There are many wave and tidal devices under development but as yet very few are actually in revenue earning production. However the engineering problems are gradually being solved and there is an appetite to invest in these renewable generation technologies for harsher environments. To some extent the wave and tidal generation industry is following in the wake of the wind industry, particularly learning from the growing experience of offshore wind farm deployment. This book combines wind industry lessons with wave and tidal field knowledge to explore the main reliability and availability issues facing this growing industry. Topics covered include an overview of wave and tidal development; resource; reliability theory relevant to wave and tidal devices; reliability prediction method for wave and tidal devices; practical wave and tidal device reliability; effects of MEC device taxonomy on reliability; availability and its effect on the cost of marine energy; wave and tidal device layout and grid connection; design and testing for wave and tidal devices; operational experience and lessons learnt; monitoring and its effect on operations and maintenance; and overall conclusions. Wave and Tidal Generation Devices: Reliability and availability is essential reading for wave and tidal engineers and researchers and students of renewable energy.

The latest scientific knowledge on climate change indicates that higher greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere through unchecked emissions will provoke severe climate change and ocean acidification. Both impacts can fundamentally alter environmental structures on which humanity relies and have serious consequences for the food chain among others. Climate change therefore poses major socio-economic, technical and environmental challenges which will have serious impacts on countries' pathways towards sustainable development. As a result, climate change and sustainable development have increasingly become interlinked. A changing climate makes achieving Millennium Development Goals more difficult and expensive, so there is every reason to achieve development goals with low greenhouse gas emissions. This leads to the following five challenges discussed by Challenges and Solutions for Climate Change: 1. To place climate negotiations in the wider context of sustainability, equity and social change so that development benefits can be maximised at the same time as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. 2. To select technologies or measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation based on countries' sustainable development and climate goals. 3. To create low greenhouse gas emission and climate resilient strategies and action plans in order to accelerate innovation needed for achieving sustainable development and climate goals on the scale and timescale required within countries. 4. To rationalize the current directions in international climate policy making in order to provide coherent and efficient support to developing countries in devising and implementing strategies and action plans for low emission technology transfers to deliver climate and sustainable development goals. 5. To facilitate development of an international framework for financial resources in order to support technology development and transfer, improve enabling environments for innovation, address equity issues such as poor people's energy access, and make implementation of activities possible at the desired scale within the country. The solutions presented in Challenges and Solutions for Climate Change show how ambitious measures can be undertaken which are fully in line with domestic interests, both in developing and in developed countries, and how these measures can be supported through the international mechanisms.

This paper collection is the second volume of the LNMOB series on Road Vehicle Automation. The book contains a comprehensive review of current technical, socio-economic, and legal perspectives written by experts coming from public authorities, companies and universities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It originates from the Automated Vehicle Symposium 2014, which was jointly organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Burlingame, CA, in July 2014. The contributions discuss the challenges arising from the integration of highly automated and self-driving vehicles into the transportation system, with a focus on human factors and different deployment scenarios. This book is an indispensable source of information for academic researchers, industrial engineers, and policy makers interested in the topic of road vehicle automation.

This book provides a systematic analysis, modeling and evaluation of the performance of advanced transport systems. It offers an innovative approach by presenting a multidimensional examination of the performance of advanced transport systems and transport modes, useful for both theoretical and practical purposes. Advanced transport systems for the twenty-first century are characterized by the superiority of one or several of their infrastructural, technical/technological, operational, economic, environmental, social and policy performances as compared to their conventional counterparts. The advanced transport systems considered include: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems in urban area(s), electric and fuel cell passenger cars, high speed tilting trains, High Speed Rail (HSR), Trans Rapid Maglev (TRM), Evacuated Tube Transport system (ETT), advanced commercial subsonic and Supersonic Transport Aircraft (STA), conventionally- and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2)-fuelled commercial air transportation, advanced Air Traffic Control (ATC) technologies and procedures for increasing the airport runway capacity, Underground Freight Transport (UFT) systems in urban area(s), Long Intermodal Freight Train(s) (LIFTs), road mega trucks, large advanced container ships and freight/cargo aircraft and advanced freight/goods collection distribution networks. This book is intended for postgraduates, researchers, professionals and policy makers working in the transport industry.

This book outlines the scope of sustainability and green practice in supply chain operations, which has continued to grow with a rapid speed. The book includes core aspects of sustainability and green supply chain management philosophy and practice, covering general concepts, principles, strategies and best practices, which not only protect socio-environmental sustainability, but spur economic growth. The book will aid practitioners in using sustainable supply chains to reduce cost and improve service, as well as keep up-to-date with different features of green supply chains and logistics in a global market. The book will also be a valuable resource for candidates undertaking certification examinations and students studying for degrees in related fields of sustainability and green supply chain management.

This book examines the physical and economic characteristics of the global oil resource to explain why peak oil has been so poorly understood. The author draws on information held in oil industry datasets that are not widely available outside of the specialist literature, and describes a number of methods that have been successfully used to predict oil peaks. In contrast to the widely-held view that 'all oil forecasts are wrong', these methods correctly predicted the current peak in global conventional oil production. Current oil forecasts are then compared to evaluate the expected dates for regional and global oil peaks for conventional oil, all-oils, and all-liquids. The dates of global peaks in the production of all-oil and all-liquids appear to be reasonably soon, while the oil price that is needed to support these global production levels continues to rise. The world faces serious constraints in its oil supply, which accounts for about one-third of total world energy use, and over 90% of the fuel used for transportation. Readers of this book will gain a thorough understanding of the critical, but poorly understood, phenomenon of peak oil that has already had significant impacts on society in terms of high oil prices, and which will place increasing constraints on mankind's supply of energy and economic well-being in the coming years.

Meeting today's energy and climate challenges require not only technological advancement but also a good understanding of stakeholders' perceptions, political sensitivity, well-informed policy analyses and innovative interdisciplinary solutions. This book will fill this gap. This is an interdisciplinary informative book to provide a holistic and integrated understanding of the technology-stakeholder-policy interactions of smart grid technologies. The unique features of the book include the following: (a) interdisciplinary approach - by bringing in the policy dimensions to smart grid technologies; (b) global and Asian perspective and (c) learning from national case studies. This book is organised into five sections. Part 1 discusses the historical and conceptual aspects of smart grids. Part 2 introduces the technological aspects and showcase the state of the art of the technologies. Part 3 explores the policy and governance dimensions by bringing in a stakeholder perspective. Part 4 presents a collection of national case studies. Part 5 shares insights and lesson learnt and provide policy recommendations. This book showcases the state-of-the-art R&D developments and policy experiences. This book contributes to a better understanding of governance institution and policy challenges and helps formulate policy recommendations for successful smart grid deployment.

Major changes have occurred in both the composition of energy supply and the choice of technology, especially in activities in which energy intensity has a significant bearing on the costs and competitiveness of goods and services. Presented here, in the context of these changes, are case studies on the macroeconomic evaluation of ethylalcohol programs and the microeconomic evaluation of technologies for irrigation pumping. "Environment and Resource Conservation"

During the last decade, a large volume of literature has addressed the two major policy issues concerning energy programs in developing countries: overall energy conservation and provision of energy for rural development needs. Yet, many of these works have been supply-sided without adequate analysis of users' needs and the different option to meet them. Ex-post evaluations of existing field experiences with renewable technologies are still scarce, and many of those which have appeared provide limited insights for planning and implementation in different countries. Socioeconomic Aspects of Renewable Energy Technologies addresses these oversights. A selected number of technologies and topics concerning renewable energy sources for developing countries are discussed, including ethanol and the macro-economic evaluation of ethanol programs; various renewable energy technologies for end-use such was water-pumping for irrigation; and the micro-economic evaluation of these additional technologies.

This book contains the papers presented at the 20th anniversary edition of the AMAA conference held in Brussels, Belgium in 2016. The theme of the conference was "Smart Systems for the Automobile of the Future". The automobile is currently being reshaped at unprecedented pace. Automation and electrification are the two dominant megatrends which dramatically change the choice and design of components, systems, vehicular architectures and ultimately the way we use cars in the coming decades. Novel E/E architectures, vehicular connectivity and cloud services will be key to extending the perception and decision-making horizons of automated vehicles, to enable cooperative functions and a seamless digital user experience. The AMAA's ongoing mission to detect novel trends in automotive ICT, electronics and smart systems and to discuss the technological implications is once again reflected in this volume. The book will be a valuable read for research experts and professionals in the automotive and smart systems industry but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

This book gathers papers presented at the Logistik-Management-Konferenz 2013, which was organized by the VHB Wissenschaftliche Kommission Logistik and held in Bremen, Germany. The papers reflect the current state-of-the-art in logistics and supply chain management, focusing on environmental sustainability in logistics and supply chain network dynamics and control. The target audience primarily consists of researchers and practitioners in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

The world is witnessing a rapid growth in wind and other renewable based electricity generation due to environmental concerns associated with electricity generation from the conventional sources. Wind power behaves quite differently than conventional electric power generating units due to its intermittent and diffuse nature. System planners and operators face the variability and uncertainty of wind power availability, and therefore, encounter considerable challenges in making decisions to maintain the adequacy and security of wind integrated power systems. This volume intends to bring out the original research work of researchers from academia and industry in understanding, quantifying and managing the risks associated with the uncertainty in wind variability in order to plan and operate a modern power system integrated with a significant proportion of wind power generation with an acceptable level of reliability. Accurate modeling of wind power variability and proper incorporation of the models in reliability and risk evaluation is very important for the planning and operation of electric power systems, and will play a crucial role in defining the requirement of various types of resources and services, such as storage and ancillary services in power systems."

The proceedings collect the latest research trends, methods and experimental results in the field of electrical and information technologies for rail transportation. The topics cover intelligent computing, information processing, communication technology, automatic control, and their applications in rail transportation etc. The proceedings can be a valuable reference work for researchers and graduate students working in rail transportation, electrical engineering and information technologies.

This thesis presents the fundamental research and latest findings on novel flexible/wearable photovoltaic technology, and comprehensively summarizes the rapid developments in flexible photovoltaics, from traditional planar solar cells to fiber solar cells. It discusses the rational design of fiber solar cell materials, electrodes and devices, as well as critical factors including cost, efficiency, flexibility and stability . Furthermore, it addresses fundamental theoretical principles and novel fabrication technologies and their potential applications. The book provides practical information for university researchers and graduate students interested in flexible fiber photovoltaics, and inspires them to design other novel flexible/wearable electronics and textiles.

Wood Pole Overhead Lines provides comprehensive coverage of medium voltage wood pole overhead lines. It includes guidance on the planning and mechanical design of overhead lines, as well as details of statutory requirements and the latest UK and European standards affecting UK design of wood pole networks, Sag/tension calculations are explained, and details of the latest work on safe design tension limits to avoid conductor fatigue from vibration are included. The basic characteristics of bare and covered conductors are discussed as well as upgrading possibilities, condition assessment and the latest work on 'health indices' for overhead lines. Other topics include wood pole decay and mitigation methods, maintenance schedules, live line working and basic lightning protection.

This book captures selected peer reviewed papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies, ICSAT 2013, held in Ingolstadt, Germany. ICSAT is the state-of-the-art conference in the field of new technologies for transportation.

The book brings together the work of international researchers and practitioners under the following interrelated headings: fuel transportation and storage, material recycling, manufacturing and management costs, engines and emission reduction.

The book provides a very good overview of research and development activities focused on new technologies and approaches capable of meeting the challenges to sustainable mobility.

Integrated Resource Strategic Planning and Power Demand-Side Management elaborates two important methods - Integrated Resource Strategic Planning (IRSP) and Demand Side Management (DSM) - in terms of methodology modeling, case studies and lessons learned. This book introduces a prospective and realistic theory of the IRSP method and includes typical best practices of DSM for energy conservation and emission reduction in different countries. It can help energy providers and governmental decision-makers formulate policies and make plans for energy conservation and emission reduction, and can help power consumers reduce costs and participate in DSM projects. Zhaoguang Hu is the vice president and chief energy specialist at the State Grid Energy Research Institute, and the head of the Power Supply and Demand Research Laboratory in China.

The trade of global bioenergy commodities, such as ethanol, biodiesel and wood pellets has been growing exponentially in the past decade, and have by 2013 reached true "commodity" volumes, i.e. tens of millions of tonnes traded each year, and billions (both in US$/ ) of annual turnover.

IEA Bioenergy Task 40 was founded in 2004 and is now in its 4th triennium. For the past 9 years, task 40 has monitored the developments in international bioenergy trade, including the organization of about 20 workshops on trade-related topics, and the publication of over 100 studies, country reports, newsletters, etc. The amount of material produced over the years and insights gained in how biomass markets and international trade of biomass and biofuels has developed is impressive. Besides that the group has produced overviews and insights, also a large amount of practical experience has been brought together in what works and what doesn't. Last but not least, based on all this, there are clear(er) views on how to proceed to build working sustainable international biomass markets in the future. This book compiles those lessons and insights into an easily accessible book publication."""

This book presents nine chapters based on fundamental and applied research of alternative energies. At the present time, the challenge is that technology has to come up with solutions that can provide environmentally friendly energy supply options that are able to cover the current world energy demand. Experts around the world are working on these issues for providing new solutions that will break the existing technological barriers. This book aims to address key pillars in the alternative energy field, such as: biomass energy, hydrogen energy, solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectric power, geothermal energy and their environmental implications, with the most updated progress for each pillar. It also includes the life cycle assessment (LCA) and thermoeconomic analysis (TA) as tools for evaluating and optimising environmental and cost subjects. Chapters are organized into fundamental research, applied research and future trends; and written for engineers, academic researches and scientists.

The proceedings collect the latest research trends, methods and experimental results in the field of electrical and information technologies for rail transportation. The topics cover intelligent computing, information processing, communication technology, automatic control, and their applications in rail transportation etc. The proceedings can be a valuable reference work for researchers and graduate students working in rail transportation, electrical engineering and information technologies.

This book presents selected papers from the 4th Conference of the Transportation Research Group of India. It provides a comprehensive analysis of themes spanning the field of transportation encompassing economics, financial management, social equity, green technologies, operations research, big data analysis, econometrics and structural mechanics. This volume will be of interest to researchers, educators, practitioners, managers, and policy-makers world-wide.

This is the first book to offer a complete spectrum of the role that operations research has played and can play in the improvement of North American freight railroads. It explores how decisions are made at railroads, contains examples of the mathematical programming formulations to the complex problems, and provides insights into real-world applications. The handbook is divided into eleven chapters, covering topics including scheduling problems, empty railcar distribution, and intermodal rail. These topics have been specifically selected to offer a thorough examination of the application of operations research at freight railroads. The chapters are written by recognized award-winning scholars and practitioners with a deep knowledge and understanding of their specific topics. The Handbook of Operations Research Applications at Railroads is an ideal resource for academics, experienced researchers, and consultants in the field.

This book describes current, competitive coating technologies for vehicles. The authors detail how these technologies impact energy efficiency in engines and with increased use of lightweight materials and by varying coatings applications can resolve wear problems, resulting in the increased lifecycle of dies and other vehicle components.

This book compares the cross-border integration of infrastructures in Europe such as post, telecommunication and transportation in the 19th century and the period following the Second World War. In addition to providing a unique perspective on the development of cross-border infrastructures and the international regimes regulating them, it offers the first systematic comparison of a variety of infrastructure sectors, identifies general developmental trends and supplies theoretical explanations. In this regard, integration is defined as international standardization, network building and the establishment of international organizations to regulate cross-border infrastructures.

With the development of societies fossil energy is no longer the only energy resource, and increasing attention had been paid to alternative energy. Biomass is considered to be one of the alternatives due to efficiency and low cost. This book presents biomass pyrolysis behavior for three main components: Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin, and discusses the influence of mineral salts , zeolite catalysts and metal oxide on their pyrolysis.