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Renewable energy aspires to boost decarbonisation and power the circular economy in accordance with the Green Deal objectives. The transition, however, faces many challenges and understanding the drivers behind it is essential. This paper analyses 27 European Union countries for the period 2008 - 2020 to identify economic and social determinants influencing renewable energy consumption. The results indicate that the population density, education, economic growth, digitalisation and research and development have a considerable positive impact. Urbanisation, on the other hand, appears to exert a negative influence. In addition, the empirical findings reveal a unidirectional causal relationship running from education, economic growth and energy poverty towards renewable energy consumption. This research provides useful insights into important drivers of renewable energy adoption which can facilitate or hinder the energy transition and achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental innovation is pivotal in tackling climate change by offering diverse and practical solutions to reduce carbon footprints, promote resource conservation, and enhance ecological sustainability. As anthropogenic activities continue to accelerate global environmental degradation, innovative solutions are imperative for mitigating the impacts of climate change and fostering sustainability. However, the effectiveness of these innovations is threatened by global uncertainties and rising income inequalities. Uncertainties in geopolitical landscape and economic disparities may impede the development and widespread adoption of eco-friendly technologies and practices. Given the above background, this study empirically investigates the influences of environmental innovation, world uncertainty and income inequality on renewable energy generation for a balanced panel of 58 countries between 1990 and 2020. The estimated models also control for the effects of globalisation and economic growth. After diagnosing for necessary panel diagnostic tests including cross-sectional dependence, heterogeneity, and panel unit-root, the Westerlund cointegration test confirms a significant long-run relationship between the variables of the study. Using panel Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimation, the results reveal that while environmental innovation continues to promote the renewable energy generation, global uncertainty and income inequality hamper it. More importantly, the moderating effects of world uncertainty and income inequality reduce the favourable impact of environmental innovation on renewable energy generation. Besides, economic growth and globalisation continue to play critical roles in speeding up the quest for renewable energy. The PCSE estimation technique confirms the significance of these baseline findings. Potential policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern heavy duty industrial gas turbines in combined cycle configuration, with rated efficiencies (at ISO base load) above 60% net LHV, are expected to play a significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of utility scale electricity generation. Even without postcombustion capture (PCC), simply switching from coal-fired generation to natural gas-fired generation reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 60% (on a kg per MWh of generation basis). In simple cycle mode, with efficiencies above 40% net LHV and startup times around 20 min, 300-400+ MW gas turbines can easily serve as peakers to support variable renewable resources, i.e., wind and solar. In this paper, a close quantitative look is taken at the capabilities of gas turbines firing natural gas, hydrogen, or a blend thereof, both in simple and combined cycle configurations. Furthermore, using published data, first-principles calculations, and software simulations, it will be shown that the gas turbine constitutes an efficient and cost-effective technology, with and without carbon capture, as a key player in decarbonization of the electric power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electricity industry in Guadeloupe has undergone a rapid transition. In this paper we analyse how this energy transition concretely occurred and what are the implications for industrial players and their accumulation strategies? Energy transition policies are configured by political struggles involving power producers (both incumbents and challengers) to ensure their profitability. We focus specifically on financial relationships and circuits underlying the Guadeloupean electricity industry, arguing that the political (de)construction of these circuits by (public and private) actors is key to better understand the transition process and/or its path-dependence. We identify three different and successive sequences of energy transition, from 2000 to 2023, characterized by different financial circuit architectures and distributive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsustainable economic development and ecological degradation are major challenges for human beings. Human welfare can be obtained by promoting transition towards cleaner and more efficient energy usage, adopting environmental legislation, and reforming financial system. However, prior studies overlook the role of energy transition, environmental policies, and green financial policies on ecological footprint. Hence, this research investigates the heterogeneous effects of energy transition, environmental policies, and green financial policies on environmental footprint of 27 OECD nations. For this purpose, we examine the period from 2000 to 2019 using the non-additive fixed effects quantile regression. Our results show that energy transition exerts a harmful impact on ecological sustainability in countries with relatively better ecological quality while leading to an improvement in ecological sustainability in countries with relatively worse ecological quality. It is concluded that environmental policy and green financial policy significantly reduce ecological footprint in OECD countries. The favorable impact of environmental policy intensifies as ecological quality degrades while the favorable impact of green financial policy varies considerably across the distribution of ecological footprint. These findings have significant policy implications in the quest for environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Restoring the energy infrastructure damaged due to military aggression requires consistent political leadership, effective planning, financial resources, and human capital. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current state of human capital formation and justify the directions of its increase. The issue of human capital formation is presented in the article through the prism of the need for the post-war recovery of Ukraine's energy industry on an innovative basis. Within the framework of the economic mechanism of human capital formation for the needs of the energy transition, a critical component is the system of education and science. The authors assessed the "Human capital and research" factor for post-war recovery based on an input-output analysis of the components of the Global Innovation Index for Ukraine. The study showed a decrease in the contribution of the "Human capital and research" factor to the development of the innovative sphere of Ukraine during 2021-2023. The decomposition of the "Human capital and research" factor allowed us to conclude its further weakening by the following components: the total volume of education funding in % of GDP; the average performance of students according to the PISA assessment; coverage of the population by higher education; expenditure on research and development in % of GDP; the success of Ukrainian universities, measured regarding the success of the top 3 universities in the world according to the version of the QS World University Rankings. Based on the results of the analysis, steps aimed at strengthening individual components of human capital are proposed: diversification of non-state participation in both financing and provision of education, in particular through state stimulation of training at the workplace; support of employment with intensive use of knowledge; determination of priority areas of specialist training. State instruments for the implementation of these steps are: the provision of direct budget support in the form of grants and innovative transfers; the provision of state guarantees for enterprise loans obtained for the implementation of innovation and investment projects; the provision of state support for the export of carbon-free energy products; reduction of the corporate income tax base by the volume of innovation costs and personnel training costs.

Renewable energy communities occupy a critical position in catalysing the energy transition within urban areas, while simultaneously making substantial contributions towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. Positive Energy Districts are also gaining momentum, emerging as a concept of growing interest among researchers and urban planners. Renewable energy communities and positive energy districts are both expressions of sustainable urban energy forms, still there is the need to evaluate if a renewable energy community could be considered a positive energy district and under which conditions this transition will occur. To this scope, a holistic framework examining the transition from existing renewable energy communities to positive energy districts is proposed and characterized by focused and indicators, serving as critical instruments to conduct a tailored evaluation and characterization. Results demonstrate that the transition can be achieved by increasing by 20 % the renewable energy installations in the area.

Abstract Background Citizens are recognized as key actors in the energy system’s transformation by assuming novel roles beyond being mere energy consumers. Participation in renewable energy projects increases societal support and renders the decarbonization of the energy system more inclusive. Increasing numbers of citizen-financed photovoltaic (CiFi PV) projects exemplify this. Empirical studies on individuals who participate in CiFi PV, their perceived role(s), and their motivations, however, are scarce. This study addresses this gap through the lens of energy citizenship by analyzing individual participation. Methods The study surveyed CiFi PV participants across five projects in Switzerland (N = 510). After a comparison of the participants’ characteristics to the general public and a descriptive analysis of the perceived roles to participate, the study explores the individual motivations of participants. To that end, a motivational attributes scale, including finance, environment, local value creation, and symbolism, was adapted from a previous study. A hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to analyze which motivational attributes predict participants’ willingness to participate in future CiFi PV projects. Results While participants were primarily male, more affluent, better educated and politically more left-leaning than the average Swiss population, participants covered a wide range of sociodemographic characteristics and worldviews. Though CiFi PV is primarily marketed toward tenants, half of the participants were homeowners. Participants perceived themselves as energy citizens contributing to the energy transition and environmental preservation rather than as investors or energy producers. The regression analysis shows that motivations are relevant in explaining willingness to participate in future CiFi PV projects. We found that environmental, financial and local value creation-related motivational attributes are highly significant predictors, as well as slightly less significant symbolic attributes. Conclusions These results suggest that CiFi PV projects represent a material form of energy citizenship going beyond mere consumerism by enabling individuals to contribute to the energy transition. Given their capacity to engage diverse publics, policymakers should endorse projects emphasizing individual participation alongside non-commercial community-based models. This would require their integration into existing regulatory frameworks. Future energy citizenship studies should further explore how individuals perceive and conceptualize what it means to be an energy citizen.

Abstract Background One of the potential dimensions on which exclusion and injustice may occur in energy transitions is age. Age-based patterns of exclusion—ageism—has recently been conceptualized in the context of decarbonization as energy ageism. This paper offers a comparative empirical analysis of the senior citizens’ outlook towards an imminent energy transition as well as the impact of energy poverty in two European countries: Norway and Poland. Results Drawing on interviews and focus groups with Polish and Norwegian seniors, we present the differences and similarities between the two countries, and the determinants of energy ageism, as well as the concept’s overall applicability and empirical usefulness. We find that socioeconomic conditions outweigh ageism, that is, the resilience of senior citizens in dealing with energy poverty during a transition is conditioned by their material standing and welfare state robustness rather than age based. An important factor is household heating technology, combined with economic vulnerability can push some individuals into energy poverty, while others using alternative sources of heat can navigate through energy crises unscathed. Conclusions We note the importance of mainstreaming social inclusion considerations in energy policy and of targeted digital competence building which can enhance senior citizen integration in the energy transition. Lower levels of digital competences among senior citizens certainly play a role and need to be addressed with education programs to increase participation. In both countries, household heating is a major issue and heating sources are strong predictors of energy poverty and regulatory measures and subsidies should be designed at national, regional, and municipal level to assist vulnerable groups in this area.

In order to counteract global warming, the European Green Deal was made to improve the journey to a sustainable future. This also has an impact on aviation, because in the future the growth in air traffic must no longer lead to rising emissions, but even all aviation CO2 emissions have to be reduced to zero to achieve the goal of climate-neutral aviation by 2050. There are several approaches for new propulsion solutions and sustainable vehicle configurations and operations. A promising approach is the use of modern fuels. These include drop-in fuels (kerosene-like fuels) but also revolutionary concepts such as the use of liquid hydrogen or liquid natural gas, electric flying, and mixed forms of these. These approaches have certain advantages regarding the climate impact, but not all processes and effects are fully understood, especially their effects on contrails and their properties, frequency, and lifetime.In this study, we analyse 10 years of airborne and reanalysis data of temperature and humidity to see, how much more persistent contrails would be formed if kerosene were replaced by alternative fuels of different energy-specific water vapour emission indices, which are generally higher for alternative fuels. It turns out, that the amount of additional persistent contrails is quite minor for drop-in fuels, which are already used nowadays, but it is larger for other kinds of fuels, such as methane and liquid hydrogen.

In response to the uncertainty and volatility arising from renewable sources, there is a growing need for enhanced flexibility within the energy system to maintain a continuous balance between power generation and demand. In this context, interest is growing around the so-called Multi-Energy Systems (MES) where different energy vectors coexist and optimally interact through conversion technologies and energy networks, creating additional flexibility opportunities. Nevertheless, there exists a gap in research regarding the impact of the network on flexibility availability. Typically, these complex systems are treated as power nodes or energy hubs without comprehensive network considerations. For this reason, the paper aims to propose a methodology and a tool to evaluate flexibility in a Multi-Energy System, considering not only the individual devices in place and the users' demands but also their interactions with the physical energy network. In detail, a simulation-based methodology is developed and described, and finally tested on a Case Study. As a result, both the physical and operational flexibilities (UP-flex and DOWN-flex) of the system regarding the electrical vector were obtained analytically and graphically. Particular attention was given to the evolution of key temperatures within the district heating network and the thermal power produced by the central unit in various flexibility scenarios. The outcomes demonstrate the utility of this tool for defining flexibility boundaries and profiles, as well as for assessing whether the flexibility demanded by grid operators aligns with the physical constraints of the network.

The idea of exporting dispatchable solar electricity from the North African region to Europe is still the subject of several bilateral meetings, workshops, and conferences, despite doubts and previous failures with the Desertec concept. Given that each North African country has its own privacy policy, energy strategy, and distinct approach to the concept of renewable energy exports, while the potential of renewable energy sources varies from country to country, it would be very helpful to assess the potential and export opportunities of each country. In this respect, this paper focuses on the potential of Algeria. Several key factors that can make Algeria an attractive place to supply Europe with dispatchable solar electricity have been identified and discussed. The factors have been identified from the European perspective and can be used to analyze the potentials of neighboring countries. The barriers that could impede the export of dispatchable solar electricity from Algeria to Europe have also been identified. Based on certain given criteria, the paper provides some scenarios of possible solar electricity import corridors from Algeria to Europe. This work is timely as the Algerian government has expressed interest in exporting its surplus electricity to Europe and is studying an electricity interconnection project with Italy.

The Paris Agreement came into force in 2016. Now there are 196 parties to this Agreement, including Russia. The purpose of the accommodation is to hold the increase in the global average temperature below 2°C and to make efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Another important goal of this Agreement is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to UNFCCC-2015. Each participating country at the national level plans special activities that will help to achieve these goals. In general, this should reduce the rate of global warming. The Paris Agreement’s goals can be achieved by: either introduction of new technologies that exclude the formation of a large amount of carbon footprint or termination of the usage of fossil fuels for electricity production. The formation of a carbon footprint is observed at all mining enterprises, regardless of the extracted raw materials. In this case, the amount of carbon footprint depends only on the extraction technologies and the success of ecological measures

The energy transition to wind and solar opens up opportunities for green hydrogen as wind and solar generation tend to bring electricity prices down to very low levels. We evaluate whether green hydrogen can integrate well with wind and solar PVs to improve the South Australian electricity grid. Green hydrogen can use membrane electrolysis plants during periods of surplus renewable energy. This hydrogen can then be electrified or used in industry. The green hydrogen system was analysed to understand the financial viability and technical impact of integrating green hydrogen. We also used system engineering techniques to understand the system holistically, including the technical, social, environmental, and economic impacts. The results show opportunities for the system to provide seasonal storage, grid firming, and reliability services. Financially, it would need changes to electricity rules to be viable, so at present, it would not be viable without subsidy.

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always remaining in the groove of rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of continuously updating emerging topics concerning relationships between urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers written by young researchers. The Review Notes are made of five parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the policies and regulations for the city energy governance section focuses on the challenges that urban energy planning commonly faces, providing food for thought to readers and fellow researchers. This contribution aims at examining these challenges and the solutions proposed in the scientific literature. For the first issue of TeMA Journal volume no. 17, this section is dedicated to the definition of policies and regulations for achieving the energy transition objectives at the European level.

The relevance of the research topic is due to the role and importance of the results of the activities of enterprises in the oil and gas sector, which is currently strongly influenced by modern transformational trends, for the development of the national economy. The article analyzes the results of the impact of the green trend, due to the objective need to follow the principles of ESG and respond to the challenges of decarbonization.The purpose of the study is to study the impact of the green agenda and evaluate the effectiveness of ESG investments, as well as substantiate proposals for the implementation of ESG principles in corporate strategies of oil and gas companies.Research objectives: to study the green cases of key Russian oil and gas companies; to evaluate the effectiveness of ESG investments; to formulate proposals that allow companies in the oil and gas sector to integrate more effectively into the ESG agenda.Research methods: systematic approach, logical analysis, synthesis; The empirical method of rating assessment, content analysis of open sources, correlation and regression analysis were used.Results. Despite the improvement of positions in profile ratings, the profitability of ESG investments is unstable, therefore, it is necessary to strengthen work to increase the level of environmental and social responsibility, and the effectiveness of risk management. It is necessary to consolidate at the legislative level the requirements for reporting on sustainable development, which still do not fully comply with international standards in the criteria part. Evaluating the effectiveness of ESG investments is complicated by several problems caused by the use of various approaches to integrating ESG principles and monitoring this process using KPIs, insufficient activity in tracking and disclosing information about the effectiveness of ESG strategies, etc.The main conclusions. The successful and consistent solution of the tasks of green energy transfer allows us to achieve the application of corporate strategy methods and operational efficiency methods for key vectors. There is a high correlation between the indicators of ESG investments and the net profit of oil and gas companies; PJSC Tatneft and PJSC NK Rosneft have the most significant correlation coefficient. It is advisable to develop a document at the level of industry regulators that includes a package of preferences for oil and gas companies implementing the ESG agenda (tax incentives, provision of long-term and cheap financing by infrastructure state banks, accelerated depreciation of capital investments in ESG projects, ensuring stable financing of joint projects in the field of sustainable development of the regions where oil and gas companies are based).

This study investigates the impact of renewable (REW) and non-renewable (NREW) energy usage, along with economic growth (GDP), on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Visegrad countries, which rely heavily on traditional energy sources. Using data from 1991 to 2021, the analysis employs a panel asymmetric regression with Driscoll-Kraay and FGLS standard errors. The latent cointegration test reveals long-term relationships with asymmetry among the variables. Real GDP fluctuations exhibit a negative impact on CO2 emissions for both positive and negative shocks. A reduction in conventional energy source consumption leads to a greater CO2 emission reduction, confirming asymmetry. Conversely, an increase in consumption positively impacts CO2 reduction. However, non-conventional energy sources show no asymmetries. The OLS-based model proposed by Driscoll-Kraay showed reduced standard errors, but lower significance in the estimated parameters compared to the FGLS model. The findings recommend a sustainable energy transition for Visegrad countries by eliminating traditional sources and promoting renewable resources.

Abstract The energy transition to a cleaner environment has been a concern for many researchers and policy makers, as well as communities and non-governmental organizations. The effects of climate change are evident, temperatures everywhere in the world are getting higher and violent weather phenomena are more frequent, requiring clear and firm pro-environmental measures. Thus, we will discuss the energy transition and the support provided by artificial intelligence (AI) applications to achieve a cleaner and healthier environment. The focus will be on applications driving the energy transition, the significant role of AI, and collective efforts to improve societal interactions and living standards. The price of electricity is included in almost all goods and services and should be affordable for the sustainable development of economies. Therefore, it is important to model, anticipate and understand the trend of electricity markets. The electricity price includes an imbalance component which is the difference between notifications and real-time operation. Ideally it is zero, but in real operation such differences are normal due to load variation, lack of renewable energy sources (RES) accurate prediction, unplanted outages, etc. Therefore, additional energy has to be produced or some generating units are required to reduce generation to balance the power system. Usually, this activity is performed on the balancing market (BM) by the transmission system operator (TSO) that gathers offers from generators to gradually reduce or increase the output. Therefore, the prediction of the imbalance volume along with the prices for deficit and surplus is of paramount importance for producers’ decision makers to create offers on the BM. The main goal is to predict the imbalance volume and minimize the costs that such imbalance may cause. In this chapter, we propose a method to predict the imbalance volume based on the classification of the imbalance sign that is inserted into the dataset for predicting the imbalance volume. The imbalance sign is predicted using several classifiers and the output of the classification is added to the input dataset. The rest of the exogenous variables are shifted to the values from previous day d − 1. Therefore, the input variables are either predicted (like the imbalance sign) or are known from d − 1. Several metrics, such as mean average percentage error (MAPE), determination coefficient R 2 and mean average error (MAE) are calculated to assess the proposed method of combining classification machine learning (ML) algorithms and recurrent neural networks (RNN) that memorize variations, namely long short-term memory (LSTM) model.

Energy transition in hydrocarbon-rich regions like Qatar is crucial for addressing climate change. This study, acknowledging gaps in our understanding of societal perspectives on this transition, specifically investigates public views on renewable energy (RE) in Qatar. A mixed-methods questionnaire was employed to capture a broad spectrum of public knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behaviors regarding RE. A distinctive feature of this research is its integrative approach, which encompasses environmental, economic, and policy alongside public perception and media influence. This methodology effectively bridges the research gaps in Qatar, providing a comprehensive understanding of the country’s energy transition. Multiple analyses of responses (n = 604) revealed significant trends and sociodemographic factors influencing these detailed societal opinions on RE. The findings demonstrate a cautious yet optimistic public viewpoint toward RE, with substantial support for increasing its usage over traditional oil and gas. They also highlight the importance of governmental initiatives and the global shift toward sustainable practices, along with the need for enhanced public education to bridge gaps in understanding various RE sources. The study uncovers complexities in public attitudes, shaped by sociodemographic factors, and underscores the discrepancy between initial enthusiasm for RE and its sustained daily use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning to a sustainable energy future necessitates innovative storage solutions for renewable energies, where hydrogen (H₂) emerges as a pivotal energy carrier for its low emission potential. This paper explores unlined rock caverns (URCs) as a promising alternative for underground hydrogen storage (UHS), overcoming the geographical and technical limitations of UHS methods like salt rock caverns and porous media. Drawing from the experiences of natural gas (NG) and compressed air energy storage (CAES) in URCs, we explore the viability of URCs for storing hydrogen at gigawatt-hour scales (>100 GWh). Despite challenges such as potential uplift failures (at a depth of approximately less than 1000 m) and hydrogen reactivity with storage materials at typical conditions (below temperatures of 100°C and pressures of 15 MPa), URCs present a flexible, scalable option closely allied with green hydrogen production from renewable sources. Our comprehensive review identifies critical design considerations, including hydraulic containment and the integrity of fracture sealing materials under UHS conditions. Addressing identified knowledge gaps, particularly around the design of hydraulic containment systems and the interaction of hydrogen with cavern materials, will be crucial for advancing URC technology. The paper underscores the need for further experimental and numerical studies to refine URC suitability for hydrogen storage, highlighting the role of URCs in enhancing the compatibility of renewable energy sources with the grid. • Detailed exploration of unlined rock cavern (URC) technology. • Analysis of URCs' potential for large-scale hydrogen storage. • Insights from historical use of URCs in compressed gas storage. • Examination of the opportunities and challenges in using URCs for hydrogen storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global goal of carbon neutrality being emphasized, the implementation of carbon-neutral strategies has become a crucial task across various domains. As an integral part of social activities, physical education also necessitates considerations on how to reduce carbon emissions and implement carbonneutral strategies within the teaching process. This study focuses on physical education and explores carbon-neutral strategies based on an end-to-end architecture with an attention mechanism. Firstly, we introduce an end-toend framework that enables the integration and optimization of various aspects within the teaching process to achieve comprehensive carbon-neutral objectives. This framework serves as a unified optimization platform, facilitating the collaboration of different components involved in teaching activities and balancing the reduction of carbon emissions with teaching effectiveness. Secondly, we employ Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) as the foundational model within the end-to-end architecture. Through training the CNN model, we automate the analysis of carbon emissions during the teaching process and provide corresponding carbon-neutral recommendations for different segments. Most importantly, we incorporate an attention mechanism to enhance the effectiveness and interpretability of the carbon-neutral strategy. The attention mechanism assists the model in automatically focusing on features or regions closely related to carbon-neutral objectives, thereby achieving more accurate and efficient carbon-neutral strategy recommendations. Finally, we conduct training and testing on the proposed model using a dataset constructed from carbon-neutral scenarios in physical education (the country where physical education occurred and digital energy have been scrutinized). The results demonstrate that the improved model surpasses a 90% threshold in mainstream evaluation metrics such as Action Recognition Accuracy (ARA), Action Recognition Recall (ARR), and Action Optimization Rate (AOR). The enhanced model exhibits notable improvements in inference speed and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]