scholarly journals Harnessing Small Country Collaboration Opportunities to Advance Energy Innovation and Joint Investments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneliese Gegenheimer ◽  
Charles Michael Gegenheimer
Keyword(s):  
Clean Energy ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Regional Markets ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Small Countries ◽  
Sustainable Investment ◽  
Pilot Programs ◽  
Energy Innovation ◽  
D Investment

Greater international collaboration is required to catalyze research and development (R&D) investment flows in energy technologies. Successful deployment of such technologies requires innovative funding mechanisms, intellectual property, and data-driven analyses to make smarter, sustainable investment decisions. As small countries are increasingly dealing with effects of climate change, some are projected to lose large portions of their economy. This chapter discusses ways that smaller countries, both in the developed and developing world, can harness international cooperation to advance energy innovation and mitigate such impact. In contrast to collaboration with larger countries, smaller country collaboration can build more agile, balanced partnerships in which participating countries co-develop and co-own R&D and training, and define pilot programs that target their own needs. Leveraging each other’s strengths, small countries can become catalysts for global change. Smaller country collaboration is explored through a proposed model of collaboration in energy innovation between Singapore and Estonia, often considered gateways to Southeast Asia and the EU plus Russia, respectively. Specifically, Singapore and Estonia have the opportunity to leverage each other’s startup ecosystems, innovation systems, knowledge-based economies, and regional markets to build a niche in clean energy technologies, particularly energy storage innovation, with potential global impact on larger markets.

New fuzzy logic approach for the capability assessment of renewable energy technologies: Case of Iran

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Mombeini ◽  
Abdolreza Yazdani-Chamzini ◽  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Mathematical Tool ◽  
Energy Technology ◽  
Business World ◽  
Renewable Energy Technology ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Fuzzy Logic Approach ◽  
Technology Capability

Firms need to identify their technology capability and change their productions through new reconfigurations and combinations of the existing potential capabilities with newly developed productions. Technology capability is a sophisticated, elusive, and vague concept that can be difficulty assessed. To accurately assess the technology capability, both the tangible and intangible parameters should be taken into account. The merit of employing the fuzzy set theory is to face with the vagueness and complexity imposed by the formulation process. As a result, this mathematical tool is broadly applied in wide-ranging fields. In this paper, a fuzzy-based model is developed for the renewable energy technology capability assessment to achieve clean energy generation. The logical outcomes demonstrated that the proposed model is a powerful technique for technology capability assessment in order to identify the coming opportunities, especially where there is a less or lack of information because of the complexity imposed by the ever-changing energy business world. The results show that the proposed model has a high potential for assessing the renewable energy technology capability of a firm in order to efficiently recognize the challenges related to investment in clean energy technologies.

scholarly journals Financing Energy Innovation: Internal Finance and the Direction of Technical Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joëlle Noailly ◽  
Roger Smeets
Keyword(s):  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Financing Constraints ◽  
Large Set ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Energy Innovation ◽  
And Control

AbstractAchieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and of climate neutrality by 2050 in the European Union will require mobilizing financial investments towards clean energy innovation. This study examines the role of internal finance (cash flows and cash holdings) and financing constraints for innovation in energy technologies. We construct a dataset for 1,300 European firms combining balance-sheet information and patenting activities in renewable (REN) and fossil-fuel (FF) technologies and estimate the sensitivity of patenting activities to firms’ internal finance. We use count estimation techniques and control for a large set of firm-specific characteristics and market developments in REN and FF technologies. We find that patenting activities of firms specialized in REN innovation are significantly more sensitive to a shock in cash flows than firms specializing in FF innovation. Hence, our results emphasize that innovative firms in clean energy may be particularly vulnerable to financing constraints. We discuss the implications of these results for energy transition policies aiming to redirect finance towards clean energy R&D.

scholarly journals Synthetic models of hydrogenases based on framework structures containing coordinating P, N-atoms as hydrogen energy electrocatalysts – from molecules to materials

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (8) ◽  
pp. 1305-1320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia H. Budnikova ◽  
Vera V. Khrizanforova
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
High Current Density ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Hydrogen Energy ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Synthetic Materials ◽  
Metal Derivatives ◽  
Metal Organic ◽  
Metal Doped

AbstractNowadays, hydrogen has become not only an extremely important chemical product but also a promising clean energy carrier for replacing fossil fuels. Production of molecular H2 through electrochemical hydrogen evolution reactions is crucial for the development of clean-energy technologies. The development of economically viable and efficient H2 production/oxidation catalysts is a key step in the creation of H2-based renewable energy infrastructure. Intrinsic limitations of both natural enzymes and synthetic materials have led researchers to explore enzyme-induced catalysts to realize a high current density at a low overpotential. In recent times, highly active widespread numerous electrocatalysts, both homogeneous or heterogeneous (immobilized on the electrode), such as transition metal complexes, heteroatom- or metal-doped nanocarbons, metal-organic frameworks, and other metal derivatives (calix [4] resorcinols, pectates, etc.), which are, to one extent or another, structural or functional analogs of hydrogenases, have been extensively studied as alternatives for Pt-based catalysts, demonstrating prospects for the development of a “hydrogen economy”. This mini-review generalizes some achievements in the field of development of new electrocatalysts for H2 production/oxidation and their application for fuel cells, mainly focuses on the consideration of the catalytic activity of M[P2N2]22+ (M = Ni, Fe) complexes and other nickel structures which have been recently obtained.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a highly refined prediction model in knowledge-based volumetric modulated arc therapy planning for cervical cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingli Wang ◽  
Huikuan Gu ◽  
Jiang Hu ◽  
Jian Liang ◽  
Sisi Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Prediction Model ◽  
Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy ◽  
Model Evolution ◽  
Prediction Ability ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Arc Therapy ◽  
Knowledge Based Planning

Abstract Background and purpose To explore whether a highly refined dose volume histograms (DVH) prediction model can improve the accuracy and reliability of knowledge-based volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning for cervical cancer. Methods and materials The proposed model underwent repeated refining through progressive training until the training samples increased from initial 25 prior plans up to 100 cases. The estimated DVHs derived from the prediction models of different runs of training were compared in 35 new cervical cancer patients to analyze the effect of such an interactive plan and model evolution method. The reliability and efficiency of knowledge-based planning (KBP) using this highly refined model in improving the consistency and quality of the VMAT plans were also evaluated. Results The prediction ability was reinforced with the increased number of refinements in terms of normal tissue sparing. With enhanced prediction accuracy, more than 60% of automatic plan-6 (AP-6) plans (22/35) can be directly approved for clinical treatment without any manual revision. The plan quality scores for clinically approved plans (CPs) and manual plans (MPs) were on average 89.02 ± 4.83 and 86.48 ± 3.92 (p < 0.001). Knowledge-based planning significantly reduced the Dmean and V18 Gy for kidney (L/R), the Dmean, V30 Gy, and V40 Gy for bladder, rectum, and femoral head (L/R). Conclusion The proposed model evolution method provides a practical way for the KBP to enhance its prediction ability with minimal human intervene. This highly refined prediction model can better guide KBP in improving the consistency and quality of the VMAT plans.

scholarly journals Renewable Energy Technologies for Energy Efficient Buildings: The Case of Kuwait

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4440
Author(s):  
Bader Alshuraiaan
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Investment Efficiency ◽  
Renewable Energy Technologies ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Energy Efficient Buildings ◽  
Proposed Model

The purpose of this study is to identify the most relevant renewable energy technologies for buildings and to assess the effectiveness of their implementation in the long term for Kuwait. Methods of analogies and comparisons were used to determine the features of energy efficiency based on the technologies under study. The study proposes the methodological approach to assessing the effectiveness of the introduction of renewable energy technologies, determining the direction of increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and the investment efficiency of introducing these technologies. Renewable energy efficiency analysis for buildings in Kuwait confirms that solar energy systems have been the most widely available for widespread use of solar energy over the past three years. An increasing level of energy efficiency with a decrease in the notional cost of increasing energy savings is characteristic of solar collectors with booster reflectors. The proposed model for assessing the level of energy saving provides an opportunity for economic justification of introducing renewable energy technology in buildings.

Clean Energy Technologies: Hydrogen Power and Fuel Cells

2020 ◽  
pp. 366-371
Author(s):  
Sameer Lamichaney ◽  
Rishav K. Baranwal ◽  
Saikat Maitra ◽  
Gautam Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Energy Technologies

scholarly journals Why Affordable Clean Energy Is Not Enough. A Capability Perspective on the Sustainable Development Goals

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela Hillerbrand
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Capability Approach

This paper reflects on criticisms raised in the literature on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These have been criticized as creating a dichotomy between the environment and human beings that fails to address the multiple interconnections between the two. This paper focuses on SDG7—“affordable and clean energy”—and suggests that there is in fact a tripartite distinction between the environment, human beings and technology underlying the SDGs. This distinction, we argue, does not adequately represent the multiple interconnections among the various SDGs and hampers their implementation. We contend that the formulation of SDG7 produces a circular definition of sustainability, a difficulty that is currently resolved at the level of the targets and indicators in a way that regards energy technologies primarily as artifacts. By contrast, the literature on ethical aspects of energy systems largely agrees that energy is a paradigmatic example of a sociotechnical system. We contend that, by not considering this sociotechnical nature, the SDGs run the risk of implicitly defending a certain variant of technological optimism and determinism. We argue that this is disadvantageous to the environment, human well-being and technological development. In line with recent critical evaluations of the SDGs, we argue that these (and other) shortcomings can be addressed by better connecting the SDGs to human well-being. Building on recent literature that expands the scope of the Capability Approach as an alternative measure of well-being so as to include considerations of sustainability, we articulate a framework that allows us to elucidate this connection and thus to take advantage of synergies between human well-being and the environment. On the basis of the Capability Approach, we argue that equating sustainable energy with renewable energy—as is done in the transition from SDG7’s goal to its targets—is indefensible because, as part of the overarching energy systems, energy technologies cannot be classified as simply right or wrong. Rather, the indicators and targets within a framework focused on sustainability need to be (more) context sensitive, meaning that, among other things, they may vary by country and with the available technology.

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