Analysis of CO2 Valorisation Options for Regional Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-253
Author(s):  
Viktorija Terjanika ◽  
Julija Gusca ◽  
Jelena Pubule ◽  
Dagnija Blumberga

Abstract Mitigation of CO2 emissions has become a top-question in international and national arenas, likewise on the city level. Existing CO2 mitigation measures are primarily oriented towards wider deployment of low-carbon technologies of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures, focusing on energy production, distribution and energy use sectors, as well as the transport sector. Due to higher CO2 reduction efficiency and the cost aspect, the direct CO2 mitigation options currently applied are mostly oriented on large scale CO2 generators. Meanwhile the rural, sparsely populated regions already suffer from a lack of innovative industrial economic activities, inhabitant’s migration to urban areas and mostly involved in agriculture, land use and forestry activities. They are also “saved” by the public authorities from targeted CO2 emissions mitigation actions, therefore, the understanding of processes within rural CO2 economy sectors, factors, interconnections and effects to the environment and nature quality and finally guidelines to future actions are crucial. To analyse CO2 valorisation options for regional development, a multi-modelling approach combining literature review, an indicator analysis method and a multi-criteria decision-making analysis were used. As a result, CO2 valorisation options and key performance indicators were defined and multi-criteria analysis for regional decarbonization scenarios were performed.

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge M. Islas-Samperio ◽  
Fabio Manzini ◽  
Genice K. Grande-Acosta

Considering that the world transport sector is the second largest contributor of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to energy use and the least decarbonized sector, it is highly recommended that all countries implement ambitious public policies to decarbonize this sector. In Mexico the transport sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions, in 2014 it contributed with 31.3% of net emissions. Two original scenarios for the Mexican transport sector, a no-policy baseline scenario (BLS) and a low carbon scenario (LCS) were constructed. In the LCS were applied 21 GHG mitigation measures, which far exceeds the proposals for reducing transport sector GHG emissions that Mexico submitted in its National Determined Contributions (NDC). As a result, the proposed LCS describes a sector transformation path characterized by structural changes in freight and passenger mobility, new motor technologies for mobility, introduction of biofuels, price signals, transportation practices and regulations, as well as urban planning strategies, which altogether achieve an accumulated reduction of 3166 MtCO2e in a 25 year period, producing a global net benefit of 240,772 MUSD and a GHG emissions’ reduction of 56% in 2035 in relation to the BLS.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Géremi Gilson Dranka ◽  
Paula Ferreira

Shaping a secure and sustainable energy future may require a set of transformations in the global energy sector. Although several studies have recognized the importance of Electric Vehicles (EVs) for power systems, no large-scale studies have been performed to assess the impact of this technology in energy systems combining a diverse set of renewable energies for electricity production and biofuels in the transportation sector such as the case of Brazil. This research makes several noteworthy contributions to the current literature, including not only the evaluation of the main impacts of EVs’ penetration in a renewable electricity system but also a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) that estimates the overall level of CO2 emissions resulted from the EVs integration. Findings of this study indicated a clear positive effect of increasing the share of EVs on reducing the overall level of CO2 emissions. This is, however, highly dependent on the share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the power system and the use of biofuels in the transport sector but also on the credits resulting from the battery recycling materials credit and battery reuse credit. Our conclusions underline the importance of such studies in providing support for the governmental discussions regarding potential synergies in the use of bioresources between transport and electricity sectors.


Author(s):  
Sara Bellocchi ◽  
Kai Klöckner ◽  
Michele Manno ◽  
Michel Noussan ◽  
Michela Vellini

Electric vehicles, being able to reduce pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions and shift the economy away from oil products, can play a major role in the transition towards low-carbon energy systems. However, the related increase in electricity demand inevitably affects the strategic planning of the overall energy system as well as the definition of the optimal power generation mix. With this respect, the impact of electric vehicles may vary significantly depending on the composition of both total primary energy supply and electricity generation. In this study, Italy and Germany are compared to highlight how a similarity in their renewable shares not necessarily leads to a CO2 emissions reduction. Different energy scenarios are simulated with the help of EnergyPLAN software assuming a progressive increase in renewable energy sources capacity and electric vehicles penetration. Results show that, for the German case, the additional electricity required leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions only if renewable capacity increases significantly, whereas the Italian energy system benefits from transport electrification even at low renewable capacity. Smart charging strategies are also found to foster renewable integration; however, power curtailments are still significant at high renewable capacity in the absence of large-scale energy storage systems.


Author(s):  
Hemant Nandanpawar

Transport sector is one of the largest contributors of energy related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally and is expected to grow 50 percent by 2050. Controlling GHG emission growth of transport sector is necessary in view of limiting the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius, agreed under Paris Agreement, to avoid extreme Climate Change effects. Further analysis reflects that Electric Vehicles (EV) have great role to play in limiting transport sector emissions. In view of various environmental, climate change and human health related benefits, electric vehicles (EV) is witnessing an increasing trend across the globe, specifically in the developed nations. However, the economics of electric vehicles as well as the physical issues such as charging infrastructure, dependence on grid connected power etc. put a constraint on the fast growth of such vehicles in both, developing and developed economies. Although the Asian developing economies typically have highest growth rate in terms of vehicles usage but due to economic or physical challenges they are unable to deploy the electric vehicles at a swift pace. The principle advantage of battery based electric vehicles is that they are zero-emission at point-of-use. It provides local environmental benefits including cleaner air and reduced noise in urban areas. Overall, EV contributes for the sustainable development of the transport sector and many developed countries have adopted such vehicles on a large scale. Global EV sales were 462,000 during 2015 and it is estimated that EVs will constitute 35% (41 million) of new car sales by 2040. According to the IEA estimates, the US (39%), Japan (16%) and China (12%) are currently the prominent EV stock holding markets globally. This paper includes discussion on various socio economic and environmental benefits of the electric vehicles along with the challenges of its promotion in the developing economies. Further, the paper will also cover the various models for socializing electric vehicles and better adoption as well as policy and other enablers that are crucial for its promotion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2225
Author(s):  
Ralf Peters ◽  
Janos Lucian Breuer ◽  
Maximilian Decker ◽  
Thomas Grube ◽  
Martin Robinius ◽  
...  

Achieving the CO2 reduction targets for 2050 requires extensive measures being undertaken in all sectors. In contrast to energy generation, the transport sector has not yet been able to achieve a substantive reduction in CO2 emissions. Measures for the ever more pressing reduction in CO2 emissions from transportation include the increased use of electric vehicles powered by batteries or fuel cells. The use of fuel cells requires the production of hydrogen and the establishment of a corresponding hydrogen production system and associated infrastructure. Synthetic fuels made using carbon dioxide and sustainably-produced hydrogen can be used in the existing infrastructure and will reach the extant vehicle fleet in the medium term. All three options require a major expansion of the generation capacities for renewable electricity. Moreover, various options for road freight transport with light duty vehicles (LDVs) and heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) are analyzed and compared. In addition to efficiency throughout the entire value chain, well-to-wheel efficiency and also other aspects play an important role in this comparison. These include: (a) the possibility of large-scale energy storage in the sense of so-called ‘sector coupling’, which is offered only by hydrogen and synthetic energy sources; (b) the use of the existing fueling station infrastructure and the applicability of the new technology on the existing fleet; (c) fulfilling the power and range requirements of the long-distance road transport.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2771
Author(s):  
Leszek Kotulski ◽  
Artur Basiura ◽  
Igor Wojnicki ◽  
Sebastian Siuchta

The use of formal methods and artificial intelligence has made it possible to automatically design outdoor lighting. Quick design for large cities, in a matter of hours instead of weeks, and analysis of various optimization criteria enables to save energy and tune profit stream from lighting retrofit. Since outdoor lighting is of a large scale, having luminaires on every street in urban areas, and since it needs to be retrofitted every 10 to 15 years, choosing proper parameters and light sources leads to significant energy savings. This paper presents the concept and calculations of Levelized Cost of Electricity for outdoor lighting retrofit. It is understood as cost of energy savings, it is in the range from 23.06 to 54.64 EUR/MWh, based on real-world cases. This makes street and road lighting modernization process the best green “energy source” if compared with the 2018 Fraunhofer Institute cost of electricity renewable energy technologies ranking. This indicates that investment in lighting retrofit is more economically and ecologically viable than investment in new renewable energy sources.


Author(s):  
Hao Liang ◽  
Weiding Long ◽  
Yingqian Song ◽  
Fang Liu

The energy-Internet is a new energy supply method based on urban compact and densely populated community in a low-carbon city. The principle is to connect small energy generation stations and combined heat and power system (CHP) based on distributed energy technology and renewable energy into a network in the urban district. In this way, the cooling, heating and electricity could all back each other up. Each building of the community could collect the energy and then put that energy into the energy-internet to supply the heating and power to buildings. The power in the energy-internet could also be used for charging electric vehicles. So the energy use in the urban community would be basically self-sufficient. The energy generation stations in the energy-internet could be solar power, wind power, biomass cogeneration (including refuse power generation), household fuel cell, low-grade heat in rivers, lakes, urban sewage and soil. In this way, large-scale renewable energy and unused energy could be fully used and applied in a compact and dense community. If the energy-internet is suitable designed, the equipment capacity, energy consumption and CO2 emission of the community could be greatly reduced, energy efficiency could be optimized and improved and the heat island effect could also be alleviated. This article explores three major problems of the construction of energy internet and their solutions: namely, the location and layout of the energy station, the environmental economic dispatch model of the energy internet with power dispatching as an example, the optimal path design of hot water pipe network combined with graph theory and genetic algorithms.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3840
Author(s):  
Alla Toktarova ◽  
Ida Karlsson ◽  
Johan Rootzén ◽  
Lisa Göransson ◽  
Mikael Odenberger ◽  
...  

The concept of techno-economic pathways is used to investigate the potential implementation of CO2 abatement measures over time towards zero-emission steelmaking in Sweden. The following mitigation measures are investigated and combined in three pathways: top gas recycling blast furnace (TGRBF); carbon capture and storage (CCS); substitution of pulverized coal injection (PCI) with biomass; hydrogen direct reduction of iron ore (H-DR); and electric arc furnace (EAF), where fossil fuels are replaced with biomass. The results show that CCS in combination with biomass substitution in the blast furnace and a replacement primary steel production plant with EAF with biomass (Pathway 1) yield CO2 emission reductions of 83% in 2045 compared to CO2 emissions with current steel process configurations. Electrification of the primary steel production in terms of H-DR/EAF process (Pathway 2), could result in almost fossil-free steel production, and Sweden could achieve a 10% reduction in total CO2 emissions. Finally, (Pathway 3) we show that increased production of hot briquetted iron pellets (HBI), could lead to decarbonization of the steel industry outside Sweden, assuming that the exported HBI will be converted via EAF and the receiving country has a decarbonized power sector.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin R. Grijalva ◽  
José María López Martínez

The emissions of CO2 gas caused by transport in urban areas are increasingly serious, and the public transport sector plays a vital role in society, especially when considering the increased demands for mobility. New energy technologies in urban mobility are being introduced, as evidenced by the electric vehicle. We evaluated the positive environmental effects in terms of CO2 emissions that would be produced by the replacement of conventional urban transport bus fleets by electric buses. The simulation of an electric urban bus conceptual model is presented as a case study. The model is validated using the speed and height profiles of the most representative route within the city of Madrid—the C1 line. We assumed that the vehicle fleet is charged using the electric grid at night, when energy demand is low, the cost of energy is low, and energy is produced with a large provision of renewable energy, principally wind power. For the results, we considered the percentage of fleet replacement and the Spanish electricity mix. The analysis shows that by gradually replacing the current fleet of buses by electric buses over 10 years (2020 to 2030), CO2 emissions would be reduced by up to 92.6% compared to 2018 levels.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Csaba Fogarassy ◽  
Bálint Horváth ◽  
Linda Szőke ◽  
Attila Kovács

The topic of the present study deals with the changes and future trends of the European Union’s climate policy. In addition, it studies the manner in which Hungary’s transport sector contributes to the success of the above. The general opinion of Hungarian climate policy is that the country has no need of any substantial climate policy measures, since it will be able to reach its emission reduction targets anyway. This is mostly true, because the basis year for the long term goals is around the middle/end of the 1980’s, when Hungary’s pollution indices were entirely different than today due to former large-scale industrial production. With the termination of these inefficient energy systems, Hungary has basically been “performing well” since the change in political system without taking any specific steps in the interest of doing so. The analysis of the commitments for the 2020-2030 climate policy planning period, which defined emissions commitments compared to 2005 GHG emissions levels, has also garnered similar political reactions in recent years. Thus, it is not the issue of decreasing GHG emissions but the degree to which possible emissions can be increased stemming from the conditions and characteristics of economic growth that is important from the aspect of economic policy. In 2005, the Hungarian transport sector’s emissions amounted to 11 million tons, which is equal to 1.2% of total EU emissions, meaning it does not significantly influence total transport emissions. However, the stakes are still high for developing a low GHG emission transport system, since that will decide whether Hungary can avoid those negative development tendencies that have plagued the majority of Western European transport systems. Can Budapest avoid the scourge of perpetual smog and traffic jams? Can it avert the immeasurable accumulation of externalities on the capital city’s public bypass roads caused by having road transport conduct goods shipping? JEL classification: Q58


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