Search Results (69)

Automated demand response in residential sectors is critical for grid stability, but centralized control strategies fail to address the unique energy profiles of individual households. This limitation becomes more pronounced in districts where buildings differ in load demand, photovoltaic (PV) production and battery energy storage system (BESS) behavior, while electricity prices and grid carbon intensity vary hourly. Conventional rule-based controllers can exploit patterns, but they require tuning and do not generalize across heterogeneous buildings. Existing centralized reinforcement learning methods improve adaptivity, yet they often learn compromise policies and scale poorly as the number of buildings increases. To address these issues, this paper proposes an AttentionKAN-based multi-agent reinforcement learning controller for district-level BESS scheduling. The method uses centralized training with decentralized execution, where each building is controlled by its own actor and a centralized critic models cross-building interactions through a multi-head query-key-value attention mechanism. To improve approximation accuracy under nonlinear and constrained battery dynamics, multilayer perceptron (MLP) blocks in the actor and critic are replaced with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs), whose spline-parameterized univariate functions capture saturation effects, tariff discontinuities and couplings among state of charge, PV availability and carbon intensity. Implemented in CityLearn and evaluated on a residential net-zero community dataset, the proposed controller is assessed using building-level and district-level indicators for cost, ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ emissions, peak demand, ramping and load shape. The learned policy charges during solar-rich hours and discharges during evening peaks, achieving the strongest performance among benchmark controllers, including an approximately 50% cost reduction versus the reference case and emissions reduction. From a sustainability perspective, the results indicate that coordinated multi-building BESS control can support low-carbon residential electrification through emission reduction, lowering electricity expenditure and improving renewable-energy utilization and providing grid-supportive flexibility through reduced peaks and ramping. Full article

This study examines whether fiscal decentralization operates as a strategic macroeconomic risk-management instrument and whether its effectiveness depends on institutional quality. Using a balanced panel of 27 European Union member states over 2008–2023, a composite fiscal decentralization index combining expenditure and revenue autonomy is constructed, and a dynamic specification is estimated using a two-step System-GMM estimator. Output volatility is measured as a five-year rolling standard deviation of real GDP growth. The results indicate that fiscal decentralization exhibits a statistically significant effect on volatility whose direction depends on governance quality. Institutional quality directly reduces volatility, and the interaction between decentralization and institutional quality is negative and highly significant. A critical institutional threshold of 1.865 (WGI estimate scale), above which decentralization reduces output volatility, is identified. These findings indicate that decentralization functions as a conditional risk-management mechanism embedded within institutional capacity. The results provide policy-relevant insights into EU fiscal architecture design in an era of recurrent macroeconomic shocks. Full article

Electrification is vital for economic growth, poverty reduction, and improved quality of life. Over 80% of Afghanistan’s rural population lacks electricity. Despite increasing interest in decentralized energy systems, there remains a lack of site-specific studies that jointly assess the technical, economic, and policy feasibility of decentralized solar PV for rural electrification in Afghanistan. This study addresses that gap through a mixed-method case study of Syahgel, Ghazni, combining a household survey of 30 households, PVsyst-based system sizing, economic evaluation, and policy analysis. The study compares multi-tier Solar Home Systems (SHSs) with a community microgrid under local demand and affordability conditions. The results show that SHSs, with entry-level costs starting from USD 95, are more suitable for small, dispersed settlements, while microgrids remain relevant for larger or more concentrated communities. Financing mechanisms, including subsidies and interest-free loans, can improve affordability by up to 75%, while electrification can reduce annual fuelwood expenditure by approximately USD 51.5 per household and generate broader health, educational, and livelihood benefits. The findings highlight the need for integrated policy reform, targeted financial support, and context-sensitive system design to support sustainable and inclusive rural electrification in Afghanistan. Full article

The increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy demands innovative solutions to maintain grid stability, resilience, and security in the body of smart cities. This paper presents a novel framework that redefines Bitcoin mining as a form of virtual energy storage, a flexible and controllable load capable of delivering large-scale demand response services, positioning it as a competitive alternative to traditional energy storage systems, including electrical, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrochemical storage solutions. By strategically aligning mining activities with grid conditions, Bitcoin mining can absorb excess electricity during periods of oversupply, converting it into digital assets, and reduce operations during times of scarcity, effectively emulating the behavior of conventional energy storage systems without the associated capital expenditures and material requirements. Beyond its operational flexibility, this paper explores the cyber–physical benefits of integrating Bitcoin mining into the power transmission systems as a defensive mechanism against false data injection (FDI) cyberattacks in smart city infrastructure. To achieve this goal, a decentralized and adaptive control strategy is proposed, in which mining loads dynamically adjust based on authenticated grid-state information, thereby improving system observability and hindering adversarial efforts to disrupt state estimation. In addition, to handle the proposed approach, this paper introduces a high-performance algorithm, a combination of quantum-augmented particle swarm optimization and wavelet-oriented whale optimization (QAPSO-WOWO). Simulation results confirm that strategic deployment of mining loads improves grid sustainability by utilizing curtailed renewables, enhances resilience by mitigating load-generation imbalances, and bolsters cybersecurity by reducing the impacts of FDI attacks. This work lays the foundation for a transdisciplinary paradigm shift, positioning Bitcoin mining not as a passive energy consumer but as an active participant in securing and stabilizing the future power grid in smart cities. Full article

This paper explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization, green finance, and the digital economy in driving sustainable development, using a balanced cross-country panel dataset spanning 2014–2022, for 29 European countries. Employing dynamic panel estimation techniques, including system generalized method of moments (GMM), the research investigates how fiscal decentralization, green finance, and the digital economy (each of them individually and through interaction mechanisms), dynamically shape sustainable development performance in the presence of endogeneity and temporal persistence. The findings reveal strong inertia in sustainable development, which depends on its previous level. Fiscal decentralization has complex effects: revenue autonomy supports sustainability, whereas expenditure autonomy may undermine it, suggesting differences in how resources are used efficiently at the local versus central levels. Digitalization acts as a catalyst, boosting the effectiveness of environmental taxes and enhancing local spending outcomes. However, if fiscal administrations are not digitally integrated, digitalization may weaken the benefits of decentralized revenues. This study advances the literature by integrating fiscal, financial, and digital views, providing new insights into policy coordination. Full article

Microplastics (MPs) and emerging contaminants (ECs) are increasingly prevalent in environments due to their persistence, toxicity, and resilience against standard wastewater treatment methods. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of contemporary and advanced membrane-based techniques, highlighting their removal efficacy, recovery potential, and fundamental mechanisms such as size exclusion, adsorption, electrostatic interactions, and biodegradation. This review emphasizes the physicochemical properties of MPs, including particle size, shape, polymer type, and hydrophobicity, and their significant impact on membrane performance and fouling behavior. Key findings reveal that membrane fouling is a primary constraint affecting operational efficiency. This study identifies the types of fouling standard, total, intermediate, and cake formation that contribute to flux deterioration and necessitate increased energy expenditures during prolonged operation. Additionally, this research highlights the detrimental effects of mechanical abrasion and scaling on membrane integrity and lifespan. Future prospects for membrane technology are explored, positioning it as a leading solution for sustainable wastewater treatment. Essential directives include the development of intelligent membranes responsive to environmental stimuli, AI-driven monitoring systems, and modular and decentralized treatment units. Moreover, the implementation of circular economy principles is discussed, emphasizing concurrent treatment and resource recovery, such as nutrients, biogas, and clean water. The regulatory and legislative implications of membrane-based treatment are also addressed, underscoring the importance of standardization, performance evaluation, and sustainability. Ultimately, this analysis positions membrane technologies as pivotal instruments in the advancement of intelligent, energy-efficient, and regenerative wastewater management systems. Full article

Centralized UAV logistics controllers can achieve strong navigation performance in controlled settings, but they do not capture key deployment factors in crowdsourcing-enabled emergency logistics, where heterogeneous UAV owners participate with unreliability and dropout, and incentive expenditure and fairness must be accounted for. This paper presents a decentralized crowdsourcing multi-UAV emergency logistics framework on an edge-orchestrated architecture that (i) performs urgency-aware dispatch under distance/energy/payload constraints, (ii) tracks reliability and participation dynamics under stress (unreliable agents and dropout), and (iii) quantifies incentive feasibility via total payment and payment inequality (Gini). We adopt a hybrid decision design in which PPO/DQN policies provide real-time navigation/control, while GA/ACO act as planning-level route refinement modules (not reinforcement learning) to improve global candidate quality under safety constraints. We evaluate the framework in a controlled grid-world simulator and explicitly report stress-matched re-evaluation results under matched stress settings, where applicable. In the nominal comparison, centralized DQN attains high navigation-centric success (e.g., 0.970 ± 0.095) with short reach steps, but it omits incentives by construction, whereas the proposed crowdsourcing method reports measurable payment and fairness outcomes (e.g., payment and Gini) and remains evaluable under unreliability and dropout sweeps. We further provide a utility decomposition that attributes negative-utility regimes primarily to collision-related costs and secondarily to incentive expenditure, clarifying the operational trade-off between mission value, safety risk, and incentive cost. Overall, the results indicate that navigation-only baselines can appear strong when participation economics are ignored, while a deployable crowdsourcing system must explicitly expose incentive/fairness and robustness characteristics under stress. Full article

Using panel data from 273 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2020, this study employs the Entropy Weight Method -Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (EWM-TOPSIS) model to measure people’s well-being and applies a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to evaluate the impact of the carbon emissions trading system on people’s well-being. The findings indicate that the carbon emissions trading system generally improves people’s well-being. The mechanism analysis reveals that the primary channel through which the carbon emissions trading system improves people’s well-being is the stimulation of green technology innovation. Additionally, fiscal expenditure decentralization negatively moderates the carbon emissions trading system’s impact on people’s well-being, whereas marketization degree does not exert a moderating effect. Further research reveals that fiscal expenditure decentralization exhibits a double threshold effect, while the degree of marketization displays a single threshold effect. The carbon emissions trading system exhibits heterogeneous impacts on people’s well-being. From a regional perspective, the carbon emissions trading system enhances people’s well-being in non-Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) regions, whereas it dampens people’s well-being in YREB cities. Regarding resource endowment, the carbon emissions trading system positively influences people’s well-being in non-resource-based cities, but its impact remains statistically insignificant in resource-based cities. Full article

Proof of sequential work (PoSW), as an emerging cryptographic primitive, is designed to provide a verifiable method for proving that a computational process has incurred a real and continuous expenditure of time. This characteristic demonstrates its significant application potential in decentralized systems, time-stamping services, and trusted computing. This paper systematically reviews and discusses the developmental trajectory, typical variants, potential attacks, and diverse applications of PoSW. Concurrently, it places a special emphasis on analyzing the evolutionary path and application scenarios of its important special case—the verifiable delay function (VDF) aiming to provide a comprehensive reference for research and practice in related fields. Full article

Local governments assume the crucial responsibility of advancing regional environmental regulation and protection and fostering green innovation in development. This paper takes the provincial-level data from 2007 to 2018 in China, and investigates how government environmental protection expenditure (GEPE) influences regional green innovation. Also, a gravity model is constructed to figure out R&D element flow, and the moderating mechanisms of the flow of R&D personnel and R&D capital are further examined. The empirical evidence shows that GEPE significantly promotes regional green innovation (coefficient = 0.185, p < 0.01), with robustness confirmed through lagged effect tests, indicating sustained positive impact. Mechanism analysis indicates that R&D personnel flow significantly strengthens the positive effect of GEPE on regional green innovation (interaction coefficient = 0.016, p < 0.01), while the moderating effect of R&D capital flow is statistically insignificant. The spatial Durbin model further confirms that the impact of GEPE on green innovation has a spatial spillover effect in neighboring regions. Additionally, excessive environmental decentralization suppresses the positive influence of GEPE on regional green innovation. These findings provide empirical evidence for local governments to promote regional green innovation through fiscal expenditures. It emphasizes the necessity of giving full play to the guiding and “leveraging” role of government environmental governance expenditure while fostering a synergistic effect between government environmental protection expenditure and the free flow of R&D elements, ultimately promoting coordinated green development in regions. Full article

This research contributes to the continuing discussion on the causes of environmental degradation by investigating the impact of fiscal decentralization on environmental sustainability utilizing four measures of environmental sustainability and three measures of fiscal decentralization. The annual data from WDI, OECD, and Global Footprint Network from 1990 to 2023 is analyzed, and the auto regression distributive lag (ARDL) model is employed to calculate long-run estimates. The findings show that fiscal decentralization, technological innovation, population, and other control variables, such as foreign direct investment and trade openness, play important roles in determining environmental sustainability. Composite fiscal decentralization, expenditure, and revenue decentralization lead to decreased environmental sustainability while technological innovation improves environmental sustainability. Furthermore, population, foreign direct investment, and trade openness also negatively affect environmental sustainability. The findings suggest that more resources should be allocated for research and development to save the environment. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s “dual-carbon” goals, the complex interplay between fiscal decentralization and green taxation presents significant challenges for climate governance. This study examines the impact of green taxation on carbon emissions within the context of fiscal decentralization, with a particular focus on spatial spillover effects and multidimensional indicators of fiscal decentralization. Drawing on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2007 and 2022, we apply spatial Durbin and moderating effect models to examine these relationships. Our findings reveal a counterintuitive positive association between green taxation and carbon emissions, indicating the presence of a “green paradox.” Furthermore, the three dimensions of fiscal decentralization—revenue decentralization, expenditure decentralization, and fiscal autonomy—demonstrate heterogeneous relationships with carbon emissions, including inverted U-shaped, U-shaped, and linear patterns, respectively. The interaction effects between green taxation and fiscal decentralization also exhibit notable spatial spillover effects and emission reduction potential. The contribution of this study lies in its integrated analysis of multidimensional fiscal decentralization, spatial econometric methods, and underlying mechanisms, thereby addressing underexplored dimensions of China’s environmental fiscal policy. These findings not only provide policy insights for China but also offer valuable references for other developing and transitional economies striving to align fiscal and environmental governance. Full article

Decarbonizing air transport is a major challenge in the global energy transition since electrification is not yet feasible. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a promising solution because it can reduce CO₂ emissions without major infrastructure changes. This study proposes a decentralized model for producing SAF in Spain through the gasification of residual lignocellulosic biomass followed by a refinement process using Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The model uses underexploited agricultural residues such as cereal straw, vine pruning, and olive pruning, converting them into syngas in medium-scale facilities situated near biomass sources. The syngas is then transported to a central upgrading unit to produce SAF compliant with ASTM D7566 standards. The following two configurations were evaluated: one with a single gasification plant and upgrading unit and another with three gasification plants supplying one central FT facility. Energy yields, capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX), logistic costs, and the levelized cost of fuel (LCOF) were assessed. Under a conservative scenario using one-third of the available certain types of biomass from three regions of Spain, annual SAF production could reach 517.6 million liters, with unit costs ranging from 1.63 to 1.24 EUR/L and up to 47,060 tonnes of CO₂ emissions avoided per year. The findings support the model’s technical and economic viability and its alignment with circular economy principles and climate policy goals. This approach offers a scalable and replicable pathway for decarbonizing the aviation sector using local renewable resources. Full article

This study evaluates the socio-economic impact of rural electrification through photovoltaic (PV) systems in Morocco. As part of the country’s broader energy transition strategy, decentralized renewable energy solutions like PV kits have been deployed to improve energy access in isolated rural areas. Using quasi-experimental econometric techniques, specifically propensity score matching (PSM) and estimation of the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT), the study measures changes in household income, expenditures, and economic activities resulting from PV electrification. The results indicate significant positive effects on household income, electricity spending, and productivity in agriculture and livestock. These findings highlight the critical role of decentralized renewable energy in advancing rural development and poverty reduction. Policy recommendations include expanding PV access with complementary support measures such as microfinance and technical training. Full article

Background: Economic logistics in fire and rescue services is a critical determinant of operational readiness, fiscal sustainability, and resilience to large-scale emergencies. Despite its strategic importance, logistics remains under-researched in Central and Eastern European contexts, where legacy governance structures and EU-funded modernization coexist with systemic inefficiencies. This study focuses on the Slovak Fire and Rescue Service (HaZZ) as a case to explore how economic logistics systems can be restructured for greater performance and value. Objective: The objective of this paper was to evaluate the structure, performance, and reform potential of the logistics system supporting HaZZ, with a focus on procurement efficiency, lifecycle costing, digital integration, and alignment with EU civil protection standards. Methods: A mixed-methods design was applied, comprising the following: (1) Institutional analysis of governance, budgeting, and legal mandates based on semi-structured expert interviews with HaZZ and the Ministry of Interior officers (n = 12); (2) comparative benchmarking with Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands; (3) financial analysis of national logistics expenditures (2019–2023) using Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) principles, completed with the visualization of cost trends and procurement price variance through original heat maps and time-series graphs. Results: The key findings are as follows: (1) HaZZ operates a formally centralized but practically fragmented logistics model across 51 district units, lacking national coordination mechanisms and digital infrastructure; (2) Maintenance costs have risen by 42% between 2019 and 2023 despite increasing capital investment due to insufficient lifecycle planning and asset heterogeneity; (3) Price variance for identical equipment categories across regions exceeds 30%, highlighting the inefficiencies in decentralized procurement; (4) Slovakia lacks a national Logistics Information System (LIS), unlike peer countries which have deployed integrated digital platforms (e.g., CELIS in the Czech Republic); (5) Benchmarking reveals high-impact practices in centralized procurement, lifecycle-based contracting, regional logistics hubs, and performance accountability—particularly in Austria and the Netherlands. Impacts: Four high-impact, feasible reforms were proposed: (1) Establishment of a centralized procurement framework; (2) national LIS deployment to unify inventory and asset tracking; (3) adoption of lifecycle-based and performance-based contracting models; (4) development of regional logistics hubs using underutilized infrastructure. This study is among the first to provide an integrated economic and institutional analysis of the Fire and Rescue Service logistics in a post-socialist EU member state. It offers a structured, transferable reform roadmap grounded in comparative evidence and adapted to Slovakia’s hybrid governance model. The research bridges gaps between modernization policy, procurement law, and digital public administration in the context of emergency services. Full article