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This paper presents an overview of the resources use and environmental impact of the Chinese industry during 1997–2006. For the purpose of this analysis the thermodynamic concept of exergy has been employed both to quantify and aggregate the resources input and the environmental emissions arising from the sector. The resources input and environmental emissions show an increasing trend in this period. Compared with 47568.7 PJ in 1997, resources input in 2006 increased by 75.4% and reached 83437.9 PJ, of which 82.5% came from nonrenewable resources, mainly from coal and other energy minerals. Furthermore, the total exergy of environmental emissions was estimated to be 3499.3 PJ in 2006, 1.7 times of that in 1997, of which 93.4% was from GHG emissions and only 6.6% from “three wastes” emissions. A rapid increment of the nonrenewable resources input and GHG emissions over 2002–2006 can be found, owing to the excessive expansion of resource- and energy-intensive subsectors. Exergy intensities in terms of resource input intensity and environmental emission intensity time-series are also calculated, and the trends are influenced by the macroeconomic situation evidently, particularly by the investment-derived economic development in recent years. Corresponding policy implications to guide a more sustainable industry system are addressed.
Bo Zhang; Beihua Peng; MingChu Liu. Exergetic Assessment for Resources Input and Environmental Emissions by Chinese Industry during 1997–2006. The Scientific World Journal 2012, 2012, 1 -13.
AMA StyleBo Zhang, Beihua Peng, MingChu Liu. Exergetic Assessment for Resources Input and Environmental Emissions by Chinese Industry during 1997–2006. The Scientific World Journal. 2012; 2012 ():1-13.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBo Zhang; Beihua Peng; MingChu Liu. 2012. "Exergetic Assessment for Resources Input and Environmental Emissions by Chinese Industry during 1997–2006." The Scientific World Journal 2012, no. : 1-13.
This paper considers the Global Thermodynamic Potential (GTP) indicator to perform a unified assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and to systematically reveal the emission embodiment in the production, consumption, and international trade of the Chinese economy in 2007 as the most recent year available with input-output table and updated inventory data. The results show that the estimated total direct GHG emissions by the Chinese economy in 2007 amount to 10,657.5 Mt CO2-eq by the GTPs with 40.6% from CH4 emissions in magnitude of the same importance as CO2 emissions. The five sectors of Electric Power/Steam and Hot Water Production and Supply, Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals, Nonmetal Mineral Products, Agriculture, and Coal Mining and Dressing, are responsible for 83.3% of the total GHG emissions with different emission structures. The demands of coal and coal-electricity determine the structure of emission embodiment to an essential extent. The Construction sector holds the top GHG emissions embodied in both domestic production and domestic consumption. The GHG emission embodied in gross capital formation is more than those in other components of final demand characterized by extensive investment and limited household consumption. China is a net exporter of embodied GHG emissions, with a remarkable share of direct emission induced by international trade, such as textile products, industrial raw materials, and primary machinery and equipment products exports. The fractions of CH4 in the component of embodied GHG emissions in the final demand are much greater than those fractions calculated by the Global Warming Potentials, which highlight the importance of CH4 emissions for the case of China and indicate the essential effect of CH4 emissions on global climate change. To understand the full context to achieve GHG emission mitigation, this study provides a new insight to address China’s GHG emissions status and hidden emission information induced by the final demand to the related policy-makers.
Bo Zhang; Suping Peng; Xiangyang Xu; Lijie Wang. Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials. Energies 2011, 4, 1897 -1915.
AMA StyleBo Zhang, Suping Peng, Xiangyang Xu, Lijie Wang. Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials. Energies. 2011; 4 (11):1897-1915.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBo Zhang; Suping Peng; Xiangyang Xu; Lijie Wang. 2011. "Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials." Energies 4, no. 11: 1897-1915.
Considering the importance of supporting system for the urban ecosystem development, the urban ecological carrying capacity (UECC) representing the supporting functions of biophysical environment for urban development is introduced into the analysis of urban ecosystem degradation. It is proposed in this paper that the urban ecosystem degradation can be attributed to the imbalance between supply and demand of UECC, i.e. the conflict between the infinite demand of urban development and finite supply of biophysical supporting system, which can be mainly described by the dominant limiting factors of UECC. Through the shortage indices of various factors that denoted by the ratio of the gap between the demand and supply to the demand, the limiting factors of UECC can be identified and graded with different levels. The urban ecosystem degradation can thus be regulated by adjusting the relationship of supply and demand in terms of limiting factors from both the layers of technical practice and goal-based government management. As for Ningbo City, the shortage of water resources quantity, the pressure of SO2 emission, insufficiency of sewage treatment and green area are the prominent limiting factors and corresponding regulation scheme is thereafter suggested to adjust the relationship between supply and demand of UECC.
Z.F. Yang; M.R. Su; B. Zhang; Y. Zhang; T.L. Hu. Limiting factor analysis and regulation for urban ecosystems—A case study of Ningbo, China. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 2010, 15, 2701 -2709.
AMA StyleZ.F. Yang, M.R. Su, B. Zhang, Y. Zhang, T.L. Hu. Limiting factor analysis and regulation for urban ecosystems—A case study of Ningbo, China. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation. 2010; 15 (9):2701-2709.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZ.F. Yang; M.R. Su; B. Zhang; Y. Zhang; T.L. Hu. 2010. "Limiting factor analysis and regulation for urban ecosystems—A case study of Ningbo, China." Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 15, no. 9: 2701-2709.
For ecological economic evaluation based on the unified biophysical matrix this research illustrates an updated emergy synthesis in terms of embodied cosmic exergy instead of embodied solar energy, which successes the foundation of systems ecological theory but changes the starting point for the estimation from simply the sun to the cosmos. According to the modified definition implicating explicit scarcity and strict additivity based on the fundamental thermodynamics laws, the updated emergy approach overcomes the confusable and intractable deficiencies of traditional one and shows firmer theoretical basis as well as better applicability. As a case study for the regional socio-economic ecosystem, a cosmic emergy based ecological economic evaluation of the Beijing urban ecosystem during the period 1978-2004 is presented. The local and external resources supporting the concerned ecosystem are accounted and analyzed in a common unit, i.e., cosmic Joule, according to which a series of indicators are applied to reveal its evolutional characteristics through five aspects as emergy structure, emergy intensity, emergy welfare, environmental impacts, and degree of exploitation and economic efficiency. During the analyzed period, the major emergy source sustaining the operation of the ecosystem had changed from the renewable resources exploited locally to the nonrenewable resources purchased from outside. Emergy intensity for the Beijing urban ecosystem kept rising owing to the continuous investment of resources, which not only improved the living standard but also intensified the environmental pressure. Moreover, the increase of exploitation degree was accompanied with the decline of economic efficiency, while the rising emergy investment ratio implicates that Beijing was at the risks of resources shortage and high dependence on external resources
Jiang Mei Ming; Chen Zhan-Ming; Zhang Bo; Li Shuang Cheng; Xia Xiao Hua; Zhou Shi Yi; Zhou Jiang Bo. Ecological Economic Evaluation Based on Emergy as Embodied Cosmic Exergy: A Historical Study for the Beijing Urban Ecosystem 1978–2004. Entropy 2010, 12, 1696 -1720.
AMA StyleJiang Mei Ming, Chen Zhan-Ming, Zhang Bo, Li Shuang Cheng, Xia Xiao Hua, Zhou Shi Yi, Zhou Jiang Bo. Ecological Economic Evaluation Based on Emergy as Embodied Cosmic Exergy: A Historical Study for the Beijing Urban Ecosystem 1978–2004. Entropy. 2010; 12 (7):1696-1720.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJiang Mei Ming; Chen Zhan-Ming; Zhang Bo; Li Shuang Cheng; Xia Xiao Hua; Zhou Shi Yi; Zhou Jiang Bo. 2010. "Ecological Economic Evaluation Based on Emergy as Embodied Cosmic Exergy: A Historical Study for the Beijing Urban Ecosystem 1978–2004." Entropy 12, no. 7: 1696-1720.