Energy & Environment

Environmental pollution is an important factor affecting the sustainable development of a country or region. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to deeply study and judge the decoupling relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution. On the basis of 31 provinces in China, the present paper decomposes the decoupling elastic coefficient into scale decoupling elasticity, technical decoupling elasticity, and structural decoupling elasticity by log mean divisia index and analyzes the decoupling relation between economic growth and environmental pollution from 2001 to 2015. We also evaluate the degree of the decoupling in time and space for various provinces. The results show economic growth has decoupled from industrial waste water emissions; industrial solid waste has gradually gained some improvement; the decoupling state between economic growth and industrial exhaust is unstable; and the increasing economic scale is the key driver for environmental pollution. However, the evidence also shows that technology plays a positive role in the decoupling. From analysis of the spatial pattern of decoupling, almost all developed areas in the eastern coastal region have achieved decoupling, while decoupling in the middle and western regions is unstable. Finally, the revision of The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Energy Conservation has played a certain role on the decoupling of economic growth and environmental pollution.

The convergence of carbon emissions in important regions is a key prerequisite for reaching China’s carbon emissions peak target. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is the latest strategic economic area in China. In this study, a method of investigating the convergence of per capita carbon emissions in the YREB is proposed, and it includes the following models: σ convergence, stochastic convergence and β convergence. Besides, the five control variables per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), energy consumption structure, industrial structure, population density and urbanization rate are considered in the test models. In addition to testing the whole sample of 74 cities belonging to the Economic Belt, the convergence of three subgroups (municipalities, capital and sub-provincial cities and prefecture-level cities) is also tested by considering spatial effects. The following results are obtained: (1) although σ convergence and β conditional convergence are observed, stochastic convergence is not observed for the 74 cities; (2) the per capita GDP and energy structure are the key factors influencing the cities’ convergence, whereas the urbanization rate has a limited impact; and (3) improving the industrial structure and reducing the population density are effective methods of promoting the convergence of per capita carbon emissions among the capital and sub-provincial cities and municipalities, respectively.

On a global scale, the energy demand continues to increase. The costs of fossil fuels are uncertain. The liberalization of the electricity market and an environmental conscience are the levers for the development of renewable energies. They have reached a technical maturity that allows them to become an important segment of the energy industry. Their insertion in the energy mix poses new challenges compared to traditional energy sources. With abundant potential still under-exploited, wind and solar (photovoltaic) energy are economically and environmentally beneficial. However, their intermittent nature decreases their energy efficiency when used individually. The use of multi-source systems to combine these renewable energy sources is considered a reliable solution. In this context, we are interested in determining the performances of multi-source renewable energy systems, related to their dependability. Our approach is based on the use of deterministic and stochastic Petri nets for analyzing the dynamic behavior of these systems. By using the developed model for analyzing functional and dysfunctional behavior, we determine the instants of passage from functioning state to breakdown state of multi-source renewable energy systems for calculating their reliability. After that, the overall production time, for these systems, is defined by developing mathematical models to calculate duration of failure and waiting time of each component, according to the architecture of the system to be studied.

In a growing body of environmental studies, the scholars have debated the relationship between democracy and the environmental quality. In this study, we empirically examine the impact of democratic factors on the environmental quality in high- and low-income countries. To do so, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis on about 78 higher income countries and about 53 lower income countries in 2014. Our study finds that all factors of democracy, except for political participation, contribute positively to the environment. Also, the environment seems to improve monotonically as income grows. In lower income countries, most of the democratic factors do not have a positive impact on the environment, except for functioning of the government. This indicates that the government plays a critical role in improving the environmental quality in lower income countries. Income variables are not statistically significant in lower income countries. With respect to policy design, our findings suggest that it might be helpful for higher income countries to implement policies based on other successful democratic policies in countries with similar backgrounds. Lower income countries are recommended to strengthen their political institutions and promote well-functioning governance.

The main objective of the present numerical investigation is to understand the effect of partially active thermal zones and density inversion on the buoyancy-driven convection of cold water near its maximum density under the influence of uniform magnetic field inside a square cavity. The partially heated or cooled zones are placed along the vertical sidewalls of the cavity while the other inactive portions of the walls are considered to be adiabatic and thermally insulated. The length of the partially active thermal zones is measured to be equal to half the length of the cavity’s height. When the locations of heating and cooling zones are placed in different positions, it provides a significant effect on flow pattern and the rate of heat transfer. To investigate this location effect, the thermally active zones are placed in a combination of five different relative positions along the vertical sidewalls. The modeled equations are solved using finite volume method with Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equation algorithm. The numerical coding is done through the FORTRAN 95 programming for numerical simulation and the results attained are represented graphically in the form of flow field and temperature distribution for various values of density inversion parameter, Hartmann number, and for various positions of thermal zones. The results reveal that the heat transfer rate behaves nonlinearly on increasing the density inversion parameter values. The high transfer rate is perceived for the location middle–middle when   T m < 0.5 and for top–bottom when   T m ≥ 0.5 for all values of the Hartmann number.

Based on spatial econometrics, this paper examines the impact of urbanization, coal consumption proportion, and traffic pressure on haze pollution and attempts to verify the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis by using 30 provinces’ panel data in China from 2003 to 2015. The global Moran’s I index indicates the positive spatial correlation of haze pollution, and the local Moran’s I index indicates the clustering phenomenon of haze pollution in local regions. This model shows that haze pollution has spatial spillover effects in China. The relationship between urbanization and haze pollution is an inverse U-type curve, and the increase in coal consumption proportion and traffic pressure may enhance the degree of haze pollution. To govern China’s haze pollution, China should promote regional collaborative governance, expand urban afforestation areas, adopt green buildings, increase green elements, enhance ecological factors, optimize energy structure and implement energy substitution, and develop public traffic.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the perspectives of civil society actors in Malta about the country’s sustainable energy policy and its impact on green jobs. Perspectives of 11 civil society actors comprising employers, trade unions and non-governmental organisations are analysed to provide a broad reflexive analysis of the policy process in question. Findings illuminate a broad consensus within civil society that the policymaking process in the field of sustainable energy should incorporate different voices from civil society – such as employers, trade unions and environmental non-governmental organisations – apart from experts in energy, economics and other areas. Indeed, this study’s findings include civil society’s reviews on how commercial viability, workers’ rights, environmental protection and sustainability interact with and within the sustainable energy sector and related green jobs. Nonetheless, this study signals that within Maltese civil society, sharing of knowledge and good practice and effort coordination lack. Different interests and sectarianism testify to inconsistently interacting and competing human local networks. This broadens the discourse on effective sustainable energy policy and creation of related green jobs, also making it more complex. Indeed, the direction of such discourse bears potential for sporadic development. Whilst challenging vertical trajectories, institutionally centred and technical transitions in the area of environmental sustainability, the primary data gained from this study highlight need for policy to address the identified challenges through projects, funding and incentives that foster coordination between different types of civil society organisations.

Energy consumption is the primary source of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, so reduction of energy consumption in any sector of the economy can be used as a tool to fight against global warming. However, to do that satisfactorily, it is necessary to know the degree of persistence of sectoral energy consumption. In fact, the degree of persistence shows how much of impact of shocks carries over to the following periods. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze the persistence and stationarity of sectoral energy consumption in the United States during 1952–2016 using bootstrap and subsampling confidence intervals. These confidence intervals provide more information compared to the unit root tests. Not only they provide evidence about the stationarity or non-stationarity of the variables, but also they show the degree of persistence. In addition, they require fewer assumptions on the nature of data. The findings show that the energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors appears to be stationary but persistent. On the contrary, the energy consumption in the industrial and transportation sectors is non-stationary. Therefore, the industrial and transportation sectors are the best candidates to implement energy conservation and economic or environmental-oriented policies, because the effect of these policies will be permanent. Similar policies can be applied in the residential and commercial sectors as well; however, the effects of shocks to these sectors will diminish eventually.

Improvements to industrial economic efficiency are important in coordinating China’s economic development and its environmental protections; furthermore, an effective environmental regulation system is a crucial driver of both industrial economic efficiency and technological innovation. Using panel data pertaining to China’s 12 characteristic industries over the 2008–2015 period, this study divides environmental regulations into two types – namely, cost-oriented environmental regulations (ER1) and investment-oriented environmental regulations (ER2). This study employs a slacks-based method to calculate the economic efficiency of different groups of industries, and it applies a regression model to test the effects of these two types of environmental regulations on economic efficiency and technological innovation among China’s 12 key industries. Our research results offer three distinct findings. (1) These two types of environmental regulations have opposite effects on industrial efficiency and technological innovation: ER1 have significant and positive effects on economic efficiency and technological innovation, but ER2 have negative effects on them. (2) The results with respect to various groups of industries differ widely, with low-efficiency industries sustaining a more positive influence from environmental regulations and technological innovation than high-efficiency ones. (3) Technological innovation effectively promotes the economic efficiency of industries and tends to have a more significant impact on relatively low-efficiency industries. These findings indicate that the effects of different types of environmental regulations differ across industries. Finally, to optimize and adjust these environmental regulation tools, this study makes policy recommendations for various industries.

Promoting biodiesel industrialization is not only an important measure in addressing the energy crisis and global warming but is also a driver for industrial restructuring and rural development. To promote the development of the biofuel industry, the Chinese central government has set a target that biofuel will account for 15% of transport energy consumption by 2020. The macroeconomic impacts of this policy, however, are unknown. This paper estimates the economic and environmental impacts on Yunnan of meeting this target using a demand-driven input–output model for Jatropha curcas L. biodiesel. The study combines life-cycle analysis and input–output analysis to establish the industrial relationship of the biodiesel sector with other sectors. The results show that meeting the biofuel policy target in 2020 will generate 296,780 thousand job opportunities annually (man-year) and increase household income. Meeting this target will also lower carbon emission by 11.39 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, valued at 2.41 billion Yuan. However, meeting the target will decrease tax revenue by 1.8 billion Yuan and reduce the provincial gross domestic product by 754.95 million Yuan. Thus, the industrialization of J. curcas L. biodiesel can contribute to the development of a green economy and is a positive response to the policies of energy conservation and emission reduction. The promotion of biodiesel production, however, requires a trade-off between economic and environmental targets.