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With the fast growth of the global economy, energy supply and demand have a strong impact on social, economic, and environmental aspects. As a consequence, this has pushed the decision-makers to formulate objectives, guiding economic policies toward sustainable goals. The process is known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been proposed by the United Nations. This being said, the energy sector is a vital domain with a vast potential for improvments in terms of technologies and ligistalations. Solar energy is among the most efficient solutions proposed to reduce the economic and environmental footprints of energy. In this frame, the current paper aims to localize solar energy within SDGs and analyze the contribution of the solar energy towards the achievement of the SDGs. Moreover, the current work highlights the contributions of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates to achieving the SDGs. Indeed, the MBR Solar Park concept offers valuable insights of environmental impacts by deploying clean and affordable energy sources in place of conventional fossil fuel power plants that are still heavily used in the region. The MBR Solar Park operation has already mitigated 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and this number will likely rise when all phases are installed and operational. Moreover, it has been shown that MBR Solar Park achieve several SDGs such SDG 8: decent work and economic growth, SDG 9: industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 15: life on land.

Yes ; Utilizing seawater and sea-sand for producing ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) can substantially reduce raw materials costs and alleviate the current freshwater and river sand resources shortage in coastal and marine areas. However, the corrosion risk to reinforcing fibers inside UHPC caused by chlorides in seawater and sea-sand cannot be ignored. In this study, a new type of sustainable UHPC composed of seawater and desalinated sea-sand (UHPSSC) reinforced with stainless profile, super-fine stainless wire (SSW) was developed. Its mechanical properties and chloride content were studied. The research results show that SSWs do not rust after immersion in seawater. The flexural and compressive strengths of UHPSSC incorporating 1.5% SSWs are 13.8MPa and 138.6MPa, respectively, and the flexural toughness of UHPSSC is increased by 428.9%, reaching the basic mechanical requirements of UHPC. The high specific surface area of SSW and enrichment of silica fume on its surface enhance the interfacial bond between fiber and matrix, further promoting the full play of the SSWs’ reinforcing mechanisms as proved by the decrease of the Ca/Si ratio at the SSW surface. The C-S-H gels with a high Ca/Si ratio within the ITZ as well as Friedel’s salt are conducive to immobilize chlorides, blocking the migration of chlorides through the matrix and further mitigating the risk of long-term chloride corrosion of SSWs. Overall, utilizing seawater and desalinated sea-sand in combination with SSWs can produce UHPC with improved strength and toughness, making it a suitable choice for applications where high durability and long-term mechanical performance is required.

AbstractChina is under pressure to improve its agricultural productivity to keep up with the demands of a growing population with increasingly resource‐intensive diets. This productivity improvement must occur against a backdrop of carbon intensity reduction targets, and a highly fragmented, nutrient‐inefficient farming system. Moreover, the Chinese government increasingly recognizes the need to rationalize the management of the 800 million tonnes of agricultural crop straw that China produces each year, up to 40% of which is burned in‐field as a waste. Biochar produced from these residues and applied to land could contribute to China's agricultural productivity, resource use efficiency and carbon reduction goals. However competing uses for China's straw residues are rapidly emerging, particularly from bioenergy generation. Therefore it is important to understand the relative economic viability and carbon abatement potential of directing agricultural residues to biochar rather than bioenergy. Using cost‐benefit analysis (CBA) and life‐cycle analysis (LCA), this paper therefore compares the economic viability and carbon abatement potential of biochar production via pyrolysis, with that of bioenergy production via briquetting and gasification. Straw reincorporation and in‐field straw burning are used as baseline scenarios. We find that briquetting straw for heat energy is the most cost‐effective carbon abatement technology, requiring a subsidy of $7 MgCO2e−1 abated. However China's current bioelectricity subsidy scheme makes gasification (NPV $12.6 million) more financially attractive for investors than both briquetting (NPV $7.34 million), and pyrolysis ($−1.84 million). The direct carbon abatement potential of pyrolysis (1.06 MgCO2e per odt straw) is also lower than that of briquetting (1.35 MgCO2e per odt straw) and gasification (1.16 MgCO2e per odt straw). However indirect carbon abatement processes arising from biochar application could significantly improve the carbon abatement potential of the pyrolysis scenario. Likewise, increasing the agronomic value of biochar is essential for the pyrolysis scenario to compete as an economically viable, cost‐effective mitigation technology.

A key determinant and outcome of successful environmental education is ‘pro-environmental behavior’, i.e., behavior that involves conscious action to mitigate adverse environmental impacts at personal or community level, e.g., reducing resource consumption and waste generation, avoiding toxic substances, and organizing community awareness initiatives. However, some theorists have sought to move away from rationalist models of behavioral modification, towards holistic pedagogical initiatives that seek to develop action competence. In light of the global push towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging evidence suggests that education initiatives should foster action competence so students may be equipped to contribute to sustainable development as part of their education. The UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Roadmap 2030 has also identified key priority areas to strengthen ESD in formal curricula. This article reports two informal environmental education initiatives for promoting action competence and pro-environmental behaviors in school-aged children. The authors recommend that formal education settings (e.g., schools) should incorporate self-directed, free-choice project-based learning to augment environmental education programs and promote students’ action competence for contribution to attainment of SDGs. To this end, we propose a Free-Choice Project-based Learning for Action Competence in Sustainable Development (ACiSD) Curriculum, comprising six implementation dimensions, namely: (1) project duration and teaming arrangements, (2) topic selection, (3) student support, (4) teacher support, (5) learning environments, and (6) digital access and equity. For each implementation dimension, we recommend action steps to help educators implement this curriculum in their own educational settings, with the aid of an illustrative worked example.

Abstract Conversion of carbon contained in the solid residues (tars + biochar) derived from urban biomass gasification named herein TC would allow enhancing the yield of carbon species (CO/CO2) in synthetic gas. For this purpose, three low cost materials have been tested as possible catalysts: iron species (reduced Fe), bone meal (BM), and ashes (ash) recovered from biochar complete oxidation. The parametric study used the following as variables: air GHSV, onset of reaction temperature, reaction time to optimize CO/CO2 molar ratio and tar content in the produced gas. Results showed an autocatalytic effect of biochar leading to the catalytic conversion of approximately 78% of tars by the native metals contained in TC. The catalytic effect was further enhanced by adding Fe, BM, and extra ash. Addition of Fe catalyst resulted in significant heat generation (temperature increase of ca. 500 °C) and a twofold decrease in reaction time to consume all the carbon. Use of ash and BM as catalysts exhibit heat generation comparable to Fe, along with an improved reaction time, complete tars conversion and a CO/CO2 molar ratio to above 1.3 in the produced gas.

The basins of the Indus and Ganges rivers cover 2.20 million km2 and are inhabited by more than a billion people. The region is under extreme pressures of population and poverty, unregulated utilization of the resources and low levels of productivity. The needs are: (1) development policies that are regionally differentiated to ensure resource sustainability and high productivity; (2) immediate development and implementation of policies for sound groundwater management and energy use; (3) improvement of the fragile food security and to broaden its base; and (4) policy changes to address land fragmentation and improved infrastructure. Meeting these needs will help to improve productivity, reduce rural poverty and improve overall human development.

Abstract Urban planners, local authorities, and energy policymakers often develop strategic sustainable energy plans for the urban building stock in order to minimize overall energy consumption and emissions. Planning at such scales could be informed by building stock modeling using existing building data and Geographic Information System-based mapping. However, implementing these processes involves several issues, namely, data availability, data inconsistency, data scalability, data integration, geocoding, and data privacy. This research addresses the aforementioned information challenges by proposing a generalized integrated methodology that implements bottom-up, data-driven, and spatial modeling approaches for multi-scale Geographic Information System mapping of building energy modeling. This study uses the Irish building stock to map building energy performance at multiple scales. The generalized data-driven methodology uses approximately 650,000 Irish Energy Performance Certificates buildings data to predict more than 2 million buildings’ energy performance. In this case, the approach delivers a prediction accuracy of 88% using deep learning algorithms. These prediction results are then used for spatial modeling at multiple scales from the individual building level to a national level. Furthermore, these maps are coupled with available spatial resources (social, economic, or environmental data) for energy planning, analysis, and support decision-making. The modeling results identify clusters of buildings that have a significant potential for energy savings within any specific region. Geographic Information System-based modeling aids stakeholders in identifying priority areas for implementing energy efficiency measures. Furthermore, the stakeholders could target local communities for retrofit campaigns, which would enhance the implementation of sustainable energy policy decisions.

AbstractCellulose and lignin nanoparticles are high‐value‐added products obtained from lignocellulosic biomasses through several steps of cellulose purification and lignin extraction. These steps drastically reduce the potential feedstock revenue when carried out as stand‐alone methodologies. To increase biomass yields, we describe here a strategy to design a biorefinery focused on producing cellulose and lignin nanoparticles as main products, but also aim to recover and benefit from other biomass components using only water‐based processes. Sequential pressurized liquid extractions and diluted acid and alkaline treatments were carried out to fractionate elephant grass biomass, yielding (for every 100 g of biomass): 30 g of cellulose pulp (converted to 9 g of cellulose nanocrystals and 9 g of cellulose nanofibers); 10 g of lignin (used to produce 8.5 g of stable colloidal lignin nanoparticles by probe‐sonication in water); 7.5 g of extractives (e.g. sterols and phenolics) and 23 g of xylose (converted to 4.1 g of furfural). Alternatively, to allow for the flexible use of the cellulose fraction in the proposed biorefinery, 22 g of glucose could be produced by enzymatic hydrolysis. The results demonstrate that water‐based processes are suitable for a holistic use of biomass, providing a comprehensive set of high‐value‐added co‐products that are renewable and cost‐effective chemical, cosmetic, food, polymer and pharmaceutical solutions.