This book examines the energy dimension of the smart city from the perspective of urban planning, providing a complete overview that ranges from theoretical aspects to practical considerations and projects. In addition, it aims to illustrate how the concept of the smart city can enhance understanding of the urban system and foster new forms of management of the metropolis, including with respect to energy supply and use. Specifically, the book explores the different dimensions of the relationship between energy and the city, discusses methodological issues with a special focus on ontological approaches to sustainability, and describes practices, tools, and good examples of energy-related urban planning. The authors represent the main Italian research groups working in the field, Italy being an excellent example of a country exposed to energy problems due to, for example, vulnerability to climate change and lack of primary energy resources. This book will be valuable for students of urban planning, town planners, and researchers interested in understanding the changing nature of the city and the challenges posed by energy issues.

In this book, a number of long-term energy scenarios are developed for Nigeria considering the impact of vital factors that may influence energy policies in the country's future energy system. The energy scenarios were developed through the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) model. The model identified the future energy demand and supply pattern using a least-cost combination of technology options while limiting the emission of greenhouse gases. The book presents four scenarios, and key parameters considered include GDP, households, population, urbanization and the growth rates of energy-intensive sectors. Further, it highlights the findings of the cost-benefit analysis, which reveal the costs of implementing selected policies and strategies in Nigeria, including those focusing on energy efficiency and fuel/technology switching. The book also discusses the application of the LEAP-OSeMOSYS Model in order to identify lowest-cost power plants for electricity generation. Some sustainable strategies that can ensure a low carbon development in Nigeria are also explored on the basis of successful country cases in relation to the Nigerian LEAP model. As such, the book will help policy makers devise energy and sustainable strategies to achieve low carbon development in Nigeria.

The authors offer a revolutionary solution to risk management. It's the unknown risks that keep leaders awake at night-wondering how to prepare for and steer their organization clear from that which they cannot predict. Businesses, governments and regulatory bodies dedicate endless amounts of time and resources to the task of risk management, but every leader knows that the biggest threats will come from some new chain of events or unexpected surprises-none of which will be predicted using conventional wisdom or current risk management technologies and so management will be caught completely off guard when the next crisis hits. By adopting a scientific approach to risk management, we can escape the limited and historical view of experience and statistical based risk management models to expose dynamic complexity risks and prepare for new and never experienced events.

Several Asian cities have already invested in initiatives to build and promote Green Cities. Owing to the limited capacity of local governments, the funding of urban infrastructure has become a critical issue. Against this background, this book explores a new funding mechanism which demands the engagement of many stakeholders, including public-private partnerships. This book offers guidance on how cities in selected countries can play a key role in the green growth agenda, by stimulating growth through smart investment in urban infrastructure such as through building a physical infrastructure, offering financial and tax incentives, and heightening society's awareness of a sustainable lifestyle.

This monograph adresses the challenge of the environmental assessment of leightweight electric vehicles. It poses the question whether the use of lightweight materials in electric vehicles can reduce the vehicles' environmental impact and compares the environmental performance of a lightweight electric vehicle (LEV) to other types of vehicles. The topical approach focuses on methods from life cycle assessment (LCA), and the book concludes with a comprehensive concept on the environmental assessment of LEVs. The target audience primarily comprises LCA practitioners from research institutes and industry, but it may also be beneficial for graduate students specializing in the field of environmental assessment.

This book examines sustainable energy development in China, a non-liberal state, as a counterexample to conventional wisdom that effective policy outcomes are premised on the basis of decentralized governance. The use of sustainable energies as part of the solution for stabilising global warming has been promoted in industrialised countries for the past three decades. In the last ten years, China has expanded its renewable energy capacity with unprecedented speed and breadth. This phenomenon seems to contradict the principle of orthodox environmental governance, in which stakeholder participation is deemed a necessary condition for effective policy outcomes. Based upon policy documents, news report and interviews with 32 policy makers, business leaders, and NGO practitioners in selected subnational governments, this book examines the politics of sustainable energy in China. It engages debates over the relationships among democratic prioritisation, environmental protection, and economic empowerment, arguing that China's quasi-corporatist model in the sustainable energy field challenges Western scholars' dominant assumptions about ecopolitics.

This book discusses the economic, political, and environmental issues surrounding the international exploration and exploitation of conventional and unconventional natural gas. Shale gas development in recent years has changed the energy discussion in the US as existing reserves of natural gas coupled with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing make exploitation of these reserves economically feasible; the discussion is quickly becoming international in scope. The potential expansion of natural gas development impacts many regions of the globe and spans multiple perspectives. In a volatile international climate, one of intense geopolitical conflict between Russia and the West, economic slowdowns in Europe and China, military conflicts in the Middle East and northern Africa, and widening income disparity in the U.S., a relatively inexpensive and plentiful energy source like shale gas could play a key role in mitigating such conflicts. In an energy interdependent global community, however, multiple factors such as oil prices, differing rates of exploration, environmental concerns, strategic initiatives, institutional changes, legal and regulatory issues, and actions of the nations involved all have the potential to influence future outcomes. This book discusses each of these in turn, detailing the issues most prevalent in each geographical area. The first volume to provide a comprehensive global view of the impacts of shale gas development, this book fills a gap in the current research literature, providing vital information for the scholarly community and the public alike. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of economics, energy policy, public administration, and international relations as well as policy makers and residents of the regions that are experiencing shale gas development.

This book presents a cross-disciplinary approach to smart grids, offering an invaluable basis for understanding their complexity and potential, and for discussing their technical, legal, economic, societal, psychological and security aspects. Smart grids are a complex phenomenon involving new, active roles for consumers and prosumers, novel social, political and cultural practices, advanced ICT, new markets, security of supply issues, the informational turn in energy, valuation of assets and investments, technological innovation and (de)regulation. Furthermore, smart grids offer new interfaces, in turn creating hybrid fields: with the increasing use of electric vehicles and electric transportation, smart grids represent the crossroads of energy and mobility. While the aim is to achieve more sustainable production, transportation and use of energy, the importance of smart grids actually has less to do with electricity, heat or gas, and far more with transforming the infrastructure needed to deliver energy, as well as the roles of its owners, operators and users. The immediate goal is to contribute positively to a sustainable world society. The chapters are revised and expanded texts based upon lectures delivered at the Groningen Energy Summer School 2014. Questions for further discussion at the end of each chapter highlight the key themes that emerge. The book offers an indispensable resource for researchers, professionals and companies in the power supply industry, and for students seeking to broaden and deepen their understanding of smart grids.

This book explores sustainability within manufacturing enterprises and examines the concepts and principles of this field. It also reviews the quantitative and qualitative tools available for analytic assessment. It presents a new framework for sustainable manufacturing requirements and discusses the implementation of sustainable manufacturing in terms of practices, indicators, and sustainability level assessments. The book also details the important conditions necessary for the conversion of existing traditional plants to ones with more sustainable processes. Chapters explore topics including the assessment of economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, sustainable manufacturing practices, and sustainability optimization. Serving as a reference for engineers, managers, and practitioners involved in manufacturing, this book will also be a valuable resource to students and researchers of industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, systems engineering, and operations management.

This book investigates energy management approaches for energy efficient or energy-centric system design and architecture and presents end-to-end energy management in the recent heterogeneous-type wireless network medium. It also considers energy management in wireless sensor and mesh networks by exploiting energy efficient transmission techniques and protocols. and explores energy management in emerging applications, services and engineering to be facilitated with 5G networks such as WBANs, VANETS and Cognitive networks. A special focus of the book is on the examination of the energy management practices in emerging wireless cellular and ad hoc networks. Considering the broad scope of energy management in wireless cellular and ad hoc networks, this book is organized into six sections covering range of Energy efficient systems and architectures; Energy efficient transmission and techniques; Energy efficient applications and services.

This book adds a new dimension to the sustainability assessment of food waste reduction and valorisation: policy analysis. Featuring a transdisciplinary analysis by key experts in the field, it identifies the drivers of change in food-waste reduction and valorisation technologies by looking, for example, at the regulatory framework and at policy actions undertaken by local and global actors. The book explores the development of regulations and policies for food-waste prevention, management, and valorisation at a global as well as European Union level. It also discusses the notion of food waste in legal terms and investigates the effects of the lack of a standard, universal definition of food waste on the efficient use of by-products, promising processes and products for technological and commercial exploitation. Utilising mathematical mapping methods to assess food consumption impacts and providing supply chain models that allow the testing of consumption scenarios, the book goes on to discuss a series of emerging technologies (tested at lab scale and/ or pilot scale) and opportunities for the valorisation of food waste.

In its second volume, this book aims to link the academic research with development in the real world and provide a historical and institutional background that can enrich more formal research. The first section will include an assessment of the evolution and the state of the nascent second-generation biofuel as well as a perspective on the evolution of corn ethanol and sugarcane ethanol in Brazil. It will also include a historical and institutional background on the biofuel industry in Brazil that has global lessons, and later, provide a technical overview of major analytical tools used to assess the economic, land use and greenhouse gas implications of biofuel policies at a regional and global level. Additionally, the book analyzes the various drivers for land use change both at a micro-economic level and at a macro-economic level. It presents studies that apply regional and global economic models to examine the effects of biofuel policies in the US, EU and Brazil on regional and global land use, on food and fuel prices and greenhouse gas emissions. These papers illustrate the use of partial and general equilibrium modeling approaches to simulate the effects of various biofuel policies, and includes studies showing the effects of risk aversion, time preferences and liquidity constraints on farmers decision to grow energy crops for biofuel production. By presenting the tools of lifecycle analysis for assessing the direct greenhouse gas intensity of biofuels, this handbook investigates the types of indirect or market mediated effects that can offset or strengthen these direct effects. It will include tools to assess the direct and indirect effects of biofuel production on greenhouse gas emissions in the US and Brazil, and ultimately provide a comprehensive background to understand the state of biofuel in the present and how to analyze their implication.

This resource is the first-ever compilation of industry-authored case studies on how power companies are making strides toward achieving sustainable electricity in North America. The book features recent game changing efforts, candid insider stories about challenges and process, and forecasts for the next decade of innovation. Each chapter shares topic-focused case studies regarding the reality of implementing operational changes and strategies that will lead to sustainable electricity. Key technical staff and managers from top companies candidly report on failures, insights, trade-offs, internal process, resulting improvements to operational efficiencies, and natural resource and stakeholder benefits. Electric power company managers seeking to identify specific opportunities and understand the process for advancing sustainability in their own organizations will discover solid paths forward through potentially treacherous terrain. Educated stakeholders, agencies, and regulators will benefit from the greater understanding of the reality of realizing change in the electric power industry engendered by this unique strategic resource.

Examining local content law and policy in the oil and gas industry, this book uses Nigeria as a primary case study, comparing its approach to countries such as Brazil and Norway which have also adopted local content laws in relation to their gas and oil industries. In considering various aspects of local content law and policy as they apply to the oil and gas industry, the book examines the factors behind the formulation of local content policies by petroleum producing states, and the various strategies they have employed to implement them. It analyses arguments against local content requirements from the perspective of international trade and investment law, and from liberal market economic theorists, who argue against its overall usefulness. The book highlights salient aspects of the oil and gas industry such as regulation, national oil companies, treatment of minorities, and policy formulation and implementation.

This book provides international perspective for those studying or working in the security domain, from enforcement to policy. It focuses on non-traditional threats in a landscape that has been described as transnational in nature and incorporates natural disasters, gang violence, extremism and terrorism, amongst other issues. Chapters provide innovative thinking on themes including cyber security, maritime security, transnational crime, human security, globalization and economic security. Relevant theoretical frameworks are presented and readers are expertly guided through complex threats, from matters pertaining to health security which pose threats not only to humans but also have significant national security implications, to issues regarding critical infrastructure vulnerability and the complexity of understanding terrorist operations. Authors reveal how emerging uncertainties regarding global critical infrastructure and supply chain security, food security, and health security are linked to the notion of human security. Security professionals, policy makers and academics will all gain from the insights, strategies and perspectives in this book. It builds understanding of the deepening and broadening domain of security studies and provides a valuable reference text for courses on security studies and international relations.

For 200 years industrial civilization has relied on the combustion of abundant and cheap carbon fuels. But continued reliance has had perilous consequences. On the one hand there is the insecurity of relying on the world's most unstable region - the Middle East - compounded by the imminence of peak oil, growing scarcity and mounting prices. On the other, the potentially cataclysmic consequences of continuing to burn fossil fuels, as the evidence of accelerating climate change shows. Yet there is a solution: to make the transition to renewable sources of energy and distributed, decentralized energy generation. It is a model that has been proven, technologically, commercially and politically, as Scheer comprehensively demonstrates here. The alternative of a return to nuclear power - again being widely advocated - he shows to be compromised and illusory. The advantages of renewable energy are so clear and so overwhelming that resistance to them needs diagnosis - which Scheer also provides, showing why and how entrenched interests and one-dimensional structures of thinking oppose the transition, and what must be done to overcome these obstacles. The new book from the award-winning author of THE SOLAR ECONOMY and A SOLAR MANIFESTO demonstrates why the transition to renewable energy is essential and how it can be done.

If, in the ancient world, it was guns and germs and steel that determined the fates of people and nations, in modern times it is electricity. No other form of power translates into affluence and influence like it. Though demand for it is growing exponentially, it remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and to do so reliably. Storage is even harder. This paradox has shaped global politics, affected the outcome of wars, and underlies the growing chasm between rich and poor, educated and uneducated. It is changing the game for business, and the requirements of national defence. It is altering the landscape and complicating the task of dealing effectively with climate change. In this book, Robert Bryce explains the unique nature of electricity as a commodity. He draws on stories from history to illustrate the stunning impact of our quest to harness it, illuminates exactly what is required to successfully sustain it, and explores the impact on societies and individuals when it collapses. As billions of people around the world still live in darkness, the gap between the electricity haves and have-nots widens, with profound political and ethical consequences. Modern life, even civilisation, has become ever more dependent on a source of energy that must be produced locally and in the moment, in a reliably steady stream at particular wattage, conveyed on wires strung on poles or threaded through pipes. If the lights go out, so does our manner of living, with potentially devastating consequences.

This book evaluates the potential of the combined use of district heating networks and cogeneration in the European Union (EU). It also proposes measures to remove barriers hindering their widespread implementation, formulates policies for their implementation, and evaluates their economic, energy, and environmental consequences. The book presents a preliminary assessment of the likely cost and the impact of widespread adoption of district heating networks and cogeneration carried out in three cities that represent the variety of climatic conditions in the EU. Based on this assessment, it is estimated that by undertaking the maximum economically feasible implementation across the EU, fuel savings of EURO95M/year would be achieved, representing energy savings of 6,400 petajoules (PJ), which is around 15% of the total final energy consumption in the EU in 2013 (46,214.5 PJ). Using simple and quick calculations and not specific software, the method used allows the evaluation of the potential benefits of retrofitting existing power plants into cogeneration plants and connecting them to nearby heating networks. In light of increasing energy costs and environmental concerns, the book is of interest to heating engineers, city planners, and policy-makers around the globe.

'Professor Sakmar's book is a must read for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the most dynamic segment of the global energy industry.' - Jay Copan, Executive Director, LNG 17With clear and direct text, supplemented with key maps, charts and graphics from government, industry and other sources, the book moves the reader smoothly through the early history of LNG up to current developments, including shale gas and North American LNG exports. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding global gas markets and the energy policy challenges facing us in the 21st century.' - Jacqueline L. Weaver, A.A. White Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center, US Countries around the world are increasingly looking to liquefied natural gas (LNG) - natural gas that has been cooled until it forms a transportable liquid - to meet growing energy demand. Energy for the 21st Century provides critical insights into the opportunities and challenges LNG faces, including its potential role in a carbon-constrained world. This comprehensive study covers topics such as the LNG value chain, the historical background and evolution of global LNG markets, trading and contracts, and an analysis of the various legal, policy, safety and environmental issues pertaining to this important fuel. Additionally, the author discusses emerging issues and technologies that may impact global LNG markets, such as the development of shale gas, the prospects of North American LNG exports, the potential role of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and floating LNG. The author contextualizes the discussion about the importance of LNG with an analysis of why the 21st century will be the 'golden age' of natural gas. Accessible and non-technical in nature, this timely book will serve as an essential reference for practitioners, scholars and anyone else interested in 21st century energy solutions. Contents: Preface Introduction 1. The Role of Natural Gas and LNG in the 21st Century 2. The LNG Value Chain 3. The Evolution of LNG Markets and Primary Demand Regions 4. Global LNG Supply 5. Global LNG Demand and Emerging Demand Markets 6. The Globalization of LNG: The Evolution of LNG Trade, Pricing and Contracts 7. Safety and Environmental Sustainability of LNG 8. Global LNG Mega Projects and Players Qatar and Australia 9. New Players and Projects Russia, Peru, Yemen, and Papua New Guinea 10. The Role of Shale Gas in the Golden Age of Gas 11. The Impact of Shale Gas on Global Gas Markets and the Prospects for US and Canadian LNG Exports 12. Emerging Issues in the LNG Industry Conclusion: The Future Looks Bright for LNG as a Fuel for the 21st Century Index

The book offers a broad overview of asset management processes for different utilities, with a special emphasis on energy and water. It provides readers with important practical considerations concerning the development of new competitive structures and procedures for guaranteeing a sufficient supply of energy and water in a regulated environment, using clearly defined technical and economic cornerstones. On the one hand asset owners expect suitable interests from their investment and business growth; on the other hand regulators focus more on a reliable and cost-effective customer supply. This book shows how to take into consideration these different perspectives in the process of designing new structures and how to guarantee organizational transparency. Based on the major tasks of an asset manager, it describes essential principles and boundary conditions for ensuring the optimal use of resources in a network, such as investment and maintenance strategies, equipment service life, investment and operational costs, etc. Moreover, it points out their impact on the organization of the company, including the necessary IT landscape and computer programs. The book is the English translation of Asset Management für Infrastrukturanlagen - Energie und Wasser1, written by the same authors and published by Springer in 2014.

Ensuring that everybody has access to drinking water, sanitation and enough nutritious food, which depends on water to grow it, are prerequisites for a healthy life. Water management is not just about the technical aspects of water supply and sanitation. It is equally about our water governance systems, including policies, regulation and societal perception of water rights. This book presents many helpful examples of how different societies are dealing with these issues and of the performance of public and private sector players in this important arena.' - Colin Chartres, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka'I congratulate the Institute of Water Policy, the two editors and the contributors for a very thoughtful book on urban water governance. Our objective is to deliver sustainable water and sanitation services to our people. This book contains useful lessons on how to achieve that objective.' - Tommy Koh, Chairman, Governing Council, Asia-Pacific Water Forum This insightful book explores urban water governance challenges in different parts of the world and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of publicly run, privatized, and public-private partnership managed water facilities. The contributors expertly discuss various types of public and private water governance architectures as well as identifying the trends, challenges, opportunities and the shifts in perceptions with regard to the provision of water supply services. Many chapters are dedicated to analyzing the urban water supply scenarios in selected countries, with specific focus on legal, policy and institutional frameworks. The study reveals that while private sector participation has been largely promoted by multilateral institutions as part of institutional and financial reforms, ultimately governments bear the major responsibility for provision of water supply services either as 'service provider' or as 'regulator and policy-maker'. Containing a detailed overview and analysis of the global urban water supply sector, this timely book will strongly appeal to academics, researchers and university students following water-related courses. Water sector professionals, water regulators and public officers as well as managers and researchers employed by private sector water operators will also find plenty of invaluable information in this important resource. Contributors include: A. Akintoye, L. Bhullar, E. Chong, C. Dewan, S. Ferdous Hoque, V. Garcia, A. Gunawansa, A. Kajenthira, A. Mahalingham, C. Menard, S. Murthy, A. Naser, B. Olmos Giuponni, M. Paddon, E. Perard, S. Renukappa, R. Tiong, H. Tropp, A. Wong, S. Zheng

This is an easy-to-read textbook providing the reader with the basis to comprehend the major energy technologies from a physical and economical perspective. The journey through the book begins with some background theory on the physics and economics of energy. Major energy technologies (fossil, nuclear and renewable) are explored in-depth, explaining how they work and the costs involved. Finally, the journey ends by exploring the technical and economic feasibility of supplying the world by 2050 with sustainable energy only. Numerous examples are provided to allow the reader to relate important concepts to real-life. The reader’s understanding of the material can then be tested using the exercises at the end of each chapter. This textbook is the first to thoroughly present the physics and the economics of energy. It is intended for graduate students and practitioners interested in the field of energy. It also enables the general reader to distinguish between political statement and fact.

This book covers the Resistivity Recovery (RR) technique, underlying its physical principles, performance and problematic. A concise review on the state of the art is provided, showing the advances in radiation modelling, linking both experimental and theoretical fields. The reader will find a data compilation and comparison of up-to-date results obtained from the European Fusion Development Agreement model alloys.

This book presents an in-depth empirical analysis of consumer response to alternative policies for energy conservation. Its main focus is on innovative policy instruments that have attracted increasing attention from academics and energy conservation practitioners alike: critical peak pricing, conservation requests, in-home displays, and home energy reports. The book investigates the effects of these policy instruments on residential demand for electricity. The data is drawn from a series of randomized field experiments for the years 2012-2013 in Japan, where serious concerns about power shortages have emerged in the wake of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. By applying econometric techniques to the quantitative analysis of residential power consumption, the book demonstrates how consumers respond to innovative instruments for energy conservation. It also offers new perspectives on how these instruments can be used more effectively and explores the potential for their practical implementation. This highly informative book is essential reading for energy specialists in both academic and professional contexts.

For a growing number of countries in Africa the discovery and exploitation of natural resources is a great opportunity, but one accompanied by considerable risks. Countries dependent on oil, gas, and mining have tended to have weaker long-run growth, higher rates of poverty, and greater income inequality than less resource-abundant economies. For these resource producing economies relative prices make it more difficult to diversify into activities outside of the resource sector, limiting structural change. Mining for Change: Natural Resources and Industry in Africa presents research undertaken to understand how better management of the revenues and opportunities associated with natural resources can accelerate diversification and structural change in Africa. It begins with essays on managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the major issues that frame the question of how to use natural resources for structural change. It reports the main research results for five countries-Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. Each country study covers managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the resource. Mining for Change argues that good policy can make a difference and sets out ideas for policy change and widening the options for structural change. . An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence.