• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• Closed Access close
• Restricted close
• Open Source close
• Embargo close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• CH close
• FI close

Involvement of stakeholders in sustainable tourism, particularly in developing countries, is crucial for the success of tourism development. However, its implementation is often criticized for not considering stakeholders’ needs. This study explores tourists’ preferences for tourism activities, designed by local stakeholders, in one of the oldest conserved parks in East Africa—the Menagesha Suba Forest, in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia. The study area is endowed with natural, cultural and historical, yet undeveloped, tourist attractions. The host community benefits little from tourism and is in continual conflict with the park administration. This study aims to provide new insights on potential engagement of stakeholders in sustainable tourism planning. In particular, we explored tourists’ preferences for activities designed by local stakeholders, as well as their preferences concerning the improvement of the park infrastructure. The local community has been engaged in group discussions to design community involvement activities in tourism, while park guest books have been consulted to identify infrastructure improvements suggested by tourists. A survey that embedded a discrete choice experiment was conducted among tourists that visited the Menagesha Suba Forest. Data were analyzed with mixed logit and latent class models. We identified preferences for infrastructure improvement in the park. Tourists’ preferences are heterogeneous and vary with their profile as foreigners, foreign residents, and locals. Furthermore, the study indicates that there is a mismatch between tourists’ preferences and activities designed by the host community for their engagement in tourism. Tourists might be unaware of the importance of such activities for local communities. On the other hand, the findings also imply that increasing host residents’ awareness of tourism and tourists’ preferences is required, prior to tourism activities planning. Hence, sustainable tourism planning and development needs to understand perception gaps between host residents and tourists for its smooth implementation.

Delivering infrastructure, resilient to multiple natural hazards and climate change, is fundamental to continued economic prosperity and social coherence. This is a strategic priority of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), public policies and global initiatives. The operability and functionality of critical infrastructure are continuously challenged by multiple stressors, increasing demands and ageing, whilst their interconnectedness and dependencies pose additional challenges. Emerging and disruptive digital technologies have the potential to enhance climate resilience of critical infrastructure, by providing rapid and accurate assessment of asset condition and support decision-making and adaptation. In this pursuit, it is imperative to adopt multidisciplinary roadmaps and deploy computational, communication and other digital technologies, tools and monitoring systems. Nevertheless, the potential of these emerging technologies remains largely unexploited, as there is a lack of consensus, integrated approaches and legislation in support of their use. In this perspective paper, we discuss the main challenges and enablers of climate-resilient infrastructure and we identify how available roadmaps, tools and emerging digital technologies, e.g. Internet of Things, digital twins, point clouds, Artificial Intelligence, Building Information Modelling, can be placed at the service of a safer world. We show how digital technologies will lead to infrastructure of enhanced resilience, by delivering efficient and reliable decision-making, in a proactive and/or reactive manner, prior, during and after hazard occurrences. In this respect, we discuss how emerging technologies significantly reduce the uncertainties in all phases of infrastructure resilience evaluations. Thus, building climate-resilient infrastructure, aided by digital technologies, will underpin critical activities globally, contribute to Net Zero target and hence safeguard our societies and economies. To achieve this we set an agenda, which is aligned with the relevant SDGs and highlights the urgent need to deliver holistic and inclusive standards and legislation, supported by coordinated alliances, to fully utilise emerging digital technologies.

Abstract In many European countries the production of combined heat and power based on renewable energies is well established though the efficient and economical operation of such plants remains a challenging task. This also applies to the existing district heating network at Baden-Dattwil (Switzerland) where a conventional gas boiler is substituted by a wood-fired boiler comprising an Organic Rankine Cycle. An overall control strategy that allows fully exploring governmental incentives is therefore of paramount importance. In addition, the highly fluctuating heat demands combined with the thermal inertia of the different plant components impose demanding requirements to the control system to guarantee a stable as well as highly efficient operation. The overall control concept is successfully tested and verified by means of dynamic simulations of the overall plant with a simplified model for the district heating network. The models are implemented using the object oriented modeling language Modelica. The overall model is based on open source Modelica libraries such as ThermoCycle, Modelica Standard Library and StateGraph2 as well as on own Modelica models. The overall model is prepared to be coupled to the real plant control system which will allow virtual commissioning in the next step. This allows pre-tuning of control parameters as well as a weakness analysis which again helps to speed up the commissioning process. In General, the dynamic simulations proved to be a useful tool that deepened the insight and understanding of the plant operation at an early project phase and therefore greatly supported the making of design decisions. After commissioning, the calibrated simulation models will be used for monitoring purposes.

Anaerobic co-digestion of a mixture of industrial animal by-products (ABP) from meat-processing in conjunction with dairy cattle slurry (mixed in a ratio of 1:3; w.w.) was evaluated at 35 °C focusing on methane production and stabilization. Three pre-treatments were applied (1) digestion with no pre-treatment (control), (2) ultrasound, and (3) thermal hygienization (70 °C, 60 min). Methane production potentials (MPP) of the untreated, ultrasound pre-treated and hygienized feed mixtures were 300, 340, and 360 m(3) CH(4)/t volatile solids (VS) added, as determined in the batch experiments. However, the specific methane productions (SMP) achieved in reactor experiments (hydraulic retention time HRT 21 d, organic loading rate OLR 3.0±0.1 kg VS/m(3) d) were 11±2% (untreated and ultrasound pre-treated) and 22±3% (hygienized) lower than the potentials. Ultrasound with the energy input of 1000 kJ/kg total solids (TS) and hygienization of the ready-made feed were the most suitable pre-treatment modes studied.

For the Swedish boreal and hemiboreal zone we projected forest dynamics, management and ES levels for all the combinations of four scenarios implementing different CCMS (Current Policy, Bioenergy, Bioeconomy and Set-aside scenario) and three climate scenarios (Constant Climate, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). We projected the levels of ES on 29,892 plots of the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI), which represent all productive forest in Sweden (the 23 million ha producing ≥1 m3 of wood ha-1 yr-1, corresponding to 1.4% of the global boreal biome), including production and protected land (Fridman et al., 2014). The projections were initialized with observed levels for wood ES and the model-predicted levels for non-wood ES based on data from 2008-2012 (‘2010’ henceforth). Projections were made for the period 2010 to 2100; results were analyzed from 2020, the year of the first GHG mitigation target of the Current Policy scenario. Forest dynamics and management were projected with the Heureka system (http://www.slu.se/en/sha, Wikström et al., 2011). The Heureka core contains a set of empirical growth and yield models that simulate the development of the tree layer in five-year time steps, including models for stand establishment, diameter and height growth, ingrowth, and mortality. Climate change modifies tree growth based on the process-based vegetation model BIOMASS, indirectly implemented as an approximation model. Decomposition is modeled by the dynamic soil carbon Q-model, a cohort-based decomposition model that follows the mass loss of litter over time for different litter compartments. The Heureka application PlanWise allows for determining the optimal combination of management strategies that meet user-defined objectives and constraints. For each NFI plot and time step, a large number of management activities (such as thinning and clear felling) are simulated, that in sequence constitute different treatment schedules. In a harvest scheduling model (Johnson & Scheurman, 1977) the optimal treatment schedule for each plot is selected based on an objective function and possible constraints using a built-in optimization tool based on the ZIMPL optimization modeling language. References Fridman, J., Holm, S., Nilsson, M., Nilsson, P., Hedström Ringvall, A., & Ståhl, G. (2014). Adapting national forest inventories to changing requirements-the case of the Swedish national forest inventory at the turn of the 20th century. Silva Fennica, 48, 1095. Johnson, K.N., Scheurman, H.L. (1977). Techniques for prescribing optimal timber harvest and investment under different objectives-discussion and synthesis. Forest Science, 18, 1–30. Wikström, P., Edenius, L., Elfving, B., Eriksson, L. O., Lämås, T., Sonesson, J., Öhman, K., Wallerman, J., Waller, C., & Klintebäck, F. (2011). The Heureka forestry decision support system : an overview. http://mcfns.net/index.php/Journal/article/view/MCFNS.3-87 To reach the Paris Agreement, societies need to increase the global terrestrial carbon sink. There are many climate change mitigation solutions (CCMS) for forests, including increasing bioenergy, bioeconomy and protection. Bioenergy and bioeconomy solutions use climate-smart, intensive management to generate high quantities of bioenergy and bioproducts. Protection of (semi-)natural forests is a major component of ‘natural climate solution’ (NCS) since forests store carbon in standing biomass and soil. Furthermore, protected forests provide more habitat for biodiversity and non-wood ecosystem services (ES). We investigated the impacts of different CCMS and climate scenarios, jointly or in isolation, on future wood ES, non-wood ES, and regulating ES for a major wood provider for the international market. Specifically, we projected future ES given by three CCMS scenarios for Sweden 2020-2100. In the long term, fulfilling the increasing wood demand through bioenergy and bioeconomy solutions will decrease ES multifunctionality, but the increased stand age and wood stocks induced by rising greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations will partially offset these negative effects. Adopting bioenergy and bioeconomy solutions will have a greater negative impact on ES supply than adopting NCS. Bioenergy or bioeconomy solutions, as well as increasing GHG emissions, will reduce synergies and increase trade-offs in ES. NCS, by contrast, increases the supply of multiple ES in synergy, even transforming current ES trade-offs into future synergies. Moreover, NCS can be considered an adaptation measure to offset negative climate change effects on the future supplies of non-wood ES. In boreal countries around the world, forestry strategies that integrate NCS more deeply are crucial to ensure a synergistic supply of multiple ES. R programming language for statistical computing (R Core Team, 2019) or a text editor. R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.Rproject.org/

AbstractBiomass is often referred to as a carbon–neutral energy source, and it has a role in reducing fossil fuel depletion. In addition, biomass can be converted efficiently into various forms of biofuels. The biomass conversion processes involve several thermochemical, biochemical, and hydrothermal methods for biomass treatment integration. The most common conversion routes to produce biofuels include pyrolysis and gasification processes. On the other hand, supercritical water gasification (SCWG) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) are best suitable for converting biomass and waste with high moisture content. Despite promising efficiencies, SCWG and HTL processes introduce operational issues as obstacles to the industrialization of these technologies. The issues include process safety aspects due to operation conditions, plugging due to solid deposition, corrosion, pumpability of feedstock, catalyst sintering and deactivation, and high production costs. The methods to address these issues include various reactor configurations to avoid plugging and optimizing process conditions to minimize other issues. However, there are only a few studies investigating the operational issues as the main scope, and reviews are seldomly available in this regard. Therefore, further research is required to address operational problems. This study reviews the main operational problems in SCWG and HTL. The objective of this study is to enhance the industrialization of these processes by investigating the operational issues and the potential solutions, i.e., contributing to the elimination of the obstacles. A comprehensive study on the operational issues provides a holistic overview of the biomass conversion technologies and biorefinery concepts to promote the industrialization of SCWG and HTL.

Freshwater biodiversity loss is accelerating globally, but humanity can change this trajectory through actions that enable recovery. To be successful, these actions require coordination and planning at a global scale. The Emergency Recovery Plan for global freshwater biodiversity aims to reduce the risk for freshwater biodiversity loss through six priority actions: (1) accelerate implementation of environmental flows; (2) improve water quality to sustain aquatic life; (3) protect and restore critical habitats; (4) manage exploitation of freshwater species and riverine aggregates; (5) prevent and control nonnative species invasions in freshwater habitats; and (6) safeguard and restore freshwater connectivity. These actions can be implemented using future-proofing approaches that anticipate future risks (e.g., emerging pollutants, new invaders, and synergistic effects) and minimize likely stressors to make conservation of freshwater biodiversity more resilient to climate change and other global environmental challenges. While uncertainty with respect to past observations is not a new concern for freshwater biodiversity, future-proofing has the distinction of accounting for the uncertainty of future conditions that have no historical baseline. The level of uncertainty with respect to future conditions is unprecedented. Future-proofing of the Emergency Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity will require anticipating future changes and developing and implementing actions to address those future changes. Here, we showcase future-proofing approaches likely to be successful using local case studies and examples. Ensuring that response options within the Emergency Recovery Plan are future-proofed will provide decision makers with science-informed choices, even in the face of uncertain and potentially new future conditions. We are at an inflection point for global freshwater biodiversity loss; learning from defeats and successes can support improved actions toward a sustainable future.

The subjects of the transport space are developing new tasks, which are due to the accelerated introduction of digital technologies in the economic and social spheres. The article is devoted to the consideration of issues related to the need for digitalization of port equipment and seaports in general. The main advantages and disadvantages of digital transformation are highlighted. Also, the article contains examples of the use of digital technologies in Russian and foreign seaports. Conclusion is made about the need to improve the efficiency of seaports through digital transformation and interaction of subjects within the new digital space.