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Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) have a substantial biomass production and export potential. The objective of this study is to assess whether the market for biofuels and trade can be profitable enough to realize a supply of biofuels from the CEEC to the European market and to estimate the cost performance of the energy carriers delivered. Five NUTS-2 (Nomenclature d'Unités Territoriales Statistiques) regions with high biomass production potentials in Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic were analysed for biofuel export options. From these regions pellets from willow can be provided to destination areas in Western European countries (WEC) at costs of 105.2–219.8 € t−1. Ethanol can be provided at 11.95–20.89 € per GJ if the biomass conversion is performed at the destination areas in the WEC or at 14.84–17.83 € GJ−1J if the biomass to ethanol conversion takes place (at small scale) at the CEEC region where the biomass is produced. Short sea shipping shows most cost advantages for longer distance international transport compared to inland waterway shipping and railway. Another reason for lower biofuel supply costs are shorter distances between the regions of biomass production and the destination areas. Therefore the Szczecin region in Poland, closely located to the Baltic Sea, shows a better economic performance for long distance trade of biomass production than the selected region in Hungary (‘land-locked’). It is concluded that in future key CEEC regions can supply (pre-treated) biomass and biofuels to the European market at cost levels, which are sound and attractive to current and expected diesel and gasoline prices.

Purpose This paper aims to empirically examine the impact of economic development and energy consumption in Saudi Arabia (the leading OPEC giant and the Arab energy icon country) between 1971 and 2015, whilst incorporating globalization, financial development and capital accumulation. Design/methodology/approach This study uses econometric tools and the analytical framework based on the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Findings The study found that, unlike economic development, globalization and financial development increased energy consumption. Also, capital accumulation created a boost in the country’s energy consumption. Results of variance decomposition indicate that the innovative shocks in globalization and financial development affected energy consumption at the rates of 15.28% and 28.98%, respectively, over 15 years’ period, while shocks in capital accumulation affected energy consumption at a rate of only about 1.24%. In addition, the results of impulse response function show that globalization and economic development were highly responsive to shocks in financial development, and capital accumulation greatly spurred financial development. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study have implication for promoting an efficient and sustainable energy systems that enhance sustainable development based on the accrued benefits of globalization, financial development and capital accumulation. Originality/value Given the increasing level of globalization, financial development and energy consumption, our study uses econometric tools and the analytical framework based on the ARDL model to revisit how energy consumption is influenced by economic development in Saudi Arabia by incorporating other determinants of energy consumption such as globalization, financial development and capital accumulation. The results were validated based on the innovative accounting.

Abstract Scenario-based studies agree that the technical potential for CO2 emissions reduction from the housing stock is large. This paper explores how a market might be developed for the refurbishment activities assumed in these scenarios, taking the existing market for repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) as its starting point. Interviews with 16 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry reveal the interdependence of products, practices and processes in housing renovation activities. Conservative practice as well as innovation can be understood as the outcome of multi-lateral influences on firms from other firms, clients, the material buildings and products in their working lives, and from regulations and regulators. Contractors' openness to innovation is contingent on an informal approach to risk assessment, taking account of cost, time efficiency, client demands, and installer confidence in the reliability of the resulting work. The implications of the research are discussed in relation to the need for new practices and processes on refurbishment projects, raising questions for future research on key questions of quality assurance, performance over time, the application of standards, and vocational training.

Abstract Globally, renewable generation is growing rapidly, and the next few decades are likely to see many consumers adopting new grid-connected technologies such as electric vehicles, photovoltaics and energy management systems. However, these ‘greener’ and smarter’ changes could create significant challenges for power quality, safety and other aspects of grid management. We describe how New Zealand is an ideal research environment for combining smart grid capability with integration of high levels of renewables, as it already has around 80% renewable generation, and advanced metering infrastructure in over 62% of households. Challenges for achieving a greener, smarter grid identified in the GREEN Grid research programme include managing the increased variability in supply, especially from the growing use of wind and solar generation; the potential for power quality and congestion issues from high levels of small scale distributed generation; the need for increased frequency keeping and instantaneous reserves as variability increases; and the relatively low level of consumer engagement in demand response which could ideally assist with variability. In this paper we describe the methodology and approach used in the research programme, and note some initial findings that may help address these issues, including the benefits of geographically distributed wind farms to reduce overall wind variability; the development of a hosting capacity tool for small scale distributed generation; a proposal for new ancillary services to help manage (and cover the costs of) increased variability; and the increased use of hot water cylinders for demand response. As the research programme continues to move forward with developing mechanisms for managing a smart green grid, the findings are likely to have widespread relevance to other nations that are seeking high levels of renewable generation.

The farm household system (FHS) is one of the main entry points for interventions for rural development. To identify appropriate interventions, it is necessary to assess a priori potential impacts of these interventions on the livelihoods and environment of rural households. This study presents an analytical approach to assess concurrently the environmental and economic performance of FHSs. The approach combines qualitative resource flow diagrams for rapidly assessing the organization and resource flows of the FHS with quantitative economic and environmental performance indicators of the household. We apply the approach to three types of mixed crop-livestock FHSs in Northern Ethiopia, i.e., wealthy, medium, and poor FHS. The wealthier FHS diversifies production, recycles nutrients, and makes substantial use of common resources, with the risk of degrading them. Diversification leads to increased labor productivity at the expense of low land productivity. The livelihood strategy of the poor FHS is based on a combination of off- and on-farm activities. Although the medium FHS is fully engaged in farming, the household is not able to produce sufficient food on-farm, but is able to use cash generated from selling products to bridge the food deficit. The low-cost analytical approach uses existing databases and a limited set of indicators to evaluate economic and environmental performance of FHSs. The methodology can be used to assess and evaluate the current performance of different types of FHSs. This information can be used to identify FHS-specific interventions (recommendation domains) aimed at poverty reduction or improved resource use efficiency and to assess environmental effects of these interventions.

The Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation is an organic-rich (black) mudrock that is widely considered to be a potential shale gas reservoir in the southern Sichuan Basin (the Yangtze plate) in Southwest China. A case study is presented to characterise the shale gas reservoir using a workflow to evaluate its characteristics. A typical characterisation of a gas shale reservoir was determined using basset sample analysis (geochemical, petrographical, mineralogical, and petrophysical) through a series of tests. The results show that the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation shale reservoir is characterised by organic geochemistry and mineralogical, petrophysical and gas adsorption. Analysis of the data demonstrates that the reservoir properties of the rock in this region are rich and that the bottom group of the Longmaxi Formation has the greatest potential for gas production due to higher thermal maturity, total organic carbon (TOC) enrichment, better porosity and improved fracture potential. These results will provide a basis for further evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of the Longmaxi Formation shale in the Sichuan Basin and for identifying areas with exploration potential.

The threats of climate change have become fundamental for the humanitarian sector. 305 million people—or every 26th person worldwide—will need humanitarian aid in 2025 comprising a funding requirement of USD 47.4 billion. Inserting climate change-related forecast information to compute sound economic decisions is a cutting-edge consideration for global humanitarian financing institutions, such as the United Nations and the European Union, to cope with the era of climate losses and damages. Thus, we asked an interdisciplinary question: How useful is climate change-related modelling for economic decision-making in humanitarian aid resource allocation? We ran an exploratory literature review on this specific question by taking a snapshot of 41 studies on the Web of Science, assessed to which extent the utility of the modelling for economic decision-making was examined, and ranked them based on their usefulness. The review indicates that there should be more efforts to improve the forecasting ability and the transformation of information from climate modelling fluidly to economic decision-making in the humanitarian sector to be actionable for effective resource allocation. We assessed that more than half (23/41) of our dataset had limited discussion on the utility or mostly challenges of further use for utility documented, the two least valuable ranks. By extension, similar allocation issues will exist in development and climate policy, where we adapt and build resilience before assistance is needed. To curb the problem, research on integrating the different communities is proposed. As part of the Springer Nature Content Sharing Initiative, a publicly shareable full-text access to a view-only version of the paper is available by using the following SharedIt link: https://rdcu.be/d5Vcp

Recently, the international trade of various bioenergy commodities has grown rapidly, yet this growth is also hampered by some barriers. The aim of this paper is to obtain an overview of what market actors currently perceive as major opportunities and barriers for the development of international bioenergy trade. The work focuses on three bioenergy commodities: bioethanol, biodiesel and wood pellets. Data were collected through an internet-based questionnaire. The majority of the 141 respondents had an industrial background. Geographically, two-thirds were from (mainly Western) Europe, with other minor contributions from all other continents. Results show that import tariffs and the implementation of sustainability certification systems are perceived as (potentially) major barriers for the trade of bioethanol and biodiesel, while logistics are seen mainly as an obstacle for wood pellets. Development of technical standards was deemed more as an opportunity than a barrier for all commodities. Most important drivers were high fossil fuel prices and climate change mitigation policies. Concluding, to overcome some of the barriers, specific actions will be required by market parties and policy makers. Import tariffs for biofuels could be reduced or abolished, linked to multinational trade agreements and harmonization (including provisions on technical standards and sustainability requirements).