Renewable Energy Transition for the Himalayan Countries Nepal and Bhutan: Pathways Towards Reliable, Affordable and Sustainable Energy for All

The Himalayan countries Nepal and Bhutan have been confronted with similar climate change and energy emergencies for quite a long time. Its influence is felt as a barrier in financial, social, infrastructural, and political development. Despite having an enormous amount of renewable energy sources, these countries are unable to fulfil their current energy demand. While the power sector is entirely dependent on hydropower, other sectors depend on fossil fuel imports from India. This study offers a pathway for energy independency, energy for all and transition towards a 100% renewables based energy system. The modelling of the energy sector is done using the LUT Energy System Transition model for a period from 2015 to 2050 in a 5-year time step. This study covers the main energy sectors: power, heat, and transport. Two scenarios are visualised, one considering greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and the associated mitigation cost and another without these costs, though both scenarios aim at achieving a high share of renewable energy by 2050. A substantial drop in levelised cost of energy is observed for the scenario without GHG emission cost, however, taxing GHG emissions will accelerate the energy transition with the levelised cost of energy on a similar level. It is well possible to transition from 90 €/MWh in 2015 to 49 €/MWh by 2050 for the entire energy system by utilizing indigenous low-cost renewable energy. Solar photovoltaics and hydropower will play a dominant role in 2050, having a share of 67% and 31% respectively. Consequently, this leads to zero GHG emissions. An energy transition towards a sustainable and secure energy system for all by 2050 is well possible in Nepal and Bhutan only through 100% renewable sources and it is both technically and economically feasible despite having substantial limitations in infrastructure and economic development currently.

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Internet-of-Things (IoT)-Based Smart Agriculture: Toward Making the Fields Talk

Despite the perception people may have regarding the agricultural process, the reality is that today’s agriculture industry is data-centered, precise, and smarter than ever. The rapid emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) based technologies redesigned almost every industry including “smart agriculture” which moved the industry from statistical to quantitative approaches. Such revolutionary changes are shaking the existing agriculture methods and creating new opportunities along a range of challenges. This article highlights the potential of wireless sensors and IoT in agriculture, as well as the challenges expected to be faced when integrating this technology with the traditional farming practices. IoT devices and communication techniques associated with wireless sensors encountered in agriculture applications are analyzed in detail. What sensors are available for specific agriculture application, like soil preparation, crop status, irrigation, insect and pest detection are listed. How this technology helping the growers throughout the crop stages, from sowing until harvesting, packing and transportation is explained. Furthermore, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for crop surveillance and other favorable applications such as optimizing crop yield is considered in this article. State-of-the-art IoT-based architectures and platforms used in agriculture are also highlighted wherever suitable. Finally, based on this thorough review, we identify current and future trends of IoT in agriculture and highlight potential research challenges.

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