Search Results (2)

Energy consumption in buildings is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to the extensive burning of fossil fuels. This study focuses on an innovatively designed building named The Clover and utilises IES-VE software (2024) to create a digital twin for the building’s performance prediction. The goal is to achieve a zero-carbon-emission building through energy-efficient strategies, including the use of air-source heat pumps and renewable energy systems for sustainable heating, cooling, and electricity. Dynamic simulations conducted with the software analyse key performance metrics, including annual heating and cooling demands, electricity consumption, carbon emissions, and renewable energy supply. The results indicate that a 53% reduction in CO₂ emission is achieved when a heat pump system is applied instead of boiler and chiller systems. A total of 1243.96 MWh and 41.18 MWh of electricity can be generated by PV panels and wind energy systems. The net annual electricity generation from the energy system of the building is 191.64 MWh. Therefore, the results demonstrate that the building’s energy needs can be successfully met through on-site electricity generation using advanced perovskite–silicon tandem solar PV panels and wind turbines. This case study provides valuable insights for architects and building services engineers, offering a practical framework for designing green, energy-efficient, zero-carbon buildings and advancing the path to net zero. Full article

In this paper, we investigate implications of running a cooling system of two silicagel/water adsorption chillers powered by a district heating network. The devices are connected in series, i.e., the heating water output from the primary chiller is directed to the secondary one. In consequence, the secondary device must deal with an even lower driving temperature and with temperature fluctuations caused by the primary device. We have evaluated three factors that influence the operation of those coupled devices: synchronization of their operating cycles, selection of their cycle time allocations (CTAs), and changing the heating water mass flow rate. Numerical analyses indicate that the performance of the secondary chiller drops significantly if the coupled devices that use the same CTA run asynchronously. The decrease is largest if the shift between the operating cycles is $x=0.375$ and $x=0.875$. We found that it is possible to reduce the negative influence of the asynchronous operation by implementing different CTA in each chiller. The best performance is achieved if the primary chiller uses an adsorption time to desorption time ratio $f=1.0$ and the secondary chiller uses f = 0.6–0.7. Full article