Guest Editorial: Special Issue for the 12th International Conference on Energy Sustainability (ES2018): Paper No. JERT-19-1080

This special issue of the ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology is devoted to the ASME 12th International Conference on Energy Sustainability held in Lake Buena Vista, FL, June 24-28, 2018. For more than 10 years, the conference has been a place for researchers all over the world and from various sectors to share their innovative ideas and research progress. The conference in 2018 was sponsored by the Advanced Energy System Division and the Solar Energy Division, and co-located with the ASME Power Conference as well as the ASME Nuclear Forum. The conference included 14 parallel tracks on the broad topic of renewable/sustainable energy, including Nexus: Energy/Water/Climate/Food (new); Smart & Cyber-Physical Systems (new); Geothermal Technologies; Conversion and Processing of Biofuel and Alternative Fuel; Distributed Energy Systems; Sustainability and Society (new); Thermal and Mechanical Energy Storage; Sustainable Building Energy Systems; Photovoltaics; and Wind Energy Systems and Technologies. We are particularly excited to introduce the three new tracks, which have not received enough attention or did not have a proper place for presentation in the research community. In order to highlight innovative research outcomes and enhance public visibility, we have invited high quality papers out of 187 presentations to be included in this special issue. The conference chairs from the Advanced Energy Division as well as experts from around the world organized this issue as guest editors. We greatly appreciate your interest in this special issue and we take this opportunity to thank the authors and reviewers for their outstanding contributions. We would also like to express our deep gratitude for the editor-in-chief of the journal, Dr. Hameed Metghalchi, for his guidance and support.