The economic consequences of local gas leaks with evidence from Massachusetts housing market.

This study provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of leaks in natural gas distribution pipelines on nearby home prices. Using high-resolution property transaction data in Massachusetts and a difference-in-differences approach, we find that gas leaks significantly reduce nearby home prices by 2.61% ($11,700) on average.

Assessing inequities in electrification via heat pumps across the US.

Heat pumps are an energy-efficient and increasingly cost-effective solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector. However, other clean energy technologies, such as rooftop solar, are less likely to be adopted in underserved communities, and thus policies incentivizing their adoption may funnel support to well-resourced communities. Unlike previously studied technologies, the effects of heat pumps on household energy bills may be positive or negative depending on local climate, energy costs, building features, and other factors.

Power supply disruptions deter electric vehicle adoption in cities in China.

Electrification plays a crucial role in deep decarbonization. However, electrification and power infrastructure can cause mutual challenges. We use nationwide power outage and electric vehicle adoption data in China to provide empirical evidence on how power infrastructure failures can deter electrification.

Incentive based emergency demand response effectively reduces peak load during heatwave without harm to vulnerable groups.

The incentive-based emergency demand response measure serves as an important regulatory tool during energy system operations. However, whether people will sacrifice comfort to respond to it during heatwave and what the effect on heat vulnerable populations will be are still unclear. A large-scale emergency demand response pilot involving 205,129 households was conducted in southwestern China during continuous extreme high temperatures in summer.

Pandemics erode poverty alleviation process: Impact on productive livelihood and poverty return.

Pandemics such as COVID-19 threaten income growth by disrupting productive activities for households, especially those who have just escaped from poverty. We provide empirical evidence on how pandemic disproportionately threatens the rural productive livelihood based on 48 months of household production electricity consumption data. The results show that after COVID-19, the productive livelihood activities of 51.

Field experimental evidence of how social relations shape behavior that promotes energy conservation.

Energy demand-side management is essential for deep decarbonization. However, while we target people as discrete and isolated individuals, we ignore the fact that energy consumption occurs in intricate webs of pre-existing social relations. This study examines an emergency demand response (EDR) program in China involving more than 180,000 households based on relations with family members, communities, and identity.

The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap.

Energy efficiency improvement is often hindered by the energy efficiency gap. This paper examines the effect of short-run temperature fluctuations on the Energy Star air conditioner purchases in the United States from 2006 to 2019 using transaction-level data. Results show that the probability of purchasing an Energy Star air conditioner increases as the weekly temperature before the transaction deviates from 20-22 °C.

The discrepancies in the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on electricity consumption in China: Is the short-term pain worth it?

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe economic contraction and paralyzed industrial activity. Despite a growing body of literature on the impacts of COVID-19 mitigation measures, scant evidence currently exists on the impacts of lockdowns on the economic and industrial activities of developing countries. Our study provides an empirical assessment of lockdown measures using 298,354 data points on daily electricity consumption in 396 sub-industries.

Heterogeneous changes in electricity consumption patterns of residential distributed solar consumers due to battery storage adoption.

This study provides an empirical assessment of how adopting battery storage units can change the electricity consumption patterns of PV consumers using individual-consumer-level hourly smart meter data in Arizona, United States. We find that on average after adding batteries, PV consumers use more solar electricity to power their houses and send less solar electricity back to the grid. In addition, adding battery storage reduces electricity needed from the grid during system peak hours, helping utilities better flatten the load curves.

Unveiling hidden energy poverty using the energy equity gap.

Income-based energy poverty metrics ignore people's behavior patterns, particularly reducing energy consumption to limit financial stress. We investigate energy-limiting behavior in low-income households using a residential electricity consumption dataset. We first determine the outdoor temperature at which households start using cooling systems, the inflection temperature.

Inequitable and heterogeneous impacts on electricity consumption from COVID-19 mitigation measures.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated energy insecurity and economic hardship among vulnerable populations. This paper provides robust empirical evidence of the degree to which COVID-19 mitigation measures, especially the mandates of school closure and limiting business operations, have impacted electricity consumption behavior in low-income and ethnic minority groups in the United States. We use a regression discontinuity design applied to individual-consumer-level high-frequency smart meter data in Arizona and Illinois to highlight the disparities in mitigation measure impacts.

Effects of the joint prevention and control of atmospheric pollution policy on air pollutants-A quantitative analysis of Chinese policy texts.

Joint prevention and control of atmospheric pollution (JPCAP) policies play a vital role in alleviating regional pollution. Based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model, we construct two policy strength measures of effectiveness and number, and investigate the effects of policy strength on air pollutant emissions for four types of JPCAP policies. The results show that the effects of economic incentive policy tools and supporting policy tools on emission reduction deviate significantly from policy preferences.

Solar photovoltaic interventions have reduced rural poverty in China.

Since 2013, China has implemented a large-scale initiative to systematically deploy solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to alleviate poverty in rural areas. To provide new understanding of China's targeted poverty alleviation strategy, we use a panel dataset of 211 pilot counties that received targeted PV investments from 2013 to 2016, and find that the PV poverty alleviation pilot policy increases per-capita disposable income in a county by approximately 7%-8%. The effect of PV investment is positive and significant in the year of policy implementation and the effect is more than twice as high in the subsequent two to three years.

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the determination of three barbiturates in pork by ion trap gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) following microwave assisted derivatization.

A new method was developed for the rapid screening and confirmation analysis of barbital, amobarbital and phenobarbital residues in pork by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) with ion trap MSD. The residual barbiturates in pork were extracted by ultrasonic extraction, cleaned up on a multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) packed solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge and applied acetone-ethyl acetate (3:7, v/v) mixture as eluting solvent and derivatized with CH3I under microwave irradiation. The methylated barbiturates were separated on a TR-5MS capillary column and detected with an ion trap mass detector.

Determination of four benzodiazepine residues in pork using multiwalled carbon nanotube solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A solid-phase extraction (SPE)/GC-MS method using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was developed for the determination of four benzodiazepine residues including diazepam, estazolam, alprazolam and triazolam in pork. The analytes were extracted by ultrasonic assistant extraction using acetonitrile, concentrated and purified by MWCNTs packed cartridge, and determined by GC-MS. Ultrasonic extraction conditions, which included temperature, time, power, and solvent volume, were optimized.

[Determination of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans in sediment by accelerated solvent extraction, fluid management systems and high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry].

A rapid, sensitive and accurate method has been developed for the determination of seventeen 2, 3, 7, 8-substituted congeners of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans (PCDD/Fs) in sediment using isotope dilution high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). Dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans were extracted from samples by accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and then purified by fluid management systems (FMS) with silica column, alumina column and carbon column. Confirmation and quantitative analysis at pg/g level of PCDD/Fs were performed by HRGC/HRMS using voltage selective ion record (VSIR) mode.

Simultaneous determination of three residual barbiturates in pork using accelerated solvent extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A new method was developed for the rapid extraction and unequivocal determination of barbital, amobarbital and phenobarbital residues in pork. The isolation of the analytes from pork samples was accomplished by utilizing an accelerated solvent extractor ASE 300. The procedure was automatically carried out in series for fat removing and extraction, respectively with n-hexane and acetonitrile pressurized constantly at 10.

[Simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol, and florfenicol residues in animal tissues by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry].

A method was developed for the simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol (CAP), thiamphenicol (TAP), and florfenicol (FF) residues in animal tissues using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with chemical ionization source in negative mode. The homogenized samples were extracted with ethyl acetate and the extracts were partitioned with n-hexane to remove lipids. Further cleanup was performed on a florisil cartridge and the purified samples were derivatized with Sylon BFT [N, O-bis (trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA)-trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS), 99: 1, v/v] in toluene.

Optically triggered Q-switched photonic crystal laser.

An optically triggered liquid crystal infiltrated Q-switched photonic crystal laser is demonstrated. A photonic crystal laser cavity was designed and fabricated to support two orthogonally polarized high-Q cavity modes after liquid crystal infiltration. By controlling the liquid crystal orientation via a layer of photoaddressable polymer and a writing laser, the photonic crystal lasing mode can be reversibly switched between the two modes which also switches the laser's emission polarization and wavelength.

Simultaneous determination of thyreostatic residues in animal tissues by matrix solid-phase dispersion and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A method for determination of thyreostatic residues in animal tissues by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in selected ion detection mode was developed. Thyreostatic compounds in different matrices were extracted and purified by combination of MSPD and subsequent solid-phase extraction. Silica gel was selected as the solid support of both procedures and the conditions of the procedures were optimized.

High quality factors and room-temperature lasing in a modified single-defect photonic crystal cavity.

We propose and analyze a new photonic crystal cavity design that supports a dipole mode with a quality factor greater than 20,000. Such a high quality factor is obtained by precise tuning of the cavity length with minimal disruption of the surrounding photonic crystal. A fabrication procedure based on dry etching of InGaAsP material in HI/H2/Ar is used to demonstrate photonic crystal lasers with smooth and straight sidewalls.