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A growing literature suggests that community owned renewable energy (CRE) projects have the potential to deliver a range of environmental and local socio-economic benefits. There is relatively little empirical evidence to substantiate this, with few systematic efforts to assess social and environmental impacts or to understand the context in which given impacts arise. In this paper, we review and conceptualise the local impacts commonly cited in the literature and dissect the empirical evidence currently available to support their occurrence. Having assessed the quality of evidence and pinpointed knowledge gaps, we draw on methodological literature to identify approaches necessary to improve our understanding of the local impacts of CRE and explore their patterns of occurrence. We find a lack of robust survey and statistical evidence across all the seven impact categories identified. Of the impacts identified, ‘empowerment’ and ‘access to affordable energy’ are found to be the least studied. In addition, several impacts are associated only with specific types of community energy projects. We argue that the paucity of consistent evidence for direct impacts associated with the development processes and direct outcomes of projects suggests that the most substantial local impacts result from medium to long term indirect project outcomes and the investment of project revenues in the local community. As such, collective funding pools and negotiation processes around their distribution towards private versus public goods play a crucial role in determining transformative local impacts of CRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive design strategies are important for achieving building sustainability given their proved influences over the building performance in both energy and indoor environmental aspects. The building layout, envelope thermophysics, building geometry and infiltration & air-tightness are major passive architectural parameters to improve the building energy efficiency. In this paper, a comprehensive literature review on simulation-based approaches to optimize passively designed buildings is conducted and corresponding research gaps are identified. Based on existing research methods, modelling experiments on a generic building are conducted to integrate robust variance-based sensitivity analyses with an early-stage design optimization process. Proposed mixed-mode ventilation and lighting dimming control algorithms are applied to the EnergyPlus model to simulate the total lighting and cooling energy demands by incorporating the related design criteria in a local green building assessment scheme. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is then coupled with the modelling experiment to obtain the Pareto frontier as well as the final optimum solution. Different settings of NSGA-II are also investigated to improve the computational efficiency without jeopardizing the optimization productivity. Furthermore, the sensitivity of optimum design solutions to external environmental parameters in hot and humid areas are explored. Findings from this study will guide decision-makers through a holistic optimization process to fulfill energy-saving targets in a passively designed green building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term smart grid (SG) has been widely used in both the United States (U.S.) and Canada to represent multiple visions and configurations of electricity system change. In both countries policies, programs, and initiatives have emerged to promote technological and social changes associated with SG, and different patterns of SG implementation and governance are apparent at local, regional, and national levels. This paper reports on a comparative analysis of SG media content in nationally-circulating newspapers in the U.S. and Canada to explore patterns of SG conversations in the two countries. Media reporting about SG provides a valuable lens that reflects public discourse and also contributes to setting the public agenda by shaping public opinion and framing key issues. Despite similarities in terms of policy, program design, and SG deployment strategies, several prominent differences between the two countries emerge in public conversations. Firstly, Canadian SG newspaper content focuses more on implementation and describing people's experiences with smart meters, while the U.S. content focuses more on commercial opportunities with more reference to private sector actors and various technological components beyond smart meters. Secondly, although media coverage in both countries frequently highlights technological and economic benefits of SG, positive SG framing is more frequent in the U.S. newspapers than in the Canadian ones. Negative SG portrayals, including cultural, political and health and safety risks, are more frequently mentioned in the Canadian newspapers. These differing SG framings could be due to national level cultural differences. In the U.S, considered to be more of an individualistic society, there is more emphasis on business opportunities, being entrepreneurial, and more private sector involvement in the electricity sector. By contrast, in Canada, public authorities, more prominent in the electricity market than in the U.S., play a key role in smart grid deployment. Furthermore, in Canada, considered to have more social support structures for individuals and communities, there was more emphasis on the experiences of people. This suggests that cultural differences at the national level be a further contextual lens helpful to policy makers and technology proponents as they embark upon energy system change initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the climate effects of a bioenergy system, a comparison between the bioenergy system and a reference system is required. The reference system describes the situation that occurs in the absence of the bioenergy system with respect to the use of land, energy, and materials. The importance of reference systems is discussed in the literature but guidance on choosing suitable reference systems for assessing climate effects of bioenergy is limited. The reference system should align with the purpose of the study. Transparency of reference system assumptions is essential for proper interpretation of bioenergy assessments. This paper presents guidance for selecting suitable reference systems. Particular attention is given to choosing the land reference. If the goal is to study the climate effects of bioenergy as a part of total anthropogenic activity the reference system should illustrate what is expected in the absence of human activities. In such a case the suitable land reference is natural regeneration, and energy or material reference systems are not relevant. If the goal is to assess the effect of a change in bioenergy use, the reference system should incorporate human activities. In this case suitable reference systems describe the most likely alternative uses of the land, energy and materials in the absence of the change in bioenergy use. The definition of the reference system is furthermore subject to the temporal scope of the study. In practice, selecting and characterizing reference systems will involve various choices and uncertainties which should be considered carefully. It can be instructive to consider how alternative reference systems influence the results and conclusions drawn from bioenergy assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High levels of observed city involvement in energy and climate initiatives indicate that free-riding has been much less of a barrier to local climate protection efforts than suggested by theories of collective action. This study investigates why local governments have adopted various energy and climate change policy instruments despite the non-excludability of climate benefits. This paper advances theories of institutional collective action (ICA) and policy diffusion by testing ICA based hypotheses that local officials are able to overcome collective action problems to the extent that the costs of these initiatives are minimized through policy network interactions, the extent to which climate action produces localized benefits or compliments local environmental, development or growth management efforts, and the extent to which energy and climate protection efforts generate selective benefits to elected and appointed local government officials who advance their career interests depending on the existing configurations of political system institutions. Analysis of adoptions of the Climate Protection Agreements by Florida Cities indicates larger cities are more likely to adopt climate agreement, while district elections decrease the likelihood of climate policy adoption. Moreover, economic development rather than growth management or environmental problem situation is linked to climate initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzed the interactions among China’s economic growth and its energy consumption, air emissions and air environmental protection investment during 2000–2007. Conventional energy and emergy are applied to quantify energy consumption and emissions’ impact, respectively. The five indicators based on money, energy and emergy, including ratio of nonrenewable energy to renewable energy (RNR), energy use per unit GDP (EUPG), environmental cost per unit GDP (ECPG), impact of emissions per unit energy consumption (IEPEC), and environmental benefit per unit environmental protection investment (EBPEI), are presented to depict the relationships among economic growth and energy consumption and impact of air emissions and air environmental protection investment. The results show that energy consumption rapidly rises with China’s fast economic growth; however, energy efficiency and environmental loading intensity from energy consumption are reduced simultaneously but their improvements fall far behind economic growth rate. Impact of air emissions, mainly composed of impact of emissions on human health (especially dust), is slightly decreased. The performance of air environmental protection investment is obviously declined in the study period. Generally speaking, the conflict among economy, energy and air environment protection is slightly mitigated but still acute due to great dependence of China’s economy on fossil energy and inefficient environmental protection measures. Finally, this paper discusses the corresponding issues, and then puts forward some related suggestions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Volatile oil price and growing emphasis on environmental conservation have stimulated the development and utilisation of biomass as a vital source of renewable energy. In reducing the global dependency on fossil fuels, rice husk and rice straw which are the widely abundant agricultural wastes from the rice industry have a vital role to play. This paper reviews the key aspects of the utilisation of rice husk and rice straw as important sources of renewable energy. The paper provides some essential background information that includes the physical and chemical characteristics that dictates the quality of these rice biomasses. This paper also describes the various chemical and physical pretreatment techniques that can facilitate handling and transportation of rice straw and husk. Finally, the paper presents the state-of-the-art on thermo-chemical and bio-chemical technologies to convert rice husk and rice straw into energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since Taiwan imports more than 99% of energy supply from foreign countries, energy security has always been the first priority for government to formulate energy policy. The development of renewable energy not only contributes to the independence of energy supply, but also achieves benefits of economic development and environmental protection. Based upon information available to public, the present paper reassesses reserves of various renewable energies in Taiwan. The assessment includes seven kinds of renewable energies, namely, solar energy, wind power, biomass energy, wave energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy and hydropower, which are all commercialized and matured in terms of current technologies. Other renewable energies, which have not proven as matured as the aforementioned ones, are only assessed preliminarily in this paper, such as second generation of biomass, deep geothermal energy, the Kuroshio power generation and ocean thermal energy conversion. According to the estimation of this paper, the reserve of wind energy, up to 29.9kWh/d/p (i.e., kWh per day per person), is the largest one among seven kinds of renewable energies in Taiwan, followed by 24.27kWh/d/p of solar energy, 4.55kWh/d/p of biomass, 4.58kWh/d/p of ocean energy, 0.67kWh/d/p of geothermal energy and 16.79kWh/d/p of hydropower. If regarding biomass as a primary energy, and assuming 40% being the average efficiency to convert primary energy into electricity, the total power of the seven kinds of renewable energy reserves is about 78.03kWh/d/p, which is equal to 2.75 times of 28.35kWh/d/p of national power generation in 2008. If the reserves of 54.93kWh/d/p estimated from other four kinds of renewable energies that have not technically matured yet are also taken into account, it will result that the reserves of renewable energy in Taiwan can be quite abundant. Although the results of the assessment point out that Taiwan has abundant renewable energy resources, the four inherent shortcomings – low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current cost of renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy – have to be overcome first, before renewable energy is actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The measures executed by government to break through these barriers further include the upgrade of the technological level, the formulation of the necessary policies, and the work together from all levels for the overall promotion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Renewable energy is an important factor in achieving a low-carbon economic development path in China. This paper investigates the factors influencing renewable electricity consumption in China. Specifically, the factors that influence the share of renewable electricity in total electricity consumption in China is investigated using data from 1980 to 2011 and employing the Johansen cointegration technique and vector error correction model. The result of the analysis shows that there is a long run relationship between renewable electricity consumption and GDP per capita, trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial development and share of fossil fuel in energy consumption. Economic development and financial development promotes renewable electricity consumption while foreign direct investment, trade openness and the lobby of conventional energy sources undermine the share of renewables in total electricity consumption in China. While the effects of shocks to the other variables appear to die out over time, the “lobby effect” is persistent and explosive. The results also show that there is a uni-directional short run causality from financial development to renewable electricity consumption and from renewable electricity consumption to trade openness. The Chinese government should pursue policies that not only increase the amount of renewable electricity, but also increase the share of renewables in total electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current editorial summarized some of the scientific works presented in the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection (SEEP) conference-held at the University of the West of Scotland, UK, 2018. The selected work was directly related to the scope of the Renewable, Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) journal. During the conference activities, experts from all around the world in the subjects of: renewable energy, climate change, optimization, and economics presented and discussed the progress made in renewable energy sources, as well as the new strategies for protecting the environment from the hazards connected with fossil fuel utilization. The methods presented in the conference focused on several directions: the development of efficient energy conversion systems with low/no environmental impacts; the suggested policies to widespread renewable energies; the restriction in the emission of greenhouse gases, and the recent progresses in CO 2 capture. This editorial focused on the renewable energy developments and their positive effect on the climate change, and briefly summarized the accepted manuscripts in this issue. • Effects of renewable energy on climate change. • Background on the International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection SEEP. • Summary of selected papers of SEEP 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current editorial summarized some of the scientific works presented in the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection (SEEP) conference-held at the University of the West of Scotland, UK, 2018. The selected work was directly related to the scope of the Renewable, Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) journal. During the conference activities, experts from all around the world in the subjects of: renewable energy, climate change, optimization, and economics presented and discussed the progress made in renewable energy sources, as well as the new strategies for protecting the environment from the hazards connected with fossil fuel utilization. The methods presented in the conference focused on several directions: the development of efficient energy conversion systems with low/no environmental impacts; the suggested policies to widespread renewable energies; the restriction in the emission of greenhouse gases, and the recent progresses in CO 2 capture. This editorial focused on the renewable energy developments and their positive effect on the climate change, and briefly summarized the accepted manuscripts in this issue. • Effects of renewable energy on climate change. • Background on the International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environmental Protection SEEP. • Summary of selected papers of SEEP 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rising demand for renewable energy and environmental protection, anaerobic digestion of biogas technology has attracted considerable attention within the scientific community. This paper presents a comprehensive review of research achievements on anaerobic digestion developments for biogas production. The review includes a discussion of factors affecting efficiency (temperature, pH, C/N ratio, OLR and retention time), accelerants (greenery biomass, biological pure culture and inorganic additives), reactors (conventional anaerobic reactors, sludge retention reactors and anaerobic membrane reactors) and biogas AD processes (lignocellulose waste, municipal solid waste, food waste, livestock manure and waste activated sludge) based on substrate characteristics and discusses the application of each forementioned aspect. The factors affecting efficiency are crucial to anaerobic digestion, because they play a major role in biogas production and determine the metabolic conditions for microorganism growth. As an additive, an accelerant is not only regarded as a nutrient resource, but can also improve biodegradability. The focus of reactor design is the sufficient utilization of a substrate by changing the feeding method and enhancing the attachment to biomass. The optimal digestion process balances the optimal digest conditions with the cost-optimal input/output ratio. Additionally, establishment of theoretical and technological studies should emphasize practicality based on laboratory-scale experiments because further development of biogas plants would allow for a transition from household to medium- and large-scale projects; therefore, improving stability and efficiency are recommended for advancing AD research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast depleting fossil fuels and the growing awareness for environmental protection have led us to the energy crisis. Hence, efforts are being made by researchers to investigate new ways to extract energy from renewable sources. ‘Microgrids’ with Distributed Generators (DG) are being implemented with renewable energy systems. Optimization methods justify the cost of investment of a microgrid by enabling economic and reliable utilization of the resources. This paper strives to bring to light the concept of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES) and state of art application of optimization tools and techniques to microgrids, integrating renewable energies. With an extensive literature survey on HRES, a framework of diverse objectives has been outlined for which optimization approaches were applied to empower the microgrid. A review of modelling and applications of renewable energy generation and storage sources is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly growing cities and human activities change the environment and are accompanied by some drawbacks. Sustainable remedies are needed to protect the environment and the earth against warming environment, pollution, natural resource use and other negative aspects of human activities. Applying vertical greenery systems not only reduce temperature, but also have many economic, environmental and social benefits. This review is about vertical greenery systems description, division and benefits with a focus on energy related topics. The paper describes different experiments on vertical greenery systems by attention to their energy characteristic from recent years. Scan research and studies have determined positive aspects of these sustainable systems as well as a few negative aspects. Moreover, different parameters which are involved in thermal performance of vertical greenery systems are highlighted. Based on various scan research some recommendations for future studies are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Climate protection targets for mid-century imply a need to scale up European renewable power production to a level that may exceed the available land area within Europe''s borders. One attractive solution, from a cost and feasibility perspective, is the development of large-scale concentrating solar power plants in North Africa and the Middle East. However, these developments are seen by many people as risky, in terms of both European energy security, and in terms of the risks faced by project developers. In this paper, we focus on the latter of theses issues. First, we examine the risks that project developers are most concerned about, and identify these as being associated not with terrorism and rogue state behavior, but rather with corruption and inefficient and unpredictable bureaucracies. Second, we identify a range of policy approaches that can reduce these risks, either by mitigating their consequences, or by seeking to eliminate their underlying causes. Third, we investigate the financial benefits of taking such steps to reduce or eliminate investment risks. We find the potential savings to European electricity consumers to exceed €200 billion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The energy issue is considered as one of the most important issues on the global agenda not only to meet the increasing energy needs but also for environmental protection and enhancement. Practices on utilizing renewable-clean energy sources and discussions related to these practices have been increasing worldwide. This paper''s purpose is to provide empirical data for the deliberation of clean energy and its social acceptance by exploring Istanbul residents’ understanding on clean energy. The overall outcome of the conducted survey indicated that Istanbul residents have accepted the clean energy concept at the theoretical level. However, to carry out this acceptance, they should be provided more information and the changes to use them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The capacity expansion planning is a crucial process taking into account multiple aspects and various parameters of the examined power sector in order to optimally satisfy the future electricity demand. In the case of Greece, the long-term energy planning of the electricity supply sector faces a lot of challenges deriving from the peculiarities and geomorphology of the country mainly referring to the large number of islands. This paper explores the feasibility and the consequences of interconnecting Greek islands to the mainland grid by establishing two alternative scenarios of least cost electricity planning for the period 2009–2020. Namely, the reference scenario assumes isolated electric systems of islands and is compared against the alternative option of their interconnection to the mainland. The main purpose of the present study is to illustrate the great importance of islands’ interconnection on the development of renewable energy sources (RES) to generate electricity while pointing out the consequent economic and environmental benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to present Malaysia''s green developments, focusing on the National Green Technology Policy and Green Building Index which have been introduced since 2009. Various green initiatives and their progresses to date will be discussed as well as the key implementing green agencies. The benefits of going green to the country and incentives being offered by the Malaysian Government are also presented. The prospect of a green future in Malaysia, spurred by the worldwide outlook towards sustainable development and environmental preservation is very bright. Pursuing green technology in economic and social developments not only helps sustain the non-renewable fuels, safeguards and minimises the environmental degradation due to carbon emissions, it also creates a strong green economy and industry, inline with the country''s vision as well as the rest of the world economies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the largest population living in rural areas, the lack of clean energy supply is an important problem in China, and the utilization of renewable energy not only meets the demand of energy, but also provides a basis for environmental protection and sustainable development. This paper reviews use of clean energy in a resource-rich region, including the basic principle of the development of recycling agriculture, the potential, the present status and the future of renewable energy in the region rural areas. If the project will be finished, there will be 300,000 families benefiting from it and it can bring at least 2.2×108 US dollars revenue increase directly, the indirect revenue increase will be 0.15billion US dollars, the environment will be improved and the living standard in Jincheng''s rural areas is also be greatly improved because of developing biogas project. Based on the developing status and constraint conditions, the solutions to further promote renewable energy projects in this region are also proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With environmental protection and energy source posing as the biggest issue of the global problems, human beings have no choice but to reduce energy consumption. One way to accomplish this is to increase the efficiency of energy consumption and sufficiently exploit the low-grade energy in our lives. Low-grade energy recovery devices are of significance to meet the needs for energy conservation and green environment requirements such as fresh air pre cooling/heating, water heating, drying clothes and humidifying. These devices are also free of motion parts, non-corrosive and environmentally friendly. Various low-grade energy recoveries powered cooling, heating, drying and dehumidifying systems have been tested extensively; however, these systems are not yet ready to compete with the well-known vapor-compression system. The objective of this paper is to provide fundamental knowledge on the low-grade energy usage systems and present a detailed review on the past efforts in the field of low-grade energy recovery and usage subsystems. Lots of attempts have been made by the researchers to improve the performance of the low-grade energy recovery or usage subsystems. It is seen that, for successful operation of such systems, combination of diverse technologies is essential for more effective and multi-purpose applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]