Deployment of parabolic trough concentrated solar power plants in North Africa – a case study for Libya

The study addresses the potential of using concentrated solar power plants (CSPs) as a sustainable alternative of clean energy generation in the Mediterranean region and, in particular, in its North Africa shore. This location presents attractive conditions for the installation of CSPs, in particular high solar irradiation, good manpower concentration, and proximity and availability of water resources for condenser cooling. Energetic, exergetic, and economic analyses were conducted taking into consideration a particular type of CSPs - the parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant, which incorporates the most proven technology and it is already used in Southern Europe (Spain). In addition, the study considered the impact of project financing and incentives on the cost of energy. The combination of higher values for performance and potentially lower levelized cost of electricity (LCE) for the North Africa Mediterranean Rim than the South of Spain region can yield a very favorable return for the invested capital. Tripoli compared to Almeria presented superior performance and potentially lower LCE values ($0.18/kWh versus $0.22/kWh). This is significant, even when it is taken into consideration the fact that the plant in Tripoli, despite a relatively modest capacity factor of 34%, has a large gross power output of 173,886 MWhe. In addition, the implementation at the Tripoli location of a plant similar to the Anadsol plant has a slight advantage (2–3%) in terms of overall efficiency.     

节约型社会基本内涵的初步研究

从我国提出建设节约型社会的战略意义出发，对节约型社会的定义进行了界定；指出了节约型社会的实质和基础是指物质资源的节约使用；描述了节约型社会的形成与目标；分析了节约型社会的基本内涵、特征及其架构；论证了节约型社会与循环经济的关系，并提出了建设节约型社会的路径选择和对策。     

水资源条件约束下西北农村地区生态经济发展对策

西北地区生态脆弱，社会经济发展相对落后。农业在全区经济中占有重要的地位，所以农村地区可持续发展对于实现西北地区可持续发展具有重要意义。通过分析西北地区水资源现状及特点和本区农村社会、经济发展现状，认为西北地区水资源严重缺乏，干旱化趋势将长期存在；农业结构不合理，乡镇工业污染严重、城镇化进程缓慢是制约本区农村地区可持续发展的主要因素。在此基础上，提出了在水资源严重缺乏条件下西北农村地区实现生态经济可持续发展的具体对策：积极调整农业结构，大力发展节水农业和推进农业产业化；加强小城镇社区生态环境基础设施建设，实施城镇化发展战略和乡镇企业可持续发展；建设生态型的小城镇，建立农村地区新型生态能源结构，加强小流域综合治理是改善农村生态环境和实现农村地区生态经济可持续发展的有效途径。     

Sustainable Development and Strategic Thinking

From an economic point of view, the industrial economy is efficient to overcome situations of a scarcity of goods. From a technological point of view, the resource efficiency of the manufacturing processes of the industrial economy has been permanently improved during the last 200 years. In addition, cleaner processes have been developed. However, from an ecologic point of view, an increasing world population with increasing consumption has produced a ＂global footprint＂ which approaches the carrying capacity of the planet. A circular economy and its high-value spin-offs-a lake economy and a performance or functional service economy-can fulfil customers＇ needs with considerably less resource consumption, less environmental impairment in production and considerably less end-of-life product waste, especially in situations of affluence, when a considerable stock of physical goods and infrastructures exists. Also, in situations of a scarcity of natural resources, both energy and materials, often characterised by rapidly rising resource prices, the economic actors of a circular economy have a high competitive advantage over the actors of the industrial economy, due to much lower procurement costs for materials and energy. From a social point of view, a circular economy increases the number of skilled jobs in regional enterprises. However, the shift from a linear manufacturing economy to a circular or service economy means a change in economic thinking from flow （throughput） management to stock （asset） management： in a manufacturing economy with largely unsaturated markets, total wealth increases through accumulation as resource throughput （flow） is transformed into a higher stock of goods of better quality （but in a manufacturing economy with largely saturated markets, wealth represented by the stock of goods will no longer increase）; in a circular or service economy, total wealth increases through a smart management of existing physical assets （stock） that are adapted to changes in both technology and customer demand. This second approach not only applies to physical capital but equally to social capital, such as health and education and green GDP. To measure the social wealth of a population, it is not the amount of money spent on schools and hospitals that matters, butif this expenditure has led to a better education of the students, and a better health of the people.     

An introductory note on the environmental economics of the circular economy

This paper provides an introduction to some of the fundamental principles and approaches in environmental economics which are of significance to achieving an integrated sustainability science. The concept of a circular economy, introduced by the late David Pearce in 1990, addresses the interlinkages of the four economic functions of the environment. The environment not only provides amenity values, in addition to being a resource base and a sink for economic activities, it is also a fundamental life-support system. Environmental economists have suggested that, taking these four functions as an analytical starting point, unpriced or underpriced services should be internalised in the economy. In Europe significant advances have been achieved in the pricing of externalities by means of truly interdisciplinary analysis which accounts in detail for the environmental consequences. The monetary estimates reached as a result of such interdisciplinary research are gradually being applied to the economic analysis of environmental policy priorities. Although such figures provide only a partial and incomplete picture of the environmental costs at stake, they support and inform the analysis of the virtues of a circular economy for individual resources as well as for sustainability as a future trajectory.     

中国经济的“阿基米德支点”

资源是经济发展的“阿基米德支点”：世界十大经济国每年能源的生产占全球的６２．１％，消费为７１．０％。重要矿产资源的生产多排在世界前１０名生产国之，外面是消费则多排在１０名之内，且对这些矿产资源的消费量多在９５％以上。     

中国跨境能源贸易及隐含能源流动对比——以“一带一路”能源合作为例

随着“一带一路”倡议的提出,能源互联互通成为中国对外合作的重要组成。以“一带一路”能源合作为切入点,从直接能源贸易和隐含能源流动的双重角度刻画中国跨境能源关联并开展对比研究,主要结论包括：（1）从直接能源角度,“一带一路”沿线沙特阿拉伯、俄罗斯等国家均为中国重要的直接能源进口国;（2）从隐含能源角度,中国为印度、新加坡、泰国等国家提供了大量的能源相关的商品服务;（3）中国与“一带一路”沿线国家直接能源贸易逆差明显,但隐含能源流动处于顺差地位;（4）综合考虑直接能源贸易及隐含能源流动,中国可以发挥不同类型能源关联的辐射带动作用,为中国与“一带一路”沿线国家能源互联互通与共建合作伙伴关系提供坚实基础。     

世界能源百年变局与国家能源安全

在百年未有之大变局的背景下,我国当前所面临的能源形势日趋复杂,能源安全愈加成为攸关国家经济发展的重大战略。新形势下,无论是学科层面上世界能源地理与国家能源安全的科学问题、研究对象、研究方法等,还是国家现实需求上全球能源治理体系与国际能源合作等问题,都亟待专家学者们深入交流与讨论。通过“一问一答”的访谈方式,展示主持人与九位学界或业界访谈嘉宾基于不同视角的问答内容。分别围绕能源安全的内涵与全球能源治理模式、我国能源安全面临的挑战与对策、全球能源地缘政治形势的新变化、世界能源生产空间和消费空间不平等地理格局下的能源安全、全球能源低碳转型趋势下的中国能源高质量发展、重大突发公共卫生事件影响下的全球能源供需格局变化、未来能源地理学的研究前景与重要研究方向等一系列内容发表观点。以期达成一定共识,从而更好地研讨世界能源地理学的关键问题,并积极应对世界能源的百年变局,提出保障国家能源安全的应对措施等。     

能源富集区市域经济发展水平空间格局演变——基于晋陕蒙甘宁地区

采用熵权TOPSIS法对我国晋陕蒙甘宁这一典型能源富集区各地级以上城市的市域经济发展水平进行综合评价,进而使用马尔可夫转移概率分析方法和ESDA空间分析方法,探索该地区市域经济发展水平时空分异格局的演化特征,结果显示：（1）该地区的市域经济发展差距在波动中下降;（2）各等级城市在不同时期演化规律截然相反,随时间推移,除低等级之外的各等级城市均表现出较高的等级下降风险;（3）该地区城市的市域经济水平曾存在一定空间负相关,到2015年这种关系则不再显著;（4）该地区呈现以局部为核心区的格局,但西部地区明显趋冷;（5）市域经济系统整体处于耦合协调度较低的状态,发展不平衡、不协调的问题较突出。