• Energy Research

Climate change, urbanization, and financial crisis have created a dramatic mixture of challenges in Southern Europe, increasing further the risks of transmission of new vector-borne diseases. In the last decade, there has been a wide spread of an invasive mosquito species Aedes albopictus, commonly known as the Asian tiger mosquito, in various urban ecosystems of Greece accompanied by greater risks of infectious diseases, higher nuisance levels, and increased expenses incurred for their control. The aim of the present paper is to investigate citizens’ perception of the Aedes albopictus problem and to evaluate various policy aspects related to its control. Findings are based on the conduct of a web-based survey at a national scale and the production of national surveillance maps. Results indicate that citizens are highly concerned with the health risks associated with the new mosquito species and consider public prevention strategies highly important for the confrontation of the problem while, at the same time, surveillance maps indicate a constant intensification of the problem. The spatial patterns of these results are further investigated aiming to define areas (regions) with different: (a) Levels of risk and/or (b) policy priorities. It appears that citizens are aware of the invasive mosquito problem and appear prone to act against possible consequences. Climate change and the complex socio-ecological context of South Europe are expected to favor a deterioration of the problem and an increasing risk of the transmission of new diseases, posing, in this respect, new challenges for policy makers and citizens.

Abstract The historical issue of natural resources scarcity is revived currently through the empirical investigation into the dependence of modern economy on the inputs of material and energy. The contemporary debate on de-growth and a-growth feeds on the empirical assessments of the relationship between energy-material use and current growth trends. In this context, the present study attempts a re-estimation of the energy-economic growth decoupling effect taking into account the physiology and, hence, the dimensionality that economic goods have. The Energy/GDP per Capita ratio is proposed as an indicator that approximates better than the Energy/GDP ratio the real world properties of production and, therefore, its energy requirements. The resulting estimations of decoupling effect are less “optimistic” than those based on Energy/GDP ratio and prevalent in the relevant contemporary literature.

AbstractIn the Anthropocene, coupled human and natural systems dominate and only a few natural systems remain relatively unaffected by human influence. On the one hand, conservation criteria based on areas of minimal human impact are not relevant to much of the biosphere. On the other hand, conservation criteria based on economic factors are problematic with respect to their ability to arrive at operational indicators of well‐being that can be applied in practice over multiple generations. Coupled human and natural systems are subject to economic development which, under current management structures, tends to affect natural systems and cross planetary boundaries. Hence, designing and applying conservation criteria applicable in real‐world systems where human and natural systems need to interact and sustainably coexist is essential. By recognizing the criticality of satisfying basic needs as well as the great uncertainty over the needs and preferences of future generations, we sought to incorporate conservation criteria based on minimal human impact into economic evaluation. These criteria require the conservation of environmental conditions such that the opportunity for intergenerational welfare optimization is maintained. Toward this end, we propose the integration of ecological–biological thresholds into decision making and use as an example the planetary‐boundaries approach. Both conservation scientists and economists must be involved in defining operational ecological–biological thresholds that can be incorporated into economic thinking and reflect the objectives of conservation, sustainability, and intergenerational welfare optimization.

AbstractThe sustainability debate among economists, and between economists and other scholars, has long been dominated by monolithic approaches, which inhibit policy relevance and social influence. At the same time, certain sustainability policies usually lack a theoretical foundation, a fact that makes policy design and evaluation a fragmented process. Here, we delineate an axiomatic approach for sustainability, which incorporates functionally, within the science of economics, operational elements from biology and ecology. To this end, sustainability is defined on the basis of intergenerational efficiency, maximization of intergenerational welfare, whereas the welfare potentials of future generations are explicitly taken into account and assigned equal importance with those of the current generation. This paper focuses on the dependency of intergenerational efficiency on the natural capital and attempts to define the natural capital that is necessary for ensuring efficiency.We indicate that intergenerational efficiency necessitates the preservation of biological integrity as well as the healthy functioning and resilience of ecosystems. In order to make these conditions operational, we prove that the preservation of crucial biological–ecological threshold arises as the necessary condition for intergeneration efficiency. The operational concept of threshold can be incorporated within economic analyses and inspire sustainability design without the need of assigning fugacious prices to biological assets and services.

The transition from coal to more sustainable energy sources represents a critical shift for economies reliant on coal production. To investigate the intricate processes involved in such a transition, the use of powerful analytical tools is essential. This study assesses the impact of the delignification process on GDP growth over a 20-year horizon (2015–2035) in the Region of Western Macedonia, Greece, using the Vensim PLE Plus 9.0.1 software, a robust tool for system dynamics modeling. By developing a dynamic model that captures the key variables and feedback loops associated with coal transition, this research examines economic, social, and investment variables, emphasizing their causal relationships. The study integrates societal, economic, and educational impacts on production transition, addressing issues such as unemployment, financial support, and investments in human resources and R&D. Additionally, it considers the influence of climate change on GDP. The model highlights population dynamics, economic development, and education as critical factors. Scenarios explore the impact of increased funding on education, research, and financial aid efficiency, providing insights into enhancing GDP in decarbonizing regions. The study reveals that increased investment in education and human capital leads to slight improvements in local GDP, though the effects are not immediate. Enhanced efficiency in government and European spending significantly boosts local GDP by creating strong value chains and local economies of scale. It is found that the increase in financial support to the regions in transition is of the utmost importance and has a multiplicative nature, something that should encourage the European Union to increase its financial support tools. The model’s simulations align closely with historical GDP data, validating its accuracy. The contributions of the present work offer valuable insights to policymakers and stakeholders engaged in the transition processes.

The expansion of urban ecosystems and climate change, both outcomes of massive lifestyle changes, contribute to a series of side effects such as environmental deterioration, spread of diseases, increased greenhouse gas emissions and introduction of invasive species. In the case of the Athens metropolitan area, an invasive mosquito species-the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)-has spread widely in the last decade. This spread is favoured within urban environments and is also affected by changing climatic trends. The Asian tiger mosquito is accompanied by risks of mosquito-borne diseases, greater nuisance levels, and increased expenses incurring for its confrontation. The main aims of this paper are (i) to estimate the various costs associated with the control of this invasive species, as well as its health and nuisance impacts, (ii) to evaluate the level of citizens' well-being from averting these impacts and (iii) to record citizens' and experts' perceptions regarding alternative control measures. Evidence shows that experts tend to place a high value on mosquito control when associated with serious health risks, while citizens are more sensitive and concerned about the environmental impacts of control methods. The synthesis of results produced by the current study could act as a preliminary guide for the estimation of societal welfare from the confrontation of similar problems in the context of a complex ecosystem.

Abstract The complex relation between energy use and the economic process has long attracted attention. Issues such as the scarcity of energy resources, energy theory of value, degrowth and a-growth approaches are closely related to the relationship between energy and development. The present study traces the implications of the Energy-GDP causality dialogue for the context of the growth-degrowth debate, where the energy-development link plays a decisive role. In that context, the present research investigates the possible existence of a fundamental “macro” direction of causality between energy use and economic growth that is not influenced by study-specific characteristics and events. Towards this objective, we perform a meta-analysis that takes into account 158 studies on causality between energy and GDP, covering the period 1978–2011. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that meta-analysis has been applied to investigate the direction of the energy and GDP causal relationship. The meta-analysis results neither support the existence of a fundamental “macro” direction, nor the so-called “neutrality hypothesis (E ≠ GDP)” in the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.

Contemporary empirical studies on the resource intensity of the economic process provide evidence of a gradual de-linking between natural resources use and economic growth. Resource intensity is evaluated through the Domestic Material Consumption/Gross Domestic Product (DMC/GDP) ratio, defined as the material intensity index. Trajectories of this ratio support the optimistic view that economic output is becoming progressively less dependent on resource flows, hence GDP is gradually dematerialized. The present study asserts that the DMC/GDP indicator fails to take into account the biophysical properties of the production process which define the resource requirements of the economy. The present study proposes the “resources required for producing one unit of GDP per Capita (Income)”, as an alternative indicator for evaluating the resource requirements of the economy. The resource requirement, evaluated at the level of income, approximates the human scale of production; goods should embody certain biophysical properties in order to satisfy human needs. The trajectories of DMC/Income index for global growth rejects the vision of a dematerialized growth and the de-linkage of the economy from natural resources.