Sustainable Energy Planning in a New Situation

Energy is one of the most important aspects of urban development and technological advancements. As its production and consumption are connected to several environmental, social, and economic issues covering all three sustainability pillars, strategic and targeted energy planning is vital to the smooth transition towards a more efficient and greener society. In accordance with the specific priorities of every state, sustainable energy planning should also satisfy the international trends, requirements, and targets, including the global commitments for sustainable development. As of this time, energy transition with further deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement are the priorities for a sustainable future. However, due to recent global events, a new situation has been established. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have caused new circumstances challenging the recognized approaches for an effective sustainable energy strategy. While the global pandemic led to a temporary reduction of energy use and created habits for further savings, the war caused energy security issues, especially for Europe, and an increase in energy prices. Moreover, both questioned the implementation of green energy strategies and policies and initiated energy poverty. In this framework, the perspectives of the criteria, on which the energy planning and the relevant research could lean, are investigated and discussed

The Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process in Combination with PESTEL-SWOT Analysis to Assess the Hydrocarbons Sector in Cyprus

Natural gas reserves have been recently found offshore of Cyprus. Hence, a new energy sector is under development, creating potential for raised welfare for the small insular EU member. Several social and economic benefits could be achieved from the resources’ exploitation. However, natural gas is a non-renewable energy source, connected with the major environmental issues of fossil fuels. The research goal of this work was to evaluate the sustainability of the new hydrocarbons sector. This was attained using a set of indicators, developed from the combination of PESTEL (Political, Economic, Technical, Social, Environmental, Legal) and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyses. These were quantified using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) weighting method. They were pairwise compared and evaluated, resulting to a size for each one. The judgements of four evaluators, representing diverse interested parties, were used. The strengths and opportunities of the sector were found to be more than the weaknesses and threats. The relevant indicators quantification demonstrates also that the value of the positives is higher than the negatives. Therefore, if the first are enhanced and the latter are mitigated, there is sustainability potential. The sectors environmental issues are evaluated as the most important, followed by the economic. The other takes lower but comparatively significant values, and must be handled accordingly. These results lead to useful conclusions and could be exploited for decision-making and policies formulation

Sustainable Energy Planning in a New Situation

Energy is one of the most important aspects of urban development and technological advancements. As its production and consumption are connected to several environmental, social, and economic issues covering all three sustainability pillars, strategic and targeted energy planning is vital to the smooth transition towards a more efficient and greener society. In accordance with the specific priorities of every state, sustainable energy planning should also satisfy the international trends, requirements, and targets, including the global commitments for sustainable development. As of this time, energy transition with further deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement are the priorities for a sustainable future. However, due to recent global events, a new situation has been established. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have caused new circumstances challenging the recognized approaches for an effective sustainable energy strategy. While the global pandemic led to a temporary reduction of energy use and created habits for further savings, the war caused energy security issues, especially for Europe, and an increase in energy prices. Moreover, both questioned the implementation of green energy strategies and policies and initiated energy poverty. In this framework, the perspectives of the criteria, on which the energy planning and the relevant research could lean, are investigated and discussed

Biochar production from the pyrolysis of tomato processing residues

The global modern challenges of climate change, natural resources scarcity, waste overproduction, management and processing, etc., need to be examined under the circular economy principles. As such, biochar is considered as an abundant, cost effective, and universal organic amendment widely advantaged by the agriculture sector. Biomass waste constitutes the main feedstock for the production of biochar through thermochemical conversion. Toward this, tomato, a popular food commodity, is widely cultivated and consumed around the world and is examined as a case study for biochar production. The production and reuse of tomato waste biochar is therefore discussed, taking into account its chemical composition (e.g., cellulose and hemicellulose content). The main conditions of biochar production such as the final temperature, residence time, heating rate, flow, etc., are depicted next to the potential activation for improving its physiochemical properties. Toward this effort, the employment of various analytical techniques is necessary (e.g., SEM, EDX, FT-IR, TG, etc.) for biochar quality monitoring. Furthermore, examples of tomato-derived biochar valorization as an organic amendment in agriculture are reviewed. Finally, the chapter is concluded by a life cycle analysis, highlighting the benefits of biochar production from food processing residues

Controlled Growth of Gold Nanoparticles on Covellite Copper Sulfide Nanoplatelets for the Formation of Plate–Satellite Hybrid Structures

We present a novel, straightforward, and reproducible method to form tailored CuS@Au hybrid structures consisting of two-dimensional copper sulfide nanoplatelets and gold nanoparticles that are formed exclusively on the sides of the two-dimensional nanoplatelets. For the realization of these dual-plasmonic structures, covellite copper sulfide nanoplatelets are first prepared via a wet-chemical route. In the second step, these platelets react with tetrachloroauric(III) acid trihydrate, oleylamine, and oxalic acid dihydrate at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere and in the absence of light. By varying the amount of added gold(III) ions, not only the number and size but also the interparticle distance between the gold nanoparticles along the sides of the copper sulfide nanoplatelets can be tailored, which can influence the optical properties of the hybrid structures. A combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on the hybrid structures prepared at different reaction times allows for a detailed understanding of the underlying selective gold growth on the CuS nanoplatelets and also provides insights into the metal–semiconductor interface

LCA of Barley Production: A Case Study from Cyprus

Greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) produced by agriculture contribute to global warming and climate change. Various practices followed by farmers in different environmental conditions contribute to the increase in the phenomena, and there is a need for immediate measures. The current study examines the environmental impact of barley production under rain-fed conditions in Cyprus. For this, four different nutrient management scenarios were investigated in order to evaluate the environmental performance of crop production, namely: (1) Nitrogen (20%), Phosphorous (20%), Potassium (10%); (2) Nitrogen (20%), Phosphorous (20%), Potassium (10%) and manure; (3) Nitrogen (25%), Phosphorous (10%), Potassium (0%); and (4) Nitrogen (25%), Phosphorous (10%), Potassium (0%) and manure. Data were collected from two different areas of Cyprus (Nicosia and Larnaca) through on-site visits and questionnaires. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used as a method to quantify environmental impacts which were categorized into six impact categories: (i) acidification potential (AP), (ii) eutrophication potential (EP), (iii) global warming potential (GWP), (iv) ozone depletion potential (ODP), (v) photochemical, ozone creation potential (POCP), and (vi) terrestrial ecotoxicity (TAETP). LCA was used with system boundaries from field to harvest and a functional unit (FU) of one bale of hay. Research results showed that the addition of manure increased values in all impact categories. Comparing scenarios without manure (1 and 3) and with manure (2 and 4), the main process which contributed to GWP was field preparation, which resulted in 3 t CO2-Eq∙FU−1 and 46.96 t CO2-Eq∙FU−1, respectively. Furthermore, the highest contribution of sub-processes to GWP (kg CO2-Eq∙FU−1) was machinery maintenance (scenarios 2 and 4). The potential to reduce environmental impacts from barley and moreover, to mitigate the footprint of the agriculture sector in Cyprus is proposed by changing existing practices such as decreasing fuel consumption by agricultural machinery, and monitoring fertilizing and seeding. Conclusively, the carbon footprint of barley can be decreased through the improvement of nutrient management and cropping practices