Low Carbon Energy Technologies for Sustainable Energy Systems examines, investigates, and integrates current research aimed at operationalizing low carbon technologies within complex transitioning energy economies. Scholarly research has traditionally focused on the technical aspects of exploitation, R&D, operation, infrastructure, and decommissioning, while approaches which can realistically inform their reception and scale-up across real societies and real markets are piecemeal and isolated in separate literatures. Addressing both the technical foundations of each technology together with the sociotechnical ways in which they are spread in markets and societies, this work integrates the technoeconomic assessment of low carbon technologies with direct discussion on legislative and regulatory policies in energy markets. Chapters address issues, such as social acceptance, consumer awareness, environmental valuation systems, and the circular economy, as low carbon technologies expand into energy systems sustainability, sensitivity, and stability. This collective research work is relevant to both researchers and practitioners working in sustainable energy systems. The combination of these features makes it a timely book that is useful and attractive to university students, researchers, academia, and public or private energy policy makers. - Combines socio-cultural perspectives, environmental sustainability, and economic feasibility in the analysis of low carbon energy technologies - Assesses regulatory governance impacting the environmental protection and the social cohesion of environmentally-directed energy markets - Reviews the carbon trade exchange, attributing economic value to carbon and enabling its trading perspectives by people, companies or countries invested in low carbon technologies

Technological Learning in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Energy System: Conceptual Issues, Empirical Findings, and Use in Energy Modeling quantifies key trends and drivers of energy technologies deployed in the energy transition. It uses the experience curve tool to show how future cost reductions and cumulative deployment of these technologies may shape the future mix of the electricity, heat and transport sectors. The book explores experience curves in detail, including possible pitfalls, and demonstrates how to quantify the 'quality' of experience curves. It discusses how this tool is implemented in models and addresses methodological challenges and solutions. For each technology, current market trends, past cost reductions and underlying drivers, available experience curves, and future prospects are considered. Electricity, heat and transport sector models are explored in-depth to show how the future deployment of these technologies—and their associated costs—determine whether ambitious decarbonization climate targets can be reached - and at what costs. The book also addresses lessons and recommendations for policymakers, industry and academics, including key technologies requiring further policy support, and what scientific knowledge gaps remain for future research. - Provides a comprehensive overview of trends and drivers for major energy technologies expected to play a role in the energy transition - Delivers data on cost trends, helping readers gain insights on how competitive energy technologies may become, and why - Reviews the use of learning curves in environmental impacts for lifecycle assessments and energy modeling - Features social learning for cost modeling and technology diffusion, including where consumer preferences play a major role

Future energy technologies must embrace and achieve sustainability by displacing fossil carbon-intensive energy consumption or capture/reuse/sequester fossil carbon. This book provides a deeper knowledge on individual low (and zero) carbon technologies in a comprehensive way, covering details of recent developments on these technologies in different countries. It also covers materials and processes involved in energy generation, transmission, distribution, storage, policies, and so forth, including solar electrical; thermal systems; energy from biomass and biofuels; energy transmission, distribution, and storage; and buildings using energy-efficient lighting.

In this timely book, leading authors explore the technologies that might help us to develop a sustainable energy future, emphasising renewable energy and the political and economic context needed for them to prosper. This collection makes hard-headed assessments of what is possible and what is not.

Technological Learning in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Energy System: Conceptual Issues, Empirical Findings, and Use in Energy Modeling quantifies key trends and drivers of energy technologies deployed in the energy transition. It uses the experience curve tool to show how future cost reductions and cumulative deployment of these technologies may shape the future mix of the electricity, heat and transport sectors. The book explores experience curves in detail, including possible pitfalls, and demonstrates how to quantify the 'quality' of experience curves. It discusses how this tool is implemented in models and addresses methodological challenges and solutions. For each technology, current market trends, past cost reductions and underlying drivers, available experience curves, and future prospects are considered. Electricity, heat and transport sector models are explored in-depth to show how the future deployment of these technologies--and their associated costs--determine whether ambitious decarbonization climate targets can be reached - and at what costs. The book also addresses lessons and recommendations for policymakers, industry and academics, including key technologies requiring further policy support, and what scientific knowledge gaps remain for future research. Provides a comprehensive overview of trends and drivers for major energy technologies expected to play a role in the energy transition Delivers data on cost trends, helping readers gain insights on how competitive energy technologies may become, and why Reviews the use of learning curves in environmental impacts for lifecycle assessments and energy modeling Features social learning for cost modeling and technology diffusion, including where consumer preferences play a major role

Despite decades of effort and billions of dollars spent, two thirds of people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity, a vital pre-cursor to economic development and poverty reduction. Ambitious international policy commitments seek to address this, but scholarship has failed to keep pace with policy ambitions, lacking both the empirical basis and the theoretical perspective to inform such transformative policy aims. Sustainable Energy for All aims to fill this gap. Through detailed historical analysis of the Kenyan solar PV market the book demonstrates the value of a new theoretical perspective based on Socio-Technical Innovation System Building. Importantly, the book goes beyond a purely academic critique to detail exactly how a Socio-Technical Innovation System Building approach might be operationalized in practice, facilitating both a detailed plan for future comparative research as well as a clear agenda for policy and practice. Chapters 1 and 6 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SRREN) assesses the potential role of renewable energy in the mitigation of climate change. It covers the six most important renewable energy sources - bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean and wind energy - as well as their integration into present and future energy systems. It considers the environmental and social consequences associated with the deployment of these technologies, and presents strategies to overcome technical as well as non-technical obstacles to their application and diffusion. SRREN brings a broad spectrum of technology-specific experts together with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, it presents an impartial assessment of the current state of knowledge: it is policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. SRREN is an invaluable assessment of the potential role of renewable energy for the mitigation of climate change for policymakers, the private sector, and academic researchers.

Technologies for Integrated Energy Systems and Networks Explore emerging technologies that will play a central role in humanity’s transition to a low-carbon future In Technologies for Integrated Energy Systems and Networks, a team of distinguished authors delivers a detailed discussion of integrated energy systems and networks, including a comprehensive overview of emerging technologies. The book focuses on the technologies and systems that play a major role in integrated energy systems, like renewable and distributed energy resources, power conversion technologies, hydrogen, storage technologies, electric mobility, zero- and positive-energy buildings, and local energy communities. A one-of-a-kind and holistic treatment of integrated energy systems, this book explores power conversion, including power-to-gas, power-to-liquid, and power- to-heat technologies, as well as other issues of interest to a broad range of students, professionals, and academicians involved in energy transition. It also covers: A thorough introduction to the digitalization of the energy sector and local market development enabling citizen involvement Comprehensive explorations of integrated energy systems as an engine of energy transition Practical discussions of renewable and distributed energy resources for sustainable economic development In-depth examinations of the role of hydrogen in a low-carbon energy future and the storage technologies of different energy carriers Perfect for electrical, construction, power and energy engineers, Technologies for Integrated Energy Systems and Networks will also earn a place in the libraries of electrochemists and environmental consultants.

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

Summary of cutting-edge research, latest advances, and future directions in low carbon and renewable energy systems Renewable Energy Technologies for Low-Carbon Development provides a comprehensive overview of recent and cutting-edge research progress in a variety of current renewable energy and low carbon development research areas, focusing on sustainable energy from various perspectives such as thermoelectric power generation, organic solar cells, lithium batteries, solar thermochemical energy storage, and nano-friction power generation. The book discusses the methodologies and research development of each renewable energy route based on its unique characteristics. Following a brief overview of renewable energy, this book also reviews low-carbon research in traditional fossil energy (coal, oil) and promotes the development of renewable energy with the sustainable recovery and utilization of carbon. Because of the uniqueness of CO2 in low-carbon development, CO2 storage and application are discussed separately. Written by three highly qualified authors, Renewable Energy Technologies for Low-Carbon Development explores sample topics including: Thermoelectric power generators and their applications, application of nanomaterials in organic solar cells, and advances in low-temperature na-ion battery energy storage Thermochemical energy storage for renewable solar energy utilization, and recent progress and new challenges in triboelectric nanogenerators Manufacturing, recovery, and reuse of wind turbine blades in wind power generation and electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction in fuel cells Carbon fiber in renewable energy development, sustainable carbon nanofluids of petroleum extraction, and carbon dioxide capture and chemical conversion into fuels Renewable Energy Technologies for Low-Carbon Development is an essential reference on the subject for materials scientists, power engineers, electrochemists, electronics engineers, and all professionals working at energy supplying companies and in the broader chemical industry.