As industrial, commercial, and residential demands increase and with the rise of privatization and deregulation of the electric energy industry around the world, it is necessary to improve the performance of electric operational management. Intelligent Energy Demand Forecasting offers approaches and methods to calculate optimal electric energy allocation to reach equilibrium of the supply and demand. Evolutionary algorithms and intelligent analytical tools to improve energy demand forecasting accuracy are explored and explained in relation to existing methods. To provide clearer picture of how these hybridized evolutionary algorithms and intelligent analytical tools are processed, Intelligent Energy Demand Forecasting emphasizes on improving the drawbacks of existing algorithms. Written for researchers, postgraduates, and lecturers, Intelligent Energy Demand Forecasting helps to develop the skills and methods to provide more accurate energy demand forecasting by employing novel hybridized evolutionary algorithms and intelligent analytical tools.

Examining the reform and restructuring of the electricity industry in China, India and Russia, this book explores the way that local conditions and institutions shape the commitment, direction and speed of public utility reform in the three countries. It questions the validity of the argument that one model for electricity reforms will work in all countries, on the grounds that the industry is the same everywhere, by examining the World Bank's involvement in economic reforms in developing and transition economies. The author asks how the template developed by the World Bank has affected the three countries and seeks to explain why changes took place, how effectively they have been proceeding, and what the consequences are for these countries. In so doing, Electricity Reform in China, India and Russia challenges both the assumption behind the new reform paradigm - that market competition is the panacea for all the ills of the electricity industry - and the oft-cited belief that a single template can work in different environments. China, India and Russia have different political and economic systems and at different development stages. Xu Yi-chong uses the experience of the three countries to illustrate the complications created by the use of a single template, a policy encouraged by the World Bank, to direct reform and the need to appreciate the different problems that each had to overcome. Academics and students who are interested in comparative politics, comparative economics, public policy and particularly the reform of public utilities will find this work of great interest, as will practitioners and those who are involved in restructuring the electricity industry worldwide.

The Magnitude 9 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, followed by a massive tsunami struck TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and triggered an unprecedented core melt/severe accident in Units 1 - 3. The radioactivity release led to the evacuation of local residents, many of whom still have not been able to return to their homes. As a group of nuclear experts, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan established the Investigation Committee on the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, to investigate and analyze the accident from scientific and technical perspectives for clarifying the underlying and fundamental causes, and to make recommendations. The results of the investigation by the AESJ Investigation Committee has been compiled herewith as the Final Report. Direct contributing factors of the catastrophic nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi NPP initiated by an unprecedented massive earthquake/ tsunami - inadequacies in tsunami measures, severe accident management, emergency response, accident recovery and mitigations - and the underlying factors - organizational issues, etc., have been clarified and recommendations in the following areas have been made. - Nuclear safety fundamentals - Direct factors of the accident - Organizational aspects - Common items (R&D, International cooperation, human resources management) - Post-accident management/recovery from the accident.

This book examines the ongoing transformation of public utilities, also known as network-based industries, in Western Europe and the United States. Examples are telecommunications, energy, and water distribution. Most of these network-based industries were until recently natural monopolies. Over the last two decades national governments have embarked upon privatization, deregulation and liberalization of their public utilities. The contributors in this volume examine the many related aspects, including: * key characteristics and regulation of network based industries * the emerging EU regulatory framework * corporate strategies, industry dynamics, and organizational performance * case studies from the telecommunications and water industries * engineering competition versus engineering regulation. This book provides a non-ideological and multidisciplinary overview of recent views and experiences with the liberalization, privatization and regulatory reform of public utilities in Europe and the United States. As such it will be of interest to scholars and researchers of institutional economics, and organizational studies, as well as regulators, policymakers and consultants involved in both studying and governing network-based industries.

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.

Now in its sixth edition, this guide to the oil industry, written in non-technical language, is a must-read for anyone involved in or curious about the oil industry. Engineers, executives, managers and laypersons will all find this to be a valuable, entertaining and informative guide that presents a practical study of the operations involved in oil exploration, drilling and production. Since the book s original publication in 1958, this handy volume has taught thousands about this constantly evolving industry that is so important for our everyday energy needs."

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.

This book tells the story of one nation's sustained efforts to steer its economy toward low carbon technologies and to define national and global pathways for mitigating climate change. Drawing on a long career in Germany's energy sector, and on subsequent academic research, the book reveals the weaknesses of and critical trade-offs in Germany's bold energy transition plan the Energiewende and explores their causes. Its goal is to provide insights to help policymakers and energy managers keep some of the problems that have plagued the Energiewende at bay, and to instead explore avenues that are more likely to succeed. While such insights cannot solve the problem of socio-technical change overnight, they do reveal alternative transition pathways that keep climate goals clearly in sight, even if they are pursued with a bit less exuberance and a bit more humility. The book is addressed to academic, professional, and political readers alike.

This book offers refineries a practical guide for implementing environmental management systems (EMS). The author, who has implemented hundreds of successful EMS programs throughout North America, Europe, Russia and the Middle East, provides a detailed explanation of what an EMS is and how it can benefit refinery operations in complying with environmental laws and improving the overall efficiency of their operations. The author s approach has been internationally recognized as an integrated model that captures improved compliance and financial savings by reducing operating costs through dedicated pollution prevention programs."

For the first time a book has been written on the technological and scientific knowledge, acquired during, buiding , operation and even dismantling of the Superphenix plant. This reactor remains today the most powerful sodium fast breeder reactor operated in the world.(1200 MWe). The last fast breeder reactor operated in the world is BN 800 in Russia that reached his nominal power (800 MWe) in 2016. Joel Guidez began his career in the field of sodium-cooled fast reactors after leaving Ecole Centrale-Paris, in 1973. He has held various positions at Cadarache, Phenix and Superphenix, including as the head of the thermal hydraulic laboratory conducting tests for Phenix, Superphenix and the EFR European Fast Reactor project. He was also head of the OSIRIS research reactor, located at SACLAY, and of the HFR European Commission reactor, located in the Netherlands and spent two years as nuclear attache at the French embassy in Berlin. His 2012 book "Phenix: the experience feedback" was translated into English and republished in 2013, and this new book on Superphenix is in the same spirit of thematic analysis of a reactor experience feedback. Gerard Prele graduated from the Ecole Centrale-Lyon and entered EDF and the field of sodium-cooled fast reactors in 1983. In 1985 he joined Superphenix, where he was a duty engineer and was later in charge of safety. He has held various positions at Superphenix and Phenix and was a fast neutron reactor (SFR) engineer at the EDF Centre Lyonnais d'Ingenierie (CLI). He worked as Safety Security Environment and Radiation Protection Mission head in Superphenix at the beginning of dismantling and then in the field of PWR for two years. Since 2006 he has been involved in the Gen IV and the SFR/Astrid projects. Today, as an SFR/system and operations expert, one of his major roles is assisting the CEA in the preliminary design of the ASTRID reactor.

In this book well-known experts highlight cutting-edge research priorities and discuss the state of the art in the field of solid oxide fuel cells giving an update on specific subjects such as protonic conductors, interconnects, electrocatalytic and catalytic processes and modelling approaches.Fundamentals and advances in this field are illustrated to help young researchers address issues in the characterization of materials and in the analysis of processes, not often tackled in scholarly books.

Written by one of the world's foremost authorities and instructors on pumps, this first volume in Gulf Publishing Company's new GULF PUMP GUIDES series covers the design, application and troubleshooting for progressing cavity pumps, downhole pumps and mudmotors. There is no other volume offering such a comprehensive, easy-to-understand and hands-on coverage of these types of pumps. As they become more and more widely used in the petrochemical industry, and other industries, knowledge of their design and application will become increasingly more important for the engineer.

Within the general debate on neoliberalism and privatization, private sector participation (PSP) in water is one of the most controversial and emotional debates of the current development discourse. After a decade of experimentation with PSP in water supply, there is an emerging trend of failures or renegotiations. Despite this trend, PSP debate is still alive, but repackaged in different forms, such as PPP. This book puts emotions, ideologies and rhetoric aside, and provides a serious empirical investigation of whether PSP leads to increased welfare, especially for the poor.

An exploration of Turkey's future role and impact on European energy security, looking at the connection between geopolitics, energy security and the EU's need for energy. The book focuses on Turkey's foreign and energy policies and importance as a natural funnel through which the EU can access hydrocarbons and renewables.

This book reports the latest work on green technologies in palm oil milling processes, including new processes and various optimisation techniques. It covers the latest developments on palm oil milling process with new technologies, alternative solvent design, residual oil recovery, palm oil mill effluent treatment, palm biomass supply chain, as well as ecoindustrial park concept. The book is intended for industrial practitioners and academics interested in green technologies for palm oil milling processes.

This book provides a practical description of the technology of pellet production on the basis of renewable sources as well as the utilization of pellets. The author explains what kinds of biomass are usable in addition to wood, how to produce pellets and how to use pellets to produce energy. Starting with the basics of combustion, gasification and the pelletizing process, several different technologies are described. The design, planning, construction and economic efficiency are discussed as well. The appendix gives useful advice about plant concepts, calculations, addresses, conversion tables and formulas.

This book attempts to explain what went wrong in California's restructured energy markets and what must be done to restore California's economy and build new electricity systems. The intention here is to reconcile the principles of competition and regulation. California had a severe electricity crisis for about thirteen months beginning in May of 2000. The economic consequences and political fallout that arose from this crisis persist. California's economy continues to suffer and the state's treasury is deeply in debt. The state's three investor-owned utilities were nearly financially decimated. San Diego Gas & Electric has recovered to a greater degree than the other two only because its retail prices are about three times the national average and, for a time, well above the other two IOUs in California. Southern California Edison has recently been restored to investment grade and was granted a rate increase. Pacific Gas & Electric is emerging from bankruptcy. This book discusses all of this in greater detail. The problems and consequences arising from California's ill-fated foray into electricity market restructuring could damage the state for years to come. Challenges of this nature are not new to the Golden State. In the past, as we explain here, pragmatic, not entrenched, approaches have worked best in California. If California is to relatively quickly restore its previous enviable economic vitality and recover from the damage done to tarnish its luster, pragmatic approaches must again be used.

An acclaimed author and celebrated journalist breaks down the history of electricity and the impact of global energy use on the world and the environment.​

Global demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and do so reliably. Today, some three billion people live in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what's used by an average American refrigerator. How we close the colossal gap between the electricity rich and the electricity poor will determine our success in addressing issues like women's rights, inequality, and climate change.

In A Question of Power, veteran journalist Robert Bryce tells the human story of electricity, the world's most important form of energy. Through onsite reporting from India, Iceland, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, New York, and Colorado, he shows how our cities, our money--our very lives--depend on reliable flows of electricity. He highlights the factors needed for successful electrification and explains why so many people are still stuck in the dark.

With vivid writing and incisive analysis, he powerfully debunks the notion that our energy needs can be met solely with renewables and demonstrates why--if we are serious about addressing climate change--nuclear energy must play a much bigger role.

Electricity has fueled a new epoch in the history of civilization. A Question of Power explains how that happened and what it means for our future.

Energy is a key resource for transformational development globally. Oil and gas continue to play a key role in this sector irrespective of the gradual transition towards renewables and will continue to do so in most developing and emerging economies in the near future. The industry is complex and highly capital intensive with significant risk, but also with significant benefits. Such a complex but important sector is generally not well understood both in academic and policy circles. This book fills this void by serving as a comprehensive reference to the oil and gas sector, with a focus on emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). It offers in-depth coverage of the critical and contemporary issues in the economics of oil and gas industry by carefully integrating the relevant theoretical underpinnings and practical policy issues across the value chain of the industry in relation to the development, fiscal arrangements, and the economic and financing aspects of the industry. These insights will significantly deepen the understanding of the industry and extend the knowledge of the sector in ways that existing books do not. The book includes relevant cases and thus, will serve as a valuable resource for students taking courses in market analysis of the oil and gas industry, energy economics, development economics and finance, environmental and resource economics, the political economy of the extractive industry and development studies. Researchers and practitioners working in these areas will also find the book to be a useful reference guide.

This book addresses the fundamental issues underlying the debate over electric power regulation and deregulation. After decades of the presumption that the electric power industry was a natural monopoly, recent times have seen a trend of deregulation followed by panicked re-regulation. This important book critically analyses this controversial area from a legal and economic perspective.

Near the turn of the twentieth century, "Pine King" Justus S. Stearns was Michigan's largest producer of manufactured lumber and the owner of a prosperous coal mining operation headquartered in Stearns, Kentucky, a town he founded. Over the course of his career, Stearns would own at least thirty manufacturing businesses-making everything from finished lumber to kitchen utensils, game boards, and motors-as well as hotels, a railroad, and a power company. He was also an active member of the Republican Party who served one term as Michigan's secretary of state and a philanthropist who gave a great deal of his wealth to causes in both Michigan and Kentucky. In Justus S. Stearns: Michigan Pine King and Kentucky Coal Baron, 1845-1933, author Michael W. Nagle details Stearn's astounding range of accomplishments and explores the influence of both paternalism and Social Darwinism in his business practices. Nagle begins by addressing key events in the first few decades of Stearns's life and his initial foray into the lumber industry. Subsequent chapters explore Stearns's political career, his timber operations in Wisconsin, and his coal, lumber, and railroad operations in Kentucky and Tennessee. Nagle also details the ancillary businesses that Stearns founded or purchased in the early twentieth century, even as his Stearns Salt & Lumber Company served as the anchor of his Michigan holdings, while Stearns Coal & Lumber did the same for his operations in Kentucky. The final chapter offers an overview and analysis of Stearns's lifetime of accomplishments, including his impact on the town of Ludington, Michigan, where he maintained a residence for over fifty years. Nagle makes extensive use of primary source material from several historical archives as well as contemporary newspaper accounts, court documents, company records, and other primary sources. American history scholars, as well as general readers interested in Michigan's lumbering era and Kentucky's mining history, will enjoy this biography of an exceptionally influential businessman.

The demand for high-performance submarine power cables is increasing as more and more offshore wind parks are installed, and the national electric grids are interconnected. Submarine power cables are installed for the highest voltages and power to transport electric energy under the sea between islands, countries and even continents. The installation and operation of submarine power cables is much different from land cables. Still, in most textbooks on electrical power systems, information on submarine cables is scarce. This book is closing the gap. Different species of submarine power cables and their application are explained. Students and electric engineers learn on the electric and mechanic properties of submarine cables. Project developers and utility managers will gain useful information on the necessary marine activities such as pre-laying survey, cable lay vessels, guard boats etc., for the submarine cable installation and repair. Investors and decision makers will find an overview on environmental aspects of submarine power cables. A comprehensive reference list is given for those who want further reading.

In the modern semiconductor industry, there is a growing need to understand and combat potential radiation damage problems. Space applications are an obvious case, but, beyond that, today's device and circuit fabrication rely on increasing numbers of processing steps that involve an aggressive environment where inadvertant radiation damage can occur. This book is both aimed at post-graduate researchers seeking an overview of the field, and will also be immensely useful for nuclear and space engineers and even process engineers. A background knowledge of semiconductor and device physics is assumed, but the basic concepts are all briefly summarized. Finally the book outlines the shortcomings of present experimental and modeling techniques and gives an outlook on future developments.

Concerns about energy security, uncertainty about oil prices, declining oil reserves, and global climate change are fueling a shift towards bioenergy as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Public policies and private investments around the globe are aiming to increase local capacity to produce biofuels. A key constraint to the expansion of biofuel production is the limited amount of land available to meet the needs for fuel, feed, and food in the coming decades. Large-scale biofuel production raises concerns about food versus fuel tradeoffs, about demands for natural resources such as water, and about potential impacts on environmental quality. The book is organized into five parts. The introductory part provides a context for the emerging economic and policy challenges related to bioenergy and the motivations for biofuels as an energy source. The second part of the handbook includes chapters that examine the implications of expanded production of first generation biofuels for the allocation of land between food and fuel and for food/feed prices and trade in biofuels as well as the potential for technology improvements to mitigate the food vs. fuel competition for land. Chapters in the third part examine the infrastructural and logistical challenges posed by large scale biofuel production and the factors that will influence the location of biorefineries and the mix of feedstocks they use. The fourth part includes chapters that examine the environmental implications of biofuels, their implications for the design of policies and the unintended environmental consequences of existing biofuel policies. The final part presents economic analysis of the market, social welfare, and distributional effects of biofuel policies.