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| 1 |
ID:
121305
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
To meet the energy requirement for transport, blending automotive fuels with ethanol has been mandated in India like several other countries across the globe. The entire blending requirement has to come from molasses (by-product of sugarcane). Ethanol produced from molasses will not be able to meet the blending targets due to cyclical nature of sugar cane production resulting in shortage of molasses and its competing uses (potable and pharmaceutical use). This has promoted research efforts to augment energy sources that are sustainable and economically viable. One such source that can be commercially exploited for ethanol production is sweet sorghum. The sugars in the stalks of sweet sorghum can be crushed to produce juice, which can be processed into ethanol for blending. An attempt is made in this paper to assess viability of ethanol production from sweet sorghum. Net Present Value (NPV), the indicator of economic viability assessment, is negative and would thus be difficult for the industry to take off under the current scenario of ethanol price, feedstock price and ethanol recovery rate. Hence, an enabling environment and policy support for bio-ethanol production from sweet sorghum is crucial to meet future blending requirements.
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| 2 |
ID:
192753
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| Summary/Abstract |
Germany has ambitious goals to steeply increase the thermal energy efficiency of its older residential buildings, to reduce CO2 emissions and bring heating costs down, especially for low-income households who are over-represented in such dwellings. However, existing scholarship suggests it is doubtful whether the costs of renovation are offset by energy cost savings, even when renovating to only the most basic energy-efficiency standard. Renovating to more ambitious standards further increases the gap between costs and savings. This study offers a first attempt to quantify the dimensions of the problem and what it means for financing this ambitious goal. It analyses publicly available data on case studies of three of Germany's typical 1940s-1970s-era multi-apartment building types and three typical 1900s–1970s house types, retrofitted to a range of energy-efficiency standards in 2020–2021. It updates these for 2023 construction costs, energy prices, carbon prices and interest rates, and shows how rebound and prebound effects exacerbate the situation. Using cost-benefit analyses based on net-present values, payback is not achieved within 75 years in any scenario. The study concludes that Germany's goal can only be achieved through large financial inputs, i.e., sunk costs which will not be fully returned through energy savings.
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| 3 |
ID:
132631
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and disposal is a major urban environment issue in the world today. MSW management solutions have to be technologically feasible, legally and socially acceptable and environmentally and financially sustainable. European policy is pushing for a rational management of natural resources; a promising technological perspective today is waste valorisation, a process that involves sorting at the source, combined with material recycling and waste-to-energy conversion. In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the Portuguese MSW management system, criticize the environmental policy issues for MSW management in Portugal and identify weak points in the criteria used for the technologies selection. Portugal is facing multiple problems with MSW management and is attempting to tackle them by passing legislation in order to improve the performance of waste management systems. At the technological level, gasification increasingly presents as an efficient and viable alternative to incineration. Gasification is a waste-to-energy conversion scheme that offers an attractive solution to both waste disposal and energy problems. Waste gasification by plasma has been validated but the economic viability of this technology must be proven before to be accepted by the industry.
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