Special Issue "New Approaches and Technologies in Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption in Social Housing"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
Interests: energy; thermodynamics; optimization
Dr. Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, energy is one of the challenging issues facing humans as the access to energy resources has become an essential factor for sustainable development in each country. Buildings are one of the main components in the global energy consumption matrix and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, using new technologies and approaches for improving the level of energy consumption and the thermal comfort conditions in buildings could be considered as important topics for researchers. This Special Issue (SI) focusses on collecting high-quality research and review papers related to new approaches and technologies for improving thermal comfort conditions and reducing energy consumption in social housing.

The potential topics for submissions to the SI include, but are not limited to:

  • Passive and active approaches in thermal comfort and energy consumption;
  • Passive and active approaches in greenhouse gas emissions in buildings;
  • Controlling the daylight in buildings by means of the proper strategies;
  • Proposing innovative standalone energy systems for satisfying the energy requirements of residential complexes;
  • Modelling and using novel light shelves arrangements in buildings;
  • Using innovative micro/nano technologies in buildings.

Dr. Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam
Dr. Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi
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

  • nearly zero energy buildings
  • smart buildings
  • energy consumption
  • renewable energies
  • daylight controlling
  • thermal comfort
  • CHP and CCHP systems in buildings
  • cogeneration, trigeneration, and multi-generation energy systems
  • HVAC
  • Sustainability

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Use of a Hybrid Wind—Solar—Diesel—Battery Energy System to Power Buildings in Remote Areas: A Case Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8764; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168764 - 05 Aug 2021
Viewed by 386
Abstract
The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence [...] Read more.
The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the feasibility of the standalone use of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to power buildings in the Bostegan village in the Hormozgan province of Iran. Technical, economic, and environmental assessments were performed with the help of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, and the optimal configuration for the system components was determined accordingly. The results showed that the simultaneous use of wind and solar systems with a converter and a backup system comprised of a diesel generator and batteries will be the most economic option, offering electricity at a cost of 1.058 USD/kWh and with a renewable fraction of 64%. After selecting the most optimal system using the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) techniques, a sensitivity analysis with 27 parameter settings was performed to determine the effect of fuel price fluctuations and the uncertainty in the renewable energy potentials on the results. This analysis showed that in the worst-case scenario, the price of electricity will reach as high as 1.343 $/kWh. In the end, the study investigated an alternative scenario where the generated power is used for hydrogen production, which showed that the system output can be used to produce 643.63 ton-H2/year. Full article
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Article
Development of an Integrated Structure for the Tri-Generation of Power, Liquid Carbon Dioxide, and Medium Pressure Steam Using a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell, a Dual Pressure Linde-Hampson Liquefaction Plant, and a Heat Recovery Steam Generator
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8347; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158347 - 27 Jul 2021
Viewed by 489
Abstract
Due to the increase in energy consumption and energy prices, the reduction in fossil fuel resources, and increasing concerns about global warming and environmental issues, it is necessary to develop more efficient energy conversion systems with low environmental impacts. Utilizing fuel cells in [...] Read more.
Due to the increase in energy consumption and energy prices, the reduction in fossil fuel resources, and increasing concerns about global warming and environmental issues, it is necessary to develop more efficient energy conversion systems with low environmental impacts. Utilizing fuel cells in the combined process is a method of refrigeration and electricity simultaneous production with a high efficiency and low pollution. In this study, a combined process for the tri-generation of electricity, medium pressure steam, and liquid carbon dioxide by utilizing a molten carbonate fuel cell, a dual pressure Linde-Hampson liquefaction plant and a heat recovery steam generator is developed. This combined process produces 65.53 MW of electricity, 27.8 kg/s of medium pressure steam, and 142.9 kg/s of liquid carbon dioxide. One of the methods of long-term energy storage involves the use of a carbon dioxide liquefaction system. Some of the generated electricity is used in industrial and residential areas and the rest is used for storage as liquid carbon dioxide. Liquid carbon dioxide can be used for peak shavings in buildings. The waste heat from the Linde-Hampson liquefaction plant is used to produce the fuel cell inlet steam. Moreover, the exhaust heat of the fuel cell and gas turbine would be used to produce the medium pressure steam. The total efficiency of this combined process and the coefficient of performance of the refrigeration plant are 82.21% and 1.866, respectively. The exergy analysis of this combined process reveals that the exergy efficiency and the total exergy destruction are 73.18% and 102.7 MW, respectively. The highest rate of exergy destruction in the hybrid process equipment belongs to the fuel cell (37.72%), the HX6 heat exchanger (8.036%), and the HX7 heat exchanger (6.578%). The results of the sensitivity analysis show that an increase in the exit pressure of the V1 valve by 13.33% would result in an increase in the refrigeration energy by 2.151% and a reduction in the refrigeration cycle performance by 9.654%. Moreover, by increasing the inlet fuel to the fuel cell, the thermal efficiency of the whole combined process rises by 18.09%, and the whole exergy efficiency declines by 12.95%. Full article
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Article
The Effect of Plants on the Energy Output of Green Roof Photovoltaic Systems in Tropical Climates
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4505; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084505 - 18 Apr 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 630
Abstract
The rapid rise in the number of fossil fuel uses over the last few decades has increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The purpose of implementing renewable energy solutions, such as solar, hydro, wind, biomass, and other renewable energy sources, is to [...] Read more.
The rapid rise in the number of fossil fuel uses over the last few decades has increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The purpose of implementing renewable energy solutions, such as solar, hydro, wind, biomass, and other renewable energy sources, is to mitigate global climate change worldwide. Solar energy has received more attention over the last few decades as an alternative source of energy, and it can play an essential role in the future of the energy industry. This is especially true of energy solutions that reduce land use, such as off-grid and on-grid solar rooftop technologies. This study aims to evaluate the energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems in tropical environments. It also explores the effect of growing plants beneath PV panels. Two identical grid-connected PV systems—each containing five solar panels—were installed. The overall power production of each PV system was about 1.4 kWp. All the collected data were processed and analysed in the same way and by the same method. The PV systems were installed in two different environments—one with the possibility of growing the plants beneath the PV panels (PViGR module) and one with no possibility of growing the plants beneath the PV panels (PViSR module). The experiments were conducted in the Bo Yang District of Songkhla, Thailand over a 12-month period. Our findings indicate that green roof photovoltaic (GRPV) systems can produce around 2100 kWh of electricity in comparison to the 2000 kWh produced by other solar energy systems. Thereby, growing plants beneath PV panels increases electricity production efficiency by around 2%. This difference comes from the growing of plants underneath GRPV systems. Plants do not only help to trap humidity underneath GRPV systems but also help to cool the PV panels by absorbing the temperature beneath GRPV systems. Thus, in the production of electrical energy; the system was clearly showing significant differences in the mentioned results of both PV solar systems, which are evident for great energy efficiency performances in the future. Full article
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Article
A Novel Policy to Optimize Energy Consumption for Dairy Product Warehouses: A Case Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2445; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052445 - 24 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 534
Abstract
Worldwide energy supply is mostly reliant on fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide emissions have caused many negative environmental issues like climate change, air pollution, and energy security. An important alternative to this hazard is substituting the fossil fuel-based carbon energy sources with renewable energy [...] Read more.
Worldwide energy supply is mostly reliant on fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide emissions have caused many negative environmental issues like climate change, air pollution, and energy security. An important alternative to this hazard is substituting the fossil fuel-based carbon energy sources with renewable energy sources. Passive strategies, which are devised to provide thermal comfort in buildings are examples of how to use renewable energies. For this study, a dairy product warehouse in the city of Yazd in Iran was thoroughly investigated. The main goal of this study is to introduce different scenarios, then identifying them based upon optimization of energy consumption. Another main purpose of the present study is to maximize the use of passive energy to meet the cooling needs of a dairy products warehouse in the studied area. Underground temperature is lower than the surface in summer, also it is higher in winter. Therefore, this property of soil is investigated by using nine different scenarios at different heights for constructing underground warehouse for storing dairy products. Clearly, different renewable tools like wind turbine, wind catcher, solar chiller, and different roof designs by Savanah grass, roof pond are also investigated. At first, the cooling load of the warehouse is calculated separately for each season. Then, according to the energy load values obtained, the nominated scenarios are investigated. The results of the comparisons show that the construction of a warehouse at a depth of 3 m from the ground with a green roof covered with Savannah grass helps achieve the best degree of reduction in the cooling power. Full article
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