• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• US close
• ES close
• University of North Texas close

Abstract Beginning in the 2000s, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region became home to the world's largest and longest experiment in urban shale gas production, with 25,182 drilling permits issued from 2000 to 2016 in the Barnett Shale. Urban hydrocarbon governance centered on establishing statutory setback distances between drilling sites and nearest houses or other protected uses. Here we analyze qualitative interview data obtained with a rigorous sampling frame to examine processes and outcomes of municipal-level hydrocarbon governance. We find that early municipal responses (2001–2002) revealed lack of technical expertise to respond to unconventional drilling and production. Controversial wells, which residents considered too close to houses, focused governance debates in several municipalities. Municipal policymakers reported that protecting public health and safety were top priorities in determining setbacks. After 2003, policymakers copied ordinance language from neighboring municipalities and established task forces and working groups to reduce political tensions. The role of the hydrocarbon industry included frequent claims seeking to exploit the longstanding separation of mineral and property estates, which encouraged municipalities to reduce setbacks and lower potential exposure to regulatory takings lawsuits. Over time, municipal regulatory power in hydrocarbon governance decreased while industry power increased, offering several implications for corporate responsibility and social license debates.

This paper contributes an inclusive review of scientific studies in the field of sustainable human building ecosystems (SHBEs). Reducing energy consumption by making buildings more energy efficient has been touted as an easily attainable approach to promoting carbon-neutral energy societies. Yet, despite significant progress in research and technology development, for new buildings, as energy codes are getting more stringent, more and more technologies, e.g., LED lighting, VRF systems, smart plugs, occupancy-based controls, are used. Nevertheless, the adoption of energy efficient measures in buildings is still limited in the larger context of the developing countries and middle income/low-income population. The objective of Sustainable Human Building Ecosystem Research Coordination Network (SHBE-RCN) is to expand synergistic investigative podium in order to subdue barriers in engineering, architectural design, social and economic perspectives that hinder wider application, adoption and subsequent performance of sustainable building solutions by recognizing the essential role of human behaviors within building-scale ecosystems. Expected long-term outcomes of SHBE-RCN are collaborative ideas for transformative technologies, designs and methods of adoption for future design, construction and operation of sustainable buildings.

Abstract The inherently high storage efficiency, instantaneous dispatch capability, and multifunction uses of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) are attributes that gives it the potential for widespread application in the electric utility industry. Opportunities appear to exist where SMES at a given location could provide multiple benefits either simultaneously or sequentially as system conditions dictate. These benefits, including diurnal storage and system stability and dynamics cotnrol enhancement, increase the application potential of SMES to a larger number of opportunities than might be justified by the value of its diurnal storage capability alone. However, the benefits an individual utility may realized from SMES applications are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the utility system, the location of the SMES unti, and the timing of its installation in the system. Such benefits are typically not evaluated adequately in generic studies. This paper summarizes results of case studies performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) with funding provided by the Bonnevillle Power Administration (BPA) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The derivation of SMES benefits and costs are described and benefit/cost (B/C) ratios are compared in system-specific scenarios of intereste to BPA. Results of using the DYNASTORE production cost model show the sensitivity of B/C ratios to SMES capacity and power and to the forecast system load. Intermediate-size SMES applications, which primarily provide system stability and dynamic control enhancement are reveiwed. The potential for SMES to levelize the output of a wind energy complex is also assessed. Most of the cases show SMES to provide a positive net benefit with the additional, sometimes surprising indication, that B/C ratios and net present worth of intermediate-size units can exceed those of larger systems.

Differences in synchrotron radiation beamline shielding design between the facilities of 3 GeV class and 8 GeV class are discussed with regard to SLAC SSRL and SPring-8 beamlines. Requirements of beamline shielding as well as the accelerator shielding depend on the stored electron energy, and here some factors in beamline shielding depending on the stored energy in particular, are clarified, namely the effect of build up, the effect of double scattering of photons at branch beamlines, and the spread of gas bremsstrahlung.

Abstract Urban renewal has become a key issue all through China's Transitional Period. The social, economic, political factors, and their correlations have been seriously considered. However, the effects of outdoor pedestrian thermal comfort and fluid ventilation effects as well as the residence living conditions in old city districts under urban reconstruction should, to some extent, be paid closer attention to. As an example, take an old city district in Wuhan where a comprehensive mathematical model describing the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics has been presented. Considering the influences of ambient crosswind, solar radiation, and natural convection and radiation heat transfer, numerical analysis based on the original layout has been executed. By analyzing the temperature and velocity distributions of the old city district, a new planned layout has been presented in this research. By comparison, some basic rules have been advanced to achieve favorable thermal comfort and flow ventilation effects.

The kinetics and morphologies of Cu deposition on HF-treated silicon surfaces were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP/MS), and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GFAAS). The early stage (<60 s) of Cu deposition, as characterized by AFM, was found to be dominated by the nucleation of nanometer-sized Cu nuclei on HF-treated silicon surfaces. After 60 s of Cu deposition, the total grain number of Cu deposits was leveled to a constant plateau. However, a significant grain size increase of deposition Cu nuclei was noticed. We employed an AFM volume-integration technique in conjunction with the ICP/MS and GFAAS measurements to demonstrate that the Cu deposition rate was limited by the diffusion of Cu 2+ ions across the stationary solution layer toward the silicon surface.

There have been a number of comprehensive and detailed studies on the question of what climate change might do to agriculture (Parry et al., 1988; Smith and Tirpak, 1989; Rosenberg, 1993; Council on Agricultural science and Technology (CAST), 1992; Houghton et al, 1990, 1992; National Academy of Sciences, 1992; and others). The potential for adaptation of agriculture to climate change has been evaluated in a number of these studies and in Rosenberg (1992). There has been, however, little if any systematic analysis of how attempts to mitigate or avoid climate change might affect agriculture. Our aim in this paper is to explore this question. Data and analyses on which to draw are limited, so the results of our exploration are preliminary, at best.

Abstract Energy-efficiency investments that are costeffective to utilities may not be cost-effective to their customers if the customers have to bear the full investment cost. Utilities must find creative ways to make energy-efficiency investments more attractive to utility customers. An innovative utility manufactured (mobile) home energy conservation programme is described to illustrate how differences in the economic perspectives of consumers and utilities can be used to design energy-efficiency programmes. This successful programme uses ‘conservation acquisition’ to make the investment attractive to manufacturers, utilities, and the consumer. The programme and framework presented here provide models for developing other energy-efficiency programmes.