• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close

This paper presents a comprehensive SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of utilizing hydrogen as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) in Poland’s energy transition. Given Poland’s reliance on fossil fuels, its deep decarbonization poses socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. This study examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with integrating hydrogen as an RFNBO fuel into Poland’s energy mix, focusing on economic, regulatory, technological, and social factors. The strengths identified include potential energy independence from fossil fuels, increased investment, and hydrogen’s applicability in hard-to-abate sectors. Weaknesses involve a low share of renewable hydrogen in the energy mix and the need for infrastructure development. Opportunities arise from European Union policies, technological advancements, and global trends favoring renewable hydrogen adoption. Threats encompass high production costs, regulatory uncertainties, and competition from other energy carriers. The analysis concludes that while hydrogen as an RFNBO fuel offers potential for decarbonizing Poland’s energy mix, realizing this potential requires large-scale investments, a supportive regulatory framework, and technological innovation.

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.

The European Union continues to lead global efforts toward climate neutrality by developing a cohesive regulatory and market framework for alternative fuels, including renewable hydrogen. This review article critically examines the recent evolution of the EU’s policy landscape specifically for hydrogen as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO), highlighting its growing importance in hard-to-abate sectors such as industry and transportation. We assess the interplay of market-based mechanisms (e.g., EU ETS II), direct mandates (e.g., FuelEU Maritime, RED III), and support auction-based measures (e.g., the European Hydrogen Bank) that collectively shape both the demand and the supply of hydrogen as RFNBO fuel. The article also addresses emerging cost, capacity, and technical barriers—ranging from constrained electrolyzer deployment to complex certification requirements—that hinder large-scale adoption and market rollout. The article aims to discuss advancing and changing regulatory and market environment for the development of infrastructure and market for hydrogen as RFNBO fuel in the EU in 2019–2024. Synthesizing current research and policy developments, we propose targeted recommendations, including enhanced cross-border coordination and capacity-based incentives, to accelerate investment and infrastructure development. This review informs policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers on critical success factors for integrating hydrogen as a cornerstone of the EU’s climate neutrality efforts.

The household as the primary decision-making unit is founded on classical and neoclassical economics. However, household behaviour changes have been noticeable in the last decade, moving towards more green and sustainable patterns, which have been pronounced in EU countries striving for a more significant share of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy consumption. These behaviours can be attributed to sustainable economics and are an essential part of energy transformation, as they are focused on pro-ecological attitudes, considering both financial activities and those related to caring for the environment and future generations. This article aims to segment energy consumers and to determine what attitudes prevailed in the selected segments and to what extent consumers were pro-ecologically oriented when making decisions regarding RES management before the pandemic and the energy crisis outbreak in Europe. We propose a three-segment model for archetyping household energy consumers in Poland by considering the following groups of factors: environmental and energy goods protection (F1), the mirror effect (F2), and energy and devices profitability (F3). The segments are distinguished based on factor analysis and the fuzzy c-means method. The number of segments is determined based on the cluster validity measure. The presented results prove that the F1 factor plays the leading role in each segment. The percentage of positive responses for each segment, including a migrating group of households, oscillates over 80%. It gives strong hope for retaining sustainable attitudes regardless of the pandemic and energy crisis that occurred in 2022 in the EU.