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Environmental regulations have emerged as a critical policy tool for promoting environmental sustainability worldwide. However, there is a dearth of literature that investigates the impact of environmental regulations on load capacity factor in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies. This study aims to address this gap by examining the role of renewable energy consumption, human capital, and environmental regulations in improving load capacity factor. In doing so, the paper covers 14 APEC economies; applies second generations panel data models (i.e., CUP-FM (continuously updated fully modified) as the base model and CUP-BC (continuously-updated and bias-corrected) for the robustness); and runs data between 1992 and 2018. The empirical findings present that: i) renewable energy consumption and human capital contribute to improving load capacity factor; ii) environmental regulations are not at a level to increase load capacity factor; iii) economic growth and trade openness significantly reduce load capacity factor. Considering empirical outcomes, this study suggests that APEC should tighten environmental regulations to achieve sustainable environment. In addition, this study offers important sustainable environmental policies for APEC within the framework of empirical findings.

The scaling of thin film photovoltaics to a commercially viable size relies on the series connection of multiple small cells into modules. These interconnections are typically formed by three patterning steps, each of which have an impact on the series resistance and consequently on the total module performance. Here, we implement the transmission line method for the complete analysis of the P2 patterning step of the photoactive layer in organic photovoltaic modules. Devices are investigated with a sample design that allows for a comparative study of the P2 connection on the solar cell performance. We compare subtractive mechanical scribing to a newly developed additive pre-patterning method for the P2 step. Aerosol Jet printed pre-patterning lines of low surface energy and conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) modified with a fluorosurfactant repel the subsequently spray coated photoactive layer. Furthermore, the influence of MoO3 in the P2 pattern is elucidated, displaying a substantial increase in series resistance and decrease in device performance.

Abstract Microturbines offer new perspectives in small-scale heat and power production however their profitability depends strongly on the yearly amount of running hours. The non-continuous heat demand often leads to a reduction in running hours. This paper proposes an alternative by recuperating the lost thermal power through the injection of heated water in the micro Gas Turbine (mGT). Water injection is considered a successful way to increase power and efficiency in industrial gas turbines and similar effects are expected for microturbines. This paper reports on a series of simulations of water injection performed on a Turbec T100 mGT. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential of water injection in the mGT cycle using an adiabatic black box method in the Aspen® process simulation tool. Past experiments with steam injection on the T100 demonstrated the potential of introducing steam/water in the microturbine cycle. Calculations revealed that the key parameters for maximum heat recuperation are stack and pinch temperature. Simulations showed that most of the exhaust heat can be recovered through injection of heated water after the compressor, resulting in an 18% decrease in fuel consumption and an absolute increase in electrical efficiency of 7%.

The Alpine Forest Genomics Network was formed in 2011 and held its first annual meeting on June 24–26, 2012, in the Natural Park Adamello Brenta in Trentino Region, Italy. The meeting was attended by 30 researchers from the alpine region of Europe and had two primary goals: (1) for researchers to introduce each other to current and planned research activities in forest landscape genomics and (2) to develop a strategic vision for the network. A steering committee was elected and will develop a white paper over the next year. The next annual meeting will be held in Austria in June 2013.

A method for carrying out molecular dynamics simulations in which the potential energy U of the molecular system is constrained at its initial value is developed and thoroughly tested. The constraint is not introduced within the framework of the Lagrange multipliers technique, rather it is fulfilled in a natural way by carrying out the simulations in terms of suitable sets of delocalized coordinates. Such coordinates are defined by an appropriate tuning of the Baker, Kessi, and Delley internal delocalized nonredundant coordinates technique [J. Chem. Phys. 105, 192 (1996)]. The proposed method requires multiple evaluations of energy and gradients in each step of the molecular dynamics simulation, so that constant U simulations suffer some overhead compared to ordinary simulations. But the particular formulation of the delocalized coordinates and of the equations of motion greatly simplifies all the various steps required by the Baker’s technique, thus allowing for the efficient implementation of the method itself. The technique is reliable and allows for very high accuracy in the potential energy conservation during the whole simulation. Moreover, it proved to be free of drift troubles which can occur when standard constraint methods are straightforwardly implemented without the application of appropriate correcting techniques.

Abstract Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) are relatively new structures for architectural green cladding that embed a curtain of plants (Living Wall – hereafter LW) or grass (Grass Wall – hereafter GW) fixed on building facades and nurtured by an automated watering system. An eMergy evaluation (EE) of both LW and GW was performed aimed at assessing potential ‘environmental costs’ relative to their manufacturing chain, from plants–grass nursery to the assembling of structural elements, until their sustenance in time. Contextually, benefits were estimated as the energy saving for cooling mainly due to their shading effect and airflow. A 98 m2 south-oriented facade of a hypothetical 1000 m3 building has been investigated. EE is an environmental accounting method that accounts for direct and indirect environmental resource use by systems-processes in terms of solar energy equivalents (i.e. solar emergy joule – sej). The Cost to Benefit Ratio has been introduced, as the emergy investment per saved emergy (CBR: sej sej−1), in order to compare the environmental cost of structure functioning to the overall energy saving, in emergy terms. Results highlighted that, in certain conditions (i.e. Mediterranean climate, massive envelope, integrated rainwater harvesting system) both LW and GW can provide net environmental benefits and be valuable options for building retrofitting.

Wind energy is nowadays the fastest-growing energy source in the world, which has been attracting a lot of research interest in wind turbine generator systems. This paper concerns the modelling and simulation of wind turbine generating systems using the flexible multibody simulation software SAMCEF/MECANO. Firstly, it introduces the formulation of an extension of the generalized-alpha method, which is integrated into the flexible multibody dynamics solver for strongly-coupled simulation of mechatronic systems, and then emphasizes on the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) and the controller models, which are developed as modular components of the wind turbine package. The mechatronic systems are simulated upon this strongly-coupled approach and simulation results show the validity of the newly-developed solver and the models. The interest of this work is to analyze the control-generator-structure interactions in a wind turbine. The general aim is to develop a computer-aided tool for customization, fast-prototyping and optimal design of wind turbine systems based on the dynamic simulation of the overall system.