• Energy Research
• engineering and technology close
• 13. Climate action close
• 14. Life underwater close
• Transport Research close

Twenty-minute neighbourhoods highlight the importance of well-connected and mixed-used neighbourhoods and communities with proximate access to employment, essential services, public transport, and open spaces. Shorter distances together with re-prioritised public spaces encourage more active transport choices, resulting in public health benefits and reduced environmental pollution. Higher liveability brought about by mixed-use developments enables people to have equitable access to local facilities, amenities, and employment opportunities, promoting vibrancy, social cohesion, and intergenerational connections. The attributes of 20-minute neighbourhoods also combine to create places, that are acknowledged as friendly for all ages, address changing needs across the life course, and provide better support for the ageing population. Furthermore, there are indications that 20-minute neighbourhoods may be more resilient against many of the negative impacts of stringent public health protocols such as those implemented in periods of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, we evaluate and compare planning policies and practices aimed at establishing 20-minute neighbourhoods in Melbourne (Australia) and Scotland (the UK). Using case studies, we discuss similarities and differences involved in using place-based approaches of 20-minute neighbourhoods to address 21st-century challenges in key areas of health and wellbeing, equity, environmental sustainability, and community resilience.

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have immense potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, and for smart grid applications. Although a great deal of research is focused on technological limitations that affect PEV battery performance targets, a major and arguably equal concern is the constraint imposed by the finite availability of elements or resources used in the manufacture of PEV batteries. Availability of resources, such as lithium, for batteries is critical to the future of PEVs and is, therefore, a topic that needs attention. This study addresses the issues related to lithium availability and sustainability, particularly supply and demand related to PEVs and the impact on future PEV growth. In this paper, a detailed review of the research on lithium availability for PEV batteries is presented, key challenges are pinpointed and future impacts on PEV technology are outlined.

The growing number of electric vehicles in recent years is observable in almost all countries. The country’s energy transition should accompany this rise in electromobility if it is currently generated from non-renewable sources. Only electric vehicles powered by renewable energy sources can be considered zero-emission. Therefore, it is essential to conduct interdisciplinary research on the feasibility of combining energy recovery/generation structures and testing the energy consumption of electric vehicles under real driving conditions. This work presents a comprehensive approach for evaluating the energy consumption of a modern public building–electric vehicle system within a specific location. The original methodology developed includes surveys that demonstrate the required mobility range to be provided to occupants of the building under consideration. In the next step, an energy balance was performed for a novel near-zero energy building equipped with a 199.8 kWp photovoltaic installation, the energy from which can be used to charge an electric vehicle. The analysis considered the variation in vehicle energy consumption by season (winter/summer), the actual charging profile of the vehicle, and the parking periods required to achieve the target range for the user.

Purpose. In modern conditions of energy consumption growth and a rapid increase in energy prices the actual problem is the development and implementation of energy efficiency programs and resource-saving conversion in to a source to provide the needs of industry and municipal power. The paper aims to solve the urgent problem of energy saving and efficient use of fuel-energy ones and heat supply system optimization on the basis of Uman National University of Horticulture (UNUH). Methodology. The work investigated the process of heating and hot water supply in the course of 2007-2015 years. Implementation of current problems of energy saving is grounded on the scientific-practical and efficient assurance of fuel and energy usage. At the same time energy-saving technologies are viewed as a priority direction of the energy sector development, reduction of man-induced impact on the environment and as a way of improving the competitiveness of the national economy. Findings. Statistical data acquisition and analyzing of gas flow and outside air temperature for nine years was carried out. On the basis of this analysis, the problem was identified and specific targets for its solutions were set. Originality. Scientific novelty lies in solving the problem of energy saving and efficient use of fuel resources in Ukraine through the use of a systematic approach, the methodology development of efficient use of different fuels and optimization of local heating operation, applying contemporary automation and control systems. Firstly it was in detail analyzed and conducted the comprehensive assessment of various factors influence on energy conservation. It takes into account the human factor, professionalism and responsibility of the operators of boilers and their superiors, as well as the relevant control services. Practical value. For UNUH campus hybrid use of solid fuel and gas boilers was carried out. Decentralization of the university heating system has been conducted through the restoration of 350 individual heating systems in residential buildings, remote departments and campus dormitories. The conclusions propose the list of activities upon the real economy of fuel and energy resources, and measures to overcome the economic and political crisis in the country.

Medium and heavy-duty battery electric trucks (BETs) may play a key role in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from road freight transport. However, technological challenges such as limited range and cargo carrying capacity as well as the required charging time need to be efficiently addressed before the large-scale adoption of BETs. In this study, we apply a geospatial data analysis approach by using a battery electric vehicle potential (BEVPO) model with the datasets of road freight transport surveys for analyzing the potential of large-scale BET adoption in Finland and Switzerland for trucks with gross vehicle weight (GVW) of over 3.5 t. Our results show that trucks with payload capacities up to 30 t have the most potential for electrification by relying on the currently available battery and plug-in charging technology, with 93% (55% tkm) and 89% (84% tkm) trip coverage in Finland and Switzerland, respectively. Electric road systems (ERSs) would be essential for covering 51% trips (41% tkm) of heavy-duty trucks heavier than 30 t in Finland. Furthermore, range-extender technology could improve the trip electrification potential by 3–10 percentage points (4–12 percentage points of tkm).

In light of the increasing number of electric vehicles (EV), disorderly charging in mountainous cities has implications for the stability and efficient utilization of the power grid. It is a roadblock to lowering carbon emissions. EV aggregators are a bridge between EV users and the grid, a platform to achieve energy and information interoperability, and a study of the orderly charging of EVs to reach carbon emission targets. As for the objective function, the EV aggregator considers the probability of EV charging access in mountainous cities, the SOC expectation of EV users, the transformer capacity constraint, the charging start time, and other constraints to maximize revenue. Considering the access probability of charging for users in mountainous cities, the optimized Lagrange relaxation method is used to solve the objective function. The disorderly charging, centralized optimized charging, and decentralized optimized charging modes are investigated using simulation calculations. Their load profiles, economic benefits, and computational efficiency are compared in three ways. Decentralized optimal charging using the Lagrange relaxation method is shown to be 50% more effective and to converge 279% faster than centralized optimal charging.

The European Commission (EC) has set ambitious CO2 emission reduction objectives for the transport sector by 2050. In this context, most decarbonisation scenarios for transport foresee large market penetration of electric vehicles in 2030 and 2050. The emergence of electrified car mobility is, however, uncertain due to various barriers such as battery costs, range anxiety and dependence on battery recharging networks. Those barriers need to be addressed in the 2020–2030 decade, as this is key to achieving electrification at a large scale in the longer term. The paper explores the uncertainties prevailing in the first decade and the mix of policies to overcome the barriers by quantifying a series of sensitivity analysis scenarios of the evolution of the car markets in the EU Member States and the impacts of each barrier individually. The model used is PRIMES-TREMOVE, which has been developed by E3MLab and constitutes a detailed energy-economic model for the transport sector. Based on model results, the paper assesses the market, energy, emission and cost impacts of various CO2 car standards, infrastructure development plans with different geographic coverage and a range of battery cost reductions driven by learning and mass industrial production. The assessment draws on the comparison of 29 sensitivity scenarios for the EU, which show that removing the barriers in the decade 2020–2030 is important for electrification emergence. The results show that difficult policy dilemmas exist between adopting stringent standards and infrastructure of wide coverage to push technology and market development and adverse effects on costs, in case the high cost of batteries persists. However, if the pace of battery cost reductions is fast, a weak policy for standards and infrastructure is not cost-effective and sub-optimal. These policies are shown to have impacts on the competition between pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Drivers that facilitate electrification also favour the uptake of the former technology, the latter being a reasonable choice only in case the barriers persist and obstruct electrification.