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Recent worldwide growing awareness of the global climate changes stressed the importance of developing and supporting the renewable energy sources (RES). However, the public support for RES varies across various countries and regions, especially those abundant in traditional fossil fuels. This paper presents the analysis of the public views of the economics of the renewable energy using the results of the online survey (N = 750) conducted in several regions of the Russian Federation, a country abundant in natural gas and oil. Our results indicate that there is a mixed opinion on trust in RES as opposed to the traditional energy sources. Even though we found some support for the renewable energy technologies, it appears that it is correlated with the respondents' concerns about the environmental protection and sustainable development as well as with some demographic variables. The outcomes of the regression analysis confirmed that positive attitudes towards climate protection predetermined the support for various types of RES, while the financial or political gains did not come through as significant. The results indicate that public views on the renewable energy sources could and should be shaped by the information campaigns and presentations in mass media conducted by relevant policymakers and public authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into the electric power system poses significant challenges to grid operation and planning due to the potential constraints on the power system. To minimize grid congestion, the best option is to increase the production of photovoltaic (PV) energy for domestic use and EV charging stations. This paper addresses the nexus of technical, financial, and environmental effects of customer involvement in economic development and load management. In this paper, a new model design of solar-powered EV charging stations is proposed and implemented in HOMER Grid, and a case study has explored how economic, technical, and energy management benefits can be achieved through customer energy involvement and the integration of PV-based charging stations. The proposed PV-based charging stations contribute toward the energy management of the region, and the study observes the real-time optimal charging and discharging strategy of PV-based grid-connected charging stations. The case study results show that the investigated area can produce 1,070,804.096 MWh/year of energy through maximum customer involvement, consequently reducing overall energy costs. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the selected region can produce 86,961,688 kWh/year through the PV system, achieving 363,899 charging sessions per year, offering maximum advantages and facilitation for EV charging. The proposed model applicability shows that large-scale customer involvement can bring significant techno-economic benefits and attract regional investments. • This paper proposes a new design of a grid-tied renewable energy system. • It investigates the energy economics and environmental effects for a practical location. • The research examines energy management including PV systems and electric vehicles. • The results of proposed model are compared with other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance reliability advances and cost reductions have been achieved with hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in both the transportation and distributed energy sectors. This paper reviews the status of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, identifies key business and policy drivers for the hydrogen economy, critically examines key barriers to implementing the hydrogen economy, identifies and discusses key national initiatives to advance the hydrogen economy, and identifies and discusses key intergovernmental initiatives and activities to advance the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen and fuel cell technology advances, coupled with a reduction in costs and improvements in performance reliability, present new opportunities for developed and developing countries to achieve energy, economic and environmental security. Substantial national research and development investments in hydrogen production, storage, transport, end-use technologies (e.g., fuel cells), safety and public education underscore future opportunities. Intergovernmental bodies such as Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) provide a multilateral framework for development of a global hydrogen economy. While the pathway forward for the hydrogen economy is precarious alternative energy options offer substantially fewer public benefits. [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]

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]

In recent years, the development of renewable energies in the electricity market in Chile has gained significant attention as a key alternative for energy sources diversification and meeting three key policy objectives: energy availability, environmental protection, and social-economic development. This study aims to assess various renewable energy sources in order to select suitable sources to accomplish the different policy goals in a country like Chile. For this purpose, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method is employed to evaluate the relative importance of policy objectives. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to build various different policy scenarios measuring the impact of variations on the current weights of the decision criteria. The results show that solar, wind, and small hydro are the preferred sources in the Chilean renewable energy portfolio, maximizing the objective of meeting the three policy goals at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the past, present, and future of environments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the region moves toward the 2015 launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Policies and data are compared between the ten nations in the group and with others such as the United States, Australia, and European Union (EU) members. Opportunities to promote and support expansion of renewable energies are explored alongside factors constraining green growth initiatives. Climate science and statistical analyses are used to bolster recommendations in favor of implementation of new environmental legislation such as a regional cap-and-trade mechanism and carbon tax. A holistic approach to environmental protectionism is proposed in consideration of conflicting economic and scientific interests, which have resulted in poor enforcement of existing regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scenarios for the future of renewable energy through 2050 are reviewed to explore how much renewable energy is considered possible or desirable and to inform policymaking. Existing policy targets for 2010 and 2020 are also reviewed for comparison. Common indicators are shares of primary energy, electricity, heat, and transport fuels from renewables. Global, Europe-wide, and country-specific scenarios show 10% to 50% shares of primary energy from renewables by 2050. By 2020, many targets and scenarios show 20% to 35% share of electricity from renewables, increasing to the range 50% to 80% by 2050 under the highest scenarios. Carbon-constrained scenarios for stabilization of emissions or atmospheric concentration depict trade-offs between renewables, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) from coal, most with high energy efficiency. Scenario outcomes differ depending on degree of future policy action, fuel prices, carbon prices, technology cost reductions, and aggregate energy demand, with resource constraints mainly for biomass and biofuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]