89
Indonesian Journal of Science & Technology 4 (1) (2019) 89-96

Indonesian Journal of Science & Technology
Journal homepage: http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/ijost/

Advanced Green Technologies Toward Future
Sustainable Energy Systems
Muhammad Aziz 
Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1 Ookayama,
Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8550, Japan


Correspondence: E-mail: maziz@ssr.titech.ac.jp

ABSTRACT

ARTICLE INFO

Currently, the usable energy is basically harvested from the
fossil energy sources, including coal, oil, and gas, which are
believed to harm the environment due to the emitted GHGs.
The awareness to the climate change and limited reserve of
fossil energy sources has led to a strong motivation to
develop a new energy system which can facilitate three
important pillars: security, clean environment, and economic
opportunity. This future energy system is strongly expected
to be able to blend both fossil and renewable energy sources,
while minimize its environmental impacts. To realize it, the
primary energy sources are converted to the efficient
secondary energy sources, including electricity and
hydrogen. These two kinds of secondary energy source are
considered very promising in the future, following a high
demand in many sectors. In transportation sector, both
electricity and hydrogen are believed to become the future
fuels as the deployment of electric and fuel cell vehicles is
increasing rapidly. In this paper, several potential
technologies to produce the energy cleanly from primary
energy sources are introduced and evaluated. In addition,
clean and efficient technologies in storage and utilization are
also described.

Article History:
Submitted/Received 29 Nov 2018
First revised 31 Jan 2019
Accepted 02 Mar 2019
First available online 09 Mar 2019
Publication date 01 Apr 2019
____________________
Keywords:
Borassus flabellifer,
Mechanical joint,
Flexural strength,
Fiber Composite.

© 2019 Tim Pengembang Jurnal UPI

1.

INTRODUCTION

The development of technology, as well
as the global economic growth, have led to

the increase of the global energy consumption. In the current phase of industry, Industry 4.0, there are several technologies which
are adopted also in the energy sector, including internet of things, big data, and artificial

Muhammad Aziz. Advanced Green Technologies Toward Future Sustainable Energy Systems| 90

intelligence. Both energy supply and demand
can be predicted and shared in relatively real
time and higher accuracy. It is strongly expected that these kinds of technology are
able to increase the energy sustainability, in
terms of energy security, economic opportunity, and environmental impacts. Figure 1
shows the main three pillars in energy security.
However, currently, there is an energy
paradox due to low diffusion of related technologies leading to inefficiency in their application (Weber, 1997). The policies to facilitate smooth and dialectical communication
among the technologies are demanded. European Union has decided to harmonically
develop smart grid and smart and green energy technologies to reduce the emitted carbon, as well as achieve the future target of
sustainability and high quality of energy to its
citizens (Biresselioglu et al., 2018).
To reduce the impact of energy utilization to the environment, the strategies related to energy transition also have been
summarized. These transition strategies
should be pursued simultaneously in order to

realize the 2C scenario. First, the decarbonization in power generation sector should be
carried out with the extended electrification
to achieve more efficient and environmentally friendly energy utilization. Decarbonization is defined as the decline of average carbon intensity following the used of primary
energy sources over time. Furthermore, decarbonization in non-electricity sector also
needs to be accelerated, including the utilization of hydrogen and other non-carbonbased fuels. In addition, the energy productivity also needs to be improved, leading to
high energy efficiency, especially in manufacturing and other industrial sectors. Finally,
following the transition, the minimization of
fossil fuel use and its strategic scenarios in order to diminish the emitted amount of CO2
also needs to be conducted. The energy transition does not only cover the technological
aspects, but also combination of economic,
socio-cultural, political, and institutional aspects (Child et al., 2018). Therefore, this energy transition should be guided by acceptable agreements and standards toward sustainability and resiliency (Andika and Valentina, 2016).

Figure 1. Three pillars in energy sustainability

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805 |
p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045 |

91| Indonesian Journal of Science & Technology,Volume 4 Issue 1, April 2019 Page 89-96

In this study, several important points
and scenarios related to green energy technology towards successful energy transition
are discussed and explained. In addition, several strategic plans for Indonesia, as one of
the greatest energy consumer, are also further described.
2. ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK
There are several possible frameworks
to achieve the energy sustainability. They can
be classified into short, mid, and long terms
frameworks. In the short term frameworks,
energy efficiency and integration of low carbon technologies and renewable energy are
supposed to be adopted in the next five to
ten years. As the number of integrated renewable energy increases, the fluctuation in
the electrical grid becomes higher and more
frequent. To minimize this fluctuation, especially in the supply side, the bidirectional and
dynamic conversion of electricity and hydrogen is considered very crucial. In addition, as
the adoption of clean and carbon-free technologies in the energy production, zero emission in several sectors can be projected. This
utilization of electricity and hydrogen as the
main secondary energy source which are
consumed and setting of zero-emission target are considered as two main frameworks
which can be adopted as the mid-term strategy in several decades of period, such as up
to 2050. As the long term frameworks, and
also as the final goal of sustainability, a closed
loop of production and consumption is expected. This condition leads to the optimization of local production and local consumption (Beretta et al., 2018), in which all the involved entities, including individuals and
communities, become the important player
and share equal rights and duties in energy
production and consumption.
Energy transition does not only cover the
low-carbon transition, but it is a long-term
socio-technical changes toward optimum
configuration of involved institutions, infra| DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805
| p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045

structures, policies/governance, and technologies. As energy transitions includes basically
all of the life sectors, it is very important to
synergize the energy transition with the
change of those life sectors.
3. KEY SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGIES
Several key technologies to accelerate
the development ofgreen energy technologies and achieve the sustainability include
smart grids (electricity, thermal and gas), hydrogen, information technologies and big
data, and energy storage.
3.1 Smart grids
Smart grids deal with the approach to
combine storage technologies with smart
electricity, thermal and gas, and coordinate
them to measure the dynamic synergy
among them. It is carried out with the purpose of achieving an optimal solution for
each individual and the whole energy systems. Basically, there are three different
smart grids: smart electricity grid, smart thermal grid, and smart gas grid (Lund et al.,
2017).
Smart electricity grid connects all the entities related to power generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption. However, until today, there is no clear definition
on smart grid, as it is a complex and still
evolving concept (Biresselioglu et al., 2018).
The intermittent renewable energy sources
also become very important player in the future, therefore, an intensive attention is being paid to anticipate high and frequent fluctuation due to large introduction of renewable energy sources. In addition, heat pumps
and electric vehicles are also predicted to increase significantly in the future. Massive
charging and discharging behaviors of electric vehicles potentially lead to a huge power
consumption and fluctuation if both them
are not coordinated well (Aziz, 2015a). However, a good coordination of electric vehicles
is very potential to provide ancillary services

Muhammad Aziz. Advanced Green Technologies Toward Future Sustainable Energy Systems| 92

to the grid, including energy storage, frequency regulation, voltage regulation, and
congestion mitigation (Aziz, 2015b).
Smart thermal grid synergizes both electricity and heating sectors. This includes the
adoption of thermal energy storages to provide additional flexibility, as well as minimize
the thermal loss, in the whole energy systems. At the last, smart gas grid basically coordinates electricity, heating and transport
sectors. This smart gas grid also enables the
gas storage and possible bidirectional conversion of gas and electricity to create adaptive and flexible coordination in the grid
(Lund et al., 2017).
There are several required key characteristics of smart grid, include: (a) the use of
information technology to optimize the route
of electricity, heat and gas from the supply
side to consumer side, (b) the possible and
permission to the consumer to interact and
participate to the market (open market), (c)
the integration of new and developed technologies into the operation, (d) self-healing
capability due to disaster, etc., (e) capability
to balance and provide high quality of energy, and (f) transforming capability of energy sector into secure, adaptive, sustainable, and digital. In smart grid, energy management includes both supply and demand
sides, therefore, the energy price can change
in real time due to changes in both supply
and demand (Crossley and Beviz, 2010).
3.2. Advanced hydrogen production and
utilization
Similar to electricity, hydrogen is also the
secondary energy source (energy carrier)
which is clean and produce no CO2 in its utilization. Electricity and hydrogen can be mutually converted. Therefore, utilization of both
electricity and hydrogen can lead to adjustable and adaptable energy system, as well as
higher energy security. In addition, hydrogen
has characteristics of high energy efficiency

in its conversion (Zaini et al., 2017), many
technological options in its utilization and
production (Juangsa, F.B., et al., 2018), and
high gravimetric energy density (Aziz et al.,
2017). However, as the volumetric energy
density of hydrogen is very low, storage technologies to store and transport effectively
the hydrogen are demanded (Aziz et al.,
2017).
Hydrogen can be utilized as both fuel
and chemical materials. In transportation
sector, hydrogen can be utilized directly as
fuel for fuel cell vehicles, and it can also be
converted to several synthetic fuels or utilized to upgrade the biomass-based fuels. In
addition, it can also be utilized as reactant in
several material processing process include
ammonia, metals refining, and others.
3.3. Big data and information technologies
Digital transition in energy sector leads
to big data acquisition and its analysis (Zhang
et al., 2017). Huge amount of data, including
energy production and consumption, needs
to be analyzed critically to create a secured
and sustainable energy system. There are
several important aspects related to this big
data, including volume, velocity, variety, veracity, visibility and value. Veracity deals with
the uncertainty because of data inconsistency and incompleteness, ambiguities, latency, and deception. In energy sector, as the
human behavior also influences strongly the
pattern of energy usage, the data related to
the human lifestyle will be very important to
be analyzed and predicted. Using big data,
the prediction of renewable energy generation, air conditioning demand, charging demand for electric vehicles can be conducted
leading to more interactive and adaptive
change in energy system. In addition, the
move from centralized to distributed energy
system also leads to high demand of accurate
energy planning, in which big data acquisition
and analysis are very crucial. The collected
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805 |
p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045 |

93| Indonesian Journal of Science & Technology,Volume 4 Issue 1, April 2019 Page 89-96

big data is then analyzed using any artificial
intelligent or machine learning technologies
to develop more accurate forecasts and optimum balancing mechanisms.
3.4. Energy storage
To balance and provide high energy quality, energy storage is very crucial in the energy system. Energy storage can decouple
both supply and demand, and time-shifting
delivery of energy (Lund et al., 2015). Energy
storage is strongly expected to accelerate the
adoption of distributed energy system, open
energy market, and introduction of renewable energy. Energy storage can be generally
classified into mechanical, electrical, electrochemical, thermal and chemical (Gallo et al.,
2016). In mechanical energy storage, the energy is stored in potential or kinetic forms of

energy, involving several mechanical processes, including pumping, compression, expansion, acceleration, and deceleration. This
kind of storages cover pumped hydro, compressed air, flywheel, liquid air, and pumpedthermal energy storages. Furthermore, electrochemical energy storages include conventional, high temperature, metal-air, and flow
batteries. In addition, electrical energy can
be performed by using supercapacitors and
super conducting magnetic energy storage.
Chemical energy storage is carried out
through power-to-gas, power-to-liquid, and
solar-to-fuels technologies. Figure 2 shows
the concept of electric vehicles utilization in
the grid as energy storage to provide ancillary
service to the grid (Aziz, 2015a). Battery and
electric vehicles are considered as the main
player energy storage in the future (Aziz et
al., 2016a).

Figure 2. Concept of developed integration of electric vehicles to the grid to provide ancillary services to the grid.

| DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805
| p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045

Muhammad Aziz. Advanced Green Technologies Toward Future Sustainable Energy Systems| 94

3.5.

Other decarbonization and CO2
capture/utilization technologies

Decarbonization of carbon-based fuels is
carried out, hence, the formation of CO2 in
the demand side can be avoided. Many technologies are available today to convert carbon fuels to non-carbon-fuels, including methane reforming, shift reaction, gasification,
and chemical looping (Aziz et al., 2016b). In
case of carbon-based fuels are utilized, capture and separation of the formed CO2 are
demanded. CO2 capture can be performed in
three different stages: post, pre, and oxy fuel
combustion. In post combustion CO2 capture,
CO2 is separated from the flue gas emitted
from the combustion. In this case, CO2 separation can be conducted via absorption, adsorption, cryogenic, and membrane separation. In pre combustion CO2 capture, carbonbased fuels are converted initially to hydrogen which is combusted further. Finally, in
oxy fuel combustion, the combustion is conducted with pure oxygen or oxygen-rich air,
therefore, the emitted flue gas basically contains CO2 or CO2-rich gas.
The separated CO2 can further be sequestered through several options, including
biological fixation, ocean storage, geological
storage, and mineral decarbonisation. In addition, CO2 also can be utilized for several
purposes, covering material for fuels, fertilizers, polycarbonates, fire extinguishers, foods
and drinks, and flavours/fragrances.
4. TOWARD ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY IN
INDONESIA
Indonesia is one of the great developing
countries having about 260 million of population. The economic growth is considered
high, about 5% annually. Although the energy
consumption per capita is currently low (1
MWh per capita), it is predicted that it is
gradually increasing following the rise of economic condition in the country. In addition,

the country also facing several social, technological, and political challenges related to energy sector. The increase of both population
and economic growth lead to the significant
increase of energy demand in the future. It is
predicted that the total energy consumption
in 2025 is about 400 Mtoe, and it increases to
about 1,000 Mtoe in 2050.
Although Indonesia has very huge potential of energy sources, including fossil-based
fuels and renewable energy sources, their
utilization still cannot fulfill the whole domestic energy demand. Related to renewable
energy sources, Indonesia has huge potential
for geothermal, biomass, hydro, and solar
power. However, regarding the solar power,
as Indonesia is located in tropical area, high
atmospheric humidity leads to the drop of
solar intensity reaching the surface (solar
panel). This lead to the reduce of potentially
generated power from solar panel. The average solar irradiance is about 4.8 kWh/m2.
Furthermore, as tropical country, wind energy in Indonesia is considered low due to
low wind speed and fluctuating wind speed
and direction.
Several recommendations to enhance
and accelerate the energy sustainability in Indonesia include:
(a) development of integrated and smarter
energy system,
(b) diversification of energy sources, with geothermal, hydro and biomass as the main
player in the future,
(c) development and deployment of low environmental impact technologies,
(d) clear and sustainable energy policies,
(e) open and transparent market for higher
participation,
(f) deployment of local production and local
consumption concept, and
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805 |
p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045 |

95| Indonesian Journal of Science & Technology,Volume 4 Issue 1, April 2019 Page 89-96

(g) domestic technology transfer and creation.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Energy sustainability relates strongly to
the overall aspects, including security, equity
and environmental. In addition, energy transition, to change the current trend of energy
production and consumption to more sustainable ones, is urgently required. It does
not only deal with the reduction of CO2, but
also deals strongly with the change of the
whole life sectors, including social, political,
and technological. Several potential technologies to accelerate this energy transition toward energy sustainability have been described, including smart grids, hydrogen production and utilization, big data and information technologies, energy storage, decar-

bonization and CO2 capture/utilization technologies. Finally, several recommendations
for Indonesian case have been described to
achieve a greener and sustainable domestic
energy systems. Overall, the change and development of paradigms, policies and technologies are urgently required.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to express their
thanks to Institute of Innovative Research,
Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8550, Japan.
5. AUTHORS’ NOTE
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of
this article. Authors confirmed that the data
and the paper are free of plagiarism.

6. REFERENCES
Aziz, M., Oda, T., Mitani, T., Watanabe, Y., and Kashiwagi, T. (2015). Utilization of electric vehicles and their used batteries for peak-load shifting. Energies, 8(5), 3720-3738.
Aziz, M., Oda, T., and Kashiwagi, T. (2015). Extended utilization of electric vehicles and their
re-used batteries to support the building energy management system. Energy Procedia,
75, 1938-1943.
Andika, R., and Valentina, V. (2016). Techno-economic Assessment of Coal to SNG Power Plant
in Kalimantan. Indonesian Journal of Science and Technology, 1(2), 156-169.
Aziz, M., Oda, T., and Ito, M. (2016a). Battery-assisted charging system for simultaneous
charging of electric vehicles. Energy, 100, 82-90.
Aziz, M., Juangsa, F. B., Kurniawan, W., and Budiman, B. A. (2016b). Clean Co-production of
H2 and power from low rank coal. Energy, 116, 489-497.
Aziz, M., Putranto, A., Biddinika, M. K., and Wijayanta, A. T. (2017). Energy-saving combination
of N2 production, NH3 synthesis, and power generation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(44), 27174-27183.
Beretta, G. P., Iora, P., and Ghoniem, A. F. (2012). Novel approach for fair allocation of primary
energy consumption among cogenerated energy-intensive products based on the actual
local area production scenario. Energy, 44(1), 1107-1120.
Biresselioglu, M. E., Nilsen, M., Demir, M. H., Røyrvik, J., and Koksvik, G. (2018). Examining the
barriers and motivators affecting European decision-makers in the development of
smart and green energy technologies. Journal of cleaner production, 198, 417-429.

| DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.15805
| p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045

Muhammad Aziz. Advanced Green Technologies Toward Future Sustainable Energy Systems| 96

Child, M., Koskinen, O., Linnanen, L., and Breyer, C. (2018). Sustainability guardrails for energy
scenarios of the global energy transition. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 91, 321-334.
Crossley, P., and Beviz, A. (2010). Smart energy systems: Transitioning renewables onto the
grid. Renewable Energy Focus, 11(5), 54-59.
Gallo, A. B., Simões-Moreira, J. R., Costa, H. K. M., Santos, M. M., and dos Santos, E. M. (2016).
Energy storage in the energy transition context: A technology review. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 65, 800-822.
Juangsa, F. B., Prananto, L. A., Mufrodi, Z., Budiman, A., Oda, T., and Aziz, M. (2018). Highly
energy-efficient combination of dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane and hydrogenbased power generation. Applied energy, 226, 31-38.
Lund, P. D., Lindgren, J., Mikkola, J., and Salpakari, J. (2015). Review of energy system flexibility
measures to enable high levels of variable renewable electricity. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 45, 785-807.
Lund, H., Østergaard, P. A., Connolly, D., and Mathiesen, B. V. (2017). Smart energy and smart
energy systems. Energy, 137, 556-565.
Zaini, I. N., Nurdiawati, A., and Aziz, M. (2017). Cogeneration of power and H2 by steam gasification and syngas chemical looping of macroalgae. Applied Energy, 207, 134-145.
Zhang, C., Romagnoli, A., Zhou, L., and Kraft, M. (2017). From numerical model to computational intelligence: the digital transition of urban energy system. Energy Procedia, 143,
884-890.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.xxxx|
p- ISSN 2528-1410 e- ISSN 2527-8045 |