Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It has an isolated electricity grid and energy system which is fully reliant on imported fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels for electricity generation has a negative impact on the environment due to the greenhouse gas emissions and importing the fuels places a huge burden on the economy of the country and a risk in terms of the electricity supply security of the island. One way to reduce dependency on imported fuels is to implement renewable energy solutions in the island. There are many studies assessing the availability of renewable energy sources, evaluating future electricity demand and investigating methods of demand reduction in Cyprus but there are a very limited number of studies specifically produced for Cyprus that address the integration and cost of renewable energy sources and explore their effects on the grid system. This thesis illustrates the big picture of Cyprus in terms of availability of exploitable renewable energy sources, current electricity generation and electricity demand characteristics. In order to address the grid code barrier, the grid codes of developed European countries are investigated. From this research, amendments to the current grid are produced. These additional mandatory codes will form the infrastructure for renewable energy projects and bring knowledge to the current system operator from other experienced countries. In addition renewable energy technologies worldwide are investigated in terms of output capacity, energy pricing, investment, and operation costs. Pricing and cost information is applied to the case of Cyprus. By further optimizing the technologies appropriately to Cyprus conditions, current and future cost analysis is produced. By producing reliable data on the cost and performance of renewable energy technologies the significant barrier to the uptake of these technologies is lowered. This will enable governments and financial bodies to arrive at an accurate assessment of which renewable energy technologies are the most appropriate for their particular circumstances.

"This research focuses on studying the feasibility of tethered undersea kite (TUSK) systems for power generation. Underwater tethered kite systems consist of a rigid wing that moves in a circular or figure-8 path below the surface. The tether can connect to a platform mounted either on the surface or anchored to the seafloor. On the kite is a turbine that extracts energy from the kite’s forward motion, which has the potential to be several times the current velocity. This speed multiplication combined with the density increase of water as opposed to air is one of the main benefits of this class of systems over wind turbines. A scale-model TUSK kite was designed. Testing was conducted in a water flume at Alden Research Labs (ARL). Model scale factors were determined from a real world prototype TUSK system currently in commercial development. The scale-model kite was primarily constructed out of ABS plastic using 3D printing rapid prototyping methods. Other components of the system were either repurposed from prior projects or constructed with traditional methods. Testing was conducted at current speeds of 0.15 m/s, 0.31 m/s, and 0.46 m/s; kite pitch angles of 80?, 85?, and 90?; and over circular and figure 8 trajectory shapes. Data collected included the azimuth and declination angles of the rigid tether as well as the power output of the generator on board the kite. Filtering techniques were employed on the data to generate graphs of kite position, velocity, and output for analysis. Relationships between current velocity, kite velocity, kite pitch angle, and power output have been measured. Inaccuracies in the model and areas for improvement in future work have been identified."

It is undeniable that activities and events within the water, energy, and food (WEF) security nexus are inextricably linked and their relationships numerous and substantial. Complexity increases when factors governing the daily lives of humanity namely social, technology advancement, environment, economic, and policies (STEEP) adds upon the difficulty in addressing the relationships. It is thus paramount to address the problems from a holistic and systematic approach to maximise benefits as well as to minimize the negative impacts upon one another. However, there exists little to zero means of measuring their performance, whether qualitatively or quantitatively, within the context of a nexus. Moreover, minimal understanding exists regarding the relationships between the WEF securities in Malaysia, an emerging economy rich in natural resources, which envisions to be a developed nation. This research sought to establish a measurement system for the WEF security nexus in Malaysia within the context of resource security wellbeing, sectoral balance, and sustainable development using a System Dynamics (SD) approach. This entailed an extensive literature review and qualitative interview with key stakeholders from the industrial sectors. The front end of the SD process is concerned with obtaining important and relevant information from literature and interviews, which are then used to construct causal loop diagrams (CLD). The back end of the SD is concerned with converting the CLDs into a stock and flow diagram (SFD), which provides a platform for quantitative simulation of different well-designed scenarios. Key findings from this research can be highlighted; these include: renewables are necessary for the long-term energy plan of Malaysia, nuclear power is necessary to keep electricity tariff low, water tariff of supply and services are severely low, increasing self-sufficiency level (SSL) of Malaysia’s staple food is important, under-utilised crops are efficient in meeting nutrient requirements, and cash crops imposed systemic stresses upon the water sector more than the energy sector. Consequently, recommendations for policy makers are suggested accordingly to achieve a reasonable proportion of RE penetration, providing education on nuclear benefits, centralising and streamlining water governance, socio-economic improvement of water economics, increase SSL of staple food, embark upon widespread adoption of local under-utilized crops, and controlling land use of non-food crops. The outcome of this research forms a vital and novel contribution to knowledge, when it is a pioneering work to address the WEF security nexus for Malaysia; especially in considering their securities for the country as a system rather than unaffected individual entities. This work will contribute towards spearheading the awareness and, hopefully, trigger further and more in-depth work in transdisciplinary resource and technology management. As a pioneering effort, this research has nonetheless provided the foundation and the fundamental understanding to an integrative and inclusive cross-sectoral national resource backbone - The WEF security nexus measurement system of Malaysia.

The transition from declining conventional fossil fuel energy to renewables is one of the most significant challenges facing humanity. Hydrogen is anticipated as the key future energy vector. This is sought to bring more value and utility to renewable energy resources, and eventually providing an energy storage medium to replace fossil fuels such as for automotive applications. This thesis contains an investigation of hydrogen production through renewable low-cost and low-carbon processes. Literature reviews of conventional and renewable H₂ production methods and storage (compression, liquefaction, adsorption materials and hydrides) are presented in detail (in appendices). Particular attention has been given to energy efficiency, cost and practicality of processes. Electrolysis of water is investigated in detail. Wind turbines and solar photovoltaics are reviewed and physically investigated as key renewable electrical energy sources for renewable H₂ production via electrolysis. Conventional and novel electrical power control is investigated and tested to support low-cost wind/solar-powered electrolysis. Biological H₂ production from mixed-acid fermentation of Escherichia coli is practically investigated from the energy-physics perspective and considered as one possible route to permit renewable H₂ production in the long-term. Photocatalytic materials are also investigated as additional future routes for renewable H₂ production; in this work they are investigated using nanoscale materials processing and surface analysis techniques. This thesis has an energy-focussed, applied and practical theme, achieving a broad investigation of the topics herein. Experimental investigations were chosen based upon relevance, practicality, concurrent research, availability of resources, and for application of novel nanoscale materials processing. Power control elements for wind-powered H₂ production have for example been optimised by complete investigation of supply/load characteristics rather than adopting the more conventional power electrical/electronic approach. Ultimately the work here aims to demonstrate (at small-scale) that renewable H₂ production can be achieved at relatively low cost, e.g. by wind-powered electrolysis, inferring that pathways can be established within existing means to produce much larger quantities of renewable H₂ economically.

I monitored 60 radio-collared and tagged pen-raised white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to ascertain mortality rates on three areas in Louisiana from April 2001 - April 2002. Two of 60 were not used in the analysis because mortality occurred from complications with darting and an affixed radio-collar. Study deer were exposed to legal hunting mortality only if they emigrated from the three study areas. Twenty deer were released to the wild on the Louisiana State University Deer Study Area (LSUDSA) (4,810 ha), where 9 of 20 (45%) suffered mortality. Harvest accounted for 56%, vehicles 22%, and other 22% of the mortality on the LSUDSA. Two groups of 20 were released into 2 high fence enclosures, (275 ha and 608 ha), where 4 of 20 (20%) and 1 of 18 (6%) suffered mortality, respectively. Other mortality accounted for 100% of the losses in the high fence enclosures. Mortality rates were significantly lower in penned deer than in the released deer (Chi-Square 8.33 2df, P<0.05). These results suggest that high fence enclosures reduce emigration and hence deaths caused by hunting and vehicles and may reduce overall mortality. These results also suggest that a higher harvestable surplus may result from high fencing.

Benthic intertidal bivalves play an essential role in estuarine ecosystems by contributing to habitat provision, water filtration, and promoting productivity. As such, ecosystem level changes that impact population distributions and persistence of local bivalve populations may have large ecosystem level consequences, making it important to better understand the population distribution and ecology of native bivalve populations. Gametogenesis, recruitment, growth, mortality, size structure and density of the ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, were examined across a salinity gradient in southeastern Louisiana. In summer 2012, 100-m transects were placed at interior and edge marsh plots to collect data on mussel density, and vegetation data at duplicate sites in upper (salinity ~4), central (salinity ~8) and lower (salinity ~15) Barataria Bay, LA. Caged growth and recruitment plots were established adjacent to each transect, in April, and growth, mortality and recruitment of individually marked mussels within plots were recorded in November 2012. Mussels were randomly sampled monthly from low (~ 5) and high (~25) salinity marsh sites, and histologically processed to determine the seasonal progression of gametogenesis. Mussel densities were greatest within mesohaline marsh (66.6 + 18 m-2), J. roemerianus vegetation (191.2 + 42.7 m-2) and plots experiencing 20-60% annual flooding rates (46.7 + 13.8 m-2). Mussel recruitment, growth, size and survival were significantly higher at mid and high salinity marsh edge sites as compared to all interior and low salinity sites. Peak gametogenic ripeness occurred between April and September, positively correlated with temperature, and coincidental with seasonal shifts in salinity. The observed patterns of density, growth and mortality in Barataria Bay may reflect detrital food resource availability due to local site flooding rates, vegetation community distribution along the salinity gradient, and reduced predation at higher salinity edge sites.

The Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB), Louisiana supports a diverse centrarchid assemblage, characterized by abundant populations of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, black crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus, warmouth Lepomis gulosus, bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, redspotted sunfish Lepomis miniatus, longear sunfish Lepomis megalotis and redear sunfish Lepomis microlophus. This dynamic floodplain ecosystem is comprised of a mosaic of macrohabitats, including natural bayous, shallow lakes, dead-end and open pipeline canals. I conducted an extensive feeding ecology study to determine the influence of these macrohabitats on foraging activity through stomach content and stable isotope analyses. I collected 2,036 centrarchids with electrofishing efforts in the summers of 2011 and 2012. Canonical correspondence analysis of prey items revealed evidence of resource partitioning within the assemblage, as suggested by limited dietary overlap and significant separation of diets among the seven species (F = 8.6516, P = 0.01). Multivariate analysis of stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes revealed evidence of trophic specialization (F = 24.29, P = 0.0001) within the assemblage, despite moderate overlap in foraging habitat suggested by carbon (δ13C) signatures (F = 2.76, P = 0.0147). Results of the generalized linear mixed model (F = 1.06, P = 0.3907) and multivariate analyses of stable isotopes (P = 0.86) indicated that macrohabitat did not have an overall effect on diets or isotope values. Traditional dietary indices, such as index of relative importance values, indicated specialization in prey preference for each species, suggesting a limited degree of competition between centrarchids. In summary, despite physicochemical differences among macrohabitats, these results suggest that prey selection was species specific and independent of macrohabitat type.Condition (relative weight) was also investigated to discern the potential influence of macrohabitat and physicochemical properties. Associations were species specific, indicating disparate manners of habitat utilization that may influence niche separation, although parameters such as dissolved oxygen differential were positively associated with multiple species. Although water quality and physical habitat characteristics differed among macrohabitats, trends in centrarchid condition suggest that while habitats within the ecosystem differ regarding their overall suitability as sunfish foraging habitat, all of the centrarchid species are generally able to flourish within the permanent waterbodies of the ARB floodplain.

Nest success of upland nesting ducks is the primary driver of duck population growth in the Prairie Pothole Region. Nest success is greatly influenced by nest predation and the amount of available nesting cover on the landscape. The decline in acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in this region has negatively impacted the amount of available nesting cover, making nesting cover sparse and confined to small patches where predation rates are potentially elevated. I evaluated the efficacy of seasonal predator reduction on increasing nest success on low-grassland density (>10% grassland cover), 93 km2 landscapes in two different habitat types used by nesting birds, large fields and roadside ditches. Ditches were sampled because they are a major cover source in low-grassland density landscapes. I monitored 1,899 nests during the 2010-2012 breeding seasons. Predator reduction had a significant influence in large fields as nest success was 1.6 times greater in large fields on trapped sites (44% nest success) than on control sites (27% nest success). Predator reduction, however, did not significantly increase nest success in roadside ditches (13% nest success on trapped sites, 12% nest success on control sites). A large majority of monitored nests were located in large fields resulting in the overall effect of predator reduction significantly increasing nest success by 13%. These results indicate that predator reduction is an effective intensive management technique in low-grassland density landscapes and can be used as a management tool in a post-CRP era. Future research should evaluate different trapping techniques in efforts to increase nest success in the roadside ditches.

This project examined the ecologically and economically valuable eastern oyster (Crassotrea virginica) in Louisiana with two field experiments. Little information has been gathered on the performance of local Louisiana oyster stocks and no study has focused on a comparison of stocks among variable estuarine conditions. Additionally, the use of alternative grow-out methods and intensive cage aquaculture has never been evaluated in Louisiana. For the first study, a dermo-resistant stock of oysters (LSU-OYS: OBOY) was compared to three wild oyster stocks along a salinity gradient. The objectives of this study were to determine the optimal oyster stock(s) and the ideal grow-out condition(s) for intensive oyster aquaculture production. The second experiment compared the efficiencies of three commercially used, off-bottom culture systems. The objective of this study was to suggest which off-bottom grow-out method(s) is most suitable for use in Louisiana estuaries. The results of the stock comparison suggested that the selected dermo-resistant stock had greater mortality than two of the three wild stocks in all the environmental conditions tested. Specifically, wild stocks taken from low salinity areas had greater performance in test areas with low salinities while wild stocks collected from high salinity areas had greater performance at high salinity sites. The results of the grow-out method comparison revealed that an adjustable long line system (ALS) was the most suitable culture system in both high and low salinity conditions, specifically due to overall higher survival, improved growth in shell height, and reduced effort in labor and handling time. For the first time, the performance of four oyster stocks and three intensive oyster culture methods were quantified, suggesting superior stocks, grow-out conditions, and culture systems for augmenting wild production and increasing total production in the Louisiana oyster industry.

Agriculture and moist-soil management are important management techniques used on wildlife refuges to provide adequate energy for migrant and wintering waterbirds. However, in arid systems, the presence and accumulation of soluble salts throughout the soil profile can limit total biomass production of wetland plants and agronomic crops and thus jeopardize meeting waterbird energy needs. It is unknown how moist-soil management and traditional agriculture practices influence the accumulation and distribution of soluble salts of soil profiles. In this study of an arid wetland ecosystem, I determine: 1) the effect of long-term, distinct surface hydrologic regimes associated with moist-soil management and agricultural production on salt accumulation; and 2) the specific effects of rototillage and irrigation frequency on salinity concentrations and plant biomass in moist-soil impoundments. My study was conducted at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near San Antonio, New Mexico. In May 2012, prior to the growing season, I collected one meter deep soil cores from both moist-soil impoundments and agricultural fields; cores were analyzed in 10 cm segments for soluble salt concentrations. I implemented a split-plot experiment to evaluate salinity concentrations in moist-soil impoundments between rototilled and no-till soils under a 9 and 14 day irrigation frequency. Soil salinity was measured in May and August of 2011 and 2012 and plant biomass in August. My findings suggest that agricultural fields contain significantly higher concentrations of soluble salts in deeper portions of the profile. This may be attributed to the lack of leaching afforded by summer agricultural irrigations as little connectivity to the groundwater and groundwater salinity was detected during groundwater monitoring. In contrast, periodic flooding in winter and summer flood irrigations in moist-soil impoundments may serve as leaching events and created a more dynamic groundwater hydrograph. This seasonal wetland hydroperiod may facilitate lower soil profile salinities but further research is needed to evaluate its successful use in agriculture fields to lower soil salinities. Few differences in soil salinity were detected between tillage and irrigation treatments within moist-soil impoundments. However plant above ground biomass of annual wetland grasses was greater in rototilled soils. This is most likely attributed to the effects of physical disturbance that stimulates germination rather than differences in soil salinity, however greater aboveground biomass does not necessarily equate to higher seed or tuber production.