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As a result of the major challenges the world is facing today due to global warming and the ever decreasing conventional sources of energy such as fossil fuels, developing methodologies for harnessing all possible forms of renewable energy has become a heavily researched area within the power and energy research communities. Deploying energy storages increases the possibilities of harnessing several sources of renewable energy in a more meaningful manner. Some of the key areas where energy storages could make things better, when it comes to harnessing renewable energy sources are, Wind energy, Bio energy, Geothermal energy, Solar energy and Wave energy. The paper investigates application examples of energy storages in these areas through a thorough review of reported scientific literature. On the other hand, major energy consuming areas such as transportation, manufacturing, electricity consumers etc. could also benefit by the introduction of energy storages. As an example, in transportation, increasing usage of hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and emerging new concepts in transportation such as electric highways have raised the significant role of energy storage solutions for transportation to its highest level. It is believed that this way of looking at the energy storages will strategically position them with the significance they deserve within the energy and power engineering research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy has been the engine of nations’ development, and this has driven mankind towards growing energy needs, in particular for transportation, agricultural and industrial activities and buildings. Energy for transportation is based on oil derived fuel, whereas energy in buildings consists mainly of electricity, which is produced from fossil fuels, nuclear power and/or from renewable energy sources, such as hydro and solar. Agricultural and industrial activities use a combination of fossil fuels and electric energy. To increase the sustainability of energy production and efficient energy use, it is urgent that better monitoring and control systems are used, and increase the energy production from renewable sources. This drives the energy sector towards the need for Life Cycle Analysis of energy processes to support the selection and implementation of more sustainable energy systems, as well as to develop better and more intelligent electric energy grids, where storage energy systems plays an essential role. These questions will be briefly discussed in this paper, focusing in the current situation, existing problems and potential solutions, and expected developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Flat Plate Collector (FPC) is a thermal solar collector used in housing or residential applications that allows the conversion of solar radiation to thermal energy (e.g. hot water). In this paper we propose a new approach that improves the hot water production through the combination between a simple and improved architecture model. The optimization of the thermal energy efficiency is guaranteed by using an electronic architecture that controls the mono-axial tracker. Some experimental tests aiming the comparison between the stationary and improved FPC are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel methodology for the optimal use of forest biomass for energy purposes, by means of GIS procedures. The method allows the identification of the most suitable area for a power plant, starting from the energy demand and the local availability of wood resources. After the site identification, the procedure conducts a cost-benefit analysis, including financial and environmental flows. The described methodology has been automatized in GRASS GIS, which is a free and open source GIS software, and now constitutes a downloadable add-on. In this contribution, we tested such procedure in a case study in Italy, the alpine valleys of Gesso and Vermenagna in Piedmont region (North-West of Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the valuation of environmental external benefits of low-emission electricity generation. The empirical research results of valuing benefits from improving air quality in Poland using contingent valuation method (CVM) and hedonic pricing method (HPM) are presented. The research is used to estimate the environmental benefits indicator of low-emission electricity generation, after the procedure proposed by the author. The result of the original research is confronted with the alternative research conducted in the CASES (Cost Assessment of Sustainable Energy Systems) Project of EC in 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the comparison between the standalone photovoltaic (PV) system with battery-supercapacitor hybrid energy storage system (BS-HESS) and the conventional standalone PV system with battery-only storage system for a rural household. Standalone PV system with passive BS-HESS and semi-active BS-HESS are presented in this study. Two control strategies, Rule Based Controller (RBC) and Filtration Based Controller (FBC), are developed for the standalone PV system with semi-active BS-HESS with the aim to reduce the battery stress and to extend the battery lifespan. The simulation results show that the system with semi-active BS-HESS prolongs the battery lifespan by significantly reducing the battery peak current up to 8.607% and improving the average SOC of the battery up to 0.34% as compared to the system with battery-only system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the further development of the island regions and the development of the marine economy, solving the problem of energy and water scarcity of island area is becoming increasingly urgent and important. This paper summarizes and analyzes the existing mode of water and energy supply system in many islands of the world, and then tried to do a preliminary analysis of the island energy systems coupled with water system, based on which a framework of island's energy and water systems was proposed. The new framework reveals a trend for the renewable energy and water-supply system from “Full Input of Energy & Water (FIEW)” to “Semi-Input of Energy & Water (SIEW)” again to “Zero Input of Energy & Water (ZIEW)”. As a case study, the renewable energy-driven water-supply system in Maldives was analyzed, and summarized its potential problems. The results show that the ZIEW (Zero Input of Energy & Water) system can be implemented in Maldives in the future, and it would be the principal direction of future energy and water-supply system in island regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing concerns of energy security and environmental issues have posed a great challenge in sustainable energy planning. Renewable energy (RE) resources as well as carbon capture and storage (CCS) are the common alternatives to reduce the impact of carbon emission. However, integration of RE and CCS into the current energy system requires thorough planning. With consideration of existing power fossil based power plant, this paper aims to provide a carbon-constraint energy generation that includes optimal capacities of new power plants and energy storage to meet with the increasing energy demand by using an extended version of the Electric System Cascade Analysis (ESCA) methodology. This method is applied on an hourly scale of a hypothetical case study. The demand side is supplied by an existing 40 MW coal-fired power plant, subjected to a maximum carbon emission constraint of 850 ton CO 2 /day. The result reveals that additional of 15 MW of new solar photovoltaic power plant and 82 MW of new natural gas power plant with CCS are required to meet with the increasing demand under carbon constraint. The system is integrated with an energy storage of 86 MW in capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low public understanding on biomass energy is suspected as one of causes of slow progress of biomass energy application. This paper presents an adoption of rapid appraisal method for comprehension assessment of online information of biomass energy. The method consists of quantitative measure of written information by a standardized readability test and a measurement of readers’ reaction toward the text. Readability assessment by four standard tests was performed prior to readability survey by self-administered semi-structural questionnaire to confirm assessment by readability standard test. This study indicates the method is applicable for the improvement of public understanding on biomass energy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with global climate change, the international community has reached a consensus that the dependence on fossil fuels should be irreversibly shifted and the transition to a high renewable energy penetration future is definitely feasible to realize the 2 degrees target by the end of this century. Key advantages of renewable energy, compared to fossil fuels, are free of carbon emissions and direct environmental pollution, thus can help further decarbonize the power sector. However, due to the intrinsic nature, renewables are more likely to present significant intermittency issue to power generation system operators than conventional resources. Among potential solutions, electricity storage is relatively attractive. Based on the linear optimization bottom-up technology China-MAPLE model, this paper conducts an in-depth assessment of electricity storage in achieving a high penetration future in China, by describing the volatility of electricity supply and demand as well as the intermittency characteristics of renewable energy at more detailed time-slices level other than the common annual level. Results show that electricity energy technologies can help stabilize the fluctuation of renewable power generation, and balance the supply and demand of electricity in each period. In order to support the rapid growth of renewable energy, the installed capacity of electricity storage should be 88GW in 2030, and gradually increases to 123GW in 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns over sustainability of fossil fuels, and increasing awareness for the environment have encouraged countries all over the world to shift from the heavy reliance on fossil fuel to renewable energy (RE) resources for electricity generation. Although implementation of RE has been on the rise, large-scale deployment of RE still remains a challenge, especially in terms of economic and technicality. This paper proposes the integration of the current energy system (centralised energy system, CEG running on mainly fossil fuels) with the new energy system (decentralised energy system, DEG). Numerical analysis is developed to solve and target the proposed multiple DEGs and CEG integrated system at its optimum design and sizing. Two existing numerical approaches in Power Pinch Analysis are applied, i.e. Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) for a smaller scale decentralised energy systems while the net energy deficit will be satisfied in a centralised energy system via Electric System Cascade Analysis (ESCA). The designated combination of Power Pinch methodology in this study is based on an hourly scale operation of both systems. With case study of five (5) DEG(s), the analysis indicates that DEG 1 has 540 MWh for energy-related capacity and 70 MW for power-related capacity. DEG 2, 480 MWh and 70 MW, DEG 3, 480 MWh and 120 MW, DEG 4, 1,000 MWh and 150 MW, and DEG 5, 100 MWh and 90 MW. The CEG power plants should have a total capacity of 48.3 MW with energy storage of 270.6 MWh and 45.1 MW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the improvement of environmental requirements, promoting renewable energy consumption has become a key. From the energy policy coordination point, this paper defined the concept of energy policy, and took price policy as center to design the synergy mechanism of carbon emissions trading, carbon tax, subsidy policy, price policy based on principles of departments collaboration, market dominant and orderly progress. The mechanism will make environmental benefits internalization of renewable energy, and gradually straighten out the energy prices mechanism, and provide a reference for setting renewable energy consumptive policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green finance is a new financial pattern to integrate environmental protection with economic profits, emphasizing “green” and “finance”, two of which are controversial issues. This paper probes into the status quo of green finance in the field of renewable energy and finds out some inadequacies. We devote attention to development of market mechanism and formulation of policies. By revealing the internal contradictions between green finance and environmental protection, we propose solutions intrinsically for better achievement of ecological balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micropower optimization model is used in this study to design renewable energy-based micro grid system: solar-biomass hybrid system for the electrification of the city of Sharjah. The principal objective is to explore the available renewable resources in Sharjah and to determine the optimal configuration to meet the desired electric loads of the city. The hybrid system consists of electrical loads, solar resources, biomass resources, and system components such as solar photovoltaic, biogas generators, biomass power, battery and converters. Input information on the primary loads, solar and biomass resource availability, technology options, components cost, constraints, and controls are determined. Hourly simulations with sensitive analysis were performed to calculate the energy to and from each component to design the most favorable renewable energy-based system. The optimized results of the alternative renewable energy-based hybrid systems with different levels of contributions by renewable resources are presented in this paper taking into account the technology costs, energy resource availability and the efficiency of the renewable energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been numerous efforts by researchers worldwide cooperating to reduce the material costs of photovoltaic panels, efficient novel products and improve their energy efficiency and procreate innovative and practices based on photovoltaic system design technology. The aim of this paper is to select the best solar panel for the photovoltaic system design by using AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) from the multi-criteria decision making methods. Among 200W solar panel brands, the problem of selecting the best solar panel is evaluated, using fifteen electrical, three mechanicals, three economic, three customers and two environment related criteria. Used data is obtained from the solar panel companies worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper gives an outlook on a bandwidth of required installed power-to-gas capacity in the German power sector fed by 100% renewable generation until 2050. Two scenarios were simulated to quantify cost effects of power-to-gas on the electricity system: once with, once without additional short-term flexibility options to a system using fossil natural gas as sole flexibility option instead. As a result, at latest in 2035, power-to-gas capacity expansion has to take place to reach required installed capacities of up to 89-134 GW in 2050. Application of power-to-gas as long-term flexibility leads to cost savings of up to 11,7-19 bn Euro enabling a fully renewable system in 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Energy Strategy 2050 set forth by the Swiss federal government, Photovoltaic (PV) energy shall make up one fifth of the nation's total energy production in 2050. Such a drastic expansion rate of PV and the resulting excess energy thereof can lead to so-called reverse power flow in the low voltage (LV) grid as demonstrated in previous studies. Power-to-Gas (PtG) represents a suitable storage solution to resolve the situation by absorbing the excess PV energy. This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative feasibility analysis of the PtG technology in the future Swiss LV grid. For this purpose, PtG is integrated in simulation into the grid for absorbing the excess PV energy while producing hydrogen. This hydrogen is assumed to be sold in the mobility sector. Three different operational scenarios are established with respect to the input energy source to the PtG plant, including the excess PV energy, curtailed PV excess energy and PV excess energy plus the energy from the grid. Summing up the results, it can be concluded that the PtG plant is still far from economically viable even though significant improvement can be accomplished to the hydrogen production costs by adopting the active PV curtailment and by purchasing additional energy from the grid. The future study to be undertaken by the authors, with respect to economical viability of the PtG, will include other sources of value, including production of methane as main product, production of oxygen and heat as by-products, and provision of services such as biogas upgrading, frequency regulation and voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce energy usage and CO 2 emission due to heating, heat pumps have turned out a good option. For example, to obtain a net zero house, often a combination of solar panels and a heat pump is used. A computational model of the performance of a heat pump provides a useful tool for prediction and decision making. In this paper, six variations of such computational models are discussed and evaluated. Evaluation was based on real world empirical data for 8 different domestic situations. The evaluation took place by determining the most optimal values for the parameters of each of the models for the given data, and then considering the remaining error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Daugava River is the largest river in Latvia. Daugava Hydro Power Plants built in 1939 – 1974 are Latvia's most important renewable resource in generation of electricity. The absence of fish passage structures excludes upstream migration of diadromous species. Compensatory stocking activities are introduced annually. The need for studying alternative or additional impact mitigation measures is based on biodiversity conservation aspects and possible changes in EU legislation. The case study of solutions for improving the Daugava River connectivity is introduced and further strategies for mitigating the impact of HPP are proposed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the developing world, people not only lack access of grid electricity, but also safe drinking water. There are many causes of waterborne diseases due to drinking unsafe water use from surface water sources. Under these circumstances, renewable energy based water purification can be an appropriate solution. Applying Geographical Information System (GIS) technique for implementing decentralized renewable energy based system to provide safe drinking water to vulnerable communities can be a useful tool to policy makers and administrative authorities in finding sustainable options. This paper presents a concept of using GIS bound renewable energy based water purification system. Using GIS as a tool, suitable areas can be identified for using such a system, and this can also be used to estimate water demand, energy demand and the nature of the water purification system at household and community level. The proposed concept was applied in Pathumthani province, Thailand as a study area. The renewable energy potential from PV, water demand, energy demand and the sensitivity to the system identification due to the influence of various parameters have been estimated and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the developing world, people not only lack access of grid electricity, but also safe drinking water. There are many causes of waterborne diseases due to drinking unsafe water use from surface water sources. Under these circumstances, renewable energy based water purification can be an appropriate solution. Applying Geographical Information System (GIS) technique for implementing decentralized renewable energy based system to provide safe drinking water to vulnerable communities can be a useful tool to policy makers and administrative authorities in finding sustainable options. This paper presents a concept of using GIS bound renewable energy based water purification system. Using GIS as a tool, suitable areas can be identified for using such a system, and this can also be used to estimate water demand, energy demand and the nature of the water purification system at household and community level. The proposed concept was applied in Pathumthani province, Thailand as a study area. The renewable energy potential from PV, water demand, energy demand and the sensitivity to the system identification due to the influence of various parameters have been estimated and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we take the perspective of a competitive hydropower producer located in Southern Norway, and calculate the profitability of investing in a pumped storage facility in price-scenario for Europe in 2050. A methodology to analyze the combined supply of day-ahead energy and real-time balancing is described and applied. A sequential optimization for optimal supply in each market is applied, utilizing the same resource cost for hydropower. When supplying balancing energy in addition to the supply in the day-ahead market, total income increase by only 2.2%. However, the additional income because of the investment increases by 21%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to determine optimal solutions for the implementation of renewable energy in Romania, using for this purpose the available Geographic Information Systems technology. We also want to demonstrate that the GIS technology can be used as a substitute for programs dedicated to wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an intelligent strategy for optimal power management of stand-alone hybrid system. The designed management strategy aims at regulating the power flow between the generated and the consumed powers of a wind/solar/battery stand-alone system in order to satisfy the load (one family house). The chosen strategy considers the wind generator ( WG ) and the photovoltaic panel ( PV )as the main energy sources and the battery bank ( BS) as storage system. For the power source emergency, it uses the diesel engine ( DE ) as an additional source. Indeed, the optimal management strategy consists of generating power references for each subsystem. Based on the prediction of weather conditions, these power references are generated with taking into account some constraints related to the reliability of each subsystem. In order to validate the proposed strategy under real situations, measurements of the weather conditions and the power consumption data of an individual house are considered. The simulation results are highlighted to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to assess the potential of high renewable energy (wind and solar) integration in the Greek island of Syros, following the scheduled interconnection with the national grid system. Currently, Syros operates an oil fired autonomous power system (APS), emitting large amounts of carbon emissions. Interconnection among a number of islands in the Cyclades and the mainland will eliminate the use of APS, will reinforce islands’ power network and will allow exploitation of high wind and solar potential. It has been concluded that following the interconnection, the installation of 33.5 MW of wind and solar energy is feasible. The assumed capacity will cover the total energy demand by 2030 allowing also electricity exports to the Greek mainland. Transforming Syros into a regional renewable energy hub will contribute to the energy security, providing access to its own energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renovating the existing building stock is well recognized in the construction industry as a very important issue. While the number of new buildings annually provides maximum 1% to the building stock, the other 99% represent buildings which are already built. Studies show that the environmental impact to extend the life of a building is definitely smaller than that of demolition and new construction. Recent figures suggest that the residential sector can provide significant reductions in energy consumption. As many vital decisions are taken in the early stages of the refurbishment process, planners need tools that will help them create better and more sustainable retrofitting projects based on the improvement of the building energy performance. This study describes a methodology to support decision making in the retrofitting of the existing building stock of the Leopold Quarter in Brussels to enable the development of an integrated strategy for different cases and specifications. It is intended that the planners know since an early stage, the energy impact of the project according to the selected interventions. All the proposed retrofitting strategies are compiled in a database that is the basis of the tool named TCS Matrix (TCS stands for: Typology, Component, Solution). This paper provides an insight of the methodology to create the aforementioned databases as well as a series of scenarios that supposes a first step of the aimed methodology to identify in an early stage the best solutions for this specific part of the building stock to achieve the energy efficiency targets defined by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with a low-temperature thermally driven desalination unit exploiting the HD (humidification/dehumidification) process. The system is a closed air cycle unit and is based on a single-effect humidification/dehumidification technique: heated seawater is introduced into the humidification section of a closed tunnel to saturate the circulating air; then the water vapor in moist air separates within the condensation column, where freshwater production takes place. A HD desalination prototype has been designed, assembled and fully instrumented in order to monitor all physical quantities and to evaluate the performance under different operating conditions. The prototype has been experimentally investigated on a test facility established at the Bergamo University Labs. The results of the measurement campaign are presented and discussed. A computer code for simulating the desalination process has also been developed and it was validated by the experimental data. The modeling procedure investigates air and water thermodynamic properties across every component and allows to predict the HD desalination unit performance, varying seawater and air flow rates, the heat source temperature level and the heat exchanger surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents technology applications and policy options related to energy storage in energy systems or grids. Energy storage technologies are promising tools to achieve a low-carbon future since they allow for the decoupling of energy supply and demand. Energy storage technologies could potentially be deployed across the supply, transmission, distribution and demand portions of an energy system or grid. The services they provide are either based on a power application or an energy application; and they range from long-term seasonal storage to short duration spinning and non-spinning reserves. In terms of energy storage technologies, pumped storage hydropower systems are a mature technology and comprise over 99% of the current total global installed capacity of energy storage technologies, which is evaluated at over 141 GW. In order to achieve widespread deployment, policy options should seek to enable compensation for the multiple services performed across the energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of most important concerns in electrical power markets and distribution network is supplying the customer demands. It is necessary to forecast the usage of electrical power in distribution network. The pattern of electrical power usage depends on many different parameters such as the density of population in those areas, the week days, weather condition and etc. However, the electric utilities and regulators face difficult challenges evaluating new energy efficiency and smart grid programs prompted by recent state. In this paper, it is tried to forecast the electrical power usage according to above parameters by using artificial neural network base on service sharing strategies regarding that can help meet their energy efficiency policy goals. It is tried to find out the pattern of electrical power usage with the dataset which is prepared by real data. Therefore, it has been used here is useful in all kind of power forecasting such as short term, middle term, and long term. It can be helpful to manage the distributed generators production schedule and also correction of electrical power usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of biomass has great potential to be one of the main renewable energy sources. At present, there are only a small number of commercial bio-oil plants because their operation is rather complicated and the return is not attractive. With funding from the government sector, a small biomass pyrolysis plant (capacity of 20-30 dm 3 of bio-oil per day) was built and operated in Phrae, Thailand. In this paper, practical stepwise methodologies were presented to technically analyze the production and energy consumption of bio-oil production based on the data from this demonstrated plant. Mass and energy balance calculations were carried out to assess the performance and improve process design. An economic analysis was also performed to study the potential of biomass-to-bio-oil conversion costs and viability of commercialization. From the investigation, it was found that the operation cost of crude bio-oil production was about 30-35 Thai baht per dm 3 . Even though the operating cost of the fast pyrolysis units is excessively high under current situation, the biomass plant still has potential to generate attractive economic return if the upgrading process is employed as well as assistance from the government is available to subsidize the sale price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slurry of mPCM has been widely used for enhancing heat transfer and reducing building energy consumption. Because of intrinsic density differences between mPCM and water, the slurry is subject to creaming phenomena. As a consequence the viscosity of slurry increases and the thermal properties decrease. Up to now no quantitative analysis about the creaming of mPCM has been done. In the paper experimental measurement and numerical modeling of the creaming of mPCM slurry is presented. Using the optical method, the temporal-spatial distribution of volume concentration is recorded. Based on the conservation model, the process of creaming has been simulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an example of community scale renewable energy application named solar water pumping system (SWPS) with case study in a rural and karst area of Banyumeneng Village, Gunung Kidul, D.I. Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The main problem of community scale of renewable energy in rural area is sustainability. It has successed to be maintained with the integration concept of communities that has corresponded each other by its role. The sustainability indicator was reached by evaluation using some proven methodologies so that the system had given benefit to the local people for at least 6 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research demonstrates the technique of predicting pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Modeling of pyrolysis of biomass is complex and challenging because of short reaction times, temperatures as high as a thousand degrees Celsius, and biomass of varying or unknown chemical compositions. As such a deterministic model is not capable of representing the pyrolysis reaction system. To be able to predict a pyrolysis reaction of an unknown lignocellulosic biomass without an experimental data support or data fitting is an even more challenging work. In this research, we are trying to predict pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen to demonstrate that our technique is useful for predicting pyrolysis reaction of other biomass source. There are three main chemical compositions in lignocellulosic biomass which are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. We are considering that the total pyrolysis reaction is affected by the reaction of three main compositions. However, these three main chemical compositions of biomass is vary not only by type of biomass but also by other things such as where it is grown or even which part of biomass since the chemical compositions in the leaf can be different from the trunk. Our propose method is an extending study of our previous paper “pyrolysis of biomass – fuzzy modeling”. Our model successfully gives a good predicting result. The result shows that our model can predict 91.82% of pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen correctly without any data from the experiment. Therefore, we could use this method to predict other lignocellulosic biomass before we perform an experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sectors in renewable energy. These energy resources are freely available throughout the world. It is one of the zero emission energy sources. The wind energy is used mainly for two purposes namely irrigation (water pumping) and electricity generation. The prospect of wind energy can be analyzed by different methods. Weibull distribution method is one of the widely acceptable methods for estimating wind energy. In this paper, the prospect of wind energy in Bangladesh is analyzed by Weibull distribution method. The data were collected from Meteorological Department of Bangladesh located in different areas of the country. Three different Weibull distribution methods were used to find out Weibull parameters which were verified using different widely acceptable statistical tools. Relative percentage error, chi-square error, analysis of variance etc. are the efficient statistical tools to rank the method which was used in this study. The study identified the most prospects windy site by applying efficient least square method with minimum error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet technology has made creating and sharing media content, including in audio and video format, easier and more accessible for public. Renewable energy technology has been utilizing internet video sharing technology for two main purposes. First, it is a promotional tool to disseminate information about the technology; second, internet becomes a tool for contemporary society to engage on renewable energy issues. This paper shows the importance beside the potential of internet video sharing to improve public engagement on renewable energy. The study shows how an internet video sharing, particularly featured by YouTube, may be an effective tool for renewable energy technology to engage with public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil since the 80th several studies and pilot projects have been executed to use the kinetic energy in water flows to generate electricity for remote communities without access to the services of electricity utilities. These experiences resulted in several new techniques, concepts and products that gave birth to new research projects and proposals that revisited this form of conversion of such type of renewable energy. The first initiatives were developed to implement pico hydropower plants to attend remote communities, inaugurating the first generation of hydrokinetic turbines. With the maturation and consolidation of the technology, new concepts and implementation methods focused on the up scaling of the production were designed, as well as new strategies to popularize and make the technology and production available. Nowadays a trend is noticed to use the hydrokinetic technology not only for pico hydropower, but also for larger hydropower plants, aiming at the conversion of kinetic energy present in large rivers, tidal flows and ocean streams. This paper describes the evolution of the hydrokinetic technology and the initiatives undertaken to make it available for rural electrification in Brazil during the last two decades. It also proposes to discuss the trends of hydrokinetic conversion for on grid electricity generation and its integration into the electricity sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research demonstrates the technique of predicting pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Modeling of pyrolysis of biomass is complex and challenging because of short reaction times, temperatures as high as a thousand degrees Celsius, and biomass of varying or unknown chemical compositions. As such a deterministic model is not capable of representing the pyrolysis reaction system. To be able to predict a pyrolysis reaction of an unknown lignocellulosic biomass without an experimental data support or data fitting is an even more challenging work. In this research, we are trying to predict pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen to demonstrate that our technique is useful for predicting pyrolysis reaction of other biomass source. There are three main chemical compositions in lignocellulosic biomass which are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. We are considering that the total pyrolysis reaction is affected by the reaction of three main compositions. However, these three main chemical compositions of biomass is vary not only by type of biomass but also by other things such as where it is grown or even which part of biomass since the chemical compositions in the leaf can be different from the trunk. Our propose method is an extending study of our previous paper "pyrolysis of biomass - fuzzy modeling". Our model successfully gives a good predicting result. The result shows that our model can predict 91.82% of pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen correctly without any data from the experiment. Therefore, we could use this method to predict other lignocellulosic biomass before we perform an experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research demonstrates the technique of predicting pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Modeling of pyrolysis of biomass is complex and challenging because of short reaction times, temperatures as high as a thousand degrees Celsius, and biomass of varying or unknown chemical compositions. As such a deterministic model is not capable of representing the pyrolysis reaction system. To be able to predict a pyrolysis reaction of an unknown lignocellulosic biomass without an experimental data support or data fitting is an even more challenging work. In this research, we are trying to predict pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen to demonstrate that our technique is useful for predicting pyrolysis reaction of other biomass source. There are three main chemical compositions in lignocellulosic biomass which are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. We are considering that the total pyrolysis reaction is affected by the reaction of three main compositions. However, these three main chemical compositions of biomass is vary not only by type of biomass but also by other things such as where it is grown or even which part of biomass since the chemical compositions in the leaf can be different from the trunk. Our propose method is an extending study of our previous paper “pyrolysis of biomass – fuzzy modeling”. Our model successfully gives a good predicting result. The result shows that our model can predict 91.82% of pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen correctly without any data from the experiment. Therefore, we could use this method to predict other lignocellulosic biomass before we perform an experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sectors in renewable energy. These energy resources are freely available throughout the world. It is one of the zero emission energy sources. The wind energy is used mainly for two purposes namely irrigation (water pumping) and electricity generation. The prospect of wind energy can be analyzed by different methods. Weibull distribution method is one of the widely acceptable methods for estimating wind energy. In this paper, the prospect of wind energy in Bangladesh is analyzed by Weibull distribution method. The data were collected from Meteorological Department of Bangladesh located in different areas of the country. Three different Weibull distribution methods were used to find out Weibull parameters which were verified using different widely acceptable statistical tools. Relative percentage error, chi-square error, analysis of variance etc. are the efficient statistical tools to rank the method which was used in this study. The study identified the most prospects windy site by applying efficient least square method with minimum error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet technology has made creating and sharing media content, including in audio and video format, easier and more accessible for public. Renewable energy technology has been utilizing internet video sharing technology for two main purposes. First, it is a promotional tool to disseminate information about the technology; second, internet becomes a tool for contemporary society to engage on renewable energy issues. This paper shows the importance beside the potential of internet video sharing to improve public engagement on renewable energy. The study shows how an internet video sharing, particularly featured by YouTube, may be an effective tool for renewable energy technology to engage with public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of various renewable energy sources as well as the liberalization of electricity markets are established facts in modern electrical power systems. The increased share of renewable sources within power systems intensifies the supply variability and intermittency. Therefore, energy storage is deemed as one of the solutions for stabilizing the supply of electricity to maintain generation-demand balance and to guarantee uninterrupted supply of energy to users. In the context of sustainable development and energy resources depletion, the question of the growth of renewable energy electricity production is highly linked to the ability to propose new and adapted energy storage solutions. The purpose of this multidisciplinary paper is to highlight the new hydrogen production and storage technology, its efficiency and the impact of the policy context on its development. A comprehensive techno/socio/economic study of long term hydrogen based storage systems in electrical networks is addressed. The European policy concerning the different energy storage systems and hydrogen production is explicitly discussed. The state of the art of the techno-economic features of the hydrogen production and storage is introduced. Using Matlab-Simulink for a power system of rated 70 kW generator, the excess produced hydrogen during high generation periods or low demand can be sold either directly to the grid owners or as filled hydrogen bottles. The affordable use of Hydrogen-based technologies for long term electricity storage is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper there is presented an alternative to the solar position chart – the solar incidence diagram. The diagramconsists of curves of the solar incidence angle plotted against the solar azimuth angle. In the example situation the pointof reference is located on thevertical wall of a building, facing East. The influence of a canopy over the assumedwindow is presented on the graph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar Particle Receivers (SPR) are under development to drive concentrating solar plants (CSP) towards higher operating temperatures to support higher efficiency power conversion cycles. The novel high temperature SPR-based CSP system uses solid particles as the heat transfer medium (HTM) in place of the more conventional fluids such as molten salt or steam used in current state-of-the-art CSP plants. The solar particle receiver (SPR) is designed to heat the HTM to temperatures of 800 °C or higher which is well above the operating temperatures of nitrate-based molten salt thermal energy storage (TES) systems. The solid particles also help overcome some of the other challenges associated with molten salt-based systems such as freezing, instability and degradation. The higher operating temperatures and use of low cost HTM and higher efficiency power cycles are geared towards reducing costs associated with CSP systems. This paper describes the SPR-based CSP system with a focus on the fluidized-bed (FB) heat exchanger and its integration with various power cycles. The SPR technology provides a potential pathway to achieving the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) target of $0.06/kWh that has been set by the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a simple technique in pre feasible design of grid-connected photovoltaic systems for the application in all energy sectors. A user-friendly simulation tool named Pre-Installation Design for GCPV (PIDGCPV) was developed to assist PV installer or any energy consumer in preliminary evaluation on PV system sizing to avoid over/under size of system. The developed simulation tool uses an iterative method embedded in Macro Excel integrated with Microsoft Visual Basic application. The simulation tool covers three constraints, which are space, energy requirement and budget. The iterative method is used for the selection of optimal number of photovoltaic (PV) module and inverter for a proposed system. In addition, a database for PV modules, inverters, and meteorological data for each state in Malaysia is also embedded in the software. The analysis shows straightforward comparison between the simulated result and the actual installed data based on the constraint selection. It indicates that the capability of the developed simulation tool is giving higher accuracy and can be used as pre installation design tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Australia is used as a case study to evaluate potential pathways for staged deployment of low-emission technologies in an integrated, emission intensive electricity market. We assume that carbon capture and storage is implemented at existing and new power plants. To meet projected demand increase by 2050, the total generation capac ty increases by 35%. The cost of electricity in 2050 is more than double the current value, with a moderate annual increase between now and then. An 80% emission reduction target can be achieved by 2050. The results are compared with the future generation scenarios previously analysed by CSIRO and AEMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing level in renewable energy capacity presents new challenges. In essence, renewables are weather-dependent and inputs such as solar radiation or wind are not constantly available. The integration of energy storage technologies are important to improve the potential for flexible energy demand and ensure that excess renewable energy can be stored for use at a later time. This paper will explore various types of physical energy storage technologies that are currently employed worldwide. Such examples include direct electrical storage in batteries, thermal storages in hot water tanks or building fabrics via electricity conversion as well as compressed air energy storage. Through this study it has been shown that no single storage system can meet all the criteria to become the ideal energy storage system, each system has its own suitable application range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing pressure to international energy supply, greater climate and environment problem related to the traditional fossil energy, many countries have decided to develop the renewable energy vigorously. Renewable energy technologies include hydro, wind, solar, biomass, ocean energy and geothermal. Different countries and regions have different choices on renewable energy technology because of their different economic, technical and environmental conditions. The academic has paid more and more attention to the evaluation and selection of renewable energy technology. This paper builds a comprehensive evaluation index system for Chinese renewable energy technology based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA), from economic, technology efficiency, social and environmental benefits. The result shows that wind and solar power are more suitable for Chinese economic, technical, environmental and social requirements, followed by biomass, hydropower, ocean energy, geothermal energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A content media analysis has been performed to an Indonesian leading newspaper in the wake of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear accident. The analysis is to examine the preference of Indonesian people toward renewable energy vis-a-vis nuclear by means of media coverage, as an option toward reducing its dependency on fossil fuels. This paper will reveal whether the accident on March 2011 can create a benefit for renewable energy utilization in Indonesia. The analysis found that Indonesian preference toward renewable energy was not influenced by the accident. However, the accident has a strong influence to Indonesian energy preference on nuclear power [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon energy systems are being proposed as portfolio of solutions to mitigate CO 2 emissions from the electricity-generating power sector. Stakeholder's perception on such technology plays a crucial role in its successful implementation. Not only the technological and economic aspects, but also the environmental and social aspects that surround these technologies should be considered in in determining which of these energy systems should be promoted, invested in, and subsidized. This decision problem should take into consideration the trade-offs due to several conflicting aspects involved in the prioritization. This paper thus proposes Fuzzy Analytic Network Process as a decision modeling tool in a group decision making environment to address the complexity of the decision structure and the uncertainty inherent in eliciting value judgments from stakeholders or experts. Fuzzy numbers are used to model the uncertainty, vagueness and incompleteness of information thus derived. The method then extends the fuzzy preference programming technique to derive the group priorities or weights from fuzzy pairwise comparative judgment matrices. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed approach in prioritizing low carbon energy systems in the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representative carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) system of the post-combustion, no matter it employs adsorption, absorption or cryogenics separation technologies, commonly requires significant amounts of energy for the fundamental operation. Thus, energy consumption and related cost rise are primary challenges for the promotion of post-combustion technology. Solar thermal energy has already been widely used as an effective and clean energy source in industrial applications for drying, heating and even cooling since the last century. Various options of solar collector, such as flat plate type, evacuate tube type, and parabolic trough type, facilitate a comprehensive energy supply in different energy quality grades. In this paper, a technological framework for the energy efficiency in post-combustion CO2 capture is briefly presented for a connection between the energy demand of a CCS system and the energy supply of solar thermal engineering. The match performance between solar thermal utilization systems and CCS system is discussed in terms of energy form of the demand side (CCS), energy grades of supply sides (solar collector), and possible dynamic adjustment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]