• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close
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The economy activity in Serbia is burdened by lots of unfavourable circumstances, including the natural catastrophe so far unseen on this area in May 2014. The unemployment is long-term problem not being resolved with the 'employment policies' but with promotion of investments and achieving the economic growth and development. However, all sectors cannot become the pillars of increase of number and creation of new workplaces. The creators of local economic projections and programmes most frequently use the word 'restructuring'. But in practice, the 'restructuring' demands much more complex and more serious approach so far, above all to public sector of economy. The Serbian energy sector, and above all its public sector, is in front of great challenges deriving from urgent needs of current rehabilitation of flood after effects, from new strategic demands, as well as from European standard. The energy sector is by tradition important determinant of growth and stability of the entire economy. In Serbia, that is especially important considering the state of the capacities and legacy from the past. Modernisation of energy sector implies the application of many new dimensions of sustainability which need to be achieved. Unused renewable sources represent the opportunity for the increase of green investments, sustainable employment, and 'green jobs' in this sector. 'Green economy' and sustainable energy sector represent great opportunity for the future of Serbia. Stabilization and ecologisation of the capacities for the production of thermoelectric energy, increase of the share of renewable sources, and above all the measures of energy efficiency will represent crucial steps and measures towards sustainable energy sector in Serbia. Perhaps they represent true challenge for new construction works, new infrastructure, rehabilitation of schools and hospitals, modernisation of agriculture and tourism, as well as new public and private sector manufacturing capacities.

The main focus of this paper lies with the national laws of three European countries (Germany, Austria and Hungary), as well as the EU law, relating to liability for damage caused by nuclear plant. The aforesaid European countries have enacted legislation prescribing stringent rules on liability of the operators of nuclear plants, meaning that for some forms of legally recognized harm (death, injury, damage to health) the operator incurs liability, even if damage was caused by force major. This type of strict liability, whereby force major is not reason for exculpation, provided that the damage could be related to functioning of the plant, is named absolute liability. In addition, some regimes introduce presumption of causality, when it is more likely than not that damage resulted from the effects of nuclear plants (or ionizing radiation, or secondary nuclear waste materials). The author also analyzes national and European rules on prevention of nuclear and other environmental damage, which includes the creation of the registry of nuclear plants with relevant data on domestic and European operators, the mechanisms of control of the operators, the requirement of preliminary ecological analysis in the construction of new plants, etc. In addition, the author observes differences between nuclear damage in broad and in narrow sense. The former is, in principle, redressed generally, to the extent possible. The latter is commonly redressed individually, to the extent prescribed by statutes.

In the context of climate change afforestation is often seen as one of the most important mitigation measures. Forestry as a branch aims to improve the state of existing forests and also to increase the total forest fund. The question is what can all be done in order to reach the second objective, i.e. to increase existing forest area? By the Spatial plan of Republic Serbia forest area should be increased from the current 29% up to some 900 km2 by the year 2020. For Vojvodina, where only 7% of area is under forest, priority task is to find possibilities to afforest agricultural, degraded and other categories of land so that targeted increase of 14% can be reached. While afforestation has legal and strategic support there is a growing need to consider other relevant aspects and innovative solutions within them. This paper focuses on the social science aspects and examines one possible option on how to establish and maintain relationship with the owners/users of land suitable for afforestation. This option refers to the concept of customer relationship management (CRM). The aim of the paper is to describe and understand the CRM-concept and its application in forestry. Criterion analysis has been applied in order to determine CRM-possibilities when identifying, contacting and communicating with owners/users of land sutable for afforestation as with potential customers.

The basic thesis of this analysis is as follows: the economic development of Serbia today is under the huge pressure of what is happening in the surroundings, as well as of results of internal economic policy and inappropriate (inapplicable) developmental concepts. Namely, the more 'models' for the reconceptualization of the future developmental flows to the sustainability, the more confusion about them. The basic dilemma is: does Serbia currently need new models based on economic doctrine and science, or different economic practice based on the obligation to repay the debt, fulfillment of the legal obligations, and power of institutions? Maybe Serbia needs only free entrepreneurial climate for starting new developmental projects, and more employment based on market verification of production factors? It is understandable that the answer could not be simple choice between one of three given options. But it is more than certain that during the past developmental wandering has prevailed official orientation to new 'models', neither of which had functioned as a whole. Precisely, in spite of the formal parameters of positive development, this orientation has left deep structural disorders and developmental blockade in the medium and long term. It is certain only that many of the structural presumptions will have to be basically changed in order to generate continuous and qualitative growth, based on the Serbian resources and sustainable systematic changes.

Istraživanja u ovoj doktorskoj disertaciji sprovedena su sa ciljem utvrđivanja osnovnih parametara pojave nesrećnih slucajeva sa traktorima i drugim mobilnim mašinama u Republici Srbiji, u periodu 2005-2009. godina. Prvi deo istraživanja je obuhvatio nesrećne slucajeve u javnom saobraćaju. Drugi deo se odnosi na nesreće u uslovima poljoprivredne proizvodnje. Prikupljeni podaci su obrađeni, sistematizovani i predstavljeni u formi tabela i grafikona. U obzir su uzete određene kategorije uzroka događanja nesrecnih slucajeva, tipove nesreca, godine istraživanja i posledica događanja nesrećnih slucajeva. Rezultati pokazuju da se u javnom saobraćaju, u periodu istraživanja dogodilo ukupno 6.625 nesreca od kojih je 67,1% izazvano od strane vozača traktora. Od ukupno 329 nesreća sa tragično nastradalim licima 80,85% izazavali su vozači traktora i drugih mobilnih poljoprivrednih mašina. U ukupno pomenutom broju nesreća, nastradalo je 3.761 osoba. Od 345 tragično nastradalih lica, 80,57% je tragično nastradalo u nesrecama koje su izazavali vozači-rukovaoci poljoprivredne mehanizacije. Najuticajniji uzroci nesreća su: nepropisna brzina kretanja vozila, nepropisne radnje vozilom i psihofizičko stanje vozača. Najzastupljeniji tip nesreća su sudari (1.180 slucajeva) i sletanje vozila sa puta (599 slucajeva). Kada su u pitanju nesreće koje su se desile u uslovima poljoprivredne proizvodnje, u periodu istraživanja dogodilo se ukupno 903 nesreće u kojima je nastradalo 1.070 lica (17,38% je tragično nastradalo, 15,33% poginulo). Najveći broj nesreća/nastradalih lica zabeleženo je u Zlatiborskoj, Moravickoj i Beogradskoj oblasti. Najzastupljeniji tip nesreća je prevrtanje (47,4%) traktora i/ili agregatiranih prikljucaka i drugih mobilnih poljoprivrednih mašina. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da su nesrece sa mobilnom poljoprivrednom mehanizacijom u Republici Srbiji veoma česta pojava. Osnovni problemi su: nedostatak obuke za pravilno korišcenje i održavanje mašina, nedovoljno poznavanje saobracajnih propisa vozaca traktora, neodgovornost i nedisciplina prilikom korišcenja traktora i poljoprivredih mašina. U ovoj disertaciji su predložene preventivne mere kojima se broj nesreca može smanjiti, uz vece poštovanje zakona iz oblasti sigurnosti rada mašina, i posebno Zakona o bezbednosti saobracaja na putevima. occurrence of accidents with tractors and other mobile machines in the Republic of Serbia in the period 2005-2009. The first part of the survey included the accidents in public transport. The second part refers to the accidents in conditions of agricultural production. The collected data were statistically analyzed, systematized and presented in the form of tables and graphs. Specific causes of accidents, types of accidents, research period and the consequences of accidental events were taken into consideration. The results show that during the period of research, in public transport it occurred 6625 accidents of which 67.1% was caused by the driver of the tractor. Of the total of 329 accidents with tragic casualties, 80.85% were the drivers of tractors and other mobile agricultural machines. The total number of casualties was 3761 persons. From 345 tragic casualties, 80.57% died in accidents that drew drivers/operators of agricultural machinery. The most influential causes of accidents were: improper speed of the vehicle, improper vehicle operations and driver impairments. The most common type of accidents was collisions (1180 cases) and run-off-the road accidents (599 cases). In the conditions of agricultural production during the research period, it has happened a total of 903 accidents in which 1070 people were killed (17.38% tragic casualties, 15.33% died). The highest number of accidents/casualties was recorded in Zlatibor, Morava and the Belgrade area. The most common type of accident is tumbling of the tractor and/or aggregated implements and other mobile agricultural machines (47.4%). The results show that accidents with the mobile agricultural machinery in the Republic of Serbia are very common. The basic problems are: lack of training for the proper use and maintenance of machinery, tractor driver’s lack of knowledge of traffic regulations, irresponsibility and lack of discipline in the use of tractors and agricultural machinery. The main conclusion of this dissertation is that, preventive measures along with the greater respect of the law in the area of safe operation of machinery and the law on road traffic safety can reduce the number of accidents.

The aim of this research is to analyze the budget deficit sustainability and by doing so determine whether the government can use it to reduce the negative consequences without compromising the overall balance. In the recent decades, some developed countries have been facing extremely high budget deficits, which attracts great attention of economists. The risk of default is hanging like the Sword of Damocles above the heads of some EU members and everyone agrees that the increase in public debt is unsustainable. State budgets begin to resemble a Ponzi scheme - let usjust mention the US federal deficit. This is also a central issue for the EMU, because debt cannot continue to grow faster than the national income. Over time, an increasing part of the budget has been dedicated to debt servicing, until finally its amount does not force the authorities to finance debt either by printing money or by defaulting. This paper points out that solutions are possible if the executive state authorities abandon the unreasonable spending and the neo-liberal concept of managing the economy. But without compelling changes of the country's economic policy, the risk will reach the point where the adverse effects become inevitable.

T his paper presents the main development trends of the world's energy market and describes the fundamental energy security principles. It analyzes the European energy sector, production and consumption, and the European Commission's legal regulations regarding the energy security. The results of the Russian energy sector are discussed through an analysis of the expected effects of conceptual development and the Russian Government policy. The relations between the EU and Russia are analyzed on the EU level as well as on a bilateral level. In the conclusion, the paper offers an overview of the current EU energy security and an answer to the question: 'Can Russia be a reliable energy partner for the EU?'.

The aim of this paper is to point out the problems in the field of energy efficiency in Serbia and the needs for systematic measures for energy efficiency improvement in order to create appropriate conditions for sustainable industrial growth and development. The paper is consisted of three chapters and concluding remarks. In the first chapter was emphasized very low level of energy efficiency in Serbia, as well as very high energy intensity. This chapter provides also an analysis of structure of energy consumption in Serbia and selected neighboring countries. The legal framework for energy efficiency improvement in European Union and Serbia is presented in the second chapter of the paper. The adequate measures suggested by national policy for energy efficiency in order to stimulate industrial development are described in the third chapter. Finally, the last chapter summarizes key messages of the paper.

Biodiesel, an alternative to fossil fuels, consists of alkyl, usually methyl, esters of fatty acids (FAME). Conventionally, it is mostly obtained by homogeneous base catalyzed methanolysis of edible oils. Despite the significant advantages, the main drawbacks of this process are the high requirements in terms of the quality of the raw materials and environmentally unfavorable processes of catalyst separation and products purification. For these reasons, the researches of biodiesel synthesis are aimed at developing new processes that are economically and environmentally acceptable. In this paper processes of FAME synthesis, their advantages, disadvantages and opportunities for improving are analyzed, in order to develop processes suitable for industrial applications. The main aim was to present an overview of the researches in developing biodiesel synthesis providing a high FAME yield, which are environmentally-friendly and economically acceptable. Heterogeneously catalyzed process has most often studied, aiming at developing catalytic active, stable and cheap catalysts as well as at process improvement. The developments of enzyme and noncatalytic processes are mainly aimed at reducing production costs and increasing the FAME yield under mild reaction conditions, respectively. Generally, the perspectives of biodiesel synthesis include the use of continuous processes and suitable reactor systems.

This paper provides an overview of the most important elements of the Chinese and the European Union policies (EU) in the field of environment. The first part of the paper points to some characteristics of the environmental situation in China, the strategic framework and basic regulations of China in the environmental field. In particular, it emohasizes the main elements of importance for understanding the position of China in contemporary policies in the area of climate change. The second part of the paper analyzes the development and the basic elements of EU policy in the field of environment and climate change. The third part is devoted to the international legal aspects of contemporary policies in the field of environ­ment and the status of China, i.e. the EU and other countries in the most important international treaties in the environmental field. The main objective of this paper is to determine the similarities and differences in the policies of China, i.e. of the European Union in the field of environment and climate change. Criteria for the comparison include several elements: environmental assessment and contribution to global climate change, the historical development of policy and environmental law, policy objectives, the structure of the existing regulations in the field of environment, attitude towards international obligations and membership in international treaties of the global character, etc. The thesis is considered that the common elements of the policies of China and the EU in the field of environment are primarily determined by processes at the international level, the recognition of the need for solving global environmental problems and memberships in the relevant international treaties. In this regard, it is noted that there are certain elements that could be considered as a common policy for China and the EU in the field of environment, but that there were significant differences depending on the special social and economic development and the overall position in the international community.