Spiros Alexopoulos – författare

Energy Communities and Self-Sufficient Energy Islands: Legal Framework, Enabling Technologies, Impacts, Self-Sufficiency, Concept Development, and Global Examples provides in-depth information regarding the development of energy communities and the path to reach self-sufficient energy islands, enabling the reader to make informed decisions regarding participation, contribution, planning, and development. The book explores how energy communities can offer a range of benefits and solutions to modern energy challenges, in the context of the increasing focus on sustainable, decentralized energy systems and the transition to renewable energy.By developing self-sufficient energy islands, communities and nations can increase energy independence, harness renewable energy sources, and address needs in terms of sustainability, environmental conservation, and climate. This is a valuable resource for all those with an interest in energy communities, self-sufficient energy islands, decentralized renewable energy systems, and energy transition, including advanced students, graduates, researchers, faculty, current or potential energy community members, engineers, R&D personnel, consultants, industry professionals, policy makers, businesses, and investors.Examines key technologies, legal frameworks, and economic viability for energy communitiesCovers energy concept software tools and examples of the procedure to prepare energy concepts for self-sufficient energy islandsIncludes characteristic examples of energy communities and self-sufficient energy islands from around the world

This volume of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition, describes technologies that actively convert solar radiation into useful heat in a temperature range from just above ambient up to more than 1,000°C. Applications cover a broad range of energy services such as space heating, cooking, domestic hot water supply, electrical power generation, and high temperature thermochemical processes. The major developments that have led to currently available technologies for solar thermal energy applications were initiated mainly after the first oil shock in 1973. Solar thermal energy is widely used already for heating purposes (water, space) in the “low” temperature range up to about 100°C employing mainly nonconcentrating collectors, whereas higher temperatures can be achieved with more sophisticated solar collector technologies. Temperatures over 200°C typically require concentrating solar radiation using mirror systems. Several different technologies are described in detail in this volume, including solar collector systems in the lower temperature range, the direct use of solar radiation for food processing, namely cooking and drying, the production of electricity through conversion of solar radiation first to heat, driving a mechanical conversion system coupled to an electric generator, the use of solar radiation to drive chemical processes, and many more.