The Role of Storage Systems in Industrial and Residential Environments

This paper assesses storage applications from an environmental, economic and technical dimension. Three different demonstration set-ups are considered, as well as one large-scale simulation. The results emphasize that storage needs to be tailored to a specific purpose and tradeoffs between the three perspectives have to be considered to benefit the entire energy system. Currently, system integration and the possibility to use the grid as storage are hampering the potential of storage. It is however shown that storage can provide valuable technical and environmental benefits to the grid and possibly defer grid investment.

A cantilevered liquid-nitrogen-cooled silicon mirror for the Advanced Light Source Upgrade

This paper presents a novel cantilevered liquid-nitrogen-cooled silicon mirror design for the first optic in a new soft X-ray beamline that is being developed as part of the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA). The beamline is optimized for photon energies between 400 and 1400 eV with full polarization control. Calculations indicate that, without correction, this design will achieve a Strehl ratio greater than 0.85 for the entire energy and polarization ranges of the beamline. With a correction achieved by moving the focus 7.5 mm upstream, the minimum Strehl ratio is 0.99. This design is currently the baseline plan for all new ALS-U insertion device beamlines.

The role of nanotechnology in revolutionizing energy sector

The need for modernization of the existing energy sector is driven by globally increasing energy demand, rising carbon emissions, global warming, and climate change. The world tends towards the sustainable and more environmentally friendly energy sector that will meet future energy demands by reducing the usage of raw and non-renewable materials and resources and decreasing energy consumption and pollution. Nanotechnology, as one of the key technologies of the 21st Century, holds the potential to revolutionize the entire energy sector, contributing to the development of more efficient and sustainable energy systems. The implementation of nanotechnology in the energy sector is in the various stages of research, development, and deployment. Nanotechnology’s solutions and approaches can help create innovative ways to produce, change, distribute, store and consume energy. This paper attempts to summarize some of the current nanotechnology applications in energy sector, emphasizing the associated benefits as well as risks and concerns. Present nanotechnology-based solution and approaches used in the energy sector confirms nanotechnology's potential to revolutionize the entire energy sector. Alongside the growing use of nanomaterials and nanoproducts, uncertainties on the nanotechnology potentially harmful influence on the environment, health, and safety rise as well, representing a main concern related to nanotechnology applications. In addition to the technological feasibility of the nanotechnology implementation in the energy sector, a wide range of other conditions, such as political, economical and social, influence the rate of implementation and acceptance of nanotechnological innovations in the energy sector.

Analysis of Factors Influencing Carbon Emissions in the Energy Base, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China

Analyzing the driving factors of regional carbon emissions is important for achieving emissions reduction. Based on the Kaya identity and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method, we analyzed the effect of population, economic development, energy intensity, renewable energy penetration, and coefficient on carbon emissions during 1990–2016. Afterwards, we analyzed the contribution rate of sectors’ energy intensity effect and sectors’ economic structure effect to the entire energy intensity. The results showed that the influencing factors have different effects on carbon emissions under different stages. During 1990–2000, economic development and population were the main factors contributing to the increase in carbon emissions, and energy intensity was an important factor to curb the carbon emissions increase. The energy intensity of industry and the economic structure of agriculture were the main factors to promote the decline of entire energy intensity. During 2001–2010, economic growth and emission coefficient were the main drivers to escalate the carbon emissions, and energy intensity was the key factor to offset the carbon emissions growth. The economic structure of transportation, and the energy intensity of industry and service were the main factors contributing to the decline of the entire energy intensity. During 2011–2016, economic growth and energy intensity were the main drivers of enhancing carbon emissions, while the coefficient was the key factor in curbing the growth of carbon emissions. The industry’s economic structure and transportation’s energy intensity were the main factors to promote the decline of the entire energy intensity. Finally, the suggestions of emissions reductions are put forward from the aspects of improving energy efficiency, optimizing energy structure and adjusting industrial structure etc.

GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY

This article analyzes the problem of energy security as a factor of global sustainable development. The energy sector faces new challenges, as well as expanding opportunities for both developed and developing countries. The global nature of energy security increasingly requires the formation of an international energy strategy that allows us to look into the common energy future, and the further development of a broad dialogue on energy issues between various countries and relevant international organizations. The relevance of this article is of interest to the entire energy community. The problem and the main components of energy security are in the field of view of summits, attract the attention of various international forums, and its solution is interlinked with sustainable development, climate change and the environment.

Revisiting the decoupling effects in the running of the Cosmological Constant

We revisit the decoupling effects associated with heavy particles in the renormalization group running of the vacuum energy in a mass-dependent renormalization scheme. We find the running of the vacuum energy stemming from the Higgs condensate in the entire energy range and show that it behaves as expected from the simple dimensional arguments, meaning that it exhibits the quadratic sensitivity to the mass of the heavy particles in the infrared regime. The consequence of such a running to the fine-tuning problem with the measured value of the Cosmological Constant is analyzed and the constraint on the mass spectrum of a given model is derived. We show that in the Standard Model (SM) this fine-tuning constraint is not satisfied while in the massless theories this constraint formally coincides with the well-known Veltman condition. We also provide a remarkably simple extension of the SM where saturation of this constraint enables us to predict the radiative Higgs mass correctly. Generalization to constant curvature spaces is also given.

Warunki tworzenia i stan rozwoju spółdzielni i klastrów energetycznych w Polsce na tle doświadczeń niemieckich

In energy policy, various organizational forms are used. At local and regional levels, energy cooperatives and energy clusters are perfect. Their main advantages are: socialization of the production process, combining social and economic goals and a beneficial effect on the improvement of the natural environment. The aim of the article was to recognize the conditions and state of development of energy cooperatives and energy clusters in Poland and their impact on local development and the entire energy sector as compared with similar activities in Germany. Germany has the largest number of energy cooperatives that operate in the European Union. They lead to the development of civic energy in which the interests of energy producers and consumers are integrated on a large scale. The conducted analysis led to the conclusion that energy cooperatives should have flexible structures resulting from local needs and possibilities, starting from social cooperatives to structures functioning in the form of regional clusters

MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRICAL ENERGY PARAMETERS IN A ROMANIAN PRE-UNIVERSITY EDUCATION INSTITUTION

A desideratum of the society, not only in Romania, is the efficiency of the electricity consumption and its passage on green energy in a bigger proportion. This can be achieved by research on various topics chosen from different areas of the economy. One of the most widespread public institutions is education, which is why the results obtained from the research of such a subject can bring major benefits to the entire society. In general, the structure of pre-university education institutions is similar, with classrooms, laboratories equipped with the same types of electric consumers, and very close heating systems. This article proposes a method of monitoring the electrical energy and consumption parameters of a pre-university education institution in Romania. The results obtained are compared to the energy quality standards and will be the basis for a PV system that will be designed to ensure the entire energy consumption of the institution.