scholarly journals Renewable Energy and EU 2020 Target for Energy Efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Brożyna ◽  
Wadim Strielkowski ◽  
Alena Fomina ◽  
Natalya Nikitina

Our paper focuses on the renewable energy and EU 2020 target for energy efficiency in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We study the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in these two EU Member States through the prism of the Europe 2020 strategy and the 3 × 20 climate and energy package and economic growth (represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that allows to measure the national dynamics and provide cross-country comparisons) without attributing specific attention to issues such as the electrification of transport or heating, and thence leaving them outside the scope of this paper. Both Czech Republic and Slovakia are two post-Communist countries that still face the consequences of economic transformation and struggle with the optimal management of natural resources. Both countries encountered profound system transformation after 1989 that are apparent in all three measures of sustainable development used in our study. We show that it is unlikely that the planned increase in renewable energy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia will reach its targets, but they might succeed in reducing their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings show that the energy intensity of Czech and Slovak economies increased in the early 2000s and then stabilized at a level about twice of the EU average. It appears that this value is likely to remain the same in the forthcoming years. However, implementation of GHG emissions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia may be at risk in case the proper energy policy is not maintained. Moreover, our results show how the increase in the share of renewable energy and improvement in energy efficiency go hand-in-hand with mining and exploiting the energy sources that is notorious for the transition economies. We also demonstrate that a proper energy policy is required for effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for commitments made by relevant stakeholders and policymakers targeted at achieving sustainable economic growth and energy efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a need for maintaining a proper balance between economic development and environmental protection, which is a must for the EU sustainable energy development agenda and all its accompanying targets for all its Member States.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2363
Author(s):  
Mihaela Simionescu ◽  
Carmen Beatrice Păuna ◽  
Mihaela-Daniela Vornicescu Niculescu

Considering the necessity of achieving economic development by keeping the quality of the environment, the aim of this paper is to study the impact of economic growth on GHG emissions in a sample of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (V4 countries, Bulgaria and Romania) in the period of 1996–2019. In the context of dynamic ARDL panel and environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), the relationship between GHG and GDP is N-shaped. A U-shaped relationship was obtained in the renewable Kuznets curve (RKC). Energy consumption, domestic credit to the private sector, and labor productivity contribute to pollution, while renewable energy consumption reduces the GHG emissions. However, more efforts are required for promoting renewable energy in the analyzed countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriy Bilan ◽  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Tetyana Vasylieva ◽  
Oleksii Lyulyov ◽  
Tetyana Pimonenko ◽  
...  

This paper investigates the impact of renewable energy sources (RESs), CO2 emissions, macroeconomics, and the political stability in a country on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The authors analyse the dynamics of RESs use, CO2 emissions, and GDP development and also test the following hypotheses: (1) The country’s economic growth is related to the energy consumption, in terms of both human resources and capital; (2) the share of the renewable energy consumption of the total energy consumption has a positive impact on the economic growth; and (3) the share of the renewable energy consumption of the total energy consumption is unrelated to the economic growth. To test the above hypotheses, the authors use the modified Cobb-Douglas production function, which also considers RES production volumes, CO2 emissions, and economic growth. The study employs data between 1995 to 2015 from the candidate and potential candidate countries for the EU membership. The data are drawn from the World Bank and Eurostat. The analyses entail panel unit root tests, Pedroni panel cointegration tests, fully modified OLS (FMOLS), dynamic OLS (DOLS) panel cointegration techniques, and the Vector Error Correction model (VECM). The findings confirm the relationship between RESs, CO2 emissions, and the GDP. For the EU countries, RESs as human resources and capital have an impact on the GDP. Moreover, the results reveal a correction retraction when the economic growth leads to an increase in renewable energy consumption. The investigation also finds that candidate and potential candidate countries for the EU membership should foster renewable energy development. The authors conclude that developing affordable and effective instruments and mechanisms to boost the RES implementation is necessary to decrease the anthropogenic impact on the environment (in particular, decreasing CO2 emissions) without any attendant reduction in the economic growth.


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 311-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Exnerová ◽  
E. Cienciala

As a part of its obligations under the Climate Convention, the Czech Republic must annually estimate and report its anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. This also applies for the sector of agriculture, which is one of the greatest producers of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. This paper presents the approaches applied to estimate emissions in agricultural sector during the period 1990–2006. It describes the origin and sources of emissions, applied methodology, parameters and emission estimates for the sector of agriculture in the country. The total greenhouse gas emissions reached 7644 Gg CO<sub>2</sub> eq. in 2006. About 59% (4479 Gg CO<sub>2</sub> eq.) of these emissions has originated from agricultural soils. This quantity ranks agriculture as the third largest sector in the Czech Republic representing 5.3% of the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The emissions under the Czech conditions consist mainly of emissions from enteric fermentation, manure management and agricultural soils. During the period 1990–2006, GHG emissions from agriculture decreased by 50%, which was linked to reduced cattle population and amount of applied fertilizers. The study concludes that the GHG emissions in the sector of agriculture remain significant and their proper assessment is required for sound climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Karolina Dec ◽  
Elżbieta Broniewicz

In this study, the idea of an energy self-sufficient public utility building was presented, as well as its energy balance components and the possibility of powering it with renewable sources. The annual energy consumption profile of the building was analyzed. Current data concerning the production of electricity from Renewable Energy Systems (RES) were presented. The applicable provisions of the Directive of the European Parliament and the EU Council on energy efficiency were discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Maya Lambovska ◽  
Boguslava Sardinha ◽  
Jaroslav Belas, Jr.

Youth unemployment is a problem in each member country of the European Union (EU). The EU seeks to alleviate this problem by implementing various programs to support young people in finding and keeping a job, thus contributing to economic growth. In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The countries have introduced many strict measures to prevent its spread, but they have caused a significant increase in unemployment, including among young people, and thus harmed economic growth. In this paper, we analyze the unemployment of people under the age of twenty-five in the EU. We also point out how unemployment rates have increased in individual countries. This problem concerns not only countries where the youth unemployment rate had been high already, such as Greece, Spain, and Italy, but also countries with previously lower rates, for example, the Czech Republic, Netherland, Poland, and Slovenia. In the latter group of countries, the youth unemployment rate has doubled in some cases due to anti-pandemic measures. We found that the most affected countries in this regard are the aforementioned Czech Republic, where the unemployment rate at the end of 2020 rose to 2.19 times above the level at the end of 2019, and Estonia, where year-over-year youth unemployment rose by a factor of 2.5. However, unfavorable developments occurred also in Lithuania, Latvia, and Ireland. According to our results, in 2020, youth unemployment increased the least in Hungary, Italy, and Belgium. In general, however, as the situation is now much more urgent, measures to alleviate this problem need to be put in place in each country to help young people find employment and, thus, stimulate economic growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13611
Author(s):  
José Alberto Fuinhas ◽  
Matheus Koengkan ◽  
Nuno Carlos Leitão ◽  
Chinazaekpere Nwani ◽  
Gizem Uzuner ◽  
...  

This analysis explored the effect of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in a panel of twenty-nine countries from the European Union (EU) from 2010 to 2020. The method of moments quantile regression (MM-QR) was used, and the ordinary least squares with fixed effects (OLSfe) was used to verify the robustness of the results. The MM-QR support that in all three quantiles, economic growth causes a positive impact on GHGs. In the 50th and 75th quantiles, energy consumption causes a positive effect on GHGs. BEVs in the 25th, 50th, and 75th quantiles have a negative impact on GHGs. The OLSfe reveals that economic growth has a negative effect on GHGs, which contradicts the results from MM-QR. Energy consumption positively impacts GHGs. BEVs negatively impacts GHGs. Although the EU has supported a more sustainable transport system, accelerating the adoption of BEVs still requires effective political planning to achieve net-zero emissions. Thus, BEVs are an important technology to reduce GHGs to achieve the EU targets of decarbonising the energy sector. This research topic can open policy discussion between industry, government, and researchers, towards ensuring that BEVs provide a climate change mitigation pathway in the EU region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Toms Prodaņuks

The European Union has declared the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, ensuring economy with zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To achieve this goal, the EU has announced the European Green Deal which includes an action plan to accelerate efficient resource usage while moving towards circular economy as well as to restore biodiversity and reduce pollution. The transition to climate neutrality is urgent and offers an opportunity to build a better future. In order to achieve climate neutrality, society and all economic sectors must play their part. Increasing the efficiency of heat production and reducing consumption is considered one of the key tools for achieving the EU’s climate and energy goals by 2030, which envisage at least a 40 % reduction in GHG emissions, using 1990 as a baseline, at least a 32 % share of renewable energy and a 32.5 % increase in energy efficiency. In accordance with the EU climate and energy policy, the Latvia’s National Energy and Climate Plan 2021–2030 has been developed, and it includes national objectives and main actions that are directly or indirectly related to the increase of the efficiency in heat energy production and the reduction of consumption focusing on renewable energy. The overall aim of the present Doctoral Thesis is to evaluate heating systems in Latvia using sustainability indicators, including heat energy producers and end-users, make proposals on potential methodologies to increase the efficiency of the heating system and to reduce GHG emissions, emphasizing the use of renewable energy sources. An evaluation of various technologies and methods has been developed, which offers complex solutions for increasing the energy efficiency of heat energy producers.


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