This book investigates how a North African solar thermal power plant can be set up under the guidance of European investors (e.g. the Desertec Concept) as a Public Private Partnership (PPP). It outlines the importance of early awareness of contract-related risks, investment risks and dispute settlement, arguing that commercial and investment arbitration are the best tools for settling disputes regarding a large-scale solar thermal project. Furthermore, by comparing institutional and ad hoc arbitration, it shows that the former offers highly suitable support. The latest developments in the area of investment arbitration under EU law and the general acceptance of arbitration in Islamic countries are examined in particular. This book also demonstrates that a solar thermal power plant must meet certain requirements to be considered an investment. These requirements are examined in relation to Art. 25 of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes Convention (ICSID Convention) and respective case law. Overall, the book offers valuable guidelines for investors and host states on how to successfully implement large-scale solar thermal projects.

Sustainable development is the key for the survival in 21st century. The natural resources are finite and cannot be used with impunity because we are the custodian of these resources and have responsibility to pass these to the next generation. This monumental task requires several major commitments and most important of them is to arrest population explosion which has already reached seven billion. Natural resources like air to breath, food to eat, and water to drink, and fossil fuel to maintain this life style are being overexploited. Unrestrained consuming culture will accelerate undesired situation. This situation will have more dire consequences in resource limited ecosystems like dry lands. Given the severe scarcity of water, ever increasing population and soil salinization out of the box solutions for the provision of food and clean energy is required to spare meager fresh water resources for conventional agriculture. This volume contains a number of articles dealing with halophyte ecology, bio-geography, ecophysiology, hyper-saline soils, biofuels, biosaline agriculture, biosaline landscaping, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity. It also contains the communication of innovative ideas, such as the research into floating mangroves, seagrass terraces, as well as a World Halophyte Garden containing all known salt-tolerant plant species. It is hoped that the information provided will not only advance vegetation science, but that it will truly generate more interdisciplinarity, networking, awareness, and inspire farmers, and agricultural and landscaping stakeholders to seriously engage in halophyte cash crop production in coastal hyper-saline areas.

This book sets out some positive directions to move forward including government policy and regulatory options, an innovative GRID (Greening, Regenerative, Improvement Districts) scheme that can assist with funding and management, and the first steps towards an innovative carbon credit scheme for the built environment. Decarbonising cities is a global agenda with huge significance for the future of urban civilisation. Global demonstrations have shown that technology and design issues are largely solved. However, the mainstreaming of low carbon urban development, particularly at the precinct scale, currently lacks sufficient: standards for measuring carbon covering operational, embodied and transport emissions; assessment and decision-making tools to assist in design options; certifying processes for carbon neutrality within the built environment; and accreditation processes for enabling carbon credits to be generated from precinct-wide urban development. Numerous barriers are currently hindering greater adoption of high performance, low carbon developments, many of which relate to implementation and governance. How to enable and manage precinct-scale renewables and other low carbon technologies within an urban setting is a particular challenge.

This volume investigates the impact of energy technology innovations on economic development and presents new areas of research into the financial economics of energy as well as new studies into valuation, electricity pricing and the economic, regulatory and environmental costs of alternative energy sources. Academics and practitioners take a global perspective and present cases from several countries. The book concentrates on three issues: 1) innovation and shocks in energy markets; 2) environment and renewables and 3) fossil fuel regulation. The book will provide a useful resource for anyone with an academic or business interest in energy and value issues. This is the fourth volume in a series on energy organized by the Center for Energy and Value Issues (CEVI). The previous volumes in the series include Financial Aspects in Energy (2011), Energy Economics and Financial Markets (2012) and Perspectives on Energy Risk (2014).

Chemical processes in many fields of science and technology, including combustion, atmospheric chemistry, environmental modelling, process engineering, and systems biology, can be described by detailed reaction mechanisms consisting of numerous reaction steps. This book describes methods for the analysis of reaction mechanisms that are applicable in all these fields. Topics addressed include: how sensitivity and uncertainty analyses allow the calculation of the overall uncertainty of simulation results and the identification of the most important input parameters, the ways in which mechanisms can be reduced without losing important kinetic and dynamic detail, and the application of reduced models for more accurate engineering optimizations. This monograph is invaluable for researchers and engineers dealing with detailed reaction mechanisms, but is also useful for graduate students of related courses in chemistry, mechanical engineering, energy and environmental science and biology.

This book reports on the first empirical validation of “AccuRate,� Australia’s national benchmark software tool for house energy ratings. The validation was conducted by the University of Tasmania in collaboration with Forest and Wood Products Australia, the Australian Government, the CSIRO and industry partners. The study presented here describes the results of graphical and statistical analysis of variations observed between the measured and simulated data from three different test buildings in Launceston, Tasmania. It shows that, while the AccuRate software is well suited to modeling energy flows, there are discrepancies between the simulated and measured temperatures of the test buildings. Moreover, it highlights possible connections between the discrepancies in all zones and the outside air temperature, wind speed, global and diffuse solar radiation, and possibly the ground model. Beyond its contribution to further investigations into the ongoing improvement and calibration of the Australian NatHERS-supported AccuRate software, this book also meticulously describes the methodology used in conducting the research, which is expected to pave the way for further studies of this type.

This book highlights how energy-system models are used to underpin and support energy and climate mitigation policy decisions at national, multi-country and global levels. It brings together, for the first time in one volume, a range of methodological approaches and case studies of good modeling practice on a national and international scale from the IEA-ETSAP energy technology initiative. It provides insights for the reader into the rich and varied applications of energy-system models and the underlying methodologies and policy questions they can address. The book demonstrates how these models are used to answer complex policy questions, including those relating to energy security, climate change mitigation and the optimal allocation of energy resources. It will appeal to energy engineers and technology specialists looking for a rationale for innovation in the field of energy technologies and insights into their evolving costs and benefits. Energy economists will gain an understanding of the key future role of energy technologies and policy makers will learn how energy-system modeling teams can provide unique perspectives on national energy and environment challenges. The book is carefully structured into three parts which focus on i) policy decisions that have been underpinned by energy-system models, ii) specific aspects of supply and end-use sector modeling, including technology learning and behavior and iii) how additional insights can be gained from linking energy-system models with other models. The chapters elucidate key methodological features backed up with concrete applications. The book demonstrates the high degree of flexibility of the modeling tools used to represent extremely different energy systems, from national to global levels.

In the face of increasingly serious resource and environmental challenges, the world has already accepted low-carbon development as the main way forward for future city construction. Chinese cities have encountered many problems during their development, including land constraints, energy shortages, traffic congestion and air pollution. For this reason, the national meeting of the Central Work Conference on Urbanization made the strategic decision to take a new approach to urbanization and indicated that in future the key features of urbanization in China will be low-carbon development and harmony between the environment and resources. This book discusses the "low-carbon city" as the new pattern of Chinese urbanization. This represents a major change and takes "intensive land use," "intelligent," "green" and "low carbon" as its key words. Low carbon will become an important future development direction for Chinese urbanization development. In the twenty-first Century in response to the global climate change, countries have started a wave of low-carbon city construction. But in China, there are still many disputes and misunderstandings surrounding the issue. Due to a lack of research, low-carbon city construction in China is still in the early stages, and while there have been successes, there have also been failures. There are complex and diverse challenges in applying low-carbon development methods in the context of today's Chinese cities. The construction of low-carbon cities requires efficient government, the technological innovation of enterprises, and professional scholars, but also efforts on the part of the public to change their daily activities. Based on the above considerations, the collection brings together experts from urban planning and design, clean-energy systems, low-carbon transportation, new types of city infrastructure and smart cities etc., in the hope of forming some solutions for Chinese low-carbon city development.

This book describes the energy-law situation in Brazil. It focuses on three specific energy sectors: oil, natural gas and biofuel. The decision to concentrate on these areas takes into account the role that these energy sectors play in the economic, political and legal systems in Brazil, as well as the fact that they are the primary subjects of current discussions surrounding economic regulation in the country. The book, composed of thematic chapters authored by specialized legal researchers, analyzes the different aspects of the oil, gas and biofuels industry, starting with an introduction and technical points and followed by a discussion of the legal issues. It also considers the different legal areas used to examine the aforementioned energy sectors, such as regulatory law, environmental law, tax law, international law, among others. The book will serve as a valuable guide for researchers interested in understanding Brazilian energy law, and at the same it time presents the state of the art of studies carried out in Brazil.

ThAccelerating the diffusion of energy-efficient renovations is a key policy lever in order to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. This book provides a broad, systemic perspective on the causes of the diffusion of energy-efficient renovations in Switzerland and policy recommendations for accelerating the diffusion process. Specifically, the book provides a description of the societal problem situation within which the diffusion process takes place and an analysis of the actors involved. It provides a detailed explanation of the causes of the diffusion process that synthesizes insights from the engineering, economics, marketing, sociology, communication studies and political science literature. It employs the System Dynamics methodology to simulate the diffusion process and analyze policy levers. The book proposes two regulations and a sketch of a business model as particularly promising public policy interventions. It concludes with an outline of a generic theory of the diffusion of sustainable technologies. 

This book addresses several index decomposition analysis methods to assess progress made by EU countries in the last decade in relation to energy and climate change concerns. Several applications of these techniques are carried out in order to decompose changes in both energy and environmental aggregates. In addition to this, a new methodology based on classical spline approximations is introduced, which provides useful mathematical and statistical properties. Once a suitable set of determinant factors has been identified, these decomposition methods allow the researcher to quantify the respective contributions of these factors. A proper interpretation of findings enables the design of strategies and a number of energy and environmental policies to control the variables of interest. This book also analyses the impact of several factors that allow control of these variables; among them, assessment of the specific contribution of improved energy efficiency is particularly relevant. A number of divisia-index-based techniques for decomposing changes in a generic indicator are now available, and these range from classical techniques based on Laspeyres and Paasche weights to more refined approaches relying on logarithmic mean weighting schemes. This book is intended for undergraduates and graduates of energy economics and environmental sciences, environmental policy advisors, and industrial engineers.

This book focuses on nanotechnology in electrocatalysis for energy applications. In particular the book covers nanostructured electrocatalysts for low temperature fuel cells, low temperature electrolyzers and electrochemical valorization. The function of this book is to provide an introduction to basic principles of electrocatalysis, together with a review of the main classes of materials and electrode architectures. This book will illustrate the basic ideas behind material design and provide an introductory sketch of current research focuses. The easy-to-follow three part book focuses on major formulas, concepts and philosophies. This book is ideal for professionals and researchers interested in the field of electrochemistry, renewable energy and electrocatalysis.

This book presents a comprehensive set of guidelines and applications of DIgSILENT PowerFactory, an advanced power system simulation software package, for different types of power systems studies. Written by specialists in the field, it combines expertise and years of experience in the use of DIgSILENT PowerFactory with a deep understanding of power systems analysis. These complementary approaches therefore provide a fresh perspective on how to model, simulate and analyse power systems. It presents methodological approaches for modelling of system components, including both classical and non-conventional devices used in generation, transmission and distribution systems, discussing relevant assumptions and implications on performance assessment. This background is complemented with several guidelines for advanced use of DSL and DPL languages as well as for interfacing with other software packages, which is of great value for creating and performing different types of steady-state and dynamic performance simulation analysis. All employed test case studies are provided as supporting material to the reader to ease recreation of all examples presented in the book as well as to facilitate their use in other cases related to planning and operation studies. Providing an invaluable resource for the formal instruction of power system undergraduate/postgraduate students, this book is also a useful reference for engineers working in power system operation and planning.

This book gives a state-of-the-art view by recognized researchers of the nanotechnologies required for future integrated systems leading to innovations in energy, the environment, and biotechnologies. Nanostructures that would be difficult to form using the current semiconductor technology will be realized using a combination of bottom-up and top-down processes, including hybrid nanostructures made of inorganic and organic/biological materials. Bio-sensing, imaging, and cell or molecular manipulation are discussed in Chapters 2-7. The acquisition of basic knowledge on the cellular level will lead to curing serious diseases. Also, nanofabrication technologies, discussed in Chapters 8-15, will lead to next-generation solar cells, secondary batteries, and advanced electronic circuits using nanostructured materials, thus providing solutions for serious energy and environment issues. Prospective readers of this book include graduate students as well as researchers and engineers working in this field.

Contributing to the growing debate on the need for sustainable water use and management, with concrete examples of new approaches, concepts, arguments, methods and findings which illustrate how this can be achieved, this book will be attractive for large groups of readers familiar with one or more of the themes it tackles, and to the general public. Within this context, the book makes use of many tables and graphics, which bring the many messages together. This approach is intended not only for those working on water matters (e.g. bureaucrats, water managers, policymakers, journalists, etc.) and interested in water management issues and sustainability at large, but also for students of water management, water politics, environmental policy, water economics, water engineering and sustainability studies. Located at the crossroads of two key phenomena: sustainability and water, this book brings forward academic research and discussions on water efficiency, new technologies, and the water-agriculture nexus. It also benefits readers by tackling matters related to trans-boundary cooperation on water (including rainwater) and river-basin management, pricing issues, participatory water management, and the role of women in sustainable water use, amongst others.

The book adopts an innovative analytical approach to agenda setting by not only presenting successful cases in which energy issues were addressed by means of public policy, but by also analyzing failed attempts to make issues part of the European policy agenda. Another outstanding feature of the book is its use of the latest empirical data on a broad range of energy issues. When are energy issues likely to find their way to the agenda of European policymakers? This is the key research question guiding this collection of empirical studies, which will shed light on both successful and unsuccessful attempts to include energy issues in the European agenda. The multi-level political system of the European Union represents a particularly fruitful setting for addressing this question due to the multiple institutional access points it provides for different groups of actors. The book has three key benefits. First, it provides a theory-informed analysis of agenda setting processes in general and in the European Union in particular. Second, it presents an overview of the most important and emerging dimensions on European energy policy, and third, it helps to develop a research agenda for future research in the field.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of advanced research in the field of environmental green chemistry for air, soil and water pollutants, and presents emerging technologies on the chemical treatment of polluted sites and wastes. The 15 chapters, prepared by internationally respected experts, address the following topics: (1) monitoring of indoor and outdoor air pollutants; (2) atmospheric degradation processes and formation mechanisms of secondary pollutants; (3) the environmental assessment and impacts of soils polluted by heavy metals and hydrocarbons; (4) sustainable and emerging technologies for the chemical treatment of organic and animal wastes and wastewaters; (5) photocatalytic CO2 conversion methods for the mitigation of greenhouse effects; and (6) non-conventional methods in green chemistry synthesis. Lastly, the authors outline the future perspectives of each topic. Given its multidisciplinary approach, combining environmental analysis and engineering, the book offers a valuable resource for all researchers and students interested in environmental chemistry and engineering.

Autonomic networking aims to solve the mounting problems created by increasingly complex networks, by enabling devices and service-providers to decide, preferably without human intervention, what to do at any given moment, and ultimately to create self-managing networks that can interface with each other, adapting their behavior to provide the best service to the end-user in all situations. This book gives both an understanding and an assessment of the principles, methods and architectures in autonomous network management, as well as lessons learned from, the ongoing initiatives in the field. It includes contributions from industry groups at Orange Labs, Motorola, Ericsson, the ANA EU Project and leading universities. These groups all provide chapters examining the international research projects to which they are contributing, such as the EU Autonomic Network Architecture Project and Ambient Networks EU Project, reviewing current developments and demonstrating how autonomic management principles are used to define new architectures, models, protocols, and mechanisms for future network equipment.

This critical volume examines the different methods used for the synthesis of a great number of photocatalysts, including TiO2, ZnO and other modified semiconductors, as well as characterization techniques used for determining the optical, structural and morphological properties of the semiconducting materials. Additionally, the authors discuss photoelectrochemical methods for determining the light activity of the photocatalytic semiconductors by means of measurement of properties such as band gap energy, flat band potential and kinetics of hole and electron transfer. Photocatalytic Semiconductors: Synthesis, Characterization and Environmental Applications provide an overview of the semiconductor materials from first- to third-generation photocatalysts and their applications in wastewater treatment and water disinfection. The book further presents economic and toxicological aspects in the production and application of photocatalytic materials.

The aim of this book is to explore science and technology from the viewpoint of creating new knowledge, as opposed to the reinterpretation of existing knowledge in ever greater but uncertain detail. Scientists and technologists make progress by distinguishing between what they regard as meaningful and what they consider as secondary or unimportant. The meaningful is dynamic; typically, the less important is static. Science and technology have made a major contribution to the culture and to the standard of living of our society. From antiquity to the present day, the most distinguished scientists and technologists have been thinkers, experimenters and persons willing and able to challenge "the obvious". Technology develops products and processes based on the breakthroughs of science. If technologists fail to steadily upgrade their skills, tools and methods, they will only be as good as their last design, risking obsolescence. Using practical examples and case studies, this book documents the correlations existing between science and technology, and elucidates these correlations with practical applications ranging from real-life situations, from R&D to energy production. As it is a salient problem, and a most challenging one to our society, power production has been chosen as a major case study. The holistic approach to science and technology followed by this text enhances the ability to deliver practical results. This book is intended for students and researchers of science, technology and mathematical analysis, while also providing a valuable reference book for professionals. Its subject is one of the most debated problems of mankind.

Managing a successful transition of the current energy supply system to less carbon emitting options, ensuring a safe and secure supply during the whole process and in the long term, is one of the largest challenges of our time. Various approaches and first implementations show that it is not only technological issue, but also a matter of societal acceptance and acceptability, considering basic ethic values of the society. The main foci of the book are, thus, to develop an understanding about the specific challenges of the scientific policy advice in the area, to explore typical current approaches for the analysis of future energy systems and to develop criteria for the quality assessment and guidelines for the improvement of such studies. The book provides assistance to the interpretation of existing studies and guidelines for setting up and carrying out new analyses as well as for communicating and applying the results. Thereby, it aims to support the involved actors such as the respective scientific experts and researchers as well as decision makers, energy suppliers, stakeholders and the interested public in designing procedures for a successful transition process. The study elaborates consistent interdisciplinary advice as contribution for realising a continuously safe and secure, long-term viable energy supply in spite of diverse interests, multi-level responsibilities, multi-dimensional processes, large uncertainties and lack of knowledge about future developments.

This book covers multi-band Galileo receivers (especially E1-E5 bands of Galileo) and addresses all receiver building blocks, from the antenna and front end, through details of the baseband receiver processing blocks, up to the navigation processing, including the Galileo message structure and Position, Velocity, Time (PVT) computation. Moreover, hybridization solutions with communications systems for improved localization are discussed and an open-source GNSS receiver platform (available for download) developed at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is addressed in detail.

Addressing the major issues associated with green energy and energy efficiency, this book examines the economics of energy from the theoretical as well as applied perspectives. It makes a valuable contribution to existing discussion around environment and climate change issues, and provides an analysis of the socioeconomic and policy-oriented aspects of this topic. Each chapter is self-contained and tackles the fundamental issues and latest developments of a particular sub-topic. Combining rigour and accessibility, this book allows non-specialized readers to understand the complexity of the topic, and to likewise access the most relevant and up-to-date literature. It simultaneously enables more specialized readers to broaden their understanding of complex energy topics and it provides a comprehensive overview of the cutting-edge developments of the issues covered by the book. This book covers important themes including regulation for green energy, the promotion of green energy and efficiency, the challenges and options of renewable energy, and efficiency in economic sectors. It is intended for researchers and postgraduates with an interest in energy, climate change and environmental economics, and also policymakers and energy companies.

Synthetic Biology is already an object of intensive debate. However, to a great extent the discussion to date has been concerned with fundamental ethical, religious and philosophical questions. By contrast, based on an investigation of the field’s scientific and technological character, this book focuses on new functionalities provided by synthetic biology and explores the associated opportunities and risks. Following an introduction to the subject and a discussion of the most central paradigms and methodologies, the book provides an overview of the structure of this field of science and technology. It informs the reader about the current stage of development, as well as topical problems and potential opportunities in important fields of application. But not only the science itself is in focus. In order to investigate its broader impact, ecological as well as ethical implications will be considered, paving the way for a discussion of responsibilities in the context of a field at a transitional crossroads between basic and applied science. In closing, the requirements for a suitable regulatory framework are discussed. The book is intended as a source of information and orientation for researchers, students and practitioners in the natural sciences and technology assessment; for members of scientific and technological, governmental and funding institutions; and for members of the general public interested in essential information on the current status, prospects and implications of synthetic biology.

This book offers broad, detailed coverage of theoretical developments in induction and direct resistance heating and presents new material on the solution of problems in the application of such heating. The physical basis of induction and conduction heating processes is explained and electromagnetic phenomena in direct resistance and induction heating of flat workpieces and cylindrical bodies are examined in depth. The calculation of electrical and energetic characteristics of induction and conduction heating systems is then thoroughly reviewed. The final two chapters consider analytical solutions and numerical modeling of problems in the application of induction and direct resistance heating, providing industrial engineers with the knowledge needed in order to use numerical tools in the modern design of installations. Other engineers, scientists and technologists will find the book to be an invaluable reference that will assist in the efficient utilization of electrical energy.