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Nowadays, heating using wood, briquettes, or pellets is a curious replacement to fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or gas. Unfortunately, the combustion of biofuels, especially in low-power boilers with unstable operating conditions, releases a lot of gas pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), and various organic compounds) that are usually generated due to the incomplete product combustion. The combustion of biofuel in grate boilers with top-down ignition is a new approach, popular in society (mainly used for coal fuels), which improves the combustion process and reduces the amount of pollutants emitted. This study evaluated the impact of ignition techniques on the emission level of gas pollutants during the combustion of wood logs, briquettes, and pellets of pine in grate-based charging boilers. The combination of top ignition mode with pinewood logs allowed us to achieve a reduction of 6% in CO and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission into the atmosphere. However, the combination of top-down ignition mode with pellets and briquettes produced, in fully operational conditions, 1- to 18-fold higher levels of CO and SO2 respectively, than bottom-up ignition, after an initial period of low level CO and SO2 emissions. During the tests (mainly with ignition from top), substantial emissions of NO were observed of up to 400 mg·m−3 at 10% O2. Therefore, further research is required to decrease emission related to the content of nitrogen in biomass. In this respect, research of impact on the combustion temperature of such emissions is needed.

Continuous phosphorus discharges in bodies of water, generated by human activities, such as agriculture, domestic effluences or wastewater from industrial processes, produce contaminated water and eutrophication. For this reason, efficient and low-cost systems that can remove phosphorus from contaminated water are necessary. In addition, it is important to generate renewable energy such as the energy produced in biomass power plants, taking advantage of the available biomass waste in each place. When producing this renewable energy, the resulting ash is a residue that can be used for phosphorus removal by adsorption processes. Moreover, according to the concept of the circular economy, the ash waste generated in this bio energy process should be reduced as much as possible. One of the advantages of this research being that surplus phosphorus-laden ash can be reused as fertilizer in agricultural fields. Considering this, the efficiency of reed ash (RA) (Phragmites australis) has been analysed in batch experiments, as well as the effect of several parameters on the removal of phosphate, such as contact time, phosphate-ash ratio, ash dose and temperature. Significant results obtained show that RA can be used to improve water quality.

European harmonisation of construction products provides a uniform expression of performance aspects relevant for essential characteristics coming from notified technical building regulations of the EU Member States. Since the current regulation has been in force for over seven years, this study evaluates further possibilities of its evolution, including a more efficient approach to implementing environmental sustainability aspects. The provided research is based on qualitative analysis of the past and current legislation, official documents, related guidance, judgements, scientific articles and the author’s practical experience coming from participation in the European committees, organisations and standardisation activities. Various legislative techniques and regulatory tools that could be potentially used to review the Construction Products Regulation are analysed and compared with regards to their impact on the inclusion of environmental sustainability principles. Therefore, the objective of this research is to provide substantive grounds that can be directly or indirectly used in the policymaking processes on the European and national level.

The basis for developing logistics solutions in cities is to know the requirements and expectations of current and potential transport users and for decision makers to strive to meet them. In building an urban logistics strategy, it is therefore necessary to take into account different stakeholder groups. Building stakeholder relations should be aimed at involving them in the development of a sustainable transport policy for the city. It should be noted, however, that the importance of stakeholders in transport policy is diverse. This assumption was made in the paper, which aimed to identify the role of the various groups of urban logistics stakeholders in the sustainable movement of people. This challenge is subordinated to the methodology proposed in the paper, which combines the analysis of urban logistics stakeholders and the assignment of roles to them in the pursuit of sustainable flows of people in the city with the identification of tasks in which stakeholders characterized by a particular role should be involved. Achieving the stated goal required collaboration with experts. Research on the roles of stakeholders, as well as the tasks in which they should be involved, was conducted in Polish cities. Infrastructure managers, small mobility organisers, public safety organisations and public transport organisations turned out to be the development leaders who, as a result, were recommended to be included in most tasks by local government units of Polish cities. What deserves special attention in the results obtained, on the other hand, is the role of the unpredictable main player, which is other cities.

Sustainable development requires ensuring the mobility of residents and must not cause deterioration of the quality of the environment in the selected area. The purpose of this study is to verify if the construction of a cross-regional highway through the city centre affected air quality in the neighbourhood of a newly built road. Air quality was assessed based on measurements of concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, which is considered to be typical for automotive sources air pollution. The spectrophotometric method with passive sampling was used in the 24 h NO2 measurements. The calculated mean NO2 concentrations in the periods before and after road construction were within the ranges of 23.2–31.9 μg/m3 and 22.3–28.9 μg/m3, respectively. The relative NO2 concentrations determined in the study for 10 out of 11 sampling points were lower than the unity, including 5 points markedly lower (0.82–0.89). The obtained results indicate that the construction of the new artery by the city centre, using appropriate technical solutions and traffic organization (tunnel, noise barriers, roundabouts, speed limit) likely contributed to an overall reduction in NO2 concentrations. The presented solution may serve as an example for other cities struggling with problems of low air quality associated with inefficient transportation systems.

The choice of optimal plant species for phytoremediation and organic fertilization plays an important role in stabilizing the functions of soils contaminated with heavy metals. The influence of nickel, cobalt and cadmium on the biomass yield and calorific value of Festuca rubra, heavy metal concentrations in soil and plants and the microbiological, biochemical and physicochemical proprieties of soil were analyzed in a pot experiment. The tolerance index (TI) describing Festuca rubra’s ability to tolerate heavy metals, as well as the translocation (TF), accumulation (AF) and bioaccumulation (BF) factors of heavy metals in Festuca rubra were calculated. The experiment was conducted in two series: In soil fertilized and not fertilized with compost. Nickel and cobalt significantly inhibited the growth and development of Festuca rubra. The experiment demonstrated that this plant species can be grown on soil contaminated with heavy metals. Festuca rubra contained on average 46.05% C, 34.59% O, 5.91% H, 3.49% N, 0.19% S and 9.76% ash. Festuca rubra has a stable calorific value which is not affected by heavy metals; therefore, biomass harvested from heavy metal-polluted soil can be used for energy generation. The calorific value of Festuca rubra ranged from 15.924 to 16.790 MJ kg−1 plant d.m., and the heat of combustion from 17.696 to 18.576 MJ kg−1. It has a stable calorific value which is not affected by heavy metals, therefore biomass harvested from heavy metal-polluted soil can be used for energy generation. Festuca rubra is particularly useful for the phytostabilization of soil contaminated with cadmium and cobalt. Compost minimizes the adverse effects of heavy metal pollution on the microbiological, biochemical and physicochemical properties of soil.

This article addresses issues of air pollutant emissions by Polish mining industry leaders in the light of corporate social responsibility policy: Kombinat Górniczo-Hutniczy Miedzi Polska Miedź S.A. (KGHM), Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. (PGE). The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative regulates business activities at the level of environmental and social responsibility. Given the location of the “emission activities”, the level of pollutants (SOx, NOx, PMx) generated by selected entities in the capital group over the years has been analysed. The aim of the article is to disclose relevant data on the emission reduction of entities as an expression of the actions of taking care of the environment and social protection. Evaluation of the extractive industry in the context of only interventions in the environment without emphasizing the economic and social significance is biased. Therefore, the level of emissivity of the whole economy has been verified against the background of the European Union. The article highlights the importance of coal power in two contexts: the production of electricity based on that fuel in controlled industrial installations and the uncontrolled use of coal in the municipal economy as a problem with a greater nuisance and impact on the quality of inhaled air. Analyses have shown that the widely understood mining industry is still a source of pollution, but power plants and processing plants have significantly reduced the volume of emissions over the years.

Although European energy policy supports the reduction of energy consumption, the current economic and political situation in Poland and uncertainty related to the origin of energy sources do not support it. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and assess the factors that affect the energy-saving behaviour of Polish consumers in the process of energy consumption. The research problem concerns the specificity of behaviours that are part of new trends in consumption, such as greening and the ethical dimension of consumption. The research question arises as to what the social responsibility of consumers is in the process of energy consumption. The research problem comes down to the question of factors that determine the behaviour of an individual consumer in the energy market. In order to realise the indicated purpose of the article, a conceptual research model was built and direct research was conducted using the research method, which was an online survey (CAWI). The research was run among 1422 individual consumers. After verifying 14 research hypotheses, it can be concluded that energy-saving behaviour is influenced in similar ways by a set of factors. In the paper there are findings which show that the generally understood energy-saving behaviour (Y1—at home and Y2—off-site) is influenced by the following factors: X1—energy-saving knowledge, X3—green consumer values, X5—social influence, X6—beliefs, and X7—consumer awareness. The specific mechanism of influence of each of the dominant factors is that the higher the intensity of these factors in consumer behaviour, the more actions are taken to save energy inside or outside the home. However, X2—energy-saving cost perception and X4—materialism presents this influence mechanism only for Y1—energy-saving behaviour at home.