From “Green Growth” to sound policies: An overview

“Green growth” is an attractive slogan with a variety of possible meanings. This essay critically examines several potential meanings of this slogan and provides a brief overview of some of the main implications of the other papers in this special issue. Taken together, these papers argue for the importance of careful analysis of energy/environmental policies, particularly ambitious ones claiming to offer huge benefits with little or no cost.     

Natural resources and sub-national economic performance: Does sub-national democracy matter?

The differentiation in the impact of resources on economic growth is often explained by the specifics of institutional factors. The aim of this paper is to investigate how sub-national political differences influence the effect of natural resources on economic growth. Using a dataset of Russian regions, this paper demonstrates that sub-national democratization influences the growth effects of resources and considers possible mechanisms for this influence. The paper finds that in Russia, natural resources are only capable of promoting growth in the regions with non-democratic political systems that, at the same time, have an efficient and non-corrupt bureaucracy.     

“Green” consumption—no solution for climate change

This article explores the quantitative effect on energy use and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions if households were to adopt “green” consumption patterns. It shows that green consumption patterns generally reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. The reductions are, however, small and one experiment even shows that the adoption of a partly green consumption pattern may increase total emissions. The major conclusion is that adopting green patterns of consumption while retaining the same level of total consumption does not solve the problem of climate change (CO₂ emission), but could at best offer a temporary palliative.     

Natural gas consumption and economic growth: Are we ready to natural gas price liberalization in Iran?

This paper examines the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Iran within a multivariate production model. We also investigate the effects of natural gas price on its consumption and economic growth using a demand side model. The paper employs bounds test approach to level relationship over the period of 1972–007. We find evidence of bidirectional positive relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in short-run and long-run, based on the production model. The findings also suggest that real GDP growth and natural gas have positive and negative impacts on gross fixed capital formation, respectively. Employment, however, was found to have negative but insignificant impact on gross fixed capital formation. Moreover, the estimation results of demand side model suggest that natural gas price has negative and significant impact on natural gas consumption only in the long-run, though there is insignificant impact on economic growth. These results imply that the Iranian government's decision for natural gas price liberalization has the adverse effects on economic growth and policy makers should be cautious in doing this policy.     

Green hydrogen-based pathways and alternatives: Towards the renewable energy transition in South America's regions – Part A

In recent years, there has been an increased concern regarding the impacts of climate change caused by the increase in anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, and the search for clean energy sources has grown. Hydrogen produced from renewable sources is an alternative to the demand for clean energy. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are countries located in South America with a considerable number of rivers and hydroelectric plants. This study shows the potential production of hydrogen in these countries using the excess energy from hydroelectric plants. While Argentina has a potential generation of 3.44E+10 Kg.year^?1 of H₂, Paraguay and Uruguay presented, respectively, 5.32E+10 Kg.year^?1 and 2.19E+10 Kg.year^?1. Taking into account the economic viability analysis, H production and storage had a profit of 0.2253 US$.m^?3 for Paraguay, 0.2249 US$.m^?3 for Uruguay and a cost of 0.2263 US$.m^?3 in Argentina. The results of this research contribute to the renewable, sustainable energy transition and in accordance with the precepts of the circular economy for the search for new sources of energy. This idea needs to be encouraged around the world, including developing countries.     

Green hydrogen-based pathways and alternatives: Towards the renewable energy transition in South America's regions–Part B

Hydropower compounds most of the energy matrix of the countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region (LAC). Considering the concern in reducing Green House Gases emissions (GHG) from hydropower plants and hydrogen production from fossil sources, green hydrogen (H₂) appears as an energy vector able to mitigate this impact. Improving the efficiency of the plant and producing renewable energy the element is an interesting alternative from the ecological and economic point of view. This study aims to estimate the potential of H₂ production from wasted energy, through the electrolysis of water in hydroelectric plants in Colombia and Venezuela. The construction of two scenarios allowed obtaining a difference, considering a spilled flow of 2/3 in the first scenario and 1/3 in the second. In Colombia, hydrogen production reached 3.39 E+08 Nm³ at a cost of 2.05 E+05 USD/kWh in scenario1, and 1.70 E+08 Nm³ costing 4.10 E+05 USD/kWh in scenario 2. Regarding the Venezuelan context, the country obtained lower production values of H₂, ranging between 7.76 E+07 Nm³.d^?1 and 4.31 E+07 Nm³.d^?1, and production cost between 9.45 E+09 USD/kWh and 1.89 E+10 USD/kWh. Thus, the final cost for the production and storage of H₂ was estimated at 0.2239 USD.kg^?1. Ultimately, Colombia and Venezuela have a large potential to supply the demand for nitrogen fertilizers with green ammonia production, apply green hydrogen in manufacturing and use the surplus for energy substitution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas - LPG. In Colombia, the chemical energy offered is equivalent to 6.681 E+11 MJ/year^?1 and in Venezuela, the result is equal to 1.697 E+11 MJ/year^?1 in the conservative scenario. Finally, the countries have great potential for the diversification of the energy matrix and the insertion of renewables in the system.     

Strive Toward A Green,Environment friendly and Resource Conserving City—— Shanghai Tobacco (Group) Corp purchased 600 MWh green electricity with the term of two years

Shanghai Tobacco (Group ) Corp was or- ganizationreformed and establishedfrom o- riginalShanghai Tobacco Company and its subsidiarycompany in 1993. Itpossesses high-classmod eratecigaretteindustryand its assorted enterprisesof tobacco storage and transpor…     

Green economy and green jobs: Myth or reality? The case of China’s power generation sector

This paper investigates the relationship between the green economy and green jobs in China through the following question: Can the current GHG mitigation policies in China’s power generation sector bring more jobs to China? Using both analytical and input–output models this paper analyzes the direct and indirect employment impacts of two main mitigation policies in the power generation sector. This paper proves that the above-mentioned question is not simple. Mitigation policies in China’s power generation sector from 2006 to 2009 caused a total of 44 thousand net jobs losses. However, as the share of renewable energy that has an indirect employment impacts increased in 2010, the policies from 2006 to 2010 actually resulted in 472 thousand net job gains. This paper asserts that to ensure the co-existence of green economy and green jobs in China’s power generation sector, policy makers should further promote solar PV, biomass and wind technologies. In 2010, for every one percent increase in the share of solar PV generation there could be a 0.68% increase in total employment in China, larger than any other power generation technology. Finally, this paper argues that a matching educational system and personnel structure is also needed.     

Design of High-Order Difference Scheme and Analysis of Solution Characteristics—Part II: A Kind of Third-Order Difference Scheme and New Scheme Design Theory

In this Part II, on the basis of the general style design of second-order difference scheme and the analysis of the absolutely stable scheme proposed in Part I, the companion article, the general design method of any high-order difference scheme is proposed. Based on this method, a new kind of third-order difference scheme including 17 different variants is constructed, which uses the same grid points as existing second-order difference schemes but is different from them in that the grids are chosen symmetrically from two sides of the interface. Because they have the same matrix style created by the same grid plots of the discretization equation, these third-order schemes require the same CPU time and memory as the second-order schemes; however, this kind of symmetrical third-order difference scheme will keep the consistency between the false diffusion and the stability, and the stability of the scheme is better than that of the existing biased second-order scheme. Further research shows that under the conditions of matrix style and computer memory, the scheme constituted by symmetrically numbered grids from two sides of the interface with odd order of accuracy can maintain consistency between numerical accuracy and stability better than any kind of scheme designed according to the “upwind” idea. Based on this understanding, a new scheme design theory called symmetric and odd-order accuracy scheme design theory is proposed.     

Toward greener supply chains: is there a role for the new ISO 50001 approach to energy and carbon management?

Considering the increased interest of stakeholders in climate change and a low-carbon economy, this article has investigated and identified several contributions of the ISO 50001 in support of the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM). In this context, energy efficiency and reduced CO₂ emissions are critical. Therefore, the proposal for and the requirements of ISO 50001 can generate useful insights on how to structure green and low-carbon supply chains, hence helping to address the challenges posed by climate change.     

“绿色进球（Green Goal）”——来自德国世界杯的环保热情

德国人的环境意识可谓深入人心。不仅体现在他们如画的自然风景上。而且也充分展现在他们对于2006年世界杯的态度上。简短的开幕式似乎是应和国际潮流．而对于环保的自发性热情却体现了固执的德国人的可爱。德国联邦环境部长加布里尔如是说：“推出‘绿色进球’计划显示出德国足协和组委会对于生态、环境、气候保护的一种自发性热情，这为大赛的组织工作开辟了新的天地。”为期一个月的世界杯赛不可避免地会对环境造成损害，最严重的是增加lOxl04t温室气体排放。为了将对环境的损害减小到最低程度，德国世界杯器组委会提出了“绿色进珠（GreenGoal）”计划。该计划提倡使用可再生能源和材料、乘坐无污染公共交通工具；而对那些无法避免的污染，则投入资金进行治理，     

Cournot competition and “green” innovation: An inverted-U relationship

We examine the relationship between competition and innovation in an industry where production is polluting and R&D has the aim to reduce emissions (“green” innovation). We present an n-firm oligopoly where firms compete in quantities and decide their investment in “green” R&D. We analyse the case where the emission tax is set endogenously by a committed regulator and uncover an inverted-U relationship between innovation and competition that is mainly driven by the presence of R&D spillovers.     

动力联盟:“连”“推”“蓄”

正如王若虹所说,节能产品惠民工程的实施,在消费者实实在在得到实惠的基础上,提高了产业核心竞争力,培育了新兴战略产业、市场,调结构、转方式取得了进展。全国人大代表、志高空调董事长李兴浩对本刊记者说:节能产品惠民工程这项政策在利国利民的同时,对于空调行业以及企业的发展功不可没。这种贡献深深影响了企业内核的发展机制,对于企业产业结构调整和产品结构升级起到了积极的引导和推动作用,有力提升了企业的技术创新水平。他还深有感触地说:节能惠民工程提供了一个节能技术比拼的大擂台,谁拥有更高的节能技术水平,谁真正掌握了核心科技,通过这一比拼就一目了然,只有具备真功夫才能享受到这一政策的红利。诚然,节能产品惠民工程巨大的红利效应迅速演变成巨大的推动力。     

Phase-Function Normalization in the 3-D Discrete-Ordinates Solution of Radiative Transfer—PART I: Conservation of Scattered Energy and Asymmetry Factor

The conditions for which conversation of scattered energy and phase-function asymmetry factor after discrete-ordinates methods (DOM) directional discretization for 3-D radiative transfer in anisotropic scattering media breaks down are examined. Directional discretization in anisotropic scattering media is found to alter the scattering asymmetry factor—a second-type of “false scattering.” Phase-function normalization which conserves scattered energy alone cannot correct this problem, and conservation of the asymmetry factor is simultaneously required. A normalization technique developed by the authors, which was successfully tested in 2-D asymmetric cylindrical-coordinate radiative transfer analysis, is intensively examined and validated with benchmark problems in 3-D Cartesian coordinates. In Part I of this study, the degree of anisotropy for which normalization is necessary to conserve these inherent quantities is presented for various phase-function approximations and discrete quadrature sets.     

Crude oil price analysis and forecasting: A perspective of “new triangle”

In this paper, the new structural characteristics and core influencing factors of the crude oil prices are summarized based on previous representative research results. Firstly, a newly dynamic Bayesian structural time series model (DBSTS) is developed to investigate the oil prices. In particular, Google trend is introduced as an indicator to reflect the impact of search data on the oil price. Secondly, the spike and slab method is employed to select core influence factors. Finally, the Bayesian model average (BMA) is utilized to predict the oil price. Experimental results confirm that the supply and demand of global crude oil and the financial market are still the main factors affecting the oil price. Furthermore, Google trend can reflect the changes in the crude oil price to a certain extent. Moreover, the impact of shale oil production on the oil price is gradually increasing, yet remains relatively small. In addition, the DBSTS model can identify turning points in historical data (such as the 2008 financial crisis). Finally, the findings suggest the DBSTS model has good predictive capabilities in short-term prediction, making it suitable for analyzing the crude oil prices.     

2020:“风”“光”稳步走

正3月10日,国家能源局下发《关于2020年风电、光伏发电项目建设有关事项的通知》(简称《通知》)。对此,中电传媒能源情报研究中心负责人之一齐正平说:"总体思路上,很好地延续了2019年政策,包括积极推进平价上网项目、有序推进补贴项目、全面落实电力送出消纳条件、严格项目开发建设信息监测等。相较去年,今年政策出台时间明显提前,而且正式稿内容跟1月23日下发的征求意见稿内容基本