Search Results (14)

Large CO₂ emissions constitute a significant problem today due to their effect on climate change, and the need to design appropriate energy policies to mitigate their consequences and reduce emissions requires a detailed analysis of one of the main sources of such emissions: the electricity system. Thus, this paper presents a study on the effects of energy policies on decarbonization by comparing the detailed phase-out of coal-fired power plants across a range of cases with the implementation of a carbon tax to meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The case study focuses on the Chilean electricity system, using a long-term generation and transmission expansion planning model (GTEP) that incorporates a wide range of generation technologies. The study examines the long-term effects of these policies, including costs, investments, and CO₂ emissions, as well as their impact on consumer prices reflected in the marginal costs of the system. The transmission system modeling covers various regions of Chile and significant projections for renewable energy sources. It evaluates three economic scenarios based on generation technology costs, fuel prices, and electricity demand under four different closure schemes and fourteen different carbon tax levels. The results indicate that implementing a carbon tax can be more cost-effective for the system than the implementation of a phase-out schedule for coal plants, taking the form of reduced CO₂ emission and overall system costs, with an optimal carbon tax value of 37 USD/tCO₂. Additionally, the study reveals significant effects on consumer prices, showing that a carbon tax as an energy policy leads to lower prices compared to a phase-out scheme. Full article

Fossil fuels, especially coal, contribute to carbon emissions, hindering the EU’s decarbonization goal by 2050. This article proposes converting the Pego Coal Power Plant into a biomass plant as a potential solution. Biomass, a renewable resource abundant in Portugal, can transform the Pego plant into a sustainable energy source, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change. It also reduces rural fire risks and ensures regional social and economic stability. The study explores the feasibility, limitations, and socioeconomic impacts of this scenario. This solution prevents plant closure, reduces environmental impacts, and promotes sustainability. Aligning with Portugal’s 2030 Agenda and global climate change efforts, converting the Pego plant serves as a valuable example of renewable resource utilization for climate change mitigation and regional stability. The study’s results offer insights for policymakers and stakeholders in developing sustainable energy transition strategies. Adopting such solutions can help countries achieve decarbonization goals while promoting social and economic development. Full article

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 virus 2 (COVID-19) virus disease 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on 9 January 2020, the entire world has been exceptionally interested in examining the impact of this pandemic on people and the environment. The pandemic led to unprecedented measures to halt air traffic and close factories due to lockdowns, economic closures, and the stopping of transportation of all kinds. The decline in the use of coal by power plants, oil refining, and steel manufacturing had a beneficial effect on air pollution and caused a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the concept of sustainability has become more prevalent, reflecting the increasing awareness of the responsibility placed on every member of society. Sustainability is the quality and quantity of change that meets our needs without destroying the giving planet, which is the hope for the survival of future generations. We summarized and discussed the studies and research documenting these effects on the environment and health worldwide to come up with objective conclusions, and to draw some recommendations and concepts about the importance of sustainability. The significance of this article lies in that it aims to briefly review some of the positive and negative impacts observed and reported during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on health and the planet’s environment for the duration of April 2020–October 2022, and finally discuss the challenges and prospects to endorse planet sustainability. While COVID-19 had many beneficial effects on the planet’s recovery, there were also profound effects on health due to the disease itself. Government and policymakers must take measures to prevent this environmental healing process from being transient. Full article

Since 1990, Spain has undergone a rapid decarbonization process focused on closing carbon-intensive facilities such as coal mines and coal-fired power plants and promoting renewable energy sources. These facilities have been the main source of income and employment in the regions where they were located, in addition to being a major source of carbon emissions. Their closure can have a huge impact on the socioeconomic and demographic composition of these carbon-intensive regions, damaging the social fabric and accelerating the process of depopulation. Based on a detailed analysis of policy documents and demographic data (from municipal registers and the 1991–2011 census), this article aims to: first identify and delineate the main carbon-intensive regions in Spain that are vulnerable to the negative impacts of the ongoing decarbonization process; second, examine the different policy responses and phases of the decarbonization process in Spain; and finally, examine the impact of the decarbonization process on the demographic (size, structure, and composition of the population) and socioeconomic configuration of the different carbon-intensive regions in Spain. Full article

With the continuous expansion of the application field of UAV intelligent systems to GNSS-denied environments, the existing navigation system can hardly meet low cost, high precision, and high robustness in such conditions. Most navigation systems used in GNSS-denied environments give up the connection between the map frame and the actual world frame, making them impossible to apply in practice. Therefore, this paper proposes a Lidar navigation system based on global ArUco, which is widely used in large-scale known GNSS-denied scenarios for UAVs. The system jointly optimizes the Lidar, inertial measurement unit, and global ArUco information by factor graph and outputs the pose in the real-world frame. The system includes a method to update the global ArUco confidence with sampling, improving accuracy while using the pose solved from the global ArUco. The system uses the global ArUco to maintain navigation when Lidar is degraded. The system also has a loop closure determination part based on ArUco, which reduces the consumption of computing resources. The navigation system has been tested in the dry coal shed of a thermal power plant using a UAV platform. Experiments demonstrate that the system can achieve global, accurate, and robust pose estimation in large-scale, complex GNSS-denied environments. Full article

The availability of some supplementary cementitious materials, especially fly ash, is of imminent concern in Europe due to the projected closure of several coal-fired power generation plants. Pure kaolinitic clays, which arguably have the potential to replace fly ash, are also scarce and expensive due to their use in other industrial applications. This paper examines the potential utilisation of low-grade kaolinitic clays for construction purposes. The clay sample was heat-treated at a temperature of 800 °C and evenly blended with Portland cement in substitutions of 10–30% by weight. The physical, chemical, mineralogical and mechanical characteristics of the blended calcined clay cement were determined. The Frattini test proved the pozzolanic potential of the calcined impure clay, as a plot of its CaO and OH⁻ was found below the lime solubility curve. The 28 days compressive strengths trailed the reference cement by 5.1%, 12.3% and 21.7%, respectively, at all replacement levels. The optimum replacement level between the three blends was found to be 20 wt.%. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted economic activity in numerous sectors due to multiple forms of disruption, including border closures, a stay-at-home policy, and social isolation; the electricity consumption trends in this region will undoubtedly improve. This article examines the impact of COVID-19 on electricity generation and consumption in China during the first two quarters (Q1–Q2) of 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, several governments’ perspectives on COVID-19’s implications for renewable energy development, notably offshore wind power and solar photovoltaics (PV), were examined. Results of this article show that COVID-19 impacts the power industry. According to the analysis, during the first two quarters of 2020, the amount of electricity generated and consumed by China decreased by 1.4 and 1.3 percent, respectively, the capacity of the power plants increased by 5.3 GW and coal consumption dropped by 3.6 g/kWh. Investments in the power generation sector increased by 51.5 billion yuan and investment in the power grid grew by 0.7 billion. Additionally, new generation capacity decreased by 378 GW during the first two quarters of 2020. During the first two quarters of 2021, electricity consumption and production grew by 13.7 and 16.2 percent, respectively. Power plants’ capacity increased by 9.5 GW, while coal consumption for power supply fell by 0.8 g/kWh. The investment in power generation projects increased by 8.9 billion, while investment in power grid projects increased by 4.7 billion. Compared to last year’s same period, 14.92 GW of new capacity was installed. Due to lockdown measures, such as studying at home or working at home, domestic power use in the first two quarters of 2020–2021 increased by 6.6 and 4.5 percent, respectively. To minimize COVID-19’s impact on renewable energy development and assist in building offshore wind power plants, economic and financial measures have been put in place to reduce the epidemic’s effect on solar PV systems. Full article

Coal mine closure processes are being carried out in the European Union due to the current energy transition. The use of coal-fired power plants has been significantly reduced in recent years. Because of the significant financial outlays, processes of rationalization and minimization of the mine liquidation cost should be carried out. In this paper, a statistical analysis of the liquidation processes in hard coal mines in Poland was carried out. A new tool was developed in order to optimize the mine liquidation costs. The mine liquidation process can be divided into ten different processes, which have been analyzed in detail in this research work. The method of the assessment of the amount of estimated liquidation costs described is based on the analysis of the total liquidation cost. The presented method of signaling deviations of the costs of the liquidation of the mining plant from the average value is a useful tool in the process approach to the issues connected with the restructuring of post-industrial property. The presented cost assessment procedure may facilitate the monitoring of conducted activities in terms of rationalization and minimization of the costs incurred. Finally, the proposed method for assessing the cost of mine liquidation is understandable, simple, and easy to use for applications in preliminary design works and on-going engineering works. Full article

The process of technology management contains various stages, such as the identification, selection, acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of technologies. In the case of power generation companies, a key aspect of the selection stage is the choice of generation technologies for newly commissioned units. The investment decision depends on many factors, primarily economic, environmental, social, technological, and legal, and represents a complex multi-criteria problem. Currently, the decision is further complicated by the often unpredictable tightening of environmental standards, forcing the closure of conventional sources, on which many countries have so far based their energy security. The paper analyzes the problem of choosing one of the so-called clean coal technologies to be implemented in conditions of transformation of the power sector. In this paper, five selected clean coal technologies are characterized, and the SMART method is adopted to technology selection. The following technologies were considered: supercritical coal-fired power plant (with and without CCS), IGCC power plant (with and without CCS), and IGCC power plant with CCS and integrated hydrogen production. Nine practical criteria (in three main groups: environmental, technological, economic) for comparing technologies are defined, computational experiments performed, and conclusions from the research presented. The work was based on the literature study of multi-criteria decision support and an analysis of power sector needs based on the example of the Polish power sector. The conducted research, apart from the technology recommendation, led to the conclusion that the chosen method may be applied to decision-making in the field of power generation technology management. The study also indicated the potential direction of the development of a power generation structure in a situation where a component of ensuring energy security is the use of available coal fuels. Full article

This work contributes to improving the relevant information for the local participatory process, in a context of just energy transition. A proposal has been prepared for an objective estimate of the initial impact and the minimum socioeconomic compensation for the closure of a conventional coal-fired thermal power plant in the affected local entity. This has allowed (1) specifying and contextualizing the effects into which the initial impact of the closure can be divided, with the inclusion of the circular effect; (2) obtaining an indicator of the minimum compensation that would need to be set to neutralize this impact; and (3) establishing recommendations and conclusions based on the evidence obtained. Full article

This study presents an analytical framework supporting coal regions in a strategy toward the clean energy transition. The proposed approach uses a combination of value chain analysis and energy sector analysis that enables a comprehensive assessment considering local specificities. Its application to a case study of the Slovakian region Upper Nitra demonstrates practical examples of opportunities and challenges. The value chain analysis evaluates the coal mining industry, from coal extraction to electricity generation, in terms of jobs and business that are at risk by the closure of the coal mines. The complementary energy system analysis focuses on diversification of the energy mix, environmental impacts, and feasibility assessment of alternative energy technologies to the coal combusting sources. The results show a net positive cost benefit for all developed scenarios of replacing the local existing coal power plant. Although the installation of a new geothermal plant is estimated to be the most expensive option from our portfolio of scenarios, it presents the highest CO₂ reduction in the electricity generation in Slovakia—34% less compare to the system employing the existing power plant. In addition, the development of a new industrial polo around deep geothermal technology can boost the economic activity in the region by attracting investments in companies providing geological exploration services, transferring the local knowledge from the coal mining industry into an emerging sector. Full article

This contribution aims to provide an in-depth outlook of the phase-out of coal-fired energy generation in Italy. In particular, this article analyzes the state-of-the-art with regard to both the current role of coal generation and the performance of the main legal and regulatory tools as implemented in Italy thus far to ensure the closure of all coal power plants by 2025 as announced in the Italian National Climate and Energy Plan. Based on existing data and scenarios on both electricity production and demand trends, this article unfolds the marginal role played by coal-fired generation in the Italian energy mix. In addition, this paper aims to highlight the outstanding technical uncertainties and regulatory hurdles in the way towards de-carbonization of energy generation in Italy. This paper argues that several remarkable improvements are needed in order to avoid over-generation (especially through natural gas), to upscale the penetration of renewable energy sources, and develop the necessary infrastructures to adequately deliver on the full phasing-out of coal within the expected timeframes. Full article

To better understand social sustainability in the context of rapid boom growth and decline, we examine longitudinal social change in the modern boomtown of Colstrip, MT. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes two waves of a community survey—administered in 1996 and 2018, respectively—and focus groups conducted in 2018–2019, we explore shifts in residents’ sense of community as well as their perceptions and attitudes about current challenges to their community’s future and sustainability. We show that, despite surviving previous boom and bust periods related to changes in the coal industry, this community now faces a new reality that involves the closure of all local power plants. However, both survey responses and residents’ narratives indicate a strong sense of community and support for developing strategies that address challenges to the town’s future. This exploratory case study helps to extend the literature by contributing to a greater understanding of the experiences of contemporary workers who individually migrated to a small, rural energy town but who now, as a community, face an uncertain future, and by illuminating the role of sense of community in both social and environmental sustainability efforts. Full article

Finland has adopted a high profile in climate change mitigation. A national target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 has been declared. As a part of this, the use of coal for energy purposes has been banned from May 2029 onwards. The Nordic electricity market was a world fore-runner in creating a liberalized, multi-national electricity market in the 1990s. At present, the electricity systems of Finland, Sweden, and Norway are already very low-carbon. The Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the Nordic market about a decade ago. Estonian electricity production is the most carbon-intensive of all the EU countries due to the extensive use of domestic oil shale. Especially Lithuania still suffers from capacity deficit created by the closure of the Soviet time nuclear reactor Ignalina in Lithuania. This paper presents the ambitions of the EU and national level energy and climate policies and models the multi-national impacts of Finland’s forthcoming closure of coal-fired generation. We also take into account Sweden’s planned decrease in nuclear generation. We find that these national-level policies have an impact on the Baltic countries as reduced import possibilities and increasing electricity prices, and the expected rise of the EU CO₂ allowance prices amplifies these. We further find that the abandonment of coal and nuclear power plants increases the net import and increases CO₂ emissions in neighboring regions. Full article