Energy, Sustainability and Society最新文献

Background

While discussions on nuclear energy mostly took place at the national level and the respective media arenas in the past, the questions of regulating sustainability and financing have now moved up to the supranational EU level. In this light, this article analyses the discussions and processes around the inclusion of nuclear energy into the EU Taxonomy, which aims at guiding financial means towards sustainable economic activities.

Results

The research question as to why nuclear energy has become sustainable is examined by applying a narrative discourse analysis. To account for the identified challenges for media-based discourse analysis regarding nuclear energy, an analysis was conducted alongside key events relying on media articles and expert interviews, following the institutional structure of the implementation process. The article contributes to the limited body of literature on sustainability regulation, particularly from a social science perspective. By delving into the specific dimensions of the regulatory process on nuclear energy, it provides a nuanced understanding that enriches existing academic discourse in this emerging field.

Conclusions

In the article, it is argued that four factors contributed mainly to the decision to label nuclear energy sustainable: the delegated act, combined with the decision to connect nuclear energy and gas (1), the publication of the report by the Joint Research Centre (2), the implicit compromise between Germany (gas) and France (nuclear energy) (3) and finally, the Russian war against Ukraine (4). Although narrative discourse analysis still offers valuable insights into ongoing policy processes at the EU level, the different implementation process in the EU by means of the delegated act shapes its explanatory power compared to the national context.

Background

Solar photovoltaic technology is one of the promising renewable energy solutions of the twenty-first century. It successfully provides electricity to industries, homes and even the transport sector. The decreasing prices of solar modules from 2010 have made Solar Home Systems Technology (SHST) increasingly attractive compared to other renewable energy technologies. Paradoxically, in rural communities of South Africa the usage of SHS remains low. Households continue to rely on unclean energy sources such as firewood for cooking and water heating. Previous efforts to electrify rural communities with SHS have failed considerably. Thus, a comprehensive study was conducted in the Vhembe District, encompassing three villages, to explore this issue and develop a contextualised solution using a behavioural change model. A 35-item questionnaire was randomly administered to 310 households to understand the factors that contribute to the low adoption rate of SHS technology. The data gathered were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics and Amos version 28. Confirmatory factor analysis and hypothesis testing were employed as the principal statistical methods.

Results

A 12-item model with five distinct factors consolidated into a single measurement model was revealed. All standardised factor loadings exceeded 0.7. Composite reliability values (CR) were above 0.8 and higher than MaxR(H) values, indicating the model’s reliability. Among the five factors influencing SHS adoption (perceived behavioural control, attitude, intention, trust, and subjective norms), only trust and attitude significantly impacted the intention to adopt SHS in the district (P < 0.05). Based on these findings, the conceptualised structural model reflected SHS adoption as determined by the integration of the technology’s social, technical and policy factors. Because of this, this should be regarded as a true reflection of the practical and behavioural intentions of local communities. Moreover, in this paper the barriers hindering SHS adoption are explained, emphasising the significance of attitude and trust. Highlights of policy imperatives are included together with a proposal for a contextual framework, and the way of promoting sustainable solutions. Emphasis is placed on the importance of scaling up renewable energy access.

Conclusions

This research provides a compelling academic exploration of the barriers to the adoption of SHS, the influential role of attitudes and trust, policy considerations, a contextual framework, and the need for promoting sustainable solutions and expanding access to renewable energy. The South African government should lead a change in how solar PV is deployed, considering its social impact, associated technical skills and policy support.

Background

While the energy system is recognized as the largest contributor to climate disruption, the bulk of the sustainability-oriented interventions are made through technologies rather than employment equity and social justice issues. Emergent research points to the critical role of increasing the number of women and other minoritized groups in the energy sector, which could have a cultural, economic, and environmental impact. Nevertheless, how inclusion and diversity in the sector are to be achieved is not clear.

Main text

This article is a result of a structured literature review of earlier research focusing on gender in professional networks and mentoring programs within the energy sector. Professional networks and mentoring have been identified as some of the tools employed for increasing gender diversity in the sector. We seek to understand how gender has been integrated, what the main barriers and enablers for women are, and what strategies organizations have applied to achieve gender balance so that men and women face equal opportunities to partake in and influence decisions concerning the energy system.

Conclusion

We found that women’s exclusion is not recognized as a problem that needs to be acknowledged, monitored, or addressed by the energy sector or policymakers. Professional mentoring and networking have largely been employed to fill the career advancement and diversity gaps left untackled by the energy sector or policymakers. Opportunities for women to be meaningfully included in energy systems decision-making are still limited and fragmented. Furthermore, this lack of recognition is mirrored in energy research. We identified a concerning lack of evidence-based findings on the topic of women’s networking and mentoring in the energy sector. We thus call for in-depth, qualitative, and critical examinations of how opportunities for women and other minoritized groups are generated on both the policy and practice level.

Background

This theoretical paper offers an ecofeminist analysis and critique of a specific conception of energy. The hypothesis is that, at least in the Western context, there is a characteristic socio-economic understanding of energy as a resource and commodity for human needs and the development of human societies. This conception corresponds to a cultural understanding that is both different from and broader than the scientific notion of energy. Such a conception has become part of several narratives, including energy policy. Our research question is: does this conception of energy as a commodity and resource affect the relation between humans and nature? And if so, how?

Results

Drawing on the work of Val Plumwood, and Greta Gaard, we argue that conceiving of energy as a resource and commodity for human needs and the socio-economic development of human societies reinforces and mediates the hierarchical and oppressive dualism “human-nature”, thus contributing to backgrounding, excluding, incorporating, and instrumentalizing some parts of nonhuman nature as well as some human groups.

Conclusions

The idea of energy as a commodity shapes public debates and policies, worsening existing environmental issues. This dominant perspective affects how people respond to environmental challenges and crises, both individually and collectively. This article aims to encourage more critical and open discussions about energy. It suggests that researchers and policymakers adopt more radical and less oppressive approaches in their academic work, benefiting both the human and non-human world.

Background

To limit climate change and reduce further harmful environmental impacts, the reduction and substitution of fossil energy carriers will be the main challenges of the next few decades. During the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the participants agreed on the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. Hydrogen, when produced from renewable energy, can be a substitute for fossil fuel carriers and enable the storage of renewable energy, which could lead to a post-fossil energy age. This paper outlines the environmental impacts and levelized costs of hydrogen production during the life cycle of water electrolysis technologies.

Results

The environmental impacts and life cycle costs associated with hydrogen production will significantly decrease in the long term (until 2045). For the case of Germany, the worst-case climate change results for 2022 were 27.5 kg CO_2eq./kg H₂. Considering technological improvements, electrolysis operation with wind power and a clean heat source, a reduction to 1.33 kg CO_2eq./kg H₂ can be achieved by 2045 in the best case. The electricity demand of electrolysis technologies is the main contributor to environmental impacts and levelized costs in most of the considered cases.

Conclusions

A unique combination of possible technological, environmental, and economic developments in the production of green hydrogen up to the year 2045 was presented.

Based on a comprehensive literature review, several research gaps, such as a combined comparison of all three technologies by LCA and LCC, were identified, and research questions were posed and answered. Consequently, prospective research should not be limited to one type of water electrolysis but should be carried out with an openness to all three technologies. Furthermore, it has been shown that data from the literature for the LCA and LCC of water electrolysis technologies differ considerably in some cases. Therefore, extensive research into material inventories for plant construction and into the energy and mass balances of plant operation are needed for a corresponding analysis to be conducted. Even for today’s plants, the availability and transparency of the literature data remain low and must be expanded.

Background

The majority of mini-grids in Tanzania are managed by private entities, faith-based institutions, and the government. In contrast, a limited number of mini-grids under community management strive to survive. Although the concept of “sense of ownership” is considered crucial for mini-grid sustainability in developing countries, there is limited theoretical exploration of the factors that drive this concept and its effects on community mini-grid management. This paper assesses the relationship between the sense of ownership among electricity users and the effective management of two solar community-based mini-grids with different sustainability experience.

Results

A sense of ownership plays a role in establishing the decision-making process of mini-grids among village energy committee members toward sustainable or unsustainable management. The mechanisms behind the sense of ownership among community members toward managing mini-grids are largely expedited by the strong leadership of village energy committee members, community participation in decision-making and resource mobilisation, especially in the preparation, design and implementation phases of mini-grids.

Conclusions

A sense of ownership is found to influence the effective management of community mini-grids in Tanzania. When designing mini-grid project policies and programs that target respective communities as prospective owners, energy practitioners and policy-makers should consider creating an environment that nurtures a sense of ownership.

Background

Value creation is a common concept in business, and the core purpose of economic activity. “Value creation” of biogas refers to how much biogas value can be created when it is used for different purposes. The fact that 1 m³ of biogas contains enough value as an energy carrier to replace coal, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and natural gas in the power and heat sector, as well as gasoline and diesel as a vehicle fuel, receives too little attention in China. The use of agricultural residues and waste is not only a key element for the reduction of resource demand and climate gas emissions, but also offers the potential for value creation. Biogas provision, which is being promoted more and more in China, could be the key to unlocking this potential.

Results

To assess the potential of value creation for straw-based biogas in China, we calculated the value created by substituting fossil fuels by biogas in different provinces. Likewise, we calculated the collectable straw potential between 2011 and 2020 by using data regarding methane yield, the official biogas electricity price and rate of subsidy by province, as well as market prices of fossil fuels issued by the National Bureau of Statistics as unit price. Furthermore, the amount of value that 1 m³ methane creates in different applications is compared in Chinese yuan, euro and dollar.

Conclusions

The results showed that value creation for vehicle use is the highest, which reached 5.52/6.57/8.16 yuan/m³ methane (0.789/0.939/1.166 USD/m³) as a gasoline replacement, and 5.17/5.81/7.07 yuan/m³ methane (0.699/0.785/0.955 USD/m³) as a diesel replacement; followed by substitution of natural gas, and LPG; the current most common use, electricity generated by the CHP plant showed a relatively low value, which reached 1.08/1.90 yuan/m³ methane (0.154/0.271 USD/m³); and the heat supply showed the lowest with only 0.56 yuan/m³ methane (0.08 USD/m³). This scientific calculation method of the value of biogas as an energy carrier provides a basis for further development of the biogas industry. This paper initially raises this research question in China.

Background

Currently, there is no wind park operating along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast. Therefore, this study aims to find suitable locations for such projects. Wind data from five coastal meteorological stations were used. These are Marsa Matruh (MM), Ras El-Tin (RE), Abu Qir (AQ), Port Said (PS), and Arish (Ar), in that order from west to east. The wind regime dataset, comprising velocity and direction measurements at a 10-m elevation, was collected from January 2007 to December 2022 (16 years), with a complete record of all data points. The Weibull distribution function, along with its different parameters, was used to characterize wind energy along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast. The coefficient of determination (R²), root mean squared error (RMSE), and relative root mean squared error (RRMSE) for the Weibull parameters, along with the relative percentage errors (RPE) for the wind power density were calculated to assess the concordance between outcomes derived from observed data and those predicted by the Weibull function.

Results

Results revealed that the dominant wind direction along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast was the NNW to N wind, except at Ar where the dominant wind was S. The wind velocity range of 4–6 m/s dominated RE, AQ, and PS. At MM and Ar, this was reduced to 2–4 m/s. The analysis of wind power density outlined significant insights into the potential for wind energy generation in the region. The overall analysis showed that AQ and PS were potentially the most suitable locations for wind energy projects. However, the high variability at the AQ site required robust system designs to manage the fluctuating wind conditions. PS might be more suitable for projects prioritizing stability and consistency over maximum energy output. Although Arish, characterized by its lower wind power density, may be less conducive for large-scale wind energy projects, it could still be viable for smaller installations or when integrated with other renewable energy sources.

Conclusions

The different statistical indices reflected good model fitting, displaying the reliability of the Weibull distribution as a tool for preliminary wind resource assessment along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast and facilitating accurate predictions of wind power availability.

Background

Demand response is an important option for accommodating growing shares of renewable electricity, and therefore, crucial for the success of the energy transition in Germany and elsewhere. In conjunction with smart meters, real-time (or ‘dynamic’) electricity tariffs can facilitate the flexibilization of power consumption and reduce energy bills. Whilst such tariffs are already quite common in several EU member states, Germany lags behind in this respect. The country makes for an interesting case study because of the sheer volume of additional flexibility that its energy transition necessitates.

Main text

This paper discusses how German policymakers can make real-time tariffs more attractive for households and thus entice them to better adapt their consumption to current market conditions. Following an analysis of the current impediments to the adoption of such tariffs, we discuss four policy options: (1) a more ambitious legal definition of real-time tariffs that can promote market transparency and leverage potential savings for consumers, (2) a shift in energy taxation that encourages the uptake of renewable power and increases price spreads, (3) a new model of dynamic network charges which combines grid-serving and market-serving incentives, and (4) a subsidy for users of real-time tariffs that helps internalise the benefits they provide to all electricity consumers. Given the similar regulatory framework, our suggestions should generally also apply to other countries in Europe and beyond.

Conclusions

Overall, we argue that there is considerable scope for policymakers to better exploit market forces to ensure security of electricity supply at lower social cost. Our call for stricter regulation in order to allow the markets to better guide consumer behaviour may seem like a paradox—but it is one well worth embracing.