• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• physical sciences close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 14. Life underwater close
• 15. Life on land close

AbstractEnergy is the biggest crisis to humanity in the future. Nowadays, most of the energy used on earth comes from oil, gas and coal. According to the recent exploring and consuming rates, the energy will be exhausted in 50-100 years. Whether we can solve the crisis is closely related to the survival of humanity on the earth. The irradiation from the sun is the biggest energy source. Building PV power plant to utilize the energy from sun will be an only way to sustain the life cycle on the earth. However, the development of PV power plants require the huge supply of PV cell and the fabrication process may bring a quantity of pollution and waste, which is harmful to the environment. On the other hand, super large PV power plant will occupy huge land. If the land cannot be explored and used reasonably, this will not benefit the human life either. In this article, we address the discussions about the above problems and propose the initial suggestions about development trend of PV industry and the safety operation mode of super PV power plant.

Costs to permit Marine Energy projects are poorly understood. In this paper we examine environmental compliance and permitting costs for 19 projects in the U.S., covering the last 2 decades. Guided discussions were conducted with developers over a 3-year period to obtain historical and ongoing project cost data relative to environmental studies (e.g., baseline or pre-project site characterization as well as post-installation effects monitoring), stakeholder outreach, and mitigation, as well as qualitative experience of the permitting process. Data are organized in categories of technology type, permitted capacity, pre- and post-installation, geographic location, and funding types. We also compare our findings with earlier logic models created for the Department of Energy (i.e., Reference Models). Environmental studies most commonly performed were for Fish and Fisheries, Noise, Marine Habitat/Benthic Studies and Marine Mammals. Studies for tidal projects were more expensive than those performed for wave projects and the range of reported project costs tended to be wider than ranges predicted by logic models. For eight projects reporting full project costs, from project start to FERC or USACE permit, the average amount for environmental permitting compliance was 14.6%.

AbstractUsing a low supply water temperature in heating conditions and a high water temperature during cooling can increase energy efficiency, use renewable energy sources, and provide a comfortable and healthy indoor climate. High temperature cooling and low temperature heating is achieved by reducing temperature difference in heat trans er and energy transportation process. The losses in temperature difference can be classified into three types: by heat/moisture exchange; by energy transportation through air/water circulation; by indoor terminal that releases heat/cooling to indoor condit oned space. The air handling process of HVAC system and indoor terminals are the key factor of reducing temperature differen e.Aiming at the losses in HVAC system, Annex 59, titled High Temperature Cooling & Low Temperature Heating in Buildings, is a new international cooperative work under the framework of International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC). This paper introduc s the background, scope, objective, structure and deliverables of Annex 59. Annex 59 will try to present a new perspective and a new concept to analyze HVAC system in buildings. The goal of the Annex is to build up new concept of analyzing HVAC system from the perspective of reducing mixture loss and transfer loss and th n apply it in high temperature cooling and low temperature heating system.

In the design of any floating or fixed marine structure, it is vital to test models in order to understand the fluid/structure interaction involved. A relatively inexpensive method, compared to physical model testing, of achieving this is to numerically model the structure and the wave conditions in a numerical wave tank. In this paper, a methodology for accurately replicating measured ocean waves in a numerical model at full scale is detailed. A Fourier analysis of the measured record allows the wave to be defined as a summation of linear waves and, therefore, Airy's linear wave theory may be used to input the wave elevation and associated water particle velocities. Furthermore, a structure is introduced into the model to display the ability of the model to accurately predict wave-structure interaction. A case study of three individual measured waves, which are recorded at the Atlantic marine energy test site, off the west coast of Ireland, is also presented. The accuracy of the model to replicate the measured waves and perform wave-structure interaction is found to be very high. Additionally, the absolute water particle velocity profile below the wave from the numerical model is compared to a filtered analytical approximation of the measured wave at a number of time-steps and is in very good agreement. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Uncertainty surrounding the potential environmental impacts of marine energy (ME) has resulted in extensive and expensive environmental monitoring requirements for ME deployments. Recently, there have been more ME deployments and associated environmental data collection efforts, but no standardized methodologies for data collection. This hinders the use of previously collected data to inform new ME project permitting efforts. Triton Field Trials (TFiT), created at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy, explores ways to promote more consistent environmental data collection and enable data transferability across ME device types and locations. Documents from 118 previous ME projects or ME-related research studies in the U.S. and internationally were reviewed to identify the highest priority stressor–receptor relationships to be investigated and the technologies and methodologies used to address them. Thirteen potential field sites were assessed to determine suitable locations for testing the performance of relevant monitoring technologies. This introductory paper provides an overview of how priority research areas and associated promising technologies were identified as well as how testing locations were identified for TFiT activities. Through these scoping efforts, TFiT focused on four activity areas: collision risk, underwater noise, electromagnetic fields, and changes in habitat. Technologies and methodologies were tested at field sites in Alaska, Washington, California, and New Hampshire. Detailed information on the effectiveness of the identified methodologies and specific recommendations for each of the four focus areas are included in the companion papers in this Special Issue.

Abstract The research aim is to obtain a cartographic model of an urbanized territory by means of thermal survey in an infrared range. With this cartographic model, it will be then possible to reduce the zones in the urbanized territories differing in the level of superficial heat. Further, we will be able to reduce the proof thermal anomalies and thermal structures of the localities that are related to the natural and anthropogenic systems. On the examples of the cities of Ukraine – Energodar and Nikopol, we defined the sources of caloradiances from major industrial concerns as well as from thermal and nuclear power plants. For comparison, we built the model of thermal structure of the city of Tokai and the nuclear power plant with the same name Tokai (Japan). The sources of caloradiances can be, for example, pipes of thermal power stations, ponds-coolers, corps of steel-making production, and other similar objects. If the sizes of such source are known, then we are able to get the absolute values of temperatures.

With the prosperous development of the urban metro network, the characteristics of the topological structure and node importance are changing dynamically. Most studies focus on static comparisons, and dynamic evolution research is rarely conducted. It is necessary to track the dynamic evolution mechanism of the metro network from the perspective of development. In this paper, the Shenzhen Metro Network (SZMN) topology from 2004 to 2021 was first modeled in Space L. Five kinds of node centralities in eight periods were measured. Then, the dynamic evolution characteristics of the SZMN network topology and node centralities were compared. Finally, an improved multi-attribute decision-making method (MADM) was used to evaluate the node importance, and the spatiotemporal-evolution mechanism of the node importance was discussed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results show that, with the spatiotemporal evolution of the SZMN, the nodes became more and more intensive, and the network tended to be assortative. The different kinds of node centralities changed variously over time. Moreover, the node importance of the SZMN gradually dispersed from the core area of Chegongmiao–Futian to the direction of the Airport and Shenzhen North. The node importance evolves dynamically over time, and it is closely related to the changes in the node type, surrounding nodes and whole network environment. This study reveals the dynamic evolution mechanism of the complex topology and node importance in the SZMN, which can provide scientific suggestions and decision support for the planning, construction, operation management and resilient sustainable development of the urban metro.

Noise pollution must be considered to achieve sustainable cities because current levels of exposure to environmental noise are a considerable risk to the health and quality of life of citizens. Urban features and sound levels were registered in 150 streets in the Chilean cities of Talca and Valdivia to analyze the relationship between both types of variables. Urban variables related to street location, urban land use, street geometry, road traffic control, and public and private transportation showed very significant correlations with the noise levels, and multiple regression models were developed from these variables for each city. Models using only urban variables in Valdivia and Talca explained 71% and 73%, respectively, of the variability of noise. The prediction error was similar in the different types of urban roads and did not exhibit significant differences between models developed in different cities. The urban models developed in one city could, therefore, be used in other similar cities. Considering the usefulness of these variables in urban planning, these models can be a useful tool for urban planners and decision-makers to implement action plans regarding noise pollution.

The pandemic, with its environmental and socio-economic crises, has highlighted the urgency of structural responses. Overcoming this polycrisis requires the reactivation of a community and identity dimension of places. Cultural institutions can play an important role in this process. This paper proposes a focus on the role of ecomuseums in the creation of resilient communities, able to renew themselves to respond to crises. The ecomuseum movement is strongly committed to the eco-social transition of communities and territories and offers good practices for the management of common goods, methods and tools for the recognition of local identities, joint decision-making, co-planning, the care of living cultural heritage, the integral development of the landscape and the monitoring of impacts.

The hybrid system is analyzed and optimized to produce electric energy in Non-Interconnected Zones in the Colombian Caribbean region, contributing both to the improvement in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and to the rational use of energy. A comparative analysis of the performance of these systems was carried using a dynamic model in real wind and solar data. The model is integrated by a Southwest Wind Power Inc. wind turbine. AIR 403, a proton exchange fuel cell (PEM), an electrolyze, a solar panel and a charge regulator based on PID controllers to manipulate oxygen and hydrogen flows in the cell. The transient responses of the cell voltage, current, and power were obtained for the demand of 200 W for changes in solar radiation and wind speed for all days of the year 2013 in the Ernesto Cortissoz airport, Puerto Bolívar, Alfonso Lopez airport and Simon Bolívar airport, by regulating the flow of hydrogen and oxygen into the fuel cell. The maximum contribution of power generation from the fuel cell was presented for the Simon Bolívar airport in November with a value of 158,358W (9.45%). A multi-objective design optimization under a Pareto front is presented for each place studied to minimize the Levelized Cost of Energy and CO2 emission, where the objective variables are the number of panel and stack in the PV system and PEM.