Blockchain Applications in the Energy Industry

The current energy transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a zero-carbon has significantly accelerated in recent years, as the largest emitters have committed to achieving carbon-neutral goals in the next 20-30 years. The energy industry transition is characterized by modernization through digital technologies, increased renewable energy generation, and environmental sustainability. Blockchain technology can play a significant role in providing secure digital distributed platforms facilitating digitization, decarbonization, and decentralization of the energy systems. Several promising blockchain applications in the energy sector are under research and development, including peer-to-peer energy trading; carbon monitoring, management, and trading; and IoT-enabled electric grid management. However, several challenges are slowing down the commercialization of these applications, including outdated legislation and regulations, slow pace of adaptation from the traditional energy industry, and risks associated with the new, untested technology.

Promotion of Renewable Energy in the EU and Ukraine

This article discusses the main reasons for energy transition to RES and examines what is burdening this transition. The main purpose of this article is to overlook the reasons for promotion of renewable energy and main obstacles EU and Ukraine encounter with when heading towards zero-carbon society. The objects of the research were not chosen deliberately: Ukraine is a country which is adopting European aquis communitare and that is why it is extremely important to provide certain comparative research of these formations.

Potential market and impact of clean hydrogen development to 2050 in Vietnam

Hydrogen plays an important role in the energy transition towards a zero-carbon economy. Blue hydrogen and green hydrogen are potential sources to replace fossil materials and fuels in the fields of refining - petrochemical, production of fertiliser, steel, cement, electricity, and transportation. The potential demand for clean hydrogen in these areas has been evaluated along with the impacts and benefits of hydrogen development. Accordingly, the potential hydrogen market can reach an output of 22 million tons/year by 2050. The development of hydrogen in the fields will create new markets with a total value of USD 100 billion in 2035 and USD 1,200 billion in 2050. In terms of the environment, replacing fossil materials and fuels with hydrogen reduces the total national CO2 emissions by 5.4%. In order to develop and complete the hydrogen value chain in Vietnam, it is necessary to set goals and roadmaps along with appropriate policies. Recognising the importance of hydrogen to the operation of the oil and gas and energy sectors in general, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) has developed a scientific research programme on the development of production, storage, transportation, distribution, and efficient use of hydrogen in Vietnam in the 2021 - 2025 period.

Climate Change and Environmental Education

This article sought to analyze the Climate Action Plan for the City of São Paulo 2020-2050 (PlanClima SP), published in June 2021, in dialogue with the documents: Curriculum of the City of Natural Sciences and 2030 Agenda. In a critical perspective of Environmental Education, the PlanClima SP establishes some actions towards zero carbon in 2050. In this sense, the objective of the study was to analyze the potentialities presented in the document for the development of sustainable pedagogical practices. The methodology selected for this study was qualitative, carried out with the analysis of the cited documents based on the concept of the Critical Environmental Education. The results found demonstrate practical possibilities for actions aimed at training critical and reflective students for a sustainable development. The Environmental Education actions proposed in the analyzed material point to the modification and construction of behaviors and attitudes aimed at the culture of environmental preservation. It is concluded that the discussion about carbon emissions in a critical and conscious way, through pedagogical practices, is powerful in environmental preservation and sustainability.

Toward Baggage-Free Airport Terminals: A Case Study of London City Airport

Nowadays, the aviation industry pays more attention to emission reduction toward the net-zero carbon goals. However, the volume of global passengers and baggage is exponentially increasing, which leads to challenges for sustainable airports. A baggage-free airport terminal is considered a potential solution in solving this issue. Removing the baggage operation away from the passenger terminals will reduce workload for airport operators and promote passengers to use public transport to airport terminals. As a result, it will bring a significant impact on energy and the environment, leading to a reduction of fuel consumption and mitigation of carbon emission. This paper studies a baggage collection network design problem using vehicle routing strategies and augmented reality for baggage-free airport terminals. We use a spreadsheet solver tool, based on the integration of the modified Clark and Wright savings heuristic and density-based clustering algorithm, for optimizing the location of logistic hubs and planning the vehicle routes for baggage collection. This tool is applied for the case study at London City Airport to analyze the impacts of the strategies on carbon emission quantitatively. The result indicates that the proposed baggage collection network can significantly reduce 290.10 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.