Special Issue "Toward Sustainability: A Focus on Innovative Renewable Energy Harvesting Systems"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Md Abdul Alim
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Western Sydney University, Penrith Campus, Sydney 2751, Australia
Interests: BIPV; phase change materials; solar thermal collector; nanofluid; rainwater harvesting and oxide semiconductors
Dr. Md Khairul Alam
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne City Campus, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: renewable energy; energy harvesters; ferrofluids; energy systems; heat transfer
Dr. Md Imran Hosen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Water and Environment, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology, Gazipur 1707, Bangladesh
Interests: urban meteorology; water-sensitive urban design; GIS and remote sensing in water and the environment; climate extremes
Mr. Mohammad Ashraful Alam
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus, Melbourne 3010, Australia
Interests: renewable energy; combustion; chemical kinetics; emission treatment; supercritical water oxidation; gas phase oxidation; carbon capture process technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world is moving with an unprecedented pace, and to keep up with the economic development, the need for energy will continue to increase. One of the main concerns around dealing with the current situation is the source and nature of energy. It is generally agreed upon by most energy experts that burning more fossil fuel cannot be the solution. Thus, the search for new energy sources that are renewable in nature and sustainable for the long term is ongoing. There are two primary dimensions to this research: (i) exploring new renewable energy sources and (ii) improving the performance of the existing technologies that are used to harness energy from renewable energy sources. The aim of the current issue is to report the recent advancements in both of the abovementioned directions. There are many technologies in the market, such as photovoltaic panels, solar thermal collectors, wind turbines, geothermal appliances, and hydropower plants that have a huge potential to become the primary energy provider. However, all these technologies have one common issue, which is the efficiency of the system. The main scope of the issue is to present the current scenario of all these technologies and discuss future directions.

The Special Issue will also cover topics related to energy policy, energy systems, compact design, relation to power grid, renewable energy standards, public awareness, and promotional strategies for large adaption. There are many technologies that are not implemented since people are not aware of their development. Additionally, the risk of new technology is blocking the progression of a wider adaption. Discussions on how technology can be transferred to a regular person are of interest.

Dr. Md Abdul Alim
Dr. Md Khairul Alam
Dr. Md Imran Hosen
Mr. Mohammad Ashraful Alam
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar panel
  • operating temperature
  • hydropower
  • phase change material
  • solar energy
  • photovoltaic thermal
  • heat sink
  • photovoltaic module
  • buildings energy consumption
  • efficiency enhancement
  • passive cooling
  • numerical modelling
  • surface temperature
  • indoor thermal comfort
  • thin films
  • semiconductors
  • thermal energy storage
  • sensible heat
  • materials selection
  • optical and electrical properties
  • solar thermal collector
  • nanofluid
  • wind turbine
  • biofuel

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Evaluation of the Melting Performance in a Conical Latent Heat Thermal Unit Having Variable Length Fins
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2667; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052667 - 02 Mar 2021
Viewed by 614
Abstract
A conical shell-tube design with non-uniform fins was addressed for phase change latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). The shell was filled with nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The cone aspect ratio of the shell and the fins aspect ratio were adopted as [...] Read more.
A conical shell-tube design with non-uniform fins was addressed for phase change latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). The shell was filled with nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The cone aspect ratio of the shell and the fins aspect ratio were adopted as the geometrical design parameters. The type and volume fraction of the nanoparticles were other design parameters. The investigated nanoparticles were alumina, graphite oxide, silver, and copper. The finite element method was employed to solve the natural convection flow and phase change thermal energy equations in the LHTES unit. The Taguchi optimization method was utilized to maximize the melting rate in the unit. Two cases of ascending and descending conical shells were investigated. The outcomes showed that the shell-aspect ratio and fin aspect ratio were the most important design parameters, followed by the type and concentration of nanoparticles. Both ascending and descending designs could lead to the same melting rate at their optimum design. The optimum design of LHTES could improve the melting rate by up to 18.5%. The optimum design for ascending (descending) design was a plain tube (a cone aspect ratio of 1.17) filled by 4.5% alumina-Bio-PCM (1.5% copper-Bio-PCM). Full article
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Article
Latent Heat Phase Change Heat Transfer of a Nanoliquid with Nano–Encapsulated Phase Change Materials in a Wavy-Wall Enclosure with an Active Rotating Cylinder
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2590; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052590 - 01 Mar 2021
Viewed by 556
Abstract
A Nano-Encapsulated Phase-Change Material (NEPCM) suspension is made of nanoparticles containing a Phase Change Material in their core and dispersed in a fluid. These particles can contribute to thermal energy storage and heat transfer by their latent heat of phase change as moving [...] Read more.
A Nano-Encapsulated Phase-Change Material (NEPCM) suspension is made of nanoparticles containing a Phase Change Material in their core and dispersed in a fluid. These particles can contribute to thermal energy storage and heat transfer by their latent heat of phase change as moving with the host fluid. Thus, such novel nanoliquids are promising for applications in waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage systems. In the present research, the mixed convection of NEPCM suspensions was addressed in a wavy wall cavity containing a rotating solid cylinder. As the nanoparticles move with the liquid, they undergo a phase change and transfer the latent heat. The phase change of nanoparticles was considered as temperature-dependent heat capacity. The governing equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation were presented as partial differential equations. Then, the governing equations were converted to a non-dimensional form to generalize the solution, and solved by the finite element method. The influence of control parameters such as volume concentration of nanoparticles, fusion temperature of nanoparticles, Stefan number, wall undulations number, and as well as the cylinder size, angular rotation, and thermal conductivities was addressed on the heat transfer in the enclosure. The wall undulation number induces a remarkable change in the Nusselt number. There are optimum fusion temperatures for nanoparticles, which could maximize the heat transfer rate. The increase of the latent heat of nanoparticles (a decline of Stefan number) boosts the heat transfer advantage of employing the phase change particles. Full article
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