Examining the Relationship between Renewable Energy and Environmental Awareness

Szerzők: Dr. Szeberényi András, Dr. Rokicki Tomasz, Dr. habil. Papp-Váry Árpád
A publikáció megjelent: Energies 2022, Volume 15, Issue 19, 7082.

A publikáció elérhető az alábbi linken: https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197082

Abstract. The use of green and renewable energies undeniably plays an essential role in today’s society. Energy from these sources plays a key role in transforming the energy sector and significantly impacts the way of life and the quality of life of different social groups. The main aspects of this study are to briefly describe the situation of clean and renewable energy in Hungary and to investigate the extent to which the younger generation of different social groups is involved in using renewable energy sources in their everyday lives and their attitudes towards environmental awareness. In our research, we also investigate whether there is a strong statistical correlation between environmental awareness, environmentally damaging activities and the perceptions of different environmental problems among the target groups and, if so, how these affect the research topic. Our primary research can be considered representative, as we surveyed all primary and secondary school students in the Gyöngyös micro-region of the North-Hungarian region and also included the opinion of university students in the mentioned micro-region. The questionnaire was asked in person, and 2180 students completed it. The research was carried out in several phases, the first occurring between 2017 and 2019 and the second between 2020 and 2021. Three research questions were formulated, and the main findings show that the students’ main goal in the research was not to protect or support the environment but to prefer material well-being and related factors. On the results of statistical correlation analyses, overall, the examination by educational level (primary, secondary and higher) does not show significant differences between student groups, i.e., students with higher education do not have higher levels of environmental awareness and attitudes. Another important finding is that using renewable energy sources is considered too expensive for low-income families to take advantage of this kind of energy.

Keywords: renewable energy; environmental awareness; environmental protection; young generation; environmental behaviour; online communication

A tudományos publikáció megjelenését a Pro Filii Alapítvány támogatta.

Examination of the Hungarian Electricity Industry Structure with Special Regard to Renewables

Szerzők: Dr. Bozsik Norbert, Dr. Szeberényi András, Bozsik Nándor
A publikáció megjelent: Energies 2023, Volume 16, Issue 9, 3826.

A publikáció elérhető az alábbi linken: https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093826

Abstract. The stability of electricity service mainly depends on two main factors. One of them is the country’s power plant capacity and electricity imports. Another factor is the network that delivers electricity to consumers. Recently, consumer electricity production has appeared as a third factor due to the spread of renewable energies. The article focuses on the transformation of the structure of Hungary’s electricity sources between 2010 and 2020. We used the concentration indicator to examine the structure of export–import deliveries with neighboring countries. We also analyzed the centralization of Hungary’s electricity-generating units and the composition of their fuels. In this article, we examined the increasingly widespread renewable energies, which are replacing the traditional—mainly fossil fuel—energy carriers. The relationship between coal, natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, water, and bioenergy, as well as net imports, were analyzed using a Pearson correlation matrix. This article concludes that renewable energies will cause further transformation in the future, both in the structure of export–import and power plants. In electricity imports, green power is increasingly preferred. Electricity from renewable sources will account for an increasing share of electricity production. In the future, electricity production based on non-renewables will move toward power plants with low carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, it is also moving in the direction of fast-reacting power plants due to weather-dependent renewables. Annual system load peaks will continue to increase year after year in the future, thereby posing additional challenges to electricity generation and the electricity grid.

Keywords: electricity; efficiency; renewable energy sources; fossils; energy consumption; concentration; Hungary

A tudományos publikáció megjelenését a Pro Filii Alapítvány támogatta.