School of Business, Hohai University, West Focheng Road 8, Nanjing 211100, China; Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
School of Business, Hohai University, West Focheng Road 8, Nanjing 211100, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 1;719:137367. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137367. Epub 2020 Feb 18.
Thermal power generation is the main electricity source of China, but also contributes the largest share of air pollutants in the country. Because of China's considerable efforts in pollution control, one measure of the most important source of air pollution net SO emission intensity (NSEI) of thermal power generation has dropped significantly since 2006. Understanding the reasons behind the decline could help further explore the solution-space for deeper mitigation targets. This study combines multiplicative LMDI with attribution analysis to decompose the decline in national NSEI into four factors (i.e. SO treatment or end-of-pipe approaches; SO emission factor of coal and coal intensity, which both account for cleaner production measures; and geographical structure effects) for 30 regions. Our results show that end-of-pipe technologies remained the primary way to control air pollution in China. In addition, cleaner production efforts contributed to SO mitigation. Attribution results at the province level show that northern provinces increased their efforts in SO treatment and reducing coal intensity, while southern provinces have done more on reducing the SO intensity of coal. Provinces were classified into four categories (i.e. leading regions, end-of-pipe dependent regions, process-dependent regions and lagging regions) according to their performance in terms of end-of-pipe treatment and cleaner production, to help them choose targeted policy methods.
火力发电是中国的主要电力来源，但也是该国空气污染物的最大贡献者。由于中国在污染控制方面的巨大努力，自 2006 年以来，火力发电最重要的空气污染净排放强度（NSEI）的主要来源之一的衡量标准已经显著下降。了解下降的原因可能有助于进一步探索更深入减排目标的解决方案空间。本研究结合乘法型 LMDI 和归因分析，将全国 NSEI 的下降分解为四个因素（即 SO 处理或末端治理措施；煤炭的 SO 排放因子和煤炭强度，这两者都反映了清洁生产措施；以及地理结构效应），涵盖了 30 个地区。研究结果表明，末端治理技术仍然是中国控制空气污染的主要手段。此外，清洁生产措施也有助于减少 SO 的排放。省级层面的归因结果表明，北方省份加大了 SO 处理和降低煤炭强度的力度，而南方省份则在降低煤炭 SO 强度方面做得更多。根据末端治理和清洁生产方面的表现，将各省分为四类（即领先地区、末端治理依赖地区、工艺依赖地区和落后地区），以帮助它们选择有针对性的政策方法。
