Special Issue "Feature Papers"

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Dr. Enrico Sciubba
Room 32, Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
Website: http://www.turbomachinery.it/pageSciubba.html
E-Mail:
Interests: turbomachinery CFD; turbulence modelling; exergy analysis of complex systems; engineering applications of AI to thermal conversion processes

This is a collection of top quality papers published free of charge in Open Access form by the editorial board members, or those invited by the editorial office and the Editor-in-Chief. The papers should be long research papers (or review papers) with full and detailed summary of the author's own work done so far.

Typer of Paper: Review
Title: Current State of Development of Electricity-Generating Technologies: A Literature Review
Author: Manfred Lenzen
Affiliation: ISA, School of Physics, A28, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; E-Mail: m.lenzen@physics.usyd.edu.au
Abstract: Electricity is perhaps the most versatile energy carrier in modern economies, and it is therefore fundamentally linked to human and economic development. Electricity growth has outpaced that of any other fuel, leading to ever-increasing shares in the overall mix. This trend is expected to continue throughout the following decades, with large— especially rural—segments of the world population in developing countries becoming climbing the “energy ladder” and becoming connected to power grids. Electricity therefore deserves particular attention with regard to its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, which is reflected in the ongoing development of low-carbon technologies for power generation. The focus of this updated review of electricity-generating technologies is twofold: (a) to provide more technical information than is usually found in global assessments on critical technical aspects, such as variability of wind power, and (b) to capture the most recent findings from the international literature. This report covers eight technologies. Seven of these are generating technologies: hydro-, nuclear, wind, photovoltaic, concentrating solar, geothermal and biomass power. The remaining technology is carbon capture and storage. This selection is fairly representative for technologies that are important in terms of their potential capacity to contribute to a low-carbon world economy.
Keywords: electricity generation; global status review; renewable energy; nuclear energy; carbon capture and storage