Unconventional Energy Sources Research Articles

US State Department gets cold feet about cold fusion

washington A meeting to highlight research into unconventional energy sources may be abandoned because of doubts raised about the credibility of the research.

Modelling of deep-bar and double-cage self-excited induction generators for wind-electricity generation studies

The paper presents the derivation of a current state-space model of saturated deep-bar and double-cage induction machines. The approach adopted in the paper closely parallels that utilized in the derivation of the current state-space model of a saturated single-cage induction machine. The developed model is then adapted to the terminal conditions met in the self-excitation of induction generators. Simulation of voltage and current build-up during self-excitation is performed. Simulation results are confirmed by experimental investigation, thus providing verification of the derived saturated double-cage induction machine model. It is believed that the model could be very useful in transient studies concerning unconventional energy sources, especially wind-electricity generation.

Optimum operation of a small autonomous system with unconventional energy sources

This paper presents a method for the determination of the optimum operation of a small autonomous system with both conventional and unconventional energy sources and storage battery. The system generation consists of diesel generators, wind turbine generators and photovoltaic panels. This is the generation mix of the Greek island of Cythnos; it may be applied to other small islands. A stochastic dynamic programming based algorithm is employed to determine the optimal short-term generation scheduling and battery storage policy which minimize the fuel consumption for the next 24-hour period. An application of the method to the power system of Cythnos is also presented.

Global climate change: Implications for thailand's energy systems

An energy/environmental model has been developed to estimate Thailand's energy consumption and CO 2 emissions through the end of the National Tenth Plan (year 2011). The projection suggests that fossil-fuel consumption, not deforestation, will be the major source of emissions during 1990–2011. By the year 2011, energy-efficiency improvement measures could bring about a 14% reduction of CO 2 emissions. Any reduction beyond this level would require switches of fuel mix in the power, transportation, and industrial sectors. Fuel shifts in the power sector alone could cut emissions by up to 20% to 30%. In the longer run, Thailand should consider adopting unconventional sources of energy, as well as make use of reforestation policy to absorb future CO 2 emissions.

Unconventional energy sources

Unconventional energy sources

The place of some newer techniques in studies of nutrition in the hospitalized patient

The potential uses of some of the new techniques for studies of the nutrition of the hospitalized patient are outlined. These include techniques for validating 24‐h urine collections for tests of nutritional status and balance studies; a technique for measuring gastrointestinal permeability used as a marker of mucosal damage; some problems of classicial indirect calorimetry when feeding unconventional (synthetic as opposed to real food) sources of energy, and the possible role of glutamine in regulating protein synthesis in skeletal muscle.

Short term generation scheduling in a small autonomous system with unconventional energy sources

The authors present a method for problem solving the short-term generation-scheduling problem in a small autonomous system with both conventional and unconventional energy sources and a storage battery. The system generation consists of diesel generators, wind turbine generators, and photovoltaic panels. This is the generation mix of the power system of the Greek island of Kythons, and may be applied to other Greek islands. A dynamic programming algorithm together with a standard unit commitment, is used to determine the optimal short-term scheduling, which minimizes the fuel consumption for a certain scheduling horizon, e.g., for the next 24 h.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

India launches new plan for unconventional energy sources

India launches new plan for unconventional energy sources

Reliability Modeling of Generation Systems Including Unconventional Energy Sources

A method for reliability evaluation of electric power systems with unconventional energy sources, such as solar power plants and wind turbine generators, is presented. The fluctuating nature of energy produced by such unconventional units has a different effect on the overall system reliabilitv than conventional units. Methods described in the published literature appear to have several deficiencies. The method presented in this paper combines conventional and unconventional units into separate groups. The analysis proceeds by creating a generation system model for each group. The models of the unconventional groups are modified hourly depending on the limitations of energy. All the models are combined hourly to find the loss of load expectation and the frequency of capacity deficiency for the hour in question. This procedure is accomplished using a discrete state algorithm as well as the method of cumulants. Results obtained in a case study using the proposed method are described.

Reliability Modeling of Generation Systems Including Unconventional Energy Sources

Reliability Modeling of Generation Systems Including Unconventional Energy Sources

Possible consequences of very large-scale use of unconventional energy sources

Hitherto, unconventional energy sources have been thought of as such minor contributors to the total energy budget that the consequences of their use have had little attention. They will become more important as fossil fuel is used up, if world demand for energy increases, and if power from nuclear fusion does not materialize. It may therefore be useful to consider some possible consequences if unconventional sources were used on a very large scale.

Subsidy strategies for energy technologies

The principal types of direct consumer subsidies to encourage the commercialization of unconventional energy sources (solar, conservation, synthetic fuels) are investigated. Although such subsidies can be justified on grounds that the prices to consumers of conventional energy alternatives do not reflect their full social costs, they all have serious drawbacks. Basically those subsidy schemes that are easy to administer encourage inefficient consumer behaviour while subsidies schemes that are efficient raise intractable problems of measurement. Subsidies for unconventional energy provide energy below its full social cost, thus giving the wrong price signals to the consumer. It would be more rational and effective to tax conventional energy up to its full social cost.

Methane from Coal Beds: Unconventional Energy Source in Warrior Basin: ABSTRACT

One of the largest potential gas resources of the Atlantic Coast margin may lie in coal beds and adjacent strata of the Warrior basin in Alabama and Mississippi. The resource assessment phase of the Department of Energy's Methane Recovery from Coalbeds Project (DOW/MRCP) conservatively estimates gas content of Warrior basin coals to be 10 Tcf. The Warrior basin is a triangular area in northern Mississippi and Alabama containing extensive gaseous bituminous coal reserves. The major coal seams, in the upper Pottsville Formation, formed as clastic material filled in the channel-lake-swamp environments of a Late Pennsylvanian upper delta plain. Of the seven major coal groups in the upper Pottsville, the Mary Lee Group and Black Creek Group have been identified as likely candidates to be coal-bed gas reservoirs. Direct measurement of coal core samples indicates that gas content ranges from 2 cc/g (64 cu ft/ton) from 700 ft (213 m) of overburden to 18 cc/g (576 cu ft/ton) at a depth of 2,000 ft (610 m). Coal operators in the basin are keenly interested in developing coal bed methane both to increase safety of underground mines through degasification in advance of mining and as a marketable product to be pipelined or used on site. After 2 years of operation, the U.S. Steel mines near Oak Grove, Alabama, have produced 750 MMcf of gas from a 17-well field, with an average gas flow per well of 70,000 cf/day. The Jim Walters Resource Co. has an in-mine system which collects the gas for local use. One horizontal well produced 40 MMcf of methane over its lifetime of 10 months. These and other examples support the conclusion that the Warrior basin contains an economically recoverable resource for meeting local and national energy needs. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1663------------

Methane from Coal Beds--an Exploration Approach: ABSTRACT

Vast amounts of methane are trapped in much of the unmined and unminable coal in the United States. This virtually untapped unconventional source of clean energy should become economically viable within the next few years. Consequently, it should be viewed as an important new exploration frontier. An approach to coal-bed methane exploration involves a combination of coal and conventional gas exploration strategies. Because coal beds are both the source and the reservoir of the gas formed during the coalification process, the subsurface extents of the coal beds define the geologic dimensions of the resources of coal-bed methane. The amount of producible methane in a given coal bed is highly variable, being a function of the depth of burial, the rank of the coal, the degree of fracturing, and the permeability of the contiguous strata. Consequently, the successful search for producible quantities of coal-bed methane requires an understanding of the depositional and diagenetic history of coal. End_of_Article - Last_Page 966------------

Energy for the developing world: The [new wisdoms] are wrong

A rapidly building concensus, in the rich developed nations, is that less develped countries (LDC) should support large, costly, programmes of rapidly developing non-oil renewable energy sources, and energy conservation. However, oil use in the LDCs is tiny in relation to that of rich nations, even if growing faster. On a per capita base the difference is greater still. Thus conservation, as a solution to short run oil supply problems (e.g. OPEC output ceilings) is a responsibility of the nation grouping that uses and wastes most oil. Small percentage cuts by the OECD-IEA group could provide ample supplies for the growing needs of LDCs without driving prices inevitably higher. For LDCs there are now many devices for controlling or reducing their foreign exhange spending on oil per unit import. Accelerated oil search and devlopment provides the best midterm opportunities for solving oil supply problems in LDCs especially if OPEC and rich nation loan funding and technical support are accelerated. the impetus for the necessarily costly rapid development of unconventional energy sources must and should come from the rich nation in the short and midterm, for aid-assisted transfer to LDSs in the longer term. This will allow the scarce capital of LDCs to be utilized for non-energy sectors where needs are immediate and cirticial, and for oil search and development.

Our Energy Transition: The Next Twenty Years

Previous energy transitions in the US involved not so much substitution of one source for another, but the use of the new energy source for new economic activity. That is the fundamental difference between our previous energy transitions and the current one. In the current transition, much of the attention is focused on decoupling economic growth and energy consumption (energy conservation) and on developing unconventional energy sources like oil shale, coal liquids, and biomass to substitute for oil. The era of cheap energy to fuel economic growth is gone; the question is what will the transition away from that era look like. That is the subject of this paper. Because of all the interest in this energy transition, there have been a host of major multimillion dollar studies on our energy transition published in the last few years; the major ones are included in the references to this paper. Because of space limitations, the author does not review each, but references specific points adopted from each study. He first discusses the technical and economic potential of some major energy alternatives, then integrates the separate pieces into a personal view of this transition. Once this is completed, some of the policymore » issues related to the energy transition are discussed. 18 references.« less

A bounded set theoretical approach to reliability modelling and calculations for composite generation-transmission systems including systems with unconventional energy sources

A bounded set theoretic approach to the evaluation of the frequency and duration with which a composite generation-transmission system encounters a state of failure is given The use of sets of system states in considering transition between system states has a remarkable effect on the computation required for solution and produces a mathematically and computationally tractable method. The method is essentially based on the concept of a cumulative frequency and duration approach. Effects of unconventional energy sources and the dispersed character of the stochastic system load are included in the modelling. Exact and approximate methods for computing bounds for the chosen reliability indices are also given

Unconventional Energy Sources: Brazil Looks for Applications

Unconventional Energy Sources: Brazil Looks for Applications