Power from the People
Power from the People

Author: Greg Pahl

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2012-08-13

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1603584102

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Over 90 percent of US power generation comes from large, centralized, highly polluting, nonrenewable sources of energy. It is delivered through long, brittle transmission lines, and then is squandered through inefficiency and waste. But it doesn't have to be that way. Communities can indeed produce their own local, renewable energy. Power from the People explores how homeowners, co-ops, nonprofit institutions, governments, and businesses are putting power in the hands of local communities through distributed energy programs and energy-efficiency measures. Using examples from around the nation - and occasionally from around the world - Greg Pahl explains how to plan, organize, finance, and launch community-scale energy projects that harvest energy from sun, wind, water, and earth. He also explains why community power is a necessary step on the path to energy security and community resilience - particularly as we face peak oil, cope with climate change, and address the need to transition to a more sustainable future. This book - the second in the Chelsea Green Publishing Company and Post Carbon Institute's Community Resilience Series - also profiles numerous communitywide initiatives that can be replicated elsewhere.

Local Governments and Climate Change
Local Governments and Climate Change

Author: Maryke van Staden

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-04-05

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 1402095317

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Global warming is changing the world as we know it. Climate change can have catastrophic impacts in numerous cities across the world. It is time for us to react – quickly and effectively. The European Community (EC) has been leading the fight against climate change, making it one of its top priorities. We have introduced the most ambitious targets of their kind, known as the “20/20/20 by 2020” initiative within the “Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package.” As a result, European Member States have taken on a commitment to curb their CO emissions by at least 20% by 2020. 2 These targets are indeed commendable; however, they are only the start if we are to avoid the consequences of global warming. Whilst top level coordination from the European Institutions and Member State governments is vital, the role of mitigating and adapting to climate change at local level must not be forgotten. In fact, here cities, regions and their citizens play a significant a role. It is therefore vital they become directly involved in the climate change challenge. The European Commission therefore launched in 2008 a new initiative, the Covenant of Mayors, which brings together a network of European mayors in a voluntary effort to go beyond the European Union’s already ambitious targets. Half of our greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are created in and by cities.

Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development
Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development

Author: International Atomic Energy Agency

Publisher: United Nations Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13:

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This publication presents a set of energy indicators for sustainable development and is an analytical tool for countries to track their progress on energy for sustainable development. The thematic framework, guidelines, methodologies and energy indicators set out in this publication reflect the expertise of five international agencies and organizations (International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, International Energy Agency, Eurostat and European Environment Agency). General guidelines and specific methodology sheets for 30 energy indicators are outlined in this report for statisticians, analysts, policy makers and academics to use in their efforts to analyse the effects of energy policies on the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Sustainable Local Energy Planning and Decision Making: Emerging Research and Opportunities
Sustainable Local Energy Planning and Decision Making: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Author: Marinakis, Vangelis

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2017-03-31

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1522522875

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It is imperative to promote and maintain sustainability in all areas of the world. By developing effective energy usage frameworks, regional communities can better achieve this goal. Sustainable Local Energy Planning and Decision Making: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an authoritative reference source featuring the latest scholarly research on an operational framework for decision support for local and regional authorities to aid in sustainable energy planning. Including extensive coverage on a broad range of topics and perspectives such as emission trends, energy balance, and climate change, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the development of regional sustainable energy plans.

Local Climate Action Planning
Local Climate Action Planning

Author: Michael R. Boswell

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-07-16

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1610912012

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Climate change is a global problem, but the problem begins locally. Cities consume 75% of the world's energy and emit 80% of the world's greenhouse gases. Changing the way we build and operate our cities can have major effects on greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, communities across the U.S. are responding to the climate change problem by making plans that assess their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and specify actions they will take to reduce these emissions. This is the first book designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop Climate Action Plans. CAPs are strategic plans that establish policies and programs for mitigating a community's greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. They typically focus on transportation, energy use, and solid waste, and often differentiate between community-wide actions and municipal agency actions. CAPs are usually based on GHG emissions inventories, which indentify the sources of emissions from the community and quantify the amounts. Additionally, many CAPs include a section addressing adaptation-how the community will respond to the impacts of climate change on the community, such as increased flooding, extended drought, or sea level rise. With examples drawn from actual plans, Local Climate Action Planning guides preparers of CAPs through the entire plan development process, identifying the key considerations and choices that must be made in order to assure that a plan is both workable and effective.

Renewables
Renewables

Author: Michael Aklin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-03-23

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0262344610

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A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock—an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example—allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, andt they draw on this analyisis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues.

Integrated Spatial and Energy Planning
Integrated Spatial and Energy Planning

Author: Gernot Stoeglehner

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-02

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 3319318705

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This book focuses on spatial planning – an important determinant of energy saving and renewable energy supply. Revealing the key driving forces for spatial development supporting the shift towards energy efficiency and renewable energy supplies, it shows the importance of integrated spatial and energy planning approaches for a timely and sustainable change of energy systems, thus supporting policies of climate protection. As operating within the context of renewable energy sources is becoming a major policy issue at the international, European and national level, spatial dimensions of renewable energy systems as well as challenges, barriers and opportunities in different spatial contexts become more important. This book analyses not only the fundamental system interrelations between resources, technologies and consumption patterns with respect to energy, but also the links to the spatial context, and provides guidelines for researchers as well as practitioners in this new, emerging field. It presents innovative analytical tools to solve real-world problems and discusses the most important fields of action in integrated spatial and energy planning including planning contents, planning visions and principles as well as planning process design and planning methodology.

Local Energy Autonomy
Local Energy Autonomy

Author: Fanny Lopez

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-04-26

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1119616255

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In recent years, interest for local energy production, supply and consumption has increased in academic and public debates. In particular, contemporary energy transition discourses and strategies often emphasize the search for increased local energy autonomy, a phrase which can refer to a diverse range of configurations, both in terms of the spaces and scales of the local territory considered and in terms of what is meant by energy autonomy. This book explores policies, projects and processes aimed at increased local energy autonomy, with a particular focus on their spatial, infrastructural and political dimensions. In doing so, the authors – Sabine Barles, Bruno Barroca, Guilhem Blanchard, Benoit Boutaud, Arwen Colell, Gilles Debizet, Ariane Debourdeau, Laure Dobigny, Florian Dupont, Zélia Hampikian, Sylvy Jaglin, Allan Jones, Raphael Ménard, Alain Nadaï, Angela Pohlmann, Cyril Roger-Lacan, Eric Vidalenc – improve our understanding of the always partial and controversial processes of energy relocation that articulate forms of local metabolic self-sufficiency, socio-technical decentralization and political empowerment. Comprising fifteen chapters, the book is divided into four parts: Governance and Actors; Urban Projects and Energy Systems; Energy Communities; and The Challenges of Energy Autonomy.

Green Defense Technology
Green Defense Technology

Author: Michael Evan Goodsite

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-03-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789401775984

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This book focuses on the ways in which military installations and small cities can implement and integrate triple net planning and energy, water, and waste sustainability strategies into broad installation operational management, arrive at the best decision, create policy and communicate effectively to stakeholders. It explores current and emerging technologies, methods, and frameworks for energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy within the context of triple net zero implementation practice. Recognizing that the challenge extends beyond finding technological solutions to achieve triple net zero outcomes, the contributions also address the need for a systemic view in the planning phase, as well as adequate communication and policy measures and incentives.

Handbook of the Politics of the Arctic
Handbook of the Politics of the Arctic

Author: Leif Christian Jensen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2015-09-25

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13: 0857934740

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The Arctic has again become one of the leading issues on the international foreign policy agenda, in a manner unseen since the Cold War. Drawing on the perspectives of geo-politics and international law, this Handbook offers fresh insights and perspectives on the most pressing issues, grouped under the headings of political ascendancy, climate and environmental issues, resources and energy, and the response and policies of affected countries.