Search Results (7)

In the context of urban decarbonization, multi-energy microgrids (MEMGs) are gaining increasing relevance due to their ability to enhance synergies across multiple energy vectors. This study presents a block-based MILP framework developed to optimize the operations of a real MEMG, with a particular focus on accurately modeling the structure of electricity and natural gas bills. The objective is to assess the added economic value of integrating a battery energy storage system (BESS) under the assumption it is employed to provide implicit flexibility—namely, bill management, energy arbitrage, and peak shaving. Results show that under assumed market conditions, tariff schemes, and BESS costs, none of the analyzed BESS configurations achieve a positive net present value. However, a 2 MW/4 MWh BESS yields a 3.8% reduction in annual operating costs compared to the base case without storage, driven by increased self-consumption (+2.8%), reduced thermal energy waste (–6.4%), and a substantial decrease in power-based electricity charges (–77.9%). The performed sensitivity analyses indicate that even with a significantly higher day-ahead market price spread, the BESS is not sufficiently incentivized to perform pure energy arbitrage and that the effectiveness of a time-of-use power-based tariff depends not only on the level of price differentiation but also on the BESS size. Overall, this study provides insights into the role of BESS in MEMGs and highlights the need for electricity bill designs that better reward the provision of implicit flexibility by storage systems. Full article

The vaporization of liquefied natural gas (LNG) liberates a substantial quantity of cold energy. If left unutilized, this cold energy would cause significant energy waste. Currently, both domestic and international cold energy utilization strategies are rather simplistic and unable to fully capitalize on the wide temperature range feature inherent in LNG cold energy. This study presents a three-tiered cold energy utilization system that integrates liquid air energy storage (LAES), cold energy power generation, and cold energy air conditioning. Moreover, during the LNG vaporization process, the thermal discharge from the power plant is utilized as a heat source to boost energy utilization efficiency and environmental performance. This research develops thermodynamic and economic evaluation models for the coupled system. It uses Aspen HYSYS V14 software to conduct process simulation, analyze cycle efficiency and exergy efficiency, and assesses the system’s economic feasibility by applying the net present value (NPV) method, which is based on the regional electricity prices of an LNG receiving station in Tangshan. The results show that the system attains a cycle efficiency of 105.83% and an exergy efficiency of 55.89%, representing a 6.18% improvement over traditional LAES systems. The system yields an annual revenue of CNY 77.06 million, with a net present value (NPV) of CNY 566.41 million and a capital payback period of merely 2.53 years, demonstrating excellent economic feasibility. This study offers crucial references and a foundation for the engineering application of LNG cold energy in energy storage and power plant peak regulation. Full article

The research work explores the impact of temperature on Silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels, considering Nigeria as a case study. It is found that high solar radiation in Nigeria increases the surface temperature of PV panels above 25 °C of the optimal operating temperature. The redundant energy gain from solar irradiance creates heat at the rear of solar panels and reduces their efficiency. Cooling mechanisms are therefore needed to increase efficiency. In this study, we demonstrated a unique hybrid system design employing a heat exchanger at the back of the panel, with water circulated through the back of the PV panel to cool the system. The system was simulated using TRNSYS at three locations in Nigeria—Maiduguri, Makurdi, and Port Harcourt. The results of the peak annual electrical power output in Maiduguri give a power yield of 1907 kWh/kWp, which is the highest, due to a high solar radiation average of 727 W/m² across the year. For Makurdi, the peak annual electrical power output is 1542 kWh/kWp, while for Port Harcourt the peak power output is 1355 kWh/kWp. It was observed that the surface temperature of Polycrystalline Si-PV was decreased from 49.25 °C to 38.38 °C. The electrical power was increased from 1526.83 W to 1566.82 W in a day, and efficiency increased from 13.99% to 15.01%. Full article

The world’s population is expected to increase by nearly two billion in the next 30 years; the population will increase from 8 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050 and could peak at 10.4 billion by the mid-2080s. The extreme weather triggered by global climate change has severely hit crop yields in open-field cultivation and led to an increase in food prices. Furthermore, in the last few years, emergency events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, wars/conflicts, and economic downturns have conditioned agricultural production and food security around the world. Greenhouses could be efficient cultivation systems because they enable food production in a sustainable way, limiting contact between pollutants and plants and optimizing the use of water, energy, and soil. This paper proposes a novel dome-soilless greenhouse concept for tomato cultivation in the Mediterranean area. The proposed greenhouse is fixed on a sea platform to take advantage of the seawater cooling environment and to integrate water consumption into a hydroponic system. In order to evaluate the best covering solution material to adopt, a few thermal and photometric characteristics of greenhouse covering materials were evaluated using a simplified method. A dynamic simulation was carried out to compare the proposed seawater cooling system with a conventional cooling tower in terms of the electric energy spent to maintain the inside temperature range at 13–25 °C across all seasons in the year. The proposed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system allowed a total annual energy saving of more than 10%. The energy saved was a result of the better cooling performance of the seawater heat exchange that allowed energy saving of about 14% on cooling. The comparison between the model characterised by a 6 mm polycarbonate coupled with UbiGro film and a seawater cooling system, and the model including a 6 mm polycarbonate coupled with a clarix blue film covering and a tower cooling system highlighted energy saving of about 20%. The obtained results indicate possible future directions for offshore greenhouses to carry out independent production together with the integration of photovoltaic modules, water treatment plants, and smart remote-control systems. Full article

Different energy solutions are required to satisfy the energy demand of the world’s ever-growing population. Photovoltaic Thermal systems (PVT) could propose resolutions to tackle real-time issues regarding power generation. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is performed to compare the environmental impact and measure the energy across different PVT modules consisting of a-Si, CdTe, and CIS thin-film solar cells. The authors performed LCA to calculate the energy payback time (EPBT) and life-cycle CO₂ emissions of residential rooftop and open-field PVT systems. The primary energy needed to produce thin-film PVT modules of 1 m² cell area was considered in the present life cycle analysis studies operated using water as the working fluid. The annual net electrical energy savings at various Indian weather conditions, such as New Delhi, Jodhpur, and Ladakh, have been calculated. For the thin-film PVT systems, the calculated values of annual energy yield for three locations with average solar radiation levels and peak sun hours in the range of 600–1000 W/m² and 6–8 h were reported. Results show that the CO₂ emissions for rooftop installation of CdTe and CIS are around 200 and 156 kg/annually, which is lower than the open field installation of the same, where CO₂ emissions were found to be 295 and 250 kg/year. Full article

A large quantity of longan fruits (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) produced annually are processed into many products, one of which is black longan, from which the dried, dark-brown meat has been used medicinally in traditional medicine, while the starch-containing seeds are discarded. In this study, starch samples (BLGSs) were isolated from seeds of black longan fruits prepared using varied conditions. The in vitro digestibility was determined in comparison with those extracted from fresh (FLGS) and dried (DLGS) seeds. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were employed to evaluate the starch properties. The results showed that the yields of FLGS, DLGS, and BLGSs were 20%, 23%, and 16–22% w/w, respectively. SEM images showed starch granules of mixed shapes, with sizes up to 15 µm in all samples. XRD patterns confirmed an A-type crystallinity for FLGS and DLGS, with strong refraction peaks at 2θ = 15°, 17°, 18°, and 23°, while BLGSs also showed detectable peaks at 2θ = 10° and 21°, which suggested V-type structures. Thermal properties corroborated the changes by showing increases in peak gelatinization temperature (T_p) and enthalpy energy (ΔH) in BLGSs. The paste viscosity of BLGSs (5% w/w) decreased by 20–58% from that of FLGS. The FTIR peak ratio at 1045/1022 and 1022/995 cm⁻¹ also indicated an increase in ordered structure in BLGSs compared to FLGS. The significant increase in the amounts of slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) in BLGSs compared to FLGS, especially at a prolonged incubation time of 20 (4.2×) and 30 days (4.1×), was proposed to be due to the heat-induced formation of starch inclusion with other components inside the seed during the black longan production process. Thus, black longan seed could be a new source of starch, with increased RS content, for potential use in the food and related industries. Full article

We demonstrate the synergistic use of surface air temperature retrieved from AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on Earth observing satellite) and two vegetation indices (VIs) from the shorter wavelengths of MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) to characterize cropland phenology in the major grain production areas of Northern Eurasia from 2003–2010. We selected 49 AMSR-E pixels across Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan, based on MODIS land cover percentage data. AMSR-E air temperature growing degree-days (GDD) captures the weekly, monthly, and seasonal oscillations, and well correlated with station GDD. A convex quadratic (CxQ) model that linked thermal time measured as growing degree-days to accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) was fitted to each pixel’s time series yielding high coefficients of determination (0.88 ≤ r² ≤ 0.98). Deviations of observed GDD from the CxQ model predicted GDD by site corresponded to peak VI for negative residuals (period of higher latent heat flux) and low VI at beginning and end of growing season for positive residuals (periods of higher sensible heat flux). Modeled thermal time to peak, i.e., AGDD at peak GDD, showed a strong inverse linear trend with respect to latitude with r² of 0.92 for Russia and Kazakhstan and 0.81 for Ukraine. MODIS VIs tracked similar seasonal responses in time and space and were highly correlated across the growing season with r² > 0.95. Sites at lower latitude (≤49°N) that grow winter and spring grains showed either a bimodal growing season or a shorter unimodal winter growing season with substantial inter-annual variability, whereas sites at higher latitude (≥56°N) where spring grains are cultivated exhibited shorter, unimodal growing seasons. Sites between these extremes exhibited longer unimodal growing seasons. At some sites there were shifts between unimodal and bimodal patterns over the study period. Regional heat waves that devastated grain production in 2007 in Ukraine and in 2010 in Russia and Kazakhstan appear clearly anomalous. Microwave based surface air temperature data holds great promise to extend to parts of the planet where the land surface is frequently obscured by clouds, smoke, or aerosols, and where routine meteorological observations are sparse or absent. Full article