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In the study presented here, ‘biofuels’ were examined with regard to various issues. Above all the question of the impact of ‘biomass’ production on ecosystems, the ‘sustainability’ of the use of biofuels, the search for alternatives and therefore the question of the future development of the transport sector are directly linked to one another. Discussions conducted in public, such as the food­or­fuel debate, lead to an increased sensibility to the way biofuels are dealt with and lead to very controversial views on the use and application of biofuels. Certain factors provide a tool for the assessment of the sustainable utilisation of biofuels. In the field of ‘ecology’, the points climate protection, conservation of biodiversity and soil­and­water protection occupy centre stage. In the field of economy, opening up rural areas for development, including job creation, as well as reducing dependency on energy imports is what matters. ‘Social aspects’ are mainly security of supply for energy and foodstuffs at reasonable prices. This results in a distribution of competences to the policy remits of environment, energy and agriculture. Processes, which benefit the introduction of biofuels, are occurrences such as global warming, world­wide scarcity of crude oil, as well as the sharp increase in price of energy and food prices, which attained their highest point in the Summer of 2008 – for the time being. All these are compelling factors forcing a re­think of the utilisation of global ‘resources’. Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 2253-2258

This paper presents different technical possibilities to balance the short term production and consumption of electricity in Finland. Based on several wind measurements in Finland, the amount of wind power variation was calculated for a scenario with 2000 MW wind power in Finland. Additionally, an estimate of the reserves needed for wind power and an analysis of the regulating power market (balancing market) in Finland was made. Hydro power and gas turbines can be regulated by at least 40% of the maximum capacity in one minute. Condensing power plants fuelled by coal (or peat) can be regulated by 5% (or 3%) of their capacity in one minute. The power regulation characteristics in combined heat and power plants (CHP) vary from one plant to another. Therefore no general figures can be given. However, CHP can have possibility for high regulation capacity if heat storage are provided. The one minute power regulation for pressurized water nuclear reactors can be from 1 to 3% of the capacity. Based on these figures and on the installed Finnish electricity production capacity, there is 2100-2200 MW (hydro power and gas turbines) of power reserve capacity in Finland. The maximum power variation in wind power production from hour to hour has been 16% and the corresponding standard deviation is 2.7% of the installed capacity, from three years of measured power production data in Finland. Based on these measurements a scenario with 2000 MW wind power in Finland was made. In this scenario the maximum hourly production variation would be 20% and the standard deviation 3.4%. This study also examines the changes in Finland's regulating power market in aggregated regulation bids, volume of regulating power and regulating power price. Both regulation bids and volume of regulating power vary in time. In recent years there have been an increased number of peaks in the regulating power price. If the wind power capacity (2000 MW) would be geographically distributed, it would unlikely ha- ve an impact on the amount of the disturbance reserves. The influence on the needs of the frequency controlled normal operation reserve can not be specified with the current (hourly) wind power measurements in Finland. Also sufficient slow reserve capacity and working order must be ensured when the wind power production increases. Adding wind power to the power system will clearly be seen in the regulating power market. The current capacity available to the Finnish regulating power market can be insufficient at times when changes in the power production increase.

The challenge of finding dedicated and sufficiently informative indicators for energy efficiency of buildings was explored in a literature study and a simulated case. A set of indicators of energy efficiency was developed. The proposed indicators were tested with simulation and the results suggest that the indicators are applicable for practical use. Indicators of energy efficiency are needed urgently, since approximately 40% of energy in the European Union (EU) is consumed in buildings. The success of the efforts to improve the energy efficiency in buildings is to a large part dependent on the availability of reliable metrics to quantify the level of efficiency.

This paper explores a new integrative approach to climate change education at Masters level. Drawing on the authors’ involvement in a European Union Erasmus project, it is argued that the diversity of knowledge(s) on climate change are a source of active/social learning. The wide variety of disciplinary, sectoral and lived experiential (both individual and collective)knowledge(s) are all considered legitimate in this exercise, the aim of which is to construct new interdisciplinary knowledge from their boundary interfaces. We further argue for a corresponding pedagogy based on developing transboundary competences – the ability to engage in social learning and action through communicative engagement across knowledge boundaries. We acknowledge that the challenges for enacting transboundary competence are considerable when it requires mobility across epistemological, even ontological, boundaries. The challenges are further compounded when the communicative engagement across space and time requires virtual mobility which is ICT-enabled. Nevertheless, meeting them is a normative goal, not only for this expanded, integrative approach to climate change education, but also for a global resolution of climate change itself.

This paper presents a simulation model of a MW-level variable speed wind turbine with a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) and a full-scale converter developed in the simulation tool of PSCAD/EMTDC. Grid connected wind turbines are fluctuating power sources during continuous operation. A novel wind power fluctuations mitigation method by DC-link voltage control of variable speed wind turbines is proposed in this paper. It smoothes the active power oscillations from the wind turbine due to wind shear and tower shadow effects by varying the DC link voltage of the full-scale converter. Simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

Demand Response is a key enabler for the shift from a generation-oriented system towards a consumption-oriented electrical grid known as the Smart Grid. This paper proposes a Model Predictive Control scheme enabling a combination of both price and event-based Demand Response. The controller is divided into two stages where the first consists of an optimization which takes dynamic prices into account, whereas the second stage calculates power reduction offers for an Aggregator. The proposed method is validated through a simulation case study, where a single apartment is modeled in EnergyPlus and an electric heater is regulated by the two-stage controller. The results show that the first stage shifts consumption from high to low-price periods, leading to an 8% increase in energy consumption but a 7% reduction in energy costs. The second stage continuously provides hourly power reduction offers for a 24 hours period. The offering price of these bids depends largely on the notification time and the baseline consumption. Results show that in certain time periods these bids can be provided at a very low cost compared to the average energy cost.

Principal objective of the research paper is to develop and stimulate a Novel Dual Integrated Rotor-Stator System with Double Layered V-Shaped Magnetic Pole Six-Phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (NDIRSS-PMSG) for tidal energy extraction. The quest for generating electricity from tides using different technologies has resulted in the birth of tidal energy. While not commonly used, tidal energy has the potential to be a future source of power because it is more predictable than wind and sun. A multiphase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) is a better option for the aforementioned reason. The double rotor-stator configuration enhances the machine's voltage regulation, as well as its stability and performance. The novelty of the designed PMSG is hidden in its magnetic pole structure. A double layered V-shaped magnet is inserted into the rotatory portions, which provides a higher flux density and contribute for a reliable operation of the proposed system. To construct the generator optimally and for evaluation, magnetostatic and transient analysis are used. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the proposed novel system is authentic, robust and efficient.