Slow steaming is an operational measure in ocean-going vessels sailing at slow speeds. It can help climate mitigation efforts by cutting down marine fuel consumption and consequently reducing CO2 and other Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG). Due to climate change both the European Union (EU) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are analysing the inclusion of international shipping in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) in the near future or alternatively implementing a carbon tax. The paper proposes a methodology to decide the optimal speed of a vessel taking into account its characteristics and the factors that determine its economic results. The calculated cash flow can be used in valuation models. The methodology is applied for a case study for any container ship in a range from 2000 to 20,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) on a leg of a round trip from Shanghai to Rotterdam. We calculate how speed reduction, CO2 emissions and ship owner’s earnings per year may vary b... [more]

The purpose of this paper is a multidimensional assessment of the diversification of economic development in EU countries in the context of the progress in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development in 2014 and 2019. The issues discussed in this article are topical and important, given that the spatial disparity of economic development in the EU has never been so pronounced as it is today. While there is a wealth of studies on economic development in the literature, research on the comprehensive approach to this problem in the relation of sustainable development appears to be rather scarce. The article emphasizes the role of energy in economic growth. Authors used taxonomic measures. They were constructed on the basis of selected methods of multidimensional comparative analysis. By using the Hellwig method and the TOPSIS method, taxonomic measures were constructed, and linear ordering of the EU countries was carried out. In addition, using the so-called threshold meth... [more]

The recycling of waste products is an important way to achieve global sustainable development. To analyze the impact of different objects of government subsidies on single-channel recycling based on recycling propaganda, four theory game models of single-channel recycling based on government subsidies and recycling propaganda are established. By comparing and analyzing the effects of different subsidies and propaganda strategies on the recycling of waste products in the four models, this article mainly draws the following conclusions: the government selecting different objects to subsidize has the same effect on the unit recycling price, quantity, and revenue of waste products; when the government subsidizes the processors, the consigned recycling price of waste products will increase, but when the government subsidizes recyclers, it will decrease; when the propagandist is determined, the optimal value of propaganda is related to the sensitivity of residents to the unit recycling price... [more]

The exploitations of deep-water wells often use directional well drilling to reach the target layer. Affected by special environments in deep water, the prediction of pressure loss of cement slurry is particularly important. This paper presents a prediction model of pressure loss suitable for deep-water directional wells. This model takes the complex interaction between the temperature, pressure and hydration kinetics of cement slurry into account. Based on the initial and boundary conditions, the finite difference method is used to discretize and calculate the model to ensure the stability and convergence of the result calculated by this model. Finally, the calculation equation of the model is used to predict the transient temperature and pressure loss of Wells X1 and X2, and a comparison is made between the predicted value and the monitoring data. The comparison results show that the maximum error between the temperature and pressure predicted by the model and the field measured valu... [more]

The photovoltaic cell surface in linear hybrid concentrated solar collectors receives non-uniform radiative flux, causing additional thermal stress due to hot spots and reducing its electrical performance and durability. The current study proposes a parametric methodology to determine the optimal receiver displacement required in a linear Cassegrain-type hybrid solar collector. The aim was to achieve a minimal non-uniformity distribution and a high radiative flux over the photovoltaic cells, considering optical errors close to real environment conditions and analyzing the heat transfer to determine the electrical and thermal efficiencies. The developed methodology was applied to analyze a case study with a receiver width of 0.125 m and rim angle of 80° and using a commercial silicon photovoltaic cell that supports up to 7000 W/m2. After applying the methodology, a hybrid solar collector with a concentration ratio of 13.0 and receiver displacement of 0.14 m is recommended. As a result,... [more]

The world is currently witnessing a rapid increase in sewage sludge (SS) production, due to the increased demand for wastewater treatment. Therefore, SS management is crucial for the economic and environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants. The recovery of nutrients from SS has been identified as a fundamental step to enable the transition from a linear to a circular economy, turning SS into an economic and sustainable source of materials. SS is often treated via anaerobic digestion, to pursue energy recovery via biogas generation. Anaerobically digested sewage sludge (ADS) is a valuable source of organic matter and nutrients, and significant advances have been made in recent years in methods and technologies for nutrient recovery from ADS. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview, describing the advantages and drawbacks of the available and emerging technologies for recovery of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) from ADS. This work... [more]

The increasingly frequent use of electric drives is a new direction of development in personal transport. Sometimes these drives take over the work of human muscles, and sometimes they only support them. This is particularly evident in means of transport such as bicycles and scooters, but also in transporting people with disabilities. This study questions whether this is the only right development direction, and explores the possibility of developing means of transport for the more effective use of human muscles by proposing new structural solutions. We identified that such an action favors the minimization of the environmental load generated by technical facilities and, at the same time, may be a response to social needs resulting from the principles of sustainable development. This paper presents the operation principle of the innovative Wheelchair Cam-thread Drive (WCD), followed by field tests, laboratory measurements and biomechanical analyses of the WCD, comparing it with a typic... [more]

The by-product gases from the blast furnace and converter of an integrated steelworks highly contribute to today’s global CO2 emissions. Therefore, the steel industry is working on solutions to utilise these gases as a carbon source for product synthesis in order to reduce the amount of CO2 that is released into the environment. One possibility is the conversion of CO2 and CO to synthetic natural gas through methanation. This process is currently extensively researched, as the synthetic natural gas can be directly utilised in the integrated steelworks again, substituting for natural gas. This work addresses the in situ methanation of real steelworks gases in a lab-scaled, three-stage reactor setup, whereby the by-product gases are directly bottled at an integrated steel plant during normal operation, and are not further treated, i.e., by a CO2 separation step. Therefore, high shares of nitrogen are present in the feed gas for the methanation. Furthermore, due to the catalyst poisons pr... [more]

People are the main reason for the deterioration of indoor air quality (IAQ) due to the continuous physiological metabolism processes in their bodies, including respiration. We present results from an investigation of the influence of indoor air temperature on the concentration of exhaled carbon dioxide (CO2). The investigation was preconditioned by previous findings on the effect of air temperature on human metabolism. However, our literature survey showed a lack of studies on the influence of the indoor air temperature on the exhaled CO2 (or metabolic CO2), which leads to the novelty of our results. Our experiments had two phases: measurement in a university classroom with an installed heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system during regular classes and measurement in a specially designed small climate chamber, where the time variations of the CO2 concentrations, together with some physiological parameters, were measured. Two indoor air temperatures were set: 23 °C and... [more]

Manufacturing offers substantial opportunities for economic growth after COVID-19, as long as it delivers competitively priced goods while simultaneously reducing pressure on the environment. In this study, we present the methodological feasibility of the joint application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) for assessing eco-efficiency at the sector level. We employ this methodology to assess the environmental profiles of manufacturing in Poland in relation to their gross value added, and subsequently calculate the improvement targets for the eco-inefficient manufacturing industries. The study reveals that only the chemical industry is relatively eco-efficient, whereas the remaining industries have considerable room for improvement due to their very low eco-efficiency, and thus should follow the best practices established by the chemical industry. Although there are always individual paths for manufacturing industries to achieve the decoupling of economi... [more]

In this paper, a lifetime estimation method for underground cable systems is proposed by combining a health index (HI) and conditional factor (CF). The underground cable system consists of underground cable, joint, termination, manhole, and duct bank. The HI is an indicator to indicate the actual condition of underground cable components and systems whereas the CF is used to indicate different operating stresses of the system under different operating conditions such as percentage loading, electrical stresses, laying structure, environment, etc. The actual technical data as well as historical operating and testing records are applied. The weighting and scoring method with the analytical hierarchy process are used to classify an importance of underground cable components, testing methods, and criteria used in the HI and CF calculation. The annual calculated HIs are plotted to investigate the lifetime trending curve by using a polynomial function. The degradation curve based on calculate... [more]

This article consists of the development of a set of methodological provisions concerning the identification of the features of the influence of the business environment on the effectiveness of the implementation of the company’s financial strategy and the development of a system for its adaptation to the conditions of a dynamic external environment. The purpose of this article is to build an economic and mathematical model to identify the main elements of the business environment that affect the company’s strategy, the formation of methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of a financial strategy taking into account such influence. The author’s contribution consists in the development of an effective financial algorithmic strategy of the energy holding, considering the influence of the environmental factors. Hypothesis: the use of mathematical models of the business environment will increase the efficiency of energy holding management in the field of finance and i... [more]

Renewable energy sources (RES) play a key role in achieving the European Union’s energy and climate objectives. As a member of the European Union, Croatia has committed to adopting European Directive 2009/28/EC, a directive on promoting the use of RES. Croatia shows good potential for the use of different types of RES. In the period 2009−2019, the share of renewable energy in energy consumption increased from 23.6 to 28.5 percent. The Croatian energy strategy aims to increase the national share of renewable energy to at least 32 percent by 2030. Acceptance and public support are essential for renewable energy to be introduced into energy policy and particularly to encourage renewable energy implementation in the residential sector. The purpose of the paper is to explore the public perception of renewable energy and citizens’ willingness to pay for the use of RES. Data were collected through a 2021 survey of citizens 18 years and older. The survey results show a low level of implementat... [more]

With increasingly prominent environmental problems, controlling automobile exhaust has become essential to the environment. The fuel consumption of transportation is the critical factor that determines exhaust gas. By analyzing the naturalistic driving data of heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs), this paper explored the influence of engine technical state, road features, weather, and temperature conditions on fuel consumption during driving. The detailed process is as follows: Firstly, we collected 1153 naturalistic driving data from 34 HDDTs and made a specific analysis and summary description of the data; secondly, by establishing a binary Logistic regression model, we quantitatively explored the influence of significant factors on the fuel consumption; meanwhile, based on quantitative analysis of factor’s effectiveness, this research used several machine learning algorithms (back-propagation neural network, decision tree, and random forest) to build fuel consumption predictors, and com... [more]

The Euro 4 regulation, applicable since 2016 for L-category vehicles (i.e., two and three-wheelers, and mini cars) reduced the emission limits, but also introduced a new cycle, the WMTC (World Harmonized Motorcycle Test Cycle). The emission studies of Euro 4 motorcycles are limited, and most importantly there are no published studies comparing the results of different laboratories applying the new cycle. In this study we compared the particle and gaseous pollutants of one Euro 4 motorcycle measured in two laboratories in 2017 and 2020. The gaseous pollutant results had a variance (one standard deviation of the means) of 0.5% for CO2, 4−19% for CO, NOx, HC (hydrocarbons) and SPN (Solid Particle Number). The particulate matter mass results had higher variance of 50−60%. Additional tests with open configuration to mimic dilution at the tailpipe gave equivalent results to the closed configuration for the gaseous pollutants and SPN. The total particles (including volatiles) had significant... [more]

Face and neck cooling has been found effective in improving thermal comfort during exercise in the heat despite the fact that the surface area of human face and neck regions accounts for only 5.5% of the entire body. Presently very little documented research has been conducted to investigate cooling the face and neck only to improve indoor thermal comfort. In this study, two highly energy efficient wearable face and neck cooling fans were used to improve occupant thermal comfort in two warm indoor conditions (30 and 32 °C). Local skin temperatures and perceptual responses while using the two wearable cooling fans were examined and compared. Results showed that both cooling fans could significantly reduce local skin temperatures at the forehead, face and neck regions by up to 2.1 °C. Local thermal sensation votes at the face and neck were decreased by 0.82−1.21 scale unit at the two studied temperatures. Overall TSVs decreased by 1.03−1.14 and 1.34−1.66 scale units at 30 and 32 °C tempe... [more]

The circular economy represents a fundamental pillar for modern business models and sustainable development targets: the mandatory claim “reduce, reuse, recycle” is the answer to the global criticalities of natural resources depletion and waste increase [...]

Investors increasingly need to account for concerns about non-financial performance and to consider the environmental impact of fossil fuel investment. We analyze how financial investors appreciate induced seismicity in oil and gas fields in the US and the Netherlands. We employ an event study to investigate the stock market reaction of investors in two fossil fuel majors, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. We establish that stock market participants’ response is positively but weakly related to induced seismicity with ExxonMobil. This suggests that markets might interpret this seismicity as a signal of future productivity. With Royal Dutch Shell, there is no significant association, suggesting that their investors do not specifically appreciate its externalities. We conclude that the externality of induced seismicity goes unpriced.

Strategic selection of glazing, its window-to-wall ratio, and wall thickness of building reduce the energy consumption in the built environment. This paper presents the experimental results of solar optical properties of five glasses: clear, tinted bronze, tinted green, bronze reflective, and polymer dispersed liquid crystal glasses. Laterite room models were modeled with four different thicknesses and four different glasses using Design Builder, and thermal simulation tests were carried out using Energy Plus. The energy savings and carbon emission mitigation prospective of a building’s glazing variety, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), and wall thickness were investigated. The results revealed that among the five window glasses studied, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal glazing window (PDLCGW) was found to be the most energy-efficient for low heat gain in laterite rooms. The laterite room with 0.23 m wall thickness and 40% PDLCGW WWR reduced 18.9% heat gain in comparison with the laterit... [more]

With the requirement of reduced carbon emissions and air pollution, it has become much more important to monitor the oil quality used in heavy-duty vehicles, which have more than 2/3 transportation emissions. Some gas stations may provide unqualified fuel, resulting in uncontrollable emissions, which is a big challenge for environmental protection. Based on this focus, a gas station recognition method is proposed in this paper. Combining the CART algorithm with the DBSCAN clustering algorithm, the locations of gas stations were detected and recognized. Then, the oil quality analysis of these gas stations could be effectively evaluated from oil stability and vehicle emissions. Massive real-world data operating in Tangshan, China, collected from the Heavy-duty Vehicle Remote Emission Service and Management Platform, were used to verify the accuracy and robustness of the proposed model. The results illustrated that the proposed model can not only accurately detect both the time and locati... [more]

One of the most important elements during photogrammetric studies is the appropriate lighting of the object or area under investigation. Nevertheless, the concept of “adequate lighting” is relative. Therefore, we have attempted, based on experimental proof of concept (technology readiness level—TRL3), to verify the impact of various types of lighting emitted by LED light sources for scene illumination and their direct influence on the quality of the photogrammetric study of a 3D urban mock-up. An important issue in this study was the measurement and evaluation of the artificial light sources used, based on illuminance (E), correlated colour temperature (CCT), colour rendering index (CRI) and Spectral power distribution (SPD) and the evaluation of the obtained point clouds (seven photogrammetric products of the same object, developed for seven different lighting conditions). The general values of the quality of the photogrammetric studies were compared. Additionally, we determined seven... [more]

Practitioners of economic geography recognize innovation as the key factor in sustainable economic development and urging a city to evolve. Urban development evolves from manufacturing-based development to knowledge-based development. Identifying the future benefits of urban development is a research issue. This work analyzes development performance based on quantitative indices of critical knowledge and innovation that enhance economic growth and influence society and competitiveness. The research further identifies the possibility of knowledge dissemination and innovation. This work investigates the key factors encouraging the development of a knowledge-based city for Helsinki, Melbourne, and Hsinchu in terms of economy, society, environment, and management, and observes that the progressive and positive circular stimulation for a city requires not only the cultivation of human capital, but also the construction of social environment and internal relations to form a high-density know... [more]

This work has developed and evaluated a microemulsion-based drilling fluid formulation with characteristics to be applied in oil wells. The microemulsion was formulated with a solution of water/glycerol, pine oil, and Tween 80, a nonionic and biodegradable surfactant. The physical and chemical properties of the drilling fluid obtained in this work were investigated through rheology and filtration analysis, solids content, aging, lubricity, toxicity, and thermal degradation. A non-toxic microemulsion-based drilling fluid oil-in-water (O/W) with high lubricity (0.07638) and thermal stability was obtained with suitable viscosity, gel strength and low fluid loss (4.0 mL), low solids content (6%), stability in a wide range of salinity conditions, and the possibility of high water content (above 85% in mass fraction). The fluid presented a pseudoplastic behavior, and statistically significant Herschel−Bulkley parameters were obtained.

The development of the economy is related not only to its benefits, but also its negative aspects. One of the negative impacts is the impact on the environment and society. Many types of industry and, in a narrower sense, of enterprises, adversely affect their surroundings. It is one of the many factors that has contributed to the growing popularity of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is important to balance business and industry with the environment and community impacts. This study presents selected aspects of corporate social responsibility, such as society, the environment, and corporate governance in relation to the industry responsible for energy production and distribution. This group includes the energy sector (mining oil, gas, consumer fuels, and energy equipment and services), the materials sector (metallurgy and mining), as well as distribution (gas, electricity supply, independent energy producers, and renewable energy). The aim of the article was to... [more]

Energy and the environment are interrelated, and they are critical factors that influence the development of societies [...]