Deregulated wholesale markets for bulk electricity supplies are likely to deviate from the perfectly competitive ideal in many areas where transmission losses, costs and capacity constraints isolate customers from the effective reach of many generators and limit the number of competitors. In those regions where a few suppliers or marketing agents dominate the market, prices may rise wellabove t...

Increasing scarcity of fossil fuels makes the deployment of hydrogen in combination with renewable energy sources, nuclear energy or the utilization of electricity from full time operation of existing power stations an interesting alternative. A pre-requisite is, however, that the safety of the required infrastructure is investigated and that its design is made such that the associated risk is ...

Mechanical ventilators used in intensive care units are sophisticated devices. The guiding principle in their design is the provision of optimal lung ventilation. They incorporate precise but sizeable pneumatic components intended to utilize piped gases and mains electricity. However, when transporting patients receiving ventilatory support, these devices are rarely suitable because of their si...

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which use electricity from the grid to power a portion of travel, could play a role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector. However, meaningful GHG emissions reductions with PHEVs are conditional on low-carbon electricity sources. We assess life cycle GHG emissions from PHEVs and find that they reduce GHG emissions by 32% c...

Introduction The widespread use of battery operated portable devices such as cell phones and laptops has created the need for DC to DC conversion power supplies such as switched mode power supplies. According to an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) study [1], the amount of electricity that flowed through switched mode power supplies in 2004 was “6% of the national electric bill”. The pro...

Power system modeling is a software management tool for managing electricity demand, power system trading electricity and power system generation expansion planning purposes, through the combination of various models and their comparison, which can be used by the Government for its policy support and by the power enterprises for their business development planning decision support, and ensure t...

The design of anaesthesia equipment for use in hospitals in the developing world must take into account the local conditions, particularly whether reliable supplies of compressed oxygen and electricity are available. Designs should ensure that maintenance is feasible locally. International standards should encourage the design of suitable equipment to ensure safe anaesthesia for patients worldw...