This book presents different aspects of renewable energy integration, from the latest developments in renewable energy technologies to the currently growing smart grids. The importance of different renewable energy sources is discussed, in order to identify the advantages and challenges for each technology. The rules of connecting the renewable energy sources have also been covered along with practical examples. Since solar and wind energy are the most popular forms of renewable energy sources, this book provides the challenges of integrating these renewable generators along with some innovative solutions. As the complexity of power system operation has been raised due to the renewable energy integration, this book also includes some analysis to investigate the characteristics of power systems in a smarter way. This book is intended for those working in the area of renewable energy integration in distribution networks.

This book reviews recent progress in our understanding of tokamak physics related to steady state operation, and addresses the scientific feasibility of a steady state tokamak fusion power system. It covers the physical principles behind continuous tokamak operation and details the challenges remaining and new lines of research towards the realization of such a system. Following a short introduction to tokamak physics and the fundamentals of steady state operation, later chapters cover parallel and perpendicular transport in tokamaks, MHD instabilities in advanced tokamak regimes, control issues, and SOL and divertor plasmas. A final chapter reviews key enabling technologies for steady state reactors, including negative ion source and NBI systems, Gyrotron and ECRF systems, superconductor and magnet systems, and structural materials for reactors. The tokamak has demonstrated an excellent plasma confinement capability with its symmetry, but has an intrinsic drawback with its pulsed operation with inductive operation. Efforts have been made over the last 20 years to realize steady state operation, most promisingly utilizing bootstrap current. Frontiers in Fusion Research II: Introduction to Modern Tokamak Physics will be of interest to graduate students and researchers involved in all aspects of tokamak science and technology.

This monograph adresses the challenge of the environmental assessment of leightweight electric vehicles. It poses the question whether the use of lightweight materials in electric vehicles can reduce the vehicles' environmental impact and compares the environmental performance of a lightweight electric vehicle (LEV) to other types of vehicles. The topical approach focuses on methods from life cycle assessment (LCA), and the book concludes with a comprehensive concept on the environmental assessment of LEVs. The target audience primarily comprises LCA practitioners from research institutes and industry, but it may also be beneficial for graduate students specializing in the field of environmental assessment.

This updated edition of the industry standard reference on power system frequency control provides practical, systematic and flexible algorithms for regulating load frequency, offering new solutions to the technical challenges introduced by the escalating role of distributed generation and renewable energy sources in smart electric grids. The author emphasizes the physical constraints and practical engineering issues related to frequency in a deregulated environment, while fostering a conceptual understanding of frequency regulation and robust control techniques. The resulting control strategies bridge the gap between advantageous robust controls and traditional power system design, and are supplemented by real-time simulations. The impacts of low inertia and damping effect on system frequency in the presence of increased distributed and renewable penetration are given particular consideration, as the bulk synchronous machines of conventional frequency control are rendered ineffective in emerging grid environments where distributed/variable units with little or no rotating mass become dominant. Frequency stability and control issues relevant to the exciting new field of microgrids are also undertaken in this new edition. As frequency control becomes increasingly significant in the design of ever-more complex power systems, this expert guide ensures engineers are prepared to deploy smart grids with optimal functionality.

How will the world be powered in ten years' time? Not by fossil fuels. Energy experts are all saying the same thing: solar photovoltaics (PV) is our future. Reports from universities, investment banks, international institutions and large investors agree. It's not about whether the switch from fossil fuels to solar power will happen, but when. Solar panels are being made that will last longer than ever hoped; investors are seeing the benefits of the long-term rewards provided by investing in solar; in the Middle East, a contractor can now offer solar-powered electricity far cheaper than that of a coal-fired power station. The Switch tracks the transition away from coal, oil and gas to a world in which the limitless energy of the sun provides much of the energy the 10 billion people of this planet will need. It examines both the solar future and how we will get there, and the ways in which we will provide stored power when the sun isn't shining. We learn about artificial photosynthesis from a start-up in the US that is making petrol from just CO2 and sunlight; ideas on energy storage are drawn from a company in Germany that makes batteries for homes; in the UK, a small company in Swindon has the story of wind turbines; and in Switzerland, a developer shows how we can use hydrogen to make 'renewable' natural gas for heating. Told through the stories of entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists from around the world, and using the latest research and studies, The Switch provides a positive solution to the climate change crisis, and looks to a brighter future ahead.

Education and Training for the Oil and Gas Industry: Localising Oil and Gas Operations, Volume Four in the Getenergy series will set out the case for localising the oil and gas operations within hydrocarbon-producing countries. The focus of this final Volume in the series will be to explore the value of engaging with local suppliers, local talent and other local stakeholders in the exploration and production of oil and gas resources. Specifically, we will set out an agenda around which operators and service companies can coalesce and that highlights the ways in which smart, targeted investments in education, training and local infrastructure can create a new way of doing business, particularly in developing or emerging energy economies. Getenergy Intelligence have developed a unique tool to evaluate the potential cost benefits of localisation for any given project. This volume lays out the rationale, methodology and processes we have developed to successfully map out localisation and implement strategic capacity development for oil and gas operations. The significant cost benefits of localisation have been recognised by a number of major oil and gas companies, but localisation is still an aspect of doing business that is poorly understood by much of the global industry. In the first section of this book, the authors provide the rationale for localisation and layout the core reasons for developing the tool. In the second section, the tool is described and the exact methodology is explained. In the final section the authors provide three case studies, demonstrating the tool in action and showing how we are able to measure the cost effectiveness and wider value of a coherent approach to localisation.

This book reviews recent progress in our understanding of tokamak physics related to steady state operation, and addresses the scientific feasibility of a steady state tokamak fusion power system. It covers the physical principles behind continuous tokamak operation and details the challenges remaining and new lines of research towards the realization of such a system. Following a short introduction to tokamak physics and the fundamentals of steady state operation, later chapters cover parallel and perpendicular transport in tokamaks, MHD instabilities in advanced tokamak regimes, control issues, and SOL and divertor plasmas. A final chapter reviews key enabling technologies for steady state reactors, including negative ion source and NBI systems, Gyrotron and ECRF systems, superconductor and magnet systems, and structural materials for reactors. The tokamak has demonstrated an excellent plasma confinement capability with its symmetry, but has an intrinsic drawback with its pulsed operation with inductive operation. Efforts have been made over the last 20 years to realize steady state operation, most promisingly utilizing bootstrap current. Frontiers in Fusion Research II: Introduction to Modern Tokamak Physics will be of interest to graduate students and researchers involved in all aspects of tokamak science and technology.

This resource is the first-ever compilation of industry-authored case studies on how power companies are making strides toward achieving sustainable electricity in North America. The book features recent game changing efforts, candid insider stories about challenges and process, and forecasts for the next decade of innovation. Each chapter shares topic-focused case studies regarding the reality of implementing operational changes and strategies that will lead to sustainable electricity. Key technical staff and managers from top companies candidly report on failures, insights, trade-offs, internal process, resulting improvements to operational efficiencies, and natural resource and stakeholder benefits. Electric power company managers seeking to identify specific opportunities and understand the process for advancing sustainability in their own organizations will discover solid paths forward through potentially treacherous terrain. Educated stakeholders, agencies, and regulators will benefit from the greater understanding of the reality of realizing change in the electric power industry engendered by this unique strategic resource.

Renewable energy is rising within an energy system dominated by powerful vested energy interests in fossil fuels, nuclear and electric utilities. Analyzing renewables in six very different countries, the author argues that it is the extent to which states have controlled these vested interests that determines the success or failure of renewables.

This book provides an up-to-date, rigorous analysis of the state of the art of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation. It focuses on the economic analysis of solar PV generation technologies as well as the policies that have been devised and implemented around the globe to support it. It provides the main theoretical tools for understanding the cost of these technologies, and discusses them from both a historical and comparative perspective with respect to other competing technologies (both conventional and renewable). In addition, it presents the conceptual rationale to maximize reader insights into whether and how public support for these technologies is justified as well as the consequences for the economy of different promotion measures. Integrating concepts from different economics disciplines (environmental economics, innovation economics, industrial economics and public economics) into a coherent basis for the analysis of the costs and policies for solar PV electricity, it provides an update to the literature to reflect recent advances in and deployments of solar electricity and the drastic reduction in associated costs.

The author looks at the prospects for a transition from natural gas to low carbon gas, which could take several decades, and at how this will depend on the evolution of the fossil fuel industry. She investigates the technologies and energy systems for making the best use of renewable gas resources.

The authors suggest that China's renewable energy system, the largest in the world, will quickly supersede the black energy system that has powered the country's rapid rise as workshop of the world and for reasons that have more to do with fixing environmental pollution and enhancing energy security than with curbing carbon emissions.

This book provides an overview of floating offshore wind farms and focuses on the economic aspects of this renewable-energy technology. It presents economic maps demonstrating the main costs, and explores various important aspects of floating offshore wind farms. It examines topics including offshore wind turbines, floating offshore wind platforms, mooring and anchoring, as well as offshore electrical systems. It is a particularly useful resource in light of the fact that most water masses are deep and therefore not suitable for fixed offshore wind farms. A valuable reference work for students and researchers interested in naval and ocean engineering and economics, this book provides a new perspective on floating offshore wind farms, and makes a useful contribution to the existing literature.

This book provides a thorough overview of cutting-edge research on electronics applications relevant to industry, the environment, and society at large. A wide spectrum of application domains are covered, from automotive to space and from health to security and special attention is devoted to the use of embedded devices and sensors for imaging, communication and control. The book is based on the 2014 APPLEPIES Conference, held in Rome, which brought together researchers and stakeholders to consider the most significant current trends in the field of applied electronics and to debate visions for the future. Areas covered by the conference included information communication technology; biotechnology and biomedical imaging; space; secure, clean and efficient energy; the environment; and smart, green and integrated transport. As electronics technology continues to develop apace, constantly meeting previously unthinkable targets, further attention needs to be directed toward the electronics applications and the development of systems that facilitate human activities. This book, written by industrial and academic professionals, will hopefully contribute in this endeavor.

The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies. The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.

Renewable energy is gaining currency around the globe, but China and the United States are central to its development. They are the world's top-two countries in terms of energy consumption, net oil imports, and carbon emissions, as well as gross domestic product (GDP) and manufacturing. Their large territories harbor some of the best sites to generate renewable energy. If the United States and China cooperateand competeeffectively, renewable energy can contribute to economic growth, energy security, and climate change mitigation. The past two years saw important developments, including a bilateral agreement to phase down hydrofluorocarbon emissions and a joint announcement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. China is often touted for its rapid adoption of renewable energy technologies. Long-term industry plans and new legislation suggest Beijing will maintain this policy direction, in line with its overall expansion of energy production capacity. In the United States, by contrast, renewable energy is a divisive issue. There are disagreements about how, if at all, the government should support alternative energy sources when natural gas is abundant, emissions are declining, and energy demand is slowing. This book assesses recent developments in China's wind and solar industries and the implications for the United States. It builds on the Commission's past work on U.S.-China energy issues, including the April 2014 hearing on bilateral clean energy cooperation. The research also draws on Congressional testimonies, academic papers, industry and media reports, and statistical data. The report's main themes and findings are outlined below.

The energy transition has begun. To succeed - to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar power - that process must be fair. Otherwise, mounting popular protest against wind farms will prolong carbon pollution and deepen the climate crisis. David Hughes examines that anti-industrial, anti-corporate resistance, drawing insights from a Spanish village surrounded by turbines. In the lives of these neighbours - freighted with centuries of exploitation - clean power and social justice fit together only awkwardly. Proposals for a green economy, the Green New Deal, or Europe's Green Deal require more effort. We must rethink aesthetics, livelihood, property, and, most essentially, the private nature of wind resources. Ultimately, the energy transition will be public and just, or it may not be at all

This book is a compilation of case studies from different countries and covers contemporary technologies including electric vehicles and solar thermal power plants. The book highlights the real-world situations facing individual projects and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying business propositions. It also sheds light on the factors that are routinely ignored during project formulation and risk assessment, namely coordination among public and private agencies, confirmed availability of relatively minor but essential components, possibility of concurrent demand for inputs from different project proponents, etc. The book provides a systematic 'guided tour' of renewable energy (RE) projects for potential project analysts and includes the development of financial models. It concludes with an evaluation of risk and the design of risk-mitigation measures. It is designed to simultaneously appeal to business school students and to serve as a guide for practicing executives, policy makers and consultants. The cases cover several countries, currencies, policy environments, technologies and resources and will help policy makers, consultants and project analysts and proponents view RE projects in a new light.

Nanotechnology in Civil Infrastructure is a state-of-the art reference source describing the latest developments in nano-engineering and nano-modification of construction materials to improve the bulk properties, development of sustainable, intelligent, and smart concrete materials through the integration of nanotechnology based self-sensing and self-powered materials and cyber infrastructure technologies, review of nanotechnology applications in pavement engineering, development of novel, cost-effective, high-performance and long-lasting concrete products and processes through nanotechnology-based innovative processing of cement and cement paste, and advanced nanoscience modeling, visualization, and measurement systems for characterizing and testing civil infrastructure materials at the nano-scale. Researchers, practitioners, undergraduate and graduate students engaged in nanotechnology related research will find this book very useful.

Nation and the World must move forward with development of a range of energy sources and savings, all with attendant environmental problems. Solving these problems, and those remaining from past energy-related activities, will require iteration, inclusion, and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including U.S., State and local governmental agencies, Tribal Nations, scientists, environmentalists, public policy makers, and the general public.

Bringing together renewable energy and energy security, this book covers both the politics and political economy of renewables and energy security and analyzes renewable technologies in diverse and highly topical countries: Japan, China and Northern Europe.

Biomass is a continuously renewed source of energy formed from or by a wide variety of living organisms. Through biochemical and thermochemical processes, it is converted into gaseous, liquid or solid biofuels, which already meet a significant share of the current world energy needs. Because of their contribution to the sustainability of energy supply, reduction of green house gas emissions as well as local employment and energy self-reliance, research interest and activity in enhancing biofuel energy output, efficiency and performance remain strong. The first part of this volume comprises five articles mainly concerned with biomass resource potential and management. More specifically, the reported investigations assess grass and lawn substrates, rapeseed straw and microalgae from Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor effluents as possible sources of biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel, respectively. The emphasis in the subsequent group of eleven articles is on biomass conversion processes, aiming at assessing performance as well as output quality and diversity.Biodiesel, a fluid biofuel produced from biomass with high lipids such as rapeseed oil, sunflowers and soy beans, is the focus of two articles: the first investigates the effect of biodiesel blending with diesel fuel on diesel engine performance and emissions; the second assesses the efficiency of catalytic reforming of biodiesel into a gaseous mixture, used directly as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) fuel. In the last three articles, the prospects of biofuels as viable sources of energy are examined within European contexts. This volume addresses a significant number of important themes and thus combines subject breadth and density with in-depth study of biomass resourcing and processing as well as the issue of biofuel and renewable energy sustainability.

This book offers a deep insight into the genesis and development of the European Commission's energy and climate legislation, focusing on the interplay of politics and science. How does the Commission react when confronted with knowledge? According to the author, the Commission functions as catalyst transforming knowledge into politics.

The trade of global bioenergy commodities, such as ethanol, biodiesel and wood pellets has been growing exponentially in the past decade, and have by 2013 reached true "commodity" volumes, i.e. tens of millions of tonnes traded each year, and billions (both in US$/ ) of annual turnover.

IEA Bioenergy Task 40 was founded in 2004 and is now in its 4th triennium. For the past 9 years, task 40 has monitored the developments in international bioenergy trade, including the organization of about 20 workshops on trade-related topics, and the publication of over 100 studies, country reports, newsletters, etc. The amount of material produced over the years and insights gained in how biomass markets and international trade of biomass and biofuels has developed is impressive. Besides that the group has produced overviews and insights, also a large amount of practical experience has been brought together in what works and what doesn't. Last but not least, based on all this, there are clear(er) views on how to proceed to build working sustainable international biomass markets in the future. This book compiles those lessons and insights into an easily accessible book publication."""

Global investment in renewable energy has grown sharply in the past five years as countries strive to meet growing energy demands, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and strengthen energy security. Given that a broad group of services are indispensable to the development and functioning of renewable energy projects, the rapid expansion in renewable energy investment and installed capacity world-wide implies a similarly vibrant global market for renewable energy services. This book offers estimates of the U.S. and global markets for trade and investment in services essential to energy production in the solar, wind, small hydropower, and geothermal sectors, as well as discusses trade barriers affecting these services. The book also describes federal programs that provide grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other direct or indirect incentives for energy efficiency, energy conservation, and renewable energy.