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District heating and cooling systems have been present on the European market for more than a century, constantly evolving into more efficient energy infrastructures important for decarbonization of the heating and cooling sectors. With roughly 17,000 operational district heating systems, serving over 70 million citizens, currently, the final energy consumption attributed to district heating in Europe is estimated at over 450 TWh. As the European district heating and cooling sector varies extensively in every analyzed aspect, there are vast differences between European countries regarding technical preferences, technological development, market structure and regulatory frameworks of these systems. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the present status of the district heating and cooling systems in Europe with insight(s) and suggestions into future trends. In addition, the provided data serves as a valuable baseline for future research. Finally, this paper draws attention to the new socio-demographic approach, observed when analyzing the district heating and cooling systems, that has been recently introduced into the scientific community. This new approach also reveals the opportunity for creating new indicators that will influence the modeling of existing and future district heating and cooling systems. • Provides a review on ongoing trends in European district heating and cooling sector. • Analyses European DHC systems from technological, market, and regulatory aspect. • Provides an overview on commonly used performance indicators and energy models. • Discusses the possibility of creating new DHC indicators. • Discusses the trends in future DHC development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a possible approach for creating business decisions based on multi-criteria analysis. Seven options for a possible revitalization of the thermal power plant “Kolubara”-A Unit No. 2 with energy indicators of sustainable development (EISD) are presented in this paper. The chosen EISD numerically express the essential features of the analyzed options, while the sustainability criteria indicate the option quality within the limits of these indicators. In this paper, the criteria for assessing the sustainability options are defined based on several aspects: economic, social, environmental and technological. In the process of assessing the sustainability of the considered options the Analysis and Synthesis of Parameters under Information Deficiency (ASPID) method was used. In this paper, the EISD show that production and energy consumption are closely linked to economic, environmental and other indicators, such as economic and technological development of local communities with employment being one of the most important social parameter. Multi-criteria analysis for the case study of the TPP “Kolubara”-A clearly indicated recommendations to decision makers on the choice of the best available options in dependence on the energy policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of indices claim to quantify the performance of a country in attaining the goal of energy security and energy sustainability. The paper compares three different indices, viz., ‘Energy Sustainability Index’, ‘International Index of Energy Security Risk’ and ‘Energy Architecture Performance Index’ along with their variants to examine if they provide consistent results for various countries. A comparative assessment reveals that the three indices provide different country rankings, which are inconsistent. This situation is akin to three blind men groping the elephant with each one measuring a different part of the body and asserting that only their assessment is true. Further analysis reveals that countries which rank in the top of the list of different indices are insensitive to differences in construction of the index and it can be inferred that they have robust energy systems, which partly resolves the conflict. However, much more needs to be done, to examine energy security and energy sustainability of a country with other relevant tools. It may therefore be concluded that while the country ranking from the individual indices may be correct, basing the assessment of a country's performance, on the score obtained in one specific study may not be accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biofuels world production has increased sharply in recent years. Oil reserves depletion, the oil high price and the confidence in biofuels “carbon neutrality” are the main causes of this phenomenon. However, claims related to the negative consequences of biofuel programs are frequent; mainly those related to the biofuels/food competition and sustainability. This paper aims to contribute for the development of a framework for sustainability indicators as a tool for performance assessment. The most used indicators to measure the biofuels sustainability are: Life Cycle Energy Balance (LCEB), quantity of fossil energy substituted per hectare, co-product energy allocation, life cycle carbon balance and changes in soil utilization. On the other hand, existing assessment tools, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA), are compared emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages. Main constraints related to the studied frontiers, as well as the lack of reliable data and their effects are also discussed. Discussions are held on the basis of real life cycle studies carried out by the authors about palm oil biodiesel and different alternatives for the stillage treatment and disposal. Finally, suggestions and recommendations are made to improve existing methodologies for biofuels sustainability evaluation, all this from a south perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the multi-criteria sustainability assessment of various options of the energy power system of the JP Elektroprivreda of Bosnia and Herzegovina is performed. The rehabilitation of a 110MW Thermal Power Unit is compared with other options, such as: a thermal power unit with a coal-fueled boiler with combustion in fluidized bed; combined cycle gas turbine plants; hydropower plant, power plants based on solar energy (photovoltaic [PV] systems); wind turbines; and biomass power plants. The assessment methodology comprise a system of stochastic models of uncertainty, enabling decision makers to perform the assessment of various systems, as well as to obtain normalization indexes by using non-numeric (ordinal), non-exact (interval) and non-complete information (NNN-information). Through the analysis of multi-criteria assessment of potential options, the decision-makers are able to evaluate options and select the optimal new power plant capacity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]