The maritime industry is currently discussing various aspects of alternative fuels, and finding viable and adaptable options for alternative fuels remains a sectoral issue. This study examines the ...impact of eight alternative fuels on energy and environmental sustainability, based on operating data of a two-stroke diesel engine. Entropy-based thermodynamic analyses were conducted for five different operations using two indices developed to consider the environmental impact, aimed at serving the decarbonization of this sector. Liquid hydrogen led to an 18 % reduction in fuel load, while ethanol resulted in a 5.55 % increase in engine efficiency. In contrast, using hydrogen resulted in a cumulative 27.01 % reduction in CO2 emissions. When evaluating the reduction rate alongside the improvement rate, it indicates a potential of 34.96 %. Additionally, recommendations for alternative fuels during the sector's decarbonization transition were proposed at the end of the study.
Europe anchored aspiring targets in achieving climate neutrality and this motivates the research communities to analyze, investigate and frame strategies to achieve the goals in the stipulated ...timeframe. This study reviews the effective decarbonization strategies in the context of Europe's climate neutral vision. Initially, the study analyzes the reasons for ever-increasing emissions and investigates the perception of decarbonization in line with various influencing factors such as population size, economic growth, energy intensity, emission intensity, innovation, affordability and time. Subsequently, an in-depth qualitative analysis is performed to force out the challenges that Europe faces in decarbonizing the heating sector from the aspects, such as using clean energy resources, effective heat energy conversion and management approaches. Sustainable approaches and practices are proposed to mitigate carbonization and to promote carbon sink in line with the major problems associated with various sectors such as building, energy, industry and transportation sector. Furthermore, the roles of digitalization in decarbonization are explored and the inherent challenges are also discussed. This study also reviews various decarbonization policies that can direct the governments' action to effectively make a transition towards a climate-neutral society. The key findings highlight that solar energy utilization in small-scale is relatively not preferable for heat energy conversion in Europe due to climatic conditions, while district heating network with bio- and geothermal energy resource highly favors clean heat transformation scenario. In addition, 3D printing has a prodigious role to reduce building lifecycle emissions and hybrid policies as well as reward-based policies yields better outcomes. Promoting hydrogen utilization and carbon capture storage and utilization technologies can pivot climate neutrality in the sectors that are difficult to decarbonize. On the other hand, it can be observed that more focus is provided to reduce emissions and significantly less attention is focused on carbon sink.
•Serious complexity exists in decarbonization with the influence of numerous interlinked factors.•Bio- and geothermal based CHP and district heating can effectively decarbonize the heating sector.•The transport and industrial sector depend on hydrogen energy to witness effective decarbonization.•Coherent policies across borders are suggested for strengthening Europe's decarbonization vision.
China's large residential building stocks lead to the serious effect of operational carbon lock-in, which becomes a major challenge in hitting the carbon peak by 2030. This work is the first to ...develop the Generalized Divisia Index Method with a matrix of 8 × 14 to identify fourteen factors and analyze the provincial carbon change (especially the decarbonization progress) in residential building operations from 2000 to 2018. It shows that: (1) The operational carbon emissions released by residential buildings increased during 2000–2018, with an average rate of 4.53 % per yr in 30 samples. Behind this, the most positive contributor is residential floor areas, while the most negative contributor is the share of household consumption expenditure in the gross domestic product. (2) The annual decarbonization of most provinces in northern China peaked before 2008, accounting for 4.70 mega-tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) per province per yr, and in central and eastern China mainly peaked in approximately 2014, accounting for 7.21 MtCO2 per province per yr, and the annual decarbonization in southern China generally continued to grow. (3) High levels of decarbonization and decarbonization efficiency have been observed in northern and southwestern China, with 35.06 MtCO2 per province of decarbonization and 7.05 % per province of efficiency in 2001–2018. Overall, this study improves the analytical method to assess the decarbonization of building operations, and it helps the governments investigate the building decarbonization potential to promote the schemes of carbon peak.
Decarbonization level and decarbonization efficiency in residential building operations of China's 30 provinces in 2001–2018. Note: samples of 30 provinces are divided into five climate zones. Considering the space limitation, only the selected provinces with the highest or lowest decarbonization efficiency are presented. Display omitted
•GDIM with an 8 × 14 matrix was proposed to analyze the operational carbon in residential buildings.•Provincial carbon emissions of residential building operations rose by 4.53 % yr−1 during 2000–2018.•The annual decarbonization in northern, central and eastern China generally reached its peak.•Northwest China had the highest decarbonization intensity, with 181.83 kgCO2 per household per yr.•A high level of decarbonization and its efficiency was observed in North and southwestern China.
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities in decarbonizing the passenger road transportation sector by reviewing recent empirical evidence and drawing lessons for developing countries. It ...first identifies the advantages and disadvantages of various policy instruments to promote modal shifts and vehicle fuel efficiency, and then discusses the potential impacts of electrification and ride-hailing in transportation decarbonization. While developing countries face formidable challenges in reducing carbon emissions from passenger transportation due to income and population growth, the paper argues that a unique window of opportunity exists to foster a culture of sustainable travel behavior by expanding public transit in combination with market-based pricing policies.
•examines the challenges and opportunities in decarbonizing the passenger road transportation sector in developing countries.•Identifies the advantages and disadvantages of policy instruments to promote modal shifts and vehicle fuel efficiency.•Discusses the potential impacts of electrification and ride-hailing in transportation decarbonization.
The carbon-neutrality target set by the European Union for 2050 drives the increasing relevance of green hydrogen as key player in the energy transition. This work uses the JRC-EU-TIMES energy system ...model to assess opportunities and challenges for green hydrogen trade from North Africa to Europe, analysing to what extent it can support its decarbonization. An important novelty is addressing uncertainty regarding hydrogen economy development. Alternative scenarios are built considering volumes available for import, production costs and transport options, affecting hydrogen cost-effectiveness. Both pipelines and ships are modelled assuming favourable market conditions and pessimistic ones. From 2040 on, all available North African hydrogen is imported regardless of its costs. In Europe this imported hydrogen is mainly converted into synfuels and heat. The study aims to support policymakers to implement effective strategies, focusing on the crucial role of green hydrogen in the decarbonization process, if new competitive cooperations are developed.
•The role of green hydrogen in long-term decarbonization is affected by uncertainty.•The JRC-EU-TIMES model is exploited to study alternative pathways for trade.•Different importable volumes, production costs and transport options are modelled.•From 2040 on, EU + import all the North African hydrogen, regardless of its cost.•EU + countries are differently sensitive to uncertainty factors on hydrogen import.
In order to decarbonize the energy system, it is necessary to change all aspects of the production, transport and consumption of electricity chain. The European Union (EU) aims to become the first ...climate-neutral continent by 2050. To deliver on this ambition, decarbonising the energy sector is crucial because the production and use of energy accounts for more than 75 % of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions (EEA, 2021).
The connection of renewable sources near the places of consumption can lead to flexibility in changing the operating diagram, the operator having the possibility to keep certain distribution cables disconnected, which diminishes the reactive power circulating through the distribution network. The article analyzed two types of distribution areas that show that in the area where consumption is high, it is easier to implement measures to transform the area into positive energy. The concept The concept of Ecs (“energy communities”) provides a great boost for overcoming resistance to infrastructure development, increasing acceptance and penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), encouraging private investments, and establishing public-private partnerships.
Interest in low emissions hydrogen as an energy vector to assist in deep decarbonization goals has gained momentum recently. In this paper, we explore local hydrogen production from natural gas with ...CO2 capture and sequestration (known as “blue” H2) to support Singapore's intended inclusion of low-carbon intensity H2 fuel as a way to achieve significant CO2 emission reduction through 2050. A superstructure-based model is used to minimize the total cost or emissions of the entire supply chain, from H2 production to consumption in the power, industry, domestic, marine, and road transport sectors. H2 demand for each sector is projected for three H2 penetration scenarios (low, medium, and high). The results are analyzed for the levelized cost of H2, reduction in carbon emissions, and cost of carbon avoidance. Costs associated with direct and indirect CO2 emissions, as well as H2 and CO2 infrastructure costs, are included in total costs. A comparison of blue H2 and direct natural gas utilization with post-combustion CO2 capture and sequestration is also presented. We find that decarbonizing Singapore via local production of blue H2 will involve a relatively high carbon avoidance cost.
•A Multi-Period hydrogen supply chain optimization model is developed.•Decarbonizing Singapore via local production of blue H2 is investigated.•The local production capacity could reach as high as 32,000 TPD to meet all H2 demand.•For marine transport, LNH3 is less expensive than LH2.•H2 fuel cell electric vehicles should be considered for heavy-duty vehicles.
Sociotechnical transitions for deep decarbonization Geels, Frank W.; Sovacool, Benjamin K.; Schwanen, Tim ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2017, Volume:
357, Issue:
6357
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Accelerating innovation is as important as climate policy
Rapid and deep reductions in greenhouse gas emission are needed to avoid dangerous climate change. This will necessitate low-carbon ...transitions across electricity, transport, heat, industrial, forestry, and agricultural systems. But despite recent rapid growth in renewable electricity generation, the rate of progress toward this wider goal of deep decarbonization remains slow. Moreover, many policy-oriented energy and climate researchers and models remain wedded to disciplinary approaches that focus on a single piece of the low-carbon transition puzzle, yet avoid many crucial real-world elements for accelerated transitions (
1
). We present a “sociotechnical” framework to address the multidimensionality of the deep decarbonization challenge and show how coevolutionary interactions between technologies and societal groups can accelerate low-carbon transitions.
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