The use of fossil-derived hydrocarbons in fossil energy, plastic production, and agriculture makes these three sectors mutually reinforcing and reliant on sustained fossil fuel extraction. In this paper, we examine the ways the fossil fuel energy, plastics, and agrichemicals industries interact on social media using Twitter (renamed X as of 2023) data analysis, and we explore the implications of these interactions for policy. Content analysis of the text of tweets from the two largest US corporations and a major trade association for each sector (three discrete social media accounts for each sector) reveals coordinated messaging and identifies synergistic themes among these three sectors. Network analysis shows substantial engagement among the three sectors and identifies common external entities frequently mentioned in each sector. To understand the discursive strategies of the twitter networks of these three petrochemical derivative and fuel sectors, we propose the discourses of climate obstruction framework, adapted from and expanding on Lamb et al.’s (2020) discourses of climate delay framework. Our framework integrates both discourses of delay and discourses of denial because an integration of both were found in our analysis suggesting coordinated efforts to obstruct climate action. Our analysis suggests that discourses to deny and delay climate policy are aligned and coordinated across the three sectors to reinforce existing infrastructure and inhibit change. Exceptions in this alignment emerge for a few distinct sector-specific goals, including contrasting messages about biofuel. Despite some disparate views and different policy priorities among these three sectors, similar efforts to reinforce existing extractive petrochemical hegemony and undermine climate policy are clearly evident in each sector. These findings suggest that more research is needed to understand collaborative efforts among fossil energy, plastic, and agrichemical producers to influence climate and energy policy.
E. Blanc‐Betes, N. Gomez‐Casanovas, C. J. Bernacchi
et al.
ABSTRACT The expansion of sugarcane onto land currently occupied by improved (IMP) and semi‐native (SN) pastures will reshape the U.S. bioenergy landscape. We combined biometric, ground‐based and eddy covariance methods to investigate the impact of sugarcane expansion across subtropical Florida on the carbon (C) budget over a 3‐year rotation. With 2.3‐ and 5.1‐fold increase in productivity over IMP and SN pastures, sugarcane displayed a C use efficiency (CUE; i.e., fraction of gross C uptake allocated to plant growth) of 0.59, well above that of pastures (0.31–0.23). Sugarcane also had greater C allocation to aboveground productivity and hence, harvestable biomass relative to IMP and SN. Cane heterotrophic respiration over the 3‐year rotation (903 ± 335 gC m−2 year−1) was 1% and 14% higher than IMP and SN pastures, respectively. These soil C losses responded largely to disturbance over the first year after conversion (1510 ± 227 gC m−2 year−1) but declined in subsequent years to an average 599 ± 90 gC m−2 year−1—well below those of IMP (933 ± 140 gC m−2 year−1) and SN (759 ± 114 gC m−2 year−1) pastures—despite a significant 40%–61% increase in soil C inputs. Soil C inputs, however, shifted from root‐dominated in pastures to litter‐dominated in sugarcane, with only 5% C allocation to roots. Reduced decomposition rates in sugarcane were likely driven by changes in the recalcitrance and distribution rather than the size of the newly incorporated soil C pool. As a result, we observed a rapid shift in the net ecosystem C balance (NECB) of sugarcane from a large source immediately following conversion to approaching the net C losses of IMP pastures only 2 years after conversion. The environmental cost of converting pasture to sugarcane underscores the importance of implementing management practices to harness the soil C storage potential of sugarcane in advancing a sustainable bioeconomy in Southeastern United States.
Renewable energy sources, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
Aron Bell, Liam Anthony Mannion, Mark Kelly
et al.
The life cycle carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) intensity of Power-to-Liquid (PtL) sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) scenarios in Spain are evaluated using a specific, granular, and transparent modelling approach. Post combustion CO2 capture and direct air CO2 capture are considered, in addition to grid and renewable electricity sources. The mass and energy requirements of the PtL system are determined from a mass and energy conserved reaction mechanism and a comprehensive literature review. The SAF yield is constrained by its molecular composition, formulated to meet the physical property specifications for Fischer-Tropsch synthetic paraffinic kerosene (FT-SPK) in ASTM D7566 Annex 1. The results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) show large ranges in CO2e intensity of PtL SAF scenarios, from 11 to 101 gCO2e/MJ. The electricity emission factors at which the CO2e intensity of PtL SAFs meet the 70% reduction required under the ReFuelEU Aviation legislation are 112 – 168 gCO2e/kWh for direct air capture and post combustion capture of biogenic CO2. As the average EU grid is approximately 300 gCO2e/kWh, the use of renewable electricity (onsite or power purchase agreement) is therefore essential to achieve the 70% reduction. The carbon intensity of the Madrid to Dublin commercial flight route is analysed, per revenue-passenger-kilometre (RPK), as a specific use case with actual data of Ryanair Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Compared to the Science Based Targets 1.5°C limit of 3.3 gCO2/RPK, it is shown that sustainable aviation is challenging using PtL SAF, with a best case of 9 gCO2/RPK.
Hussein A. Kazem, Miqdam T. Chaichan, Ali H.A. Al-Waeli
et al.
Integrating the photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system in green hydrogen production is an improvement in sustainable energy technologies. In PV/T systems, solar energy is converted into electricity and thermal energy simultaneously using hot water or air together with electricity. This dual use saves a significant amount of energy and officially fights greenhouse gases. Different cooling techniques have been proposed in the literature for improving the overall performance of the PV/T systems; employing different types of agents including nanofluids and phase change materials. Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe and has later turned into a flexible energy carrier for transportation and other industrial applications. Issues, including the processes of Hydrogen manufacturing, preservation as well as some risks act as barriers. This paper provides an analysis of several recent publications on the efficiency of using PV/T technology in the process of green hydrogen production and indicates the potential for its increased efficiency as compared to conventional systems that rely on fossil fuels. Due to the effective integration of solar energy, the PV/T system can play an important role in the reduction of the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) and hence play an important part in reducing the economic calculations of the decarbonized energy system.
Energy conservation, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
Mian Ibad Ali Shah, Marcos Eduardo Cruz Victorio, Maeve Duffy
et al.
The integration of renewable energy resources in rural areas, such as dairy farming communities, enables decentralized energy management through Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading. This research highlights the role of P2P trading in efficient energy distribution and its synergy with advanced optimization techniques. While traditional rule-based methods perform well under stable conditions, they struggle in dynamic environments. To address this, Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL), specifically Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Deep Q-Networks (DQN), is combined with community/distributed P2P trading mechanisms. By incorporating auction-based market clearing, a price advisor agent, and load and battery management, the approach achieves significant improvements. Results show that, compared to baseline models, DQN reduces electricity costs by 14.2% in Ireland and 5.16% in Finland, while increasing electricity revenue by 7.24% and 12.73%, respectively. PPO achieves the lowest peak hour demand, reducing it by 55.5% in Ireland, while DQN reduces peak hour demand by 50.0% in Ireland and 27.02% in Finland. These improvements are attributed to both MARL algorithms and P2P energy trading, which together results in electricity cost and peak hour demand reduction, and increase electricity selling revenue. This study highlights the complementary strengths of DQN, PPO, and P2P trading in achieving efficient, adaptable, and sustainable energy management in rural communities.
This study aims to investigate the decision-making processes of energy-intensive and trade-exposed (EITE) firms concerning the adoption, financing, and investment in green technologies, and to assess how these choices influence their competitiveness under potential climate policy scenarios. This study examines the energy-saving investments and climate policy preparedness of 1,650 Indian manufacturing firms (2012–2021) using a multivariate probit (MVP) framework, analyzing how firms enhance competitiveness through interconnected decisions on capital investments, borrowing, fuel efficiency, and export intensity. Firm characteristics such as size, age, profitability, liquidity, and asset tangibility play a crucial role in energy efficiency. Smaller, younger, and less profitable firms tend to be less energy efficient, while exporting firms are more vulnerable to carbon taxes and rising energy costs due to lower fuel efficiency and higher capital intensity. EITE industries, like aluminum, rely more on borrowings for capital expansion, while steel firms, with greater international exposure, exhibit lower energy efficiency than their aluminum counterparts. In addition, non-EITE firms respond more effectively to capital intensity increases through improved fuel cost efficiency. Targeted policy measures to enhance their capital intensity could boost energy efficiency and enable their participation in carbon trading programs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has examined firms’ strategies to enhance competitiveness under climate regulations by linking borrowings, capital intensity, fuel costs, and export orientations. Our study provides deeper insights into firms’ motives, as readiness for carbon taxes cannot be assessed through isolated decisions.
Ting-Ting Duan, Sahanaa Büriechin, Hai-Ling Lao
et al.
In this minireview article, we examine the inconsistent results of thermal parameters derived from various models in high-energy collisions. Through a comprehensive literature review and based on the average transverse momentum or the root-mean-square transverse momentum, we propose model-independent parameters to address these inconsistencies. The relevant parameters include: the initial temperature, the effective temperature, the kinetic freeze-out temperature, and the average transverse velocity. Our findings indicate that these four parameters are larger in central collisions, within central rapidity regions, at higher energies, and in larger collision systems. As collision energy increases, excitation functions for all four parameters rise rapidly (slowly) within ranges below (above) approximately 7.7 GeV. At higher energies (>39) GeV, fluctuations occur in trends for these excitation functions, with only slight changes observed in their growth rates. Additionally, this work reveals a mass-dependent multi-temperature scenario pertaining to both initial states and kinetic freeze-out processes.
After reviewing the sound speeds in various forms and conditions of matter, we investigate the sound speed of hadronic matter that has decoupled from the hot and dense system formed during high-energy collisions. We comprehensively consider factors such as energy loss of the incident beam, rapidity shift of leading nucleons, and the Landau hydrodynamic model for hadron production. The sound speed is related to the width or standard deviation of the Gaussian rapidity distribution of hadrons. The extracted square speed of sound lies within a range from 0 to 1/3 in most cases. For scenarios exceeding this limit, we also provide an explanation.
The matter of import substitution of high-tech equipment for the development of Russian industry plays a crucial role for the national economy in conditions of severe sanctions pressure. The introduction of sectoral sanctions and trade restrictions in 2022 revealed industries that are most dependent on foreign supplies, it also significantly increased the cost of previously freely imported goods and services, as well as destroyed the system of international industrial, technological and scientific cooperation. At the same time, the external factor has become a powerful impetus for mobilization of national resources and consolidation of efforts of the state, enterprises and science in order to develop national advanced technologies and equipment. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the major substitution measures for the most critical technologies for the Russian economy in the fuel and energy sector. Special attention is paid to the Concept of technological development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030, approved in May 2023, which proposes a new agenda of scientific and technological development of the country for the coming decade. The authors identify the main problems on the way to achieve technological sovereignty of Russia in the context of geopolitical crisis.
[Introduction] With the development of energy storage technology, technical schemes and application scenarios become more and more complex. For energy storage research, the conventional classification method based on technical route has certain limitations in some cases. [Method] A classification method of energy storage research based on object hierarchy was proposed: according to the hierarchy order of objects from micro to macro, energy storage researches were divided into material-level, device-level, system & power plant-level and power system-level. This method was applied to the quantitative analysis of 5 397 articles published in journals of energy storage research retrieved by CNKI. [Result] The results show that the number of power system-level research literatures in 2022 is obviously more than other types of literatures, and the number and cumulative citation times of power system-level research literatures in the top 200 literatures cited from 2001 to 2022 are absolutely superior. Before 2010, material-level and device-level research literatures account for a relatively high proportion. Since 2010, the proportion of system & power plant-level and power system-level research literatures has gradually increased, and the growth rate of power system-level research literatures is more obvious. The newly installed capacity of new energy storage from 2011 to 2022 is positively correlated with the number of literatures. Since the system & power plant-level research often directly focuses on actual projects, the number of such literatures is most closely related to the newly installed capacity. [Conclusion] A new way to summarize the research results of energy storage is provided, which could provide support for industrial policy formulation, industrial chain layout and other work.
Chemical looping gasification (CLG) of biomass produces high contents of syngas, which would have inhibition effect on the gasification of its biomass char. Experiments using a rice husk char as fuel and a low-cost red mud as oxygen carrier for CLG investigation were performed, and effects of temperature, concentrations of steam and H2 on gasification rate were evaluated. Meanwhile, the mathematical models coupling with reaction and diffusion were established focusing on the H2 inhibition on syngas distributions inside and surrounding a single char particle. The results indicated that H2 in the reaction atmosphere has an inhibition effect on its char conversion, and at a high temperature the inhibition effect tends to be stronger. The shrinking core model (spherical symmetry) was found to be suitable to describe the char conversion under the present conditions with the reaction kinetic parameters of E = 128.8 kJ mol−1 and A = 451.2 s−1. In the internal diffusion of a single char particle, the concentrations of CO and H2 both decrease with the increase of dimensionless radius due to the consumption of carbon. In the external diffusion of the char particle, the concentrations of CO and H2 decrease with the increase of the dimensionless radius. The accumulation of H2 inside the char particle prevents CO production, thus inhibiting char gasification.
Fuel, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
The work examines the unique nanostructure of carbon nanoparticles deposited from sooting premixed flames with flame temperatures exceeding 2200 K. This flame temperature regime has previously been shown to transition from typical soot formation conditions to a regime whereby the flame-form carbon adopts a nanostructure considerably more ordered than soot. Graphenic carbon deposits observed by High-resolution TEM (HRTEM) are reported here corroborating previous Raman spectroscopy evidence. The use of premixed stretch-stabilized flames enables particle production in the high-temperature regime under a flow field amenable to low-dimensional flame modeling. Although the flame flow configuration is relatively simple, three sample preparation methods are used to assess the representation of true carbon properties as they exist in the flame. HRTEM imaging is carried out on carbon particle samples prepared by rapid-insertion deposition, aerosol dilution probe deposition and carbon particle film deposition. Images from rapid-insertion samples show amorphous particles in the lightly sooting flame and turbostratic particles in the heavy sooting flame. There is trace evidence of graphenic structure in rapid-insertion samples but the most striking particles on the TEM grid are graphite nanocrystals presumably formed by a new artificial crystallization process. HRTEM images of particles collected over time by diluted aerosol deposition and film deposition show clear graphenic structures. Overall, the carbon nanostructure observed by HRTEM is a mixture of amorphous, turbostratic and graphenic carbon lattices depending on the flame condition and sampling method. The current work highlights potential impacts of higher flame temperatures and higher equivalence ratio on deposited flame-formed carbon. Namely, graphenic particle structure is observed in rapid-insertion deposition samples but graphene portions are most abundant in aerosol dilution and carbon particle film deposition samples. This may indicate that graphene structures grow on the deposition surface over time.
Fuel, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
We propose a social welfare maximizing market mechanism for an energy community that aggregates individual and community-shared energy resources under a general net energy metering (NEM) policy. Referred to as Dynamic NEM (D-NEM), the proposed mechanism dynamically sets the community NEM prices based on aggregated community resources, including flexible consumption, storage, and renewable generation. D-NEM guarantees a higher benefit to each community member than possible outside the community, and no sub-communities would be better off departing from its parent community. D-NEM aligns each member's incentive with that of the community such that each member maximizing individual surplus under D-NEM results in maximum community social welfare. Empirical studies compare the proposed mechanism with existing benchmarks, demonstrating its welfare benefits, operational characteristics, and responsiveness to NEM rates.
Pawel Robert Smolinski, Joseph Januszewicz, Barbara Pawlowska
et al.
Poland is currently undergoing substantial transformation in its energy sector, and gaining public support is pivotal for the success of its energy policies. We conducted a study with 338 Polish participants to investigate societal attitudes towards various energy sources, including nuclear energy and renewables. Applying a novel network approach, we identified a multitude of factors influencing energy acceptance. Political ideology is the central factor in shaping public acceptance, however we also found that environmental attitudes, risk perception, safety concerns, and economic variables play substantial roles. Considering the long-term commitment associated with nuclear energy and its role in Poland's energy transformation, our findings provide a foundation for improving energy policy in Poland. Our research underscores the importance of policies that resonate with the diverse values, beliefs, and preferences of the population. While the risk-risk trade-off and technology-focused strategies are effective to a degree, we advocate for a more comprehensive approach. The framing strategy, which tailors messages to distinct societal values, shows particular promise.
This paper deals a novel variation of the versatile stochastic duel game, which incorporates an energy fuel constraint in a two-player duel game. The energy fuel not only measures the vitality of players but also determines the power of the shooting projectile. The game requires players to carefully balance their energy usage while trying to outmaneuver their opponent. This unique theoretical framework of the stochastic game model provides a valuable method for understanding strategic behavior in competitive environments, particularly in decision-making scenarios with fluctuation processes. The proposed game provides players with the challenge of optimizing their energy fuel usage while managing the risk of losing the game. The unique rules and constraints of the game in this research are expected for contributing insights into the decision-making strategies and behaviors of players in a wide range of practical applications.
ABSTRACT This study numerically estimates the effect of increased Chinese import penetration using U.S. manufacturing-level panel data from 1997 to 2005. It also decomposes this effect into factor substitution effects and output scale effects. Since import penetration rates may have endogeneity problems, we use China’s share of world trade to quantify Chinese import penetration. The results show that increased imports from China increase fuel and electricity consumption: the marginal effect of Chinese import penetration is small but statistically significant, ranging from about 0.05% to 0.08%. Interestingly, the decomposition reveals opposite effects across energy types: the factor substitution effect for fuel is positive, while the factor substitution effect for electricity is negative, despite the impact of Chinese imports. The effects on fuel and electricity are both significantly positive, while the effect on electricity is negative. These results suggest the need for different policy responses across industries to the effects of trade, with implications for the environmental problems caused by energy use.
Effective source–load prediction and reasonable dispatching are crucial to realize the economic and reliable operations of integrated energy systems (IESs). They can overcome the challenges introduced by the uncertainties of new energies and various types of loads in the IES. Accordingly, a robust optimal dispatching method for the IES based on a robust economic model predictive control (REMPC) strategy considering source–load power interval prediction is proposed. First, an operation model of the IES is established, and an interval prediction model based on the bidirectional long short-term memory network optimized by beetle antenna search and bootstrap is formulated and applied to predict the photovoltaic power and the cooling, heating, and electrical loads. Then, an optimal dispatching scheme based on REMPC is devised for the IES. The source–load interval prediction results are used to improve the robustness of the REPMC and reduce the influence of source–load uncertainties on dispatching. An actual IES case is selected to conduct simulations; the results show that compared with other prediction techniques, the proposed method has higher prediction interval coverage probability and prediction interval normalized averaged width. Moreover, the operational cost of the IES is decreased by the REMPC strategy. With the devised dispatching scheme, the ability of the IES to handle the dispatching risk caused by prediction errors is enhanced. Improved dispatching robustness and operational economy are also achieved.
Energy conservation, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
The equivalent simplification of large wind farms is essential for evaluating the safety of power systems. However, sub-synchronous oscillations can significantly affect the stability of power systems. Although detailed mathematical models of wind farms can help accurately analyze the oscillation mechanism, the solution process is complicated and may lead to problems such as the “dimensional disaster.” Therefore, this paper proposes a sub-synchronous frequency domain- equivalent modeling method for wind farms based on the nature of the equivalent resistance of the rotor, in order to analyze sub-synchronous oscillations accurately. To this end, Matlab/Simulink is used to simulate a detailed model, a single-unit model, and an equivalent model, considering a wind farm as an example. A simulation analysis is then performed under the sub-synchronous frequency to prove that the model is effective and that the wind farm equivalence model method is valid.
Energy conservation, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade