Electricity Market Reform : So what's new?

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When safety is relative : Ecological Modernisation theory and the nuclear safety regulatory regimes of France, the United Kingdom and United States

Acknowledgement The author acknowledges the assistance of Antony Froggatt in securing research interviews.Peer reviewedPostprin

The UK offshore wind power programme : A sea-change in UK energy policy?

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UK Electricity Market Reform - revolution or much ado about nothing?

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Approximation by planar elastic curves

We give an algorithm for approximating a given plane curve segment by a planar elastic curve. The method depends on an analytic representation of the space of elastic curve segments, together with a geometric method for obtaining a good initial guess for the approximating curve. A gradient-driven optimization is then used to find the approximating elastic curve.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Version2: new section 5 added (conclusions and discussions

Energy transitions, sub-national government and regime flexibility : how has devolution in the United Kingdom affected renewable energy development?

We acknowledge the support of the Economic and Social Research Council for funding the research on which this paper was based (Grant Number RES-062-23-2526).Peer reviewedPostprin

Renewable Energy Auctions and Tenders: How good are they?

This paper analyses the performance of two cases of renewable energy (RE) auction/tender systems in an effort to contribute to the evaluation of RE auction/tender systems and to study best practice in their delivery of RE projects. This is done by comparing regimes in different settings, one concerned with Danish offshore wind development, the other concerned with renewable energy development in South Africa. It is found that regulatory factors which promote certainty in deployment, including measures to ensure that projects achieve grid connection, are important in assuring delivery of the programmes. However cost reductions that are associated with renewable energy auctions are not caused mainly by the auction systems themselves, but rather are associated with general declines in the costs of renewable energy technologies. Moreover, the effect of renewable energy auctions systems may be more concerned with limiting renewable energy deployment rather than reducing the costs of energy generated by renewable energy projects that are deployed

Rescaling the Governance of Renewable Energy : Lessons from the UK Devolution Experience

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the symposium ‘Scale in environmental governance: power reconfiguration, democratic legitimacy and institutional (mis-)fit’, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin 7-8 March 2013. We would like to thank the symposium participants, special issue editors and three anonymous referees for their comments and advice.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Intraocular currents, Bernoulli's principle and non-drainage scleral buckling for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment

For many years, it is not fully understood how non-drainage scleral buckling surgery brings about spontaneous reattachment of the detached retina when retinal breaks remain open at the end of surgery. Various explanations have been put forward, but none more interesting than the effect of fluid currents associated with eye movements. One such explanation involved the physics of the Bernoulli’s principle. Daniel Bernoulli was an eighteenth century Swiss mathematician and he described an equation based on the conservation of energy. The sum of pressure energy, potential energy and kinetic energy remains constant. Bernoulli’s equation usually applies to closed system such as the flow of fluid through pipes. When fluid flows through a constriction, the speed of fluid increases, the kinetic energy increases. If there was no change in elevation (potential energy), the increase in kinetic energy must be accompanied by a decrease in pressure energy. In ophthalmic surgery, the Bernoulli’s effect is the basis for venturi pumps that drive vitrectomy and phacoemulsification machines. This essay expounds on how Bernoulli’s effect might be relevant to scleral buckling for retinal detachment repair. In the era when vitrectomy is increasing the primary surgical operation for retinal detachment, the pervasive advice is to emphasise the importance of patient adopting head posture and remaining still postoperatively. The exception is non-drainage scleral buckling surgery. Early postoperative mobilisation may be vital to achieve reattachment