RESUMEN
Embodied emissions from the production of building materials account for 17% of China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and are important to focus on as China aims to achieve its carbon neutrality goals. However, there is a lack of systematic assessments on embodied emissions reduction potential of building materials that consider both the heterogeneous industrial characteristics as well as the Chinese buildings sector context. Here, we developed an integrated model that combines future demand of building materials in China with the strategies to reduce CO2 emissions associated with their production, using, and recycling. We found that measures to improve material efficiency in the value-chain has the largest CO2 mitigation potential before 2030 in both Low Carbon and Carbon Neutrality Scenarios, and continues to be significant through 2060. Policies to accelerate material efficiency practices, such as incorporating embodied emissions in building codes and conducting robust research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in carbon removal are critical.
RESUMEN
China needs to drastically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from heavy-duty trucks (HDTs), a key emitter in the growing transport sector, in order to address energy security concerns and meet its climate targets. We address existing research gaps by modeling feasibility, applicability, and energy and emissions impacts of multiple decarbonization strategies at different points in time. China still relies heavily on coal power, so impacts of new HDT technologies depend on the timing of their introduction relative to progress toward non-fossil power. We use a bottom-up model to simulate HDT energy consumption and CO2 emissions through 2050. Results show that beginning to deploy battery electric and fuel-cell HDTs as early as 2020 and 2035, respectively, could achieve significant and the largest CO2 emissions reduction by 2050 with a decarbonized power sector. However, viable near-term strategies-improving efficiency and logistics, switching to liquefied natural gas-could halve HDTs' current diesel consumption and CO2 emissions by 2050. Our results underscore the need for a mix of near- and long-term policy and technology options to decarbonize China's HDTs.
RESUMEN
In 2010, China's cement industry accounted for more than half of the world's total cement production. The cement industry is one of the most energy-intensive and highest carbon dioxide (CO2)-emitting industries, and thus a key industrial contributor to air pollution in China. For example, it is the largest source of particulate matter (PM) emissions in China, accounting for 40% of industrial PM emissions and 27% of total national PM emissions. In this study, we quantify the co-benefits of PM10 and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission reductions that result from energy-saving measures in the cement industry in Shandong Province, China. We use a modified form of the cost of conserved energy (CCE) equation to incorporate the value of these co-benefits. The results show that more than 40% of the PM and SO2 emission reduction potential of the electricity-saving measures is cost effective even without taking into account the co-benefits for the electricity-saving measures. The results also show that including health benefits from PM10 and/or SO2 emission reductions reduces the CCE of the fuel-saving measures. Two measures that entail changing products (production of blended cement and limestone Portland cement) result in the largest reduction in CCE when co-benefits were included, since these measures can reduce both PM10 and SO2 emissions, whereas the other fuel-saving measures do not reduce PM10.
