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The 4th International Conference on Energy Production and Management follows the very successful meetings held in Ekaterinburg (2014), Ancona (2016) and New Forest, UK (2018), home of the Wessex Institute. The aim of the meeting is to discuss the future of energy production, operation and management in a changing world.

The objective is to compare conventional energy sources, particularly hydrocarbons, with a number of other ways of producing energy, emphasising new technological developments, based on renewable resources such as solar, hydro, wind and geothermal.

A key issue is the conversion of new sustainable sources of energy into useful forms (electricity, heat, fuel) while finding efficient ways of storage and distribution. In many cases, the challenges lie as much with the production of such renewable energy at an acceptable cost, including damage to the environment, as with the integration of those resources into the existing infrastructure.

The changes required to progress from an economy based mainly on hydrocarbons to one taking advantage of sustainable energy resources are massive and require considerable scientific research as well as the development of advanced engineering systems. Such progress demands close collaboration between different disciplines in order to arrive at optimum solutions.

The Conference also discusses the energy use of industrial processes, including the imbedded energy contents of materials, such as those in the built environment. Energy production, operation, distribution and usage, result in environmental risks which need to be better understood. They are part of the energy economics and relate to human environmental health as well as ecosystems behaviour.

An important objective of the conference is to discuss ways in which more efficient use can be made of conventional as well as new energy sources. This relates to savings in energy consumption, reduction of energy losses, as well as the implementation of smart devices and the design of intelligent distribution networks.

All published papers from previous meetings are permanently archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are freely available to the international community.