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This paper presents an analysis of available statistical data on changes in the area of renewable energy sources in the European Union (EU). The analysis of the results takes into account, e.g. the share of renewable energy in final gross energy consumption and the share of renewable energy in gross power consumption. The analyzed source data relate to EU member states. The presented statistical data are based on data prepared in accordance with the accounting rules set in Directive 2009/28/EC regarding the promot...

The article deals with the impact of public recreation on forest communities near sacred sites in the suburban area of the city. The question is actual and is caused by an assessment of influence of forest types of recreation on components of forest biogeocenosis. It is revealed that for this purpose it is necessary to achieve strict observance of the basic ecological and forestry requirements at the organization of forest territories by types of the recreational occupations guaranteeing reliable preservation and ...

In order to fight for a clean environment, different types of action that can be helpful in this situation must be taken. The environment should be taken care of by the governments of individual countries, enterprises and various organizations, but also by ordinary people. The last group is particularly important because people transfer their behavior to their family, children, work, etc. But to know what to do, how to behave to help the environment, people must have an ecological awareness of their actions and li...

The purpose of this project was to perform an environmental impact assessment of useful plants in the conditions of the Western Baikal region by soil factor and luminance. The studies were carried out based on the results of analysis of geobotanical descriptions made by the authors on the study area. When performing studies, the authors relied on ecological scales of foreign and Russian scientists, such as L.G. Ramenskii, E. Landolt, D.N. Tsyganov, G. Ellenberg, I.A. Tsatsenkin, etc. Based on the studied geobotani...

Often, accelerated development of business activity in modern world contradicts with environment and thus, ecological condition worsens. The topic is so urgent, that it has acquired a global character and constitutes the significant problem for many country. Mountains of Ajara is one of the demographically loaded region, which has quite developed business environment. Because of its complex relief and high level of precipitation, natural environment is less stable and elemental processes are active (landslide, mud...

The progress of development must be assessed by relevant indicators. Two fundamental indicators for agriculture often proposed by principal schools of modern economics are work and land productivity. In addition to facilitating comparisons between countries, it is paramount to consider historical factors that have shaped agriculture. Poland's accession to the European Union fostered a number of discussions on the performance of Polish agriculture between both scientists and decision makers. To analyse selected soc...

Latvia is one of the greenest countries in Europe, and one of the advantages it gives is an opportunity to incorporate its nature and naturalness in tourism products. It is important for Latvia as a small country to contribute to the visibility of tourism products, which could promote sustainable economic growth. Solutions could be found within the scope of government policies. One of the objectives is to promote exports of tourism services without causing problems to the natural and social environments. In touris...

Currently, the depletion of traditional oil and gas reserves makes it necessary to develop hard-to-recover reserves, develop and apply new technologies for hydrocarbon exploration and production in hard-to-reach areas of Eastern Siberia and on the Arctic shelf. Solving these problems calls for intensifying the implementation of information technologies in the oil and gas complex. The article states that, at present, an intensive digital transformation is taking place in the oil and gas complex of Russia. Companies...

Ecotourism is often connected s concepts nature tourism, wildlife tourism, soft tourism, green tourism. In Slovakia, there is a known concept of green tourism, which main goal is stay in environment untouched by man. Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a lowimpact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial mass tourism. It means responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, an improving the well...

In the last decades the ecotourism become ever so popular in the protected natural areas. This form of tourism is more and more used as a new science which can reflect the new coordinates and trends for the development of the tourism industry on a global scale. In the beginning it was applied only in the natural protected areas, and step by step its area of influence got extended over the other major forms of tourism as well. By the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century the ecotourism is gradua...

Ecotourism is one of the most rapidly developing new forms of the tourism industry which started to gain ground considerably by the end of the 20th century. This is the new trend in promoting a conscious and sustainable form of tourism with regards to the inherited natural environment and which promotes education, protection and preservation of the natural environment, economic growth and social development of the local communities. Thus in this paper we would like to present some of the aspects of the actual stat...

Salmonid fishes have always been the most valuable objects of the fisheries in the Baltic region. The population growth in Baltic region and the demand for fish products have resulted in the overfishing and impoverishment of many fishing areas. Most of wild types of fishes are losing their native spawning areas because of anthropogenic transformation involving hydro-technical construction, eutrophication of water bodies, water pollution and inadequate fishery. Heavy metals are considered as main toxicants in the p...

Catch crops have the potential to positively affect soil and environmental quality, including the reduction of soil erosion by water. As growing of catch crops require additional costs, farmers should be aware of the benefits that catch crops can provide. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the potential effect of catch crops with respect to reduction of soil erosion in transboundary Lielupe and Venta river basin districts (RBDs) shared by Latvia and Lithuania. Both RBDs are characterized by intensive crop f...

In-situ combustion is considered as one of the most effective ways to enhance recovery of heavy crude oils and bitumens. The oxygen from injected air reacts with the heavy components of the crude oil, forming a hot zone in which the cracking and oxidation of the heavy fractions occurs. It is noted that the combustion process essentially depends on the pressure and the nature of the crude oil. Thus detailed study on the effect of the gas phase composition on the processes of crude oil oxidation seems to be relevant...

The presented work deals with the effect of maize and legume planting density within mixed cropping system (MC) on selected indicators of soil quality: (1) microbial carbon content (Cmic); (2) total soil carbon (Ctot) content and (3) total soil nitrogen (Ntot) content. To demonstrate potential effect of different plant density within MC, 4-year field experiment was established in 2017 and will continue until 2020. The field experiment consisted of two MC groups with different plant density of maize (75 000 plants/...

One of the promising areas of rational use of wood and wood waste is their processing using pyrolysis technology, in which solid biomass can be converted into liquid useful products. Pyrolysis liquid products in the form of raw bio-oils or charcoal suspensions have several advantages over solid ones: high energy density, composition stability during storage, ease of use and transportation. The article investigates the effect of preliminary heat treatment of ground aspen wood on the mass yield of products, obtained...

The development of industry is always accompanied by an increase in the negative impact on nature. A variety of waste generated at the production stage for a long time is stored, accumulated and transformed. This is especially true for organic waste, the amount of which is steadily increasing as the industry develops. In this regard, the issue of their processing is becoming increasingly important. Currently, one of the optimal types of organic mass processing is pyrolysis. However, in most cases, thermochemical p...

Soil contamination with heavy metals is a major national economic and environmental problem, since heavy metals are subject to destruction and are able to be actively involved in the biological circulation and accumulate in vegetation and animal organisms [2]. Therefore, the theoretical and methodological basis of this work was the scientific development of the theoretical and methodological nature of scientists in the field of sugar production and poultry meat production, which revealed issues related to the crea...

Heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks including heavy and extra-heavy oils produced from oilsands reservoirs have a high viscosity, which cause a big challenge to their productions and pipeline transportations. Techniques to reduce the viscosity at low incremental production cost are desirable. Thermal decompositions of these resources-derived bitumen at temperatures of 250 °C was explored as a prospect strategy for viscosity reduction. In this work, thermal visbreaking experiments were carried out in a stainless-steel 350...

In situ combustion (ISC) method is considered as a relatively inexpensive and effective method for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). It can achieve a very high oil recovery factor due to a significant increase of pressure and temperature during the combustion process of crude oil. Over the last ten years, high pressure differential scanning calorimetry (HP-DSC) has been widely used for understanding the oxidation process of heavy oil. In this paper, HP-DSC experiments were carried out to investigate the alteration of c...

The biology and ecology of Daphnia (Crustacea: Cladocera) is dependent on a number of biotic and abiotic factors. One of the ways Daphnia adapts to changes in environmental conditions is their swimming behavior. In this study, we assessed the effect of temperature and light intensity on the swimming activity of Daphnia magna in laboratory experiments using computerized video analysis in real time by the hardware-software system ?TrackTox?. In experiments we simulated different levels of temperature (14.5 ± 0.2, 20...

The article deals with the effective reduction of drinking water loss in its distribution in the territory of the model municipality in the Czech Republic. Loss reduction is a long-term process that is one of the cornerstones of the strategy of each operator or owner of the water supply system. Losses of water in water network characterize not only the construction-technical condition of the distribution system in a given agglomeration, but also one of the business cards of the operator or owner of the distributio...

Nowadays, there is a gradual decline in oil production from conventional reservoirs, and it leads to introduction of unconventional hydrocarbon sources into the development. Shale oil production is one of the focus areas of potential unconventional hydrocarbon reserves development. Besides ultralow permeability, low porosity, and high reservoir temperature, its production is complicated due to the lack of geological information, complex reservoir structure and physical processes occurring during multiphase fluid f...

The aim of the paper was to determine the level and structure of material expenditures in the selected organic farms. As measures of effectiveness of use of material expenditures, relations of the total value of agricultural production and the agricultural income to material expenditures were assumed. The scope of the study covered the research in thirty certified organic farms located in the south Poland in Malopolskie, Podkarpackie, and Slaskie voivodeships. These farms held certificates of organic farms. Materi...

Thermal methods have attracted a significant attention for the extraction of high-viscosity oil and natural bitumen. One of the promising methods for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is in-situ combustion (ISC). In the reservoir, the combustion process occurred in the porous media of rock. As we all know that rock contains different minerals that may influence the crude oil combustion characteristics when air is injected into the heavy oil reservoir. Thus, it is important to determine the influence of various types of ...

Manure and manure-based composts may contain antibiotics and antibiotic?resistant genes (ARGs). Application of composts on agricultural soils can be a potential risk of the spread of antibiotic resistance. The effect of compost containing ARGs was assessed in a 35?day pot experiment on the following soil characteristics: the level of respiratory activity and microbial biomass, the bacteria?fungi ratio, the content of tetracycline?resistant genes tet(M) and tet(X), and the content of OmpF gene encoding horizontal t...

The research studied the effects of solubility, disperse features (Z average diameter dav, and charge (?-potential) of the particles of heavy-metal slightly soluble compounds exemplified by aluminum (III), zinc (II) and plumbum (II) hydrates related to efficiency of their removal from aqueous solutions in the composition of 2- and 3-component systems by means of electroflotation and filtration within a wide pH-range (5 ? 12). The metals in question demonstrate various pH-values of hydrates formation and solution. ...

The North Caucasus economic region is an area where all Russian agricultural crops are cultivated, but at the same time it is one of the most difficult regions in terms of soil and climatic conditions: from semi-desert areas to mountainous ones. The district is an important food base of Russia, a supplier of grain, sunflower, sugar beet, vegetables and fruits, grapes and livestock products. At the same time in the region there are big problems of effective and rational use of land, which is associated with both so...

A sustainable remediation of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons pollution such as chlorobenzenes (CB) based on the use of electro-Fenton as treatment process requires the development of reactor conditions as well as the cost of operations. A combined process coupling an electrochemical and Fenton processes with Pd catalyst in order to degrade CB was investigated with H2O2 production. The electro-Fenton treatment of CB was examined and the processes mechanism was identified for different concentrations of 5-11 mg/L ...

Consumption of energy resources is one of the most important factors of economic growth. Competition for energy resources leads to expansion of range of consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy sources, such as hard-to-recover or shale oil, gas hydrates, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal and other energy. Development of technologies, energy security and environmental sustainability cause inter-fuel competition. However, despite the diversity and substitutability of the types of energy resources, the main f...

An area prone to landslide, threatening a small accumulation dam and a near-by landfill, was investigated by means of electrical resistivity. The variation of electrical parameters (electrical resistivity and chargeability factor) of soils and rocks is seldom used as a diagnostic tool in areas prone to mass movements. When the mentioned parameters are acquired using a multielectrode measuring system, the subsurface characterization is highly enhanced, considerably decreasing the number of invasive tests necessary ...

Heritage historic buildings are often wasteful in terms of energy efficiency. Changing their energy supply, load and consumption is particularly challenging given that heritage needs protection and interventions on the building architecture are limited. From the point of view of the renewable energy sources integration in historical buildings, the aesthetic aspects are very important and due to this reason, modern systems can be ruled out. However, the energy efficiency challenges imposed by today's society can be...

The territory of the Danube Region represents one fifth of the European Union?s total area and is home to more than 100 million inhabitants. The Danube Region is characterized by a divergent group of 11 countries (9 of them are EU member states, 5 are non-EU countries) concerning the process of integration and the preconditions in geographic, economic, cultural and socio-demographic terms. In order to increase growth and strengthen cooperation at a macro-regional level, the European Union established the Danube Re...

Dry torrefaction is a mild pyrolysis process carried out in anoxic atmospheres between temperature ranges of 200?C and 300?C. It is used as a pretreatment of biomass as it improves its characteristics and reduces the biomass limitations of usage by reducing its hygroscopy, increasing its energy value, etc. Due to its favorable effects, a torrefaction process has been carried out using Malaysian oil palm wastes (empty fruit bunches, mesocarp fiber and kernel shell), at two different temperatures (250?C and 300?C) l...

Underground pipeline corrosion protection is an urgent task to be addressed by the companies that operate gathering and transmission pipeline systems. The key component of pipeline protection procedure is a feasibility study of the planned cathodic protection program, which, in its turn, poses a number of requirements for calculating basic parameters of the entire system. The regulatory calculation procedures do not allow resolving all tasks. The same can be stated about modern software which is based on the same ...

Latest economic research has been overloaded with discussion of socio-economic crisis and its complexity, or even impossibility of rapid recovery. We have considered the state of environmental security of the region and the key factors affecting it. There are two main approaches to the assessment of the environmental security: an economic and geographical approach, and a geo-ecological approach. The first one suggests considering the environmental infrastructure as an object of the nature protection and restoratio...

In 20-21 the Century the environment protection is central topic and the countries of Eastern Europe has a large opportunity vs Western European countries but the last one has stronger environment mindfulness. The article researches the basics of EU environment policy and its successes and the Eastern European countries? analyses and conditions what did and what to do in the future to survive and reaches goals. The conditions of soil, water air would be good but the methodology and technology is much more worse th...

In article, we present results of health survey in urbanized industrial areas. Environmental and economic conditions are successfully identified on the base of population? elemental status. Using the open press sources, we established cause-effect relations between micro and macro element consumption (lack or abundance) and public health in North-West Federal District of Russian Federation. We made data capturing and visualization, spatial digital maps presenting element consumption for non-personalized groups as ...

The rapid growth of blockchain technologies in the world drew attention to the environmental aspects of its production. Blockchain technology is based on the use of significant computing power, which consumes a large amount of electricity. In most cases, traditional non-renewable energy sources are used, which leads to the depletion of natural resources. The scale of operations of the mining process of blockchain increased dramatically during the last years. By the end of 2017, the amount of electricity spent on m...

The article deals with the environmental consequences of testing the method of biological remediation of the closed typical municipal solid waste landfill of the administrative district. The essence of the method consists in the introduction of adapted composites from aboriginal, adapted or modified biological systems, primarily microorganisms for catalysis of the decomposition process of the organic component of waste landfills and subsequent separation of valuable recyclable materials. The article presents the r...

There is a substantial deficit in proteins of plant origin in the EU countries ? the selfsufficiency level in feed use of soybean meal, which is one of the best plant protein sources, reaches only 5%. It causes the EU to import large quantities of soybeans (~14 million tonnes) and soybean meal (~18 million tonnes), the majority of which comes from Argentina and Brazil, resulting in very long soya delivery chain and associated GHG emissions from its transportation. At the same time, different statistical data confi...

The current trend in the formation and development of united territorial communities is characterized by the desire of the rural population to join regional administrative and industrial centers, which puts negative changes in the socio-economic development of administrative cities. The need for such desire is due to the lack of real economic incentives in the development of rural areas and the constant rise in prices and tariffs for energy and electricity. The article proposes conducting informational-explanatory...

In Russia, industrial policy is the strategic effort of the government to encourage the development and growth of the manufacturing sector aimed at making it innovative, internationally competitive and sustainable. New regulatory instruments have been gradually developed and used for 5-7 years; this period is sometimes addressed as ?the national neo-industrialisation?. In advanced industrial countries, environmental modernisation theory is often considered as a possible solution to the key environmental problems. ...

Environmental management is aimed at the safe use of natural processes, taking into account the biological features of management and the socio-economic possibilities of the management company. Responsible business contains a set of principles, methods, means and forms of production management, developed and applied at an enterprise in order to improve the environmental efficiency of production. Environmental management includes an assessment of the social and environmental performance of the organization. Environ...

Population growth in coastal areas worldwide call for new challenges to be solved. Blue growth initiatives are elaborated and developed in order to prevent sea resources depletion unsustainably by fishing, mining, transportation, tourism, and waste. The EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), EU Groundwater Directive (2002/118/EC) as well as EU Waste Framework Directive (2006/12/EC) are the legislative tools that base the pillars for more detailed action plans that prevents contamination spread, promote clean-u...

In Russia, the national Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Act introducing the concept of Best Available Techniques (BAT) was adopted in 2014. Since then, applying BATs and complying with BAT-associated Emission Levels (BAT-AELs) has become an issue of great importance for the industries concerned and has implied obligations at two levels. Firstly, the Ministry for Industry and Trade (MIT) and the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) had to set out the appropriate process for drawi...

In modern conditions, the main problem is the threat of loss of natural resistance. Environmental responsibility implies the maintenance of a rational system. Such a system contributes to the preservation of natural heritage for future generations. Environmental resources include climate, biosphere, landscape, aquifer. These resources are used to form innovative clusters. They set the conditions and limitations of business activities [1]. Corporate environmental management is designed to effectively manage the ent...

Application of sorbents is one of most promising methods for removal oil spills from water surface. Plant fibres (kapok, straw, rice husks, nutshells) are very popular due to their availability and biodegradability. The disadvantage of these materials is their low selectivity towards water. One of the methods of modifying the surface properties of materials is the immobilization of controlled nanoparticles on the surface. In this way, plant fibres are used as a cheap carrier and the introduced nanoparticles improv...

The studied area is the North Dobrogea Orogen, Pricopan Massif. Compared to the other massive from the North Dobrogea, the Pricopan massif has a more rugged relief. The Pricopan massif is mostly a granite plutonic body with a lenticular shape, with the long axis (AL) oriented NNW-SSE and the transverse axis (AT). In the southern part, the Pricopan Massif is made up of diagenized sedimentary rocks, named the "Carapelit series". In the ridge area of the granite sector, there are alternations of peaks and saddles, st...

This paper aims to investigate the European bioeconomy policy and bio-based business development in Latvia both from the perspective of existing business practices as well from the perspective of students? attitudes towards setting up new businesses in view of the bioeconomic challenges. The research was based on the theoretical concepts of bioeconomics and a bioeconomy, collected examples of bioeconomic business practices in Latvia, as well as the data gained from an interview of Latvia University of Life Science...