Biofuel development, food security and the use of marginal land in China.

With concerns of energy shortages, China, like the United States, European Union, and other countries, is promoting the development of biofuels. However, China also faces high future demand for food and feed, and so its bioenergy program must try to strike a balance between food and fuel. The goals of this paper are to provide an overview of China's current bioethanol program, identify the potential for using marginal lands for feedstock production, and measure the likely impacts of China's bioethanol development on the nation's future food self-sufficiency. Our results indicate that the potential to use marginal land for bioethanol feedstock production is limited. Applying a modeling approach based on highly disaggregated data by region, our analysis shows that the target of 10 million t of bioethanol by 2020 seems to be a prudent target, causing no major disturbances in China's food security. But the expansion of bioethanol may increase environmental pressures due to the higher levels of fertilizer use. This study shows also that if China were able to cultivate 45% of its required bioethanol feedstock on new marginal land, it would further limit negative effects of the bioethanol program on the domestic and international economy, but at the expense of having to apply another 750 thousand t of fertilizer.

Health Impacts of Exposure to Gaseous Pollutants and Particulate Matter in Beijing-A Non-Linear Analysis Based on the New Evidence.

This paper aimed to estimate health risks focusing on respiratory diseases from exposure to gaseous multi-pollutants based on new data and revealed new evidence after the most stringent air pollution control plan in Beijing which was carried out in 2013. It used daily respiratory diseases outpatient data from a hospital located in Beijing with daily meteorological data and monitor data of air pollutants from local authorities. All data were collected from 2014 to 2016. Distributed lag non-linear model was employed. Results indicated that NO2 and CO had positive association with outpatients number on the day of the exposure (1.045 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003, 1.089) for CO and 1.022 (95% CI: 1.008, 1.036) for NO2) (and on the day after the exposure (1.026 (95% CI: 1.005, 1.048) for CO and 1.013 (95% CI: 1.005, 1.021) for NO2). Relative risk (RR) generally declines with the number of lags; ozone produces significant effects on the first day (RR = 0.993 (95% CI: 0.989, 0.998)) as well as second day (RR = 0.995 (95% CI: 0.991, 0.999)) after the exposure, while particulate pollutants did not produce significant effects. Effects from the short-term exposure to gaseous pollutants were robust after controlling for particulate matters. Our results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the dependencies between the change of air pollutants concentration and their health effects in Beijing after the implementation of promising air regulations in 2013. Results of the study can be used to develop relevant measures minimizing the adverse health consequences of air pollutants and supporting sustainable development of Beijing as well as other rapidly growing Asian cities.