Large industrial plants, power plants, and combined heat and power plants are popularly believed to be the main sources of point emissions, affecting both local and global air quality. This is because these installations emit significant amounts of pollutants at high altitudes every year. In this study, we investigate the impact of two solid fuel (hard coal)-fired CHP plants located within the urban agglomeration on the air quality of the city of Lodz in Poland (Europe). We used an OPA03 computer software to model the spatial distribution of pollutants. The results show that the annual average concentrations of pollutants were highest at an altitude of 25 m above ground level and decreased at lower measurement heights. The concentrations did not exceed permissible levels, reaching only 4% of national and international regulatory limits. We also made field measurements during the winter heating period, using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with sensors to map the distributions... [more]

Sustainable development is now an important direction for the further development of all economies in the world. It is important to balance economic development with the impact on the environment and our planet. Another direction in the development of management sciences is the emergence of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, which considers this impact in three key aspects—economic, environmental and social—in terms of microeconomics. This concept gives companies specific guidelines and tools that minimize their negative impact on the environment. Reducing the negative impact of companies influences the environment and this is what is mainly associated with them. However, companies should also pay attention to internal consistency and caring for employees. Company practices such as the exploitation of people, including children, and injustice in the workplace are some of the factors that can be observed in less developed countries. The article focuses on the presentation o... [more]

In general, the biomass raw materials burned by biomass power plants generally have the characteristics of variable fuel types, high moisture content, and high volatile content. In this paper, a 130 t/h biomass circulating fluidized bed (BCFB) model was established on the MWorks platform with Modelica language. The influence of biomass type changes on operation parameters, the corresponding steady-state characteristics, and the dynamic characteristics of the BCFB were carried out. The temperature corresponding to the combustion of pine was overall higher than that of the other fuels, and the flue gas from the combustion of pine had the highest concentration of SO2, up to 520.49 mg/Nm3. The flue gas from the combustion of pure cotton sticks had the highest concentration of NO, up to 254.34 mg/Nm3. The changes of fuel type and moisture content all have a great influence on the operation of BCFBs. The emission of pollutants was not only related to the element content of fuel, but also clo... [more]

Zero waste according to the Zero Waste International Alliance is an ethical, economical, effective and forward-thinking concept whereby people can change their lifestyles and habits to one that mimics natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources that can benefit others. The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge of the Zero Waste problem (subject of the study) by respondents in selected Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, Slovakia (EU countries) and Ukraine (EU associated country), as well as to verify whether the Zero Waste rules are known and implemented in sustainable activities of residents in the studied countries. The research was carried out using the CAWI method. The research tool was a structured questionnaire. The analysis of data from the countries covered by the study showed a significant relationship between the basic elements in the daily functioning of households related to the protection of the environment... [more]

This paper presents problems connected with the effects of pro-ecological investment on the example of the heating industry. The aim of the publication, resulting from the identified gap, is to analyze pro-ecological investments on the example of a Polish heating company—Miejska Energetyka Cieplna Ltd. in Koszalin. In particular, the pro-environmental activities in which the examined company engaged over the period 2017−2020 were analyzed. On the basis of existing models in the literature, the authors’ cause−effect model for analyzing pro-ecological investments was proposed and investments were realized by the analyzed organization using this model. Combining the presented causes and effects of ecological investments, it is possible to propose a cause−effect model of pro-ecological investments undertaken in organizations consisting of three causes and five effects. All causes that cause organizations to realize pro-ecological investments can be divided into three groups: low requiremen... [more]

Most greenhouses in the Canadian Prairies shut down during the coldest months (November to February) because of the hefty heating cost. Chinese mono-slope solar greenhouses do not primarily rely on supplemental heating; instead, they mostly rely on solar energy to maintain the required indoor temperature in winter. This study focuses on improving an existing thermal model, entitled RGWSRHJ, for Chinese-style solar greenhouses (CSGs) to increase the robustness of the model for simulating the thermal environment of the CSGs located outside of China. The modified model, entitled SOGREEN, was validated using the field data collected from a CSG in Manitoba, Canada. The results indicate that the average prediction error for indoor and relative humidity is 1.9 °C and 7.0%, and the rRMSE value is 3.3% and 11.5%, respectively. The average error for predicting the north wall and ground surface temperature is 4.2 °C and 2.3 °C, respectively. The study also conducted a case study to analyze the th... [more]

In the era of limited resources and progressive environmental degradation, the circular economy is a practical application of sustainable development. It is an alternative, but also competitive way to achieve economic growth in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. This issue was considered in this paper in the context of the Ukrainian economy. The Ukrainian economy’s transformation into a circular one needs to find ways to choose practical tools for such a transition, considering the destructive impact of economic activities on the environment, population, and economy. The goal was to develop a method of choosing tools for the circular transformations of economic activities for each cluster and to reduce man-made damage to the environment. Cluster analysis, fuzzy C-means method, and grouping of economic activities were used. Two analyzed sectors turned out to be the most interesting: mining and quarrying, and electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply, w... [more]

Multidimensional crisis phenomena (financial−economic, environmental and social), plaguing the international community, especially in the last 30 years, have intensified resentment towards traditional models of growth and socio-economic development. The European Commission has placed the idea of a green economy (GE) at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy. This paper presents an assessment of the implementation of the green economy assumptions in EU countries in 2018, taking 2010 as the base year. Using taxonomic methods, a synthetic evaluation index (GEI—Green Economy Index) was constructed based on a multi-criterion set of 27 indicators. This paper attempts to answer the following questions: How green are the European economies? What are the main challenges in this context? The average value of the index for the EU countries decreased in the studied years from 0.3423 to 0.3294, which can be interpreted as a slowdown in the greening processes. The key recommendations for the upcoming... [more]

Hydropower plants affect the distribution and composition of sediments. The main aim of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of sediment pollution in the vicinity of a small hydropower plant. The grain composition of the sediments, the content of heavy metals (Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn, Pb, and Cd) and select physicochemical properties (pH, electrolytic conductivity) were tested at 14 points upstream and downstream of the hydropower plant on the Ślęza River in Poland, as well as at reference point. The interactions between the tested parameters were also verified. The results of the conducted analysis show that hydropower plants significantly affect the composition and properties of sediments. Large amounts of sediment are deposited on damming weirs, accumulating heavy metals and other substances. The differences in the concentrations of elements were significant, and Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn and Pb were 8.74, 9.53, 3.63, 8.26 and 6.33 times higher, respectively, than the median value at poin... [more]

Energy security is of key importance for states and international organizations. An important issue in energy security is the assessment of current and future energy security methods. While the assessment of the current methods is relatively easy, since it is based on recent information, the assessment of the future methods is burdened with uncertainty and is therefore much more difficult. Therefore, the aim of the article is to develop a new approach for assessing current and future energy security issues based on a complex security index, supported by the computationally transparent fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method. The use of the fuzzy MCDA methods allows one to capture the uncertainty of assessments and forecasts, and the forecasts themselves were based on the Holt’s method; the international energy security risk index (IESRI) was used as the source of the data to generate the forecasts. The research compared two data sources for forecasts (IESRI categories and... [more]

Decarbonization plays an important role in future energy systems for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and establishing a zero-carbon society. Hydrogen is believed to be a promising secondary energy source (energy carrier) that can be converted, stored, and utilized efficiently, leading to a broad range of possibilities for future applications. Moreover, hydrogen and electricity are mutually converted, creating high energy security and broad economic opportunities toward high energy resilience. Hydrogen can be stored in various forms, including compressed gas, liquid hydrogen, hydrides, adsorbed hydrogen, and reformed fuels. Among these, liquid hydrogen has advantages, including high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen densities and hydrogen purity. However, liquid hydrogen is garnering increasing attention owing to the demand for long storage periods, long transportation distances, and economic performance. This paper reviews the characteristics of liquid hydrogen, liquefaction techno... [more]

This study focuses on the sizing and optimization of a micro-grid with storage, which is destined to supply the load of an economic activity zone (EAZ) in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. To solve this problem, a genetic algorithm is established and programmed into MATLAB. The objective functions are considered by providing three minimums, namely Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG), Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Embodied Energy (EE), for three values of loss of power supply probability (LPSP) previously fixed. The sizing and optimization results are found and evaluated using a time series exchange of energy during a year to determine the optimal component size of a photovoltaic/wind/battery system (PV/WT/Bat). The simulation results show that the lowest ratio of LPSP values corresponds to the higher GHG, EE, LCC, photovoltaic panels area (APV), battery storage capacity (Cn), wind turbines area (AWT) and vice versa. This means that demanding higher energy reliability leads to higher energy cost and polluti... [more]

Food waste has caused double waste of resources in the food itself and the food supply chain of production, transportation, cooking, and processing, resulting in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and economic losses. This paper first conducted the quantification of students’ food waste and the collection of canteens operation data in the three canteens at Taiyuan University of Technology (China) in 2019 through the weighing method and interview. Then an integration of Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing was used to quantify the impact of food waste in university canteens on the environment and costs. The study found that the total amount of food waste in the university canteens with 22,000 students was 246.75 t/a, the carbon footprint caused by food waste was 539.28 t CO2-eq, and the cost was 4,729,900 yuan. Most of the impact of canteen meals on the environment comes from the use of energy in food cooking and the consumption of animal food types. The innovative integration... [more]

Achieving environmental sustainability whilst minimizing the climate change effect has become a global endeavor. Hence, this study examined the effect of energy consumption, economic growth, financial development, and globalization on CO2 emissions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The research utilized a dataset stretching from 1995 to 2018. In a bid to investigate these associations, the study applied cross-sectional dependence (CSD), slope heterogeneity (SH), Pesaran unit root, Westerlund cointegration, cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality approaches. The outcomes of the CSD and SH tests indicated that using the first-generation techniques produces misleading results. The panel unit root analysis unveiled that the series are I (1). Furthermore, the outcomes of the cointegration test revealed a long-run association between CO2 emissions and the regressors, suggesting evidence of cointegration. Th... [more]

To comply with the new net zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) target set by the United Kingdom government by 2050, different sectors including the industrial sector are required to take action to achieve this target. Improving the building envelope and production of clean energy on site are among the activities that should be considered by businesses to reduce their carbon emissions. This research analysis the current energy performance and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of an industrial building in Liverpool, UK utilizing the Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IESVE) software modeling. Then it has proposed some methods for improving the current performance and reduce the carbon footprint of the building. The results indicated that the installation of wall and floor insulation could decrease the energy usage and CO2 emissions of the building by about 56.39%. Additionally, the production of clean energy on site using solar photovoltaic (PV) panels could reduce the... [more]

Environmental pollution, energy supply and security of supply have become major issues across the world due to climate change, limited energy sources, energy price volatility and energy supply constraints. Energy availability, energy efficiency and the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy sources are key factors in the global development of sustainable energy. In many countries with limited fossil fuel resources, the sustainable development of renewable energy sources is an important tool in reducing dependence on imported fuels. Some alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, tidal and hydropower, seem almost inexhaustible. With the exception of tidal energy, all of these sources have been used extensively and for a long time. This article examines the improvement of energy security and the government’s actions to promote the use of renewable energy sources, focusing on increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy intensity and dependence on energy imports in Lith... [more]

The article presents the possibilities of effective management of lignocellulosic waste by including it in the circular economy. The pyrolysis process was chosen as the thermal conversion method. This approach, due to a high flexibility of the obtained products, better quality of the solid residue (char), and the lower emission of pollutants into the atmosphere, e.g., SO2 and NOx, is a competitive solution compared to combustion process. Wood waste from alder and pine were analyzed. As part of laboratory tests, the elementary composition was determined, i.e., C, H, N, S, and O. The pyrolysis process was carried out at a temperature of 600 °C on an experimental stand for the conversion of solid fuels in a stationary bed. For the obtained data, using the Ansys Chemkin-Pro calculation tool, the detailed chemical composition of gaseous products of the pyrolysis process was modeled for a varying temperature range and residence time in the reactor. The studies have shown that for certain pro... [more]

The building sector is one of the key energy consumers worldwide. Fuel cell micro-Cogeneration Heat and Power systems for residential and small commercial applications are proposed as one of the most promising innovations contributing to the transition towards a sustainable energy infrastructure. For the application and the diffusion of these systems, in addition to their environmental performance, it is necessary, however, to evaluate their economic feasibility. In this paper a life cycle assessment of a fuel cell/photovoltaic hybrid micro-cogeneration heat and power system for a residential building is integrated with a detailed economic analysis. Financial indicators (net present cost and payback time are used for studying two different investments: reversible-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and natural gas SOFC in comparison to a base scenario, using a homeowner perspective approach. Moreover, two alternative incentives scenarios are analysed and applied: net metering and self-consumers’ gro... [more]

The main part of mankind’s ecological footprint is the carbon footprint, a measure of the environmental impact of humanity’s energy release from fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels will have to change in the forthcoming decades to a largely climate-neutral use of solar energy enabled by dramatic cost reductions for PV and wind energy systems. The impact of this trend on world society has been discussed in a previous paper. In connection with these important technical developments, the role of electricity, its transport and storage will alter in the coming decades, allowing the design and use of larger and larger electricity grids and a parallel use of hydrogen for both storage and energy transport. This will further change the energy landscape of the world. All these developments and their relationship to global sustainable development are elaborated in this cross-disciplinary paper by specifically analyzing whether the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations are an effec... [more]

Environmental issues, sustainability, and climate change have become the targets of many policies from international and governmental organizations including the EU’s European Green Deal action plan. This plan provides tools to address them—which include support for the circular economy, implementation of energy and environmental taxes, and investment in environmental protection—with the aim of favoring the well-being of EU citizens. In this context, this study analyses the impact of several parameters (environmental matters, global warming, circular economy, energy and environmental taxes, and expenditure and investment on the environment) on life satisfaction, or subjective well-being, and their effects on 33 European countries. For this purpose, four econometric models were carried out using data collected from the World Values Survey (WVS), the European Values Study (EVS), and the World Bank and Eurostat, reflecting subjective citizen satisfaction data. The findings present a highl... [more]

The increasing use of road vehicles has caused a number of transport and environmental issues throughout the world. To cope with them, traffic calming schemes are being increasingly implemented in built-up areas. An example of such schemes are Tempo-30 zones. The traffic calming measures applied as part of this scheme must be carefully planned in terms of location and design details in order to obtain the desired reduction in speed, traffic volume and exhaust emissions and, last but foremost, to increase the safety and facilitate the movement of vulnerable road users. The coexistence and combined effect of these measures and their design details must also be taken into account. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the applied traffic calming measures had a considerable bearing on the reduction in speed to the desired level, as assumed in the traffic calming plan. Three street sections starting and ending with different intersection types were chosen to examine the syner... [more]

Even where physical conditions appear perfectly suited for wind power production, there is significant variation in the number of turbines installed. This pattern suggests that physical conditions are a pre-requisite for, but not a determinant of, that production. This study reports the results of an analysis of the county-level correlates of wind power installations in the north−south corridor of the central United States, which contains much of the country’s greatest land-based wind resources. This study focuses on the relative effects of social capital, global climate change concern, and local biodiversity, while controlling for other potential explanations that previous research has identified as leading to support for or to opposition to turbine installation. We find (1) that greater local biodiversity is associated with fewer turbine installations; (2) that the percent of the public who believe humans are causing climate change is not associated with the number of installed turbi... [more]

The paper presents a spatial approach to the analysis of the relationship between air pollution, economic growth, and renewable energy consumption. The economic growth of every country is based on the energy consumption that leads to an increase in national productivity. Using renewable energy is very important for the environmental protection and security of the earth’s resources. Promoting environmentally friendly operations increases awareness of sustainable development, which is currently a major concern of state governments. In this study, we explored the influence of economic growth and the share of renewable energy out of total energy consumption on CO2 emissions. The study was based on the classical environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and enriched with the spatial dependencies. In particular, we determined the spatial spillovers in the form of the indirect effects of changes in renewable energy consumption of a specific country on the CO2 emissions of neighboring countries. A nei... [more]

Entrepreneurs have long been convinced about the power and possibilities of the Internet. Nowadays, the Internet is an integral tool for the functioning of a company, not only as an alternative distribution channel, but also as a channel of information and communication flow, a means of interaction with the environment. The increasing use of the Internet, and especially of social media, made it possible to escalate the activity of various social groups in various areas of the company’s activity, including innovation, leading to the development of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing has redefined the existing production rules and ways of using labor resources. Its potential lies in openness, partnership, resource sharing and global action. There are already many studies on crowdsourcing and innovation, but little attention is paid to the relationship between crowdsourcing and the determinants of innovation activity. Thus, the aim of this research is examining whether the use of crowdsourcing w... [more]

Chlorine demand as a disinfectant for water utility impacts on unintended energy consumption from electrolysis manufacture; thus, diminishing the chlorine consumption also reduces the environmental impact and energy consumption. Problems of disinfectant distribution and uniformity in Water Distribution Networks (WDN) are associated with the exponential urban growth and the physical and biochemical difficulties within the network. This study optimizes Chlorine Booster Stations (CBS) location on a network with two main objectives; (1) to deliver minimal Free Residual Chlorine (FRC) throughout all demand nodes according to country regulations, and (2) to reduce day chlorine mass concentration supplied in the system by applying an hour time pattern in CBS, consequently associated economic, energy and environmental impacts complying with regulatory standards. The application is demonstrated on a real-world WDN modeled from Guanajuato, Mexico. The resulting optimal location and disinfectant... [more]