scholarly journals Can We Progress from Solipsistic Science to Frugal Innovation?

Daedalus ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Nocera
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
First Century ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Frugal Innovation ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Economy Of Scale ◽  
New Science ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Twenty First Century

Energy demand in the twenty-first century will be driven by the needs of three billion people in the emerging world and three billion new inhabitants to our planet. To provide them with a renewable and sustainable energy supply is perhaps the greatest challenge for science in the twenty-first century. The science practiced to meet the energy needs of the twentieth century responded to a society of wealth, and energy systems were designed to be large and centralized. However, the inability of the emerging world to incur large capital costs suggests that a new science must be undertaken, one that does not rely on economy of scale but rather sets as its target highly manufacturable and distributed energy systems that are affordable to the poor. Only in this way can science provide global society with its most direct solution for a sustainable and carbon-neutral energy future.

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2184) ◽  
pp. 20200009
Author(s):  
G. R. Tynan ◽  
A. Abdulla
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Energy System ◽  
First Century ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Controlled Fusion ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

We examine the characteristics that fusion-based generation technologies will need to have if they are to compete in the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century. It is likely that the majority of future electric energy demand will be provided by the lowest marginal cost energy technology—which in many regions will be stochastically varying renewable solar and wind electric generation coupled to systems that provide up to a few days of energy storage. Firm low-carbon or zero-carbon resources based on gas-fired turbines with carbon capture, advanced fission reactors, hydroelectric and perhaps engineered geothermal systems will then be used to provide the balance of load in a highly dynamic system operating in competitive markets governed by merit-order pricing mechanisms that select the lowest-cost supplies to meet demand. These firm sources will have overnight capital costs in the range of a few $/Watt, be capable of cycling down to a fraction of their maximum power output, operate profitably at low utilization fraction, and have a suitable unit size of order 100 MW e . If controlled fusion using either magnetic confinement or inertial confinement approaches is to have any chance of providing a material contribution to future electrical energy needs, it must demonstrate these key qualities and at the same time prove robust safety characteristics that avoid the perceived dread risk that plagues nuclear fission power, avoid the generation of long-lived radioactive waste and demonstrate highly reliable operations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)’.

scholarly journals Improving Energy Sustainability of Suburban Areas by Using Distributed Energy Systems: A Case Study

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Beaud Muriel ◽  
Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera ◽  
Cai Hanmin ◽  
Andrew Bollinger ◽  
Kristina Orehounig
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Urban Density ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Distributed Energy System ◽  
The Impact

The building sector plays a vital role in Switzerland’s climate policy. In order to support the energy transition in the building sector, Rolle, a suburban area located along the shore of Lake Geneva is considered in this study to understand the promising future scenarios for integration of renewable energy technologies. The area is clustered into 12 clusters and a distributed energy system is designed for each cluster. Subsequently, three energy systems with contrasting densities are taken for further comparison to understand the impact of urban density on the design of the distributed energy system. The study reveals that urban density will influence the peak as well as the annual energy demand of the energy hubs. The study reveals that the energy technologies used in the energy hubs are strongly influenced by the capacity of the system (peak and annual energy demand). Energy systems with higher capacities are less sensitive to the market changes when compared to the systems with lower capacities (leading to sparse suburban areas).

scholarly journals Designing electrically self-sufficient distributed energy systems under energy demand and solar radiation uncertainty

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 1027-1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Mavromatidis ◽  
Kristina Orehounig ◽  
Jan Carmeliet
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Distributed Energy

Development Prospects of Distributed Energy System in China

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guohua Shi ◽  
Songling Wang ◽  
Youyin Jing ◽  
Yuefen Gao
Keyword(s):  
Energy Supply ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Combined Heat And Power ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Distributed Energy System ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Government ◽  
Development Prospects

With the rapid economic development, the energy demand is rising and energy-related greenhouses gas emissions are growing rapidly in China. The usage percent of renewable energy in use is still low while the energy consumption is still increasing. Due to the expanding pressure from energy demand, environment concerns and society issues, distributed energy systems (DESs), especially combined heat and power (CHP), are encouraged and expected to play a greater role by the government. This paper mainly seeks to explore and answer some of questions. Firstly, the different technologies of various DES options are briefly reviewed. Then the question of why distributed energy systems should be developed in China is considered. Recent trends and current patterns of energy supply and use in China are also discussed. Some typical distributed energy systems used in China are introduced. This article also discusses what barriers need be overcome if China wishes to move towards a sustainable energy future. Finally, several suggestions are proposed to favor the wide application of DES in China. It is concluded that DES is a good option with respect to China’s sustainable development that has institutional, market and regulatory support.

Energy systems modeling for twenty-first century energy challenges

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 74-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Pfenninger ◽  
Adam Hawkes ◽  
James Keirstead
Keyword(s):  
Energy Systems ◽  
First Century ◽  
Systems Modeling ◽  
Twenty First Century

scholarly journals A cost-based approach for evaluating the impact of a network of distributed energy systems on the centralized energy supply

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-87
Author(s):  
Alberto Fichera ◽  
Mattia Frasca ◽  
Rosaria Volpe
Keyword(s):  
Energy Distribution ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Distribution Network ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Urban Territories ◽  
The Impact

According to the Fifth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change, cities account for the 67% of the global energy demand and are the major contributors in emitting CO2 in the atmosphere. To face this problem, National and European policies pushes towards the insertion of distributed energy systems within urban areas as a valid alternative to the traditional centralized energy supply. In this direction, the installation of distributed energy systems gives raise to consumers with production capabilities, by now called ‘prosumers’. They use the autonomously produced energy to satisfy their own energy requirements and distribute the eventual exceed to neighbours. Yet, the energy exchanges occurring among prosumers permit the modelling of a network where nodes are identified as the prosumers and the energy interactions as links. This paper deals with this issue and proposes a cost-based methodology to model the energy distribution network of prosumers within the urban territories by deepening their impact on the traditional supply. Results are discussed by comparing a theoretical energy distribution network to a real case study.

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