Naturally occurring polymers have been utilized for a long time as materials, however, their application as plastics has been restricted because of their limited thermoplastic processability. Recently, the microbial synthesis of polyesters directly from carbohydrate sources has attracted considerable attention. The industrial-scale production of poly(lactic acid) from lactic acid generated by f...

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For solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind resources, the capacity factor is an important parameter describing the quality of the resource. As the share of variable renewable resources (such as PV and wind) on the electric system is increasing, so does curtailment (and the fraction of time when it cannot be avoided). At high levels of renewable generation, curtailments effectively change the practica...

Recent efforts to site renewable energy projects have provoked as much, if not more, opposition than conventional energy projects. Because renewable energy resources are often located in sensitive and isolated environments, such as pristine mountain ranges or coastal waters, siting these facilities is especially difficult. Moreover, the viability of different renewable energy projects depends n...

Due to disperse nature of renewable energy resources (RES), electricity generation is often taking place in small scale but main drawback is power quality. So to improve power quality issues, integration of renewable energy into the utility grid can be done either at transmission level or the distribution level depending on the scale of generation. The renewable resources like solar energy, win...

This study integrates emergy evaluation with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to investigate the renewable resources, the cost of food consumption, and the solarshare of Taiwan in 2006. Taiwan is an island country with limited natural resources and high population density; consequently, it is important to give consideration to the sustainable environment for food production while simultaneo...

This thesis presents the design, analysis, and validation of a hierarchical transactive control system that engages demand response resources to enhance the integration of renewable electricity generation resources. This control system joins energy, capacity and regulation markets together in a unified homeostatic and economically efficient electricity operation that increases total surplus whi...

In this paper, we introduce a new multimode project scheduling problem, taking into account finish-to-start precedence relations among project activities as well as renewable and nonrenewable resources constraints. We suppose renewable resources are hired and not accessible in all time intervals of a project. In other words, there is a presumed release date as well as a mandated due date for ea...

The current discussion about dwindling reserves of crude oil, rising fuel prices, global warming and supply disruption of natural gas has renewed interest in the provision of bioenergy and bio-based commodity products. There is a growing consensus that the 21st century will see a profound change in the resource base for industry and society, with less emphasis on fossil coal, oil and gas and mo...