Environmental Impact of a Pediatric and Young Adult Virtual Medicine Program: A Lesson from the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVES

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the expansion of virtual medicine as a method to provide patient care. We aimed to determine the impact of pediatric and young adult virtual medicine use on fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas, and nongreenhouse traffic-related air pollutant emissions.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of all virtual medicine patients at a single quaternary-care children's hospital with a geocoded address in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to (March 16, 2019-March 15, 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 16, 2020-March 15, 2021). Primary outcomes included patient travel distance, gasoline consumption, carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter emissions as well as savings in main hospital energy use.

RESULTS

There were 3,846 and 307,273 virtual visits performed with valid Massachusetts geocoded addresses prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. During 1 year of the pandemic, virtual medicine services resulted in a total reduction of 620,231 gallons of fossil fuel use and $1,620,002 avoided expenditure as well as 5,492.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 186.3 kg of fine particulate matter emitted. There were 3.1 million fewer kilowatt hours used by the hospital intrapandemic compared to the year prior. Accounting for equipment emissions, the combined intrapandemic emission reductions are equivalent to the electricity required by 1,234 homes for 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS

Widespread pediatric institutional use of virtual medicine provided environmental benefits. The true potential of virtual medicine for decreasing the environmental footprint of health care lies in scaling this mode of care to patient groups across the state and nation when medically feasible.

Decision-tree-based ion-specific dosing algorithm for enhancing closed hydroponic efficiency and reducing carbon emissions

The maintenance of ion balance in closed hydroponic solutions is essential to improve the crop quality and recycling efficiency of nutrient solutions. However, the absence of robust ion sensors for key ions such as P and Mg and the coupling of ions in fertilizer salts render it difficult to effectively manage ion-specific nutrient solutions. Although ion-specific dosing algorithms have been established, their effectiveness has been inadequately explored. In this study, a decision-tree-based dosing algorithm was developed to calculate the optimal volumes of individual nutrient stock solutions to be supplied for five major nutrient ions, i.e., NO3, K, Ca, P, and Mg, based on the concentrations of NO3, K, and Ca and remaining volume of the recycled nutrient solution. In the performance assessment based on five nutrient solution samples encompassing the typical concentration ranges for leafy vegetable cultivation, the ion-selective electrode array demonstrated feasible accuracies, with root mean square errors of 29.5, 10.1, and 6.1 mg·L-1 for NO3, K, and Ca, respectively. In a five-step replenishment test involving varying target concentrations and nutrient solution volumes, the system formulated nutrient solutions according to the specified targets, exhibiting average relative errors of 10.6 ± 8.0%, 7.9 ± 2.1%, 8.0 ± 11.0%, and 4.2 ± 3.7% for the Ca, K, and NO3 concentrations and volume of the nutrient solution, respectively. Furthermore, the decision tree method helped reduce the total fertilizer injections and carbon emissions by 12.8% and 20.6% in the stepwise test, respectively. The findings demonstrate that the decision-tree-based dosing algorithm not only enables more efficient reuse of nutrient solution compared to the existing simplex method but also confirms the potential for reducing carbon emissions, indicating the possibility of sustainable agricultural development.

Repercussions of Hydroelectricity use on Carbon Emissions in Bangladesh: Evidence using Novel Fourier-Bootstrapped ARDL and Fourier-Gradual Shift Causality analyses

Bangladesh has recently pledged at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to reduce its carbon dioxide emission figures by 22% at the end of 2030. However, since this South Asian country has always turned to fossil fuels for electricity generation purposes, achieving this emission reduction goal is a challenging task for the Bangladesh government. Nevertheless, considering the negative environmental implications associated with the generation and consumption of unclean energy, particularly electricity, it is critically important for Bangladesh to expedite the process of clean transformation of its traditional pollution-intensive power system. Hence, the objective of this study is to dissect the repercussions of hydroelectricity use on Bangladesh's fossil fuel consumption-related carbon dioxide As opposed to the traditional method of quantifying environmental quality using total carbon dioxide emissions, this study considers Bangladesh's annual carbon dioxide emissions generated from the combustion of gas, oil, and coal. Besides, novel Fourier-based econometric methods that effectively handle structural break problems in data are utilized in this study. Based on the results, it is found that up-scaling hydroelectricity consumption levels exert emission-inhibiting effects while greater economic globalization activities are witnessed to boost the emissions. More importantly, hydroelectricity consumption and economic globalization are observed to jointly curb fossil fuel consumption-based emissions of carbon dioxide. Additionally, the results verify the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Bangladesh. Furthermore, financial sector development is found to be effective in reducing the natural gas consumption-related carbon dioxide emissions while urbanization is held responsible for amplifying emissions generated from all three types of fossil fuels. Therefore, considering these findings, the Bangladesh government needs to particularly emphasize scaling up production and consumption of hydroelectricity to decarbonize its economy.

Reducing Iron Oxide with Ammonia: A Sustainable Path to Green Steel

Iron making is the biggest single cause of global warming. The reduction of iron ores with carbon generates about 7% of the global carbon dioxide emissions to produce ≈1.85 billion tons of steel per year. This dramatic scenario fuels efforts to re-invent this sector by using renewable and carbon-free reductants and electricity. Here, the authors show how to make sustainable steel by reducing solid iron oxides with hydrogen released from ammonia. Ammonia is an annually 180 million ton traded chemical energy carrier, with established transcontinental logistics and low liquefaction costs. It can be synthesized with green hydrogen and release hydrogen again through the reduction reaction. This advantage connects it with green iron making, for replacing fossil reductants. the authors show that ammonia-based reduction of iron oxide proceeds through an autocatalytic reaction, is kinetically as effective as hydrogen-based direct reduction, yields the same metallization, and can be industrially realized with existing technologies. The produced iron/iron nitride mixture can be subsequently melted in an electric arc furnace (or co-charged into a converter) to adjust the chemical composition to the target steel grades. A novel approach is thus presented to deploying intermittent renewable energy, mediated by green ammonia, for a disruptive technology transition toward sustainable iron making.

Knowledge Gaps in Anesthetic Gas Utilization in a Large Academic Hospital System: A Multicenter Survey

Inhaled anesthetics account for a significant portion of the greenhouse gases generated by perioperative services within the healthcare systems. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify knowledge gaps and practice patterns related to carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorbents and intraoperative delivery of fresh gas flows (FGF) for future sustainability endeavors. Secondary aims focused on differences in these knowledge gaps based on the level of training. Surveys were distributed at five large academic medical centers. In addition to site-specific CO₂ absorbent use and practice volume and experience, respondents at each institution were queried about individual practice with FGF rates during anesthetic maintenance as well as the cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of different volatile anesthetics. Results were stratified and analyzed by the level of training. In total, 368 (44% physicians, 30% residents, and 26% nurse anesthetists) respondents completed surveys. Seventy-six percent of respondents were unaware or unsure about which type of CO₂ absorbent was in use at their hospital. Fifty-nine percent and 48% of respondents used sevoflurane and desflurane with FGF ≥1 L/min, respectively. Most participants identified desflurane as the agent with the greatest environmental impact (89.9%) and a greater proportion of anesthesiologists correctly identified isoflurane as a cost-effective anesthetic (78.3%, p=0.02). Knowledge gaps about in-use CO₂ absorbent and optimal FGF usage were identified within the anesthesia care team. Educational initiatives to increase awareness about the carbon emissions from anesthesia and newer CO₂ absorbents will impact the environmental and economic cost per case and align anesthesia providers toward healthcare decarbonization.

Advances in the Synthesis of Chemically Recyclable Polymers

The development of modern society is closely related to polymer materials. However, the accumulation of polymer materials and their evolution in the environment causes not only serious environmental problems, but also waste of resources. Although physical processing can be used to reuse polymers, the properties of the resulting polymers are significantly degraded. Chemically recyclable polymers, a type of polymer that degrades into monomers, can be an effective solution to the degradation of polymer properties caused by physical recycling of polymers. The ideal chemical recycling of polymers, i. e., quantitative conversion of the polymer to monomers at low energy consumption and repolymerization of the formed monomers into polymers with comparable properties to the original, is an attractive research goal. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the design of recyclable polymers, enabling the regulation of the "polymerization-depolymerization" equilibrium and closed-loop recycling under mild conditions. This review will focus on the following aspects of closed-loop recycling of poly(sulfur) esters, polycarbonates, polyacetals, polyolefins, and poly(disulfide) polymer, illustrate the challenges in this area, and provide an outlook on future directions.

Measurement of Tourism-Related CO2 Emission and the Factors Influencing Low-Carbon Behavior of Tourists: Evidence from Protected Areas in China

In the fight against climate change, future policy directions in the transition toward a green travel- and tourism-based economy include improving tourism-derived CO2 emission levels and guiding individual low-carbon behavior. In China, people tend to engage in outdoor adventure travel and cultural tourism in natural areas. However, limited information is available on the empirical evaluation of energy use and the CO2 emissions associated with tourism in protected areas. The present study used a life cycle assessment to explore energy use and CO2 emissions due to tourism and identify the factors driving low-carbon behavior. To these ends, survey data for the protected areas of the Qinling Mountains from 2014 to 2019 were used. The results showed that energy use and CO2 emissions in various tourism sectors steadily increased from 2014 to 2019, primarily because of an increase in transportation activity. This study used data derived from the calculation of CO2 emissions per tourist per trip to identify the various factors jointly contributing to the low-carbon behavior of tourists. These included a low-carbon attitude, low-carbon knowledge, environmental education, and policy reward. The broader implications of this study are that several emission reduction policy options are available to address the challenges inherent in sustainable tourism development and that these policies may be selected according to specific conditions. The low-carbon transformation of recreational facilities at travel destinations, policy rewards, and environmental education can regulate tourist behavior, holding the key to sustainable tourism development in protected areas.

Can Digital Finance Promote Peak Carbon Dioxide Emissions? Evidence from China

This paper uses Chinese provincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, measures CO₂ emissions of provinces in China using the IPCC method, and explores the impact of digital finance on CO₂ emissions through the SAR model and SDM. Empirical study shows that digital finance significantly reduces CO₂ emissions. Digital finance reduces CO₂ emissions by promoting energy industrial structure transformation and spreads to surrounding areas through spillover effects, contributes to increasing green patents granted and thus reduces regional CO₂ emissions, advances the green technological progress and therefore inhibits CO₂ emissions, but reduces the green technological progress in surrounding areas and increases CO₂ emissions due to the siphon effect. With the development of digital finance itself, the higher the level of financial regulation, green development and the green finance index, the better the effect of digital finance on CO₂ emission reduction. Additionally, digital finance significantly reduces CO₂ emissions in the south of China.

Investigating the Role of Information and Communication Technologies, Economic Growth, and Foreign Direct Investment in the Mitigation of Ecological Damages for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

At the present time, information and communication technology (ICT) has played a vital role in socio-economic development such as economic growth, literacy, life expectancy, and employment levels in societies, however, such development has come with various environmental damages perspectives. This study scrutinizes the impact of ICT, economic growth, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the 44 One Belt and Road Initiative (OBRI) countries split into sub-region from 1991 to 2019. This study applied various econometrics approaches such as cross-sectional dependence, second-generation unit root, and Westerlund panel cointegration techniques are executed to analyze the panel data set. The full modified ordinary lease square and dynamic ordinary lease square estimators are applied to investigate the long-term influence of ICT development, GDP (economic growth), and FDI on CO₂ emissions. The empirical analysis was performed at a disaggregated level to assess the possible environmental influences across the OBRI countries. Overall, the results reported that broadband and mobile development have an adverse effect on CO₂ emissions. The finding further reveals that the broadband indicator negatively affects CO₂ emissions in all OBRI regions except South Asia. Similarly, the mobile use indicator protects the environmental quality in all OBRI regions except MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and Central Asia. Regarding country-wise analysis, broadband has alleviated the pollution level in 21 countries, while mobile has alleviated it in 15 countries. Moreover, economic growth is responsible to increase pollution levels in all panels and regions except Europe. Besides, the results highlight that higher FDI reduces environmental pollution whereby, the pollution halo hypothesis is supported to hold for all OBRI panels and regions except MENA countries. Based on the empirical findings, the policymakers and governments of these economies should design policies to grow smarter cities, transportation systems, electrical grids, industrial processes, and energy-saving production through ICT development on a macro level.

The Dynamic Relationship among Bank Credit, House Prices and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China

This paper explores the dynamic relationship among bank credit, house prices and carbon dioxide emissions in China by systematically analyzing related data from January 2000 to December 2019 with the help of the time-varying parameter vector autoregression with stochastic volatility (TVP-SV-VAR) model and the Bayesian DCC-GARCH model. Empirical results show the expansion of bank credit significantly drives up house prices and increases carbon dioxide emissions in mosttimes. The rise in house prices inhibits the expansion of bank credit but increases carbon dioxide emissions and aggravates environment pollution, and that the increase in carbon dioxide is helpful to stimulate bank credit expansion and house price rise. In addition, bank credit and house prices are most relevant, followed by bank credit and carbon dioxide emissions, then by house prices and carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, we believe that in order to stabilize skyrocketing house prices, restrain carbon dioxide emissions, and secure a stable and healthy macro-economy, the government should strengthen management of bank credit, and effectively control its total volume.

Impact of Green Innovation Efficiency on Carbon Peak: Carbon Neutralization under Environmental Governance Constraints

Under environmental governance constraints, in order to explore the quantitative contribution of green innovation efficiency to carbon peak and carbon neutralization at the urban level, this paper uses the unexpected Super-SBM model to measure the green innovation efficiency of each prefecture-level city based on the panel data of 40 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2010 to 2019. Furthermore, the panel fixed effect model is constructed, and the two-stage least squares estimation method is used for empirical research. It is found that green innovation efficiency can significantly reduce carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta, promote carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta to reach an early peak, and achieve the long-term goal of carbon neutrality as soon as possible. This conclusion is still stable after solving the endogenous problem and the influence of outliers. The results of regional heterogeneity analysis show that green innovation efficiency has remarkable effects on carbon emission reduction in Anhui and Zhejiang Provinces, and the emission reduction effect in Zhejiang Province is greater than that in Anhui Province. In addition, there exists obvious heterogeneity between different quantiles for the impact of green innovation efficiency on carbon emissions, showing an "inverted U" shape, and its intensity in the context of medium carbon emissions is greater than that of low carbon and high carbon emissions.

Difference and Cluster Analysis on the Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China During COVID-19 Lockdown via a Complex Network Model

The continuous increase of carbon emissions is a serious challenge all over the world, and many countries are striving to solve this problem. Since 2020, a widespread lockdown in the country to prevent the spread of COVID-19 escalated, severely restricting the movement of people and unnecessary economic activities, which unexpectedly reduced carbon emissions. This paper aims to analyze the carbon emissions data of 30 provinces in the 2020 and provide references for reducing emissions with epidemic lockdown measures. Based on the method of time series visualization, we transform the time series data into complex networks to find out the hidden information in these data. We found that the lockdown would bring about a short-term decrease in carbon emissions, and most provinces have a short time point of impact, which is closely related to the level of economic development and industrial structure. The current results provide some insights into the evolution of carbon emissions under COVID-19 blockade measures and valuable insights into energy conservation and response to the energy crisis in the post-epidemic era.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in China's transportation sector

The COVID-19 pandemic has put the whole world in a great lockdown and greatly changed our lives. The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the transportation industry in China. In this paper, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of fuel vehicles and battery electric vehicles in China during the COVID-19 pandemic was estimated and analyzed. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic was analyzed. The study period is taken from September 2019 to April 2020, and the period from September 2018 to August 2019 is taken for comparison. Moreover, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of fuel vehicles during SARS epidemic was also analyzed. The related study period is taken from January 2003 to August 2003. The results show COVID-19 has a much larger impact on transportation energy consumption and CO₂ emissions than SARS. After the COVID-19 pandemic, energy conservation and emission reduction still have a long way to go. Determining the energy consumption and emissions in transportation sector during the COVID-19 pandemic will provide the government with a reference for future energy conservation and emission reduction in transportation sector and the further promotion of battery electric vehicles.

Oxygen Enrichment Membranes for Kuwait Power Plants: A Case Study

Power plants are considered as the major source of carbon dioxide pollution in Kuwait. The gas is released from the combustion of fuel with air to convert water into steam. It has been proven that the use of enriched oxygen can reduce fuel consumption and minimize emissions. In this study, UniSim (Honeywell, Charlotte, NC, USA) was used to estimate the fuel savings and carbon dioxide emissions of the largest power plant in Kuwait (Alzour). Results showed that at 30 mol% oxygen, the fuel consumption was lowered by 8%, with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 3524 tons per day. An economic analysis was performed on the use of a membrane unit to produce 30 mol% oxygen. At current market prices, the unit is not economical. However, the system can achieve a payback duration of 3 years if natural gas price increases to USD 6.74 or the compressor cost decreases to USD 52 per kW. Currently, the research and development sector is targeting a membrane fabrication cost of less than USD 10 per m² to make the membrane process more attractive.

[Water-air Carbon Dioxide Exchange and Nutritional Controls in a Typical Karst River]

To explore water-air carbon dioxide (CO₂) exchange and its nutritional controls in karst rivers, water sampling and analyses were conducted in the Furong River as a representative karst river system. Regional hydrometeorological characteristics, carbonate system parameters, total organic carbon (TOC), nutrients and their stoichiometric ratios, and the riverine pressure of aqueous CO₂ (pCO₂) and its couplings to trophic status were analyzed. The results showed that gas transfer velocity of CO₂ (k) varied between 2.71 and 13.0 m·d^-1. Riverine pCO₂ varied from 78.5 Pa to 21491.2 Pa and was significantly higher in the tributaries than the main stem. Riverine TOC, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations were (302.8±50.1), (128.9±67.9), and (0.65±0.98) μmol·L^-1, respectively, demonstrating the trophic status of P-limitation. Riverine pCO₂ was tightly linked to P-related parameters, suggesting that in-situ metabolism triggered aquatic CO₂ supersaturation. Water-air CO₂ flux (F) averaged (534.5±801.4) mmol·(m²·d)^-1 in the Furong River, which is higher than most of the world's rivers, and thus indicates high potential CO₂ emissions.

An Optimized Fractional Grey Prediction Model for Carbon Dioxide Emissions Forecasting

Because grey prediction does not demand that the collected data have to be in line with any statistical distribution, it is pertinent to set up grey prediction models for real-world problems. GM(1,1) has been a widely used grey prediction model, but relevant parameters, including the control variable and developing coefficient, rely on background values that are not easily determined. Furthermore, one-order accumulation is usually incorporated into grey prediction models, which assigns equal weights to each sample, to recognize regularities embedded in data sequences. Therefore, to optimize grey prediction models, this study employed a genetic algorithm to determine the relevant parameters and assigned appropriate weights to the sample data using fractional-order accumulation. Experimental results on the carbon dioxide emission data reported by the International Energy Agency demonstrated that the proposed grey prediction model was significantly superior to the other considered prediction models.

Economic growth and environment in the United Kingdom: robust evidence using more than 250 years data

Using a long span of data (from 1751 to 2016), this paper empirically investigates the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and economic growth (real GDP per capita) in the United Kingdom. The empirical results provide strong support for the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in the UK, i.e., an inverted U-shaped relationship between CO₂ emissions and economic growth, with turning point estimated around the mid-twentieth century. This turning point corresponds with the introduction of changes in environmental standards and policies, which reflects the regulatory efforts to limit pollution by reducing the discharge of grit into the atmosphere, as well as the decline in the use of coal as source of energy, which reflects the country willingness to ensure the energy transition necessary for sustainable development.

Performance of Rice Husk Ash as Supplementary Cementitious Material after Production in the Field and in the Lab

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) can reduce the total amount of Portland cement clinker in concrete production. Rice husk ashes (RHA) can be converted from an agricultural by-product to a high-performance concrete constituent due to a high amount of reactive silica with pozzolanic properties if they are burnt under controlled conditions. The way and duration of combustion, the cooling process as well as the temperature have an effect on the silica form and thus, the chemical and physical performance of the RHA. Various studies on the best combustion technique have been published to investigate the ideal combustion techniques. Yet, the process mostly took place under laboratory conditions. Investigating the difference between the performance of RHA produced in a rural environment and laboratory conditions is useful for the assessment and future enhancement of RHA production, and its application both as building material, for example in rural areas where it is sourced in large quantities, and as additive for high performance concrete. Thus, the paper presents a comparison between RHA produced under rudimentary conditions in a self-made furnace in the rural Bagamoyo, Tanzania and under controlled laboratory conditions at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, with different combustion methods and temperatures. In a second step, RHA was ground to reach particle size distributions comparable to cement. In a third step, cement pastes were prepared with 10%, 20% and 40% of cement replacement, and compared to the performance of plain and fly ash blended cement pastes. The results show that controlled burning conditions around 650 °C lead to high reactivity of silica and, therefore, to good performance as SCM. However, also the RHA burnt under less controlled conditions in the field provided reasonably good properties, if the process took place with proper burning parameters and adequate grinding. The knowledge can be implemented in the field to improve the final RHA performance as SCM in concrete.

Supplementation of Non-Starch Polysaccharide Enzymes Cocktail in a Corn-Miscellaneous Meal Diet Improves Nutrient Digestibility and Reduces Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Finishing Pigs

Simple Summary

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the non-starch polysaccharide enzymes cocktail (NSPEC) on growth performance, nutrient digestion and gas emissions on finishing pigs. The addition of the NSPEC into a corn-miscellaneous meal diet improved feed conversion ratio and increased the apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, crude protein and gross energy of the finishing pigs. Furthermore, the digestible energy of the diet was also increased by the NSPEC supplementation in the diet. In addition, the inclusion of NSPEC in the corn-miscellaneous meal diet reduced carbon dioxide emissions of a finishing pig house. The accumulation of manure could increase the release of ammonia in a pig house.

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of the addition of the non-starch polysaccharide enzymes cocktail (NSPEC) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and gas emissions in a corn-miscellaneous meal-based diet for finishing pigs. The NSPEC is a combination of cellulase, xylanase, β-glucanase, β-mannanase, α-galactosidase and pectinase optimized by assessing the in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of corn-miscellaneous meal diet using an in vitro method of simulating digestion in the stomach and intestine of growing pigs. Growth performance and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients and energy were measured. The gas concentration of ammonia, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane in the environmental assessment chambers were determined. The gas detecting period was divided into three frequencies of manure removal of every 1d, 2d and 3d. The addition of NSPEC into the corn-miscellaneous meal diet decreased feed conversation rate (FCR) and increased the ATTD of dry matter, crude protein, gross energy, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber of pigs (p < 0.05). The digestible energy was also improved (p < 0.05) significantly by NSPEC supplementation in the diet. Furthermore, the supplementation of the NSPEC reduced (p < 0.05) carbon dioxide concentration in the chambers. The ammonia emissions were significantly increased according to average 1d, 2d and 3d manure removal procedures (p < 0.01). These results indicated that the inclusion of optimal NSPEC in a corn-miscellaneous meal diet improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility and reduced carbon dioxide emissions on finishing pigs. The accumulated manure could increase the release of ammonia in a pig house.

Socio-economic and environmental factors influenced the United Nations healthcare sustainable agenda: evidence from a panel of selected Asian and African countries

The objective of the study is to evaluate socio-economic and environmental factors that influenced the United Nations healthcare sustainable agenda in a panel of 21 Asian and African countries. The results show that changes in price level (0.0062, p < 0.000), life risks of maternal death (4.579, p < 0.000), and under-5 mortality rate (0.374, p < 0.000) substantially increases out-of-pocket health expenditures, while CO₂ emissions (5.681, p < 0.003), prevalence of undernourishment (15.184, p < 0.000), PM_2.5 particulate emission (1557, p < 0.000), unemployment, and private health expenditures (30.729, p < 0000) are associated with high mortality rate across countries. Healthcare reforms affected by low healthcare spending, unsustainable environment, and ease of environmental regulations that ultimately increases mortality rate across countries. The Granger causality estimates confirmed the different causal mechanisms between socio-economic and environmental factors, which is directly linked with the country's healthcare agenda, i.e., the causality running from (i) CO₂ emissions to life risks of maternal death and under-5 mortality rate, (ii) from depth of food deficit to incidence of tuberculosis and unemployment, (iii) from PM_2.5 emissions to infant mortality rate, (iv) from foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to PM_2.5 emissions, (v) from trade openness to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and (vi) from mortality indicators to per capita income, while there is a feedback relationship between health expenditures and per capita income across countries. The variance decomposition analysis shows that (i) under-5 mortality rate will increase out-of-pocket health expenditures, (ii) unemployment rate will increase mortality indicators, and (iii) health expenditures will increase economic well-being in a panel of selected countries, for the next 10 years.

[Analysis of PHEV CO2 Emission Based on China's Grid Structure and Travelling Patterns in Mega Cities]

Spatial-domain changes in the proportion of thermal power in the power grids of China and the duality of PHEV-driven energy have increased the complexity of research on the CO₂ emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). 130000 km of driving data from 50 PHEV vehicles operating in Shanghai is studied to derive methods to evaluate the carbon dioxide emission of PHEV vehicles. The electric drive distance ratio of the PHEV and its influencing factors are analyzed. The effects of the electric range, charging frequency, and power grid composition on the carbon emission intensity of PHEV are analyzed, and the effect of the level of progress for PHEV in 2020 on CO₂ emission reductions is forecast. The results of the study show that the daily vehicle kilometers travelled by PHEV passenger cars in China's first-tier cities are mainly concentrated within a range of 50 km, accounting for 70% of total trips. Under the national grid structure in 2016, PHEVs with a driving range of more than 50 km emit at least 15% less carbon dioxide than conventional vehicles. In areas with a high proportion of renewable energy grid structure, PHEV carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced to below 100.0 g·km^-1, which is more than 28% lower than that achieved using the national grid structure. Based on the national grid structure and technical level in 2016, increasing the all-electric range (50-100 km) and the charging frequency (0.5 times·d^-1 to 2 times·d^-1) has no obvious effect on reducing CO₂ emissions. The PHEV fuel economy and electricity consumption levels in 2020 could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32% compared to those in 2016.

The Impact of Technological Progress in the Energy Sector on Carbon Emissions: An Empirical Analysis from China

This paper investigates the relationship between technological progress in the energy sector and carbon emissions based on the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) and data from China during the period of 1995–2012. Our study confirms that the situation in China conforms to the EKC hypothesis and presents the inverted U-curve relationship between per capita income and carbon emissions. Furthermore, the inflection point will be reached in at least five years. Then, we use research and development (R & D) investment in the energy industry as the quantitative indicator of its technological progress to test its impact on carbon emissions. Our results show that technological progress in the energy sector contributes to a reduction in carbon emissions with hysteresis. Furthermore, our results show that energy efficiency improvements are also helpful in reducing carbon emissions. However, climate policy and change in industrial structure increase carbon emissions to some extent. Our conclusion demonstrates that currently, China is not achieving economic growth and pollution reduction simultaneously. To further achieve the goal of carbon reduction, the government should increase investment in the energy industry research and improve energy efficiency.

Global combustion: the connection between fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions (1997-2010)

Humans use combustion for heating and cooking, managing lands, and, more recently, for fuelling the industrial economy. As a shift to fossil-fuel-based energy occurs, we expect that anthropogenic biomass burning in open landscapes will decline as it becomes less fundamental to energy acquisition and livelihoods. Using global data on both fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions, we tested this relationship over a 14 year period (1997-2010). The global average annual carbon emissions from biomass burning during this time were 2.2 Pg C per year (±0.3 s.d.), approximately one-third of fossil fuel emissions over the same period (7.3 Pg C, ±0.8 s.d.). There was a significant inverse relationship between average annual fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions. Fossil fuel emissions explained 8% of the variation in biomass burning emissions at a global scale, but this varied substantially by land cover. For example, fossil fuel burning explained 31% of the variation in biomass burning in woody savannas, but was a non-significant predictor for evergreen needleleaf forests. In the land covers most dominated by human use, croplands and urban areas, fossil fuel emissions were more than 30- and 500-fold greater than biomass burning emissions. This relationship suggests that combustion practices may be shifting from open landscape burning to contained combustion for industrial purposes, and highlights the need to take into account how humans appropriate combustion in global modelling of contemporary fire. Industrialized combustion is not only an important driver of atmospheric change, but also an important driver of landscape change through companion declines in human-started fires.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

Long-term changes in CO(2) emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia-Identifying the drivers of environmental pressures

This study presents fossil-fuel related CO(2) emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia (current Czech Republic and Slovakia) for 1830-2000. The drivers of CO(2) emissions are discussed by investigating the variables of the standard Kaya identity for 1920-2000 and conducting a comparative Index Decomposition Analysis. Proxy data on industrial production and household consumption are analysed to understand the role of the economic structure. CO(2) emissions increased in both countries in the long run. Czechoslovakia was a stronger emitter of CO(2) throughout the time period, but per-capita emissions significantly differed only after World War I, when Czechoslovakia and Austria became independent. The difference in CO(2) emissions increased until the mid-1980s (the period of communism in Czechoslovakia), explained by the energy intensity and the composition effects, and higher industrial production in Czechoslovakia. Counterbalancing factors were the income effect and household consumption. After the Velvet revolution in 1990, Czechoslovak CO(2) emissions decreased, and the energy composition effect (and industrial production) lost importance. Despite their different political and economic development, Austria and Czechoslovakia reached similar levels of per-capita CO(2) emissions in the late 20th century. Neither Austrian "eco-efficiency" nor Czechoslovak restructuring have been effective in reducing CO(2) emissions to a sustainable level.

Energy efficiency, resilience to future climates and long-term sustainability: the role of the built environment

Just under half of all energy consumption in the UK today takes place indoors, and over a quarter within our homes. The challenges associated with energy security, climate change and sustainable consumption will be overcome or lost in our existing buildings. A background analysis, and the scale of the engineering challenge for the next three to four decades, is described in this paper.