Search

A growing number of studies suggest that climate may impact the spread of COVID-19. This hypothesis is supported by data from similar viral contagions, such as SARS and the 1918 Flu Pandemic, and corroborated by US influenza data. However, the extent to which climate may affect COVID-19 transmission rates and help modeling COVID-19 risk is still not well understood. This study demonstrates that such an understanding is attainable through the development of regression models that verify how climate contributes to modeling COVID-19 transmission, and the use of feature importance techniques that assess the relative weight of meteorological variables compared to epidemiological, socioeconomic, environmental, and global health factors. The ensuing results show that meteorological factors play a key role in regression models of COVID-19 risk, with ultraviolet radiation (UV) as the main driver. These results are corroborated by statistical correlation analyses and a panel data fixed-effect model confirming that UV radiation coefficients are significantly negatively correlated with COVID-19 transmission rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid areas account for more than 20% of Earth's surface. Many of these arid areas suffer from harsh climates where energy consumption is high and production coexists with high hydrological stresses. In such areas, the production of water is directly linked to the production of electricity, bringing the Energy–Water nexus to a higher level [Heggy et al., Sustainable Energy-Water-Environment Nexus in Deserts (Springer, 2022)]. Under the current energy transition from a fossil-based economy to a renewable energy-based system, arid areas are seen as potential reservoirs for electricity production due to their high solar potential, thereby helping to achieve global decarbonation targets. This energy production transition will strongly affect the Energy–Water nexus as it will contribute to the decoupling of electricity from water production. The International Conference on Sustainable Energy–Water–Environment Nexus 2019 (ICSEWEN19) conference was the first to address the Sustainable Energy–Water Nexus in Deserts, bridging the gap between research and industry and highlighting the research capabilities relevant to Qatar, the region, and internationally. The Invited Papers from the International Conference on Sustainability, Energy, Water, and Environment Nexus in Desert Climates Special Collection in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy presents articles covering the main elements of the conference with respect to solar photovoltaic implementation in desert environments as a key element to succeed in this global energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]