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The paper explores Coastal Energy-Based Industrial Clusters (EBICs) and their role in advancing energy efficiency and sustainability through collaborative innovation. Economic growth theory and energy sustainability have been introduced into industrial clusters to illustrate indicators that have a greater impact on the development of EBICs. This paper proposes an EBICs development model based on the Cobb-Douglas function, in which accounts for various factors that drive the progress of such clusters. The outcomes of the economic model also provide insights into how the interaction of various factors affects the economic growth of EBICs and their eventual dominance in the energy market of coastal regions, dependent on gradually investing in areas such as research and development (R&D). Different development strategies demonstrate that the final development of a cluster has low dependence on the cluster's initial advantages. The study also illustrates how clusters can gradually monopolize the energy market, even with initial disadvantages. Through quantitative analysis, it showcases the transformation process of developing advantageous clusters into sub-clusters. Next, an energy symbiosis framework for coastal is proposed, which places greater emphasis on the multi-energy complementary system and reduces production costs. Finally, this paper also sheds light on shaping energy strategies for public authorities who shape economic policies at various levels of aggregation and in diverse dimensions. • Multi-energy complementarity provides a new path for sustainable development of coastal energy. • Hardware investment is critical to the development of energy-based industry clusters. • Clusters with better natural advantages may become sub-clusters due to incorrect development strategies. • The essence of energy cluster development is the result of the interaction of multiple influencing factors. • The economic growth of energy clusters depends on the proportion of investment in software and hardware. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since 2002, when the first Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) was held in Dubrovnik, the SDEWES conferences series has been providing a forum for world-wide scientists and those interested in learning about the sustainability of development, to present research progress and to discuss the state of the art, the future directions and priorities in the various areas of sustainable development. One of the main issues of the coming decades is to improve efficiencies by integrating various energy systems, using excess from one, as resource in another in the correct moment. Integrating electricity, heating, cooling, transport, water, buildings, waste, wastewater, industry, forestry and agriculture systems will be pivotal towards sustainable development. SDEWES has maintained high publishing standard as 2408 SDEWES papers were published in special issues of leading scientific journals including "Energy - The International Journal". In 2022, the 17th SDEWES Conference was held during November 6–10 in Paphos, Cyprus, the 5th SEE Conference took place in May 22–26, 2022 in Vlorë, Albania, the 3rd Latin American Conference was held through a virtual platform during July 24–28, 2022. The Energy journal has continued its cooperation with SDEWES launching a special issue dedicated to the 2022 Conferences. The special issue includes papers which traditionally cover a range of energy issues - higher renewables penetration and various technologies and fuels assessments at energy supply side, as well as, energy efficiency in various sectors, buildings, district heating, electric vehicles and demand modelling at energy demand side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and fossil fuel reserve depletion both pose challenges for energy security and for wellbeing in general. The top ten among them include: Decarbonising the world economy; Enhancing the energy efficiency and energy savings in buildings; Advancing the energy technologies; Moving towards energy systems based on variable renewables; Electrifying the transport and some industrial processes; Liberalizing and extending the energy markets; Integrating energy sectors to Smart Energy Systems; Making the cities and communities smart; Diversifying the energy sources; and Building more biorefineries. Presenting the contributions of selected conference papers published in the special issues of leading scientific journals (including all the papers from the current Energy special issue), this review demonstrates the capacity of the Conferences on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems for generation of knowledge which could serve as the centrepiece of a pertinent response to those challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of China's economy has accelerated its energy demand. The exploitation of renewable energy is essential because of limited conventional energy sources, high energy consumption, unstable and escalating oil prices, and detrimental environmental pollutions. Firms in the renewable energy industry are currently facing challenges to maintain competitiveness and productivity while minimizing environmental impacts. The ability to manage knowledge is a key feature in the process for firms to obtain competitive advantages. In addition, interactive learning framework provides a platform that can respond to the need for adjustment in time of great uncertainty. This paper adds evidence to the literature of interactive learning environment based on China context. It examines critical characteristics of interactive learning framework in the renewable energy industry, and then investigates suitable organization forms for knowledge management at different levels of a supply chain. On this basis, this paper proposes suitable organizational forms under different situations for sustainable competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar-generated energy supply has been applied as a solution to address the increasing global population, global warming challenges, and the search for alternative sources of renewable and clean energy supply. Regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean have a significant rural population that lacks access to electricity, impeding their development, and increasing unemployment rates. This paper presents a system dynamics model (SD) for assessing the implementation of a solar energy supply chain (SESC), combining the analysis with the national industry's development for the manufacture of solar modules used in the implementation of solar farms and individual solution projects, especially in the non-interconnected zones of Colombia. This case study examines three scenarios in Colombia: national government-implemented solar farm projects; development of national supply chain implementation; and development of the solar energy market. These scenarios are evaluated using performance indicators for supply chain variables, including coverage, diversification, emissions, and job creation. The results indicate that implementing a supply chain and developing solar module production in Colombia can positively impact the proposed indicators, resulting in improvements of 5.9% in coverage, 6.3% in diversification, 6.7% in emission reductions, and 13% in job creation. • A novel model is developed for the solar energy supply chain. • The solar energy supply chain modeled prospectively and sustainably. • Analysis of energy, economic, environmental and social sustainability performance indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement and other agreements which have been signed after, sustainable energy development is becoming the major goal in many countries. EU have set the targets to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emission by 40% in 2030 and 80% for 2050 compared with 1990 levels. For achieving this ambitious energy policy, three major technological changes are available: energy savings on the demand side, efficiency improvements in the energy production, and replacement of fossil fuels by various sources of renewable energy. Also, for realization cited three major technological changes the support of the multi-disciplinary scientific knowledge is needed. Therefore, from the beginning of the 21st century, since 2002, a series of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conferences were founded. This paper presents an overview of published researches in special issues of leading journals dedicated to the series SDEWES Conferences, including also the papers in current special issue. The focus is on five main fields: (1) energy policy and analysis of smart energy systems; (2) energy savings in the building sector; (3) co/polygeneration - integrated heating, cooling and electricity systems and district heating; (4) biomass for energy; and (5) measurement of energo-environmental sustainability of processes and systems. Researchers are focused on the development of methods, policies and technologies for both efficient production of energy, mainly from renewable sources, and consumption in industry, buildings and transport. Undoubtedly, the researches presented in the papers in this special issue as well as in previous ones, dedicated to SDEWES conferences, will contribute to the promotion of sustainable development and thus to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of integrated energy system can effectively improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emission, which is of great significance to energy sustainable development. This paper proposes an integrated energy system operation optimization method based on cooperative game, which can effectively reduce the energy cost and carbon emissions of the system, and encourage different subjects to participate in the overall coordinated and optimized operation of the system. Firstly, combined with cooperative game theory, a cooperative game model of integrated energy system with cost and carbon emission as objectives is established. Secondly, a profit distribution method combining improved Shapley value and nucleolus method is proposed. Finally, an improved Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm is proposed to solve the cooperative game model, which greatly improves the solving efficiency. The example shows that the cooperative mode saves 26.86% of the cost and reduces 39.42% of the carbon emission compared with the independent operation. At the same time, the scientific and effective benefit distribution method proposed in this paper is verified from the overall, individual and alliance perspectives. • Analyzed the energy architecture of different operation modes of integrated energy system. • Constructed a cooperative game model of integrated energy system. • Proposed a benefit distribution model based on the improved Shapley value and nucleolus method. • Study the influence of system cost and carbon emission by energy price fluctuation under different models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure development and energy efficiency improvement are crucial to the high-quality transformation of the economy. However, little literature discusses how infrastructure development affects the energy efficiency gap between regional manufacturing. This paper estimates the per capita capital stock of economic infrastructure and the green total factor energy efficiency of China's manufacturing industry. Unlike the prior grouping according to geographical location or other standards, this paper conducts a data-driven clustering method and convergence analysis on energy efficiency. Thirty provinces eventually converge into four clubs, and the gaps in energy efficiency between various clubs are found to persist. The results of the panel-ordered Probit model indicate that infrastructure development can reduce regional discrepancies in manufacturing's green total factor energy efficiency. This effect is heterogeneous in transportation infrastructure and power infrastructure. As time goes on, the marginal effect of infrastructure diminishes. Moreover, the established infrastructure reduces the regional disparities in energy efficiency, while the infrastructure under construction instead widens the gap. Some relevant policy recommendations are provided for future infrastructure planning and green development strategy based on the conclusions. • Clustering method and convergence analysis are applied to construct groups. • Energy efficiency gap between regional manufacturing persists. • Panel-ordered Probit model is adopted for analysis. • Infrastructure development can reduce regional discrepancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The use of natural gas in China is still relatively immature, as gas production only supplies a low percentage of the domestic energy system. In contrast, Chinese economy mainly relies on coal with a 67% share of the total primary energy supply. The environmental impact from this high coal dependence is significant and planners have sought for cleaner energy sources. Natural gas is both cleaner and generally more efficient than coal and gas consumption is rising quickly due to these facts. The growth tendency indicates that natural gas will become an important substitution for coal in some parts of the Chinese primary energy consumption. To quantify this tendency, this paper uses a system dynamics model to create a possible outlook. The results show that the gas consumption in China will continue to increase fast to 89.5 billion cubic meters in 2010; 198.2 billion cubic meters in 2020, before finally reach 340.7 billion cubic meters in 2030. Scenario analysis is used to assess the accuracy of the results. Finally, this paper gives policy suggestions on natural gas exploration and development, infrastructure constructions and technical innovations to promote a sustainable development of China’s natural gas industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The development of smart energy systems is a crucial enabler of the transition towards a decarbonized renewable energy (RE)-based society with universal energy access as it provides flexibility to integrate variable RE sources. This paper analyzes the development of new RE-based smart energy systems while introducing energy technologies and effective methods for energy systems development, recent progress of energy systems by using RE, practical government measures in pioneer countries for energy systems, development with quantitative data for these countries, and PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological) analysis. Our findings show that the development of smart energy systems requires appropriate policies and that thorough collaboration between all national executive agents like national and local governments and citizens in this regard is crucial. Smart energy system development needs to be tailored to local conditions, and due consideration must be given new technologies and methods for development, correct policies, investment, collaboration national/local and their citizens, societal support, and citizens acceptance. • Smart Energy Systems reduces CO 2 emissions while increases energy efficiency. • Development of the Smart Sustainable Energy using PEST analysis are more effective. • Development of Smart Energy Systems needs to governments investment. • Combining RE with CHP Systems increases electricity production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reported the current status of the energy sector and its future challenges in Morocco. Recent strategies deployed by the government for sustainable development were reviewed and discussed. These strategies put the transition to renewable alternatives on the top of the national policy implications for energy security and low-carbon economy. We have also suggested a methodological tool to prioritize energy alternatives for power generation. It was found that wind energy is the most appropriate power generation alternative in Morocco at the current level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper briefly summarizes China’s energy situation and sustainable development strategy as they were by 2009. The energy consumption in 2009 is reported to be 3.1 billion tons standard coal equivalent, 1/7 of the world total, 6.3% higher than in the year 2008, and its share of world CO2 emissions increased rapidly to 20.3% in 2006. These trends are most likely to continue with China’s plan to accomplish its social and economy development goals. To address these problems and also respond to increasing world pressure for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government plans and has legislated promotion of energy conservation, efficiency, renewable energy technologies and use, and reduction of energy-related environmental impacts to reduce energy intensity by 20% during the 2006–2010 period, and to reduce the CO2 emission/GDP ratio by 40–45% by 2020 relative to 2005. China is facing severe energy-related challenges that conflict resources shortages with the planned rapid economic development, energy use with the related environmental pollution, and new technology with the old production/consumption patterns. It is recognized that energy development must, however, follow a sustainable path to coordinate economy growth, social development, and environmental protection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Energy is a main factor for sustainable and economic development of many countries in the world. The objective of this paper is to investigate barriers facing solar energy development in Iran through a case study conducted on the Alborz Province. A questionnaire was designed and then submitted to the professionals in the field of solar energy. First, the identified barriers are classified into five categories of technical, legal, economic, sociocultural, and support by help of experts. Then, the fuzzy Best-Worst method is used to determine importance of the identified criteria and sub-criteria for development of the solar energy sector in the region. The findings indicate that the primary barriers to solar energy development are economic factors which are related to the adverse impact of the uncertain economic conditions including the sanctions against Iran. Because of the high risk of new business, domestic people do not have enough ambition and interest in starting new renewable energy projects. The low price of fossil fuels (in the economic category as sub-criteria), has the most significant impact on the stagnation of this sector, which is related to the ease of access to energy in Iran and its effect on the interest in renewable energy use. Supporting the private sectors by receiving financial incentives can help development of the renewable energy sector in the province. By using similar research for other regions, decision makers can accurately identify challenges for development of solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy sustainable development is of strategic importance across the world. This is especially the case in China as it is the world's largest energy consumer. However, renewable energies such as wind and solar energy are characterized with high intermittence and fluctuation. As the penetration of renewable power in the energy system increases, it is getting more challenging in power dispatch. In this paper, an adaptive time division power dispatch strategy based on numerical characteristics of net loads is proposed. In this strategy, a dispatch time division method is introduced in detail to divide the dispatching time according to the numerical characteristics of net loads. The sample entropy theory is utilized to calculate the complexity of the net loads, depending on which a specific thermal generating mode is provided. The experiment simulation is developed on an actual provincial power system in the northeast of China. The test results have confirmed that in the adaptive time division power dispatch strategy, the ramping power of thermal generators are decreased, the continuous and steady operation time of thermal generators are improved. As a result, this new strategy, can lead to improved energy efficiency of power systems as well as significant environmental benefits. • A dispatch time division method is proposed according to the numerical feature of the net loads. • A complexity calculation method of each net load subsequence based on SampEn is introduced. • The specific net load numerical characteristic fitted thermal operation mode is introduced. • An adaptive time division power dispatch strategy based on the complexity of net loads is provided. • An actual provincial power grid in the northeast of China is developed to illustrate the effectiveness and practicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]