This book is a concise review of the current status and future prospects of concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) technology. Starting with a summary of the current technical and economic status of CPV technology, it identifies the factors that hold CPV back in the commercial market. The main technical areas considered are solar cells, tracking and optics. The solar cells section focuses on spectrum splitting systems, which offer potentially higher efficiency than multi-junction cells with reductions in the manufacturing constraints that lead to high costs. It also offers a brief survey of the latest developments in spectral splitting alongside a discussion of the advances in solar cell manufacturing that aid the development of such systems. Further, it examines electrical design principles for spectral splitting systems that can improve the spectral stability of these systems' performance. The section on tracking includes a description of tracking integration with an update of the review published in Nature, presenting the latest advances in the field and focusing on surveying conceptual approaches rather than providing an exhaustive description of the literature. The optics section explores 3D printing and other emerging methods of fabricating optics for both prototype and large-scale production, as well as new classes of concentrators, particularly those based on novel photonic materials such as angular filters. Lastly, the authors consider the impact that environmental factors have on the performance of CPV in non-standard environments before concluding with a discussion of the combinations of technologies that they anticipate will most effectively boost CPV in the commercial market.

This book presents the proceedings of the International Conference on Health, Safety, Fire, Environment, and Allied Sciences (HSFEA 2018), highlighting the latest developments in the field of science and technology aimed at improving health and safety in the workplace. The volume comprises content from leading scientists, engineers, and policy makers, discussing water pollution and advanced remedial measures, and the impact on health and the environment. Topics of discussion include research on emerging water pollutants, their sources, monitoring and control. The contents of this volume will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers alike.

Global energy network is an important platform to guarantee effective exploitation of global clean energy and ensure reliable energy supply for everybody. Global Energy Interconnection analyzes the current situation and challenges of global energy development, provides the strategic thinking, overall objective, basic pattern, construction method and development mode for the development of global energy network. Based on the prediction of global energy and electricity supply and demand in the future, with the development of UHV AC/DC and smart grid technologies, this book offers new solutions to drive the safe, clean, highly efficient and sustainable development of global energy. The concept and development ideas concerning global energy interconnection in this book are based on the author's thinking of strategic issues about China's and the world's energy and electricity development for many years, especially combined with successful practices of China's UHV development. This book is particularly suitable for researchers and graduated students engaged in energy sector, as well as energy economics researchers, economists, consultants, and government energy policy makers in relevant fields.

The water and power industries, including the most capital-intensive producers of goods and services in our economy, are exposed to financial risks of staggering proportions. With projects that are routinely large and require long-term planning, and with demand and supply often highly volatile, costs regularly defy prediction. Still, there has been little explicit analysis of financial risk in the water and power industries. In this work, C. Vaughan Jones provides a comprehensive discussion of financial risk and risk analysis for these utilities. Writing in clear, straightforward language, he explores the application of risk analysis to construction projects, rate-setting and price effects, and customer characteristics.

In developing a method for evaluating risk, Jones brings together material from business, engineering, economics, demography, probability theory, computer simulation, and policy studies. The materials are organized around risk factors affecting costs and revenues, and support a practical analysis with spreadsheet and simulation examples. Separate chapters present findings relating to the variability of construction costs, customer demand, and population growth. Together with qualitative information about risks, these chapters offer suggestions about quantitative representation of relevant patterns of variability of key risk sources. The techniques are integrated in simulation models dealing with contract risk, the evaluation of sinking funds and amortization schedules, and long-run capacity planning. The concluding chapters summarize major findings, consider issues of reliability and validation, and discuss the way in which this analysis can be applied to a variety of infrastructure investments. Finance and investment professionals and students in business and finance studies will find this work to be a useful reference tool. For public and academic libraries, it will represent a valuable addition to their collections.

This book explores the process of policymaking and implementation in the finance, energy and security sectors in the United Arab Emirates. It looks at the role of informal advisory networks in a nascent private sector, federal politics, and historical ties in foreign relations.

This book is a comprehensive economic and legal study of the theoretical and practical aspects of the problems of increasing energy efficiency; self-motivation of energy saving by business entities within the framework of their corporate responsibility; regulatory mechanisms to stimulate energy conservation in the economy; civil-law regulation of foreign trade turnover of energy resources between economic entities of the Russian Federation and companies of member states of international integration associations - the CIS, EEMP, the EU and BRICS. It argues that technological energy saving plays a key role in reducing the energy intensity and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy, and substantiates the need for institutional support - including legal support for the participation of the Russian Federation - in various forms of international cooperation. Lastly, based on an analysis of current legislation, programs and recommendations, judicial and contractual practices, customs and trade procedures, it offers proposals for the developing, improving and unifying civil law regulation of obligations in the sphere of international trade in energy resources, as well as methodological recommendations for drafting foreign trade contracts in the energy sector.

The recent European Council Directive 114/08 requested the EU Member States to perform an assessment aimed at the identification and designation of the so-called European Critical Infrastructures (ECI). Every analysis of the results of the "first round" of identifications and designations has only taken into account the numbers of ECIs effectively designated, consequently leaving aside all of the other elements related to this important path towards a harmonized vision of the "European Security." This work, with its unprecedented approach, focuses on the elements that have maximized or frustrated the ambitious European objectives and on the issues that might have prevented the directive reaching its full potential. Furthermore, the study offers an in-depth perspective on the lessons learned - including those that can be learned from the US pre-post 9/11 CIP policies - as well as an assessment of the state of play of the Member States after the implementation of the directive, together with predictions for future challenges.

For over 130 years, Imperial Oil dominated Canada's oil industry. Their 1947 discovery of crude oil in Leduc, Alberta transformed the industry and the country. But from 1899 onwards, two-thirds of the company was owned by an American giant, making Imperial Oil one of the largest foreign-controlled multinationals in Canada. Imperial Standard is the first full-scale history of Imperial Oil. It illuminates Imperial's longstanding connections to Standard Oil of New Jersey, also known as Exxon Mobil. Although this relationship was often beneficial to Imperial, allowing them access to technology and capital, it also came at a cost, causing Imperial to be assailed as the embodiment of foreign control of Canada's natural resources. Graham D. Taylor draws on an extensive collection of primary sources to explore the complex relationship between the two companies. This groundbreaking history provides unprecedented insight into one of Canada's most influential oil companies as it has grown and evolved with the industry itself.

This book addresses sustainability thinking and the bigger picture, by taking into consideration how and from where contemporary schools of thought emerged approximately a quarter-century ago. Evidence from the literature illustrates a number of key concepts and techniques that have been tested and continue to be tested, within various multi-disciplinary fields, on societal functionality. Research into sustainable societies needs to be sound, ethical, and creative. A cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary examination of challenges and strategies is used to interlink sustainability thinking and human-nature relations. With an ever-growing number of people now concentrated within urban areas, providing not only environmental quality and livable space, but also security and resilient urban systems, is becoming increasingly important. This urbanization trend has overlapped with environmental degradation, consumption of natural resources, habitat loss, and overall ecosystem change. Consequently, the goal is for cleaner, safer societies - with higher standards of living - to excel in support of current and future generational communities. The book tackles these challenges by integrating environmental scholarship, economic evaluation, and urban strategies under one umbrella of thought. The relational paradigms presented include examples that correlate developed and developing countries, socioeconomics and community development, and governance of knowledge and education. As such, the book argues, furthering of knowhow should be accessible and shared in order to achieve maximum innovation and benefit. Sustainability thinking, after all, is a metric for intrinsic human-nature relations in terms of past performance, present development, and future goals. This book discusses this metric and offers novel approaches to growing societies and what we can do next.

This volume summarizes our current knowledge on different biomass-converting enzymes and their potential use in converting biomass into simple sugar to generate bioenergy and other value added co-/by products. It consists of 13 chapters and is divided into three parts: cellulases; hemicellulases; and lignocellulose oxidoreductases. Written by international experts, the contributions offer clear and concise descriptions of both standard and new technologies. It is an invaluable reference resource for undergraduates, post-graduates, researchers and practitioners in the field of microbial enzymes for biofuel and biorefinery applications.

This book takes a fresh look at pricing, product differentiation and the need for decommoditisation in market sectors where products and services are standardised and interchangeable. In the first chapters the book explains what commodities are, and puts them into a historical perspective to promote an understanding of their production and its effects. From this baseline the book then presents a case study on how decommoditisation has progressed within the energy industry. Building on this case study and learnings from other sectors, it develops a theoretical framework, characterising the processes and mechanisms observed to be extended towards different industries. This framework is then utilised in the following chapters as a model to explain the progression of decommoditisation, and to examine other sectors through this lens. To conclude, the book presents the implications for stakeholders and suggestions on how to respond to them from a policy and business standpoint. In a final chapter the book develops an outlook on current trends and possible alternative pathways, and summarizes the main takeaways for management professionals and policymakers alike.

This book is a guide to how financial steering is designed, measured and implemented with a special focus on the energy industry. The authors offer an overview of and practical insights into the links between financial steering and accounting, and the temporary cycles of investment, divestment, return and loss, market highs and lows that form the framework of the entire energy industry across all value chain stages. The faster and the larger the cash cycles of investments and their returns, the greater not only the value created, but also the potential loss if the financial steering is not properly designed and managed. Value and value generation require an understanding of how value is both defined and measured in both and how the business/project economics model of a company works - financial steering provides this. Further, the book also discusses accounting topics such as impairments, new IFRS standards and the impact of accounting on key performance indicators of financial steering, which are associated with these investment decision valuations. The combination of accounting with the cash flow perspective provides a complete understanding of selected practical topics of financial steering which are explained in detail in a large number of examples and case studies. The book is intended for a wide range of finance/controlling/treasury/accounting professionals and students. It is written in practical and simple terms to outline the financial steering concept and to bring it to life in daily work and in the decision making process for financial steering. All illustrated concepts are in the same manner relevant and applicable to all other asset-intense industry sectors and their financial steering processes.

This broad-ranging text provides an analysis and assessment of the European Union's energy policy. It examines the components of the internal energy market alongside energy policy and politics on the international stage, and in doing so outlines the increasing importance of this global issue.

This book explores the use of recent advanced multiple stage conversion technologies. These applications combine conventional fluidised bed systems with new plasma technologies to efficiently generate different energy outputs from waste materials with minimum cleaning effort. Using a mix of modelling and experimental approaches, the author provides fundamental insights into how the key operating variables of the two-stage process may impact the final quality of syngas. This thesis serves as a useful reference guide on the modelling and design of single and multiple-stage systems for thermal waste treatment. Its extended section on plant configuration and operation of waste gasification plants identifies the main technical challenges, and is of use to researchers entering the field.

"Handbook of Energy, Volume I: Diagrams, Charts, and Tables" provides comprehensive, organized coverage on all phases of energy and its role in society, including its social, economic, political, historical, and environmental aspects. While there is a wealth of information about energy available, it is spread across many books, journals, and websites and it tends to target either a particular form of energy or a specific audience."Handbook of Energy" provides a central repository of information that meets diverse user communities. It focuses on visual, graphic, and tabular information in a schematic format. Individuals and researchers at all educational levels will find the "Handbook of Energy" to be a valuable addition to their personal libraries.
Easy-to-read technical diagrams and tables display a vast array of data and concepts"

This volume of Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics focuses on latest results from research in Banking and Finance, Accounting and Corporate Governance, Growth and Development, along with a focus on the Energy sector. The first part on Accounting and Corporate Governance features articles on environmental accounting, audit quality, financial information, and adoption of governance principles. The Banking and Finance part looks at risk-behavior in banks, credit ratings during subprime crisis, stakeholder management, and stock market crises. The book focuses then on the energy sector and analyzes macroeconomic impacts of electricity generation, risk dimensions in wind energy, the latest EU energy reforms, and discusses prediction models.

By combining perspectives from experts in domestic politics, regional politics, and specialists in international security, this edited volume focuses on the central role of energy production and supply in the Russian-Western completion across Eurasia.

The 2011 Energy Statistics Yearbook is the fifty-fifth issue in a series of annual compilations of internationally comparable statistics summarizing world energy trends. Annual data for 224 countries and areas for the period 2008 to 2011 are presented on production, trade and consumption of energy: solids, liquids, gaseous fuels and electricity. In addition, per capita consumption series are also provided for all energy products. Graphs are included to illustrate historic trends and/or changes in composition of production and/or consumption of major energy products. Special tables of interest include: international trade tables for coal, crude petroleum and natural gas by partner countries - providing information on direction of trade; selected series of statistics on renewables and wastes; refinery distillation capacity; and a table on selected energy resources.

Using the Enel case, this volume unpacks the effective implementation of an ambidextrous perspective on adaptation and change, providing some key lessons for managers and scholars. It begins by exploring Enel's recent history, before mapping the steps of a remarkable transition from public monopolist to a successful transnational group.

This book presents the methodology and mathematical models for dual-fuel coal-gas power plants in two basic configurations: systems coupled in parallel and in series. Dual-fuel gas and steam systems, especially parallel systems, have great potential for modernizing existing combined heat and power (CHP) plants. This book presents calculations using a novel methodology applied to systems in continuous time and analyzes the impact of the investment profitability of the EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trading Scheme) derogation mechanism, which encourages enterprises to modernize existing generation units. It also includes a detailed case study of a coal power plant modernized by repowering with a gas turbine. The book is intended for researchers, market analysts, decision makers, power engineers and students.

Prolonged economic downturn is forcing policy makers and professors to examine how to improve economic development. State and regional governments are therefore moving from public sector-led strategies to private sector-led strategies to enact substantial business-friendly policy reforms. This view of growing economic development sparks interest among public policy, public administration, urban planning, and other academic programs to teach about how America goes about implementing economic development strategies at the state and local level. The Energy Economy is a public policy and current affairs focused economics book targeted toward a public policy and current affairs audience. It offers practical and topical discussions about the most important economic issue of current times: energy.

Turkey has been reforming its energy markets since the 1980s, culminating in two major bills in the early 2000s. The country has restructured electricity and natural gas markets, establishing an independent regulatory agency (EMRA) and passed legislation on renewable and nuclear energy. With these regulatory reforms, Turkey, as a candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU), has aimed to direct the energy markets to a more competitive environment in parallel with EU energy directives. This book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on country's energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Finally, the book concludes with recommendations for Turkish energy policy. The authors are expert scholars who have written extensively on Turkish regulatory reform and energy economics and who have broad knowledge of global energy market dynamics. The book will be a unique guide for those concerned with the different areas of the Turkish economy and international audiences interested in energy markets of Turkey and surrounding regions, making the book of interest to not only researchers in academia but also industry practitioners, regulators and policy makers as well.

A thoroughly updated introduction to the current issues and challenges facing managers and administrators in the investor and publicly owned utility industry, this engaging volume addresses management concerns in five sectors of the utility industry: electric power, natural gas, water, wastewater systems and public transit. Beginning with a brief overview of the historical development of the industry, the author examines policy issues including the consequences of dealing with deteriorating infrastructure, an aging workforce, climate warming, funding for repair and replacement of facilities, and the demands for meeting the needs of a growing population. In addition to reviewing issues related to various management tasks, he includes chapters on physical and cyber threats and management ethics, liberally laced with real-life examples of utilities' dealings with these challenges. Many tables, figures and boxes expand on key points from the text. Accessible and comprehensive, this thoughtful exploration of the various issues facing administrators and operators in public utilities in the new century will prove a useful overview for students of business and economics, utility staff, and directors of local utility governing boards.