"Principles of Solidification" offers comprehensive descriptions of liquid-to-solid transitions encountered in shaped casting, welding, and non-biological bulk crystal growth processes. The book logically develops through careful presentation of relevant thermodynamic and kinetic theories and models of solidification occurring in a variety of materials. Major topics encompass the liquid-state, liquid-solid transformations, chemical macro- and microsegregation, purification by fractional crystallization and zone refining, solid-liquid interfaces, polyphase freezing, and rapid solidification processing. Solid-liquid interfaces are discussed quantitatively both as sharp and diffuse entities, with supporting differential geometric descriptions. The book offers: * Detailed mathematical examples throughout to guide readers * Applications of solidification and crystal growth methodologies for preparation and purification of metals, ceramics, polymers and semiconductors * Appendices providing supporting information on special topics covered in the chapters. Readers in materials, metallurgical, chemical, and mechanical engineering will find this to be a useful source on the subjects of solidification and crystal growth. Chemists, physicists, and geologists concerned with melting/freezing phenomena will also find much of value in this book.

The production and consumption of energy carriers in complex buildings take place within the network of interconnected energy processes. For this reason, a change carried out in one energy process influences other energy processes. Therefore, all balance equations of energy carriers should be investigated as a whole, and energy management of complex buildings creates a large energy system with internal relationships between energy installations and the equipment, as well as external relationships with the environment. Energy Systems of Complex Buildings presents the system approach to the energy-ecological analysis of energy management in complex buildings. Mathematical models of balancing the direct energy consumption, as well as cumulative energy consumption and cumulative emission of noxious substances are based on input-output analysis. Algorithms devoted to system analysis in the exploitation of energy management of complex buildings are included. In the case of ecological analysis, a new approach is presented basing on the idea of thermoecological costs. In this way, two groups of noxious influence (depletion of non-renewable energy resources and emissions of noxious substances) are taken into account. The LCA energy-ecological analysis of complex buildings has also been presented. Students, building designers, energy auditors, and researchers will learn the methodology of evaluating the energy and ecological effects by applying new technologies and devices in buildings, which influence future investigations concerning the energy and ecological analysis of complex buildings.

Human history has often been described as a progressive relinquishment from environmental constraints. Now, it seems, we have come full circle. The ecological irrationalities associated with industrial societies have a lengthy history, and our purpose in the proposed book is not to catalogue this litany of wrongs. Rather, this book is about political responses to global environmental crisis at a crucial turning point in history, by focusing on the political discourses surrounding the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.

This book evaluates and discusses the main sustainability challenges encountered in the production of biofuel and bio-products from oil palm biomass. It starts off with the emphasis on oil palm production, oil palm products recovery and oil palm wastes utilization. The simultaneous production of these bio-products for sustainable development is discussed. This is followed by the key factors defining the sustainability of biofuel and bio-product production from oil palm biomass. The environmental issues including ecological, life cycle assessment and environmental impact assessment of oil palm plantation, milling and refining for the production of biofuels and bio-products are presented. Socio-economic and thermodynamic analysis of the production processes are also evaluated using various sustainability assessment tools such as exergy. Lastly, methods of improving biofuel production systems for sustainable development are highlighted.

Building Corporate IQ - Moving the Energy Business from Smart to Genius gives a clear outline of organizational intelligence and provides a framework for practitioners of good leadership. The synthesis starts with an overview of the fundamental skills and competencies mastered by leaders and team members in organizations. Building Corporate IQ - Moving the Energy Business from Smart to Genius also includes a corporate IQ test that is designed to help leaders gain insight into how their organization can stay at the competitive frontier. Illustrated with case studies from the energy sector, Building Corporate IQ - Moving the Energy Business from Smart to Genius explains the guiding principles of organizational learning, with the goal of developing better organizational intelligence. It is intended as an indispensable guide for managers at all levels to help them meet and recognize new challenges in the corporate innovation process. "For the third millennium, with the increase in depersonalized electronic communication, business leaders, especially in the energy industry, must quickly develop organizational intelligence in their organizations to survive. This book sets out the modus operandi." Crispian McCredie, former Managing Director and Publisher, The Petroleum Economist "MBA graduates and seasoned professionals will find this executive guide a powerful reference during their careers." Ken Graham, former Head Global Leadership Development, Shell

This book explores a novel technique for processing biodiesel using lipase immobilization by encapsulation and its physical properties, stability characteristics, and application in stirred tank and re-circulated packed bed immobilized reactors for biodiesel production. The enzymatic processing of biodiesel addresses many of the problems associated with chemical processing. It requires only moderate operating conditions and yields a high-quality product with a high level of conversion and the life cycle assessment of enzymatic biodiesel production has more favourable environmental consequences. The chemical processing problems of waste water treatment are lessened and soap formation is not an issue, meaning that waste oil with higher FFA can be used as the feedstock. The by product glycerol does not require any purification and it can be sold at higher price. However, soluble enzymatic processing is not perfect. It is costly, the enzyme cannot be recycled and its removal from the product is difficult. For these reasons, immobilized enzymatic process has been developed which retains the advantages of the soluble enzymatic process and reuse of the enzyme is possible which decreases the enzyme cost, the biodiesel produced does not contain any enzyme residue and the activity of the enzyme can be increased by immobilization. The drawbacks of the immobilized enzyme process are mass transfer limitation, enzyme leakage, the lack of a versatile commercial immobilized enzyme and some of immobilization methods involve toxic chemicals. To overcome the drawbacks of the immobilized enzyme, an attempt is made to use a degradable biopolymer ( -carrageenan) as a carrier for lipase immobilization.

The book gives an outline of prevailing hydrogeologic conditions in the Arab Middle East together with the geologic background. Emphasis is given to relationships between the main features influencing the hydrogeologic conditions - regional geologic developments, paleogeographic conditions, morphology, climate and paleo-climate - and the resulting hydrogeologic features: formation of aquifers, distribution of major aquifers, main groundwater flow systems, occurrence of renewable and fossil groundwater. Reported data on hydraulic aquifer parameters, recharge rates and groundwater flow volumes are evaluated with a view to arrive at characteristic values under the specific hydrogeologic and climatic conditions. The area considered covers approximately the Arabian Plate. Information on the following countries is included: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen.

Despite scientific evidence that business-as-usual is unsustainable, there is a huge and widespread inertia to 'greening' the planet. Warming to Ecocide considers climate change from a thermodynamic perspective and asks whether market-driven organisations have carried us to the point of no return through the flawed economics of endless growth. Warming to Ecocide begins by exploring the thermodynamic origins of climate change. It demonstrates that equilibrium thermodynamics can provide full explanations for the basic processes of life such as photosynthesis and metabolism, and that non-equilibrium thermodynamics is close to providing an explanation for how life started. Armed with a solid appreciation of the power of thermodynamics, the second half of Warming to Ecocide discusses whether multinational corporations have convinced the public that climate change is insignificant and thereby neutered any all attempts by governments to espouse environmentally-friendly policies. It then goes on to offer strategies whereby mankind may avoid propelling the global average temperature above the pre-industrial level by more than 2 DegreesC, which scientists view as a threshold presaging catastrophic run-away processes.

The dissertation investigates the scientific and business factors that have resulted in air-conditioning being a major contributor to climate-change. With his architectural background, the author demonstrates how a design methodology, not commonly adopted in scientific studies, may actually be a suitable way of dealing with a complex problem: the 'business as usual' scenario involving building science, sociological values and consumer behavior. Using his innovations as case studies, the author shows how good ideas cannot be evaluated on scientific merit alone and demonstrates why commercialization may have a pivotal role in deployment of research-based technology. He advances the theory of personalized thermal comfort which can potentially resolve the air-conditioning conundrum.

Mitigating climate change is one of the most profound challenges facing humankind. In industrialized countries, the residential housing sector produces roughly one-fourth of the greenhouse gas emissions. One solution to reduce these emissions is the availability of building codes that require high levels of energy efficiency. Given the current scientific knowledge, more research is needed to gain a proper systemic understanding of the underlying socio-economic and technical system. Such an understanding is crucial for developing high energy-efficiency standards because this system develops gradually over time and cannot be changed swiftly. This book creates a feedback-rich simulation model for analyzing the effects of different administrative policies on energy demand, the improvement of energy efficiency by means of building codes, and reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions. The dynamic model can contribute substantially to the discourse on energy policies and guide effective administrative interventions. The book will be a valuable resource for officials in the public energy administration, as well as researchers in the areas of innovation, diffusion processes, co-evolution, standardization, and simulation modelling.

The key novelty of this book is first of all in the successful attempt to conduct jointly modeling of environment in terms of physical environment related parameters and measuring similar parameters by means of multispectral remote sensing, primarily by means of passive microwave remote sensing technology. Another new step is in the development and utilization of a multilevel approach which includes remote sensing of the land and water parameters like soil moisture, depth to water table, biomass of vegetation, temperature and salinity of water, in situ measurements of similar parameters and incorporation of GIS and data sets into the models of typical environments. The part of book, which contains remote sensing is focused on multipurpose observations from aircraft obtained in many soil-climatic zones in different countries and is reach of the examples of practical application. Applied mathematicians, geophysics, hydrologists, socio-economists, statesmans and other researchers of environmental changes will find a wealth of information and ideas in this book.

The idea for this book arose out of the realization that, although excellent surveys and a phosphor handbook are available, there is no single source covering the area of phosphate based phosphors especially for lamp industry. Moreover, as this field gets only limited attention in most general books on luminescence, there is a clear need for a book in which attention is specifically directed toward this rapidly growing field of solid state lighting and its many applications. This book is aimed at providing a sound introduction to the synthesis and optical characterization of phosphate phosphor for undergraduate and graduate students as well as teachers and researchers. The book provides guidance through the multidisciplinary field of solid state lighting specially phosphate phosphors for beginners, scientists and engineers from universities, research organizations, and especially industry. In order to make it useful for a wide audience, both fundamentals and applications are discussed, together.

The aim of this book is to investigate critical economic aspects and price risks along international pellet supply chains and to offer new insights into the interconnections between the sector, the various supply risks within the market and guidelines for de-risking biomass supply chains. It provides three real case studies as practical examples of determining actual supply costs from resource production to end-user and in doing so identifies and analyzes general economic performance indicators and price drivers for biomass supply chains. It also investigates the impact of several risks like raw material prices, exchange and freight rates on total prices. As a result, the reader learns how price risks are hedged to avoid project defaults and how to achieve the renewable energy targets of the end-user. Practical guidelines for recognising critical economic issues in biomass supply chains and for applying adequate de-risk strategies are also provided. Offering insights to a broad audience, this book is intended for researchers and professionals interested in renewable energy systems, biomass resource management and supply chain management. It also provides an invaluable resource to policy makers seeking guidelines for successfully managing the introduction of sustainable biomass projects.

This SpringerBrief provides a concise guide to applying wireless energy transfer techniques in traditional battery-powered sensor networks. It examines the benefits and challenges of wireless power including efficiency and reliability. The authors build a wireless rechargeable sensor networks from scratch and aim to provide perpetual network operation. Chapters cover a wide range of topics from the collection of energy information and recharge scheduling to joint design with typical sensing applications such as data gathering. Problems are approached using a natural combination of probability theory, optimization, algorithm and protocol designs. All proposed mechanisms are evaluated by extensive simulations. Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks targets professionals and researchers working in networks, wireless communications, energy technology and information technology. Advanced-level students studying electrical engineering and computer science will also find this material useful as a study guide.

The concept of a livable smart city presented in this book highlights the relevance of the functionality and integrated resilience of viable cities of the future. It critically examines the progressive digitalization that is taking place and identifies the revolutionized energy sector as the basis of urban life. The concept is based on people and their natural environment, resulting in a broader definition of sustainability and an expanded product theory. Smart City 2.0 offers its residents many opportunities and is an attractive future market for innovative products and services. However, it presents numerous challenges for stakeholders and product developers.

The Chinese government set a target to reduce China's carbon intensity by 40%-45% in 2020 at its 2005 level. To achieve this target, the government has allocated targets to provinces, cities, and large enterprises, and selected five pilot provinces and eight cities for CO2 emission trading. Such emission trading process will involve decentralization, optimization, and negotiation. The prime objective of this book is to perform academic research on simulating the negotiation process. Through this research, a methodological framework and its implementation are set up to analyze, model and facilitate the process of negotiation among central government and individual energy producers under environmental, economical and social constraints. Negotiation In Decentralization: Case Study Of China's Carbon Trading In The Power Sector discusses research carried out on negotiation issues in China regarding Chinese power sector reform over the past 30 years. Results show that conflicts exist between power groups and the national government, and that the most current negotiation topics in China's power industry are demand and supply management, capital investment, energy prices, and CO2 emission mitigations. Negotiation In Decentralization: Case Study Of China's Carbon Trading In The Power Sector is written for government policy makers, energy and environment industry investors, energy program and project managers, environment conservation specialists, university professors, researchers, and graduate students. It aims to provide a methodology and a tool that can resolve difficult negotiation issues and change a loss-loss situation to a win-win situation for key players in a decentralized system, including government policymakers, energy producers, and environment conservationists.

This book provides a succinct account of the ways in which nano technology is being applied to improve energy efficiency. The coverage includes current scanning probe techniques for electrical energy storage, energy harvesting systems and local electrochemistry as well as emerging techniques of relevance to diverse materials and devices, including advanced scanning probes for nano fabrication and nano tribology. The tools of nanotechnology, such as scanning probe microscopes and micro machines, can provide important information about the fundamental nature of space, especially the zero-point electromagnetic field. An exciting aspect of this subject is that a better understanding of the force that arises from the zero-point field, i.e., the Casimir force, may enable its control to some extent, impacting on the development of nano electromechanical systems. Readers will find this book to be a clear and concise summary of the state of the art in nanophysics and nanotechnology as they relate to energy efficiency.

This Brief discusses the current policy environment in which the United States space program operates and proposes an industry-government partnership as a long-term policy solution. Since the Reagan administration, American space policy has increasingly sought to involve private sector operators for space. The culmination of this trend has been the Obama administration's policy of private sector transportation of crew and cargo to the International Space Station on behalf of NASA. This book proposes that future administrations extend this policy to other areas of space, including energy, in orbit manufacturing, asteroid mining, and the exploration of the Moon and Mars. The book further demonstrates how these activities can stabilize the global political system and lead to a dramatic increase in global economic growth. Finally, the book addresses one of the most important and critical issues currently facing humanity-the need for a viable, baseload, and unlimited supply of totally clean energy. An extremely cogent analysis of the interrelationship between space activity and the terrestrial economy, this book showcases the political and economic potential of the medium of space and adds greatly to the existing literature in the field. This book will be of interest to students of political science and strategic studies as well as members of the military, government space agencies, and the international aerospace industry.

Energy consumption is of great interest to manufacturing companies. Beyond considering individual processes and machines, the perspective on process chains and factories as a whole holds major potentials for energy efficiency improvements. To exploit these potentials, dynamic interactions of different processes as well as auxiliary equipment (e.g. compressed air generation) need to be taken into account. In addition, planning and controlling manufacturing systems require balancing technical, economic and environmental objectives. Therefore, an innovative and comprehensive methodology - with a generic energy flow-oriented manufacturing simulation environment as a core element - is developed and embedded into a step-by-step application cycle. The concept is applied in its entirety to a wide range of case studies such as aluminium die casting, weaving mills, and printed circuit board assembly in order to demonstrate the broad applicability and the benefits that can be achieved.

This Brief examines the impact of the Oxford Transport Strategy in central Oxford as a means of assessing the effect of reduced traffic congestion in the city centre on its sustainability. Air pollution (from vehicular traffic) has been monitored at three locations in central Oxford on the High Street, St Aldates and St Ebbes (background monitoring station). There is a further monitoring site situated in East Oxford, but this one is not considered to be central. Based on long-term monitoring at these monitoring stations, a deliberation of urban sustainability is presented. Implications are considered for long-term planning and green design in particular is part of the discussion. More specifically, urban greening strategies are presented as (soft engineering) approaches to controlling air pollution problems at this urban location. In the context of low carbon cities, green walls are assessed as they affect urban greening and energy conservation, as they enhance insulation on the exterior of solid wall buildings. Urban sustainability is best monitored using decades of data rather than just years. The Oxford Transport Strategy (OTS) was implemented in central Oxford, UK in 2001 and now a record of at least a decade of monitoring data is available for such a longer-term assessment. This work revisits the OTS from long after its implementation in the Oxford city centre and specifically examines the impact of reduced traffic congestion on sustainability. This includes address of traffic congestion, air pollution (from vehicular or traffic pollution) and the effects on the urban environment, including buildings. In parallel to this, the role of urban vegetation is considered as a sink for a variety of pollutants. Green walls, as part of urban greening, have implications for low carbon cities in the context of urban heat islands and global warming.

"Reliability Physics and Engineering" provides critically important information for designing and building reliable cost-effective products. The textbook contains numerous example problems with solutions. Included at the end of each chapter are exercise problems and answers. "Reliability Physics and Engineering" is a useful resource for students, engineers, and materials scientists.

In the new millennium, understanding China's energy economy is crucial for politicians, businesspeople and energy economists, as China's energy policy choices will mean both challenges and opportunities for the world in terms of an increasing share of primary energy consumption and investment. This book initially reviews the literature on China's energy economy and in so doing reveals that many important areas have been overlooked or are outdated in their coverage. Given the size of China and its global importance, the book then review s China's current energy situation and fills the gaps in the literature for those who are interested in and concerned about China's economic development and energy reform in the new millennium. The book is different from previous studies in several important ways: Firstly, it presents recent, pioneering research rather than a simple textbook, several sections of which have been published in high-quality energy journals. Secondly, the book first subdivides China's energy intensity change into aspects of budget constraint, technological change, factor substitution, energy demand and economic growth using a newly developed econometric approach. Thirdly, it provides many new and different econometric findings and derives many new policy implications for China's energy economy. And lastly, it brings to light a wealth of new knowledge for those who are interested in China's energy economy, the world energy market and global environmental and climate change issues.

Technological innovation combined with scientific research has always constituted a driving force of transformation in our societies. At the same time, it is no longer simply possible to transfer technologies from the North to the South; it is also essential to consider technical innovations that are adapted to the social, environmental, cultural and economic conditions of receiving countries, and which can be appropriated by their potential users and as such prove to be real technologies for fostering development.

The first International Scientific Conference on the topic organized by the UNESCO Chair Technologies for Development at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in 2010 focused on its four priority sectors: Technologies for Sustainable Development of Habitat and Cities, ICTs for the Environment, Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Technologies for the Production of Sustainable Energy.

This volume reflects the main outcomes of the conference and provides some significant orientation and success criteria for the effective implementation and use of innovative technologies, their aims, their particular applications in the context of developing countries, their accessibility for users, and their appropriation by producers and stakeholders in the field of development both in the North and South, thus ensuring their sustainability. This kind of scientific cooperation also highlights the added values for northern researchers in sharing their knowledge and know-how, leading to a real win-win partnership.

The authors gathered within this book include representatives from academic and research institutions and other organizations from diverse countries and offer a significant synergy of competences, approaches and disciplines. "

Energy has been an inevitable component of human lives for decades. Recent rapid developments in the area require analyzing energy systems not as independent components but rather as connected interdependent networks. The Handbook of Networks in Power Systems includes the state-of-the-art developments that occurred in the power systems networks, in particular gas, electricity, liquid fuels, freight networks, as well as their interactions. The book is separated into two volumes with three sections, where one scientific paper or more are included to cover most important areas of networks in power systems. The first volume covers topics arising in electricity network, in particular electricity markets, smart grid, network expansion, as well as risk management. The second volume presents problems arising in gas networks; such as scheduling and planning of natural gas systems, pricing, as well as optimal location of gas supply units. In addition, the second volume covers the topics of interactions between energy networks. Each subject is identified following the activity on the domain and the recognition of each subject as an area of research. The scientific papers are authored by world specialists on the domain and present either state-of-the-arts reviews or scientific developments.

This book lies at the intersection of natural sciences, economics, and water en- neering and is in line with the long tradition of environmental economics at the University of Heidelberg. In the 1970s, the Neo-Austrian Capital Theory was developed using the fundamental laws of thermodynamics as a common language between the natural and social sciences. Niemes (1981) integrated the dynamic and irreversibility characteristics of the natural environment into the Neo-Austrian c- ital theory. Faber et al. (1983, 1987, 1995) then extended this interdisciplinary approach further to create a comprehensive, dynamic, environmental resource model. Over the last 3 decades, the theoretical foundations of environmental economics have been modi ed and there have been an impressive variety of applications. This book aims to reduce the gaps between economic theory, natural sciences, and engineering practice. One of the reasons these gaps exist is because economic assumptions are used to construct dynamic environmental and resource models, which are not consistent with the fundamental laws of the natural sciences. Another reason for the gap might be the distance between academic theory and real world situations. Based on an extended thermodynamic approach, the authors explain which economic assumptions are acceptable for constructing a dynamic model that is consistent with the natural sciences. In particular, the special role of water in the production and reproduction activities will be considered as an integral component.