Special Issue "Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lirong Liu
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Interests: climate change mitigation and adaptation; renewable and sustainable energy; clean technology; industrial ecology; food-water-energy nexus; policy development; computable general equilibrium model development and application; input-output/supply chain/ecological network/ material flow analysis; system optimization/partial equilibrium models
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Bing Chen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Interests: environmental engineering and management; marine and coastal protection; environmental nanotechnology and biotechnology; environmental management and decision-making
Prof. Dr. Yulei Xie
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: environment system analysis; ecological–environmental system simulation and planning; water resources system management; energy system model; uncertainty optimization
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Kaiqiang Zhang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London (SW7 2AZ), United Kingdom
Interests: sustainable energy technology; carbon capture utilization and storage; oil and gas
Prof. Dr. Richard Murphy
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Interests: bioenergy and biomaterials; life cycle assessment
Prof. Ravi Silva
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Interests: renewable energy and systems; solar cells; nano-manufacturing; energy materials; carbon electronics; nano-biotechnology; nano carbons; nanotechnology; water technology; electronic and photonic devices; advanced technologies for societal contributions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have significantly increased since 1900, which seriously impact the environment, human health, and the global economy. Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in GHGs in the atmosphere over the last 150 years, with its impact heralding the end of the Helocene and the start of the Anthropocene epoch. Facing this challenge, many low-carbon energy technologies, such as solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization, and storage, and energy storage, are rapidly being developed to shift the economic activities to lower GHG emissions. Considering the resource availability and economic conditions, the above low-carbon energy technologies are highly heterogeneous in various regions and industries, which perform differently from both environmental and economic perspectives. Moreover, the complexities of energy systems highlight not just their interconnectivity with each other but the increased exponential dependence between energy, the environment, and the economy. Thus, it is crucial to explore low-carbon energy technologies through the perspective of multidisciplinary collaborations.

This Special Issue aims to investigate low-carbon energy technologies in an environmental and economic system to support their development and achieve the targets for climate change mitigation, while following the aspirations of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In terms of research methodology, it will give priority to innovative techniques, models, and approaches related to low-carbon energy technologies. In terms of practical applications, it welcomes studies related to all of the world’s communities, including developed, rapidly developing, and developing regions.

Dr. Lirong Liu
Prof. Bing Chen
Prof. Yulei Xie
Dr. Kaiqiang Zhang
Prof. Richard Murphy
Prof. Ravi Silva
Guest Editors

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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • low-carbon technology
  • climate change
  • sustainable development
  • renewable energy
  • solar energy
  • wind energy
  • nuclear energy
  • energy storage
  • hydrogen
  • clean fossil energy.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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Article
Assessment of Emission Reduction and Meteorological Change in PM2.5 and Transport Flux in Typical Cities Cluster during 2013–2017
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5685; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105685 - 19 May 2021
Viewed by 352
Abstract
Under the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) implemented, China has witnessed an air quality change during the past five years, yet the main influence factors remain relatively unexplored. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions as typical [...] Read more.
Under the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) implemented, China has witnessed an air quality change during the past five years, yet the main influence factors remain relatively unexplored. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions as typical cluster cities, the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) and Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extension (CAMx) were introduced to demonstrate the meteorological and emission contribution and PM2.5 flux distribution. The results showed that the PM2.5 concentration in BTH and YRD significantly declined with a descend ratio of −39.6% and −28.1%, respectively. For the meteorological contribution, those regions had a similar tendency with unfavorable conditions in 2013–2015 (contribution concentration 1.6–3.8 μg/m3 and 1.1–3.6 μg/m3) and favorable in 2016 (contribution concentration −1.5 μg/m3 and −0.2 μg/m3). Further, the absolute value of the net flux’s intensity was positively correlated with the degree of the favorable/unfavorable weather conditions. When it came to emission intensity, the total net inflow flux increased, and the outflow flux decreased significantly across the border with the emission increasing. In short: the aforementioned results confirmed the effectiveness of the regional joint emission control and provided scientific support for the proposed effective joint control measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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Article
Numerical Investigation on Wellbore Temperature Prediction during the CO2 Fracturing in Horizontal Wells
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5672; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105672 - 18 May 2021
Viewed by 396
Abstract
A novel model is established to predict the temperature field in the horizontal wellbore during CO2 fracturing. The pressure work and viscous dissipation are considered, and the transient energy, mass and momentum equations as well as the CO2 physical properties are [...] Read more.
A novel model is established to predict the temperature field in the horizontal wellbore during CO2 fracturing. The pressure work and viscous dissipation are considered, and the transient energy, mass and momentum equations as well as the CO2 physical properties are solved fully coupled. The model passes the convergence test and is verified through a comparison using the COMSOL software. Then, a sensitivity analysis is performed to study the effects of the treating parameters. Results illustrate that the relationship between the injection rate and the stable bottom-hole temperature (hereinafter referred to as BHT) is non-monotonic, which is different from the hydraulic fracturing. The existence of the horizontal section will increase the BHT at 2 m3/min condition but reduce the BHT at 10 m3/min condition. The problem of high wellbore friction can be alleviated through tube size enhancement, and the ultimate injection rate allowed increased from 2.7 m3/min to 29.6 m3/min when the tube diameter increased from 50.3 mm to 100.3 mm. Additionally, the open-hole completion method of the horizontal section can increase the BHT to 2.7 °C but reduce the near formation temperature to 24.5 °C compared with the casing completion method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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Article
Day-Ahead Wind Power Forecasting Based on Wind Load Data Using Hybrid Optimization Algorithm
Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1164; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031164 - 22 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 627
Abstract
Accurate wind power forecasting is essential to reduce the negative impact of wind power on the operation of the grid and the operation cost of the power system. Day-ahead wind power forecasting plays an important role in the day-ahead electricity spot trading market. [...] Read more.
Accurate wind power forecasting is essential to reduce the negative impact of wind power on the operation of the grid and the operation cost of the power system. Day-ahead wind power forecasting plays an important role in the day-ahead electricity spot trading market. However, the instability of the wind power series makes the forecast difficult. To improve forecast accuracy, a hybrid optimization algorithm is established in this study, which combines variational mode decomposition (VMD), maximum relevance & minimum redundancy algorithm (mRMR), long short-term memory neural network (LSTM), and firefly algorithm (FA) together. Firstly, the original historical wind power sequence is decomposed into several characteristic model functions with VMD. Then, mRMR is applied to obtain the best feature set by analyzing the correlation between each component. Finally, the FA is used to optimize the various parameters LSTM. Adding the forecasting results of all sub-sequences acquires the forecasting result. It turns out that the proposed hybrid algorithm is superior to the other six comparison algorithms. At the same time, an additional case is provided to further verify the adaptability and stability of the proposed hybrid model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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Article
A Novel and Efficient Metal Oxide Fluoride Absorbent for Drinking Water Safety and Sustainable Development
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 883; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020883 - 17 Jan 2021
Viewed by 491
Abstract
Inefficient and non-environmentally friendly absorbent production can lead to much resource waste and go against low carbon and sustainable development. A novel and efficient Mg-Fe-Ce (MFC) complex metal oxide absorbent of fluoride ion (F) removal was proposed for safe, environmentally friendly, [...] Read more.
Inefficient and non-environmentally friendly absorbent production can lead to much resource waste and go against low carbon and sustainable development. A novel and efficient Mg-Fe-Ce (MFC) complex metal oxide absorbent of fluoride ion (F) removal was proposed for safe, environmentally friendly, and sustainable drinking water management. A series of optimization and preparation processes for the adsorbent and batch experiments (e.g., effects of solution pH, adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, effects of coexisting anions, as well as surface properties tests) were carried out to analyze the characteristics of the adsorbent. The results indicated that optimum removal of F occurred in a pH range of 4–5.5, and higher adsorption performances also happened under neutral pH conditions. The kinetic data under 10 and 50 mg·g−1 were found to be suitable for the pseudo-second-order adsorption rate model, and the two-site Langmuir model was ideal for adsorption isotherm data as compared to the one-site Langmuir model. According to the two-site Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity calculated at pH 7.0 ± 0.2 was 204 mg·g−1. The adsorption of F was not affected by the presence of sulfate (SO42−), nitrate (NO3), and chloride (Cl), which was suitable for practical applications in drinking water with high F concentration. The MFC adsorbent has an amorphous structure, and there was an exchange reaction between OH and F. The novel MFC adsorbent was proven to have higher efficiency, better economy, and environmental sustainability, and be more environmentally friendly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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Article
The Bionic Water Channel of Ultra-Short, High Affinity Carbon Nanotubes with High Water Permeability and Proton Selectivity
Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010102 - 24 Dec 2020
Viewed by 643
Abstract
The development of the bionic water channel aims to replace the possible use of natural aquaporins (AQPs) for water purification, while retaining the ability of natural AQPs to carry out ultra-fast water transport and repel ions. Carbon nanotube channels (CNTCs) are a convenient [...] Read more.
The development of the bionic water channel aims to replace the possible use of natural aquaporins (AQPs) for water purification, while retaining the ability of natural AQPs to carry out ultra-fast water transport and repel ions. Carbon nanotube channels (CNTCs) are a convenient membrane-based model system for studying nano-fluidic transport that replicates a number of key structural features of biological membrane channels. In this report, we describe protocols for CNTCs synthesis by ultrasound-assisted cutting of long CNTs in the presence of lipid amphiphiles. CNTCs have a similar thickness to the lipid membrane and high affinity for it. The ultra-short high-affinity CNTCs have high permeability and ion selectivity. The water permeability of the CNTCs is 1936 ± 123 μm/s, which is 2.3 times that of natural AQPs, and completely rejects salt ions. In general, carbon nanotubes represent a multifunctional nanopore building module for creating high-ranking functional bionic materials. This study has reference significance for the design of new bionic water channel and the actual development of bionic membrane based on CNTs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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Review
Planning and Scheduling for Industrial Demand-Side Management: State of the Art, Opportunities and Challenges under Integration of Energy Internet and Industrial Internet
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7753; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147753 - 12 Jul 2021
Viewed by 435
Abstract
Industrial power has a large load base and considerable adjustment potential. Enterprises with a high degree of automation and adjustable potential can automatically adjust the production status according to the peak load, frequency of the power grid and the demand of new energy [...] Read more.
Industrial power has a large load base and considerable adjustment potential. Enterprises with a high degree of automation and adjustable potential can automatically adjust the production status according to the peak load, frequency of the power grid and the demand of new energy consumption, so as to realize automatic demand response. This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges of industrial demand response under the integration of Industrial Internet and Energy Internet. At the same time, the development direction of industrial demand response under the new situation, such as comprehensive demand response, adjustable load resources and other technical and policy aspects are prospected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental and Economic Analysis of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies)
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