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Renewable energy consumption has gained growing importance in the world energy consumption portfolio over recent years. One of the reasons is the increasingly negative development of climate change. The research carried out in this paper aims to discern whether the examined economic indicator (GDP per capita) and the environmental indicator (CO2 emissions per capita) affect the renewable energy consumption in the region of the Visegrad Group (V4 - Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovak Republic) countries, and to draw implications for public administration in the given issue. The fixed effects panel regression model was used to verify the mentioned relationships between variables from 1990-2020. The results show that the level of the share of renewable energy consumption on the total energy consumption in the region of the V4 countries can be affected by the GDP per capita (positive relationship validated) and the CO2 emissions per capita (negative relationship validated). These results are mostly in line with the findings of other researchers conducted on different samples of countries, although some differences can be noted, especially regarding the direction of the relationship. The implications of the research results are presented on three levels: practical implications for the business sector, emphasis placed on political implications for public administration, and theoretical implications that lay the foundation for further research. The main limitation of the research results comes from the sample used in V4 countries and, thus, from the limited possibilities of generalizing the results. The direction of further research in the addressed issue will include a larger number of countries in the research and the use of various quantitative and qualitative research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of renewable energy is the key to deal with climate change and low-carbon economy development in China. Here, based on a balanced panel dataset of 30 provinces in China cover the period of 1996–2013, this paper explores the effect of economic growth, CO 2 emissions, foreign trade (exports or imports) and urbanization on renewable energy consumption at the national and regional levels by using a dynamic system-GMM panel model. The empirical results show that the influence of economic growth, CO 2 emissions, foreign trade and urbanization on the renewable energy consumption is heterogeneous across regions. First, economic development has an important positive impact on renewable energy consumption in the four panels we consider and the impact is the greatest in the eastern region, follows by the national, central and western regions. Second, CO 2 emissions have a significant positive impact on renewable energy consumption in the central and national regions. However, CO 2 emissions have a weak negative impact on the consumption of renewable energy in the eastern region, and have no impact in the western region; Third, per capita exports are found to have a positive effect on the renewable energy consumption, with the greatest impact in the central region, followed by the eastern and national regions and have a weak negative impact in the western regions; Fourth, per capita imports have a negative effect on renewable energy consumption in the eastern, western and national regions and have a weak positive effect in the central region; Finally, the changes in the urbanization level significantly affect the renewable energy consumption in the four panels we consider and the impact is the greatest in the eastern region with high level of urbanization, follow by the central and western regions. On the basis of this study, we put forward the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions to achieving sustainable development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 UN Paris Agreement reinforced and declared compatible the two goals of avoiding dire climate change and maintaining global economic growth, and it specified that technological innovation is ‘critical’ to this joint achievement. Unfortunately, any confidence that near-term global economic growth is consistent with a stabilized climate is severely undermined by empirical evidence. Despite the rapid increase of alternative energies in recent decades, global GDP growth continues to require burning greater quantities of climate-destabilizing fossil fuels. The dim outlook for sufficiently reducing CO2while maintaining economic growth is underscored by global data and Germany specific data on the decoupling of GDP from CO2. This paper summarizes pertinent climate science, substantiates the dependence of economic growth on fossil fuels, and uses the Kaya identity to demonstrate the unfavorable prospects for reducing CO2while maintaining GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper acknowledges the political nature of environmental protection and climate change in the United States and the grassroots demand for environmental protection as a phase of economic development. It argues that grassroots support is more reliable than top-down authority in ensuring a clean environment as it reflects the desire for local control and the utilization of local human resources. Young people play a vital role in finding grassroots solutions in their respective communities. For instance, implementing a topdown policy of legally-binding carbon taxes worldwide might be desirable in theory, but in reality, leads to political stalemate. The more realistic and efficient solution is to substitute pollution-prone technology that is currently in use with renewable and sustainable technology. Technological change brings about economic change, in turn fostering social change in perceptions and values, strengthening political support at the local level for environmental protection. This is more durable than top-down authoritarian support for environmental protection that vests decision-making power in a single political leader or in-crowd of government officials. Without grassroots support, the transition to a renewable resource-based economy that has a sustainable relationship with the environment cannot take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, rapid urbanization, and the emerging carbon economy, among other factors, have elevated the energy-water nexus from an operational tool to a new joint-resource management and policy paradigm. Nowhere in North America, and in few regions globally, is this need greater than in the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico. In the states of Arizona and Sonora, investment is inadequate to meet energy and water infrastructure needs. On par with critical infrastructure in economic development terms, agriculture is likewise energy-intensive and currently consumes the largest share of water resources in both states. The important gains to be made through coupled energy- and water-based conservation, including the potential of certain types of renewable energy development to reduce water requirements for electricity generation, raise questions over conventional plans to rapidly increase investments in infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to assess the region's energy-water nexus through analysis of data on water supply, electrical power generation, and energy consumption. Four cases are examined to illustrate the coupled nature of policies for energy and water: (1) rapidly growing urban centers; (2) water consumed in power generation and the "virtual water" implications of regional interstate power trade; (3) the irrigation-electrical power nexus in agriculture; and (4) coastal desalination and proposed trans-boundary transfer schemes. The paper concludes that conventional water management for cities has a large and rising energy footprint. Conversely, power generation that is often considered "non-consumptive" in this arid region is a major consumer of water. Similarly, there is a major opportunity for energy and water conservation in groundwater irrigation. Finally, desalination may hold promise, particularly for coastal communities, but current costs and institutional barriers suggest that transboundary transfer of desalinated water for general purposes, including environmental conservation and agriculture, has low ftasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is a rapidly developing country in Southeast Asia that aims to achieve high-income country status by 2020; its economic growth is highly dependent on its abundant energy resources, especially natural gas and crude oil. In this paper, a complete picture of Malaysia's energy use from primary source to end use is presented by mapping a Sankey diagram of Malaysia's energy flows, together with ongoing trends analysis of the main factors influencing the energy flows. The results indicate that Malaysia's energy use depends heavily on fossil fuels, including oil, gas and coal. In the past 30 years, Malaysia has successfully diversified its energy structure by introducing more natural gas and coal into its power generation. To sustainably feed the rapidly growing energy demand in end-use sectors with the challenge of global climate change, Malaysia must pay more attention to the development of renewable energy, green technology and energy conservation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]