This book gathers papers presented and discussions held at the Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts in Melbourne, Australia on 9th October 2012. The purpose of the conference was to bring together researchers, industry, consultants, regulators and Non-Government Organizations to share the results of studies into wind farm and wildlife investigations in Australia and New Zealand. The aim was to further networking and communication between these groups. The conference discussed key issues and areas for future investigation, with the intention of developing consistencies in research and management. Like the Conference, the book showcases current research and management in the field of wind farms and wildlife in Australia and New Zealand; establishes consistencies in research and management; and highlights areas in need of further examination. The papers in these Proceedings are presented in two session topics. The first covers "Investigations and assessment of new wind farms" and the second, "Monitoring, mitigation and offsets." The Proceedings then summarize the panel discussions held at the end of the conference. The themes include improving pre- and post-construction survey design; identifying key knowledge gaps and research priorities; uncertainties and errors in data sets and analysis; creating opportunities to share knowledge; and assessing cumulative impacts across multiple sites.

The book reports on advanced theories and methods in two related engineering fields: electrical and electronic engineering, and communications engineering and computing. It highlights areas of global and growing importance, such as renewable energy, power systems, mobile communications, security and the Internet of Things (IoT). The contributions cover a number of current research issues, including smart grids, photovoltaic systems, wireless power transfer, signal processing, 4G and 5G technologies, IoT applications, mobile cloud computing and many more. Based on the proceedings of the first International Conference on Emerging Trends in Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering (ELECOM 2016), held in Voila Bagatelle, Mauritius from November 25 to 27, 2016, the book provides graduate students, researchers and professionals with a snapshot of the state-of-the-art and a source of new ideas for future research and collaborations.

"Coal Bed Methane: From Prospect to Pipeline"is the proceedings of the 25th anniversary of the North American Coal Bed Methane Forum. It provides the latest advancements in the production of coal bed methane covering a variety of topics, from exploration to gas processing, for commercial utilization. Additionally, it presents the origin of gas in coal, reservoir engineering, control of methane in coal mines, production techniques, water management, and gas processing.

The vast coal resources in theUnited Statescontinue to produce tremendous amounts of natural gas, contributing to a diverse range energy assets. Following a rapid advancement and subsequent plateau in technological developments, this book captures the full life cycle of a well and offers petroleum geologists and engineers a single source of a broad range of coal bed methane applications. This book addresses crucial technical topics, including exploration and evaluation of coal bed reservoirs; hydraulic fracturing of CBM wells; coal seam degasification; and production engineering and processing, among others. It also covers legal issues, permitting, and economic analysis of CBM projects.
Edited by a team of coal bed methane experts from industry, academia and government who have more than 75 years of combined experience in the fieldAuthored by well-recognized members of the gas and coal industry, universities, US government departments, such as the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)More than 200 figures, photographs, and illustrations aid in the understanding of the fundamental conceptsPresents the full scope of improvements in US energy independence, coal mine safety, and greenhouse gas emissions"

This book deals with the challenge of exploiting ambient vibrational energy which can be used to power small and low-power electronic devices, e.g. wireless sensor nodes. Generally, particularly for low voltage amplitudes, low-loss rectification is required to achieve high conversion efficiency. In the special case of piezoelectric energy harvesting, pulsed charge extraction has the potential to extract more power compared to a single rectifier. For this purpose, a fully autonomous CMOS integrated interface circuit for piezoelectric generators which fulfills these requirements is presented. Due to these key properties enabling universal usage, other CMOS designers working in the field of energy harvesting will be encouraged to use some of the shown structures for their own implementations. The book is unique in the sense that it highlights the design process from scratch to the final chip. Hence, it gives the designer a comprehensive guide of how to (i) setup an appropriate harvester model to get realistic simulation results, (ii) design the integrated circuits for low power operation, (iii) setup a laboratory measurement environment in order to extensively characterize the chip in combination with the real harvester and finally, (iv) interpret the simulation/measurement results in order to improve the chip performance. Since the dimensions of all devices (transistors, resistors etc.) are given, readers and other designers can easily re-use the presented circuit concepts.

The present book maximizes reader insights into the current and future roles to be played by different types of renewable energy sources and nuclear energy for the purpose of electricity generation in the European region as a whole and in a select group of European countries specifically. This book includes detailed analysis of the different types of renewable energy sources available in different European countries; the pros and cons of the use of the different types of renewables and nuclear energy for electricity generation; which energy options are available in the different European countries to expand their energy sector in the coming years; the impact on the climate and the environment; levels of production and consumption and the level of electricity generated by these energy sources, amongst others. Designed to inform government officials, economists, scientists and the private and public power industry of the key issues surrounding the future role of different renewable energy sources and nuclear energy in the production of electricity within the European region, this book will also describe in detail the evolution of the electrical energy sector in the chosen European region and the problems that several countries are now experiencing in the face of increasing demand for electricity.

This book presents an investigative approach to globalization-driving technologies that efficiently deliver ubiquitous, last-mile, broadband internet access to emerging markets and rural areas. Research has shown that ubiquitous internet access boosts socio-economic growth through innovations in science and technology, and has a positive effect on the lives of individuals. Last-mile internet access in developing countries is not only intended to provide areas with stable, efficient, and cost-effective broadband capabilities, but also to encourage the use of connectivity for human capacity development. The book offers an overview of the principles of various technologies, such as light fidelity and millimeter-wave backhaul, as last-mile internet solutions and describes these potential solutions from a signal propagation perspective. It also provides readers with the notional context needed to understand their operation, benefits, and limitations, and enables them to investigate feasible and tailored solutions to ensure sustainable infrastructures that are expandable and maintainable.

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

The new edition of this book incorporates the recent remarkable changes in electric power generation, transmission and distribution. The consequences of the latest development to High Voltage (HV) test and measuring techniques result in new chapters on Partial Discharge measurements, Measurements of Dielectric Properties, and some new thoughts on the Shannon Theorem and Impuls current measurements. This standard reference of the international high-voltage community combines high voltage engineering with HV testing techniques and HV measuring methods. Based on long-term experience gained by the authors the book reflects the state of the art as well as the future trends in testing and diagnostics of HV equipment. It ensures a reliable generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy. The book is intended not only for experts but also for students in electrical engineering and high-voltage engineering.

This book sheds new light on how microbes can be used as effective and sustainable resources to produce green energy in the form of biogas, algal diesel, ethanol, hydrogen and direct electricity. It discusses topics such as microbial energy conversion technologies, including ethanol production by microbial catalytic reaction, biomethanization, biodiesel from microalgae, microbial fuel cells, and the microbiological production of hydrogen. The book will inspire scientists to find new approaches to meet local energy demands with the help of sustainable microbial resources available in and around a given location.

This book reviews efforts to produce chemicals and fuels from forest and plant products, agricultural residues and more. Algae can potentially capture solar energy and atmospheric CO2; the book details needed research and legislative initiatives.

"Advances in Heat Transfer" fills the information gap between regularly scheduled journals and university-level textbooks by providing in-depth review articles over a broader scope than in journals or texts. The articles, which serve as a broad review for experts in the field, will also be of great interest to non-specialists who need to keep up-to-date with the results of the latest research.This serialis essential reading for all mechanical, chemical and industrial engineers working in the field of heat transfer, graduate schools or industry.
This serialis essential reading for all mechanical, chemical and industrial engineers working in the field of heat transfer, graduate schools or industry."

Current fleets of conventional and nuclear power plants face increasing hostile environmental conditions due to increasingly high temperature operation for improved capacity and efficiency, and the need for long term service. Additional challenges are presented by the requirement to cycle plants to meet peak-load operation. This book presents a comprehensive review of structural materials in conventional and nuclear energy applications. Opening chapters address operational challenges and structural alloy requirements in different types of power plants. The following sections review power plant structural alloys and methods to mitigate critical materials degradation in power plants.

This book presents breakthroughs in the design of Wireless Energy Harvesting (WEH) networks. It bridges the gap between WEH through radio waves communications and power transfer, which have largely been designed separately. The authors present an overview of the RF-EHNs including system architecture and RF energy harvesting techniques and existing applications. They also cover the idea of WEH in novel discoveries of information, the theoretical bounds in WEH, wireless sensor networks, usage of modern channel coding together with WEH, energy efficient resource allocation mechanisms, distributed self-organized energy efficient designs, delay-energy trade-off, specific protocols for energy efficient communication designs, D2D communication and energy efficiency, cooperative wireless networks, and cognitive networks.

This book focuses on Renewable Energy (RE) governance - the institutions, plans, policies and stakeholders that are involved in RE implementation - and the complexities and challenges associated with this much discussed energy area. Whilst RE technologies have advanced and become cheaper, governance schemes rarely support those technologies in an efficient and cost-effective way. To illustrate the problem, global case-studies delicately demonstrate successes and failures of renewable energy governance. RE here is considered from a number of perspectives: as a regional geopolitical agent, as a tool to meet national RE targets and as a promoter of local development. The book considers daring insights on RE transitions, governmental policies as well as financial tools, such as Feed-in-Tariffs; along with their inefficiencies and costs. This comprehensive probing of RE concludes with a treatment of what we call the "Mega-What" question - who is benefitting the most from RE and how society can get the best deal? After reading this book, the reader will have been in contact with all aspects of RE governance and be closer to the pulse of RE mechanisms. The reader should also be able to contribute more critically to the dialogue about RE rather than just reinforce the well-worn adage that "RE is a good thing to happen".

As the electrical industry continues to develop, one sector that still faces a range of concerns is the electrical distribution system. Excessive industrialization and inadequate billing are just a few issues that have plagued this electrical sector as it advances into the smart grid environment. Research is necessary to explore the possible solutions in fixing these problems and developing the distribution sector into an active and smart system. New Solutions and Technologies in Electrical Distribution Networks is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of solving major issues within the electrical distribution system. Some issues covered within the publication include distribution losses, improper monitoring of system, renewable energy integration with micro-grid and distributed energy sources, and smart home energy management system modelling. This book is ideally designed for power engineers, electrical engineers, energy professionals, developers, technologists, policymakers, researchers, academicians, industry professionals, and students seeking current research on improving this key sector of the electrical industry.

"Eco- and Renewable Energy Materials" provides a survey of the current topics and the major developmental trends in the rapidly growing research area of clean energy materials. This book covers, but is not limited to, photochemical materials (fuels from light), fuel cells (electricity from fuels), batteries (electricity storage), and hydrogen production and storage. This book is intended as a vehicle for the dissemination of research results on energy-based material science in the form of commissioned reviews and commentaries. This book is for scientists and engineers interested in energy-related materials, compounds and electronic devices. Prof. Yong Zhou is currently serving as a full professor at the Eco-Materials and Renewable Energy Research Center (ERERC), Nanjing University, China.

"Offshore Operation Facilities: Equipment and Procedures" provides new engineers with theknowledgeand methods that will assist them in maximizing efficiency while minimizing cost and helps them prepare for the many operational variables involved in offshore operations. This book clearly presents the working knowledge of subsea operations and demonstrates how to optimizeoperations offshore.The first half of the book covers the fundamental principles governing offshore engineering structural design, as well as drilling operations, procedures, and equipment. The second part includescommon challengesof deep water oil and gas engineering as well as beach (shallow)oil engineering, submarine pipeline engineering, cable engineering, and safety system engineering. Many examples are included from various offshore locations, with special focus on offshore China operations. In the offshore petroleum engineering industry, the ability to maintain a profitable business depends on the efficiency and reliability of the structure, the equipment, and the engineer. "Offshore Operation Facilities: Equipment and Procedures" assists engineers in meeting consumer demand while maintaining a profitable operation.
Comprehensive guide to the latest technology, strategies, and best practices for offshore operationsStep-by-step approach for dealing withcommon challenges such as deepwater and shallow watersIncludes submarine pipeline, cable engineering, and safety system engineeringUnique examples from various offshore locations around the world, with special focus on offshore China"

"Distributed Generation and its Implications for the Utility Industry" examines the current state of the electric supply industry; the upstream and downstream of the meter; the various technological, business, and regulatory strategies; and case studies that look at a number of projects that put new models into practice.

A number of powerful trends are beginning to affect the fundamentals of the electric utility business as we know it. Recent developments have led to a fundamental re-thinking of the electric supply industry and its traditional method of measuring consumption on a volumetric basis. These developments include decreasing electricity demand growth; the rising cost of fossil fuels and its impact on electricity costs; investment in energy efficiency; increasing numbers of prosumers who generate for some or all of their own needs; and market reforms.

This book examines the implications of these trends in chapters focusing on distributed and decentralized generation, transactive energy, the role of electric vehicles, any much more.
Discusses the technological, business, and policy trends most impacting the electric utility sectorProvides an assessment of how fast and how soon distributed energy resources may make an impact on utility sales/revenuesExplores, through a series of international case studies, the implementation of strategies that may help retain the viability of the utility industryFeatures contributions from a number of scholars, academics, experts and practitioners from different parts of the world focused on examining the future of the electric supply industry

In this monograph the authors solve the modern scientific problems connected with A.C. motors and generators, based first on the detailed consideration of their physical phenomena. The authors describe the theory and investigative methods they developed and applied in practice, which are considered to be of essential interest for specialists in the field of the electrical engineering industry in European countries, the USA, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as in such countries as India, China, and Iran. This book will be of interest to engineers specialized in the field of the manufacture, operation, and repair of A.C. machines (motors and generators) as well as electric drives; to professors, lecturers, and post-graduate students of technical universities, who are specializing in the field of electric machine engineering and electric drives; and to students who are engaged in the field of high current techniques, electric drives, and electric machine engineering.

Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs) contain the fuel and therefore the reaction at the heart of nuclear power plants. They are a life-determining structural component: if they suffer serious damage, the continued operation of the plant is in jeopardy. This book critically reviews irradiation embrittlement, the main degradation mechanism affecting RPV steels, and mitigation routes for managing the RPV lifetime.

Part I reviews RPV design and fabrication in different countries, with an emphasis on the materials required, their important properties, and manufacturing technologies. Part II then considers RVP embrittlement in operational nuclear power plants using different reactors. Chapters are devoted to embrittlement in light-water reactors, including WWER-type reactors and Magnox reactors. Finally, Part III presents techniques for studying embrittlement, including irradiation simulation techniques, microstructural characterisation techniques, and probabilistic fracture mechanics."

Irradiation Embrittlement of Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs) in Nuclear Power Plants "provides a thorough review of an issue that is central to the safety of nuclear power generation. The book includes contributions from an international team of experts, and will be a useful resource for nuclear plant operators and managers, relevant regulatory and safety bodies, nuclear metallurgists and other academics in this field
Discusses reactor pressure vessel (RPV) design and the effect irradiation embrittlement can have, the main degradation mechanism affecting RPVsExamines embrittlement processes in RPVs in different reactor types, as well as techniques for studying RPV embrittlement

Three dimensional (3D) optical geometries are becoming more common in the literature and lexicon of solar cells. "Three Dimensional Solar Cells Based on Optical Confinement Geometries" describes and reveals the basic operational nuances of 3D photovoltaics using three standard tools: Equivalent Circuit Models, Ray Tracing Optics in the Cavity, and Absorber Spectral Response. These tools aide in understanding experimental absorption profile and device parameters including Jsc, Voc, Fill Factor, and EQE. These methods also apply to individual optical confinement geometry device, integrated optical confinement geometry device, and hybrid optical confinement geometry device.
Additionally, this book discusses the importance of these methods in achieving the goal of high efficiency solar cells and suggests a possible application in large-scale photovoltaics business, like solar farms.

This book provides recent results of game theory for networking applications. The contributors address the major opportunities and challenges in applying traditional game theory as well as intelligent game theory to the understanding and designing of modern network systems, with emphasis on both new analytical techniques and novel application scenarios. After an overview of game theory for networks, the book narrows in on game theory in communications, game theory in wireless networks, and game theory applications. The book features contributions from researchers and professionals around the world. Presents a variety of perspectives on game theory for networking applications; Shows how game theory can apply to the study of data traffic, new generation networks, and smartgrid; Includes recent results of applied game theory for networks, providing some technical progresses in GAMENETS.