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Abstract Europe’s transition to an energy system compatible with limiting global heating to 1.5 °C will require radical changes in energy systems. While this will create substantial new growth industries in clean technologies, some currently important economic activities will decline. The impacts of that transition will not be the same for all regions. We map the economic vulnerability of European regions to ambitious decarbonisation scenarios in terms of employment losses in four carbon-intensive industries. To do so, we develop a composite vulnerability indicator that combines each region’s share of employment in those high-carbon industries with other dimensions of vulnerability and resilience. We then explore how regional patterns of vulnerability are influenced by the technology pathway to 2050, using four scenarios modelled using the European PRIMES model. We show that economic vulnerability to the low-carbon transition is regionally concentrated, with some regions combining high employment shares in industries expected to decline with weak adaptive capacity and high pre-existing unemployment. We also show that there is little variation in regional vulnerability arising from different transition pathways. All scenarios compatible with 1.5 °C involve large declines in all high-carbon sectors we analyse, and as a result, scenario variation does not lead to large variation in relative vulnerability of regions. The results highlight regions that may be in need of additional policy support to diversify their economies and achieve a just transition.

Swift and deep decarbonisation of electricity generation is central to enabling a timely transition to net-zero emission energy systems. While future power systems will likely be dominated by variable renewables (VRE), studies have identified a need for low-carbon dispatchable power such as nuclear. We use a cost-optimising power system model to examine the technoeconomic case for investment in new nuclear capacity in the UK's net-zero emissions energy system and consider four sensitivity dimensions: the capital cost of new nuclear, the availability of competing technologies, the expansion of interconnection and weather conditions. We conclude that new nuclear capacity is only cost-effective if ambitious cost and construction times are assumed, competing technologies are unavailable and interconnector expansion is not permitted. We find that BECCS and long-term storage could reduce electricity system costs by 5-21% and that synchronous condensers can provide cost-effective inertia in highly renewable systems with low amounts of synchronous generation. We show that a nearly 100% variable renewable system with very little fossil fuels, no new build nuclear and facilitated by long-term storage is the most cost-effective system design. This suggests that the current favourable UK Government policy towards nuclear is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Comment: 26 pages, includes supplementary materials, submitted to Energy. Overnight capital costs now correctly converted to full costs including interest during construction, results largely unchanged

Electricity Storage is a key activity in the European Union’s (EU) decarbonisation strategy. Indeed, storage facilitates the penetration of electricity from renewable sources into the grid by reducing the variability of renewable generation. Despite its importance, electricity storage is still perceived as a risky activity. The risk derives from the widespread need to secure multiple revenue streams in order to ensure profitability. This article investigates the risks influencing the development of electricity storage in the EU regulatory framework, focusing on benefit stacking. Benefit stacking refers to the diversification of services a storage asset can provide. This article evaluates some of the main regulatory barriers to benefit stacking in the EU electricity market and provides policy strategies to derisk this activity. The study is carried out using a multilevel analysis: the obstacles to stacking electricity storage services are investigated in EU law as well as in national law. After analysing the obstacles, policy recommendations are proposed to foster benefit stacking at both levels.

Correction for ‘A comparative analysis of the efficiency, timing, and permanence of CO2 removal pathways’ by Solene Chiquier et al., Energy Environ. Sci., 2022, 15, 4389–4403, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EE01021F.

The exploitation of industrial crops for the production of ligno-cellulosic compounds and vegetable oil on marginal lands relies on efficient harvesting and logistics’ strategies. The present deliverable goes through the difficulties encountered from harvesting to dispatchment of indrustrial crops highlighting prons and cons of the currently available technologies to improve the whole value chain in the following categories: lignocellulosic crops (fiber, herbaceous perennial and Short-Medium Rotation Coppice (SRC-MRC)) and oil crops. The two sections are indipendently investigated focusing on harvesting and densifiction of the biomass to reduce cost and increase profitability. The information provided within the present document was gathered from experimental data collected on fields, from literature review and background knowledge gained from collaboration in previous research projects. Regarding fiber crop (in particular hemp) it is possible to say that there are several solutions available to harvest this species, which should be properly selected according to the crop features and to the aim of the cultivation, i.e. fiber and seed-fiber. Focusing on lignocellulosic crops, the present deliverable focused mainly on miscanthus, describing the possible alternative solutions which are generally based on cutting the plants and densify them through chipping and/or baling. Harvesting systems for SRC and MRC have been instead experiencing a substantial change in the last years, shifting from dedicated systems for biomass harvesting and densification to semi or fully mechanized harvesting approaches, derived from forestry sector, in order to produce fiber wood from the main stem and biomass from branches and tops. Finally, concerning oil crops, it is possible to say that, among the investigated ones, camelina and castor can efficiently be harvested with conventional combine harvesters equipped with cereal and sunflower header respectively. Castor bean harvesting is instead still a great challenge, indeed the present deliverable highlights how a sunflower header is a better option than a cereal one, but however many concerns are still present regarding seed loss and quality of the collected product.

Data availability statement: Data related to the paper and other information relating to the paper can be obtained by contacting the corresponding author. Copyright © 2023 The Authors. The control of the main cycle parameters in supercritical CO2 (sCO2) systems during off-design and transient operation is crucial for advancing their technological readiness level. In smaller scale power units (<0.5–5 MW), costs and complexity constraints limit the number of auxiliary components in the power loop, making the design of the control system even more challenging. Among the possible strategies, the regulation of system inventory, which consists in varying the CO2 fluid mass in the power loop to achieve a given control target, represents a promising alternative. Such technique however poses several technical challenges that are still to be fully understood. To fill this gap, this work presents a comprehensive steady-state and transient analysis of inventory control systems, referring in particular to a 50 kW sCO2 test facility being commissioned at Brunel University. Stability implications (e.g. pressure gradients in the loop) and the effects of variable inventory tank size are discussed. Tank volumes 3 times higher than the one of the power loop (including the receiver) can lead to a higher controllability range (±30% of the nominal turbine inlet temperature) and an extended availability of the control action (slower tank discharge). A PI controller is also designed to regulate the turbine inlet temperature around the target of 465 °C in response to waste heat variations. European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 680599 for the I-ThERM project; EPSRC Grant No. EP/P004636 for the OPTEMIN project and Grant No, EP/V001795/1 for the SCOTWAHR project.

The urgency to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050, as first presented by the IPCC special report on 1.5 °C Global Warming, has spurred renewed interest in hydrogen, to complement electrification, for widespread decarbonization of the economy. We present reflections on estimates of future hydrogen demand, optimization of infrastructure for hydrogen production, transport and storage, development of viable business cases, and environmental impact evaluations using life cycle assessments. We highlight challenges and opportunities that are common across studies of the business cases for hydrogen in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway. The use of hydrogen in the industrial sector is an important driver and could incentivise large-scale hydrogen value chains. In the long-term hydrogen becomes important also for the transport sector. Hydrogen production from natural gas with capture and permanent storage of the produced CO2 (CCS) enables large-scale hydrogen production in the intermediate future and is complementary to hydrogen from renewable power. Furthermore, timely establishment of hydrogen and CO2 infrastructures serves as an anchor to support the deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies, such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and biohydrogen production with CCS. Significant public support is needed to ensure coordinated planning, governance, and the establishment of supportive regulatory frameworks which foster the growth of hydrogen markets. Advances in Applied Energy, 8 ISSN:2666-7924

AbstractClimate change heavily threatens forest ecosystems worldwide and there is urgent need to understand what controls tree survival and forests stability. There is evidence that biodiversity can enhance ecosystem stability (Loreau and de Mazancourt in Ecol Lett 16:106–115, 2013; McCann in Nature 405:228–233, 2000), however it remains largely unclear whether this also holds for climate change and what aspects of biodiversity might be most important. Here we apply machine learning to outputs of a flexible-trait Dynamic Global Vegetation Model to unravel the effects of enhanced functional tree trait diversity and its sub-components on climate-change resistance of temperate forests (http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~billing/video/Forest_Resistance_LPJmLFIT.mp4). We find that functional tree trait diversity enhances forest resistance. We explain this with 1. stronger complementarity effects (~ 25% importance) especially improving the survival of trees in the understorey of up to + 16.8% (± 1.6%) and 2. environmental and competitive filtering of trees better adapted to future climate (40–87% importance). We conclude that forests containing functionally diverse trees better resist and adapt to future conditions. In this context, we especially highlight the role of functionally diverse understorey trees as they provide the fundament for better survival of young trees and filtering of resistant tree individuals in the future.

In this study, we assessed the effect of environmental salinity and pH as independent factors on larval survival of Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT –Thunnus thynnus) together with their whole-body Na+/K+-ATPase and v-type H+- ATPase activities. Fertilized eggs of ABFT were obtained from a spontaneous spawning of broodstock in the farming facilities at El Gorguel (Cartagena, SE Spain) and were transferred to facilities of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) in Mazarron ´ (SE Spain). In a first experiment, eggs (200 fertilized eggs L− 1 per treatment, in 3 replicates) were exposed to different salinities treatments and constant pH 8.0 (control) until hatch was completed (50 h post-fertilization, hpf, at 23 ◦C): 27, 30, 33, 36, 37, 38 (control), 39, 40, 43, 46 and 49 ppt. In a second experiment eggs (200 fertilized eggs L− 1 , in 3 replicates) were exposed to seawater salinity (SW: 38 ppt) and four reduced pH treatments until hatch was completed (50 hpf at 23 ◦C): 8.0 (control), 7.7, 7.5 and 7.3. An inverse “U-shaped” relationship was observed between environmental salinity and number of hatched larvae. An opposite pattern was observed for both Na+/K+-ATPase and H+-ATPase activities in hatched larvae, increasing both activities in groups exposed to extreme salinities. Thus, larval survival was higher at intermediate salinities and lower at the extreme salinities tested. These results suggest higher survival rates with lower active pumps activities. No significant differences in larval survival were observed with pH treatment, but lower H+-ATPase activity was detected at control environmental pH (pH 8.0). Survival results are discussed in terms of osmoregulatory cost adapting to a salinity and pH predicted for the near future scenarios.

AbstractWhile increasing methane emissions from thawing permafrost are anticipated to be a major climate feedback, no observational evidence for such an increase has previously been documented in the literature. Here we report a trend of increasing methane emissions for the early summer months of June and July at a permafrost site in the Lena River Delta, on the basis of the longest set of eddy covariance methane flux data in the Arctic. Along with a strong air temperature rise of 0.3 ± 0.1 °C yr−1 in June, which corresponds to an earlier warming of 11 d, the methane emissions in June and July have increased by roughly 1.9 ± 0.7% yr−1 since 2004. Although the tundra’s maximum source strength in August has not yet changed, this increase in early summer methane emissions shows that atmospheric warming has begun to considerably affect the methane flux dynamics of permafrost-affected ecosystems in the Arctic.