Life quality and its determinants represent a topic which is essential to all civilizations, past and present. This paper employs common methods for inspecting factors of correlation with the aim of assessing the influence of geographical location on life quality and happiness. After setting a stable theoretical cornerstone, the article works with the measures reported by the Human Development Index (HDI) and the World Happiness Score (WHS). The work finds and proves ties between the globe latitude of one’s dwelling and their reported life quality measures, with the main conclusion being that the quality of life measured by the HDI and WHS is spread around the globe asymmetrically regarding latitude. Following the results of the research, possible reasons such as enhanced strategic thinking and an emphasis on sounder plans for living embedded in public policy are discussed. Recommendations point toward the possibility of the global north issuing aid to the global south, not in the form of financial capital, but in the form of a knowledge transfer through technology-enabled learning as a means for uplifting global well-being.

Decarbonising the EU-s energy system is crucial to reach the 2030 climate objectives and the EU-s long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Based on these Green Deal goals and the current energy situation in Europe, it is highly important to focus on biofuel energy sources. Our research deals with the behaviour of households in the Czech Republic and changes in their consumption habits in the last decades. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the development of the consumption of biofuels by households for heating purposes, in comparison with the consumption of fossil solid fuels (coal and coke) in the Czech Republic in the period 2010 - 2020. The second goal is to evaluate the influence of selected socioeconomic aspects/variables on the consumption of biofuels. Regarding biofuels, the analysis will focus on biomass for heating purposes, such as firewood, wood waste, pellets, and briquettes. Concerning socio-economic indicators, the analysis will be based on various data, such as GDP per capita, average wage, environmental taxation, environmental subsidies, etc. The authors will work with data published by the Czech Statistical Office, ministries, and other national authorities, as well as data from Eurostat. As a methodology, correlation and regression analysis will be used. The results will show the possible influence of selected socio-economic variables on the development of biofuel consumption by households. The recommendations will be formulated based on the obtained results.

Renewable sources play a crucial role in the decarbonisation process of the current linear economy, aimed at reaching the 2030 climate objectives and fulfilling the EU’s long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. All economic subjects, including households, can contribute to the Green Deal goals. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate households’ consumption of energy sources for heating purposes in the Czech Republic in the period 2003–2020 and depict possible drivers of switching to biomass. For this, various data were collected, such as data published by the Czech Statistical Office, ministries, and other national authorities, as well as data from Eurostat. Concerning methods, data analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used. Different models focus on the substitution effect, rebound effect, and behaviour of different kinds of households. The results show a substitution effect connected with the consumption of coal, electricity, and biomass for heating purposes. Many households substituted coal for biomass in the observed period. On the other hand, the environmental impact of such substitution is not significant, as carbon emissions and emissions of other pollutants are stable. The substitution of fuels should be accompanied by technological change, e.g., improvement of combustion boilers. Moreover, households of pensioners are the key economic subjects with the highest impact on biomass consumption for heating purposes. Against this background we recommend policies to support households in replacing their boilers for more environmentally friendly ones.