Orientador: Luciano Galvão Coutinho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T11:56:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ruas_JoseAugustoGaspar_M.pdf: 2416842 bytes, checksum: 43f1d5a313cb66887da15adc39faa40c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: A indústria de gás natural é um dos grandes vetores do atual desenvolvimento energético mundial. No Brasil, após passar por períodos de importância secundária, tem adquirido destaque nas estratégias empresariais e governamentais e ampliado sua participação na matriz energética nacional. Este trabalho busca elucidar o movimento de ascensão da Indústria de Gás Natural no Brasil, descrevendo sua formação e componentes estruturais de desenvolvimento histórico. Valendo-se de análises sobre as condições de oferta, transporte, distribuição e consumo, traça as principais características e tendências no mercado nacional desse combustível. A análise das políticas, regulação em gás natural e estratégias da Petrobrás, por sua vez, é responsável pelo entorno institucional e complementação do cenário, subsidiando perspectivas em torno do avanço do energético no país. A identificação de etapas de desenvolvimento históricas e das específicas inter-relações de suas dimensões, são ferramentas para sugestão de alguns caminhos a serem seguidos para a delimitação de uma nova etapa de desenvolvimento harmônico na indústria de gás natural no Brasil / Abstract: The Natural Gas Industry (NGI) is one of the most important sectors in the recent growth of energy industry. In Brazil, after a long period playing a secondary role in national energy mix, natural gas (NG) became a important alternative in public and private strategies. The aim of this work is to understand the historical path of NGI in Brazil, describing its formation and its structural characteristics. To attain this objective, NG production, transport, distribution and consumption analysis are the best way to explain national market characteristics and its main tendencies. The analisys of politics, regulation, and Petrobras strategies, the most important player in brazilian NGI, is the best way to understand institutional environment and its contribution to medium and long run growth. The historical relationship of this diferent dimensions and its transformations during the last forty years can describe stages ind brazilian NGI and indicates some ways to attain harmonic delevolpment in the next decades / Mestrado / Teoria Economica / Mestre em Ciências Econômicas

Since the start of the 21st century, energy security concerns and rising international energy costs have led China to pursue the development of a coal to oil industry, whereby converting a portion of the nation's abundant coal reserves into gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel, China might be able to increase its domestic oil production and generate profits. But a large-scale coal to oil industry exerts added pressure on China's domestic coal reserves and water resources, and generates significant greenhouse gas emissions. The tension between the potential benefits of coal to oil development and its associated negative externalities present a challenge for China's energy policymakers, who must balance competing demands for energy security, resource management, and equitable development. The challenge of effectively managing the development of this industry is complicated by the characteristic problems plaguing energy sector governance in China, including the absence of a powerful energy policymaking institution, the decentralized nature of the country's economic development, and the influence of large energy companies. This study examines the evolution of China's coal to oil industry and the policies shaping its development in order to better understand energy sector governance in China and the complex challenges confronting policymakers as they strive to balance an array of competing demands. It finds that weak energy institutions and powerful domestic actors indeed hinder China's ability to efficiently formulate energy policies for the coal to oil industry, while considerations about the industry's environmental and resource impacts compel a cautious approach to development. China's incremental approach to formulating a long-term plan for the development of the coal to oil industry may, in the end, yield more effective policies.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment to the degree of Master of Science in the School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, 2018 / With the global energy consumption at an all-time high and the demand for energy estimated to triple by 2050, renewable energy sources such as solar are pivotal in an addressing this global energy demand. Solar power generation by photovoltaic cells enjoys several advantages compared to other forms of electricity generation such as a reduced fossil fuel dependence, modularity, easy and flexible installation, and scalability. The development of novel solar cells that offer increased efficiencies is an integral component of the process of addressing the global energy needs. Solar cell device simulations offer a cost-effective means to explore the impact of different material properties on the overall efficiency of the solar cell. The use of ab initio calculated material properties that serve as an import for the device simulations offers a means to easily study and estimate the typical solar cell efficiencies of different types of solar cells. The implementation of new light harnessing features, like frequency conversion layers or plasmonic nanoparticles, and the integration of these futures into existing device simulation codes serves as a useful tool that aids solar cell development. This work explores the theoretical and numerical background for the simulation of solar cell devices. A brief explanation of how ab initio calculated parameters can be used, together with the implementation of frequency conversion techniques in existing simulation codes is given. It is shown that the solar cell performance parameters can be well approximated using ab intio parameters. Also, the positive effect of frequency conversion techniques is demonstrated with examples of how this tool can be implemented in existing solar cell device simulation codes. The approaches discussed in this work can serve as a good framework for the modeling of novel solar cell devices / MT 2019

Thesis (doctoral)--Freie Universität, Berlin, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The Saudi Arabian natural gas industry and its downstream activity, particularly petrochemicals, is characterized by its dependence on the country's crude oil production. This is because the main input into these industries is associated natural gas. Most of the Saudi gas-based petrochemical products are sold in international markets where their cost advantage over naphtha-based products is directly proportional to the crude oil price. The profits from Saudi natural gas and its dependent industries are influenced by two countervailing factors. The first is that of the level of crude oil production which determines the utilization level of the gas industry. The second is the international crude oil price on which the returns from petrochemicals, liquified petroleum gases and natural gasoline are directly proportional. This creates a tradeoff situation and necessitates finding a crude oil production level subject to optimizing the country's gas utilization system. A linear programming model is constructed to establish this level and to investigate possible ways to satisfy the country's future gas requirement. The results of the model indicate that the associated gas produced in conjunction with 6.78 million barrels of crude oil per day is needed to operate the gas utilization system at capacity. However, the model estimates that gas associated with a daily crude oil production level of 4.35 million barrels produces the highest returns from the system. Furthermore, to meet the country's gas requirements for 1990 and 2000, based on 4.35 million barrels per day of crude oil, the current daily nonassociated gas capacity should be expanded to 2.27 and 3.15 billion cubic feet, respectively.

The solar industry has grown considerably in the last few years. This larger scale has introduced more problems as well as possibilities. One of those possibilities is analyzing the data coming from the sites that are now being monitored, and using the information to answer a variety of questions. We have four questions which are of prime importance identified in this thesis: 1. Can data from customers be trusted? 2. Can we use data from existing sites to determine which sites need the most improvement? 3. Can we implement a location-based algorithm to reduce the amount of false positives for performance, or other alarms? 4. Can we improve upon the current predicted power algorithm? We find that not only can we answer these questions definitively, but the improvements found are of significant value. Each of these items represents an important question that either directly or indirectly translates into increased revenue and engineering improvements for the solar industry as a whole.

Investment in Research and Development (R&D) is necessary for innovation, allowing an organization to maintain a competitive edge. The U.S. Federal Government invests billions of dollars, primarily in basic research technologies to help fill the pipeline for other organizations to take the technology into commercialization. However, it is not about just investing in innovation, it is about converting that research into application. A cursory review of the research proposal evaluation criteria suggests that there is little to no emphasis placed on the transfer of research results. This effort is motivated by a need to move research into application. One segment that is facing technology challenges is the energy sector. Historically, the electric grid has been stable and predictable; therefore, there were no immediate drivers to innovate. However, an aging infrastructure, integration of renewable energy, and aggressive energy efficiency targets are motivating the need for research and to put promising results into application. Many technologies exist or are in development but the rate at which they are being adopted is slow. The goal of this research is to develop a decision model that can be used to identify the technology transfer potential of a research proposal. An organization can use the model to select the proposals whose research outcomes are more likely to move into application. The model begins to close the chasm between research and application -- otherwise known as the "valley of death." A comprehensive literature review was conducted to understand when the idea of technology application or transfer should begin. Next, the attributes that are necessary for successful technology transfer were identified. The emphasis of successful technology transfer occurs when there is a productive relationship between the researchers and the technology recipient. A hierarchical decision model, along with desirability curves, was used to understand the complexities of the researcher and recipient relationship, specific to technology transfer. In this research, the evaluation criteria of several research organizations were assessed to understand the extent to which the success attributes that were identified in literature were considered when reviewing research proposals. While some of the organizations included a few of the success attributes, none of the organizations considered all of the attributes. In addition, none of the organizations quantified the value of the success attributes. The effectiveness of the model relies extensively on expert judgments to complete the model validation and quantification. Subject matter experts ranging from senior executives with extensive experience in technology transfer to principal research investigators from national labs, universities, utilities, and non-profit research organizations were used to ensure a comprehensive and cross-functional validation and quantification of the decision model. The quantified model was validated using a case study involving demand response (DR) technology proposals in the Pacific Northwest. The DR technologies were selected based on their potential to solve some of the region's most prevalent issues. In addition, several sensitivity scenarios were developed to test the model's response to extreme case scenarios, impact of perturbations in expert responses, and if it can be applied to other than demand response technologies. In other words, is the model technology agnostic? In addition, the flexibility of the model to be used as a tool for communicating which success attributes in a research proposal are deficient and need strengthening and how improvements would increase the overall technology transfer score were assessed. The low scoring success attributes in the case study proposals (e.g. project meetings, etc.) were clearly identified as the areas to be improved for increasing the technology transfer score. As a communication tool, the model could help a research organization identify areas they could bolster to improve their overall technology transfer score. Similarly, the technology recipient could use the results to identify areas that need to be reinforced, as the research is ongoing. The research objective is to develop a decision model resulting in a technology transfer score that can be used to assess the technology transfer potential of a research proposal. The technology transfer score can be used by an organization in the development of a research portfolio. An organization's growth, in a highly competitive global market, hinges on superior R&D performance and the ability to apply the results. The energy sector is no different. While there is sufficient research being done to address the issues facing the utility industry, the rate at which technologies are adopted is lagging. The technology transfer score has the potential to increase the success of crossing the chasm to successful application by helping an organization make informed and deliberate decisions about their research portfolio.

This thesis analyzes the application of functional link-net (FLN) method in forecasting electricity demand in Turkey. Current official forecasting model (MAED), which is employed by Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEiAS) and other methods are discussed. An emprical investigation and evaluation of using functional link nets is provided.

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Thesis (Ph. D. - Arid Lands Resource Sciences)--University of Arizona, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-170).