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The increase in global average temperature, mainly due to the high rate of greenhouse gas emissions, has triggered severe global warming and climate change. In Europe, the building sector accounts for a significant portion of emissions and energy consumption, prompting attention on nearly-zero-energy buildings (nZEBs) and zero-carbon buildings, as they play a pivotal role in reaching the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Passive systems offer a promising solution, optimizing energy usage by better adapting buildings to their local climates. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of passive heating and cooling techniques, exploring their contributions to contemporary architecture and showcasing their features and adaptability across different climates. Furthermore, the link between traditional and bioclimatic architecture is assessed. Recent years have witnessed a surge in publications on bioclimatic solar passive strategies, reflecting an intensified debate on climate change. Europe leads research in this area, aligned with initiatives like the Green Deal and Fit for 55. While dynamic simulation software is widely utilized for energy efficiency analysis, there remains limited integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and life cycle analysis (LCA) tools, which could enhance holistic assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Spring in Europe has been trending earlier for almost half a century. Long-distance migrant birds, such as the Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher, which breed in Europe, have arrived earlier too. It is broadly accepted that warming springs in temperate regions explain the earlier arrival of migrants. However, migration started weeks earlier and thousands of kilometres away. There must be additional cues elsewhere triggering migration. Meteorologists have developed measures of atmospheric circulation which are related to climate variability in wide regions. One of them is the Southern Oscillation Index, which reflects El Niño/La Niña that cause droughts and floods in the southern hemisphere. Other atmospheric circulation patterns, measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation Index and Indian Ocean Dipole, help predict total rainfall for a whole season in various parts of Africa and Europe. Good rains are associated with plant growth and with insect abundance. Insects provide food for most of these migrants. Therefore, this paper asks the question: "Is the timing of arrival of long-distance migrants in spring related to the climates they experience in the places where they are over the year prior to arrival in Europe?" This paper says the answer is "Yes". Earlier springs in temperate regions since the 1980s, attributed to climate change, are thought to influence the earlier arrival of long-distance migrant passerines. However, this migration was initiated weeks earlier in Africa, where the Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, North Atlantic Oscillation drive climatic variability, and may additionally influence the migrants. Multiple regressions investigated whether 15 indices of climate in Africa and Europe explained the variability in timing of arrival for seven trans-Saharan migrants. Our response variable was Annual Anomaly (AA), derived from standardized mistnetting from 1982–2021 at Bukowo, Polish Baltic Sea. For each species, the best models explained a considerable part of the annual variation in the timing of spring's arrival by two to seven climate variables. For five species, the models included variables related to temperature or precipitation in the Sahel. Similarly, the models included variables related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (for four species), Indian Ocean Dipole (three), and Southern Oscillation (three). All included the Scandinavian Pattern in the previous summer. Our conclusion is that climate variables operating on long-distance migrants in the areas where they are present in the preceding year drive the phenological variation of spring migration. These results have implications for our understanding of carry-over effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High concentration levels of air pollutants may cause damage to plants, animals, and the health of some groups of human beings. Therefore, it is important to investigate different topics related to the high air pollution levels and to find reliable answers to the questions about the possible damages, which might take place when these levels exceed some limits. A few of the numerous questions, the answers of which are highly desirable, are listed below: (a) When are the air pollution levels dangerous? (b) What is the reason for the increased air pollution levels? (c) How can the air pollution levels be decreased? (d) Will the future climate changes result in higher and more dangerous air pollution levels? It is necessary to study carefully many issues connected with the distribution of air pollutants in a given region and with the reasons for the increases of the concentrations to high levels, which might be damaging. In order to do this, it is necessary to develop a Digital Twin of all relevant physical processes in the atmosphere and to use after that this tool in different applications. Such a tool, its name is DIGITAL AIR, has been created. Digital Twins are becoming more and more popular). Many complex problems, arising taking place in very complicated surroundings, can be handled and resolved successfully by applying Digital Twins. The preparation of such a digital tool as well as its practical implementation in the treatment of a special problem, the increase of some potentially dangerous ozone levels, will be discussed and tested in this paper. The Unified Danish Eulerian Model (UNI-DEM) is a very important part of DIGITAL AIR. This mathematical model, UNI-DEM, can be applied in many different studies related to damaging effects caused by high air pollution levels. We shall use it in this paper to get a reliable answer to a very special but extremely important question: will the future climatic changes lead to an increase in the ozone pollution levels in Bulgaria and Europe, which can potentially become dangerous for human health? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy has a crucial role in facing climate change. One promising strategy is the creation of energy communities that require active involvement from a bottom-up perspective. Their implementation is difficult, as they currently rely on local policies, community readiness, and technological availability. The objective of this paper is to provide a qualitative overview of energy community concepts and strategies at the European level. The aim is to identify common approaches that are framing the development of energy communities, and to understand the most successful steps leading to their creation and growth. To achieve this objective, a threefold methodology is provided: (1) an updated review on policies dealing with energy communities at the European and Italian level; (2) a qualitative overview of European-funded projects under the Horizon 2020 work program; and (3) a qualitative overview of some of the most successful existing energy communities in Europe. The results outline a series of considerations and lessons learned that are useful for implementing this transition pathway in a real case, which is also presented in the paper. The conclusions will identify some future directions of this research, particularly in relation to the results coming from the implementation of actions in the real case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings, energy, and the environment are key issues facing construction around the world. The energy efficiency of buildings is a key topic when it comes to reducing the world's energy consumption, releasing harmful gases, and global climate change, as they consume about 40% of the world's energy supplies. Heat losses in buildings reduce the energy performance of buildings and are basically important to them. In the paper, the authors focus on the main problems related to heat losses generated by chimney systems, which are inseparable equipment of building structures, resulting in lower energy efficiency and, at the same time, technical efficiency and durability of the building partitions themselves. Authors present thermal imaging with its contribution to the detection of heat losses, thermal bridges, insulation problems, and other performance disturbances, and then verifications using appropriate simulation models. The mathematical apparatus of artificial neural networks was implemented to predict the temperature distributions on the surfaces of prefabricated chimney solutions. In Europe, we can often find a large building substance equipped with traditional chimneys, which disrupts the current trend of striving to reduce energy consumption, especially that derived from fossil fuels. Speaking of energy-efficient buildings, one should not ignore those that, without additional security and modern installations, are constantly used in a very wide range. Therefore, the article deals with an essential problem that is not perceived in design studies and during the operation period as having a basis in incorrect architectural solutions and which can be easily eliminated. It concerns the cooling of internal partitions of buildings on their last storeys, in places where chimneys are located, regardless of their function. The authors of the paper decided to take a closer look at this phenomenon, which may allow the limiting of its effects and at the same time reduce its impact on the energy performance of technologically older buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional climate change affects the state of inland water bodies and their water balance, which is determined by a number of hydrometeorological and hydrogeological factors. An integral characteristic of changes in the water balance is the behavior of the level of lakes and reservoirs, which not only largely determines the physical and ecological state of water bodies, but also significantly affects the coastal infrastructure and socio-economic development of the region. This paper investigates the interannual variability of the level of the Ladoga and Onega lakes, the largest lakes in Europe located in the northwest of Russia, according to satellite altimetry data for 1993–2020. For this purpose, we used three specialized altimetry databases: DAHITI, G-REALM, and HYDROWEB. Water level data from these altimetry databases were compared with in-situ records at water level gauge stations. Information on air temperature (1945–2019) and precipitation (1966–2019) acquired at three meteostations located at Ladoga and Onega lakes was used to investigate interannual trends in the regional climate change. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of the lake level rise and regional climate warming on the infrastructure and operability of railways in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important goals included in the Europe 2020 Strategy are climate/energy targets, which determine not only the achievement of its other goals but also climate neutrality by 2050. This article aims to assess the efficiency of implementing the climate/energy targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy and to analyse changes over time, taking into consideration the structural diversity between the old (EU 15) and new EU members (EU 13) in the period of 2014–2018. The assessment of changes in the efficiency of climate/energy targets over time adds value to the evaluation methods used to date in this area. This was done using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist index. Earlier works usually specified only the level of target achievement, mostly jointly in relation to all of the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The efficiency of their implementation at the macroeconomic level has not been studied. Furthermore, the added value of this paper consists in obtaining additional information concerning the internal structure and character of the studied efficiency of old and new member states. Changes in the efficiency level have been analysed with regard to the key climate/energy indicators used to monitor the Europe 2020 Strategy. Based on the results, the EU countries were divided into six groups with similar levels of efficiency in achieving energy and climate objectives and ranked using the DEA–Malmquist index according to changes in their level over time. This makes it possible not only to assess the performance of countries but also to formulate recommendations for decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is already being felt in Europe, unequivocally affecting the regions' geo-structures. Concern over this is rising, as reflected in the increasing number of studies on the subject. However, the majority of these studies focused only on slopes and on a limited geographical scope. In this paper, we attempted to provide a broader picture of potential climate change impacts on the geo-structures in Europe by gathering the collective view of geo-engineers and geo-scientists in several countries, and by considering different geo-structure types. We also investigated how geo-structural concerns are being addressed in national adaptation plans. We found that specific provisions for geo-structural adaptation are generally lacking and mainly come in the form of strategies for specific problems. In this regard, two common strategies are hazard/risk assessment and monitoring, which are mainly implemented in relation to slope stability. We recommend that in future steps, other geo-structures are likewise given attention, particularly those assessed as also potentially significantly affected by climate change. Countries considered in this study are mainly the member countries of the European Large Geotechnical Institutes Platform (ELGIP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth Observation satellite data allows for the monitoring of the surface of our planet at predefined intervals covering large areas. However, there is only one medium resolution sensor family in orbit that enables an observation time span of 40 and more years at a daily repeat interval. This is the AVHRR sensor family. If we want to investigate the long-term impacts of climate change on our environment, we can only do so based on data that remains available for several decades. If we then want to investigate processes with respect to climate change, we need very high temporal resolution enabling the generation of long-term time series and the derivation of related statistical parameters such as mean, variability, anomalies, and trends. The challenges to generating a well calibrated and harmonized 40-year-long time series based on AVHRR sensor data flown on 14 different platforms are enormous. However, only extremely thorough pre-processing and harmonization ensures that trends found in the data are real trends and not sensor-related (or other) artefacts. The generation of European-wide time series as a basis for the derivation of a multitude of parameters is therefore an extremely challenging task, the details of which are presented in this paper. [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]

Current climate change threats and increasing CO2 emissions, especially from the building stock, represent a context where action is required. It is necessary to provide efficient manners to manage energy demand in buildings and contribute to a decarbonised future. By combining new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, Internet of things, blockchain, and the exploitation of big data towards solving real life problems, the way could be paved towards smart and energy-aware buildings. In this context, the aim of this paper is to present a critical review and an in-detail definition of the big data value chain for the built environment in Europe, covering multiple needs and perspectives: "policy", "technology" and "business", in order to explore the main challenges and opportunities in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]