The environmental Kuznets curve by considering asymmetric oil price shocks: evidence from the top two.

This study is the first attempt to investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by considering the asymmetric oil price effects on the CO2 emission in the USA and China. The oil prices were incorporated as an indicator (proxy) of energy consumption in order to avoid potential endogeneity problems and allow exploring the asymmetric effects of the energy fluctuation on the CO2 release. The nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL)-bound testing approach to cointegration of Shin et al. (2014) in the presence of structural break is used to identify both short-run and long-run dynamic relationships between real oil prices, per capita GDP, and per capita CO2 emissions over the period 1976-2013. The results indicate that the inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis is not supported in the short and long terms in both countries. Asymmetric findings suggest that positive and negative fluctuations in crude oil prices affect CO2 emissions differently in the USA and China. Unlike China, rising energy prices in the USA could be a contributing factor in the fight against pollution. More taxation of fossil energy and renewable energy subsidies are recommended for the American economy. However, the growth priority seems to outweigh the environmental issue for the Chinese economy.

Climate change. A global threat to cardiopulmonary health.

Recent changes in the global climate system have resulted in excess mortality and morbidity, particularly among susceptible individuals with preexisting cardiopulmonary disease. These weather patterns are projected to continue and intensify as a result of rising CO2 levels, according to the most recent projections by climate scientists. In this Pulmonary Perspective, motivated by the American Thoracic Society Committees on Environmental Health Policy and International Health, we review the global human health consequences of projected changes in climate for which there is a high level of confidence and scientific evidence of health effects, with a focus on cardiopulmonary health. We discuss how many of the climate-related health effects will disproportionally affect people from economically disadvantaged parts of the world, who contribute relatively little to CO2 emissions. Last, we discuss the financial implications of climate change solutions from a public health perspective and argue for a harmonized approach to clean air and climate change policies.

Reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption of heat-integrated distillation systems.

Distillation systems are energy and power intensive processes and contribute significantly to the greenhouse gases emissions (e.g. carbon dioxide). Reducing CO2 emissions is an absolute necessity and expensive challenge to the chemical process industries in orderto meetthe environmental targets as agreed in the Kyoto Protocol. A simple model for the calculation of CO2 emissions from heat-integrated distillation systems is introduced, considering typical process industry utility devices such as boilers, furnaces, and turbines. Furnaces and turbines consume large quantities of fuels to provide electricity and process heats. As a result, they produce considerable amounts of CO2 gas to the atmosphere. Boilers are necessary to supply steam for heating purposes; besides, they are also significant emissions contributors. The model is used in an optimization-based approach to optimize the process conditions of an existing crude oil atmospheric tower in order to reduce its CO2 emissions and energy demands. It is also applied to generate design options to reduce the emissions from a novel internally heat-integrated distillation column (HIDiC). A gas turbine can be integrated with these distillation systems for larger emissions reduction and further energy savings. Results show that existing crude oil installations can save up to 21% in energy and 22% in emissions, when the process conditions are optimized. Additionally, by integrating a gas turbine, the total emissions can be reduced further by 48%. Internal heat-integrated columns can be a good alternative to conventional heat pump and other energy intensive close boiling mixtures separations. Energy savings can reach up to 100% with respect to reboiler heat requirements. Emissions of these configurations are cut down by up to 83%, compared to conventional units, and by 36%, with respect to heat pump alternatives. Importantly, cost savings and more profit are gained in parallel to emissions minimization.