• Energy Research
• 7. Clean energy close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 3. Good health close
• IR close
• Estudo Geral close

The effect of energy policies on the energy performance of residential properties/houses in nineteen Portuguese districts from 2014 to 2021 was investigated. A linear random-effects model regression was used as the method in this empirical investigation. The empirical results indicated that the income per capita has a negative effect on residential properties with high energy efficiency certificates (e.g., A+, A, and B) and a positive impact on residential properties with low energy efficiency certificates (e.g., C, D, E, and F); the codes and standards energy policies for energy efficiency have a positive effect on residential properties with high energy efficiency certificates (e.g., A, B, and B−) and residential properties with low energy efficiency certificates (e.g., C, D, E, and F); the fiscal and financial incentive policies for energy efficiency have a positive effect on residential properties with high energy efficiency certificates (e.g., A+, A, and B) and a negative effect on residential properties with B− energy certificate, and also a negative effect on residential properties with low energy efficiency certificates (e.g., C and D) and a positive effect on residential properties with an F energy certificate; the information and education policies of energy efficiency have a positive effect on residential properties with high energy efficiency certificates (e.g., A+, A, and B) and residential properties with low energy efficiency certificates (e.g., C, D, and E); and, finally, the consumer credit per capita has a positive effect on residential properties with high energy efficiency certificates (e.g., A+, A, and B) and a negative effect on residential properties with low energy efficiency certificates (e.g., C, D, and F), as well as a positive effect on residential properties with an F energy certificate.

Prior and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have resulted in substantial changes to everyday life. The pandemic and measures of its control affect mental health negatively. Self-reported data from 15,375 participants from 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questionnaires measuring anxiety level were used in this study—the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The associations between a set of social indicators on anxiety during COVID-19 (e.g., sex, age, country, live alone) were tested as well. Self-reported anxiety during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic varied across countries, with the maximum levels reported for Brazil, Canada, Italy, Iraq and the USA. Sex differences of anxiety levels during COVID-19 were also examined, and results showed women reported higher levels of anxiety compared to men. Overall, our results demonstrated that the self-reported symptoms of anxiety were higher compared to those reported in general before pandemic. We conclude that such cultural dimensions as individualism/collectivism, power distance and looseness/tightness may function as protective adaptive mechanisms against the development of anxiety disorders in a pandemic situation.

The impact of battery electric vehicles (BEV) on energy consumption was researched modeling energy consumption against BEVs, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and e-commerce, using annual data from 2010 to 2020, for twenty-nine European countries, with quantile regression and OLS with fixed effects econometric techniques. It was found that GDP and e-commerce impact energy consumption positively, and BEVs reduce energy consumption. These findings support that efficiency gains could not reduce energy consumption, and e-commerce, via extra packaging, further usage of computer processors, and cryptocurrencies to purchase products are hampering the environment. BEVs were revealed to be more energy-efficient than conventional cars. Thus, energy conservation policies to combat global warming and climate change arise. First, policies should offer an alternative packaging system to lower the negative environmental impacts of additional packaging for online purchases, stimulate smaller packages, free up additional space on the transport, enhance the delivery system efficiency, and promote alternative delivery systems. Second, offering subsidies for purchasing BEVs or tax rebates will increase the adoption rate of electric vehicles and combine this policy with the CO2 emissions’ regulations to stimulate the demand for BEVs. Finally, affordable charging points should be provided and customer awareness of the benefits of BEVs should be improved.

This research aims to answer two fundamental questions of the present time: First, what is the impact of the increasing complexity of economic structures and the production of complex goods on the environment? Second, can increasing export quality lead to the improvement of the environment? Given that the relationship of the ecological footprint and its determinants has been revealed to be nonlinear, the use of the quantile approach is supported. This finding led us to the central hypothesis of this research: economic complexity and export quality first deteriorate the ecological footprint (i.e., in lower quantiles), and the middle and higher quantiles contribute to reducing or mitigating environmental damage. The effect of economic complexity and export quality on the ecological footprint was researched using a two-step approach. First, club convergence was applied to identify the countries that follow a similar convergence path. After this, panel quantile regression was used to determine the explanatory power of economic complexity and export quality on the ecological footprint of 98 countries from 1990 to 2014. The club convergence revealed four convergent groups. Panel quantile regression was used because the relationship between the ecological footprint and its explanatory variables was shown to be nonlinear for the group of countries identified by the club convergence approach. GDP, nonrenewable energy consumption, and the population damage the environment. Urbanisation contributes to reducing the ecological footprint. Export quality and trade openness reduce the ecological footprint, but not at all quantiles. The effect of trade openness mitigating the ecological footprint is lost at the 90th quantile. Export quality becomes a reducer of the ecological footprint in the 50th quantile or above, and in the higher quantiles, its contribution to reducing the footprint is vast. Economic complexity aggravates the ecological footprint in low quantiles (10th), becomes non-statistically significant in the 25th quantile, and reduces the ecological footprint in higher quantiles. Policymakers must identify the impact of the ecological footprint and consider the demand and supply side of economics.

The plasma gasification process is one of the most innovative and efficient methods for the disposal of various wastes and energy production. But it is still an extremely complicated process; therefore, to optimize it, modeling could be used as an invaluable asset. The aim of this study is to develop a computational model to evaluate the plasma gasification process of polychlorinated biphenyl wastes. The model was created in Aspen Plus® commercial software. It is based on the principle of Gibbs free energy minimization. The results acquired in this research were validated by the data in the literature. It has to be noted that satisfactory results have been obtained. Also, air, steam, and carbon dioxide were considered as oxidizers and the effects of various parameters such as temperature, equivalence ratio (ER), steam-to-waste (S/W) ratio, and carbon dioxide-to-waste (CO2/W) ratio on the production of syngas components were investigated. The results show that processing this hazardous waste leads to the production of a large percentage of acidic gases, which demands a gas cleaning unit in such treatment facilities. The results also show that PCBs with lower chlorine atoms are favorable to the production of higher-quality syngas. The increase of the gasifier temperature turns the waste into purer syngas. However, after the temperature of 1200 ºC the results showed that the major constituents of syngas reach almost a constant molar fraction. A steam-to-waste ratio of 0.5 can be used to produce syngas with greater percentage of hydrogen and fewer pollutants. The use of CO2 as gasifying agent led to the production of large amounts of CO. Conclusion could be drawn that this process can be considered safe and very effective while processing the aforementioned hazardous wastes and in the production of high-quality syngas.

The contribution of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to mitigating/reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions was researched through a panel of 29 European countries from 2010 to 2019, using the econometric technique of method of moments quantile regression (MM-QR). This research is innovative by connecting the increasing use of electric vehicles with PM2.5 emissions and using the MM-QR to explore this relationship. Two models were estimated to analyse their contribution to reducing PM2.5 in European countries. The nonlinearity of the models were confirmed. The statistical significance of the variables is strong for the upper quantiles (75th and 90th), resulting from the effectiveness of European policies to improve the environment. Electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs), economic growth, and urbanisation reduce the PM2.5 problem, but energy intensity and fossil fuel consumption aggravate it. This research sheds light on how policymakers and governments can design proposals to encourage electric vehicle use in European countries. To achieve the long-term climate neutral strategy by 2050, it is imperative to implement effective policies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and promote the adoption of electric vehicles using renewable energy sources.

AbstractElectronic textiles and functional fabrics are among the key constituents envisioned for wearable electronics applications. For e‐textiles, the challenge is to process materials of desired electronic properties such as piezoelectricity into fibers to be integrated as wefts or wraps in the fabrics. Nylons, first introduced in the 1940s for stockings, are among the most widely used synthetic fibers in textiles. However, realization of nylon‐based e‐textiles has remained elusive due to the difficulty of achieving the piezoelectric phase in the nylon fibers. Here, piezoelectric nylon‐11 fibers are demonstrated and it is shown that the resulting fibers are viable for applications in energy harvesting from low frequency mechanical vibrations and in motion sensors. A simulation study is presented that elucidates on the sensitivity of the nylon‐11 fibers toward external mechanical stimuli. Moreover, a strategy is proposed and validated to significantly boost the electrical performance of the fibers. Since a large fraction of the textile industry is based on nylon fibers, the demonstration of piezoelectric nylon fibers will be a major step toward realization of electronic textiles for applications in apparels, health monitoring, sportswear, and portable energy generation.

This research analysed the effect of gender inequality on the economic growth of seventeen countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region from 1990 to 2016 using an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model with fixed effects and a quantiles via moments model. Electricity consumption from new renewable energy sources, general government capital stock, private capital stock, trade openness, and urban population were used as control variables, and a battery of preliminary and post-estimation tests were conducted to guarantee the adequacy and suitability of both methodologies. The OLS model with fixed effects supports that gender inequality negatively affects gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The quantiles via moments (QvM) model confirms the results of the OLS model with fixed effects and reveals that with increasing quantiles (25th, 50th, and 75th), gender inequality leads to decreases in LAC countries’ growth. LAC countries’ policymakers and institutions should improve gender equality to reach a higher development level and a more prosperous society. Developing policies that contribute to increasing women’s participation in the labour market, reducing the gender pay gap, supporting women’s education and training, constructing a more women-friendly and less patriarchal society, and developing measures to limit violence against women and early pregnancy and maternal mortality rates and increase women’s decision-making positions, particularly in public policy decision making, must be implemented.

Energy is a vital resource for human activities and lifestyle, powering important everyday infrastructures and services. Currently, pollutant and non-renewable sources, such as fossil fuels, remain the main source of worldwide consumed energy. The environmental impact of their exploitation has boosted research and investments in alternative, clean and renewable sources, including photovoltaic and wind-based systems. As a whole, buildings are one of the major energy consumption sectors. Hence, improving energy efficiency in buildings will result in economical and environmental gains. In the case of households, home energy management systems are mainly used for monitoring real-time consumption and to schedule appliance operations so that the energy bill could be minimised, or according to another specific criterion. This work aims to survey the most recent literature on home energy management systems, providing an aggregated and unified perspective in the context of residential buildings. In addition, an updated literature list regarding commonly managed household appliances and scheduling objectives are included. Physical and operational constraints, and how they are addressed by home energy management systems along with security issues are also discussed.