AbstractRecently introduced European Green Deal has set a target for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. This ambitious commitment will bring a serious challenge for the EU. However, the degree of this challenge will not be the same to all EU member states. In this paper, the multi-criteria decision analysis is applied to rank eight selected EU countries (Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) regarding GHG performance, and thus illustrate different starting points of the transition to carbon-neutrality. In parallel to the widely used indicator of GHG emissions per capita, evaluation incorporates various other criteria covering energy consumption, population size, and the use of renewable energy and fossil fuel, as well as investment and tax rates. TOPSIS analysis shows that the best GHG performance is achieved by Sweden, while Latvia ranks the lowest. The presented evaluation method could be a useful tool in planning implementation of policies to reach Green Deal settings on European, as well as on a national level.
Biomass is an essential pillar of the bioeconomy as it serves as its main resource. Biomass energy plays an important role in energy sector. According to long wave theory, a sharp breakthrough in biotechnology is due over the next few years. As the price for energy wood increases, wood as a resource will not be sustainable in energy sector. In the case of Latvia, the price of energy wood as a resource is predicted to increase from 0.04 EUR/kWh to 0.12 EUR/kWh per unit of energy.
Improving the efficiency of heating systems can give a tremendous contribution towards the EU energy efficiency target for 2030. Significant heat losses are one of the main disadvantages of the dominating high temperature district heating (DH). Even in summer, the high retention time of water in the network leads to thermal losses from domestic hot water reaching up to about 30 %. An empirical model based on experimental data of heat energy consumption in multi-apartment buildings is created for economical optimization of the operation of DH systems. A methodology has been developed that allows estimating the total energy cost savings (including losses) of buildings associated with the reduction of heat loss in the system, by reducing the supply flow temperature, and increasing electricity consumption by increasing the mass flow rate of water in the network.
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