Fuel Electricity Generation Research Articles

The determinants of CO2 prices in the EU emission trading system

In 2005, the European Union launched its Emissions Trading System (ETS), the first and one of the largest international carbon markets aimed at reducing member states' CO2 emissions. Policymakers tend to use the carbon price as an indicator of the “health” and effectiveness of the ETS mechanism, although this measure is influenced by many other energy and climate policies, energy market fundamentals, and speculative shocks. This paper develops a model that links the energy sector (oil, natural gas, coal, electricity prices, and the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation), economic activity, and the carbon price. The model can be used as a monitoring tool for carbon price dynamics. We represent the model empirically through a Structural Vector Autoregression and use frequency-domain analysis to distinguish the effects of changes in fundamental factors from shocks to market microstructure. Our empirical results show that up to 90% (65% on average) of the fluctuations in the carbon price, adjusted for supply effects, are explained by fluctuations in fundamental market variables; however, the individual contributions are not stable. Overall, our results suggest that the ETS has started to work well.

Прогноз споживання палива та вугілля в Україні до 2040 р. за комплексним методом прогнозування енергоспоживання

The article presents a projection of Ukraine economy development up to 2040 according to the baseline scenario, taking into account the changes that have occurred during 2017-2020. Using the projection, a preliminary estimate of the forecasted demand for electricity at the national level (TOP-DOWN method) for 2040 was developed, which taking into account a new national thermal power production structure including structure of coal-fired power plants according to the NPC “Ukrenergo” 2020 Adequacy Report. Based on these data, the forecast for fuel demand in the country including coal for 2040 is developed, which takes into account consolidated economic activities, changes in household sector, the potential of energy savings from structural changes and technological changes. Also, the forecast of fuel and coal use for transformation in industrial technological processes and in power plants are calculated. The study shows that fuel consumption in the country is significantly influenced by two factors: the structure of the economy and the structure of generating capacity for electricity and heat. Reducing the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation leads to almost constant consumption. The structural potential for energy savings is almost 50% of the total. Keywords: forecast, demand, fuel, coal, structure of economy, technological potential of energy saving, method

The Role of Natural Gas Utilities and Pipeline Operators in a Decarbonized Economy

The natural gas industry has a track record of sharing lessons learned from unfortunate events, leading to initiatives and investments to improve resiliency and reliability. The Columbia Gas of Massachusetts over‐pressurization incident in 2018, led to industry‐wide improvements in natural gas pipeline safety. The Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility incident resulted in the implementation of American Petroleum Institute (API) storage field standards as regulations. More recently, the industry is still coming to grips with fallout from the February 2021 winter storm events in Texas, when natural gas was unavailable to fuel electricity generation and for residential and commercial/industrial use. Lastly, the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline cyber security breach led to gasoline shortages in downstream markets and will likely lead to new and more comprehensive standards and regulations for pipeline safety and compliance to guard against future cyber‐attacks. While pipeline failures are rare, when they do occur, they are high‐impact events with potentially devastating and costly consequences. According to the Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) trend data, pipeline incidents resulted in 55 fatalities, 272 injuries, and over $3.3 billion in total costs between 2016–2020.

Removing the Bottleneck on Wind Power Potential to Create Liquid Fuels from Locally Available Biomass

In order to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy technologies such as wind power and solar photovoltaic power systems have recently become more widespread. However, Japan as a nation faces high reliance on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation despite having great potential for further renewable energy development. The focus of this study examines untapped geographical locations in Japan’s northern most prefecture, Hokkaido, that possess large wind power potential. The possibility of exploiting this potential for the purpose of producing green hydrogen is explored. In particular, its integration with a year-round conversion of Kraft lignin into bio-oil from nearby paper pulp mills through a near critical water depolymerization process is examined. The proposed bio-oil and aromatic chemical production, as well as the process’ economics are calculated based upon the total available Kraft lignin in Hokkaido, including the magnitude of wind power capacity that would be required for producing the necessary hydrogen for such a large-scale process. Green hydrogen integration with other processes in Japan and in other regions is also discussed. Finally, the potential benefits and challenges are outlined from an energy policy point-of-view.

Toward sustainable electricity generation mix: an econometric analysis of the substitutability of nuclear energy and hydropower for fossil fuels in Canada

ABSTRACT The dominance of fossil fuels in electricity generation fuel mix continues to undermine the importance of electricity as a critical factor for sustainable economic development. As with most economies of the world, the Canadian fuel mix for electricity generation is dominated by fossil fuels. This scenario creates both environmental and resource sustainability challenges. There are questions marks over the potentials of nonfossil energy sources to address these challenges and ensure a more sustainable electricity generation. This study aims to examine the potentials of nuclear energy and hydropower to substitute the fossil fuels of coal and natural gas in electricity generation for Canada. A trans-log production function was estimated with the ridge regression method to obtain the parameter estimates. The empirical findings show that, with the exception of coal input, all energy inputs have positive output elasticities, which indicate that an increase in the energy inputs will increase output in Canada. The results further provide evidence of positive elasticity of substitution between the non-fossil energy sources and the fossil fuels which give credence to the hypothesis that clean energy sources such as nuclear energy and hydropower have the potential to substitute for the fossil fuels of coal and natural gas the electricity generation process for Canada. The estimates show that the smallest substitution occurs between coal and gas, which is an additional evidence that clean energy has higher chances of substituting fossil fuels. Policies that promote the adoption of more renewable and clean energy sources are recommended in the body of the paper.

Life Cycle Assessment of a Point-Absorber Wave Energy Array

Wave energy has a large global resource and thus a great potential to contribute to low-carbon energy systems. This study quantifies the environmental impacts of a 10MW array of 28 point-absorber wave energy converters, by means of a process-based life cycle assessment (LCA). Midpoint and Cumulative Energy Demand LCA results are presented over 19 impact categories, representing impacts encompassing human health, ecosystems and resource availability. Three scenarios are undertaken to represent the use phase of the array, identified as a particularly uncertain input, with very little long-term operation of wave energy arrays available to validate assumptions. The resultant global warming potential of the array ranges from 25.1- 46.0 gCO2e/kWh over a 95% confidence interval, 23-43 times lower than conventional fossil fuel electricity generation. The Energy Payback Time of the array ranges between 2.6-5.2 years. LCA results are found to be particularly sensitive to annual energy production across all impact categories, and to assumptions associated with the frequency of marine operations over a number of categories quantifying the production of greenhouse gases. This LCA has been undertaken at an early stage in the WEC product development and will inform innovative research focused on further reducing the environmental impacts of electricity generation.

ENVIRONMENT, MIX ENERGIES, ASEAN ECONOMIES AND EDUCATION

Education, environment, energies and economic, have several number high impacts of research in 5 years. Data from Dimensions.ai, the most comprehensive research grants database which links grants to millions of resulting publications, clinical trials and patents, have several results about education, environment, energies and economic research, in Studies in Human Society 146 papers, Economics 96 papers, Applied Economics 95 papers, Engineering 93 papers, Policy and Administration 63 papers. Using vosviewer.com analysis, files downloaded from the free version of Dimensions may contain data for at most 2500 documents. (Larger numbers of documents are supported when a subscription-based version of Dimensions is used), we can see that Education have high impact on energy, environment, sustainability and sustainable development. The study aims to investigate the environmental effects of mix energies on the three most polluted countries of ASEAN economies. The study uses the data of the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand over the period of 1995-2017 as gathered from the World Bank and Global Economy. The study uses Brush Pagon LM and Pearson CD to test the cross-section dependence among variables while Levin et al., (2002) panel unit root test to check the stationary in the data. Westerlund (2007) cointegration and FMOLS tests are applied to analyze the long-run relationship. The result confirms the adverse environmental effects of fossil fuel electricity generation (FEG) and positive environmental effects of solar electricity generation (SEG), nuclear-power electricity generation (NEG), and geothermal electricity generation (GEG) on the ASEAN economies. Wind electricity generation (WEG) and hydroelectricity generation (HEG) do not significantly contribute to deteriorating the environment. The study suggests using GEG, WEG and SEG methods of producing electricity instead of FEG.

Impact of decomposition and kriging models on the solar irradiance downscaling accuracy in regions with complex topography

Abstract Many small island states are planning to invest heavily in solar photovoltaics in an attempt to curb their overreliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation. In order to efficiently exploit the abundant solar energy resource, these islands need reliable solar irradiance data. However, the orographic effects arising from their volcanic origins often result in strong variability and uncertainty in the solar resource. In this context, satellite-based models present an effective alternative to ground-based measurements. Different downscaling approaches have been applied that compensate for the large spatial resolution of satellite images and the terrain-related effects that they disregard. Nevertheless, the accuracy of these methods is influenced by the solar radiation decomposition model used. Moreover, the variogram model used in the kriging process to characterize the spatial dependence of the solar radiation has a significant effect on the results. In this study, we compare the performances of seven radiation decomposition models for the anisotropy analysis and seven variogram models for the spatial interpolation of the solar irradiance. A dense network of ground measurements at 43 stations is used to evaluate the accuracy of the different models. Results reveal that the Yao radiation model coupled with the Matern variogram provide the best results.

Policy Framework for Iran to Attain 20% Share of Non-Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Iran’s Electricity Supply System by 2030

This paper presents a comprehensive model on the expansion of non-fossil technology to evaluate the impact of increasing their share in Iran’s electricity supply system. This analytical approach is based on system dynamics (SD), with an emphasis on the expansion of non-fossil fuels in the supply side of this model. Four emerging electricity generation technologies of solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, expansion turbines, and hydro power are considered in the model, and the effect of electricity price on increasing the motivation of the owners of non-fossil fuel power plants to guarantee their 20% share is examined. The Iranian government has set a target of a 20% share of non-fossil fuel electricity generation by 2030, whose main result is reducing GHG emissions to achieve the targets pledged under the Paris Climate Accord. Therefore, we developed four scenarios with different expansions of non-fossil technologies in Iran’s electricity system to investigate the goal, though various barriers exist that must be addressed through effective policies in order to facilitate the expansion of non-fossil fuel power plants in the electricity supply system. The findings demonstrate that electricity price must be determined based on the costs of non-fossil technologies, as well as based on fossil fuel prices which are low in the current energy supply system. In conclusion, the Paris Climate Accord criteria is achieved with a 20% growth of non-fossil fuels and increasing electricity price to 920 IRR/kWh in 2030.

A Framework for applying Renewable Energy in Floating Hotels: A case of Egypt

There is now a common trend worldwide that reducing gases that have a great impact on the surrounding environment is extremely important, and to overcome this and reduce negative impacts, hotels must reduce dependence on fossil fuels in electricity generation, and replace that with investment in electricity generation from renewable energy sources. This research aims to set a suggested framework for applying renewable energy in the Egyptian floating hotels. The current research used personal interviews with the managers of floating hotels, managers and experts of the renewable energy companies, and based on the distribution of survey forms to the engineers and technicians of the maintenance and engineering department. The interviews were conducted with Forty-Two managers of floating hotels. The valid questionnaires for analysis were 253. The total number of interviews with the managers and experts of renewable energy companies was twelve. Research findings highlighted that it is possible to use solar panels on the floating hotel to provide electrical energy to the rooms of the hotel sample of the research.

Energy Trading Perspectives in the Digital Era

Abstract The aim of the paper research is to identify and improve business models in energy trading by analyzing the current situation and developing scenarios for the evolution of business models in the Digital Era. It is very important to analyze, identify and track those directions that we believe will drive energy trading in order to be able to design and create new sustainable business models. We highlight the possibilities and ways of improving the energy trading, analyzing the rapid evolution of the field, generated by the emergence of several new factors that can influence this industry. Beside those directions at which electricity trading is heading in the Digital Era, the research also describes main innovations in the field such as Smart Grids, Blockchain Technology, Peer-to-peer trading platforms and Demand Response through which the purpose is to attract final consumers to the energy trading on web platforms or mobile applications with which they can properly control their electric appliances and self-generation units in their homes, all these supervised and guided by artificial intelligence. The type of research proposed to identify the current condition and to be able to develop new trading models is empirical research through qualitative analysis. Beyond incentives and monetary benefits, the focus is on final consumer education and increased awareness towards a more conscious, optimal and rational consumption of electricity that can lead to both a better use of the energy production from renewable sources and a reduction of pollutant fossil fuel electricity generation and carbon dioxide emissions without endangering the proper functioning of the electricity systems. Previous researches are based more on incentivizing or penalizing end consumers in present paper, more emphasis is placed on attracting the end consumer to his own electricity trading through mentioned innovation, but also supervised and guided by artificial intelligence.

The dynamics of political power: The socio-technical transition of California’s electricity system to renewable energy

Global electricity generation depends on fossil fuels as a primary fuel and the negative environmental consequences of fossil fuel combustion are well known. This makes transitioning electricity generation to renewable energy sources a critical component of climate change mitigation. Energy transitions involve complex socio-technical systems, extending beyond economics or policy to include societal relationships with energy such as processes of manifesting societal will as policy decisions. Yet current energy-economy-climate-models are economy-policy centric and fail to include such socio-technical feedbacks in energy transition dynamics, especially the influence of policy formation on the rate of energy transitions. This missing feedback is incorporated into a system dynamics model of California’s electricity generation. The model is grounded in the advocacy coalition framework and examines competition between pro-fossil and pro-renewable interest’s influence on policy formation dynamics. Results show policy volatility, where competition drives inconsistent policy enactment and lifespan. This impacts transition dynamics as policies influence profitability analyses, and subsequent decisions in new generation capacity investments. Political lock-in was hypothesized to be the most critical influence on transition dynamics, as well-funded pro-fossil policy manipulation creates barriers to renewable energy that green advocacy coalitions struggle to overcome. However, results show this is less influential than anticipated and carbon lock-in, defined as the long lifespan of fossil fuel technologies, is also a critical driver of transition rates. Early retirement of fossil fuel electricity generation technologies allows current investment dynamics to favor higher capacities of renewables. This is a novel finding, and an open area for future research.

Aqueous Al-ion cells and supercapacitors — A comparison

Concerns over the continued use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and transport are stimulating the deployment of renewable energy technologies, and hybrid or fully electric vehicles. Utilizing energy storage that can cope with high power demands may assist with these applications. Supercapacitors can demonstrate high power densities and long cycle lives. Aqueous aluminium-ion (Al-ion) cells are a battery chemistry in development. Aqueous Al-ion cells can also operate at high charge/discharge rates and have demonstrated impressive cycle life. These similarities suggest they may compete with supercapacitors to address applications where these characteristics are desirable, such as assisting with power quality. This work presents a comparison of the technologies to assess their relative advantages and disadvantages.

Forest harvesting and the carbon debt in boreal east-central Canada

Conversion of carbon-rich, primary boreal landscapes to managed ones through clearcut-based silviculture has the potential to decrease landscape-level carbon storage and thereby incur a significant carbon debt. We calculated carbon debts and payback periods associated with production of wood pellets to replace coal, oil and natural gas in electricity generation for such landscape conversion in boreal east-central Canada. Local forest inventory information in combination with the Carbon Budget Model (CBM-CFS3) was used to estimate biomass and dead wood carbon stocks after fire or clearcutting, and resulting age- and disturbance-specific carbon stock estimates were used to populate simulated landscapes. Based on empirical information, we investigated a range of fire-return intervals in the primary landscapes (114–262 years), harvest rotation ages (80–100 years) and conversion efficiency factors (0.17–0.71 tonnes fossil fuel carbon eliminated per tonne harvested wood carbon). After a first rotation of harvesting, carbon stocks declined 33–50% relative to stocks in the natural, fire-dominated landscapes and payback periods ranged from 92 to 757 years. The type of fossil fuel had the strongest effect on payback periods: under average efficiencies, ranges were 122–207, 156–268 and 278–481 years for coal, oil and natural gas respectively. These calculations suggest that under a wide range of assumptions, clearcut-based management of boreal primary landscapes to produce wood pellets to replace fossil fuels in electricity generation will result in net emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere for many decades.

Lighting System Energy Conservation Simulation at Faculty of Engineering Diponegoro University Library Using Ecotect

Global warming is becoming a severe concern day by day. Indonesia still uses a large portion of fossil fuels in electricity generation; this made matters even worse due to carbon emissions. Government through PP No. 70 of 2009 issued an energy conservation policy stating that used energy must be carried out economically and efficiently. The objective of this policy for all sectors of life, one of sector is the academic environment. The library spends a lot of energy consumption for supporting activities, especially in the lighting system. Observations and measurements were performed to see the illuminance of the library when categorized as visually very bright. The results are then compared with the standard, whether it meets the minimum threshold or not or even exceed, and how the savings opportunities that can be done. The method that used in this research is data collection, measurement of illuminance, and search for savings opportunities through simulations. Based on methods, a savings opportunity is obtained by reducing the number of lamps used. If this step is applied, then obtained savings of up to 514 kWh/year, equivalent to the electricity bill amounting to IDR 462.672, - from the lighting system.

The energyscape of the lower Thames and Medway: Britain’s changing patterns of energy use

ABSTRACT This article examines the history of the energy landscape — the energyscape — of the lower River Thames and Medway from the 1860s to the present. It explores why, and in what ways, the energy industries have exploited the area and its landscape. Key factors include its accessibility for ocean-going shipping; the proximity to energy consumers in London and south-east England; the availability of large areas of land; and water resources. The energy industries included oil storage and refining; petrochemicals; gas manufacture and handling; and electricity generation and distribution. The article argues that the development of energy infrastructure in the Thames/ Medway landscape reflects the shifting patterns of energy use in the UK. For example, the recent demolition of Grain and Kingsnorth power stations — prominent north Kent landmarks since the 1970s — exemplifies the decline of coal and oil as primary fuels for electricity generation. Similarly, the seascape of the outer Thames estuary has been transformed by the advent of renewable energy and the construction of four major offshore wind farms. The article demonstrates how patterns of energy use are a mosaic of social needs, technological capabilities, environmental concerns, political expediency, and economic forces. The Thames/ Medway energyscape has developed, evolved and been adapted to these influences, and continues to support the energy needs of the UK economy.

Impact of Pollution from Coal on the Anemic Status of Children and Women: Evidence from India

Economic growth in emerging market economies has come hand-in-hand with growing demand for energy, with many of them meeting this higher demand by increased use of coal to fuel electricity generation. This paper examines the impact of pollution generated by coal fueled power units on the anemic status of children and women in India. We show that among very young children (aged 0–5 years), the number of coal units in the district in the month and year of birth significantly increases the likelihood of being anemic net of a comprehensive set of child, mother, household and district level controls. Exposure in utero matters as well for child anemia, while the number of coal plants in the district also induce greater anemia among adult women. Impacts on anemic status are driven by the growth of PM2.5 pollution attributable to emissions from coal-powered units. We undertake a series of falsification and specification checks to underline the robustness of our results. Our research adds anemia to the list of significant health costs of relying on coal-fired power generation in meeting the increasing demand for energy that emerging market economies like India face.

Penyuluhan Pemanfaatan Energi Terbarukan (PLTS) di SMP IT Almaka Jakarta

The use of solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuels for electricity generation is increasingly being carried out nowadays. considering the decreasing oil reserves and also the environmental pollution that they cause. in order to increase the utilization of solar energy utilization in Indonesia, it is necessary to conduct socialization or introduction to various elements of society, especially students, so that it is expected to provide understanding and will also increase the utilization of solar cells in the future. socialization of Renewable Energy Utilization (PLTS) carried out at SMP IT ALMAKA Jakarta was conducted by giving an introduction to how solar cells work, problems regarding solar cells and how to apply solar cells to meet the electricity needs of the community. The presentation was conducted with an interactive method with theoretical exposure, demonstration of how to use solar cells, and question and answer sessions. the results obtained were that the participants seemed enthusiastic and able to understand how to apply solar cells seen in the question and answer session. so that participants who are the younger generation are expected to be able to develop and utilize the use of solar cells for future energy sources

Air pollution exposures from multiple point sources and risk of incident chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma

BackgroundExposure to environmental air pollutants exacerbates respiratory illness, but prospective studies of disease incidence are uncommon. Further, attempts to estimate effects from multiple point sources have rarely been undertaken. The current study examined risk of incident chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in association with emissions of multiple air pollutants from point pollution sources in Australia. MethodsWe analyzed prospective cohort data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Women from three age-cohorts (N = 35,755) were followed for up to 21 years for incident COPD and asthma. Exposures were measured from the National Pollutant Inventory and included carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). We identified inverse-distance weighted emissions in kilograms that women experienced over time from point sources within 10 km of their residences.Cox proportional hazards regression models examined risk of self-reported doctor-diagnosed COPD and asthma in association with pollutant exposures and covariates. ResultsNew COPD cases numbered 3616 (11.5%) and new asthma cases numbered 2725 (9.4%). Participants were exposed to an average of 47–59 sites with air pollution emissions within 10 km of their residences. Fossil fuel electricity generation and mining made the largest contributions to air pollution but hundreds of other types of emissions also occurred. Controlling for covariates, all five air pollutants modeled individually were significantly associated with risk of COPD. Modeled jointly, only sulfur dioxide (SO2) remained significantly associated with COPD (HR = 1.038, 95% CI = 1.010–1.067), although the five pollutants were highly correlated (r = 0.89). None of the pollutants were significantly associated with adult onset asthma. Cohort-specific analyses indicated that COPD risk was significantly associated with SO2 exposure for younger (HR = 1.021, CI = 1.001–1.047), middle-age (HR = 1.019, CI = 1.004–1.034) and older cohorts (HR = 1.025, CI = 1.004–1.047). ConclusionsMultiple exposure sources and pollutants contributed to COPD risk, including electricity generation and mining but extending to many industrial processes. The results highlight the importance of policy efforts and technological improvements to reduce harmful air pollution emissions across the industrial landscape.

Renewable resources of the northern half of the United States: potential for 100% renewable electricity

We previously presented a model for deep penetration of renewables in the electricity sector of the southern half of the United States (Khoie and Yee in Clean Technol Environ Policy 17(4):957–971, 2015). In this paper, we present a strategy for the northern half of the United States to utilize its available renewable resources to gradually decrease its reliance on fossil fuels in electricity generation and develop energy portfolios with increasing share of renewables. Using the electricity generation data from the US EIA (Electricity, electric power monthly, 2019d. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/ ), and the renewable resource maps produced by NREL (Geospatial data science, 2018a. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html ; Geospatial data science, 2018b. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/wind.html ), we develop strategies for the states in the northern half of the USA. We group these states into seven regions: West Coast, Mountain States, Middle West States, Lake States, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states. For each region, we determine when and if the electricity generation from renewables will meet the region’s electricity need while accounting for a 1% annual increase in electricity demand. The renewable resources included in our models are solar (rural, urban, and rooftop photovoltaic), wind (onshore), hydro, biomass, and geothermal which vary greatly from region to region. We also include nuclear, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Our results show that the West Coast, Mountain, and Middle West regions have the potential to become 100% renewable in the years 2041, 2039, and 2038, respectively. Additionally, our results show that the four regions of Lake, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states may not be able to produce 100% of their electricity demand from their renewable resources.