• Energy Research

AbstractCCS is regarded as an important and strategic technology option to reduce CO2 emission, and has received tremendous attention around the world. Guangdong, as the largest economic and energy-consuming province in China, is necessary to take CCS as an important option to reduce its future CO2 emission. This paper presents the partial outcome of the first CCS-related research in Guangdong, which is aiming for preliminary assessment on the feasibility of CCS development in Guangdong. The main objective of the study is to characterize the industrial CO2 emissions and understand its CCS prospects. Coal-fired power plants in Guangdong are the major point sources, contributing to more than 90% of CO2 emissions from the electric power generation. The power plants are mainly located in the Pearl River Delta, while the newly built and projected large plants are mainly located in eastern coastal zone, which provides a great potential for CO2 capture. For the storage potential, there are six sedimentary basins in or around Guangdong with effective storage capacity of 568 GtCO2. Since the onshore storage capacity in Guangdong is limited, the northern portion of the Pear River Mouth Basin (PRMB) was considered the most promising choice for Guangdong to storage CO2. By considering the distance between source and sink, technology maturity, land resources and other factors, it can be concluded that in the short term the power plants under construction and projected located in the eastern coastal areas will be the most promising resources for CO2 capture and the corresponding storage sites are the existing oil/gas fields which located in the northeast of PRMB. But in the long term, as technologies and the international carbon market mature, the extensively retrofitting of existing coal-fired power plants in the Pearl River Delta region with CO2 capture will become possible. In order to promote the development of CCS in Guangdong, more basic investigation and policy research are necessary in the coming years.

Abstract While more and more cities are planning towards sustainable development and climate resilience, a thorough understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of building energy demand can be valuable for evidence-based city design and climate change mitigation. Energy demand in buildings is heavily influenced by its surrounding built and climatic environment. This requires simulation that is sensitive to the heterogeneity of buildings and climatic complications in dense urban settings. This paper provides a comprehensive review that documents and cross-compares the major methods to simulate building energy use at urban scale. The reviewed literature were acquired by using the search strings “urban-scale, city-scale or large-scale”, “building energy, energy use, electricity use, energy consumption or thermal load” and “simulation, forecast, modelling or mapping” in the Web of Science database from 2010 to 2021. The result highlighted major differences in strengths, limitations and field of application of different methods based on modelling inputs, outputs and approaches to incorporate urban environment to the modelling. It also identified that future development of urban-scale building energy use should explore more ways to incorporate the spatial variation in weather and morphological conditions, especially in dense urban settings that experience greater environmental challenges.

Abstract The transport sector has become an important source of urban greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions, with the continuous growth of transportation demand. The co-benefits of reducing GHG and air pollutant emissions in the transport sector are receiving more and more attention. Taking Guangzhou as the case study city, this study quantitatively analyzed the co-benefits of reducing CO2 and air pollutant emissions under the sustainable scenario in the transport sector by developing a quantitative analysis model based on the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) framework. The co-benefits quantitative parameter and the co-benefits radar chart analysis method are used to identify and evaluate the generated co-benefits, and then the co-benefits generated by implementing the sustainable measures are discussed. The results show that adjusting transport modes and increasing the application of electricity are the two most effective measures for achieving the co-benefits of reducing CO2 and air pollutant emissions in the Guangzhou transport sector. Thus, these two measures are highly preferential for mitigating CO2 and air pollutant emissions. In addition, increasing the application of biofuel and hydrogen energy also has good co-benefits. However, increasing the application of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has poor co-benefits. Promoting the utilization of LNG intercity buses, trucks, and cargo ships will lead to emission increases of CO and HC compared to the current policy scenario, and small emission reductions of CO2 and other air pollutants. Therefore, to promote the utilization of LNG vehicles and ships, it is necessary to cooperate with the use of air pollutant end removal devices and high-pressure direct injection (HPDI) gas engines.

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are increasing rapidly in Guangdong, an economically developed Chinese province. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an important approach to lower carbon concentration in this area. This study provides guidance and recommendations for CCS development and demonstration by analysing the necessity of CCS in Guangdong. Furthermore, this study identifies the major opportunities and technical demands related to CCS development in this province based on a sectoral analysis of emission inventory and the forecasting and identification of the potential CO 2 storage capacity. A CCS development roadmap is then developed for Guangdong based on the analysis results, and the milestone goals of this roadmap from the present until 2030 are presented in accordance with the development of technology in and the current status of Guangdong. In addition, the roadmap suggests CCS support policies.

Abstract Cities are key to global greenhouse gas emissions management. To explore urban greenhouse gas peak pathways, a city-level Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emission Analysis model was developed by using Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning model framework. Using the city of Guangzhou as a case study, this research compiled a overall energy balance sheet of base year and simulated future CO2 emission trends from 2015 to 2030 under three scenarios. Results show that CO2 emissions in Guangzhou will peak around 2023 under the current policy scenario. In order to advance the CO2 emissions peak to 2020, the more stringent emissions-reduction policies and measures need to be adopted under the peaking scenario and enhanced peaking scenario, with the peak emission value of 125–127 Mt CO2e. The industrial sector is the only sector in which CO2 emissions have peaked in Guangzhou, the building sector’s CO2 emissions will not peak by 2030 under any of the three scenarios, while the transportation sector, which will contribute 50 percent of emission reduction potential, is the key to achieve its goal of peaking CO2 emissions on time. In the short term, stringent reduction strategies on the transportation, industrial, and power sectors are needed, including transport mode adjustment, industrial structure adjustment, electrification level improvement, clean-up transformation of thermal power, and energy efficiency improvement. However, in the long term, reduction strategies for the building sector, like energy efficiency improvement and large-scale application of renewable energy, will be essential for Guangzhou.

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is the only technology available to achieve a deep cut in CO2emissions from large-scale fossil fuel usage. Although Guangdong Province has less heavy industries and higher reliance on energy import compared with many other provinces in China, CCS is still essential for the low-carbon development in the province. This is because fossil fuel energy is now and will be in the foreseeable future the major energy in Guangdong. CCS may have other benefits such as helping energy security and bring new business opportunities. The feasibility of CCS development in Guangdong is ensured by the existence of sufficient CO2storage capacity in offshore sedimentary basins in the northern South China Sea. A safe CO2storage is achievable as long as the selection of storage sites and the storage operations are in restrict quality control. The increased cost and energy penalty associated with CCS could be reduced through technical R&D, the utilization of captured CO2, and the utilization of infrastructure of offshore depleted oil fields. Fossil fuel energy plus CCS should be regarded as a new type of clean energy and deserves similar incentive policies that have been applied to other clean energies such as renewables and nuclear.

The main objective of this study is to characterise the electric power industry's CO2 emissions and to understand its carbon capture and storage (CCS) prospects in China's Guangdong Province. Coal-fired power plants in Guangdong are the major point sources, contributing to more than 90% of CO2 emissions of the electric power industry. The fossil-fuelled power plants are mainly located in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and the newly built and planned large plants are mainly located in coastal zones. More basic research and investigation are necessary in the coming years to develop CCS. In the medium term, the harbours of eastern cities can be the key areas for CCS demonstration projects. In the long term, the reduction effect can be more remarkable if the CO2 capture and pipeline project could be constructed on a large scale within the densest CO2 point source area in the PRD.

Cities play a key role in making carbon emission reduction targets achievable and tackling air pollution. Using Guangzhou city as a case, this paper explored the air quality and health co-benefits of peaking carbon dioxide emissions under three scenarios and developed an integrated assessment framework by combining a local air pollutant emission inventory, an atmospheric chemistry transport model, and a health assessment model. The results showed that SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 could achieve larger emission reductions than NH3, VOCs, and NOx among all the scenarios we examined. Under the enhanced peaking scenario with the most stringent mitigation strategies, Guangzhou could meet the local ambient air quality standard for PM2.5 (34 μg/m3), with the most reduction observed in the annual average PM2.5 concentration (28.4%) and related premature deaths (17.08%), compared with the base year 2015. We also identified hotspot grids, which were areas with high concentrations of carbon emissions, high concentrations of air pollution and poor air quality in Guangzhou. Our analysis highlighted the importance of promoting peaking carbon dioxide emission for the improvement of air quality and public health at the city level.