"Sheds light on the recent history of clean energy between the 2009 recession and 2012. What went wrong? What went well? This book provides ... perspectives from the industry's leading policymakers, technology investors, and industry experts" --
From a scientific point of view, several challenges to renewable energy come from the intermittent nature of energy sources such as wind, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal. These problems are currently being addressed with research on power electronics converters, storage systems, Artificial Intelligence techniques, new materials and production technologies, numerical analysis techniques, among others. This research endeavours to reduce costs and find alternative energy sources that are competitive with fossil fuels. Consequently, these efforts of the scientific community will contribute to improving the quality of life on the planet. This book summarises ten years of contributions to these topics, and contains a selection of the best papers presented at the International Conferences on Renewable Energy and Power Quality (ICREPQ) from 2003 to 2012. These contributions have been selected by a team of voluntary reviewers, with two to four reviewers assigned to each paper. At the end of this process only about 5% of all presented papers were selected. Considering each paper had been reviewed before, in order to be accepted for the conference, the selected papers represent “the best of the best”. The contributors to this book represent some of the leading authorities in their areas of expertise. This book will be of particular interest to professional engineers and researchers dealing with renewable energy exploitation, but will also prove useful to postgraduate level students. In addition, it can be used as a reference book for engineers, physicists and mathematicians who are interested and involved in the operation, project management, design, and analysis of renewable sources equipment.
The use of renewables is spreading rapidly. Over a quarter of global electricity is already generated from solar, wind, hydro and biomass energy. With costs falling significantly, renewables are booming, helping to avoid the major climate change risks associated with fossil fuel use in power stations, homes and vehicles. But can we get rid of all of these dirty energy sources – and nuclear power, as well – and deliver 100% of our energy from renewables? Or are renewable energy systems inherently unreliable and expensive, given the need to deal with their variability? In this timely analysis, leading energy expert David Elliott tackles these issues head on and asks to what extent renewables can deliver a technologically and economically viable energy future. Exploring both the progress and problems of renewables against a backdrop of rising energy demand, he argues that, on balance, they do seem to be living up to their promises. With renewables rapidly expanding across the globe, and China now leading the pack, a renewable future could really be on the horizon.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution energy has been a key driver of world politics. From the oil crises of the 1970s to today’s rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, every shift in global energy patterns has important repercussions for international relations. In this new book, Thijs Van de Graaf and Benjamin Sovacool uncover the intricate ways in which our energy systems have shaped global outcomes in four key areas of world politics: security, the economy, the environment and global justice. Moving beyond the narrow geopolitical focus that has dominated much of the discussion on global energy politics, they also deftly trace the connections between energy, environmental politics, and community activism. The authors argue that we are on the cusp of a global energy shift that promises to be no less transformative for the pursuit of wealth and power in world politics than the historical shifts from wood to coal and from coal to oil. This ongoing energy transformation will not only upend the global balance of power; it could also fundamentally transfer political authority away from the nation state, empowering citizens, regions and local communities. Global Energy Politics will be an essential resource for students of the social sciences grappling with the major energy issues of our times.
This book is the long awaited guide for anyone interested in renewables at home or work. It sweeps away scores of common misconceptions while clearly illustrating the best in renewable and energy efficiency technologies. A fully illustrated guide to renewable energy for the home and small business, the book provides an expert overview of precisely which sustainable energy technologies are appropriate for wide-spread domestic and small business application. The sections on different renewable energy options provide detailed descriptions of each technology along with case studies, installation diagrams and colour photographs, showing precisely what is possible for the average household. The chapter on how to select the renewable technology most appropriate for ordinary homes and businesses summarizes this analysis in a neat and easy to use table and demonstrates with examples exactly how to assess your local renewable resources. Renewable technologies covered include wood energy, wind power, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, passive solar, geothermal and air-to-air heat pumps as well as water or hydro based energy systems – plus the all-important subject of energy efficiency. Whilst written to be accessible to a wide audience, the book is targeted at readers who are keen to work with renewable technologies, students, building engineers, architects, planners, householders and home-owners.
Global warming reveals that world energy consumption is on an unsustainable path. This updated second edition of The New Energy Crisis examines the impact of climate change on energy economics and geopolitics, exploring key issues such as energy poverty, renewable and nuclear energy, and focusing on the implications of the Fukushima crisis.
Imagine fuel without fear. No climate change. No oil spills, no dead coalminers, no dirty air, no devastated lands, no lost wildlife. No energy poverty. No oil-fed wars, tyrannies, or terrorists. No leaking nuclear wastes or spreading nuclear weapons. Nothing to run out. Nothing to cut off. Nothing to worry about. Just energy abundance, benign and affordable, for all, forever. That richer, fairer, cooler, safer world is possible, practical, even profitable-because saving and replacing fossil fuels now works better and costs no more than buying and burning them. Reinventing Fire shows how business-motivated by profit, supported by civil society, sped by smart policy-can get the US completely off oil and coal by 2050, and later beyond natural gas as well. Authored by a world leader on energy and innovation, the book maps a robust path for integrating real, here-and-now, comprehensive energy solutions in four industries-transportation, buildings, electricity, and manufacturing-melding radically efficient energy use with reliable, secure, renewable energy supplies.Popular in tone and rooted in applied hope, Reinventing Fire shows how smart businesses are creating a potent, global, market-driven, and explosively growing movement to defossilize fuels. It points readers to trillions in savings over the next 40 years, and trillions more in new business opportunities.Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, this major contribution by world leaders in energy innovation offers startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.Pragmatic citizens today are more interested in outcomes than motives. Reinventing Fire answers this trans-ideological call. Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, its startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.
Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Systems goes beyond theoretical aspects of advances in renewable energy and addresses future trends. By focusing on the design of developing technologies, relevant operation and detailed background and an understanding of the application of power electronics and thermodynamics processes in renewable energy, this book provides an analysis of advancing energy systems. The book will be of interest to engineering graduates, researchers, professors and industry professionals involved in the renewable energy sector and is ideal for advanced engineering courses dealing with renewable energy, sources, thermal and electrical energy production and sustainability. With increasing focus on developing low carbon energy production, audiences need to have the engineering knowledge and practical skills to develop and implement creative solutions to engineering problems encountered with renewable energy technologies. By looking at renewable energy capture and conversion, system design and analysis, project development and implementation, each modular chapter examines recent advances in specific renewable energy systems with detailed methods, calculations and worked examples. - Includes recent techniques used to design and model different renewable energy sources (RES) - Demonstrates how to use power electronics in renewable systems - Discusses how to identify, design, integrate and operate the most suitable technologies through key problems
Comprehensive Renewable Energy, Second Edition provides an overview of all renewable energy technologies. The book is written by leading scientists and engineers who have summarized and assessed the most important data, concepts and applications. The field of renewable energy is rapidly changing in light of the accelerating effects of climate change. In addition to extensive updating of the book's first edition, an entirely new section focuses on the environmental and social issues of renewable energy. Given the rapid expansion of publications in this field, the compilation of definitive reviews of this kind is invaluable. This work will be the ideal tool for researchers and students in the fields of material science, energy, engineering and physics, from both industry and academia. Provides a one-stop resource and a contemporary review of current renewable energy research Presents meticulously organized chapters that are split into key topics Written by academics and practitioners from various fields and regions to ensure that the knowledge within is easily understood by, and applicable to, a large audience
Renewable Energy Has a Good Side and a Bad Side Evaluate BothAll energy sources affect the environment in which we live. While fossil fuels may essentially do more harm, renewable energy sources can also pose a threat to the environment. Allowing for the various renewable energy sources: solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal, Environmental I