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In view of the climate crisis, the development and the path of growth and expansion of renewable energy systems is an urgent task, but must carried out with great care on environmental compatibility and protection. Renewable energy supply systems that are suitable for grid-bound heat supply, particularly in urban areas in Europe, are geothermal binary plants that provide power as well as power and heat. This paper will present studies whose objective was the assessment of hydrogeothermal power and heat generation in low-enthalpy regions from the environmental standpoint. The German Environment Agency published results of a network of studies conducted between 2008 and 2016 on the analysis of detailed and comprehensive environmental impacts of the geothermal energy generation in Germany and has continuously evaluated these findings. In this article, the results of the Life Cycle Assessment are discussed, taking into account all effects and material flows within the entire life cycle. Based on these balances, differing geothermal systems are compared to each other and to other renewable and fossil energy generation systems in order to assess the ecological advantages and disadvantages of these systems. Taking into account local environmental impacts as well a comprehensive ecologic evaluation of potential environmental and human health impacts becomes possible. The paper presents the results of a) the mass and energy fluxes of the process chain along the life cycle, and b) the local environmental impacts along the life cycle with regard to the environmental indicators of these cases. The focus is on the impact of site and plant parameters. Concluding, it can be summarised that geothermal power and heat generation is a very low-carbon technology and can contribute to a sustainable energy supply. Hydrogeothermal plants show a significantly low surface consumption, and environmental impacts are only locally relevant and technically controllable. Through the development of optimised overall concepts, geothermal based power and heat generation can achieve minimal environmental impacts in all areas. The combined heat and power generation from geothermal resources is by far the most environmentally and climate-friendly energy supply compared to all other regenerative and fossil systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The contemporary energy transition will be characterized by many sub-transitions in the next three decades. Oil and gas will continue to play a very important role coupled with renewable energy sources in an energy mix scenario. In this context, the authors of the present work developed a project, named RELife (Renewable Energy for a new Life of offshore platforms), with the main goal of develop a model for the reuse of offshore Oil & Gas platforms at end-of-life stage for the production of renewable energy. In this paper, by considering two types of platforms (4-legged platform with 3 or 4 production wells), various technical scenarios are studied and investigated and for each scenario also the environmental and economic feasibility is evaluated. In addition, all the sub-models are compared with a standard decommissioning process. The evaluations are made for both the Adriatic Sea and the North Sea, two geographic areas with different availabilities of renewable resources. In order to assess also the economic and environmental feasibility, a Discount Cash Flow Analysis and a Life Cycle Assessment of all the scenarios have been conducted. Highlights • A model for the reuse of offshore oil rigs at end-of-life stage for the production of renewable energy has been developed. • Various technical reuse scenarios have been investigated with the relative energy flows considering real data. • A Discount Cash Flow Analysis and a Life Cycle Assessment of all the scenarios have been conducted. • Cost competiveness and environmental impacts have been calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing literature suggests that community owned renewable energy (CRE) projects have the potential to deliver a range of environmental and local socio-economic benefits. There is relatively little empirical evidence to substantiate this, with few systematic efforts to assess social and environmental impacts or to understand the context in which given impacts arise. In this paper, we review and conceptualise the local impacts commonly cited in the literature and dissect the empirical evidence currently available to support their occurrence. Having assessed the quality of evidence and pinpointed knowledge gaps, we draw on methodological literature to identify approaches necessary to improve our understanding of the local impacts of CRE and explore their patterns of occurrence. We find a lack of robust survey and statistical evidence across all the seven impact categories identified. Of the impacts identified, ‘empowerment’ and ‘access to affordable energy’ are found to be the least studied. In addition, several impacts are associated only with specific types of community energy projects. We argue that the paucity of consistent evidence for direct impacts associated with the development processes and direct outcomes of projects suggests that the most substantial local impacts result from medium to long term indirect project outcomes and the investment of project revenues in the local community. As such, collective funding pools and negotiation processes around their distribution towards private versus public goods play a crucial role in determining transformative local impacts of CRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the performance of public spending on the renewable energy sector. A panel Data Envelopment Analysis is employed to obtain efficiency scores. The case study is Italy and its 21 regions that implemented a Regional Energy Plan between 2003 and 2010. The findings show that special statute regions and Southern regions perform best in terms of technical efficiency under variable return to scale (VRS). On the whole, Italy shows an increase in the energy efficiency. Based on the Simar-Wilson bootstrap approach, a post-DEA is also run. These results provide evidence that being a southern region has a positive effect on the level of efficiency. Real GDP and the number of graduates in technical and scientific disciplines have a positive impact on the efficiency of the public intervention on renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Site suitability assessments are at the heart of renewable energy planning. • A collaborative approach enables developing a fit for purpose decision-support tool. • Stakeholder-driven site suitability criteria supports transparent decisions. • The tool supports informed discussions and fosters consensus on deployment areas. • Data and technological limitations signal action areas for advancing practice. Competing land-use demands associated with planning for renewables is resulting in growing social and political challenges. Spatial decision-support tools are being developed and applied to tackle some of these challenges by facilitating systematic identification of suitable development sites based on technical, environmental and socio-economic criteria. Nevertheless, decision-support tools are often developed with limited input from stakeholders affecting participative and accountable planning and decision-making. This paper aims to address this shortcoming and foster greater transparency in the development of support tools for renewable energy planning, and thus in siting decisions. It present and discusses a stakeholder-driven approach to the co-creation of an online decision-support tool that attends to planning policy, technical considerations, environmental protection and social concerns influencing renewable energy planning decisions in Ireland. This bottom-up approach, easily transferable to other jurisdictions, fosters proactive expert input, awareness raising and greater comprehensibility and acceptance of siting decisions. It also enables developing an interface that responds to users' needs. The paper contributes to advancing renewable energy planning practice through effective and meaningful stakeholder engagement that supports transparent and accountable decisions from the outset. It also highlights ongoing data and technological shortcomings affecting the integration and operationalisation of stakeholders demands and needs, which signal priority areas of action to further advance the development of renewable energy decision-support tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current editorial summarized some of the scientific works presented in the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection (SEEP) conference-held at the University of the West of Scotland, UK, 2018. The selected work was directly related to the scope of the Renewable, Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) journal. During the conference activities, experts from all around the world in the subjects of: renewable energy, climate change, optimization, and economics presented and discussed the progress made in renewable energy sources, as well as the new strategies for protecting the environment from the hazards connected with fossil fuel utilization. The methods presented in the conference focused on several directions: the development of efficient energy conversion systems with low/no environmental impacts; the suggested policies to widespread renewable energies; the restriction in the emission of greenhouse gases, and the recent progresses in CO 2 capture. This editorial focused on the renewable energy developments and their positive effect on the climate change, and briefly summarized the accepted manuscripts in this issue. • Effects of renewable energy on climate change. • Background on the International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection SEEP. • Summary of selected papers of SEEP 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current editorial summarized some of the scientific works presented in the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection (SEEP) conference-held at the University of the West of Scotland, UK, 2018. The selected work was directly related to the scope of the Renewable, Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) journal. During the conference activities, experts from all around the world in the subjects of: renewable energy, climate change, optimization, and economics presented and discussed the progress made in renewable energy sources, as well as the new strategies for protecting the environment from the hazards connected with fossil fuel utilization. The methods presented in the conference focused on several directions: the development of efficient energy conversion systems with low/no environmental impacts; the suggested policies to widespread renewable energies; the restriction in the emission of greenhouse gases, and the recent progresses in CO 2 capture. This editorial focused on the renewable energy developments and their positive effect on the climate change, and briefly summarized the accepted manuscripts in this issue. • Effects of renewable energy on climate change. • Background on the International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection SEEP. • Summary of selected papers of SEEP 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]