As power systems around the world transform, power system flexibility has become a global priority. A range of operational, policy and investment-based interventions are available to render modern ...systems more flexible, thereby facilitating cleaner, and more reliable, more resilient, and more affordable energy. This report identifies challenges and opportunities to unlock system flexibility and accelerate power system transformation (PST) efforts. It provides an overview of the policy, regulatory and market instruments which can be implemented in different power sector contexts to mitigate these challenges. Importantly, all power system assets, including variable renewable energy, can provide flexibility services, if enabled by proper policy, market and regulatory frameworks. These assets include power plants, electricity networks, energy storage and distributed energy resources. A wealth of known strategies, approaches and instruments can be readily applied and adapted to power systems. These include modifications to: energy strategies; legal frameworks; policies and programmes; regulatory frameworks; market rules; system operation protocols; and connection codes. Moving forward, updating system flexibility policies to match the pace of technological development can help to accelerate global PST, while ensuring that all classes of power system assets are able to receive fair remuneration for the flexibility services they are capable of providing.
In Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance , Florentine Koppenborg argues that the regulatory reforms taken up in the wake of the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, directly ...and indirectly raised the costs of nuclear power in Japan. The Nuclear Regulation Authority resisted capture by the nuclear industry and fundamentally altered the environment for nuclear policy implementation. Independent safety regulation changed state-business relations in the nuclear power domain from regulatory capture to top-down safety regulation, which raised technical safety costs for electric utilities. Furthermore, the safety agency's extended emergency preparedness regulations expanded the allegorical backyard of NIMBY demonstrations. Antinuclear protests, mainly lawsuits challenging restarts, incurred additional social acceptance costs. Increasing costs undermined pronuclear actors' ability to implement nuclear power policy and caused a rift inside the nuclear village. Small nuclear safety administration reforms were, in fact, game changers for nuclear power politics in Japan. Koppenborg's findings contribute to the vibrant conversations about the rise of independent regulatory agencies, crisis as a mechanism for change, and the role of nuclear power amid global interest in decarbonizing our energy supply.
In Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the
Politics of Safety Governance , Florentine
Koppenborg argues that the regulatory reforms taken up in the wake
of the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, directly ...and
indirectly raised the costs of nuclear power in Japan. The
Nuclear Regulation Authority resisted capture by the nuclear
industry and fundamentally altered the environment for nuclear
policy implementation. Independent safety regulation changed
state-business relations in the nuclear power domain from
regulatory capture to top-down safety regulation, which raised
technical safety costs for electric utilities. Furthermore, the
safety agency's extended emergency preparedness regulations
expanded the allegorical backyard of NIMBY demonstrations.
Antinuclear protests, mainly lawsuits challenging restarts,
incurred additional social acceptance costs. Increasing costs
undermined pronuclear actors' ability to implement nuclear power
policy and caused a rift inside the "nuclear village." Small
nuclear safety administration reforms were, in fact, game changers
for nuclear power politics in Japan.
Koppenborg's findings contribute to the vibrant conversations
about the rise of independent regulatory agencies, crisis as a
mechanism for change, and the role of nuclear power amid global
interest in decarbonizing our energy supply.
In this update to the 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review, Ross Garnaut re-examines the case for action in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and recent developments by major countries to ...reduce emissions and prepare for a low-carbon future. He guides the reader through the climate change debate, and explains why Australia's contribution is vital to the national interest and matters to the global effort. He outlines a set of policies through which Australia can contribute its fair share without damaging Australian prosperity. The Garnaut Review 2011: Australia in the Global Response to Climate Change extends the analysis to contemporary economic, political and environmental conditions in a way that is clear and easy to understand. It is an essential resource for all who care about the future of our economy and environment.
Outage Ani Balabanyan, Edon Vrenezi, Lauren Pierce, Denzel Hankinson
2011, 03-22-2011, 2011-03-22, 20110101
eBook, Book
Open access
This study analyzes the impacts of the financial crisis on power sectors in five countries in the region: Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. Before the financial crisis, these ...countries faced expected power shortages as a result of large investment gaps. With the financial crisis, GDP dropped, leading to a drop in demand for electricity. The drop in demand created a window of opportunity for meeting investment needs, but the crisis has limited the sources of financing available to the sector. In the post-crisis period, the study concludes that policymakers need to prioritize public spending and create a legal and regulatory environment more conducive to private investment.
A new type of heterogeneous catalyst for hydration of alpha-pinene was prepared. Montmorillonite K10 was treated by various acids (H.sub.2SO.sub.4, HCl, HNO.sub.3, and ClCH.sub.2COOH) and ...successfully used for the mentioned reaction. The used characterization techniques showed that the acid treatment improved the properties of K10 important for the catalytic activity (S.sub.BET and acidity). On the other hand, the morphology and particle size distribution remained the same. Regarding the selectivity (side and consecutive reactions can proceed), the optimal reaction conditions were found (temperature, type of the catalyst, amount of the catalyst, molar ratio alpha-pinene: water, type of water, solvent). Using the optimal reaction conditions, 60% conversion of alpha-pinene was achieved with 45% selectivity to alpha-terpineol (80 °C, 25 wt% of K10/HCl, or K10/H2SO4, n.sub.alpha-pinene:n.sub.water 1:7.5, 1,4-dioxane as a solvent, 24 h). Higher conversions of alpha-pinene, as well as higher selectivity to alpha-terpineol, were achieved using all acid treated K10 in comparison to raw K10. Considering the heterogeneous form of prepared catalysts, its availability, low price and easy method of preparation, these catalysts dispose of a large potential for application as catalysts for hydration reactions. Graphic
Navigating on the Titanic outlines the brief history of economic growth and the private and public institutions - markets, corporations, households, and governments - which underpin that growth. ...Bryne Purchase examines mega-risks related to our economy's use of fossil fuels and specifically looks at resource depletion, energy security, and climate change - all "mega-risks" because they are both global in scope and potentially existential in impact. Focusing on North America, with a particular emphasis on the United States, Purchase's central argument is that the institutions which have produced spectacular economic growth are not capable of acting with prudence to deal with these mega-risks before they become a real danger. He identifies certain institutional design flaws that, while underwriting economic growth, leave society open to potentially catastrophic failure and reveals how these design flaws have been compounded by the stresses of the growing income inequality in society.
A vast amount has been written on climate change and what should be our response. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation suggests that most of this literature takes a far too optimistic position ...regarding the potential for conventional mitigation solutions to achieve the deep cuts in greenhouse gases necessary in the limited time frame we have available. In addition, global environmental problems, as exemplified by climate change, and global resource problems - such as fossil fuel depletion or fresh water scarcity - have largely been seen as separate issues. Further, proposals for solution of these problems often focus at the national level, when the problems are global. The authors argue that the various challenges the planet faces are both serious and interconnected. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation takes a global perspective in its treatment of various solutions: - renewable energy, - nuclear energy, - energy efficiency, - carbon sequestration, and - geo-engineering. It also addresses the possibility that realistic solutions cannot be achieved until the fundamentally ethical question of global equity - both across nations today and also inter-generational - is fully addressed. Such an approach will also involve reorienting the global economy away from an emphasis on growth and toward the direct satisfaction of basic human needs for all the Earth's people. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation is aimed at the many members of the public with an awareness of climate change, but who wish to find out more about how we need to respond to the challenge. It will also be of interest to technical professionals, as well as postgraduate students and researchers, from the environmental and engineering science sectors.
![Preparation of [alpha]-Terp...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/1011-372X/small "Preparation of [alpha]-Terpineol from Biomass Resource Catalysed by Acid Treated Montmorillonite K10")
