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The basic priority to neutralize carbon emissions (CE) is to achieve the sustainable development goal of climate action. In this regard, the role of renewable energy (RE) is widely debated. Transition to RE and environment-related innovation in technologies (ERIT) is a need of the hour. However, the challenge of uncertain economic policies in the transition process is interesting to study. Therefore, the present study intends to add a value to the literature by re-examining the interactive effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in RE and ERIT and the transition process towards carbon neutrality. The second-generation econometric methodology is applied to empirically test the proposed interactive linkage of EPU, RE, ERIT, and CE. Findings reported the negative role of EPU in adopting RE and ERIT in seven emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. However, the ERIT and RE are found to be supportive of neutralizing the CE. Emerging seven (E7) countries are suggested to be consistent in their economic policies to nurture the transition process toward a sustainable environment.

Abstract Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) as a major hazardous constituent is strongly associated with household energy consumption. In this paper, we investigate the PM2.5 footprint of household energy consumption in Beijing based on input–output analysis. An inventory of primary and secondary household energy consumption is developed to quantify the direct PM2.5 emissions. The household PM2.5 footprint is then traced through goods or services that ultimately consumed by households to unveil the indirect PM2.5 emissions triggered by economic activities. PM2.5 fingerprint is also proposed to describe the characteristic of household PM2.5 footprint. Results show that PM2.5 footprint of Beijing households in 2010 is 7831.36 kt, of which 92.61% is contributed by urban households. The source of direct PM2.5 emissions in urban area is diversified, which is composed of coal (42.07%), heat and electricity (32.83%), gasoline (21.29%), natural gas (3.04%) and liquefied petroleum gas (0.77%), while in rural area, coal (98.09%) plays a dominant role. The indirect PM2.5 accounts for 99.96% of the total footprint in urban area, about one third of which is contributed by sectors of “Food Processing and Production”, “Healthcare and Social Security”, and “Farming, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery”. The disparity between urban and rural households PM2.5 footprints is further evaluated with income levels. The PM2.5 footprint from living expenditures of urban households is found to be nearly twice as much as that of rural households. Such inventory of PM2.5 footprint and examination of drivers for PM2.5 emissions may be essential for urban pollution mitigation policy.

Abstract As one of the important biomass energy sources, biogas construction plays a vital role in rural development. The last three decades have witnessed a strong promotion of household-based decentralized biogas system in China. Nevertheless, the government explicitly has a strong preference for large-scaled centralized biogas system, as the focuses of recent related polices have been shifted to it from decentralized system. Under this circumstance, this paper reviewed the development status of both decentralized and centralized biogas systems, described the limitations of decentralized biogas system in recent rural development and overviewed the changes in related policies supporting rural biogas construction. Based on these analyses, the perceptional, institutional, financial, technical and regional constraints are found out to be the five main constraints that hinder the upgrade of the biogas system. This paper suggests that balancing the development between the two biogas systems promoting the industrialization, commercialization and comprehensive utilization of biogas, and increasing household education should be attached more importance in future rural biogas policies.

Abstract Increasing severe water deficiency has led to an urgent need for better water resource management, especially in China. Electric power systems have been recognized as large water consumers; therefore, comprehensive analysis of their water use is needed. This study aims to analyze the flux and direction of virtual water and virtual scarce water within power system based on transmission–consumption water intensity (TCWI). A case study is then conducted to investigate China’s electric power system. The results show that including the water stress index (WSI) and virtual scarce flow concept largely influences the analysis of interregional virtual water flows. Regardless the WSIs, there are four regions exporting virtual water (northeast, north, northwest and central) and two regions exporting virtual scarce water (east and south). While considering the virtual scarce water, the central region becomes a big exporter with 144.12 GL of virtual scarce water outflow. In addition, the virtual water and virtual scarce water flux among these six regions reaches 726 GL and 163 GL, respectively. The electric transmission system transfers virtual scarce water from inland areas to coastal areas, which is roughly the opposite of the distribution of China’s water resources. The virtual water analysis incorporating the water scarcity not only largely increases the effectiveness of the results, but also provides more valuable and accurate information for water-efficient management and planning in electric power system.

Energy crisis is one of the major issues of our society. There are different forms of renewable energy like wind power, geothermal energy, biomass from plants and solar energy. Solar energy is the only freely available source of renewable energy that comes directly from sun and may be converted into heat or electricity. In this article, we develop a model for solar radiation by considering the laminar flow of an incompressible Oldroyd-B fluid toward a thermally and solutally stratified moving surface with nanoparticles and thermal radiation. The data have been computed by homotopic algorithm. The computed solutions of velocity, temperature and nanoparticle concentration are plotted for multiple values of parameters of interest.

Abstract Among all alternative fuels, compressed natural gas (CNG) has been considered as one the best solutions for fossil fuel substitution because of its availability throughout the world, inherent clean burning, economical as a fuel and adaptability to the gasoline and diesel engines. This bibliography reviews the potential of CNG as a transportation fuel. The added bibliography at the end of this article contains 1102 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations on the subject that were published between 1991 and 2016. These references have been retrieved from 137 scientific journals. The references are classified in the following categories: Regional Experience with CNG Vehicles; Economic Aspect of CNG Vehicles; CNG Engine's Design, Control and Performance; Combustion and Fuel Injection Characteristics of CNG Engines; CNG/ Diesel Dual Fuel Operations; Hydrogen Enriched CNG Vehicles; Environmental Aspect of CNG Vehicles; Safety Aspect of CNG Vehicles.

As a relatively clean energy, natural gas will be increasingly in demand to meet short-term low-carbon targets. The gap between the demand and supply of natural gas will be increasingly scrutinized, which highlights the significance of natural gas supply security. Considering the extensive connections among various aspects related to natural gas supply and the complex interactions behind these connections, ecological network analysis was applied to simulate the natural gas supply system in China and systematically measure its overall security level. Network Information Analysis, Structural Analysis, and Utility Analysis were conducted. It is found that the Chinese natural gas supply security increased during 2000–2011. In terms of the influence of different compartments on the whole natural gas supply system, in order from the largest to smallest influence they are: supply sources, consumption sector, refining, and reserve sectors. And the relationships among compartments became stronger in the later stage than that in the earlier stage of the study period. Suggestions on improving China’s natural gas supply security were proposed based on the results and further scenario analysis. The network model developed herein is a new perspective for natural gas supply security assessment, which can be used as guidance for policy making.