A new resource for clean energy systems

The world’s energy supply is a complex system, linked to climate change, the environment, and poverty. The Handbook of Clean Energy Systems, a new six-volume reference work, provides a comprehensive view of current research on clean energy, ranging from technology for different types of renewable energy to questions of energy storage, and long term sustainability.

IIASA researchers from the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) and Energy programs contributed to five chapters in the work, which was published last week. It complements the IIASA-coordinated Global Energy Assessment (2012), which explored energy system transformations for achieving goals on climate change, energy access, and energy security.

IIASA research include in the volume also explores negative emissions technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which could remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but remain untested on a large scale. IIASA Ecosystems Services and Management Program Deputy Director Florian Kraxner says, “The BECCS chapter will first of all have very positive impacts on improving the public’s knowledge and awareness with respect to the urgent necessity to develop capacity for reaching negative emissions by the end of this century in order to keep dangerous climate change within limits and temperature increase below 2 degree Celsius. Furthermore, it should provide a broader view on the topic of negative emissions and BECCS.”

Another chapter led by IIASA researcher Sylvain Leduc focuses on availability of woody biomass in the EU.  “This chapter will give readers an idea of the bioenergy potential that EU could reach for biofuel, heat and power production, and how the share of bioenergy production could be split up within the different member states. These kind of results are important information for policymakers at the EU level,” says Leduc.

A second chapter on biomass, led by IIASA researcher Dmitry Schepaschenko, explored current global data on biomass, analyzing available biomass datasets and their uncertainties and gaps, as well as tools to improve biomass information and utilization of the data.

IIASA research in the volume also explores the policy side of bioenergy. Leduc and colleagues explored the consequences of implementing bioenergy and mitigation policies, and what would be the expected outcomes in terms of production of biofuel, heat or power as well as greenhouse gas emission mitigation.

Finally, IIASA researcher Linda See and colleagues bring a view of citizen science and crowdsourcing and its implications for bioenergy. See explains, “There is a major need for data on power plants and renewable energy projects, which can be obtained through greater involvement of citizens in data collection. Open energy modeling and decision making that bring together a greater number of stakeholders and add transparency to the process are also trends that may transform current approaches to energy modeling in the future.”

The book is available both in hard copy and online formats.

Reference
Jinyue Yan, ed. 2015. Handbook of Clean Energy Systems. Wiley.

IIASA research in the Handbook of Clean Energy Systems

• Kraxner F., Fuss S., Krey V., Best D., Leduc S., Kindermann G., Yamagata Y., Schepaschenko D., Shvidenko A., Aoki K., Yan J. The role of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) for climate policy. V. 3. P. 1466-1483.
• Leduc S., Kindermann G., Forsell N., Kraxner F. Bioenergy potential from forest biomass. Vol. 1. P. 35-48.
• Leduc S., Wetterlung E., Dotzauer E., Schmidt J., Natarajan K., Khatiwada D. Policies and modeling of energy systems for reaching European bioenergy targets. V. 6. P. 3165-3182.
• Schepaschenko D., Kraxner F., See L., Fuss S., McCallum I., Fritz S., Perger C., Shvidenko A., Kindermann G., Frank S., Tum M., Schmid E., Balkovic J., Günther K. Global biomass information: from data generation to application. Vol. 1. Pp. 11-33.
• See L., Kraxner F., Fuss S., Perger C., Schill C., Aoki K., Leduc S., McCallum I., Forsell N., Fritz S. The potential of crowdsourcing for the renewable energy sector. V.1. P. 721-735.

Last edited: 03 August 2015