Prospects for the Development of Transport in Poland during the Energy Crisis

Recent years have been times of crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian attack on Ukraine. Energy markets have seen dynamic increases in commodity prices, which have continued to this day. The prices of oil, whose rise fuels inflation are particularly important for the world economy. The paper presents an overview and per-prospects for the development of transport in Poland during the energy crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis carried out on the example of Poland clearly shows that in the near term there is no chance to reduce fuel prices in Poland, which would result in a decrease in transport costs. It seems that the only chance for companies to reduce transport costs is to change their supply and inventory management strategies to take advantage of economies of scale and maintain high inventory levels. On the other hand, in world markets, oil prices will fall only if the war in Ukraine finishes. © 2023, Econjournals. All rights reserved.

Competitiveness-the engine that boosts economic growth and revives the economy

Competitiveness is a concept that shows up in all aspects of human life, both at the micro level, in personal, social, and professional life, and at the macro level, linked to organizational and national competitiveness with long-term effects on global competitiveness. In this paper, we aim to address competitiveness in Romania in the current context, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its role in reviving the economy. While until the onset of the pandemic Romania's competitiveness performance was growing, more recently, because of the global health crisis, it dropped a few places, according to the Global Competitiveness Index report. In order to have a clear picture of the degree of competitiveness in Romania, we have presented a series of statistical data for the most relevant macroeconomic indicators for our study for the 2017-2022 timeframe: the global competitiveness index, the minimum wage, labor productivity, the evolution of real labor productivity per employed person, the economic growth rate, the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, the European innovation index, gross domestic expenditure on research and development, export of goods and services as a share of GDP, etc. The methodology used involves the use of quantitative techniques, performing an econometric analysis, and correlating how the most important macroeconomic indicators can influence the degree of competitiveness at both the national and international level. For the post-pandemic timeframe, the analysis switches focus, just as the economic reality did, looking at energy costs and energy use as determinants of competitiveness. Since notions like circular economy and sustainable development correlate being energy-efficient with being competitive, however, at the same time, the high cost of investments necessary for individual businesses and countries to switch from polluting energies to clean energies impedes or at the very least heavily impacts their ability to compete with entities that don't make that same switch, it becomes apparent that the energy market impacts competitiveness metrics. Competitiveness promotes valuable contributors and underpins performance at group and company level, and the effects from the micro level will propagate, with an emission effect, to the entire national economy with obvious implications at the international level, through real growth in macroeconomic indicators, increased labor productivity, increased economic performance (market share, export share, return on capital), raising living standards and economic and social wellbeing (life expectancy index, human development index, poverty rate), education (skills, knowledge, abilities, managerial and marketing skills, corporate culture), competitive potential (innovation, R&D, promotion), and in raising the Global Competitiveness Index by focusing on factors of production, efficiency, and innovation, etc.

Crisis and opportunity: Transforming climate governance for SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their aggregate emissions are significant, and they are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including extreme weather events. SMEs also play a vital role in shaping the environmental behaviours of individuals, communities, and other businesses. However, these organisations have been largely neglected by climate policies across all levels of government. A series of global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Europe and the Middle East, and energy price spikes, have posed an existential threat to millions of SMEs, while also acting as a catalyst for the reconfiguration of the social contract between business, society and the state, both temporary and more long-term. In this article, we make the case for increased focus on the governance of SME decarbonisation to address this turbulent context. We outline key challenges facing public policymakers and other governance actors, compare strategic options, identify evidence gaps that hinder effective interventions, and highlight implications for research. In doing so we set out key elements of a renewed social contract for business, society and state relations.

Restructuring Lessons from the Covid Pandemic: Bail-Out vs. Market Approach

Bail-out, bail-in, or restructuring? In this article, we argue that restructuring has its rightful place in macro crises, such as the Covid pandemic. A policy that primarily focuses on insolvency avoidance and bail-outs is misled as it creates unwanted risk incentives, distorts market selection and resource allocation, and reduces beneficial transformative pressure. As a crisis typically goes hand in hand with new and fundamental developments, the changing environment should be met by competitive innovation. Bail-outs which tend to preserve the status-quo may be justified as part of a comprehensive emergency strategy and to overcome temporary market dysfunction. Such a response strategy, however should always be designed in concert with restructuring options. We propose amendments to the German insolvency and restructuring laws to address the shortcomings of restructuring/insolvency uncovered during the Covid pandemic. The goal is to improve the restructuring/insolvency regime so that it can better deal with the specific challenges of macro crises.

Coal Is a Priority for Energy Security, until It Is Not: Coal Phase-Out in the EU and Its Persistence in the Face of the Energy Crisis

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many countries see coal as the easiest solution to their energy sector challenges, despite the consequences for climate goals. Several countries of the European Union started to re-evaluate their coal policies vis-à-vis the current energy crisis and, although such a change is expected to be short-term in nature, it nevertheless has negative consequences for the Union's 2050 climate goal. However, most of the EU countries did not revise their phase-out goals. This paper examines Slovakia as a country that embarked on a coal phase-out trajectory only a few years before the pandemic broke out and stayed firmly on this path despite benefits stemming from the continued use of domestic coal. Domestic coal used to be considered a safeguard of energy security in Slovakia, especially after the 2009 gas crisis. However, a decision was made in 2018 to phase out coal by 2023, and this has not changed despite increased focus on domestic energy sources as energy security guarantors during the current energy crisis. This paper explains the decision in favour of a coal phase-out and its support vis-à-vis the energy crisis using the concept of ‘financial Europeanisation', which stresses the importance of EU funds for the development of the domestic policies of EU member states. While the expected funds serve as a catalyst for the coal phase-out needed to reach climate goals, short-term advantages of revising a coal phase-out were outweighed by long-term benefits provided by EU funds.

The perspective of energy poverty and 1st energy crisis of green transition

The role of energy transition amidst the energy crisis and how policymakers can drive down emissions while focusing on energy security are critical. Given the geo-political situation, energy crisis volatility, energy shortage and climate change all affect the green transition and the short-term priorities for energy companies and policymakers. Energy security is not an isolated issue but has widespread implications as various sectors depend on energy supply to function properly. Governments around the world are faced with this trilemma, how to balance energy security with energy sustainability while also considering energy affordability. Sustainability has been in focus for about a decade. However, energy security is suddenly becoming one of the most important priorities that policymakers need to consider. Unfortunately, the renewable energy infrastructure is not yet ready to replace the growing volume of energy demand from hydrocarbon, which the world has been dependent on. This means, for now, a surge in energy generation through hydrocarbon to meet the existing energy demand deficit. However, it is important not to lose focus on the challenge of energy sustainability and climate change adaption and mitigation. Where trends like carbon capture and storage;solar, wind, hydro, green hydrogen, etc.;renewable energy infrastructure and integrations, with supply chain and engineering services consideration [in aspect for the growing market in this space] need better attention with regards to investment and full-scale implementation. This paper aims to analyze this 1st energy crisis of green transition with a priori on energy poverty with consideration of major influences and associated impacts. Furthermore, it proposes a specific framework for inclusive investigations, which considers the entire energy ecosystem with consideration of major influences, to enable the policymakers to better drive the green transition. This involves formulating energy policies that are not entirely conservative towards renewable energy sources but instead promote investments in both green and relatively more environmentally benign energy sources compared to high emission hydrocarbons. In this regard, this paper renders exhaustive prospects and recommendations. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

The Role of the Energy Sector in the Iranian Economy

This paper is devoted to analyzing the processes that took place in the energy sector of Iran for the period from 2004 to 2021. It is emphasized that for the sustainable development of the country's economy, a reliable, long-term, and economically acceptable supply of various types of energy in their optimal combination is necessary. Despite the territory of Iran having an extremely high potential for the development of non-traditional energy, the analysis shows that the development of the Iranian economy is mainly based on oil revenues. In the context of the growing crisis in the global economy, an increase in demand for oil and oil products, oil accents in energy diplomacy began to intensify, which allows us to speak about the actualization of the problems of developing the oil and gas sector of Iran and shifting the focus towards traditional energy sources. Nevertheless, to achieve sustainable development, along with the possession of a resource base, the availability of modern equipment and technologies, and dominance in the market for products that foreign partners are interested in acquiring are necessary. It is concluded that Iran is vulnerable to geo-economic risks in the current conditions of the development of the world economy.

ROMANIAN COAL BETWEEN DECARBONIZATION PROGRAMS, EXPLOITATION CLOSURE AND ENERGY CRISIS

The energy crisis triggered globally in the last quarter of 2021, forced Romania to go through a winter with liberalized electricity and gas prices, a period unprecedented in terms of consumer prices, accentuated by the result of closing energy targets that coal-fired operations as a result of the imposition of EU conditions for the restructuring of the mining and energy sector. The year before, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, with restrictions imposed, produced a decrease in electricity demand, a decline in coal-fired power consumption, greatly reduced the share of gas in the energy mix, using preferential renewable energy sources. Subsequently, Russian gas prices have risen to record highs and, as a result, coal-fired power generation has returned to the European Union in 2021, although coal became more expensive and emission allowance prices doubled. In the context of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, major price increases are expected worldwide, generating new risks of exposing the economy and new challenges in terms of ensuring Romania's independence and energy security. Against this background of these situations, can Romania still respect the European commitments of the Green Pact, meet these challenges and respond to the needs of the communities affected by the projected programs? The present paper aims at a critical assessment of the current situation of the Romanian coal mining and future trends of using a "clean coal” as a variant to respond to the requirements of the environmental concerns. © 2022 International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference. All rights reserved.

5G Xhaul Provisioning Strategies in Shadows of War and Pandemic

Xhaul, a mobile transport network, is a critical lifeline in imminent global crises: the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflict. Not only did the Russia-Ukraine war cause a global energy crisis, but it also put more energy stress on the 5G Xhaul. It also shows that the sustainability of a country depends on the unbroken Xhaul. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 outbreak has triggered the largest human-virus war of this century. It needs the ubiquitous 5G Xhaul to monitor the spread of COVID-19. Once crises occur, turning them into opportunities often requires new ways of seeing, considering, and responding to the 5G Xhaul provisioning. Facing more unpredictable situations, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), the largest service provider in Taiwan, embraces the challenges and proposes practical solutions. This study aims to discuss the new 5G Xhaul provisioning strategies to achieve sustainable development goals in this turbulent era. © 2022 IEEE.

Strategies to save energy in the context of the energy crisis: a review.

New technologies, systems, societal organization and policies for energy saving are urgently needed in the context of accelerated climate change, the Ukraine conflict and the past coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. For instance, concerns about market and policy responses that could lead to new lock-ins, such as investing in liquefied natural gas infrastructure and using all available fossil fuels to compensate for Russian gas supply cuts, may hinder decarbonization efforts. Here we review energy-saving solutions with a focus on the actual energy crisis, green alternatives to fossil fuel heating, energy saving in buildings and transportation, artificial intelligence for sustainable energy, and implications for the environment and society. Green alternatives include biomass boilers and stoves, hybrid heat pumps, geothermal heating, solar thermal systems, solar photovoltaics systems into electric boilers, compressed natural gas and hydrogen. We also detail case studies in Germany which is planning a 100% renewable energy switch by 2050 and developing the storage of compressed air in China, with emphasis on technical and economic aspects. The global energy consumption in 2020 was 30.01% for the industry, 26.18% for transport, and 22.08% for residential sectors. 10-40% of energy consumption can be reduced using renewable energy sources, passive design strategies, smart grid analytics, energy-efficient building systems, and intelligent energy monitoring. Electric vehicles offer the highest cost-per-kilometer reduction of 75% and the lowest energy loss of 33%, yet battery-related issues, cost, and weight are challenging. 5-30% of energy can be saved using automated and networked vehicles. Artificial intelligence shows a huge potential in energy saving by improving weather forecasting and machine maintenance and enabling connectivity across homes, workplaces, and transportation. For instance, 18.97-42.60% of energy consumption can be reduced in buildings through deep neural networking. In the electricity sector, artificial intelligence can automate power generation, distribution, and transmission operations, balance the grid without human intervention, enable lightning-speed trading and arbitrage decisions at scale, and eliminate the need for manual adjustments by end-users.

Effective multipurpose sewage sludge and food waste reduction strategies: A focus on recent advances and future perspectives

Energy crisis and increasing rigorous management standards pose significant challenges for solid waste management worldwide. Several emerging diseases such as COVID-19 aggravated the already complex solid waste management crisis, especially sewage sludge and food waste streams, because of the increasingly large production year by year. As mature waste disposal technologies, landfills, incineration, composting, and some other methods are widespread for solid wastes management. This paper reviews recent advances in key sewage sludge disposal technologies. These include incineration, anaerobic digestion, and valuable products oriented-conversion. Food waste disposal technologies comprised of thermal treatment, fermentation, value-added product conversion, and composting have also been described. The hot topic and dominant research foci of each area are summarized, simultaneously compared with conventional technologies in terms of organic matter degradation or conversion performance, energy generation, and renewable resources production. Future perspectives of each technology that include issues not well understood and predicted challenges are discussed with a positive effect on the full-scale implementation of the discussed disposal methods. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Europe's Fragile Unity

The EU is unlikely to develop the kinds of efficient collective responses to the Russia–Ukraine war that it produced in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conditions of strategic interdependence generated by the Ukraine crisis are more demanding than those triggered by the pandemic because its consequences are asymmetrically distributed across member states. Germany will find it difficult to play the role of regional stabiliser, anti-Europe parties could become stronger, new intra-European cleavages may arise over collective goals, and the expansion of the crisis's time horizon could weaken prospects for effective collective action.

Winter in Europe 2022-2023 - Concerns About The Effects of The Energy Crisis On Indoor Environmental Quality and Public Health

The fall of 2022 finds the old continent in a highly problematic economic and political context. The effects of the covid pandemic have not yet been overcome, but new problems generated by an armed conflict in Europe and a harsh climate context have been added. European political leaders are stuck on topics related to saving resources and the economic survival of their own countries. The economic and social measures suggested by the political class under the pressure of the approaching winter risk generate effects on the population's health with more devastating long-term results than the covid pandemic. Reducing electricity consumption at any cost, reducing water consumption, and adjusting the thermal comfort parameters in dwellings on a large scale can affect the population's health and lead to subsequent costs that are difficult to estimate. This paper tries to analyze this context and identify a method for evaluating the effects on indoor environmental quality. © 2022 IEEE.

The evolving energy landscapes of coal: Windows on the past and influences on the future

Coal energy landscapes have changed dramatically over the last decades, including geographic shifts in production and consumption, technological changes that have reduced labour demand and led to relatively new mining practices (e.g. invasive mountain-top approaches), changed economic footprints, a shutdown of capacities or a complete end of mining in many regions with massive impacts on regional and local economies, community well-being, social capital, et cetera. Then the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia´s invasion of Ukraine have fundamentally affected the global economy, disrupted energy markets, and shattered existing estimates about development trends, challenging the progress and speed of the low-carbon energy transition and coal phase-out. This article provides a brief reflection on the changing landscapes of coal and their possible futures, and serves as an introduction to the Special Issue of Moravian Geographical Reports on "The death of coal in the energy transition? Regional perspectives”.

Teachers' interdisciplinary cooperation triggers students' transferable competencies and intensifies the process of intenationalisation of Higher Education

The COVID pandemic, which has affected the whole world, the current military conflict in Ukraine, and the resulting energy crisis have pointed to the great interconnectedness of the world and the fragility of globalisation at the same time. There is no sector that is not affected by the current situation including the academic sector. Questions are being opened again for discussion regarding the required job skills for various professions, which are needed in a rapidly changing 'over-globalised' world of work. The teaching profession has also gone through a turbulent period in terms of skill requirements during the pandemic. This contribution brings insight into how small steps and initiatives of teachers can contribute to improving the level of the so-called soft or transferable skills of university students and at the same time foster the process of internationalisation. The specific projects both carried out and running ones at the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology of the Slovak University of Technology (STU MTF) are described from goal, outcome, and skill development perspectives. Some recommendations driven from the project data already processed are presented at the end of the paper. © 2022 IEEE.

Dynamics of Volatility Spillover between Energy and Environmental, Social and Sustainable Indices

The purpose of this research was to examine the dynamics of volatility spillover between energy and environmental, social, and sustainable indices. COVID-19 prompted the research to select April 2019 to March 2022 as a sample period, and the respective data (daily prices) of the Nifty Energy and Nifty ESG indices were obtained from the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The outcomes of the study confirmed that the daily returns of Nifty Energy and Nifty 100 ESG indices were not normally distributed and reached stationarity at level difference. Further, the study employed GARCH Models such as ARCH, GARCH (1,1), and GARCH-M to determine conditional volatility, and it validated the ARCH influence on the daily returns of the Nifty Energy and Nifty 100 ESG, during the study period. © 2022, Econjournals. All rights reserved.

The Ukraine war and the consequences for Germany’s regions: Challenges and opportunities using the example of small and medium-sized businesses

This article will take a close look at the state of Germany’s small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on the companies considered to be the winners and losers in the Ukraine crisis. Proceeding in this way will make it possible to draw some initial conclusions from the current crisis and to link them to the next major problem that the EU will have to face: its dependence on China. Looking at how Germany’s small and medium-sized enterprises are currently faring will help us gauge how the EU’s economic area might be hit should an even more severe crisis occur (e.g. in connection with China). In getting started, a comparison is made with the Covid-19 crisis to clarify the severity of the current crisis and to provide a basis for understanding what is yet to come.

COMBINED UX/UXI TAXONOMY FOR PROSUMER COMMONS IN SMART SUSTAINABLE CITIES

The transformation to renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly urgent, not only due to climate change, but additionally world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 Energy crisis, and the Russian 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The concept of prosumer microgrid commons in sustainable smart cities, consisting of peer-to-peer exchanges of renewable energy between prosumers, enabled through smart contracts promises a potential means of effectuating the energy transformation. However, the shift from consumers to prosumers brings with it legal challenges, such as the need to balance the growing dependence on standard terms in smart contracts and reduced private autonomy with a higher competency threshold for informed consent. The implementation of legal Usability and User Experience requirements represents a potential means of balancing this equation by improving the likelihood of the successful conveyance of key information. Consequently, this paper will seek to identify the factors from the combined UX/UXI taxonomy for transactional design that fit in the context of the prosumer microgrid commons and their applicability and implications for addressing the legal challenges of the consumer to prosumer shift. © 2022 International Conference on Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction

Sustainable Development of Road Transport in the EU: Multi-Criteria Analysis of Countries' Achievements

One quarter of global energy consumption goes towards meeting transport needs. In Europe, the share of energy for transport is much higher and accounts for about a third. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the sustainable development and progress of the sector. This paper seeks to develop a framework for the sustainability assessment of road transport in EU countries and to evaluate the countries' achievements in the last decade. The research adheres to the provision that the developed framework should be easily applied in future studies. Therefore, significant attention is paid to the selection of indicators and their availability, as well as the selection of the research instrument itself. The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique TOPSIS has been applied for calculations and countries' ranking, in order to compare countries' achievements in the last decade (2010-2020). The last ten years' analysis allows us to identify the direction of individual countries in developing road transport.