Eszter Szemerédi

57201723972

Publications - 7

Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity – The case study of Győr, Hungary

Eszter Szemerédi Sándor Remsei

Publication Name: Hungarian Geographical Bulletin

Publication Date: 2024-03-30

Volume: 73

Issue: 1

Page Range: 17-33

Description:

Extensive research has shown that urbanisation has a profound effect on the local climate system, leading to the formation of urban heat island. Exposure to urban heat islands poses a major health risk, and there is a growing body of literature recognising that urban population groups with particular demographic characteristics living in specific types of residential environments are disproportionately affected. By combining surface urban heat island data from the Global Surface Urban Heat Island Explorer with neighbourhood-level data on demographics and the type of housing, this study assesses disproportionate exposure to surface urban heat island intensity in the city of Győr, Hungary. Results of the study highlight the importance of targeted interventions for environmental justice, especially in areas characterised by housing estates, high population density and high ageing index.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.73.1.2

Are Corporate Energy Saving Measures Effective? - Lessons from a Small Sample Analysis in Hungary

Eszter Szemerédi László Jóna

Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 107

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 397-402

Description:

The European Union has set a climate neutrality goal that requires all member countries to reduce their energy consumption. In 2021, businesses accounted for approximately one-quarter of the EU's energy consumption therefore, they play a significant role in its reduction. Hungary has taken steps to encourage companies to improve their energy efficiency, mandating large consumer companies to perform annual energy audits and publish their results. Our research focuses on the results of energy efficiency measures implemented by these large consumer companies. Based on online energy reports that were readily available, we analysed the energy performance of companies with more than 1,000 employees between 2017 and 2021. Data narrowing resulted in a sample of 24 companies that are not considered representative, but their analysis indicates that low-cost employee awareness-raising and lighting upgrades were the most used efficiency measures. Results show that energy savings resulting from lighting modernisation ranged from 11 to 844 GJ per year, while savings from cooling/heating modernisation ranged from 4,7 to 47,000 GJ per year. By modernising building systems such as ventilation, the studied companies achieved energy savings ranging from 10 to 403 GJ. The annual energy savings achieved through production modernisation ranged from 972 to 510,435 GJ. Due to the inconsistencies in the data, our analysis also highlighted the importance of stricter monitoring and establishing a database of energy consumption data from companies performing annual audits.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3303/CET23107067

Impact of the COVID-19 on the destination choices of hungarian tourists: A comparative analysis

Eszter Szemerédi Marcell Kupi

Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland

Publication Date: 2021-12-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 24

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) has transformed the tourism sector to an unprecedented extent, creating new challenges and new development paths. Although the recovery of tourism is fraught with uncertainties, the changes in tourists’ travel habits offer a unique opportunity for tourism to recover in a way that respects the principles of sustainable development. Several international studies suggest that the pandemic has significantly transformed tourists’ travel habits and destination choices, making them more environmentally conscious and shifting their preferences towards inland destinations close to nature. To test these claims, we examined tourists’ destination choices and the factors influencing them in a sample of 500 respondents in Hungary before the pandemic and after the restrictions on travel, businesses, gatherings, and mask requirements were lifted in the summer of 2021. Our results show that there was no significant change in the destination choices of the tourists surveyed. The main influences were the aspects of safety and comfort; the consideration of environmental concerns, despite our assumptions, did not play a significant role.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/su132413785

Examining cross‐border cultural tourism as an indicator of territorial integration across the slovak–hungarian border

Tamás Hardi Eszter Szemerédi Gyula Ocskay Marcell Kupi

Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland

Publication Date: 2021-07-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 13

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

There are numerous examples of cross‐border regions in Europe, which are regions not properly demarcated by national borders. One of the main driving forces of the European Union is to turn the dividing borders into connecting borders by strengthening the cohesion between states and regions, thus, encouraging regions to remedy the existing ethnic and cultural fragmentation by increasing the intensity and number of cross‐border contacts. Our research focuses on proving that, in symbolic places, such as the cross‐border area of Komárom and Komárno, the cultural values, monuments, and heritage sites are the strongest attraction factors for nationality‐based cultural tourism. To support our hypothesis, we conducted an empirical survey within the framework of the H2020 SPOT (Social and Innovative Platform on Cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation) in the cross‐border region of Komárom and Komárno. The evaluation con-centrated on four aspects of cultural tourism: the nature of cultural tourism in the area, the resident and visitor perceptions of the cultural tourism offerings, opportunities to increase cross‐border col-laboration, and options to improve the cultural tourism offerings of the area. Our results show that, although there is a great potential in the cross‐border tourist destination of Komárom–Komárno, the integration of the (once united) two towns is advancing very slowly, which can be witnessed in the weaknesses of tourism integration as well.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/su13137225

Sharing communities – Community currency in the sharing economy

Eszter Szemerédi Tatay Tibor

Publication Name: Society and Economy

Publication Date: 2021-03-01

Volume: 43

Issue: 1

Page Range: 38-59

Description:

For the further development and more efficient operation of the sharing economy, a fast and inexpensive peer-to-peer payment system is an essential element. The aim of this study is to outline a prototype that ensures the automation and decentralization of processes through smart contracts without blockchain technology. The model has been built based on the narrative that a community currency created through smart contracts can promote genuine practices of sharing as opposed to the profit-oriented approach that most of the currently operating sharing economy platforms have. Features of the model, such as ease of use, high-speed transactions without transaction cost are benefits that can provide a more efficient alternative to the traditional or to the cryptocurrency-based centralized sharing economy platforms.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/204.2020.00027

The role of community currencies in strengthening of local identity

Eszter Szemerédi

Publication Name: Civil Szemle

Publication Date: 2020-01-01

Volume: 17

Issue: 2

Page Range: 37-58

Description:

What kind of role could complementary and community currencies play in the strengthening of community cohesion and territorial identity? How can these systems help to reshape and re-evaluate local identity? Through answering these questions the study seeks to prove, that a functioning local community currency system can enhance cohesion among the local community members and can contribute to the strengthening of territorial identity, consequently to the success of a region. The study provides a literature review and references some international studies related to the topic, it also reviews Hungarian examples, highlighting the Rigac, the community currency of Alsómocsolád. The author analyses the documentation of Hungarian complementary currencies and the results from a survey of Rigac users. The results indicate that a complementary currency can strengthen and mobilize the network of local actors through the values it represents (local identity, institutionalization of cooperation, empowerment of the local community, etc.). It can serve as a staple that unites community members. If the system is successful, it can reinforce the sense of belonging and the pride it brings in its members. Based on research findings the study considers the alsómocsoládi Rigac as the most successful Hungarian example of strengthening the local community and local identity through a community currency system.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

An attempt to categorize Hungarian community currencies

Eszter Szemerédi

Publication Name: Deturope

Publication Date: 2018-01-01

Volume: 10

Issue: 1

Page Range: 144-159

Description:

Since the emergence of complementary currencies in the 1980s there have been numerous attempts to classify them, despite that the terms local currency, community currency and many others describing place-based monetary tools are not considered similarly by scholars. The local currencies take many forms, and local governments play different roles in their emergence and development. In Hungary there has been an increasing attention and discussion around the idea of implementing these alternative monetary tools. There is a growing number of working complementary currencies in Hungary, but academic research focuses mostly on whether these can contribute to the local development and what kind of effects they have. The aim of this paper is to present a possible categorization of Hungarian complementary currencies based on the role local governments played in their implementation. I evaluate whether these community currencies are effective at first, and attempt to categorize them based on their purpose, association form and their relationships with local governments, with the purpose of increasing awareness for these initiatives in the process of policy-making.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.32725/det.2018.009