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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2018) | Viewed by 56458

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Chih-Chun Kung

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Guest Editor

School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance & Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Interests: renewable energy; lifecycle analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Bruce A. McCarl

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: climate change; climate change mitigation; water economics; policy; mathematical programming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is evidence that climate change has resulted in many undesirable consequences, such as ocean level rise, desertification, and increased possibility of extreme events. Meanwhile, fossil fuels are considered as the main driver of climate change plus it can be depleted; thus, it is desirable that we find, develop, and promote renewable energy sources that both maintain the environment and provide sustainable energy. However, renewable energy is in many cases costlier than fossil fuels. In order to justify renewable fuel expansion, their full value must be recognized and, thus, their economic and environmental benefits must be comprehensively analyzed in terms of climate change mitigation, energy security, social development, and wealth distribution. In addition, it is also crucial to understand how government policies may affect the future for renewables and other energy forms. The aim of this Special Issue is to explore, document, investigate the full benefits and future prospects for renewable energy sources today and in a future with an expanding amount of climate change.

This Special Issue on “Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change” encourages a diverse set of submissions.

Topics include:

Comprehensive analysis of the economic and environmental consequences of renewable energy.
Policy analysis of green energy development under climate change.
Enhancement of energy security from domestically produced renewable energy.
Lifecycle analysis on large scale renewable energy utilization.
Relation between green energy development and changes on social welfare.
Innovations in renewable energy technology and their future influence.
New analytical and modeling frameworks regarding renewable energy development and its future are particularly welcomed.

Prof. Chih-Chun Kung
Prof. Bruce A. McCarl
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Clean energy
climate change mitigation
quantitative analysis
sustainable development

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 189 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change

by Chih-Chun Kung and Bruce A. McCarl

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3269; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093269 - 13 Sep 2018

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3759

Abstract

The world faces unprecedented threats from climate change and increasing variability, which severely impacts human society and the natural environment. To reduce future climate change and ensure our economies can grow in a sustainable way, sustainable energy development is considered to be an effective approach. In this context, sustainable energy development involves augmenting our energy supplies and managing demands in a fashion that societal energy needs are met with a minimal effect on greenhouse gas emissions and a nominal resultant contribution to future climate change. In this Special Issue, research papers focus on the role of sustainable energy development (while addressing important dimensions of sustainability), which mandates an inter-disciplinary perspective in all articles. We collected 11 such papers that have analyzed a broad array of topics related to bioenergy, wind power, industrial innovation, and climate change mitigation. These papers show the varied application of renewable energy and climate change energy responses, while providing meaningful decision-making information and policy implications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

17 pages, 3586 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Climate Change: Environmental Assessment of Passive Solutions in a Single-Family Home in Southern Spain

by Rafael Suárez, Rocío Escandón, Ramón López-Pérez, Ángel Luis León-Rodríguez, Tillmann Klein and Sacha Silvester

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2914; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082914 - 16 Aug 2018

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5147

Abstract

According to the IPCC Climate Change projections by 2050 temperatures in southern Spain will have increased noticeably during the summer. Housing—in its current form—will not be able to provide a suitable response to this new climate scenario, and will in turn prompt an increase in cooling energy consumption and a series of problems relating to health and comfort. The Design Builder simulation tool was used to quantify the impact of this future climate scenario on energy demand, as well as its effect under free-running conditions on indoor temperature. Different passive conditioning strategies were evaluated to establish their influence on the indoor comfort conditions. The case study examined a theoretical single-family residential unit model in order to establish guidelines for the pre-selection of the most suitable passive solutions. The results show that passive conditioning strategies analysed (envelope treatment, solar gain protection and night-time natural ventilation) reduce energy demand and indoor temperatures, thus increasing energy efficiency and improving indoor comfort conditions. Therefore, these passive conditioning strategies reduce the cooling energy consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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15 pages, 500 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Methodological Issues Regarding Biofuels and Carbon Uptake

by John M. DeCicco

Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051581 - 15 May 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3806

Abstract

Questions regarding the net effect of biofuels on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have been difficult to resolve because of methodological uncertainties. One method of choice is lifecycle assessment (LCA), which takes a fuel product system as its object of analysis. LCA uses a static system model, with carbon flows averaged over a defined “lifecycle”. Although it may evaluate some carbon stock changes, the LCA convention of treating biogenic CO₂ emissions as fully offset by the carbon embodied in a biofuel’s feedstock renders its results independent of the dominant portion of carbon uptake on the land from which the feedstock is sourced. An application of material flow analysis termed annual basis carbon (ABC) accounting captures system dynamics and is fully sensitive to changes in carbon uptake. This paper compares the LCA and ABC methods, and contrasts their respective results for a case study of real-world biofuel production. It highlights the large impact of baseline carbon uptake, which can affect the sign of the results from either a likely decrease or a likely increase in net CO₂ emissions even before considering economically-induced effects. Implications include the need for further methodological work, new program-scale model development, an empirical re-analysis of biofuel systems, and a reconsideration of existing public policies and research priorities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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27 pages, 3000 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Security-Constrained Unit Commitment Considering Differentiated Regional Air Pollutant Intensity

by Danyang Guo, Jilai Yu and Mingfei Ban

Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1433; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051433 - 4 May 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3432

Abstract

Conventional environmental-economic power dispatch methods constrain the total amount of emissions of power plants, and they succeed in reducing emissions from the power sector. However, they fail to address the mismatch between emission reductions and the resulting changes in regional air quality. This paper proposes an ecology- and security-constrained unit commitment (Eco-SCUC) model considering the differentiated impacts of generation-associated emissions on regional air quality. A Gaussian puff dispersion model is applied to capture the temporal-spatial transport of air pollutants. Additionally, an air pollutant intensity (API) index is defined for assessing the impacts of emissions on the air quality in regions with differentiated atmospheric environmental capacities. Then the API constraints are formulated based on air quality forecast and included in SCUC model. Moreover, the stochastic optimization is employed to accommodate wind power uncertainty, and the Benders decomposition technique is used to solve the formulated mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem. Case studies demonstrate that the Eco-SCUC can cost-effectively improve air quality for densely-populated regions via shifting generation among units and can significantly reduce the person-hours exposed to severe air pollution. Furthermore, the benefits of wind power for air quality control are investigated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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28 pages, 48198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Numerical Study of the Temperature Reduction by Water Spray Systems within Urban Street Canyons

by Ying-Chen Lee, Tsang-Jung Chang and Cheng-I Hsieh

Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 1190; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041190 - 15 Apr 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3943

Abstract

To reduce energy demand (both fossil fuel and renewable energy) for cooling the urban heat island environment, some solutions have been studied. Among these methods, the water spray system is considered more flexible due to its dynamic controls. This study investigated the cooling effect of water spray systems in the street canyon under different aspect ratios and high relative humidity environments using a computational fluid dynamics model. This model was validated with water channel and wind tunnel experiments. The results showed that the most effective cooling area was the area just under the spray nozzles. However, in a narrow street canyon, people in the middle of the street may feel the cooling effect because of the dispersion and accumulation of the cooled air. Our simulations demonstrated that air under the nozzles was saturated and this revealed that under drier conditions the water spray systems will have higher cooling performance. We also found that using large water droplets created a wider cooling area in the middle of the street canyon, and this phenomenon was not changed much if the nozzle height was increased from 2.5 m to 3.5 m. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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24 pages, 1198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improving Design Performance by Alliance between Contractors and Designers in International Hydropower EPC Projects from the Perspective of Chinese Construction Companies

by Qingzhen Zhang, Wenzhe Tang, Jersey Liu, Colin F. Duffiel, Felix Kin Peng Hui, Lihai Zhang and Xuteng Zhang

Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 1171; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041171 - 13 Apr 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5370

Abstract

Extant literature lacks a systematic framework addressing the mechanisms of the alliance functional process and its impacts on management activities together with performance in delivering Engineering–procurement–construction (EPC) projects. This study quantitatively investigates the cause–effect relationships among these themes by building and validating a conceptual model of contractor–designer alliance in international hydropower EPC projects. With the support of data collected from an industry survey, the results reveal the key design problems, application of contractor–designer alliance, design management level and performance, which form a sound basis for design management emphasis in EPC activities, e.g., sufficiently considering sustainability of hydropower projects by incorporating environmental, social, and economic factors into designs. The path analysis indicates that the contractor–designer alliance can not only improve design performance by enhancing design management, but also directly promote design performance. This research has significant contributions to the body of knowledge by building interdisciplinary linkages between the areas of alliance, design management, and performance, theoretically demonstrating the mechanism of how interfirm cooperation functions to achieve superior design outcomes of hydropower EPC projects. Understanding these causal relationships will be crucial for contractors and designers to optimally allocate their complementary resources for seeking better design solutions in dealing with both technical issues and sustainability factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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17 pages, 3804 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Forecasting Renewable Energy Consumption under Zero Assumptions

by Jie Ma, Amos Oppong, Kingsley Nketia Acheampong and Lucille Aba Abruquah

Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 576; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030576 - 25 Feb 2018

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 4868

Abstract

Renewable energy, as an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of energy, is key to realizing the nationally determined contributions of the United States (US) to the December 2015 Paris agreement. Policymakers in the US rely on energy forecasts to draft and implement cost-minimizing, efficient and realistic renewable and sustainable energy policies but the inaccuracies in past projections are considerably high. The inaccuracies and inconsistencies in forecasts are due to the numerous factors considered, massive assumptions and modeling flaws in the underlying model. Here, we propose and apply a machine learning forecasting algorithm devoid of massive independent variables and assumptions to model and forecast renewable energy consumption (REC) in the US. We employ the forecasting technique to make projections on REC from biomass (REC-BMs) and hydroelectric (HE-EC) sources for the 2009–2016 period. We find that, relative to reference case projections in Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2008, projections based on our proposed technique present an enormous improvement up to ~138.26-fold on REC-BMs and ~24.67-fold on HE-EC; and that applying our technique saves the US ~2692.62PJ petajoules(PJ) on HE-EC and ~9695.09PJ on REC-BMs for the 8-year forecast period. The achieved high-accuracy is also replicable to other regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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37 pages, 5060 KiB

Open AccessArticle

LMDI Decomposition of Energy-Related CO₂ Emissions Based on Energy and CO₂ Allocation Sankey Diagrams: The Method and an Application to China

by Linwei Ma, Chinhao Chong, Xi Zhang, Pei Liu, Weiqi Li, Zheng Li and Weidou Ni

Sustainability 2018, 10(2), 344; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020344 - 29 Jan 2018

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 9077

Abstract

This manuscript develops a logarithmic mean Divisia index I (LMDI) decomposition method based on energy and CO₂ allocation Sankey diagrams to analyze the contributions of various influencing factors to the growth of energy-related CO₂ emissions on a national level. Compared with previous methods, we can further consider the influences of energy supply efficiency. Two key parameters, the primary energy quantity converted factor (K_PEQ) and the primary carbon dioxide emission factor (K_C), were introduced to calculate the equilibrium data for the whole process of energy unitization and related CO₂ emissions. The data were used to map energy and CO₂ allocation Sankey diagrams. Based on these parameters, we built an LMDI method with a higher technical resolution and applied it to decompose the growth of energy-related CO₂ emissions in China from 2004 to 2014. The results indicate that GDP growth per capita is the main factor driving the growth of CO₂ emissions while the reduction of energy intensity, the improvement of energy supply efficiency, and the introduction of non-fossil fuels in heat and electricity generation slowed the growth of CO₂ emissions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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1245 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cooling Energy Implications of Occupant Factor in Buildings under Climate Change

by Ji Hyun Lim and Geun Young Yun

Sustainability 2017, 9(11), 2039; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9112039 - 7 Nov 2017

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3585

Abstract

Occupant factor is a critical element in the overall energy consumption of buildings. This study aims to reveal how occupant factors influence the energy consumption of example buildings in Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong under climate change projections, and to prioritize factors with energy saving potential for buildings in consideration of future climate change. The study finds that the cooling degree-hours base of 23.3 °C in the three cities sharply increases with future climate change by analyzing future hourly weather data produced herein. Simulations are made with EnergyPlus Runtime Language (Erl) for modeling occupant behavior. The simulation results reveal that a dynamic thermostat control based on an adaptive comfort model is an effective method to reduce cooling energy consumption under future climate change, reducing cooling energy consumption by up to 18% in some instances. In particular, we reveal that a combined application of the adaptive comfort control, nighttime ventilation, and the use of occupancy-based lighting and equipment result in reducing cooling energy consumption by 28%. The outcomes of this study are potentially useful in providing cost-effective solutions to adapt buildings for future climate change with simple modifications to occupant behavior. Also, the roles of renewable energy are briefly discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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1055 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Trade-Offs between Economic and Environmental Optimization of the Forest Biomass Generation Supply Chain in Inner Mongolia, China

by Min Zhang, Guangyu Wang, Yi Gao, Zhenqi Wang and Feng Mi

Sustainability 2017, 9(11), 2030; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9112030 - 6 Nov 2017

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4012

Abstract

The utilization of forest residue to produce forest biomass energy can mitigate CO₂ emissions and generate additional revenue for related eco-enterprises and farmers. In China, however, the benefit of this utilization is still in question because of high costs and CO₂ emissions in the entire supply chain. In this paper, a multi-objective linear programming model (MLP) is employed to analyze the trade-offs between the economic and environmental benefits of all nodes within the forest biomass power generation supply chain. The MLP model is tested in the Mao Wu Su biomass Thermoelectric Company. The optimization results show that (1) the total cost and CO₂ emissions are decreased by US$98.4 thousand and 60.6 thousand kg, respectively; 3750 thousand kg of waste-wood products is reduced and 3750 thousand kg of sandy shrub stubble residue is increased; (2) 64% of chipped sandy shrub residue is transported directly from the forestland to the power plant, 36% of non-chipped sandy shrub residue is transported from the forestland to the power plant via the chipping plant; (3) transportation and chipping play a significant role in the supply chain; and (4) the results of a sensitivity analysis show that the farmer’s average transportation distance should be 84.13 km and unit chipping cost should be $0.01022 thousand for the optimization supply cost and CO₂ emissions. Finally, we suggest the following: (1) develop long-term cooperation with farmers; (2) buy chain-saws for regularly used farmers; (3) build several chipping plants in areas that are rich in sandy shrub. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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3537 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measuring the Performance of Industrial Green Development Using a Non-Radial Directional Distance Function Approach: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province in China

by Wei Wang, Hualin Xie, Fucai Lu and Xinmin Zhang

Sustainability 2017, 9(10), 1757; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101757 - 28 Sep 2017

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4338

Abstract

The industrial sector is a major contributor to resource consumption and environmental pollution in China. The energy-intensive industrial development and energy structure are dominated by coal, which has produced an enormous amount of industrial pollutants in China, and put great pressure on the ecological environment. Hence, improving the performance of industrial green development (PIGD) has become an urgent task of utmost importance. This study applies a global non-radial directional distance function to estimate the PIGD for Jiangxi Province during 2003–2015, and provides targeted policy suggestions. The empirical results show a rising trend in the PIGD in Jiangxi Province. At the city level, Nanchang and Fuzhou performed considerably better than other cities in regards to their PIGD. However, the poor environmental performance caused by the excessive discharge of industrial pollutants has also hindered its PIGD. Most cities in Jiangxi Province failed to efficiently use resources, especially energy and labor, in industrial production. The results of the influencing factor analysis show that the performance of industrial green development in Jiangxi could be improved through increasing per capita GDP, decreasing the share of coal consumption in the total industrial energy consumption, and decreasing the share of industrial GDP in the total GDP. Furthermore, a more efficient use of environmental management investment funds and timely transfer of the surplus industrial labor are needed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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Review

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24 pages, 5993 KiB

Open AccessReview

An Original Approach Combining CFD, Linearized Models, and Deformation of Trees for Urban Wind Power Assessment

by Jan Konopka, António Lopes and Andreas Matzarakis

Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 1915; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061915 - 7 Jun 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4125

Abstract

Wind energy is relevant to self-sufficiency in urban areas, but the accuracy of wind assessment is a barrier to allowing wind energy development. The aim of this work is to test the performance of the Griggs-Putnam Index of Deformity of trees (G-PID) over urban areas as an alternative method for assessing wind conditions. G-PID has been widely used in open terrains, but this work is the first attempt to apply it in urban areas. The results were compared with CFD simulations (ENVI-met), and finally, with the linear model WAsP to inspect if deformed trees can offer acceptable wind power assessments. WAsP (meso-) and ENVI-met (micrometeorological model) showed similar results in a test area inside the University of Lisbon Campus. All trees showed a deformation with the wind direction (S and SE). The mean G-PID wind speed for all trees was 5.9 m/s. Comparing this to the ENVI-met simulations results (mean speed for all trees was 4.25 m/s) made it necessary to adapt the index to urban terrains by reducing each Index Deformation class by about ~2 m/s. Nevertheless, more investigation is needed, since this study is just a first approach to this integrated methodology. Also, tree species and characteristics were not taken into account. These questions should be addressed in future studies, because the deformation of trees depends also on the tree species and phytosanitary conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change)

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