Modeling technology changes in air transport in the presence of a market shock: A passenger-based analysis

This paper proposes a formal model to assess the introduction of hydrogen technology in the air transport sector when the initial market is uncovered, a situation relevant to the current COVID-19 crisis. The "flight shame” movement causes some passengers to leave the market while allowing for some willingness-to-pay for cleaner technologies. Starting from a horizontally differentiated duopoly between airlines with old technology and an uncovered market, the introduction of hydrogen technology provides the opportunity for vertical differentiation in line with the increased environmental consciousness of passengers. The principal methodological novelties start from an uncovered market and combine horizontal and vertical differentiation. The main results are the airlines' optimal strategy sets and the adoption strategy dynamics with an increased valuation of quality by passengers. We justify a regulator's intervention and draw several potential policy implications from this dynamic, such as a minimum subsidy level and educational advertising. © 2022

Energy-environmental-economic assessment of green retrofit policy to achieve 2050 carbon-neutrality in South Korea: Focused on residential buildings

To achieve carbon emission reduction target (CERT) by 2030 and carbon-neutrality in 2050, it is important to actively reduce the emission gap in the private building sector. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war are threatening the green remodeling policy (GRP) worldwide. Therefore, this study analyzed energy consumption savings, GHG emission reduction, and net present value when applying green remodeling to a private building to predict whether or not the current GRP could achieve 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality. The main findings are as follows. First, yearly electricity and gas consumption of 84.97 m2 type households can be reduced by 6.19% and 15.58% through green remodeling. Second, based on the energy saving, yearly GHG emission can be reduced about 0.34tCO2eq. Third, the economic feasibility of green remodeling cannot be achieved via the current policy, and NPV17 decreases up to USD-51,485 depending on the credit loan interest rate and the green remodeling interest subsidy program. In other words, it is difficult to reach 2030 CERT and 2050 carbon-neutrality via the current policy. Therefore, the South Korean government is required to reorganize financial policies, establish active systems, increase public awareness of the policy, and improve energy efficiency technology. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Offerings and challenges of demand response ventilation under covid-19 scenarios

Owning to the outbreak of COVID-19, individuals have to spend more time indoor. It is therefore essential to prepare for a long-term healthy indoor working environment in the transition of post COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is no relevant research so far in investigating such crisis impacts around indoor environmental quality and economic-health issues while home offices are expected becoming common practice soon. Therefore, a case of single-family house in Sweden is specially investigated using IDA ICE. By comparing four predominant ventilation approaches, three operational schedules are proposed, covering different confinement for occupants. Main results show that the demand response ventilation (DRV) generally should sacrifice in remarkable performance in energy saving, and emission reduction to better confront with more challenges in indoor air quality, occupied thermal dissatisfaction fraction and air stagnation under the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic scenario. Altered ventilation strategy should be customized from increased outdoor air supply, various demand-control signal, displacement method towards a heathier homeworking environment. © International Building Performance Simulation Association, 2022

Assessment of Mobile Air Cleaners to Reduce the Concentration of Infectious Aerosol Particles Indoors

Airborne transmission via aerosol particles without close human contact is a possible source of infection with airborne viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 or influenza. Reducing this indirect infection risk, which is mostly present indoors, requires wearing adequate respiratory masks, the inactivation of the viruses with radiation or electric charges, filtering of the room air, or supplying ambient air by means of ventilation systems or open windows. For rooms without heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, mobile air cleaners are a possibility for filtering out aerosol particles and therefore lowering the probability of indirect infections. The main questions are as follows: (1) How effectively do mobile air cleaners filter the air in a room? (2) What are the parameters that influence this efficiency? (3) Are there room situations that completely prevent the air cleaner from filtering the air? (4) Does the air cleaner flow make the stay in the room uncomfortable? To answer these questions, particle imaging methods were employed. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to determine the flow field in the proximity of the air cleaner inlet and outlet to assess regions of unpleasant air movements. The filtering efficiency was quantified by means of particle image counting as a measure for the particle concentration at multiple locations in the room simultaneously. Moreover, different room occupancies and room geometries were investigated. Our results confirm that mobile air cleaners are suitable devices for reducing the viral load indoors. Elongated room geometries, e.g., hallways, lead to a reduced filtering efficiency, which needs to be compensated by increasing the volume flow rate of the device or by deploying multiple smaller devices. As compared to an empty room, a room occupied with desks, desk separation walls, and people does not change the filtering efficiency significantly, i.e., the change was less than 10%. Finally, the flow induced by the investigated mobile air cleaner does not reach uncomfortable levels, as by defined room comfort standards under these conditions, while at the same time reaching air exchange rates above 6, a value which is recommended for potentially infectious environments.

Response of organic aerosol characteristics to emission reduction in Yangtze River Delta region.

Organic aerosol (OA) is a major component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) with complex composition and formation processes influenced by various factors. Emission reduction can alter both precursors and oxidants which further affects secondary OA formation. Here we provide an observational analysis of secondary OA (SOA) variation properties in Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of eastern China in response to large scale of emission reduction during Chinese New Year (CNY) holidays from 2015 to 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic period from January to March, 2020. We found a 17% increase of SOA proportion during the COVID lockdown. The relative enrichment of SOA is also found during multi-year CNY holidays with dramatic reduction of anthropogenic emissions. Two types of oxygenated OA (OOA) influenced by mixed emissions and SOA formation were found to be the dominant components during the lockdown in YRD region. Our results highlight that these emission-reduction-induced changes in organic aerosol need to be considered in the future to optimize air pollution control measures. Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s11783-023-1714-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

Factors affecting recent PM2.5 concentrations in China and South Korea from 2016 to 2020.

This study used observational data and a chemical transport model to investigate the contributions of several factors to the recent change in air quality in China and South Korea from 2016 to 2020. We focused on observational data analysis, which could reflect the annual trend of emission reduction and adjust existing emission amounts to apply it into a chemical transport model. The observation data showed that the particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations during winter 2020 decreased by -23.4 % (-14.68 µg/m3) and - 19.5 % (-5.73 µg/m3) in China and South Korea respectively, compared with that during winter 2016. Meteorological changes, the existing national plan for a long-term emission reduction target, and unexpected events (i.e., Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China and South Korea and the newly introduced special winter countermeasures in South Korea from 2020) are considered major factors that may affect the recent change in air quality. The impact of different meteorological conditions on PM2.5 concentrations was assessed by conducting model simulations by fixing the emission amounts; the results indicated changes of +7.6 % (+4.77 µg/m3) and + 9.7 % (+2.87 µg/m3) in China and South Korea, respectively, during winter 2020 compared to that during winter 2016. Due to the existing and pre-defined long-term emission control policies implemented in both countries, PM2.5 concentration significantly decreased from winter 2016-2020 in China (-26.0 %; -16.32 µg/m3) and South Korea (-9.1 %; -2.69 µg/m3). The unexpected COVID-19 outbreak caused the PM2.5 concentrations in China to decrease during winter 2020 by another -5.0 % (-3.13 µg/m3). In South Korea, the winter season special reduction policy, which was introduced and implemented in winter 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to -19.5 % (-5.92 µg/m3) decrease in PM2.5 concentrations.

Time-frequency connectedness and cross-quantile dependence between carbon emission trading and commodity markets: Evidence from China

This paper aims to investigate the dynamic connectedness and the cross-quantile dependence structure between carbon emission trading and commodity markets in China. We employ both the Baruník and Křehlík (2018) connectedness method and the Baruník and Kley (2019) cross-quantile dependence method to provide time-frequency-quantile evidence. In addition, we use a daily dataset from September 2, 2013, to September 30, 2022, to gauge the macroeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that Petrochemical is the biggest contributor and recipient in the carbon-commodities system, and the results show that carbon markets are more influenced by other commodity markets than the reverse. Furthermore, the total connectedness is stronger in the short term but can increase over the long term, especially during the onset of COVID-19. The dynamic pair-wise results show that the carbon market can impact other commodity markets, but the effects are diverse and varied. The quantile-varying dependence between the carbon market and commodities is detected, and the cross-quantile dependence gradually strengthens as the trading days increase. This paper concludes with fruitful policy implications for resource decision-makers. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Information spillovers between carbon emissions trading prices and shipping markets: A time-frequency analysis

Climate change has become mankind's main challenge. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping are not totally irresponsible for this representing, roughly, 3% of the global total;an amount equal to that of Germany's total GHG emissions. The Fourth Greenhouse Gas Study 2020 of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) predicts that the share of GHG emissions from shipping will increase further, as international trade recovers and continues to grow, alongside with the economic development of India, China, and Africa. China and the European Union have proposed to include shipping in their carbon emissions trading systems (ETS). As a result, the study of the relationship between the carbon finance market and the shipping industry, attempted here for the first time, is both important and timely, both for policymakers and shipowners. We use wavelet analysis and the spillover index methods to explore the dynamic dependence and information spillovers between the carbon finance market and shipping. We discover a long-term dependence and information linkages between the two markets, with the carbon finance market being the dominant one. Major events, such as the 2009 global financial crisis;Brexit in 2016;the 2018 China-US trade frictions;and COVID-19 are shown to strengthen the dependence of carbon finance and shipping. We find that the dependence is strongest between the EU carbon finance market and dry bulk shipping, while the link is weaker in the case of tanker shipping. Nonetheless, carbon finance and tanker shipping showed a relatively stronger dependence when OPEC refused to cut production in 2014, and when the China-US trade disputes led to the collapse of oil prices after 2018. We show that information spillovers between carbon finance and shipping are bidirectional and asymmetric, with the carbon finance market being the principal transmitter of information. Our results and their interpretation provide guidance to governments on whether (and how) to include shipping in emissions trading schemes, supporting at the same time the environmental sustainability decisions of shipping companies. © 2023 The Authors

Digital Transformation for Promoting Renewable Energy & Sustainability: A Systematic Approach for Carbon Footprint Reduction in Well Construction

As the industry recovers from the recent downturn in petroleum commodity prices and the economic impacts from coronavirus (COVID-19), governing authorities in most countries are imposing methodological measures to promote the reduction of carbon footprint. This affects every industry including the petroleum sector. Therefore, most investors and stakeholders have increased their focus on Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies. During the well construction phase, a transition from a hydraulic to an electric tong is achieved, resulting in carbon footprint reduction. Achieving carbon neutrality or carbon emission reduction while producing hydrocarbons is one of the topmost key performance indicators (KPIs) in the industry. With the implementation of digital technologies in the tubular and casing connection make-up process, a hydraulic tong is substituted with an electric tong of an equivalent specification. The energy consumption for both systems are calculated and compared. Other important KPIs on tracking operational cost are also assessed and the results are then compared to determine the benefits of implementing the upgraded digitalized tong solution. The electric tong digitalized solution, commercially available in the petroleum industry, is a key enabler for carbon emission reduction while running tubulars in/out of the wellbore. This solution is one of the milestones that serve as foundation to advocate carbon reduction. Eventually, this will lead to establishing carbon neutrality during hydrocarbon extraction and production. The results concluded that a digitalized solution eventually reduced personnel on board working in the "red zone," which eventually leads to carbon emission reductions caused by a decrease in fuel consumption. The decrease of 43% in CO2 emission is observed while performing tubular connection process. Moreover, an overall comparison between a legacy system with the digitalized electric system displayed more than 59% reduction in CO2 during the tubular running services. In addition to carbon reduction, this electric power and control solution allows for more precise torque control, leading to enhanced system integrity and increased reliability achieved by cleaner energy. With this digital solution, not only is the safety and well-being of rig personnel enhanced to avoid any recordable incidents, the reduction of carbon emission is also achieved, aligning to the objectives of current ESG regulatory authorities. This paper will provide comprehensive details on the novelty of this technology and solution offered to the industry. © 2022, Offshore Technology Conference. All rights reserved.

Air Quality Index (AQI) Did Not Improve during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Shanghai, China, in 2022, Based on Ground and TROPOMI Observations

The lockdowns from the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) have led to a reduction in anthropogenic activities and have hence reduced primary air pollutant emissions, which were reported to have helped air quality improvements. However, air quality expressed by the air quality index (AQI) did not improve in Shanghai, China, during the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2022. To better understand the reason, we investigated the variations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), PM2.5 (particular matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 μm), and PM10 (particular matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm) by using in situ and satellite measurements from 1 March to 31 June 2022 (pre-, full-, partial-, and post-lockdown periods). The results show that the benefit of the significantly decreased ground-level PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 was offset by amplified O3 pollution, therefore leading to the increased AQI. According to the backward trajectory analyses and multiple linear regression (MLR) model, the anthropogenic emissions dominated the observed changes in air pollutants during the full-lockdown period relative to previous years (2019–2021), whereas the long-range transport and local meteorological parameters (temperature, air pressure, wind speed, relative humidity, and precipitation) influenced little. We further identified the chemical mechanism that caused the increase in O3 concentration. The amplified O3 pollution during the full-lockdown period was caused by the reduction in anthropogenic nitrogen oxides (NOx) under a VOC-limited regime and high background O3 concentrations owing to seasonal variations. In addition, we found that in the downtown area, ground-level PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 more sensitively responded to the changes in lockdown measures than they did in the suburbs. These findings provide new insights into the impact of emission control restrictions on air quality and have implications for air pollution control in the future. © 2023 by the authors.

Application of Time Series Analysis Methods to Assess the impact of COVID-19 on Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction in Connecticut

The primary goals of this study are to determine if the datasets of positive COVID-19 test cases and CO2 emissions from Connecticut over the span of March 24th, 2020-October 31, 2021 are in any ways correlated. With climate change a prominent issue facing the entire world today, it is important to explore methods of providing records of past patterns of greenhouse gas emissions in order to inform decision making that could reduce future ones. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling is also implemented in this paper to provide forecasting based on CO2 emissions in CT starting from 2019. The most significant results from this paper are as follows: the CO2 emission data of transportation sectors including ground transportation, domestics aviation, and international aviation and weekly COVID-19 positive test cases data has a strong relationship during the first 28 weeks of the pandemic with a correlation of -86.34%. The CO2 emissions experienced on average a -22.96% change of pre-pandemic vs during initial quarantine conditions and at most a - 44.48% change when comparing the pre-pandemic mean to the during initial quarantine minimum value. Lastly, the ARIMA model found to have the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC) was ARIMA (4,0,4). In conclusion, in the event of a collective global pandemic and lockdown conditions, less traveling resulting in a correlated decrease of CO2 emissions. This means that perhaps concentrated efforts on reducing unnecessary travel could help mitigate the levels of carbon dioxide emissions as a more long-term solution to climate change opposed to the pandemic's short-term example. © 2022 IEEE.

Evaluation of potential capabilities of energy savings and utilization of solar energy in mosques in Hail city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Energy consumption is one of the most important variables that have an impact on the environment. One of the nations in the world with the highest per capita electrical energy usage is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Many attempts are being made in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to lower energy consumption and electricity consumption to achieve sustainability. In this work, the data on the energy consumption of two mosques in Hail City were analyzed, and the opportunities for energy conservation and the use of solar energy were studied to make mosques sustainable. Annual energy use intensity was determined to be 100 and 121 kWh/m2 for the Al-Khashil and Al-Jamil mosques, respectively. While Al-Khashil's mosque envelope is insulated, energy efficiency measures implemented to the walls of Al-Jamil's mosque resulted in reductions in energy consumption of 27%, 13%, and 6%, respectively. The most effective energy efficiency option is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system with a high energy efficiency ratio, which can reduce cooling demand by more than 30%. If the condition of Saudi Building Code 601 is met, then it has the potential to cut energy usage by 35.4% and 63.3% for Al-Khashil and Al-Jamil, respectively. Due to coronavirus disease 2019, Al-Khashil's electricity usage was reduced by 58,737 kWh, or 39.9%, in 2020 compared to 2019. When using data from RETScreen and ATLAS, there were inconsistencies of up to 28%, but for DesignBuilder, the findings were the closest to the billing data. The mosques Al-Khashil and Al-Jamil have a combined yearly photovoltaic energy output from the suggested systems of around 135.93 MWh and 33.98 MWh, respectively. For the mosques, Al-Khashil and Al-Jamil, the yearly yield factor and capacity factor were both 1887.9 kWh/kWp/year and 21.9%, respectively. The annual greenhouse gas emission reductions from photovoltaic systems for Al-Khashil and Al-Jamil were 102.9 tCO2 and 25.72 tCO2, respectively. Concerning economics, the following results were obtained: The levelized cost of energy of photovoltaic systems is 0.0901 SR/kWh (0.024 $/kWh);the net present value and internal rate of return for photovoltaic systems are not suitable as a result of the current prices and the system applied in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If the electricity produced from photovoltaic systems is injected into the grid at a rate of 0.32 SR/kWh, which is comparable to the SEC tariff for the mosque or government sector, then the simple payback time is 5.14 years. © The Author(s) 2023.

Drivers of High Concentrations of Secondary Organic Aerosols in Northern China during the COVID-19 Lockdowns.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, observations in Beijing indicate that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations increased despite substantial emission reduction, but the reasons are not fully explained. Here, we integrate the two-dimensional volatility basis set into a state-of-the-art chemical transport model, which unprecedentedly reproduces organic aerosol (OA) components resolved by the positive matrix factorization based on aerosol mass spectrometer observations. The model shows that, for Beijing, the emission reduction during the lockdown lowered primary organic aerosol (POA)/SOA concentrations by 50%/18%, while deteriorated meteorological conditions increased them by 30%/119%, resulting in a net decrease in the POA concentration and a net increase in the SOA concentration. Emission reduction and meteorological changes both led to an increased OH concentration, which accounts for their distinct effects on POA and SOA. SOA from anthropogenic volatile organic compounds and organics with lower volatility contributed 28 and 62%, respectively, to the net SOA increase. Different from Beijing, the SOA concentration decreased in southern Hebei during the lockdown because of more favorable meteorology. Our findings confirm the effectiveness of organic emission reductions and meanwhile reveal the challenge in controlling SOA pollution that calls for large organic precursor emission reductions to rival the adverse impact of OH increase.

Volatility spillover across Chinese carbon markets: Evidence from quantile connectedness method

The paper investigates the volatility spillover across China's carbon emission trading (CET) markets using the connectedness method based on the quantile VAR framework. The non-linear result shows strong volatility spillover effects in upper quantiles, resulting from major economic and political events. This is in accordance with the risk contagion hypothesis that volatility of carbon price returns is affected by the shocks of economic fundamentals and spills over to other pilots. Guangdong and Shanghai are the most significant contributors to volatility transmission because of their high liquidity and active markets. Hubei CET pilot has shifted from transmitter to receiver since the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding the pairwise directional connectedness, geographical location and similar market attribute also matter in volatility transmission. This provides implications for policymakers and investors to attach importance to risk management given the quantile-based method rather than the average shocks. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

SOURCE APPORTIONMENT ANALYSIS IN PM AND O3 CONCENTRATIONS DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN PERIOD IN MADRID (SPAIN)

In a first analysis of the impacts of the reduction of anthropogenic emissions during COVID-19 lockdown over Madrid (Spain) area, we found an important NOx level reduction but the O3 and PM concentrations were increased. In this work the causes of the increments are studied using Source Apportionment Technology (SAT) included in the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) model. CAMx is driven by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). Two simulations are run: one simulation considers the emission reductions during the lockdown (COVID simulation) and a second simulation,” business as usual” (BAU simulation) with an emissions scenario without restrictions. Source apportionment techniques are used to identify and quantify the contributions from main pollution sources with the purpose to provide understanding on what measures should be taken to address them and this work shows the potential of these technique. SAT was used to estimate the contributions of multiple sources, and pollutant types (NOx and VOC) to ozone and particle formation in a single model run. Differences in SAT results under baseline (BAU) and COVID scenarios are used to quantify the contributions of O3 and PM2.5 reductions associated with emissions reduction in individual sectors due to the lowered human activities with a high spatial resolution (1 km). Road transport is the main emission source reduced by the lockdown and reduction in NOx emissions (59%) is higher that VOC reduction (14%). This study helps to elucidate the complex and nonlinear response of O3 and PM concentrations after a reduction of emissions mainly from the transport sector, during the COVID-19 lockdown period, that must be taken into account in the control strategies to mitigate haze pollution. The results show that despite extreme reductions in primary emissions, current air pollution cannot be fully tackled. Further consideration needs to be given to the reorganisation of energy and industrial strategy together with trans-regional joint monitoring for a comprehensive long-term air pollution plan. Source apportionment studies can support of authorities responsible to develop air quality plans. © British Crown Copyright (2022)

Ventilation requirements and energy aspects: the case of hospitals

Energy building design today aims to ensure thermal comfort and indoor air quality;this concern has been increased, given the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The proposed work investigates the effect of increased natural ventilation on energy requirements, ensuring low CO2 levels and acceptable Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in general. The case of hospitals was chosen because of the stringent IAQ requirements they raise as a result of the burdened (physical, chemical, biological) indoor environment, as well as the vulnerable health of the patients. The current energy analysis was carried out in patient wards, waiting rooms, and operating rooms. The proposed correlation between IAQ and energy is infrequent in the relevant literature, especially for the case of hospitals. Different scenarios regarding the ventilation mode are examined, including pure natural ventilation, natural ventilation combined with air cleaners, as well as mechanical ventilation. According to the results, improvement of the air quality leads to higher energy demand;this is the case of mechanical ventilation, noting that not properly designed natural ventilation techniques may lead to high energy consumption, without ensuring acceptable IAQ. Air cleaners can contribute towards better environment, potentially decreasing ventilation requirements;the issue of fresh air adequacy has to be examined though. The demonstrated methodological analysis and results can help the designer to investigate the efficiency of different ventilation modes, involving the effect of thermal envelope, geometrical and operation parameters, towards the energy requirements minimization and IAQ quality maximization.

Reductions in California's Urban Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (ffCO2) constitute the majority of greenhouse gas emissions and are the main determinant of global climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic caused wide-scale disruption to human activity and provided an opportunity to evaluate our capability to detect ffCO2 emission reductions. Quantifying changes in ffCO2 levels is especially challenging in cities, where climate mitigation policies are being implemented but local emissions lead to spatially and temporally complex atmospheric mixing ratios. Here, we assess ffCO2 emission patterns associated with pandemic-induced changes to human activity using direct observations of on-road CO2 mole fractions in the Los Angeles (LA) urban area and analyses of the radiocarbon (14C) content of annual grasses collected by community scientists throughout California, USA. With COVID-19 mobility restrictions in place in 2020, we observed a significant reduction in ffCO2 levels across California, especially in urban centers. In LA, on-road CO2 enhancements were 60 ± 16% lower than the corresponding period of 2019 and rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by 2021. Plant 14C analysis indicated ffCO2 reductions of 5 ± 10 ppm in 2020 relative to pre-pandemic observations in LA. However, ffCO2 emission trajectories varied substantially by region and sector as COVID-related restrictions were relaxed. Further development of these techniques could aid efforts to monitor decarbonization in cities, especially in developing countries without established CO2 monitoring infrastructure. © 2022. The Authors.

A Digital Transformation Journey for a Mature using Production Technologies and Innovation Principles

A novel solution was proposed in Ecuador to transition from reactive to a proactive way of working into a collaborative environment. This new workflow is supported by a portfolio of three production technologies that integrates live and historical information by combining the edge intelligence strength (for each production element connected to IoT platform) and the cloud insight to enhance the field operational efficiency. Technology that reduces carbon footprint and increases people's efficiency through automation of repetitive tasks. The main challenge that required an integrated and smart solution was the existence of silos, meaning that all production chain elements were disconnected. The solution consisted of a portfolio of three technologies. First, connecting all production chain elements to one unique gateway and Edge platform: all data were consolidated to perform asset surveillance, monitoring, and controlling of electrical submersible pump (ESP) parameters from any vendor. Second, creation of an autonomous system aiming to avoid gas blockage on ESPs. Third, deployment of Production Engineering Orchestrator, fully completed and in continuous improvement, easing collaborative, day-to-day analysis for production, operations, and exploitation engineers We achieved remarkable results with Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud insights implementation;for instance, travel reduction of 18%, personnel efficiency increase (production operations 7% and surveillance engineers 25%), 47% events detection increase, 32% well uptime increase, and 2.14 t carbon dioxide emissions reduction (22.6%). Because of the outstanding results achieved from IoT adoption, new applications were deployed in other projects. With automated annular gas handling, production challenges related to high gas/oil ratio wells were solved. Solution consisted in delivering an automated ESP gas-handling process by using a securely connected, solar-powered skid to optimize well performance, production was increased by 12%, field visits reduced by 94%, and valves manipulation decreased by 97%. Other applications are also running in parallel, to expand the concept of intelligent asset solution. For the production engineering workflows orchestrator, the native implementation is completed, where the highest business impact workflows are included, such as smart production surveillance, waterflooding optimization and ESP surveillance. Insights are shown in "production overview". It is also possible to follow up oil and water producing wells, task modules, customized maps and graphs, sanity check processes, and well model calibration (including the paraffin curves). The integration of these three digital production technologies to improve artificial lift surveillance, production surveillance, and waterflooding optimization workflows is already deployed and showing tangible benefits. Currently, a mature field project is currently working in a collaborative environment, promoting a new proactive operational philosophy that avoids early pump failures, reduces downtime, field trips, personnel exposure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supports the environmental commitment towards the carbon footprint reduction. Copyright © 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Energy Optimal Trajectory Algorithm for a Robotic Manipulator

In the context of the decrease in the number of industrial workers and the increase in labor costs, industrial robots have developed rapidly due to their many advantages. Especially after the COVID-19 epidemics, enterprises have accelerated the upgrade of robots intellectually. The quantity of china's industrial robots grew by 20% in 2020. The 2021 year's growth will reach 21%. At the same time, in the face of the global energy crisis, power rationing, energy conservation & emission reduction, the energy savings of robots are also inevitable. Under the same starting point and ending point, the energy consumption of different motion trajectory planning is very different. Based on the current mainstream industrial robot trajectory planning methods, this paper gives the trajectory algorithm formulas and optimizes them, and then combines the Lagrangian-Euler dynamics formula to derive the energy consumption formula. By simulating mainstream 6DOF manipulator robots, set the same starting point and ending point in the MatLab environment, testing different trajectories of various methods, planning and computing time-consuming, and energy consumption of the entire trajectory. The experimental results demonstrate that the energy consumption of the shortest path method is 1.4 times that of the quartic polynomial method, and the planning time is more than 800 times that of the quartic polynomial method. The energy consumption of the cubic Bezier curve method is 8.08 times that of the quartic polynomial method, and the planning time is 781 times that of the quartic polynomial method. The energy consumption of the seventh-degree polynomial method is 1.6 times that of the fourth-degree polynomial method, and the planning time is 1.28 times that of the quartic polynomial method. The time and energy consumption of the quartic polynomial and quantic polynomial methods are almost the same. Relatively speaking, the quartic polynomial interpolation method is better than the quintic polynomial. © 2022 IEEE.

Dynamic risk management in European energy portfolios: Evolution of the role of clean and carbon markets

This paper examines the potential of clean energy stocks and emission permits to reduce downside risk when combining them in a portfolio with dirty energy assets. We propose a strategy for building portfolios that are well diversified between equity energy and carbon markets that takes into account their dynamic price relationship. The asset allocation proposed is framed in a volatility-timing context, which reacts to changing market conditions, holding different weights at different times. To achieve this objective, we use multivariate GARCH models, specifically the Asymmetric Dynamic Conditional Correlations family, which allow us to obtain good estimations of the conditional covariance matrices of the daily asset returns. To determine the weights of the optimum minimum-risk portfolio, we use a method based on Engle and Colacito (2006) to compare the portfolio volatilities obtained with different models. The analysed period runs from January 19, 2010, to April 4, 2022, which, on the one hand, includes more than twelve years of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) beyond the Phase I pilot;and, on the other, considers the latest crisis episodes (Sovereign debt crisis, Brexit COVID-19, and the recent Russo–Ukrainian war). Our findings show that investing in clean energy companies is now valuable not only because of its contribution to a sustainable energy transition to renewable sources, but also due to its attractiveness from a financial point of view. This fact provides a ray of hope in terms of the climate emergency and avoiding the current geopolitical conflicts principally caused by certain countries’ energy dependence because their energy mix is still heavily overpowered by fossil fuels. The results of this research should encourage investors to decarbonise their equity portfolios, thus promoting the needed alignment of the financial system with the requirements of the energy transition. © 2022 The Authors