Transformation of energy balances with dominant coal consumption in European economies and Turkey in the years 1990?2017

Abstract

Research background: Energy policy is closely linked to economic development. Therefore, its optimization is an important issue especially in the contemporary European environmental conditions. EU regulations enforce a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the abandonment of non-renewable energy resources. Instead, they promote renewable energy sources. In this way, new legal and environmental circumstances are becoming the main reason for the transformation of energy balances, which is a real economic and technological challenge. This transformation requires a strategic and effective approach, especially in those countries which until now have used mainly hard coal in the energy sector.
 Purpose of the article: According to above justification, the main purpose of the article is to identify the strategies for the transformation of energy balances that were implemented in the years 1990–2017 by chosen European countries and Turkey.
 Methods: The study period covers the years 1990–2017, and the subject of the research at first applies to all European countries, and then to 7 countries selected due to their high share of bituminous coal in energy balance in the first year of the analysis, treated as the initial point of transformation (1990). As a result of this selection, 6 EU members and Turkey with the largest share of coal in energy production in the year 1990 are examined. Particularly, an analysis of the trends in their energy balances in the years 1990–2017 is conducted. The research uses data on non-renewable energy consumption and renewable energy resources and the total energy consumption. The research methodology includes: analysis of the structure and dynamics, evaluation of trends and comparative analysis and presentation of development strategies. At the end of the article, a comparative analysis is carried out, the economic consequences of identified changes are assessed, and recommendations are formulated aimed at optimizing the structure of the energy balance in the future.
 Findings & Value added: Generally, there are four theoretical and empirical patterns of transformation strategies of energy balances with dominant coal consumption: 1) using other non-renewable energy resources; 2) replacing non-renewable energy resources with renewable ones; 3) using nuclear energy instead of coal; 4) increasing coal consumption as available and efficient energy resource. It was found that the examined countries implement mainly the strategy in which the decreasing share of coal is made up for by an increasing share of gas. Additionally, we can observe an increase in the share of nuclear energy in France, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. In Spain and Germany, despite the use of nuclear power plants for the production of energy, the share of nuclear energy in the energy balances has systematically decreased in time. In all analyzed countries, we can also observe an increasing share of renewable sources in energy balances, however, this growth is very slow.

Energy Transition in Poland—Assessment of the Renewable Energy Sector

“…Undoubtedly, the globalization processes have led to systematic socio-economic development in most world economies, combined with a significant increase in the level of innovation, the level of investment outlays and the level of foreign direct investment [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Globalization processes have also contributed to the emergence of new lifestyles and consumption styles [17][18][19][20], which together with the increase in the wealth of the society and the level of innovation in enterprises contributed to the creation of the renewable energy (RE) sector, which is one of the fastest developing branches of the world economy [21][22][23][24][25]. Currently, there is a systematic increase in the RE sector in terms of production and research, which results in the increase of efficiency in sourcing RE and the decrease in the prices of RE sector installations, which simultaneously contributes to its further development.…”

GHG Emissions Mitigation in the European Union Based on Labor Market Changes

“…Starting with the sectorial analysis, the current research confirms that such traditional "non-ecological" sectors as petroleum companies are strongly affected by green-factor policies [5] affecting their capitalization, which creates not only soft social pressure, but is also a source of direct financial incentives [6,7]. The results provided by Filimonova et al (2020) demonstrate that many investors support the idea that the petroleum companies with solid environmental performances are more promising, from the investment standpoint, than businesses with roughly the same financial performance but lower environmental indicators [8].…”

“…His research confirmed the long-term, difficult-to-change, structural diversity between the EU economies [11][12][13]. Thus, in their study, Jonek-Kowalska (2019) found an increasing share of renewable sources in the energy balance, but this growth is very slow in the EU and in Turkey in 1990-2017 [7]. The countries in question tend to choose the strategy, following which they decrease the share of coal, but at the same time increase their share of gas.…”

“…The results provided by Filimonova et al (2020) demonstrate that many investors support the idea that the petroleum companies with solid environmental performances are more promising, from the investment standpoint, than businesses with roughly the same financial performance but lower environmental indicators [8]. Within this context, on the one hand, Jonek-Kowalska (2017) confirmed that in the European Union the traditional coal mining industry tends to suffer from increasing economic and sector risk, and therefore it can be treated as a declining industry [7]. On the other hand, in many post-transition economies, such an approach is considered as a threat for energy security and local-regional economic development.…”

Comparative Analysis of Circular Economy Implementation in Poland and other European Union Countries

“…Circular economy primarily means ensuring the functioning of materials and resources in the economy for as long as possible. This concept implies cooperation, which means that business models and enterprise functioning frameworks should change, whereas consumers and the legal and institutional environment should be prepared for such changes (Krysovatyy et al, 2018;Razminiene, 2019;Jonek-Kowalska, 2019). The assumption of circular economy is also to implement full waste recovery at the local level (Council of Ministers, 2019, p. 14).…”