Editorial: Sustainable Energy Production and Consumption: System Accounting, Integrated Management, Policy Responses

Editorial on the Research Topic: Sustainable Energy Production and Consumption: System Accounting, Integrated Management, Policy Response

Study on Behavioral Decision Making by Power Generation Companies Regarding Energy Transitions under Uncertainty

With respect to decision making by companies, normative approaches such as the net present value (NPV) method are widely applied, even though it is known that investors may make non-normative decisions. This study aimed to obtain new information on the decision-making behavior of renewable energy (RE) companies under uncertainty in the energy market, which is not provided by the conventional normative approach. In this study, we designed a novel framework that expressed both normative and non-normative perspectives of decision making, and developed a behavioral decision-making model of a power generation company investing in large-scale RE (RE company). We also examined the decisions of the RE company under uncertainty in the energy market using the developed model, considering the Kansai region in Japan as an example study area. As a result, compared to the conventional NPV method, we obtained the following information: (i) heavy investments in either photovoltaics (PV) or wind resulted in decreased variable renewable energy (VRE) capacity, even though financial support was sufficient; (ii) balanced investments in both PV and wind yielded a larger VRE capacity in cases where financial support was sufficient; and (iii) co-worker’s suggestions that lowered the decision-makers’ reference point (RFP) encouraged VRE investments despite insufficient financial support

Will Capacity Mechanisms Conflict with Carbon Pricing?

Climate change and related national mitigation targets make the decarbonization of the power sector an urgent need. The power sector faces the challenge of considering the design and interaction between emission reduction policies, which can sometimes counteract each other. This study proposes a framework that can be used to quantitatively study the qualitative link between carbon pricing and capacity pricing. The framework is validated through a case study in Hokkaido, Japan, and used to further investigate the interaction between the two policies through a System Dynamics simulation model and scenario design. The results indicate that a carbon price would promote the introduction of wind power, as well as the reduction in fossil fuels, while the capacity price will mitigate the boom-and-bust investment cycle and stabilize electricity prices. However, when the two policy-based prices act on the power system simultaneously, the advantages will be offset by each other. The existence of the capacity price partially offsets the emission reduction effect of the carbon price, and the carbon price with a lower floor will also indirectly squeeze the generation space of flexible power plants. In order to address these inefficiencies, this study proposed a capacity price focused on subsidizing flexible power plants and also coupled with a higher floor carbon price, which results in a consistent incentive. It also promotes the decommissioning of carbon-intensive base-load power plants and reduces CO₂ emissions significantly

Electric and hydrogen rail : Potential contribution to net zero in the UK

Acknowledgements  This research was carried out under the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) as part of the ADdressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together (ADVENT) funded project. Funding was received from the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M019691/1), United Kingdom and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. The authors would also like to thank Dr Christian Brand, University of Oxford, for giving them access to the Transport Energy and Air Pollution Model (TEAM-UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Japan and the UK : Emission predictions of electric and hydrogen rail to 2050

Acknowledgements This research was carried out under the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) as part of the ADdressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together (ADVENT) funded project. Funding was received from the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M019691/1), United Kingdom and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Funding was also received from the Postgraduate Research Grant from University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. This work has also emanated from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under the SFI Strategic Partnership Programme Grant number SFI/15/SPP/E3125. The authors would also like to thank Dr Christian Brand, University of Oxford, for giving them access and guidance regarding the Trans- port Energy and Air Pollution Model (TEAM‐UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Seasonal change in bone, muscle and fat in professional rugby league players and its relationship to injury: A cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To examine the anthropometric characteristics of an Australian National Rugby League team and identify the relationship to type and incidence of injuries sustained during a professional season. It was hypothesised that body composition would not change discernibly across a season and that injury would be negatively related to preseason bone and muscle mass. DESIGN: A repeated measure, prospective, observational, cohort study. SETTING: Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 37 professional male Australian National Rugby League players, 24.3 (3.8) years of age were recruited for preseason 1 testing, of whom 25 were retested preseason 2. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures included biometrics; body composition (bone, muscle and fat mass; dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry; XR800, Norland Medical Systems, Inc); bone geometry and strength (peripheral quantitative CT; XCT 3000, Stratec); calcaneal broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA; QUS-2, Quidel); diet and physical activity history. Secondary outcome measures included player injuries across a single playing season. RESULTS: Lean mass decreased progressively throughout the season (pre=81.45(7.76) kg; post=79.89(6.72) kg; p≤0.05), while whole body (WB) bone mineral density (BMD) increased until mid-season (pre=1.235(0.087) g/cm(2); mid=1.296(0.093) g/cm(2); p≤0.001) then decreased thereafter (post=1.256(0.100); p≤0.001). Start-of-season WB BMD, fat and lean mass, weight and tibial mass measured at the 38% site predicted bone injury incidence, but no other relationship was observed between body composition and injury. CONCLUSIONS: Significant anthropometric changes were observed in players across a professional rugby league season, including an overall loss of muscle and an initial increase, followed by a decrease in bone mass. Strong relationships between anthropometry and incidence of injury were not observed. Long-term tracking of large rugby league cohorts is indicated to obtain more injury data in order to examine anthropometric relationships with greater statistical power

The End of Fossil Fuel Era: Supply-demand Measures through Energy Efficiency

4th International Conference on Sustainable Future for Human Security, SustaiN 2013In the last ten years, the world has faced an uncertain oil prices, unlike during 1970 when the oil crisis occurred due to the Middle East political crisis. The problem now facing has more in the increases of oil demand when the developed countries are not the major consumers for oil and other major fossil fuel anymore. China, India, Brazil and South East Asia nations lead the increases of the energy demand inline with their economic growth and population domination. The energy demand in ASEAN is dominated by the countries in Malaya peninsula (cognate) such as Indonesia and Malaysia (225 million and 25 million population respectively), Singapore and Brunei lead the domination in the economics, which are also one of the variables of the increases of energy demand. The paper will estimate the future energy demand (includes fossil fuel) ASEAN by using bottom up approach and various variables such as economic development and population trend from references developed countries, the country's landscape and technological efficiency. It shows that the energy demand increase for the region is inevitable, the increases are followed by some consequences such as local fossil fuel scarcity, technological boundaries and infrastructure adjustment. The efficiency is most likely to be one of the keys for the region to be survived in the next 5 to 6 decades

Assessing Sustainable Regional Energy Systems: A Case Study of Kansai, Japan

4th International Conference on Sustainable Future for Human Security, SustaiN 2013Understanding and assessing sustainable energy systems at various scales are a complex proposition. The task must take into account more than just the technical realm of energy, seeking to model the dynamic interplay between environmental, social and economic systems as they influence and are influenced by the technical energy system. Energy systems are often considered at a coarse level – at the scale of a nation – or at a relatively fine scale – at the technology end. However, scales of governance, institutions and the regional territory of electricity providers (for example) can make for useful scales of analysis. The current paper describes some of the important elements for undertaking co-design and assessment of energy systems for more resilient, desirable and sustainable energy futures. Key steps are described, among which is a novel model of the technical energy system that incorporates local environmental and planetary limitations. The initial model considerations and an analysis of enablers and barriers, as well as the interactions with the scenario development are presented

Mineral-Water-Energy Nexus: Implications of Localized Production and Consumption for Industrial Ecology

Urban and remote areas are increasingly using decentralised systems for renewable energy production and storage, as well as for water harvesting and recycling and to a lesser extent for product manufacture via 3D printing. This paper asks two questions – how will these developments affect (i) the end-uses of minerals, including critical minerals and (ii) the implications for industrial ecology and the development of a sound materials cycle society. We find a trade-off between using higherperformance critical minerals in low concentrations which are complex to recycle, and unalloyed, standardised materials for increased effectiveness across multiple reuse cycles. Design and operational challenges for managing decentralised infrastructure are also discussed as their uptake approaches a tipping point

Deterministic coupling of delta-doped NV centers to a nanobeam photonic crystal cavity

The negatively-charged nitrogen vacancy center (NV) in diamond has generated significant interest as a platform for quantum information processing and sensing in the solid state. For most applications, high quality optical cavities are required to enhance the NV zero-phonon line (ZPL) emission. An outstanding challenge in maximizing the degree of NV-cavity coupling is the deterministic placement of NVs within the cavity. Here, we report photonic crystal nanobeam cavities coupled to NVs incorporated by a delta-doping technique that allows nanometer-scale vertical positioning of the emitters. We demonstrate cavities with Q up to ~24,000 and mode volume V ~ $0.47({\lambda}/n)^{3}$ as well as resonant enhancement of the ZPL of an NV ensemble with Purcell factor of ~20. Our fabrication technique provides a first step towards deterministic NV-cavity coupling using spatial control of the emitters.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure