Research on the effects of command-and-control and market-oriented policy tools on China’s energy conservation and emissions reduction innovation

The impact of environmental regulation on technology innovation is a hot spot in current research where a large number of empirical studies are based on Porter Hypothesis (PH). However, there are still controversies in academia about the establishment of “weak” and “narrow” versions of PH. Based on the panel data of application for patent of energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) technology of Chinese city scale during 2008–2014, comprehensive energy price, pollutant emission, etc., mixed regression model and systematic generalized method of moments method were adopted, respectively, to study the impact of market-oriented and command-and-control policy tool on China’s ECER technology innovation. The results show that the environmental regulation hindered the technological innovation in the immediate phase; however, it turned out to be positive in the first-lag phase. Hence, the establishment of “weak” PH is time-bounded. The command-and-control policy tool played a more positive role in promoting technological innovation in the first-lag phase than market-oriented policy tool. Therefore, “narrow” PH is not tenable. The reason is that the main participants of China’s ECER technology innovation are state-owned companies and public institutions. Regionally speaking, the impact which command-and-control policy tool has on technological innovation at sight was non-significant in the eastern, the central, and the western regions of China whilst market-oriented policy tool had a negative effect. And market-oriented policy tool in the central region had strongest negative effect, which would diminish in the eastern region and become weakest in the western region. This was related to regional energy consumption level and the market economic vitality.     

Experimental and Numerical Verification of Similarity Concept for Dispersion of Car Exhaust Gases in Urban Street Canyons

In urban conditions, car exhaust gases are often emitted inside poorly ventilated street canyons. One may suppose however that moving cars can themselves produce a certain ventilation effect in addition to natural air motions. Such ventilation mechanism is not sufficiently studied so far. A similarity criterion relating the vehicle- and wind-induced components of turbulent motion in an urban street canyon was proposed in 1982 by E. J. Plate for wind tunnel modelling purposes. The present study aims at further evaluation of the criterion and its applicability for a variety of wind and traffic conditions. This is accomplished by joint analyses of data from numerical simulations and wind tunnel measurements.     

Industrial pollution transport. Part 2. Control of industrial emissions

Solutions of the pollution transport problem and its adjoint are used to monitor mean pollution concentration in an ecologically important zone. Four strategies of control over pollutants released into the atmosphere by industrial plants are suggested. They differ by the restrictions imposed on the emission rate of each plant. All the strategies use solutions of the adjoint transport problem and assure the fulfillment of the sanitary norm in the zone. A linear interpolation of these strategies also brings pollution level in the zone down to the sanitary norm. A method of detecting the plants violating the prescribed emission rates is also given. A simple example is given to illustrate the strategies suggested.     

Long-Term Air Quality Assessment: Modeling Sources Contribution and Scenarios In Ivrea And Torino Areas

An evaluation of the air quality based on the combined use of monitoring data, dynamic emission inventories, and three-dimensional modeling has been performed in an area in North West Italy. Yearly maps of the pollutants of most concern have been produced by means of an Eulerian modeling system, run for two nested domains. The system is based on MINERVE diagnostic meteorological model, TREFIC (TRaffic Emission Factors Improved Calculation) traffic emission module, and farm air quality regional chemical-transport model. The zooming approach has allowed to correctly reproduce local concentrations in the small urban area in the inner domain as well as to quantify the role played by selected local sources respect to distant ones. The study of the impact of the future car fleet, pointing out the expected improvement for nitrogen oxides and the persisting problem of PM, provides a rationale for air quality governance.     

Carbon Sequestration Potential of Indian Forests

The forestry sector can not only sustain its carbon but also has the potential to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. India has maintained approximately 64 Mha of forest cover for the last decade. The rate of afforestation in India is one of the highest among the tropical countries, currently estimated to be 2 Mha per annum. The annual productivity has increased from 0.7 m³ per hactare in 1985 to 1.37 m³ per hectare in 1995. Increase in annual productivity directly indicates an increase in forest biomass and hence higher carbon sequestration potential. The carbon pool for the Indian forests is estimated to be 2026.72 Mt for the year 1995. Estimates of annual carbon uptake increment suggest that our forests and plantations have been able to remove at least 0.125 Gt of CO₂ from the atmosphere in the year 1995. Assuming that the present forest cover in India will sustain itself with a marginal annual increase by 0.5 Mha in area of plantations, we can expect our forests to continue to act as a net carbon sink in future.     

Soil Contamination by Pb, Zn and Cn from a Lead Smeltery

In the environment of a lead smeltery contamination with lead, zinc and cadmium was measured over a 15-year period. Efficient bag filters were installed in order to remove dust from the flue gases. This measure of improvement resulted in a drastic reduction of lead, zinc and cadmium content in suspended particles (by 92, 94 and 89%), to a lesser extent in depositions (by 79, 75 and 68%), whereas in household dust the reduction was considerably lower (by 53, 55 and 70%). It can be assumed that household dust contains also redispersed soil particles on which the dust from the smeltery flue gases has deposited over years. To determine to what extent contaminated soil continues to cause increased population exposure directly or through plants or pastures, in the period 1981–1985 the content of metallic ions in the soil was measured at three depths. Selective solubility of soil metallic compounds was analysed in water, in 1 mol ammoniumacetate solution and in 0.05 mol ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) solution in relation to their solubility in suspended particles, depositions and household dust. A considerably low portion of soluble metallic compounds was found in the soil and physico-chemical characteristics of the soil and portion of metallic ions bound to fulvice and humic acids were determined. The behaviour of metallic ions in contact with soil samples was studied in laboratory and it was found that approximately 50% of lead, 70% of zinc and 7% of cadmium ions change into non-soluble or poorly soluble compounds. By qualitative phase analysis in the non-soluble fraction PbO₂, Pb₃P₄O₁₃, Zn(OH)₂, ZnO, Fe₂O₃ and Cd(OH)₂ were identified.     

前体物排放变化对珠江三角洲地区秋季臭氧污染演变的影响研究

自2013年以来,珠三角地区SO₂、NO_x及颗粒物等污染物浓度逐渐下降,但臭氧污染日渐凸显.作为二次污染物,臭氧污染演变受到排放与气象条件共同影响.而评估本地前体物人为排放变化、外部传输和气象变化对臭氧污染演变的影响,并识别臭氧污染长期演变趋势的重要驱动因素,是开展区域臭氧污染防控的关键基础.因此,本文采用WRF-SMOKE-CMAQ模拟平台,以2006—2017年广东省和中国大气污染物排放趋势清单为输入清单,以2014年的气象数据为基准年气象场,通过设置不同案例,结合观测数据,定量评估本地、外部排放变化和气象变化对珠三角秋季O₃污染长期演变趋势的影响.结果表明：在2006—2017年期间,整个珠三角9—10月臭氧日最大8 h(MDA8)浓度上升主要由人为排放变化主导,平均每年贡献0.7μg·m^-3,而气象条件总体上抑制了2006—2017年期间珠三角秋季臭氧MDA8浓度的增长,使得秋季臭氧MDA8浓度上升速率下降为0.2μg·m^-3·a^-1;人为排放变化...     

应用大气化学模型解析华北地区大气氮沉降时空分布特征及影响因素

本研究基于大气化学传输模型模拟结果,分析了2005—2015年华北地区大气氮沉降的时空分布特征,通过对2005年和2015年的结果进行模型敏感性实验,定量分析了全国和华北本地的人为源排放以及气象场对华北地区氮沉降年际变化的贡献。结果表明：(1)2005—2015年华北地区氮沉降年均量为28.7 kg·hm^-2·a^-1(以N计,余同),其中18.7 kg·hm^-2·a^-1来自还原态氮(NH_x),10.0 kg·hm^-2·a^-1来自氧化态氮(NO_y)。湿沉降占比为56%(16.1 kg·hm^-2·a^-1),略高于干沉降(12.6 kg·hm^-2·a^-1)。氮沉降的高值主要集中在华北的东南地区,低值集中在华北的西北地区,整体呈夏季高冬季低的季节特征。(2)2005—2015年,华北地区氮沉降整体呈先增加后减少的趋势,波动范围在27....     

The impact of economic activity in Asturias on greenhouse gas emissions: consequences for environmental policy within the Kyoto Protocol framework

Climate change is one of the major worldwide environmental concerns. It is especially the case in many developed countries, where the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for this change are mainly concentrated. For the first time, the Kyoto Protocol includes an international agreement for the reduction of the net emissions of these gases. To fulfil this agreement measures designed to reduce or limit current emissions have to be brought into force. Consequently, fears have arisen about possible consequences on competitiveness and future development of manufacturing activities and the need for support mechanisms for the affected sectors is obvious. In this paper, we carry out a study of the emissions of gases responsible for climate change in Asturias (Spain), a region with an important economic presence of sectors with intensive emissions of CO(2), the chief greenhouse gas. To be precise, in the first place, the volumes of direct emissions of the said gases in 1995 were calculated, showing that the sectors most affected by the Kyoto Protocol in Asturias are iron and steel and electricity production. Secondly, input-output analysis was applied to determine the direct and indirect emissions and the direct, indirect and induced emissions of the different production sectors, respectively. The results derived from the direct and indirect emissions analysis and their comparison with the results of the former allow us to reach some conclusions and environmental policy implications.     

中国非燃煤大气汞排放量估算

本研究根据各种非燃煤大气汞排放源的活动水平和排放因子,估算了1995～2003年中国分省非燃煤大气汞的排放量。2003年中国非燃煤大气汞排放量为393t,比燃煤汞排放多137t。在非燃煤大气汞排放中,84%来自有色金属冶炼,其中锌冶炼、铅冶炼、铜冶炼和黄金冶炼分别占总排放的51%、18%、4%和11%。Hg0、Hg2+和HgP在中国非燃煤大气汞排放中所占比例分别为77%、18%和5%。中国非燃煤汞排放在各地区间有较大差异,排放量超过30t?a-1的省区包括湖南、河南和云南,排放强度超过1t?km-2的省区包括上海、湖南、河南、辽宁和广东,这些地区的主要汞排放源为有色金属冶炼和生活垃圾焚烧。1995～2003年中国非燃煤大气汞排放的年均增长率为9%,其中生活垃圾焚烧排放的年均增长率最高,达到42%。