scholarly journals Benefits and challenges of urbanization and low carbon energy needs in India

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. Sitharam ◽  
Jaya Dhindaw
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Global Priority ◽  
Low Carbon Energy ◽  
Urban Planning And Management

Urbanization has occurred rapidly in India principally due to social, economic and political drivers and has offered improved quality of life, access to amenities and economic opportunities for many. However, this has been accompanied by challenges that include insufficient energy, lack of urban infrastructure, and poor delivery of basic ser-vices, resulting in undesirable environmental impacts, congestion, and urban sprawl. India’s urbanization has placed tremendous demand on the country’s resources. Providing energy to all while maintaining a low carbon footprint is a global priority. Although economic development is anchored by both urbanization and industrialization, urbanization itself is a major determinant of energy use, including energy use related to transportation. Deficiencies in urban planning and management have to be overcome if India’s urban environment is to meet the rising expectations of an expanding urban population and provide an environment consistent with rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth. India's energy demand in 2030 is likely to be double that of current demand. Achieving a greener future in a sustainable way with low energy costs can be addressed by measures such as preferential policies towards renewables, investment in technology and empowerment of local government to meet the low carbon energy needs in India. 

Primary Energy System Chain Security Under the Energy Transition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osamah Alsayegh
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
System Security ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Abstract This paper examines the energy transition consequences on the oil and gas energy system chain as it propagates from net importing through the transit to the net exporting countries (or regions). The fundamental energy system security concerns of importing, transit, and exporting regions are analyzed under the low carbon energy transition dynamics. The analysis is evidence-based on diversification of energy sources, energy supply and demand evolution, and energy demand management development. The analysis results imply that the energy system is going through technological and logistical reallocation of primary energy. The manifestation of such reallocation includes an increase in electrification, the rise of energy carrier options, and clean technologies. Under healthy and normal global economic growth, the reallocation mentioned above would have a mild effect on curbing the oil and gas primary energy demands growth. A case study concerning electric vehicles, which is part of the energy transition aspect, is presented to assess its impact on the energy system, precisely on the fossil fuel demand. Results show that electric vehicles are indirectly fueled, mainly from fossil-fired power stations through electric grids. Moreover, oil byproducts use in the electric vehicle industry confirms the reallocation of the energy system components' roles. The paper's contribution to the literature is the portrayal of the energy system security state under the low carbon energy transition. The significance of this representation is to shed light on the concerns of the net exporting, transit, and net importing regions under such evolution. Subsequently, it facilitates the development of measures toward mitigating world tensions and conflicts, enhancing the global socio-economic wellbeing, and preventing corruption.

scholarly journals Tuning LiBH4 for Hydrogen Storage: Destabilization, Additive, and Nanoconfinement Approaches

Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián Puszkiel ◽  
Aurelien Gasnier ◽  
Guillermina Amica ◽  
Fabiana Gennari
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Hydrogen Storage ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Metal Hydrides ◽  
Earth Metal ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Running Economy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Hydrogen technology has become essential to fulfill our mobile and stationary energy needs in a global low–carbon energy system. The non-renewability of fossil fuels and the increasing environmental problems caused by our fossil fuel–running economy have led to our efforts towards the application of hydrogen as an energy vector. However, the development of volumetric and gravimetric efficient hydrogen storage media is still to be addressed. LiBH4 is one of the most interesting media to store hydrogen as a compound due to its large gravimetric (18.5 wt.%) and volumetric (121 kgH2/m3) hydrogen densities. In this review, we focus on some of the main explored approaches to tune the thermodynamics and kinetics of LiBH4: (I) LiBH4 + MgH2 destabilized system, (II) metal and metal hydride added LiBH4, (III) destabilization of LiBH4 by rare-earth metal hydrides, and (IV) the nanoconfinement of LiBH4 and destabilized LiBH4 hydride systems. Thorough discussions about the reaction pathways, destabilizing and catalytic effects of metals and metal hydrides, novel synthesis processes of rare earth destabilizing agents, and all the essential aspects of nanoconfinement are led.

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 Framework for Developing a Low-Carbon Energy Demand in Residential Buildings Using Community-Government Partnership: An Application in Saudi Arabia

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4954
Author(s):  
Mohammad AlHashmi ◽  
Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha ◽  
Kh Md. Nahiduzzaman ◽  
Kasun Hewage ◽  
Rehan Sadiq
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Geographical Regions

Rapid population growth has led to significant demand for residential buildings around the world. Consequently, there is a growing energy demand associated with increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The residential building energy demand in arid countries such as Saudi Arabia is supplied with fossil fuel. The existing consumption pattern of fossil fuels in Saudi Arabia is less sustainable due to the depletion of fossil fuel resources and resulting environmental impacts. Buildings built in hot and arid climatic conditions demand high energy for creating habitable indoor environments. Enormous energy is required to maintain a cool temperature in hot regions. Moreover, climate change may have different impacts on hot climatic regions and affect building energy use differently. This means that different building interventions may be required to improve the performance of building energy performance in these geographical regions, thereby reducing the emissions of GHGs. In this study, this framework has been applied to Saudi Arabia, a hot and arid country. This research proposes a community–government partnership framework for developing low-carbon energy in residential buildings. This study focuses on both the operational energy demand and a cost-benefit analysis of energy use in the selected geographical regions for the next 30 years (i.e., 2050). The proposed framework primarily consists of four stages: (1) data collection on energy use (2020 to 2050); (2) setting a GHG emissions reduction target; (3) a building intervention approach by the community by considering cost, energy, and GHG emissions using the Technique for Order of Performance by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to select the best combinations in each geographical region conducting 180 simulations; and (4) a clean energy approach by the government using grey relational analysis (GRA) to select the best clean energy system on the grid. The clean energy approach selected six different renewable power generation systems (i.e., PV array, wind turbine, hybrid system) with two storage systems (i.e., battery bank and a combination of electrolyte, fuel cell, and hydrogen tank storage). This approach is designed to identify the best clean energy systems in five geographical regions with thirty scenario analyses to define renewable energy-economy benefits. This framework informs through many engineering tools such as residential building energy analysis, renewable energy analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques, and cost-benefit analysis. Integration between these engineering tools with the set of energy policies and public initiatives is designed to achieve further directives in the effort to reach greater efficiency while downsizing residential energy demands. The results of this paper propose that a certain level of cooperation is required between the community and the government in terms of financial investments and the best combinations of retrofits and clean energy measures. Thus, retrofits and clean energy measures can help save carbon emissions (enhancing the energy performance of buildings) and decrease associated GHG emissions, which can help policy makers to achieve low-carbon emission communities.

scholarly journals Energetic regimes of the global economy – past, present and future

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Jarvis ◽  
Carey King
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Thermodynamic Structure ◽  
Gross World Product ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Abstract. For centuries both engineers and economists have collaborated to attempt to raise economic productivity through efficiency improvements. Global primary energy use (PEU) and gross world product (GWP) data 1950–2018 reveal a the effects of aggregate energy efficiency (AEE) improvements since the 1950's have been characterised by two distinct behavioural regimes. Prior to the energy supply shocks in the 1970s the AEE of the global economy was remarkably constant such that PEU and GWP growth were fully coupled. We suggest this regime is associated with attempts to maximise growth in GWP. In contrast, in the 1970s the global economy transitioned to a lower growth regime that promoted maximising growth in AEE such that GWP growth is maximised while simultaneously attempting to minimise PEU growth, a regime that appears to persist to this day. Low carbon energy transition scenarios generally present the perceived ability to raise growth in AEE at least three fold from 2020 as a tactic to slow greenhouse gas emissions via lower PEU growth. Although the 1970s indicate rapid transitions in patterns of energy use are possible, our results suggest that any promise to reduce carbon emissions based on enhancing the rate of efficiency improvements could prove difficult to realise in practice because the growth rates of AEE, PEU and GWP do not evolve independently, but rather co-evolve in ways that reflect the underlying thermodynamic structure of the economy.

Impacts of COVID-19 induced energy demand changes on emissions and mitigation challenges 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Vinca ◽  
Jarmo S. Kikstra ◽  
Francesco Lovat ◽  
Benigna Boza-Kiss ◽  
Bas van Ruijven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Long Run

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is causing radical temporary breaks with past energy use and GHG emissions trends. However, how a post-pandemic recovery will impact longer-term transformations to a low-carbon society is unclear. Here, we present different global COVID-19 shock-and-recovery scenarios that systematically explore economic uncertainty and the demand-side effect on emissions. We consider changes in the residential, industry and transport energy sub-sectors under diverging cases that might lead to a more carbon intensive and individualistic way of consumption, or to a policy-advised new future that supports the emission reduction opportunities seen during the pandemic. The resulting impact on cumulative CO2 emissions over the coming decade can range from 28 to 53 GtCO2 reduction depending on the depth and duration of the economic downturn and the extent and persistence of demand-side changes. Recovering from the pandemic with low energy demand practices - embedded in new patterns of travel, work, consumption, and production – reduces climate mitigation challenges in the long run. We show that a low energy demand recovery reduces carbon prices for a 1.5°C consistent pathway by 19%, saves energy supply investments until 2030 by 2.1 trillion USD, and lessens pressure on the upscaling of renewable energy technologies.  </p>

Circular economy and energy transition: A nexus focusing on the non-energy use of fuels

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 586-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Ming Chen ◽  
Hana Kim
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Critical Gap ◽  
Energy Use Intensity

Given emerging concerns about climate change, low-carbon energy transition is advocated and promoted. Non-energy use of fossil fuels accounted for 8.9% of the world’s total final energy consumption in 2015. Non-energy use intensity does not show an evident reduction, while energy intensity as fuel per dollar of gross domestic product has decreased thanks to energy transition efforts such as energy efficiency promotion and renewable energy expansion.  This study conducted an extensive review of the circular economy and energy transition frameworks, and found that the energy transition framework has a critical gap, so it cannot provide a foundation for investigating non-energy use. This study suggests that the energy transition discourse needs to be extended to incorporate the transition of non-energy use and the achievement of a closed loop of non-energy use, which is part of the circular economy framework. The coordinated circular economy–energy transition approach could bring in synergistic effects, such as promoting circular economy activities among industries, reducing energy demand, and attaining additional greenhouse gas mitigation potential.

scholarly journals Impact of Residential Self-Selection on Low-Carbon Behavior: Evidence from Zhengzhou, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingfei Zhang ◽  
Lijun Zhang ◽  
Yaochen Qin ◽  
Xia Wang ◽  
Zhicheng Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Low Carbon Energy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Daily Travel ◽  
At Home

Current resident lifestyles pose a significant threat to urban sustainable development. Therefore, low-carbon behavior is receiving increasing attention from scholars and policy makers. Ascertaining residential self-selection is essential in order to study the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior. While several studies have explored the relationship between the urban form, socioeconomic factors, and travel behavior, only a few of them have studied the impact of self-selection on household energy consumption and other forms of consumption, which are also contribute to household carbon emissions. Using large-scale field surveys of 1,485 households and high-resolution images, sourced from Google Maps in 2018, of Zhengzhou city, the present study estimated the low-carbon level of three kinds of behavior: daily energy use at home, daily travel, and daily consumption. The study investigated the influence factors on low-carbon behavior using the hierarchical linear model. We found that residential self-selection impacts both energy use and daily travel. Residents in some built environments consumed less energy at home and contributed less CO2 emissions through daily travel than others. In particular, individual-level variables significantly affected the low-carbon energy use behavior. The female, elderly, highly educated, married, and working-class residents with children had higher levels of low-carbon energy use. Community-level variables significantly affected the level of low-carbon travel and low-carbon consumption. If residents lived in areas with high density, mixed land use, and high accessibility, their travel mode and consumption behavior would entail low carbon emissions. There is a relationship between individual variables and community variables. Different individual attributes living in the same built environment have different impacts on low-carbon behaviors.

Green Political Economy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Barry
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Classical Economics ◽  
Energy Economy ◽  
Economic Thinking ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

This chapter outlines the main features of green political economy and how it differs from dominant orthodox neo-classical economics. Neo-classical economics is critiqued on the grounds of its false presentation of itself as “objective” and “value neutral.” Its ecologically irrational commitment to the imperative of orthodox economic growth as a permanent feature of the economy compromises its ability to offer realistic or normatively compelling guides to how we might make the transition to a sustainable economy. Green political economy is presented as an alternative form of economic thinking but one which explicitly expresses its normative/ideological value bases. It also challenges the commitment to undifferentiated economic growth as a permanent objective of the human economy. In its place, it promotes “economic security” and a post-growth economy. The latter includes the transition to a low-carbon energy economy, and is one which maximizes quality of life and actively seeks to lower socio-economic inequality.

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