The continuous spread of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as combined heating and power (CHP), diesel generators, boilers and renewable energy sources provide an effective solution to energy related problems to serve the power and heat demands with minimum cost. Moreover, the DERs may play a significant role for supplying power and heat in rural areas, where grid electricity is not avai...

Hypersaline brines are of growing environmental concern. While high-salinity desalination and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) increasingly attractive treatment options, the high salt scalant contents pose considerable technical difficulties to existing techniques. In this review, we introduce sources hypersaline brines, examine factors driving desalination, present thermodynamic minimum energy ZLD,...

► Self-adaptive mode of feed-flow reversal (FFR) was developed for RO desalting. ► FFR was triggered via mineral scale detection using an external membrane

1. Global Energy Problems and the Role of Renewables 1.1. Energy demand 1.2. Energy, environmental problems and sustainable development 1.3. Water demand and consumption 1.4. Water and energy 1.5. Desalination and energy 1.6. Renewable energy technologies 2. Solar Collectors 2.1. Parabolic trough collectors 2.2. Fresnel collectors 2.3. Parabolic dish reflector 2.4. Heliostat field collector 3. ...