Search

Subsequently, measures and policies on climate change should confront the shortcomings of existing energy-poverty reduction management measures and should implement measures of climate change mitigation linked to energy consumption in households [[3]]. Similar renewable-energy efficiency policies for the demand sides include the decarbonization of the following sectors: transport, mining, and other industries; their aim is to reduce emissions from the demand side, while reaching more than 80% renewable electricity generation by 2030, including mainly wind, solar, and hydropower plants. This editorial proposes a roadmap of international strategies for sustainable energy transition and sustainable electricity generation in alignment with past and current energy-transition measures and policies. In the relevant literature, climate change mitigation policies in the household sector can support energy-poverty reduction and energy justice. [Extracted from the article]

Energy Union aims to provide clean, secure, and affordable energy for many customers leading societies towards sustainable energy development. Several criteria were introduced in this vein to evaluate the twenty-third EU countries' progress towards energy union goals. The present study proposed and applied a SWARA-TOPSIS framework based on Pythagorean fuzzy sets to rank the EU members considering their sustainable energy development progress. Ten experts working in various fields were selected to support the identified criteria, and a sensitivity analysis based on twenty scenarios was performed to evaluate the proposed model's sensitivity to weight changes. The obtained results indicated that "energy affordability" is the most influential criterion for evaluating countries, and the proposed model is sensitive to weight changes. Luxembourg is also the first-ranked country, followed by Denmark and Sweden, while Bulgaria achieved the worst rank among the EU considering its progress towards the energy union goals. The analysis of the results indicates room for improvement in implementation with the European Union goals by the EU members and the need to consider energy justice and affordability in the policy development, especially in the new members of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU has set ambitious commitment to achieve low carbon energy and economy transition up to 2050. This low carbon transition means sustainable energy development path based on renewable energy sources and first of all should address the energy poverty vulnerability and justice issues. The main goal of the paper is to develop indicators framework for assessing low carbon just energy transition and to apply this framework for analysis how climate change mitigation policies in households targeting enhancement of energy renovation of residential buildings and promotion of the use of micro-generation technologies and other policies are affecting household's energy poverty and vulnerability in selected countries: Lithuania and Greece. This framework allows to assess three main dimensions of sustainable energy development: environmental, social and economic. The paper provides policy recommendations how to deal with just low carbon energy transition which means addressing energy poverty issues during moving to 100% renewables in power generation based on performed case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geothermal energy can be an attractive source of renewable energy in many respects. The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of geothermal energy in the West Pomeranian Region of Poland. The article presents the key principles of geothermal energy development, its role, functions and perspectives in fostering renewable energy usage in the region in question. Strengths, weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats of using geothermal energy are analysed based on the literature review. A regional geothermal energy development model is proposed. The study is based on statistical data. The results of the conducted study show that geothermal energy can be an important source of regional energy supply in the West Pomeranian Region. However, advantages and shortcomings should be taken into account when deciding on the promotion of geothermal energy in the selected region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency, development of renewable energy resources, decarbonization, and energy security are the key energy policy priorities of the European Union and China. Based on data for the period 2005–2016, this study compares the status of energy sector development sustainability among 21 European Union Member States and China by applying the several Multi‐Criteria Decision Making methods. Seven Member States including United Kingdom were excluded from the analysis due to Brexit or entering EU late like Croatia or due to small size as Malta and Cyprus and so forth. The results of Multi‐Criteria Decision analysis indicated that Romania, Czech Republic, and Latvia performed the best during this period in terms of approaching toward sustainable energy development targets. These countries have implemented effective policies and measures to increase energy efficiency and use of renewables leading to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and increase in security of energy supply during the investigated period. New Member States have better assessment of effectiveness of energy policies pursuing 20–20–20 targets than old Member States. China lag behind European Union countries in terms of sustainability of energy sector however, during investigated period the country has achieved very good progress and can learn a lot from European experience as suggested by policy implications developed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The G7 and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations have committed to greenhouse gas emission reduction according to targets set out in the Paris Agreement and Copenhagen Accord. The objective of this paper is to develop an index decomposition framework and apply it for comparison of the drivers behind carbon dioxide emission. The impact of economic and technological development on greenhouse gas emissions is assessed by applying the Kaya identity. The index decomposition analysis is carried out by applying the Shapley value. In this paper, we seek to compare the two groups of countries—G7 and BRICS—in regard to the underlying trends in the energy‐related carbon dioxide emission during 1990–2015. The comparison of these two groups for countries draws some light on the pathways of decarbonization of the economies in developing and developed countries. The time period covered spans over the sub‐periods of economic growth and decline. Energy intensity appeared as the major factor pushing the carbon dioxide emissions down in the developed countries (i.e., G7 group). The latter effect was much lower for the developing countries (i.e., BRICS group) and was offset by the affluence effect. Further development of the renewable energy is important for the developing countries in order to start exploiting the carbon factor effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes in energy use and energy-mix are important in ensuring the implementation of the sustainability goals, especially those related to the climate change. Even though there have been attempts to analyse the energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the European Union, there is still a lack of research that considers structural change, fossil energy consumption, and energy-mix simultaneously. In this context, the present paper addresses the growth in energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU) agriculture. The index decomposition analysis based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index is implemented over the period of 2004–2021. The change in the GHG intensity at the EU level is factorized with respect to the structural effect and those related to the energy intensity, the share of the fossil energy, and carbon factor for the fossil energy. The results suggest that a decline in the energy intensity appeared as the main driver pushing the energy-related GHG emission intensity down in the EU agriculture. This calls for further actions directed towards the increase of the use of renewables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baltic region relies heavily on imported fossil fuels and strongly emphasizes renewable energy development. However, certain obstacles, such as site selection, hinder solar energy development in this region. Therefore, major energy stakeholders must identify optimal solar photovoltaic construction locations. The present study endeavored to conduct a comprehensive and meticulous review of pertinent literature published from 2013 to 2023 to identify critical factors that influence site selection and look into various methodologies employed in this domain. Later, a two-stage approach was used for the first time to identify the most suitable locations among 39 potential cities in the Baltic region for constructing solar PV farms. In the first stage, Data envelopment analysis (DEA) models were used to filter out the areas with the highest potential by measuring their efficiency indices using temperature, wind speed, humidity, precipitation, and air pressure as inputs and sunshine hours, elevation, and irradiation as outputs. Subsequently, six selected evaluation criteria were used to prioritize the locations with solar energy potential. In the second stage, CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC)-Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to determine the criteria's objective weights and rank potential sites for the research case study. The results indicate that 25 locations in the Baltic region are suitable for building solar farms, with specific photovoltaic power output being the most significant criterion that impacts solar site selection. Furthermore, by excluding Gross domestic product (GDP) and labor force from the analysis, the results can align with the Global Solar Atlas's reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are omnipresent in energy policy analysis. Even though IAMs can successfully handle uncertainty pertinent to energy planning problems, they render multiple variables as outputs of the modelling. Therefore, policy makers are faced with multiple energy development scenarios and goals. Specifically, technical, environmental, and economic aspects are represented by multiple criteria, which, in turn, are related to conflicting objectives. Preferences of decision makers need to be taken into account in order to facilitate effective energy planning. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) tools are relevant in aggregating diverse information and thus comparing alternative energy planning options. The paper aims at ranking European Union (EU) energy development scenarios based on several IAMs with respect to multiple criteria. By doing so, we account for uncertainty surrounding policy priorities outside the IAM. In order to follow a sustainable approach, the ranking of policy options is based on EU energy policy priorities: energy efficiency improvements, increased use of renewables, reduction in and low mitigations costs of GHG emission. The ranking of scenarios is based on the estimates rendered by the two advanced IAMs relying on different approaches, namely TIAM and WITCH. The data are fed into the three MCDM techniques: the method of weighted aggregated sum/product assessment (WASPAS), the Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method, and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). As MCDM techniques allow assigning different importance to objectives, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to check the impact of perturbations in weights upon the final ranking. The rankings provided for the scenarios by different MCDM techniques diverge, first of all, due to the underlying assumptions of IAMs. Results of the analysis provide valuable insights in integrated application of both IAMs and MCDM models for developing energy policy scenarios and decision making in energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of the article is to develop technique for climate change mitigation policies assessment based on priorities of sustainable energy development. There is a close relationship between energy policies and tools aiming at sustainable energy development targets, i.e. promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures and climate change mitigation tools. Therefore ranking of climate change mitigation tools based on their impact sustainable energy development targets is necessary seeking to ensure harmonization of policies and their synergy effect. The main tasks of the article are: (i) to define EU sustainable energy development targets, (ii) to analyze EU energy and climate change mitigation policies and their interactions, (iii) to propose a multi-criteria framework for climate change mitigation policies assessment and ranking, and (iv) to apply multi-criteria decision making methodology for climate change mitigation policies ranking in Lithuania. The main findings of paper are related with proposed technique for climate change mitigation policies assessment and application of this technique for ranking of climate change mitigation policies in Lithuania. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The long-term assessment of new electricity generation was performed for various long-run policy scenarios taking into account two main criteria: private costs and external GHG emission costs. Such policy oriented power generation technologies assessment based on carbon price and private costs of technologies can provide information on the most attractive future electricity generation technologies taking into account climate change mitigation targets and GHG emission reduction commitments for world regions. Analysis of life cycle GHG emissions and private costs of the main future electricity generation technologies performed in this paper indicated that biomass technologies except large scale straw combustion technologies followed by nuclear have the lowest life cycle GHG emission. Biomass IGCC with CO2 capture has even negative life cycle GHG emissions. The cheapest future electricity generation technologies in terms of private costs in long-term perspective are: nuclear and hard coal technologies followed by large scale biomass combustion and biomass CHPs. The most expensive technologies in terms of private costs are: oil and natural gas technologies. As the electricity generation technologies having the lowest life cycle GHG emissions are not the cheapest one in terms of private costs the ranking of technologies in terms of competitiveness highly depend on the carbon price implied by various policy scenarios integrating specific GHG emission reduction commitments taken by countries and climate change mitigation targets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The penetration of renewable energy is one of the main challenges for sustainable energy development. Local governments across the European Union commit to development and implementation of the Sustainable Energy (and Climate) Action Plan. This paper focuses on the case of Lithuania—a Central and Eastern European country. Almost one-third of Lithuanian municipalities have joined the Covenant of Mayors and prepared the plans that include SWOT analysis. However, there is a lack of information on how those plans contribute to climate change mitigation and sustainable energy development. This study identifies the links between key policy financial instruments, increasing energy efficiency. The Strategic Action Plans aimed at reducing GHG emissions and energy consumption in Lithuanian municipalities are analyzed. The challenges in promoting the renewable energy generation in Lithuanian rural regions are discussed. Moreover, the importance of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats identified is elicited at the local level. The study uses a combination of methods, such as expert surveys and SWOT analysis, that complements the tools used for regional energy climate planning and allows for overarching analysis. The expert survey shows that priority is given for renovation of buildings and modernization of energy infrastructure, making them more sustainable and more energy efficient. The results also show that, in the case of Lithuania (and possibly elsewhere in the post-Soviet countries), conditions and opportunities should be created beforehand to increase energy efficiency. Once this is achieved, the policies should focus on energy transition by switching to sustainable energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes some of the results from the application of the indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED) tool for analyzing Lithuania's energy sector, in terms of trends, setting energy policy goals and monitoring progress towards these goals. This experience illustrates the potential applicability of the ISED methodology for energy policy development in economies in transition, using Lithuania as an example. The article presents a summary of the results achieved and conclusions arrived at from the analysis of six priority areas in the context of the research project coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and provides recommendations for the development of sustainable energy policy using the ISED approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Model for optimization of biomass use on municipality level. • Case study on sustainable regional energy planning on municipal level. • Support for decision making on use of biomass on municipal level. • Involvement of stakeholders for fostering just low carbon energy transition. In this article, we seek to analyze the regional energy policy in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with a particular focus on the potential for developing renewable energy from biomass. The article aims to build a mathematical model of the regional energy system, related to the strategy of sustainable development in the region. Taking into account the potential for biomass development and the sustainability criteria, this paper presents a case study of sustainable regional energy planning and implementation in the selected region in Poland. An example of optimizing biomass for renewable use at the municipal level is valuable, as the use of biomass energy requires knowledge of landscapes, energy options, and different stakeholder perspectives. Thus, "energyscapes," a complex spatial and temporary combination of energy supply, demand, and infrastructure within the landscape, can be very useful in this context. Ongoing research contributes to the development of knowledge on promoting renewable energy sources at the local level and supporting a fair transition to low-carbon energy through energy citizenship and the development of sustainable low-carbon communities at the regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of the energy storage technology involves multiple criteria that need to be simultaneously considered in the energy planning process. The development of sustainable energy system requires to take into account not only technical characteristics of storage technologies but also to pursue sustainability issues. The paper aims to perform not-site-specific sustainability assessment of the main types of energy storage technologies (mechanical, chemical, electrochemical and thermal) based on the developed advanced multi-criteria technique. The paper follows the vein of the coordinated Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and extends it to the interval environment. A geometric integer programming model is introduced to identify the interval for the degree of coordination. The proposed method is, therefore, able to handle uncertainty and coordinate performance of the alternatives with respect to multiple criteria. Sustainability assessment of energy storage technologies is performed based on the most important technological, economic, environmental and social criteria. The results showed that the most sustainable energy storage technologies are mechanical and thermal ones (utility scores range in between 1 and 0.75). The remaining technologies exhibit utility scores of 0.69 at most. The least appealing options are electrochemical storage technologies. • The energy storage systems are compared. • Economic, environmental, social and technical criteria are considered. • The interval-valued analysis is carried out. • The coordination degree is proposed for the interval data. • A more comprehensive analysis is possible due to the revised model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Renewable heating technologies are prioritized • Multiple criteria analysis is carried out • The BWM-WASPAS-IN framework is proposed • The wood pellet boilers and solar heating are the most attractive This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision framework for promotion of the heating systems based on the renewable energy sources. The objective and subjective data are taken into consideration by the virtue of the relevant quantitative techniques. The paper integrates the Best-Worst method (BWM) and modifies the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) method. The BWM is utilized for eliciting the weights of the criteria during the expert survey. We apply the interval-normalized WASPAS for the multi-criteria ranking of the heating technologies. Thus, the uncertainty is taken into consideration. The empirical application deals with the case of Lithuania where modernization of the heating system is rather important in order to reduce energy poverty and increase the quality of life. Three heating technologies (i.e. heat pumps, solar heating and wood pellet boilers) are assessed through the expert survey and multi-criteria evaluation methods. The multi-criteria analysis suggests wood pellet boilers and solar heating dominate the heat pumps in terms of the overall utility and could be promoted as the most suitable renewable heating technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the planning of wind energy development in the West Pomeranian Region after the introduction of the Act "On investments in wind farms" as of 20 May 2016. The purpose of the article is to provide the forecast of the region's wind energy development in 2019–2030 by taking into account current legal regulations in Poland. The article proposes an original, optimizing multi-criteria wind energy development model for the studied region, exploring various types of technologies that may appear in the system, taking into account recent legal and political changes in the field of renewable energy regulation in Poland. The results of the optimization model show that the currently passed Act "On investments in wind farms" in Poland actually stopped the development of wind energy in the region. On the other hand, in accordance with the objectives of the adopted draft of the Polish energy policy until 2040, it is expected that the share of renewable energy in electricity production will increase in 2030 in the studied region. Therefore, the paper argues that policy changes are necessary to meet the renewable energy goals of Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the analysis of the EU carbon trading scheme and its impacts on regional power system development and penetration of renewable energy sources (RES). The aim of the article is to analyze the forecasts of carbon dioxide (EUA) prices for the years 2019–2030 and to apply the results of this forecast in regional power system planning. The data employed in this paper come from many sources, including empirical data of the selected analytical companies, such as Thomson Reuters among others. The current low prices for carbon dioxide emission rights do not encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, in particular carbon dioxide, and do not have a significant impact on the penetration of renewables. This paper presents the results of two scenarios (for 2021 and 2030) developed after the analysis of the EUA price impact on penetration of renewable energy sources in West-Pomeranian region assuming different electricity production and the EUA price forecasts. The results of two regional energy development scenarios run for 2021 and 2030 indicate changes in the structure of renewables in West-Pomeranian region. The results also show that the increase of EUA price has a significant impact on the increase of costs for power production and increase of unit cost of the installed 1GWh. In addition, the forecasted EUA price in 2030 is 3% lower as compared with 2021, which has its impact on the increased share of electricity produced by co-firing biomass with other fossil—from 42% to 68% in the electricity generation structure of West-Pomeranian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of sustainability is actively used today as one of the main preventative instruments in order to reduce the decline of the environment. Sustainable decision-making in solving energy issues can be supported and contradictory effects can be evaluated by scientific achievements of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. The main goal of this paper is to overview the application of decision-making methods in dealing with sustainable energy development issues. In this study, 105 published papers from the Web of Science Core Collection (WSCC) database are selected and reviewed, from 2004 to 2017, related to energy sustainability issues and MCDM methods. All the selected papers were categorized into 9 fields by the application area and into 10 fields by the used method. After the categorization of the scientific articles and detailed analysis, SWOT analysis of MCDM approaches in dealing with sustainable energy development issues is provided. The widespread application and use of MCDM methods confirm that MCDM methods can help decision-makers in solving energy sustainability problems and are highly popular and used in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The support of the renewable energy sources (RES) is an important endeavor that might help to reduce the impacts of global warming and prevent the depletion of world's energy resources. However, it calls for the application of special government-funded plans envisaged for its support and stimulation. Political uncertainties and ineffectiveness of the state support often tend to increase the risks associated with the RES projects and, as a result, hinder their successful development. Hence, the assessment of the soundness of the current government-sponsored policies on renewable energy development becomes a very relevant and important task. Our paper presents the results of a theoretical analysis of the main types of state support measures for renewable energy in Russia. Furthermore, it employs an energy-specific logit-model that allows to assess the external and internal factors having an impact on default of the Russian RES projects. Moreover, the paper studies the risk dynamics at all stages of the life cycle of RES projects and evaluates the effectiveness of state measures to support the RES sector. In addition, we carry out the assessment of the "real" efficiency of state support mechanisms without "zero-risk" projects. Our results might be used for improving the existing approach to risk assessment in the RES market, as well as for the development of a concept of competition between traditional and renewable energy at the global energy market. Image 1 • Energy-specific logit-model was developed to assess the risk of default of project. • The model was employed for assessing factors of default of Russian RES projects. • The risk dynamics at all stages of the life cycle of RES projects was tracked. • The effectiveness of state measures to support the RES sector was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though renewable energy development has gained momentum in China, thermal power generation still accounts for approximately 70% of the county's total power generation serving as the major source of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions in China. Facing the challenges of meeting 2030 peak target of CO 2 emission and realizing the coordinated development of thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, this paper applies generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM) to decompose the dynamics in the relevant CO 2 emission. The effects of five factors including electricity demand, energy consumption, technology, energy efficiency and energy-mix are considered. The decomposition suggests that electricity demand is the primary factor driving the CO 2 emission up, whereas technology effect decreases CO 2 emission the most. Given the significant roles of technology, energy-mix and energy efficiency in CO 2 emissions reduction, seven scenarios are designed to identify the optimal coordinated development pathway for thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Through upgrading energy structure and/or enhancing energy efficiency, the thermal power generation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region can achieve coordinated development and realize the 2030 peak target under four scenarios. The detailed development pathways for CO 2 emissions and specific policy implications for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are provided to further govern CO 2 emissions and maintain sustainable development. • Proposed a five-factor Generalized Divisia Index Model (GDIM) for CO 2 emission analysis. • Analyzed the CO 2 from thermal power generation in China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. • Electricity demand and technology contributed the most to the positive and negative changes of CO 2 , respectively. • Designed seven thermal generation development scenarios to study the CO 2 change until 2030. • The 2030 CO 2 peak target can be achieved under four scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]