Renewable Energy in Urban Areas: Worldwide Research Trends

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the contribution made by different international institutions in the field of urban generation of renewable energy, as a key element to achieve sustainability. This has been possible through the use of the Scopus Elsevier database, and the application of bibliometric techniques through which the articles content published from 1977 to 2017 has been analysed. The results shown by Scopus (e.g., journal articles and conferences proceedings) have been taken into account for further analysis by using the following search pattern (TITLE-ABS-KEY ({Renewable energy} AND ({urban} OR ({cit*})). In order to carry out this study, key features of the publications have been taken into consideration, such as type of document, language, thematic area, type of publication, and keywords. As far as keywords are concerned, renewable energy, sustainability, sustainable development, urban areas, city, and energy efficiency, have been the most frequently used. The results found have been broken down both geographically and by institution, showing that China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and India are the main research countries and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Education China and Tsinghua University the major contributing institutes. With regard to the categories, Energy, Environmental Sciences, and Engineering are positioned as the most active categories. The scientific community agrees that the study of the renewable energy generation in cities is of vital importance to achieve more sustainable cities, and for the welfare of a growing urban population. Moreover, this is in line with the energy policies adopted by most of developed countries in order to mitigate climate change effects.

Peanut Shell for Energy: Properties and Its Potential to Respect the Environment

“…If we observe Table 5, the best prediction result of the HHV value for peanut shell has been achieved with Equation (12) with a deviation of 0.165%, followed by Equation (11), proposed by Demirbas et al (2004), with a deviation of 0.259%. In third place is Equation (9), proposed by Tillman (1978), with a deviation of 0.444%, and fourthly, Equation (18). In addition, it should be noted that Equations (9), (11), (12), and (18) require only one parameter for their calculation, assuming that HHV is a linear function of its the carbon content, and then the algebraic equation has the form HHV = a + b•C, where C is the carbon content (%).…”

“…Another policy related to the Kyoto Protocol has been support for renewable energy sources, which has allowed for an increase in this sector [16,17]. This growth in renewable energy generation and the increased use of gas in the electricity sector has reduced the amounts of greenhouse gases in electricity production [18]. However, this progress towards reducing CO 2 emissions is insufficient to meet the targets set by European climate change policies.…”

Analysis of Research Topics and Scientific Collaborations in Renewable Energy Using Community Detection

“…In fact, the coverage of journals in Scopus is slightly higher (20,346 journals) than in WoS (13,605 journals) [23], with high correlations between the measures obtained with both databases for the number of papers, the number of citations received by countries, and their ranks. Previous bibliometric studies have also used the Scopus database to retrieve information about renewable energy [24].…”

Sustainable Solar Energy in Mexican Universities. Case Study: The National School of Higher Studies Juriquilla (UNAM)

“…All countries must agree on mitigation measures against climate change that involve ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gases. To reach the Paris agreement and limit the temperature increase to 2 • C by the end of the century, or to 1.5 • C if possible, a major shift is needed in current energy policy towards a low-carbon economy, where on the one hand the share of renewables in the current energy mix is enhanced and on the other hand the energy efficiency of energy systems is increased [1][2][3]. Universities, within the framework of their social and environmental responsibility, cannot stay away from these objectives [4,5].…”