A liquefied energy chain for transport and utilization of natural gas for power production with CO2 capture and storage – Part 3: The combined carrier and onshore storage

A novel energy and cost effective transport chain for stranded natural gas utilized for power production with CO₂ capture and storage is developed. It includes an offshore section, a combined gas carrier and an integrated receiving terminal. The combined carrier will transport liquid carbon dioxide (LCO₂) and liquid nitrogen (LIN) outbound, where natural gas (NG) is cooled and liquefied to LNG by vaporization of LIN and LCO₂ onboard the carrier. The same carrier is used to transport the LNG onshore, where the NG can be used for power production with CO₂ capture. The combined carrier consists of 10 cylindrical tanks with a diameter of 9.2 m and varying lengths from 14 to 40 m. The total ship volume is 13,000 m³. Assuming 85% capture rate of the CO₂, the maximum ship utilization factor (SUF) is 63.4%. Due to the combined use of the storage tanks, the SUF is decreased with 1.4% points to 62%. The ship is equipped with a bi-directional submerged turret loading for anchoring and loading of NG and unloading of CO₂. Two ships can deliver NG to and remove CO₂ from a 400 MW_net power plant, and still obtain continuous production of LNG offshore without intermediate storage. The investment cost for each gas carrier is 40 million EUR giving total transport cost of 16.9 EUR/tonne LNG. The cost for the offshore transfer system is 6.6 million EUR per tonne LNG, whereas the cost for onshore storage and loading system is 3.1 and 0.8 million EUR per tonne LNG, respectively. The total specific costs for the ship transport, including onshore storage, loading shipping and offshore unloading are 27.5 EUR per tonne LNG for a roundtrip of 5 days, including voyage, production of LNG, unloading, connecting and berthing.     

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the European glass industry

An in-depth analysis of the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of the European glass industry is presented. The analysis is based on data of the EU ETS for the period 2005–2007 (Phase I). The scope of this study comprises the European glass industry as a whole and its seven subsectors. The analysis is based on an assignment of the glass installations (ca. 450) within the EU ETS to the corresponding subsectors and an adequate matching of the respective production volumes. A result is the assessment of the overall final energy consumption (fuel, electricity) as well as the overall CO₂ emissions (process, combustion and indirect emissions) of the glass industry and its subsectors in the EU25/27. Moreover, figures on fuel mix as well as fuel intensity and CO₂ emissions intensity (i.e. carbon intensity) are presented for each of the subsectors on aggregated levels and for selected EU Member States separately. The average intensity of fuel consumption and direct CO₂ emissions of the EU25 glass industry decreased from 2005 to 2007 by about 4% and amounted in 2007 to 7.8 GJ and 0.57 _tCO₂${\mathrm{t}}_{{\text{CO}}_{\mathrm{2}}}$ per tonne of saleable product, respectively. The economic energy intensity was evaluated with 0.46 toe/1000€ (EU27).     

A liquefied energy chain for transport and utilization of natural gas for power production with CO2 capture and storage – Part 1

A novel transport chain for stranded natural gas utilized for power production with CO₂ capture and storage is developed. It includes an offshore section, a combined gas carrier, and an onshore integrated receiving terminal. Due to utilization of the cold exergy both in the offshore and onshore processes, and combined use of the gas carrier, the transport chain is both energy and cost effective. In this paper, the liquefied energy chain (LEC) is explained, including novel processes for both the offshore field site and onshore market site. In the offshore section, natural gas (NG) is liquefied to LNG by liquid carbon dioxide (LCO₂) and liquid inert nitrogen (LIN), which are used as cold carriers. The LNG is transported in a combined gas carrier to the receiving terminal where it is used as a cooling agent to liquefy CO₂ and nitrogen. The LCO₂ and LIN are transported offshore using the same combined carrier. Pinch and Exergy Analyses are used to determine the optimal offshore and onshore processes and the best transport conditions. The exergy efficiency for a thermodynamically optimized process is 87% and 71% for the offshore and onshore processes, respectively, yielding a total efficiency of 52%. The offshore process is self-supported with power and can operate with few units of rotating equipment and without flammable refrigerants. The loss of natural gas due to power generation for the energy requirements in the LEC processes is roughly one third of the loss in a conventional transport chain for stranded natural gas with CO₂ sequestration. The LEC has several configurations and can be used for small scale (<0.25 MTPA LNG) to large-scale (>5 MTPA LNG) transport. In the example in this paper, the total costs for the simple LEC including transport of natural gas to a 400 MW_net power plant and return of 85% of the corresponding carbon as CO₂ for a total sailing distance of 24 h are 58.1 EUR/tonne LNG excluding or including the cost of power. The total power requirements are 319 kWh/tonne, hence the energy costs are 31.9 EUR/tonne LNG adding up to 90.0 EUR/tonne LNG. The exergy efficiency for this energy chain including power production and CO₂ capture is 46.4% with a total cost of 20.4 EUR/MWh for the produced electricity. The total emissions (in CO₂ equivalents) in the chain are 1–1.5% of the transported CO₂.     

A comparison of electricity and hydrogen production systems with CO2 capture and storage. Part A: Review and selection of promising conversion and capture technologies

We performed a consistent comparison of state-of-the-art and advanced electricity and hydrogen production technologies with CO₂ capture using coal and natural gas, inspired by the large number of studies, of which the results can in fact not be compared due to specific assumptions made. After literature review, a standardisation and selection exercise has been performed to get figures on conversion efficiency, energy production costs and CO₂ avoidance costs of different technologies, the main parameters for comparison. On the short term, electricity can be produced with 85–90% CO₂ capture by means of NGCC and PC with chemical absorption and IGCC with physical absorption at 4.7–6.9 €ct/kWh, assuming a coal and natural gas price of 1.7 and 4.7 €/GJ. CO₂ avoidance costs are between 15 and 50 €/t CO₂ for IGCC and NGCC, respectively. On the longer term, both improvements in existing conversion and capture technologies are foreseen as well as new power cycles integrating advanced turbines, fuel cells and novel (high-temperature) separation technologies. Electricity production costs might be reduced to 4.5–5.3 €ct/kWh with advanced technologies. However, no clear ranking can be made due to large uncertainties pertaining to investment and O&M costs. Hydrogen production is more attractive for low-cost CO₂ capture than electricity production. Costs of large-scale hydrogen production by means of steam methane reforming and coal gasification with CO₂ capture from the shifted syngas are estimated at 9.5 and 7 €/GJ, respectively. Advanced autothermal reforming and coal gasification deploying ion transport membranes might further reduce production costs to 8.1 and 6.4 €/GJ. Membrane reformers enable small-scale hydrogen production at nearly 17 €/GJ with relatively low-cost CO₂ capture.     

Prospective life cycle carbon abatement for pyrolysis biochar systems in the UK

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of slow pyrolysis biochar systems (PBS) in the UK for small, medium and large scale process chains and ten feedstocks was performed, assessing carbon abatement and electricity production. Pyrolysis biochar systems appear to offer greater carbon abatement than other bioenergy systems. Carbon abatement of 0.7–1.3 t CO₂ equivalent per oven dry tonne of feedstock processed was found. In terms of delivered energy, medium to large scale PBS abates 1.4–1.9 t CO₂e/MWh, which compares to average carbon emissions of 0.05–0.30 t CO₂e/MWh for other bioenergy systems. The largest contribution to PBS carbon abatement is from the feedstock carbon stabilised in biochar (40–50%), followed by the less certain indirect effects of biochar in the soil (25–40%)—mainly due to increase in soil organic carbon levels. Change in soil organic carbon levels was found to be a key sensitivity. Electricity production off-setting emissions from fossil fuels accounted for 10–25% of carbon abatement. The LCA suggests that provided 43% of the carbon in the biochar remains stable, PBS will out-perform direct combustion of biomass at 33% efficiency in terms of carbon abatement, even if there is no beneficial effect upon soil organic carbon levels from biochar application.     

Impact of inter-sectoral trade on national and global CO2 emissions: An empirical analysis of China and US

This paper attempts to discuss the CO₂ emissions embodied in Sino-US international trade using a sector approach. Based on an input–output model established in this study, we quantify the impact of Sino-US international trade on national and global CO₂ emissions. Our initial findings reveal that: In 2005, the US reduced 190.13 Mt CO₂ emissions through the consumption of imported goods from China, while increasing global CO₂ emissions by about 515.25 Mt. Similarly, China reduced 178.62 Mt CO₂ emissions through the consumption of US goods, while reducing global CO₂ emissions by 129.93 Mt. Sino-US international trade increased global CO₂ emissions by 385.32 Mt as a whole, of which the Chemical, Fabricated Metal Products, Non-metallic Mineral Products and Transportation Equipment sectors contributed an 86.71% share. Therefore, we suggest that accelerating the adjustment of China’s trade structure and export of US advanced technologies and experience related to clean production and energy efficiency to China as the way to reduce the negative impact of Sino-US trade on national and global CO₂ emissions. This behavior should take into account the processing and manufacturing industries as a priority, especially the Chemical, Fabricated Metal Products, Non-metallic Mineral Products and Transportation Equipment sectors.     

Approximation of theoretical energy-saving potentials for the petrochemical industry using energy balances for 68 key processes

We prepared energy and carbon balances for 68 petrochemical processes in the petrochemical industry for Western Europe, the Netherlands and the world. We analysed the process energy use in relation to the heat effects of the chemical reactions and quantified in this way the sum of all energy inputs into the processes that do not end up in the useful products of the process, but are lost as waste heat to the environment. We showed that both process energy use and heat effects of reaction contribute significantly to the overall energy loss of the processes studied and recommend addressing reaction effects explicitly in energy-efficiency studies. We estimated the energy loss in Western Europe in the year 2000 at 1620 PJ of final energy and 1936 PJ of primary energy, resulting in a total of 127 Mt CO₂. The losses identified can be regarded as good approximations of the theoretical energy-saving potentials of the processes analysed. The processes with large energy losses in relative (per tonne of product) and absolute (in PJ per year) terms are recommended for more detailed analysis taking into account further thermodynamic, economic, and practical considerations to identify technical and economic energy-saving potentials.     

Techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine cycle with different CO2 capture options

The techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine (EvGT) cycle with two different CO₂ capture options has been carried out. Three studied systems include a reference system: the EvGT system without CO₂ capture (System I), the EvGT system with chemical absorption capture (System II), and the EvGT system with oxyfuel combustion capture (System III). The cycle simulation results show that the system with chemical absorption has a higher electrical efficiency (41.6% of NG LHV) and a lower efficiency penalty caused by CO₂ capture (10.5% of NG LHV) compared with the system with oxyfuel combustion capture. Based on a gas turbine of 13.78 MW, the estimated costs of electricity are 46.1 $/MW h for System I, while 70.1 $/MW h and 74.1 $/MW h for Systems II and III, respectively. It shows that the cost of electricity increment of chemical absorption is 8.7% points lower than that of the option of oxyfuel combustion. In addition, the cost of CO₂ avoidance of System II which is 71.8 $/tonne CO₂ is also lower than that of System III, which is 73.2 $/tonne CO₂. The impacts of plant size have been analyzed as well. Results show that cost of CO₂ avoidance of System III may be less than that of System II when a plant size is larger than 60 MW.     

A liquefied energy chain for transport and utilization of natural gas for power production with CO2 capture and storage – Part 2: The offshore and the onshore processes

A novel energy and cost effective transport chain for stranded natural gas utilized for power production with CO₂ capture and storage is developed. It includes an offshore section, a combined gas carrier, and an integrated receiving terminal. In the offshore process, natural gas (NG) is liquefied to LNG by liquid carbon dioxide (LCO₂) and liquid inert nitrogen (LIN), which are used as cold carriers. The offshore process is self-supported with power, hot and cold utilities and can operate with little rotating equipment and without flammable refrigerants. In the onshore process, the cryogenic exergy in LNG is used to cool and liquefy the cold carriers, which reduces the power requirement to 319 kWh/tonne LNG. Pinch and exergy analyses are used to determine thermodynamically optimized offshore and onshore processes with exergy efficiencies of 87% and 71%, respectively. There are very low emissions from the processes. The estimated specific costs for the offshore and onshore process are 8.0 and 14.6 EUR per tonne LNG, respectively, excluding energy costs. With an electricity price of 100 EUR per MWh, the specific cost of energy in the onshore process is 31.9 EUR per tonne LNG.     

Contributing to local policy making on GHG emission reduction through inventorying and attribution: A case study of Shenyang,China

Cities consumed 84% of commercial energy in China, which indicates cities should be the main areas for GHG emissions reduction. Our case study of Shenyang in this paper shows how a clear inventory analysis on GHG emissions at city level can help to identify the major industries and societal sectors for reduction efforts so as to facilitate low-carbon policy-making. The results showed total carbon emission in 2007 was 57 Mt CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), of which 41 Mt CO₂e was in-boundary emissions and 16 Mt CO₂e was out-of-boundary emissions. The energy sector was dominant in the emission inventory, accounting for 93.1% of total emissions. Within energy sector, emissions from energy production industry, manufacturing and construction industry accounted for 88.4% of this sector. Our analysis showed that comparing with geographical boundary, setting system boundary based on single process standard could provide better information to decision makers for carbon emission reduction. After attributing electricity and heating consumption to final users, the resident and commercial sector became the largest emitter, accounting for 28.5% of total emissions. Spatial analysis of emissions showed that industrial districts such as Shenbei and Tiexi had the large potential to reduce their carbon emissions. Implications of results are finally discussed.     

Using biomass for climate change mitigation and oil use reduction

In this paper, we examine how an increased use of biomass could efficiently meet Swedish energy policy goals of reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and oil use. In particular, we examine the trade-offs inherent when biomass use is intended to pursue multiple objectives. We set up four scenarios in which up to 400 PJ/year of additional biomass is prioritised to reduce CO₂ emissions, reduce oil use, simultaneously reduce both CO₂ emission and oil use, or to produce ethanol to replace gasoline. Technologies analysed for using the biomass include the production of electricity, heat, and transport fuels, and also as construction materials and other products. We find that optimising biomass use for a single objective (either CO₂ emission reduction or oil use reduction) results in high fulfilment of that single objective (17.4 Tg C/year and 350 PJ oil/year, respectively), at a monetary cost of 130–330 million €/year, but with low fulfilment of the other objective. A careful selection of biomass uses for combined benefits results in reductions of 12.6 Tg C/year and 230 PJ oil/year (72% and 67%, respectively, of the reductions achieved in the scenarios with single objectives), with a monetary benefit of 45 million €/year. Prioritising for ethanol production gives the lowest CO₂ emissions reduction, intermediate oil use reduction, and the highest monetary cost.     

Intermediate steps towards the 2000 W society in Switzerland: An energy–economic scenario analysis

In the future, sustainable development under the umbrella of the 2000 W society could be of major interest. Could the target of the 2000 W society, i.e. a primary energy per capita (PEC) consumption of 2000 W, be realized until 2050? Various combinations of PEC and CO₂ targets are tested, and the additional costs to be paid by the society are estimated. The assessment is carried out with the Swiss MARKAL model, a bottom-up energy-system model projecting future technology investments for Switzerland. The analysis reveals that the 2000 W society should be seen as a long-term goal. For all contemplated scenarios, a PEC consumption of 3500 W per capita (w/cap) is feasible in the year 2050. However, strong PEC consumption targets can reduce CO₂ emissions to an equivalent of 5% per decade at maximum. For stronger CO₂ emission reduction goals, corresponding targets must be formulated explicitly. At an oil price of 75 US$₂₀₀₀/bbl in 2050, the additional (cumulative, discounted) costs to reach a 10% CO₂ reduction per decade combined with a 3500 W per capita target amount to about 40 billion US$₂₀₀₀. On the contrary, to reach pure CO₂ reduction targets is drastically cheaper, challenging the vision of the 2000 W society.     

Cost of energy and environmental policy in Portuguese CO2 abatement—scenario analysis to 2020

This paper quantifies the contribution of Portuguese energy policies for total and marginal abatement costs (MAC) for CO₂ emissions for 2020. The TIMES_PT optimisation model was used to derive MAC curves from a set of policy scenarios including one or more of the following policies: ban on nuclear power; ban on new coal power plants without carbon sequestration and storage; incentives to natural gas power plants; and a cap on biomass use. The different MAC shows the policies’ effects in the potential for CO₂ abatement. In 2020, in the most encompassing policy scenario, with all current and planned policies, is possible to abate only up to +35% of 1990 emissions at a cost below 23 € t/CO₂. In the more flexible policy scenarios, it is possible to abate up to −10% of 1990 emissions below the same cost. The total energy system costs are 10–13% higher if all policies are implemented—76 to 101 B€—roughly the equivalent to 2.01–2.65% of the 2005 GDP. Thus, from a CO₂ emission mitigation perspective, the existing policies introduce significant inefficiencies, possibly related to other policy goals. The ban on nuclear power is the instrument that has the most significant effect in MAC.     

Current and future financial competitiveness of electricity and heat from energy crops: A case study from Ireland

It has been demonstrated that Miscanthus and willow energy-crop cultivation could be economically competitive with current agricultural land uses at a farm-gate biomass price ranging from €70 to €130 t⁻¹ dry matter [Styles, D., Thorne, F., Jones, M.B., in review. Energy crops in Ireland: An economic comparison of willow and Miscanthus production with conventional farming systems. Biomass and Bioenergy, May 2006]. This paper uses the same farm-gate prices to calculate the economic competitiveness of energy crop electricity and heat production, using a net-present-value (NPV) approach (20-year period, 5% discount rate). Direct and gasified co-firing of willow wood with coal would result in electricity generation 30% or 37% more expensive than coal generation, at current coal and CO₂ allowance prices and a farm-gate biomass cost of €100 t⁻¹. ‘Break-even’ CO₂ allowance prices are €33 and €37 t⁻¹, respectively. However, co-firing of Miscanthus with peat is close to economic competitiveness, and would require a CO₂ allowance price of €16 t⁻¹ to break-even (against a current price of €12 t⁻¹). NPV analyses indicate that wood heat is significantly cheaper than oil, gas or electric heat, excluding existing wood-boiler installation subsidies. Discounted annual savings range from €143 compared with gas to €722 compared with electric heating at the domestic scale and from €3454 to €11,222 at the commercial scale. Inclusion of available subsidies improves the comparative economics of domestic wood heat substantially. The economic advantage of wood heat is robust to variation in fuel prices, discount rates and heat loads. The greatest obstacles to energy-crop utilisation include: (i) a reluctance to consider long-term economics; (ii) possible competition from cheaper sources of biomass; (iii) the need for a spatially coordinated supply and utilisation network.     

Comparative assessment of CO2 capture technologies for carbon-intensive industrial processes

This article presents a consistent techno-economic assessment and comparison of CO₂ capture technologies for key industrial sectors (iron and steel, cement, petroleum refineries and petrochemicals). The assessment is based on an extensive literature review, covering studies from both industries and academia. Key parameters, e.g., capacity factor (91-97%), energy prices (natural gas: 8 €₂₀₀₇/GJ, coal: 2.5 €₂₀₀₇/GJ, grid electricity: 55 €/MWh), interest rate (10%), economic plant lifetime (20 years), CO₂ compression pressure (110 bar), and grid electricity CO₂ intensity (400 g/kWh), were standardized to enable a fair comparison of technologies. The analysis focuses on the changes in energy, CO₂ emissions and material flows, due to the deployment of CO₂ capture technologies. CO₂ capture technologies are categorized into short-mid term (ST/MT) and long term (LT) technologies. The findings of this study identified a large number of technologies under development, but it is too soon to identify which technologies would become dominant in the future. Moreover, a good integration of industrial plants and power plants is essential for cost-effective CO₂ capture because CO₂ capture may increase the industrial onsite electricity production significantly.For the iron and steel sector, 40-65 €/tCO₂ avoided may be achieved in the ST/MT, depending on the ironmaking process and the CO₂ capture technique. Advanced LT CO₂ capture technologies for the blast furnace based process may not offer significant advantages over conventional ones (30-55 €/tCO₂ avoided). Rather than the performance of CO₂ capture technique itself, low-cost CO₂ emissions reduction comes from good integration of CO₂ capture to the ironmaking process. Advanced smelting reduction with integrated CO₂ capture may enable lower steel production cost and lower CO₂ emissions than the blast furnace based process, i.e., negative CO₂ mitigation cost. For the cement sector, post-combustion capture appears to be the only commercial technology in the ST/MT and the costs are above 65 €/tCO₂ avoided. In the LT, a number of technologies may enable 25-55 €/tCO₂ avoided. The findings also indicate that, in some cases, partial CO₂ capture may have comparative advantages. For the refining and petrochemical sectors, oxyfuel capture was found to be more economical than others at 50-60 €/tCO₂ avoided in ST/MT and about 30 €/tCO₂ avoided in the LT. However, oxyfuel retrofit of furnaces and heaters may be more complicated than that of boilers.Crude estimates of technical potentials for global CO₂ emissions reduction for 2030 were made for the industrial processes investigated with the ST/MT technologies. They amount up to about 4 Gt/yr: 1 Gt/yr for the iron and steel sector, about 2 Gt/yr for the cement sector, and 1 Gt/yr for petroleum refineries. The actual deployment level would be much lower due to various constraints, about 0.8 Gt/yr, in a stringent emissions reduction scenario.     

Impact of international climate policies on CO2 capture and storage deployment: Illustrated in the Dutch energy system

A greenhouse gas emission trading system is considered an important policy measure for the deployment of CCS at large scale. However, more insights are needed whether such a trading system leads to a sufficient high CO₂ price and stable investment environment for CCS deployment. To gain more insights, we combined WorldScan, an applied general equilibrium model for global policy analysis, and MARKAL-NL-UU, a techno-economic energy bottom-up model of the Dutch power generation sector and CO₂ intensive industry. WorldScan results show that in 2020, CO₂ prices may vary between 20 €/tCO₂ in a Grand Coalition scenario, in which all countries accept greenhouse gas targets from 2020, to 47 €/tCO₂ in an Impasse scenario, in which EU-27 continues its one-sided emission trading system without the possibility to use the Clean Development Mechanism. MARKAL-NL-UU model results show that an emission trading system in combination with uncertainty does not advance the application of CCS in an early stage, the rates at which different CO₂ abatement technologies (including CCS) develop are less crucial for introduction of CCS than the CO₂ price development, and the combination of biomass (co-)firing and CCS seems an important option to realise deep CO₂ emission reductions.     

A comparison of avoided greenhouse gas emissions when using different kinds of wood energy

In this study, micro-level data from wood energy producers in Hedmark County were gathered and analysed. The aim was to find how much greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions various kinds of wood energy cause (not only CO₂, but also CH₄ and N₂O), which energy they substitute, their potential to reduce GHG emissions, and the major sources of uncertainty. The method was life cycle assessment. Six types of wood energy were studied: fuel wood, sawdust, pellets, briquettes, demolition wood, and bark.GHG emissions over the life cycle of the wood energy types in this study are 2–19% of the emissions from a comparable source of energy. The lowest figure is for demolition wood substituting oil in large combustion facilities, the highest for fuel wood used in dwellings to substitute electricity produced by coal-based power plants.Avoided GHG emissions per m³ wood used for energy were from 0.210 to 0.640 tonne CO₂-equivalents. Related to GWh energy produced, avoided GHG emissions were from 250 to 360 tonne CO₂-equivalents. Avoided GHG emissions per tonne CO₂ in the wood are 0.28–0.70 tonne CO₂-equivalents. The most important factors were technology used for combustion, which energy that is substituted, densities, and heating values. Inputs concerning harvest, transport, and production of the wood energy are not important.Overall, taking the uncertainties into account there is not much difference in avoided GHG emissions for the different kinds of wood energy.     

Estimation of the potential for reduced greenhouse gas emission in North-East Russia: A comparison of energy use in mining,mineral processing and residential heating in Kiruna and Kirovsk-Apatity

The energy demand at Murmansk Oblast in North-East Russia is covered at 60% by fossil fuels and at 40% by electricity. This study estimates the potential for reduction of fossil fuel consumption and CO₂-emissions at Murmansk Oblast. The study focus on the municipalities of Apatity and Kirovsk and the apatite ore mining company Apatit JSC . The potential for energy efficiency, reduced fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is estimated by comparison with the of city Kiruna in Northern Sweden, with a climate similar to that of North-East Russia, and with the iron ore mining company LKAB. This study shows that the potential for reduced CO₂-emissions is about 630,700 tons CO₂ annually in the municipalities of Apatity and Kirovsk or 6.3 tons of CO₂ per capita, Apatit JSC not included. These results applied on Murmansk Oblast gives a potential for reduced CO₂-emissions of about 6 Mtons annually in the municipalities together. The specific energy consumption at Apatit JSC is 6–7 times per ton product compared to LKAB. The mining has 4 times higher specific energy consumption per ton raw ore compared to LKAB.     

Energy use, cost and CO2 emissions of electric cars

We examine efficiency, costs and greenhouse gas emissions of current and future electric cars (EV), including the impact from charging EV on electricity demand and infrastructure for generation and distribution.Uncoordinated charging would increase national peak load by 7% at 30% penetration rate of EV and household peak load by 54%, which may exceed the capacity of existing electricity distribution infrastructure. At 30% penetration of EV, off-peak charging would result in a 20% higher, more stable base load and no additional peak load at the national level and up to 7% higher peak load at the household level. Therefore, if off-peak charging is successfully introduced, electric driving need not require additional generation capacity, even in case of 100% switch to electric vehicles.GHG emissions from electric driving depend most on the fuel type (coal or natural gas) used in the generation of electricity for charging, and range between 0 g km⁻¹ (using renewables) and 155 g km⁻¹ (using electricity from an old coal-based plant). Based on the generation capacity projected for the Netherlands in 2015, electricity for EV charging would largely be generated using natural gas, emitting 35-77 g CO_2 eq km⁻¹.We find that total cost of ownership (TCO) of current EV are uncompetitive with regular cars and series hybrid cars by more than 800 € year⁻¹. TCO of future wheel motor PHEV may become competitive when batteries cost 400 € kWh⁻¹, even without tax incentives, as long as one battery pack can last for the lifespan of the vehicle. However, TCO of future battery powered cars is at least 25% higher than of series hybrid or regular cars. This cost gap remains unless cost of batteries drops to 150 € kWh⁻¹ in the future. Variations in driving cost from charging patterns have negligible influence on TCO.GHG abatement costs using plug-in hybrid cars are currently 400-1400 € tonne⁻¹ CO_2 eq and may come down to −100 to 300 € tonne⁻¹. Abatement cost using battery powered cars are currently above 1900 € tonne⁻¹ and are not projected to drop below 300-800 € tonne⁻¹.     

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.