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The increasing problems associated with global climate change due to the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere call for serious concerns. This scenario has necessitated the need for a shift from the use of fossil fuels to renewable energy to curtail the impact of climate change on the environment. The study was conducted to assess the potential and variability of climatic and other natural resources for renewable energy and evaluation of public perception of the energy transition process in Rivers State Nigeria. The climate data was obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) from 2000 and 2023 and analyzed using the Linear Regression Model while data on public perception was generated from structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The outcome of the Regression and ANOVA analysis were generally significant for both the natural resources and residents of the study area. Also, 65.7% of the respondents affirmed that the available natural resources are viable and suitable for energy transition. The significant and positive relationship of the different climatic elements in the study signposts huge potential for the renewable energy transition in the study area. The perception of residents was positive and showed excellent knowledge of the abundance of natural resources for the energy transition. It is therefore recommended that the Rivers State government should partner with the private sector to increase investment in energy infrastructure for improved environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of African Political Economy is the property of Review of Political Economy (ROAPE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The availability of refined and efficient energy resources has played a decisive role in the advancement of societies, especially since the Industrial Revolution of the mid eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. In the twentieth century, the international energy scenario is experiencing a profound transition in terms of energy resources and their utilization. The energy transition is in response to the challenges the global energy landscape faces such as rapidly growing demand, depleting fossil fuel reserves, surging energy prices, risks associated with the security of supplies, and above all climate change. Nuclear power is an important form of energy making a significant contribution to the electricity mix around the world, especially in developed countries. One of the major advantages of nuclear power is its minimal greenhouse gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels. The paper examines the prospects of nuclear power in the energy transition considering both the trend of phase-out that the technology has experienced primarily in several European countries since the 1980s, as well as the growing interest it has received more recently as a low carbon energy solution toward addressing climate change. It also examines the significance of nuclear power toward energy transition with the help of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) based on expert opinion from developed as well as developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the changes that have taken place in energy-related technologies, the United States has been less affected by the geopolitical risks associated with the supply of fossil fuel energy resources, especially crude oil. When the price of oil is low, the geopolitical situation of U.S. energy contrasts with that of other oil-producing countries, which are facing financial pressure due to low oil prices and a high domestic energy demand. Many other countries have been supplying crude oil compared to half a century ago, reducing the strategic importance of major oil exporters, such as key OPEC members in the Persian Gulf. The shale oil revolution in the United States and the transition of energy in countries around the world to more sustainable energy sources, especially renewable energy, have reduced the importance of security in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf for U.S. politicians, which will be intensified in the future. Especially from the middle of the Carter administration period, U.S. politicians saw the security of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as a prerequisite for securing energy supplies for the U.S. economy, but that has changed. Despite the disruption of Russia's fossil fuel energy supply, as one of the main energy suppliers, due to sanctions from February 2022, the global energy carriers' prices are relatively under control. Energy transition is one of the main contributors to lowering the impact of fossil fuel energy supply disruptions on the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economy & Forecasting / Ekonomìka ì Prognozuvannâ is the property of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Institute for Economic Forecasting and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

More and more public and private organizations are trying to integrate the concept of circular economy into their daily operations. Given the existing pressures related to climate change, there are various debates in the literature on how to reduce the impact, and one of these debates is the use of renewable energy to the detriment of fossil fuels. This paper aims to create an image of the link between circular economy and the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through specialized papers published between 2000 and 2020 and through statistics published by International Agencies such as Eurostat. In this way, this paper is based on the study and analysis of the updated databases regarding the mentioned indicators. Moreover, the paper also discusses different possibilities of circular economy use and how they can be integrated into the European body, with a positive effect on the society and environment. The study found that European Union energy supply is increasingly based on renewable resources, the use of fossil fuels being limited from one year to another. At the same time, even if in the last decades the European Union has been characterized by industrialization and urbanization, there can be seen a growing efficiency of the energy system in the conditions in which the GDP per capita had a fulminant growth of over 50%. Moving forward, one of the most interesting result of the paper is related to a massive concentration of works in the last two years of the period considered in the analysis. In other words, there is a great opportunity for more scientific research in the field. Despite this, researchers agree that the principles of the circular economy contribute to the conversion of the energy system, with positive effects on society, ensuring sustainability, productivity and efficient waste management. At the end, in order to support the energy transition, a number of institutions such as the European Investment Bank are supporting initiatives that aim to invest in objectives such as new technologies which could adopt circular economy. The paper also presents possible limits of the research, but also future directions of its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the climate policy discussion by focusing on the challenges and opportunities of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 in Italy. To support Italian energy planning, we developed energy roadmaps towards national climate neutrality, consistent with the Paris Agreement objectives and the IPCC goal of limiting the increase in global surface temperature to 1.5 °C. Starting from the Italian framework, these scenarios identify the correlations among the main pillars for the change of the energy paradigm towards net emissions by 2050. The energy scenarios were developed using TIMES-RSE, a partial equilibrium and technology-rich optimization model of the entire Italian energy system. Subsequently, an in-depth analysis was developed with the sMTISIM, a long-term simulator of power system and electricity markets. The results show that, to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the Italian energy system will have to experience profound transformations on multiple and strongly related dimensions. A predominantly renewable-based energy mix (at least 80–90% by 2050) is essential to decarbonize most of the final energy consumption. However, the strong increase of non-programmable renewable sources requires particular attention to new flexibility resources needed for the power system, such as Power-to-X. The green fuels produced from renewables via Power-to-X will be a vital energy source for those sectors where electrification faces technical and economic barriers. The paper's findings also confirm that the European "energy efficiency first" principle represents the very first step on the road to climate neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]