Low-carbon Energy Security from a European Perspective


Book Description

Low-Carbon Energy Security from a European Perspective draws on the European Commission's funded project MILESECURE-2050. It considers low-carbon energy security and energy geopolitics in Europe, with a focus on four thematic clusters: challenging the energy security paradigm; climate change and energy security objectives (the components of a secure and low-carbon energy system); energy security in a geopolitical perspective, as it relates to economics, resource competition, and availability; and the influence of large scale renewable energy projects on energy security and shifting geopolitical alliances. An overarching narrative is that optimizing the energy system simultaneously across different objectives may be impossible, i.e., lowest cost, least environmental impact, minimal downtime, regional supply. This book explores these charged topics through insights from a series of novel, new energy project case studies, and demonstrates the need for difficult political conversations within Europe and beyond by posing fundamental yet new questions about the energy security paradigm. - Offers a unique perspective on low-carbon energy security by considering the assumptions behind current energy security needs - Suggests the benefit of envisioning energy security through out-of-the-box scenario development with respect to the energy system - Includes energy in an international scenario with case studies from Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Morroco, China, South America, and Europe - Draws on the European Commission's funded project MILESECURE-2050




Towards a Climate-Neutral Europe


Book Description

This book explains the EU’s climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. The latest changes to the legislation are fully explained throughout. The chapters throughout this volume show that no single policy instrument can bring down greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge facing the EU, as for many countries that have made pledges under the Paris Agreement, is to put together a toolbox of policy instruments that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. The book stands out by the fact it covers the EU’s emissions trading system, the energy sector and other economic sectors, including their development in the context of international climate policy. This accessible book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and policy makers alike. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9789276082569, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.




Renewable Energy in Europe


Book Description

How can the European Union meet its binding 20% renewable energy target in final energy consumption by the year 2020? Which sources offer the best prospects for realizing this goal? These are the questions answered by this key book which analyses the current situation of renewable energy in Europe, examines the latest technological, financial and economic developments, and outlines ways in which the renewable energy market can be developed. The book is divided into sections examining the integration of renewable energy, electricity, heating and cooling as well as biofuels. All the main technologies are covered, with exploration of: ' benefits and applications ' costs and prices ' markets and installed capacity ' policy instruments ' key countries and success stories ' targets and long term potential This will be essential reading for policy decision-makers at all levels and to all those involved in the development of the renewable energy industry.




Global Renewables Outlook: Energy Transformation 2050


Book Description

This outlook highlights climate-safe investment options until 2050, policies for transition and specific regional challenges. It also explores options to eventually cut emissions to zero.




Renewable Energy Prospects


Book Description

Indonesia is the largest country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), accounting for around two fifths of the region's energy consumption. Energy demand across the country's more than 17,000 islands could increase by four fifths and electricity demand could triple between 2015 and 2030.While reliance on domestic coal and imported petroleum products has grown, Indonesia has started adding more renewables to its energy mix. The country has set out to achieve 23% renewable energy use by 2025, and 31% by 2050.REmap - the global roadmap from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) - addresses this challenge, presenting a range of technology and resource options, along with key insights on the opportunities and challenges ahead.As this REmap country report shows, Indonesia could feasibly exceed its current goals and deploy even more renewables. In fact, the country could reach its 2050 target two decades sooner - by 2030.




Energy and Civilization


Book Description

A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.




Energy Poverty


Book Description

This open access book aims to consolidate and advance debates on European and global energy poverty by exploring the political and infrastructural drivers and implications of the condition across a variety of spatial scales. It highlights the need for a geographical conceptualization of the different ways in which household-level energy deprivation both influences and is contingent upon disparities occurring at a wider range of spatial scales. There is a strong focus on the relationships among energy transformation, institutional change and place-based factors in determining the nature and location of energy-related injustices. The book also explores how patterns and structures of energy poverty have changed over time, as evidenced by some of the common measures used to describe the condition. In part, this means investigating the makeup of energy poor demographics across various social and spatial cleavages. More broadly, it also argues that energy sector reconfigurations are both reflected in and shaped by various domains of social and political organization, especially in terms of creating poverty-relevant outcomes.




Energy and Empire


Book Description

What set the United States on the path to developing commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s, and what led to the seeming demise of that industry in the late 1970s? Why, in spite of the depletion of fossil fuels and the obvious dangers of global warming, has the United States moved so slowly toward adopting alternatives? In Energy and Empire, George A. Gonzalez presents a clear and concise argument demonstrating that economic elites tied their advocacy of the nuclear energy option to post-1945 American foreign policy goals. At the same time, these elites opposed government support for other forms of energy, such as solar, that cannot be dominated by one nation. While researchers have blamed safety concerns and other factors as helping to arrest the expansion of domestic nuclear power plant construction, Gonzalez points to an entirely different set of motivations stemming from the loss of America’s domination/control of the enrichment of nuclear fuel. Once foreign countries could enrich their own fuel, civilian nuclear power ceased to be a lever the United States could use to economically/politically dominate other nations. Instead, it became a major concern relating to nuclear weapons proliferation.




The New World of Utilities


Book Description

After decades of stability, power systems are currently undergoing a rapid transition - demand patterns are evolving, while supply sources are shifting to renewable energies at an accelerated pace. This book, written by an experienced energy professional, combines the various aspects of supply and demand developments to offer a unified perspective. It highlights the key changes that the world of electric utilities and power systems will face in the coming decade, as well as the major challenges that will emerge as a result. Supplemented by a wealth of global and local data, the book describes the major patterns that affect both supply and demand, and provides a quantified analysis of their impacts on power system grids and markets. Lastly, it explores the new technologies that can enable the success of these transformations.




Renewable energy market analysis: Southeast Europe


Book Description

This report analyses the regional energy landscape, potential and costs, policy and investment needs, and expected socio-economic impact from a shift to renewables.