The present energy framework extensively prioritizes fossil fuels. This fact is evident in numerous aspects of life, from everyday activities to industrial production, all of which result in substantial carbon dioxide emissions, posing serious threats to human health and our overall wellbeing. Amidst the growing consensus around "peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality" strategies, energy scarcity and environmental pollution have emerged as significant hurdles impeding sustainable economic and social development. Therefore, the advancement of clean energy systems has become a critical requirement to implement energy-saving and emission-reducing strategies, ultimately aiming at the establishment of a clean, low-carbon, secure, and efficient energy system. In addressing these pressing issues, multi-energy integrated and complementary systems hold promise for a more efficient utilization of remaining resources while also reducing carbon emissions.

Multi-energy integration carbon reduction technology is a crucial tool that assists various industries in diverse scenarios transition towards a lower carbon footprint. This technology hinges on the coupling of multi-energy flows, facilitating efficient and flexible adjustments in the conversion processes between different types and qualities of energy – from electricity, heat, and cold, to hydrogen and more. Such advancements can substantially improve consumption rates of local renewable resources like photovoltaic and wind power, consequently enhancing local energy utilization efficiency and promoting carbon reduction within these regions. As the pivotal physical carrier of the energy internet, these systems primarily focus on renewable energy generation, integrating fossil energy resources with renewable ones, and optimizing energy conversion processes. They enable the combined usage of electricity, heat, and cooling at the end-user level, effectively spurring the transition to clean energy in various sectors - including transportation, chemical industry, and metallurgy - and, thus, bolstering worldwide pursuits of carbon neutrality.

Nonetheless, research on multi-energy integration and complementary carbon reduction technologies remains in its infancy, and several critical scientific issues await resolution. There is a pressing need for in-depth exploration of methodologies that integrate and complement new energy sources (such as wind, solar, and hydro) with traditional fossil energy sources like coal and natural gas. The goal is to unravel the mechanisms and evolutionary paths of multi-energy efficient integration, so as to enhance the efficiency of energy usage and increase the consumption levels of renewable energy.

This topic includes but is not limited to the following aspects:
1) High energy consuming enterprises combine with desert and Gobi desert areas where new energy is abundant for on-site consumption;
2) The direction of transportation energy integration, such as port-ship-wind-photovoltaict-storage-hydrogen multi energy integration, vehicle-road-pile-wind-photovoltaic-storage-hydrogen multi energy integration;
3) The integrated self supply system of heat-electricity-gas-cold energy in industrial parks enhances the local consumption rate of green electricity;
4) Hydrogen bridge cranes and other hydrogen equipment use green hydrogen to replace traditional fuel to reduce carbon emissions;
5) Coupling new energy with industries such as coal chemical industry to reduce the use of coal;
6) Coupling new energy green electricity with the steel and non-ferrous metal industries to achieve carbon reduction in the smelting process;
7) Optimized management of building photovoltaict-storage-DC-flexible distribution energy to achieve carbon reduction.
8) Other carbon reduction directions.

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Frontiers in Energy Research

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