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This paper investigates the connection between climate change and energy security in Europe and provides empirical evidence that these issues are the two faces of the same coin. Using a panel of 39 European countries during the period 1980–2020, the empirical analysis presented in this paper indicates that increasing the share of nuclear, renewables, and other nonhydrocarbon energy and improving energy efficiency could lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and improve energy security throughout Europe. Accordingly, policies and reforms aimed at shifting away from hydrocarbons and increasing energy efficiency in distribution and consumption are key to mitigating climate change, reducing energy dependence, and minimizing exposure to energy price volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional buildings have a central role to play in Europe's plans to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, with the building sector being the single largest energy consumer in the EU with 40 per cent of total energy use. Seventy-five per cent of the existing housing stock is energy inefficient with minute numbers renovated each year. Existing buildings offer huge potential for energy use reduction. Research has shown that a historic retrofit can emit less carbon compared to demolishment and rebuilding. Reductions in carbon emissions of up to 62 per cent were observed across a body of case studies by Historic England, including a 95 per cent reduction in the mews case study described in this paper. Moreover, carefully managed thermal retrofits, taking a 'whole house approach', have many benefits, including improved indoor comfort and air quality as well as reduced operational costs. These are factors which are fundamental in ensuring the continued use of historic constructions while improving their standards of preservation and durability. Thermally upgrading traditional building is still a much-debated topic. Inappropriate thermal interventions with unsuitable materials and finishes can have unforeseen consequences, resulting in building damage and a reduction in internal comfort, health and well-being. This paper aims to contribute to this discussion by providing an overview of key considerations when thermally upgrading the walls of traditional buildings while preserving unique characteristics and functionality. Advantages of adopting thermal mortars such as cork lime are put forward, and their potential efficacy is discussed, concluding with a case study focusing on the deep retrofit of a London mews within a conservation area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we outline a transdisciplinary approach and design thinking methodology (TADTM) to tackle complex problems. Our premise is that these problems need a fundamental understanding of technological solutions and those for human interactions, business operations, financing, socioeconomic governance, legislation, and regulations. They must be approached by different decisionmakers from different disciplines to establish seamless interactions and structured teamwork. In this regard, we emphasize the need for a transdisciplinary framework that accounts for personal preferences based on human behavior as well as the traditional interdisciplinary frameworks. To test and prove our hypothesis, three case studies are discussed. Case Study 1 is based on our studies at a major medical establishment, and Case Study 2 is about the integrated engineering and architecture approach we used at our university campus. Case Study 3 is based on an ongoing project to lead industrial corporations to change their energy policies with practical energy efficiency measures and by adapting renewable/alternative energy adaptations for their operations. Developing creative solutions and strategies to decrease atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions requires such an energy transition framework and should involve every person, company, entity, and all governments. It can only be achieved with efforts on both local and global levels, which needs to convince (a) industries to change their traditional operation modalities, (b) people to alter their consumption behaviors, and (c) governments to change their rules, regulations, and incentives. The complexity and magnitude of this enormous task demand the coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders, as well as the need for technological innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is the analysis of possible influence of climate change on the energy performance of building and indoor temperatures. The model is based on the Maison Air et Lumière house, which concept was developed as part of the Model Homo 2020 project. It was a low-energy, single family, detached house. The model was divided into three thermal zones and developed by using SketchUp software. The analysis of the climate change was made on the example of the city in Poland - Kielce and described in the first part of the paper. Dynamic calculations of the building model were performed by using the TRNSYS software. The calculations were made for three different scenarios relating to existing technical systems: ventilation, ventilation + heating, ventilation + heating + cooling. Annual energy consumption and rooms air temperature changes were estimated for each variant. The results showed higher risk of summer discomfort and change in energy balance of building what indicates the need to use the cooling system in the future during the summer to reduce the discomfort of overheating. In the variant without the cooling system, the percentage of time with an indoor temperature above 27°C increased from 23.7% to 44.2% in zone 2. The energy demand for heating was reduced by 23.4% compared to the current climate, and the energy consumption for cooling (with the cooling option) increased significantly by 232% compared to the current demand. Summarizing, research indicates that with global warming, the energy demand for heating will decrease and the cooling demand will increase significantly in order to maintain the required user comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency is one of the most powerful strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change by reducing energy demand, which in turn reduces the emissions of Green House Gases (GHG), as well as reducing the burden on the supply side renewable generation expansion. Because electric motors systems represent such a large share of the overall electricity consumption (over 50%), large savings potential could be made available by the use of energy-efficient motor systems both in new installations and by accelerating the replacement of old inefficient motors. Since electric motors are very reliable, their lifetime is long (according to recent studies it may exceed 20 years) which translates into a very inefficient existing stock despite worldwide policy efforts. This paper analyzes the current efficiency of the installed stock and the causes for its low efficiency, possible policy options to increase its the efficiency, the role of new technologies and improvements possible by targeting the entire motor system at the time of motor replacement. The paper presents an innovative analysis of the estimated impact of increasing the uptake of high-efficiency motors and motor systems; effective policies could translate into 100 TWh/year in the European Union if additional measures, such as addressing oversizing, proper controls (VSDs) and digitisation, are also implemented. If similar measures were adopted globally, the savings triggered could be at least tenfold reaching over 1000 TWh/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy keeps the global economy alive, while also being extensively exposed to various climate change impacts. In this context, severe business competition (e.g., the building sector) and the unwise use of natural resources and ecosystem services (e.g., fossil fuel energy sources) seem to sharpen the relevant effects of climate change. Indicatively, contemporary issues at the interface of building energy performance and environmental quality levels include consequences from global warming, the increasing release of carbon dioxide to peak electrical loads, power grids, and building planning, and energy demand and supply issues. In light of such concerns, the present review paper attempts to disclose the multifaceted and multidisciplinary character of building energy use at the interface of the economy, the environment, and society against climate change. This review highlights energy efficiency concepts, production, distribution, consumption patterns, and relevant technological improvements. Interestingly, the reviewed contributions in the relevant literature reveal the need and necessity to alter the energy mix and relevant energy use issues. These include developments in climate-proof and effective systems regarding climate change impacts and shocks. Practical implications indicate that the sustainable development goals for clean energy and climate action should be followed if we wish to bring a sustainable future closer and faster to our reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses existing trends and prospects for decarbonization in the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS), an international organization that regroups Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The CIS occupies a significant share of Eurasia, representing a large share of global energy consumption and production with a corresponding carbon footprint. These countries and their decarbonization prospects are rarely discussed in the English-language scientific literature. This paper fills in this gap by offering a comprehensive analysis based on statistical data, policy documents, and scenario-based future projections. The results underline that revisiting Nationally Determined Contributions, increasing energy efficiency, and decoupling GDP growth from greenhouse gas emissions are essential to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The future energy mix should include larger shares of renewable energy, hydrogen, fossil fuels (highly efficient with carbon capture), and nuclear energy to achieve energy security and decarbonize the economy of the region in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa, switching to renewable energy sources with low carbon emissions is becoming more popular. In the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS), the low-carbon energy transition must overcome significant obstacles, including those posed by policies put in place and their implementation. In order to replace the current fossil fuel-driven economy with low-carbon development that also advances the regional aims and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this paper analyzes the current policy landscape in the region. A total of 75 policies from four categories (energy access, energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change) were chosen for the policy review. Multicriteria decision analysis and a thorough review of the literature have shed light on how well the policies of the ECOWAS countries could promote low-carbon development and what the main challenges to overcome are. The last step was the comparison of the progress of the two key policies in the region: the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) and National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). The results illustrate the amount of work still needing to be done in the region, with only 26 of the 75 policies receiving a score above 50. However, the prospect of a better energy strategy that adequately considers the difficulties of the energy transition is possible, given the progress made by the region's nations since the creation of national action plans for energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE). Our analysis has also shown that countries like Senegal have obtained quite promising results, as evidenced by the best scores of 76.88 and 73.25, respectively, obtained by its NREAP and NEEAP policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most climatic changes are not just the result of human activity, but also of business models that harm the environment. An attempt to attain an ecological balance is an answer to the challenge posed by this situation. The combustion of liquid fuels results in the atmospheric emissions of pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide and hydrocarbons. To reduce emissions of these pollutants and at the same time attain an ecological balance, specific modifiers are applied. This paper presents an analysis of the energy efficiency and ecological efficiency of fuel oil combustion in power plant boilers based on the results of tests carried out by the present authors, in which a Fe/Mg/Ce modifier was used. The tests were carried out for system capacities ranging from 1 to 5 MW. It was found that savings on fuel, which resulted from the implementation of a system for the control and supervision of power plant operation, were in the range of 4 to 6%, and those resulting from the use of the combustion modifier were from 2 to 4%. Moreover, it was found that the system designed to improve efficiency also provided the extra result of reducing CO2 emission and equivalent emission (SO2, NO2, and particulate matter). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to a threat of global climate change. As one of the major sources of carbon emissions in the Antarctic region, shipborne tourism in the Antarctic is expanding rapidly. Consequently, the carbon emissions of shipborne tourism in Antarctica are rapidly increasing. However, there is not enough attention being paid to this issue. In this paper, a calculation model was established to calculate the carbon emissions of cruise ships from the 2003/04 season to the 2016/17 season. The evolution of the carbon emissions from Antarctic cruise ships was described. An aggregate energy efficiency index was developed to evaluate the energy efficiency performance of Antarctic vessels. The key drivers were analyzed to find the paths of carbon reduction. The results show that: (1) The emissions per passenger-trip did not show a downward trend. The total carbon emissions increased continuously with the increasing number of tourists. The total carbon emissions in the 2016/17 season was double that in the 2003/04 season. (2) The aggregate energy efficiency index of Antarctic tour vessels has not reached an advanced level yet. It is the main reason for the high value of emissions per passenger-trip. (3) Due to the oversupply of Antarctica tour ships, there is a low rate of occupancy, which accounts for the decline in aggregate energy efficiency from the 2014/15 season to the 2016/17 season. This study suggests that the administrators of Antarctica should strengthen supervision of the tourism market, control the rapid growth in the number of cruise ships, improve the aggregate energy efficiency of cruise ships and form an efficient and green Antarctic tourism management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency policies can help to reduce energy use and mitigate the effects of climate change. This paper examines the U.S. and Chinese economies by applying HEM to both. Key sectors absorbing more energy from other sectors by purchasing intermediate products from them and, simultaneously, transferring more energy by selling products to the rest of the sectors are identified. This provides insights for decision-making on appropriate energy efficiency policies. It appears that the U.S. economy should focus on the service sector, and the Chinese should focus on the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment report, energy-efficient appliances can reduce global electricity consumption even though there is an expected increase in the number and ownership of appliances. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects a high increase in energy efficiency in traditional appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, television, etc.), and in the number of new appliances installed (also called plug loads). The bibliometric study of publications related to energy-efficient appliances carried out in this paper shows that research on this topic is growing in developed regions (North America and Europe) and even more in some developing regions (Asia Pacific) with a high emphasis on China and India. The results indicate that, in general, policies are always implemented before the core of publications on the topic, with time spans ranging from 3 to 30 years. However, the trend seems to be changing with publications related to new appliances where the core research happens shortly after or in parallel to the establishment of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of smart cities, sustainability is an essential dimension. One of the ways to achieve sustainability and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in smart cities is through the promotion of sustainable energy. The demand for affordable and reliable electrical energy requires different energy sources, where the cost of production often outweighs the environmental factor. This paper aims to investigate the ways smart cities promote sustainability in the electricity sector. For this, a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol was employed as the methodological approach. In this review, 154 journal articles were thoroughly analyzed. The results were grouped according to the themes and categorized into energy efficiency, renewable energies, and energy and urban planning. The study findings revealed the following: (a) global academic publication landscape for smart city and energy sustainability research; (b) unbalanced publications when critically evaluating geographical continents' energy use intensity vs. smart cities' energy sustainability research outcomes; (c) there is a heavy concentration on the technology dimension of energy sustainability and efficiency, and renewables topics in the literature, but much less attention is paid to the energy and urban planning issues. The insights generated inform urban and energy authorities and provide scholars with directions for prospective research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing awareness of climate change is constantly moving the attention of designers and policymakers from typical and current scenarios to future layouts. This new approach introduces a degree of uncertainty that should be accounted in the building design process. The multitude of possible scenarios suggests considering dynamic system that can adapt themselves to unpredicted operating conditions. The aim of this study is to test a new approach and a new flexibility metric analysing the behaviour of a high-performance dynamic internal curtain in current and future scenarios. The first part of the paper focuses on the optimization of the dynamic system in the current scenario; this preliminary analysis represents the traditional design approach and is considered the baseline for all the comparisons. Hence, defining a matrix of likely scenarios, this paper explores the behaviour of three different selected control strategies – always off (i.e., no curtain), fixed control, optimized control – in the different scenarios considering possible variations of i) climate, ii) urban context, iii) internal loads, and iv) building use. The main outcomes of the research are, on the one hand, the comparisons of the control strategies and the benefits of the dynamic system and, on the other hand, the definition of a new metric that can properly describe the flexibility of the building systems with reference to the future scenarios analysed. This metric is based on six classes – which describe the statistical distribution of the energy consumptions of all the scenarios simulated in the matrix – and an index called Energy Flexibility Index (EFI) that quantifies the flexibility of the technology considered. The case study analysed highlights how implementing a dynamic shading system, considering the same building use, can increase the EFI of nearly 21% for non-optimized control strategy and up to 23% when optimized. While changing the building use in residential reduces these values respectively, to 6% and 7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies targeting energy efficiency and renewable energy are sometimes viewed as more politically feasible than carbon pricing in pursuit of emission reduction goals. This paper assesses underlying drivers of energy policy development. These factors include economic, social, environmental, and institutional variables. The between estimator for panel data is an appropriate method for our focus on some exogenous variables that vary more across countries than over time. We find that larger oil reserves per capita have a negative relationship with renewable energy policy development. Education and political globalisation have strong positive relationships with both energy-efficiency and renewable-energy policy development. These results suggest that greater participation in global political groups can be an indirect approach toward energy policy development, in cases where direct and immediate policies are hard to implement. OECD countries have higher policy scores by 33 and 25 points in energy efficiency and renewable energy respectively. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis shows that these higher scores are primarily due to social and political institution predictors rather than economics and physical endowments. • Large-n cross country international sample on continuous policy score measurement. • Political globalisation is positively linked with renewables and energy efficiency policies. • Education is positively linked to energy policy development, especially for efficiency. • Higher OECD countries' policy scores are primarily due to social and political predictors. • Higher incomes are unlikely to lead to automatic improvements in energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive energy demand and source of energy usages is the key root of global emission and climate change. Solar photovoltaic (PV) is low carbon energy technology currently 3.2% share of global electricity supply. The rapid progress of solar PV is vastly related to increase energy efficiency and lessening of active materials usage. This paper solar PV present significance and most prospective PV materials technical challenges are reviewed for its future advancement. Among the challenges solar energy absorption-related dynamic photo-thermal effect on cells or modules is vital. Transparent passivation contact materials with lower temperature coefficient (TC) and thin active layer resulted in lowering both dynamic photo-thermal outcome and optical to electrical energy gap. Thin active layer minor bulk recombination and sub-band parasitic absorption lessening purpose transparent conductive materials (TCM) based proper band barrier heterointerface is impending. It can optimize desired band absorption and photo-coupling with selective carrier induces greater efficiency. Earlier research though explains it on carrier selectivity prejudice, but how it can lessen the near infrared band optical and associated thermal influence is essential to illustrated. Passivation and TC interrelations hence, field related drift is control over diffusion process loss in advanced bifacial and thin active layer PV technology. Loss lessening pathways thin wafer-based Si, thin film CdTe, organic and perovskite photo coupling with advanced TCM, thus, Si/CdTe and Si/perovskite tandem cells along with OSC building integrated transparent photovoltaic technologies advancement pathways are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mitigation of climate change is the main issue for environmental policymakers. A large number of authors analysed the impact of various factors on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this paper, we proposed a multiplicative approach to use 2- and 3-way interactions simultaneously in order to analyse the effects of energy efficiency, renewable energy and sector mix as the moderators that shape the economic activity – environmental degradation nexus. The results encompassing global panel data show that the turning point increased from 1990 to 1995 to 2002–2007 and decreased afterwards. Considering the analysis of moderators, a high share of agriculture and industry sectors make the curve flat with a positive slope and a high level of economic activity was associated with more GHG emissions with no turning point. The marginal effect of energy efficiency to reduce the negative impact of agriculture and industry sectors was growing. Meanwhile, the marginal effect of renewables to reduce the negative impact of agriculture and industry sectors was diminishing. Service sector and energy efficiency, service sector and renewables worked as the substituting forces reducing GHG emissions with a diminishing marginal rate of substitution. Therefore, this study confirms that the economic activity – environmental degradation relationship is very complex and further studies should consider the role of the moderators of this nexus. [Display omitted] • Technique, composition effects should be considered as moderators of HGH emissions. • The multiplicative approach was applied to model interactions of GHG factors. • Agriculture, industry sectors made the economic activity GHG emissions curve flat. • Marginal effect of renewables to reduce GHG emissions was diminishing. • Service sector and renewables worked as substituting forces reducing emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and efforts to mitigate it have given rise to an interest in the relationship between industry competitiveness, energy efficiency, and carbon emissions. A better understanding of this relationship can be essential for economic and environmental decision-makers. This paper presents empirical research evaluating industry competitiveness through the factors of energy efficiency and carbon emission in Europe's most energy-intensive industries. The designed industry competitiveness measure index consists of seven components, grouped into three equally weighted sub-indexes: export performance, energy, and environmental. The export performance of the industry is described by the industry export growth rate, the share of the industry's export, and the effects on the industry's competitiveness of changes in a country's export. The energy intensity of the industry and energy prices are integrated into the energy sub-index. The environmental sub-index consists of the industry's emissions intensity, and the ratio of freely allocated allowances and verified emissions indicators. The findings indicate that countries with the highest index value also have a positive energy intensity and carbon emission indicator value. The average index value of each industry gradually reduces to zero, and the standard deviation of the index value shows a diminishing trend throughout all sectors, which implies that competitiveness in all sectors is increasing and that all countries are nearing the industry average. The ANOVA results show that: (1) the competitiveness index value was statistically significantly different in the investigated countries; (2) the competitiveness index value was statistically non-significantly different in the investigated industries; (3) there was a significant effect of the interaction between country and industry on the competitiveness index value. These results suggest that the country itself and industry/country interaction significantly affect the competitiveness index. However, it should be mentioned that industry per se does not substantially affect the competitiveness index score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]