Special Issue "Renewable Generation and Environmental Impact Management: A Review of Current Knowledge and Practices"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Strezov
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: waste management; environmental science; chemical engineering; industrial ecology; cleaner production
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Ravinder Kumar
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: renewable energy; biofuels; catalytic fast pyrolysis; heterogeneous catalysis; bio-oil upgrading; phytoremediation; bioelectrochemical cells; bioelectricity generation; wastewater treatment; waste to energy technologies; life cycle assessment; microplastic pollution
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the main challenges we are facing today is meeting increased energy demands while reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions. The world energy demand has been predicted to increase by 28% by 2040. Currently, the energy is primarily obtained from fossil fuels, which are the dominant source of greenhouse gas emissions, posing significant threats to the environment through climate change. There is an impetus to produce more sustainable and ecofriendly energy fuels to reduce carbon emissions. The renewable energy sector is the fastest-growing source of energy. Several types of technologies (thermal, thermochemical, biochemical, and biological) are used to generate different types of renewable energy fuels and sustainable chemicals that can be utilized to produce energy. It is essential to examine the environmental impact and benefits of renewable energy technologies to improve their efficiency and build a sustainable environment.

Considering the significance of the topic, this Special Issue, “Renewable Generation and Environmental Impact Management: A Review of Current Knowledge and Practices” aims to cover the most recent progress and the advances in the field of renewable energy and environmental impact management. This Special Issue includes but is not limited to the following topics:

  • Renewable energy
  • Waste to energy technologies
  • Environmental impact assessment
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Thermochemical conversion of biomass into energy fuels
  • Solar energy
  • Wind energy
  • Geothermal energy
  • Hydroelectric power
  • Biofuels
  • Sustainable chemicals
  • Renewable hydrogen

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Strezov
Dr. Ravinder Kumar
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

  • renewable energy
  • environmental impact
  • climate change
  • carbon missions
  • biofuels
  • life cycle assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Economic Feasibility and Sustainability Assessment of Residual Municipal Solid Waste Management Scenarios in NSW, Australia
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8972; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168972 - 11 Aug 2021
Viewed by 313
Abstract
This study evaluates the economic cost and sustainability of treating residual municipal solid waste (MSW) through five waste management scenarios. In the baseline scenario (Bsc), all waste was managed through landfilling, while in scenario 1 (Sc1) all waste was treated by incineration. Sc2 [...] Read more.
This study evaluates the economic cost and sustainability of treating residual municipal solid waste (MSW) through five waste management scenarios. In the baseline scenario (Bsc), all waste was managed through landfilling, while in scenario 1 (Sc1) all waste was treated by incineration. Sc2 employed anaerobic digestion (AD) for food waste and landfilling, and Sc3 treated the waste through AD for food waste, incineration of combustible and plastic wastes, and landfilling. Sc4 treated the waste using AD, incineration, landfilling, and recycling of the plastic waste. The economic cost of waste management scenarios was estimated by calculating different economic variables, such as gate fees, including capital and operating costs, governmental incentives and levies, and also the potential of employed waste treatment technologies for resource recovery. The results revealed that Sc3 has the lowest economic cost of 238.1 mAUD/year, followed by Sc1 (261.9 mAUD/year), while Bsc proved to be the highest cost at 476.1 mAUD/year for MSW treatment. It was noticed that scenarios employing incineration had lower economic costs compared to Bsc and Sc2, mainly because incineration resulted in higher electricity generation and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The sustainability assessment results confirmed that Sc3 had the lowest and Bcs the highest total economic cost and environmental damage. Full article
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Article
Optimizing the Power Generation of a Wind Farm in Low Wind Speed Regions
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5110; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095110 - 02 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 650
Abstract
The aim of this research is to optimize the power generation of a wind farm (WF) in order to maximize the energy output, especially in low wind speeds regions such as UAE. A new WF was proposed to be built in Sir Bani [...] Read more.
The aim of this research is to optimize the power generation of a wind farm (WF) in order to maximize the energy output, especially in low wind speeds regions such as UAE. A new WF was proposed to be built in Sir Bani Yas Island in the UAE. This project was chosen to act as the main case configuration for this research. Four configuration parameters were proposed and assessed as follows: (1) inserting smaller turbines between the original larger main turbines; (2) changing the spacing between the turbines; (3) substituting new higher efficiency turbines in place of the existing ones; (4) moving the WFs to completely new locations in different emirates within the UAE. Through using the WindFarm simulation software, the impact of these four strategies was analyzed and calculated. The main finding of this research indicates that introducing more efficient WT units has a great impact in that it can increase output by 24.5%. Bearing in mind that the UAE has a vision for a renewable energy, as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, this paper will draw a novel recommendation to optimize the wind power generation in this low-speed region. Full article
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