Energy Crisis

Energy access is a key factor in economic development and social welfare, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, where energy poverty is widespread. Despite being Africa's largest economy, Nigeria faces ongoing energy challenges, including unreliable supply, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access, with over 85 million people lacking electricity. These energy deficiencies negatively affect productivity, healthcare, education, and overall citizen welfare. At the same time, Nigeria is committed to global climate goals, such as the Paris Agreement, which requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a transition to renewable energy. This balancing act between expanding energy access and meeting climate commitments presents a significant challenge. This study evaluates the impact of Nigeria's energy crisis and climate policies on citizen welfare using secondary data from 1986 to 2023. Econometric analysis reveals that while energy shortages severely limit welfare outcomes, climate policies, if not carefully managed, could increase socioeconomic inequalities. The study recommends expanding investments in renewable energy, upgrading infrastructure, promoting energy efficiency, and adopting off-grid solutions to improve energy access. Additionally, policies must integrate climate objectives with socioeconomic development to prevent the further marginalization of vulnerable populations. Strengthening international collaboration and accessing climate finance are crucial to supporting Nigeria's energy transition.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had a profound impact on the European and thus Hungarian natural gas market, though substantial changes had begun to occur in Europe from 2021, as evidenced by the wholesale price surges for natural gas that year. This paper examines (1) the demand-and supply-side developments in the Hungarian natural gas market before and after the outbreak of Russia's war on Ukraine; (2) how the Hungarian government has intervened in the natural gas sector from February 2022 onwards; and (3) how these measures fit in with prewar Hungarian energy strategy documents and the energy policies carried out. Secondary analysis of related statistics is combined with documentary analysis of relevant materials. We find that Hungary did not believe it could wean itself off Russian gas, and thus enhanced cooperation with Russia and bought even more Russian gas. There have been only small steps towards gas import source diversification, and quite late, with priority given to affordability. Demand-side measures, prompted by supply and financial constraints, proved to be relatively successful.

Moldavsko, východoevropská země vklíněná mezi
Rumunsko a Ukrajinu, zažívá dynamické období, které je
skutečnou zatěžkávací zkouškou pro jednobarevnou vládu
premiérky Natalie Gavrilitsy i prezidentku Maiu Sandu.
Vleklá energetická krize, válka na sousední Ukrajině a příliv
uprchlíků, nepřehledná situace v separatistickém Podněstří,
inflace šplhající ke 30 % i obavy z nadcházející zimy. Jak
si s těmito výzvami nejchudší evropská země poradí?

An innovative work of realism and utopianism that analyzes the possible futures of the world-system and helps us imagine how we might transition beyond capitalism.

The world-system of which we are all a part faces multiple calamities: climate change and mass extinction, energy supply shocks, the economic and existential threat of AI, the chilling rise of far-right populism, and ratcheting geopolitical tensions, to name only a few. In Navigating the Polycrisis, Michael Albert seeks to illuminate how the “planetary polycrisis” will disrupt the global community in the coming decades and how we can best meet these challenges. Albert argues that we must devote more attention to the study of possible futures and adopt transdisciplinary approaches to do so. To provide a new form of critical futures analysis, he offers a theoretical framework—planetary systems thinking—that is informed by complexity theory, world-systems theory, and ecological Marxism.

Navigating the Polycrisis builds on existing work on global futures and makes three main contributions. First, the book shows that in order to map out possible futures of the capitalist world-system, we must analyze the intersections and feedbacks between its numerous cascading crises—including the climate emergency, energy crises, stagflation, food system disruption, pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, and emerging technological risks. Second, the book develops an innovative transdisciplinary approach to global futures by combining critical social theory with the insights of climate and energy modelling. And third, rather than relying on idealist blueprints or ungrounded speculation, the book contributes to scholarship on postcapitalist futures by analyzing the processes, mechanisms, and struggles through which egalitarian transitions beyond capitalism might occur.

A much-needed work of global futures studies, Navigating the Polycrisis brings the rigor of the natural and social sciences together with speculative imagination in order to illuminate and shape our global future.

In working towards the goal of achieving energy security, the countries of Central Asia are facing similar challenges – mountain and desert terrain that can impede access to the region’s energy resources, for example, inadequate capacity and outdated infrastructure that impose limits on production and efficiency. Growing energy demand in winter and variations in supply are causing seasonal gaps in service across the region, and many communities and households in remote areas remain unconnected to the power grid. In addition, the countries in the region have all pledged to do their part in reducing the emissions that cause climate change. This study, Advancing Energy Security in Central Asia, suggests that the development of a strategy for achieving energy security in the region must consider each of these concerns. This report focuses on the electricity sector, which is particularly vulnerable to challenges such as weak infrastructure and climate change and which has significant social impacts on the whole region. The countries’ shared challenges, their history of cooperation on energy and the complementary nature of their national energy needs and strengths provide a foundation for mutually beneficial regional cooperation.

Corruption, or political corruption, is a complex and multi-layered social phenomenon, unwelcome but characteristic of all organised societies, which enables the acquisition and maintenance of illicit infl uence, power and wealth that can threaten the resilience of the social system in times of crisis.

The recent energy crisis in Togo highlights the crucial importance of electricity in communities. This dissertation focuses on predicting electrical energy consumption in Lomé using meteorological data. By employing the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) algorithm, we seek to adapt energy production to demand by integrating accurate forecasts based on weather conditions. Data from the Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB) from 2021 to 2023, including temperature (A), relative humidity (B), precipitation (C), wind speed (D), and direct irradiation (E), are used to train the model. Performance is evaluated using criteria such as MAE, MSE, RMSE and R². Although the KNN algorithm showed mixed performance, some combinations of weather variables, such as ABCE, were found to be relevant for the prediction (MAE = 20.569, MSE = 678.775, RMSE = 26.053 and R² = 0.258). This work highlights the importance of forecast accuracy of efficient management of energy resources.

Alvaro Olivera-Nappa, Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering – CeBiB, University of Chile, Chile [email protected] Javiera Gómez, Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering – CeBiB, University of Chile, Chile Carolina Camus, Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering – CeBiB and Centro i~mar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile Alejandro H. Buschmann, Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering – CeBiB and Centro i~mar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile

In the last years, the EU has been hit by several crises: the Covid-19 pandemic; and the energy and security crises triggered by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In order to tackle them and secure access to critical goods such as vaccines, energy and defence capabilities, the European Commission presented several proposals envisaging a joint purchasing mechanism. Given that these proposals were advanced in the context of crises and in areas that do not fall under the exclusive competence of the EU, this work tries to explore the extent to which the European Commission acted as a supranational entrepreneur able to find solutions to cross-border challenges and whether it can be considered an orchestrator that managed the procedures behind the scenes.

La intervención de la Prof. Marta Villar en la Mesa redonda "Situación y crisis económica en el espacio borregional se centra en el papel la fiscalidad como instrumento económico al servicio de los objetivos de las políticas medioambientales y climáticas, concretada en espacio birregional. La experiencia y estrategia de la UE y de los países europeos, especialmente la de los que han incorporado reformas fiscales verdes, contrasta con los datos que ofrecen los países latinoamericanos. Se defiende la necesidad de fijar un mínimo común denominador en la tarificación del carbono que asegure la efectividad de estos objetivos además de una intensificación de la cooperación internacional entre los grandes países emisores de contaminantes. Especialmente, en escenarios de crisis económicas y tensiones geopolíticas, las medidas tributarias medioambientales y el uso de los fondos que las mismas proporcionen son un instrumento de fácil y rápida implementación frente a otro tipo de compromisos internacionales multilaterales, de cumplimiento y verificación mucho más complejos.

LAS INTERVENCIONES EN EL CONGRESO ESTÁN ACCESIBLES EN LA WEB DE LA FUNDACIÓN YUSTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jk91U_DhbY

With the rising demands for renewable fuels, there is growing interest in utilizing abundant and sustainable non-edible biomass as a feedstock for bioethanol production. Macroalgal biomass contains a high content of carbohydrates in the form of special polysaccharides like alginate, agar, and carrageenan that can be converted to fermentable sugars. In addition, using seagrass as a feedstock for bioethanol production can provide a sustainable and renewable energy source while addressing environmental concerns. It is a resource-rich plant that offers several advantages for bioethanol production, including its high cellulose content, rapid growth rates, and abundance in coastal regions. To reduce sugar content and support efficient microbial fermentation, co-fermentation of macroalgae with seagrass (marine biomass) can provide complementary sugars and nutrients to improve process yields and economics. This review comprehensively covers the current status and future potential of ferment...

In Rwanda, agricultural industry depends on seasonal rain, and this has been a great challenge to agriculture in Rwanda. The designed sample of Photovoltaic pumping system is for irrigation on a piece of land, with 100 m 2 field fed by underground water tank of 8 meters of elevation collected during rainy seasons. The adapted 100 m 2 field is based on the fact that Rwanda is a densely populated country, also is adapted to be used especially in horticulture to increase exportation. In this system, a photovoltaic system is used as a power source; a pump is coupled with electric motor to drive it and hosepipe to convey water to the storage tank. A sensor is used to send a signal to the driver section at the same time sending a signal to the microcontroller that controls the driver unit and the corresponding relay, which switches off the motor when the water level reaches the lowest level.

The rise in the global population has led to an increase in energy requirements. In addition to the prospect of a future energy crisis resulting from the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, the provision of energy that continues to rely on nonrenewable resources, leads to a decline in environmental support capacity owing to CO2 gas pollution. Bioenergy derived from microalgae is a potential future fuel source. Bioenergy development of microalgae is seen as having several benefits, including plentiful resources, ease of development, a high oil content with the potential to be produced as biofuels, the ability to grow in a variety of water and waste conditions, and the ability to cut CO2 emissions. This research was conducted using a combination of literature analysis and prior study observations. The findings indicate that microalgae have enormous potential for development as bioenergy and may aid in the resolution of environmental issues, particularly those associated with the reduction of CO2 emission gases and the decrease of pollutant levels in liquid waste.

En las últimas dos décadas, se ha implementado en América Latina la gestión basada en resultados para los entes públicos, buscando incrementar eficiencia. La investigación tiene como propósito identificar para Perú y México, los resultados del impacto directo en la eficiencia de la aplicación del recurso público, visto desde un incremento directo a los bienes y servicios que se ofrecen a los ciudadanos. Servicios como trámites directos en las dependencias gubernamentales, entre otros; bienes, derechos o subsidios, otorgados directamente a los ciudadanos: alumbrado, programas de apoyo a grupos con extrema pobreza, vialidades, entre otros. El estudio se va enfocar en mitos y realidades, intereses políticos, y la presentación de una serie de medidas que conducirían a la optimización de las empresas públicas; toda vez que, en otros continentes, sí existe un beneficio directo a la sociedad por contar con empresas públicas eficientes. Incluso en América Latina, han existido y existen empr...

This research will examine the impact of the OPEC countries' 70% increase in crude oil prices, which began in 1973, on consumers' purchasing behavior as a result of an energy crisis in the developed world and other nations. To provide a more unique analysis, the study will investigate how the 1973 energy crisis affected consumers' purchasing behavior in energy consumption by considering two different countries: Turkey and the United States. These two countries have been chosen to explore how consumers' purchasing behavior varies as a result of the energy crisis in a developing country and a developed country. In addition, this study will rely on secondary literature and compare the data obtained by previous researchers with the official statistics of the governments to draw conclusions. The main findings indicate that during periods of energy crisis, consumers in the US and Turkey are more sensitive to gasoline in their purchasing behavior. Issues such as electricity shortages and transportation disruptions, stemming from the energy crisis, have heightened people's sensitivity to oil and gasoline.

How can we achieve a balance between socio-economic cohesion, competitiveness, and sustainable development across the entire EU amidst the severe energy crisis, while also mitigating regional inequalities? This report delves into the analysis of industry policies in the EU and third-party states, pinpointing key challenges that affect the competitiveness of the EU. Additionally, we investigate the multidimensional development gap between Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the rest of the EU, considering factors such as rising protectionism, the green transition, and the energy crisis. The report identifies potential solutions aimed at decreasing regional disparities without exacerbating polarization within the Internal Market.

The article describes key aspects of the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine since February 24, 2022 on the Polish economy with a particular focus on the energy crisis caused by this war. When in 2021 the economies of many countries began to recover from the covid recession of the 2020 economy, the prices of various categories of industrial and energy raw materials also began to rise. Then immediately after when Soviet troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, fossil fuel prices additionally began to rise rapidly on energy commodity exchanges. Increases in fuel and energy prices became further factors in the rise of food prices, which ultimately also accelerated inflation. As a result, as early as mid-2022, forecasts appeared suggesting that there would be a serious energy crisis during the autumn-winter 2022/2023 heating season. The aforementioned energy crisis was particularly deep in Poland. It has been caused by years of blocking and restricting the development of renewable and zero-carbon energy sources, as well as large-scale government financial state aid given to the financially deficient, unprofitable coal and lignite mining sector and the dirty coal-burning power generation sector. The result is still a situation where more than ¾ of electricity and heat in Poland is generated from dirty coal-burning energy. In this area, too, misguided, anti-climate, anti-environment, anti-social economic state interventionism has been carried out for many years, ignoring the need for a green transformation of the economy and the realization of sustainable development goals.

The demands and turbulence in the workplace and business have increased. As a result, there is much more rivalry amongst organizations. The study is regarding the factors of Employee Retention in the Private Banking sector of Chennai district. Employee retention plays a vital role in the development of private banks. In the current scenario, it is the major issue faced by the private banking industry in the Chennai district because of the huge employee turnover. Private banks face more difficulties to retain their employees regarding motivation, training, and development since there are many such banks in metropolitan cities like Chennai. This study focuses on the primary data which is collected through a closed-ended questionnaire with a five-point Likert Scale. The result of the data has been critically examined through data analytical tools. The study mainly examines the relationship between employee retention, employee motivation, employee training, and employee development.

El artículo explora los tres principales dilemas a los que se enfrentan los llamados Green New Deals (GND): el dilema biofísico que plantean sus costes energéticos y materiales; el dilema político derivado de sus inercias extractivistas, coloniales y autoritarias, y, por último, el dilema cultural vinculado a los imaginarios sociales, electorales y discursivos que estas propuestas refuerzan. En el centro del triángulo formado por estos Green New Dilemmas el texto sitúa la que considera la mayor limitación de estas propuestas: la indecisión estratégica y estructural respecto de su relación con el modo de producción capitalista. Como puerta de salida a estos dilemas, defendemos un decrecimiento democrático e internacionalista que no fomente una esperanza política y un optimismo tecnológico basados en la creación y abstracción discursiva de grandes «zonas de sacrificio verde».

Cieľom tejto diplomovej práce bolo na základe mediálnej diskurzívnej analýzy excerpovaných publicistických textov poukázať na rozdiely a podobnosti vo vnímaní energetickej krízy v rakúskom a slovenskom mediálnom diskurze. Prostredníctvom analýzy argumentačných stereotypov bolo cieľom odhaliť rétorické konštrukcie a postupy prevládajúce v zvolených diskurzoch a demaskovať použitie konkrétnych diskurzívnych stratégií. Predstavená argumentačná analýza siaha aj k politolingvistickej jazykovej kritike s cieľom sprítomniť rozdiely politickej kultúry dvoch diskurzov. Práca je rozdelená na teoretickú a empirickú časť. Teoretická časť prináša opisný pohľad na danú problematiku a prepojením jednotlivých častí zdôrazňuje úzku spoluprácu rétorickej entymématickej komunikácie a topoi v rámci politicko-mediálneho diskurzu. V empirickej časti práce sa podáva analýza 10-ich skupín vymedzených obsahovo ústredných topoi a následná interpretácia jednotlivých realizácií v rámci kvalitnej tlači dvoch diskurzov. Obsahová analýza topoi ako presvedčení v rámci istej society sa tu primárne opiera o metódu Martina Wengelera, ktorá je ideálne vhodná pre analýzu argumentácií politického a mediálneho diskurzu s cieľom identifikovať tradované koncepty.

Teoretické časti: Diskurz a médiá (Politický diskurz, Masové médiá), Teória argumentácie (Charakteristika rétorickej argumentácie, Topika a argumentácia, Topika a diskurz), Prístupy k analýze argumentačných stereotypov v politicko-mediálnom diskurze (Diskurzívne orientované analýzy topoi alebo štruktúrne a obsahovo orientovaná analýza). Metóda práce (definícia toposu od Aristotela, metóda Martina Wengelera, prístup Jozefa Kleina, argumentačné vzorce Manfreda Kienpointnera, diskurzívne stratégie Ruth Wodakovej).
Praktická časť: 10 skupín obsahovo ústredných a navzájom spolupracujúcich topoi (topos škody, závislosti, vkladu, vojny, perspektívy, budúcnosti, sankcií, spoľahlivosti, špekulácií a zasiahnutia). Porovnanie výskytu toposu v dvoch diskurzoch na kvantitatívnej a kvalitatívnej úrovni, zdôraznenie rozdielov vnímania.

The current geopolitical context has brought an unprecedented energy crisis to the European energy market. The European Union has been forced to restrict its energy consumption and diversify its sources of supply due to its dependence on energy imports from Russia. We aim to analyze the dynamics of the main energy indicators in Romania from a sustainable perspective and to highlight through econometric modeling the vulnerabilities induced by the current geopolitical context and the energy price crisis in Romania. The used methods include literature review, analysis of energy consumption and allocation dynamics in the period 2010-2020 according to Eurostat reports as well as modelling techniques of consumption trends in order to identify a valid econometric model adapted to the sustainable development targets assumed by Romania. The results of the study are useful for national decision-makers in setting sustainable energy development policies for the period 2022-2030.

The need for socially smart energy systems that incorporate both individual and collective social, spatial, and technical dimensions is increasing. However, the social, spatial, and technical interplay between individual and collective scales has been poorly studied and lacks a conceptual basis. Most research to date has focused on social, technical, socio-technical, or spatial approaches at the individual level, or at the collective level independently of the individual. Therefore, overlooking the complex underlying dynamics between the individual and the collective and the multidimensional and multimodal nature of energy use and demand across scales. In response, we propose a novel integration of social practice, social identity theory, and rhythm analysis, with a focus on the collective capabilities of energy users, observable across neighbourhood social contexts and spatial scales. Our conceptual framework offers analytical benefits to energy research and policy by viewing energy users within their individual and collective socio-technical contexts across rhythms of everyday routines. This approach can inform future research in energy systems, as well as policy and practice in the design of new governance mechanisms and engineering requirements for socially smart grids, devices, and collective energy systems.

There is a pressing need to investigate consumers' social relations within energy systems particularly in the context of socially smart grids at the domestic level. However, no studies to date have categorised or explained how such social relations manifest and what role different consumers play in managing home energy demand. This work provides for the first time, a categorisation of household archetypes through the social relations that govern them. This study draws on mixed data including a large-scale ethno-visual survey and interviews conducted with energy consumers in Glasgow and Bristol, UK. The analysis forms part of a wider study which integrates social identity theory (SIT), practice theory and rhythm-analysis. We primarily focus on insights derived from SIT as an approach to identifying consumers' capabilities in smart energy systems and Home Energy Management (HEM) through a study of social relations. The findings reveal novel perspectives on how social identities shape HEM patterns and how the consequent sociospatial and technical implications play a role in future demand reduction and the development of socially smart grids. The contribution of this study is twofold ; firstly, to demonstrate how prioritising social practices, identities, and rhythm-analysis can lead to novel interventions in smart grids and redefine the roles of the community, and neighbourhoods, and secondly to discuss the policy implications for planning future automated demand management via the acquisition of new socio-spatial insights into how diverse social identities and practices can foster just transitions and equitable energy futures in the UK and beyond.

This article aims to define the category of energy colonialism in order to analyse the conflicts that are arising due to the deployment of renewable energy megaprojects in the Global South and in the peripheries of the Global North. First, the limits of the corporate energy transition are questioned, and based on an exhaustive bibliographic review, the category of energy colonialism is formulated along with six dimensions that characterise it: geopolitical; economic and financial inequalities; power, violence, and decision making; land grabbing and dispossession; impacts on territories and commons; resistance and socio-territorial conflicts. Based on this framework, we analyse and juxtapose different expressions of energy colonialism in four case studies; the isthmus of Tehuantepec (Oaxaca, Mexico), the territories of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco, the Saami territory in Norway, and the rural territories of Spain. The results from this study allow us to conclude that energy col...

La reforma del sector eléctrico en muchos de los países de América Latina -en particular, en aquellos en que la reforma condujo a la privatización y desintegración vertical del sistema-se caracterizó por una significativa dinámica de la inversión durante los primeros años, lo ...

Solar power irrigation systems have been widely employed in many countries to enhance access to electricity for irrigation, and numerous design tools have been developed for better performance and implementation. The findings are based on the quantitative analysis that predicts the water requirements for horticultural crops as their behavior is dynamic throughout the year and different cycles need surplus electrical energy requirements that can be transferred under different loads after irrigation. The research article emphasizes the technoeconomic analysis, which is carried out to suggest the minimum cost prediction based on the data processing and analysis. The data collection is based on the number of days required in different horticulture crop cycles, and different development stages for water requirements. The water requirements in the different development stages are 9.30, 13.98, 27.90, and 27.31 mm/day for initial (20 days), development (30 days), mid-season (40 days), and late-season (25 days) respectively. The estimated CO 2 mitigation values are 2170, 25.00, 0.9832, and 53,339 based on the yearly electricity harvest (kWh), lifetime (years), Kaya identity (kgCO 2 /kWh), and carbon dioxide for life span (kgCO 2 /kWh) respectively. The estimated cost of a solar tree-based irrigation system is $3430, which suggests the techno-economic behavior of Indian rural application to carry sustainable agriculture in India. If users can change their methods to use alternate energy technology, it may save money on energy and reduces their dependability on the grid energy.

and Rie Odgaard (the editorial group) Contents Acknowledgements Preface 8 Basic facts on Tanzania 13 Maps 14 1. Introduction 19 The editors 2. Population growth in historical perspective-the key role of changing fertility 31 Juhani Koponen 3. The creation of macroeconomic imbalances and a structural crisis 59 Knud Erik Svendsen 4. Growth and crisis in the manufacturing sector 79 Rune Skarstein 5. Eating the carrot and wielding the stick: The agricultural sector in Tanzania 105 Phi1 Raikes 6. Soil erosion and conservation in the drylands 143 Car1 Christiansson 7. Wood-the other energy crisis 159 Per Nikison 8. The development of agricultural mechanisation 173 Finn K j~r b y 9. The Green Revolution in the Southern Highlands 191 Torben Rasmussen 10. Tea-does it do the peasant women in Rungwe any good? 207 Rie Odgaard 11. Grain for livestock and livestock for grain. Are the agro-pastoral Iramba marginalising themselves? 225 Jan Lindstrom 12. Pastoralism under pressure: The Ngorongoro Maasai 239 Kaj Arhem 13. No sugar-no tea! A women's cooperative in a crisis. Experiences from Manyoni 253 Ulla Vuorela 14. A resource overlooked-crafts and small-scale industries 269 Kjell J. Havnevik 15. State, donors and villagers in rural water management 293 Ole Therkildren 16. Health services: Official and unofficial 309

El presente ensayo intenta proporcionar evidencia alrededor empresa paraestatal Petróleos de México (PEMEX), la cual paraestatal, la que le hace operar con pérdidas. Para este de Ingresos de la Federación, para entender su importante contribución de en los ingresos públicos federales. Posteriormente, se realiza un primer análisis sobre su 2011. La evidencia muestra claramente que PEMEX en su la que la lleva a territorio negativo.

With the rising demands for renewable fuels, there is growing interest in utilizing abundant and sustainable non-edible biomass as a feedstock for bioethanol production. Macroalgal biomass contains a high content of carbohydrates in the form of special polysaccharides like alginate, agar, and carrageenan that can be converted to fermentable sugars. In addition, using seagrass as a feedstock for bioethanol production can provide a sustainable and renewable energy source while addressing environmental concerns. It is a resource-rich plant that offers several advantages for bioethanol production, including its high cellulose content, rapid growth rates, and abundance in coastal regions. To reduce sugar content and support efficient microbial fermentation, co-fermentation of macroalgae with seagrass (marine biomass) can provide complementary sugars and nutrients to improve process yields and economics. This review comprehensively covers the current status and future potential of ferment...

The 2023 war between Hamas and Israel elicits many different explanations. As with previous regional hostilities, here too, the pundits and commentators have numerous overlapping processes to draw on – from the struggle between the Zionist and Palestinian national movements, to the deep hostility between the Rabbinate and Islamic churches, to the many conflicts between Israel and Arab/Muslim states, the contentions between the declining superpowers (United States and Russia) and their rising contenders (like China, Iran, Turkey), the rift between western and eastern cultures, and so on.

The experts also highlight the growing importance of local militias – from Jewish settler organizations, to ISIS, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthi movement, the Wagner Group and Kadyrovites Chechens – groups that operate under different political, religious and criminal guises, with varying financing and support from local, governmental and international sources to proxy and/or challenge different states.

Our article does not deal with these specificities. Instead of focusing on the particular and unique, we concentrate on the general and universal. Concretely, we argue that the current war between Hamas and Israel shares an important common denominator with prior clashes in the region – namely, that it constitutes an energy conflict and that it correlates with the differential nature of capital accumulation. We coined these two terms in the late 1980s and have studied their underpinnings and implications for the Middle East and beyond ever since. Our purpose in this paper is to highlight our theoretical arguments, update some of our key empirical evidence and show how both the theory and findings apply to the current Hamas-Israel war.

The use of green seaweed as carbon source for fermentation is gaining increasing attention due to their high carbohydrate content and availability. Three green seaweed species Chaetomorpha linum, Ulva fasciata and Caulerpa taxifolia were investigated for their amenability to enzymatic saccharification. Microstructural changes were studied in order to understand the physical changes occurring in the seaweeds during saccarification and to identify structural barriers. C. linum had highest glucan content (20%), compared to 16% in U. fasciata and 6% in C. taxifolia indicating large differences in composition. Glucose yields obtained after 24 hr of enzymatic saccharification were 59, 38 and 60% for C. taxifolia, U. fasciata, C. linum, respectively, based on the glucan content. Pre-autoclaving increased the saccharification yield to 81, 99 and 71%, respectively. Morphologically, C. linum displayed unbranched filaments, U. fasciata two-cell layer large sheets and C. taxifolia featured a leaf like structure. Enzymatic saccharification resulted in cell wall degradation and release of the chlorophyll content in C. linum, delamination of sheets in U. fasciata and surface erosion of leaves in C. taxifolia. C. taxifolia deviated in being very rich in β-1,3 linked xylan (46%), which was only hydrolysed at 1% xylose yield due to lack of β-1,3-xylanase. Based on the high cellulose content and no need for pre-treatment C. linum was optimal as glucose source in fermentation and the presence of broadly acting GH3 β-xylosidase exo-activity would presumably enable xylose release.

El propósito de esta guía es proponer y facilitar un marco de estudio para analizar
el documental Nuestra insurrección energética en el salón de clases. Este proyecto
fílmico posee un gran potencial educativo para la comunidad en general. También, es un
recurso oportuno para desarrollar destrezas de interpretación, análisis y valoración crítica
en estudiantes pre-universitarios y universitarios.

This paper examines the roots of the European energy crisis within the period of 2021–2022, the reasons for the European gas shortage, the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the potential EU responses. The current crisis is a result of several factors, starting from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and amplified severely by the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In addition, five reasons were identified as worsening the EU energy situation. These include market-based gas prices, external dependency, global imbalances, the EU's climate policies, and low European energy stocks. The Russian invasion of Ukraine put pressure on the oil and gas supplies to the EU. This situation led the EU to introduce sanctions and measures that target increasing the share of renewable energy while reducing the dependence on Russian gas. Finally, we shed light on the energy transition as an opportunity to deal with climate change and limited energy resources while also showing the ...

The extensive growth of energy and plastic demand has raised concerns over the depletion of fossil fuels. Moreover, the environmental conundrums worldwide integrated with global warming and improper plastic waste management have led to the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly biofuel (bioethanol) and biopolymer (lactic acid, LA) derived from biomass for fossil fuels replacement and biodegradable plastic production, respectively. However, the high production cost of bioethanol and LA had limited its industrial-scale production. This paper has comprehensively reviewed the potential and development of third-generation feedstock for bioethanol and LA production, including significant technological barriers to be overcome for potential commercialization purposes. Then, an insight into the state-of-the-art hydrolysis and fermentation technologies using macroalgae as feedstock is also deliberated in detail. Lastly, the sustainability aspect and perspective of macroalgae biomass are evaluated economically and environmentally using a developed cascading system associated with techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment, which represent the highlights of this review paper. Furthermore, this review provides a conceivable picture of macroalgae-based bioethanol and lactic acid biorefinery and future research directions that can be served as an important guideline for scientists, policymakers, and industrial players.

تفاقمت أزمة الطاقة العالمية بصورة كبيرة خلال عام 2022 عقب الأزمة الروسية الأوكرانية، والتي أثَّرت بالسلب على سلاسل التوريد الخاصة بموارد الطاقة التقليدية، خاصة إلى أوروبا، الأمر الذي أثار المخاوف بشأن مُستقبل الوصول إلى الحياد الكربوني في ظل سعي بعض الدول إلى تعزيز الإنتاج المحلي لموارد الطاقة التقليدية، ومع ذلك بدأت بعض الدول في البحث عن بدائل لموارد الطاقة التقليدية بالتحول نحو استخدام موارد الطاقة النظيفة، ومن ثَمَّ تسعى هذه الورقة للإجابة عن تساؤل رئيس وهو: إلى أي مدى يُمكن لأزمة الطاقة العالمية التأثير على مستقبل الوصول إلى الحياد الكربوني العالمي؟

El Estado mexicano es un Estado pobre. El problema de baja recaudación no es nuevo, al contrario, tiene raíces históricas. En este trabajo se muestra cómo durante los procesos de reconstrucción del Estado mexicano y de reconfiguración de alianzas entre el Estado y la elite económica posterior a la Revolución, se establecieron instituciones tributarias poco recaudatorias y regresivas. Las décadas posteriores a la guerra dieron cuenta de la tensión entre dos tipos de alianza que estuvieron latentes para pautar el desarrollo del país: la alianza “progresista” y la “alianza por las ganancias”. Las políticas tributarias que se analizan aquí dan cuenta de la tensión entre distintas facciones del Estado y la élite económica, y del fortalecimiento paulatino de esta última. Los hallazgos en archivos históricos permiten reconstruir los procesos de toma de decisiones de las medidas de política tributaria más importantes de 1925 a 1964, y los actores que influenciaron estos procesos. Con ello s...

Energy Storage Technology is one of the major components of renewable energy integration and decarbonization of world energy systems. It significantly benefits addressing ancillary power services, power quality stability, and power supply reliability. However, the recent years of the COVID-19 pandemic have given rise to the energy crisis in various industrial and technology sectors. An integrated survey of energy storage technology development, its classification, performance, and safe management is made to resolve these challenges. The development of energy storage technology has been classified into electromechanical, mechanical, electromagnetic, thermodynamics, chemical, and hybrid methods. The current study identifies potential technologies, operational framework, comparison analysis, and practical characteristics. This proposed study also provides useful and practical information to readers, engineers, and practitioners on the global economic effects, global environmental effects, organization resilience, key challenges, and projections of energy storage technologies. An optimal scheduling model is also proposed. Policies for sustainable adaptation are then described. An extensive list of publications to date in the open literature is canvassed to portray various developments in this area.

The problem of energy scarcity is very relevant today. However, it is essential to remember that people faced similar challenges and obstacles in the past, so it is a very timely to revisit historical energy shortages and see how they were overcome. From 1890 to 1935, the French economy depended on coal, which was its primary source (Cohn, 1993: 122). The French Third Republic had to cope with a couple of shortages, while the most painful scarcities were those during the terrible winter of 1916–1917 and the one in the period after the World War I. The state regulations and the state control over the market, which had begun during the Great War, then continued until March 1921. In 1919, the coal crisis was so severe, that the war lighting restrictions had to be reintroduced in order to save fuel. This paper aims to bring light to the attitude that the French Third Republic adopted to the problem of energy shortages.

This paper explores the 2021-2022 global energy crisis. The 2021-2022 energy crisis was caused by many factors including the global campaign to reduce carbon emission, the shortage in fossil fuel reserves due to divestment from fossil fuels, the halt in oil production due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine and Russia conflict. The empirical results show that gasoline prices rose in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. The rise in gasoline prices occurred during the period when COVID-era restrictions were lifted in 2021 and also during the Russia-Ukraine conflict in early 2022. The correlation results show that gasoline prices in Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas were significantly correlated but not in Africa. The findings have implications.

Long-term changes propelled by the clean-energy transition-in the distribution of geopolitical power, the meaning of sustainable energy consumption, and the scope and character of interdependence-are transforming the global energy order. Dependence on new critical materials and metals-such as chromium, copper, germanium and lithium, all essential inputs for many clean energy technologies-reflects new patterns of asymmetrical interdependence and calls into question some of our assumptions about oil and gas as strategic goods. Among these changes, the critical materials at the heart of the clean energy transition are infusing the geopolitics of energy with new meaning: the rise of renewables is undermining Russia's position as an "energy superpower" at the precise moment that its relationship with Europe is being reshaped by its invasion of Ukraine. 1 Two decades ago, Russia's role as the world's largest producer and exporter of nearly every form of fossil fuel-oil, natural gas and coal-gave rise to the notion of Russia as an energy superpower. 2 This had great repercussions in the policy world and shored up President Putin's efforts to create the impression that