Climate Change Mitigation, Air Pollution, and Health Impacts in the Heating System

Dear Colleagues,

The need for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to achieve the climate goal of limiting warming to 1.5 or 2 °C has become even more pronounced and urgent in the post-COVID-19 era. Heating systems, which account for almost one-third of the end-use energy consumption in the residential sector and service industry and approximately 12% of global energy consumption, are expected to accelerate the low-carbon transition and play a vital role in mitigation. Meanwhile, the air pollution emitted from heating systems causes adverse health impacts, resulting in strong interactions between climate change, air pollution, and public health. The nexus provides opportunities to promote sustainability by incorporating air pollution control and health benefits in the design of a low-carbon transition in heating systems and climate polities.

This Special Issue aims to advance the field of human health impacts of climate change mitigation and explore cooperation strategies that can be implemented within the heating systems to facilitate both climate change mitigation and public health promotion. Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Assessment or projections of the impacts of heating systems on GHG emissions, air quality, and human health at household, local, regional, or global scales.
• Monitoring or modeling of the effectiveness of air pollution control and climate mitigation strategies in heating systems, such as heating electrification; district heating; efficiency improvement in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems; process optimization for combined heat and power (CHP) plants; optimized thermal insulation of facades; construction of green infrastructure; and energy transition away from fossil fuels.
• Simulation modeling of climate change mitigation potentials, simulation-based optimization, technology selection, or cost-effectiveness analysis of mitigation measures in heating systems.
• Analysis of the drivers heating demand and energy behavior change in residential heating choice.
• Empirical evidence on the interactions between GHG emissions from heating systems, indoor/outdoor air pollution, and health impacts.
• Assessment of the ancillary impacts of climate mitigation on air quality, human health, and other related socioeconomic dimensions, such as working productivity, energy justice, health risks of vulnerable groups, and social equity.
• Decision-supporting tools concerning the development of air pollution control and climate policy, such as developing energy-technology mitigation roadmaps in heating sectors and defining guidelines for the design of green buildings and low-carbon heating systems.
• Integrated strategies to promote synergies and balance trade-offs between public health, air quality, and climate policy, considering locality of building features, climate, building codes, socioeconomic factors, and customs.

Prof. Dr. Can Wang
Dr. Xinzhu Zheng
Guest Editors

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