• Energy Research

The main goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of population mobility on electricity generation in Russian cities in the conditions of the spread of COVID-19, and identify hotspots. Furthermore, the evaluation is also conducted using hybrid fuzzy decision-making modelling. In this context, q-ROF DEMATEL and TOPSIS methods are taken into consideration. Additionally, a comparative evaluation is also performed with the help of Intuitionistic and Pythagorean fuzzy sets. The results are quite similar that allows to conclude that the findings are reliable and coherent. The study proves the hypothesis that human behavior changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and electricity consumption is declining in major cities around the world. The biggest fall in energy generation was in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. In St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, the fall in energy generation is no so crucial because these cities have low building density. The study uses Long Short-Term Memory models with many different parameters. The Q-Rung Orthopair Fuzzy Sets model forecasts new COVID-19 using ten parameters. This study identifies factors influencing the spread of COVID-19 based on the theory of "broken windows" and outlines directions in limiting population mobility, which can form the basis of state policy. According to the analysis the air temperature is the variable that most affects this process.

The paper analyzes South Korea’s strategy in the global oil market. South Korean oil cooperation is characterized by the creation or termination of joint projects in the oil sector, as well as the Republic of Korea’s national project for the diversification of state-energy suppliers. Oil cooperation currently has great potential, and the conditions that have developed at the highest level allow open discussions about positive dynamics for short-term and medium-term prospects in the field of oil cooperation. The analysis presented here includes export and import connections in the oil market. The authorities of the current administration of the Republic of Korea have adopted a new political stance towards the north, in accordance with which the state is actively developing and establishing relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Russian Federation. In the coming years, South Korea aims to renew and revise potential projects in the field of oil cooperation. The main result of this is that the political climate of the Republic of Korea is currently concentrated on the development of an oil cooperation strategy.

From early 2019, South Africa and Russia have planned to increase their energy trade. Russia can become one of the world’s five largest energy exporters. This study examines of the cost of a kilowatt of electricity generated by coal power projects in South Africa and compares nuclear electricity with other types of green energy. This method must help to improve the management decision-making process in South Africa for energy exporta. Reasons for this persistence include the marketing strategies of Russian companies for seeking new markets in industrialised and postindustrial countries where, due to intensive competition, sales of Russian high-tech products are often unsuccessful. Renewable energy gives a chance to potentially reduce poverty in South Africa. The study concludes that imported crude oil is more suited to the needs of the refining industry of South Africa. The consumption for this type of energy in areas not concerning industry is insignificant and its increase is unlikely to be observed in the future. Highlights• Nuclear energy is popular energy source in South Africa now.• Provision of sustainable energy services helps to find the sources for economic growth. • Renewable energy technologies have opportunity for reduce nuclear production in South Africa.• Bio-energy can become the main source of energy in South Africa.

Key large-scale global changes have marked the last decades [...]

E-government initiatives help a country to publicize information with greater transparency and efficiency and are expected to reduce corruption in the country. The present study investigates the impact of a host country’s e-government system on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) which plays an important role in the sustainable growth of countries. Using a logistic regression method to model whether the inward FDI is positive or negative, this study provides empirical evidence on the effects of the e-government development level on inward FDI. In addition, the authors point out that the positive influence of e-government on FDI becomes greater when the target country is more corrupted, and they hypothesize that the impact of e-government is moderated by corruption. The estimation results show that the e-government effect becomes greater when the host country is more corrupted. The findings have practical implications for policymakers for sustainable development of their economies on how they can attract more FDI by controlling the market environment.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the investment success of renewable energy generation projects design. A novel model has been constructed for this purpose. At the first stage, collaborative filtering methodology is taken into consideration to complete missing evaluations. After that, M-SWARA based on QUSFSs with golden cut is used to compute the weights of these factors. Finally, the components of the service design are ranked by TOPSIS approach. The main contribution of the paper is that a new methodology (M-SWARA) has been created in this study by making improvements to SWARA. With the help of this new model, causal directions between the indicators can also be examined. Similarly, collaborative filtering methodology is taken into consideration to complete missing evaluations. In this process, the decision makers are allowed to leave the questions they wanted blank. This situation is considered as the superiority of the proposed model compared to many previous models in the literature. The findings indicate that cost is the most significant factor for the success of renewable energy investments because it gets the highest weight (.261). The ranking results also demonstrate that product is the most essential component of the service design of renewable energy investments. Therefore, solving the high-cost problem is of vital importance to increase these investments. First, renewable energy companies can reduce costs with more effective financial management. To carry out this process effectively, a finance department consisting of qualified personnel is needed. Thanks to this team, current situations in the financial markets will be better followed and this will play an important role in reducing costs.

The subject of the study is the models of social security of the population. The relevance of the research is derived from the fact that states are increasingly faced with global problems requiring more government funding and restricting how much social risk is covered by state social security mechanisms and models. The purpose of the study is to form a financial and investment model of social security that promotes sustainable economic growth. The task is to systematize the aspects of the formation of an optimal financial and investment model of social security. The authors use the methodology of the analysis of the functioning environment (DEA) and the methods of neo-institutionalism, which is the most promising and complete concept for studying structural changes and investment strategies. The main results of the study show that inflation can have a negative impact on the social protection system. An optimal model of social security is proposed to stimulate economic growth. It is concluded that regardless of the division of the social security system into the state and non-state sectors, the proposed model of social security will achieve a synergistic effect and can have a positive impact on the quality and life expectancy of the population, which will favorably affect the indicators of economic activity and economic growth.