Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in first generation bio-fuel production, mainly driven by concerns of climate change and rising prices of transportation fossil fuels. Due to significant pressure on the few available food sources, second generation bio-fuels have entered the fray, as a sustainable alternative. This research‟s aim was to search for cellulolytic micro-organisms and enzymes from the gut of the dung beetle, Euoniticellus intermedius, (Coleoptera: Scarabaeida) that can be used in the production of second generation bio-fuels. Dung beetle larvae were dissected and the gut micro-flora cultured in cellulose medium. Bacterial growth and cellulase activity was monitored on a daily basis. DNA isolation was then done on the cellulose medium-cultured microbes and the isolated DNA cloned in E. coli. The clones were screened for cellulase activity using plate assays. A total of 7 colonies out of 160 screened colonies showed positive CMC (endo-β-1,4-glucanase) and MUC (cellobiohydrolase) activities. Sequencing of these positive colonies yielded mostly bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family, most of which have not been previously reported to have cellulase activity. This study‟s findings prove that in addition to this dung beetle‟s gut being a fruitful source of microbial biodiversity, it is also a potential source of cellulolytic micro-organisms and enzyme activities that will aid the function and design of future bioreactors for the bio-fuel industry.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--RAND Graduate School, 2008. / Title from title screen (viewed on Oct. 24, 2008). "This document was submitted as a dissertation in September 2008 in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the doctoral degree in public policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School." --T.p. Includes bibliographical references: p. 168-178.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-136). Also available online.

xii, 91 p. :ill. (some col.), maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The ability to provide an adequate supply ofrenewable energy necessary to offset the emissions of"zero emission" vehicles is of importance for Oregon's planners and policy makers. An increase in electricity generation caused by the electricity required for zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will result in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions ifrenewable energy is not installed to meet hydrogen fuel cell needs. What are the renewable energy implications for Oregon planners to consider for meeting future fuel cell zero emission vehicle (ZEV) needs? Work done in Iceland can serve as an example for Oregon's need for renewable energy to meet ZEV needs. Icelandic data about hydrogen generation and the renewable energy requirements necessary for ZEVs at the Gtj6thaIs hydrogen fueling station set a benchmark for Oregon planners to consider when figuring the impact of ZEVs. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Robert F. Young, Chair; Dr. Greg Bothun; Mr. Roger Ebbage

This thesis focuses on determining the potential of bio-energy crops to contribute to Europe’s future energy needs and to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. This requires an end-to-end (seed to exhaust gas) analysis of the crop production and enabling technology in terms of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The starting point of this research was to consider which energy crops had the potential to grow in future European climate scenarios and to determine those for which models did not exist to make this prediction. <i>Miscanthus</i> was identified as a relatively new crop with 15 years of European growing experience but with limited previous model development.  MISCANMOD, a simple model of <i>Miscanthus</i> crop growth, was improved and rewritten in FORTRAN so that it could be interfaced to use climate scenario, soil property and land use data bases to predict energy yields for current and future climate scenarios. A greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance model was added to investigate the sustainability of <i>Miscanthus</i> as a bio-energy crop. This model was combined with data from other energy crop predictions to determine the energy yields and GHG mitigation of different crops for the various scenarios of future climate, each considering the soil conditions, land available and climatic conditions. We conclude that <i>Miscanthus</i> is the crop with the highest energy yield and largest carbon mitigation potential of all the available energy crops, and that the maximum amount of primary energy that could be produced by bio-energy crops in Europe would represent only 12% of EU 25’s primary energy needs. The carbon intensity of such energy is estimated to be 24% of that for gas. To achieve this level of energy production we show that it is necessary to develop drought and frost resistant hybrids to increase the range of the <i>Miscanthus</i> crop for current and future climate scenarios. This demonstrates that bio-energy is not a panacea but must be considered as part of the strategy to achieve sustainable energy whilst mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg 10th of October 2016 / Thermal pyrolysis is one of the viable technologies suitable for the management of organic solid waste, which has become a global challenge over the years. This is due to the non-biodegradability of these materials and their continuous usage across all segments of man’s daily activities. Effectiveness of the method is in converting these materials under controlled process conditions, that enable the optimization of the fraction of interest, such as the liquid fraction also referred to as pyrolytic oil with a near zero pollution effect on the environment. The main setback in the production of the liquid fraction include low yield, presence of sulphur and other aromatic compounds which have been linked to environmental pollution and health complications. This study focuses on improving the liquid fraction yield and composition obtainable from pyrolysis process. Latex natural rubber (obtained from Hevea Brasiliensis) was pyrolysed and its products compared with that of the used tyres. The production of pyrolytic oil from used tyres and natural rubber was performed using thermal and catalytic pyrolysis processes. The operating temperature range of 375 to 750 oC (at an interval of 75 oC) at a heating rate of 15oC/min and feed material particle sizes of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mm were used. In addition, Zeolite NaY was synthesized from Lawani Benin River Kaolin (LBK) at a synthesis time and temperature of 9 h and 100 oC respectively, using hydrothermal synthesis method, and used for catalytic pyrolysis. The chemical characterisation revealed pyrolytic oil composition to be a complex mixture of aliphatic, aromatics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and chlorinated compounds in small proportions. The non-catalysed and catalysed pyrolysis using natural rubber resulted in pyrolytic oil with 80 and 66% of aliphatic, 12 and 15% aromatic (with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentration of 2 and 1%). The non-catalysed and catalysed pyrolysis using used tyres yielded pyrolytic oil with 42 and 32% of aliphatic, 34 and 39% aromatic (with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations of 18 and 23%). The kinetics of the thermal degradation with the aid of a thermogravimetry and differential thermogravimetry analyzer was performed over a temperature range of 30 to 800 oC at a heating rate of 15, 20 and 30oC/min. Results showed that natural rubber displayed higher activation energy than used tyres, with respect to the heating rates. This is an indication that natural rubber is more difficult to thermally decompose than used tyres. The distillation temperature of the distillates was within the temperature range of the conventional petrol and diesel. The composition of the distillates revealed carbon chain length of C5-C30 with majority being C8 – C10. A spark ignition generator engine was used to perform the combustion tests for the various pyrolytic oil distillates and petrol blended in the ratio 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% successfully without engine modification. For the fuel consumption with respect to generator run time, it was observed that an optimum of 20% natural rubber pyrolytic oil distillates (NRPD)-Petrol blend gave comparative fuel consumption behavior with that of commercial petrol. Furthermore, the 20% NRPD distillates gave optimum fuel consumption and power. Hence, a significant yield improvement and combustion performance were observed for the pyrolytic oil derived from natural rubber than that of used tyres. Further treatment of the pyrolytic oil distillates could pave the way for effective use of the oil as chemical feedstock for industries, or as substitutes for fossil fuel. It was also requisite to develop a mathematical model which adopts thermogravimetry analyser (TGA) as a dynamic apparatus to predict weight change of a material as it degrades with time at a fixed temperature. The proposed models were in three consecutive phases which were classified into three time zones 0 ≤ t ≤ t1, t1 ≤ t ≤ t2 and t ≤ t2. The general model equation for the first phase of degradation was 2 0 1 2 0 ( ) t T w t w e   , while the second phase model was and at the third phase, it is assumed that the limit of weight loss (in the second phase equation) as t tends to ∞ gives a value k , at which change in weight loss with time is negligible. The proposed model was used to plot graph of weight loss versus time at different fixed temperature which fitted well with the experimental TGA and had a characteristic pattern fitted closely to the second phase degradation of the fixed bed reactor. / MT2017

Growing energy demands are expected to exceed the supply from current energy resources. Therefore, renewable energy and energy management systems will become more crucial for increasing supply and efficiency of energy usage. The novelty of this research is an energy management system (EMS) based on fuzzy logic for a solar house to ensure the maximum utilisation of renewable sources, protect components from being damaged due to overloading, and manage energy storage devices to increase stability in the power system. There is no published analysis of hybrid energy storage between battery and supercapacitor using fuzzy logic as EMS. The energy management system is implemented in a solar cabin system developed by IBC Solar to mimic a typical rural house. The solar cabin is equipped with solar photovoltaic panels, solar charger, battery and inverter. Supercapacitors and a custom made DC to DC converter were added to the system to support the batteries during high current load demand and manage energy flow. Three sets of experiments were conducted in the solar cabin system with the new energy management system. Power consumption usage of a typical rural household was studied to create two load profiles that were used as load for the experiments. The results show an efficiency of 95.9% by using the new energy management system and supercapacitors to the solar cabin, which is higher than recent research (95.2% and 84.4%). The result is on par with the Malaysian and International Standard in energy efficiency of around 95%. The energy management system controlled the charging and discharging of the battery and supercapacitor using fuzzy logic. The novelty of this thesis is use of supercapacitors to reduce stress on the battery and an energy management system to control and manage the system for efficient energy usage.

Community energy has drawn interest from the general public, policy makers and researchers in the UK over the last few years. Community energy projects, such as energy saving measures and renewable energy projects, are usually organised by civil society groups rather than commercial businesses. This DPhil research approaches community energy as local grassroots innovation and compares its development in two different countries, Finland and the UK. Key research question is: Why and how do community energy projects develop and how do they contribute to niche development? The thesis uses Sustainability Transitions studies literature, especially literature on Strategic Niche Management (SNM), as a theoretical framing, and empirical in-depth analysis of four community energy projects, two in the UK and two in Finland. The research examines how community energy projects develop in ‘niches'. Research findings highlight that motivations for projects include monetary savings, energy savings and climate change. Projects are developed by pre-existing community groups or groups that have come together to develop an energy project. Local embedding of community energy projects to each project's individual circumstances helps successful project delivery. Pre-existing skills and tacit knowledge such as the ability to seek information and fill in funding applications can aid success. Engagement with key stakeholders further shapes projects' aims and objectives. Community energy projects benefit from a clear leader who works with a supportive team. There is evidence of projects networking at the local and national level in the UK, while in Finland networking remains limited to the local area and projects often develop in isolation. Furthermore, there is a clear lack of active intermediary organisations in the Finnish context. Policy discourse at the government level can aid the attractiveness of community energy, while continued funding support encourages more people to get involved in projects in their local areas.

About 50% of the solar energy absorbed at the Earth’s surface is used to drive evaporation, a powerful form of energy dissipation due to water’s large latent heat of vaporization. Evaporation powers the water cycle that affects global water resources and climate. Critically, the evaporation driven water cycle impacts various renewable energy resources, such as wind and hydropower. While recent advances in water responsive materials and devices demonstrate the possibility of converting energy from evaporation into work, we have little understanding to-date about the potential of directly harvesting energy from evaporation. Here, we develop a theory of the energy available from natural evaporation to predict the potential of this ubiquitous resource. We use meteorological data from locations across the USA to estimate the power available from natural evaporation, its intermittency on varying timescales, and the changes in evaporation rates imposed by the energy conversion process. We find that harvesting energy from natural evaporation could provide power densities up to 10 W m-2 (triple that of present US wind power) along with evaporative losses reduced by 50%. When restricted to existing lakes and reservoirs larger than 0.1 km2 in the contiguous United States (excluding the Great Lakes), we estimate the total power available to be 325 GW. Strikingly, we also find that the large heat capacity of water bodies is sufficient to control power output by storing excess energy when demand is low. Taken together, our results show how this energy resource could provide nearly continuous renewable energy at power densities comparable to current wind and solar technologies – while saving water by cutting evaporative losses. Consequently, this work provides added motivation for exploring materials and devices that harness energy from evaporation.

Microgrid is a relatively new concept which has gained significant attention recently due to the increasing penetration of distributed energy sources. It brings many benefits to the traditional distribution system. Couples of microgrid testbeds in the forms of either hardware facilities or software simulation systems have been developed to study microgrid issues in many institutes throughout the world. In the work presented in this thesis, a microgrid system model in PSCAD/EMTDC was developed. The proposed microgrid system includes fundamental power system component models, two renewable energy source models (wind and solar) and one energy storage source model. Different case studies were conducted. The results from the simulation case studies showed that the proposed microgrid system in PSCAD had satisfactory performance under different scenarios with renewable energy sources. The proposed microgrid system model can be used for further research on microgrid issues.