Synergic Benefits of Air Pollutant Reduction, CO2 Emission Abatement, and Water Saving under the Goal of Achieving Carbon Emission Peak: The Case of Tangshan City, China.

The study aims to explore the synergic benefits of reducing air pollutants and CO2 and water consumption under the carbon emission peak (CEP) policies at a city level. Air pollutants and CO2 emissions are predicted by the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) model, and the water consumption is forecast by the quota method. Two scenarios are constructed with the same policies, but to different degrees: the reference scenario achieves CEP in 2030, and the green and low carbon scenario achieves CEP in 2025. The prediction results show that air pollutant emissions, CO2 emissions, and water consumption can be obviously decreased by intensifying the CEP policies. The synergic abatement effect was illustrated by the synergic reduction curve. Accelerating the adjustment of economic structure saves the most water, reduces the greatest amount of CO2 emission, and also obtains the best synergic reduction capability between water consumption and CO2 emission. Transforming the traditionally long process of steelmaking toward a short electric process reduces the majority of PM2.5, SO2, and VOC emissions, while consuming more water. The study provides a new viewpoint to assess and optimize the CEP action plan at city levels.

Simultaneous manipulation of transcriptional regulator CxrC and translational elongation factor eEF1A enhances the production of plant-biomass-degrading enzymes of Penicillium oxalicum.

Genetic engineering is an efficient approach to improve fungal bioproducts, but the specific targets are limited. In this study, it was found that the key transcription repressor CxrC of Penicillium oxalicum could physically interact with the translational elongation factor eEF1A that positively regulated the production of plant-biomass-degrading enzymes by the fungus under Avicel induction. Simultaneously deletion of the cxrC and overexpression of the eEF1A in the strain Δku70 resulted in 55.4%-314.6% higher production of cellulase, xylanase and raw-starch-degrading enzymes than that of the start strain Δku70. Transcript abundance of the genes encoding predominant cellulases, xylanases and raw-starch-degrading enzymes were significantly upregulated in the mutant ΔcxrC::eEF1A. The ΔcxrC::eEF1A enhanced saccharification efficiency of raw cassava flour by 9.3%-15.5% at early-middle stage of hydrolysis in comparison with Δku70. The obtained knowledges expanded the sources used as effective targets for increased production of plant-biomass-degrading enzymes by fungi.

The effects of Intensive Supervision Mechanism on air quality improvement in China.

The Intensive Supervision Mechanism (hereafter referred to as ISM) is one of the most important institutional management innovations for air pollution control in China, but there is currently no consensus on the effects of the ISM on air quality improvement. In this study, a reliable quantitative model based on the Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis was designed to evaluate the impacts of ISM on air quality (as indicated by good air quality days (hereafter referred to as GAD) and the concentrations of six major air pollutants (i.e. PM2.5, PM10, O3_8H, NO2, SO2, and CO)), in China with focuses on the implementation cities of Henan Province. To optimize the model design, six meteorological factors, five socio-economic indicators, and VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) data were also considered as alternative control variables for more comprehensive and effective results. In addition, the redundancy analysis (RDA) and Monte Carlo simulation were conducted to determine the optimal combination of those control variables which can best reflect the changes in explanatory variables. The main findings are as follows: (1) the statistical model applied in this study can well evaluate the impacts of ISM; (2) the implementation of ISM can significantly reduce the concentrations of SO2, CO, and NO2, but the improvements for PM2.5, PM10, GAD and O3_8H were not significant. (3) the potential for air quality improvement due to ISM tends to be reduced over time, and thus the positive effects of ISM at its second stage were not increased significantly compared with those observed during its first stage. In general, those results not only demonstrate the effectiveness of ISM on air quality improvement, but also provide insights into how the ISM can be optimized to gain a sustained improvement of the ambient air quality in the future.Implications: As a policy measure implemented by the Chinese government, the Intensive Supervision Mechanism (ISM) has significantly contributed to the improvement of air quality since its execution. However, the potential for air quality improvement due to ISM tends to be reduced over time, and thus the positive effects of ISM at its second stage were not increased significantly compared with those observed during its first stage. In addition, the implementation of ISM requires a large amount of financial investment, and thus has limited sustainability. Considering the increased difficulty of this policy instrument, whether to insist on the ISM warrants further analyses on its cost and effectiveness. More importantly, more targeted measures of ISM should be applied to decrease the ozone concentration in the future.

Evaluation of environmental health benefits of China's building energy conservation policies: an integrated assessment on national and provincial levels.

This article evaluates the effect of energy conservation policies and carbon mitigation efforts on reducing health damage in China's building sector, which has been long ignored. The study bases on both national and provincial levels. To evaluate the health damage effect, we use domestic data by region to ensure the reliability of the evaluation. Results show that in the co-control scenario, the GDP loss saved from health benefit in 2020, 2030, and 2050 is 0.13 %, 0.16 %, and 0.23 %, respectively, compared to reference scenario. At a provincial level, extra health benefit of 16, 16, 33, 25, and 23 RMB/person can be observed for Beijing, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Henan, and Qinghai owing to energy conservation, even with the strictest end-of-pipe control measures. The results confirm the significant effect of energy conservation efforts on reducing the health damage in China's building sector at both national and provincial levels.