Life cycle impacts and costs of photovoltaic systems: Current state of the art and future outlooks

The photovoltaic energy sector is rapidly expanding and technological specification for PV has improved dramatically in the last two decades. This paper sketches the current state of the art and drafts three alternative scenarios for the future, in terms of costs, market penetration and environmental performance. According to these scenarios, if economic incentives are supported long enough into the next ten to twenty years, PV looks set for a rosy future, and is likely to play a significant role in the future energy mix, while at the same time contributing to reduce the environmental impact of electricity supply.     

Analysis of the economic impact of different Chinese climate policy options based on a CGE model incorporating endogenous technological change

Abatement cost is the main concern for climate change mitigation and the key factor for mitigation cost is technological change. This study established an integrated economic, energy, environmental, dynamic, computable general equilibrium (CGE) model representing endogenous technological change for China's climate change policy analysis. This study analyzed and compared the economic impact of different approaches to mitigation commitments as well as the potential role of technological change in the formulation of mitigation targets and commitments, taking into account China's climate policy-making needs based on the current international climate negotiation process. The results show that, absolute emission limits similar to the Kyoto Protocol will seriously impede the future economic development of China, while the impact of an 80% reduction in carbon intensity, forecast for 2050 based on the 2005 level, is relatively small. Technological change can promote economic growth, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon intensity per unit of output through the substitution of production factors. Consequently it can reduce marginal abatement cost and related GDP loss by mitigation. At the same time it can increase mitigation potentials and extend the emission reduction amount, showing that consideration of the impact of technological change when deciding the emission reduction targets is necessary.     

The energy policy relevance of the 2014 IPCC Working Group III report on the macro-economics of mitigating climate change

Research which attempted to determine the macroeconomic importance of mitigating climate change through 2100 was presented primarily in Chapter 6 of the 2014 IPCC Working Group III report. Some of the findings of this chapter were then summarized in the Summary for Policy Makers (SPMs) of both the Synthesis Report, and the WGIII report. Unfortunately, these SPMs omitted key aspects of what the overall macroeconomic results for the costs and benefits of mitigating climate change actually did and did not include, how they were produced, and a careful assessment of their uncertainty and scientific validity. Yet, many of the major omissions were acknowledged deep in the text of Chapter 6, but were not revealed to the public. We conclude, therefore, that neither of these SPMs was useful for energy policy makers and energy managers, and they were misleading due to their many key omissions. Finally, we recommend several improvements that can be made to integrated assessment modeling methodologies so that the macroeconomic analysis of mitigating climate change resulting from the use of such models can be more relevant and useful to energy policy makers in the future, and can be communicated to them better.     

中美欧2020后减缓气候变化行动目标比较研究

作为温室气体排放量最大的三个经济体,中、美、欧2020年后应对气候变化的行动目标备受国际社会关注。本文从排放现状、目标情景、排放轨迹、累积排放、GDP碳强度、非化石能源发展等不同角度对中、美、欧的目标进行了比较,分析了中、美、欧目标和所需行动的异同。本文旨在通过比较分析更好地理解中、美、欧的目标和行动,而并非评价中、美、欧行动目标力度的相对大小。应对气候变化是一个迭代的决策过程,每个国家目标的制定需要综合考虑多方面的因素,都有一个结合具体实践不断调整和加强的过程。中、美、欧的新目标将应对气候变化的努力推到了一个更高的起点而并非行动的终点。     

An overview of global climate changing in current scenario and mitigation action

Climate changing is a global threat to the world. There are so many reasons behind this problem. One of the major reasons is carbon emissions in atmosphere. The causes for this global threat are many, among them GHG (green house gas emission) is one of them. Also deforestation, land use change, sulfate aerosol and black carbon are the other major reason leading to the ozone layer depletion and changing climate.Due to the carbon emission atmosphere is being polluted and also so many disasters happen routinely. Atmosphere is getting hot day by day. Due to this unnatural and sudden temperature rise, glaciers are melting, so sudden flash floods occur. Agricultural sector is also suffering due to the global warming effects. This will also affect the productivity of grains world wide. Climate changing increases land and as well as sea temperature and alters precipitation quantity and patterns. As a result increasing the global average sea level, risk of coastal erosions, etc. climate change will be an added stress for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Effects will also be severe on coasts and marine ecosystems. Extreme events like drought, flood may also happen due to these impacts. This paper elaborately present the current situation of climate changing and the causes of its vulnerable effects, also the mitigation action of climate changing are also discussed.     

Suppression of hydrogen–oxygen–nitrogen explosions by fine water mist: Part 2. Mitigation of vented deflagrations

The simultaneous use of water mist and dilution by nitrogen has not been previously considered for the mitigation of hydrogen containing gas explosions and there is little guidance currently available to plant and safety engineers in the nuclear industry. This gap in knowledge is addressed and data reported for the reduction of rates of pressure rise experienced in a vented apparatus. Such information will also be of use in subsequent, separate modelling studies.     

Scenarios for the Austrian food chain in 2020 and its landscape impacts

How the future landscape will look depends particularly on the outcome of the socio-economically motivated decisions of farmers, food processors, retailers and consumers, all members of the food supply chain. However, a long-term perspective on the food supply chain and its landscape effects is confronted with a great deal of uncertainty and data constraints. These difficulties can be partly avoided by using the personal judgements of agents whose decisions control the structure of present and future food supply chains. A well-established agent-based method for dealing with and describing variation in the future is the method of scenario planning. The aim of this paper is to present the application of the scenario approach to the Austrian food supply chain in 2020 and its landscape impacts. A critical discussion of the scenarios should reflect their explanatory power regarding future development options for landscapes. The first section of the paper outlines the interactions between society, the food supply chain and the landscape in a conceptual model. It describes the applied scenario technique and the research setting involving agents from agriculture, the food industry, retailing, gastronomy, and consumer organisations. Four scenarios for the food chain in 2020 are presented (Liberal Market Scenario, Protective Policy Scenario, Fast World Scenario, Slow World Scenario) and their respective consequences and strategies are discussed. The scenario technique used is found to be a useful means of gathering and structuring disperse expert knowledge. The paper concludes that—despite some methodological limitations—scenarios can deal with uncertainty concerning the socio-economic driving forces of landscape change and therefore can be used as a preliminary step in formulating robust strategies for landscape management.     

Stakeholder opinion on constrained 2030 bioenergy scenarios for North West England

English farmers are subsidised by the UK government to plant (short rotation coppice—SRC) willow as an energy crop. This study incorporates the outputs of techno-economic and environmental life cycle assessment modelling of bioenergy power and combined heat and power (CHP) plants within a simple spreadsheet model that enables users to partially modify bioenergy scenarios for SRC willow. The model is intended as an opinion-elicitation device. It is restricted in scope, reflecting the electrical power emphasis of the first phase of the Supergen Biomass and Bioenergy research programme. Bioenergy policy stakeholders in North West (NW) England were asked to use the model to develop 2030 scenarios for SRC willow fuelling eight types of bioenergy power and CHP plant. Users allocate finite land inputs to the different power and CHP plant types and the sheet outputs the energy supply, environmental and agricultural employment implications. Policy stakeholders are shown to hold widely differing views of how the bioenergy heat and power sector might and should look in 2030. If the policy stakeholders’ 2030 scenarios prove accurate, the percentage of regional households likely to be electrically supplied by willow coppice grown in NW England will be small, at some 3.6%.     

A review of AC impedance modeling and validation in SOFC diagnosis

In this paper, over 150 journal papers were reviewed with respect to AC impedance modeling and validation in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) diagnosis. Different models based on experimental AC impedance data and their advantages and disadvantages in data interpretation were discussed. The challenges currently faced by AC impedance modeling and validation were identified and possible directions and approaches in addressing these challenges were suggested.