CO2 Capture and Renewable Energy

The urgently needed carbon neutral economy requires a portfolio of strategies, among which, CO2 capture and renewable energy will need to play a decisive role. Dispatchable renewables, such as bioenergy, will play an increasing role in maintaining electricity security, in producing heat in the industry and residential sectors, and in reducing the emissions from the transport sector. Biomethane, also known as a renewable natural gas, can be directly blended with or fully replace natural gas in existing pipelines and end-user equipment, with the added advantage of being carbon neutral. CO2 capture and storage (CCS) will also be of paramount importance in abating CO2 emissions from existing infrastructure in the power and industrial sectors. There are many industries that will be difficult or impossible to decarbonize in the short term, such as the cement sector, in which CO2 emissions are intrinsic to the production process. In such cases, CCS will be mandatory to achieve the goal of net zero emissions. Permanent CO2 removal technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture and storage (DACS), will also be necessary in the medium term to compensate for emissions from the hard-to-abate sectors, and in the long term, even to remove atmospheric CO2 from past emissions. This book consists of six peer-reviewed scientific articles that cover a range of high-interest subjects related to the aforementioned hot topics

An interaction abstraction toolkit for public display applications

Tese de doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de InformaçãoPublic digital displays have become increasingly ubiquitous in our technological landscape. Considering their flexibility and communication potential, public displays can become an important communication channel and even reach the attention, usage, and relevance that smartphones have today. Interaction with public displays is recognised as a key element in making them more engaging and valuable, but most public display systems still do not support any interactive feature. A key reason behind this apparent paradox is the lack of efficient and clear abstractions for incorporating interactivity into public display applications. While interaction can be achieved for a specific display system with a particular interaction modality, the lack of proper interaction abstractions means that there is too much specific work that needs to be done outside the core application functionality to support even basic forms of interaction. In this work, we investigate and develop interaction abstractions for public displays. We start by analysing public displays from the point of view of the information that results from the various interactions and that can be used to drive several types of content adaptation behaviour on public displays. We call this information digital footprints, and the result is a framework that maps digital footprints to adaptation strategies and to interaction mechanisms. This framework can be used by display designers to help them choose the interaction mechanisms that a display should support in order to be able to collect a given set of footprints, creating more relevant displays that are able to automatically adapt to their environment. We then identify and characterise interaction tasks and controls that are appropriate for public display interaction. This analysis results in a design space that can form the foundation of interaction toolkits, giving system developers with a reference for the types of high-level tasks and controls that can be incorporated into a toolkit. Finally, we design, implement, and evaluate a software toolkit of interaction abstractions for public display applications – the PuReWidgets toolkit. Programmers can use this toolkit to easily incorporate interactive features into their web-based public display applications. PuReWidgets provides high-level abstractions that shield programmers from the low-level details of the interaction mechanisms. We evaluate this toolkit along various dimensions. First, we evaluate the system’s performance. We then evaluate the API’s flexibility and capabilities using our own experience in developing interactive applications with it. We also evaluate the API’s usability from the perspective of independent programmers. Finally, we provide an evaluation of the resulting system’s usability from the perspective of an end-user interacting with a real-world deployment of a public display. The evaluation results indicate that PuReWidgets is an efficient, usable, and flexible toolkit for web-based interactive public display applications. By making this toolkit publicly available, we hope to promote the development of more and newer kinds of interactive public display applications inside and, more importantly, outside the research community.Os ecrãs públicos digitais estão cada vez mais presentes na nossa paisagem tecnológica. Considerando a sua flexibilidade e capacidade de ligação em rede, os ecrãs públicos têm o potencial para se tornarem num importante canal de comunicação e talvez até atingir a atenção, utilização e relevância que os smartphones têm hoje em dia. A interactividade dos ecrãs públicos ´e reconhecida como um elemento chave para os tornar mais atractivos e valiosos, mas a maioria dos sistemas de ecrãs públicos actuais ainda não suporta nenhuma forma de interação. Uma razão por detrás deste aparente paradoxo é a falta de abstrações claras e eficientes para incorporar interactividade nas aplicações para ecrãs públicos. Apesar de a interação poder ser conseguida para sistemas específicos, com uma modalidade de interação específica, a falta de abstrações de interação apropriadas significa que ´e necessário demasiado trabalho específico fora das funcionalidades nucleares da aplicação para suportar ate as formas mais básicas de interação. Neste trabalho, investigamos e desenvolvemos abstrações de interação para ecrãs públicos. Começamos por analisar os ecrãs públicos do ponto de vista da informação que resulta das interações e de que forma pode ser utilizada em procedimentos de adaptação de conteúdo para ecrãs públicos. Chamamos a esta informação digital footprints, e o resultado é uma estrutura conceptual que mapeia as digital footprints em estratégias de adaptação e em mecanismos de interação. Esta estrutura pode ser utilizada por designers de ecrãs públicos para ajudar a escolher os mecanismos de interação que um determinado ecrã deve suportar de forma a poder recolher um determinado conjunto de digital footprints, criando assim ecrãs com conteúdos mais relevantes e que são capazes de se adaptar ao seu ambiente social. De seguida, identificamos e caracterizamos tarefas de interação e controlos apropriados para interação com ecrãs públicos. Esta análise resulta num espaço de desenho que pode servir de base para toolkits de interação, dando uma referência aos designers do sistema para os tipos de controlos que podem ser incorporados no toolkit. Finalmente, projectamos, implementamos e avaliamos um toolkit de abstrações de interação para aplicações para ecrãs públicos – o toolkit PuReWidgets. Os programadores podem utilizar este toolkit para incorporar facilmente funcionalidades interactivas nas suas aplicações, baseadas na web, para ecrãs públicos. O PuReWidgets fornece abstrações de alto nível que protegem os programadores dos detalhes de baixo nível associados aos mecanismos de interação. O toolkit é avaliado segundo várias dimensões. Primeiro, avaliamos o desempenho do sistema. De seguida, avaliamos a flexibilidade e capacidades da API, usando a nossa própria experiencia no desenvolvimento de aplicações interactivas. Avaliamos também a usabilidade da API da perspectiva de programadores independentes. Finalmente, avaliamos o toolkit da perspectiva dos utilizadores que interagem com um ecrã público num ambiente real. Os resultados da avaliação indicam que o PuReWidgets é um toolkit eficiente, flexível e usável para aplicações interactivas para ecrãs públicos. Ao tornar este toolkit disponível publicamente, esperamos promover o desenvolvimento de mais aplicações interactivas para ecrãs públicos dentro e, mais importante, fora da comunidade de investigação.This research was supported by the Funda¸c˜ao para a Ciˆencia e Tecnologia (FCT) PhD training grant SFRH/BD/47354/2008. This research has also received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 244011 (PD-Net)

Accountability and narratives in historical settings

The critical and interpretative accounting studies on accountability constitute the basis for the development of the three papers of this Ph.D. thesis. Connected from a thematic and a methodological perspective, these three archival based researches explore different aspects of accountability. The attention moves progressively from exploring a retrospective storytelling as an informal media of accountability; to comparing this informal narrative with those contained in the formal media; to finally study different forms through which accountability can be practiced. While the first and the second papers focuses on the role played by stories and narratives in the provision of accountability, the third paper enlarges the focus to explore the relation between narratives and accounting in the provision of accountability. In this thesis accounting is conceived as a discourse where specific rules are applied, a social practice and a technique, that may be used in the accountability discourse

Carbon Management for Sustainable Development: An examination of potential transition paths for the Saudi Arabian ‘national system of innovation’ towards a cleaner energy economy

PhDSince the first industrial revolution, rising carbon emissions have caused harmful effects on our environment. There is a broad consensus that climate change is happening and that it is as a result of anthropogenic carbon emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels. This raises concern for the future of our carbon-based world energy and world economy, particularly with economies heavily dependent on oil, such as Saudi Arabia. This dissertation aims to answer the question: How could Saudi Arabia, given its oil-based economy and vast oil reserves, respond to the challenges of climate change and the world’s transitioning towards environmental sustainability, and away from fossil fuels. Two studies have been conducted, a quantitative study and a qualitative study. The first study examined the Saudi energy sector, 40 life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on both carbon capture and storage (CCS) and solar photovoltaic (Solar PV) were used to create 12 scenarios for 3 growth cases from year 2010 to 2025. Results showed massive reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in all scenarios. The second study examined the economy of Saudi Arabia, using 30 interviews with participants from across the economy, to materialise the Saudi national system of innovation. Major forces of the economy and their relationships have been identified and discussed. Using both studies, transition paths of the Saudi NSI towards a sustainable and cleaner energy economy were then constructed and discussed. A Saudi sustainable carbon management ‘system of innovation’ (SSCMSI) was proposed. Given Saudi Arabia’s heavy dependence on oil, which characterised its NSI fabric, constructing an NSI around its energy sector was important. The proposed SSCMSI role includes: accelerating innovation in the energy sector, encouraging energy efficiency, accelerating the use of renewable energy, improving market conditions, supporting technology transfer from advanced economies, utilising international cooperation and mobilizing private sector investment in energy.Yamani Cultural and Charitable Foundation YCCF scholarshi

Clean. Reliable. Affordable. The role of nuclear technology in meeting the challenge of low greenhouse gas electricity supply in the 21st century

Climate change is broadly acknowledged as one of the greatest challenges facing humankind this century. The emission of greenhouse gases from human activity is driving warming of the atmosphere. The extent of the forecast warming has the potential to seriously and irreversibly alter global environments, with consequently serious impacts for humankind in our occupation of this planet. The energy sector is one of the largest sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, being based nearly entirely on the combustion of fossil-carbon fuels, including for the generation of electricity. This energy consumption raises standards of living and is central to the development processes that alleviate poverty and reduce population growth rates. Non-fossil options for the generation of electricity include renewable energy sources (covering hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, wave, ocean, tidal and biomass) and nuclear fission in power-generating nuclear reactors. While nuclear power, along with hydroelectricity, has historically proven to be an effective and scalable replacement for fossil fuels in electricity generation, this technology lacks broad support, is actively opposed by the great majority of environmental groups and has grown little in recent decades. The exclusive use of non-hydro renewable technologies to generate electricity lacks historic evidence of scalability and cost-effectiveness, however these technologies enjoy popular support and the amount of electricity they supply is growing rapidly. This thesis examines how to provide electricity supply that is free from fossil carbon fuels at relevant global scale in the 21st century by examining the benefits and drawbacks of both nuclear and renewable technologies and considering their potential role in forming workable, cost-effective portfolios of solutions. I examine in detail the rapid transition towards wind and solar power in South Australia (Chapter 1), and critically review literature purporting to provide evidence that only renewable technologies are required for reliable, cost effective, clean electricity supply (Chapter 2). I undertake modelling of Australia’s National Electricity Market using varying combinations of nuclear and renewable technologies to identify cost-optimal supply combinations at varying carbon prices (Chapter 3), and re-model the potential for nuclear to meet a supply gap that is greatly modified by the uptake of variable renewable generation (Chapter 4). The potential role of advanced nuclear technologies is examined in a business case for storing used nuclear fuel and re-investing revenue in the development of fuel recycling facilities and advanced reactors (Chapter 5). I demonstrate that nuclear technology is an essential solution for the challenge of displacing fossil fuels from electricity supply, and that this role is robust against a range of assumptions and projections relating to greater use of renewable technologies. I conclude with a brief consideration of the little-studied challenge of providing industrial heat including to manufacture chemical feedstocks, a segment of energy consumption where advanced, high-temperature nuclear reactors may have a nearly unfettered role in the displacement of fossil fuels.Thesis (Ph.D.) (Research by Publication) -- University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences, 201

Industrial Energy Management and Sustainability

Growing environmental concerns caused by increasing consumption of naturalresources and pollution need to be addressed. Manufacturing dictates the efficiencywith which resource inputs are transformed into economically valuableoutputs in the form of products and services. Consequently, it is also responsiblefor the resulting waste and pollution generated from this transformation process.As a matter of fact, about one-third of the global total energy consumption isassociated withmanufacturing activities; thus, achieving higher energy efficiencyin this sector has been the focus of research as well as of policy and industrialprogrammes in recent years. In particular, being able to effectively manageenergy and energy-related activities has proved to be a fundamental capabilityfor companies willing to improve their sustainability, as it constitutes the first,critical step to understanding their processes and to identifying and correctlyevaluating improvement opportunities.This Special Issue focuses on energy management and sustainability of bothmanufacturing processes and systems, including methods, practices, tools, applicationsand experiences

Axisymmetric simulation codes for hall effect thrusters and plasma plumes

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThe development of reliable and versatile plasma discharges simulation codes is becoming of central importance, given the rapidly evolving electric propulsion landscape. These tools are essential for facilitating and complementing the design of new prototypes, signiffcantly reducing development time and costs. Moreover, they can provide a deeper insight on already proven technologies, revealing optimization opportunities so as to improve the thruster performance and lifetime, and predicting the operational parameters at different regimes of interest. This Thesis is devoted to the numerical study of different plasma discharges and, in particular, the Hall effect thruster (HET) discharge. With special focus on particle-based modeling, two simulation codes have been developed. The first one, named HYPHEN, is a new two-dimensional axisymmetric hybrid, particle-in-cell (PIC)/fluid multi-thruster simulation platform. Its versatile PIC-based module for heavy species supports the simulation of inner active surfaces, mixed specular-diffuse neutral-wall reflection, and chargeexchange (CEX) collisions, thus extending the code capabilities and enabling the simulation of axisymmetric plasma plumes. Moreover, it features a new population control which monitors independently every heavy species and limits the statistical noise at a low computational cost. Furthermore, an improved version of the HET electron fluid module for the isotropic electron pressure case is presented. Three major studies have been carried out with this code. First, the simulation of an ion thruster plasma plume has permitted to benchmark HYPHEN against the 3D plasma plume code EP2PLUS. Second, an investigation on the neutral-wall interaction effects on an unmagnetized plasma discharge in a surface-dominated cylindrical channel with isothermal electrons has been performed. The discharge ignition requires different propellant injection mass ows in the diffuse and specular neutral-wall reflection cases. Third, preliminary simulations of a SPT-100 HET have been carried out to demonstrate the code capabilities and reveal its limitations. Consistent results have been obtained for different cathode locations in the near plume region and various electron turbulent transport parameter profiles. The second code corresponds to a new version of the one-dimensional radial particle model of a HET discharge, originally developed by F. Taccogna. The major improvements are an ionization controlled discharge algorithm, which enables sustaining a steady-state discharge, and an extended volumetric weighting algorithm which provides a more accurate macroscopic description of the low populated species, such as the wall-emitted secondary electrons. The radial dynamics of both the primary and secondary electron populations have been analyzed in detail, assessing the temperature anisotropy ratio of their velocity distribution functions and the asymmetries introduced by cylindrical geometry effects in the macroscopic laws of interest, thus aiming at a future improvement of the plasma-wall interaction module implemented in HYPHEN.El desarrollo de códigos fiables y versátiles para la simulación de descargas de plasma es cada vez más importante dada la rápida evolución de la propulsión espacial eléctrica. Estas herramientas son esenciales para facilitar y complementar el diseño de nuevos prototipos, reduciendo significativamente los tiempos y costes de desarrollo. Además, pueden ampliar la comprensión de las tecnologías ya establecidas, revelar vías de optimización del propulsor que permitan mejorar su rendimiento y vida útil, y predecir los parámetros de operación del mismo en diferentes regímenes de interés. Esta Tesis está dedicada al estudio numérico de diferentes descargas de plasma y, en particular, de descargas HET. Se han desarrollado dos códigos de simulación, con especial énfasis en los modelos de partículas. El primero de ellos, llamado HYPHEN, es una nueva plataforma de simulación multi-propulsor, híbrida PIC/fluida y axisimétrica. Su módulo PIC para especies pesadas permite la simulación de superficies activas inmersas en el plasma, procesos de reflexión especular-difuso de neutros en pared y colisiones CEX, extendiendo por tanto las capacidades del código y permitiendo la simulación de plumas de plasma axisimétricas. Además, incluye un nuevo control de población que monitoriza a cada especie pesada por separado limitando el ruido estadístico y el coste computacional. Por otra parte, se presenta una versión mejorada del modelo fluido de electrones isótropos para HET. Tres estudios principales se han llevado a cabo con este código. En primer lugar, la simulación de la pluma de plasma de un motor iónico ha permitido validar HYPHEN con el código de plumas 3D EP2PLUS. Por otro lado, se ha investigado el efecto de la interacción del gas neutro con la pared en una descarga no magnetizada con electrones isotermos en un canal cilíndrico esbelto. La ignición de la descarga requiere inyectar diferentes gastos másicos de propulsante en los casos de reflexión difusa y especular. En tercer lugar, se han realizado simulaciones preliminares de un motor HET de tipo SPT- 100 con el objeto de demostrar las capacidades del código y revelar sus limitaciones, obteniendo resultados consistentes para diferentes posiciones del cátodo en la región de la pluma cercana, y perfies del parámetro de turbulencia de electrones. El segundo código representa una nueva versión del modelo radial de partículas de una descarga HET desarrollado originalmente por F. Taccogna. Las principales mejoras consisten en un algoritmo de control de la descarga a través de la ionización, que permite obtener una descarga estacionaria, y un algoritmo de pesado volumétrico extendido, que proporciona una descripción macroscópica más precisa de las especies poco pobladas, como los electrones secundarios emitidos desde las paredes del motor. Para posibilitar una futura mejora del módulo de HYPHEN de interacción plasma-pared, se han analizado en detalle la dinámica radial de los electrones primarios y secundarios, la anisotropía de temperatura de sus funciones de distribución de velocidad, y las asimetrías cilíndricas en las leyes macroscópicas de interés.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Mecánica de Fluidos por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; la Universidad de Jaén; la Universidad de Zaragoza; la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia; la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y la Universidad Rovira i Virgili.Presidente: Iván Calvo Rubio.- Secretario: Gonzalo Sánchez Arriaga.- Vocal: Daniela Pedrin

ECRA Co-Editors' introduction for Volume 10, Issue 1, January-February 2011

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American Square Dance Vol. 45, No. 5 (May 1990)

Monthly square dance magazine that began publication in 1945