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This paper presents the editorial for the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews joint special issue devoted to the research work discussed and presented at the 11th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th September to the 9th September 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and the 2nd South East European (SEE) SDEWES Conference held from June 15th to June 18th, 2016 in Piran, Slovenia. This special issue is in line with the journal's aim of publishing research from across the ever-broadening field of renewable and sustainable energy with a strong review element. Previous SDEWES conference special issues have gathered a significant knowledge base in the field of sustainable development that reflects the continuous research efforts of the SDEWES research community. Therefore, this editorial provides not only an overview of the papers published in this particular special issue, but also a wider overview of the current trends in the domain of sustainable and renewable energy. This year's special issue focuses particularly on the benefits of the bio-based economy, energy security issues, fossil fuel thermal plant alternatives and environmental constraints, district heating and cooling together with cross sector energy efficiency and energy conservation issues. Sustainable transport systems, the issue of fuel poverty in urban neighbourhoods and renewable energy to support development of peripheral rural areas, optimising passive building design for hot climates and solar-powered heating and cooling are further topics featured in this special issue. In the process of selecting papers for this special issue, the guest editors invited in total 23 extended manuscripts for consideration for publication. After a rigorous review process by expert reviewers overseen by the guest editors a total of 16 articles were accepted for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the main threats of the modern society. This phenomenon is associated with the increase of the greenhouse gases (GHGs, mainly carbon dioxide – CO 2 ) emissions due to anthropogenic activities. Main causes are the burning of fossil fuels and land use change (deforestation). Climate change impacts are associated with risks to basic needs (health, food security and clean water) as well as risks to development (jobs, economic growth and the cost of living). Taking into account this phenomenon, several countries participated in the last United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (21st Conference of the Parties – COP21) and agreed to reduce their GHG emissions to limit the rise in global temperature to less than 2 °C. Main commitments and actions are focused in energy efficiency, renewable energy deployment and forest protection (increasing the CO 2 natural sinks). In this context, biofuels (from non-edible feedstocks) have the potential to replace fossil based fuels in the transport sector, being a carbon-neutral fuel. In particular, algae–based biofuel can play a dual role in this scenario: as photosynthetic organisms, algae can capture CO 2 from industrial emissions or from atmosphere and the resulting biomass can be used to produce a wide range of materials including biofuels. Therefore, this paper reviews the research advances of algae cultures with focus on the applications (CO 2 capture and bioenergy production) related to the targets of COP21 agreement. Main recent advances in algal research studies and projects are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioenergy is considered a promising alternative to achieve carbon neutrality and emission reduction. There is a debate over the role of bioenergy in climate change mitigation because of carbon emissions from the production and utilization of biofuels. Recently, studies on emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) have substantially increased as they have a significant impact on human health and climate change due to large emissions and high reactivity. A scientometric analysis of 2895 journal papers during 1991 and 2020 related to BVOC emissions from the Web of Science Core Collection was conducted by CiteSpace and Carrot2. Results showed that three main knowledge domains were BVOC emissions and drivers, BVOCs and their oxidation products in biosphere-atmosphere exchange, and soil BVOCs in plant-microbe interactions during the period under study. Generally, the relationships between plant BVOC emissions and environmental variables (e.g., temperature, drought, light solar radiation, humidity, availability of nutrients, carbon dioxide, ozone, etc.) can be investigated by measurement techniques (i.e., chamber) or models (i.e., Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature). Soils could work as both the sink and source of BVOCs through various processes that are affected by soil temperatures, pH, organic matter, and moisture. Anthropogenic activities might affect the emission of BVOCs and promote the formation of BVOC-derived pollutants (e.g., ozone, particles, etc.). Incorporating BVOC emissions and their relationships with pollutants, biomass, and energy into environmental management and decision-making is a promising direction. [Display omitted] • A scientometric analysis was conducted on the research evolution of BVOC emissions. • Ten clusters generated by CiteSpace were logically reclassified into three hotspots. • MEGAN is the most frequently empirical model for BVOC emission assessment. • BVOC-derived pollutants like SOA are likely affected by anthropogenic activities. • Soils in terrestrial ecosystems can act as both the source and sink of BVOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]