Energy consumption,emissions and economic growth in Bahrain

This study examines the Granger causality relationships between economic growth, energy consumption and emissions, from 1980 to 2007 in Bahrain, controlling for capital and urban population using Toda and Yamamoto’s approach. It was found that there is unilateral causality which runs from urban population, economic growth, capital and energy consumption to environment. Further, we found strong support for causality running from economic growth to energy consumption, emissions and capital. The existence of these linkages suggests that the government of Bahrain may pursue energy efficiency strategies and carbon emissions reduction policy in the long run without impeding economic growth. Additionally, the long run pursuit of high economic growth given sustained increases in energy efficiency may also reduce CO₂ emissions intensity per unit of her GDP.     

Towards a new climate economics:research areas and prospects

International cooperation to address climate change now stands at a crossroads.With a new international regime for emissions reduction established by the Durban Platform, "New Climate Economics(NCE)" has become a research hotspot.The need for urgent action to combat climate change has prompted discussion on reforms of economic growth patterns and the energy system.The industrial civilization,therefore,now faces a transition towards a new pathway for ecological sustainability.NCE explores new economic concepts,theories,and analytical methods to design a balanced pathway for sustainable growth and emission reduction.Instead of getting trapped in discussions on allocation of emission reduction responsibilities and obligations among countries,NCE pays more attention to developing win-win multilateral cooperation mechanisms that facilitate collaborative RD and knowledge sharing.In addition,NCE studies incentives for low-carbon transition,turning carbon emission reduction into a domestic need for countries to increase their international competitiveness.To achieve the 2°C target,most countries around the world face challenges of insufficient emission allowances to cover expected emissions associated with their projected economic growth.As carbon emissions rights becomes an increasingly scarce resource,increasing the carbon productivity of the economy turns to be the critical path to address the dilemma of green or growth.NCE studies the historical evolution of carbon productivity for countries at different development stages as well as ways to enhance such carbon productivity.This type of study provides invaluable lessons for emerging economies to reach their own emission peaks without losing the momentum of growth.Replacing fossil fuels with new and renewable energy has proven to be an inevitable choice for reshaping the energy system and addressing climate change- it has already become a global trend.NCE studies incentives for new energy technology innovation and deployment provided by carbon pricing,and sheds light on the co-benefits of climate change mitigation,such as resource conservation,environmental protection,and energy security.The role of carbon pricing in promoting intemational RD cooperation and technical transfer will also be studied.The shift in consumption patterns is another key factor enabling a low-carbon transformation.Therefore,NCE also explores the theoretical work on new values of wealth,welfare and consumption,new lifestyles in the context of ecological civilization,concepts and implementation of low-carbon urban planning in developing countries,and the impacts of consumption pattern changes on social development,material production,and urban infrastructure construction.     

SMART-SREC: A stochastic model of the New Jersey solar renewable energy certificate market

Markets for solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) are gaining in prominence in many states, stimulating growth of the US solar industry. However, SREC market prices have been extremely volatile, causing high risk to participants and potentially less investment in solar power generation. Such concerns necessitate the development of realistic, flexible and tractable models of SREC prices that capture the behavior of participants given the rules that govern the market. We propose an original stochastic model called SMART-SREC to fill this role, building on established ideas from the carbon pricing literature, and including a feedback mechanism for generation response to prices. We calibrate the model to the New Jersey market and backtest it, analyzing parameter sensitivity and demonstrating its ability to reproduce historical dynamics. Finally, we run simulations to investigate the role and impact of regulatory parameters, thus providing insight into the crucial role played by market design.     

碳中和时代下我国能量自给型污水处理厂发展方向及工程实践

基于碳中和背景及污水处理可持续、低碳运行理念,分析了我国污水处理厂不同水质、工艺类型、规模等条件下的能源消耗及能源回收特点,提出了以“碳改向技术+低耗高效复合脱氮技术+污泥厌氧共消化技术+污水热能回收技术+节能降耗技术”的污水处理新模式是实现我国能源自给型污水处理厂的关键,并提出我国污水处理厂实现碳中和应分为“完全能源自给”及“能源供应工厂”两个目标.此外,对基于此背景下建设的北京某再生水厂的理论能源自给情况进行了分析,结果表明,通过节能降耗、引入外源有机物、污水源热泵回收等措施,北京某再生水厂能源自给率由12.2%分别提高至17.1%、21.6%、84.7%.     

Hydrothermal-treated Pt/Al2O3 as an excellent catalyst for toluene total oxidation

The preparation of highly active supported noble metal catalysts with a low noble metal loading has always been the ultimate goal of researchers working on catalysis. Hydrothermally treated Pt/Al₂O₃ (Pt/Al₂O₃-H) exhibits better catalytic activity than that (Pt/Al₂O₃-C) treated via the conventional calcination approach. At the high space velocity of 100,000 mL/(g∙hr), the temperature that correspond to 50% toluene conversion (T₅₀) of Pt/Al₂O₃-H is 115°C lower than that of Pt/Al₂O₃-C, and the turnover frequency (TOF) value can reach 0.0756 sec⁻¹. The mechanism by which the hydrothermal approach enhances Pt/Al₂O₃ activity has been investigated. The structure associated with the high catalytic activity of Pt nanoparticles (NPs) can be retained via hydrothermal treatment. Furthermore, the support is transformed to AlO(OH) with numerous surface hydroxyl groups, which in turn can facilitate the adsorption of toluene. And the synergistic effects of Pt NPs and AlO(OH) increases the contents of Pt in oxidation state and active oxygen, which are beneficial for toluene oxidation.     

Phenol degradation in waters with high iodide level by layered double hydroxide-peroxodisulfate: Pathways and products

Recently, layered double hydroxide-peroxodisulfate (LDH-PDS) as an advanced oxidation system can effectively remove organics by the pathway of free radical. However, little has been known if there is a potential risk regarding the formation of high toxic iodine byproducts through another pathway when LDH-PDS is used in high iodide waters at coastal areas. Therefore, this study investigated phenol degradation pathways and transformation products to evaluate both removal mechanism and potential risk by LDH-PDS in high iodide waters. The results showed that in LDH-PDS system, with the degradation of PDS, phenol degraded till below detection limit in 1 hr in the presence of iodide, while PDS and phenol were hardly degraded in the absence of iodide, indicating iodide accelerated the transformation of PDS and the degradation of phenol. What is more, it reached the highest phenol removal efficiency under the condition of 100 mg/L LDH, 0.1 mmol/L PDS and 1.0 mmol/L iodide. In LDH-PDS system, iodide was rapidly oxidized by the highly active interlayer PDS, resulting in the formation of reactive iodine including hypoiodic acid, iodine and triiodide instead of free radicals, which contributed rapid degradation of phenol. However, unfortunately toxic iodophenols were detected. Specifically, 2-iodophenol and 4-iodophenol were formed firstly, afterwards 2,4-diiodophenol and 2,6-diiodophenol were produced, and finally iodophenols and diiodophenols gradually decreased and 2,4,6-Triiodophenol were produced. These results indicated that LDH-PDS should avoid to use in high iodide waters to prevent toxic iodine byproduct formation although iodide can accelerate phenol degradation.     

Europe–Middle East–North Africa cooperation for sustainable electricity and water

This report summarizes the results of two studies of electricity supply for Europe (EU), the Middle East (ME) and North Africa (NA) up to the year 2050. It shows that a transition to competitive, secure and sustainable supply of electricity and water is possible using renewable energy sources, efficiency gains and fossil fuel backup for balancing power. A strong cooperation between the EU and MENA for the market introduction of renewable energy and the interconnection of the electricity grids by high-voltage direct-current transmission are keys to the success and survival of the whole region. However, the necessary measures will take at least two decades to become effective. Therefore, adequate policy and economic frameworks for their realization must be introduced immediately. The importance of sustainable energy for the security of freshwater supplies in MENA is also described.

环境约束下长江经济带全要素能源效率的时空分异研究——基于超效率DEA模型和ML指数法

基于超效率DEA模型和ML指数法,考察长江经济带1999~2013年全要素能源效率。实证研究结果显示:研究期内,环境约束下的长江经济带全要素能源效率年均下降2.9%,而不考虑环境因素的全要素能源效率年均下降幅度仅为0.4%,污染是导致能源效率损失的重要因素;长江经济带整体层面全要素能源效率的发展演变基本呈"双峰一谷"的"M"形分布,表现为两个"上升—下降"周期,而省际和上中下游全要素能源效率的演变特征迥异;从空间差异看,省际全要素能源效率差异远远大于上中下游差异,但近年来这种差异均有不同程度的缩小。未来长江经济带发展必须践行生态文明发展战略,保证发展的可持续性,同时加强能源、环保等领域的合作,促进长江经济带全要素能源效率发展的协同进步。     

碳减排背景下我国与世界主要能源消费国能源消费结构与模式对比

选取2020年世界能源消费量累积占比达80%的前23个国家作为研究对象,通过从一次能源清洁化率、化石能源清洁利用率和电能占终端能源消费率角度对其能源消费结构进行对比研究,从单位GDP能耗、人均能耗和单位国土面积能耗角度,结合产业结构和分部门能源消费构成,对其能源消费强度进行深入分析,探讨各国在社会经济运行与生产生活中的能源消费模式,提出能源消费自然碳汇承载负荷比概念,指出我国在碳达峰与碳中和目标下能源消费模式转型面临的优势与挑战.结果表明,我国一次能源清洁化率、发电用能占比、化石能源清洁化利用率和电能占终端能耗比分别达到15.90%、53.48%、37.51%和26.54%,均在世界主要能源消费国家中处于前列,已经架构起良好的能源集约化和清洁化利用结构基础;非工农业能源消费占比尤其是仅为14.09%的交通能源占比在主要能源消费国中最低,已经形成了具有相对优势的绿色低碳能源消费模式;基于产业结构优化潜在的总体能源生产率还有较大提升空间;但相对较短的碳达峰与碳中和目标期对清洁能源发展速度与规模提出了巨大挑战,碳排放约束下的国际形势对我国通过优化调整产业结构实现降碳目标也增加了难度.     

我国燃油税改革效应模拟分析

经历了十几年的讨论,燃油税改革方案终于在2009年出台并实施,改革后燃油税究竟会对我国宏观经济及各部门产生怎样的影响,倍受关注.基于此背景,采用环境CGE模型对改革前后的两种不同燃油税税率进行了量化分析,总体研究得出：从长期发展来看,燃油税改革有利于我国经济结构调整,减少能源消耗和降低碳排放;短期内会增加企业生产成本,抑制宏观经济增长,其中交通运输业和石油加工业受到的冲击最大,应引起有关部门重视.