The Paleogene sandstone reservoir in the Huangtong Sag of the Fushan Depression is one of the most commercially prolific oil accumulations in the Beibuwan Basin, South China Sea. In this study, twenty-seven crude oil samples from four oilfields in the sag were geochemically analyzed and classified into three oil groups. Oils in the Meitai and Hongguang oilfields show similar geochemical characteristics, with relatively abundant C30 4α-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes and low contents of oleanane and C19+20 tricyclic terpanes (TT), and therefore may be derived from the same source kitchen. Oils from the Yong’an oilfield have a greater proportion of oleanane and C19+20 TT compounds. Oils from the Chaoyang oilfield have intermediate contents of these biomarkers and proportionate values of other related parameters. The unimodal distribution pattern of homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions found in all the Paleogene reservoirs indicates a single episode of charging. Combining this under... [more]

In line with globally shared environmental sustainability goals, the shift towards citizen-friendly mobility is changing the way people move through cities and road user behaviour. Building a sustainable road transport requires design knowledge to develop increasingly green road infrastructures and monitoring the environmental impacts from mobile crowdsourced data. In this view, the paper presents an empirically based methodology that integrates the vehicle-specific power (VSP) model and microscopic traffic simulation (AIMSUN) to estimate second-by-second vehicle emissions at urban roundabouts. The distributions of time spent in each VSP mode from instantaneous vehicle trajectory data gathered in the field via smartphone were the starting point of the analysis. The versatility of AIMSUN in calibrating the model parameters to better reflect the field-observed speed-time trajectories and to enhance the estimation accuracy was assessed. The conversion of an existing roundabout within the... [more]

Mobile machinery manufacturers must face and deal with reducing fuel consumption, rising prices, and environmental pollution. The development of methods to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the energy performance of hydraulically actuated systems has become a priority for researchers and OEMs, Original Equipment Manufacturers. In this paper, a new methodology that is based on Key Performance Indicators, KPI, is proposed with different goals: (i) to evaluate the energy performance and the monitoring of its evolution in the different stages of its life cycle (design, commissioning, optimization, retrofit, etc.); (ii) compare the energy levels between machines of different sizes and different brands in a benchmarking process; and (iii) establish a database that is state of the art, which facilitates setting achievable goals or limits for improvement. These KPI values can be deduced simply from the energy balances that were made from the experimental study of various machines ov... [more]

Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is one of the European Union’s key priorities. Yet, the attitude of numerous politicians, of the professional community, and of society in general towards the threat posed by climate change is ambivalent. Arguments are frequently heard about the transition to a low-carbon economy that will be very costly, with increased unemployment, and that in reality climate change may not even be that severe. Added to this, there are human rights and freedoms, and in the case of architects and designers, the right to freedom of creation, to choice of materials, etc. The present article seeks to show that the issue of sustainable architecture and construction is not a whim, but an absolute necessity, and that true freedom lies in recognizing this fact and adapting our actions accordingly. However, even if we have the good intentions to adapt the needed actions, there is still the question of how to react in the right way, without causing myriad unwanted side-effec... [more]

A new, innovative approach in the search for an effective and cheap carbon dioxide sorbent, in line with the circular economy and sustainable development principles, directs the attention of researchers to various types of waste ashes generated as a result of biomass combustion. In addition to the use of environmentally safe materials that have been experimentally identified, and that, in some way, have adjustable sorption capacity, it is also possible to rationally develop a widely applicable, simple, and inexpensive technology based on large amounts of this type of post-industrial waste, which is also an equally important issue for the natural environment (reducing the need for ash storage and accumulation). Even the lower sorption capacity can be successfully compensated for by their common availability and very low cost. Thus, the CO2 adsorption capability of the ashes from the combustion of straw biomass was experimentally investigated with the use of a high-pressure adsorption st... [more]

The article concerns the issue of the existence of non-obvious relationships and of potential correlations between the emission of greenhouse gases and particulate matter (PM), renewable energy and corruption perceptions. Additionally, it analyses the possible impact of these above-mentioned connections on the economic, environmental and social situation in the context of further economic development, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and in relation to European countries. The issue of reducing dirty energy sources and corrupt activities is not only a problem considered at the state level, but it is very closely related to the operation of many private enterprises. The conducted research applied methods of desk research as well as comparative quantitative analyses and used extensive statistical data of most European Union member states as well as the United Kingdom and Norway. The ambiguity of the results obtained in the research does not allow for an explicit verification of the... [more]

Energy security education explores various issues, such as a secure and competitive economy and nuclear safety. In the context of energy transition and sustainable development, it also addresses the world’s reliance on nonrenewable and renewable energy sources. The aim of this study was to identify research trends pertaining to energy security education, paying particular attention to renewable and nonrenewable sources. This was accomplished with the use of mixed-method research in two steps. The first step was a text-mining and content analysis of publications on energy security education published on the Web of Science platform between 2016 and 2021. From 660 publications on energy security education, titles, abstracts, and keywords were extracted and analysed with NVivo software to identify the most frequent concepts on energy sources in publications. The concepts were associated with nonrenewable energy sources (coal, natural gas, uranium, petroleum, and fossil fuels), nuclear powe... [more]

Hydraulic hybrid drivetrains, which are fluid power technologies implemented in automobiles, present a popular alternative to conventional drivetrain architectures due to their high energy savings, flexibility in power transmission, and ease of operation. Hydraulic hybrid drivetrains offer multiple environmental benefits compared to other power transmission technologies. They provide heavy-duty vehicles, e.g., commercial transportation, construction equipment, wagon handling, drilling machines, and military trucks, with the potential to achieve better fuel economy and lower carbon emissions. Despite the preponderance of hydraulic hybrid transmissions, state-of-the-art hydraulic hybrid drivetrains have relatively low efficiencies, around 64% to 81%. This low efficiency is due to the utilization of conventional variable displacement pumps and motors that experience high power losses throughout the drive cycle and thus fail to maintain high operating efficiency at lower volumetric displac... [more]

The article is the first in a series of works presenting the potential and possibilities of using for energy purposes wood waste and wood by-products generated at various stages of production in companies of the wood industry. The management of all wood waste and wood by-products is a pending issue due to the growing importance of the circular economy and broadly understood environmental protection. It is the environmental aspects and the climate targets defined by the EU that are the basis to determine the precise courses of action for the Member States and, as a result, also for companies. The article proves that regardless of the decisions taken by governments of individual countries in terms of broadly understood environmental protection, companies are free to implement pro-environmental solutions as part of their business activity. Due to the broad subject of the management of waste and by-products generated in different units of the wood industry, the possibilities of their use i... [more]

Greenhouse gas emissions need to be drastically reduced to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by climate change, and to lead to a transformation of the European energy system. A model landscape consisting of four final energy consumption sector models with high spatial (NUTS-3) and temporal (hourly) resolution and the multi-energy system model ISAaR is extended and applied to investigate the transformation pathway of the European energy sector in the deep emission mitigation scenario solidEU. The solidEU scenario describes not only the techno-economic but also the socio-political contexts, and it includes the EU27 + UK, Norway, and Switzerland. The scenario analysis shows that volatile renewable energy sources (vRES) dominate the energy system in 2050. In addition, the share of flexible sector coupling technologies increases to balance electricity generation from vRES. Seasonal differences are balanced by hydrogen storage with a seasonal storage profile. The deployment rates of... [more]

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are rapidly increasing all over the world as electromobility is being promoted to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. PEVs locally produce zero emissions and they are more efficient in contrast to internal combustion engine vehicles. On the other hand, the impact of the uncoordinated charging of PEVs is expected to create new challenges for the established distribution grid. This article initially evaluates the impact of uncoordinated charging on the voltage regulation and transformer loading in the city of Heraklion, Greece. Then, a coordinated charging strategy is proposed to deal with the issue of transformer capacity violation by PEVs. Two cases were considered when the transformer overloading from PEV charging was taken into consideration: (a) keeping the transformer below its nominal capacity limit and (b) keeping the transformer below 90% of its nominal capacity limit. This was achieved by distributing the available capacity (nominal capac... [more]

Every sector of the global economy is faced with environmental problems and their resulting consequences to their day-to-day operations. Due to the rising threat of global climate change, the green banking (GB) concept has been given significant attention in recent green finance literature. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to identify the impact of GB practices on banks’ environmental performance and sources of green financing of private commercial banks (PCBs) in Bangladesh. Using a survey method, the primary data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 322 banking employees of PCBs in Bangladesh. In order to identify the key relationships existing between the study variables, structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was employed. The empirical findings indicated that banks’ employees, daily-operations, and policy-related GB practices have significant positive effects on green financing, contrary to banks’ customer-related GB practice, which was not statistical... [more]

Studies on the thermal environment of the electronic radar shelter have been mainly focused on the simulation of the unmanned thermal environment, and there have been few studies on experiments in the thermal environment. Additionally, a comparative study of the experimental results from manned and unmanned shelters has been missing. In this paper, we experimented in thermal environments of manned/unmanned shelter under different air supply conditions. The experiment was divided into cooled, ventilated, and heated trials analyzing three aspects: (1) The average temperature distributions of walls, air inlet points, air outlet points, and surfaces were measured over time under different conditions in an unmanned shelter. The temperature distribution curve was fitted into the function. (2) Based on different working conditions, the temperature distribution experiments were carried out in three different areas for subjects wearing short or long clothing respectively. (3) The wind speed was... [more]

A growing population, technological progress and economic development result in a constant increase in energy demand. Energy is mostly obtained from fossil energy resources such as coal, natural gas, and crude oil. Burning them leads to air pollution with greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, NH3 and N2O) and dust (PM2.5 and PM10). They are recognized as the cause of global warming and air pollution. Wind, water, solar and biomass energy are used to eliminate harmful emissions. The latter may come from special plant crops or from biodegradable waste from farming, animal husbandry, the agrifood industry and households. These wastes are transformed into biogas in biogas plants, the basic ingredient of which is methane. Most often, biogas is burned in a cogeneration process, providing electricity and heat. After purification of admixtures, it can be injected into the high-methane gas network or converted into hydrogen in the steam reforming process. In this way, environmentally harmful waste become... [more]

A variable refrigerant flow integrated stratum ventilation (VRF-SV) system was proposed as an energy efficient substitute for conventional central cooling systems for buildings. The novel system provided conditioned air to enclosed spaces with high indoor air quality and thermal comfort. This study investigated the effects of different types of ASTDs on the performance of the VRF-SV hybrid system. The performance was experimentally evaluated with five air terminal types, including bar grille, double deflection grille, jet slot, perforated and drum louver diffusers. The evaluation was carried out using standard indices: temperature and velocity distribution, airflow pattern, effective draft temperature (EDT), air distribution performance index (ADPI), thermal sensation vote and comfort feedback survey. The results indicated that the ASTD type had a significant impact on airflow pattern. Furthermore, the bar grille diffuser provided the occupants with greater thermal comfort and acceptab... [more]

Digital technologies, especially information and communication technologies, paved the way for social welfare by providing efficient and effective means for services. In the energy sector, advanced metering infrastructures (AMIs) are essential for providing various services through information measurement. In this article, we focus on the deployment of an AMI in multi-dwelling units where automated meter reading (AMR) infrastructures are installed. In particular, we explore whether the AMR should substitute the AMI with few alterations, while ensuring desirable accuracy. To determine the adequacy of technology, information measurement performance, service performance, and implementation cost are used as the indicators. Through a case study using real data recorded in Korea, we quantitatively estimate that AMR-based information measurement can exhibit adequate performance and performance degradation of less than 1% in a service environment utilizing AMI with a low-cost investment. We al... [more]

Many challenges are faced in the process of urban sustainable development, including the continuous growth in energy demand and rapid increase in CO2 and air pollutant emissions. This study focuses on the costs of measures to address these issues and establishes a multi-objective comprehensive assessment model for energy saving, CO2, and pollutant emission (MCEE). Taking Guangzhou as an example, the sustainable development measures are divided into three categories, energy-saving, demand-optimization, and environmental-protection. Five scenarios are set to quantitatively evaluate the costs when these measures are implemented alone or coordinately for the period 2015−2035. Conclusions are as follows: (1) Measures of energy-saving and demand-optimization have the best synergistic effect on energy saving and emission reduction. The synergistic benefits include an 80% and 84% increase in energy savings and CO2 reductions, respectively, and more than 50% increase in pollutant reductions. (2... [more]

The climate crisis is one of the most important problems today. In the process of human building, the use of cement, steel, and other industrial materials in the process of building construction and recycling has brought a huge burden to the natural environment. Earth is one of the oldest building materials, its availability and insulation make it an excellent constructive solution in human history. Among several existing earth construction techniques, rammed earth is one of the most relevant. In this paper, a numerical model of the rammed earth folk house in Mianyang was established, and an experimental device was built to verify it. With the typical meteorological year data of Mianyang in northwest Sichuan, the heat and moisture transfer in rammed earth wall, as well as the indoor thermal and moisture environment were numerically simulated. The results show that the rammed earth wall weakens the temperature fluctuation of the inner surface of the wall and makes the peak temperature o... [more]

Interior decorating coatings (IDCs) are the heat-transfer medium between indoor air and building walls, which mainly form the cooling load and are important in an indoor built environment. To explore the impacts of the precooling process of IDCs on indoor thermal environment of occupants during intermittent air conditioning, this paper investigated the dynamic thermal response of IDCs. Three representative coating materials were integrated to the external insulation wall and internal insulation wall, and their interior surface temperatures were experimentally tested under intermittent air conditioning operation in southern China. Moreover, a heat transfer model was established and verified to analyze the influences of IDC on the thermal response of the interior surface. During the pull-down process, the cold was accumulated in the IDC layer with small thermal diffusivity and could not be transferred into the wall inside, so that the largest temperature reduction was obtained, meaning t... [more]

Managing energy-producing companies as well as managing the entire energy sector in the light of legal and environmental requirements requires a new vision, mission, and strategy. The paper analyses the strategies of energy enterprises. It is not enough now to produce energy and deliver it at appropriate, acceptable prices to consumers; it must be generated with the least negative impact on the environment. To achieve that plan, companies should cut the carbon intensity of their products by 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035, and 100% by 2050, using a baseline of 2016. To compared to 1990 levels, the greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030 should be increased to 55%. Bioenergy will represent 18% of total final energy consumption in 2050. Additionally, this requires the development of a long-term strategy that can force companies to completely reorganize their production or start a new operation and activities. A low-cost strategy or a competition strategy are insufficient, and it is ne... [more]

Solar energy is in high demand due to its environmental benefits and economic potential; however, concerns remain about the total impact it holds. In 2020, for Spain, Castilla-La Mancha was the second autonomous community with the highest photovoltaic energy production. Thus, a systematic review on 15 large-scale PV solar energy projects was carried out to assess the industry impacts, through environmental impact assessment (EIA), within the Autonomous Community of Castilla—La Mancha. An estimation of these impacts from a pre-operational approach is presented, based on primary energy needs and emissions discarded during its life cycle due to the manufacture, operation, and recycling of the photovoltaic modules. Based on both the life cycle assessment (LCA) and EIA, the approaches were compared with the results obtained. The obtained results suggest that determining the actual impacts of power plants in this region could provide justified information for the public administration and te... [more]

Climate change is an important issue that affects energy consumption, causes health problems, such as heat stroke, and requires urgent countermeasures. Serious health problems, including cardiac arrest, often occur in winter in traditional residences in Japan. Cooling-heating energy is required to maintain a healthy thermal environment. Although energy efficiency standards for buildings have been introduced worldwide to reduce energy consumption and various passive energy-saving methods are being investigated, traditional residences still face difficulties in conducting renovations because of various restrictions, such as the conservation of historical or aesthetic values. In this study, these issues and their appropriate countermeasures were investigated for a traditional townhouse in Kyoto, Japan, “Kyo-machiya” (including its new form “Heisei-no-Kyo-machiya”). The potential of reducing heating and cooling loads was examined by conducting numerical analysis considering residents’ life... [more]

Autonomous energy management is becoming a significant mechanism for attaining sustainability in energy management. This resulted in this research paper, which aimed to apply deep reinforcement learning algorithms for an autonomous energy management system of a microgrid. This paper proposed a novel microgrid model that consisted of a combustion set of a household load, renewable energy, an energy storage system, and a generator, which were connected to the main grid. The proposed autonomous energy management system was designed to cooperate with the various flexible sources and loads by defining the priority resources, loads, and electricity prices. The system was implemented by using deep reinforcement learning algorithms that worked effectively in order to control the power storage, solar panels, generator, and main grid. The system model could achieve the optimal performance with near-optimal policies. As a result, this method could save 13.19% in the cost compared to conducting ma... [more]

Green consumption is usually understood in the context of green consumption values and receptivity to green communication. Voluntary simplicity, a related yet distinct construct that relies on ecological responsibility, has not been included in the same framework. This paper bridges this gap and extends the original model to consider green consumption and voluntary simplicity in a unified structure. Based on a study conducted in Romania, it was found that 70% of the variation in buying behavior is explained by a combination of direct and mediated influences. The main takeaway is that any serious attempt to encourage responsible buying has to rely on a reduction in the absolute level of consumer demand. This result has far-reaching implications because the current paradigm of economic growth and prosperity is tributary to consumerism. The question is not how to avoid curtailing consumption and substitute green products for those harming the environment, but rather how to make voluntary... [more]

Pakistan is facing an energy crisis and is also severely affected by climate change. Moreover, Pakistan is not doing well as far as health outcome indicators are concerned. The causal nexus among energy, environment, and health outcomes is well-established in literature. Besides, financial development also grabs the attention of health outcome literature as financial development can play a significant role in improving health outcomes. Thus, this study was conducted to test the causal nexus among energy consumption, environmental degradation, financial development, and health outcomes in the case of Pakistan. This study proxies health outcomes with life expectancy and infant mortality. Time series data have been analyzed through different econometric techniques, such as unit root tests, cointegration techniques, causality techniques, and cointegration regressions. Moreover, this study not just discovers the causal direction among variables but also determines the strength of causality... [more]