scholarly journals Mainstreaming Energy Communities in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Future: A Methodological Approach

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Torabi Moghadam ◽  
Maria Valentina Di Nicoli ◽  
Santiago Manzo ◽  
Patrizia Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
General Procedure ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Stock Ownership Plans

Innovations in technical, financial, and social areas are crucial prerequisites for an effective and sustainable energy transition. In this context, the construction of a new energy structure and the motivation of the consumer towards a change in their consumption behaviours to balance demand with a volatile energy supply are important issues. At the same time, Consumer Stock Ownership Plans (CSOPs) in renewable energies sources (RESs) have proven to be an essential cornerstone in the overall success of energy transition. Indeed, when consumers acquire ownership in RES, they become prosumers, participating in the phase of production and distribution of energy. Prosumers provide benefits by (1) generating a part of the energy they consume, (2) reducing their overall expenditure for energy, and (3) receiving a second source of income from the sale of excess production. Supporting Consumer Co-Ownership in Renewable Energies (SCORE) is an ongoing Horizon 2020 project with the aim of overcoming the usage of energy from fossil sources in favour of RES, promoting the creation of energy communities (EC) and facilitating co-ownership of renewable energies (RE) for consumers. SCORE hereby particularly emphasises the inclusion of women, low-income households, and vulnerable groups affected by fuel poverty that are as a rule excluded from RE investments. In this framework, the main goal of the present study is to illustrate the general procedure and process of EC creation. In particular, this paper focuses on the description of the methodological approach in implementing the CSOP model which consists of three main phases: the identification and description of selected buildings (preparation phase), the preliminary and feasibility analysis phase, and finally the phase of target group involvement. SCORE first started in three pilot regions in Italy, Czech Republic, and Poland, and later, with the aim of extending the methodology, in various other cities across Europe. In this study, Italian pilot study sites were chosen as a case study to develop and test the methodology.

scholarly journals A systematic bibliometric review of clean energy transition: Implications for low-carbon development

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261091
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Binshuai Li ◽  
Rui Xue ◽  
Chengcheng Wang ◽  
Wei Cao
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Improve Energy Efficiency ◽  
Low Carbon Development ◽  
Venture Capital Investments

More voices are calling for a quicker transition towards clean energy. The exploration and exploitation of clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy are effective means to optimise energy structure and improve energy efficiency. To provide in-depth understanding of clean energy transition, this paper utilises a combination of multiple bibliometric mapping techniques, including HistCite, CiteSpace and R Bibliometrix, to conduct a systematic review on 2,191 clean energy related articles obtained from Web of Science (WoS). We identify five current main research streams in the clean energy field, including Energy Transition, Clean Energy and Carbon Emission Policy, Impact of Oil Price on Alternative Energy Stocks, Clean Energy and Economics, and Venture Capital Investments in Clean Energy. Clearly, the effectiveness of policy-driven and market-driven energy transition is an important ongoing debate. Emerging research topics are also discussed and classified into six areas: Clean Energy Conversion Technology and Biomass Energy Utilisation, Optimisation of Energy Generation Technology, Policy-Making in Clean Energy Transition, Impact of Clean Energy Use and Economic Development on Carbon Emissions, Household Use of Clean Energy, and Clean Energy Stock Markets. Accordingly, more and more research attention has been paid to how to improve energy efficiency through advanced clean energy technology, and how to make targeted policies for clean energy transition and energy market development. This article moves beyond the traditional literature review methods and delineates a systematic research agenda for clean energy research, providing research directions for achieving low-carbon development through the clean energy transition.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Economic Policies Based on Green Energy Transformation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfei Shen ◽  
Jingjie Li ◽  
Yidan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Policy System ◽  
Green Finance ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Policy Systems

Faced with increasingly serious climate and environmental problems, the green transformation of the energy structure is imminent. Energy development is related to a country’s economic lifeline, and the level of energy green transition is a key factor in determining the degree of low-carbon economic development. As an important way to internalize the externalities of environmental behavior, the degree of perfection of economic policies has a direct impact on the energy transition process. As an important means to promote the adjustment of energy structure, economic policies can internalize the positive or negative externalities of corporate environmental behaviors, and play an unparalleled role in the process of promoting the green transformation of energy. This article takes Germany, France, Japan, and Australia as the research objects of the four countries with relatively advanced energy transition economic policy systems, and fully analyzes the above-mentioned countries’ practices in fiscal and taxation policies, green finance, and market systems, and combines China’s energy transition economic policies. Implementation status, and corresponding suggestions for the construction of China’s energy transition policy system.

scholarly journals China’s Energy Transition Policy Expectation and Its CO2 Emission Reduction Effect Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Wang ◽  
Xue Liu ◽  
Xiaodi Yang ◽  
Zhiyuan Zhang ◽  
Xinchen Wen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Structure Transition ◽  
Reduction Effect ◽  
Transition Policy ◽  
The Impact

Measuring the expected impact of China’s energy transition on carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation and identifying the key influencing factors in different economic sectors will help to provide better policy recommendations for CO2 emission reduction. Based on the prediction results of China’s CO2 emissions in 2030 under the baseline scenario and the target scenario, this study constructs the control group and the treatment group of the energy transition policy quasinatural experiment and then uses the difference in difference (DID) model to evaluate the CO2 emission reduction effect of China’s energy transition policy. The results reveal that the energy transition policy has a significant impact on CO2 emission reduction and helps to achieve China’s 2030 carbon emission reduction target. The impact of energy structure transition on CO2 emission reduction has significant sectoral heterogeneity, which has a positive reduction effect in the industry sector, wholesale and retail sectors, and accommodation and catering sectors, but its reduction effect is not obvious in transportation, storage, and postal sectors. It is suggested that China should implement the sector-differentiated CO2 mitigation strategy, focus on improving the industrial sector’s energy efficiency, and promote the clean, low-carbon transition of energy consumption structure in construction, transportation, storage, and postal industries.

scholarly journals Investigating Energy Justice in Demand-Side Low-Carbon Innovations in Ontario

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Morrissey Wyse ◽  
Runa R. Das ◽  
Christina E. Hoicka ◽  
Yuxu Zhao ◽  
Maria-Louise McMaster
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Social Inequities ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

The diffusion of low-carbon innovations, including innovative products and services, is required to accelerate a low-carbon energy transition. These innovations also have the potential to alleviate and perpetuate existing social inequities, calling into question their “justness.” Energy justice is a useful analytical tool for framing justice questions related to energy. In this paper, we ask whether demand-side low-carbon energy innovations are meeting energy justice criteria. To address this question, this study develops four indicators from existing energy justice frameworks and applies them to a range of demand-side innovations offered to energy users in Ontario. The indicators are used to assess innovation availability, affordability, information, and involvement. Innovations were identified using surveys and desk research across Ontario's energy technology innovation system (ETIS). One hundred twenty-two innovations are analyzed for these four indicators, and according to intended innovation users and innovation providers. Findings suggest that three of the four indicators—availability, affordability and information are broadly being addressed, while involvement was more difficult to establish. However, the ETIS may be perpetuating inequities through an over emphasis of innovations for particular energy users, such as private businesses, alongside under-emphasis on potentially marginalized actors, such as low-income households and renters. Furthermore, government-delivered, publicly owned or regulated innovation providers place a greater emphasis on energy justice, including the provision of innovations for marginalized actors. This study aids our understanding of energy justice in low-carbon energy innovations and is critical given that in the context of funding cuts to public services, there may be an increased reliance on decentralized actors. The consideration of justice gaps that emerge through such decentralization should not be overlooked. Our findings suggest that within Ontario's ETIS, who provides innovations matters. Given the insights presented in this study, this research approach and the developed indicators could be applied to other contexts and socio-technical systems. The application of energy justice indicators, derived from existing scholarship, therefore presents an important opportunity to address current and understudied practical energy challenges.

Determinants and barriers of PV self-consumption in Spain from the perception of the installers for the promotion of distributed energy systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
José Ángel Gimeno ◽  
Eva Llera Sastresa ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Transition Scenario

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.

A descriptive study of the prevalence of psychological distress and mental disorders in the Canadian population: comparison between low-income and non-low-income populations

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Caron ◽  
A. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Canadian Community Health Survey ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
High Psychological Distress

Objective This descriptive study compares rates of high psychological distress and mental disorders between low-income and non-low-income populations in Canada. Methods Data were collected through the Canadian Community Health Survey – Mental Health and Well-being (CCHS 1.2), which surveyed 36 984 Canadians aged 15 or over; 17.9% (n = 6620) was classified within the low-income population using the Low Income Measure. The K-10 was used to measure psychological distress and the CIDI for assessing mental disorders. Results One out of 5 Canadians reported high psychological distress, and 1 out of 10 reported at least one of the five mental disorders surveyed or substance abuse. Women, single, separated or divorced respondents, non-immigrants and Aboriginal Canadians were more likely to report suffering from psychological distress or from mental disorders and substance abuse. Rates of reported psychological distress and of mental disorders and substance abuse were much higher in low-income populations, and these differences were statistically consistent in most of the sociodemographic strata. Conclusion This study helps determine the vulnerable groups in mental health for which prevention and promotion programs could be designed.

The Scenario Analysis of Carbon Emissions Based on Improved IPAT Model in China

2012 ◽  
Vol 616-618 ◽  
pp. 1484-1489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Shan ◽  
Hua Wang Shao
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Energy Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Policy Scenario ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Energy Environment ◽  
Development Goals

The coordination development of economy-energy-environment was discussed with traditional environmental loads model, combined with "decoupling" theory. Considering the possibilities of social and economic development, this paper set out three scenarios, and analyzed quantitatively the indexes, which affected carbon dioxide emissions, including population, per capita GDP, industrial structure and energy structure. Based on this, it forecasted carbon dioxide emissions in China in future. By comparing the prediction results, it held that policy scenario was the more realistic scenario, what’s more it can achieve emission reduction targets with the premise of meeting the social and economic development goals. At last, it put forward suggestions to implement successfully policy scenario, from energy structure, industrial structure, low-carbon technology and so on.

scholarly journals Interrogating Climate Adaptation Financing in Zimbabwe: Proposed Direction

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6517
Author(s):  
Innocent Chirisa ◽  
Trynos Gumbo ◽  
Veronica N. Gundu-Jakarasi ◽  
Washington Zhakata ◽  
Thomas Karakadzai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Resource Base

Reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing the long-term coping capacities of rural or urban settlements to negative climate change impacts have become urgent issues in developing countries. Developing countries do not have the means to cope with climate hazards and their economies are highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and coastal zones. Like most countries in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe suffers from climate-induced disasters. Therefore, this study maps critical aspects required for setting up a strong financial foundation for sustainable climate adaptation in Zimbabwe. It discusses the frameworks required for sustainable climate adaptation finance and suggests the direction for success in leveraging global climate financing towards building a low-carbon and climate-resilient Zimbabwe. The study involved a document review and analysis and stakeholder consultation methodological approach. The findings revealed that Zimbabwe has been significantly dependent on global finance mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change as its domestic finance mechanisms have not been fully explored. Results revealed the importance of partnership models between the state, individuals, civil society organisations, and agencies. Local financing institutions such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) have been set up. This operates a Climate Finance Facility (GFF), providing a domestic financial resource base. A climate change bill is also under formulation through government efforts. However, numerous barriers limit the adoption of adaptation practices, services, and technologies at the scale required. The absence of finance increases the vulnerability of local settlements (rural or urban) to extreme weather events leading to loss of life and property and compromised adaptive capacity. Therefore, the study recommends an adaptation financing framework aligned to different sectoral policies that can leverage diverse opportunities such as blended climate financing. The framework must foster synergies for improved impact and implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives for the country.

scholarly journals Design of a Smart Nanogrid for Increasing Energy Efficiency of Buildings

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3683
Author(s):  
Yerasimos Yerasimou ◽  
Marios Kynigos ◽  
Venizelos Efthymiou ◽  
George E. Georghiou
Keyword(s):  
Storage System ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Energy Storage System ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Pv System ◽  
Interconnected System ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Energy Domain ◽  
Battery Energy

Distributed generation (DG) systems are growing in number, diversifying in driving technologies and providing substantial energy quantities in covering the energy needs of the interconnected system in an optimal way. This evolution of technologies is a response to the needs of the energy transition to a low carbon economy. A nanogrid is dependent on local resources through appropriate DG, confined within the boundaries of an energy domain not exceeding 100 kW of power. It can be a single building that is equipped with a local electricity generation to fulfil the building’s load consumption requirements, it is electrically interconnected with the external power system and it can optionally be equipped with a storage system. It is, however, mandatory that a nanogrid is equipped with a controller for optimisation of the production/consumption curves. This study presents design consideretions for nanogrids and the design of a nanogrid system consisting of a 40 kWp photovoltaic (PV) system and a 50 kWh battery energy storage system (BESS) managed via a central converter able to perform demand-side management (DSM). The implementation of the nanogrid aims at reducing the CO2 footprint of the confined domain and increase its self-sufficiency.

scholarly journals DRIvE Project Unlocks Demand Response Potential with Digital Twins

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Laura Pérez ◽  
Juan Espeche ◽  
Tatiana Loureiro ◽  
Aleksandar Kavgić
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Demand Response ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Distribution Grid ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Digital Twins ◽  
Future Workshop ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Innovation Project

DRIvE (Demand Response Integration Technologies) is a research and innovation project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program, whose main objective is unlocking the demand response potential in the distribution grid. DRIvE presented how the use of digital twins de-risks the implementation of demand response applications at the “Flexibility 2.0: Demand response and self-consumption based on the prosumer of Europe’s low carbon future” workshop within the conference “Sustainable Places 2020”. This workshop was organized to cluster and foster knowledge transfer between several EU projects, each developing innovative solutions within the field of demand response, energy flexibility, and optimized synergies between actors of the built environment and the power grid.

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