This study uses data on 116 listed Chinese equipment manufacturing or material production enterprises in the non-hydropower renewable energy industries (i.e., wind, photovoltaic (PV), and biomass ...energy) to explore the determinants of overcapacity in the renewable energy industry. A data envelopment analysis model is applied to measure the overcapacity of these enterprises. Relevant data from 2008 to 2016 are regressed using a panel Tobit model with a bootstrap method and accordingly, the mechanism of overcapacity formation is identified from the perspectives of enterprises' profitability level, government subsidy, and the domestic and foreign market structures. The results show that overcapacity differs among China's non-hydropower renewable energy industries—it is the most serious in the PV industry, followed by the wind and biomass industries. Enterprise profitability, government subsidy, and market structure all significantly impact the overcapacity of the PV industry. Further, the increase in the number of policies will aggravate the overcapacity of the PV industry, but an increase in coordination degree of renewable energy industrial policies and financial support could mitigate it. Excessive government subsidy and the unbalanced market structure at home and abroad are the main reasons for the overcapacity in the wind and biomass industries, respectively. To reduce overcapacity, subsidy standards and thresholds for entering and exiting industries should be rigidly controlled by the government. In addition, PV enterprises should focus on improving enterprises' return on assets and pay more attention to domestic market demand, while biomass enterprises should actively explore overseas markets. Finally, more attention should be paid to the policies' synergy of the photovoltaic industry and its related industrial rather than the number of policies.
•Determinants of overcapacity in Chinese renewable energy industry are explored.•Overcapacity is the most serious in the PV industry followed by wind and biomass.•Subsidy is the determinant of overcapacity of PV and wind energy industries.•Overcapacity of biomass energy is affected by ratio of dependence on export.
Considering the crucial role of industrial sectors in energy conservation, this paper investigates the impact of output growth on energy consumption in China's industrial sectors with an index ...decomposition model and the energy rebound effect in the industrial sectors with a panel data model using the annual data during 1994–2012. The empirical results indicate that: first, industrial output growth is proved to be the major factor in promoting industrial energy consumption, while energy intensity reduction and structure shifts across industrial sub-sectors play the dominant roles in slowing down industrial energy consumption. Second, there does exist energy rebound effect in China's aggregate Industry, which ranges from 20% to 76% during 1995–2012 (or 39% on average). In particular, the energy rebound effect in Manufacturing is relatively smaller during the sample period (i.e., 28% on average). Finally, the energy rebound effect in both China's aggregate Industry and Manufacturing exhibit an overall decreasing trend over time.
•We estimate the energy rebound effect in China's industrial sectors.•Output growth proves the major factor promoting industrial energy consumption.•Energy intensity decline and structure shift help cut industrial energy consumption.•The average energy rebound effect reaches 39% in China's Industry during 1995–2012.•Energy rebound effect in Industry has overall decreasing trend over time in China.
Starter cultures can be defined as preparations with a large number of cells that include a single type or a mixture of two or more microorganisms that are added to foods in order to take advantage ...of the compounds or products derived from their metabolism or enzymatic activity. In foods from animal origin, starter cultures are widely used in the dairy industry for cheese, yogurt and other fermented dairy products, in the meat industry, mainly for sausage manufacture, and in the fishery industry for fermented fish products. Usually, microorganisms selected as starter culture are isolated from the native microbiota of traditional products since they are well adapted to the environmental conditions of food processing and are responsible to confer specific appearance, texture, aroma and flavour characteristics. The main function of starter cultures used in food from animal origin, mainly represented by lactic acid bacteria, consists in the rapid production of lactic acid, which causes a reduction in pH, inhibiting the growth of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, increasing the shelf-life of fermented foods. Also, production of other metabolites (e.g., lactic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, benzoic acid, hydrogen peroxide or bacteriocins) improves the safety of foods. Since starter cultures have become the predominant microbiota, it allows food processors to control the fermentation processes, excluding the undesirable flora and decreasing hygienic and manufacturing risks due to deficiencies of microbial origin. Also, stater cultures play an important role in the chemical safety of fermented foods by reduction of biogenic amine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contents. The present review discusses how starter cultures contribute to improve the microbiological and chemical safety in products of animal origin, namely meat, dairy and fishery products.
This paper examines the relationship between export diversification, export margins and economic growth at the industry level using Thailand as a case study during 2002–16. Our results show that the ...effects of export diversification and margins on economic growth vary across industries. Export diversification helps boost growth only in some sectors, including electronics, automotive and chemicals, plastic and rubber, while in the processed food, and textiles and apparel industries, specialisation matters more in promoting growth. In almost all industries, a non‐linear relationship between diversification and economic growth is not revealed, except in textiles and apparel. The diversification is crucial in enhancing the impact of exports on growth only in the processed food and textiles and apparel industries. Expansion of intensive margins plays an important role in boosting growth in key industries within Thailand. The role of extensive margins, both in terms of new products and new market destinations, in promoting economic growth is limited. For extensive margins (new products), it is found to be significant in boosting economic growth only in processed food and textiles and apparel, while in the case of extensive margins (new market destinations), its significance in boosting growth is revealed only in the electronics sector.
More than a decade ago, in China׳s electric power industry, the investment for generation side and power grids was inadequate and the gap between power supply and demand kept enlarging. In order to ...relief the problems above, power industry reform has been carried out in 2002 under the guidance of “No. 5 Document” by the Central Government. The reform in 2002 has made a series of achievements, including the enhancement of operation efficiency of power industry and the fulfillment of power demand all over the country. During the past decade, as the rapid development of the society and economy, the external environment of China׳s power industry has changed greatly. However, the pricing and planning mechanism of China׳s power industry still operates following the requirements of “No. 5 Document”, this has led to a number of problems including twisted pricing mechanism, irrational power system planning, inefficient utilization of renewable energy and so on. These problems have not only hindered the development of power industry in China for quite a long time, but also brought negative influence on the business operation of upstream and downstream industries. Therefore, Chinese government has issued “No. 9 Document” in 2015 and launched a new round of power industry reform. Policies were carried out to form new pricing mechanism, new policies about renewable energy generation and power system planning process to solve the problems mentioned above. This paper has reviewed the history of reform in 2002 and summarized the existing problems of China׳s power industry. Besides, the main policies of “No. 9 Document” were deeply analyzed, and their significance as well as backwards were illustrated. At last, solutions were proposed accordingly and these solutions have considerable theoretical and practical significance to China׳s electric power industry reform in the future.
In recent years, research on food packaging is gaining momentum, primarily being driven by consumer preferences to food quality and food safety. Also, as food packaging plays a pivotal role in ...product selection at retail outlets, the interest on developing novel strategies in food packaging is on the rise. One such concept with huge potential in the food industry is intelligent packaging.
The focus of this work is to provide an up-to-date information on intelligent tools such as indicators (thermal indicators, leak indicators, freshness indicators, pH indicators), sensors, radio frequency identification tags and other essential aspects of intelligent packaging systems as reported in literature and those that have gained commercial value for applications in the food supply chain.
Emphasizing the potential of intelligent packaging, a range of products, including muscle-based foods, and fruits and vegetables are discussed. Importantly, this work highlights research needs, particularly in terms of applications for liquid foods, which are the most perishable commodities.
•Intelligent packaging can contribute to food waste reduction.•They are tools for consumer selection of safe foods at retail-level.•Concepts for indicating/sensing quality are explained with product-wise examples.•Research need for intelligent tools for liquid foods is emphasized.
We extend theories of self-regulation of physical commons to analyze self-regulation of intangible commons in modern industry. We posit that when the action of one firm can cause "spillover" harm to ...others, firms share a type of commons. We theorize that the need to protect this commons can motivate the formation of a self-regulatory institution. Using data from the U. S. chemical industry, we find that spillover harm from industrial accidents increased after a major industry crisis and decreased following the formation of a new institution. Additionally, our findings suggest that the institution lessened spillovers from participants to the broader industry.
In September 1843, about a hundred Sicilian farmers arrived to the island of Lampedusa with the King of the Two Sicilies’s promise of a plot of land to cultivate, a house and a government subsidy of ...4 tarì per day (about 20 euros today). The difficult environmental conditions, however, made the practice of agriculture almost impossible, and led the first settlers to a life of sacrifice and hardship. Later, sponge diving and fishing allowed the Lampedusa community to free itself from the hard life in the fields, and to achieve at least some economic security. Tourism, which began tentatively in the late 1960s, ensured the people even greater well-being. All this, combined with the innate willingness of the people from Lampedusa to welcome tourists, are mentioned in the book. Fabio Giovanetti and Antonino Taranto contributed to the volume’s realization, enriching it with important historical documents as well as images, and collaborated in the revision of the text. Their deep knowledge of the naturalistic, historical and landscape aspects of Lampedusa have been fundamental.
This paper assesses the current regulatory environment, relevant regulations and guidelines, and their impact on continuous manufacturing. It summarizes current regulatory experience and learning ...from both review and inspection perspectives. It outlines key regulatory aspects, including continuous manufacturing process description and control strategy in regulatory files, process validation, and key Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements. In addition, the paper identifies regulatory gaps and challenges and proposes a way forward to facilitate implementation.
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