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Energy is essential for crucial development in Africa. The current electricity shortages and load shedding in South Africa show that the country faces significant challenges in reaching positive economic growth. For industries to operate sustainably, an innovative mechanism must be tailored to solve the negative impacts of industrial energy use, particularly climate change. This study aims to show how renewable energy technologies can provide new economic opportunities, contribute to higher standards of living, and reduce the impacts of society on ecosystems, among other things. This paper presents a feasibility analysis and optimization of new energy technologies by designing and simulating a grid-connected PV system for sustainable development. PV Syst software (PV Syst 6.8.8) was used to simulate and optimize the PV system. The software was employed to design and model the PV systems, calculating energy production, economic performance, and environmental impact. Using simulation data, the researchers compared PV system performance across three scenarios and identified the optimal system. Scenario A was chosen as the best system, with an energy production of 1720 MWh/year. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that grid-connected PV systems are a feasible and sustainable option for meeting South Africa's energy needs. By implementing the results and recommendations, the government, investors, and community can work together to develop and deploy a successful PV system that will benefit all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a participatory approach to assess the level of understanding of the Water-Energy-Climate Change (WECC) nexus in South Africa. The aim is to initiate the development of well-coordinated, systematic, and holistic strategies to promote efficient management of the WECC and its implications in the country. The assessment follows the learnings from the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, which promotes a participatory approach in the administration of water resources. The paper reveals that, despite the reasonable level of understanding of WECC, it is still insufficient to promote an integrated approach mainly in policy development and planning for water and energy resources while averting climate impacts. This is exacerbated by limited coordination and consultation among various stakeholders. However, minimal efforts to promote an integrated approach in the management of the WECC sectors is observed. Despite these developments, the paper proposes that the participatory approach is feasible to promote holistic strategies and collaboration among stakeholders mandated to manage WECC sectors. Until approaches such as this are adopted within the institutional framework, this nexus will continue to impede the country's sustainable development endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 targets universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030. Modern or clean energy is perceived to be the golden thread that connects economic growth, human development, and environmental sustainability. However, one third of the world's population still uses solid fuels for cooking, endangering human health, and the environment. This paper, therefore, analyses demographic, socio‐economic, and housing characteristics that affect the fuel choice for cooking. Further, it identifies how SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 6 (clean water) create synergies with SDG 7 (clean energy). The data are obtained from the four waves of the Sri Lankan Households Income and Expenditure Survey, covering more than 79,000 households. The random‐effects panel multinomial logit results reveal that household income, wealth, marital status and education of the head, age and education of the spouse, household size, number of children, housing characteristics, and residential sector are vital in selecting clean fuel for cooking. Furthermore, advanced sustainability analysis shows SDG 4 and 6 have a strong synergistic effect on SDG 7. Policymakers can use the findings to prioritise educational, water, and sanitation programmes in national policies aimed at enhancing the use of clean cooking fuel and technologies to meet SDG 7 by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vigorously promoting photovoltaic power generation meets the requirements of energy structure transition, which contributes to environmental protection. Abundant land resources in rural areas provide inherently convenient conditions for photovoltaic power generation. Rural photovoltaic projects provide a sustainable, clean, and low-carbon power supply for production and life, which increases positive ecological values, such as reducing carbon emissions by helping farmers wean off traditional fossil fuels, creating employment opportunities, etc. However, there are also some negative ecological values, such as the construction of photovoltaic power stations causing soil-water losses and construction occupations, which not only reduce the planting incomes of farmers, but also damage rural ecosystems. Therefore, ecological compensation for participators in the photovoltaic project, i.e., photovoltaic power station construction enterprises, farmers, and village collectives, is required to balance the participants' benefits and losses. However traditional compensation methods cannot decide the accurate compensation standards for participators. Hence, referring to the ecosystem service values in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an ecosystem service assessment index system (ESAIS) that includes economic, social, and environmental aspects is proposed in this paper. Based on the proposed ESAIS, the calculation modes for economic values (e.g., electric energy, construction incomes, etc.), social security values, and environment values (e.g., energy conservation and emission reduction, soil-water losses, etc.) are proposed based on market valuation methods, shadow project approaches, opportunity cost methods, etc., can be employed to quantitatively analyze the ecological values of participators. On this basis, the relationship between benefits and expenditures among the participators is established. Then an optimal decision-making model for ecological compensation is introduced to minimize the proportion of low-income farmers with the constraints of the balance of payments, which contributes to achieving win-win cooperation among the participators and sustainable energy development. Based on actual data from rural photovoltaic projects in China, case studies are carried out to verify the proposed ecological compensation model. Under the premise of ensuring reasonable profitability for all participators, the proposed model maximizes the contributions of beneficiaries in the ecological compensation schemes, which contributes to preventing farmers from returning to low income. Compared to traditional compensation methods that compensate farmers based on production inputs, direct losses, or waste disposal fees, the proposed method not only guarantees all participators have positive ecological values and environmental values after compensation, but also increases all farmers’ income levels by maximizing their incomes. Hence, the proposed model contributes to the realization of rural revitalization strategy and sustainable development, which has directive significance for economic advancement in underdeveloped regions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and society has gained the interest of academics and policymakers in recent years. Our paper aims to investigate and systemize the evidence from 1901 publications belonging to the top 1% of worldwide topics by prominence. This paper helps estimate a pandemic's short-run and longer-run effects on energy economics and environmental pollution. By systematizing the literature, we analyze key parameters influencing the deviation of previous worldwide economic and environmental development trajectories due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines research on the consequences of COVID-19 in five dimensions, particularly the impact of COVID-19 on (1) the environment and climate change, (2) sustainable development, (3) renewable energy and energy policy, and (4) methodology for forecasting and evaluating the energy sector and economic sectors. Our results indicate that the pandemic crisis's impact on achieving sustainable development goals in the context of energy change and pollution is controversial and complex. On the one hand, scientists are unequivocal about the positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on improving air quality and reducing CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, the long-term effects are threatened by gaps between countries in economic prosperity and different vaccination rates. Most studies have found that only a joint social effort and international collaboration can move to a clean energy system. In addition, using the Scopus database and modern tools of machine analysis, we determine leading authors in the subject area of "renewable energy, sustainability, and the environment", as well as the top networks and scientific communities that appear within energy. The analysis of this manuscript can be helpful to policymakers and stakeholders in developing comprehensive energy efficiency programs and energy-saving strategies to achieve SDG targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Thomson Reuters DataStream database, 22,458 merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions with a deal value exceeding 7016 billion Euros have occurred in the energy worldwide sector during 1995–2020. International M&A enable promotion of sustainable competitive advantages, accelerates industry developments and helps to promote sustainable social and economic development. Our research aims to systemize empirical studies, which would enable assessment of the relationship between M&A transactions and the principles of sustainable development in the energy sector. To do so, SALSA (search, appraisal, synthesis and analysis) methodology with additional snowballing technique (chain-referral sampling) is conducted. The current research contributes to existing knowledge by providing an extensive systematic literature review of the academic publications on sustainable development and M&A deals. This paper may be insightful for practitioners and scholars because it highlights the most relevant lines of research on the topic and provides a synthesis of the interdisciplinary literature. Practical contributions of this paper come from its synthesis of interconnections between sustainable development and M&A deals in the energy sector, because sustainability matters may be reflected during different M&A processes: target selection, deal due diligence, deal valuation and post-acquisition integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China agricultural development has been facing the problem of resource constraints because its resources per capita such as land and energy are relatively lower than the global average. By applying the provincial agricultural panel data from 2000 to 2015 and fixed effect model based on the translog production function, this paper estimates both output elasticities and substitution elasticities of agricultural inputs, which may provide insights into sustainable agricultural development. The results show that, except for capital, the output elasticities of other production factors are all positive. Energy has always played an important role in agricultural production, whose elasticity in agriculture increased from 0.0203 in 2000 to 0.1694 in 2015. We also find a severe scarcity of land, and the high intensity of energy in the field of agriculture. Moreover, there exists a substitute relationship between all factors, which means that in the short term, one production factor can be employed to replace another to maintain agricultural development. From the empirical results of this paper, some policy suggestions are proposed as follows: it is crucial that more attention should be placed on land and to plan energy use wisely. In addition, on account of the current situation in China, the input of labor force should be stepped up and energy should be used more efficiently to make up for the shortage of land resources. The empirical results and policy suggestions in this paper may benefit the sustainable development of China's agricultural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morocco has resolutely committed to the green transition of its economy by opting for industry decarbonation, which now imposes itself as an essential access criterion to foreign markets. Intending to include energy efficiency in the leading players in energy-intensive industries, this paper has the main objective of contributing to a better understanding of the decarbonation plans potential impact, taking the example of solar energy integrating opportunities as an action for a thrifty, sustainable, and low carbon Moroccan industry. Indeed, the paper focuses on the industrial textile sector, such as the energy-intensive industry. This sector is the first employer and the most important industrial activity; it is also an icon and the oldest industry in Morocco. This study examines the energy, economic and environmental fallout, evaluating the productions, the investment and the CO2 emissions limit. Besides, the energy industrial sector is characterized by a strong dependence on fossil imports, which increases the energy factor and price. In this regard, several geographical sites and factories were studied under six climatic regional conditions, proposing the most optimal and sustainable configurations for each location and present models with scopes and levels of energy and environment gains and investments that can inspire the sector actors. Then the present work must install concepts by inspiring local factories, accompanying the national vision, and resizing the industrial ecology. In this paper, a power of 8.88 MW is the total power installed, which provides an annual total of 8484.65 tonnes of CO2, with an average payback time between 2.6 years and 4.5 years, and attractive economic parameters, with an LCOE of 0.034 $/kWh and $181,863 for the NPC, those outputs shows the importance of environmental gains that the generalization of this strategic vision can achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to analyze how regulatory design and its framework's topics, other than macroeconomic factors, might impact green innovation by taking into consideration a brand-new renewable source of energy that is becoming more and more important in recent years: hydrogen and fuel cell patenting activities. Such activities have been used as a proxy for green technological change in a panel data of 52 countries over a 6-year period. A series of sectorial, energy regulation, and macroeconomic variables were tested to assess their impact on that technological frontier of green energy transition policy. As might have been expected, the empirical analysis carried out with the model that was prefigured confirms significant evidence of lock-in effects on fossil fuel policies. The model confirms, however, another evidence: countries already investing in renewables might be willing to invest in hydrogen projects. A sort of reinforcement to the further development of green sustainable strategies seems to derive from having already concretely undertaken this direction. Future research should exploit different approaches to the research question and address the econometric criticalities mentioned in the paper, along with exploiting results of the paper with further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart tech offers much promise for tourism recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and the broader issue of decarbonising tourism. This paper investigates how accommodation managers engaged with smart tech during the crisis, and the journey of learning how to use numerical data output to drive sustainability actions. Interviews with nine accommodation managers/owners at six sites uncovers a 'tech journey' that extends prior to, and beyond, the acquisition and installation of the smart technology itself. The journey is explained by a new framework that recognises the need for users (here, the accommodation managers) of smart tech to 'make it their own', integrating it into their decisions, workflows and finally, identity. This can only happen through a capacity to understand what the data (i.e. numerical outputs) mean, and a process of transforming data into actions. Understanding these processes of 'data domestication' and 'data clotting' addresses key gaps in how to achieve potentially radical changes in resource use. Only one case study site had reached this final stage of the journey. The theoretical framework uses the findings from each case to propose early diagnostic questions/tools that can help identify where smart system may need assistance to move from data to action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries have encountered the issues of economic development and reducing pollution that need to be resolved to achieve sustainable development. However, this topic has not been widely explored. Since obtaining sustainable economic development is a priority, the nexus between foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness (TO), final energy consumption (FEC), capital (K), income, and pollution (carbon emission) has been investigated in this paper. The research questions deal with the existence of the long-run, short-run and causality relationship between the selected variables. The paper aims to investigate these relations in Serbia during 1995-2018 by applying the autoregressive distributed lag model as the most commonly used and suitable co-integration model. The results present that FDI and TO will increase gross domestic product (GDP), while pollution will decrease it in the long-run. The existence of a short-run causality from FDI and TO to GDP is confirmed. The Granger causality test reveals that FDI has a unidirectional relationship to GDP, carbon emission, TO, and FEC. Furthermore, GDP, carbon emission and FEC have a unidirectional relation to TO. These results indicate that policies should combine FDI promotion and TO, with supervision of FDI effects on carbon emission to obtain sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sixth Assessment Report of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has highlighted the urgency of accelerated climate actions harnessing synergies and minimizing trade-offs with various SDG. This calls for a clear understanding of linkages between climate goals and other SDGs at national level for formulating synergistic policies and strategies and developing different sectoral programs and coherent cross-sectoral policies. This is even more important for least developed countries such as Nepal where these linkages are less understood and development challenges are multifaceted. In this context, this paper aims to evaluate potential synergies and trade-offs among selected SDGs and their associated targets in Nepal in a linear pairwise comparison. Synergies and trade-offs related to climate action (SDG 13), access to energy (SDG 7), sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12), and life on land (SDG 15) have been evaluated using historical data for the period from 1990 to 2018 employing a mixed methods approach. Network analysis to map the conceptual linkages between the SDGs and their targets was combined with the advance sustainability analysis (ASA) to quantitatively evaluate the synergy and trade-offs between SDGs. The results illustrate the presences of a continual trade-off between emission reductions targets of SDG 13 with per capita energy consumption and share of renewable energy of SDG 7, land use for agricultural production target of SDG 12, and forest area target of SDG 15. This indicates that climate action is strongly interlinked with GHG emissions from economic activities and energy consumption. The results of the study represent a valuable input for the policy makers, supporting coherent and sustainable development planning as Nepal plans to graduate to a middle-income country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the development of sustainable supply chain models is highly active nowadays. Merging the concept of supply chain management with sustainable development goals, leads to simultaneous consideration of all economic, environmental and social factors. This paper addresses the design of a sustainable closed-loop supply chain including suppliers, manufacturers, distribution centers, customer zones, and disposal centers considering the consumption of energy. In addition, the distribution centers play the roles of warehouse and collection centers. The problem involves three choices of remanufacturing, recycling, and disposing the returned items. The objectives are including the total profit, energy consumption and the number of created job opportunities. As far as we know, these objectives are rarely considered in a sustainable closed-loop supply chain model. The proposed model also responds to the customer demand and also addresses the real-life constraints for location, allocation and inventory decisions in a closed-loop supply chain framework. Another novelty of this research is to develop a set of efficient Lagrangian relaxation reformulations and fast heuristics for solving a real-world numerical example. The results have revealed that the obtained solution is feasible and the developed solution algorithm is highly efficient for solving supply chain models. Finally, a comprehensive discussion is provided to highlight our findings and managerial insights from our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, under the guidance of China's green energy development strategy, a large number of photovoltaic, wind power and other DGs have been connected to the rural distribution network. The current rural distribution network structure, DG grid-connected location and capacity, line transmission capacity and other system conditions are in conflict with the ever-increasing rural power demand. DG output and load demand are continuously changing with time. The large-scale access of DGs and EVs has made the “source-load” side of the rural distribution network present significant uncertainty. The traditional topology of rural distribution network cannot cope with the impact of this “source-load” double uncertainty. Therefore, it is urgent to study a new method of dynamic reconfiguration for rural active distribution network. This paper establishes a dynamic reconfiguration model of active distribution network with DG consumption and line loss as objective functions. Taking into account the time-varying characteristics of “source-load”, this paper proposes a new method of dynamic reconfiguration of rural active distribution network based on regional division, and designs the process of this dynamic reconfiguration method. In order to improve the efficiency of solving the problem of dynamic reconfiguration of active distribution network, a regional division method is proposed for the first time. The regional division method includes two parts: The initial division of regions and the optimized division of regions. The dynamic reconfiguration method of active distribution network based on area division mainly includes the following four steps. Firstly, the distribution network structure is divided into several initial regions which include main line regions and branch line regions based on the regional initial division method. Secondly, with the goal of promoting the flexible and efficient combined application of DGs between regions, the result of regional initial division is optimized dynamically based on the breadth-first traversal algorithm in the graph theory algorithm. Thirdly, based on the obtained results of dynamic regional optimization, the depth-first traversal algorithm is used to test and modify the DNR scheme to meet the topology constraints of the distribution network. At this time, all feasible DNR schemes can be obtained. Finally, the fast non-dominated sorting strategy is adopted to select the best network reconfiguration scheme that meets the constraints such as node voltage. To validate the performance of the proposed method, it is tested on the well-known IEEE 33-node and PG&E 69-node distribution system. The simulation result of 33-node distribution system shows that the loss reduction effect of the proposed method is very good. Especially at 14:00, the loss reduction effect of the distribution network was the most obvious, which was reduced by 71.41%. At this time, the effect of increasing the utilization rate of DG consumption is also obvious. On this basis, the proposed method on the consumption of each DG was deeply analyzed in this article. Result shows that the proposed method can achieve complete consumption of DG. The voltage of each node under the network structure obtained by the regional optimization division method meets the voltage quality requirements. In addition, the average daily DG consumption rate of the PG&E 69-node distribution system was increased by 16.09 percent point, and the daily line loss was reduced by 55.32%. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the simulation of these two case studies. The simulation results show that the proposed method can fully switch and adjust the ability to improve the absorption capacity of the distributed power, reduce the line loss, suppress the fluctuation of the distributed power, and keep the node voltage smooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations represent a blueprint for the adoption of global practices and policies to foster sustainability in societies and increase efficiencies in resources uses. The Italian National Trust, FAI, has embraced these goals, developing a holistic and transdisciplinary methodology to promote a more sustainable approach to preserve its natural and built heritage. This methodology combines heritage protection with the SDGs in various macro-areas of interventions, including energy, water, biosphere, responsible consumption, and sustainable communities. The aim is to increase access to affordable and clean energy, reduce water, waste, and soil footprints, promote responsible consumption, and develop human capital. The paper proposes a set of strategies to achieve the SDGs in heritage, involving the collaboration of several stakeholders, ranging from institutions to citizens. The methodology is applied to a specific Italian case study, Casa Macchi in Morazzone, to highlight the challenges in achieving the dual objective of preserving the historic building and promoting sustainability in the built environment. [Display omitted] • We propose a trans-disciplinary methodology for sustainable heritage preservation. • The heritage preservation project is analyzed in five macro-areas of intervention. • Assessment of effects on energy, water, biosphere, resources, and sustainability. • Casa Macchi preservation project to apply methodology and prove effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decomposing total factor productivity growth rate into internal growth effect that mainly considers industry internal technical advancement and the effect of factor reallocation formed by the flow of capital, labor and energy between sectors, this study took 23 subsectors as the research object and adopted the multi-sector growth accounting method to verify the 'structural dividend hypothesis' of capital, labor and energy from 2005 to 2017. The study drew the following conclusions: (1) Internal growth effect represented by sectoral technical advancement was still the main contributor to total factor productivity growth of the overall economy, but the contribution rate had decreased. (2) The reallocation effect of capital changed from 'structural negative benefit' to 'structural dividend'. (3) The reallocation effect of labor showed a trend of first rising and then falling, changing from 'structural dividend' to 'structural negative benefit'. (4) The effect of energy reallocation was gradually emerging, with a shift from 'negative structural benefit' to 'structural dividend'. Based on these research results, this paper argues that more attention should be paid to the efficiency of factor reallocation in addition to the technical advancement of all sectors. The inefficiency of factor reallocation caused by imperfect market and asymmetric information would partially offset the effect of technical advancement and hinder the high-quality economic development. In view of the reallocation of capital, labor and energy factors, this paper proposes the following suggestions: (1) In the reallocation of capital, consideration should be given to both the macroeconomic regulation and the role of market mechanism, and capital allocation should be carried out in accordance with the principle of profit maximization, so as to improve the elasticity of capital output and increase the allocation efficiency of capital. (2) The reallocation of labor force should not only be limited to the level of three industries; attention should also be paid to the marginal output differences within the secondary industry in this process. (3) Attention should be paid to the elasticity of energy output between sectors to avoid inefficient allocation during energy reallocation. It is also necessary to accelerate the phase-out of industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, promote the development of low energy industries to encourage 'energy conservation and emission reduction' as well as green development by increasing the effect of energy reallocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and global warming create considerable problems for people, such as intense droughts. One of the biggest causes of global warming is the preference for fossil fuels in energy production. In this context, renewable energy has been considered an effective way to promote environmental quality. Several empirical studies have evaluated the impact of economic growth and energy on environmental quality. However, the possible influence of banking development on carbon emissions in South Africa has been ignored. Thus, this study contributes to the extant literature by assessing the impact of banking sector development on the environmental quality in South Africa over the period 1986–2017. For this purpose, the linkage between energy, economic growth, banking sector development and C 0 2 emissions are assessed by using the new technique of bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag. The findings from the ARDL estimations affirm that renewable energy consumption affects negatively C 0 2 emissions. However, the main conclusion of this study is that banking sector development has a negative influence on the environmental quality in South Africa through GDP and energy factors. The finding reveals that an increase in credit from banks to markets will lead to a rise in projects and investments, as well as strengthen risk management systems, potentially affecting economic growth and energy consumption and therefore increasing C 0 2 emissions. Hence, the outcome suggests that policymakers in South Africa must use the growth of the banking sector to enhance environmental quality by promoting investment in energy and production through renewable energy. • This paper examines the impact of banking sector development and renewable energy on environmental quality. • Renewable energy promotes environmental quality. • Banking sector development reduces environmental quality. • South Africa must increase the usage of renewable energy to have economic growth accompanied by a sustainable environment. • South Africa must use the growth of the banking sector to minimise environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the conditions of emergence and the content of energy transition policies in shrinking cities. International academic literature considers shrinkage either as a factor favorable to alternative public policies, particularly in the field of sustainable development, or as a check to their acting capacities due to the multifactorial crises that hit shrinking cities. This paper is based on a case study of Vitry-le-François, archetypal of a small shrinking town in France. Two hypotheses are considered. In the first, urban shrinkage appears as a favorable context for an energy transition policy when the intensity and severity of the shrinkage process leads to a major crisis. In the second, energy transition policies applied to shrinking cities involve a course of action that extends beyond the energy sector and affects the whole of the urban policies in order to address the shrinkage phenomenon itself. The first part of the paper analyses the role of urban shrinkage and of the crisis affecting the local social housing landlord in the emergence of energy transition policies. The second part describes the content of the local energy policy transition and shows that this policy is focused on the rescue of the heating network owned by the social housing landlord, and on economic redevelopment issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human world and the biosphere which we inhabit with all other life on earth is a complex socio-ecological system. It is essential to think about the sustainability problem by considering the interventions necessary to achieve our objectives within that system. The paper describes how the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be placed within a systems configuration. In this paper, I outline the development of a dynamic model to explore this system and its plausible trajectories over coming decades and centuries. The results echo the findings of other studies, indicating that urgent action is required to avoid declining average global living standards in the coming century. The key policy interventions required to avoid this are described. The present institutions are insufficient to re-structure the global economy in the timeframe required, meaning that our profession must be elevated in the public discourse, and our voices must become louder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to emphasize the approach on energy management with its principles and give a general overview of this field of industry. The basic functionality of power system control is found in the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) function that collects and records values and statuses acquired from the power system elements via remote telemetry to enable control center operators to supervise and control the power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The philosophy of sustainable development is prevailing worldwide, and will probably bring about a society revolution trend in the future. Catalytic chemistry will play a crucial role in sustainable economic development since at least a catalytic process is involved in almost all-important areas of chemical industry, such as synthesis of chemicals and materials, energy production and conversion as well as pollution abatement and environmental protection. In this paper, we attempt to summarize three common critical directions for catalysis research, in order to meet future needs for sustainable economic development. (i) The discovery of high-performance catalysts will evolve from trial-and-error to rational design. This is due to the maturing theory-experiment joint research schemes and the increasing abilities to explore dynamic nature of catalysts under reaction conditions. (ii) The catalysis for the transition of energy and chemicals generation from oil and coal to more renewable sources will be highly pursued. (iii) The catalysis for cleaner chemical processes will be another active research direction. In Sections "Sustainable catalysis for renewable fuels and chemicals" and "Ecologically clean catalytic process", some important examples are discussed especially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper is an Editorial for the special issue (SI) of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) devoted to the 12th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th to 8th October 2017 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The key focus of RSER is to publish critical thinking across the wide field of renewable and sustainable energy. The journal publishes either pure review papers or research papers with a precise review element. Overall, the guest editors invited 36 papers presented on 12th SDEWES conference, of which 17 were accepted after rigorous peer review process. The SDEWES conferences present a continuous effort in gathering high level scientists and research papers across the field of sustainability and by now the amount of accumulated knowledge, through conference papers and special journal issues, is significant. Each SDEWES journal editorial presents a wider overview of special issue journal papers in order to maintain the continuation of knowledge generation on the main sustainability topics. The main topics covered in this RSER editorial include renewable energies with special focus on integration, markets and roadmaps, energy efficiency in buildings, industrial process and transport, bio based economy focused on bio based chemicals and biofuels, energy storage focused on batteries, thermal and geological storages and various sustainability assessments in several sectors and technologies. All were considered in light of the Circular Economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residents of northern Canada experience high rates of water, energy, and food (WEF) insecurity relative to the national average. Historically, WEF systems have been treated independently with little policy or institutional coordination occurring between sectors. This paper presents the results of a WEF nexus analysis for northern Canada. We assess the positive and negative interactions between the WEF sectors that could facilitate or impede the attainment of WEF-related sustainable development goals. Out of 210 pair-wise interactions, 87% were found to be synergistic of some magnitude, meaning that efforts to address insecurity in one WEF sector will have positive spillover effects toward the others. With synergies significantly outweighing trade-offs, opportunities exist to simultaneously address WEF insecurities through mutually beneficial actions that capitalize on and promote synergetic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algeria, like other developing countries, has been committed to promoting the transition to renewable energy for several years. The national government established several laws and attractive subsidies that encouraged various socio-economic entities to use renewable energies and engage in more sustainable practices. Despite these efforts, industrial and private entities have not responded as hoped. To identify the factors that impede government efforts toward sustainable practices, this paper focuses on the two most energy-consuming sectors: building and transport. The analysis reveals that both financial and socio-cultural issues constitute the two main obstructive elements to energy transition in Algeria. This is the first study to be carried out in Algeria on technico-economic difficulties in the application of energy transition towards renewable sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a possible approach for creating business decisions based on multi-criteria analysis. Seven options for a possible revitalization of the thermal power plant “Kolubara”-A Unit No. 2 with energy indicators of sustainable development (EISD) are presented in this paper. The chosen EISD numerically express the essential features of the analyzed options, while the sustainability criteria indicate the option quality within the limits of these indicators. In this paper, the criteria for assessing the sustainability options are defined based on several aspects: economic, social, environmental and technological. In the process of assessing the sustainability of the considered options the Analysis and Synthesis of Parameters under Information Deficiency (ASPID) method was used. In this paper, the EISD show that production and energy consumption are closely linked to economic, environmental and other indicators, such as economic and technological development of local communities with employment being one of the most important social parameter. Multi-criteria analysis for the case study of the TPP “Kolubara”-A clearly indicated recommendations to decision makers on the choice of the best available options in dependence on the energy policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper is an empirical study on the comparison between the conventional energy- growth nexus and the energy-ISEW (Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare) growth nexus. We use a sample of American countries in a multivariate panel framework for a data span from 1990 to 2013, with variables such as labor, capital, carbon emissions, energy use, renewable energy, rents and trade. Results from this paper are critical for governments and institutional investors who are nowadays concerned with sustainable economic growth and welfare and not only the short-sighted GDP growth. An additional contribution of this paper is the calculation of the ISEW index for American countries, based on data availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and applies a Sustainability Ranking of Airports Index to benchmark the performance of airports across multiple factors. The index is a composite indicator with 5 dimensions and 25 indicators. The dimensions are airport services and quality, energy consumption and generation, carbon dioxide emissions and mitigation planning, environmental management and biodiversity, and atmosphere and low emission transport. The index is applied to a sample of 9 airports that take place among the busiest and best airports in the world based on passenger traffic and passenger satisfaction. Data is mined from Corporate Sustainability Reports and related sources. Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt, Munich, Istanbul Atatürk, and London Heathrow airports are the top 5 airports in the sample. The linear regression between the results of the index and annual passenger traffic is found to be 0.1942. The results can be used to benchmark progress in decoupling airport operations from greater environmental impact. The paper provides recommendations for the 5 dimensions of the index based on best practices from the airports in the sample. The index is useful to allow airport managers to coordinate strategies for the sustainable development of energy, water, and environment systems in airports and lift-off towards more sustainable airport practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to report on a case study concerning the development of sustainable energy partnerships involving engineering faculty and undergraduate students at the University of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Design/methodology/approach: Faculty were motivated to seek partnerships with public and private entities in the local area for the purposes of realising mutually beneficial outcomes. The educational programmes of future engineers, when sustainability is considered, are analysed. Education for sustainable development has to include multidisciplinary active learning as a desirable competence. Active learning can be obtained when problems are based on real life because they are most motivating for students. Constructive alignment component is obtained because learning objectives are linked with learning activities related to the needs of public and private entities. Findings: Through the provision of technical expertise, the adoption and success of renewable energy projects was facilitated on the one hand, while final year undergraduate students benefited in terms of hands-on experience in helping to bring these projects to life, drawing on the knowledge and skills they had acquired throughout their degree programmes. These works are addressed to students by faculty members with the aim of developing and promoting renewable energies. Outcomes from partnerships surpassed expectations; not only were different benefits realised as were initially hoped for, but this success led to partnerships being sustained over time. Originality/value: Fossil fuel-based energy systems are associated with a myriad of negative environmental and social externalities. It is difficult to overstate the importance of transitioning towards alternative low carbon energy sources for climate change mitigation which are less centralised compared to the status-quo for energy security and energy independence. By actively facilitating the development of decentralised renewable energy sources in Catalonia, the projects reported herein are of significant value in social environmental and educational terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of energy consumption technology affects the core competition and the potential of sustainable development of enterprises, as well as the fundamental of the future of enterprises. There are many problems and drawbacks in the traditional energy management mode of enterprises, which make the research in this paper always occupy a favorable position in the process of enterprise reform and development. From the function modules of EMS system, combined with the energy management system design and analysis of energy and EMS system process information system, energy statistics module, energy, energy control indicators, composition and functions of remote and external interface module and the coordinated relationship between the various functional modules, and research joint venture production process. Using the system analysis method, combined with the energy management system design, construction and application of the whole process, to ensure the realization of more than 20,000 points of energy data automatic collection, the preparation of more than 20,000 monitoring pictures, determined the energy management system common problems solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The integration of sectors for more sustainable systems and processes provide a multi-disciplinary research domain to which researchers are contributing with intense motivation in the context of urgency for addressing global climate change. The 26 papers in the current special issue of the 12th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems represent a pursuit of excellence for leading related advancements. This editorial contains a review of these advances with a focus on the themes of effective valorisation of bioenergy resources, energy-water nexus in wastewater treatment processes, optimized local energy supply for efficient and clean systems, solar energy technologies for the energy transition, and technologies for efficient combustion and electric transport. Other themes are alternative and cross-cutting technologies for the energy system in addition to analyses of thermal energy recovery and heat transfer. Significant contributions under these themes relate to biomass residues and biogas upgrading processes, novel renewable energy and performance comparisons in the wastewater sector, efficient micro-cogeneration, polygeneration and load-sharing approaches, clustering techniques in district heating networks as well as hybrid and concentrated solar power systems. Control strategies for latent energy storage, aging processes in battery packs, engine knock occurrence and coupled numerical engine modelling, fuel blends with nanoparticle additives, utilization of flue gas, soot formation in plastic waste pyrolysis, high altitude wind energy systems as well as exergy analyses for heat and cold recovery and reverse electrodialysis are other key contributions. The advances are expected to enable more sustainable energy conversion and management processes in a time when an integrated approach is nothing less than essential to maintain a coherent and liveable Planet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement, the main challenge for world economies nowadays is to commit themselves to long-term reforms aimed at increasing and promoting sustainable, inclusive and balanced development. An adequate response to this challenge will certainly require using the best available scientific knowledge and constant re-evaluation of the development process in light of the scientific findings. To ensure that the sciences are responsive to the emerging needs and to address sustainable development issues. This Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is dedicated to both Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems 2016 Conferences – 2nd South East European Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conference and 11th Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conference. The Virtual Special Issue is focused on four main fields: Energy issues, Water issues, Environmental engineering and management, and Sustainable engineering solutions and large-scale sustainability approaches. The division of selected papers follows the previous Journal of Cleaner Production Special Sections and Volumes dedicated to the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conference series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities face increasing pressure to develop long-term sustainability strategies, the need for detailed quantitative data on urban resources, and their behaviour over time, has become critical. Building stocks are a city's largest socio-cultural and economic resource and account for around 40% of total energy consumption in developed countries. Despite ongoing problems with access to data on stock composition and dynamics, advances are now being made, particularly within sustainability science. Automated approaches to the analysis of historical building attribute data are also allowing long-term patterns of change in cities to be better understood. This is of significance to the conservation sector, and to the development of effective conservation strategies. At the same time, knowledge held by the conservation sector is of growing importance to sustainability science. This paper selects specific advances within this new research landscape, and identifies their importance in developing a more scientific, data-driven approach to the analysis of older stock. It concludes with an introduction to a new type of data collection and visualisation platform being developed for London, as a result of this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geotechnical engineers can and should take a leading role in incorporating sustainable development goals into the selection of ground improvement design alternatives and construction methods through quantitative assessment of environmental impacts. Since all valid design alternatives must meet project performance requirements, overall cost and environmental impact become two key factors in the decision process. Although methods of cost estimation are well established within geotechnical engineering, simplified methods for assessing impacts to the environment have remained a largely unfulfilled need. In this paper, life cycle analysis, embodied energy, and carbon footprinting are reviewed in the context of geotechnical ground improvement. It is proposed that estimates of life cycle embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions may be used during the design process by geotechnical engineers to quantify some of the effects of ground improvement on the environment. The life cycle is considered to extend from raw material extraction to the completion of construction. The background presented herein forms the basis for a streamlined energy and emissions assessment model (SEEAM), described in a companion paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total energy consumption per capita of any country is a critical input for the economic and social development. But nowadays, the current energy production systems are not sustainable and they are not environment friendly. Increased fossil energy consumptions in manufacturing, transportation and standard of living in the growing population have the highest impact on the environment in terms of global warming potential and air pollution. Also fossil fuel prices are increasing because of shortening of fossil fuel sources. Sustainable development improves standard of life economically and environmentally over the long term in a way that must be supported by the industrial structure of the country. In order to sustain energy availability and keep environment livable for future generations, finding new alternatives is necessary. Increased awareness of society about environmental issues and fossil energy sources depletion support new clean alternatives. These alternatives are one of the important and determinant policy areas for the countries, and should include both short and long term energy policies. This paper discusses the environmental pollution caused by energy consumption, and the role of conventional and renewable energy technologies as one component of the effective sustainable development and solution. Also, renewable energy potential of Turkey for assessment of the green energy systems is investigated in terms of sustainable development, environmental impact and prices. All the given results in this paper will be useful to researchers, engineers, decision and policy makers in industry and government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the tendencies of sustainable development of renewable energy sources. The paper refers to the actual Energy strategies in Ukraine. As a conclusion, it is possible to implement the national Energy strategy by reducing the fossil fuel consumption and passing to renewable energy sources in the future. In 2035, about 50% of total energy consumption will covered by renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving energy performance has been recognized as an effective measure to promote the energy saving and emission reduction and to realize the sustainable development. Methods of improving energy performance towards sustainable manufacturing are numerous and scattered, resulting in insufficiency from the perspective of overall strategies and system integration. After the intensive selection of advanced literatures, about 166 research papers directly related to energy performance improvement are analyzed. A comprehensive review and analysis from multi-perspectives of energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking are performed, which is conducive to understand the energy consumption pattern and take effective energy-saving measures. This paper establishes a framework of energy performance integrated method, and four energy management methods and their energy models in energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking phase are analyzed and summarized. Besides, the proposed framework analyzes potential applications and key advantages, and some challenges and potential opportunities for energy performance improvement methods are discussed. This study will provide a significant foundation for energy-efficient production through various methods application. • Performing a review on methods of improving energy performance. • Constructing a framework of methods of improving energy performance. • Summarizing advances in energy monitoring, evaluation, optimization and benchmarking. • Discussing challenges and opportunities of improving energy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-side management (DSM) is an effective means to construct low-carbon electricity system, improve energy efficiency and fastly enhance the sustainable development of economy. DSM in China has entered a period of rapid development. A series of policies and regulations related to DSM have been issued by some national ministries in China. However, some problems exist in the implementation of DSM. In view of that, the current situation of DSM development in China is analyzed in this paper from the three aspects of policies and regulations related to DSM, DSM organizational management and DSM development of representative regions. Following that, the challenges faced in DSM implementation are discussed and feasible measures are proposed based on the challenges. This paper is conducive to give impetus to the development of DSM in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the pressing research gap that demands an overarching framework to assess the progress of mining, minerals and energy supply and demand networks towards sustainable development. The framework proposes a hierarchy from Sustainable Development, which begins at the global scale, to Operating Sustainably, which begins at the level of unit operations. The two concepts overlap in the middle with a focus upon regional economies. Guidance is provided to assess the performance of both dynamic dimensions: Sustainable Development is assessed in terms of equity and Operating Sustainably is assessed in terms of the changing states of maturity of the activities being monitored. The papers from this Special Volume were the input sample to assess the extent to which these performance dimensions were being addressed. In analysing the progress towards Sustainable Development, it was found that papers were mainly focussed on equity within supply countries, but they provided little attention to the other three equity conditions proposed: demand met at a reasonable price; future needs met; and profitable transfer agents. The transition towards Operating Sustainably was promising; with results that revealed progress along the proposed four-stage maturity journey which includes: (1) Solely profit maximising; (2) Efficiency Focussed; (3) Integrating by Connecting and (4) Adaptable & Resilient. A comprehensive definition for Operating Sustainably is proposed for discussion and refinement. It is suggested that the definition proposed can be used for selecting appropriate indicators for measuring and documenting progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the used methodology to calculate the present and future potentials of total biomass wastes, from the economic, social, environmental and technological point of view in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. From the values of sugarcane, coffee, rice, and sawmill wastes, through information provided by the main producing companies in Cienfuegos province, it was possible to determine the total energy delivered, as well as the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. In the case of the bagasse, the total energy was 4.409E+08 MJ, leaving 137 652.9 t CO2 to emit in the atmosphere. For the filter cake it was 7.093E+08 MJ and 221 423.9 tCO2. In the case of coffee and rice residues these values were 4.808E+05 MJ with 184 tCO2 for coffee and 6.34E+07MJ with 19 868.87 tCO2 for rice, respectively. Finally, the total energy for sawmill waste was 4.108E+07 MJ and 2 346.72 tCO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare for Spain from 1970 to 2012 and seeks to update valuation approaches to a number of items. Two approaches have proven particularly controversial over recent decades; the costs of energy depletion and of climate change. The valuation implications in measuring present welfare have proven problematic, as both include future sustainability consequences arising from resource depletion and environmental impacts. This study includes a ‘ transition cost ’ approach to energy depletion, a modified approach to costs of climate change and water pollution, and removes the cost of ozone depletion. The results illustrate that while GDP per capita increased significantly, the ISEW per capita shows a widening gap. Household labour contributes strongly, but income distribution, energy depletion and costs of climate change limit improvement. Sensitivity analysis shows that accumulating climate change costs and escalating energy depletion costs have significant effects. Nevertheless, the new valuation approaches do not alter conclusions that welfare has shown little improvement. The ISEW provides a useful alternative to current indicators such as GDP subject to awareness of limitations. It is a measure of welfare that uses sustainability accounting methods when estimating costs, but is not an indicator of whether welfare is actually sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade the demand of power in India has increased manifold, therefore Government has announced the National Solar Mission of generating 100 GW of solar power up to 2022. Around 60% of the total National Solar Mission target is allotted to the national/international large-scale solar power developers/investors. Hence, it becomes important to know the ground reality of large-scale solar PV developers/investors. This paper deeply analyzes the key barriers and bottlenecks faced by solar power developers in achieving the target and their growth. This article also suggests some motivational factors of solar energy which play an important role in attracting large solar players around the world to invest in Indian subcontinent. It concludes by highlighting some key policies of the Government that can help in addressing some identified barriers in order to ensure a secured sustainable energy future of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its vast natural resources, African is facing serious challenges in sustainable development in an energy sector, if addressed with dispatch could not only check its indispensable needs, but also mitigate some global phenomenon at stake, such as desertification, environmental degradation and green house emission. This paper reviews the prospects of four major renewable energy sources-hydro, solar, wind and biomass- for each of the three leading countries in Africa namely South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. Based on literature survey of energy efficiency, all the three countries encourage energy efficiency in varying degrees. In the course of this review, several national energy policy frameworks of these countries were looked into, especially on how African countries could overcome the persistent energy crisis in the continent by utilizing the naturally gifted renewable energy sources. This could only be achievable if proper technology, awareness and skills for harnessing the resources are provided. Also lingering energy challenges such as energy efficiency measures, needs for grid extension, energy storage technology and seasonal variation were carefully highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing of the effects and the determinants of the energy paradigm changes on influencing the economic growth in European Union starts from the assumption that the economy is highly dependent of energy consumption in achieving of the economic growth and welfare for population. Consequently, the changes in the energy paradigm imply significant transformations in the production structures and their evolution. The aim of the paper is to present and evaluate the effects and determinants of the energy paradigm changes on assuring economic growth in European Union, by using the panel data approach and its subsequent techniques. In this respect, there was considered the evolution of nine economic variables across 30 countries, representing the EU member States during the examined period, plus Iceland and Norway, in order to revile direct and irrefutable connections among these variables in shaping the new energetic paradigm in European space. The results obtained during the research confirm that all nine variables are determinant and significant elements in shaping a new and proactive energy policy and it undoubtedly contribute in achieving of the sustainable economic development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption in machining contributes a significant part of manufacturing cost and produces a great environmental impact. This paper provides a critical assessment on energy consumption in a machining system. Energy consumption is classified at the process, machine, and system levels. Machine tool power demand at different machine states by different components is also discussed. Then predictive methods of energy consumption at different levels are summarized. Finally, energy consumption reduction strategies are discussed to achieve sustainable manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]