The growing need to improve the environmental and energy sustainability of buildings involves the use of solar radiation incident on their surfaces. However, in cities, this task is complicated due to the constructive geometry that leads to shading b...
Solar access describes the capacity of urban spaces to receive sunlight and daylight. Rapid urbanization and unbridled densification pose a threat to sustainable solar access, reducing the penetration of sunlight and daylight into cities. To effectiv...
The urban canyon model has been recurrently used as a basis for many solar access studies. However, its conception as endless structures disregards the effect of street intersections, despite being characteristic elements of urban fabrics. This paper...
In this study, we developed a 3D-model-based technology that can evaluate solar access by analyzing solar radiation and shade to find the optimal location for a solar system. We developed an algorithm that can quickly calculate viewshed by applying r...
Solar power (SP) passive optical network (PON)-based fiber-wireless (FiWi) access systems are becoming increasingly popular as they provide coverage to rural and urban areas where no power grid exists. Secure operation of such networks which includes...
Due to climate change, enhancing outdoor and indoor thermal comfort is increasingly important. Solar radiation drives temperature increases, making solar exposure reduction essential in urban design. Most previous research has focused on parametric a...
Solar energy reaching a horizontal surface can possess fluctuations that impact electricity generation at a solar plant. Despite this, energy access remains inadequate, particularly in rural areas, with an estimated 82% deficiency. This drives us to...
Wind and solar energy resources are an increasingly large fraction of generation in global electricity systems. However, the variability of these resources necessitates new datasets and tools for understanding their economics and integration in elect...
Off-grid technologies, such as solar home systems (SHS), offer the opportunity to alleviate global energy poverty, providing a cost-effective alternative to an electricity grid connection. However, there is a paucity of high-quality SHS electricity u...
As satellite communications provide ubiquitous coverage, they play a key role in providing Internet connectivity in remote or marginalized areas, so as to enable the vision of a truly global connectivity of the Internet of Things (IoT). However, thes...
Metrics are instrumental in design assessments. Solar performance metrics help designers to evaluate solar access in cities. Metrics should be used early in the urban planning stages in order to enable sustainable urban development with greater acces...
The multi-tier framework (MTF) of electricity access defines a continuum of electrification from tier 0, where access is inexistent or very limited, to tier 5 where access is of grid quality. Transitioning households from lower to higher tiers unlock...
Despite South Africa’s international recognition in solar energy investments, the country is struggling to meet its growing energy needs. In recent years, national blackouts and load shedding have been a recurring experience in the country. The...
Climate change and the consequential environmental catastrophes are real, not only in less developed countries of the so-called “Global South” but also in so-called industrialized and “well-developed” areas of the world! Just within the last few mont...
3D city models are a useful tool to analyze the solar potential of neighborhoods and cities. These models are built from buildings footprints and elevation measurements. Footprints are widely available, but elevation datasets remain expensive and tim...
Solar home systems (SHS), a cost-effective solution for rural communities far from the grid in developing countries, are small solar panels and associated equipment that provides power to a single household. A crucial resource for targeting further i...
Energy is considered as a main influence on urban configurations. However, there is a difficulty on translating the city models based on theoretical renewable energy concepts into practical applications. This study considers the possibility of unders...
Off-grid houses can be considered an important concept to increase the access to electricity throughout the world. Although there are quite some initiatives in place to improve the access to electricity, the implementation rate of practical solutions...
A variety of factors, such as absorption, reflection, and attenuation by atmospheric elements, influence the quantity of solar energy that reaches the surface of the Earth. This, in turn, impacts photovoltaic (PV) power generation. In light of this,...
This paper presents a feasibility analysis of the technical, environmental, and economic sustainability of an existing mini-grid technology system in Nigeria. The study investigates the cost and other operational parameters of the Gbamu-Gbamu solar&n...
To satisfy the continuously high energy consumption and high computational capacity requirements for IoT applications, such as video monitoring, we integrate solar harvesting and multi-access edge computing (MEC) technologies to develop a solar-power...
The electrification of isolated homes in rural areas without access to the electric grid has been achieved in part using solar energy transformed into electricity through Photovoltaic (PV) equipment known as Solar Home Systems (SHSs), which has been...
With the increasing share of distributed energy resources on the electric grid, utility companies are facing significant decisions about infrastructure upgrades. An alternative to extensive and capital-intensive upgrades is to offer non-firm intercon...
Limited access to clean energy has long been an obstacle to livelihood improvement of populations mired in energy poverty. Cooking with traditional biomass contributes to high levels of indoor air pollution, thus imposing significant threats to publi...
Energy access and waste management are two of the most pressing developmental and environmental issues on a global level to help mitigate the accelerating impacts of climate change. They are particularly relevant in Sub–Saharan Africa where electrifi...
Ongoing reductions in the costs of solar PV and battery technologies have contributed to an increased use of home energy systems in Sub-Saharan African regions without grid access. However, such systems can normally support only low-power end uses, a...
This study presents a numerical method for evaluating the maintainability of a dual-axis solar tracking system that can be deployed in residential areas for improved energy production. The purpose of this research manuscript is threefold. It targets...
Energy access is critical for health, education and social welfare improvements. In countries like Ethiopia, with a low electrification rate and with the majority of the population located in rural areas, about 76% of primary schools do not have acce...
There are 17 million people without access to electricity services in Latin America. This population lives in small isolated and scattered communities with low incomes where it is difficult to achieve 100% access to electricity by the grid extension....
As SDG7-related interventions seek to transform access to clean energy, this paper presents an analysis of both a previous transformative intervention (Lighting Africa) and a theoretical approach to understanding how such transformations can be achie...
Because of the increase of the data traffic demand, wireless access networks, through which users access telecommunication services, have expanded, in terms of size and of capability and, consequently, in terms of power consumption. Therefore, costs...
As the design basis of the tunnel lighting system, tunnel access zone luminance (TAZL) directly affects the energy efficiency of the tunnel lighting system and the driving safety of drivers. Affected by the relative position of the sun, weather condi...
Human wellbeing and their quality of life is linked to daylight. However, this is being hindered by the rapid growth of cities, promoted by regulatory frameworks and the interests of property developers that seek high-rise densification and re-densif...
The separation models are tools used in solar engineering to estimate direct normal (DNI) and diffuse horizontal (DHI) solar irradiances from measurements of global solar irradiance (GHI). This paper proposes two empirical separation models that stan...
Solar air heater is considered to be the most popular and widely used solar thermal system. Solar air heater (SAH) can be used in many applications, ranging from domestic to industrial purposes. However, it seems that the viability of SAH is not feas...
Low-income sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) households rely on wood for cooking for the simple reason that it is the lowest cost cooking fuel. Thus, full attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) requires developing clean cooking technologies that...
Floating solar renewable energy is of enormous potential in Indonesia. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the design of Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) systems with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for three islands in Indonesia. These isl...
People, communities, and economies in small island developing states are extremely vulnerable to climate change, disasters, and other crises. Renewable energy can play an important part in building the resilience of these communities. Three case stud...
Groundwater provides a strategic resource in the face of uncertain climate conditions in arid and semi-arid regions. Solar-based groundwater pumping is quickly gaining ground across rural sub-Saharan Africa, promoted by national and international org...
Urban agriculture has become a favored activity in many cities around the world. This study explores how urban agriculture’s potential can be maximized in Seoul, South Korea, a city characterized by high-density residential complexes. It select...
The recent provision of energy-harvesting capabilities to wireless sensor networks (WSN) has entailed the redefinition of design objectives. Specifically, the traditional goal of maximizing network lifetime has been replaced by optimizing network per...
Electrical mini-grids can provide electrification to rural communities far from the national network. However the benefits of such schemes are disputed. We observed changes in two matched trading-centres in Makueni County, Kenya, neither of which wer...
The common agreement of the United Nation members pushes the 2030 Agenda ahead to alleviate poverty and ensure wellbeing for all, recognizing energy as a crucial pathway to achieving this goal under three core dimensions: human development, sustainab...
15 December 2021
Developing countries such as Iran are rapidly expanding, putting pressure on non-renewable energy resources. The building sector takes a major share of the total energy consumption of the country and is projected to increase further, resulting in the...
The policy decision of extending electric power transmission lines to connect a remote area to a primary grid vs. developing local electricity generation resources must be informed by studies considering both alternatives’ economic and environm...
An increasing trend towards the installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy generation capacity is driven by several factors including the desire for greater energy independence and, especially, the desire to decarbonize industrial economies. Whil...
Solar irradiance measurement is a key component in estimating solar irradiation, which is necessary and essential to design sustainable energy systems such as photovoltaic (PV) systems. The measurement is typically done with sophisticated devices des...
In recent years, the teaching of experimental science and engineering has been revolutionized by the integration of smartphone sensors, which are widely used by a large portion of the population. Concurrently, interest in solar energy has surged. Thi...
In this paper, a modeling framework to quantify the reduction of potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when using solar-powered Wi-Fi as an internet access point is developed and tested. This framework includes newly developed MATLAB code and the...
Most remote islands are characterized by small populations, many of whom live under the poverty line, poor geographical accessibility and lack of electricity. As such, the solar still, which has a low capital cost, easy operation and less need of mai...
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