• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• Restricted close
• 11. Sustainability close
• Chinese Academy of Sciences close

Xuanwei City (formerly known as Xuanwei County) locates in the northeastern of Yunnan Province and is rich in coal, iron, copper and other mines, especially the smoky (bituminous) coal. Unfortunately, the lung cancer morbidity and mortality rates in this region are among China's highest, with a clear upward trend from the mid-1970s to mid-2000s. In 2004-2005, the crude death rate of lung cancer was 91.3 per 100,000 in the whole Xuanwei City, while that for Laibin Town in this city was 241.14 per 100,000. The epidemiologic distribution (clustering patterns by population, time, and space) of lung cancer in Xuanwei has some special features, e.g., high incidence in rural areas, high incidence in females, and an early age peak in lung cancer deaths. The main factor that associates with a high rate of lung cancer incidence was found to be indoor air pollution caused by the indoor burning of smoky coal. To a certain extent, genetic defects are also associated with the high incidence of lung cancer in Xuanwei. Taken together, lung cancer in this smoky coal combustion region is a unique model for environmental factor-related human cancer, and the current studies indicate that abandoning the use of smoky coal is the key to diminish lung cancer morbidity and mortality.

Abstract Although the “resource curse” hypothesis has been supported by many empirical studies focusing on the transnational and regional levels, there has always been a point of contention about the proper method of estimating and selecting natural resource indicators in literature. This paper proposes a mixed estimation method for panel data of 10 typical oil and gas resource-based cities in China from 1998 to 2015. The results show that resource industry agglomeration can mirror the distribution and dependence on the resource industry by location rather than by merely measuring the influence of the relative scale of resource extraction on economic growth. Using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable for regional economic growth verifies the resource curse hypothesis and shows the nonlinear characteristics of the negative correlation between resources and economic growth. Despite mostly similar indicator parameter estimates, marked differences exist in measured effects for material capital investments and technological innovation investments. The result of using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable is basically consistent with the economic theory and is more in line with observed reality than the alternative indicator. The research conclusions can provide evidence and data for index selection in the studies on the mediating effect of resource curse transmission and international comparison.

Abstract The transition of energy structure to renewable energy is a social and systematic engineering that requires complex regional power interconnection as a support. Thus, an assessment of the economic viability of infrastructure investments for supporting such transmission expansion is crucial. This study presents a multi-regional power system optimization model to evaluate the potential economic benefits of infrastructure investments for the national inter-regional electricity network in China under various scenarios in the context of low-carbon transformation. Key factors influencing economic benefits are analyzed specifically and regulation barriers associated with inter-regional electricity trade are given particular attention. The results show that approximately 140 Giga Watt (GW) of infrastructure construction for the inter-regional electricity trade network is economically viable during the planning horizon. These new interconnections would lead to 250–440 billion RMB of economic benefits. Regional electricity trade barriers caused by imperfect market mechanisms have a negative impact on the economic benefits of transmission infrastructure investments, although they promote scale and utilization efficiency in the power sector of electricity-importing regions. Improving the national grid coordination mechanism to break the grid isolation between the State Grid Corporation of China and the China Southern Power Grid is crucial, because a large number of transmission lines connecting these two national-level power grids are economically viable.

Abstract Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is widely regarded as a significant and sustainable renewable energy option to fight against climate change.Accordingly, it is important to explore the potential of greenhouse gases (GHGs) mitigation and temperature benefits by substituting PV-generated power for coal-fired electricity. This necessity becomes particularly clear given that China hascommitted itself to a carbon emissions peak around 2030. Based on an integrated energy-economy-environmental model and a simple climate response model, we reach the following conclusions: (1) By restraining the cumulative GHGs emissions space within 255 GtCO 2eq till 2050, PV solar promises to dominate GHGs mitigation, with the highest contribution reaching 64.67%. (2) Under the moderate emissions-control case, China will achieve its emissions peak target, with solar energy substitution relieving the nation׳s dependence on coal. (3) The highest radiative forcing and temperature benefits yieldedthrough replacing coal-generated power with solar power is around 20% and 11.05%, respectively. (4) Finally, it is not too costly to gain such benefits: at most, the accumulated economic cost would be 102.14 trillion Yuanuntil 2050, accounting for less than 3% of the accumulated GDP.

Abstract The development of the regional economy in China is unbalanced. Interregional "carbon leakage" and "carbon transfer" have a significant impact on the realization of carbon emission mitigation targets and the allocation of responsibility. Using China's interregional input-output tables and the corresponding carbon emission data for 2007 and 2010, this paper proposes an interregional Ghosh input-output model and estimates the amount of interprovincial carbon emission transfer from the supply-side perspective. We find that the main direction of supply-side carbon emission transfer is from resource-intensive provinces in the central and western regions to developed provinces in the eastern coastal regions. Further analysis shows that the transfer is mainly concentrated in the production and distribution of electricity and heat, nonmetallic mineral products, and basic metals, whose carbon emissions account for approximately 70% of all sectors’ carbon emissions. The differences between the supply side and the demand side of China's provinces are mainly reflected in the transfer out of carbon emissions.

Abstract This paper explores the relationships between travelers’ intentions to use low carbon travel modes, a set of socio-psychological variables, and the influence of government supported low carbon travel policies. Specifically, a Comprehensive Intention Determination Model (CIDM) is used to study residents’ low-carbon travel intentions, based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and value-belief-norm theory (VBN), and using structural equations modeling (SEM) applied to survey responses by 811 residents of the city of Tianjin, China. Low-carbon transport policies are shown to influence traveler intentions primarily through attitude, subjective and personal norms, awareness of consequence, and ascription of responsibility; and that combining positive social-psychological factors towards low-carbon awareness with effective low carbon transport policies can influence the residents’ willingness to choose low-carbon travel modes to a moderate degree.

For human health benefits it is crucial to see if carcinogenic air pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are reduced accordingly along with the control of the criteria pollutants including fine particles (PM2.5). A number of studies documented that enhanced temporary emission control during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) in Beijing resulted in substantial drops of observed ambient PM2.5, as well as PAHs, in urban areas of Beijing, yet it is not clear whether PM2.5-bound PAHs in the rural areas were also lowered during the APEC. Here filter-based PM2.5 samples were collected at a rural site in northeast of Beijing, and analyzed for 25 PAHs before (Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2014), during (Nov. 3-12, 2014) and after (Nov. 13, 2014-Jan. 14, 2015) the APEC. Observed concentrations of PM2.5, OC and EC during the APEC dropped by about 30%, however, average PM2.5-bound PAHs and their incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), 25.65 ng/m3 and 3.2 × 10-4, remained almost unchanged when compared to that of 25.48 ng/m3 and 3.5 × 10-4, respectively, before the APEC. After the APEC with the start of wintertime central heating in urban Beijing on Nov. 15, 2014, average total concentration of PAHs and their ILCR highly elevated and reached 118.25 ng/m3 and 1.5 × 10-3, respectively. Source apportioning by positive matrix factorization (PMF) revealed that coal combustion was the largest source that contributed 63.2% (16.1 ng/m3), 78.5% (20.1 ng/m3) and 56.1% (66.3 ng/m3) to the total PAHs before, during and after the APEC, respectively. Uncontrolled residential coal use during the APEC was found to be the reason for unabated levels of PAHs, and the largely aggravated PAHs after the APEC was resulted from increased coal consumption for wintertime residential heating. Our results suggested reducing emission from residential coal combustion is crucial to mitigate carcinogenic PAHs in ambient air, especially in rural areas.

Abstract South Korea initiated an emissions trading scheme (ETS) on January 1, 2015. Based on this environmental policy, at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) meeting, the Korean government announced that it would decrease carbon emissions 37% from business as usual (BAU) levels by 2030. Since this target is too ambitious for the Korean economy, a number of studies have analyzed the economic impacts of emissions trading in Korea, but few have distinguished between industries covered and not covered by the ETS, notwithstanding the lack of industry-level data on quotas and emissions. This study overcomes such shortcomings by converting a dataset of 525 firms covered by the South Korea ETS (SK-ETS) into a 28-sector database consistent with the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) classifications. We implement a simulation of the SK-ETS with a computational general equilibrium (CGE) model. Simulation results suggest that while SK-ETS has significant abatement effects (−2.56% from the base case), it only has mild negative impacts on GDP (0.41%) and household consumption (0.11%). Industry output on average falls by 0.54%, with the gas and air transport sectors most adversely affected. The most noticeable price changes are from the electricity sector, whose output price goes up by 3.75%. It is noteworthy that because of the export-oriented economy, many global business leaders and politicians have argued that the ETS will disadvantage exporting companies, while the simulation results showed a higher trade surplus based on enhanced competitiveness.

Abstract Coal resource tax reform from quantity-based collection to ad valorem collection has been implemented by the Chinese government in December 2014, to develop a low-carbon economy. This paper builds a multi-sectoral dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with a coal resource tax module, to study the general impacts of such reform policy on the Chinese economy and environment. Based on the proposed model, different policy designs with different ad valorem tax rates are simulated and further compared with the current quantity-based policy, and some interesting results can be obtained. As for the economic influence, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China would be somewhat negatively affected by the reform in terms of output shrinkage in most sectors, and the effect will be larger with a higher tax rate but decrease as time goes. From the environmental perspective, the energy structure would be improved by the reform policy, with a sharp decrease in coal consumption but increases in the consumptions of cleaner energy forms. Accordingly, the total carbon emissions and other main air pollutants (SO 2 and NO x ) would be significantly mitigated, which can effectively improve the environment and guarantee the achievement of China's promise in carbon emissions reduction.