Clean, efficient, affordable and reliable energy for a sustainable future

The International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE), an international forum for applied energy professionals, was successfully held in Hong Kong (2009), Singapore (2010), Italy (2011), China (2012), and South Africa (2013). Selected papers in these ICAE conferences were presented in a few special issues [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] and [8]. During May 30–June 3, 2014, the 6th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2014) was held in Taipei, Taiwan, with about 700 papers from 52 countries being presented in parallel sessions. Similar to previous ICAE special issues, this special issue entitled “Clean, Efficient, Affordable and Reliable Energy for a Sustainable Future” is tailored to present 27 peer-reviewed articles selected from ICAE2014, being classified into six main topics.1 These include “Energy Conversion and Efficient Utilization”, “Energy Distribution and Resource Management”, “Thermodynamics and Thermofluid Processes”, “Clean Energy and Sustainability”, “Fuels, Combustion, and Chemical Processes”, and “Other Energy Technologies and Subjects”. These selected papers clearly address the recent advances, updated knowledge, novel concepts, and future directions in the fields of applied energy which are listed as follows