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There are substantial differences in carbon footprints across households. This study applied an environmentally extended multiregional input–output approach to estimate household carbon footprints for 12 different income groups of China’s 30 regions. Subsequently, carbon footprint Gini coefficients were calculated to measure carbon inequality for households across provinces. We found that the top 5% of income earners were responsible for 17% of the national household carbon footprint in 2012, while the bottom half of income earners caused only 25%. Carbon inequality declined with economic growth in China across space and time in two ways: first, carbon footprints showed greater convergence in the wealthier coastal regions than in the poorer inland regions; second, China’s national carbon footprint Gini coefficients declined from 0.44 in 2007 to 0.37 in 2012. We argue that economic growth not only increases income levels but also contributes to an overall reduction in carbon inequality in China.

The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta is one of the world's largest deltas. It is currently experiencing high rates of relative sea-level rise of about 5 mm/year, reflecting anthropogenic climate change and land subsidence. This is expected to accelerate further through the 21st Century, so there are concerns that the GBM delta will be progressively submerged. In this context, a core question is: can sedimentation on the delta surface maintain its elevation relative to sea level? This research seeks to answer this question by applying a two-dimensional flow and morphological model which is capable of handling dynamic interactions between the river and floodplain systems and simulating floodplain sedimentation under different flow-sediment regimes and anthropogenic interventions. We find that across a range of flood frequencies and adaptation scenarios (including the natural polder-free state), the retained volume of sediment varies between 22% and 50% of the corresponding sediment input. This translates to average rates of sedimentation on the delta surface of 5.5 mm/yr to 7.5 mm/yr. Hence, under present conditions, sedimentation associated with quasi-natural conditions can exceed current rates of relative sea-level rise and potentially create new land mass. These findings highlight that encouraging quasi-natural conditions through the widespread application of active sediment management measures has the potential to promote more sustainable outcomes for the GBM delta. Practical measures to promote include tidal river management, and appropriate combinations of cross-dams, bandal-like structures, and dredging.

Liberalisation of the British household electricity market, in which previously monopolised regional markets were exposed to large-scale entry, is used as a natural experiment on oligopolistic nonlinear pricing. Each oligopolist offered a single two-part electricity tariff, but inconsistent with current theory, the two-part tariffs were heterogeneous in ways that cannot be attributed to explanations such as asymmetric costs or variations in brand loyalty. Instead, the evidence suggests that firms deliberately differentiated their tariff structures, resulting in market segmentation according to consumers’ usage.

Rainfall and overland flow are fundamental processes for Earth's ecosystems but can also be land disturbing forces, particularly when triggered by extreme hydro-meteorological events. Examples of these extremes are rainstorms and related phenomena due to rainfall aggressiveness. They produce high-impact land processes such as soil erosion and nutrient losses. Economic and social consequences of these processes can be quite severe. However, hydrological extremes and their environmental implications are still poorly understood, particularly if analyzed in the context of climate change. Here, we analyze a 300 year long times series of historical rainfall patterns across the Mediterranean in the last three centuries and we investigate changes in the erosive forcing as related to climate changes. Our results show that the erosive forcing increased towards the end of the Little Ice Age (similar to 1850) over western and central Mediterranean and that has been increasing in the recent warming period at low Mediterranean latitudes, due to a higher frequency of intensive storms. Such increased concentrated precipitation may lead to an intensification of land degradation processes triggered by soil erosion and transport across a range of scales from hillslopes to small catchments.

Stabilizing global greenhouse gas concentrations at levels to avoid significant climate risks will require massive "decarbonization" of all the major economies over the next few decades, in addition to the reduced emissions from other GHGs and carbon sequestration. Achieving the necessary scale of emissions reductions will require a multifaceted policy effort to support a broad array of technological and behavioral changes. Change on this scale will require sound, well-thought-out strategies. In this article, we outline some core principles, drawn from recent social science research, for guiding the design of clean technology policies, with a focus on energy. The market should be encouraged to make good choices: pricing carbon emissions and other environmental damage, removing distorting subsidies and barriers to competition, and supporting RD&D broadly. More specific policies are required to address particular market failures and barriers. For those technologies identified as being particularly desirable, some narrower RD&D policies are available.

The increase in operating temperature of PV generators leads to degradation of their performance. These adverse effects of high temperatures are considered as one of the most important problems that solar panel operation faces in hot weather areas. A lot of research has been undertaken to study this aspect and find ways of limiting the harm caused by such high temperatures. To overcome this harm and to maintain the operating temperature of the PV cells within the optimum range specified by manufacturers, cooling the solar panels often becomes indispensable. This paper discusses the heat transfer through the solar panel layers and studies the effect of high temperature on the solar panel performance in a hot desert environment. It also presents the development of a new solar panel structure viz. by installing an aluminum heat sink to reduce the effect of temperature rise and thus improve the solar panel performance. The study focuses on a pole-mounted solar panel for a street lighting apparatus in extremely hot desert conditions with fluctuating wind speeds. It will be shown that adding an aluminum heat sink to the solar panel bottom mitigates the effect of increased temperature and hence modifies the solar panel operating point by increasing both the efficiency and the lifetime. The solar cell temperature is decreased by 16.4% as a result of the aluminum heat sink installation on the solar panel back sheet and consequently, the accumulated energy produced by the the solar panel is increased by 13.23% per day.

In the last years, the concept of “smart city” has been the subject of increasing attention in urban planning and governance due to the sustainability challenges and great technological advancements. Although the relevant literature highlights those smart cities can create a fertile environment to drive innovation from a technological, managerial and organizational, and policy point of view how smart cities function, in terms of their value chain and in light of sustainability and circularity is still an open question. Based on these considerations, this work aims to investigate how smart cities deliver value by combining environmental, societal, and financial priorities to re-imagine their core business models and shift the boundaries of urban competition in light of circular economy principles. To reach this goal, the tool Sustainable Business Model Innovation Canvas has been applied in the urban context with the aim to create and leverage an environmental and societal surplus in light of circularity in the smart city framework. Preliminary results shed light on new vistas on the future and new challenges of smart cities particularly relevant for facing the current complexity of the economy, social, and environmental changes.