Citizens’ attitudes towards and their perceptions of climate change are widely believed to influence citizens’ actions related to climate change. Knowledge of these attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental improvement can be useful in designing an environmental policy. Although citizens’ attitudes and perceptions are likely to affect their WTP, they are rarely included in the non-market valuation. Furthermore, over time, attitudes and perceptions of environmental issues are likely to change. An understanding of temporal stability of attitudes towards climate change could shed the light on changes in citizens’ WTP for environmental quality over time. This study examined changes in perceptions, attitudes, and actions towards climate change using two surveys in Queensland, Australia. The surveys were administered 10 years apart (2009 and 2018). The effect of attitudes over time on WTP was analysed using a contingent valuation (CV) method. The results confirmed that attitud... [more]

Open-path laser telemetry of methane leakage yields security guarantees of energy storage and transportation for oil/gas station production operation. In order to further improve the long-term detection stability under the condition of long-distance non-cooperative targets, a catadioptric optical receiver (COR) consisting of a Fresnel lens, cone reflector and parabolic reflector is proposed to focus the laser echo light that deviates gradually with the increase in atmospheric turbulence. The geometric configuration parameters of COR are optimized by the ray-tracing method, and the condensing performance of COR is further verified. The self-developed methane laser telemetry system coupled with COR is calibrated in the laboratory and then moved to the field for a signal receiving stability experiment under turbulence interference. The results show that the receiving angle of COR increases 3.8 times compared with the Fresnel lens optical receiver (FOR). The RMSE and IS of the COR system a... [more]

The energy transition is a subject of significant interest in the countries of the European Union, and the involvement of public authorities is remarkable. Unlike previous energy transitions, this process is politically driven, the efforts of public authorities being secondary to the actions of companies whose guidelines are based on stability at the European level through strategies and directives. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current evolution of energy security status in the European Union and in Romania, with reference to global efforts to achieve climate neutrality through the energy transition. The historical method was used in the elaboration of the material, in order to outline the current energy security policies in terms of sustainability, both environmental and social. The logical method was used in order to emphasize the cause−effect relationship between economic processes in the energy sector. The use of bibliometric analysis demonstrated the importance of... [more]

Existing research has insufficiently explored the nexus between the new energy industry and CO2 emissions from the standpoint of export sophistication. This study analyses the implications of the new energy industry’s export sophistication on CO2 emissions, regional heterogeneity, and its influencing mechanism by gathering data from 31 major economies throughout the world between 1996 and 2021. The study found that the new energy industry’s export sophistication helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and this conclusion still holds after robustness testing; the carbon emission reduction effect of the export sophistication of the new energy industry is more significant in developed countries than in developing countries; the new energy industry’s export sophistication possesses a crowding-out effect on domestic technological progress, which to a certain extent impedes carbon reduction effect. This paper’s findings provide theoretical guidance for the global low-carbon energy transition.

This article presents a study of the specific features and development factors of renewable energy in macro-regions that combine extractive and industrial clusters with rural, sparsely populated areas. While in some countries—leaders in energy transition (the EU, China)—the growth of investments in solar, wind, and hydropower production is taking place systematically within the framework of an increasing number of national and international strategies and programs, in the Russian Federation there is a lack of renewable generation capacity. Particular difficulties are experienced in regions that, on the one hand, have a developed fuel and raw material complex and, therefore, fuel generation (which makes a significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions), and, on the other hand, many rural, sparsely populated areas that are in need of new distributed generation. The aim of the study is to analyze the factors of transition to renewable energy in mineral-resource regions, such... [more]

This study examines whether shifts in the stance of policymaking can account for the observed predictability in excess energy poverty (EP) or fuel poverty (FP) levels. Energy-related poverty is a subcategory of global poverty and can be categorized into accessibility problems related to EP and affordability issues associated with FP, which have a similar but not identical meaning. Furthermore, developed and developing countries have different energy issues, as the former deal with FP and the latter with EP. However, there are discrepancies in EP not only between countries but within counties as well; for instance, there are differences in urban and rural areas too. Difficulties in energy access can be devastating for people living at risk of poverty. Social welfare, although at stake due to the energy crisis sparked at the same time as the warfare in eastern Europe. Renewables and green fossil fuels have price fluctuations, and inflation is also a stress factor in EP. Generally, soluti... [more]

This paper applied the advocacy coalition framework to explore and explain the political processes creating policies to enhance energy efficiency of European Union (EU) industry. The paper used legislation on energy audits and energy management systems as a proxy for EU policy on energy efficiency in industry. Based on qualitative text analysis of EU policy documents, including a proposal to recast the energy efficiency directive, amendments to the proposal suggested by Member States, the Council and the European Parliament, and reports from negotiations, the paper identified four advocacy coalitions with different core beliefs, spanning from those that want few companies to implement energy audits or energy management systems, and that recommendations from audits should not be mandatory to implement, to those that advocate that many companies implement energy audits and management systems and that it should be mandatory to implement measures recommended in audits. It was further found... [more]

The paper provides an economic model for the assessment of hydrogen production at the site of an existing thermal power plant, which is then integrated into the existing gas grid. The model uses projections of electricity prices, natural gas prices, and CO2 prices, as well as estimates of the cost of building a power-to-gas system for a 25-year period. The objective of this research is to calculate the yellow hydrogen production price for each lifetime year of the Power-to-gas system to evaluate yellow hydrogen competitiveness compared to the fossil alternatives. We test if an incentive scheme is needed to make this technology economically viable. The research also provides several sensitivity scenarios of electricity, natural gas, and CO2 price changes. Our research results clearly prove that yellow hydrogen is not yet competitive with fossil alternatives and needs incentive mechanisms for the time being. At given natural gas and CO2 prices, the incentive for hydrogen production needs... [more]

The aim of this research is to create a theoretical framework for a local energy innovation system based on renewable energy sources. For this purpose, four types of clusters were outlined based on energy-generation capacity and socio-economic factors such as “local wealth”, “relational capital”, “scientific and research capital” and “energy demand”. This classification revealed areas of Poland that have diverse features in terms of energy-generation capacity and innovation abilities. For each type of area, energy potentials combined with innovation abilities were established. To understand how areas with insufficient energy and innovation capacities could be supported in their development of local energy sovereignty, the concept of the regional innovation system has been adjusted. The results of the research can serve as an aid in the development of national and regional energy policies focused on the specificity and capacity of energy generation and innovation of each area.

To achieve the goal of sustainable development, China has implemented the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy. So far, there is still little evidence of the impact of the policiy on corporate behaviour. Therefore, this study collects data on Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2017 and applies the staggered difference-in-differences method to analyse the impact of the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy on the environmental, social and governance performance of companies in China. The result shows that the energy conservation and emission-reduction policy reduces environmental, social and governance performance, and this negative effect increases over time. Meanwhile, a further mechanism analysis confirms that the negative impact on environmental, social and governance performance operates through the incentive effect on environmental performance, the crowding-out effect on social performance and the spillover effect on governance performance. Furt... [more]

In order to achieve China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (double carbon) targets and to advance ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, it is essential that China reduces its energy intensity and increases its energy efficiency. This research developed an evaluation index system for energy efficiency and green development in the Yellow River Basin based on panel data collected from 64 of its prefecture-level cities and covering the period from 2011 to 2020. Each city’s energy efficiency and green development level index was calculated, and was analyzed together with the characteristics of its spatial pattern progression. The STIRPAT model was then used to investigate the influence mechanism of energy efficiency on green development. The final step in the analysis was to assess the process by which technical innovation influences the rise in energy efficiency from a green development point of view. The findings of this study indicate that:... [more]

The expansion of end-to-end Industry 4.0 technologies in various industries has caused a technological shock in the mineral resource sector, wherein itsdigital maturity is lower than in the manufacturing sector. As a result of the shock, the productivity and profitability of raw materials extraction has begun to lag behind the industries of its deep processing, which, in the conditions of volatile raw materials markets, can provoke sectoral crises. The diffusion of Industry 4.0 technologies in the mining sector (Mining 4.0) can prevent a technological shock if they are implemented in all segments, including quarrying (Surface Mining 4.0). The Surface Mining 4.0 technological platform would connect the advanced achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (end-to-end digital artificial intelligence technologies, cyber-physical systems and unmanned production with traditional geotechnology) without canceling them, but instead bringing them to a new level of productivity, resource con... [more]

Low-carbon economic efficiency is an important indicator that can be used to measure the quality of regional economic development. In this study, an improved DEA model is introduced into the calculation of low-carbon economic efficiency in Zhejiang Province. Using the actual data of nine prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang Province from 2015 to 2020, the low-carbon economic efficiency of each prefecture-level city is calculated. The result is that the overall low-carbon economic efficiency of Zhejiang Province indicates a trend of first falling and then rising, and the low-carbon economic efficiencies of different prefecture-level cities largely differ. The causes of six inefficient DMUs (prefecture-level cities) are analyzed using projection. The improved DEA model is used to determine the “expansion coefficient” of the input and output of three DMUs (prefecture-level cities) with relatively low-carbon economic efficiency. The research results provide a strong basis and support for th... [more]

In 2022, the record of extreme weather events already includes deep droughts in Sichuan province, China, and California, US; floods inundating a third of Pakistan and serious and repeated flooding in Eastern Australia; heat waves and drought in Europe; and wildfires in Europe and the western US [...]

Technology plays an essential role as climate change becomes a growing concern worldwide. This article aims to examine the influence that innovation exerts on climate change mitigation technology (CCMT) in the African and Asian mining sectors. Data were collected from the World Intellectual Property Organization mining database. We conducted a decomposition analysis of patent families between 2011 and 2020 based on the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. Findings revealed that African countries do not devote their innovation efforts to adaptive technologies, resulting in a mismatch between mining and access to technologies as the scope of R&D narrows. In Asia, the drive for innovation and technological efficiency is a tool to prevent economic damage and legitimize technological benefits as solutions for climate change mitigation technology. This outcome calls on political, national, and international governments to bridge the innovation gap to trigger a real shift from innova... [more]

It is evident from extreme weather patterns that climate change is impacting the whole world [...]

A new way is proposed to thermodynamically gauge the evolving complexity of nation-states and their growing cities. Energy rate density is a useful metric to track the evolution of energy budgets, which help facilitate how well or badly human society trends toward winning or losing. The fates of nations and their cities are unknown, their success is not assured. Those nations and cities with rising per-capita energy usage while developing and those that are nearly flat while already developed seem destined to endure; those with falling energy usage seem likely to fail. Globally, more energy, not less, and more energy rate density, too, will be needed in the 21st century. Conserving energy and efficiently using it are welcome since energy costs less when used less, but neither will likely help much to mitigate increasing energy demands. To survive, humanity nationally and internationally needs to culturally adapt to using more, clean, safe energy by embracing the Sun in an evolving Univ... [more]

In the process of promoting economic development, carbon peaks and carbon neutrality have gradually received more attention. The question of how to steadily and rapidly improve the carbon neutrality capacity of each province and excavate the key factors hindering the carbon neutrality capacity has become particularly important. In this study, the DPSIR (driving, pressure, state, influence, response) framework was used to construct an index system of the provincial carbon neutrality capacity of the middle and lower Yellow River Basin, which included 37 indices. Based on the entropy weight matter-element model, the time evolution, regional differences, and restriction indicators of the carbon neutrality capacity of four provinces in the middle and lower Yellow River Basin from 2008 to 2021 were analyzed. The results showed that the carbon neutrality capacity of the four provinces in the middle and lower Yellow River Basin has significantly improved over time and has gradually reached a g... [more]

Crossfield is located in the province of Alberta in Canada and is one of the most well-known reservoirs of hydrocarbons. Since the 1950s, there has been continuous exploitation of more than 10 formations such as Cardium, Viking, Ellerslie, Elkton, Shunda, and Wabamun. Because of its location near the Foothills, the southwestern part of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, the Crossfield area has a complex geology and relatively deeper reservoirs, therefore requiring an in-depth examination of each formation. In this study, geological, technical, and economic analyses were performed on each formation within the 10 sections of the study lands in the Crossfield area. As the result of the study, there was potential for drilling 48 horizontal wells in the Cardium A zone and the Viking formation. In addition, it turned out to be economically feasible even at the WTI price of 60 dollars per barrel considering Alberta’s Royalty Framework, which is determined by the production rate and the pri... [more]

Great attention has been paid in recent months to high energy prices, including fuel prices. Numerous studies present the threat this poses to economic growth, but history already knows such situations. Therefore, the elementary question was posed: How do fuel prices affect trade and economic growth? The research was based on the Polish economy between 2000 and 2020. Poland is an importer of energy commodities, so it should exhibit strong sensitivity to fuel price changes. A VAR model was created for the Polish economy, including fuel prices, seaborne trade, gross domestic product, and inflation. The results demonstrate that the Polish economy is quite resilient to fuel market turbulence. Obviously enough, it is easier to function in the conditions of lower fuel prices, but high prices are not a reason to panic. Moreover, ongoing technological progress allows economies to weather fuel market crises more easily than was the case back in the 20th century. Therefore, one may unequivocally... [more]

Disclosure of non-financial information, especially regarding corporate governance (CG), is an important element of companies’ communication with their stakeholders. This paper sets out to define—from a theoretical and practical perspective—the scope of CG reporting in Polish fuel, gas, and energy (“energy”) companies required under EU directives and national regulations. The paper presents the results of a study investigating whether and to what extent annual corporate governance statements (CGSs) prepared by energy companies, compared with other companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE-LCs), are consistent with “Best Practices for WSE-LCs 2016” (BPs for WSE-LCs). The study group consisted of energy companies submitting their 2017−2020 reports, as well as other companies listed on the WSE, as a comparative group (i.e., a total of 179 reports). We used a monographic method to study theoretical problems and annual CGSs and performed a critical review of the literature, as well... [more]

This paper aims at justifying the significance of investment in the improvement of labour productivity (LP) and importance of the latter on economic performance of companies manufacturing wind energy components (WEC) in Lithuania in terms of value added (VA) created, profitability and wage earned. The time period covered is 2000−2020. The following methods have been employed: analysis of legal acts, programmes, strategies, and business structure and finance indicators, interdependence (correlation and regression), trend, case analysis, logical economical reasoning and graphical representation. The research results of current status analysis showed that the business of WEC manufacturing is small in regard to their variety of products but increasing in terms of VA and employment in Lithuania. Investment has been found as a driver of improvement in LP. The calculated historical ratio of change in LP to investment showed that, on average, after 1000 EUR per employee has been invested in ta... [more]

A large number of studies have confirmed that oil speculation has played a vital role in oil price fluctuation in recent years. However, the heterogeneous impact of oil financialization on oil price fluctuation has not received enough attention. Based on time series data from January 1990 to October 2021, this paper adopts the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Auto-Regression (TVP-VAR) model and the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) method to study the heterogeneous impact of oil financialization on oil price fluctuation from three perspectives: different periods, different frequencies, and different time points of major events. The research results are as follows. First, the impact of oil financialization on oil price fluctuation in different periods is heterogeneous in terms of fluctuation amplitude and intensity. During major events such as the financial crisis or the COVID pandemic, the impact of oil financialization on oil price fluctuation is volatile and intense. Second,... [more]

In this paper, an optimisation approach to prioritise buyers and sellers in a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading market based on distances from the aggregator has been developed. The proposed approach assigns higher preferences to buyers/sellers with a smaller distance, as this will allow lower losses in the power transmission. Under this approach, the sellers and buyers operate in a decentralised manner to optimise the preference coefficients along with the energy sold/purchased to achieve certain profits/savings. The proposed approach is implemented using a real-life dataset, and the impacts of different parameters, such as seasonal variations in renewable generation, distances and profit thresholds for sellers, have been investigated. The results show that the proposed approach allows buyers and sellers to purchase/sell more energy from the P2P trading market (2.4 times increase when maximum energy sold is considered) in comparison to the case when all participants are equally prefer... [more]

This paper focuses on multi-family buildings in a Swedish city district, erected between 1965 and 1973, which are now in need of renovation. For the two types of multi-family buildings in the district, tower buildings and low-rise buildings, dynamic energy use is predicted by using an energy signature method. The energy signature is then used to calculate the primary energy use number of the building stock, according to calculations methods dictated by Swedish building regulations. These regulations are also used to assess which multi-family buildings are in need of renovation, based on the buildings’ primary energy use. For buildings that need energy renovations, it is simulated so that the energy use of each multi-family building complies with these same building regulations. The proposed methodology for simulating energy renovation also determines new energy signature parameters, related to building heat loss coefficient, balance temperature and domestic hot water usage. The effects... [more]