This open access book analyzes and seeks to consolidate the use of robust quantitative tools and qualitative methods for the design and assessment of energy and climate policies. In particular, it examines energy and climate policy performance and associated risks, as well as public acceptance and portfolio analysis in climate policy, and presents methods for evaluating the costs and benefits of flexible policy implementation as well as new framings for business and market actors. In turn, it discusses the development of alternative policy pathways and the identification of optimal switching points, drawing on concrete examples to do so. Lastly, it discusses climate change mitigation policies' implications for the agricultural, food, building, transportation, service and manufacturing sectors.

This volume, originally published in 1983, analyses the extent to which American dominance in world affairs is based on the control of oil resources and the changes which will inevitably take place with the end of the oil era. The author concludes that the USA will be forced to take part in a struggle to control both the new sources of energy and the new technology which must be developed to make use of them.

Written in 1985, at a time when the world oil industry was facing a difficult period of over-supply and falling prices, this book examines some of the most important strategic issues facing both the producers and consumers of oil and gas. A theme underlying al the papers is the need for strengthening the co-operation between producing and consuming nations, especially between the Arab Gulf States and the members of the EU. The security of supply is also examined in the light of regional instability and peace in the Middle East.

This book studies the extent to which nuclear safety issues have contributed towards the stagnation of nuclear power development around the world, and accounts for differences in safety regulations in different countries. In order to understand why nuclear development has not met widespread expectations, this book focusses on six key countries with active nuclear power programmes: the USA, China, France, South Korea, the UK, and Russia. The authors integrate cultural theory and theory of regulation, and examine the links between pressures of cultural bias on regulatory outcomes and political pressures which have led to increased safety requirements and subsequent economic costs. They discover that although nuclear safety is an important upward driver of costs in the nuclear power industry, this is influenced by the inherent need to control potentially dangerous reactions rather than stricter nuclear safety standards. The findings reveal that differences in the strictness of nuclear safety regulations between different countries can be understood by understanding differences in cultural contexts and the changes in this over time. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and policymakers working on energy policy and regulation, environmental politics and policy, and environment and sustainability more generally.

This book addresses the rapidly changing citizen roles in innovation, technology adoption, intermediation, market creation, and legitimacy building for low-carbon solutions. It links research in innovation studies, sustainability transitions, and science and technology studies, and builds a new approach for the study of user contributions to innovation and sociotechnical change. Citizen Activities in Energy Transition gives detailed and empirically grounded overall appraisal of citizens' active technological engagement in the current energy transition, in an era when Internet connectivity has given rise to important new forms of citizen communities and interactions. It elaborates a new way to study users in sociotechnical change through long-term ethnographic and historical research and reports its deployment in a major, decade-long line of investigation on user activities in small-scale renewables, addressing user contributions from the early years to the late proliferation stages of small-scale renewable energy technologies (S-RETs). It offers a much-needed empirical and theoretical understanding of the dynamics of the activities in which users are engaged over the course of sociotechnical change, including innovation, adoption, adjustment, intermediation, community building, digital communities, market creation, and legitimacy creation. This work is a must-read for those seeking to understand the role of users in innovation, energy systems change and the significance of new digital communities in present and future sociotechnical change. Academics, policymakers, and managers are given a new resource to understand the "demand side" of sociotechnical change beyond the patterns of investment, adoption, and social acceptance that have traditionally occupied their attention.

Bifacial photovoltaic (PV) modules are able to utilize light from both sides and can therefore significantly increase the electric yield of PV power plants, thus reducing the cost and improving profitability. Bifacial PV technology has a huge potential to reach a major market share, in particular when considering utility scale PV plants. Accordingly, bifacial PV is currently attracting increasing attention from involved engineers, scientists and investors. There is a lack of available, structured information about this topic. A book that focuses exclusively on bifacial PV thus meets an increasing need. Bifacial Photovoltaics: Technology, applications and economics provides an overview of the history, status and future of bifacial PV technology with a focus on crystalline silicon technology, covering the areas of cells, modules, and systems. In addition, topics like energy yield simulations and bankability are addressed. It is a must-read for researchers and manufacturers involved with cutting-edge photovoltaics.

With the end of the British Raj in 1947, the Foreign Office replaced the Government of India as the department responsible for the Persian Gulf, and would proceed to manage relations with the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates, UAE) until British withdrawal in 1971. This work is a comprehensive history of British policy in the region during that period, situated for the first time in its broad historical and political context. Tancred Bradshaw - an academic historian with extensive experience in the region - sheds light onto the discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi in the 1950s, Foreign Office attempts to instigate a long-term development policy in the region, the slow end of the British Empire, the origins of the UAE and - most importantly - the British legacy in this geopolitically crucial region today. The book relies on 40,000 pages of archival material, much of it previously unused, and will be of interest to Imperial historians, as well as anyone working on the history and politics of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.

The aim of this book is to highlight the great potential of decentralized (i.e. local or urban) energy policies in achieving environmentally-benign developments for modern cities. Urban sustainability is placed in the context of the debate on global sustainable development. A wide array of policy initiatives is discussed and evaluated, ranging from market-based energy policies to technological innovation policies for the energy sector. A theoretical framework for technology adoption processes is developed and empirically tested. The main question addressed is: which are the critical success factors for successful urban energy policies? This question is also dealt with in a meta-analytic context by assessing and comparing the performance of energy policies in various European cities, with a particular view to renewable energy.

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 study of the transformation of the Latin American oil system from one in which the international oil companies dominated to one which is dominated by the main state oil companies, and an account of how some of the more important of the state companies have operated. This comprehensive guide to the evolution of the Latin American oil system combines in one volume a synthesis of material from secondary sources and original research and thus provides an invaluable reference for all concerned with the history and economy of Latin America and with the development and functioning of the international oil industry.

Presents a well-structured and robust thesis on the challenges and opportunities for natural gas in India's energy future Draw upon key insights, lessons, and way forward from the gas sector reform process Addresses the energy transition scenario towards a net zero Includes comparative Analysis of India's diversity of commercial primary energy supply Uses granular data and visual representations of the same to convey the key arguments

First published in 1981, Libya: The Experience of Oil provides a comprehensive overview of Libya' s socio-economic development since the reform of 1961. It reviews Libya's oil endowment and draws attention to the deficiencies in the country's renewable natural resources and in the availability of unskilled labour and trained professional staff. The absorption of oil wealth after 1961 is shown to have been severely constrained by poor factor endowment in land and labour resources. The book shows that by end of the 1970s there had been a significant redistribution of wealth along with a reorganization of the economy, such that almost all production, distribution and resources were under public control. A recurring feature observed in this pattern of change is that rates of investment, sectoral allocations to the development spending, improvement in the standard of living and the level of social service provision advanced at a constant rate after oil and that the revolution had little impact on the rate of improvement in the development indicators. This is book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of African studies, African politics, geopolitics and international relations.

It is now almost impossible to conceive of life in western Europe, either in the towns or the countryside, without a reliable mains electricity supply. By 1938, two-thirds of rural dwellings had been connected to a centrally generated supply, but the majority of farms in Britain were not linked to the mains until sometime between 1950 and 1970. Given the significance of electricity for modern life, the difficulties of supplying it to isolated communities, and the parallels with current discussions over the provision of high-speed broadband connections, it is surprising that until now there has been little academic discussion of this vast and protracted undertaking. This book fills that gap. It is divided into three parts. The first, on the progress of electrification, explores the timing and extent of electrification in rural England, Wales and Scotland; the second examines the effects of electrification on rural life and the rural landscape; and the third makes comparisons over space and time, looking at electrification in Canada and Sweden and comparing electrification with the current problems of rural broadband.

First published in 1988, The Bhopal Syndrome documents one of world's worst industrial disaster: The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. The tragedy exposed a variety of issues plaguing rapid development such as the negligence of corporations and government, prioritizing of commercial benefits over human lives, inadequate post-disaster rehabilitation and compensation, and frightening levels of environmental pollution. The author argues that the Bhopal gas tragedy is being replicated across the globe at various intensities facilitating a dangerous normalisation. He asserts that workers and consumers should fight for their 'right to know' about working conditions, chemicals used in pesticides, the harm caused by producing such chemicals, how these chemicals end up on our food as well as the manner in which the chemicals interact in our body. Climate crisis and undeterred industrial development still haunt our reality making this book an essential read for any concerned citizen and for students of disaster management, industrial disasters, climate change, environment, toxicology and workers' rights.

This book investigates innovative solutions to increase the share of renewable engery in the global power mix, with a particular focus on improved and sustainable biomass conversion technologies. To this end, the book deals with an analysis of the generation mix of renewable energies (including biofuels, renewable waste and biogas) in the overall power balance of several countries. In addition, the possibilities of using bioenergy resources in the context of power generation are thoroughly analyzed. As one of the most important ways of converting biomass into energy, the combustion process is analyzed in detail, highlighting the vast potential for the use of innovative biofuels. In this context, a detailed classification of existing biofuels is established, reflecting the relationship between their energy properties and their potential use in industrial facilities. Additionally, the most efficient combustion technologies for the respective applications are discussed. Furthermore, the authors emphasize that the management of renewable waste, both from industry (tannery waste and oils from transport) and agriculture, requires an economic and environmental friendly approach. The challenges of burning various renewable waste fuels and upgrading industrial facilities are discussed, and the ideas and technologies presented in this book contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for "Affordable and Clean Energy". The book is a useful resource for professionals dealing with current and upcoming activities related to renewable energy combustion, and a good starting point for young researchers.

Handbook of Materials Failure Analysis: With Case Studies from the Oil and Gas Industry provides an updated understanding on why materials fail in specific situations, a vital element in developing and engineering new alternatives. This handbook covers analysis of materials failure in the oil and gas industry, where a single failed pipe can result in devastating consequences for people, wildlife, the environment, and the economy of a region. The book combines introductory sections on failure analysis with numerous real world case studies of pipelines and other types of materials failure in the oil and gas industry, including joint failure, leakage in crude oil storage tanks, failure of glass fibre reinforced epoxy pipes, and failure of stainless steel components in offshore platforms, amongst others.

This authoritative book on China's oil demand and government policies and practices rests on two essential foundations: first and foremost on the author's considerable knowledge of China's oil situation and prospects, together with his access to Chinese energy literature and data; and secondly, on that insight afforded to him and, therefore, his readers from his fluency in Chinese.

The author analyzes the Chinese oil market and the rising pressure on Beijing to reform policies which constrain China's ability to meet soaring demand and to pay for crucial imports at a time of growing political and economic uncertainties. Dr Wang acknowledges the importance of China meeting its growing domestic oil demand, if at all possible, through national production. The sheer weight of China's population, and its burgeoning requirements as industrialization spreads into most regions, dwarfs the needs of others and places unprecedented strain on international oil trades.

The author stresses the fact that the outcome is hard to define, yet the time required to tackle the nation's energy needs is not limitless. Moreover, he reminds the reader of the perennial difficulty in meeting widely disparate economic and energy needs in different regions of the vast country.

While much of the current research on the extractive industries and their socio-environmental impacts is region specific, Resource Extraction, Space and Resilience: International Perspectives critically explores the current state of the extractive industries sector from a uniquely global perspective. The book introduces a more dynamic idea of sustainability in evaluating mineral extraction and its impacts, and provides a spatialized understanding of the evolution of the extractive industries to help visualise the interlinkages across space, regions and scales. Professor Kotilainen responds to these theoretical challenges by analysing the potential for resilience of mining activities from multiple perspectives across scales, exploring why it is only possible to achieve temporary balance and stability for the whole resource extraction system. Taking a global perspective, the book explores the interlinkages of the industry, investigates the similarities and differences in how the industry operates and examines the social and environmental impacts it has. By providing an explicitly theoretically informed analysis of the state of the extractive industries, this text will appeal to a wide range of scholars with an interdisciplinary interest in the extractive industries and natural resource management, including human geographers and social scientists with a focus on the relations of humans and societies with their physical environments.

Advanced Materials for Wastewater Treatment and Desalination: Fundamentals to Applications offers a comprehensive overview of current progress in the development of advanced materials used in wastewater treatment and desalination. The book is divided into two major sections, covering both fundamentals and applications. This book: Describes the synthesis and modification of advanced materials, including metal oxides, carbonaceous materials, perovskite-based materials, polymer-based materials, and advanced nanocomposites Examines relevant synthesis routes and mechanisms as well as correlates materials' properties with their characterization Details new fabrication techniques including green synthesis, solvent-free, and energy-saving synthesis approaches Highlights various applications, such as removal of organic contaminants, discoloration of dye wastewater, petrochemical wastewater treatment, and electrochemically-enhanced water treatment With chapters written by leading researchers from around the world, this book will be of interest to chemical, materials, and environmental engineers working on progressing materials applications to improve water treatment technologies.

Cyanobacterial toxins are among the hazardous substances most widely found in water. They occur naturally, but concentrations hazardous to human health are usually due to human activity. Therefore, to protect human health, managing lakes, reservoirs and rivers to prevent cyanobacterial blooms is critical. This second edition of Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water presents the current state of knowledge on the occurrence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins as well as their impacts on health through water-related exposure pathways, chiefly drinking-water and recreational activity. It provides scientific and technical background information to support hazard identification, assessment and prioritisation of the risks posed by cyanotoxins, and it outlines approaches for their management at each step of the water-use system. It sets out key practical considerations for developing management strategies, implementing efficient measures and designing monitoring programmes. This enables stakeholders to evaluate whether there is a health risk from toxic cyanobacteria and to mitigate it with appropriate measures. This book is intended for those working on toxic cyanobacteria with a specific focus on public health protection. It intends to empower professionals from different disciplines to communicate and cooperate for sustainable management of toxic cyanobacteria, including public health workers, ecologists, academics, and catchment and waterbody managers. Ingrid Chorus headed the department for Drinking-Water and Swimming-Pool Hygiene at the German Environment Agency. Martin Welker is a limnologist and microbiologist, currently with bioMerieux in Lyon, France.

Ever since the publication in 1997 the original Scour Manual has helped many practising hydraulic engineers to deal with scour processes near hydraulic structures. In recent years new insights, such as probabilistic calculations, offered new opportunities to design structures more economically. These new insights are included in this update of the original Scour Manual, which is focussing entirely on current-related scour. This manual provides the engineer with useful practical methods to calculate the dimensions of scour holes in the pre-feasibility and preliminary stages of a project, and gives an introduction to the most relevant literature. This updated Scour Manual contains guidelines that can be used to solve problems related to scour in engineering practice and also reflects the main results of all research projects in the Netherlands in recent decades. The so-called Breusers equilibrium method has a central role, which can basically be applied to all situations where local scour is expected. The method allows to predict the scour depth as a function of time, provided that the available knowledge about scour at the specific structure is sufficient. For structures with insufficient knowledge available, alternative scour prediction rules are presented. The treatment of local scour is classified according to the different types of structures. Each type of structure is necessarily schematised to a simple, basic layout. The main parameters of a structure and the main parts of the flow pattern near a structure are described briefly insofar they are relevant to the description of scour phenomena. New scour formulas for the equilibrium scour have been elucidated. Evaluating a balance of forces for a control volume, it is possible to develop scour equations for different types of flow fields and structures, i.e. jets, abutments and bridge piers. As many scour problems are still not fully understood, attention is paid to the validity ranges and limitations of the formulas, as well as to the accuracy of the scour predictions. This information can also be used to carry out a risk assessment using a safety philosophy based on a probabilistic analysis or an approach with a safety factor. Moreover, the information on the strength of soils is extended and aspects are addressed such as scour due to shear failures or flow slides, that can progressively damage the bed protection which might lead to the failure of hydraulic structures. This updated Scour Manual presents scour prediction methods and deals with practically related scour problems. Consultants and contractors were invited to provide case studies of realized projects, including the methods that were followed. These case studies will help with grasping the concept of scour by the flow of water. This manual provides the engineer with the latest knowledge and with case studies that show how to apply the formulas and their limitations.

Prolonged economic downturn is forcing policy makers and professors to examine how to improve economic development. State and regional governments are therefore moving from public sector-led strategies to private sector-led strategies to enact substantial business-friendly policy reforms. This view of growing economic development sparks interest among public policy, public administration, urban planning, and other academic programs to teach about how America goes about implementing economic development strategies at the state and local level. The Energy Economy is a public policy and current affairs focused economics book targeted toward a public policy and current affairs audience. It offers practical and topical discussions about the most important economic issue of current times: energy.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on the establishment of a framework for safety in accordance with the IAEA safety standards for States deciding on and preparing to embark on a nuclear power programme. In this regard, it proposes 197 safety related actions to be taken in the first three phases of the development of the nuclear power programme, to achieve the foundation for a high level of safety throughout the entire lifetime of the nuclear power plant (NPP). This includes safety in the construction, commissioning, and operation of the NPP and the associated management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and safety in decommissioning. Thus, it contributes to the building of leadership and management for safety and of an effective safety culture and serves as guidance for self-assessment by all organizations involved in the development of a safety infrastructure.

ICOLD Bulletin 180 presents the vast experience gained over the past 6 decades by the dam engineering community in the field of dam surveillance by means of 80 case histories. The documented case histories endeavour to cover the practical experiences related with one or several of the following points: a) Methods for the improvement of the quality and reliability of information. b) Data processing and representation techniques. c) Effective Diagnostic analyses to determine behaviour patterns. d) Dedicated surveillance systems for the optimization of maintenance, rehabilitation, and other life cycle costs. e) Impact of surveillance on preventing dam incidents and dam failure. f) Overview of dam surveillance management systems. The case histories cover a wide variety of technical aspects and deal with success stories but also incidents, some of them with catastrophic consequences. The time framework spans over 70 years: from the times of the Second World War up to the present. The purpose is to learn from these practical experiences, not to criticize the involved individuals, who had to work with the techniques and rules of practice available at the time. This bulletin wants to contribute to keep learning from the experience of the dam engineering community, specifically in the field of dam surveillance. Some of the case histories are widely known and have been described and analysed in numerous publications. Most of them are related to famous dam failure incidents and were compiled as international "benchmark case histories" for this bulletin to focus on the specific lessons learnt related with dam surveillance. Le Bulletin de la CIGB 180 presente la vaste experience acquise au cours des 6 dernieres decennies par la communaute des ingenieurs de barrages dans le domaine de la surveillance des barrages au moyen de 80 histoires de cas. Les histoires de cas documentees s'efforcent de couvrir les experiences pratiques liees a un ou plusieurs des points suivants : a) Methodes d'amelioration de la qualite et de la fiabilite de l'information. b) Techniques de traitement et de representation des donnees. c) Analyses diagnostiques efficaces pour determiner les modeles de comportement. d) Systemes de surveillance dedies pour l'optimisation de la maintenance, de la rehabilitation et des autres couts du cycle de vie. e) Impact de la surveillance sur la prevention des incidents et des ruptures de barrage. f) Apercu des systemes de gestion de la surveillance des barrages. Les histoires de cas couvrent une grande variete d'aspects techniques et traitent de reussites mais aussi d'incidents, dont certains avec des consequences catastrophiques. Le cadre temporel s'etend sur 70 ans : de l'epoque de la Seconde Guerre mondiale a nos jours. Le but est d'apprendre de ces experiences pratiques, pas de critiquer les individus impliques, qui ont du travailler avec les techniques et les regles de pratique disponibles a l'epoque. Ce bulletin veut contribuer a continuer d'apprendre de l'experience de la communaute de l'ingenierie des barrages, en particulier dans le domaine de la surveillance des barrages. Certaines des histoires de cas sont largement connues et ont ete decrites et analysees dans de nombreuses publications. La plupart d'entre eux sont lies a des incidents de rupture de barrages celebres et ont ete compiles en tant qu'" histoires de cas de reference " internationales pour ce bulletin afin de se concentrer sur les lecons specifiques apprises liees a la surveillance des barrages.