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Abstract Background Article 12 of the Paris Agreement summons the signing parties to corporate in improving the education of their citizens on climate change and related matters. The article thereby acknowledges the importance of citizens support and understanding of climate change and needed measures to fight climate change. This paper aims to contribute to the goal of informing on the implications of climate change related policy on the power sector in Europe and hence all European citizens by presenting a serious game in which the player can explore how key policy decisions affect capacity mix, investment needs and electricity costs.Results The game is based on more than 1700 scenarios run through an open-source and accessible, yet technologically detailed myopic energy system optimisation model for the electricity supply in the EU27 + 3. The game allows the user to take the role of a decision maker and make decisions in 2020, 2030 and 2040 regarding the usage of CCS, biomass imports, cross-border electricity transmission and the pace of emission reductions. The user is then presented with economic, social, and environmental impacts of these choices. These impacts are for example measured and illustrated in the development of CO2 emissions per capita, levelised cost of electricity, and investment need per citizen.Conclusion The Power Decisions Game provides a first of its kind open-source infrastructure that allows non-modellers to explore the impact of key decisions and preferences on the design of the future European power system. It furthermore, provides insights on the consequences of short-sighted decision making. The game can be used to facilitate policy-science discussions.

Sargassum spp is an invasive macroalgae and an alternative feedstock for bioethanol production. Sargassum spp biomass was subjected to high-pressure technology for biomass fractionation under different operating conditions of temperature and residence time to obtain glucan enriched pretreated solids (32.22 g/100 g of raw material). Enzyme hydrolysis process at high pretreated solid loading (13%, w/v) and enzyme loading of 10 FPU/g of glucan was performed, obtaining 43.01 g/L of glucose corresponding to a conversion yield of 92.12%. Finally, a pre-simultaneous saccharification and fermentation strategy (PSSF) was performed to produce bioethanol. This operational strategy produced 45.66 g/L of glucose in the pre-saccharification stage, and 18.14 g/L of bioethanol was produced with a glucose to bioethanol conversion yield of 76.23%. The development of this process highlights the feasibility of bioethanol production from macroalgal biomass in the biorefinery concept.

Abstract The performance of Angstrom–Prescott (A–P) linear equation to estimate global solar radiation on a horizontal surface at daily and monthly mean daily time bases over Spain is studied. The pretty good performance obtained for both time bases ensures a fast first estimation of the global solar radiation. Here, new sets of A–P coefficient values over Spain for the selected stations are provided. Moreover, the impact of both time bases on the A–P performance is analysed concluding that the A–P obtained coefficients can be permutated between daily and monthly mean daily time bases. Therefore, the monthly mean daily (daily) calibrated A–P coefficients can be directly applied for estimating the global solar radiation using daily (monthly mean daily) data. In order to test the validity of the A–P model coefficients' permutability for estimating global solar radiation over Spain, the performance of the permutated A–P model has been compared with that of other sunshine hour-based models (polynomic, exponential, logarithmic, regional and global A–P calibration and latitudinal dependent models). According to the results, the permutated A–P linear expression can be selected to estimate the solar radiation instead of the remainder models. The obtained results also remark the importance of the local calibration on the accuracy of global solar radiation estimation instead of using a single pair of coefficients for the whole domain.

Etude des resultats obtenus en matiere de reduction des emissions de gaz a effet de serre, suite a la mise en oeuvre des politiques definies, au cours des conferences internationales de la decennie 90. Etude des perspectives a moyen et long terme, en fonction des differents scenarios envisages lors de congres internationaux

Abstract In this paper a Dynamic Simulation Model has been used to present the likely responses of the electricity industries’ latest perturbations such as: changes in environmental regulations, international fuel market evolution, restriction on fuel supply and increase on fuel prices, liberalisation of the European Electricity Market, and the results of applying energy policies and official tools such as taxes and emission allowances. The case under study refers to the Teruel Power Plant, built after the 1970s oil crisis to ensure national electricity supply; burning domestically produced coal in order to ensure local mining activity. The Teruel Power Plant has made relevant investments in order to meet emission limits, such as a Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant. The economic viability of the power stations has to be analysed after environmental costs have been internalised. A system is defined that studies the coal-firing Electric Power Plant selling energy to the free electricity market, whenever the generation cost is competitive. A Dynamic Simulation Model would appear to be an accurate tool to optimise power station management within different frameworks.

This paper presents an original short-term forecasting model of the hourly electric power production for aggregated regional hydropower generation. The inputs of the model are previously recorded values of the aggregated hourly production of hydropower plants and hourly water precipitation forecasts using Numerical Weather Prediction tools, as well as other hourly data (load demand and wind generation). This model is composed of three modules: the first one gives the prediction of the “monthly” hourly power production of the hydropower plants; the second module gives the prediction of hourly power deviation values, which are added to that obtained by the first module to achieve the final forecast of the hourly hydropower generation; the third module allows a periodic adjustment of the prediction of the first module to improve its BIAS error. The model has been applied successfully to the real-life case study of the short-term forecasting of the aggregated hydropower generation in Spain and Portugal (Iberian Peninsula Power System), achieving satisfactory results for the next-day forecasts. The model can be valuable for agents involved in electricity markets and useful for power system operations.

In this study, microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization of waste coconut shell (feedstock) is reported. It is a thermo-conversion technique in which the feedstock was transformed into energy-rich carbonaceous material under mild conditions. The process was conducted in a microwave oven by heating the waste coconut shell in deionized water inside a pressurized vessel. The effects of different process conditions on the product yields, and the energy properties of the hydrochars were studied by varying the reaction temperature from 150 to 200 °C and residence time from 5 to 30 min. The results showed that there was transformation of the feedstock in the process due to the decarboxylation, dehydration, and demethanation reactions. This led to changes in the chemical and structural compositions, as well as increase in the energy properties of the prepared hydrochars. The higher heating value increased from 15.06 MJ/kg in the feedstock to 19.76 MJ/kg in the hydrochar. The energy properties of the hydrochars prepared in this study showed that microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization process could be a technique for converting waste coconut shell into high value-added product.