• Energy Research
• engineering and technology close
• 1. No poverty close
• QA close
• BH close

AbstractGlobal CO2emissions from different industries have been increasing at an alarming rate. This growth is outpacing the efforts, nations are putting in place to reduce their carbon footprints. In this topical review, we critically analyze the level of CO2emissions on a global scale and across various industries and activities within them and the dominant anthropogenic forcing instability. The global CO2emission from various economic sectors such as industries, transportation and variety of waste sources were traced globally and regionally. To contextualize our review, the sector wise CO2emission trends data for a period more than a decade is reviewed which highlighted the main sources of emissions. The data shows the overall reduction of carbon footprints and its progress across various sectors is very limited. The governing factors for this continued global pattern can be ascribed to two main factors: high consumer demands, and poor efforts towards shifting low and zero carbon services across all sectors. Some efforts have been witnessed to shift towards clean fuels and renewables, particularly in Europe and North America. However, rapid growth in industrialization limits the shifting of fossil-based energy systems towards less harmful systems. In Asia, particularly in eastern, southern, and south-eastern regions, the carbon footprints were found to increased owing to a huge demand for materials production, travelling and energy services. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to identify, understand and tackle the most persistent and climate-harmful factors across all industries and drive such policies to substitute the fossil fuels with renewables.

AbstractGlobal CO2emissions from different industries have been increasing at an alarming rate. This growth is outpacing the efforts, nations are putting in place to reduce their carbon footprints. In this topical review, we critically analyze the level of CO2emissions on a global scale and across various industries and activities within them and the dominant anthropogenic forcing instability. The global CO2emission from various economic sectors such as industries, transportation and variety of waste sources were traced globally and regionally. To contextualize our review, the sector wise CO2emission trends data for a period more than a decade is reviewed which highlighted the main sources of emissions. The data shows the overall reduction of carbon footprints and its progress across various sectors is very limited. The governing factors for this continued global pattern can be ascribed to two main factors: high consumer demands, and poor efforts towards shifting low and zero carbon services across all sectors. Some efforts have been witnessed to shift towards clean fuels and renewables, particularly in Europe and North America. However, rapid growth in industrialization limits the shifting of fossil-based energy systems towards less harmful systems. In Asia, particularly in eastern, southern, and south-eastern regions, the carbon footprints were found to increased owing to a huge demand for materials production, travelling and energy services. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to identify, understand and tackle the most persistent and climate-harmful factors across all industries and drive such policies to substitute the fossil fuels with renewables.

This study aims to contribute to the long-standing debate on technology-push versus demand-pull mechanisms to support the creation and diffusion of innovations. We argue that in addition to the traditional push–pull dichotomy, technological change drivers must be differentiated by whether they are exogenous or endogenous to the economic system and must be assessed against their contribution to both the creation and the diffusion of innovation. We apply this perspective to study innovation in the renewable energy (RE) industry in 15 European Union countries. We find that public R&D investments, public policies, and per capita income positively affect either innovation creation or diffusion. However, impacts differ depending on the innovation dimension considered. Economic growth is relatively ineffective at stimulating innovation creation. In contrast, it is a strong driver of RE diffusion with a nonlinear, U-shaped impact that has both a direct cause and an indirect cause. Our findings highlight the importance of deploying diverse policy instruments simultaneously to enhance the effectiveness of clean energy policies.

This study aims to contribute to the long-standing debate on technology-push versus demand-pull mechanisms to support the creation and diffusion of innovations. We argue that in addition to the traditional push–pull dichotomy, technological change drivers must be differentiated by whether they are exogenous or endogenous to the economic system and must be assessed against their contribution to both the creation and the diffusion of innovation. We apply this perspective to study innovation in the renewable energy (RE) industry in 15 European Union countries. We find that public R&D investments, public policies, and per capita income positively affect either innovation creation or diffusion. However, impacts differ depending on the innovation dimension considered. Economic growth is relatively ineffective at stimulating innovation creation. In contrast, it is a strong driver of RE diffusion with a nonlinear, U-shaped impact that has both a direct cause and an indirect cause. Our findings highlight the importance of deploying diverse policy instruments simultaneously to enhance the effectiveness of clean energy policies.

Background: It is imperative to develop an efficient strategic approach to managing the push-pull factor in economic development, particularly as relates to climate change and energy interactions in the West African Region. This article demonstrates the use of System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) for that purpose; to manage the development of energy growth with reduced impact in regards to climate change. The complexities of energy planning in relation to climate change necessitates the need for the tool to examine low carbon economy mixed with traditional approaches of planning. Methods: Vensim DSS version 6.2 was used to develop the model. WAPP member country level data elicited from WAPP and ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) serves as the set of basic data used to develop and run the main model. These were complemented with other data elicited from various journal articles and internet sources. These include population and its average growth rate, GDP, per capita income, average per capita electricity demand, electricity generated, average electricity tariff, generation technology type, amongst others. Results: SDM demonstrates the capability to understand the theoretical frame for trade-offs between economic development and climate change, by handling the nonlinear relationship between generation adequacy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction for better targeted strategic regional intervention on climate change. Conclusion: The primary goal of this paper was to demonstrate the use of SDM to aid in resource planning in an inexpensive way to examine low carbon pathway. With the SDM, the goal of low carbon pathway in the energy system was achieved without the cost of controlled trials.

Background: It is imperative to develop an efficient strategic approach to managing the push-pull factor in economic development, particularly as relates to climate change and energy interactions in the West African Region. This article demonstrates the use of System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) for that purpose; to manage the development of energy growth with reduced impact in regards to climate change. The complexities of energy planning in relation to climate change necessitates the need for the tool to examine low carbon economy mixed with traditional approaches of planning. Methods: Vensim DSS version 6.2 was used to develop the model. WAPP member country level data elicited from WAPP and ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) serves as the set of basic data used to develop and run the main model. These were complemented with other data elicited from various journal articles and internet sources. These include population and its average growth rate, GDP, per capita income, average per capita electricity demand, electricity generated, average electricity tariff, generation technology type, amongst others. Results: SDM demonstrates the capability to understand the theoretical frame for trade-offs between economic development and climate change, by handling the nonlinear relationship between generation adequacy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction for better targeted strategic regional intervention on climate change. Conclusion: The primary goal of this paper was to demonstrate the use of SDM to aid in resource planning in an inexpensive way to examine low carbon pathway. With the SDM, the goal of low carbon pathway in the energy system was achieved without the cost of controlled trials.

Oman is a Middle Eastern country that has traditionally been monotonically reliant on its indigenous fossil fuel supplies. Besides, the nation has also been a surplus producer and net exporter of oil which further highlights the prolonged fossil fuel dependency of Oman. Consequently, despite flourishing economically, environmental quality in Oman has persistently aggravated. These opposing economic and environmental performances have necessitated Oman to identify the factors which can enable Oman to decarbonize its economy for tackling the environmental concerns faced by the nation. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric effects of foreign direct investments, economic growth, and capital investments on carbon dioxide emissions in Oman during 1980-2019. Using relevant econometric estimation methods for controlling structural break concerns in the data, the findings reveal evidence of asymmetric environmental impacts associated with shocks to the nation's foreign direct investment inflow, economic growth, and capital investment figures. Specifically, it is witnessed that positive shocks to the levels of foreign direct investment inflows, economic growth, and capital investments boost carbon dioxide emissions both in the short and long run. On the other hand, negative shocks to the levels of foreign direct investment inflows and economic growth are witnessed to reduce the emissions. Besides, the findings also validate the environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypotheses in the context of Oman. Hence, considering these key findings, it is recommended that Oman should ideally pursues green economic growth policies by restricting inflows of unclean foreign direct investments and green its financial sector in order to collectively minimize its carbon dioxide emission figures.

Oman is a Middle Eastern country that has traditionally been monotonically reliant on its indigenous fossil fuel supplies. Besides, the nation has also been a surplus producer and net exporter of oil which further highlights the prolonged fossil fuel dependency of Oman. Consequently, despite flourishing economically, environmental quality in Oman has persistently aggravated. These opposing economic and environmental performances have necessitated Oman to identify the factors which can enable Oman to decarbonize its economy for tackling the environmental concerns faced by the nation. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric effects of foreign direct investments, economic growth, and capital investments on carbon dioxide emissions in Oman during 1980-2019. Using relevant econometric estimation methods for controlling structural break concerns in the data, the findings reveal evidence of asymmetric environmental impacts associated with shocks to the nation's foreign direct investment inflow, economic growth, and capital investment figures. Specifically, it is witnessed that positive shocks to the levels of foreign direct investment inflows, economic growth, and capital investments boost carbon dioxide emissions both in the short and long run. On the other hand, negative shocks to the levels of foreign direct investment inflows and economic growth are witnessed to reduce the emissions. Besides, the findings also validate the environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypotheses in the context of Oman. Hence, considering these key findings, it is recommended that Oman should ideally pursues green economic growth policies by restricting inflows of unclean foreign direct investments and green its financial sector in order to collectively minimize its carbon dioxide emission figures.