•Conducts a mixed-methods frame analysis of the UK policy debate on shale gas development.•Identifies nine key frames and their associated storylines as being widely used in the UK policy ...debate.•Four frames are associated with the pro-shale development coalition, whilst five are used by the anti-shale development coalition.•Frame use is tracked over time, and the frames are compared to other national cases.•We find a relative lack of frame resonance which we argue can be explained by the ‘impotence of storylines’ in anticipatory political debate.
How contested sources of energy such as shale gas are perceived in frontier countries considering their development is incredibly important to national and international climate policies. The UK shale development case is of particular interest currently as the Government attempts to position the UK as a pioneer of European, safe, sustainable shale gas development. We conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the UK policy debate on shale gas development involving 30 stakeholder interviews and 1557 political documents. This empirical focus extends the existing literature by identifying the use of frames in and through the institutions and practices of formal UK politics. We identify nine key frames and their associated storylines, analyse their use over time, and compare these findings with other national case studies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given most UK Governments within our timeframe have supported shale development, pro-shale development frames dominate in the policy debate; however, we also find a high level of anti-shale development frame use, suggesting a deep and ongoing framing contest in national formal political sites. We find in particular a more prominent focus on land-use issues and impacts on the landscape than other UK studies or other national contexts. Conceptually, the study puts forward an integrative approach to the related concepts of frames and storylines, as well as arguments concerning the impotence of storylines in anticipatory political debate and the polyvalence of framing strategies. Questions about governance are raised by the general lack of consensus over the framing of shale development within formal political sites, let alone amongst the broader public; and by the lack of a coherent response from the Government to criticisms of its approach. Finally, we reflect on the apparent lack of evidence for Hajer’s ‘communicative miracle’ in our case, and speculate as to whether the lack of broad-based resonance of the ‘bridge’ storyline signals trouble for the positive-sum thinking of ecological modernisation.
Solid particles impair the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) modules. This results in power losses which lower the efficiency of the system as well as the increases of temperature which ...additionally decreases the performance and lifetime. The deposited dust chemical composition, concentration and formation of a dust layer on the PV surface differ significantly in reference to time and location. In this study, an evaluation of dust deposition on the PV front cover glass during the non-heating season in one of the most polluted European cities, Kraków, was performed. The time-dependent particle deposition and its correlation to the air pollution with particulate matter were analysed. Dust deposited on several identical PV modules during variable exposure periods (from 1 day up to 1 week) and the samples of total suspended particles (TSP) on quartz fibre filters using a low volume sampler were collected during the non-heating season in the period of 5 weeks. The concentration of TSP in the study period ranged between 12.5 and 60.05 μg m
−3
while the concentration of PM10 observed in the Voivodeship Inspectorate of Environmental Protection traffic station, located 1.2 km from the TSP sampler, ranged from 14 to 47 μg m
−3
. It was revealed that dust deposition density on a PV surface ranged from 7.5 to 42.1 mg m
−2
for exposure periods of 1 day while the measured weekly dust deposition densities ranged from 25.8 to 277.0 mg m
−2
. The precipitation volume and its intensity as well as humidity significantly influence the deposited dust. The rate of dust accumulation reaches approximately 40 mg m
−2
day
−1
in the no-precipitation period and it was at least two times higher than fluxes calculated on the basis of PM10 and TSP concentrations which suggest that additional forces such as electrostatic forces significantly influence dust deposition.
Abstract The development of oil and gas resources towards the deep sea is an inevitable trend in international energy development. Due to its advantages of high production and transportation ...efficiency, good flow safety and low investment cost, oil and gas mixed transportation technology has become the preferred technology for deep-sea oil and gas production and transportation system. The core device of the oil-gas mixed transportation system is the gas-liquid two-phase flow pump. Under the gas-liquid two-phase condition, the pressure surging will occur with the increase of the inlet gas volume fraction (IGVF) in the pump. At this time, the pressurization capacity of the pump decreases significantly, accompanied by violent vibration, resulting in extremely unstable operation. To solve this problem, the numerical simulation and experiment of the two-phase operation characteristics of a centrifugal pump and a semi-open mixed-flow pump were carried out in this study. The influence of operating parameters on its pressurization capacity was clarified, and the internal gas-liquid distribution was visually tested, revealing the distribution and its spatiotemporal evolution of gas-phase in the impeller. Finally, the unsteady characteristics of pressure surging were analyzed in detail.
Recent European policy efforts stimulate the emergence of community energy initiatives, and the European Commission explicitly aims to enable a just transition towards a low-carbon energy system. One ...of the prevalent assumptions is that fostering community energy will bring about energy justice. Intrigued by this assumption, we conduct an extending systematic literature review to explore how the notion of energy justice is discussed within scholarly work on community energy initiatives in Europe. We detected a tendency of community energy scholars to not (yet) fully employ the inherent scope the concept of energy justice entails. Therefore, we propose that community energy justice should be analyzed through three different lenses: energy justice occurring within community energy initiatives, between initiatives and related actors, and beyond initiatives. Extending the energy justice lens to address these different levels helps to better bring out the encompassing premise that the notion of energy justice entails, both analytically and in practice. Through our analysis different energy justice impacts come to the fore, for example related to social inequality: not all societal groups are equally positioned to benefit from policies focused on community initiatives. Considering the policy efforts to stimulate community energy development, we argue that these impacts can be amplified, due to cumulative power of many community energy initiatives together. Our contribution highlights that for making energy transitions just, a broader and more connected understanding of energy justice in the context of community energy initiatives is central.
By 30 June 2021, EU Member States were expected to transpose the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) which includes provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs) and to develop an ...enabling framework to promote the development of RECs. Although there is a growing number of studies analysing the emergence of various forms of community energy, comparative studies investigating the transposition and creation of enabling frameworks for RECs in a multi-level governance (MLG) perspective are scarce. This article examines the transposition in Germany and Italy and compares elements of the respective enabling frameworks. Key methods include context and MLG analysis combined with methods of descriptive (legal) studies. Insights and participatory observations of the stakeholder desks established in the Horizon2020 project COME RES complement the spectrum of methods deployed. Although community energy development is more advanced in Germany, the transposition of the RED II provisions has been slow and piecemeal so far. Conversely, in Italy, RED II played a catalyst role; the transposition has been rather dynamic and encouraged a continuous growth of REC initiatives. Nevertheless, a widespread uptake of RECs requires structural adjustments of the governance system in both countries and attention to MLG as well as vertical policy coordination.
Rapid development of solar energy is reconfiguring global labour geographies. Beneath the formal economy of solar exists a hidden infra‐economy of informal and marginalised labourers that toil in ...valuable yet precarious nodes of solar development (i.e. mining, generation, disposal). These labourers comprise a lumpenproletariat class (or solar lumenproletariats) that is defined by its informality, flexibility, precarity and disposability. Through political struggles and reflexivity, the lumenproletariats develop class consciousness. Although still precariously positioned in solar’s infra‐economy, they develop a praeclarus (Latin: “bright”) understanding of their shared class interests and become praeclariats resisting the reproduction of solar capital. Solar praeclariats unified in class struggle can alter the exploitative relations of production and usher in a truly “just” low‐carbon energy transition.
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•We conducted an expert survey about wind energy resistance in planning.•Resistance links to planning quality in four supra-national European regions.•Landscape encroachment is a ...major reason for resistance in most European regions.•Lack of social justice ranks high in East- and South-Europe.•Comprehensive strategic planning potentially reduces problems with resistance.
The successful transition towards renewable energy (RE) technologies is closely intertwined with various societal aspects. Wind energy (WE) is one of the most controversial RE-types, possibly due to the multiplicity of related public concerns. Although some European country-comparisons exist, research concerning acceptance factors in different political and cultural planning contexts is scarce, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe. This paper explores the variation of (1) acceptance issues across Europe, and (2) patterns of strategic and local planning in affecting WE acceptance. We conducted an expert survey among the members of the COST Action ‘Renewable Energy and Landscape Quality’ and the association Wind Energy Europe. We found that acceptance issues – as perceived by the experts – across different regions in Europe share certain similarities, such as concerns about landscape impacts. The priority-levels of acceptance issues are specific to each region and link to the planning quality in that context. Planners’ and decision-makers’ increased awareness about the diversity of acceptance issues would allow them to design more appropriate strategic and local planning processes.
The first goal of this research was to measure the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the sustainable development of an organization. However, the second objective examines the ...moderating influence of government policies, cultural norms, and stakeholder expectations on the relationship between CSR and an organization's sustainable development. This research primarily focused on the enterprises operating in the energy industry in Beijing. A sample of 498 individuals holding management positions within these enterprises was collected. The study's results established that CSR significantly influences the sustainable development of firms. Moreover, the results revealed that governmental regulations, cultural norms, and stakeholder expectations play a significant and positive role in moderating the impact of corporate social responsibility on the sustainable development of companies. The results of this study make a valuable contribution to the existing body of literature on CSR and its impact on the sustainable performance of enterprises in China.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is widely used in maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. Nevertheless, this technique suffers from two main problems in the case of ...partial shading conditions (PSCs). The first problem is that PSO is a time invariant optimization technique that cannot follow the dynamic global peak (GP) under time variant shading patterns (SPs) and sticks to the first GP that occurs at the beginning. This problem can be solved by dispersing the PSO particles using two new techniques introduced in this paper. The two new proposed PSO re-initialization techniques are to disperse the particles upon the SP changes and the other one is upon a predefined time (PDT). The second problem is regarding the high oscillations around steady state, which can be solved by using fuzzy logic controller (FLC) to fine-tune the output power and voltage from the PV system. The new contribution of this paper is the hybrid PSO-FLC with two PSO particles dispersing techniques that is able to solve the two previous mentioned problems effectively and improve the performance of the PV system in both normal and PSCs. A detailed list of comparisons between hybrid PSO-FLC and original PSO using the two proposed methodologies are achieved. The results prove the superior performance of hybrid PSO-FLC compared to PSO in terms of efficiency, accuracy, oscillations reduction around steady state and soft tuning of the GP tracked.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The expansion of renewable energies not only lowers carbon emissions, it also redistributes resources among actors. This article argues that green industrialization – specifically, manufacturing and ...the development of renewable energy technologies — creates economic gains that impact political processes and increase renewable energy policy ambition. Building on a combined framework of policy feedback and global value chain literature, we see domestic value creation as a key determinant of coalition strength and learning effects for policymakers. We analyze the relationship of value chain involvement to policy ambition using panel data on countries’ manufacturing and innovation activities in the wind and solar industry from 2010 to 2018. The results show a positive technology policy feedback mechanism, implying that higher local value creation leads to more ambitious renewable energy policies. These first large-N findings support previous case studies on the importance of green growth for raising policy ambition; it implies that transformative policies fostering value creation could create a virtuous cycle for policy ambition. We further propose an interdisciplinary research agenda to shed light on the role of value chain dynamics for policy feedback mechanisms across different political economies.
•We identify a policy feedback effect from renewable energy technologies.•Local value creation leads to higher renewable energy policy ambition.•Technology policy feedback effects differ based on involved value chain segments.•Manufacturing is associated with stronger policy feedbacks than R&D.
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