Policy progress in mitigation of climate change in Taiwan

To make an active contribution to the global effort in mitigation of climate change, Taiwan government has implemented the “Frameworks for Sustainable Energy Policy—An Energy-Saving and Carbon-Reduction Action Plan” in June 2008. It has made a commitment of a stepwise reduction of nationwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which returns the nationwide GHG emission to 2008 levels by 2020, then reduces to 2000 levels by 2025, and finally cuts 50% of 2000 levels by 2050. The fundamental strategy is to reduce the GHG emission under acceptable economic development and energy security to achieve generation-spanning triple-win in energy, environment and economy. The major policy instruments such as “Statute for Renewable Energy Development”, “GHG Reduction Law (draft),” “Regulation for Energy Tax (draft),” and “Energy Management Act” have been either implemented or scheduled for legislative reviewing. The purpose of this paper is to present an updated review of the outcomes of GHG emission reduction in Taiwan. In addition, the progress and priority of policy instruments in GHG emission reduction are analyzed as well.     

Decoupling urban transport from GHG emissions in Indian cities—A critical review and perspectives

How to sustain rapid economic and urban growth with minimised detriment to environment is a key challenge for sustainable development and climate change mitigation in developing countries, which face constraints of technical and financial resources scarcity as well as dearth of infrastructure governance capacity. This paper attempts to address this question by investigating the driving forces of transport demand and relevant policy measures that facilitate mitigating GHG emissions in the urban transport sector in Indian cities based on a critical review of the literature. Our overview of existing literature and international experiences suggests that it is critical to improve urban governance in transport infrastructure quality and develop efficient public transport, coupled with integrated land use/transport planning as well as economic instruments. This will allow Indian cities to embark on a sustainable growth pathway by decoupling transport services demand of GHG emissions in the longer term. Appropriate policy instruments need to be selected to reconcile the imperatives of economic and urban growth, aspiration to higher quality of life, improvements in social welfare, urban transport-related energy consumption and GHG emissions mitigation target in Indian cities.     

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.     

Comparative assessment of future motor vehicles under various climate change mitigation scenarios

The aim of comparative assessment of future road transport technologies is to find the cheapest motor vehicles in terms of private and external Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission costs under various international climate change mitigation scenarios in 2020 and 2050. The comparative assessment of the main road transport technologies ranging from conventional vehicles to hybrid electric vehicles was performed. The main indicators for comparative future motor vehicles assessment are: private costs and life cycle external costs of GHG emissions. The obtained ranking of road transport technologies allows to identify the most perspective future motor vehicles taking into account international climate change mitigation constraints and to promote these road technologies by policy tools. The cheapest road transport technologies in 2020 and 2050 are: the main results presented in this paper were obtained during EU financed Framework 7 project “PLANETS” dealing with probabilistic long-term assessment of new energy technology scenarios.     

Energy consumption, costs and environmental impacts for urban water cycle services: Case study of Oslo (Norway)

Energy consumption in the operation and maintenance phase of the urban water and wastewater network is directly related to both the quantity and the desired quality of the supplied water/treated wastewater - in other words, to the level of service provided to consumers. The level of service is dependent on not just the quantity and quality of the water but also the state of the infrastructure. Maintaining the infrastructure so as to be able to provide the required high level of service also demands energy. Apart from being a significant operational cost component, energy use also contributes to life-cycle environmental impacts. This paper studies the direct energy consumption in the operation and maintenance phase of the water and wastewater system in Oslo; and presents a break-up among the different components of the network, of quantities, costs and environmental impacts. Owing to the diversity in the periods of time for which comprehensive data for the whole system are available, the study period is restricted to years 2000-2006. The per-capita annual consumption of energy in the operational phase of the system varied between 220 and 260 kWh; and per-capita annual expenses on energy in inflation-adjusted year-2006-Euros ranged between 6.5 and 11 Euros. The energy consumed on the upstream, per unit volume water supplied was around 0.4 kWh on average, while the corresponding value for the downstream was 0.8 kWh per cubic metre wastewater treated. The upstream Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ranged between 70 and 80 g per cubic metre of water supplied, about 22% greater on average than the corresponding specific GHG emissions on the downstream.     

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.     

Cofiring versus biomass-fired power plants: GHG (Greenhouse Gases) emissions savings comparison by means of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology

One way of producing nearly CO₂ free electricity is by using biomass as a combustible. In many cases, removal of CO₂ in biomass grown is almost the same as the emissions for the bioelectricity production at the power plant. For this reason, bioelectricity is generally considered CO₂ neutral. For large-scale biomass electricity generation two alternatives can be considered: biomass-only fired power plants, or cofiring in an existing coal power plant. Among other factors, two important aspects should be analyzed in order to choose between the two options. Firstly, which is the most appealing alternative if their Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Emissions savings are taken into account. Secondly, which biomass resource is the best, if the highest impact reduction is sought. In order to quantify all the GHG emissions related to each system, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been performed and all the processes involved in each alternative have been assessed in a cradle-to-grave manner. Sensitivity analyses of the most dominant parameters affecting GHG emissions, and comparisons between the obtained results, have also been carried out.     

A Fuel Economy Study in Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Lubricants

Internal combustion engines′ fuel economy is an important role for engine designers,engine manufacturers over the past 30 years,especially passenger car motor oils.In heavy duty diesel engine,over the past 20 years,fuel economy has in some cases been sacrificed for exhaust gas emission optimizations.Now,Heavy Duty Automotive and the related industries have strong interest in fuel economy and the lubricants.It is driven by competitive market forces as well as government mandates and new emission regulations.Japan was the first country in the world to establish and implement heavy duty trucks and buses fuel economy standards.Other countries also have followed either by establishing direct fuel economy standards or greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions standards which are directly tied to fuel economy.This paper is discussing that heavy duty diesel engine lubricants can contribute on fuel economy.The contribution of various aspects of engine oil formulations on fuel economy will be discussed such as lubricant viscosity grade,lubricant additives and friction modifiers.In this paper,the evaluation discussions are based on fuel economy measurements in some bench tests,standardized laboratory engine tests and field tests.     

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.     

Power from Perspective: Potential future United States energy portfolios

This paper presents United States energy portfolios for the year 2030, developed from seven different Perspectives. The Perspectives are characterized by different weights placed on fourteen defining values (e.g., cost, social acceptance). The portfolios were constructed to achieve three primary goals, energy independence, energy security, and greenhouse gas reductions. The portfolios are also evaluated over a comprehensive set of secondary criteria (e.g., economic growth, technical feasibility). It is found that very different portfolios based on very different defining values can achieve the three primary goals. Commonalities among the portfolios include reliance upon cellulosic ethanol, nuclear power, and energy efficiency to meet year 2030 energy demands. It is concluded that the US energy portfolio must be diverse and to achieve national energy goals will require an explicit statement of goals, a strong role for government, and coordinated action across society.