We are pleased to announce the <i>Energies</i> Best Papers awards for 2015. <i>Energies</i> is an open access journal of energy-related scientific research, technology development, and policy and management studies. It publishes reviews, regular research articles, and communications in a number of fields...

The concept of “sustainable development” implies that the environmental externalities unavoidably generated by human activities be reduced to a minimum: In fact, the very definition of “sustainability” leads—as it will be briefly discussed in the paper—to a physically measurable...

Following the critical analysis of the concept of “sustainability”, developed on the basis of exergy considerations in previous works, an analysis of possible species “behavior” is presented and discussed in this paper. Once more, we make use of one single axiom: <i>that resource...</i>

The goal of this paper is to contribute to the design of high-performance mesocombustors, a field currently under rapid development, in particular for propulsion, e.g., for UAVs, and micro/meso-electrical power generators. This study is focused on a cylindrical combustor of 29 cm³, fuelled by...

It is customary for a new Editor to address the audience of the Journal he is called to contribute to, to define or redefine its aims and scope and to state or restate its scientific and strategic priorities. In my case, this task is made much easier by the excellent relationship that has been...

On Friday March 11, at 2.46pm (5.46am GMT), an earthquake of magnitude between 8.9 and 9.1 (Richter scale) hit the superficial submarine crust, about 10 km below sea level and about 120 km south-east of the east coast of Japan. Minutes later, a tsunami wave of up to 10 m reached the north-east...

Last year, <i>Energies</i> (ISSN 1996-1073) decided to award a prize to outstanding papers in the area of energy technologies and applications published in <i>Energies</i>. In 2014, the Prize Awarding Committee has decided to also grant awards in the category of “best review papers”. [...]

Twenty-five years ago, Gaggioli, Sama and Qian published a series of 10 “second law guidelines” for design and process engineers, nicknamed at that time “the Gaggioli-Sama rules”. These guidelines, some of them previously published by Sama between 1980 and 1983, are a compilation of...