Protection of the natural environment is one of the most significant global challenges for the international community. World problems arising as a result of the incineration of fossil fuels, excessive CO2 emissions, erosion and soil degradation, as well as air pollution with the accelerating greenhouse effect and changes to the climate condition, make it necessary to take action at many levels. Environmental protection and the protection of natural resources need to follow the principles of sustainable development. Looking for alternative energy sources is appropriate but not sufficient and should be conducted in various areas since natural environmental changes are accelerating with many consequences. Therefore, there is demand for implementation of applications aimed at protecting air, and soil, preventing waste formation and combating the greenhouse effect. Therefore, the multi-directional use of various biocarbon substances for activities related to renewable energy, land reclamat... [more]

The bottom hole fluctuating pressure has a large influence on the wellbore instability. To address this problem, firstly, according to the principle of seepage mechanics, we established a calculation model of the change in pore pressure around the wellbore radius under fluctuating pressure; then, through laboratory rock mechanics test and rock damage mechanics theory analysis, the change law of formation strength under the action of static hydration and dynamic damage are determined; finally, based on the theory of rock mechanics in porous media, a quantitative evaluation method for the risk of wellbore instability under fluctuating pressure is established and the changing pattern of wellbore instability risk is analyzed. The results show that the pore pressure around the well shows a trend of fluctuation increase under fluctuating pressure, and there is a certain lag in the fluctuation of pore pressure inside the formation; the longer the muddy shale is immersed in drilling fluid, the... [more]

Global population growth and rising living standards have significantly impacted global energy consumption [...]

Environment management is one of the key aspects of hydropower development in acquiring sustainable energy. However, there has been limited research demonstrating the overall aspects of environment management of hydropower development with support of sound empirical evidence. In present study, the status of environment management in hydropower development was comprehensively investigated by conducting a case study based on the data collected from a field survey. The results show that, as environment management is largely subject to legal requirements, the environment management system needs to be established by integrating the legal requirements and needs of project implementation. This could potentially reduce the influence of legal restrictions on hydropower development. The main hydropower project environment management processes include identifying key environmental factors, implementation, monitoring, and performance measurement, which deal with environmental issues such as terres... [more]

Near-wall microenvironment of a building refers to parameters such as wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation near the building’s façade, etc. The distribution of these parameters on the building façade shows a certain variation based on changes in height. As a technology of passive heating and ventilation, the effectiveness of this application on heat collection wall is significantly affected by the near-wall microclimate, which is manifested by the differences, and rules of the thermal process of the components present at different elevations. To explore the feasibility and specificity of this application of heat collection wall in high-rise buildings, this study uses three typical high-rise buildings from Zhengzhou, China, as research buildings. Periodic measurements of the near-wall microclimate during winter and summer were carried out, and the changing rules of vertical and horizontal microclimate were discussed in detail. Later, by combining these measured da... [more]

The article deals with the decision problems of estimating the energy expenditure of low-emission fleets in urban service companies due to environmental safety. One of the most important problems of today’s transport policy of many city authorities is the ecological safety of its inhabitants. The basic measures are aimed at banning high-emission vehicles from city centers and promoting the introduction of zero-emission vehicles, such as electric or hybrid cars. The authors proposed an original approach to the decision model, in which the energy expenditure from the use of electric vehicles was defined as a criterion function. The boundary conditions took into account limitations typical of an electric vehicle, e.g., maximum range or battery charging time. To solve the problem, the authors proposed an efficient hybrid algorithm based on ant colony algorithm and genetic algorithm. The verification was made for the example of a utility company serving a medium-sized city in the eastern pa... [more]

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all areas of socio-economic life around the world. Its impact concerns not only the health system and the health of the population, but also the economy. Tourism is one of the sectors hardest hit by the restrictions imposed by governments in the wake of the pandemic. The pandemic has resulted in restrictions and limitations on movement and travel, covering both domestic and international tourism, which raises the question of have these restrictions imposed on tourist activities also caused an environmental impact? The aim of this article is to examine what impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the environmental issues within the tourism sector in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. The research task is to investigate whether this impact has changed in the pandemic era compared to previous years, and whether it has been positive or negative. The research method is multiple regression analysis. The results of the study indicated that the CO... [more]

Distribution transformer (DT) is a crucial component in power systems as it exchanges energies between different voltage levels or between utility grid and DC microgrids. Nevertheless, the operation of an oil-immersed DT is limited by the thermal and electrical capabilities of the internal insulating liquid. This paper aims to raise the efficiency of distribution transformers and preserve the environment by using a biodegradable insulating liquid instead of the conventional mineral insulating oil (MIO). This work examines the Egyptian case, where a real distribution network located in middle Egypt is selected as a pilot project. Study and analysis of the status que of the insulation system inside DTs are done with the aid of fault-tree analysis. The deficiency of the insulation system is confirmed by conducting an electronic survey of 100 expert participants. The most appropriate solution among three different alternatives is confirmed using the weighting and ranking method. The best c... [more]

The introduction or strengthening of a carbon tax is being considered in many countries as an economic policy instrument to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, there is no study analyzing the impact of a carbon tax increase in a uniform method for various products, reflecting the energy taxes and exemptions. Therefore, this study analyzes the price changes of products associated with the introduction of a stronger carbon tax, using Japan as an example. A process-based life cycle assessment database was used to enable a detailed product-level analysis. Five scenarios with different taxation amounts and methods were analyzed. The results show that price changes vary greatly by industry sector and product, even within the same industry sector. For example, seasonal vegetables and recycled plastics are less affected by carbon tax increases. Imported products, such as primary aluminum, are not affected by the Japanese carbon tax change, indicating a risk of carbon leakage. If GH... [more]

The plastic bottles that are used for packaging water are harmful to the environment. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of consumers’ environmental concern on both their intention to reduce consumption of water sold in single-use plastic bottles and their actual behaviour. An extended version of the theory of planned behaviour is used as the main theoretical framework. Structural equation modelling is employed based on data gathered in 2020 from 1011 Polish respondents to test the study’s hypotheses. The results support the model, as all tested relations are statistically significant. More specifically, we confirm the indirect impact of environmental concern on both intention and behaviour concerning bottled water consumption (BWC): environmental concern is positively related to attitudes towards reducing BWC, subjective norms regarding reduction in BWC, perceived behavioural control over BWC, and perceived moral obligation to protect natural resources, all of wh... [more]

(1) Background: sewage sludge is a by-product of wastewater treatment, which needs to be managed appropriately, e.g., in composting processes. The application of municipal sewage sludge composts (MSSCs) as a soil amendment is a potential way to effectively manage sewage sludge. (2) Methods: this paper presents the results of a vegetation pot experiment undertaken to assess the suitability of Dactylis glomerata L. and MSSC in the aided phytostabilization technique when applied on soils from an area effected by industrial pressure; this is characterized by high levels of heavy metal (HM). The contents of HMs in the test plant (the roots and above-ground parts), as well as in the soil and MSSC, were determined via an atomic spectrometry method. (3) Results: the application of MSSC positively contributed to an increased production of plant biomass and an increase in the pH in the soil. Concentrations of Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cr were higher in the roots than in the above-ground parts of Dacty... [more]

Thermal refurbishment of buildings results in certain energy, financial, and environmental effects. Such investments are financially supported in Poland after meeting the legally defined conditions of thermal protection and energy consumption. This paper presents a complex thermal modernization of a school building, performed by following Polish regulations. A detailed description of the studied object was given, and the calculation procedure was described. Then an optimal variant of an investment and an ex-post analysis were described. Simple payback time (SPBT) of modernization measures was from 15.8 years (insulation of the ceiling under the unheated attic) to 87 years for insulation of the wooden external wall, with 35.6 years for the whole project, which is shorter than the predicted lifespan of the whole building (50−70 years). Annual calculated heating demand decreased from 464.78 to 168.73 GJ, resulting in the primary energy consumption indicator (EP) of 484.44 and 129.46 kWh/m... [more]

The goal of the paper is to evaluate the impact of selected factors on the adoption of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification in Europe. In the empirical part of the paper we track the fraction of LEED-registered office space in selected European cities, and assess the impact of selected socioeconomic and environmental factors on the certification adoption rate. This research contributes to the ongoing debate about the adoption of green buildings in commercial property markets. In this paper, we investigate factors affecting the adoption of LEED certification using the Arellano and Bond generalized method-of-moments estimator. Compared to prior studies, which relied on cross-sectional data, our research uses a panel approach to investigate the changes in green building adoption rates in selected European cities. Among the cities that are quickly adopting LEED are Frankfurt, Warsaw, Stockholm, and Dublin. The adoption process was not equally fa... [more]

Leading-edge erosion at wind turbine blades cause a loss in profit for wind farm owners, in particular offshore. The characterization of the rain erosion environmental load at wind turbine blades is based on the long-term rain rate and wind speed observations at 10-minute resolutions at coastal stations around the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and inland. It is assumed that an IEA Wind 15 MW turbine is installed at each station. The leading-edge lifetime is found to increase from the South to the North along the German and Danish North Sea coastline from 1.4 to 2.8 years. In the Danish and German Baltic Sea, the lifetime in the West is shorter (~2 years) than further East (~3 to 4 years). It is recommended to use a time series of 10 years or longer because shorter time series most likely will cause an overestimation of the lifetime. The loss in profit due to leading-edge erosion can potentially be reduced by ~70% using the erosion-safe mode, i.e., reduce the tip speed during heavy rain events... [more]

In a recent contribution, Ref. [1] study the life cycle impacts of a noise-reducing technology for a combined heat and power plant [...]

The effects of COVID-19 have had devasting effects on both health and economies in 2020. At the same time, the lockdown and the downturn of economic activity resulted in a decrease in energy consumption and an accompanying reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, a comparison with the temperature adjustment of energy use is presented for the main carriers of electricity, natural gas, and oil products in the residential, tertiary, industry, and transport (road transport, domestic aviation, and navigation) sectors in 2020 against the previous two years in Greece, along with the corresponding emissions. As the comparison covers the entire year, both COVID peaks in the March−April and November−December periods and the corresponding lockdown effects as well as seasonal variations are included. The analysis shows a reduction, adjusted for temperature, of 3528 GWh in electricity and 10,286 GWh in transport, and an increase of 1916 GWh in heating and other final uses for a net 1... [more]

In the comment of Heijungs and Cucurachi [...]

Insufficient environment protection may have serious ecological consequences, resulting in a number of problems in the modern world, many of which are a direct result of human behavior. Therefore, one needs to limit negative ecological effects by consciously shaping environment-related behaviors. The present paper analyzes the declared attitudes of individuals when it comes to taking into consideration pro-environmental factors, including energy, consumption, and waste. We have also studied the social awareness of the socially responsible investment idea, as well as pro-ecological individual behaviors related to private finance. Our survey study, conducted on a representative sample of 1030 Polish respondents, shows that participants’ individual features have little impact on pro-ecological decisions, and that declared pro-ecological attitudes are not reflected in actual behaviors. Polish consumers are still not active enough in making decisions concerning pro-ecological actions, first... [more]

The paper focuses on problems connected with Environmental Corporate Social responsibility in the energy industry. The objective behind this article is to analyse pro-environment activities within Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR) that heating operators carry out, using the example of a Poland-based company called Miejska Energetyka Cieplna Spółka z o.o. with headquarters in Koszalin. In particular, this study focuses on pro-environment activities that the company has been involved in from 2017−2020. The data and information found in this study demonstrate that the company systematically devoted its financial resources to pro-environment efforts in terms of both ISO 14001 maintenance as well as educational/promotional activities. According to the findings, the company has been highly committed to Environmental Corporate social Responsibility issues. The implementation of its strategy in this field can lead to ecological innovation and help establish an effective busi... [more]

Power converters in wind turbines exhibit frequent failures, the causes of which have remained unexplained for years. Field-experience based research has revealed that power- and thermal-cycling induced fatigue effects in power electronics do not contribute significantly to the field failures observed. Instead, clear seasonal failure patterns point to environmental influences, in particular to humidity, as a critical stressor and likely driver of converter failure. In addition to the electrical operating conditions, it is therefore important to also identify and characterize the climatic conditions that power converters in wind turbines are exposed to, both as a contribution to root-cause analysis and as a basis for the derivation of suitable test procedures for reliability qualification of components and systems. This paper summarizes the results of field-measurement campaigns in 31 wind turbines of seven different manufacturers spread over three continents. The temperature and humidi... [more]

The European Union is moving towards a sustainable, decarbonized, and circular economy. It has identified seven key value chains in which to intervene, with the battery and vehicle value chain being one of them. Thus, actions and strategies for the sustainability of batteries need to be developed. Since Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a strategic tool for evaluating environmental sustainability, this paper investigates its application to two configurations of a sodium−nickel chloride cell (planar and tubular), focusing on the active material and the anode, with the purpose of identifying the configuration characterized by the lowest environmental impacts. The results, based on a “from cradle to gate” approach, showed that the tubular cell performs better for all environmental impact categories measured except for particulate matter, acidification, and resource depletion. With nickel being the main contributor to these impact categories, future sustainable strategies need to be oriented... [more]

Scientific literature provides evidence that mitigating the effects of a building’s operation does not in itself ensure an overall improvement in its environmental performance. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) plays a key role in gauging the overall environmental performance of a building although several authors argue that the lack of LCA threshold values makes it difficult to compare design options or measure whether reduced impact targets are achieved. This has led the Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) to include the LCA within their evaluation criteria and, in like Active House (AH), establish threshold values of the main impact categories to quantify the level of performance achieved. Since the reliability of the data sources is a crucial issue for applying the LCA method, the effectiveness of their implementation within the GBRS also strictly depends on the origin of the impact values. To quantify the extent to which the source affects the impacts calculated by the LCA threshold... [more]

We present the results of the displacement flows of different Newtonian and Herschel−Bulkley non-Newtonian fluids in a new-developed eccentric Hele−Shaw cell with dynamic similarly to real field wellbore annulus during primary cementing. The possibility of tracking the interface between the fluids using particles with intermediate or neutral buoyancy is studied. The behaviors and movements of particles with different sizes and densities against the primary vertical flow and strong secondary azimuthal flow in the eccentric Hele−Shaw cell are investigated. The effects of fluid rheology and pumping flow rate on the efficiency of displacement and tracing particles are examined. Moreover, the behavior of pressure gradients in the cell is described and analyzed. Successful results of tracing the interface using particles give us this opportunity to carry out a primary cementing with high quality for the cases that the risk of leakage is high, e.g., primary cementing in wells penetrating a CO... [more]

Using panel data of 30 provinces and regions in Mainland China (excluding Tibet) from 2006 to 2016, the Spatial Durbin Model was employed for the empirical research, and the spatial impact of fiscal decentralization and environmental decentralization on regional carbon emissions were analyzed from the perspective of promotion pressure of officials. The empirical study concludes: ① Fiscal decentralization, both within the region and in its neighborhood, will contribute to carbon emissions in the region; ② Environmental decentralization will help reduce carbon emissions, while environmental decentralization in neighboring regions will increase carbon emissions in the region; ③ The promotion pressure of officials plays a positive role in moderating the impact of fiscal decentralization on carbon emissions, and at the same time weakens the suppression of carbon emissions by environmental decentralization; ④ From a regional point of view, there is a positive relationship between fiscal dece... [more]

This article considers the ideal storage conditions for multiple vaccine brands, such as Pfizer, Moderna, CoronaVac, Oxford−AstraZeneca, Janssen COVID-19 and Sputnik V. Refrigerant fluid options for each storage condition, thermal load to cool each type of vaccine and environmental impacts of refrigerants are compared. An energy simulation using the EUED (energy usage effectiveness design) index was developed. The Oxford−AstraZeneca, Janssen COVID-19 and CoronaVac vaccines show 9.34-times higher energy efficiency than Pfizer. In addition, a TEWI (total equivalent warming impact) simulation was developed that prioritizes direct environmental impacts and indirect in refrigeration. From this analysis, it is concluded that the cold storage of Oxford−AstraZeneca, Janssen COVID-19 and CoronaVac vaccines in Brazil generates 35-times less environmental impact than the Pfizer vaccine.