85 research outputs found
Memory and the Anthropocene
The increase in carbon-dioxide emissions through the burning of fossil fuels and its effects of global warming has left a geological record, as shown by polar ice core samples that date from the mid-to-late-eighteenth century. This has prompted Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer (in 2000 and 2002) to identify the end of the previous geological epoch, the Holocene, the warmer period of 10-12 millennia that succeeded the ice age of the Pleistocene. Crutzen and Stoermer have identified the A..
New Zealand Guideline for the Connection of PV Solar Power and Determining Hosting Capacity for PV Solar Power
Small-scale distributed generation (DG) in New
Zealand, particularly photovoltaic (PV) generation, has been
growing steadily over the past few years. In the last year alone
to 31 March 2016, installed PV generation of all capacities has
grown by a factor of about 1.6 to reach 37 MW.
Approximately 90% (33 MW) of this installed PV capacity is
made up of small-scale, single phase residential grid-tied
systems with ratings below 10 kW. This corresponds, on
average, to approximately 300-400 new PV systems being
installed each month within low voltage (LV) distribution
networks.
Traditionally, the flow of power in electricity distribution
networks has been largely unidirectional. However,
distributed generation introduces reverse power flows into the
LV network when the power produced by DG systems is
greater than what can be consumed locally. This introduction
of reverse power flows and the dynamic behavior of DG
system inverters can negatively impact the electricity network,
causing issues such as over-voltage, phase imbalance,
overloading of conductors and transformers, and create
unique safety challenges. As such, each DG connection
application received by electricity distribution businesses
(EDBs) presently needs to be carefully considered for its
impact on the electricity network. The resourcing demand
imposed by larger numbers of connection applications, and
the difficulty of technical assessment including congestion
evaluation, are likely to increase substantially as DG uptake
intensifies. This has prompted the Electric Power Engineering
Centre (EPECentre) via its GREEN Grid programme, with
the assistance of the electricity industry based Network
Analysis Group (NAG), to develop a small-scale inverter based
DG connection guideline for New Zealand EDBs. This has
been developed on behalf of the Electricity Engineersâ
Association (EEA) specifically for the connection of inverter
energy systems (IES) of 10 kW or less.
This paper summarizes key aspects of this guideline. This
includes a streamlined connection application evaluation
process that enables EDBs to efficiently categorize DG
applications into three groups. These groups vary from those
with minimal or moderate network impact that can be autoassessed,
to those most likely to cause network congestion that
require manual assessment. These categories are determined
by looking at the DG hosting capacity specific to the LV
network that the DG is connecting to. For two of these
categories, mitigation measures for connection, are prescribed.
It is also shown how DG hosting capacity can be used to
simply evaluate LV network congestion in order to satisfy
Electricity Industry Participation Code (EIPC) Part 6
requirements. Key technical requirements for all IES,
appropriate for New Zealand conditions, are also summarized
'A feminine touchâ: gender, design and the ocean liner
This article offers an interdisciplinary account of gender in relation to ocean liner interior design. It outlines a case study of what the discipline of design history can bring to gender and maritime history. A historiography of the subject is followed by an analysis of the ways in which the spaces on board British ocean liners were conceived of, designed and used in terms of gender. Some spaces on board were designated as female only and other spaces understood to be male only â particularly the smoking room. The concluding part of the article considers the role of women designers within the patriarchal world of ship design and construction, by investigating the contributions of Elsie Mackay at P & O and the Zinkeisen sisters on the Queen Mary. Using primary sources, including visual evidence, the article considers a range of liners, from the Hindostan (1842) through to the Orontes (1929; refitted 1948). This bridges the gap between design history, gender and maritime history and adds to debates around gender and maritime history with a consideration of the overlooked area of design and its histories
Digital museum objects and memory : postdigital materiality, aura and value
In the cultural sector we use digital museum objects every day; in exhibitions, websites, collections management systems, and on our social channels. But, what actually are these objects? Do we understand them as objects in their own right? With their own nature and essence?Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Open-source modelling infrastructure: Building decarbonization capacity in Canada
Actions that transform our energy system are the cornerstone of decarbonizing our economy but have been hindered by the ineffective interface between researchers and decision-makers in Canada. This paper begins by arguing for a more holistic perspective on energy system decarbonization modelling and exploring how insights can aid evidence-based decision making. We then respond with the development of a modelling platform that includes three core pillars: (1) a toolbox of models that together represent the integrated energy system, (2) a dataset containing the inputs required to populate those models, and (3) a visualization suite to analyze and communicate their outputs. The Spine Toolbox is leveraged to process these three components in an efficient workflow. Taken together, the platform promotes the usability of model results by fostering consistency, transparency, and timeliness. Furthermore, the epistemic limitations of energy systems modelling and implications for platform and model design, and engaging extended peer communities, are discussed. Our hope is that this platform can be a foundational resource that facilitates collaboration between energy system and decarbonization researchers, modelling teams and decision-makers, ultimately enabling the effective application of evidence-based policy
MEDEAS: a new modeling framework integrating global biophysical and socioeconomic constraints
ProducciĂłn CientĂficaA diversity of integrated assessment models (IAMs) coexists due to the different approaches developed to deal with the complex interactions, high uncertainties and knowledge gaps within the environment and human societies. This paper describes the open-source MEDEAS modeling framework, which has been developed with the aim of informing decision-making to achieve the transition to sustainable energy systems with a focus on biophysical, economic, social and technological restrictions and tackling some of the limitations identified in the current IAMs. MEDEAS models include the following relevant characteristics: representation of biophysical constraints to energy availability; modeling of the mineral and energy investments for the energy transition, allowing a dynamic assessment of the potential mineral scarcities and computation of the net energy available to society; consistent representation of climate change damages with climate assessments by natural scientists; integration of detailed sectoral economic structure (inputâoutput analysis) within a system dynamics approach; energy shifts driven by physical scarcity; and a rich set of socioeconomic and environmental impact indicators. The potentialities and novel insights that this framework brings are illustrated by the simulation of four variants of current trends with the MEDEAS-world model: the consideration of alternative plausible assumptions and methods, combined with the feedback-rich structure of the model, reveal dynamics and implications absent in classical models. Our results suggest that the continuation of current trends will drive significant biophysical scarcities and impacts which will most likely derive in regionalization (priority to security concerns and trade barriers), conflict, and ultimately, a severe global crisis which may lead to the collapse of our modern civilization. Despite depicting a much more worrying future than conventional projections of current trends, we however believe it is a more realistic counterfactual scenario that will allow the design of improved alternative sustainable pathways in future work.Ministerio de EconomĂa, Industria y Competitividad (Project CO2017-85110-R)Ministerio de EconomĂa, Industria y Competitividad (Project JCI-2016â28833)MEDEAS project, funded by the European Unionâs Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant agree-ment no. 691287.LOCOMOTION project, funded by the EuropeanUnionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeunder grant agreement no. 82110
Climate Change Perpetrators: Ecocriticism, Implicated Subjects, and Anthropocene Fiction
Of late, perpetrator studies in the humanities has started to demonstrate eco-critical tendencies and potentialities, exploring the ways in which the environment has been co-opted in acts of perpetration and how it might figure in the representation and remembrance of atrocity. Conversely, eco-criticism has gestured towards perpetrator studies, for example in the attention paid to the âslow violenceâ of anthropogenic environmental disasters in terms of their devastating aftereffects and afterlives (Nixon). This chapter capitalises on this convergence of eco-criticism and perpetrator studies, formalising a distinct and innovative field of literary-critical enquiry in which the perpetrator and perpetration can be radically rethought. To be more precise, this chapter reads North American literary realismâin particular, the work of Richard Fordâand its suburban geography to map the infrastructures of fossil-fuelled American modernity, to trace the trajectories of energized neoliberal subjects âliving oilâ (LeMenager), and so to identify banal, quotidian, and overlooked acts of violence perpetrated in the form of routinized participation in a fossil-fuelled economy. Ecocritically contextualised, the violence enacted by these âimplicatedâ subjects (Rothberg) becomes apparent when considered in relation to its cumulative, belated environmental consequences â consequences manifest in the climatic backdrops against which human drama unfolds
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