Limit Greenhouse Gas Research Articles

A novel study on a centrifugal humidifier for building cooling

ABSTRACT Current work mainly deals with the design and construction of a centrifugal humidifier where the humidification and cooling are due to the soaking of the packing and the dispersion of the water from packing due to the centrifugal effect. Celdek pad 7090 is used as humidifying media, and water is used as a working substance. Experiments are performed by varying the water flow rate (WFR), air velocity (AV) and rotational packing speed. Performance parameters such as a difference in dry bulb temperature (DBT), difference in relative humidity (RH), saturation efficiency, coefficient of performance (COP) and evaporation rate (ER) are evaluated. Results showed that a water flow rate of 0.6 litres per minute (L/min), rotor speed of 150 rpm and air flow rate of 5 m/s gave the maximum performance. The current unit gave a maximum cooling efficiency, COP and ER equal to 79.23%, 5.24 and 0.90 g/s, respectively. Stationary and dynamic packing conditions are assessed where it is observed that the performance of dynamic packing is higher than that of the static case at all operating ranges. Celdek packing with dynamic conditions can be suitably applied to handle huge cooling loads, which encourages sustainable energy sources and reduces environmental pollution by limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Is There Business Potential for Sustainable Shipping? Price Premiums Needed to Cover Decarbonized Transportation

The shipping sector is encountering remarkable costs concerning decarbonization of the maritime business. Both the International Maritime Organization and the European Union are developing tools to limit greenhouse gas emissions of shipping. Given all the tools and planned regulations, it seems that energy efficiency and cost cutting would be a feasible strategy of the future. However, in addition to cost cutting, shipping with net-zero or zero emission fuels might be a way to promote sustainable shipping services. A growing consumer segment is ready to pay for sustainability-marketed consumer goods, and it is possible that people would be ready to pay for net-zero or zero emission shipping as well. Our objective is to pinpoint, how big price premiums would be needed to cover the costs of shipping with sustainable, and typically more expensive, maritime fuels. We do this by calculating the amounts of fuel needed to ship specific good categories at first, and then we estimate the costs of shipping these goods with alternative fuels. We analyze Finnish maritime foreign trade during the year 2018, the time prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. We estimate fuel consumption to the value and quantities of goods. Our findings indicate that a shift to low carbon and carbon neutral fuels would have a limited effect to the price of most goods.

Integrating degrowth and efficiency perspectives enables an emission-neutral food system by 2100.

Degrowth proponents advocate reducing ecologically destructive forms of production and resource throughput in wealthy economies to achieve environmental goals, while transforming production to focus on human well-being. Here we present a quantitative model to test degrowth principles in the food and land system. Our results confirm that reducing and redistributing income alone, within current development paradigms, leads to limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation from agriculture and land-use change, as the nutrition transition towards unsustainable diets already occurs at relatively low income levels. Instead, we show that a structural, qualitative food system transformation can achieve a steady-state food system economy that is net GHG-neutral by 2100 while improving nutritional outcomes. This sustainable transformation reduces material throughput via a convergence towards a needs-based food system, is enabled by a more equitable income distribution and includes efficient resource allocation through the pricing of GHG emissions as a complementary strategy. It thereby integrates degrowth and efficiency perspectives.

УГЛЕРОДНЫЕ ЕДИНИЦЫ КАК НОВЫЙ ВИД ИНВЕСТИЦИЙ В АПК В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИРКУЛЯРНОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ

Every year there is an increasing attention of the world community, scientists, politicians and the world's population to the issues of ecology, conservation of natural resources, which naturally has a significant impact not only on the economy, but also on human health. The countries of the world are trying to solve the problem of minimizing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and the secondary use of raw materials in different ways. One of the tools is the measures of tax regulation of carbon dioxide emissions, a significant part of which falls on the agricultural sector. 
 The concept of "carbon unit" that has appeared is becoming more and more firmly included in the speech turnover of politicians and economists and is a meter of emissions of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of economic entities. Currently, the financial market is actively developing in which emissions quotas are traded, and this market tends to grow every year.
 The introduction of a "carbon tax" by the European Union in the near future will affect the majority of large Russian producers, whose production is characterized by large greenhouse gas emissions. The tax burden will additionally fall on agriculture, which will naturally have a certain impact on the growth of the cost of production.
 A new exchange infrastructure has appeared, trading in carbon units, the volumes of which are growing annually, but agricultural producers are still poorly represented on such sites due to the lack of a scientific conceptual base and all the advantages.
 The article comments on the law on limiting greenhouse gas emissions that has entered into force in Russia, the content of which indicates the need to form a legal framework for the circulation of carbon units, that is, an information system for their accounting as a tool to reduce the carbon footprint and attract investment and the introduction of mandatory carbon reporting for the largest issuers and its provision.
 The article presents generally accepted methods for estimating atmospheric gas emissions and points out the current problems of the European Emissions Trading System. An assumption is made about the relevance of using data-based management platforms by presenting digital doubles. The design of a decentralized platform based on blockchain technology is proposed, which will allow controlling the processes of movement of carbon units and exclude possible manipulations with them.

Evaluation of the potential of glauconite in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin for large-scale carbon dioxide mineralization

Geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage is an essential and economical measure to mitigate global climate change. CO2 storage potential in sedimentary reservoirs is commonly passed over in favor of more reactive rock formations, such as basalts, because the latter offer rapid, permanent storage as carbonate minerals while the former are thought to only offer less permanent physical trapping of CO2. Nevertheless, recent research has demonstrated that carbonation reactions in glauconitic sandstones are favorable under realistic reservoir conditions, although the overall availability of glauconite for carbonation has not yet been quantified. Here, we use calculations based on 11,652 well logs to show that glauconitic sandstones offer significant and previously overlooked potential for sedimentary reservoir-based mineral carbonation. Our results demonstrate that hundreds of gigatons of CO2 could be sequestered by carbonating the immense quantity of glauconite underlying Alberta, Canada alone. Importantly, these glauconitic sandstones, and others worldwide, have long been exploited for their favorable hydrocarbon production capacity. Thus, global societies eager to limit greenhouse gas emissions may need to look no further than the reservoirs they are already exploiting. Moreover, because the requisite injection infrastructure is oftentimes still active, glauconitic sandstones may present the highest priority, lowest capital cost substrate for mineral carbonation worldwide.

High-temperature oxidation protection of γ-based TiAl by sputtered AlOF films

The implementation of γ-based titanium aluminides in various components of aircraft engines has been motivated by the need to optimize their thrust-to-weight ratio and limit greenhouse gas emissions. The interesting mechanical properties of TiAl alloys make them suitable for use in coldest stages of low-pressure turbines, but their sensitivity to oxidation at temperatures greater than 750 °C limits their use in the hotter sections of aircraft engines. The halogen effect is known to efficiently protect TiAl against high-temperature oxidation and is a promising solution toward increased implementation of TiAl in higher-temperature parts of the engines. Amongst all halogens, fluorine offers the best protection in a wide set of operating conditions. This work demonstrates the possibility of using reactive magnetron sputtering of Al in an Ar, O2, and CF4 atmosphere to fluorinate the surface of γ-based Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb and promote the alumina-forming characteristics of the alloys. The chemistry of the reactive plasma is first investigated using mass spectrometry and is then linked to the coating composition, measured by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Finally, an array of coating compositions is tested in isothermal oxidation at temperatures up to 875 °C. The coatings are protective, generating an alumina oxygen barrier upon oxidation.

Технологическое нормирование выбросов ТЭС в атмосферу

Principles of environmental safety rules and regulations controlling power generation companies should support compliance with current requirements for limiting air pollutant emissions. This paper analyzes requirements coming from government or technology and limiting greenhouse gas emissions and managing climate change. Thermal power engineers can use these research results preparing comprehensive environmental permits or energy efficiency program development as well as for participation in a government experiment on emission taxation.

Climate Legislation of the Russian Federation: Opportunities and Potential in the Conditions of Energy Transition

The paper is devoted to identifying current trends and assessing the current prospects for the development of Russian climate legislation in the context of implementation of the European Green Deal that provides for refusing the use of minerals and transiting to renewable energy sources by 2050. Based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of national regulatory legal acts, including documents of state strategic planning of the first goal-setting level on the climate agenda, primarily the Climate Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, and the Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of Russia with a low level greenhouse gas emissions until 2050, the authors substantiate the conclusion according to which the Russian Federation has all the possibilities for a relatively stable and safe energy transition. The new Federal Law of 02.07.2021 No. 296-FZ «On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions» constitutes a turning point in climate legislation that completely changed approaches to balancing environmental and economic interests. The adoption of the Law opens up opportunities for an innovative ecological and economic development, facilitates the synthesis of economic and environmental benefits gained from the carbon units’ circulation, and launches a complex process of gradual rejection of the commodity trend. However, to what extent this Law will be adapted and applicable to the already existing environmental legislation and to what extent the environmental legislation is ready to radical changes concerning principles and approaches to the regulation of relevant legal relations is a priority task that deserves the broadest attention.

Barriers for Renewable Energy Technologies Diffusion: Empirical Evidence from Finland and Poland

A harmful impact of climate change and global warming has concerned various sectors of the international community. Numerous energy policies aiming at climate change mitigation have been implemented on a national and global scale. Renewable energy technologies (RETs) play a critical role in enhancing sustainable solutions that significantly limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Such innovative technologies can facilitate energy transition through providing, e.g., energy security, sustainable development, and effective usage of indigenous resources. However, the commercialization of RETs is extremely challenging. The barriers can be of a different nature, although this study focused on socioeconomic and regulatory issues. There is ample evidence that energy policies play a central role in supporting adoption of renewables. It is also claimed that RETs require the whole ecosystem to support their successful diffusion. In this study, we explored multifarious barriers for widespread RET diffusion in two European Union countries, Finland and Poland, indicating the most common barriers existing in the literature as well as analyzing major bottlenecks from the viewpoint of renewable energy companies’ executives. We also present statistics of the most commonly used RETs in these countries in order to express the diffusion issues more appropriately. The research shows that inflexible, ineffective, and excessive regulatory frameworks; limited financing options; as well as an insufficient level of societal awareness have been seen as the main bottlenecks for RET diffusion in both countries. The outcomes of this study provide useful insights for the researchers in the energy transition field as well as practical managerial and regulatory implications aimed at overcoming these challenges.

The Role of the National Climate Law in Ensuring “Energy Transition”

The paper is devoted to the identification, analysis and assessment of potential threats and risks associated with the implementation of the Federal Law of July 2, 2021 No. 296-FZ «On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions». Based on the results of a study of the provisions of the Federal Law (in particular, the rules related to the implementation of climate projects, the creation of legal mechanisms and the market for trading carbon units, a monitoring system, incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, etc.), the authors outline the most controversial and debatable issues and problems that can potentially affect the effectiveness of the implementation of the law in question. The role of the national climate law in ensuring the «energy transition» is also substantiated. It is proved that it is necessary to adopt a special Climate Law of the Russian Federation, as well as to introduce a number of adjusting changes into the regulatory legal acts regulating public relations in the field of ecology, economics, and technology, medicine, transport, construction, infrastructure and communications.

Total nitrogen influence bacterial community structure of active layer permafrost across summer and winter seasons in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard.

The permafrost in the polar regions is vital for maintaining the status quo of the earth's climate by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The present study aims to investigate the seasonal variations and the influence of physicochemical parameters on the bacterial diversity and community structure of active layer permafrost (AL) around Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The AL soil samples were collected from four different geographical locations around Ny-Ålesund during the winter and summer seasons. The 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing was carried out to investigate the diversity and distribution profiles of bacterial communities among the collected AL samples. Physico-chemical parameters including soil pH, moisture content, total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), and trace metals concentrations were measured. Bacterial phyla, Proteobacteria (15.4%-26%) and Chloroflexi (9.6%-22.5%) were predominantly distributed across both seasons. In the winter samples, Verrucomicrobiota (14.12%-23.39%) phylum, consisting of genera Chthoniobacter and Opitutus were highly abundant (Lefse, p < 0.05), whereas in summer bacterial genera belonging to Gemmatimonadota (3.3%-13.74%) and Acidobacteriota (18.02%-28.52%) phyla were highly abundant. The bacterial richness and diversity index were not significantly different between the winter and summer seasons. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) has revealed a distinct grouping between two seasons (PERMANOVA, p < 0.05). Bacterial community structure was significantly varied between winter and summer seasons, whereas the physico-chemical variable, TN, influenced the community structure. About 37.8% of the total operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were shared between seasons, whereas 25.4% and 36.8% of OTUs were unique to the summer and winter seasons. The present study revealed that the conditions prevailing during winter and summer has shaped bacterial community structure in AL samples albeit the stable diversity and most of the variation was explained by TN, indicating its critical role in oligotrophic permafrost.

PROSPECTS OF BIOGAS OBTAINING FROM SWEET SORGHUM IN UKRAINE

The development of energy has a decisive influence on the state of the economy in the country and the standard of living of the population. The production of biogas from renewable sources meets the goals of sustainable development for the countries of the world, approved at the meetings of the UN General Assembly in September 2015. With the help of biogas technologies, it is possible to increase the share of energy from renewable sources in the national energy balance, reduce the volume of waste generation and increase the volume of their processing and reuse based on innovative technologies and productions, as well as limit greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas is a flammable natural mixture of gases, which is formed as a result of the decomposition of organic substances under anaerobic conditions, is a mixture of 50-70% methane and 30-50% carbon dioxide, as well as a small amount of hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, hydrogen and other impurities. The ratio of methane to carbon dioxide depends on the nature of the substrate and the pH during the process. It is possible to regulate the performance of anaerobic fermentation using macronutrients and micronutrients. They are stimulants, as well as more economically and environmentally safe catalysts compared to chemical reagents, which often require significant energy costs. When using such by-products of agro-industrial production as straw or bagasse and bard, in addition to the main product (alcohol with an energy potential of 22.56 MW•h/ha•year), almost twice as much energy can be obtained – 45.06 MW•h/ha• year from by-products. Sweet sorghum is a grassy plant of the cereal family, the stems of which contain juice with 12-20% sugars, it is characterized by good adaptability to arid conditions, temperature fluctuations, salty and acidic soils, and therefore it is grown as an energy crop for the production of bioethanol and biogas, in including on marginal lands. Sweet sorghum juice is a raw material for the production of bioethanol, and bagasse, as a by-product, can be used at the same enterprise to generate biogas. Thus, the enterprise produces a commercial product, solves the problem of disposal of production waste and provides itself with electricity and heat through the operation of a biogas cogeneration plant. Sorghum bagasse as a raw material for biogas has a high biological value, rich in trace elements, so it is a good candidate for anaerobic fermentation. Sweet sorghum bagasse (Botanical variety) has a high content of organic dry matter (87.85%), is rich in trace elements, therefore it is definitely a promising raw material for anaerobic fermentation. The theoretical yield of biogas from sorghum bagasse is 476.38 l/kg of dry matter, with a methane content of 52.90%. The expected energy value of methane is 9.02 MJ/kg dry matter of sorghum bagasse. As part of the study, a biochemical analysis of sweet sorghum bagasse was carried out. The moisture content of dried sorghum bagasse was less than 10%, which ensured its long-term storage as a substrate for anaerobic fermentation. The energy potential of sorghum bagasse was calculated. Since carbohydrates make up more than half of the dry matter of sorghum bagasse, they mainly provide the potential for biogas formation. At the same time, the content of proteins and fats increases the level of the target product methane in biogas. For further methane fermentation, the macro- and microelement composition of sorghum bagasse is of great importance. Ni stimulates biogas production and methane content in biogas. Addition of Ca and Mg salts as energy additives can increase CH4 production and prevent foaming. The optimal C:N:P ratio for increasing methane yield is 200:5:1. Analyzing the obtained results, we can see that such a macroelement as calcium was found to be the most in sorghum bagasse, which indicates the potential for obtaining a high yield of methane. An important indicator is also that the content of heavy metals cadmium and lead is very small. This indicates that the soil on which the sweet sorghum was grown is not contaminated with heavy metals and that the digestate after fermentation can be used as a fertilizer because it is safe. Sorghum is one of the crops with the highest C/N ratio, which determines the prospect of co-fermentation with a substrate that has a low value of this parameter (sugar beet vinasse). Sweet sorghum is a promising candidate for biogas production due to its good chemical composition, relatively high methane yield and the possibility of exploiting marginal lands in Ukraine for its cultivation.

State Regulation in Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the context of the Transition to Low-Carbon Energy in the Russian Federation

State Regulation in Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the context of the Transition to Low-Carbon Energy in the Russian Federation

ALGORITHM FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF METHANE HYDRATE DECOMPOSITION IN A CLOSED HYDRATE-CONTAINING REGION OF A POROUS MEDIUM

Russia has a law on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, signed by the President of the Russian Federation in July 2021. The list of greenhouse gasses includes methane, and its reserves in the form of gas hydrates largely prevail over the reserves of free methane. The formation of gas hydrates occurs at sufficiently low temperatures and high pressures. A significant part of the “sleeping giants”, as journalists dubbed the methane-containing deposits, are in the Arctic region, and they are very sensitive to warming. The release of this greenhouse potential would have very negative consequences for the Earth’s climate. Thus, it is necessary to study the process of gas hydrate decomposition under thermal impact on a hydrate-containing porous medium. It is worth noting the importance of theoretical research to solve this problem, which includes the construction of a mathematical model of the process under study, algorithmization, software implementation and computational experiments. The paper presents a two-dimensional approximation of the formulated problem of heating at the upper boundary of the porous medium’s closed region containing methane and its hydrate initially. A mathematical model is presented, which is based on the mass conservation equations for methane, water and gas hydrate; Darcy’s law for the motion of the gas and liquid phases; the equation of a real gas state, the energy conservation equation considering thermal conductivity, convection, adiabatic cooling, the Joule-Thomson effect and absorption of latent heat during hydrate formation. An algorithm for the numerical implementation of the mathematical model is constructed and a computer code is developed to calculate main parameters of the process in the work, the computer program is updated to calculate the main parameters of the process researched in the article.

Углеродные единицы как объект гражданских прав

Federal Law No. 296-ФЗ on Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions dd. July 2, 2021, was adopted to implement the Paris Climate Agreement adopted at the 21st UN Conference and meant to reduce the carbon footprint. The Law introduces a new article into the stream of commerce, “carbon units”, which can be transferred to another person under a contract. Taking into consideration the novelty of this object of civil rights, the article reviews the possibility of referring carbon units to the existing objects of civil rights as per Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, proposes an approach to the legal regulation of carbon unit transfer contracts, and analyzes the possibility of circulation of carbon units at exchanges.

“GREEN” POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL TAXATION AS THE INSTRUMENTS TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

The article is dedicated to environmental taxation as one of the possible policy instruments that along with other governmental and partnership measures could tackle climate change and assure green growth for the world and Ukraine in particular. European countries mostly focus on the taxation of energy sources, which allows them to be highly efficient in the field of GHG taxation. The Ukrainian model insists on controlling the level of environmental pollution for many years, it has low efficiency and control potential, high transaction, and administration costs. Price instruments for limiting greenhouse gas emissions are one of the most effective and rational solutions during the exacerbation of the climate change issue. These include taxes (on CO2 emissions that are directly related to emissions or the carbon content of fuel and excise duties on energy carriers) along with emissions trading systems. With the establishment of excise duty on energy and carbon taxes, states form a price for each ton of CO2 emissions, which contributes to dynamic efficiency, by stimulating technological changes to the development of innovative emission reduction technologies and static efficiency, i.e., reduction of CO2 emissions in the most financially affordable way. Excise duty on energy resources and taxes on CO2 emissions have the similar object of taxation, although the rates of excise taxes in the vast majority do not depend on the carbon content of the fuel. They are differentiated in the direction of promoting the competitiveness of more ecological types of fuel (reducing the rate for fuel with a lower sulfur content), protecting producers of energy-efficient enterprises, and preventing energy poverty. The excise duty rate consists of Pigou and Ramsay components, the proportions of which are chosen by fiscal necessity and occupy a large share of budget revenues. They are harmonized between EU countries with a unified approach. In common practice, funds accumulated from carbon tax should cover the damages caused to society and the costs of protecting and restoring an environment. Therefore, the article identifies the key groups of environmental taxes in the EU countries, analyses the European experience of the economic impact on environment preservation, examines possible ways of environmental taxation reform in Ukraine, based on the best foreign experience, and analyses the CO2 emissions among countries and continents by sectors and type of fuel. In addition, the author developed the draft concept of Ukraine's transition to a climate-neutral economy, highlighting the models of side-x-side functioning of the tradable permits system and taxes on CO2 emissions.

Climate crisis and Just Transition: Unions' role on Climate Justice

Climate crisis and Just Transition:Unions' role on Climate Justice Diana Junquera Curiel (bio) Climate justice is a term that frames climate change as a social justice issue and must ensure that when we work to address the climate crisis, we do so in a way that reduces inequalities and injustices. Now, to address this whole crisis and energy transition we need to talk about a Just Transition. The term 'Just Transition' comes from the North American unions, when they began developing the concept in the 1990s. Initially, trade unionists understood just transition as a program of support for workers who lost their jobs due to environmental protection policies. Now in 2022, almost 30 years after its origin, the term is used globally by international organisations, governments, companies and environmental groups, although not all include the unions' main demand: Workers must have a seat at the bargaining table and their voice must be heard. It has taken a decade of work for the trade union movement to include the term 'Just Transition' in the Paris Agreement in 2015. Just Transition refers to a fair and equitable path to a sustainable future. A Just Transition will require a variety of programmes that will provide an optimistic future for all workers, especially those in industries that may be affected by efforts to limit greenhouse gases or by the introduction of new technologies. A Just Transition programme is intended to be a comprehensive, flexible and integrated approach to assist workers, their families and their communities. A Just Transition is based on three fundamental pillars: sustainable industrial policies, strong social support programmes and creative, worker-centred labour adjustment programmes. Employers, governments and trade unions must work together through Social Dialogue developed in good faith to ensure sufficient notice and support, training and education, redeployment of the affected workforce, investment in affected communities and the creation of quality jobs in new sectors. These policies shall guarantee equal opportunities for both men and women in the workforce, by addressing existing gender inequalities and shall seek to achieve, with the involvement of trade unions, decent working conditions in the renewable energy sector and its supply chain. These policies shall also address structural and behavioural gender inequalities to allow women, especially young women, to participate in jobs and sectors from which they have been traditionally excluded, including Sciences Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) sectors, and they shall be aligned on women's needs, addressing gender energy poverty though universal access to energy. In 2019, Industriall published A trade union guide to a Just Transition for workers1 where we brought up the key demands for unions and some good examples already existent from different sectors and countries such as Germany, Canada, Australia, Spain and South Africa. One of the keys to making a transition plan work is to provide it with financial resources, and for that, governments and employers must have the will for change and progress. Governments must create longterm energy plans where companies feel confident to invest. This will make it easier to imagine a sustainable future for workers in industries that feel the impact of the energy transition. In 2020, the Government of Spain presented the Strategic Framework for Energy and Climate to facilitate economic development towards a sustainable and competitive model, which minimises the impact of the energy transition, promotes job creation and improves the quality of life of citizens. The Strategic Framework includes the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (Spanish acronym: PNIEC), the Draft Bill on Climate Change and Energy Transition, and the Just Transition Strategy3. The PNIEC proposes a reduction of between 20 and 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions with respect to 1990 levels. It plans to reach up to 42 percent of renewable energy consumption over total energy consumption for the year 2030. Regarding electricity generation, the percentage of renewables will be 74 percent. The country's energy efficiency would improve by 39.6 percent by 2030. According to the Government, these figures will allow progress towards the final goal for 2050, which consists of a 100 percent renewable electricity system and zero greenhouse gas emissions for the whole of the economy. Draft Law on Climate...

The legal regime for limiting greenhouse gas emissions as a climate protection tool

The legal regime for limiting greenhouse gas emissions as a climate protection tool

Sustainable Energy Source Selection for Industrial Complex in Vietnam: A Fuzzy MCDM Approach

Shifting from fossil energy to renewable energy is considered an inevitable trend to limit greenhouse gas emissions, protect the environment and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. In that trend, many companies globally, especially multinational corporations with great influence have pioneered the use of clean energy. The fact that more and more companies are committing to renewable energy and taking specific actions to accelerate the transition to clean energy sources is considered a good sign in the joint efforts of the whole world towards a greener future. In Vietnam, the use of renewable energy in production and business activities for sustainable development is also increasingly interested by businesses. Recently, many businesses are interested in taking advantage of renewable energy sources, aiming for environmentally friendly solutions to create products that meet green standards, increasing competitiveness in the market. However, the selection of a suitable energy resource for each industrial complex project is not a simple task as this involve multiple quantitative and qualitative criteria. In this research, the author proposed a fuzzy multicriteria decision making model (F-MCDM) for sustainable energy source selection for industrial complex in Vietnam, utilizing Spherical fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (SF-AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The main contribution of this study is to propose a Spherical fuzzy MCDM model to support planners and decision makers in the renewable energy resources evaluation and selection process of industrial complexes development projects in Vietnam. A case study is also performed to showcase the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Future-Generation Perception: Equal or Not Equal? Long-Term Individual Discount Rates for Poland

Energy-related investments gain increasing attention nowadays, particularly in Poland due to clean-energy investment needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and counteract climate change. However, economic appraisal is problematic: the longevity of impacts inextricably involves intergenerational ethical considerations. A crucial parameter is the choice of a discount rate. The predominant approach to estimate the discount rate in EU countries is the Ramsey rule, based on macroeconomic data, but not referring directly to society’s preferences. Those are considered by studies using surveys to elicit individual discount rates (IDR), but rarely concentrating on intergenerational time frame. The paper aims at delivering an insight into the intergenerational intertemporal preferences for Poland (households, n = 471) focusing on whether respondents are willing to declare zero discount rate intergenerationally and whether their choices differ between the short- and long-term perspectives and between human lives and money. To elicit IDR, two hypothetical investment scenarios were designed: lifesaving programs and lottery gains with delays from 10 to 150 years accompanied by attitude and socioeconomic questions. The results indicate that IDR follows hyperbolic time-decline, and a considerable share of respondents (around 20%) are willing to treat future generations as equally important in the case of human lives, while this proportion for monetary gains is two times lower. The IDR drivers differ between lives and money in respect of socioeconomic profile and attitude characteristics as well as between intragenerational and intergenerational time frames. The findings support (a) the rationale for distinct treatment of intergenerational allocations, (b) the divergence of preferences between public and private impacts, and (c) the switch from single to declining discount rate regime in Poland.