The effect of primary air distribution on emissions from a natural gas water heater

<p> The emergence of climate change as one of the most pressing challenges of the 21^st century has placed the task of reducing GHG emissions at the forefront of city, state and national government agendas around the world. Strategies for transitioning to a clean energy future almost universally involve increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable sources, reducing emissions from the transportation sector and improving energy efficiency. This dissertation contains three essays that address policy questions within each of these areas (renewables, efficiency and transportation), focusing both on past experiences thus far as well as considerations for future policies. The first chapter examines the Danish wind power industry and the role of government policies in shaping the decisions of wind turbine owners. A structural dynamic model is constructed in which owners decide whether and when to add new turbines to a pre-existing stock, scrap an existing turbine, or replace old turbines with newer versions during a period of rapid technological improvement and several changes to government wind energy policies. Results from the model indicate that the growth and development of the Danish wind industry was primarily driven by government policies as opposed to technological improvements. The second chapter explores the spatial and distributional impacts of climate policies in the transportation sector. California VMT and fuel consumption distributions are not symmetric and can vary significantly within transit planning regions. Results show that analyzing a policy using mean VMT or fuel consumption and assuming a symmetric distribution would generally lead to errors of 20-40% when considering the costs of a climate policy for a &ldquo;typical&rdquo; household. The final chapter addresses the role of publicly-funded energy efficiency programs in electricity markets. In the absence of energy efficiency programs, individual households and businesses may underinvest in energy efficiency because of inefficient retail pricing, pollution and learning externalities, imperfect information and the prevalence of principal-agent problems. California's cap-and-trade program and likely transition to dynamic pricing will correct some of these market failures, but information problems and distributional concerns will remain and warrant programs that encourage additional investments in efficiency.</p>

<p> This work is primarily motivated by the hope that Silicon (Si) can be utilized in Lithium (Li) ion batteries to enable an order of magnitude capacity increase if Li-Si systems can be better understood. In order to create a valuable tool that could be used to study a wide range of problem, pertinent physical models were implemented in an extended finite element method (XFEM) framework written in c++. One of the major contribution of this work goes to the battery modeling community, by generalizing several existing electrochemical-mechanical models which use a small deformation approximations so they can accommodate finite deformation. A general theory which can be used to guide the development of new finite element models is presented in detail. This work also contributes new finite element modeling tools with novel predictive capabilities to the battery modeling community, which will hopefully facilitate the design and optimization of next generation battery micro-structures. Studies within demonstrate that small deformation approximation models can produce incorrect predictions about the behavior of Li-Si systems, supporting the case for using finite deformation models. The developed tools are used to demonstrate that arbitrary geometries can easily be simulated on a the same fixed grid, facilitating automated geometry studies including parameter sweeping and topology optimization. </p>

<p> Objective: The focus of this study is a broad examination of household energy consumption for appliance use, space heating, space cooling, and water heating in United States over the period 2001-2009 using Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) from the years 2001 and 2009. Methods: Linear Regression Analysis is used to identfy determinants of household energy consumption for each of the end uses. Regression based decomposition analysis is used to identify trends in residential energy consumption for each of the end uses. Results: The study identified current determinants of household energy consumption for each of the end uses. These determinants are employed in the study to predict trends in household energy consumption for each of the end uses. Based on the results policy interventions at local and federal level for energy conservation are suggested.</p>

The Caspian region hydrocarbons are important for international energy security. Producer, consumer and transit countries, albeit for different reasons, try to get a share of these new resources. The opening up of the Region has presented Turkey with a new set of opportunities. In this thesis the positions of all the countries involved are examined. Special attention is given to Turkish policies towards the region. In conclusion the geopolitical environment emerged around the hydrocarbon resources and pipelines is evaluated. It will be seen that this environment puts Turkey in a very favorable position and Turkey is now a player in the international energy game despie the fact that it has almost no hydrocarbon resources.

This thesis aims to examine internal and external parameters influencing Russian energy policy between 2000 and 2012. In this respect first energy policy of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation in 1990&rsquo / s are evaluated. In this framework it is assumed that old experiences and structures have influence on 2000&rsquo / s Russian Energy Policy. Russian energy profile is accepted not only a strength of Russia but also a source of limitation in Russian energy policy, it influences domestic and foreign energy policies of the country. Following the energy profile of Russia domestic energy policy of Russia is analyzed. In this respect, elite level perception on energy and use of hydrocarbon rents are important points taken into account. In addition to that, major Russian energy companies are analyzed, because they do not cross border drawn by Russian Administration. About Russian foreign energy policy, important actions and patterns about use of energy rent are evaluated / key countries for Russian energy resources are analyzed. In this respect, it is regarded that contrary to views of some scholars who consider Russian energy policy as the by product of Russian foreign policy, this thesis argues that Russian energy policy has been determined by the characteristics of Russian energy structure and domestic politics in addition to Russian foreign policy priorities. As a result issues like Russian economy, domestic developments in Russia, Russian foreign policy and international developments like emergence of new suppliers and markets, have influence on Russian energy policy and because of harmonization of energy and foreign policy, Russian energy policy carries realist features.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue examinar la relación entre los factores críticos de éxito del perfil de implementación del proyecto (PIP) con los criterios para medir el éxito del proyecto, y el grado en que varían las relaciones al ser moderadas por la experiencia, la certificación en gestión de proyectos, y el estilo de liderazgo transformacional del director de proyecto. El estudio fue no experimental, de naturaleza cuantitativa, y realizado en Perú y Ecuador para el sector de tecnologías de información (TI). Los datos fueron obtenidos por encuestas y modelados utilizando ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados muestran que los factores críticos que explicaron el éxito fueron la aceptación del cliente, el equipo del proyecto, y la resolución de problemas. La experiencia del director de proyecto no es significativa y la certificación no incide en el éxito. Se concluye que durante el desarrollo de un proyecto es necesario combinar varios estilos de liderazgo. / The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between the critical success factors of the project implementation profile (PIP) with project success criteria and with the degree to which relationships vary when moderated by experience, management’s project approval, and the transformational leadership style of the project’s manager. This study was non-experimental, quantitative in nature, and was conducted in Peru and Ecuador in the information technology (IT) sector. Data were gathered through surveys and were modeled by using structural equations. The results showed that the critical factors that explained success were customer acceptance, project team, and problem solving. Project manager experience was not significant and certification had no relevance. It is concluded that during project development it is necessary to combine various leadership styles. Keywords: project success; critical; factors; criteria; transformational leadership style; certificatio

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.