This work analyzes the effects of the parasitic or stray distributed capacitance to ground in high-voltage environments and assesses the effectiveness of different corrective actions to minimize such effects. To this end, the stray capacitance of a 130 kV RMS high-voltage resistive divider is studied because it can severely influence the behavior of such devices when operating under alternating current or transient conditions. The stray capacitance is calculated by means of three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. Different laboratory experiments under direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) supply are conducted to corroborate the theoretical findings, and different possibilities to mitigate stray capacitance effects are analyzed and discussed. The effects of the capacitance are important in applications, such as large electrical machines including transformers, motors, and generators or in high-voltage applications involving voltage dividers, conductors or... [more]

Climate change and awareness of the need to care for the environment have resulted in a global increase in the interest in renewable energy sources. The European Union (EU) is active in this respect and requires Member States to fulfill specific plans in the transformation of their energy systems. We employed hierarchical cluster analysis in an attempt to distinguish those countries among the new EU Member States that increased their electrical capacity from renewable energy sources to the greatest extent while paying attention to their energy intensity. The analyses were conducted in two scenarios for both 2004 and 2016. The first scenario assumed an analysis of all known renewable energy sources, whereas in the second scenario, only renewable energy sources from wind and solar power plants were included. The division of analyses into these two variants showed the importance of the differences in the energy assessment of individual countries, depending on classification of renewable e... [more]

Shattering of pods of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is a major cause of seed yield losses prior to and during harvesting. In order to reduce shattering, researchers have been engaged in the development of special preparations that are known as pod sealants (PS). Despite the fact that there are already developed and commercialized PSs that have only been effective on seed yield preservation under certain environmental conditions, there is still a need to create a more versatile and efficient PS. Currently, the most promising method of controlling pod shattering in oilseed rape is the application of our developed novel acrylic- and trisiloxane-based pod sealant (PS4). The effectiveness of PS4 and three commercial pod sealants (PS1, PS2, and PS3) was assessed in this comparative study. By spraying an oilseed rape crop with PS4, natural seed loss can be reduced by 20−70%, depending on the prevailing weather conditions, and loss of seeds during harvest can be reduced by more than three-f... [more]

In Europe, diesel combustion is being banned due to the NOx and PM2.5 emissions impact on air quality. The bus sector is being electrified and is increasing its use of alternative fuels, such as natural gas (in spark ignition engines) and bioethanol (in compression ignition engines), to reduce such harmful emissions. Even if a diesel bus is equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), its NOx emissions are reduced its but produces more NH3 emissions that are PM2.5 precursors. In developing countries, the air quality is still barely monitored, however, the air quality issue is well known and is being addressed. Moreover, the Ecuadorian sugar cane industry is seeking ways to increase its ethanol production. This is the ideal framework to explore a new technology and energy source in developing economies such as Ecuador. This paper explores the impact of the Ecuadorian diesel bus fleet conversion to hybrid compression ignition ethanol (HEV-ED95), hybrid diesel and plug-in hybrid fle... [more]

The construction industry is one of the three major worldwide energy consumers, producing nearly 30% of global carbon emissions [...]

Since curbing the upward trend of energy consumption has become a global pursuit in achieving environmental sustainability, macroeconomic factors such as energy transition and international tourism may be of crucial importance in mitigating environmental degradation. However, the combined role of economic welfare, population, international tourism, and energy transition towards mitigating environmental degradation has not been investigated extensively. In this regard, this study looks at the combined interplay between these variables for a panel of ten southeastern Europe (SEE) countries, covering the period of 1997−2018 under the umbrella of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon. Two indicators of environmental degradation, namely, ecological footprint and carbon intensity, were used in this study. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with Driscoll−Kraay (DK) and the panel Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) with fixed effects were used to disclose the follo... [more]

Recently, building automation system (BAS) and building energy management system (BEMS) technologies have been applied to efficiently reduce the energy consumption of buildings. In addition, studies on utilizing large quantities of building data have been actively conducted using artificial intelligence and machine learning. However, the high cost and installation difficulties limit the use of measuring devices to sense the indoor environment of all buildings. Therefore, this study developed a comprehensive indoor environment sensor module with relatively inexpensive sensors to measure the indoor environment of a university building. In addition, an algorithm for predicting the load in real time through machine learning based on indoor environment measurement is proposed. When the reliability of the algorithm for predicting the number of occupants and load according to the indoor CO2 concentration was quantitatively assessed, the mean squared error (MSE), root mean square deviation (RM... [more]

The design of an efficient energy management system (EMS) for monopolar DC networks with high penetration of photovoltaic generation plants is addressed in this research through a convex optimization point of view. The EMS is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem that involves economic, technical, and environmental objective functions subject to typical constraints regarding power balance equilibrium, thermal conductor capabilities, generation source capacities, and voltage regulation constraints, among others, using a nonlinear programming (NLP) model. The main characteristic of this NLP formulation of the EMS for PV plants is that it is a nonconvex optimization problem owing to the product of variables in the power balance constraint. To ensure an effective solution to this NLP problem, a linear approximation of the power balance constraints using the McCormick equivalent for the product of two variables is proposed. In addition, to eliminate the error introduced by th... [more]

Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in renewable power storage and the decarbonization of the power sector. In order to clarify the environmental impacts of power regenerated through hydrogen-fueled gas turbines, this work details a life cycle model of the greenhouse gas (GHG) and NOx emissions of the power regenerated by power-to-H2-to-power (PHP) technology integrated with a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT). This work evaluates the influences of several variables on the life cycle of GHG and NOx emissions, including renewable power sources, hydrogen production efficiency, net CCGT efficiency, equivalent operating hours (EOH), and plant scale. The results show that renewable power sources, net CCGT efficiency, and hydrogen production efficiency are the dominant variables, while EOH and plant scale are the minor factors. The results point out the direction for performance improvement in the future. This work also quantifies the life cycle of GHG and NOx emissions of power r... [more]

Recent research relating to energy use and carbon emissions by buildings has started to move from operational energy carbon impacts to the embodied energy/carbon impacts of buildings, and the methods and approaches used in architectural design to reduce embodied carbon have become more prominent. From a practitioner’s perspective, working with an ‘in-house’ Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool has become a growing trend for architects, and one perceived way of improving the LCA outcomes of a proposed building is to consider prefabrication of the construction process. Initiatives such as the Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) and government bodies such as Greater London Authorities (GLA) provide guidance on LCA and upfront carbon emission targets for transitioning to net zero by 2050. The aim of this study was to establish (i) the LCA impacts from prefabricated residential buildings against current benchmarks; (ii) boundaries and opportunities in architectural practice in the UK wh... [more]

Pellet stoves are popular appliances because they are an affordable technology and because the fuel is easy to store and to use. The increasing concern for environmental issues, however, requires a continuous effort to reduce pollutant levels in the atmosphere. This experimental work focuses on flue gas recirculation (FGR) as a possible way to improve combustion and decrease the emissions of carbon monoxide CO, particulate matter PM, and nitrogen oxides NOx in order to fulfill European and Italian emission requirements, for NOx in particular. A pellet stove has been tested in several experimental sessions with and without FGR. Pollutant emissions have been measured and analyzed in terms of statistical summaries and instantaneous trends. With FGR, the average CO and PM emissions were found to be 80% and 45% lower than the corresponding emissions without FGR. Results for PM are significant since FGR reduces emissions well below the most restrictive limits enforced in Italy. The analysis... [more]

Giant reed is a non-food, tall, rhizomatous, spontaneous perennial grass that is widely diffused in warm-temperate environments under different pedo-climatic conditions. In such environments, it is considered one of the most promising energy crops in terms of economic and environmental sustainability, as it can also be cultivated on marginal lands. Owing to its complex and recalcitrant structure due to the lignin content, the use of giant reed as a feedstock for biogas production is limited. Thus, pre-treatment is necessary to improve the methane yield. The objective of this review was to critically present the possible pre-treatment methods to allow the giant reed to be transformed in biogas. Among the studied pre-treatments (i.e., hydrothermal, chemical, and biological), alkaline pre-treatments demonstrated better effectiveness in improving the methane yield. A further opportunity is represented by hybrid pre-treatments (i.e., chemical and enzymatic) to make giant reed biomass suitab... [more]

Under the background of the normalization of COVID-19 prevention and control and the rapid development of e-commerce, community group buying has occupied the market by providing low-priced, fast, and green consumer goods, but with it, the logistics and distribution volume of goods has also increased sharply. In order to reduce environmental pollution and the carbon emissions caused by transportation in the community group buying logistics distribution, it is necessary to investigate a suitable method to optimize vehicle distribution routes and reduce carbon emissions. Taking the lowest total costs of logistics and distribution and the smallest carbon emissions, this article introduces soft time window function and carbon emissions parameters, takes the delivery of goods from the community group buying distribution center in Wu’an Town, Hebei Province to customer points in 14 townships as an example, an optimization model for the distribution route of low carbon vehicles for community g... [more]

The regional energy system (RES) is a system that consumes multiple forms of energy in the region and achieves coordinated and efficient utilization of energy resources. The RES is composed of multiple micro energy systems (MESs); however, due to the mismatch of energy resources and different energy consumption within each MES, a large amount of clean energy is wasted, and each MES has to acquire extra energy. This significantly increases operation costs and contributes to environmental pollution. One of the promising ways to solve this problem is to deploy an energy storage system in the RES, which can make use of its advantages to transfer energy in space-time and fulfill the demand for loads in different periods, and conduct unified energy management for each MES in the RES. Nevertheless, a large number of users are deterred by the high investment in energy storage devices. A shared energy storage system (SESS) can allow multi-MESs to share one energy storage system, and meet the en... [more]

Nowadays, mobility represents a key sector to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Indeed, the development of hybrid powertrains is contributing to a reduction in the environmental impact of vehicles. One of the most promising energy-saving solutions is regenerative braking, which enables deceleration while recovering energy, otherwise wasted. Even though much scientific community effort has been addressed to the optimization of this technology in the automotive field, the increase of energy storage systems efficiencies enables the overcoming of the constraints related to the reuse of electric energy in railway vehicles. This solution could be extremely useful for those railway vehicles which operate on non-electrified lines, where traction is usually provided by diesel engines. For this reason, the present work focuses on how regenerative braking technology could be exploited in diesel-powered rail applications. In further detail, a diagnostic train working on real railway lines has... [more]

Over the years, energy is becoming an essential factor with an impact on social, economic, and environmental aspects. More than 2.5 billion people are connected to agriculture worldwide, so the importance of agricultural energy production has become increasingly important. This study provides a comprehensive review of renewable energy, environment, and farm publication trends. Two hundred articles from 1988 to 2022 were analyzed, with special attention devoted to the last three extreme years, using the Scopus database and the Bibliometrix tool for analysis and visualization. Research on this topic experienced significant developments after 2008, with many fluctuations being revealed. Historically, China and the USA were the most productive countries in agricultural energy production advancements. However, in the last three years, the research center’s respective contributions have undergone major changes. China maintained its dominance, but the importance of the USA fell sharply, and n... [more]

At present, various contradictions in most coal-energy cities have become increasingly prominent, which has become a disharmonious factor restricting the optimization and upgrading of coal-energy cities. Since the turn of the century, taking effective improvement and protection measures and promoting the economic transformation of cities reliant on coal as an energy source has been the primary job of departments at all levels in order to secure the sustainable growth of cities. In this paper, the economic transformation and sustainable growth of coal-energy cities are included in the enhanced TOPSIS economic transformation evaluation model based on the proposed entropy weight. This study examines the industrialization of cities that rely on coal energy resources, assesses the industrial efficacy of coal energy using the DEA technique, and proposes a plan for the industrialization of cities that rely on coal energy resources. This paper summarizes the industrial transformation process o... [more]

This study explores the effects of autonomous cars and how they may affect the design of transportation systems. The research investigated the determinants of consumer adoption of autonomous vehicles in Thailand. The research was driven by increasing environmental protection awareness and the need to conserve it through revolutionary technology. The study adopted the extended UTAUT model, where a quantitative method was adopted using primary data from 381 respondents. The results indicated that consumer adoption of autonomous vehicles in Thailand is influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, environmental benefits, and purchase subsidy. The recommendations developed were that, to enhance the consumers’ intention to adopt autonomous vehicles, the concerned stakeholders should improve on aspects, such as the ability to improve job performance, increase productivity, ease of use, flexibility, clarity, and understanding, as well as improve social stat... [more]

The results of cable burning experiments conducted in a well-controlled or open environment may differ from fire phenomena in an actual installation environment of cables where the effects of ventilation conditions and thermal feedback exist. In order to prevent the misunderstanding of fire phenomena due to these differences, the changes in burning characteristics in open and compartment environments were investigated for a flame-retardant (TFR-8) cable and general PVC (VCTF) cable arranged on three-layer trays. As a result, it was confirmed that the fire scale, fire spread area, and cable damage varied greatly depending on the cable arrangement under the same cable quantity condition. Furthermore, the maximum heat release rate (HRR) and fire growth rate of TFR-8 in the compartment environment increased more than 3-times compared to the open environment, and showed a similar level of fire risk to VCTF even though it is a flame-retardant cable. Additional experiments using vertical and... [more]

The environmental impact of traditional fuels and related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) has promoted policies driven towards renewable fuels. This review deals with green diesel, a biofuel obtained by catalytic deoxygenation of edible and non-edible biomasses. Green diesel, biodiesel, and petrodiesel are compared, with green diesel being the best option in terms of physical−chemical properties and reduction in GHGE. The deoxygenation process and the related types of catalysts, feedstocks, and operating conditions are presented. Reactor configurations are also discussed, summarizing the experimental studies. Several process simulations and environmental economic analyses—up to larger scales—are gathered from the literature that analyze the potential of green diesel as a substitute for petrodiesel. In addition, current industrial processes for green diesel production are introduced. Future research and development efforts should concern catalysts and the use of waste biomasses as feeds... [more]

The lighting conditions of a library directly affect the users’ spatial experience, with glass curtain walls being widely used in the design of library skins. Although glass curtain walls have been extensively adopted, they increase indoor sun exposure and glare. Considering sunlight duration and radiation as the design basis, this study employs the Rhino and Grasshopper parametric platforms to parametrically design a library with a dynamic shading skin. Specifically, our design utilizes modular shading components that can change depending on the simulated sunlight data at different times. Additionally, a new optimal design strategy has been developed to enhance the environmental lighting performance of the library. The simulation results highlight that the indoor environmental lighting performance, under dynamic epidermal shading and based on sunlight duration data, is better for east−west, north−south, and east−west orientations on the summer solstice and the winter solstice. Meanwhi... [more]

Low-carbon energy transitions taking place worldwide are primarily driven by the integration of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. These variable renewable energy (VRE) sources require energy storage options to match energy demand reliably at different time scales. This article suggests using a gravitational-based energy storage method by making use of decommissioned underground mines as storage reservoirs, using a vertical shaft and electric motor/generators for lifting and dumping large volumes of sand. The proposed technology, called Underground Gravity Energy Storage (UGES), can discharge electricity by lowering large volumes of sand into an underground mine through the mine shaft. When there is excess electrical energy in the grid, UGES can store electricity by elevating sand from the mine and depositing it in upper storage sites on top of the mine. Unlike battery energy storage, the energy storage medium of UGES is sand, which means the self-discharge rate of... [more]

We investigated the operation of an axial-flow cyclone as the most promising dust-cleaning equipment based on energy consumption. Numerical solutions were obtained for the gas-solids suspension flow equations in axial flow cyclones with different separation chambers’ geometry using FlowVision software. The chamber’s geometrical features determined the nature of the gas-solids suspension flow, directly affecting the dusty gases’ purification degree. The circulating gas flows and the turbulent “trace” after the swirl generator were found to negatively influence the cyclone efficiency and the hydraulic resistance values. A high chamber height also negatively affected the gas purification since the bulk of dust particles were removed from the gas-solids flow at the initial section. The initial section’s length coincided with the gas-solids suspension’s jet flow zone due to the flow coming off the swirl vanes’ edges. Due to turbulent mixing, the particles’ secondary entrainment and return t... [more]

After being neglected for a long time, in the last years, ships have been recognized and studied as sound emitters. The sound energy they generate impacts the outside, but it can also affect the indoor quality of life if the environments are not properly designed. In fact, acoustic comfort plays a pivotal role, particularly in recreational crafts. In the present work, room acoustics and acoustic camera measurements were performed, inside a 50 m length overall yacht, chosen as a case study in order to evaluate the acoustic comfort. The Italian classification procedure UNI 11367:2010 for buildings was applied, and results have been compared to other international comfort classes. However, all of these are based on prescription for standard buildings, and the present work highlights that they do not account for the effective ship’s acoustic issues: sound energy transfer from impacts over ceilings and sound energy leakage. While attention of shipbuilders in acoustic comfort is shown in the... [more]

Hybrid propulsion dedicated to light duty vehicles is seen as an evolutionary change from internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric propulsion. Widespread direct replacement of convection ICEs in the current energy system is impossible because ICEs are vehicles’ main source of mechanical energy. The hybrid powertrain uses the advantages of electric propulsion with the ability to charge the traction battery or have the internal combustion engine assist the system. The article compares different types of hybrid drives (with a small share of plug-in hybrid propulsion) under typical urban driving conditions. Nine vehicles were tested, and the tests were conducted over several months in various cities in Poland. The terms of the research conducted were not under the requirements of the driving test. However, they are authoritative when using the vehicle in real traffic conditions. Such conditions take into account many aspects that are relevant to a road test. It was found that urban con... [more]