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Energy storage and in particular electrical storage of energy has become a very talked about topics in circles, ranging from lay person in regard to hybrid and battery electric vehicles, to professional and certainly by legislators and energy policy makers in government. But even to professional the distinction between physical and chemical forms of electric energy storage are unclear and at times poorly understood, if at all. This book takes a critical look at physical storage of electricity in the devices known collectively as electrochemical capacitors and particularly as ultracapacitors. In its 12 chapters, this text covers ultracapacitors and advances battery topics with emphasis on clear understanding of fundamental principles, models and applications. The reader will appreciates the case studies ranging from commercial to industrial to automotive applications of not only ultracapacitors but these power device components in combination with energy dense battery technologies.

The increasing complexity of today's power systems, and the growing numbers of power electronic devices that are being introduced, adds to the risk of power quality problems caused by harmonics. Non-linear loads into power systems, non-sinusoidal and distorted current waveforms, and voltage distortion have become more common, and these phenomena can lead to power losses and damage to equipment.

Valuable data, essential services and production process plants are typical assets that can be lost or seriously disturbed by power supply breaks or contamination. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can avoid potentially catastrophic havoc caused by electricity supply line disturbances. Behind this protection, however, is the need for a sound UPS design based on a thorough specification to achieve reliable and consistent functioning.

Today, more than half the global population lives in cities, and two thirds are expected to do so by 2050. Cities need technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy, transport and heating, which requires distributed renewable electricity, from rooftop solar, small wind and other sources, in order to cleanly generate enough electricity to meet cities' needs. However, most urban electricity grids were not designed to manage distributed energy generation and the benefits of smart grids. Distribution systems therefore need to be strengthened and updated with the new technology offered by the hardware and software available, in order to maintain power quality and meet the requirements of reliability requested by regulatory bodies.

Wind power is a pillar of low emission energy systems. Designing more efficient wind turbines and farms, and increasing reliability and flexibility, is an area of intense research and development. In order to overcome the intermittent character of wind power, both the individual turbines and the wind farm as a whole must be considered.