scholarly journals Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Intra-National Freight Transport: Measurement and Scenarios for Greater Sustainability in Spain

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Llano ◽  
Santiago Pérez-Balsalobre ◽  
Julian Pérez-García

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is a topic of major concern worldwide. Following previous articles which provide a methodology for estimating GHG emissions associated with international trade by transport mode at the world level, in this paper, we estimate an equivalent database of GHG emissions for inter-regional trade flows within a country (Spain). To this end, we built a new database of GHG emissions for origin–destination flows between Spanish provinces during 1995–2015. For each year, we combine industry-specific flows by four transport modes (road, train, ship and aircraft) with the corresponding GHG emissions factor for each mode in tons*km, drawn from the specialized literature. With this dataset of GHG emissions, we generate and analyze the temporal, sectoral and spatial pattern of Spanish inter-regional GHG flows. We then forecast emissions for 2016–2030 and consider how transport mode shifts might produce a more sustainable freight system within the country through the substitution of environmentally friendly alternatives (railway) for specific origin–destination–product flows in high-polluting modes (road).

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Hao ◽  
Yu Ruihong ◽  
Zhang Zhuangzhuang ◽  
Qi Zhen ◽  
Lu Xixi ◽  
...  

AbstractGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rivers and lakes have been shown to significantly contribute to global carbon and nitrogen cycling. In spatiotemporal-variable and human-impacted rivers in the grassland region, simultaneous carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and their relationships under the different land use types are poorly documented. This research estimated greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the Xilin River of Inner Mongolia of China using direct measurements from 18 field campaigns under seven land use type (such as swamp, sand land, grassland, pond, reservoir, lake, waste water) conducted in 2018. The results showed that CO2 emissions were higher in June and August, mainly affected by pH and DO. Emissions of CH4 and N2O were higher in October, which were influenced by TN and TP. According to global warming potential, CO2 emissions accounted for 63.35% of the three GHG emissions, and CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 35.98% and 0.66% in the Xilin river, respectively. Under the influence of different degrees of human-impact, the amount of CO2 emissions in the sand land type was very high, however, CH4 emissions and N2O emissions were very high in the artificial pond and the wastewater, respectively. For natural river, the greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir and sand land were both low. The Xilin river was observed to be a source of carbon dioxide and methane, and the lake was a sink for nitrous oxide.


Author(s):  
Manuel-Angel Gonzalez-Chapa ◽  
Jose-Ramon Vega-Galaz

Combined Heat and Power systems have been used all around the world due to their effective and viable way of transforming energy from fossil fuel. Indeed, the advantage of lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to those obtained in conventional power or conventional heat generation systems have been an important factor giving CHP systems an advantage over these conventional ones. Certainly CHP has been, and continues to be, a good practice while renewable technologies become more economically. While these technologies emerge it is important to continue minimizing these greenhouse gas emissions from conventional and CHP units as much as possible. This paper deals with the fuel optimization of power, heat and CHP systems including emissions and ambient conditions constraints. Ambient conditions variations are evaluated before solving the optimization and then introduced to the problem to consider their effects.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Li

To quantify the growth in GHG emissions related to international trade, we build an extensive database for export-related production and transportation GHG emissions covering 189 countries and 10 sectors from 1990 to 2014. We employ this database to quantify the contribution of production and international transportation to total export-related GHG emissions from Latin America and the Caribbean and decompose growth in these to contributions of the increase in the regions trade flows, shifts in the composition of trade partners, changes in the traded product basket, and technological progress.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ain Kull ◽  
Iuliia Burdun ◽  
Gert Veber ◽  
Oleksandr Karasov ◽  
Martin Maddison ◽  
...  

<p>Besides water table depth, soil temperature is one of the main drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in intact and managed peatlands. In this work, we evaluate the performance of remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST) as a proxy of greenhouse gas emissions in intact, drained and extracted peatlands. For this, we used chamber-measured carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) and methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) data from seven peatlands in Estonia collected during vegetation season in 2017–2020. Additionally, we used temperature and water table depth data measured in situ. We studied relationships between CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, in-situ parameters and remotely sensed LST from Landsat 7 and 8, and MODIS Terra. Results of our study suggest that LST has stronger relationships with surface and soil temperature as well as with ecosystem respiration (R<sub>eco</sub>) over drained and extracted sites than over intact ones. Over the extracted cites the correlation between R<sub>eco</sub> CO<sub>2</sub> and LST is 0.7, and over the drained sites correlation is 0.5. In natural sites, we revealed a moderate positive relationship between LST and CO<sub>2</sub> emitted in hollows (correlation is 0.6) while it is weak in hummocks (correlation is 0.3). Our study contributes to the better understanding of relationships between greenhouse gas emissions and their remotely sensed proxies over peatlands with different management status and enables better spatial assessment of GHG emissions in drainage affected northern temperate peatlands.</p>


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5664
Author(s):  
Wenjing Wei ◽  
Peter B. Samuelsson ◽  
Anders Tilliander ◽  
Rutger Gyllenram ◽  
Pär G. Jönsson

The primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from nickel smelting products have been assessed through case studies using a process model based on mass and energy balance. The required primary energy for producing nickel metal, nickel oxide, ferronickel, and nickel pig iron is 174 GJ/t alloy (174 GJ/t contained Ni), 369 GJ/t alloy (485 GJ/t contained Ni), 110 GJ/t alloy (309 GJ/t contained Ni), and 60 GJ/t alloy (598 GJ/t contained Ni), respectively. Furthermore, the associated GHG emissions are 14 tCO2-eq/t alloy (14 tCO2-eq/t contained Ni), 30 t CO2-eq/t alloy (40 t CO2-eq/t contained Ni), 6 t CO2-eq/t alloy (18 t CO2-eq/t contained Ni), and 7 t CO2-eq/t alloy (69 t CO2-eq/t contained Ni). A possible carbon emission reduction can be observed by comparing ore type, ore grade, and electricity source, as well as allocation strategy. The suggested process model overcomes the limitation of a conventional life cycle assessment study which considers the process as a ‘black box’ and allows for an identification of further possibilities to implement sustainable nickel production.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schott

<p><b>Abstract </b></p> <p>While the pedagogical benefits of fieldtrips have long been recognised our ever increasing understanding of the impacts of flying on climate change is presenting educators with a poignant dilemma; the many benefits long associated with international fieldtrips are at odds with the world community’s needs in limiting/halting climatic change. In response, the paper presents the concept of a VR-based virtual fieldtrip as an innovative and carbon-sensitive type of (educational) travel. The paper not only makes the case for virtual fieldtrips as a meaningful learning tool but also explores both the virtual fieldtrip’s impact on Greenhouse Gas emissions and climate change-related learning. On both accounts the initial findings in this paper are very encouraging. More in-depth research is now required to not only develop a deeper understanding of the full breadth of benefits, but also of the diverse weaknesses presented by virtual fieldtrips and how to negotiate them.</p>


2019 ◽  
pp. 28-53
Author(s):  
Igor Martins Oliveira ◽  
Luiz Andrei Gonçalves Pereira

Na era globalização, a economia mundial tem vivenciado um processo de reestruturação produtiva, intensificando os fluxos nos territórios inerentes às interações espaciais de recursos, de bens e de serviços que circulam entre os mercados nacionais e internacionais. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar as dinâmicas socioespaciais dos fluxos de comércio internacional do estado de Minas Gerais por meio da logística das redes de importações e de exportações de frutas, no período de 2000 a 2017. Como resultado, identificou-se que, no mercado externo de frutas, Minas Gerais se relaciona comercialmente com 88 países, sendo 52 nas redes de exportação e 36 na rede de importação. Na operacionalização dos fluxos no comércio global, a logística de transportes foi realizada através dos modais rodoviário, marítimo e aéreo, configurando-se como um elemento geográfico, visto que as transações comerciais demandam o gerenciamento da fluidez, do planejamento e da organização dos diferentes territórios.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Logística, Comércio Internacional, Fruticultura. ABSTRACTIn the era of globalization, the world economy has undergone a process of productive restructuring, intensifying flows in the territories inherent to the spatial interactions of resources, goods and services that circulate between national and international markets. The objective of this work is to analyze the sociospatial dynamics of the international trade flows of the state of Minas Gerais through the logistics of import and export fruit networks, from 2000 to 2017. As a result, it was identified that in the market Minas Gerais has a commercial relationship with 88 countries, 52 in export networks and 36 in the import network. In the operationalization of flows in global trade, transport logistics was carried out through the road, sea and air modalities, being configured as a geographic element, since commercial transactions demand the management of the fluidity, planning and organization of the different territories.KEYWORDS: Logistic, International Trade, Fruticulture.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Klausner ◽  
Mariano Mertens ◽  
Heidi Huntrieser ◽  
Michal Galkowski ◽  
Gerrit Kuhlmann ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Urban areas are recognised as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), such as carbon dioxide (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) and methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;). The total amount of urban GHG emissions, especially for CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, however, is not well quantified. Here we report on airborne in situ measurements using a Picarro G1301-m analyser aboard the DLR Cessna Grand Caravan to study GHG emissions downwind of the German capital city Berlin. In total, five aircraft-based mass balance experiments were conducted in July 2018 within the Urban Climate Under Change [UC]&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; project. The detection and isolation of the Berlin plume was often challenging because of comparatively small GHG signals above variable atmospheric background concentrations. However, on July 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; enhancements of up to 4 ppm CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and 21 ppb CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; were observed over a horizontal extent of roughly 45 to 65 km downwind of Berlin. These enhanced mixing ratios are clearly distinguishable from the background and can partly be assigned to city emissions. The estimated CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emission flux of 1.39 &amp;#177; 0.75 t s&lt;sup&gt;-1 &lt;/sup&gt;is in agreement with current inventories, while the CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emission flux of 5.20 &amp;#177; 1.61 kg s&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; is almost two times larger than the highest reported value in the inventories. We localized the source area with HYSPLIT trajectory calculations and the high resolution numerical model MECO(n) (down to ~1 km), and investigated the contribution from sewage-treatment plants and waste deposition to CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, which are treated differently by the emission inventories. Our work highlights the importance of a) strong CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; sources in the surroundings of Berlin and b) a detailed knowledge of GHG inflow mixing ratios to suitably estimate emission rates.&lt;/p&gt;


Author(s):  
Fumiko Satoh

Companies around the world are increasingly expected to report their greenhouse gas emissions. Currently there are various formulas to calculate emissions, and there are different reporting formats. Most of the reporting formats are paper-based or non-readable-by-machine formats. The emissions of companies will influence their accounting results due to ‘cap & trade’ systems or environmental taxes. Analyses of financial impacts are important for management decisions and corporate evaluations by interested third parties. A standardized reporting format for GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions is critical for reliable analysis of the impact of emissions on finances. This paper proposes an XBRL (eXtensible Business Markup Language) format as the foundation for standardizing the emissions reporting formats, and provides a preliminary XBRL taxonomy for emissions reporting. XBRL makes it possible to combine the financial reports and the emissions reports. Evaluations of the emissions impact are easier for both managers of the company and external parties, even if a large number of emissions reports must be analyzed.


Author(s):  
Hewitt Crane ◽  
Edwin Kinderman ◽  
Ripudaman Malhotra

Of the various alternatives to fossil energy, nuclear power is the most advanced and the best positioned to become a major source of energy. It is also essentially free of CO2 emissions, and if reducing greenhouse gas emissions is truly the highest concern, then we will have to develop nuclear power. Yet developing nuclear power would also pose challenges in terms of waste disposal, and proliferation of nuclear weapons including the risk of a terrorist organization acquiring such weapons. To some environmentalists nuclear power presents a serious, dilemma. Support or opposition to nuclear power is strongly affected by value judgments as well as lack of disseminated information on questions: What happens if there is leakage of nuclear waste someday? To what extent would people and the world be affected? Would we be trading international security for energy security—does nuclear power increase our vulnerability to terrorist attacks? The mixture of clear benefits with outstanding questions currently allows some nations to embrace nuclear power, some to accept it grudgingly, and still others choose to ignore it. Given its availability and environmental benefits, nuclear is an option that cannot be ignored if we are to tackle the energy problem in a serious way. To assume that we can store and safeguard the waste for thousands of years may be hubris, but we come out in favor of developing nuclear technology in part because we already have to store the legacy nuclear waste that has been generated over the last 50 years. Another 60 or so years of waste will represent a marginal addition to that enormous task, but it would buy us badly needed time to carefully develop other energy sources that do not entail net greenhouse gas emissions. Also, we find that many of the concerns raised against the development of nuclear power are vastly exaggerated. For example, as we describe in this chapter, safe storage of the waste does not require 10,000 years: if we use reprocessing technologies, the remaining waste could be rendered benign in a couple of centuries.


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