Effects of investment on energy intensity:evidence from China

This article explores the effects of investment upon energy intensity by applying a unique panel data of China's 27 provinces between 2004 and 2013.In addition,it also particularly stuthes other factors,such as energy price,economic structure,and urbanization.The results,based on four econometric regression model results,suggest that in general,the indigenous investment on research and development is a more powerful tool to decrease China's energy intensity regardless of region disparity.The foreign direct investment(FDI) has a prominent but not persistent effect on energy intensity.However,the outward direct investment has not shown its significant impact on energy intensity.At the level of an aggregate economy and China's eastern region,the results demonstrate that FDI improves energy efficiency significantly.For the central and western provinces,FDI does not support the similar conclusion.Based on these analyses,we present the corresponding regional policies for policymakers.

Effect of China’s technology spillovers on energy intensity in Africa

Empirical studies on the effects of China-African economic relations on energy intensity in Africa are scarce.To fill the gap in the literature,this study investigates the technology spillover effects of the China-Africa trade and investment relations on energy intensity.It uses both linear and nonlinear dynamic panel estimation methods for 42 African countries from 2003 to 2015.The results show that China's technology spillover through imports significantly reduces energy intensity in Africa.The findings are consistent across specifications and sample groups.Moreover,the technology spillover coming from foreign direct investment(FDI)improves energy intensity,particularly in lower-middle-income African countries.The dynamic threshold estimation results show that countries'absorptive ability is important for technology spillover effects of FDI and imports on energy intensity.The results suggest that countries'absorptive capacity should be increased to maximize the benefits of trade and investment technology spillovers.

Does financial development lower energy intensity?

The growth-induced effects of financial development have been well-established in the empirical literature,as well as the significance of financial development to energy demand behavior.However,the empirical evidence on the relationship between financial development and energy intensity remains sparse in the literature.Given the multifaceted nature of the effects of financial development,the proposed relationship seems a complex one and warrants an empirical investigation.Using the case of Ghana,this study provides an empirical answer to the question:does financial development lower energy intensity?To provide solid grounds for either rejection or acceptance of the null hypothesis,this study performed several robustness checks.Generally,the evidence revealed that financial development lowers energy intensity.Further,the results revealed that the price of energy,trade liberalization and industry structure play significant roles.These results have important implications for the design of macro energy efficiency policies and the creation of a‘Green Bank’.

Impact of Technological Progress and Industrial Structure Distortion on Energy Intensity in China

The paper measures the industrial structure distortion(ISD)index by region in China from 1978 to 2016 using data on employment and output shares of the three industries.It also analyzes the impact of ISDs by region on energy intensity using a spatial panel model.The results show that since the reform and opening up,the ISD index by region has declined significantly,with the lowest index in the eastern region,the medium one in the central region and the highest in the western region.The estimated results of the spatial econometric model indicate that there is a significant inter-regional dependence of energy intensity in China;there is a significant indirect effect of ISD,despite no significant direct effect on energy intensity;in terms of total effect,ISD is an important factor inhibiting the decline of energy intensity.The results also unveil that higher energy prices and foreign trade are positive factors declining energy intensity,while FDI worsens energy intensity and R&D spending has no significant positive impact on curbing energy intensity.In order to reduce energy intensity,China should work to eliminate the micro cause of ISDs,promote the transfer of agricultural labor,establish a market-oriented mechanism for energy price formation,and enhance the efficiency of R&D spending.

Fractal and chaotic laws on seismic dissipated energy in an energy system of enginering structures

Fractal and chaotic laws of engineering structures are discussed in this paper, it means that the intrinsic essences and laws on dynamic systems which are made from seismic dissipated energy intensity E d and intensity of seismic dissipated energy moment I e are analyzed. Based on the intrinsic characters of chaotic and fractal dynamic system of E d and I e, three kinds of approximate dynamic models are rebuilt one by one: index autoregressive model, threshold autoregressive model and local-approximate autoregressive model. The innate laws, essences and systematic error of evolutional behavior I e are explained over all, the short-term behavior predictability and long-term behavior probability of which are analyzed in the end. That may be valuable for earthquake-resistant theory and analysis method in practical engineering structures.

DETERMINATION OF COHESIVE ENERGY DENSITY OF UP RESIN BY THE SWELLING METHOD

Different types of solvents were chosen, and their solubleexpansion ability to unsaturated polyster- resin was determined. Theprinciple and method of deter- mining the cohesive energy density ofunsaturated polyster resin by using the swelling method are presentedin details.

Electrodynamics of the Joule-Lenz Law Applied to the Energy Emission Done by a Free Electron or Harmonically-Oscillating Microparticle

We demonstrate that the intensity of the energy emission obtained from the Joule-Lenz law applied to the case of a single free-electron particle or a harmonic oscillator does not depend on the change of size of the corresponding energy interval () and time interval () because the ratio of??to??representing the emission rate remains constant. For a free electron, this property holds on condition the calculations of??and??refer to the states having a sufficiently large quantum index n.

Impact of COVID-19 on the energy consumption of commercial buildings:A case study in Singapore

Numerous studies have demonstrated that commercial activities have significantly reduced during COVID-19,while there are few studies disclosing the consequent impacts on the energy consumption of commercial build-ings.This study explores the changes in energy consumption of different types of commercial buildings in Sin-gapore under the impact of the pandemic,using commercial building energy performance data from 2017 to 2020(n=540).The sampled buildings include 93 hotel buildings,303 office buildings,106 retail buildings,and 38 mixed developments.The analysis mainly used linear regression and paired sample t-test.The results showed that relative to 2019,the mean energy use intensity(EUI)of sampled commercial buildings decreased by 56.77 kWh/m^(2)in the pandemic year(2020),a plunge of 19.9%.The extent to which the EUI of each type of commercial building is affected by the pandemic is found as:mixed development>retail>office>hotel.The study also identi-fied the factors that significantly influenced the EUI of commercial buildings before and during the pandemic.The results of the study complement existing knowledge about the factors influencing energy consumption in com-mercial buildings by considering the impact of the pandemic and furthermore contribute to the improvement of energy management in commercial buildings by providing directions for building energy efficiency approaches.

Experimental and Modeling Study of the Regular Polygon Angle-spiral Liner in Ball Mills

Load behavior is one of the most critical factors affecting mills＇ energy consumption and grinding efficiency, and is greatly affected by the liner profiles. Generally, as liner profiles vary, the ball mill performances are extremely different. In order to study the performance of the ball mill with regular polygon angle-spiral liners（RPASLs）, experimental and numerical studies on three types of RPASLs, including regular quadrilateral, pentagonal and hexagonal, are carried out. For the fine product of desired size, two critical parameters are analyzed： the energy input to the mill per unit mass of the fine product, E＊, and the rate of production of the fine product, F＊. Results show that the optimal structure of RPASLs is Quadrilateral ASL with an assembled angle of 50°. Under this condition, the specific energy consumption E＊ has the minimum value of 303 J per fine product and the production rate F＊ has the maximum value of 0.323. The production rate F＊ in the experimental result is consistent with the specific collision energy intensity to total collision energy intensity ratio Es/Et in the simulation. The relations between the production rate F＊ and the specific energy consumption E＊ with collision energy intensity Es and Et are obtained. The simulation result reveals the essential reason for the experimental phenomenon and correlates the mill performance parameter to the collision energy between balls, which could guide the practical application for Quadrilateral ASL.

Scientific and Technological Innovation Is an Important Approach to Ensuring China’s Oil Security

With the rapid and continual growth of national economy, the gap between oil demand and supply keeps widening in China, therefore China will increasingly depend on imported oil. However, the world＇s oil and gas resources are unevenly distributed; global world＇s oil prices remain high; and over 70 percent of China＇s imported oil has to be shipped through the Malacca Strait. There are various ways to ensure China＇s oil security today, and the practical and feasible strategic option is to increase the discovery and production of domestic oil, raise energy efficiency and develop petroleum substitutes. Scientific and technological innovation is crucial both in new oil reserves discovery and production, energy conservation, and in the development of petroleum substitutes, establishment of a strategic oil reserve system and for environment protection. This indicates that China should take effective measures in investment strategy, fiscal policies, financing instruments, intellectual property protection, fostering talents and professionals, so as to establish its own scientific and technological innovation system in the petroleum industry and be better able to ensure oil security.

ANALYSIS OF CRACK-TIP SINGULARITIES FOR AN INTERFACIAL PERMEABLE CRACK IN METAL/PIEZOELECTRIC BIMATERIALS

By modeling metal as a special piezoelectric material with extremely small piezoelectricity and extremely large permittivity, we have obtained the analytical solutions for an interracial permeable crack in metal/piezoelectric bimaterials by means of the generalized Stroh formalism. The analysis shows that the stress fields near a permeable interracial crack tip are usually with three types of singularities： r^-1/2±iε and r^-1/2. Further numerical calculation on the oscillatory index ε are given for 28 types of metal/piezoelectric bimaterials combined by seven commercial piezoelectric materials： PZT-4, BaTiO3, PZT-5H, PZT-6B, PZT-7A, P-7 and PZT-PIC 151 and four metals： copper, silver, lead and aluminum, respectively. The explicit expressions of the crack tip energy release rate （ERR） and the crack tip generalized stress intensity factors （GSIF） are obtained. It is found that both the ERR and GSIF are independent of the electric displacement loading, although they seriously depends on the mechanical loadings.

Design and development of the beamline for a proton therapy system

A proton therapy(PT)facility with multiple treatment rooms based on the superconducting cyclotron scheme is under development at Huazhong University of Science and Technology(HUST).This paper attempts to describe the design considerations and implementation of the PT beamline from a systematic viewpoint.Design considerations covering beam optics and the influence of high-order aberrations,beam energy/intensity modulation,and beam orbit correction are described.In addition to the technical implementation of the main beamline components and subsystems,including the energy degrader,fast kicker,beamline magnets,beam diagnostic system,and beamline control system are introduced.

Performance Assessment of the Overall Building Envelope Thermal Performance-Building Envelope Performance(BEP)Metric

Today,to describe the thermal performance of the building envelope and its components we use a variation of metrics;such as,R-value,ACH(air exchange rate per hour),SHGC(solar heat gain coefficient)of windows,U-factor etc.None of these performance indicators is meant to represent the overall thermal performance.In this paper,such a metric is introduced,the BEP(building envelope performance)value.Unlike the thermal resistance,typically expressed as an R-value,the BEP-value considers additional elements of heat transfer that affect the energy demand of the building because of exterior and interior(solar)thermal loads:conductive and radiant heat transfer,and air infiltration.To demonstrate BEP’s utility,validation studies were carried out by comparing the BEP-value to theoretical results using whole building energy simulation tools such as EnergyPlus and WUFI Plus.Results show that BEP calculations are comparable to calculations made using these simulation tools and that unlike other similar metrics,the BEP-value accounts for all heat transfer mechanisms that are relevant for the overall energy performance of the building envelope.The BEP-value thus allows comparing envelopes of buildings with different use types in a fair and realistic manner.

ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX STRESS INTENSITIES FOR CRACKED LAMINATES

Classical plate theory has been used to find out interfacial stress intensity factors in composite laminates. By using a well-known relation between the crack-tip energy release rate and the complex stress intensity factor. a closed-form solution for complex. Stress intensity in terms of external loading and a mode mix parameter for fairly. general composite laminates is given. Then a procedure for determining this mode mix. parameter is presented. followed by numerical results for some laminates. Small scale contact condition is expressed in terms of external loading In particular, a symmetric property of interfacial toughness curye is proven. Finally. the accuracy of failure load predicled by elininating oscllation index is discussed. and an example is presented to show the validity and limitation of β=0 approximation.

Interaction among fractures and stress field computation of fracture systems

The interaction problem among fractures under the action of compressional stress is studied in this paper by using the finite element method and boundary element method respectively.The mechanical criteria which differentiate between the independent fractures and fracture systems and their computation methods are presented in this paper.The proportional conditions between length and spacing of fractures that exist interaction for several kinds of fracture groups of different geometric arrangement are given.The effect of interaction among fractures on the displacement field,stress field and strain energy distribution are computed.The relations between the fracture system of conjugate array and conjugate earthquakes are also discussed in this paper.

Time to change the energy conservation direction of China’s steel industry: From upgrading the technology level to increasing scrap ratio

A new energy intensity(EI)index for steel production-energy intensity at specific scrap ratio(EISR)index-is developed in this study to provide a method for analyzing the EI difference of steel production through a case-study analysis for China and Japan.The real cause of EI change of China’s key steel enterprises from 2006–2014 is also studied by using the EISR index.Result shows significant technology progress decreases the EI of China’s key steel enterprises by 16%from 2006 to 2014,but the final drop of comparable EI was only 12.3%due to the continued decreased scrap ratio(SR).From 2006 to 2014,the main cause of EI gap between China’s key steel enterprises and Japan’s steel industry changed from gap in technological level to difference in SR.In factor analysis that assumed Japanese share of electric arc furnace production(23.2%)and SR(33.3%)in 2014 in China,the EI of China’s key steel enterprises decreased to 612 kgce/t(kilogram standard coal/t)(primary energy consumption),which is almost same as Japan’s data.The key task of energy conservation in China’s key steel enterprises in the future should be changed from upgrading the technology level to increase the SR of steel production.

Economic development and energy efficiency in Jilin Province, China

The relationship between economic development and energy consumption is revealed by employing cointegration theory, the index decomposition method, and a log-linear regression approach based on a case study of Jilin Province, China. The results suggest： 1） the economic development and energy consumption are interdetermined, whose relationship is positive and long-term. The economic development is highly depending on the energy in Jilin Province. 2） Under the condition of other unchanged factors, the change of industrial energy efficiency contributes to the energy saving, while that of industrial structure increases the energy consumption. 3） The industrial structure change enhances the energy intensity, but the energy utility efficiency change lowers it. From the view of contribution to the energy consumption, the contribution of industrial structure was more than that of the energy utility efficiency in 2000-2011. 4） In 2000-2011, the comprehensive energy intensity change and hydroelectricity energy intensity change were related to all industrial structures＇ change, and the influencing factors about structure of oil energy intensity change were more than those of coal energy intensity change; from the impact degree, agricultural proportion decreased exerted an positive and greater effect on lowering the energy intensity of comprehensive energy and hydroelectricity, and industrial one did on coal and natural gas. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows： the major way to promote the coordinated development of the industrial economy and energy consumption is to optimize the industrial structure by increasing the proportion of the tertiary industry and low energy consumption industrial sectors and to enhance the energy utility efficiency.

Statistical analysis of residential building energy consumption in Tianjin

To analyze the effect of energy conservation policies on energy consumption of residential buildings, the characteristics of energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort were investigated in detail in Tianjin, China, based on official statistical yearbook and field survey data. A comprehensive survey of 305 households indicates that the mean electricity consumption per household is 3215kWh/a, in which annual cooling electricity consumption is 344kWh/a, and the mean natural gas consumption for cooking is 103.2m3/a. Analysis of 3966 households data shows that space heating average intensity of residential buildings designed before 1996 is 133.7kWh/（m^2.a）, that of buildings designed between 1996 and 2004 is 117.2 kWh/（m^2.a）, and that of buildings designed after 2004 is 105.0kWh/（m^2.a）. Apparently, enhancing the performance of envelops is effective in reducing space heating intensity. Furthermore, the results of questionnaires show that 18% of the residents feel slightly warm and hot respectively, while 3% feel slightly cold in winter. Therefore, the electricity consumption in summer will rise for meeting indoor thermal comfort.

Comparison of Energy Dissipation with and without Aerators

Experimental results showed that aerators increase the energy dissipation of the flow in the channel by reducing the velocity coefficient φ in the deflector bucket and the jet trajectory length, by increasing energy dissipation of the jet flow in the air and the diffusion length of the jet falling into the pool and by reducing the energy intensity of the jet falling into the pool. The energy dissipation prevents wash out downstream.When air is not entrained in the water flow, the aerators act as artificial irregularities in the channel. The energy dissipation due to the aerators in the channel without entrained air is greater than when air is entrained in the water flow.Correlations of the experimental data can be used to estimate the energy dissipation effect of the aerators on the outlet structure for the three test cases.