Costs and health benefits of the rural energy transition to carbon neutrality in China.

The rural energy transition is critical in China's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality and improve air quality. However, the costs and health benefits associated with the transition to carbon neutrality remain unclear. Here we explore the cost-effective transition pathways and air quality-related health impacts using an integrated energy-air quality-health modeling framework. We find that decarbonizing rural cooking and heating would triple contemporary energy consumption from 2014 to 2060, considerably reducing energy poverty nationwide. By 2060, electric cooking ranges and air-to-air heat pumps should be widely integrated, costing an additional 13 billion USD nationally in transformation costs, with ~40% concentrated in Shandong, Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Hebei provinces. Rural residential decarbonization would remarkably improve air quality in northern China, yielding substantial health co-benefits. Notably, monetized health benefits in most provinces are projected to offset transformation costs, except for certain relatively lower-development southwestern provinces, implying more financial support for rural residents in these areas will be needed.

Regionally differentiated promotion of electric vehicles in China considering environmental and human health impacts.

Private passenger vehicles, with its high emissions of CO2 and air pollutants, poses a severe threat to global climate and human health, particularly for a large developing country like China. Although both energy efficiency improvement of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and the wide adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could contribute to reducing emissions, how they should be jointly implemented in provinces with a heterogeneous context to maximize their net benefits remains insufficiently explored. Here, based on an integrated modeling framework associated with one factual (REF) and four counterfactual scenarios to explore the priority and best-ranked ordering of both EVs' penetration and high energy-efficient ICEVs in 31 Chinese provinces to achieve the most environmental and human health benefits from 2011 to 2018. The results demonstrate that electrification of the passenger fleet, which is charged by a slightly cleaner power source relative to 2011, yields significant co-benefits of CO2 reduction and air quality improvement. Compared with REF, the fleet electrification scenario would lead to 3167 cases of avoided mortality and attain US$4.269 billion of health benefits in 2018, accounting for 0.03% of China's gross domestic product. Nonetheless, highly efficient ICEVs are found to harbor decarbonization potential and health benefits in northern China. Based on these results, Sichuan, Hebei and seven other provinces in east China should promote EVs imminently; conversely, eight provinces with a high share of thermal power must continually advance their implementation of ICEVs in the near future. Such prioritization of EVs and ICEV development at the provincial level provides timely insights for devising tailored policies regarding passenger car transition and for maximizing climate and health benefits based on regional heterogeneity.

Implications of wheat straw logistic systems for bioenergy sustainable development in China: Costs, energy consumption, and GHG emissions.

Wheat straw is a priority choice for bioenergy production, bioenergy as the essential low carbon emissions energy can be a good choice for alternating the petroleum-based fuels. In this study, face-to-face surveys were conducted to analyze the costs, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions involved in wheat straw logistic systems in China. The result identified five logistic modes, including two short-distance transportation and three long-distance transportation modes. These five modes exhibited costs ranging from 17.34-31.95 $ t-1, energy consumption between 108.30 and 1060.45 MJ t-1, and greenhouse gas emissions ranging from 0.71-11.52 kg CO2-eq t-1. A sensitivity analysis showed that the most important parameters in the short-distance transport group were the harvest rate and the bale weight. In the long-distance transport group, the distance from the depot to the end user and the truck capacity. After an overall consideration of the costs, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, an optimal wheat straw logistic system was found in the short-distance transport group due to maximum harvest rate and bale weight by using better combines and balers. Whereas the distance from the depot to the end user should be reduced and higher capacity trucks should be used to have relatively optimal modes for the long-distance transport group. This study provides a valuable reference for bioenergy industries in feedstock collection.