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Under this program, eligible projects may be financed at 0% interest. The "loan" is paid back through the customer's PG&E bill: with the reduced energy savings at least offsetting the loan repayment cost. Once the loan is paid off, the savings are...

Application of multi-criteria decision making to sustainable energy planning-A review S. D. Pohekar , and M. Ramachandran Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani 333 031, India Received 1 December 2003;  accepted 19 December 2003.  Available online 31 January 2004. Abstract Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques are gaining popularity in sustainable energy management. The techniques provide solutions to the problems involving conflicting and multiple objectives. Several methods based on weighted averages, priority setting, outranking, fuzzy principles and their combinations are employed for energy planning decisions. A review of more than 90 published papers is presented here to analyze the applicability of various methods discussed. A classification on application areas and the year of application is presented to highlight the trends. It is observed that Analytical Hierarchy Process is the most popular technique followed by outranking techniques PROMETHEE and ELECTRE. Validation of results with multiple methods, development of interactive decision support systems and application of fuzzy methods to tackle uncertainties in the data is observed in the published literature. Author Keywords: Author Keywords: Multi-objective optimization; Multi-criteria decision making; Decision support systems; Sustainable energy planning Article Outline 1. Introduction 2. Overview of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods 2.1. Weighted sum method (WSM) 2.2. Weighted product method (WPM) 2.3. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) 2.4. Preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) 2.5. The elimination and choice translating reality (ELECTRE) 2.6. The technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solutions (TOPSIS) 2.7. Compromise programming (CP) 2.8. Multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) 3. Multi-criteria decision making applications in energy planning 3.1. Multi-objective optimization 3.2. Decision Suppor

"The objective of this study is to:  compile the available recent literature on ILUC emissions;  compare these emissions with the assumed gains of biofuels;  assess how ILUC changes the carbon balance of using biofuels;  formulate policies to avoid these extra emissions associated with ILUC. Trends in land use, with and without biofuels All the studies on global agricultural markets reviewed predict that new arable land will be required to meet future global demand for food and feed. Although there will be increased productivity on current arable land (intensification), food and feed demand will probably grow faster, which means that mobilization of new land is likely to occur. Biofuels produced from crops (the current mainstream practice) will add extra demand for crops like wheat, rice, maize, rapeseed and palm oil. This will increase prices for these crops (as well as for land) and lead to two impacts: intensification of agricultural production and conversion of forests and grasslands to arable land. In this report we consider the issue of indirect land use change initiated by EU biofuels policy and seek to answer the following questions:  What is the probability of biofuels policies initiating land use changes?  What greenhouse gas emissions may result from indirect land use change, expressed as a factor in the mathematical relation given above?  What technical measures can be applied and what policy measures adopted to limit or entirely mitigate indirect land use change and the associated greenhouse gas emissions? We first (Chapter 2) broadly discuss the mechanism of indirect land use change. We next discuss why there is a perception among stakeholders that there is a serious risk that EU biofuels policy will initiate indirect land use change (Chapter 3) and consider the figures cited by other studies as an indication of the magnitude the associated greenhouse gas emissions  (Chapter 4). We then broadly consid

"Human history has been the story of obtaining and using increasing quantities and quality of energy. Till right about now. Today, human society is well into a transition from increasing to decreasing availability of energy and other resources--a circumstance that is also worsened by our increasing populations. In that context, the EnergyResources Group aims at objective and accurate understanding of what this means to our lives and future."

Batteries have to contain all of the chemicals on both sides of their energy releasing equation. The very best batteries available today can store about 0.4 MJ/kg (0.05 kw-hr/lb) including the cases and safety systems. In contrast, gasoline carries about 46 MJ/kg (5.7 kw-hrs/lb).\n\nEven with a 20% efficient IC engine, a gasoline tank stores 20 times as much energy as a battery of equal weight. As the vehicle is moving it gets rid of some of that weight. Battery powered vehicles must carry the full weight of their energy source.\n\nThe energy density difference also plays a key role in the time that it takes to put more energy back on the vehicle once a fuel load is consumed. A two minute fill-up of a 12 gallon tank puts the equivalent of 87 kilowatt-hours into the vehicle, again, taking into account the 20% thermal efficiency.\n\n87 kilowatt-hours in 2 minutes works out to 2.6 MegaWatts. Even with a 220 volt connection, that would require about 11,800 amperes of current. Just imagine the size of the electric cables for that current.\n\nThere are certainly places and applications where electric vehicles have a role, but it is worth remembering that at least five or six generations of engineers have looked very hard at trying to meet transportation needs and they keep coming back to the same fact - when you want to move a vehicle, you need power, (energy per unit time).

This is a reference hardware design to add wireless capability to 'any' electronic consumer device. This is important because the availability of designs such as this will drive the networking path for smart homes. This is the first I have seen and it is wireless.

This is a guest article by Dr. David Fleming. Fleming is the Founder Director of the Lean Economy Connection, and an independent writer in the fields of energy, environment, economics, society and culture. The article is based on Fleming's recent 56-page booklet, The Lean Guide to Nuclear Energy, which expands and references the arguments presented. The booklet is available to download here: The Lean Guide to Nuclear Energy

Firefly Energy Inc. the leader in developing next generation carbon and graphite foam batteries, announced that the first preproduction versions of its BCI Group 31 truck battery will be available for review and testing during the first quarter of 2008. The battery will primarily be utilized when the truck's engine is turned off, and provide up to 50 percent longer runtimes than competitors when powering accessories which collectively make up a truck's "hotel loads."

"Cd3wd is a free but high quality collection of practical How-To Technical Development Information - helping the 3rd world to help itself. There are 4000 titles, totalling 13 gigabytes. We host cd3wd free online and we also - very importantly - make it available for free download and onward dissemination via flash ram, CD, DVD, external hard drive etc.."

"The UK wind industry is planning large offshore wind farms, some at considerable distance from shore and in deeper water. Round 3 sites are from 13 to 195 km from shore compared with 12 km for the most distant existing offshore wind farms. There is an urgent need to ensure that offshore wind turbine availability is underpinned by appropriate approaches to operations and maintenance supported by intelligent asset management. Glasgow is aiming to become a center of excellence in offshore wind through development of the ITREZ (International Technology and Renewable Energy Zone)."

Interesting that EWEA develops this kind of tool.

"t is a crucial, if geekish, point: Wind and solar power are NOT intermittent, they are VARIABLE. If someone talks about problems with the intermittencies of wind and solar energies, it is out of ignorance or to intentionally discredit them. Obviously, the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow but those things can be scheduled and forecasted and are no reasons whatsoever not to keep building wind power and solar energy as fast as is humanly possible. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), says transmission system tools are now available that would allow the Mountain West and Southwestern states to get 35% of their electricity from wind and solar energies by 2017. All it will require, aside from the building of the wind and solar production capacity, is a change in the WestConnect group of grid operators' standard operating procedures."

"Understanding the carbon balance of a business is a vital first step towards thinking about management decisions that may have some mitigating effect on climate change by reducing GHG emissions. The calculator has been updated with the latest UK National Inventory Report (1990-2006) data published in April 2009. This may change the output from previously entered data. Working through the steps below will help you calculate your carbon balance and understand the results. Step 1 - Get your data together. You will need physical data for crops, stock and energy use. Step 2 - Log-in (on menu bar) to enter your farm details or if you have previously used the calculator select a farm profile that has already been created by clicking on it. Step 3 - Create a calculation for the farm selected. If you have already created calculations for the farm selected you may also modify, copy or use any of these, also by clicking on the description. Step 4 - Enter data in the input screen. For more guidance visit the Help page. Step 5 - When finished obtain your CALM report by clicking "Report" at the top of the screen and choosing the output format you require. Step 6 - Use the mitigation advisory notes, available from the reports section, to assess ways you can improve your carbon balance."