Central European University’s Post

"You could see the mayor in [a local cafe], for example. It’s a real person, so it feels closer to your problems. He might have some of the same ones.” 🙋🏽 Thanks The Northern Times for this write up about the latest paper from  Gonzalo Palomo Vélez (with Goda Perlaviciute, Nadja Contzen and Linda Steg) about having more (integrity-based) #trust in local institutions and government than (competence-based trust) in national levels of power when it comes to phasing out #fossilfuels (which takes on special relevance in light of the recent #EU #election results). https://lnkd.in/eurkqkMJ You can read the full scientific article here: https://lnkd.in/eCfzFCTW University of Groningen Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences - University of Groningen Universidad de O'Higgins Eawag #environmentalpsychology

New paper identifying partially compensating effects of wind and buoyancy forcing on global ocean deoxygenation since the 1960s: https://lnkd.in/dcNzMPUK Congratulations, Helene A. L. Hollitzer on this comprehensive study emerging from your MSc thesis!

We didn't have high resolution projections of global rooftop area until now! We just published a new paper and dataset in Nature Portfolio Scientific Data Journal with projections for rooftop areas consistent with the shared socioeconomic pathways, 2020–2050. This research was led by #Siddarth_Joshi and involved a wonderful collaboration between MaREI's energy modelling team at University College Cork together with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Columbia | SIPA, the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment at Imperial College London, CICERO - Center for International Climate Research and Industrial Ecology NTNU The benefits of this dataset is to help us understand and plan for a robust and sustainable decentralised energy system. It's difficult to estimate the potential for rooftop solar energy for example, without projections of the growth in rooftops! We developed a machine learning framework that trained on big data containing ~700 million open-source building footprints, global land cover, road, and population datasets to generate globally harmonised estimates of growth in rooftop area for five different future growth narratives covered by Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. The dataset provides estimates for ~3.5 million fishnet tiles of 1/8 degree spatial resolution with data on gross rooftop area for five growth narratives covering years 2020–2050 in decadal time steps. Huge thanks to Science Foundation Ireland for supporting this research through SFI-NSFC Partnership Programme and to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) for support under the Young Scientists Summer Program and the European Commission under the Diamond-Horizon EU Project. The paper is freely available here https://lnkd.in/eFAg7gxK.

This study shows the massive potential of rooftop space available for solar globally. Studies have found putting 10 panels on 1 million of the homes in Ireland (we’ve a total 2.2 or so million homes in Ireland) could give us 25% of our national power needs. What would the global picture take? A bold approach as this would be very sensibile use of roof space generate income and energy locally onsite in our communities. Time we stepped up to the opportunities of solar. The road to hell is apparently paved with good intentions and roofed in with lost opportunities. Maybe climate change is the same. Instead let’s pave our road to a low carbon, stable price and clean energy future roofed in with the power of solar and saving our climate.

New paper and rooftop dataset in Nature Portfolio help us to understand and plan for a robust and sustainable decentralised energy system - it's difficult to estimate the potential for rooftop solar energy for example, without projections of the growth in rooftops

Today at the end of Conference of Environmental and Climate Technologies in Riga Technical university I had a chance to present a part of my research. Mapping of energy consumption for cooling in Riga is part of my masters thesis “Assessment of the energy efficiency increase potential of the cooling sector”.

🏛️ Trust in institutions is positively associated with public support for phasing out natural gas, and local institutions are seen as more honest and transparent than national institutions (which are considered skilled and knowledgeable). 🏛️ These findings with implications for how regional and national government officials can gain the trust of citizens and expedite the #phaseout of #fossilfuels are from "Trusting the minister or trusting the mayor? Perceived competence and integrity of central and local Dutch institutions governing energy matters", a just published paper by Gonzalo Palomo Vélez, Goda Perlaviciute, Nadja Contzen and Linda Steg (all colleagues or EP alumni). 🏛️ The researchers assessed the extent to which #Dutch people trust local and national institutions on the basis of either their integrity or their competence. "For institutions to gain the #trust of people, and therefore, increase the acceptability of their policies, strategies should focus on strengthening what people perceive each type of institution to be lacking", the paper reads. 🏛️ Local institutions should work on perceptions of their competence, whereas national institutions should improve their transparency and provide more opportunities for public participation. 🏛️ To secure public support for phasing-out policies, Dutch institutions could prioritize (perceived) integrity-enhancing strategies, like those targeting #publicparticipation, #accountability, and #transparency. You can read the full accepted manuscript in Environmental Research Communications below: University of Groningen Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences - University of Groningen #environmentalpsychology

A new Defra funded PhD studentship available with Prof Ally Lewis and I at the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York. Decarbonisation will require changes across the UK economy, and many will affect what pollutants are emitted. This PhD will explore how changes will impact how much and where ammonia is emitted and what that could mean for ecosystems and human health. A brilliant opportunity to work with policymakers and leading academics through the Defra Air Quality Expert Group, exploring future change and opportunities to drive co-benefits or mitigate risks from decarbonisation actions. Funding is for UK students only. https://lnkd.in/enFjK7yu

My forthcoming book with Elsevier "Enhanced Geothermal Systems for Sustainable Development". This will be a textbook for researchers and graduate students

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 I am thrilled to share that I recently concluded a series of enlightening conferences, where I had the privilege to present the first chapter of my PhD thesis at Universitat de Barcelona School of Economics titled: "On the subtle role of governmental decentralization on the generation of renewable electricity." In this chapter, I delved into the critical importance of sustainable renewable electricity generation in combating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change. By analyzing various mechanisms, my research hypothesized that greater governmental decentralization significantly enhances the deployment of renewable electricity. Overall, the chapter emphasizes the pivotal role of a regional perspective in shaping effective renewable energy policies, underscoring the active participation of citizens in the ongoing renewable energy transition. I am deeply grateful for the invaluable feedback and suggestions received from the distinguished discussants and participants at each conference: 🔹 Regional Studies Association (RSA) Winter Conference in London (09./10. November 2023) 🔹 70th Annual Meeting of the NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL SCIENCE COUNCIL (NARSC) in San Diego (15.-18. November 2023) 🔹 XII International Academic Symposium organized by IEB - Institut d'Economia de Barcelona, University of Barcelona & Funseam- Foundation for Energy and Environmental Sustainability in Barcelona (06. February 2024) 🔹 ASSOCIATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMISTS (AERE) sponsored Meeting at the 50th Annual Conference of the Eastern Economics Association (EEA) in Boston (01.-03. March 2024) Your insights have been instrumental in refining my research and shaping its trajectory. I am truly appreciative of the collaborative spirit that defines our academic community. Looking forward to further discussions and contributions towards advancing sustainable solutions for our planet's future. 🌍 #RenewableEnergy #Decentralization #ClimateAction #PhDResearch #Gratitude