Recent Advances in Technology, Strategy and Application of Sustainable Energy Systems

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impacts on national and international freight, construction and tourism industry, supply chains, and has resulted in a rapid decline in the demand for traditional energy sources. In fact, research has outlined that urban areas depend on global supply chains for their day-to-day basic functions, including energy supplies, food and safe access to potable water. The disruption of global supply chains can leave many urban areas in a very vulnerable position, in which their citizens may struggle to obtain their basic supplies, as the COVID-19 crisis has recently shown. Therefore, solutions aiming to enhance local food, water and energy production systems, even in urban environments, have to be pursued. The COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted in the scientific community the problem of people’s exposure to outdoor and indoor pollution, confirmed as a key element for the increase both in the transmission and severity of the contagion, on top of involving health risks on their own. In this context, most nations are going to adopt new preferential policies to stimulate the development of relevant sustainable energy industries, based on the electrification of the systems supplied by renewable energy sources as confirmed by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Thus, while there is ongoing research focusing on a COVID 19 vaccine, there is also a need for researchers to work cooperatively on novel strategies for world economic recovery incorporating renewable energy policy, technology and management. In this framework, the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conference provides a good platform for researchers and other experts to exchange their academic thoughts, promoting the development and improvements on the renewable energy technologies as well as their role in systems and in the transition towards sustainable energy systems. The 14th SDEWES Conference was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It brought together around 570 researchers from 55 countries in the field of sustainable development. The present Special Issue of Energies, specifically dedicated to the 14th SDEWES Conference, focuses on four main fields: energy policy for sustainable development, biomass energy application, building energy saving, and power plant and electric systems.

Tourism in the Era of Covid-19 and Its Impact on the Environment

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused an impact on the development of the tourism sector and energy consumption [65]. It was no surprise that the prolonged quarantine, the closure of economies and country borders, created an unprecedented opportunity to answer the question: what impact does tourism have on the environment during a pandemic?…”

Artificial photosynthesis systems for solar energy conversion and storage: platforms and their realities

“…This photocatalyst-independency has two negative effects on APS's performance. (1) The transfer of photoexcited electrons and substrates to the active sites may be hindered by the nanostructure of the matrix. ( 2) Partial electrons may be consumed during the transfer or by recombination with photogenerated holes.…”

“…Nowadays, the exhaustion of fossil resources on the Earth is increasingly becoming serious, and efforts have been devoted to exploring renewable energies such as biomass, wind power, a Department of Biochemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and and solar energy. [1][2][3] Among them, the rich, economical, and sustainable solar energy has emerged as an ideal alternative to traditional energy resources. [4][5][6] The utilization and storage of solar energy are achieved in nature by photosynthesis, which is regarded as one of the most important reactions on the Earth.…”

Changes in Trends During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Tourism and Plastic Industries

“…The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly generated a negative impact on the growth of the tourism industry, but, at the same time, it brought to a significant decreasing in energy consumption. (Chu et al, 2020). In the period March-April 2020, compared to the previous year, there was a 90% decrease in flights operated (European Commission, 2020); consequently, these figures pointed out a significant decline in GHG emissions from the aviation industry in 2020.…”