A PESTLE Analysis of Biofuels Energy Industry in Europe

Biohydrogen from waste feedstocks: An energy opportunity for decarbonization in developing countries

In developing economies, the decarbonization of energy sector has become a global priority for sustainable and cleaner energy system. Biohydrogen production from renewable sources of waste biomass is a good source of energy incentive that reduces the pollution. Biohydrogen has a high calorific value and emits no emissions, producing both energy security and environmental sustainability. Biohydrogen production technologies have become one of the main renewable sources of energy. The present paper entails the role of biohydrogen recovered from waste biomasses like agricultural waste (AW), organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), food processing industrial waste (FPIW), and sewage sludge (SS) as a promising solution. The main sources of increasing yield percentage of biohydrogen generation from waste feedstock using different technologies, and process parameters are also emphasized in this review. The production paths for biohydrogen are presented in this review article, and because of advancements in R and D, biohydrogen has gained viability as a biofuel for the future and discusses potential applications in power generation, transportation, and industrial processes, emphasizing the versatility and potential for integration into existing energy infrastructure. The investigation of different biochemical technologies and methods for producing biohydrogen, including anaerobic digestion (AD), dark fermentation (DF), photo fermentation (PF), and integrated dark-photo fermentation (IDPF), has been overviewed. This analysis also discusses future research, investment, and sustainable energy options transitioning towards a low-carbon future, as well as potential problems, economic impediments, and policy-related issues with the deployment of biohydrogen in emerging nations.

Review of the marine energy environment-a combination of traditional, bibliometric and PESTEL analysis

Marine renewable energy is regarded as a nascent renewable energy resource that is less utilized due to a number of challenges in the sector. This paper focused on using both traditional and bibliometric analysis approaches to review the marine energy industry. It also assessed the various opportunities and challenges in the sector beyond technological challenges using PESTEL analysis. The results from the study identified the availability of renewable energy targets, international and national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, job creation, skill transfer from offshore industries, renewable support, and low GHG emissions as the major opportunities for the sector. The challenges in the sector include the lack of commonality in device designs, high initial capital costs, lack of appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks, lack of funding, fragmentations in regulatory institutions, bad macro-economic indicators in some countries, environmental challenges, the survivability of the various technologies in the harsh oceanic environment, and strong competition from other renewable energy sources. The outcome of the bibliometric analysis spanning from 2013 to 2023 shows that tidal power is the focus of research in the field, and most studies are either focused on ways to improve its efficiency in terms of technology or on the identification of resource potentials for the siting of the various marine renewable power systems. Recommendations such as strong cooperation between the government and private sector, increased public education, collaboration with existing players in the marine sector, and increased research and development, among others, were proposed for the development of the sector.

Extensive comparison of methods for removal of organic halogen compounds from pharmaceutical process wastewaters with life cycle, PESTLE, and multi-criteria decision analyses

Recycling and disposing wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry are of utmost importance in mitigating chemical waste generation, where unmanaged hazardous waste fluxes could cause massive environmental damage. Air stripping, steam stripping, distillation, and incineration offer significant emission reduction potentials for pharmaceutical applications; however, selecting specific process units is a complicated task due to the high number of influencing screening criteria. The mentioned chemical processes are modelled with the Aspen Plus program. This study examines the environmental impacts of adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) containing pharmaceutical process wastewater disposal by conducting life cycle impact assessments using the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), IMPACT World + Endpoint V1.01, and Recipe 2016 Endpoint (H) V1.06 methods. The results show that the distillation-based separation of AOX compounds is characterized by the most favourable climate change impact and outranks the PEF single score of air stripping, steam stripping, and incineration by 6.3%, 29.1%, 52.0%, respectively. The energy-intensive distillation technology is further evaluated by considering a wide selection of energy sources (i.e., fossil fuel, nuclear, solar, wind onshore, and wind offshore) using PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) analysis combined with multi-criteria decision support to determine the most beneficial AOX disposal scenario. The best overall AOX regeneration performance and lowest climate change impact (7.25 × 10-3 kg CO2-eq (1 kg purified wastewater)-1) are obtained by supplying variable renewable electricity from onshore wind turbines, reaching 64.87% carbon emission reduction compared to the baseline fossil fuel-based process alternative.

Drivers and Barriers to Substituting Firewood with Biomass Briquettes in the Kenyan Tea Industry

The tea industry in Kenya is among the main consumers of firewood for its intensive thermal energy demand. Along with the growing concerns about firewood depletion, tea factories have begun transitioning to alternative fuels to power their boilers. Briquettes made of biomass residues are among the promising solutions; however, they are not yet widely adopted. This study was conducted to identify the factors that motivate the tea factories to use biomass briquettes instead of firewood and the factors hindering such substitution. The substitution potential was assessed, and the drivers and barriers of the substitution were examined using a combination of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and a PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal) framework. The findings suggest that even though using biomass briquettes is technically possible, it is not economically favorable for tea factories. The SWOT/PESTEL analysis identified 27 factors influencing the substitution. Among the key drivers are the depleting supply of firewood, the availability of biomass residues, and the external support from development organizations to improve the technical capacity in both tea and briquette industries. The study revealed the barriers to substitution include the cost competitiveness, insufficient supply, and varying quality of briquettes, as well as the lack of awareness and knowledge of briquettes.

Qualitative Stakeholder Analysis for a Swedish Regional Biogas Development: A Thematic Network Approach

The creation of pathways toward a societal transition to clean energy requires the engagement of multiple stakeholders with different and sometimes conflicting interests. In this connection, stakeholder analysis (SA) offers a technique for identifying, assessing and structuring different needs, interests and concerns related to different stakeholders within the context of sustainability. This article aims to present the findings from a qualitative stakeholder analysis (QSA) by using a thematic network approach (TNA), with the help of the ATLAS.ti software. It focuses on Project X, which was aimed at engaging multiple stakeholders and creating favorable conditions for small and medium-sized companies in a region situated in the central part of Sweden, with the potential to start biogas production. In this work, the findings and discussions of the QSA using TNA are structured by using the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL) themes of the model. The present study concludes that for the small-scale biogas industry to successfully develop an understanding of the possibilities of the biogas value chain, it is necessary to have analyzed the nature of the main themes by which various stakeholders relate to biogas production and envision their contribution to creating a sustainable society. Herein, we demonstrate that QSA by a TNA, combined with the application of a PESTEL model, are valuable analytical tools in sustainable project management. The lessons from Project X can be applied to other local biogas initiatives, as many identified threats and opportunities are shared by others.

A Multifaceted Challenge to Enhance Multicriteria Decision Support for Energy Policy

The necessity to enhance multicriteria decision in the industry is challenging to support the current energy policy. European Union regulations and guidelines provide the guideline for minimalizing environmental harms but are not enough in their actions for providing effective sustainability assessment. None of the available standalone assessment methods do capture the comprehensibility of multicriteria decision-making. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a challenge to incorporate the multicriteria sustainability decision-making method to mainstream energy policy, which is lacking in European Union policies. The novelty of the research lies in constructing a multicriteria sustainability approach for assessing energy technologies performance for embodying into a mainstream energy policy. In this study, the multicriteria decision-making—an approach combining life cycle-based methods, analytical hierarchy process, as well as macroeconomic analysis, was used to demonstrate the applicability of the method based on three photovoltaic technologies. The results showed that sustainability assessment supported with multicriteria decision allows to better understand analyzed factors influencing the energy technology, contributing to selection of the best sustainability technology according to the realization of an energy policy. It was proved based on a real example of photovoltaics, where string ribbon technology represents the most sustainable along its life cycle, with a 0.503 sustainability score. The study highlighted the challenge to embody the integrated method assessing sustainability-oriented technologies into an energy policy. This challenge regarding example evidence places emphasis on the decision-making process to realize an energy policy and in consequence, to improve enterprise sustainability performance.

Toward a Sustainable Decommissioning of Offshore Platforms in the Oil and Gas Industry: A PESTLE Analysis

The growing complexity of environmental challenges has progressively led to the emergence of Sustainable Business Models (SBMs) able to embed economic, environmental, and social flows in a unified value network. All sectors are demanding innovative and sustainable solutions, including the oil and gas industry, which aims to address the issues about the decommissioning of offshore platforms. However, although the relevant literature highlighted the potentialities related to a multi-reuse of these structures, the effect of Sustainable Decommissioning (SD) on macro-environmental factors is still an open question. Based on these considerations, this study follows a Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental (PESTLE) analysis according to semi-structured interviews conducted with oil and gas key informants and stakeholders in the Italian context. The results of the analysis can provide a novel thinking for addressing the challenges related to a sustainable decommissioning of offshore platforms and shed light on the importance of synergistic efforts by local entrepreneurship and institutional arrangements to combine economic and environmental sustainability with social needs. This paper can contribute to the emerging field of sustainable business models related to the decommissioning of offshore platforms and suggests avenues for future research.

Developments and Trends of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Energy Industry

Developments, trends, business climate, conditions, factors influencing the efficiency and results of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the energy sector are explored in this research. PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental) analysis was performed in order to determine the driving forces of M&As in the energy industry. Considering the motivation and main questions of the study, a sample of global M&A deals that have occurred during the period 1995–2020 has been analyzed. DataStream 5.1 database by Thomson Reuters was employed to identify the sample of global energy companies that took over another company in the period 1995–2020. According to the research, while the role and presence of M&As in the energy industry are increasing, the purpose of the M&A deals has changed remarkably. During 1995–2010, most M&A events were conducted in order to explore synergies and benefit from cost reduction. Since the last decade, firms are pursuing M&As in the search of growth opportunities, ensuring supply and reflecting demand for green development of ecological environment and ongoing changes in the nature of energy.

Covid-19 shock: Development of strategic management framework for global energy

Energy resources are vital for the economic development of any nation, and they are currently recognised as an essential commodity for human beings. Many countries are facing various levels up to severe energy crisis due to limited natural resources, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic. This crisis can lead to the shutdown or restriction of many industrial units, limited energy access, exacerbating unemployment, simultaneous impacts on people's lives. The main reason for these problems is the increasing gap between energy supply and demand, logistics, financial issues, as well as ineffective strategic planning issues. Different countries have different visions, missions, and strategies for energy management. Integrated strategic management is requisite for managing global energy. This study aims to develop a strategic management framework that can be used as a methodology for policymakers to analyse, plan, implement, and evaluate the energy strategy globally. A conceptual research method that relies on examining the related literature is applied to develop the framework. The present study yielded two main observations: 1) The identification of key concepts to consider in designing the strategic management framework for global energy, and 2) A strategic management framework that integrates the scope, process, important components, and steps to manage global energy strategies. This framework would contribute to providing a standard procedure to manage energy strategies for policymakers at the global, regional, national, state, city, district, and sector levels.

Densification of agro-residues for sustainable energy generation: an overview

The global demand for sustainable energy is increasing due to urbanization, industrialization, population, and developmental growth. Transforming the large quantities of biomass resources such as agro-residues/wastes could raise the energy supply and promote energy mix. Residues of biomass instituted in the rural and industrial centers are enormous, and poor management of these residues results in several indescribable environmental threats. The energy potential of these residues can provide job opportunities and income for nations. The generation and utilization of dissimilar biomass as feedstock for energy production via densification could advance the diversity of energy crops. An increase in renewable and clean energy demand will likely increase the request for biomass residues for renewable energy generation via densification. This will reduce the environmental challenges associated with burning and dumping of these residues in an open field. Densification is the process of compacting particles together through the application of pressure to form solid fuels. Marketable densification is usually carried out using conventional pressure-driven processes such as extrusion, screw press, piston type, hydraulic piston press, roller press, and pallet press (ring and flat die). Based on compaction, densification methods can be categorized into high-pressure, medium-pressure, and low-pressure compactions. The common densification processes are briquetting, pelletizing, bailing, and cubing. They manufacture solid fuel with desirable fuel characteristics-physical, mechanical, chemical, thermal, and combustion characteristics. Fuel briquettes and pellets have numerous advantages and applications both in domestic and industrial settings. However, for biomass to be rationally and efficiently utilized as solid fuel, it must be characterized to determine its fuel properties. Herein, an overview of the densification of biomass residues as a source of sustainable energy is presented.

A Hybrid Multi-Criteria Methodology for Solving the Sustainable Dispatch Problem

Wind energy is becoming an increasingly substantial component of many nations’ energy portfolios. The intermittent nature of wind energy is traded off in a multi-objective sense against its environmental benefits when compared to conventional thermal energy sources. This gives rise to the multi-criteria sustainable dispatch problem considered in this paper. A relevant multi-objective model is formulated considering both environmental and economic criteria as well as ensuring adequate production levels. The techniques of weighted goal programming (WGP) and the progressive bounded constraint method (PBC) are combined in a novel manner in order to overcome computational challenges associated with the sinusoidal nature of the model. This allows the generation of a representative set of Pareto efficient solutions. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a test set of relevant examples, and conclusions are drawn from both methodological and application perspectives. The results provide a quantification of the economic and environmental benefits of added wind power to a solely thermal system. However, a trade-off between the levels of economic versus environmental benefits gained is also demonstrated.

Local Entrepreneurs’ Involvement in Strategy Building to Facilitate Agro-Food Waste Valorisation within an Agro-Food Technological District: A SWOT-SOR Approach

The paper focuses on Agro-food waste valorization conceived as a long-term, complex socio-technical process involving several different actors belonging to multiple levels. Although this process is typically affected by a series of uncertainties, the convergence of stakeholders’ expectations proves to be a means to overcoming barriers, as it acts as the foundation of a shared agenda setting which formalizes the coordination efforts among the actors involved in an innovation process. Applying the strategic niche management (SNM) framework to the case of the Apulia Agro-Food Technology District (DARe), whose mission is to promote a bio-based industry for food-waste valorization, the paper proposes an operational tool capable of designing the strategy based on the entrepreneurs’ knowledge. The DARe aims to promote the technological innovation of agro-food firms located in the South of Italy. The results of a SWOT-SOR analysis led to the establishment of a twofold strategy aimed at (a) promoting the innovation of more active and dynamic firms, and (b) reducing the gap between “pioneer” and “laggard” firms, with the result of promoting integrated innovation throughout the entire district.