To be sure, there is a great deal of uncertainty over the pace of inventory drawdowns. The IEA predicts a return to rising inventories in the first half of 2018, a prospect that threatens another downturn in prices. In this scenario, OPEC will struggle to balance the market, and may be forced into yet another extension. Indeed, there are some analysts who see the downside risk as a much greater threat than the upside, and that the oil market should brace for lower prices.

Webster defines an algorithm as a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end, especially by a computer. Increasingly the global economy, which is the production, distribution, or trade, and consumption of goods and services is being governed by these programs which as Kevin Slavin points out in his excellent TED talk are shaping our world. They establish stock prices but not satisfied with speculating on tangible assets, the latest craze is to make the algorithm itself a proof of work that purportedly has intrinsic value.

We hope our leaders have the public’s best interest in mind. Unfortunately, instead of using sound science, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears to be making decisions based on the influence of the worst actors in the oil and gas industry. Although in his recent Congressional testimony he said the outcome of his proposal to suspend and possibly roll back EPA’s methane rule is yet to be determined, the way he justifies the delay of these standards shows he lacks confidence in American industry’s ability to rise to a challenge.

From the impacts of climate change and the human costs of air pollution to the benefits of electricity market deregulation, some of the most crucial topics in energy this year can best be illustrated through data presented in easy-to-digest charts. So, we’ve put together ten of our favorites from 2017.

#1 – You Could Live Longer If Your Country Reduced Pollution To Meet National Or Global Standards

It’s a chart…but a whole lot more! That—along with the fact that air pollution kills more people than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined—landed the Air Quality-Life Index (AQLI)^TM as the top EPIC chart of 2017.

The AQLI translates particulate pollution, the deadliest form of air pollution, into its impact on lifespans. So, users can find their country on the map and see how much longer they could live if their government met either national or World Health Organization air quality standards. It complements the frequently used Air Quality Index (AQI), a metric that describes how polluted the air is, but draws no connection to the impact of that pollution on our health.

With an estimated 4.5 billion people around the world exposed to levels of particulates air pollution that are at least twice what the World Health Organization considers safe, the AQLI is a powerful tool to help people understand the consequences of pollution on their lives. In November, when India’s pollution reached record levels, the AQLI was widely used by the news media to put the pollution in relatable terms—demonstrating how, in just a few months, the AQLI has already become a part of the mainstream dialogue on pollution.

What’s next for the AQLI? Introduced in its beta form, EPIC looks forward to expanding the usability, value and public reach of the tool over the coming year. So, look for a significantly expanded version of the AQLI on a more robust and dynamic website to come in 2018. From there, who knows? Maybe someday the AQLI will replace the AQI altogether.

Read More: aqli.epic.uchicago.edu

#2 – Climate Change Will Damage The U.S. Economy And Increase Inequality

2017 brought record rainfall and unprecedented flooding to Texas, the worst wildfire season in California’s history, and a line of catastrophic storms from which millions of Americans are still recovering. Indicative of the types of changes we’re expected to see more of under climate change, some are calling 2017 a “wake-up call” for what’s in store for our future.

If the world continues on its current path, EPIC’s Amir Jina, an assistant professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, and his colleagues at the Climate Impact Lab find climate change could bring costs to the United States on par with the Great Recession. Worse, these impacts will not dissipate over time and damages for poor regions will be many times larger. This could result in an unequal distribution of damages that surpasses the largest wealth transfer from the poor to the rich in the country’s history, with the poorest third of U.S. counties projected to sustain economic damages costing as much as 20 percent of their income. The researchers’ work finds that states in the South and lower Midwest, which tend to be poor and hot already, are projected to lose the most, with economic opportunity traveling northward and westward. Increasingly extreme heat will drive up violent crime, slow down workers, amp up air conditioning costs, and threaten people’s lives. In the Midwest, climate change could cause agricultural losses similar to the Dustbowl of the 1930s.

Through this work, the team was also able to create a new metric that can help the country manage climate change as it does other systematic economic risks: For each one degree Fahrenheit increase in global temperatures, the U.S. economy loses about 0.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product, with each degree of warming costing more than the last. This metric could be used in the same way the Federal Reserve uses interest rates to manage the risk of recession.

Read More: Study: Estimating Economic Damage From Climate Change In The United States

By Amir Jina, Solomon Hsiang (UC Berkeley), Robert Kopp (Rutgers), James Rising (University of Chicago) and their co-authors

#3 – Hydraulic Fracturing Leads To Poorer Health For Babies Born Near Fracking Sites

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is perhaps the most important discovery to the energy system in the last half century. As a result of its discovery, U.S. production of oil and natural gas has increased dramatically. This has led to abruptly lower energy prices, stronger energy security and even lower carbon dioxide and air pollution emissions by displacing coal in electricity generation. That is certainly good news for our climate, and our health—with large reductions in air pollution dispersed around the country.  Plus, natural gas’s cheap price tag has meant more money in the pockets of American families and businesses. But, our continued access to these benefits depends on local communities allowing fracking. Communities have reached very different conclusions about local benefits and costs with many places banning it and others embracing it.

A primary concern has been whether hydraulic fracturing causes local health problems. EPIC Director Michael Greenstone and his colleagues  Janet Currie (Princeton University) and Katherine Meckel (UCLA) dug into data from more than 1.1 million births in Pennsylvania and found that infants born to mothers living up to about 2 miles from a hydraulic fracturing site suffer from poorer health. The largest impacts were to babies born within about a half mile of a site, with those babies being 25 percent more likely to be born at a low birth weight (i.e., less than 5.5 lbs)—leaving them with a greater risk of infant mortality, ADHD, asthma, lower test scores, lower schooling attainment, and lower earnings.

The risk of giving birth to an infant classified as low birth weight decreases the further the mother lives from a site, the study finds. Infants born to mothers living about a half to 2 miles from a site also experienced increases in the probability of low birth weight but the effect is smaller—about a half to a third of the effect within about a half mile.  The results also open the door for future research to examine whether fracking is associated with health consequences at other ages.

In contrast, the study found no evidence of impacts on infant health among babies born to mothers living further than about 2 miles from a fracking site. These results suggest that hydraulic fracturing does have an impact on infant health, but only at a highly localized level. Out of the nearly 4 million babies born in the United States each year, back of the envelope calculations suggest that there are about 30,000 births within about a half mile of a fracking site and another 70,000 births about a half to 2 miles away.

Fears of the health consequences of fracking have already stoked bans in many places across the United States. In April, Maryland became the third state to ban fracking, following New York and Vermont. Several countries have also banned the practice, including France and Germany. As local and state policymakers decide whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in their communities, this study provides critical information to help them weigh the costs with the benefits—last year, another study by Greenstone and co-authors Janet Currie, Chris Knittel (MIT) and Alex Bartik (University of Illinois) found local economic benefits, with the average household in communities that allow fracking gaining about $1,900 per year.

Read More: Study: Hydraulic Fracturing And Infant Health: New Evidence From Pennsylvania

By Michael Greenstone, Janet Currie (Princeton) and Katherine Meckel (UCLA)

#4 – Air Pollution Cuts 3 Years Off Lifespans In Northern China

While India experienced record air pollution this November, China shut down tens of thousands of its factories and mandated the use of natural gas instead of coal in an unprecedented move to crack down on pollution. And, for good reason. A study by EPIC Director Michael Greenstone and his colleagues found that people who live just to the north of China’s Huai River live 3 years less than people who live just to the south of it. This loss in life expectancy appears to be due to particulates air pollution, which is 46 percent higher just to the north of the river. The differences in life expectancy and air pollution are due to a policy that provided free coal for winter heating to the north of the river. The elevated mortality is entirely due to an increase in cardiorespiratory deaths, further suggesting that air pollution is the cause of reduced life expectancies.

Using an innovative natural experiment formed from the Chinese policy, the researchers isolated the impact of sustained exposure to particulates air pollution from other factors that affect health. This allowed the study’s results to be generalized to quantify the number of years that air pollution reduces lifespans around the globe—not just in China. Specifically, Greenstone and colleagues at EPIC used the findings to develop a new pollution index, the Air Quality-Life Index (AQLI)^TM. The index allows users to better understand the impact of air pollution on their lives by calculating how much longer they would live if pollution were brought into compliance with their national or global standards.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government pledged in August to cut northern air pollution by 15 percent in the winter months. As part of its efforts, China is switching its primary source of heating from coal-fired boilers to gas-fired or electric units, along with shutting down polluting plants.

Read More: Study: New evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River Policy

By Michael Greenstone, Avraham Ebenstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Maoyong Fan (Ball State), Guojun He (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Maigeng Zhou (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

#5 – Energy Efficiency Programs Are A Climate-Policy Cornerstone. But Will They Deliver?

Energy efficiency is often considered low-hanging fruit for climate policy. Thought to reduce carbon emissions and save money at the same time—who could argue against it? And to date, market forces have identified plenty of attractive opportunities to reduce the amount of energy consumed per unit of GDP. That’s a big part of why energy demand growth has slowed in many developed markets. Yet major forecasters like the International Energy Agency (IEA) are counting on efficiency programs to play an even larger role in the future, accounting for a third or more of the needed reductions in global carbon emissions by 2040.

But will government and utility-backed programs deliver? A number of recent studies suggest that programs will need to be far more robustly designed, or they will likely fall short of their ambitious goals. In the latest such study, EPIC’s Fiona Burlig and colleagues at MIT, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and Northwestern analyzed a government program to increase building efficiency in K-12 schools in California. They found that while the energy efficiency upgrades lowered energy consumption at the average school by 3 percent, the schools saved only 24 percent of what was originally projected. According to the researchers, a school that invested $400,000 in upgrades, expecting that it would recoup its investment in the form of lower energy bills in 4 years, might never see the investment pay off.

This isn’t the only study that came out this year that showed actual savings from energy efficiency investments are far less than projected. Another study, by EPIC’s Michael Greenstone and his colleague Hunt Allcott from NYU, looked at more than 100,000 households that participated in a large, federally-funded stimulus program in Wisconsin. They found the investments there saved only about 58 percent of what was promised, but that a handful of program reforms could lead to far better outcomes.

Read More: Forbes: Cutting Energy Use Is One Way Cash-Strapped Schools Can Save. But By How Much?

By Fiona Burlig, Christopher Knittel (MIT), David Rapson (UC Davis), Mar Reguant (Northwestern), and Catherine Wolfram (UC Berkeley)

#6 – Incentives Can Backfire: A Cautionary Tale For Smart-Grid Enrollment Programs

Real-time electricity pricing is widely viewed as an increasingly critical tool for grid operators, especially if grids around the world are to shift to more variable sources of generation like wind and solar power. A key advantage of charging customers based on supply and demand is that it encourages them to use power in ways that minimize system costs. Prices rise during peak times, incentivizing households to use less power, thereby easing pressure on the grid. Low prices overnight or during peak solar generating hours tell customers it might be a good time to run the dishwasher.

Despite these benefits, the number of households choosing to take up time-based pricing models has historically been quite low, and mandating this pricing can be politically difficult. To bridge this gap, governments and utilities often turn to incentives that prompt consumers to join time-based programs. But do these programs work? To answer this question, EPIC’s Koichiro Ito, an assistant professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, studied more than 2,000 households in Japan who could join a new time-based program that offered a low electricity rate during the morning and night, and a higher rate in the afternoon when electricity use was at its peak.

The good news? He discovered that those who were given information about the program and a $60 bonus for switching were 50 percent more likely to join the program (30 percent more likely if they were only given the information).

But, after joining the program, the customers who were the most likely to change their behaviors and conserve energy were those who were originally not given any information or incentives to join. These customers reduced their electricity use by 20 percent. Those who switched plans after being prodded with information were half as likely to adjust their behaviors in the end, and those given the $60 bonus were also less likely. Why? In prodding them to join, customers who would not have otherwise made the switch did so, filling the program with customers who were not fully motivated to change their behavior. Instead, those customers who switched based solely on interest were more naturally motivated to conserve energy.

Read More: Forbes: Amidst Solar Eclipse’s Test On Clean Power, One Smart Grid Solution Offers A Cautionary Tale

By Koichiro Ito

#7 – Electricity Markets Decrease The Cost Of Generating Power By $3 Billion A Year

This year, the U.S. Department of Energy proposed a rule that would subsidize the ailing coal and nuclear industries, arguing that these sources of electricity are needed to ensure grid reliability as renewable fuels gain market share. Critics of the proposed rule say it is an unnecessary bailout of uncompetitive and dirty energy sources, and that renewables pose no threat to grid reliability. Critics also say it could “blow up the market” by depressing costs.

The possible threat to U.S. electricity markets comes as EPIC’s Steve Cicala, an assistant professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, finds the enormous cost-saving potential of these markets. After constructing a virtually complete hourly characterization of U.S. electric grid supply and demand and comparing the data in wholesale electricity markets to regulated command-and-control areas before and after markets were introduced, Cicala finds that using a market approach to buy and trade electricity saves about $3 billion a year. That’s due to the increased efficiencies and coordination the markets bring.

The study finds that power plant generators operating within markets are more likely to ensure their power plants are available to run when it is most economical. This means the lowest-cost plants are used 10 percent more often in market regions. This reduces “out of merit” costs—the costs incurred when the lowest-cost plant isn’t used—by nearly 20 percent. Further, power suppliers operating within markets are able to better identify low-cost generators across areas and better coordinate the dispatch of power, increasing trade by 10 percent. The savings from these transactions increases by 20 percent a year.

Utilities could be looking for the gains a market would bring to the western United States, as more and more talk crept in this year of a possible new regional transmission organization.

http://www.theenergycollective.com/epicuchicago/2418930/10-charts-tell-story-energy-2017

The last time CleanTechnica checked in on ARPA-E, things did not look so good for the Energy Department’s cutting-edge research funding agency. ARPA-E helped accelerate the renewable energy revolution during the Obama Administration, but President* Trump put it on the chopping block for next year’s budget.

The Sol SOURCE is a monthly journal that our team distributes to our network of clients and solar stakeholders. Our newsletter contains energy statistics from current real-life renewables projects, trends, and observations gained through monthly interviews with our team, and it incorporates news from a variety of industry resources. Below, we have included excerpts from the December 2017 edition. To receive future Journals, please subscribe or email pr@solsystems.com.

PROJECT FINANCE STATISTICS

The following statistics represent some high-quality solar projects and portfolios that we are actively reviewing for investment.

 

What if communities could put an economic value on their local solar resource potential? What if local decision makers could consider this value in the same way as other local resources that drive growth and local investment?

Solar energy is a local developable resource, just as if the community had oil, gas, or coal energy reserves. Energy “reserves” is a familiar term that communicates the strategic and economic value, job creation potential, and investment opportunities that solar development represents for communities.

The Indian solar market is experiencing strong growth, bringing it ever closer to the Indian government’s goal of increasing the installed photovoltaic capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2022. Against the backdrop of this progress, Intersolar India opens today in the Bombay Exhibition Center in Mumbai. Over 260 exhibitors are presenting their products, services and solutions for the solar industry until December 7. More than 12,000 international visitors are offered a free of charge program at the exhibition stage with three presentations on smart renewable energy, a forum on skill council for green jobs and further exhibitor presentations. The exhibition is accompanied by the Intersolar India Conference, where the Indian solar market as well as ground-mounted and rooftop installations are the center of attention.

The first time in 9 years of existence, Intersolar India had to experience India’s unbelievable climate change. Surprising rainfalls accompanied the event during a draught season. Despite these consequences of the climate change Intersolar India opened the doors to a total attendance of more than 13,000 solar and energy storage experts, even 10% more than the expected visitor numbers. 241 exhibitors showcased their latest products and solutions in Hall 1 of the Bombay Exhibition Center. On the opening day government dignitaries expressed their honor to participate in India’s largest solar exhibition and conference for the solar industry.

The owners and administrators of researchgate, insist on the appropriate blocking of indepedent scientists researchers and other scholars with published scientific articles and simultaneously have none official collaboration with some universitiy or institution. Although the website of researchgate offers the selection to join on the community as an indepedent researcher without institutional e-mail adress, if you try to register with non-institutional e-mail by submitting your CV and reporting links of your articles and papers, you will soon find that the activation mail from researchgate will never come in your inbox. 

Practically, my conclusion is that researchgate does not accept independent researchers and the selection of registering as an independent researcher is only available for fictitious reasons.

Essentially, a "private club / private community" of scientists and researchers has been created due to the particular practice. Researchgate prohibits other independent researchers to join in the community. This is unacceptable from me.

I would suggest in all independent resarchers scientists and scholars to condemn this questionable tactic of researchgate.

Related dialogs and thread. 

https://www.quora.com/ResearchGate-Im-a-freelancer-who-wishes-join-to-ResarchGate-but-signing-up-it-requires-a-institution-email-What-can-I-do-without-an-institution-email-address

Η νέα βάση του τμήματος μηχανικών ενεργειακής τεχνολογίας του ΤΕΙ Αθήνας για το 2017 ανέρχεται στα 11033 μόρια. Η βαθμολογία του πρώτου εισακτέου ανέρχεται στα 14050 μόρια. Υπάρχουν 63 διαθέσιμες θέσεις με 63 επιτυχόντες.

Καλή επιτυχία στους φοιτητές.

Τις σφοδρές αντιδράσεις της γερμανικής και της αυστριακής κυβέρνησης προκάλεσε η απόφαση της αμερικανικής Γερουσίας να εγκρίνει νέες κυρώσεις σε βάρος της Ρωσίας, που εκτιμάται ότι κατά κύριο λόγο στοχεύει στο project του αγωγού φυσικού αερίου Nord Stream 2. Την Τετάρτη η Γερουσία υπερψήφισε με συντριπτική πλειοψηφία 97 – 2 τροπολογία που ενισχύει τις υφιστάμενες αμερικανικές οικονομικές κυρώσεις κατά της Μόσχας, αλλά ταυτόχρονα προβλέπει δυνατότητα επιβολής ποινών σε εταιρείες που επενδύουν ή υποστηρίζουν την κατασκευή ρωσικών αγωγών για την εξαγωγή ενέργειας.

Η αντιμετώπιση της ενεργειακής φτώχειας είναι μία από τις κυριότερες προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζουν οι χώρες της ΝΑ Ευρώπης, όπως τονίσθηκε στην έβδομη συνεδρία της δεύτερης ημέρας του συνεδρίου «10th SE Europe Energy Dialogue» του ΙΕΝΕ. Προεδρεύων της συνεδρίας ήταν ο καθηγητής κ. Δημήτρης Μαυράκης, διευθυντής του Κέντρου Ενεργειακής Πολιτικής και Ανάπτυξης (ΚΕΠΑ) του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών. 

Εποικοδομητική ήταν η συνάντηση που είχαν στην Αθήνα την Πέμπτη ο πρόεδρος και διευθύνων σύμβουλος της ΔΕΗ Μανώλης Παναγιωτάκης με τον Περιφερειάρχη Δυτικής Μακεδονίας Θ. Καρυπίδη, υπό το φως των τελευταίων εξελίξεων με την κατολίσθηση στο λιγνιτωρυχείο στο Αμύνταιο. Σύμφωνα με σχετική ανακοίνωση, ο κ. Παναγιωτάκης μετέφερε στον Περιφερειάρχη την πρόθεση της Επιχείρησης να καταβάλλει στην περιοχή 20 εκατ. ευρώ μέσω του τοπικού πόρου, αλλά και να αναλάβει τα έξοδα διαμονής και σίτισης των κατοίκων των Αναργύρων. 

Το Ευρωπαϊκό δικαστήριο καταδίκασε την Ελλάδα για παραβίαση της οδηγίας 2010/31/ΕΕ του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου και του Συμβουλίου, της 19ης Μαΐου 2010, για την ενεργειακή απόδοση των κτιρίων.

Συγκεκριμένα το άρθρο 5, παράγραφοι 1 και 2, της οδηγίας 2010/31, με τίτλο «Υπολογισμός των βέλτιστων από πλευράς κόστους επιπέδων των ελάχιστων απαιτήσεων ενεργειακής απόδοσης», ορίζει ότι τα κράτη μέλη υπολογίζουν τα βέλτιστα από πλευράς κόστους επίπεδα για τις ελάχιστες απαιτήσεις ενεργειακής απόδοσης των κτιρίων χρησιμοποιώντας το συγκριτικό μεθοδολογικό πλαίσιο που θεσπίζεται από τον κατ’ εξουσιοδότηση κανονισμό 244/2012 και, κατά το άρθρο 5, παράγραφος 2, δεύτερο εδάφιο, της ίδιας οδηγίας, κοινοποιούν στην Επιτροπή έκθεση η οποία περιέχει όλα τα δεδομένα υπολογισμού και τις παραδοχές που χρησιμοποίησαν για τους υπολογισμούς αυτούς, καθώς και τα αποτελέσματα των εν λόγω υπολογισμών.

More than 27 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity was added to the U.S. power grid during 2016, the largest amount of added capacity since 2012. These additions more than offset the retirement of roughly 12 GW of capacity, resulting in a net capacity gain of nearly 15 GW, the largest change since 2011. These net additions follow a 4 GW net capacity decrease in 2015—the largest net drop in capacity recorded in the United States.

Αντεπίθεση στην ΕΒΙΚΕΝ πραγματοποιεί με σημερινή του ανακοίνωση ο ΣΠΕΦ, τονίζοντας ότι οι αιτιάσεις του βιομηχανικού συνδέσμου είναι γενικόλογες, ενώ στέκεται στο ρόλο των ΑΠΕ και της διακοψιμότητας κατά τη διάρκεια της ενεργειακής κρίσης των προηγουμένων μηνών.

Πιο αναλυτικά, ο ΣΠΕΦ σημειώνει τα εξής:

 

    随着对消费者保障力度的提高，该公司生产的太阳能电池板采用大功率PERC(钝化发射背部接触)太阳能电池结构。

 

　　延长产品保修，为SolarWorld太阳能电池板的所有人提供保障，由生产缺陷产生的问题可提供保障，此次保修期延长适用于2017年1月1日之后交付的所有太阳能电池组件。

 

　　2009年，该公司首次提供为期25年的线性保证，可提供更好的保护，因为电力输出保护百分比每年下降仅7个百分点。

 

　　装机统计

 

    根据中国国家能源局所发表的官方统计数据，在2016年新增的34.54GW光伏系统当中，有4.24GW为分布式系统，较2015年成长200%。西北地区新增了9.74GW，占全国28%;其他地区新增装机量为24.8GW。

Αποφάσεις που ελήφθησαν τις τελευταίες ημέρες του χρόνου και πέρασαν «στα ψιλά» ανοίγουν το δρόμο για να μπούν σε φάση υλοποίησης, εντός της επόμενης τριετίας, αιολικά πάρκα συνολικής δυναμικότητας περί τα 1400 MW και συνολικής επενδυτικής δαπάνης περί τα 1,5 δις. ευρώ. Κατά κύριο λόγο τα έργα αυτά ανήκουν στους δέκα «μεγάλους» της αγοράς ή σε σχήματα δορυφορικά και συνεργαζόμενα μαζί τους.

Τα έργα που εκτιμάται βάσιμα από την αγορά ότι θα μπουν σε τροχιά υλοποίησης το αμέσως επόμενο διάστημα, ανήκουν σε τρείς κατηγορίες: 500 MW που έχουν υποβάλλει φάκελο στον ΛΑΓΗΕ, 400 MW της Νότας Εύβοιας που θα συνδεθούν με το καλώδιο Πολυπόταμος – Νέα Μάκρη και 450 MW παλαιότερα έργα που έχουν εξασφαλίσει σταθερή ταρίφα. Σύνολο περί τα 1400 MW. Ειδικότερα το εναρκτήριο επενδυτικό λάκτισμα έχει δοθεί για: