In recent years, global automotive industries are going through a significant revolution from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to electric vehicles (EVs) for CO₂ emission reduction. Very similarly, the aviation industry is developing towards more electric aircraft (MEA) in response to the reduction in global CO₂ emission. To promote this technology revolution and performance advancement, plenty of electronic devices with high heat flux are implemented on board automobiles and aircraft. To cope with the thermal challenges of electronics, in addition to developing wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors with satisfactory electric and thermal performance, providing proper thermal management solutions may be a much more cost-effective way at present. This paper provides an overview of the thermal management technologies for electronics used in automobiles and aircraft. Meanwhile, the active methods include forced air cooling, indirect contact cold plate cooling, direct contact baseplate cooling, jet impingement, spray cooling, and so on. The passive methods include the use of various heat pipes and PCMs. The features, thermal performance, and development tendency of these active and passive thermal management technologies are reviewed in detail. Moreover, the environmental influences introduced by vibrations, shock, acceleration, and so on, on the thermal performance and reliability of the TMS are specially emphasized and discussed in detail, which are usually neglected in normal operating conditions. Eventually, the possible future directions are discussed, aiming to serve as a reference guide for engineers and promote the advancement of the next-generation electronics TMS in automobile and aircraft applications.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impacts on national and international freight, construction and tourism industry, supply chains, and has resulted in a rapid decline in the demand for traditional energy sources. In fact, research has outlined that urban areas depend on global supply chains for their day-to-day basic functions, including energy supplies, food and safe access to potable water. The disruption of global supply chains can leave many urban areas in a very vulnerable position, in which their citizens may struggle to obtain their basic supplies, as the COVID-19 crisis has recently shown. Therefore, solutions aiming to enhance local food, water and energy production systems, even in urban environments, have to be pursued. The COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted in the scientific community the problem of people’s exposure to outdoor and indoor pollution, confirmed as a key element for the increase both in the transmission and severity of the contagion, on top of involving health risks on their own. In this context, most nations are going to adopt new preferential policies to stimulate the development of relevant sustainable energy industries, based on the electrification of the systems supplied by renewable energy sources as confirmed by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Thus, while there is ongoing research focusing on a COVID 19 vaccine, there is also a need for researchers to work cooperatively on novel strategies for world economic recovery incorporating renewable energy policy, technology and management. In this framework, the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conference provides a good platform for researchers and other experts to exchange their academic thoughts, promoting the development and improvements on the renewable energy technologies as well as their role in systems and in the transition towards sustainable energy systems. The 14th SDEWES Conference was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It brought together around 570 researchers from 55 countries in the field of sustainable development. The present Special Issue of Energies, specifically dedicated to the 14th SDEWES Conference, focuses on four main fields: energy policy for sustainable development, biomass energy application, building energy saving, and power plant and electric systems.