Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Volume 5, Issue 4

This regular issue of IJESM is the last issue of 2011. This year has seen major events that influenced the energy sector vastly – the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the subsequent nuclear power crisis at Fukushima being the most important of them. The debate about nuclear power has started once again and many countries with aggressive plans for nuclear power development as a possible means of mitigating their carbon footprint are now forced to rethink about their plans. This in turn has significant implications for the natural gas industry, which was overawed by the “shale gas”revolutions that brought major challenges to the industry. The climate protection agenda is again under threat – as fossil fuels come to the rescue of short-term energy challenges under the renews the challenge of meeting the climate. The poor economic outlook of the developed economies and the contagious effect of the debt crisis are creating new challenges for the energy sector management and the sector will see new dynamics as we appreciate and act on these new challenges in 2012.

This issue presents seven research papers and a short note covering various aspects. These cover strategic management, maintenance management, industrial risk analysis, household energy consumption in a small country, generator scheduling and to renewable energy management. We hope our readers will enjoy the issue.

With this we complete our fifth year of existence and we are thankful to our reviewers who have selflessly provided their support to the journal. Without their support, the journal cannot continue and cannot maintain its standard. We are also grateful to our readers and the authors from all over the world. We hope that their support will only increase over time and we will continue our journey successfully.

Subhes C. Bhattacharyya, Prasanta K. Dey