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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2023) | Viewed by 26962

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rupendra Kumar Pachauri

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Guest Editor

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248007, India
Interests: renewable energy; smart micro-grid; embedded applications in Energy systems

Prof. Dr. Rajasekar Natarajan

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Guest Editor

Department of Energy and Power Electronics, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, India
Interests: power electronics; optimization techniques; renewable energy systems

Dr. Yogesh K. Chauhan

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Guest Editor

Electrical Engineering Department, Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology, Sultanpur 228118, Uttar Pradesh, India
Interests: power electronics converters and drives; induction generators; renewable energy-based electrical power generation

Dr. Ahmad Faiz Minai

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Guest Editor

Electrical Engineering Department, Integral University, Lucknow 226026, India
Interests: renewable energy; power electronics; smart grid; Internet of Things; optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are non-renewable resources, and when burned to produce energy they cause harmful greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. The storage capacity and scarcity of fossil fuels also cause major issues for the generation of electrical power for commercial and domestic power supply demand. All of these important issues force us to explore renewable energy sources. As a next step toward improving the performance of power generation systems based on renewable energy sources, novel research methods are becoming more appealing, and they are being added on a daily basis under adverse environmental scenarios.

The goal of this Special Issue is to look at and share recent advances in theory, design, modeling, application, control, environmental issues, future energy policy transitions, reviews, and case studies related to the advancement of power generation systems based on renewable energy sources as well as analysis under climatic conditions for finding sustainable solutions.

The following topics are within the scope of this Special Issue, but other relevant topics are also of interest:

The effect of climatic conditions such as partial shading effect and dust aerosol on renewable energy systems and key solutions.
Energy policies for the growth of renewable energy systems for future scenarios.
Low-carbon energy transition in commercial and residential electrical power production systems: difficulties, methods, and novel approaches in renewable-energy-based sources.
Major technical advancements in the energy, electric power, and industrial sectors, as well as the cost–benefit analysis of mitigation solutions for energy-related operations, including their advantages and disadvantages.
The prospective role of low-carbon energy policies and case studies.
Fuel cell systems: A perspective towards reliable hybrid power generation.
Strategies for regulating the pressure of the reactant flow in fuel cells and an examination of their static and dynamic performance.
Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles: Dynamic modeling and lifespan evaluation.

Dr. Rupendra Kumar Pachauri
Prof. Dr. Rajasekar Natarajan
Dr. Yogesh K. Chauhan
Dr. Ahmad Faiz Minai
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 2400 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

waste to energy
zero carbon
environmental effect on RE systems
dust aerosol
bio-fuels
hydrogen energy
renewable energy systems
sustainable energy
DC microgrid operation
fuel cell systems

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 29975 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Detailed Assessment of the Power Quality Improvement of an Islanded AC Microgrid through Upgrading Conventional Grid-Feeding Current-Controlled Converters to Operate as Multifunctional Converters

by Sebastián de J. Manrique Machado, Juliana Cunha Neves, Sérgio A. Oliveira da Silva, José R. B. A. Monteiro, Leonardo Poltronieri Sampaio and Leonardo B. Garcia Campanhol

Sustainability 2023, 15(20), 14736; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014736 - 11 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1127

Abstract

The decarbonization of the global economy is one of society’s urgent objectives nowadays. Thus, the large-scale adoption of renewable energy sources, like solar and wind energy, seems to be the best pathway to achieving sustainable development. Thus, the microgrid concept has emerged as a solution to address concerns related to the intermittent nature and lack of inertia for such sources. Several studies involving microgrids have been published in the last few years. However, in most of them, power quality (PQ) disturbances and strategies to manage such disturbances are not considered, especially in the islanded operation mode. Hence, in this paper, a detailed assessment of the PQ of an islanded AC microgrid is conducted, considering the coexistence of a nonlinear load, voltage-controlled converters, and a current-controlled converter (CCC). The analyses consider two scenarios, depending on the operation mode of the CCC: (1) the CCC operating as a conventional grid-feeding converter and (2) considering a cost-effective upgrading of the conventional CCC to operate as a multifunctional converter. An experimental test bed is built to validate both scenarios. The presented results provide strong evidence that the AFF significantly improves the microgrid PQ and its suitability for dealing with PQ disturbances in real-world applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 1841 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Energy-Related CO₂ Emissions in China’s Coastal Areas and the Drivers of Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size—The Case of 82 Cities

by Ye Duan, Juanjuan Zhong, Hongye Wang and Caizhi Sun

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13374; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813374 - 6 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1293

Abstract

The energy consumption by industrial enterprises above designated size in China’s coastal region is the main source of CO₂ emissions. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal evolution patterns and driving factors of CO₂ emissions due to the energy consumption by industrial enterprises above designated size. Enterprises in 82 cities in China’s coastal regions were studied from 2005 to 2020 based on their CO₂ emissions and socio-economic data. The Exploring Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) methodology and Logarithmic mean Divisia Index decomposition (LMDI model) were used. The results show that, during the study period, energy-related CO₂ emissions from industrial enterprises above designated size in China’s coastal areas generally show a fluctuating upward trend. However, a few cities showed a trend from steady growth to a peak and then a slow decline, which may realize the “double carbon” target in advance. The spatial correlation of CO₂ emission intensity showed a decreasing and then increasing trend, and there were spatial aggregation characteristics in some cities. Among the driving factors, the pull effect is higher than the inhibition effect; the output scale contributes the most to the pull effect, and labor productivity contributes the most to the inhibition effect. The results of this study have a certain reference value for the realization of the “double carbon” target in China’s coastal regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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27 pages, 3114 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Synergy of Renewable Energy in the Circular Economy Framework: A Bibliometric Study

by Kristia Kristia and Mohammad Fazle Rabbi

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13165; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713165 - 1 Sep 2023

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6910

Abstract

Over the past half-century, scientists from many different areas have been investigating how to switch to renewable energy, especially in the context of a circular economy. Numerous articles have discussed the scientific aspects of developing technology to support this process. This systematic literature review and bibliometric study aim to fill in research gaps by looking at trends, challenges, and possible future directions for the use of renewable energy in the context of a circular economy, especially in the fields of business, management, and economics. The study analyzed 294 peer-reviewed articles using the R Studio-Biblioshiny package version 4.1.2 software. The challenges of integrating renewable energy technologies within a circular economy include financial constraints, such as a high initial investment, the lack of an adequate regulatory framework and government support, the intermittent availability of renewable energy sources, the scarcity of resources and components for renewable energy generation technologies, relatively low energy conversion efficiency, the challenge of increasing consumer awareness, and the environmental impact of technological waste. The study suggests that future research should focus on financial models and policy incentives that can encourage businesses and investors to take advantage of renewable energy. The study also recommends exploring sustainable alternative fuel technologies, optimized waste-to-energy conversion, the increased efficiency of bioenergy conversion, more efficient solar panels, improved energy storage capacity, the life cycle management of solar panel devices, and the development of innovative business models to facilitate industrial symbiosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 3556 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Sector’s Green Transformation towards Sustainable Development: A Review and Future Directions

by Łukasz Jarosław Kozar and Adam Sulich

Sustainability 2023, 15(15), 11628; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511628 - 27 Jul 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2324

Abstract

The energy sector’s green transformation recently gained major scientific attention, due to the role of the energy sector in the economy. The energy sector, similarly to the other economic sectors, faces sustainable development (SD) challenges. This review paper’s goal is to explore the areas of the green energy sector transformation towards SD context distinguished in the scientific literature review. The adopted method in this paper is bibliometric research of the scientific publications indexed in Scopus. There were two original queries formulated, and their results were analyzed in the VOSviewer program in the form of bibliometric maps and tables. A comparison of the proposed original queries’ results points to the importance of the journal subject area indexed in the Scopus database. There are publications important for the energy sector green transformation not included in the energy subject area in this database. The vast number of publications dealing with cross-disciplinary subjects revolving around green transformation in the energy sector is the cause of the multiple side topics covering the areas of the SD. The study identifies keyword-specified areas around the topic of green transformation towards SD in the energy sector. In this study, the limitations of the employed methods and the theoretical, methodical, and empirical implications of the research were presented. Presented results can inspire other researchers who are looking for a research gap or describing the state of the art. The future possible research avenues were also addressed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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23 pages, 2909 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Hydrogen-Based Power Supply Backup System for Tertiary Sector Buildings: A Case Study in Greece

by Dimitrios Tziritas, George M. Stavrakakis, Dimitris Bakirtzis, George Kaplanis, Konstantinos Patlitzianas, Markos Damasiotis and Panagiotis L. Zervas

Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7646; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097646 - 6 May 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3167

Abstract

In view of the European Union’s strategy on hydrogen for decarbonization and buildings’ decarbonization targets, the use of hydrogen in buildings is expected in the future. Backup power in buildings is usually provided with diesel generators (DGs). In this study, the use of a hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) power supply backup system is studied. Its operation is compared to a DG and a techno-economic analysis of the latter’s replacement with an HFC is conducted by calculating relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). The developed approach is presented in a case study on a school building in Greece. Based on the school’s electricity loads, which are calculated with a dynamic energy simulation and power shortages scenarios, the backup system’s characteristics are defined, and the relevant KPIs are calculated. It was found that the HFC system can reduce the annual CO₂ emissions by up to 400 kg and has a lower annual operation cost than a DG. However, due to its high investment cost, its levelized cost of electricity is higher, and the replacement of an existing DG is unviable in the current market situation. The techno-economic study reveals that subsidies of around 58–89% are required to foster the deployment of HFC backup systems in buildings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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17 pages, 530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coal Is a Priority for Energy Security, until It Is Not: Coal Phase-Out in the EU and Its Persistence in the Face of the Energy Crisis

by Matúš Mišík and Veronika Jursová Prachárová

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6879; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086879 - 19 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2712

Abstract

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many countries see coal as the easiest solution to their energy sector challenges, despite the consequences for climate goals. Several countries of the European Union started to re-evaluate their coal policies vis-à-vis the current energy crisis and, although such a change is expected to be short-term in nature, it nevertheless has negative consequences for the Union’s 2050 climate goal. However, most of the EU countries did not revise their phase-out goals. This paper examines Slovakia as a country that embarked on a coal phase-out trajectory only a few years before the pandemic broke out and stayed firmly on this path despite benefits stemming from the continued use of domestic coal. Domestic coal used to be considered a safeguard of energy security in Slovakia, especially after the 2009 gas crisis. However, a decision was made in 2018 to phase out coal by 2023, and this has not changed despite increased focus on domestic energy sources as energy security guarantors during the current energy crisis. This paper explains the decision in favour of a coal phase-out and its support vis-à-vis the energy crisis using the concept of ‘financial Europeanisation’, which stresses the importance of EU funds for the development of the domestic policies of EU member states. While the expected funds serve as a catalyst for the coal phase-out needed to reach climate goals, short-term advantages of revising a coal phase-out were outweighed by long-term benefits provided by EU funds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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19 pages, 8572 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparative Examination of the Electricity Saving Potentials of Direct Residential PV Energy Use in European Countries

by Henrik Zsiborács, András Vincze, Gábor Pintér and Nóra Hegedűsné Baranyai

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6490; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086490 - 11 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2056

Abstract

The increasing global penetration of photovoltaic (PV) technology creates not only enormous opportunities for clean energy production but also poses challenges that put energy systems to the test. Although there are many ways of dealing with the rising share of PV energy, most of these solutions require substantial funding, time, and effort to implement, which highlights the importance of solving some of the issues at their source, i.e., through the direct use of the electricity generated at PV power plants, many of which are owned and operated by households. In recent decades, PV technology has experienced an unprecedented growth in Europe due to a range of reasons, including the nations’ policies and supporting schemes. The goal of the present research was to determine the annual consumption of electricity per capita in the households of certain European countries and how much of this can be covered by the direct use of PV energy in the case of an on-grid PV system and to show what the annual potential of the direct use of PV energy is compared to the annual energy production of the PV systems. The significance and novelty of this research is justified by the lack of comparative scientific studies related to the annual potential of the direct household use of PV energy, which could alleviate some of the problems facing electricity networks with high shares of PV energy. The novel practical benefit of the study was determining, for the examined European countries, the extent to which direct household PV energy use could lower annual electricity consumption from the grid, in the case of on-grid PV systems of different capacities. In addition, these findings also provide information related to the grid’s macro-energy systems in terms of local network load effects related to given investment sizes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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14 pages, 472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

EU Decarbonization under Geopolitical Pressure: Changing Paradigms and Implications for Energy and Climate Policy

by Filippos Proedrou

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5083; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065083 - 13 Mar 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3349

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the impact of EU energy and climate policy as a response to Russia’s war in Ukraine on the EU decarbonization enterprise. It showcases how the Russian invasion was a crunch point that forced the EU to abandon its liberal market dogma and embrace in practice an open strategic autonomy approach. This led to an updated energy and climate policy, with significant changes underpinning its main pillars, interdependence, diversification, and the focus of market regulation and build-up. The reversal of enforced interdependence with Russia and the legislative barrage to support and build-up a domestic clean energy market unlocks significant emission reduction potential, with measures targeting energy efficiency, solar, wind, and hydrogen development; an urban renewable revolution and electricity and carbon market reforms standing out. Such positive decarbonization effects, however, are weakened by source and fuel diversification moves that extend to coal and shale gas, especially when leading to an infrastructure build-up and locking-in gas use in the mid-term. Despite these caveats, the analysis overall vindicates the hypothesis that geopolitics constitutes a facilitator and accelerator of EU energy transition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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17 pages, 532 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Routes toward Environmental Sustainability: Fresh Insights from Korea

by Yugang He

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 602; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010602 - 29 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2494

Abstract

The environmental issues that have arisen as a result of brisk economic expansion have evolved into a barrier to the process of social development. Based on this background, this article investigates the consequences of economic development, energy consumption, and urbanization on greenhouse gas emissions (a proxy for environmental sustainability) in Korea. Using the data from 1990 to 2019 and employing the autoregressive distributed lag method for empirical investigations, the results demonstrate that economic expansion, urbanization, and non-renewable energy consumption all constitute a danger to environmental sustainability because they positively influence greenhouse gas emissions. Oppositely, the results demonstrate that renewable energy consumption enhances environmental sustainability because it negatively impacts greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, a fresh discovery is that these results are consistent over time. In addition, the results of the causality test show that two-way causal links between economic growth, non-renewable energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions have been found in both the short and long runs, whereas unidirectional causal links between urbanization, renewable energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions have also been discovered. The most significant contribution that the results of this study may make is that they can provide several policy proposals for environmental sustainability in Korea and expand the literature that already exists on this issue in Korea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy — Issues and Key Solutions for Sustainable Development)

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