Smart Energy Regions – skills, knowledge and supply chains

This book presents work undertaken as part of the COST Action Smart Energy Regions (SMARTER). Case studies are presented illustrating good practice used to enhance skills, knowledge, training and supply chains associated with energy and low carbon agenda at a regional scale across the 27 European countries participating in the Action and how these are helping to progress the low carbon agenda relevant to a regional scale. The skills, knowledge and training section provides a summary of different types of education and training opportunities available helping to identify gaps where further education and training would be required to enable a large scale roll out for low carbon technologies. The investigation into supply chains illustrates how businesses within the low carbon technology supply chain can be strengthened and supported further. This work supports the broader aims and objectives of the Smart Energy Regions COST Action to investigate the drivers and barriers that may impact on the large scale implementation of low carbon technologies in the built environment essential to meet the targets for sustainable development set by the EU and national governments. This publication is part of suite of outputs from the Smart Energy Regions COST Action investigating different aspects associated with implementation of the low carbon agenda at a region scale. This publication is supported by COST

Smart Energy Regions – skills, knowledge and supply chains

This book presents work undertaken as part of the COST Action Smart Energy Regions (SMARTER). Case studies are presented illustrating good practice used to enhance skills, knowledge, training and supply chains associated with energy and low carbon agenda at a regional scale across the 27 European countries participating in the Action and how these are helping to progress the low carbon agenda relevant to a regional scale. The skills, knowledge and training section provides a summary of different types of education and training opportunities available helping to identify gaps where further education and training would be required to enable a large scale roll out for low carbon technologies. The investigation into supply chains illustrates how businesses within the low carbon technology supply chain can be strengthened and supported further. This work supports the broader aims and objectives of the Smart Energy Regions COST Action to investigate the drivers and barriers that may impact on the large scale implementation of low carbon technologies in the built environment essential to meet the targets for sustainable development set by the EU and national governments. This publication is part of suite of outputs from the Smart Energy Regions COST Action investigating different aspects associated with implementation of the low carbon agenda at a region scale. This publication is supported by COST

Evaluation of an energy efficiency scheme to upgrade the existing domestic building stock of a local authority region. [Report to Warm Wales]

The aim of this report is to evaluate a scheme that has involved a significant financial investment in the installation of energy efficiency measures on a regional scale. The report will assist Local Authorities in Wales and the rest of the UK, the Welsh Assembly Government and the wider population to understand the impact of such investment and ways of approaching such a scheme

Optimization and comparison of multiple solar energy systems for public sanitation service buildings in Tibet

Qinghai Tibet Plateau, known as ‘Roof of the World’, is the highest and largest plateau on Earth, with an average elevation of 4900 m and spanning nearly two-thirds the size of the European continent. The energy consumption characteristics of public sanitation service buildings in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau are significantly different from traditional public buildings. It has unique advantages that allow these facilities to use the local enriched solar energy resources to meet the energy demand. This study proposes eight potential solar energy system schemes to obtain a suitable solar energy supply system and design an optimization method for public sanitation service buildings. The optimization models aimed at the life cycle cost for each solar energy system are established, and the equipment capacity in the system is optimized and simulated. Firstly, the optimized life cycle cost and equipment capacity of different solar energy system are compared and analyzed. Then, the short-term dynamic operation performance and the system's energy conservation, economic and CO2 emission reduction performance are comprehensively analyzed. Finally, the sensitivities of economic parameters and equipment price to the system optimization results are analyzed. The results indicate that the life cycle cost of the integrated solar hot water and heat storage system is 43% lower than that of the standalone solar hot air heat supply system and the standalone photovoltaic system. An optimized integrated system consisting of photovoltaic, photothermal, thermal storage, and power storage has the best comprehensive performance. The annual energy saving ratio of the integrated system is ∼85%, and the life cycle cost saving rate is about 50%. In addition, the sensitivity analysis shows that the electricity price is the most significant factor for life cycle cost compared to the annual interest and inflation rates. The price of a solar collector and air source heat pump have the most significant impact on the life cycle cost optimization results of a photovoltaic-photothermal-thermal and power storage integrated system

Poo gurus? Researching the threats and opportunities presented by human waste

There is huge geographical variation in the extent to which excrement represents a threat to human and environmental health. In the UK, we tend to think little of such risks. By contrast, 52% of all people in Asia have no access to basic sanitation and 95% of sewage in developing world cities is discharged untreated into rivers, lakes and coastal areas where it destroys aquatic life, reduces the potential of these ecosystems to support food security, facilitates the transmission of diseases and has a significant economic impact in terms of working days and earnings lost due to ill health. At the same time human excrement represents a resource that could be better utilized to promote human livelihoods and improve environmental quality through use as manure and as a source of biogas energy. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the importance of human waste (as both a threat and an opportunity) in different spatial, historical and cultural contexts and to highlight potential areas of interest for applied geographical research in future