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Cement is one of the widely used materials in construction, and its production is both energy- and emission-intensive, contributing significantly to industrial emissions. This study investigates multiple methods for reducing emissions in the Indian cement sector based on the mass and energy balances of a representative cement plant. A novel methodology for calculating the overall emissions reduction per tonne of cement with multiple emission reduction measures and their interdependencies is proposed. The effect of captive power plants in the cement industry on emissions reduction is also considered. The results are depicted using an emission abatement curve, which gives the CO 2 abatement cost against cumulative emission reduction per tonne of cement, and a cost premium curve, which shows the cumulative abatement cost against percentage abatement. The analysis shows that up to 30% emissions reduction is possible using existing emission reduction measures in all the cases considered with no additional cost, and near-zero emission reduction is only possible with the adoption of emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage. The proposed methodology is the first to explore the impact of multiple measures for emission reduction on a given cement plant, allowing for a realistic estimate of emission reduction from the measures implemented., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Sugarcane is an important cash crop used for producing sweeteners and also some bioproducts (alcohol and bioenergy). The current study assesses life cycle energy, carbon and water footprint of sugarcane based sugar, ethanol and electricity in India. A farm to factory gate attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to assess the energy and carbon footprints whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) CropWat model is used to estimate the water footprint (green, blue and grey). For the base case, electricity has the highest energy return on investment (EROI), lowest carbon and water footprints among the bioproducts. The choice of allocation method (economic, mass, and energy) impacts the energy and environmental outcomes of the bioproducts. The comparison among four different sugarcane seasons shows that bioproducts available from Adsali sugarcane have the highest EROI, lowest carbon and water footprints. The findings could lead to improved sustainability of sugarcane bioproducts in India., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Few studies have evaluated the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts associated with India's power sector, despite the expectation that it will dominate new thermal generation capacity additions over the coming decades. Here, we utilize India-specific supply chain data to estimate life cycle GHG emissions associated with power generated by combustion of Indian coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from the United States. Life cycle impacts of domestic coal power vary widely (80% confidence interval (CI): 951-1231 kg CO 2 eq/MWh) because of heterogeneity in existing power plant characteristics such as efficiency, age, and capacity. Less variability is observed for LNG sourced from northeast United States and used in the existing Indian combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) fleet (80% CI: 523-648 kg CO 2 eq/MWh). On average, life cycle GHG emissions from LNG imported into India are ∼54% lower than those associated with Indian coal. However, the GHG intensity of the Indian coal-power sector may be reduced by 13% by retiring plants with the lowest efficiencies and replacing them with higher-efficiency supercritical plants. Improvement of the CCGT fleet efficiency from its current level (41%) to that of a new plant with an F-class turbine (50%) could reduce life cycle GHG emissions for LNG-sourced power by 19%.