CERES :: Browsing by Author "Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye"

Browsing by Author "Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye"

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Open Access
A data-driven approach to understanding online service access and technological energy injustice among minority ethnic communities
(American Chemical Society, 2024-09-13) Guder, Mennan; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye
In the energy domain, various forms of injustice manifest, spanning distribution, production, access, environmental, economic, social, inter-generational, technological, cultural, and governance realms. This paper delves into the technological injustice regarding online service access by energy suppliers, specifically focusing on its impact on energy poverty among minority ethnic communities. The Ofgem Consumer Impacts of Market Conditions Survey Wave 3 Report highlights significant challenges within the energy market, particularly affecting minority ethnic communities. Despite initiatives to investigate legal services for minority ethnic communities, exploration of online service utilization remains inadequate, creating a significant gap in understanding. This paper proposes a comprehensive examination of online service usage and perceptions within minority ethnic communities to address this research gap. The proposed framework encompasses modules for survey construction, data analysis, Machine Learning (ML) integration, and Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) and simulation. Feature examination reveals correlations between accommodation type and online service satisfaction, influencing simulations. The ABM module simulates how changes in accommodation type affect online service satisfaction, with ML models predicting outcomes. Validation through empirical data and expert knowledge ensures model accuracy. This research contributes to understanding online service experiences, particularly for minority ethnic communities, aiming to empower researchers and service providers to address inequalities effectively. Future work involves expanding the ABM to incorporate threat modelling concepts, providing a tool for assessing and fortifying the security posture of online services for minority ethnic communities.
Open Access
A survey of artificial intelligence-related cybersecurity risks and countermeasures in Mobility-as-a-Service
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2024-11) Chu, Kai-Fung; Yuan, Haiyue; Yuan, Jinsheng; Guo, Weisi; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Li, Shujun
Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) integrates different transport modalities and can support more personalization of travelers’ journey planning based on their individual preferences, behaviors and wishes. To fully achieve the potential of MaaS, a range of artificial intelligence (AI) (including machine learning and data mining) algorithms are needed to learn personal requirements and needs to optimize the journey planning of each traveler and all travelers as a whole, to help transport service operators and relevant governmental bodies to operate and plan their services, and to detect and prevent cyberattacks from various threat actors, including dishonest and malicious travelers and transport operators. The increasing use of different AI and data processing algorithms in both centralized and distributed settings opens the MaaS ecosystem up to diverse cyber and privacy attacks at both the AI algorithm level and the connectivity surfaces. In this article, we present the first comprehensive review on the coupling between AI-driven MaaS design and the diverse cybersecurity challenges related to cyberattacks and countermeasures. In particular, we focus on how current and emerging AI-facilitated privacy risks (profiling, inference, and third-party threats) and adversarial AI attacks (evasion, extraction, and gamification) may impact the MaaS ecosystem. These risks often combine novel attacks (e.g., inverse learning) with traditional attack vectors (e.g., man-in-the-middle attacks), exacerbating the risks for the wider participation actors and the emergence of new business models.
Open Access
A systematic review of socio-technical systems in the Water–Energy–Food Nexus: building a framework for infrastructure justice
(MDPI, 2024-07-12) Shrimpton, Elisabeth A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye
This paper explores the place of technological interventions in the conceptualisation of the Water–Energy–Food Nexus (WEF Nexus). The focus is on the just infrastructure interventions required to decarbonise and adapt to the challenges of the climate crisis for sustainable livelihoods. We explore the overlap between two bodies of work, the WEF Nexus and Socio-Technical Systems, grown from different disciplinary perspectives, to scrutinise the extent to which there is a coherent synthesis of work that can examine infrastructure impacts and trade-offs in a WEF system. Following a systematic literature review and analysis, a framework is proposed for water and energy infrastructure interventions to both support sustainable development and recognise infrastructure’s role in a just and equitable society. This framework will support the creation of models that are less likely to miss vital components of a system or potential trade-offs and supports a multi-disciplinary approach to infrastructure interventions.
Open Access
Advances and challenges of life cycle assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas removal technologies to fight climate changes
(Elsevier, 2019-10-14) Goglio, Pietro; Williams, Adrian G.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Harris, Neil R. P.; Williamson, Phillip C.; Huisingh, Donald; Zhang, Zhe; Tavoni, Massimo
Several greenhouse gas removal technologies (GGRTs), also called negative emissions technologies (NET) have been proposed to help meet the Paris Climate Agreement targets. However, there are many uncertainties in the estimation of their effective greenhouse gas (GHG) removal potentials, caused by their different levels of technological development. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been proposed as one effective methodology to holistically assess the potential of different GGRT removal approaches but no common framework is currently available for benchmarking and policy development. In this article, challenges for LCA are reviewed and discussed together with some alternative approaches for assessment of GGRTs. In particular, GGRTs pose challenges with regards to the functional unit, the system boundary of the LCA assessment, and the timing of emissions. The need to account within LCA of GGRTs for broader implications which involve environmental impacts, economic, social and political drivers is highlighted. A set of recommendations for LCA of GGRTs are proposed for a better assessment of the GGRTs and better accounting of their carbon removal potentials to meet the targets established within the Paris Agreement.
Open Access
Assessment of rooftop solar power generation to meet residential loads in the city of Neom, Saudi Arabia
(MDPI, 2021-06-24) Alqahtani, Nasser; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye
The economic and social development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has led to a rapid increase in the consumption of electricity, with the residential sector consuming approximately 50% of total electricity production. The KSA depends largely on non-renewable energy resources, and the government has produced Saudi Vision 2030. This plan aims to lessen the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce associated problems such as air pollution. Saudi Vision 2030 combines renewable energy and new building designs so that, for example, the planned city of Neom will be net zero energy. This study addresses how best to reduce Neom’s reliance on the national grid through rooftop photovoltaic generation in residential buildings. The study develops a techno-economic model of rooftop PV with battery storage suitable for existing residential building types likely to be built in Neom city (villas, traditional houses, and apartments), and assesses the optimal PV size, battery storage capacity, and optimal orientation of the PV panels. The study used HOMER Pro to compute the Net Present Cost, Levelized Cost of Energy, orientation of PV panels, and optimum PV system size. The optimal size of PV system is 14.0 kW for the villa, 11.1 kW for the traditional dwelling, and 10.3 kW for the apartment, each with a single battery of capacity 12 kWh.
Open Access
Barriers to powering past coal: implications for a just energy transition in South Africa
(Elsevier, 2023-05-25) Mirzania, Pegah; Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Sayan, Ramazan Caner; Marais, Lochner
The feasibility of South Africa's just energy transition, as dictated by the speed of phasing out coal and scaling up renewables, will rest on a range of techno-economic, socio-political, and socio-technical factors. Interactions between these dimensions of the transition carry significant implications for energy justice. In response, this paper proposes the Just Transition Feasibility Framework (JTFF) to better evaluate how feasibility constraints may impact South Africa's energy transition ambitions, and its more recent commitments to energy justice. Drawing on qualitative findings from interviews with South African energy experts, the study provides critical insights on the national- and community-scale implications of current energy policies. The analysis highlights socio-political constraints related to the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme (REI4P) which aggravate energy vulnerabilities and misrecognition of places. In addition to strategically tackling a range of techno-economic and socio-technical constraints which are seen to exacerbate distributive injustice, the South African government should extend the 50 km radius scheme of the REI4P to a wider and more inclusive regional basis. Foremost, policy interventions must seek to realign South Africa's Minerals Energy Complex towards a just transition pathway committed to renewable electrification, community empowerment, and sustainable socio-economic structures.
Open Access
Beyond the triangle of renewable energy acceptance: The five dimensions of domestic hydrogen acceptance
(Elsevier, 2022-08-07) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
The ‘deep’ decarbonization of the residential sector is a priority for meeting national climate change targets, especially in countries such as the UK where natural gas has been the dominant fuel source for over half a century. Hydrogen blending and repurposing the national grid to supply low-carbon hydrogen gas may offer respective short- and long-term solutions to achieving emissions reduction across parts of the housing sector. Despite this imperative, the social acceptance of domestic hydrogen energy technologies remains underexplored by sustainability scholars, with limited insights regarding consumer perceptions and expectations of the transition. A knowledge deficit of this magnitude is likely to hinder effective policymaking and may result in sub-optimal rollout strategies that derail the trajectory of the net zero agenda. Addressing this knowledge gap, this study develops a conceptual framework for examining the consumer-facing side of the hydrogen transition. The paper affirms that the spatiotemporal patterns of renewable energy adoption are shaped by a range of interacting scales, dimensions, and factors. The UK’s emerging hydrogen landscape and its actor-network is characterized as a heterogenous system, composed of dynamic relationships and interdependencies. Future studies should engage with domestic hydrogen acceptance as a co-evolving, multi-scalar phenomenon rooted in the interplay of five distinct dimensions: attitudinal, sociopolitical, community, market, and behavioral acceptance. If arrived to, behavioral acceptance helps realize the domestication of hydrogen heating and cooking, established on grounds on cognitive, sociopolitical, and sociocultural legitimacy. The research community should internalize the complexity and richness of consumer attitudes and responses, through a more critical and reflexive approach to the study of social acceptance.
Open Access
Can compulsory ecological compensation for land damaged by mining activities mitigate CO2 emissions in China?
(Frontiers, 2021-11-25) Wang, Siyao; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Yildirim, Julide; Chen, Fu; Wang, Yinghong
Chinese government has proposed a national contribution plan that involves achieving the peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. To explore the pathway of achieving carbon neutrality, we tried to use resources taxes and land reclamation deposits as compulsory ecological compensation (CEC). In order to test if CEC can affect CO2 emissions, energy intensity was selected as the intermediate variable. We found that the CO2 emissions trend in China is consistent with environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and proved that CEC displayed a spillover effect on energy intensity. Likely, energy intensity presented a spillover effect on CO2 emissions. Therefore, CEC will spatially affect CO2 emissions. The generalized spatial two-stage least-squares estimate model was used to identify the impact mechanism of coal production on energy intensity with CEC as the instrumental variable. The results indicated that reducing coal production in neighboring regions may cause the mitigation of local CO2 emissions. Finally, regression analyses carried out by region suggested regional cooperation should be carried out in the process of carbon mitigation.
Open Access
Control of supercritical organic Rankine cycle based waste heat recovery system using conventional and fuzzy self-tuned PID controllers
(Springer, 2019-08-19) Chowdhury, Jahedul Islam; Thornhill, David; Soulatiantork, Payam; Hu, Yukun; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Varga, Liz; Nguyen, Bao Kha
This research develops a supercritical organic Rankine cycle (ORC) based waste heat recovery (WHR) system for control system simulation. In supercritical ORC-WHR systems, the evaporator is a main contributor to the thermal inertia of the system, which is greatly affected by transient heat sources during operation. In order to capture the thermal inertia of the system and reduce the computation time in the simulation process, a fuzzy-based dynamic evaporator model was developed and integrated with other component models to provide a complete dynamic ORC-WHR model. This paper presents two control strategies for the ORC-WHR system: evaporator temperature control and expander output control, and two control algorithms: a conventional PID controller and a fuzzy-based self-tuning PID controller. The performances of the proposed controllers are tested for set point tracking and disturbance rejection ability in the presence of steady and transient thermal input conditions. The robustness of the proposed controllers is investigated with respect to various operating conditions. The results show that the fuzzy self-tuning PID controller outperformed the conventional PID controller in terms of set point tracking and disturbance rejection ability at all conditions encountered in the paper.
Open Access
Coupling green hydrogen production to community benefits: a pathway to social acceptance?
(Elsevier, 2024-02-23) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Haq, Anwar; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
Hydrogen energy technologies are forecasted to play a critical supporting role in global decarbonisation efforts, as reflected by the growth of national hydrogen energy strategies in recent years. Notably, the UK government published its Hydrogen Strategy in August 2021 to support decarbonisation targets and energy security ambitions. While establishing techno-economic feasibility for hydrogen energy systems is a prerequisite of the prospective transition, social acceptability is also needed to support visions for the ‘hydrogen economy’. However, to date, societal factors are yet to be embedded into policy prescriptions. Securing social acceptance is especially critical in the context of ‘hydrogen homes’, which entails replacing natural gas boilers and hobs with low-carbon hydrogen appliances. Reflecting the nascency of hydrogen heating and cooking technologies, the dynamics of social acceptance are yet to be explored in a comprehensive way. Similarly, public perceptions of the hydrogen economy and emerging national strategies remain poorly understood. Given the paucity of conceptual and empirical insights, this study develops an integrated acceptance framework and tests its predictive power using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Results highlight the importance of risk perceptions, trust dynamics, and emotions in shaping consumer perceptions. Foremost, prospects for deploying hydrogen homes at scale may rest with coupling renewable-based hydrogen production to local environmental and socio-economic benefits. Policy prescriptions should embed societal factors into the technological pursuit of large-scale, sustainable energy solutions to support socially acceptable transition pathways.
Open Access
Design optimization of supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO2) cycles for waste heat recovery from marine engines
(American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2021-01-29) Hossain, Md. J.; Chowdhury, Jahedul Islam; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Asfand, Faisal; Saadon, Syamimi; Imran, Mohammad
The global climate change challenge and the international commitment to reduce carbon emission can be addressed by improving energy conversion efficiency and adopting efficient waste heat recovery technologies. Supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO2) cycles that offer a compact footprint and higher cycle efficiency are investigated in this study to utilize the waste heat of the exhaust gas from a marine diesel engine (Wärtsilä-18V50DF, 17.55 MW). Steady-state models of basic, recuperated and reheated s-CO2 Brayton cycles are developed and optimised for net work and thermal efficiency in Aspen Plus to simulate and compare their performances. Results show that the reheated cycle performs marginally better than the recuperated cycle accounting for the highest optimised net-work and thermal efficiency. For the reheated and recuperated cycle, the optimized net-work ranges from 648–2860 kW and 628–2852 kW respectively, while optimized thermal efficiency ranges are 15.2–36.3% and 14.8–35.6% respectively. Besides, an energy efficiency improvement of 6.3% is achievable when the engine is integrated with an s-CO2 waste heat recovery system which is operated by flue gas with a temperature of 373 °C and mass flow rate of 28.2 kg/s, compared to the engine without a heat recovery system.
Open Access
Divergent consumer preferences and visions for cooking and heating technologies in the United Kingdom: make our homes clean, safe, warm and smart!
(Elsevier, 2023-08-12) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
Decarbonising the global housing stock is imperative for reaching climate change targets. In the United Kingdom, hydrogen is currently being tested as a replacement fuel for natural gas, which could be used to supply low-carbon energy to parts of the country. Transitioning the residential sector towards a net-zero future will call for an inclusive understanding of consumer preferences for emerging technologies. In response, this paper explores consumer attitudes towards domestic cooking and heating technologies, and energy appliances of the future, which could include a role for hydrogen hobs and boilers in UK homes. To access qualitative evidence on this topic, we conducted ten online focus groups (N = 58) with members of the UK public between February and April 2022. The study finds that existing gas users wish to preserve the best features of gas cooking, such as speed, responsiveness and controllability, but also desire the potential safety and aesthetic benefits of electric systems, principally induction hobs. Meanwhile, future heating systems should ensure thermal comfort, ease of use, energy efficiency and smart performance, while providing space savings and noise reduction, alongside demonstrable green benefits. Mixed-methods multigroup analysis suggests divergence between support levels for hydrogen homes, which implies a degree of consumer heterogeneity. Foremost, we find that domestic hydrogen acceptance is positively associated with interest and engagement with renewable energy and fuel poverty pressures. We conclude that internalising the perspectives of consumers is critical to enabling constructive socio-technical imaginaries for low-carbon domestic energy futures.
Open Access
Energy transition at local level: analyzing the role of peer effects and socio-economic factors on UK solar photovoltaic deployment
(Elsevier, 2020-11-03) Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Yildirim, Julide; Connor, Peter M.; Truckell, Ian; Hart, Phil
A growing literature highlights the presence of spatial differences in solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption patterns. Central to forward planning is an understanding of what affects PV growth, yet insights into the determinants of PV adoption in the literature are limited. What factors do drive the adoption at local level? Are the effects of these factors geographically uniform or are there nuances? What is the nature of these nuances? Existing studies so far use aggregate macro datasets with limited ability to capture the role of peer effects. This paper considers some established variables but also broadens the base of variables to try to identify new indicators relating to PV adoption. Specifically, it analyses domestic PV adoption in the UK at local level using data on the number of charities as a proxy to capture the opportunities to initiate social interactions and peer effects. A geographically weighted regression model that considers the spatially varying relationship between PV adoption and socio-economic explanatory variables reveals significantly more variability than the global regression. Our results show that charities and self-employment positively influence PV uptake while other socio-economic variables such as population density has bidirectional impacts.
Open Access
Exploring the contours of consumer heterogeneity: towards a typology of domestic hydrogen acceptance
(Elsevier, 2024-01-11) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
Hydrogen energy technologies are anticipated to play a fundamental role in securing a decarbonised energy future. While the deployment of low-carbon hydrogen energy systems remains nascent and is subject to a range of techno-economic constraints, potential scalability will also hinge on social acceptance. In response, this study draws on extensive national survey data to derive a comprehensive typology of domestic acceptance, which reflects multiple factors influencing consumer attitudes towards low-carbon hydrogen heating and cooking appliances. The proposed typology is developed through rigorous coding of over 1000 qualitative statements, leading to 12 core acceptance factors composed of a mix of positive, neutral, and negative sub-factors. The study finds that eight primary sub-factors account for close to 60 % of identified codes, with knowledge deficit (negative), environmental benefits (positive), and financial risks (negative) ranking highest. Critically, these three sub-factors are also the most statistically significant predictors of consumer heterogeneity. At the sub-group level, the analysis shows that engagement with renewable energy technology and climate change is associated with stronger perceptions of environmental benefits and lower financial concerns. By contrast, perceived financial risks and concerns over energy injustice constrain acceptance levels among fuel stressed respondents. Through mixed-methods analysis, the study transmits the value of advancing acceptance typologies as a critical mechanism for enacting a ‘just’ hydrogen economy. The analysis supports developing strategic measures which account for consumer heterogeneity to better support socially acceptable pathways for residential decarbonisation.
Open Access
FAR out? An examination of converging, diverging and intersecting smart grid futures in the United Kingdom
(Elsevier, 2020-07-07) Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Watson, Tom; Connor, Peter M.; Axon, Colin J.; Whitmarsh, Lorraine; Spence, Alexa; Baker, Philip E.
We describe a novel application of the field anomaly relaxation (FAR) method of scenario construction to the complex problem of smart grid development. We augment the FAR methodology with extensive expert input through all four steps to incorporate detailed knowledge of the technical, economic and policy issues relevant to informing scenarios for smart grid development in the United Kingdom. These steps inform scenarios useful to policymakers, regulators and the energy industry. We found this extended method to be flexible and reliable. Analysis of smart grid development yielded seven dimensions, allowing for portrayal of a complex and informed set of scenarios. The expert input and feedback identified branching points allowing switching between scenarios – a powerful dynamic feature to assist policy development for a fast-changing technological and regulatory landscape.
Open Access
Feasibility study of biomass gasification integrated with reheating furnaces in steelmaking process
(DEStech Publication Inc., 2019-11-04) Hu, Yukun; Chowdhury, Jahedul Islam; Katsaros, Giannis; Tan, C. K.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Varga, Liz; Tassou, Savvas; Wang, Chunsheng
This paper investigates the integration of biosyngas production, reheating furnace and heat recovery steam cycle, in order to use biosyngas directly as fuel in the furnace. A system model was developed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system from the perspective of heat and mass balance. To particularly study the impacts of fuel switching on the heating quality of the furnace, a three-dimensional furnace model considering detailed heat transfer processes was embedded into the system through an Aspen PlusTM user defined model. The simulation results show that biosyngas is suitable for direct use as fuel for reheating furnaces. Should CO capture be considered in the proposed system, it has a potential to achieve the capture without external energy input which results in so-called negative emissions of CO.
Open Access
Fuzzy nonlinear dynamic evaporator model in supercritical organic Rankine cycle waste heat recovery systems
(MDPI, 2018-04-11) Chowdhury, Jahedul Islam; Nguyen, Bao Kha; Thornhill, David; Hu, Yukun; Soulatiantork, Payam; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Varga, Liz
The organic Rankine cycle (ORC)-based waste heat recovery (WHR) system operating under a supercritical condition has a higher potential of thermal efficiency and work output than a traditional subcritical cycle. However, the operation of supercritical cycles is more challenging due to the high pressure in the system and transient behavior of waste heat sources from industrial and automotive engines that affect the performance of the system and the evaporator, which is the most crucial component of the ORC. To take the transient behavior into account, the dynamic model of the evaporator using renowned finite volume (FV) technique is developed in this paper. Although the FV model can capture the transient effects accurately, the model has a limitation for real-time control applications due to its time-intensive computation. To capture the transient effects and reduce the simulation time, a novel fuzzy-based nonlinear dynamic evaporator model is also developed and presented in this paper. The results show that the fuzzy-based model was able to capture the transient effects at a data fitness of over 90%, while it has potential to complete the simulation 700 times faster than the FV model. By integrating with other subcomponent models of the system, such as pump, expander, and condenser, the predicted system output and pressure have a mean average percentage error of 3.11% and 0.001%, respectively. These results suggest that the developed fuzzy-based evaporator and the overall ORC-WHR system can be used for transient simulations and to develop control strategies for real-time applications.
Open Access
Gauging public perceptions of blue and green hydrogen futures: is the twin-track approach compatible with hydrogen acceptance?
(Elsevier, 2023-07-14) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
National hydrogen strategies are emerging as a critical pillar of climate change policy. For homes connected to the gas grid, hydrogen may offer an alternative decarbonisation pathway to electrification. Hydrogen production pathways in countries such as the UK will involve both the gas network and the electricity grid, with related policy choices and investment decisions impacting the potential configuration of consumer acceptance for hydrogen homes. Despite the risk of public resistance, be it on environmental, economic, or social grounds, few studies have explored the emerging contours of domestic hydrogen acceptance. To date, there is scarce evidence on public perceptions of national hydrogen policy and the extent to which attitudes may be rooted in prior knowledge and awareness, or open to change following information provision and engagement. In response, this study evaluates consumer preferences for a low-carbon energy future, wherein parts of the UK housing stock may adopt low-carbon hydrogen boilers and hobs. Drawing on data from online focus groups, we examine consumer perceptions of the government's twin-track approach, which envisions important roles for both ‘blue’ and ‘green’ hydrogen to meet net zero ambitions. Through a mixed-methods, multigroup analysis, the underlying motivation is to explore whether the twin-track approach appears compatible with hydrogen acceptance. Moving forward, hydrogen policy should ensure greater transparency concerning the benefits, costs, and risks of the transition, with clearer communication about the justification for supporting respective hydrogen production pathways.
Open Access
Heterogeneous preferences for living in a hydrogen home: an advanced multigroup analysis
(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2024-05-14) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Haq, Anwar Ul; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
The UK Hydrogen Strategy (August 2021) and subsequent Heat and Buildings Strategy (October 2021) affirm that a strategic decision is set to be taken by 2026 on the prospect of residential decarbonisation via ‘hydrogen homes’. As this decision date draws nearer, quantitative insights on consumer perceptions of hydrogen-fuelled heating and cooking appliances remain limited. The existing knowledge deficit presents a substantial barrier to implementing a socially acceptable deployment pathway for residential decarbonisation. Despite recent efforts to advance the social science research agenda on hydrogen acceptance, few studies have advanced theoretical knowledge or pursued comprehensive statistical analyses. This study responds to the extant research gap by analysing the perceived adoption potential for hydrogen homes via partial least squares-necessary condition-multigroup analysis. Drawing on data from a nationally representative online survey (N = 1845) conducted in the UK, the adoption dynamics for domestic hydrogen are compared across four sub-groups of the population. The findings suggest that non-economic constructs such as safety perceptions and production perceptions are potentially more influential at this stage of the domestic hydrogen transition. Differences between consumer sub-groups are explained by safety, technology, and production perceptions, whereas financial perceptions are relatively homogeneous across the segments. These patterns underline the opportunity to strengthen residential decarbonisation efforts through segment-specific polices and strategic engagement with different parts of the housing stock. Policy makers and key stakeholders should factor consumer heterogeneity into net-zero decision-making processes by firstly acknowledging the amplifying effect of technology and environmental engagement in supporting adoption prospects for hydrogen homes. Socially acceptable strategies for decarbonising the residential sector can be supported by actively responding to heterogeneous household preferences for living in a hydrogen home.
Open Access
A holistic risk management framework for renewable energy investments
(Elsevier, 2022-03-04) Abba, Yahajja Zara Ibrahim; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Hart, Phil
Private investments are critical enablers to achieving energy access for over 770 million people worldwide. Despite decreasing capital costs, investments in renewable energy (RE) projects in developing countries are low due to unattractive risk-return profiles. Through understanding key risks drivers and their interactions, actionable insights can be drawn to mitigate investment risks, making energy more accessible. This paper reviews RE risks and methods used for risk assessment and mitigation for developed and developing countries with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa countries (SSA). The review finds that while risk analysis and evaluation mainly employed semi-quantitative multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) and system dynamics (SD) methods for developing countries, qualitative methods were used to identify mitigations. The methods assessed technical and economic risks at a minimum, while MCDA and SD methods can assess social, political, and policy risks. The efficacies of mitigations were tested using SD and quantitative methods such as agent-based modelling and Monte Carlo simulation. The paper further introduces a ‘holistic multi-dimensional investor risk management framework’ which can be used to identify actions to improve investment risks in a structured manner. The framework addresses four fundamental limitations observed in the existing literature, recognising that RE risks are complex and involve multidisciplinary perspectives having interactions and feedbacks with other risks, actors, and their actions. This review provides a valuable reference to investors, policymakers, and researchers, providing a catalogue of risks, methods deployed in literature, including a framework to identify impactful actions to improve risk levels.