The greatest sustainability challenge facing humanity today is the greenhouse gas emissions and the global climate change with fossil fuels led by coal, natural gas and oil contributing 61.3% of global electricity generation in the year 2020. The cumulative effect of the Stockholm, Rio, and Johannesburg conferences identified sustainable energy development (SED) as a very important factor in the sustainable global development. This study reviews energy transition strategies and proposes a roadmap for sustainable energy transition for sustainable electricity generation and supply in line with commitments of the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the rise in global average temperature to 1.5°C above the preindustrial level. The sustainable transition strategies typically consist of three major technological changes namely, energy savings on the demand side, generation efficiency at production level and fossil fuel substitution by various renewable energy sources and low carbon nuclear. For the transition remain technically and economically feasible and beneficial, policy initiatives are necessary to steer the global electricity transition towards a sustainable energy and electricity system. Large-scale renewable energy adoption should include measures to improve efficiency of existing nonrenewable sources which still have an important cost reduction and stabilization role. A resilient grid with advanced energy storage for storage and absorption of variable renewables should also be part of the transition strategies. From this study, it was noted that whereas sustainable development has social, economic, and environmental pillars, energy sustainability is best analysed by five-dimensional approach consisting of environmental, economic, social, technical, and institutional/political sustainability to determine resource sustainability. The energy transition requires new technology for maximum use of the abundant but intermittent renewable sources a sustainable mix with limited nonrenewable sources optimized to minimize cost and environmental impact but maintained quality, stability, and flexibility of an electricity supply system. Technologies needed for the transition are those that use conventional mitigation, negative emissions technologies which capture and sequester carbon emissions and finally technologies which alter the global atmospheric radiative energy budget to stabilize and reduce global average temperature. A sustainable electricity system needs facilitating technology, policy, strategies and infrastructure like smart grids, and models with an appropriate mix of both renewable and low carbon energy sources.
: The global economic growth, the increase in the population, and advances in technology lead to an increment in the global primary energy demand. Considering that most of this energy is currently supplied by fossil fuels, a considerable amount of greenhouse gases are emitted, contributing to climate change, which is the reason why the next European Union binding agreement is focused on reducing carbon emissions using hydrogen. This study reviews di ff erent technologies for hydrogen production using renewable and non-renewable resources. Furthermore, a comparative analysis is performed on renewable-based technologies to evaluate which technologies are economically and energetically more promising. The results show how biomass-based technologies allow for a similar hydrogen yield compared to those obtained with water-based technologies but with higher energy e ffi ciencies and lower operational costs. More speci fi cally, biomass gasi fi cation and steam reforming obtained a proper balance between the studied parameters, with gasi fi cation being the technique that allows for higher hydrogen yields, while steam reforming is more energy-e ffi cient. Nevertheless, the application of hydrogen as the energy vector of the future requires both the use of renewable feedstocks with a sustainable energy source. This combination would potentially produce green hydrogen while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, limiting global climate change, and, thus, achieving the so-called hydrogen economy.
Abstract On account of the continuously increasing electricity consumption and concern for environmental issues, renewable energy sources have been widely utilized to generate electricity, and they present advantages such as cleanness, easy availability, low cost, and abundance. In 2017, the installed capacity of solar and wind power worldwide amounted to 903.1 GW, which represented 41.4% of the total installed capacity of renewable energy. Hybrid renewable energy systems have been proposed to overcome the variability and randomness of a single renewable energy source such as solar and wind power, and more than 80% of them are off-grid systems. Meanwhile, it is necessary to determine the size of each component to design a reliable and cost-effective hybrid renewable energy system. Therefore, this paper mainly reviews the recent classification, evaluation indicators, and sizing methodologies of hybrid renewable energy systems (stand-alone and grid-connected). Further optimization research is still required to improve the overall performance of hybrid renewable energy systems. Decision makers can explore and develop hybrid systems including hydropower and/or pumped hydro storage based on their superiority, and they should also pay attention to the development of hybrid energy storage. In addition to reliability and economic indicators, which have applications above 80%, more attention should be payed to environmental and social indicators to determine the system capacity, and some new indicators should be disseminated. The features of traditional, artificial intelligence, and hybrid methods, in additional to software tools, were assessed. Moreover, hybrid methods with high accuracy and fast convergence that can surmount the defects of single methods are the most promising sizing method compared to the other three sizing methods. This review is valuable to understand the current status and development trends of optimal sizing for hybrid renewable energy systems.
ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to analyse the effects of renewable energy and non-renewable energy on sustainable development. This study is pioneering in this respect because it analyses the effect of renewable energy on adjusted net savings, which is a good sustainable development variable. For this purpose, the data of 40 developed and 73 developing countries were included. According to the estimation results obtained in the study, renewable energy has a positive and statistically significant effect on sustainable development both in developed countries and in developing countries. The impact of renewable energy on sustainable development is greater than the impact of non-renewable energy. In this respect, as the renewable energy amount increases, the level of sustainable development increases. According to these results, the fact that countries use renewable energy more than non-renewable energy sources is extremely important in terms of making progress towards sustainability of development and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Abstract The increasingly severe environmental crisis has become one of the most important issues of international debate at present. The acceleration of environmental problems places considerable pressure on individuals, governments, and policymakers. Greenhouse gas emissions caused by fossil-based energy sources have made clean energy sources, such as renewable energy, a strategic choice. Although renewable energy is a key factor in mitigating environmental problems, analysis of its determinants has certain limitations. Despite studies that focus on macroeconomic and environmental determinants of renewable energy, political and institutional factors are neglected. Therefore, to fill the existing gap, the present study analyzes the connection between renewable energy and institutional quality in 38 countries during the period 1990–2015. Economic growth and CO2 emissions are included in the model as control variables. The findings of this study lead to the conclusion that the institutional quality positively affects renewable energy consumption in the long run. Furthermore, CO2 emission is a positive and important determinant of renewable energy consumption. However, economic growth negatively affects renewable energy. In this context, institutional quality is a key strategic choice in promoting the use of renewable energy and solving environmental problems.
Energy is valued by many countries as an important part of climate change mitigation. An increasing number of countries are looking for energy sources that fit their economic development and environmental requirements. Renewable energy and nuclear energy have become the targets of attention for many countries. But can nuclear energy be as critical an energy source as renewable energy to combat environmental change? The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze the impact of renewable and nuclear energy on economic growth and CO2 emissions, and also to investigate whether the different energy sources are adapted to the development of the country. Therefore, annual data from 2001 to 2020 were collected for 24 countries with nuclear energy and second-generation panel unit root test, panel cointegration test, panel fully corrected ordinary least squares and Heterogeneous Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test are used to estimate the long-run elasticity and causality between variables in this paper. The results show that nuclear energy, as well as renewable energy, can reduce carbon emissions. And our results show that the development of nuclear energy promotes economic development and curbs carbon emissions at the same time. The results of the causality investigation indicate that there is a two-way causality between renewable energy and economic growth, while there is a one-way causality between nuclear energy and economic growth. This proves that the increase of nuclear energy does not harm economic development. Therefore, we suggest that policy makers develop an energy mix based on renewable energy and nuclear energy, which could benefit from both economic and environmental aspects.
Microgrid with hybrid renewable energy sources is a promising solution where the distribution network expansion is unfeasible or not economical. Integration of renewable energy sources provides energy security, substantial cost savings and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, enabling nation to meet emission targets. Microgrid energy management is a challenging task for microgrid operator (MGO) for optimal energy utilization in microgrid with penetration of renewable energy sources, energy storage devices and demand response. In this paper, optimal energy dispatch strategy is established for grid connected and standalone microgrids integrated with photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), fuel cell (FC), micro turbine (MT), diesel generator (DG) and battery energy storage system (ESS). Techno-economic benefits are demonstrated for the hybrid power system. So far, microgrid energy management problem has been addressed with the aim of minimizing operating cost only. However, the issues of power losses and environment i.e., emission-related objectives need to be addressed for effective energy management of microgrid system. In this paper, microgrid energy management (MGEM) is formulated as mixed-integer linear programming and a new multi-objective solution is proposed for MGEM along with demand response program. Demand response is included in the optimization problem to demonstrate it’s impact on optimal energy dispatch and techno-commercial benefits. Fuzzy interface has been developed for optimal scheduling of ESS. Simulation results are obtained for the optimal capacity of PV, WT, DG, MT, FC, converter, BES, charging/discharging scheduling, state of charge of battery, power exchange with grid, annual net present cost, cost of energy, initial cost, operational cost, fuel cost and penalty of greenhouse gases emissions. The results show that CO2 emissions in standalone hybrid microgrid system is reduced by 51.60% compared to traditional system with grid only. Simulation results obtained with the proposed method is compared with various evolutionary algorithms to verify it’s effectiveness.
Abstract The growing urgency to transition toward clean energy systems has heightened interest in marine renewable energy (MRE) as a sustainable solution for coastal regions facing environmental degradation from fossil fuel use. This study applies the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method to evaluate and rank MRE options, offshore wind, tidal, and wave energy, based on four key criteria: Efficiency, Cost, Emissions, and Resource Availability. Expert judgment was used to derive weighted preferences, and a structured decision matrix facilitated performance scoring and ranking. The analysis identified Efficiency as the most influential factor, with offshore wind energy emerging as the top alternative due to its strong performance and scalability. The results offer a practical, adaptable framework for supporting energy planning in coastal zones, enabling decision-makers to balance environmental protection and operational feasibility.
Dimitrios Koemtzopoulos, Georgia Zournatzidou, Konstantina Ragazou
et al.
Fintech prioritizes the progression of issues related to environmental conservation and the consequences of climate change. This study is among the first investigations exploring the relationship between fintech and sustainable energy. It presents potential financial models that might be developed to assist companies in remaining operational via the use of renewable and clean energy sources. We employ a bibliometric analysis as the statistical methodology to address the study topic. We extract bibliometric data from the Scopus database employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach, thereafter analyzing the data with the R statistical programming language and the bibliometric applications Biblioshiny and VOSviewer. The results of the research indicate that fintech companies are committed to achieving carbon neutrality and investing in strategies such as environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) which may help them reduce their carbon footprint and enhance their eco-efficiency. In contrast to the United Kingdom, which is frequently regarded as the world’s preeminent financial center, Chinese fintech enterprises appear to demonstrate a more fervent dedication to the improvement of their ecological transition. However, the results, ultimately, emphasize the transition of fintech to an alternative paradigm, namely greentech. Greentech is a new fintech-dependent paradigm which will help cryptocurrencies and fintech reduce their environmental impact and promote carbon-neutral financial institutions via investment. Greentech aims to decarbonize the financial industry by investing in renewable resources and clean energy, therefore enhancing the sector’s environmental sustainability.
This study investigates the use of Orobanche plant extract, a parasitic weed that negatively impacts crops, as an innovative and sustainable natural dye for wool fibers. This dual-purpose approach seeks to repurpose an agricultural nuisance into a valuable dye source, thereby addressing the environmental challenges associated with synthetic dyes. The research examines the effects of dyeing conditions and various metal mordants on the color characteristics, fastness properties, and mechanical performance of the dyed wool. The selection of the Orobanche plant is supported by its rich content of phenylpropanoid glycosides, flavonoids, and anthocyanins, which offer a wide range of colors. UV–Vis spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of key chromophores, indicating the extract's suitability for dyeing applications. Comprehensive color assessment and fastness evaluation demonstrated the influence of factors such as pH, mordant type, and dye concentration on color strength and hue angle. Fastness properties showed that copper mordant provided the best light fastness, while aluminum was the least effective. Mechanical analysis showed that tin mordant significantly reduced fiber tenacity due to its impact on disulfide bonds, whereas aluminum and iron mordants had minimal effects on strength. This research establishes Orobanche extract as an eco-friendly dye source that, when optimized, can produce wool textiles with desirable color properties, durability, and mechanical integrity. The findings promote sustainable dyeing practices by transforming a problematic weed into an eco-conscious alternative to synthetic dyes, contributing to environmental conservation and waste reduction.
Renewable energy sources, Environmental engineering
Integrating renewable energy sources into the grid not only reduces global carbon emissions, but also facilitates distribution system (DS) blackstart restoration. This process leverages renewable energy, inverters, situational awareness and distribution automation to initiate blackstart at the DS level, obtaining a fast response and bottom-up restoration. In this Review, we survey the latest technological advances for DS blackstart restoration using renewable energy. We first present mathematical models for distributed energy resources (DERs), network topology, and load dynamics. We then discuss how the situational awareness can help improve restoration performance through real-time monitoring and forecasting. Next, the DS blackstart restoration problem, including objectives, constraints, and existing methodologies for decision-making are provided. Lastly, we outline remaining challenges, and highlight the opportunities and future research directions.
Charging electric vehicles (EVs) with renewable energy can lessen their environmental impact. However, the fluctuating availability of renewable energy affects the sustainability of public EV charging stations. Nearby public charging stations may utilize differing energy sources due to their microgrid connections - ranging from exclusively renewable to non-renewable or a combination of both - highlighting the substantial variability in energy supply types within short distances. This study investigates the near-future scenario of integrating dynamic renewable energy availability in charging station navigation to impact the choices of EV users towards renewable sources. We conducted a within-subjects design survey with 50 car users and semi-structured interviews with 10 EV users from rural, suburban, and urban areas. The results show that when choosing EV charging stations, drivers often prioritize either time savings or money savings based on the driving scenarios that influence drivers' consumer value. Notably, EV users tend to select renewable-powered stations when they align with their main priority, be it saving money or time. This study offers end-user insights into the front-end graphic user interface and the development of the back-end ranking algorithm for navigation recommender systems that integrate dynamic renewable energy availability for the sustainable use of electric vehicles.