A key challenge for the waste management sector is to maximise resource efficiency whilst simultaneously reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For stakeholders to better understand the GHG impacts of their waste management activities and identify emissions reduction opportunities, they need to be able to quantify the GHG impacts of material recycling. Whilst previous studies have been un...

In this scenario the EU27 undertakes a GHG mitigation policy based on the unilateral EU27 20/20 climate action. In particular, the EU has committed itself to reducing its GHG emissions by 20% (compared to 1990 levels) and to increasing the share of RES in final energy demand to 20% by 2020. The GHG target is split to a 21% reduction in the ETS sectors and a virtual 10% reduction in the non-ETS ...

Climate change mitigation and security of energy supply are important targets of Austrian energy policy. Bioenergy production based on resources from agriculture and forestry is an important option to attain these targets. In order to increase the share of bioenergy, supporting policy instruments are necessary. The cost-effectiveness of these instruments in attaining policy targets depends on t...

Forest soils are a source/sink of greenhouse gases, and have significant impacts on the budget of these terrestrial greenhouse gases. Here, we show climate-driven changes in soil GHG fluxes (CO₂ emission, CH₄ uptake, and N₂O emission) in Japanese forests from 1980 to 2009, which were estimated using a regional soil GHG model that is data-oriented. Our study reveals that the soil GHG fluxes in J...

The Air Resources Board (ARB) has the primary responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in California under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). The overall mandate is to achieve 1990 GHG emission levels by 2020. In our efforts to reduce GHG emissions mandated by AB 32, ARB staff is currently working on multiple sector-specific GHG activities. The glass manufacturi...

Three alternative condensing mode power and combined heat and power (CHP) waste-to-energy concepts were compared in terms of their impacts on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a heat and power generation system. The concepts included (i) grate, (ii) bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) and (iii) circulating fluidised bed (CFB) combustion of waste. The BFB and CFB take advantage of advanced combus...

The purpose of this study is to assess the energy savings and emission reductions of the present rural biogas system in China. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used to analyze a "pig-biogas-fish" system in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China. The nonrenewable energy cost and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the system, including the pigsty, the biogas digester, and the fishpond, are t...

Heat demand is a large contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU), as heat is largely produced using fossil fuel resources. Extended use of district heating (DH) could reduce climate impact, as DH systems can distribute heat produced in efficient combined heat and power (CHP) plants and industrial excess heat, thus utilising heat that would otherwise be wasted. The...