Nearly 40% of the world’s population use open fires or simple stoves that burn wood or coal for heating. The inefficient combustion of these solid fuels deteriorates air quality, causes severe health problems, and generates significant carbon dioxide emissions. The impacts are aggravated in peri-urban and rural communities that lack access to clean district heating options. There is a need to identify and deploy appropriate decentralized clean heating solutions to replace coal-based heating. This publication presents an overview of clean heating technologies and the results of a pilot in northern People’s Republic of China. The country’s clean heating policy framework and the lessons learned from the online clean heating monitoring platform can guide the development of similar tools. The report provides recommendations in developing clean heating programs to stimulate market transformation toward more efficient and low-carbon heating.

Textbook on the science and methods behind a global transition to 100% clean, renewable energy for science, engineering, and social science students.

This publication provides an overview of clean heating technologies and shares lessons from a pilot project in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The pilot aimed to identify replicable decentralized clean heating options for various household types to replace domestic coal burning. It included use of air-to-air heat pumps, air-to-water heat pumps, graphene boards, and biomass pellet boilers with an online clean heating monitoring platform to track performance. The PRC's clean heating policy framework and lessons from the monitoring platform can help guide the development of similar tools. The report provides recommendations for developing clean heating programs to stimulate market transformation toward more efficient and low-carbon heating.

In October 2003, a group of experts met in Beijing under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Engineering (NAE)/National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies to continue a dialogue and eventually chart a rational course of energy use in China. This collection of papers is intended to introduce the reader to the complicated problems of urban air pollution and energy choices in China.

The main objective of these updated global guidelines is to offer health-based air quality guideline levels, expressed as long-term or short-term concentrations for six key air pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. In addition, the guidelines provide interim targets to guide reduction efforts of these pollutants, as well as good practice statements for the management of certain types of PM (i.e., black carbon/elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, particles originating from sand and duststorms). These guidelines are not legally binding standards; however, they provide WHO Member States with an evidence-informed tool, which they can use to inform legislation and policy. Ultimately, the goal of these guidelines is to help reduce levels of air pollutants in order to decrease the enormous health burden resulting from the exposure to air pollution worldwide.

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.