Rebounds Revisited Using Axiomatic Design

Energy Sustainability has been addressed through advancing technology efficiency, which may increase the impact of the use of natural resources. However, the increase in efficiency makes services cheaper, which causes a rebound effect, direct or indirect, on energy consumption and materials. Moreover, the popular concept of recycling seems insufficient to reduce the use of critical raw materials to provide energy services. From the perspective of the Earth’s limited resources, the sustainability problem needs a design approach to tackle the rebound effect from efficiency. This work aims to create a theoretical holistic review regarding energy use linked to technology efficiency, to understand how rebound effects may be prevented. In this work, the Axiomatic Design (AD) theory creates the framework that defines the Energy Sustainability functions and identifies the couplings that create the rebounds. According to AD, cycles occur on coupled designs, classified as poor designs. Decoupling the design clarifies two possible and complementary policies to achieve sustainability goals regarding the use of resources. The first is the circular economy, with constraints on energy and raw materials. The second is the massive use of local renewable energies. Plausible solutions come from mandating efficiency and taxation, dematerializing the economy, and reducing, reusing, remanufacturing, and recycling materials from products and systems. These solutions impact economic, environmental, and societal behaviors. The novelty of this approach is the definition of a system model for Energy Sustainability in the frame of AD, while tackling the rebound effect from technological efficiency.publishersversionpublishe

Mainstream climate adaptation in spatial planning. The case of Baixa Pombalina

Baixa Pombalina is the historical downtown area of Lisbon city, close to the Tagus estuary, sheltering many economic activities with tourism at first. This paper assesses and maps the vulnerability of the area, at the neighbourhood scale, to floods episodes and sea level rise. The methodology outlines how the different components of vulnerability are tackled, while taking the importance of the local context to the definition of composite indexes. Twenty two vulnerability hotspots were found, for which six adaptation options are proposed to be embedded into Plano de Pormenor currently in place.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.Extreme weather disasters (EWDs) can jeopardize domestic food supply and disrupt commodity markets. However, historical impacts on European crop production associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cold waves are not well understood - especially in view of potential adverse trends in the severity of impacts due to climate change. Here, we combine observational agricultural data (FAOSTAT) with an extreme weather disaster database (EM-DAT) between 1961 and 2018 to evaluate European crop production responses to EWD. Using a compositing approach (superposed epoch analysis), we show that historical droughts and heatwaves reduced European cereal yields on average by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, associated with a wide range of responses (inter-quartile range +2% to -23%; +2% to -17%). Non-cereal yields declined by 3.8% and 3.1% during the same set of events. Cold waves led to cereal and non-cereal yield declines by 1.3% and 2.6%, while flood impacts were marginal and not statistically significant. Production losses are largely driven by yield declines, with no significant changes in harvested area. While all four event frequencies significantly increased over time, the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on crop production roughly tripled over the last 50 years, from -2.2% (1964-1990) to -7.3% (1991-2015). Drought-related cereal production losses are shown to intensify by more than 3% yr-1. Both the trend in frequency and severity can possibly be explained by changes in the vulnerability of the exposed system and underlying climate change impacts.publishersversionpublishe

Severity of drought and heatwave crop losses tripled over the last five decades in Europe

Extreme weather disasters (EWDs) can jeopardize domestic food supply and disrupt commodity markets. However, historical impacts on European crop production associated with droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cold waves are not well understood—especially in view of potential adverse trends in the severity of impacts due to climate change. Here, we combine observational agricultural data (FAOSTAT) with an extreme weather disaster database (EM-DAT) between 1961 and 2018 to evaluate European crop production responses to EWD. Using a compositing approach (superposed epoch analysis), we show that historical droughts and heatwaves reduced European cereal yields on average by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, associated with a wide range of responses (inter-quartile range +2% to −23%; +2% to −17%). Non-cereal yields declined by 3.8% and 3.1% during the same set of events. Cold waves led to cereal and non-cereal yield declines by 1.3% and 2.6%, while flood impacts were marginal and not statistically significant. Production losses are largely driven by yield declines, with no significant changes in harvested area. While all four event frequencies significantly increased over time, the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on crop production roughly tripled over the last 50 years, from −2.2% (1964–1990) to −7.3% (1991–2015). Drought-related cereal production losses are shown to intensify by more than 3% yr−1. Both the trend in frequency and severity can possibly be explained by changes in the vulnerability of the exposed system and underlying climate change impacts

Energy Transition and Sustainability

This issue presents some of the latest findings within energy planning research and form a special issue from the 2021 5th Annual Conference of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics as well as for the 2020 Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environmental Systems conference series. The work presented probes into the effects of the European emissions’ trading system on innovation, and the development of the Chinese wind power industry. Notable is also an analysis of people at Portuguese universities revealing lesser knowledge of renewable energy technologies but a more positive attitude towards this among women – and vice versa among men. EnergyPLAN-based energy systems analyses with cases from Iran and Serbia are presented, and different indicators for energy systems analyses are deliberated in a Mexican context. Marine energy developments in Columbia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Denmark are discussed with a focus on siting and barriers.  Also, barriers against solar energy exploitation in Indonesia are explored as are barriers against energy savings in Nigeria

Carbon neutrality pathways effects on air pollutant emissions: The Portuguese case

Funding Information: Funding: This research was based on the outcomes from the Portuguese Carbon Neutrality Roadmap 2050, a project supported by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Transition of the Portuguese Republic. The research work developed at CENSE is financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the strategic project UIDB/04085/2020.Air pollution and climate change are closely interlinked, once both share common emission sources, which mainly arise from fuel combustion and industrial processes. Climate mitigation actions bring co-benefits on air quality and human health. However, specific solutions can provide negative trade-offs for one side. The Portuguese Carbon Neutrality Roadmap was developed to assess conceivable cost-effective pathways to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050. Assessing its impacts, on air pollutant emissions, is the main focus of the present work. The bottom-up linear optimization energy system the integrated MARKAL-EFOM system (TIMES) model was selected as a modeling tool for the decarbonization scenarios assessment. The estimation of air pollutant emissions was performed exogenously to the TIMES model. Results show that reaching net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is possible, and technologically feasible, in Portugal, by 2050. The crucial and most cost-effective vector for decarbonizing the national economy is the end-use energy consumption electrification, renewable based, across all end-use sectors. Decarbonization efforts were found to have strong co-benefits for reducing air pollutant emissions in Portugal. Transport and power generation are the sectors with the greatest potential to reduce GHG emissions, providing likewise the most significant reductions of air pollutant emissions. Despite the overall positive effects, there are antagonistic effects, such as the use of biomass, mainly in industry and residential sectors, which translates into increases in particulate matter emissions. This is relevant for medium term projections, since results show that, by 2030, PM2.5 emissions are unlikely to meet the emission reduction commitments set at the European level, if no additional control measures are considered.publishersversionpublishe

Cartografia e ensino: do estabelecido ao possível

Ao considerar a amplitude de possibilidades dos sujeitos que compõem as identidades espaciais ao refletir sobre a existência juvenil, a Geografia enquanto ciência ativa na formação crítica individual e coletiva fornece linguagens engajadas na não neutralidade e desenvolvimento de um raciocínio geográfico que propiciam a compreensão da pluralidade de realidades e vivências. Neste sentido, a Cartografia age na autonomia dos estudantes no decorrer de seu processo de construção, leitura e atribuição de sentidos e subjetividades, propiciando discussões potentes no que diz respeito às práticas docentes e estudantis

Positive Energy District: A Model for Historic Districts to Address Energy Poverty

ENGAGER 2017–2021, CA16232 PED-EU-NET, CA19126The Positive Energy District (PED) concept has been pointed out as key for cities' energy system transformation toward carbon neutrality. The PED may be defined as an energy-efficient and flexible urban area with net-zero energy import and greenhouse gas emissions, aiming toward annual local surplus of renewable energy. Most of the studies and practical experiences about PEDs are based on newly built districts, where the planning and integration of innovative solutions are less complex and more cost-effective. However, to achieve Europe Union's 2050 carbon-neutral ambition, we argue that the transformation of the settled districts is essential, including historic districts, which present common challenges across European cities, such as degraded dwellings, low-income families, and gentrification processes due to massive tourism flows. This paper aims to discuss how the PED model can be an opportunity for historic districts to reduce their emissions and mitigate energy poverty. The historic district of Alfama, in the city of Lisbon (Portugal), is used as a case study to show the potential of energy renovation measures and solar PV production in households, cornerstones of a PED. The annual energy needs potential reduction due to building retrofit is 84 and 19% for space heating and cooling, respectively, while the integration of building-integrated PV technologies in rooftops and windows potentially generates up to 60 GWh/year. At the district scale, these two components of the PED concept could require an investment of 60M€ to 81M€ depending on the PV technologies in the rooftops, a sensitive aspect in historical districts. Unlike other mechanisms to tackle energy poverty, like the social tariffs, the adoption of structural measures like building energy efficiency retrofit and renewable energy integration will contribute to solve the energy poverty problem, which is significant in Alfama, in both the winter and summer. The highlighted investments require an innovative financial scheme to support not only buildings' owners but also tenants, as these are among the most vulnerable to energy poverty. However, the social benefits of that investment, on the health system, air quality, climate resilience, labor productivity, and social integration, would be invaluable.publishersversionpublishe

CAPTURA E ARMAZENAMENTO DE CO2 EM PORTUGAL: UMA PONTE PARA UMA ECONOMIA DE BAIXO CARBONO

As atuais projeções indicam que são necessários esforços adicionais para atingir os objetivos de mitigação acordados para 2030 bem como a ambição de reduzir as emissões de gases com efeito de estufa da UE em 80 a 95% em 2050, face a 1990, sendo este o objetivo necessário a longo prazo para descarbonizar o sistema energético e industrial Europeu consentâneo com uma trajetória de estabilização climática do Planeta. Este estudo mostra como as tecnologias de baixo carbono contribuem para atingir metas de redução em Portugal até 2050, considerando diferentes cenários. A geração de eletricidade por fontes renováveis, a par com o potencial de eficiência energética, surge progressivamente custo-eficaz, enquanto a indústria intensiva deve considerar a tecnologia de captura e armazenamento de CO2, sobretudo para os processos industriais. Quanto mais cedo as empresas e organismos de política pública identificarem as necessidades e oportunidades associadas à cadeia de valor da captura, transporte e armazenamento de CO2, considerando a atual incerteza, maior será a probabilidade de evitar perdas competitivas na evolução de Portugal para uma economia de baixo carbono. , sobretudo para os processos industriais. Quanto mais cedo as empresas e organismos de política pública identificarem as necessidades e oportunidades associadas à cadeia de valor da captura, transporte , considerando a atual incerteza, mai

CO2 CAPTURE AND STORAGE IN PORTUGAL A BRIDGE TO A LOW CARBON ECONOMY

Current projections indicate that further efforts are required at national and EU level to keep the EU on track towards its new 2030 targets, and cut EU's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 % by 2050, as its longer term objectives to decarbonise the European energy and industry system in line with global climate stabilization achievement. This study shows how low carbon technologies interplay up to 2050 to achieve aggressive mitigation targets in Portugal, under diverse scenarios conditions. While power generation appears to become increasingly supported by renewables and energy efficiency, intensive industry should consider CCS for deep CO from industrial processes. As soon as private companies and public policy bodies identify the needs and opportunities from adopting CCS, while taking current uncertainty, the higher the chance to prevent competitive losses while bridge Portugal to a carbon constrained economy