Service Quality Regulation in Electricity Distribution and Retail provides a guide for regulatory authorities and postgraduate students alike, accompanying readers through the necessary steps for designing and implementing regulatory policy. It builds a bridge between the theoretical aspects of service quality regulation and country-specific applied mechanisms. The book offers examples as provided by regulatory authorities (including some not often available in the English language), and suggests best practices as elaborated by a number of international regulatory organizations.

The book is a comprehensive, clear, well-organized description of applied quality regulation in the electricity sector as it is, today. Advanced readers will also appreciate its survey of the most innovative regulatory mechanisms currently being employed (and tested) in European countries, as well as those that have been proposed in the literature.

Combustion of Two-Phase Reactive Media addresses the complex phenomena involved in the burning of solid and liquid fuels. In fact, the multiplicity of phenomena characteristic of combustion of two-phase media determine the contents. The three parts deal with: the dynamics of a single particle; combustion wave propagation in two-phase reactive media; and thermal regimes of combustion reactors. The book generalizes the results of numerous investigations into the ignition and combustion of solid particles, droplets and bubbles, combustion wave propagation in heterogeneous reactive media, the stability of combustion of two-phase media, as well as the thermal regimes of high-temperature combustion reactors. It merges findings from the authors investigations into problems of two-phase flows and material from graduate-level courses they teach at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Based on courses for students of science, engineering, and systems science at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences at Winterthur, this text approaches the fundamentals of thermodynamics from the point of view of continuum physics. By describing physical processes in terms of the flow and balance of physical quantities, the author achieves a unified approach to hydraulics, electricity, mechanics and thermodynamics. In this way, it becomes clear that entropy is the fundamental property that is transported in thermal processes (i.e., heat), and that temperature is the corresponding potential. The resulting theory of the creation, flow, and balance of entropy provides the foundation of a dynamical theory of heat. This extensively revised and updated second edition includes new material on dynamical chemical processes, thermoelectricity, and explicit dynamical modeling of thermal and chemical processes. To make the book more useful for courses on thermodynamics and physical chemistry at different levels, coverage of topics is divided into introductory and more advanced and formal treatments. Previous knowledge of thermodynamics is not required, but the reader should be familiar with basic electricity, mechanics, and chemistry and should have some knowledge of elementary calculus. The special feature of the first edition -- the integration of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and chemical processes -- has been maintained and strengthened. Key Features: * First revised edition of a successful text/reference in fourteen years * More than 25 percent new material * Provides a unified approach to thermodynamics and heat transport in fundamental physical and chemical processes * Includes worked examples, questions, and problem sets for use as a teaching text or to test the reader's understanding * Includes many system dynamics models of laboratory experiments

Global warming is a serious threat to the stability of world climate and to economic prosperity in some regions. The book offers a theoretical analysis which focuses on double dividend issues. Moreover, the ecological tax reform in Germany and the options of modern energy policy are described and evaluated. The volume presents innovative model simulations and analyzes, in the context of the model, the benefits of a modified tax reform, based on a Schumpeterian approach. Finally, implications for the European Union and other countries are discussed.

The book describes the main physical processes and phenomena in pulsed electric breakdown. The knowledge and the control of the electric breakdown of liquids is important not only for the insulation inside power systems but it is also used for the creation and information of high voltage and high current pulses. Such high-voltage micro- and nanosecond pulses find wide application in experimental physics, electro discharge technology, physics of dielectrics, radar detection and ranging, high-speed photography.

The overall goal in this book is to explain key economic, environmental, technology, and transportation factors that are affecting the provincial and industrial energy intensities and environmental pollution in the People s Republic of China (China). The author defines energy intensity as the energy consumption per unit of output. She concentrates on China, because it is the second largest energy user and pollution generator in the world. In this book, the focus is on the cokemaking sector in the Shanxi Province. Cokemaking is the largest consumer of coal in the region, using more than one-half of the coal consumed there.

Throughout the book, the author stresses the important role of the Shanxi Province in encouraging improvements in energy efficiency and pollution by (1) introducing new coke-oven technologies and (2) encouraging pollution-abatement measures for the older ovens. Economic, environmental, technology, transportation, and social aspects of cokemaking are discussed and the author examines how these factors are affecting the energy intensities and pollution in the Shanxi Province. "

During the last decade, many new concepts have been proposed for improving the performance of power rectifiers and transistors. The results of this research are dispersed in the technical literature among journal articles and abstracts of conferences. Consequently, the information is not readily available to researchers and practicing engineers in the power device community. There is no cohesive treatment of the ideas to provide an assessment of the relative merits of the ideas.

Advanced Power Rectifier Concepts provides an in-depth treatment of the physics of operation of advanced power rectifiers. Analytical models for explaining the operation of all the advanced power rectifier devices will be developed. The results off numerical simulations will be provided to provide additional insight into the device physics and validate the analytical models. The results of two-dimensional simulations will be provided to corroborate the analytical models and provide greater insight into the device operation.

Traditionally, electrical machines are classi?ed into d. c. commutator (brushed) machines, induction (asynchronous) machines and synchronous machines. These three types of electrical machines are still regarded in many academic curricula as fundamental types, despite that d. c. brushed machines (except small machines) have been gradually abandoned and PM brushless machines (PMBM) and switched reluctance machines (SRM) have been in mass p- duction and use for at least two decades. Recently, new topologies of high torque density motors, high speed motors, integrated motor drives and special motors have been developed. Progress in electric machines technology is stimulated by new materials, new areas of applications, impact of power electronics, need for energy saving and new technological challenges. The development of electric machines in the next few years will mostly be stimulated by computer hardware, residential and public applications and transportation systems (land, sea and air). At many Universities teaching and research strategy oriented towards el- trical machinery is not up to date and has not been changed in some co- tries almost since the end of the WWII. In spite of many excellent academic research achievements, the academia-industry collaboration and technology transfer are underestimated or, quite often, neglected. Underestimation of the role of industry, unfamiliarity with new trends and restraint from technology transfer results, with time, in lack of external ?nancial support and drastic - cline in the number of students interested in Power Electrical Engineering.

This monograph covers the area of vector control of three-phase AC machines, in particular induction motors with squirrel-cage rotor (IM), permanent excited synchronous motors (PMSM) and doubly-fed induction machines (DFIM), from the viewpoint of the practical design and development. Main focus is on the application of the IM and the PMSM in electrical drive systems, where the method of the field-orientated control has been successfully established in the practice, and on the use of the grid voltage orientated controlled DFIM in the wind power plants.
After a summary of the basic structure of a field-oriented controlled three-phase AC drive as well as of a grid voltage orientated controlled wind power plant the inverter control by space vector modulation is extensively discussed with the help of many examples to illustrate the practical application. Based on the basic machine equations, the continuous and the discrete machine models of IM, PMSM and DFIM are derived and questions regarding feedback acquisition and the practical implementation of the field-oriented control are highlighted. The design of vectorial two-dimensional current controllers using the discrete models is then discussed in connection with other essential problems like control variable limitation. Several alternative controller configurations are introduced. Further emphasis is given to determining the machine parameters by calculation from name-plate data and automatic offline parameter identification. Questions of energy efficient operation are addressed, particularly relating to efficiency and torque optimal control strategies under consideration of state variable limitations. Control concepts are proposed for the electrical system of wind-power plants with DFIM, an application which has gained wide-spread importance in recent years. The presented control concept is proven practically and can be regarded as pioneering for new developments.

Control applications for AC drives usually feature linear algorithms in spite of the machine itself being characterized by a non-linear process model. Nevertheless, the introduced control structures have led to a relatively mature stage of development in the practice. Control approaches which take into account system nonlinearities from the outset may however fare better in a number of circumstances. Starting from the structural nonlinearity of the machines, the suitable nonlinear models are derived, and in the process nonlinear controllers are designed on the basis of the method of the "exact linearization" which proves to be the most suitable in comparison with other methods like "backstepping-based" or "passivity-based" designs.

While compiling this book, the authors had been dedicated to expose the problems as close as possible oriented on practical and implementation-related requirements. The theoretical background is detailed as much as needed to understand the subjects; numerous equations, figures, diagrams and appendices support the detailed description of the design processes.

Tubular combustors are cylindrical tubes where flame ignition and propagation occur in a spatially confined, highly controlled environment, in a nearly flat, elongated geometry. This allows for some unique advantages where extremely even heat dispersion is required over a large surface while still maintaining fuel efficiency. Tubular combustors also allow for easy flexibility in type of fuel source, allowing for quick changeover to meet various needs and changing fuel pricing. This new addition to the MP sustainable energy series will provide the most up-to-date research on tubular combustion--some of it only now coming out of private proprietary protection. Plentiful examples of current applications along with a good explanation of background theory will offer readers an invaluable guide on this promising energy technology. Highlights include: * An introduction to the theory of tubular flames * The "how to" of maintaining stability of tubular flames through continuous combustion * Examples of both small-scale and large-scale applications like steel making, chemical processing, flexible-fuel-source heaters, efficient boilers, and other similar uses

This book reviews the progress achieved in SiC research and development, particularly over the past 10 years. It presents the essential properties of 3C-, 6H- and 4H-SiC polytypes including structural, electrical, optical, surface and interface properties; describes existing key SiC devices and also the challenges in materials growth and device fabrication of the 21st century.

Highly automated production and logistics facilities require mechatronic drive solutions. This book describes in which way the industrial production and logistics work and shows the structure of the drive solutions required for this purpose. The functionality of the mechanical and electronic elements of a drive system is described, and their basic dimensioning principles are explained. The authors also outline the engineering, reliability, and important aspects of the life cycle.

Expanding Competition in Regulated Industries reviews the changing regulatory environment, notably incentive regulation and competition in regulated industries. Some of the major changes in electricity, gas, and telephone utilities allow for competition in local service through unbundling. This book is of interest to researchers, utility managers, regulatory commissions, and the Federal Government.

German Ordoliberalism and French Regulation theory, two institutionalist theories born in different national contexts, show striking convergences and complementarities. Based on an original comparison, Institutional Economics in France and Germany analyses the basic concepts, the development and the present relevance of both schools, the way they deal with the crucial methodological issue of complexity and with transformation in post-socialist Europe. It underlines the specificity and fruitfulness of these European approaches to institutional economics, often unfortunately ignored in the English-language literature. Written by leading scholars, this book is a clear presentation of both theories, with numerous illustrations and in-depth analysis of recent research developments. This theoretical, methodological and thematic comparison raises central issues in the growing field of socioeconomic and institutionalist theory.

This volume in the acclaimed series Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry starts with a dedication to the late Professor Brian Conway who for 50 years helped to guide this series to its current prominence. The remainder of the volume is then devoted to the following topics: PEM fuel cells; the use of graphs in electrochemical reaction newtworks; nanomaterials in Lithium-ion batteries; direct methanolf fuel cells (two chapters); fuel cell catalyst layers. The book is for electrochemists, electrochemical engineers, fuel cell workers and energy generation workers.

This wide-ranging book summarizes the current knowledge of radiation defects in semiconductors, outlining the shortcomings of present experimental and modelling techniques and giving an outlook on future developments. It also provides information on the application of sensors in nuclear power plants.

The authors here provide a detailed treatment of the design of robust adaptive controllers for nonlinear systems with uncertainties. They employ a new tool based on the ideas of system immersion and manifold invariance. New algorithms are delivered for the construction of robust asymptotically-stabilizing and adaptive control laws for nonlinear systems. The methods proposed lead to modular schemes that are easier to tune than their counterparts obtained from Lyapunov redesign.

Covering the development of field computation in the past forty years, this book is a concise, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to methods for the analysis and synthesis of electric and magnetic fields. A broad view of the subject of field models in electricity and magnetism, ranging from basic theory to numerical applications, is offered. The approach throughout is to solve field problems directly from partial differential equations in terms of vector quantities.

Thermodynamics is not the oldest of sciences. Mechanics can make that claim. Thermodynamicsisaproductofsomeofthegreatestscienti?cmindsofthe19thand 20th centuries. But it is suf?ciently established that most authors of new textbooks in thermodynamics ?nd it necessary to justify their writing of yet another textbook. I ?nd this an unnecessary exercise because of the centrality of thermodynamics as a science in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. I do acknowledge, however, that instruction in thermodynamics often leaves the student in a confused state. My attempt in this book is to present thermodynamics in as simple and as uni?ed a form as possible. As teachers we identify the failures of our own teachers and attempt to correct them. Although I personally acknowledge with a deep gratitude the appreciation for thermodynamics that I found as an undergraduate, I also realize that my teachers did not convey to me the sweeping grandeur of thermodynamics. Speci?cally the s- plicity and the power that James Clerk Maxwell found in the methods of Gibbs were not part of my undergraduate experience. Unfortunately some modern authors also seem to miss this central theme, choosing instead to introduce the thermodynamic potentials as only useful functions at various points in the development.

On 21 November 2007 the grand and elegant Delegates Hall of the Hungarian Parliament was the scene of the opening of a conference to discuss some of the most pressing issues of the day, those related to our unending thirst for energy, its environmental consequences, and the challenges that these bear on security. Over the next 3 days scientists, parliamentarians and their guests confronted, challenged, teased and cajoled each other in a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled "Energy and Environmental Challenges to Security," affirming that knowledge and public service hold the keys to solving our greatest challenges. The magnitude of the security challenge was confirmed while this volume was being prepared. In mid-2008, the International Energy Agency issued a report concluding that US$45 trillion would be needed over the next half century to prevent energy shortages and greenhouse gas emissions from undermining global economic growth. But lest such large numbers cause us all to shrug, this volume brings attention to some of the more manageable aspects of the environment and energy security challenge - from addressing conflict resources such as illegal timber that contribute to corruption and regional instability, to means and mechanisms to enable the diversification of energy supplies, to environmental risk reduction strategies for particular installations. The participants in the Hungarian Parliament building were atypical for a NATO Advanced Research Workshop.

Das Buch erlautert die wirtschaftlichen Konsequenzen und technischen Moeglichkeiten aus den neuen gesetzlichen Vorgaben von EEG und KWK (Gesetze zur Energieumlage und zur Umlage von Kraft-Warme-Kopplung). Diese gesetzlichen Vorgaben beeinflussen die Unternehmen und Organisationen hinsichtlich ihrer Investitionsentscheidung zur Energieerzeugung. Mit Hilfe von Sensitivitatsanalysen erstellt der Autor fur kleine und mittlere Anlagen Beispielrechnungen und erlautert, welche Moeglichkeiten sich zur technischen Auswahl der Energieerzeugungsanlage ergeben. Diese haben einen erheblichen Einfluss, die sich fur Industrieunternehmen ebenso wie fur Energieversorger oder Kommunen aus den gesetzlichen AEnderungen ergeben.

This book investigates the business strategies chosen by oil and gas service companies operating in China, Singapore and Malaysia. It provides an analytical view of the reliability of strategic theoretical frameworks based on Western business practice but applied in a non-Western business environment like Asia.

In the twenty-first century the sustainability of energy and transportation systems is on the top of the political agenda in many countries around the world.

Environmental impacts of human economic activity necessitate the consideration of conflicting goals in decision making processes to develop sustainable systems. Any sustainable development has to reconcile conflicting economic and environmental objectives and criteria. The science of multiple criteria decision making has a lot to offer in addressing this need. Decision making with multiple (conflicting) criteria is the topic of research that is at the heart of the International Society of Multiple Criteria Decision Making. This book is based on selected papers presented at the societies 19th International Conference, held at The University of Auckland, New Zealand, from 7th to 12th January 2008 under the theme "MCDM for Sustainable Energy and Transportation Systems''.

This Handbook examines the subject of energy security: its definition, dimensions, ways to measure and index it, and the complicating factors that are often overlooked. The volume identifies varying definitions and dimensions of energy security, including those that prioritize security of supply and affordability alongside those that emphasize availability, energy efficiency, trade, environmental quality, and social and political stewardship. It also explores the various metrics that can be used to give energy security more coherence, and also to enable it to be measured, including recent attempts to measure energy security progress at the national level, with a special emphasis placed on countries within the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), countries within Asia, and industrialized countries worldwide. This Handbook: * Broadens existing discussions of energy security that center on access to fuels, including "oil security" and "coal security." * Focuses not only on the supply side of energy but also the demand, taking a hard look at energy services and politics along with technologies and infrastructure; * Investigates energy security issues such as energy poverty, equity and access, and development; * Analyzes ways to index and measure energy security progress at the national and international level. This book will be of much interest to students of energy security, energy policy, economics, environmental studies, and IR/Security Studies in general.

A new look at the different perspectives on energy security policies of European and Asian countries. The book explains the reasons for the failure of EU common energy policies and the deficiencies in the policies towards Central Asia. It examines Chinese energy diplomacy, and the possibility of energy competition and cooperation in Northeast Asia.