Research Unit 3 - Safe, clean and efficient energy
Strategic research areas
1. Renewable energies, green economy and sustainable development
This research area aims to examine the development and diffusion dynamics of alternative energy sources and innovations within their political-institutional, social, economic and legal dimensions and that are capable of making the production, distribution and consumption cycle of the traditional ones more sustainable. Within this framework, particular attention will be paid to various aspects that are closely related. Firstly, the social acceptance of renewable energy production plants and their integration with other activities that are strongly rooted in the territory, such as agricultural production for example, thus also assessing themes associated with agro-energy and food securities. This analysis will also spread to the politics and policy dynamics associated with planning, and public incentive creation regarding new forms of energy production and consumption, on European, national and local levels. Here, there is a special focus on interaction and integration between energy policies, environmental policies and territorial development policies. Then, included in the research area: the legal problems associated with the definition and classification of new forms of energy production; problems associated with economic processes relative to green products, on a national level and on an international level; issues relating to sustainable mobility.
2. Energy safety and protection of the environment
This research field aims to analyse the issues associated with energy security in its political-institutional, legal and economic dimensions, understood in a traditional sense as security of supply and with respect to its impact on the environment. Regarding the first aspect, we propose that the new challenges and dimensions of the safety of supplies be investigated, in their European, international and national dimensions, mainly regarding the functioning of energy markets - especially electricity and gas – and the valorisation of conventional energy sources. Particular attention will also be paid to environmental protection relative to the activities of petrol and gas industries in a more general sense and the governance of the upstream sector. Furthermore, attention will be paid to the political and regulatory evolutions within the gas pipelines sector within the context of more widespread economic inter-dependency and diplomatic relations between importer countries (such as Italy) and exporters of energy resources (for example: Russia, Libya, Azerbaijan, etc.). Lastly, a significant emphasis will be put on regulations and environmental policies and the fight against climate change, with a particular focus on the relationship between the European, national and sub-national levels.
Coordinators of Research Unit and contact persons:
- Leo Fulvio Minervini: leofulvio.minervini@unimc.it