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The global energy demand is growing substantially. Clean and secure energy supply is a must for our civilization's sustainable development. Solar and wind energy is growing fast and can contribute significantly to meet the goals set by many countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A deep and wide investigation of the environmental impact of solar and wind energy is important before any solar or wind plants' construction is made. In this study, the literature is reviewed to summarize the environmental impact of solar and wind energy systems in terms of the following factors; land use, water consumption, impact on biodiversity, visual and noise effects, health issues, and impact on micro climate. Although the benefits of solar and wind energy are obvious and great, negative perception of these technologies can inhibit their wide penetration in some regions. This review paper includes a critical and an inclusive analysis of solar and wind energy’s environmental impact and may serve as an important tool to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment. This critical analysis may serve also as a tool for developers, policy, and decision-when planning future solar and wind farms.

Recent financial scandals and the global financial crisis have generated numerous criticisms of the value and use of annual financial and sustainability reports prepared by companies. This has generated the elaboration and use of a new model of corporate-information reporting that considers strategic, social, economic, and environmental aspects. This study synthesizes the knowledge of the use of integrated reporting as a source of information, and bibliometrically analyzes of 268 articles published in the Web of Science database in 2011–2019. Results show that 77.6% of the academic articles were from developed countries, and the five most influential countries are Italy, South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Results show that the development of this type of research is scarce in emerging economies. The most influential authors are García, Rodríguez, and De Villiers. A high level of interconnections is observed in used keywords, of which the most used are ‘sustainability’ and ‘management’. Lastly, this article contributes to the international discussion on integrated reporting by carrying out a structured review of the literature, highlighting previous research.

The biotechnological development has traditionally focused on the compliance with regulatory demands rather than optimising the processes or analysing their sustainability. This work proposes the combination of available tools for the comprehensive sustainability assessment of a blue biotechnology process based on the cultivation of the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis. The work aims to include environmental, economic and social dimensions to measure the sustainability of the production of a carotenoid with potential applications in food, nutraceutical, cosmetics and eventually pharmaceutical industries. Electricity for cultivation was identified as the major contributor to the environmental impacts, which depended significantly on the production scale. Social benefits were mainly related to workers and consumers, while the economic assessment suggested a profitable process with a relatively short period to recover the initial investment.

Dietary change presents an opportunity to meet the dual challenges of non-communicable diseases and the effects of climate change in China. Based on a food survey and reviewed data sets, we linked nutrient composition and carbon footprint data by aggregating 1950 types of foods into 28 groups. Nine dietary scenarios for both men and women were modeled based on the current diet and latest National Program for Food and Nutrition. Linear uncertainty optimization was used to produce diets meeting the Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes for adults aged 18-50years while minimizing carbon footprints. The theoretical optimal diet reduced daily footprints by 46%, but this diet was unrealistic due to limited food diversity. Constrained by acceptability, the optimal diet reduced the daily carbon footprints by 7-28%, from 3495 to 2517-3252g CO2e, for men and by 5-26%, from 3075 to 2280-2917g CO2e, for women. Dietary changes for adults are capable of benefiting China in terms of the considerable footprint reduction of 53-222Mt.CO2eyear-1, when magnified based on the Chinese population, which is the largest worldwide. Seven of eight scenarios showed that reductions in meat consumption resulted in greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, dramatic reductions in meat consumption may produce smaller reductions in emissions, as the consumption of other ingredients increases to compensate for the nutrients in meat. A trade-off between poultry and other meats (beef, pork, and lamb) is usually observed, and rice, which is a popular food in China, was the largest contributor to carbon footprint reductions. Our findings suggest that changing diets for climate change mitigation and human health is possible in China, though the per capital mitigation potential is slight lower than that in developed economies of France, Spain, Sweden, and New Zealand.

Abstract Solar energy, as main energy supply that sustains life on Earth, is also an unavoidable component of the complex strategy in achieving a clean and fair energy transition and goals for sustainable development by 2030. The present work studies the potential of installing Photovoltaic Distributed Generation at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid – Ciudad Universitaria campus. To this end, the study focuses on the electricity generation, carbon reduction and economic feasibility of solar photovoltaic systems installation using and comparing two different approaches based on data input with different time resolution, simulation software and level of details. Results show that the optimal photovoltaic power that maximizes emissions savings also ensures the best economic return, and in addition coincides with the maximum solar potential of the Campus, which is about 3.3 MW. At campus level, approximately 77% of the photovoltaic electricity production would be consumed locally, which would suppose a coverage of about 40% of the total electricity consumption. Emissions savings could reach 30% and an in-depth economic analysis indicates that the project is highly profitable. These results and methodology could be used to assess the feasibility of photovoltaic systems at other universities and help entities study the solar potential of their buildings.

The world, society and education are constantly evolving, and to respond to these changes, the main governmental institutions have been proposing different global strategies to focus efforts in the same direction. Currently, the United Nations and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have presented a series of indicators that could help to minimise the environmental, economic and social instability we are experiencing. In this sense, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been described as a fundamental factor. Specifically, in previous work, we argued that physical education (PE) could be a good tool to contribute to SDGs. Based on this, no research analysing the voices of Physical Education Teachers (PET) on how this contribution could be made has been identified in previous literature. Therefore, the objectives of this research are: (1) to analyse the voices and opinions of active PETs in terms of the knowledge they have about Sustainable Development (SD); (2) to determine their opinions about the contribution that PE could make to SDGs; and finally, (3) to identify the challenges and limitations of pedagogical action of SD in PE. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis through a semi-structured interview with 41 active PETs was carried out. The main findings will be presented and discussed around four themes: (a) agreement on the concept of sustainability; (b) PE can contribute to the achievement of SDGs; (c) ambiguity in applying SDGs to PE lessons; and (d) teachers’ constraints on how to implement SDGs in PE. It seems to indicate that PETs do not have a multidimensional vision of sustainable development. While they recognise the potential of PE to contribute to SDGs through awareness raising and student learning, they point to its pedagogical and formative constraints as the main barriers to being able to contribute. They pointed to a lack of knowledge on how to do so, guidelines on how to integrate ESD, lack of involvement, shortage of time or resources in school physical education.

Nursing homes are designed and operated to meet general thermal specifications outlined by existing standards. This paper presents adaptive thermal comfort models for nursing homes based on the field survey administered in 100 common rooms of five nursing homes in the Mediterranean climate. The survey included simultaneous measurements of outdoor and indoor environmental parameters and an assessment of the occupants’ thermal comfort sensations using questionnaires. In total, 1,921 subjective questionnaires were obtained. The analysis focused on: Building Operation Mode (naturally ventilated and air-conditioned mode (cooling and heating)); and type of occupant (residents and non-residents (caregivers and therapists)). In naturally ventilated rooms residents were found to be more adaptive than what EN and ASHRAE 55:2020 standards propose (Tc (naturally ventilated) = 0.26 Trm + 18.83 (R2 = 0.81)). Residents in air-conditioned rooms were found to be less sensitive to outdoor conditions (Tc (air-conditioned) = 0.16Trm + 20.41 (R2 = 0,91)) than in naturally ventilated rooms. Both adaptive thermal models fall in limits set by these standards but in the lower acceptable levels. These adaptive thermal comfort models for nursing homes will allow extending the use of natural ventilation and the adoption of setpoint temperatures when air-conditioning is needed with the consequent reduction of heating and cooling use. The authors thank the International Center on Aging (CENIE), the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca (FGUSAL) and the Programa de Cooperación Interreg V-A España – Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 and the FEDER funds for their financial support of this study under project reference 6/2018_CIE_6. This research was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under R&D project Thecoelen, reference no. PID2019-106777RB-C21. We would also like to thank Sanitas Mayores and specially the Eng. Marc Vallet and Eng. Albert Ayala for providing their nursing homes and helping to collect all the required data. We would also like to extend our appreciation to all the caregivers, maintenance staff and elderly people who participated in this project. Peer Reviewed