Statistical Approaches Used to Assess the Equity of Access to Food Outlets: A Systematic Review

published_or_final_versio

Establishing National Carbon Emission Prices for China

The purpose of the paper is to establish national carbon emissions prices for the People’s Republic of China, which is one of the world’s largest producers of carbon emissions. Several measures have been undertaken to address climate change in China, including the establishment of a carbon trading system. Since 2013, eight regional carbon emissions markets have been established, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hubei and Fujian. The Central Government announced a national carbon emissions market, with power generation as the first industry to be considered. However, as carbon emissions prices in the eight regional markets are very different, for a variety of administrative reasons, it is essential to create a procedure for establishing a national carbon emissions price. The regional markets are pioneers, and their experience will play important roles in establishing a national carbon emissions market, with national prices based on regional prices, turnovers and volumes. The paper considers two sources of regional data for China’s carbon allowances, which are based on primary and secondary data sources, and compares their relative strengths and weaknesses. The paper establishes national carbon emissions prices based on the primary and secondary regional prices, for the first time, and compares both national prices and regional prices against each other. The carbon emission prices in Hubei, Guangdong, Shenzhen and Tianjin are highly correlated with the national prices based on the primary and secondary sources. Establishing national carbon emissions prices should be very helpful for the national carbon emissions market that is under construction in China, as well as for other regions and countries worldwide

Pricing carbon emissions in China

The purpose of the paper is to provide a clear mechanism for determining carbon emissions pricing in China as a guide to how carbon emissions might be mitigated to reduce fossil fuel pollution. The Chinese Government has promoted the development of clean energy, including hydroelectric power, wind power, and solar energy generation. In order to involve companies in carbon emissions control, a series of regional and provincial carbon markets have been established since 2013. Since China’s carbon market was established in 2013 and mainly run domestically, and not necessarily using market principles, there has been almost no research on China’s carbon price and volatility. This paper provides an introduction to China’s regional and provincial carbon markets, proposes how to establish a national market for pricing carbon emissions, discusses how and when these markets might be established, how they might perform, and the subsequent prices for China’s regional and national carbon markets. Power generation in manufacturing consumes more than other industries, with more than 40% of total coal consumption. Apart from manufacturing, the northern China heating system also relies on fossil fuels, mainly coal, which causes serious pollution. In order to understand the regional markets well, it is necessary to analyze the energy structure in these regions. Coal is the primary energy source in China, so that provinces that rely heavily on coal receive a greater number of carbon emissions permits from the Chinese Government. In order to establish a national carbon market for China, a detailed analysis of eight important regional markets will be presented. The four largest energy markets, namely Guangdong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hubei, traded around 82% of the total volume and 85% of the total value of the seven markets in 2017, as the industry structure of the western area is different from that of the eastern area. The China National Development and Reform Commission has proposed a national carbon market, which can attract investors and companies to participate in carbon emissions trading. This importantissue will be investigated in the paper

Pricing Carbon Emissions in China

The purpose of the paper is to provide a clear mechanism for determining carbon emissions pricing in China as a guide to how carbon emissions might be mitigated to reduce fossil fuel pollution. The Chinese Government has promoted the development of clean energy, including hydroelectric power, wind power, and solar energy generation. In order to involve companies in carbon emissions control, a series of regional and provincial carbon markets have been established since 2013. Since China’s carbon market was established in 2013 and mainly run domestically, and not necessarily using market principles, there has been almost no research on China’s carbon price and volatility. This paper provides an introduction to China’s regional and provincial carbon markets, proposes how to establish a national market for pricing carbon emissions, discusses how and when these markets might be established, how they might perform, and the subsequent prices for China’s regional and national carbon markets. Power generation in manufacturing consumes more than other industries, with more than 40% of total coal consumption. Apart from manufacturing, the northern China heating system also relies on fossil fuels, mainly coal, which causes serious pollution. In order to understand the regional markets well, it is necessary to analyze the energy structure in these regions. Coal is the primary energy source in China, so that provinces that rely heavily on coal receive a greater number of carbon emissions permits from the Chinese Government. In order to establish a national carbon market for China, a detailed analysis of eight important regional markets will be presented. The four largest energy markets, namely Guangdong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hubei, traded around 82% of the total volume and 85% of the total value of the seven markets in 2017, as the industry structure of the western area is different from that of the eastern area. The China National Development and Reform Commission has proposed a national carbon market, which can attract investors and companies to participate in carbon emissions trading. This important issue will be investigated in the paper

Establishing National Carbon Emission Prices for China

The purpose of the paper is to establish national carbon emissions prices for the People’s Republic of China, which is one of the world’s largest producers of carbon emissions. Several measures have been undertaken to address climate change in China, including the establishment of a carbon trading system. Since 2013, eight regional carbon emissions markets have been established, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hubei and Fujian. The Central Government announced a national carbon emissions market, with power generation as the first industry to be considered. However, as carbon emissions prices in the eight regional markets are very different, for a variety of administrative reasons, it is essential to create a procedure for establishing a national carbon emissions price. The regional markets are pioneers, and their experience will play important roles in establishing a national carbon emissions market, with national prices based on regional prices, turnovers and volumes. The paper considers two sources of regional data for China’s carbon allowances, which are based on primary and secondary data sources, and compares their relative strengths and weaknesses. The paper establishes national carbon emissions prices based on the primary and secondary regional prices, for the first time, and compares both national prices and regional prices against each other. The carbon emission prices in Hubei, Guangdong, Shenzhen and Tianjin are highly correlated with the national prices based on the primary and secondary sources. Establishing national carbon emissions prices should be very helpful for the national carbon emissions market that is under construction in China, as well as for other regions and countries worldwide

Ground Motion Study on Dumbarton Toll Bridge

The existing Dumbarton Toll Bridge was built in 1982, connecting the cities of Newark and East Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area. The initial vulnerability studies conducted by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 2004 indicated that the performance of the bridge during a maximum credible earthquake was uncertain. Earth Mechanics, Inc. (EMI) has carried out the necessary study for the seismic evaluation of the bridge. An extensive field investigation was undertaken both on-land and over-water at the site to develop the idealized subsurface profile along the bridge alignment. According to the probabilistic and deterministic seismic hazard analyses incorporated with new seismic source model and Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) models, a 1,000-year return period spectrum was adopted for the Safety Evaluation Earthquake (SEE) event and a 100-year return period spectrum for the Function Evaluation Earthquake (FEE) event. SHAKE and KIPS programs were used to conduct the seismic response analysis and kinematic soil-pile interaction analysis were carried out at selected piers. From this study, two sets of Acceleration Response Spectrum (ARS) curves were generated for the seismic retrofit of this bridge: one for the Main Channel piers and another for the West and East Approach structures. Other seismic retrofit-related issues are also addressed

Household energy needs and utilization patterns in the Giyani rural communities of Limpopo Province, South Africa

A study was conducted in the rural communities of the Giyani district in Limpopo Province, with the aim of identifying types of energy resources used and the patterns of utilization of such energy sources. Surveys were conducted in three villages and semi-structured questionnaires were used to interview 20 randomly selected households per village. Focus group discussions were also held in each of the surveyed villages. Data obtained in all surveyed villages showed that fuel wood is the main source of energy for cooking and heating while paraffin and candles are mainly used for lighting. Wood in these villages is very scarce and communities spend 5 to 6 hours per trip collecting fuel wood. Women using the loadhead method of carrying wood and occasionally wheelbarrows are the main source of labour used in collecting fuel wood. The paper concludes that there is a need to promote sustainable energy resources and technologies such as the use of improved wood and charcoal stoves. Furthermore, the paper recommends the promotion of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, which have a potential of being adopted in the area. It is also argued that policies which enhance integrated rural development and promote sustainable energy utilization in rural communities need to be put in place and implemented

Intelligent Point-of-Interest Recommendation for Tourism Planning via Density-based Clustering and Genetic Algorithm

In recent years, geographic information service and relevant social media become more popular, some geographic point may interest people, e.g. scenic spot or famous store, naming as a point-of-interest (POI). However, the number of POI contributing by social media grows exponentially which causing a searching problem. How to recommend a POI to a user/tourist becomes a challenge. This study proposes an intelligent system using density-based clustering and genetic algorithm to recommend a POIs solution for tourism planning. Density-based clustering identifies candidate POIs. Skyline method decides a superior POI from candidate POIs by dominant of multiple attributes. Genetic algorithm optimizes the recommendation solution. The contribution is to get a tourism POI solution from a huge amount of candidate POIs based on user/tourist preferences. An experimental system implementation is in progress. In future, we will use open data from Google map and Foursquare to proof the proposed system mechanism effectiveness