Modeling unaccounted-for gas among residential natural gas consumers using a comprehensive fuzzy cognitive map

Residential natural gas consumption depends on several factors. Available tools and methods to identify, categorize, and validate effective factors have some limitations, making consumption modeling more complex. Once a comprehensive model of effective consumption factors is developed for residential gas consumers, it can predict consumption. In addition, such a model could be used to verify the accuracy of measuring devices in order to reduce unaccounted for gas (UFG). The key factors affecting residential gas consumption were identified based on previous studies and their mutual effects were analyzed using a fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) method. The most significant factors and their effects on natural gas consumption in the residential sector were determined. In this study, for the first time, the expected consumption for each consumer was estimated using a consumption index. Generally, if the estimated consumption is significantly different from the amount recorded by the meter, it could suggest a potential source of UFG. The proposed method was applied to the data collected from the residential gas consumers of a small region in Iran (Dasht-e Arjan region, Fars province), and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Life cycle cost of conventional,battery electric,and fuel cell electric vehicles considering traffic and environmental policies in China

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered a promising alternative to conventional vehicles (CVs) to alleviate the oil crisis and reduce urban air pollution and carbon emissions. Consumers usually focus on the tangible cost when choosing an EV or CV but overlook the time cost for restricting purchase or driving and the environmental cost from gas emissions, falling to have a comprehensive understanding of the economic competitiveness of CVs and EVs. In this study, a life cycle cost model for vehicles is conducted to express traffic and environmental policies in monetary terms, which are called intangible cost and external cost, respectively. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and CVs are compared in four first-tier, four new first-tier, and 4 s-tier and below cities in China. The comparison shows that BEVs and FCEVs in most cities are incomparable with CVs in terms of tangible cost. However, the prominent traffic and environmental policies in first-tier cities, especially in Beijing and Shanghai, greatly increase the intangible and external costs of CVs, making consumers more inclined to purchase BEVs and FCEVs. The main policy benefits of BEVs and FCEVs come from three aspects: government subsidies, purchase and driving restrictions, and environmental taxes. With the predictable reduction in government subsidies, traffic and environmental policies present important factors influencing the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs. In first-tier cities, BEVs and FCEVs already have a competitive foundation for large-scale promotion. In new first-tier and second-tier and below cities, stricter traffic and environmental policies need to be formulated to offset the negative impact of the reduction in government subsidies on the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis reveals that increasing the mileage and reducing fuel prices can significantly improve the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs, respectively.     

An economic investigation of the wind-hydrogen projects: A case study

Hydrogen as an energy carrier can play a significant role in reducing environmental emissions if it is produced from renewable energy resources. This research aims to assess hydrogen production from wind energy considering environmental, economic, and technical aspect for the East Azerbaijan province of Iran. The economic assessment is performed by calculation of payback period, levelized cost of hydrogen, and levelized cost of electricity. Since uncertainty in the power output of wind turbines may affect the payback period, all calculations are performed for four different turbine degradation rates. While it is common in the literature to choose the wind turbine based on a single criterion, this study implements Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques for this purpose. The results of Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis illustrates that economic issue is the most important criterion for this research. The results of Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment shows that Vestas V52 is the most suitable wind turbine for Ahar and Sarab cities, while Eovent EVA120 H-Darrieus is a better choice for other stations. The most suitable location for wind power generation is found to be Ahar, where it is estimated to annually generate 2914.8 kWh of electricity at the price of 0.045 $/kWh, and 47.2 tons of hydrogen at the price of 1.38 $/kg, which result in 583 tons of CO₂ emission reduction.     

Physicochemical and technological properties of beef burger as influenced by the addition of pea fibre

This study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and sensory attributes of beef burgers with the addition of pea fibre as a partial substitute of meat or fat. Three formulations were prepared: control (CON) – similar to the commercial formulation; fibre/less meat (FLM)—5% meat reduction and addition of 1% pea fibre; fibre/less fat (FLF)—7% fat reduction and addition of 1% pea fibre. Non-significant differences were obtained for pH, colour parameters (L* and b*), texture profile, cooking loss and size reduction among formulations. Moreover, sensory analysis with consumers of beef burgers did not indicate differences among the formulations for all the analysed attributes. Therefore, pea fibre is a promising partial replacer for meat and fat in beef burgers due to the preservation of technological parameters and sensory acceptance.     

Distributed ledger technology in supply chains: a transaction cost perspective

With the emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT), numerous practitioners and researchers have proclaimed its beneficial impact on supply chain transactions in the future. However, the vast majority of DLT initiatives are discontinued after a short period. With the full potential of DLT laying far down the road, especially managers in supply chain management (SCM) seek for short-term cost-saving effects of DLT in order to achieve long-term benefits of DLT in the future. However, the extant research has bypassed grounding long-term as well as short-term effects of DLT on supply chain transaction with empirical data. We address this shortcoming, following an abductive research approach and combining empirical data from a multiple case study design with the corresponding literature. Our study reveals that the effects of DLT on supply chain transactions are two-sided. We found six effects of DLT solutions that have a cost-reducing or cost avoidance impact on supply chain transactions. In addition, we found two effects that change the power distribution between buyers and suppliers in transactions and a single effect that reduces the dependency of supply chain transactions on third parties. While cost-reducing and avoidance as well as dependency-reducing effects are positive effects, the change in power distribution might come with disadvantages. With these findings, the paper provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of DLT on supply chain transactions, which will enable managers to improve their assessment of DLT usage in supply chains.     

Economic growth,CO2 emissions,and energy consumption in the five ASEAN countries

This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and energy consumption with an aim to test the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in five ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) by applying the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model as a new econometric technique. The PSTR model is more flexible and appropriate for describing cross-country heterogeneity and time instability. Our empirical results strongly rejected the null hypothesis of linearity, and the test for no remaining nonlinearity indicated a model with one transition function and two threshold parameters. The first regime (levels of GDP per capita below 4686 USD) showed that environmental degradation increases with economic growth while the trend was reversed in the second regime (GDP per capita above 4686 USD). The results also showed that energy consumption with either the first or the second regime lead to increase CO₂. The overall results support the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the ASEAN countries.     

核算前移在冶炼企业优化成本控制中的应用

针对国际黄金价格的走低,黄金冶炼企业如何在激烈的市场竞争中寻求更大的利润空间,优化成本控制显得尤为重要。以某冶炼厂为例,阐述核算前移在优化企业成本控制中的应用,以达到降本增效的目的,实现企业利润的最大化。     

A practical Equivalent Electrical Circuit model for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) systems

An alternative Equivalent Electrical Circuit for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells is modelled in this study. Both I–V characteristics and H₂ consumptions corresponding to generated power under load and no-load conditions are investigated. For this purpose, H₂ consumptions and I–V characteristics of three different sized PEMFCs are tested. There is a very good harmony between the model results and measured values (relative error %0.7, %6.4 and %2.5 for FC-A, FC-B and FC-C respectively). In the proposed model current passes only on parallel resistance and not on serial resistance at no-load condition. Thus, a FC with higher parallel resistance should be preferred. Another key output of this study is that based on the proposed model, performance comparison of FCs can be performed with the parameters defined in this work. Proposals made in this study can easily be used for performance analysis of FCs under for both steady state and transient analysis.     

Comparative techno-economic assessment of a large-scale hydrogen transport via liquid transport media

A large-scale point to point hydrogen transport is one strategy for a prospective energy import scenario for certain countries. The case for a hydrogen transport from Australia to Japan has been addressed in several studies. However, most studies lack transparency and detailed insights into the made assumptions thus a fair evaluation of different transport pathways is challenging. To address this issue, we developed a model where a large-scale point to point hydrogen transport of liquid hydrogen is compared with the transport via liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC), namely via methyl cyclohexane and hydrogenated dibenzyl toluene. We analyzed, where energy is required along the different pathways, where hydrogen losses do occur and how the costs are put together. Furthermore, the influence of hydrogen feed costs is also considered. For hydrogen production costs of 5 €₂₀₁₈/kg_H2 the total delivery costs are in the range of 6.40– 8.10 €₂₀₁₈/kg_H2.     

基于组合双向拍卖的云资源调度方法

针对跨数据中心的资源调度问题，提出了一种基于组合双向拍卖（PCDA）的资源调度方案。首先，将云资源拍卖分为三个部分：云用户代理报价、云资源提供商要价、拍卖代理组织拍卖；其次，在定义用户的优先级及任务紧迫度的基础上，在拍卖过程中估算每一个工作发生的服务等级协议（SLA）违规并以此计算云提供商的收益，同时每轮竞拍允许成交多项交易；最终达到根据用户等级合理分配云资源调度的效果。仿真实验结果表明该算法保证了竞拍成功率，与传统一次拍卖成交一项的组合双向拍卖方案相比，PCDA在竞拍时间段产生的能耗降低了35.00%，拍卖云提供商的利润提高了约38.84%。