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With increasing air traffic, rising fuel costs and tighter environmental targets, efficient airport ground operations are one of the key aspects towards sustainable air transportation. This complex system includes elements such as ground movement, runway scheduling and ground services. Previously, these problems were treated in isolation since information, such as landing time, pushback time and aircraft ground position, are held by different stakeholders with sometimes conflicting interests and, normally, are not shared. However, as these problems are interconnected, solutions as a result of isolated optimisation may achieve the objective of one problem but fail in the objective of the other one, missing the global optimum eventually. Potentially more energy and economic costs are thus required. In order to apply a more systematic and holistic view, this paper introduces a multi-objective integrated optimisation problem incorporating the newly proposed Active Routing concept. Built with systematic perspectives, this new model combines several elements: scheduling and routing of aircraft, 4-Dimensional Trajectory (4DT) optimisation, runway scheduling and airport bus scheduling. A holistic economic optimisation framework is also included to support the decision maker to select the economically optimal solution from a Pareto front of technically optimal solutions. To solve this problem, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is adopted and tested on real data from an international hub airport. Preliminary results show that the proposed approach is able to provide a systematic framework so that airport efficiency, environmental assessment and economic analysis could all be explicitly optimised.

Abstract A promising and shortly emerging energy supply chain network based on residential-scale microgeneration through micro combined heat and power systems is proposed, modeled and optimized in this work. Interchange of electrical energy can take place among the members of this domestic microgrid, which is connected to the main electrical grid for potential power interchange with it. A mathematical programming framework is developed for the operational planning of such energy supply chain networks. The minimization of total costs (including microgeneration system’s startup and operating costs as well as electricity production revenue, sales, and purchases), under full heat demand satisfaction, constitutes the objective function in this study. Additionally, an alternative microgrid structure that allows the heat interchange within subgroups of the overall microgrid is proposed, and the initial mathematical programming formulation is extended to deal with this new aspect. An illustrative example is presented in order to highlight the particular significance of selecting a proper optimization goal that thoroughly takes into account the major operational, technical and economic driven factors of the problem in question. Also, a number of real-world size case studies are used to illustrate the efficiency, applicability and the potential benefits of the microgeneration energy supply chain networks suggested in this study. Finally, some concluding remarks are drawn and potential future research directions are identified.

Geoenergy sources will continue to be mainstays of the world’s energy mix for many years to come, but the technological and business realities behind these energy sources are changing in two fundamental ways. First, with much of the world’s “easy oil” already consumed, the companies behind geoenergy will have to use increasingly sophisticated technologies to find and deliver these energy sources to the market. Second, the expectations placed upon the geoenergy sector by many of its stakeholders have grown considerably with regards to environmental stewardship, safety, and human welfare. In the face of these kinds of challenges, the industry will require an increasing degree of technological and commercial sophistication to continue to be a part of the world’s sustainable energy mix. Blockchain has emerged as a promising innovation that could potentially play an important role in delivering the kinds of technological and commercial capabilities that the geoenergy sector will need to achieve these ends. In spite of the myriad ways that blockchain could potentially improve the efficiency and sustainability of the geoenergy industry, however, the technology is still evolving, and a few barriers stand in the way of its widespread deployment. This paper puts forward case study evidence from the Intel Corporation and the Energistics Consortium showing what the geoenergy sector can learn about blockchain from other industries, and highlights that the absence of data standards and interoperability has contributed to blockchain’s failure to deliver significant value in the geoenergy domain thus far.

Waste biomass is generated during the conservation management of semi-natural habitats, and represents an unused resource and potential bioenergy feedstock that does not compete with food production. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to characterise a representative range of biomass generated during conservation management in Wales. Of the biomass types assessed, those dominated by rush (Juncus effuses) and bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) exhibited the highest and lowest volatile compositions respectively and were selected for bench scale conversion via fast pyrolysis. Each biomass type was ensiled and a sub-sample of silage was washed and pressed. Demineralization of conservation biomass through washing and pressing was associated with higher oil yields following fast pyrolysis. The oil yields were within the published range established for the dedicated energy crops miscanthus and willow. In order to examine the potential a multiple output energy system was developed with gross power production estimates following valorisation of the press fluid, char and oil. If used in multi fuel industrial burners the char and oil alone would displace 3.9 × 105 tonnes per year of No. 2 light oil using Welsh biomass from conservation management. Bioenergy and product development using these feedstocks could simultaneously support biodiversity management and displace fossil fuels, thereby reducing GHG emissions. Gross power generation predictions show good potential.

Abstract The use of agricultural residues to produce biomass briquette fuel (BBF) can reduce waste of resources and consumption of fossil fuels. We report the first detailed environmental impact assessment of cornstalk-based BBF in China using a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA study was conducted based on a typical large-scale cornstalk BBF demonstration project in China with an integrated and automated production system. The key life cycle stages such as cornstalk growth, cornstalk transportation, BBF production, transportation and utilisation were investigated. Our results suggest that cornstalk BBF in China is much more environmentally friendly than coal and is favourable when compared with other types of solid fuels produced from different biomass feedstock. For example, the climate change and fossil depletion impacts of cornstalk BBF in China (11 g CO2 eq./MJ and 2 g oil eq./MJ, respectively) are an order of magnitude lower than those of coal (146 g CO2 eq./MJ and 26 g oil eq./MJ, respectively). The results of this study can assist policy makers in evaluating the potential benefits of the large scale use of BBF made from agricultural residues.

AbstractThis research explores the relationship between technology scale, energy security and decarbonisation within the UK energy system. There is considerable uncertainty about how best to deliver on these goals for energy policy, but a focus on supply chains and their resilience can provide useful insights into the problems uncertainty causes. Technology scale is central to this, and through an analysis of the supply chains of nuclear power and solar photovoltaics, it is suggested that smaller scale technologies are more likely to support and enable a secure, low carbon energy transition. This is because their supply chains are less complex, show more flexibility and adaptability, and can quickly respond to changes within an energy system, and as such they are more resilient than large scale technologies. These characteristics are likely to become increasingly important in a rapidly changing energy system, and prioritising those technologies that demonstrate resilience, flexibility and adaptability will better enable a transition that is rapid, sustainable, secure and affordable.

The ten countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 (Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) have experienced faster economic growth and slower declines in energy consumption than traditional EU members. As designing of low-carbon policies requires accurate CO2 emission accounting, this study describes the evolving trajectories of CO2 emissions from 2005 to 2017 of 2004 EU accession members by providing detailed emission inventories by 28 types of energy and 47 socioeconomic sectors. We further quantify the contributions of four socioeconomic drivers (i.e., economic growth, energy structure, carbon intensity, and energy intensity) to the emission changes. The results show that the total CO2 emissions of the ten countries decreased by 7.50% from 2010 (506.81 Mt) to 2016 (468.78 Mt), which is lower than the average decline rate of other EU members (10.52%). Although the effect of economic growth contributed the most to emission increase (15.44%), it is completely offset by the decline in carbon intensity (-18.82%). We also discuss potential roadmaps towards carbon neutrality by designing 33 scenarios based on the European Union Low-Carbon Development Map 2050. We find that carbon neutrality cannot be achieved unless the share of renewable energy sources reaches 60% and more than half of existing coal and gas power plants are upgraded to Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) technology. These changes require the implementation of both short-term and long-term strategies.