While previous studies have examined China’s changing industrial energy consumption at the national level, this study argues that it is more useful, from a policy standpoint, to conduct a regional-level analysis owing to the significant regional disparity in industrialisation in the country. This study focuses particularly on Northeast China, where the implementation of the Northeast Revitalisation Strategy in 2003 has contributed to rapid reindustrialisation, which has a serious implication for industrial energy consumption. We decompose the region’s energy consumption changes into activity, structure, and intensity effects. Our results show that the intensity effect is not the only negative factor impacting industrial energy consumption during 2003⁻2012. The structure effect also has a negative impact on industrial energy consumption between 2005 and 2012. However, the negative impact of the two factors is weakening and not strong enough to counter the positive impact of the activity... [more]

Outdoor thermal comfort is an essential factor of people’s everyday life and deeply affects the habitability of outdoor spaces. However the indices used for its evaluation were usually developed for indoor environments assuming still air conditions and absence of solar radiation and were only later adapted to outdoor spaces. For this reason, in a previous study the Mediterranean Outdoor Comfort Index (MOCI) was developed, which is an empirical index able to estimate the thermal perception of people living in the Mediterranean area. In this study it was compared numerically (by using the data obtained through a field survey) with other selected thermal indices. This comparison, performed in terms of Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient, association Gamma, percentage of correct predictions and cross-tabulation analysis, led to identify the MOCI as the most suitable index to examine outdoor thermal comfort in the interested area. As a matter of fact it showed a total percentage of corre... [more]

Energy is considered as a main influence on urban configurations. However, there is a difficulty on translating the city models based on theoretical renewable energy concepts into practical applications. This study considers the possibility of understanding this future model as a transformation of the existing urban centres. With this objective, a methodology to intervene in existing cities based on the study of solar access is developed. Therefore, an analysis of solar potential in relation with urban morphology is carried on through a simulation software in l’Eixample, a neighbourhood of Barcelona. The distribution of the sun factor in the different areas of the building blocks envelope displays possible morphological modifications that would facilitate solar energy collection. Consequently, the analytical method presented could be applied to regulate urban interventions with the aim of obtaining more solar energy based cities.

This paper presents a Monte Carlo approach for reliability assessment of distribution systems with distributed generation using parallel computing. The calculations are carried out with a royalty-free power flow simulator, OpenDSS (Open Distribution System Simulator). The procedure has been implemented in an environment in which OpenDSS is driven from MATLAB. The test system is an overhead distribution system represented by means of a three-phase model that includes protective devices. The paper details the implemented procedure, which can be applied to systems with or without distributed generation, includes an illustrative case study and summarizes the results derived from the analysis of the test system during one year. The goal is to evaluate the test system performance considering different scenarios with different level of system automation and reconfiguration, and assess the impact that distributed photovoltaic generation can have on that performance. Several reliability indices... [more]

Due to the rapid growth in the amount of wind energy connected to distribution grids, they are exposed to higher network constraints, which poses additional challenges to system operation. Based on regulation, the system operator has the right to curtail wind energy in order to avoid any violation of system constraints. Energy storage systems (ESS) are considered to be a viable solution to solve this problem. The aim of this paper is to provide the best locations of both ESS and wind power by optimizing distribution system costs taking into account network constraints and the uncertainty associated to the nature of wind, load and price. To do that, we use a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) approach consisting of loss reduction, voltage improvement and minimization of generation costs. An alternative current (AC) linear optimal power flow (OPF), which employs binary variables to define the location of the generation, is implemented. The proposed stochastic MILP approach has been... [more]

With the increasing permeability of photovoltaic (PV) power production, the uncertainties and randomness of PV power have played a critical role in the operation and dispatch of the power grid and amplified the abandon rate of PV power. Consequently, the accuracy of PV power forecast urgently needs to be improved. Based on the amplitude and fluctuation characteristics of the PV power forecast error, a short-term PV output forecast method that considers the error calibration is proposed. Firstly, typical climate categories are defined to classify the historical PV power data. On the one hand, due to the non-negligible diversity of error amplitudes in different categories, the probability density distributions of relative error (RE) are generated for each category. Distribution fitting is performed to simulate probability density function (PDF) curves, and the RE samples are drawn from the fitted curves to obtain the sampling values of the RE. On the other hand, based on the fluctuation... [more]

The Velenje coal mine (VCM) is situated on the largest Slovenian coal deposit and in one of the thickest layers of coal known in the world. The thickness of the coal layer causes problems for the efficiency of extraction, since the majority of mining operations is within the coal layer. The selected longwall coal mining method with specific geometry, increasing depth of excavations, changes in stress state and naturally given geomechanical properties of rocks induce seismic events. Induced seismic events can be caused by caving processes, blasting or bursts of coal or the surrounding rock. For 2.5D visualization, data of excavations, ash content and calorific value of coal samples, hanging wall and footwall occurrence, subsidence of the surface and coal burst source locations were collected. Data and interpolation methods available in software package Surfer®12 were statistically analyzed and a Kriging (KRG) interpolation method was chosen. As a result 2.5D visualizations of coal burst... [more]

Climate change policy and sustainable development issues and goals are closely intertwined. Recognizing the dual relationship between sustainable development and climate change points to a need for the exploration of actions that jointly address sustainable development and climate change. Technology transfer is considered an issue with growing interest worldwide and has been recognized as the key in supporting countries to achieve sustainable development, while addressing climate change challenges. This study presents an integrated decision support methodological framework for the formulation and evaluation of activities to promote technology transfer, as well as the provision of clear recommendations and strategies for framing specific policy in the context of climate change. The philosophy of the proposed approach, under the name: assess-identify-define (AID), consists of three components, where each one focuses on a particular problem. The methodology is integrated using appropriate... [more]

Climate change remains a threat to water resources projects in southern Africa where impacts resulting from changes in climate are projected to be negative and worse than in most other regions of the world. This work presents an assessment of the impacts of climate change on water resources and hydropower production potential in the Zambezi River Basin. Future climate scenarios projected through the five General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs are used as input in the impact assessment. The future projected climate scenarios are downscaled to find local and regional changes, and used in the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) hydrological model to assess climate change impacts on water resources in the river basin. According to the simulations, air temperature and potential evaporation are projected to increase, while rainfall is projected to decrease. The Zambezi hydropower system is likely to be affected negatively as a result of future climate changes. Increasing air tem... [more]

The analysis of useful exergy (UE), which is the minimum amount of work required to produce a given end-use, provides insights on the relationships between structural changes and energy transitions because it focuses on what energy is used for, i.e., energy services, rather than where it comes from, i.e., energy carriers. In this paper, UE was accounted for Mexico in 1971⁻2009. It was found that UE experienced a six-fold growth, led by the increasing share of mechanical drive and electric energy uses. Structural changes such as industrialization and complete electrification mainly drove UE transitions. Technological progress, mainly driven by the industrial sector, and electricity availability caused an improvement in the aggregate final-to-useful efficiency of the economy. In addition, the trend of increasing UE economic intensity shows that Mexico became more dependent on UE per unit of economic output during industrialization. The results suggest that UE trends were more influenced... [more]

This paper reports on a comprehensive study of the CO₂-EOR (Enhanced oil recovery) process, a detailed literature review and a numerical modelling study. According to past studies, CO₂ injection can recover additional oil from reservoirs by reservoir pressure increment, oil swelling, the reduction of oil viscosity and density and the vaporization of oil hydrocarbons. Therefore, CO₂-EOR can be used to enhance the two major oil recovery mechanisms in the field: miscible and immiscible oil recovery, which can be further increased by increasing the amount of CO₂ injected, applying innovative flood design and well placement, improving the mobility ratio, extending miscibility, and controlling reservoir depth and temperature. A 3-D numerical model was developed using the CO₂-Prophet simulator to examine the effective factors in the CO₂-EOR process. According to that, in pure CO₂ injection, oil production generally exhibits increasing trends with increasing CO₂ injection rate and volume (in H... [more]

The provision of energy infrastructure is essential for economic growth, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability. Understanding the multiple functions and services it provides us requires firstly a deeper understanding of the factors that influence energy infrastructure itself. This paper focusses on the factors that influence the evolution of energy infrastructure in Nigeria. By studying different eras of energy use according to the technologies that were being implemented, resources that were available, and the political practice of the time it is possible to better frame the drivers of energy infrastructure. The paper explores the transitions of how Nigerians managed to obtain the vast majority of energy from food calories and traditional biomass, to the broad portfolio of energy sources that is in use today.

This paper presents an initial investment cost analysis of public transportation systems operating with wireless charging electric vehicles (EVs). There are three different types of wireless charging systems, namely, stationary wireless charging (SWC), in which charging happens only when the vehicle is parked or idle, quasi-dynamic wireless charging (QWC), in which power is transferred when a vehicle is moving slowly or in stop-and-go mode, and dynamic wireless charging (DWC), in which power can be supplied even when the vehicle is in motion. This analysis compares the initial investment costs for these three types of charging systems for a wireless charging-based public transportation system. In particular, this analysis is focused on the energy logistics cost in transportation, which is defined as the cost of transferring and storing the energy needed to operate the transportation system. Performing this initial investment analysis is complicated, because it involves considerable tra... [more]

Recent growth in the renewable energy industry has increased government support for alternative energy. In the United States, hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy and also one of the most efficient. Currently, there are 30,000 megawatts of potential energy capacity through small- and micro-hydro projects throughout the United States. Increased development of micro-hydro could double America’s hydropower energy generation, but micro-hydro is not being developed at the same rate as other renewable sources. Micro-hydro is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and subject to the same regulation as large hydroelectric projects despite its minimal environmental impact. We studied two cases of micro-hydro projects in Logan, Utah, and Afton, Wyoming, which are both small rural communities. Both cases showed that the web of federal regulation is likely discouraging the development of micro-hydro in the United States by increasing the costs in time and funds for d... [more]

A new mathematical approach to the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies is presented using the diffusion of natural processes as an analogy. This approach is applied to the diffusion of the electric arc furnace in Japan. The main advantage offered by the new approach is the incorporation of an average effect of barriers to, and support measures for, innovation. This approach also incorporates some of the parameters influencing the cost-effectiveness of the investment in the new technology as the main driver for adopting the innovation. The straightforward equivalence between natural phenomena and the diffusion of innovation requires the conceptual abstraction of setting a dimension (and defining) the medium in which the diffusion takes place. This new approach opens new research paths to analysing under what circumstances innovations can take-off, the effect of barriers in the diffusion of energy efficient technologies, or how the diffusion process is incorporated in energy-syste... [more]

Located in East Africa, Uganda is one of the most economically deprived countries that is likely to be dramatically affected by climate change. Over 50% of Ugandan families live in single-roomed overcrowded properties and over 60% of the country’s urban population live in slums. Moreover, the gradual shift towards relatively modern and low thermal resistance building materials, in addition to imminent thermal discomfort due to global warming, may considerably affect the health and wellbeing of low-income people, the majority of whom live in low quality homes with very little or no access to basic amenities. This paper evaluates the effects of various construction methods as well as refurbishment strategies on thermal comfort in low-income houses in Uganda. It is aimed at helping low-income populations adapt to climate changes by developing simple, effective and affordable refurbishment strategies that could easily be applied to existing buildings. Dynamic thermal simulations are conduc... [more]

Brazil is currently the world’s largest sugar producer and exporter, as well as the world’s largest producer and consumer of sugarcane ethanol as a transportation fuel. The growth of this market originates from a combination of government policies and technological change, in both the sugarcane ethanol processing sector and the manufacture of flex-fuel vehicles. In recent years however, ethanol production has been questioned due to its possible impact on food prices. The present paper aims to explore the impact of Brazilian ethanol prices on sugar and gasoline prices. The relationships between a times series of these prices are investigated using a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), supported by Granger Causality tests. In addition, Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) and Forecast Error Variance Decompositions (FEVD) are computed in order to investigate the dynamic interrelationships within these series. Our results suggest that ethanol prices are affected by both food and fuel prices... [more]

It is widely accepted that the concentration of people living in high-density city centers offers greater operational energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions than lower-density expanded suburbs. The prevailing assumption is that lower-density suburbs are dominated by larger low-rise buildings that have higher building energy use requirements and greater per-person automobile travel requirements than high-density city centers dominated by medium- and high-rise buildings located in close proximity to a variety of public transit systems. However, very few studies to date have utilized empirical data at an individual household scale to evaluate differences in the operational energy (OE) footprints for both building and transportation energy end-uses between high-rise urban and low-rise suburban households. Therefore, this work collects empirical data on building and transportation OE consumption by individuals and households living in two economically similar groups: existing... [more]

The establishment of more severe hydrological environmental constraints, usually as seasonal minimum flows (ϕ) and maximum ramping rates (ρ), on hydropower operation is a growing trend. This paper presents a study on the influence of ϕ and ρ on the water values (WV) of a real hydropower plant that participates in the Spanish day-ahead electricity market. For this purpose, a master-slave algorithm, based on stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) and deterministic mixed integer linear programming (DMILP), is used on a real hydropower plant. The master module, based on SDP, has a yearly planning period with weekly time steps and considers three state variables: stored water volume in the reservoir at the beginning of each week; weekly water inflow; and average weekly energy price. The slave module, based on DMILP, has a weekly planning period with hourly time steps and considers many features of the hydropower plant operation, such as: start-up costs, evaporation, wear and tear costs, etc.... [more]

This paper reveals that logistics may conservatively amount to 18% of the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind farms. This is the key finding from an extensive case study carried out within the organization of the world’s leading offshore wind farm developer and operator. The case study aimed to, and produced, a number of possible opportunities for offshore wind cost reductions through logistics innovation; however, within the case study company, no company-wide logistics organization existed to focus horizontally on reducing logistics costs in general. Logistics was not well defined within the case study company, and a logistics strategy did not exist. With full life-cycle costs of offshore wind farms still high enough to present a political challenge within the European Union in terms of legislation to ensure offshore wind diffusion beyond 2020, our research presents logistics as a next frontier for offshore wind constituencies. This important area of the supply chain is ripe t... [more]

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology is developing in order to achieve higher energy efficiency, reduced economic costs, and improved firmness and dispatchability in the generation of power on demand. To this purpose, a research project titled HYSOL has developed a new power plant, consisting of a combined cycle configuration with a 100 MWe steam turbine and an 80 MWe gas-fed turbine with biomethane. Technological developments must be supported by the identification, quantification, and evaluation of the environmental impacts produced. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental performance of a CSP plant based on HYSOL technology using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology while considering different locations. The scenarios investigated include different geographic locations (Spain, Chile, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and South Africa), an alternative modelling procedure for biomethane, and the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel. Results indicate that... [more]

With the recent shale gas boom, the U.S. is expected to have very large natural gas resources. In this respect, the key question is would it be better to rely completely on free market resource allocations which would lead to large exports of natural gas or to limit natural gas exports so that more could be used in the U.S.. After accounting for the cost of liquefying the natural gas and shipping it to foreign markets, the current price difference leaves room for considerable profit to producers from exports. In addition, there is a large domestic demand for natural gas from various sectors such as electricity generation, industrial applications, and the transportation sector etc. A hybrid modeling approach has been carried out using our version of the well-known MARket ALlocation (MARKAL)-Macro model to keep bottom-up model richness with macro effects to incorporate price and gross domestic product (GDP) feedbacks. One of the conclusion of this study is that permitting higher natural... [more]

To promote geothermal development in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, this study compiled a database of the geothermal resources of the prefecture, which included chemical data for 786 hot springs, temperature data for 26 natural springs, and subsurface temperature data for 35 wells. A map of the activity index distribution for the entire prefecture was also developed using the Aomori Prefecture Geothermal Resource database, and its efficiency was discussed by comparison with the distribution of Quaternary volcanoes and the temperature distribution map calculated using quartz and Na-K solute geothermometers. The activity index distribution map for the entire prefecture showed a good fit with both the distribution map of a region with a sharp eastern edge of low-velocity zones in the mantle wedge and the volcanic front, as well as the temperature distribution map calculated using the quartz and Na-K geothermometers. This reflected the effectiveness of the developed map, which indicated the Hak... [more]

The current method used for calculating societal aggregated exergy efficiencies is reviewed. Cooling is introduced as an end-use category; conversion efficiencies for heating processes are obtained for each energy carrier; and electricity shares per end-use are retrieved for each sector, improving the accuracy of the estimated values of aggregated exergy efficiencies. We show that: (1) cooling uses are a relevant end-use in Portugal and that their introduction decreased overall efficiency by 3.4% in 2009; and (2) disaggregating the heating second law efficiencies for each energy carrier has a significant effect on the aggregated efficiencies of the country, decreasing aggregated efficiency by 1.3% in 2009. We studied two other factors that showed no significant impact on aggregated exergy efficiency: a technological lag of 10 years in the efficiency of stationary mechanical drive devices and the use of a year-specific ambient temperature to compute exergy efficiencies of heating proces... [more]

Climate change is altering hydrological processes with varying degrees in various regions of the world and remains a threat to water resources projects in southern Africa. The likely negative impacts of changes in Africa may be worse than in most other regions of the world. This study is an evaluation of the possible impacts of climate change on water resources and hydropower production potential in Kwanza River Basin, Angola. The regional climate data, the basis for future climate scenarios, is used in the hydrological model HBV to assess climate change impacts on water resources in the Kwanza River Basin. Evaluation of changes in hydropower production potential is carried out using an energy model. The simulations show that annual rainfall in 2080 would increase by approximately 16% with increasing inter-annual variability of rainfall and dry season river flow and later onset of the rainy season. The simulation results show that for the Kwanza River Basin the effects as a result of c... [more]