Patrick Moriarty
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View article: Putting the public interest back into public transport: a report to the Victorian community
Putting the public interest back into public transport: a report to the Victorian community Open
The privatisation of Melbourne’s trams and trains has been an expensive failure. By June 2006, the privatised system will have cost $1.2 billion more in public subsidies than continued operation by the former Public Transport Corporation; …
View article: Green Energy Prospects of Electricity Generated from Short-Rotation Woody Crops—Quantifying the EROIg of Bioelectricity
Green Energy Prospects of Electricity Generated from Short-Rotation Woody Crops—Quantifying the EROIg of Bioelectricity Open
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report (AR6) allocates 15% to 43% of global primary energy to biomass in 2050 across multiple mitigation scenarios. The report also emphasizes the importance of electrificati…
View article: Green Energy Prospects of Short Rotation Woody Crops Electricity
Green Energy Prospects of Short Rotation Woody Crops Electricity Open
The IPCC’s sixth assessment report projects 15% to 43% (44 EJ/y – 310 EJ/y) of global primary energy to be generated by biomass in 2050 across multiple GHG mitigation scenarios. That report also emphasises the importance of electrification…
View article: Review: The Energy Implications of Averting Climate Change Catastrophe
Review: The Energy Implications of Averting Climate Change Catastrophe Open
Conventional methods of climate change (CC) mitigation have not ‘bent the curve’ of steadily rising annual anthropic CO2 emissions or atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. This study reviews the present position and likely future…
View article: The energy implications of averting climate change catastrophe
The energy implications of averting climate change catastrophe Open
Conventional methods of climate change (CC) mitigation have not ‘bent the curve’ of steadily rising annual anthropic CO2 emissions or atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. This study reviews the present position and likely future…
View article: Rethinking Notions of Energy Efficiency in a Global Context
Rethinking Notions of Energy Efficiency in a Global Context Open
Energy efficiency is, in principle, a simple idea: an output of human value, for example, vehicle-km traveled, divided by the needed input energy. Efficiency improvements are regarded as an important means of mitigating not only climate ch…
View article: Net green energy potential of solar photovoltaic and wind energy generation systems
Net green energy potential of solar photovoltaic and wind energy generation systems Open
"Green energy" is the energy that can be produced while sustaining ecosystem services. Maintenance of the services provided by the ecosystem requires energy, termed the ecosystem maintenance energy (ESME). Including ESME costs in energy ac…
View article: Rethinking Notions of Energy Efficiency in a Global Context
Rethinking Notions of Energy Efficiency in a Global Context Open
Energy efficiency is, in principle, a simple idea: an output of human value, for example, vehicle-km traveled, divided by the needed input energy. Efficiency improvements are regarded by many as an important means of mitigating not only cl…
View article: Are Energy Reductions Compatible with Economic Growth?
Are Energy Reductions Compatible with Economic Growth? Open
Our planet faces several serious and urgent challenges to sustainability including, but not limited to, climate change; however, most researchers argue that technological solutions can solve these problems. This review first examines the p…
View article: Modern Methods of Prediction
Modern Methods of Prediction Open
Humans have always wanted to know what the future holds in store for them. In earlier centuries, people often sought clues to the future from sacred texts. Today, more secular approaches are increasingly used, although the older approaches…
View article: Energy Reductions Are Incompatible With Economic Growth
Energy Reductions Are Incompatible With Economic Growth Open
Our planet faces several serious and urgent challenges to sustainability, not just climate change. Most researchers argue that technological solutions can solve these problems. This review paper first examines the prospects for decoupling …
View article: Review: Renewable Energy in an Increasingly Uncertain Future
Review: Renewable Energy in an Increasingly Uncertain Future Open
A number of technical solutions have been proposed for tackling global climate change. However, global climate change is not the only serious global environmental challenge we face demanding an urgent response, even though atmospheric CO2 …
View article: Deep Reductions in Energy Use: Hobson’s Choice in Climate’s Last-Chance Saloon
Deep Reductions in Energy Use: Hobson’s Choice in Climate’s Last-Chance Saloon Open
In 2022, the record of extreme weather events already includes deep droughts in Sichuan province, China, and California, US; floods inundating a third of Pakistan and serious and repeated flooding in Eastern Australia; heat waves and droug…
View article: Renewable Energy and Energy Reductions or Solar Geoengineering for Climate Change Mitigation?
Renewable Energy and Energy Reductions or Solar Geoengineering for Climate Change Mitigation? Open
This review explores the question: should the world rely wholly or partially on solar geoengineering (SG) to mitigate climate change (CC), or on renewable energy, together with deep energy reductions? Recent thinking is for SG to only supp…
View article: Can Bioenergy Once again Become a Major Global Energy Source?
Can Bioenergy Once again Become a Major Global Energy Source? Open
For all of human history except the past two centuries or so, bioenergy provided nearly all the world’s primary energy. Then, fossil fuels largely replaced bioenergy, but concern about climate change and fossil fuel depletion will force a …
View article: Making urban travel sustainable: Travel reductions are needed
Making urban travel sustainable: Travel reductions are needed Open
Many cities around the world are aiming to be zero emission or environmentally sustainable, particularly cities in the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. This paper contributes to the literature by using a systems appro…
View article: When will the hydrogen economy arrive?
When will the hydrogen economy arrive? Open
The arrival of the hydrogen (H2) economy has been the subject of many studies. Earlier articles were over-optimistic about the timing and extent of global H2 uptake, and predicted private vehicles as leading the way to a H2 economy. The r…
View article: Electric vehicles can have only a minor role in reducing transport's energy and environmental challenges
Electric vehicles can have only a minor role in reducing transport's energy and environmental challenges Open
Many governments have supported the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) through purchase subsidies or waiving fuel taxes. The key findings of this paper are that the benefits of EVs may have been overstated, at least for some countrie…
View article: Scenarios for public systems transition using learning alliances: the case of water supply in Uganda
Scenarios for public systems transition using learning alliances: the case of water supply in Uganda Open
Uganda’s Vision 2040 aims to modernize rural water supply through a transition from community-managed point sources to professionally managed piped water services. At the start of the transition period, a learning alliance established in K…
View article: Global Passenger Transport
Global Passenger Transport Open
Global passenger transport consists of all passenger travel by private and public road vehicles, rail passenger travel, air travel, and non-motorized travel. The vehicular travel component expanded an estimated 14-fold between 1950 and 201…
View article: New Energy Technologies: Microalgae, Photolysis and Airborne Wind Turbines
New Energy Technologies: Microalgae, Photolysis and Airborne Wind Turbines Open
Because of the near-term risk of extreme weather events and other adverse consequences from climate change and, at least in the longer term, global fossil fuel depletion, there is worldwide interest in shifting to noncarbon energy sources,…
View article: Global nuclear energy: an uncertain future
Global nuclear energy: an uncertain future Open
Nuclear energy currently accounts for a declining share of global electricity, but it is possible that rising concerns about global climate change and China's ambitious nuclear program could reverse this trend. This review attempts to ass…
View article: More sustainable systems through consolidation? The changing landscape of rural drinking water service delivery in Uganda
More sustainable systems through consolidation? The changing landscape of rural drinking water service delivery in Uganda Open
The drinking water services sector in Uganda is in the early stages of a nationally planned transition; it aims to move from a paradigm based on community managed point sources towards one of professional utilities of piped networks. The i…
View article: The limits of renewable energy
The limits of renewable energy Open
Planet Earth is simultaneously approaching a number of ecological and resource limits. The resulting uncertainties will heavily impact future energy choices, both the level of primary energy used globally and the shares of fossil, renewabl…
View article: Domestic Water Service Delivery Indicators and Frameworks for Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy and Planning: A Review
Domestic Water Service Delivery Indicators and Frameworks for Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy and Planning: A Review Open
Monitoring of water services informs policy and planning for national governments and the international community. Currently, the international monitoring system measures the type of drinking water source that households use. There have be…
View article: Feasibility of a 100% Global Renewable Energy System
Feasibility of a 100% Global Renewable Energy System Open
Controversy exists as to whether renewable energy (RE) can provide for all the world’s energy needs. The purpose of this paper is to help resolve this vital question. Official forecasts see a resumption of a business-as-usual world after t…
View article: New Approaches for Ecological and Social Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic World
New Approaches for Ecological and Social Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic World Open
Two vital challenges facing the world are global inequality and global climate change. Solutions to both these problems are urgently needed, but, given current policies, they can potentially conflict with each other. The United Nations has…
View article: The Scope of Innovative Design in Enhancing Energy Efficiency
The Scope of Innovative Design in Enhancing Energy Efficiency Open
Most official energy forecasts regard major energy efficiency improvements as a key means of reducing energy use and associated greenhouse gases.This paper examines past and current energy efficiency improvements in various sectors and con…