Search

This paper explores the role of electricity in the transition to renewable energy to mitigate climate change. A systematic literature review with the Scopus database identified 92 papers relevant to the renewable electricity transition. A PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) review of the papers provided a multidisciplinary analysis. The Paris Agreement created a global movement for carbon neutrality to address the threats of climate change, calling for a transition to renewable electricity to lead the way and expand into new sectors and regions. Although smaller renewable technologies are ramping up, complexities thwarting the transition include locked-in assets, high upfront costs, variability of solar and wind energy, infrastructure, difficulty in decarbonizing transportation and industry, material resource constraints, and fossil fuel support. This research found that renewables are not replacing fossil fuels to date but adding further energy demands, so that greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2021 despite an increased renewable electricity share. Without a major shift in the trillions of dollars of subsidies and investment away from fossil fuels to renewables, catastrophic climate change is predicted. This paper found that the Paris Agreement's commitment to net-zero carbon and the transition to renewable electricity are undermined by record-high levels of subsidies and financing for fossil fuel industry expansion. Transitioning to a climate-neutral economy requires an investment away from fossil fuels into renewable energy ecosystems. Renewable electricity provides possibilities to realize sustainable development goals, climate stabilization, job creation, a green economy, and energy security with careful planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study estimates the amount of emissions resulting from linear sources. There were calculations for a model rural municipality, composed of national, provincial, country, and municipal roads that run through the area. In this study, the following categories of vehicles were assumed to travel along this route: motorcycles, passenger cars, light trucks (vans), heavy trucks without trailers, trucks with trailers, and buses. The analysis used data on the average volume of traffic (SDR) on selected roads on the territory of the sample municipality, based on the frequency of participation in traffic by each mode of transportation on selected road sections. To estimate the emission rates of each pollutant, for each vehicle category separately, the calculations were made based on the emission factor rates for each type of fuel. According to the adopted methodology and based on the adopted assumptions scenarios, pollutants' emissions were estimated. The implementation of the scenarios offered for reducing CO2 emissions has been proposed, and it is estimated that, depending on the variant adopted, the reductions will be between 13 and 21% in variant I, between 3 and 8% in variant II, and between 18 and 34% in combining these variants. The variant with a reduction in private car transportation in favor of bicycle transportation in combination with public transportation showed the most favorable effects on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]