity constraints, GDP loss would be from 0.032% to 0.24% compared to the reference scenario B, and CO₂ emission reductions are due mainly to decreases in coal consumption in the electricity sector and manufacturing sector.     

Glucose electro-fermentation with mixed cultures: A key role of the Clostridiaceae family

Electro-fermentation is a new type of bioprocess combining the concepts of fermentation and electro-microbiology to improve the conversion of organic substrates into valuable fermentation products. During electro-fermentation metabolic profiles could be redirected by the presence of polarized electrodes through changes in the microbial communities in the dark fermentation. This paper aims to investigate the influence of the bacterial community composition on glucose electro-fermentation in batch electro-systems. Our results showed that the initial microbial community significantly impacted the final microbial community and related metabolic patterns. During electro-fermentation, the H₂ yield was increased using anaerobic sludge but decreased using activated sludge as inocula. While using other inocula from similar origins, no differences between electro-fermentation and traditional fermentation were evidenced. The relative abundance of Clostridiaceae family members in the inoculum appeared to be a determining factor affecting the global performances. These findings provide new insights on electro-fermentation mecanisms occurring in mixed cultures.     

The role of nuclear energy in long-term climate scenarios: An analysis with the World-TIMES model

There is a revival in the nuclear debate observed in the literature. Several analyses have shown that nuclear technologies may represent very attractive options for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, especially in countries with high growth projections for energy demand. Our objective is to analyze the role of nuclear energy in long-term climate scenarios using the World-TIMES (The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System) bottom-up model. World-TIMES is a global model that optimizes the energy system of 15 regions over a 100-year horizon (2000–2100).     

A study of the role played by renewable energies in China's sustainable energy supply

This paper first provides an overview of the context of renewable energy development in China, including the country's recent renewable energy legislation. Further, it summarizes the current status of renewable energy development and the role it plays in the national energy supply. Next it introduces the national indicative targets for renewable energies in 2010 and 2020, and conducts a long term scenario of the role of renewable energies in China's energy system transition till 2050. It discusses the main risks involved in China's renewable energy development, and proposes some policy measures for risk management.     

Fukushima's impact on the European power sector: The key role of CCS technologies

The accident in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011 has reactivated the discussion on how to meet ambitious climate mitigation objectives as some European countries reconsider the contribution of nuclear power in their energy mix. This study evaluates the impact of nuclear power reduction in Europe on the electricity mix under carbon emission reduction scenarios while considering the availability of carbon capture and storage technological options (CCS). The potential cost of carbon reduction is also addressed using the bottom-up optimization model TIAM-FR. The results suggest that CCS technologies constitute an interesting option in a case of stringent climate targets and limited nuclear electricity. However, the unavailability of CCS technologies induces a significant increase in carbon marginal cost and energy system cost to achieve the climate policy.