This groundbreaking new book features holistic coverage of technological breakthroughs, financing trends, workforce development issues, and comparative regional case studies in solar energy. It provides a global bird's-eye view of the industry for scientists, engineers, business leaders, and policymakers - anyone seriously engaged in the rapidly evolving field of solar energy. The expert author's analysis includes primary data from the first comprehensive solar industry survey conducted in the United States, insights from key thought leaders in the energy sector, and case studies from international leaders in solar development. "Solar Energy Markets" examines six key drivers of the solar industry: 1) a new culture of environmentalism; 2) policy and markets; 3) financing and venture capital; 4) economics and cost-competitiveness; 5) innovation; and 6) labor. In a field too often marked by divisive over-specialization, this resource provides invaluable context, demonstrating how the solar field s innovative triumphs and inherent challenges play out in the real global marketplace.
Analyzes key drivers of the solar industry at international, national and local levels Synthesizes the first comprehensive surveys of the U.S. solar industry Uniquely ties together technological innovation with market implications for engineers, business leaders and policymakers alikeExamines the evolving role of China in global solar markets"

This book presents a comprehensive review of energy research studies from authors around the globe, including recent research in building energy, the applications of biogas; ground-source heat pump technology advancements; sustainable green energies development and technologies; membrane technology for sustainable growth; applications of wind energy in the Sudan; renewable energy in heating, ventilation and indoor air quality systems, and agriculture; increasing energy efficiency; and evaluation of meteorological data with respect to renewable energy applications.

This book reviews past U.S. exports of utility-scale wind turbine nacelles and blades, and assesses the potential for future U.S. exports of these products to markets in Canada and Latin America. These markets are growing in importance and, though they are smaller than the Chinese and European markets, are significant potential export destinations for U.S. producers. The results of this analysis indicate that U.S. exports increased annually during 20072011, with Canada and Latin America accounting for the largest share of exports, but that the total volume of U.S. exports remains low in comparison to global exports. Markets in Ontario, Western Canada, and Mexico are growing rapidly and U.S. producers are positioned to increase exports to these places in the next few years.

India has 150GW of renewable energy potential, about half in the form of small hydropower, biomass, and wind and half in solar, cogeneration, and waste-to-energy. Developing renewable energy can help India increase its energy security, reduce the adverse impacts on the local environment, lower its carbon intensity, contribute to more balanced regional development, and realize its aspirations for leadership in high-technology industries. This study aims to answers critical questions on why renewable energy development is relevant in Indian context, on how much development is economically feasible, and on what needs to be done to realize the potential. The Report is based on data from nearly 180 wind, biomass, and small hydropower projects in 20 states, as well as information from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). The Report suggests that about 3GW of renewable energy - all from small hydropower is conomically feasible, when the avoided cost of coal-based generation of Rs 3.08/kWh is considered. About 59GW of renewable energy in wind, biomass, and small hydropower is available at less than Rs 5/kWh. The entire cumulative capacity of 68GW in these three technologies can be harnessed at less than Rs 6/kWh. About 62GW-90 percent of cumulative renewable capacity in wind, biomass, and small hydropower-is economically feasible when the environmental premiums on coal are brought into consideration. Realizing the need to bridge this gap, the government has set an ambitious target of installing at least 40GW of additional capacity of renewables in the next 10 years. India has made tremendous strides in establishing overarching policy framework and institutions to bring renewable in the mainstream of energy mix, but significant financial, infrastructure and regulatory barriers to renewable energy development remain which the report sheds light on and suggests possible solutions.

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.

This book is a clean energy technology market overview for India and China with two primary objectives: (1) to analyse the clean energy markets in India and China and (2) to identify opportunities for trade and investment through 2020. Clean energy technologies include renewable energy, hybrid and co-generation, and energy efficiency technologies for power generation; alternative fuels; and advanced technologies for transportation. They produce power for a wide range of applications using no fuel or less fuel than fossil-fuel-based technologies, produce no or fewer pollutants than conventional technologies and can use renewable energy sources, which, unlike fossil fuels, are not depleted over time. The renewable energy technologies considered in this book are biomass and biofuels, waste-to-energy, solar power, wind power, geothermal, hydropower, and ocean power. This is an edited, excerpted and augmented edition of two U.S. Department of Commerce publication.

The financial challenges facing clean energy installations

The path to the widespread adoption of renewable energy is littered with major technological legal, political, and financial challenges. "Investing in the Renewable Power Market" is a reality check for the mass roll out of green energy and its financial dominance of the world energy market, focusing on real energy costs and global energy needs over the next decade. If green energy is to be truly successful, the market must be properly understood, so that dreams of a green future do not lead to actual energy nightmares.

The first book to cover the major investing challenges and monetary constraints placed on electric power companies as they race to meet their green energy requirements, "Investing in the Renewable Power Market" explains how generating electricity is totally different from other energy enterprises in that it is highly regulated and its product cannot be stored. This combination greatly affects the finances of renewable power and influences how investors should navigate the energy market. To help the reader better understand the current state of the alternative energy industry, the book: Details the challenges facing green energy, such as the fact that it is priced compared to natural gas, which is currently at an all-time lowAnalyzes real energy costs and the global demand for energy over the next decadeDescribes why, in the short term, investment opportunities with renewable power will be with financial and operational restructurings

The green energy market is currently facing enormous challenges, but "Investing in the Renewable Power Market" explains the real costs of energy, the future of the energy market, and how to profit in both the long and short term.

Climate change threatens to derail development, even as development pumps ever-greater quantities of carbon dioxide into an atmosphere already polluted with two centuries of Western emissions. The World Bank, with a newly-articulated Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change, must confront these entangled threats in helping its clients to carve out a sustainable growth path. This evaluation assesses the Bank's experience with key win-win policies in the energy sector.

High petroleum and gasoline prices, concerns over global climate change, and the desire to promote domestic rural economies have greatly increased interest in biofuels as an alternative to petroleum in the U.S. transportation sector. While recent proposals have set the goal of significantly expanding biofuel supply in the coming decades, questions remain about the ability of the U.S. biofuel industry to meet rapidly increasing demands. This book outlines some of the current supply issues facing biofuels industries, including implications for agricultural feedstocks, infrastructure concerns, energy supply for biofuel production, and fuel price uncertainties. Included in this book is a summary of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 as well as an analysis of this document and testimonial responses to the issues it raises.

In the future, the UK's energy supplies, for both heat and power, will come from much more diverse sources. In many cases, this will mean local energy projects serving a local community or even a single house. What technologies are available? Where and at what scale can they be used? How can they work effectively with our existing energy networks? This book explores these power and heat sources, explains the characteristics of each and examines how they can be used.

The rapid growth of wind generation has many implications for power system planning, operation and control. This would have been a considerable challenge for the old nationalised power companies; it has become an even greater challenge in today's liberalised electricity markets. Network development, voltage rise, protection, monitoring and control are connection problems common to all wind power generation. These issues are addressed through an understanding of the basic electrical engineering concepts and wind power technology. When wind power approaches 10 percent of all generation, it impinges on system operation. The underlying principles of system balancing are presented, before considering the impact of many variable generation sources whose outputs are difficult to predict. Wind power forecasting is crucial to successful wind power integration, and basic theory and current practice are considered. Storage can also help but it needs to be low cost and, ideally, based on intelligent use of existing load. Finally, electricity markets are explained and the commercial challenges facing wind power are assessed. The book provides a wide-ranging discussion on all major aspects of wind power integration into electricity supply systems. It requires no specialist knowledge and will appeal to engineers from various disciplines looking for an overview of a technology that is providing a major impetus for sustainable electricity supply in the twenty-first century.

Solar energy is derived ultimately from the sun. It can be divided into direct and indirect categories. Most energy sources on Earth are forms of indirect solar energy, although we usually don't think of them in that way. Coal, oil and natural gas derive from ancient biological material which took its energy from the sun (via plant photosynthesis) millions of years ago. All the energy in wood and foodstuffs also comes from the sun. Movement of the wind (which causes waves at sea), and the evaporation of water to form rainfall which accumulates in rivers and lakes, are also powered by the sun. Therefore, hydroelectric power and wind and wave power are forms of indirect solar energy. Direct solar energy is what we usually mean when we speak of solar power -- it is the use of sunlight for heating or generating electricity. Solar energy research and applications have been receiving increasing attention throughout the world as solar energy must play a much greater role in the energy mix in upcoming years. This book examines new research in this frontier field.

What if the solution to the climate crisis is . . . capitalism? Our age will be defined by the climate emergency. But contrary to the doomist narrative that's taken hold, the world has already begun deploying the solutions needed to deal with it. On a journey across five continents, Climate Capitalism tracks the unlikely heroes driving the fight against climate change. From the Chinese bureaucrat who did more to make electric cars a reality than Elon Musk, to the Danish students who helped to build the world's longest-operating wind turbine, or the American oil executive building the technology that can reverse climate damages, we meet the people working to scale technologies that are finally able to bend the emissions curve. Through stories that bring people, policy and technology together, Akshat Rathi reveals how the green economy is not only possible, but profitable. This inspiring blend of business, science, and history provides the framework for ensuring that future generations can live in prosperity and that the wheels of progress don't falter.

Solarenergie ist die Basis f r eine nachhaltige Wirtschaftsweise. Die Liberalisierung der Elektrizit tsindustrie stellt die Stromerzeugung aus erneuerbaren Energien vor eine gro e Herausforderung. Solarstrom gilt als teuer und nicht wirtschaftlich. Dieses Buch untersucht die konomischen Aspekte von kleinen dezentralen Photovoltaikanlagen, die auch von Konsumenten betrieben werden k nnen. Der Autor entwickelt eine Marktstrategie, die es kleinen kommunalen Energieversorgern erlaubt, mit erneuerbaren Energien in einem zuk nftigen freien Stromwettbewerb zu bestehen. Aktuelle Fallstudien aus Deutschland und den USA illustrieren die Chancen und Herausforderungen f r eine umweltfreundliche Energieversorgung mit Solarstrom. Mit zahlreichen Abbildungen, Tabellen und einem englisch-deutschen W rterverzeichnis.

Climate change is no longer deniable. Neither is the fact that greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities need to be mitigated. The question is how to rapidly transit to an increasingly low-carbon world while essentially sustaining the quality of life of the fortunate and providing better lives for the less fortunate.The challenge is to decarbonize both energy consumption and production with electricity at the core of energy systems.Perhaps Energia, a fictitious country whose 50 million inhabitants endorse climate change objectives and that embodies the energy mutations proposed by the authors, has the answers. Along with Energia, four families living in Africa, America, Asia and Europe who represent us, the consumer, set the stage for the book's discussions.On the user front, the presentation primarily focuses on energy consumption at home and for transport. On the energy production front, the focus shifts to the integration of renewables with fossil and nuclear energy. The book's coverage includes crucial systemic issues related to energy storage, electric power systems and multi-energy systems. In a dedicated chapter, the authors put forward their energy and environmental public policy observations and proposals, including a carbon fee scheme.Electricity is written for readers interested and concerned by the environmental and energy challenges we face, and who seek to participate, as well-informed citizens, in discussions on future energy-related options. The book provides a balanced, factual and unemotional presentation of readily available energy systems and technologies which, when widely deployed, can contribute, both short and long term, toward a low-carbon and electricity-centered world.

Renewable Energy Finance: Theory and Practice integrates the special characteristics of renewable energy with key elements of project finance. Through a mixture of fundamental analysis and real-life examples, readers learn how renewable energy project finance works in actual deals that mix finance, public policy, legal, engineering and environmental issues. The skills developed in analyzing non-recourse cash flow-based finance are applicable not only to green energy, but also apply more widely in project finance and infrastructure investing. The book's comparisons of developed and developing countries make it valuable to readers worldwide.

Accelerating energy innovation could be an important part of an effective response to the threat of climate change. Written by a stellar group of experts in the field, this book complements existing research on the subject with an exploration of the role that public and private policy have played in enabling--and sustaining--swift innovation in a variety of industries, from agriculture and the life sciences to information technology. Chapters highlight the factors that have determined the impact of past policies, and suggest that effectively managed federal funding, strategies to increase customer demand, and the enabling of aggressive competition from new firms are important ingredients for policies that affect innovative activity.

Solar energy is a substantial global industry, one that has generated trade disputes among superpowers, threatened the solvency of large energy companies, and prompted serious reconsideration of electric utility regulation rooted in the 1930s. One of the biggest payoffs from solar's success is not the clean inexpensive electricity it can produce, but the lessons it provides for innovation in other technologies needed to address climate change. Despite the large literature on solar, including analyses of increasingly detailed datasets, the question as to how solar became inexpensive and why it took so long still remains unanswered. Drawing on developments in the US, Japan, Germany, Australia, and China, this book provides a truly comprehensive and international explanation for how solar has become inexpensive. Understanding the reasons for solar's success enables us to take full advantage of solar's potential. It can also teach us how to support other low-carbon technologies with analogous properties, including small modular nuclear reactors and direct air capture. However, the urgency of addressing climate change means that a key challenge in applying the solar model is in finding ways to speed up innovation. Offering suggestions and policy recommendations for accelerated innovation is another key contribution of this book. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy technology and innovation, climate change and energy analysis and policy, as well as practitioners and policymakers working in the existing and emerging energy industries.

The main objective of this book is to evaluate alternative energy systems in buildings regardless of their location and climatic conditions. To do so, evaluations have been conducted in temperate and marine weather conditions in developed countries like Germany; in a semiarid climate in Spain; and in a humid subtropical climate in Brazil. Over the past few years, the use of passive cooling and heating technologies has become more common for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. However, these technologies are not often used for some building systems. Buildings intended for children or the elderly are often climatized to improve indoor thermal conditions. In this book, a cost reduction in climatization based on passive systems is proposed and studied. Building site optimisation is performed to improve thermal behavior. To achieve this, computational fluid dynamics tools have been used. The integration of these passive systems allows the peak power demand to be reduced by up to 50% and the yearly energy consumption to be reduced by approximately 40%. These reductions are studied for conventional and renewable energy systems, showing that passive systems provide better thermal comfort and reduce initial investment and energy consumption, making low-cost buildings feasible.

China's meteoric rise to economic powerhouse might be charted with dams. Every river in the country has been tapped to power exploding cities and factories - every river but one. Running through one of the richest natural areas in the world, the Nujiang's raging waters were on the verge of being dammed when a 2004 government moratorium halted construction. Might the Chinese dragon bow to the angry river? Would Beijing put local people and their land ahead of power and profit? Could this remote region actually become a model for sustainable growth? Ed Grumbine travelled to the far corners of China's Yunnan province to find out. He was driven by a single question: could this last fragment of wild nature withstand China's unrelenting development? But as he hiked through deep-cut emerald mountains, backcountry villages, and burgeoning tourist towns, talking with trekking guides, school children, and rural farmers, he discovered that the problem wasn't as simple as growth versus conservation. In its struggle to 'build a well-off society in an all-round way', Beijing juggles a host of competing priorities: health care for impoverished villagers; habitat for threatened tigers, cars for a growing middle class; clean air for all citizens; energy to power new cities; and, rubber for the global marketplace. All the issues China faces are bound together - and to larger forces in Asia, the United States, and the world. "Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River" is an incisive meditation on the fate of China and the planet. Will the Angry River continue to flow? Will Tibetan girls from subsistence farming families learn to read and write? Can China and the U.S. come together to lead action on climate change? Far-reaching in its history and scope, this unique book pieces together the many facets of conservation and development in China, from the poorest rural hamlets to a globalized world. Ed Grumbine doesn't have a crystal ball, but he does show us the real-world consequences of decisions now being made in Beijing and beyond.

The economic and political aspects of energy subsidies, viewed both theoretically and empirically, with a focus on fossil fuel subsidies in developing nations. Government subsidies to energy are widespread and represent a heavy burden on public budgets in many countries. Both producers and consumers may be subsidized; the most common subsidies are for motor fuel consumption and electricity production and consumption. The subsidies to consumers often prove particularly harmful because they result in increased energy consumption, increased carbon emissions, and distortionary effects on consumer behavior. This book fills a void in the literature by providing a first, broad and diverse, analysis of several aspects of the economic and political economy aspects of government energy subsidies. The contributors take both theoretical and empirical approaches, with most of the focus on subsidies to fuel and electricity in non-OECD countries. The chapters cover such topics as energy pricing, reelection incentives for politicians that may encourage excessive subsidies; political corruption and "bribing equilibria," the the "resource curse" in developing countries when the gains from natural resource windfalls are largely wasted, the "entitlement" of energy subsidies in autocracies, and distributional issues when subsidies targeted to the poor are removed in high-income countries. One chapter discusses nonharmful subsidies: the potential economic effects of subsidizing the manufacturing and deployment of renewable energy. Contributors Carolyn Fischer, Mads Greaker, Mohammad Habibpour, Michelle Harding, Christina Kolerus, Christos Kotsogiannis, Jim Krane, Alber Touna Mama, Raffaele Miniaci, Marco Pani, Ian Parry, Carlo Perroni, Leonzio Rizzo, Knut Einar Rosendahl, Carlo Scarpa, Neda Seiban, Suphi Sen, Jon Strand, Paola Valbonesi, Herman Vollebergh

As the hazards of carbon emissions increase and governments around the world seek to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, the search for clean and affordable alternate energies has become an increasing priority in the twenty-first century. However, one nation has already been producing such a fuel for almost a century: Brazil. Its sugarcane-based ethanol is the most efficient biofuel on the global fuel market, and the South American nation is the largest biofuel exporter in the world. Sweet Fuel offers the first full historical account of the industry's origins. The Brazilian government mandated a mixture of ethanol in the national fuel supply in the 1930s, and the success of the program led the military dictatorship to expand the industry and create the national program Proalcool in 1975. Private businessmen, politicians, and national and international automobile manufacturers together leveraged national interests to support this program. By 1985, over 95% of all new cars in the country ran exclusively on ethanol, and, after consumers turned away from them when oil was cheap, the government successfully promoted flex fuel cars instead. Yet, as Jennifer Eaglin shows, the industry's growth came with associated environmental and social costs in the form of water pollution from liquid waste generated during ethanol distillation and exploitative rural labor practices that reshaped Brazil's countryside. By examining the shifting perceptions of the industry from a sugar byproduct to a national energy solution to a global clean energy option, Sweet Fuel ultimately reveals deeper truths about what a global large-scale transition away from fossil fuels might look like and challenges idealized views of green industries.

There is a rapid growth of interest in the use of renewable resources, and in particular bio-resources for the manufacture of future, sustainable chemicals and materials. This movement is encouraged by end-user concerns over security of supply, legislation forcing substitution of many common chemicals, new standards for bio-based products and consumer pressure. With increasing pressure around the world to move towards bio-based chemicals, it is essential that the bio-economy is underpinned with sound science and technology. This Faraday Discussion addresses some of the critical issues in this field by bringing together experts in different but complementary areas in the chemical sciences. The book explores topics such as how green chemistry can complement biotechnology in the production of chemicals and materials; catalytic technologies best suited for the biomass challenge; biomass conversion technologies; and whether existing bio-based chemicals and materials should be used or new molecules and processes created to deal with new components.

New and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering: From Cellulose to Cellulase: Strategies to Improve Biofuel Production outlines new methods for the industrial production of the cellulose enzyme. The book compares the various processes for the production of biofuels, including the cost of cellulose production and availability. Biofuels are considered to be the main alternatives to fossil fuels in reducing environmental pollution and climate change. Currently, all existing biofuel production is suffering because of the high costs of production processes. As a result, cost effective practical implementation is needed to make this a viable energy alternative.