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Byline: A. Benatiallah, L. Kadi, B. Dakyo The economic and social development in Algeria in the last years has been in need of continues increasing in demand of electricity, especially in the isolated countryside. Solar energy represents a significant potential in Algeria, the country receives more than 3,000 hour of sunshine per year with a high level of radiation. The average of daily solar irradiation is from 5 to 7 kW hour m−2 the Algerian government is conducting investments in solar energy and its applications. Large parts of electric demand are in the Sahara areas (∼80% of the total surface). A dispersed population, a very hot climate of strong radiations (∼7 kW hour m−2 these regions. The use of the conventional energy sources is costing very high and extensions of electric networks find enormous problems. The solar energy is adapted for these areas, which have shown satisfactory results, this energy substitute conventional sources in soon future.

Byline: Lee S. Friedman Unexpected problems sometimes arise when governments attempt to introduce competition. The problem considered herein is market power and its exercise during the California electricity crisis of 2000-2001. In introducing competition, both transitional and long-run opportunities for firms to exercise market power may arise. California had transitional rules that severely limited participation of its utilities in forward markets and enhanced the market power of new generating entities. The transitional problems could have been avoided, but in the long-run a smaller market power issue should be expected to arise stochastically. This analysis suggests a new long-run institutional policy role: continual regulatory oversight of an industry that could be workably competitive most of the time. This explains why an agency like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should have a permanent Office of Market Monitoring. It also suggests why, in some electricity markets, stochastic market power events may arise before capacity gets strained.

Byline: Anke Eber, Dominik Most, Otto Rentz, Thomas Lutzkendorf The implementation of the principles of sustainable development requires both using potentialities in saving resources and cutting down emissions (efficiency strategies) as well as more conscious patterns of behaviour of the actors involved (sufficiency strategies). Starting from the current situation of annual CO2 emissions of about 10 t and a sustainability goal of 1-2 t CO2 emissions per inhabitant and year, the question arises in how far households can contribute to achieve this goal. Therefore, in this paper, the environmental impacts of the energy demand of German households will be evaluated by means of describing its status quo and there from deriving saving potentials.

Byline: Oona Negro Two hundred Brussels households were challenged: during six months, they had to adapt their everyday behaviours to save energy. Objective: to cut down 'their' annual CO2 emissions by 1 ton on average, i.e., more or less 20%. To achieve this, a whole set of tools was offered to the participants (advises to save energy, tables to collect the meter readings, calculator to evaluate the possible economy and follow the progression, website, helpdesk, experts advises and individual follow-up). This paper presents all the steps of this experiment from the recruitment to the final results, describing methodology, tools, motivations and barriers.

Byline: Alexander A. Bolonkin, Richard Brook Cathcart The International Polar Year commences in 2007. We offer a macro-project plan to generate a large amount of electricity on the continent of Antarctica by using sail-like wind dams incorporating air turbines. Electricity can be used to make exploration and exploitation efforts easier on Antarctica. We offer the technical specifications for the Fabric Aerial Dam and indicate some of the geographical facts underpinning our macro-engineering proposal.

The options available before the Congress to enact legislations to control global warming as well as explore alternative sources for generation of electricity to meet the increasing demand are presented.

Byline: Jian Yao, Shmuel S. Oren, Ilan Adler We study Nash equilibrium in two-settlement competitive electricity markets with horizontal market power, flow congestion, demand uncertainties and probabilistic system contingencies. The equilibrium is formulated as a stochastic Equilibrium Problem with Equilibrium Constraints (EPEC) in which each firm solves a stochastic Mathematical Programme with Equilibrium Constraints (MPEC). We assume a no-arbitrage relationship between the forward prices and the spot prices. We find that, with two settlements, the generation firms have incentives to commit forward contracts, which increase social surplus and decrease spot energy prices. Furthermore, these effects are amplified when the markets become less concentrated.

Byline: Ganesan Rajamohan, Singam Balakrishna, Moola Mohan Reddy As various technological and operational constraints exist in electricity distribution, many rural areas in India are deprived of power from the national electrical grid. In this situation sustainable energy solutions are the most viable and accessible sources for power production. Among the available sustainable resources, paddy husk is popular and has become a better and cheaper alternative for conventional fuels. In India alone nearly 33,000 modern rice mills have been established to process the paddy into parboiled rice. More than 40 million tones of husk is available per year from these mills. This shows the huge energy potential of the paddy husk. All existing modern rice mills are using boilers to generate steam for the parboiling process. This paper describes the thermal design concepts of a cogeneration plant using husk as a fuel to generate the steam and electric power from the steam after using it in the parboiling process.

Byline: Dietmar Hein, Klaus Kwanka, Thomas Fischer In the liberalised energy market, a diversified set ('mix') of power plants will be needed. By investigating present and anticipated future criteria in detail, available technologies and outlines of further development are identified and discussed. Among them, concepts for efficiency-optimised base load plants as well as units with an improved cycling operation capability are both attributed to a specific valued benefit. Following the demand for a significant reduction of the overall greenhouse gas emissions, centralised power plants fed by fossil fuels and modified for retention of CO2 are needed to guarantee a supply of energy at moderate costs in the 21st century.

The electricity sectors aging infrastructure, work force and institution are unable to fulfill the needs and opportunities of the 21st century. The developments in key digital technologies such as microprocessors, electric lighting, motor drive system, computers and telecommunications have altered and reshaped commercial and industrial productivity.

Byline: Zoltan Szatmary After a period of slowing down, the development of nuclear technology seems to have become faster. This is due to an increasing demand in electric energy which cannot be met without intensifying the use of nuclear energy. New reactor types can be expected to appear. This will entail an intensification of R&D. These new trends require new channels for exchanging scientific and technical information in the field of nuclear science and technology.

Byline: Samer Mekhemar, Aly Karameldin Middle Eastern and North African countries suffer from a shortage of fresh water resources. Statistical analysis shows that fresh water resources in these countries constitute less than 13% of the average world resources per capita. In the Arab world, the rapid increase in population and an increase in living standards led to a greater demand for fresh water and electricity. Accordingly, the Arab world has assumed (a leading role in the) desalination industry, contributing about 60% of total world production. Desalination processes are highly power intensive. Thus, different types of energies are used to bridge the gap between these processes and the general increased demand in production. Projections for water and electricity demand in the Arab world, up to 2030, are made according to population and its growth rates. The present study (according to these projections) indicates that population in the Arab world will double by the year 2030. At that time, domestic and industrial water demand will be 360 million m d-1; meanwhile, electrical power consumption will be 4.5 trillion kWh d-1. Accordingly, the Advanced Inherent Safe Nuclear Power Plants adapted for waterelectricity co-generation could meet the demand, as a clean energy source.

Byline: Martin Dreher, Holger Schoettle, Martin Wietschel, Wolf Fichtner, Otto Rentz This paper proposes an energy-emission modelling approach for the development of least-cost planning and integrated resource planning strategies for electric utilities, and presents results of the model application to the municipal electric utilities of Karlsruhe and Rottweil. The LCP/IRP strategy employed is based on the regulatory practice in Germany, also with regard to liberalisation issues. Furthermore, emphasis is given to the adequate modelling of demand-side management (DSM) programmes, including their effects on electricity generation, capacity expansion and electricity purchase. The results show that selected DSM programmes in the household sector lead to a cost-effective reduction of electricity demand. When ecological considerations, such as a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, are included, the cost of electricity generation increases, as does the potential for DSM savings. However, when a revenue-based approach is used, it is evident that extrinsic economic incentives for DSM need to be given by, for example, regulatory authorities.

Byline: Toshihide Takeshita, Yohji Uchiyama, Keishiro Ito, Hisashi Hayashibe World energy and electricity demand by the year 2100 has been analysed using the World Energy LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) Model. Three energy scenarios are set-up: the current fossil fuel-intensive pattern, as well as renewable-intensive and nuclear-intensive alternatives. The performance of CO2 emissions, resource availability, total investment costs, indirect energy consumption from the life cycle standpoint and total fatality risks are compared between these scenarios. The result shows that the renewable and nuclear scenarios achieve the 1990 CO2 emission level by 2100, while the total investment cost and indirect energy consumption for the renewable scenario would hamper its wide scale adoption. In the case of the current fossil-fuel scenario, coal is used for as much as 53% of primary energy, which gives about a three times higher fatality rate compared with the other scenarios. Although resource availability will not constrain all three scenarios, the marginal production cost of oil and gas will double by the year 2100. As a whole, the nuclear scenario becomes advantageous from the comparisons made in the present study.