Environmental organizations have alerted that rapid weather phenomena have intensified in recent years, such as floods, hurricanes, whirlwinds, droughts, fires and storms, caused by the deteriorating condition of the natural environment. Carbon emissions, which are the main cause of the deteriorating environment condition and dramatic climate change, are largely caused by the use of heavy fuel by shipping companies and generate large quantities of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. These compounds exert a strong negative impact on the environment and human health. Care for improving the marine environment and coastal areas has become the subject of interest of many international institutions, such as the International Maritime Organization, Organization of United Nations, European Sea Port Organization, European Commission and others, which introduce restrictive regulations and guidelines on the level of permissible harmful emissions into the environment as a result... [more]

This article presents the results of analyses of energy efficiency and environmental outcomes of putting into operation high-speed trains—first of that kind in Poland—in 2014 on upgraded 3 kV DC lines. Comparative analyses of these trains in Poland have not been carried out so far and provide a new approach to assessing the feasibility of their adoption and, in a broader context, the advisability of replacing conventional with high-speed rail transport. The analysis supports the advantages of high-speed railway (HSR) and the need to develop a network of high-speed connections using energy-efficient trains in Poland. Putting these trains into service reduced CO2 emissions, which is significant in Poland as a country relying heavily on power generated in coal power plants and complies with the assumptions of the sustainable development policies and EU Green Deal. The outcomes of our analysis can be used for transportation planning to mitigate climate change and the presented approach pro... [more]

The capacity limitations of distribution networks, the increasing demands for electricity installation in terms of electricity quality parameters, and the development of electromobility all increase the need to implement systems in order to stabilize and regulate loads for end users. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs), that operate in internal microgrids of enterprises, allow smoothing of electrical power consumption profiles by actively reducing peak demand power. By using BESSs to implement a peak shaving strategy to reduce the peak power consumption of a company in an external network, energy efficiency can be improved by reducing contractual capacity. The aim of this study is to determine the conditions for the use of energy storage, in order to implement a peak shaving strategy for which the installation of the enterprise microgrid is economically efficient. The analysis of the operating conditions of the BESS should take into account the size of the energy storage, the charac... [more]

Building renovation was declared a key point for sustainable development, however, the renovation rate of residential buildings in the European Union is insufficient to meet the climate and energy targets set. This paper analyses the main circular economy models used in the construction sector, as well as the situation of the building renovation market, to set a framework for circular economy models in building renovation. Of all the existing strategies in this sector, design, material recovery, building renovation and end-of-life actions would be the best, respectively. It also includes a market analysis consisting of a literature review covering PEST perspectives (political, economic, social and technical) and a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), concluding with a market gap analysis. The results of these analyses allow the development of a series of suggestions and strategies to be followed in order to solve the main barriers that hinder the implementa... [more]

The application of energy-efficiency strategies in buildings is a hot topic around the world; in some countries, there are regulations with more or less degree of compliance, but in most countries located in the tropical zone, there are no regulations, and it is not easy to transfer regulations of countries outside of tropical zone. For countries located in tropical zones, the implementation of strategies to reduce the heat flow from outside to inside buildings is a key point. As a case study, the Dominican Republic (DR) was chosen, and during 2020, an analysis focusing on buildings of the tertiary level was carried out with the goal of using scientific methodology focused on tropical climates that allows for a significant reduction in energy consumption by implementing Energy Efficiency Strategies (EESs) that are available, with minimal intrusion into the building and low cost. The study includes, as parts of the proposed methodology, the characterization of building parks, including... [more]

Bag-of-Tasks (BoT) scheduling over cloud computing resources called Cloud Bag-of-Tasks Scheduling (CBS) problem, which is a well-known NP-hard optimization problem. Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is an effective method for CBS problems, which still requires further improvement in exploration ability, solution diversity, convergence speed, and ensuring adequate exploration−exploitation tradeoff to produce superior scheduling solutions. In order to remove WOA limitations, a hybrid oppositional differential evolution-enabled WOA (called h-DEWOA) approach is introduced to tackle CBS problems to minimize workload makespan and energy consumption. The proposed h-DEWOA incorporates chaotic maps, opposition-based learning (OBL), differential evolution (DE), and a fitness-based balancing mechanism into the standard WOA method, resulting in enhanced exploration, faster convergence, and adequate exploration−exploitation tradeoff throughout the algorithm execution. Besides this, an efficient al... [more]

Both the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) are attracting growing attention as enabling technologies for future wireless networks. In particular, IRS-assisted UAV communication, which incorporates IRSs into UAV communications, is emerging to overcome the limitations and problems of UAV communications and improve the system performance. This article aims to provide a comprehensive survey on IRS-assisted UAV communications. We first present six representative scenarios that integrate IRSs and UAVs according to the installation point of IRSs and the role of UAVs. Then, we introduce and discuss the technical features of the state-of-the-art relevant works on IRS-assisted UAV communications systems from the perspective of the main performance criteria, i.e., spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, security, etc. We also introduce machine learning algorithms adopted in the previous works. Finally, we highlight technical issues and research challenges that... [more]

Optimizing the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to minimize district heating usage in large groups of managed buildings is of the utmost important, and it requires a machine learning (ML) model to predict the energy consumption. An industrial use case to reach large building groups is restricted to using normal operational data in the modeling, and this is one reason for the low utilization of ML in HVAC optimization. We present a methodology to select the best-fitting ML model on the basis of both Bayesian optimization of black-box models for defining hyperparameters and a fivefold cross-validation for the assessment of each model’s predictive performance. The methodology was tested in one case study using normal operational data, and the model was applied to analyze the energy savings in two different practical scenarios. The software for the modeling is published on GitHub. The results were promising in terms of predicting the energy consumption, and one of t... [more]

Green energy is a crucial component in addressing expanding energy demands and combating climate change, but the possible negative repercussions of these technologies are frequently disregarded. Green energy’s deployment is tied to environmentally sustainable development goals (SDGs). It can only be achieved by scaling up the finance of investment that provides environmental benefits through new financial instruments and new policies, such as green banks, green bonds, community-based green funds, green central banking, etc. In an effort to address the issues with IPAT and ImPACT, this study employed the STIRPAT model approach, which is a proven framework for energy economics analysis. The author gathers yearly data spanning 2002−2018 for six ASEAN member countries with the aim of investigating the relationship between CO2 emissions, green finance, energy efficiency, and the green energy index (GEX). After preliminary tests, the study employed the Westerlund test and Johansen Fisher tes... [more]

Transmission losses through the building envelope account for a large proportion of building energy balance. One of the most important parameters for determining transmission losses is thermal transmittance. Although thermal transmittance does not take into account dynamic parameters, it is traditionally the most commonly used estimation of transmission losses due to its simplicity and efficiency. It is challenging to estimate the thermal transmittance of an existing building element because thermal properties are commonly unknown or not all the layers that make up the element can be found due to technical-drawing information loss. In such cases, experimental methods are essential, the most common of which is the heat-flux method (HFM). One of the main drawbacks of the HFM is the long measurement duration. This research presents the application of deep learning on HFM results by applying long-short term memory units on temperature difference and measured heat flux. This deep-learning r... [more]

Isobaric expansion (IE) technology is a promising solution for mini- and medium-scale low-grade heat utilization. IE engines directly convert heat to mechanical energy and are particularly interesting as direct-acting, vapor-driven pumps and compressors. The elimination of multiple energy transformations, technical simplicity and the ability to use widely available low-grade heat (<100 °C) instead of fossil fuels are attractive features of this technology. The purpose of this paper was to present a new compression technology based on IE Worthington type engines, analyze the process analytically and numerically, and provide a first assessment of its potential. The simplest single- and double-acting schemes were considered for arbitrary low and high pressures of the compressed gas/vapor and driving vapor. In these schemes, the compressor piston was rigidly connected to that of an engine/driver. The vapor use efficiency of the driver process was characterized by the ratio of the networ... [more]

Latent heat storage technology is widely used in solar power generation. Aiming to enhance the energy utilization rate to a greater extent, an innovative fan-shaped structure has been proposed to construct the metal fins of the shell-and-tube thermal storage device. The enthalpy method is used to simulate the heat storage process and focuses on the influence of inlet conditions on heat transfer. The influence of the fin structure on the melting properties of phase change material has been studied. The results show that increasing inlet temperature and inlet flow rate is a convenient and effective way to improve energy efficiency. As the inlet temperature is increased from 343 K to 358 K, the total heat storage and energy efficiency are improved by 13.4% and 10.2%, respectively, and the melting time is reduced by 36.2%. As the flow rate is increased from 3 L/min to 9 L/min, the complete melting time is reduced by 33.4%. Energy efficiency peaks at a flow rate of 5 L/min. Reasonable optim... [more]

The aim of this research is to develop an architectural style commensurate with the requirements of residential buildings in the hot and dry climate of Najran. The courtyard concept is one of the most important passive design strategies most in tune with the desert climate. The courtyard concept also meets the sociocultural requirements of the region. The success of this strategy can be verified by selecting a typical residential unit (villa) and assessing its indoor environmental conditions and energy performance. The villa can then be redesigned with the same functional and spatial determinants while creating a courtyard at the heart of the new villa configuration. To determine the level of improvement resulting from the proposed solution, the energy consumption per square meter is measured, and the results are compared with the DesignBuilder simulation program. The results indicate that with the proposed design focused mainly on the courtyard and some passive design strategies, the... [more]

The growing worldwide costs of energy produced as a result of conventional fuel combustion, the limited capacity of the distribution grid, and the growing number of unstable installations based on renewable energy sources increase the need to implement systems of stabilization and regulate loads for end users. The battery energy storage system (BESS) that operates in the internal microgrid of an enterprise enables the management of the accumulated energy in any time zone of the day. Using a price arbitrage strategy with an electricity storage facility, we can reduce the cost of high electricity prices during peak demand periods. This study aims to determine the most effective method of setting up the capacity and electrical power of an energy storage system operating in a microgrid, in an enterprise to implement a price arbitration strategy. Such a method should include consideration of the characteristics of the demand profile of consumer systems, the charges related to electricity, a... [more]

Refrigeration systems based on cooling towers and chillers are widely used equipment in industrial buildings, such as shopping centers, gas and oil refineries and power plants, among many others. Cooling towers are used to recover the heat rejected by the refrigeration system. In this work, the refrigeration is composed of cooling towers dotted with ventilators and compression chillers. The growing environmental concerns and the current scenario of scarce water and energy resources have lead to the adoption of actions to obtain the maximum energy efficiency in such refrigeration equipment. This backs up the application of computational intelligence to optimize the operating conditions of the involved equipment and cooling processes. In this context, we utilize multi-objective optimization algorithms to determine the optimal operational setpoints of the cooling system regarding the cooling towers, its fans and the included chillers. We use evolutionary multi-objective optimization to pr... [more]

Utilities are increasingly interested in integrating energy efficiency and demand response measures as a strategic approach that aims to achieve an increasingly reliable, dynamic, and integrated electric system. The concepts of energy efficiency (EE), demand response (DR), and system reliability (ESR) have been mainly studied from a different perspective, dealing only with the interaction between EE and DR and between EE and ESR. This paper aims to improve knowledge and demonstrate the validity of EE interventions (EEIs) through the use of a tool for evaluating the benefits of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) in the environmental sphere and in terms of DR and ESR. In order to evaluate this interaction, a quantitative method is proposed and validated on real results in an Italian case scenario, taking into account the analysis of smart meters data for residential users located in southern Italy in Calabria. Based on the collected data, an aggregation of users was evaluated with real ho... [more]

The rate of technological progress is an important metric used for predicting the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of future light-duty fleets. A trade-off between efficiency and performance is essential due to its implications on fuel consumption and efficiency improvement. These values are not directly available in the Brazilian fleet. Hence, this is the main gap in knowledge that has to be overcome. Tendencies in all relevant parameters were also unknown, and we have traced them as well, established on several publications data and models. We estimate the three indicators mentioned above for the Brazilian fleet from 1990 to 2020. Although the rate of technological progress was lower in Brazil than that in developed countries, it has increased from 0.39% to 0.61% to 1.7% to 1.9% in subsequent decades. Performance improvements offset approximately 31% to 39% of these efficiency gains. Moreover, the vehicle market is shifting toward larger vehicles, thus offsetting some... [more]

Building models and their connected subsystems are often simulated as standalone entities. However, in order to monitor a system′s reactions to changing parameters and to assess its energy efficiency, it must be exposed to the actual dynamic context of the building under study. Hence, frameworks assessing co-operative simulation of buildings and their subsystems should be used. In this study, the Building Control Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB) framework was used for co-simulation of a small-scale building (EEBLab) connected to an Earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE). The EnergyPlus tool was used to simulate the indoor air temperature variations within the EEBLab, and MATLAB was used to model the EAHE system and to calculate its performance based on various parameters. The HOLSYS internet of things platform was deployed to monitor and collect the experimental data from the sensors to validate the simulations. A favorable agreement between the experimental and simulation results was obtained, sh... [more]

Buildings account for 40% of the European Union’s energy consumption. Deep energy renovation of residential buildings is key for decarbonization and energy poverty alleviation. However, renovation is occurring at far below the needed pace and depth. In this context, building renovation one-stop shops, which bring all project phases under one roof and provide advice, support, and finance to households, are highlighted as a promising solution. Nevertheless, this model is still absent or under-developed in most European countries and remains understudied in the scientific literature. Therefore, the present research goals are as follows: (i) to provide a critical review of emerging one-stop shop models; (ii) to streamline the deployment of building renovation digital one-stop shops by piloting a sequential multi-staged approach for Portuguese households and proposing it for replication elsewhere; and (iii) to compare case-study insights with other one-stop shops and discuss the notion in t... [more]

Manufacturing facilities use about 35% of the domestic energy in the United States every year. Implementing an effective energy management system (EnMS) is one of the most important approaches to improve energy efficiency. However, the implementation of EnMS is low for many countries (including the US) and even for energy-intensive sectors. The reasons for the low implementation rate of energy management systems had been investigated by multiple researchers, but very few studies have focused on the barriers and challenges of implementing ISO 50001-based energy management systems. To contribute to this understudied area, this paper discusses the implementation and outcomes of the first Better Plants 50001 Ready Virtual In-plant Training. This paper first provides an overview of 50001 Ready and the 50001 Ready Navigator Tool. Then, it provides details on this training event and its outcomes. Finally, it discusses findings from the responses to 40 live polling questions about the status o... [more]

The number of operations incorporating E-VTOL aircrafts is increasing each year, and the optimization of the energy consumption of such vehicles is a major problem. In this paper, a small-scale ARCHER helicopter’s energy consumption is analyzed, wherein different flight conditions, main rotor revolutions, and flight control system settings are considered. The helicopter dynamic model was developed in the FLIGHTLAB environment and was then validated based on flight test data. The model used for the calculation of energy consumption was developed using the electric and dynamic characteristics of the main rotor, electric motor, and transmission system. The main part of this work concerns the analysis of electric energy consumption during the vehicle’s flight via the use of an automatic flight control system (AFCS) that ensures repeatable flight conditions. The AFCS was designed such that it includes both path and attitude control to provide hover and cruise control modes. The helicopter’s... [more]

The World Energy Council has consistently formulated useful policies and ranked countries in term of their performances in environmental sustainability, energy equity, and energy security. In a novel approach, and possibly in one of the most unique studies in the World Energy Trilemma literature, the current study examines the interaction of energy efficiency and economic growth of several top-performing economies (Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) in respect to environmental sustainability, energy equity, and energy security. Importantly, while affirming the inappropriateness of the linear econometric approach, the study utilized the newly developed quantile-on-quantile approach to examine the dataset for the period 1990Q1 to 2018Q4. As such, the result largely indicates a significant and positive effect of economic growth toward the energy efficiency across the quantiles for the examined countries (Austria, Denmark,... [more]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution forms a smart grid with diverse sources of energy through the interconnectivity of data. Buildings that were previously the biggest users of energy are now becoming energy producers. Yet, buildings are also continually changing. The ecological definition of buildings, in addition to the building itself, includes solar panels and geothermal energy storage. The need for decarbonization and energy-efficiency brought about the implementation of heat pumps in buildings. The most economic type of heat pump is a water-sourced heat pump with hot and cold tanks or a connection to the District Energy System. Monitoring using building automatics allows HVAC optimization in the occupancy stage. Until the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the EU and the US differed in their air handling methodology, but the pandemic showed the limitations of both approaches and led to the creation of a new, integrated approach. These new ventilation systems, based on filtration instead of diluti... [more]

This study presents a new Model Predictive Controller (MPC), built with algorithms based on Paraconsistent Annotated Logic (PAL), with application examples in the excitation control of a synchronous generator. PAL is a non-classical evidential and propositional logic that is associated with a Hasse lattice, and which presents the property of accepting the contradiction in its foundations. In this research, the algorithm was constructed with a version of the PAL that works with two information signals in the degrees of evidence format and, therefore, is called Paraconsistent Annotated Logic with annotation of two values (PAL2v). For the validation of the algorithmic structure, the computational tool MATLAB® Release 2012b, The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, United States was used. Simulations were performed which compared the results obtained with PPC-PAL2v to those obtained in essays with the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) controls in conjunction with the PSS (Power System Stabilizer)... [more]

The energy crisis, an increasing concern of the industrial sector, is characterized by increased energy costs and low energy availability. As part of an effort to increase energy efficiency, the present study assessed the impact of applying lean tools on the energy consumption of a manufacturing organization. Using the Kaizen approach, the organization’s processes were analyzed to identify the main vulnerabilities and make the required changes to increase consumption performance. Several technical improvements were performed to reach increased energy efficiency. Results showed an energy efficiency increase; consumption was reduced by up to 7.5% in the production line, 3.5% in the extruder stage, and up to 20% for the injection stage of the manufacturing process. The results suggest that the organization’s energy reduction targets have been achieved. Standardization of procedures was useful in the development of Kaizen projects which could be applied with certain limitations. The implic... [more]