Improving thermal efficiency through natural gas utilization, implementing an energy-saving retrofit of rural housing, and promoting straw utilization yield benefits for people and the environment in rural areas of northern China.This study explores the long-run equilibrium relationship between CO2 emissions, economic growth, and industrial production. buy UAMC-3203 In parallel, the energy-led growth hypothesis has been investigated for a selected group of 23 small island states globally chosen from different continents. Data used in the analysis covers the period 1977-2017 on an annual basis and is retrieved from the World Bank open data and national statistical authorities. FMOLS and DOLS panel estimation techniques have been implemented throughout the study, and FMOLS cointegration results reveal that there is a significant and economically sound relationship between industrial production, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions among the selected small island nations. Dynamic OLS panel estimation results also provide empirical evidence that industrial production is a significant determining factor for carbon dioxide emissions for the so-called small island states. Vector error correction estimations also provide strong empirical evidence that economic growth causes carbon dioxide emissions with a significant coefficient in the short-run. Panel Granger causality results also indicate that there is a significant bidirectional causal relationship between industrial growth and carbon dioxide emissions among the selected 23 small island states. As a result, the energy-led growth hypothesis for small island states has been validated in this study.Energy conservation, emission reduction, and sustainable development are the goals of achieving low-carbon economic development all over the world. Many countries are working hard to find measures, and industrial restructuring is considered to be an effective way to achieve economic development and emission reduction. However, previous studies have assumed that industrial restructuring and economic growth and emissions are simple linear relationships while neglecting nonlinear relationships. We use panel data from 32 countries from 1997 to 2017 and employ panel threshold models (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model and Solow growth model) for empirical test. The results reveal that industrial restructuring has statistically significant nonlinear effects on economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions. With the process of industrialization and urbanization, industrial restructuring has a long-term positive impact on economic growth. The relationship among industrial restructuring and carbon dioxide emissions has been found to be inverted U-shaped. Industrial restructuring is beneficial to reducing emissions. The policy implies that although industrial restructuring is considered to be an effective measure to achieve green growth, for countries with different degrees of urbanization and economic development, industrial structure transformation should adopt different policies.In this study, the physicochemical properties, microstructure, and heavy metal leaching potential of various municipal solid waste incinerated-bottom ash (MSWI-BA) particle sizes were detected. The environmental risks that possibly result from the utilization of MSWI-BA aggregate in road construction are discussed. The air-dried MSWI-BA was sieved into four groups, including 4.75-9.5 mm, 2.36-4.75 mm, 0.075-2.36 mm, and less then  0.075 mm. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were conducted. It was found that the main elements of MSWI-BA are Ca, Si, and Al; the major heavy metals are Zn, Cu, Cr, and Pb, and the main mineral compositions are quartz and calcite. Even though the major elements were found to be related to MSWI-BA particle size, the micropores, attached particles, and hydration products were shown to be independent on the particle size. The standard leaching test and a simulated leaching experiment with four solid/liquid ratios were implemented to study the leaching behavior of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cr. Results showed that the leaching characteristics of selected metals were affected by the species of metal, MSWI-BA particle size, solid/liquid ratio, and the test method. The MSWI-BA aggregate was found to be an appropriate substitute material for natural aggregate in road construction due to its low metal leaching potential.China’s fiscal decentralization has the dual characteristics of revenue decentralization and expenditure decentralization, and their impacts on green total factor productivity are also different. By calculating the Malmquist-Luenburger index and using the Spatial Durbin Model, this study examines the effects of dual decentralization on green total factor productivity (GTFP) from the perspective of fiscal competition. It was found that revenue decentralization significantly hindered the improvement of a local area’s GTFP, and that the impact of fiscal revenue competition on a local area’s GTFP is also significantly negative. The expenditure decentralization and the fiscal expenditure competition among different areas are conducive to improving the local area’s GTFP. Moreover, the impact of revenue decentralization on efficiency improvement is significantly negative, while the expenditure decentralization is conducive to technical progress. All these findings may provide enlightenment for optimizing China’s fiscal decentralization and promoting high-quality economic development.Anaerobic digestion of water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes Mart.) from eutrophic water bodies could be a sustainable post weed management practice to generate bioenergy. Comparative analyses of the water quality, physicochemical characteristics, and biomethanation kinetics of water hyacinth from two sites with different water types (brackish versus freshwater) in the Ozama river, Dominican Republic, were conducted. Also, the energy produced from the anaerobic digestion and that consumed in harvesting was estimated. The highest non-structural components in the form of protein (18.8 ± 1.9%) and extractives (26.4 ± 0.1%) were found in brackish water hyacinth, whereas that from freshwater had the highest amount of holocellulose (41.2 ± 2.8%). Indicators of plant productivity, i.e., chlorophyll b and bulk density, were more than 30% higher in brackish than in freshwater hyacinth. The methane production rate in the digestion of water hyacinth from brackish water (22.5 N. L/kg VS added· day) was twice that from freshwater (10.