Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews最新文献

To accelerate the transition towards an energy system based on renewable energy sources (RES), governments set targets for RES shares in their energy mixes. Renewable energy also plays a major role in decarbonization strategies of private organizations. Electricity from RES is claimed via the acquisition of market-based Energy Attribute Certificates, such as Guarantees of Origin (GOs). GOs can be traded within the European residual mix area. Interest in GOs is lower in countries with high RES shares, leading to a trade imbalance. In 2020, Iceland and Norway had a GO trade deficit that corresponded to 74.2 % and 62.4 %, respectively, of their gross final electricity production from RES. This study evaluates the non-dependence of Europe's RES targets and the GO system by including GO trade in the RES share calculations. Overall, 11 countries do not reach their 2020 RES targets for the electricity sector due to the inclusion of GO trade. Their total GO trade deficit amounts to 212 TWh, equivalent to 31 % of all issued GOs from RES. Limiting international GO trade to ensure that each country still achieves its RES-E targets is one option to harmonize governmental and corporate RES and decarbonization targets. Other options include the complete prohibition of international GO trade and a GO trade limitation to actual physical electricity transmission. Further aligning physical and virtual electricity consumption could strengthen the energy transition contribution of energy attribute certificate systems, such as the GO system.

Decarbonising the global energy system involves several critical aspects, such as enhancing energy efficiency, expanding electrification, adopting alternative fuels, and leveraging hydrogen, among other strategies. Cold and cryogenic energy have substantial potential sources, extending beyond liquefied natural gas, as the demand for several alternative fuels and substances continues to grow. This study explores various techniques for harnessing cold energy to generate power, ranging from simple to complex technologies. It conducts a comparative analysis of promising technologies suitable for converting cold and cryogenic energy into power. Furthermore, it provides a detailed performance comparison for each technology and outlines prospects for future development. In the end, the study discusses the potential direction of further research and underscores the increasing significance of integrating cold and cryogenic energy into existing business models and value chains, not only as a means of transportation but also as a source of power generation. Harnessing cold and cryogenic energy as a seasonal Carnot battery presents a compelling and innovative solution. This advanced system offers significant potential, especially when integrated with variable renewable energy sources or waste heat, providing a promising option for enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability.

Radiative cooling for energy conservation and harvesting has gained considerable attention worldwide in recent years. The optical and thermal characteristics of radiative cooling surface at outdoors is susceptible to dust soiling. Currently, limited research has been devoted to this problem. This work presents a model utilizing the beam envelope method and effective medium theory to investigate the optical characteristics of radiative cooling surfaces impacted by dust soiling. Subsequently, an optical-thermal coupling model is developed to investigate the spectral emissivity, average absorption/emission rates, and net heat gain of radiative cooling surfaces affected by dust soiling. The effect of dust soiling on the absorption of solar radiation is evident, with a substantial effect observed, but its impact on emissivity in the atmospheric window bands is comparatively minor. Meanwhile, it could be noticed that the mechanisms by which various material parameters of dust layers impact optical characteristics are different. In addition, the integration of the optical-thermal coupling model with EnergyPlus meteorological data and MERRA-2 facilitates an exploration of the geographical distribution of radiative cooling power variations induced by dust soiling across different regions in China. It is concluded that regions in China with a higher potential for radiative cooling often characterized by elevated dust deposition rates and low precipitation, rendering them more susceptible to the adverse effects of dust soiling. Effective cleaning significantly enhances both the optical and thermal characteristics of radiative cooling surfaces. The findings of this study offer a theoretical foundation for the enduring application of radiative cooling technology.

Large-scale deployment of CO₂ capture, transport, and storage (CCTS) requires the rolling-out of extensive value chains. This study presents the development, design, techno-economic, environmental, and regulatory analysis of four pioneering chains that capture and condition CO₂ from existing European industrial plants and their multi-modal transport to selected ports in Northern Europe. The pioneering chains can avoid between 65% and 87% of the industrial emissions, including scope 3, with a cost of CO₂ avoided ranging between 100 and 300 €/tCO₂. The economic and environmental performance of the CCTS chains are substantially affected by the geographic location of the industrial emitters and the CO₂ volumes to be transported. The analysis relies on the assumption that the four industrial plants would be early movers. While, in the future, technology maturation and infrastructure development are expected to reduce costs and emissions associated with the CCTS chain, this study quantifies and presents the current economic burden that must be overcome to initiate a needed widespread implementation of CCTS.

Co-pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass with a feedstock having a high hydrogen content, such as plastics, is one of the most efficacious and promising approaches to ameliorate bio-oil yield and quality. Polystyrene, a common thermoplastic, is an attractive feedstock for co-pyrolysis as it contains almost 99 wt% of volatile matter based on proximate analysis. A comprehensive review of the co-pyrolysis of different types of lignocellulosic biomass and polystyrene is provided here, with the primary focus on the reactor configurations, along with the quantity and quality of targeted products of interest. Kinetic modeling has been used to elucidate the role of polystyrene on the relevant activation energies and reaction mechanisms. Most of the experimental studies have employed a fixed bed reactor but a few have employed a fluidized bed reactor. The environmental and economic aspects of the process with respect to feedstock and products are considered. Finally, future perspectives and challenges in the commercialization of the co-pyrolysis process for the two types of feedstock are discussed.

Cameroon possesses a significant endowment of solar energy, granting it exceptional potential for the generation of hydrogen through environmentally friendly means. However, the continued expansion of the nation's petroleum industry presents an obstacle to the domestic utilization of green hydrogen due to its present costliness for energy purposes. Nonetheless, the prospect of exporting green hydrogen to developed nations remains an intriguing proposition. Indeed, a pact concerning hydrogen was established between Australia and Cameroon in the year 2021, thus opening avenues for the export of green hydrogen to facilitate the decarbonization of national energy supplies in Australia and other industrialized nations. Presently, there are no documented large-scale projects within Cameroon dedicated to the electrolytic production of hydrogen. This study projects the potential hydrogen demand in the electricity and transportation sectors up to 2040. Electricity demand is expected to be as high as 8675 GWh in 2040, while gasoline and diesel demand are expected to reach 1.75 and 3.26 million cubic meters, respectively. Therefore, the total amount of hydrogen needed to power both the electricity and transportation sectors is estimated at 0.532 megatonnes. Even a relatively modest allocation, merely 5 %, of Cameroon's land for the production of hydrogen via solar-powered electricity generation could yield a surplus. This resultant quantity of hydrogen, estimated at a substantial 16.68 megatonnes, would likely be more than enough to satisfy the projected domestic needs for both electrical and transportation uses by the year 2040.

Scientists have reached a consensus that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C necessitates achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across all economic sectors. Numerous research institutes have prepared decarbonization strategies for the global and regional chemical industries, utilizing modeling and systems analysis to identify decarbonization pathways with different combinations of low-carbon technologies. However, technology choices and scenario designs vary widely across studies, which precludes generalizability and complicates the use of data and results by the broader decarbonization scenario modeling community. Given the varied scopes and objectives inherent in different system models, there is no standardized set of technology data for use in decarbonization pathways analysis. A systematic literature review of 27 relevant studies was performed, which found opportunities for improving technology representation, technology readiness, scenario consistency, demand factors, and policy interventions, among other quantitative elements. Only 7 out of 27 reviewed studies investigated all types of mitigation technologies, and only 3 studies included all data elements aligning with the proposed rubric in this paper. Considering these opportunities, this review proposes a comprehensive dataset structure and consistent scenario definitions that can enable more comprehensive, comparable, robust, and replicable net-zero decarbonization scenarios by modelers of the chemicals industry moving forward.

Utility-scale solar energy (USSE) is rapidly expanding and expected to compose the largest source of renewable-generated electricity in the United States and globally over the coming decades. Lands in the hot Desert Southwest (Chihuahuan, Mojave, Sonoran, and San Joaquin Deserts) are increasingly selected for USSE development because of their high solar irradiance. The Desert Southwest supports high biodiversity and provides many ecosystem services but is vulnerable to USSE disturbance and simultaneous stress from aridification and other growing land-use pressures. In this review, a framework is presented for predicting the effects of USSE development on plants and wildlife by linking disturbance types associated with USSE construction and operation to the traits and response strategies of species and guilds. Case studies from representative Desert Southwest species and guilds of conservation concern are used to: review known effects of USSE, predict unknown effects with the trait-based framework, and discuss mitigation strategies. This framework predicts that species with trait plasticity and broad ecological niches will be capable of exploiting USSE development, while species with specific habitat requirements and narrow niches will be more vulnerable. Opportunities for mitigation during development and operation that may lessen these effects are identified. This work is intended to inform USSE management decision-making and long-term planning, as well as encourage new research to test predicted effects and responses.

The industrial production of urea is accompanied by high energy consumption and huge carbon emissions, which hinder green and sustainable development. The combination of carbon dioxide (CO₂) with ubiquitous nitrogen sources (nitrate, nitrite, nitric oxide, and nitrogen) through electrocatalysis C–N coupling to produce urea is a promising strategy of three birds with one stone, which can simultaneously promote carbon neutrality, efficient utilization of nitrogen resources, and the production of high value-added urea. However, the low urea yield (μmol to mmol level) and faradaic efficiency (<50 %), suboptimal reaction current density (<100 mA cm⁻²) and ambiguous C–N coupling mechanism severely limit the further development of the electrocatalytic urea synthesis. In this review, we present the progress of electrocatalytic urea synthesis by combining CO₂ and different nitrogenous species under ambient conditions. The mechanisms of C–N coupling are summarized and the urea detection methods are evaluated in detail. More importantly, the techno-commercial analyses of electrocatalytic urea synthesis are provided. Furthermore, the current challenges and future opportunities are presented to realize the large-scale application of electrocatalytic urea synthesis as soon as possible.

The growing expansion of distribution systems propelled by high penetration of renewable energy sources, growth of electric vehicles, the integration of energy storage systems, and the implementation of demand-side management strategies have introduced uncertainties related to generation fluctuations, and consumption patterns. These uncertainties are to be modeled precisely and effectively to achieve flawless embedding of the distributed energy resources into the distribution grid. This paper begins by highlighting the growing importance of distributed energy resources in active distribution network planning and then provides a comprehensive overview for methods used in the literature to characterize uncertain parameters, specifically through probability distributions, distributionally robust representations, and robust uncertainty sets. The study principally aims to critically analyze the prevailing techniques for modeling and optimization of active distribution planning problems with high penetration of distributed energy resources under growing uncertainties in physical space, such as intermittency in renewable energy production, demand variation, network topology changes, variability in electric vehicle charging load, and customer attitude towards demand response. Various methodologies, including probabilistic methods, possibilistic methods, stochastic optimization, robust optimization, information gap decision theory, and hybrid approaches, are thoroughly assessed and compared. This comprehensive and comparative assessment aids researchers in selecting the most appropriate uncertainty modeling technique in accordance with the characteristics of uncertain variables and the specific planning problem being addressed. Furthermore this study also examines the implications of cyber space uncertainties in active distribution network planning.