Consumption Of Renewable Resources Research Articles

Examining the resource curse phenomenon, digital finance integration, and their impacts on economic growth: Empirical insights from South Korea

This study assesses the influence of the resource curse phenomenon on the sustainable economic growth of the Republic of Korea throughout the period from 1990 to 2021. Employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) methodology, the research reveals that the resource curse phenomenon poses a hindrance to the attainment of environmentally friendly economic prosperity in Korea. Notably, digital finance exhibits a positive impact in the short term on green economic growth, while good governance emerges as a pivotal driver for sustained development over the long term. The consumption of renewable resources demonstrates a favorable coefficient, signifying its constructive effect on the promotion of green economic growth. Furthermore, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) emerges as a catalyst for fostering the environmentally conscious transformation of Korea's economy, particularly in the extended time frame. Practical recommendations include expanding sustainable power generation, advancing technologies for greener utilization of fossil fuels, developing technology-driven digital finance, addressing poverty, and championing environmentally friendly governance.

Greening the Future: Europe's Renewable Energy Landscape in 2030

Abstract The increased price of energy and the limited resources of the planet have increased the worldwide attention to renewable energy resources. The purpose of this paper is to present the European context regarding these renewable sources. In addition, the evolution over time of some indicators relevant to this field is described for better shaping the general audience’s understanding of the current status on the renewable sources. Using a statistical approach, the paper ranks the member states in terms of the consumption of renewable resources in areas such as transport and electricity. Throughout the research, it has been noted that there are significant differences between member states. An example to reinforce what was previously described is the fact that, for the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption, the minimum value is approximately eight times lower than the maximum. Additionally, forecasting methods of indicators analysed based on historical data were applied to establish the course of EU27 countries for the year 2030, when the implementation period of the Sustainable Development Goals ends.

Circular tourism economy in European Union between competitiveness, risk and sustainability

Tourism is an important sector of the world economy, significantly contributing to the creation of GDP in certain countries. Despite the positive effects recorded at the economic and social levels, researchers began to highlight the negative externalities generated by tourism on the environment, via air, soil and water degradation. Structural Equation Model (SEM) framework with SPSS—AMOS 22.0 software was used to investigate the total, direct and indirect effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable (Municipal waste) considering the intervening effects of the mediators. This method has been employed in the case of all 30 European countries under focus. As independent variables of SEM, after the numerous variants testes and analysis of the model, we used as follows: TTCI, average stays, HDI, GDP, tourism in GDP (%), PM 10, PM 2.5, CO2, Consumption of renewable resources (%) and Circular material uses rate (CMR) (%). The main conclusions of the study regard, on the one hand, the negative impact that both the increase of average stay/tourists’ arrivals/overnight stays and the decrease of tourism competitiveness rank (from the last to the first rank) have on waste management and environment pollution. On the other hand, the improvement of circular economy indicators (consumption of renewable resources and circular material uses rate) has a positive impact on waste management and environment pollution in European countries.

Influence of climate finance and natural resource consumption on the mitigation of climate change in developed countries in the Pre-COP26 era

With the crippling effects of climate change, environmental consciousness is advancing to the stage where economies are being asked to make efforts to mitigate the challenges. Advanced economies, due to their large-scale development projects, are a major contributor to environmental devastation, and are thus obliged to provide the costs associated with climate change mitigation. Recent climate arbitration declares that climate finance is essential for climate change mitigation, which is viewed as a viable and sustainable mechanism to help mitigate harmful carbon pollution generation. This study takes 10 high emitter advanced economies to explore the simultaneous role of natural resource rent, climate financing, industrialization, economic growth and population growth in carbon emissions. Data extracted from recipient countries covers the period from 2009 to 2020, and Cup-FM and Cup-BC techniques are used for long-run analysis to assess the relationships outlined. The results show that special climate change funds and green bonds, which are indicators of climate finance, decreases carbon emissions. The same is the case for natural resource consumption, possibly due to the consumption of renewable resources which balances the resource equation. Finally, as envisioned, industrialization, economic growth, and population growth affect the environment to a greater degree. In light of this evidence, policy implications are drawn to provide a path for future researchers to bring interesting insight to the existing model.

Green Supply Chain Practices: Toward A Sustainable Industry Development

As environmental consciousness is growing, organizations are required to implement environmental-friendly practices, and to develop sustainable strategies not just for the health of the environment but also for sustaining the industry for the future. Today consumers value organizations that go green and are willing to pay a price premium for sustainable goods. Then, it is an incumbent need for the industry to integrate sustain ability concepts into its traditional supply chain management. The industry is a driving force behind sustainable development, where industry 4.0 is set to be a critical enabler. Nevertheless, to foster sustainable development of the industry, there is a need for applying uniform standards in environmental management to reduce the consumption of renewable resources and develop productive ways of reusing and recycling the used/waste resources. This paper, theoretical by nature, explores the impact of Green Supply Chain Practices (GSCP) on accelerating industry-related targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 on building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation. Based on the literature review, conceptual interlinkages between the targets of SDG 9 and those SDGs that address issues of social, economic, and environmental goals, are studied in the context of GSCP. This work provides an understanding of the impact of green practices on the achievement of the SDGs.

Automata Theory in the WEFW nexus: Experience from the cities in the Global South

The major societal interests among the urban community at the moment represent a wide array of sustainable energy, climatic regulation, proper water use and sustainable production and consumption of renewable resources. As people migrate to urban areas, and more than half of the world population now live in cities, more pressure is put on the Water-Energy-Food-Waste (WEFW) systems. Devoid of plans for sustainable provision of WEFW services, cities may suffer water stress, starvation, load shedding and choked with waste. In this regard, among the dilemmas faced by urban managers is which methodologies would appropriately fix these problems and why. They can either (i) treat each of these problems individually or (ii) address them as one complex problem. This paper adopts the Automata Theory (AT) to explain how these options are affected by the nature of WEFW nexus, in what way the effects are transferred in the states and the opportunities and cautions from this nexus that affect the management of urban dynamics. A total of 16 articles analysing WEFW nexus and 20 articles covering interactions between WEFW elements were reviewed. Results show that the management of the interconnections between the WEFW elements contributes to either the realization or the breakdown of the urban systems. Empirical studies to establish resultant interactions between nexus sub-systems and developing integrated planning tools for inclusive policy processes that consider the vast array of this nexus in the current complex systems is fundamental.

Regional sustainability assessment using emergy accounting approach: The case of Nepal in South Asia

Emergy accounting is an environmental assessment tool that accounts for all the energy pathways in production systems. In this regard, the System Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory Animation (STELLA) with emergy model are used for a retrospective and prospective assessments. Nepal, a country having a relatively small economy but with faster recent growth as well as its geographical position and potentially high vulnerability to climate change was analyzed as a case study using data for 1998–2015 (retrospective) and 2015–2040 (prospective). As per our results, the rising use of non-renewable resources and decreasing use of locally extracted materials caused higher environmental load and reduced emergy sustainability scores. In addition, the effect of natural disasters, such as the Gorkha earthquake, on environmental performance of Nepal was analyzed by emergy accounting. Futuristic emergy analysis for 2015–2040 showed that total and non-renewable emergy would rise considerably, and the emergy sustainability index could further decrease by 33%. Based on these findings, small yet rapidly growing economies, such as Nepal, could improve their environmental management by reducing the material trade deficit (i.e., by increasing domestic material extraction and reducing imports of non-renewable resources), minimizing the use of non-renewables, improving soil fertility, and promoting renewable resource consumption.

An integrated approach of PCA and PROMETHEE in spatial assessment of circular economy indicators.

In order to ensure environmental sustainability, reducing the consumption of renewable resources, finding adequate substitutes for non-renewable resources, and reducing the generation of waste and pollution are necessities. The concept of circular economy one of the possible and good responses to improve the sustainability of the system, as it places particular emphasis on the reduction, reutilization and recycling of its elements. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the circular economy development in European Union countries based on the dataset encompasses 11 indicators, covering the seven-year period with biennial data. The analysis was performed using the integrated approach of the Principal Component Analysis and PROMETHEE with the aim of creating a composite index as a measure of the development of the circular economy at the national level. The ranking outcomes indicate that during the observed period Germany has the most developed circular economy, followed by the Netherlands, France and Austria. Additionally, the results of the research clearly indicate the positive correlation between the development of circular economies at the national level and the socio-economic development of the country, while progress in the circular economy has no immediate impact on environmental sustainability, but the effects are realized subsequently, with the intensity of the relationship increasing in two-year lag periods.

Dual Interval Optimization Based Trading Strategy for ESCO in Day-ahead Market with Bilateral Contracts

Being capable of aggregating multiple energy resources, the energy service company (ESCO) has been regarded as a promising alternative for improving power system flexibility and facilitating the consumption of renewable resources in the electricity market. Considering the uncertain variables in day-ahead (DA) market trading, an ESCO can hardly determine their accurate probability distribution functions. Traditional interval optimization methods are used to process these uncertain variables without specific probability distribution functions. However, the lower and upper bounds of the intervals may change due to extreme weather conditions and other emergent events. Hence, a dual interval optimization based trading strategy (DIOTS) for ESCO in a DA market with bilateral contracts (BCs) is proposed. First, we transfer the dual interval optimization model into a simple model consisting of several interval optimization models. Then, a pessimistic preference ordering method is applied to solve the derived model. Case studies illustrating an actual test system corroborate the validity and the robustness of the proposed model, and also reveal that ECSO is critical in improving power system flexibility and facilitating the ability of absorbing renewable resources.

Formation of system approach using renewable natural resources in high-rise bio-climate building

The inclusion of alternative energy in the structure of high-rise bioclimatic buildings significantly improves their energy and environmental performance, which is consistent with the principles of bioclimatic buildings. The integration of alternative energy in high-rise bioclimatic architecture requires special approaches - the synthesis of architectural shaping, advanced scientific and technical means, natural resources.The article discusses the systematization of energy supply tasks for high-rise bioclimatic high-rise buildings when using natural renewable energy resources in them. The feasibility of using the latter requires a systematic analysis, given the significant number of internal and external influences, ensuring the requirements of technical and environmental safety, structural reliability and durability.The study presents the main components of the system model: the target subsystem for the consumption of renewable resources of a high-rise bioclimatic building and the providing subsystem that has several system levels that can be classified as macro, meso - and micro levels.The stages of system modeling are considered: 1) analysis of the source data; 2) selection of funds; 3) impact optimization. At the first stage of system modeling - sources of renewable energy are determined at the macro, meso and micro levels, taking into account the duration, frequency of renewable energy, its types and intensity. The second stage of system modeling - “choice of means” is associated with functional constructive modeling. At the third stage, to optimize the impacts, the level of environmental impact of the alternative energy systems of the high-rise bioclimatic building used is determined.

Privacy-Preserving Energy Scheduling for ESCOs Based on Energy Blockchain Network

Capable of aggregating multiple energy resources, the energy service company (ESCO) has been regarded as a promising alternative for improving power system flexibility and facilitate the consumption of renewable resources in the energy market. However, the issues have become significantly more serious related to the privacy and security of the data in consumption and trading. In this paper, we address the problem by proposing a privacy-preserving energy scheduling (PPES) model based on energy blockchain network. A Lagrangian relaxation method is applied to decompose the model into several individual optimal scheduling problems, and the individual scheduling problems are solved by consensus algorithm and smart contracts in energy blockchain network. The performance of the proposed model and method is evaluated with several case studies based on multiple energy nodes. Simulation results show the rationality and validity of the proposed method, and the model is conducive to the protection of environment and transparent scheduling of energy service companies (ESCOs). In addition, it can reflect the information of energy demand and supply to improve the privacy and security of data.

Environmental income in economic growth of a large open economy for the era of eco-urbanization

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show that the environmental income drives economic growth of a large open country. Design/methodology/approach The authors detect that the relative environmental income has double effect of “conspicuous consumption” on the international renewable resource stock changes when a new social norm shapes to environmental-friendly behaviors by using normal macroeconomic approaches. Findings Every unit of extra demand for renewable resource consumption increases the net premium of domestic capital asset. Even if the technology spillovers are inefficient to the substitution of capital to labor force in a real business cycle, the relative income with scale effect increases drives savings to investment. In this case, the renewable resource consumption promotes both the reproduction to a higher level and saving the potential cost of environmental improvement. Even if without scale effects, the loss of technology inefficient can be compensated by net positive consumption externality for economic growth in a sustainable manner. Research limitations/implications It implies how to earn the environment income determines the future pathway of China’s rural conversion to the era of eco-urbanization. Originality/value We test the tax incidence to demonstrate an experimental taxation for environmental improvement ultimately burdens on international consumption side.

Renewable Resource Stock, Relative Income, and Consumption Externalities in a Large Open Economy

Renewable resource stock changes are determined by marginal consumption utility for future production. The expected utility is highly affected by the gap between different discount rates on individual’s utility maximization and various social welfare optimal level. In a large economy with big international trade, we show that sustainable development fails to be sustained without social production at a certain level dynamically. Only if the growth rate of theoretical innovation and capital accumulation is faster than the speed of renewable resource stock accumulation, the discounted value of renewable resource can be offset. In this dynamic process, when a share of environmental income exists, some renewable resource with distinguished regional characteristics cannot be perfectly substituted. Thus, the relationship between social subjective time preference of international consumers and the structural growth of economic production factors is argued by the fuzzy hypothesis of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). If we consider international resource consumption utility is proportionally driven by the relative income due to the inertia of “conspicuous consumption”, we show that consumption choice on every unit of renewable resource is deterministically affected by relative capital income and premium of every unit of asset (that can be transferred from renewable resource); and spillover effect of consumption externality generated from saving or consuming every unit of renewable resource for social production determines the convergence of efficient capital accumulation to increase the total social production level if all individual utility is transferable from renewable resource consumption; in this case environmental taxation ultimately burdens on international consumption side.

PLA Chemical Recycling Process Optimization: PLA Solubilization in Organic Solvents

The recycling of used, post-industrial and post-consumer PLA is crucial to reduce both the consumption of renewable resources for the monomer synthesis and the environmental impact related to its production and disposal. Several processes are actually available: among these, there is a particular interest on the chemical recycling of PLA with production of its monomer. The aim of this work is to analyse the PLA dissolution behaviour in different organic solvents (acetone and Ethyl lactate) at different water concentrations in order to optimize the chemical depolymerisation process of PLA. New experimental data are presented and a kinetic model is provided for a first analysis. Preliminary results suggest that acetone based solvents (i.e., acetone water mixtures at various concentrations) are more effective to solubilize the PLA rather than the Ethyl-lactate based solvent. Anyway, an increase of water concentration in the solvent phase, determines both a reduction of the solvent power and a reduction of mass transport coefficient for the two solvents tested.

Simulating sustainability: a resources perspective

A global population-economy-resource model explores the future impact of declining resource availability on the world economy. The model tracks the likely future consumption of renewable resources, fossil fuels and non-renewable materials and the economic impact of availability. Scarcity will likely become evident during the latter part of this century and constrain economic production, reducing income per capita, living standards and ultimately population. Policy interventions involving a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, reduced resource intensity and materials recycling are necessary to correct this trajectory and facilitate ongoing improvements in global average living standards.

Solid State Fermentation: Comprehensive Tool for Utilization of Lignocellulosic through Biotechnology

Lignocellulosics are widely available natural products which are the tremendous source for the production of enzymes being used for the numerous applications in food, feed, paper, textile and agro-biotechnological industries, ethanol production, bioremediation processes and many more. Enzyme productions from microorganisms are stimulated aggressively through solid state fermentation which meets the demand of getting rid of agro-industrial waste and strengthen the consumption of renewable resources through biotechnology. Though well-developed techniques for enzyme production by submerged fermentation has been found very successful at the industrial sectors; solid state fermentation helps to overcome to the issues of production cost and high yield. Additionally the availability of the substrate with very much economical rate can compensate the overall economic expenses which promote the application of solid state fermentation at industrial level. However several reports regarding fermentation techniques and their pre-treatments are available, the present review will discuss about utilization of lignocellulosics through solid state fermentation for production of enzymes and their enhanced applications in different sectors in recent years.

Resource Efficiency and Carbon Footprint Minimization in Manufacture of Plastic Products

Efficient resource management, waste prevention, as well as renewable resource consumption promote sustainable production and lower greenhouse gas emissions to the environment when manufacturing plastic products.The paper presents the analysis of the efficiency of resources and the potential of carbon footprint minimization in manufacture of plastic products by means of implementation of wood-plastic composite (WPC) production. The analysis was performed using life cycle assessment and material flow analysis methodology. To devise the solution for better management of resources and minimization of carbon footprint, the environmental impacts of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and WPC wall panels through their life cycle were assessed, as well as the detailed material flow analyses of the PVC and WPC in production stages were carried out.The life cycle assessment has revealed that carbon footprints throughout life cycle of 1 kg of WPC wall panel are 37 % lower than those of the same weight of PVC wall panel product. Both products have a major impact on the environment during their production phase, while during this phase WPC wall panel has 35 % smaller carbon footprint and even 47 % smaller during disposal stages than those of the PVC wall panel.The results of material flow analysis have shown that recycling and reuse of production spoilage reduce the need of PVC secondary resources for PVC panels and primary WPC resources for WPC panel production.For better resource efficiency, the conceptual model of material flow management has been proposed. As WPC products are made of primary WPC granules, which are imported from abroad, the model suggests to produce the WPC granules at the company using collected PVC secondary materials (PVC stocks). It would lower environmental costs and environmental impact, increase the efficiency of resources, and diminish dependence on suppliers.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.67.1.6587

Environmental Evaluation of Different Heating Systems

This study compares environmental impact of different heating systems with life cycle analysis, and get out if heat pump system has advantage in replacing boiler heating systems. Systems energy use are compared in one-year operation phase for residential buildings located in Tianjin city, including waste water heat pump system, coal boiler system and gas boiler system. In order to analyzed the environment performance of heat pump system in different conditions. The power structure impact to heat pump systems is analyzed using life cycle analysis method. The results indicate that with COP=4, even if 100% coal power is used, heat pump has advantage in the most impact factors, and if more clean power is used, the environment impact in heat pump system will be reduced obviously. The result also shows that waste water use in heat pump system impact the result little for its small quantity. Nomenclature GW, Global Warming; NRC: Non-renewable Resource Consumption; OD: Ozone Depletion; ACI, Acidification; EUT, Eutrophication; SPO, Synthesis of photochemical ozone; SW, Solid Waste; HW, Hazardous Waste; SD, Smoke and Dust. RC: Renewable Resource Consumption

Kinetics of Hydrolytic Degradation of PLA

The chemical recycling of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) to its monomer is crucial to reduce both the consumption of renewable resources for the monomer synthesis and the environmental impact related to its production and disposal. In particular, the production of lactic acid from PLA wastes, rather than from virgin raw materials, it is also possible to achieve considerable primary energy savings. The focus of this work is to analyse deeply the PLA hydrolytic decomposition by means of a kinetic model based on two reactions mechanism. To this end, new experimental data have been gathered in order to investigate a wider temperature range (from 140 to 180 °C) and to extend the water/PLA ratio up to 50 % of PLA by weight. The reported results clearly highlight that more than 95 % of PLA is hydrolyzed to water-soluble lactic acid within 120 min, when it is hydrolyzed within 160–180 °C. Furthermore, the kinetic constant is highly influenced by reaction temperature. The proposed “two reactions” kinetic mechanism complies satisfactorily with the experimental data under analysis.

Pla Depolimerization Kinetics: a Preliminary Study

Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) which is produced from renewable plant resources, is recently increasingly utilized as an alternative to petroleum-based polymers in order to reduce their impact on the environments. The monomer of PLLA is mainly produced from corn, which can also be utilized for food or to produce bioethanol or biofuels. Because of these reasons, the recycling of PLLA after its utilization, like other plastic material (PE, PP, or PET), must be carried out. For plastic material it is possible to carry out both a mechanical and chemical recycling: in the first case, the material is mechanically processed to obtain polymer pellets, while, in the second case, it is possible to obtain the monomer directly from the material depolymerization in order to reduce the consumption of renewable resources for the monomer synthesis. One of the most important processes used to produce lactic acid (LA) from PLLA is based on hydro-depolymerization of PLLA at high temperature and under pressure. In the present paper the hydrolytic depolymerization of pellets of PLLA in batch reactor at temperature near the melting temperature of the solid PLLA has been investigated and some preliminary experimental data are presented. Considering a residence time lesser than 120 minutes, a yield of lactic acid higher than 95% has been obtained at temperature equal to about 170-180°C, at pressure equal to water vapour pressure and with a water/PLLA ratio equal to about 20.