The purpose of this study is to discover the factors shaping public opinion about renewable energy sources and investigate willingness to pay for expansion of renewable energy sources in the ...electricity mix. Data was collected through a questionnaire applied in Nikaia, an urban municipality of Greece. The respondents have a positive attitude towards renewable energy systems. Most of them have good knowledge of solar and wind energy systems and are using solar water heating, while several respondents own a solar PV system. Environmental protection is seen as the most important reason for investing in a renewable energy system. Willingness to pay for a wider penetration of RES into the electricity mix was estimated to be 26.5 euros per quarterly electricity bill. The statistical analysis revealed the existence of a relationship between RES perceived advantages and willingness to pay for renewable energy. Furthermore, by using a binary logit model, willingness to pay was found to be positively associated with education, energy subsidies, and state support.
Measuring and analyzing public perceptions of the environment are becoming core elements in promoting environmental sustainability, which is a key goal to be achieved. The New Ecological Paradigm ...Scale (NEP) is used as a unidimensional measure of environmental attitudes as it is developed in order to measure the overall relationship between humans and the environment. A high NEP score is associated with high ecocentric orientation. This research aims to measure and analyze citizens’ NEP score in a Greek area. Overall, the statistical analysis verified the existence of the NEP subscales, indicated increased environmental awareness among the respondents and revealed that the respondents’ NEP score is correlated with the area of residence. Furthermore, the NEP score is correlated at a statistically significant level with respondents’ willingness to pay for renewable energy expansion.
The optimal design of supply chain networks is often examined based on one or more economic or other criteria (e.g., cost, profit environmental impact, danger, time). However, the efficiency of the ...derived solutions is often ignored. In this work, a recursive DEA (RDEA) algorithm is presented, which introduces a different way of designing a supply chain network. The selection of possible installed facilities is based on minimum cost and maximum efficiency, through a MILP model. Optimal supply chain structure is obtained when the termination criterion is met, yielding only the efficient solutions, while simultaneously reducing the overall cost. An application of this RDEA algorithm to a biomass supply chain is examined. A comparative study is also presented, demonstrating the results obtained when solving the MILP without the proposed algorithm and with the use of an RDEA.
•In this study we propose a RDEA-based algorithm for the optimal design of supply chain networks.•Solutions from the MILP model are proposed for the optimal design of supply chain networks and chosen based on maximum TE.•Extensions to biomass supply chain networks are examined.•A comparative analysis of the problem with and without the RDEA algorithm is presented.•A sensitivity analysis for different demand representations is also conducted.
Renewable energy forms have been widely used in the past decades highlighting a “green” shift in energy production. An actual reason behind this turn to renewable energy production is EU directives ...which set the Union’s targets for energy production from renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions and increase in energy efficiency. All member countries are obligated to apply harmonized legislation and practices and restructure their energy production networks in order to meet EU targets. Towards the fulfillment of 20–20–20 EU targets, in Greece a specific strategy which promotes the construction of large scale Renewable Energy Source plants is promoted. In this paper, we present an optimal design of the Greek renewable energy production network applying a 0–1 Weighted Goal Programming model, considering social, environmental and economic criteria. In the absence of a panel of experts Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is used in order to filter the best out of the possible network structures, seeking for the maximum technical efficiency. Super-Efficiency DEA model is also used in order to reduce the solutions and find the best out of all the possible. The results showed that in order to achieve maximum efficiency, the social and environmental criteria must be weighted more than the economic ones.
Forests are among the most sensitive systems in nature. This is attributed to the fact that, forests are directly affected by fluctuations in price of fossil fuels. Wood products and especially ...forest fuel products are accessible by anyone, without any prior processing. As forest fuel is a subsidy for fossil fuels (oil) for heating purposes, households turn to forest fuel especially in countries that are heavily impacted by economic recession. The over-exploitation of this natural resource leads the forest to abnormal situation and eventually to deforestation. The exhaust of the natural resource capital has negative impact not only on the local economy, where fuelwood market contributes especially in mountainous regions, but also on the environmental stability of ecosystems. In this paper, two multi-period Linear Programming models are proposed for management of coppice forests. The aim of these models is to maximize the Net Present Value, which is constructed as a function of the revenue from trading fuelwood (price times the logged quantities) minus the transportation cost from the forest to merchants. Two aspects have been investigated in this paper; sustainability and maximum yield. The sustainability aspect is guaranteed by imposing constraints for equalization of non-logged areas at the end of the planning horizon. With maximum yield aspect, the maximization of the logged quantities (and therefore the maximization of the objective function) is guaranteed. The model is solved for various scenarios regarding transportation cost. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through a real-world case study of an even coppice forest in Achladochori–Aggistro–Sidirokastro. The proposed model is easy to be implemented, since it uses only the initial conditions of the forest (area) and can be applied to even and uneven aged forests.
Energy has the most significant input to agricultural production. The EU’s effort to produce a carbon-neutral economic entity necessitates changes in the energy mix used for agricultural production. ...Therefore, we employ different variables, in particular, the emissions generated by energy sources, namely coal, natural gas, and diesel gas and their interlinkages with the GDP share generated from agriculture. The data are annual and refer to the period 1970–2020. The ARDL methodology is the econometric tool employed. The year 1990 is identified as a statistically significant break point for all variables, while for the cointegrating equation, the year 2009 appears to play a significant role. Emissions generated by coal appear to play a vital role in the GDP share generated by agriculture and, therefore, should be the main focus of the policy measures taken. Coal should be replaced by other renewable sources or the use of technologies by farmers that improve energy efficiency in order to make the agricultural income stable and to achieve the objective of carbon-neutral agriculture in the EU.
The present research investigates the contribution of environmental innovation to firms' competitive advantage through the case of medium and large-sized firms operating in Greece. Due to the growing ...trend of environmental innovation in Greece and a consequent increase in the research interest, this paper fills the existing gap in the relevant literature as there is not enough evidence concerning Greek firms' environmental innovation practices. To meet the research goal, a questionnaire was distributed to 892 medium and large-sized firms operating in Greece; 225 questionnaires were finally responded. The data is based on firms' self-assessment concerning environmental innovation and competitive advantage and are analyzed using both descriptive and inductive statistics, including principal components analysis and multiple linear regression. The research results show that the examined firms implement environmental innovation practices at a moderate level. The most common practices of environmental innovation are the implementation of ISO 14001 management systems and the toxic substances usage reduction. The percentage of ISO 14001 implementation is increased compared to the previous years. Furthermore, the regression analysis revealed that the components concerning environmental process innovation and environmental product innovation have a positive impact on the examined firms' competitive capability. The relationship between open innovation and environmental innovation and the contribution of open innovation dynamics are discussed as well.
The efficient and sustainable exploitation of energy resources may secure a sustainable economic growth for different regions. However, the peripheries are subject to social, economic, and political ...constraints, with limited power over energy management. The present work examines regional convergence in exploitation efficiency as synopsized in the GDP generated by energy and minerals in an era of the country’s efforts to shut down the lignite-run power production. With the assistance of panel unit root tests, we confirm non convergence of the variables employed, an expected result given the fact that different energy sources are being used for energy production by each different periphery, generating different economic results. In the second stage the methodology employed is a Bayesian vector auto-regressive model (BVAR) with an informative prior on the steady state. The particular methodology outperforms the conventional VAR methodology due to limited degrees of freedom. The Impulse response analysis and the Variance Decomposition analysis confirmed interlinkages among the regions studied. This result implies that the growth generated by different energy and mineral resources are interconnected. Furthermore, the energy transition taking place in Megalopoli and West Macedonia, where the two greatest lignite industries were located until recently, affects the growth generated by energy and resource exploitation for all the other peripheries, according to our findings. The novelty of the present work stands on the concept to detect interlinkages of energy and resources-based growth for the peripheries in Greece with the assistance of the Bayesian Var. The results of the present work are significant, since our findings suggest to policy makers tools to promote economic growth generated by energy based on alternative energy sources, including the environmentally friendly ones, by taking into consideration the interlinkages established by the existing infrastructure and the conventional energy sources used.
Agroforestry systems are traditional land-use practices in Greece occupying three million hectares. Despite the positive agro-environmental and cultural benefits, within the last decade, they are not ...considered economically profitable. The present study surveys the farmers' attitudes towards agroforestry practices, and more specifically, the cultivation of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.). With the assistance of different econometric models, we attempted to unveil the profile of chestnut growers, their opinion on the environmental impact of the crop adoption, the determinants of the criteria they considered for its selection, as well as the cultivation practices they apply in a purely agricultural region of northern Greece. Insight into these issues may well provide policy makers with tools to promote the adoption of chestnut and other forest species in agriculture, with the aim of ensuring protection of the ecosystem, as well as improvements in agricultural income and therefore incorporating the concept of sustainability in agricultural development.
The sustainable management of forest resources is greatly influenced by forest operations (FO). Interactions between humans and nature describe how people engage with and are impacted by the natural ...world. As we enter the Anthropocene epoch, we are being compelled to reevaluate our past and present methods of managing and planning our forest operations in order to find new ones that are more adaptable and successful at addressing the growing unpredictability resulting from accelerating global change. We briefly discuss the goals and constraints of the prior and current management and planning principles for forest operations in this study, focusing on how these principles have evolved on a worldwide scale. We then propose a promising idea, such as managing forest operations as complex adaptive systems and approaches based on resilience and sustainable use of forest resources, in order to achieve the necessary economic, social, and ecological goals. An in-depth understanding of the ecological, economic, and social factors that influence forest resilience is necessary for planning and managing forest operations efficiently. The proposed strategy combines the effectiveness of forest operations with a functional, complex network approach in order to manage forests for the Anthropocene.
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