Energy Potential of Biogas Production in Ukraine

Assessing and prioritizing biogas barriers to alleviate energy poverty in Pakistan: an integrated AHP and G-TOPSIS model

Biogas is a promising renewable technology to alleviate energy poverty. Pakistan has a capacity of 5 million bio digesters that can be installed in different farming areas. However, this target has never been achieved because many barriers hamper the biogas industry development. In previous studies, some researchers have indicated these barriers in different geographical contexts: however, these barriers are rarely examined in Pakistan. To fulfill the research gap, this study prioritizes potential barriers. Using a literature review and a modified Delphi technique, we identify 25 sub-barriers and catalog them into 5 main categories. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) prioritizes the main barriers and sub-barriers based on potential. Grey Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (G-TOPSIS) ranks the practical alternatives to combat these barriers. The study findings specify that the "financial barrier" is the top-ranked barrier among the main categories, followed by technical, socio-cultural, institutional and administrative, and environmental barriers. The overall ranking shows that the "high starting price tag" is ranked first among all sub-barriers in all categories. It has been proposed that "appropriate financial incentives" and "promotion of customized technology" would be feasible alternative solutions to combat the issues. Based on the research findings, some policy recommendations were suggested for biogas uptake in Pakistan. This study may assist policymakers, stakeholders, and government institutions in accelerating the potential of biogas energy to alleviate energy poverty in rural areas of Pakistan.

Coordination of Configurations of Technologically Integrated “European Green Deal” Projects

An analysis of the state of affairs in the theory and practice of implementation of technologically integrated projects in various applied fields was carried out. The peculiarities of the implementation of the technologically integrated projects of the “European Green Deal” for the production of ecologically clean fuel from agricultural waste were analyzed. The expediency of developing a method of coordinating the configurations of technologically integrated “European Green Deal” projects for the production of ecologically clean energy from agricultural waste on the territory of a given region, taking into account their specific project environments, was substantiated. As a result of the conducted research, a method of coordinating configurations of the technologically integrated “European Green Deal” projects for the production of ecologically clean energy from agricultural waste in the territory of a given region, taking into account their specific project environment, was developed. This method involves the implementation of five stages, which ensure consideration of the specific design environment of each region and the type of agricultural raw materials for energy production. This method involves the modeling of individual projects, which makes it possible to increase the accuracy of determining their value indicators, taking into account risk. The balancing of the technologically integrated projects of the “European Green Deal” for the production of clean energy from agricultural waste was carried out on the basis of maximizing value for stakeholders and minimizing risk. On the basis of the proposed method, the computer program “Balancing technologically integrated projects” was developed. The use of this computer program for the given project environment (conditions of LLC “Lutsk Agrarian Company” of the Volyn region, Ukraine) made it possible to forecast the specific value and risk of individual projects involving harvesting raw materials from corn waste. The statistical characteristics of the distribution of the projected specific value of the project of harvesting raw materials from corn waste were established: the estimate of mathematical expectation—EUR 9/ton; dispersion—EUR 25/ton; the estimation of root mean square deviation—EUR 5/ton. The technologically integrated projects of the “European Green Deal” for the production of ecologically clean energy from corn waste with the greatest interconnections in terms of value were identified. The ranking of raw material procurement projects from corn waste was carried out according to their specific values and risks. Among the considered projects, priority was given to project #7 and project #1, which provided the greatest values, 37.6% and 36.6%, respectively, of the total value of the considered projects. The obtained results made it possible to establish priority projects and carry out their balancing by value and risk.

Project Environment and Outlook within the Scope of Technologically Integrated European Green Deal in EU and Ukraine

Issues of environmental security, fuel and energy independence have been forming political and economic territories for several centuries. Current events in Ukraine have become a litmus test, which clearly highlights the dangers of resource monopolies and the transfer of economic benefits. The issue of ensuring the energy system in climate neutrality became relevant even before the aggression by Russia. However, today, there is no country, it has not recognized that there is the urgent need to develop and implement effective tools for economic development in a sustainable environment. The modern cost-oriented model of knowledge of economic processes has led not only to the irrational use of natural potential. Large-scale use of natural resources and the irrational organization of production (including agricultural) disrupt the process of their reproduction, which, in turn, leads to the depletion of bioresources and, as a consequence, can lead humanity to ecological catastrophe. Certain solutions have been proposed to address these issues. To ensure the efficient use of the resources of the agricultural sector and the reliable reflection of biological processes, it is proposed to recognize the biological form of capital as self-growing and self-reproducing value, which, in the process of biological transformation, allows obtaining an additional unit of benefits. The study examines, in detail, the promising areas of the transformation of the agricultural sector in the framework of a technologically integrated European Green Deal in the EU. In this study, to determine the potential opportunities for the ecological transformation of agriculture, discrete analytical models of the assessment of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine were used. Representative data use statistical indicators of Ukraine and, to illustrate potential opportunities, present a comparison of export data to EU countries. In addition, it reveals the realized and potential opportunities of Ukraine’s entry into the European market through the prism of the implementation programs of EU environmental policy. The place and significance of assimilation potential for a reduction in the anthropogenic impact on the environment, and providing the self-restoration of natural resources, are substantiated. It is determined that one of the most effective tools for low-cost reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions is the national-level implementation of environmental-quota trade and the development of organic production. The study includes an analytical assessment of the expected emission reductions from environmental initiatives’ implementation. Prospects for further research are the development of an effective mechanism for the systematic management of the biological potential reproduction of the agricultural sector while reducing anthropogenic impact on the environment.