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Climate-Neutral Energy Production - Prospects in Hungary in 2024
1-8Views:13In order to protect our planet's climate, it is important to reduce humanity's carbon dioxide emissions significantly. The energy sector is one of the most polluting industries, but the rapid spread of renewable energy sources over the past 20 years can significantly contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The study examined which energy sources are used to produce electricity in Hungary, and how the proportion of renewable energy has developed in recent years compared to more polluting energy production methods. There is a strong negative exponential relationship between the share of renewable energy and the carbon dioxide emissions of the energy sector, based on which the carbon dioxide emissions of the energy sector can be significantly reduced by increasing the share of renewable energy. A forecast was made for the renewable share based on past data and the revised state of the National Energy and Climate Plan in 2023, and a linear forecast was made for the energy sector's emissions. There is a strong exponential relationship between the data series. Both models examined in the study had strong explanatory power, but neither model supports the possibility of climate-neutral energy production by 2030.
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Future Power Plant Portfolio Analysis from the Point of View of Minimum Cost and Emission Optimization
1-17Views:9The article examines the expected composition of the power plant portfolio in Hungary by 2030. The indicators considered are the life-cycle unit costs (LCOE) and the life-cycle specific carbon dioxide emissions (LCA(CO2)) of the power plant types. The minimum of these two indicators, as objective functions, is determined by a linear programming method for the power plant portfolio. The results show that the LCOE minimum for the power plant portfolios in 2030 is worse in absolute terms and better in specific terms than in 2021. In both absolute and specific terms, the LCA(CO2) minimum is more favourable in 2021. These results are met under the thirty and twenty-five percent electricity import scenarios. With twenty percent imports, the absolute values are worse and the specific values are better for both indicators. On the other hand, the results of the calculations for 2030 fall short of the 2030 Agenda of the Institute for a Green Transition. This is due to the delay in commissioning a new nuclear power plant and the transformation of industry with increasing electricity demand. For the portfolios under review, a minimum of thirty percent of domestic generation from renewable sources is met. This contributes significantly to the European Union's ambition for the sector to be net greenhouse gas-free by 2050.
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The Global Electric Car Industry and the Related Indirect Emission
Views:525Our planet tries to create a more environmental friendly transport. Related to the car purchases we can determine the consumers’ attitudes have changed in the last years and we can say that the electric cars have become one of the most significant participants in the industry. In one of his investigations Christopher Buchal realised electric cars can burden the environment with more than 11-28% than the avarage engine cars. It is possible if we make difference between direct and indirect emission, because the direct emission of the electric cars is zero, but the indirect emission can be really high related to the power generation. My goal is giving a real picture about the electric car industry and presenting my suggestions for the future.
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Environmental Considerations in Aircraft Manufacturing Industry Through the Example of Boeing Andairbus Companies
59-66Views:111Aircraft manufacturing industry has developed dynamically in the last decades. Reinforced polymers have become the most dominant raw materials, while the recycling rate of the generated industrial waste has also increased. The fuel efficiency of the engines has increased, and the emitted CO2 per capita has significantly fallen. However, the environmental impact of the aircraft manufacturing industry seems to reach a permanent level. In this study, we have analyzed the environmental impact and the environmental considerations of the aircraft manufacturing industry through the examples of Boeing and Airbus companies. Our goal was to determine the relation between industrial growth and the environmental impact, particularly to the potential innovations.
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Examination of Innovative Wastewater Treatment Method for Chemical Treatment of Municipal Wastewater
136-144Views:359The VízTEC Ltd. and Debrecen Waterworks Co.’s management mutually expressed their intention, that to designate a period of research examining the Debrecen Waste Water Treatment Plant’s (WWTP) intensification. During this period, the newly developed product, VIRON Plus 40 coagulating agent will be tested provided by the VízTEC Ltd. The aim of using the VIRON Plus 40 coagulating agent is the examination of intensification opportunities of Debrecen WWTP. The functions of the new generation of coagulants go beyond inorganic phosphorus precipitation and are growing. A modern WWTP is not only clean the water but also produces energy and usable sludge product. The appropriate energy balance, cost efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions reduction get increasing emphasis in WWTP’ operations.
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Connection Between Human Excreta and Global Warming
139-154Views:194Our study would like to draw attention to an insufficiently investigated question: how human excreta and its different treatment methods are related to climate change. Human excreta is part of the biological cycle. Its CO2 content gets released to the atmosphere to some degree according to the treatment methods used. 40 55% of faeces’ and 11-17% of urine’s dry matter content is carbon (in the form of organic compounds). According to this, approximately 21-57 g/person carbon bound in organic compounds is produced daily, which means an emission of 58-183 million tons of carbon in the world annually in the form of human excreta. The environmental load of the widely spread flush toilet based water infrastructure is significant. However, neither the degree of CO2 emission caused by collection and treatment of waste water, nor wasting of organic and nutrient content of excreta are properly studied. Our study highlights the emission of CO2 caused by the energy demand of sewage water collection and treatment, by the oxidation of organic compounds of human excreta and by burning of methane produced as a result of anaerobic treatment of waste water sludge. Finally the possibility of utilization of human excreta by direct composting is presented, which technology has not significantly spread in the world yet.
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The Alternative Use of Straw
331-343Views:122The problem addressed in this work is to examine the feasibility of using straw in innovative and alternative ways, focusing on aspects of cost sensitivity in subject areas of building investment and energy compsumption. I analysed the energy efficient performance of a straw bale building and compared that with those of a conventional construction, a newly-constracted building and a passive house. In my study I assessed the figures of costs of emboided energy, primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. I made calculations in terms of energy costs for a lifespan of 50 years. Considering that straw-bale construction uses an excellent and sustainable insulation material, its energy use is by 25.38% less than that of conventional construction.
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Green Sports Products – Environmentally Friendly Efforts of some Sports Equipment and Sportswear Manufacturers.
45-61Views:141In today's world, the issue of sustainability has become a cardinal problem on a global scale. The question of sustainability affects society, health, the economy, and the environment to a large extent. The examination of the environmental aspects of sustainability at the points where the sports sector interacts with the environment is considered a basis for research, and an increasing number of international studies and literature deal with this topic. Sports equipment and sportswear manufacturers operate through high numbers of multi-level global supply chains. They constantly strive to meet sudden changes in consumer demand, which results in high demand for raw materials and resources, waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption, all of which contribute to the most harmful environmental effects.
The aim of this study is to present the environmental protection measures of Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour, multinational manufacturers of sports equipment and sportswear, aimed at raw material usage, waste management, minimizing water consumption, and reducing their carbon footprint, which they are increasingly applying as part of their business strategy.
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The Possible Job Creation and Job Destructive Effects of Technological Development
53-61Views:323Throughout history, technological change has often provided the basis for employee anxiety. Between 1811 and 1816, a group of workers in England who called themselves "Luddists" destroyed machines, because they thought it would endanger their workplace. 19th-century thinkers and economists such as Karl Marx and David Ricardo predicted that mechanizing the economy would ultimately worsen workers' conditions, depriving them of a decent wage. Over the last century, John M. Keynes (1930s) and Wassily Leontief (1950s) have expressed their fears that more and more workers will be replaced by machine solutions that will lead to unemployment. In recent years, Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014) have argued that existing technologies reduce the demand for labor and put some of the human workforce at a permanent disadvantage. However, there are a number of compensation mechanisms that can offset the initial displacement effects of automation and process innovation in general (Vivarelli, 2015). First of all, while workers are being replaced in industries that introduce new machine technology, additional workers in new industries are needed. Second, automation (and process innovation in general) reduces average costs. Acemoglu and Restrepo (2017) found that this results, on the one hand, in the effect of price productivity (“priceproductivity”) (as production costs decrease, the industry can expand and increase labor demand); and, on the other hand, it leads to economies of scale in production (the reduction in costs due to automation leads to an increase in total output and increases the demand for labor in all industries). Similarly, Vivarelli (2015) argues that lower average costs can result in lower prices (if the industry's market structure is perfectly competitive), stimulate product demand, or result in extra profits (if the industry's structure is not perfectly competitive). If these extra profits are reinvested in the company, this investment can create new jobs. The presentation intends to present these counterbalancing cases and to provide real examples based on the literature.
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Food Security and Economic Growth: An Income Level Comparison
16-29Views:185Food security is a fundamental but often neglected aspect of economic growth and sustainable development. This paper examines the effect of food security on productivity (GDP/capita) over time, while taking the income level of various countries into account. Dynamic panel regression analyses suggest that food security is positively related to productivity, but this effect is stronger in more developed countries. The study highlights the complexity of the economic problems faced by the least developed countries, where increasing the consumption and supply of food is insufficient for significantly increasing economic performance.
