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Paper has shaped society for centuries and is considered one of humanity's most important inventions. However, pulp and paper products can be damaging to social and natural systems along their lifecycle of material extraction, processing, transportation, and waste handling. The pulp and paper industry is among the top five most energy-intensive industries globally and is the fourth largest industrial energy user. This industry accounts for approximately 6% of global industrial energy use and 2% of direct industrial CO 2 emissions. The pulp and paper industry is also the largest user of original or virgin wood, with deleterious impacts on both human health and local flora and fauna, including aquatic ecosystems. This critical and systematic review seeks to identify alternatives for mitigating the climate impacts of pulp and paper processes and products, thus making the pulp and paper industry more environmentally sustainable. This study reviews 466 studies to answer the following questions: what are the main determinants of energy and carbon emissions emerging from the pulp and paper industry? What are the benefits of this industry adopting low-carbon manufacturing processes, and what barriers will need to be tackled to enable such adoption? Using a sociotechnical lens, we answer these questions, identify barriers for the pulp and paper industry's decarbonization, and present promising avenues for future research. •This review identifies carbon-intensive processes in the pulp and paper industry. •Presents decarbonizing practices, potential transformations and innovations. •Presents promising avenues for future research. •No agreed consensus on the most promising technologies to achieve net-zero in the pulp and paper industry. •Pulp and paper products are associated with other sociotechnical systems that create compelling interdependencies among industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on power system resilience has increased due to frequent natural hazards. Many reviews have been performed on power system resilience, focusing on specific topics such as the application of energy storage systems and microgrids for resilience enhancement. To comprehensively analyze the work carried out on power system resilience, this paper presents a methodology to perform quantitative analyses that combines bibliometric and correlation analyses. For this reason, 851 research publications from popular databases, namely Scopus and Web of Science, spanning from 2001 to 2022, were obtained for analysis. In the quantitative analysis, bibliometric measures are evaluated and analyzed to identify the most productive elements (e.g., countries, papers, journals, and institutions), keyword co-occurrences, and track the thematic evolution of authors' keywords. Additionally, hazard metrics such as risk against natural hazards and word count of natural hazards are proposed to reflect the event-specific risk level of a country and its progress in event-specific resilience research. These metrics are later utilized to perform correlation analyses along with bibliometric measures. This correlation aims to identify lesser-explored natural hazards and countries with the potential for event-specific resilience studies. Overall, this study offers insights into power system resilience trends and emerging areas. It emphasizes less-attended, highly exposed natural hazards, helping prioritize research for future resilient models to address their unique challenges. • Bibliometric and Correlation Analyses were performed using 851 resources. • Identify top countries, institutions, journals, and cited papers. • Perform keyword co-occurrence, its evolution, and visualize trends using diagrams. • Correlation analysis between resilience publications and risk of natural hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of extreme events due climate change and sea-level rise are major challenges to be urgently addressed by Europe's coastal cities. Coastal hazards have the potential to cause significant damage to coastal communities. Nevertheless, various other climate-related hazards also pose imminent threats. This review paper examines the impacts of climate change on ten European coastal cities by means of a participatory process involving the coastal cities and the review of existing literature. Local expertise is included through the novel concept of Coastal City Living Lab. The study also leverages bibliometric analysis of the Scopus and Web of Science databases, along with a desk review of climate-change related institutions and agencies at international, national, regional and local levels. By combining scientific literature analysis with insights from local experts, this research provides a comprehensive overview of the current situation of these diverse cities in relation to multiple climate-related hazards, which can be extrapolated to other cities. There is a scarcity of scientific data for some of the cities, hence collaboration with the CCLLs was crucial. Results serve as a valuable baseline for future works, introducing detail studies focusing on various climate-related challenges. This paper not only contributes novel insights by including the perceptions of local partners but also offers a unique perspective on the complex nature of climate change impacts at city level. • Comprehensive understanding of climate change impacts on coastal cities through multifaceted methodology. • Systematic scientific literature review of Scopus and Web of Science databases. • Local expertise from a collaborative process involving ten diverse European coastal cities. • Unique perspective on the complex nature of climate change impacts at city level. • Baseline for risk assessments and adaptation strategies considering multiple climate-related hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract African countries are in a unique position to reap the socio-economic and environmental benefits of renewable resources as a means for meeting increasing energy demand in a sustainable way. A critical obstacle for the deployment of renewable energy technologies in Africa is the difficulty of attracting sufficient and affordable finance. This paper compares the impact of financial conditions on the cost of electricity generation across six renewable and three fossil-based technologies in 46 African countries. The results show large cost variations and highlight the extent to which renewables are disadvantaged by current financial practices. The energy-economy-environment model TIAM-ECN is used to show how lowering financing costs results in a much higher deployment of renewables. For example, solar PV could account for 10–15% of total electricity generation by 2050, even without explicit climate policy, thanks to financial de-risking programmes. The results demonstrate that changes in financing schemes could outweigh the impact of technology learning. This paper also demonstrates that, once ambitious climate policies are in place, reducing financing costs for renewables could be an efficient way to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Financial de-risking is thus a key ingredient for unlocking the renewable energy potential in Africa. Highlights • We show how renewables are disadvantaged by today's financial practices in Africa. • We show how lower financing costs result in a higher deployment of renewables. • PV can account for 10–15% of electricity generation by 2050 without climate policy. • Changes in financing schemes could outweigh the impact of technology learning. • Financial de-risking is key for unlocking the renewable energy potential in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As a result of the increased awareness of the dangers posed by global climate changes (mainly caused by growing global energy consumption needs), the quest for clean and sustainable energy future is becoming of paramount importance. This can be largely realized via a large-scale integration of variable renewable energy sources (RESs) such as wind and solar, which have relatively low carbon footprints. In many power systems, the level of integration of such resources is dramatically increasing. However, their intermittent nature poses significant challenges in the predominantly conventional power systems that currently exist. Among others, frequency and voltage regulation issues can, for example, arise because of improperly balanced and largely uncoordinated RES supply and demand. Generally, the higher the integration level of intermittent power sources is, the higher the flexibility needs are in the system under consideration. Flexibility, in a power systems context, refers to the ability of such a system to effectively cope with unforeseen changes in operational situations, which are mainly induced by the inherent uncertainty and variability arising from the supply side, demand side or any other external factors. In the absence of appropriate flexibility mechanisms, it is increasingly difficult to manage the imbalances between generation and demand as a result of their natural variations in real-time. This paper presents an extensive and critical review of the main existing and emerging flexibility options that can be deployed in power systems to support the integration of "carbon-free" and variable power production technologies. Starting from a broader definition of flexibility, we highlight the growing importance of such flexibility in renewable-rich energy systems, and provide insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with various flexibility options provided by different technologies. Highlights • This paper presents an extensive and critical review of the main existing and emerging flexibility options. • Starting from a broader definition of flexibility, we highlight the growing importance of such flexibility. • Insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with various flexibility options are provided. • Certain barriers that may hinder their developments in the short to medium terms are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents a thorough review of 75 modelling tools currently used for analysing energy and electricity systems. Increased activity within model development in recent years has led to several new models and modelling capabilities, partly motivated by the need to better represent the integration of variable renewables. The purpose of this paper is to give an updated overview of currently available modelling tools, their capabilities and to serve as an aid for modellers in their process of identifying and choosing an appropriate model. A broad spectrum of modelling tools, ranging from small-scale power system analysis tools to global long-term energy models, has been assessed. Key information regarding the general logic, spatiotemporal resolution as well as the technological and economic features of the models is presented in three comprehensive tables. This information has been validated and updated by model developers or affiliated contact persons, and is state-of-the-art as of the submission date. With the available suite of modelling tools, most challenges of today's electricity system can be assessed. For a future with an increasing share of variable renewables and increasing electrification of the energy system, there are some challenges such as how to represent short-term variability in long-term studies, incorporate the effect of climate change and ensure openness and transparency in modelling studies. Highlights • We review 75 modelling tools currently used for analysing energy and electricity systems. • Updated and validated key information about the models is presented. • The paper can aid new modellers to choose an appropriate model for their purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO 2), has a significant effect on the climate change and has become a widespread concern in the recent years. Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) strategy appears to be effective in decreasing the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. Despite a great progress in this field, there are still major limitations in commercialized the CO 2 capture methods that rely on absorption phenomena. High capital costs of for the CO 2 capture, low absorption and desorption rates (which require large facilities), solvent losses due to evaporation, and the use of corrosive solvents are among main obstructions. Recently, CO 2 capture with ionic liquids (ILs) has appreciably attracted researchers’ attention. The distinct properties of ILs such as negligible vapor pressure and their affinity to capture the CO 2 molecules make them a feasible alternative for currently available solvents including, different amines. This paper covers a brief review of previous engineering and research works on various CO 2 capture techniques, the description of CO 2 capture process using ILs, mechanisms of the CO 2 capture with ILs at molecular level, CO 2 and ILs properties, characterization of the CO 2 /IL systems, impacts of operating and fluids conditions on CO 2 absorption capacity by ILs, and CO 2 solubility and selectivity in ILs. Moreover, the technical and economic aspects of the CO 2 capture with ILs, screening criteria for ILs/CO 2 systems, and important results obtained from previous studies will form the last parts of this manuscript. This review offers a proper/systematic guideline that assists researchers and engineers to comprehensively understand and to effectively design the CO 2 /ILs processes, focusing on the thermodynamic and mass transfer aspects. Highlights • CO 2 capture with ionic liquids (ILs) appears to be a promising strategy in the future. • This review paper describes carbon capture process using ILs, mechanisms, and challenges. • This paper discusses about different characterization tools for ILs/CO 2 systems. • CO 2 capture efficiency is studied at various conditions through parametric sensitivity analysis. • Technical and economic aspects and screening criteria for ILs/CO 2 systems are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon emissions associated with the built environment represent the dominant fraction of the total carbon footprint of society. As a result of the intense debate over how to address climate change, Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions Assessment and carbon footprint standards such as the PAS2050, ISO/TS 14067, and the GHG Protocol, are receiving increased attention. However, carbon emission calculations often vary in terms of boundaries, scope, units of greenhouse gas emissions, and methodologies. There is not an internationally accepted method for measuring, reporting, and verifying GHG emissions from existing buildings in a consistent and comparable way. In support of developing a standardized approach, this paper reviews current methodologies for carbon footprint accounting and outlines the inconsistencies of most life-cycle carbon assessments studies. The paper also aims to present the cutting-edge knowledge about emissions resulting from buildings during their life-cycle. The conclusion of this research, after a comprehensive literature review and critical analysis, is that there is a need for a clear, accessible and consistent method to assess the carbon emissions from buildings. The findings in this paper can also support and facilitate the discussion of the meaningful targets required to reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has caused growing concern in the international community. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by a majority of the world with the clear intention of reducing emissions. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a part of the Kyoto Protocol and allows industrialized countries to reduce their emission by making contribution to developing countries. In this study, several research papers related to sustainability and multi-criteria analysis of energy projects were reviewed and classified based on their focus, motivation and contribution to achieve a comprehensive summary. Additionally, this paper presents a review of multi criteria decision methods and sustainability indicators under five pillars: technical, economic, social, environmental, and risk. Moreover, sustainability analysis of worldwide CDM concentrated solar power (CSP) projects was performed by using MAUT method. The analysis was repeated based on several scenarios including different criteria and criteria weights. The purpose of this research is proposing a framework and providing an understanding for decision makers to evaluate the sustainability of CDM energy projects. This work can provide perceptions to future installations and further insights for the development of sustainable CDM energy projects around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy efficiency in industry is recognized as one of the most vital activities for the mitigation of climate change. Consequently, policy initiatives from governments addressing both energy-intensive and small and medium-sized industry have been enacted. In this paper, the energy end-use and the energy efficiency potential among industrial small and medium-sized companies participating in the Swedish Energy Audit Program are reviewed. The three manufacturing industries of wood and cork, food products and metal products (excluding machinery and equipment) are studied. A unique categorization of their production processes’ energy end-use is presented, the results of which show that the amount of energy used in various categories of production processes differ between these industries. This applies to support processes as well, highlighting the problem of generalizing results without available bottom-up energy end-use data. In addition, a calculation of conservation supply curves for measures related to production processes is presented, showing that there still remains energy saving potential among companies participating in the Swedish Energy Audit Program. However, relevant data in the database used from the Swedish Energy Audit Program is lacking which limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the conservation supply curves. This study highlights the need to develop energy policy programs delivering high-quality data. This paper contributes to a further understanding of the intricate matters of industrial energy end-use and energy efficiency measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly increasing catastrophic environmental incidents and changes in global climate have compelled researchers to take proactive measures for climate change mitigation. Consequently, reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become one of the most significant global targets. The transportation sector has a massive carbon footprint accounting for 22% of the total carbon dioxide emissions. In this regard, road transport contributes the largest fraction of the total emissions within the transportation sector. Conversely, the railway which is the cleanest form of transportation contributes slightly more than 1% of the total emissions. Moreover, since most of the rail systems are operated by government or private companies, it is relatively convenient to implement policies and replace conventional technology with environmentally friendly ones. This could be achieved by taking certain measures from technical and operational viewpoints for conserving energy to lower the carbon intensity of all transport modalities. Hence, this review paper focuses on investigating the railway sector to encourage a modal shift to the least carbon-intensive option. This study provides a critical review of the past and present rail technologies in terms of the environmental, economic, social, and technical perspectives. Moreover, a comparative assessment of the various locomotive types has been performed. The results reveal that battery-hydrogen hybrid locomotives are the best choice to be considered as a future locomotive technology. Hydrogen locomotives have the potential to be a promising alternative to diesel railway locomotives. However, certain technical barriers need to be overcome to enhance the overall system's performance and reliability to further improve the viability of its deployment in the railway sector. [Display omitted] • A critical review of the various rail technologies is provided through different viewpoints. • The assessment constitutes environmental, economic, social, and technical perspectives. • A decision-support tool for comparison of four rail technologies is also developed. • Battery-hydrogen hybrid locomotive results in the highest score of 1.47. • Standalone hydrogen locomotive results in the second highest score of 1.38. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of public policies have emerged worldwide as a response from governments facing climate change effects, drawing the attention of the scientific community to the outcomes and actual effects/benefits these policies have brought so far. One of the challenging aspects related to this context is the integration of the objectives set by climate change policies within the sectoral and regional planning. In this respect, the literature recognizes the relevance of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as an instrument to deal with climate change issues in the planning process and to support the development of alternatives to respond to climate change policies. The influence of climate change policies on the plans and programs supported by SEA in emerging economies is yet to be verified. The paper relies on the case of Brazil, recognized by its relevance in terms of biodiversity, water resources and climate regulation. In 2009, Brazil introduced the National Policy of Climate Change (NPCC), which established guidelines to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2020. The present paper is based on the analysis of the current SEA practice and the corresponding level of integration of climate change issues, considering the objectives of the NPCC. A set of 29 statements, delivered by the literature, was applied, combined to the content analysis techniques to review the quality of 35 SEA reports produced in Brazil between 1997 and 2014 (out of 40-odd cases). The outcomes indicate the performance is similar to what was found in other contexts, i.e., SEA areas barely address climate change issues. This thus reveals an important gap between the objectives of NPCC and sectoral/regional planning. SEA can contribute to reducing this gap, but it needs more strength to influence the development of sectoral and regional policies and plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Several factors such as climate change, increment in fuel cost and digital technology era have lead to transformation of conventional grid into smart grid. Existing microgrid can be integrated with smart grid characteristics by various topologies, including cogeneration system where both electricity and thermal energy from single source of fuel can be produced. Cogeneration system has better efficiency, lower costs and able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to singular conventional methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review of cogeneration system, covering the principle operation and types of prime movers available for use in power plant, building and industrial plant. Prime movers such as gas turbine, steam turbine, micro turbine, reciprocate engine and fuel cell are compared in terms of size (kW), efficiency and principal operation. This review also describes the hierarchical control system for cogeneration system; classified into three types, which are local, centralized and decentralized. This study tries to find the most suitable control strategy for certain cogeneration system by referring to the related standards available. A number of cogeneration applications in commercial buildings, including hospital, airport, shopping complex and hotel, are presented to show the effectiveness of the cogeneration system. Overall, this paper presents comparison between each prime mover technology, factors that influence the selection of prime movers, challenges and prospects of cogeneration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the growing global demand for energy, together with the depletion of resources and the growing emphasis on mitigating climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, an urgent need for an evolution of the renewable energy resources has emerged. On the architectural scene, we have become accustomed to seeing buildings incorporated with photovoltaics and wind turbines. Despite the great contribution of biomass as a clean energy producer, the integration of biomass into architecture is quite modest and still in its initial phases. Microalgae, as a plant-based biomass, can outperform other renewable resources with their potential to absorb CO 2 , recycle wastewater, and release O 2 . The limited experience regarding building-integrated microalgae photobioreactors (PBRs) requires shedding light on some issues. So, this paper aims to explore the following: 1) the proper types of PBRs for integration with buildings, 2) the overall bioprocess and the design considerations regarding PBRs and their technical requirements, 3) the environmental and energetic performance of PBRs, 4) their challenges, and 5) their prospects. Thus, the paper's methodology consists of 1) reviewing the promulgated literature concerning microalgae and PBRs, 2) reviewing and analyzing three building-integrated PBRs and three urban-integrated PBRs, and 3) reviewing the environmental and energetic performance of building-integrated PBRs. The paper has concluded that the symbiosis between PBRs and façades encounters some challenges, including 1) the biorefinery infrastructure, 2) the provision of a source of CO 2 , and 3) the high initial cost. On the other hand, the multifaceted environmental prospects of building-integrated PBRs are represented in 1) energy savings; 2) GHG emissions reduction; 3) oxygen and hydrogen release; 4) biofuel production; and 5) wastewater treatment. The unique benefits of the bio-façades through the combination of the technical and biological cycles within buildings inaugurate an innovative approach to sustainability by integrating environmental, energetic, and iconic values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global anthropogenic activities resulting in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere have increased the challenges faced from climate change. The greater awareness of the need to mitigate climate variability has brought about intense focus on the adverse impacts of fossil-fuel based energy on the environment. Being the single largest source of carbon emissions, energy supply has attracted much attention and more so that, climate change impacts extend beyond national boundaries. Since energy use is sine qua non to economic development, scientists have reiterated the necessity of developing and utilising renewable energy. Although, past and present CO 2 emissions have and are majorly caused by industrialized countries, it is envisaged that future GHGs emissions would be mostly from developing countries as they industrialize. Renewable energy sources that include biomass, hydroelectric, wind, solar and hydrothermal systems, are carbon-neutral, releasing relatively no emissions. This paper discusses the initiatives associated with the provision of renewable energy to the energy mix in Nigeria as an indication of the country’s commitment to adopt a sustainable development strategy in shaping the economy. It reviews the literature and employs a discourse analysis to examine the limited use of renewable energy sources in Nigeria and the factors prevailing against their development. The paper concludes by identifying social and political obstacles as most significant roadblocks towards rapid implementation of a green economy through the deployment of renewable energy for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GCC experience is the only successful Arab experience at the level of regional cooperation in the Arab region. This success can only be enshrined by the Council's ability to continue. Also, these countries succeeded in promoting a rapprochement between their States and the Arab region and its surroundings. The three wars in the area posed significant challenges to the Gulf Cooperation Council. Arabian Gulf authorities have sensed the need to develop a strategic partnership focus on the defense and the sustainability of the GCC countries, and their well-being. Climate change has sparked a war; all the wealth and luxury enjoyed by the people of the Gulf States will be affected by climate change. The impact of climate change appears in many forms, including an increase in the average ambient temperature in the region with severe decrease in precipitation. The area climate is rapidly changing because of human activities from year to year and decade to decade. The Arabian Gulf region is interested in climate change on several levels, and there is a growing awareness in the area. The potential for climate change is affecting many sectors and systems, like distilled water processing, food security, renewable energies and public health. This paper will discuss these issues in this paper. The information presented in this article aims to give a review and discussion of the effect of climate change in the GCC to the researchers; decision makers, politicians, and engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to shortages of fossil fuels, and the worldwide concern approximately climate change and global warming, biofuels have become an important source of sustainable energy. Several species can be used to produce biofuels such as soybeans ( Glycine max ), oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ), and Jatropha ( Jatropha curcas L.). Therefore, the objective of this paper was to integrate the information available in the literature and report the most promising strategies for genetic and biotechnological progress in Jatropha. Jatropha has become a potential crop to produce biofuel due to the high oil content found in the seeds, which can be transformed into biofuel. Jatropha has an average seed oil content of 35%, and the oil extracted from the seeds has 24.6% crude protein and 47.2% crude fat. Moreover, Jatropha has several agronomic morphological traits that make it a useful crop for biofuel production and animal feed, such as drought tolerance, rapid growth, and ease of propagation. It can be grown at almost any altitude, and plants can produce for more than 50 years. Additionally, Jatropha oil has good stability to oxidation, low viscosity, a low pour-point, which makes Jatropha oil better than soybean or palm oil. This paper presented an innovative and comprehensive literature review on all agronomic aspects of Jatropha, and the strategies that have been used to select superior genotypes for Jatropha breeding. Several important traits of Jatropha are affected by the environment and new strategies to select superior genotypes are required by breeders. Therefore, genomic wide selection associated with recurrent selection can be an appropriate strategy for Jatropha breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of 32 Life Cycle Assessment studies on Power-to-X. Due to their multiplicity, different Power-to-X chains are compared and influencing factors on environmental impacts are identified. Besides technological specifications, methodological choices of the publications are assessed. The majority of studies consider Power-to-Gas or Power-to-Transport. Additionally, six publications assess Power-to-Power, Power-to-Liquids or Power-to-Chemicals. Climate change is the most analyzed environmental impact category. Further impacts are assessed in 14 publications. The electricity source and the methodological concept of carbon dioxide consideration are crucial drivers of environmental impacts. The review reveals a lack of transparency on technological as well as on methodological level. Specifications like the multi-functionality approach used or in case of Power-to-Transport chains the life time mileage of vehicles are missing in most publications and hinder their comparability. • Review of 32 Life Cycle Assessment studies on Power-to-X. • Electricity source and CO 2 supply for upgrading have an eminent environmental impact. • Power-to-Hydrogen and Power-to-Transport are most considered Power-to-X chains. • Climate change is the most analyzed environmental impact category. • A lack of LCA methodological specifications is evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associated with (implementation) success, but the extent of integration of local climate policies and plans in ongoing sectoral and/or development planning is unclear. This paper analyses 885 cities across the 28 European countries to create a first reference baseline on the degree of climate mainstreaming in local climate plans. This will help to compare the benefits of mainstreaming versus dedicated climate plans, looking at policy effectiveness and ultimately delivery of much needed climate change efforts at the city level. All core cities of the European Urban Audit sample were analyzed, and their local climate plans classified as dedicated or mainstreamed in other local policy initiatives. It was found that the degree of mainstreaming is low for mitigation (9% of reviewed cities; 12% of the identified plans) and somewhat higher for adaptation (10% of cities; 29% of plans). In particular horizontal mainstreaming is a major effort for local authorities; an effort that does not necessarily pay off in terms of success of action implementation. This study concludes that climate change issues in local municipalities are best tackled by either, developing a dedicated local climate plan in parallel to a mainstreamed plan or by subsequently developing first the dedicated and later a mainstreaming plan (joint or subsequent "dual track approach"). Cities that currently provide dedicated local climate plans (66% of cities for mitigation; 26% of cities for adaptation) may follow-up with a mainstreaming approach. This promises effective implementation of tangible climate actions as well as subsequent diffusion of climate issues into other local sector policies. The development of only broad sustainability or resilience strategies is seen as critical. • Trends in mainstreaming climate change issues were analyzed for 885 cities EU-28. • EU cities provide numerous local mitigation (#664) and/or adaptation (#321) plans. • Mainstreaming was investigated as vertical and horizontal approach. • 9% of cities have mainstreamed mitigation LCP; 12% of mitigation LCPs mainstreamed. • 10% of cities have mainstreamed adaptation LCP; 29% of adaptation LCPs mainstreamed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vulnerability of electric potential generation from water resources has been evidenced due to uncertainties of climatic origin and energy planning. Changes in rainfall regimes are multifactorial phenomena difficult to model. Rainfall is the main natural way of restoring the reservoir levels of hydroelectric power plants. The reduction in rainfall levels may increase in the coming years, resulting in a probable change of the energy matrix configuration of the state of Minas Gerais (MG). This could reduce the share of renewable sources increasing dependence on the importance of energy from fossil fuels, which are the immediate primary sources of energy available. Prior examinations have portrayed the depletion of hydroelectricity in Brazil, or its macro-regions, however this work tries to supply a more focused look at the effects on the electricity and social sectors of the state of Minas Gerais. The study developed in this paper aims to investigate the hydrological potential alteration impacts and consequences on the energy matrix of the state, the greenhouse gas emissions and the social reflexes of these changes due to scenarios motivated by climate change. The investigation intends to show the importance of the water-energy-emissions nexus for energy planning and decision-making, in order to evaluate the best options for dealing with adverse and potentially destabilizing conditions. The results of the analyses show that while hydropower demand was 5.24 Mtoe in 2015, in 2030 the supply of hydropower will be 5.81 Mtoe and 4.72 Mtoe, for the conservative and severe scenarios, respectively. In addition, the effect of climate change may require an increase in the share of non-renewable sources in the energy matrix, which could increase CO 2 e emissions from 4.2% to 7.4% by 2030, compared to the levels in 2016. • Reduction in rainfall levels will change the energy matrix configuration of MG state. • Population growth will boost demand for energy. • It is shown the importance of the water-energy-emissions nexus for energy planning and decision-making. • The energy matrix may considerably increase the CO 2 e emissions by 2030, compared with 2016 levels in the MG state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problematic of climatic changes and the respective consequences raises the need to discuss the problem and define measures to control and/or reverse them. Because one of the causes of climatic changes is the emission of greenhouse gases, the European Union defined the reduction of emissions as a main concern as well as increasing efficiency in the energy sector. With the objective of analysing the main conditions affecting the growth of per capita emissions, this paper uses a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Based on a sample of data from 2010 to 2014, the conditions evaluated were: i) GDP growth; ii) change in the share of GDP relating to private consumption; iii) change in the share of GDP relating to public consumption; iv) change in the share of GDP on investment; v) and energy consumption growth. The main drivers contributing to reduced emissions were the crisis and energy consumption. Evaluation of the main factors affecting emissions growth is the main contribution of this study. Considering that economic growth is an obvious goal, the European Union must design measures encouraging investment in more efficient and less pollutant technologies, which is also in accordance with OECD sustainability goals. • Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis is used to study emission growth in the European Union. • The main drivers of reduced emissions were the economic crisis and energy consumption. • The results are important for policy makers in order to redesign their strategies. • It is crucial to start investing in more efficient and less pollutant technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the current geopolitical situation, the EU and its Member States are accelerating efforts to reduce their dependency on fossil fuel imports, while simultaneously tackling the climate crisis. With heating in buildings accounting for a large share of the energy consumption in the EU, policies to phase-out fossil fuels for heating and to switch to renewables are key elements. In the context of the proposed actions to phase-out fossil fuels at EU level, this article provides a systematic analysis of current and planned phase-out regulations for fossil fuel boilers in the EU Member States. The paper quantifies the share of energy consumption for heating that is addressed by such regulations and finds that the current regulations only address about 10% of the total fossil energy consumption for heating in the EU. The share increases to almost 30% when considering the planned regulations, reflecting the fact that large energy consumers such as Germany and the Netherlands have announced such regulations. The analysis shows that several Member States with high energy consumption for heating have neither implemented nor announced plans to introduce phase-out regulations for fossil fuel heating. The study concludes that immediate policy action is needed both at EU and at Member State levels. At EU level, the proposed introduction of an end-date for stand-alone fossil fuel boilers needs to be substantiated and implemented into the legislative framework. At the national level, phase-out regulations for fossil fuel boilers need to be expanded both in quantity and scope. [Display omitted] • Systematic analysis of phase-out regulations for fossil fuel boilers in the EU. • Only 10% of the EU fossil energy used for heating is covered by phase-out regulations. • Including planned regulations, the share of heating energy covered by phase-out regulations increases to almost 30%. • Comparison of different approaches for implementing regulations for phasing out fossil fuel boilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete is the most highly used construction material globally. This is largely due to its durability, versatility and manufacture from inexpensive and readily available materials. Although concrete has become an essential and ubiquitous construction material for modern society, its use has significant environmental impacts. The full cement and concrete lifecycle, from production to final disposal, accounts for nearly 10% of global energy-related CO 2 emissions with the majority of these emissions produced from cement, which is the binding material that holds concrete together. The cement and concrete industry (CCI), which is integral to global infrastructure development, is therefore confronted with a growing need to decarbonize its operations and products, as well as to support the decarbonization of associated end-user sectors. This paper provides a systematic and critical review of more than 800 studies to highlight ways in which the CCI can decarbonize. A socio-technical perspective is used to understand the full range of industrial and economic activities where a decarbonized paradigm for cement and concrete production is relevant. This perspective is further used to assess key technical, economic, social and political factors that will drive a net-zero transition in the CCI over the long term. • Reviews the cement and concrete industry (CCI) decarbonization literature. • Describes the CCI's sociotechnical system and energy and environmental impacts. • Highlights barriers and opportunities for CCI decarbonization. • Outlines technologies and policies to mitigate negative CCI impacts. • Proposes gaps and future agendas for CCI decarbonization research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world leader in CO 2 emissions, China is a key focus for climate change mitigation. In this paper, we conducted a cross-province comparison of CO 2 emission trends in China from 2006 to 2012. We determined effects of CO 2 emission factor (EMF), energy mix change (EMX), potential energy intensity change (PEI), industrial structure (STR), economic activity (EAT), technological change (BPC) and energy efficiency change (EC) as underlying forces of CO 2 emission changes with production-based decomposition. Compared to other production-theory decomposition analyses (PDA), the method used in this paper can overcome the weakness of PDA on the measurement of structural changes and energy mix effect. The results provided strong evidence that EAT is the main driver behind rising emissions, while changes in PEI, EMX and EC have led to CO 2 emission reductions in most provinces/municipalities in China. In particular, we introduced the global benchmark technology to establish the relationship between CO 2 emissions and energy use technology. The potential CO 2 reductions in China were further measured under the scenarios of contemporaneous technology and global technology. The principal empirical implication is that the promotion of energy conservation technology and reductions in inter-regional technological disparity would be effective in reducing CO 2 emissions in technically inefficient regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy model, a systematic data-intensive multi-objective framework replicating the energy sector of the country or globe, constitutes of energy resource supply, energy consumption sector-by-sector, energy transformation technologies, greenhouse gas emission and energy pricing. Considering the atypical weather pattern yearly and geographical diversity, the challenges and benefits of designing an energy model have been summarized. The paper has documented the tremendous jeopardy of drastic climate change, energy crisis on the global economy, requirement for transition to low carbon economy and rural electrification which have been impetus for the evolution of legitimate energy model. Special emphasis has been provided on the types of energy models that have been developed and practiced throughout the world followed by a comparative analysis of a few. The requirement to configure a unique energy model in India followed by certain recommendations has been proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and policy-makers have suggested tools to mitigate CO2 emissions worldwide. However, there appears to be uncertainty in terms of policy effectiveness. The objective of this paper is to develop an innovatively effective CO2 internalizing mechanism worldwide which builds on currency in circulation as its core operational tool. The study is based on a large sample of countries. Findings show that urbanization, electric power consumption and trade positively impact on CO2 emissions. No evidence is found in favour of the Environmental Kuznets Curve while the use of renewable energy reduces the level of CO2 emissions. The paper proposes a Central Bank Carbon Dioxide Emissions Internalizing Fund which rests on quantitative and qualitative tools to ensure a truly effective mechanism in CO2 emissions abatement. Quantitatively, this implies the use of a direct tax on currency in circulation and a conversion penalty in the fund. Qualitatively, there is the need to establish a global institution which would ensure that funds flow to the most polluting sectors in each country in view of unleashing the strongest decline in CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy management problems associated with rapid institutional, political, technical, ecological, social and economic development have been of critical concern to both national and local governments worldwide for many decades; thus, addressing such issues is a global priority. The main of objective of this study is to provide a review on the application and use of decision making approaches in regard to energy management problems. This paper selected and reviewed 196 published papers, from 1995 to 2015 in 72 important journals related to energy management, which chosen from the “Web of Science” database and in this regard, the systematic and meta-analysis method which called “PRISMA” has been proposed. All published papers were categorized into 13 different fields: environmental impact assessment, waste management, sustainability assessment, renewable energy, energy sustainability, land management, green management topics, water resources management, climate change, strategic environmental assessment, construction and environmental management and other energy management areas. Furthermore, papers were categorized based on the authors, publication year, nationality of authors, region, technique and application, number of criteria, research purpose, gap and contribution, solution and modeling, results and findings. Hybrid MCDM and fuzzy MCDM in the integrated methods were ranked as the first methods in use. The Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review was the important journal in this paper, with 32 published papers. Finally, environmental impact assessment was ranked as the first area that applied decision making approaches. Results of this study acknowledge that decision making approaches can help decision makers and stakeholders in solving some problems under uncertainties situations in environmental decision making and these approaches have seen increasing interest among previous researchers to use these approaches in various steps of environmental decision making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency is recognised as a key strategy to tackle three energy-related challenges – climate change, energy security and economic development – at the least cost to the society. In the recent years of the economic downturn, it gained even more relevance in the developed countries as there is more than ever the need to decouple economic recovery and growth from energy consumption. However, despite this formal recognition, energy efficiency remains the least understood and the most neglected feature of overall energy policy. Despite the substantial efforts made to develop sound energy efficiency policies, the desired effects in terms of achieved energy savings are lacking. The phenomenon is known as energy efficiency gap and its persistence was the main driver of this research. The aim of the research was to examine the causes and propose solutions for bridging the gap. Therefore, ideal policy making cycle is defined connecting design, implementation and multiple criteria evaluation of policy instruments’ impacts in closed, repetitive loop. Concept of energy efficiency market was introduced as a basis for policy making, enabling better understanding of the overall environment where policy needs to be implemented. Paper deals with the concept of energy efficiency market. It discusses the fundamental aim of energy efficiency policy – to achieve market transformation towards more efficient products and services. It presents market barriers that call for policy interventions, but upgrades the list of usually addressed barriers with behavioural and societal aspects of energy efficiency related decisions. Established methodology for energy efficiency market assessment includes upgraded model of barriers to energy efficiency. Focus of this paper is how to establish a model of energy efficiency market and to upgrade exisitng model of barriers to energy efficiencies to describe the reality better as to be a basis for policy instruments design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Commission has set clear targets for 2020 regarding energy and environment policy; these targets include 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions against the 1990 levels. It is believed that adopted strategy has encouraged the renewable energy applications during the last two decades. Moreover, measurement deviations of carbon dioxide flux occurring in respiration chambers has been seen of a great importance to explain the biochemical parameters affecting the climate change issue. This is attributed on many occasions to chamber design constraints and the way they are coupled with the studied site location. This is illustrated by external disturbances whereby when they happen while gas measurements are taken measurement deviations become more evident. This paper surveys the different soil physical, biological and geotechnical parameters and links them to meteorological ones. Consequently it explores their direct and indirect effects to the produced soil efflux. Furthermore this paper proposes several soil temperature models according to the studied case constraints to see what affects soil efflux production. Moreover a clear understanding of what affects the measurement process was achieved through surveying all the internal and external pressure parameters and how they influence the chamber in relation to time. The conclusion is that respiration chamber designers need to preserve chamber internal temperature and pressure to be equal to the outer atmosphere for the case of stabile external conditions. For the case of unstable external conditions design counter measures are incorporated. Furthermore the appropriate gas sensor needs to be selected professionally with emphasis on the importance of installation location inside the chamber. Likewise soil bacterial type and soil temperature also has an influence on efflux production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable Energy (RE) has been identified as a key tool to counter climate change and enhance energy security. Countries across the globe have been promoting this sector by several policy measures. However, limited research has been undertaken on the economic and environmental efficacy of RE policy instruments, especially in context of emerging economies like India, which have witnessed substantial capacity addition and have set ambitious targets to de-carbonize their economy. This paper identifies 25 innovative practices followed in India which have enabled accelerated RE capacity addition with minimal financial obligations. These include energy entrepreneurship, energy democratization, private sector participation, hedging and apportioning RE procurement, use of auctions with stringent participatory norms, creditworthy counter-party, leverage of risk capital by developmental institutions, regular revision of tariffs, environmental cess on polluting industries, long-term RE purchase trajectory and incentivizing green power output. Results indicate high financial impact of instruments (support of US$ 3–5/MW h over applicable tariff) which gets neutralized when tax inflow is considered. Lower carbon abatement cost (US$ 3–6/tCO2eq) depicts high environmental efficacy. The paper shares best practices from India in terms of efficient use of RE policy enablers, which may be contextualized in other emerging economies as per the local requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water and electricity are fundamentally linked. At a basic level electricity generation requires water, and water treatment and transportation use electricity. Historically, there has been little reason to understand the nature of these links, due largely to the presumption that water was not a threat to energy security, nor electricity a threat to water security. This presumption is now being challenged. Industry reforms, increasing demand, and more recently climate change – are bringing into sharp focus the links between water and electricity in unprecedented ways. General awareness of the links between water and electricity is increasing daily, as the ramifications of the links are being felt the world over: Society's ability to deal with the challenges and uncertainties arising from the links between water and electricity is being hindered by limited understanding of the nature of the links, and seeming lack of policy tools to effectively analyze them. This paper reviews comprehensively the links between water and electricity. Presents a classification system for identifying links. Using the classification system, this study further discusses these links by drawing upon examples from literature and follows with a synopsis of the nature of these links. With this background, the paper reviews and compares water-energy studies in terms of scope, objectives, methodologies and key findings, discusses major limitations of these studies and identifies important areas that would benefit from more in-depth research. This research contends that this type of approach is unsuitable in the longer term, particularly when examining complex and multidimensional issues like the water-energy nexus. This work suggests that the nature of the nexus should and can be explored from a wider perspective, by developing a suitable integrated methodological framework to serve as a platform for such exploration. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to outline the development of such a framework. Introduces Integral Theory and discusses how Integral Theory has shaped the development of the methodological framework employed in this research. Presents the framework and describes the suite of methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 60% and 80% of global energy is consumed in urban areas and given the projected increase in world׳s urban population, this share is expected to further increase in the future. Continuity of energy supply in cities is affected by climate change and a growing array of other threats such as cyber attacks, terrorism, technical deficiencies, and market volatility. Determined efforts, acknowledging the interactions and interlinkages between energy and other sectors, are needed to avoid adverse consequences of disruption in energy supply. Resilience thinking is an approach to management of socio-ecological systems that aims to develop an integrated framework for bringing together the (often) fragmented, diverse research on disaster risk management. The literature on urban resilience is immense and still growing. This paper reviews literature related to energy resilience to develop a conceptual framework for assessing urban energy resilience, identify planning and design criteria that can be used for assessing urban energy resilience, and examine the relationship of these criteria with the underlying components of the conceptual framework. In the conceptual framework, it is proposed that in order to be resilient, urban energy system needs to be capable of “planning and preparing for”, “absorbing”, “recovering from”, and “adapting” to any adverse events that may happen in the future. Integrating these four abilities into the system would enable it to continuously address “availability”, “accessibility”, “affordability”, and “acceptability” as the four sustainability-related dimensions of energy. The paper explains different resilience principles associated with these abilities and sustainability dimensions. Also, different planning and design criteria were extracted from the literature and categorized into five themes: infrastructure; resources; land use, urban geometry and morphology; governance; and socio-demographic aspects and human behavior. Examination of the relationship of these criteria with the underlying components of the conceptual framework highlighted the complexity and multi-faceted nature of energy resilience. Exploration of the relevance of the identified criteria to climate change mitigation and adaptation revealed that most of the identified criteria can provide both mitigation and adaptation benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the funding trends, topical themes, and notable gaps in global public research funding across the areas of energy, climate change, transport, and industrial decarbonisation from 1990 to 2020. The paper organizes its analysis along the themes of financial and spatial patterns of funding, patterns of disciplinary funding, and the temporality (and shifting research priorities) within funding patterns. It finds that funding for energy and climate research remains concentrated within the European Commission, United Kingdom and United States. Climate change adaptation research is the most funded general area, and the specific topics of energy efficiency, climate resilience, and climate information systems, managing climate risks, energy storage, carbon dioxide removal and solar energy are the most funded technologies. There is significant diversity in the disciplines funded, with the social sciences supported almost as much as the engineering and physical sciences and meaningful amounts of funding disbursed to the arts and humanities and the life sciences. A large majority of projects identify themselves as transdisciplinary. The paper, lastly, discusses research gaps and future research questions. • Systematically explores research funding on climate change and energy from 1990 to 2020. • Catalogues public research programs across the largest funders and countries in the world. • Examines the top-awarded universities, top-awarded disciplines and interdisciplinary funding patterns. • Evaluates how research funding shapes the dynamics on knowledge and technology innovation. • Analyses spatial patterns of funding, disciplinary politics, and shifting research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract One of the most important challenges to mitigate global climate change is to move towards sustainable mobility. In this line, electric vehicles are currently an efficient and environmentally friendly means of transport. The objective of this research is to analyze the incidence of implementing fast charging stations for electric vehicles in the power distribution system of a Latin American intermediate city. The paper covers social, geographic, and technical aspects to determine the minimum infrastructure needed for the selected case study. The analysis is carried out by computational tools in order to model a 50 kW fast charging station with an AC/DC and DC/DC power converter. The inclusion of this type of stations in one of the feeders of the power distribution system of the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, is studied. After the analysis, it can be concluded that the impact of the inclusion of fast charging stations in the distribution system of the study area is reduced in terms of harmonic distortion and energy capacity. This low technical impact can lead to economic and environmental benefits for the city. This study helps to establish the necessary procedure to determine the fast charging infrastructure in urban centers and verify its impact on the power distribution network. Highlights • The number of EV fast charging stations needed in an intermediate city is determined. • The impact of EV chargers on the network is low considering voltage and energy quality. • With a penetration of 10% of EV, the city´s power system has no operational problems. • The inclusion of EV reduce an average of 10 kg CO2/day per vehicle in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Energy-Water-Food Nexus is one of the most complex sustainability challenges faced by the world. This is particularly true in Brazil, where insufficiently understood interactions within the Nexus are contributing to large-scale deforestation and land-use change, water and energy scarcity, and increased vulnerability to climate change. The reason is a combination of global environmental change and global economic change, putting unprecedented pressures on the Brazilian environment and ecosystems. In this paper, we identify and discuss the main Nexus challenges faced by Brazil across sectors (e.g. energy, agriculture, water) and scales (e.g. federal, state, municipal). We use four case studies to explore all nodes of the Nexus. For each, we analyse data from economic and biophysical modelling sources in combination with an overview of the legislative and policy landscape, in order to identify governance shortcomings in the context of growing challenges. We analyse the complex interdependence of developments at the global and local (Brazilian) levels, highlighting the impact of global environmental and economic change on Brazil and, conversely, that of developments in Brazil for other countries and the world. We conclude that there is a need to adjust the scientific approach to these challenges as an enabling condition for stronger science-policy bridges for sustainability policy-making. Highlights • Overview of the Energy-Water-Food Nexus in Brazil for science, law and policy. • Review of the complex linkages in the Nexus for water, energy and food security. • Review of the law addressing the Nexus and its coordination deficiencies. • Recommendations for strengthening the Nexus science-policy bridge in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Extraordinary declines in the cost of photovoltaic systems (PV), combined with a growing range of energy efficient consumer technologies (EE), has driven significant deployment of these two options in many jurisdictions. This deployment has proven to be a key way to mitigate the risks of catastrophic climate change. However, existing retail electricity arrangements can create mixed incentives for households contemplating investing in both PV and EE. This is caused by net metering arrangements that value self-consumption of PV generation far more than PV exports to the grid. This means that falling household demand due to EE may significantly reduce the financial value of PV. Meanwhile, the continuous cost decline of battery storage systems (BS) has encouraged more PV owners to consider storing PV exports to maximise self-consumption. However, there has been little research on whether the addition of BS could reduce barriers to the combined uptake of PV and EE. In this paper, real PV generation and electricity consumption data is used from numerous households in Sydney (Australia), together with a battery cyclelife model, to assess the financial outcomes of combining PV, EE and BS. The results indicate that EE can reduce PV system revenue, that adding BS to a combination of PV and EE generally increases PV revenue, that BS costs are still high for this residential application, and that the uptake of EE can result in deeper BS cycling which reduces the battery lifetime. Highlights • Energy efficiency (EE) reduces the household revenue from a PV system. • The addition of batteries (BS) increases the combined value of PV and EE. • Battery costs are still too high for this residential application. • The uptake of EE can result in deeper BS cycling which reduces the battery lifetime. • Overall, EE reduces the value of a battery in the presence of Time-of-Use tariffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Building energy demands in long-term studies are mostly calculated using the averaged weather data sets, reflecting the changes in environmental conditions over time, thus the different energy consumption each year. This paper reviews and discusses the coupled effects of warming trend in global mean surface temperatures, application of different design weather datasets, and utilization of different methods of building energy assessment on the calculated energy demands. The possible inaccuracies of building energy analyses caused by those three factors are investigated on the example of a residential house in Central Europe. For that purpose eight different weather data sets for Prague, Czech Republic are selected and simulations in two different scales are performed. The analysis of the effect of recent weather data is performed by an improved methodology. First, the simulation brings an increased precision as an advanced hygrothermal model is used for energy calculations. Second, the building performance is assessed, contrary to the Czech national standards, using both heating and cooling energy demands. The simulation results confirm the warming trend in the time period of 2013–2017 as the average heating demands are 3.95% lower and the average cooling demands 3.96% higher in a comparison with the Test Reference Year. In the extreme years, a 12–15% decrease of energy consumed for heating and up to 20% increase of energy necessary for cooling is found. This is in accordance with the presumed warming trend that has been widely discussed during the last few decades. Furthermore, the presented results verify the critical and positive design weather years as suitable for application in the simulation of heating and cooling energy demands in the Czech Republic. Highlights • The effect of recent weather data on building energy demands is analyzed. • The average heating demands are 3.95% lower in 2013–2017 period than TRY. • The average cooling demands are 3.96% higher in 2013–2017 period than TRY. • The results confirmed the effect of warming trend in the recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Renewable energy, as an important part of the world's energy system, is conducive to the harmonious development of humanity and nature. China has been paying considerable attention to renewable energy given the growing pressure of energy shortages and environmental deterioration. The legal framework of renewable energy in China has greatly contributed to the achievements already made in this field; however, it is still insufficient to integrate renewable energy into the national energy system. This paper, in light of the comparisons of various state practices, critically reviews the problems of China's renewable energy law and policy such as problems with fragmentation, obsolescence, and lack of operability. In addition to identifying the consequent disadvantages, this review also presents improvement recommendations. Highlights • The world is facing serious problems of energy shortage, environmental pollution and climate change. • China has established a relatively complete renewable energy law and policy system to promote renewable energy development. • Smooth development of renewable energy is inseparable from supportive legal framework. • Compared with other states, China's renewable energy laws and policies have some disadvantages to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With climate change and the over-exploitation of fossil fuels, the advantages of using bioenergy are becoming increasingly obvious and many countries and regions around the world are committed to building biogas plants to produce clean energy. This article examines Henan Province, which features agricultural production and biogas projects typical of China. The aim was to identify the problems associated with the use of current agricultural waste in biogas production and provide suggestions for future biogas developments via comparisons of the potential of agricultural wastes with biogas project construction. Straw and manure volumes were analyzed by using crop yields and livestock production to calculate the biogas potential and the status quo was reflected through biogas project data. Subsequently, biogas potential and projects were analyzed from quantitative and spatial perspectives and a benefit evaluation was conducted. The results indicate that Henan Province has abundant straw and manure resources with large biogas potential, and that making good use of these wastes would have a good emission reduction effect and economic advantages, but there are presently large differences between the actual production and biogas potential. This paper analyzes the possible causes of this discrepancy, including resource utilization and biogas project operations. Lastly, countermeasures were proposed, such as developing matching technologies, improving relevant policies, and improving ecological-economic benefits to enhance future biogas project development. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • We choose Henan Province which is typical of agriculture and biogas industries. • Straw and manure volume are used to calculate biogas potential. • There is a significant difference between biogas potential and actual production. • Resource use and biogas project management issues cause these inconsistencies. • Technology, policy, and ecological-economic countermeasures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Security of energy supply and the threat of climate change are the key challenges that define the further development of EU energy systems. The security of supply problem follows other problems such as energy and material scarcity, import dependency and waste generation. These problems can be alleviated via development of a low-carbon, sustainable, competitive and resource-efficient economy. One of the pillars of this approach is a circular economy and "closing the loop" approach. Integrated waste management system can close the loop, not only material-wise, through material recovery, but also energy-wise, by using energy from waste to drive whole waste management and recovery chain. Such approach is utilized in this paper through tracking of each energy vector and calculating coverage of energy needs inside the analysed systems. Energy analysis is accepted approach for sustainability assessment of the various products and systems, where primary energy consumption approach is mostly used. By combining these two approaches, the impact of closing the loop material- and energy-wise on the sustainability of the recycled materials is assessed by analysing to which degree can the embodied energy of recycled materials be reduced. The results of the analysed city case study show that energy recovery can satisfy up to 60/50% (in 2020/2030) of the total energy needs of the analysed system; in 2030 38% of waste routed to energy recovery (from which 25% to anaerobic digestion and the rest to the incinerator) satisfies around 50% of energy needs. This internal (partial) coverage of systems energy needs can additionally reduce embodied energy of recycled materials, and increase their sustainability (primarily lowered by material recovery) by 11–67% at the same time. From these results it can be concluded that energy recovery of waste could help to "close the loop" in the whole waste recovery mindset. Highlights • Evaluation method of the energy recovery role in the circular economy is elaborated. • Energy recovery influence on the embodied energy of recycled material is analysed. • Sequential, time-dependent, city-based, energy analysis is conducted. • Influence of legislation and time changes on waste management system are analysed. • Impacts of closing the loop on the energy side of the recovery chain are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The growing demand for energy and the accelerating threats from climate change call for innovative and sustainable solutions to decrease dependency on fossil fuels. Biomass-based, small-scale Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) systems are one of these solutions, because they can satisfy the energy demands of the consumer with enhanced flexibility, lower losses, less costs and less environmental pollution as compared to centralized facilities. Due to recent advances in several scientific subfields with relevance to small-scale CCHP, a rapidly increasing amount of literature is now available. Therefore, a structural overview is essential for engineers and researchers. This paper presents a review of the current investigations in small-scale CCHP systems covering biomass-fired concepts and solar extensions. To this end, critical system components are described and analysed according to their specific advantages and drawbacks. Recent case studies have been collected and key findings are highlighted according to each type of prime mover. The results indicate a scientific bias towards the economic viability of such systems and the need for real-life and experiment system data. However, the potential of biomass-fired CCHP systems and of such systems with solar extensions has clearly been recognised. Based on the results, future policy implementations should focus on fostering such systems in areas with high energy costs and to increase energy resilience in developed regions. Additionally research and industry applying novel prime mover technologies should be financially supported. Highlights • Small-scale, biomass-fired CCHP is gaining interest in science and industry. • Summary on biomass conversion, prime mover and cooling technologies. • The findings are put into context with current and future technology trends. • Entrepreneurial bias of scientist towards feasibility of CCHP systems. • Policies should promote CCHP in areas with high energy costs and low grid stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eleven years on since the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its efforts in combating climate change, fossil fuels remain the most dominant global energy source. As the total replacement of fossil fuel energy is not expected to take place immediately in the near future, the International Energy Agency has repeatedly declared carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as a key technology for mitigating climate change. However, CCS lacks the scale required for substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power generation. Even though CCS is one of the key technologies for mitigating climate change, why has this technology not had an international breakthrough? To shed light on this question, this paper employs a simple model of energy generation, scrutinizes the economic drivers of CCS based on the analytical results, and discusses the possible obstacles that can prevent a widespread rollout of the technology. This is followed by a state-of-the-art in literature pertaining to the economics of CCS, and a discussion that points to a dichotomy between the economic theory and reality. The study concludes with some policy suggestions and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review on the application of neural networks for the estimation, forecasting, monitoring, and classification of exogenous environmental variables that affect the performance, salubrity, and security of cities, buildings, and infrastructures. The forecast of these variables allows to explore renewable energy and water resources, to prevent potentially hazardous construction locations, and to find the healthiest places, thus promoting a more sustainable future. Five research themes are covered—solar, atmospheric, hydrologic, geologic, and climate change. The solar section comprises solar radiation, direct and diffuse radiation, infrared and ultraviolet radiation, clearness index, and sky luminance and luminous efficacy. The atmospheric section reviews wind, temperature, humidity, cloud classification, and storm prediction. The hydrologic section focuses on precipitation, rainfall-runoff, hail, snow, drought, flood, tides, water levels, and other variables. The geologic section covers works on landslides, earthquakes, liquefaction, erosion, soil classification, soil mechanics, and other properties. Finally, climate change forecasting and downscaling of climate models are reviewed. This work demonstrates the wide range of applications of these methods in different research fields. Some research gaps and interdisciplinary research opportunities are identified for future development of comprehensive forecast and evaluation approaches regarding the estimation of renewable energy and built environment-related variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the net effect of renewable energy policy in Spain from 2002 to 2017 and calculates its cost-effectiveness in terms of CO 2 emission reductions in the production of electricity. Our conclusions indicate that although the phasing out of Feed-in Tariffs reduced the regulatory costs, it also limited renewable participation in the electricity market, leading to an increased electricity price and higher emissions. According to our results, the joint effect of (i) the value of avoided emissions due to renewable energy participation and (ii) the merit order effect was able to compensate for the regulatory costs (subsidies) up until 2010, while the sign of the net effect was reversed from 2011 to 2017. Finally, we find that the economic implications of emission reductions are highly dependent on how the social cost of carbon is measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global firms are increasingly adopting greenhouse gas mitigation targets in response to climate change. These targets serve as a spur for carbon mitigation initiatives, provide guidelines to select appropriate mitigation actions, and set the standards to measure the progress of the mitigation efforts. Despite their important functionalities, firm-level mitigation targets have rarely been studied. In this paper we aim to provide a comparative view on mitigation targets set by global firms across different countries and industrial sectors. The analysis focuses on four dimensions, i.e., adoption, metric, scope, and stringency. We find Japan far leads the other major countries in terms of target adoption, but the targets of Japanese firms are generally less stringent. Canadian firms are laggards in both target adoption and target stringency. The mitigation targets are also considerably uncommon among Australian firms. Firms in developing countries fall behind in target stringency and display a significantly greater divergence than developed countries in sectoral adoption rate. The European Union firms are most likely to cover the emissions in their supply chains in targets. Target stringency has substantially tightened from 2005 to 2012. For all the countries in this study, around 95% of the firm-level targets are more stringent than the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the Paris Agreement. Setting mitigation target has a significant positive impact on both the likelihood of investing in renewable energy and the amount of investment in renewable energy. However, there is no evidence that more stringent targets lead to higher investment. These findings point to the most pressing issues with regard to corporate mitigation target-setting that policymakers and corporate management should address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the potential to alleviate poverty, promote industrialisation, facilitate gender equality and reduce the region's vulnerability to climate change. Consequently, the current low rates of electrification in many SSA countries has been identified as the most pressing obstacle to economic growth, more important than access to finance, red tape or corruption. Despite the presence of numerous initiatives for promoting energy access in Africa, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calling for universal access to energy by 2030, Africa might still not be able to achieve universal energy access by 2030. Through an analysis of case studies, research articles, policy briefs and project reports this paper sought to investigate the policies, strategies and innovations that could help expedite SSA's progress towards universal energy access before 2030. This investigation revealed that an emphasis on rural electrification and linking energy access to agriculture and irrigation development as the case was in Viet Nam, could successfully diversify African economies and mitigate the negative perceptions about Africa's growth prospects and energy sectors that global economic shocks instigate. Additionally, the operations of Power Africa, the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative and the China South-South Climate Cooperation Fund can either significantly improve the financing and regulatory frameworks for SSA's energy sectors or constrain economic development in SSA by promoting rent-seeking and corruption which culminates into a ‘climate finance curse’. Consequently, these initiatives can only facilitate inclusive growth as envisioned in the SDGs if SSA develops or strengthens institutions to coordinate and harmonise investments and aid from such autonomous diverse sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies show the potential to compete in the future market with the currently dominant crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology. A comparison of the different technologies based on their module performance rated at Standard Test Conditions (STC) is a commonly accepted method in the PV community. However, despite being a useful tool, it does not give enough information to accurately predict how much energy a PV module would deliver in the field when subjected to the wide range of real operating conditions. In this paper we explore a potential screening method for new PV technologies; an energy-based metric to estimate the energy performance (Module Performance Ratio) of a PV module in a certain climate. This is constructed on the basis of validated models, and rigorous power rating measurements performed in controlled laboratory conditions at different temperature and irradiance levels. This method has the advantage that it can be applied to laboratory prototypes of technologies still in development as it does not require that the final product has reached maturity. The method has been applied to three thin-film PV technologies including the very innovative organic photovoltaics (OPV), and a comparison with c-Si is presented. The results obtained from the module performance ratio estimation in five different locations show how the emerging OPV technology performs similarly to some of the most common technologies considered and even outperforms slightly some technologies in some of the studied locations. These results could reinforce and support further development of this technology and its potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to low-carbon technologies is essential to meet international climate change agreements. While market dynamics are contributing to make technologies increasingly affordable, experience has shown that other factors as well play a role in investment decisions. Uncertainty is one of them. Focusing on the power generation sector, this paper reviews the most recent literature on the subject, under the specific conditions that at least one adoption driver is uncertain and that a technology and/or environmental policy is in place. To understand how uncertainty affects adoption decisions, the survey considers economic parameters (e.g., investment costs or electricity prices) first and then focuses on the role of policy. While the deterring effect of uncertainty over investments is largely confirmed, several mitigating and underexplored issues are also identified, such as the role of heterogeneous investors’ characteristics or the welfare implications of different policy designs. Moreover, by explicitly considering policy uncertainty, this survey provides a clearer understanding of the effects of a lack of government commitment on the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies in the energy sector. Related challenges for policymakers and investors are carefully delineated, together with directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With ever-increasing demands for energy and gradual climate changes, development and advancements of renewable energy have become a major priority of every country. The applications of renewable energy increase many folds when coupled with wireless power transfer (WPT) technology. About a century ago the advents of Tesla provided us with the principles of WPT. Since then a lot of research has been done in this field. Many efforts have been put to transmit power of renewable energy wirelessly. In this paper, the basic principles and various methods of WPT are reviewed and also discuss the recent developments in wireless transmission of renewable energy. An update for application and limitations of WPT has been presented. The possible systems produced with the coupling of WPT are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]