1. Editorial

Abstract

The evidences of the impact of global warming in the recent years have been significant. Increase in the number of natural disasters like severe drought on one part of the world to devastating flood in the other part of the world clearly indicates the unintended side effects of rapid economic growth for human development. One of the reasons for these incidences have been attributed by the scientific community to the over exploitation of the natural resources for the benefit of mankind. Hence, the academic community as well as practitioners are exploring new ways to save our earth using various environment-friendly techniques and technologies. Energy sector in most of the developing countries is among the top ranked polluting sectors, primarily because of the over-reliance on coal-based thermal power plants. Given that the economic viability of cleaner sources of energy are still in question, especially in the developing world, a proper management of the production as well as distribution of energy has become very important. Decentralized energy management is one such attempt where energy is produced close to the point of consumption, rather than at a large plant elsewhere and sent through the power grid. This local generation reduces transmission losses and lowers carbon emissions....