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Rwanda faces energy shortage, despite having ample energy resources potential. Developing renewable energy (RE) could meet the country's energy needs to achieve sustainable development. This study adopts a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to evaluate strategies for the development of RE in Rwanda. SWOT analysis was used to identify factors affecting the energy sector in Rwanda, based on which 13 strategies were proposed. Then, ISM was adopted to establish the interrelationship and hierarchical structure between the strategies. Matrice d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (MICMAC) was also applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies based on their driving and dependence power. The results reveal that seven independent strategies have the strongest capability to influence the whole RE sector, among which four strategies hold the most driving force: raising investment for RE, providing incentives and policy support, creating favorable conditions for private investment and strengthening institutional management. Top priority should be given to these four strategies as they are the most essential to promote the development of RE in Rwanda. This study provides insight for policy-makers and stakeholders to understand opportunities and challenges of energy sector in Rwanda and to better prioritize strategies.

Renewable energy has been actively researched and developed in many countries to replace the conventional energy resources that come from fossil fuels. As social and environmental awareness of the renewable energy has grown, it is essential to address both quantitative factors and qualitative factors in determination of the optimal renewable energy portfolio. This paper proposes a novel approach to integrate a financial model and a fuzzy model to analyze both quantitative and qualitative factors. The financial model is utilized to calculate the quantitative factors, thereby assisting experts make judgments more accurately in the fuzzy model. The fuzzy model is utilized to evaluate the qualitative factors based on the expert judgements. Moreover, this paper proposes multi-segment judgment model that analyzes the evaluation of different groups, including government, investor and user groups. The results show that each group has different priority order. For example, the highest-priority factor of Government, Investor and User is environmental (with a score of 0.665), economic (with a score of 0.854), and technological criteria (with a score of 0.771), respectively. The results also indicated that small-scale onshore wind energy, large-scale onshore wind energy and solar energy is the best option for Government, Investor and User, respectively.

The mysteries of deep-sea ecosystems can be unlocked to reveal new sources, for developing medical drugs, food and energy resources, and products of renewable energy. Research in the area of underwater image processing has increased significantly in the last decade. This is primarily due to the dependence of human beings on the valuable resources existing underwater. Effective work of exploring the underwater environment is achievable by having excellent methods for underwater image enhancement. The work presented in this article highlights the survey of underwater image enhancement algorithms. This work presents an overview of various underwater image enhancement techniques and their broad classifications. The methods under each classification are briefly discussed. Underwater datasets required for performing experiments are summarized from the available literature. Attention is also drawn towards various evaluation metrics required for the quantitative assessment of underwater images and recent areas of application in the domain.

Renewable energy, which is the type of energy that plays a major role in the development and growth of countries, plays an important role in today’s world, considering that the life of depleted energy resources is finite. Compared to fossil energy sources, except that its source is infinite, a noticeable difference in carbon dioxide emission is seen as the reason for preferring renewable energy sources. Many studies in the literature investigate the relationship between the consumption of renewable energy resources and economic growth. This study was conducted on renewable energy production in 27 European Union member countries explores its impact on employment. In the study, panel ARDL test was conducted with the data for the years 2006-2019. According to the results of the study, renewable energy generation has a positive effect on employment in European Union countries in the long term. In the long run, a 1% increase in renewable energy primary production increases employment by 0.08%. Increasing the use of renewable energy resources should go beyond being a policy recommendation in international conventions. The fact that these resources provide employment in large areas can be a good alternative today with high unemployment rates.Keywords: renewable energy, employment, developed countries, panel ARDLJEL Classifications: O40, Q43, Q40DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.10744

Urbanization is an important factor affecting energy efficiency. However, the semi-urbanization of population has become an unavoidable problem in the process of urbanization in China. This article aims to investigate the impact of the semi-urbanization of population on energy efficiency and explore the changes in the relationship between urbanization and energy efficiency caused by the existence of a large-scale semi-urbanized population, by utilizing Stochastic Frontier Analysis on the provincial panel data of China during 2001–2017. The main findings can be yielded as follows. ① The formation of the semi-urbanization of population in China is mainly caused by the household registration system and its consequences. ② The nexus between the semi-urbanization of population and energy efficiency can be described as an inverted U-shaped curve. That is, maintaining a moderate number of the semi-urbanized population can help improve energy efficiency, while the growth of the semi-urbanized population is playing a role in suppressing the improvement of energy efficiency. With the growth of the semi-urbanized population, the losses of energy efficiency and the waste of energy resources continue to increase. ③ The highly complete urbanization can promote the improvement of energy efficiency. However, the existence of large-scale semi-urbanized population inhibits the positive effect of urbanization on improving energy efficiency. ④ The growth of the semi-urbanized population can restrain the improvement of energy efficiency in both Eastern Region and Western Region, while the semi-urbanization of population has slightly improved the energy efficiency of Central Region. From the empirical results, it can be concluded that promoting the complete urbanization of the semi-urbanized population can help improve energy efficiency. Based on these findings, this article further explores the policy implications.

Because of industrialization and modernization, phenomenal changes have taken place in almost all spheres of life. Consequently, the consumption of energy resources and the cases of environmental hazards have risen to an unprecedentedly high level. A development model with due consideration to nature and an efficient utilization of energy sources has become the need of the hour, in order to ensure a sustainable balance between the environmental and technological needs. Recent studies have identified the suitability of ionic liquids (ILs), often labeled as ‘green solvents’, in the efficient utilization of energy resources and activities such as bio-extraction, pollution control, CO2 capture, waste management etc. in an environmentally friendly manner. The advent of magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have opened possibilities for a circular economic approach in this filed. This review intends to analyze the environmental and energy wise consumption of a wide variety of ionic liquids and their potential towards future.

Natural gas plays an important role in energy supply, and its fields of application are diverse. However, the world’s largest growth potential among fossil fuels is attributed to liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the last few years, the U.S. rapidly increased LNG exports, and it is expected that they will further increase the liquefaction capacities. The cost of the LNG value chain is composed of the natural gas price in the country of origin, and the LNG process costs for liquefaction, transportation, storage, and regasification. Thus, the Henry Hub (HH) price in the U.S. is important for U.S. LNG exports to Western Europe. In this paper, gas flows in Western Europe at the beginning of the 2030s are analyzed if the price at HH is higher or lower than expected. Furthermore, the effect of the HH price on monthly U.S. LNG exports are studied. For the calculations, the global gas market model WEGA is used. The results reveal that the price at HH has a significant effect on annual gas flows in Western Europe and also on U.S. LNG exports during the summer. Furthermore, it is shown that pipeline gas in Western Europe will absorb fluctuations of U.S. LNG exports between the presented scenarios.

Now a day, government as well as public interest is diverting toward renewable energy, because of limited conventional energy resources and their negative impacts on the environment. For instance, ...

Annually billions of cubic meters of natural gas are flared around the globe at various oil and gas production sites. Natural gas flaring practices waste valuable energy resources that can be used ...

In recent times, renewable energy demand is rapidly increasing worldwide. Offshore wind energy is one of the alternative solutions to the problems posed by non-renewable energy resources. The kinetic energy of the wind is converted to mechanical energy by using an offshore floating wind turbine (OFWT). The efficiency of the OFWT is dependent upon the vibrational effect induced by the environment. In this paper, for the mitigation of this vibrational effect, a new model of barge-type OFWT is designed by using an active control strategy called translational oscillator with a rotational actuator (TORA). The disturbance observer (DO) based advanced control techniques including robust backstepping sliding mode control (BSMC), backstepping integral sliding mode control (BISMC), backstepping nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (BNTSMC), and a new backstepping integral nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (BINTSMC) technique, are devised for the stabilization of OFWT model. The comparison of these techniques is carried out by using MATLAB/SIMULINK which validates the feasibility and correctness of the proposed OFWT model and control techniques.

Agriculture and forest residues have a large energy potential and there are eligible to become sustainable promising energy resources in future. Present study deals with the analysis of thermo-phys...

Treatment of nontraditional source waters (e.g., produced water, municipal and industrial wastewaters, agricultural runoff) offers exciting opportunities to expand water and energy resources via water reuse and resource recovery. While conventional polymer membranes perform water/ion separations well, they do not provide solute-specific separation, a key component for these treatment opportunities. Herein, we discuss the selectivity limitations plaguing all conventional membranes, which include poor removal of small, neutral solutes and insufficient discrimination between ions of the same valence. Moreover, we present synthetic approaches for solute-tailored selectivity including the incorporation of single-digit nanopores and solute-selective ligands into membranes. Recent progress in these areas highlights the need for fundamental studies to rationally design membranes with selective moieties achieving desired separations.

Considering the escalating rates of exhaustion of non-renewable energy resources, coupled with the harmful environmental side effects of harnessing them (e.g. damage to public health via air pollut...

Non-deferrable loads equipped with distributed energy resources, such as solar photovoltaic generation and energy storage, can offer a wide range of benefits to the power system, including load leveling, hedging against forecast uncertainty, and ancillary services. This paper presents a techno-economic approach to optimally equip a flexible energy resource, namely a battery energy storage system (BESS), with non-deferrable loads for capacity enhancement of a distribution grid. The proposed approach is generic in applicability, and includes two different optimization mathematical models. The first model quantifies the needed flexibility with non-deferrable loads, based on a consideration of distribution grid limitations, while the second model determines the optimal flexibility amount associated with non-deferrable loads considering investor profitability. Thereafter, a distribution operations model is developed to evaluate the impact of non-deferrable loads, equipped with an optimal size of BESS, on the distribution system loading capacity. An example of non-deferrable loads considered in this paper is that of the rapid charging loads of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) that cannot be controlled or shifted due to the short stay of PEVs at a charging facility. Hence, a probabilistic model for PEV rapid charging loads is first developed. Case studies and simulation findings, considering a 32-bus distribution system, demonstrate that the proposed approach helps reduces the impact of non-deferrable loads on a distribution system and enhances the system power margin, which defers the need for system upgrades.

Internet data centers are growing rapidly in recent years and they operate with intensive energy activity. Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) brings new opportunities for reducing the electricity cost in internet data centers. The main objective of this study is to optimize the energy resources scheduling in the data center coupled energy nets considering the involvement of CCHP and different demand response techniques. In this paper, internet data center coupled energy nets are proposed, where power grid, solar photovoltaic, CCHP, and battery energy storage systems are the primary energy sources. The adjunct residential buildings and commercial buildings near the internet data centers are also included in the proposed energy nets, where different types of load and demand response characteristics are utilized. A two-stage optimized energy management model considering the coordinated operation of CCHP and demand response technologies is established for internet data center coupled energy nets. In the day-ahead stage, the control objective is to minimize system cost while satisfying various constraints. Consider the electricity tariff chance between day-ahead market and real-time market, real-time control is implemented to minimize the imbalance cost between two electricity markets. Case studies are conducted on a practical internet data center coupled energy nets in Foshan City, China. It is observed that the proposed control framework can optimally schedule the energy resources in the energy network to meet system demand and improve the energy efficiency. The economic evaluation demonstrates that the proposed control scheme reduces system daily cost by 22.01%. This work was supported in part by the Department of Finance and Education of Guangdong Province 2016 [202] through the Key Discipline Construction Program, China, in part by the Education Department of Guangdong Province through the New and Integrated Energy System Theory and Technology Research Group under Project 2016KCXTD022, in part by Guangdong Foshan Power Construction Corporation Group Company Ltd., in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 51907031, and in part by Brunel University London BRIEF Funding, U.K.

Jordan is relatively poor in conventional energy resources and it is dependent on foreign energy sources to cover its energy needs. At the same time the low percentage of freshwater along with the ...

Nuclear power has been declining in importance over the last quarter century, with its share of global electrical energy generation decreasing from 17.5 percent in 1996 to around 10 percent in 2019. Small modular and advanced nuclear reactors have been proposed as potential ways of dealing with the problems—specifically economic competitiveness, risk of accidents, link to proliferation and production of waste—confronting nuclear power technology. This perspective article examines whether these new designs can indeed solve these problems, with a particular focus on the economic challenges. It briefly discusses the technical challenges confronting advanced reactor designs and the many decades it might take for these to be commercialized, if ever. The article explains why the higher construction and operational costs per unit of electricity generation capacity will make electricity from small modular reactors more expensive than electricity from large nuclear power plants, which are themselves not competitive in today’s electricity markets. Next, it examines the potential savings from learning and modular construction, and explains why the historical record suggests that these savings will be inadequate to compensate for the economic challenges resulting from the lower generation capacity. It then critically examines arguments offered by advocates of these technologies about job creation and other potential uses of energy generated from these plants to justify subsidizing and constructing these kinds of nuclear plants. It concludes with an assessment of the markets for these technologies, suggesting that these are inadequate to justify constructing the necessary manufacturing facilities.

Gas hydrates are considered “near-future energy resources” due to their vast existence all around the world. Recently, China has tested gas production from methane hydrate-bearing clayey silts via ...

The task of resource saving is relevant for all transport companies and many world communities of scientists and engineers are engaged in search for ways to solve it. World railway companies, and especially large ones such as Russian Railways, are large consumers of energy resources and the problem of saving is the most urgent for them. One of directions for solving this task can be the use of an optimal energy regulation system for traction of each train – an operational rationing system. Such a task can only be solved by modelling the process of movement through the dynamic programming method. In modern conditions of development of engineering and technology, it has become possible to develop such operational standardization systems endowed with important properties: high performance, multitasking, solution accuracy, ease of use and maintenance. These requirements impose certain restrictions on the architecture of the operational rationing system. Typical system architecture should be built around a centralized node, which will act as a solver and storage, nodes for input and output of information can be geographically separated. The method of dynamic programming can be improved by using it in the process of training artificial neural networks, which will form not only a priori estimates of energy consumption for traction, but also an a posteriori estimate of train control (by a train driver or auto-driving system). Also, the use of artificial neural networks will allow us to continuously improve the method due to training using the accumulated amount of data from real trips, which will allow us to clarify the norms of energy consumption and to plan our costs in the future. The prototype of the operational standardization system was developed at the department of traction rolling stock of Russian Open Academy of Transport of Russian University of Transport and the results obtained allow us to state that the chosen approach to solving the problem of energy saving has been chosen correctly.

Energy for life is produced inside the internal human energy factory, the mitochondrion, where low oxygen levels are likely to be correlated with stressful behaviors. These include thriving for performance, competition and perfection. One way to build a sustainable society is to reduce the daily stress, allowing human energy to target the control of energy resources and environmental safeguarding. So, it is important to assess the impact of decreased oxygen (hypoxia) in the body, especially in the brain, as a small imbalance in brain activity can affect vital energy production essential for sustainable life activities. This work addressed fluorescence changes associated with the formation of FAD and of reactive oxygen species (ROS), evoked by different levels of hypoxia. Exposing the slices to 0% and 21% O 2 , caused an increase in FAD autofluorescence. Upon reoxygenation (95% O 2 ) the 0% O 2 trace did not recover, while the 21% O 2 signal decreased reaching the baseline. In contrast, at 40% and 65% O 2 the FAD fluorescence decreased reversibly. Regarding ROS fluorescence, no significant changes were observed during the application of 0% and 21% O 2 . However, at 40% and 65% O 2 , the signals were enhanced recovering partially when the initial oxygen level (95% O 2 ) was reintroduced.

At reconnaissance to feasibility study stages of wave energy development, guidelines and standards recommend wave power assessments to be conducted for long periods of time, albeit at relatively coarse spatial resolutions. However, quite often developers need to make a preliminary site selection based on high-resolution information. Unfortunately, even with abundant computational resources nowadays, running a high-resolution coastal model for more than a decade is still not practical. In this paper, we propose to combine uncertainty estimates from a 21-year-long 1-km-resolution model and a high-resolution (10 m nearshore) coastal model to assess wave energy. Two sites in Japan facing the Pacific Ocean were selected for this study. One site located on the southern coast (site-S) is affected more by the passage of typhoons than another site located on the eastern coast (site-E). The estimated wave power climatology at site-S ranges between 3 and 7 $$\text{kW}\,\text{m}^{-1}$$ with an uncertainty of ± 0.27 to ± 0.51 $$\text{kW}\,\text{m}^{-1}$$ ; whereas for site-E, the climatology varies between 3 and 9 $$\text{kW}\,\text{m}^{-1}$$ with uncertainties of ± 0.12 to ± 0.34 $$\text{kW}\,\text{m}^{-1}$$ . In general, the eastern coastal area of Japan is found to offer higher wave power and lower margins of uncertainty than compared with the southern coastal area.

Photocatalytic CO2 fixation is widely considered as a promising approach for recycling carbon-based energy resources. However, it is still beyond practical application due to the low efficiency and...

The optimal use of batteries in drones is a critical issue for achieving both reliable operation and maximum flight time. The key is to acquire accurate information about the state of charge (SoC) of the battery in runtime. Drones typically employ series-connected lithium-ion polymer (Li-Po) battery cells, whose SoC is affected by many environmental factors as well as flight patterns. In this article, we propose a scheme, called Optrone, which maximizes the flight time of a drone while safely using the battery. Understanding the implications of the factors affecting the SoC of the drone’s battery pack, we propose a three-level SoC, which is a metric for representing the SoC of a battery in runtime. We also provide various operating policies to users to improve the safety and efficiency of operating the drone. We implemented the prototype hardware and software for Optrone, and validated its operation in controlled and real environments. The experimental results in a controlled environment showed that the proposed three-level SoC poses less than 3% error and the operating policies achieved a flight time gain of 19.4%, while guaranteeing battery safety. We also observed a flight time gain of about 10% in real outdoor experiments, where the user rightly adheres to the advised Optrone policy.

A modernization version of OKM-520 calcining conveyor machines of AO A.V. Varichev Mikhailovskii GOK has been suggested, which is a continuation of the step-by-step comprehensive modernization of the pellet production technique at the MGOK pelletizing plant and the thermal circuit of OKM-520 calcining machines no. 1 and 2. The improvement of the technological procedure and the scheme of gas-air flows allows one to increase the productivity of the units, improve the environmental situation at the industrial site, and reduce the consumption of energy resources.

The issues of saving fuel and energy resources, as well as improving the equipment efficiency, are of great importancei n all sectors and especially in the energy sector, the main fuelconsuming industry. Improving of the boiler plants efficiency and is currently an urgent issue. Organizational and technical measures to improve technological processes are being developed at each station. The article discusses several ways to improve the boiler plants efficiency using liquid fuel. Industrial tests of the diesel nozzle cleaner in the boiler plant were carried out, which led to the following results: - received fuel consumption savings of 8.67%. At the same time, the amount of heat transferred to the LTC-4 network increased by 5.86%. - the specific indicator of fuel consumption (the ratio of diesel fuel consumption to the amount of heat transferred, kg / Gcal) decreased by 12.57%, and also at the same time as the efficiency of the boilers, the resource indicators of the boiler nozzles will increase, the time and the costs for the nozzles technical inspection will decrease.

The increasing demand in the modern world for energy resources leads to the recovery of oil and gas fields in remote northern and Arctic regions. The development of additives that effectively preve...

Dumping of solid waste and draining of energy resources have become an escalating global issue by affecting the world’s ecology and economy through environmental pollution and fuel crisis. The prim...

Thermosyphons and heat pipes offer great opportunities for creating pas sive heat and mass transfer systems. Various design solutions using heat pipes (thermosyphons) in solar energy systems are known. Solar energy is one of the promising energy sources, a step towards reducing dependence on other energy resources. To date, there is already an industrial production of solar collectors based on thermosyphons (heat pipes). In solar collectors, the use of thermosyphons (heat pipes) makes it possible to simplify the assembly of the structure, ensures its high modularity, maintainability and reliability. In the course of research, the authors have developed and justified the design of a solar collector based on thermosyphons fixed on panels that absorb solar rays. In order to analyze the efficiency of the solar collector based on two-phase copper thermosyphons, two models of solar collectors were created, viz. the one with a flat absorbing panel and the one with a cylindrical absorbing panel. The areas of the absorbing surfaces were the same. Both models were studied by the method of thermophysycal experiment. The results of studies of the effectiveness of the above-mentioned solar collectors have been obtained. The efficiency of the solar collector based on a copper two-phase thermosyphon, which is fixed on a cylindrical absorbing panel is 2–5 % more than the efficiency of the solar collector based on a copper two-phase thermosyphon, which is fixed on a flat absorbing panel. The maximum efficiency value obtained at low initial water temperatures for solar collectors with a cylindrical and flat absorbing surface was 60 %.

Coordination of microgrids protections is an emerging research issue due to the increasing participation of distributed generation (DG) in power grids. This review paper aims to show the current weaknesses in the coordination of protections for microgrids, as well as the available solutions and future challenges. The review evidences that microgrid protection systems must face two important aspects. The first one is the dynamic behavior presented by the microgrids that take place due to the intermittency of energy resources. The second one is related to the operation modes of the microgrids, since they may operate either connected or disconnected from the distribution network. The literature review also allowed classifying the most used protection schemes for microgrids. A comprehensive analysis which performs a discusion of the most relevant future challenges regarding microgrid protection coordination is also presented.

Waste-to-energy technology is an alternative way to reduce fossil fuels and to secure energy resources. This technology can be readily applied to our real society because non-recyclable but combustible wastes are generated every day and the technology is already available and mature as shown in many facilities for waste incineration. However, this technology incurs environmental and human health concerns due to toxic metals in wastes, which have not been effectively managed because metal- and waste-related risk assessment is too time- and resource-consuming for field facilities. Thus, this study suggests a practical methodology to effectively screen toxic combustible wastes and to identify priority metals to be targeted for pollution prevention; and carries out a case study to demonstrate the methodology. The methodology is based on the assessment of toxicity potentials (for instance, cancer, non-cancer, and eco-toxicity potentials) from metals in combustible wastes on a per-energy basis. The toxicity potential is quantified by using (i) the metal contents and lower heating value (LHV) of a combustible waste and (ii) the characterization factors accounting for the fate, exposure, and effect of metals. A case study is performed by applying the methodology to waste cable coating, waste engine oil, waste paint, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), refuse plastic fuel (RPF), waste medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and wastewater sludge. The case study results showed that the cable coating, engine oil, brown paint, RDF, and wastewater sludge had relatively high toxicity potentials, and their priority metals were lead (Pb), zinc, and copper. This study can be used for waste-to-energy facilities to practically screen toxic waste fuels and to determine post-treatment processes that can effectively remove priority metals.

This article develops a novel decentralized periodic energy trading framework for a pelagic islanded microgrid. Compared with situations of the microgrid connecting directly to the main grid and of the short-periodic energy trading system, in this article, we tackle the following challenges: the limitation of energy resources, the two types of end users (i.e., strategic users and normal users), the high uncertainty of renewable energy generations (REGs), and the nonconvexity of optimization problem. To overcome these four obstacles unavoidably existing in practice, we propose the models of user satisfaction with the priority power supply for strategic users. Robust optimization approach is adopted to address the uncertainty associated with the REGs. A nonconvex optimization problem derived from the game-theoretic approach and backward induction is solved via designing a decentralized bilevel iterative algorithm, then a Stackelberg equilibrium strategy is obtained, where the aggregator maximizes its revenue and each user minimizes its energy cost. Simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness and benefits of the proposed periodic energy trading framework for pelagic islanded microgrids.

To investigate the effect of the operating temperature on the performance of building integrated photovoltaic modules, two different crystalline silicon (c-Si) module types (glass/backsheet and glass/glass) with two different mounting configurations (ventilated and insulated) were installed in Canobbio, Switzerland and monitored over more than four years outdoors. The differences in the performance loss rates (PLRs) between module types and mounting configurations were determined by using the year-over-year methodology. The glass/backsheet module was markedly affected by the higher operating temperature: PLR changed from 0.01%/yr for ventilated to $-$ 0.42%/yr for insulated. However, the glass/glass module showed an opposite and unexpected trend: PLR changed from $-$ 0.10%/yr for ventilated to 0.26%/yr for insulated. Analysis of the IV curve parameters revealed that the decreased performance of the insulated glass/backsheet module was chiefly due to the loss in the fill factor with increased resistance; however, the gain in the short-circuit current ( I sc) was the main driver for the increased performance of the insulated glass/glass module. Real-world temperature coefficients were further examined and they were mostly found to be in line with the values measured indoors. Lower power–temperature and higher current–temperature dependence of the insulated glass/glass module, compared to the ventilated construction, supported the observed performance and current behavior of this module.

The use of biogas is one of the ways to supplement and partially replace traditional fuels in rural areas. The feasibility of farms’ energy supply from their own energy source and the need to reduce harmful emissions into the environment make the biogas plant an indispensable element of modern livestock complexes. The article considers the possibility of using biogas for energy supply of an agricultural enterprise. The schemes and design capabilities of biogas plant for small and medium size farms are considered. The list and volume of products that can be obtained from the operation of the biogas plant have been determined. Economic indicators of the use of animal manure for biogas production have been determined. A comparison of the cost-effectiveness of using biogas energy products has been conducted.

The fiberboard waste with about 10% adhesive as bonding materials will release a large amount of NOx into the atmosphere when being used for energy resources. To mitigate the emission, it is desira...

As more battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are connected to the microgrid, plug-in electric vehicles have a major impact on the microgrid. This paper proposes a multi-objective optimization energy management model including plug-in electric vehicles and other distributed generations. By analyzing the powertrain structure of different kinds of plug-in electric vehicles, the engine fuel consumption model, the charging model, the discharge model, and the battery state of charge model of plug-in electric vehicle in microgrids are given. The proposed model considers the plug-in electric vehicle battery state of charge constraints to prevent the battery from overcharging and over-discharging and gives the state of charge curve in microgrids. Simultaneously, an improved gray wolf algorithm, introducing optimization control factors and greedy strategies to better balance the mining and exploration capabilities of the gray wolf algorithm, is proposed to solve this multi-objective optimization energy management model. Compared with particle swarm optimization and traditional gray wolf algorithm, the improved algorithm further improves the accuracy and convergence speed. Besides, the improved algorithm is applied to three scheduling schemes, and the results show that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have more advantages in energy economy in some special cases.

Oil spill from ships poses a serious threat to the marine environment and can cause great losses of energy resources. The emergency response to oil spill from ships is challenging owing to the time...

Scientific and industrial development has given rise to a rapidly increasing energy demand. Alternative and augmented energy resources are expected everywhere due to scarcity and depletion of other non-renewable resources. During recent years wind and solar had emerged as a promising cleaner energy source to offer a favourable solution with better efficiency. Hence, the attention has now diverted towards scaling up of hybrid system of energy generation. Numerous attempts have been taken to demonstrate the technological development concerning the requirement of the region. Whilst some research has already started to evaluate the working of the prototype, insignificant attention has been paid towards it. The current work also focuses on the simulation with hybrid urban renewable energy systems for techno-economic feasibility analysis. There were earlier attempts to report the advancement occurred in the technological, scientific and industrial sector due to hybrid renewable energy system. In some regard, it was an attempt to showcase the modelling of a typical urban requirement in an hourly load profile to identify in the energy potentials of the urban region. These will help to summarize the past, present and future trends of the hybrid energy system design, development and implementation for the urban region, which can be later on replicated to other parts of the world.

The continuously growing energy demands for space air conditioning and depletion of conventional energy resources at a fast rate have propagated the need for producing a new and wide range of renew...

This article explains the causes of the Russia–Ukraine war starting in 2014 from the energy and energy markets perspective, based on resource dependency theory and the conceptual framework outlined by Jeffrey D. Colgan (2013). Our findings reveal that Russia is critically dependent on revenue from gas exports to Ukraine and the European Union, but also that Ukraine’s energy deposits and pipeline system have the potential to be a direct competitive threat to Russia’s energy exports. This paper argues that this was the underlying reason and main causal pathway leading to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine.

Unconventional oil and gas from shale formations have emerged as some of the fastest growing energy resources in the United States, providing both cleaner energy to consumers and reducing the natio...

In Indonesia, Casuarina montana usually planted as a road shading tree or in the home garden. This tree will be pruned periodically to reduce the amount of the canopy and maintain the beauty of its shape. Pruning biomass usually consists of the tip of the stem, branches, twigs, and leaves. The biomass has potency for energy or chemicals sources. This study aims to know about energy potential of various types of C. montana biomass and charcoal properties in different carbonization temperature. Six types of biomass from pruning waste of C. montana were used as samples. Branch has high potency as α-cellulose source, while bark including twig bark, branch bark, or stem bark have high potency as lignin source. When it is used as direct fuel (firewood), all biomass of C. montana possess quite high calorific value. When it is converted to be charcoal, temperature of 300°C is good for carbonizing the biomass twig, twig bark, branch bark, and stem bark, while biomass branch and stem need temperature of 400°C.

A vast amount of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes are generated in Western Australia (WA) of which a major portion goes to landfills. The diversion of C&D waste from landfills would be the single most significant opportunity for WA to improve its recovery performance. C&D waste materials have already been investigated for their appropriateness and use in pavement and concrete. This work is the continuation of the authors’ previous work involving further experimental tests to prove the structural suitability of a building’s structural member (i.e., beam) made of recycled aggregates and industrial by-products. The concrete mixes considered in this study are 100NA+100 OPC (Control), 100RA+100OPC, 50RA+50NA+90OPC+10SF and 50RA+50NA+60OPC+30FA+10SF. The Reinforced Concrete (RC) beam made of 50RA+50NA+60OPC+30FA+10SF concrete mix was found to be the only eco-efficient option. This option has reduced the level of environmental impacts in a cost-competitive manner. The use of this eco-efficient option could also provide new employment opportunities and significant improvements in terms of land and energy resources conservation and bio-diversity enhancement.

Despite having the largest reserves and forecasts for undiscovered hydrocarbon energy resources in the world, which highlights global energy dependence on the Middle East, a distinct lack of cooperation between regional governments is accompanied by incoherent energy policies and governmental processes that enable trans-regional powers (mainly, Western powers) to dominate resource exploitation and “win the game.” A lack of cooperation between Middle Eastern oil producing countries as well as attendant competition and rivalry allows significant leverage for Western powers to pit one Middle Eastern country against another; thus, permitting Western energy hegemony in the region. Using game theory and a qualitative analytical approach, the authors posit that trans-regional powers, to their advantage, have hegemonic control over regional Middle Eastern powers that maintain the pace of energy production to supply growing demands for predominantly western consumption. The Middle East countries will continue to lose the “game,” especially Iran and Saudi Arabia, if they do not reconcile differences and exploit options for regional cooperation. Such a modification in relations would allow coherent policies and governmental structures to institutionalize and reverse the current trend for extrinsic hegemony.

Existing energy resources are not sufficient to meet the energy needs of the increasing world population so the need for clean and renewable energy systems is increasing day after day. Hydrogen is ...

The role of energy for the developmental process of nations is a known fact due to being crucial input for any phase of production of goods and services. That’s the reason why countries that are rich in energy resources also have strategic power in terms of the international trade of these resources. On the other hand, it becomes important to provide energy security for countries that are resource-poor. Although green energy has become preferred one, fossil fuel energy keeps its place as one of the most used energy resources. That's why in this study it is aimed to determine major providers and users of coal as a type of fossil fuel energy resources. It is vital to investigate the structure of global coal trade structure to determine the weaknesses and strength of supply and use of coal. Network approach provides a holistic view to the system analyzed and presents more realistic (high-degree) indicators to analyze it. In this study, global trade network of coal is analyzed from 2000 to 2017 via network analysis. Changing structure and evolution of global coal trade has been revealed via some topological parameters which are specific to complex networks such as density, clustering, assortativity/disassortativity, centrality and degree distribution.

Conventional energy resources are gradually depleting day by day and the socio-economical concern for energy security is gaining attention. renewable energy sources are gaining popularity from its ...

The projected rise in wireless communication traffic has necessitated the advancement of energy-efficient (EE) techniques for the design of wireless communication systems, given the high operating costs of conventional wireless cellular networks, and the scarcity of energy resources in low-power applications. The objective of this paper is to examine the paradigm shifts in EE approaches in recent times by reviewing traditional approaches to EE, analyzing recent trends, and identifying future challenges and opportunities. Considering the current energy concerns, nodes in emerging wireless networks range from limited-energy nodes (LENs) to high-energy nodes (HENs) with entirely different constraints in either case. In view of these extremes, this paper examines the principles behind energy-efficient wireless communication network design. We then present a broad taxonomy that tracks the areas of impact of these techniques in the network. We specifically discuss the preponderance of prediction-based energy-efficient techniques and their limits, and then discuss the trends in renewable energy supply systems for future networks. Finally, we recommend more context-specific energy-efficient research efforts and cross-vendor collaborations to push the frontiers of energy efficiency in the design of wireless communication networks.

The intermittency introduced by the increasing integration of distributed renewable energy sources is challenging the efficient operation of residential distribution systems. A promising solution to tackle this challenge is the implementation of residential demand response through responsive household appliances such as heat pumps, refrigeration devices, and energy storage units. In this article, a peer-to-peer energy trading platform among residential houses is proposed to coordinate demand response schemes and level off potential generation/consumption disturbances in the hour-ahead intraday context. First, the day-ahead and intraday energy management models for residential houses are established considering the characteristics of responsive household appliances and energy storages. The discomfort and possible economic losses for performing demand responses are quantified with respect to the risk preferences of residential customers. The peer-to-peer energy trading platform is developed and a double-auction mechanism employed to promote the collaborative demand response schemes in the face of disturbances. An optimal bidding strategy of residential houses is also proposed. The feasibility of the proposed models and bidding strategy are verified through case studies. It is also illustrated that the residential demand response schemes and intraday peer-to-peer energy trading are effective in managing the uncertainties of load demand and renewable generation.

The energy discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean since the 2000s have placed the long-standing rivalry between Turkey and Cyprus (and by extension Greece) in a new context, bringing also Egypt a...

In this paper, we use an evolutionary swarm intelligence approach to build an automatic electric dispatch controller for an offshore wind power plant (WPP). The optimal power flow (OPF) problem for this WPP is solved by the Canonical Differential Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (C-DEEPSO). In this paper, C-DEEPSO works as a control system for reactive sources in energy production. The control operation takes place in a daily energy dispatch, scheduled into 15 min intervals and resulting in 96 operating test scenarios. As the nature of the optimization problem is dynamic, a fine-tuning of the initialization parameters of the optimization algorithm is performed at each dispatch interval. Therefore, a version of the C-DEEPSO algorithm has been built to automatically learn the best set of initialization parameters for each scenario. For this, we have coupled C-DEEPSO with the irace tool (an extension of the iterated F-race (I/F-Race)) by using inferential statistic techniques. The experiments carried out showed that the methodology employed here is robust and able to tackle this OPF-like modeling. Moreover, the methodology works as an automatic control system for a dynamic schedule operation., European Commission, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Comunidad de Madrid