Renewable energy policy development in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is endowed with renewable energy resources which remain largely untapped. With an average insolation of 15-20 MJ m⁻² day⁻¹, investment in some renewable energy technologies is feasible. The major problem confronting the region is lack of financial resources. Petroleum imports continue to dominate the energy scenario except for Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. However, increased awareness of sustainable development issues throughout the region is a major factor in support of renewable energy implementation and is a driving force for energy policy decision-making. With the necessary joint-venture partnerships and government fiscal incentives, photovoltaic technologies, wind energy and solar energy industries are poised to expand thus reducing the dependency on fossil fuel imports while preserving the environment.     

新冠疫情背景下中国石油进口安全问题研究

新冠疫情致全球石油产业发展进入新一轮动荡期,为避免国际石油贸易受阻对我国能源安全带来的不良冲击,防止石油供应中断对我国经济社会发展带来消极影响,需要提前制定应对和防范举措,谋划降低我国石油消费对外依存度的若干措施.一方面,要从能源替代的视角出发,立足本土资源条件,降低石油的长期使用.另一方面,需要扩大石油战略储备,拓展...     

Indicators for energy security

The concept of energy security is widely used, yet there is no consensus on its precise interpretation. In this research, we have provided an overview of available indicators for long-term security of supply (SOS). We distinguished four dimensions of energy security that relate to the availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability of energy and classified indicators for energy security according to this taxonomy. There is no one ideal indicator, as the notion of energy security is highly context dependent. Rather, applying multiple indicators leads to a broader understanding. Incorporating these indicators in model-based scenario analysis showed accelerated depletion of currently known fossil resources due to increasing global demand. Coupled with increasing spatial discrepancy between consumption and production, international trade in energy carriers is projected to have increased by 142% in 2050 compared to 2008. Oil production is projected to become increasingly concentrated in a few countries up to 2030, after which production from other regions diversifies the market. Under stringent climate policies, this diversification may not occur due to reduced demand for oil. Possible benefits of climate policy include increased fuel diversity and slower depletion of fossil resources.     

Global warming,environmental and sustainability aspects of a geothermal energy based biodigester integrated SOFC system

In this study, global warming, environmental and sustainability aspects of a geothermal energy based biodigester integrated SOFC system are parametrically analyzed. In this regard, a system is designed, consisting of three main subsystems such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Anaerobic Digester, and a Heat Recovery Steam Generator. In order to investigate the global warming, environmental and sustainability aspects of the system, the energy and exergy analyses are performed, and the following indicators are taken into consideration, which are i) unit CO₂ emission, ii) environmental effect factor, iii) waste exergy ratio, iv) exergy destruction ratio, v) exergy recovery ratio, vi) exergetic sustainability index. Accordingly, the maximum exergetic sustainability index and exergy efficiency of the integrated system are calculated to be 0.486 and 0.367, respectively, in case the SOFC inlet temperature is equal to 633.3 °C while electric current density is 5500 A/m². On the other hand, the minimum exergy destruction ratio and the minimum environmental effect factor are obtained to be 0.74 and 2.33 while SOFC inlet temperature is 633.3 °C and SOFC current density is 8000 A/m². The minimum unit CO₂ emission of the whole system is determined to be 368.4 kg/MWh at 5500 A/m² of SOFC current density and 727 °C of SOFC inlet temperature while determined as 258.3 kg/MWh at 8000 A/m² of SOFC current density and 680 °C of SOFC inlet temperature. Thus, it can be said that such a system may be applied for reducing the CO₂ based global warming effects and improving the environmental sustainability.     

Security concerns in the Middle East for oil supply: Problems and solutions

Comprising 65–70% of the world's oil reserves, the Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar) are key countries for the solutions to the energy supply matters of the world. Free flow of oil to the world markets from Gulf region is an indispensable part of the major security issues. The Middle East has had mainly security related problems such as Arab–Israeli wars and conflicts, Arab–Iranian war and conflicts, Arab–Arab war and conflicts, US–Gulf wars and conflicts and more recently radicalism and terrorist attacks. Energy supply security requires the enhancement of the peace and cooperation between countries instead of competition. Preventive policy approaches are more suitable to address energy supply matters. Preventive strategy might be possible with the active participation of NATO within the “out of area” type operations to the Middle East and quite possibly indirectly to the Asia-Pacific regions. Religious and ethnic radicalism and terrorist attacks has also direct effects over oil supply security matters.     

美国石油安全新动向

由于美国长期坚持"石油独立",近年来其石油安全形势出现好转:石油在能源结构中的比例降至40%以下,石油对外依存度逐步降至50%以下,对中东石油的依赖降至15%以下。美国实现"石油独立"目标的途径主要有突出科技进步作用、促进节能提高能效、发展清洁替代能源,增加国内石油供应,减少从不安全地区和国家进口。美国的经验证明:对外依存度高的石油消费大国完全可以在技术进步的强力支撑下,转变能源发展方式,有效提高石油独立性。     

Cultural challenges to Chinese oil companies in Africa and their strategies

This paper investigates the cultural challenges faced by Chinese oil companies in Africa with the linguistic method and raises five corresponding suggestions in the end. First, the languages and culture of both African countries and China were studied, and the differences between them were uncovered. Second, the effects of colonization on African languages and culture were studied in a historically comparative way; the African tradition and modern culture were considered jointly. Third, the acknowledgement that African people give to Chinese culture was studied; the future development of Chinese cultural influence in Africa was anticipated. Based on all these studies, the cultural challenges to overseas investment management of Chinese oil companies in Africa were summarized into five aspects, i.e., the challenge in communication, working habit, religion, orientation and coexistence. Considering the lessons that some of the western oil companies have learnt in Africa and the development status of Chinese oil companies, five suggestions were given as follows: going aligned with the foreign policy of Chinese government, investigating and setting regulations, strengthening cross-cultural training for staff, developing harmonious relationship with the local communities and the application of localization.     

Recommendations for implementation of energy strategy of the Republic of Croatia

The Energy Strategy of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in 2009 for the period until 2020 in order to harmonize national energy goals with goals and time framework of strategic documents of the European Union. The adoption of the Energy Strategy Implementation Program with associated measures is still in process. The goal of the Strategy was to create sustainable energy system that will make a balanced contribution to the security of energy supply, competitiveness and environmental protection in Croatia. In this paper an overview of the energy production, final energy consumption and planned development of energy infrastructure is given. The intention of the paper was to research and stress out the abilities and opportunities of Croatian energy system and to give recommendations for Energy Strategy implementation and practical realization of planned energy infrastructure projects for improvement of security of energy supply and competitiveness of energy system of the Republic of Croatia.     

Cost-effectiveness analysis of algae energy production in the EU

Today’s society relies heavily on fossil fuels as a main energy source. Global energy demand increase, energy security and climate change are the main drivers of the transition towards alternative energy sources. This paper analyses algal biodiesel production for the EU road transportation and compares it to the fossil fuels and 1st generation biofuels. A cost-effectiveness analysis was used to aggregate private and external costs and derive the social cost of each fuel. The following externalities were internalized: emissions (GHG and non-GHG), food prices impact, pesticides/fertilizers use and security of supply. Currently the social cost of producing algal biodiesel at 52.3 € GJ⁻¹ is higher than rapeseed biodiesel (36.0 € GJ⁻¹) and fossil fuels (15.8 € GJ⁻¹). Biotechnology development, high crude oil prices and high carbon value are the key features of the scenario where algal biodiesel outcompetes all other fuels. A substantial investment into the biotechnology sector and comprehensive environmental research and policy are required to make that scenario a reality.     

Valuing diversity in energy supply

There is renewed interest in the role of supply diversity in promoting energy security. This paper explores ways of valuing diversity. A possible incentive mechanism for promoting diversity which takes account of underlying “disparities” between different technology options is developed. The mechanism provides a way of trading off cost and diversity and results in an “efficient” cost-diversity frontier by analogy with financial portfolio theory. If all technologies are believed to be equally disparate, the appropriate mechanism is a “levy” imposed on market share. If the technologies are not equally disparate, the levy needs to be adjusted by technology-specific multipliers that take account of levels of disparity and patterns of market share. The analysis is applied to two stylised situations. In the long-run equilibrium case, the implications of both different patterns of disparity and different values attached to diversity are investigated. The paper also explores the implications of applying such a mechanism to the current Great Britain electricity system. The implications in terms of financial flows, for both the market as a whole and for individual operators, are investigated. Finally, the appropriateness of such a mechanism in the light of other policy goals, and possible future research directions, is discussed.     

China’s energy security: The perspective of energy users

The article explores the energy security concerns faced by China from the point of view of energy users working in government, university, civil society and business sectors. The authors first derive a set of seven hypotheses related to Chinese energy security drawn from a review of the recent academic literature. We then explain each of these seven hypotheses, relating to (1) security of energy supply, (2) geopolitics, (3) climate change, (4) decentralization, (5) energy efficiency, (6) research and innovation of new energy technologies, and (7) self sufficiency and trade. Lastly, the article tests these hypotheses through a survey distributed in English and Mandarin completed by 312 Chinese participants. The conclusion presents insights for policymakers and energy scholars.     

The ACEGES laboratory for energy policy: Exploring the production of crude oil

An agent-based computational laboratory for exploratory energy policy by means of controlled computational experiments is proposed. It is termed the ACEGES (agent-based computational economics of the global energy system). In particular, it is shown how agent-based modelling and simulation can be applied to understand better the challenging outlook for oil production by accounting for uncertainties in resource estimates, demand growth, production growth and peak/decline point. The approach emphasises the idea that the oil system is better modelled not as black-box abode of ‘the invisible hand’ but as a complex system whose macroscopic explananda emerges from the interactions of its constituent components. Given the estimated volumes of oil originally present before any extraction, simulations show that on average the world peak of crude oil production may happen in the broad vicinity of the time region between 2008 and 2027. Using the proposed petroleum market diversity, the market diversity weakness rapidly towards the peak year.     

Opportunities and challenges for biodiesel fuel

Fossil fuel resources are decreasing daily. As a renewable energy, biodiesel has been receiving increasing attention because of the relevance it gains from the rising petroleum price and its environmental advantages. This review highlights some of the perspectives for the biodiesel industry to thrive as an alternative fuel, while discussing opportunities and challenges of biodiesel. This review is divided in three parts. First overview is given on developments of biodiesel in past and present, especially for the different feedstocks and the conversion technologies of biodiesel industry. More specifically, an overview is given on possible environmental and social impacts associated with biodiesel production, such as food security, land change and water source. Further emphasis is given on the need for government’s incentives and public awareness for the use and benefits of biodiesel, while promoting policies that will not only endorse the industry, but also promote effective land management.     

Key challenges to expanding renewable energy

The key advantage of renewables is that they are free of direct pollution and carbon emissions. Given concern over global warming caused by carbon emissions, there are substantial policy efforts to increase renewable penetrations. The purpose of this paper is to outline and evaluate the challenges presented by increasing penetrations of renewable electricity generation. These generation sources primarily include solar and wind which are growing rapidly and are new enough to the grid that the impact of high penetrations is not fully understood. The intrinsic nature of solar and wind power is very likely to present greater system challenges than “conventional” sources. Within limits, those challenges can be overcome, but at a cost. Later sections of the paper will draw on a variety of sources to identify a range of such costs, at least as they are foreseen by researchers helping prepare ambitious plans for grids to obtain high shares (30–50%) of their megawatt hours from primarily solar and wind generation. Energy poverty issues are outlined and related to renewable costs issues.     

Global oil peaking: Responding to the case for ‘abundant supplies of oil’

This paper examines aspects of the case against global oil peaking, and in particular sets out to answer a viewpoint that the world can have abundant supplies of oil “for years to come”. Arguments supporting the latter view include: past forecasts of oil shortage have proved incorrect, so current predictions should also be discounted; many modellers depend on Hubbert's analysis but this contained fundamental flaws; new oil supply will result from reserves growth and from the wider deployment of advanced extraction technology; and that the world contains large resources of unconventional oil that can come on-stream if the production of conventional oil declines. These arguments are examined in turn and shown to be incorrect, or to need setting into a broader context. The paper concludes therefore that such arguments cannot be used to rule out calculations that the resource-limited peak in the world's production of conventional oil will occur in the near term. Moreover, peaking of conventional oil is likely to impact the world's total availability of oil where the latter includes non-conventional oil and oil substitutes.     

Environmental aspects and challenges of oilseed produced biodiesel in Southeast Asia

Research on alternative fuel for the vehemently growing number of automotivesis intensified due to environmental reasons rather than turmoil in energy price and supply. From the policy and steps to emphasis the use of biofuel by governments all around the world, this can be comprehended that biofuel have placed itself as a number one substitute for fossil fuels. These phenomena made Southeast Asia a prominent exporter of biodiesel. But thrust in biodiesel production from oilseeds of palm and Jatropha curcas in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand is seriously threatening environmental harmony. This paper focuses on this critical issue of biodiesels environmental impacts, policy, standardization of this region as well as on the emission of biodiesel in automotive uses. To draw a bottom line on feasibilities of different feedstock of biodiesel, a critical analysis on oilseed yield rate, land use, engine emissions and oxidation stability is reviewed. Palm oil based biodiesel is clearly ahead in all these aspects of feasibility, except in the case of NO_x where it lags from conventional petro diesel.     

Exergy analysis of renewable energy sources

Oil crises in the past years made more obvious the dependency of economies on fossil fuels. As a consequence, the need for new energy sources became more urgent. Renewable energy sources could provide a solution to the problem, as they are inexhaustible and have less adverse impacts on the environment than fossil fuels. Yet, renewable energy sources technology has not reached a high standard at which it can be considered competitive to fossil fuels. The present study deals with the exergy analysis of solar energy, wind power and geothermal energy. That is, the actual use of energy from the existing available energy is discussed. In addition, renewable energy sources are compared with the non-renewable energy sources on the basis of efficiency.     

China's energy security: Perception and reality

China, now the world's second-largest economy, is worried about energy security, which underpins the core objectives of Beijing and the political legitimacy of the Communist Party of China. The purpose of this study is to explore certain popular myths about China's energy security. The study consists of six parts. After the introduction, it formulates the obscure concept of “energy security” and attempts to contextualize it with “Chinese characteristics.” Then it explicitly points out that the largest driver of oil demand by China as the “World's Factory” is transport instead of industry. Next, it explores the effectiveness of transnational pipelines as a measure of energy security and explains why they are less effective than many observers have previously assumed. Furthermore, it investigates the global expansion of Chinese national oil companies and questions their actual contribution to energy security. A few concluding remarks then follow.     

Wind energy development in the Caribbean

The Caribbean has the potential for a significant increase in windpowered electricity production. A number of wind farm projects are being implemented, making wind potentially the fastest growing renewable energy technology in the region over the next two decades. Wind promises to provide more than 10 per cent of the electricity in many Caribbean countries by the year 2020.     

Global energy and electricity futures

A global energy perspective for the middle of the next century is presented. The premises for the projections are described. Included are assumptions as to how much conservation the world might achieve. Projections are then made for the year 2060, assuming that the global fossil fuel mix of coal, oil, and gas will not have changed substantially and that the renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass will have become commercially successful and be utilized at their maximum reasonable contribution. As a result of these projections, at least a doubling of annual carbon emissions globally is predicted. Steps that could be taken to reduce carbon emissions are discussed