The GCC Countries’New Energy Policy:Present,Opportunities and Challenges

The GCC countries are rich in new energy resources.In the context of the shale gas revolution and the transformation of the global energy system,the GCC countries have formulated corresponding goals and plans to actively develop new energy,and they have achieved good results.GCC countries face opportunities and challenges in the development of new energy.Although some GCC countries have formulated their own shortterm and medium-to-long-term development goals and plans for new energy,there is still a certain gap between the current level of development and utilisation of new energy and the mediumand long-term development goals.

Green Renewable Power and Policy in Canada: A Just Energy Transition to Net-Zero

A just and sustainable future requires green renewable power. Net-zero by 2050 is the international goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and sustain the biosphere. Green renewable energy, including wind, solar, biomass and small hydro is abundant in Canada, with potential to satisfy demand with 100% green renewables. This paper compares the renewable power landscape across Canada’s provinces considering four factors—electricity energy mix, renewable energy targets (RETs), renewable energy standard offer programs (RESOPs), feed-in tariff (FITs) or community FITs (comFITs). The provinces with green renewable energy sources typically have enabling policies of RESOP, RETs and FITS, as Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario and New Brunswick do. In contrast, provinces with abundant oil and gas or large-scale hydro are without pro-renewable energy policies, nor community power options, excepting green renewables in Indigenous communities due to federal funding programs. Community green renewable power projects, such as the “Indigenous off-diesel initiative”, are creating jobs, community revenue and energy sovereignty, towards just and inclusive energy in off-grid Indigenous communities. To reduce climate change, fast-tracking net-zero electricity by 2035 is recommended with the prioritization of community renewable energy by RESOPs, FITs and comFITs. For the transportation and other sectors, banning of all fossil fuels before 2040 is needed. Finally, a long-term plan to reduce the negative impacts of hydroelectricity water fluctuation is needed, considering decommissioning some dams.

Strategic Placement of Charging Stations for Enhanced Electric Vehicle Adoption in San Diego, California

California mandated that 100% of vehicles sold must be electric by 2035. As electric vehicles (EVs) reach a higher penetration of the car sector, cities will need to provide publicly accessible charging stations to meet the charging demand of people who do not have access to a private charging spot like a personal garage. We have chosen to limit our scope to San Diego County due to its non-trivial size, well-defined shape, and dependence on personal vehicles;this project models 100% of current vehicles as electric, roughly 2.5 million. By planning for the future, our model becomes more useful as well as more equitable. We anticipate that our model will find locations that can service multiple population centers, while also maximizing distance to other stations. Sensitivity analysis and testing of our algorithms are conducted for Coronado Island, an island with 24,697 residents. Our formulation is then scaled to set the parameters for the whole county.

State-of-the-Art Analysis and Perspectives for Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading

As a promising solution to address the“energy trilemma”confronting human society,peer-to-peer(P2P)energy trading has emerged and rapidly developed in recent years.When carrying out P2P energy trading,customers with distributed energy resources(DERs)are able to directly trade and share energy with each other.This paper summarizes and analyzes the global development of P2P energy trading based on a comprehensive review of related academic papers,research projects,and industrial practice.Key aspects in P2P energy trading are identified and discussed,including market design,trading platforms,physical infrastructure and information and communication technology(ICT)infrastructure,social science perspectives,and policy.For each key aspect,existing research and practice are critically reviewed and insights for future development are presented.Comprehensive concluding remarks are provided at the end,summarizing the major findings and perspectives of this paper.P2P energy trading is a growing field with great potential and opportunities for both academia and industry across the world.

Investigation of availability,demand,targets,and development of renewable energy in 2017-2050:a case study in Indonesia

Abundant potential of renewable energy(RE)in Indonesia is predicted to replace conventional energy which continues to experience depletion year by year.However,until now,the use of RE has only reached 2%of the existing potential of 441.7 GW.The main overview of this work is to investigate the availability of RE that can be utilized for electricity generation in Indonesia.National energy demand and targets in the long run during the 2017-2050 period are also discussed.Besides,government policies in supporting RE development are considered in this work.The results show that the potential of RE in Indonesia can be utilized and might replace conventional energy for decades.The use of RE for electricity generation can be achieved by employing a government policy that supports the investor as the executor of RE development.The selling price of electricity generated from RE is cheaper than electricity generated from fossils;this makes economy is more affordable for people.Finally,the target set by the government for utilizing RE as the main energy in Indonesia can be done by implementing several policies for the RE development.Thus,greenhouse gas emissions and the use of petroleum fuels can be reduced.

The energy identity of mountainous areas:the example of Greece

Mountainous areas have been long recognized as particularly important for the planet and sustainable mountain development is a global priority. In order to improve the socioeconomic development perspectives of mountain societies, efficient and well-targeted energy strategies should be formed. An important step towards this direction is adequate understanding of local conditions and specific features that affect energy sector. This procedure allows the inclusion of "locality" in energy planning and so, decentralized energy production is facilitated. The present study attempts to determine the particular energy identity of mountainous areas. Greece, which is the second most mountainous country in the EU, has been selected as a case study. Essential features of the mountainous space have been selected, namely altitude, inclination, remoteness, lack of productive activities, old buildings/vernacular architecture, in order to explore their interrelation with the energy sector. Based on literature review and research findings the interaction between mountainous character and energy is outlined. Therefore, a framework of the characteristics of mountain energy identity is composed, which can provide support to the formation of specialized energy policy for mountainous areas. Some of the main findings of the present study include the significantly increased energy loads of mountainous areas, the abundance of renewable energy potential in high – altitude areas, the vulnerability of mountain societies to energy poverty and the difficulties in sitting energy projects in the restricted usable space of mountains. Since the literature regarding mountains and energy is rather poor the present paper aspires to be a step towards highlighting the importance of energy issues for mountain areas and societies. By determining the features of mountain energy identity energy planning in high – altitude areas and so, helping make energy planning more effective, such research works can be parts of sustainable development strategies for mountainous areas.

Does energy policy uncertainty matter for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies?An affordable and clean energy perspective

Uncertainty can affect both macroeconomic indicators and the environment.Countries are implementing various energy policies to combat global warming,but these policies contain some uncertainties and contradictions.The environmental impact of uncertainties in energy policies is a research topic that has just begun to be investigated by researchers.This study examines the effects of energy policy uncertainty(ENERPU)on renewable energy R&D(RR&D),energy efficiency R&D(EER&D)and renewable energy consumption in the four countries with the highest RR&D expenditures(USA,Germany,Japan,and Spain).The study uses the novel multivariate quantile-on-quantile(M-QQR)approach from 2003m1 to 2022m9.The results of the study show:(i)The impact of ENERPU varies by quantile and country.(ii)ENERPU causes a decrease in renewable energy consumption and hinders RR&D expenditures.(iii)ENERPU increases EER&D.The Fourier quantile causality test confirms the robustness of the empirical results.Based on these findings,policymakers are recommended to minimize ENERPU and implement stable energy policies to develop the renewable energy sector and technologies.

Nuclear Energy in the Energy Expansion of Turkey

Dependency of the human on the energy is ever-increasing today and the energy policies are reaching undeniable and un-ignorable dimensions steering the political events as well. Therefore, access to the energy and/or energy resources is becoming the highest priority for the countries. In this study, the criteria that have to be kept in view while creating the energy policies are explained first of all. Then the geopolitics, redundancy and diversity are described as the strategic criteria and furthermore, the availability, energy resources geography, and the technological, economical and environmental criteria are examined as the operative criteria and thereafter the issues such as installation period, utilization period, reliability, repair-maintenance and public validation are handled as the tactical criteria. The nuclear power plants are examined and evaluated according to the criteria set forth above while creating the energy policies. Under the light of this evaluation, the situation is examined and explicated in terms of the energy expansion of Turkey. Thus the place of the nuclear energy in the energy expansion of Turkey is clarified and emphasized.

Novel Approach to Energy Management via Performance Shaping Factors in Power Plants

The literature that a lack of integration between the performance shaping factors(PSFs)and the energy management performance(EMP)is one of the critical problems that prevent performance improvement and reduces the power plant’s efficiency.To solve this problem,this article aims to achieve two main objectives:(1)Systematically investigate and identify the critical success factors(CSFs)for integration with PSFs and EMP;(2)Develop a novel modelling approach to predict the performance of power plants based on innovative integrated strategies.The research methodology is grounded on the theoretical and practical approach to improving performance.The Newcastle Ottawa Scale(NOS)was used to assess the quality of the literature that met the criteria.To ensure the reliability and accuracy of the proposed model,the researchers developed a hypothesis and evaluated the CSFs via a case study in the Iraqi power plants.The findings of this study succeeded in developing a novel modeling approach to predict the performance by integrating the CSFs of both the PSFs and EMP to increase the positive interaction and energy efficiency of power plants.The results confirmed the validity of the selected hypotheses and verified the positive and important relationship with the success and improvement of the performance in power plants.However,the lack of consistency and balance in the current studies indicates that the performance strategy in power plants did not receive sufficient attention and needs further investigations.

Qualitative Comparison between the Brazilian Labeling Program for Buildings and the Portuguese Energy Certification System for Buildings:Proposals for Improving Brazilian Regulations

Buildings represent a significant share of the world’s energy consumption,and the sector has drawn the attention of governments,which have adopted policies to reduce energy expenditure.The Certifications of Energy Efficiency in Buildings stand out as one possible solution to achieve this goal,employed in several countries worldwide.The European Union presents advanced energy assessment programs for buildings,being a reference and model for several other regulations in the world.The Energy Certification System for Buildings(SCE)of Portugal is considered a success case,reflected in the significant number of energy certificates issued.The Brazilian Labeling Program for Building(PBE Edifica),first launched in 2009,does not find a broad application today in the Brazilian scenario.This work shows a synthesis of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive(EPBD)and the Brazilian and Portuguese regulations’history.A qualitative comparison is made between the SCE and the PBE Edifica to verify a European and a developing country’s regulations with a certain degree of cultural and climatic similarities.Through this comparison,proposals are made for improvements to Brazilian certification,seeking to improve its energy planning and energy policy concerning its building stock.The suggestions for improvement presented may also be appropriate for other developing countries that have started and have not yet successfully implemented their energy certification programs in buildings.

Final Move for an Integrated EU Energy Market： Energy Union

EU is in position of world＇s largest energy importer and plays an active role in energy markets. Therefore, the EU＇s energy policy has not only local but also global effects. Because of the two oil crises in the 1970＇s, energy has taken an important place in the EU＇s agenda and has become one of the EU＇s highest priorities as the part of the EU＇s goal of Single Market. Especially, the 1987 Single European Act followed by the goal of Single Market has come to dominate the idea of the necessity of having a single market for energy. A chapter about energy has been added into the letter of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon for the first time, thus energy has gained a new dimension and has had a legal basis. However, although there are energy rules defined at European level, there are 28 national regulatory structures in practice. Therefore, an integrated energy market is needed to create more competition, to increase market efficiency through better use of energy generation facilities across the EU, to produce affordable prices for consumers, and to move as whole, not as 28 separate countries. In this regard, the idea of creation of the Energy Union has emerged and the European Commission has published a detailed action plan for the Energy Union on February 25, 2015. In this study, historical process of initiatives for the creation of common energy policy in the EU is analyzed and the future of Energy Union is discussed.

Differential Impacts of Wind Energy on Sustainable Power Generation in Ghana

Ghana has a yearly development interest for power at a rate of 83.8% in 2010, and to 12% from 2020 to 2040 but this opportunity has been farfetched with the shocks in energy generation during 1983, 1994, 1997-98, and 2006-2007 era pushing the energy sector into crisis and a consequent adverse impact of 1.5% to GDP. This study, therefore, investigated the differential impacts of wind energy to sustainable power generation in Ghana by assessing the determinants of energy supply, energy demand and supply mix for energy development, the capacity of the energy sector to develop wind power and possible challenges in developing wind power energy in Ghana. An exploratory design that adopted both qualitative and quantities approaches was applied to the study. The study population involving 34 sample sizes was accessed from a 46 population made up of management/ministers of energy and counsellors or energy experts. The study concluded that the demand for energy in Ghana has increased over the years but without a commensurate increase in energy supply. Major reasons for the shortfall in energy supply have centred on the monopoly enjoyed by the major power producer which invariably places stress on its ability to supply energy to meet the increasing demand. It also came out that wind energy has the potential to contribute to the overall energy fortunes of Ghana. However, a focus on wind energy may not produce the required results of reducing the energy supply gap due to a preference for solar and natural gas oils. It was also noteworthy that the need to build capacity to develop and maintain wind energy through critical, current infrastructure stance of the Ghanaian energy sector would not make this agenda of developing wind energy a reality. More so, it is important to note that the need to enhance the current weak national policy, financial backing and bridge technology gap for wind energy would be needful to realise a vibrant investment into wind energy development.

Energy Security and Security Relationship

Energy policies and energy security are essential for all of the countries. ＂Energy supply security＂ is also important. Because developed countries do not have dominant energy sources adequately, energy security has in fact an undeniable importance. Today, fossil fuels are the dominant energy sources for almost all countries. Energy security is a vital concept that ranks in a lot of definition and stated with 4A （availability, acceptability, affordability, accessibility） impressions and also 6A （availability, acceptability, affordability, accessibility, appropriateness, adjustment） impressions including energy transit countries. Then it was arguing the threat risks of the energy security with four stages of growing up the events. Lastly, sub events in many varieties and different relations with them were given in details and prevent suggestions were proposed.

Research on Deepening Energy Cooperation between China and Countries along the Belt and Road

Promoting broader and deeper international energy cooperation is an important part of China’s energy development under the new development paradigm of“dual-circulation.”The proposal and practice of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)cooperation have encouraged closer energy cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road.Energy cooperation has become one of the areas with the fastest growth and the most remarkable achievements in the BRI construction,which has made an important contribution to the realization of China’s energy development with high quality under open conditions.To accelerate higher levels and more sustainable development of energy cooperation between China and the countries along the Belt and Road,it is necessary to further improve energy policy coordination mechanisms,widen the breadth and depth of energy facilities connectivity,promote unimpeded energy trade,and actively undertake innovative modes of financial support for energy cooperation as well as lay a sound social foundation for people-to-people bonds.

Energy Security in the European Union

According to the European Commission, the three challenges that Europe must face related to energy are sustainability, security of supply and reaching an effective competitiveness in the internal energy market. To meet these three challenges, the Commission deems necessary to implement a common energy policy. To this end, it proposed an action plan based on the effective creation of an internal energy market, the solidarity between Member States and security of supply for oil, gas and electricity, Therefore energy security is one of the main concerns, and so one of the priorities, of the new European energy policy proposed by the Commission. This paper tries to show that even though energy has been on the basis of what we call today European Union, it has been extremely complicated to get a common energy policy. Bearing this in mind, energy security has been one of the main areas of consensus that has led EU to the mentioned Commission proposal, and we can see now the first steps of the so much wanted common energy policy.

Understanding Barriers to Solar Energy Use in Taiwan Using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Integrated with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution

The aim of this paper was to serve as a reference for the development of renewable energy sources of energy policy in Taiwan by investigating current barriers to solar energy use. Through a meta-analysis of relevant literature, we classified current barriers into 3 dimensions and 13 criteria. Our selected methodology was the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DE- MATEL) integrated with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). This approach enabled us to determine the relationships among the dimensions and criteria. The results indicate the geographical and topographical factors represent the greatest barriers to solar energy development in Taiwan. Our findings serve as a valuable reference for decision-makers both in terms of policy and investment as well as offer a starting point for those working to priority barriers and choose the optimal barrier to the direction sustainable future in solar energy.

Status of Renewable Energy Applications in the Malaysian Energy Mix

Demand for power in Malaysia is projected to double the current demand in 2030. The current fuel mix for power generation is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. This has created energy supply and environmental sustainability concerns to the industry. Furthermore, at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009-15th Conference of Parties （COP15）, Malaysia had given the commitment to voluntary reduction of up to 40% in terms of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared to 2005 levels. Renewable energy （RE） provides the best alternative in addressing these issues. In 2001, RE was regarded as the fifth fuel in the new Five Fuel Strategy of the National Energy Policy. Small Renewable Energy Program （SREP） was launched with the main objective of supporting the government＇s strategy to intensify the development of RE as the fifth fuel resource. Biomass, the largest amongst the main RE resources available, can be used for heat and power generation. With optimum utilization, the value ofbiomass resources in Malaysia is estimated to be more than RM 500 billion （USD 156 billion） over the next 20 years. Malaysia has the capacity to use renewable energy resources to address the national energy agenda.

How do energy policies affect industrial green development in China:Renewable energy,energy conservation,or industrial upgrading?

The industrial sector has accounted for approximately 70%of China's total energy consumption over the past 30 years.Achieving green development is thus an important strategic goal of the Chinese industrial sector.The Chinese government has adopted various energy policies to facilitate industrial green development.Due to their different goals,these policies may have different impacts on the promotion of green development in the industrial sector.Using panel data on 31 provinces from 2007 to 2014,we examine the effects of three types of energy policies—renewable energy,energy conservation,and industrial upgrading—on industrial green development in China,measured using reduced energy intensity.Our empirical findings suggest that all three types facilitate industrial green development.However,effectiveness varies by policy type and region.Renewable energy and energy conservation policies have stronger impacts than policies aiming at upgrading traditional fossil fuel industries.Moreover,it takes longer for the effectiveness of industrial upgrading policies to be manifested,compared with the other two types.We discuss the implications of these empirical findings for future policymaking in promoting industrial green development.

A novel virtual machine deployment algorithm with energy efficiency in cloud computing

In order to improve the energy efficiency of large-scale data centers, a virtual machine(VM) deployment algorithm called three-threshold energy saving algorithm(TESA), which is based on the linear relation between the energy consumption and(processor) resource utilization, is proposed. In TESA, according to load, hosts in data centers are divided into four classes, that is,host with light load, host with proper load, host with middle load and host with heavy load. By defining TESA, VMs on lightly loaded host or VMs on heavily loaded host are migrated to another host with proper load; VMs on properly loaded host or VMs on middling loaded host are kept constant. Then, based on the TESA, five kinds of VM selection policies(minimization of migrations policy based on TESA(MIMT), maximization of migrations policy based on TESA(MAMT), highest potential growth policy based on TESA(HPGT), lowest potential growth policy based on TESA(LPGT) and random choice policy based on TESA(RCT)) are presented, and MIMT is chosen as the representative policy through experimental comparison. Finally, five research directions are put forward on future energy management. The results of simulation indicate that, as compared with single threshold(ST) algorithm and minimization of migrations(MM) algorithm, MIMT significantly improves the energy efficiency in data centers.

Forecasting of China's natural gas production and its policy implications

With the vigorous promotion of energy conservation and implementation of clean energy strategies,China＇s natural gas industry has entered a rapid development phase,and natural gas is playing an increasingly important role in China＇s energy structure.This paper uses a Generalized Weng model to forecast Chinese regional natural gas production,where accuracy and reasonableness compared with other predictions are enhanced by taking remaining estimated recoverable resources as a criterion.The forecast shows that China＇s natural gas production will maintain a rapid growth with peak gas of 323 billion cubic meters a year coming in 2036;in 2020,natural gas production will surpass that of oil to become a more important source of energy.Natural gas will play an important role in optimizing China＇s energy consumption structure and will be a strategic replacement of oil.This will require that exploration and development of conventional natural gas is highly valued and its industrial development to be reasonably planned.As well,full use should be made of domestic and international markets.Initiative should also be taken in the exploration and development of unconventional and deepwater gas,which shall form a complement to the development of China＇s conventional natural gas industry.