Hydroelectricity is the world's largest-and cleanest-source of renewable -energy. But despite lively interest in renewables generally, there is an information vacuum about the smallest version of the technology dubbed "the simplest, most reliable and least expensive way to generate power off grid." Highly illustrated and practical, Microhydro is the first complete book on the topic in a decade. Covering both AC and DC systems, it covers principles, design and site considerations, equipment options, and legal, environmental, and economic factors. Scott Davis has decades of experience operating, installing, designing, selling, and teaching about microhydro technology. An award-winner in the field, he currently works as a system designer and retailer with an alternative energy company for whom he has authored an on-line microhydro course.

This publication analyzes the use of clean and efficient cooking technologies in the Philippines and identifies opportunities and challenges to fast-track their uptake. In Asia and the Pacific, 1.8 billion people still rely on traditional cooking methods using fires and solid fuels. The wider uptake of cleaner cooking solutions is vital for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7 objective of universal access to modern, affordable, reliable, and sustainable modern energy. It is also important for the environment and human health. Based on a study of household cooking practices in the Philippines, this publication provides insights and recommendations to encourage clean cooking in the country. The findings identify policy, information, technology, and financing gaps that must be addressed to boost the development and market expansion of clean cooking technologies.

This publication discusses issues and resolutions on the clean energy and network efficiency investment project in Sri Lanka as one of the Office of the Special Project Facilitator's Lessons Learned series of case studies on complaint management. The Office of the Special Project Facilitator is responsible for the problem-solving function of ADB's Accountability Mechanism. It aims to actively respond to the concerns of people affected by ADB-assisted projects through fair, transparent, and consensus-based problem-solving. The case studies in series aim to support ADB operations departments, government and private sector partners, and other stakeholders by documenting grievance redress management experiences and identifying important lessons and good practices on problem-solving that are useful for future projects.

With immense consumption of resources, increased global warming, and environmental pollution, the energy sector has inevitably embraced sustainability. Countries are releasing plans and programs to shift their fossil fuel-dependent energy sectors into clean energy sectors, and projections show that renewable energy will be a significant part of nations' energy mixes in the near future. Optimization and decision-making techniques have been commonly used in the energy sector as problems encountered in this sector are complex and therefore need comprehensive techniques to solve them. With the uncertainty and high-cost issues of renewable resources, the complexity increases in the sector and requires optimization and decision-making techniques. Optimization and Decision-Making in the Renewable Energy Industry analyzes renewable energy sources using current mathematical methods and techniques and provides advanced knowledge on key opportunities and challenges. The book discusses current and trending mathematical methods, tests their validity and verification, and considers their practical application in the field. Covering topics such as urban sustainability and renewable energy systems, this reference work is ideal for practitioners, academicians, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, instructors, and students.

Renewable energy is crucial to preserve the environment. This energy involves various systems that must be optimized and assessed to provide better performance; however, the design and development of renewable energy systems remains a challenge. It is crucial to implement the latest innovative research in the field in order to develop and improve renewable energy systems. Applications of Nature-Inspired Computing in Renewable Energy Systems discusses the latest research on nature-inspired computing approaches applied to the design and development of renewable energy systems and provides new solutions to the renewable energy domain. Covering topics such as microgrids, wind power, and artificial neural networks, it is ideal for engineers, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, practitioners, teachers, and students.

A comprehensive textbook that integrates tools from technology, economics, markets, and policy to approach energy issues using a dynamic systems and capital-centric perspective. The global energy system is the vital foundation of modern human industrial society. Traditionally studied through separate disciplines of engineering, economics, environment, or public policy, this system can be fully understood only by using an approach that integrates these tools. This textbook is the first to take a dynamic systems perspective on understanding energy systems, tracking energy from primary resource to final energy services through a long and capital-intensive supply chain bounded by both macroeconomic and natural resource systems. The book begins with a framework for understanding how energy is transformed as it moves through the system with the aid of various types of capital, its movement influenced by a combination of the technical, market, and policy conditions at the time. It then examines the three primary energy subsystems of electricity, transportation, and thermal energy, explaining such relevant topics as systems thinking, cost estimation, capital formation, market design, and policy tools. Finally, the book reintegrates these subsystems and looks at their relation to the economic system and the ecosystem that they inhabit. Practitioners and theorists from any field will benefit from a deeper understanding of both existing dynamic energy system processes and potential tools for intervention.

There are few industry sectors in the world today with more potential than renewable energy. Clean, green and renewable energy technologies are receiving immense emphasis from investors, environmentalists, governments and major corporations. A wide variety of technologies are being researched, developed and implemented on a global basis, from Stirling engines to wind power, from advanced nuclear plants to geothermal and fuel cells. Our analysis also includes tar sands (oil sands), oil shale, fuel cells, clean coal, distributed power, energy storage, biofuels and much more. We also discuss the potential for nanotechnology to enhance solar cells and other technologies. Formally Plunkett's Renewable, Alternative & Hydrogen Energy Industry Almanac, this book contains thousands of contacts for business and industry leaders, industry associations, Internet sites and other resources. It also includes statistical tables, an industry glossary and thorough indexes. The corporate profiles section of the book includes our proprietary, in-depth profiles of the 300 leading companies in all facets of the alternative, renewable and hydrogen energy business. You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package.

This review of the Clean Energy Program draws from hundreds of projects approved by ADB in 2008-2018, according to the indicators set out in the 2009 Energy Policy. A decade after the Clean Energy Program took form, the review determines how far the bank has gone toward achieving its targets vis-a-vis baseline data from 2005 to 2007. It also explores what must to be done further in light of the new approach under ADB's Strategy 2030 and the global goals in mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development.

Despite recent efforts by the Government of Indonesia to promote renewable energy investments, fossil fuels continue to account for around 90% of the national power generation mix. High financing costs and low power purchase agreement tariffs have been identified as major roadblocks for renewable energy investments in the country. This report examines how an Energy Resilience Fund can be designed to overcome the investment challenges by providing financial incentives for renewable energy developers. It makes recommendations for the fund's scope, structure, institutional design, function, and operation. Potential funding sources are also assessed.

The important role of metals, their oxides and catalytically-interactive supports in contemporary investigations related to rational construction of next-generation devices as alternative energy sources and hi-tech electronics is ambitiously presented throughout this book. The topics involve: Carbonaceous and non-typical platinum-based nanostructured electrode materials as promising candidates for anodic reactions in low-temperature fuel cells. Ruthenium oxide as electroactive material, presented through its innovative synthesis routes involving microwave heating and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, with the focus on its performances as an electrochemical supercapacitor, but also as a part of multicomponent electrode coating in electrocatalysis of chlorine and oxygen evolution. Alkaline water electrolysis as the simplest method for hydrogen production especially when using renewable energy sources, offering the advantage of simplicity and environmentally clean technology with zero emission of greenhouse gases. New frontiers in electroconductive composite materials and biopolymers combined with noble metal nanoparticles that can be used in nanoelectronics and medical nanotechnologies. The possibilities for the operational improvement of an aluminum-air battery presented through alternative modifications of an Al-anode by alloying with magnesium and electromagnetic bulk structure homogenization. The improvements of copper-based materials as well as the research toward sustainable production of copper itself as an important component for further development of electronic devices.

Bioethanol and Beyond: Advances in Production Process and Future Directions discusses the advances in the production process of bioethanol, ranging from first to fourth generation bioethanol. Bioethanol is currently applied besides simple fuels (biofuel): it is mixed with other fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, and used for generating renewable fuels, such as hydrogen. Advances in the industrial bioethanol (first and second generation) chain point towards the co-energy generation, in situ, and the possibility of generating outside the industry via energetic densification of the residues. A biorefinery is suggested as a strategy to use the industrial residues by amplifying the products portfolio and, thus, collaborating with the process feasibility. The book covers the technological possibilities to produce bioethanol. These processes include the second generation with the use of structural sugars from the plant cell wall and residues from algae (third and fourth generation bioethanol). The fermentation process and contamination in the industrial fermentation is presented, as well as strategies for its control. Pretreatment technologies, enzymatic hydrolysis technologies, and the search for enzymes are described based on recent developments and finds. When it comes to commercialization, technical-analytical standards have been developed in order to control bioethanol quality, contributing to overcome technical barriers and providing product reliability. This book covers the most important tasks in the production process and future directions for the uses, which is a very useful source of information for everything involved in bioethanol science. In particular, this book will answer the questions of students and researches regarding bioethanol production process, as well as professionals in the industry supply chain.

A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michael Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock-an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example-allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, andt they draw on this analyisis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues.

The potential conflict among economic and ecological goals has formed the central fault line of environmental politics in the United States and most other countries since the 1970s. The accepted view is that efforts to protect the environment will detract from economic growth, jobs, and global competitiveness. Conversely, much advocacy on behalf of the environment focuses on the need to control growth and avoid its more damaging effects. This offers a stark choice between prosperity and growth, on the one hand, and ecological degradation on the other. Stopping or reversing growth in most countries is unrealistic, economically risky, politically difficult, and is likely to harm the very groups that should be protected. At the same time, a strategy of unguided "growth above all" would cause ecological catastrophe. Over the last decade, the concept of green growth - the idea that the right mix of policies, investments, and technologies will lead to beneficial growth within ecological limits - has become central to global and national debates and policy due to the financial crisis and climate change. As Daniel J. Fiorino argues, in order for green growth to occur, ecological goals must be incorporated into the structure of the economic and political systems. In this book, he looks at green growth, a vast topic that has heretofore not been systematically covered in the literature on environmental policy and politics. Fiorino looks at its role in global, national, and local policy making; its relationship to sustainable development; controversies surrounding it (both from the left and right); its potential role in ameliorating inequality; and the policy strategies that are linked with it. The book also examines the political feasibility of green growth as a policy framework. While he focuses on the United States, Fiorino will draw comparisons to green growth policy in other countries, including Germany, China, and Brazil.

Since the publication of the first edition of A South African Renewable Energy Guide for Local Government, the costs related to non-renewable energy generation have increased exponentially, and coal-based energy systems have continued to generate large quantities of dangerous emissions. Conversely, sustainable energy generation has become more cost-effective, and in many instances renewables are now more economically viable than non-renewables. This narrowing gap in costs, coupled with an increased awareness of the environmental benefits of renewables, has greatly stimulated the sustainable energy market.

Over the last several years, metropolitan municipalities have engaged with innovative, cost-effective sustainable energy projects and solutions. Medium and smaller municipalities are beginning to understand the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in the energy sector. They are learning how to work within the confines of the South African national, provincial and local policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks; how to embed renewables within local integrated development plans and strategies; how to utilise appropriate technologies and how to apply financing mechanisms and leverage partnerships for successful project delivery. It is critically important therefore that (particularly) small, medium and rural municipalities continue to explore, and receive capacity-building and support for, renewable and energy-efficient solutions

In line with these developments, this second edition provides useful information and solid examples of how politicians, city managers and government officials, in partnership with communities, can facilitate the adoption of renewable energy systems and technologies to achieve a more sustainable energy future for all.

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.

Renewable energy plays an important role in contributing to the transition toward low-carbon development growth, in enhancing technology diversification and hedging against fuel price volatility, in strengthening economic growth, and in facilitating access to electricity. The global trends indicate a growing commitment to renewable energy development from developed and developing countries in both the introduction of specific policy levers and investment flows. Developing countries have now a long history of designing and implementing specific policy and regulatory instruments to promote renewable energy. Today, feed-in tariff policies are being implemented in about 25 developing countries and quantity based instruments, most notably auction mechanisms, are increasingly being adopted by upper middle income countries. This paper summarizes the results of a recent review of the emerging experience with the design and implementation of price and quota based instruments to promote renewable energy in a sample of six representative developing countries and transition economies. The paper discusses the importance of a tailor-made approach to policy design and identifies the basic elements that have proven instrumental to policy effectiveness, including adequate tariff levels, long term policy or contractual commitments, mandatory access to the grid and incremental cost pass-through. Ultimately, a low carbon development growth in the developing world depends on the availability of resources to finance the solutions that exhibit incremental costs. Policies introduced to support renewable energy development should be designed and introduced in combination with strategies that clearly identify sources of finance and establish a sustainable incremental cost recovery mechanism (for example, using concessional financial flows from developed countries to leverage private financing, strengthening the performance of utilities and distribution companies, or allowing the partial pass-through of incremental costs to consumer tariffs with a differentiated burden sharing that protects the poor). Without question, policy makers will have to ensure that the design of different policy mechanisms and the policy mix per se deliver renewable energy targets with the lowest possible incremental costs and volume of subsidies.

In this groundbreaking book, energy systems modelling expert Dr Gregor Czisch analyses electricity supply options for Europe and its neighbouring regions. He describes how our electricity supply could be structured in an optimally costeffective manner largely based on currently available technologies. Czisch proposes that power plant usage and selection be optimized in a manner that takes full account of the availability and intermittency of renewables. To this end, the author provides a number of solutions entailing a wide range of thoughtprovoking scenarios. Czisch s visionary study shows that a pan-European renewablesbased supergrid using highvoltage DC lines extending into North Africa could supply an area spanning 50 countries with a combined population of 1.1 billion. The author demonstrates that such a supergrid would obviate the need for fossil fuels and nuclear power, and that its costs would be on a par with or perhaps even lower than our current electricity supply system. This book would appeal to students and professionals with an interest in the field or for those working in renewable energy, politicians and other energy decision makers."

Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are two proposed investment vehicles that have the potential to lower the high cost of capital for renewable energy assets -- a critical factor in the U.S. Department of Energy's goal for renewable energy to achieve grid-parity with traditional sources of electric generation. Due to current U.S. federal income tax laws, regulations, and administrative interpretations, REITs and MLPs cannot finance a significant portion of the cost of renewable energy assets. Topics discussed in this compilation include the opportunities and potential complications for renewable energy with the master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts; the technical qualifications for treating photovoltaic assets as real property by real estate investment trusts; master limited partnerships parity act; and master limited partnerships as an option for the renewable energy industry.

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.

This book aims to provide a friendly and comprehensive tool in the study of the key issues of Renewable Energy Systems, in order to gain a deeper insight in this broad field through thematic investigations, and, finally, to become able to design competitive innovations and intelligent applications of Renewable Energy Systems in the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. This work is a collaborative attempt to elaborate useful technical information from many countries around the world concerning the efficient and effective use and management of Renewable Energy Systems, either autonomous or hybrids, and to deliver theoretical and experimental analysis in Renewable Energy Systems issues, with numerous exercises, extended problems and case studies, simulation models and algorithms, which radically contribute to comprehensive learning, innovative design and engineering applications.