• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• Embargo close
• DE close
• GB close
• Transport Research close

The private motor vehicles are significantly important means of transportation in modern lifestyle, however, these also contribute to a large proportion of the total air pollution and primary energy consumption. In order to develop green transportation system, it becomes imperative to use integrated technologies to achieve reduced emissions and utilize renewable energy. Electric vehicles (EVs) have been considered as one of these technologies to transform the traditional vehicle mix. However, the uptake of EV has been debated on factors like cost, performance (autonomous mileage), charging point infrastructure construction, energy saving, policy and end users’ adaptation. Present study investigates the technology feasibility (which usually refer to EVs’ cost, EV charging, supplier’s customer services quality, EV travel performance) and users’ adaptation of EV in Beijing, which is a key driver for the EV uptake into the Beijing transportation system. The relevant data have been collected and analyzed in the form of questionnaire survey around all of these factors. While considering the user perception and satisfaction, safety of charging and energy bills have also been investigated. According to the data analysis, it has been found the policy of ‘No traffic restrictions for EVs’ (the traffic restrictions means for certain date, from Monday to Friday the motor vehicles with the last register number of 1 and 6, 2 and 7, 3 and 8, 4 and 9, 5 and 0, are restricted to travel, respectively), the availability of the charging infrastructure and technical support are the most significant factors affecting the users’ opinions on using EVs.

Plug-in electric vehicles can potentially emit substantially lower CO2 emissions than internal combustion engine vehicles, and so have the potential to reduce transport emissions without curtailing personal car use. Assessing the potential uptake of these new categories of vehicles requires an understanding of likely consumer responses. Previous in-depth explorations of appraisals and evaluations of electric vehicles have tended to focus on ‘early adopters’, who may not represent mainstream consumers. This paper reports a qualitative analysis of responses to electric cars, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 40 UK non-commercial drivers (20 males, 20 females; age 24–70 years) at the end of a seven-day period of using a battery electric car (20 participants) or a plug-in hybrid car (20 participants). Six core categories of response were identified: (1) cost minimisation; (2) vehicle confidence; (3) vehicle adaptation demands; (4) environmental beliefs; (5) impression management; and, underpinning all other categories, (6) the perception of electric cars generally as ‘work in progress’ products. Results highlight potential barriers to the uptake of current-generation (2010) plug-in electric cars by mainstream consumers. These include the prioritization of personal mobility needs over environmental benefits, concerns over the social desirability of electric vehicle use, and the expectation that rapid technological and infrastructural developments will make current models obsolete. Implications for the potential uptake of future electric vehicles are discussed.

Abstract This paper presents a study of the combined influence of battery models and sizing strategy for hybrid and battery-based electric vehicles. In particular, the aim is to find the number of battery (and supercapacitor) cells to propel a light vehicle to run two different standard driving cycles. Three equivalent circuit models are considered to simulate the battery electrical performance: linear static, non-linear static and non-linear with first-order dynamics. When dimensioning a battery-based vehicle, less complex models may lead to a solution with more battery cells and higher costs. Despite the same tendency, when a hybrid vehicle is taken into account, the influence of the battery models is dependent on the sizing strategy. In this work, two sizing strategies are evaluated: dynamic programming and filter-based. For the latter, the complexity of the battery model has a clear influence on the result of the sizing problem. On the other hand, a modest influence is observed when a dynamic programming strategy is followed.

In Bangladesh, prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farming remains dependent on the capture of wild postlarvae as hatchery production is still inadequate. However, prawn postlarvae fishing has been accompanied by concerns over recent climate change. Different climatic variables including cyclone, salinity, sea level rise, water temperature, flood, rainfall, and drought have had adverse effects on coastal ecosystem, thus determining a decline in the availability of prawn postlarvae and thereby catch. The households of postlarvae fishers also face a variety of socioeconomic constraints due to climate change. Considering extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change, an integrated approach needs to be introduced to cope with the challenges.

The envisaged de-carbonization of power systems poses unprecedented challenges enhancing the potential of flexible demand. However, the incorporation of the latter in system planning has yet to be comprehensively investigated. This paper proposes a novel planning model that allows co-optimizing the investment and operating costs of conventional generation assets and demand flexibility, in the form of smart-charging/discharging electric vehicles (EV). The model includes a detailed representation of EV operational constraints along with the generation technical characteristics, and accounts for the costs required to enable demand flexibility. Computational tractability is achieved through clustering generation units and EV, which allows massively reducing the number of decision variables and constraints, and avoiding non-linearities. Case studies in the context of the U.K. demonstrate the economic value of EV flexibility in reducing peak demand levels and absorbing wind generation variability, and the dependence of this value on the required enabling cost and users’ traveling patterns.

AbstractResting egg production is considered the most common form of dormancy in aquatic invertebrates. Given that many taxa at least partially terminate resting egg state using environmental cues, knowledge on environmental drivers of hatching success is important, particularly within the context of climate change and environmental degradation. Fairy shrimp (anostracans) are temporary wetland specialists that are reliant on resting egg production for population persistence. Temporary wetlands are common in many arid regions projected to experience increases in temperature, and in areas often compromised by human‐mediated activities. In this study, we assessed the combined effects of light and temperature on the hatching success of Streptocephalus cafer (Anostraca) dormant eggs from temporary wetlands in an arid environment. Both temperature and light altered hatching success, with emergent effects evident. Light caused a significant threefold increase in hatching success overall, while temperature effects were non‐linear, with hatching optimised at 27°C, and especially under light conditions. These results are discussed within the context of shifting climates and disturbances to temporary wetland ecosystems.

AbstractClimate change will not only shift environmental means but will also increase the intensity of extreme events, exerting additional stress on ecosystems. While field observations on the ecological consequences of heat waves are emerging, experimental evidence is rare, and lacking at the community level. Using a novel “near‐natural” outdoor mesocosms approach, this study tested whether marine summer heat waves have detrimental consequences for macrofauna of a temperate coastal community, and whether sequential heat waves provoke an increase or decrease of sensitivity to thermal stress. Three treatments were applied, defined and characterized through a statistical analysis of 15 years of temperature records from the experimental site: (1) no heat wave, (2) two heat waves in June and July followed by a summer heat wave in August and (3) the summer heat wave only. Overall, 50% of the species showed positive, negative or positive/negative responses in either abundance and/or biomass. We highlight four possible ways in which single species responded to either three subsequent heat waves or one summer heat wave: (1) absence of a response (tolerance, 50% of species), (2) negative accumulative effects by three subsequent heat waves (tellinid bivalve), (3) buffering by proceeding heat waves due to acclimation and/or shifts in phenology (spionid polychaete) and (4) an accumulative positive effect by subsequent heat waves (amphipod). The differential responses to single or sequential heat waves at the species level entailed shifts at the community level. Community‐level differences between single and triple heat waves were more pronounced than those between regimes with vs. without heat waves. Detritivory was reduced by the single heat wave while suspension feeding was less common in the triple heat wave regime. Critical extreme events occur already today and will occur more frequently in a changing climate, thus, leading to detrimental impacts on coastal marine systems.

This paper presents a comprehensive and validated inventory of road transport emissions worldwide. The bottom-up calculation correlates within 2% and 10% with fuel sales data in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD regions, respectively; this adds credibility to the results. The inventory covers eight exhaust compounds emitted by five vehicle categories and five fuel types each. For many non-OECD countries, road transport exhaust emissions have been calculated for the first time at this level of detail. Furthermore, this paper provides a conservative estimate of primary particulate matter emissions from diesel and gasoline vehicles. The Group of Seven countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) together with Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia account for more than three-quarters of all considered exhaust emissions, followed by major countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Action in these 15 countries could reduce emissions for the whole region significantly. Exhaust control and maintenance can focus on motorized two-wheelers, buses, and heavy-duty trucks. The inventory is particularly suited for comparisons across countries and regions. Data uncertainties in transport volumes and real-world emissions, notably of hydrocarbon and particulate matter, should be reduced.

Electricity from renewable and/or nuclear sources (“carbon–neutral electricity”) can be used for charging plug-in electric vehicles in order to significantly reduce their lifecycle carbon emissions. However, little is known about how carbon–neutral charging services (CNCS) for electric vehicles must be designed to attract consumers’ interest. Therefore, we conducted a survey including an Adaptive Choice-based Conjoint Analysis to investigate private consumers’ awareness and preferences for different service attributes of CNCS, specifically the energy source, regionality of generation, additionality, balancing period, charging flexibility, and price. The online survey in Germany of 510 private consumers who were interested in electric vehicles shows that awareness is highest for the energy source and regionality. Behind price, these are also the second and third most important attributes when choosing a CNCS. Even though, on average, there seems to be a link between the awareness for an attribute, its importance and consumers’ willingness to pay, this link proves to be non-significant for individual respondents. In conclusion, providers of CNCS could prominently advertise the attributes consumers are most aware of (i.e., the energy source and regionality of generation). Explaining the less-known, and therefore deemed unimportant, attributes (i.e., additionality, balancing period, and charging flexibility) to consumers could be difficult and costly for providers. From a system perspective, however, more convincing explanation efforts could lead to an increased use of renewables and enhanced system reliability. This raises the challenge for policymakers to create a framework which is both advantageous for the energy system and attractive to consumers. Government-set standards for charging tariffs may be a viable option.