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Bioenergy is currently under diversified pressure to re-assess its compliance with sustainable development strategies and criteria and thereby ensure that the sector delivers a long-term contribution to renewable energy transition. With a view to promoting sustainable regional development this inquiry investigates whether a reframing of bioenergy supply chain design can allow sustainable regional development targets to feature as integral supply chain components and both help upgrade existing bioenergy processes and initiate new bioenergy value chains. Following a critical survey of classic supply chain management we use a Total Quality Management approach to operationalize the concept of regional energy and pilot the development of sustainable bioenergy pathways within North European regional settings. We argue that a methodical enhancement of supply chain design can help overcome the challenges facing bioenergy and at the same time provide a blueprint for pioneering feasible regional energy initiatives as alternatives to conventional energy processes. From an initially sectoral perspective the study seeks to support the integration of regional development goals into energy transition policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally-driven absorption refrigeration technology is currently being discussed as possibly contributing to a more climate-friendly refrigeration supply. However, factors beyond technological and economic aspects influencing a broader diffusion of this technology have not yet been considered. This article presents results of a socio-technical constellation analysis identifying barriers against and drivers of a fortified dissemination of innovative low-temperature absorption chillers in a more comprehensive way. Results show that future perspectives of absorption refrigeration arise from a coincidence of mutually influencing factors, also including (lacking) know-how, experience, standard solutions, developed supplier structures and political framework conditions. Due to interdependencies with developments in the heat and electricity sector, targeted intervention requires integrated approaches. Future promotion of absorption refrigeration should be part of an optimised overall energy system perspective (electricity, heat, cold). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses research demands for a more critical empirical assessment of the innovation capacity of the decentralised, sub-national level. In Germany, the extensive involvement and contributions of new locally-rooted renewable energy initiatives have been one of the most striking features of the country's energy transition process. This study analyses the enabling conditions, current challenges and future prospects of decentralised experimentation in the German energy system. It finds that whereas the national support scheme has for a long period protected decentralised deployment of renewable energies by locally-rooted actors in the energy field, recent reforms of the scheme now threaten their further participation in the energy market. The paper observes that decentralised initiatives not only struggle to adjust to the new framework conditions. They have also not yet sufficiently addressed the new governance challenges arising from the fact that renewable energies have reached a stage of systemic importance for the whole power system, which requires decentralised initiatives to make their own efforts compatible with overall energy system transition needs. The study concludes that in order to remain an important innovator in the German energy transition, decentralised initiatives have to prove their ability to provide solutions to the systemic challenges of the energy transition process, such as horizontal and vertical multi-level coordination and decentralised contributions to the security of supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's per capita carbon emissions ranks first in Asia. Whether Taiwan's current "2025 Non-Nuclear Homeland" energy transition policy can achieve the goal of greenhouse gas reduction is an issue that needs to be studied urgently. On the basis of studying the status quo of energy supply and demand and carbon emissions in Taiwan, this paper first uses an econometric model to predict Taiwan's energy demand from 2021 to 2030, and then uses a Markov chain model to predict its energy structure changes and CO 2 emission trends under different scenarios, and evaluates the impact of its energy transition policies on carbon emission reduction goals. On this basis, by comparing the carbon trading markets on both sides of the Taiwan strait, the feasibility of and obstacles to the cross-strait cooperation in the carbon trading market are discussed in depth, and the opportunities for future cross-strait cooperation in the carbon trading market are proposed innovatively. The empirical results of this paper show that the carbon emissions in 2025 under the energy transition policy will be reduced by 59.8–61.1 million tons compared with those without planning constraints, but compared with the carbon reduction target (a reduction of 124.8–133 million tons), there is still a long way to go. The contribution potential of the annual carbon emission reduction target is only 45.9%–47.9%, and the contribution potential in 2030 is 57.2%–60.1%. The current "2025 Non-Nuclear Homeland" policy is not in line with Taiwan's current reality, and it is difficult to achieve the expected carbon reduction goal. In order to realize the energy transition in Taiwan in the future, it is necessary to make overall planning of energy policies, explore the cross-strait power cooperation model, and gradually try to build a cross-strait carbon trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, sustainable energy supply will largely be achieved through renewable energies. Each country will have its own unique optimal pathway to transition to a fully sustainable system. This study demonstrates two such pathways for Bolivia that are both technically feasible and cost-competitive to a scenario without proper renewable energy targets, and significantly more cost-efficient than the current system. This transition for Bolivia would be driven by solar PV based electricity and high electrification across all energy sectors. Simulations performed using the LUT Energy System Transition model comprising 108 technology components show that electricity demand in Bolivia would rise from the present 12 TWh to 230 TWh in 2050, and electricity would comprise 82% of primary energy demand. The remaining 18% would then be covered by renewable heat and sustainable biomass resources. Solar PV sees massive increases in capacity from 0.13 GW in 2020 to a maximum of 113 GW in 2050, corresponding to 93% of electricity generation in 2050. In a high transmission scenario, levelized cost of energy reduces 27% during the transition. All scenarios studied see significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, with two scenarios demonstrating a Bolivian energy system with no greenhouse gas emissions in 2050. Further, such scenarios outline a sustainable and import-free supply of energy for Bolivia that will provide additional social benefits for the people of Bolivia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation and the outsourcing of industrial manufacturing from developed to less developed countries has an increasing effect on the national energy balances of most developed economies. The current standard metric Total Primary Energy Supply of a country does not take into account the energy embodied in goods and services imported from other countries, leading to the perverse outcome of a country appearing to be more sustainable the more it outsources its energy-intensive industries. Academia has addressed this problem by suggesting the use of the Total Primary Energy Footprint as an additional metric, but there has not been a clear proposal put forward by academia to governments or international institutions about how to officially adopt Consumption-Based Accounting in the field of energy. This article states that acknowledging the existence of embodied energy flows is indispensable when formulating new national and international energy policies for the transition towards energy systems that are socially and environmentally more sustainable. In this study, the Hidden Energy Flow indicator of 44 countries has been quantified using, for the first time, five different Global Multi-Regional Input-Output databases for the latest available year, 2011. The proposed indicator provides a percentage to be added to or subtracted from the Total Primary Energy Used value of a country, provided by the International Energy Agency, to get its real consumption-based energy requirement. This study demonstrates that, from 44 countries analysed, the ten most developed countries demand on average 18.5% more energy than measured by the International Energy Agency; the medium developed 24 countries demand 12.4% more, and the ten least developed countries demand 1.6% less. This means that most developed and medium developed countries displace their indirect energy consumption towards less developed countries in a hidden way. Furthermore, this research supports evidence that direct energy consumption in households is less relevant than the energy embodied in goods and services purchased by households, reaching 59.1% in the case of Switzerland, used as a reference among developed countries. The proposed Hidden Energy Flow indicator supports scientists, policymakers and citizens in the effort to focus the energy transition actions towards conducting the necessary energy consumption and production changes in the most effective way, improving energy justice and energy democracy. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]