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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2018) | Viewed by 20049

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Prof. Dr. George Xydis

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Department of Business Development and Technology (BTECH/AU Herning), Aarhus University, Engineering & Technology Research Group–EngTech, Center for Energy Technologies–CET, Birk Centerpark 15, 7400 Herning, Denmark
Interests: energy planning and resources optimization; wind resource assessment; exergy analysis; energy demand; electricity markets
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Dr. Evanthia A. Nanaki

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Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, Birk Centerpark 15, 7400 Herning, Denmark
Interests: business development; new technologies; electric vehicles; smart cities; automotive markets; energy supply chains; investments; renewable energy sources; alternative fuels; innovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable urban development is of great importance. Cities consume 75 percent of natural resources globally (materials, energy, water), produce 50 percent of global waste, and generate 60–80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. European cities can improve their resilience and meet decarbonization targets by: (i) increasing the rate of retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency; (ii) enabling building and district scale renewable energy production; (iii) developing and restoring nature-based urban infrastructure; and (iv) delivering a shift towards clean mobility-as-a-service. However, global spending on basic infrastructure—transport, power, water and communications—faces a financing gap of $1 trillion annually (the global spend ought to be $3.7 trillion, whereas it is currently $2.7 trillion). Realizing these ambitions will, therefore, demand trillions of investments, as well as innovation in systemic thinking, governance and financing. This requirement for transformative change presents a significant opportunity for innovative and sustainable markets to emerge.

Dr. George Xydis
Dr. Evanthia Nanaki
Guest Editor

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Keywords

sustainable transportation systems
renewable energy based transformative change
electric vehicles
energy resources optimization

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2960 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Innovative Energy Islands: Life-Cycle Cost-Benefit Analysis for Battery Energy Storage

by Xin Li, Konstantinos J. Chalvatzis and Phedeas Stephanides

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3371; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103371 - 20 Sep 2018

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 5541

Abstract

Cities are concentrations of economic, social, and technical assets, which are fundamental to addressing climate change challenges. Renewable energy sources are growing fast in cities to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in response to these challenges. In this transition urban decentralized energy shares technical and economic characteristics with energy islands. This is reflected in that island energy systems essentially operate off-grid which as a modus operandi can offer lessons to small-scale urban systems. With the expansion of urban areas, communities, especially small-scale ones, are sometimes further away from the main power infrastructure. Providing power supply to these communities would require significant investment to the existing power system, either to improve its grid infrastructure or power supply facilities. The energy islands have for some time now lent themselves to energy innovation including smart grid and battery storage applications. In this research we conceptualize that urban energy communities can be benefitted by knowledge transfer from energy islands in several fronts. We specifically put forward a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis model to evaluate the economics of battery storage system used in small communities from a life-cycle perspective. In this research we put forward a novel cost-benefit analysis model. Our results show that the inclusion of externalities can improve the economic value of battery systems significantly. Nevertheless, the economic performance is still largely dependent on several parameters, including capacity cost, discharging price, and charging cost. We conclude that existing electricity price structures (e.g., using household electricity price as a benchmark) struggle to guarantee sufficient economic returns except in very favorable circumstances; therefore, governmental support is deemed necessary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Indicators for Renewable Energy Transition)

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21 pages, 16193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Advanced Natural Ventilation Space Cooling Potential across Southern European Coastal Region

by Nikola Pesic, Jaime Roset Calzada and Adrian Muros Alcojor

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3029; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093029 - 26 Aug 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3694

Abstract

Analyzing the Köppen–Geiger climate classification and available climate data for the southern European Mediterranean coast, eight reference geolocations were selected for this analysis: the cities of Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome, Koper, Split, Athens and Nicosia. The first part of the research applies the climate potential for natural ventilation (CPNV) methodology that evaluates the theoretical availability of natural ventilation (NV) for each city location corresponding to human hygrothermal conditions. The second part of the article evaluates possible cooling energy savings (ES) applying the advanced natural ventilation (ANV) space-cooling strategy. A hypothetical four-story atrium office building model is designed for the building performance simulation (BPS) using mixed-mode (or hybrid-mode) and night-time natural ventilation (NNV) approaches. The objective is to present a comparison overview of possible space cooling ES between chosen geolocations. In the context of the current European Union’s (EU) energy transition (ET) process, the article displays ANV possibilities, as a renewable energy source (RES), in the reduction of building space cooling energy demands (ED) on the electricity grid. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Indicators for Renewable Energy Transition)

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17 pages, 934 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analyzing the Impact of Theft and Vandalism in Relation to the Sustainability of Renewable Energy Development Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Eugene C.X. Ikejemba and Peter C. Schuur

Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030814 - 14 Mar 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5124

Abstract

Theft and vandalism impede the sustainability of renewable energy (RE) development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is essential to explore where these crimes originate from, how they propagate and how they can be counteracted. In our study, we analyze the impact of these disturbances on implemented projects. We utilize a consumer clinic approach to generate data that represents the situation. We define our instigators practically (Government Inequality, Crime to Survive, Sabotage) and demarcate the actions of the offenders into 4 types: (1) vandalization of small RE projects (SPv); (2) theft of RE infrastructures from small RE projects (SPt); (3) vandalization of large RE projects (LPv); and (4) theft of RE infrastructures from large RE projects (LPt). To counteract these actions we define three types of security interference: human, societal and technical. We model the career of an RE criminal as a multi-stage Markov model. In every stage the offender can commit any of the offences SPv, SPt, LPv, LPt, or go to rest. Transition probabilities are our means to reflect offender maturity. Crucial to our model is that they are affected by the level of interference installed at the project site. Calibrated on a dialogue with 144 respondents, our Markov model directs us to adequate interferences per project. Specifically, for large projects technical and human security are the most effective, whereas, for small projects we recommend societal security. The paper introduces a mathematical model of the career of a RE-offender including the influence of security interference and calibrates the parameters through an ethnographic approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Indicators for Renewable Energy Transition)

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12 pages, 2244 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measuring the Impact of Economic Crisis to the Greek Vehicle Market

by Evanthia A. Nanaki

Sustainability 2018, 10(2), 510; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020510 - 14 Feb 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5043

Abstract

The fallout of the global economic crisis has impacted Greece severely as the austerity measures that were implemented since 2009 have had a devastating effect on poverty and the level of living. The financial agreement of the Greek government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave rise to a deep recession phase in the Greek market that started in early 2008. The automobile industry is among the sectors that have been severely affected by the economic crisis. Given that the demand for cars fell sharply and that the Greek car market is facing serious problems, mapping and understanding them can provide useful input to the Greek vehicle market. Regression analysis is being employed, and the interrelations of different variables, such as net disposable income, unemployment rate, fuel prices, the Greek crisis, loans directed to the vehicle market, as well as the inflation rate for the period of 2000–2016, are investigated. Analyzing the factors affecting car sales can provide policy-makers with knowledge in order to take legislative and economic measures, so as to boost sales of new environmental friendly vehicles not only in Greece, but in all EU states. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Indicators for Renewable Energy Transition)

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