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Bats subject to high rates of fatalities at wind-energy facilities are of high conservation concern due to the long-term, cumulative effects they have, but the impact on broader bat populations can be difficult to assess. One reason is the poor understanding of the geographic source of individual fatalities and whether they constitute migrants or more local individuals. Here, we used stable hydrogen isotopes, trace elements and species distribution models to determine the most likely summer geographic origins of three different bat species (Lasiurus borealis, L. cinereus, and Lasionycteris noctivagans) killed at wind-energy facilities in Ohio and Maryland in the eastern United States. In Ohio, 41.6%, 21.3%, 2.2% of all individuals of L. borealis, L. cinereus, and L. noctivagans, respectively, had evidence of movement. In contrast, in Maryland 77.3%, 37.1%, and 27.3% of these same species were classified as migrants. Our results suggest bats killed at a given wind facility are likely derived from migratory as well as resident populations. Finally, there is variation in the proportion of migrants killed between seasons for some species and evidence of philopatry to summer roosts. Overall, these results indicate that the impact of wind-energy facilities on bat populations occurs across a large geographic extent, with the proportion of migrants impacted likely to vary across species and sites. Similar studies should be conducted across a broader geographic scale to understand the impacts on bat populations from wind-energy facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficiency of using conventional energy facilities based on renewable energy sources to provide energy to battery swapping stations and charging stations for electric vehicles in one of the selected countries. As part of the work, the following tasks are solved: •A mathematical model of charging stations or battery swapping stations, electrical installations based on renewable energy, and general energy facilities operating parallel to the electrical grid and autonomously is developed; •A methodology has been developed, verifying the structures and parameters of energy facilities based on renewable energy sources for charging batteries of electric vehicles; •The efficiency of using generation facilities based on renewable energy sources to battery charging stations in rural areas of such a large country is evaluated; •The number of hybrid energy facilities based on renewable energy sources and charging stations is evaluated. Design/methodology/approach: The examined power plant facilities serve electric vehicles in cities, recreation areas, industrial enterprises, and highways. Service types such as charging the battery and replacing discharged batteries of electric vehicles with pre-charged batteries are used at charging stations for electric vehicles. The efficiency of using conventional energy installations as part of charging stations is evaluated in regions with different climatic conditions. Findings: The results show an increase in profit when participating in the ancillary service market. Originality/value: In the following research paper were presented the optimization objective function that maximizes the profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats subject to high rates of fatalities at wind-energy facilities are of high conservation concern due to the long-term, cumulative effects they have, but the impact on broader bat populations can be difficult to assess. One reason is the poor understanding of the geographic source of individual fatalities and whether they constitute migrants or more local individuals. Here, we used stable hydrogen isotopes, trace elements and species distribution models to determine the most likely summer geographic origins of three different bat species (Lasiurus borealis, L. cinereus, and Lasionycteris noctivagans) killed at wind-energy facilities in Ohio and Maryland in the eastern United States. In Ohio, 41.6%, 21.3%, 2.2% of all individuals of L. borealis, L. cinereus, and L. noctivagans, respectively, had evidence of movement. In contrast, in Maryland 77.3%, 37.1%, and 27.3% of these same species were classified as migrants. Our results suggest bats killed at a given wind facility are likely derived from migratory as well as resident populations. Finally, there is variation in the proportion of migrants killed between seasons for some species and evidence of philopatry to summer roosts. Overall, these results indicate that the impact of wind-energy facilities on bat populations occurs across a large geographic extent, with the proportion of migrants impacted likely to vary across species and sites. Similar studies should be conducted across a broader geographic scale to understand the impacts on bat populations from wind-energy facilities.

This research focuses on exploring various techniques and models for simulating the random behavior of energy facilities or systems. These simulations are essential in identifying the likelihood of component failures within the studied facilities. By assessing the potential consequences of emergency scenarios, this analysis serves as a fundamental aspect of synthesizing and analyzing reliability in the cyber-physical system. Ultimately, the study aims to enhance the management and control of reliability and safety for these facilities. In this study, a unified heating source is considered as an energy facility (as part of district heating systems), for example, a combined heat and power plant. However, the developed methods and models have sufficient universality for their adaptation to other energy facilities without significant changes. The research methodology is based on the use of Markov random processes and laws of the probability theory. The basic model of the energy facilities is formulated for the conditions of the simplest events flow with appropriate assumptions and constraints, in particular, ordinary events and independence of events (failures and restorations). To take into account the non-ordinary events (failures) and dependences between some failures, corresponding modifications of the basic model are proposed. A computational experiment was carried out using the developed models, and graphical interpretations of the results are presented. The obtained results allow us to formulate some preliminary conclusions about the range of influence of the simulated factors on the reliability analysis of studied facilities and to outline conditions and areas of their admissible application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An undeclared war has been going on in Ukraine for more than one year. Defeated at the front, Russia resorted to massive shelling of energy facilities with the aim of leaving Ukrainians wit­hout electricity and heat during the winter. As reported, since October 10, the Russians have fired more than a thousand missiles and drones at Ukrainian energy facilities. The shelling on November 23, 2022 led to a system crash — a blackout occurred. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, all of the country’s nuclear power units were shut down. In conditions of lack of light and non-wor­king refrige­rating chambers, the storage conditions of thermolabile immunobiological drugs became a new test for the medical community and patients. As you know, immunobiological drugs, which are widely used in the treatment of various rheumatological disea­ses, require strict storage conditions in the temperature range from +2 to +8 °С. Under blackout conditions, it is difficult for Ukrainian patients to maintain optimal storage conditions for these drugs. The analysis of the studies showed that the majority of patients do not comply with the requirements for the storage of thermolabile drugs, even with the constant presence of light and electricity. Experts indicate that more and more thermolabile drugs are becoming available, and in most cases, these medications are dispensed to ambulatory patients. More thermolabile drugs are becoming avai­lable, and in most cases, these medications are dispensed to ambulatory patients. However, there is no regulation once medications are dispensed to patients and little is known with regard to what happens during transport and home sto­rage. Previous studies suggest that these drugs are improperly stored. Future studies should focus on clinical consequences and possible solutions. It is recommended for Ukrainians to follow the rules and conditions of sto­rage of heat-labile medicinal products during blackouts/emergency and stabilization blackouts.

Cyber situational awareness is the result of both the analysis of cyber security and situational awareness studies and the line of research that uses artificial intelligence methods in the field of cybersecurity. It covers both methods of automatic detection of cyber threats in the network and methods of providing information to an analyst for further risk analysis and decision making to protect of the assets of the facility. Investigations of cyber situational awareness in the energy sector have become pertinent resulting from both the concept of the digital transformation of energy and the consideration of energy facilities and systems as cyber-physical systems. The problems of ensuring cybersecurity and raising awareness about the cyber environment of an energy facility are compounded by their high significance for the economies of countries. In this regard, such facilities are considered as critical infrastructure. The first part of this article discusses the basic concepts of cyber situational awareness, some knowledge representation models and some existing security metrics. The second part considers the use of frame, production and network models of knowledge representation in the analysis of the cyber situational awareness of energy facilities and the software components that implement them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we consider authors' information and computational system for energy facilities' impact assessment on the environment. The necessity of such assessments and development of this system is substantiated. We developed this system as a Web application using the agent-service approach. To develop a database for the system, we utilized ontological engineering of energy and ecology. For assessments, we developed a set of information susbsystems that use approved regulatory methods. Our system can be used for assessment of the impact of both existing and planning energy facilities and also for planning measures to reduce the harmful impact of such facilities. We also performed a set of computational experiments in order to test the developed system. Experiments have shown the correctness of the methods used, and the results of one of them are presented in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy systems are key elements of critically important infrastructures, as they provide the required quality of life for the population, as well as create the necessary conditions for the reliable functioning of various branches of the economy. One of the priorities is to ensure the safe functioning of such systems, and in recent years, considerable attention has been paid to proactive safety methods. Within the framework of these methods, the main efforts are aimed at early identification of violations and deviations in the operation or maintenance of the facility. The building and use of the safety pyramid is one of the areas of implementation of a proactive approach. The paper presents the analysis of statistical data on incidents and detected violations at Russian energy facilities. The analysis made it possible to build the corresponding safety pyramids, as well as to identify that the ratio between the levels of the pyramid significantly depends on the specific type of facility. The possibility of using the safety pyramid to assess expected prevented damage in case of elimination of detected violations is also shown. Examples of assessing the value of prevented damage for energy facilities are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE PURPOSE. The study of a fish protection structure such as a water-air curtain as an example of an ecological solution to the problem of conservation of aquatic biological resources at an energy facility.METHODS. A comparative analysis of our own research and literature data on the use and evaluation of the effectiveness of fish protection structures (FPS) has been carried out. For the selection of ichthyological samples, mesh networks of 10, 18, 22, 30 and 70 mm were used, installed in front of the water supply channels to the shore pumping stations (SPS). When analyzing the efficiency of the FPS, the methods of fish accounting are considered: the method of catching fish and the procedure for conducting observations at the facility. The assessment of fish ingress to the SPS (after the FPS) was carried out by round-the-clock observations of fish penetrating into the water supply channel in comparison with their ingress to the water-retaining rotating nets of water treatment machines on the SPS. The efficiency coefficient was determined by the difference in the concentration of fish before the FPS (at the reservoir) and after the FPS (at the SPS).RESULTS. It is shown that the efficiency coefficient of the FPS by the type of water-air curtain averaged 86.9%, which exceeds the regulatory efficiency. It has been revealed that a fish protection structure (FPS) by the type of a water-air curtain is the most environmentally friendly technical solution for water intake at power facilities.CONCLUSION. The improvement of the ecological situation in the area of the location of the RSL by the type of water-air curtain in terms of the concentration of oxygen in the water and the reduction of trophies due to the oxidation of organic substances was noted.concentration in water and of decrease in trophy due to the oxidation of organic substances.

An undeclared war has been going on in Ukraine for more than one year. Defeated at the front, Russia resorted to massive shelling of energy facilities with the aim of leaving Ukrainians without electricity and heat during the winter. As reported, since October 10, the Russians have fired more than a thousand missiles and drones at Ukrainian energy facilities. The shelling on November 23, 2022 led to a system crash — a blackout occurred. Forthe first time in the history of Ukraine, all of the country’s nuclear power units were shut down. In conditions of lack of light and non-working refrigerating chambers, the storage conditions of thermolabile immunobiological drugs became a new test for the medical community and patients. As you know, immunobiological drugs, which are widely used in the treatment of various rheumatological diseases, require strict storage conditions in the temperature range from +2 to +8 °С. Under blackout conditions, it is difficult for Ukrainian patientsto maintain optimal storage conditions for these drugs. The analysis of the studies showed that the majority of patients do not comply with the requirements for the storage of thermolabile drugs, even with the constant presence of light and electricity. Experts indicate that more and more thermolabile drugs are becoming available, and in most cases, these medications are dispensed to ambulatory patients. More thermolabile drugs are becoming available, and in most cases, these medications are dispensed to ambulatory patients. However, there is no regulation once medications are dispensed to patients and little is known with regard to what happens during transport and home storage. Previous studies suggest that these drugs are improperly stored. Future studies should focus on clinical consequences and possible solutions. It is recommended for Ukrainians to follow the rules and conditions of storage of heat-labile medicinal products during blackouts/emergency and stabilization blackouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on exploring various techniques and models for simulating the random behavior of energy facilities or systems. These simulations are essential in identifying the likelihood of component failures within the studied facilities. By assessing the potential consequences of emergency scenarios, this analysis serves as a fundamental aspect of synthesizing and analyzing reliability in the cyber-physical system. Ultimately, the study aims to enhance the management and control of reliability and safety for these facilities. In this study, a unified heating source is considered as an energy facility (as part of district heating systems), for example, a combined heat and power plant. However, the developed methods and models have sufficient universality for their adaptation to other energy facilities without significant changes. The research methodology is based on the use of Markov random processes and laws of the probability theory. The basic model of the energy facilities is formulated for the conditions of the simplest events flow with appropriate assumptions and constraints, in particular, ordinary events and independence of events (failures and restorations). To take into account the non-ordinary events (failures) and dependences between some failures, corresponding modifications of the basic model are proposed. A computational experiment was carried out using the developed models, and graphical interpretations of the results are presented. The obtained results allow us to formulate some preliminary conclusions about the range of influence of the simulated factors on the reliability analysis of studied facilities and to outline conditions and areas of their admissible application.

In this article we consider authors’ information and computational system for energy facilities’ impact assessment on the environment. The necessity of such assessments and development of this system is substantiated. We developed this system as a Web application using the agent-service approach. To develop a database for the system, we utilized ontological engineering of energy and ecology. For assessments, we developed a set of information susbsystems that use approved regulatory methods. Our system can be used for assessment of the impact of both existing and planning energy facilities and also for planning measures to reduce the harmful impact of such facilities. We also performed a set of computational experiments in order to test the developed system. Experiments have shown the correctness of the methods used, and the results of one of them are presented in the article.

The transition to mitigate climate change necessitates a rapid and global diffusion of renewable energy but this should not jeopardise the need to meet similarly important targets for biodiversity. Wind energy is a leading cause of bat mortality globally, yet little is known about the impacts to bats in Africa. I studied these impacts in South Africa to enhance knowledge on wind energy impacts on African bats. I reviewed data from 59 studies published in scientific journals and technical reports of operational monitoring of bat fatalities at wind turbines. Bat fatalities occurred at all operating wind energy facilities in South Africa. Tadarida aegyptiaca accounted for the majority of carcasses, followed by Neoromicia capensis and Miniopterus natalensis. The majority of fatalities were of non-migratory species and occurred between February and April although bats were killed in all months. Bat fatality differed between wind energy facilities in terms of observed fatality/year, estimated fatality/year and estimated fatality/MW/year but these differences could not be explained by broad scale vegetation patterns. Total estimated bat fatality between 2011 and 2020 was 12,601 bats. Mean fatality/MW/year was 2.8 bats. I estimate that between 2013 and 2050, a minimum of 996,974 bats may be killed at South African wind energy facilities. My results present the first estimates of the scale of potential wind energy impacts to bats in South Africa and the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The only breeding population of the endangered Florida panther Puma concolor coryi is restricted to <5% of its historic range in South Florida, but this area may be at carrying capacity and three viable populations within the historic range are needed for species recovery. The number of utility‐scale solar energy (USSE) facility installations is increasing rapidly throughout Florida, and while important in combatting carbon emissions and climate change, they pose additional threats to Florida panther habitat and dispersal corridors.We compared Florida panther habitat suitability and connectivity pre‐ and post‐installation of 45 USSE facilities within Peninsular Florida using random forest to predict probability of presence in 1 km2 cells and circuit theory (Circuitscape 4.0) to predict movement probability between the areas of suitable habitat.We found that most often solar facilities were installed on grasslands and pastures (45.7% of total area replaced by solar facilities) and agricultural lands (34.9%). Forest was the third most impacted land cover category (13.2%). Probability of presence in the 351 impacted cells decreased by 0.03.The major changes in current density occurred within the cells overlapped by the facilities and within their vicinity. Post‐installation effective resistance between core areas increased by 0.07%.Nine facilities were located within major corridors connecting the only breeding population with other areas with the potential to support populations of Florida panther, 26 facilities were located within lesser current density areas that maintain some dispersal capacity and six facilities had no, or very minimal, potential expected impact on connectivity (four were excluded from the analysis).Our findings suggest a substantial bias in the locating of USSE facilities within rural and undeveloped lands that may provide connectivity sufficient for Florida panther dispersal to habitat suitable for population establishment. Our research is the first study documenting the effect of USSE facilities on both habitat suitability and regional‐scale connectivity of suitable habitat for any large carnivore.Synthesis and applications. Current permitting review methodologies resulting in USSE (utility‐scale solar energy) facilities installation approval may be inadequate, and facility siting should consider landscape‐level connectivity in addition to environmental impacts within facility boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses energy sites like real estate and their specifics and economic characteristics. As energy sites are always permanently attached to the land, according to Bulgarian law, they are equated to real estate, and the transfer of ownership must be in notarized form. Therefore, to define the energy sites in detail and derive their characteristics, they should be considered a specific type of real estate. Energy sites are subject to special supervision, and their owners can only be energy companies. Like all real estate, energy sites have the character of economic goods, as they are created as a result of human activity and to meet specific needs in society - production, transportation, storage, and distribution of energy. They are tangible fixed assets and can also be characterized as a particular type of capital and a special type of goods in rare cases [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers spatial organization of energy facilities with an emphasis on modern practice of the Republic of Belarus. The efficiency of enterprise operation in any industry including power industry is largely due to their architectural and planning organization. Knowledge of mechanisms and specific features of the changes taking place here makes it possible to justify a promising strategy for project activities, and therefore, it allows to manage development processes of the industry and thereby avoid many negative consequences. Energy facilities are a typological unit of industrial architecture, their formation has been started due to transition of industrial production to electric energy. Today the typology shows functional approach in architectural shaping, it includes a fairly large variety of constituent units and demonstrates a tendency towards diversification. In Belarus energy facilities in the architectural aspect of their classification are limited mostly to thermal power plants operating on different types of fuel. Currently the diversification is developing in the following areas: construction of hydropower facilities (small plants on reservoirs, medium power plants, low-pressure plants, run-of-the-river hydraulic power stations), alternative energy (wind power stations, photovoltaic power stations and biogas plants) and conventional energy (thermal power plant, mini-combined heat and power plant operating on renewable fuel). The results of Belarusian practice in construction of all types of facilities (hydropower, alternative and conventional energy), peculiarities of the architectural and planning organization of facilities at the current stage, correlation with global trends in the development of industrial architecture have been characterized in the paper. The paper has determined typological features of alternative energy facility architecture, opportunities and directions for implementation of architectural approaches, problems and prospects to develop scientific support for the project process.

The object of the research underlying this article is the geoecological issues of the creation of energy facilities in Russia, and such issues are considered in the aspect of rationing. These issues have not been studied enough, while their relevance is associated with the large-scale negative impact of energy facilities on the natural environment, as well as with the designation of state rationing as one of the leading areas of research within the scientific specialty “Geoecology”. The purpose of the work was to identify the features of “geoecological rationing” in Russia by the example of the creation of energy facilities. To achieve it, the current situation concerning the geoecological aspects of rationing when creating energy facilities is considered. The stages and main problems of the formation of geoecology as a science in Russia are described (the national uniqueness of this phenomenon is emphasized). The directions of geoecological research that are relevant from the point of view of creating energy facilities, including the justification of state rationing, are highlighted. The main documents on standardization, the subject area of which affects the considered sphere of urban planning activity, are analyzed. The conclusion is made about the insufficient effectiveness of the considered documents in the geoecological aspect. The main problems of environmental regulation and standardization in the field of higher professional education in the field of “geoecology” are also identified. To rectify the situation, options are offered for performing systematic scientific studies, the results of which will be used, among other things, to update the documents under consideration.

To understand anti-democratic barriers to accomplishing energy democracy, I examine how and why a centralised energy system can maintain itself based on an ethnographic analysis of the local protest of the Miryang community against the Korea Electric Power Corporation's construction of a 765,000-volt transmission line. In doing so, I incorporate the element of authoritarian communication into the framework of peripheralization – a socio-political reproduction of social, spatial, and environmental inequality caused by siting environmentally hazardous facilities in peripheral communities and reinforcing their powerlessness – to emphasize the aggressive role of government and industry actors. Composed of unidirectional projection, partial absorption, and forceful suppression, authoritarian communication makes the sacrifices of peripheral communities enduring, and consequently enables an undemocratic energy arrangement to be resilient and perpetual. To overcome this mechanism, I highlight the active roles of citizens to contest authoritarian communication and socio-environmental inequalities as a precondition to building a sustainable energy democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worker trainers not only teach health and safety in the classroom setting but also serve informally as important peer resources on the shop floor. They are often the "go to" people, for both hourly workers and managers, when there is a health or safety question—be it about tank vapors or personal protective equipment, confined space, or specific chemicals. These worker trainers actively use health and safety resource materials, both hard copy and online. Documented here, through two surveys of worker trainers—at U.S. Department of Energy facilities, trained through the International Chemical Workers Union Council Consortium of the Worker Training Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences—is documentation of this additional contribution that worker trainers make toward safer and more healthful work places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aspects limiting the widespread development of nuclear energy—the consequences of possible severe accidents and the problem of radioactive waste management—are considered. It is shown that modern computational tools and digital technologies can successfully solve the problems of substantiating and ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities, including modeling the states and processes occurring in a reactor installation, and the entire complex of nuclear power plant (NPP) systems, the spread of contaminants in emergency situations, the choice and justification of solutions on decommissioning nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities, and the disposal of radioactive waste (RW). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In competition with other resources, ocean waves provide abundant supply of clean, safe, and reliable energy, but this source needs to be made an economical source for natural energy harvest. For this purpose, a wave energy conversion device is developed through various mechanisms by using ocean fluctuations that affect the ecosystems. The study was developed for the user to reduce the need for profitability of competitive balance and to support decision-makers who govern the equations for identifying locations for wave energy conversion facilities. Our model of wave energy harvesting is based on the analysis of the wave energy facility to quantify the net present value (NPV) of capital investment and evaluation. The proposed model has a local, regional, and flexible framework that can be applied even to the global scale for the wave energy conversion projects. The proposed model can be applied to the ongoing marine spatial planning. Specifically, the applications and ecological characteristics with an existing data collected by laboratory experiments and filed investigations, and the work of the various studies of the quantitative analysis of the compatibility of the commercial fishery data analysis spatial overlap. According to the empirical statistics, we found that the waves of the ocean around the west of Taiwan Island, had a great potential for high harvest, and offshore wave energy gradually increased. However, it comes to have an area of high economic potential whilst taking advantage of wave energy equipment to support the acquisition of a number of different coastal energy, the cost of the landing point of the submarine cable. The NPV is maximized if the conflict of use agreement is in place in the existing sea area. It is possible to build a wave energy facility in order to minimize the maximum composite wave energy and other economic uses. The high possibility of building the facility benefits the goal of this research. By mapping the wave energy, the governing equations of the study can assist decision-makers to use NPV to explore an alternative location for wave energy conversion facilities in order to reap the maximum returns. It is expected that the high potential areas would not be exploited in the race of capturing the existing marine space.

Information Technologies (hereinafter -- the "IT") without security functions (hereinafter -- the "SF") are the exception rather than the rule nowadays [1 -- 4]. Components of IT without SF are not a big problem since they can be replaced by analogs, which SF have, or can be supplemented by the necessary "imposed" SF, or we can "import" the required SF from the adjacent components of IT, which are an integral part of the information processing system (hereinafter -- the "IPS"). Speaking further of IT, we will assume that the modern IT components presented in the competitive market for energy facilities (hereinafter -- the "EF") already have a certain set of SF and are able to support IT-security tasks (hereinafter -- the "IST"). Many scientists have done enough research on various safety issues at facilities and published their results [5 -- 13]. These studies also concern the causes of various incidents at key facilities, especially energy ones, risk identification, and the analysis of the consequences for safety. Against this background, the problem of adequate IT-security assessment of the EF is particularly relevant [14 -- 16]. Indeed, why should we spend the resources on the implementation of additional "superimposed" SF in IPS, if there is an opportunity to optimize costs by using existing and practically "spent" SF? In this case, a reasonable solution would be to assess the existing level of IT-security related to the architecture of IPS resulting from the composition of IT-components that have SF for key EF [17 -- 21]. Based on the results of the evaluation, it is possible to make a decision on the implementation of new additional SF in IPS based on documented facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of energy performance indicators is essential to substantiate investment decisions in energy facilities. Energy audit is the procedure by which energy performance indicators can be assessed and identified measures to improve them. Considering the share and the potential to improve the efficiency of cogeneration sources for the production of thermal and electrical energy, the determination of their performance indicators based on energy audits is essential for achieving the goals of reducing energy consumption. This paper is a synthesis of the results obtained in performing the energy audit of a cogeneration source serving an industrial consumer. After describing the general framework, the justification of the concern and the presentation of the defining elements of characterization of the analyzed installation, the second part of the paper refers to the specificities of the applied complex energy balance model. Next, reference is made to the methodology for obtaining input quantities in energy balance models and mass balance sheets. The final part of the paper presents the results obtained, the values of the performance indicators, the measures for improving the energy efficiency and the general conclusions of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a table of content for a 2018 issue of the periodical, along with a list of its editorial board members, including Lindsay Audin, Barry Benator, and Ian Boylan; and editorial policy infomation.

In 2010, The Nature Conservancy completed the Mojave Desert Ecoregional Assessment, which characterizes conservation values across nearly 130,000 km2 of the desert Southwest. Since this assessment was completed, several renewable energy facilities have been built in the Mojave Desert, thereby changing the conservation value of these lands. We have completed a new analysis of land use to reassess the conservation value of lands in two locations in the Mojave Desert where renewable energy development has been most intense: Ivanpah Valley, and the Western Mojave. We found that 99 of our 2.59-km2 planning units were impacted by development such that they would now be categorized as having lower conservation value, and most of these downgrades in conservation value were due to solar and wind development. Solar development alone was responsible for a direct development footprint 86.79 km2: 25.81 km2 of this was primarily high conservation value Bureau of Land Management lands in the Ivanpah Valley, and 60.99 km2 was privately owned lands, mostly of lower conservation value, in the Western Mojave. Our analyses allow us to understand patterns in renewable energy development in the mostly rapidly changing regions of the Mojave Desert. Our analyses also provide a baseline that will allow us to assess the effectiveness of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan in preventing development on lands of high conservation value over the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers typically conduct fatality monitoring to determine a wind energy facility’s direct impacts on wildlife. In the United States, wind energy impacts on eagles have received increased attention in recent years because eagle incidental take permits became available. Permit holders are required to conduct fatality monitoring to evaluate compliance with permitted eagle take. Our objective was to develop an efficient eagle fatality monitoring protocol with a quantifiable detection probability based on a stationary scanning search method. We conducted scanning searches for eagle carcasses at four wind energy facilities. We estimated searcher efficiency of the scanning search method using feathered turkey decoys as eagle carcass surrogates, used publicly available data on large raptor carcass distances from turbines to evaluate the proportion of carcasses expected to occur in searched areas, and estimated carcass persistence rates for game birds and raptors. These three bias adjustments were combined to estimate the overall probability of detection for the scanning search method. We found generally high searcher efficiency for the scanning search method, with 76% of decoys detected; however, detection decreased with distance and difficulty of visibility class. Mean carcass persistence time varied between 28 and 76 days for raptors and between three and nine days for game birds, showing that game birds do not persist as long as raptors. We estimated that 95% of large avian carcasses fall within 100 m of turbine bases, and 99% fall within 150 m. Using these estimates and assuming a 30-day search interval for all facility turbines, we estimated that the probability of detecting a large raptor carcass using the scanning search method at a wind facility ranged from 0.50 to 0.69. Our research suggests a monitoring program that uses scanning searches can be a cost-effective approach for gathering data necessary to meet incidental eagle take permit requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article comments on the value of establishing energy centers for rural villages of the world's countries. Electrical power and biogas shall be generated in the said centers, thus supplying each home with cheap but clean source of energy. Compared to installing individual energy devices in each home, the energy center can be operated by the locals who can be trained for such task. Rural energy centers are now operational in Mexico, Senegal and Sri Lanka under the auspices of the U.N. Environment Program.

The article reports on the issues concerning the establishment of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 in the U.S. The act has created the basic organizational framework for government handling of atomic energy. It has provided for an Atomic Energy Commission which consists of five full-time members appointed by the President subject to Senate confirmation, wherein its statutory term was five years, with one term expiring each year. The commission has a full responsibility and authority for conduct of the national atomic energy program.