Special Issue "Sustainable Low-Carbon Transitions: Advancements in the Sectors of Land, Water and Energy"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Maria P. Papadopoulou
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Impacts, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, GR-15780, Athens, Greece
Interests: Sustainable Water Resources Management; Water-Energy-Food-Land Nexus; Climate Change Adaptation; Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) ; Environmental Impact Assessment; Water Governance
Dr. Chrysaida-Aliki Papadopoulou
E-Mail
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Impacts, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, GR-15780, Athens, Greece
Interests: Sustainable development; Spatial planning; Spatial Decision Support Systems; GIS; Land use management; Nexus
Prof. Dr. Chrysi S. Laspidou
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Thessaly, Pedion Areos, Volos, 38334, Greece
Interests: resource Nexus and water informatics, mathematical modeling and simulation of physical-chemical and biological processes that take place in natural aquatic systems and other ecosystems, urban water issues, resource depletion and sustainability, virtual water and water-carbon-ecological footprint
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The establishment of low-carbon economies represents a fundamental pillar supporting sustainable development and a core priority of the European Union and the global community. The new conditions imposed by climate change call for the adoption of decisive solutions and informative policy decisions that will further support adaptation and mitigation purposes. The efficient use of land, water, and energy sources lie at the core of such a perspective as they are closely related to spatial transformations and land use changes, water deficits, flood and drought risks, GHG emissions, renewable energy production and reduction of fossil fuels environmental footprint.

According to the EU’s ‘Green Deal,’ Europe faces the challenge of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through the extensive exploitation of green technologies, the development of innovative sustainable solutions, and the establishment of new businesses targeting at the rational and effective use of available resources. Such an attempt presupposes the integrated management of non-renewable and scarce resources, the adoption of smart environmental solutions and the elimination of environmental impacts on natural and human ecosystems.

In this context, this Special Issue focuses on the exploration and analysis of inter-disciplinary methods, tools and policies supporting transitions to a low-carbon economy. Emphasis is placed on the role that land, water, and energy sectors may play in such an effort. Issues that will be investigated concern:

  • Land use management under climate change conditions
  • Energy mix: Towards a zero impact society
  • Low-carbon economies and territorial transformations
  • Sustainable management of the land-water-energy (LWE) nexus
  • Smart management of water resources in the urban and rural space
  • ‘Green Deal’ and clean energy solutions

Contributors are invited to submit their articles on these topics.

References:

  • Altieri, M. A.; Nicholls, C.I. The Adaptation and Mitigation Potential of Traditional Agriculture in a Changing Climate. Climatic Change 2017, 140(1), 33-45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0909-y
  • Baker, I.; Peterson, A.; Brown, G.; McAlpine, C. Local Government Response to the Impacts of Climate Change: An Evaluation of Local Climate Adaptation Plans. Landscape Urban Plan. 2012, 107(2), 127-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.05.009
  • Burman, E.; Mumovic, D.; Kimpian, J. Towards Measurement and Verification of Energy Performance under the Framework of the European Directive for Energy Performance of Buildings. Energy 2014, 77, 153-163. doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.05.102
  • European Commission, 2019. What is the European Green Deal? Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_19_6714
  • Iglesias, A.; Garrote, L. Adaptation Strategies for Agricultural Water Management under Climate Change in Europe. Agr. Water Manage. 2015, 155, 113-124. doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.03.014
  • Laspidou, C. S.; Mellios, N.; Kofinas, D. Towards Ranking the Water-Energy-Food-Land Use-Climate Nexus Interlinkages for Building a Nexus Conceptual Model with a Heuristic Algorithm. Water 2019, 11(2), 306. doi.org/10.3390/w11020306
  • Misra, A. K. Climate Change and Challenges of Water and Food Security. International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 2014, 3(1), 153-165. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2014.04.006
  • Papadopoulou, C.-A.; Papadopoulou, M. P.; Laspidou, C. Unfolding Policy Goals and Means of the Nexus Water-Energy-Land-Food-Climate in Greece. E-Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management 2017, Athens, Greece.
  • Papadopoulou, C.-A.; Papadopoulou, M. P.; Laspidou, C.; Munaretto, S.; Brouwer, F. Towards a Low-Carbon Economy: A Nexus-Oriented Policy Coherence Analysis in Greece. Sustainability 2020, 12, 373. doi.org/10.3390/su12010373
  • Sikka, A. K.; Islam, A.; Rao, K. V. Climate-Smart Land and Water Management for Sustainable Agriculture. Irrig. Drain. 2018, 67(1), 72-81. https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2162
  • Silalertruksa, T.; Gheewala, S. H. Land-Water-Energy Nexus of Sugarcane Production in Thailand. J. Clean Prod. 2018, 182, 521-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.085
  • Van Vliet, M.; Wiberg, D.; Leduc, S; Riahi, K. Power-Generation System Vulnerability and Adaptation to Changes in Climate and Water Resources. Nat. Clim. Change 2016, 6, 375–380. doi:10.1038/nclimate2903
  • Weller, S. The Regional Dimensions of the ‘Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy’: The Case of Australia’s Latrobe Valley. Reg. Stud. 2012, 46(9), 1261-1272. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2011.585149

Prof. Maria P. Papadopoulou
Dr. Chrysaida-Aliki Papadopoulou
Prof. Chrysi Laspidou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • land uses
  • resource efficiency
  • environmental policies
  • LWE nexus
  • sustainable transitions
  • low-carbon solutions
  • green deal

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Sediment Level Prediction of a Combined Sewer System Using Spatial Features
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4013; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13074013 - 03 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 644
Abstract
The prediction of sediment levels in combined sewer system (CSS) would result in enormous savings in resources for their maintenance as a reduced number of inspections would be needed. In this paper, we benchmark different machine learning (ML) methodologies to improve the maintenance [...] Read more.
The prediction of sediment levels in combined sewer system (CSS) would result in enormous savings in resources for their maintenance as a reduced number of inspections would be needed. In this paper, we benchmark different machine learning (ML) methodologies to improve the maintenance schedules of the sewerage and reduce the number of cleanings using historical sediment level and inspection data of the combined sewer system in the city of Barcelona. Two ML methodologies involve the use of spatial features for sediment prediction at critical sections of the sewer, where the cost of maintenance is high because of the dangerous access; one uses a regression model to predict the sediment level of a section, and the other one a binary classification model to identify whether or not a section needs cleaning. The last ML methodology is a short-term forecast of the possible sediment level in future days to improve the ability of operators to react and solve an imminent sediment level increase. Our study concludes with three different models. The spatial and short-term regression methodologies accomplished the best results with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) with 0.76 and 0.61 R2 scores, respectively. The classification methodology resulted in a Gradient Boosting (GB) model with an accuracy score of 0.88 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.909. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
Clean Energies for Ghana—An Empirical Study on the Level of Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy Development and Utilization
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3114; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063114 - 12 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 494
Abstract
Despite the enormous renewable energy (RE) resources available in Ghana, the country has not seen much development and investments in the sector. Therefore, the government has committed to increasing the share of RE in the country’s electricity generation mix to some 10% by [...] Read more.
Despite the enormous renewable energy (RE) resources available in Ghana, the country has not seen much development and investments in the sector. Therefore, the government has committed to increasing the share of RE in the country’s electricity generation mix to some 10% by 2030. However, this cannot be achieved without the Ghanaian people’s support since the RE sector is capital intensive and requires both public and private sector participation. This study was conducted to evaluate RE’s social acceptance among Ghanaian people using the ordered logit regression model. A total of 999 valid questionnaires out of 1020 distributed questionnaires were considered for the study. The five-point Likert scale was employed to rank their willingness to accept (WTA) RE. From the results, it was observed that there is a general sense of acceptance of renewable energy among Ghanaians. However, the level of acceptance varies from one respondent to another. The study observed that a majority of the respondents (i.e., approximately 45.65%) agree to their WTA renewable energy, while 36.04% strongly agree. The results also indicate that while 6.21% and 0.3% disagree and strongly disagree, 11.81% of the respondents were indifferent regarding their willingness to accept renewable energy development and utilization in Ghana. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
The Climate, Land, Energy, Water and Food Nexus Challenge in a Land Scarce Country: Innovations in the Netherlands
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10491; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410491 - 15 Dec 2020
Viewed by 1231
Abstract
The Netherlands has the ambitious target of transitioning to a low-carbon economy by 2050. One factor that may constrain this progress, however, is the large spatial requirements of renewable energy technologies, and resulting competition for land through interlinkages between the Climate (C), Land [...] Read more.
The Netherlands has the ambitious target of transitioning to a low-carbon economy by 2050. One factor that may constrain this progress, however, is the large spatial requirements of renewable energy technologies, and resulting competition for land through interlinkages between the Climate (C), Land (L), Energy (E), Water (W) and Food (F) domains—the CLEWF nexus. This study aims at identifying innovations that can improve the performance of the nexus by addressing the land scarcity constraint while supporting the low-carbon economy transition. A framework for the identification of potential innovations applicable in the nexus context was developed and applied. It is derived from a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) analysis of land scarcity in the Dutch nexus and a stock-taking benchmarking analysis of European countries. An inventory of innovations was prepared based on several classifications of innovations, collecting examples from the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Latvia and Sweden. Three innovations were identified as particularly promising: district heating, Energy Service Companies and peak shaving through water pumping. Furthermore, the DPSIR framework was also used to identify overarching societal elements common to countries that successfully implemented sustainable innovations. These were found to relate to long-term political commitments, geopolitical and economic drivers, and pioneering approaches building from and towards national strengths. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
A GIS-Based Approach to Inform Agriculture-Water-Energy Nexus Planning in the North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS)
Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 7043; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177043 - 29 Aug 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1206
Abstract
The North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) is a vital groundwater source in a notably water-scarce region. However, impetuous agricultural expansion and poor resource management (e.g., over-irrigation, inefficient techniques) over the past decades have raised a number of challenges. In this exploratory study, [...] Read more.
The North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) is a vital groundwater source in a notably water-scarce region. However, impetuous agricultural expansion and poor resource management (e.g., over-irrigation, inefficient techniques) over the past decades have raised a number of challenges. In this exploratory study, we introduce an open access GIS-based model to help answer selected timely questions related to the agriculture, water and energy nexus in the region. First, the model uses spatial and tabular data to identify the location and extent of irrigated cropland. Then, it employs spatially explicit climatic datasets and mathematical formulation to estimate water and electricity requirements for groundwater irrigation in all identified locations. Finally, it evaluates selected supply options to meet the electricity demand and suggests the least-cost configuration in each location. Results indicate that full irrigation in the basin requires ~3.25 billion million m3 per year. This translates to ~730 GWh of electricity. Fossil fuels do provide the least-cost electricity supply option due to lower capital and subsidized operating costs. Hence, to improve the competitiveness of renewable technologies (RT) (i.e., solar), a support scheme to drop the capital cost of RTs is critically needed. Finally, moving towards drip irrigation can lead to ~47% of water abstraction savings in the NWSAS area. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

The following authors show their interests in contributing to the Special Issue:

Papadopoulou et al.
Karelas et al.
Koundouri et al.
Pereira et al.
Fournier et al.
Fournier et al.
Corchero et al.
Ribalta et al.
Echeverria, Domingo et al.

Back to TopTop