Understanding the Price Dynamics in the Jiangsu SO2 Emissions Trading Program in China: A Multiple Periods Analysis

Because emissions permits can be considered to be a pseudo-commodity, the permit price in the emissions trading markets has already attracted great interest from the economic literature. This research took the Jiangsu sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions trading program in China as a case study to examine the price dynamics over the next 10 years (2011–2020) based on Jiangsu’s new SO₂ emissions trading policy design. An adaptive agent-based simulation model was developed to estimate the price dynamics as well as the impact of energy price, policy design, and new environmental regulation on the permit price. The results showed that the equilibrium price of the Jiangsu SO₂ emissions trading market is approximately 4.20 CNY/kg, and the permit price will fluctuate around this price if the other conditions are not changed. If the coal price increases during 2011–2016, the permit price will decline to 2.79 CNY/kg by 2020 under China’s current coal–electricity price mechanism. In addition, the banking mechanism will smooth the price fluctuations and the average permit price will be generally higher when banking is not allowed. Finally, the stricter environmental regulation will reduce the market supply of permits and will raise the permit price. According to China’s potential new SO₂ discharge standard, the permit price will jump to 11 CNY/kg. The quantification of the permit price dynamics can help power plants to make decisions on emissions trading.     

Assessment of trace element contamination in sediment cores from the Pearl River and estuary,South China: geochemical and multivariate analysis approaches

Twenty-four major and trace elements and the mineralogical composition of four sediment cores along the Pearl River and estuary were analyzed using ICP-AES, ICP-MS, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to evaluate contamination levels. The dominant minerals were quartz, kaolinite, and illite, followed by montmorillonite and feldspars, while small amounts of halite and calcite were also observed in a few samples. Cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed to identify the element sources. The highest metal concentrations were found at Huangpu, primarily due to wastewater treatment plant discharge and/or the surreptitious dumping of sludge, and these data differed from those of other sources. Excluding the data from Huangpu, the PCA showed that most elements could be considered as lithogenic; few elements are the combination of lithogenic and anthropogenic sources. An antagonistic relationship between the anthropogenic source metals (K, Ba, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ag, Tl, and U) and marine source metals (Na, Mg, Ti, V, and Ca) was observed. The resulting normalized Al enrichment factor (EF) indicated very high or significant pollution of Cd, Ag, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Pb at Huangpu, which may cause serious environmental effects. Conflicting results between the PCA and EF can be attributed to the background values used, indicating that background values must be selected carefully.     

Comparative research on NIMBY risk acceptability between Chinese and Japanese college students

Along with the progressive acceleration of urbanization, the need to identify potentially troublesome “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) facilities in the city is inevitable. To resolve NIMBY conflict, it is important to know people’s NIMBY risk acceptability for these facilities. A questionnaire survey was used among Chinese and Japanese college students to identify NIMBY risk acceptability. LISREL was used to construct a structural equation model to analyze the difference in NIMBY risk acceptability between the Chinese and Japanese college students. Factors that may affect NIMBY risk acceptability were analyzed: “perceiving utility,” “perceiving risk,” “trust in government,” “reasonable compensation,” and “procedural justice.” The findings show that Japanese students’ concerns were greater than Chinese students’ concerns. Perceiving utility and perceiving risk were the most important factors that affect people’s NIMBY risk acceptability, followed by procedural justice, trust in government, and reasonable compensation. There is a difference between the different cultural backgrounds in confronting the risk: Chinese students focus more on the reputation and value of real estate, while Japanese students pay more attention to environmental pollution and damage to health. Furthermore, cultural influences play a role in students’ risk perception. To improve the risk acceptability for NIMBY facilities and provide a basis for resolving NIMBY conflicts, it is necessary to ensure the benefits of the NIMBY facility while reducing environmental pollution. The findings of this study may be of interest for policy makers and practitioners to devise future NIMBY strategies.     

Fraction characteristics of rare earth elements in the surface sediment of Bohai Bay, North China

Surface sediment samples were collected at 27 stations of Bohai Bay, North China. Sequential extractions were carried out in this study. REE were leached out from four labile fractions: Exchangeable (L1), bound to carbonates (L2), bound to Fe–Mn oxides (L3), bound to organic matter (L4), and the remainder was residual (R5). The total contents of REE fluctuate slightly in Bohai Bay, and are mainly concentrated in the middle region, showing relatively higher levels in the north than that in the south of Bohai Bay. Percentages of L1, L2, L3, L4, and R5 for REE suggest that the residual fraction accounts for the major component of REE, whereas Fe–Mn oxides also play important roles in combining labile REE. As the REE complex is not stabilized, the competition of complex could induce dissociation of the complex and redistribution of the REE in various environments. According to REE patterns and Y/Ho ratios of samples, REE are not anthropogenic or oceanic sources but riverine input, whereas suitable environment varieties can slightly affect the patterns and fractionations of REE. As powerful tracers for the variable of environment, higher anomaly of Eu and Ce in southern regions indicates a greater reduction in the condition of surface sediment in the south than that in the north of Bohai Bay.     

Essential and toxic elements in infant foods from Spain, UK, China and USA

Spanish gluten-free rice, cereals with gluten, and pureed baby foods were analysed for essential macro-elements (Ca and Na), essential trace elements (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Cr, Co and Ni) and non-essential trace elements (As, Pb, Cd and Hg) using ICP-MS and AAS. Baby cereals were an excellent source of most of the essential elements (Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn). Sodium content was high in pureed foods to improve their flavour; fish products were also rich in Se. USA pure baby rice samples had the highest contents of all studied essential elements, showing a different nutrient pattern compared to those of other countries. Mineral fortification was not always properly stated in the labelling of infant foods. Complementary infant foods may also contain significant amounts of contaminants. The contents of Hg and Cd were low enough to guarantee the safety of these infant foods. However, it will be necessary to identify the source and reduce the levels of Pb, Cr and As in Spanish foods. Pure baby rice samples contained too much: Pb in Spain; As in UK; As, Cr and Ni in USA; and Cr and Cd in China.     

Locating pollutant emission sources with optical remote sensing measurements and an improved one-dimensional radial plume mapping technique

Previous studies have shown that there was a relatively large amount of uncertainty along the major wind direction in the results of locating emission sources using the one-dimensional radial plume mapping (RPM(1D)) technique based on optical remote sensing measurements. This paper proposes setting up an additional monitoring line that is perpendicular to the original scanning beam geometry to reduce this uncertainty. We first conducted a computer simulation study using the Gaussian dispersion model to generate the downwind concentrations of plumes from 400 source locations in a 201 m × 201 m spatial domain under various wind directions (n = 181). The optical remote sensing instrument was assumed to be at (0, 0) with two perpendicular monitoring lines, each of which had three beam segments of equal length. Each pair of the reconstructed downwind concentration profiles was then used to trace back to the source locations. The results showed that the accuracy of the method and its uncertainty were improved by using the proposed two-line RPM(1D) approach rather than the original one-line RPM(1D) approach at most simulated source locations. In a follow-up field experiment, a tracer gas was released at the coordinate of (100, 100). The release location was covered within the 0.25- to 0.5-probability area of the estimated results, and the distance between the actual and estimated source locations was 18.4 m (9.2% of the longest beam path).     

Mapping afforestation and deforestation from 1974 to 2012 using Landsat time-series stacks in Yulin District, a key region of the Three-North Shelter region, China

The Three-North Shelter Forest Program is the largest afforestation reconstruction project in the world. Remote sensing is a crucial tool to map land use and land cover change, but it is still challenging to accurately quantify the change in forest extent from time-series satellite images. In this paper, 30 Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+ epochs from 1974 to 2012 were collected, and the high-quality ground surface reflectance (GSR) time-series images were processed by integrating the 6S atmosphere transfer model and a relative reflectance normalization algorithm. Subsequently, we developed a vegetation change tracking method to reconstruct the forest change history (afforestation and deforestation) from the time-series Landsat GSR images based on the integrated forest z-score (IFZ) model by Huang et al. (2009a), which was improved by multi-phenological IFZ models and the smoothing processing of IFZ data for afforestation mapping. The mapping result showed a large increase in the extent of forest, from 380,394 ha (14.8 % of total district area) in 1974 to 1,128,380 ha (43.9 %) in 2010. Finally, the land cover and forest change map was validated with an overall accuracy of 89.1 % and a kappa coefficient of 0.858. The forest change time was also successfully retrieved, with 22.2 % and 86.5 % of the change pixels attributed to the correct epoch and within three epochs, respectively. The results confirmed a great achievement of the ecological revegetation projects in Yulin district over the last 40 years and also illustrated the potential of the time-series of Landsat images for detecting forest changes and estimating tree age for the artificial forest in a semi-arid zone strongly influenced by human activities.     

Simulation of soil loss processes based on rainfall runoff and the time factor of governance in the Jialing River Watershed,China

Jialing River is the largest tributary in the catchment area of Three Gorges Reservoir, and it is also one of the important areas of sediment yield in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In recent years, significant changes of water and sediment characteristics have taken place. The "Long Control" Project implemented since 1989 had greatly changed the surface appearance of the Jialing River Watershed (JRW), and it had made the environments of the watershed sediment yield and sediment transport change significantly. In this research, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation was selected and used to predict the annual average amount of soil erosion for the special water and sediment environments in the JRW after the implementation of the "Long Control" Project, and then the rainfall–runoff modulus and the time factor of governance were both considered as dynamic factors, the dynamic sediment transport model was built for soil erosion monitoring and forecasting based on the average sediment yield model. According to the dynamic model, the spatial and temporal distribution of soil erosion amount and sediment transport amount of the JRW from 1990 to 2007 was simulated using geographic information system (GIS) technology and space-grid algorithm. Simulation results showed that the average relative error of sediment transport was less than 10% except for the extreme hydrological year. The relationship between water and sediment from 1990 to 2007 showed that sediment interception effects of the soil and water conservation projects were obvious: the annual average sediment discharge reduced from 145.3 to 35 million tons, the decrement of sediment amount was about 111 million tons, and decreasing amplitude was 76%; the sediment concentration was also decreased from 2.01 to 0.578 kg/m³. These data are of great significance for the prediction and estimation of the future changing trends of sediment storage in the Three Gorges Reservoir and the particulate non-point source pollution load carried by sediment transport from watershed surface.     

Enhanced Interfacial Adhesion and Characterisation of Recycled Natural Fibre-Filled Biodegradable Green Composites

The structural, thermal, mechanical, and biodegradable properties of composite materials made from polylactide (PLA) and agricultural residues (arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) fibre, AF) were evaluated. Melt blended glycidyl methacrylate-grafted polylactide (PLA-g-GMA) and coupling agent-treated arrowroot fibre (TAF) formed the PLA-g-GMA/TAF composite, which had better properties than the PLA/AF composite. The water resistance of the PLA-g-GMA/TAF composite was greater than that of the PLA/AF composite; the release of PLA in water from the PLA/AF and PLA-g-GMA/TAF composites indicated good biological activity. The PLA-g-GMA/TAF material had better mechanical properties than PLA/AF. This behaviour was attributed to better compatibility between the grafted polymer and TAF. The results indicated that the T_g of PLA was increased by the addition of fibre, which may have improved the heat resistance of PLA. Furthermore, the mass losses following burial in soil compost indicated that both materials were biodegradable, especially at high levels of AF or TAF substitution.