How Does E-Commerce Policy Affect Consumption Disparities of Rural Households?-Evidence from China

In the context of China’s ongoing efforts to promote countryside revitalization and facilitate domestic economic circulation,it is of great significance to reduce the consumption disparity among rural households and unleash the consumption potential in the countryside.Based on data from China Family Panel Studies,this paper adopts a staggered difference-in-differences method to assess the impact of the e-commerce to enter rural areas on the consumption disparity among rural households.Findings:the comprehensive demonstration work of promoting e-commerce to enter rural areas has reduced the consumption disparity among rural households through the following mechanisms.Firstly,this policy initiative has mitigated the consumption-inhibiting effect on rural household consumption due to the local market size and external market accessibility by promoting the distribution of consumer goods to villages.Secondly,this policy initiative has also increased the agricultural income of rural households and reduced their consumption disparity by distributing farm produce to cities and enhancing the agricultural income of rural households.Moreover,the work is characterized by inclusive growth and is not susceptible to the“elite capture”phenomenon.

Energy consumption and emission mitigation prediction based on data center traffic and PUE for global data centers

With the rapid development of technologies such as big data and cloud computing,data communication and data computing in the form of exponential growth have led to a large amount of energy consumption in data centers.Globally,data centers will become the world’s largest users of energy consumption,with the ratio rising from 3%in 2017 to 4.5%in 2025.Due to its unique climate and energy-saving advantages,the high-latitude area in the Pan-Arctic region has gradually become a hotspot for data center site selection in recent years.In order to predict and analyze the future energy consumption and carbon emissions of global data centers,this paper presents a new method based on global data center traffic and power usage effectiveness(PUE)for energy consumption prediction.Firstly,global data center traffic growth is predicted based on the Cisco’s research.Secondly,the dynamic global average PUE and the high latitude PUE based on Romonet simulation model are obtained,and then global data center energy consumption with two different scenarios,the decentralized scenario and the centralized scenario,is analyzed quantitatively via the polynomial fitting method.The simulation results show that,in 2030,the global data center energy consumption and carbon emissions are reduced by about 301 billion kWh and 720 million tons CO2 in the centralized scenario compared with that of the decentralized scenario,which confirms that the establishment of data centers in the Pan-Arctic region in the future can effectively relief the climate change and energy problems.This study provides support for global energy consumption prediction,and guidance for the layout of future global data centers from the perspective of energy consumption.Moreover,it provides support of the feasibility of the integration of energy and information networks under the Global Energy Interconnection conception.

Current Global Almond Trade and Its Consumption Patterns Analysis

This article aims to investigate the current situation of the international almond trade and its consumption patterns. Traditionally, almonds are characterized by their good taste and high quality and regarded as an ideal source of several natural health nutrients. At present, the United States is the leading almond producer and exporter in the world, accompanied by Germany, Spain and Japan, the biggest almond importing countries. In order to study almond consumption patterns, two indicators were used in our study, the Food Consumer Location Ratio （FCLR） and the Food Consumer Location Relative Ratio （FCLRR）. Furthermore, to identify the almond consumption groups, we carried out two cluster analyses based on FCLR and FCLRR values, Finally, an analysis of the factors which have an impact on a country＇s almond consumption was conducted. It shows that income level, endowment of resources and tradition as well as dietary habits are key factors that help to shape a country＇s almond consumption pattern.

Barriers to Global E-commerce

Global e-commerce has changed the business operation style of the world economy. However, due to its young age, it has encountered various barriers which include social/cultural, political/legal/governmental, economic/commercial, technological obstacles and other relatively minor impediments. Given the global e-commerce＇s importance and unprecedented growth potential, it is very essential and critical to point out these barriers and give a complete analysis on them. This research report is presented on the basis of a large amount of research, and secondary data are widely used.

China to Focus on Domestic Consumption Amid Global Uncertainties

China’s government should continue efforts to expand domestic consumption amid the global economic uncertainty, said Liu Tienan, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission,

Theme Parks Witness Strong Consumption Demands

Universal Beijing Resort(Universal Studios Beijing)opened up officially on September 20.This theme park project was signed off 20 years ago,and project construction has lasted 7 years.Universal Studios Beijing is the world’s fifth,Asia’s third and the largest Universal Studios theme park globally.

The Roles of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and E-Commerce as Agents of Nigeria’s Economic Development: Review of Challenges and Prospects

Electronic commerce which denotes the process of electronic transaction via internet has led to a very significant improvement in the level of growth, development, efficiency and productivity of global economies. In order to benefit from the economic opportunities offered by electronic commerce, Nigerian government and business organizations needs to effectively integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as the major component of e-commerce campaign initiatives. The discussion in the paper is centered on e-commerce and ICTs and their resultant effect on Nigeria’s economic growth and development. This paper has presented an in-depth discussion of the various types of e-commerce, the major contributions of e-commerce to the economic growth of Nigeria and finally the challenges that impede the growth of e-commerce in Nigeria were identified and the possible recommendations for solutions to those challenges were provided.

The Impact of E-commerce on Consumer Purchasing Behavior for the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how COVID-19 is changing consumer behavior and how it is changing e-commerce trends.This study has been conducted through a qualitative approach.The Coronavirus changed worldwide patterns intensively.These differences are caused by the high levels of accidental and secondary funding that this virus reflects.This study showed how e-commerce has grown due to the coronavirus.As individuals deal with their new living conditions,they have changed their shopping behavior to meet their requirements.The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affects many aspects of life,including how individuals deal with their needs and not their needs.The behavior of people,the nature of businesses,and the manner of life have changed.It spreads fears among individuals that they should avoid interacting with.The effect of Coronavirus has transformed the nature of business in the entire e-commerce globe.In particular,COVID-19 has a substantial influence on global e-commerce and in certain cases,has negative consequences,although generally,e-commerce is quickly increasing because of coronaviruses.Moreover,e-commerce businesses confront various problems,including extended delivery times,movement control challenges,social distance,and lock-up or lock-down.The shipping and supply processes are now rather sluggish,yet people are still buying since they do not have any other option.Thus,people move to technology because of coronaviruses.This study has shown the trend of e-commerce in recent times and also shows how consumers tend to adopt e-commerce.There is no such issue in the previous literature.This study fills in the gaps on these issues and also helps to improve the global economy.

Review of the Global Energy Market in 2023

Global energy consumption reaches anewhighin2023,Due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors,since 2020,apart from the steady growth in coal consumption,the consumption of oil and natural gas has experienced fluctuations.Statistics from relevant organizations indicate that in 2023,the consumption of oil and coal will reach a new high,and there will be a recovery in the growth of natural gas consumption.During the three years of COVID-19 and the global energy crisis,coal,the most conventional fossil fuel,saved the world.Coupled with the growth in the consumption of oil and natural gas in 2023,it is evident that,amidst the surge of energy transition,all three conventional fossil fuels are silently undertaking the significant responsibility for ensuring the energy needs of human society.

Water consumption and biodiversity:Responses to global emergency events

Given that it was a once-in-a-century emergency event,the confinement measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic caused diverse disruptions and changes in life and work patterns.These changes significantly affected water consumption both during and after the pandemic,with direct and indirect consequences on biodiversity.However,there has been a lack of holistic evaluation of these responses.Here,we propose a novel framework to study the impacts of this unique global emergency event by embedding an environmentally extended supply-constrained global multi-regional input-output model(MRIO)into the drivers-pressure-state-impact-response(DPSIR)framework.This framework allowed us to develop scenarios related to COVID-19 confinement measures to quantify country-sector-specific changes in freshwater consumption and the associated changes in biodiversity for the period of 2020-2025.The results suggest progressively diminishing impacts due to the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines and the socio-economic system’s self-adjustment to the new normal.In 2020,the confinement measures were estimated to decrease global water consumption by about 5.7% on average across all scenarios when compared with the baseline level with no confinement measures.Further,such a decrease is estimated to lead to a reduction of around 5% in the related pressure on biodiversity.Given the interdependencies and interactions across global supply chains,even those countries and sectors that were not directly affected by the COVID-19 shocks experienced significant impacts:Our results indicate that the supply chain propagations contributed to 79% of the total estimated decrease in water consumption and 84%of the reduction in biodiversity loss on average.Our study demonstrates that the MRIO-enhanced DSPIR framework can help quantify resource pressures and the resultant environmental impacts across supply chains when facing a global emergency event.Further,we recommend the development of more locally based water conservation measures—to mitigate the effects of trade disruptions—and the explicit inclusion of water resources in post-pandemic recovery schemes.In addition,innovations that help conserve natural resources are essential for maintaining environmental gains in the post-pandemic world.

E-commerce and Consumption Inequality in China

Consumption inequality may impede economic development and hinder the achievement of common prosperity.Using three waves of the China Family Panel Studies from 2014 to 2018,this paper investigated the impact of e-commerce on consumption inequality,as measured by the Kakwani index.The results indicate that e-commerce can reduce household consumption inequality.A mechanism analysis shows that e-commerce can narrow household income inequality,increase the purchasing power of low-income households,and promote the consumption of households with limited access to ofline markets,thereby reducing the consumption gap.A heterogeneity analysis suggests that the positive role of e-commerce in reducing consumption inequality can be more significant among vulnerable households,such as households with elderly members and less-educated households.E-commerce can have varying impacts on consumption inequality across different subcategories of household expenditure,with the greatest impact seen in entertainment and education expenditure.These findings provide new evidence for the role of e-commerce in reducing consumption inequality in the digital economy,and the implications of this are discussed.

A review and future prospects of renewable energy in the global energy system

Global energy consumption in the last half century has rapidly increased and is expected to continue to grow over the next 50 years,however,with significant differences.The past increase was stimulated by relatively "cheap" fossil fuels and increased rates of industrialization in North America,Europe and Japan;yet while energy consumption in these countries continues to increase,additional factors make the picture for the next 50 years more complex.These additional complicating factors include China and India's rapid increase in energy use as they represent about a third of the world's population;the expected depletion of oil resources in the near future;and,the effect of human activities on global climate change.On the positive side,the renewable energy(RE) technologies of wind,bio-fuels,solar thermal and photovoltaics(PV) are finally showing maturity and the ultimate promise of cost competitiveness.

The Role of Ruminants on Environmental Pollution and Possible Solution to Reduce Global Warming

The aim of the work was to shed light on the responsibility of ruminants to inject methane(CH4)into the atmosphere and to highlight how about 70%of livestock and almost all small ruminants live in areas of the planet,usually the poorest,where it is not possible to produce food for the man.According to many authors,ruminant breeding is one of the main causes of deforestation and global warming observed in recent years and 11%-12% of world population’s malnutrition depends mainly on the increase in ruminant rearing that is also responsible for the poor efficiency in producing nutrients.A further objective is to highlight those factors that,for various reasons,are ignored.Ruminants have contributed both to the work,still used in many areas(just think of the hilly fields of rice in Asia),both with the supply of noble proteins to be one of the main factors that allowed the evolution of human species.Just think that where(Europe,Asia minor,Indian sub-continent)milk was used for feeding children,the numerical increase in human population was faster than the areas where its use was unknown(Americas and Australia).The most fertile soils,like the Great Plains of the United States,are those that in the past were populated by ruminants like the bison.Some scientists argue that humans are a species that is supposed to eat fruit physiologically.They ignore that Homo habilis has evolved since he became omnivorous.Many primates complement their diet with small mammals,crabs,crustaceans,molluscs,amphibians,worms and even fish trapped in some ponds during the low tide period.They ignore or want to ignore that primitive man chose the flesh driven by instinct because they needed vitamin B12.Regarding deforestation,many of the areas currently used as pastures have been obtained by burning forests,but it is not sufficiently stressed that all areas used today by man come from forest areas and that every year millions of hectares of forests are destroyed due to accidental fires or are caused by pyromaniacs.As for the production of CH4,although the ruminants produce physiologically CH4,it is also true that the increase in CH4 in the atmosphere is preceded by the increase in heat,the main cause of which is the increase in carbon dioxide(CO2).The presence of this gas in the atmosphere is due to the use of fossil fuels,namely oil,coal and natural gas,whose emissions are due to the multinational companies that manage the production of energy.It is likely that the demonization of ruminants serves to focus attention on a problem that is solvable by improving cattle rearing techniques and the rational use of manure.The purpose of this demonization is also to allocate the breeding areas to the seed multinationals.It is likely that the objective is to minimize the real problem of global warming,which derives from the misuse of the energy resources of the subsoil that derive from the accumulation over the millennia of different sources of carbon that are released daily in the atmosphere.

Mediations and Imaginaries on Climate Change and Global Warming Among Peasants in Mexico City

This study explores the symbolic imaginary and forms of mediation on climate change and global warming, with the peasants of San Gregorio, Xochimilco, an agricultural area that survives in one of the largest in the world conurbations, Mexico City. We used a mixed method. Through a representative, observation and interview with our study subjects explored survey semantic-imaginary symbolic associations that farmers in the community have on both phenomena. We found that both are non-functional at the time when farmers describe the problems they experience the effects and possible solutions to climate variations. We believe that it is essential to explore the language used affected communities when proposing public policies, non-governmental actions and scientific research related to climate variations in local environments as studied here.

2023年国内外天然气市场回顾与2024年展望

2023年,全球天然气消费量为3.96万亿立方米,产量达4.28万亿立方米,供需基本面趋于宽松;国际气价高位回落,供应链扰动风险不断;全球天然气贸易格局持续深度调整,俄罗斯出口欧洲的管道气持续大幅下降,欧洲LNG进口量高位回落,亚洲LNG进口量恢复增长。2023年,中国天然气消费量为3917亿立方米,增量242亿立方米,同比增长6.6%。天然气产量为2353亿立方米,同比增长5.7%,连续7年增产超100亿立方米。天然气进口量为1656亿立方米,增速为9.5%;对外依存度为42.3%,较上年上涨1.1个百分点。中国天然气基础设施建设稳步推进,天然气价格市场化改革持续进行。2024年,预计全球天然气市场延续脆弱平衡态势,市场走势不确定性因素增多,国际气价波动更加频繁;中国天然气市场持续向好,天然气需求维持较快增长,国产天然气稳步上产,有望再超百亿立方米,进口气较快增长。

碳中和目标下全球清洁能源消纳的风险识别与规避路径研究

加快向清洁能源转型是二十一世纪的全球目标,在碳中和目标约束下,清洁能源消纳的机遇与挑战并存。本文聚焦不同类别的清洁能源消纳风险,对此进行识别并讨论其风险规避路径。通过深入分析极端天气风险、资源分布的均衡性、消纳技术的特点与应用、政策不确定性、市场及投资环境等情况,发现清洁能源消纳面临多维度、强交叉性风险。鉴于此,提出一套针对性的综合策略,从而促进清洁能源的稳健发展并加速其全球化消纳,包括强化国际合作、选择消纳技术演进路径、加强跨区域政策及监管,构建灵活高效的能源市场等。通过这些策略,旨在为实现清洁能源的广泛应用与可持续消纳提供实用路径,进而支持全球碳中和目标的达成。

中国全球价值链地位、环境规制与碳排放绩效

努力实现全球价值链地位攀升与低碳经济发展双目标是中国面临的关键问题。基于2000-2014年中国制造业行业数据,考察全球价值链地位攀升对碳排放绩效的影响与作用机制,可发现:全球价值链地位攀升有助于碳排放绩效改善,其赋能效应在不同类型、技术水平以及污染密集度的行业中存在差异性;能源利用效率与能源消费结构是全球价值链地位作用于碳排放绩效的主要路径,同时环境规制强度的提高可以进一步增强其对碳排放绩效改善的正向作用。我国制造业应全方位、多层次融入全球价值链体系,深化链条间行业的上下游合作,推动制造业内部的能源技术溢出效应转换,对不同行业进行差异化政策支持,同时地方政府也应加强适时监督,规制行业的短视行为。

华北平原地区HCFC-142b排放清单建立及环境影响分析

选择华北平原地区作为研究对象,采用排放因子法建立该区域2000~2060年HCFC-142b排放清单,探讨了其空间分布特征,并对不同行业开展了排放结果的敏感性分析.结果显示,该地区2000~2019年HCFC-142b累计排放量为34.0kt.其中,江苏、山东和河南是排放量最大省份,累计排放量分别为595.1t、267.6t和196.5t.XPS泡沫排放最大,其次是ICR行业,两个行业对排放结果最敏感的因子分别是初始排放因子和设备废弃率.排放预测显示,在《蒙特利尔议定书》管控下,该地区2020~2060年的累计减排潜力为151.9kt(9.9kt CFC-11-eq;350.9mt CO_(2)-eq).

中东铝工业的发展简史——世界铝工业百年兴衰史系列(八)

回顾20世纪70年代以来中东铝工业发展历程。中东是世界石油储量的富集地,两次能源危机使这里的石油生产国成为世界最富有的国家之一,有充足的资金发展铝工业。早期只有巴林和阿联酋(迪拜)大力发展铝工业,成果斐然;进入21世纪,卡塔尔、阿曼、沙特先后进军铝工业,各国大力发展非油气产业和调整经济结构,一批具有国际竞争力的新建铝厂拔地而起。中东电解铝厂全部配套自备电厂,用天然气和燃油发电,与下游铝加工合作等,厂区都有预留,扩建空间足。中东各国铝消费量有限,具有典型的出口导向。

基于能耗与成本目标的新疆高校教学建筑设计优化

建筑设计参数对建筑运营过程中的能耗和成本有着重要的影响,而新疆冬季严寒且漫长,使得该地区建筑能耗及运营费用高于其他地区。因此,本文利用离差最大化法结合正交试验设计,以某教学建筑为例,考察了在新疆4个热工分区的典型城市气象条件下,包括中庭面积比、天窗面积比、不同立面的窗墙比、外围护保温层厚度、外窗类型等8个设计参数对建筑能耗和全局成本的影响,并通过综合考虑建筑能耗和全局成本目标,确定最佳的建筑设计方案。研究结果表明,在4个典型城市气象条件下,最佳设计方案可以实现建筑节能10.47%~13.48%,全局成本降低32.62~62.91元/m^(2)。研究有助于设计者选择适用于该地区的最佳设计参数,从而实现建筑的节能目标。