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AbstractThe planetary boundary framework constitutes an opportunity for decision makers to define climate policy through the lens of adaptive governance. Here, we use the DICE model to analyze the set of adaptive climate policies that comply with the two planetary boundaries related to climate change: (1) staying below a CO2 concentration of 550 ppm until 2100 and (2) returning to 350 ppm in 2100. Our results enable decision makers to assess the following milestones: (1) a minimum of 33% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2055 in order to stay below 550 ppm by 2100 (this milestone goes up to 46% in the case of delayed policies); and (2) carbon neutrality and the effective implementation of innovative geoengineering technologies (10% negative emissions) before 2060 in order to return to 350 ppm in 2100, under the assumption of getting out of the baseline scenario without delay. Finally, we emphasize the need to use adaptive path-based approach instead of single point target for climate policy design.

Abstract The improvement of thermodynamic efficiency of power plants is of great interest for the whole energy industry. The use of Kalina cycle has a great potential to improve the thermal efficiency of a nuclear power plant. This cycle uses a mixture of ammonia and water as working fluid. In this paper, we discuss the development of an Ammonia-Water mixture Property Code (AWProC). The estimation of the mixture properties are based on the Gibbs free energy functions. The code is verified and validated against experimental data available in the literature and REFPROP code. It is shown that AWProC can accurately estimate the thermodynamic properties of ammonia-water mixtures over a wide range of conditions, including high temperature and pressure regions. The code is then used to investigate the feasibility of applying the Kalina cycle to a typical Pressurizer Water Reactor (PWR) plant as an effective way to improve the plant efficiency. The fundamental of Basic-Kalina (B-K) cycle is described in detail firstly. Then, two modified configurations, Recuperation-Kalina (R-K) and Flash-Kalina (F-K) cycles respectively, are proposed for a typical 1000 MWe PWR. The simulation results indicate that the R-K type cycle can reach about 31.2% efficiency with simple equipment requirements, while the F-K type cycle can reach efficiencies up to about 34.8%, but at the expenses of a slightly more complex design. The present work demonstrates the applicability of the Kalina cycle as a way to improve the thermal efficiency of a nuclear power plant. This concept is meaningful for improving nuclear power plants economic and competitiveness.

In this paper, we compare 2015 satellite-derived natural gas (gas) flaring data with the greenhouse gas reduction targets presented by those countries in their nationally determined contributions (NDC) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. Converting from flaring to utilization is an attractive option for reducing emissions. The analysis rates the potential role of reduction of gas flaring in meeting country-specific NDC targets. The analysis includes three categories of flaring: upstream in oil and gas production areas, downstream at refineries and transport facilities, and industrial (e.g., coal mines, landfills, water treatment plants, etc.). Upstream flaring dominates with 90.6% of all flaring. Global flaring represents less than 2% of the NDC reduction target. However, most gas flaring is concentrated in a limited set of countries, leaving the possibility that flaring reduction could contribute a sizeable portion of the NDC targets for specific countries. States that could fully meet their NDC targets through gas flaring reductions include: Yemen (240%), Algeria (197%), and Iraq (136%). Countries which could meet a substantial portion of their NDC targets with gas flaring reductions include: Gabon (94%), Algeria (48%), Venezuela (47%), Iran (34%), and Sudan (33%). On the other hand, several countries with large flared gas volumes could only meet a small portion of their NDC targets from gas flaring reductions, including the Russian Federation (2.4%) and the USA (0.1%). These findings may be useful in guiding national level efforts to meet NDC greenhouse gas reduction targets. Keywords: VIIRS, Gas flaring, Nightfire, Nationally determined contributions, UN climate agreement

The Proliferation Assessment (program area - Things Thin) within the Defense Systems and Assessment Investment Area desires high energy density and long-lived power sources with moderate currents (mA) that can be used as building blocks in platforms for the continuous monitoring of chemical, biological, and radiological agents. Fuel cells can be an optimum choice for a power source because of the high energy densities that are possible with liquid fuels. Additionally, power generation and fuel storage can be decoupled in a fuel cell for independent control of energy and power density for customized, application-driven power solutions. Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are explored as a possible concept to develop into ultrathin or two-dimensional power sources. New developments in nanotechnology, advanced fabrication techniques, and materials science are exploited to create a planar DMFC that could be co-located with electronics in a chip format. Carbon nanotubes and pyrolyzed polymers are used as building block electrodes - porous, mechanically compliant current collectors. Directed assembly methods including surface functionalization and layer-by-layer deposition with polyelectrolytes are used to pattern, build, and add functionality to these electrodes. These same techniques are used to incorporate nanoscale selective electrocatalyst into the carbon electrodes to provide a high density more » of active electron transfer sites for the methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions. The resulting electrodes are characterized in terms of their physical properties, electrocatalytic function, and selectivity to better understand how processing impacts their performance attributes. The basic function of a membrane electrode assembly is demonstrated for several prototype devices. « less

AbstractThe production of Z boson pairs in proton–proton ($${\mathrm{p}} {\mathrm{p}} $$ p p ) collisions, $${{\mathrm{p}} {\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow ({\mathrm{Z}}/\gamma ^*)({\mathrm{Z}}/\gamma ^*) \rightarrow 2\ell 2\ell '}$$ p p → ( Z / γ ∗ ) ( Z / γ ∗ ) → 2 ℓ 2 ℓ ′ , where $${\ell ,\ell ' = {\mathrm{e}}}$$ ℓ , ℓ ′ = e or $${{\upmu }}$$ μ , is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13$$\,\text {TeV}$$ TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$ fb - 1 , collected during 2016–2018. The $${\mathrm{Z}} {\mathrm{Z}} $$ Z Z production cross section, $$\sigma _{\text {tot}} ({\mathrm{p}} {\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow {\mathrm{Z}} {\mathrm{Z}} ) = 17.4 \pm 0.3 \,\text {(stat)} \pm 0.5 \,\text {(syst)} \pm 0.4 \,\text {(theo)} \pm 0.3 \,\text {(lumi)} \text { pb} $$ σ tot ( p p → Z Z ) = 17.4 ± 0.3 (stat) ± 0.5 (syst) ± 0.4 (theo) ± 0.3 (lumi) pb , measured for events with two pairs of opposite-sign, same-flavor leptons produced in the mass region $${60< m_{\ell ^+\ell ^-} < 120\,\text {GeV}}$$ 60 < m ℓ + ℓ - < 120 GeV is consistent with standard model predictions. Differential cross sections are also measured and agree with theoretical predictions. The invariant mass distribution of the four-lepton system is used to set limits on anomalous $${\mathrm{Z}} {\mathrm{Z}} {\mathrm{Z}} $$ Z Z Z and $${{\mathrm{Z}} {\mathrm{Z}} \gamma }$$ Z Z γ couplings.