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Abstract Biomass integrated gasification cogeneration is nowadays considered as one of the most attractive technologies for CO 2 emission reduction and non-renewable fuel savings. The paper presents application of the Thermo-Ecological Cost (TEC), which expresses the cumulative consumption of non-renewable exergy, for examination of energy and environmental benefits of biomass energy conversion plant based on gasification technology and medium scale recuperative gas turbine. To express the total effect of considered energy conversion systems the TEC is supplemented with the data resulting from Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). Different available gasification technologies and configurations of a cogeneration plant are investigated. Atmospheric fluidized bed gasification (AFB), pressurized fluidized bed gasification (PFB) and allothermal gasification using pure steam as gasification agent (FICFB) are taken into account as well as simple and combined power cycles with the Mercury 50 Solar gas turbine. The results reveal that simple cycle with gas turbine and waste heat recovery water boiler offers better effects than combined cycle configuration. The best performance has been reported for pressurized gasification technology.

Abstract The article presents design problems of tourist infrastructure in protected landscape and nature areas in Poland. They concern discrete regulation of the intensity and course of leisure and tourist traffic towards and within protected areas. Such regulation can only be carried out on the basis of the structure of accessibility of areas covered by protection and spatial development plans, shaped in accordance with environmental conditions. The quality of access to protected areas is also significantly influenced by the architecture of tourist infrastructure objects presented in the article. It concerns selected objects of small wooden architecture designed in areas with special landscape and natural requirements, which have been implemented in Poland in recent years. These objects are small elements, e.g. signposts, information and educational boards, benches, tables, waste bins, rest shelters, objects at entrances to protected areas (gates), ticket offices, as well as impressive engineering structures built in difficult terrain conditions, e.g. terraces, platforms and observation towers. These issues will be presented on the basis of many years of research and design works concerning protected areas in Lower Silesia (arch. Bogusław Wojtyszyn) and original designs (arch. Alicja Maciejko and arch. Mirosław Strzelecki) realised on the tourist routes of the Stolowe Mountains National Park in Poland, shaping tourism and recreation accessibility for all users including disabled people in protected landscape and nature areas.

Nowadays, apart from travel time and cost, more and more attention is paid to ensuring that ecological footprint of the means of transport used for a journey is as small as possible. Therefore, it is reasonable to look for methods and solutions that will allow planning communication connections according to the principles of sustainable development. The aim of the article was to present mathematical model of the proecological distribution of traffic flow into a network, together with a determination of how the amount of emissions of harmful compounds for rail transport will be calculated (based on amount of energy necessary for movement, calculated on circumference of the wheels). The model has been verified on real data. The traffic flow was distributed over a selected communication route: Warszawa—Gdansk, where the criterion was minimization of total carbon dioxide emissions. An evolutionary method implemented in Microsoft Excel was used to solve the optimization problem. For the analysis of only the fastest connections, the railway one was the optimal from the point of view of the adopted criteria. After the train capacity was exceeded, air and car connections were loaded. Based on the research, a function that represents the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the analyzed traffic route depending on the size of the traffic flow was developed.

In this paper, we investigate the influence of airport operation on property prices. In this research, we apply spatial hedonic regression and a difference-in-differences approach to address the introduction of new land use restrictions on property prices. We use data on housing transactions from two housing submarkets around regional airports in Poland. The results suggest that the introduction of land use restrictions impacts property prices. In general, as expected, more rigid restrictions translate into higher discounts in property prices. This research contributes to the limited knowledge on the impact of the introduction of land use restrictions on property prices, as most previous papers have focused solely on the impact of noise. These findings must be treated with caution, as some estimates were not statistically significant, mainly due to limited sample size. The research has important policy implications. Growing airports in Poland face tensions between economic and environmental sustainability. Currently, airports in Poland are obliged to limit their environmental impact by creating limited use areas related to the aircraft related noise while being responsible for property value loss related to these restrictions. As a consequence, most regional airports face significant compensations to property owners.

Oil palm becomes an increasingly important source of vegetable oil for its production exceeds soybean, sunflower, and rapeseed. The growth of the oil palm industry causes degradation to the environment, especially when the expansion of plantations goes uncontrolled. Remote sensing is a useful tool to monitor the development of oil palm plantations. In order to promote the use of remote sensing in the oil palm industry to support their drive for sustainability, this paper provides an understanding toward the use of remote sensing and its applications to oil palm plantation monitoring. In addition, the existing knowledge gaps are identified and recommendations for further research are given.

This article attempts to identify the key forces driving the successful digitalization of the energy sector, ensuring improvements in the energy triangle including sustainability, stability, and economic performance. The article sheds light on the diverse energy priorities at supra-, national, and managerial levels, and the role of digitalization in achieving these objectives. Catching up economies (such as Poland), being post-socialist EU member states, in order to transform its energetic sector, must overcome a number of infrastructural and social shortcomings retained as a legacy of the socialist economy. As such, sustainability (as the core priority at EU energy agenda) may not be the leading objective at both national and company level in the energy sector transformation. This article presents the results of empirical research carried out through distribution of e-questionnaire addressed to Polish managers from the energy sector. The results were analyzed using the fsQCA method. The findings suggest that, for managers, the most important drivers of digitalization and transformation of the energy sector in Poland are its high economic performance, together with support for energy prosumers and consumers. The prerequisites for a successful digitalization are alternatively the absence of management barriers, or a combination of high economic performance and a strong focus on environmental protection. Surprisingly, according to managers surveyed, the rapid implementation of new technologies is not considered a vital condition for successful digital transformation of the energy sector, which implies either or managerial lack of knowledge in this area and/or a reluctance to introduce digital rapid technologies.

This paper presents comprehensive diagrams applied in the search for the optimal strategy for investing in heat sources and analysis of the impact of technical and economic parameters on specific heat production costs in single-fuel combined heat and power plants. An innovative methodology was applied to find for the specific cost of heat production in various technologies. The results regarding the specific cost of heat production in combined power heat and sources systems are discussed in this paper. The graphs are universal and can be used with regard to various combinations of technical and economic parameters playing a decisive role in the cost of heat production. In addition, the results of the calculations are presented in the function of the value of the annual cogeneration factor, the value of which is dependent on the technology applied in combined heat and power production. Using the presented innovative methodology and graphs developed on its basis, it is possible to select the most favorable heat production technology, for which the specific cost of heat production is the lowest, for any cost of fuel, price of electric energy and cost of the purchase of CO2 emission permits.

Comprehensive environmental impact assessments of buildings and construction as a whole consider the preparation of construction and finishing materials, their transportation, the process of erecting buildings, long-term operations—including the consumption of electricity, water, and fuels—and the management of the waste generated during the demolition of facilities. In terms of the above-mentioned elements, the most negative environmental impact on a building’s life cycle is in its exploitation stage. In order to reduce this impact, modern sustainable construction uses renewable energy sources. In the area of the Polish building market, analyses of CO2 emissions, the application of LCAs for building materials, and assessments of the social impacts of modern buildings are still very limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental life cycles and social costs of the CO2 emissions of single-family residential buildings, in which four different systems providing energy (heat and electricity) from renewable and nonrenewable sources are used. In this research, it was found that the annual CO2 emissions per square meter of building surface area in the analyzed objects were in the range of 30 to 176 kg CO2. The greatest contributor to the environmental effects was energy consumption (58% to 90%). The CO2 analysis conducted showed that facilities that use a heat pump are characterized by an environmental effect that is six times lower than that of facilities that are powered by coal combustion and electricity from the network. Similarly, the social costs associated with CO2 emissions were significantly lower in the case of the use of renewable energy sources.