Understanding the Paradoxes in China's Energy Efficiency Trends
Understanding the Paradoxes in China's Energy Efficiency Trends

Author: Xin Nina Zheng

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 3838258363

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As a developing country undergoing remarkable economic growth, China’s escalating energy consumption and recent reversal in energy efficiency gains are disconcerting for both its national government and the global community. Without ecological energy policymaking, China’s increased energy demand will inevitably result in further degradation of global natural resources, exacerbated pollution, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. In her study, Nina Xin Zheng therefore examines national and regional energy trends in China, highlighting the potential for improved industrial energy efficiency by addressing existing energy paradoxes. She analyzes China’s national energy trends in the global context to explore the factors behind higher energy consumption and lower industrial energy efficiency gains. In the national context, case studies of two different provinces reveal regional disparities in the energy trends of developing coastal and undeveloped inland provinces. These analyses present new insights into regional energy intensity trends and development experiences that enable a more nuanced assessment of the factors driving energy use and the applicability of foreign energy efficiency policy instruments in China. In accounting for existing challenges to improving energy efficiency, an examination of successful energy policies and reforms abroad offers optimism for China’s potential in achieving truly sustainable development.With growing economic, environmental and security linkages between China’s energy use and the global community, greater understanding of its recent energy trends is crucial for sustainable development. For other provinces in China, recognizing the contributing factors to regional energy disparities and Guangdong’s successes provide opportunities for improving energy efficiency while undergoing development. For the global community, greater awareness of China’s energy challenges presents new opportunities for promoting ecological energy policy in China and other countries undergoing economic development to mitigate rising global energy concerns. Ultimately, China’s successes and challenges in addressing its rising energy consumption and declining industrial energy efficiency embody universal lessons on the role of ecological energy policy in the 21st century.

Energy Assistance to North Korea
Energy Assistance to North Korea

Author: Yoon-Young Angela Choe

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 383825838X

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On February 13th, 2007, North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and energy assistance. As a part of the strict give-and-take denuclearization process, the Feburary 13th agreement stipulates energy assistance up to the “equivalent of one million tons of heavy fuel oil”. Noting the critical phrase, “equivalent of”, this study analyzes the various energy assistance options available through domestic and international politics analysis and economic cost-benefit analysis; it includes health and environmental externalities in the economics, thus incorporating the latent social costs. The research finds that a comprehensive energy assistance package that consists of renewable energy assistance, including wind, small-hydro, and tidal power, combined with the rehabilitation of hydro power plants and the grid system in place of heavy fuel oil, would benefit the North Korean energy sector and its economy in a sustainable manner. In the medium-term, light water nuclear reactors emerge as an unfortunate imperative in putting a definite end to the dismantlement process. In the longer South-North Korea economic cooperation, however, as the benefits of renewable energies increase over time, a diverse portfolio of renewable energies would contribute to reviving the economy while allowing for the health of the people and of the environment. To shed light on an example of a country aligning itself toward a sustainable trajectory, the Cuban example of overcoming a food and energy crisis is introduced to grant lessons for policymakers.

Coal-to-Liquids (CtL): Driving Forces and Barriers – Synergies and Conflicts from an Energy and Climate Policy Perspective
Coal-to-Liquids (CtL): Driving Forces and Barriers – Synergies and Conflicts from an Energy and Climate Policy Perspective

Author: Daniel Vallentin

Publisher: ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press

Published: 2012-07-24

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 383825998X

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Several countries with large coal deposits but limited domestic oil reserves show high interest in coal-to-liquid (CtL) technologies, which could reduce crude oil imports by converting coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels. After decades of successful large-scale operating experiences in South Africa, CtL activities in the United States, China and Germany have been fanned by the high oil price in the last years.However, CtL indicates negative techno-economic and resource-related features, such as high capital costs, high greenhouse gas discharges and high water consumption. Therefore, the technology’s diffusion strongly depends on a favourable framework of policies and strong technology advocates. Daniel Vallentin analyses interdependencies between technical and non-technical parameters affecting the diffusion of CtL technologies in the United States, China and Germany. Applying the inter-disciplinary technological system approach, he identifies factors which determine the market prospects of CtL in these countries, including costs, the geographic distribution of coal reserves, actor constellations and technology, energy and climate policies. At the end of his study, he derives general conclusions with regard to driving forces and barriers for CtL diffusion. As the investigated countries are major consumers of energy and belong to the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, their strategies in substituting crude oil based fuels are of utmost global relevance. Therefore, Vallentin's study is recommended to experts, planners, decision-makers, and politicians in the field of climate and resource protection.

The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society
The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society

Author: Dr. Debra J. Davidson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-11

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 0190633867

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The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society presents an overview of this expanding area that has evolved dramatically over the past decade, away from one largely dominated by structural, political economic treatments on the one hand, and social-psychological studies of individual-level attitudes and behaviors on the other, toward a far more conceptually and methodologically rich and exciting field that brings in, for example, social practices, system complexity, risk theory, social studies of science, and social movements theories. This volume seeks to capture the variety of scales and methods, and range of both conceptual and empirical analyses that define the field, while drawing particular attention to indigenous peoples, poverty, political power, communities and cities. Organized into seven sections, chapters cover social theory and energy-society relations, political-economic perspectives, consumption dynamics, energy equity and energy poverty, energy and publics, energy and governance, as well as emerging trends.

Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform
Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform

Author: Thomas Rudel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-03-11

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1139620355

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As global environmental changes become increasingly evident and efforts to respond to these changes fall short of expectations, questions about the circumstances that generate environmental reforms become more pressing. Defensive Environmentalists and the Dynamics of Global Reform answers these questions through a historical analysis of two processes that have contributed to environmental reforms, one in which people become defensive environmentalists concerned about environmental problems close to home and another in which people become altruistic environmentalists intent on alleviating global problems after experiencing catastrophic events such as hurricanes, droughts and fires. These focusing events make reform more urgent and convince people to become altruistic environmentalists. Bolstered by defensive environmentalists, the altruists gain strength in environmental politics and reforms occur.

Locally Available Energy Sources and Sustainability
Locally Available Energy Sources and Sustainability

Author: Antonio Colmenar Santos

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2020-06-17

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 3039289934

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Renewable energy is electricity generated by fuel sources that restore themselves over a short period of time and do not diminish. Although some renewable energy technologies impact the environment, renewables are considered environmentally preferable to conventional sources and, when replacing fossil fuels, have significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This book focuses on the environmental and economic benefits of using renewable energy, which include: (i) generating energy that produces no greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution, (ii) diversifying energy supply and reducing dependence on imported fuels, and (iii) creating economic development and jobs in manufacturing, installation, and more. Local governments can dramatically reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing or directly generating electricity from clean and renewable sources. The most common renewable power technologies include: solar (photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal), wind, biogas (e.g., landfill gas, wastewater treatment digester gas), geothermal, biomass, low-impact hydroelectricity, and emerging technologies such as wave and tidal power. Local governments can lead by example by generating energy on site, purchasing green power, or purchasing renewable energy. Using a combination of renewable energy options can help to meet local government goals, especially in some regions where availability and quality of renewable resources vary. Options for using renewable energy include: generating renewable energy on site, using a system or device at the location where the power is used (e.g., PV panels on a state building, geothermal heat pumps, biomass-fueled combined heat and power), and purchasing renewable energy from an electric utility through a green pricing or green marketing program, where buyers pay a small premium in exchange for electricity generated locally from green power resources.

The EU-China Security Paradox
The EU-China Security Paradox

Author: Julia Gurol

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2022-01-06

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1529219647

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EPUB and EPDF versions available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND license. In this enlightening analysis, Julia Gurol unpicks the complex security relations between the European Union (EU) and China. She investigates the principles, rationales and shifting dynamics of collaboration on a range of security issues, and their consequences for China, the EU and other regions. She pays particular attention to EU–China relations in the realm of anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and energy security, and disentangles their cooperation efforts in the context of increasing political and economic tensions. Systematic and accessible, this is an essential guide to the past, present and future of one of the world’s most important, yet most complicated, security relationships.

Asia's Energy Trends and Developments
Asia's Energy Trends and Developments

Author: Mark Hong

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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"With Asia--especially China and India--leading world energy consumption, Asian energy trends are now of global interest, with deep implications for the world economy and geopolitics. Understanding the issues often require real-life case scenarios. This two-volume compilation presents the key topics on Asia's energy trends and developments that were presented at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore as part of its Energy Series Programme. A wide range of topics is covered, from nanotechnology, clean energy, hydropower, renewable energy and nuclear power to bilateral relations, energy security and energy efficiency--all with the unifying energy theme in the context of Asia"--

The Third Revolution
The Third Revolution

Author: Elizabeth Economy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0190866071

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In The Third Revolution, Elizabeth Economy, one of America's leading China scholars, provides an authoritative overview of contemporary China that makes sense of all of the seeming inconsistencies and ambiguities in its policies and actions.

The State of China’s State Capitalism
The State of China’s State Capitalism

Author: Juann H. Hung

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9811309833

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This book comprises a collection of well-researched essays on selected contemporary economic and finance issues in China, making a timely contribution to the intellectual intercourse regarding the implications of China’s rise. These essays analyze issues related to the state of China’s ecology, real estate market, inbound and outbound FDI, income inequality, etc., and offer analysis on the policy and institutional causes of those issues. Readers will be able to infer their implications for business opportunities in China and the tradeoff / tension between economic growth and social welfare. Moreover, this book introduces an array of data and data sources useful to scholars and practitioners interested in studying the Chinese model of economic growth. This book will be a valuable resource to journalists and scholars trying to gain insight into China’s extraordinary pace of growth in the past three decades.