Search Results (14)

Energy storage facilities serve as flexible resources that comprehensively support grid operations; they are also essential, especially when the thermal power plants that previously served as regulators run out. Electricity is becoming the dominant carrier through which the bulk of consumers’ energy needs are met. The efficiency of long-distance transmission and the ease of conversion to other forms of energy in Poland are attributed to the national grid. Thanks to the development of new technologies and distribution channels, energy is changing its supply network system. The purpose of this article is to discuss the economic viability of energy storage systems and their strategic role in the energy transition. The research methods used are data analysis, and the dependence on capital expenditures ($CAPEX$) and operating costs ($OPEX$) of energy storage in distribution channels. Energy storage facilities operated by grid companies account for 90% of the installed capacity, but there is a noticeable increase in the number of prosumer installations, with an energy storage of up to 50 KWh at microinstallations. Full article

This theoretical essay aims to analyze some of the socio-economic innovations introduced by Platform Capitalism Specifically, it focuses on two main aspects: first, the digital platform as a radical organizational innovation. Digital platforms represent a structural novelty in the market economy, signaling a new organization of production and labor. Second, the essay examines the role of platforms in directly generating value through the concept of “network value”. To this end, it explores the function of “business intelligence” as a strategic and competitive tool. Finally, the paper discusses the key issues associated with platform capitalism, which could threaten its social sustainability and contribute to economic and financial instability. These issues include the increasing commodification of everyday activities, the devaluation of paid labor in favor of free production driven by platform users (the so-called prosumers), and the emergence of proprietary and financial monopolies. Hence, digital platforms do not inherently ensure comprehensive social and environmental sustainability unless supported by targeted economic policy interventions. Conclusively, it is emphasized that defining robust social welfare frameworks—which account for emerging value creation processes—is imperative. Simultaneously, policymakers must incentivize the proliferation of cooperative platforms capable of fostering experimental circular economy models aligned with ecological sustainability. Full article

A virtual power plant (VPP) is a potential alternative that aggregates the distributed energy resources (DERs) and addresses the prosumer’s power availability, quality, and reliability requirements. This paper reports the optimized scheduling of an interconnected VPP in a multi-area framework established through a tie-line connection comprising multiple renewable resources. The scheduling was initially performed on a day ahead (hourly basis) interval, followed by an hour ahead interval (intra-hour and real time), i.e., a 15 min and 5 min time interval for the developed VPP in a multi-area context. The target objective functions for the selected problem were two-fold, i.e., net profit and emission, for which maximization was performed for the former and reduction for the later, respectively. Since renewables are involved in the energy mix and the developed problem was complex in nature, the proposed multi-area-based VPP was tested with an advanced nature-inspired metaheuristic technique. Moreover, the proposed formulation was extended to a multi-objective context, and multiple scheduling strategies were performed to reduce the generated emissions and capitalize on the cumulative profit associated with the system by improving the profit margin simultaneously. Furthermore, a comprehensive numeric evaluation was performed with different optimization intervals, which revealed the rapid convergence in minimal computational time to reach the desired solution. Full article

In recent years, the concept of the prosumer has garnered extensive attention across various fields, including marketing, energy consumption, and innovation research. This attention is driven by the significant role prosumers play in developing more efficient, sustainable, and health-conscious market systems, propelled by advancements in social and technological domains. Broadly defined, a prosumer is an individual who acts as both a producer and a consumer. Originally coined by Toffler in the 1980s, the term describes individuals who blur the lines between producers and consumers by engaging in the creation of value for their own use or for others. Prosumers are seen as external partners who participate in co-creation processes with organizations, contributing to innovative outcomes and the production of the products and services they consume. The concept of the prosumer, individuals who simultaneously act as producers and consumers, has gained significant attention across various sectors. This entry explores the evolving role and impact of prosumers on sustainability, innovation, and market dynamics. A comprehensive literature review and empirical analysis were conducted to understand prosumer behavior and contributions. The findings reveal that the prosumers’ roles range from significantly enhancing sustainability by generating renewable energy to promoting personalized education via teacher–prosumer models. They also drive technological advancements in fields such as 3D printing and cryptocurrency. The study concludes that prosumers have the potential to foster a more resilient and inclusive economy, although challenges such as regulatory barriers and technological dependencies must be addressed to fully leverage their contributions. Full article

Increased interest is demonstrated recently in the emergence of prosumer schemes for the residential sector on the basis of combined RES and storage configurations. Primarily, such schemes aim to increase energy autonomy for end users. Despite providing an alternative supply solution that may secure end users from volatile energy prices, RES–battery configurations also suggest costly and, in most cases, capital-intensive solutions. As such, exploring the generation of additional revenue through market participation is an exercise worth undertaking, noting at the same time that decongestion management services may also be provided to the local grid. In this context, the current study introduces an operational framework for the market participation of RES–battery prosumer schemes, seeking to determine the optimal balance between self-consumption and market integration. For that purpose, we use typical demand patterns and perform an extensive parametrical analysis concerning system size, spot price levels and degree of market integration in the context of the Greek electricity market, with our results indicating areas of optimum balance for the minimization of similar schemes’ levelized cost of electricity. Full article

This paper describes the present and the future of the energy sector in relation to the dominant and constantly evolving form of the global economic system. These considerations have their starting point in transformations of the energy sector in prosumer capitalism, which has dramatically changed the picture of the global economy in recent years. Subsequently, a futuristic approach is applied to determine the role and importance of energy from renewable sources for further human development. The main objective of the paper is to explain the current situation of the energy sector in prosumer capitalism and to extrapolate these relationships for the future, considering the need to enter the path of sustainable development to eliminate the global warming processes and climate changes. A review of the existing scientific literature was applied as the research method. The historical wave concept, proposed by Toffler, was found to be highly useful because of its high potential in futurology, where it enables one to study megatrends. The Fourth Wave was linked to prosumer capitalism, and it provided the base for defining the next ones: the Fifth Wave of Computing (ecosocialism) and the Sixth Wave in the form of technological and energy communism (solar communism). It also turned out that the key to solving mankind’s energy problems lies in the global mean entropy budget. The literature review shows that founding the global energy system on solar radiation is the only known method for eliminating the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, which is the source of global warming and, consequently, of climate change. Therefore, the second law of thermodynamics provides a physical, economic, and logical justification for introducing a new and ultimate management form—solar communism—by 2050. Full article

The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the energy transition as part of prosumer capitalism is a socio-economic process whose complexity increases over time, which makes it an example of a super wicked problem. It comprises many new phenomena emerging spontaneously, and often unpredictably, in the energy markets. The main contemporary challenge involves such an energy sector transformation which will prevent climate change and will ensure the sustainable development of the global economy. However, this requires solving a large number of sub-problems in areas such as legislation, energy distribution, democracy, and cybersecurity. Therefore, this is a multidisciplinary issue. Moreover, the situation is complicated by the frequently omitted fact that energy transition is not part of the standard capitalism model, extensively described in handbooks and scientific literature, but it is conducted as part of a new economic system—prosumer capitalism, which has not been properly explored yet. However, a solution to this super wicked problem has to be found soon, as the energy system may be threatened with complexity catastrophe, which denotes exceeding the upper complexity limit associated with the breakdown of its adaptability. Therefore, developing effective techniques for alleviating the complexity catastrophe, including redefining the change management and complexity management methods to the global scale, becomes the top priority among the tasks faced by science. Full article

Thermal grids are efficient, reliable, and sustainable technologies for satisfying the thermal demands of buildings. The capability to operate at a low temperature allows not only for the integration of heat produced by renewable energy sources but also for the storage of surplus electricity from the grid via “power to heat” technologies. Besides, in the future, heat consumers are expected to behave increasingly as “prosumers”, supplying in some periods heat produced by renewable energy plants on site. In this scenario, it is important to propose a method for the cost allocation among producers connected to the grid. In this regard, this paper proposes Exergoeconomics as a possible tool for rational cost assignment. To show the capabilities of the method, some operating scenarios are compared for a cluster of five buildings of the tertiary sector interconnected by a thermal grid. Based on exergoeconomic indicators, such as the exergy and exergoeconomic unit costs, insights into the cost formation process of the heat consumed by users are provided. Sensitivity analyses of heat unit cost to design and operating variables are also performed. Results show that in the presence of distributed producers, the heat unit cost could be approximately 33% lower than in the case of centralized production, due to the lower amount of irreversibility generated. Capital investment accounts for 20–28% of the heat unit cost. Full article

The use of renewable energy sources increases the energy self-sustainability of cities, enabling citizens to reduce energy costs, which results in an increase in their standard of living. However, solar energy penetration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its capital Sarajevo, is not in line with the possibilities. Furthermore, the Sarajevo Canton is extremely polluted during the winter months because of the use of unacceptable heating fuel. The aim of this paper is to introduce photovoltaic power systems use in heating electrification system. In this paper AQI is calculated based on historical data and the hybrid model EMD-SARIMA for air pollution and a solar production forecast is presented. The methodology was tested in the Sarajevo Canton, taking into account 35,000 households. In order to ensure clean air, renewable electric energy use for household heating should be implemented. The widespread use of inefficient individual heating systems characterized by inefficient and expensive use of firewood and the use of coal in individual furnaces in populated areas are the main problems of internal and urban air pollution in Sarajevo Canton. In order to reduce energy poverty in Sarajevo Canton, the use of a floating photovoltaic power plant located on Lake Jablanica with a capacity of 30 MW and the solar prosumers with capacity of 115 MW to provide the 196 GWh necessary for heating electrification of 35,000 households is implemented in this paper. Finally, based on correlation between AQI forecast and solar production it was calculated that the values of the AQI, considering the application of solar energy during 150 days (five months) in one heating season, have significantly decreased. Also renewable energy sources have a very important role in reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into the atmosphere and reducing urban pollution. With this approach, households would be heated by renewable electricity, which would make Sarajevo a cleaner, smarter city. Full article

Renewable distributed energy and self-consumption are promising and sustainable solutions in the energy-transition scenario for moving toward a circular economy. In this future scheme, prosumers are expected to play a leading role in the forthcoming sustainable energy market, facing new technical, economic, and financial challenges as energy producers at a small scale. In fact, the adoption of photovoltaic (PV) self-consumption systems requires mobilizing capital for investment and their interaction with the market. In this scenario, the aim of this paper was to explore insights into the decision-making process of prosumers to enhance the understanding of self-consumption deployment and to support effective policymaking. This study contributes to the state of the art by defining and classifying determinants of the energy prosumers’ decision-making process and their relevance using a heuristic approach. Potential measuring tools and methods are analyzed through a specific case study of Spanish prosumers. Full article

The present study analyzes four well-known online platforms used in the tourist industry for travelling, accommodation, eating, and touring (Blablacar, Airbnb, Eatwith, and Trip4real). The objective is to analyze the utility of the portals, intentions for future use and recommendation (prospective), and reputation. The method is an experimental design with a control group and experimental group. Within both groups, three scales were applied. The results indicate clear differences between the control and experimental groups, valuing above all the utility and the intent to use again when the group is exposed to the portals from a needs-based situation (experimental group). The analysis demonstrates a factorial structure that validates the model. At the same time, the results indicate a greater interest in using Trip4Real over BlaBlaCar. Generation Z, the youngest generation, shows greater confidence in the services and greater interest in using tourism related collaborative consumption platforms in the future. Full article

Prosumer (producing consumer)-based desktop additive manufacturing has been enabled by the recent radical reduction in 3-D printer capital costs created by the open-source release of the self-replicating rapid prototype (RepRap). To continue this success, there have been some efforts to improve reliability, which are either too expensive or lacked automation. A promising method to improve reliability is to use computer vision, although the success rates are still too low for widespread use. To overcome these challenges an open source low-cost reliable real-time optimal monitoring platform for 3-D printing from double cameras is presented here. This error detection system is implemented with low-cost web cameras and covers 360 degrees around the printed object from three different perspectives. The algorithm is developed in Python and run on a Raspberry Pi3 mini-computer to reduce costs. For 3-D printing monitoring in three different perspectives, the systems are tested with four different 3-D object geometries for normal operation and failure modes. This system is tested with two different techniques in the image pre-processing step: SIFT and RANSAC rescale and rectification, and non-rescale and rectification. The error calculations were determined from the horizontal and vertical magnitude methods of 3-D reconstruction images. The non-rescale and rectification technique successfully detects the normal printing and failure state for all models with 100% accuracy, which is better than the single camera set up only. The computation time of the non-rescale and rectification technique is two times faster than the SIFT and RANSAC rescale and rectification technique. Full article

The term prosumer, first introduced by Toffler in the 1980s, has been developed by sociologists in response to Web 2.0 (the set of technologies that has transformed a predominantly static web into the collaborative medium initially envisaged by Tim Berners-Lee). The phenomena is now understood as a process involving the creation of meanings on the part of the consumer, who re-appropriates spaces that were dominated by institutionalized production, and this extends to the exploitation of consumer creativity on the production side. Recent consumption literature can be re-interpreted through the prosumer lens in order to understand whether prosumers are more creative or alienated in their activities. The peculiar typology of prosumption introduced by Web 2.0 leads us to analyze social capital as a key element in value creation, and to investigate its different online and offline forms. Our analysis then discusses the digital divide and critical consumerism as forms of empowerment impairment. Full article

The predominant analysis of privacy on Facebook focuses on personal information revelation. This paper is critical of this kind of research and introduces an alternative analytical framework for studying privacy on Facebook, social networking sites and web 2.0. This framework is connecting the phenomenon of online privacy to the political economy of capitalism—a focus that has thus far been rather neglected in research literature about Internet and web 2.0 privacy. Liberal privacy philosophy tends to ignore the political economy of privacy in capitalism that can mask socio-economic inequality and protect capital and the rich from public accountability. Facebook is in this paper analyzed with the help of an approach, in which privacy for dominant groups, in regard to the ability of keeping wealth and power secret from the public, is seen as problematic, whereas privacy at the bottom of the power pyramid for consumers and normal citizens is seen as a protection from dominant interests. Facebook’s privacy concept is based on an understanding that stresses self-regulation and on an individualistic understanding of privacy. The theoretical analysis of the political economy of privacy on Facebook in this paper is based on the political theories of Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt and Jürgen Habermas. Based on the political economist Dallas Smythe’s concept of audience commodification, the process of prosumer commodification on Facebook is analyzed. The political economy of privacy on Facebook is analyzed with the help of a theory of drives that is grounded in Herbert Marcuse’s interpretation of Sigmund Freud, which allows to analyze Facebook based on the concept of play labor (= the convergence of play and labor). Full article