Centring radiological protection on today's global challenges in energy, climate change, environment and health--with nuclear energy playing a key role

The climate change issue includes meeting the growing demand for electricity while reducing the impacts from energy sources. Applying carbon capture and storage technology to fossil fuel energy and increasing renewable energy pose greater challenges than increasing nuclear energy. International Energy Agency's (IEA) electricity demand of 30 000 TWh by 2030 can be met with 10 000 TWh each from renewable, nuclear and fossil fuel energy. However, the ill-imposed very strict control of tiny public exposure to ionising radiation from nuclear energy continues to pose a serious hindrance. Effort needs to be re-balanced to produce an even-handed control of public exposure with emphasis on the most significant sources (i.e. natural background radiation and medical use) and vice versa. The on-going revision of the International Atomic Energy Agency Basic Safety Standards (BSS) provides an opportunity to achieve this internationally so that national regulations can be subsequently remediated. There can be no urgency in a BSS revision that fails to encompass such perspective.     

Solid biofuels in Mexico: a sustainable alternative to satisfy the increasing demand for heat and power

Bioenergy is the largest renewable energy source in Mexico with an estimated 4–9% of total current energy demand. There are large uncertainties and contrasting estimates regarding its current extent and end-uses, particularly with traditional uses. However, a large potential exists to improve the efficiency of existing uses and, at the same time, to diversify the use of SBF in the industrial and power sectors. This paper aims at: providing the first updated and comprehensive estimate of current SBF demand in Mexico including traditional and modern uses; providing a consistent estimate of actual SBF supply potential; estimating the total potential substitution of fossil fuels that could be achieved by SBF considering an integrated “modernization scenario”; and finally describing the main barriers limiting SBF to fully triggering its potential. Results show that current SBF consumption reached 481 PJ/yr in 2015; SBF supply potential reaches 3622 PJ/yr, out of which 883 PJ/yr could be used to substitute up to 29% of current demand of FF, mitigating 66 MtCO_2e/yr of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, or near 88 MtCO_2e/yr if mitigation from traditional uses is added.     

Sustainable energy and environmental impact: role of renewables as clean and secure source of energy for the 21st century in Jordan

In this article, present and future energy consumption, electricity demand, potential of renewable energy sources and national energy policy in Jordan are presented. The related environmental impacts are discussed from the sustainable development point of view, including the future role of renewable energy sources. Jordan is a net energy importing country, with almost 96% of its annual needs relying on imported crude oil and refined products from neighboring Arab countries. Due to increasing fossil fuel combustion to meet growing national energy demand, especially electricity generation, air pollution is becoming an important issue in urban areas. Profound cuts in current emission rates, including carbon dioxide, are possible at a bearable cost, and that the government must now invest in low carbon options because of the long lead in time of some technologies. A great deal more could be done to improve energy efficiency, and new and renewable energy schemes should be advocated on different levels. To achieve this, all obstacles including institutional barriers to investment in renewable technologies and national energy plan need to be addressed urgently. Thus, the government is invited to create a Sustainable Energy Unit, which will coordinate government cross-departmental thinking and provide adequate information to the public and to private investors.     

我国油气中长期发展趋势与战略选择

以超长期趋势预测为基础,通过对2030—2050年我国石油天然气供需形势的系统分析,提出有效应对能源安全挑战的战略措施和建议。研究结果表明,我国石油需求将长期处于增长态势,而石油产量将保持基本稳定,供需缺口不断加大,为此应在努力控制需求的同时积极稳妥地发展石油替代,力争石油对外依存度不超过60%;天然气作为清洁、优质的化石能源,对改善我国能源结构、推动低碳经济发展具有重要作用,应进一步采取积极有效措施,加快国内天然气资源的勘探开发,加大国外天然气资源的引进利用,力争2030—2050年天然气在我国一次能源结构中的比例升至10%以上。在此基础上,提出了我国油气中长期发展战略与技术路线以及6项战略措施建议。     

A Technological Overview of Biogas Production from Biowaste

The current irrational use of fossil fuels and the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment are driving research into renewable energy production from organic resources and waste. The global energy demand is high, and most of this energy is produced from fossil resources. Recent studies report that anaerobic digestion (AD) is an efficient alternative technology that combines biofuel production with sustainable waste management, and various technological trends exist in the biogas industry that enhance the production and quality of biogas. Further investments in AD are expected to meet with increasing success due to the low cost of available feedstocks and the wide range of uses for biogas (i.e., for heating, electricity, and fuel). Biogas production is growing in the European energy market and offers an economical alternative for bioenergy production. The objective of this work is to provide an overview of biogas production from lignocellulosic waste, thus providing information toward crucial issues in the biogas economy.     

风光水多能源电力系统互补智能优化运行策略

高比例可再生能源接入电网,采用风光水互补发电可以提供平滑和稳定的电力供应。针对风光水多能源电力系统,采用大数据和人工智能技术,提出基于随机规划的短期优化运行方法。首先,基于变分自编码器（variational autoencoder,VAE）提出了可再生能源场景生成方法,能够生成符合可再生能源出力特性的多样化场景,并精确刻画可再生能源出力的相关性。其次,基于场景法建立了风光水互补短期优化运行模型,并采用分段线性化的方法将多种非线性约束转化为线性约束,可以保证模型精度的同时实现快速求解。最后,通过对雅砻江下游风光水发电基地的算例仿真,验证了所提的智能优化运行策略的有效性。     

Spatial optimization of biomass power plant site using fuzzy analytic network process

Electricity has a significant role in the sustainable development of societies. Traditional methods of generating electricity face several challenges. The ever-increasing demand for electricity generation on the one hand, and the lack of adequate resources for fossil fuels on the other, has led to the use of renewable energy. Biomass is a renewable energy supply that can be used in electricity generation for a sustainable environment. This study aims to introduce a multi-criteria decision-making framework which integrates a geographical information system with a fuzzy analytic network process together with weighted linear combination to optimize the location of a biomass power plant in Guilan Province, Iran. For this purpose, the environmental and socioeconomic factors were identified, and the main contributing criteria were selected. The results showed that about 27.73 and 41.06% of the region has high or moderate suitability, respectively, for constructing a biomass power plant. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the robustness of the outcomes of decision making by changing the weighting of the criteria. Results indicated that the ranking of alternative locations is independent of the weights chosen.     

Energy policy shifts towards sustainable energy future for Malaysia

As a developing country, Malaysia’s prosperity and welfare depends heavily on having access to reliable and secure supplies of energy. As a result, the country’s future energy requirements have become a policy priority in recent years. Energy is essential for human life, and a secure and accessible supply of energy becomes important for the modern societies. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are currently the world’s primary energy sources and continue to provide energy source to the world. These energy sources have depleted in reserves in recent years and they can also cause irreparably damage to the environment such as global warming and climate change. These environmental concerns can be addressed, to some extent, through more sustainable solutions such as the use of renewable energy resources. In Malaysia, the economic and environmental impacts of fossil fuels use have become hard to ignore. The government has introduced and implemented policy measures to address concerns surrounding the use of fossil fuels and to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy use. In this paper, we review the historical evolution of Malaysian energy policies and initiatives designed to secure diverse energy sources and avoid over-reliance on fossil fuels. In recent years, Malaysia has been catching up with global call to shift to renewable energy use and is now putting a focus on renewable energy in its future energy mix. The paper also discusses challenges and concerns over the future of sustainable energy of the country.     

社会福利最大化目标下的可再生能源最优价格路径研究

运用最优控制理论讨论了可再生能源资源的最优价格路径,通过建立社会福利最大化目标下考虑贴现的可再生能源资源消费模型,并将截断垂直终结线问题转化为固定终结点问题,分析了可再生能源资源再生率及贴现率对最优价格路径的影响。研究发现：1）再生性较强的能源资源可以承受持续恒量开采,且保证固定终结时间的资源储量非负;2）社会贴现率等于再生率时,能源资源最优价格路径为常量;3）社会贴现率等于两倍再生率时,最优价格路径呈指数增长,增长率等于再生率;4）其他一般情形下,最优价格路径以贴现率与再生率的差值为增长率呈指数增长运动。     

Technology assessment for clean energy technologies: The case of the Pacific Northwest

This study presents a technology assessment for clean power generation in the Pacific Northwest. Our goal is to incorporate clean production principles into the evaluation process for power alternatives. Two types of technologies are considered: one is for a renewable energy source (wind) and the other is for a traditional, fossil fuel based energy source (coal). The Analytical Hierarchy Process is used to assess the feasibility of both the wind energy and clean burning coal energy technologies. Criteria such as location, cost, feasibility, and availability are used for evaluations. For the wind energy, cost was determined to be the most important criterion when making a technology decision. For the SO₂ emissions technology, the regenerative process was determined to be the best technology to scrub SO₂ emissions from the air. Additionally, efforts towards renewable energy in Oregon should continue. Both federal and state governments offer tax credits that can help mitigate costs and facilitate the adoption of renewable energy options for power companies.     

Electricity generation: options for reduction in carbon emissions

Historically, the bulk production of electricity has been achieved by burning fossil fuels, with unavoidable gaseous emissions, including large quantities of carbon dioxide: an average-sized modern coal-burning power station is responsible for more than 10 Mt of CO(2) each year. This paper details typical emissions from present-day power stations and discusses the options for their reduction. Acknowledging that the cuts achieved in the past decade in the UK CO(2) emissions have been achieved largely by fuel switching, the remaining possibilities offered by this method are discussed. Switching to less-polluting fossil fuels will achieve some measure of reduction, but the basic problem of CO(2) emissions continues. Of the alternatives to fossil fuels, only nuclear power represents a zero-carbon large-scale energy source. Unfortunately, public concerns over safety and radioactive waste have still to be assuaged. Other approaches include the application of improved combustion technology, the removal of harmful gases from power-station flues and the use of waste heat to improve overall power-station efficiency. These all have a part to play, but many consider our best hope for emissions reduction to be the use of renewable energy. The main renewable energy contenders are assessed in this paper and realistic estimates of the contribution that each could provide are indicated. It appears that, in the time-scale envisaged by planners for reduction in CO(2) emission, in many countries renewable energy will be unlikely to deliver. At the same time, it is worth commenting that, again in many countries, the level of penetration of renewable energy will fall short of the present somewhat optimistic targets. Of renewable options, wind energy could be used in the short to medium term to cover for thermal plant closures, but for wind energy to be successful, the network will have to be modified to cope with wind's intermittent nature. Globally, hydroelectricity is currently the largest developed source of renewable electricity, but future large-scale projects will probably be limited to the less-developed world: the best schemes in the developed countries have already been exploited. Wave and tidal can be looked on as medium- to long-term generators of electricity, as their respective industries are not as mature as competing renewable resources. Municipal solid-waste combustion and landfill gas technologies can also be seen as short term, as can their rural equivalents, agriculture and forestry waste. Any widespread exploitation of renewable energy will depend on being able to transmit the energy from source to point of use, so the implications for the electrical network from the penetration of substantial levels of renewable energy are presented. Effective management of renewable energy installations will require technical assessment of the range of exploitation strategies, to compare local production of, say, hydrogen and the more traditional transmission of electricity. Such resources will have to compete with others in any national, or grid, system and detailed economic analysis will be necessary to determine the deployment that best fits the trading regime under which the energy will be sold. Consideration will also be necessary to determine how best to control the introduction of this radically new resource such that it does not attract punitive cost overheads until it is mature enough to cope. Finally, it is inescapable that nuclear power is a proven technology that could take its place in any future generation portfolio. Unfortunately, suspicion and mistrust surround waste management and radioactivity release. Unless this is overcome, the lack of confidence engendered by this public mistrust may result in few, if any, new nuclear power stations being built. In the event of that decision, it is difficult to see how CO(2) levels can be significantly reduced: the irony is that nuclear energy may emerge as environmentally essential.     

减排二氧化碳发展低碳经济首先要重视节约使用化石能源

分析了能源消费和经济发展的规律,可再生能源的特点、大量开发利用存在的技术瓶颈和减排二氧化碳的效果,认为我国能源消费总量正处在持续增长期,未来40年内可再生能源不可能成为我国的主要能源,化石能源仍将是我国能源的主体,提出减排二氧化碳、发展低碳经济,要首先重视节约使用化石能源。归纳了我国化石能源开发利用取得的成就和存在的问题,提出了节约使用化石能源的对策,一是确定比较合理的GDP增长速度,建立化石能源消费总量控制指标体系;二是建立化石能源加工利用过程全寿命周期能效及二氧化碳排放的评价方法,通过不断优化提高化石能源利用效率;三是从我国化石能源资源状况出发,研究建立符合国情的低碳现代化生活消费模式;四是充分利用财政税收政策和行政手段鼓励和强制节能;五是加强节约使用化石能源的技术、材料、产品的研究开发和推广应用;六是加大资金投入,实现化石能源的优化利用和节约使用。     

永磁直驱风力发电机组控制策略研究综述

随着社会和经济的持续发展，人们对能源的需求不断增长导致传统的化石燃料越来越紧缺，而风能作为一种清洁的可再生能源，受到了很多国家的青睐。永磁直驱风力发电机组能量转换效率高、可靠性强以及控制灵活，已经成为当今风力发电技术的研究热点。目前我国的大功率直驱风力发电并网变流器很大部分还依赖于进VI，尤其是对变流器的控制还不成熟，因而对其研究也至关重要。     

The potential of biomass supply for energetic utilization in a small Italian region: Basilicata

The European Union Directive 2009/28/EC (European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC, Directive 2009/28/EC) establishes a common framework for the use of energy from renewable sources in order to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels from foreign markets; more specifically the EU has the ambitious goal of reaching a 20 % share of energy from renewable sources in the overall energy mix by 2020. These objectives could drive policies that offer substantial economic subsidies for the use of renewable energy, both in Italy and in many other European countries. For all these reasons, biomass (one of the major sources of renewable energy) plants are getting a lot of attention in Italy, but it is necessary to determine whether using of this type of energy is environmentally beneficial and economically feasible. In this study, we evaluate the energy and so the environmental aspects by considering both current and potential biomass supplies available for energy utilization in a small region in the South of Italy: Basilicata, as well as the consequences of this energy conversion at both the local and the global scale.     

Biosolids management with net-zero CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions: a techno-ecological synergy design

Management of biosolids from industrial and municipal wastewater facilities presents multifaceted issues ranging from greenhouse gas emissions, high odor and high treatment costs. Until now, most studies that have focused on identifying the best treatment pathway are based on optimization of technological alternatives and life cycle analysis studies. Such studies aim toward sustainability but ignore the capacity of local ecological systems to provide ecosystem services, thus leading to design solutions that may be sub-optimal due to shifting of impacts outside the boundary, resulting in degradation. This work uses a techno-ecological synergy design methodology to identify optimal strategies for biosolids treatment and disposal, by balancing the supply and demand for carbon sequestration ecosystem service. Both the technological systems that create the ecosystem service demand and ecological systems that supply those services are included within one design framework. Technological alternatives for biosolids management in Central Ohio considered in this work are land filling, land application, incineration and composting. Approaches for supplying the carbon sequestration capacity include forestation, extension of timber cycles and geological sequestration. An additional case where biomass utilization from extension of timber cycle to produce renewable energy is also explored. Results from this study demonstrate that including carbon sequestration ecosystem service explicitly in the design problem leads to solutions where the ecosystem service demand and supply can be balanced, while also being cost-effective. Thus by including ecological systems in the design boundary, the optimal solution space expands to reveal novel solutions that cannot be found by the conventional techno-centric approach.     

燃料电池分布式供能技术发展现状与展望

燃料电池作为一种清洁高效的发电方式,兼具效率高、排放低、安全无噪音等优点,是分布式供能领域的一项重要技术。燃料电池既可以利用传统煤炭、天然气,也可以融合可再生能源实现削峰填谷。在传统煤电领域,散煤的利用是环境污染的重要来源,通过直接碳燃料电池技术,有望解决散煤利用效率低下、污染严重的问题。联合天然气管网,基于燃料电池的微型热电联供系统可实现能源的梯级利用,相比传统的热电分供模式可大大提高能源利用效率。同时,电解池作为燃料电池的逆过程,可将可再生能源富余电力转化为化学能进行储存,实现"三弃"电力的有效转化,在可再生能源的分布式供应系统中具有广阔的发展前景。     

Synthetic carbohydrate compounds and their integration with renewable electricity supplies

The world runs a serious risk of sliding into catastrophic climate change. It is to all practical purposes impossible to bring the emissions of greenhouse gases to a halt straight away. This article discusses a number of sources of uncertainty and the possibility of bias in climate forecasting. It identifies a specific approach towards rapid decarbonization combined with a systematic reduction in fossil fuel extraction: the manufacture of synthetic hydrocarbon compounds for use as fuel as well as plastics, using carbon dioxide from power stations and cement factories as feedstock during a transitional phase. Policymakers and even researchers working on renewable energy seem to be insufficiently aware of the potential of this mature chemical technology to reduce emissions. The paper also surveys several economic and managerial issues regarding the implementation of the transition to a world using only renewable energy, and provides some information concerning the latest state of the technology of renewable electricity generation.     

New graphical tools for process changes via load shifting for hybrid power systems based on Power Pinch Analysis

A hybrid power system (HPS) generates electrical power by a combination of several renewable energy and fossil fuel generators. The Power Pinch Analysis concept has been recently implemented for the optimal design of a HPS. This work introduces a new graphical tool known as the ‘outsourced and storage electricity curves’ (OSEC) to visualise the required minimum outsourced electricity and the current storage capacity at each time interval during HPS startup and continuous operation. Heuristics for load shifting for the integrated HPS system that can lead to further reductions of the maximum storage capacity and the maximum power demand (MPD) have also been introduced in this work. Note that the routine load shifting strategies in energy management cannot be used without the knowledge on how the integrated HPS components interact with one another. Application of the new approach on case studies demonstrates that the OSEC can provide vital insights for designers to perform the correct load shifting. The results show that up to 50 % reduction in the maximum storage capacity and the MPD is achieved.     

Policy entry points for facilitating a transition towards a low-carbon electricity future

This study extends the ambit of the debate on electricity transition by specifically identifying possible policy entry points through which transformative and enduring changes can be made in the electricity and socio–economic systems to facilitate the transition process. Guided by the “essence” of the multi-level perspective — a prominent framework for the study of energy transition, four such entry points have been identified: 1) destabilising the dominant, fossil fuel-based electricity regime to create room for renewable technologies to break through; 2) reconfiguring the electricity regime, which encompasses technology, short-term operational practices and long-term planning processes, to improve flexibility for accommodating large outputs from variable renewable sources whilst maintaining supply security; 3) addressing the impact of coal power phase-out on coal mining regions in terms of economic development and jobs; and 4) facilitating a shift in transition governance towards a learning-based, reflexive process. Specific areas for policy interventions within each of these entry points have also been discussed in the paper.     

Green nanotechnology of trends in future energy

It is well known that current fossil fuel usage is unsustainable and associated with greenhouse gas production. The amount of the world's primary energy supply provided by renewable energy technologies is required urgently. Therefore, the relevant technologies such as hydrogen fuel, solar cell, biotechnology based on nanotechnology and the relevant patents for exploiting the future energy for the friendly environment are reviewed. At the same time, it is pointed out that the significantly feasible world's eco-energy for the foreseeable future should not only be realized, but also methods for using the current energy and their by-products more efficiently should be found correspondingly to ensure the minimal environmental impact.