Social Impacts of Smart Grids: The Future of Smart Grids and Energy Market Design explores the significant, unexplored societal consequences of our meteoric evolution towards intelligent, responsive and sustainable power generation and distribution systems-the so-called 'smart grid'. These consequences include new patterns of consumption behavior, systems planning under increasing uncertainty, and the ever- growing complexities involved. The work covers the historical impact of the transformation, examines the changing role of production and consumption behavior, articulates the principles and options for socially responsible smart grid power market design, and explores social acceptance of the smart grid. Where relevant, it examines adjacent literatures from P2P electricity markets, electric vehicles, smart homes and smart cities, and related 'internet of energy' developments. Finally, it provides insights into mitigating the likely social consequences of our integrated low-carbon energy future.

Single-Phase, Two-Phase and Supercritical Natural Circulation Systems provides readers with a deep understanding of natural circulation systems. This book equips the reader with an understanding on how to detect unstable loops to ensure plant safety and reliability, calculate heat transport capabilities, and design effective natural circulation loops, stability maps and parallel channel systems. Each chapter begins with an introduction to the circulation system before discussing each element in detail and analyzing its effect on the performance of the system. The book also presents thermosyphon heat transport devices in nuclear and other industrial plants, a common information need for students and researchers alike. This book is invaluable for engineers, designers, operators and consultants in nuclear, mechanical, electrical and chemical disciplines.

Inequality and Energy: How Extremes of Wealth and Poverty in High Income Countries Affect CO2 Emissions and Access to Energy challenges energy consumption researchers in developed countries to reorient their research frameworks to include the effects of economic inequality within the scope of their investigations, and calls for a new set of paradigms for energy consumption research. The book explores concrete examples of energy deprivation due to inequality, and provides conceptual tools to explore this in relation to other issues regarding energy consumption. It thereby urges that energy consumption approaches be updated for a world of increasing inequality. Extreme economic inequality has increased within developed countries over the past three decades. The effects of inequality are now seen increasingly in health, housing affordability, crime and social cohesion. There are signs it may even threaten democracy. Researchers are also exploring its effects on energy consumption. One of their key findings is that less privileged groups have lost consistent access to basic energy services like warm homes and affordable transport, leading to huge disparities of climate damaging emissions between rich and poor.

Energy Transformation towards Sustainability explores how researchers, businesses and policymakers can explore and usefully improve energy systems and energy consumption behavior, both to reflect the reality of climate change and related environmental degradation and to adapt to the expanding periphery of renewable energy technologies. It introduces the reader to a suite of potential policy pathways to the necessary transformation in societal energy consumption, usage and behavior. Solutions discussed include energy efficiency, energy security, the role of political leadership, green public policy, and the transition to renewable energy sources. International contributions address the range and depth of current research from a position of advocacy for 'energy stewardship' as the driver of this transformation. Case studies illustrate the range of various countries to diminish energy use. Finally, policy avenues are covered in depth.

Gravity Energy Storage provides a comprehensive analysis of a novel energy storage system that is based on the working principle of well-established, pumped hydro energy storage, but that also recognizes the differences and benefits of the new gravity system. This book provides coverage of the development, feasibility, design, performance, operation, and economics associated with the implementation of such storage technology. In addition, a number of modeling approaches are proposed as a solution to various difficulties, such as proper sizing, application, value and optimal design of the system. The book includes both technical and economic aspects to guide the realization of this storage system in the right direction. Finally, political considerations and barriers are addressed to complement this work.

The burning of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gasses critically impacts the global environment. By utilizing better techniques and process, businesses can aid in the journey to an economic, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly future for generations to come. Business Models for Renewable Energy Initiatives: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an essential reference source for the latest scholarly perspectives on present and future business models in the renewable energy sector. Featuring coverage on a range of perspectives and topics such as techno-economics, decentralized power systems, and risk assessment, this book is designed for academicians, students, and researchers seeking current scholarly research on green business opportunities for renewable energy.

A "quick look up guide," Electricity Cost Modeling Calculations places the relevant formulae and calculations at the reader's finger tips. In this book, theories are explained in a nutshell and then the calculation is presented and solved in an illustrated, step-by-step fashion. A valuable guide for new engineers, economists (or forecasters), regulators, and policy makers who want to further develop their knowledge of best practice calculations techniques or experienced practitioners (and even managers) who desire to acquire more useful tips, this book offers expert advice for using such cost models to determine optimally-sized distribution systems and optimally-structured power supplying entities. In other words, this book provides an Everything-that-you-want-to-know-about-cost-modelling-for-electric-utilities (but were afraid to ask) approach to modelling the cost of supplying electricity. In addition, the author covers the concept of multiproduct and multistage cost functions, which are appropriate in modelling the cost of supplying electricity. The author has done all the heavy number-crunching, and provides the reader with real-world, practical examples of how to properly quantify the costs associated with providing electric service, thus increasing the accuracy of the results and support for the policy initiatives required to ensure the competitiveness of the power suppliers in this new world in which we are living. The principles contained herein could be employed to assist in the determination of the cost-minimizing amount of output (i.e., electricity), which could then be used to determine whether a merger between two entities makes sense (i.e., would increase profitability). Other examples abound: public regulatory commissions also need help in determining whether mergers (or divestitures) are welfare-enhancing or not; ratemaking policies depend on costs and properly determining the costs of supplying electric (or gas, water, and local telephone) service. Policy makers, too, can benefit in terms of optimal market structure; after all, the premise of deregulation of the electric industry was predicated on the idea that generation could be deregulated. Unfortunately, the economies of vertical integration between the generation.

Succinct and understandable, this book is a step-by-step guide to the mathematics and construction of electrical load forecasting models. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, Electrical Load Forecasting provides a brief discussion of algorithms, their advantages and disadvantages and when they are best utilized. The book begins with a good description of the basic theory and models needed to truly understand how the models are prepared so that they are not just blindly plugging and chugging numbers. This is followed by a clear and rigorous exposition of the statistical techniques and algorithms such as regression, neural networks, fuzzy logic, and expert systems. The book is also supported by an online computer program that allows readers to construct, validate, and run short and long term models.

Materials for Ultra-Supercritical and Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Power Plants provides researchers in academia and industry with an essential overview of the stronger high-temperature materials required for key process components, such as membrane wall tubes, high-pressure steam piping and headers, superheater tubes, forged rotors, cast components, and bolting and blading for steam turbines in USC power plants. Advanced materials for future advanced ultra-supercritical power plants, such as superalloys, new martensitic and austenitic steels, are also addressed. Chapters on international research directions complete the volume. The transition from conventional subcritical to supercritical thermal power plants greatly increased power generation efficiency. Now the introductions of the ultra-supercritical (USC) and, in the near future, advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) designs are further efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption in power plants and the associated carbon dioxide emissions. The higher operating temperatures and pressures found in these new plant types, however, necessitate the use of advanced materials.

It is imperative to promote and maintain sustainability in all areas of the world. By developing effective energy usage frameworks, regional communities can better achieve this goal. Sustainable Local Energy Planning and Decision Making: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an authoritative reference source featuring the latest scholarly research on an operational framework for decision support for local and regional authorities to aid in sustainable energy planning. Including extensive coverage on a broad range of topics and perspectives such as emission trends, energy balance, and climate change, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the development of regional sustainable energy plans.

The Gas Troika on the European Gas Market assesses the energy policy of the Gas Troika Organization (GTO) as an entity and its members, Russia, Iran and Qatar, operating in the European gas market (EGM) between 2008 and 2015. The book focuses on their interests, policies and frameworks, and the enabling and constraining factors they encounter in the European market. The energy policies of the GTO members are discussed in the context of extraction and distribution of natural gas, its export to the European countries and the environmental side-effects of these contracts. The important questions examined in this pioneering study are: How do the GTO members develop their interests and energy policies in the European environment? How do the common interests and policies of the GTO members explain the framework of the organization in the EGM? How is this organization perceived and assessed as a semi-coherent regional entity? The book applies a social structuration theoretical framework with respect to geographical resources, economy, international relations and environmental dimensions to provide a multi-disciplinary assessment. Researchers in energy economics and political sciences, as well as energy analysts and consultants will find this book to be extremely beneficial.

The 1970s were a decade of historic American energy crises - major interruptions in oil supplies from the Middle East, the country's most dangerous nuclear accident, and chronic shortages of natural gas. In Energy Crises, Jay Hakes brings his expertise in energy and presidential history to bear on the questions of why these crises occurred, how different choices might have prevented or ameliorated them, and what they have meant for the half-century since - and likely the half-century ahead. Hakes deftly intertwines the domestic and international aspects of the long-misunderstood fuel shortages that still affect our lives today. This approach, drawing on previously unavailable and inaccessible records, affords an insider's view of decision-making by three U.S. presidents, the influence of their sometimes-combative aides, and their often tortuous relations with the rulers of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Hakes skillfully dissects inept federal attempts to regulate oil prices and allocation, but also identifies the decade's more positive legacies - from the nation's first massive commitment to the development of alternative energy sources other than nuclear power, to the initial movement toward a less polluting, more efficient energy economy. The 1970s brought about a tectonic shift in the world of energy. Tracing these consequences to their origins in policy and practice, Hakes makes their lessons available at a critical moment - as the nation faces the challenge of climate change resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.

Access to reliable electricity is a prerequisite for the economic transformation of economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), especially in a digital age. Yet the electricity access rate in the region is often substantially low, households and businesses with access often face unreliable service, and the cost of the service is often among the highest in the world. This situation imposes substantial constraints on economic activities, provision of public services, adoption of new technologies, and quality of life. Much of the focus on how to best provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity service to all has been on mitigating supply-side constraints. However, demand-side constraints may be as important, if not more important. On the supply side, inadequate investments in maintenance result in high technical losses; most state-owned utilities operate at a loss; and power trade, which could significantly lower the cost of electricity, is underdeveloped. On the demand side, the uptake and willingness to pay are often low in many communities, and the consumption levels of those who are connected are limited. Increased uptake and consumption of electricity will encourage investment to improve service reliability and close the access gap. Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa shows that the fundamental problem is poverty and lack of economic opportunities rather than power. The solution lies in understanding that the overarching reasons for the unrealized potential involve tightly intertwined technical, financial, political, and geographic factors. The ultimate goal is to enable households and businesses to gain access to electricity and afford its use, and utilities to recover their cost and make profits. The report makes the case that policy makers need to adopt a more comprehensive and long-term approach to electrification in the region - one centered on the productive use of electricity at affordable rates. Such an approach includes increased public and private investment in infrastructure, expanded access to credit for new businesses, improved access to markets, and additional skills development to translate the potential of expanded and reliable electricity access into substantial economic impact. Enhancing the economic capabilities of communities is the best way to achieve faster and more sustainable development progress while addressing the broad challenges of affordability, low consumption, and financial viability of utilities, as well as ensuring equitable provision between urban and rural areas.

How do governments make key decisions on vital economic questions of national importance? Can they advance the national interest on issues that are highly politicized? How do they respond to competing pressures from the international and domestic environments? Forming Economic Policy explores these and other questions in Canada and Mexico, two very different countries which share a common vulnerability to the world economy. Using the case of energy, the book argues that policymakers will address the national interest, but only episodically with the onset of major national crises that invoke a higher and sustained sense of national priorities. These crises are frequently induced by the interaction of domestic and foreign political and economic forces. The conclusions are surprising. Despite profound political and economic differences between these two countries, policymakers have behaved in remarkably similar ways when arriving at key policy decisions. The explanation - which integrates two competing views of politics, the pluralist and the statist - has important implications with regard to the political processes in those states which, like Canada and Mexico, are exposed to the world economy and face problems of political legitimacy at home. Forming Economic Policy will appeal to students and teachers of political economy and comparative politics as well as to those interested in the politics of energy policy.