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Abstract The rapidly growing construction industry has accelerated water and energy scarcity in China, threatening its sustainable development. This study integrates multi-regional input-output (MRIO) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the water-energy nexus in the construction industry at the provincial level through the entire industrial supply chain. Results show that the construction industry accounts for 8.97% and 27.20% of virtual water and embodied energy in China, respectively. The western area experiences the most energy- and water-intensive construction processes given its backward economy and outdated technological development. The northern area faces great challenges with regard to energy intensity improvements, whereas the central regions suffer from large pressure relating to inefficient water use. The manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, smelting, and the pressing of metals are the largest suppliers of virtual water and embodied energy. The efficiency assessment results demonstrate that Jiangsu and Zhejiang are two DEA-effective regions. China has achieved a relatively high level of scale efficiency but suffers from backward technology.

Based on the results of components and stable carbon isotopic analysis of gas and oil from the Lishui sag, East China Sea Basin, the oil and gas genesis, source and charge process are studied by combining the history of structural evolution, oil and gas generation and migration and accumulation. The study shows that there are two types of gases in the Lishui sag now, one is the gas with high CO2 content and low oil-type pyrolysis gas content found in Well WZ13-1-1, the other is the gas with high content of the mixture of coal-type gas and oil-type pyrolysis gas and certain content of CO2 found in Well LS36-1-1, LS36-1-2 and LF-1. Hydrocarbon gases are all organic thermal gas, in which high maturity oil-type gas was from Paleocene Yueguifeng Formation and charged in middle-late Eocene-early Oligocene, and low maturity coal-type gas was from Paleocene Mingyuefeng Formation and was charged in late stage. The CO2 in Well LF-1 is of organic origin, while CO2 in other wells were derived from the deep inorganic mantle source gas charged variously in Oligocene. Oil in Well WZ6-1-1 is the high maturity sapropel type oil from Yueguifeng Formation which was charged in middle-late Eocene-early Oligocene. Condensate in Well LS36-1 is low maturity humus type oil from Mingyuefeng Formation charged in late stage. Oil in Well LF-1 may be of mixed source and greater proportion of oil likely from Paleocene Yueguifeng Formation. Key words: gas, crude oil, CO2, genesis, source, charge process, Lishui sag

The ocean provides resources key to human health and well-being, including food, oxygen, livelihoods, blue spaces, and medicines. The global threat to these resources posed by accelerating ocean acidification is becoming increasingly evident as the world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide emissions. While ocean acidification was initially perceived as a threat only to the marine realm, here we argue that it is also an emerging human health issue. Specifically, we explore how ocean acidification affects the quantity and quality of resources key to human health and well-being in the context of: (1) malnutrition and poisoning, (2) respiratory issues, (3) mental health impacts, and (4) development of medical resources. We explore mitigation and adaptation management strategies that can be implemented to strengthen the capacity of acidifying oceans to continue providing human health benefits. Importantly, we emphasize that the cost of such actions will be dependent upon the socioeconomic context; specifically, costs will likely be greater for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, exacerbating the current inequitable distribution of environmental and human health challenges. Given the scale of ocean acidification impacts on human health and well-being, recognizing and researching these complexities may allow the adaptation of management such that not only are the harms to human health reduced but the benefits enhanced.

SummaryTo gain a better understanding of the interactions among bacteria, viruses and flagellates in coastal marine ecosystems, we investigated the effect of viral lysis and protistan bacterivory on bacterial abundance, production and diversity [determined by 16S rRNA gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE)] in three coastal marine sites with different nutrient supplies in Hong Kong. Six experiments were set up using filtration and dilution methods to develop virus, flagellate and virus+flagellate treatments for natural bacterial populations. All three predation treatments had significant repressing effects on bacterial abundance. Bacterial production was significantly repressed by flagellates and both predators (flagellates and viruses). Bacterial apparent species richness (indicated as the number of DGGE bands) was always significantly higher in the presence of viruses, flagellates and both predators than in the predator‐free control. Cluster analysis of the DGGE patterns showed that the effects of viruses and flagellates on bacterial community structure were relatively stochastic while the co‐effects of predators caused consistent trends (DGGE always showed the most similar patterns when compared with those of in situ environments) and substantially increased the apparent richness. Overall, we found strong evidence that viral lysis and protist bacterivory act additively to reduce bacterial production and to sustain diversity. This first systematic attempt to study the interactive effects of viruses and flagellates on the diversity and production of bacterial communities in coastal waters suggests that a tight control of bacterioplankton dominants results in relatively stable bacterioplankton communities.

Abstract Renewable electricity generations have been growing rapidly in recent years worldwide as a result of efforts to address the global energy issue. However, it has also imposed increasing challenges on the balance of power grids due to their intermittent nature. Building sector, as the largest consumer, is expected increasingly to play an important role in providing ancillary services (AS) to relieve stress and reduce the needs of investment for power balance of the smart grids. Grid-responsive building therefore becomes a worthwhile and essential feature of buildings today and in the future. This paper provides an overview of the classification, benefits, applications as well as methods/technologies for HVAC systems in non-residential buildings to provide ancillary services, as fast responses (i.e., in the magnitude of seconds or minutes) to the needs of smart grids. In addition, the challenges of applications and potential solutions are investigated and summarized. The potential capacities of HVAC systems in the entire non-residential building sector in Hong Kong for providing frequency regulation (FR) and spinning reserve are also quantified.

Abstract Low-carbon economy has played an important role in green energy economics in last two decades. The number of studies conducted on low-carbon economy has increased steadily since 1990 and now in a fast-growing stage of its academic articles’ production life cycle. An increasing number of scholars have paid their attentions to low-carbon economy research. Hence, the low-carbon economy has been an important and popular topic in the past 30 years as evidenced by numerous papers in journals listed in several subject categories in the Web of Science (WoS) online database. This research reviewed more than 14,000 bibliographic records from the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index of WoS. In this work, paper citations, subject categories, cited journals, top countries, productive institutes, authors, cited references and publications’ citations or research collaborations are analysed from published literature. We have found that the top three productive journals in low-carbon economy research are Energy Policy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews and Journal of Cleaner Production. The U.S. has an apparent advantage in the quantity and quality of low-carbon economy research. In addition, the U.S. is in the centre of international collaboration networks, including two top productive institutes, which summarized as University of California Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University accordingly. An overall trend of the developing analysis of low-carbon economy research can provide a clear knowledge map and deep understanding of academic research on low-carbon economy.

Sustainability is a global issue and its enhancement through modern forms of procurements, such as public-private partnership (PPP), has become topical considering the huge impact of PPP activities on society, the economy, and the environment. However, one way of promoting sustainability thorough PPPs is the adoption of social responsibility (SR) initiatives/factors. This paper aims to empirically investigate the SR factors in PPPs through a comparative study between China and Ghana. An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted in both China and Ghana. Further, the mean score ranking, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, and Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis. Results show that SR factors related to the economic efficiency of PPP projects and climate change adaptation are critical in China, whereas in Ghana, SR factors directly related to job creation and environmental protection are critical. The outputs of this study inform investors of the critical SR initiatives to consider when engaging in PPPs in Asia and Africa. In addition, they provide a solid knowledge base for the continuous international debate on how sustainability could be enhanced through PPP policy.