Quantifying the rebound effects of residential solar panel adoption

Customers who adopt solar panels can reduce their energy bills and lower the effective average electricity prices they pay. When the price falls, a solar consumer might consume more electricity than before – a solar rebound effect. We provide the first empirical evidence of residential solar rebound effects in the U.S. We use household level hourly and daily electricity meter data as well as hourly solar panel electricity generation data from 277 solar homes and about 4000 non-solar homes from 2013 to 2017 in Phoenix Arizona. Using matching methods and a fixed effects panel regression approach, we find that when solar electricity generation increases by 1 kWh, solar homes increase their total electricity consumption by 0.18 kWh. This indicates that solar rebound effects are estimated at 18%. Building upon our theoretical framework, the increase in consumer surplus from solar panel adoption is estimated at $972/yr.     

两种有机锌络合物处理棉花的霉变及热解行为研究

棉花是纺织业的重要原料,是人民群众生活不可或缺的必需品,同时也是我国进出口重要的商品。研究如何安全有效地进行棉花的储备具有十分重要的现实意义。棉纤维本身含有脂肪、蜡质和果胶等适合微生物生长繁殖的营养物质。在棉花储备中,高的回潮率会加速微生物的繁殖,进而产生热量。热量的累积会引起温度升高以及棉花霉变,不利于棉花的安全有效储存。因此,通过静电吸附法将安全无毒的有机锌络合物附着在棉纤维表面,研究表明,相同条件下,处理棉的霉变状况明显得到抑制。加速发霉条件下,未处理棉的相对于白纸的平均色差值为28.10,而双乙酸锌以及苯甲酸锌防霉处理棉的色差值分别为5.16和5.86,下降了81.6%和79.1%。自然发霉条件下,双乙酸锌以及苯甲酸锌防霉处理棉的色差值分别下降了53.8%和50.7%。同时研究了纯棉以及处理棉氮气下的热分解动力学,相比于未处理棉,双乙酸锌防霉处理后活化能下降了15.8%,而苯甲酸锌防霉处理后活化能下降了10.9%。此外,利用实时红外和热重红外联用技术得到了样品在热解过程中固相以及气相的裂解产物的红外谱图,发现防霉处理能一定程度上抑制棉花热解。     

Off-grid: community energy and the pursuit of self-sufficiency in British Columbia's remote and First Nations communities

Remote or off-grid communities in Canada primarily rely on diesel generators for the provision of their electricity. Often surrounded by potential renewable resources, they are characterised as the low-hanging fruit of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. While much is said about the promises of community energy projects, as well as technologies and policy mechanisms for addressing the needs of these communities, little attention has been paid to what communities, themselves, might want for their energy projects and what the implications of those desires might be for both technology development and community energy policies. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the on-going energy pursuits of a number of remote First Nations communities in British Columbia. It identifies a desire for community self-sufficiency as a primary motivation for engaging with energy projects on the part of the communities and discusses the various meanings and implications of self-sufficiency in the context of community energy projects. These meanings and implications primarily include the two dimensions of material self-sufficiency and political self-determination, the latter of which suggests a view of community energy projects as processes of decolonisation among First Nation communities in British Columbia. It then suggests that the pursuit of this goal is somewhat incongruent with the approach that government and industry have taken in addressing community energy, especially the way in which remote communities are viewed as the low-hanging fruit of various sustainability projects.     

Production costs and operative margins in electric energy generation from biogas. Full-scale case studies in Italy

The purpose of this study was to observe the economic sustainability of three different biogas full scale plants, fed with different organic matrices: energy crops (EC), manure, agro-industrial (Plants B and C) and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) (Plant A). The plants were observed for one year and total annual biomass feeding, biomass composition and biomass cost (€ Mg^?1), initial investment cost and plant electric power production were registered. The unit costs of biogas and electric energy (€ Sm^?3_biogas, € kW h^?1_EE) were differently distributed, depending on the type of feed and plant. Plant A showed high management/maintenance cost for OFMSW treatment (0.155 € Sm^?3_biogas, 45% of total cost), Plant B suffered high cost for EC supply (0.130 € Sm^?3_biogas, 49% of total cost) and Plant C showed higher impact on the total costs because of the depreciation charge (0.146 € Sm^?3_biogas, 41% of total costs). The breakeven point for the tariff of electric energy, calculated for the different cases, resulted in the range 120–170 € MW h^?1_EE, depending on fed materials and plant scale. EC had great impact on biomass supply costs and should be reduced, in favor of organic waste and residues; plant scale still heavily influences the production costs. The EU States should drive incentives in dependence of these factors, to further develop this still promising sector.     

An investigation on the fuel savings potential of hybrid hydraulic refuse collection vehicles

Refuse trucks play an important role in the waste collection process. Due to their typical driving cycle, these vehicles are characterized by large fuel consumption, which strongly affects the overall waste disposal costs. Hybrid hydraulic refuse vehicles offer an interesting alternative to conventional diesel trucks, because they are able to recuperate, store and reuse braking energy. However, the expected fuel savings can vary strongly depending on the driving cycle and the operational mode. Therefore, in order to assess the possible fuel savings, a typical driving cycle was measured in a conventional vehicle run by the waste authority of the City of Stuttgart, and a dynamical model of the considered vehicle was built up. Based on the measured driving cycle and the vehicle model including the hybrid powertrain components, simulations for both the conventional and the hybrid vehicle were performed. Fuel consumption results that indicate savings of about 20% are presented and analyzed in order to evaluate the benefit of hybrid hydraulic vehicles used for refuse collection.     

华北地区乡村站点(曲周)夏季PM2.5中二次无机组分的生成机制与来源解析

利用大气PM2.5水溶性组分及其气态前体物在线测量系统(GAC-IC)于2014年6月9日~7月11日对华北地区乡村站点曲周大气PM2.5中水溶性组分及其气态前体物进行了在线测量,分析了PM2.5中水溶性组分与气态前体物日变化规律及其相互作用,探讨了当地细颗粒物的气粒转化机制并分析了其来源.结果表明夏季曲周大气PM2.5中水溶性无机离子与相关气态前体物的浓度呈现明显的日变化规律.观测期间,PM2.5中SO2-4、NH+4和NO-3的平均浓度分别是26.28、18.08和16.36μg·m-3,是PM2.5中最主要的水溶性无机离子,约占PM2.5质量浓度的76.23%;气态前体物中,NH3浓度明显偏高、平均值为44.85μg·m-3,主要来源于当地的农业活动排放;硫氧化率(SOR)和氮氧化率(NOR)平均值分别是0.60和0.30,表现出明显的二次污染特征.经相关性分析发现:曲周大气PM2.5中NH+4与NO-3、SO2-4有良好的相关性,且表现为富氨状态,NH+4以(NH4)2SO4形式存在,NO-3的生成主要受HNO3的限制.对NH4NO3平衡进行研究发现:与夜间相反,白天曲周大气环境不利于NH4NO3生成和保持.结果也表明,二次转化是曲周夏季细颗粒物的主要来源,堆肥与农田释放的NH3是导致高浓度二次无机颗粒物(SNA)的重要因素.     

Ti/SnO_2-Sb阳极-空气阴极电催化降解染料废水

为解决电化学法处理高盐染料废水存在的能耗大、成本高等问题,分别采用溶胶-凝胶法和辊压法制备Ti/SnO_2-Sb阳极和空气阴极,构建了Ti/SnO_2-Sb阳极-空气阴极双极体系(TSSA-ADC)。甲基橙(MO)作为高盐染料废水的典型污染物,考察了电流强度、MO浓度、电解液浓度和初始p H对TSSA-ADC体系和TSSA单阳极体系降解MO的影响。结果表明:与TSSA单阳极体系相比,TSSA-ADC体系具有更好的抗有机负荷冲击、抗盐分冲击、抗酸碱波动能力,能够维护酸碱平衡防止硬度离子结垢。最佳反应条件为电流强度为0.030 A,电解液浓度为3%,MO浓度为100 mg/L,初始pH=6。以MO去除率达到98%为基准,TSSA-ADC体系比TSSA体系可节能74.26%。     

小城镇产业集群主要污染源筛查与影响分析

以郫县安德镇川菜产业园为研究对象,采用等标污染负荷法对污染影响进行了标准化评价。结果发现:川菜产业园主要的工业污染行业为豆制品加工行业,排污量为2 919.94 t/a,占总排污量的96.46%,等标污染负荷为9.83,占总污染负荷的92.83%,其中有6家企业为主要控制对象。对比分析发现,环境污染受企业规模、末端处理方式、废水排放量等多方面因素共同影响。所有污染因子中,BOD对环境的实质污染影响较大。该研究成果将为优化小城镇产业集群的规划、管理和污染物总量控制提供有价值的参考。     

Predicting vehicle fuel consumption patterns using floating vehicle data

The status of energy consumption and air pollution in China is serious. It is important to analyze and predict the different fuel consumption of various types of vehicles under different influence factors. In order to fully describe the relationship between fuel consumption and the impact factors, massive amounts of floating vehicle data were used. The fuel consumption pattern and congestion pattern based on large samples of historical floating vehicle data were explored, drivers'' information and vehicles'' parameters from different group classification were probed, and the average velocity and average fuel consumption in the temporal dimension and spatial dimension were analyzed respectively. The fuel consumption forecasting model was established by using a Back Propagation Neural Network. Part of the sample set was used to train the forecasting model and the remaining part of the sample set was used as input to the forecasting model.     

哈尔滨市土壤表层重金属污染特征及来源辨析

鉴于确定土壤重金属来源是降低土壤重金属人为输入和控制土壤重金属面源污染扩散的必然要求,以哈尔滨市9个市辖区中4个主要老城区（道里区、道外区、南岗区、香坊区）为研究区,依据标准格网进行土壤样本采集（表层土壤样本307个,深层土壤样本77个）,分析土壤中w（As）、w（Hg）、w（Cd）、w（Cr）、w（Cu）、w（Ni）、w（Pb）、w（Zn）;并利用主成分分析法、地累积指数法和指示克里格插值法,分别对该区不同成土母质区域表层土壤重金属的污染特征和来源进行分析.结果表明:① 哈尔滨市四区表层土壤中As、Cr、Cu、Ni、Pb、Zn主要来源于成土母质,Hg和Cd受人类活动的影响显著.② 以各类成土母质中重金属含量平均值为评价依据,哈尔滨市表层土壤中Hg、Cd表现出较大范围的重金属污染,依据土壤样本所在格网覆盖范围,污染范围分别占研究区的60%、65%.③ Cu、Pb、Zn污染范围小且污染程度低.研究显示,人口集聚、工业发展、交通发达等因素已经造成研究区表层土壤中Hg、Cd、Cu、Pb、Zn不同程度、不同范围的污染,需要合理有效地处理生活垃圾、控制工业和交通排放,以缓解表层土壤重金属污染.