Provincial-level analysis of electrification feasibility and climate policy interactions

Improving electrification feasibility is essential for reducing emissions from non-electric energy sources,thereby enhancing air quality and public health.Concurrently,climate mitigation actions,such as carbon pricing policies,have significant potential to alleviate increasing carbon dioxide(CO_(2))and other co-emitted air pollutants.However,the interactions between climate policy and the improvement of electrification feasibility at the provincial level remain unclear,collectively impacting the net-zero transition of energy-intensive sectors.Here we combine a technologically rich economic-energy-environment model with air quality modeling across China to examine the health,climate,and economic implications of large-scale upgrades in electrification feasibility and climate policies from 2017 to 2030.The results indicate that advancing electrification feasibility,coupled with adopting carbon pricing policies,is likely to facilitate a transition towards electricity-dominant energy systems.Improved electrification feasibility is projected to yield a 7-25%increase in nationwide climate benefits and a 5-14%increase in health benefits by 2030.These incremental benefits,coupled with reduced economic costs,result in a 22-68%increase in net benefits.However,regionally,improvements in electrification feasibility will lead to heightened power demand and unintended emissions from electric energy production in certain provinces(e.g.,Nei Mongol)due to the coal-dominated power system.Additionally,in major coal-producing provinces like Shanxi and Shaanxi,enhanced electrification feasibility exacerbates the negative economic impacts of climate policies.This study provides quantitative insights into how improving electrification feasibility reshapes energy evolution and the benefit-cost profile of climate policy at the provincial level.The findings underscore the necessity of a well-designed compensation scheme between affected and unaffected provinces and coordinated emission mitigation across the power and other end-use sectors.

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Electrochemical Behavior of Nanosized Orthorhombic LiMnO_(2)

Nanosized orthorhombic LiMnO2 was successfully synthesized using Mn2O3 and LiOH.H2O as starting materials.Not only the reaction temperature was lower, but the reaction time for synthesizing was notably shortened to 1 h.In this hydrothermal process, the cations of the starting materials were capable of mixing and interacting in ionic scale, which resulted in the rapid formation of o-LiMnO2 powders at relatively low temperature. The particle size conformed by transmission electron microscopy is around 50-150 nm. Benefiting from its small particle size and good uniformity, the obtained o-LiMnO2 can reach the maximum discharge capacity of 163 mA-h.g^-1 at 0.1 C rate after several cycles. X-ray diffraction data and electrochemical properties suggested the phase transformation from orthorhombic LiMnO2 to defect-type spinel LiMn204 with minor Li2MnO3, which resulted in the capacity fading during cycling.

The impact of China’s high-speed rail investment on regional economy and air pollution emissions

The high-speed rail(HSR)network in China has experienced rapid development since the 2000s.In 2016,the State Council of the People’s Republic of China issued a revised version of the“Mid-and Long-term Railway Network Plan”,detailing the expansion of the railway network and construction of an HSR system.In the future,the HSR construction efforts in China will further increase,which is considered to impact regional development and air pollutant emissions.Therefore,in this paper,we apply a transportation network-multiregional computable general equilibrium(CGE)model to estimate the dynamic effects of HSR projects on economic growth,regional disparities,and air pollutant emissions in China.The results indicate that HSR system improvement could generate a positive economic impact but could also increase emissions.The gross domestic product(GDP)growth per unit investment cost stimulated by HSR investment is found to be the largest in eastern China but the smallest in the northwest regions.Conversely,HSR investment in Northwest China contributes to a substantial reduction in regional disparities in terms of the GDP per capita.In regard to air pollution emissions,HSR construction in South-Central China results in the largest increase in CO_(2) and NO_(X) emissions,while for CO,SO_(2),and fine particulate matter(PM_(2.5))emissions,the largest increase occurs due to HSR construction in Northwest China.At the regional level,the provinces with large changes in accessibility also experience large changes in their air pollutant emissions.