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Sustainability
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Environment, Energy, and Air Quality Policy Integration
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Environment, Energy, and Air Quality Policy Integration

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 7860

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rasoul Asaee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Interests: energy conservation; energy policy; renewable/alternative energy technologies; sustainable buildings; sustainable transportation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The energy transition in the coming decades will be the greatest shift of this kind the world has seen in generations. The demand for natural resources has tripled since 1970 and continues to grow. Yet, over half of the world’s population still depends on energy sources that create unhealthy indoor air quality, and over 35% of the world’s population do not have access to safe drinking water. The integrated nature of the environmental challenges of our time contradicts the way that policymaking processes work. Many organizations that are responsible for natural resources development, preserving the environment and tackling climate change, and managing the economy are still working separately and independently.

Developing comprehensive strategies that are affordable, reliable, and sustainable to respond to these challenges requires a unified approach between all levels of governments. The sustainable management of natural resources and energy use for transportation, construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and basic metal production will support economic development, while helping to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. This Special Issue focuses on the integration of environmental concerns in energy production and natural resources development to create synergy among sectoral policies. The topics of interest for this Special Issue of Sustainability include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • Renewable and non-renewable natural resources
  • Environmental impacts of energy production from renewable and non-renewable sources
  • Economic development and environmental protection
  • Environmental impact and risk assessment
  • Energy and environmental regulation
  • Sustainable management of the environment
  • Air pollution and climate change
  • Low carbon transportation and transportation services
  • Energy use and environmental impacts of seawater desalination
  • Industrial development and energy crisis
  • National policies and international treaties for sustainable development

This Special Issue will bring together different perspectives on the environment, energy, and air pollution to provide data, analysis, and evidence to assist policymakers in informed decision-making.

Dr. Rasoul Asaee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental policy integration
  • energy conservation
  • economic development
  • climate change
  • climate policy integration
  • energy policy
  • sustainable development
  • natural resources policy
  • governance

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 2385 KiB  
Article
Provincial Allocation of Energy Consumption, Air Pollutant and CO2 Emission Quotas in China: Based on a Weighted Environment ZSG-DEA Model
by Jiekun Song, Rui Chen and Xiaoping Ma
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2243; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042243 - 16 Feb 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1319
Abstract
Air pollutants and CO2 emissions have a common important source, namely energy consumption. Considering fairness and efficiency, the provincial coordinated allocation of energy consumption, air pollutant emission, and carbon emission (EAC) quotas is of great significance to promote provincial development and achieve [...] Read more.
Air pollutants and CO2 emissions have a common important source, namely energy consumption. Considering fairness and efficiency, the provincial coordinated allocation of energy consumption, air pollutant emission, and carbon emission (EAC) quotas is of great significance to promote provincial development and achieve national energy conservation and emission reduction targets. A weighted environment zero-sum-gains data envelopment analysis (ZSG-DEA) model is constructed to optimize the efficiency of the initial provincial quotas under the fairness principle, so as to realize the fairness and efficiency of allocation. The empirical analysis in 2020 shows that the optimal allocation scheme proposed in this study is better than the national planning scheme in terms of fairness and efficiency, and the optimal scheme based on the initial allocation of priority order of “capacity to pay egalitarianism > historical egalitarianism > population egalitarianism” is the fairest. The optimal allocation scheme in 2025 can achieve absolute fairness. In this scheme, the pressures of energy conservation and emission reduction undertaken by different provinces vary greatly. The implementation of regional coordinated development strategies can narrow this gap and improve the enforceability of this scheme. Combined with the analysis of energy conservation and emission reduction in seven categories and three major national strategic regions, we put forward corresponding measures to provide decision support for China’s energy conservation and emission reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environment, Energy, and Air Quality Policy Integration)
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25 pages, 9817 KiB  
Article
Hierarchical Optimization Decision-Making Method to Comply with China’s Fuel Consumption and New Energy Vehicle Credit Regulations
by Kangda Chen, Fuquan Zhao, Han Hao, Zongwei Liu and Xinglong Liu
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7842; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147842 - 13 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2571
Abstract
The national targets of reaching carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 propose higher requirements for energy conservation and emission reduction of China’s automobile industry. As an important measure for the government, the fuel consumption and new energy vehicle (NEV) credit [...] Read more.
The national targets of reaching carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 propose higher requirements for energy conservation and emission reduction of China’s automobile industry. As an important measure for the government, the fuel consumption and new energy vehicle (NEV) credit policy system has a significant impact on the Chinese and even the global vehicle market. Considering the lack of a systematic evaluation model for China’s fuel consumption and NEV credit regulations, this study establishes a hierarchical optimization decision-making model based on technology frontier curves and a multi-dimension database containing extensive data of technologies, products, and enterprises in the Chinese market to simulate and evaluate the technology compliance and policy impact under multiple regulations. The results show that, from the perspective of the technology frontier curve, gasoline technologies still have great cost-effectiveness advantages when the fuel-saving requirement is less than 46%, and the space for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REVs) is gradually shrinking due to the cost reduction of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). BEV400 will be better than PHEV70 and REV100 when the fuel-saving requirement is higher than 79%. Diesel vehicles are always not competitive in the passenger car market. In terms of the compliance of corporate average fuel consumption (CAFC) regulation, the start-stop technology will be gradually phased out and mild hybrid electric vehicles will be rapidly introduced due to their high cost-effectiveness in 2025. With the tightening of regulations, the penetration rate of BEVs and PHEVs will be 23.7% and 6.7%, respectively, and mild hybrid electric vehicles will be gradually replaced by strong hybrid electric vehicles in 2030. By 2035, the penetration rate of BEVs and PHEVs will be 43.6% and 6% further. For the CAFC and NEV credit regulation (widely known as the dual credit regulation), the single-vehicle credit poses a greater impact on the penetration of NEVs than corporate credit percentage limitation and is the key factor that should be focused on. The NEV credit limitation in the dual credit regulation could push ‘poor performance’ automakers to produce the required number of NEVs and meet the bottom line. However, in the long term, when compared to the CAFC regulation, the dual credit regulation is more lenient, due to NEVs being able to get double benefits both on NEV credit and CAFC credit, and NEV credit can also unidirectionally compensate CAFC credit under the dual-credit policy context. With the increased penetration and cost reduction of NEVs, the ‘averaging’ effect of dual credit regulation will inhibit the development of energy-saving and new energy vehicles. Therefore, eliminating the connection between NEV credit and CAFC credit or only leaving the CAFC and the fuel consumption limit regulations in the future will be better for the long-term development of the energy-saving and new energy vehicle industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environment, Energy, and Air Quality Policy Integration)
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25 pages, 12938 KiB  
Article
Energy Performance Assessment Framework for Residential Buildings in Saudi Arabia
by Mohammad AlHashmi, Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha, Rajeev Ruparathna, Kh Md Nahiduzzaman, Kasun Hewage and Rehan Sadiq
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2232; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042232 - 19 Feb 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3229
Abstract
The residential sector consumes about 50% of the electricity produced from fossil fuels in Saudi Arabia. The residential energy demand is increasing. Moreover, a simple building energy performance assessment framework is not available for hot arid developing countries. This research proposes an energy [...] Read more.
The residential sector consumes about 50% of the electricity produced from fossil fuels in Saudi Arabia. The residential energy demand is increasing. Moreover, a simple building energy performance assessment framework is not available for hot arid developing countries. This research proposes an energy performance assessment framework for residential buildings in hot and arid regions, which focuses on three performance criteria: operational energy, GHG emissions, and cost. The proposed framework has been applied to three types of residential buildings, i.e., detached, attached, and low-rise apartments, in five geographical regions of Saudi Arabia. Design Builder® was used to simulate the energy demand in buildings over a whole year. Four types of efficiency improvement interventions, including double-glazed windowpanes, triple-glazed windowpanes, LED lighting, and split air conditioners, were introduced in 12 combinations. Overall, 180 simulations were performed which are based on 12 intervention combinations, three building types, and five regions. Three performance criteria were evaluated for each simulation and then aggregated using a multi-criteria decision analysis method to identify the best intervention strategy for a given building type and a geographical region in Saudi Arabia. Each building type with interventions consumes higher energy in the western, central, and eastern regions and consumes a lesser amount of energy in the southern and northern regions. The proposed framework is helpful for long-term planning of the residential sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environment, Energy, and Air Quality Policy Integration)
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