This study advanced knowledge regarding the mechanisms through which intimate partner violence relates to psychological and financial distress with a sample of diverse low-income women. Data were ...collected from 147 female domestic violence survivors who were abused by a male partner within the past 6 months. Three hierarchical regression analyses revealed that psychological, physical, and economic abuse were predictive of posttraumatic stress, depression, and economic self-sufficiency among survivors. Guided by the Conservation of Resources Theory, the loss of financial, work, and interpersonal resources also predicted these three outcomes, above and beyond abuse experiences (i.e., economically controlling behaviors, economic sabotage, and interpersonal resource loss were unique predictors). In addition, bootstrap mediation analyses showed that interpersonal resource loss partially mediated the relationship between psychological abuse and mental health outcomes. Together, these findings can be used to inform future interventions to promote the financial and psychological well-being of survivors.
A new strategy for the integrated management of water and energy in large water supply networks with the aim of reducing the energy costs of the energy intensive water facilities via the installation ...of photovoltaic plants is proposed. To address the non-dispatchability of photovoltaic systems, the integration of pumped hydroelectric storage plants based on the upgrading of existing pumping stations is also proposed. As case study, the proposed integrated solution is applied to two different pumping stations: the “Basso Flumendosa” pumping station, which is also candidate for the conversion to a pumped hydroelectric storage section due to its low utilization factor, and the “Monteleone-Roccadoria” one. A mathematical model is developed with the objective of maximizing the energy self-consumption. Different photovoltaic and turbine sizes are investigated to assess the achievable self-sufficiency rate and economic performance. The effect of the availability of the pumping station for storage purposes and the shape of the daily demand curves on the main result parameters are also evaluated. The results demonstrate that self-sufficiency rates higher than 65% are achievable only with the integration of the pumped hydroelectric storage section. Full self-sufficiency of the two pumping stations can be reached but a reduction of the profitability occurs.
•Increasing of the energy self-sufficiency of water supply networks via PV plants.•Existing pumping stations can be converted to pumped hydroelectric storage plants.•The PV-PHES system was investigated with a case study based on two pumping stations.•Full self-sufficiency of two pumping stations is achievable but not profitable.•Annual water transfer required by water management policy is a central parameter.
The recent trends in designing sustainable power systems emphasise the importance of self-consumption (SC) both at individual and community level. This new paradigm changes the way in which we design ...photovoltaic facilities for residential houses and for various municipality services as well.
In this context, the paper aims to formulate several optimisation problems using criteria such as self-consumption, self-sufficiency (SS) and net present value (NPV) as objectives to provide an optimal photovoltaic (PV) plant size for a singular power system - a subway station. By using this multi-objective approach, the work emphasises how each criteria impacts the profitability and value of the overall investment, involving possible shareholders in the design process by choosing a desired solution from the Pareto-efficient set of configurations. Moreover, a global optimal solution is provided by formulating an optimisation problem through a single-objective Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach involving an equivalent metric, the net-energy exchanged with the grid (NEEG).
The proposed methodology is validated in a case study on the power system of a subway station in Bucharest (Romania), thus identifying a configuration that focuses on self-consumption maximisation and a solution that reduces the yearly energy bill of the respective power system by 25%.
•Optimisation of SC, SS and NPV is shown for a subway station.•Equivalence between maximising SC and SS and minimising NEEG is presented.•Pareto solutions show advantages and limitations of the methodology.
The sustainability of the food system needs to be improved, including shortening supply chains and promoting the consumption of regional food. Here, we explore the current potential for regional food ...self-sufficiency in the European Alpine space by calculating the current regional food/feed energy balance, deriving the regional per capita land footprint based on current food/feed consumption rates, and modelling the current potential for regional food/feed self-sufficiency. We show that 59% of the 560 Pcal of energy currently available in the study area comes from domestic production, and almost 60% of the energy is used for livestock consumption, with high regional variability. The resulting land footprints range from 2301 to 2975 m
cap
y
. Taking into account changes in cropping patterns, partial intensification, but no expansion of agricultural land, the European Alpine space could produce 89% of its current food demand domestically, with high regional variability due to population density, availability of agricultural land, crop yields, climatic conditions and dietary habits. These findings highlight the potential and limitations of regional mountain food systems and call for new strategies to improve sustainability. Reducing the current high consumption of animal products would reduce the land footprint and increase the potential for food self-sufficiency.
Against the background of a global decline in food security over the past three to four years, China, remaining the world’s largest food importer, has made notable progress in improving its food ...security. China’s food security transformation has greatly improved not only the availability but also the affordability of food, as well as the sustainability of the Chinese food system. The increase in agricultural production, including grain production in China, indicates a transition from an extensive development model with high resource dependence to a sustainable intensification model. As a result of rapid economic and social development, the food pattern has changed based on high value foods such as meat, dairy products, fish and fish products. However, there are a number of serious problems in China’s food system. China has insufficient self-sufficiency and high import dependence on a number of food products. New to China’s nutritional challenges are the overweight part of the population and the resulting increasing burden on the health care system. In addition, China’s food losses exceed those of developed countries. The changes that the world economy is undergoing, the influence of non-market factors such as ideology, geopolitics and challenges to the multilateral trade and investment system, can seriously disrupt the global agricultural market and reduce the food security of China, which is heavily dependent on foreign food trade. The transformation of China’s food system is aimed at preventing and eliminating the risks of disruption of food imports, diversifying import sources, reducing the cost of agricultural products through scientific and technological progress and increasing investment in infrastructure, the transition of Chinese agriculture from a strategy of increasing production to improving the quality of products and its security.
Purpose
The voluntary simplification (VS) movement has stemmed from Western societies and gained momentum in the 1980s, but the trend has failed to become a primary perspective for most consumers. ...The accompanying concepts of conscious consumption, minimalism and accepting that sometimes “less is more” are still vivid in the digital era. The purpose of this study is to provide a deep and recent understanding of the consumer comments about minimalism in Turkey and examine their associations with the prominent themes in the VS literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Consumer comments posted on online platforms were analyzed by content analysis and word frequency analysis.
Findings
Consumer comments were in parallel to the themes in the VS literature and were classified under personal growth, material simplicity, sustainability, proper technology usage and self-sufficiency categories. Personal growth, material simplicity and sustainability were the first three dimensions mentioned. The prominent sub-themes that emerge from data were psychological well-being, inner peace, freedom, meaningful experiences and getting rid of belongings. A word frequency analysis pointed out that “life” and “owning” were the evident words in the personal growth category, “purchasing things” were mostly mentioned in the material simplicity category and “plastic litter” and “excessive consumption” were the prominent concerns in the sustainability category.
Originality/value
VS required further research in different national contexts. Besides, an analysis of the dimensions of VS was needed. This study contributes by providing recent and rich findings from a developing country, connecting them with the VS themes in the literature and suggesting a conceptual framework enriched by sub-themes that emerged from data.
Harnessing and using marine renewable energy at seaports is a promising solution to put these energy-intensive infrastructures on the right track to energy self-sufficiency and environmental ...sustainability, reducing their carbon footprint. This paper presents a summary of the main conclusions and achievements of a recently concluded R&D project that encompassed the experimental study of an innovative hybrid wave energy converter integrated into a case-study rubble-mound breakwater in the Port of Leixões, Portugal. It also describes the prospective studies planned in two ongoing projects, PORTOS – Ports Towards Energy Self-Sufficiency and WEC4Ports – A hybrid Wave Energy Converter for Ports, intended to further develop and assess this promising technology. It has been demonstrated that its wave-to-wire efficiency and annual energy production are 27.3% and 35.0 MWh/m per year, respectively, for the case-study location. Hence, a 240 m long device could provide more than half of the port’s electricity consumption, which vows for the device’s potential. Moreover, the impact of its integration into the case-study breakwater showed that it leads to a 50% reduction of overtopping discharges over the structure, and no significant effects on the structure’s wave reflection, although the stability of the toe berm blocks was negatively impacted. Overall, the conclusions obtained are favourable to the integration of this technology into rubble-mound breakwaters. Notwithstanding, further research is still needed, namely in terms of wave forces acting upon the structure, important for the assessment of the functional performance and lifecycle readiness of the technology, and the use of PTO control strategies. This is being addressed in PORTOS and WEC4Ports projects.
•Grid parity is reached for PV installations up to nearly 40% self-sufficiency.•Reaching beyond 40% self-sufficiency requires storage and support policies.•Peak consumption remains constant but load ...variability rises with self-sufficiency.•Changes in power plants portfolio and wholesale electricity prices are expected.•Limiting feed-in power is a promising solution for reducing load variability.
With distributed generation of electricity growing in importance (especially with photovoltaics) and buildings being one of the main consumers of energy in modern societies, distributed storage of energy in buildings is expected to become increasingly present. This paper analyses the use of residential lead–acid energy storage coupled with photovoltaics and its possible interaction with the grid for different limits of feed-in power without any support policies. In the literature, these subjects are often treated independently and for very specific, non-optimised cases, thus motivating further research. Results show that reaching self-sufficiency values up to 40% is possible, close to grid parity values, and only with photovoltaics. Beyond 40%, energy storage must be used, strongly raising the cost of the electricity consumed and therefore the need for support policies for widespread adoption. Also, peak power consumption from the grid remains constant and load variability rises, suggesting that an increase in self-sufficiency would be accompanied by lower utilisation factors of power plants and, consequently, higher wholesale electricity prices during no sunshine hours. Limiting feed-in power attenuates the increased load variability and only slightly affects the economic viability of such installations. These results present a novel optimisation tool for developers and should be considered in future studies of distributed photovoltaics and energy storage as well as in energy policy.
This paper presents the first groundwater‒energy‒food (GEF) nexus study of Iran’s agronomic crops based on national and provincial datasets and firsthand estimates of agricultural groundwater ...withdrawal. We use agronomic crop production, water withdrawal, and energy consumption data to estimate groundwater withdrawal from electric-powered irrigation wells and examine agronomic productivity in Iran’s 31 provinces through the lens of GEF nexus. The ex-post GEF analysis sheds light on some of the root causes of the nation’s worsening water shortage problems. Access to highly subsidized water (surface water and groundwater) and energy has been the backbone of agricultural expansion policies in Iran, supporting employment in agrarian communities. Consequently, water use for agronomic crop production has greatly overshot the renewable water supply capacity of the country, making water bankruptcy a serious national security threat. Significant groundwater table decline across the country and increasing energy consumption underscore dysfunctional feedback relations between agricultural water and energy price and groundwater withdrawal in an inefficient agronomic sector. Thus, it is essential to implement holistic policy reforms aimed at reducing agricultural water consumption to alleviate the looming water bankruptcy threats, which can lead to the loss of numerous agricultural jobs in the years to come.
PDF