After the nuclear fallout in Japan, Germany decided to back out from nuclear energy while at the same time changing the energy supply from fossil to renewable sources. This elaborate plan, known as Energiewende, will require significant economic and structural efforts that will have profound impacts on the environment and society itself. It is therefore crucial to identify possible technological pathways that can lead to a renewable energy supply, while reducing negative impacts on a holistic scope. In order to analyse alternative energy technology scenarios in Germany, this thesis focuses on the development of an indicator-based numerical Sustainable Energy Systems (SEnSys) model approach. Other than previous approaches, the SEnSys model considers full aggregated impacts of technological pathways leading to future configurations. With the help of an exemplary case study on two alternative energy technology scenarios (Trieb1 and Trieb2), the feasibility of the SEnSys model in evaluating sustainability is subsequently assessed. The results can affirm the findings of previous studies concerning lower economic and environ- mental impacts for scenario Trieb2, with small shares of renewable energy imports, compared to scenario Trieb1 based on only local but fluctuating renewables. Additionally, the results are in accordance with other relevant studies, while offering new valuable insights to the topic. Given a comprehensive revision of the identified uncertainties and limitations, it can be stated that the SEnSys model bares the potential for further analysing and improving sustainability of energy technology scenarios in Germany and other countries.

The increasing electricity demand in South Africa has lead to a shortage in electricity supply. In response to this problem Eskom has introduced multiple capacity expansion programs. Unfortunately the electricity shortage is expected to continue until Eskom’s capacity expansion programs are completed. Demand Side Management (DSM) is widely accepted as an immediate solution to the high electricity demand of South Africa. Numerous DSM projects implemented by ESCo’s have been successful, but over the years have not been sustainable. Without regular maintenance from the relevant ESCo, many projects have failed to achieve sustainable savings. After the implementation of DSM projects, all installed equipment and software becomes the property of the client. Experience has illustrated that some mines did not always have the expertise or available resources to monitor and maintain the projects. As a result the electrical energy savings of the project would gradually deteriorate. A feasibility study was conducted to determine whether the re-instatement of redundant and debilitated mine DSM projects could be marketed as the “low hanging fruit” of the industry. A key driver for this study, was the fact that costs involved for re-instatement of such DSM projects are generally considerably lower than those of new projects, yet still producing lucrative electricity savings. Three major mining entities discussed in this dissertation have neglected to realise a collaborative cost saving of R 55,5 Million per annum. This loss of opportunity can mainly be attributed to a lack of maintenance and monitoring of operational DSM projects on their mining sites. Three DSM projects related to the water reticulation system of the mine were investigated. It was discerned in all three cases that the successful re-instatement of DSM projects are indeed possible, but only when subjected to continuous monitoring. The maintenance performed on two of the three projects, respectively realised approximately R2,7 Million and R 750 000. This was achieved through the process of load shifting, over a period of one year. Maintenance on the third project realised approximately R1,5 Million through energy efficiency over a three month period. This dissertation illustrates that attractive savings in electricity and cost can be realised when re-instating redundant DSM projects in the mining industry. It also demonstrates the cost and time effectiveness of implementing such projects, compared to the focus on new DSM installations. / Thesis (MIng (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The increasing electricity demand in South Africa has lead to a shortage in electricity supply. In response to this problem Eskom has introduced multiple capacity expansion programs. Unfortunately the electricity shortage is expected to continue until Eskom’s capacity expansion programs are completed. Demand Side Management (DSM) is widely accepted as an immediate solution to the high electricity demand of South Africa. Numerous DSM projects implemented by ESCo’s have been successful, but over the years have not been sustainable. Without regular maintenance from the relevant ESCo, many projects have failed to achieve sustainable savings. After the implementation of DSM projects, all installed equipment and software becomes the property of the client. Experience has illustrated that some mines did not always have the expertise or available resources to monitor and maintain the projects. As a result the electrical energy savings of the project would gradually deteriorate. A feasibility study was conducted to determine whether the re-instatement of redundant and debilitated mine DSM projects could be marketed as the “low hanging fruit” of the industry. A key driver for this study, was the fact that costs involved for re-instatement of such DSM projects are generally considerably lower than those of new projects, yet still producing lucrative electricity savings. Three major mining entities discussed in this dissertation have neglected to realise a collaborative cost saving of R 55,5 Million per annum. This loss of opportunity can mainly be attributed to a lack of maintenance and monitoring of operational DSM projects on their mining sites. Three DSM projects related to the water reticulation system of the mine were investigated. It was discerned in all three cases that the successful re-instatement of DSM projects are indeed possible, but only when subjected to continuous monitoring. The maintenance performed on two of the three projects, respectively realised approximately R2,7 Million and R 750 000. This was achieved through the process of load shifting, over a period of one year. Maintenance on the third project realised approximately R1,5 Million through energy efficiency over a three month period. This dissertation illustrates that attractive savings in electricity and cost can be realised when re-instating redundant DSM projects in the mining industry. It also demonstrates the cost and time effectiveness of implementing such projects, compared to the focus on new DSM installations. / Thesis (MIng (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

As society strives to transition for sustainable energy generation is it a major challenge to optimize and develop the renewable energy generation that currently exists, both in terms of individual components and their interactions in the entire energy system. The generation from renewable sources is often irregular and not always when the demand arises. By being able to store the excess energy generated and then deliver it when the demand occur results in a more sustainable energy system. Flow batteries are a possible technology for energy storage. An important component of flow batteries are vanadium and to find methods for extracting vanadium in an economical way is an important step in the development of this technology. The idea behind the thesis was therefore to investigate different extraction methods for vanadium where the most promising methods, from an economic and energy perspective, are examined in more detail. The vanadium should then be used to electrolyte in flow batteries. It has also been examined how the cost is affected by moving a planned facility for extraction from the ashes to a developing country with lower personnel costs. In the thesis was also included to explore similar projects on a larger scale conducted in Sweden, how the view of vanadium is from an EU perspective and how flow batteries can be a part of an energy system. The methods considered most promising is extraction from mineral mining and extraction from ashes. A planned production plant has been dimensioned for both processes of production and energy demand is calculated. The study showed that both processes are expected to produce vanadium below current purchase price, which would then contribute to a cheaper production cost of flow batteries. It turned out that the production of vanadium from ash extraction would be significantly reduced by moving the business to a developing country. The operation stage in the mining operation which accounts for the highest energy demand is the size reduction of the ore. In the extraction process of vanadium from ash, it is primarily the fusion furnace and the fly ash filter required which has the highest energy demand. The similar extraction projects investigated was, from ashes, the so-called SOTEX process in Stenungsund and the mineral mining process had the Ranstad project as reference. The EU approach to vanadium is currently that the metal is not classified as a critical raw material but if economic instability would occur in any of the major manufacturing countries it would be considered as a more critical raw material. Flow batteries functioning as energy storage in a PV hybrid system was investigated and it was concluded that flow batteries are technically well suited for energy storage in this type of system. / Då samhället strävar efter att övergå till en hållbar energiproduktion är det en stor utmaning att effektivisera och utveckla den förnyelsebara energiproduktion som idag finns, både när det gäller enskilda komponenter och deras samspel i hela energisystem. Produktion från förnyelsebara energikällor sker ofta ojämnt och inte alltid när behovet uppstår. Genom att kunna lagra den överskottsenergi som produceras och sedan leverera den då behovet uppstår medför det till ett mer hållbart energisystem. Flödesbatterier är en möjlig teknik för lagring av energi. En viktig komponent i flödesbatterierna är vanadin och att hitta metoder för att utvinna vanadin på ett ekonomiskt sätt är ett viktigt steg i utvecklingen av denna teknik. Idén bakom examensarbetet var därför att kartlägga olika utvinningsmetoder för vanadin där de mest lovande metoderna, från ett ekonomiskt och energi perspektiv, undersöks mer utförligt. Vanadinet i sin tur ska sedan användas till elektrolyt i flödesbatterier. Det har även undersökts hur kostnaden påverkas av att flytta en tänkt anläggning för utvinning ur aska till ett utvecklingsland med lägre personalkostnader. I examensarbetet ingick även att undersöka liknande projekt i större skala som bedrivits i Sverige, hur synen på vanadin är ur ett EU perspektiv samt hur flödesbatterier kan vara en del av ett energisystem. De metoder som ansetts mest lovande är utvinning från mineralbrytning samt utvinning ur aska. En tänkt produktionsanläggning har dimensionerats för båda processer där produktionskostnad och energiförbrukning beräknats. Studien visade att båda processerna förväntas kunna producera vanadin under dagens inköpspris vilket då skulle bidra till en billigare produktionskostnad för flödesbatterier. Det visade sig att produktionen av vanadin ur askutvinning skulle minskas avsevärt genom att flytta verksamheten till ett utvecklingsland. Det moment i gruvdriften som står för största energiförbrukningen är storleksreduceringen av den malm som bryts. Vid processen för utvinning av vanadin ur aska är det främst den smältningsugn samt det filter för flygaska som krävs. De liknande projekt som verkat inom utvinning ur aska var den s.k. SOTEX processen i Stenungsund och för mineralbrytning har Ranstad projektet undersökts. EU:s syn på vanadin är i nuläget att metallen inte klassas som en kritisk råvara men om ekonomisk instabilitet skulle uppstå i något av de större tillverkande länderna skulle råvaran klassas som mer kritisk. Flödesbatteri fungerande som energilagring i ett förnyelsebart energisystem undersöktes där slutsatsen var att flödesbatterier tekniskt sett är mycket väl lämpade som energilagring i denna typ av system.

The deregulation of the electricity supply industry in New Zealand has led to an increased level of interest in the security of electricity supply to rural communities. This in turn has led to questions about sustainable alternatives to conventional methods of electricity supply. A solution may be the adoption of sustainable community sized renewable energy (RE) based distributed generation systems. However, choosing between the myriad of possibilities requires much data and analysis. An accurate analysis of electricity load and RE resource matching is normally required. In most cases, this is an expensive and time-consuming assessment. In order to minimise these costs, and yet give due consideration to stakeholder preferences and technical uncertainty, a process incorporating the economic, social, environmental, and technical aspects of sustainable design in a relatively short timeframe will be required. This study developed such a method through the integrated use of the wind atlas assessment and analysis program (WAsP), the micropower optimisation model (HOMER), and three methods of decision analysis using Logical Decisions for Windows (LDW) software, which formed the decision analysis framework, SPiRAL (Sustainable Power in Rural Areas and Locations). The efficacy of the integrated use of the software in the SPiRAL framework was tested through two analyses using electricity load and RE resource data from a case study site. The first was an analysis using a full-year of data in a multi-method decision analysis process thus setting the framework in place. A further analysis then tested the minimum monitoring time required to obtain and analyse the data for modelling meaningful results. In both analyses, the results were ranked based on stakeholder preferences between the economic, social, environmental, and technical aspects of sustainable energy systems. The clear representation of the uncertainty of the electricity loads and the RE resources was paramount in the results. The short-term analysis results differed in small ways from the full-term, but were essentially similar. This study developed a decision analysis framework that delivered transparent results in a manner likely to instil insight and confidence in them, and this would provide the decision-maker with much valuable information on which to base their decision.

With global warming and the international, national and local goals of reducing greenhouse gas net emissions, the phasing out of fossil fuels are of great importance. One energy source resulting in nearly no net emissions are biofuels. Residue from the forest industry, such as tops and branches, is already today in Sweden an important source of energy, especially in the district heating sector. The demand for forest residue is estimated to increase until 2050 and the potential harvest is a lot larger than what is utilized today. This master thesis tests the hypothesis of biofuels having a climate positive effect when replacing fossil fuels, despite the loss of carbon in the forest soil, which is a feedback of harvesting forest residue. The municipality of Norrköping here works as a case as they are standing in the forefront of turning towards a bio-based economy and a fossil free energy system. The biogeochemical model ForSAFE was used to study if Norrköping can replace all their fossil fuels and solid waste in the district heating for the municipality’s households and public facilities with forest residue from the forest within the municipality’s administrative boundaries. The result show that the productive forest area of the municipality does not yield enough forest residue to fulfil the energy demand from the fossil fuels and the waste. Meanwhile, the soil organic carbon was shown to be decreasing over the simulated years (2000-2300), although the loss did not exceed the emissions from the burning of the replaced fossil fuels. If the productive forest had been large enough to yield enough biomass to meet the demand, the loss of soil organic carbon would still not exceed the amount of carbon dioxide that the fossil fuels would have emitted. This indicates a positive climate effect when replacing fossil fuels with forest residue, reducing net emissions to the atmosphere. Despite the low yield of biomass compared to the energy demand from fossil fuels and waste in Norrköping, a study like this gives a projection of the biomass production and the feedbacks. These effects will be affected by different forest management scenarios and the change in climate. The silvicultural practices have however shown to have negative impacts on the Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives. Threatening the biodiversity and leaching of nutrients and chemicals, resulting in additional feedbacks downstream are examples of effects from disturbance in the forest and forest soil. It is therefore of great importance to consider the natural environment and neatly plan around forestry operations. In the end, the climatic benefit of switching to a fossil free energy system with the help of forest biofuels will have to weighted against the negative impacts. With a landscape view used and great knowledge about feedback effects when forestry planning, the input of biofuels can be a natural way to go for several municipalities in Sweden when wanting to create a bio-based economy with zero net emissions of greenhouse gases. / Med global uppvärmning och de internationella, nationella och lokala målen om reducerade växthusgasutsläpp, är utfasningen av fossila bränslen av stor betydelse. En energikälla som ger nära noll nettoutsläpp är biobränslen. Rester från skogsindustrin, som toppar och grenar (grot) är redan idag i Sverige en viktig energikälla, speciellt inom fjärrvärmesystemet. Efterfrågan på grot väntas öka fram till år 2050 och skördepotentialen är mycket större än vad som idag utnyttjas. Detta examensarbete testar hypotesen om att biobränsle är klimatpositivt när det ersätter fossila bränslen, trots kolförlusten i marken som uppstår när grot skördas. Norrköpings kommun används här som fall då de står i framkant när det gäller övergången till en biobaserad ekonomi och ett fossilfritt energisystem. Den biogeokemiska modellen ForSAFE användes för att studera om Norrköping kan byta ut alla sina fossila bränslen samt avfall, som förser kommunens invånare och offentliga lokaler medvärme och varmvatten via fjärrvärmenätet, mot grot från skogsmarkerna inom kommunens gränser. Resultatet visar att den produktiva skogsmarken i kommunen är för liten för att producera tillräckligt med grot för att ersätta allt fossilt bränsle och allt avfall. Samtidigt sjönk markkolet över de simulerade åren (2000-2300) även om förlusten inte översteg utsläppen från förbränningen av de ersatta fossila bränslena. Om den produktiva skogen hade varit stor nog att kunna ersätta de fossila bränslena såhade förlusten av markkol ändå inte varit större än utsläppen från de fossila bränslen som kunnat ersättas. Detta indikerar den klimatnytta som bytet från fossila till biobaserade bränslen ger när nettoemissioner reduceras från atmosfären. Trots den låga skördenivån av grot i förhållande till den energi som de fossila bränslena och avfallet tillför i Norrköping, kan en studie likt denna ge en uppfattning om hur mycket grot som kommer kunna produceras i framtiden och vilka effekter dessakan ha. Dessa effekter beror då på olika skördeintensitet och ett förändrat klimat. Skogsbruket har dock visat sig bidra till att försvåra att de svenska miljömålen nås. Hot mot biodiversiteten samt läckage av näringsämnen och tungmetaller som ger problem nedströms är exempel på effekter av störningar i skogen och skogsmarken. Detta gör att visad hänsyn till den naturliga miljön och god planering kring ingrepp i skogen är av stor vikt. De positiva klimateffekterna av att utnyttja biobränslen från skogen för att ersätta fossila bränslen kan därför komma att behöva ställas mot de negativa ekologiska konsekvenserna av skogsbruket. Med ett landskapsperspektiv och stor kunskap kring effekterna av skogsbruket kan biobränslet komma att bli en naturlig väg att gå för flera kommuner i Sverige som vill övergå till en biobaserad ekonomi med noll utsläpp av växthusgaser.

Information technology plays an increasingly important part in representing, managing, and driving the field of sustainable energy. However, current paradigms for representing much of this information can be fragmented, singular, and extremely domain focused. Linkage with wider concepts, for example between energy supply and demand data, can be minimal. This dissertation investigates ways in which such data linkages can be expanded upon, applying the latest concepts of Semantic Web technology to the area. This dissertation examines the role of the Semantic Web in representing information relevant to sustainable energy, with a particular focus on energy policy, energy supply, and the demands of the built environment. An approach for representing such information is outlined in the dissertation, which introduces new ontologies for representing energy policy and building information data and methodologies for modelling such data. Existing ontologies for representing energy supply are discussed, as are common connections between these areas and a server platform for knowledge storage and presentation. Additionally, some focus is directed towards the usability and accessibility of such data and the implementation of proof of concept applications targeted at specific areas within sustainable energy are presented. Using the outlined approach, energy information can be interlinked to allow multilevel data navigation from international policy data, through energy infrastructure, to individual energy demands, and ultimately to extremely detailed building component levels of granularity. Such data can be interlinked into wider linked data initiatives, increasing usefulness and expanding the scope for increased analysis. The implications of the outlined approach are discussed and evaluated with regard to various identified use cases requiring different levels of data granularity, in addition to impact on the wider domain of information management. This dissertation demonstrates, at a proof of concept level, that Semantic Web technology can be of significant benefit across the domain of sustainable energy.

Master of Science / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / Donghai Wang / Bioprocessing is widely involved in our daily life and significantly relative to the general public because bio-products are widely used in eating, clothing, and living as well as transportation. Due to the public concern of the environmental deterioration, limited fossil fuel resources, and energy price volatility, biofuel as a clean, safe and sustainable energy needs to be developed in response to this growing concern. Sorghum, an important dryland crop, represents a renewable resource currently grown on 8 million acres throughout the United States. Due to climate variability and the continuous decline of water resources, utilization of dryland to grow sorghum and forage sorghum is critically important in order to ensure available energy resources and sustainable economic development. The objectives of this research were 1) to study the impact of deficit irrigation strategies on sorghum grain attributes and bioethanol production, and 2) to evaluate the potential fermentable sugar yield of pedigreed sorghum mutants. Results showed that average kernel weight and test weight of grain sorghum increased as irrigation capacity increased, whereas kernel hardness index decreased as irrigation capacity increased. Starch content increased as irrigation level increased and protein contents decreased as irrigation level increased. Irrigation also had a significant effect on starch properties and bioethanol yield. Sorghum mutants had a significant effect on chemical composition and physical properties such as glucan content, glucan mass yield, ash content, and high heating value, and also had a significant effect on fermentable sugars yield and enzymatic conversion efficiency.

The search for renewable sources of energy sets the sugarcane as important energy sources. The bagasse generation of this input shows a high potential for the production of sustainable energy waste. Aiming to make better use of this product, this study evaluated the anaerobic production of biogas generated by bagasse from sugarcane when used as chicken excreta inoculum in experimental anaerobic reactors batelados type. six reactors, divided into two treatments were used. The first consists of bagasse sugarcane in natura (03 reactors) and the second consisting of bagasse sugarcane treated with NaOH (03 reactors). In both treatments are used as inoculum chicken excreta. The time, in days, of reading the generated gas was 54 days. It was observed that the potential energy of sugarcane bagasse had the point of greatest methanogenic activity approximate days in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth, respectively for each treatment, Treatment 2, obtained the best result, producing double CH4 methane in virtually the same time period. / A busca por fontes renováveis de energia estabelece a cana-de-açúcar como importante matriz energética. A geração de bagaço deste insumo revela um resíduo de alto potencial para a produção de energia sustentável. Objetivando um melhor aproveitamento deste produto, esta pesquisa avaliou a produção anaeróbia do biogás gerado pelo bagaço da cana-de-açúcar quando utilizado como inóculo excretas de frango, em reatores anaeróbicos experimentais do tipo batelados. Foram utilizados seis reatores, divididos em dois tratamentos. O primeiro composto por bagaço de cana-de-açúcar in natura (03 reatores) e o segundo composto por bagaço de cana-de-açúcar tratado com NaOH (03 reatores). Em ambos os tratamentos utilizou-se excretas de frangos como inóculo. O tempo, em dias, de leitura dos gases gerados foi de 54 dias. Foi observado que os potenciais energéticos do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar tiveram como ponto de maior atividade metanogênica os dias aproximados em vigésimo quinto e vigésimo sexto, respectivamente para cada tratamento e, o tratamento 2, obteve um melhor resultado, produzindo o dobro de gás metano CH4 em, praticamente, mesmo período de tempo.

In this work the development of a Self-Powered System-On-Chip is explored by examining two components of process development in different perspectives. On one side, an energy component is approached from a biochemical standpoint where a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is built with standard microfabrication techniques, displaying a novel electrode based on Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs). The fabrication process involves the formation of a micrometric chamber that hosts an enhanced CNT-based anode. Preliminary results are promising, showing a high current density (113.6mA/m2) compared with other similar cells. Nevertheless many improvements can be done to the main design and further characterization of the anode will give a more complete understanding and bring the device closer to a practical implementation. On a second point of view, nano-patterning through silicon nitride spacer width control is developed, aimed at producing alternative sub-100nm device fabrication with the potential of further scaling thanks to nanowire based structures. These nanostructures are formed from a nano-pattern template, by using a bottom-up fabrication scheme. Uniformity and scalability of the process are demonstrated and its potential described. An estimated area of 0.120μm2 for a 6T-SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) bitcell (6 devices) can be achieved. In summary, by using a novel sustainable energy component and scalable nano-patterning for logic and computing module, this work has successfully collected the essential base knowledge and joined two different elements that synergistically will contribute for the future implementation of a Self-Powered System-on-Chip.