This chapter analyzes the interconnections between energy policy and security and defense policies in the UK, zooming in on Scotland. It explains the energy and security regimes and analyzes policy interplay. The links between hydrocarbon energy, energy transition, and security are complex, with relatively fragmented governance in place. While some instances of policy integration were found, broader policy coherence regarding security and the zero-carbon energy transition was lacking. Before 2022, coordination efforts were focused on external, global energy questions instead of domestic energy. Domestic energy security was driven by market-based values. Post-2022, security and energy transition links pertaining to domestic energy production and use became more important in political and policy agendas. Scotland has had a differing worldview on security in relation to energy transition than the rest of the UK, with more focus on the environmental and health security effects of energy policy choices and just transitions, evident, for instance, in its opposition to nuclear power.

This chapter explains what has been meant by energy security in different periods and research contexts. It elaborates on the history of energy security research and creates a typology of internal and external dimensions of energy security. Subsequently, the chapter describes the research on the geopolitics of energy, focusing on the geopolitics of renewable energy and the different implications envisaged to unfold from the energy transition. The chapter ends with a brief summary of the EU’s approach to energy security. The chapter, thereby, creates a research context for the empirical analyses conducted in this book.

This chapter introduces the topic of the book, namely the interconnections between zero-carbon energy transitions and security, and why this topic is of importance. It creates a setting for the following chapters by explaining the status of the energy transition in Europe, and introducing the academic fields the book draws from: sustainability transition studies, security studies, and studies of policy coherence and integration. The chapter also describes the research methods used and a brief background to the country cases, followed by a summary of the contents of the book.

Mining relates to violence in diverse ways, and frequently the relationship includes environmental violence. New technologies, including those central to a clean energy transition, mean that mining will remain a necessary industry. This means in turn that the human community will remain in need of ways to minimize and cope with the environmental violence of mining. The theory and practice of Catholic peacebuilding can offer distinct resources for dealing with these challenges. First, there is Catholic social teaching, which creates a foundation from which to respond to the environmental violence of mining in suitably complex and integral ways. Second, the Catholic community has a vibrant base of grassroots actors defending people and the environment from mining damage. And third, there is the church’s institutional capacity to network those grassroots actors and coordinate their work with national and international efforts to change resource governance and industry practice. The argument is not that these resources are necessarily unique to the Catholic community. The idea is that the Catholic community can array and marshal these resources in a distinctive way that gives it special potential for responding to mining and environmental violence.

This chapter addresses the legal dimensions of the European Union’s response to the climate change crisis. It introduces the EU’s climate governance strategy for 2030 and 2050, and reviews the key Regulations, Directives and legislative proposals adopted in its pursuit, including the European Climate Law, the Emissions Trading Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive and the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism Regulation. The chapter discusses the position of the EU both as a key contributor to and a subject of international climate change law, and considers the relation between climate change as a governance challenge and the general principles of EU law, with a focus on solidarity, transparency and public participation. The chapter also examines the regulatory and enforcement strategies that characterise EU climate change law. To this end, the EU Emissions Trading System is examined as an example of the EU approach to market-based regulation, and the Governance Regulation demonstrates the EU’s reliance on ‘soft’, proceduralised enforcement in the climate policy sphere. The chapter’s final section illustrates the difficulty of coherent climate change decision-making, as EU authorities must reconcile internal market goals with energy security demands, sustainability concerns and global fairness concerns.

The second edition of this popular textbook has been extensively revised and brought up-to-date with new chapters addressing energy storage and off-grid systems. It provides a quantitative yet accessible overview of the renewable energy technologies that are essential for a net-zero carbon energy system. Covering wind, hydro, solar thermal, photovoltaic, ocean and bioenergy, the text is suitable for engineering undergraduates as well as graduate students from other numerate degrees. The technologies involved, background theory and how projects are developed, constructive and operated are described. Worked examples demonstrate the simple calculation techniques used and engage students by showing them how theory relates to real applications. Tutorial chapters provide background material supporting students from a range of disciplines, and there are over 150 end-of-chapter problems with answers. Online resources, restricted to instructors, provide additional material, including copies of the diagrams, full solutions to the problems and examples of extended exercises.

The present importance of fossil energy is recognized and the consequences of its exponential growth explained. The mechanism of global warming from increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is summarised and the need for a transition to renewable energy is identified. The units that are usually used to describe energy are listed. The consequences of exponential growth are explained. Approaches to limiting energy use and the difficulties of reducing energy use are discussed. The consequences of applying discounted cash flow analysis in the economic appraisal of energy-efficiency measures are described. The challenges of low-carbon energy electricity generation are discussed and the carbon intensity of generation illustrated. The low-capacity factors of many renewable energy sources and the high-capacity margin of an electrical power system with renewable energy generation are described. Environmental and social impacts of renewable energy schemes are summarized. The chapter is supported by 4 examples, 13 questions with answers and full solutions in the accompanying online material. Further reading and online resources are identified.

The second edition of this popular textbook has been extensively revised and brought up-to-date with new chapters addressing energy storage and off-grid systems. It provides a quantitative yet accessible overview of the renewable energy technologies that are essential for a net-zero carbon energy system. Covering wind, hydro, solar thermal, photovoltaic, ocean and bioenergy, the text is suitable for engineering undergraduates as well as graduate students from other numerate degrees. The technologies involved, background theory and how projects are developed, constructive and operated are described. Worked examples demonstrate the simple calculation techniques used and engage students by showing them how theory relates to real applications. Tutorial chapters provide background material supporting students from a range of disciplines, and there are over 150 end-of-chapter problems with answers. Online resources, restricted to instructors, provide additional material, including copies of the diagrams, full solutions to the problems and examples of extended exercises.

The second edition of this popular textbook has been extensively revised and brought up-to-date with new chapters addressing energy storage and off-grid systems. It provides a quantitative yet accessible overview of the renewable energy technologies that are essential for a net-zero carbon energy system. Covering wind, hydro, solar thermal, photovoltaic, ocean and bioenergy, the text is suitable for engineering undergraduates as well as graduate students from other numerate degrees. The technologies involved, background theory and how projects are developed, constructive and operated are described. Worked examples demonstrate the simple calculation techniques used and engage students by showing them how theory relates to real applications. Tutorial chapters provide background material supporting students from a range of disciplines, and there are over 150 end-of-chapter problems with answers. Online resources, restricted to instructors, provide additional material, including copies of the diagrams, full solutions to the problems and examples of extended exercises.

Industrialization could not have happened without abundant, easy-to-store-and-transport fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). They and the technologies that mined, traded, processed and used them satisfied needs which they also created (including wars). They provided the heat, power and feedstock to run factories, operate transport systems and shape household living conditions (space heating--cooling, appliances). Energy use has exponentially risen in the last two centuries, to an average 2 kW/cap for poor and over 20 kW/cap for rich people, and supply is still dominated by fossil fuels. Modernization has become closely linked to provision of ’modern’ energy carriers (energy ladder). Apart from corporate and state super-profits and power and associated turmoil, it has brought enormous environmental destruction and harm, some of it affecting many generations to come. The most serious impact, climate change from greenhouse gas emissions, is stimulating a transition away from fossil fuels and towards efficient use and non-carbon supply (renewable, nuclear). This process is confronted with the divergence in worldviews, around issues such as risks, use of land and materials, lifestyle changes versus high-tech, role of decentral versus central supply, and private or public ownership.

This chapter examines the regulation of renewable energy in Australia, with a specific focus on wind energy. Renewable energy is rapidly progressing and evolving and represents a crucial component of our approach to greenhouse gas reduction and the transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon society. The chapter examines the broader regulatory frameworks for renewable energy at both the state and federal levels. It reviews how the legal system supports the development of renewable energy as well as a transitioning energy framework. To this extent, the chapter examines the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cth), the operation of the renewable energy target and the role that the various clean energy bodies have assumed in implementing this framework. It considers some of the economic implications for the energy transition. The nature of wind farming and the regulatory principles and best practices standards for South Australia and Victoria are reviewed.

Mountain areas have faced a rapid increase in human activities over recent decades, often leading to habitat loss or degradation. The impacts of these activities can affect bird species both directly (e.g., by altering habitat characteristics, impacting migration or disturbing breeding or wintering grounds), and indirectly by inducing physiological responses. We summarize the human activities that take place at high elevation and provide examples of species that are known to be impacted. Hiking and winter sports in particular are common in many mountain regions and there is growing evidence of a range of impacts on year-round resident mountain birds and their food resources. Increasing evidence also suggests that use of, and dependence on, human-derived foods around human settlements affects the trophic ecology of high-altitude birds. Hunting mountain birds is common place in many areas, and we review the evidence that hunting activity, including illegal persecution, has had impacts at the population level. Finally, we assess how direct disturbance and habitat alteration due to renewable energy developments (i.e. wind turbines and hydropower) are affecting mountain bird communities. There are many unknown impacts of human disturbance and we highlight missing information on specific topics that should be investigated in future research.