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This paper reviews the state of liquid biofuels in Greece and presents the current situation in production and research. The first part presents the production potential in terms of cultivated crops along with the industrial activity on biofuels and their distribution in the country. In the second part, the research activities are discussed. It is shown that the Greek biofuel potential is significant, although some problems in the allocation of the fuel resulted in severe constraints to efficiency. Research on the optimization of biodiesel properties and on the development of 2nd generation biofuels as well on the assessment of their impacts on engine performance and emissions is remarkable and promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total final energy consumption in Hellenic buildings reached 6.5 × 106 tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) or 34.2% of the total (2010), of which 4.6 Mtoe in residential buildings. National implementation of the European Directive on the energy performance of buildings (EPBD) in Greece since 2010 is the first coordinated attempt to improve the energy performance of Hellenic buildings. In this framework, as of 2011, new buildings have an annual solar fraction of 60% for sanitary hot water production from solar thermal systems. Efforts are currently underway to comply with the EPBD recast so that by the end of the decade, all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings and that the very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable energy sources (RESs). At the same time, the unprecedented financial crisis and escalating energy costs in Greece have reemphasized the need to explore the opportunities of renewables and energy conservation measures (ECMs). This paper reviews the relevant RES policies and status, with an emphasis to the Hellenic buildings. Using Hellenic typical residential buildings, the national requirements, and methodologies, this work quantifies the benefits of using solar thermal collectors to cover 100% of the domestic hot water demand. The results illustrate that, even as a single action, this popular ECM can improve the energy class of existing residential buildings and in some cases even reach an energy class-B, which is the minimum requirement for new buildings. Combining with other cost effective ECMs and exploiting RES for space heating and cooling can help building owners to not simply comply with new regulations but most important reduce the operational cost of buildings while maintaining a comfortable indoor thermal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of the present work is the techno-economic study with concern for the environmental issues and the investigation of the viability of an offshore wind farm in the Greek sea area, northeast of the island of Limnos. In the context of this study, the wind data, the suitable location for the installation of the wind turbines beyond nature protected areas, the type of the wind turbines, the losses due to wind turbines interaction, and the visual impact at the respective study areas are analyzed. Moreover, reliable costing models are used and applied, internationally recognized for techno-economic studies of offshore wind farms. Thereafter, the viability of the project is studied through investment benchmarks. This means that specific economic indices are estimated indicating whether the realization of such an investment is viable or not. In conclusion, based on the analysis performed in this study, it is noted that in the Greek archipelago and especially at the island of Limnos, there is a sufficient offshore wind potential at low depths and at relatively short distances from the shore. These circumstances are necessary conditions for the development of offshore wind farms in these areas. Moreover, economic estimations based on current data of grants, taxation, interest rates, etc., showed that the investment is sustainable, having a cost of energy production equal to 87.92 €/MW h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]