Search

Abstract: Issues related to the unsustainable use of natural resources are currently high on the policy agenda both in Europe and in other world regions. A large number of studies assessed past developments of material use and resource productivities. However, little effort has so far been devoted to forecasting future patterns of natural resource use and to provide ex-ante assessments of environmental and economic effects of different resource policies. This paper presents results from the international research project “MOSUS” (Modelling opportunities and limits for restructuring Europe towards sustainability), which was designed to fill some of these research gaps. In this project, a global economy–energy model system was extended by a worldwide database on material inputs, in order to run three scenarios for European development up to the year 2020: a baseline scenario without additional policy intervention and two so-called “sustainability scenarios”, simulating the implementation of six packages of policy measures geared towards decoupling economic activity from material and energy throughput. These measures included, amongst others, taxes on CO2 emissions and transport, measures to increase metal recycling rates, and a consulting programme to raise material productivity of industrial production. This paper presents the evaluation of the three scenarios with regard to the extraction of natural resources on the European and global level. In the baseline scenario, used domestic extraction within the EU remains roughly constant until 2020, while unused domestic extraction decreases (particularly overburden from mining activities). The stabilisation of domestic extraction, however, is accompanied by growing imports of material intensive products. This indicates that the material requirements of the European economy will increasingly be met through imports from other world regions, causing shifts of environmental pressures related to material extraction and processing away from Europe towards resource-rich countries. The implementation of the six sustainability policy measures applied in the sustainability scenarios results in a slight absolute reduction of domestic extraction in all European countries and significantly increased resource productivities. The results suggest that policy instruments aimed at raising eco-efficiency on the micro level can be conducive to economic growth. To limit rebound effects on the macro level, these instruments must, however, be accompanied by other policies influencing the prices of energy and materials. With regard to global resource use trends, the baseline scenario forecasts a significant growth of resource extraction, particularly in developing countries, reflecting the growing demand for natural resources of emerging economies such as China and India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The need for diversification of energy sources is an immanent goal in long term energy strategy. In particular, this is of great importance for the natural gas supply. In this respect, evaluation and assessment of potential natural gas resources and their relation to consumers is of great importance. The natural gas supply in Europe is one of the main issues of European energy strategy to be followed in the future. In particular, the natural gas supply in the southeast countries is important. This paper provides a framework for understanding how much natural gas is available for use in south east and central Europe as well as the links to the recent supply of natural gas and its transport. The analysis is focused on evaluation of the potential routes for natural gas supply to the south east and central European countries. The potential options included in this analysis are the Yamal Route; Nabucco Route; West Balkan Route; LNG NEUM Route and Gas by Wire Route. In this analysis, attention is focused on the following indicators for assessment of potential options: environmental indicator; NG cost indicator; NG transport and royalty indicator; investment indicator; and NG demand indicator. The first part of this paper is devoted to the definition of the indicators and to single indicator analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The author talks about the management of windpower deployment in Europe. The European Union (EU) Heads of State came up with an agreement that EU should adopt its target of utilizing its 20 percent of energy consumption from renewable sources by the year 2020. In line with the European energy policy agendas, wind power comes near the top. The author comments that several governments perceive wind power to be the most economically and technically feasible option for the supply of clean energy.

Climate change is now firmly recognized by the majority of the world's scientists and governments as an issue of extreme concern for the global population. Outdoor recreation and tourism are likely to be impacted directly and indirectly by such change, as both the climate, and the natural environment associated with it, continue to alter. At the same time, however, tourism activity is itself a contributor to the problem of climate change due to its dependency on fossil fuel consumption. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the reader to the relationships between climate change, and outdoor recreation and tourism, in Europe through a review of the relatively limited empirical evidence on this subject to date. Topics discussed include the potential impacts of projected climate change on human health and comfort, possible shifts in preferred destinations, and potential alterations in current patterns of seasonality. Various avenues of future research are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable interest in the potential impact of climate change on the feasibility and predictability of renewable energy sources including wind energy. This paper presents dynamically downscaled near-surface wind fields and examines the impact of climate change on near-surface flow and hence wind energy density across northern Europe. It is shown that: Simulated wind fields from the Rossby Centre coupled Regional Climate Model (RCM) (RCAO) with boundary conditions derived from ECHAM4/OPYC3 AOGCM and the HadAM3H atmosphere-only GCM exhibit reasonable and realistic features as documented in reanalysis data products during the control period (1961–1990). The near-surface wind speeds calculated for a climate change projection period of 2071–2100 are higher than during the control run for two IPCC emission scenarios (A2, B2) for simulations conducted using boundary conditions from ECHAM4/OPYC3. The RCAO simulations conducted using boundary conditions from ECHAM4/OPYC3 indicate evidence for a small increase in the annual wind energy resource over northern Europe between the control run and climate change projection period and for more substantial increases in energy density during the winter season. However, the differences between the RCAO simulations for the climate projection period and the control run are of similar magnitude to differences between the RCAO fields in the control period and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Additionally, the simulations show a high degree of sensitivity to the boundary conditions, and simulations conducted using boundary conditions from HadAM3H exhibit evidence of slight declines or no change in wind speed and energy density between 1961–1990 and 2071–2100. Hence, the uncertainty of the projected wind changes is relatively high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a robust controller designed to address both local and interarea oscillations. It is an extension of the "desensitized four-loop regulator" (DFLR) that has been developed by Electricité de France. The suggested controller is a second-order state-space regulator which will be called the "extended DFLR" (EDFLR). As the DFLR, the EDFLR can be converted to an AVR+PSS structure. The performance of the EDFLR has been extensively tested using modal analysis and time-domain simulations of a large-scale model of the European power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper different window energy rating systems (WERS) are evaluated and compared. The comparisons are made for different European climates, types of buildings and orientations. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate how complex a WERS needs to be in order to be able to provide a reliable energy rating which can be applied to different buildings in different climates and orientations. The results indicate that Europe needs to be separated into several different climate zones. A simple linear heating energy-rating model of the form Ag–BU (where g is the total solar energy transmittance, U is the thermal transmittance of the window, and A and B are empirical coefficients), may be sufficient within certain regulations. For warm locations a linear cooling energy rating, depending only on the g factor may also yield an acceptable rating. More advanced models that take the building type into account and that use hourly climate files showgood fit with building simulation programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To achieve the European climate targets and the Paris Agreements, at least 65% of the electricity needs to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2030. This requires a significant increase of distributed energy resources, posing a challenge for distribution system operators to integrate them into existing hierarchical grids. The concept of Local Flexibility Markets has recently gained attention as a market-based tool to tackle this challenge, making use of demand side flexibility. In this paper a Delphi method has been performed, showing that there are still numerous barriers in place preventing a widespread adoption of such markets in Europe. The main obstacles for market participants refer to standardisation issues. Based on that, a hybrid market model has been developed, comprising elements of a Local Flexibility Market and a Local Energy Market. To activate demand side flexibility from local energy transactions, spatio-temporally varying price signals are introduced, reflecting the constraints of the distribution grid. The paper shows, that this novel market approach helps to overcome relevant standardisation issues, but also certain barriers regarding end-users' lifestyles, which is because prices are comprehensible signals that can motivate end-users to participate. Moreover, a set of numerical examples is provided to illustrate the monetary benefits that could be gained by consumers and prosumers in the proposed hybrid market model. The examples show that the major share of the cost savings result from local energy trading, but the hybrid market model is also able to accumulate additional smaller revenues from providing flexibility. Finally, the systematic approach of characterising the market model in this paper offers a valuable framework for other researchers to map their ideas among existing approaches of Local Energy and Flexibility Markets. • A framework for characterising Local Energy and Flexibility Markets is provided. • Main barriers for adopting such markets are related to standardisation issues. • A hybrid market model is proposed, featuring local energy and flexibility trading. • Trades are steered by dynamic price signals, reflecting various flexibility needs. • Numerical examples indicate the expected financial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building integrated photovoltaics is one of the key technologies when it comes to electricity generation in buildings, districts or urban areas. However, the potential of building façades for the BIPV system, especially in urban areas, is often neglected. Façade-mounted building integrated photovoltaics could contribute to supply the energy demand of buildings in dense urban areas with economic feasibility where the availability of suitable rooftop areas is low. This paper deals with the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV) in the capitals of all the European member state countries plus Norway and Switzerland and presents a metric to investigate a proper subsidy or incentive for BIPV systems. The results showed that the average LCOE of the BIPV system as a building envelope material for the entire outer skin of buildings in Europe is equal to 0.09 Euro per kWh if its role as the power generator is considered in the economic calculations. This value will be 0.15 Euro per kWh if the cost corresponding to its double function in the building is taken into the economic analysis (while the average electricity price is 0.18 Euro per kWh). The results indicate that the BIPV generation cost in most case studies has already reached grid parity. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that on average in Europe, the BIPV system does not need a feed-in tariff if the selling price to the grid is equal to the purchasing price from the grid. Various incentive plans based on the buying/selling price of electricity from/to the main grid together with LCOE of the BIPV systems is also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the advancing energy transition and an increasing amount of intermittent renewable energy to be integrated, flexibility from distributed energy resources will be key. In this paper, the Italian UVAM (Unità Virtuali Abilitate Miste, i.e., virtually aggregated mixed units) project, one of the biggest pilots in Europe to serve this purpose, is critically reviewed and mapped after two years of operation. The pilot is analyzed on a global level as well as the individual participant level. Based on the extensive analysis of actual market data, different strategies of participating companies to obtain capacity in accordance with the pilot project's design are identified. Furthermore, the specific bidding strategies of individual participating units on the balancing market are outlined. Alongside this, the overall pilot project's market integration, in terms of offered and accepted bids, is depicted. The thorough data analysis, therefore, serves as an input and fundamental building block for future electricity market modeling. Comprehending specific data from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, provides insights for future high renewable-energy scenarios. Based on the analysis findings, valuable deliverables are devised for both policy-makers and decision-makers who aim to leverage the flexibility potential of distributed resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews European land and bioenergy potential studies to 1) identify shortcomings related to how they account for agricultural intensification and its associated environmental effects, and sustainability constraints, and 2) provide suggestions on how these shortcomings can be improved in future assessments. The key shortcomings are: The environmental impacts of intensification are nearly always ignored in the reviewed studies, while these impacts should be accounted for if intensification is required to make land available for energy cropping. Future productivity developments of crops and livestock, and the associated land-use and environmental effects are currently limited to conventional intensification measures whereby the proportion between inputs and outputs is fixed. Sustainable intensification measures, which increase land productivity with similar or lower inputs, are ignored in the reviewed studies. Livestock productivity developments, livestock specific intensification measures and their environmental effects are poorly or not at all covered in the reviewed studies. Most studies neglect sustainability constraints other than GHG emissions in the selection of energy crops. This includes limitations to rainfed energy crop cultivation, a minimum number of crop species, the structural diversity within cropping areas and the integration of energy crops in existing or new crop rotations, while simultaneously considering the effects on subsequent crops. These shortcomings suggest that the identification of sustainable pathways for European bioenergy production requires a more integrative approach combining land demand for food, feed and energy crop production, including different intensification pathways, and the consequent direct and indirect environmental impacts. A better inclusion of management practices into such approach will improve the assessment of intensification, its environmental consequences and the sustainable bioenergy potential from agricultural feedstocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reanalysis models are rapidly gaining popularity for simulating wind power output due to their convenience and global coverage. However, they should only be relied upon once thoroughly proven. This paper reports the first international validation of reanalysis for wind energy, testing NASA's MERRA and MERRA-2 in 23 European countries. Both reanalyses suffer significant spatial bias, overestimating wind output by 50% in northwest Europe and underestimating by 30% in the Mediterranean. We derive national correction factors, and show that after calibration national hourly output can be modelled with R 2 above 0.95. Our underlying data are made freely available to aid future research. We then assess Europe's wind resources with twenty-year simulations of the current and potential future fleets. Europe's current average capacity factor is 24.2%, with countries ranging from 19.5% (Germany) to 32.4% (Britain). Capacity factors are rising due to improving technology and locations; for example, Britain's wind fleet is now 23% more productive than in 2005. Based on the current planning pipeline, we estimate Europe's average capacity factor could increase by nearly a third to 31.3%. Countries with large stakes in the North Sea will see significant gains, with Britain's average capacity factor rising to 39.4% and Germany's to 29.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective bargaining institutions are correlated with better population health. However, there are still major gaps in our understanding regarding the impact of collective bargaining on health inequalities, particularly between labour market 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. In this study, we investigate the effect of collective bargaining coverage on individuals' self-rated health, and whether the impact varies according to labour market status. We use four waves of the European Values Survey (1981–2018) and three-level nested random intercept models across 33 OECD and European countries (N  = 66 301). We find that stronger and more inclusive collective bargaining institutions reduce health inequalities between the unemployed and the employed by disproportionately improving the health of the unemployed. This study implies that targeting the political institutions that shape the distribution of power and resources is important for reducing health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective energy oversight represents a major concern throughout the world, and the problem has become even more stringent recently. The prediction of energy load and consumption depends on various factors such as temperature, plugged load, etc. The machine learning and deep learning (DL) approaches developed in the last decade provide a very high level of accuracy for various types of applications, including time-series forecasting. Accordingly, the number of prediction models for this task is continuously growing. The current study does not only overview the most recent and relevant DL for energy supply and demand, but it also emphasizes the fact that not many recent methods use parameter tuning for enhancing the results. To fill the abovementioned gap, in the research conducted for the purpose of this manuscript, a canonical and straightforward long short-term memory (LSTM) DL model for electricity load is developed and tuned for multivariate time-series forecasting. One open dataset from Europe is used as a benchmark, and the performance of LSTM models for a one-step-ahead prediction is evaluated. Reported results can be used as a benchmark for hybrid LSTM-optimization approaches for multivariate energy time-series forecasting in power systems. The current work highlights that parameter tuning leads to better results when using metaheuristics for this purpose in all cases: while grid search achieves a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 0.9136, the metaheuristic that led to the worst result is still notably better with the corresponding score of 0.9515. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geothermal energy resources to support anthropogenic activities have a long-lasting tradition, renewed in recent decades with the increasing use of low enthalpy geothermal energy (LEG) with combined systems of heat pumps and geothermal exchange, exploiting the enormous thermal capacity and very low temperature variability of subsoil, including rocks and water. The further potential global increase of LEG use could be enormous, although LEG is already the main geothermal energy sources in Europe, contributing significantly to reach 2030 UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) on renewable energy resources, as a further leg to support all necessary efforts for these scopes. This research pursues LEG spreading improving knowledge on limitations of guidelines, technical regulations and/or laws, briefly rules, especially in terms of potential risks or limitations due to environmental constrains or natural phenomena. A global documentary research, including scientific articles, books, technical reports from qualified institutions, technical standards, guidelines, regulations, and laws, was realized with three different groups of keywords. A total of 161 documents were selected after some steps, including quality check. Identical English and Italian keyword sets were used to span from an international global scale to the complex local scale which characterizes the Italian experience. A complex sheet was filled in for each document, supporting data discussion, planned with a geographical criterion, from global to local. The system of rules resulted worldwide inhomogeneous and complex, with high differences from countries, nations or regions, also at local scale. The low quality or the absence of simple and careful "rules" emerged an important obstacle to LEG diffusion that can guarantee sustainability and the absence of natural risks. Main virtuous systems of rules were recognized as very useful to promote LEG spreading but these are still uncommon. The discussion of optimal experiences and the overview of potential natural risks due to LEG complete the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Must try harder' is the UK engineering community's verdict on government plans for the energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European countries are committed to making Europe the first carbon‐neutral continent by 2050 under the carbon leakage debates. Carbon leakage occurs when carbon‐intensive production relocates to environmentally unregulated countries. The trade channel of carbon leakage refers that the carbon‐loaded products finally come back through imports and increase consumption‐based carbon emissions in the decarbonization‐committed countries. This study probes the effects of extra‐imports (imports from non‐European countries) share on per capita consumption‐based carbon dioxide emissions (CCEpc) in the panel of 31 European countries from 1995 to 2018. After identifying cross‐country dependence, unit root, heterogeneity, and cointegration, the study applies the common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) and augmented mean group (AMG) estimators, followed by the Emirmahmutoglu‐Kose causality test. The results reveal a carbon leakage pattern that extra‐imports share has both associative (positive) and causal (one‐way) effects on CCEpc. Other results unveil a strong decarbonization contribution from enhancing renewable energy supply against the carbonization forces of growing extra‐exports (exports to non‐European countries) share, real gross domestic product, and comparative advantage in high‐tech manufactures, while population density's influence is statistically insignificant. Some policy implications including carbon‐adjusting border taxes on trade are drawn for regional and global mitigation undertakings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is no doubt that the rise of new energy actors in post-Soviet geographic space such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan was welcomed by Western power centers. Those emerging actors were assessed as partners in diminishing Europe's energy dependence to a single supplier; the Russian Federation. In this context, the main Western initiatives to challenge Russian energy dominance regarding the Caspian Basin were the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, and South Caucasus gas pipeline. These two strategic pipelines pass through the territories of Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia - a tiny administrative unit adjacent to the Turkish city of Ardahan and Armenian city of Gyumri. Because of that, any political turmoil in that strategic region should easily turn into a factor endangering both already unsatisfactory regional stability and European energy security. In this article, Samtskhe-Javakheti region's economic and demographic characteristics that make it unique and prone to instability are analyzed and European Union's Samtskhe-Javakheti policy is evaluated through the lens of security of energy supply. The conclusion of the paper is that, the European Union failed to establish influential cooperation mechanisms to avoid political and economic instabilities in this transit region. The European Union simply lacks a comprehensive regional plan compatible with the sociological and economic realities of Samtskhe-Javakheti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the book "Energy Efficiency Improvements in Electric Motors and Drives." Forty conference papers are submitted here that covers the state of the art of energy-efficient motor technologies, the barriers to adoption; and policies and programs to promote the large scale penetration of energy-efficient technologies. Chapters in the books are divided into several parts. Part 1 provides an overview of energy-efficient motor technologies. Part 2 explores the relevance of motors and drives to issues of energy use and energy saving. Part 3 focuses on energy efficient motors. Part 4 describes energy savings with eletric drives. Part 5 covers advanced motor and drive technologies. Part 6 discusses efficiency standards. Part 7 surveys policies to promote energy-efficient motor systems in various parts of the world. Part 8 discusses programs to promote energy-efficient motor systems in the U.S. and the Far East, and part 9 examines programs in Europe. Part 10 highlights some databases on high efficiency motors.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the fuel quality and the gaseous and particulate pollutant emissions generated from a hot-water boiler during the combustion of different types of innovative processed fuels: smokeless coal, smokeless briquettes 1–3, smokeless pellets and unprocessed hard coal. The aim of our research was to prove the presumption that smokeless processed coals produce less gaseous and particulate emissions. By using modern fuels in already used and manufactured older boilers, there is a possibility to significantly reduce emissions of organic gaseous compounds (OGC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The emission situation in the heating season can be significantly improved even without costly production, and thus consumption of natural resources and energy, and installation of modern boilers. Physical and chemical characterization of solid-fuel samples, including determination of moisture content, ash, volatile organic content, calorific value and elemental composition analysis, were performed. Fuels were burned in one type of hot-water boiler class 1 according to EN 303-5 to determine the impact of applied fuel types on pollutant emissions. The pollutant emissions were characterized by the contents of gaseous components: nitrogen oxides NOx, sulfur dioxide SO2, carbon monoxide CO, carbon dioxide CO2, organic gaseous compounds OGC and particle components: total suspended particles TSP, particulate matter less than 2.5 µm and 10 µm (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs in both phases. The emission factors from six types of fuel were compared with applicable European standards. The lowest NOx content was observed for smokeless briquette 1, while the lowest SO2 content was observed for smokeless pellets. The emission of CO was at a similarly low level of 200 g/kg for smokeless briquette 1, smokeless briquette 2 and hard coal. Gaseous and pollutant emissions described by PM2.5 and TSP were observed to be the lowest for smokeless coal, smokeless briquette 1 and smokeless briquette 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important goals of European energy policy is to increase the share of renewable energy resources in the energy supply. The instruments used in the member states are not fully compatible with the rules of the European internal market. In a theoretical section, this paper analyses possible different instruments for promoting renewable energy. Some countries use feed in tariffs - using fixed prices to increase incentives for producers to invest into renewable energy, other countries use quantity-based systems like quotas that lead to a premium above the market price. In an institutional analysis we show that on the basis of effectiveness and efficiency considerations for the European Union, in the long-term quantity oriented systems of promotion are preferable if combined with elements of a capacity market. The main reason for this conclusion is that price-based systems cannot give enough incentives for backup capacities necessary to cope with intermittent production of renewable sources. In addition price-based systems violate the basic rules of the open internal European market because feed in tariffs are a considerable barrier for trade of renewable energy products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the share of renewable energy is deemed essential to reduce the carbon intensity of the current electricity mix. The promotion of renewable energy technologies should thus be as effective and efficient as possible. Therefore, support schemes should explicitly consider the balance between demand-pull (e.g. production subsidies) and supply-push efforts (public RD&D investments). In this paper we estimate the deployment costs for renewable generation technologies between 2005 and 2030 in the EU-27. Then, we relate our findings to public RD&D expenditures (2005–2010) on these technologies. Based on several “lags” between RD&D spending and market impact, we obtained cumulative pull/push ratios between 100 and 190 for wind technologies and between 80 and 210 for PV. For solid biomass, pull/push ratios are lower, in a range of 60–120. The imbalance for biogas is much larger; the cumulative pull/push ratio for biogas is about 700 in the ‘5 year lag’ case and about 1200 in the other cases (10 yr. lag or more). Although the debate on optimal RD&D efforts is not conclusive and very sector-specific, it is relevant to compare our findings to average pull/push ratios of about 20 in the engineering sector. Overall, we can safely conclude that European governments should critically evaluate current renewables subsidy schemes, and increase public RD&D investments to support next waves of renewable energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Off-grid power systems are often used to supply electricity to remote households, cottages, or small industries, comprising small renewable energy systems, typically a photovoltaic plant whose energy supply is stochastic in nature, without electricity distributions. This approach is economically viable and conforms to the requirements of the European Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package. Furthermore, these systems are associated with a lower short circuit power as compared with distribution grid traditional power plants. The power quality parameters (PQPs) of such small-scale off-grid systems are largely determined by the inverter's ability to handle the impact of a device; however, this makes it difficult to accurately forecast the PQPs. To address this issue, this work compared prediction models for the PQPs as a function of the meteorological conditions regarding the off-grid systems for small-scale households in Central Europe. To this end, seven models—the artificial neural network (ANN), linear regression (LR), interaction linear regression (ILR), quadratic linear regression (QLR), pure quadratic linear regression (PQLR), the bagging decision tree (DT), and the boosting DT—were considered for forecasting four PQPs: frequency, the amplitude of the voltage, total harmonic distortion of the voltage ( T H D u ), and current ( T H D i ). The computation times of these forecasting models and their accuracies were also compared. Each forecasting model was used to forecast the PQPs for three sunny days in August. As a result of the study, the most accurate methods for forecasting are DTs. The ANN requires the longest computational time, and conversely, the LR takes the shortest computational time. Notably, this work aimed to predict poor PQPs that could cause all the equipment in off-grid systems to respond in advance to disturbances. This study is expected to be beneficial for the off-grid systems of small households and the substations included in existing smart grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant penetration of electrical drive vehicles (EDVs) in the fleet is possible only if their use is compatible with mobility patterns of individuals. Building on the analysis of car mobility patterns by means of web-based car trips diaries filled in by a sample of individuals in six European countries, this paper provides insights on how EDVs could fit mobility habits. Critical aspects related to driving behaviour, which should be considered to allow the penetration of electric cars in the market, are identified. Among others results, we show that average daily driven distance in 6 countries ranges from an average of 40km (UK) to an average of 80km (Poland) and the parking time after the last trip of a day amounts to more than 16h per day. These findings show that the current drive and parking behaviours are in line with the range limitation of current EDVs and the potential need for a full slow recharge of an average EDV battery. Our results are a starting point for the estimation on energy demand profiles to assess how electrical energy supply can meet demand under the assumptions of a wide market share of EDVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change brings environmental quality sensitivity, especially in European countries. In this context, European countries are striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Renewable energy use can be an effective way to curtail the increasing environmental degradation. How the oil prices shape the energy use pattern and environmental quality remains unclear to date. Therefore, the present research examines the linkage between energy use (non-renewable and renewable energy), oil prices, and CO2 emissions in 30 European countries between 1997 and 2017. The study applied fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), Westerlund (2007) cointegration and the Driscoll-Kraay Regression tests to explore these associations. The result of individual samples and the full sample provides the same intimations for the use of energy in Europe. The outcomes of the research ratify the existence of a long-run relationship among variables and found that non-renewable energy consumption increases CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption mitigates CO2 emissions. Furthermore, when the oil prices rise, people switch towards substitute energy sources that reduce CO2 emissions. Based on the results, the study suggests that European countries should increase the share of renewable energy, promote the use of clean energy resources, and discourage fossil fuel energy consumption to ensure sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity is a phenomenon that is occurring more and more frequently in larger areas of Europe. As a result of drought, there are significant drops in yields. As demand for food continues to rise, it is becoming necessary to bring about a substantial increase in crop production. The best solution to water scarcity appears to be irrigation for crops that are particularly sensitive to drought. Today, many technical solutions are used to supply and distribute water to crops. The optimal solution is drip irrigation, which makes it possible to deliver water directly to the plant root system to save melting freshwater resources. In the article special attention was paid to methods of supplying electricity to power irrigation pumps. The analysis was made for areas with a significant distance between the agricultural land and the urbanised area (which has water and electricity). The authors have selected the parameters of an off-grid photovoltaic mini-hydropower plant with energy storage (with a power of 1.36 kW). An analysis was made of the profitability of such an investment and a comparison with other types of power supply. Based on the performed calculations, a prototype power supply system equipped with photovoltaic panels was made to show the real performance of the proposed system. The tests carried out showed that the irrigation pump will be powered most of the time with a voltage whose parameters will be very close to the nominal ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: European energy policy pursues the objective of a sustainable, competitive and secure supply of energy. In 2007, the European Commission adopted an energy policy for Europe, which was supported by several documents on different aspects of energy and included an action plan to meet the major energy challenges Europe has to face. A farsighted diversified yearly mix of energies was suggested to countries, aiming at increasing security of supply and efficiency, but a wide and contemporary view of energy interchanges between states was not available. In a previous work of the same authors, energy import/export interchanges between European States were used to develop a geographic overview at one-glance. In this paper, the enhanced Interchange Energy Network (IEN) is investigated from a modelling point of view, as a Small-World Net, by supposing that connections can exist between States with a probability depending also on economic/political relations between countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper considers the European approaches to assessment of the buildings' energy efficiency. We scrutinize their advantages and disadvantages. Specifically, we investigate the feasibility of one of the approaches by employing the example of NTUU "KPI" educational buildings and define principal obstacles that hinder the utilization and can also lead to misinterpretation of the results obtained. We propose possible ways of specification of existing methods and attempt to adapt them to the Ukrainian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In transmission and distribution systems, the high number of installed transformers, a loss source in networks, suggests a good potential for energy savings. This paper presents how the Spanish Distribution regulation policy, Royal Decree 222/2008, affects the overall energy efficiency in distribution transformers. The objective of a utility is the maximization of the benefit, and in case of failures, to install a chosen transformer in order to maximize the profit. Here, a novel method to optimize energy efficiency, considering the constraints set by the Spanish Distribution regulation policy, is presented; its aim is to achieve the objectives of the utility when installing new transformers. The overall energy efficiency increase is a clear result that can help in meeting the requirements of European environmental plans, such as the ‘20–20–20’ action plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since the turn of the 21st century, the onshore wind industry has seen significant growth due to the falling cost of wind generated electricity. This growth has coincided with an interest in the development of offshore wind farms. In Europe, governments and developers have begun establishing small to medium sized wind farms offshore to take advantage of stronger and more constant winds and the relative lack of landowner conflicts. In the U.S., several developers are in the planning and resource evaluation phases of offshore wind farm development, but no wind farms are currently operational or under construction. In this paper, we analyze the patterns of development in Europe and compare them to the U.S. We find significant differences in the patterns of development in Europe and the U.S. which may impact the viability of the industry in the U.S. We also discuss the policies used by European nations to stimulate offshore wind development and we discuss the potential impacts of similar policies in the U.S. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Energy supply is one of the most significant security issues of the modern times. Especially in recent years it has become to dominate the European Union in terms of securing supplies through diversification of oil and gas fields. In this respect the Caspian area is likely to become a major energy source, in which Turkey's position as an energy corridor becomes prominent. This paper looks at the European Union policy to meet its energy needs in terms of tapping into the oil and gas fields of the Caspian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carried out bibliographic searches in PubMed and Embase.com for the period from 1996 to 2008 with the aim of reviewing the scientific literature on the relationship between various sources of indoor air pollution and the respiratory health of children under the age of five. Those studies that included adjusted correlation measurements for the most important confounding variables and which had an adequate population size were considered to be more relevant. The results concerning the relationship between gas energy sources and children's respiratory health were heterogeneous. Indoor air pollution from biomass combustion in the poorest countries was found to be an important risk factor for lower respiratory tract infections. Solvents involved in redecorating, DYI work, painting, and so forth, were found to be related to an increased risk for general respiratory problems. The distribution of papers depending on the pollution source showed a clear relationship with life-style and the level of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism, due its property of being an "invisible export" sector, has a strong multiplier effect over the economy. Tourists boost demand for numerous goods and services, one of them being energy. Unfortunately, energy sources are scarce for most of the countries in the region. Thus, one could think of another solution to the excess demand for energy than import. Namely, for more than a decade, renewable energy sources are in the central focus of the EU energy policy with an aim to ensure security, price stability, availably and affordability of energy to its citizens together with reduction of GHG emissions and making the EU economy more competitive. Combining tourism with renewable energy sources utilisation helps reducing the spill over effect from energy import. In this paper, the cross-section analysis based on environmental determination of tourism and renewable energy sources potentials is performed in order to indicate a pathway for implementation of renewable energy sources utilisation in the tourism and hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of International Law & Politics / Uluslararasi Hukuk ve Politika is the property of International Strategic Research Organization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Wind generation is growing rapidly in all the world, especially in Europe. The power produced by this kind of generation is difficult to predict and the predictions are not very accurate. In most systems these imbalances are costly. These penalties reduce the revenue for the wind generation company (WGENCOs). An option to solve this problem would be to work together with another agent. In this paper, a combined strategy for bidding and operating in a power exchange is presented. It considers the combination of a WGENCO and a hydro-generation company (HGENCO). The mathematical formulation for the optimal bids and for the optimal operation is presented, as well as results from realistic cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Energy efficiency recently became a cornerstone of the European energy policies. A particular mechanism is emerging, namely white certificates. Such certificates attest to the energy efficiency of a product or service according to predefined baselines and targets. White certificates are currently being used in Italy, the United Kingdom and France, while the European Directive on Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services is considering them as a possible remedy to improve security of supply, energy efficiency, environmental protection, economic competitiveness and social cohesion. This article aims accordingly to analyse the potential for a European-wide white certificates scheme, having due regard to the European framework, national experiences and international trade law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The conversion of primary energy from natural sources and the subsequent utilisation of secondary forms of energy are basically related to the development of our society with its continuous change of requirements. Consequently the consumption of primary energy resources rose drastically especially during the last five decades. However, the increasing awareness of environment pollution from the use of, e.g. fossil fuels, the limitation of the availability of such sources as well as market considerations and costs forces governments to re-orientate their energy policy in order to ensure a sustainable supply for the future of their societies. The paper will start with an overview of the energy market development in general and by comparing certain key areas in the world. In particular, the situation in Europe will be discussed and the consequences for political actions and technological needs for the future energy supply will be highlighted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Congestion on power grids seems a physical reality, a “hard” fact easy to check. Our paper models a different idea: congestion signal may be distorted by transmission system operators (TSOs). Indeed, congestion signals are not physical data but “home made” conventions directly set by the TSOs in charge of the security of the system. These security norms are not stable and invariable because some flexibility is needed by the very nature of the power flows and because lines capacity limits are not constant. TSOs, therefore, define the congestion signal on a variable, complex and non-transparent constraint and may manipulate it for monetary purposes or for other personal agenda. In Nordic countries the coexistence of two congestion management methods in a “Light Handed Regulation” framework makes this opportunistic behaviour even more likely. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Europe is liberalising electricity in accordance with the European Commission's Electricity Directives. Different countries have responded differently, notably in the extent of restructuring, treatment of mergers, market power, and vertical unbundling. While Britain and Norway have achieved effective competition, others like Germany, Spain and France are still struggling to deal with dominant and sometimes vertically integrated companies. The Netherlands offers an interesting intermediate case, where good economic analysis has sometimes been thwarted by legalistic interpretations. Investment under the new Emissions Trading system could further transform the electricity industry but may be hampered by slow progress in liberalising European gas markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing concern on the world waste issue has speed up the adoption of the circular economy model to replace the conventional “take, make, use, dispose” linear economy model. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been widely used in the past to identify and evaluate the inputs and outputs of different activities carried out in a linear economy model. With more and more industry transition from linear economy model to Circular Economy (CE) model, especially in developed nations particularly Europe, United States and China, it is imperative for the LCA to consider the circularity relationship of resources in its framework to enhance the effectiveness of LCA. One of the fundamental principles of circular economy is that material waste is avoided by prioritizing the end-of-use capture of materials to create a positive value-driven closed loop. Nonetheless, the literature that include or integrate the circularity elements into the LCA framework remains limited. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that it is due to some limitations and barriers, including but not limited to industry acceptance level, high transition cost, lack of know-how expertise to enable the evaluation and others. In this work, the overview of the research and development towards the application of LCA to support CE strategies are reviewed. The limitations and challenges to apply LCA for a circular economy model are also identified to propose recommendations to extend the current application of LCA for a more robust strategy that capture the value of the reuse, recycle, remanufactured, repurposed resources and the potential upstream and downstream impacts for better decisions for sustainability. A case study in the palm oil industry is also presented to illustrate the possible development of CE-LCA framework in the context of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a strategic approach to assess the importance of space solar power for securing the increasing energy demand of Europe. Based on European particularities, like its high and increasing energy import dependence and the strong engagement to significantly reduce its emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), the effort of the recently created European Network on Space Solar Power, lead by the European Space Agency (ESA), are described. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Providing more affordable and cleaner energy for all raises complex and significant financial, political, technical, and institutional issues, which must all be addressed to ensure sustainable development. Energy technology innovation has a critical role to play as one of the best pathways to achieve the transition to a global clean energy system. This paper is an endeavor to study the impact of government energy technology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) budget, which is the primary input of energy technology innovations on cleaner energy supply and carbon footprints (CFP). In this study, a cleaner energy supply is measured as the contribution of renewable energy to total primary energy supply (RE). We assumed that the effect of energy innovation is not uniform but varies according to the descending and ascending movements in a government's energy technology RD&D budget. To this end, we distinguished the impact of the descending and ascending movements in government energy technology RD&D budgets on cleaner energy supply, and CFP in Europe over the period 1985 to 2016. Additionally, we carried out a comparative examination of the effects of energy technology RD&D expenditures on RE and CFP under both linear and nonlinear panel techniques. To increase room for policy implications, we also controlled for the role of economic growth and trade openness and performed several robustness check analyses. We found that the reduction of carbon footprints associated with an increase in public support to energy technology RD&D is more pronounced than the contribution of energy technology innovation to the deployment of renewable energy in Europe. This study provided little evidence in favor of the effectiveness of a government energy technology RD&D budget to substantially boost renewable energy in Europe. Following these results, we suggest that the knowledge of the asymmetric linkage between public energy technology innovation, RE, and CFP is a starting point to achieve win-win solutions that favor clean energy and environmental sustainability. • Optimizing the nonlinear effects of energy technology RD&D budgets over different time horizons. • Asymmetries in the responses of RE and CFP to shocks in energy technology innovation budgets. • The influences of energy technology innovation vary over different time horizons. • The public budget devoted to energy innovation is fundamental for curbing CFP rather than boosting RE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January of this year (2020), a major scientific study ('the Minshull report') announced that gas hydrate reservoirs were found in many offshore areas across Europe. The European Commission is now considering a policy view to commercialize the development and extraction of methane gas from European offshore areas. Affirmation from the European Commission that offshore methane hydrates are too useful and too valuable to forego development could initiate a global response to adopt offshore methane hydrates as a new source of natural gas for heating, for electrical power supplies, and for potential new revenues. The upside? The potential rewards from offshore methane hydrates are multi-fold. Coastal states are surrounded in methane hydrate resources that if responsibly developed could enable vast amounts of methane (natural gas) to be produced for decades or centuries beyond the timelines of conventional natural gas assets. There are also massive volumes of fresh water trapped in hydrates that could aid in fighting droughts and desertification. The downside? There are novel foreseeable risks that might result from those commercial methane hydrate activities. The climate change risks and geo-physical hazards from offshore methane hydrates are quite distinct from both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons. There are new challenges to achieving safety and sustainability. In review, this paper both welcomes the discovery and confirmation of offshore methane hydrates in European waters and also raises concerns that more research is required on the optimal policy strategies for the known and foreseeable risks to best enable safe and sustainable policy choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide utilization is increasingly attracting interest. CO2 utilization involves a multitude of processes and chemical reactions. In this context, the goal of this review is to analyze the techno‐economic feasibility, sustainability, and social opportunities of CO2 utilization, as a possible contribution to CO2 mitigation in Europe. Industries and the most recent European projects related to carbon capture and utilization are also discussed, illustrating Europe's performance dynamics in science, research, and innovation in this field. The latest developments in CO2 utilization are thus reviewed, including chemicals, mineral carbonation, and biological uses. This study examines a few CO2‐based pathways at high level of maturity covering a wide range of applications, and discusses their current technical feasibility, economic viability, sustainability, and social aspects. They are then evaluated using several indicators to provide a figure of merit, where qualitative results are intended. The mapping and ranking of CO2 utilization pathways may provide a valuable means in prioritizing support and funding to facilitate the development of large‐scale CO2 utilization projects in Europe. Finally, key challenges and opportunities are discussed. The review shows that CO2 utilization may not be a complete solution for Europe, but will support climate change objectives, circular economy, and resource and energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite engagement with the construct of power relations, research on the political economy of health has largely overlooked organized labor as a determinant of well-being. Grounded in the theory of power resources, our study aims to fill this gap by investigating the link between country-level union density and mental health while accounting for the compositional effects of individual-level union membership. We use three waves of the European Social Survey (N = 52,737) and a variation on traditional random-effects models to estimate both the contextual and change effects of labor unions on depressive symptoms. We find that country-level union density is associated with fewer depressive symptoms and that this is true irrespective of union membership. We discuss our findings vis-à-vis the literatures on the political economy of health, power resources, and fundamental causes of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present comparative research on precarious work and trade union strategies in three sectors (construction, industrial cleaning, temporary agency work) across seven European countries. Specific sectors have a profile of precarious work that is remarkably similar across countries, originating from similar employer strategies and work organizations. This results in unions facing comparable challenges concerning precarious work at sectoral level and developing comparable sectoral strategies to combat precarious work. The success of these strategies depends to a large extent on the available power resources. Between sectors within single countries, we observe some similarities but also very substantial differences in their institutional configuration and in actors' constellations, power resources and repertoires of action. National institutional contexts seem much less significant than often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]