Search results for " electricity"

Intra-Helical Salt Bridge Contribution to Membrane Protein Insertion.

2021

ABSTRACTSalt bridges between negatively (D, E) and positively charged (K, R, H) amino acids play an important role in protein stabilization. This has a more prevalent effect in membrane proteins where polar amino acids are exposed to a very hydrophobic environment. In transmembrane (TM) helices the presence of charged residues can hinder the insertion of the helices into the membrane. This can sometimes be avoided by TM region rearrangements after insertion, but it is also possible that the formation of salt bridges could decrease the cost of membrane integration. However, the presence of intra-helical salt bridges in TM domains and their effect on insertion has not been properly studied ye…

Impact of Wind Electricity Forecasts on Bidding Strategies

2017

The change in the generation mix from conventional electricity sources to renewables has important implications for bidding behaviour and may have an impact on prices. The main goal of this work is to discover the role played by expected wind production, together with other relevant factors, in explaining the day-ahead market price through a data panel model. The Spanish market, given the huge increase in wind generation observed in the last decade, has been chosen for this study as a paradigmatic example. The results obtained suggest that wind power forecasts are a new key determinant for supply market participants when bidding in the day-ahead market. We also provide a conservative quanti…

Feasibility of Waste Engine Oil Electrooxidation with Ni-Co and Cu-B Catalysts

2022

To implement a circular economy policy, methods of using waste products as a starting point for other technologies are constantly researched. One of the waste products that should be disposed of after use is waste engine oil (WEO). Despite the permanent introduction of the electrification of cars, the number of combustion vehicles (and, thus, the production of WEO) is constantly increasing. For these reasons, the reuse of WEOs is extremely important; e.g., to use these oils for energy purposes. One of the potential uses of this type of oil is as fuel for fuel cells (for direct electricity production). To lower the production costs of electrodes for fuel cells, catalysts that do not contain …

Możliwość bezpośredniego zasilania ogniwa paliwowego biopaliwem

2017

Praca przedstawia analizę możliwości zasilania ogniw paliwowych biopaliwami. Analizy dokonano na podstawie rozpoznania pozycji literaturowych oraz badań własnych. Przeanalizowano wykorzystanie biogazu, wodoru pozyskanego metodami biologicznymi, wykorzystanie alkoholu metylowego oraz olejów roślinnych. Wykazano, że w przypadku metanolu istotnym jest poszukiwanie katalizatorów nie zawierających metali szlachetnych, natomiast w przypadku olejów roślinnych uzyskiwane wartości gęstości prądu nie pozwalają obecnie na zbudowanie ogniwa paliwowego o dużej wydajności. Wykazano, że jednak istnieje możliwość zasilania ogniw paliwowych biopaliwami, jednak konieczne są jednak, prace zmierzające do podwy…

Geophysical investigations in the Flumendosa River Delta, Sardinia (Italy) — Seismic reflection imaging

2006

A geophysical investigation that included seismic-reflection surveying and time-domain electromagnetics (EM) was carried out in the Flumendosa River Delta plain in southeastern Sardinia, Italy. The objective was to improve knowledge of geologic and hydrogeologic controls on a highly productive aquifer hosted in thick Quaternary deposits and known to be affected by an extensive saltwater intrusion. The seismic reflection survey, whose results are reported here, aimed to image the Paleozoic bedrock topography and to obtain detailed structural and stratigraphic information on the sequence of largely fluvial sediments extending from the surface down to bedrock. The survey consisted of two inli…

Green electricity products in the United Kingdom, Germany and Finland

2014

In liberalized electricity markets, suppliers are offering several kinds of voluntary green electricity products marketed as environmentally friendly. This paper focuses on the development of these voluntary markets at household level in the UK, Germany and Finland. Since there are already existing renewable energy policies regulating and encouraging the use of renewable energy, it is important to consider whether voluntary products offer real additional benefits above these policies. Problems such as double counting or re-marketing hydropower produced in existing plants are identified. According to our study, the demand varies between countries: in Germany the number of green electricity c…

Resource, environmental and economic considerations in the development of a Reverse Electrodialysis Heat Engine

The RED Heat Engine operates as a closed-loop RED system, where limited amounts of artificial saline solutions are used as working fluids. The solutions exiting from the RED unit are regenerated by means of a separation step, which uses low-temperature heat as its energy source. Essentially the system converts low-grade heat to electricity. There are two main alternative regeneration strategies: (i) extract solvent from the high salinity solution and move it to the low salinity solution or (ii) extract salt from the low salinity solution and move it to the high salinity solution. In this thesis are considered the Multi-effect distillation (MED) and the Membrane Distillation (MD) under the s…

Pricing of electricity futures based on locational price differences : empirical evidence from Finland

2016

Tietyn maantieteellisen alueen kilpailullisilla sähkömarkkinoilla on yleensä viitespot-hinta, joka kuvastaa yleistä hintatasoa tukkumarkkinalla, ja jota käytetään johdannaisten viitehintana. Paikallisten markkinoiden hinnat saattavat kuitenkin poiketa tästä viitehinnasta siirtoyhteyksien rajallisuuden takia. Pohjoismaisilla sähkömarkkinoilla ns. systeemi- ja tarjousalueen aluehinnan väliseltä basis-riskiltä suojaudutaan ns. aluehintaero-johdannaisilla (eng. Electricity Price Area Differential, EPAD). Tutkin tässä pro gradu- työssä Suomen tarjousalueen EPAD-tuotteiden ja vastaavan aluehintaeron yhteyttä. Koska sähkö ei ole varastoitavissa, yleisen näkemyksen mukaan sopiva sähköfutuurien hinn…

Age Differences in Technology Readiness and Its Effects on Information System Acceptance and Use : The Case of Online Electricity Services in Finland

2017

Although technology readiness (TR) has been found to influence the acceptance and use of information systems (IS), little is known about how TR varies in terms of different demographic variables and how these demographic variables moderate the effects of TR on IS acceptance and use. In this study, we aim to address this gap in prior research by examining the potential age differences in the four technology readiness index (TRI) constructs as well as their effects on IS use intention and its two main antecedents hypothesised in the technology acceptance model (TAM): perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The examination is conducted in the context of online electricity services and …

Are Energy Market Integrations a Green Light for FDI?

2015

This paper studies the effect of energy market integration (EMI) on foreign direct investment (FDI). EMIs diminish energy uncertainty and price volatility in the host country and affect FDI through two channels: first, by harmonizing energy prices and, second, by reducing price dispersion. FDI may, as a result, increase both within and outside the EMI area, through energy stability mechanisms and price mechanisms, respectively. An empirical application on a global dataset including bilateral FDI data, during 2003-2012, using the gravity equation, shows that the integration of Portugal and Spain's electricity market in 2007 increased the amount of FDI's participants. Additionally, a positive…