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Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2016) | Viewed by 66397

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hossam A. Gabbar

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, ON L1H 7K4, Canada
Interests: safety engineering; fault diagnosis and amp; amp; real-time simulation; resilient smart energy grids; micro energy grids planning, control, and protection; advanced plasma generation; application on fusion energy; advanced safety and control systems for nuclear power plants; risk-based energy conservation; smart green buildings
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites researchers from academia and industries to submit novel ideas, best practices, and case studies on energy conservation in infrastructures, such as commercial and residential buildings, towers, and houses, and government and public facilities, as well as transportation and roads.

Short and regular papers are expected to discuss challenges in energy conservation measures, analysis, control, and optimization for energy supply, storage, and conversion technologies that cover thermal, gas, and electricity systems.

Prof. Dr. Hossam A. Gabbar (Gaber)
Guest Editor

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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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. Energies 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 2600 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

infrastructure energy conservation
infrastructure thermal energy conservation
gas conservation in infrastructures
electric energy conservation in infrastructure
energy loss minimization in infrastructure
energy efficiency improvement in infrastructure

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

1980 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Risk Assessment of Micro Energy Grid Protection Layers

by Hossam A. Gabbar and Yahya Koraz

Energies 2017, 10(8), 1176; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10081176 - 10 Aug 2017

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5268

Abstract

Micro energy grids (MEGs) are used extensively to meet the combined electricity, heating, and cooling energy demands for all types of customers. This paper develops a hazard matrix for a MEG and utilizes two advanced risk modeling approaches (fault tree and layer of protection analysis (LOPA)) for MEGs’ risk analysis. A number of independent protection layers (IPLs) have been proposed to achieve a resilient MEG, hence increasing its safety integrity level (SIL). IPLs are applied using co-generators and thermal energy storage (TES) techniques to minimize the hazards of system failure, increase efficiency, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed modeling and risk assessment approach aims to design a resilient MEG, which can utilize those potentials efficiently. In addition, an energy risk analysis has been applied on each MEGs’ physical domains such as electrical, thermal, mechanical and chemical. The concurrent objectives achieve an increased resiliency, reduced emissions, and sustained economy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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8430 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Energy Refurbishment of an Office Building with Hybrid Photovoltaic System and Demand-Side Management

by Giovani Almeida Dávi, José López de Asiain, Juan Solano, Estefanía Caamaño-Martín and César Bedoya

Energies 2017, 10(8), 1117; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10081117 - 01 Aug 2017

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4049

Abstract

On-site photovoltaic (PV) and battery systems intend to improve buildings energy performance, however battery costs and monetary incentives are a major drawback for the introduction of these technologies into the electricity grids. This paper proposes an energy refurbishment of an office building based on multi-objective simulations. An innovative demand-side management approach is analyzed through the PV and battery control with the purpose of reducing grid power peaks and grid imported energy, as well as improving the project economy. Optimization results of load matching and grid interaction parameters, complemented with an economic analysis, are investigated in different scenarios. By means of battery use, the equivalent use of the grid connection is reduced by 12%, enhancing the grid interaction potential, and 10% of load matching rates can be increased. Project improvements indicate the grid connection capacity can be reduced by 13% and significant savings of up to 48% are achieved on yearly bills. The economy demonstrates the grid parity is only achieved for battery costs below 100 €/kWh and the payback period is large: 28 years. In the case with only PV system, the grid parity achieves better outcomes and the payback time is reduced by a half, making this a more attractive option. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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6040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Microgrid Dynamic Performance Using a Modulated Power Filter Based on Enhanced Bacterial Foraging Optimization

by Ahmed M. Othman and Hossam A. Gabbar

Energies 2017, 10(6), 776; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10060776 - 06 Jun 2017

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4281

Abstract

This paper presents a design of microgrid (MG) with enhanced dynamic performance. Distributed energy resources (DER) are widely used in MGs to match the various load types and profiles. DERs include solar PV cells, wind energy sources, fuel cells, batteries, micro gas-engines and storage elements. MG will include AC/DC circuits, developed power electronics devices, inverters and power electronic controllers. A novel modulated power filters (MPF) device will be applied in MG design. Enhanced bacterial foraging optimization (EBFO) will be proposed to optimize and set the MPF parameters to enhance and tune the MG dynamic response. Recent dynamic control is applied to minimize the harmonic reference content. EBFO will adapt the gains of MPF dynamic control. The present research achieves an enhancement of MG dynamic performance, in addition to ensuring improvements in the power factor, bus voltage profile and power quality. MG operation will be evaluated by the dynamic response to be fine-tuned by MPF based on EBFO. Digital simulations have validated the results to show the effectiveness and efficient improvement by the proposed strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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16905 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Methodology Applied to the Evaluation of Natural Ventilation in Residential Building Retrofits: A Case Study

by Alberto Meiss, Miguel A. Padilla-Marcos and Jesús Feijó-Muñoz

Energies 2017, 10(4), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10040456 - 01 Apr 2017

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5197

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to present the use of a steady model that is able to qualify and quantify available natural ventilation flows applied to the energy retrofitting of urban residential districts. In terms of air quality, natural ventilation presents more efficient solutions compared to active systems. This method combines numeric simulations, through the utilization of Ansys Fluent R15.0^® and Engineering Equation Solver EES^®, with on-site pressurization tests. Testing consists of the application of the seasonal pressure gradient on the building’s envelope and the calculation of the ventilation flows in three climatic representative conditions (summer, winter, and annual average). Through the implementation of this methodology to existing buildings it is possible to evaluate the influence of the built environment, as well as key parameters (relative height of the dwelling, number of vertical ventilation ducts, and airtightness of windows) of available natural ventilation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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3487 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Conservation in an Office Building Using an Enhanced Blind System Control

by Edorta Carrascal-Lekunberri, Izaskun Garrido, Bram Van der Heijde, Aitor J. Garrido, José María Sala and Lieve Helsen

Energies 2017, 10(2), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10020196 - 10 Feb 2017

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4464

Abstract

The two spaces office module is usually considered as a representative case-study to analyse the energetic improvement in office buildings. In this kind of buildings, the use of a model predictive control (MPC) scheme for the climate system control provides energy savings over 15% in comparison to classic control policies. This paper focuses on the influence of solar radiation on the climate control of the office module under Belgian weather conditions. Considering MPC as main climate control, it proposes a novel distributed enhanced control for the blind system (BS) that takes into account part of the predictive information of the MPC. In addition to the savings that are usually achieved by MPC, it adds a potential 15% improvement in global energy use with respect to the usually proposed BS hysteresis control. Moreover, from the simulation results it can be concluded that the thermal comfort is also improved. The proposed BS scheme increases the energy use ratio between the thermally activated building system (TABS) and air-handling unit (AHU); therefore increasing the use of TABS and allowing economic savings, due to the use of more cost-effective thermal equipment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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8139 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization and Analysis of Energy Demand Patterns in Airports

by Sergio Ortega Alba and Mario Manana

Energies 2017, 10(1), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10010119 - 19 Jan 2017

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 7357

Abstract

Airports in general have high-energy consumption. Influenced by many factors, the characteristics of airport energy consumption are stochastic, nonlinear and dynamic. In recent years, airport managers have made huge efforts to harmonize airport operation with environmental sustainability by minimizing the environmental impact, with energy conservation and energy efficiency as one of their pillars. A key factor in order to reduce energy consumption at airports is to understand the energy use and consumption behavior, due to the multiple parameters and singularities that are involved. In this article, a 3-step methodology based on monitoring methods is proposed to characterize and analyze energy demand patterns in airports through their electric load profiles, and is applied to the Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (Santander, Spain). This methodology can be also used in airports in order to determine the way energy is used, to establish the classification of the electrical charges based on their operation way as well as to determine the main energy consumers and main external influencers. Results show that airport present a daily energy demand pattern since electric load profiles follow a similar curve shape for every day of the year, having a great dependence of the terminal building behavior, the main energy consumer of the airport, and with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting being the most energy-intensive facilities, and outside temperature and daylighting the main external influencers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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5077 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Strategies to Improve the Thermal Performance of Steel Frames in Curtain Wall Systems

by Ji Hyun Oh, Hyun Jung Yoo and Sun Sook Kim

Energies 2016, 9(12), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9121055 - 14 Dec 2016

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 11529

Abstract

Recently, metal curtain wall systems have been widely used in high-rise buildings due to many advantages, including being lightweight, rapid construction, and aesthetic features. Since the metal frame may lead to lower energy performance, thermal discomfort, and condensation risk due to the high thermal conductivity, its thermal performance can be important for the improvement of the overall thermal performance of the curtain wall system, as well as the energy efficiency of the building envelope. This study aims to evaluate variety of design strategies to improve the thermal performance of steel curtain wall frames. Five base cases and three further steps were selected for two different head profile shapes based on a state-of-the art technology review, and their thermal transmittances were calculated through simulations according to the ISO 12631 standard which is an international standard for calculating thermal transmittance of curtain wall system. Measured results that were obtained from hot-box tests were compared with the calculated results to validate the simulation method of this study. The shape of the head profile did not strongly influence the overall thermal transmittance, and the choice of strategies for the rabbet space was more important. More effective strategies could be decided according to the steps for variation development. This result can serve as a guideline for the design of high-performance curtain wall frames. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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9899 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Horizontal Air-Ground Heat Exchanger Performance and Humidity Simulation by Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis

by Paolo Maria Congedo, Caterina Lorusso, Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Riccardo Marti and Delia D’Agostino

Energies 2016, 9(11), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9110930 - 10 Nov 2016

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 7242

Abstract

Improving energy efficiency in buildings and promoting renewables are key objectives of European energy policies. Several technological measures are being developed to enhance the energy performance of buildings. Among these, geothermal systems present a huge potential to reduce energy consumption for mechanical ventilation and cooling, but their behavior depending on varying parameters, boundary and climatic conditions is not fully established. In this paper a horizontal air-ground heat exchanger (HAGHE) system is studied by the development of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Summer and winter conditions representative of the Mediterranean climate are analyzed to evaluate operation and thermal performance differences. A particular focus is given to humidity variations as this parameter has a major impact on indoor air quality and comfort. Results show the benefits that HAGHE systems can provide in reducing energy consumption in all seasons, in summer when free-cooling can be implemented avoiding post air treatment using heat pumps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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4679 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Condensation Risk Due to Variations in Airtightness and Thermal Insulation of an Office Building in Warm and Wet Climate

by Wanghee Cho, Shizuo Iwamoto and Shinsuke Kato

Energies 2016, 9(11), 875; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9110875 - 27 Oct 2016

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5320

Abstract

Condensation in a building encourages microbial growth, which can have an adverse effect on the health of occupants. Furthermore, it induces the deterioration of the building. To prevent problems caused by condensation, from the design step of a building, predictions of the spatial, temporal and causation for condensation occurrences are necessary. By using TRNSYS simulation coupled with TRNFLOW, condensation assessment of an entire office building in Tokyo, Japan, was conducted throughout the year, including when the air-conditioning system was not operated, by considering the absorption-desorption properties of the building materials and papers in the office and the airflow within the entire building. It was found that most of the condensation occurred during winter and was observed mainly in the non-air-conditioned core parts, especially the topmost floor. Additional analyses, which identified the effect of variations in the thermal insulation of the external walls, roof and windows and the airtightness of the windows on condensation, showed that the lower airtightness of windows resulted in decreased condensation risks, and condensation within the building was suppressed completely when the thermal insulation material thickness of the external walls was greater than 75 mm, that of the roof was greater than 105 mm and the windows had triple float glass. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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5633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Optimum Design Method of Heat Source Systems with Heat Storage Using a Genetic Algorithm

by Min Gyung Yu and Yujin Nam

Energies 2016, 9(10), 849; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9100849 - 21 Oct 2016

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4761

Abstract

Recently, a heat source system utilizing a heat storage tank for energy savings in buildings was designed. A heat storage tank is an effective system for solving the qualitative and quantitative differences in the required building energy. On the other hand, the existing design process of a heat storage system is difficult to determine if the air-conditioning time is unclear, and the design in a real-working level is too inaccurate, causing oversizing and a high initial investment cost. This results in inefficient operation despite the introduction of an efficient system. Therefore, this study proposes an optimal design method of a heat source system using a thermal storage tank. To demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed design method, feasibility studies were conducted with the existing system designs. As a result, the optimal solution could reduce the initial cost by approximately 25.6% when following the conventional design process and it was approximately 40% lower than the real-working method. In conclusion, the conventional designs are inefficiently over-designed and the optimal design solution is superior. In this regard, the suggested optimal design method is efficient when designing a heat source system using a thermal storage tank. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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4291 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Activity-Aware Energy-Efficient Automation of Smart Buildings

by Brian L. Thomas and Diane J. Cook

Energies 2016, 9(8), 624; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9080624 - 09 Aug 2016

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5920

Abstract

This paper introduces the idea of activity-aware cyber-physical systems (CPS). Activity-aware systems allow smart city services to adapt to the needs of individual residents by being sensitive to their daily tasks. The paper first defines activity recognition and activity prediction algorithms that form the foundation of activity-aware CPS and implement a prototype activity-aware building automation system, called CASAS activity aware resource learning (CARL). Evaluation of CARL on real sensor data shows not only an accurate ability to sense and predict activities but an effective means of automation buildings that reduces energy consumption while being sensitive to user activities in the building. Our ideas are demonstrated in the context of a smart home but can be utilized in a variety of smart city settings including smart offices, smart hospitals, and smart communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Conservation in Infrastructures 2016)

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