Localized Energy Transition In The 4th Industrial Revolution

This book creates a holistic view about the localized energy transition while addressing current challenges associated with the production of biofuels, introducing new materials to produce solar PV panels, and digital systems for sustainable energy monitoring on a small scale, carbon capture and sequestration. Also, each section of the book addresses specific aspects of the renewable and sustainable energy space while focusing more on energy improvement and storage technologies that are practical focused. Features: Offers useful information on new forms of renewable energy generation with reference to Industry 4.0. Illustrates practical approaches to energy transition. Provides guidance on renewable energy sources and energy storage systems. Discusses application of 4IR-related approaches to emerging energy storage technologies. Includes studies that reveal approaches to realizing productivity, profitability, and increased return on Investment (ROI). This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in mechanical, chemical, and mechatronics engineering, and renewable energy systems.

This book presents a holistic view on localized energy transition while addressing current challenges associated with the production of biofuels, introducing new materials to produce solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, and digital systems for sustainable energy monitoring on a small scale, carbon capture, and sequestration. Also, each chapter of the book addresses specific aspects of the renewable and sustainable energy space while focusing more on energy improvement and storage technologies that are practical focused. Features: Offers useful information on new forms of renewable energy generation with reference to Industry 4.0. Illustrates practical approaches to energy transition. Provides guidance on renewable energy sources and energy storage systems. Discusses the application of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-related approaches to emerging energy storage technologies. Includes studies that reveal approaches to realizing productivity, profitability, and increased return on investment (ROI). This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in mechanical, chemical, and mechatronics engineering and renewable energy systems.

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

The worldwide shift from coal to oil-based technology was devastating for many local communities. Energy Transition and the Local Community is the story of one such community: Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Hazleton's economy, dependent solely on the mining of surrounding beds of anthracite coal, was destroyed by the changeover to oil. Yet Hazleton, when confronted with a catastrophic recession and a declining population, organized to attract new industry and eventually saw its local economy revitalized. Local communities are deeply affected whenever new forms of energy are exploited and older forms abandoned. Those communities, however, are almost uniformly ignored in ecological, environmental, and policy statements. Dan Rose, a specialist in the emerging science of human ecology, observes how energy-linked world economic fluctuations directly affect local economies. By merging theory with actual data from small communities, Rose is able to demonstrate how the decreasing availability of petroleum is pushing developed countries—exemplified by the community of Hazleton, Pennsylvania— into a new wave of recession. Hazleton, as an example, offers hope. Using this community's experience to build a model, Rose defines both the vulnerability and the strength of local populations whose fortunes rest with the energy economy of the world. A working knowledge of this model will contribute to our understanding of human adaptation and help national and local leaders cope with an imminent energy changeover.

World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab offers a practical companion and field guide to his previous book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Today, technology is changing everything--how we relate to one another, the way we work, how our economies and goverments function, and even what it means to be human. One need not look hard to see how the incredible advances in artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, biotechnologies, and the internet of things are transforming society in unprecedented ways. But the Fourth Industrial Revolution is just beginning, says Schwab. And at a time of such tremendous uncertainty and such rapid change, he argues it's our actions as individuals and leaders that will determine the trajectory our future will take. We all have a responsibility - as citizens, businesses, and institutions - to work with the current of progress, not against it, to build a future that is ethical, inclusive, sustainable and prosperous. Drawing on contributions from 200 top experts in fields ranging from machine learning to geoengineering to nanotechnology, to data ethics, Schwab equips readers with the practical tools to leverage the technologies of the future to leave the world better, safer, and more resilient than we found it.

The heart of the contemporary argument on climate change and energy transition focuses on how energy supply should be decarbonized to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.This book proposes an alternative approach.The Age of Fire Is Over: A New Approach to the Energy Transition finds that energy transitions are not driven by supply-side driven transformations but rather by evolutions in demand patterns.Exploring the potential of recently emerged key technologies, The Age of Fire Is Over argues that the so-called Energy Transition has not yet started. In the future, key technologies will significantly transform demand and provide services at a fraction of today's cost or offer new services not yet imagined. To a large extent, energy paradigm shifts are driven by such evolutions, largely inevitable and often unanticipated, because they provide societies with greater benefits: lower costs, more jobs, and rapid adaptation.This book closes with key novel recommendations for government institutions to accelerate the energy transition, which — instead of replicating an approach from the past — should focus on these demand transformations to both advance civilization and mitigate climate change.With Foreword by Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider Electric Chief Executive Officer.

This book places a current topic—energy transition—within the historical background of human social development and explores the value and significance of energy transition for economic transition in the course of economic growth. It sheds light on the basic logic and the distinguishing characteristics of energy transition by reviewing the history of energy transition development in order to provide a new perspective for understanding and analyzing China's energy transition considering lessons from the German and American energy transition experiences. This book will be of interest to environmentalists, economists, and journalists.

In the international political economy of the last two millennia, there tends to be one state leading the world as the foremost producer of energy and new technology. In Racing to the Top, William R. Thompson and Leila Zakhirova argue that the US and China, like previous leading countries, rely on energy transition, or the development of alternative energy, in order to make new technology relatively inexpensive to develop and to fuel. While the US has historically held the lead, its edge in the global energy economy appears to be eroding, and as energy leadership diminishes, so does the country's position in world politics. Thompson and Zakhirova take a long view in order to show what will be necessary for a new power to emerge as the system leader, then map a path forward for energy policy. Informed by a deep knowledge of world history, political economy, and environmental technology, this book is the first complete overview of energy transitions over the past thousand years.

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.

Leap 4.0: African Perspectives on the Fourth Industrial Revolution seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities the 4IR presents to South Africa and the rest of the African continent, especially to workers and marginalised sectors of society. Authors examine the prerequisites for the successful introduction of the 4IR, including infrastructure, skilled personnel and appropriate regulation. They underline the importance of inclusive innovation, with a deliberate objective to create net new jobs and reduce inequality. The 4IR is well established in many parts of the world, with technological advances driving profound social and economic change. However, for many developing countries, particularly countries in Africa, the 4IR may not offer the anticipated 'leap' forward. There is a danger that the continent may find itself dictated to by experiences that are not in tune with its social contexts.