Political Ecology

Artificial light has long been a significant factor contributing to the quality and productivity of human life. As a consequence, we are willing to use huge amounts of energy to produce it. Solid-state lighting (SSL) is an emerging technology that promises performance features and efficiencies well beyond those of traditional artificial lighting, accompanied by potentially [...]

HOGE: So now you are really in the heart of the cooling center. This is inlet for the seawater system. Inside here you have the pipe coming in and then you have these six pumps circulating the seawater into the cooling center and back into the harbor a little bit warmer.GELLERMAN: Two pipes, each nearly [...]

Hollow fiber sorbents in rapid thermal swing mode, packed bed solid sorbents in thermal swing mode, hollow fiber membranes, monoethanolamine-based liquid amines, and chilled ammonia CO2 sorption systems are compared on an energetic basis for CO2 capture from coal-fired power plants. The systems are compared on an intrinsic heat and auxiliary basis both with and [...]

This paper, which is the second of a series of papers, presents an approach for the generation of a novel heat exchange and power recovery network (HEPN) for use with any large-scale process. A three-stage decomposition framework is introduced to sequentially determine the minimum hot/cold/power utility requirement, the minimum number of heat exchanger matches, and [...]

Various combinations of commercially available technologies could greatly reduce fuel consumption in passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and other light-duty vehicles without compromising vehicle performance or safety, says a new report by the National Research Council.  The technologies would also increase vehicle purchase costs for consumers, sometimes by as much as several thousand dollars…. Using [...]

Design and operation of complex systems for combined cooling, heating and power generation (CCHP) are always a matter of matching performance and demand characteristics of a thermal system set to supply electrical, cooling and heating loads, according to specific usage demands. Equipment selection and operation require the characterization of power, heating and cooling load demands, [...]

The technology, called hydraulic launch assist, is different from the electric hybrid technology currently used on some passenger cars and buses. Those systems use an electric-motor generator, along with batteries, to store energy that would otherwise be wasted–for example, the energy that dissipates during braking.The hydraulic system uses a pump motor and a tank, called [...]