Escalating energy demand may be the most important issue facing the United States and the world today. There is little disagreement that research and development (R&D) is needed to develop new energy technologies for the future; however, there is less agreement over the specific research agenda to be pursued and how that agenda is funded. This book addresses the social importance of new energy technologies, illustrates policy-relevant applications of evaluation techniques and proposes new perspectives for a US energy investment strategy. Through detailed examples related to solar, geothermal, and vehicle technologies, the authors outline the need for robust evaluation methods to document social returns to taxpayers' R&D investments. They argue that such evaluations are necessary for the public sector to make rational decisions about the allocation of its scares resources. The evaluation methods considered involve developing alternative technology and market pathways from which the benefits of government research can be measured. Researchers and graduate students, policy makers involved in energy technology, and energy R&D program managers will all find much of value in this important and timely book.

This SpringerBrief deals with the control and optimization problem in hybrid electric vehicles. Given that there are two (or more) energy sources (i.e., battery and fuel) in hybrid vehicles, it shows the reader how to implement an energy-management strategy that decides how much of the vehicle's power is provided by each source instant by instant. Hybrid Electric Vehicles: *introduces methods for modeling energy flow in hybrid electric vehicles; *presents a standard mathematical formulation of the optimal control problem; *discusses different optimization and control strategies for energy management, integrating the most recent research results; and *carries out an overall comparison of the different control strategies presented. Chapter by chapter, a case study is thoroughly developed, providing illustrative numerical examples that show the basic principles applied to real-world situations. The brief is intended as a straightforward tool for learning quickly about state-of-the-art energy-management strategies. It is particularly well-suited to the needs of graduate students and engineers already familiar with the basics of hybrid vehicles but who wish to learn more about their control strategies.

Peak Load and Capacity Pricing lays out clear pricing strategies for understanding peak load and capacity pricing structures, further cementing electricity's role as an asset class with fixed and variable costs.

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.

Energy is the mainstay of industrial societies, and without an adequate supply of energy the social, political and economic stability of nations is put into jeopardy. With supplies of inexpensive fossil fuels decreasing, and climate change factors becoming more threatening, the need to conserve energy and move steadily to more sustainable energy sources is more urgent than ever before. The updated Second Edition of this successful handbook includes chapters from leading experts on the economics and fiscal management of energy, with a focus on the tools available to advance efficiency and conservation measures. Updated coverage of renewable energy sources, energy storage technologies, energy audits for buildings and building systems, and demand-side management is provided. The appendix of the handbook provides extensive data resources for analysis and calculation.

Jackups, semisubmersibles and drillships are the marine vessels used to drill offshore wells and are referred to collectively as mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs). MODUs are supplied through newbuild construction and operate throughout the world in highly competitive regional markets. The Offshore Drilling Industry and Rig Construction Market in the Gulf of Mexico examines the global MODU service and construction industry and describes the economic impacts of rig construction in the United States. The industrial organization and major players in the contract drilling and construction markets are described and categorized. Dayrates in the contract drilling market are evaluated and hypotheses regarding dayrate factors are tested. Models of contractor decision-making are developed, including a net-present value model of newbuilding investment and stacking decisions, and market capitalization models are derived. Jackup construction shipyards and processes are reviewed along with estimates of labor, equipment, and material cost in U.S. construction. Derivation of newbuild and replacement cost functions completes the treatise. The comprehensive and authoritative coverage of The Offshore Drilling Industry and Rig Construction Market in the Gulf of Mexico makes it an ideal reference for engineers, industry professionals, policy analysts, government regulators, academics and other readers wanting to learn more about this important and fascinating industry.

Whilst scientific research can be crucial in guiding innovation and development throughout the world, it can be too detached from real world applications, particularly in developing and emerging countries. Technologies for Sustainable Development brings together the best 20 papers from the 2012 Conference of the EPFL-UNESCO Chair in Technologies for Development with the aim to explore and discuss ways to link scientific research with development practices to assist practitioners and reply directly to social needs. In order for technologies to be adopted it is not sufficient that they are low cost and affordable but also socially, culturally and environmentally accepted by the intended users. Technologies for Sustainable Development aims to explore and answer the following three questions: * What is an appropriate technology? * How can we ensure a sustainable, integrated development? * What are the conditions for co-creation and transfer of such technologies? Focusing on the importance of improving working relationships between stakeholders; researchers and decision-makers; between scientists and industrial sectors; between academics and the population; Technologies for Sustainable Development opens a dialogue necessary to create and implement the best solutions adapted to social demands.

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.

This book is aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of recent developments in sustainability science and engineering. The book focuses on principles and practices and presents 18 interwoven chapters on four major themes: design for sustainability; sustainability metrics and analysis; sustainable energy; and sustainable supply/value. Significant, state-of-the-art work, methodologies, practices and plans are presented by researchers, technology developers and industry leaders. Topics discussed include: life cycle assessment; product end-of-life options; practical approaches to sustainability; environmental footprint assessment; biofuels; and sustainable supply chain management.

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.

Beleuchtet die besonderen Herausforderungen der Elektromobilitat Enthalt interessante Loesungen zu wichtigen Problemfeldern wie Nachhaltigkeit, Ressourceneffizienz, Umwelt, Rohstoffe, Energieversorgung und Mobilitat Verschafft einen Einblick in die aktuelle Arbeit der groessten Organisation fur angewandte Forschung und Europa

This timely Handbook provides an excellent overview of our knowledge on the drivers, influencing factors and outcomes of energy entrepreneurship. As the world grapples with global resource crunches and fights to reap the rewards of new energy technologies, a wide space for entrepreneurial opportunity has emerged. The Handbook of Research on Energy Entrepreneurship offers critical insight on how nations the world over can make full use of those opportunities. An informed blend of geographical and methodological approaches to energy entrepreneurship research, these comprehensive and complementary perspectives shed new light on topics ranging from harnessing the power of the sun and wind to consumer preferences and policy frameworks. This book provides an excellent reference point for scholars and practitioners seeking a richer understanding of the aspects of venture financing, corporate entrepreneurship, internationalization of entrepreneurial ventures, emerging cleantech clusters, public policy and the institutional aspects of energy innovation. A must-read for those interested in the scholarly investigation of energy entrepreneurship - including students and scholars of entrepreneurship, technology and innovation management, organizations and the natural environment, and environmental economics, practitioners in energy entrepreneurship, and policymakers - this Handbook is sure to enlighten and engage. Contributors: R. Abold, Z. Acs, J. Aleluia, M.H. Anderson, H. Andree, A. Aspelund, M. Brachert, S. Cohen, N. Dee, P. Dickel, S. Ford, E. Garnsey, D. Grichnik, M.W. Hansen, D.M. Hart, E. Heiskanen, C. Hornych, M. Kenney, C. Koropp, L. Lehmann-Ortega, J. Leitao, M. Loock, N. Lovdal, R. Lovio, A. Marcus, G. Meersohn, P. Mickwitz, P. Migliavacca, N. Peretz, S. Pogutz, A. Russo, J.-M. Schoettl, K. Sutcliffe, T. Teppo, R. Wuebker, R. Wustenhagen

With the growing attention to the exploitation of renewable energies and heat recovery from industrial processes, the traditional steam and gas cycles are showing themselves often inadequate. The inadequacy is due to the great assortment of the required sizes power and of the large kind of heat sources. Closed Power Cycles: Thermodynamic Fundamentals and Applications offers an organized discussion about the strong interaction between working fluids, the thermodynamic behavior of the cycle using them and the technological design aspects of the machines. A precise treatment of thermal engines operating in accordance with closed cycles is provided to develop ideas and discussions strictly founded on the basic thermodynamic facts that control the closed cycles operation and design. Closed Power Cycles: Thermodynamic Fundamentals and Applications also contains numerous examples which have been carried out with the help of the Aspen Plus (R)R program. Including chapters on binary cycles, the organic Rankine cycle and real closed gas cycles, Closed Power Cycles: Thermodynamic Fundamentals and Applications acts a solid introduction and reference for post-graduate students and researchers working in applied thermodynamics and energy conversion with thermodynamic engines.

Martin Holladay has been making weekly postings to his 'Musings of an Energy Nerd' blog on Green Building Advisor since January 2009. Along the way, he has gathered a devoted following of energy nerds who await his weekly musings with rapt anticipation. For the first time, the 50 most popular postings have been assembled in book form to give homeowners a great opportunity to live a more energy-efficient life in their homes. The book begins with an overview of energy priorities, and a discussion of what we mean by terms like green and sustainable. Martin presents several options for energy upgrades for an existing house (from replacing windows to adding superinsulation) before looking at ways to improve the energy efficiency of a new house. Separate chapters follow on HVAC, domestic hot water, appliances and renewable energy, before the book wraps up with an eye-opening chapter on useless products, scams and myths.

"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.

Aero and Vibroacoustics of Automotive Turbochargers is a topic involving aspects from the working fields of thermodynamics of turbomachinery, aerodynamics, rotordynamics, and noise propagation computation. In this broadly interdisciplinary subject, thermodynamics of turbomachinery is used to design the turbocharger and to determine its operating conditions. Aerodynamics is needed to study the compressor flow dynamics and flow instabilities of rotating stall and surge, which can produce growling and whining-type noises. Rotordynamics is necessary to study rotor unbalance and self-excited oil-whirl instabilities, which lead to whistling and constant tone-type noises in rotating floating oil-film type bearings. For the special case of turbochargers using ball bearings, some high-order harmonic and wear noises also manifest in the rotor operating range. Lastly, noise propagation computation, based on Lighthill's analogy, is required to investigate airborne noises produced by turbochargers in passenger vehicles. The content of this book is intended for advanced undergraduates, graduates in mechanical engineering, research scientists and practicing engineers who want to better understand the interactions between these working fields and the resulting impact on the interesting topic of Aero and Vibroacoustics of Automotive Turbochargers.

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.

Sustainable Automotive Energy System in China aims at identifying and addressing the key issues of automotive energy in China in a systematic way, covering demography, economics, technology and policy, based on systematic and in-depth, multidisciplinary and comprehensive studies. Five scenarios of China's automotive energy development are created to analyze the possible contributions in the fields of automotive energy, vehicle fuel economy improvement, electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and the 2nd generation biofuel development. Thanks to this book, readers can gain a better understanding of the nature of China's automotive energy development and be informed about: 1) the current status of automotive energy consumption, vehicle technology development, automotive energy technology development and policy; 2) the future of automotive energy development, fuel consumption, propulsion technology penetration and automotive energy technology development, and 3) the pathways of sustainable automotive energy transformation in China, in particular, the technological and the policy-related options. This book is intended for researchers, engineers and graduates students in the low-carbon transportation and environmental protection field. China Automotive Energy Research Center (CAERC), Tsinghua University, established in 2008, is a university-wide interdisciplinary automotive energy research institution affiliated to Laboratory of Low Carbon Energy (LCE), Tsinghua University. More than 30 researchers are working at CAERC, including six full professors. CAERC's mission is to create and disseminate sustainable automotive energy knowledge, research and development of integrated automotive energy system assessment methodologies and models, and provide technological and policy options for sustainable automotive energy system transformation in China and the world.

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.

Energy audits have multiple goals including reducing energy consumption, managing costs and environmental impact. Improving the energy performance of existing buildings through energy retrofit measures is a great opportunity for developing sustainability in our structures and developing a green building economy. Green Energy Audit of Buildings considers this opportunity with a new and modern interpretation of the classic methodologies. This comprehensive guide to green energy audits integrates energy audit and LEED (R) methodologies to focus on energy and environment as strategic elements. In addition to these methodologies, Green Energy Audit of Buildings includes 45 check-list for field surveys and 97 technical sheets of possible energy retrofit actions that can be applied to existing real-world cases. Covering both the technical and economical points of view, Green Energy Audit of Buildings provides a comprehensive understanding and method for analyzing buildings and facilities in order to promote sustainability. Engineers, architects, energy assessors and mangers in charge of building maintenance will all find this a key reference as well as lecturers, students and researchers looking to develop their understanding of sustainable buildings.

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

The global food crises of 2008 and 2010 and the increased price volatility revolve around biofuels policies and their interaction with each other, farm policies and between countries. While a certain degree of research has been conducted on biofuel efficacy and logistics, there is currently no book on the market devoted to the economics of biofuel policies. The Economics of Biofuel Policies focuses on the role of biofuel policies in creating turmoil in the world grains and oilseed markets since 2006. This new volume is the first to put together theory and empirical evidence of how biofuel policies created a link between crop (food grains and oilseeds) and biofuel (ethanol and biodiesel) prices. This combined with biofuel policies role in affecting the link between biofuels and energy (gasoline, diesel and crude oil) prices will form the basis to show how alternative US, EU, and Brazilian biofuel policies have immense impacts on the level and volatility of food grain and oilseed prices.

Increasing performance demands in integrated circuits, together with limited energy budgets, force IC designers to find new ways of saving power. One innovative way is the presented adaptive voltage scaling scheme, which tunes the supply voltage according to the present process, voltage and temperature variations as well as aging. The voltage is adapted "on the fly" by means of in-situ delay monitors to exploit unused timing margin, produced by state-of-the-art worst-case designs. This book discusses the design of the enhanced in-situ delay monitors and the implementation of the complete control-loop comprising the monitors, a control-logic and an on-chip voltage regulator. An analytical Markov-based model of the control-loop is derived to analyze its robustness and stability. Variation-Aware Adaptive Voltage Scaling for Digital CMOS Circuits provides an in-depth assessment of the proposed voltage scaling scheme when applied to an arithmetic and an image processing circuit. This book is written for engineers interested in adaptive techniques for low-power CMOS circuits.

Whilst financial rights have appeared as a successful ingredient in North-American power markets, they have their shortcomings both theoretically and in practice. Financial Transmission Rights: Analysis, Experiences and Prospects present a systematic and comprehensive overview of financial transmission rights (FTRS). Following a general introduction to FTRs, including chapters to explain transmission pricing and the general properties of FTRS, experts in the field provide discussions on wide scope of topics. These include: Varying perspectives on FTRS: from electrical engineers to economists, Different mathematical formulations of FTRS Financial Hedging using FTRS, and Alternative solutions to FTRs The detail, expertise and range of content makes Financial Transmission Rights: Analysis, Experiences and Prospect an essential resource for electricity market specialists both at academic and professional levels. "This is THE BOOK we were all expecting to address all key 'Financial Transmission Rights' issues. It is comprehensive and reader friendly. You can pick at will in its menu: more or less theory, a bit of maths or none, empirical review of real cases or numerical simulations of many feasible options. Big names rally there to delight you like: Hogan , Oren, Perez-Arriaga, Smeers, Hobbs and... Rosellon. More than a must read: a light house, a map and a survival kit." Jean - Michel Glachant, Director Florence School, Holder Loyola de Palacio Chair, Chief-editor Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy. "In the last two decades, economists have developed a better understanding of the impact of financial rights on risk management, market power and network expansion in electricity markets, while power systems have experimented with such rights. Striking a good balance between academics and practitioners, always at the frontier of the field, written by the best experts, this volume is essential reading for all those- power systems' managers and users, regulators, students and researchers- who want to understand the new electricity environment and predict its evolution." Jean Tirole, Toulouse School of Economics and Institute for Industrial Economics (IDEI) Further comments inside.

Christian Rockenhauser adresses phase formation and cation interdiffusion of the GdxCe1-xO2-x/2-and SmxCe1-xO2-x/2-material systems at temperatures ranging from 970 to 1270 DegreesC. Diffusion couples with CeO2/Sm2O3 and CeO2/Gd2O3 interfaces were fabricated for the investigations. The resulting reaction phases were investigated utilizing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and allow conclusions regarding the phase diagrams in the examined temperature range. A miscibility gap can be ruled out for GdxCe1-xO2-x/2 across the whole composition range. Cation interdiffusion coefficients were determined for both material systems by measuring and evaluating concentration profiles at the material interfaces. The activation enthalpies for interdiffusion were calculated using the temperature dependence of the interdiffusion coefficients. The study for the first time compiles comprehensively the previous results regarding the phase diagrams of the two material systems since 1923.