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This paper investigates the conditions in which the development of new technologies induce structural change in the economy. A literature review reveals three factors that influence the industrial transformative capacity of a technology: context; complementarities; competition. We explore the dynamics of these factors, focusing on the extent and nature of induced activities in adjacent sectors. We apply this framework to study marine renewable energy technologies (MRET) in Portugal. Adjacent sector firms active in several MRET exhibited diversified activity, innovation and internal change. Comparing with Norway, where an offshore sector (oil & gas) supports the emergence of offshore wind, the absence of such sector in Portugal raises challenges but also creates opportunities for the transformation of several other sectors. We develop a new indicator to identify and compare the industrial transformative capacity of innovations. Finally, we discuss the extent to which context, complementarities and competition contribute to accelerate or hinder transformative change. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Currently, district energy systems allow long-distance distribution of energy and the use of renewable energies, increasing their interest in the fight against global warming and the energy crisis. This paper presents the current deployment of heat and cold distribution networks in Spain in order to analyze their technical and economic potential, opportunities and future challenges. Subsequently, a comparison is made with the networks at an international level. It has been observed that heat and cold networks in Spain have increased substantially since 2013, but the installed power in 2019 of these systems to provide either heat or cold covers a very small proportion of the total demand. These systems in Spain are supplied mainly by biomass, natural gas or a combination of them, however, the use of renewable energy is still below the European average. It can be concluded that heating and cooling networks still do not have the potential to replace all the demand of the residential sector, although their implementation is important to achieve greater energy efficiency, more flexibility in supply, greater energy independence and to avoid the waste of energy resources. Thus, technical and financial barriers are identified.

The aim of this paper is to review and evaluate models used to assess the market penetration of energy technologies. While there are different models and tools, choosing the appropriate approach for a particular application is very challenging. In this paper, each model is reviewed and discussed extensively and a hierarchy diagram is developed to help choose a model. Market penetration models based on subjective estimation and market survey could be individual-dependent and not reliable for long-term forecasts. Cost estimation, diffusion, and econometric models offer more reliable results both for short- and long-term forecasts. Based on the review, a new combined model was developed and applied to a case study. The combined use of different market penetration models offers more accurate and robust results, as demonstrated in the case study.

Decarbonizing the energy system requires new technologies, whose formation and diffusion needs the attraction of actors from different sectors to compose the value chain. Sectoral interactions are crucial and dependent on contextual and technological factors, as well as firm-specific characteristics. This paper examines the determinants of firm diversification towards a new technology and their role in sectoral interactions. We combine concepts from technological innovation systems (TIS), sectoral innovation systems and organization studies to examine the drivers of actors' entry as well as their impact on systems' formation, through the effect on intersectoral relations associated with technological variety and relatedness. The development and demonstration of marine renewable energy technologies (MRET) in Portugal over the past two decades provides the empirical case. A database of 237 companies includes responses from a survey of a large part of the actors involved in MRET and potential entrants. A standard binary logit model estimates the effect of a set of drivers of firms' entry in MRET. Firms are more driven by variety-led factors and technology maturity, than by their technological capacity and sectoral proximity. We derive implications for policy and theory, namely for the conceptualization of inter-sectoral relations in TIS. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This paper explores the history of wind power technologies and the integration of wind energy in the Danish energy system. It does so focusing particularly on historical events, socio-cultural and socio-political changes and priorities that were important on this technological journey. From the first primitive wind turbines in the late 1800s, to the world wars, through the energy- crisis in the 70s, and into the decades of growing environmental awareness and concern, this historical account describes how policy priorities in Denmark gradually translated from the focus on energy diversification, energy efficiency and energy independence to the focus on sustainability and renewable energy resources, with wind energy and wind power technologies at the top of the priority list. Historically, wind power has been - and it still is - popular in Denmark. However, as the modern wind power turbines gradually grew to industrial scale heights, unchallenged support for specific local wind farms could no longer be taken for granted. This paper also touches upon the frequently tacit dilemmas of renewable energy technology planning and deployment, for example issues of environmental justice, wind farm ownership structures, and the role of social psychology for low-carbon energy transition processes. Notably, attention is drawn to the representation biases that may result in the emphasis of wind farm opposition / grievances in the wider wind farm related debates, where resistance to local wind farm projects might derive from minority opposition groups. Insights and lessons learnt from this Danish history of wind power may prove valuable and inspirational for other countries engaging in low-carbon energy transitions.

Firms will invest in green energy technologies only if these investments have an economic pay-off. Based on unique firm-level data from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, we find that the marginal effect of investments in green energy technologies on productivity is positive only for the 19% of firms with the highest energy costs. These results have major implications for companies and policy makers regarding the design of green energy policies and incentives.

High temperature heat exchangers are needed in various energy technologies to increase their efficiency. The article is devoted to the optimization of the design of a high-temperature air heater used in the integrated gasification combined cycle plant, developed in Ural Federal University. In the air heater, air with a pressure of 2 MPa after the cycle compressor is heated by coal combustion to a temperature of 900°C before it is fed into the combustion chamber of a gas turbine. The air heater is developed as a pulverized coal fired boiler with air heating in tubular radiation-convection heating surfaces. The authors propose a new design of a high-temperature air heater, which allows reducing the cost of the expensive high-temperature part of the unit 1.8 times compared with the previous design. A computer simulation of the boiler section is carried out to verify the proposed design solutions.

The energy production activity can generate negative effects on the environment which must be taken into account. The traditional assessment models of environmental sustainability are in many cases affected by uncertainty. Fuzzy-sets have evidenced to be able to deal very well with uncertainty. In this paper an index based on an intelligent fuzzy inference system is proposed to assess the impact on the environment of the most important electricity power production technologies.

Energy sectors of all the countries around the world are faced with a big challenge: the energy transition under the imperative of continuous reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The energy transition and the sustainability constraints pose a significant challenge for engineers, researcher and scientists developing new and clean energy-efficient technologies. Energy production and transformations, along with its storage, distribution and consumption, are achieved by utilising new and clean energy technologies, with the goal of the continuous increase of energy efficiency, the growth of renewable energy sources utilisation, the uninterrupted switch from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources, and the continued reduction of CO2 emissions. This editorial paper addresses the latest progress and the findings in research and developments in the sustainable energy technologies, energy and environment systems from selected papers of the conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems held in 2019.

The relevance of scientific research is explained by a critical energy dependence of Ukraine on the external sources of energy. The existence of earlier scientific and practical approaches on the topic of energy saving has not fully revealed the possibilities of finding ways to further diversify the sources of energy supplies. That is why the government annually faces the problem of choosing not only a foreign exporter of energy resources, but also a political and economic vector of the country’s direction. The need for Ukraine to join European strategic documents on the development and implementation of technologies in the field of renewable energy is rather relevant now. The purpose of writing this article is to analyze the compatibility of the proposed renewed version of the Energy strategy with all types of renewable energy, taking into account the development potential of renewable sources of energy in Ukraine. The author in this research is supported by forecasted results, which the EU–28 countries seek to achieve in the practice of energy renewal and energy supply. Thus these countries cement their own energy independence from external destructive factors (often of a political nature) with a gradual minimization and subsequent rejection of imported energy. This article examines the factors that contributed to the Ukraine joining the EU Directive 2009/28/EC along the road towards renewable energy technologies. The critical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the renewed Energy strategy of Ukraine against the background of the current crisis in the economy of the country is outlined. In accordance with the priorities of the renewed Energy strategy of Ukraine, the forecasts are attached of the scale of renewal of energy resources and the prospects of reaching them as fast as possible are considered. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the systematization of methodological approaches to the analysis of the present status of energy–providing and renewable components according to the industrial needs of the economy. Practical significance of the obtained results is the prospect to apply the materials of this article in the field of power saving and power supply by domestic economists.

In the present study we examined the impact of technology on the development of world energy in the world, as well as on the development of international energy relations. The important role of international cooperation in the field of energy technologies as a key factor in the development and global deployment of energy technologies in the industry. The most effective technology in the world of multilateral cooperation under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and other international organizations. It allows the joint efforts of the countries concerned to develop new technologies, test them and implement in production. For Russia, it is very important, because at the moment our country is not only a leading exporter of energy resources, but also has a significant impact on global energy security. At the same time Russia's FEC requires urgent and serious modernization through the development and introduction of innovative technologies on the basis of the study of international experience. Therefore the question of modernization of Russian fuel and energy complex has an international character. One way to accelerate the process of modernization of the organization is a public-private partnership that will largely depend on the nature and possibilities of Russian energy diplomacy, given the geopolitical and economic realities in connection with the sanctions imposed by Western countries against our country.

Public and private funding bodies make massive investments in research to address the grand challenges of the world. These require collective research efforts of a large number of partners to generate knowledge and ultimately create technologies to meet today’s grand challenges. Surprisingly, little research is conducted on how to design the research consortia appropriately that actually result in the development of new technologies. This article argues that when organisational knowledge integrators are involved in large-scale projects, they ensure that the research findings of earlier technology development efforts in a project are pulled towards innovation outcomes through their own position in the innovation value chain. This article uses a data-set with 376 collaborative R&D projects within energy technologies. Most importantly, this article confirms the existence of organisational knowledge integrators and the positive effects on project outcomes. These results are discussed with implications drawn for both applicants and funding bodies for future projects.

The world's perennial need for energy and microelectronic miniaturization brings with it a broad set of technological and scientific challenges. Materials characterized by precise microstructural architectures based on fractal analysis and ranging in size down to nano scale represent an important avenue for finding novel solutions. Deep materials structure hierarchies of this type open new possibilities in capacity according to the Heywang model, especially when extended by a fractals approach and intergranular relationships supported and recognized by their fractal nature. These developments are opening new frontiers in microelectronics miniaturization. They build on early fractal applications that were used as tools in miniaturization research and also provided application perspectives for diverse energy technologies. In other words, fractals, as a crucial concept of modern theoretical-experimental physics and materials sciences, are tightly linked to higher integration processes and microelectronics miniaturization. They also hold potential for meeting the energy exploitation challenge. In this research context, for the first time we experimentally and theoretically investigated the electrostatic field between the grains within fractal nature aspects. It is essentially a theoretical experiment based on samples of experimental microstructures imaged with SEM, as previously published in a number of other papers. We now take the research a step further by consolidating the experimental samples with respect to the predicted distribution of grains and pores within the sample mass. We make an original contribution by opening the frame of scale sizes with respect to the technical processes of consolidation. This lets us predict the constitutive elements of the microstructures – approximately equidistant grains and pores. In this paper we define in a practical manner the final target elements for experimental consolidation of real samples. It is the main bridge between a designed microstructure and related characteristics – for example, fractal dimensions and final properties of next-generation fractal microelectronics. Peer-reviewed manuscript: [https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_dais_4795]

Technology development is a keystone within the efforts toward enabling longer duration of the world fossil energy resources. The past development and the technologies applied, cause huge emissions of СО2 that must be significantly reduced. Increased usage of renewable energy sources for electricity generation (RES-e) contributes essentially to the reduction of CO2, but on the other hand, under current conditions of feed-in priority reduces also the market for the electricity from fossil fuelled power plants (FFPP). The other possibility for reduction of CO2 emissions is to apply carbon capture and storage technologies as a part of overall FFPP technologies. A hypothesis presented in this paper is that there is a marginal share of RES variable electricity in overall annual electricity supply after which further increase of RES-e participation produces higher average electricity generated cost, than in the case of CO2 emission reduction by applying CCS technologies. The presented work confirms this hypothesis. Value of the marginal share depends to the price of RES-e feed-in. With the price span from 13.5 to 7.5€c/kWh, the marginal share is under 50%.

Cada vez hay más conciencia entre los responsables políticos y la industria de que la “aceptación social” es un tema clave en el despliegue de tecnologías e infraestructuras energéticas de baja emisión de carbono en Europa. El desarrollo de las tecnologías de pilas de combustible de hidrógeno (HFC) implica aplicaciones a pequeña escala en el sector residencial y del transporte, así como infraestructuras de gran escala, cuya incorporación socio-técnica estará influenciada por el público y las partes interesadas. Investigaciones anteriores sobre la aceptación pública han trabajado sobre las percepciones públicas de las HFC en países específicos. Aquí presentamos datos de encuesta a escala multinacional, utilizando un enfoque socio-psicológico multivariado. Nos centramos particularmente en las diferencias entre países en cuanto al autoconocimiento y familiaridad, la actitud global y el apoyo en relación con las aplicaciones de HFC móviles y residenciales. Nuestros datos muestran que menos de la mitad de la población en los siete países son conscientes de la existencia de tecnologías de hidrógeno y pilas de combustible en el contexto de la producción de energía. El nivel de familiaridad con ambas aplicaciones es bajo, y menos del 10% de los encuestados se consideran familiarizados con estas aplicaciones. En general, los encuestados de los siete países tienen una actitud inicial positiva hacia las tecnologías HFC y es probable que acepten y apoyen la adopción de pilas de combustible residenciales y HFCEVs. Las siete poblaciones estudiadas son similares en sus actitudes hacia las tecnologías de HFC, pero hay pequeñas diferencias en la conciencia y aceptación de las aplicaciones de HFC entre países. Finalmente encontramos que el efecto positivo y negativo, los beneficios percibidos, la preferencia por las tecnologías alternativas, la confianza y la edad tienen una correlación significativa con la aceptación de las aplicaciones de HFC. Consideramos las implicaciones de estas diferencias para la aceptación pública de las HFC.

Advanced energy technologies are analyzed: energy generation from fossil fuels, energy production from renewable sources, and nuclear power industry in the world, in Russia and the Russian Far East. It is shown that the high provision with internal energy resources and high prices in the world energy markets hamper the development of energy technologies in Russia: research and development in the field of generation based on traditional and renewable energy sources are aimed at improving the facilities, reducing the unit cost and operating costs; global leadership is only possible in nuclear technology. Prospects for the use of energy technologies in the Russian Far East will be determined by the conditions of extraction of fossil fuels and the related energy production

There is a considerable diversity of district heating (DH) technologies, components and interaction in EU countries. The trends and developments of DH are investigated in this paper. Research of four areas related to DH systems and their interaction with: fossil fuels, renewable energy (RE) sources, energy efficiency of the systems and the impact on the environment and the human health are described in the following content. The key conclusion obtained from this review is that the DH development requires more flexible energy systems with building automations, more significant contribution of RE sources, more dynamic prosumers׳ participation, and integration with mix fuel energy systems, as part of smart energy sustainable systems in smart cities. These are the main issues that Europe has to address in order to establish sustainable DH systems across its countries. This research was conducted in collaboration between Wrocław University of Technology (Poland) and Brunel University London (UK). The support for the Polish team was by the Ministry of Science and HigherEducationunderGrantno.50532.

Few technologies in history diffused as intensively and fast as mobile phones, to the point where they have become the most democratic technology. The article analyzes historical patterns of mobile phone growth and their effects in energy needs. Through an empirical analysis employing diffusion models on data for 227 countries between 1980 and 2010, it is concluded that global demand may saturate at around one subscription per person and the diffusion of mobile-broadband connection has contributed to sustain growth. Demand has already showed signs of saturation in developed countries, while there is still potential for growth in developing countries. Impacts on energy consumption are assessed with the help of a field trial. Even though the energy consumed in phone charging was not very significant (6-8TWh) in 2010, it becomes substantially higher when infrastructural needs are included (93TWh). The actual trends suggest that mobile communication might have a sizeable direct effect on energy consumption—although the net impact on energy demand is more difficult to estimate. This can become an issue in developing countries, where the adoption of mobile phones is catching-up rapidly with the world average, in a context of generalized increasing electricity demand. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This paper investigates the speed of adoption of energy technologies in a traditionally innovation importing country, Portugal, as compared with countries where these technologies first started. Data were collected on the growth of eight energy-related technologies, both energy supply (e.g. natural gas plants, wind turbines) and end-use (e.g., motorcycles). The analysis is done in terms of the evolution of the number of units and installed capacity, indicating possible scale effects. The results show an average adoption lag of one to two decades relatively to “Core” countries. However, the growth rate increases when a technology arrives at Portugal, confirming the hypothesis that adoption accelerates when technology reaches new markets. Additionally, the duration of diffusion in Portugal is less constrained by the final scale of diffusion, contrasting with previous observations for the Core. The data also uncover the successful diffusion of wind energy in Portugal, showing that growth took off less than a decade after the diffusion in the Core, and achieving similar levels of intensity. The analysis suggests that this was supported by the improvement in the adoption capacity, associated with the development of a wind energy innovation system. These findings open new perspectives for the spatial diffusion of sustainable innovations. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In the US, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has received most of its attention when coupled with the fossil fuel industry as a mitigation strategy for climate change. CCS, which is constituted as a broad suite of capture and sequestration technologies and techniques, does not preclude coupling with other energy industries such as bioenergy (bioenergy and CCS or BECCS). In this paper, we examined news media coverage of CCS and biomass individually in locations throughout the US where these technologies are being explored to determine how they are perceived and what possibilities lay in their coupling for climate change mitigation. From our analyses, we found that individually, both CCS and biomass are perceived generally as beneficial for energy development by the news media, though they are not often mentioned in combination. Combined references do, however, speak to their value for climate change mitigation and as an alternative to fossil fuels.

The aim of this research was to extend an Australian developed large group process which proved effective in engaging the general public on issues related to climate change, energy technologies, and the overall shift towards a low carbon society. The results from Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and Scotland found that in each of the geographic locations the context varied, and participants reported different experiences and understanding of each topic. This paper explores how context may have impacted on the results, the differences that arise and discusses the implications for policy makers and research developers.

International audience; To face winter electricity peaking issues the authors proposes an analysis of the potential of distributed gas technologies for demand side management. This impact has to be analysed at small scale before any large scale extrapolation. Bi-energy technologies (gas and electricity) are a path to transfer loads from one system to another. Indeed, the flexible gas infrastructure adapts to load while electricity demand variations cause risk of black-out. The impacts of two hybrid technologies are studied at transformer level with 1-min experimental load profiles of 40 dwellings equipped with micro Combined Heat and Power (μCHP) boilers over a year in France. An absolute peak load reduction by 17% at small scale is found. Different technology mixes are then simulated to assess the effect on local infrastructure. Finally a methodology for temperature dependence analysis of load is used to assess different potential benefits of gas technologies.

The sustainability in the building industry is currently a trend of the governmental policies in the EU and the USA. In the EU, the target for 2020 is to achieve net-zero energy buildings (NZEB) for the new constructions, as enforced by the 2010 recast Energy Performance Building Directive. On the other hand, it is necessary to make decisions about the technologies to include in buildings when undergoing a major renovation. The aim of this paper is to help to define guidelines about the feasibility of achieving a near-zero energy condition on the existing building stock using the Axiomatic Design theory. Applying this design process to a set of existing office buildings, it is possible to evaluate the energy use of renovated buildings. In the context of this study, the renovation focuses on the reduction of internal loads, isolating the facade and applying new efficient systems in each building. Following the decoupled design matrix of such renovation, it is possible to obtain the fuzzy functions of the energy use. In reality, these functions are the fuzzy sum of contributions to the energy use of the design parameters applied according to the design matrix. The membership function of the energy use allows in turn determining the information content of each type of building, for a design limit of 100 kW·h/(m2· a) of primary energy use. It is found that a renovated building using a photovoltaic system area of about 20% of the floor area of the building allows achieving null information content, or in other words a 100% probability of success.