Projected freshwater needs of the energy sector in the European Union and the UK

This study estimates plausible projections of the long-term freshwater needs of the energy industries (that is, primary energy production and energy transformation in refineries and power plants) in all the EU Member States and the UK until 2050, according to the six energy scenarios publicly available. The projections are disaggregated at NUTS2 level for further analysis within the WEFE project. They are intended to be used in combination with other estimations of the freshwater requirements of other sectors (e.g. agriculture, public water supply) to assess the overall stress of water resources, and also in energy modelling analyses supporting the design of energy and environmental policies.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Production costs from iron and steel industry in the EU and third countries

This report provides an overview of the production costs in the iron and steel industry in the EU and third countries. The cost breakdowns are provided for two typical products of the integrated and recycling routes (hot rolled coil as a proxy of flat products and wire rod as a proxy of long products). The analysis includes detailed information from 153 production facilities in the EU27 and 10 other countries (Russia, Turkey, United States, United Kingdom, Ukraine, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Brazil). The information is based on data from October 2019. This is the last available data before the COVID-19 pandemic affected the iron and steel industry. The results show that the EU27 has the third highest production costs for hot rolled coil via the integrated route (458 EUR/t). The main contributors to these costs are the raw material costs 65%, the ‘other costs’ 27% and energy costs 17%. The CO2 cost is included in ‘other costs’ and for the EU27 represents 2% of the total production costs. It is worth noting that the EU27 is among the world leaders in creating credits from recycling materials and energy. This shows a high optimisation of the integrated route processes in the European steel industry, as a result from cumulated investments in innovations over the years. The results also show that the EU27 has the second highest production costs for hot rolled coil via the recycling route, which is however only 6% higher than the lowest production cost of all the countries in the analysis. Finally, for the production of wire rod, the EU27 production costs are either the highest (when produced via the integrated route) or second highest (when produced via the recycling route). The materials cost in the EU27 are 68% and 58% of the production costs, for each of the two respective production routes. These shares for the material cost are similar in the rest of countries. The share of the energy costs in the EU in wire rod production in integrated route is 11%. This is close to the minimum observed share. In the recycling route the 20% is the highest share observed in any of the countries considered.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Water – Energy Nexus in Europe

The interdependencies between water and energy are well known and they have become a topic of increasing attention for the scientific and policy communities. Water is used throughout the energy industry, and the water system needs energy for collecting, pumping, treating and desalinising water. Increasing water and energy needs, or changes in water availability due to climate change could have significant effects on the energy system. These problems are expected to be very acute in developing countries, but also in Europe. The EU has ambitious decarbonisation goals for the future, which could be very difficult to achieve if the European water system becomes too stressed, since decarbonisation relies on water-demanding energy technologies such as biofuels, carbon capture, or nuclear power. The water sector is not as energy-intensive as other industries. Despite that, the operation of the water sector may offer solutions for increasing the flexibility of the European power system. This may be achieved by powering water treatment and desalination plants with renewable energy and by using water supply and distribution networks to store energy. All the above considerations denote that the use and management of energy and water resources need to be addressed simultaneously, especially when taking into consideration that the fundamental difference between energy and water is that energy can be renewable, however water resource are finite. Only with this “nexus” approach it is possible to take full advantage of the opportunities to increase energy efficiency in the water sector; to exploit the possibilities of the water system as a source of flexibility for the power system; to extract more energy from water; and to reduce the water footprint of the energy industries. The Water Energy Food and Ecosystem Nexus (WEFE Nexus) flagship project addresses in an integrated way the interdependencies and interactions between water, energy, agriculture, water supply and treatment, as well as the environment. These interactions have been so far largely underappreciated. The WEFE-Nexus can be depicted as a way to overcome stakeholders’ view of resources as individual assets by developing an understanding of the broader system. It is the realisation that acting from the perspective of individual sectors cannot help tackle future societal challenges. This report summarises the main results obtained to date within the WEFE project as regards the water-energy nexus.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Energy use in the EU food sector: State of play and opportunities for improvement

The amount of energy necessary to cultivate, process, pack and bring the food to European citizens tables accounts for the 17 % of the EU's gross energy consumption, equivalent to about 26 % of the EU's final energy consumption in 2013. Challenges and solutions for decreasing energy consumption and increasing the use of renewable energy in the European food sector are presented and discussed.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Stratics model building - research application

As Sun Tzu says: Judge advantages when accepting advices, and then, in accordance with that, arrange your forces supplementing them with extraordinary tactics. Forces should be arranged strategically, based on that what gives the advantage. This though directly points that strategy and tactics need to be developed in the same direction to gain success. This is the application of the research on building the new model which will combine strategy and tactics in marketing. The model will have to satisfy three conditions. It will have to be applicable, simple and interactive. The research will consist of three parts. The first part will be the literature review aimed at making the historical overview on research subject and developing the first instance of the model. The second part of the research will be the main research in the form of interviews with managers responsible for the implementation of strategy and tactics in companies. The result of the main research will be the final version of the model which will be tested in the third part of the research, an experiment on the real company which is present on the real market. Results of the experiment will be evaluated through business results of the company before the implementation of the model and results after the implementation. The Stratics model will follow the line of modelling presented by Vraneevi, Vignali and Vrontis which includes the combination of various strategy and tactics models like Life Cycle of the Company, Boston Consulting Group Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and Marketing Mix. Resulting model will give the company's management a chance to see whether company's real position lays where management thinks it does. The other purpose of the model will be initial propositions on what should be done on tactical level in order to achieve company's targeted strategy position

Stratics model building - research application

As Sun Tzu says: Judge advantages when accepting advices, and then, in accordance with that, arrange your forces supplementing them with extraordinary tactics. Forces should be arranged strategically, based on that what gives the advantage. This though directly points that strategy and tactics need to be developed in the same direction to gain success. This is the application of the research on building the new model which will combine strategy and tactics in marketing. The model will have to satisfy three conditions. It will have to be applicable, simple and interactive. The research will consist of three parts. The first part will be the literature review aimed at making the historical overview on research subject and developing the first instance of the model. The second part of the research will be the main research in the form of interviews with managers responsible for the implementation of strategy and tactics in companies. The result of the main research will be the final version of the model which will be tested in the third part of the research, an experiment on the real company which is present on the real market. Results of the experiment will be evaluated through business results of the company before the implementation of the model and results after the implementation. The Stratics model will follow the line of modelling presented by Vraneevi, Vignali and Vrontis which includes the combination of various strategy and tactics models like Life Cycle of the Company, Boston Consulting Group Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and Marketing Mix. Resulting model will give the company's management a chance to see whether company's real position lays where management thinks it does. The other purpose of the model will be initial propositions on what should be done on tactical level in order to achieve company's targeted strategy position

Gaps for interactive upgrading of existing marketing models

The purpose of this preparatory research was to identify gaps for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which can keep them simple and interactive and to examine whether the action research and case study would be the proper research methods to reach the aim of the main research which is to improve the relation between business strategy and marketing tactics. Chosen research methodology was phenomenology and the secondary research in the form of the literature review was recognized as the most appropriate research method. Main findings of the research were that there was the gap for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which would make them simple and interactive. Main practical implication of this research is the identification of fields where there is the possibility to extend the knowledge in the field of marketing modelling. The value of this research lays in propositions for further development of marketing model called Stratics which would contribute to the overall knowledge in the field of business strategy and marketing tactics and the most appropriate research method to achieve this aim. This research was performed as a part of the literature review process of PhD research

Gaps for interactive upgrading of existing marketing models

The purpose of this preparatory research was to identify gaps for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which can keep them simple and interactive and to examine whether the action research and case study would be the proper research methods to reach the aims of the main research which is to improve the relation between business strategy and marketing tactics. Chosen research methodology was phenomenology and the secondary research in the form of the literature review was recognized as the most appropriate research method. Main findings of the research were that there was the gap for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which would make them simple and interactive. Main practical implication of this research is the identification of fields where there is the possibility to extend the knowledge in the field of marketing modelling, The value of this research lays in propositions for further development of marketing model called Stratics which would contribute to the overall knowledge in the field of business strategy and marketing tactics and the most appropriate research method to achieve this aim. This research was performed as a part of the literature review process of PhD research.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Improving relations between business strategy and marketing tactics

The purpose of this research was to develop a new strategic marketing model which would help to improve the relations between business strategy and marketing tactics. Chosen research methodology was phenomenology and the combination of action research and case study was recognized as the most appropriate research method. Main findings of the research were that there was the gap for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which would make them simple and interactive and that the new developed Stratics model improves the business result of the company. Main research limitation in this action research was that in the case of a strong external influence like the recession which started in Croatia in 2009 and was still present in 2013, there was a strong influence of the negative impact of the recession on general market conditions. In that case, the business result was compared to the other market players and global situation on the market. Main practical implication of this research is the developed Stratics 2.0 model which is as a piece of academic knowledge available for free download and use. The originality of this research lays in the developed Stratics model which contributed to the overall knowledge in the field of business strategy and marketing tactics. This research was performed as a part of PhD thesis.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc