Guest editorial for special issue on potential energy solutions

Abstract

Investigation of potential energy solutions paves the way for a more sustainable future by addressing the energy-related climate change effects. This special issue on “Potential Energy Solutions” contains numerous papers selected from the 12th International Exergy, Energy, and Environment Symposium (IEEES-12), which was virtually organized during December 20 to 24, 2020 by Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar. This version of the IEEES series has been marked to be the first virtual symposium under COVID-19 circumstances. This conference was a multi-disciplinary international conference in the areas of sustainable energy and environment including several aspects such as materials, renewables, energy applications, simulations, and optimization. IEEES-12 aimed to provide a forum for the exchange of technical information, dissemination of high-quality research results, presentation of new policy and scientific developments, and promoting future priorities for better environmental, energetic, technical, and social sustainability. Distinguished researchers around the world delivered numerous keynotes and invited talks to present the recent advances on the topics of Energy-Climate Change-Sustainability triangle, Hydrogen and Natural Gas, Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy, and Desalination. After successfully completing the conference, selected papers were asked to be extended and submitted to the prestigious International Journal of Energy Research. After a rigorous peer-review process, they were accepted for publication. In this special issue, these selected publications are included covering multiple topics such as heat transfer of nanofluids, machine learning algorithms for irradiation prediction, parabolic trough collector, molten carbonate fuel cell, nanocomposites, solar cells, electric vehicle charging stations, hybrid energy systems, nuclear energy, lithium−sulfur batteries, thermal energy storage, thermoelectric materials, vanadium flow battery, antireflective coatings for solar cells, and many more. I take this opportunity to warmly thank the symposium founding chair of IEEES-12 and the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Energy Research, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Dincer, the editorial team of Wiley, keynote and invited speakers, all contributing authors, reviewers, organizing committee members, international scientific committee members, national and international sponsors for their efforts that have made this special issue a true success.