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Energy independence and sustainable renewable energy sources are the two main components of energy security for Nepal. More than 2/3rd of energy consumed in Nepal comes from biofuels and waste and about 1/4th of energy consumed comes from coal and petroleum products. With increasing number of motor vehicles and rising demand for cooking gas, Nepal’s coal and petroleum import bills in recent years have reached over Rs. 200 billion. With its vast water resources, Nepal has a great potential for energy independence and sustainability and achieve energy security. Nepal’s current 1,689 MW hydroelectricity capacity is expected to reach over 5,000 MW in next three to five years, which means Nepal will have a large amount of clean energy in the market. This increased hydropower production will also require an increased domestic consumption by making hydroelectricity affordable, reliable, and high-quality energy by improving its distribution system. Nepal also has a very high potential for solar power, which need to be harnessed and brought to the national grid. Nepal needs to harness all energy sources, which consist of hydropower, solar power, wind power, biofuels, and biogas, in a sustainable way for its energy independence and security. Because Nepal is in a geologically active and natural disasters prone area, it is critical to ensure ecological balance of Asta-Ja elements, Nepali letter, Jal (water), Jamin (land), Jungle (forest), Jadibuti (medicinal and aromatic plants), Janashakti (manpower), Janawar (animal), Jarajuri (crop plants) and Jalabayu (climate) while developing energy resources. Asta-Ja Framework serves as the connecting bridge between the energy resources and the end users. Strategic planning for comprehensive energy development considering ecological balance of Asta-Ja resources, decarbonization and electrification of energy end uses, improvement of energy infrastructures, continuous monitoring and evaluation of energy sector, and development of hydropower plants and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind is suggested for energy security in Nepal.

Global climate change brings environmental quality sensitivity, especially in developed countries. Developed countries use non-renewable energy sources intensively both in their own countries and in other countries, they make productions that cause an enormous rate of increase in CO2 emissions and unsustainable environmental costs. This has increased the interest in environmentally friendly alternative energy sources. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of nuclear energy consumption and technological innovation on environmental quality in G7 countries using annual data over the period 1970–2015. The Panel Threshold Regression Model was used for the analysis. Empirical findings have indicated that the relationship between nuclear energy consumption and carbon emissions differs according to innovation for nuclear power plants. It was also concluded that nuclear energy consumption reduces carbon emissions more after a certain level of innovation. This result shows that the increase in innovative technologies for nuclear power plants not only increases energy efficiency but also contributes positively to environmental quality. © 2021 2-s2.0-85117720800

Policy literacy plays a critical role in enhancing deliberative communication among the public, policymakers, and experts. It also helps develop a positive view of policy by the public, which facilitates public acceptance. Despite its importance, however, policy literacy has received little attention in energy policy practice. Therefore, this study explores factors affecting the public's understanding and knowledge (i.e., policy literacy) of nuclear and new-renewable energy policies. Accordingly, we analyzed data from an online survey of 790 laypeople in Korea. Specifically, we examined the effects of trust, transparency, and policy public relations (PR) on the policy literacy of the public regarding the two alternative energy sources. The analysis revealed that people showed higher policy literacy about the alternative sources when provided with more transparent information and exposed to more policy PR activities. However, we found that trust in energy plant operators played a negligible role in improving policy literacy for both energy sources. Based on these findings, we developed some policy suggestions to secure the energy policy literacy of the public.

The available natural energy sources are insufficient to meet everyone's needs. Due to an increased population, dwindling natural resources, limited natural sources, and environmental issues, it is critical to focus on reproducing, recycling, and reused techniques. Coal is a major source of energy generation in India, but it causes significant environmental pollution. The use of petroleum oil for transportation contributes to global warming, and domestic and industrial waste contributes to pollution. It is critical to consider waste water treatment as well as alternative energy sources such as biofuel. Conventional technology is insufficient in terms of both economics and the environment. Membrane technology is an effective and efficient technology. This paper provides an overview of recent research on membrane technology applications in waste water treatment, biofuel production (such as biodiesel and bioethanol). It also discusses membrane reactors, membrane bioreactors, and mixed matrix membrane reactor applications for biodiesel production, as well as hybrid pervaporization membrane bioreactors, integrated pervaporization membrane bioreactors for bioethanol production, the membrane bioreactors application for waste water treatment.

A multi-criteria analysis of alternative energy technologies based on sustainable livelihoods framework is presented. A time bound development predicting model derived from a modified heterogenous mean field approach is proposed. The time bound development predicting model and time unbound development predicting model were validated as well as compared. A decision-makers’ weighting model for the VIKOR technique was also proposed and compared with the existent weighting models. For the case of Uganda, the results revealed that the development predicting models have statistical errors in the range of 0.2–13.7% when validated with the historical data for human development indices. The multi-criteria analysis revealed that rooftop solar PV is the best-choice technology to implement. By using the time bound development predicting model, development forecasts by the time unbound development predicting model for rooftop solar PV would be achieved between 8.8 and 16.7 years. The study predicts that Uganda would attain a development level of 0.756 in a period of 50 years from its current status of 0.401. The VIKOR technique gap distance recorded statistical errors in the range of 0.64–0.74% when the proposed decision-makers’ weighting model was used in comparison to both the interdependent weighting and entropy weighting models.

Hydrogen is currently receiving significant attention as an alternative energy resource, and among the various methods for producing hydrogen, methanol steam reforming (MSR) has attracted great attention because of its economy and practicality. Because the MSR reaction is inherently activated over catalytic materials, studies have focused on the development of noble metal-based catalysts and the improvement of existing catalysts with respect to performance and stability. However, less attention has been paid to the modification and development of innovative MSR reactors to improve their performance and efficiency. Therefore, in this review paper, we summarize the trends in the development of MSR reactor systems, including microreactors and membrane reactors, as well as the various structured catalyst materials appropriate for application in complex reactors. In addition, other engineering approaches to achieve highly efficient MSR reactors for the production of hydrogen are discussed.

The ever-increasing environmental/energy crisis as well as the rapid upgrading of mobile devices had stimulated intensive research attention on promising alternative energy storage and conversion devices. Among these devices, alkali metal ion batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) had attracted increasing research attention due to its several advantages including, environmental friendliness, high power density, long cycle life and excellent reversibility. It had been widely used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and large power grids et ac. Silicon-based (silicon and their oxides, carbides) anodes had been widely studied. Its several advantages including low cost, high theoretical capacity, natural abundance, and environmental friendliness, which shows great potential as anodes of LIBs. In this review, we summarized the recently progress in the synthetic method of silicon matrix composites. The empirical method for prelithiation of silicon-based materials were also provided. Further, we also reviewed some novel characterization methods. Finally, the new design, preparation methods and properties of these nano materials were reviewed and compared. We hoped that this review can provide a general overview of recent progress and we briefly highlighted the current challenges and prospects, and will clarify the future trend of silicon anode LIBs research.

Hydrogen as a low-carbon clean energy source is experiencing a global resurgence and has been recognized as an alternative energy carrier that can help bring the world to a carbon neutral future. However, getting to scale is one of the main challenges limiting the growth of the hydrogen economy. In particular, the high cost of transporting green hydrogen is bottlenecking the international trading and wider adoption of hydrogen for global carbon natural objectives. In order to explore incentives for the global hydrogen economy and develop new pathways towards the carbon neutral future, the concept of hydrogen credit is proposed by this research and a framework of trading hydrogen credits similar to carbon credits in the international market is established. This research aims to contribute to the overall uptake of green hydrogen financially rather than relying on the physical production, transportation, and storage of hydrogen. Case studies are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed hydrogen credit framework, as well as the great potential of a global hydrogen credit market.

Examining the dynamics of technological progress in determining energy intensity not only helps in assessing the relative strength of contributing factors, but also beneficial in designing effective energy policies. The effect of technology on energy intensity was widely discussed, as a whole, without narrowing down to the energy field and considering the technological absorption capacity as well as the heterogeneity. In view of the importance of sustainability in Guangdong province to the Greater Bay Area, this study focused on energy-specific technological progress and investigated the effect of energy-specific technology on energy intensity using a panel dataset covering cities in Guangdong Province for 2005–2017. The empirical evidence shows that energy-specific technology is beneficial in reducing the energy intensity. However, the energy intensity reduction effect is primarily from energy-saving technology rather than the alternative energy technology. From the sources of energy technology, enterprises, rather than from higher education institutions and independent research institutions, are more effective in cutting the energy intensity. In addition, utility-type energy-specific technology shows a stronger reduction effect on energy intensity compared to creation-type. Finally, the study concludes that technological absorption capacity is an important determinant for the effectiveness of energy-specific technology in reducing energy intensity.

Chinas growing economic power led to the rise of its geopolitical ambitions in the 21st century, and Chinas industrial policy has long been an important tool for implementing its global leadership strategy. Yet, how effective is the visible hand of the state? This paper examines the positive and negative effects of industrial policy implementation in Chinas electricity sector based on the analysis of policy documents, statistics, and academic publications. This study finds that together with energy policy measures industrial policy has been quite successful in promoting RD activities and production of high-tech power equipment. It gave China an opportunity to increase the share of clean energy sources in the power generation mix. Besides, Chinese power companies gradually became global leaders in the electricity sector. At the same time, the implementation of industrial policies has led to the over-expenditure of resources and is characterized by problems of horizontal and vertical coordination between the three main players in the policy-making and implementation system: the central government, local authorities, and large state-owned companies. The development of the electric power sector and related industries is managed by a large group of ministries and departments of the central government. Moreover, the heads of several energy companies have the power and influence equivalent to that of a minister, and there were divergences of priorities of central and local authorities at the regional level.

With the increasing effects of climate change and high costs of energy, many rural Alaska communities are working to implement local alternative energy solutions to improve energy security. Integrating renewable energy systems can reduce reliance on fossil fuels and subsequently improve food, energy, and water (FEW) security. In this study, wind energy modeling techniques using local airport meteorological data were convolved with community loads to determine the most cost-effective combinations of wind turbine technology and dispatchable loads for improving FEW security in a southwestern Alaska village. This approach is different from wind assessments that exclusively analyze wind resources. A 100 kW wind turbine was determined to be suitable for the community, resulting in a capacity factor of 16.7% and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of $1.15/kWh, with diminishing returns for higher wind turbine capacity. The results from the dispatchability study indicated that dispatchable loads could handle the intermittency of the wind resource with up to 86% of their annual load met. More work is needed to understand the impact of integrating and scheduling dispatchable loads into the grid in practice.

Offshore wind energy has seen a steady increase in the latest years as it serves as an ideal alternative energy source to meet our renewable energy goals. Due to this increase in interest and in installations of offshore wind farms a better understanding of the impact of waves on the power production of wind farms in necessary. This wave-wind farm power production interaction has scarcely been examined, however, some exceptions of small scale large-eddy-simulations exist. Unfortunately, these studies are not able to take multiple wind farms under real weather conditions into account. Here, we show the power production and wake lengths of 1250 offshore wind turbines located in the German Bight simulated by a stand-alone atmospheric (WRF) model and a coupled atmosphere-wave (WRF-SWAN) model. The coupled atmosphere-wave model estimates larger (smaller) power production in case of waves and wind traveling in the same (opposed) direction compared to the stand-alone atmospheric model. The relative difference between the two models can be as much as 20% for the two-week averaged grid power production, while the difference in total power over this two-week period is equal to 9%. Moreover, the wind farm wake lengths of waves and wind traveling in the same (opposed) direction are longer (shorter) for the coupled atmosphere-wave model compared to the stand-alone atmospheric model. Here, the relative difference of the mean wake length between the two models can be up to 25%. This shows the importance of waves as a part of the offshore wind environment and can be an important factor in future wind assessment or power production estimation studies.

Southeast Asia comprises an extraordinarily diverse set of countries with vast differences in the scale and patterns of energy use and energy resources endowments. Indonesia and Thailand have been selected to be compared because they are the two largest consumers in energy sector in the region and both countries still similarly rely on energy imports such as oil. They have been facing challenges in energy policy reformation distorting energy markets. The combined energy status of Indonesia and Thailand not only aims at providing policy makers with an understanding of the energy trends and challenges being faced by the countries up to the next two decades, but also at confidently convincing them the future energy pathways to unlocking energy efficiency potential and investment. This work contains data and information on pattern of energy use in the past, present, and future, some economic and political factors that may be affecting energy demand and supply of Indonesia and Thailand. Key energy issues that need to be considered are introduced. The potential future energy pathways are included and compared between the countries. Investment opportunities in each country are also identified.

The study presents the results of content monitoring of the European press on the subject of alternative energy. The data collected from the current newspaper articles and selected by keywords “alternative energy sources”, “diversification of energy sources”, “energy transition” and “energy markets” are summarised. Trends, problems and prospects of energy transition are revealed. Both pan-European trends and the dynamics of transition in specific countries (Germany, France and Great Britain) are presented. It is noted that the triangle of sustainable development, which is “economy — ecology — society”, needs a powerful media component to ensure public discussion and social approval of the latest energy technologies. It has been proved that the energy turn provides sufficient information support for society to adapt to alternative energy sources and allows key actors to make informed policy decisions. The role of solutions journalism in the implementation of sustainable development goals, including the transition of the society to renewable energy, is pointed out. It is noted that solutions journalism, as a new direction of media activity, corresponds to the interpretive contextual function of journalism, which provides coverage of productive precedents for solving social problems in different countries. The role of the media in popularisation of such precedents is shown. The tools of solutions journalism used in the European countries are indicated, namely engaging the expert community, providing positive forecasts, appealing to the productive experience of other countries, covering the political side of the issue and opportunities for savings through the transition to alternative energy sources, and promotion of green technologies.

The world is looking for alternative energy resources because of the depletion of fossil fuel reservoirs like crude oil, coal, and natural gases in the next few decades. In this aspect, unutilized coal waste and sustainable biomass are considered major energy contributors to convert biomass blended coal fines as high-quality solid briquettes. The present study integrates different briquette processing technologies to develop, coal-biomass-binder, coal-biomass (binderless), coal-binder, and carbonized biomass-binder composites. Briquette application depends upon, availability of waste coal, selection of appropriate biomass among the countless existing biomass stock, thermal-mechanical characteristics of raw material, and progressive advancements in briquetting machines. Present review highly encourages densification of aquatic biomass (water hyacinth, microalgae), activated sludge (municipal solid waste, tannery industry) as well as agro and forest residues (wheat straw, sawdust) to integrate briquetting technology with wastewater treatment or solid waste management. Briefly, the present study covers all aspects of briquette processing and the application of multifunctional bio-binders as cow dung, which act as a desulfurizing agent besides binding to obtain clean coal combustion. Further, cost assessment and budding future research concerned with briquetting technologies are explored to find alternative and sustainable energy routes.

This paper aims to validate the EKC hypothesis for BRICS countries, in the presence of natural resources, renewable energy, and globalization factors. FMOLS, DOLS, Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), and heterogeneous panel causality tests have been applied on the BRICS panel from 1990 to 2014. According to FMOLS and DOLS techniques, the EKC hypothesis does exist in BRICS countries in the presence of alternative energy resources and globalization, whereas quantile level analysis does not support globalization as a significant factor for environmental degradation. Quantile regression validates the EKC hypothesis with a direct association of natural resources and inverse association of renewable energy with environmental degradation. Heterogeneous panel causality also confirms the bidirectional Granger causality between all the variables and CO2, except globalization, which means that panel causality is endorsing the results of MMQR. Thus, it is recommended to encourage the usage of renewable energy resources in BRICS countries.

Bertambahnya jumlah penduduk mengakibatkan jumlah sampah semakin meningkat. Desa Glagaharum mempunyai 20 RT dan 4 RW yang terletak di Kecamatan Porong Kabupaten Sidoarjo. Sebanyak 5 RT terdampak bencana lumpur Lapindo sehingga mengalami penyempitan lahan. Sampah dari warga dibuang di lahan kosong dan dibakar. Proses pembakaran tersebut tidak sempurna sehingga memicu terjadinya pencemaran lingkungan baik tanah, air maupun udara. Berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut dibutuhkan solusi untuk menanggulangi jumlah sampah. Diantaranya dengan mengolah sampah rumah tangga menjadi sumber energi alternatif dengan teknologi pyrolisis dan biogas. Solusi tersebut dapat diimplementasikan melalui program pemberdayaan masyarakat. Metode pemberdayaan masyarakat dilaksanakan secara luring sesuai protokol kesehatan. Tahapan dalam program meliputi, 1) FGD (Forum Group Discussion), 2) Sosialisasi pengenalan program, 3) Pretest & postest, 4) Rancangan invensi teknologi, 5) Pelatihan dan 6) Evaluasi. Adapun hasil dari pemberdayaan masyarakat yaitu , 1) Terjadi perubahan pengetahuan masyarakat yang ditandai dengan adanya perubahan nilai pretest dan posttest, 2) Terjadi perubahan fisik pada masyarakat yang ditandai adanya unit pengolahan sampah terpadu serta komunitas sebagai pengelola dan penanggungjawab unit tersebut.

Renewable energy is an important alternative energy source in terms of both sustainable growth and climate change. In this paper, the causality nexus between renewable energy consumption and economic growth is analyzed in 15 emerging countries covering the period from 1990 to 2015. The paper adopts the bootstrap panel causality test which is developed by (Kónya, Econ Model 23:978-992, 2006) to consider the cross-sectional dependence. The results of (Kónya, Econ Model 23:978-992, 2006) prove the validity of the neutrality hypothesis in all countries. Then, we analyze asymmetric causality among the variables. Asymmetric test denotes a causality from negative shocks of economic growth to negative shocks of renewable energy consumption in South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey. Thus, a negative shock in economic growth hampers renewable energy consumption in these countries. Our results demonstrate the consequences of the application of disaggregated data in the analyses.

The paper is devoted to topical problems of legal regulation of public relations in the field of alternative (renewable) energy sources in Russia and abroad. The paper shows the formation and development of the legal framework governing the investigated area of public relations in Russian and foreign law. The necessity of adopting a special legislative act in the Russian Federation dedicated to the civil regulation of public relations arising from the use of alternative (renewable) energy sources is substantiated.

The downside of fossil fuels as non-renewable energy resources in Indonesia has led to invent alternative energy resources. One of alternative sources is biofuels, which are derived from organic compound that originated from plants and living creatures. Here, we used sorghum as a source of biofuels, but current knowledge of sorghum cultivation on dry land is limited. This study aims to determine the influence of sorghum genotypes on their growth and yield in a dry land, and to analyze the potential of sorghum as biofuels. This research was carried out in low land, on vertisol soil, from August to November 2020. We applied a completely randomized block design with one factor and 3 replications. Seven sorghum varieties were identified namely Numbu, Super 1, Suri 3, Keller, Kawali, Black Sorghum, and Bioguma-2. The results showed that each variety had different genetical properties leading to various growth rates in both vegetative and generative phases. Our finding revealed that Keller variety was the most productive sorghum plant as it produced the highest sugar content (20°Brix). Also, Keller was the tallest plants (>300 cm) compared to other varieties. Bioguma-2 was the second, which was proven by its longest stem (307 cm) and high stem sap content (18°Brix). Thus, we recommended the Keller and Bioguma-2 as the suitable sorghum variety to be utilized in biofuels manufacturing.

Waste management has always been one of the main challenges of developing countries. So far, several methods have been proposed to manage municipal solid waste (MSW) and reduce its environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to determine the amount of MSW generated in two different cities in Asia and to investigate the performance of both landfill gas and anaerobic digestion methods for electric power generation. Both Tehran and Beijing have a high rate of daily waste production and can be a good case study to examine the performance of both energy generations technologies from MSW. However, the use of such technologies requires more and more detailed studies in order to encourage private and government sector investors to use them. In addition, the use of alternative energy sources such as electricity from waste is inevitable due to the current problems in the field of energy. The assessment presented in this paper includes the amount of electricity generated in both technologies, economic feasibility based on Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Payback Time (PBT) calculations approaches, and environmental evaluation according to the global warming potential (GWP) under different three Scenarios. It was found that after a 20-year period, the amount of waste generated in regions of Beijing is 1.96% lower than in Tehran. The total electricity generated by anaerobic digestion technology is 45.2% and 41.9% higher than that of landfill gas project in Tehran and Beijing, respectively. In addition, on the average MSW management under scenarios 2 and 3 in the Tehran and Beijing could reduce GWP by 79.16 and 92.65%, respectively. The average PBT value for a 20-year period in Tehran is 1.1 and 0.67 years higher than in Beijing under landfill gas and anaerobic digestion technologies, respectively.

In 2018, Mishik Airazatovich Kazaryan received the highest award of the International Association for Alternative Energy and Ecology - Order of Antoine de Saint-Exupery “For Improving the Quality of Life on the Planet of People” (IAAEE) on nominating the Award Committee of the Editorial Board of the International Scientific Journal for Alternative Energy and Ecology (ISJAEE). The award was given for his outstanding contribution to development of alternative energetics and ecology. M.A. Kazaryan's prominent contribution to the development of alternative energetics and ecology is based on his pioneering works in the field of development of methods for producing hydrogen as environmentally friendly safe fuel, as well as works in the field of processing organic compounds by various physical methods. As a part of joint research with colleagues from Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS (LPI), M.A. Kazaryan participated in creation of new methods for producing hydrogen from various chemical compounds. The method of conversion of liquid-phase compounds in plasma discharges under the influence of intensive ultrasonic cavitation occupies a special place. In the course of these works, it is shown that low-temperature plasma initiated in liquid-phase media in discharge between electrodes is able to effectively decompose hydrogen-containing molecules of organic compounds and form gaseous products where the part of hydrogen is more than 90%. Estimations of energy efficiency calculated taking into account hydrogen combustion heat and initial substances, as well as electricity costs, showed an efficiency level of about 60–70% in depending on the composition of the starting mixture. Another notable contribution of M.A. Kazaryan to the development of alternative energetics was the work on the optimization and justification of technological and structural parameters of energy discharge devices based on high-voltage pulse-periodic discharge for creating a reactor for plasmachemical processing of polymer wastes into hydrogen and other valuable compounds.

Humanity is confronted with one of the most significant challenges in its history. The excessive use of fossil fuel energy sources is causing extreme climate change, which threatens our way of life and poses huge social and technological problems. It is imperative to look for alternate energy sources that can replace environmentally destructive fossil fuels. In this scenario, hydrogen is seen as a potential energy vector capable of enabling the better and synergic exploitation of renewable energy sources. A brief review of the use of hydrogen as a tool for decarbonizing our society is given in this work. Special emphasis is placed on the possibility of storing hydrogen in solid-state form (in hydride species), on the potential fields of application of solid-state hydrogen storage, and on the technological challenges solid-state hydrogen storage faces. A potential approach to reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen storage materials is presented in the concluding section of this paper.

Thailand has increased continuously of renewable energy because of the Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) is targeted at increasing renewable energy use in all sectors. In addition to reducing the use of fossil fuels and energy imports from abroad, it also affects the greenhouse gases (GHG) emission reduction that is a major cause of climate change. In 2019, thermal energy consumption from renewable energy was 60.3% of total final renewable energy consumption. This study aims to assess the marginal abatement costs (MAC) in Thailand renewable energy heat generation which is consisting of (i) the type of natural renewable: solar energy, and (ii) the type of bio-renewable: biomass, biogas, and waste during 2014 to 2018. In 2018, the MAC results range from −18,757.67 to 3,718.38 THB/tCO 2eq. Marginal abatement costs (MAC) are the important tools for prioritizing in GHG reduction strategy which represents the importance and necessity of heat generation from renewable energy that affects to the GHG reduction of the country by expression the form of marginal abatement cost curves (MAC Curve). In addition, it is also a climate change economics indicator that is essential for the Long-term Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) of Thailand to affect the operations that will lead to sustainable development in society, economy, and environment to achieve Net-zero targets.

Pakistan has been a victim of energy crisis since last few decades. This energy crisis has adversely affected country’s socio-economic development and continues to do so. The continuously increasing demand–supply gap has negatively impacted the economic stability of the country. With the recent awareness and development of alternate energy resources like wind and solar, the current energy crisis can be minimized. However, proper planning is essential for successful execution of these renewable energy projects. This study aims to identify the suitable sites for wind farms in District Gwadar, Balochistan using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Web-based Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS). In this study, multi-criteria decision making is applied which assists breaking down the site selection complexity. Multi-Criteria evaluation methods provides different set of procedures that facilitate decision making by analyzing different alternatives. The underlying geospatial and ICT technologies used in this analysis form the core component of the planning process. Gwadar is currently drawing investor’s attention due to its geographical location, deep seaport, and proposed China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This research is useful for stakeholders of Wind Energy to explore the wind potentials using GIS as an interactive decision-making tool during the pre-feasibility stage.Furthermore, this research has considered the environmental, social and economic aspects during the decision-making process of wind farm development. This is the strength of multi-criteria evaluation as differently weighted scenarios provide different output, depending on the factors considered of highest importance. A detailed analysis of the sites in terms of their wind potential and energy generation capacity has also been reported in this study. This long coastline of Balochistan with huge wind energy potential has not been explored yet and therefore this study will assist researchers to further explore this area and can have a positive impact on CPEC. Qatar University Internal Grant No. IRCC- 2021-010.

An all-weather energy management scheme for island DC microgrid based on hydrogen energy storage is proposed. A dynamic model of a large-scale wind–solar hybrid hydrogen-generation power generation system was established, using a quasi-proportional resonance (QPR). We used the distributed Nautilus vertical axis wind power generation system as the main output of the system, and it used the photovoltaic and hydrogen energy storage systems as alternative energy sources. Based on meeting the load power requirements and controlling the bus voltage stability, we can convert the excess energy of the microgrid to hydrogen energy. With a shortage of load power, we can convert the stored hydrogen into electrical energy for the load. Based on the ANSYS FLUENT software platform, the feasibility and superiority over large-scale distributed Nautilus vertical axis wind power generation systems are verified. Through the MATLAB/Simulink software platform, the effectiveness of the energy management method is verified. The results show that the large-scale distributed Nautilus vertical axis wind power generation system runs well in the energy system, produces stable torque, produces energy better than other types of wind turbines, and has less impact on the power grid. The energy management method can ensure the normal operation of the system 24 h a day under the premise of maintaining the stable operation of the electric hydrogen system without providing external energy.

Due to continuous growth in population and sharp increase in energy and food demand, research on alternative energy sources independent of fossil fuels has increased over the last decade. Moreover, limitations on greenhouse gas emissions by developed and developing countries are imposing much pressure on the energy sector worldwide to use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal. Food production is one of the biggest industries in the world, and it consumes a large amount of energy in the form of heat and electricity. In this work, agro-product drying technologies powered by solar energy are presented and discussed. Different types of solar dryers based on direct, indirect and mixed modes are described. Moreover, energy, exergy, economic, and environmental analyses for these technologies are presented to determine the main parameters affecting the dryer performance. The results indicate that the air mass flow rate, temperature, moisture content, and drying time are the most important parameters in solar dryer performance. Finally, a comparative assessment of the performance of different existing solar dryer has been highlighted with a detail scope of future works.

Waste processing activities through the 3R program (reduce, reuse and recycle) must be accompanied by reducing the volume/amount of waste itself. One way is to process waste starting from the source, among others, from dry leaf waste around our home environment. Community assistance activities in the use of dry leaves in the manufacture of charcoal briquettes as an alternative energy for environmental facilitators and Surabaya residents have been successfully carried out. The response of the residents was very positive and very enthusiastic in participating in this activity. The stages of implementing activities through workshops, training and mentoring are carried out in the form of lectures, questions and answers and direct practice in making briquettes. The results obtained in this community service are the formation of three superior briquette villages, namely Babat Jerawat, Tembok Gede and Ondomohen. The residents independently have succeeded in designing and making their own briquette printing equipment by utilizing used goods around them and making charcoal briquettes from dry leaves or burnt coconut shell charcoal and even has succeeded in marketing it even though it is still within the scope of the closest neighbors. Education about business prospects and marketing strategies was also given during training in empowering urban communities and responding to existing business opportunities and prospects so that they had a circular economy impact for community members to improve family welfare.

The purpose of the article consists in the analysis of the norms of national and international legislation for the elimination of the discrepancies in the legal understanding of the definitions in the field of alternative energy, that is definition and scientific and theoretical substantiation of the notions «alternative sources of energy», «non-conventional sources of energy» and «renewable sources of energy», which will serve for the elimination of terminological discrepancies in national legislation, and will become a basis for uniform practical use of the latter in the field of alternative energy. Urgency of the research is conditioned by the reorientation of world energy sector in the direction of the substitution of conventional fuel sources for those alternative. Since global warming and increasing of the level of anthropogenic emissions as a result of human activity is one of the biggest ecological problems of the universe, international community, together with ecologists and climatologists of all the world are involved in the development and implementation of highly efficient international strategies, which are directed at the decrease of harmful impact of anthropogenic emissions on surrounding natural environment and human health. In order to prevent the climate change and to mitigate global warming the scientists of the entire world proposed a wide range of variants for the mitigation of climate changes of Earth. Among which the key place belongs to alternative and renewable energy sources, which have been identified as the main strategically successful directions of reducing anthropogenic emissions into the natural environment. Today, we can see a trend towards a reorientation of the global energy sector to more environmentally friendly, alternative and renewable energy sources and a departure from traditional fossil energy resources. At the same time, unambiguous interpretation and understanding of the conceptual and terminological apparatus is an important condition for the development and practical use of knowledge. Therefore, it is important to delineate the clear boundaries of the technologies included in the concepts of alternative and renewable sources of energy, as there are differences in the use of these concepts, both in national legislation and between national and international legislation. The article analyzes and systematizes the knowledge as to the categorial instrument in the field of alternative energy and proposes the definition of renewable and alternative energy sources in accordance with the rules of construction of conceptual and terminological apparatus taking into account international experience in this field. The proposed wording of these concepts serves to eliminate terminological inaccuracies in national legislation, and will address the gaps between national and international legislation in the field of application of the categorial instrument in the field of alternative energy.

The purpose of this program to provide knowledge and skills to the SP3 Saritani community in utilizing agricultural waste of corn cob as the basic ingredients of charcoal briquettes as an alternative energy. External targets of this program include opportunities for students to learn with the community about village development (learning society). To implementation in this activity used Focus group discussion (FGD) between students and partner groups. Direct observation and excavations together with partners and document the potential resources that will be developed with the assisted community. Designing scenarios for the implementation of the program, conducting training and mentoring for the processing of agricultural waste of corn cobs for raw materials of charcoal briquette production as an alternative energy potential. The result obtained is the existence of charcoal briquette products made from corn waste. Charcoal briquettes produced have physical characteristics that are ideal enough as an alternative fuel. The physical shape of charcoal briquettes in the form of cylinders with a height of about 3 cm and a diameter of about 5 cm and hard enough with a type of starch adhesive with a percentage of 5%, 10% and 15% respectively. The test results concluded that the process of ignition of briquettes into coals that are ready for use takes only one minute. The impact obtained is the value of products produced to provide economic independence to the SP3 Saritani community. This devotional activity has also supported the application of innovations and technologies that are directly useful in achieving SDGs on the 7th goals (clean and renewable energy villages) and the 15th goals (villages care about the land environment).

The research materials represent a theoretical reflection on the strategies of the leading actors of world politics for the development of the hydrogen economy and the transformation of global fuel and energy complex in the context of the tasks voiced at the Summit of Climate Leaders on April 22-23, 2021 (“reducing emissions during this critical decade”, “mobilizing public and private sector finances to ensure zero transition to a new clean energy economy”, “promoting transformational technologies of pure zero by 2050”). The article examines a numer of state strategies: 1) dialectical balance between the operational concepts of the methodical "matryoshka (triple) doll" (biosphere - human life - technosphere) in the European Green Deal, Alternative Energy and Hydrogen Economy projects; 2) achieving synergy of components in the quadrangle of economic and legal relations "Lex Mercatoria - Democratia Carboneum - Lex Petroleа - European Green Deal" when applying new technologies; 3) filling the national and international legal gap to ensure innovation in the field of energy at all stages (extraction, production, supply, transportation, transfer, storage of energy resources, design, construction, operation of energy facilities); 4) resource self-sufficiency and technological capabilities of using hydrogen, choosing the best option for the hydrogen value chain; 5) development of fuel and energy complexes of the European Union, the Republic of Korea, and Japan in terms of prospects for hydrogen energy and building a hydrogen economy based on a combination of national industrial traditions with innovative technologies. The article also deals with a set of institutional factors and legal norms for regulating the relationship between the subjects of national and global fuel and energy complexes in the context of the dynamics of demand for hydrogen and other types of fuel and energy resources in local and world markets. It gives the analysis of the effectiveness of government strategies to reduce dependence on imports of traditional types of energy sources and the development of "green" energy. The authors attempted to identify the priority tasks of energy diplomacy.

Fuel cells have emerged as alternative energy conversion and portable devices because of their highly efficient production of electrical energy, as well as high-power density. However, some issues regarding the ion-exchange membranes, such as high cost and high fuel crossover dehydration of Nafion membrane, have greatly limited the commercialization of fuel cells. Exploring proper alternatives of Nafion membranes is highly imperative for realizing the practical applications of fuel cells. Herein, in this review, we have summarized the recent progress achieved in the fabrication of advanced polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based membranes as alternative ion-exchange membranes for fuel cells. By highlighting the advantageous merits of PVA-based polymer membranes, including low fuel crossover and permeability, good ion conductivity, excellent mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability, we have systematically illustrated the great promise of PVA membranes for the applications in the fuel cells. Besides, some representative examples are manifested to further demonstrate the potential applications of PVA membranes in fuel cells. Finally, some challenging issues are also discussed in the review to provide guidance for the future endeavors.

The role of phototrophs is examined in alternative energy, with the main emphasis on unicellular algae. Particular attention is paid to the use of phototrophs for generating electricity using biofuel cells (plant and enzymatic biofuel cells are discussed). This study focuses on microbial fuel cells (MFC), which, along with electric power, allow obtaining biofuels and biohydrogen. This article explains the factors limiting the MFC power, and ways of overcoming them. For example, it seems promising to develop various photobioreactors in order to reduce the loss of MFC power due to overvoltage. The use of microphototrophs in MFC has led to the development of photosynthetic MFC (or PhotoMFC) through the design of autotrophic photobioreactors with forced illumination. They allow generating oxygen through photosynthesis, both in situ and ex situ, by recirculating oxygen from the photobioreactor to the cathode chamber. Artificial redox mediators can be used here, transferring electrons directly from the non-catalytic cathode to O2, formed as a result of the photosynthetic activity of algae. Biologically catalyzed cathodes have been proven to generate less power than chemical catalysts. It is noted, that the MFC installations with the micro-algae allow utilizing a wider circle of different connections – the components of effluents and withdrawals: organic acids, sugar, alcohols, fats and other substrata. The use of phototrophs for the production of biofuels is of special interest. Several different types of renewable biofuels can be produced from microalgae, the production of which can be combined with wastewater treatment, CO2 capture and production of various compounds.

Costa Rica has set a very ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Despite the low-carbon footprint of its power sector, the goal set in its NDC requires further decarbonization of the national energy system. A TIMES model was developed in order to assess alternative energy and decarbonization scenarios for the country, with a particular emphasis on demand-side actions. A group of local experts actively participated in the model and scenario development while being trained in its use. Additionally, a set of tools for processing model outputs and graphical comparison of scenarios was used to facilitate the communication of results to stakeholders. Three groups of scenarios were developed and assessed. Firstly, the Baseline (business-as-usual) scenario was established and set as the benchmark in the absence of any mitigation policies. Secondly, scenarios which examine the already Planned policies and programs that are envisioned to be undertaken in Costa Rica were assembled and explored. Finally, Enhanced mitigation scenarios that lead the country towards its NDC at least-cost were designed and evaluated. In total, over 75 mitigation measures were defined and addressed in this study covering all the sectors within the energy economy.

The challenge associated with large-scale hydrogen storage is a pertinent one to achieve a hydrogen economy. The increasing global demand for clean and green energy is the driving force to propel such an economy. Furthermore, hydrogen is also considered an alternative energy source compared to fossil fuel as a clean energy alternative. Hydrogen geo-storage in a deep saline aquifer, depleted oil and gas reservoirs can resolve this challenge. We assess the potential of a saline aquifer in a sandstone formation to store hydrogen through first-of-its-kind x-ray micro-computed tomography miniature coreflood experiments. The investigation shows that ~65% of the sandstone's pore volume can be occupied by hydrogen when injected at a slow rate. Residual saturation of hydrogen upon brine injection can be ~41%.

This study provides insight into the sustainability performance of bioenergy systems for providing cooking and electricity-enabled energy services in the rural growth centres of Zambia. This is achieved by modeling and optimizing a bioenergy supply chain for the provision of these services, and then comparing its sustainability performance to that of existing energy systems. The findings indicate that using biomass-based gasifier-internal combustion engines instead of diesel generators for the provision of electricity-enabled services could result in greenhouse gas, NOX, and SO2 emission reductions of 36, 8, and 97%, respectively. When pellet-gasifier cookstoves are used instead of firewood/three-stone cookstoves for providing cooking services, greenhouse gas and PM2.5 emissions are reduced by 57 and 94%, respectively. Furthermore, households that use bioenergy systems instead of traditional energy systems to deliver cooking and electricity-enabled services can save approximately 275 and 11 US dollars per year, respectively. In general, bioenergy systems outperform existing systems in providing the two energy services in question from a sustainability standpoint. Hence, policymakers must consider their use as alternative energy systems to the existing ones in order to foster sustainable development in rural areas.

The global climate and environmental crisis dictate the need for the development and implementation of environmentally friendly and efficient technical solutions, for example, generation based on renewable energy sources. However, the annually increasing demand for electricity (according to the forecasts of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the amount of energy consumed for the period 2006–2030 will increase by 44 %) cannot be fully provided by alternative energy. The main reason is not so much the high cost of these technologies, like unstable power generation, which determines the need for an additional reserve of regulated power. The solution to this problem can be the combined use of generation based on renewable energy sources with energy storage units of large capacity. Currently, a promising direction is the use of excess electricity for the production of hydrogen and its further accumulation in hydrogen storage. In this case an additional energy can be generated using industrial fuel cells (electrochemical generators) to compensate for the power shortage. At the same time, the distinctive advantage of hydrogen energy storage systems lies in the ability to accumulate a large amount of energy for long periods of time. This fact makes it possible to increase the reliability of the functioning of the electric power system, to provide power supply with a sufficiently long interruption (in case of faults) or allocation for isolated operation. With an increase in the unit capacity and the share of renewable generation in the total installed capacity, researches that aimed to systematic analysis of the impact of the implemented generation unit and the energy storage system on the parameters of the mode of the electric power system become more relevant. There are a number of tasks can be noted related to determining the optimal location and size of the generation unit and energy storage systems being implemented in terms of reducing power losses and maintaining an appropriate voltage level in the nodes of the electric power system. In this article, a variant of solving the optimization task for a typical 15-bus IEEE scheme is presented by means of software calculation using the bubble sorting method. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: the objective function, which indicates the optimal location and size of the generation unit, and constraints, for example, the available deviation of voltage level, were formed; the software implementation of the algorithm for calculating power flows and power losses using the bubble sorting method was carried out. The results of the work of the program code for two scenarios are presented: for instance, installation of one renewable generation unit with a different range of possible capacities, and are compared with the data obtained in the MATLAB/Simulink software package.

Biomass and organic solid waste are considered as very potential alternative energy sources in the future, leading to the realization of a clean and CO2-free energy system. Therefore, the effective conversion of biomass and organic solid waste to a secondary energy source is urgently demanded. In addition, hydrogen is considered very promising among the secondary energy sources due to its advantages of cleanliness, wide range of conversion and utilization technologies, high energy efficiency, and high gravimetric energy density. This paper reviews several possible routes and key conversion technologies of biomass and organic solid waste to hydrogen. Recent progress related to biological and thermochemical conversion technologies is described. Thermochemical route includes gasification, pyrolysis, steam reforming, partial oxidation, and thermochemical cycle; while biological route covers fermentation (dark and photo), biophotolysis (direct and indirect), enzymatic, and microbial electrolysis. In addition, several challenges regarding the conversion and utilization of biomass and organic solid waste to hydrogen are also discussed in order to clarify the feasibility of biomass and the organic solid waste-based hydrogen economy.

Photovoltaic lighting systems are unable to reach people with low purchasing power due to high installation costs, so they have traditionally been concentrated in families with high purchasing power and currently do not take into account the social power that this type of system represents. This article analyzes through bibliometric review the effect that lighting can have on human development and how a good lighting system can positively affect a community environment. It is proposed the social design of a photovoltaic lighting system which will be installed in a vulnerable community with resources obtained by the community itself and the whole process of accompaniment achieving a satisfactory impact on the community and achieving integration between the same from community participation. The development of workshops with the children of the community has also been proposed, leading to the training and recognition of alternative energy systems as a strategy of social appropriation.

Global climate fluctuations and projections of deteriorating sustainable human development since the beginning of the 21st century have highlighted the need to look for alternative energy sources to carbon fuels. The utilization of solar and wind energy has become a challenge for engineers and technologists to develop new technologies for more efficient development of renewable energy sources. The purpose of this paper is to present the territorial features in the utilization of renewable energy sources – solar radiation and wind in Bulgaria. The study focuses on the regional features of the solar- and wind energy potential. Based on statistical data, the utilization of the RES potential is considered through a review of the installed capacities.