碳交易背景下天津市电力行业碳排放强度与基准线

电力行业是我国碳排放权交易体系中的重要参与行业,开展区域电力行业碳排放强度分析与基准线设置研究,不仅有利于区域因地制宜地开展行业碳减排工作,同时对全国统一碳市场的建立尤其是电力行业配额分配方案的确定具有重要参考价值.基于天津市2014年15家主要发电企业的32台发电机组数据,在核算分析天津市电力行业碳排放强度的基础上,设置实际排放情景、现行标准先进值情景及综合减排情景等3组基准线情景,并展开对天津市电力行业碳减排的适用性分析.研究表明:①在数据和统计基础较好、产品单一的行业采用基准法进行配额分配,有利于碳市场资源的公平、合理配置,可有效促进区域电力行业低碳发展;②2014年天津市电力行业碳排放强度为822.9 g/（kW·h）,燃煤发电与燃气发电碳排放强度分别为824.4与502.0 g/（kW·h）;③发电碳排放强度可反应出单台机组的能耗和管理水平,燃煤发电方式下,采用压力参数高、机组容量大的机组发电更有利于降低区域碳强度;④综合减排情景既考虑了本地区电力行业碳排放水平,同时参考了其他省市基准线设定,对部分类型机组数量较少、代表性不足的地区适用性更强,该情景对地区电力行业低碳水平要求最为严格,虽然为企业减排带来一定压力,但更有利于区域行业减排,且对于排放强度较高的较小容量机组能够起到更强的激励作用.      

Regulatory and Mixed Policy Options for Reducing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions

This article discusses non-fiscal policy options to reduce energy demand and the resulting environmental impacts, and it reviews experiences with these options to date. Such policies include accelerating technology development and demonstration, stimulating product demand via procurement policies, applying efficiency standards to information-poor end-use sectors, and encouraging utility energy-efficiency programs. Efforts to implement such measures are underway in several industrialised countries and have begun in developing countries. Increasing energy efficiency is an important area for near-term carbon emission reductions, and a key strategy for cost-effective mitigation of global climate change. However, little of the energy-efficiency potential identified by technical studies will be realised in the absence of policies to reduce barriers to energy-efficiency investments. Performance standards can overcome the lack of information on the part of energy users, while technology procurement helps overcome the view of manufacturers that introducing efficient products is risky. The effects of these policy options on product markets are characterised, showing the synergy between different instruments and their potential to create and transform markets for energy-efficient products, systems and services. The existence of such energy-efficiency markets can stimulate new progress and innovation, providing the conditions in which the continuous process of technical improvement is significantly accelerated. Most policy analysis and discussions regarding climate-change mitigation have centred on various forms of carbon emission taxes and to some extent on tradable emission offsets or permits. This article concludes with an examination of why non-fiscal options are mostly absent from energy-economic models and climate-change policy studies, and we suggest approaches to include them more fully in energy-policy analysis and implementation.     

重点耗能行业能效对标管理政策建议

能效对标管理是改善企业经营管理、提高企业竞争力最有效的管理工具之一。介绍了能效对标管理在国内外的应用、存在的障碍及相关对策建议。     

Invasive species policy and climate change: social perceptions of environmental change in the Mediterranean

Climate change is raising significant issues for European invasive species policy. As natural and anthropogenic systems experience changing climatic conditions, opportunities for the distribution and establishment of invasive exotic plant species are projected to increase. Such environmental changes will provide significant challenges for the strategic planning and management of natural, agricultural and urban spaces. In this study, the perceptions of the impacts of invasive exotic plant species are examined and compared to perceptions of other environmental issues on the islands of Mallorca, Sardinia and Crete. A survey of key stakeholders was undertaken on the Mediterranean islands with the use of questionnaires and in-depth interviews. While there is a widespread tolerance of environmental change associated with the establishment of invasive species on the islands, local stakeholders raise concerns about specific impacts and the policies in place to respond to future risk. To build resilience within natural and anthropogenic systems to the changing climatic circumstances, a need exists for integrative environmental policy that supports local capacity to manage invasive species within Mediterranean landscapes.     

Availability,addiction and alternatives: three criteria for assessing the impact of peak minerals on society

The concept of ‘peaks’ in the production of natural resources has attracted attention in the area of energy production, with concerns about ‘peak oil’ driving recent research and investment in alternative sources of energy. There are fundamental and important differences between a peak in the production of oil and peaks in the production of metalliferous minerals, but in both cases production changes from ‘easier and less expensive’ early in a resource’s life to ‘difficult and expensive’ as time progresses. The impacts of this change in production circumstances require critical consideration in the governance of national and sub-national mineral endowments.This paper develops a framework for evaluating the impacts of changing patterns of mineral production. The framework considers three criteria: availability of a resource (considering its geological characteristics and geographical distribution); society’s addiction to the resource (its centrality and criticality to economic, social and environmental systems); and the possibility of finding alternatives (whether the resource can be substituted or recovered). An initial assessment against these criteria provides an overview of how a production peak might affect the production of minerals in Australia and the impacts that this might have on the Australian economy.Assessing important resources against these three criteria will be imperative in future considerations regarding the roles minerals and metals play as service providers in our economic, social and environmental systems. Additionally, this analysis should prompt a reassessment of the value of minerals beyond economic measures. Indicators derived from these criteria will inform strategies that can address future changes in production characteristics – meeting challenges with strong governance, and realising opportunities with proactive policy.     

Promoting energy efficiency financing and ESCOs in developing countries: mechanisms and barriers

Developing countries have tremendous potential to increase energy efficiency but face several barriers before the potential can be realised. A lack of access to appropriate financing mechanisms is one of the important barriers. Energy service companies (ESCOs), a market oriented mechanism to improve energy efficiency, had successful experiences in developed countries such as the USA and Canada, and developing countries such as South Korea. ESCOs are in nascent stage in many developing countries and face several barriers that include market, finance and institutional barriers, poor energy pricing policies, high transaction costs etc. Market development through active involvement of governments as a customer, information provider, and policy maker is required to promote ESCOs. Development of specialised energy efficiency financing windows in appropriate financial institutions, development of skills for energy efficiency project appraisal and design of specialised financial products are other measures to accelerate the diffusion of energy efficiency.     

Twenty five years of industrial development: a study of resource use rates and macro-efficiency indicators for five Asian countries

Economic and population growth in Asia over the last three decades has been unprecedented. While conventional economic indicators have been increasing consistently, indicators of resource and environmental quality have been deteriorating, raising questions about the implications of future growth. Economic growth in the future is considered to be contingent on ensuring a more efficient use of natural resources, while simultaneously striving to reduce environmental impacts. We examine time trends of three efficiency indicators; agricultural efficiency, energy efficiency of economic production and carbon efficiency of energy use, for the five most populous countries in Asia in order to assess whether industrial development has lead to increased resource use efficiency and an associated reduction in total resource use and environmental impacts. Our results indicate that agricultural efficiency has decreased in all five countries. Results are mixed for energy and carbon efficiencies. Where increases in energy and carbon efficiency have occurred, they have been completely overwhelmed by absolute increases in energy use and carbon emissions caused by increases in the scale of economic activity. Based on this analysis, we study the potential for further improvements and policy implications for future food supply, energy consumption and carbon emissions in the region.     

Powering or de-powering future vehicles to reach low carbon outcomes: the long term view 1930–2020

Government in UK has long sought to influence both new vehicle fuel efficiency and to encourage domestic car production. Sixty years of data on the change in car characteristics and fuel economy are analysed. Vehicle specific power has doubled in that time and sales of vehicles have grown preferentially in larger engine classes. New cars sold over the period 1970–2000 have a sale price of £150 per bhp at year 2000 prices. A new theory is proposed that the primary driver for increased power of vehicles, and hence CO₂ production, is the increase in sale price necessitated by uneconomic production of steel vehicles in mature markets. The standard fuel test cycle shows inverse fuel efficiency relationship with weight and with vehicle power. Primary CO₂ reduction targets such as the Kyoto agreement are dimensioned as outputs of energy use per unit time (power); secondary targets such as the ACEA voluntary agreement of 140 g/km in 2008 based on energy per unit distance (efficiency). Failure to focus policy on the key variable of vehicle power has allowed power to continue to increase and inhibit fuel efficiency from meeting the voluntary agreement targets. This power ‘loophole’ in Europe is likened to the emergence of light trucks in response to CAFE standards in USA. New body materials offer the prospect of profitable car production, consumer satisfaction and large reductions in CO₂. New policy directions are proposed as a result of the failure of the ACEA voluntary agreement and the real importance of achieving annual CO₂ reduction including via Cars 21.     

Policy misfits,climate change and cross-scale vulnerability in coastal Africa: how development projects undermine resilience

Coastal social ecological systems in eastern Africa are subject to a range of environmental, social and economic changes. They are already vulnerable to these multiple stressors, and the impacts of climate change are likely to further exacerbate their vulnerabilities. Some of these impacts may be observed and experienced already. The analysis presented in this paper is based on mixed methods empirical research exploring local perceptions of recent changes at four sites in coastal Tanzania and Mozambique. People recognise and rank a number of climate and non-climate stressors which have contributed towards more risky and less diverse livelihoods. Importantly, regional and international policy initiatives – in the form of river basin management in Mozambique and South Africa, and development of a Marine Protected Area in Tanzania – are perceived to further erode resilience and exacerbate vulnerabilities. We suggest this is a form of policy misfit, where policies developed to address a specific issue do not take account of cross-scale dynamics of change, the interactions between multiple stressors, nor longer term climate change. This policy misfit may be remedied by a move towards adaptive forms of governance, and necessitates an explicit focus on building the adaptive capacity of the poor and most vulnerable in society.     

Development of a methodology for benchmarking public transportation organisations: a practical tool based on an industry sound methodology

Transportation plays an important role in modern societies. Despite the advantages inherent to well functioning transportation systems, they always generate significant negative side effects that put a burden on the quality-of-life, especially in urban areas. This is especially true of the way in which increasing automobile usage generates important negative impacts such as congestion, increases in accidents and additional vehicle emissions. The European Commission proposes to address these impacts by shifting modal share away from private transportation: in the local transportation sector this means improving the performance of public transportation operators so as to compete with the advantages of private car use.Recent legislation has increasingly required public transportation companies to operate in an environment of increasing competition; consequently there is constant pressure on the operators to improve the efficiency of their performance in order to survive. Benchmarking is considered as one of the most promising ways to help maintain and improve the quality and efficiency of this sector by the sharing data on good practices among operators. This paper concentrates on the practice of ‘benchmarking’ e.g. the measurement of indicators for an individual operator and ‘a comparison of results’ with other operators. The empirical basis for the paper comes from the EU-DG project called EQUIP (Extending the Quality of Public Transportation).The paper has the following structure: in the introduction of the paper, the theoretical framework is discussed: what are the experiences in the industry with benchmarking in public transportation? What is measured with benchmarking? How are the potential benefits of benchmarking exploited? The second section deals with the methodology of the benchmark process. Attention is then turned, in the third section, to practical experience. It deals with the complications of data collection and how to select indicators to provide relevant information for public transportation.After some interim conclusions on achieving and sustaining improvements in Section 4. In the final Section (5), the paper concludes with the experiences of piloting this methodology and makes recommendations for changes in the institutional environment for the successful introduction of benchmarking on a national and European basis for this sector.     

WTO and Integrated Product Policy (IPP): trade law implications for the use of product policy instruments to reduce the risk of exposure and harm from hazardous substances in the life cycle of personal computers

This paper analyses the implications of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade rules for the use of product policy instruments in a potential Integrated Product Policy (IPP) approach to reducing the life cycle impacts of products. To demonstrate these implications, an example of the policy instruments for reducing the risk of exposure and harm from hazardous substances in the life cycle of personal computers (PCs) is used. The product policy instruments examined include regulatory instruments, economic instruments, compulsory information instruments, voluntary information instruments and voluntary agreements. It is found that the WTO rules do limit the ability of governments to use trade-restrictive, mandatory measures to address both the risks associated with uncertainty and limited knowledge and the upstream life cycle phases of raw material extraction and production processes of imported products. Governments have more leeway in the use of economic and voluntary instruments.     

Carbon emissions and management scenarios for consumer-owned utilities

An important subset of the utility sector has been scarcely explored for its ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions: consumer-owned electric utilities significantly contribute to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, but are often excluded from energy efficiency and renewable energy policies. They sell a quarter of the nation's electricity, yet the carbon impact of these sales is not well understood, due to their small size, unique ownership models, and high percentage of purchased power for distribution. This paper situates consumer-owned utilities in the context of emerging U.S. climate policy, quantifying for the first time the state-by-state carbon impact of electricity sales by consumer-owned utilities. We estimate that total retail sales by consumer-owned utilities account for roughly 568 million metric tons of CO₂ annually, making this sector the 7th largest CO₂ emitter globally, and examine state-level carbon intensities of the sector in light of the current policy environment and the share of COU distribution in the states. Based on efficiency and fuel mix pathways under conceivable regulations, carbon scenarios for 2030 are developed.     

Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change via the implementation of underground coal gasification

Coal is the most abundant hydrocarbon energy source in the world. It also produces a very high volume of greenhouse gases using the current production technology. It is more difficult to handle and transport than crude oil and natural gas. We face a challenge: how can we access this abundant resource and at the same time mitigate global environmental challenges, in particular, the production of carbon dioxide (CO₂)? The editors of this special edition journal consider the opportunity to increase the utilization of this globally abundant resource and recover it in an environmentally sustainable manner. Underground coal gasification (UCG) is the recovery of energy from coal by gasifying the coal underground. This  process produces a high calorific synthesis gas, which can be applied for electricity generation and/or the production of fuels and chemicals. The carbon dioxide emissions are relatively pure and the surface facilities are limited in their environmental footprint. Unused carbon is readily separated and can be geo-sequester in the resulting cavity. The cavity is also being considered as a potential option to mitigate against change impacts of other sources of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. These outcomes mean there is an opportunity to provide developing and developed countries a source of low-cost clean energy. Further, the burning of coal in situ means that the traditional dangers of underground mining and extraction are reduced, a higher percentage of the coal is actually recovered and the resulting cavern creates the potential for a long-term storage solution of the gasification wastes. The process is not without challenges. Ground subsidence and groundwater pollution are two potential environmental impacts that need to be averted for this process to be acceptable. It is essential to advance the understanding of this practice and this special edition journal seeks to share the progress that scientists are making in this dynamic field. The technical challenges are being addressed by researchers around the world who work to resolve and understand how burning coal underground impacts the geology, the surface land, and ground water both in the short and the long term. This special issue reviews the process of UCG and considers the opportunities, challenges, risks, competitive analysis and synergies, commercial initiatives and a roadmap to solutions via the modelling and simulation of UCG. Building and then disseminating the fundamental knowledge of UCG will enhance policy development, best practices and processes that reflect the global desires for energy production with reduced environmental impact.     

Knowledge brokerage designs and practices in four european climate services: A role model for biodiversity policies?

Environmental policies are broadly claimed to rely on sound scientific evidence because of the complexity, the uncertainty and the diverging political stakes that characterize issues like biodiversity decline or climate change. Classical advisory formats like assessments or standing advisory bodies have proliferated widely – especially at the global and national levels – yet exert only a limited influence on political decision-making, particularly in sub-national and local implementation contexts. Against this background, scholars have called for ‘bottom-up’ approaches to Science-policy interfaces that move from ‘problem to policy’. In the area of climate change, numerous ‘climate services’ have evolved at national, sub-national and even local levels, with the promise of being more decision-oriented. Four climate services in three European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland) are investigated regarding whether and how they institutionalize and enact knowledge brokerage in a credible, salient and legitimate way. Focusing on the institutional and strategic design principles of this advisory setting in climate policy, insights are generated for the biodiversity policy field, where comparable settings are still broadly lacking.     

China''s energy, environment and policy perspective

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China''''s energy, environment and policy perspective

This paper discusses the specific features of the energy in China, and addresses those key challenges in China is that the coexist of (1) higher total energy production and lower per capita level; (2) lower per capita energy resources level with unrational energy consumption structure; (3) lower energy utilization efficiency and higher energy conservation potential; and (4) unequal distribution of energy resources. It reviews the key environmental problems related to the feature of energy production and consumption. Based on the analysis, the author furthers addresses the policy and actions needed.     

Adaptations to climate change,drought and desertification: local insights to enhance policy in southern Africa

The impacts of climate change, drought and desertification are closely interlinked, and most acutely experienced by populations whose livelihoods depend principally on natural resources. Given the increases in extreme weather events projected to affect the Southern Africa region, it is essential to assess how household and community-level adaptations have been helped or hindered by institutional structures and national policy instruments. In particular, there is a need to reflect on efforts related to the United Nations’ environmental conventions to ensure that policies support the maintenance of local adaptations and help retain the resilience of socio-economic and environmental systems. This paper examines three interlinked drivers of adaptation: climate change, desertification and drought, assessing the extent to which international and national policy supports local adaptive strategies in three countries in southern Africa. We show that while common ground exists between desertification and climate change adaptations at the policy level, they are insufficiently mainstreamed within broader development approaches. Similarly, there are some overlaps between policy-driven and autonomous local adaptations, but the mutually supportive links between them are poorly developed. Further efforts to integrate local adaptation strategies within policy could increase local resilience to environmental change, while also contributing to wider development goals.     

Hybrid microalgal biofuel, desalination, and solution mining systems: increased industrial waste energy, carbon, and water use efficiencies

This work reviews retrofitting new waste energy, carbon and water intensive technologies into existing industrial facilities (including electricity generators) to increase net energy, carbon, and water use efficiencies. The three applications reviewed are microalgal ponds consuming flue gasses and providing thermal power station cooling services, thermally driven membrane distillation desalination, and hydrometallurgical solution mining processes to indirectly remove water contaminants, and additional power station cooling. The aim of this work is to explore the unique challenge of site-specificity of retrofitting any or all of the reviewed technologies within existing facilities for commercial operations. The theoretical basis behind higher aggregated efficiencies is essentially vertical integration of infrastructure, energy, and material flows, reducing total costs, net waste, and associated potential environmental contamination. Whilst solution mining and some thermal desalination technologies are not necessarily new in isolation, new technical developments enable these technologies to use waste heat and waste water by operating in parallel with industrial facilities, and effectively subsidise microalgae biofuel water pumping and dewatering. This research determines three fundamental developments are required to enable wide-scale industrial co-located vertical integration efficiencies: (1) fundamental engineering, (2) monitoring system innovation, and (3) technology/knowledge transfer.     

Governance structures for social-ecological systems: Assessing institutional options against a social residual claimant

Rural areas face increasing pressures to deliver both private and public goods from land management. Multiple stakeholders seek different outcomes and there is substantial heterogeneity in values. Trade-offs, synergies and complementarities exist between different services and alternative bundles of goods. The resulting complex social-ecological systems (SES) therefore require adaptive co-management. In a governance context, no single organisation has oversight across the variety of interests involved, but the challenge remains as to how these interests can best be balanced and negotiated, to deliver socially beneficial outcomes. This paper analyses how this might be achieved by considering the perspective of a ‘social residual claimant’ (SRC). The SRC, as an ideal type, represents the ultimate ‘owner’ or steward of an ecosystem which sets the criteria to assess alternative outcomes, identifying best approaches and addressing uncertainty through adaptive management. A SRC cannot be a static construct, but must interact with and influence private land-holders and other stakeholders, adjusting actions as circumstances change. We identify the criteria that would be required in order for an SRC to act in the best interests of society. We then make a comparison of these criteria against the conditions applying in three contrasting approaches currently operating in the UK: National Parks, Landscape Partnerships and Nature Improvement Areas. This enables us to identify the differences between approaches and to suggest changes that could enhance capabilities, as well as ideas for further research. We suggest that the ideal of an SRC offers a simple method of benchmarking that has potential application across a wider range of different local contexts, beyond the UK.