Efforts were made to demonstrate that in biorefineries it is possible to manufacture all the commodities required for maintaining human civilisation on the current level. Biorefineries are based on processing biomass resulting from photosynthesis. From sugars, oils and proteins, a variety of food, feed, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, polymers, chemicals and fuels can further be produced. Production in biorefineries must be based on a few rules to fulfil sustainable development: all raw materials are derived from biomass, all products are biodegradable and production methods are in accordance with the principles of Green Chemistry and Clean Technology. The paper presents a summary of state-of-the-art concerning biorefineries, production methods and product range of leading companies in the world that are already implemented. Potential risks caused by the development of biorefineries, such as: insecurities of food and feed production, uncontrolled changes in global production profiles, monocultures, eutrophication, etc., were also highlighted in this paper. It was stressed that the sustainable development is not only an alternative point of view but is our condition to survive.

The specificity of tool provisioning is conditioned using tooling, the quantity of which

exceeds the nomenclature of the manufactured goods considerably. Therefore, for modern

enterprises, first-priority issues are harmonizing the processes of tool provisioning systems,

increasing the level of the reaction of this system to changes, obtaining operational control

over the production system, and, thus, improving the efficiency of the production process.

In this paper, a mathematical model of decision-making based on determining the optimal

strategy for the process flow was proposed to improve the efficiency of the information

system for quality management of tool provisioning. It is suggested to use the sustainable

development factor of information system for quality management of tool provisioning to

make decisions about the path of the tooling process, which considers the requirements of

international standards for management systems (ISO 9001, ISO 45001, etc.). This model

is based on the application of graph optimization theory, fuzzy logic, and Markov chains.

The use of this model is universal and will increase the validity of operational management

decisions, increase productivity, reduce resource dependency, and, therefore, reduce the

costs of tool provisioning, which directly affects the cost of production and competitiveness

of the enterprise as a whole.

Sustainable development refers to the development of a business in such a way that future

generations will be able to satisfy the same needs. This article describes how sustainable

development can be measured by economic performance and a positive impact on the natural

environment. A general indicator of a company’s environmental impact is presented in the

article. It can be determined, on the one hand, by a company’s environmental impact, and on

the other hand, by savings in the use of natural resources, which is associated with savings

in a financial sense. Therefore, it can be used to analyze the progress of sustainability in

terms of environmental and economic performance. The case study provides an example of

how emissions and energy factors can be analyzed to form a synthetic indicator and create

a general indicator.

The article presents a structured approach to the attractiveness and competitiveness of Polish regions in the context of selected international experiences.

Poland is now faced with the task of developing a long-term energy policy for decades to come, a strategy capable of reconciling the security of power supplies as well as effective economic processes, ensuring adequate standards of environmental protection. The process in which fossil fuels are converted into energy carriers of choice is accompanied by the emission of various gas substances which escape into the environment. Later on, those substances accumulate in the atmosphere as greenhouse gases affecting the Earth’s radiation balance – the greenhouse effect. Upsetting the balance between emission levels of those gases and the capacity to convert them in the atmosphere is the reason for climate changes. Sustainable development indices constitute a monitoring tool which makes it possible to create a statistical image of a country from the perspective of a new development paradigm. The most important feature of this index is the capability of comparing values, enabling to determine the position of a given object with reference to other objects. The article analyses 8 indexes of sustainable development in terms of using biomass for power generation purposes. The analysis was performed to include three social order indices, two economic indices and one environmental order index. It was concluded that the use of biomass in power generation can reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses significantly at several stages: the emission can be eliminated from the biological process of biomass conversion, storage and it can also be reduced during transportation.

The article shows the need to take into account the principles of sustainable development in the field of the revitalization of space, and point out green roofs as a tool in this process. It is presented in the light of the green city concept, and the criteria of the European Green City Index. The article shows the ecological, social and economic benefits of green roofs (starting from the retrieval of green areas in the urbanized space, the reduction of heat island effects, up to the integration function of green roofs), which is illustrated by a few case studies of applying green roofs within revitalization projects. The article indicates also legal incentives, as well as programs directed to the development of green roofs around the world, pointing out a range of factors to consider also for Polish cities.

This article aims to present the issues related to the legal framework for conducting economic activity in the form of marine aquaculture, consisting of farming marine organisms. The work analyses mainly selected the regulations of international law because it is these regulations that shape the rights and obligations of states, producers, farmers and society in the field of ocean farming, as well as in the context of marine resources, which are undoubtedly a common good for all mankind. The author also discusses the legal status of maritime areas in which aquaculture is cultivated.

This paper presents the situation of coal mining in Slovakia, focusing on the social-political aspects and environmental aspects of its sustainable development. In recent years, the mining of lignite and brown coal in Slovakia has been closely linked to the production of electricity and heat in the Novaky power plant. Domestic brown coal production covered more than three quarters of demand in the Slovak Republic in the last few years. The sustainability of coal mining in the coming years in Slovakia is closely associated with raw materials reserves, new mining technologies, the development of the Novaky power plant, and the government's commitments to national economic interests through securing the energy supply or state aid. Of course, of these factors must be considered in the context of international obligations, such as those related to climate and environment, particularly air protection.

The three most important Slovak brown coal deposits are located in the Upper Nitra Basin. This territory includes areas in the 5th and 4th degrees of environmental quality, signifying a disturbed and very disturbed environment. Since coal is expected to remain the dominant fuel for electricity generation araund the world, and in particular for many of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, it is necessary to create conditions for the environmental sustainability of coal mining in the coming years within the context of international obligations. Both the security and the stability of the electricity network in Slovakia and maintaining employment levels in the Upper Nitra region play important roles in this discussion.

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a newmining technology and a technology for gas recovery in situ.

A comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of underground coal gasification was carried out in addition to summarization of the expected impacts in terms of the significance and distribution of the time period.

Based on a comprehensive assessment of the proposed action, it can be stated that it could bring a socially unacceptable risk to the area, specifically the significant impairment of health or the environment (groundwater and nearby hot springs in Bojnice). The implementation of operations could affect the opulation's health, since the partition is placed in close proximity to residential areas.

The paper presents the concept of vital cities in the context of mechanisms of sustainable development, networking and creativity. The vital city was presented as:

- a city belonging to the inhabitants – a city managed and developed with advanced processes of participation,

- a city of reasonable management – a city that uses and at the same time protects its key potentials,

- a city of creation – a city of creating and implementing new ideas,

- a city of opportunities – a city that creates the conditions for the use of energy and creativity residents,

- a city in the surround – a city with a strong position in the environment.

This paper presents the use of multi-criteria analysis as a tool that helps choosing an adequate technology for a household wastewater treatment plant. In the process of selection the criteria of sustainable development were taken into account. Five municipal mechanical-biological treatment plants were chosen for the comparative multi-criteria analysis. Different treatment technologies, such as sand filter, activated sludge, trickling filter, a hybrid system - activated sludge/trickling filter and a hybrid constructed wetland system VF-HF type (vertical and horizontal fl ow) were taken into account. The plants’ capacities were 1 m3∙d-1 (PE=8) and they all meet the environmental regulations. Additionally, a solution with a drainage system was included into the analysis. On the basis of multi-criteria analysis it was found that the preferred wastewater treatment technologies, consistent with the principles of sustainable development, were a sand filter and a hybrid constructed wetland type VF-HF. A drainage system was chosen as the best solution due to the economic criteria, however, taking into consideration the primary (ecological) criterion, employment of such systems on a larger scale disagree with the principles of sustainable development. It was found that activated sludge is the least favourable technology. The analysis showed that this technology is not compatible with the principles of sustainable development, due to a lack of proper technological stability and low reliability.

The sustainable development of human activities is directly related to the protection of the environment by lowering the anthropogenic stress. Pharmaceuticals – due to their growing consumption (use in medicine, veterinary, animal production, cosmetics) and their incomplete removal in wastewater treatment plants – are classified as a group of new and rapidly emerging pollutants which have been proven to have a negative impact onto water organisms. In order to ensure the proper protection of human health and the environment there is an urgent necessity of determining pharmaceuticals in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples. Gas (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are valuable techniques for such determination, especially when they are coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS; LC-MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS; LC-MS/MS). The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of sustainability features of analytical techniques in the light of necessity to determine trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the aforementioned different matrices. Using the Delphi method we performed an analysis of the key sources of the competitive advantages of the application of GC and GC-MS techniques for determining the pharmaceutical residue in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples – compared to techniques based on HPLC or LC-MS. The analysis covered the following areas: (i) the features of the technique, (ii) the price, and (iii) the applicability in various sectors of economy.