Topic Review
100% Renewable Energy: Concepts and Progresses
Some advanced countries’ rapid population, economic growth, and energy consumption expansion contribute significantly to global CO2 emissions. And while developed countries have achieved 100% universal access to electricity, mainly from non-renewable sources, many developing countries still lack it. This presents challenges and opportunities for achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 13 of generating all energy from cleaner or low-carbon sources to reduce CO2 emissions in all countries and combating climate change consequences. Renewable energies have been widely acknowledged to greatly advance this endeavour, resulting in many studies and about 30 countries already with over 70% of their national electricity mix from RE. It has birthed a new paradigm and an emerging field of 100% RE for all purposes, receiving much attention from academia and in public discourse. 
  • 590
  • 20 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Biobutanol Production from Acetone–Butanol–Ethanol Fermentation
Butanol fermentation, also known as acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation, refers to the synthesis of butanol by butanol-producing strains using starch crops or sugars as raw materials under strict anaerobic conditions while generating byproducts of acetone and ethanol.
  • 227
  • 19 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Sustainable Communities
Machine Learning (ML), a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is gaining popularity in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. In the interior environment, they contribute to energy management by optimizing energy usage, finding inefficiencies, and recommending modifications to minimize consumption. This contributes to reducing the environmental effect of energy generation. Similarly, AI and ML technologies aid in addressing environmental challenges. They can monitor air quality, noise levels, and waste management systems to quickly discover and minimize pollution sources. Likewise, AI and ML applications in construction processes enhance planning, scheduling, and facility management.
  • 200
  • 19 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Microbial Biocontrol Agents in Fight against Alder Diseases
Common Alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) is a tree species native to Ireland and Europe with high economic and ecological importance. The presence of Alder has many benefits including the ability to adapt to multiple climate types, as well as aiding in ecosystem restoration due to its colonization capabilities within disturbed soils. However, Alder is susceptible to infection of the root rot pathogen Phytophthora alni, amongst other pathogens associated with this tree species. P. alni has become an issue within the forestry sector as it continues to spread across Europe, infecting Alder plantations, thus affecting their growth and survival and altering ecosystem dynamics. Beneficial microbiota and biocontrol agents play a crucial role in maintaining the health and resilience of plants. Studies have shown that beneficial microbes promote plant growth as well as aid in the protection against pathogens and abiotic stress. 
  • 204
  • 18 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Life Cycle Thinking for a Circular Bioeconomy
The circular bioeconomy (CBE) is an increasingly popular method used to add value to bio-based products. However, these products entail impacts on sustainability that can be assessed by life cycle thinking (LCT). LCT is an approach to assess the impacts of products throughout their life cycles by using different tools, namely: (environmental) life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), social life cycle assessment (SLCA) and life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), which is a combination of the three and aims to assess the impacts of all of the three dimensions of sustainability.
  • 292
  • 18 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Hydrogen Production and Storage
Hydrogen has been widely considered to hold promise for solving challenges associated with the increasing demand for green energy. While many chemical and biochemical processes produce molecular hydrogen as byproducts, electrochemical approaches using water electrolysis are considered to be a predominant method for clean and green hydrogen production. 
  • 222
  • 15 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Primary Rare Earth Elements Resources
Rare earth elements (REEs) are national strategic resources widely applied in industries such as petrochemicals, electronics, national defense and new energy. The primary REE resources are monazite, bastnaesite, xenotime and ion-adsorption type rare earth ore.
  • 212
  • 15 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Decision Support Systems Based on Gaseous Emissions
To achieve national and global air quality and climate change objectives, the agricultural sector increasingly requires dependable decision support tools for gaseous emissions at the farm level. While most decision support systems (DSSs) provide information for facilitating their use, only four are suitable for inexperienced users, and stakeholder participation in DSS development is infrequent. The dominant methodology for farm-level greenhouse gas (GHG) estimation is IPCC 2006, with quantitative models primarily used for indicators’ assessment. Scenario and contribution analyses are the prevailing decision-support approaches. Soil, crop, and fertilizer types are the most implemented non-livestock-related inputs, while climate- and feed-related costs are the least required. All DSSs assess farm-level mitigation measures, but less than half offer sustainability consultation. These tools promote environmental sustainability by evaluating mitigation strategies, disseminating farm sustainability information, and guiding sustainable farm management. Yet, challenges such as disparate estimation methods, result variations, comparison difficulties, usability concerns, steep learning curves, the lack of automation, the necessity for multiple tools, the limited integration of the results, and changing regulations hinder their wider adoption.
  • 133
  • 13 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Flow Experiments of CO2 in Complex Pore Structures
To prevent CO2 leakage and ensure the safety of long-term CO2 storage, it is essential to investigate the flow mechanism of CO2 in complex pore structures at the pore scale. 
  • 235
  • 12 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Requirements for Irrigation Water
Access to and the use of irrigation water of adequate quality and targeted nutrient supplementation have become more widespread. Both crop quality and the irrigation system lifetime are affected by the quality of the water used for irrigation.
  • 145
  • 12 Sep 2023
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