3,232 research outputs found
A review on the complementarity of renewable energy sources: concept, metrics, application and future research directions
It is expected, and regionally observed, that energy demand will soon be
covered by a widespread deployment of renewable energy sources. However, the
weather and climate driven energy sources are characterized by a significant
spatial and temporal variability. One of the commonly mentioned solutions to
overcome the mismatch between demand and supply provided by renewable
generation is a hybridization of two or more energy sources in a single power
station (like wind-solar, solar-hydro or solar-wind-hydro). The operation of
hybrid energy sources is based on the complementary nature of renewable
sources. Considering the growing importance of such systems and increasing
number of research activities in this area this paper presents a comprehensive
review of studies which investigated, analyzed, quantified and utilized the
effect of temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal complementarity between
renewable energy sources. The review starts with a brief overview of available
research papers, formulates detailed definition of major concepts, summarizes
current research directions and ends with prospective future research
activities. The review provides a chronological and spatial information with
regard to the studies on the complementarity concept.Comment: 34 pages 7 figures 3 table
Complementarity Assessment of South Greenland Katabatic Flows and West Europe Wind Regimes
Current global environmental challenges require vigorous and diverse actions
in the energy sector. One solution that has recently attracted interest
consists in harnessing high-quality variable renewable energy resources in
remote locations, while using transmission links to transport the power to end
users. In this context, a comparison of western European and Greenland wind
regimes is proposed. By leveraging a regional atmospheric model specifically
designed to accurately capture polar phenomena, local climatic features of
southern Greenland are identified to be particularly conducive to extensive
renewable electricity generation from wind. A methodology to assess how
connecting remote locations to major demand centres would benefit the latter
from a resource availability standpoint is introduced and applied to the
aforementioned Europe-Greenland case study, showing superior and complementary
wind generation potential in the considered region of Greenland with respect to
selected European sites.Comment: Published in Elsevier Energ
Financing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals: A Rough Roadmap
We regroup the main types of global development finance into three clusters: concessional public finance (including domestic taxes), public borrowing on market-related terms, and private finance. We look at the main purposes they can be used for, and their interdependence. We consider the global outlook for capital markets, the determinants of country creditworthiness and why grant aid should be prioritised for less creditworthy countries. We suggest that financing plans for most of the new Sustainable Development Goals should be developed at the country level rather than globally, so that key trade-offs can be fully explored. We look at specific policies to unlock access to private sector participation in five key areas -- including social services. We introduce a Market Aid Index to help track donor engagement with the private sector. We investigate how a country's mix of development finance changes as it grows -- the so-called 'missing middle' dilemma. We find that public resources overall fall continuously until a country is well into middle income status, as international assistance falls faster than tax revenues rise. Static per capita income thresholds are becoming increasingly unreliable guides to resource allocation. We look at alternative groupings, especially taking into account fiscal capacity, creditworthiness and vulnerability. We assess the recent literature on trade-offs between rapid growth and climate change mitigation imperatives. We examine the geography of public climate finance, which is intrinsically different from that of development aid, and the lack of a credible 'additionality' test for funding the former over and above the latter. We therefore consider how the limited public grant element so far available should best be rationed, to limit the scope for distortions. We revisit the role of the multilateral development banks' market-related windows, in view of the missing middle problem. We consider what factors underpin their secular stagnation, and how to overcome them. We summarise other specific international reform options in response to our analysis, on private sector contributions, market-related lending and climate finance. We conclude by contrasting two alternative world views: (1) making international public finance a complement to private finance everywhere, and (2) deliberately focusing public stakes where the private sector is not present. We suggest a way forward
Simplification in life cycle assessment of single-family houses: a review recent developments
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is globally recognized as one of the most complete methods for environmental
assessment of buildings. Literature assumes that its applications in the building sector are prejudiced regarding
complexity and difficulty. However, simplification is necessary, since it can facilitate LCA application in
buildings. Moreover, growing interest on reducing environmental impact in the building sector, as well as the
relevance of single-family houses on CO2 emissions have become key points on the wide spread of LCA.
Therefore, this paper presents a research study about simplification in LCA recent studies applied to singlefamily
houses. The review focuses on 20 cases that were analyzed according to ISO 14040, ISO 14044, EN
15978, and EN 15804 standards. The main objective was to identify the simplification strategies assumed in each
paper, to clarify and to help to promote further developments on LCA. This paper examines system boundary
definition, data sources, life cycle phases included, and environmental impact indicator calculated in case
studies. Results show the variety of simplifications identified. They affect physical model definition, life cycle
scenario definition and communication of results. In most cases, the functional unit was the complete building,
the life cycle scenario definition included production, use and demolition phases, and the most considered
environmental impact indicator was GWP. Finally, new challenges and recommendations were defined in order
to establish common criteria to develop simplification strategies that allow results comparability in LCA of
single-family houses
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