• Energy Research
• other engineering and technologies close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 6. Clean water close
• BE close

Improving access to sustainable energy services and reducing the carbon footprint and deforestation of developing countries presents a substantial challenge to the development industry. This paper aims to critically assess two prevalent business models emerging to meet this challenge: financial institution–technology provider partnerships and the one-stop-shop, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model. The authors find that collaborations between financial institutions and energy providers need to address grey areas such as product quality standards, marketing, and post-sales services, and incorporate feedback loops to continually evaluate the performance of the partnership. Pay-as-you-go presents an intriguing business case to leapfrog more traditional energy access programmes. However, more robust results from the field need to be reported before the PAYG movement can claim success. Ultimately, collaborative and integrated actions by all stakeholders are needed to achieve universal energy access.

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of urbanization on energy consumption by applying the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) in case of Malaysia. The study covers the time period of 1970Q1–2011Q4. The unit root test and the ARDL bounds testing approach have been applied to examine integrating properties and long run relationship in the presence of structural breaks. Our results validated the existence of cointegration and exposed that urbanization is a major contributor in energy consumption. Affluence raises energy demand. Capital stock boosts energy consumption. Trade openness leads to affluence and hence increases energy consumption. The causality analysis finds that urbanization Granger causes energy consumption. The feedback effect is found between energy consumption and affluence and, energy consumption and capital. The bidirectional causality exists between trade openness and energy consumption.

The global energy demand is growing substantially. Clean and secure energy supply is a must for our civilization's sustainable development. Solar and wind energy is growing fast and can contribute significantly to meet the goals set by many countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A deep and wide investigation of the environmental impact of solar and wind energy is important before any solar or wind plants' construction is made. In this study, the literature is reviewed to summarize the environmental impact of solar and wind energy systems in terms of the following factors; land use, water consumption, impact on biodiversity, visual and noise effects, health issues, and impact on micro climate. Although the benefits of solar and wind energy are obvious and great, negative perception of these technologies can inhibit their wide penetration in some regions. This review paper includes a critical and an inclusive analysis of solar and wind energy’s environmental impact and may serve as an important tool to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment. This critical analysis may serve also as a tool for developers, policy, and decision-when planning future solar and wind farms.

Rural planning is in a state of flux, covering a range of topics. The objectives of planning have evolved over the years. To get an overview of the evolving themes and narratives on rural planning in China, a literature review is conducted here using text mining considering 145 papers published in Web of Science. Attention is given to trends over time in terms of the topics covered. Six evolving themes are revealed, namely: providing affordable and decent life under industrialization and urbanization progress, national ecological programs and practices, building a new (socialist) countryside and rural−urban relationship in planning, land planning and restructuring, rural tourism planning and activities, and other themes. It is highlighted that strategies and knowledge of “development” are a common instructional epistemology among agro-industrialism, agro-ruralism, scientific rationalism, and “economy oriented” humanism.

Abstract The increasing global energy demand, the foreseen reduction of available fossil fuels and the increasing evidence off global warming during the last decades have generated a high interest in renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, have an intrinsic variability that can seriously affect the stability of the energy system if they account for a high percentage of the total generation. The Energy Flexibility of buildings is commonly suggested as part of the solution to alleviate some of the upcoming challenges in the future demand-respond energy systems (electrical, district heating and gas grids). Buildings can supply flexibility services in different ways, e.g. utilization of thermal mass, adjustability of HVAC system use (e.g. heating/cooling/ventilation), charging of electric vehicles, and shifting of plug-loads. However, there is currently no overview or insight into how much Energy Flexibility different building may be able to offer to the future energy systems in the sense of avoiding excess energy production, increase the stability of the energy networks, minimize congestion problems, enhance the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the future energy networks. Therefore, there is a need for increasing knowledge on and demonstration of the Energy Flexibility buildings can provide to energy networks. At the same time, there is a need for identifying critical aspects and possible solutions to manage this Energy Flexibility, while maintaining the comfort of the occupants and minimizing the use of non-renewable energy. In this context, the IEA (International Energy Agency) EBC (Energy in Buildings and Communities program) Annex 67: “Energy Flexible Buildings” was started in 2015. The article presents the background and the work plan of IEA EBC Annex 67 as well as already obtained results. Annex 67 is a corporation between participants from 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and UK.

Biomass is expected to play an increasingly significant role in the ‘greening’ of energy supply. Nevertheless, concerns are rising about the sustainability of large-scale energy crop production. Impacts must be assessed carefully before deciding whether and how this industry should be developed, and what technologies, policies and investment strategies should be pursued. There is need for a comprehensive and reliable sustainability assessment tool to evaluate the environmental, social and economic performance of biomass energy production. This paper paves the way for such a tool by analysing and comparing the performance and applicability of a selection of existing tools that are potentially useful for sustainability assessment of bioenergy systems. The selected tools are: Criteria And Indicators (C&I), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), Exergy Analysis (EA) and System Perturbation Analysis (SPA). To evaluate the tools, a framework was constructed that consists of four evaluation levels: sustainability issues, tool attributes, model structure, area of application. The tools were then evaluated using literature data and with the help of a Delphi panel of experts. Finally, a statistical analysis was performed on the resulting data matrix to detect significant differences between tools. It becomes clear that none of the selected tools is able to perform a comprehensive sustainability assessment of bioenergy systems. Every tool has its particular advantages and disadvantages, which means that trade-offs are inevitable and a balance must be found between scientific accuracy and pragmatic decision making. A good definition of the assessment objective is therefore crucial. It seems an interesting option to create a toolbox that combines procedural parts of C&I and EIA, supplemented with calculation algorithms of LCA and CBA for respectively environmental and economic sustainability indicators. Nevertheless, this would require a more comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to align the different tool characteristics and focuses.

This paper proposes a revolutionary approach to Smart Energy Grids which empowers communities of consumers as first-class citizens with a novel role in the management of their electricity by sharing excess electricity and therefore becoming energy producers (prosumers). The approach makes innovations on smart technologies and processes by building a demand-response decision support system on top of smart metering and social web technologies. This is achieved using a framework to connect dynamic, context-aware, heterogeneous virtual and real entities on the Internet of Smart Meters (IoSM) and by studying the behavior of communities on it. The smart electricity meters are transformed into fully-fledged intelligent computers on the IoSM, enabled to (i) securely collect data from heterogeneous meters and sensors and actuators, (ii) detect smart meters with similar goals, (iii) exchange and aggregate data from multiple autonomous physical or virtual meters, and (iv) manage the actual energy demand and ensure the achievement of demand response for the community involved. The approach is centered on the community and its respective DSOs, where each prosumer is represented as a node on the IoSM through their electricity meters, sensors and actuators. This allows for rational energy exchange between technical and non-technical participants by expressing their goals in a standardized language through hybrid ontologies.