Waste gas emission control and constraints of energy and economy in China

This paper studies the characteristics of waste gas emission (WGE), energy consumption (EC) and economic development in China, and analyzes the reason for the change of waste gas intensity (WI) in order to provide necessary information for policy maker. Firstly, this paper describes the situation of WGE and the primary factors in China in general to describe the relationship among energy, economy and environmental at the national level. Then we detect the main sectors for WGE that have notable effectiveness for economic and EC through the comparison of the percentage of EC, value added (VA) and industrial WGE from combustion in 39 industrial sectors. Then with the calculation of energy intensity (EI), clean level (CL) and WI, this paper selects those crucial sectors for waste gas control and shows the efficiency of waste gas control in these sectors from 2001 to 2005. The result showed most waste gas came from heavy industrial sectors. However, heavy industrial sectors usually have lower CL than light industries. Moreover, within these sectors, some sectors, particularly Production and supply of electric power and heat power, showed the tendency of worsening efficiency for waste gas control from 2001 to 2005.     

Control of vehicular emission using innovative energy solutions comprising of hydrogen for transportation sector in Pakistan: A case study of Lahore City

Energy, either from non-renewable or renewable sources, is of paramount importance as the progress of a country is gauged on economic development. However, with the use of non-renewable energy resources, the environmental degradation is exacerbating with every passing day in developing countries including Pakistan. On the contrary, the developed countries are resorting to sustainable and renewable energy resources to achieve sustainable development goals. The primary consumer of the non-renewable energy sources is transportation sector in Pakistan, with the total consumption amounting to almost two-third of the total utilization. Keeping in view the existing energy expenditures and its share in environmental pollution by transportation sector, Lahore Metropolitan area has been selected for this research paper. This research analyzed the environmental data collected from multiple road junctions of Lahore City. In light of the existing data, the research exhibited improvements in overall environmental quality by comparing the existing and proposed energy solutions comprising of Hydrogen in transportation sector. The comparison carried out by utilizing International and National Environmental quality standards. Additionally, research also addresses the energy savings with the transition from non-renewable energy sources to renewable and innovative energy solutions.     

The energy demand in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan: some further results

The purpose of this study was to re-examine the role of energy in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan using a Partial Equilibrium Approach. GL restricted cost function along with the factor demand equations were estimated using Zellner’s iterative procedure. Higher energy prices do not seem to adversely affect investment in capital. Substitution possibilities between energy and non-energy inputs are very limited and therefore energy price hikes may directly affect the cost of production. Inter-fuel cross price elasticities indicate that there are substitution possibilities between electricity and gas.     

降低CO_2排放的中国能源发展路径分析

低碳经济发展越来越多地受到世界各国的广泛关注。环境、气候变化问题,已经成为整个人类面临的最严峻挑战。本文通过分析中国CO2排放的基本状况,并运用计量经济模型,对中国能源消费的环境效应影响、中国能源消费产生的CO 2的影响因素进行定量化分析,探讨了中国能源行业高耗能、外部不经济的主要因素。最后,提出了适合中国可行的降低CO 2排放的能源发展路径。     

Specific concerns of Pakistan in the context of energy security issues and geopolitics of the region

The global and regional energy security in future is not likely to be threatened as much by the shortage of resources as it is likely to be endangered by the disruption of supplies and availability of tradable resources: threatened by growing terrorism and geopolitical conflicts. Pakistan's geo-strategic position and its importance act to both influence and undermine its energy security issues. It has the potential to provide a corridor for regional energy trade but it is ranked among the top nations exposed to potential threat of terrorist attacks because of the consequences of its role in the major geopolitical expeditions of the recent past. The paper examines the concerns of Pakistan emanating from the regional and global geopolitics of energy from Pakistan's viewpoint.     

Effects of synthetic gas constituents on combustion and emission behavior of premixed H2/CO/CO2/CNG mixture flames

In this study, effects of synthetic gas constituents on combustion and emission behavior of premixed H₂/CO/CO₂/CNG blending synthetic gas flames were experimentally investigated in a swirl stabilized laboratory scale combustor. Effects of these constituents on flashback and blowout equivalence ratios of respective mixtures were also determined. Firstly, mixtures of CNG/H₂/CO with varying H₂/CO ratios were tested and then each mixture was diluted with the same amount of CO₂ (20% by volume) to better represent synthetic gas. H₂/CO ratios of tested gas mixtures were so adjusted that heating value of each gas mixture was low, moderate or high. Combustion behavior of such mixtures was evaluated with respect to measured axial and radial temperature values. Moreover, emission behavior was analyzed by means of emitted CO, CO₂ and NO_x levels. Flame temperature measurements were conducted with B and K type thermocouples. Emission measurements were performed with a flue gas analyzer, which was equipped with a ceramic coated probe, as well. Results of this study revealed the great impact of gas composition on combustion and emission behavior of studied flames. Two main findings are: H₂/CO ratio slightly alters temperature distribution throughout combustor, while hydrogen reaction kinetics play the most significant role in synthetic gas combustion (1), CO₂ addition tremendously increases emissions of CO (2).     

Development of energy and emission parameters for densified form of lignocellulosic biomass

The environmental performance of production and distribution of densified form of lignocellulosic biomass (i.e., agri-residue based pellets) in Western Canada in terms of energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission was assessed. The results show that energy usage and resulted emissions are highest in field activities especially if emission and energy are attributed to straw in farming stage where nitrogen fertilizer is the highest contributor. Significant reduction of energy use (64%) and emission (65%) are possible if the organic fertilizer is used in farming. Adopting the zero tillage option instead of conventional practice results in energy saving (10%) and emission reduction (8%). From the scenario analyses it is also evident that using biomass as an energy source during drying or no drying in pellet production stage or using alternate mode (i.e., truck and train) of transport for pellet delivery result in less than 5% reduction of the energy use and emissions compared to the base case. Agri-pellet has the potential to offset substantial amount of GHG emission compared to other fuel sources including wood pellets. The energy and emission of production chain of agri-pellets may vary between countries but overall trend compared to other fuel sources would be similar.     

A review on the natural gas potential of Pakistan for the transition to a low-carbon future

Natural gas is the world’s fastest growing and widely used fossil fuel which can be targeted for transitioning to a low-carbon future. Pakistan was ranked at seventh position among the utmost harmfully affected countries by climate change. It is, therefore, important to develop an effective energy policy toward the reduction of greenhouse gases in the country. This study evaluates the Pakistan’s natural gas industry development by reviewing reserves, production, consumption, infrastructures, and natural gas agreements in place. The total proven natural gas reserve of Pakistan is estimated to be 0.5 Tcm by the end of 2016. There are many active fields in Pakistan among which Sui gas reservoir is the largest. Currently, Pakistan’s natural gas industry is well matured with average size reserves, production capacity, and advanced and organized infrastructure for transmission and distribution network. Therefore, natural gas can be used to feed different sectors of the country, to decrease the financial burden of importing oil, and to reduce CO₂ emissions. However, increasing the gap of demand–supply for natural gas in the future, declining the average gas reserves, and postponing the gas import may challenge the natural gas industry, climate, and performance of Pakistan’s economy. Thus, these concerns must be addressed to help the natural gas industry for an easy transition to a low-carbon future.     

An estimation of energy and GHG emission intensity caused by energy consumption in Korea: An energy IO approach

In Korea, 97% of the energy resources are imported. The growth rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission per capita in the country was the highest in the world during 1990 and 2004. Moreover, 83% of the domestic GHG emissions stemmed from energy use in the year 2004. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an econometric model for energy intensity and GHG emission intensity in view of the poor energy endowment and environmental situation in Korea.     

Study on a zero CO2 emission SOFC hybrid power system integrated with OTM using CO2 as sweep gas

A new zero CO₂ emission solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) hybrid power system integrated with the oxygen ion transport membrane using CO₂ as sweep gas is proposed in this paper. The pure oxygen is picked up from the cathode outlet gas by the oxygen ion transport membrane with CO₂ as sweep gas; the oxy‐fuel combustion mode in the afterburner of SOFC is employed. Because the combustion product gas only consists of CO₂ and steam, CO₂ is easily captured with lower energy consumption by the condensation of steam. With the aspen plus soft, this paper builds the simulation model of the overall SOFC hybrids system with CO₂ capture. The exergy loss distributions of the overall system are analyzed, and the effects of the key operation parameters on the overall system performance are also investigated. The research results show that the new system still has a high efficiency after CO₂ recovery. The efficiency of the new system is around 65.03%, only 1.25 percentage points lower than that of the traditional SOFC hybrid power system(66.28%)without CO₂ capture. The research achievements from this paper will provide the valuable reference for further study on zero CO₂ emission SOFC hybrid power system with higher efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Management of natural gas resources and search for alternative renewable energy resources: A case study of Pakistan

Energy usage in Pakistan has increased rapidly in past few years due to increase in economic growth. Inadequate and inconsistent supply of energy has created pressure on the industrial and commercial sectors of Pakistan and has also affected environment. Demand has already exceeded supply and load shedding has become common phenomenon. Due to excessive consumption of energy resources it would become difficult to meet future energy demands. This necessitates proper management of existing and exploration of new energy resources. Energy resource management is highly dependent on the supply and demand pattern. This paper highlights the future demands, production and supply of energy produced from natural gas based on economic and environmental constraints in Pakistan with special emphasis on management of natural gas. An attempt has been made by proposing a suitable course of action to meet the rising gas demand. A mechanism has been proposed to evaluate Pakistan's future gas demand through quantitative analysis of base, worst and best/chosen option. CO₂ emission for all cases has also been evaluated. The potential, constraints and possible solutions to develop alternative renewable energy resources in the country have also been discussed. This work will be fruitful for the decision makers responsible for energy planning of the country. This work is not only helpful for Pakistan but is equally important to other developing countries to manage their energy resources.     

Energy prices and CO2 emission allowance prices: A quantile regression approach

We use a quantile regression framework to investigate the impact of changes in crude oil prices, natural gas prices, coal prices, and electricity prices on the distribution of the CO₂ emission allowance prices in the United States. We find that: (i) an increase in the crude oil price generates a substantial drop in the carbon prices when the latter is very high; (ii) changes in the natural gas prices have a negative effect on the carbon prices when they are very low but have a positive effect when they are quite high; (iii) the impact of the changes in the electricity prices on the carbon prices can be positive in the right tail of the distribution; and (iv) the coal prices exert a negative effect on the carbon prices.     

CO2 emission from China's energy sector and strategy for its control

This paper identifies the main features of CO₂ emission from fossil energy combustion in China. Then it estimates China's future energy requirements and projects its CO₂ emission from 2010 to 2020 based on the scenario analysis approach. China's rate of carbon productivity growth is estimated to be 5.4% in the period 2005–2020, while the CO₂ intensity of GDP will reduce by about 50% but CO₂ emission in 2020 will still be about 40% higher than prevailing in 2005 because of rapid growth of GDP. This estimation is based on the assumption that China will implement a sustainable development strategy in consideration of climate change issues. The main objectives of the strategy are to implement an “energy conservation first” strategy, to develop renewable energy and advanced nuclear technology actively, to readjust the country's economic structure, and to formulate and legislate laws and regulations, and to build institutions for energy conservation and development of renewable energy. It concludes that international measures to mitigate CO₂ emission will limit world fossil fuel consumption. China is not placed to replicate the modernization model adopted by developed countries and has to coordinate economic development and carbon dioxide emission control while still in the process of industrialization and modernization. China has to evolve a low carbon industrialization model. This is the key to the success of sustainable development initiatives in China.     

Life-cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emission and energy efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell scooters

The well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis of energy conservation and greenhouse gas emission of advanced scooters associated with new transportation fuels is studied in the present work. Focus is placed on fuel cell scooter technologies, while the gasoline-powered scooter equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE) serves as a reference technology. The effect of various pathways of hydrogen production on the well-to-tank (WTT) efficiency for energy is examined. Both near-term and long-term hydrogen production options are explored, such as purification of coke oven gas (COG), steam reforming of natural gas, water electrolysis by generation mix and renewable electricity, and gasification of herbaceous biomass. Then, the WTW efficiency of fuel cell scooters for various hydrogen production options is compared with that of the conventional ICE scooters and electric scooters. Results showed that the fuel cell scooters fueled with COG-based hydrogen could achieve the highest reduction benefits in energy consumption and GHG emission. Finally, the potential for hydrogen production from COG resulting from the coking process in steelworks is evaluated, which is anticipated as a near-term hydrogen production for helping transition to a hydrogen energy economy in Taiwan.     

Mode selection of China's urban heating and its potential for reducing energy consumption and CO2 emission

China's carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission ranks the highest in the world. CO₂ emission from urban central heating, which has an average annual growth rate of 10.3%, is responsible for 4.4% of China's total CO₂ emission. The current policy for improving urban central heating focuses on replacing coal with natural gas. This paper analyzes the existing situation and problems pertaining to urban heating, and evaluates the potential for reducing energy consumption and CO₂ emission by heat pump heating. The results show that the current policy of replacing coal with natural gas for urban central heating decreases energy consumption and CO₂ emission by 16.6% and 63.5%, respectively. On the other hand, replacing coal-based urban central heating with heat pump heating is capable of decreasing energy consumption and CO₂ emission by 57.6% and 81.4%, respectively. Replacing both urban central and decentralized heating with heat pump heating can lead to 67.7% and 85.8% reduction in energy consumption and CO₂ emission, respectively. The decreases in CO₂ emission will account for 24.5% of China's target to reduce total CO₂ emission by 2020.     

Carbon emission,energy consumption and intermediate goods trade: A regional study of East Asia

Using country level panel data from East Asia over the period 1998–2011, this paper examines the implications of international production fragmentation-induced intermediate goods trade on the link between energy consumption and carbon pollution. The paper focuses on the interaction effect between energy consumption and trade in intermediate goods on carbon emission. The empirical results presented suggest that international trade in intermediate goods decreases the positive impact on carbon emission of energy consumption. When compared with the trade in final goods, intermediate goods trade contributes to a greater decrease in carbon pollution resulting from energy consumption. These results confirm that the link between energy consumption and carbon pollution in East Asia is significantly affected by international production fragmentation-induced trade in intermediate goods. The results presented in this paper have some important policy implications.     

智能化技术在节能减排中的应用潜力

节能减排是当今全球经济社会发展所面临的一项紧迫而又具有深远意义的任务。从信息化到智能化不仅是信息时代节能减排的现实选择,也是智能生产力发展的必然趋势。本文以工业、农业、建筑、电力、物流、交通、城市和服务行业为例,介绍了智能化技术在节能减排中的潜力和实践。     

二氧化碳排放量化方法探讨

目前,通用的量化二氧化碳排放方法是IPCC排放因子法,但IPCC的排放因子是否适用于我国的排放源有待商榷。利用现场监测的烟道内的温度、压力、二氧化碳浓度、一氧化碳浓度、烟气流速、水蒸气体积百分比等参数,采用质量比法、时间比法、负荷法以及IPCC排放因子法等多种方法,对某企业不同时间段内的二氧化碳排放情况进行量化。结果表明,如果国内企业采用国际通用的量化二氧化碳排放方法,则得到的二氧化碳排放量偏大。为了能更准确地获得燃烧排放源的二氧化碳排放情况,需要采用现场监测的方法。质量比法与IPCC排放因子法的量化结果,其准确性严重依赖于燃料计量数据的准确性,不推荐采用。时间比法的量化结果虽然优于质量比法,但不适合用于量化较长时间段内的二氧化碳排放量。负荷法由于考虑了负荷的影响,其量化结果更为可靠。建议企业通过监测手段,采用负荷法量化燃烧排放源的二氧化碳排放量。为了尽可能减小由客观因素带来的排放量的不确定性,建议选择不同时间段、不同工况多次监测量化燃烧排放源某年度的二氧化碳排放量。     

Estimating the potential CO2 mitigation from agricultural energy efficiency in the United States

Energy efficiency in agriculture is an underanalyzed aspect of a potential climate change mitigation strategy. According to the Fourth Assessment Report, experts report only medium agreement and medium evidence that energy efficiency can provide substantial reductions (Smith et al. 2007). This paper estimates the CO₂ mitigation potential achievable through improvements in energy efficiency in the US agriculture sector. The data are presented in three formats: the cost data or break-even points of each technology, a marginal abatement supply curve expressed in terms of reduction in energy use by fuel category, and a marginal abatement supply curve expressed in terms of CO₂ emission reductions by fuel category. The largest sources of energy use in the sector were identified as motors used in irrigation systems or other pumping operations; farm machinery such as tractors used in daily farm operations; and space conditioning, such as HVAC systems for livestock and crop-drying systems.

地下环境CO2盐水溶液密度的变化及状态方程

利用可以在高温高压条件下，对密闭容器内的流体密度进行直接测量的电磁悬浮式天平对地下盐水的密度进行了测量。实验结果表明，在CO2地下储存30～50℃、10～20MPa时，CO2盐水溶液的密度随着温度的升高而减小，随着CO2的质量分数的增加而增大，随着压力的增加呈线性增加。CO2盐水溶液密度与盐水密度之比与压力无关，但随着CO2的质量分数的增加而增大，随着温度的升高而减少。