The paper’s main purpose was to identify and present the current situation and changes in energy consumption in agriculture in the European Union (EU) countries. The specific objectives were the determination of the degree of concentration of energy consumption in agriculture in the EU countries, showing the directions of their changes, types of energy used, and changes in this respect, establishing the correlation between energy consumption and changes in the economic and agricultural situation in the EU countries. All member states of the European Union were deliberately selected for research on 31 December 2018 (28 countries). The research period covered the years 2005–2018. The sources of materials were the literature on the subject, and data from Eurostat. Descriptive, tabular, and graphical methods were used to analyze and present materials, dynamics indicators with a stable base, Gini concentration coefficient, concentration analysis using the Lorenz curve, coefficient of variation, Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. A high concentration of energy consumption in agriculture was found in several EU countries, the largest in countries with the largest agricultural sector, i.e., France and Poland. There were practically no changes in the concentration level. Only in the case of renewable energy, a gradual decrease in concentration was visible. More and more countries developed technologies that allow the use of this type of energy. However, the EU countries differed in terms of the structure of the energy sources used. The majority of the basis was liquid fuels, while stable and gaseous fuels were abandoned in favor of electricity and renewable sources—according to which, in the EU countries, the research hypothesis was confirmed: a gradual diversification of energy sources used in agriculture, with a systematic increase in the importance of renewable energy sources. The second research hypothesis was also confirmed, according to which the increase in the consumption of renewable energy in agriculture is closely related to the economy’s parameters. The use of renewable energy is necessary and results from concern for the natural environment. Therefore, economic factors may have a smaller impact.

The main purpose of the study was to identify the level and factors influencing investments in renewable energy sources (RES) in basic local government units in rural areas. The specific objectives were to define the conditions for the development of renewable energy sources in Poland, to determine the directions of changes as well as the importance of renewable energy in Poland, to present the relationship between the level of expenditure on renewable energy and budget components in rural and rural-urban communes. The Świętokrzyskie voivodeship (Voivodship—a unit of the highest administration level in Poland, since 1990 a unit of the primary territorial division of government administration, since 1999 also a unit of local government, there were 16 voivodships in Poland), which is one of the centrally located voivodeships in Poland, was purposefully selected for the research. The research period covered the years 2016–2019. The sources of materials were the literature on the subject, as well as empirical materials obtained at the Voivodeship Statistical Office. The following methods were used for the analysis and presentation of materials: descriptive, tabular, graphical, Gini concentration coefficient, Lorenz concentration curve, Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Poland is one of the countries with quite high dependence on hard and brown coal. Changes in the structure of energy sources are slow. Investments in renewable energy are necessary. The problem in this respect is the lack of a proper law. Despite this, investments in renewable energy are being made in rural areas. In the Świętokrzyskie voivodeship, only 28% of communes made such investments. It was found that only in urban rural communes the amount of investment expenditures in renewable energy sources was related to the level of budget expenditures and property expenditures of the commune. The amount of support from the European Union aid funds was positively correlated with the level of expenditure on investments in renewable energy. Therefore, it can be concluded that without the support from EU funds, it is not possible to invest in renewable energy in local government units.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the differences in the volume of energy consumption in transport in the EU (European Union) countries. The specific objectives aim to determine the directions of changes and the degree of concentration in the volume of energy utilized by the transport sector in EU states, showing various models in this area, to establish the association between energy absorption and the parameters of the economy and in the field of transport. All EU countries were selected for research by the use of the purposeful selection method as of 31 December 2018. The analyzed period covered the years 2004–2018. For the examination of data, grading data analysis was used as one of the methods of multivariate data analysis. Descriptive, tabular and graphic methods were used to present the results. Findings reveal that there is a general tendency to reduce total energy consumption in the EU countries. The same is the case of energy in transport. Only in 2016–2018 was there an increase in energy absorption in transport. The reason was the better economic situation in this period. Road conveyance is the most important factor in energy utilization (over 90%). The share of other modes of transport was very small. Economically developing countries were the fastest in increasing energy absorption in transport per capita. In turn, highly developed states recorded slight growth and were stable in this aspect. There was a close relationship between energy utilization in transport per capita and GDP per capita. The reduction of energy consumption in transport depends on changes in road haulage, e.g., the pace of introducing innovative energy-saving technologies in automotive transport.

Nowadays the innovations and inventions allow the development of new technologies that can be implemented in various fields, including logistics. Technologically advanced robots and unmanned vehicles can not only support activities, but also in many cases they replace human being activities, such as controlling, identifying and managing goods, warehouse and critical infrastructure, or transport routes. Smart devices can eliminate human presence in the most advanced activities like firefighting or contamination of storage or transhipment. The aim of the study overview is to diagnose the current state and trends in the development of military technologies of unmanned vehicles. For this purpose some of the solutions in the field of unmanned ground vehicles and possibilities of their use considering military missions requirements were presented. The status of global projects implementation was reviewed. Polish solutions and technologies related to autonomous vehicles were discussed. A comparative analysis related to the global and domestic solutions was used. Recommendations, directions of development and possibilities of advanced technologies in terms of safety logistics, transport or fighting the effects of natural disasters were defined.

Branża pocztowa, której tradycyjnym produktem są list i paczka, traktowana jest obecnie jako część szerszego rynku KEP (kurier, ekspres, paczka). Dla rynku KEP można zidentyfikować zjawiska rozwojowe (megatrendy) mające wpływ na jego funkcjonowanie w dłuższej perspektywie. Wiedza o tych zjawiskach powinna być podstawą każdej decyzji o strategicznym charakterze.Celem opracowania jest usystematyzowanie istoty zmian w otoczeniu branży pocztowej. Niektóre zjawiska w otoczeniu tego rynku już przyczyniły się do komodyzacji (utraty wartości i konieczności redefinicji podstawowych założeń) niektórych rodzajów usług, a w odniesieniu do innych, do ich całkowitego zniknięcia z rynku. Megatrendy w otoczeniu branży pocztowej decydują o tym, że publiczni operatorzy stoją dzisiaj przed koniecznością zmiany modeli funkcjonowania. Być może, w niedalekiej przyszłości, konieczność zmian będzie dotyczyć także paradygmatów zarządzania. Artykuł podejmuje tematykę branży pocztowej z perspektywy wyzwań w zakresie zarządzania, gdzie zauważyć można istotną lukę w polskim piśmiennictwie. Opracowanie ma charakter teoretyczny z aspektami praktycznymi i jest oparty na przeglądzie literatury naukowej oraz popularno-naukowej. W artykule dokonano aktualizacji literatury z punktu widzenia obecnego stanu rzeczy branży pocztowej. Wykorzystano wtórne źródła danych.

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego