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This study adopts a life cycle approach to analyse the principal critical elements, opportunities and limits of biogas production's socio-economic aspects and environmental implications. From this perspective, the biogas supply chain sustainability and the opportunity for a closed-loop approach have been assessed starting from existing studies. The analysis revealed that the biogas sector could play a strategic role in making energy systems more resilient in a context characterised by sudden changes, such as the current scenario. In particular, the research is focused on this sector's potential to support the energy transition in Italy, which presents a structural vulnerability related to fossil resource scarcity. The paper contributes to the literature on the sustainable assessment of the biogas supply chain and paves the way for future researchers to understand the complex issues involved in the biogas sector sustainable development process. Furthermore, it provides policy, managerial and social implications, showing that the complete diffusion of biogas - a renewable, scalable and flexible resource - can foster security and decarbonisation of the energy system. It can also create new business opportunities at the local level, promoting a circular and bio-based economy.

Abstract In the Swiss canton of Geneva, an energy efficiency portfolio has been operated since 2009. In contrast, such programs have been in place for more than 40 years in the US. There are numerous lessons to be learnt from their experience. We have therefore conducted a comparative analysis including Geneva and 11 leading states in the US, with the objective to identify explanatory factors for the success of energy efficiency programs. First, we compared total investment in energy efficiency programs between 2006 and 2015 and public policies related to energy efficiency in each state. Second, we analyzed the levelized cost of saved energy (LCSE) of the programs from the perspective of program administrators. Our cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the program investment scale has been strongly influenced by i) the existence of public mandates, which require program administrators to set ambitious targets and maximize their investment in cost-effective energy efficiency measures, ii) financial instruments that ensure program expenditure to be recovered, and iii) complementary funding from other programs. Moreover, learning and accumulated experience of the program administrators allow to reduce the LCSE. We conclude that the combination of financial instruments with public mandates can ensure a high level of effectiveness.

Through a parametric time-series analysis of 8 years of hourly data, we quantify the storage size and balancing energy needs for highly and fully renewable European power systems for different levels and mixes of wind and solar energy. By applying a dispatch strategy that minimizes the balancing energy needs for a given storage size, the interplay between storage and balancing is quantified, providing a hard upper limit on their synergy. An efficient but relatively small storage reduces balancing energy needs significantly due to its influence on intra-day mismatches. Furthermore, we show that combined with a low-efficiency hydrogen storage and a level of balancing equal to what is today provided by storage lakes, it is sufficient to meet the European electricity demand in a fully renewable power system where the average power generation from combined wind and solar exceeds the demand by only a few percent.

A proper analysis (an evaluation) of the environmental load of consumption is important in the context of sustainable development. Presently, different methods are used to calculate the environmental load of household consumption, mainly in energy and or greenhouse gas emission terms. These methods are all based on input-output energy analysis, but use different data sources and produce different results. In this article, we discern and describe three methods used to calculate the total energy requirements of households, and we discuss the main results produced with these methods. All three methods are applied to the Netherlands in order to compare differences and similarities in the results. We found that the total energy requirement calculated with all three methods was almost the same, with differences less than 4%, however each method provides results at a different level. Basic energy input-output analysis generates total requirements and requirements per consumption category, and is therefore suitable for describing and explaining the effect of household consumption. The hybrid method combining energy input-output analysis with process analysis generates requirements per consumption item and therefore offers opportunities to search for options of change of household consumption patterns to more sustainable consumption. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To reduce human causes of global warming, large scale implementation of innovative products that save energy is necessary. Innovative products first reach the early market actors who are driven by a visionary attitude. Hereafter, the products must reach the much larger mainstream market whose actors are driven by a pragmatic attitude. Many innovations, however, only appeal to the visionary early market and do not meet the more pragmatic needs of the mainstream. For that reason, innovations often fall in a "chasm" between the early market and the mainstream and fail to reach the mainstream. We developed a strategy and a protocol to aid governmental agencies in influencing the mainstream members of housing associations to adopt energy conservation innovations. Our method is an adaptation of an existing marketing method and applicable to other target groups. The first step in crossing this chasm is to find a niche segment in the mainstream as the starting point for winning the rest of the mainstream. By surveying the target group and analyzing the data, we identified 29 housing associations (234 interviewed) that belong to this niche segment. Identifying the niche segment and its determinants of behaviour is part of our 4-step protocol that leads to adapting the innovative product to meet the needs of the niche and setting up a marketing plan to win the rest of the mainstream.

Abstract For both economic, political and administrative reasons, a mixed design of permit market, bubble and tax may be preferable for CO 2 regulation. In the case of Denmark, a CO 2 market should be introduced for the private manufacturing sector and an administratively set CO 2 bubble should be introduced for the public electricity sector. Permits should then be devaluated in year 2005 by 20%. A CO 2 tax should be correctly set at a level of $50 in year 2005 for households, the transportation sector and private firms not participating in the CO 2 market. This model may guide future energy policies in other countries as well.

Over the last decade Brazil has implemented a new and ambitious biofuel program: the National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB). When launching this program in 2004 the government stated that it wanted to avoid the same kind of geographical concentration, single crop focus, dominance of agribusiness, and exclusion of family farmers that have occurred with bioethanol production through the ProÁlcool policy since 1975. This paper compares the life histories of the bioethanol and the biodiesel policies of Brazil by analyzing their substantive policy content; the power and politics of actors that struggle for the design and implementation of the policies; and the polity in terms the organization and institutionalization of the policies. The paper concludes that both policies have become submerged by and dependent on the polity and politics of primarily the energy and agricultural sectors that operate as the two semi-autonomous governance fields. This submerging has shaped the substantive contents of biofuels policies, and explains why the 2004 biodiesel policy PNPB, in spite of its objectives for social inclusion and rural development, faces similar problems in implementation as its predecessor, the 1975 bioethanol policy ProÁlcool.

Abstract Firewood is the main fuel used for heating in Chile, but its inefficient use is producing severe episodes of air pollution. To address this issue, authorities implement Air Pollution Management Plans (PDAs), which include actions such as setting moisture requirements for firewood, replacing old wood-stoves, temporarily banning the use of firewood, and improving homes´ thermal insulation. However, PDAs do not focus on nor do they prioritize measures in relation to specific social contexts. This study assessed socio-economic variables, energy consumption and indoor environments in households located in the city of Valdivia, through surveys and the monitoring of temperatures and indoor air pollution levels. We found that, during the winter months, 68% of the time living room temperatures were below 21 °C, and PM2.5 concentrations were above international standards. Furthermore, over 61% of households were to suffer a state of energy poverty. We urge decision-makers to consider social inequalities and energy consumption patterns in cities with high firewood consumption, prioritizing measures and focusing resources on reducing both air pollution and energy poverty. Thermal insulation of homes should be a priority in mid-to-low-income families, since these have the highest levels of energy demand. Other PDA´s measures could be economically regressive in these social-strata.