Carina P. Paton and Kasemsan Manomaiphiboon*

Abstract: This paper describes the second part of the work entitled “A Metropolitan Wind Resource Assessment for Bangkok, Thailand.” It estimates the technical potential for electricity generation from wind energy and suggests how it should be utilized, based on wind power density results from the first paper. Here, a number GIS (geographical information system) layers were prepared to exclude areas deemed not suitable for turbine installation, and they were used with the developed wind resource maps to estimate annual energy production (AEP) from winds. It was found that largest contributions to total AEP come from very small turbine installations in low density urban, medium-to-high density urban, and non-urban areas (1,453, 700, and 689 GWh, respectively). Potential turbine capacity factors are most promising for very small turbines installed on tall buildings (an estimated 25-35%). The total AEP given by wind energy over the province was found to be 3,719 GWh, equivalent to up to 10% of total consumption in the province. This amount of energy is considered substantial from an economic viewpoint since Bangkok alone already shares up to approximately a quarter of national electricity consumption.

Keywords: Wind energy; urban zones; exclusion criteria; wind turbine.

Heru Prasetio* and Chumnong Sorapipatana

Abstract: Manufacturing sector is important and central to the economy. The growth of manufacturing machinery output, and technological changes in that machinery, are the main drivers of economic growth. In 1997, the Asian financial crisis hitall economic activities in Indonesia seriously. During period 1997-1998 the growths of the manufacturing sector Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and energy consumption were-13.1% and -0.79% respectively. An Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) has been implemented to study the changes in energy consumption. Three factors contribute to the changes in energy consumption: economic activity or GDP, structure, and energy intensity effects. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index I method was selected due to its ease of use and ease of interpretation. The investigation was conducted on three time series periods: before (1990-1997), during (1997-2004), and after the Asian financial crisis (2004-2008). Results of this study show that the economic activity (GDP) effect was the major factor contributing to the change in manufacturing energy consumption. During the crisis in 1998, the energy consumption decreased due to the economic activity collapse. The second largest effect was the structure effect. The significant structure change happened at the beginning of the crisis from 1997 to 1999 where the food, water and tobacco subsector increased rapidly. However, in the same period the transport equipment, machinery and apparatus subsector decreased. At the start of the recovery period in 2004, the transport equipment, machinery and apparatus subsector surpassed the food, water and tobacco subsector and became the largest factor. The smallest factor contributing to the changes in the manufacturing sector energy consumption was the energy intensity effect. It was found that the energy efficiencies of the cement and mineral excavation subsector, the iron, metal, and steel subsector, and the wood product and forestry subsector after the crisis (2004-2008) were lower than before the crisis (1990-1997).

Keywords: Decomposition, LMDI I, Energy consumption, Indonesia.

Sarinporn Taengwathananukool, Amnat Chidthaisong*, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Siriluk Chiarakorn and Pornpun Theinsathid

Abstract: The environmental impacts and energy consumption for polylactic acid (PLA) and melamine coffee cup were studied by applying the life cycle assessment approach. The functional unit of coffee cup was a cup used to contain 180 mL of coffee to be used for 1 time/day for 2 years. The results show that up to the use phase, global warming, abiotic depletion, freshwater and terrestrial ecotoxicity were 1,041.14 gCO₂-eq/cup, 6.02 g Sb-eq/cup, 41.53 g 1,4-DB-eq/cup and 6.73 g 1,4-DB-eq/cup for PLA cup, and 1,595.67 gCO₂-eq/cup, 14.23 g Sb-eq/cup, 51.36 g 1,4-DB-eq/cup and 8.31 g 1,4-DB-eq/cup for melamine cup. These clearly indicate that production and use of PLA cup have less environmental impacts when compared to that of melamine cup. The impacts of whole life cycle, however, significantly depended on the waste disposal scenario. Disposal of PLA cup through landfill with energy recovery would emit 251.46 gCO₂-eq/cup, while that without energy recovery this would be 2,065.24 gCO₂-eq/cup. On the other hand, the greenhouse emission from disposal of melamine cup through incineration with and without energy recovery would be 1,601.05 gCO₂-eq/cup and 1,601.96 gCO₂-eq/cup, respectively.

Keywords: Bioplastic, melamine, coffee cup, environmental impacts, energy consumption, greenhouse gas.

Matevž Obrecht* and Matjaz Denac

Abstract: In this paper, current energy policy of Slovenia is analysed, renewable energy sources (RES) potentials are evaluated and examined and new possibilities for the development of alternative energy policy and for transition of Slovenian energy industry into sustainable energy industry are proposed and cross compared. On the basis of current and future electricity consumption, evaluated RES potentials and calculated investment prices, new possibilities for alternative investments projects and for alternative development of more sustainable energy policy in Slovenia are identified. Identified possibilities and current energy policy are analyzed and cross-compared from the economic and environmental viewpoint. At the end of the paper, the costs for implementation of proposed alternative energy policy investments are evaluated, calculated and cross-compared and pros and cons of alternative energy policy are evaluated.

Keywords: energy policy, sustainable energy, renewables, renewables potentials, Slovenia.

Gauri P. Minde*, Sandip S. Magdum and V. Kalyanraman

Abstract: Per capita energy consumption of India is declining with increasing its population, which has direct impact on national economy. Biogas technology seems promising to attain sustainable energy yields without damaging the environment. Waste management, manure creation, health care and employment foundation are the benefits of biogas system. Use of biogas assures renewable energy supply and balance of green house gases. India is traditionally using biogas since long time but there is need to improve the technology, applications and deployment strategies. Bioenergy centralization in urban and decentralization in rural can help government to minimize both the import of fuel derivatives and solid waste processing cost. The aim is to highlight potential of the technology to bring social and economical sustainability to India. In this review, demand of energy sources, drivers for bioenergy use, economical, social and environmental benefits of biogas regularization in India are described with emphasizing biogas as an ideal sustainable energy source with its potential applications.

Keywords: Energy, environment, bioenergy, biogas, sustainable.