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As a relatively mature technology, biomass molded fuel (BMF) is widely used in distributed and centralized heating in China and has received considerable government attention. Although many BFM incentive policies have been developed, decreased domestic traditional fuel prices in China have caused BMF to lose its economic viability and new policy recommendations are needed to stimulate this industry. The present study built a regionalized net present value (NPV) model based on real production process simulation to test the impacts of each policy factor. The calculations showed that BMF production costs vary remarkably between regions, with the cost of agricultural briquette fuel (ABF) ranging from 86 US dollar per metric ton (USD/t) to 110 (USD/t), while that of woody pellet fuel (WPF) varies from 122 USD/t to 154 USD/t. The largest part of BMF’s cost composition is feedstock, which accounts for up 50%–60% of the total; accordingly a feedstock subsidy is the most effective policy factor, but in consideration of policy implementation, it would be better to use a production subsidy. For ABF, the optimal product subsidy varies from 26 USD/t to 57 USD/t among different regions of China, while for WPF, the range is 36 USD/t to 75 USD/t. Based on the data, a regional BMF development strategy is also proposed in this study.

The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the knowledge of the role of energy in our society and the relevance of preserving natural resources. In this sense, critical work is being done to instill key concepts—such as the circular economy and sustainable energy—in higher education institutions. In this way, it is expected that future professionals and managers will be aware of the importance of energy optimization, and will learn a series of computational methods that can support the decision-making process. In the context of higher education, this paper reviews the main trends and challenges related to the concepts of circular economy and sustainable energy. Besides, we analyze the role of simulation and serious games as a learning tool for the aforementioned concepts. Finally, the paper provides insights and discusses open research opportunities regarding the use of these computational tools to incorporate circular economy concepts in higher education degrees. Our findings show that, while efforts are being made to include these concepts in current programs, there is still much work to be done, especially from the point of view of university management. In addition, the analysis of the teaching methodologies analyzed shows that, although their implementation has been successful in favoring the active learning of students, their use (especially that of serious games) is not yet widespread.

Coke is an integral component of the blast furnace charge; therefore, it plays an important role in the integrated steelmaking process. Achieving the required coke quality parameters by producers requires the use of a high proportion of the highest quality coking coals (hard coking coals) in the coking blends, which significantly increases the unit production costs. Approximately 75% of these costs are constituted by the cost of the coal blend’s preparation. There is a deficit in the best quality coking coals on the world market and their supply are characterized by large fluctuations in quality parameters. Therefore, from the point of view of the economics of coke production, it is advantageous to produce high-quality coke from a coke blend with the highest possible content of cheaper coals. The paper presents the results of the influence of coal charge bulk density and semi-soft coking coal content in the coking blend on the textural and structural parameters of coke, which determine its quality. Research has shown that the application of increased density influences the parameters of the texture and structure of the coke, which shape its quality parameters. The use of stamp-charging technology contributes to the improvement of the coke quality or enables the production of coke of a predetermined quality from blends containing cheaper semi-soft coals.

The goal of this study is to look into how changes in crude oil prices affect GDP per capita and exchange rate fluctuations.to investigate the influence of crude oil price shocks on GDP per capita and exchange rate movements. This research employed yearly time series data for the price of crude oil, exchange rate (USD/INR), and GDP per capita, from 1990 to 2020. Arithmetical tools such as Descriptive, Unit Root, Granger Causality Test, and OLS Model were applied. The present study discovered a strong bi-directional Granger causality effect of Dubai crude oil prices on exchange rates, as well as a bi-directional Granger influence of exchange rates on WTI crude oil prices. The diagnostic tests were successfully passed by the estimated models. According to the OLS model, the exchange rate was driven only by the price of Dubai crude oil, although the price of WTI crude oil influenced both the GDP per capita and the exchange rate over the research period. The key policy recommendation derived from this analysis is that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) must depreciate the rupee, first to restore much-needed exchange rate stability, then to stimulate domestic manufacturers, and finally, to attract foreign capital inflows.

Biomass and renewable resources are becoming substitutes for fossil-based resources, providing opportunities for more sustainable environmental management and reductions in environmental damage. This paper studies the prospects for wood pellet production in Kazakhstan through the lens of business model adjustment in a microenterprise in Kazakhstan. This study focuses on answering the following questions: (1) How do microenterprises propose, create, deliver and capture value through business models in the wood industry? (2) What are the opportunities and challenges relating to these business models in the context of wood pellet production in Kazakhstan? Kazakhstan has a high potential for biomass production, providing a particularly interesting case for analysing how microenterprises can tap into this potential to create value. This paper combines an analysis of bioenergy and forestry trends with a qualitative case study. The analysis of the business model is based on Osterwalder’s business model canvas. The value proposition of the enterprise studied herein is to provide a local biomass-based alternative to fossil fuels. The overall growth of wood-based industries in Kazakhstan and the national movement towards renewable energy create favourable prospects for microenterprises engaged in the production of wood pellets; however, these industries are also characterised by high institutional and regulatory dependencies.

The presented article belongs to the research school of sustainable development economics as a relatively new science discipline within the broader area of heterodox economics. This paper is based on literature studies of homo concepts in economics, sociology and psychology. It identifies a research gap in sustainable economics, especially in sustainable energy management, formulating a novel concept of an economic man involved in energy management called homo energeticus. Homo energeticus concept is verified by empirical evidence at a local level-quantitative research conducted on a sample of 500 households in Lower Silesia region in Poland. The research’s first objective is to build the original author’s methodology on which the shift patterns from homo oeconomicus (neoclassical economics) to homo sustinens (sustainable economics) may be presented and may be used by scientists worldwide. After preparing a method for identifying concept, the second goal is to identify and describe the new concept of behaviour. The main conclusions are the sustainable behavioural pattern is dominating trend observed among households’ local energy management (homo energeticus). The homo energeticus behaviour was confirmed by every third respondent (critical threshold of 70%) or less restrictive and sustainable behaviour model homo sustinens (critical threshold of 50%) by more than 91.8% of whole respondents.

Considering the necessity of achieving economic development by keeping the quality of the environment, the aim of this paper is to study the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions in a sample of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (V4 countries, Bulgaria and Romania) in the period of 1996–2019. In the context of dynamic ARDL panel and environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the relationship between GHG and GDP is N-shaped. A U-shaped relationship was obtained in the renewable Kuznets curve (RKC). Energy consumption, domestic credit to the private sector, and labor productivity contribute to pollution, while renewable energy consumption reduces the GHG emissions. However, more efforts are required for promoting renewable energy in the analyzed countries.