Search Results (42)

Professor Hong Chaosheng, as the founding figure and pioneer of China’s hydrogen and helium cryogenic technology, played a pivotal role in advancing this field from its inception to global competitiveness. This paper systematically reviews the seven-decade-long cryogenic research trajectory of the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS (formerly the Cryogenic Technology Experimental Center), with particular emphasis on milestone scientific achievements and their significant applications. In the 1960s, the Institute’s breakthrough in long-piston-expander-precooled helium liquefaction technology provided critical support for China’s space technology and superconductivity research. Since the 21st century, building upon Professor Hong’s academic legacy, the Institute has successively overcome core technological challenges in developing high-speed helium turbine expanders, high-efficiency oil-flooded screw compressors, and superfluid helium temperature refrigeration systems. These innovations have yielded a complete series of large-scale cryogenic equipment with independent intellectual property rights. These advancements have been successfully applied in national megaprojects such as neutron sources and superconducting magnet testing facilities, with some technical parameters reaching internationally leading standards. Looking ahead, with the rapid development of quantum computing and fusion energy, China’s hydrogen–helium cryogenic technology will continue to optimize equipment performance while expanding application frontiers through enhanced international collaboration, thereby making greater contributions to cutting-edge scientific research and clean energy development. Full article

The penetration of renewable energy, especially solar and wind, is increasing globally to promote a sustainable environment. However, in the Middle East, this momentum is slower compared to other regions, primarily due to abundant local fossil fuel reserves and historically low energy prices. This trend is shifting, with several countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), setting ambitious goals. Specifically, KSA’s Vision 2030 aims to generate 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Due to favorable conditions for solar and wind, various mega-projects have either been completed or are underway in KSA. This study analyzes the potential and reliability impact of these projects on the power system through a three-step process. In the first step, all major projects are identified, and data related to these projects, such as global horizontal irradiance, wind speed, temperature, and other relevant parameters, are collected. In the second step, these data are used to estimate the solar and wind potential at various sites, along with annual averages and seasonal averages for different extreme seasons, such as winter and summer. Finally, in the third step, a reliability assessment of power generation is conducted to evaluate the adequacy of renewable projects within the national power grid. This study addresses a gap in the literature by providing a region-specific reliability analysis using actual project data from KSA, which remains underexplored in existing research. Sequential Monte Carlo simulations are employed, and various reliability indices, including Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE), Loss of Energy Expectation (LOEE), Loss of Load Frequency (LOLF), Energy Not Supplied per Interruption (ENSINT), and Demand Not Supplied per Interruption (DNSINT) are analyzed. The analysis shows that integrating renewable energy into KSA’s power grid significantly enhances its reliability. The analysis shows that integrating renewable energy into KSA’s power grid significantly enhances its reliability, with improvements observed across all reliability indices, demonstrating the viability of meeting Vision 2030 targets. Full article

Vocal proponents claim that hydrogen will play a crucial role in the low-carbon energy future, a claim critics dismiss. Our approach to clarifying these disputes involves reviewing literature and policy documents, revisiting energy and hydrogen physics, and framing the hydrogen question within the context of failing climate and energy politics and actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Clarity about hydrogen’s role begins with knowing its peculiar properties, followed by numerical data on energy conversions and related losses, which reveal intractable hurdles in deploying a hydrogen energy economy. Thus, hydrogen derivatives like ammonia and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels emerge, but they sink the green hydrogen ambitions advertised to the public. Their dubious environmental and financial performance is hidden by substantial subsidies. The announced EU megaproject for producing 11 Mtons of green ammonia at the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan contrasts with the 20 ktons realized project in Norway. While the Kazakhstani project promises grand results, its practical and financial feasibility is questionable. The Norwegian project shows the reality of green ammonia production. The article concludes that hydrogen’s economic and environmental feasibility remains challenging. Full article

Accurate wind speed and power forecasting are key to optimizing renewable wind station management, which is essential for smart and zero-energy cities. This paper presents a novel integrated wind speed–power forecasting system (WSPFS) that operates across various time horizons, demonstrated through a case study in a high-wind area within the Middle East. The WSPFS leverages 12 AI algorithms both individual and ensemble models to forecast wind speed (WSF) and wind power (WPF) at intervals of 10 min to 36 h. A multi-horizon prediction approach is proposed, using WSF model outputs as inputs for WPF modeling. Predictive accuracy was evaluated using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean square error (MSE). Additionally, WSPFS advances the smart wind energy deep decarbonization (SWEDD) framework by calculating the carbon city index (CCI) to define the carbon-city transformation curve (CCTC). Findings from this study have broad implications, from enabling zero-energy urban projects and mega-developments like NEOM and the Suez Canal to advancing global energy trading and supply management. Full article

The pursuit of economic growth in developing countries like Tanzania often intensifies environmental degradation, posing significant sustainability challenges. This study examined the interrelationships between globalization, economic growth, and environmental degradation in Tanzania from 1970 to 2022, using World Bank data and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The findings reveal a strong long-run positive relationship between GDP per capita and CO₂ emissions, partially supporting the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Specifically, the analysis identifies an EKC threshold where emissions peak at 3 metric tons per capita and GDP per capita reaches approximately USD 1200 (TSH 3,120,000), after which further increases in emissions are associated with a decline in GDP per capita. In the short run, GDP per capita shows a weak negative association with CO₂ emissions, indicating temporary environmental benefits during growth phases. Foreign direct investment (FDI) exhibits no significant short-term impact on emissions, mostly due to delays in the implementation of mega development projects and changes in the country’s economic policies as the result of change in the political regime. Additionally, trade openness is a significant driver of long-run emissions, emphasizing the environmental costs of globalization. To address these challenges, this study recommends that Tanzania attract sustainable FDI for integrating eco-friendly technologies, promote green trade practices by embedding environmental safeguards into trade agreements, and invest in renewable energy infrastructure to decouple growth from emissions. Strengthening environmental regulations, enhancing institutional capacity, and fostering international collaboration are crucial to achieving long-term sustainability. These measures can help Tanzania balance economic development and environmental preservation, aligning with the goals of Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (TDV 2025) and paving the way for a sustainable growth trajectory. Full article

Green hydrogen production is expected to play a major role in the context of the shift towards sustainable energy stipulated in the Fit for 55 package. Green hydrogen and its derivatives have the capacity to act as effective energy storage vectors, while fuel cell-powered vehicles will foster net-zero emission mobility. This study evaluates the potential of green hydrogen production in Power-to-Gas (P2G) systems operated in former mining sites where sand and gravel aggregate has been extracted from lakes and rivers under wet conditions (below the water table). The potential of hydrogen production was assessed for the selected administrative unit in Poland, the West Pomerania province. Attention is given to the legal and organisational aspects of operating mining companies to identify the sites suitable for the installation of floating photovoltaic facilities by 2050. The method relies on the use of GIS tools, which utilise geospatial data to identify potential sites for investments. Basing on the geospatial model and considering technical and organisational constraints, the schedule was developed, showing the potential availability of the site over time. Knowing the surface area of the water reservoir, the installed power of the floating photovoltaic plant, and the production capacity of the power generation facility and electrolysers, the capacity of hydrogen production in the P2G system can be evaluated. It appears that by 2050 it should be feasible to produce green fuel in the P2G system to support a fleet of city buses for two of the largest urban agglomerations in the West Pomerania province. Simulations revealed that with a water coverage ratio increase and the planned growth of green hydrogen generation, it should be feasible to produce fuel for net-zero emission urban mobility systems to power 200 buses by 2030, 550 buses by 2040, and 900 buses by 2050 (for the bus models Maxi (40 seats) and Mega (60 seats)). The results of the research can significantly contribute to the development of projects focused on the production of green hydrogen in a decentralised system. The disclosure of potential and available locations over time can be compared with competitive solutions in terms of spatial planning, environmental and societal impact, and the economics of the undertaking. Full article

The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) project aims to improve the performance of the LHC by increasing the proton–proton collision luminosity. New physics discoveries will be possible starting in 2027. The HL-LHC aims to improve the integrated luminosity by a factor of 10 concerning the current running LHC’s design value. The HL-LHC project foresees delivering proton–proton collisions at 14 TeV CM (Center of Mass) energy providing the integrated luminosity to a value of 3 ab⁻¹ for the ATLAS and CMS experiments, 50 fb⁻¹ for LHCb, and 5 fb⁻¹ for ALICE. The increased integrated luminosity for the above LHC experiments will provide the potential to discover rare processes while improving these measurements’ signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio statistics. The ATLAS muon spectrometer has been upgraded to face the challenges of the luminosity at the HL-LHC run. The new sub-detectors are as follows: The New Small Wheel (NSW) has replaced the Cathode Strip Chambers (CSC) discs at the internal part of the ATLAS end cups. The new integrated small Monitored Drift Chambers (sMDT) with the Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) are installed at the outer end of the ATLAS BI (Barrel Inner) layer, in the barrel–endcap transition region, at 1.0 < |η| < 1.3, where η is the pseudo-rapidity (pseudo-rapidity η is a commonly used spatial coordinate describing the angle of a particle relative to the beam axis, defined as $\eta =-ln\left[tan\left({\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2}}\right)\right]$, where θ is the angle between the vector momentum $\overrightarrow{p}$ and the positive direction of the beam axis). The NSW is an innovative technological achievement, including the MicroMegas (MM) gas detectors in large areas and small-strip Thin Gap Chambers (sTGC), enabling high p_T (high p_T is the high value of the particles’ transverse momentum versus the beam collision axis) trigger and muon detection. The muon reconstruction, the background rate, other spectrometer parameters, and the NSW performance are also presented. Full article

Amidst a growing global focus on sustainable energy, this study investigates the underutilization of renewable resources in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, with a specific emphasis on the Najran Secondary Industrial Institute (NSII). This research presents an in-depth analysis of installing a hybrid microgrid (MG) system on the roofs of NSII buildings, exploring six cases with varying tilt and azimuth angles. The study innovatively integrates architectural design and system administration, a novel approach for this location, and benchmarks the optimal angles against Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software defaults. The proposed system consists of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, a battery storage system (BSS), a converter, a diesel generator (DG), and a grid. The selected model balances technological and economic viability with environmental considerations, ensuring a reliable power supply within the NSII’s roof area constraints. An extensive sensitivity analysis evaluates the system’s resilience across different scenarios. The current system, which is grid-only, has an estimated Net Present Cost (NPC) of about USD 7.02M and emits 1.81M kg/yr of CO₂. The findings point to installing a microgrid with a 20.97° tilt and 50° azimuth angle as optimal, demonstrating 54.69% lower NPC and 92% lower CO₂ emissions, along with zero kWh/year unmet electrical load when applying the resilience assessments. This outcome highlights Saudi Arabia’s southern region’s renewable energy potential, aligning with national mega-projects and energy initiatives. Full article

The construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a significant sector in the Middle East, with annual expenditures exceeding USD 120 billion. It employs 15% of the workforce and consumes more than 14% of the country’s energy resources. Despite the significant growth in the Saudi construction sector, it faces various challenges due to the rapid launch of mega projects, such as the Line project engaged with the NEOM project, as well as other new projects as part of the Saudi Vision 2030. The challenges might be limited to a shortage of skilled labourers, rising costs, construction disputes, and material shortages. This study aims to investigate claims management procedures under traditional practice and compare them with a proposed BIM package as an alternative solution to mitigate construction disputes. The objective of the study focuses on reducing the time consumed when analysing claims against the level of accuracy of claims values. The proposed BIM model improves and streamlines the claims process through automation. This study presents prospective and retrospective methods in delay analysis under an accepted programme. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and out of a total of 123 practitioners, 79 replied. The findings in tables in this article reveal that there are demands and a growing awareness of BIM in the KSA construction industry. The results reveal that BIM can help to reduce potential disputes and can reduce overall project cost overruns. Full article

The energy crisis and the exacerbation of climate change, along with the associated geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine, are accelerating the energy transition in Europe. A transition from fossil energy sources to renewable energy sources that have a low Energy Return Rate, involves, among many other issues, the use of wide areas to locate the necessary infrastructure for production, transport and storage, altering territories with agricultural, cultural and ecological values. This process is based on the deployment of renewable energy megaprojects in peripheric areas of the continent, mostly in the southern states creating a wide range of social conflicts and resistances. We analyse this process in the case study of the province of Granada, a peripheric territory of south-east Spain considering the category of energy colonialism and the six dimensions that characterise it, arguing that this is a proper approach to address internal colonialism related to the corporate energy transition. We also want to demonstrate the importance of using participatory methodologies for this analysis, so we have developed an online survey, semi-structured interviews and participatory cartography workshops, always focusing on the citizens and stakeholders who are resisting the deployment of renewable energy megaprojects in the province of Granada. The obtained results allow us to confirm the necessity of using participatory methodologies and the colonial aspect of this deployment, including the characteristics of social resistance, the territorial impacts, the land-grabbing process and the inequalities in the production, distribution and use of energy. We conclude with the need to articulate a decolonial energy transition where participatory methods constitute a fundamental tool both to attend the resistances and to build the alternatives. Full article

Developing countries in hot climate regions such as Saudi Arabia have witnessed rapid population growth, which has led to greater resource consumption as a result of the increased demand for new buildings. This research proposes a multi-objective evaluation of the potential green engineering solutions to conserve energy using a building within the ROSHN housing project, which is one of the mega projects in Saudi Arabia, as a case study for this paper with the aid of simulation software, taking into consideration the context of the sustainability concept. The results showed that traditional passive architectural design, whether courtyards or Mashrabiya, had the nearly greatest influence, with percentages ranging from −4% to −5.15% for varied parameters and designs compared to the base case energy usage. Furthermore, energy efficiency solutions for the building envelope’s external insulation and finish system (EIFS) enabled a drop in the U-value that lowered energy usage to −5.40%. However, the wall insulation thickness beyond 300 mm in this system has no substantial influence on energy savings. This research’s most clear finding is that a P2P system for PV panels on a district scale can supply enough energy to meet its needs after implementing the optimal strategy of the other proposed solutions. Full article

This article aims to define the category of energy colonialism in order to analyse the conflicts that are arising due to the deployment of renewable energy megaprojects in the Global South and in the peripheries of the Global North. First, the limits of the corporate energy transition are questioned, and based on an exhaustive bibliographic review, the category of energy colonialism is formulated along with six dimensions that characterise it: geopolitical; economic and financial inequalities; power, violence, and decision making; land grabbing and dispossession; impacts on territories and commons; resistance and socio-territorial conflicts. Based on this framework, we analyse and juxtapose different expressions of energy colonialism in four case studies; the isthmus of Tehuantepec (Oaxaca, Mexico), the territories of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco, the Saami territory in Norway, and the rural territories of Spain. The results from this study allow us to conclude that energy colonialism is a useful concept for understanding and critiquing the effects of the corporate energy transition and establishing a base for grassroots and decolonial alternatives in both the Global North and South. Full article

The generation of energy through the transformation of polluting waste is a widely explored field and offers advances in green technologies. One of the promising technologies is Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs). These cells can contain electroactive microorganisms that transform organic waste into electricity by transferring electrons from their metabolism. In this study, a new bacterium capable of producing electricity from the waste of the poultry sector and using copper electrodes, called Av_G1, was identified and isolated. It is phylogenetically related to Citrobacter freundii and Citrobacter Murlinae. This new strain was identified molecularly, biochemically, and phylogenetically; its physiological and morphological characteristics were also studied through a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Biochemical determination was performed using Simmons Citrate Agar, Lysine Iron Medium (L.I.A.), Motility/Ornithine Test, Methyl Red indicator, Enzymes: oxidase and catalase, and Gram stain test. The phylogenetic inference was deduced by bioinformatics tools (MEGA X, JalView, Clustal Omega) and the genetic databases The Ribosomal Database Project—RDP and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). A maximum current potential of 0.645 V, a maximum current density of 168.72 ± 14.07 mA/m², and a power density of 31.05 mW/m² were recorded. During the monitoring, the physicochemical parameters were taken: pH, Oxide Reduction Potential (ORP), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), conductivity, Total Solids (TDS), and average temperature were recorded. Therefore, the present study shows a new Gram-negative electrogenic bacterium, which can be used for electrochemical processes and applied in MFC with copper electrodes. Full article

The Saudi Arabia government announced the $500 billion mega project “NEOM City”, to build a cross-border mega city to connect Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordon for attracting foreign investments to the region. NEOM city is situated on the eastern region of the Gulf of Aqaba with its western side in the Sinai Peninsula. The selected site for NEOM city is geographically remarkable; nevertheless, this site needs a detailed geological and geophysical investigation. Sinai Peninsula is a microplate between the Arabian and African plates. Its southern tip is located at a triple junction comprising the Gulf of Aqaba–Dead Sea Transform fault, the Gulf of Suez, and the Red Sea, leading to relatively higher seismic activities in the region. The current study aims to understand the thermal structure of the vicinity of NEOM city to address the potential geohazards and indicate geological attractions within and around the planned city. We use the magnetic data from which geothermal images can be obtained. The preliminary results indicate that there is geologic similarity between the southern part of Sinai Peninsula and the northern part of the Arabian shield. This is because the Gulf of Aqaba separates what was once a continues Neoproterozoic crust. In addition, the magnetic data showed the presence of prominent lineaments on either side of the Gulf of Aqaba. The notable lineaments might represent faults that could still be active. Hence, selecting a site of NEOM city to be east of the Gulf of Aqaba needs to be guided by the careful understanding of the potential hazards. In addition, shallow Curie depths near the Gulf of Aqaba are recognized as a source for renewable geothermal energy. Full article

The implementation of autonomous delivery solutions in last-mile logistics operations is considered promising. Autonomous delivery solutions can help in tackling urban challenges related to last-mile logistics operations. Urbanization creates higher mobility and transportation demand, which contributes to increased congestion levels, traffic, air pollution, and accident rates. Moreover, mega-trends, such as e-commerce, demand that logistics companies react to increased customer expectations in terms of delivery time and service. Concerning service, electrified autonomous delivery solutions have the potential to operate 24/7 and can help to overcome driver shortages. This paper conducts a systematic literature review. Based on the literature set, a snowballing procedure was applied. Complementary gray literature was included. This work discusses different autonomous delivery solutions such as Autonomous Delivery Robots (ADRs), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), two- or multi-tiered systems, and the concept of passenger and freight integration. The work presents advantages and disadvantages, enabling the comparison of solutions. Furthermore, a research agenda is provided, from which practical-managerial and theoretical implications can be derived. The research agenda can help researchers, manufacturers, businesses, and governmental institutions to prepare for the arrival and subsequent implementation of autonomous delivery services. Various implications related to energy demand, legislation, implementation strategy, training, and risk and safety are presented. The outcome of this work calls for collaboration among various stakeholders, encourages mutual learning, and hints at the importance of national and international development projects. Full article