Changes in feedstocks of rural anaerobic digestion plants:External drivers towards a circular bioeconomy

The aim of this study is to better understand the recent changes in the feedstocks of anaerobic digestion plants, the driving forces behind these changes and consequent opportunities to strengthen closed-cycle energy production and promote the circular bioeconomy approaches. The study analyses Poland – a country with a highly diversified agrarian structures and with various levels of the development and focus of regional agricultural sectors which belong to the main sources of biosubstrates to be energetically processed in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. Biowaste, including biowastes originating in agri-food production and in households, is indicated as one of the key sources for a more sustainable biogas generation. Our findings indicate and prove a gradual shift in the mix of substrates, including the growing role of energy processing of biowaste from households and municipalities. It was also ascertained that in the initial phase of the development of Polish biogas market in early 2010s, the AD substrates in most important position were agricultural raw materials (energy crops) and agricultural waste. On the other hand, during the course of time and due to developing legal requirements as well as financial and market conditions, the biowastes from the food industry and of municipal origin have gradually gained significance. An unintentional shift towards the energy processing of the more sustainable AD substrates in Poland is visible despite a rather low environmental awareness of AD operators

Beyond technology: A research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe

This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.acceptedVersio

Agricultural biogas plants in the development of small-scale renewable energy installations in Poland

W artykule zaprezentowano biogazownie rolnicze w kontekście rozwoju małoskalowych instalacji odnawialnych źródeł energii (OZE) w Polsce. Przedstawiono projekty małych biogazowni rolniczych (o średniej mocy zainstalowanej około 0,1 MW) w kontekście rozwoju generacji rozproszonej jako przykład małoskalowych instalacji odnawialnych źródeł energii w Polsce. Omówiono egzogeniczne i endogeniczne uwarunkowania rozwoju instalacji biogazowych w Polsce. Zwrócono uwagę na to, że projekty małych biogazowni rolniczych powstają w gminach wyróżniających się na tle kraju m.in. znacznie większą średnią powierzchnią gospodarstw rolnych, wynoszącą 11 ha (średnia wielkość gospodarstw rolnych w skali Polski to 7 ha). Ponadto gminy te cechuje większy udział gospodarstw rolnych utrzymujących zwierzęta.The aim of the article is to present agricultural biogas plants in the context of the development of small-scale renewable energy installations in Poland. The projects of small agricultural biogas plants (with an average installed capacity of about 0.1 MW) are presented in the context of the development of distributed generation in Poland. The both exogenous and endogenous factors of the development of agricultural biogas plants in Poland are discussed. It must be noted that the projects of small agricultural biogas are noted in gminas which distinguish oneself inter alia larger an average farm size, i.e. 11 ha (the average farm size in Poland is 7 ha) with livestock

Significance of renewable energy sources education in the popularization of the principles of sustainable development

The paper aims at discussing the significance of the education on subject of renewable energy sources in the popularization of the principles of sustainable development in society. In the study a special attention was paid to energy power plants using renewable energy sources in the so-called education for sustainability. It was shown that in the opinion of visitors among these power plants the most attractive are the pioneers or/and the leaders in the utilization of particular renewable energy sources including: agricultural biogas, water energy, and solar energy

In memory of Stanislav Martinát (1976–2023)

On Sunday, August 13, 2023, Stanislav Martinát – a respected Czech geographer and member of the Editorial Board of Moravian Geographical Reports journal – died after a short serious illness at the age of 47. Despite his relatively young age, Stanislav Martinát was one of the most productive and the most cited Czech geographers. He is the author or coauthor of over 100 peer-reviewed articles, of which more than 70 were published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database. This article is a collection of personal memories from people from different workplaces from several countries who had the opportunity to work with Stanislav (Standa) and to share a part of their life stage with him