• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close
• CA close
• BE close
• UA close

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is a gas injection technology that enables the storage of CO2 underground. The aims are twofold, on one hand to reduce the emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere and on the other hand to increase oil/gas/heat recovery. Different types of CCUS technologies and related engineering projects have a long history of research and operation in the USA. However, in China they have a short development period ca. 10 years. Unlike CO2 capture and CO2-EOR technologies that are already operating on a commercial scale in China, research into other CCUS technologies is still in its infancy or at the pilot-scale. This paper first reviews the status and development of the different types of CCUS technologies and related engineering projects worldwide. Then it focuses on their developments in China in the last decade. The main research projects, international cooperation, and pilot-scale engineering projects in China are summarized and compared. Finally, the paper examines the challenges and prospects to be experienced through the industrialization of CCUS engineering projects in China. It can be concluded that the CCUS technologies have still large potential in China. It can only be unlocked by overcoming the technical and social challenges.

Abstract Eradicating poverty and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are core issues of global sustainable development goals (SDGs), and China is struggling in realizing these targets. The poverty reduction that leads to popualtion structure and lifestyle changes would have an impact on GHG emission changes. However, few studies have assessed the historical and future impacts of the poverty allevation on China's emissions. Here by linking Chinese Multi-Regional Input Output (MRIO) database to the global MRIO database EXIOBASE, and using provincial household consumption data, we identified the distribution of Chinese household greenhouse gas footprints (HGFs) by income groups in 2015 at the national and provinical levels. Moreover, we focused on the historical impact of poverty alleviation on HGFs during 2010–2015, and developed four scenarios to project future HGFs changes due to poverty alleviation by 2030. We find that eradicating extreme poverty in the secanrio S2, i.e., bringing people to an income above $1.9 daily, does not cause a large emission impact with current technological level. However, lifting people from a higher poverty line of $5.5 per day in the sceanrio S4 results in a 1.6% increase in emissions compared with the scenario S1 without any poverty reduction goals. Furthermore, realizing a higher poverty reduction target will result in an increase of emissions contribution from internatioanl supply chains due to the differences in consumption patterns among different income groups. Our study highlights the conflict between the high poverty alleviaition goal and emission reduciton in China, and reminds us of the need to make more technological efforts for avoiding the large emissions embodied in international supply chains.

Abstract In order to further reduce the impact of climate fluctuations on the typical meteorological year (TMY) database, this paper introduces an ensemble empirical model decomposition method to extract the periodic fluctuation and random fluctuation data from outdoor climate data separately, and to construct a comprehensive description parameter that eliminates the influence of random fluctuation data. An innovative TMY based on the comprehensive description parameter was developed in six selected cities of different climate zones in China. Compared with the existing Chinese TMY development method and outdoor design parameters, it is found that the typical meteorological months (TMMs) of each city and the outdoor design parameters from the improved TMY database have changed to a certain extent. Through the correlation analysis between improved TMY database and the cumulative long-average meteorological data, it reveals that the improved TMY can better describe the local average climatic characteristics. Finally, this paper discusses the impact of the improved TMY on the building heat loss index and outdoor thermal comfort in different building shapes. The results demonstrate that the energy demand and outdoor thermal comfort analysis based on the improved TMY are closer to long-term averaged outdoor climate, and the calculation deviations compared with conventional method are reduced by 1.18%–21.08% and 53.42%–76.82% respectively. This research will refine outdoor climate data for building design and analysis.

As efforts to address climate change shift to action at local scales, municipalities are called upon to develop locally specific action plans. Many municipalities lack the resources to develop energy and emissions-reducing policy interventions appropriate to their characteristics. This research synthesises urban form, scenario analysis and energy simulation into a cohesive workflow for evaluating energy and emissions policy interventions across a range of urban forms. A geospatial and census analysis of six cities across British Columbia, Canada, led to the development of seven urban neighborhood patterns. These represent neighborhood forms and densities found in cities of various sizes, densities, forms and climates. To test the approach of an urban built environment model (UBEM), retrofit and infill redevelopment ‘what-if’ scenarios were applied iteratively to two sample patterns comparing the relative efficacy of building technology-improvement policies versus land-use intensification policies. The future ‘what-if’ policy scenarios were spatially tested and validated using relevant policy. The simplified UBEM methods applied to typical patterns and development demonstrates a step towards an accessible and flexible modeling approach. Small and medium-sized municipalities can use this approach to assess and compare potential energy and emissions policy options and outcomes at building and neighborhood scales. 'Practice relevance' A new, simple method has been created for municipalities to understand multiple ‘what-if’ scenarios for reducing energy demand and emissions from buildings. This is based on profiles from census data, geospatial analysis and energy data that characterise urban neighborhood patterns. The approach integrates building-scale and neighborhood-scale energy and greenhouse gas simulations. It can simulate a variety of policy scenarios and strategy interventions in order to show the interactions between and among urban form and retrofit options. This enables planners and decision-makers to compare the relative magnitudes of different interventions at the neighborhood or city level for energy and emissions performance. The model was developed for use by a variety of communities in British Columbia, Canada. There is potential for adapting this method for use in other locations.

Abstract The global steel production has been growing for the last 50 years, from 200 Mt in 1950s to 1 240 Mt in 2006. Iron and steel making industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries, with an annual energy consumption of about 24 EJ, 5% of the world's total energy consumption. The steel industry accounts for 3%–4% of total world greenhouse gas emissions. Enhancing energy efficiency and employing energy saving/recovering technologies such as coke dry quechning (CDQ) and top pressure recovery turbine (TRT) can be short-term approaches to the steel industry to reduce greenhouse gas emission. The long-term approaches to achieving a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from the steel industry would be through developing and applying CO2 breakthrough technologies for iron and steel making, and through increasing use of renewable energy for iron and steel making. Thus, an overview of new CO2 breakthrough technologies for iron and steel making was made.

As presented in the first companion paper, distributed mixed-integer fuzzy hierarchical programming (DMIFHP) was developed for municipal solid waste management (MSWM) under complexities of heterogeneities, hierarchy, discreteness, and interactions. Beijing was selected as a representative case. This paper focuses on presenting the obtained schemes and the revealed mechanisms of the Beijing MSWM system. The optimal MSWM schemes for Beijing under various solid waste treatment policies and their differences are deliberated. The impacts of facility expansion, hierarchy, and spatial heterogeneities and potential extensions of DMIFHP are also discussed. A few of findings are revealed from the results and a series of comparisons and analyses. For instance, DMIFHP is capable of robustly reflecting these complexities in MSWM systems, especially for Beijing. The optimal MSWM schemes are of fragmented patterns due to the dominant role of the proximity principle in allocating solid waste treatment resources, and they are closely related to regulated ratios of landfilling, incineration, and composting. Communities without significant differences among distances to different types of treatment facilities are more sensitive to these ratios than others. The complexities of hierarchy and heterogeneities pose significant impacts on MSWM practices. Spatial dislocation of MSW generation rates and facility capacities caused by unreasonable planning in the past may result in insufficient utilization of treatment capacities under substantial influences of transportation costs. The problems of unreasonable MSWM planning, e.g., severe imbalance among different technologies and complete vacancy of ten facilities, should be gained deliberation of the public and the municipal or local governments in Beijing. These findings are helpful for gaining insights into MSWM systems under these complexities, mitigating key challenges in the planning of these systems, improving the related management practices, and eliminating potential socio-economic and eco-environmental issues resulting from unreasonable management.

Abstract Food waste (FW), primary sludge (PS) and waste activated sludge (WAS) were characterized and found to be complementary in the concentrations of carbohydrates, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), PO4–P and some metal for biological hydrogen production. Moreover, FW was found to have low pH buffering capacity while the values for PS and WAS were relatively higher. An anaerobic toxicity analysis (ATA) derived from a methanogenic ATA protocol showed that these waste materials had no toxicity to hydrogen production. Adding phosphate buffer to the FW significantly improved hydrogen production while initial pH was 7.0. Co-digestion of FW and sewage sludge was studied using a batch respirometric cultivation system. All combinations of the feedstocks (FW+PS, FW+WAS and FW+PS+WAS) showed enhanced hydrogen production potential as compared with the individual wastes. A mixing ratio of 1:1 was found to be the best among the ratios tested for all three co-digestion groups. A hydrogen yield of 112 mL/g volatile solid (VS) added was obtained from a combination of FW, PS and WAS. This yield was equivalent to 250 mL/g VS added if only FW contributed to hydrogen production. The reason for the enhancement of hydrogen production was postulated to be multifold in which the increase in buffer capacity in the co-digestion mixture was verified.

Abstract Greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are one of the main causes of anthropogenic climate change. Large-scale deployment of renewable energy can play an immense role in transforming the global energy system and mitigating the emissions. This paper describes the development of a novel framework called MArket Penetration ModeLing of Renewable Energy Technologies in Electric Power Sector (MAPLET-PS). MAPLET-PS assesses the impacts of policy measures such as carbon price and financial incentives on the adoption of renewable energy technologies. The framework was used to develop a case study for the electric power sector of Alberta, a fossil-dominated province in Western Canada. The results show that implementing a carbon price on fossil fuel electric power sources and incentives for renewable energy, along with the phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation, can mitigate 29% of Alberta's electricity sector 2020 GHG emissions by 2050 and reduce GHG emissions from 46.5 Mt of CO2 eq. in 2020 to 23.6 and 29.1 Mt of CO2 eq. per year in 2030 and 2050, respectively, in Alberta. Moreover, these changes can increase the share of renewable energies from 12.5% in 2018 to 30% in 2050. These rates can be achieved by implementing a carbon price along with a 1000 $ incentive per kW new capacity development and 70 $ incentive per MWh electric power generation from renewable sources, from 2021 to 2025, primarily from wind turbines.