Comparative assessment of research & development and quality of life indicators in Lithuania and Greece

In recent years, it has been widely accepted that research and experimental development (R&D) is leading innovations and economic growth, as they are supposed to provide an increase in the well-being of the population. The paper analyses the scientific literature on the linkages between research and development expenditures to advance and promote the quality of life of the population. The comparative assessment of two countries – Lithuania and Greece – was performed based on the analysis of indicators such as the share of R&D financing intensity; human resources management in a new knowledge orientation; share of high-tech products in total exports, jointly with well-being indicators representing quality of life such as consumption level, productive activity; education and natural and living environment. The comparative assessment approach consists of comparative analysis of trends in R&D and the evolution of the quality of life indicator in two selected countries and comparison with a benchmark – the EU-27 average level, in addition to the identification of similarities and differences and their main reasons. To this end, a survey of experts in the selected countries defined the most relevant indicators for R&D and quality of life and constructed a framework for R&D performance and quality of life. The comparative assessment of Lithuania and Greece showed that Lithuania has a higher R&D financing intensity, but lower R&D resources and higher R&D financing outcomes compared to Greece. However, in both countries, the efficiency of R&D financing in terms of high technology products sharing in total exports is less than half than the EU-27 average. Subsequently, both countries should strengthen R&D financing outputs by implementing additional measures. Quality of life indicators related to R&D performance in Lithuania were higher than in Greece during the entire investigated period (2011-2020), demonstrating the need for greater R&D financing for national growth and the well-being of citizens. Finally, policy recommendations were proposed to increase the efficiency of R&D financing for Greece and Lithuania

Energy Poverty and Low Carbon Energy Transition

In the recent two decades of recorded literature, energy poverty is increasingly understood as a multi-dimensional issue caused by the low-carbon energy transition. In this study, a literature review was performed, the outcome of which confirmed the contentious nature of energy poverty at the regional and international levels of analysis. Furthermore, the collected literature enabled the identification of those domains under which energy poverty is prevailing. The impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war on energy prices and energy poverty were also considered key issues of interest in recently published studies (published within the last five years). While all the collected studies in the literature review covered a wide geographical context worldwide, a comprehensive analysis of nurturing energy poverty sources and their consequences was primarily and foremost understood in the household sector, which was the research focus of this study, accordingly. Moreover, future research guidelines that should be drawn regarding energy poverty alleviation were also proposed

Literature Review of Hydrogen Energy Systems and Renewable Energy Sources

The role of hydrogen as a clean energy source is a promising but also a contentious issue. The global energy production is currently characterized by an unprecedented shift to renewable energy sources (RES) and their technologies. However, the local and environmental benefits of such RES-based technologies show a wide variety of technological maturity, with a common mismatch to local RES stocks and actual utilization levels of RES exploitation. In this literature review, the collected documents taken from the Scopus database using relevant keywords have been organized in homogeneous clusters, and are accompanied by the registration of the relevant studies in the form of one figure and one table. In the second part of this review, selected representations of typical hydrogen energy system (HES) installations in realistic in-field applications have been developed. Finally, the main concerns, challenges and future prospects of HES against a multi-parametric level of contributing determinants have been critically approached and creatively discussed. In addition, key aspects and considerations of the HES-RES convergence are concluded

Review of energy and climate plans of Baltic states: the contribution of renewables for energy production in households

The European Commission introduced a package of measures to accelerate the shift to low-carbon energy transition in Europe. In 2014, EU member states agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The binding greenhouse gas emission targets for Member States from 2021 to 2030 for the transport, buildings, agriculture, waste, and land-use and forestry sectors were established. EU Member States should decide on their own how to meet the agreed upon 2030 target and implement climate-change-mitigation measures. All EU MSs have committed to prepare national energy and climate plans based on regulation on the governance of the energy union and climate action (EU)2018/1999, agreed as part of the Clean Energy for All Europeans package approved in 2019. The national plans outline how the EU Member States intend to implement the GHG reduction target by increasing their in energy efficiency, use of renewables, greenhouse-gas-emission reductions, interconnections, and research and innovation. This paper analyzes the energy and climate plans of the Baltic States and systematizes the main climate-changemitigation policies in the energy sector targeting the household sector. The background of energy and climate planning is provided from a theoretical point of view, encompassing regional, local, and national energy and climate plans. The diffusion levels of renewables in the Baltic States were determined and the energy-climatic-friendly policies followed, by them, they were identified. Keywords: climate change mitigation; plans; renewables; households; policies and measures

Practical Improvement Scenarios for an Innovative Waste-Collection Recycling Program Operating with Mobile Green Points (MGPs)

Since 2021, the prefectural authorities of the Attica Region in Greece have been operating a rewarding recycling program for the collection of clean recyclable waste in collaboration with the “Specialist Integrated Association of the Prefecture of Attica” (EDSNA, in Greek) and private contractors, called “THE GREEN CITY”. This program mobilizes almost 30 mobile green points (MGPs) daily, which are self-propelled trucks that collect clean recyclable materials from citizens and businesses across the Attica Region. After one year of operation, this program has shown promising results, having more than 100,000 registered citizens and having already collected over 500 tons of clean recyclable municipal solid wastes in more than 60 municipalities of Attica. However, these promising results are accompanied by some significant financial and environmental costs. This study presents two different practical improvement scenarios for THE GREEN CITY recycling program’s current situation that ensure (a) the shortening of the annual kilometers and time on the remote routes of all programs, (b) the annual fuel-cost decrease for the MGPs and (c) the annual reduction of their CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Afterwards, we compare these two scenarios and conclude that the “first improvement scenario with main depot decentralization” is more realistic, feasible and has a bigger total sum of positive impacts than the second one. Therefore, this study strongly suggests the implementation of the “first improvement scenario with main depot decentralization” and opens the road to future improvement scenarios for various waste-management systems or recycling programs

Sustainable development of million cities: Spatial evidence from Russia

Modern cities are centers of economic, social, cultural and intellectual life, which makes it crucially important to ensure proper conditions for their sustainable development. The paper is intended to elaborate on some spatial aspects of the sustainable development of million cities in Russia. The study used official statistics, as well as data from the information and analytical system of urban development VEB.RF. The research method consists in comparing the values of indicators characterizing cities’ spatial particularities with each other and with the national average. The article analyzes accessibility of objects of interest for the population (social infrastructure facilities, leisure centers). It reveals that million cities differ in these parameters quite significantly and can be categorized into three groups. The most numerous group (8 cities) is one embracing cities with liveability above the national average; in four cities, the liveability level is equivalent to the all-Russia average; and two millionplus cities are lagging behind the others. The research also indicates the factors defining the accessibility of objects of interest for city inhabitants: its area, population density, saturation of urban space with such objects and the specificities of their localization, uniqueness of urban planning, and the quality of the urban environment

Addressing Challenges of Low-Carbon Energy Transition

Currently, national bodies and international congregations, such as that of the Stockholm, Rio, and Johannesburg conferences, jointly identified that sustainable energy development has proven to be a very challenging factor in global development [...

Systematic Literature Review on Behavioral Barriers of Climate Change Mitigation in Households

Achieving climate change mitigation goals requires the mobilization of all levels of society. The potential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from households has not yet been fully realized. Given the complex climate change situation around the world, the importance of behavioral economic insights is already understood. Changing household behavior in mitigating climate change is seen as an inexpensive and rapid intervention measure. In this paper, we review barriers of changing household behavior and systematize policies and measures that could help to overcome these barriers. A systematic literature review provided in this paper allows to define future research pathways and could be important for policy-makers to develop measures to help households contribute to climate change mitigation