Academic literature on the topic 'Global Energy Landscape'

AbstractAvailability of affordable energy has enabled spectacular growth of industrialization and human development in all parts of the world. With growth now accelerating in developing countries, demands on energy sources and infrastructure are being stretched to new limits. Additional energy issues include the push for renewable resources with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy security affected by the uneven distribution of energy resources around the globe. Together, these issues present a field of opportunity for innovations to address energy challenges throughout the world and all along the energy flow. These energy challenges form the backdrop for this special expanded issue of MRS Bulletin on Harnessing Materials for Energy. This article introduces the global landscape of materials issues associated with energy. It examines the complex web of energy availability, production, storage, transmission, distribution, use, and efficiency. It focuses on the materials challenges that lie at the core of these areas and discusses how revolutionary concepts can address them. Cross-cutting topics are introduced and interrelationships between topics explored. Article topics are set in the context of the grand energy challenges that face the world into the middle of this century.

Calculations of structure, dynamics and thermodynamics in molecular science all rely on the underlying potential energy surface (PES). Recent advances allow us to visualise this high-dimensional object in a compact fashion, locate global minima efficiently, and sample multistep pathways to obtain rate constants. These methods have been applied to a wide variety of systems, including clusters, glasses and biomolecules, and enable us to treat dynamics on the experimental timescale and beyond.

Landscape, and its relation to place identity, is a powerful tool for visualizing and making legible the effects of environmental change. So often the operations of resource consumption and conservation occur in a way that shapes and changes particular regional landscapes. This is significant in an era where inspiring audiences and policy-makers to respond to unsustainable resource use and environmental change is difficult, but where we are still compelled to care for particular elements of place as they relate to identity. In this article we examine how resource use and landscape change are communicated through Irish films, where the interactions of place identity and landscape are central. A key through line argument is how landscape is an important vehicle for expressing anxieties and contexts for resource interdependency; another is how elements of local and regional identity compete and interact with global concerns, such as climate change or globalization, in complex ways. We analyse these interactions to demonstrate how energy resource use and environmental change are linked, highlighting ‘small nation’ tensions concerning geographic identity and resource ownership that are relevant to real-world energy transitions and apply much more broadly.

This feature article presents the potential energy landscape perspective, which provides both a conceptual and computational framework for structure prediction, and decoding the global thermodynamics and kinetics of biomolecules.

Abstract This essay reviews three recent books on the changing landscape of global energy politics in the era of climate change. Key questions that the authors investigate include: how will the renewable energy transition reshape the global balance of power? How will political-economic interdependencies and geopolitical alignments shift? Will contemporary petro-states adapt or collapse? And what new patterns of peace and conflict may emerge in a decarbonized world order? The authors provide different perspectives on the likely speed of the energy transition and its geopolitical implications. However, they occlude deeper questions about the depth of the transformations needed to prevent climate catastrophe—particularly in the nature of capitalism and military power—and the potential for more radical perspectives on energy futures. In contrast, I will argue that we should advance a critical research agenda on the global energy transition that accounts for the possibility of more far-reaching transformations in the political-economic, military, and ideological bases of world politics and highlights diverse movements fighting for their realization. These possible transformations include (1) transitions to post-growth political economies; (2) a radical shrinkage of emissions-intensive military–industrial complexes; and (3) decolonizing ideologies of “progress.” If struggles for alternative energy futures beyond the hegemony of economic growth and Western-style modernization are at the forefront of radical politics today, then these struggles deserve greater attention from critical IR scholars.

We have simulated, as a showcase, the pentapeptide Met-enkephalin (Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met) to visualize the energy landscape and to investigate the conformational coverage by the multicanonical method. We obtained a three-dimensional topographic picture of the whole energy landscape by plotting the histogram with respect to energy (temperature) and the order parameter, which gives the degree of resemblance of any created conformation with the global energy minimum.

In this project, various computational energy landscape methods were accelerated using graphics processing units (GPUs). Basin-hopping global optimisation was treated using a version of the limited-memory BFGS algorithm adapted for CUDA, in combination with GPU-acceleration of the potential calculation. The Lennard-Jones potential was implemented using CUDA, and an interface to the GPU-accelerated AMBER potential was constructed. These results were then extended to form the basis of a GPU-accelerated version of hybrid eigenvector-following. The doubly-nudged elastic band method was also accelerated using an interface to the potential calculation on GPU. Additionally, a local rigid body framework was adapted for GPU hardware. Tests were performed for eight biomolecules represented using the AMBER potential, ranging in size from 81 to 22\,811 atoms, and the effects of minimiser history size and local rigidification on the overall efficiency were analysed. Improvements relative to CPU performance of up to two orders of magnitude were obtained for the largest systems. These methods have been successfully applied to both biological systems and atomic clusters. An existing interface between a code for free energy basin-hopping and the SuiteSparse package for sparse Cholesky factorisation was refined, validated and tested. Tests were performed for both Lennard-Jones clusters and selected biomolecules represented using the AMBER potential. Significant acceleration of the vibrational frequency calculations was achieved, with negligible loss of accuracy, relative to the standard diagonalisation procedure. For the larger systems, exploiting sparsity reduces the computational cost by factors of 10 to 30. The acceleration of these computational energy landscape methods opens up the possibility of investigating much larger and more complex systems than previously accessible. A wide array of new applications are now computationally feasible.

Many people do not like thinking about the future. If they do, over 50% of Canadians think “our way of life” (p. 7) will end within 100 years and over 80% of Canadians think “we need to change our worldview and way of life if we are to create a better future for the world” (Randle & Eckersley, 2015, p. 9). There is a good reason for this. Alarms have sounded over global urgent complex problems with potential for catastrophic consequences such as the development of artificial intelligence, climate change, mass extinction, nuclear war and pandemics (Marien & Halal, 2011). Society is also increasingly fragmenting as imminent crises build on lack of understanding, the sense of incapacity to act, fear, distrust, blame and a lack of hope. This struggle for humanity’s survival is complicated by the turbulent global environment in which institutions continue to follow path-dependent trajectories set forth in a different time and context. Governments at various levels face a problem of “fit” between current structures and processes, that have not progressed sufficiently to meet changing needs of a global society mired in complexity and governance challenges. However, hope exists. Incremental progress on many fronts and a massive amount of efforts and resources are being engaged worldwide. There are emerging fields, lenses and tools that can potentially alleviate complex problems and address this emergency. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand and assess dialogue-based foresight practices being applied towards complex problems in Canada to provide insights into how these practices can assist society to alleviate global urgent complex problems and their impacts, within this backdrop of looming crises. Foresight, alternatively known as future studies or scenario-building, is a forward-looking practice recognized and used globally with over 100 research organizations focused on foresight, widespread usage by firms and over 18 countries involved in foresight activities (Berze, 2014b). Overall literature findings suggest foresight is widely and at least incrementally effective with a number of impacts in various areas (Calof, Miller, & Jackson, 2012; March, Therond, & Leenhardt, 2012; Meissner, Gokhberg, & Sokolov, 2013) but the extent of this effectiveness, the mechanisms involved, and the specific foresight benefits per type of project needs further research and evidence. For instance, limited literature exists on whether foresight can transform complex situations and if so, under what conditions. Thus, opportunities exist for assessing and increasing foresight’s impact. This dissertation is a contextualized, systematic empirical study that taps into transdisciplinary literature and practice, case studies of how foresight has been used to address specific types of complex problems in Canada, as well as surveys and interviews with foresight experts and participants. This dissertation uses a foresight community scan and a comparative case study approach to provide practical and theoretical benefits to foresight and complex problem area stakeholders. The research focuses on studying the broad interactions of foresight and identifying the impacts of dialogue-based foresight projects on people and the outcomes of complex problems. The dissertation concludes that dialogue-based foresight is a valuable and unique practice for ameliorating complex problems and their consequences. Insights are offered towards dialogue-based foresight’s potential contributions within the context of other efforts directed at humanity’s struggle for survival and global complex problems. These insights can then foster the further development and application of dialogue-based foresight on a global scale to alleviate complex problems and their effects. The dissertation outlines recommendations on key next steps to realize these potential contributions.
Graduate

The visualization of energy functions is based on the possibility of separating different degrees of freedom. The most important one is the Born-Oppenheimer-approximation, which separates nucleus and electron movements. This allows the illustration of the potential energy as a function of the nuclei coordinates. Minima of the surface correspond to stable points like isomers or conformers. They are important for predicting the stability or thermodynamical of a system. Stationary points of first order correspond to transition points. They describe phase transitions, chemical reaction, or conformational changes. Furthermore, the partition function connects the potential hypersurface to the free energy of the system. The aim of the present work is the development and application of new approaches for the efficient exploration of multidimensional hypersurfaces. Initially, the Conformational Analysis and Search Tool (CAST) program was developed to create a basis for the new methods and algorithms. The development of CAST in object oriented C++ included, among other things, the implementation of a force field, different interfaces to external programs, analysis tools, and optimization libraries. Descriptions of an energy landscape require knowledge about the most stable minima. The Gradient Only Tabu Search (GOTS) has been shown to be very efficient in the optimization of mathematical test functions. Therefore, GOTS was taken as a starting point. Tabu-Search is based on the steepest descent - modest ascent strategy. The steepest descent is used for finding local minima, while the modest ascent is taken for leaving a minimum quickly. Furthermore, Tabu-Search is combined with an adaptive memory design to avoid cycling or returning. The highly accurate exploration of the phase space by Tabu-Search is often too expensive for complex optimization problems. Therefore, an algorithm for diversification of the search is required. After exploration of the proximity of the search space, the algorithm would guide the search to new and hopefully promising parts of the phase space. First application of GOTS to conformational search revealed weaknesses in the diversification search and the modest ascent part. On the one hand, the original methodology for diversification is insufficiently diverse. The algorithm is considerably improved by combining the more local GOTS with the wider searching Basin Hopping (BH) approach. The second weak point is a too inaccurate and inefficient modest ascent strategy. Analysis of common transition state search algorithms lead to the adaption of the Dimer-method to the Tabu-Search approach. The Dimer-method only requires the first derivatives for locating the closest transition state. For conformational search, dihedral angles are usually the most flexible degrees of freedom. Therefore, only those are used in the Dimer-method for leaving a local minimum. Furthermore, the exact localization of the reaction pathway and the transition state is not necessary as the local minimum position should only be departed as fast as possible. This allows for larger step sizes during the Dimer-search. In the following optimization step, all coordinates are relaxed to remove possible strains in the system. The new Tabu-Search method with Dimer-search delivers more and improved minima. Furthermore, the approach is faster for larger systems. For a system with approximately 1200 atoms, an acceleration of 40 was measured. The new approach was compared to Molecular Dynamics with optimization (MD), Simulated Annealing (SA), and BH with the help of conformational search problems of bio-organic systems. In all cases, a better performance was found. A comparison to the Monte Carlo Multiple Minima/Low Mode Sampling (MCMM/LM) method proved the outstanding performance of the new Tabu-Search approach. The solvation of the chignolin protein further revealed the possibility of uncovering discrepancies between the employed theoretical model and the experimental starting structure. Ligand optimization for improvement of x-ray structures was one further new application field. Besides the global optimization, the search for transition states and reaction pathways is also of paramount importance. These points describe different transitions of stable states. Therefore, a new approach for the exploration of such cases was developed. The new approach is based on a global minimization of a hyperplane being perpendicular to the reaction coordinate. Minima of this reduced phase space belong to traces of transition states between reactant and product states on the unchanged hypersurface. Optimization to the closest transition state using the Dimer-method delivers paths lying between the initial and the final state. An iterative approach finally yields complex reaction pathways with many intermediate local minima. The PathOpt algorithm was tested by means of rearrangements of argon clusters showing very promising results
Die visuelle Darstellung von Energiefunktionen basiert auf der Möglichkeit, verschiedene Freiheitsgrade zu separieren. Die wichtigste Näherung ist dabei die Born-Oppenheimer-Näherung. Sie erlaubt damit die Darstellung der potentiellen Energie als Funktion der Kernkoordinaten. Die daraus entstehende mehrdimensionale Hyperfläche entspricht der Summenformel eines beliebigen Systems. Minima der Fläche entsprechen stabilen Punkten wie Isomeren oder Konformeren. Diese sind wichtig für Aussagen über die Stabilität oder die Thermodynamik eines Systems. Stationäre Punkte erster Ordnung entsprechen Übergangsstrukturen und beschreiben Phasenübergänge, chemische Reaktionen aber auch Konformationsänderungen. Über die Zustandssumme ist die Hyperfläche zudem mit der freien Energie verknüpft. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung und Anwendung neuer Methoden zur effizienten Untersuchung mehrdimensionaler Hyperflächen. Dabei wurde zunächst das Conformational Analysis and Search Tool (CAST)-Programm entwickelt. Die Entwicklung des CAST-Programms in objektorientiertem C++ beinhaltete unter anderem die Implementierung eines Kraftfeldes, verschiedene Schnittstellen zu externen Programmen, Analysealgorithmen und verschiedene Optimierungsmodule. Um Aussagen über eine Energielandschaft treffen zu können, müssen zuerst die stabilsten Minima gefunden werden. Der Gradient Only Tabu Search (GOTS) hat sich als sehr effizient in der Optimierung von mathematischen Funktionen erwiesen. Daher wurde GOTS als Startpunkt verwendet. Tabu-Search basiert auf dem steepest descent – modest ascent Prinzip. Zum Finden neuer Minima wird der steilste Abstieg (steepest descent) verwendet, ein Minimum wird auf dem Weg des geringsten Anstiegs (modest ascent) wieder verlassen. Tabu-Search ist zudem mit einem lernfähigen Speicherdesign kombiniert, wodurch ein Zurück- und im Kreis laufen vermieden wird. Der Phasenraum wird von Tabu-Search sehr genau untersucht, was für komplexere Probleme zu aufwendig wird. Daher bedarf es eines Diversifizierungsschritts, welcher nach Absuchen eines Teils des Phasenraums, die Suche in neue vielversprechende Bereiche bringt. Erste Anwendungen auf Konformationssuchen zeigten, dass GOTS Schwächen im Diversifizierungsschritt und der modest ascent Strategie besitzt. Zum einen ist die ursprünglich verwendete Methodik für die Diversifizierung zu wenig divers. Eine Kombination des mehr lokalen GOTS mit der weiträumiger suchenden Basin Hopping (BH) Methode brachte eine erhebliche Verbesserung. Der zweite Schwachpunkt besteht aus einer zu ungenauen und ineffizienten modest ascent Methode. Daher wurde die Dimer-Methode für Tabu-Search adaptiert. Diese benötigt lediglich die erste Ableitung, um zum Übergangszustand erster Ordnung zu konvergieren. Dabei werden in der Dimer-Methode nur Diederwinkel variiert. Zudem muss der Reaktionspfad und der Übergangszustand nicht exakt getroffen werden, da das Minimum nur möglichst schnell verlassen werden soll. Dies erlaubt größere Schrittweiten in der Dimer-Suche. Im nachfolgenden Optimierungsschritt werden alle Koordinaten relaxiert. Die neue Tabu-Search-Methode mit Dimer-Suche liefert mehr und deutlich verbesserte Minima. Zudem ist sie für größere Systeme deutlich schneller. Für ein System mit circa 1200 Atomen wurde eine Beschleunigung um den Faktor 40 erzielt. Die neue Methode wurde am Beispiel der Konformationssuche von bio-organischen Systemen mit Molekulardynamik mit Optimierung (MD), Simulated Annealing (SA) und BH verglichen, wobei sich in allen Fällen eine bessere Effizienz zeigte. Ein Vergleich zur Monte Carlo Multiple Minima/Low Mode Sampling Methode anhand der Optimierung von peptidischen Ligand-Rezeptor-Komplexen belegte ebenfalls die hervorragende Effizienz des neuen Ansatzes. Die Solvatisierung des Chignolin-Proteins mit Tabu-Search deckte die Möglichkeit auf, Differenzen zwischen der verwendeten theoretischen Methode und der experimentellen Startstruktur aufzudecken. Als weiterer neuer Anwendungsbereich wurde die Optimierung von Ligand-Enzym-Komplexen zur Verbesserung von Röntgenstrukturen untersucht. Neben der globalen Optimierung ist auch die Suche nach Übergangszuständen und Reaktionspfaden von größter Wichtigkeit. Diese beschreiben verschiedene Übergänge zwischen stabilen Zuständen. Daher wurde ein neuer Ansatz zur Untersuchung dieser Fragestellungen entwickelt. Dieser basiert auf einer globalen Minimierung einer Hyperfläche, welche senkrecht zum Reaktionspfad steht. Die Minima des reduzierten Phasenraums gehören zu Spuren zu Übergangszuständen zwischen dem Edukt und dem Produkt. Durch Optimierung dieser Punkte mittels der Dimer-Methode werden also Pfade gefunden, die zwischen Anfangs- und Endpunkt liegen. Ein iteratives Vorgehen liefert letztendlich komplexe Reaktionspfade. PathOpt wurde an Umlagerungen von Argon-Clustern evaluiert, welche sehr vielversprechende Ergebnisse lieferten

Though oil prices have been on a downward trajectory in recent months, that doesn't obscure the fact that fossil fuels are finite, and we will eventually have to grapple with the end of their dominance. At the same time, however, skepticism about the alternatives remains: we've never quite achieved the promised 'too cheap to meter' power of the future, be it nuclear, solar, or wind. And hydrogen and bio-based fuels are thus far a disappointment. So what does the future of energy look like? The Tesla Revolution has the answers. In clear, unsensational style, Willem Middelkoop and Rembrandt Koppelaar offer a layman's tour of the energy landscape, now and to come. They show how rapid technological advances in batteries and solar technologies are already driving large-scale transformations in power supply, while economic and geopolitical changes, combined with a growing political awareness that there are alternatives to fossil fuels will combine in the coming years to bring an energy revolution ever closer. Within in our lifetimes, the authors argue, we will see changes that will reshape economics, the balance of political power, and even the most mundane aspects of our daily lives. Determinedly forward-looking and optimistic, though never straying from hard facts, The Tesla Revolution paints a striking picture of our global energy future.

This chapter outlines a broad history of the development of thinking about the law of international organizations, with a focus on the legal theory of functionalism, as well as a discussion on the latter’s considerable strengths and weaknesses. Functionalism holds that states create international organizations to do things they are unable or reluctant to do on their own, yet consider inherently useful: organize postal relations, control the uses of atomic energy, regulate global health, etc. The chapter also includes a brief discussion of scholarship regarding international organizations in the broader academic landscape, with the concluding section hinting at a few challenges for both theory and practice.

As one of the sustainable forms of energy production, wind farms are becoming increasingly prevalent, changing the global landscapes and seascapes. They are often met with resistance, primarily because of their presumed ‘eyesore’ effect. This chapter reviews several arguments based upon imagination and comparison to art that are intended to mitigate the negative aesthetic impact of wind farms. It concludes that the most promising aesthetic argument in support of wind farms must be a part of a larger aesthetics of sustainability informed by life values, sometimes referred to as the ‘thick’ sense of aesthetics. At the same time, life values, such as sustainability, cannot by themselves determine the aesthetic values, since purely sensuous, ‘thin,’ considerations, such as colors, shapes, and spatial arrangements, constitute the core of aesthetic values. Most importantly, aesthetic disputes involving public space call for civic environmentalism: empowerment and inclusion of those whose aesthetic lives are affected.

AbstractThe chapter explores the developmental trajectory of Ukraine’s higher education system since the middle ages. Starting with just a few comprehensive universities in the western parts at first and later Eastern parts of the country, the system gradually evolved into a diverse and differentiated institutional landscape. The variety and scope of HEIs reflects the internal logic of the system’s own development as well as outside factors, including changes of the ruling governments, fluctuations in the demographic trends, shifts in political alliances and cultural and language oscillations, which have been characteristic of the Ukrainian history. The authors elaborate on several policy rationales that came to underpin some of the changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as policy discussions and policy silences (lack of dialog amongst various stakeholders) that have taken a lot of energy and yet have not lead to any noticeable changes in the institutional scene. The chapter also discusses the most recent changes in the legislation and practical implementations leaving space for future research to draw conclusions as to their effectiveness.

AbstractThe Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region plays a vital role in shaping the global energy markets because of its substantial amount of hydrocarbons resources. Although the GCC has abundant hydrocarbon resources, countries in the region have also shown their commitment and intent to become the global leaders in alternate energy, especially, renewable energy through their “Visions and Laws”. Further, All the countries in the Middle East have also set targets for the deployment of renewable energy at the federal or local level.For several decades, there has been steady economic and population growth of the Middle East countries, with most of the region’s wealth and socio-economic development, tied to its substantial oil and gas resources. Renewable energy can provide an alternative to their energy landscape, which holds a vast potential to cut fuel costs, reduce GHG emissions.To promote renewable energy, in the last five years, renewable energy has gained a lot of interest in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Low tariffs bids for renewable energy generation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia since 2016 have made renewable energy, especially solar power competitive with conventional energy (International Renewable Energy Agency. Renewable Energy Market Analysis-GCC 2019. s.l.: International Renewable Energy Agency, 2019).With the push from the decision-makers to reduce the risk of dependence fossil fuels, the renewable energy plans can be implemented in the GCC. Decision-makers in the GCC have recognized the need for a plan for the post-oil era. This chapter will explore the GCC long term policies and government’s role in shaping the renewable energy market. Further, the chapter will also explore the challenges & opportunities related to the renewable energy sector in GCC (International Renewable Energy Agency. Renewable Energy Market Analysis-GCC 2019. s.l.: International Renewable Energy Agency, 2019).

As early as 2007 Hibbard and other scholars have pointed out that that in a hyper-connected world innovation processes and cumulative feedbacks through population dynamics, energy, institutions, and political economies have triggered a complex dynamics involving the entire Earth-System. The global landscape is therefore characterized by hierarchical evolving systems, the result within which human decision making processes have to face uncertainty and anxiety, as knowledge is necessarily incomplete, fuzzy, and sometimes even wrong. As many scientists and scholars claim, a lesson can then drawn from nature: unceasingly develop learning and adaptation, enriched by purposeful research, experimentation and rationally founded imagination. I is just during critical phases that it is necessary to enlarge individual and collective knowledge endowment.

This chapter explores the changing landscape of global energy and its economic and security implications for Persian Gulf state. Gawdat Bahgat puts the ‘shale revolution’ in North America into the context of broader U.S. strategic interests in the Gulf and the wider Middle East and assesses the implications of the divergent trajectories whereby the U.S. has become less dependent on imported Persian Gulf oil while China has moved in the opposite direction. Bahgat analyzes also the strategic implications for Persian Gulf producers of long-term trends such as the growing drive for energy efficiencies, rising concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing diversity of the global energy mix. Bahgat ends by assessing how the post-2014 volatility in international oil prices presents both a set of challenges and opportunities for Persian Gulf producers who continue to utilize energy interdependency to underpin their security and strategic relationships with international partners.

Since the native conformation or the natural shape of a protein largely determines its function, a prediction of protein conformation can shorten the process of drug discovery. This prediction is an optimization search to locate a configuration associated with the global minimum energy for the molecule. Due to the complexity of the multidimensional energy landscape, the prediction process can be extensive, which leads to very long simulation run times. For example, a high-resolution structure prediction algorithm [1] refining 20,000 to 30,000 models of several 49 to 88 residue long molecules takes about 150 CPU days per molecule. This paper presents the method of modified energy landscape (MEL) that improves the efficiency of the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) method by 12.8% on average, and more than 30% in some cases for a representative sample of cases. Since the efficiency improvement allows the probabilistic search to cover more areas of the energy landscape, locating the global minimum is more likely. Also, in a practical protein prediction running coarse refinements on more decoys is more preferable than comprehensively refining few decoys because of the low accuracy of energy functions. Therefore, the MEL can significantly improve the protein prediction simulation even though it yields less average score improvement. The MEL is implemented in a refinement protocol in Rosetta [2].

Abstract The population of Africa is estimated to be about 1.5 billion, 25% of world population but the continent accounts for only 3.2% of global electricity generation (2.2% coming from South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco). This translates to the lowest per capita energy of any continent. The rapidly growing population in Africa will inevitably result in the emergence of more African cities and this underscores a need to urgently address the energy poverty concerns presented. The global energy landscape is changing, and Africa finds herself at a vantage point in the complex interplay between energy, development, climate change and sustainability. The need to provide an answer to these concerns is further highlighted by the effects of globalization and climate change. The onus rests on African countries to find a cross-functional solution; one which answers simultaneously to socio-economic and environmental challenges. This involves driving growth in energy supply and hence industrialization via the adoption of a balanced mix that harnesses all energy potential and integrated utilization possibilities. Projected increase in energy demands coupled with emission allowances present a unique opportunity for these countries to put in place plans and infrastructure congruent with the future energy landscape. In contrast to the narrative where African energy is driven majorly by renewables, the continent must first maximize the enormous fossil fuel potentials domiciled in large gas reserves in some of her countries to create an economy that can support a sustainable energy future. Natural gas is expected to play a vital role in the transition to a more environment friendly future of energy, especially in developing countries. This paper aims to present the prospects and challenges of the use of natural gas as a driver of sustainability and energy transition in the developing nations. Nigeria and the Nigerian Gas Master Plan will be taken as a Case Study.

Abstract Today's energy sector has evolved by leaps and bounds in the sphere of Health, Safety, Security and the Environment. The minimization of incidents on board oil and gas platforms and by extension the energy sector continues to be the highest standards of HSSE performance companies aspire to. Our current fiscal environment has forced countries and companies to carefully consider how limited finances are to be utilized and managed to achieve outlined targets. This shrinking financial pie has also seriously impacted on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Plan for companies within the sector. Fiscal management is key in a global village where every dollar counts. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago we must seek to secure our future assets be it through acquisition, maintenance and reliability. CSR must be comprehensively managed ensuring that both the corporate entity and the various indigenous communities get full value for the relationship they might be part of. The free spending attitude is definitely a thing of the past. Proper investments into a company's CSR, particularly where it adds value to the communities where there are vested interests are of paramount importance. This paper will advance the value of having a robust quality benchmarked HSSE portfolio/system utilizing the Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) mechanism and how it impacts on company productivity. The role, value and impact of CSR will also be scrutinized highlighting its critical importance in today's changing corporate landscape.

Abstract Precise predictions and solutions for tomorrow's needs are the key to building a growing, sustainable business. This requires a mixture of vision, strategic risk taking business model and investment in new technology. Refining trends forecast is useful for predicting possible landscape, where in challenge would be to meet twice the energy levels from today with half the CO2 emissions by 2030. Increasing and diversification of world's energy supplies to support the population of over 8 billion then would be a mammoth task, given that the triangle of energy, food and water will be crucial. Three fundamental factors that will influence and shape this setting are: Global products demand will rise by 1.1% - 1.3% annually by 2030 to over 115 million barrels per day, with marginal influence of crude oil prices;Reinforced legislation targeting reduction of GHG emissions, requiring improved clean transportation and bunker fuels - accounting 2/3rd of total demand and growth;Refining and Petrochemicals form the backbone of global economics and meeting demand with inevitable steady profitability is a major task possibly also using alternative unconventional sources. In competitive context – innovation, operational excellence and implementation of robust strategies are critical for sustenance and growth. Project returns can however be enhanced by incorporating integration principles and model at the design stage itself. Whilst development pace of new technologies would accelerate which can radically alter business structure in certain geographies, question remains on what makes a successful project come to fruition. The presentation discusses futuristic economic unlocking of value by application of technology models and best practices by utilizing various feed-stocks, including natural gas as a main competitor and maximum upgrading bottom-of-the-barrel. Besides, novel process designs and operational control would be squeezed as it is invariably the last fraction which is most difficult to remove! This paper contains forward-looking scenario about global Refining strategy, Petrochemicals feed-stock cost advantages, technology diversification routes to maximize returns from cheaper sources, financial performance and economics, growth opportunities in various countries, sectors or markets, besides a focus on Europe and GCC regions and current projects in Kuwait. However, these involve uncertainty as they depend mainly on future circumstances like commercializing R&D, not all of which can be controlled or accurately predicted, hence are directional for investment decisions.

Purpose – the purpose of the article is to assess the investment potential of YieldСos as an innovative pension vehicle and determine the risks that may arise in connection with them. Methods used: empirical analyses, comparisons, statistical analyses. Research methodology – empirical research, comparative analysis, statistical analyses. Findings – in the paper we compared the new investment vehicle YieldCos (green) and a traditional investment vehicle – energy companies (non-green). It was found that the correlation of YieldCos with the market indices is similar to nongreen companies. But YieldCos are more exposed to risks than energy companies. That may offset their attractiveness as long term investment vehicle. It is necessary to continue research for this investment vehicle during the period of global financial volatility and crash of crude oil price. Research limitations – the authors study the raise of the new investment vehicle – YieldCos, during the period from 2013 to 2018 (pre Covid-19 Era). Practical implications – YieldCos focus on investors interests, raising money in an environmental projects (namely renewable energy), and provide combination of high yield and high income growth. Aforesaid characteristics are attractive for institutional investors that are currently experiencing a lack of resources to meet their obligations. Originality/Value – new investment vehicle is becoming a part of the overall socially responsible investment universe. We have taken the first step in the comparative evaluation of traditional and innovative types of investment instruments. Showed the prospects of a new environmentally oriented tool. It is necessary to continue research of this investment vehicle during the period of global financial volatility, changing landscape of energy resources and stakeholders rising influence.

To design the city of the future, we have to stop extrapolating the problems of today. This is why team Stadsvrijheid developed a new conceptual framework, a new paradigm for the future. On the basis of this paradigm, the team argues back to the here and now. This approach requires different ordering principles and new design tools, in short: the development of a completely new vocabulary. Current ordering principles such as density and functions will no longer be applicable in the future, which will centre on length of residence, production potential and the intricacy of the urban fabric. Combinations of these factors determine the DNA of an area. The team’s conceptual framework for the future sketches a new world in which everything is connected to everything; people as well as things. Technology plays an important role in this. In the resulting circular economy, everything is productive. The test site for this new paradigm was Utrecht’s eastern fringe. This promising location allows the interweaving of landscape and city in the context of today’s urbanization pressure. It is precisely in the monofunctional and fragmented urban fringes that a new type of urban character can emerge by connecting new developments in the field of mobility and technology. Anyone who wants the city to be liveable and healthy has to move towards a city in which walking is the norm and therefore away from ‘radial thinking’ of the traditional city. The outskirts of Utrecht will become gateways to the city or even the Randstad, with the Sciencepark as the global attractor and the Lunetten hub as the global connector. The team translated the contours of the conceptual framework into ordering principles and balanced these using a ‘mixing console’. Important principles are: the intricacy of the urban fabric (everything is connected), travel time (everything is proximate), length of residence (everything takes its own time) and varied production (everything is productive). The mixing console allows an alternative method of organizing areas according to functions or density. A specific mix determines the DNA of a region. The team devised new design tools to create the city of the future. The 'armature’, for example, is a tool that can be used to redefine the current road infrastructure. Development along the Z axis, for example, is based on the principles of urban stratigraphy and builds on the strata of the existing city. This allows densification and the current physical barriers such as the motorways will transform into layered landscapes that will act as hubs connecting future centres. In 2040, city dwellers travel by foot and motorized transport between cities will be connected collectively or individually. The resulting city is a continuous city for pedestrians that not only allows more density, but in which there is more room for greenery as well. Functions such as roads and housing are layered, stackable, connectable entities linked to new energy and transport networks. They create a productive and endlessly connected urban landscape. In this layered city everything, including waste, produces something. Everything is designed to last a certain period of time, for example based on length of residence. In this city, the cost of space is the driving force behind change. This comes with new investment models in which the relationship between interest and involvement play a part.