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Electric vehicles (EVs) play a crucial role in tertiary sectors due to their eco-friendliness and sustainability when powered by clean energy. Integrating EV charging stations with renewable energy systems is essential to alleviate energy issues and grid pressure. Exploring this integration's feasibility is imperative for sustainable transportation. This study aims to provide a clear approach and methodology for examining the potential of integrating renewable energy technologies with EV charging stations at the district level. Additionally, the study investigates the energy, economic, and environmental benefits of an integrated system comprising photovoltaic/wind turbines (PV/WTs) connected to the electricity grid to meet the energy demand of a tertiary district consisting of five hotels in Egypt. Through the development of a simulation model, the paper verifies whether the proposed energy system can meet the district's energy demand. In addition, the simulation model has been employed to conduct a sensitivity analysis for investigating the impact of different charging rates on economic feasibility. The results indicate that a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) integrated with an EV charging station can effectively relieve pressure on the electricity grid and provide electricity at competitive prices compared to the national grid. Moreover, the proposed energy system significantly reduces environmental emissions by up to 510 tons of CO2 per year and has the potential to decrease fossil fuel usage by 248 tons per year. Sensitivity analysis highlights the significant impact of charging prices on project profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential buildings consume a large proportion of global energy consumption. This consumption burdens energy security greatly as it is not proportional to the produced energy. Efficient planning to meet building energy needs requires accurate, high spatial resolution information on energy consumption. To justify the high energy consumption, this study focuses on energy consumption breakdown and evaluates how it affected indoor thermal comfort inside existing residential buildings. As well as, evaluating the proposed retrofitting solution provided by the Egyptian energy code to provide the bases which work on enhancing thermal comfort in existing residential buildings in Egypt. This evaluation was done using building performance simulation tools. The paper's research methodology follows the experimental approach. This approach utilizes energy simulation (DesignBuilder) to evaluate the existing residential building's thermal performance in the current state and post retrofitting solutions. The evaluation is done by analyzing thermal comfort levels according to the acceptable ranges stated by the Egyptian Code for Improving the Efficiency of Energy Use in buildings. Residential buildings are built without taking appropriate design measures to protect the indoor environment from external weather conditions. researchs' importance is to study how this will affect indoor thermal comfort. The paper aims at clarifying the effect the lack of thermal comfort has on energy consumption in the existing residential buildings in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the utilization of the International Atomic Energy Agency's toolkit for reactor technology assessment (RTA) application to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) in the Czech Republic, Egypt, and Poland. The increasing demand for clean energy has led to the prominence of small modular reactors (SMRs) in addressing global energy challenges. The successful integration of SMRs into national energy systems necessitates comprehensive evaluations that take into account each country's specific characteristics and energy requirements. RTA application represents significant progress towards innovative nuclear solutions, advancing a cleaner and more resilient energy future plan. The aim of this study is assessing the feasibility and advantages of SMR implementation in these countries, focusing on energy security, emission reduction, and long-term sustainability. Various SMR technologies, including NuScale, SMART, HTR-PM, BWRX-300, SMR-160, and RITM-200, are comparatively analyzed based on safety, scalability, efficiency, and economic viability. The findings reveal that BWRX-300 suits the needs of the Czech Republic and Poland, while RITM-200 is the optimal choice for Egypt. Moreover, NuScale also stands as a strong alternative for all three countries. This article emphasizes the importance of informed discussions and evidence-based decisions, promoting sustainable energy development and global advancements in nuclear technology. By utilizing SMRs, the Czech Republic, Egypt, and Poland can enhance energy security, reduce emissions, and meet rising energy needs sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transportation problem in operations research aims to minimize costs by optimizing the allocation of goods from multiple sources to destinations, considering supply, demand, and transportation constraints. This paper applies the multi-dimensional solid transportation problem approach to a private sector company in Egypt, aiming to determine the ideal allocation of their truck fleet. In order to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive set of options to reduce fuel consumption costs during transportation or minimize total transportation time, a multi-objective approach is employed. The study explores the best compromise solution by leveraging three multi-objective approaches: the Zimmermann Programming Technique, Global Criteria Method, and Minimum Distance Method. Optimal solutions are derived for time and fuel consumption objectives, offering decision-makers a broad range to make informed decisions for the company and the flexibility to adapt them as needed. Lingo codes are developed to facilitate the identification of the best compromise solution using different methods. Furthermore, non-dominated extreme points are established based on the weights assigned to the different objectives. This approach expands the potential ranges for enhancing the transfer problem, yielding more comprehensive solutions. This research contributes to the field by addressing the transportation problem practically and applying a multi-objective approach to support decision-making. The findings provide valuable insights for optimizing the distribution of the truck fleet, reducing fuel consumption costs, and improving overall transportation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, renewable energy resources (RESs) have been utilized to supply electricity to remote areas, instead of the conventional methods of electrical energy production. In this paper, the optimal design of a standalone hybrid RES comprising photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), and biomass sources as well as an energy storage system, such as a hydro-pumped storage system, is studied. The problem of the optimal sizing of the generating units in the proposed energy system is formulated as an optimization problem and the algorithms heap-based optimizer (HBO), grey wolf optimizer (GWO), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are applied to achieve the optimal sizing of each component of the proposed grid-independent hybrid system. The optimization problem is formulated depending on the real-time meteorological data of the Ataka region on the Red Sea in Egypt. The main goal of the optimization process is to minimize the cost of energy (COE) and the loss of power supply probability (LPSP), while satisfying the constraints of system operation. The results clarify that the HBO algorithm succeeded in obtaining the best design for the selected RE system with the minimum COE of 0.2750 USD/kWh and a net present cost (NPC) of USD 8,055,051. So, the HBO algorithm has the most promising performance over the GWO algorithm in addressing this optimization problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The streetscape of any city reflects the natural built fabric of the street and adds to the experiential quality of that space. A sustainable streetscape ensures that the spaces are long-lasting and functional as a part of the greater sustainable eco-system. Over the past two centuries, mankind has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from 280 to more than 380 parts per million by volume, and it is still increasing every day. If Earth continues to emit carbon without control, the surface temperature is expected to rise by 3.4 °C by the end of this century. Climate change of that magnitude would likely have serious, long-lasting, and, in many cases, devastating consequences for the planet Earth. Egypt has become one of the biggest emitters of atmospheric pollutants from the transportation sector. The level of carbon emissions and its effect on air quality are placed high on the research agenda. The transportation sector has a great impact on increasing CO2 emissions. The transportation and traffic sectors produce a quarter of the global CO2 emissions due to the heavy use of fossil fuels. This research aims to study the effects of street shape and design on CO2 production. This paper presents an analysis of road transportation in Egypt, taking Helmiet EL-Zaitoun as the main case study, with a focus on energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Carbon emissions are measured using "Testo 315-3" as a measuring instrument to identify the relationship between street design and quality on the amount of carbon emissions produced. The results of this research suggest that street quality affects the amount of CO2 emissions produced. A car moving at a constant speed will produce fewer CO2 emissions than a car forced to start–stop every while because of external factors such as cracks in the roads occurring from bad streetscape elements. The presented research provides a set of guidelines to enhance the quality of the streetscape and design in order to reduce the amount of CO2 produced in the streets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water–Energy–Food (WEF) nexus describes natural resource use in the context of social needs and economic development, addressing food, water, and energy security. Population growth and rising economic prosperity will increase the demand for energy, food, and water in the Mediterranean region, compromising the sustainable use of resources. As governments are required to make decisions in order to cope with increasing demands for resources, this paper performs a review of the legislation and WEF policies, identifying the main political and institutional actors involved and the possible policy (in)coherence in four MED countries located on two continents: Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Tunisia. This choice will allow the identification of the barriers and catalysts influencing the implementation of WEF policies and will improve our understanding of the WEF trade-offs and synergies by exploring them on national, regional, and local scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green roofs are an effective way to solve many environmental problems. New cities in Egypt have recently suffered from increasing energy consumption as a result of increasing construction density resulting from population growth, which has decreased green spaces in Egyptian cities. This paper aims to improve the energy consumption of cooling and heating energy in social housing in new urban cities in Egypt, reduce high temperatures inside and outside building, and decrease the urban heat island effect. To achieve these aims, the study suggests a method that is based on modifying the traditional roof of residential construction in Egypt by converting it to a green roof. An integrated analysis model including a strategy shows the environmental and climatic benefits of using green roofs to provide the external outdoor temperature of social housing buildings. The result revealed that green roofs, which are used by 50% of green roofs in traditional buildings, were shown to be efficient in reducing annual energy consumption by 12% and decreasing the average temperature inside buildings by 2.44°C, whereas the average temperature outside was reduced by 3°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at defining the green economy index and using econometric models in order to investigate the relationship between the consumption of renewable energy in Egypt's transition to a green economy. Results indicate that first, consumption of renewable energy can effectively increase the level of development of green economy in the short and long term. Second, improving capital spending and increasing employment leads to an increase in the green economy index. Third, the effect of non-renewable energy on the green economy index is inverse, although there is a direct relationship between non-renewable energy consumption and total energy consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the green credit policy of the government and financial institutions in order to maximize the enhanced effect of renewable energy investment on the green economy. The government must therefore develop a series of incentive measures to support and encourage investment in financing renewable energy, pay attention to the fundamental and guiding role of large enterprises in promoting renewable energy consumption and the development of the green economy, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all types of enterprises in promoting the development of the green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for renewable energy sources is recently necessitated by attaining sustainability and climate change mitigation. Accordingly, the use of renewable energy sources has been growing rapidly during the last two decades. Yet, the potentials of renewable energy sources are generally influenced by several climatic factors that either determine the source of energy such as wind speed in the case of wind power or affect the performance of system such as the reduction in solar PV power production due to temperature increase. This highlights the need for assessing climate change impacts on renewable energy sources in the future to ensure their reliability and sustainability. This paper is intended to assess impacts of climate change on wind and solar potential energy in Egypt by the year 2065 under RCP 8.5 scenario. For this purpose, a GIS-based methodology of three main steps was applied. The results revealed that solar energy potential in Egypt is expected to be relatively less vulnerable to climate change compared to wind energy. In this respect, it was found that while wind energy potential was estimated to range ± 12%. By the year 2065 under RCP 8.5 scenario, PV module power is expected to decrease by about 1.3% on average. Such assessment can assist in developing more sustainable and flexible renewable energy policy in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population growth has become a serious problem in many countries, especially Egypt. Which leads to an increase in the population area and an increase in buildings, which then leads to several problems, including large energy consumption, increased pollution, traffic congest ion, and others. Therefore, many governments have resorted to using technology and applying it to build smart buildings to help save energy by using renewable energy to improve its impact on the environment, improve the quality of life of citizens, provide security and safety, and so on. The selection of smart buildings depends on many criteria. Since this problem is described as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, MCDM methods will be used in this paper. A hybrid method is presented to evaluate smart buildings. The first method, MEREC, was used to calculate the weights of criteria, and the VIKOR model was used for ranking alternatives. Then applying those weights to the CoCoSo, COPRAS, and TOPSIS methods for making comparisons using Spearman's correlation coefficients for ranking these four methods. All methods used are applied in the T2NN environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research represents the first wind energy potential assessment that covers major provinces in Egypt. The paper investigates a realistic study technically and economically of wind energy as a talented renewable source for electricity production of various regions in Egypt. More accurate prediction and measurement of wind speed and direction allow wind plants to supply clean, renewable power to businesses, and homeowners at lower costs. Wind resource assessments must be precise in order for wind farms to be built successfully. Wind resource assessments have been carried out in this study. Wind resources evaluation and precise assessment of wind capacity for the four selected sites in Egypt's provinces from 2017 for 3 years at 10, 50 m above ground level (AGL): Hurgada, Aswan, Alexandria, and the capital of Egypt (Cairo). The wind speed data is taken from NASA for different sites in Egypt. The average annual wind speed was estimated to be 4.44, 4.31, 4.91, and 3.9 m/s at 10 m height, respectively. The economical factors such as NPC and COE in the selected regions are estimated. The optimum location for wind assessment in Egypt is Alexandria which gives maximum wind speed, maximum annual energy, minimum levelized cost of energy, and highest capacity factor. The proposed wind assessment will generated 20,1729 kWh of electricity per year and electricity generation cost per kWh/$ is 0.0818844. This planned cost of wind electric generation is compatible with the local electricity tariff. Also, Feasibility of Construction small wind turbine in this site is investigated. In addition, a criterion of wind farm site selection is presented here with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study through Birds Migration aspect that decreases with increase turbine tower length and short blade length. Through reducing Egypt's domestic fossil fuel consumption, this work will potentially save tons of carbon emissions each year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mediterranean rural settlements suffer from numerous environmental challenges, specifically the annual decrease of the farmlands, climate change threats, and growing resource consumption and demand, such as energy, the core of development. Rural areas play a significant role in achieving food security and sustainable development. Therefore, this paper promotes the energy community and agrivoltaic key concepts as pillars to show how buildings and farms' land uses positively impact the ecosystem. The study focused on Egypt and Italy as representatives of the entire region. Two rural settlements with the same characteristics representing typical agriculture-based patterns have been selected: Lasaifar Albalad, representing 339 villages in the Delta Region, northern Egypt, and Pontinia, representing rural typologies of the 1930s in the Lazio Region, central Italy. Then, two focus groups with versatile stakeholders were conducted. The results showed the juxtaposition of the key concepts and national rural and agricultural policies and fostered a novel approach between Egypt and Italy. The study presented the first analysis of both contexts. The focus groups promoted the ideas, led to a better understanding of the implementation possibilities, raised awareness, improved social acceptance, and highlighted the significant barriers. It paved the way for a further study (micro-scale on-ground practices) to be planned and implemented soon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of the different climatic parameters such as accumulated dust, high temperature, humidity, and solar radiation on the PV system performance. This study is carried out using 20 kW roof-top photovoltaic (PV) system located in Cairo city (capital of Egypt). The practical results are recorded for two years (2017-2018). The experiments and the processes of collecting data have been performed according to a normal cleaning scheduled scheme. The essential contribution of this research is the usage of the collected practical data for developing an empirical formula used for detecting the energy loss due to dust accumulation, high temperature, humidity, and cleaning pattern. Therefore, the proposed formula can be used for detecting the energy produced from any solar power plant in this area according to the used cleaning pattern. The validity of the proposed model is investigated by comparing the output energy from the proposed model with the real measured data at different operating conditions during the period of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the global energy demands and decarbonize the production of electricity, the expanded utilization of solar photovoltaics (PV) as a renewable energy resource has been increasing in recent decades, principally with the feasibility to be integrated with the conventional power grid. However, supplying clean power from PV grid-connected systems is often hampered by power quality (PQ) disturbances caused by the intermittent nature of solar radiation and other factors related to the grid, converters, and connected loads. To prevent deterioration of the power quality of the system, these disturbances must be mitigated. This paper technically studies some of these PQ issues, that is, the current total harmonic distortion (THD) which causes harmful effects on the whole connected power system and the linked loads. The case study works on a 5.5 kW grid-connected rooftop PV power system established at Benha Faculty of Engineering, Egypt, with the assistance of an installed weather station that boosts the validation of the research results. All aspects regarding the aforementioned small plant are presented including description and simulation of the whole system, review of current THD problems occurring at the point of common coupling (PCC), and a review of other disturbances observed by connected meters. A detailed examination of four techniques for harmonic mitigation, namely the on-off technique, LCL filter, active power filter, and hybrid active power filter is presented with a final comparison to assess the merits and demerits of each one. This research achieved a current harmonic limitation of 1.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the potential hybridization for a dispatchable hybrid renewable energy system (HRES). The plant has been examined for existence in the city of Ras Ghareb, Egypt and follows the load profile of Egypt. The proposed plant configuration contains a wind plant, a solar photovoltaic plant, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) and a hydrogen system consisting of an electrolyzer, hydrogen tanks and fuel cells (FCs), the latter of which are for both daily and seasonal storage. Professional software tools have been used to model the wind and solar resources. Simulations for both the battery and hydrogen generation and electrolyzer operation are also considered. The output of these simulations is used to configure the HRES using MATLAB. The optimization objective function of the HRES is based on the least levelized cost of energy (LCOE) with constraints for a zero loss of power supply probability (LPSP) and curtailed energy. The optimization has been achieved by using artificial neural networks and a MATLAB program. The results show that the optimal system can handle 91.2% of the load directly from the renewable energy sources (wind and solar), while the rest of the demand comes from the storage system (FCs and VRFBs). The LCOE of the optimal system configuration is (USD) 9.3 ¢/kWh, with both the LPSP and curtailed energy at zero values. This cost can be reduced by 14.5% if the constraint of zero curtailed energy is relaxed by 10%. Despite the load being maximum in summer, the energy storage requirement is predicted to be maximum in winter due to the low wind profile and solar radiation in winter months. Energy storage system size is dependent on both seasonal and daily variations in wind and solar profiles. In addition, energy storage size is the main factor that determines the LCOE of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for freshwater has become progressively critical due to population growth and water scarcity. The current work investigates the energetic performance of a hybrid absorption refrigeration and desalination system. A parametric study for the system operating conditions has been performed to get the optimal conditions. Also, economic analysis and a multi-objective optimization method are used with the aim of maximizing the energy utilization factor of the system and minimizing total costs. The specific cost of desalinated water from the multi-objective optimization is calculated as (1.728 Cent/L) with the greatest energy utilization factor of (2.214). It turns out that, the system performs optimum at condensation and generation temperatures of 30 and 65 °C respectively, with resultant COP and GOR of 0.84 and 1.37. Using the optimum conditions, TRNSYS has been used to investigate the transient performance of the system for Marsa–Matrouh City in Egypt. The cooling and freshwater demands are 10 kW and 24 L/h. It was concluded that the input energy required to run the hybrid system decreased by about 65% less than that required for separate systems. With the assistance of solar energy, it became clear that the energy required was 60% less than the hybrid system as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is experiencing unprecedented development in the clean energy sector in residential and industrial applications. This paper provides a case study assessing different scenarios of greenizing the electrical energy demand in El-Mostakbal city in Egypt. Three scenarios are studied with consideration of a photovoltaic (PV) system integrated with the grid-connected city with different integrated system configurations. The scenarios for the grid-connected city are scenario-I: only PV, scenario-II: PV with batteries for electricity storage along with grid electricity, and scenario-III: PV with hydrogen production, storage, and utilization for covering the electric demand along with grid electricity, these scenarios are assessed technoeconomically, and the results show an optimized case where the electricity demand of the city can be met with 64.3% produced from solar energy, at $71.7 M of the net present cost. • Energy demand is evaluated using different proposed green scenarios that are assessed techno-economically. • Electricity demand of the city can be met with 64.3% produced from solar energy. • The cost of energy generation for scenario-I is found to be $0.0512 per kWh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Electricity, the most direct and effective use of RES, is in center of energy transition. • An interdisciplinary procedure suitable for the planning of RES is presented. • Key points and procedures for the assessment of large-scale RES installation is presented. • Simulation on Eygiption case shows the technical and economical viability. Due to the environmental impacts brought by current energy schemes, the energy transition, a new paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, has been widely accepted and is being realized through collective international, regional, and local efforts. Electricity, as the most direct and effective use of renewable energy sources (RES), plays a key role in the energy transition. In this paper, we first discuss a viable pathway to energy transition through the electricity triangle, highlighting the role of RES in electricity generation. Further, we propose methodologies for the planning of wind and solar PV, as well as how to address their uncertainty in generation expansion problems. Finally, by using a web-based tool, "RES-PLAT" 1 1 https://res-plat.est.polito.it. , we demonstrate the scheme in a case study in Egypt, which evaluates the impacts and benefits of a large-scale RES expansion. 2 2 The short version of the paper was presented at Applied Energy Symposium: MIT A+ B, August 13–14, Boston. This paper is a substantial extension of the short version of the conference paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding to the debate on the drivers of carbon neutrality, the perspective of time-dependent effect of crucial factors such as the renewable and conventional energy utilization should offer relevant policy for the stakeholders in the energy sector. On the empirical front, several studies have investigated the causal interaction between renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by using the conventional empirical approaches. In contrast, this study utilized a time-varying causality (TC) technique (which offers time inference) to determine the causal relationship between CO2 emission and its potential drivers such as energy source types and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, and Tunisia over the period spanning 1980Q1 and 2017Q4. Importantly, there is statistically significant evidence of causality as examined by the TC approach. For instance, causality from CO2 emission to renewable energy source for the period 2004Q1–2006Q3 and from GDP to CO2 emission during 2013Q2–2015Q3 were observed for South Africa. Moreover, the causality from non-renewable energy source to CO2 emission and from GDP to CO2 emission compares very well with Nigeria, Libya, and Algeria. Overall, the results largely indicate causality relationships among our variables for all the six countries over different time sequences. These results differ from the Toda–Yamamoto test, which only reveals a causality relationship in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. The empirical findings obtained from the time-varying causality approach are essential for designing and implementing appropriate energy policies, especially attaining these countries' Paris agreement and the Sustainable Development Goal 13 since the goals are time periodically assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy demand increased dramatically owing to the evolution of industrial and domestic requirements and the associated decrease in oil and gas resources. This study aims to evaluate El-Maghara coal (with about 52 MT reserve) as a potential hydrocarbon source. The collect samples were subjected to petrographic, chemical analyses and Rock–Eval pyrolysis to investigate the detailed characteristics of this coal. Chemically, this coal is high volatile bituminous coal with high H and S content. The high H/C ratio indicates the high extraction yield of coal. The main maceral group in the studied samples is vitrinite (62.8%) followed by liptinite (31.3%) and inertinite (5.8%). The content of liptinite indicates the capability of this coal for petroleum production. Based on Rock–Eval Pyrolysis results and TOC content, the coal has excellent petroleum potential. The hydrogen index (HI) and H/C atomic ratio indicate the II kerogen type (oil prone) of this coal. This coal has Tmax and vitrinite reflectance values around 415.8 °C and 0.37%, respectively, indicating the immature stage of kerogen. The high reactive maceral content (94.2%), oil-yield (65.5%) and conversion from coal to oil (95.4%), indicated that this coal has a hydrocarbon generation potential for oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are considered one of the main causes of increasing CO2 emissions due to their excessive consumption of energy. The drive towards sustainability represents a challenge especially in existing buildings. The aim of the research is to support the built environment's move onto a low-carbon path using smart technologies. This research highlights the role of smart building technologies in increasing energy savings of office buildings in Egypt, taking into consideration their incremental cost. Based upon data available on Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) website, association rule has been applied using Apriori Algorithm to identify the most used smart technologies in EDGE-certified office buildings, in addition to the different smart-orientated retrofitting scenarios that could be applied. Using EDGE software, energy assessment of an existing office building in Egypt was performed. This assessment acts as a "reference point" to quantify the impact of each smart technology and retrofitting scenario on the energy savings, incremental costs, and payback period. Limitations of the application of the different smart technologies impacted the selection process for the different scenarios. These limitations can be summarized in the suitability of application in the existing building's systems, the availability and cost in the local market, and the potential of the building's infrastructure adaptation to the proposed technologies. Based upon the above limitations, the best scenario was selected. Results showed that smart technologies have a great role in retrofitting of office buildings reaching more than 20% energy savings. In addition, the high initial cost of applying smart technologies could be covered within around 3 years of operation. This research could be used as a guide for improving energy performance of existing office buildings in Egypt using smart technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From raw material extraction to final product disposal, the construction industry is integrally involved in every stage of the greenhouse gas emissions life cycle. One of the main causes of the climate catastrophe is the increasing use of polluting energy sources to power our homes and businesses. This massive problem of global warming has now forced countries to act. To further address sustainability, they seek to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by adopting more sustainable materials. The current trend in scientific research is to use waste resources to improve the properties of various materials to exacerbate the problems of climate change because of the use of traditional building materials. Therefore, one of the most environmentally friendly alternatives to the standard procedure is the use of agricultural residues to improve the quality of building materials. This improvement will modify the thermal properties of building materials such as bricks, which will lead to an improvement in energy efficiency inside buildings, especially residential buildings. As a result, the research focused solely on simulating several bio-brick alternatives that had been discovered in earlier studies in order to test their viability in terms of increasing the energy efficiency of residential buildings in one of the hot cities. The study demonstrated that using bio-building materials can lower energy usage. In addition to saving energy in residential constructions, rice straw cement bricks and sugarcane bricks have operating efficiency rates of roughly 7% and 12%, respectively. All these advancements over conventional brick reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine Egypt's potential for energy sources, and the volume of potential energy production and consumption, balancing inputs, outputs and availability of energy. The study depends on analyzing the map of Egypt's energy balance of non-renewable and renewable energy, including oil, gas, solar, and wind energy, using UN-Energy Balance of Egypt data and the global solar and wind atlases of Egypt. It demonstrates that in 2020 Egypt's production of fossil fuels is 89.03% of the total energy production, while renewable energy production is only 10.97%. More specifically, fossil fuel consumption is 97.8% of the total consumed energy, while energy consumption from renewable sources is 2.2%. Therefore, this study recommends that further studies should be conducted to explore 'hybrid' energy sources to solve Egypt's energy crisis and to preserve the environment through clean energy sources, such as using green hydrogen and working on reducing emissions from fossil fuels. It is also recommended that there is value in employing GIS and RS applications to estimate the potential of renewable energy across the map of Egypt, and to present this information to possible investors who could expand the development of clean energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research reexamines the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the top three polluted nations in Africa, Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa, over the period 1970–2020. The central idea of the research is to reexamine the EKC hypothesis by incorporating the ARMEY curve linking government spending and GDP into the Kuznets curve, as suggested by Işık et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(11):16472-16483, (2022) and Ongan et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(31):46587-46599, (2022). To this end, the ARDL equation with a Fourier function is implemented to estimate the long-run drivers of environmental deterioration. The Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model results revealed that the composite model is only valid in Algeria, and the optimal government spending that maximizes CO2 emissions is 16.88% of gross domestic product. On the contrary, the results showed that the composite model is not valid for South Africa and Egypt due to the failure of the desired shapes for the three curves. The outcomes also confirm the role of energy consumption and population as key drivers of environmental degradation in the three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy management plan is utilized as an optimum strategy by using solar and wind energies, as a new preliminary implementation. The aim of the study is to create an optimum strategy through an optimization of an energy management system. The study implemented an onsite model, two numerical approaches, and an optimization analysis on a Mediterranean port. Two approaches have been used: solar energy is applied experimentally and numerically, and then wind energy is simulated. An optimization analysis integrated the two approaches together to control their operation. The results showed the installed solar panels provided sufficient generated power for the buildings. Also, the simulated wind arrays showed good behavior with increased power coefficient for the wind turbines, for future implementation. These results were validated using the DesignBuilder software and showed accurate values regarding the experiment for solar panels and CFD simulation. Eventually, a Pareto optimality analysis is applied between the solar and wind energies to reveal an energy management plan. Renewable energy offered energy to support the consumption of the port's buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental monitoring of delicate ecosystems or pristine sites is critical to their preservation. The communication infrastructure for such monitoring should have as little impact on the natural ecosystem as possible. Because of their wide range capabilities and independence from heavy infrastructure, low-power wide area network protocols have recently been used in remote monitoring. In this regard, we propose a mobile vehicle-mounted gateway architecture for IoT data collection in communication-network-free areas. The limits of reliable communication are investigated in terms of gateway speed, throughput, and energy consumption. We investigate the performance of various gateway arrival scenarios, focusing on the trade-off between freshness of data, data collection rate, and end-node power consumption. Then we validate our findings using both real-world experiments and simulations. In addition, we present a case study exploiting the proposed architecture to provide coverage for Wadi El-Gemal national park in Egypt. The results show that reliable communication is achieved over all spreading factors (SFs) for gateway speeds up to 150 km/h with negligible performance degradation at SFs = 11 , 12 at speeds more than 100 km/h. The synchronized transmission model ensures the best performance in terms of throughput and power consumption at the expense of the freshness of data. Nonsynchronized transmission allows time-flexible data collection at the expense of increased power consumption. The same throughput as semisynchronized transmission is achieved using four gateways at only five times the energy consumption, while a single gateway requires seventeen times the amount of energy. Furthermore, increasing the number of gateways to ten increases the throughput to the level achieved by the synchronized scenario while consuming eight times the energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating drivers of energy use and its associated CO 2 emissions changes is important for sustainable development. Using input-output structural decomposition analysis, this paper decomposed the energy use and resulting CO 2 emissions drivers of changes in Egypt's wide economy, particularly in its agricultural sector, between 1972 and 2014. Fuel sources dominating energy use and energy-related CO 2 emissions in the agriculture sector were explicitly identified. Affluence and demographic effects were the dominant drivers at both investigation levels. Household and government final consumption changes and exports expansion were important determinants behind changes in energy use and resulting CO 2 emissions at the aggregate level from the final demand destination perspective. In the agricultural sector, petroleum and oil were the dominant fuel types. The technological effect was the main driver restraining energy use growth at the aggregate level. However, technological improvements have not been sufficient to make up for the evolving economy and consumption levels. Conversely, technological changes adversely impacted energy-related CO 2 emissions at the economy-wide level, and both considered environmental indicators in the agricultural sector. Overall, upgrading technology and improving the final demand structure will be critical for Egypt to promote decoupling in the future. [Display omitted] • The energy use and energy-related CO 2 emissions changes in Egypt are decomposed. • Technological, economic system efficiency, and final demand effects were analyzed. • Final demand negative impacts outpaced technology improvements adverse effects. • The technology effect in agricultural emissions had an unexpected tendency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between tourism and renewable energy. In the study, the economies of Egypt, Kenya, and Ethiopia, which are in the African continent and lead renewable energy in this continent, were analyzed with the Granger causality test. As a result of the causality analysis, a positive and significant relationship was found between the number of tourists coming to the country in Egypt and the renewable energy consumption of this country. In addition, it has been concluded that Egypt's earnings from the tourism sector also affect the renewable energy of this country. In terms of Kenya, although there is no significant relationship in terms of renewable energy, a significant relationship was found between the income obtained from the tourism sector of the country and the number of tourists. In terms of Ethiopia, no causal relationship has been determined. In the absence of a meaningful relationship between renewable energy and tourism, it can be stated that the tourists who come to the country do not care about environmental pollution in terms of energy. In other words, the inclusion of renewable energy in investments in the tourism sector in these countries will not affect the number of tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multiple configurations of VPP aggregating CCHP and Solar PV are assessed. • New profit maximization objective function is presented for regulated markets • Optimization is solved with GA simulating different system sizes. • The propsoed method improved the cost of energy and reduced grid dependency This paper investigates the design and operation management of VPPs in regulated markets. A new framework based on profit maximization objective function is presented in this study. The hypotheses of this research is that considering profit as an objective function would yield a more realistic and optimal sizes compared to Cost of Energy (COE) minimization approach adopted in literature. The analyzed VPP aggregates solar PV units, CCHP supplying power and thermal energy, Battery storage system and thermal energy storage system. The system is formulated in an optimization model fed by energy demand profile, prices and inputs for solar power (irradiance and weather data). The objective function is formulated based on maximization of profit of the VPP selling power to the grid by Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), selling power to consumers at the public electricity tariff, and selling thermal energy at an assumed constant tariff. CCHP non-linear part-load efficiency is also considered in the model, accordingly, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is employed to solve the optimization. Results of the optimally configured model achieved 36% improvement in COE compared to literature. Solar power contributed by 31% from the total produced energy without imbalance, grid power contributed by 4%, and CO2 emissions reduced by 47% compared to full dependency on the grid. Statistical relationships were drawn showing the relationship between profit, energy and exergy efficiencies versus different CCHP capacities. In addition, analysis is provided for the efficiencies' relation with the dumped heat from the CCHP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt has suffered from Energy problems, especially in the last 10 years, as it transformed from exporter to importer of oil and gas. [1]. The residential buildings consume over 40% of electricity. Moreover, most of this consumption is for using HVAC systems to reach the thermal comfort inside spaces, as it used non-environmental material, which led to maximizing heat gain. The study aims to measure the vertical greening envelope and its variables such as LAI and air gap effect on energy consumption. The research methodology includes reviewing the literature and methods of Vertical greening systems (VGS) and their types, plantations… Etc. and its effect on the buildings’ external envelope to achieve maximum energy efficiency. A practical study was carried out by simulating one direction Town House on 6th October, Egypt, every 30° starting from the north using a design-builder simulation program. The research compared the energy consumption of the building’s initial case with 12cm concrete bricks and VGS installation with a 60cm airgap. The VGS reduced energy consumption by 19.6:29% in the different installation directions, and 240° SW recorded the highest saving in the case of LAI was 2.0 and to measure the effect of LAI beside the installation orientation the LAI 2.0 compared to LAI 4.0 in 240° SW and the saving has increased to 32.3%. In the case of no airgap, the saving was 29.3% which means that the LAI and air gap distances affected the performance of VGS as the installation direction did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slowing and reversing climate change and keeping energy prices at affordable levels are the main important achievements of the use of renewable energy. About 210% increase in energy consumption from 1990 to 2018, reduction in fossil fuel reserves, and high capacity of renewable energy in Arab countries encourage them to increase the use of renewable and sustainable energy sources as a key way to supply the energy in future and have a sustainable economy. There is no a comprehensive review study to focus on the capacity and strategies of renewable energy in Arab countries at the transnational level until 2030. To fill this gap, this article investigates the current and future capacities and strategies of renewable energy production by 22 Arab countries, which are the center of fossil energy production in the world, until 2030. Indeed, it provides a roadmap for advancement towards energy production from renewable sources in these countries. It is observed that Egypt and Morocco with an installed capacity of 5980 and 3447 MW, respectively, had the highest installed renewable energy capacity among the Arab countries in 2020. The results also showed that most ambitious goal is related to Djibouti, where it is targeted to supply 100% of energy from renewable resource by 2035. Finally, it should be mentioned that most Arab countries focus on solar and wind energy, and very little attention is paid to geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy retrofitting is one of the critical elements in national energy efficiency action plans in Egypt and Portugal to achieve energy efficiency in the buildings' sector. Therefore, this study explores the techno-economic feasibility of proposed simple passive retrofitting solutions using nature-based and conventional thermal insulation materials to the existing dwellings in the traditional coastal settlements under the Mediterranean climate. Two case studies, one representing a typical coastal, traditional wooden house in the west center of Portugal and another, a conventional brick house in the Delta region in Egypt, were selected. Each case study house was simulated using energy performance assessment tools (Energy+) before and after retrofitting in both locations using similar insulation properties. The results showed that energy consumption decreased by (29% and 43%) for cooling and (23% and 45%) for heating under different circumstances. Furthermore, the shortest simple payback model was projected by 16 and 25 years, with profitability achieved in 17 and 27 years for a proposed retrofitting solution. Also, a new propinquity between Portuguese and Egyptian Architecture was brought out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are increasing debates on the relationship between economic complexity and environmental degradation. This study deepens our understanding of this nexus in 11 emerging economies given the moderating role of energy consumption while controlling for economic development, trade openness and population growth. The findings from the quantile regression technique reveal that emerging economies are characteristic of low energy consumption, leading to insignificant contributions of economic complexity to environmental degradation across the spectrum as they also have very low-trade openness. Further results show the invalidity of the EKC between energy use (such as fossil fuels) and environmental degradation in emerging economies. Moreover, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) between economic development and environmental degradation is valid especially for those countries in the low and median quantiles (Egypt, Indonesia, and Vietnam). Also, the EKC hypothesis between population and environmental degradation is valid only for countries in the high and highest quantiles (Korea Republic, Turkey, Mexico and Iran). Finally, the results revealed that trade openness strictly reduces environmental degradation across the spectrum. Policy implications, limitations of the study and direction for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid micro-grid systems (HMGS) are small scale power system where the energy sources are installed to supply local customers. These systems may be considered as promising energy solution to meet the increased in energy demand and traditional sources depletion. Cost of electricity, system reliability, and environmental impacts of the system are three design criteria that must be considered in obtaining the accurate parameters of hybrid renewable energy system components. In this paper, hybrid micro-grid renewable energy system includes photovoltaic system, (PV) wind energy system, (WES) battery bank, (BB) and conventional diesel generator (DG) are proposed to meet the energy requirements in remote area, located in Red Sea called city of Bernice, Egypt, at 23° 54′ 31″ N, 35° 28′ 21″ E. Optimization of Cost of Electricity (COE), Renewable Factor (RF), and Loss of Power Supply Probability (LPSP) are main objective of the designing process of the hybrid system considered as the objective functions. Then, Multi-objective multi-verse optimization (MOMVO) algorithm is used with considering two scenarios, the first one is renewable sources and the second is renewable/diesel energy source. All the possible HMGS configurations namely: PV/battery, wind/battery, PV/wind/battery and PV/battery/diesel, wind/battery/diesel, PV/wind/battery/diesel are studied and analyzed. Moreover, one year hourly meteorological weather data for case study are recorded. Reverse osmosis desalination (ROD) is considered in conjunction with the residential load. The proposed power management strategy is used to manage the system operation when supplying the load. A linear fuzzy membership function is used for purpose of decision making. The simulation results show that MOMVO produces appropriate components size and the PV/wind/battery/diesel is the optimum configuration with values of COE = 0.2720$/KWh, LPSP = 0.1397, and RF = 92.37% at w 1 = 0.5, w 2 = 0.3, and w 3 = 0.2. Sensitivity analysis is performed to show the effect of changing system parameters on the objective functions. It is also shown that the techno-economic feasibility of using HMGS for rural electrification systems and enhance energy access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the increased demand for energy combined with the limitations of traditional energy sources, it is necessary to turn to renewable energy sources such as solar energy, which is one of the most promising technologies to assist the transition towards sustainable development. With the increasing interest in renewable energies in general and solar energy in particular, attempts have been made to ensure that solar energy technologies provide an amount of energy equal to or close to the amount of energy currently consumed. Solar photovoltaic farm applications have become so widespread that they are now relied upon to produce massive amounts of energy for use in factories and homes. In this regard, identifying and prioritizing convenient areas for the construction of expensive solar photovoltaic farms is an important issue. Additionally, determining the suitable geographical locations for photovoltaic farms is not only related to the amount of solar radiation received, but many dimensions must be taken into accounts such as technical, economic, environmental, socio-political dimensions, risks, and their sub-indicators. To overcome the problem of prioritizing and selecting the best location for solar photovoltaic farms to achieve sustainability factors resulting from the presence of many different indicators, this paper applies a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach under a neutrosophic environment. Initially, the Delphi method is employed to capture preference and to determine the dimensions and their indicators in addition to provide preference among sub-indicators and available alternatives. The proportional importance of the designated dimensions and their sub-indicators was evaluated by the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory. Then, Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje is adopted to rank seven solar photovoltaic farm locations in Egypt. The Benban solar photovoltaic farm is shown to be the most sustainable alternative among the solar photovoltaic farm locations followed by Darb Al Arbaeen solar photovoltaic farm and so has priority for increased installation investments in solar energy production. To validate the proposed approach, results comparisons were implemented to indicate the advantages of the hybrid multi-criteria decision-making methods. Sensitivity analysis reveals that changing criteria weightings does not affect the ranking order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]