ABSTRACT
The article describes the world's experience in developing the solar industry. It discusses the mechanisms of state support for developing renewable energy sources in the cases of five countries that are the most successful in this area—China, the United States, Japan, India, and Germany. Furthermore, it contains a brief review of state policy in producing electricity by renewable energy facilities in Kazakhstan. This paper uses statistical information from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), British Petroleum (BP), and the Renewable Energy Network (REN21), and peer-reviewed sources. The research methodology includes analytical research and evaluation methods to examine the current state of solar energy policy, its motivators and incentives, as well as the prospects for its development in Kazakhstan and in the world. Research shows that solar energy has a huge development potential worldwide and is sure to take its place in gross electricity production. This paper focuses on the selected economic policies of the top five countries and Kazakhstan, in what may be considered a specific research limitation. Future research suggestions for the expansion of Renewable Energy (RE) in Kazakhstan could include analysing the impact of introducing dedicated policies and incentives for solar systems and exploring the benefits and challenges of implementing large RE zones with government–business collaboration.
ABSTRACT
Before the Covid-19 pandemic UK passed net-zero emission law legislation to become the first major economy in the world to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. Following the UK's legislation to reach net-zero emissions, a long-term strategy for transition to a net-zero target was published in 2021. The strategy is a technology-led and with a top-down approach. The intention is to reach the target over the next three decades. The document targets seven sectors to reduce emissions and include a wide range of policies and innovations for decarbonization. This paper aims to accomplish a much needed review of the strategy in heat and buildings part and cover the key related areas in future buildings standard, heat pumps and use of hydrogen as elaborated in the strategy. For that purpose, this research reviews key themes in the policy, challenges, recent advancement and future possibilities. It provides an insight on the overall development toward sustainability and decarbonization of built environment in the UK by 2050. A foresight model, Future Wheels is also used to visualize the findings from the review and provide a clear picture of the potential impact of the policy. © 2023
ABSTRACT
The EU projects reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, thus reducing CO2 emissions is a priority in the European Climate Law published in 2021. The transport sector is the second contributor to CO2, responsible for around 26% of EU greenhouse gasses emissions. In 2020, GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from transport in the EU have dropped by 12.7% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As society comes back to normality, vehicles use is increasing again. To reach the emission targets, new vehicles can introduce CO2-reducing eco-innovative technologies. So far, these technologies accepted under WLTP are light-emitting diodes and efficient alternators. Nevertheless, many other technologies have potential as eco-innovations. In the past, eco-innovative technologies have contributed to reducing EU CO2 emissions. In 2018, the fleet of newly registered cars with eco-innovations saved around 11000 tonnes of CO2. An increasing tendency is seen in 2019: 21000 tonnes of CO2 were saved at fleet level. During 2020, new car registrations with eco-innovations were higher, having the potential to save around 40000 tonnes of CO2 at fleet level. Despite their positive impact, their CO2-reducing effect can be diminished when two of these technologies interact with each other. The presence of the lighting system and the alternator lowers the CO2 savings if compared to the summation of the savings of each technology separately. The impact of the interactions of approved eco-innovations can imply a decrease of 9% of the sum of the CO2 savings from each technology considered independent from the other. ©
ABSTRACT
Kazakhstan has a relatively high level of overall gender development, as well as of female employment in its energy industries. Diverse views and backgrounds are necessary to address the challenges of curbing emissions in Kazakhstan, a major fossil fuel producer and exporter. However, our analysis of the Labor Force Survey indicates that female representation among energy sector managers and overall workforce has been falling over time. Moreover, we find that women in Ka-zakhstan’s coal mining, petroleum extraction, and power industries are concentrated in low‐skilled and non‐core occupations. Next, by analyzing data on labor compensation within energy occupa-tions, we discover signs of persistent vertical discrimination, which may reduce incentives for women to upgrade their skills. Finally, we find that major shocks, such as the COVID‐19 pandemic, may stall or reverse prior progress in increasing the energy sector’s gender diversity. Our findings contribute to raising gender awareness among the stakeholders in Kazakhstan’s energy sector in order to facilitate evidence‐based gender mainstreaming. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
ABSTRACT
Due to industrialization, recently Moscow (Russia) has been overwhelmed with municipal solid waste (MSW), while the capital does not provide residents with organized waste collection and waste recycling. Digitalization enables smart cities such as Moscow to do more work with less resources. This article identifies and analyzes the existing waste management facilities in Moscow with respect to drawbacks and the ways forward to mitigate the bottlenecks. To improve its waste management, lessons drawn from Berlin's experiences in waste management are discussed to inspire transformation in the city's waste sector in the framewok of resource recovery. In line with the 2030 UN Agenda, this work proposes a digitalization to accelerate societal transitions through waste recycling industry. Its global relevance is elaborated by presenting perspective of digitalization in waste management practices. In this work, case-study was selected as the research method to provide a means to investigate a complex waste problem in Moscow and Berlin. It was evident from cleaner production paradigm that digital technology can minimize the amount of unrecycled MSW, while conserving raw materials and reducing operational cost and GHG emissions. Digitalization builds cities' resilience by strengthening local waste management practices to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Moscow, the transition towards the digitalization of waste recycling through informal waste sectors has created 5,000 new jobs that reduces unemployment rate. This maximizes pick up time and enhance efficiency with a lower cost of operating trucks up to 75%. A convolutional neural network–based identification system that classifies identified materials yields almost perfect accuracy. A single robot arm can handle four varying fractions of construction and demolition waste with 99% of purity. Robotic deployment could reduce the volume of unrecycled waste by 20%. This could be replicated to resist the pressure of resource consumption and deliver socio-economic and environmental benefits worldwide.
ABSTRACT
Zero-emission transport is a very important topic that is increasingly taken up by many institutions and research centers around the world. However, the zero-emissivity of the vehicle is quite a complex issue, which should be understood as not only the lack of emissions during the operation of the vehicle, but also the provision of clean energy to the vehicle. In this approach, charging the battery of an electric vehicle from renewable sources—a photovoltaic (PV) farm—and its operation can be considered as a totally zero-emission form of transport. The article presents a PV system containing two micro-installations with a capacity of up to 40 kWp each to supply electricity to two parts of the Lublin Science and Technology Park (LSTP) building. Thanks to the innovative monitoring system, it was possible to analyze the consumption and production as well as the effective use of electricity. Statistical analyses of consumption (charging the electric vehicle battery) and electricity production by the PV installation were carried out. It was found that charging an electric vehicle could be a good way to use the surplus energy production from the farm and thus a faster repayment on investment in the PV farm installation.
ABSTRACT
With the promotion of electrification of transportation, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) begin to flourish in recent years. FCEVs operate with zero emission and excellent fuel economy, but high cost and incomplete infrastructure hinder the popularization further. Targeting resources are poured into this area by some governments worldwide. To foster the development, it is essential to study the use of FCEVs. Based on the Service and Management center for EVs (SMC-EV), this work conducts a statistical analysis of the market scales, the operation conditions, such as user login statistics, driving distance and refueling behavior and the impact of the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis results provide essential support to predict the subsequent development of FCEVs and guide the policymaking and the construction of hydrogen refueling stations. © 2022 SPIE. All rights reserved.