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Taking a continuous rigid segmental prefabrication and assembly bridge on Guangzhou Metro No.14 as example, railway vehicle induced vibration energy harvesting and saving was studied in this paper. By modeling multi-body dynamics system of B-type railway vehicle and the wheel-rail interaction relationship, train-track-bridge (TTB) response was calculated accurately. Through dynamic analysis of the TTB system with two different track irregularity conditions, vertical acceleration time histories of the track slab were acquired. Based on this, a new type of electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters (EM-VEHs) is proposed. Utilizing the track slab vibration, the EM-VEHs set adjacent to the track slab are demonstrated to be feasible to supply enough power for strain collection units or GPS data transmission units in bridge health monitoring system. Compared with previous research, the power density of the proposed EM-VEH device is much higher. The application prospect of the proposed EM-VEH on urban mass transit SPA bridges is worthy to be anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How human activities impact on coastal ecosystem during rapid urbanization is one of the hot spots in the coastal management study. In this paper, we comparatively evaluate changes in the positive and the negative ecological elements of Shenzhen's coastal zone in the rapid urbanization process to understand impacts of human activities. The positive and the negative ecological elements divided by built of classification based on extracted land uses from multi-source remote sensing images and land-use degree index. Then landscape indexes such as AWMSI, ED, PSSD, PSCOV at the class level and CONNECT, SHEI at both class level and landscape level were used to reveal spatial and temporal differentiation of impacts of human activities on ecological elements. Results revealed that impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystem were stronger in west coast than that in east coast, and environmental protection awareness of government began to enhance from 2000, whereas the ecosystem health didn't become better. Future urbanization plans about coastal zones need to consider the ecological benefit of the landscape pattern from both a local and global point of view. This method can contribute to the sustainable management of other coastal zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River is one of the largest and most important rivers in the world. Over the past several decades, the natural sediment regime of the Yangtze River has been altered by the construction of dams. This paper uses multi-scale entropy analysis to ascertain the impacts of large dams on the complexity of high-frequency suspended sediment dynamics in the Yangtze River system, especially after impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD). In this study, the complexity of sediment dynamics is quantified by framing it within the context of entropy analysis of time series. Data on daily sediment loads for four stations located in the mainstem are analyzed for the past 60 years. The results indicate that dam construction has reduced the complexity of short-term (1–30 days) variation in sediment dynamics near the structures, but that complexity has actually increased farther downstream. This spatial pattern seems to reflect a filtering effect of the dams on the on the temporal pattern of sediment loads as well as decreased longitudinal connectivity of sediment transfer through the river system, resulting in downstream enhancement of the influence of local sediment inputs by tributaries on sediment dynamics. The TGD has had a substantial impact on the complexity of sediment series in the mainstem of the Yangtze River, especially after it became fully operational. This enhanced impact is attributed to the high trapping efficiency of this dam and its associated large reservoir. The sediment dynamics “signal” becomes more spatially variable after dam construction. This study demonstrates the spatial influence of dams on the high-frequency temporal complexity of sediment regimes and provides valuable information that can be used to guide environmental conservation of the Yangtze River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty eradication and sustainable development are common missions of humanity and are top priorities of the Chinese government. Nevertheless, the poverty of reservoir immigrants is usually interwoven with eco-environmental and geo-disaster factors, making poverty alleviation the most challenging task in rural China. In this context, a System Dynamics Model (SDM) is used to explore interactive mechanisms of eco-environment, geo-disasters and immigrant poverty as well as enable policy makers to understand the impacts of different investment strategies on the key variables and the sustainable development of China's Poverty-stricken Reservoir Regions (CPRR). Based on data from 1998 to 2014, this paper simulates the Wanzhou reservoir area. It designs four policy scenarios to simulate changes to the major variables: sewage treatment investment, disaster control investment, soil erosion control investment and poverty alleviation fund, from 2015 to 2020. It is found that 1) China's Poverty-stricken Reservoir Regions are highly likely to achieve the poverty reduction goal by 2020 by taking the coordinated strategy and pay more attention to disaster management; and 2) the coordinated development scenario could reduce poverty, sewage discharge, disease incidence, geo-disasters and soil erosion, and increase the areas of forest cover and agricultural land systematically. The SDM method is reliable for the dynamic development analysis of CPRR. The results could offer policy recommendations to policy makers and provide a method to implement best practices for the sustainable development of CPRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive design strategies are important for achieving building sustainability given their proved influences over the building performance in both energy and indoor environmental aspects. The building layout, envelope thermophysics, building geometry and infiltration & air-tightness are major passive architectural parameters to improve the building energy efficiency. In this paper, a comprehensive literature review on simulation-based approaches to optimize passively designed buildings is conducted and corresponding research gaps are identified. Based on existing research methods, modelling experiments on a generic building are conducted to integrate robust variance-based sensitivity analyses with an early-stage design optimization process. Proposed mixed-mode ventilation and lighting dimming control algorithms are applied to the EnergyPlus model to simulate the total lighting and cooling energy demands by incorporating the related design criteria in a local green building assessment scheme. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is then coupled with the modelling experiment to obtain the Pareto frontier as well as the final optimum solution. Different settings of NSGA-II are also investigated to improve the computational efficiency without jeopardizing the optimization productivity. Furthermore, the sensitivity of optimum design solutions to external environmental parameters in hot and humid areas are explored. Findings from this study will guide decision-makers through a holistic optimization process to fulfill energy-saving targets in a passively designed green building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of regional eco-efficiency is a significant approach to achieve coordinated development of China's economic development and environmental protection, and an effective environmental regulation system is a crucial driver to the improvement of regional eco-efficiency. Based on the panel data of China's 30 provinces during 2000–2013, this paper divides environmental regulation into three types: command-and-control regulation, market-based regulation and voluntary regulation. STIRPAT model is employed to test the effects of these three environmental regulations on eco-efficiency in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Research results turn out that: (1) in the eastern region, market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have a positive impact on eco-efficiency improvement while command-and-control environmental regulation has no significant impact, and (2) in the central region, command-and-control and market-based environmental regulation can promote eco-efficiency more significantly compared with voluntary environmental regulation, and (3) in the western region, command-and-control environmental regulation plays a positive role in eco-efficiency improvement whilst market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have no significant impacts. These findings indicate that the effects of different types of environmental regulation on eco-efficiency apparently differ in regions. Finally, to optimize and adjust the environmental regulation tools, policy recommendations targeting different regions are concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent academic endeavours have questioned whether the rapidly unfolding Payments for Environmental Services (PES) may have profound influence on land tenure which would in turn impact the conservation efficacy of PES. This paper developed a game-theory model in the context of rural China, which describes the endogenous formation of land rights as a bargaining process between ordinary villagers and village leaders. This model gave rise to theoretical predictions pertaining to the implications of two PES schemes in China for land tenure, namely the Sloping Land Conversion Programme (SLCP) and the Ecological Public-Benefit Forest Compensation Programme (EPBFCP). The theoretical predictions were tested using primary data collected through large-scale field surveys. These data were analysed using the Propensity Score Matching method and panel data models. Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical results find that the SLCP has likely enhanced land tenure security by increasing the bargaining costs of village leaders' attempts to reallocate SLCP lands to other households. On the other hand, villagers tend to have less motivation to de-collectivise those forest lands enrolled in the EPBFCP, which somewhat stands in the way of the country's agenda to further de-collectivise communal forests and allocate them to individual households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-environmental schemes have become an effective policy measure to prompt farmers to protect rural farmland and landscapes. In recent years, 17 provincial governments including Sichuan, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangxi and Guangdong have shown increasing interest in promoting local experimentation with agri-environmental schemes. Based on two waves of farmer survey data in Eastern, Middle and Western China conducted in 2012 and 2015, this paper conducts a comparative study of three agricultural environmental policy models: the farmland protection fund model in Chengdu city (the Chengdu model), the farmland eco-compensation model in Suzhou city (the Suzhou model), and the conventional farmland protection model in Wuhan (the Wuhan model). Our quantitative analyses show that: agri-environmental schemes in China have significantly enhanced farmer enthusiasm toward farmland protection and lifted their policy satisfaction. Yet, the improvement in farmer knowledge of farmland ecological functions is limited; different agri-environmental models have diverse policy effects. Overall, the Chengdu model characterized by a combination of pension insurance and agricultural insurance benefits works better than the Suzhou model. Farmer participation in rural farmland and landscape protection is affected by multiple factors, among which education is the most significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the “flexibility mechanisms” defined in the Kyoto Protocol to deal with global climate change. This paper uses the event study methodology to determine the relationship between corporate CDM adoption and financial performance. We conjecture that implementing CDM projects is beneficial for non-core business returns but not corporate profitability because firms often have an ulterior motive in obtaining direct economic revenue from CDM projects without expending due effort on environmental protection and efficiency improvement. We extract a list of companies with operational CDM projects in China and identify them as the sample group. Using the propensity score methodology, we establish a control group based on estimations using a probit regression model that verifies the factors determining industrial companies’ participation in CDM projects. The control group comprises non-adopters of CDM projects that have a similar propensity score to CDM adopters based on their corporate financial indicators. The results from Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and one-sample binomial tests show that the major positive financial effect of CDM adoption is obtained from the growth of non-core business revenue. The profitability of the adopters is not significantly changed after the CDM adoption. There are no remarkable changes in sales growth after CDM certification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two major aims of watershed management are regional economic development and watershed ecosystem protection. In this paper, constructed wetland (CW) technology is employed to examine watershed ecosystem protection under a certain regional economic load. The Chaohu Lake watershed in China was chosen as the target study area and fuzzy random variables used to describe the uncertainties. Then, a bi-level optimization model for watershed-scale CW planning was developed and applied to the Chaohu Lake watershed with the aim of protecting ecosystem health. To solve the model, a fuzzy random simulation-based nested simulated annealing algorithm was designed. The results showed that there was a “finite sum game” relationship between economic development and ecosystem health within the Chaohu Lake watershed. Under a probability and possibility of 0.9, to achieve the ecological goal F 1 = 70, it was estimated that a 348.19 (ha) CW needed to be constructed. The impacts of environmental policies and economic development on the watershed ecosystem were found to be significant. One of the key practical results indicated that: in the Chaohu Lake watershed, the water environmental treatment of rivers should take precedence over that of lakes; a result which could be of assistance to local government policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air source heat pump (ASHP) technology is widely accepted for the merits of energy-saving and environmental protection, and has been served as the heating and cooling source in most part of China. This paper presents a numerical model to predict the performance of a typical ASHP system in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The theoretical analysis shows that the occurrence of the frost is hard to be found on air-side heat exchanger due to the low relative humidity, which can improve the performance of the ASHP system. The numerical results show that the ambient air temperature and atmospheric pressure have a great effect on the system performance. For the case of without considering frosting problem, the COP of the system is reduced by 9.5%–12.5% than that for standard pressure (101.325 kPa). The heating capacity of the system is reduced by 16.2%–19.8% than that for standard pressure. For the case of considering frosting problem, the heating capacity and COP of the ASHP system in Lhasa are 37.5 kW and 1.98, respectively under the outdoor design temperature, which are almost same or higher than most cities in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, many industrial parks promote the local economic growth, causing environmental pollution and waste of resources. Based on analyzing the 23 factors affecting industrial parks’ building energy efficiency and environmental protection by conducting a questionnaire survey and applying the principal component analysis (PCA) with SPSS 19.0 software as auxiliary tool, this paper identifies the 6 key influencing factors such as energy resources of the industrial park, energy recycling (waste heat) of the industrial park, renewable energy utilization of the industrial park, investment in the aspect of energy efficiency and environmental protection of industrial park, technology development and introduction in energy efficiency and environmental protection of industrial park. Some countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the industrial parks’ building energy efficiency and environmental protection are put forward, such as perfecting laws, incentive policies and implementation mechanisms of energy efficiency and environmental protection, and optimizing the parks’ energy structure and effectively utilizing resources. The research results are helpful to promote high-quality economic growth of Shenyang’s industrial parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of China’s port industry has caused numerous problems, among which the most significant is environmental pollution. A major goal for government and port enterprises alike is the achievement of both effective environmental protection and operational efficiency. Therefore, environmental factors should be considered when evaluating port efficiency. However, most of the available data envelopment analysis (DEA) models that have been used in previous studies enable each decision-making unit (DMU) to choose its favorite weight-combination with a rather careless approach. This may have caused some DMUs with very good economic indexes but very poor environmental indexes to be evaluated as fully efficient. This paper proposes a non-radial DEA preference model, based on the assumption of variable returns to scale (VRS) and the Directional Distance Function (DDF). The proposed model has been used to evaluate and analyze the efficiency of Chinese-listed port enterprises. The efficiency results showed the average efficiency to be low for all ports when environmental factors are considered. The regression results show that port assets, berth quantity, and the geographical location can significantly impact the environmental performance of Chinese port enterprises. This study also classified all ports into four categories, based on throughput and efficiency. Recommendations for the implementation for improvements of different environmental policies have been made for the individual ports in each category based on the actual situation of each port. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of equal importance to improve the efficiency of environmental protection enterprises (EPEs) and polluting enterprises (PEs) for Environmental Protection and Green Development, which is a micro-foundation for China's economic transformation and high-quality development. This paper redefines the efficient frontier of enterprises, distinguishing between "absolute technical efficiency" (ATE) and "relative technical efficiency" (RTE), and conducts two-dimensional measurements and dynamic comparison to examine the technical efficiency characteristics of China's EPEs and PEs listed on the A-share market, based on the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method. The results demonstrate that, first, the ATE of EPEs exhibits a reverse upward trend, while the ATE of PEs and A-share enterprises as a whole is declining simultaneously. Second, in contrast to the shrinkage of the ATE and RTE of PEs, the efficient frontier of EPEs has experienced rapid expansion. Third, capital utilization efficiency, rather than economies of scale effects, appears to be the main obstacle impeding the technical efficiency performance of EPEs. Therefore, improving the capital utilization efficiency and the extent of coupling and coordination between capital and labor is the key to promoting the technical efficiency of EPEs. Fourth, targeted government subsidies and tax refunds for EPEs need to be improved and an external evaluation mechanism focusing on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) rating needs to be strengthened. Consequently, it is essential to promote the combination of top-down targeted policy support and multi-dimensional external evaluation to guide capital flows and achieve their efficient utilization, which is also the basis of the environmental protection industry's high-quality development. • First, the ATE of EPEs exhibits a reverse upward trend, while the ATE of PEs is declining simultaneously. • Second, in contrast to the shrinkage of the ATE and RTE of PEs, the efficient frontier of EPEs has experienced rapid expansion. • Third, capital utilization efficiency is the main obstacle impeding the technical efficiency performance of EPEs. • Fourth, targeted government subsidies and tax refunds for EPEs need to be improved and an external evaluation mechanism needs to be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's largest source of carbon emissions, the power sector's transition to lower levels of carbon emission intensity is critical to achieving China's carbon emission (CE) reduction commitments. In this paper, the CE intensity of electricity generation (CEIE) in 30 provinces from 2000 to 2019 is calculated, and the temporal evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of CEIE are discussed. Then, the spatial spillover effect of each driving factor on CEIE is calculated using the spatial Durbin model. The CEIE reveals a first increasing and then decreasing trend, and the regional differences gradually decrease. Simultaneously, the CEIE has a significant positive spatial correlation, and the overall spatial distribution pattern is high in the northeast and low in the southwest of the country. Economic development and foreign trade both inhibit CEIE, while electricity consumption, research and development, unit operation level, and power structure all promote CEIE. Each driving factor's influence on regional CEIE exerts a spatial spillover effect. Among them, the spatial positive spillover effects of industrial structure and environmental protection investment are the most obvious, while the spatial spillover effects of other driving factors are not apparent. Furthermore, these findings provide practical insights into policy adjustments and the coordinated interregional development of low-carbon electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Chinese villages are a successful example of active adaptation and effective use and protection of the environment. Traditional Chinese settlement landscapes form under the influence of geographical environments and environment-friendly ideas and have specific regional identities. Core factors of these residential areas can be considered cultural landscape genes. Based on this, this paper used gene analysis to identify traditional Chinese habitat patterns and decipher their environmental significance and cultural connotations. The results show that: Living patterns can be divided into six categories: 'north-sitting or south-facing', ' Yin and Yang harmony', 'mountain-backed or water-facing', 'square-surrounded', 'psychological induction', and 'site-specific' modes. These patterns correspond to the laws of orientation: Yin and Yang , mountain and water, security, auspiciousness, and synthesis, respectively. In their process of formation and development, traditional Chinese living patterns were deeply influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophical ideas of ' Yin and Yang ', 'the living earth', 'unity of heaven and human', and 'harmony between human and earth'. This study utilised the logical framework of gene identification, decoding, and expression to examine the characteristics and values of residential landscapes in traditional Chinese settlement patterns, and extracted the genome map of settlement pattern from a cross-regional perspective. This study has important implications for the construction of green habitats. • Traditional settlement patterns in China were reviewed. • Concepts of Chinese philosophy in relation to settlement patterns were described. • The influence of the environment on settlement patterns was analysed. • The importance of continued research was highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovering a nature-friendly economic growth pattern is a critical issue in the development of human society. This paper combines satellite remote sensing data and economic statistics of 1843 counties in China from 1999 to 2019 to identify the impact of greenspace on county-level economic growth. The findings are as follows: First, It is the cutting-edge evidence of an inverted U-shaped impact of greenspace on economic growth, with the inflection point between 0.5 and 0.55. A higher level of greenspace positively impacts economic growth and vice inhibits, as long as it is below the inflection point. Second, economic growth requires a co-effort between construction and greenspace maintenance. On average, the greenspace level in Chinese counties falls below the inflection point. By bringing the average greenspace level to the inflection point, the average GDP of each county in China could increase by approximately 1.38 billion yuan, resulting in a per capita GDP increase of 342.13 yuan. Third, the impact of greenspace on the primary and tertiary industries is more significant. The results provide theoretical and empirical support for the win-win situation of environmental protection and economic growth. [Display omitted] • Nature-friendly economic growth patterns remain discovered • There is an inverted U shape impact of green space on economic growth • The turning point of the impact of green space level on economic growth is between 0.5 and 0.55 • If the green space level reaches the turning point, the county average GDP in China can increase by about 1.38 billion yuan • The impact of green space on the primary and tertiary industries is more significant [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual strengthening of environmental supervision, how to coordinate the relationship between environmental protection and full employment has become an urgent problem. This paper takes China's carbon emission trading policy as the research subject, and evaluates the employment effect of carbon emission trading policy from the perspective of micro enterprises under the premise of considering the spatial spillover effect. This paper aims to verify and evaluate the spatial spillover effect of China's carbon emission trading pilot policy on labor demand of enterprises, and study the effect of environmental policies on the employment market in China. Firstly, from the theoretical point of view, comparisons among the differences of the average employment effect, spillover effect and total effect coefficient of carbon trading right policy are conducted under the condition of spillover effect or not. Secondly, from the empirical perspective and relaxing the STUVA conditions, a Triple Difference Model is constructed to evaluate the impact of carbon emission trading policy on the labor demand of enterprises by using the panel data of China A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2008 to 2017. Thirdly, this paper further uses the synthetic control method to analyze the employment effect differences of carbon emission trading policies in different pilot areas of China. The results show that the carbon emission trading policy in China has an about 10 percent positive spillover effect on the neighboring provinces in pilot areas. Moreover, the results indicate that China's carbon emission trading policy has generated some employment dividend, and the total effect is about 11.5 percent when the ratio of individual sample is considered. In addition, the impact of carbon emission trading policy on employment is gradually increasing, and the employment effect of carbon trading policies in different pilot areas of China is quite dissimilar. The findings of this paper confirm the positive employment effect of China's carbon emission trading policy, and have important policy implications for the further promotion of the national carbon emission trading market. At the same time, it helps to clarify the relationship between environmental protection and full employment. • Verifies and evaluates the spatial spillover effect of carbon trading policy. • Constructs a Triple Difference Model for evaluating the impact of carbon trading policies on the labor demand of enterprises. • Finds about 10% positive spillover effect of the carbon emission rights trading policy in China. • Shows about 11.5% total employment effect of carbon emission trading policy when the individual sample ratio was considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regardless of the implementation of central environmental protection inspection, a campaign style enforcement, across China to address the upsurging environmental issues in recent years, very few studies have revealed the effect of central environmental protection inspection on corporate environmental actions in China. This paper focuses on China's central environmental protection inspection to evaluate the effectiveness of campaign-style enforcement in promoting corporate environmental actions. Using a regression discontinuity design and one of the most comprehensive datasets of environmental statistics on firm-level pollution from 2011 to 2018 in one province in south China. Based on 15,154 enterprise observations, we find that the central environmental protection inspection is associated with substantial changes in corporate environmental actions. We also find that the number of polluting firms shrank by 48% (and by even more among small and micro firms) after the implementation of the central environmental protection inspection. Furthermore, the central environmental protection inspection significantly reduces industrial chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions by at least 46.5% without affecting the production output of surviving firms. These findings are robust to alternative specifications and different sampling strategies. This paper opens up a new viewpoint to focus on the effect of the central environmental protection inspection on corporate environmental actions. The available evidence leads us to cautiously conclude that environmental campaign-style enforcement promotes firms meeting emissions reduction goals in the short term through end-of-pipe abatement. A long-term inspection mechanism and incentives for firms to carry out green transformations are thus recommended for future practice. Image 1 • The Central Environmental Protection Inspection has caused a large number of polluting firms to be closed. • The surviving polluting firms reduce pollutant by carrying out end-of-pipe emission reduction. • Campaign-style enforcement can improve the corporate environmental performance in the short term. • In the long run, effective supporting policies should be employed to guide firms to achieve green transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, PM 2.5 is still one of the most serious air pollution issues in China. By empirically testing the actual inhibitory effect of China's total factor energy efficiency progress on PM 2.5 , this paper can provide a new evaluation index for energy conservation in China and help Chinese cities understand the beneficial environmental effect of total factor productivity (TFP) progress under the constraint of energy consumption to point out an effective path of energy conservation and emission reduction that is highly in line with China's current high-quality development strategy. Based on the panel data of 105 key environmental protection cities in China, this paper evaluates total factor energy efficiency with range directional model (RDM) and global Malmquist (GM) productivity index based on data envelopment analysis (DEA); it then uses spatial econometric models to test the impact of energy efficiency progress on PM 2.5 concentration. The efficiency evaluation results show that the total factor energy efficiency of 105 key environmental protection cities has increased by an average of 35.9% from 2004 to 2015, with an average annual progress rate of 2.2%. Compared with Eastern and Central China, the progress of energy efficiency in the western region during 2004–2015 is relatively lagged. The average energy efficiency progress rate of higher administrative hierarchy cities and super cities with more than 10 million permanent residents is much higher than that of other cities. The results of GM index decomposition show that technological progress is the main driving force of energy efficiency progress. The spatial econometric analysis results show that there is a significant positive spatial autocorrelation in the concentration of PM 2.5 in sample cities, and the energy efficiency progress can significantly inhibit the PM 2.5 pollution in local and adjacent cities. The influence of each explanatory variable on PM 2.5 concentration is mainly composed of the spatial spillover effect. Image 1 • DEA-based RDM and Global Malmquist index are used to evaluate energy efficiency. • The energy efficiency of 105 cities has increased by an average of 35.9% in 12 years. • Technological progress is the main driving force of energy efficiency progress. • Energy efficiency progress can significantly reduce PM2.5 concentration. • The impact of each factor on PM2.5 is mainly composed of spatial spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture, a strategic industry that secures the country and stabilizes society, has invariably been valued by China to feed its 1.4 billion people. However, the long-term extensive development of agriculture has led to a series of water problems such as groundwater overexploitation, water shortages, and water pollution in some areas of China, resulting in great pressure on the ecological environment and social economy. In this paper, we constructed a dynamic optimization simulation model based on the input–output (I–O) approach within the horizon of 2012–2025 to explore the synthetic optimal policies for achieving both socioeconomic development, and water resources and water environment protection in a node city on the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, Handan. Six scenarios based on various synthetic policies were adopted. The simulation results show that during the simulation period, the maximum development of the social economy can be achieved under the premise of achieving the specific objectives of water resources and water environment protection in a comprehensive scenario. In addition, the water environment improved: the annual chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions reduced by 7.5%, 10.3%, 5.0%, and 5.9% in pig farming, cattle farming, chicken farming, and households, respectively. Furthermore, the water supply–demand structure was optimized. The water demand of wheat planting and groundwater extraction decreased at an annual rate of 9.1% and 7.7%, respectively. The supply of reclaimed water increased at an annual rate of 9.2%. The model adapted in the paper can simulate and evaluate the impact of all the feasible synthetic policies on the economy, water resources, and water environment, and provide targeted, scientific recommendations for solving the agricultural water use problems in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Total factor productivity changes and annual growth rates of sustainable development 31 regions in Mainland China from 2015 to 2018. • Technology efficiency and scale efficiency of e-agricultural infrastructure of 31 regions in Mainland China from 2015 to 2018. • Suggestions to enhance the management of electronic agriculture and protect the environment. With the rapid development of the Internet and telecommunication systems, the electronic agricultural infrastructure has been continuously improved. This paper analyzes the regional differences and dynamic evolution of agricultural sustainable development and efficiency in 31 regions of Mainland China. The research is based on a data envelopment analysis-Malmquist productivity index model. The paper puts forward suggestions to help enhance the management of electronic agriculture and keep a balance between societal development and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The battery charging and swapping station project has good environmental benefits, but poor economic benefits. • This paper compares three different power purchase models. • Direct power trading model can reduce the cost well and increase the NPV by 13,519,070.47 RMB. • This model can be used in the economic evaluation of battery charging and swapping station projects and other charging facilities. Battery charging and swapping station (BCSS) has great assistance for the development of Electric vehicles (EVs) and environmental protection, but its economic performance is poor. This paper aims to explore the feasibility of direct power trading in the charging and swapping market by comparing the economic benefits of BCSS under three different power purchase models. Firstly, this paper summarizes the differences between the three power purchase policies. Then, the environmental benefits of clean energy and coal power generation are compared. Finally, based on the cost-benefit theory, a pure electric bus BCSS in North China is taken as an example to analyze the benefits of the three power purchase models. The results show that compared with coal power generation, the use of clean energy has good environmental benefits. Compared with the other two models, the direct power trading model can significantly increase the project's NPV and IRR, which demonstrates that it can make up for the investment cost well. Some suggestions are put forward to improve the economic benefits of BCSS enterprises and promote the development of EVs. The research results can provide a reference for decision-makers and investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the concept of remanufacturing is gaining popularity in practice, its effect on environmental protection and energy saving is significant, which has attracted widespread concerns, especially in the automotive components field. Automotive components remanufacturing (ACR), as a prominent part in automotive life-cycle development, can dramatically reduce resources-waste and mitigate energy-crisis, which has become a prominent direction to promote sustainable development of Chinese economy. Thus, influence factors analysis and enterprise operation patterns assessment which primarily contribute to ACR industry development are of paramount importance. This paper elaborates the criteria influencing the ACR industry operation and analyzes the main operation patterns for ACR in China. To overcome the uncertainty of the evaluation process, a new hybrid multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) model that combines fuzzy AHP (analytical hierarchy process) and fuzzy G-TOPSIS (combining gray relation analysis and technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution) is proposed to determine weights of influence criteria and evaluate ACR production operation patterns. In addition, sensitivity analysis is applied to monitor the robustness of the method. The study refers to the experience of Chinese end-of-life vehicle (ELV) laws and implementation requirements of extended producer responsibility (EPR). The obtained results provide the new guideline to revise the regulations of Chinese ACR industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total area of wetlands in China is 53.42 × 10 6 ha, accounting for 10% of global wetlands and 5.58% of China's territorial area. Wetlands in China are constantly under serious threat from multiple influencing factors. A large number of wetlands have been destroyed and degraded since the 1950s. During past decades, China has already recognized the importance of wetland ecosystems and made many efforts in wetland conservation. More than 550 National Wetland Nature Reserves and 100 National Wetland Parks have been established. However, in the context of so much effort being done, the annual wetland disappearance rate is still close to 1%. In this paper, the current status of wetland resources was reviewed, and the impact factors of wetland degradation were discussed. We further discussed the weaknesses of the current management system. Furthermore, some key recommendations for improvement of wetland protection and management for China were given. These recommendations include: improve special laws and regulations regarding wetlands, establish specialized management agencies; strengthen wetlands research and monitoring; and enhance public wetland conservation awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts the contingent valuation method to study people's willingness to pay for the adoption of new energy buses in the four most developed cities of China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. An interval regression model is employed to analyze the influencing factors of people's willingness to pay and estimate the exact amount of extra money people would pay per fare. The results show that approximately eighty percent of the respondents in the four cities would like to pay extra fare to support the adoption of new energy buses and the specific amount is 0.653 RMB/fare among all the respondents. Those with higher household income, who are younger, who think the adoption can significantly improve air quality and who deem that they live in a place with good air quality are willing to pay higher. But public concern about energy security issue in China does not have significant impact on the willingness to pay. It is therefore recommended that setting a higher price for new energy bus fare is reasonable and more knowledge of new energy buses should be conveyed to the public, especially its purpose of improving air quality and alleviating the high pressure of energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s rapid urbanisation has already led to the development of more large-scale cities than ever before. One result is that China is now the largest carbon emitter in the world. Meanwhile, China is facing enormous challenges in respect to environmental degradation, and limiting the use of natural resources in urban areas when it comes to balancing rapid economic development and environmental protection. To address this issue, China has to explore a new approach to urban development, namely green urban development. Various green urban theories are in the process of being formulated in China due to the difference in the responsibility of the central government and the gradual changes in national policies. The lack of a clear vision and target is a common barrier to green urban development in China. This paper reviews three new concepts and approaches to green urban development in China, and analyses how these concepts and approaches have been adopted, defined and developed within the Chinese context. Three typical projects are then selected to illustrate green city development in order to develop a better understanding of the application of the green theories of urban development in China. Finally, methods of future green urban development in China are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental management has external effects such that companies typically regard environmental input as a cost with no clear benefit. If the investment only leads to additional costs, companies will not take the initiative to achieve long-term environmental protection. Therefore, if environmental protection can bring economic benefits, indicating that environmental protection and economic interests are in harmony, companies will actively fulfill their responsibility to protect the environment. Thus, it is important to examine the relationship between corporate environmental management and financial performance. This paper examines the relationship between environmental management and financial performance of Chinese listed firms from 2007 to 2011. Results indicate that environmental management is significantly positively related to financial performance in the following year, implying that environmental management can significantly improve future profitability. However, as environmental investment consumes capital and resources, results indicate that environmental management is not significantly related to improved financial performance in the current year. In addition, this study examines the relationship between different environmental protection measures and financial performance, finding that two methods of environmental protection, “recycled harmful substances to the environment (Rec)” and “other methods to control pollution (Other),” positively impact future financial performance. However, these measures also do not have a significant impact on the financial performance of the current year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The feasibility of preparing road base materials from various industrial solid wastes is reviewed. • The properties of road base materials prepared from various industrial solid wastes were compared. • The synergistic effect of various industrial solid wastes on the preparation of road base materials was discussed in detail. • Critical suggestions are given for the preparation of road base materials from industrial solid waste. The accumulation of industrial solid wastes has led to serious environmental pollution. Resources and large-scale utilization of industrial solid wastes is an effective way to solve the problem of solid waste accumulation in China. This paper reviews the feasibility of using coal-based solid waste, metallurgical slag, tailings, industrial byproduct gypsum and municipal garbage incineration waste as road base materials. The properties of road base materials prepared from industrial solid wastes are similar to those of traditional materials. In addition, the unconfined compressive strength of road base materials prepared from different industrial solid wastes was compared. It was found that the type of industrial solid wastes and the proportion of designed raw materials can be reasonably selected according to the actual road demand and the source of industrial solid wastes. Moreover, the composite synergistic effect has been reported between various industrial solid wastes. This will help to improve the performance of road base materials prepared from multi-industrial solid wastes. Therefore, applying industrial solid wastes to road base materials can accomplish the large-scale utilization of industrial solid wastes and broaden the range of road base material selection. Finally, critical suggestions are given for the preparation of road base materials from industrial solid wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metal in soil is a significant issue with the urban development in China, and traditional ground spectra are difficult to satisfy the demands for heavy metal monitoring and assessment in large-scale areas. In the paper, ground-airborne hyperspectral data is utilized to analyze the pollution level of heavy metal, 423 soil samples and corresponding ground spectra are collected synchronously with airborne hyperspectral image acquisition in Southwestern Xiong'an, China. Among them, support vector machine (SVM) is utilized to predict the concentration of independent samples, deep neural network (DNN) is aimed to estimate the spatial distribution of concentration with airborne image scenes. Finally, the pollution level is generated by the Softmax function, and it is defined by the risk control standard of heavy metals. The ground spectra and airborne image are closely integrated by the proposed method, the pollution situation is directly evaluated by ground-airborne hyperspectral data and indirectly evaluated by the concentration of local space, and the mapping results are believed to provide constructive advices about environmental protection. • The concentration of heavy metals is accurately predicted by ground sampling spectra. • The spatial distribution is estimated in local space and then expanded to study area. • The pollution level is generated to analyze the pollution situation of the study area. • The ground spectra and airborne image scenes are fully utilized by SVM and DNN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to better combat environmental pollution, China promulgated the New China Environmental Protection Law (CNEPL) in 2015. Previous studies have focused more on the impact of CNEPL on the enterprise performance and green innovation, ignoring the relationship between CNEPL and industrial low-carbon development. This paper uses the implementation of CNEPL as a quasi-natural experiment and constructs a DID model to analyze whether and how government environmental regulation affect the carbon emissions intensity of heavy polluting industries. The results show that CNEPL implementation significantly reduces industrial carbon emissions intensity. Specifically, after the implementation of the CNEPL, the carbon emissions intensity of the heavy polluting industries decreased by 3.4% annually compared to non-heavily polluting industries. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the CNEPL has greater effects in industries with higher market competition degrees and larger average enterprises sizes. We further study influence mechanisms and find that re-allocation of resources, energy structure optimization, green technology innovation and energy efficiency improvement are significant influence mechanisms. Our findings provide policy insights for using government environmental regulation tools to achieve industrial carbon reduction target. • China's new environmental protection law (CNEPL) is considered as a quasi-natural experiment. • CNEPL reduces the carbon emissions intensity (CEI) of heavily polluting industries (HPIs). • Resource reallocation, green innovation, energy structure and efficiency improvement are main channels. • The effect of CNEPL on the CEI of HPIs is moderated by internal and external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs the ecological footprint accounts for 30 provinces in China, and explores the effects of environmental policies from the perspective of various ecological footprints. We innovatively focus on the impact which pollution fees superseded environmental protection tax on ecological footprints. The effects of these two environmental policies in China is compared with the panel smooth transition regression model (PSTR). In comparison with pollution fees, environmental protection tax has a stronger inhibition on ecological footprints. Pollution fees can lessen the cropland's ecological footprint, but this negative effect presents marginal diminishing. As for the ecological footprints of fishing grounds and fossil energy land, when pollution fees exceed 2.002 and 2.011 (‱ of GDP) respectively, there will be a restraining effect. Pollution fees has no effect on reducing the ecological footprints of grazing land, forest land, infrastructure, and the total. The environmental protection tax has a negative impact of linearity on the ecological footprints of fishing grounds and forest land. When environmental protection tax exceeds the corresponding thresholds (1.226, 3.482, 1.867 and 3.083), it will decrease the ecological footprints of grazing land, infrastructure, fossil energy land, and the total. The negative effect of environmental protection tax on cropland's ecological footprint is not obvious. Further, the change charts of influence coefficient on ecological footprints are drawn to directly reflect the optimal tax range for environmental protection tax to diminish ecological footprints. The heterogeneity analysis reveal that the current environmental protection tax only inhibits the total ecological footprint of eight provinces, mostly in northern China. These conclusions have reference significance for the government to adjust the appropriate environmental protection tax rate. [Display omitted] • The ecological footprint accounts of 30 provinces in China are constructed. • Environmental protection tax outperforms pollution fees in abating eco-footprints. • The optimal tax range for lessening various ecological footprints is put forward. • Only 8 provinces reduce total ecological footprint by environmental protection tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms investing in environmental issues often suffer from increased operating costs and reduced profits. Therefore, rigorous environmental legislation is required to motivate firms to conduct more green innovations. This paper takes the promulgation of China's New Environmental Protection Law as an ideal quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect of rigorous environmental legislation on corporate green innovations. By reconsolidating the "compensation effect" and the "crowding-out effect", we find that China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. The potential mechanisms regarding green innovation quantity and quality are strikingly different. China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes green innovation quantity mainly through alleviating government favoritisms and increasing the risk of environmental litigations. However, since high-quality innovations require higher investment costs and greater tolerance for failure, China's New Environmental Protection Law also tightens financing constraints and exacerbates managerial myopia, which crowds out high-quality green innovations. Moreover, China's New Environmental Protection Law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. Our results are crucial to comprehensively understand the effectiveness of environmental legislation and provide policy inspirations for the government concerning the environment. • Based on China's New Environmental Protection Law, we test the effect of environmental legislation on quantity and quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations by alleviating government favoritisms and increasing environmental litigation risks. • The law inhibits the quality of green innovations by tightening financing constraints and exacerbating managerial myopia. • The law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the impact of the former Pollution Charge System (PCS) on enterprise innovation will provide a reference for China to improving the current environmental protection tax system (EPTS). Based on innovation panel data and the sewage charges applied to polluting enterprises in China, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of the PCS on enterprise innovation. The results show that the PCS significantly inhibits the patent output of enterprises. The study analyzes heterogeneity in these findings in three respects: enterprise scale, enterprise ownership, and regional development level. The results are as follows: 1) The PCS has a greater inhibitory effect on smaller enterprises' innovation than on larger enterprises; 2) The inhibitory effect on non-state-owned enterprises' innovation is greater than on state-owned enterprises; 3) The inhibitory effect is greater for enterprises located in western regions of China. We also use a difference-in-differences strategy to address endogeneity concerns. The mediation analysis finds that the mechanism of the PCS affecting innovation is to reduce enterprise cash flow and R&D expenditure. • The Pollution Charge System (PCS) significantly inhibits enterprise innovation in China. • The PCS has a greater inhibitory effect on smaller enterprises' innovation than on larger enterprises. • The inhibitory effect on non-state-owned enterprises' innovation is greater than on state-owned enterprises. • The inhibitory effect is greater for enterprises located in western regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH 4 ), the second largest greenhouse gas emitted in China, hasn’t been given enough attention in the country’s policies and actions for addressing climate change. This paper aims to perform a bottom-up estimation and multi-regional input–output analysis for China’s anthropogenic CH 4 emissions from both production-based and consumption-based insights. As the world’s largest CH 4 emitter, China’s total anthropogenic CH 4 emissions in 2010 are estimated at 44.3 Tg and correspond to 1507.9 Mt CO 2 -eq by the lower global warming potential factor of 34. Energy activities as the largest contributor hold about half of the national total emissions, mainly from coal mining. Inherent economic driving factors covering consumption, investment and international exports play an important role in determining regional CH 4 emission inventories. Interregional transfers of embodied emissions via domestic trade are equivalent to half of the national total emissions from domestic production, of which two thirds are energy-related embodied emissions. Most central and western regions as net interregional CH 4 exporters such as Shanxi and Inner Mongolia have higher direct emissions, while the eastern coastal regions as net interregional importers such as Guangdong and Jiangsu always have larger embodied emissions. Since China’s CH 4 emissions have significant contributions to global climate change, a national comprehensive action plan to reduce CH 4 emissions should be designed by considering supply-side and demand-side emission characteristics, mitigation potentials and emission responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) serves as a gatekeeper to prevent environmental pollution, and public participation is a legal requirement in the EIA process that ensures people's awareness of activities that may jeopardize the environment. Recently, with the elevated awareness of environmental protection and increasing environmental sensitivity, EIA has evolved as a means for the public to show their attitudes towards environmental issues. More frequently, public protests against not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) facilities have become a significant challenge in the government's decision-making process. Government officials and EIA practitioners continue to look for a more effective way of public participation and aim to establish a platform that can involve related stakeholders. However, current research on public participation is limited to individual case studies or lacks a systematic approach to analysing diversified modes of public participation, which may differentiate levels of acceptance by the government in the EIA process and consequently lead to different effects. Therefore, from the perspectives of the participation extent and conflict level, this paper aims to establish an integrated framework to categorize different public participation patterns in EIA practices and to analyse their characteristics, such as preferences and the action logic arising from different stakeholders, including the government and public. The paper concludes that collaborative public participation is a possible way to strengthen the effectiveness of public involvement within the Chinese context. • A framework based on participation extent and conflict level was set up. • The framework categorized public involvement in China's EIA into four modes. • Preference, action logic and effectiveness of each mode were discussed. • Collaborative mode might be a recommended way of public involvement in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes an empirical analysis of the effect of producer services agglomeration on China's energy efficiency under environmental constraints (EEE) by using spatial Durbin model. The results show that at the national level, the urbanization agglomeration of producer services not only improves the local EEE significantly, but also has an obvious spatial spillover effect on the surrounding regions, while the localization agglomeration of producer services is only beneficial to the improvement of the local EEE. From the regional perspective, both the urbanization and localization agglomeration of producer services show significant promotion effect and spatial spillover effect on China's EEE in the east region, and the promotion effect of the urbanization agglomeration of producer services is greater, while the improvement of EEE in the central and west regions mainly depend on the MAR externality of producer services agglomeration, and its spatial spillover effects are not obvious. Moreover, the above empirical results exhibit strong robustness. Based on these empirical findings, this paper puts forward some specific suggestions for improving China's EEE so as to achieve the multi-win of economic growth, energy conservation and environmental protection. The study contributes to improving the environmental quality and speeding up the construction of Beautiful China. • Use spatial Durbin model to analyze the effect of producer services agglomeration on China's EEE. • Localization agglomeration of producer services is only beneficial to the local EEE. • Urbanization agglomeration not only improves China's local EEE, but also has an obvious spatial spillover effect. • Regional differences in the effect of urbanization and localization agglomeration of producer services on China's EEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a clean, renewable energy source with low carbon content, geothermal energy has the advantages of wide resource availability coverage, low environmental impact, low operating costs, and high reliability. For the development and production of more sustainable energy, geothermal energy has become one of the key areas of development in many countries. Geothermal resources are abundant in China and mainly distributed in the eastern region where the energy demand is the highest; therefore, the resources have the advantage of local development and consumption, which can alleviate the mismatch between resource distribution and demand in China's eastern and western regions. However, the development of geothermal energy started relatively late in China and has confronted many difficulties. This paper summarizes the status of geothermal energy in China and analyzes the existing problems with respect to policies and regulations, technological development, financial investment, and environmental protection. Some policy recommendations are put forward for promoting geothermal energy in China. This paper argues that the period of the "13th Five-Year Plan" is the opportunity for geothermal energy development. With the attention increasing, a series of policies to promote the development and utilization of geothermal energy could be introduced, and this resource could experience scaled development in China. • A review of China's geothermal energy reserves and development status is proposed. • Related policies and regulations, development goals and trends of geothermal energy are summarized. • The main problems of geothermal energy development and utilization in China are analyzed. • The policy recommendations aimed to solve the problem are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing an equal and effective emissions trading system is a long-term strategy to promote sustainable environmental protection and stronger economic growth. Due to regional divergences in economic development, resource endowment and geographical CO 2 emissions space, this paper focuses on a comprehensive emissions reduction allocation solution based on the Shapley value method and estimating economic welfare effects through interregional emissions trading in China. Our empirical results verify that the Shapley value-based allocation criterion is an equal and effective emissions reduction target allocation. The Eastern and Southern coast, and the Northeastern and Middle Yellow River regions are the main emissions permit buyers, and they incur windfall economic losses because of greater marginal abatement cost, while the Southwest, Northwest, Northern coast and Middle Yangtze River regions are the main emissions permit sellers, and they earn windfall economic benefits because of the emissions reduction potential of energy-intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of the process of industrialization and urbanization, energy shortage and environmental protection have become the new problems faced by Chinese economic development. The electric power industry is the pillar industry of Chinese economic development. While the economic development puts forward higher requirements for electricity companies, power enterprises should not only focus on the quantity and quality of the power generation side, but also pay more attention to demand side management. Demand side management (DSM) receives more and more attention in China in recent years. As one of the solutions of DSM, demand response plays an important role in ensuring the stable operation of electric network and controlling the rise of electricity tariff. At first, this article describes the status quo of the demand response implementation, related technologies, and pilot projects. Then, it analyzes Chinese demand response technology frame from the grid side, the communication side and the user side. It also puts forward suggestions for the implementing progress and specific procedures of orderly electricity consumption. At last, this paper points out the problems in the technology and policy of electricity demand response implementation in China by the analysis of the demand response status quo and the implementing comparison between China and foreign countries, as well as gives recommendations for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is an important factor in achieving a low-carbon economic development path in China. This paper investigates the factors influencing renewable electricity consumption in China. Specifically, the factors that influence the share of renewable electricity in total electricity consumption in China is investigated using data from 1980 to 2011 and employing the Johansen cointegration technique and vector error correction model. The result of the analysis shows that there is a long run relationship between renewable electricity consumption and GDP per capita, trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial development and share of fossil fuel in energy consumption. Economic development and financial development promotes renewable electricity consumption while foreign direct investment, trade openness and the lobby of conventional energy sources undermine the share of renewables in total electricity consumption in China. While the effects of shocks to the other variables appear to die out over time, the “lobby effect” is persistent and explosive. The results also show that there is a uni-directional short run causality from financial development to renewable electricity consumption and from renewable electricity consumption to trade openness. The Chinese government should pursue policies that not only increase the amount of renewable electricity, but also increase the share of renewables in total electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 30 million tons of kitchen wastes (KW) are produced in China every year. Approximately 80% of the collected KW has been directly utilized as feedstuff in pig farms in China, which is facing strict restrictions by China's Ministry of Agriculture due to concerns of foot and mouth disease, and raw materials for illegal extraction of hogwash oil, which is unsanitary and can cause serious illness. In addition, the universal concern on environmental protection, resource utilization and food safety has brought increasing research on KW processing technology. According to the policy perspective on promoting the recycling application and resource saving of KW, developing resource-saving and environment-friendly society as well as circular economy and protecting the ecological environment in both China (FAGAIHUANZI [2010] No. 1020) and other countries, it is required especially in China that the construction of pilot projects should be conducted overall planning and combinational optimization to enhance resource-oriented utilization and harmless treatment of three phases in KW, including oil, solid and liquid phase (FAGAIHUANZI [2010] No. 1020). Because of policy encouragement, environmental concern and economic incentives by local and central governments in China, more diverse methods after thermal pretreatment should be developed as the amount of KW production increases rapidly. Besides, basing on the increasing universal concern on safety, energy and environmental preservation, finding proper disposal methods of KW for energy production, enhancing biogas production and reducing the amount of final residue is extremely important. In this regard, this paper aims at a comprehensive study on current treatment situations of KW in China and suggests several solutions to China's KW treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine zoning and planning are cornerstones of China's marine and coastal management, but are facing challenges in maintaining sustainable development with increasing resource use. Marine functional zoning (MFZ) and marine environmental functional zoning (MEFZ) are existing official Chinese regulations possessing legal force. In contrast, the Marine ecological red line (MERL) refers to a type of marine spatial planning aimed at ecological protection which has been promoted following a 2011 decision of the Chinese State Council to strengthen environmental protection. It has been partially implemented within China, but has only gained legal status in late 2014 and implementation in 2015. The paper compares the two kinds of marine spatial planning providing a general overview, an example in the Bohai Sea, and discussing the marine functional zone and marine ecological red line approaches. The legal status, spatial layout, and control of the systems are compared. The comparison shows that the marine ecological red line has the potential to supplement and strengthen the current marine functional zoning system, and that further improvement should come from recent legal developments. Management will require more ecological information to improve the technical aspects of the MERL approach to enable further MFZ and MERL integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spatiotemporal variation in vegetation on the Loess Plateau was investigated. • Precipitation was the greatest driving factor. • There was a bivariate or nonlinear enhancement between all factors. • Key factors' adaptation range or type suitable for vegetation cover was identified. Vegetation, being a core component of ecosystems, is known to be influenced by natural and anthropogenic factors. Studying vegetation cover dynamics variation and its drivers is critical to understanding the interactions between vegetation and ecosystems. The Loess Plateau (LP) is located in a semi-arid and semi-humid region with severe soil erosion and fragile ecology. This paper used the annual maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI ymax) and growing season mean NDVI (NDVI gsmean) as the vegetation cover indicator. The vegetation cover variation of LP from 2000 to 2020 was analyzed using Sen's slope and Mann-Kendall test. Then the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the driving mechanisms of spatial vegetation differentiation was explored by the Geodetector model. The results revealed that the growth trends of NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean were 0.075/10 years and 0.038/10 years, respectively, and the areas with improved vegetation cover accounted for 92.67 % and 88.58 % of the total area. The vegetation cover of the southeastern and northern parts of the LP decreased significantly; however, the central, southwestern, and northeastern parts exhibited a remarkable improvement. Precipitation, vegetation type, soil type, temperature, and land use type were the key driving forces, ranked differently on NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean. However, precipitation was the most critical factor both on NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean. The interaction detection showed non-linear and mutual enhancement, with no independent factor. The findings of our study can assist in identifying the vegetation cover status of the LP, as well as the driving forces, which can provide theoretical support for the formulation of environmental conservation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, air-supported membrane structures have been widely used in China's environmental protection of closed coal yards and in sports stadiums. There have been breakthroughs year by year in the numbers constructed, unit area, and span. At present, the largest span of an air-supported membrane structure coal shed has reached 198 m. As the span increases, the force-bearing performance of the structure is more closely related to its shape. In this paper, based on a 225m × 198m × 66m(Length × width × height) long-span air-supported membrane structure test model, the form-finding and state-finding analysis of the air-supported membrane structure with longitudinal and transverse cable nets were carried out, and the results were compared with the forming test results. The results show that the prestressed state of the structure obtained by the state-finding analysis is closer to the test results. However, there is a specific difference with the target height. At the same time, the form-finding analysis can accurately find the target height, but the structure's cable force and section shape are quite different from the test results. • The shape of the membrane surface and the force characteristics of the cable net was measured through the experiment. • Two numerical analysis methods are used to obtain the force characteristics of the air-supported membrane structure. • The advantages and disadvantages of the two methods are obtained by comparing the experimental and simulation results. • The problems that should be paid attention to in the design of large-span air-supported membrane structures are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing power consumption in China and the urgent demand for environmental protection, promoting the development of clean energy power generation industry is the only way to optimize the energy power generation structure. It is very important to effectively predict the development trend of China's clean energy power generation system with complex, changeable and limited data. To address this issue, this paper defines a novel fractional self-adaptive reverse accumulation sequence, and combines discrete modeling techniques and time power terms to propose a novel fractional self-adaptive reverse accumulation with time power terms. The parameter estimation and time response formula of the new model are derived. The matrix perturbation theory is used to prove that the new model satisfies the new information priority principle. The Grey Wolf Optimizer is used to optimize the self-adaptive parameter r and non-negative constant α. Finally, the prediction model is constructed for the power generation capacity of five representative types of clean energy in China: biomass, wind, nuclear, natural gas and hydro power, the prediction result shows that the new model has higher prediction accuracy and data applicability than the other five grey models. According to these prediction results, relevant suggestions on the development of China's clean energy are provided to decision makers. • A novel fractional order self-adaptive reverse accumulation sequence is proposed. • A novel fractional order self-adaptive discrete grey model is developed. • The case experimental results show that the new model is much better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Shandong Lubei eco-industrial park was approved for construction in 2003, just after the first national eco-industrial demonstration parks were confirmed by China's State Environmental Protection Administration in 2002. It has therefore been recognized around the world as a successful example of an industrial symbiosis system. The park's success results from the harmonious and coordinated relationships among its members. Analyzing the ecological characteristics of these relationships and identifying the resulting advantages provide a basis for improving the park's efficiency and examining other parks. In this paper, we analyzed the flows of sulfur in the Lubei park (as an example of typical flows) using ecological network analysis to describe this industrial symbiosis system. The integrated analysis of the utility resulting from direct and indirect exchanges of byproducts and wastes can reflect the ecological relationships among members within the system. Based on these ecological relationships, members can be divided into producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers; the integral flow weight for each level of the hierarchy can then be compared to reveal the system's overall ecological structure. By examining the exchanges of resources within the system, we can describe the ecological connotations of the symbiosis and how these ecological relationships influence the overall development and resource flows within the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a main method for achieving environmental protection, improvement of environmental efficiency is vitally important for reducing environmental risk and level of ecological scarcity. Thus, quantitative analysis of environmental efficiency is not only an important premise for understanding the situation of regional environmental protection, but also a prerequisite for designing and adjusting relevant policies. In this paper, we treat the undesirable output in an economic activity by a linear monotonic decreasing transformation approach. We employ data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to evaluate environmental efficiency in 30 provinces of China during the period 2001–2010, and conduct hypothesis tests on these environmental efficiencies. Furthermore, we investigate the horizontal differences of environmental efficiency in six regions of China and the vertical differences among different years. The results show that our empirical tests have a high statistical reliability that provides support for prompting environmental policies in different parts of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]