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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B: Energy and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 21665

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Rick Greenough

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Guest Editor

De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK
Interests: industrial sustainability, energy efficient manufacturing, energy systems, thermal storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Richard Snape

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK
Interests: smart grids; renewable energy; transition in socio-technical systems; complexity science and complex adaptive systems

Dr. Muyiwa Oyinlola

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
Interests: thermal energy storage; thermal energy transformation; heat transfer; energy in emerging economies, sustainable energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is now a widespread understanding in the research community about the technical performance of different low-carbon energy technologies, in both the supply and demand parts of the energy system. There is also a large body of research into energy policy and energy behaviour at the levels of both the individual and society. What often seems to be lacking is an understanding of why some low carbon energy technology deployments succeed and others that seem well-designed from a technical perspective nevertheless fail in practice. Perhaps this has to do with the integration of the social, economic and technical parts of the energy system. This Special Issue aims to highlight research into low-carbon energy systems in the context of the economic and social systems in which they operate. We are interested in research that explores the relationships between technology and scale (e.g., local mini-grids or national energy grids) or the relationship between technology and ownership structures, which might include the business model used to recover the costs of installation, operation and maintenance. Other topics of interest are the importance of usability in energy system design or whether the operation of future energy systems is best left to expert organisations who are paid for delivering energy services instead of kilowatt-hours. We are also keen to publish papers that explore the motivations to invest in low carbon energy technologies and the ways in which policy makers can ‘nudge’ individuals to invest or support low carbon energy policies.

Prof. Rick Greenough
Dr. Richard Snape
Dr. Muyiwa Oyinlola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Energy behaviour
Technology in society
Demand management
System integration
Energy services

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 3530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilizing Asphalt Heat Energy in Finnish Climate Conditions

by Anne Mäkiranta and Erkki Hiltunen

Energies 2019, 12(11), 2101; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12112101 - 01 Jun 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2477

Abstract

Geothermal energy is a form of renewable energy, which offers carbon-free solutions for heating and cooling spaces. This study evaluates the use of renewable asphalt heat energy in frozen ground conditions. Asphalt heat energy can be harnessed using a low-energy network, heat collection pipes and heat pumps. This study measured temperatures under the asphalt layer during a three-year period between 2014 and 2017. Measurements were made using a distributed temperature sensing method based on light scattering. Temperatures taken at four different depths under the asphalt (0.5 m, 1.0 m, 3.0 m and 10 m) are presented here. These temperatures are compared with that detected at the depth at which the temperature remains constant all year round. The temperature difference curve between 0.5 m depth and the constant soil temperature depth indicates that from April to October the soil at 0.5 m depth is warming and the temperature difference is positive, even as much as 18 °C. Instead, at the 3.0 m depth, the difference curve is smoother and it varies only from −5 to +5 °C. It is positive from June to November. The surface layer (0 m–1.0 m) is suitable for harvesting heat that can be stored in a deeper (1.5 m–3.0 m) purpose-built storage or in a bedrock heat battery. The calculated heat capacities indicate that asphalt energy, because of high temperatures, is a noteworthy renewable energy source. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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19 pages, 4806 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The Impact of Optimal Demand Response Control and Thermal Energy Storage on a District Heating System

by Sonja Salo, Aira Hast, Juha Jokisalo, Risto Kosonen, Sanna Syri, Janne Hirvonen and Kristian Martin

Energies 2019, 12(9), 1678; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12091678 - 03 May 2019

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3653

Abstract

Demand response has been studied in district heating connected buildings since the rollout of smart, communicating devices has made it cost-effective to control buildings’ energy consumption externally. This research investigates optimal demand response control strategies from the district heating operator perspective. Based on earlier simulations on the building level, different case algorithms were simulated on a typical district heating system. The results show that even in the best case, heat production costs can be decreased by only 0.7%. However, by implementing hot water thermal storage in the system, demand response can become more profitable, resulting in 1.4% cost savings. It is concluded that the hot water storage tank can balance district heating peak loads for longer periods of time, which enhances the ability to use demand response strategies on a larger share of the building stock. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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22 pages, 2600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Eco-Sim: A Parametric Tool to Evaluate the Environmental and Economic Feasibility of Decentralized Energy Systems

by Karni Siraganyan, Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera, Jean-Louis Scartezzini and Dasaraden Mauree

Energies 2019, 12(5), 776; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050776 - 26 Feb 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3863

Abstract

Due to climate change and the need to decrease the carbon footprint of urban areas, there is an increasing pressure to integrate renewable energy and other components in urban energy systems. Most of the models or available tools do not provide both an economic and environmental assessment of the energy systems and thus lead to the design of systems that are sub-optimal. A flexible and modular simulation tool, Eco-Sim, is thus developed in the current study to conduct a comprehensive techno-economic and environmental assessment of a distributed energy system considering different configuration scenarios. Subsequently, an intermodel comparison is conducted with the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) Pro as well as with a state-of-the-art industrial tool. Eco-Sim is then extended by including the heating demand, thermal conversion (by using heat pumps and solar thermal) methods and thermal storage. A parametric analysis is conducted by considering different capacities of solar photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal panels and energy storage technologies. The levelized cost of electricity, the autonomy level and the CO

_{2}

emissions are used as the key performance indicators. Based on the analysis of a study case conducted in a neighbourhood in Geneva, Switzerland, the study reveals that, with the present market prices for batteries and seasonal changes in solar energy potential, the combination of solar PV with battery storage doesn’t bring a significant autonomy to the system and increases the CO

_{2}

emissions of the system. However, the integration of thermal storage and solar thermal generation is shown to considerably increase the autonomy of the neighbourhood. Finally, multiple scenarios are also run in order to evaluate the sensitivity of economic parameters on the performance indicators of the system. Under the assumptions of the model, to foster investments in solar PV and battery installations, falling installation costs or stronger policies in favor of renewable energy seem necessary for the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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14 pages, 1436 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrated Planning for Regional Electric Power System Management with Risk Measure and Carbon Emission Constraints: A Case Study of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China

by Yulei Xie, Zhenghui Fu, Dehong Xia, Wentao Lu, Guohe Huang and Han Wang

Energies 2019, 12(4), 601; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12040601 - 14 Feb 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2454

Abstract

With the carbon reduction targets being set in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, China is facing great pressure to meet its emission reduction commitment. The electric power industry as the major source of carbon emissions needs to be a focus. However, the uncertainty of power systems, the risk of reducing emissions and the fuzziness of carbon capture technology popularization rate and carbon reduction targets makes previous planning methods unsatisfactory for current planning. This paper establishes an interval fuzzy programming with a risk measure model which takes carbon capture technology and carbon reduction targets into account, to ensure that the complex electric management system achieves the best developmental state. It was concluded that in order to reduce carbon emissions, wind power and hydropower would be the best choices, and coal-fired power would be the suboptimal choice, and solar power would play a complementary role. Besides, decision makers should put much more effort into promoting and improving carbon capture technology instead of simply setting emission reduction targets. The non-synchronism of the downward trend in carbon emissions per unit of electricity generation and electric power industry total carbon emissions need to be taken seriously. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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28 pages, 17179 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Techno-Economic and Environmental Analysis of a Hybrid PV-WT-PSH/BB Standalone System Supplying Various Loads

by Mohammed Guezgouz, Jakub Jurasz and Benaissa Bekkouche

Energies 2019, 12(3), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12030514 - 06 Feb 2019

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4710

Abstract

The Algerian power system is currently dominated by conventional (gas- and oil-fueled) power stations. A small portion of the electrical demand is covered by renewable energy sources. This work is intended to analyze two configurations of renewables-based hybrid (solar–wind) power stations. One configuration was equipped with batteries and the second with pumped-storage hydroelectricity as two means of overcoming: the stochastic nature of the two renewable generators and resulting mismatch between demand and supply. To perform this analysis, real hourly load data for eight different electricity consumers were obtained for the area of Mostaganem. The configuration of hybrid power stations was determined for a bi-objective optimization problem (minimization of electricity cost and maximization of reliability) based on a multi-objective grey-wolf optimizer. The results of this analysis indicate that, in the case of Algeria, renewables-based power generation is still more expensive than electricity produced from the national grid. However, using renewables reduces the overall CO₂ emissions up to 9.3 times compared to the current emissions from the Algerian power system. Further analysis shows that the system performance may benefit from load aggregation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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17 pages, 2050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Assessment of Near-to-Mid-Term Economic Impacts and Energy Transitions under “2 °C” and “1.5 °C” Scenarios for India

by Shivika Mittal, Jing-Yu Liu, Shinichiro Fujimori and Priyadarshi Ramprasad Shukla

Energies 2018, 11(9), 2213; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11092213 - 24 Aug 2018

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3891

Abstract

The goal of limiting global temperature rise to “well below” 2 °C has been reaffirmed in the Paris Agreement on climate change at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). Almost all countries submitted their decarbonization targets in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and India did as well. India’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of national GDP in 2030 by 33–35% compared to 2005. This paper analyzes how India’s NDC commitments compare with emission trajectories consistent with well below 2 °C and 1.5 °C global temperature stabilization goals. A top-down computable general equilibrium model is used for the analysis. Our analysis shows that there are significant emission gaps between NDC and global climate stabilization targets in 2030. The energy system requires significant changes, mostly relying on renewable energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The mitigation costs would increase if India delays its abatement efforts and is locked into NDC pathways till 2030. India’s GHG emissions would peak 10 years earlier under 1.5 °C global temperature stabilization compared to the 2 °C goal. The results imply that India would need financial and technological support from developed countries to achieve emissions reductions aligned with the global long-term goal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Carbon Energy Systems)

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