• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• Closed Access close
• US close
• GB close
• Energies close

As a relatively mature technology, biomass molded fuel (BMF) is widely used in distributed and centralized heating in China and has received considerable government attention. Although many BFM incentive policies have been developed, decreased domestic traditional fuel prices in China have caused BMF to lose its economic viability and new policy recommendations are needed to stimulate this industry. The present study built a regionalized net present value (NPV) model based on real production process simulation to test the impacts of each policy factor. The calculations showed that BMF production costs vary remarkably between regions, with the cost of agricultural briquette fuel (ABF) ranging from 86 US dollar per metric ton (USD/t) to 110 (USD/t), while that of woody pellet fuel (WPF) varies from 122 USD/t to 154 USD/t. The largest part of BMF’s cost composition is feedstock, which accounts for up 50%–60% of the total; accordingly a feedstock subsidy is the most effective policy factor, but in consideration of policy implementation, it would be better to use a production subsidy. For ABF, the optimal product subsidy varies from 26 USD/t to 57 USD/t among different regions of China, while for WPF, the range is 36 USD/t to 75 USD/t. Based on the data, a regional BMF development strategy is also proposed in this study.

We analyzed the peak spring tidal current speeds, annual mean tidal power densities ( T P D ) and annual energy production ( A E P ) obtained from experiment 06.1, referred as the “HYCOM model” throughout, of the three dimensional (3D), global model HYCOM in an area covering the Baja California Pacific and the Gulf of California. The HYCOM model is forced with astronomical tides and surface winds alone, and therefore is particularly suitable to assess the tidal current and wind-driven current contribution to in-stream energy resources. We find two areas within the Gulf of California, one in the Great Island Region and one in the Upper Gulf of California, where peak spring tidal flows reach speeds of 1.1 m per second. Second to fifth-generation tidal stream devices would be suitable for deployment in these two areas, which are very similar in terms of tidal in-stream energy resources. However, they are also very different in terms of sediment type and range in water depth, posing different challenges for in-stream technologies. The highest mean T P D value when excluding TPDs equal or less than 50 W m−2 (corresponding to the minimum velocity threshold for energy production) is of 172.8 W m−2, and is found near the town of San Felipe, at (lat lon) = (31.006–114.64); here energy would be produced during 39.00% of the time. Finally, wind-driven currents contribute very little to the mean T P D and the total A E P . Therefore, the device, the grid, and any energy storage plans need to take into account the periodic tidal current fluctuations, for optimal exploitation of the resources.

With the continuous development of intelligent transportation technologies, new ways of energy usage in transportation continue to emerge, which puts forward new requirements for the planning and design of energy systems. However, comprehensive analyses on the characteristics of transportation energy systems and the development trend of energy usage patterns brought by intelligent technologies have rarely been carried out so far. This paper explores this subject by reviewing the recent development and utilization of intelligent technologies in the transportation system and its impacts on energy usage. This review is carried out from three aspects, covering the representative intelligent transportation and energy technologies on vehicles, infrastructures and systems. The scope is limited within road, railway and water transport domains, with a focus on the recent developments in China as a representative. In terms of vehicles, the development trend of the power systems for new energy vehicles, the characteristics of energy usages in electric vehicles and the effects on energy saving and emission reduction are summarized. In terms of infrastructures, new technologies on smart road, smart port, intelligent railway energy system and the usage of clear energy on electric grid for transportation are reviewed, with the consideration of their potential influences on energy usages and the energy consumption characteristics of typical facilities also being analyzed. As for the transportation system, this review has focused on intelligent and connected transportation systems, train control and autonomous systems, and intelligent shipping system, with the emphasis on the energy saving and emission reduction effects of applying these intelligent technologies. The overall development trend of the transportation energy system is then analyzed based on the above materials, in particular, the future energy usage patterns in transportation system are given and the major challenges and obstacles approaching the future scenarios are also identified.

The decarbonisation of heating in the United Kingdom is likely to entail both the mass adoption of heat pumps and widespread development of district heating infrastructure. Estimation of the spatially disaggregated heat demand is needed for both electrical distribution network with electrified heating and for the development of district heating. The temporal variation of heat demand is important when considering the operation of district heating, thermal energy storage and electrical grid storage. The difference between the national and urban heat demands profiles will vary due to the type and occupancy of buildings leading to temporal variations which have not been widely surveyed. This paper develops a high-resolution spatiotemporal heat load model for Great Britain (GB: England, Scotland a Wales) by identifying the appropriate datasets, archetype segmentation and characterisation for the domestic and nondomestic building stock. This is applied to a thermal model and calibrated on the local scale using gas consumption statistics. The annual GB heat demand was in close agreement with other estimates and the peak demand was 219 GWth. The urban heat demand was found to have a lower peak to trough ratio than the average national demand profile. This will have important implications for the uptake of heating technologies and design of district heating.

The paper presents a modified algorithm for determining the accuracy parameter of the system for differential corrections and monitoring (SDCM) navigation solution in air navigation. For this purpose, a solution to determine the resultant accuracy parameter was proposed by using two on-board global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The mathematical algorithm takes into account the calculation of a single point positioning accuracy for a given GNSS receiver and a weighting factor combining the position error values. The weighting factor was determined as a function of the number of tracked GNSS satellites used in the SDCM single point positioning solution. The resultant accuracy parameter was expressed in ellipsoidal coordinates BLh (B—latitude, L—longitude, h—ellipsoidal height). The study used GNSS kinematic data recorded by two on-board receivers: Trimble Alloy and Septentrio AsterRx2i, located in a Diamond DA 20-C1 aircraft. The test flight was performed near the city of Olsztyn in north-eastern Poland. Calculations and analyses were performed using RTKLIB software and the Scilab environment. On the basis of the performed tests, it was found that the proposed algorithm for SDCM system allows for improvement in the determination of the resultant accuracy value by 56–80% in relation to the results of position errors from a single GNSS receiver. Additionally, the proposed algorithm was tested for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) system, and in this case, the improvement in the accuracy parameter was even better and was in the range of 69–89%. The resulting SDCM and EGNOS positioning accuracy met the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) certification requirements for SBAS systems in air navigation. The mathematical algorithm developed in this work was tested positively and can be implemented within the SBAS augmentation system in air navigation.

The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the knowledge of the role of energy in our society and the relevance of preserving natural resources. In this sense, critical work is being done to instill key concepts—such as the circular economy and sustainable energy—in higher education institutions. In this way, it is expected that future professionals and managers will be aware of the importance of energy optimization, and will learn a series of computational methods that can support the decision-making process. In the context of higher education, this paper reviews the main trends and challenges related to the concepts of circular economy and sustainable energy. Besides, we analyze the role of simulation and serious games as a learning tool for the aforementioned concepts. Finally, the paper provides insights and discusses open research opportunities regarding the use of these computational tools to incorporate circular economy concepts in higher education degrees. Our findings show that, while efforts are being made to include these concepts in current programs, there is still much work to be done, especially from the point of view of university management. In addition, the analysis of the teaching methodologies analyzed shows that, although their implementation has been successful in favoring the active learning of students, their use (especially that of serious games) is not yet widespread.

One of the repeating themes around the provision of the knowledge and skills needed for delivering sustainable communities is the idea of a “common language” for all built environment professionals. This suggestion has been repeated regularly with each new political and professional review within and between different sectors responsible for the delivery of sustainable communities. There have been multiple efforts to address academic limitations, industry fragmentation and promote more interdisciplinary working and sector collaboration. This research explored the role of skills for sustainable communities, particularly within the higher education (HE) sector, and the responses to support the development of a “common language of sustainability” that can be shared between different sectors, professional disciplines and stakeholders. As an interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners working with the HE sector in the North East of England, we evaluate the progression of sector collaboration to develop a quintuple helix model for HE. We use this as a suitable framework for systematically “mapping” out the mixed sector (academic, public, business, community and environmental organisations) inputs and influences into a representative sample of HE degree modules that are delivered from foundation and undergraduate to postgraduate levels, including examples of part-time and distance-learning modules. We developed a cascade of models which demonstrate increasing levels of collaboration and their potential positive impact on the effectiveness of education on sustainable communities. The methodological assessments of modules were followed by semi-structured group reflective analysis undertaken through a series of online workshops (recorded during the Covid19 lockdown) to set out a collective understanding of the generic skills needed for the delivery of sustainable communities. These generic skills for sustainable communities are presented as a pedagogical progression model of teaching activities and learning outcomes applied to the levels within HE. We propose sustainability education principles and progressions with the hope that they can have an impact on the design or review of current degree modules and programmes. The paper informs future sustainability research to be grounded in holism and systems thinking; better understanding of values, ethics, influencing and political impact; and procedural authenticity.