Sustainable Biodiesel: Real World Designs, Economics and Applications offers a unique, integrated approach that combines cutting-edge research results and the day-to-day aspects of biodiesel production at the industrial level. The book brings together experienced academics and recognized industry experts to explore the most practical elements of research and discuss limitations and future needs in the industry. Sections discuss biodiesel-based biorefineries, feedstock supply chains, reactor technologies and processes for biodiesel production. In addition, the authors examine biodiesel plants from the point-of-view of design, operation, quality control, lifecycle costing (LCC), life cycle assessment, and environmental and exergetic sustainability, and more. This book provides both researchers and practitioners in the field of biomass and biofuels with a well-rounded understanding of how the technologies developed in the lab can be deployed in the industry at commercial scale in a sustainable and cost-efficient way.

Higher Alcohols Production Platforms: From Strain Development to Process Design comprehensively covers the production of higher alcohols, from the fundamentals to the latest research. Bringing together experts from industry and academia, the book sheds light on the practical aspects of higher alcohol production and offers a roadmap for researchers to follow. In addition to the fundamentals of higher alcohol production, readers are presented with detailed information on up and downstream processes, including microbial processes and the various production pathways available. A discussion of metabolic pathways has a dedicated chapter, as do C2, C3-C8, and C4 sugar fermentation platforms. A lifecycle assessment is also presented, addressing the energy, environmental, social and economic factors in the sustainability of higher alcohol production. Readers will find this to be a unique and comprehensive reference on the production of higher alcohols that will be of interest to students, researchers and industry professionals involved in bioenergy and renewable energy, and more.

This book introduces readers to the concept and theories of decent work and provides a framework for measuring it at the micro, meso and macro level in a given country. Further, it addresses the importance of measuring decent work in today's world and in connection with the different challenges countries face depending on their respective stage of development. The essence of the book lies in highlighting the practical applications of decent work in terms of its ability to deliver empirical measurements of qualitative and subjective phenomena with a mixed-methods approach combining tools and techniques from economics and statistics. Moreover, as the applicability of decent work is not confined to the IT industry and formal sectors of the economy, the book also provides useful guidelines on how further empirical studies can be undertaken to measure decent work in non-IT industries. As such, the book offers a rich compilation of empirical and theoretical contributions on decent work designed to not only enrich readers' understanding, but also promote awareness of the practical relevance and technical aspects of the subject matter.

This book introduces readers to the concept and theories of decent work and provides a framework for measuring it at the micro, meso and macro level in a given country. Further, it addresses the importance of measuring decent work in today's world and in connection with the different challenges countries face depending on their respective stage of development. The essence of the book lies in highlighting the practical applications of decent work in terms of its ability to deliver empirical measurements of qualitative and subjective phenomena with a mixed-methods approach combining tools and techniques from economics and statistics. Moreover, as the applicability of decent work is not confined to the IT industry and formal sectors of the economy, the book also provides useful guidelines on how further empirical studies can be undertaken to measure decent work in non-IT industries. As such, the book offers a rich compilation of empirical and theoretical contributions on decent work designed to not only enrich readers' understanding, but also promote awareness of the practical relevance and technical aspects of the subject matter.

Globally, the demand for electricity is increasing significantly and thus there is a need for more power generation. As a result, environmental pollution from burning fossil fuels is accelerating climate change at an unprecedented pace, as evidenced by recent extreme weather events across the world. As such, several paradigm shifts in power and energy systems are happening to protect the environment, societies, and economies against climate change. As the world is planning for a future with low carbon emissions, today’s power system is transitioning from its existing traditional hierarchical structure to a more decentralized framework through innovative energy management techniques, such as peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing. Due to the potential benefits that P2P sharing can offer to electricity prosumers, consumers, and the grid, research, development, and pilot trials of P2P are advancing rapidly. To capture these developments in this emerging energy management paradigm, present in this monograph is a comprehensive review of various features of P2P sharing. To do so, first introduced is the network and market structures that are required to facilitate P2P sharing within a local community. Thereafter, a comprehensive overview of various challenges of P2P energy-sharing mechanisms at both virtual and physical layers is provided, followed by a discussion of technical approaches used in literature to address these challenges. Third, some emerging technological innovations that will be relevant to, and important for, the development of P2P sharing in future markets are introduced and discussed. Fourth, a summary of existing pilot P2P projects is provided, and this is followed by a summary of potential future research directions and a conclusion. Thus, by providing a holistic view of challenges and contributions to both virtual and physical layers of P2P energy systems simultaneously and in a structured way, this monograph delivers a comprehensive understanding of the core challenges that hinder the integration of P2P sharing in the current market model.

'Decent Work' is a concept developed by the International Labour Organisation that sums up the aspirations of people in work life. This book provides a consolidated and encompassing guide to the underlying philosophy, meaning and theory of the decent work paradigm. It also provides an empirical analysis of the current status of decent work in the Information Technology (IT) industry of India adopting a pragmatic approach towards the measurement of decent work. One of the purposes of this study is to unfold different dimensions of decent work and counter the general perceptions about work conditions in the IT industry. Surprisingly, work was not found to be decent for a majority of Indian IT employees on various indicators. The key features of this book are: a thorough conceptual coverage; rich literature review; cross-examination of decent work indicators in the context of India's IT industry; construction of Decent Work Index (DWI) at the micro-level; indices for each decent work indicator; primary data based on questionnaire responses; and detailed discussion on the implications of deficiency of decent work in India in general and the IT industry in particular.