scholarly journals Can the Target Responsibility System of Air Pollution Control Achieve a Win-Win Situation of Pollution Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement?

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Wang ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Jingxuan Xu

Whether the environmental target responsibility system, a typical mandatory environmental regulation, can realize the coordinated development of environmental protection and economic growth has attracted widespread attention. With the difference-in-differences (DID) method, this paper utilizes a policy, “China’s Key Cities for Air Pollution Control to Meet the Standards within the Time Limit (APCMS),” as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically examine the target responsibility system of air pollution control’s effect on both firms’ pollutant emissions and their total factor productivity (TFP). The corresponding mechanisms are also investigated. The results show: 1) The policy not only significantly decreases firms’ pollutant emissions, but also improves their TFP. The results are robust to the exclusion of the impact of other policies in the same period, propensity score matching DID (PSM-DID) test, the adoption of alternative dependent variables, and altering sample interval; 2) The dynamic analysis shows that the policy effect on reducing pollutant emissions has increased over years after a lag of 2 years; 3) The policy reduces pollutant emissions mainly through stimulating the internal innovation rather than end-pipe treatment or production cuts. 4) Capital-intensive and private firms and firms in regions with a high degree of marketization or strong environmental law enforcement are found more responsive to the environmental target responsibility system.

1988 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 447-464
Author(s):  
Jan Vernon

Over the last decade, environmental concerns have played an increasing role in energy decision making, from siting of new energy facilities to national policy changes, such as Sweden's decision to phase out nuclear power. Concern about atmospheric pollution from fossil fuel combustion, reflected in increasingly strict emission limits, has imposed additional costs and technical demands on coal-fired plants. Estimates from the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA and the OECD indicate that air pollution control can account for a third of the capital costs for a new coal-fired power plant. This article outlines the current status of regulations on air pollutant emissions from coal-fired plants, describes action being taken to meet regulations and its potential impacts on coal utilisation. The article focuses on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which have seen major recent developments in regulations and control methods.


1971 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-383
Author(s):  
Herbert F. Lund

It is time we settled down to a sensible, practical approach to solving the industrial air pollution problem. That is the goal of this paper: to take the sensationalism out and replace it with a sensible evaluation of the situation. The major points covered are 1 a brief review of historical facts, 2 an analysis of present conditions around the world, 3 what is industry’s responsibility, 4 a comparison of legislative procedures and their enforcement effectiveness, 5 the impact of air pollution control costs on worldwide markets, 6 suggestions for solutions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 380-384 ◽  
pp. 1770-1773
Author(s):  
Gao Feng Wei ◽  
Zhan Shu ◽  
Gang Tang

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of human gait on air distribution in contagious isolation tent wards. The proposed contagious isolate tent wards were designed as the operating room for serious paroxysmal infectious patients. The three dimensions model of contagious isolation tent ward was reconstructed. Then, the computed fluid dynamical (CFD) methods were used to simulate and analyze the air distribution of contagious isolation tent ward. The dynamical meshes technology was employed to simulate the human gait. An experiment was implemented to measure air velocity of the proposed isolate tent ward. The results showed that the human gait motion affects air pressure, air velocity and contaminant distribution, while the impact on air temperature could be ignored. It was concluded that the impact of human gait or movements should be taken into account in air pollution control of contagious isolation tent wards.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13049
Author(s):  
Songyan Ren ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Hancheng Dai ◽  
Daiqing Zhao ◽  
Toshihiko Masui

PM2.5 pollution-related diseases lead to additional medical expenses and the loss of working hours, thus affecting the macro-economy. To evaluate the health-related economic impacts of PM2.5, the Integrated Assessment Model of Climate, Economic, and Environment (ICEEH), combined with the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model, and a health impact assessment module was constructed. The impact of different air pollution control strategies was analyzed in Guangdong Province by establishing a Without Control (WOC) scenario, an Air Control (AIC) scenario, and a Blue Sky (BLK) scenario. The results show that in the WOC scenario for 2035, the death rate for Guangdong Province is 71,690 persons/year and the loss of working hours is 0.67 h/person/year. In the AIC and BLK scenarios compared with WOC for 2035, the loss of working hours is reduced by 29.8% and 34.3%, and premature deaths are reduced by 33.0% and 37.5%, respectively; GDP would increase by 0.05% and 0.11%, respectively, through strict pollution control policies. Furthermore, improved labor force quality induced by better air conditions would promote the added value in labor-intensive industries, such as agriculture (0.233%), other manufacturing (0.172%), textiles (0.181%), food (0.176%), railways transport (0.137%), and services (0.129%). The added value in the waste (−0.073%), nature gas (−0.076%), and crude oil sectors (−0.072%) would decrease because of the increased investment installment in PM2.5 treatment equipment.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haotian Zheng ◽  
Siyi Cai ◽  
Shuxiao Wang ◽  
Bin Zhao ◽  
Xing Chang ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region is a metropolitan area with the most severe fine particle (PM2.5) pollution in China. Accurate emission inventory plays an important role in air pollution control policy making. In this study, we develop a unit-based emission inventory for industrial sectors in the BTH region, including power plants, industrial boilers, and steel, non-ferrous metal, coking, cement, glass, brick, lime, ceramics, refinery, and chemical industries, based on detailed information for each enterprise, such as location, annual production, production technology/process and air pollution control facilities. In the BTH region, the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter with diameter less than 10 μm (PM10), PM2.5, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) from industrial sectors are 869 kt, 1164 kt, 910 kt, 622 kt, 71 kt, 63 kt and 1390 kt in 2014, respectively, accounting for 61 %, 55 %, 62 %, 56 %, 58 %, 22 % and 36 %, respectively, of the total emissions. Compared with the traditional proxy-based emission inventory, much less emissions in the high-resolution unit-based inventory are allocated to the urban center because of the accurate positioning of industrial enterprises. We apply the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model simulation to evaluate the unit-based inventory. The simulation results show that the unit-based emission inventory gives better performance of both PM2.5 and gaseous pollutants than the proxy-based emission inventory. The normalized mean biases (NMBs) are 81 %, 21 %, 1 % and −7 % for concentrations of SO2, NO2, ozone and PM2.5, respectively, with the unit-based inventory, in contrast to 124 %, 39 %, −8 % and 9 % with the proxy-based inventory. Furthermore, the concentration gradients of PM2.5, which are defined as the ratio of urban concentration to suburban concentration, are 1.6, 2.1 and 1.5 in January and 1.3, 1.5 and 1.3 in July, for simulations with the unit-based inventory, simulations with the proxy-based inventory, and observations, respectively, in Beijing. For ozone, the corresponding gradients are 0.7, 0.5 and 0.9 in January and 0.9, 0.8 and 1.1 in July, implying that the unit-based emission inventory better reproduces the distributions of pollutant emissions between the urban and suburban areas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude O. Ezeanokwasa

Industrialization holds the prospects of a better economy for Nigeria. It provides employment and goods to the teaming population of the country and so combats poverty. These prospects are greatly threatened if air pollution associated with industrialization is not checked. Air pollution is the emission into the atmosphere of particulate matter and gases which have deleterious effects on human health, the ecosystem and the environment on which humankind depends. Air pollution causes among other things nasal, eye and airway irritation, and even lung and heart problems. Studies show that air pollution is currently responsible for more deaths in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water. A way out of the air pollution occasioned by industrialisation is to pursue industrialisation along the paths of air quality and pollution control regulations; or else industrialisation would be counterproductive. Thus, this paper appraises the legal regime for the control of air pollution in Nigeria. This covers the international legal instruments ratified by Nigeria as well as the municipal legislations and regulations on the subject. The finding is that though Nigeria has legislations and regulations on air pollution control, they are out of date and not in tune with developments in international environmental law. It recommends a review of these legislations and regulations. The methodology of the paper is doctrinal.


Author(s):  
Yanchao Feng ◽  
Xiaohong Wang ◽  
Wenchao Du ◽  
Jun Liu

With the rapid development of urbanization, industrialization, and motorization, a large number of Chinese cities have been affected by heavy air pollution. In order to promote the development quality of Chinese cities, mixed regulations to control air pollution have been implemented under the lead of government. The principal component analysis and efficacy coefficient method are used to estimate urban development quality, according to the panel data of 285 prefecture-level cities in China over the period 2003–2016. On this basis, the paper uses the spatial Durbin model to study the direct impact and the spatial spillover effect of air pollution control on urban development quality in China. Results show that the control of smoke and dust has improved urban development quality in China, however, the control of sulfur dioxide has led to the decline of urban development quality in China. Furthermore, the impact of air pollution control on urban development quality in the eastern region is of great significance in statistical tests, while the situation in the central and western regions has not passed the test, implying the spatial heterogeneity among different regions. The different effects of air pollution control on urban development quality in different regions also illustrate the consciousness and supervision of local governments’ environment protection. Finally, the effects decomposition of the influencing factors based on spatial Durbin model (SDM) also supports the robust findings. Promoting the upgrading of energy consumption structure, raising awareness of environmental protection and supervision, and strengthening cooperation of different regions are suggested. Further recommendations are provided to improve the conceptual design and increase the credibility of our research. Our study not only provides new evidence on the impact of air pollution control on urban development quality in China, but also proposes a new perspective to promote urban development quality in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 3447-3462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haotian Zheng ◽  
Siyi Cai ◽  
Shuxiao Wang ◽  
Bin Zhao ◽  
Xing Chang ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region is a metropolitan area with the most severe fine particle (PM2.5) pollution in China. An accurate emission inventory plays an important role in air pollution control policy making. In this study, we develop a unit-based emission inventory for industrial sectors in the BTH region, including power plants, industrial boilers, steel, non-ferrous metal smelting, coking plants, cement, glass, brick, lime, ceramics, refineries, and chemical industries, based on detailed information for each enterprise, such as location, annual production, production technology/processes, and air pollution control facilities. In the BTH region, the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter with diameter less than 10 µm (PM10), PM2.5, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) from industrial sectors were 869, 1164, 910, 622, 71, 63, and 1390 kt in 2014, respectively, accounting for a respective 61 %, 55 %, 62 %, 56 %, 58 %, 22 %, and 36 % of the total emissions. Compared with the traditional proxy-based emission inventory, much less emissions in the high-resolution unit-based inventory are allocated to the urban centers due to the accurate positioning of industrial enterprises. We apply the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ; version 5.0.2) model simulation to evaluate the unit-based inventory. The simulation results show that the unit-based emission inventory shows better performance with respect to both PM2.5 and gaseous pollutants than the proxy-based emission inventory. The normalized mean biases (NMBs) are 81 %, 21 %, 1 %, and −7 % for the concentrations of SO2, NO2, ozone (O3), and PM2.5, respectively, with the unit-based inventory, in contrast to 124 %, 39 %, −8 %, and 9 % with the proxy-based inventory; furthermore, the concentration gradients of PM2.5, which are defined as the ratio of the urban concentration to the suburban concentration, are 1.6, 2.1, and 1.5 in January and 1.3, 1.5, and 1.3 in July, for simulations with the unit-based inventory, simulations with the proxy-based inventory, and observations, respectively, in Beijing. For O3, the corresponding gradients are 0.7, 0.5, and 0.9 in January and 0.9, 0.8, and 1.1 in July, implying that the unit-based emission inventory better reproduces the distributions of pollutant emissions between the urban and suburban areas.


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