Hasil untuk "Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade"

E. Cobbold, Mohammad S. Islam, Quinete Chinwe Nwosu

This article explores the key factors influencing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in 35 OECD countries from 1990 to 2019. The analysis considers economic growth gross domestic product (GDP), green technological innovation (GTI), renewable energy consumption (REC), fossil energy consumption (FEC), and environmental taxation (ETAX). The study period captures the effect of major climate agreements and energy policy changes while avoiding distortions from post-2019 events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure reliability, the study applies panel econometric techniques that correct for cross-sectional dependence, heterogeneity, and endogeneity. The findings reveal that GDP growth and fossil fuel reliance raise emissions, whereas technological innovation and renewable energy reduce them. Environmental taxes show a positive but insignificant impact, possibly due to overlapping schemes like emissions trading, renewable subsidies, and tax exemptions for heavy industries. These results highlight the need to strengthen the design of environmental tax systems while promoting innovation and clean energy to achieve long-term emission cuts. The evidence contributes to understanding the drivers of CO 2 emissions in OECD economies and supports the formulation of integrated energy and climate policies.

Noel Healy, J. Stephens, Stephanie A. Malin

Abstract We introduce the new concept of embodied energy injustices in order to encourage integrative, systemic, transboundary assessment of the global implications and responsibility of energy-policy decisions. Embodied energy injustices reframe considerations of energy justice to explicitly consider hidden and distant injustices (upstream or downstream) arising from the extraction, processing, transportation and disposal of energy resources. We assess the embodied energy injustices connected to the decision to decommission a coal-fired power plant in Salem, Massachusetts, US, and its replacement with a natural-gas-fired power station. Cerrejon open-pit coalmine in La Guajira, Colombia, powered the Salem plant for over a decade. Fracked gas from Pennsylvania now supplies fuel for the new power station. Comparing the extraction of these two very different fuels reveals multiple parallel injustices. But the regulatory environment fails to account for the different constituencies, jurisdictions and effects that fall outside the formal remit of existing impact assessments. We therefore call for mandatory transboundary impact assessments of large-scale energy-related projects, which explicitly integrate previously unrecognized social-environmental harms and injustices. Expanding energy law and policy discussions to incorporate embodied energy injustices can enhance sustainable energy governance and enable corporate accountability for the transboundary harms of fossil fuel extraction and use. Linking chains of energy injustice—by revealing their interconnected positions along fossil-fuel supply chains—may help generate and unite powerful trans-local solidarity movements, which politicize local struggles within wider national, regional and global energy politics.

Marie Byskov Lindberg, Jochen Markard, A. Andersen

Abstract Policies and politics are crucial elements of sustainability transitions. Transition pathways unfold as a result of continuous struggles of actors over policy goals and instruments. Taking a policy mix perspective, we study policies and policy preferences of key industry actors in the ongoing energy transition at the level of the European Union. We introduce two central analytical dimensions for transition pathways: the degree of sustainability (here: renewable energy ambition) and the degree of disruption (here: whether to pursue centralized or decentralized energy system configurations). We find that the current EU energy policy mix is heterogeneous with respect to the issue of (de-)centralization, whereas most policies and actors express high or moderate ambitions for renewable energy. Our paper makes three contributions. It demonstrates how actors and policy preferences can be explicitly included in the study of policy mixes. To the literature on transition pathways, we introduce sustainability as another key dimension in addition to disruption. Lastly, we propose a novel methodology for analyzing the politics of transition pathways.

Olha Yatsenko

The global energy transition is characterized by a shift from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. It is emphasized that hydrogen energy has significant potential for the development of innovative business, international trade, and energy transition for a sustainable post-carbon future. Currently, most hydrogen is consumed locally, without significant volumes of interstate supplies. It is noted that the development of this market faces many technical challenges, including high costs of producing “green” hydrogen, technical difficulties with the infrastructure for its transportation and storage due to low density, and the need to create large-scale infrastructure. Demand for hydrogen is growing as it plays a key role in decarbonization and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, especially in heavy industry, transportation, and energy systems. In the short term, hydrogen trade will likely occur mainly between neighboring countries through pipelines, limiting the scope of international trade until cost-reducing technologies are developed. In the long term, as demand for green hydrogen grows, especially in Europe and Asia, the trend toward active trade in this resource will gradually change. According to the most optimistic forecasts, the global hydrogen market will gradually grow until 2030, and the volume of international hydrogen trade may reach 120 million tons per year. It has been theorized that hydrogen is becoming increasingly important in the global energy system, and the geopolitics of energy trade will inevitably change. Energy geopolitics has traditionally been dominated by fossil fuel exporters such as the Middle East and Russia. However, the transition to hydrogen has the potential to decentralize energy production, making countries with rich renewable energy resources, such as the Persian Gulf, North Africa, and parts of Europe, key players in the new hydrogen market. This underscores the importance of developing international hydrogen supply chains, particularly from regions rich in renewable energy sources, such as North Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. Institutional support for the energy transition for a sustainable post-carbon future is implemented at the global and macro levels. At the global level, through a system of rules and regulations for the international market, international trade agreements and customs regulation, and international coordination on the implementation of hydrogen quality and safety standards. At the macro level, through government institutions, regulatory frameworks, and hydrogen economy development strategies, which have already become an integral part of the energy plans of many countries seeking to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve energy security. It is substantiated that the hydrogen market will face a difficult path related to solving technical and economic issues. However, thanks to the development of innovative business and technological innovations, support from governments, private investors, and various stakeholder groups, this sector has a great chance to become a key player in the future energy landscape, playing an important role in the decarbonization of the global economy. Keywords: innovative business, institutional support, energy transition, hydrogen, global hydrogen economy, energy geopolitics, decarbonization, sustainable development, sustainable post-carbon future, green transition, green investments, technological innovation, international trade, emissions trading system, regulation, strategic interests, economic interests, strategy of hydrogen use for energy, energy strategy, strategizing the hydrogen economy, country strategies, global development triggers, trade policy, environmental policy, international trade agreements, customs regulation, international trade.

Nacer Mebrek, Bilel Louail, Siham Riache

This study explores the impact of trade openness and foreign direct investment on CO2 emissions in the MENA region, providing new insights through the Panel ARDL regression. It aids policymakers in balancing economic growth and environmental sustainability. The study employs a Panel ARDL regression model to analyse the dynamic relationship between trade openness, FDI, and CO2 emissions. The study finds robust long-run relationships between Trade Openness, FDI, electricity uses and CO2 emissions, while trade openness reduces emissions. Short-run coefficients vary, with electricity use and growth significantly increasing emissions. The Error Correction Term confirms equilibrium restoration, with 23% of deviations corrected annually. FDI-driven industrial activities and fossil fuel reliance are key contributors to emissions, highlighting the need for cleaner energy sources and stricter environmental policies to mitigate climate impact. The findings guide policymakers in balancing economic growth and environmental sustainability, emphasising the need for cleaner industries, stricter regulations, and investment in renewable energy to reduce CO2 emissions in the MENA region. This study adds value by providing new empirical evidence on the dynamic impact of FDI, trade openness, and economic factors on CO2 emissions in the MENA region using the robust Panel ARDL model.

João P. Manaia, Guilherme Pedreiro, João Paulo Dias et al.

The transition to electric mobility is essential for sustainable development, driving a sharp rise in battery use for electric vehicles (EVs). Once these batteries have reached the end of their first vehicle life cycle (1st EOL), they are no longer suitable for vehicle traction, but can be repurposed for less demanding applications before being recycled. This approach prolongs battery lifespan while yielding measurable environmental and economic benefits. However, the widespread repurposing of these batteries is limited by a lack of standardised certification procedures. This study proposes a certification methodology for second-life lithium-ion batteries, based on Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and the UL 1974 standard. The methodology comprises eight key steps to ensure safety, performance, and regulatory compliance for CE marking in the EU. A key step in the methodology is performance testing, which includes BMS functionality checks, open-circuit voltage, insulation resistance, capacity (via charge/discharge cycles), internal resistance, and self-discharge tests. These tests assess the battery’s state of health (SoH) and state of charge (SoC), enabling sorting and repurposing. A case study of a BMW plug-in hybrid battery module shows testing costs of 57.3–57.4 €/kWh, indicating economic feasibility. This work supports the safe and sustainable integration of repurposed EV batteries into new energy applications.

Eghbal Hosseini, Barzan Saeedpour, Mohsen Banaei et al.

Accurate time-series forecasting of energy consumption and photovoltaic (PV) production is essential for effective energy management and sustainability. Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are effective tools for learning complex patterns in such data; however, optimizing their architecture remains a significant challenge. This paper introduces a novel hybrid optimization approach that integrates Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to enhance the DNN architecture for more accurate energy forecasting. The performance of GA-PSO is compared with leading hyperparameter optimization techniques, such as Bayesian Optimization and Evolutionary Strategy, across various optimization benchmarks and DNN hyperparameter tuning tasks. The study evaluates the GA-PSO-enhanced Optimized Deep Neural Network (ODNN) against traditional DNNs and state-of-the-art machine learning methods on multiple real-world energy forecasting tasks. The results demonstrate that ODNN outperforms the average performance of other methods, achieving a 27% improvement in forecasting accuracy and a 22% reduction in error across various metrics. These findings demonstrate the significant potential of GA-PSO as an effective tool to optimize DNN models in energy forecasting applications.

Arif S. Malik

The current structures of the electricity market are criticized in this article for failing to internalize the external costs of carbon emissions from thermal power plants. It highlights the shortcomings of the two main policy instruments—carbon taxes and carbon trading. While carbon taxes are frequently too low to bring about meaningful change, particularly in capital-intensive industries like power generation, emissions trading schemes set overall caps but do not encourage reductions beyond the targets. By recalculating marginal costs using heat rates and input-output curves, the author suggests bridging this gap by incorporating environmental costs into power plant bidding prices. This method changes dispatch priorities according to actual societal costs and openly accounts for externalities as shown using data from the U.S. Department of Energy on five fossil fuel generation technologies. Moreover, screening curve analysis is carried out to show the overall economics of these technologies when the carbon costs are added. Using IEEE-118 fossil fuel data, the study shows more than ${\$}$ 20/MWh cost gap between the average and marginal costs for some plants when CO2 is priced at ${\$}$ 50/ton. It calls for policies mandating emission disclosure and integrating environmental costs into decisions to penalize polluters and drive a lasting shift toward cleaner energy and climate alignment.

R. Milelli

Tariff-linked energy purchase agreements, such as the recent $750 billion U.S.–EU deal, are framed as victories for American trade policy. In reality, these arrangements act as a dual tax on U.S. households—once through import tariffs and again through upward pressure on domestic energy prices caused by expanded exports. Using household-level models for California’s PG&E service area, combined with U.S. Department of Energy export elasticity data, this paper estimates that plausible scenarios could raise annual residential energy costs by $350–$650 before accounting for transportation fuel impacts. When gasoline and diesel price effects are included, total annual household burdens can reach $500–$850. The export chain itself consumes 10–20% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) energy content, accelerating drawdown of finite reserves[6]. These policies also risk compromising long-term energy security by hastening the need for imports, imposing higher costs on future generations. The emerging growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and data center electricity demand—projected to reach 200–250 TWh annually by 2030[7]—compounds these challenges, as export-driven energy losses could otherwise power all projected AI needs several times over. Coupled with the oil and gas industry’s more than $104 million in federal lobbying expenditures in 2025[4], these trends raise fundamental questions about national interest, economic equity, intergenerational responsibility, and strategic energy allocation.

Aleksandr Sergeevich Khadzhi

The relevance of the research is determined by the current state of the global energy market: after 2022, a rapid process of forming new trade and economic ties and diversifying the geography of energy resource supplies began. In these conditions, states and companies are making active efforts to occupy new niches and enhance the quality of their supplied goods portfolio. The object of the study is the vertically integrated oil and gas companies of Russia. Vertical integration in energy sector has been characteristic of the development of Western structures since the first half of the 20th century; however, in Russia, despite the historical emergence of such organizations, this process has taken a different path. The subject of the study is the role of vertically integrated oil and gas companies in Russia's foreign policy as an important element of the country's economy and politics. Promising projects of the largest oil and gas companies are now positioning the country among the global leaders in the fuel and energy sector, enhancing Russia's prestige and generating necessary high revenues from export activities in the context of large-scale sanctions and pressure from the West. The methodological foundation of the research includes general scientific, historical, and other methods used in similar studies: in particular, historical-comparative method, systemic and critical analysis, content analysis, etc. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive analysis of the historical experience of forming vertically integrated structures in Russia, identifying the main problems at the turn of the USSR's collapse, and focusing on several key features of the activities of vertically integrated oil and gas companies in the country's foreign policy. The study allows for the following conclusions: firstly, the construction of vertically integrated companies occurred with the support of the state and enabled the free movement of capital in the sector, accelerated technological breakthroughs, and developed lagging areas. Secondly, this affected the entire industry and provided Russia with an effective tool for foreign energy policy – the promising projects of the largest oil and gas companies now position the country among the global leaders in the fuel and energy sector and contribute to enhancing Russia's prestige.

S. E. Ologunla

This study examined the impact of energy equity on industrial sector growth in Nigeria, focusing on fossil fuel energy consumption, access to electricity, and electric power consumption, over the period 1999–2023. The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) technique was employed to estimate the long-run relationship between energy equity and industrial growth, after confirming stationarity and cointegration among the variables. Findings revealed that fossil fuel energy consumption had a positive and significant impact on industrial sector growth, indicating that industries remained heavily reliant on petroleum-based energy sources. Access to electricity also showed a positive and significant relationship with industrial output, suggesting that improved electrification enhanced productivity. However, electric power consumption exhibited a negative but significant impact on industrial growth, implying that inefficiencies in power supply, high electricity costs, and unreliable grid distribution offset the potential benefits of increased energy consumption. Based on these findings, the study recommended that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) should implement policies promoting alternative energy sources and improving refining capacity. The Federal Ministry of Power and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) were advised to accelerate industrial electrification projects, while the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) and power distribution companies (DisCos) were urged to enhance electricity distribution efficiency. Furthermore, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) were recommended to enforce energy efficiency standards for industrial machinery to improve overall energy utilization. Addressing these challenges would ensure that Nigeria's industrial sector fully benefits from stable and cost-effective energy access.

Tho Do Thi, Khuong Dinh Gia, H. Hoàng

The steel manufacturing industry is one of the most energy-intensive sectors, making it highly sensitive to input cost fluctuations, especially raw material and energy prices. This study investigates the impact of key input price volatility - including iron ore, coking coal, and fuel oil - on the profitability of listed steel companies in Vietnam between 2019 and 2024. Using panel data of ten publicly traded firms and applying robust estimation techniques including Pooled OLS, Fixed Effects, and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), the study evaluates how variations in input costs affect return on equity (ROE), a proxy for financial performance. The empirical results reveal that rising prices of coking coal and fuel oil have a significantly negative effect on profitability, whereas fluctuations in iron ore prices exhibit a more complex and less consistent impact. Additional control variables such as exchange rate and financial leverage also contribute to profitability volatility. The findings underscore the vulnerability of energy-dependent industrial sectors in emerging markets to raw material cost shocks, particularly under global supply disruptions and geopolitical tensions. This paper provides policy implications for risk mitigation, suggesting that firms in the steel sector should adopt hedging strategies and diversify energy sources, while national policymakers should consider strategic stockpiling and tax incentives to stabilize energy input costs. The results also add to the literature on energy price transmission and profitability under uncertainty in transitional economies.

Mahdi Pourbafrani, Hossein Ghadamian, Mohammad Aminy et al.

Evacuated tube solar collectors (ETSC) are widely utilized in both domestic and industrial solar water heaters (SWH) due to their commendable thermal performance and straightforward installation. However, a significant challenge associated with ETSC lies in the fact that half of the collector remains unexposed to sunlight. To overcome this limitation, parabolic reflectors can be employed as a viable solution. The primary objective of this study is to assess the performance of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) in conjunction with ETSC, taking into account a specific ratio between the areas of the CPC and ETSC. To achieve the desired configuration, the CPC was meticulously designed, fabricated, installed, and subsequently tested. Moreover, the energy performance of the absorber tube was scrutinized both with and without the integration of a parabolic trough collector. The experiments and data collection were conducted on two selected days for both the conventional ETSC device and the system incorporating the CPC. Meteorological data and operational conditions were measured and digitally stored for subsequent analysis. A noteworthy outcome of the study is the revelation that the energy efficiency of the system with a concentrator exhibited a notable improvement of 2.8% compared to the conventional system. Offline results further indicated that the performance of a single absorber tube with a concentrator increased by approximately 2.7 times when compared to the standard system. This suggests that the energy performance of the solar water heater, with a capacity of about 200 liters and featuring 7 absorber tubes with a concentrator, is comparable to that of the conventional system equipped with 18 absorber tubes.

Yaoming Li, Qi Zhang, Boyu Liu et al.

The green-car subsidy program since 2009 has been successfully used to boost the nation's new-energy vehicle industry and cut vehicle emissions in China; however, it may cause financial burden on the governments at the same time. Therefore, alternatives including a New-Energy Vehicle Credit Program and Corporate Average Fuel Consumption Regulation (dual-credit policy) have been proposed to reduce the government's expenditure caused by subsidization. To examine the effectiveness of the new regulation, new energy vehicles' development under different scenarios have been quantitatively simulated by using a developed game theory-based analysis model. The obtained results show that: (i) the dual-credit policy can effectively promote the development of new energy vehicles, with this policy (in scenario NSC and SC) the proportion of NEV in the whole auto market will be up to 3.9%; (ii) compared with green-car subsidy, the dual-credit policy can significantly increase the amount of new energy vehicles to two times as much as that of current subsidy level; and (iii) when the dual-credit policy is implemented, green-car subsidy will not further promote the development of new energy vehicles.

Ladislav Zjavka

Microgrid autonomous networks need an effective plan and control of power supply, energy storage, and retransmission. Prediction and monitoring of power quality (PQ) along with efficient utilization of Renewable Energy (RE) is unavoidable to optimize the system performance without abnormalities. Alterations and irregularities in PQ must remain within the prescribed norm ranges and characteristics to allow fault-tolerant operation of the detached system in various modes of attached equipment. The PQ data for all possible combinations of grid-attached household appliances and different inside/outside conditions cannot be measured completely or described exactly by physical equations. PQ predictions on a daily basis using Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are needed because atmospheric fluctuations and anomalies in local weather with uncertainties in system states primarily influence the induced power and operation of real off-grids. A novel soft-computing method using Differential Learning, which allows modelling of complex dynamics of weather-dependent systems, is presented and compared with the recent standard deep and probabilistic machine learning. The AI models were evolved using weather data and the binary status of attached equipment in the test predetermined daily training periods. Daily statistical models process 24-h forecast data and definition load series of trained input variables to calculate the target PQ parameters at the same times. Optimal utilization, efficiency, and failure-free operation of smart grids can be planned according to the suggested operable power consumption scenarios based on their PQ verification on a day-horizon. Executable load sequences can be automatically combined and scheduled in the system to be adapted to user needs, considering the RE production potential, charge state, and optimal PQ characteristics over the next 24 h. A parametric C++ application software with applied PQ and weather data is free available to allow reproducibility of the results.

Xiaofeng Zeng, Wei Gao, Gengjie Yang

When a high impedance fault (HIF) occurs in a distribution network, the detection efficiency of traditional protection devices is strongly limited by the weak fault information. In this study, a method based on S-transform (ST) and average singular entropy (ASE) is proposed to identify HIFs. First, a wavelet packet transform (WPT) was applied to extract the feature frequency band. Thereafter, the ST was investigated in each half cycle. Afterwards, the obtained time-frequency matrix was denoised by singular value decomposition (SVD), followed by the calculation of the ASE index. Finally, an appropriate threshold was selected to detect the HIFs. The advantages of this method are the ability of fine band division, adaptive time-frequency transformation, and quantitative expression of signal complexity. The performance of the proposed method was verified by simulated and field data, and further analysis revealed that it could still achieve good results under different conditions.

邓方钊, 郎青勇, 王秀丽 et al.

风电机组的大规模并网使系统的发电容量备用需求激增，由此产生的额外备用成本也理应由风电机组承担。但目前的电力市场机制并没有体现上述原则，在备用成本分摊上存在明显的交叉补贴问题。针对上述问题，以不确定性方差表征功率预测不确定性，构建了基于分布鲁棒机会约束优化的日前经济调度和不确定性出清模型。进一步推导出由发电容量价格和输电容量价格两部分组成的不确定性边际价格，分别对应了对传统机组和对线路的机会成本损失补偿，并理论证明该出清机制收支平衡。通过PJM 5节点系统算例证明了该模型可以有效应对系统中的预测不确定性，确保系统的安全稳定运行，出清价格能有效反映不确定性对系统成本的影响和传统机组在系统不确定性平衡中的作用。

Hong Chang, Qingyi Ding, Wanzheng Zhao et al.

The digital economy plays a pivotal role in assisting the world in tackling climate change. This paper explores the intrinsic mechanism of the digital economy on carbon emissions intensity. Initially, it scrutinizes the suppressive effect of the digital economy on carbon emissions intensity, as well as the mediating mechanism of industrial structure upgrading, on a theoretical level. Subsequently, it utilizes provincial panel data from China between 2010 and 2019 to investigate the quantitative relationship between the digital economy and carbon emissions intensity empirically. The results revealed that, firstly, the digital economy significantly diminishes carbon emissions intensity; secondly, it confirms the significant mediating role of industrial structure upgrading; thirdly, increased levels of economic development, market openness, human capital, technological advancement, and urbanization all have constructive moderating effects on the carbon emission reduction facilitated by the digital economy; fourthly, the influence of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity has spatial spill-overs. This paper contributes an integrated analytical framework and method for studying the digital economy, industrial structure upgrading, and carbon emissions intensity. Furthermore, it offers valuable insight and suggestions for policy-making concerning the digital economy's contribution to carbon emissions reduction.

I. Todd, D. McCauley

Abstract A transition away from fossil fuels in South Africa is required to meet the obligations of the Paris Agreement, and to address the challenge of climate change. The country remains on an unsustainable path towards increasing fossil fuel dependency, while its immense potential for renewable energy lies untapped. Urgent work is needed to identify and assess the policy barriers which are holding the country back. The limited literature on barrier theory is reviewed, and a new taxonomy of policy barriers is developed. This is then used to interpret the findings of 28 elite semi-structured interviews with key organisations and individuals, which are analysed to ascertain what lies beneath the current direction of travel, and how these barriers are impeding progress. The paper develops the policy implications of those findings and presents conclusions for action needed by the South African government and others. It further concludes that the techniques developed are applicable to a wide range of transitional situations.

A. Ajanovic, R. Haas

Abstract For a long time hydrogen has been considered a clean energy carrier to be applied universally and contribute to a sustainable energy system. However, in the real energy world hydrogen has not yet delivered. The major reason is that it has still to become economically feasible. With increasing electricity generation from variable renewables and its temporarily cheap surplus production, new prospects for hydrogen are on the horizon especially due to the rising need for a solution to the problem of the long-term storage of excess electricity. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the economic prospects of hydrogen use in the energy system keeping in mind two challenges: (i) integration of variable renewables in power systems, and (ii) substitution of fossil fuels in the transport sector. The future economics of hydrogen in passenger car transport is investigated regarding hydrogen production costs and possible learning effects of the fuel cell vehicles. The major conclusion is that the future perspective of hydrogen use depends on the policy framework, the full exploitation of economies-of-scale and technological learning for electrolysis as well as possible full-load hours per year. However, cost reduction of fuel cells for mobility through technological learning is essential for the economic competitiveness of hydrogen use in transport.