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This paper presents results of an online stated choice experiment on preferences of Dutch private car owners for alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and their characteristics. Results show that negative preferences for alternative fuel vehicles are large, especially for the electric and fuel cell car, mostly as a result of their limited driving range and considerable refueling times. Preference for AFVs increases considerably with improvements on driving range, refueling time and fuel availability. Negative AFV preferences remain, however, also with substantial improvements in AFV characteristics; the remaining willingness to accept is on average € 10,000-€ 20,000 per AFV. Results from a mixed logit model show that consumer preferences for AFVs and AFV characteristics are heterogeneous to a large extent, in particular for the electric car, additional detour time and fuel time for the electric and fuel cell car. An interaction model reveals that annual mileage is by far the most important factor that determines heterogeneity in preferences for the electric and fuel cell car. When annual mileage increases, the preference for electric and fuel cell cars decreases substantially, whilst the willingness to pay for driving range increases substantially. Other variables such as using the car for holidays abroad and the daily commute also appear to be relevant for car choice. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

In this paper some preliminary experimental results on a Zebra battery based propulsion system for urban bus applications are presented. The tests were carried out using a laboratory 1:1 scale test bench, composed by a 65 kW electric drive, specifically designed for urban bus applications, supplied by two 20 kWh Zebra batteries connected in parallel. The electric power train was tested on a laboratory bench, connected through a fixed ratio gear box to a 100 kW regenerative electric brake provided with speed and torque controls, in order to evaluate the propulsion system performance in steady state operative conditions. The obtained preliminary experimental results were utilized to implement a Matlab-Simulink model of urban bus, which might be powered by the same electric propulsion system studied. Thanks to this model it was possible to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the urban bus, working on standard driving cycles, taking into account the resistant forces represented by proper vehicle/road/aerodynamic parameters. An evaluation of the expected real vehicle driving range was also estimated in different road conditions.

ON 16 NOVEMBER 2000, the final report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) was launched in London, in the presence of South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela. This represented a remarkable milestone in the history of dam policy and politics. During its two-year existence, WCD had conducted the most extensive review of research and evidence regarding the planning, impacts, and management of large dams. It had engaged with numerous stakeholders around the globe. It also made comprehensive recommendations about how to improve dam planning and management.

Wood biomass is turned into industrial fuel through chipping. The efficiency of chipping depends on many factors, including chipper knife wear. Chipper knife wear was determined through a long-term follow-up study, conducted at a waste wood recycling yard. Knife wear determined a sharp drop of productivity (>20%) and a severe decay in product quality. Dry sharpening with a grinder mitigated this effect, but it could not replace proper wet sharpening. Increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions determined a moderate increase of knife depreciation cost, but it could drastically enhance machine performance and reduce biomass processing cost. Since benefits largely exceed costs, increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions may be an effective measure for reducing overall chipping cost. If the main goal of a chipper operator is to increase productivity and/or decrease fuel consumption, then managing knife wear should be a primary target. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clean combustion technologies, based on reactant dilution, have shown very peculiar and innovative characteristics. Reduction of light and noise emission and uniformity of temperature and composition distribution inside the combustion chamber, related to an extension of the reaction zone, make these processes very promising in several technological fields. Analysis of combustion in very diluted conditions is needed for a general understanding of these processes, which remain unknown from many aspects. The study is also useful for the identification of practical constraints which define the most suitable reactor configurations and working parameters for process reliability. The present work deals with a theoretical analysis of methane oxidation in diluted conditions using one of the detailed kinetic schemes available in the literature. A well-stirred reactor (WSR) configuration has been considered as a first attempt of process schematization. This choice is consistent with the experimental characterization of the flameless combustion processes. The influence of residence time, C/O ratio, and inlet temperature on the steady state was studied for an oxygen molar fraction (0.05), chosen as representative of flameless combustion processes. It has been pointed out that only rich conditions (C/O ? 0.25) are possible for WSR creation, because they allow partial methane conversion. Three kinetic regimes, related to different temperature ranges, have been identified on the basis of product distribution analysis. Both the oxidation and pyrolitic regimes, occurring respectively in low- and high-temperature ranges, are the most interesting working conditions for diluted combustion. The former, leading to CO and H2O as main reaction products, is suitable for reburning technology. The latter, which corresponds to large production of CO and H2, has been shown to be a reasonable explanation of flameless combustion. Advantages and potentials of this innovative process are analyzed, taking into account the kinetic pathway followed in the different working conditions.

AbstractChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

Stories play an exceptionally important role in how people assign value to a place. Taken together, all those stories essentially give a place an identity. The aim of placemaking is to ensure that the people using a place can appreciate that place. Placemaking approaches are focussed on strategic interventions in a place and aimed at changing the meaning and value of that place for local people, thus creating a qualitative place for enhanced storytelling. Using greenery is a common approach in place-making. Urban greenery has gone through a process of emancipation in the past 15 years. This emancipation has led to awareness that urban greenery is about more than just ecology and biodiversity, but also has social and economic consequences for a city’s fortunes. It is clear that green spaces do not stand alone: they are part of a complex urban system, and the use of green spaces in this complex system has immediate repercussions for how the city functions. With the changing role of green spaces within cities, the need to manage these spaces is emphasized. In this sense, the place-making approach, along with the storytelling approach could provide valuable insight on the planning and management of green spaces within the urban environment, with the aim to enhance quality of life by means of the social connection between people, the users of the space, and the qualitative place provided. This research illustrated that green space managers would need more social and organizational skills to manage modern urban green spaces in an attempt to create qualitative, usable spaces for citizens, spaces that are built upon stories and spaces that would further enable future stories of citizen life. The Story Behind the Place: Creating Urban Spaces That Enhance Quality of Life (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271918395_The_Story_Behind_the_Place_Creating_Urban_Spaces_That_Enhance_Quality_of_Life [accessed Dec 21, 2015].

This paper presents a mechanism for developing knowledge based support for real time application of multiagent systems (MAS) in control, automation and diagnosis of electric power systems. In particular it presents a way for autonomous agents to utilize a qualitative means-ends based model for reasoning about control situations. The proposed mechanism has been used in different scenarios of electric power distribution system protection and control. Results show that agents can use local models of their environment and coordinate with other agents to analyze and understand a disturbance situation and choose an appropriate control action. The paper also elaborates on real time interfacing between multi-agent systems and industry standard distribution automation and control system.

Abstract Thermal energy storage systems for both heat and cold are necessary for many industrial processes. High energy density and high power capacity are desirable properties of the storage. The use of latent heat increases the energy density of the storage tank with high temperature control close to the melting point. Tube in PCM tank is a very promising system that provides high packing factor. This work presents an experimental study of a PCM tank for cold storage applications. Two different configurations and different flow rates of the heat transfer fluid were studied. The effectiveness of the PCM storage system was defined as that of a heat exchanger. The results showed that the heat exchange effectiveness of the system did not vary with time, decreased with increasing flow rate and increased with increasing heat transfer area. The effectiveness was experimentally determined to only be a function of the ratio m ˙ /A. This equation was found to be adequately be used to design a PCM storage system, and a case study is presented. It was shown that the tube in tank design together with a low temperature PCM is suitable as a thermal storage facility for cold storage.