Intermodal Competition: Cargo Airships versus Long-Haul Trucking for Perishable Commodities

Intermodal competition changes with changes in technology, economics, and environmental concerns. Trucks and airships are generally considered not to be competitors, but this depends on the distance of haul. The tonne-kilometer cost of trucking rises much more quickly with distance than it does the cost of a cargo airship. At some distance, the two modes are direct substitutes. The costs of the Mexico-Canada refrigerated truck supply chain are compared with the costs of a 100t-lift, electrically-powered airship. The flight characteristics of the Hindenburg Zeppelin are used as a model for a modern cargo airship. The supply chain cost of trucking tomatoes is used to test the theorical proposition. The cost difference works out to about US10￠/kg (5￠/lb) advantage for trucking Mexican tomatoes to Canada. However, this cost disadvantage of the airship could be made up by their vibrationless ride, better air circulation and one-day service versus four days by truck. This alternative form of transportation could have a positive impact on worldwide north-south distribution of food. Airships can overcome trade barriers and distance to open new markets for perishable food exports. In addition, they would reduce the carbon emissions of transport. Canada imports 160,000 refrigerated truckloads of fruits and vegetables by from the southern US and Mexico. With an average driving distance of 3,000 km, these trucks emit 606,000 MT of CO2 annually. Airships powered by hydrogen fuel cells would have zero-carbon emissions. Markets are not yet incorporating the environmental advantage of airships in any freight comparison, but inevitably this will be important.

Economic analysis of hydrogen production from China’s province-level power grid considering carbon emissions

Hydrogen energy contributes to China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutralization by serving as an important energy carrier.However,the calculation of the cost of hydrogen production by the power grid ignores the current cost of carbon emissions.To measure the cost of hydrogen-production projects in various provinces more comprehensively and accurately,this study incorporates the carbon-emission cost into the traditional levelized cost of hydrogen model.An analysis of the energy structure of the power supply is conducted in each province of China to calculate carbon-emission costs,which are then subjected to a sensitivity test.Based on the results,the carbon-emission costs for hydrogen in each province are between 0.198 and 1.307 CNY/kg,and the levelized cost of hydrogen based on carbon-emission costs varies from 24.813 to 48.020 CNY/kg;in addition,carbon-emission costs range from 0.61%to 3.4%of the total costs.The results also show that the levelized cost of hydrogen considering carbon-emission costs in the Shanghai municipality specifically is most sensitive to the carbon-emission price,changing by 0.131 CNY/kg for every 10%fluctuation in the carbon-emission price.

The Path to a Low-Carbon Economy: From the Perspective of Industrial Planning

Based on the carbon emission data of China's manufacturing industry from 1998 to 2015,this paper examines the impact of carbon emission inclination of the central and local governments’industrial planning on regional carbon emissions.The findings of this study suggest that central industrial planning focuses on the long-term goal of economic development and favors low carbon emission industries,while local governments are more inclined to short-term economic growth and focus more on high-carbon emission industries with high output.The support of local industrial planning for high-carbon emission industries can reduce the intensity of regional carbon emissions,while the influence of central industrial planning is not evident.The mechanism analysis shows that government support for some industries can improve the industrial added value and reduce the carbon emission intensity.As the output value and carbon emission level of high-carbon emission industries are higher,the decline of carbon emissions caused by local government support for high-carbon emission industries will eventually lead to the reduction of carbon emission intensity in the whole region.The research explains the different paths that the central and local governments choose to develop a low-carbon economy and analyses their influences.