Mariane Gonzalez da Costa, Daniel Neves Schmitz Gonçalves, Marcio de Almeida D’Agosto
{"title":"From commodities to high-value exports: biofuels as a catalyst for Brazil’s energy transition and economic transformation","authors":"Mariane Gonzalez da Costa, Daniel Neves Schmitz Gonçalves, Marcio de Almeida D’Agosto","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104416","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104416","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper highlights Brazil’s urgent need to shift from low-value commodity exports to high-value biofuels. Biofuels are positioned as drivers for reducing GHG emissions and fostering sustainable development. Considering global temperature increases of 1.1 °C due to human activities, the study evaluates the potential of biofuels in this Brazilian energy transition. A literature review identified biofuels with advanced TRL, offering a market overview globally and in Brazil. The methodology also encompasses three phases: organizing a stakeholder workshop, applying semi-structured surveys, and analyzing findings to guide public policies and market strategies. The stakeholder survey shows E1G as the top export option, followed by biodiesel/SAF and HVO. Most specialists (94 %) favor biofuels combined with electrification for decarbonization, while 70 % prioritize advanced biofuels domestically. For aviation, 37 % expect near-term HEFA dominance, though 25 % question FT-SPK adoption due to EU policies. Key risks include policy shifts, feedstock shortages, market barriers, and climate impacts on production. The study underscores initiatives such as the New Industry Brazil action plan, promoting technical progress and economic diversification. Future strategies should align with no-regret policies, ensuring biofuel production addresses climate impacts and does not compromise food security. By aligning energy transition with neo-industrialization, Brazil has potential in biofuel production and export.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104416"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giuseppe Todde, Stefania Sole, Gabriele Sara, Daniele Pinna, Maria Caria
{"title":"Field-to-wire: the environmental sustainability of bioenergy generation from the biomass of agricultural residues","authors":"Giuseppe Todde, Stefania Sole, Gabriele Sara, Daniele Pinna, Maria Caria","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural residues offer a promising alternative for renewable energy production. This study explored the energy potential and environmental impacts of using residual biomass from wheat, barley, oats, olive trees, grapevines, and artichokes to generate bioenergy. A comprehensive “field-to-wire” approach was adopted utilizing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the entire supply chain from the field-level collection of agricultural residues to energy generation and grid integration.</div><div>Agricultural residues present a significant bioenergy potential of 3,900 terajoules (TJ) in the investigated area. Despite the sustainability benefits of bioenergy, this study underscores that field operations represent significant environmental burdens and contribute up to 50 % of the total energy demand and emissions. In areas where transportation distances are high, such as for grapevines, the logistics of biomass delivery can represent 40 % of the total impact of the supply chain. This study also assesses key sustainability metrics and reports an Energy Payback Time of 2.7 years, a Carbon Payback Time of 6.38 years, and an EROI of 7.40, which are all well above the sustainability threshold. These findings highlight the important role that agricultural residues can play in advancing renewable energy goals, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and contributing to rural revitalization. However, optimizing field operations, transportation logistics, and residue collection methods is essential for maximizing the efficiency and sustainability of bioenergy systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104433"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a low-carbon city: A study on the user perception and public acceptance of semi-transparent solar window technology in Hong Kong","authors":"Wanting Wang, Changying Xiang","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104437","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the public acceptance and perception of semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV) window technology in Hong Kong through a comprehensive mixed-methods approach. The research consisted of three phases: an on-site experimental study, annual energy performance simulation, and a large-scale social survey.</div><div>In the first phase, we designed and installed STPV prototypes in a residential mockup, conducting electrical and daylight measurements while assessing user comfort through physiological and psychological evaluations with 36 participants. The second phase involved simulating energy performance using DesignBuilder software to compare STPV with single glazing and vacuum glazing over a 20-year period. The third phase utilized a bilingual questionnaire to collect data from 105 diverse respondents on their awareness, acceptance, and perceptions of STPV technology.</div><div>Results demonstrated that STPV windows achieve excellent optical performance comparable to natural daylight. While participants in the test room with STPV windows reported satisfactory visual comfort. The third phase’s public survey revealed 65% support for STPV installation, with reducing electricity bills and sustainability as the main driving motives. However, high costs and lack of awareness were identified as key barriers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104437"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vehicle-Grid cooperation control based on multi-state coupled power flow model","authors":"Gaoxin Bi , Weidong Liu , Yuhai Wang , Xingkun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104424","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104424","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electrification constitutes one of the viable approaches to achieving sustainable development in road freight transportation. Firstly, addressing the lack of systematic technical details and control strategy in existing studies on eHighway and electric road system, this paper proposes the technical framework and develops the power flow model of online DC-driven system. Subsequently, in view of the complex coupling between the system operating states, it is found that the sudden change of the vehicle driving states is easy to cause the instability of grid power supply. Then, in order to enhance the system operating security and efficiency, the vehicle-grid cooperation controller utilizes the hierarchical control principles to decouple the platoon driving states and the grid power supply states. The upper controller implements longitudinal platoon cooperation, while the lower controller executes the grid-battery hybrid power management. Finally, simulation results show that the upper controller can rapidly realize the platoon’s velocity following and headway maintenance, while the lower controller can effectively realize the reasonable power distribution of the grid and battery, and keep the stability of grid power supply.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104424"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Energy, economic and environmental benefits of a car-sharing system with electric vehicles integrated into a renewable energy community","authors":"Mariano Gallo, Elisa Marrasso, Chiara Martone, Giovanna Pallotta, Carlo Roselli, Maurizio Sasso","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104428","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104428","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The deployment of electric mobility can lead to a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions, to which the transport sector contributes about 25 %. This positive impact is maximized if energy from renewable sources is mainly used, although electric vehicles diffusion is limited by the lower availability of public charging stations and the high purchase cost compared to internal combustion vehicles. In this context, electric vehicles car-sharing systems can play a significant role. This paper proposes a car-sharing system based on electric vehicles embedded in a Renewable Energy Community. To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, it has been designed for a municipality in southern Italy, assuming that renewable energy is produced by photovoltaic panels. Corresponding energy, environmental and economic benefits are evaluated by comparing different layouts, including conventional and electric vehicles, for the same fleet size and travelled distance. Assessments of energy sharing were made considering hourly and daily time intervals. A sensitivity analysis has been conducted considering four different sizes of the photovoltaic plant (from 15 kW to 30 kW). The obtained outcomes show the proposed system results in greater savings in primary energy and CO<sub>2</sub> equivalent emissions as the plant size increases, due to the energy shared among community members and the surplus electricity fed into the power grid. From an economic perspective, this scenario achieves the highest annual income, but due to the higher initial investment cost, the simple payback period is more favourable for the system with conventional vehicles.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104428"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xuteng Du, Xiaobiao Shan, Chengwei Hou, Guangdong Sui, Xiaofan Zhang
{"title":"Inspired by L-shaped hammer stockbridge damper: A multi-band dual-beam coupled vibration piezoelectric energy harvester","authors":"Xuteng Du, Xiaobiao Shan, Chengwei Hou, Guangdong Sui, Xiaofan Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Inspired by L-shaped hammer Stockbridge damper on overhead transmission lines, this work proposes a novel multi-band dual-beam coupled vibration piezoelectric energy harvester for efficiently harvesting cable vibration energy. The harvester’s core comprises two dual-beam piezoelectric oscillators, which together can generate a total of four harvesting frequency bands through structural parameter adjustments, extending the operational range. To evaluate performance, finite element analysis and experiments were used to investigate the influence of key parameters. The work revealed that the beam spacing (<em>D</em>), length ratio (<em>L<sub>r</sub></em>), and additional mass (<em>M</em><sub>2</sub>) significantly affected the second-order vibration mode. Specifically, <em>D</em> = 38 mm, <em>L<sub>r</sub></em> = 0.54, and <em>M</em><sub>2</sub> = 3 g represented the critical points for the transition of the second-order vibration mode. The coupled structure enables the specific <em>L<sub>r</sub></em> and <em>M</em><sub>2</sub> to effectively enhance the output of the floating cantilever beam at its first-order resonance. Furthermore, the work investigated the harvester’s capability to harvest vibration energy from different directions. Under baseline conditions, the power densities at first-order resonance for the elastic supporting beam and floating cantilever beam are 16.967 mW/cm<sup>3</sup> and 1.767 mW/cm<sup>3</sup>, respectively, and 4.45 mW/cm<sup>3</sup> and 11.20 mW/cm<sup>3</sup> at second-order resonance, providing stable power to wireless sensor nodes in the environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104422"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A comprehensive review of solar chimney power plants: technology, performance, and future prospects","authors":"Lidong Zhu , Adnan I. Khdair , Alireza Aghaei , Kosar Zalipour , Haiji Chen , Masoud Afrand","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104413","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104413","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing global energy demand and environmental challenges have shifted the focus toward renewable energy sources, with solar energy emerging as one of the most viable and abundant options. Solar Chimney Power Plants (SCPPs) offer a promising method for harnessing solar thermal energy at low temperatures through a combination of solar and wind energy. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the SCPP technology, tracing its development from early theoretical models to the latest advancements. Key components such as the collector, tower, turbine, and energy storage layers are discussed in detail, along with the working principles of the system. Despite the potential benefits, including continuous power generation and minimal environmental impact, SCPPs face significant challenges such as low efficiency and high initial costs. This paper synthesizes findings from a wide range of studies, including design parameters, mathematical models, and performance analyses of SCPPs. Additionally, hybrid systems and economic studies are reviewed, offering insights into how SCPP technology can evolve to meet future energy demands. The review concludes by identifying current gaps in the research and suggesting pathways for future improvement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104413"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Catarina de Paula Leite , Liliana Marques Pimentel , Leandro de Almeida Monteiro
{"title":"Biofuel adoption in the transport sector: The impact of renewable energy policies","authors":"Ana Catarina de Paula Leite , Liliana Marques Pimentel , Leandro de Almeida Monteiro","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104419","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104419","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study quantifies the impact of the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) on the adoption of biofuels in Portugal’s transportation sector. To this end, the study analyzes the interaction between regulatory instruments and market dynamics using a vector error correction model with two complementary econometric specifications. The first specification captures the administrative dimension of the certificate market by assessing how the issuance of advanced biofuel certificates (TdB) respond to agricultural and energy market prices. The second specification focuses on the physical incorporation of biofuels and examines the relationships among fossil fuel stocks, TdB, and the integration of low-carbon fuels into the energy mix.</div><div>Variance decomposition shows that diesel is the main factor influencing TdB issuance (19.14%), followed by ethanol (12.75%) and distillates (4.51%). Agricultural commodity prices have a smaller but growing impact (soy: 2.94%, palm: 4.44%, rapeseed: 3.51%). The incorporation of low-carbon fuels remains primarily determined by fossil fuel inventories, especially gasoline (11.59%) and distillates (7.28%).</div><div>This study provides new evidence on the interaction between agricultural commodities prices, fossil fuels, and regulatory mechanisms, highlighting how RED measures respond to market fluctuations and contribute to the broader challenges of the energy transition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104419"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jixiang Zhang , Wenjie Du , Jun Li , Guotian Cai , Xiaoling Qi
{"title":"Multi-source data-based hydrogen refuelling station location optimization – A case study of Guangdong, China","authors":"Jixiang Zhang , Wenjie Du , Jun Li , Guotian Cai , Xiaoling Qi","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104426","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104426","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hydrogen is a promising alternative to fossil fuels in transportation; however, a significant gap remains between the current number of hydrogen refuelling stations and development targets, due to challenges in optimizing station locations, accurately forecasting demand patterns, and minimizing transportation costs. <em>This study develops an integrated economy-society-infrastructure assessment framework, combining economic, social, and infrastructural factors, to enhance hydrogen station siting. A simulated annealing-based Maximal Covering Location Problem (MCLP) model is used to identify optimal strategies for new, oil-hydrogen combined, and hybrid stations. Additionally, a machine learning approach combining random forest and SVM forecasts hydrogen demand and station locations for 2030 and 2050.</em> Findings indicate that, as of 2023, stations are concentrated in central Guangdong, but by 2030, demand extends to northern, western, and eastern clusters due to shifts in passenger vehicle use. Oil-hydrogen combined stations are the most cost-efficient, reducing costs by 17.2% to 18.5% compared to other strategies. However, average transport costs per station increase from $0.33 million in 2023 to $0.80 million in 2050, highlighting the need for early expansion of hydrogen production facilities to control future transportation costs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104426"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wan Nur Aisyah Wan Osman , Wan Nur Athirah Mazli , Shafirah Samsuri
{"title":"Unraveling heat transfer dynamics in shaking solvent-aided crystallization: toward efficient glycerol separation from biodiesel","authors":"Wan Nur Aisyah Wan Osman , Wan Nur Athirah Mazli , Shafirah Samsuri","doi":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104417","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seta.2025.104417","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biodiesel purification from crude palm oil (CPO) is often hindered by residual glycerol and other impurities. This study investigates the role of heat transfer in a shaking solvent-aided crystallization (SAC) system to enhance the selective solidification of glycerol. By evaluating the effects of coolant temperature (8–16 °C), crystallization time (15–35 min), and shaking speed (11.05–31.85 cm/s), a comprehensive heat transfer model was constructed, segmenting the system into four thermal zones (coolant, vessel wall, solid glycerol, and biodiesel solution). Fourier’s law, Newton’s law of cooling, and latent heat balance equations were applied and refined based on zone-specific assumptions. Crucially, these models were related to practical outputs: the thickness of the glycerol layer, the rate of heat removal, and the predicted yield of solidified glycerol. The results showed that lower coolant temperatures and moderate agitation facilitate efficient glycerol crystallization, with deviations between theoretical and experimental yields remaining below 10 %. Key findings revealed that precise control of thermal gradients and solution movement significantly impacts glycerol layer thickness, influencing biodiesel purity. This study provides both a conceptual and practical framework for optimizing glycerol removal via crystallization and reinforces the SAC system’s potential for industrial-scale biodiesel purification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56019,"journal":{"name":"Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 104417"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144502724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}