CO2 emissions in Greece for 1990–2002: A decomposition analysis and comparison of results using the Arithmetic Mean Divisia Index and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index techniques

This paper deals with the decomposition analysis of energy-related CO₂ emissions in Greece from 1990 to 2002. The Arithmetic Mean Divisia Index (AMDI) and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) techniques are applied and changes in CO₂ emissions are decomposed into four factors: income effect, energy intensity effect, fuel share effect and population effect. The period-wise and time series analyses show that the biggest contributor to the rise in CO₂ emissions in Greece is the income effect; on the contrary, the energy intensity effect is mainly responsible for the decrease in CO₂ emissions. A comparison of the results of the two techniques gave an insight in the intricacies of energy decomposition. Finally, conclusions and future areas of research are presented.     

Renewable energy systems: A societal and technological platform

Today, the analysis of renewable energy places the emphasis on the technological and economic attributes with social and environmental impact assessment providing for a rather static, narrow frame of analysis. The participation and response of social actors and other stakeholders is usually of a traditional type, with consultation documents and public meetings, collection of complaints and suggestion schemes. This often encourages parochialism and an over-concentration on relatively trivial issues. It is, therefore, imperative to establish a new participatory planning platform to incorporate the wider socio-economic aspects of renewable energy systems and to provide for an operational analytical decomposition of them. In this work the issue of decomposition analysis is clarified, and a new agenda for the societal and technological decomposition analysis of renewable energy systems is developed. A case study is disclosed to present the relevance of the established platform for integrated (renewable) energy systems planning. Innovative aspects comprise of the simultaneous inclusion of decision analysis and social acceptance methods and tools in concert with the related public participation techniques.     

CO2 emissions,GDP and energy intensity: A multivariate cointegration and causality analysis for Greece, 1977–2007

This paper deals with the causal relationship analysis between Gross Domestic Product, Energy Intensity and CO₂ emissions in Greece from 1977 to 2007, by means of Johansen cointegration tests and Granger-causality tests based on a multivariate Vector Error Correction Modeling. Results indicate that there is a set of uni-directional and bi-directional causalities among the selected time series. We performed a model Variance Decomposition Analysis using Choleski technique and we provided a comparison with other studies. The findings of the study have significant policy implications for countries like Greece as the decoupling of CO₂ emissions and economic growth seems quite unlikely.     

Renewable energy projects: structuring a multi-criteria group decision-making framework

This paper describes an applicable group decision-making framework for assisting with multi-criteria analysis in renewable energy projects, utilizing the PROMETHEE II outranking method. The proposed framework is tested in a case study concerning the exploitation of a geothermal resource, located in the island of Chios, Greece. The presented structure provides a serial, decomposed agenda and enhances overall process transparency. Additional, innovatory elements are the incorporation of differing levels of resource exploitation within the decision framework and the direct determination of the PROMETHEE preference thresholds. The developed methodology provides a user-friendly approach, promotes the synergy between different actors, and could pave a way towards consensus.     

Dewatering of wastewater sludge through a solar still

Wastewater sludge was passed through a laboratory solar still in order to determine the dewatering process. A number of parameters describing the distillate and the sludge were measured at the end of each day in order to determine the process behavior under conditions of relatively high solar radiation and temperature levels. It was realized that dewatering is accelerated and further analysis is needed in order to determine optimum conditions and design parameters for a demonstration plant that will operate towards reducing the sludge volume.     

Identification and assessment of environmental benefits from solar hot water production

The environmental benefits associated with the utilization of solar energy for hot water production are estimated in this work. The case of a particular country, Greece, and its electricity production system is employed to show the direct consequences of substituting electricity with solar energy for hot water production. The amount of conventional fuel saved, i.e., lignite and oil, is estimated, and the reduction in air pollution is calculated. This allows the calculation of reduction emission factors for solar hot water production to be undertaken. Data, with respect to the materials and the amount of energy necessary for the construction of the solar heaters, are also presented. These can serve as inputs to an energy-environment policy framework in order to lead to reductions in the production of air pollutants like SO₂, NO_x and particulates, and the release of the greenhouse gas CO₂ into the atmosphere.     

Analysis of wind characteristics and potential in the East Mediterranean—the Lesvos case

Wind data recorded over a period of two years on Lesvos island in the Aegean archipelagos are analysed in order to establish the wind characteristics and the potential for electricity production. Small islands in the area are not connected to a large grid and depend on oil imports for generating electricity. The possibility of utilizing wind turbines for electricity production offers a clear advantage as far as fiscal costs, environmental pollution and fuel autonomy is concerned. The analysis of the wind profile can also be exploited for the siting of polluting industries and the development of control systems for greenhouse operation. In this work the wind speed measurements are analysed, the diurnal and interannual variations are established, and the potential for power production scaled to an appropriate height is determined.     

Solar distillation of olive mill wastewater

A solar still was employed for the dewatering of olive mill wastewater over a series of consecutive days. The collected distillate and the remaining pulp were analyzed to test the method for treating agro-food industry wastewater. The efficiency of solar distillation of olive mill wastewaters was examined. Due to reduced energy consumption and relatively high temperatures achieved in the still, solar distillation could be applied in any process where separation of liquid and solid phase is required. A quantity of olive mill wastewater was left inside the solar still for 9 days, under outdoor conditions. Critical quality parameters (e.g. chemical oxygen demand, pH, total and volatile solids, total Kjeldahl nitrogen) were determined by daily sampling of both the distillate and the basin liquid. In addition, solar radiation and liquid, glass and ambient temperatures were recorded. It was shown that the distillate produced was free from solids, 80% lower in terms of COD and 90% in terms of TKN, while the basin residual was in solid form with only 15% water concentration and without any odor emissions.     

Increasing the applicability of wind power projects via a multi-criteria approach: methodology and case study

In this paper a methodological framework for increasing the actual applicability of wind farms is developed and applied. The framework is based on multi-criteria decision aid techniques that perform an integrated technical and societal evaluation of a number of potential wind power projects that are a variation of a pre-existing actual proposal that faces implementation difficulties. A number of evaluation criteria are established and assessed via particular related software or are comparatively evaluated among each other on a semi-qualitative basis. The preference of a diverse audience of pertinent stakeholders can be also incorporated in the overall analysis. The result of the process is an identification of a new project that will exhibit increased actual implementation potential compared with the original proposal. The methodology is tested in a case study of a wind farm in the UK and relevant conclusions are drawn.     

Energy use in the Greek manufacturing sector: A methodological framework based on physical indicators with aggregation and decomposition analysis

A bottom-up methodological framework was developed and applied for the period 1985–2002, to selected manufacturing sub-sectors in Greece namely, food, beverages and tobacco, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, non-metallic minerals and paper. Disaggregate physical data were aggregated according to their specific energy consumption (SEC) values and physical energy efficiency indicators were estimated. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia index method was also used and the effects of the production, structure and energy efficiency to changes in sub-sectoral manufacturing energy use were further assessed. Primary physical energy efficiency improved by 28% for the iron and steel and by 9% for the non-metallic minerals industries, compared to the base year 1990. For the food, beverages and tobacco and the paper sub-sectors, primary efficiency deteriorated by 20% and by 15%, respectively; finally electricity efficiency deteriorated by 7% for the non-ferrous metals. Sub-sectoral energy use is mainly driven by production output and energy efficiency changes. Sensitivity analysis showed that alternative SEC values do not influence the results whereas the selected base year is more critical for this analysis. Significant efficiency improvements refer to “heavy” industry; “light” industry needs further attention by energy policy to modernize its production plants and improve its efficiency.